Get My Best Side

This afternoon Tara, Kennedy, and I were filmed for a commerical on local television. UEN runs Utah's education channel, KUEN or channel 9 in SLC, and one of the current ad campaigns centers around life long learning. We were asked if we would be interested in being part of a commercial focusing on geocaching and GPS. Not having any better offers from our agent, we agreed.

So, we loaded up with all the supplies for the shoot and headed out to East Canyon to film. For the first part of the commerical Joey (the producer) asked us various questions about geocaching and how we got involved. I don't know if we said anything profound, but I'm pretty sure we weren't blatantly misleading about anything in particular. Like always, Kennedy was the star of the interview. She jabbered on and on when she knew the camera was rolling. After the interview, there were several shots of Tara and I hiking up and down trails with Kennedy in the backpack. We would look at the GPS, point a given direction, and then walk down the trail. Eventually we found a geocache (I won't mention that we brought the cache with us). It was a fun day and I think it will be a great momento from this period of our lives. Let's see if we become stars from our first commerical together. If anyone's interested in booking us for a gig - give us a call, we'll do lunch.

Colonel Shuffle

Kennedy finally figured it all out. I'm not talking about world peace or why Jen and Brad split up - we're talking about crawling. I know, I know - I shouldn't be excited that she has become mobile. I've heard it all before. No rest, always trying to figure out where they are and what they're up to. All that being said - isn't it exciting when your child finally accomplishes something that she's been trying to do for months. I think that's cause for celebration. Even if it isn't a speed crawl (it's more of a shuffle), it is still her first successful self-propelled movement. Hooray!!

Daddy/Daughter Night III

Kennedy and I went to visit Brant, Kerrin, and their new arrival, Madison Kimberly Paulsen. Madison arrived yesterday at 1:45pm, weighing 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 in. long. What a cutie!!! It was so fun to go to the hospital and watch Kennedy try to figure out how to deal with a new baby. I think she was a little disappointed that another baby was stealing her thunder. A diva always needs the spotlight! Congratulations Brant and Kerrin!!

Click here to see a video of Madison's arrival.

Typical

Another typical conversation between a husband and a wife:

Did you know that Brant's wife had the baby yesterday.

Oh yeah. I heard about it last night.

And when were you planning to tell me that one my best friends became a father.

Well it kinda slipped my mind. I meant to tell you.

Is there anything else I am supposed to know that's slipped your mind.

No, your friend becoming a father is about it.

All Aboard!

Tonight we went to a great geocaching event up in Farmington. I know we haven't discussed caching much in this blog, but trust me - it takes up a decent amount of our free time. This event brought together several of our friends that are involved in the activity. Just to mention a few names: minerals44, Fire Elemental, Lockjaw, Sir Gerald, lyonden_ut, dutch1, and ruaniteit. Can you believe these names?! I guess I shouldn't say much since we're called crimson_crew and we were with Micro Man!! We have had a lot of fun over the summer trying to stump many of these people with our hides and being stumped, in turn, as we've tried to find some of their caches. It's all part of the fun.

Daddy/Daughter Night II

Tonight, Kennedy and I enjoyed another Daddy/Daughter night. Tara went down South to spend the night with her sisters. It was a big birthday celebration for Bonnie's birthday. I think they were going to a movie - some Reese Witherspoon "Chick Flick" that they will all love and that I would've hated. Darn - I am so upset I missed it.
I spent the night mowing the lawn with Kennedy instead. We raced around the lawn making duck noises and shaking our heads.


Can there be any pictures more priceless than this?

Things went well tonight. Around bedtime Kennedy started to get that look like, "All right buddy. We've had some good times together, but it's time to get Mom. Let's quit fooling around here!" Somehow, I managed to calm her fears and by nine o'clock all was quiet on the homefront.

Visit from Gracie and Michelle

Look who's visiting from Boston?! Tonight Michelle and Gracie came over to say hi. They were in town visiting Michelle's sister and her newborn son. We had a good time and they couldn't believe how big Kennedy is. Even though Chappo wasn't here, we were able to hear all about him. The big news is there's a new Chapman on the way!! We'll have to wait a few months to find out if they're having a boy or a girl, but now the big question all centers around Japan. Hmmm - what to do?

Is it Art?

On Monday night, Dick Engar came over and made a casting of Kennedy's little hand. It was a pretty interesting experience. At first, Kennedy wasn't quite sure what was going on as Dick placed her hand in the gooey material. After a little coaxing, she relaxed a little and the rest is history. So the question is, can this be considered art - or is it just a cherised family momento?

8th Anniversary

Today marks our 8th Anniversary together. It's hard to believe that we were married all the way back in 1997. I can't say that I remember a whole lot from our wedding day. It was a long day due to the fact that we were married in Manti, only a couple hours away. The day went pretty much as planned. We had an outdoor reception, so we hoped that the weather would cooperate. For the most part it did, the rain came down just as the last guests were leaving the reception (that thing couldn't end soon enough!) And now here we are.

Eight years later, we're still pretty much the same people. A little heavier, a little slower, but also a little wiser, and a lot happier. I'm not saying that we weren't happy back then, but our lives are so much fuller and complete now that we have a family. It may have taken seven years to add Kennedy to our family, but it has made all the difference in our lives.

Our Trip to Vernal

Yesterday, Tara and I had the chance to go with a group from our ward to the Vernal Temple. We loaded onto a bus at 7:30 am and began a 12 hour trek that would really provide a neat experience. I've been working with the Bishopric for the past couple of months to put the trip together and when we pulled out the bus had 35 members aboard. We were a little short of capacity, but everyone was excited to be there.

As you can see, Tara started the trip out right. She was trying to catch up on some much needed rest from the night before. Kennedy has been going through a bit of a cold, so she (and consequently Tara) isn't sleeping much. The morning highlights included our first look at the fall leaves, and a chance to play bus attendants by going up and down the isle and passing out snacks. It was nice to provide a little comfort to some of the older members who were on the trip.

We arrived in Vernal around 11:30 am and, after a few minutes for some photos, went in for the 12:15 session. What a beautiful temple. I can't say enough about how great it looked, both inside and out. It is a great example of the Church's desire to preserve the past, while moving toward the future.

After we finished our session, we loaded up the bus and headed over to Golden Corral for a buffet lunch. I can't believe how much everyone ate. Some of the old people can really put it away (not that Tara and I did so badly ourselves). Back to the bus and we were on our way home. The highlight from the return trip included listening to some music from the 50's (until one sister let it be known that she didn't want to hear any more of that music - maybe it was a little to fast for her!). We pulled back into the church parking lot at 7:30 pm, a little weary from the travel, but certainly refreshed from a wonderful day at the temple. I'm really glad we put the trip together, and I am so glad that Tara and I were able to share a day at the temple together (we were happy to come home to baby though!).

Kennedy's Trip to the Doctor

Today Kennedy went in for her 9 month checkup (Can you believe she's 9 months old already!). Everything went great, as Dr. Havlik gave her a clean bill of health. He told us to expect more movement, more teeth, and less sleep (for us, not Kennedy). As with every checkup for Kennedy the big question is how much does she weigh. Today's weigh in was (drum roll please) 22 lbs. 8 oz.!! She is still in the 94% for her age group. Although we were surprised that she was only in the 86% for height at 29 in. tall. As you can see from the picture, both baby and doctor enjoyed the visit!!

After Kennedy and Tara went to the doctor's, they stopped by to say hi to Daddy at work. Everyone really enjoyed the visit. Ross made his standard faces and goo goo noises and Vickie actually tried to eat Kennedy's cheeks!! While we were together we took advantage of the time on campus and ran down to the Bookstore to get a U of U sweatshirt for Kennedy. Now she's sure to be in style for her next Ute football game!!

Daddy/Daughter Night

There isn't a whole lot to report from today, except Kennedy and I had a great Daddy/Daughter night together. Everything started out well, I was finishing off the dinner that Tara had started, the Red Sox game was just beginning, Kennedy was sitting in her high chair examining her Cheerios. A rather typical Tuesday night. Only tonight, Tara left to go to Young Women's Volleyball. Kennedy and I would be alone!!

Somehow we managed to survive without burning dinner, there were no major injuries to Kennedy (or Daddy for that matter). The evening was rather successful if I do say so myself. About the only downside was the Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays 9-3, trimmming their lead over the Yankees to 2.5 games. Is it cruel to have your newborn daughter watch the Red Sox during September? Before last year the answer was yes, now the jury is out. We'll wait til next week, and our next Daddy/Daughter Night.

My First Tooth

This morning we were all sitting down together to enjoy a rare Sunday morning where I didn't have any meetings to go to. Kennedy was discovering the joys of French Toast, while sitting in her high chair. Tara noticed something we hadn't seen before. Could it be? No, it's not. Wait a second. It could...yes, yes, it's a tooth.

Kennedy finally cut her first little tooth today. If you don't look closely you'll miss it, but it is definitely her first tooth! Now we have a few more milestones - first individual crawl, first steps, first solo geocache, first credit card, first skydive, and so on...

GO UTES !!

Last night, we took Kennedy to her first football game - a 31-7 drubbing of Utah State. Kennedy planned the game out perfectly, she slept through the first quarter (which ended with neither team scoring) and then she woke up and cheered the Utes through 31 unanswered points. She really loved clapping after every Utah score.

The only down side to the games last was the temperature. Holy cow!! I can't believe how cold it got so quickly. We showed up with sweatshirts, but I almost wish I had my coat and some gloves. A cold wind blew through the stands the entire first half, forcing us to huddle underneath the blanket we brought. Fortunately there wasn't a whole lot to cheer for in the first half so we stayed warm with Tara's blankie!!

Bear Lake Fun

This weekend Tara, Kennedy, and I went to Bear Lake. Kennedy enjoyed the lake and the monster was AWOL. Although judging from this picture, you might question whether or not we actually saw the monster. I am not a handsome man.