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Joseph Smith

As promised, up above I posted some more photos of Riley that we took while Grandma and Grandpa were down from Texas. On Monday, we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City before we dropped them off at the airport. It was a perfect day (aside from a few very tense moments when we couldn't figure out how to get on crazy old I-15 and thought Grandpa and Grandma were going to miss their plane.)
The flowers on Temple Square were beautiful, and we had the chance to see a new movie about Joseph Smith, the first Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think the Church always does an amazing job with the movies they make, and this was no exception.
It was amazing to have the opportunity to look more closely into Joseph Smith's life. Even though I was distracted and had to take Riley out into the lobby a time or two, my testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet grew from this movie. It was a very emotional, personal look at Joseph Smith's life and all of the trials he went through to restore the gospel. So many people persecuted Joseph and the early Saints because they believed the heavens were closed and that there was no such thing as revelation. But why should this be? If God had a prophet and he spoke to him in ancient times, why would he not do the same thing today?
In that one brief instant when Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, so much truth was restored. Because of Joseph, we know we have a loving Heavenly Father who is interested and wants to be involved in the details of our lives. And because of Joseph, the true Church as it existed during Christ's ministry exists again on the earth today.

Smert Sam Fineeshed Kolluge!

Hi Everyone! Well, Sam finally did it. He graduated from BYU with a degree in Biology...pretty impressive considering how difficult some of the classes were that he had to take. Sam, we're proud of you!
We had a barbeque after graduation with my family and Sam's family. We also had a really fun visit with Sam's parents (they came down from Texas for graduation.) Riley sure did love them! He still hasn't really hit the stranger anxiety phase, which was good because he warmed up to them in no time. I'll post some more photos from our visit in the next day or two.

Easter

Riley's first Easter was great, but uneventful. My mom bought Riley a cute little outfit (Is it okay to call what boys wear "outfits"?) Maybe I should say my mom bought Riley a very manly collection of clothing. It was really windy and kind of cold, so it was kind of hard to get good photos. We didn't do much of note, but we did buy Riley a little Easter basket with some toys and books. They were all from the trusy old dollar store. You've got to love that place!

The Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Sam's big #25 birthday. We conned my sister into watching Riley for the afternoon and went snowboarding. It was so much fun! It was a warm day, but it had also just recently snowed so the conditions were great. Good thing Sam had a birthday so we could convince ourselves it was okay to spend money on lift tickets.

Isn't he cool?
Not quite as cool...but I tried.

He Crawls (Sort Of)

Video Sharing at DropShots.com

I must warn you in advance, this video is not going to win any awards. I know, I know, it's enough to make you seasick. But in my defense, it was pretty hard to crawl backwards and film at the same time. My crawling gait isn't very smooth--I'll have to work on that.
Oh, and P.S., what's with me talking like a hick? I say "Cum git it" about 20 times. I'll have to work on that. There's nothing like listening to your own voice on tape to make you realize just how stupid you really do sound.

Fun, Fun, Fun

Hi everyone! I just thought I'd post some pics of Sam from a couple of months ago when he ditched me and Riley and went snowmobiling with my dad in Colorado for a week. In case you can't tell, that's Sam behind all those huge puffs of white snow.
Things are going great for us. Sam is suffering from a severe case of seniorities and getting some quality nap time in all of his classes. Just a few more weeks to go until graduation, so hopefully he can make it. It'd be a bummer to drop out of school now.
Riley is still growing, and we're starting the teething process. He's been a little fussy. Thank goodness for infant tylenol. I guess it's never too early to start our reliance on medicine and mind-altering drugs. I'm doing great too---I'd tell you more about what is going on with me, but it's all pretty boring.

Growing Pains

I can't believe how fast my little baby is growing. He's almost eight months old now. Although he hasn't completely figured the crawling thing out yet (he can't get up on his knees yet) he sure can move. He does this combat roll combination demented seal crawl combination back arch, and amazingly enough, it's pretty effective. The other day I put him in the living room on the floor with a few toys for just a couple of minutes. I went to check on something, and when I came back he'd crawled all the way across the room, tipped over a bowl, and scribbled all over his face with ink pens. Luckily he didn't poke his eyes or anything like that. I guess it's time to baby proof the house. That should help keep Sam out of trouble too.

This is Riley's new high chair. Someone in our church gave us their old one, which was a huge relief because I wasn't wanting to go out and buy a new one. Doesn't Riley look big in it? The high chair addition to our home came just in time. It's starting to get really hard to feed Riley. Everytime he sees the spoon headed for his mouth, he thinks it's really fun to grab on to it. The problem with this is that he gets baby food all over his hands. From there, the baby food quickly migrates to Riley's hair, clothes, face and then somehow it gets all over me. Now that we have a high chair, I can just drape him with a sheet, sit him on top of a giant plastic tarp, and then hose the whole thing down when he's done eating. Problem solved.

These are pictures of Riley's new favorite toy...yep...you guessed it. It's a lamp. Should I be at all worried that my baby is obssessed with a lamp? No matter where he is in the room, he always squirms around so he can look at the lamp. He'd rather stare at the crazy old thing then eat. He loves to suck on the metal lamp shade, and I have to admit that I sometimes let him (of course I take care to make sure the thing is unplugged and turned off so as to avoid electrocution).



Just a cute picture of Riley and Grandma last time she came to visit. I love his little hat. He doesn't seem to mind it to much either...He doesn't try to rip it off or anything so I'd say it's pretty much a success.

Sitting Tall

Hi everyone. Thought I'd just post a couple of photos. I love this one because it shows off Riley's beautiful blue eyes. Please also notice his slightly orangish skin. Apparantly I didn't get all the squash wiped off from breakfast.

Here's Riley demonstrating his amazing sitting up skills. He's quite good at it, but still doesn't understand the concept that he can't just fall to the floor whenever he feels like it. I think he's remotely close to trying the army/demented seal crawl thing. He's starting to pull himself forward a little bit.
Things are going great for us. Sam isn't nearly as busy this semester, so that's been nice for me. He's home a lot more. I'm staying plenty busy keeping Riley entertained and working a bit from home.

Update

Well, Riley had another doctor's appointment last week so I just thought I'd let everyone know how he's doing. He is about 27 inches tall and 17 lbs 11 oz. No more shots for about three months, Yipee!
Riley finally figured out how to roll onto his stomach from his back. That's good news because he could never learn crawl until he first learned how to get on his tummy. Unless he figured out how to do a crab walk or something like that. On the negative side though, when it's nap time I've been putting Riley in his crib awake to try to get him to learn to put himself to sleep. He doesn't like it at all, and usually rolls onto his belly to try to suck on the crib bumper pads. (I'm not exactly sure why that's comforting, but apparently it is. Maybe I should try it.) He usually cries and, now that he's laying on his belly, he gets snot and other gross things all over his sheets. I have to change them about three times every week. Just thought you all might like to know that!
He's also finally starting to master sitting up all by his baby self. You have to watch him though...he'll be sitting up just fine, and then two seconds later he'll keel over for no reason at all.

Christmas photos long past due

Okay, so I know I said sometime around Dec. 31 that I was going to post more pictures from Christmas. Sorry it's taken me so long. This is cute little Riley and Grandma McMurry.

Riley and his great-grandma Mary. Sam and I went up to Oklahoma for a couple of days to visit my relatives over the break. It was fun. Especially the part where my 9-year-old cousin beat me at basketball. That kid is GOOD! Remember me when you're famous, Taylor.
Riley and Grandpa Kelky. Riley slept pretty bad while we were down there, and grandpa rocked him to sleep a few times. I think Grandpa got just as good a nap as Riley out of the deal.

Riley and his one and only cousin, Kathryn. We thought it'd be cute to put them both in a pile of leaves and take a photo. There's only one problem...riley didn't know how to sit up yet. As you can see by the look on his face, he didn't think it was very fun to be sinking deeper and deeper into a pile of leaves and not be able to do anything about it.

Long Time, No Write

Hey everyone! It's been awhile since I've written, and a lot has been going on in the world of Riley. He LOVES food now. Anytime anyone is eating ANYTHING, he thinks he's supposed to be getting a piece of it. If I eat something in front of him, he looks at me like I'm the rudest person in the world for hogging it all to myself and not sharing it with him.
Thanks to a man at church whom I barely know, Riley now knows what chocolate tastes like. This man thought it'd be pretty fun to give Riley his York peppermint patty, even after Sam told him that he didn't think I'd like it. I rounded the corner at church to find Riley sitting on this man's lap with chocolate all over his face and his once-white shirt covered in brown slobber. He's never going to want to eat vegetables again!

Adventure at Gmom and Pops

We sure did have a great Christmas! The weather was in the 70s almost the entire time we were in Texas. I'll post a few more random Christmas photos for you guys in a day or two.
It was so much fun to be able to see all of our Texas and Oklahoma family and have them meet Riley. We wish we could find a way to move everyone into the same state!
Here are a few pictures of the night before we left. We went to visit Gmom and Pop in Dallas. It was a pretty exciting night. After eating about a pound of baby squash, Riley had, umm... let's call it a violent explosion. We had to bathe him in the sink. As soon as we sat him down, he decided to pee all over the dishes that were laying on the counter and in the other side of the sink. Good thing for disinfectant!

This photo has been censored for your benefit (and for Riley's too!)
Chewing on his hand....as usual. I'm surprised Riley's hand isn't permawrinkled...you know, like your hands look after you get out of the bathtub after a long soak.

New Year's resolutions: Destination, failure?

Here's a little column that I wrote for the newspaper I work for. I figured since I wrote it anyway, I might as well post it.

Every year, millions of Americans decide that the beginning of the New Year is the perfect opportunity to make some much-needed changes in their lives. They vow that this year is the year they are going to lose some weight, become a better person, or stop spending so much money. Most of those people even have every intention of following through with their plan.

I’ve been there many times before. A couple of years ago, I decided that I was going to stop eating so many sweets. I wrote my goal down just before the clock struck midnight, ringing in the New Year. But ten minutes later, a bowl of M&Ms sitting on the counter started calling my name, and that was the end of that resolution.
Most Americans are in the same boat as I am. Research shows that half of the people who make New Year’s resolutions have given them up by June. Although results vary, most surveys put the final mark of failure to keep resolutions right up around 90%.
A top ten list of the most popular New Year’s resolutions includes the following resolutions: Spend more time with family and friends, start exercising, lose weight, learn to enjoy life, quit smoking or drinking, and get out of debt.

While this list is admirable, the simple fact is that most New Year’s resolution setters are destined to fail. So, in an effort to stem the tide of this great tradition of failure, I’ve decided that this year I’m going to set some resolutions that I will actually be able to keep. Here are my top ten New Year’s resolutions for 2006.

10. Get out of bed every day, unless I’m tired or sick, or just feeling lazy.
9. Increase the hours of television that I watch every week to 45. There are a lot of good shows out there that I’ve been missing.
8. Cook less, microwave more. Homecooked meals are too much work. Besides that, food tastes better when it has time to soak in all those radioactive fumes that are emitted when you zap those little plastic containers that microwave dinners come in.
7. Do my part to help the environment by showering a maximum of three times each week.
6. Pick up an annoying habit. I’m debating between biting my nails, becoming proficient on the kazoo, or learning to talk like Fran Drescher.
5. Unorganize all of my drawers. Everything just ends up in a big pile on the floor anyway.
4. Spend more money. What’s the point of saving when you can borrow?
3. Exercise less. It’s pretty much a waste of time and energy.
2. Forget all the useless things that I learned in high school and college. Who cares if pi is equal to r squared? Stupid facts like those are just wasting valuable space in my brain.
1. Relax more and stop worrying if the clothes I’m wearing are dirty or clean. Personal hygiene is so overrated!
With resolutions like these, I’m guaranteed to succeed. I may not succeed with much style, but at least I’ll succeed. And next New Year’s Eve when the clock strikes midnight, that’s more than most of you will be able to say.

Christmas Eve

Yesterday (christmas eve) we took some family photos with all of the McMurrys at a park in Plano. It was about 70 degrees (everyone stuck in Utah, eat your heart out!). Later, we had a Christmas party at Gmom and Pop's house. For the first time, both riley and I got to meet Sam's aunt Patty, uncle brian, and their kids.

Christmas Joy

Riley decided to celebrate Christmas Eve by staying up almost all night long. He kept waking us up every hour and a half all night long. I'd like to think it was because he was just too excited about his first Christmas. But when morning finally rolled around, he was so tired that he slept through most of the fun.
It was still a great Christmas!

Riley Clause and the Women

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a little Santa suit that we bought for Riley this Christmas. He's sitting beside his girlfriend, Mrs. Clause. Whoever designed Riley's costume obviously doesn't understand babies and the tendency they have to put everything within reach in their mouth. By the end of the night, the little white cottony ball on his costume was so wet that you could wring the spit out of it. Oh well. All I have to do is dip that thing in a little bit of sugar and he'll be happy for hours.

This is Riley and all his many girlfriends at church. There's only one other little boy and about nine girls in our ward. After we laid all the babies down on the blanket to take the picture, Riley started trying to hit the babies on either side of him. For those of you who are thinking, "Oh No! Riley's turning into a bully," don't worry. I'm pretty sure the hitting was unintentional. He still has almost no control over what his hands do. The other day he was waving his hands around and he stuck one finger straight up his nose. It went in amazingly far. He was pretty mad, and looked at me like he somehow thought it was my fault or something.

Holy Parabola!!!

Riley had his four-month check-up today, so I thought I'd update everyone. He weighs 15 lbs 5 oz and is 26 1/4 inches tall. I know, I know. In a just a few more months, he's going to be as tall as me. That's going to cause all kinds of problems.

Catching Up

It's been forever since I've had a chance to post. Sorry guys! Here's a photo of Riley after a hard day at the office. He works in a factory that produces dirty diapers. He's a four-time employee of the month. The pay sure is lousy though.

Don't we all wish we were this flexible? I miss the days when I used to be able to suck on my toes.

Riley, I apologize in advance for posting a photo of your naked behind on the internet. But I thought I'd better do it before you got too big to be REALLY embarrassed. This blanket is Riley's new favorite toy. My grandma made it for him, and it's really satiny. He loves to play on it wearing just his diaper.

Who needs toys when you have blankets to play with?

Another photo of Riley in his little suit. This is a pretty impractical baby outfit. He ends up chewing on the tie. But it was so cute, I couldn't resist getting it for him.