hello? is anyone there?

So it's been what, a month so I will be surprised it anyone is still checking my blog, but that is okay...it's suppose to be for me anyway - right? So quite a bit has gone on in the last month. I finally started working. I tutor Geometry 4 nights a week, and algebra one night a week. I have 3 students and I really enjoy it. I'm so glad that Devon is okay to stay home with Austin at nights. It has been working well but we definitely tag team it, and don't spend too much time together during the week but the weekends are always free for us. This is what our weeks are looking like now:

Monday Devon work 5:45-5:00 Stacy work 5:15-9:15
Tuesday " " " - 7:00, Devon church meetings 7:00-8:45
Wednesday " " Devon scouts 7:00 - 8:30
Thursday " Stacy work 5:15-9:15
Friday just Devon works and then we are free
Saturdays Sometimes I have tutoring sessions if someone has a test on Monday and needs help
Sunday Church and I teach /primary

It literally is a tag team, as soon as he walks in the door I am ready to walk out, and visa versa. It's been working well, he doesn't seem to mind it and I love it.

Towards the end of September I went up to Yuba City and helped my mom throw my youngest sister a surprise 16th birthday party. It was a lot of fun. She was SO SURPRISED! It was great! I always love being able to go home. This time I was able to fly - since it was cheaper than driving - and Austin did great!! I still can't believe how good he was. He just sat in his own seat and played with out crying on both flights - like he was 10 or something. I couldn't believe it - I mean usually he is a good boy but this surprised even me. It was WONDERFUL!!

Austin - well let's see, he is now 10 months, and is pretty good at scooting (sp?) around the floor. He still can't crawl yet but and this point I will take anything I can get. He was getting SO FRUSTRATED that he couldn't move around. I don't now what is taking him so long to figure the whole crawling thing out, but I hope he gets over it. Other than crawling he has always hit his development levels early. He ate early he sat early, he rolled early and now is crawling...really late? Whatever, I'm not sure how it all works but at least he is scooting/army crawling now so he is happier. Also, right around 9 months he decided he didn't want to have ANYTHING to do with milk anymore. He won't take a bottle-no matter what is in it, and he won't drink formula- at all. Not hot or cold or in a bottle or in a cup, nothing. So we started him on Whole milk, he will drink it sometimes from a sippy cup but that is it. I am lucky if I can get him to drink 5 oz in a day. I have even tried chocolate milk and he still wont drink it! I have no idea what to do, though I can't blame him...I hate milk! The only way I'll drink it is in my cereal, with some desert (like chocolate - anything!) or as chocolate milk. But I have always encouraged him to drink it and Devon Loves it so I don't know. I don't know what else to do to get him to drink it. If anyone has any ideas let me know :)

We have also recently gotten another addition to our family. He has yet to be named but he is light and dark grey striped and alternates between crazy and snugly. When I got back from Yuba City Devon thought he would surprise me with a kitten. We really can't think of a name for him but we are working on it. In the early mornings and late at night this cat is crazy! He dashes all over the house - bounding like a deer - he thinks our bed is some kind of forest where he can pounce pretend animals while we try to go to sleep. You can hardly keep you eyes on him he moves around so much. Then, the other side of this bipolar kitten is totally snugly, like now, he is curled up on my lap with his little motor running. But if I try to pet him I am sure he will attack. He is pretty good with Austin. The kitten gets really curious and so he will walk right up to Austin and sniff him, Austin LOVES LOVES LOVES the cat but usually scares it by screaming or laughing. When the cat is being mellow he lets Austin come close and pet him and he doesn't mind, but when he is being crazy Austin hardly has a chance even to see him. It has been working out pretty well.

Well that's enough for today, Austin is just waking up so I need to get him out of his crib. I will get back on later and post pictures. I have lots of picture!

Not much here

So, I know I haven't written in a while but I don't feel like much has been going on. We were all able to go home to attend my Grandma Richins funeral, It turned out really well, and I am glad that we were able to go but that's all I really want to say about it. As for us here, things are fine, kind of getting blah. I am definitely getting bored. I just picked up one tutor once a week for Geometry which should be fun. I have also started to index names for FamilySearch.org. Work is going well for Devon, Austin still isn't crawling and is really getting frustrated. I am also pretty sure that he is getting his 1 year molars and is SO CRANKY. That's about it for us. The weather has been nice but I can't wait until Fall really kicks in. I think October may be my favorite month of the year! I love it!

Hopefully one of these days we will get the replacement battery for my laptop and I will start to MSN and Blog more. I hate having to come into the work room and sit on this uncomfortable chair to use the computer. Well that is enough complaining for one day. Hopefully more later.

summer fun

Last Saturday my not so little, little sister came to visit. She got here Saturday and left today (Wednesday morning) While she was here we had a lot of fun. It was kind of a crazy trip for her. I wasn't really ready for her to come so the house wasn't quite clean and the groceries weren't all the way shopped for, and since we had so much to do none of it ever got done. I was sad that she left this morning but glad because now I can finally get my room and other things clean. Devon went on Saturday and picked her up from the airport because I was at a primary activity - then we all met up at a sale that Chick's sporting goods was having. After over an hour, a new swimsuit and purse later. We finally made it home. We were home about an hour before we packed up and went to the beach. It was THE MOST FUN I HAVE EVER HAD AT A BEACH. There were 7 of us and Austin. Between all of us there were 3 body boards and 2 surf boards. We all just kind of rotated the equipment and watching Austin. It was so much fun. I really had a great time. I think it's the first time that I played in the ocean and didn't get rocked by any waves! Yeah me! Austin was great until about 10 min. before we left and then he decided that he had gotten too much wind, and too many different people. But for the most part he was GREAT and I had a GREAT time. I even got my sister to come out and swim in the ocean with me and I was able to teach her a little about the water so that she could have fun and not always get rocked. After we got back from the beach we ate dinner and put Austin down to bed and then Devon and I went and saw the Bourne Ultimatum, while Dee babysat. It was really nice. On Sunday we all kind of chilled. We went to church and afterward a bunch of us got together and had waffles and hung out. That night we just hung out while Devon went to a meeting. Monday we ran errands in the morning and then went to the Camarillo outlets in the afternoon. Tuesday we did the tourist thing and went to downtown LA and Hollywood. Tuesday night we had an invitation to a movie premier showing but ended up been too late. We were the next ones in line when he came and said that they were all full. SO CLOSE! But we were able to get tickets to see another movie so I went and saw Stardust - while everyone else saw the Simpsons. It's been a great week, with lots of fun, and a lot of great sales! (great except the parking ticket I got because they were street sweeping and I didn't see the sign - nice) I love it when people visit!

Life

So life has been good but crazy. I think that it's been a little more crazy than good - but who's counting. In the last two weeks a lot has been going on. Once Austin and I got back from my parents we didn't have anything pressing to do but it still ended up being a crazy week. Devon and I spoke in church on the 27th and I had to give my lesson in primary. I had visiting teachers, and went visiting teaching, I tried to get everything cleaned and orderly because I was going to Pepperdine to be a chaperon for my sisters basketball camp in the beginning of August. Basketball camp went pretty well. One of my favorite parts was when we went to the beach on the first day. Austin was being good so Mom stayed on the beach and watched him, then me and Brie and Ash went for a swim in the Ocean. We ended up staying out for a couple of hours. It was really fun, in spite of the nasty sea weed that was EVERYWHERE. The girls ended up playing 7 games in 3 days. It was a good experience for them and fun to watch. I wish that we lived a little closer because I love watching them play basketball. The last night we were there, I went down and played games with all the girls. We ended up playing catch phrase - one of my favorite games - and it was a blast. Everyone played and had a fun time...until we were told to be quite by another coach... oops. The only real downfall to the trip was that Austin got sick. I think it was allergies because his eyes were so red and itchy and his nose was constantly running, but now I am afraid it has turned into something more. He now has this wicked cough that is just rattling in his lungs. Hopefully he will get over it and i won't have to take him to the doctor. We ended up getting home Friday night and just hung out. Saturday we cleaned and then that night went to a friends house to play Werewolf with a huge group of people. Sunday was Fast Sunday and Devon's birthday. It was a great day and we had a couple friends over for dinner. I think it was one of the best dinners I have made. It turned out really good. We had walnut and coconut crusted tilapia with fresh mango salsa, rice (that I made with coconut milk with a little cilantro and green onion), snicker salad (apples, crushed snickers, and cool whip), juice and Mat and Meg brought over a wonderful pear and avocado salad. It was a meal fit for a king! The dessert didn't turn out that great, but it tasted good. The rest of the evening we sat around and talked. It was nice and relaxing. This week should be a pretty slow but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Family Fun

Well, as some of you probably know I went up to Yuba City last week to spend time with my family. I got up there on Saturday just in time to set up the last of 3 tents in the back yard so that everyone would have a place to sleep. I wasn't able to stay as long as I thought, but it was fun while it lasted. On Saturday and Sunday we just hung out, ate, chatted, and laughed at the little kids - oh and of course played games. It's pretty much an unwritten rule that when our family gets together we spend a lot of the time playing games! It was a lot of fun, and a lot of crazy. We had all of our 8 siblings there plus all of our children. It was the first time that we had so many people together, we were missing 2 spouses but everyone else was there. There was a total of 19 of us!!! So, if that "gong show" wasn't enough we had decide that on Monday we were going to take it down to the beach and the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Everyone was able to go except my sister Brie who couldn't get out of work. So Monday we left about 11:30 I think, and got to the beach to find perfect weather. The only weird thing was that there were absolutely no waves. I lived in Santa Cruz last summer and went to the beach a lot and I never saw the ocean as calm as it was on Monday. It was nice though, the weather was warm, there was a slight breeze and the water was wonderful. Some of the adults played a game of baseball, while others watched and played with kids. After the game was over me and my sister Ashely went swimming in the ocean. It was so nice. We just sat out in the ocean and floated and talked. We both wished there would have been more waves so we could have played in it, but I guess it was nice just to bob. I could have spent the rest of the day in the water, but Austin woke up from his nap screaming and by the time I got him calmed down everyone was ready to go back to the cars to change for the boardwalk. The boardwalk was a lot of fun. I went on one roller coaster "The Big Dipper" and it was great! I don't even remember the last time I went on a roller coaster. Ashley and I got to sit in the front seat, it was so much fun!!! The rest of the time I just walked around with Grandma and Grandpa, pushing Austin and watching all the grandkids ride rides. They had a great time! We ended up leaving the park at around 10:00 and luckily I wasn't driving because I wouldn't have made it, I would have ended up crashing at my in-laws, but everyone made it home in one piece. It was a great day and one that I am sure i will remember for quite a while.

teeth

So Austin and his teeth, I just don't know what to do. Not that there is a lot that I can do. If you can see in this picture you will notice that he now has 3 bottom teeth. Weird, but whatever. So the other day we noticed (due to the large amounts of drool) that he was teething again. We just figured that it was his 4th bottom tooth coming in, but no. Instead of him being normally weird he is just weird weird. Instead of getting his 4th bottom tooth he got a top tooth, and not just any top tooth, his top k9. As we looked at his teeth on Sunday we noticed that his other K9 seems to be on it's way out too. So our crazy son is going to look like a vampire with 3 bottom teeth and 2 top fangs! Lucky us! But as least he knows how to give good loves!

Jenedy

okay, So when I went to go on my job interview I left Austin with one of our friends, Jenedy. Jenedy and Victor live in the apartments across the street from us. Devon works with Victor and we are all in the same ward. Jenedy is an amazing artist and has recently quit her job as an art teacher and now stays at home and paints. Well, much to my surprise, when I went to the interview she took a couple pictures of Austin, and then that afternoon after we left painted an amazing picture of him! I had no idea she was going to paint him! The first time I saw this I was so stunned. It looks just like him! I talked to her later and she said that we had to come over and see it in person because it is so much better. I can't wait to go see it! So here it is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. THANKS JENEDY! You are so amazingly talented!

If you want to check out more of her paintings you can go to www.jenedypaigepaintings.blogspot.com