The Story of Boone Mortimer

A week ago this sweet little kangaroo-footed baby came to our family (seriously, look at that foot!). His name is Boone. Why Boone? It means good. There is a fairly long story that goes with his name, however, it starts like this. A couple of days before we moved to Texas I sold all of my baby gear to Once Upon a Child for $35. I wasn't planning on a baby soon enough to need it. Then we moved. To Texas. Where we didn't know a soul. A week after that, I found out I was expecting. I was overwhelmed, to put it mildly. But throughout the course of this pregnancy with Boone, I have seen the hand of God at every turn. We have been blessed to have personal experiences that have strengthened my testimony of the Plan of Salvation and of the Lord's timing of life. I also know, without a doubt, that Heavenly Father is acutely aware of each of our individual situations and needs. And He is ready to send us aid by way of comfort, family and friends, to strengthen us, and cause us to stand. And do you know what? That is GOOD. And because we have been so impacted by the goodness of this life, this is Boone.

I don't know where he could possibly be traveling to in this little trunk. But I do think I will go along with him. I'm totally up for some adventure. Let me just grab a little caffeine and I'm on my way. Really, not tired at all. Let's adventure. For reals, let's go. I'm totally up for it.

p.s. My sweet Mama made that doggy afghan. And my friend, Ashley, took these beautiful pictures. How it pays to associate with talented people. :)

Back to School Times Two.

It's that time of year again.


Lindy started second grade this year, and apparently tried out for America's Next Top Model at the same time. She is looking forward to the school year and loves her teacher. On one of the first days of school, her teacher, Mrs. Schaaf, had a scorpion in her lunchbox. So far that's the biggest thing to come out of second grade. And personally, I don't see how anything is going to top that.


Hank is in a neighborhood preschool co-op. We rotate houses between some of his little friends. So far he is loving it and really coming out of his shell. I've known he is a crazy kid for some time. I'm just happy he can share some of his happy crazy with others now. A mom of one of the girls told me that her daughter has a crush on Hank. But really, how could she not, right? Until he toots on her (remember this unfortunate event), or maybe she'll find that endearing? I know that's what sealed the deal for Matt and me. :)

A Laundry List of Summer Fantasticness

This is an effort to update my blog. I can't guarantee that it will stay updated, but every effort will be made. I promise. Sort of.

This summer was fantastic. We started it off by heading to Corpus Christi to the beach.


Is that hard to read? It says Lindy loved the waves, Hank loved the sand. I loved soaking in the rays, the family, and eating sandy Doritos. I've decided there's not much better than a sand-filled sandwich on the beach. We'll make more trips there for sure. I did not, however, love the way the car smelled the next day, which happened to be a Sunday. It was as if we brought home some seagull family's garbage. The ride to church was just long enough and hot enough for the putrid smell to bake into our skin and clothes. I'm sure everyone at church was super jealous of our beach garbage perfume.

A few weeks into summer, Hankster the Gangster broke his arm. I put on Facebook that he base-jumped down the stairs, but I was just making it sound more adventurous than it was. He tripped on his own foot and fell. He didn't appreciate me or anyone saying otherwise either. He didn't want adventure where adventure didn't exist. Honest to a fault. Here he is all healed.


The other highlight of our summer was our two week, heavenly trip to Idaho. Along with the recap of this trip, I have a warning for you all to heed. When you use your ipod to take all of your pictures on a trip, you should not then let your two year old play with your ipod unsupervised, lest they delete the app you used to take pictures with and all the pictures get sucked into Never-not-ever-to-be-seen-again Land. But the trip was as awesome as we had built it up to be. Seeing family and friends, cool evenings, ah.. It was truly good for my soul. Here are some pictures I took with my mind.

*Insert hilarious images of children in a backseat covered in cheeto dust.
*Insert beautiful mountain scene of our family's gorgeous cabin with family gathered around laughing until our sides hurt and eating until our sides would surely burst.
*Insert fun pictures of cousins who stayed up late laughing, little ninjas striking poses of fury, kids getting thrown into an ice-cold lake and loving it, and images of all of us getting to shoot Andy's rad guns.

See? Aren't those pictures awesome? And guess what? They don't even do the trip justice at all. It was fantastic.

The rest of our summer was spent eating popsicles while listening to me complain about how hot it was, soaking in our backyard pool, Sea World just about every weekend, (also while listening to me complain about how hot it was...catching a theme? :)), making new friends, and making faces.


Oh yes, and getting ready for the baby. Which, consequently, Luke thinks is him. A rude awakening is around the corner for that big boy baby.

Sacre Bleu! Luke Turned Two!

So in May, Luke turned two. This is how I found him on the morning of his big day.

He was feeding the baby Luke in the picture in that frame. I'm just glad the dresser drawer held up long enough to get the picture.
Luke is a total monkey and he's definitely two.


He has a keen sense of fashion, as witnessed in this after-church shot. Hawt shoes, no?


He loves to make us laugh, and he's super good at it. We love him to bits.

It's a....

Yesterday was ultrasound day!


We found out. The baby is a BOY! We are so excited, elated, ready to coach T-Ball and host wrestle-mania for the rest of our lives!


There is a shot of his bum. It's a picture of a picture, so you have to use a little imagination, but believe me. It's a boy. :)

The doctor scared me a little when she asked if I had had another ultrasound done to rule out twins. HUH!? Don't worry, there's only one, but apparently he is an acrobat. He was flipping flips and turning somersaults and cartwheels. All while flailing his arms and legs. The doctor wasn't sure if it was him doing gymnastics or if she was seeing two heads. She took extra time looking around before concluding that there is only one baby, but said that he is the quickest baby she has ever seen. What an honor. My ribs and pelvis really look forward to him getting up to eight or nine pounds and practicing his aerial routine. Something tells me I will be the whiniest pommel horse in history.

The good news is she froze a lot of frames to study while determining he's the only one in there. So we came home with his first photo album already filled!

When we told the kids they did say that they wanted a girl, but it only took a few seconds for them to bounce back and be really excited for the boy. They were tossing around name ideas. They both really like Harry or Larry because then his name would rhyme with Harry Potter. Um, nope. Then Hank thought General Grievous would be pretty cool because the baby could have two light sabers. Um, nope. There were some equally helpful suggestions; Danny, because then the baby could be a ghost (like Danny Phantom), Han or Chewie, because we already have Luke Skywalker, Alvin, the favorite chipmunk, or Mario or Luigi, after our favorite Wii game. I don't know what we are going to name him, but I'm pretty sure it will be from that list. Because all of those are awesome.

We are feeling blessed. He looked healthy, he seemed happy, I am tickled blue that he's on his way. :)

My Heavens! She's Seven!

Lindy Lou. She went and turned all seven on me.

Happy birthday to our spunky, outgoing, brave little kittykat.
Love you more than ice cream, Lindy!
xoxox

A Sunday for Heart Pills

I am so glad I lived through yesterday. On several occasions throughout the day I had what had to be mini heart attacks. Let me explain.

We were asked to speak in church yesterday, one of my least favorite assignments. I think that might be everyone's least favorite assignment. I've never heard of anyone spontaneously bursting into the YMCA dance upon hearing they are going to speak. Maybe though. There are some crazies out there. Anyway, that alone had my heart all nervous and fluttery. Add to that yesterday was Matt's first day of all day meetings. Which meant my first day of getting the kids and myself ready and to church on time. Especially difficult since we all know the measure of how good your talk will go is how good your hair looks, right? But somehow we managed to get all church clothes on, all hair looking decent, and all bags and people packed and loaded in the car. Things were going along fine. Until a police officer pulled on behind me on a narrow road. I slowed down, used my blinkers, but he still followed me. Then we stopped at a light. I was probably 5 cars back at the light and he stopped behind me and put on his lights! GASP! The kids were in a dither. I was in a panic. My heart could hardly stand the shock. He got out. At the light. What if it turned green? Could I hurry and go before he got up to me? I started rolling down my window, praying the light would go green. How would he have time to tell me what I was doing wrong if traffic started moving? He got about even with the gas tank, then suddenly stooped and picked something up off the ground, and threw it over to the side of the road. He then turned around, got back in the car, and turned off his lights. I nearly fainted from relief. The light turned and we made it to church.

The talks went fiiiine. And by that I mean they are over. The best part of the day was that Hank stayed to primary by himself for the first time since we moved here. Four months, you say? Yes. Hank is a new brand of shy. Those of you who know him personally know that he is an introvert in every sense of the word. That is probably why the next event gave my heart the biggest jolt of all.

The Primary President is really one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She is soft spoken, mild mannered, and just kind, kind, kind. She has one little boy and a baby due in May. I don't think her kid is old enough to have ever really shown her what he's capable of. After church she came up to me and wondered how Hank had done on his own. The kids were just waiting angelically by the door in the foyer, most of the crowd had filtered out already. So she and I were talking about how brutally shy poor, poor little Hank is. At the exact moment that I was saying, "He's just the shyest kid I know..." He decided to prove my point. Hank backed his bum up to Lindy and let one rip. Then he proudly turned to Lindy's face and exclaimed loudly, "LINDY! I TOTALLY FARTED ON YOU!!!" Lindy and Hank collapsed into heaps of giggling piles on the floor. I had a heart attack right there and looked apologetically to the primary president. She looked as if she was about to faint. I muttered something about being sorry and she mumbled, horrified, that it was okay. But I could tell she didn't believe it. I knew I would have to scold Hank right there in front of the meek primary president, because I knew she would never stand for behavior like this in her home, let alone the church. As I leaned in close to Hank and said firmly, "Hank, we do not fart on our sister at church," what little restraint I had been clinging to snapped and suddenly I was a giggling heap as well. The primary president looked close to vomiting. I really tried to compose myself, but I think we've left the impression we are going to leave on her. Let's just say I don't think we came out smelling like roses.


So there you have it. We survived what had to be the most eventful Sunday in some time. I may need to start carrying nitroglycerin tablets in my church bag. Also, I think our Family Home Evening should probably address which bodily functions are acceptable where. Do you think I could find a good download for not farting in church on lds.org?

April Foolio-io

Remember last year when I pulled this hi-jink and we all laughed and laughed? Good times, good times. I swear I didn't plan this specifically just to announce on April Fools Day, but I can't deny the timing. So here goes:

Baby on the way!! Coming to a Texas near you in late September or early October!

OH! And there's a spider on your shoulder!

*that last bit, about the spider? THAT's my April Fools. Gotcha. Well, honestly probably not right? Because let's face it, I can't see your shoulder.

Remember When I Used to Blog? What Happened to That?

Oh hello. It's been... a while. I could launch into a myriad of excuses. But I won't. I will say, I finally found my camera cord! Tucked neatly in my underwear drawer. I really think the packers had an excellent time messing with us. Not that I'm complaining, at least I didn't have to pack it myself. But if I would have, I probably would have kept like items together(not tellin' the packers how to do their job or anything. :)) And finding my camera cord in my undies drawer did shed some light on the problem I've had of not being able to find one of my favorite shirts. It must be out in the garage tucked neatly in with Matt's wrenches and pipe glue. Duh! It also explains why they carefully wrapped some rocks, they were obviously sending some mementos of home, little sweeties. And how they somehow wrapped and packed some of their own garbage. I had been warned to have my own garbage out of the way, but imagine my surprise when I opened a box of theirs. Well, "losers weepers finders keepers, guys." That's my garbage now!

Speaking of unconventional packing, look what I found in my box of dishes. Crazy! At least it looks like there were some snacks in there with them.



Here is the amount of snow it takes to shut down the entire city. They closed schools. They closed the Air Force base, which meant they closed Matt's office too. They even closed certain highways and roads. It was a fabulous snow day. Too bad they only happen once in a blue moon here.

Here is where we have been spending a majority of our Saturdays. Sea World rocks. They have a huge play place for kids to just run around, bunches of rides, an entire water park, and of course the shows with Shamu and dolphins. Lindy got to pet a dolphin the first time we went. It was amazing. That same trip we saw the Shamu show and I got completely soaked. Like head to toe drenched by that enormous and magnificent animal. Luckily I had chosen to wear a white shirt. I made 47 dollars in singles while waiting to dry.


Look at Luke. Something happened to him yesterday. Besides me wiping that yogurt off his face. We roll dirty faced most of the time around here, it's the Texas way. That's so not true. But it is our way.

I was the same amount of happy about this haircut taking place.

But all's well that ends well. I think he looks quite dapper, even if he does look like a completely different kid.

So that's it. That's my big update. I could put in pictures of the roses in my yard to try to make you jealous, but this post is getting long as it is. I could post pictures of my tan line that I've earned walking to get Lindy from school whilst my eyeballs sweat in the 90 degree heat and 400% humidity, but I hate to brag (obviously). I could also post pictures of my sweat-soaked clothes and hot-pink face from the same walks, but I didn't take any because that would be super embarrassing. Let's just say it's warm here. And y'all should come visit. I promise I won't make you walk to get Lindy. And if I do I promise not to take any pictures.

We're Therrre.

Name the movie the title comes from and win a possible real prize from San Antonio (but surprise, the prize will be a gecko, which may or may not survive the mailing).

We did it. We arrived. We are there. I guess I will just do a quick wrap-up? Could be long, might be boring, will definitely be worth it. Actually, I have no right to promise it will be worth it. But I can promise long. And I hereby promise boring. With that super enthusiasm, let's get started!!

THE MOVE 2011:

I guess I'll start at the beginning. We've been worried/just really thinking about Matt's job for the last six or so months. Things at the site are shaky, and Matt has been contracting with the site. The company he was contracted out to was announcing sweeping layoffs and we weren't sure what that would mean for us. So we aced up (I know aced up is not a term but it's okay because I didn't help with his resume, so it had no made up terms in it) his resume and put it on monster and kind of forgot about it. A few months ago we had contacted a few friends in the oil industry and were really thinking that was where we were headed. Texas seemed like it was heavy on our minds for some reason. And then in late November, a company called Booz Allen Hamilton called and wanted to do an interview. The position was in San Antonio, Tx, as a contractor for the air force (should that be capitalized?). Matt said that the interview would give him good practice, he wasn't really interested in moving for a company we hadn't even heard of. So he interviewed. He was offered the position the next day. We kind of laughed it off, but told ourselves we would give it a few days to think about it. And... here we are. I really feel like we are supposed to be here. We did some research and Booz Allen (i need a t-shirt that says booz) is a great company to work for. I can't deny the things that went on during our decision making that led us to come here. So ... here we are. :)

Packing, not so fun. Saying goodbye to people I love and will only communicate with over the internets and Christmas cards, not so fun. We hit a few snags along the way, I suppose one of the worst was when the moving semi got stuck in our driveway after loading all of our earthly possessions. After three hours, an industrial-sized tow truck came and pulled him out. It was awesome. Or when we took the car in for a "trip inspection" and came out $1200 dollars later. Also awesome. But all of that is over now. The drive here took 26-ish hours from Idaho Falls. I dropped Matt off at the airport for a week of training in Virginia and drove to my sister's house in the SLC area. We spent the night and then my dear, sweet, saint-of-a-woman sister drove with me to San Antonio. It went much better than I expected it to. I dare say that I even had *gasp* fun. The kids did great, thanks to Amy, the portable DVD player, and the dollar store. After two 11 hour days in the car, we rolled into San Antonio late Tuesday night after staying the previous night in Albuquerque, NM. And no offense if you love to vacation there, but New Mexico didn't do it for me. Land of enchantment? Really? That's your slogan, New Mexico? More like Land of nochantment (oooh, clever Carol).

We took half the day Wednesday getting the key and getting to our new rental house. We had to buy a fridge, and it didn't get delivered until Friday. The kids have never eaten so much Easy Mac. The rest of our stuff got here that Friday too. Now we're just working on unpacking and getting life going down here.

Matt is liking his job. His commute is about a half an hour to 45 minutes in traffic. The office where he works has two big jets parked/mounted in the parking lot and the building is carnation pink. The entire building is an oxymoron, right? Pink, with cammo jets out front? By far my favorite detail so far.

Our house is pretty close to Lackland Air Force Base, so cool jets and big planes fly over our house throughout the day. We went to pick up Matt from work yesterday, his office is minutes from the base, and jets were taking off right over our heads, we could hear all the noises and everything.

Lindy has started school and I think she loves it. She's made some little friends already and her teacher is really nice. I think she is getting adjusted. They have a music class that they go to once a week, and she is thrilled about it.

I do have some cool pictures, but I can't find the cable to my camera...so I will have to post all the pictures later. I'm lame. I'm sorry. I just wanted to let ya'll (eh? eh?) know that we made it and that a cool post is coming soon. I promise. Please don't leave!
Oh also, I wanted to let you know that I am slowly getting around to all the blogs I've missed. They make me a little homesick though, so it might be a while. :)