Life As I Know It

This picture describes James personality perfectly. I love it.

Tomorrow is the dreaded day. Life as I know it is going to be a changing. Today is my last joyous day of summer. Tomorrow it's back to work. Don't get me wrong, I do really like my job, but I kind of love my Jamesy a little more. Okay, let's be honest, a whole lot more. He simply makes me happy. Happier than ice cream on a hot day or any day really or waking up without an alarm. I love having my own little family.

Family pic at the Fiesta Days Rodeo.

And this summer has just been the best. Nothing big or fancy, yet a little slice of heaven if you ask me. No we didn't go on any exotic vacations. No foreign countries or beach resorts. Actually we didn't even step foot outside of the state. But it was exactly what I wanted. Spending every minute enjoying my sweet, crazy, big blue eyed, blonde curly haired bundle of joy as he soaked in and discovered the joys of summer like a sponge. We spent our days eating otter pops, throwing rocks, going on wagon rides, splashing through water, and playing at the park.


We love his curls and refuse to cut his hair even if it is getting a little mullety.





He sure does love his otter pops. Just like his mom and dad.

We celebrated his first year of life and saw him quickly leap from the safe confinements of babyhood to a tornado whirlwind of chaos they call toddlerhood where he now climbs everything with lightning speed, turns a room upside down faster than I can blink, screams and pounds his fists and kicks his feet when he isn't allowed to use the laptop keys as his own personal drum, yet still manages to melt my heart on a daily (more like hourly) basis.

Our crazy toddler walking around with his drum sticks aka spoons.

I witnessed many milestones in his life this summer. His first steps, his first camping trip, him figuring out how to fall asleep all by himself, (Hallelujah) his personal discovery that he absolutely loves cheese, his first big injury (Fell out of a laundry basket onto hard tile split his chin open. Lots of blood but no stiches) and his first word besides mama and dada: Jesus. He has a picture of Jesus in his room and he always smiles at it and says Jesus. Sure he can't even make it through sacrament at church without having to be out in the foyer ripping up bulletin boards and eating flies from underneath the drinking fountain. But he says Jesus. It is probably the cutest thing in the whole world.

A few of Jamesy's favorite things all rolled into one: camping, his wagon, rocks, and water. Makes for one happy boy.


I'm sure going to miss lazy afternoons spent at 7 Peaks with my boys.

So yes this summer has been perfect. No I don't know who won SYTYCD. I didn't have a fave dance, dancer or even watch a full episode. I'm not sporting a glowing tan. I didn't even make it to my dinner clubs big pot luck pool party. (I am a little bummed about that one.) Yes I did (or at least should have) swept my kitchen floor after every meal,(James would much rather warm up his pitching arm than eat his food these days) washed sticky hands and faces constantly, straightened up toys and books just to have them thrown about in a matter of seconds, changed my fair share of diapers on a child who doesn't like to hold still ever, and rearranged my schedule around naptime. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Summer 2011 rocked my world. Being with my baby boy was enough for me. In fact, it was everything.

Who wouldn't love waking up to this face every morning? Since James usually doesn't wake up until 9, I'm sure going to miss this.

So it was just the other day I had a sweet cuddly newborn baby boy. And now I have a giant baby monster.If you don't believe me, see the picture below. A six month old who is in to everything, rolls onto his belly immediately when it is time for a diaper change or to get dressed, wears 12 month clothes, sits up, stands up, scoots backwards and in circles, attempts to eat anything and everything within his path, laughs pretty much on command, has a smile that melts my heart, weighs nearly 20 pounds and is in the 95 percentile for height. Seriously where did the time go? The past 6 months have flown by. And the funny thing about it is that when I first brought my little bundle of joy home it seemed like time was going so slowly. I literally felt like I was feeding the little big guy all day and night. That is all I did. It was a huge adjustment for me at first. I was used to a super busy schedule where I was able to go out and about freely. Being at home and inside by myself with a newborn all day everday took some getting used to. It's a good thing it was summer and we could at least take advantage of the weather and go on a walk or two. I swear those breaths of fresh air saved me. Don't get me wrong. I have absolutely and completely loved my sweet baby boy more than I ever thought possible. But adjusting to motherhood was harder than I thought. I was always worried about everything! Is he eating enough? too much? is he hot? cold? sick? breathing? bored? overstimulated? etc. I was always doubting myself as a mother even though I was doing the best that I could. Now that I look back on these times of uneasiness and doubt I really miss them. I wish I would have spent less time worrying and more time taking it all in. Taking in the fact that I am a mother(the greatest calling a woman can have) to the sweetest baby boy imaginable. My mom has always said that the greatest time in her life was raising her children. Now I am starting to understand what she meant. The past six months have been the greatest of my life. More than I could ever ask for. My sweet baby James makes life so magical. It blows my mind everyday that he is mine. It's crazy how much he has grown and changed in such a short time. You always worry about your baby hitting their milestones, but then when they do you wish you could go back. Go back and experience everything again right up to those first tender moments when they lay your baby in your arms and they cuddle sweetly next to you and you can just tell that they came straight down from your Heavenly Father. I've been doing a lot of reminiscing the past week or so as I've had a nice much needed break from work. It all started when I decided it was time to pack up James' newborn, 0-3, and 3-6 month clothes in order to make room for the abundance of new things he would be receiving for Christmas. I've been putting this off for awhile and boy was it tough for me. With each outfit, onesie, pair of tiny shoes, it seemed like there was a memory attached.

Like the time my baby first smiled at me in his lil' buckaroo onesie with the picture of his dad riding my favorite horse Carl. Or bringing him home from the hospital in his Griffindor onesie. Or putting his little cowboy boots on for his first photoshoot. Or, even those giant greenish blue hospital binkies that took up practically his whole face. Oh how he loved those.

And now he won't even take a binkie. Oh how things have changed. He got his first ride on toy for Christmas. It's a purple and green dinosaur that he can sit on or stand behind and push. He loves it. Can't work it by himself yet, but loves for me to push him on it. This picture isn't very good proof that he likes it but I promise he does.
Checking out his new presents at Grandma's house.

Oh and he got his first gun. Not to my knowledge of course. Jared bought it for him. It's a high powered air soft gun. Really Jared just bought it for himself, but since it was Christmas and all, wrapped it up and put James name on it. Let's just say I was a little shocked when James, assisted by myself, opened it up. But I'm sure in the blink of an eye James will be old enough to use it.

You would think with all the new things he got this kid would be set. But he would much rather play with the wrapping paper. We sure do love this baby monster.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Feeling Grateful

Fall Break is here and I am happily relaxing on the couch with my sleeping baby snuggled against my chest and my little puppy rolled up in a ball next to us. It is so beautiful to me. It is so nice to just be home and have a couple days off. I do love my job and working with children, but having my own child has changed things a lot. I would much rather be spending my time with my sweet baby boy. I have found a whole new respect for full time working moms. I only have one child and I think it is so hard. But that's not the point of my blog post. I just feel so grateful to those people in my life who are willing to help. I went back to work full time on Sept. 24. I was so not excited. It was nice to have some time off at the beginning of the school year. And thanks to my good friend Marnie, I didn't even have to worry about my class. She just took care of it and I felt completely comfortable with my students in her care. The transition of going back to work has been hard, but so far I am surviving thanks to some help from others. My mom and sister, Rachelle, have both graciously given of their time to each watch James once a week. I am so impressed by their kindness. They do it for free and both of them work full time themselves, and Rachelle goes to school as well. Their jobs are a little more flexible so they are able to take a day off each week to watch my sweet baby boy and then make it up by staying late other days or working weekends. Can you believe how wonderful they are? It seriously amazes me. It is so comforting to be at work and know that my baby is being taken good care of. And I'm not going to lie, it's nice to come home to a spotless house when my mom babysits. My dad is also pretty amazing. He comes to see James any chance that he gets and since James was just a little fella my dad has watched him on Saturdays for an hour or two so that my mom and I can go shopping because Jared is always gone up the mountain or at a horse sale every Saturday. I love seeing how much my parents love James and how James's face lights up when he sees them. And Griff would totally live with my parents if he had the chance. He loves them more than anything. I am so lucky to have such a great family. I am also grateful to Jared for being with our little sweetheart three days a week. He doesn't always dress him in matching clothes or even remember to put pants on him, but I do know that he loves the little guy. We also have some great friends that we can rely on. Hannah has watched James several times and Amera is there for us too. And I know that my sister-in-laws are always willing to help. We truly appreciate everyone's kindness. And now on to some pictures.

I love my two babies so much. They are really starting to love each other too.

James look a lot like his daddy. Good thing they're both so handsome.

James and his grandma have such a special bond already. She brings him a new present every time she sees him, lucky guy.

James and the man he is named after. I know grandpa can't wait to shoot hoops with this little man.

James and his Aunt Shel. He even ran his first 5k to support her. Of course she was the winner and James came in almost dead last with his mom and Grandpa pushing him in the stroller, poor guy.

My Heaven On Earth

First family photo

James with his triplet cousins

He loves to snuggle
One month photo


We made a cake to celebrate his first month of life

Dressed up for church

The newborn clothes are getting a little tight for our muscle man

James with his mom and dad after his blessing

It has been awhile since I last blogged and I need to get that creepy pig off the top of my page so here it goes. The last week of October 2009 (when I last blogged) was the hardest week of my life. I got the swine flu and felt sicker than I ever had before, then a couple days later my little brother died in a car accident, and to top it all off I found out I was pregnant and the high fevers and meds I was on could be harmful to the baby. Don't get me wrong. I was excited to have a baby, just nervous that I had already harmed my baby during its first month in the womb. My brother's death has been hard. I think about him every single day. He was a great person and my life will never be the same. But whenever I thought of my baby during pregnancy, I always pictured him up in Heaven being cared for by his Uncle Trevor. This brought me much comfort. At 20 weeks we found out we would be having a boy and that he looked healthy and strong. I was so relieved that he had 2 eyes and a nose and that all of his parts seemed to be functioning properly. My pregnancy really wasn't too bad, other than being ridiculously tired all the time and week 22 where I passed out 3 times at school. I think my first graders thought I was crazy. Once school got out I had about 2 1/2 weeks of summer to prepare for baby. I now realize I should've slept more during that time, but instead I became a crazy nester. My house never looked better and I was so ready for my baby boy to arrive. When my water broke at 4:00 in the afternoon the day before his due date, I thought he would be right on time. No such luck. After 37 plus hours of labor, my sweet boy finally came out screaming at 5:20 am on June 16. There are no words to describe how I felt when I first saw him, heard him cry, held him close, etc. I instantly fell in love with my swollen, battered and bruised bundle of joy. He truly is my heaven on earth. I can't get enough of my sweet, sweet boy. He has been the biggest blessing. After much debate, lists, and disagreements, we named him James Warren Neves, which I love. James is my dads first name (even though he doesn't go by it) and my brother Trevor's middle name. Warren is Jared's middle name. I am so honored to have my baby boy named after such great men that mean so much to me. So sweet baby James is now nearly 8 weeks old. Life with him couldn't be better. (Well maybe so if we could get him to sleep through the night) I love being a mom and watching my little guys every move. Currently he is snuggled against me sound asleep, breathing deeply, smiling on occasion. I love listening to him breathe, smelling his hair, kissing his chubby cheeks, seeing him smile and coo, giving him a bath, spending every moment with him. I feel so blessed to have such a beautiful gift from God. Motherhood with sweet baby James is grand.

Life Goes On (Well Let's Hope So)

I'm stuck at home in bed with the swine flu. Not fun. Not fun AT ALL! I realized I haven't blogged since the summer so here it goes. I started feeling sick last weekend. Jared and I went up to Jackson Hole for Fall Break and I just felt a little out of it. I was so exhausted and cold and blah. I drank a bunch of cough medicine every night to knock me out, and it worked. By the time we got back I felt like I was getting better. On Monday and Tuesday things seemed pretty normal, except for I wasn't sleeping at night. I thought it was just because I had a lot on my mind and I was really stressed out because I had a final, a final paper and a presentation due in my masters class on Wednesday. By Wednesday I had a horrid cough and I was still exhausted, plus my whole body ached. I barely made it through the school day on Thursday. I think even my first graders felt bad for me. I got a sub for Friday, made my sub plans, and headed for home. I layed down for about a half hour and I woke up feeling more awful. My mom and sister came to pick me up because we had tickets to see Thriller at Kingsbury Hall and I was determined to go. I love Thriller and had greatly been looking forward to seeing it. Unfortunately I was in pretty bad shape. They took one look at me and decided I better stay home. Even my own puppy was scared to death of me.
I proceeded to sleep for the next 20 or so hours before I finally mustered up what little strength I had to go to my doctors appointment. After waiting forever they finally called my name. I had a temperature of 102 and I know I looked like a wreck. The doctor took one look at me and said, "You must be feeling a little bit worse than just sick." And I was. He checked me out, did some tests, and diagnosed me with swine flu. He couldn't give me an antibiotic because it only works in the first 48 hours and I've probably had it longer than that. So, he prescribed a strong cough medicine, ibuprofen 800, and tylenol 1000. He recommended that I take all of next week off of work. I would love to except for I still have to write sub plans each day, organize my classroom, make copies, etc. each day, and we have SEP Conferences on Thursday from 3:30-9:00. Plus I have my masters class on Wednesday, which I can't afford to miss. I know I'm feeling sorry for myself, but the swine flu sucks! The pain meds have done wonders for me though. I've actually slept really well and my head is no longer pounding and I don't feel like I've been hit by a semi. It's still a struggle to move. I went downstairs once today to get some Sprite and that was enough for me. I literally felt like I had outdone myself.
The worst part about this is that my whole family is in Logan right now, including my brother who I never see, visiting my grandma and my favorite cousin Dillon, who is in town from Boise. We always make an annual trip to Logan in the fall to visit the pumpkin walk, view the canyon at it's best, enjoy a pumpkin shake at Charlie's, eat at Sabor and Maddox, shop, laugh, go to the USU game, or whatever else we feel like doing. I'm stuck at home in bed and probably will be for awhile. My husband is on top of a mountain as usual. My little Griffy guy is where I want to be. My mom insisted on taking him to Logan with the rest of the fam. She didn't want him catching the swine flu from me. I think she loves the little guy just as much as me. But since she doesn't read my blog I have to say, I think my dad is Griff's #1, closely followed by her. I'm pretty sure Jared and I tie for third. Hopefully I'm over and done with swine flu in time for Halloween. It's one on my favorite times of the year. I love to dress up and I think Jared and I have a pretty clever idea for our costumes this year. Since this post is just as depressing as my swined flued life right now, here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately.

We still think Griff is the greatest puppy in the world!

I had a bday in September and we celebrated in Park City.

My bro and his wife Monica found out they are pregnant with triplets!

We went on a really long hike looking for elk. Griff loved the mud but not so much the hike. I carried him the whole way up.

We carved this (well mostly Jared) rad pumpkin but only came in second place at the Neves Family Pumpkin Carving Contest. Thanks a lot Grandpa Woody.

Jared's art teachers dad painted the murals inside the famous Cowboy bar in Jackson.

Enjoying a beautiful afternoon at town square in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Grand Teton National Park was my favorite.

We watched Old Faithful errupt at Yellowstone. We also saw moose, lots of elk and antelope, but no bears.

San Fran and Such

This past week we took a nice little family vacay to northern California. We rented an Astro van, piled in, and took off for an 11 hour drive. We finally arrived at my aunt and uncles house in Tracy, CA at about 1:30 am. The next day we headed to San Fransisco. We went to Fisherman's Warf first. We were entertained by the the seals, watched some interesting street performers, and ate lunch at Boudin's Sourdough Cafe. Next we headed up to the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, it was like the coldest and windiest day ever in San Fransisco, so it was hard to really enjoy the bridge. It was so cold that my mom, dad, and brother Trevor all purchased matching San Fransisco jackets to try and stay warm. And the fog was so thick that you couldn't even see half of the bridge. We walked on the bridge for awhile, but eventually turned back because of the bitter cold. After that we went downtown, drove down Nob Hill, and went to Chinatown. I love San Fransisco and wish that the weather would have been slightly more enjoyable. I have been there many times and it is always a little windy and cool, but never as bad as it was this time.




After San Fran we headed to my Aunt Diana and Uncle Mark's lake house. I love their lake house and was so excited to be back. Jared and I got the best room. We were downstairs and our room exited right unto the lake. The weather at the lake house was much better than San Fran. We spent two full days on the lake boating, wakeboarding, surfing behind the boat, tubing, jumping on the water tramp, catching fish, swimming, cliff jumping, pattle boating, kayaking, and of course plenty of eating. I'm actually starting to improve my wakeboarding skills. Maybe someday I will catch up with Jared.
We went back to Mark and Diana's house on Saturday evening and spent the night swimming in their pool and lounging in the hot tub. Jared enjoyed an intense game of horse with my 11 year old cousin Heather and barely came out a winner.




On Sunday we went to church and my cousins Heather and Anna played a piano duet in sacrament meeting. The happiest little baby sat in front of us and he loved Jared and I. We were entertained by him the entire meeting. Then we all headed to San Jose to have dinner with my Aunt Sherry and Uncle Billy and their family. Jared and I took the little kids on a nice relaxing Sunday stroll.
We took the long drive home on Monday morning but it ended up going by pretty quickly. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Lake Tahoe, Donners Pass, Reno, and of course my personal fave, Wendover.
We arrived safely back in good old Spanish Fork and were happily reunited with our little Griffy Guy. Thanks again Kim and Will for putting up with our crazy canine. And as if we hadn't had enough quality family time, we attended the open house of the Oquirrh Mt Temple with my entire fam on Tuesday. It was good to see Dustin and Monica since they were unable to go on the Cali trip with the fam. We also got to see our best buddies Lindsay and Austin and walk through the temple with them. Unfortunately the temple was wall to wall with people and it took us two hours to walk through it. But it was so beautiful and there is no place I would rather be than the temple.

This summer has been wonderful. I am so sad to see it end. And sad to say I didn't accomplish much this summer. Time always goes by way too fast in the summer. So I guess it's back to school. I'm kind of nervous about this school year because I'm starting my master's program and coaching a high school bball team, and of course dealing with the bizarre and unique needs of twenty something first graders each day. I think it might be a busy year. Plus I have my puppy and husband to care for. But I couldn't be happier. I hesitantly look forward to all the chaos, challenges, and new experiences that the 2009-2010 school year will bring.

Oh summer! I'm really going to miss this....


and of course this.