Hamilton Happenings

Between running errands and Justin selling our caravan today we decided to take advantage of the good Idaho weather and take Channing's 1 year old pictures.  Let me tell ya...gone are the days were Channing will sit nicely or crawl slowly while Justin snaps some pictures.  We took Channing's pictures at the greenbelt near the Idaho Falls Temple.  For the most part, things went well.  There were no tears from Channing (or me) so all in all it was good.  The way I think about it, if you have one or two nice pictures that are print worthy then you're set.  And thanks to Justin's nice camera and photography skills we have some updated pictures.  Here are just a few.  Channing's face is just hilarious in this picture (above).  This was the first picture Justin took, and you can see how excited Channing is.  He probably spotted some girls in skanky clothes and was thinking, gosh guys it's not that warm yet, put some clothes on!  A...

On March 1st we celebrated Channing's 1st birthday.  We did a sports ball theme with a basketball cake and baseball cake pops.  It was pretty low key but a great day.  Thanks to Google+ the Crawfords and Cici and Papa got to watch Channing open presents and attempt to eat cake.  Channing's favorite toy right now is a John Deere Tractor that Cici and Papa got him.  He is really good at pushing it around.  Sometimes he accidentally pushes a button on the tractor that plays Old McDonald Had a Farm and he'll laugh and bounce to the music.  I love it when he's easily entertained.  It's hard to believe that we have a 1 year old.  He makes us laugh everyday!  And he's so stinkin cute!  We love our Chan-man.  

Now that I've graduated, we took advantage of the possibility to move away from Rexburg. It's a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath home that we're renting in Idaho Falls. We like it. Melissa ended up not feeling too great on the day of the move. But I kept pushing along. The actual move went fairly smooth. A couple guys from Church came to help load up the uHaul. We filled most of the 20-footer within 90 minutes. And then 2 other guys from our new ward/congregation met us in Idaho Falls to help us unpack. The primary living areas are pretty clear. But the 3rd bedroom is loaded with boxes right now. Maybe Channing and I will just keep it as-is to make some awesome box forts or mazes. The home was built in the 50's, so it certainly has some peculiarities. The hardwood floor feels like it has some dry-rot in the hall. I'm sure my foot will go through the floor one of these days.  People must've been much shorter in the 50's, the shower head is mounted fairly ...

People will always judge others on their eating habits. Melissa and I went to a Japanese Hibachi grill for our anniversary dinner in December. That's where someone cooks food on a grill right in front of you and serves it onto your plate. It was a lot of fun. But shortly after we sat down, 4 other adults were seated at our table. It certainly is different dining with strangers. You feel they are judging your eating habits. Example 1:  Our little Japanese cook tossed broccoli off the griddle into our mouths, at least it was supposed to go into our mouths. The first one he threw was to me. I didn't realize what was happening until the food was going through the air. I didn't catch it. He tried again. I still didn't catch it. Then he moved onto Melissa, she was able to catch hers pretty quickly. Then came the judgement: the Japanese cook said " She better than you. " Yes. I'm aware of that. Everyone is aware that she's better than me. Example 2:  I...

Another weekend has come where I have no homework to do. When you no longer have 5 teachers telling you what to do all weekend, you begin to feel a little lost - but pleasantly so. There is certainly a lot of things we could be doing to prep for our move. We did a little bit - but the deadline isn't nearly close enough to justify doing too much work. In our house, if we can't identify an activity to do in a timely matter, we tend to turn to baking. While Channing was taking his nap I helped Melissa with some cookies. But we weren't on the same page. She was halving the recipe, while I was following the full thing. So unfortunately we had to make 6 dozen cookies. Whoops . As the cookies finished baking, Melissa & I sat on the floor for nearly an hour tossing a ball back and forth while Channing played and climbed on us. And then we felt is was finally time to make Channing's head stop looking like a fluffy, baby chick. We gave him his first buzz cut! He lov...

Things are in motion. We've signed a lease for a home in Idaho Falls. We've found new renters to move into our place (in under 5 hours). We've identified some of the things we want to sell before we move. And tonight, we also met our first Craigslist Creeper of 2014. Melissa posted a table on CL for $45, about an hour after that she received a text from someone wanting us to drop the price to $30. She countered with $35. (we bought it for $20). So far things are fairly normal. Melissa arranged for the guy to pick it up at 7pm. A knock came at our door at 7:35 (while we were showing our apartment to the next tenants). I can only assume he arrived late so he would have the element of surprise . I opened the door to a middle-aged man standing 3-4 feet away from our door licking an ice-cream cone in the dark. I invite him in. He just stood there staring at me. I ask if he was here for the table. After his reply, I invited him in again. After pointing him in the direction ...

I cannot believe that 2013 has come to an end.  It was a great year.  Our favorite thing, of course, is adding Channing into our lives.  He is now 10 months old.  Crazy!!  Crawling, pulling himself up on everything, pushing trucks, sleeping through the night (5% of the time HAH), and talking up a storm (not real words of course).  So, yup, our baby is cute.  I think we'll keep him.  Love that smile! In other news....  Justin graduated with a Bachelors in Computer Information Technology.  Woohoo!! Channing is very proud of his dad. He is now working full-time at a company called Netmark which is located in Idaho Falls.  And after searching for a few months and going to see 5 different houses/duplexes we have settled on a house to rent in Idaho Falls.  From the house Justin's work is 2.6 miles away.  6 minutes by car.  14 minutes by bike.  (Thank you google maps.)  I'm looking forward to having him...