Here we go

So I got a few free minutes before Church starts so I thought I'd type up a blog post. Warning, it'll probably be one of those random ones. It's just much easier to type this way. -Baby #2 is due any day. A few weeks ago we got an ultrasound and the kid was in the breech position. We sent out a mass text to our family to pray for him. The next day we had a doctor's appointment and after the doctor talked with us for 20 minutes about the problems with breech and c-sections he felt Emmy's stomach and sure enough the kid turned the right way. That was a huge blessing for us. At that same ultrasound his stomach was 2 weeks too small and then the last ultrasound we found out that his stomach caught up. So that means that Emmy won't need to get induced tomorrow which was going to happen if his stomach had stayed small. This little guy has given us some neat experiences. -I'm not that nervous about this one as I was with Jimmer. We've done a lot of things to prepare. Emmy will have 3 solid weeks of help between me being home, Jenny, Becky, and my mom helping out. Jamie's volunteered to help out a few days as well. We're really grateful for everyone helping Emmy out with Jimmer and the new guy. If anyone else wants to take Jimmer for a few hours the week of Feb. 11th through the 15th we'd really appreciate it. So we've done a lot to prepare like clean the house, set up everything, and get other things in order that we know from the first time will help out. With Lily's help Emmy made freezer meals that should last us 3 weeks as well. I'm not looking forward to going through the whole not getting sleep thing again but I'm just so excited about having another son and going through that whole newborn stage again. It'll be really fun to see Jimmer with the new guy. We haven't settled on a name and what Emmy likes changes every other day but I think we have 4 or 5 names that will at least be on the consideration list. -So baby stuff has been occupying my mind and life lately but there have been some other things going on as well. The job is going well, I've gotten some good sales. They've let us use our company card the last 2 weekends to go on some dates. So we went to La Jolla and dropped over $100 and Texas Roadhouse and dropped over $60. We also saw the Hobbit and went out to ice cream. I liked the Hobbit. I didn't like it much as I saw it and right after but the day after I liked it. The Misty Mountains song got stuck in my head for like a day. The Hobbit definitely had a familiar Lord of the Rings feel to it which is why I liked it. I despise the Goblin King and Brown Wizard, though. The Goblin King was like the dude in Phantom Menace, not Jar Jar but his leader. We saw The Bourne Legacy last week, I didn't really like that. I haven't liked Jeremy Renner because I HATED Mission Impossible 4. We saw that on the way back from Europe and I thought it was one of the lamest movies I've ever seen. Ever since then I just haven't liked Renner. With the Bourne Legacy I just don't think it had the same feel as the Bourne Identity. I also think it's getting old, I mean how many secret organizations are there? It's kind of the same story over and over. -Jamie and Colby both got engaged. I really like their fiances so they'll be good additions to the family. I'm also looking forward to when they'll have kids so that our kids will have more cousin buddies. We'll be out in CB the first week of May. I'm still trying to figure out if it'll be too cold for jet skiing or not. -So last winter Utah had it pretty mild, this winter we've been getting a ton of snow which we have really needed. It's also been really cold which I could do without but if there's snow with the cold then it's a little more acceptable. We did get freezing rain the other day which is really foreign to Utah, it was really slick. Well, that's all. At least it's something, right?!

Don't be a hero, Kasey

Jimmer Dancing to Whoomp! (There It Is)

QB U

Emmy suggested that I blog so I thought I'd be a good husband and obey. I'm in one of those moods to just write random thoughts and brush off being cohesive. -Tonight was fun at mutual. We went to BYU's recycling maze. I had fun timing the deacons as they ran through and organizing their races. I told Emmy that I really hope I'm in the ym presidency again when Jimmer's a deacon. -I love fall weather. I love how each week it gets cooler and cooler and how the trees slowly change colors. Tonight it was low 50's, high 40's. I have great memories for each part of the year, but there's something about fall- the coolness in the air, the wonderful smell...it's all nostalgic and just great. I try to remember the good memories from similar weather and there's just too many of them. There's walking home from class or late night studying and just enjoying the night time, or there were the hay rides when I was a teen. There's also biking home from an appointment on my mission and being grateful to have familiar weather and smells. The weather also reminds me of my freshman year and going home to Iowa for a few days, surprising mom, and opening my mission call. I also brought home my laundry so I could do it at home and it would be free. I lugged around a huge bag of laundry on the bus, trax, airplane and then all back to save $3. Considering inflation, though, that $3 is now worth $5 or $6 so I'd say I came out on top. -The most spiritual moment of my life is when Jimmer was born. I loved it when Emmy got to hold him for the first time and then I got to hold him. Man, it's just so amazing and indescribable. I'm getting really excited for our next baby and that next amazing moment. I think it will be really special to see Emmy hold the next baby again and then for me to hold him. I think what will also be really special is to see Jimmer hold him. They'll be good buddies, two really special spirits, along with my Emmy, another special spirit. Speaking of Emmy, she really is such a great mom...I knew she would be, but she's been even better than I thought she'd be. -In August I stayed home from Church with sick little Jimmy. As part of our little "sunday school," I talked to him about Jesus and showed him our painting of Jesus and the little boy. Later, Jimmer was looking up at the picture, there was something really neat about that, almost like realizing these were the beginning steps of Jimmer's lifelong journey of learning about and getting closer to his Savior. -Jimmer's a really funny kid. The nursery workers think it's really funny how excited Jimmer gets about snacks and certain toys. I can relate, I get really excited with ice cream, steak, and other good foods. We often walk around the temple, and Jimmer loves pointing at the temple. -So, the election is less than two weeks away...crazy. I'm nervous about it, but I can also accept either result. I mean, it would be absolutely awesome if Romney won. But if Obama does win I think our nation deserves him. That doesn't mean I haven't tried to make sure my guy wins and won't continue fighting for the things important to me, but ultimately I think a society deserves the leaders they elect. Having said that, Romney's going to win, 70% sure on this one and it continues to go up each day. -BYU football...ugh. It's ironic that BYU...Quarterback U...is only 1 good quarterback away from being 7-1 or even 8-0. Luckily, I've tempered things down this year to just being a fan and not a fanatic. I still LOVE college football and it I didn't have the family responsibilities I would sit and watch college football all day every Saturday and just eat wings, pizza, artichoke dip and chips...mmmmmm, doesn't that sound good. -Speaking of things I'm crazy about...the jet ski fund is up to $643. So only like $9,000 to go. I'm taking donations. -Man, me and Emmy had such a fun Europe trip. We bring up our trip often and enjoy talking about strolling the streets of Paris, driving the Battle of the Bulge sites in Belgium, tram hopping in the Hague, walking around Koln's zentrum, or biking Heerenveen. We like talking about all the chocolate we ate and the vla, doner kebabs, Indonesian food, and good desserts. It's kind of running joke now that whenever I go to Europe I almost always accidentally buy carbonated water while I'm there. I HATE carbonated water! But because of the way I travel, I can't throw it away and must drink it. We do hard things afterall. Except when it comes to toothbrushes apparently. Emmy's fell on the floor at one of the hostels we stayed at. She thinks it's disgusting to share toothbrushes so I let her use mine and I had to use my finger. When our family drove in Rome it was one of the worst driving experiences of my life. We kept on getting lost and going around in circles. I think it took us 2 hours to get out of Rome. I didn't want that to happen in Paris...but it somehow did. Luckily I knew where our hostel was in reference to the Eiffel Tower and to the Seine River. We found our hostel after only being in the center for 10 minutes. In Germany I hit 160 km/hr. I thought it was pretty cool except that cars were still zooming past me. I was also disappointed that 160 km/hr is only 100 mph, so yeah, there's room for improvement. Whenever we go back and spend more time in Germany we're going to get a better rental car to take on the Autobahn.

Manti Te'o Interview

This is a really touching interview from probably the best college football linebacker. He's LDS but chose to go to Notre Dame for school. He's such a stud. This interview will inspire you and bring a tear to the eye. http://www.jimrome.com/junglehighlights?uri=channels/465575/1701019

Fire Obama!

So I'm writing this message to do my civic duty of participating in the political process and here are my reasons why I won't be voting for Obama and why I don't think you should either: -43 months of 8% or higher unemployment, but up to 11.63% when adding in all the number of people who have dropped out of the workforce -Our national debt has gone up over $5.5 trillion -Gas prices have increased by nearly $2.00. Obama doesn’t control prices, obviously, but he’s prohibited drilling in the Arctic and the gas pipeline to help alleviate this increase. -Obama’s support for gay marriage -Billions of wasted dollars on Solyndra and other companies. -Obamacare violates the Constitution by mandating that each citizen purchases health insurance -Obamacare requires churches to include provisions in their health insurance policies against their religious beliefs -Blanket amnesty to illegal immigrants under employment -Obamacare will mean higher health insurance premiums -Obamacare means more fees and penalties, but the real name for it is taxes. -The average household income is down $4,000 -The number of people on food stamps has gone up by 15 million -The poverty rate has gone up 2% -Real economic growth is averaging 2.2%, less than half of the historic average for past post recession rebounds -Under Obamacare, abortions are funded by taxpayers. -The number of people receiving welfare has increased by 10 million, which now means 107 million (one-third of Americans) are on welfare. -Obama panders to African Americans by playing up race issues (i.e. Obama’s speech in Jeremiah Wright’s congregation where he blamed race as the reason the Feds were slow to give aid to New Orleans) -Obama endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement even though he has benefitted the most from receiving money from Wall Street more than any other president in the last 20 years. -Despite ’08 campaign promises, Obama’s administration has not been transparent (i.e. Fast and Furious, Obamacare) -Obama’s quote to outgoing Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev: “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility. -Obama made it easier to stay on welfare by removing “the work requirement” Obama has done a lousy job the first four years of trying to improve the economy, and has not given us any confidence in his ability to improve it the next four years. The best way to defeat Obama is to elect Mitt Romney as the next president. Romney has a proven track record of turning things around (i.e. struggling businesses, 2002 Olympics, state of Massachusetts). To defeat Obama, here’s what you can do: 1) Register to vote. Google your state and “how to register to vote” for instructions. Encourage others to also register to vote 2) Be sure to vote on Tuesday, November 6th. To find where you need to go, google your state and “find your polling station.” Encourage others to do the same. 3) Donate to Mitt Romney’s Campaign and encourage others to donate: http://www.mittromney.com/action/fundraise/fire-obama-fundraiser 4) Donate money to the major Super PAC’s and encourage others to donate: Restore Our Future- https://restoreourfuture.com/donate Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies- https://www.crossroadsgps.org/donate/ Americans For Prosperity- http://americansforprosperity.org/ 5) Volunteer to help the campaign by signing up to make calls from home and encourage others to volunteer- http://www.mittromney.com/call-home-landing 6) Order yard signs and bumper stickers- http://store.mittromney.com/ We are only one month away from this critical election. If you agree that our nation can’t afford another four years of Obama, do whatever you can do to ensure this outcome. Don’t regret later that you could have done more.

BOY!!!!!

Yep, we're having another boy. We're all pretty stoked! Everything becomes more real once ya know the gender. Four and a half months and counting...

Food Storage

Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel? -Pres. Ezra Taft Benson in the October 1980 Conference http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1980/10/prepare-for-the-days-of-tribulation?lang=eng

Interior Crocodile Alligator 10 hours

I know people love this video, so here's 10 hours worth

Come With Us- Lindsey Stirling & Can't Stop Won't Stop (Original)

This is a fun video

Neat story

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865561066/The-gospel-is-for-everybody-says-former-BYU-basketball-great-Jeff-Chatman.html?pg=1

Big Announcement

See Family and Friends' Blogs

Lil Update

Dang, I'm a lousy blogger these days. So I've been going through my old blog entries- copying them so I have a backup and attaching labels to each entry. It's fun reading through them. This morning I copied and labeled entries from Feb. 2007 where we went to Burroughs Burros and I won the squirt gun war...good times. I was wondering where the old blogs are for Bit of Whit, The Fruit Roll up and Pdub's blog. There are some good reads in those. Politics just really bother me these days. I get pretty upset so I have to control how much I read, watch, and listen to about politics. This is a really important election, though. I keep feeling the urge of wanting to do everything I can to make sure Obama isn't re-elected and we take the Senate. The tough part is figuring out what I can do to help. I love my family. It's awesome coming home everyday to Emmy and Jimmer.

Stand for Religious Freedom Rally

Hey all, I am inviting all of you here in Utah to a rally in Provo that I've helped put together in the last few days and is part of a nationwide rally for religious freedom. An aspect of Obamacare forces employers to provide, as part of the insurance coverage, free contraceptives and abortion coverage. This also mandates that religious employers such as the Catholic Church and LDS Church have to provide this coverage even if it goes against their beliefs. Here is more info about the rally: http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/locations/ Here is a fact sheet about the HHS mandate: http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/docs/ObamacareMandatesFactSheetADF.pdf

Emmy

Mom posted a very nice blog on Emmy. Check it out at TonyBeckFamily.blogspot.com. "So, our dear Emily is having a birthday!!!! The day after Carrie...how awesome is that! I so love Emily!!! She is the best thing that ever happened to Kasey! I can't even believe how perfect she is for Kasey! When I think of Emily, I think of love. All Emily needs is love and Emily is so good at giving love. She is an absolutely amazing, devoted mother. I learned that so well when she spent that week with us before they left for Europe. She and Jimmer were practically glued together. She would not leave his side, even when I offered to watch him so they could do dates, she wouldn't leave him. I loved to watch her singing to Jimmer, talking to him and loving him. It really made my heart happy. I really, really felt an obligation to give Jimmer as much love as he received from his mother. Whenever I would hold Jimmer or play with him that 2 weeks he was with us, I would think in my mind, "this is a baby who receives so much love from his mother." It was such a beautiful thing to watch, is Emily's love for her child. (in turn, I got so attached to Jimmer and I'm still having a hard time getting over that). I love to talk with Emily. We can talk to well and get along so well. Seriously, Emily, you are such a wonderful addition to our family and I can't imagine the Tony Beck family without Emily Beck! We so love you. Thank you for the love you continually give us. You are a very, very beautiful person, inside and out!" Happy birthday to Emmy!

Lord of the Rings Medley - Lindsey Stirling

Thanks to my cuz Jared for sharing this. This is an awesome medley.

Party Rock Anthem - [Walk off the Earth] + All About Maggie

I think I like this better than their hit song

Jimmer's Jet Ski

He loves this! Thanks to Carrie and Bret for giving it to him. he does not like getting off of it and really pouts when we force him off...like father like son.
He'll get better at digging.

This kid is a stud. He's considered many to be the best high school basketball (as a junior!). I hope he chooses to go to BYU.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=20054421&nid=272&title=teen-hoops-star-in-spotlight-leans-on-lds-faith&s_cid=featured-4

So we're posting all our Europe pics and stories at kaseyandemily.blogspot.com. The entry for Days 1 and 2 is up.

In Europe. Having fun. Jimmer's in Iowa. Having fun. Colby's back from his mission.
Check out tonybeckfamily.blogspot.com for pics of Jimmer and Colby. We'll post pics when we get back to the states.

Some well known facts about Dad

-Dad's quite the business guy- he knows business really well which is why he's been successful at it.
-Dad was always obedient to Grandma and Grandpa and was always solid in the Church
-Dad likes the jet ski but the main reason he got it and plans outings with it is because of how much his kids love it. Both Mom and Dad are really good examples to us about putting the needs of others first.
-Dad's definitely a family guy. He's always been about spending time with his kids. When I was a baby it hurt Dad a lot that he had to study when I would want to play.
-Dad's the middle child which makes him more of the peace-maker type...I've noticed that about a lot of middle children. It's funny how birth order makes a difference.
-Emmy is impressed with how much Dad and Mom love the grandkids. I mean they are willing to watch Jimmer for 2 weeks while me and Emmy are in Europe. They're also trying to convince us to go on a 7 day cruise with my other siblings and they'll watch all the grandkids for a week. Dad genuinely loves his grandkids and that is neat.
-Dad's willing to help with anything. If ever anything goes wrong, my first thought is to call Dad. It's cool to have that support.
-Dad is funny and likes to laugh.

...We love Dad, happy b-day!

Occupy Kasey

It's been awhile since I've done a good blog entry. I'll blame it on a few things- not usually in the mood to sit down and write down some thoughts and then also just lack of time. Our life these days revolves around Jimmer naturally. I'm trying to do my best to play with him for the 3-4 hours between getting home from work and putting him to bed. He's changed a lot in a month's time. He's a big crawler these days and so busy making his rounds around the house from the shoe rack to the ottoman with his toys to the vent in the kitchen and the books under his crib. He's so full of energy and doesn't like to focus on one thing, it's kind of funny to watch. I'm not sure how I was when I was a baby but sometimes I feel like my life is like Jimmer's- not able to focus on one thing and lots of things occupying my mind.

Some of the things occupying my mind these days:

-Trip to Europe. Me and Emmy are stoked about going. I haven't been back to Holland since 2007 so it's about time I get back there, show off my pretty wife, and check up on the people I love there. In the two times I've been back I've gone to all the cities I served- we're doing that this time but the next time we go to Europe we'll just do one or two cities in Holland so we can spend more time in another part of Europe. The region we're visiting in this trip to Europe is Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Western Germany and Northern France. We're going to rent a car and stay along the Rhine and see lots of castles and pretty cities in Germany. We're doing the whole backpack thing and stay in a few hostels along with some hotels. It's kind of how I like to do it- the 2006 Europe trip was just so awesoem and it's a style I like to do. Turns out that Groupon and Living Social are really big there like they are here. We've been buying some good deals that will help us eat nice for not too much. So yeah, we'll see a lot, eat a lot of cool foods, get some cool souvenirs, some cool pictures, and just enjoy ourselves in Europe. It'll definitely be tough to be away from Jimmer for 2 weeks but he'll have fun with my parents. There's lots of new toys for him and Skybekah's kids he can play with.

-The Republican primaries. It's pretty fun to watch. I still think there's no way it won't be Romney. I actually don't mind the bickering in the debates or just from the campaigns...it's politics, that's what happens. As long as the Mormon card doesn't get played I'm fine with either campaign doing what they're doing. The schedule favors Romney- he'll win Florida and then Nevada and Maine favor him, he won Colorado and Minnesota in 2008 so he'll do well there and then Arizona and Michigan are two states he'll easily win. All this momentum early on will pretty much just make him the inevitable candidate. It's interesting how many top Republicans just do not like Newt, that's another thing that's been working to Romney's advantage.

-House Projects. I think we will rent out our house when the time comes to move out of Utah or move to a different house. It'll be a good addition to our retirement portfolio, shouldn't be hard too stressful since there are some good property management companies here, and it's kind of fun getting the house ready to be able to rent. We finished the fence in October so we have a new white vinyl fence in the back and on each side of the house. We still need to either close off the fence or extend it into the front yard- that'll be a small project this summer. We're also looking forward to landscaping the yard with low-maintenance plants, painting the shed, leveling the garden area, putting crown molding in our bedroom, doing some small projects in the house, and putting in a sprinkler system. I really want a sprinkler system in place so the grass doesn't go downhill. Anyway, it's fun working on the house/yard and it'll probably take 2-3 summers of doing all this, but it's fun doing the prep for the projects.

-School. So I'm starting to come around to realize more education is a good thing that I'm anxious to do. For one, I think more business education will help with my career and two, I want to make myself more valuable.

-Church calling. I work with the priests in our ward. It's a calling that I really enjoy but just wish I was better at. We have good young men in our ward- they need some encouraging and some of them don't have strong families. Sometimes I want to shake them, take away their agency, and force them to get their Eagle and Duty to God. It's something I think a lot about--how can I help them more. It's not a new feeling, it's something that I constantly dealt with on my mission. It's just tough to help people progress when they don't have that desire. How can you help others have more desire? Like today in Sacrament meeting--we were a tad late and sat in the very back--I couldn't believe how many people around us were on their cell phone. In just a small sampling there were 12 people looking down at the phone...it really frustrates me and just makes me feel sad for them.

-Family History. When my died last year I went down to the funeral in Mesa, AZ and then we went to Virden, New Mexico for his burial. Virden probably has the population of 50 people? I would be shocked if there were more than that. It's way out in the middle of no where, it felt like we were in a desolate part of Mordor to be honest. But the whole experience really had a strong effect on me. First of all our family is very representative of the urbanization of America. Grandpa grew up on a farm in a small house with a large family. Sounds like a pretty typical story you'd hear from a grandparent, right? When I hear(d) stories from my two grandpas or about them you can't help but be impressed at how down to earth they are and just how good they are. They are very good men who lived in very poor circumstances, but they aren't complaining. They lived in smalltown, USA without tv, internet, electricity. They didn't need to live close to a mall or close to a place with a lot of entertainment. They had little but appreciate and are grateful for the things they did have. They worked hard growing up which made them the men they are and were. I'm frustrated right now because I can't quite put into words what I think/feel about the situation but I think it's sad that those days are over. It's not the same time, it's not the same country where people grow up like that and I think it's sad that we're missing or aren't going to have the experiences they had. I think it's sad that my generation has everything and therefore feels entitled to more because that's what we're accostomed to. It's sad that smalltown, USA is pretty much non-existent now because those experiences produced great people as evidenced through my grandparents. Virden used to have more people, it used to have a pretty vibrant ward and high school. Grandpa's brother told the story of how they would go to church dances and perform a skit that would get girls. I thought that was funny. They had hard experiences, I can't imagine what it would be like to have the chores they did or to live in those small homes with so many family families. I'm grateful they went through those things and turned out the way they did which in turn has influenced me. I guess I just want my kids to somehow learn those same things and turn out to be good Church members, good citizens, just good respectable and decent people.

-Jet ski.

-Exercise. So we bought a treadmill in November. It's pretty sweet. I think it's probably one of the best investments I've made. We only have one body, right, so might as well make it healthy and fit. I'm trying to lose 12 pounds this year which is crazy for me because I don't think I actually need to lose weight, but it's just more of a by-product of the real goal to be healthy and exercise a lot this year.

-Emmy!

Colbers

So we have Brian's b-day on the 19th, Jamie's on the 21st, and Colby's on the 23rd. I remember being confused on when Jamie's and Colby's b-days were, but then I remembered that the 21st is younger than the 23rd. When Brian was born that still worked. I was worried that Annie would be born sometime after the 19th and mess up the system but she was born on the 15th so it still works.

When Colby was out here for college I got to know him a little better- he's really fun to play mariokart with, was always willing to take me and Dallas out to eat with his meal deal and was just a really fun, cool guy to be with. He also shares my love for playing Risk, and once he gets back I'm ready to schedule an all nighter for Risk.

A few memories of Colby growing up- he was pretty chill, he was totaling willing to let us give him a swirly until Mom found out. He was the same height as Jamie for awhile, while that could be humiliating, he took it in stride and was cool with it.

A few years ago Dallas asked me if I had to choose to kick someone out of the family who would it be. Ya always hate to answer a question like that but if I HAD to pick, it would be Colby. A couple reasons why- whenever me and Emmy talk about Colby, somewhere in the conversation Emmy will say how cute Colby is. He makes us older kids look bad. He's pretty much good at everything- he got straight A's through high school, was good at the cello, varsity in football and baseball, Prom King, and student body something, VP I think. See what I mean? Getting his mission letters has been great, and we can all tell that he's a really good missionary...one more thing he excels at...what a stud!

Now Mom, of course I don't really want Colby out of the family, just trying to make a point.

Happy b-day Elder Beck!

No one understands us.

Jamie Lynn--I gotta say that Jamie is the most interesting of the Beck bunch. She's definitely a leader and not a follower. Jamie likes to have fun, likes for others to have fun, and makes sure others are included. She was a cute baby and a cute little girl. Jamie was as tall if not taller than Colby for a few years. She was into sports, especially volleyball. I don't remember talking to Jamie much before my mission, but after my mission she was really into the color effervescent. It was kind of her thing. In school she decided it was her favorite color and everyone thought she was cool because she was different like that. Jamie made varsity cheer as a freshman and pretty much got straight A's through high school, I'm telling ya, the younger kids make us look bad.

Nowadays Jamie is up here in Provo and we're getting to know her a little better. She's always willing to watch Jimmer and to teach us how to dougie or to do other dance moves. She also does the freshman thing of taking us out to eat or buy us food with her meal card which we think is pretty sweet. We have chocolate ice cream ready for her for when a guy breaks her heart but so far she's been doin' the heart breaking.

She's a cool sister, an excellent addition to the family and life would be boring without her. Props to Jamie.

Happy birthday Jamie, love ya!

Emmy's gift to me, that's just great. For the background on this is when we had Jimmer it was just a thing I would say to him if for example he would cry as I dressed him: "son, we do hard things in this family." It's kind of turned into a funny thing, but I absolutely believe it, and it's kind of our family motto: we do hard things.

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v196049xZeGjNk9

Haha, this one is great too

I have a dream to be able to do this someday

Jimmer saw santa and did what we thought he would do




This is a pretty typical Jimmer face



I try so hard to do the same face as Jimmer and finally got it right this time

I can't seem to find my video of me doing this dance so I thought I'd post this guy's video instead.

This is Jimmer in the car on our way to Tommy's baby blessing tomorrow (David and Lindsay's baby) in Boise. It's Jimmer's first time out of the state. He's done really well for his first car trip. Man I love this kid. I've been thinking a little bit lately about happiness. I've defintely had my fair share of happy times in my life, but it's amazing how happy and neat it is to be a dad. Ya know the feeling ya have at 5:00 on the Friday before a Christmas weekend? That's the feeling I have all the time when I'm home from work and can just be with Emmy and Jimmer. It's so awesome and special being a dad.

Happy 11:11 on 11/11/11!!!!

WINNING!

So at work we have a raffle every Monday meeting for a $30 gift card, in the last month I have won that twice, won another $30 gift card for winning 2nd place for the Halloween contest, and won an iPad at a conference in DC. Yeah, so I'm pretty much out the door already to Vegas...lata

In order for me to post this, Emmy made me promise I would never do this to our kids

I have a lot on my mind and even though I don't think I'll be able to really express my thoughts and feelings, but it does help to blog them.

I love fall, we've been on a few drives to enjoy the foliage- the Nebo and Alpine Loops. Man the colors are amazing, and the pictures don't do it any justice. I've been in DC the past couple of days and have really enjoyed the scenery, experience, and feel of it. There's a familiar Fall smell that resembles the same smell in CB...it must be the humidity.

I've really enjoyed DC- the architecture and the feel remind me of my mission and living in some of the big cities in Europe. It'd be really fun to have the urban/metropolitan experience. My co-worker and I walked a few miles trying to find a restaurant and there's just something to taking an evening stroll in the city, enjoying the atmosphere, and thinking about what it's like to live here.

Jimmer made me real happy tonight. I called Emmy and heard Jimmer being fussy in the background. Emmy put the phone up to him and he stopped crying and made his funny little noises when he's excited. Me and Emmy talked a little more and then Jimmer was again fussy, she put the phone up to his ear and again the same thing, he got really excited. Man I love Jimmer and Emmy. I never could have imagined how much I could just love Jimmer and Emmy so much. That probably comes out weird, but man I just love them so much. I know Emmy loves me, and now it's special to know that Jimmer loves me too.

I've been really disturbed by some of the international political events recently. For one, I'm glad we're getting out of Iraq because I don't honestly think things will ever fully improve to where we could feel totally comfortable about leaving, but it's just frustrating because this feels like it's a political move only by Obama and that I think things could really get bad in Iraq with Iran next door. The Gaddafi killing has really disturbed me and I'm not quite sure what my opinion or feelings about it are. I mean he was a bad dude who did bad things. He killed a lot of his own people and deserved punishment, but how he died is really uneasy with me how he was captured and paraded around and then executed in front of the masses. It's just interesting and disturbing to me how a brutal dictator of 42 years is one day ruling the country and later is at the mercy of the people. Man, I think I'm probably not clear at all, because I don't even know what I'm really thinking. Maybe it comes down to just pitying him. I mean, he was a bad person, he did bad things to his people. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. Here he was pulled and beaten out of his hiding place, bloodied and shoved out of the truck...begging for mercy from the people he never showed mercy to. And then he was shot in the head and his body is still being paraded as a trophy. It's very disturbing to me, and I feel really really bad for him. Watching the footage on the news channels is disturbing, but also fascinated me because in that footage Gaddafi is not a leader/dictator of a country, but a person. Just a regular person, a child of God, someone as reliant on the mercies of the Savior as I am. He controlled billions of dollars, an entire country, navies, armies, but this did nothing for him in the end. He's just a regular person- nothingness. The whole thing also reminds me of the scripture about Korihor and about how in the end Satan abandoned him, like Satan does with all those who choose to follow him. It's just amazing to me, and I realize my thoughts are confusing and I'm probably feeling/thinking too much of this situation, but I pity Gaddafi. I pity him for going back, unprepared, to his maker, having to be fully accountable for everything he did. The whole thing is disturbing and creeps me out, but ultimately I'm just sad for him and his soul.

Emmy blogged by the way. She's trying to do it more regularly. Check it out:

http://kaseyandemily.blogspot.com/

Sky

If there's one guy who's gone through a lot, it's Skyler. Growing up he got like 3 or 4 broken arms that I was somewhat responsible for like when I encouraged him to be superman and jump off the pool table or when I chased him during a water fight and he tripped over something. I think I did something else to him but I forgot. Probably the worse thing I did was when we were playing basketball, we were both going after a loose ball and I fell on top of him, pushing his head into the corner of a brick wall. Yeah, it wasn't pretty, he could have died if it went a little deeper. I didn't push him on purpose though. Man I was cruel to him at times. We boxed once and I just took it to him, poor kid. When he had appendicitis on a band trip I was still giving him a hard time, I think I pushed him or something. We haven't lived in the same place for a few years, which is probably why he hasn't broken anything in awhile.

In college I really started noticing how laid back, chill, and fun Skyler is. We had some fun time together throwing pumpkins off a bridge, little vacation trips, going to basketball and football games. He has always been someone that I admire, because of how he treats others, and how he always is interested in those around him. He's a good dad, a good brother, a good son, a good worker, a good friend, a good Priesthood holder, etc. Sky's just a good guy.

Happy b-day Sky!

Little La

Kasey: Little La, why are you so little?

Kayla: I don't know

That's pretty much how most of our conversations started the first 10 years of her life. It's really crazy to me that she is 16 now! The baby of the family is driving and dating now. I remember Kayla's birth better than the rest of my siblings...obviously because I was 12. Kayla has the personalities of everyone in the family and she can easily turn one on and the other off. A couple combinations in the family are a little strange, like when me, Dallas, and Jamie went to Grandpa's funeral together in Virden, New Mexico, I think that was the first time just the 3 of us had been together...a little strange. We need a connecting person, I think Kayla can be that with every combination.

The younger kids definitely make the rest of us look bad. They're good at pretty much everything. Kayla is the fun one, good at sports, good at school, good at music, and solid in the Church. She's also a sweet baby sister. One reason why I like Kayla so much...or like Emmy so much is they both remind me of each other. Kayla needs love, and loves to give love. She loves Mom and Dad so much, loves cuddling with them and just loves being their baby. It's cute.

Happy b-day Little La!

Some little known facts about Mom

-Probably the biggest multi-tasker I’ve ever met. When I go home it takes me about 10 minutes to see what Mom is up to by looking at the 2 or 3 calendars in the kitchen of things going on, her to do list on the kitchen table, the scriptures she’s memorizing inside the cupboard, the stack of books she’s reading all at once. It’s pretty incredible…I’m very much like her except my lists are all online.

-Mom has a lot of faith and is very obedient. She does what the prophets say because…well, they’re the Prophets! It certainly wasn’t easy rounding up the 7 kids for FHE or to read to us as we ate dinner, but she’d always do it…while exercising at the same time!

-Mom’s a Richardson and loves to travel and have fun. It was important to her when we were little to take us all over the country, and we certainly did. She’s definitely kept that up. She also likes to plan fun activities.

-Mom was a heartbreaker when she was in college.

-Mom’s the oldest of 13 kids

-I honestly have no idea what Mom’s favorite food is. I don’t think it has to do with me not being very observant but more about Mom being very chill and accommodating.

-If you ever want to see how important family is to her just go to her house and you’ll see pictures of her family EVERYWHERE! When Colby and Dallas were on their missions she would call their cell phones a lot to hear their voices on voicemail. She likes for the family to be around and together. Sometimes she wants everyone to be around, but mostly she just wants to bask in the togetherness of her family being around.

-Mom’s a nurse and has done a pretty good job for them at Mercy, she’s made herself very valuable to them

-Mom loves the Church, loves her family, and is the best Mom ever

...That's actually pretty well-known

Happy Birthday Mom, love you!

Haha, this is hilarious, good find Russ

"Mitt is so Mormon..."

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/5103/how_mormon_is_mitt_romney/

Came home from my mission and this was the big thing in pop culture

This also changed my life...and my roommates lives, when we first saw it, probably for 3 days straight someone in the apartment was watching it

Haha, this never gets old

About a year ago I first saw this video. My life has never been the same.

DJ

Dallas was the first baby to be born in our family that I remember really well. I don’t really remember Carrie as a baby, probably cause I was only 3, and with Sky I was only 15 months. We were at a pool party at Bruce and Starr’s house in Mesa and Mom’s water broke. It was pretty exciting and was fun later getting to hold the baby and everything. From day 1 I thought I would make Dallas the mini-me. I taught the kid football, read the Book of Mormon with him, and got him all excited about BYU. I’m not sure if Dallas remembers me doing some of those things with him. It’s kind of a joke now, but in the family we have the older kids (me, Skyler, and Carrie), the younger kids (Colby, Jamie, and Kayla), and Dallas who thought he was an older kid, but really is a younger kid. But Dallas had it made because he got to be the oldest kid with the younger kids and the youngest with the older kids. He also got his own room which I was jealous of. We treated him pretty good, I don’t ever remember picking on him, Skyler probably did. They say that the middle kids are normally the peacemakers, and it’s pretty accurate in our family.

My junior high and high school memory isn’t that great, but fast forward to when I got back from my mission, Dallas was a stud- he’s always had his head screwed on right. He did well in sports, school, music, and is pretty good at dancing doing his Johnny Appleseed dance. On my mission I was pretty good at picking out the members “that got it.” Dallas “gets it.” He understands what this is all about and that’s very important. It’s pretty cool that he’s up here still, we’ve had some good times. Last fall we threw a pumpkin off a bridge. He’s also the only person that was around for the two events in my life (getting shot in the squirt gun war and losing the intramural softball championship) that just make me mad every time I think about them. He helps me laugh it off. He’s just a good buddy. Dallas is good to everyone around him. I really don’t think I’ve ever heard him say something negative about anyone. That’s pretty cool.

Firebolt - BYU's Divine Comedy

Haha, this is pretty funny

ksl.com - Builders bring 'Up' house to life in Utah

A little disappointed it doesn't come with balloons.

ksl.com - Builders bring 'Up' house to life in Utah

Jimmer laughing

Advice from Elder Busche

Always a good one to post

We're trying to slowly make kaseyandemily.blogspot.com our family blog. So we put up some videos there.

Jimmer's a really smiley baby, we love him.

He's drooling ALL the time.

Sometimes we think he looks like Emmy, sometimes he looks like me, I think this is definitely one where he looks like me when I was a baby.

He's always very interested in what's going on

He's been doing a good job keeping his head up

He probably gets tired of us playing with him for hours

This is almost perfect symmetry

Emmy made my b-day amazing, although she got the wrong turtle on my cake, Raphael was the best. (Dallas actually told her wrong).

Interior Crocodile Alligator

There are a few videos that should be viewed regularly, this is one of them

So that's weird...Google says 4:54 on that post, but it was actually 5:03 when I posted it...strange

28!

The even years are much better than the odd years...27 was a pretty cool year. So far the b-day is going pretty good too. Last year on my b-day I lost an softball intramurals championship game and got in an accident on my b-day...no bueno.

Exactly 28 years ago in Provo, on a Friday, at 5:03 PM, was when I was born.

Little did I know then that I would blog exactly 28 years later to the minute on a Friday and about a mile away from where I was born.

I'm pretty sure I was born with BYU clothes on.

My Better Half

Something that I preach to my single buds is that you know you found the one when you'd rather hang out with her than your roommates. That says a lot about Emmy, because I had some fun roommates. From day one Emmy was just awesome. First time I talked to her was in October 2006. Pdub (Sara Skids) went to General Conference with her and later mentioned that I should ask her out. I remember being in Sacrament Meeting and trying to look her way without being creepy or obvious that I was interested. My first conversation with her was after a ward FHE activity where we talked about the best drinking fountains on campus. A few months later I took her to a basketball game and then ice cream afterwards. After the date, I don’t know why but I didn’t wipe off snow that accumulated on her car as we parted. That’s still one of my biggest regrets in life; that and losing to Travis in the squirt gun war (some things I’ll just never get over, ya know). Fall 2007, when I was home working for Mitt Romney’s campaign, out of the blue Emmy emailed me, so I emailed her back and ended up going to Provo for a weekend. I introduced her to werewolves, a boyfriend, a best friend, and then took off. Winter 2008 I was back in Provo for school and me and Emmy pretty much hit it off right away and started dating. The rest is history.

Some of my favorite stories that describe Emmy well:
-When she was a kid and she’d get scared at night, she would go to her parents room and stand by her mom’s side and just looked at her. She didn’t want to wake her up, but she needed her at the same time. Sometime she’d be staring for like an hour before her mom would wake up. It’s just funny because Emmy needs love/comforting, but she doesn’t want to be a burden either. A few times I’ve opened my eyes and seen Emmy looking at me. Makes me wonder how many times she’s done it. I joke about this, but seriously, the only things Emmy needs in life are sleep, a water bottle at night, love, and giving love to others.

-Emmy’s family went to Europe and on the long flight over, her bro fell asleep on her shoulder. It made it really difficult for her to fall asleep or doing anything else like read a book. She didn’t want to wake him, though, so she just sat there for like 3 or 4 hours with him on her shoulder.

Emmy is the best example of Christ-like charity that I know of. She has a natural love for people, which is really difficult to have. The side that I wish more people could see of her is how funny and witty she is. She’s had these alter-personalities since she was like 12 and they are hilarious. She’s also great to talk with. When we go on car rides, it doesn’t matter if the car ride is 14 hours, 3 hours, 22 hours, it doesn’t matter, we never get bored talking to each other.
I definitely married my best friend.
Happy b-day Emmy!

You got Jo'd

Before there was Jimmer, there was the more famous Jimmer, and before that, there was the Jo. Early on, Carrie was that little sister who annoyed you cause she wanted to be around you and play with you, terrible, huh? Growing up in a boy-dominated family she realized she had a few weapons in her arsenal against her brothers- her violin and singing. She successfully got me and Skyler in trouble, mostly Skyler, by utilizing these weapons. Sky often had to dance with her as punishment. Later on in jr high and then high school when girls were alright, a sister close in age was no longer an enemy but an ally. I realized she was pretty cool and fun to be around...it also helped that she was a cheerleader which meant she had cheerleader friends too. My senior year me and carrie did show choir and were in a play tgether. We were tight and only became more and more tight since then. College was awesome, and a big part of why it was awesome was because of Carrie. Our tightness is what led to moving to park place and played a contributing part in me meeting Emmy, Kyle meeting Becca, Alan meeting Nieman, and Carrie meeting Bret.

Me and Carrie are still tight as evidenced by this sweet gift she gave me (some think it was for Jimmer, but please).

Getting Jo’d means chatting with Carrie, doing fun things with her, and seeing how neat of a person she is. She’s a thoughtful and awesome sister, and life just really would be much more dull without her

Anyway, hope you someday get Jo'd. Happy b-day Carrie Jo!

This is the beginning. Don't forget this day.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/18/lingodroid-robots-develop-their-own-language-quietly-begin-plot/

Yeah buddy

Jimmer doing his thang

2 months!

Well 2 months ago we were at the hospital as Emmy was going into labor. It's crazy to think how fast it's gone and how much I forgot what it was like when it was just the two of us. I'm so blessed to have Jimmer in my life, I feel like I've changed a lot in the past two months...for the better. It's just awesome being a dad! It has helped me understand better the love Heavenly Father has for his children. I'm not completely sure he's my kid because I don't think he looks like me. I'm not sure he's Emmy's kid either cause he doesn't look like her. None of our families claim him either- with Emmy's family saying he looks like me and my family all saying he looks like her. But, ya know, I still love the little guy and just assume he's mine.

He's been smiling and coo-ing a lot. He has a lot of different type of smiles- he does this smile that's kind of like a sarcastic, making fun of you-type smile. My favorite is when his whole face smiles. It's fun to see his personality, it's like, "oh, there you are Jimmer, where have you been?" It's fun that he's starting to respond to us. So I'm trying to do exercises with him where I lift him up like 10 or so times. If I keep it up and do that his whole life, imagine how strong I'll be when he's 18!!

Jimmer's first trip to the Temple.

A couple things about Jimmer:

-He grunts all the time, a few of the videos show that too. We're not sure if that's a normal thing with other newborns, but this kid is always doing it.

-He gets the jimmy leg a lot.

-The whole soft spot in the head kind of disturbs me. I mean, I can see his pulse through his head. I got a haircut this last week and the girl who gave it to me said she was born without a soft spot and had to have 7 surgeries because of it, so I guess I'm grateful for it.

-He's not doing the mouth shiver as much as when he was first born, but he still does it quite a bit.

-Again, not sure if these things are normal with other babies, but when you lay him down to change him or put him in the crib he'll turn his head back and forth over and over, it's pretty funny.

-He likes sticking up his arm like the black power sign.

-He's outgrown his newborn clothes and is doing pretty good with his 3-6 month clothes. He's not growing out of the clothes wide-wise, but length-wise. Go figure, I got a tall son.

-His hair is starting to come in better. It's kind of coming in blond and light brown. I was born brown and then went blonde until I was like 6 or 7, so I dunno, we'll see.

Utter tings:

-Really glad it's spring/summer. I like the springs a lot here in Utah! I love it when it's nice down in the valley but still a lot of snow on the mountains. Today it's nice, cool, crisp, weather. It's great.

-Playin softball this summer for intramurals, it's my last chance to get a t-shirt, man I want one!

-Taking out our fence, putting in a nice white vinyl fence. It's become quite the project because of all the vines back there. The roots grow deep. This fence is the one of the major steps of our plan to really beautify our yard.

-I don't know what it is, but the last 2 days it seems like everyone in Provo is out on the roads, it's just been so packed on the roads. Provo is a growin methinks.

-Getting pretty excited for jet skiing and then college football--seriously, the best time of year!

-I'm venturing into the computer building world. I guess it doesn't take that long to do, so I've been buying parts that Emily's bro, David, is showing me to buy. He'll show me how to put together the computer and hopefully I can make a few hundred. Trying to build up our jet ski fund. It was around $800, lost a few hundred in some stock gambles I took. If anybody reading this wants to donate to my jet ski fund, please feel welcome to.

-Been riding the good ole scooter to work and softball games...it's so fun. Man I love that thing when it works.

-So we're tentatively scheduling a trip to Europe next year. I think the plan is to do Holland for like 5 days and then SW Germany, Luxembourg, and Paris for like 7 days. If anybody is interested in doing the second part with us, let us know.

-Shout out to Alan and Nieman for getting engaged!

Papa glove, mama glove, and baby glove

Am I a bad parent for hiding notes to Emmy in Jimmer's rolls?

Today I was going to work on the yard all day

Ah ah ah, merlin! -says the weather

Jimmer didn't wake up at all last night! That's 3 days of only 1 or no feedings at night, I'm lovin this kid even more!

Yeah! I'm going there!

Alright, can't believe I'm weighing in on this, but I think the royal wedding stuff is pretty rediculous, mostly because kings, queens, princes, princesses, dukes, earls, pied pipers, sirs...are all pointless. Seriously, what is the point of having them these days. What's the point of recognizing families and individuals as your leaders, and then giving them money, simply because of the family they were born into? Ok, I guess sirs are pretty cool and they have done good stuff to be recognized. I won't lie, I'd like to be a sir someday.

I keep hearing over facebook and the news about how majestic it was, how great Kate's dress was, blah blah blah, well, yeah, when you're able to throw tons of money that you made simply by being in a family that receives money from every person in your country for no reason other than to support a ceremonial role...of course it's going to be all that! Shoot, give me half of what they had on their budget and I'll make it twice as good.

Anyway, I'm not down with this, though I did teach the exiled king of Sri Llanka on my mission, that was pretty cool, he's a pretty nice guy too.

In other news, search google news and you can find the world's first zombie safehouse.

Jimmer's awesome and I love it when he smiles!

If guys were like girls 2...

Lol, so Emmy says this is exactly how girls are. It is pretty funny, but she couldn't stop laughing.

So I had to take Jimmer away from Emmy. She needed to get some stuff done and he was just being too cute. It was for her own good too, her heart can't take it, at least that's what she keeps telling me. It's been just tons of fun with him, especially lately with him smiling and responding to us. He's doing pretty typical newborn things of kicking all the time, looking around everywhere, staying at the darkness if he's in a lighted room and then at the light if he's in a dark room. Man, though, he is just so cute and fun to be around, I can't get enough of him. It's been rough to go to work and be away from him. I need to figure out how to bring him to work or something. Or maybe I can convince Emmy to be the breadwinner of the family and I'll be the one at home. He did great yesterday with his blessing, that was neat. Family was all here, that was cool too.

The videos will be up on kaseyandemily.blogspot.com

We finally got Jimmer smiling on the video camera

The first movie Jimmer saw was Ocean's 12 with Mommy. They watched it 3 times.

This is Jimmer's first attempt at Frame 3 face.

Rushin the court after the San Diego St. game. It's like playing "Where's Kasey?" (hint, I'm pointing to the camera)

His favorite toy is the massage chair

I think he finally realized he doesn't have any hair and is embarrassed.

Me and Rose (the Lil Caesers lady)

Spring football game yesterday.

You can tell he's mad at Daddy for making him do tummy time

TEMPEST FREERUNNING ACADEMY - GYM VIDEO

This is what I do in the early hours of the morning.

Freerunning? Or survival traning in the zombie apocalypse?

Cute little guy

Jimmer's first football jersey, from Unkie Dallas

FREAKING OUT!

So one thing neither me or Emmy thought would happen is her getting really scared at night.

Allow me to explain.

The past two nights Emmy woke me up because she was really worried Jimmer was in bed with us and we were crushing him. She says she wakes up every night and thinks that he's in bed and we're crushing him, the past 2 nights she dragged me into it as well. I only remember last night's experience, here's what happened:

Probably like 2 or 3 in the morning Emmy wakes me up to tell me that she's done feeding him. That means it's my turn to put him back into the crib, which is to my left. She then got really panicky because he was not anywhere to be found in bed, I got really panicky too as we are both looking...scared to DEATH that we rolled over and are crushing him. This goes on for probably a minute and then I tell her that I found him and he's in the crib. I made sure he's breathing and then we went back to sleep once all the adrenalin has subsided. So we're both in that between stage of asleep and awake, and we're both FREAKING out! It's not really fun, and makes me scared/nervous just thinking about last night.

Anyway, weird, huh? I guess it happened pretty similar to that the night before but I don't remember it. Emmy does it each night, poor kid.

Sup Angelina Brolie, Bro Naimith, Bro Paterno

this blog ud mostly with my right hand because i got a baby wuth the left. life is kind of interesting being a dasd. here are some thoughts and feelings about everytginh including some things about baby jimmer.

-it was so neat seeing him come out. many probably know that i really strygglr with blood, needles, and stuff like that. but i was able tyo watch the water break and go everlywhere. i watched the head come out, while helping emmy push obviously. my ange wasnt very good, so i first thought it was a small head, then saw a bigger head and then the arm and shoulders, and he was/is a big baby. i might ber qrong but i think dallas was the biggest in my family and he was 8 lbs 6 oz. jimmer came out at 8 lbs 13 oz. well actually thats wgat he weighed after pooping 6 times before he was put on the scale. the doctor thinks he lost 5 or 6 oz with that. emmys family is used to big babies, her one bro was 11 lbs 6 oz! look at me talk and be all interested in weight of babies, defintely not a conversation topic i wasnt interested in before emmy got pregnant.

anyway, it was such an amazing experience seeing him for the forst time andthen seeing the doctor rake out the gunk in his mouth and then hearing his voice. He opened his eyes and saw his dad for the first time. That was neat. The whole experience was just so special.

(got 2 hands again)

-I don't think Jimmer knows that he's a newborn. Emmy's family all say he's a super active baby. The other day he rolled over his whole body except his head, he couldn't quite figure that out. He's so rythmic when he's eating, Emmy sings songs to the rythme he provides. He's a night owl, he likes to stay up late and doesn't really want to sleep the whole night. This is all probably the same with every newborn I'm sure, just sharing observations about this kid. A few positions he really likes to be in: sitting up (with our help of course) and being over my shoulder. He lifts his eyebrows a lot- that's a cute look. He gives kisses already (I'll have to post a video of that sometime). When he roots he goes all out and really lets you know he's hungry. And when he's actually eating he reminds me of the cookie monster. He handles stress differently than most people. When he was circumsized he did awesome, didn't cry or anything. But once he realized what happened as he was being cleaned afterwards, he pooped, peed, and spit up at the same time. The pediatric said that was a first for him. He does that a lot when he gets excited/frantic when he gets changed or have a bath. Again, all probably normal newborn stuff...but I don't know that! He growls and grunts a lot...and I mean it. Sometimes he growls or grunts like he's having a conversation. He's very flexible and if he had it his way he would go his whole life with keeping his legs up in a frog position. I try to stretch out his legs for him once a day because the frog position has gotta be uncomfortable! His smiles are cute, it'll be fun when it's not just gas that causes them. He squeels sometimes when he's upset. Emmy likes getting the boogies out of his nose, it's so satisfying to her, maybe I'm missing out.

Um, this parenting thing aint so bad. It's still kind of weird to be a dad. The sleep loss...well that just stinks. But he's a pretty cool kid who knows it. He's got a cute chin and a really nice profile. Even though we did it, it's just strange to me that you go to the hospital as just you and your wife, and then you leave with a baby...someone who's totally dependent on you. I'm giving a talk in a few weeks about this, about how his total dependence on me and Emmy is like our total dependence on the Savior.

Anyway, cool kid, he's fun. He's a handful, but he grows cooler by the day. Hopefully he thinks his dad is cool too. He better, I change that kid's diapers, he better be grateful. I thanked my mom the other day for dealing with me as a newborn, though I'm sure I was easy.

Wow, that was a long post. I've been blogging a lot. We don't leave the house much these days, so there ya go.

Jimmer often has a turtle look to him. This is the best picture I could find that looks like the below Jimmer picture.

Our form of entertainment has changed a little

Jimmy's down!

One of his many funny faces

Hilarious, I'll be playing BYU Bingo tonight.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1087380/BYU%20Basketball%20Bingo.pdf

Baby Jimmer (for you huWhit) and his muscles

He likes to show them off to Daddy

OK Go - End Love - Official Video

I feel like this video is unappreciated. It is so cool!

So look at Jimmer's faces in the previous posts. I can't help but think of the beavers from Chronicles of Narnia everytime he makes that face (which is a lot).

He's been doing this face for five minis now

Mom requires one picture a day for awhile

Kyiv Ukraine Temple - Youth Cultural Celebration

This is a really touching video

Teach Me How To Jimmer (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

Haha, only in Provo

Jimmer Mania

What a guy!

Really good Danny Ainge interview on the BYU Honor Code

http://audio.weei.com/a/37354448/danny-ainge-on-byu-s-brandon-davies-and-the-celtics.htm

BYU Student Section Flash Mob 2011

This one may be a little better

BYU Student Section Flash Mob Dance - BYU vs. Wyoming - March 5, 2011

Well, here's the video. The video really doesn't do the justice it deserved. We were opposite the students and it was impressive seeing several thousand do this dance. It was much more impressive than this video shows.