Independence Day!

Okay, well, at least the first of a lot of Independence Days to come! Josh finally graduated from BYU after taking a break and finishing his last 2 religion classes! YEAH! lol There was a ton of drama because BYU wasn't going to accept his institute classes after telling him they would. They finally told us on Monday that Josh would be graduating on Thursday. Ummm...not much time to plan! Josh did not want to do the whole graduation thing and his opinion was that it was overrated and he really only feels that it will be a big deal when he graduates med school. Phooey (is that a word?) to that is what I say. It is a big deal and he has worked many years to achieve this goal. So, with a little arm twisting and some guilt trips, he surrendered and decided he would walk the walk!

Thursday, I dropped Josh off at the Marriott Center and went to park. They were selling these fun leis outside for the graduates so I picked up one for Josh. I was able to get seated with a friend's family and then I called Josh and was able to intercept him before he got in the Marriott to give him his lei! It was a wonderful ceremony. Elder Bednar spoke about learning to love to learn and how this graduation was just the beginning of the learning that would and should take place the rest of our lives. It was so wonderful to hear the wonderful talks about taking what the graduates have learned at BYU to serve the community and in the Church. I thought they were so inspirational and wonderful. Josh and I attended that alone, and I had told him that no one from my family could come and also that none of his family from Idaho would be able to make the trip either because of the short notice!

Thursday night at about midnight, Josh and I had fallen asleep on the Lovesac watching TV when there was a knock at our door. We woke up and I acted confused and said, "Who on earth is knocking at our door at 12 o'clock at night?" He got up to check and I stayed back a bit. He looked through the peep hole and looked at me and said, "It's my dad." I think at this point he was still asleep. He turned to me and so I said, sort of mocking, "Are you sure?" So he, taking me seriously, went to look again through the peep hole. I just started to laugh. It was midnight and freezing outside. I finally just said, "Honey, it's your dad....just open the door!!!" It was a great surprise for Josh!

Then later at about 4 am, all was well in the Mercer home when there cam another knock at the door. It was Josh's mom and Aunt Vicki. Another surprise for Josh! We thought they wouldn't be there until morning, but had come to stay the night as well! With a little game of musical beds, we were able to figure our sleeping situation out! Holden of course woke up with all of the commotion and Mom Mercer decided she wanted to play with him. So, needless to say we played until about 5:30am then decided it was probably time to quiet down.

Josh and I spent an eventful night on the Lovesac and woke up a little tired! lol Well, just when it was about time to leave, my parents came to the door and surprised Josh that they were also coming to the graduation. It was a great morning.

We headed off to the graduation and decided to take Holden with us to spend time with Josh's parents since they don't see him that often. He was actually better than I thought he would be. Every time a name was called and families would clap for the graduate being called, Holden would also join in. It made me laugh. There was also a couple in front of us and the guy was rubbing the girl's back. Holden was watching as this went on. Well, the guy stopped and Holden squirmed to get off of my lap and went right over to the girl and started scratching her back. It was hilarious. They were playing with Holden the whole time and making faces to him etc...so rather than an awkward thing, it was actually sweet and funny! I just wish that I could train him to do that for me!

We were watching the graduation and I happened to look down and I saw the Hales family that had come from California for my cousins' graduations. How crazy! Afterwards we were able to catch up with them a bit.

After the graduation we went to the Pizza Factory with everyone including our friend Cameron (who was also graduating) and his family. Let's just say it took forever to seat us then even longer for food to come. Josh's mom and Aunt had to get back so we bid them farewell. Then I had called Josh's boss to make him come back to work for a couple of hours so that we could get the surprise party for Josh put together.

We went to my Aunt and Uncle's house to decorate and put the food out. It was fun to have my mom and dad, Josh's dad, my sister Kim and her hubby John and kids, my other sister Jennifer and her hubby Michael and their kids to celebrate with us. They were so amazing! Everyone worked so hard and they were so generous to bring the food to the party! Another Loveridge event- successful! We had croissant sandwiches, veggies, fruit, drinks, chips, cream puffs, cheesecake, and cake brownies! Man, I couldn't believe how nice everyone was to do this on such late notice and to take time out of their lives to be with us! Thanks again to all- it was definitely a night to remember. Josh walked in and had no idea-well, besides the sign out in front-lol. He was so overwhelmed- he is not a man of many words in a situation like this. He just kept telling me afterwards how he couldn't believe how nice everyone was to do this for him. We have an amazing family and we are so grateful for the support that we have gotten from all of you! We love you guys!

All aboard the Failboat!

I was trying the other day to be social and actually hang out with someone for once. Well, one thing after another on my part...(and hers as well...lol :)) ) and we found ourselves at the end of the day without any "hanging out" success. So, I decided to just accept the facts...I think all of these pictures describe very well what I am feeling at this moment! HEHE Hope you enjoy! Reading this late at night when you're in a silly mood will help as well! Em- these are for you! :))

Em, we're on it!

Uhh...yeah

Walmart Fail

Poor Thing

Helmet Fail

Hmmmm....

Well, hopefully we ALL feel better about the moments in our lives when we feel that we fall short! Alright...don't worry..I'm not crazy, tomorrow I'll post a "serious" blog! But it was good to laugh for just a moment!

Holden's Independent Side!

Holden is really in a stage right now where he is exploring his world and is learning very quickly the things that he is capable of doing himself! Once he finds he can do it himself, he rarely wants help! (Great for him, frustrating for mom and dad sometimes! :)) ) He will go to the bookshelf and pull down his books, read them and then pile them back on the shelf. I wish he could speed things up and learn how to change his diaper himself! :)) lol But I'll take what help I can get!

Finger Paintin' Fool

AFTER his bath...I don't know why I do things like this AFTER a bath, but I did. Just like when I gave him a bath, put STICKY Eucerin lotion on him and THEN decided to give him a haircut...the hair did NOT come off easily! Anyways...I decided that it was time to pull out some finger paint and paper I had bought a while back for when Holden was "old enough" to want to finger paint. Let's just say, I don't know if he's old enough yet, but he seemed fine enough with it.

Painting away(well, it was after he painted and I cleaned him up!)...or eating away...one of the two.

It did take some coaching and me getting my fingers into it for him to trust getting his fingers dirty. He finally broke down, but would only dip the very end tip of his finger in the paint and drag it around. Better than nuthin' I guess. Man, I gotta get that kid outside in a dirt pile to play so the other little boys don't make fun of him! :)

After finishing, I posted the pic on the fridge. Unfortunately, Holden could reach it, so I had to remove everything on the upper part of the fridge and give it the full spotlight it deserved. You can see where mommy MAY have helped Holden a bit in his painting endeavors!

Proud of his artwork!

Then to celebrate, I turned on the ITunes and we danced for a good long while, helping to tire him out for a nap! Ahh...Peace! :)

Orange "All Over" Julius!

This morning I thought I would make Josh a yummy Orange Julius from a recipe that my friend Camille had posted on her blog. It was yummy yummy! Josh had some, I had some and guess who was feeling left out!? So, to appease the little Master Holden, I put him in his chair to drink some of the goodness. I knew it wouldn't work through a sippy cup, so I took the lid off and hoped for the best.

This is his Orange Julius mustache!
Drinking from the cup without sippy top! Not too bad...UNTIL!

He actually did really well for the first few sips- but then his independent side took over in a flash. He saw me reaching to help him because he was spilling a little and WHOAAAA did that cause a reaction!!! He started shaking the cup up and down extremely fast trying to make sure I wouldn't get it. Well as you all know, without a lid, the OJ didn't stay put very long in that cup! Before I knew it, I had OJulius all over me, it was on the floor, the high chair and of course- ALL over Holden. It was pouring all down the front of him. He was so shocked he just looked at me with HUGE eyes, then started to cry. Evidently- he could feel it running down his body and his arms and did not like that one bit.

He HATES to be dirty. If there is one little thing on his face when I feed him his oatmeal in the morning, he will use his hands to wipe his face until he feels clean. Kind of like a little cat I guess! :) Well, all I could do was laugh because all I could think was, "it serves him right!" I was only trying to help and he freaks out! lol Then after laughing, I decided to be a good mommy and clean him up! I took the empty cup away...and you can guess...it led to a RIVER of tears! My oh my...we are really going through a stage right now. It's the same if I give him anything sweet...the second it's gone- he WAILS! Not mad cry at all...but the kind of cry that makes you think that his heart has just been broken! What is a mommy to do? :)) Well, I let him cry, then try to distract him to something new. If that doesn't work, all I gotta say is that he has spent many "1 minute" segments in his crib! LOL

Applebees Blondies and Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

Blondie

So I've been on a kick to make some fun food. No not necessarily healthy food, just yummy food. Josh had the idea to make a dessert on Sunday. So he picked Blondies. I then recommended we see if we could find the Applebees recipe online. Well, a million calories, and grams of fat later, we found it! :)

This is Josh just thinking of how yummy it will taste in his mouth!

Then yesterday with spaghetti, I thought it would be fun to have some good bread. So I got the fake Macaroni Grill recipe for the bread. Not too shabby! Yum...a little Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar and we were in heaven!

Rosemary Bread

Ultra Alien Sound

We had our first Ultra sound last week and it was great! I saw so many things and was assured that everything looked normal and healthy with the baby. If you see anything in the pics..please don't say because to us we see the major things and don't want to know if it's a boy or girl! I just thought these pics were awesome.

The first is of the legs, bum and back. Way cool pose kiddo!

The next is of the little scrawny legs crossed.

The last- my favorite...is of the alien looking face! The baby gets all its looks from dad! :))
We only hope it comes out this cute!

Time with Grandpa Loveridge

Holden and I went to my Aunt Susan's house with my dad to pick up my Grandma. This is just a pic of Holden and Grandpa! It always takes a little time for Holden to warm up- then he's a gem! He really seems to love the men in the family- and in general for that matter. I think it's because they play chase and throw him around unlike any woman could ever do! lol

Happenings!

Interview Time!


Well, Josh made it home safely on Friday from his adventurous trip back east. He loved it even though it was crazy. He went to Vermont- and was disappointed that he couldn't make it to the Ben and Jerry's factory. Dang! He also went to Michigan, and lo and behold, right now it is his top choice to go to school. He thought it was a great school but also thought that Holden and I would enjoy this place more than any other to live while he is in the library 24/7!

Company!

Friday night, Josh's dad came from Boise to stay at our house for conference- a little tradition that he started! It was so fun having him here for the weekend and it's always sad when he has to leave. These are the boys getting ready to leave for the priesthood session-well, not Holden but you get the point.

The next couple of days wasn't so fun. I got food poisoning and was down in bed while Josh got to take off yet another day of work to stay home to take care of Holden. What a guy! I love 'im!

Library Looney!

This morning I finally felt better and took Josh to work. After dropping Josh off, I took Holden to the library for Lap Time. They had songs and stories and fun little activities for the kids to do. Holden is getting to a better age to enjoy those things. Although there was a HUGE shelf of books behind us so it wasn't long before he just started pulling books off of the shelf, bringing them to me to read to him. For the next half hour, I just let him climb on some carpet steps they had with a bunch of little kids his age. He was in heaven. Who would've thunk it? Stairs...so simple...yet so profound! :)

Good News From Doc!

After the library it was nap time, then it was off to the doctor for our first Ultra Sound of Baby #2. It was hilarious that I had wild dreams of Holden sitting perfectly on the floor reading his books and playing quietly until I was finished. NO WAY! The second I climbed up on the bed and the nurse started the ultra sound, he obviously felt totally left out of all of the action and was scraping to get up to see what was going on. She put him on my legs to see, but of course the first thing he did was try to crawl up on my tummy...not really good when that's the area of focus for the nurse. So, it was down on the floor. After minutes of crying the nurse finally called in another nurse to come in to aid my ailing child. She was so wonderful, and took him out gave him juice and a sucker and took him to meet everyone else in the clinic!

Good surprise from the doctor was that my due date was moved up a week! Yeah! So, the official date is now August 24th! We all know how that last month of pregnancy goes...so although it's only 1 small week- I'll take it! :)

My Duck Loving Son!

After the doctor I picked up Josh to go to an appointment on the BYU campus. While we were waiting for him, I took Holden to feed the ducks. It was his second heaven. He just squealed in delight at all of the moving creatures! I threw some graham crackers to feed the ducks and I thought I'd give Holden a try. I gave him a cracker- and well...let's just say he didn't really get the point of feeding THE DUCKS! lol He just ate everything I gave him. FINALLY, he dropped one for the ducks- how generous!

Yum Yum with Good Company!

After we dropped Josh off at work yet another time- we headed to Brick Oven to meet my Uncle Kay, Aunt Susan, Grandma Loveridge and my handsome cousin Bryan! Bryan is here for a quick trip for a few days from Boston. It's a party when Bryan comes into town! We had a great meal, minus the child throwing oyster crackers and anything else in his reach-on the floor. :) But at least he seemed happy!The crew at good ol' Brick Oven! Both Holden and I are hunching over...don't ask me why. We were both probably stuffed! LOL We love these guys and are so blessed to have such a wonderful family! Definitely my second mom and dad. Or are those my In-laws!? lol I guess it's a tie! But we had a great time. Needless to say, after that Holden and I were pooped so we picked up Josh from work and blasted Wicked all the way home! Popular! What a good day!

Good Times

OLD FRIENDS!!!

This last weekend we were able to meet up with some of my friends from my mission to Spain. We saw the Martins, Cooks and the Gibbs. The dummy that I am, I forgot to take any pictures. Josh and I had been runnin' crazy getting him a new suit and other fun stuff for his interview this week but made it in time to the restaurant to catch our friends. They were just finishing eating when we arrived so we got our food to go. The waitress had to wait 10 minutes to get our food for us so we apologized as we were leaving for taking up the table an extra 10 MINUTES. She just huffed and said, "yeah, and it's my money making table too!" What a brat! I have been a server and you have good nights and bad nights. You have people that eat like there's a fire and then you have people that eat like snails. Sorry, but that's the biz you're in. After that rude comment I was like, "No tip for her!" lol I gave here a small tip but still...how rude!


After dinner we headed to Springville the the Cooks home and played some games. The Martins also made this yummy fruit dip. It was so fun to just talk and laugh with them. The Cooks have a little boy not too much older than Holden and they had so much fun playing together. We had a blast and we need to do that more often!

FAMILY FUN!!

Then Sunday was the blessing of my niece Bethany. What an angel. It was a beautiful blessing and fun to get together with my family afterwards for a pot roast dinner. Josh and I headed home pretty early to finish his packing for his trip. We were up until 2:30 am. We had gone to Mr. Mac against our better judgement to get a cheap suit. Well, when they tailored it in 5 minutes, they shortened the pant legs about an inch too short. They looked like floods on him. I decided to use my hemming talents I learned at good ol' Tuxedo Junction! I unpicked the crappy stitch and measured exactly one inch from where they had sewn (thinking they were professionals and all I needed was another inch added to the length) and sewed my own stitch to lengthen the pant legs. It was after doing this that I noticed they had sewn the pant legs crooked. Fools!! hehe One leg was one inch even shorter than the other. ( I knew it was their fault because I hadn't ironed the crease their stitch had made yet). I was already an hour into it and the stitch I sewed was a little more complicated to unpick. Sweet Josh spent the next half hour unpicking the stitch from the really short leg. I had him try on the pants (the right way) and I measured the legs, sewed them, ironed them and luckily they looked great! I was exhausted and SICK of sewing!

NOT A GOOD START!!

We got up Monday morning with plenty of time to spare- but not knowing that there would be wretched, horrible ice on the car and all on the streets and freeway. We headed out and traveled at about 30 miles an hour on the freeway, fish-tailing on the ice. We knew we were in trouble. We got to the airport with only 45 minutes to spare. Needless to say- the airport on a Monday morning at 9:00 am is a madhouse- and he missed his flight. I have spent the last month planning this trip to a tee! There goes his 3 flights for this day to get to Vermont and his hotel reservation. They couldn't get him to Vermont- only to New York for the night. He would have to travel to Vermont the next morning just in time to arrive for his interview. :( So, I spent a couple hours trying to find a hotel in New York that was under $250 a night that was close to the airport. UGH! Josh just called me and all is well. He made it to his interview and hopefully everything will go as planned this week for his next 6 or 7 flights, taxis, shuttles and hotels! Poor boy- he needs a nap! He'll be gone until Friday night, so I have some playing to do so I don't miss him too much!

GOOD ENDING!

Yesterday I went with my parents and Kim and some of her kids to my Grandma's house for her birthday. We spent the afternoon playing Pollyanna- an old family favorite. It was so much fun and my grandma was glad to have some company. I came home exhausted so Holden and I ordered pizza. We ate and went right to bed! What a good day! :)

SO...SPIDERS

So the other day I was going to cook some hamburger- harmless right? Well, as I pulled and pulled to get the right pan out...I let out a scream of horror! Alright...maybe not horror, but fright! lol Crawling around in my pan was a hairy 8 legged creature! I do NOT like spiders..and considering we live in a basement apartment, we have seen very few spiders. Josh is always kind enough to tackle the discarding of such creeps in our house! Well, Josh didn't get home for another hour, so this was up to me. I hate killing anything. Not that I mind the killing part so much, but the squishing of their little bodies makes me sick. SO- I opted to take the whole pan outside and let him go. I avoided the squishing once again! But yuck! Although...Holden actually thought it was awesome...so I let him watch it for a while. hehe

3 Years and Counting!

We had our 3 year anniversary on March 26th! At the last minute we were able to go on an overnight stay at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. We left Holden with the Johnson family (who were nice enough to take him on such short notice! Thanks Tim and Tiff!) and headed to Salt Lake. That is always a fun hotel to go to with the rooms decorated in different themes. We stayed in a French room. Fun stuff.

The next day we went to the University of Utah campus to relive my old days as a U of U student. It was fun being there. It really is a great school. Josh had the idea to get some pizza slices at The Pie Pizzeria. It is great pizza and in a fun little place. I definitely was reminded of my college days! We then set out to find a place to get Josh's hair cut. Romantic eh!? lol Great clips took him in and he looked like a million bucks. We then shopped all of these little old antique shops- you know...the kind you never go into that are quaint and small. We found the most awesome children's store. It had beautiful clothing...only about $100 a pop. hehe But the coolest things in the store were all of the children's books. Josh and I were agreeing that books are the best thing to give kids as they grow older. Holden loves books so much. He loves his toys, but I love it every day as he will sit himself in front of our bookshelf and "read" to himself. He will bring me books all of the time to read to him. My goal is to help him to continue to love reading as much as he does now!

After reading kids books we went to the dollar theater and saw Cloverfield. Hmmm... it was okay- it had great potential but we felt it ended unfinished. It was also hard to watch because of the camera work. We had to keep looking down because we would get motion sickness. Glad we only paid 1 buck for it! lol We then headed to the Mayan restaurant where we had a fun time watching the divers and the fire throwers. It's a fun little place.

We had such a wonderful time. Again, as I have said before- I think "mom and dad time" is so important. It was so nice to be with Josh and to go back to our "pre-kid" days. We missed Holden so much, but it was so nice to rekindle some sparks, have some great conversations and really enjoy each other. Periodically I think it is so important for moms and dads to do this! We came back rejuvenated and also feeling blessed to have Holden in our lives. Marriage is amazing and I love Josh more than ever! I feel like we're more in tune with each other and life gets better every day! He is sweet , charming, fun, caring and takes care of our family so unselfishly. He is a great father and is enjoying fatherhood so much. Three cheers for three years! :)