seasons change, people change...

One thing about living here in the dirty ol' South is just really how beautiful it is here. The weather is pretty nice year round [once you get past the yucky humidity during the Summers]. But the two best seasons here (and in my opinion just about anywhere you live) are Spring and Fall. Living in the mountains most of my life the Fall ended mid-October as far as leaf color change. Not here... we're just NOW full force changing mode. The leaves are especially beautiful today. This of course brings me warm fuzzies and not from the temperature which was supposed to be topped out at 75 today. But because it's automatic for my senses to start going into holiday mode and I LOVE IT! It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is a mere 3 weeks away from today. Next weekend we are going to THIS cabin with some friends and are super excited! I hope the leaves stay pretty while we're there. We're going to have a little mini-Thanksgiving dinner! I can't wait! It should be nice and relaxing and all cabin-ny.

Here are some picts to enjoy!

These first couple are from my cell phone in our pretty neighborhood. (not the greatest quality)

You Might Be a Big Fish in a Little Pond

Here's the thing, I AM SO TIRED! (Imagine if you can me saying that with a lot of emotion and conviction!) I AM FALLING asleep at my desk. I hate days like this, especially when time just seems to be stuck in some weird black hole for time... n' stuff. But, it's all my fault. I can blame no one else but myself. Last night we were up way TOO late, and the night before as well. Of course that night was because of the election, I wanted to see who our next president was and be excited about history in the making. Last night it was because we went to yet ANOTHER rockin' concert! I mentioned earlier that my company I work for owns a suite at Phillips Arena and because of that you can put in for tickets to ANY of the events at the Arena. Well, I unsuccessfully tried to BUY tickets to Coldplay because they sold out. But because of popular demand, they set up another show and I was LUCKY enough to get FREE tickets for our suite! It was such a nice night. Ash and Jacob to the rescue again... they stayed with Benny so Ryan and I could have an evening out. I love my husband. I love spending time with him. I love that he lets me have my little things that I like to do and that he comes along just because he loves for us to be together. I love how he takes care of me, and watches out for me. I love when he puts his hand on my back when we're walking up stairs in a post-concert crowd in the MARTA station. And how he keeps his arm around me at all times while riding the train or reaches out for my hand in a crowd so we don't get separated. He's my own personal body guard! Which I appreciate because lets be honest, sometimes the MARTA stations are a little on the scary side! I love how gentle he is with me and that he treats me like precious cargo. I have a good man for a husband and am grateful for him everyday. He is an excellent father, and I love how much my boys love each other. They are two peas in a pod!

Anyway... the show was of course amazing. I could go on and on, but in the long run no one probably really cares too much because it's one of those "guess you had to be there" things. It was the second time I've seen them and they just put on a good show. The pictures are to show you just how SWEET the SUITE seats were! We scored! I wont lie though, a little awkward sitting next to my boss though! It was all good, like I usually do I zoned everyone out and focused on the music, lights, and musicians. My name is Heather, and I am a concert junkie.

(THIS IS PROBABLY REALLY LOUD, SORRY)

For Granola and family far away

Here he is sitting up. I'll post more!

HOLY CRAP! He's 8 MONTHS OLD!

Can you believe it? It's kind of freaking me out a little! Let's recap what his new and exciting little talents and abilities are.

• He has discovered the funness of his knees and hands and the way they allow him to rock back and forth. This is instead of his usual army crawl on legs and mostly arms pulling him.
• He eats his solids like a rock star and has most recently tried grapes. With THIS handy gadget of course. He's also a big fan of ice in that too. (thanks for the tip Jill!)
• He can "wave" goodbye. He's still working on mastering when to do it, but he's got the finger action down and it's pretty FREAKIN' cute! (I'll have to get video of it)
• Still working on those teeth. Mostly the bottom left one. They are taking FOREVER to come in poor kid.
• He's almost a whopping (I know... not really whopping for his age) 18 lbs! I feel it though. He's a handful!
• Is starting to pull himself up. We had him playing in the laundry basket this weekend and while I was holding the basket he pulled himself up all by himself! I'm not really ready for that though.
• He can sit up all by himself. He still has to master getting to the crawling stance with out bonking his head on the floor, but his noggin is a tough one so he can handle it.
• He enjoys hanging out in the high chair. Especially when me or Ryan are in the kitchen doing something he can watch. He likes to watch us eat our food and then when it's his turn to eat he chomps it as if it was something more than pureed chicken and apples! Too funny.
• I think he's really starting to recognize songs now too. Saturday he was SUPER cuddly with Mommy (that's me) and I have this little lullaby I sing him that my mom sang to us- he was kind of singing along [in an 8 month old fashion]! It was the cutest thing, it just made me smile. What I'm getting at is I think he's starting to realize that he can sing along to a song because he knows it. Make sense?
• He is definitely becoming a daddy's boy. The only person he wants first thing in the morning is his daddy. Although, he only wants me when it's time to go to sleep at night and cuddle with the bottle- so that's pretty rad. But most of the time, he's ticked if his dad is around and he's not holding him. They have fun together.

I tell you what, it's hard being a mom. I love it. I love knowing he's my guy. That he needs us and loves us each in different ways and yet still the same. It's been an exciting and FAST 8 months! Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been peaches n' cream. There have been a lot of tears of frustration and confusion and just plain exhaustion. But it's all so very worth it. On so many levels.

Thanks Laurie

What do you think? Any resemblance?
http://www.vw.com/vwhype/babymaker/en/us/

I haven't done one of these in a while...

Tagged!
Here are the rules:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on blog
3. Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
5. Leave a comment to let them know.

Robin tagged me

1. I like honey or jam on my grilled cheese sandwiches.
2. I have a really old and worn out pillow that I can't sleep with out.
3. When I'm thinking really hard or am tired I usually hold a finger on my top lip.
4. Ryan pointed one out to me, I twirl my hair. But then occasionally (w/o even knowing it) I will rub my hair that's been twisted on my lips. I don't know... It's a quirk right?
5. When I get nervous, my chest gets all splotchy and red.
6. I can get around in the dark really good. I like to take showers in the dark when I need some relaxing time. I just know where things are from looking at them and observing them in the light all the time. But I HATE driving at night.

I tag Andrea, Ashley, Clint, Jessica, Erin B., Laurie. (If y'all want to anyway!)

Weekend Review

We had a pretty good weekend! Friday night we were supposed to have gone camping with a group of friends, but since it was FREEZING and RAINING we decided ahead of time we wouldn't go and that everyone should just come to our house. So we had some friends over and we had sausage dip and monkey bread and Wassail (which was pretty gross in my opinion- my bad, I need to actually follow the recipe better the next time I make it!) and a few other goodies. We mostly sat and talked, but in the background had Corpse Bride playing. It was a fun night and we were glad to have had everyone over to hang out. We have great friends.
Saturday, Ben woke us up pretty early but then went back to sleep after his bottle. I told Ryan that I too was going back to sleep, and even though he hassled me about it a little bit- I still did. About an hour later (and some REALLY crazy dreams) I was woken up to the smell of bacon and my husband standing at the bed with breakfast for me! Even juice to drink! It was THE BEST! At about 1 o'clock Ashley and I went to the mall for a couple hours. It was good to have some me time. Then that night Ashley and Jacob came over to babysit Ben while we went to dinner and then to the Weezer concert! (I took this with my cell phone, not the greatest shot)

For those who missed it and wanted to go, it was a REALLY good show! They are Ryan's favorite band and I like them, they have a lot of good songs. In fact, Ryan and his buddies used to play together (meaning, he'd play the bass, his friend Michael on the guitar and Jared on the drums)- and the song that made me all warm and fuzzy when I'd watch Ryan play was a song of theirs called "Say It Ain't So". They are a fun band anyway- but they played all the good songs, they had like three outfit changes (on stage- they were all layered up)... there was a small trampoline they bounced on. One of the best parts was they called one of the local radio stations to set up a Hootenanny, where people won a contest to play whatever instrument, and in one girls case TAP DANCE with Weezer on the stage for a couple of songs. It was very entertaining!(I wish I could say I took that picture! This was on their site where there are more from the Atlanta show.) There was a Bassoon, Cello and Trumpet solo! It was awesome. Basically what it comes down to is that they were very crowd pleasing, entertaining and really good live! Ryan said hands down it was the best concert he's ever been too. I've been to A LOT, and it was high on my list of good concerts!

Sunday I took some pictures for Mrs. Metcalf and her in laws, and then we hung out with the regular Sunday dinner crowd last night. Ben was grumpy pretty much all day, and we kept him home from church and out of the wind and cooler weather so he wouldn't get sicker. His poor little nose has been SO runny, and of course he gets SO mad when I have to wipe it. And I think he tooth break is now over. Poor kid. He's been kind of a mess for about a week. It's really unlike him to be crying and so grumpy like he has been. I hope it's temporary and he can get back to his happy self again soon! I'm thinking I'm coming down with what he had though, as well as about 90% of my department here at work. I could use more sleep. Seriously.

HAPPY MONDAY! Make it a good one. My goal today: KEEP POSTIVE!

Foot in Mouth.

Wow. I didn't realize how grumpy that last post sounded until just now. I must've been in a bad mood! Well, I spoke too soon- Ben "slept" last night, but I didn't. He was coughing pretty much all night long and it kept me up. The only position he was comfortable in was halfway on his belly and that makes me nervous so I slept in his room. Every time he coughed it woke me up. So, needless to say- we stayed home today and I took him to the doctor. He has some Bronchial virus and a slight ear infection. We had to do a breathing treatment with the nebulizer machine and that was not fun all alone. Poor kid. I finally figured out (right almost at the end) that he just wanted his binky. So he calmed down and let me keep the mask on him then. So now we have to give him an inhaler with a cute little ducky mask and some antibiotics. All right along side a tooth coming in. He's a trooper.
I'm going to go take a nap and get cuddly in my blankets. It's all windy and chilly outside- so the weather calls for cuddle time. I just wish my man was here to enjoy it with!

• Am I the only one that gets bothered when people talk politics at work?


• I need to start playing the Lotto... no really. :)


• Why is it, when I'm in the bathroom with a total of 5 stalls, someone HAS to come and sit in the one next to me when there are two that aren't?


• Ben is a daddy's boy. End of story.


• Ally, our dog, makes me crazy. End of story.


• My hands are cold right now. No, wait- all of me is cold.


• Ben has a cold and is getting a tooth or two. Poor kid. Luckily he's sleeping through the night still, for now.


• I miss my car right now. Just right now.


• I need a good, like REALLY good fall recipe. Got any?


• We were supposed to go camping this weekend and now we can't. Reason #1: it's going to rain. Reason #2: Ben is sick. Reason #3: the low is going to be like 49. NO THANKS! I'm pretty sad though, I wanted to go really bad. But we're going to have some people over for fun times anyway.


• I think, it's quite possible that I have a lot on my mind. End of story.


• I am grateful for such good people that I am surrounded by. I am grateful for each of their strengths in their individual trials. I have GREAT friends. Meaning, they are GREAT people and spirits.


• I've said this before, I'll say it again: speaker phone bothers me. Not if you REALLY can't use your hands I guess... I mean, I say maybe it's not a good time to be on the phone if you can't hold it or if you're making the world listen to your convo. Point in case, lady across the walkway (all of like 6 feet away from me) likes to have her office door open during her conference calls, on speaker.


• I feel like I'm getting to be an old decrepit lady. My knee is aching, my hip, my shoulder... I feel so rickety.
• I'm counting down the minutes until Ryan gets here... we carpooled together again. Hence me missing the car.

BOO!

If you're looking for some good Halloween ideas or treats, check this out- I just found it on allrecipes.com, which I love anyway! Click on the pictures in the screen; the haunted house, the pumpkins, the spider webs... too cute!

Ghost Host!

Wow.

We had a poop-fest this morning. But it's not as glamorous as I've just made it out to be. I know, who am I kidding- poop hyphenated with "fest"? Come on Heather. It was more of an incident than a fest. Okay, it was just gross. Scenario: 6:45am this morning. I had just changed Ben's overnight diaper knowing that he would sooner than later have a #2. SO, I didn't put any clothes on or anything knowing this. Just left him in his diaper. Stupid move #1 by Heather, I put him in his Exersaucer like this. I proceeded to get mostly dressed for the day... and do other things while he is playing and Ryan is getting stuff ready for us to go. I looked at Ben and asked "did you poop yet?" (as if he can answer me...) and he just looked at me and then I see that his toes and feet are smudging around in... yeah, you guessed it. (I kind of wish we got a picture!) So basically to spare you much detail, it took the both of us (mostly me while Ryan had to walk away gagging) to get him and the exersaucer cleaned up in time for us to get out the door still! "IT" was all over my clothes, bra... everywhere! It was a FIASCO to say the least!!! Keep in mind, this is the SECOND time in 2 weeks this has happened in his exer-pooper! Get it? Ha, ha. This time just seemed so much worse. Although, the first time wasn't so great either. Something about the content of the issue...

Ryan and I have been endearingly calling Ben "poop feet" all day today! I don't think we'll ever let him live this moment down... poor kid, already has a complex. Here he is minus the poop!

Our Weekend Review

Friday night we didn't do much. I think we just got home from work and cleaned and stuff. Saturday we set out pretty early and made our way to Ellijay, GA with Ashley, Jacob, Clint and Jey to the Apple Festival. WOW, what an adventure! With traffic and iPhones and Google Maps and cutting a boat off in the middle of the road, Winkle, camels, hot weather, again Google Maps... it was quite the day! We successfully made it to the Apple Festival and stayed for a tick then moved on out of Ellijay and to our favorite Pumpkin Patch. The leaves are in the early stages of changing and falling and so it was a beautiful ride! We scoped the area out and found a pumpkin for Ben and one for us. I got some squash so I can make some baby food for Ben. And took some pictures, of course! By the time we got there, the weather cooled off and it was really a beautiful evening. We didn't get home until 8:30pm. Our little guy was WORN out by then, but he was a trooper that's for sure! He does put up really well with us packing him around everywhere.

Sunday I went and taught my primary class. They are definitely a handful, but it's an adventure and I like watching them learn when they can sit still long enough to! I am just grateful to have a calling! We did our regular dinner with friends night on Sunday. Played a little Rock Band... it was fun. I got a lot of cleaning and laundry and dusting and painting and cooking and taking care of Ben stuff done too. All in all it was a good weekend, just worn out from it all!

Ben woke up at 4:20 am yesterday and cried. There are 2 teeth breaking through and it seems like he just didn't feel good because he just wanted to be held and cuddled with. I rocked him in the rocking chair for about 45 mins. That's really unlike my guy. I can usually just go in to his room and find him his binkie and blanket and then go back to bed and know he'll go to sleep. He didn't want that this morning. After I held him for a while I put him back down and he fought going back to sleep for quite a while... but then finally went to sleep around 5:30 all the while Ryan's alarm was going off... then he made me get up at like 6... and so needless to say I WAS TIRED YESTERDAY. I got a call from the daycare around 5pm and they said he'd woken up from his nap about a half hour earlier and hadn't stopped crying since. Which again, is really unlike Ben. So I went over and gave him some Tylenol and sure enough, I could even see the little whites of those guys... poor thing. He was doing that stutter breathing thing you did when you cried really hard as a kid. His little ears and eyes were red... you could tell he was in a lot of pain. Ryan met us there, and all Ben wanted was his daddy. He would not come to me and cried when I held him! He fell asleep in the car and I put him down in his crib when we got home and he slept until Ryan woke him up to feed him at like 7 and he was TICKED that we woke him, and slept through the whole bottle. I didn't even get to feed him any solid food! Then after holding and snuggling him for a little while we put him in his crib and he slept ALL night (for the exception of a few times waking up and then going right back to sleep) until 5:45 this morning. Anyway- the point of the story is I feel bad that he has to be uncomfortable. This could be a rocky road for the next little while during the time his little teethies come in.

My sister has made her safe return to the ATL today all the way from Luanda, Angola and most recently Ethiopia, and I'm SO relieved! In other news, I surprised Ryan with Weezer tickets for a couple weeks from now. Lucky for us we have such great friends that are willing to hang out with Ben while we go and do that! Earplugs here I come!

I had the most delicious cake today. I was going to save some of it for later, and couldn't.

The three of us have started to carpool with each other! It's fun to be with both of my boys for that much longer, save gas and I don't have to drive in the traffic! PLUS I get to work on time too!

Pictures from the fair

update

Friday kind of marked a bittersweet day for me. My parents moved from Logan, UT after living there for 10 years! More than anything I wish I was there to help them, and to say goodbye to their strange little house. To say goodbye to Logan in general. I have had MANY of good memories there. I really haven't thought much about it because I'm so far away and sometimes things that don't go on right in front of me seem a little surreal. It just occurred to me how much I really am going to miss them living there!

1. I will miss going "home" for Christmas. I guess this marks the point where going to my parents house isn't really home anymore. Which sounds silly I guess- kind of hard to explain. But my "home" now is with my boys, in my house, here in Georgia.


2. I will miss getting my snow fix for the Holidays. I guess I can still get that when I go to Utah Valley to visit friends and family there.


3. I will miss driving down cute little Main St. and see all the old and new shops mixed together and just the small town feel of it all.


4. I will miss drives up to the canyon with Dad and looking for Moose and going to Tony Grove. I had one of the coolest moments alone fishing there, and got to hike with my daddy there before I left to come live here.


5. Going to Bear Lake.

There's more... but yeah, it's pretty sad and exciting for them too. They needed to make a change and we all know this was the best one for them. At least we know that whenever we go to visit, it'll always be warm and they have a pool in the neighborhood- they moved to St. George! WOO HOO!

Another monumental occasion... look what our boy decided to be able to do yesterday!

This is today, he started with the elbows yesterday but has moved to the hands now! Just needs to get the knee action down! And the kid just doesn't even have time for sitting still, so he's still mastering his sitting up on his own skills! I LOVE HIM and yes, I am so proud of him! I can't believe how big he's getting!

AND... we're happy that DJ is coming back next week, yes it's early- but for circumstances unforeseen, we're sort of relieved!

Cow, Ben. Ben, Cow.

This is my favorite picture from this weekend's trip to the Fair! More to come!

So... what's going on?

I know. It's time for an update. There really isn't much that's been going on in OUR life, however a lot going on in our family's lives.
-have a family member that's been in the hospital with health problems which is never good.
-my parents have FINALLY sold their house in Logan, UT after having it up for sale for quite a long time and are waiting to hear about a house they put an offer on in St. George, UT.
-because of this, they have been under the gun to get their WHOLE house packed up, and THANK GOODNESS FOR SHAUNA! I wish more than anything we could be there to help. It's hard living so far away.
-my sister Delinda is in Luanda, Angola Africa and has already visited and spent time with our family in South Africa, both Johannesburg and Cape Town. I don't think she even KNOWS how envious most of us in the family are that she gets to repeatedly have that experience. I am so glad though that someone from the Collier family can make associations and relationships with them besides mom.
-our home front: Ryan has successfully installed the toilet- or as we refer to it, the twa-lette. :) Now what's left is the vanity, caulking, tub faucet, mirror and other accessories. I'm pretty dang proud of my guy for doing all of that on his own. It's been a trying experience, but I think for the rest of the time we're in that house he will always be proud of his work!
-Ben WANTS TO CRAWL. He doesn't have time for sitting up, but is doing better at it. They're practicing with him at school and we do a lot of practice at home too when we can. In fact today at lunch he was doing quite well on his own. It's possible he'll be breaking in some teeth soon too. He's getting so big so fast. He also is starting to give kisses, of course with his mouth wide open! He's a loving and happy little guy. We are so grateful for him!
-we are having (Aunt) Ashley and Jacob watch Ben tomorrow so we can go to the temple. It will be super nice.
-I posted for another position with in my company a couple days ago. It's time to change up the scenery a little and get some different work experience. I also am seeking for management who understands parenthood. So, hopefully, if it's Heavenly Father's will- it will go through. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
-Heather (me) is thoroughly enjoying the cooler weather, but not Ryan. I am super excited to be able to sleep with the window open at night, which we are convinced has made it extremely difficult to get up in the morning! I LOVE IT!
-we have LOTS of fun Fall-ish things planned for our future weekends. The State Fair, the Apple Festival, the Pumpkin Patch, possible camping trip, picnics, Ben's first Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner! This is me being excited!

This is me lately. I am so darn forgetful. I told Ryan this morning that lately it seems that it's requirement for me to forget at least ONE thing a day. The day before yesterday it was my purse. I left it at home, on the kitchen table. Today it was my deodorant (I've made a conscious effort to keep my arms down today!). Ben needed diapers on Monday, I had them in the back of the car... I didn't remember I had them in there until I got a lovely note on his chart asking for them and reminding me!!! Ever since I had Ben, and maybe even while I was pregnant with him, I have become SO forgetful! I used to be able to think of EVERYTHING- I was on top of it! Now... not so much! It's SO, no like SOOOOOO annoying! I feel so unorganized, even if I make myself organized. Make sense? Even if I plan things out- I'll still forget something. Maybe it's because there are just too many things and people to remember things for. Goodness, gracious. I was at the doc's office a couple weeks ago and I had Ben in his car seat on the floor while I was checking out. One of the nurses came over to distract/play/gaga at him so I could focus on the task at hand. After I was done- I started to fret because I couldn't find my keys.... I was looking everywhere... saying to myself "Where are my keys? Oh no, did mommy lose her keys?" (Yes, I'm referring to myself as Mommy to Ben now.) The nurse politely said to me while patting my shoulder "your memory WILL come back someday honey... it just might take a while". What a relief to hear! Mostly because I'm glad I'm not the only one! Oh well... I look forward to that one day.

Labor Day in Florida

Because it's easy and you don't have to look at a bunch of pictures you may or may not want to see, I am just doing ANOTHER mosaic of our trip to FL. We had a really good time with the Woodsons. It's so great to know we have a friendship with them that will last forever! On our trip we got to go to St. Augustine first, and had a wonderful time there. We got rained on, but it was a fun little adventure. Not 5 mins later it cleared up and we got back to being tourists. We went to the Castillo de San Marcos Monument, we walked up and down the "town strip" and stopped by for a quick picture at the light house. After we got to the Woodson's, we went to the beach a couple times (even though at one of the stops we made there really was no beach! The hurricanes made the water really rough and the tide really high). We went to the pool in their neighborhood a couple times and Ben LOVED it. He had a blast in his little crab floaty. Ryan & I got to go on a date to my favorite restaurant and did a little shopping. We had a lot of fun!!! It was so wonderful and relaxing and we just love it there. Ryan keeps saying he wants to move to FL someday so we can be close to the beach. We will see! I am really grateful that we are so close to the ocean living here in ATL... it's really not too far away. Speaking of far away, Ben did AWESOME on the way down. He slept most of the time. Now on the way back it was a little more of a struggle. Probably because it was daylight and we did the full 8 hour stretch (which turned into 10 hours with stops and eating). He wasn't completely awful though and he did sleep a lot. It was just annoying for him I think. Anyway- we look forward to going again next year!

1. me and Ben at the monument (fort)
2. the lighthouse
3. Ryan and Ben with the beautiful ocean behind them, also at the fort.
4. rainy leaf
5. Ben's first trip to the beach
6. toes in the sand
7. daddy and Ben playing in the pool
8. laying out at the beach
9. cool fountain in St. Augustine
10. Me, Ben and Jill
11. Cute boys Seth and Ian
12. Sleeping on the way home
    

He likes to roll and I think he's thinking that he might want to crawl sometime soon.