best. book. ever.

While perusing the local library today, I came across a fabulous book that I think no home should be without.

I'm sure my mom would enjoy this book. Adapted from the story of the Gingerbread man, the story starts as a baker makes a man out of his leftover matzah dough. Of course, after the dough is baked, the Matzah man pops out of the oven, recites a rhyme, and runs away. And everyone in town wants to have that matzah man at their very own Passover Sedar, so they begin chasing him through town. The best part of the whole book is at the very end when the matzah man comes upon the house of a young boy. The boy tells the matzah man he has a perfect place for him to hide, and the boys helps the matzah man onto a plate and covers him with a napkin. If only the matzah man had been taught about Jewish traditions! He should have known that he had been tricked into being the Afikoman, and the matzah man is then served to the guests at the end of the passover meal.

If you're not familiar with the Jewish traditions of Passover, read up on it and this story will be a lot funnier.

Seriously, a great book.

What a smart boy!

He's figured out how to slide out of his bouncer chair.

And he's learned that he likes to chew on graham crackers.

(getting them down his throat instead of on his shirt is a different story)

Fall Craft

I got the idea for this craft from something my sister Katie did to decorate her baby room. I got wooden letters that you can get from just about any craft store. You can do this to spell out whatever you want (Fall, Merry Christmas, your baby's name). Then I got scrapbook paper in varying fall patterns. Scrapbook paper is pretty cheap, and I'm not very creative with a paintbrush, so using paper gives you a beautiful pattern ready to go.

Trace the letter onto the desired portion of paper. Then cut the letter out with scissors.

Next you need to glue the paper onto the wood letter. I'm sure there are many methods of adhesion that will work. I wanted my glue to go on flat and not create lumps under the paper, so I used a foam craft brush (as seen below) to apply wood glue.

Then place the paper on the letter and push. Make sure the paper is lined up correctly with the letter and that there aren't any air pockets trapped underneath.

And there you go! A cute decoration you can use for any holiday!

Right now my letters are standing on the kitchen table, but I think I'll put them in the window so that more people can see them.

General Conference

Conference Weekend was really great. I kept trying to remember what we did for last general conference 6 months ago, and it's all kind of a blur. And then I remembered that Dallin was just a few days old and fresh from the hospital for last conference, and I was getting used to a little baby and trying to walk like a normal person. Needless to say, I couldn't keep my eyes open for too much of it. So I was really excited for this weekend of conference and listening to the words of our wonderful church leaders. And it was nice to have Mckay home the whole weekend without him leaving for work, homework, or church meetings. I think it was hard for Dallin to grasp sitting at home all day and watching the TV. He got very bored. And it was a cold and rainy weekend which made us want to stay inside even more. Once again, I was glad to have another person to keep Dallin happy.

We prepared for conference by getting lots of sleep the night before.

And Dallin looked for all the good weekend sales.

I was inspired by my sister-in-law Ashley to clean the house to create a more peaceful environment for watching conference. Unfortunately, the cleanliness didn't last into Sunday. There were some really great talks, and I enjoyed the hours of hearing what our church leaders want us to hear. I feel like there were a lot of talks about love and building relationships with others. President Monson is an inspired man, as are his apostles. I wanted to write down a few things that I heard in conference that are things I want to work on to make my life better.

Conference Goals

• Record spiritual experiences and promptings.
• Create an environment in my home where the spirit can be felt.
• Be more diligent and concerned at home.
• Express love to others and show it.
• Share testimony with others by speaking and through my actions.
• Be more consistent in scripture study, prayer, and Family Home Evening.
• Serve others more frequently and ask myself, "What have I done for someone today?"

Possibly one of my favorite quotes from conference was from Elder Uchtdorf.

"Try. And keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible. And that which seems only possible becomes a habit."

Especially right now as I am struggling with getting Dallin to fall asleep by himself, eat solid foods, gain weight, and learning how to be a good mother and keeping up with everything I have to do, I know that I just need to keep trying. And if I keep trying it will get easier.

All in all, it was a great conference. I'm excited to get the conference edition of the Ensign and re-read the talks and study from them for the next 6 months.

My tiny 0 percentile boy

Dallin had his 6 month check-up today. I was anxious to see what his weight would be. He seems like he's getting so big, so I was very hopeful his weight had made a good jump.

Weight: 12 lbs 13.5 oz

Height: 25 in

Head circumference: 41.6 cm

When the nurse weighed him and charted the measurement, she looked at it and said, "This can't be right. Let's weigh him again." In my head I was thinking, "No, it's right. He really is that small." Good thing we weighed him again. It added an extra 1/2 ounce!

Of course the doctor was concerned about this and spent most of the time talking about it. I don't think the concern is so much that he's small, but that he started out right along the 25% curve and has made drastic jumps off the curve entirely since then. We discussed ways to boost his calorie intake, including a few meals of solids foods daily in addition to his regular diet. So once again, I'm focusing on trying to make my little baby bigger. At least we probably won't have to worry about childhood obesity later in his life!

In every other area, Dallin is growing and progressing very well. He's always squirming and moving and trying to get away, he just can't make it very far yet. He wants to walk so badly, but he still needs a lot of work on his balance. He rolls all over the place and can somehow rotate his body around on the floor about 90 degrees. He eats his feet and anything he can get his hands on. He can sit up by himself for about 10-20 seconds (as seen in the picture at the top), but I still have to keep my hands ready nearby. He is working on falling asleep all by himself, and we have successful days and some hard days. He has a tooth just barely breaking the surface and another one very close behind it. And his huge smile continues to amaze people and win over the hearts of many cashiers at the grocery store.

A day in my life...

...written by Dallin

I hear people all the time saying that all babies do is eat, sleep and poop. Now I don't know too many other babies, but I know I'm a baby and I definitely do a lot more than that. Let me show you just a few things that I do every day.

I take baths.

And let me tell you, I'm a very modest baby so the picture taking in the bathtub surprised me.

I like to play with my mom.

And I like to play with toys by myself.

I seriously can't get enough of this thing. I'm not sure what it is or how it works, but these animals just spin around and around.

My mom tries to get me to roll over all the time, but I only do it when I want to. So most of the time I just smile and pretend I don't know what she wants. People are suckers for my smile.

But the weirdest thing today was watching my mom brush her teeth.

Why does she do that? Seriously, for like two minutes straight?!?!?

I'm baffled.

Rolly Boy

I finally got a video of Dallin rolling over! Of course, babies never do things the way you plan, so there is a little "surprise" at the end. It's actually kinda funny, but I do have to warn you that if you get squeamish about baby fluids, you might not want to watch this. For the rest of you, enjoy!