The Roberts Family

The Funny Boys

2011-02-27T13:23:00.007-06:00

We love our funny boys!!

William turned 4 this last week. He was 42 inches tall and 40 lbs. He has big feet and still has abnormally large hands, but he's so healthy and funny - and the things that come out of his mouth are hilarious.

Today, we decided to watch Snow White (good Sunday flick I guess) and William asked me what Snow White's powers were.

Me: Singing - I guess.

William: Oh right. Then she is going to have some apple and fall asleep (lays his head down on his hands.) Then the new different prince (I guess he has not made the connection with the earlier one - who can blame him? - the animation is not great) is going to use his kissing powers to wake her up. I guess he's going to have to use his powers every day. (rolls his eyes like "poor guy.") So then Snow White is going to go live with the 7 Doors and the animals will help her.

We are having conversations like this all the time. I know that when I recount our conversations my part is always like "umm" or "well" but I'm always so surprised by what comes out of his mouth.

When he got his birthday package from Meemie and Papa, William loved the neminems (M&Ms) and he asked me is he could "eat them - all of them." It's his birthday right? So he did. By the handful. He has a way of eating food like a wood-chipper. Just holds a handful of his food to his mouth until he can fit it all in. (We're working on it.) Anyhoo, this is the result. He loved them. Thanks Meemie and Papa!

Wesley is his own kind of fun. He is such a sweet kid. He is always smiling and is so helpful. He goes and gets his clothes so I can get him dressed and always find my phone for me. Seriously - he's helpful. Today at church he was pilfering through another young mom's diaper bag (we have an open diaper bag policy in our ward. Informal of course, but if it's on the ground anyone else is welcome to come pilfering through it if it will help to keep them occupied) and Wesley found a small baby doll. His reverence for the thing was hilarious. He gently picked it up and then mashed it against his chest and face in the most intense hug. He did it so hard he was shaking. Then proceeded to kiss the thing until it was pretty much wet all over its face. Apologetically I told the other mom I was sorry - I had not expected him to react that way. We don't have any doll-type toys. But she was sweet and just laughed.

Of course, this was after Wes fell off the stairs this morning and I was tracking down the med students in our ward to ask them the symptoms of a concussion. Yikes. (I know that Jared knows - but wives of doctors sometimes don't believe them. See - we knew them before they were doctors.) But I think we're in the clear.

Other than that - we are surviving school. Jared is up against WREB and Mock WREB which are his licensing exams and I am working on finishing my last formal semester in law school. We head up to Lincoln during our Spring Break in a few weeks to do some house hunting and have a little getaway from our stress here.

I leave you with this picture of the boys. It was freezing and Wes was giving a little attitude. Wes is only cranky when he's cold. PS. Its currently 28 degrees in Lincoln. Aren't they cute?

While I have a few minutes...

2011-02-15T18:52:00.005-06:00

I am sitting in a boring class - that can only be made more boring by the lecturer we are currently enjoying. So I thought I would include a few pictures of our recent doings. Here are some pictures that was had taken over the holidays. I think the one of William really captures him, but I'm not sure we ever really got one that looked like Wes to me. But here they are anyway.
They are cute. If I find myself in another boring class (which is a solid bet), I will post some video of the boys. They are hilarious and make us laugh all the time.

All our love!

Family Pictures

2010-11-27T21:32:00.003-06:00

We hope you all are enjoying another wonderful holiday season. We finally got our act together and took some family pictures that have us all together. We hope to share more of them with you soon. Thankfully we were able to get a few before lips got too blue and noses got too drippy...

Things at the Roberts house are exciting as always. Both boys keep us laughing, and the challenges life throws our way keep us holding on to one another. What a blessing it is to have shoulders to lean on and situations to laugh at. Thankfully our cars have proved useful lately at providing the latter. How we love transmissions and starters :)

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We were so glad to have family and friends to share the day with and experiences we can remember. Thanks to all those who joined in on the fun (including the nail-biter football game on Saturday).

We are grateful for our family both near and far and for our wonderful friends. Thank you for your love and support. Our best holiday wishes to you all.

J&M + boys

Yes, honey

2010-11-10T10:33:00.003-06:00

While doing the bedtime routine the other night:

William: Mom, what does Jesus do?
Me: Well, He loves you and wants you to be happy. He also made it so we can be together forever.
W: But Mom, what does He DO?
M: Um, well... what do you think He does?
W: (very matter of factly) He helps us wait for marshmallows.
M: Yes, honey. He does.

He is referring to this video we watched for FHE more than a month ago.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T23:11:00.005-05:00

Here are some pictures of our wonderful boys in their Halloween costumes having a wonderful time. We love these two guys so much.

Birthday Boy

2010-10-18T20:40:00.009-05:00

Happy First Birthday Wesley!

A few weeks ago we celebrated Wesley's first birthday, and here are a few highlights from his special day. We're so proud of our little man :)

Also we thought we'd post some pictures from our recent visit to the local corn maze/pumpkin patch in honor of the fall season. We asked Will to smile and he went the extra mile with his cheesiest grins ever. He enjoyed holding the map with clues as we tried to keep from getting completely lost in the maze. Thanks Jim and Marlaine for joining in on the fun.

Big Weekend!

2010-09-27T10:56:00.011-05:00

Jared and I spent a fabulous weekend celebrating our 5th Anniversary at a resort here in San Antonio. My parents came and watched the boys for us so we could relax. There just isn't a better gift than that. I will admit to missing the boys desperately by the time we got home early Monday morning, but it was a nice break.

For all the people who have been calling and been so thoughtful to us: Thursday morning I woke up with severe chest pains. I couldn't breathe so Jared called 911 and I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. And since I didn't die of the chest pains, or the embarrassment of leaving my close little quiet neighborhood in my super flattering pajamas strapped to a gurney with the ambulance all loud and lights blazing, I figure I can survive anything. The doctors in the ER were understandably nervous considering my history of open heart surgery and so decided to keep me overnight for observation. (It was at this point that I had an epiphany. Always keep your phone charged. Always keep a copy of your insurance in your purse. Know where your purse is. Know where your phone is in case you need to call 911. Buy cuter pajamas.) So Thursday night I stayed at the hospital and my parents just came down a day early so Jared could make it to school Friday. I was released Friday after some more testing and they found I had a viral infection in my heart. Symptoms can present like a heart attack - which seemed to be my situation.

Although this is long it is the short version and ultimately I'm fine. Doctors said to take it easy which I did all weekend! And I had a blast! So thank you everyone for your phone calls and your offers to help. You're wonderful.

Another explanation to clarify an earlier post: Jared decided to specialize and become a periodontist. (Mostly dental surgeries that involve the gums, bone grafting, and implants. Gross. But inexplicably, he loves it...) We had a whirlwind summer doing applications and then quickly making plans to interview all over the country. One of Jared's top choices was Nebraska, and as soon as he got into Lincoln he called me to tell me he already loved it. He interviewed and loved the program there. We had some previous offers and we were lucky enough to get another offer there before the day was over, and accepted about that fast. We felt so good we knew it was right.

Sooooo.... that means that I need to be done with school sooner than we originally thought. I'm taking 18 credits this semester, 18 credits next semester, 3 credits over Christmas in Phoenix, and I'll be ready to take the bar this summer. Jared and I will both graduate in May 2011. Whew. What a year it's going to be! I'm so excited. It just feels like a fun challenge.

Musings...

2010-09-21T18:28:00.003-05:00

I usually use this blog simply as a way for family to see pictures of my little guys, but several people have been asking me about law school. I just try to keep laughing and it's not very hard. Sometimes we hear about situations like this one:

"I'm sorry I can't tell you the paternity of my daughter. After all, when you eat a can of beans, you can't tell which one made you fart."

Priceless.

The Ever-so-sought-after Update

2010-09-18T06:15:00.002-05:00

Wesley in April

Greetings everyone! You may have wondered what we've been up to since our last post, so here's the rundown:

May: Spring finals for Mikail and Jared (all passed, sigh of relief), full-time summer schedule for Mikail (which she rocked), Jared=Mr. Mom for a few weeks while applying to residency programs, Wesley crawls all over while we smile and try not to trip over him.

The crawling days

June: Was there a June this year? We finished another furniture recovering project, went to the circus as a family, and we spent hours requesting, printing, signing, and mailing the seemingly endless sea of application forms. We were all a little beat, and this was when our back yard started looking like the untamed Amazon...

Wes relaxing and William exploring the back yard

July: Preschool for William (awesome), Wesley starts walking on his own, Mikail rocks more summer classes as her 2nd year of law school wraps up, perio interviews start and go well for Jared, we enjoy almost an entire week of mutual summer break, and dental school starts up again.

William before his first day of Preschool

August: Uncle Bryce comes home from his mission, Jared finishes residency interviews and accepts an offer at Nebraska (sigh of relief), our boys chase each other around the ottoman in the front room almost constantly, and the laughing never ceases. Mikail is taking 18 credits in stride this semester, and we celebrate 5 wonderful years of marriage.

Wesley chillin' in Dallas

And here we are in September. We're grateful to our friends and family for all the support over these last few (crazy) months--and years.

All our love,

The Roberts Family

The Great Butterfly Send-Off of 2010

2010-04-21T11:05:00.005-05:00

We did it! And we didn't even kill any during the whole process. Here is the video. Please pardon the homeless look Will has going on. He needs a haricut. (Man - I feel like I'm saying that every other day.)

I won't bore you with the first video. I was hoping for a "white dove" effect - you know - open it up and out they majestically fly. I guess butterflies are not that smart because we opened it and they didn't budge. So I pulled out their food plate and then some flew off. Then this video started and Will was a little upset that they left. But when he talks to them isn't it so cute?

Then I got a picture of Wes watching the whole thing. He is adorable.

Yes That's Right - We've Got Butterflies

2010-04-17T09:32:00.006-05:00

Here - William is asking me if I can see the " provocus" (he means proboscis. Its the long nose/tongue thing that butterflies use to eat.)

We had some larvae (caterpillars) sent to us by mail. We watched them grow them hang themselves upside down and form chrysalides. The it was a boring week while they did nothing. Well, nothing we could see anyway. Then they came out! And we loved it. We now have 5 butterflies we'll watch for a few more days then (if the rain ever stops) we'll set them free outside.

This has been fun for me and Will. Jared has not been around much because school has been nuts. So we have distracted ourselves with nature in the dining room. I couldn't get any good pictures through the mesh habitat but believe me. There are 5 butterflies in there.

Next: Tadpoles!

Getting better with the new camera. Thanks Jan.

2010-03-15T09:39:00.005-05:00

Monday's Moment of Zen

2010-02-08T16:12:00.003-06:00

Saturday is a special day

2010-01-24T20:59:00.003-06:00

We decided to dedicate this last Saturday to some much needed spring cleaning, and we thought that having some fun with it would be great motivation. Here are some of the highlights.

My car was kicked out of our garage last summer to make room for a few things and we decided it was time to clean up our act. The love seat you see moving around is up for an overhaul soon.

Our ~~junk room~~ 3rd bedroom was also home to lots of odds and ends, and we tackled that too.

And last but not least, our bedroom had more than a few corners we'd neglected to tidy up recently, so we worked on those as well.

Well, if nothing else, it was fun to see a few changes around the house this weekend. Saturday sure is a special day.

And we're back!

2010-01-05T16:09:00.004-06:00

For those of you who don't know, we didn't have Internet at home for a few months of this year. We felt like it was taking away from family time and since Jared and I both had access at school it seemed redundant. Unfortunately, this meant the blog did not get updated and we basically fell off the face of the planet.

But today...all that changed. We are back. So email us - send us pictures - and comment to your heart's delight because we will now be able to see it all. And I'll be emailing all my friends who I've scandalously neglected.

In other news, I've recovered a couch. I know. My life is riveting. But I had a really good time. Our friends finished dental school and went off to be real people - leaving their well-loved couch behind. I felt it still had some life in it so I've recovered it. It was actually a sofa and love seat, and as of yet only the sofa has been recovered. I don't have a before picture of it, but the love seat is pictured to show what the sofa looked like before its face lift. My parents came and helped - well, they did most of it because I was very pregnant at the time. But I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Before:

After:

We made it! ...mostly

2010-01-05T10:45:00.000-06:00

Yes this is our amazing gingerbread house. We literally slaved over this for a whole 3 minutes, but by the time Will knocked it down a few times before the icing could harden we realized the futility and just ate the candy instead. I think Will was a little upset there wasn't a decorated house in the box.

Our Christmas tree was much the same. I also spent literally minutes decorating our tree, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that there was a whopping half dozen ornaments. I won't make you jealous by showing you a picture, but I'm sure you can imagine it in all its glory.

So, we survived this semester for the most part, but only barely. All of our Christmas gifts got out late, you can basically consider this our Christmas card, and at this point we're just trying to catch our breath before school starts up again and church moves to nap time. Just another adventure!

On the bright side, this has been a wonderful year. Our two terrific boys are growing faster every day and we're all enjoying the Christmas season together with family. There's definitely something magical about spending Christmas with little kids again. Will got a little trampoline from Santa and Wes got some clothes. Ah well. We got video of Wes laughing for the first time - and - although we did not get it on video - I got an "I love you Mommy" for the first time from my toddler.

It's officially all worth it.

Last Sunday I became what I used to mock! (Such is life!) I dressed my boys in matching outfits for church. And I do not regret it in the least. They were adorable, and - miracle of miracles - well behaved. How could you not love these smiles?!

Brothers

2009-11-10T18:13:00.007-06:00

Will is so cute with Wes. When Will is getting a little fussy, we ask him to help us take care of Wes, and immediately he grabs what we need to help the baby. We know this won't last forever, but we feel so lucky that Will is such a great big brother. (Man - that kid needs a haircut. Oh well. We are juggling a lot. Something's gotta give.)

New Addition

2009-10-19T16:20:00.007-05:00

The new baby boy is here! Wesley Michael Roberts was born on October 5th and weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces. As much as we loved hearing “wow, that’s a big baby” from the hospital staff, we’re just glad that he’s here and that everyone is healthy. The hospital stay went well for everyone, and even got to go home a day early.

Wes has been a real joy. He has been sleeping and eating well since before he came home from the hospital, and that has made recovery much easier for his mother. We have enjoyed getting to know his personality, and so has William. He is already very happy to be around his little brother and has been very affectionate. He asks to hold the baby often, and comments whenever Wesley makes a noise or cries. I don't know how many times he's taken us by the hand over to his little brother and said "look--cute!" We're glad they're getting along, and we enjoy hearing William remind us that "it's a baby."

As for the delivery, it could probably be summed up in one word: wonderful. We checked into the hospital in the morning and went to maternity triage where Mikail waited calmly to be checked out while women nearby where struggling through contractions. Mikail was 3cm dilated when we arrived, and her doctor told her that she would probably have gone into labor that same day. The surgery went very well and before noon, Wesley was here. Everything went so smoothly. We felt calm and happy and when Jim and Marlaine brought Will to see us at the hospital, we felt a special kind of happiness seeing our family together for the first time. We are so lucky.

Back to the Grind

2009-08-20T07:47:00.005-05:00

After sharing a full summer of hot humid days here in San Antonio, the inevitable end of summer came to the Roberts family. We had so much fun, but we are also grateful to see it coming to an end. Enduring a pregnancy in the middle of a record-breaking hot summer, and a toddler that can’t be outside for too long without overheating has been quite an experience.

Jared has started working in the clinic at school. I guess it was a little nerve-wracking at first because of all the things he had to remember, but now he has hit his stride and loves each new challenge. I try to be a supportive wife and listen to each story and each new experience, but something about my pregnant stomach makes me a little queasy when he gets to talkin’ clinical. I’ll leave it at that.

I start school again on Monday and I have mixed feelings. I’m excited to start my new classes, but I have been enjoying evenings home with Jared and Will. I’m also nervous about having a baby smack in the middle of the semester, but no matter how much I worry, it’s going to happen. It’s like being strapped in a roller coaster: knowing as you’re being pulled up that first hill that there is no turning back, and it’s scary, but its going to be awesome.

Update on the pregnancy for those who have asked: (everyone else can skip this)

I am 32 weeks along and doing fine. I’m the size of a house, but luckily, not as big this time as I was at this stage with Will. My due date is October 12, but there is a good chance I’ll be delivering before that (although with my school schedule, I’d be glad if the little guy wanted to chill for a little while.) Several people have asked about my expected delivery and here is the situation: I am going to see if nature takes it’s course. If labor is going well, then we will choose a VBAC. Last time I went into labor on my own, but I felt like my epidural (which was awesome, I was a big fan) slowed my labor and created complications. So as long as I’m making it ok without any pain meds, then we’ll go that route. If not, then we will opt for a c-section. I’m not sold on “VBAC or BUST” because there really is a medical risk that I will bust. So VBAC if possible just because I’m not going to opt for major abdominal surgery. But if things get even a little dicey, or if labor is not progressing as it should, I’m hoping to avoid the “17 hour labor + 3 hours pushing = c-section anyway” situation I had last time, by just opting for the c-section. I thought I might feel cheated because I might never have the “real” labor experience, but I’ve realized, as I’ve thought and prayed about it this pregnancy, that this is my real labor experience. And for me, that’s enough.

Will is the cutest most hilarious kid these days. When he talks (which is becoming more intelligible) he sounds like he is reading madlibs. His inflection is hilarious. He’s getting better about repeating what we say, so we know he’s learning, but we have to make a concerted effort not to laugh. He’s started to pretend (a lot) when he’s playing with his toys. For instance, last Sunday I could not do anything with Will that I did not also do with his Pooh Bear. So I made a bowl of cereal for Will and had to get some food for Pooh. Pooh also needed to get dressed for church and be strapped into the car. It’s so fun to watch him develop his personality and the things he likes and dislikes. He can successfully drink from a cup and manage utensils, loves cheerios, broccoli and pizza (but nothing else with cheese on it or that’s easy to cook…) He is healthy as always, and is looking like such a big boy these days. At his last doctor’s appt, his pediatrician said that he was “built like Schwarzenegger” and we can see why. At this point I’m pretty sure he has no real idea about the baby, although we try to tell him all the time. He just looks at us like we’re crazy or fooling him. Like “a baby? in your belly? whatever.”

Here are some pictures we had taken of William shortly after his second birthday by Brian Kuntz, a family friend and our wedding photographer. Enjoy!

Vacationing

2009-06-24T13:35:00.013-05:00

It finally feels like summer. Mikail finished her summer finals and I passed my national board exam, so we were finally able to start a real summer vacation.

We spent most of last week in Austin relaxing by the pool. Will had a great time floating around and it was really nice to feel like we could let loose and relax without any deadlines to worry about. It felt like we basically lived in Mikail's parents' pool for three days.

Mikail was able to go see the play Wicked with her mom here in San Antonio last Saturday, and they had a wonderful time. They now join the massive sorority of Wicked lovers. Will and I joined the massive fraternity of guys who stayed home while the women they love went to Wicked.

And finally, as of Sunday we are out west visiting family for the last week of freedom before school starts up again at the dental school. William had fun on the plane and feeding/chasing geese at the park, and in the next few days we'll be hanging out with his new cousins and the rest of the Roberts clan. Here are some pictures from our vacation so far.

Finally, here's the baby update. For those who haven't heard the news, we're having another boy! Mikail and the baby are healthy and feeling well. We're now officially 26 weeks into this pregnancy and we are all very excited. Thank you all for your love and support. We'll have more updates posted soon.

Summer?

2009-05-16T13:58:00.002-05:00

We're sure that life is just as crazy for all of you as it is for us, but we're still glad to have survived this last month. I didn't even bother counting the absolutely ridiculous number of tests we had as school was winding down. Mikail finished up her semester shortly before I did, and we actually had a full weekend off together before her summer semester started again. We'll have some pics of our time at the pool shortly. Now it's back to the grind (summer semester of law school and national board exam for those of us aspiring to continue with dental school). Mikail is working hard and is feeling less sick every day. More news to come soon. Here's William getting ready for some fun in the sun.

What's been going on lately...

2009-03-24T22:09:00.000-05:00

Here's what's been going on in the Roberts family. We hope you enjoy all the grainy cell phone pics.

For Mikail's birthday we gave William a vacation from his parents so he could hang out with his grandparents in Austin (we were happy to make the sacrifice). We had to give him pizza before we broke the news as his was visibly pained to let us go. We hear he had a good time.

We also met up with the Francisco's for dinner last week and the kids had a great time. Will and Clark both really liked the cars (no surprise).

Oh, and this too.

Happy Birthday William

2009-03-09T19:38:00.005-05:00

Wonderful William! It was his birthday end of last month and we kept it low-key this year. Here is a list of his favorites and new tricks:

Favorite Food: Fries, pizza

Afternoon nap langth: 3.5 hours

Shoe size: 7

Hand Width: roughly 2 times the size of a normal child

Favorite Toy: anything with wheels, or without wheels. They all end up being cars.

Favorite Movie: Pooh and Big Fat Greek Wedding (what? it's true.)

Coolest word he says currently: Knuckle, and OK (he says that after everything)

Here is the little guy eating his birthday cupcake. There was no lit candle again this year. I'm a little too nervous - he's a bit of a loose cannon. But isn't he adorable? We are loving him more and more everyday.

Other things he's learning to do lately are holding a crayon and pen correctly, cleaning up after himself, and making mud-pies in his new sandbox. What a great kid!

At the Rodeo

2009-02-21T19:32:00.004-06:00

As many of you know, while the Spurs were playing 8 straight away games across the country, the AT&T center has been home to the San Antonio Rodeo. Last weekend we decided to take William (and his Grandpa) to the carnival there and we all loved it. Here are a few pictures from our outing.

It was fun to see how much William enjoyed watching the horses and going on the airplane and train rides. It was also a learning experience to see what he didn't like as much. Perhaps the best part though was the opportunity to make some family memories together.

P.S. Isn't it amazing how we trust our lives to these ancient pieces of carnival equipment so willingly? There's some food for thought.

Best wishes, M/J/W

New Decor

2009-02-08T22:22:00.003-06:00

I made this craft over the last couple of weeks. It was a group effort with several of my friends and I promised to post a picture when it was finished. It is pictured here above our mantle. I will probably be redoing several of the blocks. I had an unfortunate experience with some expensive special glue that was supposed to work and was horrible. Oh well. Lesson learned: Elmer's next time. Other than that, I really like how it turned out.

Our Salsa Lover

2009-01-15T12:11:00.011-06:00

Ever since William discovered ketchup he has loved dipping his food in anything we put on the table. A few days ago when he reached for some salsa I was reminded of a video I shot of him back in September when he was going to town on some salsa, and not the mild variety. Here it is in all of it's cell-phone-video-quality glory, along with a pic from that night.

By the time we were able to capture this moment he was already double dipping like a pro. It's crazy how much he's changed since just a few months ago. We just love this kid more and more every day.

Merry Christmas (and a Happy New Year)

2008-12-31T20:23:00.013-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Here are a few pictures of William on Christmas morning.

When William saw the Lightning McQueen toy he instantly fell in love. It was fun for us to see how much fun he had with all the cars, trains and books that he received from family. We had to space out his gift-opening moments so that he could enjoy them all. I think seeing him open gifts was one of the best parts of the day. Will also got to talk to his uncle Bryce (Elder Tobin) with the rest of the family. It was a great day.

Best wishes to all, M/J/W

Out with William

2008-12-14T19:46:00.015-06:00

Hello again everyone. At the close of another semester for both of us we thought we'd share some of our experiences from the last few weeks.

William LOVES going outside. For whatever reason. Whenever he hears us say the word "outside" he runs to the door and says "Plsss, Plsss" (his version of please), often making the sign for please at the same time. It is surprisingly easy to get him to put on a coat since he quickly learned that coats usually mean a trip out of the house. Here are a few pictures of one such trip to a park not far from home. William probably would have stayed all day if he could.

Another outing we went on just a few days ago was to Sea World here in San Antonio. At Christmas they even put on a few special shows just for the season. Will's favorites were Shamu (no surprise) and the kid's play area (where once again he would have been perfectly content to stay for the entire day). We have to admit we could probably spend the whole day just watching him have the time of his life. Here are a few memories from the trip on Saturday.

P.S. Here's a quick clip of Will and his friends throwing themselves on the ground and loving every minute. Imagine a 2 minute loop of this video and you'll have a pretty good idea of how their afternoon went. We love these crazy kids.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T13:22:00.008-06:00

Just a quick post to say Happy Thanksgiving. Here's a picture of William over the holiday weekend using the iPod as a phone. Not a first we're sure, but still cute. All our love, J&M

Flashback Friday (er, Tuesday)

2008-11-25T21:37:00.034-06:00

Since this time of the school year brings with it tests, more tests, and a temporary lull in Roberts family fun, we decided to do a flashback post to the interesting days when we were single. We'll call it "Flashback Tuesday" since this Friday will be spent overcoming the effects of tryptophan overdose.

Some of you might not know that the two of us were in the same college ward as friends for a while before things ever got "date-ee". One summer I arranged for our ward to have a "Jello slip-and-slide" activity, employing 100 feet of visqueen and more Jello than you would ever want to eat. Jared thought it was ingenious. I agreed. There is an art to making that much Jello. My dedicated hometeacher stayed up all night helping me make and store enough for the next day's festivities. What a great guy huh? Maybe I should look him up... or maybe just call him from the other room...

Here is the group picture after an afternoon of slipping and sliding through a couple dozen gallons of Provo's finest Jello (some green, lots of red, no carrots/fruit cocktail etc.) at Kiwanis Park. We had to clean up using the high powered sprinklers to get all the stickiness off. By this point our eyelids were sticking open (or closed as was the case for Rich) thus the silly smiles. I'm sure we're not to hard to pick out of the picture above, but some of the others are:

Tiffany (next to me) - married and living in Florida.

Cramer (who only his wife and mother call Steven) - living somewhere on the east coast.

Ryan Blick, Chad and Seth Marsing, Rich, The Other Chad, Shaun, and everyone else - out there but lost to us.

Below is a video of the last group dive. Jared was somewhere in the first 5 people and Tiffany and I were the very last. We hung back because we had been tattooed earlier by people coming down the slide at 42 miles an hour and we figured it was best to give them a wide berth. Unfortunately this also meant there was next to no Jello left to keep things slippery by the time we hit the slide. We did eventually make it to the end for the group picture though.

I am so glad Jared and I had the time to be friends and do fun, silly, dumb things like this. Look out for these flashbacks when life starts to feel boring. It helps us remember we were interesting (once upon a time).

Playing Around

2008-11-13T19:47:00.013-06:00

As always, Will loves to play around. We actually found him trying to walk around in my old shoes and hurried to get this picture. For some reason he'll put on his shoes and mine, but never Mikail's...

Here's some more of William at play. Not exactly a game of catch, but you get the idea.

Little Builder

2008-11-08T14:48:00.002-06:00

Today we went to a free "build and grow" kids workshop at Lowe's where kids get to build a toy to take home. William helped put the nails in the right place, did some hammering, and then enjoyed playing with his new toy--another few cars to add to his collection. Here are some photos from construction to the final product.

Halloween

2008-11-08T13:44:00.005-06:00

Halloween was a lot of fun for all of us, especially William. We weren't sure how excited he was going to be to wear his costume, but he showed us that we had no reason to worry. We all got to see some of our friends at the ward trunk-or-treat party, and Will got to try out his Tigger costume. It was a great time.

Mikail's law school had a Halloween bash the next evening, and we kept hearing how much everyone loved watching the little Tigger run around the quad. We enjoyed watching him too. Here are a few pictures from this year's Halloween activities.

Fall Fun

2008-10-29T21:22:00.034-05:00

Though school has kept us all busy this fall, we've had lots of fun at home and with family and friends. We took a trip to Austin with Kevin and Ashley last weekend and got to relax by the pool and hang out downtown.

Will had fun hanging out with grandparents and playing in the water--one of his favorite pastimes--and we were able to enjoy some time away from the normal grind of school. We find that weekends tend to be more relaxing if we can step away from student life and get back in touch with the real world (i.e. no talking about crown preps, neoplasms, balanced occlusion, impleader motions, precluded defenses, spoliaters or anything else that fries our brains during the week). Instead, we watched football, ate Rudy's, played wii, make-a-million and COD4, and spent some time looking at the stars while relaxing in the hot tub. If only weekends like this could last a little longer.

P.S. The Summer Recap pictures are up (for those who were waiting anxiously)

Jibber Jabber

2008-10-27T10:34:00.003-05:00

This is the closest we get to talking these days. Today, William crawled up onto a chair at the dining room table and started his cute babbling. He is still at it as I write this post. I love it. I will also love it when he learns to talk, but this is cute too.

Tigger Fan

2008-09-27T12:58:00.004-05:00

I found the original great Pooh movie. You know the one we loved growing up with "Pooh Gets Stuck" and "Tut Tut, It Looks Like Rain." Jared and I had so much fun watching it with him. We also discovered that Will is a fan of Tigger. We got his reaction here. (Please excuse the dirty lunch table behind him. He got chicken nugget pieces everywhere!)

Summer Recap et al.

2008-09-25T14:31:00.010-05:00

So here it is. What we've all been waiting for. Today, little Will is not feeling well. Coughs and a runny nose are the worst we've seen so far, but we can tell. He's just not our same active little guy. Here he is watching a movie and having some popcorn. I'll do anything I can to get him to take it easy right now. Lately he's been interested in adult snacks - like chips and salsa and artichoke dip, and apparently... popcorn.

Our summer was awesome! We moved to a cute neighborhood nearer the Medical Center with one more bedroom, lots more space and a yard. Moving was a hassle, but no more so than any other move. It had its difficulties. Jared was in Brownsville doing an externship for the last 2 weeks before we actually moved which meant I joined the legions of wives who basically do it all. Jared was an enormous help when he could be and helped to unpack. Once we unpacked we had a House Warming Party with lots of our friends (the ones who were still here). It was very fun.

We also had the opportunity to have a reunion of family members from the Tobin side. Bryce got his mission call to the Idaho Boise Mission and so everyone came to see him and support him and say "See Ya Later!" Family came from Arizona, Oregon, California, and Hawaii. Of course, we loved seeing everyone! We played at the pool, played the Wii and got to catch up. Here are some photos from the visit. Please notice the awesome Wii Bowling action.

Then we rushed back to San Antonio to head to Utah for the 4th of July. Well, we actually flew into Boise and then drove to Utah. We got to see Brandon and Melody before they had their whirlwind summer of weddings, cruises, traveling, and moving. Will handled the plane ride so well people were commenting to themselves as they left, "Gosh, I didn't even know there was a baby sitting there..." He's pretty much awesome.

(unless you'd like to hear a long story, skip the next part)

When we got back we spent some more time in Austin maxin' and relaxin' (thanks Fresh Prince) and then we rushed home for Jared to start school to find out our air conditioner was broken. And it was Saturday. We knew our landlord was not going to do anything about it til Monday. We toughed it out til Sunday night when we started to worry for William. Jared went to go to the store to buy some fans, and on his way home, his car overheated. He drove home going about 5 mph which is fine since it was a little after midnight.

Monday morning we woke up and decided to go to Denny's to have breakfast since we couldn't stand being in the hot house another second. When we got in the van we realized that it stunk. Horribly. At which time we realized that we left a gallon of milk in the car and it had spoiled and exploded...in the car. So after Denny's, we went straight to the detail place to get the carpet cleaned. Then we dropped off Jared's car at the mechanic and found out our landlord would not be able to fix our air conditioner til Tuesday. So... we got to stay at a hotel. That was a good ending to a couple of Jonah-days.

So between car repairs, spilled milk and 102 degree temperatures in our house, we were glad for school to finally start for Jared. He is still loving school although it is harder, he says. He is learning about dentures and crowns and other things which I'm sure he can explain in detail if you ask him. I have started school as well, and I love it! I'm actually surprised by how much I like it. We were worried at first about making everything work with our schedules, but it is working really well. We have people helping us, and it requires more preparation than before, but it's going really well - better than we could have imagined. Here's my guy.

Will has had some interesting phases lately. No real talking yet, but he jabbers all the time. He has had a huge growth spurt and is hungry always. Here is a picture of him eating. He is eating a hot dog bun that got left out all night. It is hard as a rock. He ate the whole thing. So I decided we needed to have more food around for him.

He still is always scavenging for food. Here is a picture of him after he pulled down a papertowel on which cookies covered in powered sugar were cooling. They ended up all over him and crumbled all over the floor. It's a good thing we love him so much. How can you be mad at that face? And we've learned our lesson. He can now reach the kitchen counter.

So that's basically our summer - recapped. Until next time,

All Our Love

Not the Summer ReCap

2008-07-20T21:31:00.003-05:00

The Summer Recap blog post is coming soon. I just wanted to give you a taste of our little guy. Lately when we try to take a picture of Will, when the red-eye reducing light comes on, this is the face we get:

Sweet huh?

Ahhh...Moving

2008-07-17T21:03:00.006-05:00

So Jared and I have been doing lots of sorting and throwing away since we've moved into our new place. It's lots more room than we had before, but we were using time we had this summer to organize and prepare for what is beginning to look like a rough year for both of us. Most of you don't know the circumstances of our previous moves, and I'll spare you the details. The prescient point is that we have not had time to do a serious purge since before we were married. And we've moved a few times since then. This means we were carrying around a lot of dead weight. Jared and I were having a good laugh at the silly things we had kept...and moved... several times.

I'll go first. This is a cell phone. Or it was. This was the phone I had when were engaged. It didn't survive my internship. Jared could not believe that I'd kept it for so long. Why would I keep a broken phone that has no prayer of ever being repaired? In my defense, I kept it because I'd heard that people can steal your identity from the information they find still stored on your phone. But all they would have found on my phone was Jared's number.

Next we have Jared's contribution of misfits. His is more like a category. Old Electronics. Because he is breathtakingly brilliant, he has pieced together things for us. Like for instance... laptops. We each had a few older laptops, and he would fix something when it broke, by taking parts from other laptops. We were left with a veritable junkyard of old electronics. Connections and cords, and circuitry, oh my! Featured here is some laptop carnage and the old stereo from his car that is a tape deck. Ever going to use that again?... I don't think so.

And last but not least... the true pièce de résistance is this baby. No don't adjust your computer screen. You're looking at it. A huge Tigger drinking cup complete with accordion straw and cap. This amazing specimen stands roughly 12" tall and holds about a bladder's worth of liquid. No idea where I got this. An amusement park probably? But when did I think I would actually say to myself..."I need a vessel for drinking that is too bulky for any cupholder on the planet and yet still will make me look silly even if I'm holding a child.... I know! My Tigger cup!" What on earth was I thinking moving that thing 5, 6 (or maybe even more) times.

Little by little we are creating our own little house of order. We still have a some more to do, but we have made the bulk of the Goodwill trips already. That's all for now. I'm going to post our pictures of our trip and give a recap of mission calls, broken toes, moving, vacations, and broken air conditioners.

All Our Love

Congratulations Adam!

2008-06-11T22:46:00.006-05:00

It never happens to anyone you know, right? Well, our friend and old home teacher Adam Hansen was on Deal or No Deal tonight, and we got to watch the episode with him (and a whole lot of other people) at a theater in town that he rented so we could all see the show.

Adam had to agree not to tell anyone the outcome of the episode after it was filmed a few months ago, so we were all in suspense--at least a little bit. He had 12 chances in 26 to win $1,000,000, and as the end got closer there was definitely a lot of suspense in the theater. When it was down to 3 cases he decide to take the $263,000 deal. Good choice.

Adam has always been a lot of fun (especially during priesthood meetings, etc.) and it was great to share such a great time with a lot of good friends. We're very happy for him and his family.

It's That Time Again....

2008-05-11T12:11:00.008-05:00

Just a note to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers we know. Especially ours!
This is a video of Will being so sweet to his momma. He has always had a funny fascination with numbers and this video shows how inexplicably funny he finds them. It's truly a testament to what Elder Ballard says: "the joy of motherhood comes in moments." Since the next day he found his solid cholcolate Easter bunny and hid under the dining room eating it and smearing it everywhere. It's talks like Elder Ballard's that make me wish I had just crawled down there with him and had a few bites.

Happy Birthday William!

2008-03-23T15:23:00.008-05:00

Happy Birthday William! We got to celebrate little Will's first birthday with family in Austin. We drove up on his birthday and then celebrated the next morning by opening presents and letting him have his birthday cake. (see video below) The funniest part about the cake mashing was that apparently he doesn't like being sticky and dirty. Weird. Never saw that coming. For his birthday, he received lots of clothes and toys and even a balloon bouquet. What a lucky kid. We are all blessed that he has so many people in his life to adore him as much as we do.
The morning after he turned one, as I went in to his bedroom to get him up in the morning, I realized that he wasn't a baby anymore. In my eyes and in my heart he'll always be my baby, but when I looked at his face, he looked like a little kid. It made me think of counting contractions and the excitement we felt as we went to the hospital and knew we'd be coming home with a new little person. It feels like not very long ago that we were wondering if we'd ever sleep through the night and looking into his little eyes thinking of all the great and wonderful things he'd do.
Although that made me momentarily nostalgic, my mind quickly remembered that right now is a very exciting time for us! Every day is a new thing. And as I chase William around everywhere we go (because he is such a good walker!), it's very exciting knowing that every day we are getting to know little William better. We are so lucky.
Anyway, after his birthday celebration, he promptly fell asleep. Later that afternoon, we went on a little train ride near where my parents live. The train is named Sophie and Will loved it! We'll have to make that a birthday tradition.

These are some pictures I took of William. The genius behind the madness was this - I was hoping to get a cute picture of Will holding the "1" for his birthday announcement. I thought I was brilliant and original. Wrongo. Anyone in their right mind has not tried to make their 12 month old hold a something that must be right side up and not backwards. They would not try this because it's virtually impossible - At least with WIll as you can see. Here are some of our better attempts. Ugh. Obviously, the announcements never were made.

We also had another birthday in the family. Yes, it's true. It was my birthday. I only mention it because Jared deserves more credit than I give him for being romantic. He kept the whole thing a surprise - just told me to keep the evening of my birthday free. The night before he told me that I needed to grab a few things to take with us on our date and gave me a list. He was being to secretive it was aggravating and wonderful. Jared knows that I'm enough of a control freak that I want to make sure all the details are covered, so he knew that I could only really enjoy the date if it was all taken care of and I didn't have to do a thing. So I was constantly asking him... are we going to need to call a babysitter? when are we going to get home? is it going to be late or early? ...Jared prevailed. Jared came home early from school on Friday and whisked me away! He had packed William's bags and made sure mine were packed and we drove to Austin where we left William with my parents and we had a romantic weekend getaway at a hotel. That evening we went to a very ritzy steak place where the food was unbelievably good and went to bed whenever we wanted (to those of you who don't have kids - this is a big deal) and then we got up whenever we wanted (also a big deal). It was truly amazing.
Other than these two great events, we've had a few other things going on. Laina (my cousin) and Richard and Sophie came to visit and we got to hang out with them and my Aunt Beryl's family. They looked so happy and like they were enjoying their vacation very much. The last time we saw them was at their reception, so we'll have to make sure it's not that long again. Also, I'm done with the afghans!!! Please give a whoop and holler for me folks, I get my life back. Hopefully this means I'll be better at blogging. I'm taking a wild leap into digital scrapbooking, and this was my first foray into digital scrapbooking/blogging so hopefully my attempts will improve. Jared is, of course, doing well in school but he is looking forward to spring break. That's right, folks. Spring Break. For those of you in Provo who don't know, or can't remember what that is - it is the truly blessed vacation from school that makes the rest of the semester bearable. No fixed plans yet as to what we're going to do, but I'm sure we'll enjoy it.
All Our Love!

First, First, First!

2008-03-02T10:22:00.019-06:00

We have had a busy month (or two) and so I figure if I can get about 6 posts done this year I'll be lucky. But this time I have so much to share and tell about you'd better pop some popcorn and get comfortable. This is the first blog post since the anniversary of this fine blog, and it is one of many firsts the Roberts family has had these few months. First, Will had his first Christmas. Jared covered it a little in his last blog post, but I wanted to get some more pictures of it up so everyone can see the great time we had. There are captions worth reading this time, so click here.

Next first for the Roberts family was the first word. I was in our room falling asleep for a nap and Jared was getting ready to feed William in his high chair. As Jared turned towards the kitchen, out of nowhere William just said "Dad-dee." Just like that. So we got some footage later that night of him mumbling something like it. He doesn't say many words these days though. Jared says he thinks Will sounds like an Ewok because he just does this whisper thing. Maybe we'll get it on camera and post it next time.

In Texas we do something called a Rodeo. It bears little resemblance to what most people think of as a rodeo. It is more of a carnival, flea market, 4H contest, some rodeo action then a concert by a country artist all wrapped into one. And it lasts 2-3 weeks long. Will and I went with some friends to the carnival part one day and later to the petting zoo. Will didn't really love being so close to the animals, but I convinced him that if he stood outside the cage it was fine. Below is a picture of Will at his first rodeo (carnival).

Then came Will's first Valentine's Day. Anyone who knows me knows that Valentine's Day is by far my favorite holiday. I'll explain some other time, but it's true. I love it. Jared got me some flowers (although this is a picture of flowers he got me sometime in January...just because. I'm so lucky!) We didn't do too much celebrating this year, but it was still fun.

Then on President's Day, Will took his first step. We were really excited and knew it would happen soon, and then he did it! He has done some walking since, but he is still mostly a crawler at home. Today at church he was a walking fool, so we'll see if that continues.

Will also had his First Birthday! I'm still compiling the pictures of his party and celebration and that will come later. Just a teaser for now: lots of chocolate cake.

Most recently, Will had his first haircut. His fuzz had reached critical mass and so we decided it was definitely time to give him a nice grooming. Here are the before and after pictures as well as a video of what the experience was like.

Well, we have had an eventful few months. Will is growing up so much. He is so much more of a little boy now. Jared is doing great in school, and still manages to find lots of time to spend with his family. I am still crocheting afghans, although I'm almost done (not a moment too soon). Thanks to all those who passed on their congrats about law school. I'm really excited and nervous and stoked all at the same time. Until next post,

All Our Love!

We're Back

2008-01-07T20:18:00.000-06:00

We're back in the swing of things after an enjoyable and much-needed break. We spent part of the holidays with each side of the family and made lots of fun memories.

William now has five more (long) flights under his belt—starting with several to get us to Boise to see my family. It was great to see my parents and siblings after so long. We had a wonderful time with everyone, and so did William. He crawled everywhere we would let him (including up the stairs) and took advantage of all the space there was to explore. It was great to see him interact with everyone. As always, he laid on the charm and did his best to be the center of attention. We'll post some video of him once we finish unpacking everything...

Once we were back in Texas we stayed with Mikail's family in their new house north of Austin. They are getting settled now and things are working out well for them. It was fun to see William pushing his cars around on the floor while trying to imitate engine sounds. The rest of us were either busy wearing ourselves out on Wii Sports or trying to catch up on some rest afterward.

And now for perhaps the greatest news of all...Mikail was accepted to St. Mary's Law School here in San Antonio! She was accepted to their evening program that allows her to attend classes just four nights a week and still finish in four years. After much prayerful consideration, we're all very excited for this new opportunity and challenge. I know that Mikail will certainly be equal to the task.

We're glad to be back home and look forward to another exciting year for our family. We'll have more news and pictures soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-12-04T20:00:00.000-06:00

We don't have any fun pictures from Thanksgiving like everyone else. But we did have a great time! As an example of the true perversity of life, my parents now own (almost!) two houses and are living in a one-bedroom apartment. The explanation is that they are trying to sell their house in Dallas while simultaneously putting the finishing touches on their new house in Austin. This meant that for Thanksgiving with the folks it was my parents, my brother, and the three Roberts all in a one-bedroom apartment. We had a really good time (no sarcasm, seriously!) My mom didn't have all her Thanksgiving dinner equipment (pots, pans, etc.) since they are between places, so we did what we could, and the rest we bought. And it was great. We had the best BBQ in Texas the night before at Rudy's and then on Thanksgiving Day, when the temperature dropped thirty degrees, we stayed inside and played with Will. It was by far my most unconventional Thanksgiving, and for sure one of the most memorable (in a good way-I meant it!)

Other than that, we have been woefully delinquent in our blog posts and the reason is I'm doing some hand work on the side for a little money for Christmas. There is a ritzy Spa in Austin that is world famous (apparently, though I'd never heard of it) and it's a vacation spot for the well-to-do. They are re-decorating and paying people to crochet afghans for their rooms. This means of course that they have requested the colors and the pattern to match the rooms. And it's hideous. So who knows what the rooms look like. But if they will pay a pretty penny for afghans so ugly I wouldn't even buy them at a garage sale, then I say let the insanity continue. I have included a picture of my latest here for you with a close up so you can get the clear picture of what I'm having to look at day in and day out.
I also wanted to mention in passing that Will turned 9 months old over the Thanksgiving holiday and then went to the doctor the next week. He is 28.5 inches long, 21.25 pounds. I know that sounds like he's shrinking, but apparently they didn't measure him right last time. The doctor also listened politely to our pleas for something to do about his still not sleeping through the night, then our prayers were answered when he realized that Will probably has acid reflux. So he's on Prevacid and is a much happier baby I think.

I have included here pictures of Will that I have been meaning to post. For all the pictures, click here. Will had a rough time of it the day pictures were taken and Krista (who is amazing) did everything but back flips to get him to smile. These pictures are her work and for obvious reasons we'll be getting more pictures taken by her in the future.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T15:03:00.000-05:00

The Roberts family got all dressed up for Halloween on Saturday for the Ward's Trunk or Treat.

J and I were dressed as ....lined paper. Duh. And Will was the cutest little dinosaur who ever got hold of a binky. He even joined in the parade of costumes.

Will's 8 Month Highlights

2007-10-24T09:55:00.001-05:00

First, the much anticipated "Fang" picture.....

They are small, but they are definitely there. And as they get bigger, they will look better I'm sure.

So Will is one month older, and to celebrate, we lowered the level of his mattress in his crib. He had started to pull himself up onto things, so we decided it was probably best to lower his mattress from the high infant setting to the lower toddler level.

And since Will is getting around more, we've discovered the "Busted" face that he gets when he's caught getting into something. Like the other day...

Bath time is as much fun as it ever was. Will loves his baths....

And after his bath, Will gets his nails clipped.Most babies have to wait until they are asleep to have their nails clipped. And you'd think that with our wiggly little boy, we'd have to sedate him. But he sits very still and watches while J clips his nails.

This last is a slideshow of "Fun with Dad"

All Our Love!

And We're Back!

2007-10-14T21:56:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a while I know. A lot has happened, but our internet has been sketchy and our computer on the fritz. So the posts have had to wait.

First, my grandparents came to visit. My wonderful Grandmother and Grandfather Freundlich drove down to Austin to visit with us and meet little Will. We stayed in Austin that weekend and my grandparents put us up in the most amazing hotel - The Renaissance Hotel in the Arboretum. The Arboretum is this lovely area in central Austin where nature is the thing. Trees and walkways - it's beautiful. So we got a little vacation and a chance to hang out with family and I only did a few embarrassing redneck things that belied my true economic status.

While they were visiting, my grandmother passed on to me her grandmother's Bible. It is truly a treasure. She pasted newspaper clippings in it with birth, marriage, and death records of family members. My favorite thing we found in it was a ration book from World War II with the ration stamps still in it. She must have had it left over after the war.

Also, during the long drought of blog posts, J and I were in the Stake Musical. It was called "I Remember It Well" and it was a collection of scenes from famous musicals that depict the stages of your life. It began with "Getting To Know You" with little kids and moved to "Hard Knock Life" then on to later in life with an old couple singing "I Remember It Well." J and I represented the couple about to get married and have a family. We sang about our dreams and how it would all be. We sang "When the Children Are Asleep" from Carousel. We had a lot of fun and I would put video of it on the blog, but I think J was serious when he threatened to leave me if I did. Better not risk it.

To update on the family, J is doing great at school. He's handling the pressure of tests well and is working really hard. The other day in his clinical rotation, he numbed a patient's mouth. That means he had to give to injections. While I think that's gross and scary, he thought it was amazing and felt lucky. Funny how life is.

Will has refused to actually crawl but can now get around faster scooting and doing his little inch worm maneuver. We've seen a little wave action, but mostly he saves them for old ladies at the grocery store. He of course still has his two bottom teeth that came in a while back, but now his upper lateral incisors are coming in too. Which means he'll make a good "Fang" for Halloween. He looks hilarious. As of yet they are still too small to be caught on film, and his mouth is too sensitive to let anyone touch it, but believe me, as soon as we can get photographic evidence of this for future blackmailing - it's going on the blog.

My life is relatively boring. I cook, clean, watch Will, and listen to J talk about the anatomy they learned that day - like gubernaculum - and act interested. (Be warned if you wikipedia that term. Grosser than you can imagine.) I have some pretty exciting things coming down the road though and as soon as they are definite, the blogosphere will at least be in the top 5 to know!

Here is Will's 7 month slideshow I put together a long time ago. But now it's fun that you get his 8 month pictures so soon! (hopefully in just a few weeks)

All Our Love!

Changes Every Day....

2007-09-08T12:29:00.000-05:00

Da-Da

Scooter

Will is growing so fast! He is already scooting all over the house. I had to bolt shut cabinets and baby proof things. Everyone told me I'd have a little longer before I had to do it all, and here we are - not even at 7 months. We've had a lot of fun though. Every day Will's personality comes out more and more. Here are two videos of some of the latest. The "Da-da" video shows the messiest corner of my house. The rest of it doesn't look like that, you'll just have to take my word for it. The second video is of Will scooting across our living room. Although our living room is not huge, he gets all the way across it in the video. We're having a blast. One quick picture of Will showing how he can sit up all on his own.

All Our Love!

Happy Two Year Anniversary!

2007-08-29T09:35:00.000-05:00

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

It's been the most wonderful 2 years of my life! I feel so lucky to have a husband who is so loving and faithful and my best friend!

I thought I might take a moment to tell the story of how we met. It was a blog fad there for a while but I didn't take the opportunity. Excuse the long-winded story, but I feel like I need to get it written down.

Neither Jared nor I can recall the very first time we set eyes on each other. It was far from love at first sight, because we were in the same ward for a year and a half before we started dating. The first time we spoke though is very clear. Jared was my apartment's hometeacher. He and his companion/roommate did not make the greatest impression, but after a few months we got to know them better. Jared was also coming out of a relationship (which in Provo means re-entering the land of the living.) We were hanging out with different crowds, but they occasionally crossed paths so we have pictures of us doing things like Jello Slip-n-Slide and playing in the snow long before we were ever dating (or even thinking about it!)
I took a class fall of 2004 that required I have a fake boyfriend. The details are not important, it was a marriage prep class. That should explain most of it. Anyway, I culd either get a fake boyfriend (the thought of which mortified me) or I could write a paper. So I could either knock doors and as for a boyfriend or write a paper. Never before had a paper seemed so appealing. Jared was visiting our apartment more often (being the good hometeacher he was) and overheard me telling a roommate about the fake boyfriend project. He volunteered. I'd like to say the rest is history, but actually the rest, for a while at least, was a mess!
We did the project for the required time, and then...not much. We have talked about it since and I think the problem was we didn't know how to make it real. It had been fake, and that's a weird transition. For a while we went our seperate ways - still hanging out pretty often, but always in groups. He started dating other people, I started dating other people and it looked for a while like it would only ever be fake.
A few weeks before finals, Jared start to hang out at our place A LOT more. And when I say A LOT - I mean he might as well have spent the night. He was friends with all of us but it seemed different. We did a few things together just the two of us, seemingly on accident, and I had a great time. He was dating someone though, so I didn't push it or talk about it.
Then one day he let me know that he wasn't dating anyone anymore. The next few days the mess resolved itself. I went home for Christmas and while we were apart we realized that we didn't want to be apart anymore. I flew back to Provo early for New Years and that night we had the "if we were to get married, when would that be" discussion. There were a few glitches because I had already committed to be in Washington DC all summer, but he was wonderfully supportive. We got married 2 weeks after I came home and we've never been a night apart since.
Looking back on the time we were friends then fake dated then were friends again, then really just pretty much got engaged, I am so happy with how it turned out. I'm so lucky that I was such good friends with Jared before we ever even thought of each other romantically. We saw each other through breakups and new relationships, through finals and other stressing situations. We knew how to have fun together and we had a bunch of friends that we will probably be close to forever! I can't wait to spend the rest of eternity with him and face everything life brings us - hand in hand!

All Our Love!

Will is 6 Months Old!

2007-08-22T14:27:00.000-05:00

Six happy months with the cutest boy ever...man, are we lucky. This month we had quite a few firsts. Will rolled over, then back over. He cut his first tooth Aug 11th and then another today actually. He has also started making "ba-ba-ba" sounds which is so cute. Solid foods are a big "swing-and-a-miss." Will could not be less interested, so we'll see how that goes this next month. At his doctor's appointment today he was 19 lbs. 1 oz. and a marvelous 31 in. long!
Last night for the FIRST time ever... Will slept through the night! It was truly a miracle. Getting up three times a night for 7 months (Will's 6 months plus the last one from my pregnancy) is a bit much for me. I know of moms who do it for like 20 years and never complain and they love it, but I don't. I love my son, but I will be able to love him so much more when I'm not seeing double.
Anyway, click here for the pictures from this month. I usually try to pick out a few, but this month it ballooned into over 50 pictures, so I won't put them in a slideshow. Also, I'm attaching the captions to explain the pictures. If for some reason you don't see them click the "hide captions" button twice (it's a lovely little glitch). Hope to hear from you all, and please feel free to leave your comments!
All Our Love!

101 Things You May Not Know About Jared

2007-08-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

Because our anniversary is coming up, and because I was inspired by another's idea, I've decided to help everyone get to know Jared a little better. This is an incredibly long post, so please be warned. Yes, I did come up with 101 things about Jared, and I know as soon as I post this I'll come up with more that are better, but we'll just have to save those for next year! Jared has already seen all these and had line-item veto power (which he did not exercise.) Hopefully you will learn a few things about Jared and why I love him so much!

1. He got a 33 on his ACT and was really disappointed with himself. He wanted a 36.
2. He constantly asks me questions, for which I could not possibly know the answers. For instance “what’s going to happen now?” in a movie neither of us has seen.
3. Jared says the first time he thought I was cute it was because of the shoes I was wearing.
4. He won’t let me throw those ratty old shoes out. He even had his sister mail them back to us when I left them at her house accidentally. (so embarrassing)
5. He sets two alarms with no real intention of getting up to the first one.
6. Jared will randomly ask “Guess what?” and honestly expect you to guess until you get it right. (Or until you roll your eyes like I do. Then you get hints!)
7. The first time Jared held my hand was also the same time he kissed me for the first time. Fast mover!
8. He had never dated a girl that he had kissed first. They always kissed him first. (except me.)
9. If Jared ever hears a word he doesn’t know on TV or reads it somewhere, he does not rest until he understands it, knows who discovered it, it’s etymology and then tells me all about it, no matter what it is.
10. This makes Wikipedia one of his favorite things.
11. Jared is a compulsive flosser.
12. He always says our son is so cute he wants “to eat him!” So after playtime with Daddy, I always count fingers and toes…
13. For Jared, the calming affect of spreadsheets is really something to behold.
14. Jared catches his second wind at about 10:30 pm.
15.This is usually the time of night he decides to rearrange the kitchen or clean our bathroom top to bottom. I used to fight it, but then I realized – what am I doing?
16. When Will was born, I had a C-section, and so was out cold for his first few hours of life. Jared held William and was so sweet during this time.
17.When I woke up, he introduced us.

18. He had a spotless car until he met me. When we were in the same singles ward, I spilled 5 gallons of hot chocolate in his car. Then after we were married I turned his car into a very big, very messy purse. He never once complained either time.
19. He loves backpacking, and loves mountains and misses them both.
20. He looks good in everything he wears. No matter what it is.
21. Jared uses a Dvorak keyboard. Enough said there.
22. He has a fake laugh and a real laugh. He is sincere in both instances, but his fake laugh is more for your benefit and his real laugh is one he can’t hold in.
23. He was a totally by-the-book missionary who knew that you had to be by-the-book to work with-the-Spirit.
24. Jared will search for days to get the best deal to save a few dollars. Awesome sometimes, less awesome other times.
25. He doesn’t like sandwiches. He’d rather have 4 day old leftovers than a sandwich.
26. Before we were dating, the first time I cooked for Jared he didn’t like it.
27. Jared made us eat with plastic cutlery for 2 months while we searched for the “perfect” flatware.
28. Jared is a fantastic cook, with the patience and forethought to make things taste so good.
29. He hates commercials of any kind.
30. Jared saves me from bugs of all kinds. (although I think deep down he really doesn’t like crickets.)
31. He always thanks me for “letting him” do things or buy things. I think it’s his way of saying thank you, but I think people who hear him say it feel sorry for him that he’s married to such a controlling hag.
32. His eyesight is terrible.
33. I think he secretly acts like he likes Harry Potter just so I’ll read him the books. It is a cheap date after all!
31.When Jared is asleep, he is OUT. I mean have a full conversation with me he doesn’t remember and saying hilarious things that make no sense. Just a note to never to trust him with secrets of national security.
32. He loves The Office, Flight of the Conchords, and anything to do with NASA.
33. To this day he doesn’t like the way my engagement ring turned out, even though I love it.
34. Jared’s spanish is terrific.
35. He doesn’t like to spend money on himself but he’ll always spend it on me.
36. He has a patch of white hair on the back of his head. It appeared there sometime after his mission.
37. He loves Dave Matthews Band.
38. He is a great big brother.
39. Jared always has to remind me to take the lint out of the lint catcher on the dryer. He always reminds me what a fire hazard it is.
40. He loves it when I scratch his back.
41. He has a picture of me when I was three and a half and he keeps it in his scriptures.
42. Jared thinks our first date was to Panda Express.
43. Just when I want to snuggle up to Jared at night, he rolls over on his stomach and I get an elbow in the face.
44. After we were married, we used crystal wine goblets for 2 months while Jared looked for the perfect glasses. You haven’t had milk, til you’ve had it from crystal.
45. Because I never use them, Jared steals my hair products like gel and mousse to get the GQ look he’s got.
46. Jared always believes me.
47. He always stacks the silverware neatly in the drawer.
48. Jared is the world’s best photo red-eye reducer.
49. Whenever Jared gets a sinus headache, he is convinced he has cavities and proceeds to check his teeth out in the mirror all afternoon.
50. Jared likes it when I call him “sugar.”
51. Jared beats me in anything we do. Board games, computer games… even if he’s never played it before.
52. Almost every time Jared does the laundry, he shrinks my shirts. I think he does it on purpose so he doesn’t have to do laundry.
53. Sometimes he compliments me, like “Oh, honey, you (whatever) so well. It’s the best.” So that I will do it in the future and he won’t have to. I fell for that in the beginning. Not anymore.
54. He keeps the free envelopes you get with bills to use them for other things.
55. He’s never actually mailed anything in one.
56. He’s a great tipper.
57. Jared is left handed.
58. He has a Mac.
59. When Jared was in high school, he was voted best male vocal talent.
60. He was also in the seminary student council. (that’s a big deal in Boise I guess)
61. His Eagle project was to build a softball field by a church building.
62. When he was little, he used to build speakers.
63. When we were dating (that whole day and half) Jared’s level of PDA was a little too high for me. Apparently I got over it. 64. Jared always acts like he’s not ticklish, just annoyed if I try. But sometimes when I catch him by surprise, you can tell he’s WAY ticklish.
65. He still has his first library card.
66. Jared is always nice to my friends.
67. Jared cannot leave the house without his phone, his keys, and his wallet. Even if he’s just going to go get the mail.
68. In high school, Jared owned his own business.
69. Even though Jared grew up in the mountains, he’s never been skiing.
70. He always corrects my grammar.
71. Jared said I looked pretty even when I was pregnant and the size of a Buick.

72. Jared always helps me put Will to sleep at night.
73. He also lets me sleep in on Saturdays by taking care of Will.
74. When he was little, he wanted to be a fighter pilot.
75. He loves rock climbing.
76. Jared is the most easily side-tracked person I’ve ever met. If I lose eye contact…. It’s over.
77. He loves buying me jewelry.
78. Jared uses Fantastik for far more things than it was intended. He uses it as insecticide, dishwashing liquid and disinfectant.
79. Jared has every piece of electronic connector cord ever.
80. I think Jared could easily consume his body weight in strawberry go-gurt.
81. He worked at the MTC for a few years in college.
82. Jared has a 5 o’clock shadow at 1 in the afternoon.
83. He also cuts his fingernails almost every night.
84. Jared didn’t get to cut the cord when William was born. The C-section meant it wasn’t necessary.
85. In college, Jared lived on toast and cereal. (And not because he wasn’t taught to cook. I’ve got your back Lori!)
86. Jared has unflattering nicknames for ex-girlfriends so he would remember it was awful and not want to get back together with them.
87. Jared has a scar on his finger that he tells everyone he got in a knife fight.
88. They never believe him.
89. It’s true.
90. Whenever I’m sick, I’m always glad Jared’s around to take care of me.
91. Sometimes Jared makes lists, just because he knows I like them.
92. He passed his crooked smile on to his son. (and I couldn’t be happier!)

93. Jared loves waterfalls.
94. He can play anything on the piano.
95. He likes to slow dance in the kitchen.
96. When we were working in the nursery, the kids thought we were both named Sis. Roberts.
97. Jared changed Will’s first diaper.
98. He doesn’t fold his pants. He hangs them on hooks.
99. When Jared has spaced out and stopped listening when we’re talking, he asks a random question that he thinks will make it look like he was still paying attention. It doesn’t work.
100. Jared’s wedding ring is the coolest tungsten ring I’ve ever seen.

101. He’s a good dad, a great husband, and the best friend.

All Our Love!

Will Rolled Over!!

2007-08-07T16:14:00.000-05:00

Will rolled over for the first time on July 26th! It's taken a few more days to get quick and now I can't stop him from doing it. Why would I want to stop him, you ask? Because he has not yet figured out how to roll back over and he won't sleep on his stomach. But as they say... Baby steps.

Texas Summer

2007-07-23T18:00:00.000-05:00

Cool picture huh? J caught this on his phone on his way home from work. The apartment complex next to us didn't spring for a raised irrigated ditch underneath the driveway. Kinda glad ours did.

J got "welcomed" into the dental profession last week. He got his UT Scrubs and had a little ceremony where the MC announced their names and where each new student attended undergrad. Out of a class of 93 there were 13 BYU grads! Way to represent! By the time the 7th or 8th BYU guy was announced you could hear mumblings and people saying "what is that place..." His first week was fun (and cushy if you ask me hehe) although this next week has started in earnest. He's hanging though, and I know he'll do great.

He got his Mac, and I don't think I've seen him this excited since Will was born. It's an awesome computer though, and has all his textbooks uploaded.

This picture is of Jared's station at the Simulation lab. The thing hanging upside down is a head that you rotate up and affix certain types of teeth to practice drilling and all that stuff. He's pretty excited. At least he won't have to start saying "Open wide, please" yet.

Will is 5 months old! Still no rolling over completely and still no sleeping through the night but I think we're getting there. But he is my dear, dear boy and I'll take him however I can get him.

All Our Love!

Will's Newest Toy

2007-07-18T21:17:00.000-05:00

Here is our little one on his new toy! We have so much to tell everyone with Jared starting school that I am putting together the "Post of all Posts" but I want everyone to see this because it's hilarious!

All our love!

Four Months with William

2007-06-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

Can you believe how big this kid is getting? He's such a joy. We have lots of news since Mikail's last post (this is Jared for the first time in Roberts family blog history).

We got to hang out with Mikail's family this last month, so William got his first lesson on the drums. I think as he gets older we'll see if we can encourage him to play other (quieter) instruments. The slideshow below has some pictures of him with Jim during their experimental jam session.

Will's last visit to the doctor for his 4-month checkup went great. He now weighs 16.25 lbs and is 26" long. He doesn't mind his checkups, but after the nurse gave him his next set of immunizations (and a few more pokes in each leg) he was sure to let us know he was ready to be out of there.

William had several "firsts" this month in addition to his first music lesson. He rolled over for the first time and tried solid foods for the first time too. He took well to the new foods, and only had trouble when lunch came too close to nap time.

At the end of the slideshow there is a short video clip of William falling asleep to the music his bouncy chair plays. The first time we tried playing it for him he was out cold. The audio in the clip makes it sound a little creepy, but apparently it did the job. Click on the last image and you can see the clip in Mikail's web album. (Also, you can receive email alerts when this blog is updated by entering your email address in the blogarithm form on the left.* McAfee's SiteAdvisor says it's clean, so no spam worries :)
*Quantities limited, while supplies last

Mikail and I are doing well. Working as a personal trainer while I get ready for dental school to start in a few weeks has made it possible for me to spend a few hours at home each day with Mikail and our son. I was recently called as a ward clerk and Mikail is still working with the young women (though this week she gets a break while they all get soaked at girl's camp). We'll be sure to post any exciting developments over the coming weeks.

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All our love!

Memorial Day Weekend

2007-06-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

We went on road trip to Dallas to visit my folks for Memorial Day weekend. While we were there, we got to go to Bryce's Eagle Court of Honor and his High School Graduation. It was a blast!

It was a quick trip up and down. We got there just in time for Bryce's Court of Honor then we went to his graduation on Memorial Day. Congrats Bryce! I have posted here a video of him walking across the stage. The quality is not great. Also, please stand back while watching it. I don't want anyone getting motion sickness.

I also have wanted to mention that we are now Financial Peace University graduates. It's a great program that gives very practical advice about money. This means that if we ever have any money... we might know what to do with it!

Will did get his official baby pictures taken and we have the order numbers for anyone who is interested. He was fantastic! All smiles and just adorable. The pictures I have posted here are low resolution for obvious copyright reasons but they give you an idea of what they look like.

We also have pool pictures finally! The weather has cleared up and so we've been to the pool a few times. The pictures don't do it justice, but he really did like it. He just isn't a fan of the sun, so when we turned his head up to look at the camera... well... just trust me. He liked it.

All our love!

Will is 3 Months!

2007-05-25T11:47:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Long time no blog. We've had a blast this month seeing family and taking care of really important things like getting ready for dental school and watching "The Office" season finale. ; ) But really we have had a packed month and its because our extended families have had so much going on and we've been blessed to be there for some of it.

First, Happy Late Mother's Day to all the ladies out there whom we love so much! Mother's Day weekend we spent in Utah/Idaho for Brittney's wedding. We were a little worried about flying with little Will, but he was fantastic. The weather was gorgeous and the ceremony was great. The reception was beautiful and she was stunning. All in all, I would say a smashing success, thanks in large part to the help of Lori and Kelsey. We started the day in Lehi, Utah, drove north for the sealing at the Bountiful Temple. We then drove north the the luncheon, and then further north for the reception held in the beautiful greater metropolitan Tremonton area. ; ) We ended the day with a four hour drive north to Boise where we spent the rest of the weekend.
J and I got to go on a date while Will stayed with his grandparents and it was nice to remember that underneath it all, it's the 2 of us. Sometimes with a new baby it's hard to remember that.

Will had his first trip to the zoo this month. I included a few pictures in the slideshow, but I'm pretty certain it was not the memorable expierience for us that it will be when he can enjoy it more fully...

Other exciting notes, Bryce has finished high school and we will be attending both his graduation and his Eagle Court of Honor Memorial Day weekend. J has also (finally) finished seminary! Yea! He made it!! Will is getting his "official" baby picture taken Saturday, and if anyone wants prints we will give you the order and pose number and you can place an order online. Let us know if you're interested.

Also, my parents have decided to build a house in Austin and we are so excited for them! It looks like it's going to be an awesome place!

Well, I suppose that's it for a while. I know I promised pool pictures, but I am not kidding when I say that it has rained every single day since then. I think we might be living in a rainforest. Seriously.

Quick note, click on the slideshow to be taken to web albums where you can download the pictures. Also, you can activate captions explaining the pictures here or on the web album site.

All our love!

2007-04-29T15:23:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Will is 9 weeks old and we got some more video of him today. Grandma bought him a few books and we were looking at one after church. Will really likes it as you can see by clicking here. He especially liked the pages with the girls on them. It starts early I guess.
All our Love!

Will at 8 Weeks

2007-04-20T10:15:00.000-05:00

We had a busy week! It began with Will's first baseball game which was rained out after the 7th inning stretch, but it didn't matter because he slept right through the whole thing anyway. The first few pictures on the slideshow are from J's phone, so they aren't great but you can see that on our way out to the car we got soaked. This week I was able to get more of Will's personality on camera, so you can see the many faces of Will by clicking here. On Friday Will had his 2 month shots (yikes!) and we went on our first family trip to Houston the next day for David's reception. Let's just say we won't be messing with his schedule for the next week or so. Will also had a visit from Grandpa while he was in town so he took the opportunity to show off his new moves.
This video was taken while I was on the phone with Grandma. It's not great, but it's a little glimpse into daily life with Will.
All our Love!

Happy Easter!

2007-04-12T12:08:00.000-05:00

Will is 7 weeks old today! Hopefully the last post worked for everyone! I am posting another slideshow here. We have great news for everyone! I have officially quit my job - YEA! J has some good news too. The UT Dental School decided to waive the classes they were saying he might have to take! Great news for our family. Other than that, we are just enjoying the beautiful weather and if it continues, we might have some pool pictures to show you next week. Remember, feel free to post comments here on the blog for everyone to see. We love hearing from you.
All our Love!

2007-04-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

Okay folks! We are trying something new. To make this work start by clicking here. This will (should) send you to the web album I created. (crossed fingers) We've had some problems getting the pictures working with this software -so if it doesn't work for you email me or post a comment here on the blog and I'll see what I can do. All our Love!

2007-03-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

This is Will's tribute to congratulate Bryce on his acceptance to BYU! And he looks so cute it was worth a close up!

2007-03-28T16:44:00.000-05:00

Will takes a little while to wake up in the morning. This particular morning he had dirtied two and a half outfits so he was left in his diaper until his Momma could get her act together. He likes being in his swing until he wakes up fully.

2007-03-28T16:43:00.000-05:00

This is the debut of the newest home teaching companionship Bro. and Bro. Roberts!

2007-03-28T16:41:00.000-05:00

William's first Sunday was a success! He looked great and the girls in my YW were drooling over him. His left hand is covering up his little mini tie.

2007-03-28T16:40:00.000-05:00

William's first outdoor walk was on a cloudy day (he's not too keen on sunlight yet) and I think this was another instance where his eyes were shut the entire time. Cool stroller though huh?

2007-03-28T16:38:00.000-05:00

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of the pacifier. Neither can Will.

2007-03-28T16:37:00.000-05:00

This is just the cutest face! Will is all-world champ at stretching before and after naps.

2007-03-28T16:35:00.000-05:00

The doctor's office wore him out so Will came home and tried out his Bouncy-Chair for the first time. It allowed Mommy to have dinner without a baby in her lap. (I kinda missed him!)

2007-03-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

This was William's outfit to head to the doctor's office. These are the only pants that were even close to fitting him and they were enormous.

2007-03-28T16:31:00.000-05:00

We had a rough couple of first days at home, but we've survived. We are learning to take cues from him as to when to sleep. Jared was following his son's lead.

2007-03-28T16:28:00.000-05:00

Little Will on the way home from the hospital. I'm not sure he was awake for any of it, but we must have snapped a hundred pictures. We'll spare you most of them.

2007-03-28T16:24:00.000-05:00

This is me and the little one the day after he was born . We both look a bit hashed - but glad it's over!

2007-03-28T16:22:00.000-05:00

This is the proud Papa right after Will was born. Aren't they both adorable? Will's cry when he was born was so different than it was the day after. But here he looks exhausted - so I don't think he was crying.