I know…. I’ve been slacking. It’s not like there hasn’t been stuff to write about – an anniversary, a birthday, a visit from Grandma and Grandpa… What can I say. Since no excuse will do, I’ll just get writing.
So, let’s start back in May. It was 10 years ago that I popped out of the sunroof of a limousine from under Thesha’s wedding dress and we began our crazy adventures as a married couple. It’s funny how things both change and stay the same over the years. May 17th, 2001 started with a lot of frantic activity to get everything ready, then a drive down to the temple, and finishing up the day with the family. Ten years later and there is still a flurry of activity trying to get everything ready to leave the houase, but this time it was about getting diapers changed, snacks together, pony tails in Reagan’s hair, strollers in the car, etc. Then it was off to the temple, but instead of the SLC temple it was the DC temple. It was a completely different experience then it was at the SLC temple 10 years ago, but as you can imagine the spirit we felt was the same. Then instead of a nice lunch in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, it was a chicken sandwich from Wendy’s. I guess lunch is lunch, right. Last but not least, it was time for an afternoon with the family, but this time instead of dozens of family members it was our little family. Of course this time we didn’t come home to a bunch of housewarming gifts like toasters, hand towels, and waffle makers.
Here are some pictures of our trip to the D.C. temple.
When we were at the temple, we went to the visitor’s center and watched some of the church videos they had as part of the information displays. All Tyler would ask about for weeks after was when we were going to go to the movie center again.
Ok, next line for catching up is Reagan’s birthday. It’s hard to believe that when we first moved out to Maryland Reagan was just a little peanut in Thesha’s belly. Now our little Maryland (actually Delaware) baby is a year old. To celebrate, Thesha made her an awesome cake using the techniques she’s been picking up from the Cake Boss.
Reagan loved it so much she went ahead and reached for it while the candle was still lit. The good news is that it was easy to get her to stop crying by giving her a giant slice of cake.
In addition to the cake, Reagan got lots of cute stuff to start filling out her room with toys and Mom and Dad got a bunch of new crap to pick up at the end of the day.
The most exciting gift for us was to get a chair for Reagan like Tyler’s so that they would finally stop fighting over who got to sit in the little chair. Of course, we apparently underestimate the power of the Little Tikes farm animals. So on the one hand we solved the chair problem, on the other hand we created the farmer problem – as illustrated below.
Ahh, how cute. He’s ripping the toy from her with one hand and using the other one to snap her wrist. I love birthdays.
Yes, Reagan is really growing up fast. Her favorite words are “tak ooh” for “thank you”, “Hi, Dahh” for “Hi, Dad”, and “whaaaaaaah” for “Tyler, you big jerk, stop pushing me.” She’s also learning some animal noises, a couple songs, and she even knows her alphabet…well, she knows one letter of the alphabet. Watch below and you’ll see what I mean.
It’s really fun to see both kids growing up and developing such fun personalities. Reagan obviously gives us plenty to laugh and have fun with, but she has a good example from Tyler on how to make us laugh. Tyler always wakes up early and Reagan likes to sleep in. During the time Tyler is awake and Reagan is asleep, we’re constantly having to remind him to keep his voice down. “Shhhh, use your quiet voice.” we usually say. Of course, one morning I changed it up just a little. “Shhhh. Tyler, where’s your quiet voice?” Was totally caught off guard by the response… “Playing soccer,” he said. Now I’m the one cracking up and making too much noise.
The only other thing that’s been going on since the last post was that I went with the local Boy Scout troop to Scout Camp. We went to a camp in Eastern Ohio called the Muskingham Valley Scout Camp. We went there because of the cost and because they have an LDS week so they incorporate Duty to God requirements throughout the week as well as merit badges. The best part was that since I just went along as a second advisor, I really didn’t have to do any planning or organizing. Just show up and have fun. While I was there, I got a fly fishing lesson from the Scoutmaster. He helped me get set up, gave me a couple pointers, then believe it or not, before he could even get himself set up I had already caught a fish. Granted, I probably could have caught a fish about the same size by casting a line in Dad’s fish tank, but a fish is a fish. Over the course of the week I probably caught a couple dozen fish.
Since I was able to pick it up pretty quickly, the Scoutmaster was able to wander further and further away from me and I realized that fishing is a bit of a solitary activity. As it turns out, that’s a good thing. I lost track of how many times I found myself trying to get my line untangled when a huge bug started flying around me. As I quickly jerked away or swatted at the bug, I realized it was actually the fly at the end of the very line I was trying to untangle. Nothing garners the respect of a teenager like seeing one of his Scout leaders swat at his own fishing line, suddenly stop, then start looking around trying to act cool and seeing if anyone saw him make a jackass of himself.
While I was away at Scout camp, Grandma and Grandpa Checketts came out to keep Thesha and the kids company. It was a relief for me to know that there was some family around while I was away, and I know that Thesha and the kids loved having Grandma and Grandpa around. They were able to go to the Delaware Children’s Museum, the lighthouse, and a local dairy/petting zoo called Kilby Cream for some ice cream.
Here are some pictures from this summer – including pictures of the visit from Grandma and Grandpa.
Alright, I guess that’s probably enough catching up for one blog. We’ve got Tyler’s birthday coming up in about a month, so I’m sure I’ll have another blog post by around Christmas or so.
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