Why I enjoy apple products

I've been meaning to post some pics I took with my REAL camera but the cord has somehow alluded me once again.....I know in my heart that the pics taken with a flash are so much better than those taken with my phone but it's just so EASY to take a picture with the iphone and then everytime I plug it into my mac to charge the phone all the pics are automatically downloaded so if I want to post them NO CORD NEEDED!!

so here you go--i call this montage "cute baby and amber's new car"

First the car--a 2006 mazda 3 hatchback--a little roomier than my old car and super fun to drive


Here's cory with the car...he just got back from his home teaching appointment..good job Cory!!

And of course me--given that it's ten minutes after we got home from church I am of course already wearing cory's pajama pants and my nancy naples t shirt...I love sundays :)

and of course cute baby
cute baby face up close
and trying to put his whole hand in his mouth
HELLO precious!!!



The boy has started wearing 3 months clothes and as I was putting away the newborn stuff so cory would stop trying to shove him into them I found these CUTE overalls that I had to make him wear at least once..oops for not knowing all the cute baby clothes I had

still trying with this tummy time thing..it's getting a bit better

We decided to skip the crib and go straight for the queen size bed
more cute overalls

and finally..this is what I do when I can't get him to stop crying...the stuffed animal blanket combo (we named him Leonard), his binky, and the bouncy chair..it usually works for at least a couple of minutes

As for more baby updates-we've moved him out of our room and into his winnie the pooh playland. He's done good so far (although I tend to be paranoid and want to constantly check on him despite the baby monitor). Usually he's pretty good about going to sleep and for the last two nights (knock on wood) he's slept from about 930 to 430 and then up to eat and sleeping til about 9--it probably won't last but it is nice to at least have him sleeping before midnight :)

Obama rant..from Cory

I'm taking a media law class on Thursday nights and sometimes I think the class is just an excuse for my professor (and pretty much everyone else in the class but me) to bash Joe Arpaio, Andrew Thomas, (the sheriff and county attorney in maricopa county) the Bush administration, and anything Republican. My professor is a super nice guy and I have learned a bit about media law...but it can get old. Anyway, a week ago my professor published an opinion piece in the AZ republic about how Obama is ushering in a new era of openness, comparing him to James Madison--PLEASE give me a break--I just laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

So, here's the article

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/2009/03/14/20090314bodney0315.html

and here's what Cory had to say:
Again the problem of the actions not living up to the words. And in a monumental way. It is incomprehensible the differences that exist in Obama's grandiose and unequivocal words and the way in which he, and those of his party who take the lead from him, governs. Promises of open discussion and dialogue ending in quiet passages of unprecedented and hyper-partisan legislation in the middle of the night without a single person in the country knowing the legislation in its entirety. Shattered promises of ethics reform at the very moments he is appointing tax-evaders and cheats into cabinet positions. Claims of putting science at the forfront of our decission making when basic and proven principles of economics (the sience of the economy) are casually being dismissed as "old ideas." Oh, he may say things that Madison believed, but he does not belive the things that Madison said. What is a man but the sum of his actions. What is character but ones actions matching ones words. If these are true, then Obama is nothing more than a liar and an opressor.

Well said honey--I would just like to add that anyone with even a bit of constitutional history knowledge knows that Madison wasn't even in favor of the first amendment or the bill of rights at first because he believed that the right to free speech was inherent in the constitution itslef in that every right not given to the government is reserved for the states, and the people. Unrealted..but I'm just sayin...

and for those of you who can't stand my political posts and just want more baby pics...I'm trying to take more pics with my REAL camera and not just my phone. While that adds up to better pictures of little harrison k..it also means that it's going to take a while longer for me to post them since they don't just automatically upload when I plug the i phone into the mac--sorry!! but don't worry cute pics of harrison at his first baseball game and other escapades (as well as pics of the car I just bought :)) are coming!!

Harrison's baby blessing!!

We blessed Harrison last Sunday and it was great fun! Cory's parents came for a WHOLE WEEK for the event and it was absolutely wonderful to have my in laws around to help me with the baby, weed our front yard (something I have been trying to find time to do forever!! It's amazing how just getting those little things done can make such a big difference), clean our house, buy us groceries, take us out to dinner, and pretty much save my life a hundred times over!! (I took the MPRE last saturday and there is no way I would have even had a chance to pass without all of the babysitting help!!) THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Cory's sister Lindsay also came for the weekend from BYU and my mom and Larry and brother and great friends came for the blessing and over to our house afterwards (any excuse to miss the last two hours of church right??). Harrison enjoyed being passed around and ogled and the rest of us enjoyed yummy soup and salad and these awesome red velvet cupcakes I made :) Here are some pics, mostly courtesy of Kerri. As a side note, in some Harrison is wearing his adorable blessing outfit and some he's not..what can I say as much as my kid spits up I got him into something a little less stain-able as soon as possible!
See my cute outfit!!! Bib protected of course...

With Aunt Lindsay

Family shot


With Lisa
With Kerri
with Mommy after a diaper change
with Grandma and Grandpa (my mom and Larry--haven't really decided what he should call each respective set of grandparents yet...)
stopping for a snack (my child has gotten accustomed to breastfeeding and THEN eating 4 oz of formula..awesome...)
my favorite Harrison pic of the day! with Jen

All I can do is sigh...

I was hopeful when I listened to Obama's victory speech after his election. I wanted to believe (and still do..I'm an idealist...) that he had the power and courage and charisma needed to turn this country around despite not agreeing with him on a lot of policy matters. But when I think about more and more debt and endless bloated burreaucratic government programs and the prospect of 50% of the American public having no stake in their government because they pay no taxes..When I think about a president who wants to seize this moment to drive the country to becoming a european welfare state I can't help but be scared for the future and what it may hold for my son and my family. The United States is great for many reasons--and some of those include free markets and personal responsibility!!! Redistributing wealth and disincentivizing charitable giving by taking away tax benefits is NOT going to solve all our problems. Why is it that people in control get so power hungry and overwhelmed by some need to spend their "political capital" that they make STUPID decisions that hurt everyone to the point where the other side comes in and takes over in a sweeping flourish of "reform" promises only to do the whole thing over again?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123629969453946717.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/opinion/03brooks.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

I LOVE MY SQUISHY MONKEY FACE!!!!

First of all, I don't know why this is underlined...just go with it..Anyway--my kid gets cuter and cuter by the day..I can't even handle it!!!

We force him into a swaddle at night because although he hates it at first, it makes him sleep better. I'm pretty crappy and swaddling at 2 am so I bought these blankets that are like a little baby strait jacket and allow you to velcro your child in..here he has managed to get one finger out to put in his mouth....
he LOVES to flail his arms and legs about
and pretend like he is going to punch me
Cory's family says he looks nothing like them so does he look like me?? (and don't worry..I have a hair appointment on tomorrow so maybe I'll look a little less like a really really worn out new mom..)
You know you'd try to eat him too!!!
Last weekend our friends lisa and nick finished this amazing TWO HUNDRED MILE relay with Nick's family. They are insane and ridiculous and awesome!!!
We took Harrison to come meet them at the finish line--look at his cute little green jacket--it has a car on it :)
when he smiles I just melt!! I can't help it!!!

Car???

So....about a week ago I was driving home from class and my radiator blew up--924 dollars later it's fixed. This made me (and Cory) start thinking about the fact that I own a 13 year old car and no longer have someone around to fix it. While the car has served me well and is in relatively good condition inevitably things will continue to break and at a thousand bucks a hit we might want to think about getting something newer and more reliable. I've been saying for the last year or so that I was going to get a convertible mini cooper when I graduated from law school but with a baby that might not be possible (although maybe a hatchback would work). Anyway--any awesome car ideas? We want something reliable and relatively economical (but we're willing to pay more than the normal 6k or less I've paid for cars in my life...) that is actually fun, interesting, unique ....not the standard silver honda civic you see in every third space in every parking lot...

On another note--here is Harrison enjoying his newest toy--I refer to it as the "vibratey chair"