Stinky Picture

So the picture above stinks but I'm done messing with blogger for tonight!

This is when Emily (Jake's sister) and I took Sam trick or treating at the law school. He really didn't like it until the end. Too bad! But we got a lot of candy I'm still eating. :)

I made his costume! He's Pigwidgeon from Harry Potter. :)

I'll get a better picture of his costume on here soon! I'm just lazy uploading photos from my camera now that my computer is dead. Oh well!

Good news: Only THREE more weeks left of classes! Yipee! I can't believe I'm almost done! Only two more classes after this semester and I can sign my name

Stephanie Keller, J.D.

Jake thinks it's a little arrogant to do that.. you know, mostly on the roll list in church or something. I don't really see the problem. ;)

UPDATE - sorry - I changed the picture again! I'll get a picture of Sam in his awesome Owl costumer with his tail featers.. :) Sweet!

Handsome.

Here's some of our recent family pictures :)

Matt Mellor did a GREAT JOB! I'm so happy. :) Look him up if you are in the Lincoln area.

I know you are thinking... what is this porcupine thing by Sam's head? It's Jake's noggin. It took me a bit to figure it out too.. :)


Here's us in all our glory.

I absolutely love this one. This is life. Both of us trying to entertain Sam. And he's just looking at us like we are crazy. :) he he he...

Here he is clapping. It's the new thing. He also says something familiar to "Good Job"

Handsome.

My boys. :)

One of our favorites

Blogger isn't letting me add any of Sam's cute halloween pictures. And they are way cute. :) I'll try to add them later on a school computer. :)

Anyways, here's an awesome recipe. It really tastes like PF Chang's lettuce wraps. Yummo!

Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

1 1/4 lb of extra lean ground turkey
1 package (16 oz/of Oriental mixed vegetables, thawed
1/3 cup reduced-sodium teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3 tablespoon creamy peanutbutter
2 tablespoon minced fresh gingerroot
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 green onions, chopped
10 Boston lettuce leaves

1. cook turkey in skillet until no longer pink.
2. chop veggies and put in pan.
3. Mix teriyaki sauce, hoisin sauce, peanut butter, gingerroot, garlic, and oil and then put in pan with meat and veggies.
4. Heat through
5. Add onions.
6. EAT with lettuce.

(I didn't add the sesame oil or green onions and I used regular lettuce leaves.) AWESOME. :) Worth it to buy all those ingredients we don't use regularly (hoisin sauce, teriyaki sauce, gingerroot, etc.)

Let me know what you think if you try it.

Oh - and it was enough for us for dinner and we have leftovers. It was more filling than we planned on!

Imagine

Imagine the corner of a small kitchen.

Imagine a small square table butted against the corner to make room for two chairs and a high chair.

Imagine a nice window in that corner.

And a nice cool breeze blowing of your face while you feed your beautiful baby boy.

Then imagine wanting that window closed.

The beloved MAC computer is on the table.

The much needed tall glass of water is also on the table.

Did I mention is it that beautiful boy's first birthday?

Anyways, imagine the breeze getting to warm and wanting to close the window.

I reach for the window.

I close the window.

Birthday boy makes a suspicious sound.

I turn back...

I knock over the water...

the water is seeping into the bottom most parts of the computer...

and filtering in between the keys...

even on the cell phone (new too because Jake just went swimming with the last one!)

I panic....

Grab a towell and wipe everything off.

The computer even gets the fan on it. For days.

Sadly, the computer didn't survive. Luckily, the cell phone did.

Motherboard is fried. Cost of motherboard: around $600. Cost of new Mac: around $850 with a student discount.

Not really worth the $600 since my computer is over 4 years old.

So I may be saving for an Ipad. But I really wish Apple would put a dvd drive and a usb port in the Ipad. Think they will come out with that version by the time I save up enough money?

hhhhmm....

Good luck, Right!

Watering

Did you know computers don't need to be watered? They are not plants. They don't grow.

Anyways, I watered my Mac. It's fried. Now I'm working from my husband's PC. And using the PC's at school...

I went through withdrawal for a bit there. I didn't have a computer attached to me... it was hard.

Now it's kind of liberating. Hard sometimes, but liberating.

So if there are less posts, it's because I don't like PC's very much and I would rather not deal with them. So you get less of me. :( Sorry!

I guess Panasonic makes a waterproof laptop. I wish Mac would. I would buy it.

Bestie

Look at this girl. She is one of the best people I know. She's probably not too happy I put this picture up on my blog. But she also put it on hers.

We were companions on a mission TWO times. That's pretty rare. We walked the town of Brusque together in the hot summer days... then again at Jardim das Acasias.

I haven't seen Courtney in over TWO YEARS! I love her and miss her. She's an amazing friend.

And she can sing so many songs from Saturday's Warrior. I love it!

forgot the picture.

This is Sam.. watching THIS video. We watch it once a day at least. we both love it. :)

Making the Bed

So sometimes Jake and I have hard time making the bed. I hate it when it comes time to go to bed and the bed is all messy. It's kind of gross...

Anyways. We came up with a way to remedy that situation.

The deal: whoever is the last one to get out of bed has ONE HOUR to make the bed. If they don't, they owe the other one a FOOT RUB that night.

Wow! The bed has been made EVERY DAY since we made the deal.

It's great.

p.s. Sam is getting his second tooth in. He's crazy and VOLATILE. Poor baby... I just hold him and hug him... hopefully it breaks through and he feels better. soon.

Advice

To start out with - what a cute little baby bum, huh?

LOL - He cracks me up. Just trying to climb into the stroller. Love that boy!

On a different note - and not to get to personal and all... and I don't even know how many people read this blog..

BUT -

I need some advice. Just a quick question to all you nursing mothers out there...

How tired do you get from nursing? As soon as you stop, do you feel a burst of energy running through your veins?

And for those of you who don't "nurse" you can tell me what you think... if you did... or whatever.

Thanks :)

Newest Creations....

So swear this isn't going to turn into a craft blog... But I am SO excited about these...

as excited as staying up past 1:00 in the morning to get them done.....

Another little skirt for Bekah... (Sorry - these pictures are from the camera on my computer... so they aren't the most high quality)

Just imagine a little noggin in this! I messed up on the pattern and it's smaller than it should be. Will probably only fit a newborn or a preme... Any takers? Let me know if you want it!

And last - a picture of the hottie husband. :) What a man!

Better go take care of Mr. Sammers. He's been a sleeping champ this week! Wednesday he took a 4 1/2 hour nap! WOW. Can I say THANK YOU! :)

Owl Baby

This is what I am making for Sam for Halloween - I've been debating about his costume for about a month now. :) You would think I would be studying Criminal Procedure or something. Nope - Halloween costumes :)

I can't wait to see him in this - I'll post pictures :)

Oh - and one more thing - I MADE THIS YESTERDAY (during Sam's nap time)!

It's for Bekah - her mom watches Sam on Monday's and Tuesdays while Jake and I are in class at the same time! :)

Monday

So Jake and I are both in school - me finishing law school and him starting his masters.

I would like to honestly get some sympathy... really.

Let me tell you about Mondays.

Jake has class at 8 so he rides his bike the 2 miles to school about 7:30.

Sam and I wake up about 7:45 or 8. We like to sleep.

While Jake goes to class and studies, Sam and I eat, work out (hopefully!), and play.

Sam takes a nap about 10 or 10:30 and I start to study.

Jake rides his bike home about 12.

I leave. I ride my bike up to campus to study or take care of other things - like getting things printed I couldn't on Saturday... (see previous post!).

My class starts at 1:30 - Criminal Procedure.

Jake takes the car and drops Sam off at a sweet girls house. She has a baby about 3 weeks younger than Sam and Sam and Bekah play. :)

Jake parks the car south of campus so we don't have to buy a parking pass...

Jake goes to class - starts at 2:00.

Jake texts me and tells me where he parked the car that day... :)

I get out of class at 2:45 and haul bum to the car. I put the bike on the bike rack on the car. Then I haul to grab Sam.

Sam and I go home and we both eat.

Sam and I take the car (with my bike still on it) up to campus at 4:00

We meet Jake - Jake drops me and my bike off at the law school.

Jake and Sam go home to eat more and play.

I am in class from 4:30 until 6:30.

I bike home.

At least Mondays only happen once a week.

And one beautiful picture of my scrumptious baby. We were hiking in Moab this summer.

Scream!

So it's been a while. I won't even try to update you all. If there is anyone out there.

We live in Lincoln and we are both going to school. And Sam is surviving.

But right now... I'm venting.

I WANT TO SCREAM!

Why is it that IT people like to confuse us all?

Can they not make something USER FRIENDLY??

I have been trying for OVER AN HOUR to print a document. Is that insane?

I believe it is. I want to scream.

But I'll try and refrain.

I'll update more later.

Boxes

boxes... 

and more boxes... 

Sam explored cardboard boxes. He's a fan! 

We are collecting boxes for a special purpose :) 

We are moving to Nebraska in two weeks! :) Goodbye Texas, Hello Nebraska! :) 

Jake is going back to school for his Masters and I am going to finish law school.... 

Wish us luck!! :) 

Almost a Year!

It's been almost a year since I arrived in Tx! Wow~ Time flies! 

We are back at the beginning of the worst part of living in east Texas. The HOT HUMID summers! If I could change one thing about living here, it would not be the red-necks (though there are MANY) and it surprisingly would not even be the snakes (which I have never seen, but am deathly afraid of)! It would be the summer heat and humidity. It's unbearable. UNBEARABLE! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! 

It makes me want to shrivel up and die. I'm not kidding. If you think I'm being dramatic. Come. Come visit. Live here. Visit here. Just step outside your house and melt. Basically die. That's how it is... 

Ok - I might have been a little too dramatic, but seriously. Who ever thought of settling here? If I were on a horse, thinking of places to live, I probably would have settled here in the fall, winter or spring. Those are awesome, beautiful times. But the summer, I would have RAN. RAN FAR! North in fact. 

Anyways, sorry to complain. I'm an outside summer person. East Texas makes me an inside summer person. It's a bit hard. 

Next - on to cuteness! :) (a.k.a. Sam) 

We had a GREAT ward activity at the park last week. Sam got to swing. He loved it! :) He mostly loved it when I was standing in front of him with the camera. That little boy LOVES when I pull the camera out. He starts smiling, and flirting. What a cute boy. :) Sorry it's not the best picture of Jake. Poor dad. He's a hottie though. :) 

Next picture - Is it bad if I have already chosen a few select girls Sam can marry? This is one of them. Meet Jennifer. She's a little less than one month younger than Sam but she is a whole lot skinnier. She is one of my best friend's daughter. Jill and I go out almost every Thursday night together. Our husband's are amazing - they realize we need some girl time and take care of the kiddos so we can shop. But Sam can definitely marry Jenny. 

One of Sam's newest fascinations: a cup! He really likes drinking from a cup. Every time he sees me drinking from my own cup (I don't share... he's a back-washer BIG TIME!) he gets all excited and starts waving his arms and screeching. 

He has also found his toes. I love it. He sucks his toes. He talks to them. I love babies. Mostly mine! 

This is one of Sam's favorite new wrestling partners. Sister Wilson in the ward gave Sam this oversized sock monkey. Sister Wilson is so sweet. Anyways, Sam loves to wrestle the monkey. It's hilarious. 

These last couple of months have been busy! I have become addicted to sewing. I don't have any pictures of what I have made, but I'll post some sometime. I've been sewing bibs for Sam, baby booties, quilt blocks for a Keller family quilt, a bag, a little girl's dress, and pillow shams. Sounds like I've become obsessed, huh? I get most of my ideas from www.homemadebyjill.blogpost.com She is amazing. 

I've been trying to finish up my research project so I can be done with some credits for school, but I've put it off a little. I guess sometimes I allow myself a break... and I really take a break! But my supervising professor is really nice and doesn't mind my slowness. 

On a little sad note, this past Friday was graduation! I wasn't there, and I wasn't graduating with my class. It made me a little sad, but it will be okay. I will finish law school - even if it's not with everyone else. I bet it was awesome though... :) 

Earlier this month for my birthday, we were down in Houston. Jake had a conference for work he needed to be at during the week, so Sam and I went down with him instead of being alone here on my birthday. Sam and I relaxed, slept, shopped, and watched good shows on Hulu. It was a nice break! I ate yummy Texas shaped Belgium waffles with peanut butter and syrup every morning... It was heavenly. :) 

For Mother's day, Jake gave me some beautiful flowers, pampered me, and made me a yummy dinner. He's such a sweet husband. :) 

Well, I'll end with a cute picture of the Sammers. He's a chubby boy. 

Sam's new loves are: opening and closing drawers, pulling diapers out of the changing box and chewing on them, rolling everywhere, and spitting! He likes to make that noise with his lips and spit. It entertained him this morning for about 10 minutes when he figured out he could do it. At least it let me get ready for church! :) 

And - hopefully we have some exciting news this week - I'll post more later... 

:) 

Biased?

Is it biased if I say I have the cutest baby in the world? I swear he is. :) 

He makes me laugh everyday. I have to post pictures. He is amazing. 

To update - we are doing great! We are in Houston for a couple of days with a trade show Jake has to attend. Sam and I (ME really) decided to come along so we didn't have to be alone for a couple of days... mostly during my BIRTHDAY! :) YEAH! Happy B-Day to Me! 

I will post pictures soon - He's adorable! And he's beginning the crawling stages. Today was the first day he got his big belly off the ground... now he just has to move his hands and knees at the same time, and he's officially MOBILE!

Sam is a blanket licker.

We got this awesome thing for him to look at. Babies like that stuff...

And my favorite: the new hat!

Food

Sam likes MILK. He's addicted to it actually. He doesn't really like rice cereal. 

We've tried to feed him some cereal at night before he goes to bed so he will keep with his 11 hour sleeping schedule! :) Yeah for a good night sleep! 

But he hasn't really figured out the whole swallowing thing with his tongue. I guess babies have a problem with that. We will work on it. But for now it just gets to be a big mess. 
Then he gets all cleaned up and cute. :) 
What a cute chunky kid, eh? 
He's the sweetest ever... But he's getting to be more "toddler" than baby... I think anyways. He's not my newborn anymore! 

Snow!

I don't remember which days, but it snowed in east Texas! It's very rare... 

Here's the view from our apartment!

Sam-bo's getting ready to brave the snow.... I love this little hat!

More snow on the cars! 

He's such a cutie! 

Bad Bumbo!

Dear Mom and Dad:

I hate my Bumbo seat. Please never make me sit in it again! It makes boogers come out my nose because I get so mad!

It makes me really depressed just thinking about it... 

And if you don't stop with this seat I'll scoot out the side!

And probably never talk or smile...

And cry until you finally get me out. 

I mean it! I hate the Bumbo!

Explanations ...

So - I'm not the best blogger. It takes time. and Effort. And I'm not good at it. My blogs are not CUTE. 

But I've been meaning to explain the reason behind the name of our blog: Something will always build character? Sounds weird right? Well - since I met Jake, I've heard him and his family talking about building character. For example: "I chopped my hair off and now I look like a boy!" The best response is: "It's good for you - it will build character!" So I thought it would be good for us to have that as our blog name - because we are building character. 

And I did chop my hair off. I feel like a boy sometimes. I'll probably grow it out - but it's a nice change. 

Anyways - We went to Utah FOREVER. Sorry if we didn't see you guys - We wanted to and we meant to, but our families really liked us. It was hard to get away. And we missed them. So we wish we could have seen everyone - or even half of the people we wanted to. But we just spent time with our families mainly.... 

And here are a million pictures of Sam. Who else would we show pictures of? :) 

I GUESS US - This is Jake and I at the "Lighted Christmas Parade" in Nac. It was freezing. We took Sam. He was warm in his incubator stroller. My hair is normal length in this pic. You won't see it short in this post! 

Mom and Dad Ranall with Sam and Logyn, my new neice born Dec. 11th.  We stopped by and saw Brad and Kristen on their way to the hospital to be induced :) 

Sam and Logyn. This is what 3 months of milk will do to a baby. And Sam was smaller than she was when he was born. Our little chunky monkey. And don't you love her hair? She's awesome. 

Sam sleeping on Uncle Todd. Todd said he was really good at putting Sam to sleep. I told Todd the only way Sam could stand to be around him (Todd) was if he was asleep. :) 

The binky got out - and Sam was trying to put it back in... I AM SO BIASED, but this kid is SO CUTE! :) 

Grandpa Dalton and Sam. 

Jake's brother Kaleb was really good at making Sam smile. So here he is, smiling... 

The SUPER DUPER POOPER... 

Jake's reaction. :) 

Sam started standing up really well by himself when we got back from Utah. I'm so proud! He's about 3 months old in this pic. 

Sam's sitting in his Bumbo seat. He's LEANING... 

Sam and Jaime. One of Jake's friend's daughter. She's a real cutie. She's 5 months and Sam's about 3. She was totally putting the moves on him. Can't blame her. :) 

Jake's sister Eva Anne. We went to her wedding on Dec. 12th. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. And it snowed! YEAH I LOVE SNOW! 

LOL - This is one of my favorites~ One morning I woke up and fed him and I was about to change his diaper, but noticed that it was hanging pretty low. He's got some sagging talent. So I thought I would take a cute little picture of my son sagging his diaper. Do you think he will ever be a plumber? And look at that face - He's thinking: Why are you posting my little bum crack on the family blog? 

My little man and his little monkey

Standing again. We like to have him stand as much as possible. It wears him out. Makes him sleep. We like when he sleeps. :) 

I love the sunglasses! Thanks Michelle! 

Here is my sweet little boy - I love him so much! 

Just a couple of things to note: 

~ Sam just found his mouth

~ He likes putting fingers in his mouth... licking anything remotely close to his tongue, etc. 

~ He lets us know when we are boring. He wants to stand up or look around if we aren't entertaining enough! 

~ Sleeps SO well - usually 11 hours a night. 

~ Looks dang cute in a tigger outfit my aunt Vicki gave him (super cute in all his clothes!) 

~ Doesn't realize what he's missing out in not rolling over. He's strong enough, he just doesn't see what the point is yet...