my 6-month-old :-)

Austin's baby blessing

We had Austin's baby blessing on Sept 4. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures but here are a few I do have.



Ok, so my internet is being incredibly slow and my baby is waking up from his nap, so you only get one picture right now!

Austin update: 2 months

Austin is 2 months old! and no, life is not "back to normal" yet. I still feel sleep-deprived pretty much every minute of every day; my house is usually a disaster area; we are living off of frozen fish sticks from Costco and other foods that my wonderful mother brings to us; and the only clothes that actually get put away after being washed are Austin's--and no I don't fold them, I just shove them in a drawer. :)

Anyway, we had Austin's 2 month visit yesterday and he is now 10 lbs 10 oz! I can't believe that some people have actually have newborns that are almost 10 pounds..wow. He is 22 inches long and "has a temper". That is literally what his pediatrician wrote about him in his medical record. And it's true! He hasn't exactly been the happiest baby--most likely due to a food allergy which we have not successfully diagnosed yet. I have cut out diary, corn, wheat, eggs, soy, and nuts and nothing seems to make a huge improvement in how he feels. We have tried formula and he isn't much better on it either, so we are probably just going to have to ride the waves until he outgrows whatever is bothering him. He also got his immunizations yesterday...which has not helped to make him any happier.

But, despite all the grumpiness, we love him to death!! And he has managed to give us a few smiles now and then. Things he loves: taking baths, the sound of running water, being bounced, being held facing out so that he can look around, my hairdryer, being outside, any toy that makes noise. Things he hates: going to sleep--he will fight it with all the strength his little body can muster, getting dressed, his baby swing, his carseat, sitting still. Honestly I think that a lot of his unhappiness comes from being a baby. He is such a curious little boy--wants to constantly be moving and wants to be able to see things. I think he will be much happier when he can move around a little and learns how to grab things. Thinking of that stage of life makes me a little nervous...

Mamma's little man :)

My little boy is here! Austin Daniel was born July 12th at 7:21 a.m. He weighed 6 lb 5 oz and measured 18.5 inches long.

He is such a cute baby, even though he has definitely messed up our sleeping schedules. At his 2 week pediatrician visit we were told that we should start training him to be awake during the day more by playing with him and stuff and that should help him sleep more at night. Problem is, he isn't old enough to care about playing. Eat, sleep, and poop are really his only interests right now.

At that visit, he also weighed 6 lb 14 oz and measured 20 inches long, so all that sleeping and eating is going to good use! Enjoy these pictures of my little man!

Cool quote

I was just blog stalking (aka wasting precious time when I should be cleaning my bathroom) when I ran across a quote that I really like. This comes from Christian Nielson, the husband of Stephanie Nielson, both of whom were burned badly in a plane crash in 2008. Anyway, he put this on his mormon.org profile in response to a question about why he was Mormon:

"I say I was born and raised a Mormon, but there's more to it than that. What that means is that I have had the privilege of being taught principles of happiness and hope in my childhood, tested them as a teenager, and forged them as an adult."

Good explanation of things, I'd say. I've always felt like saying I was born and raised as a member of LDS church leaves room for somebody to assume that I am just following in the footsteps of my family, without my having tested the principles the church teaches and come to a deep conviction of them myself. And that simply isn't the case.

I'm pretty much just putting it here because typing it into my blog is easier than finding a pen and paper right now. It's probably less likely to get lost if I put it here, too.

3-D Images

Here is my baby boy at 29 weeks. Do you think Austin Daniel Clement is a good fit for this face? Because of all the names we have talked about, Austin is the one that seems to be sticking.



And here is a profile view of him with his toes resting on his forehead. I knew babies were crowded in there, but I guess I never realized he could be this flexible!

What have I been up to lately?

I bet everyone out there has just been dying to know what I've been up to lately. Right? Well, here are a few recent pictures. We have been:

Celebrating this kid's birthday.


My mom and dad both have september birthdays too we just had one party for them and Peter. We went bowling and ate dinner at a park. None of the bowling pictures were that good, but my niece (the center of attention in this picture) killed us all!


The next day we got with Peter's family for his younger brother's eagle court of honor.


This little guy is definitely the life of the Clement family parties. And with all those uncles, he sure gets his fair share of torture! I love this picture of him with those classes. He he...


And the glasses made it around to all the grandkids and some point during the evening.


Family picture taken by the camera's timer. They always turn out interesting that way.


Right before the saturday session of general conference, Peter decided we needed cinnamon rolls. I haven't made them for a long time and don't really have a good recipe. Peter has been craving cinnamon rolls that his professor's wife made so we called her about ten times that day for advice. Hope that doesn't adversely affect his grade... We really liked the way the dough tasted, but we need a better recipe for both the filling and the frosting. If you have one, please share!!


This one looks like a butt. I think Peter gave it to his younger brother.


During the Sunday morning session we decided to drive the Nebo Loop because everybody says how pretty it is this time of year. And it didn't disappoint.


We came upon some cows in the road. I took a picture because that's not something you see everyday growing up in Sanpete. Oh wait, yes it is. I don't know why I took this picture then.


More pretty leaves


The End.

Not because I don't have more pictures but because I have to go pick Peter up from campus now. And this time I will not let him talk me into doing something illegal that results in us getting pulled over by BYU police. But that's a story for another day.

Oh, and I also chopped five inches off my hair. I tried to take a picture in the mirror but it didn't work out. However, I love short hair!! Even if winter is coming and it means I have to actually do my hair everyday---I still love it!

Ok, that's it. I'm out. Like a fat kid in dodgeball.

Words to live by

We recently had a regional conference here in Provo and we were privileged to hear from four amazing people: Elder Steven Snow, Sister Julie B Beck, Elder Jeffrey Holland, and President Boyd K Packer. All talks were wonderful!

At the back of the notebook I was using to take notes that day I found a list of one-liners that I had started. One-liners are great because they contain a message about the kind of person I would like to become and it is packaged so neatly in an easy-to-remember form. I suppose that most of these won't have much meaning to anyone else who reads them, but each has a memory/feeling associated with it that makes it important to me. Here is my list so far:

"Never suppress a generous thought"--Sister Camilla Kimball

"Give the Lord equal time"--Elder M Russell Ballard

"Cultivate an attitude of gratitude"

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."--President Thomas S Monson

"Pain is inevitable, misery is optional"

"There is only one Plan of Happiness. All the rest is multiple choice misery."--Elder Neal A Maxwell

"When you face temptations, remember it is not just about you."--Elder David A Bednar

"The Lord is voting for you. The devil is voting against you. But it is your vote that counts."--President Boyd K Packer

"One is not truly converted until he wishes for others what he wishes for himself."--Islamic saying

"Be obedient, not creative!"--Sister DePaula, Brasil CTM

"The delay of our dreams does not mean that they have been rejected."--Sarah Ban Breathnach

"No success can compensate for failure in the home."-- President David O McKay

"Our greatest goal in relationships is to be a light, not a judge." --Steven R. Covey

"Without hard work nothing grows but weeds!"--President Hinckley

"It is a greater honor to be trusted than to be loved."--David O McKay

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens"--Jim Hendrix

"In matters of style, swim with the current; In matters of principle, stand like a rock."--Thomas Jefferson

"Be happiness itself."--Buddha

Produce drawer : full!

I went home for an appointment with my eye doctor on wednesday (my eyes changed again. Boo. I'll probably be blind by the time I'm 30) and stopped by my parent's home to spend some time with my mom. Before I left she said I could pick some peas from the garden to take with me. Those are my favorite-fresh, homegrown garden peas eaten straight from the pod. So delicious! Anyway, I ended up taking home a lot more than just fresh peas:


(note: picture is a small scale
representative of a much larger
quantity)

As I have been savoring all these wonderful fall vegetables, I have decided: one day (when I have a house of my own and I have stopped moving from place to place) I will have a vegetable garden. I, too, will grow yummy fruits and veggies.

Now, to share a memory that just came into my head---we planted a garden every year when I was growing up and to make it fun for us kids, my parents would give us each our very own row in the garden! They would buy us each a packet of "mystery seeds" and we would plant it and weed it and water it and it was so much fun to see what grew! Sometimes flowers, sometimes veggies-you wouldn't know unless you really cared for them and helped them to grow. So fun.

Thanks mom and dad, for teaching me how to work and for sharing your harvest with us!

Summer Vacation :)

Since we had a week after moving out of our old place and before moving into our new place (which we hope to be doing tonight!), we decided just to go on a trip somewhere! So, we visited Portland and Seattle and saw some sites in between. All in all, we had a good trip. It was my idea to go to Seattle since it is only a few hours from Portland, but I think if I could do it over, I would have just spent the whole time in Oregon. It was cool to see Seattle, but we didn't do much there because we only had one day and because by that time we were kind of sick of site seeing, plus there were some things in Oregon that we wanted to do but didn't because we didn't have enough time. Anyway, here are some pictures:

Me in front of the Twin Falls, ID temple:



Peter in front of the Temple (we have double of most of our pictures, and I don't think we have any pictures together. I guess we could have asked somebody to take one....)


Me in front of the Boise, ID temple:


Driving alongside the Columbia River:


Oregon's Multnomah Falls:




Cheese tasting at the Tillamook cheese/ice cream factory. Peter was so excited when Winco stores finally came to Utah because that meant he could finally buy Tillamook Ice Cream. He served his mission in Oregon and got addicted to it there:



Feeding some ducks with a family from Peter's mission. We went to this pond in the hopes of viewing a nutria (it's real-google it). A nutria is a cross between a beaver and a rat and it only lives in oregon. It was introduced into Oregon from South America in the fur trading era. Also notice the adorable baby ducklings:



The beach at Seaside, OR (cold pacific waters + windy day= barely put my feet in):


The Column in Astoria, OR. It has 180 steps inside that you can climb up for a view of the surrounding area. The outside of the column is covered in murals depicting the history of Oregon:


Here is a view from the top of the column. Also, a picture of a little restaurant near the beach that we ate at. It is old fishing boat that now sells fish n chips-and they were good! I have never liked fish and people have always told me that if I tried fresh fish I would like it. This stuff was super fresh and really good!




And this is Beaver Falls. It's a hidden waterfall near Rainier, OR. One of Peter's mission friends took us there; you can hike down behind the waterfall. It was cool :)


In Seattle, we did the underground city tour. It was fun to learn the history of Seattle, but not worth the money the tour costs. We also saw the space needle, of course. We were going to go up it, but like I said earlier by this point in the trip we were pretty much done sight seeing and so we just took a picture of it instead:

(I don't know why the space needle picture didn't rotate and I don't really care either. Sorry.)

We did get to see the Seattle temple, but it is being renovated so we didn't get to go inside:


And then we drove for 14 hours to get home....

I have a favorite scripture.

Well, I have many favorite scriptures, but today it is this one. Actually, this scripture became a favorite on my mission. We would show the short restoration DVD to people and I loved the scene where little Joseph saw a toy wooden horse that he wanted in the store, but they were too poor to buy it. Then, his dad carved one for him. Cute dad. Like my dad.  So, the movie quotes the last part of this scripture when his dad is giving him the toy.

3 Nephi 14:8-11

"For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. 

Or what man is there of you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?

Or is he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

It's beautiful, isn't it? I think this scripture refers to our trust in God. When I was a child, my parents took great care of me. I trust them and know that I can count on them for anything at any time of day or night and at any stage in my life. But they aren't perfect; they aren't God. Why is it sometimes hard to trust God and to trust that the things he allows to happen in our lives are for our good? Perhaps because his isn't tangibly here every day like my mom and dad are. And perhaps there are things that have happened in my life that I have yet to understand how they were for my good. But the scriptures contain countless examples of the workings of God in the lives of men that I can rely on. 

And if the Savior himself tells me in the Book of Mormon that the Father gives good things to them that ask him, I can trust that. I can trust that everything in my life will work together for my good. 

Even when I have to leave the ward and the primary class and the neighbors that I love.

Even when I have to pack up my entire house and store it all in my in-laws basement for four months.

Even when I have to be homeless for two weeks. Ok, not homeless really, just I won't be living in my home. And one of those weeks will hopefully involve a road trip to Oregon. And that I'm excited for!

Spring!

Here a few random pictures of our spring so far:



This is a tree near our house! I think it is so cute; it's like a cross between two different kinds of trees and it makes me smile every time I see it :)



And these are our first daffodils of the season-unfortunately they are all dead after the recent snowstorm.



Hogle Zoo: Mama elephant with baby Zuri