Yellowstone 2010

We just got back from a great trip. After spending a couple of days in Wyoming with Grandma and Grandpa we dropped Noah off with Grandma and spent 3 days in Yellowstone. We had such a good time. We were lucky and able to see a lot of wildlife. We even got to see a grizzly bear with her two cubs and also so a wolf from a distance. It rained the whole time but we didn't care. We came prepared with the right gear and umbrellas. Yellowstone is so beautiful. You can certainly see God's hand in everything. Noah had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa while we were gone. His favorite is riding the 4 wheeler with Grandma around their property at a blazing 4 miles an hour. If you let him outside he would run to where the four wheeler was parked in the shed and try to climb on. He is such a fast little squirt and runs everywhere now. We are so grateful to Grandma for helping to give Tomi and I some much needed vacation time with just
each other.

(Insert exciting interesting title here)

I just thought it was time to write another blog entry. It has been a while. Things are going good. My business is picking up. I started a vinyl letter business and have been getting a lot of orders lately. The best part is that I enjoy it. Especially when I get to create new things for people. Noah has now learned to give us "loves" He will just lay his head into you and snuggle. It is great! Best part of any day. Aunt Teri invited us to go to "discovery gateway" with her preschool group. Noah had so much fun! He had even more fun after playing in the fountain. Tomi just had a birthday and we really had a good time. I bought here season tickets to Hale Center Theater. We saw 3 Musketeers on the Sat. before here birthday then went to a great new restaurant our neighbor told me about called Fuji. Amazing food and the cook does a great show in preparing it for you. My favorite part was watching Tomi catch shrimp flipped into her mouth by the chef. Tomorrow we leave for Star Valley Wyoming then after a day or two we are dropping off Noah with Grandma and Grandpa and going to Yellowstone for a few days. I love Yellowstone! One of my favorite places on earth. This time I am hoping to get a glimpse of the elusive Yellowstone wolves. I am really looking forward to spending some time with just Tomi and I. I love Noah more then anything but Tomi and I do not get a lot of alone time. Well I am sure I missed a lot of important things I should have mentioned in here but I am not going to worry about it. So long for now.

In Memory of Chico

On Saturday March 6th 2010 I took Chico in the have him put down. He has had an Auto-immune disorder for a long time and it was getting worse. Upping his medication did not seem to help at all and did nothing but give him bladder issues. That is all I am going to say about that.
I wanted to instead focus on all of the love and companionship that we got from Chico. He was such a loving dog and friend. Chico would not hesitate to jump up on your lap and snuggle with you at anytime. At night he would sleep at the end of our bed in his dog bed but would frequently sneak out of his bed to crawl under the sheets into our bed to snuggle. He kept Tomi company whenever I was gone on the road for the railroad and kept my side of the bed warm. It is now hard for us to sleep at night not feeling him sleeping on our feet and hearing his snoring. The house seems very empty and too quiet without him. He was always there to meet us when we came home. He loved going for walks; In fact so much so we couldn't say the word out loud and had to spell it instead so not to cause a frenzy of jumping and whining. We spent many hours driving with Chico to Wyoming to see my in-laws and he spent almost every min. on your lap sleeping or looking out the window. We weren't the only ones who loved Chico. He was very close to his Aunt Deedre and I suspect he may have harbored a secret wish for her to take him away when she would visit. ;)

In the short time that Noah knew Chico he loved him so much. Whenever Noah would bonk his head or get upset for any reason all we had to do was take him over to Chico to pet him and he would instantly get happy. Noah and Chico had an arrangement. Chico would get whatever food Noah dropped on the ground whether it be on purpose or accident. This helped to make Chico a fat and happy doggy. Noah loved to chase Chico around the house while laughing hysterically. I believe Chico just tolerated this but he never got upset with Noah even when Noah caught him. I know that even if Noah can't vocalize it he missed Chico. Sometimes we catch him looking out the back door, through the glass for Chico. Chico we love you very much and hope to see you again some day. You have been the best dog ever!

love,

Mom and Dad and Noah.

Christmas 2009

This last Christmas was Noah's 2nd and he seemed to get it a lot better this time. We had a plan to have him crawl out to all the toys and start having a party while Tomi video taped the whole thing. In reality what happened is a crawled over to the neck pillow we have and played with that instead of the tickle me Elmo or the inflatable toy filled with balls. Isn't that always the way. You buy your kid a toy and they play with the box! Before we had Christmas we took a trip to Star Valley and visited with Grandma and Grandpa. The trip was much easier then our last long car trip. Thank you portable DVD player we couldn't of made it there sane without you! Noah had fun playing lunch lady with Grandma. Christmas Eve we had a family party with my side of the family and all the nieces fawned over Noah. He is a real chick magnet. We had a great time singing all of the Christmas church hymns out of the song book and that really helped get everyone into the Christmas mood and make you think about the reason we celebrate Christmas. The birth of Christ our savior.



Here is a picture of me ,Noah and some of his nieces doing the conga at the family party. He really is quite the little dancer ;)
Here is one of my new favorite pictures of Noah. He got a little too excited playing in his new ball house Christmas morning and puked. So we washed Noah and the balls at the same time.







Here is a Christmas morning picture of Noah,Mommy, and Elmo. Elmo seems to be a bit ticklish but then again so is Noah. We had such a wonderful Christmas. It was so fun to see Noah get so excited. I am so blessed to have such wonderful loving family to spend not only Christmas but my life and beyond with. It really doesn't get any better then that.

2nd Adoption

We're so excited! We've been approved for our 2nd adoption. That means the agency has all of our paperwork and agrees that we can adopt again, so we now just have to wait for a mother or couple to choose us to adopt their child. We're so excited for Noah to have a little brother or sister. Please pass the word along. You can view our profile here. Wish us luck and keep us in your prayers.

Noah's Birthday

With our use in facebook we have been neglecting our blog and putting most new happenings on facebook. I think it is time I remedy this. I like having a blog because it seems much more permanent then facebook, more like a journal.

Noah turned 1 years old last September and we really had a blast celebrating his birthday. As you can tell from the pictures he loved getting into his cake. We ordered a cake from the bakery and they told us that for his 1st birthday he gets a "smash" cake for free! That was my favorite part, watching Noah first gingerly poke a finger in the cake then get into it with both hands gobbling down fist fulls of cake! He loved all of his new toys and we are very grateful for all who attended. It was so much fun! It is hard to believe it has been a year since God helped bring this amazing little person into our family. We are truly blessed beyond measure.

Dad's 70th

A couple of weeks ago we went up big cottonwood canyon with Tomi's sister Teri and their family to roast hotdogs and make smores. It rained a little off and on but we still had a fun time. Noah's cousin Sydney liked to try to feed him rocks. He would put one in his mouth then spit it out. Neither one of them was able to find a good tasting rock. Last weekend we went to Star Valley Wyoming to celebrate Tomi's dad's 70th birthday. Quite a milestone and a lot of the family showed up to celebrate! We had fun fishing, mountain biking, and feeding the horses. The whole family gathered together Saturday for a delicious birthday dinner of shishkabobs, potato salad, baked beans, veggies and dip. Wow what great food and what great company to share it with. Wil got a kick out of opening his presents with the girls on his lap. Saturday evening Tomi, her cousin Gina, Gina's boyfriend Jerry, and the whole Lund clan went up jack knife canyon to pick a local delicacy called Sarvis berries. We had a lot of fun helping the girls pick berries and also gather wild flowers. I picked Tomi a big bouquet. BTW Noah got his first tooth a little bit ago. It is on the bottom right. Some times I call him the one toothed wonder. He had a hard time on the trip there but was an angel on the way home.We had a lot of fun playing and visiting with family and were glad to have a great excuse to party. What a wonderful weekend.

Summer Fun

We have had quite an eventful summer. We got to go to liberty park which was a lot of fun. There were ducks and geese ,but of course all Noah wants to watch is the children. He loves to watch kids. It's like it hits him, hey there are other short people like me out there. We also went for a great hike up to Doughnut Falls up big cottonwood canyon with the Lunds. That was a fun hike but we thought it would be stroller friendly. It was not. We had to hike Noah up in the back pack. The Lunds had a more rugged stroller and hauled little Sydney up the mountain in reverse. The falls were beautiful and it was nice to get out of the hot weather and up in the mountains.

We had a great 4th of July and 24th celebration. Noah loved the fireworks at first but after a few minutes it was like they over loaded his senses and he fell asleep in Tomi's arms. We couldn't believe he slept through all the noise of the fireworks and this is a kid who will sleep no where but in his crib or his pack and play. He did better on the 24th and watched all the fireworks. He also loved playing with the glow sticks. They were a big hit with all the kids and Tomi and I were glad stocked up on them a year ago when we saw them at the dollar store.

One of our favorite pass times is finding new ways to torture Noah by tickling him. We can't help ourselves ,it is just too fun to listen to his great laugh.



Noah now not only rolls around but has learned to do the army drag your legs scoot/crawl so I had to install the baby gate. I went through 2 gates, 3 installations and an adapter kit before I got it work right. That was a fun day. All in all it has been a great summer. We even turned in our papers to adopt another baby. I only hope the next one is as wonderful as Noah. He has been a joy.

This was Jon’s first official Father’s Day and he really had a great time. I gave him a trailer that attaches to his bike so that he can haul Noah around. It’s been great because now we can go on family bike rides. We don’t have any pictures of this yet but will soon.

It’s been such a busy summer already. Noah enjoyed his first trip to the aquarium. He loves watching our uncle’s large fist tank, so this was a great trip for him. He just loved it. He likes watching all the bright colored fish swimming around. We also had a picnic in the park in Riverdale with some friends. Our friends just totally doted over Noah, saying how cute and smiley he was. He’s really easy going and doesn’t get upset when people he doesn’t know hold him. He’s just happy to have people paying so much attention to him We always joke that when we visit family or friends everyone dotes over Noah and forgets to even say hi to us when we come with him. Its’ all about Noah and we are just the ones that bring him..

Noah’s hair was getting really long and unruly again, so we got the clippers out and buzzed his head. It turned out so dang cute. Short, but really cute. Everyone says that he looks like a little boy now instead of a baby. That was about three weeks ago and already it’s getting really long again. His hair and fingernails grow so fast.

The weather final turned out good so we’ve been able to spend some time at my Aunt’s pool. Noah’s very first time in the pool was about two weeks ago. He has the cutest little swim outfit with a hat that snaps up on the sides. My aunt has a little turtle that we put him in so he can float. The minute we put him in it, he starts kicking and kicking his feet. He’s a great little kicker and we have no doubt that he’ll be a great swimmer some day. During the summer, my aunt takes a half day off work every Tuesday, so we go to her house every Tuesday for some family pool time. Noah loves it.

We recently drove to Boise to visit my other Aunt. It’s a long 6 hour trip, but Noah did great the entire way. She has a hot tub and Noah liked having his feet dipped in the water. Mostly he enjoyed sitting on their deck, looking out over the river. My Aunt and Uncle loved spending time with Noah because they don’t get to see him very often. Once again, he was spoiled and doted over. They gave us a great book to read to Noah about an ant on the railroad track. It’s a cute little rhyming book and Jon does such a great job of reading it to him because he creates all the voices and noises. We also had an opportunity to stop off to see the Malad Gorge, which is really beautiful. It’s just this really deep gorge out in the middle of nowhere in Idaho, but it sure is amazing.

Yesterday Jon went on a small hike around Silver Lake up Big Cottonwood Canyon with Teri and the girls. It was such a great day and it was a perfect hike for all the little kids. Noah loved watching all the ground squirrels and we even got to see a young moose frolicking in the marsh near the lake.

This month, Noah figured out that rolling could be a means of transportation. When we sit him on the floor, he loves to lay back and then start rolling every which direction. He hasn’t figured out how to get his knees underneath him, but it won’t be long. The rolling certainly gets him moving at this point and it gets him into everything. The first time he realized he could get around by rolling, he rolled over to the movies and started pulling them all off the shelf. He still doesn’t have teeth either, but we don’t think that’s far off either.

Noah is ours forever

We are so happy. On April 11th of this year Noah Weldon Crane was sealed to us in the Salt Lake temple.
It was one of the happiest days of our lives! After the sealing we blessed him in front of family and friends at our church. I did the blessing and I was so glad that I was able to do that for him and for our family. The spirit was very strong. Everyone had such a good time. Noah was great until he fell over sitting up on the floor and bonked his head, but he recovered quickly.












It was an amazing day filled with love, family and friends.

On a different note we finally finished with having our rv pad and patio poured and done. We have been dealing with a weed patch next to our driveway since we moved in and a mud hole in the back yard since we ripped out the rotted deck, so over 2 years. Here are some before and after pictures for you.


right of driveway before right of driveway after w/new rv pad




back mud pit before new patio after

I will end with some more picture. Some are from Easter with the Webbs and family and some are just of Noah. Enjoy

Gina playing let's go to bed
with Laine and Ryann Sydney at her birthday party

Extreme closeup of Noah "the Brick"
Noah w/ Mommy













Noah in his Easter Outfit