New Words

I am so proud of Ethan. This last week he has started to sign the words "drink", "please", and "more". He had already learned the sign for "more", but now he can say drink and please as well. We have to ask him to say them, he doesn't do them automatically, but he's getting to the point where if I ask him to say please or drink he will do it without me having to help him. He hasn't started talking yet, but I'm happy that he is at least learning some words in sign language.

The Blue Angels

Ryan, Ethan and I went to see the blue angels on Saturday. Originally we had planned to find a place out in the country on some road to park and watch but at the last moment we decided to pay the entrance fee and watch from the twin falls air port. We thought the event was supposed to start at 11:00, and I thought it would go for maybe an hour or two. I really had no idea how long it was going to go, I really should have researched it before we left, but originally we had planned it to be a casual drive out into the country and sit for maybe an hour. The Blue Angels didn't perform until 3:00, and we quickly realized that we should have waited until 2 to show up. It was incredibly hot, and luckily I had put the sunscreen in the diaper bag a couple of days ago so I was able to keep Ethan pretty well covered. I think I ended up putting it on him about 4 times, because it was so hot, so luckily he didn't get sunburned. I got a little sunburned and so did Ryan but not bad. I was happy that they had the airport terminal open so I could take Ethan inside for several hours to get out of the heat. When we had him outside we were pouring our water on him to help him cool off. Ethan wasn't too interested in the planes, once in a while he would hear the sound of them flying by and he would look around to see where the sound was coming from but he really didn't seem to be all that interested in them. By the time the Blue Angels started to perform Ethan was so exhausted that he actually fell asleep on my shoulder, which he hasn't done out in noisy public areas since he was a newborn. The show was neat, to see the different planes flying and their tricks were pretty cool, and I was kind of glad we went, since we don't get out much. It was too bad it was so hot though.

two video's and then pictures from home

Some pictures from home

Ethan loved the beach toys my mom bought for him, and would carry them around the house.














Ethan really liked playing in the water at Spring Canyon. He had no fear, even though the water was pretty cold, he just walked right into it and sat down. Mom, Charlie, Ethan and I went to the beach twice while I was home. Dad and Levi couldn't go unfortunately because they had to work. Plus my Dad is recovering from knee surgery, so he really wasn't up for a lot of traveling around.













He had a lot of fun on the slide with Charlie, he wore Charlie out because he kept wanting to go back and slide some more.

I thought Ethan was so cute in mom's apron sitting on the couch eating his oatmeal. He has become very independant, and wants to do everything himself, including feeding himself, and putting on his own clothes. He hasn't mastered putting on the clothes yet, but he tries.













this is the snake my cat brought into the yard. It was harmless, we find it comical that my cat loves to bring us the snakes, alive, to show us, and she doesn't harm them. When we were younger my sister Stephanie would freak out every time scooter would come running up the lawn with a snake, but snakes don't bother me a whole lot, unless they are poisonous or really big. This one was pretty small and harmless.













Ethan really liked Levi and Charlie. I realized after getting home that unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Levi with Ethan.













Well, I guess I got a picture of levi's leg with ethan.... well i think it's levi's leg.... Ethan was really funny, he wanted to comb charlie's hair.













Ethan and Charlie in the water at Spring Canyon.

Going home to washington

Lake Roosevelt

I don't have anything new and exciting to blog about lately, so it's been a while since I updated my blog. This next week Ethan and I are going to fly home to washington, and I'm excited to see my mom. We will stay a week, and come back on the 15th. I'm from a small town in the middle of eastern washington called Coulee Dam, and there is a lake behind the dam where everyone goes in the summer. There's a really nice beach and park and so I plan on taking Ethan out there to chase seagulls, play in the sand, and play in the water, so that should be fun. I'll take plenty of pictures and post them when we get back.

Grand Coulee Dam

Artist's and their work

Today I was looking at an artists web page and I was reminded of how annoying some artists can be. The illustrations this artist was posting on their blog were quite good. There is always going to be better art out there, but this artist is pretty good at what she does, and it is obvious that she is a professional, not just a beginning artist. I was impressed. I got annoyed when I started reading her comments because she was insulting her artwork that she was posting, saying it was ammeteur, childish, cheesy, etc. I know that artists struggle with self esteem, and they are often cautious with being proud of their artwork, with the fear of coming off cocky. However this woman was a professional, she even has a book published. So, instead of sounding humble, which is maybe what she was going for, she just came off annoying. I know that I have trouble accepting compliments for my own artwork, because I can see all of the flaws, and being a begginer the honest truth is that I'm not very good at most that I do. But I do hope that someday I can be good. I know that I will never be the best, because I don't have the time or space (a studio would be awsome) to produce great pieces, but I'm hoping that with time I will get better, and produce artwork that I can be proud of. I'm trying to be more careful when discussing my artwork, to not come off too degrading. When I see the quality of artwork this woman is producing, and then see her insult her talent, it makes me doubt my ability. This made me realize that I need to try harder not to insult my own work, even if i see all the flaws the teachers would point out if I was in a critique. :) I suppose that artist's feel that they have to be the absolute best before they can be proud of their artwork, and until then to show that they know what the absoulute best would be they feel they need to give themselves an oral critique when presenting their artwork- to prove they know what they are doing wrong.
I decided to post a picture of my favorite drawing I've done. I will say that I am proud of it, because of all the other mediums I've worked with, my portraits have actually excelled, and even won teachers approval, something that NEVER happened in any of my other classes. I'll try to take a better picture of it, but until I do, this will have to work. I'll be honest, my first instinct is to point out everything i know to be wrong with the picture.... I know, sad.... :)