31-year-old Man has Birthday Party at Jungle Jim's

Thanks Dad!

9.20.2010

Exactly 19 months after he was born, he learned to climb up on the bar stools to the coveted computer. A defining moment in my life, as I felt it was over. Luckily he hasn't gotten the concept of pushing it over to the other counter where the laptop now resides, but he continues to amaze me daily in his development. He had his 18 month check-up on the same day and the doctor asked me how many words he was saying. I said I didn't know and estimated 20 or so, which he seemed to think was pretty good. My interest was peaked so I came home and made a list of all the words he was saying. Turns out it was over 40. What a smart boy we have, but I still think he looks too small to be on a bar stool.

The September of the Shahas

When Erin and the kids come to town I know we are always in for some fun times. We were lucky enough to have them around for two whole months. It was sad to see them go, but here is a tribute to their last month in Utah--a time I fondly remember as the September of the Shahas.

The Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point--Graham had to be retrieved from the kid section to prevent sand hucking.

Notice how Graham is running away from the Shark and Hannah is running towards.

This is the Place State Park--all geared up.

Hannah showing Graham the ropes. You can tell she has been practicing.

We went to St. George for a couple of days. When I say we, I mean me, Erin and Heather (3 adults) and Graham, Hannah and Kate (3 kids under 3). It was a tough ratio, but luckily we had Heather around to rescue us and Erin to plan fun activities.

We went to the red sand dunes in Snow Canyon. I keep wondering when Graham is going to realize that it is not fun to eat sand.

Oh where, Oh where has my entire summer gone?

It seems like summer really flew by this year. With a cold May and an early fall, it seems like we were short on time, but not on fun. Here are some highlights.

It started with a surprise birthday party for Mimi in St. George.

Lots of yard work and still a long way to go.

A couple of races, including the Law Day Run.

A visit to Boise to see the family, including Tiffany & Eli

And to celebrate Tyler's graduation

A trip to Hogle Zoo with Grammie, Auntie Em and cousins Mary and Duncan.

Fun with friends

A bit of hiking

Some backyard pool parties, thanks to Mimi

A Mooso Family Reunion in Idaho Falls

A visit from the family

Including crafting with my mom

The splash park with Mimi

And cousins!

April Happenings

Dinner at Great Grandpa Oakeson's

Emma up to her usual antics and Graham a little concerned.


Jaden's Graduation from BYU

Jaden graduated from BYU and he and Emma will be heading to Texas Tech for medical school in July. The college of Life Sciences had more graduates than any other college this year and Jaden was picked as one of the two speakers to address the whole audience because of his accomplishments and cancer research (Cancer should be very afraid of our family from now on). Jesse missed the festivities because of work, but we are all very proud of Jaden,

especially Graham!

*Note pre and post haircut photos of Graham. This is a future apology to my child for letting your hair get so unruly.

Morning Pleasures

1. Waking up to a clean house

2. Next day brownies

3. Morning routines--including, but not limited to, baby bed head, milk face and wakey-wakey eyes.

Lessons in Life

Lesson for this week: Do not leave your garage door open.

A week and a half ago Jesse came back in the house after walking out the door to leave for work and said that he had left the garage door open the previous night and someone had come in and taken some of our stuff. It was one of the worst feelings, to know that someone had been inside my space and taken my things. I felt so violated. They took both of my strollers (including my BOB), an iPod, some gift cards and my sunglasses. Even though I filed a police report I still felt pretty helpless, especially considering the fact that the officer told me he had never heard of a stroller being stolen. He said the thief probably wanted it for him/herself and that I would never see it again.

Lesson about Michelle: I love detective television shows.

Later that day I started calling some pawn shops and asking if they sold strollers. I quickly found out that pawn shops will not buy strollers and they suggested I call Kid to Kid. I thought it was worth a shot. I called the closest Kid to Kid and what do you know? They bought 2 strollers that day from the same person matching my strollers. It even had the linky-doo still attached to the handle that I used for Scout's leash!

Now the waiting game. Once a detective is assigned my case I should get my strollers back. Seems like they should just hire me.

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter filled with family, food and conference. Graham felt pretty snazzy in his new Easter outfit. It was so fun to have my parents and brother visiting from Idaho for more than just a couple of days. Along with the rest of the Utah Mooso's there was never a dull moment.

Addicted to Deals

I can barely contain my excitement. I have recently become addicted to deals and I want to tell the world about it. I have my mother to thank. Not only has she taught me how to be money conscious and deal savvy throughout my life, but she also introduced me to freebies2deals. I love this website because it tells me how and where to get great deals, but it has also led me to other awesome websites like hip2save, thefreebieblogger and a ton more. These websites have taught me about couponing, free samples, instant win games, and rebates, just to name a few.

This week I feel like I really took advantage of Kmart and it was awesome. They are doubling their coupons this week. Normally I wouldn't even know about this and if I did know I probably wouldn't care because I have a strong dislike for Kmart. However, these blogs listed the best deals (usually free) and where I could find the coupons. So, I gave it a try on Wednesday and got the following for $3.22.

The only things I paid for were $1 for each of the Ziplocs and $.50 for the Febreeze. Everything else was free and I just had to pay for the tax. While I was driving away from Kmart that day I felt the addiction set in.

The next day I went back and got the following for 3.17 (let me mention you can only double 5 a day).

Once again I only paid 1.19 for each of the shave creams and everything else was free.

This morning I felt like I was getting the hang of it so Graham and I went again (P.S. Graham seems to hate Kmart). Before heading over to Kmart we stopped in at Einsteins to get our free bagel (thanks to my obsessive deal hunting) and then we got the best load of them all--everything for 1.61.

The only thing I paid for was Raising Arizona for $1! I can honestly say that I think this is fun. Is that weird?

The First Year Adventure

I wish I could say that this birthday post took so long because I was coming up with something either delightful, witty or insightful to say. Although no such thing is contained in this post I can say that the first year with your first child is magical. I feel like I have never been happier. Although I have imagined and reimagined what it would be like to be a mother, I am happy to say my imagination was lacking. How could I be so blessed? What a magical adventure. We were so glad to have our wonderful family there to celebrate this special occasion with us.

Graham loved his airplane cake.

Maybe a little too much.


I think dad loved the birthday wagon more than Graham did. Maybe not.

Happy to be 1!

Happy Holidays...a bit late

How the holidays came and went in a flash. For those of you who have been wondering if we fell off the face of the earth, we haven't. We just moved which feels like the same thing. If I could give you one piece of advice it would be to never move over the holidays. We moved out of our old house the week after Thanksgiving and moved into our new house on Christmas day, living with the Oakesons during the interim. It made the holidays a bit chaotic, but we are excited to be Draper-ites and we are settling into our new home. Here are a few pictures of our holiday adventures.

Thanksgiving in Boise with the Mooso Family

and with cousin Jovie

A lesson in martial arts was the first order of business.

Graham's first Thanksgiving, cut short by the overpowering desire for a nap.

Graham's mistrust of Santa began in Boise.

Turns out he also mistrusts barbers.

He got his first haircut on Christmas Eve.

The excited parents had to wake up this sleepy-head on Christmas morning.

Max Hall jerseys were a must for BYU fans this year.

Happy New Years at the Tin Roof Cafe

with Uncle Jeff, Mimi and Grammie (not pictured).

As usual, Graham is a bit concerned about his parents and their hi-jinx.