Haircut(s)

Jonah was only three months old when he received his first haircut. I just couldn't stand those interminable wisps another day. And I had to act quickly while Ryan was away in Chicago as I was unofficially forbidden to trim his mane. I didn't do anything too drastic; just a little snip here and there. It took Ryan two days to even notice! He just kept saying, "Jonah, you look older!"



When Jonah started looking shaggy again at six months, Daddy resisted the idea of a haircut. And I think I know why now. According to Ryan's calculations Jonah has a 75% chance of inheriting male pattern baldness!



What do you think? Did we do the right thing?

P.S. Notice how blond he is now? His hair is growing in much lighter!

Happy times in the swing

Ryan got me a terabyte hard drive for our anniversary so I now have space to download and upload our HD videos! YAY! Unfortunately my computer doesn't have a fast video card so it's very difficult to edit videos. (Impossible at the moment but I am going to look into some free software to see if I can get something to work.) But in the meantime, here's a cute video of Jonah enjoying his swing. I think the first 45 seconds are worth watching.

August Rush

No, not the movie; August was simply the busiest month of the summer for us. I'll break it down by weekends. I didn't have my camera for weekends one and two so you'll just have to use your imagination...

Weekend One: a visit from Joey and Elise Crane where we got to show them the great city of Sacramento including a tour of the capital, a gallery stroll, amazing sushi, and the movie Food Inc.

Weekend Two: a quick road trip with Mom and Dad Pettersen to Oregon for Jesse and Amanda Carlisle's wedding. We stayed with the Harris' who lived in our Stake before they moved and they really spoiled us.

Weekend Three: a jam-packed trip to the Bay Area including Julie Nelson's wedding reception, Pettersen family pictures at the Picture People, Grandma Ardie's 80th birthday celebration, and Ashilene Rieta's baby blessing.

Weekend Four: the first Ribeira Reunion at a cabin in Twain Harte including a hike at Pinecrest, rootbeer tasting (I guess A&W is my favorite, Henry Weinhart is Ryan's, and Stuarts is our runner up), lots and lots of games (I was introduced to the Bean game...love it!), and a surprise for Randy and Jill: we made them a scrapbook highlighting events from their 30 years of marriage and wrote them letters.


We are so grateful for our families and that in one month we got to spend time with our entire immediate family on both sides, as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, great-grandparents, and great- aunts and uncles on the Miller side. At Grandma Ardie's 80th celebration I saw very clearly that life is really all about family. Grandma Ardie is such a great example to all of us. She has lived a life of service to her family, to her church, and to her community. Rather than judging people she looks for the good in everyone and loves them with a heart wide open. It was wonderful to be able to honor her for the impact she has made on all of us. We are all better people for knowing Ardath Miller. Here's a slide show of pictures from that wonderful day.

The Ribeira Reunion also reminded us of the importance of family. Randy and Jill have been married 30 years and have six amazing children (plus two new daughters and a grandson.) I have learned so much from them. No matter what trials are before them, they trust in the Lord and they don't complain. Enjoy some photos of our time with the Ribeira clan in Twain Harte.

Yes, we have been very blessed. It's been a great month! It's been a great life, really. Many thanks to all of you who have shaped our lives for the better.

The power of the blog

I was surprised to get a call from Dana Howard, a local reporter for Channel 10 News, who stumbled across my post, "Sacramento Staycation" and wanted to interview us about our experience! So Ryan and I were interviewed this week and here is the short clip on Staycations that aired tonight: http://www.news10.net/video/default.aspx?aid=80597&storyid=65486 Be sure to watch for Jonah. We are still laughing about the whole thing! Who knew that blogging could land you a spot on the 11:00 news?!

Fans

This is a slideshow of some of Jonah's fans. I mean, how can we possibly document all of them? Remembering to bring our camera to the Ribeira's would be a good start! ;) Thanks to everyone for your amazing love and support!

Day at the Zoo

Stacy requested pictures so here are a few from our day at the Sacramento Zoo. The zoo is small...we got through the whole thing in less than two hours, but honestly that was more than enough for us! And we only got a little sunburned.

I've been busy...

So busy in fact that I have not had a chance to blog about it! On Saturday I had a show opening at a local gallery and I'm busy getting ready for another one in Park City the end of September. Not to mention two new commissions! Yay! But I do want to record what happened today because I could use more days like this. Normally I sleep until my Jonah alarm goes off (his hunger cry) but for some reason I wasn't tired and got up before he did. (Even though I stayed up until 2:30am last night working out a composition for a new painting.) I was able to eat, run a load of dishes, and put a final coat of gesso on my 30"x40" board before he got up. I fed him at 8:30am and then we played for an hour and a half and then he wanted to sleep again! So I wrapped him up (in hopes that he would sleep longer), put him in his bouncer, and immediately got to work.
I downloaded several weeks worth of pictures from my camera and quickly changed my profile picture on facebook. I then started my 30 min. workout but stopped after 20 to answer a call from Emmalee from my Ghana group and we chatted for a bit. I then showered and studied chapter six of Isaiah. (Are you amazed at how much I got done during Jonah's nap?!) So then at 12:30 I got Jonah up, fed him, and took Ryan to class at 1:00pm.
My plan had been to go straight to the art store to buy a ruler, but I decided to go home and check thoroughly one more time to see if I could find one. Sorry, no miraculous prayer experience, so we got back in the car, picked up a new ruler, and came back home. Over the next several hours I was able to play with Jonah and grid my painting. How I did that is another story for another day.
I picked Ryan up at 4:30pm and Jonah took another short nap so I started on my under drawing for my painting. I also made some yummy chicken and brie sandwiches with honey mustard sauce and a large green salad for dinner. Probably would have made a better lunch than dinner. Oh well. While we ate we caught up on "So You Think You Can Dance." (We don't have a TV so we watch shows online.) Jonah fell asleep halfway through so we took a break so I could work some more on my drawing and Ryan could study. When Jonah woke up we watched the rest of the show.
Now Jonah is down for the night and instead of painting I am actually taking a moment to blog! There. Probably not too exciting to you but I think it's been a great day! Lots of Jonah time and lots of painting time. Okay, time to check blogs and then back to my painting...