Shyla and Russell Leaving

Well, the day finally arrived that Shyla and Russell had to officially depart for their new home in California. I've got a lot of conflicting emotions about the whole thing, but mostly I really wish they hadn't had to leave.

Having them nearby in Spanish Fork has been a good thing for me. They came to Grandma Chatfield's for dinner on occasion to break up the monotony of me being the only person who wasn't technically related to anyone else (not to mention providing another male presence at the table), they had us over top play games every once and awhile, they liked to come over to hang out and especially to see Jack, Shyla was always an eager and willing babysitter, and perhaps more than anything I really, really enjoy spending time with Russell.

I owe him in particular a very big thank you for all the patience and support he has put forth in helping me to pursue a career in web programming. Shyla told me once that one of the only reasons he actually taught the class I took from him after there weren't enough students was because I was in it and he wanted to make sure I learned things the right way. He took a pay cut to keep teaching that class. I don't know how to pay that kind of generosity back.

Everything I know about web programming has basically been taught to me by Russell. Even the smaller stuff I learned before I took his class he has helped me to refine, make better, or replace with better practices and ideas. Without Russell my Conquer Club Trivia website and my website for the creative writing instructors at BYU, Writers Camp, would not be in existence. He put in a lot of time and effort to be my advisor during the capstone class for the minor and he has put in even more time on his own when I have questions about new things I'm trying to learn or have been struggling to get something to work properly that I know I should have been able to figure out on my own.

I owe Russell a lot for what he has taught me and I'm sure I will owe him a lot for what he will likely continue to teach me in the future. I still don't know javascript very well after all.

In the end, I know that moving to California was really the only option for them, and it does make sense to keep a job that pays you well, but I'm going to miss them a lot. I think Holly will miss them a lot and I am positive that Jack is going to miss them. He really, really would light up to see Shyla come through the door for a visit, and he was starting to do the same for Russell over the past couple of months before they had to leave.

Shyla was pretty impressive last night when they finally had to say goodbye after going to dinner with us to Cracker Barrel and then spending some time hanging out. I can't say I have done nearly as well today. Holly and Julie are off to see the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple this morning and I'm watching Jack while they are gone. We took a nice nap together, but I woke up with tears because I miss Shyla and Russell so much already. That is not something I normally do.

I really, really wish they hadn't had to go.

A Brief Recap

Holly is down in Redlands with her family for the next few weeks while one of her sisters graduates from high school and several other events take place. She took Jack with her since I can't keep track of him while I'm at work all day each day.

That means I'm home alone living the bachelor life for a little bit. It's not as much fun as you would think, but I am hoping to get lots of stuff done while she is gone. I'll probably go see a couple of movies that Holly never would have wanted to see, I'll give Shawn Saunders a call and see if he wants to do something once or twice, and I'll probably do some stuff with Gerald Smith as well to pass the time, but he doesn't get back in town until the 11th.

I also want to finish off some websites, read several books, clean up some cupboards and closets in the apartment and maybe wash out the car and the FoJ if I have time. Mostly I'm just going to try and be productive but relaxed at the same time so that I can make the best use of the time I have distraction free.

Luckily with Holly's new computer she has a webcam so before she left I got her set up on Skype to video chat every couple of days so I can see Jack and her a little bit while they are gone. We did the first chat last night and now Holly is apparently addicted to Skyping.

Wish me luck in my life of bachelorhood!

Jack and Jett

Jack and his cousin Jett have been having a grand old time together for the past couple of days. They seem to get along pretty well, and spent a lot of time hanging out on the floor competing in rolling contests, grabbing each other's various extremities, and chattering away at each other.

Looks like they are on the fast track to being buddies.

Memorial Day

A few days ago Holly reminded me that Memorial Day was coming up and that I had the day off. Somehow I had forgotten all about the long weekend and in my mind was set to head off to work first thing Monday morning as though everything was fine and dandy.

Instead of that though, we enjoyed yesterday by engaging in several fun adventures. First and foremost, Jack managed to sleep through the entire night and didn't wake up once until about 6:30am, which meant we both slept quite well. Holly fed him when he woke up and he fell right back asleep in her arms (in the bed) until about 8:45, which let me wake up, take a shower, do a few small things around the house, and figure out what we were going to do for the day.

I woke the two of them up just before nine o'clock and Holly got ready so we could make it to the movie theater for the 10:00am showing of the new Night at the Museum movie. We figured if we went really early to the first show that Jack would sleep through most of it (right during nap time) and that there wouldn't be very many people present for him to bother if he got out of control. Turns out I was wrong on the number of people who would be there as the theater was pretty full, but Jack did cooperate at least for the first half of the movie by sleeping. After that he sort of got wiggly and in the end I wound up walking up and down the side aisle with him while we finished the movie. All in all it was a fun time though.

After the movie we came home and I had to go to work for Conquer Club (it wasn't a holiday in Canada where the site is based), so Holly hung out with Jack for a few hours, and then eventually packed Jack up to go over to Julie's apartment for some swimming adventures. It was Jack's first time and from what I've been told he loved every minute of it. I'll post pictures once I get them off of the camera. I guess we'll have to go again soon so that he can have fun again.

By the time Holly got home with Jack from swimming my work was almost done and then we wanted to get something fun for dinner. We were just deciding on what to go get when Shyla and Russell stopped by with Amish Friendship Bread (my favorite) and visited for a little while. Once they left we decided on a new burger joint called Chadders that is just a few blocks away and got dinner there.

Also, all my paychecks finally came in so we were able to head on over to Babies'r'us and pick up a high chair, which is something we have sorely been needing ever since we started going hard core with the rice cereal a couple times a day. Jack was a little skeptical at first about the whole not being held while eating thing, but once he figured out what was going on he did pretty well. Now we just need to learn that chewing on the high chair tray between bites is counter-productive to the whole eating process. It sure made feeding him a lot easier though, it only took one person and not both of us, so Holly should be able to get more solids in him during the day now without too much trouble.

That's about it for our Memorial Day, hopefully yours was pretty good too!

Family Blog Anyone?

Over the past week I've begun to resign myself to the fact that this blog has transitioned from a place of deep thoughts and musings to a family blog that focuses mostly on pictures of Jack. I struggled with this realization for a few days and then decided that I didn't really mind if that was what happened because at the moment I'm closer to my goal of being an everyday blogger than I've ever been because of it. So, in celebration, lets look at some pictures of Jack (yet again).

Taking a nap with Mom after a long day of jumping in our new jumper. This will always be the favorite picture for me whenever I have the chance to take them. Both of them look so happy to just snuggle the time away when they sleep together.

Aunt Shyla came to visit the other day and we couldn't help but fall asleep on her. He stayed that way for a long time and didn't seem to mind in the slightest.



Dad likes to put things on Jack's head, however he doesn't ever seem to mind, he just carries on with whatever he is doing at the time, like eating the red pillows Cooper gave us recently. Every time he sees one of those pillows he freaks out with excitement and wants to eat them.

Time for Dairy Queen

Every summer since we have been married Holly and I have made a bit of a tradition of going to Dairy Queen on occasion for a fun little treat. There is a DQ sitting right down at the bottom of the hill from us and is about a 10 minute walk each direction, so we've walked down there a couple of times from our apartment in Wymount. This year we commemorated the start of spring by taking Jack on his first Diary Queen adventure.

Yes, I did give him ice cream, and yes, he did love it.

Now We Roll Over

On Sunday Jack was just having a grand old time on the floor doing his thing with his friends Memphis and Nemo. He has really begun to like spending time on the floor wiggling around on his blanket. Over the past two weeks he has become really good at scooting around on his back or spinning in circles by rolling from his back to side and back.

However, on Sunday he accomplished the feat of finally rolling all the way over to his stomach. He had been close for a couple of days, but couldn't quite figure out how to tuck his bottom arm underneath himself to get the rest of the way over, but he did on Sunday and once he did it once, he was doing it all the time. I think he may have rolled over about 30 times that day and then at the doctor's office on Monday he was on the table and rolled right over while waiting for the doctor to arrive.

Now I can't just leave him on the couch or the bed like I used to, I'll have to put up barriers or keep him on the floor. However, he really has the leg movements down for crawling, but can't get up on his hands and knees the right way yet, so we'll have to work on that. I don't think it will be too long, probably before the end of the summer vacation I would think, possibly even by the time Holly and him return from their trip in June by chance.

He really doesn't like it if I put him back on his back after he rolls over, and he just rolls right back to his stomach as quickly as possible. He never liked to spend time on his stomach before, but now he certainly does. We'll see how quickly he starts getting himself into trouble.

Jack's New Playmate

I know that most of the people who read this blog already are privy to this information, but I just realized that I had not blogged about it yet, so today is the day to do so it appears.

Holly is pregnant.

Three words is all it takes to really open your eyes sometimes. Was it planned? Nope. Was it even close to planned? Once again, nope. Does God have a curious sense of humor? I'm convinced of it now. I always suspected, but now I'm 100% convinced.

According to what I've been told by Holly she is due on approximately November 22, 2009. For those of you who don't remember, Jack doesn't turn 1 until December 15, 2009....... think on that for a little bit.

All in all, I can't do much but say to myself, "Looks like there is some sort of plan you weren't entirely informed of. It can't be that bad, so let's just roll with it," and so that is what I'm doing. I do however think it quite awesome that Jack will never be able to remember a time in his life that he didn't have a sidekick.

Jack and Daddy Napping

I haven't posted a new picture of Jack recently so I think it is about time. Since I'm getting caught up on some backlogged blogging I thought I might share this one of Jack and I (along with Memphis) taking a nap a couple of days ago. I don't think that Holly realized were were in the bedroom sleeping and so when she discovered us she snapped this lovely picture to capture the moment. Enjoy!

Jack and Memphis: Friends Forever

The past couple of days Jack has been learning how to spend greater amounts of time in his fancy chair that my Mom and Dad bought for him when he was born. It's been great because now I can have him sitting next to me while I do some work, or Holly can put him down long enough to take a shower or do some dishes for more than five minutes at a time.

One day we decided to put Memphis in the chair with him and Jack promptly used his new skills of grabbing at things to pull Memphis to his face and give him kisses. Well, kisses is what Holly thought he was doing, but I'm pretty sure he is just trying to eat him.

Thanksgiving Break

I've been slacking a little bit with my blogging over the Thanksgiving break, but all is well, I promise. It's back to the grind starting tomorrow, but at least it is only 15 days until the semester is finally over. It's been an up and down semester for me, but I'll come out of it okay I'm sure.

The break started Tuesday afternoon after I got out of my British literature class, and I made it a personal goal not to deal with anything work or school related until at least Thursday because I needed a bit of decompressing. So, Tuesday afternoon we went to see Twilight, and liked it well enough, although I think it was a tad overacted at certain parts.

Wednesday was spent getting the house ready for the arrival of Jack. The crib was already built, but we needed to pack up some things and take them over to the storage unit and bring back the two dressers we had stored there for our clothes and Jack's clothes. I thought things would be a little more cramped after we brought it all back, but with putting the bed up on the bed frame again, moving a small bookcase upstairs, and the fact that the smaller of the two dressers will fit inside our closet, things turned out pretty good.

Now we are just looking to sell our love seat to make room for a rocking chair and free up a little extra space in the living room.

On Thanksgiving we spent the entire day over at Shyla and Russell's and had a great time watching the dog show, eating some delicious food (I ate far too much), playing a couple games, and learning the trick to Guitar Hero. It was an excellent holiday I think.

Friday I worked on projects for school and Conquer Club all day and got caught up, and Saturday was spent cleaning the house one more time and working on some schoolwork. I'll be doing the same schoolwork today, but at least I can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This Should Make Mom Happy

No, I don't have my hip measurement yet because I have no clue how to do a hip measurement and I don't have a measuring tape or a piece of string available.

However, Mom is always on our case to make birthday and christmas lists and so forth, and thankfully, now that I've finished my mid-term for Russell's class this will be easy as pie for Mom now. Aren't you happy, Mom?

You can find the solution here: Wants & Wishes

This website will allow everyone in the family to set up an account, add whatever they want to their list with a url so Mom can see what it is, how much it costs, how bad they want it, and add descriptions and comments to help Mom out with her shopping needs.

Right now, don't go registering as I'd like to get it transferred over to my personal server first. BYU won't let me keep it on theirs beyond the last day of class, so I've got to talk to Russell about how to export my databases first. After that, Mom should never have any trouble again.

See, Mom, I do make your life easier... sometimes.

The WALL-E Family

Today Holly and I were at the University Mall and wandered into the Disney store. The first thing I saw was these stuffed characters from the WALL-E movie, and as Holly would put it, I was torn. In the end, we brought home a big WALL-E for me, a small one for Jack, and an EVE for Holly so we now have our very own WALL-E family here at the Flanagan house.

Baby Jack

I like him... that's all.

Packing for the Move

I'm determined to be packed completely by the time I go to bed on Friday night this week, and so far I think Holly and I are doing a good job of accomplishing that goal.

Last night, we packed the entire bedroom except for the bed, a few clothes to get us through the week, and our alarm clocks. All the extra shoes, sheets, towels, clothes, and other knick-knacks got put into boxes and stacked with everything else in the office. I figure if I pile the boxes in one room it will make it less confusing than having small stacks all over the place.

We also have the hallway closets packed, the entire office, and most of the living room except for the TV and DVD player. The kitchen is the last big project for packing, but I need to finish the dishes first before I can undertake that endeavor. Packing the kitchen is interesting because we don't have to take any of it with us to Grandma's. She obviously already has a kitchen full of dishes that we can use.

However, I'm going to take my new popcorn maker, and Holly wants her bread maker, so it will be joining us as well. I'm also going to take a few of my big cereal bowls because Grandma only has the little ones and they don't work so well for how much cereal I like to eat in one sitting. That's it though, all the plates, pots, silverware, cups, and everything else is going into the storage unit until we move on to another location.

As it turns out, after having Russell, Joe, and Lee help me rearrange things over at Grandma's there is way more space in our little basement apartment, so we are excited about that. I think we'll be able to keep our daily routine pretty much the same except for having to go upstairs to get to the kitchen and bathroom, but that isn't a big deal by any means.

Anniversary Number Two

It's been over a week since the actual day, but life has been busy. However, now I can make mention of Holly and I's second anniversary.

First off, I surprised Holly by staying home from work because she thought I was going to be gone most of the day. She was pretty excited that I got to stay home with her because it meant we could go on all of our adventures much earlier in the day.

After sleeping in for a little bit, and taking our time getting ready in the morning we made our way down to Spanish Fork to purchase my new scooter. It wasn't really an official anniversary present from Holly, but it sort of was because I had to have her permission to buy the thing anyways.

Then, we had a quick lunch at Taco Bell (because that is what Holly was craving at the time) and off we went to see what kind of adventures we could come up with. We started at the University Mall where Holly did a little bit of maternity shopping; she found a cute dress that she really likes. Then off to Thanksgiving Point where we perused the Dinosaur Museum because we had never been before.

I liked all the dinosaur bones, and I think perhaps the next time Mom, Dad, and the girls are around we'll have to take them to see it. It's one of the better ones I've been to, lots and lots of bones, and some fun things to do with younger kids.

After the museum we thought about going to wander around the gardens, but we decided it was a bit too hot, so we settled for a quiet dinner at the Thanksgiving Point Deli, which makes some delicious cheeseburgers and fries.

Then it was on to the movie theater for a showing of Mamma Mia! because I'm a big time ABBA fan (thanks a lot Mom), and Holly loves musicals. I liked it more than I thought I would, mostly because of the music, and Holly had a good time.

Finally, we went home, turned up the air conditioning real high, and read our books until we fell asleep. It was a fun day full of adventure, just how I like it.

As far as presents are concerned, Holly got me a popcorn popper, just like the one I talked about a few weeks ago here on this very blog, and I bought her the new vampire book "Breaking Dawn" by Stephanie Meyer. She literally finished it within... 6 hours or something like that.

Jack Hansen Flanagan

Well, this isn't exactly a secret anymore, and Holly has already made it public knowledge on her blog and on Facebook, but I wanted to do my own thing with it as well. As of December 19th, Holly and I will be the proud parents of a fancy little baby BOY!! Assuming that the "outdoor plumbing" as the technician referred to it was actually there, and not some figment of her imagination.

Here are the first pictures we have of baby Jack:

He's pretty fancy looking, ain't he? I certainly think so. The top one is a picture of his foot, and if you look really close you can see the bones inside of it. The bottom one is a full body shot and you can see his hand in the background, and foot off to the side as well as his head and body.

I have to say that when I was 14 and went with Mom to see the first ultrasounds of Cymbre before she was born they weren't anywhere near as clear, but that was 10 years ago, so... who knows.

I'm not sure what Holly thinks, but I'm pretty dead set on naming the baby Jack. I know that for a long time I had said that I was dead set on McKay, but a few weeks ago something made Jack seem like the better name. So, unless something crazy happens, you've just met baby Jack.

Blast from the Past

With Holly gone for several more days I have been trying to fill my time with things to keep my mind off of being lonely. Today, I decided to go read some of my old blogs from the past and I stumbled across this funny entry:

December 17, 2006 - My Wife Takes Me for a Sedative

Holly has discovered recently that it is easier for her to fall asleep either at night for bed, or in the afternoon for a nap if I am there for her to cuddle with. I think it is pretty cool, what self-respecting husband wouldn't? Honestly. She says that I trick her into lying down for a quick rest and then I get up 45 minutes later to do something and she is down for the count for the next 3-4 hours. So, I mean it when I say that my wife takes me for a sedative. I am the perfect sleeping pill. How cool is that?

A Day with Julie

So, I took the day off of work today to just do my own thing, get some projects wrapped up, clean up the house, and generally do a few things without any other distractions. Of course, that meant I didn't need to set an alarm for this morning, so I slept until I felt like waking up, which was at about 9:00am. I got out of bed, went to the bathroom real quick, and then was about to get a drink of water when I heard a knock on the door. Turns out it was Julie looking for somewhere to hang out while she waited for her apartment to get a new paint job on the walls. Since Julie works so early in the morning she tucked herself into the bed with Gunner and went to sleep until about 2:00pm this afternoon.While she was sleeping I finished the dishes, took turns on CC for Holly, Night Strike, and myself, balanced the checkbook, finished folding all of the laundry, wrote up a massive proposal for Twill about a potential CC blog being added to the site, chatted with Holly for a few minutes on the phone, read a few chapters in my current book, cleaned up a few cupboards, and watched a little bit of Sportscenter. I would say that was a pretty productive day.When Julie woke up she made herself some lunch and since has settled in to watch Transformers. I've been watching bits and pieces of it with her while I do a few other things around the house. We've just been chillin' and taking it easy all afternoon.Hopefully I'll be able to keep up my productive streak going into the evening hours when I've finished everything else. I'm hoping to do tournament updates later this evening, but we'll see how that turns out. I've been having trouble getting to my account on Photobucket for the past two days.