She's finally here!

Mary Alice

Well, after months of waiting... our new baby is finally here. We named her Mary Alice Elizabeth Woolcott. We are more than pleased to have her, too. She has been a happy and contented baby and rather prone to sleep... a welcome feature in an infant! She was born at 1:03 p.m. on Nov. 29. She weighed 7 lbs., 11 oz., and was 20.5 inches long. Here are a few pictures from that day!

Tired parents with their new arrival. She started her journey at 3 a.m. and unfortunately they didn't go to bed until around 2 a.m. that night (er... morning) and so it was a rather exhausting day!

And here is the whole family.

Thomas really loves his little sister. She is "his" baby and he often sings her lullabies and rocks her. We will post a video of that later... once we find our video camera cables...

Mary Alice with her Grandma Christine.

Mary Alice with her Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw and big brother.

Mary Alice's first bath at the hospital. It was a good father-daughter bonding event.

The unfortunate consequences of nursery nurses that have too much time on their hands.

Tom's birthday and recent photos

Tom's 3rd Birthday

I know everyone says that time really flies - but it seems odd that our Thomas is already three years old. He had a fun birthday party and was quite spoiled by attention and presents. Here are some of the photos from his party.

Grandma Bradshaw, Chelsea (honorary Aunt), Aunt Lindsey, Aunt Sue, Aunt Teresa, EmmaLee, Aunt Becca and Aunt Amy watch Tom open his presents.

Tom blowing out the candle on his birthday cake.

The birthday cake before it was sliced up. I was pretty proud of this - I am not much of a chef, but managed to finally get it to look like a sword. Tom is particularly into swords right now and wasn't quite sure what to do with a sword that was also a cake...

... but he finally figured it out.

Conference Weekend

We had the pleasure of having Becca come and stay with us for Conference weekend. Tom really enjoys his Aunt Becca. Here were some of their activities.

Tom teaching Aunt Becca about the "proper" way to floss. (Translation: pull all of the floss out of the tube and tie it around things...)

Here are Becca and Tom dressed up like cowboys at Great Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw's house. We went up to Rupert to visit on that Sunday.

Miscellaneous

You know you have taken the lazy way out of making dinner one too many times when your son pops through the hole in wall while you are walking down the hallway and asks you if you would like fries with that... But hey - with both parents working full time and going to school full time and a pregnant mom - we make a lot of allowances.

This is how Tom accessorized himself for church the other day: complete with boots, swords, and bow-tie. The bow-tie was a present from his grandparents who had just gotten back from Scotland and he really took to it - his nursery leaders had a really good laugh about the ensemble. Well, except the sword - that was left at home. We have had to institute a strict "no swords at church" policy. He has, however, found substitute swords to fill his three hours.... his crayons are his current favorite.

Naughty Fingers and more Tom-isms

Naughty Fingers

Tom has recently developed a new method of getting out of trouble. Whenever he does something "naughty" and gets caught, he blames it on his fingers. So yesterday, when he was discovered pouring out his drink and splashing in it (after repeatedly being told not to...), it wasn't he who was being naughty - he argued indignantly - it was his fingers. So, we decided to test how committed he was to correcting the naughtiness in his fingers. I suggested that Tom ought to punish the naughty behavior of his fingers by putting them in time out. He concurred and ran over to the time out chair and laid his hand on it. He looked sternly at his hand and said, "No dumping the drink! Naughty fingers - two minutes, time out." But, wouldn't you know it - those naughty fingers just couldn't sit still in time out and kept trying to get off the chair. Tom would then inform me that the naughty fingers were escaping and I would tell him to go catch them and put them back in time out. This happened about three or four times before I suggested that maybe he should sit on the naughty fingers and then they would stay put. He did so and the two minutes were finally completed. It was the least fitful time out we have had yet!


Deity's Approval of Tom's Foot Apparel

We were driving to the store the other day and passed the Temple. Tom gets really excited whenever we pass by it and I always ask him what it is and who lives there. In recent weeks, it apparently is not only the residence of Heavenly Father and Jesus, but also Santa Claus. We have had to nip that last notion in the bud and he has finally caught on. So, on our last drive past the temple, he told me that it is "not Santa Claus' house, it is Heavenly Father and Jesus' house...," he paused dramatically and added as a bonus, "... but Jesus likes my boots."

What happens when your parents leave town?

This year marks 30 years of marriage for my parents. As a tribute to them, my siblings and I wanted to do something nice for them. We talked over a variety of possibilities and finally settled on the idea of repainting their bedroom and office - the latter of which was still decorated with the blue and pink hearts we painted when our youngest sister Rebecca was born 13 years ago. Since the folks were leaving town to go to Scotland for a week and a half (lucky ducks!), we had a perfect opportunity to take over their house.

However, plans quickly evolved from our initial vision. With the amazing help of Deanne Uriana and Michelle Rigby, designers extraordinaire from Pace Interiors, the financial backing of my dad's most generous employer, Kelly Thueson, and the muscle of our cousin Cindy, the two Johns, and our super-helpful neighbors, the Larsen family, we managed to put together quite a transformation.

Take a look:

Before

Bedroom - looking towards the north wall.

Bedroom - looking towards the west wall.

Office - west wall. Notice Dad's make-shift desk. Definitely functional - but a bit tight, space-wise.

Office - Southeast corner. Don't you just love the hearts?

The Makeover

Teresa and Lindsey putting on the primer coat. Must cover up those hearts!

After

After a couple coats of paint, new carpet, new curtains, new bedding, several new pieces of furniture and a whole lot more lighting...


TADA!

The bedroom looking towards the north/west walls.

The bedroom looking towards the south/west walls.

The office - featuring a brand new desk! (And no hearts...)

The Reaction

Extras

The new coffee table and rearranged basement....

Cache County Fair and Summer Events

Cache County Fair

August 2008

About a month ago, we took Tom to the Cache County Fair. He thought it was a wonderful treat. Food, animals, and tractors - what more could a young boy want?

He was anxious to ride on the pony ride - but we didn't think he would actually like it. However, after some rather relentless pestering and some unfair manipulation with those big eyes of his, he won out. And he actually did really well on the horse - he managed to stay on the entire time and even tried to negotiate for another ride - but the line was simply too long.

One animal that really fascinates Tom is the pig. But he is deathly afraid of them, too. So, here is Tom - getting as close as he dares to go.

John and Tom "watching" the cow judging show.

John and Tom by the big tractor.

Tom REALLY enjoying his turn on the front end loader. This was at the end our visit to the fair... after prying him off the big equipment, he wasn't such a smiling creature anymore.

Ever wondered how to eat a hot dog with out actually eating the bun? Well - this happens to be Tom's specialty. He absolutely loves hot dogs and insists that they be in a bun, but he never actually eats the bread - just the hot dog.

OTHER SUMMER EVENTS

So, this is actually the gem of this posting. What better way to spend the Pioneer Day holiday? Here is Tom sword fighting with his Aunt Teresa - who is dressed up in a hula skirt and coconut bra that she brought back from Hawaii. Bet most people have never seen this side of Teresa before....

P.S. The front room of my parents house is so cluttered because we were cleaning out all the closets and taking away all of our junk from when we were kids - and other paraphernalia we have accumulated and left at the folk's house over time. This practice automatically starts many trips down memory lane... hence the game of "dress up".

This is our oh-so-fun, but oh-so-disgusting Root Beer Tasting contest - conducted over the last Labor Day. Participants included: Teresa, Amy, Sue, Dad, Mom, Liz, Tom, John, and Becca. Testing proctor: the carbonation-shunning Lindsey. (Not pictured here). The test involved nine brands of root beer, to be tasted blindly by the participants. The victors of our contest were locked in a three-way tie with two correct guesses each. Its a lot harder than we ever imagined... and somehow Root Beer doesn't taste as good anymore.

And finally - here is our fearsome, weapon-yielding two-year old. And truly, the most fearsome aspect is the "Tommy" embroidered Mickey Mouse hat... Disney has managed to infiltrate even our anti-Disney household.

Tom-isms

As I still haven't been the to photo lab to get any pictures developed - and we are still basically doing the same thing we have always been doing, I thought I would just post some recent "Tom-ims" that have kept us entertained.

1. Tom's favorite thing in the world is to sword fight with his two foam swords. Putting on his boots, his belt and slipping his sword into his belt transforms him into a fearsome pirate-soldier who will not take no for an answer.
After about half an hour of being poked and jabbed incessantly by his sword, though, one gets tired of the game. Which was just the case with his mom the other day who told him that she was through with playing swords and not to poke her any more. Well, the little pirate came charging up just the same and began another onslaught of poking. Being completely irritated by now, she said "I am going to take your sword away if you don't stop poking me." To which, he replied, "I'm not poking you - I'm poking your shirt."

2. One afternoon, mom and Tom were taking naps - Tom in the playroom and Mom on the front room couch. Suddenly, Mom wakes up to Tom coming pounding into the room, his arms flung wide open, shouting... "TA DA!! I'm awake!"

Quick update

So, I don't actually have any new photos to display. It has been a wild time for us! The best I can do right now is a write-up. Hopefully I will get the pictures done sometime soon (before Monday, at least... that is when school starts up again!)

Summer school ended on Aug. 9 for me. (And not a day too early! It was a really hard semester.) We had approximately four days to catch up on all the housework, laundry and shopping that I neglected during finals and then we headed off south for an extended weekend. (Note: I didn't say vacation....) Although it was our anniversary, we actually didn't have time to do any celebrating other than a quick "Happy Anniversary." Hopefully we will get some time this week to go have dinner or do something recreational.

I dropped John and Tom off in Cedar City on Thursday night and headed on down to Las Vegas for the Nevada Library Conference and the IMLS Scholars Enrichment seminar. It was an interesting weekend and rather nice to see my professors and fellow students. Something about that face-to-face interaction is rather rewarding after semesters of online discussions and email. Between the conference and the seminar, we were kept really busy Thursday through Sunday. Sunday night I drove back to Cedar to join John and Tom.

John spent his weekend installing a sprinkler system for his mom - his first time. And I must say he did a great job. As usual, it wasn't just a sprinkler system, it had all the bells and whistles you could think of - including a seasonal timer that will let her set the system to water the lawn not only at certain times of the day but for certain lengths of time depending on the season of the year. It took a lot of work and was especially hard on his back and wrists, but he seemed rather proud of it when we left.

Tom spent the weekend with his cousin Michael - his favorite person. He has been talking about seeing him for quite a while, and ended up having a great time. I think he particularly enjoyed having someone around who had as much energy as himself. His old-fogey parents tend to lose steam too quickly. Unfortunately (for John and I, that is) he also found Michael's parents to be a whole lot more interesting than his own, too. So much so that now when he gets bored with us, he asks for Uncle Ean or Aunt Nicci to come play with him. When we finally left Cedar on Monday, he was one miffed little boy. He was intent on staying at his Grandma's house for forever. The good part of being gone for several days is that upon our return, Tom rediscovered the fact that he has toys in his house. He usually ignores them in favor of sticks that he can use as swords, but having been away he seems to have realized that there are actual toys to play with.

That about sums up things for us lately. The next couple of weeks will bring a new school semester for both John and I, several end of summer BBQs to attend and host, hopefully at least one trip down the Logan canal, and a heavy-duty peach bottling session (if we get around to it).

Some random summer photos

Jason and Rachel Pehrson
For those of the Cedar group who were unable to attend, here is our Rachel on her wedding day - July 1!

This is how we give Tom his haircuts: lock him in his old high chair, give him sweets, and distract him with a movie. Did it work? Well... his hair is cut, but he certainly wasn't happy about it! (Notice the sword... that was for protection.)

Tom enjoys finger painting quite a bit. So, when Aunt Sue got out her make-up kit, he thought it was a perfect opportunity to expand his skills on an entirely different canvas!

This is just for evidence. It took all of five minutes at Aunt Sue and Aunt Teresa's house to be indulged in the sweets his mom had prohibited at the door.

What a helper! Nothing more fun than hosing down the cars.

From our visit to Idaho to see Grandma and Grandpa Morgan (thanks for letting us visit, by the way!) Tom still talks about going for a ride on the four wheeler. It is hard to convince him that we can't just go to the store and pick one up for our house, too.

Tyler's current mission address

So, I thought I would create a permanent post on our blog for Tyler's most current mission address. It is located off to the right - right underneath the "About Us" section. Whenever I get an update on his address or location, I will post it in that spot. (Notice that he is currently serving in New Mexico... the Texas Lubbock mission covers a lot of area.) He said he LOVES to get letters - so feel free to write him!

New Baby

So we just got back from the doctors and it is official... a girl! We are really excited. Now the name hunt begins. If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear them! (But remember, we are definite traditionalists... so no Shaniqua's... Sue...) We originally thought we might post a picture of the ultrasound, but the baby is quite an active little creature and wouldn't slow down enough for a good face shot. And, after all, doesn't one ultrasound look like another?

Spring Photos

EDIT: I finally got my old roll of film back from the developers and it fit so nicely into this post, that I just added the pictures and commentary to it rather than make a whole new post. Sorry for the confusion.

Here are some of the photos from this past spring. We didn't take a whole lot - and I still have a roll or two that are waiting to be developed. Yep, that's right... I am a die-hard traditionalist when it comes to photos... film all the way! But after working in Archives for several years, I don't trust digital images to store for the 80 + years I can get out of negatives. But that rant aside, here are the Woolcotts this spring:

John and Tom playing outside on the grass. Tom is really into swords and sword fighting. He will make anything and everything into a sword. His favorite movie right now is Princess Bride - he even wears the boots and gloves and shuffles his feet when he fights, just like the characters on the movie. As the family can attest to, he now challenges everyone with "You killed my father, prepare to die!"

Tom in his toy corner with his books.

EASTER SUNDAY 2008
Layton, UT

Tom investigating the contents of his Easter basket. The puzzles were only a delight for the five seconds it took him to realize that there was chocolate in the basket, as well.

John and Tom with Tom's Easter basket on the way to church. Tom was determined to take it with him - so we comprised and took a bag with some of his candy in it. What a mess that turned out to be! Thank heavens for SprayN'Wash.

BABY ANIMAL DAYS AT THE AMERICAN WEST HERITAGE CENTER
April 2008

We went to the Baby Animal Days Festival at the historic farm in Wellsville with the Esplin family. It was great fun for all - and especially the kids. They got to pet a variety of animals and go on a treasure hunt.



Turtles... what fun! Ian, Jan, EmmaLee, and Ashton Esplin look at the turtles with John and Tom. I have no idea who the kid in the red and white striped shirt is, though.


Tom and Ashton hold the baby chicks. Liz is helping Tom hold the chicks without squishing them - an unfortunate natural reaction in a little boy.



John and Tom with with baby lamb.



John and Tom petting the bunny.



Tom's favorite animal of the whole day... some stranger's pet dog we chanced to meet on our rounds through the animals.

John and Tom in jail. The American West Heritage Center has a pioneer village and Indian village, along with its historic farm.

Utah Library Association / Mountain Plains Library Association Conference
Salt Lake City, UT - May 2008

I attended the joint ULA/MPLA Conference in SLC this year. I presented a poster on a project I was working on at work - with the Prestini Design collection. It is a collection of 8,000+ books on art and design that was collected by the renowned artist/woodturner James Prestini before his death in 1993.

Three poster presenters - Julie Grover (left), Michelle Mascaro (right), and myself with our poster.

Tom joined me at the conference in the evenings (his grandma and aunts watched him during the day.) This is my little executive in the Hilton Hotel where we were staying... already too busy on the phone to play with his Mom. Tom actually had quite a good time and really enjoyed playing in the "hot pool" (or hot tub). Sue, Teresa, Lindsey, and Cindy all came and stayed at the hotel with us, too. It was a tight squeeze at night, but sure a lot of fun!

Hogle Zoo
Salt Lake City, UT - May 2008

On Friday, the ULA/MPLA conference schedule was rather light, so Rebecca and I took Tom to the Zoo. It was rather fun for him to see all the animals, though he was convinced that the tiger was really a lion. Tom enjoyed the penguins the most, but this picture of him and Rebecca watching the monkey came out the best.

Aunt Rebecca and Tom during our trip to the Zoo.