SPLURRRRGE!

So Bryce and I have been working hard to get our beach bods back (baby weight and sympathy weight did us in :), and after a long week of calorie counting, portion control, eating healthy, and exercising, we decided to go all out tonight and get the classic artery-clogging meal: a burger and fries! And nobody does a burger and fries like Red Robin (the Whiskey River BBQ Burger is our favorite). But don't worry, all is not lost. We didn't order the usual raspberry shake that we get, which believe me, took a lot of self control. And we didn't order any refills on those delicious bottomless steak fries. And on top of it all, we actually stayed within our caloric allotment for today. Yes! Eating so bad never felt so good!!

WARNING: The following images contain graphic scarfing

NERVE-RACKING

On Wednesday Bryce applied for a legal internship here in Spokane, and today he heard back from them; they're interested and would like to interview him on Thursday. Congratulations, Bryce!!

The way he looks at it, it's win-win no matter what. If he gets the job and we're supposed to stay here in Spokane, than that's wonderful. If he doesn't get the job, than at least he got some much needed experience interviewing (isn't he so positive? :).

Yea - Bryce's first interview for an internship! Scary - Bryce's first interview for an internship! Keep him in your prayers

10 REASONS WHY I CAN'T WAIT TO GO TO UTAH NEXT WEEK:

(in no particular order)

#1: I'll get to spend all day, everyday with Bryce and CJ for a whole WEEK!

#2: Babysitters everywhere! :)

#3: Costa Vida has been calling my name for the last 7 months. And yes, Bryce and I like Costa Vida more than Cafe Rio - sorry.

#4: Everything is so close: the mall, including Nordstrom and Forever Young shoes, is 2 minutes away; Park City outlets, 40 minutes away; Cozy, Downeast, and What's Hot, 10 minutes away; okay, so mainly the shopping is close :) No, the movies - including the dollar movies - family, friends, and even the temple are within minutes.

#5: We'll get to catch up with people that we didn't really get a chance to over Christmas because it was so crazy

#6: It's my birthday and so I'm happy that I'll get to spend it with my family (so maybe next year will be my first birthday away from home :)

#7: I'm getting my hair cut! I'm so excited!! I just need a change, and I didn't want to do it right after I had the baby because everyone does that, and I didn't want to do it in Spokane because I saw Haley Warner's hair and Lindsey Mackay's hair over Christmas and they looked SO great that I had to have the same person cut my hair (not in the same way - but he did such a great job on their's that I trust he'll do something amazing with mine), and there was a two month waiting list. I'm definitely ready for something new.

#8: We're finally getting our first family picture done. I wanted to wait until CJ was smiling, and until I had lost all the baby weight, and until we could get Haley Warner to do our photos. She did my bridals, our engagements, our wedding, and CJ's announcements, and she is INCREDIBLE! Check her out at www.haleyannwarner.com

#9: Hopefully Bryce will be able to meet with some people about an internship this summer

#10: I get to see my friends, especially my friend Jodie, who has been trying so hard for so long to get pregnant, and now she is - yea! And more importantly, I get to see my family, whom I've missed so much!

SITTING UP

CJ loves to sit up and play now...especially on his playmat! Probably because he gets a better view of his friends (that's what we call all his stuffed animals, even the ones that hang from his playmat or on his mobile).

WHAT WAS LOST HAS BEEN FOUND

For any of you who read my blog, you know about CJ's shoe that we lost a month or so ago in all the snow. Well guess what I found? That's right, the snow melted enough to uncover CJ's shoe - yea! I had just finished running stairs and was out on the balcony stretching, when I looked down and there it was. It was smashed and had ice frozen all over it, but it was definitely CJ's shoe. So now CJ has two pairs of blue sneakers - but one pair are slip-ons and the other are lace-ups, so he's good to go!

The view from our balcony, and the circle is where I spotted CJ's shoe

It's the miracle shoe...that's why it's glowing!!

Mom is the Best

I just wanted to give a shout-out to my mom, Sheila, whose as incredible as they come. She has not only been one of our/my greatest supporters, but has been an incredible grandma to CJ and is always one who puts a smile on my face. I love you Mom more than anything, and I just wanted you, and everyone, to know how great you are.
Love,
Bryce

P.S. Paige thinks you're pretty great too :) Undoubtedly the best mother-in-law in the WORLD and a fantastic grandma - we're all so blessed that you're a part of our lives!!

CJ's FIRST REAL BATH

Now that CJ is sitting up so well, we thought it was time to start giving him baths in the bathtub...so today was his very first real bath. He didn't quite know what to think of it, hence no smiles in any of the pictures, but at least he didn't cry. He'll get used to it, I'm sure, and hopefully learn to love bathtime. Now we just need to get him some bath toys...

NEW CLOTHES (like every 6 months)

So I'm loving, loving, loving shopping for CJ now!! While I was pregnant, and even after CJ was born, I'd find myself wandering over into the little girls' department and stewing about the fact that there is so much more to choose from and such cuter clothes. But now that CJ is older, the clothes they make are so much less baby-ish (you know what I mean, with little fuzzy animals on them or really neutral colors) and it's like shopping for a little teenager. A few weeks ago, we packed up all of CJ's 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes, and he was in need of some 6-12 month clothes, so I went on a spree (and it's fun because it's totally justified :). A bunch of clothes that I ordered on-line finally came yesterday, and so today, CJ tested some of them out. First, I met some friends at the Spokane Valley Mall and the kids played in the play area while we chatted and then got lunch. And then, he got to wear some of his new, big-boy jammies to bed tonight. I know most of you don't care, and probably get sick of seeing so many pics of CJ, but you have to admit, he looks so freakin' cute!! P.S. I used Picasa2 for the cool effects on the pics

CLASSIC TOYS ARE THE BEST

When we arrived home Monday night, we found a small brown package waiting on our doorstep. And inside was a classic...stacking rings! Remember those? Didn't we all have those growing up? Anyway, I thought it was cute that Bryce's mom had bought this toy for CJ to have at her house, and then when we got home from visiting them this weekend in Redmond, my mom had sent CJ the very same toy! Now he has one to play with at home too. Thanks, Mom! I love you!!

I CALL DIBS...

Bryce and I spent a lot of time driving this weekend, and in the course of our many conversations, we decided on our next four children's names! I'm a huge fan of family names, mainly due to Helaman 5:6-7 (in the Book of Mormon), and so after much thought, these are the names that we would like to name our children:

- CURTIS JASON MACKAY (he's already here, I know, but I wanted to include him): Curtis is my father's name, and Jason is Bryce's middle name. My dad is a wonderful man with a lot of integrity - I hope CJ will always remember that about his name.

- TYSON GREG MACKAY: Tyson is Bryce's cousin, and his best friend. They are only a few months apart in age and have grown up together like brothers, and there are so many things about Tyson that Bryce admires, especially his sincerity and his inate ability to make people feel so special. And Greg is Bryce's dad's name, who is one of the most accomplished, humble, and spiritual people we know.

- POWELL GLEN MACKAY: Powell is Bryce's Grandma Mackay's maiden name, and Glen is his Grandpa Gilbert's name. Bryce comes from two strong families led by wonderful grandparents and so we thought it would be a nice way to pay homage to both sides of Bryce's family.

- MATTIE MACKAY (we're still undecided about whether or not we want to give our daughters middle names): Mattie is my mom's mother. My mom is an only child and so my grandma loved her daughter, and her 6 grandchildren, very much. She overcame a lot so that they could be a part of her life. That is something that I really admire about my grandma and a quality that I hope my daughter will have.

- NORI MACKAY: My mom's name is Norine, and so we thought Nori was a cute, modern twist on her name. My mom is such an amazing example of sacrifice, of diligence, of passion, of love. She would do absolutely anything for her family, no matter the cost to her, and despite the many circumstances in her life that have been so difficult, she has risen above them and become better for it. I hope our daughter can always remember that.

After we came up with all these names, we realized that we had just committed ourselves to at least 4 more children, so we stopped there :)

PRESIDENTS' DAY WEEKEND

So we made our way to Redmond this weekend to spend time with Bryce's family, and to see Bryce's close friend, Garrett, at his wedding reception. Here's some pics from the trip that was too short:

DID OUR SON CONVERT TO ISLAM??

CJ's 6 1/2 months old, and I still can't resist the urge to take pictures of him while he's sleeping...especially when he looks like this. For some reason, Bryce put CJ in the love sac this morning instead of in his crib, and when I went to check on him (because he was still asleep at 9:30!), this is what I found:

VALENTINE'S DAY 2008

So this Valentine's Day presented us with a few firsts - our first Valentine's Day since CJ was born, our first Valentine's Day where I was in charge, our first Valentine's Day in Spokane, and our first Valentine's Day being poor (okay, we're not destitute, but living on student loans definitely changed our Valentine's Day budget from the last two years when we were both working :). In spite of all the changes, we had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Bryce awoke to Valentine's posted for him all over the house, and before leaving for school, he left me a little Valentine too. While he was at school, I made us chocolate covered strawberries for dessert, and then Bryce came home with his own version of Valentine's Day candy for me (he knows I LOVE Jelly Bellies) and these beautiful flowers! We took CJ along with us to Outback Steakhouse, where we enjoyed a great steak dinner (thank you, Chris and Jenny, for the Visa giftcard :), and it wouldn't have been Valentine's Day without getting special Valentine's from our families, whom we love and miss so much (they even had gifts in them. Thanks Moms - you're the best)!!

BLOGGERS BEWARE!

Hey All,
I feel it's my duty to inform all you bloggers out there to be careful when it comes to comments left on your posts. Yesterday, I received a comment on my last post from a name I didn't recognize. All the comment said was "see here," with "here" being a link. So out of curiosity, I clicked on the "here" link, and it took me to a site that streams porn! I reported the blogger site that it came from - which was not pornographic, by the way, but about aligators - but due to Blogger's terms of service, I could only flag the page as questionable and then turn in the URL as a spam violation (if there is more that I can do that anyone knows of, please let me know). I have since put up a security feature on our blog so that you cannot post a comment without first typing in the cryptic code - I guess that spam sites can't type in those codes.
Anyway, it's a major bummer that this is something that we have to deal with on our blogs, but so goes the world, right? There's always someone who finds a way to twist something good into something evil. I just hope my experience can save you the trouble.

Sincerely Saddened in Spokane,

Paige

OUR SON LIKES VEGETABLES!!!

CJ tried carrots for the first time today. We had the camera in hand, fully expecting funny faces, but unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, he liked the carrots, so the pictures turned out pretty boring. We're gonna try peas next week, and if he's like his mama, he'll loves those too (we'll only post it if those pics are more fun :).

KIDDIE KANDIDS...WHO KNEW?

Since we can't use Haley Warner while we're here in Spokane, and since Angie Gurney does great pics, but they're outdoor (and it's been snowing like crazy), we decided to bite the bullet and get CJ's 6 mo pics done at Kiddie Kandids. It's not as modern as I'd like, but they still turned out so cute, really capturing CJ's adorable smile. Here are two of our faves:

DOES THIS MEAN I HAVE TO BE A GOOD COOK?

It finally came! My KitchenAid mixer finally got here!! Bryce's big Christmas gift to me was an empire red KitchenAid mixer, but we had to special order it, so I didn't actually get it on Christmas. But it finally got here...well, actually it arrived about two weeks ago, but I finally have time to use it. I was going to make sugar cookies first, by my husband's request, but I had heard that the mixer makes mashed potatoes a breeze, so I gave it go, and here they are. They were yummy and super easy! The next KitchenAid experiment: Bryce's sugar cookies. I just hope he doesn't expect me to be some Rachel Ray now...that's going to take awhile :)

The new mixer and the novice chef

First try at mashed potatoes - lookin' pretty good

Huggin' the lovely KitchenAid

ZZZZZ...

Bryce came home to catch a quick nap before his intramural basketball game and CJ decided to take a nap with him. They looked so comfy, I wanted to jump right in too!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED...AND IT'S ABOUT BRYCE

Sweet, I got one of those husband tags, and if you haven't read my blog before, I LOVE talking about Bryce, so this is just up my alley. Here goes:

What is his name? Bryce Jason Mackay (hence, our son, Curtis Jason Mackay)

How long have you been married? Just over 2 years - December 15, 2005

How long did you date? I swore I would never marry anyone who I hadn't dated for at least a year...and I totally ate my words. Bryce and I dated for four months and were engaged for four months. Stereotypical Mormons, I know.

Who eats more sweets? Probably me. We both have a major sweet tooth, but I'll sneak a treat before dinner a lot of the time, and Bryce can only have sweets after he eats real food (I'll have a treat after dinner too).

Who said I love you first? Bryce. And I knew it was coming and didn't want him to say it because I wasn't ready to say it back...and so I didn't. Poor guy.

How old is he? He just turned 25 January 5th. For those of you don't know, I will be 27 in March - a younger man is the only way to go, ladies!

Who is taller? Bryce, and I'm so glad! I'm 5'8'' and had pretty much given up on finding anyone taller than 5'9'' when my 6'1'' hero swept me off my feet!

Who can sing better? Bryce. He's sweet, and tells me all the time that I have a great voice, but really, he's the one who is quite good. He can harmonize to just about anything.

Who is smarter? I used to think it was me, but Bryce really is such a smarty-pants. The only thing I tend to know more about than Bryce is words...but these days he has me bested with all his legal jargon.

Who does the laundry? I do. I wish I could let him help me, but I'm just too particular about it. He's a colors-and-whites kinda guy, when I'm a delicate-whites/whites/dryer-whites/jeans/darks/cold-blue-colors/cold-red-colors/warm-colors/towels/sheets/almost-everything-hang-dries type of girl. I know, I drive myself nuts!

Who pays the bills? I do. It worked out great, because it's something Bryce doesn't like doing and isn't very on top of, and I LOVE doing it. All he has to do is bring me his receipts and we're good to go (and he always does :)

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? We switch off...because we switch off every night who gets up with CJ. Whoever is getting up with CJ sleeps on the side of the bed by our bedroom door.

Who mows the lawn? We've never had a lawn, but up until last summer, I still mowed my parents' lawn. And if we're with them this summer (depends on where Bryce gets an internship), I'll be doing it again. I'm guessing, though, that Bryce will probably mow the lawn when we actually have a house and a yard, but I don't mind it, so we'll see.

Who cooks dinner? I do, unless I'm tired, and then Bryce will volunteer to make dinner. He enjoys making omelets, so that's usually what's on the menu when he cooks. That, or quesadillas or waffles.

Who drives? Bryce does, and bless his heart, he puts up with my backseat driving too. What a man!

Who is more stubborn? I am. Bryce is a lot more laid back than I am and always trying to make me happy, so I usually get my way...and I try to not take advantage of him for it :)

Who kissed who first? I've never been a girl to make the first move, so Bryce did, for sure. In fact, I barely knew him when he kissed me, and so I kinda thought he was a player at first. I laugh at that idea now, because anyone who knows Bryce at all, knows that he could never be a player.

Who asked who out? Bryce asked me out. After finding out that I wasn't in a committed realtionship with the guy I was seeing at the time (he had his cousin get the scoop for him), he called me within a couple of hours. I found out later, though, that he had actually asked me out after he had called several other girls first, including his cousin, and none of them could go. Oh well - their loss!

Who proposed? Bryce again. When we first started dating, people at his work kept teasing him about me, so we thought it would be funny to tell them we were engaged (this was like after 2 weeks of dating). I asked him what he would tell them, and he said he would tell them that he took me out to dinner and jumped up on the table in the restaurant, got everyone's attention, and then proposed. Needless to say, 4 months later, Bryce actually took me to dinner with a bunch of friends (we were supposedly celebrating his cousin Chad's b-day), got everyone's attention in the restaurant, told them all how much he loved me, promised to love me the best forever, got down on one knee, and proposed!

Who has more siblings? I do. I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters, and Bryce has 2 brothers and 1 sister

Who wears the pants? To the outsider, it would look like I do, but I like to think that we try to make each other happy

So that's Bryce. Now I tag Heather, Jessica B., Kelli, Megan, and Nicki.

THE MANY POSITIONS OF CJ's SLEEPING

CJ has been sleeping in a variety of positions the last few days. It started on Wednesday, when CJ went down for an afternoon nap on his belly for the first time. Everytime I checked on him, his head was somewhere different than the time before. Then, Wednesday night, CJ got sick. He's had a cold that has him very congested and makes it difficult for him to breath while lying down...so we've been inventing places to put him so that he can sleep sitting up, even eat sitting up. Today, I propped him on a pillow to eat, and he fell asleep like that. Poor guy - hopefully this nasty cold passes soon!

LAUGHS

Isn't it great how the simplest things can make a baby laugh? In this clip, Bryce was wiggling his fingers above CJ's head and then clapping his hands. CJ thought it was hilarious!! Check it out for yourselves...guaranteed, you'll be laughing too! P.S. please excuse the clothes in the background - I was sorting throuh CJ's outfits. We just packed up all of CJ's 0-3 and most of his 3-6 mo clothes :(

AS LONG AS IT'S WATER...

And so it begins, feeding CJ from our glasses and plates. Bryce is giving CJ some water from his glass in these pics. It seems so cute and innocent at this point, especially because CJ doesn't really know what to do. I'm sure it won't be so cute in a few months when CJ wants everything off our plates, but we'll enjoy it while we can :)