Liam's First Christmas

Christmas was fantastic. Although we missed family, we had a great time creating traditions in our darling, new Michigan home. Everything was pretty low-key and relaxing. We've spent time reading, watching movies, going to the gym, playing with friends and l've thoroughly enjoyed having Brady home. One of my favorite things about this Christmas was going to the post office and finding I had 4 packages waiting for me. Brady liked opening our presents early because we got to choose when Santa came, and of course, not having to do work over the break.

Liam pretty much ransacked the living room christmas morning going around playing with, destroying and sucking wrapping paper, ornaments, boxes and candy from our stocking. Holidays are way more fun with a baby!

Liam's not yet convinced yet that he likes Santa Claus

Brady in Boston

We had a fantastic time with the Firths in Boston. We just got home and we miss family already. Boston is a neat city. I love the feeling and all the beautiful buiildings.

Lovin' it in Cape Cod

Liam was in heaven having so many aunts, uncles, and grandparents to play with with him. That baby is very loved and definately spoiled.

The first day we were there we roamed the streets of Boston with Janell and Troy and loved every minute of it. We dont get to see them nearly enough.

We stayed at a fancy shmancy Masonic temple turned hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. This is a picture from our hotel window.

The weather was cold, windy and snowy. It didn't stop us from having a good time but it did sentence us to a day in the Baltimore airport.

The Mayflower in Plymouth ( Or at least a very close replica of it. The real ship was salvaged for parts a few years after the pilgrims came to America)

Plymouth rock- talk about a dissapointment! I was imagining a gigantic, black rock jetting out of the ocean, a beacon for the pilgrams. False. It's pretty whimpy. In fact I'd like to think on a good day I could probably whisk it away in a wheel barrow. It's that small. Just your average joe blow rock.
Other Boston Highlights (besides being with family, of course)
-The Harvard Art Museum
-Boston's historic public library
-Fish & Chips

Holiday baby

Liam is here in his car seat with the gift certificates we scored at my work Christmas party gift exchange. I love the gym I work for. The atomosphere is very professional and all of the trainers have both degrees and national certifications. We work hard to make sure everyone feels comfortable regardless of their fitness level. The membership rates are on a sliding scale for those with lower income and periodically the gym sponsors free fitness classes to the community. Fitness and health for all- I love it.

Brady is done with classes for the semester. He has been working around the clock on a research paper and it was a relief for the entire family when it was finally done. This week we'll go to meet the Firths in Boston.

More of the same happy baby

This week Brady has been busy with school and I have been working Mon-Friday a few hours a day teaching my class/training clients. Ihave plans to start my own fitness/ weightloss buisiness at home so I have been spending time looking into that. We have the room in our house it's just buying the equipment and putting the time and money into advertising. My plan is to get it ready in December and then just start small in January 'til I get things paid off.
This week I hosted bookclub where read the "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer. We all had a great time, and even though I wouldn't consider the book great literature, it still was thoroughly entertaining.


Liam getting ready to eat his Christmas tree.

T-Day

Happy Thanksgiving! We spent this Thanksgiving with our friends from the branch. This time of year makes us miss our family and our friends in Utah. We're cutting down a Christmas tree tomorrow (we know a guy whos trying to thin out trees on his farm)We put up a 2 foot Christmas tree with lights and Liam keeps staring and smiling at it. When he's on the ground he strains his neck to look up and see it. Although we did briefly let him touch and suck on it and he wasn't too impressed.

We love Michigan.
Liam loves to play with paper. Being a PhD student, Brady has a ton of research articles that he has to read, and a surplus of papers around the house. Liam tries to attack, suck, and hoard them as you can see by this pile.

The gym I work at was having a stairclimber machine race. Brady, not even a gym member, entered last minute and tied for second place. A major contender out of the blue. It didnt suprise me too much, considering Brady is good at anything he wants to be good at. (The guy he tied with was actually the buff, black guy that's on all the gym's commercials. Way to go Brady!) So he didn't win the ipod, but he did win this T-shirt. This weekend we also had the entire young men's youth group over for a Halo/video game sleep over which was a bit crazy, but a success.

Lookalikes

gotta love it

The Navy v. Notre Dame game this weekend was, I think, probably the best game of the year. I'll even forecast that you won't see a better one all season. Anyway, if you didn't see it, you've at least got to watch this play. The setting- a few seconds left, Notre Dame's going for it on 4th to try to win the game. They bail from a decision to kick a field goal and go with the shotgun.


If you want, skip the pictures at the beginning and go to 2:17 for the good stuff.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8922899350515909837&q=navy+notre+dame+highlights+2007&total=1&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Navy went on to beat the Irish in triple overtime- the first time in 44 years.
Long live the triple option.
(For the record, I'm not even a fan of either of these teams).

brushing up

This past week I've been on a crusade to read all the new pertinent fitness material out there trying to reformulate my fitness philosophies. I try to stay up with what's new in the fitness world but since graduating college 2 years ago I need to brush up both the "pop-culture fitness" material and peer-reviewed data recently published. Some of the books I've been reading have had some great ideas and some are just garbage but people ask me about different diets so I need to be familiar with them. Bob Greene, Jillian from the Biggest Loser, U.S. running team, Phil McGraw, Abs Diet& Abs Diet for Women, etc. So basically I've been hanging out at the bookstore and the library. There is so much junk, and horrible fitness/health info out there that totally contradicts anything I've learned in Exercise Physiology classes. So basically I tend to stick to the traditional "tried and true" that corresponds with what I've seen work for clients and what I studied in college. There is an abundance of research going on in this area so I need to be open to it.

The Apple Hunt

Liam can't keep still and is learning to love good food. Word of the wise- don't feed babies peanut butter & jelly sandwhiches- they barf them right up.

The rest of the Halloween costumes

Here's Brady looking stoic in his indian head dress. He actually made this in 5th grade for a school project, including the hand beading on the leather which he will proudly tell you he did without his mom's help. Brady never ceases to impress me. I'm dressed as Arwen, the elven princess from Lord of the Rings.

Our cute little pumpkin

You can see how he doesn't go too long without smiling.

So here's proof that miles and miles of corn can actually be pretty. One thing that I have enjoyed while living here is exploring the nature trails. (Michiganders would call them "hikes" but considering they're flat, we'll call them "walks") I have a outdoor-loving, conservationist friend who did internships with the state park so she knows some of the best places. We put the babies in packs and find new forrest trials. It doesn't in any way compare at all to Alaska or Utah but it still is nice to be outside.

This has been a fun past week filled with corn mazes, Halloween parties and pumpkin carving. The second session of my weight lifting class that i teach at the gym sold out and has doubled in size. The class is a mix of consistent exercisers and beginners As far as fitness training goes, I miss my clients in Utah. I haven't had too many here that I could work hard, or that take things seriously. I love my job though, it really gives me a chance to get out of the house, pay some bills, and do something I'm good at and find rewarding.
Liam at the corn maze (looking like mother Theresa)

Happy Halloween

Spartan

Liam's thinking, 'Bring it on, Xerxes.' He loved being a little Spartan warrior for our Halloween party tonight. We might be able to add a shield and sword by Halloween, and shin guards are definitely on their way. Also- wait until you see Dani's costume...

Michigan Mysteries

So far we love Michigan. There are a few things that make it a wierd place, a few of them include: The 4 foot tall, multi-colored giant ball of vinyl in our neighbors backyard (He's an art professor so I guess one could call it sculpture.) Half percent milk. Does that .5% really make a difference? Squirrels- they're huge, they're fearless, they're everywhere. I probably pass 15-20 everyday jogging from work. The picture here is one that was caught trying to eat my pumpkin outside. Similar to the white letters on the mountainsides of Utah, most cities in Michigan proudly display water towers bearing their names. They seem top heavy and poorly designed. We had another tornado warning this week and I'm sure if the twister actually came close the tower would be the first thing to go.

On the move

Our guess is that Liam will be crawling by the end of the month. He has already perfected his rolling/ half crawling mode of transporting himself across the room. As far as he's concerned there are too many things to chew, bang, or suck on to stay in one spot. What a cute, happy kid.

study

We'll get something new pics/vids up here soon. Until then, here's a few updates-

This weekend Elder Bednar presided over Stake Conference, accompanied by Elder Clayton Christiansen- it was powerful.

School's still progressing for Brady; midterms were this week. In addition to the multitasking and adaptive performance work, he's now in on two more projects. He's helping to write a book chapter on team structure and composition, as well as a project/paper on team selection (sort of like a grown-up version of how to make sure you weed out the slow putzy guys from your street ball team even if they're wearing sweatbands, Nikes, and have 22" biceps.)

Bought a new computer. Now that we're not sharing one, Dani will be online much more frequently to be in touch with you all.

Accidental Oriental or Oriented Occidental?

Yes, Dwight Shrute*, we know lots of cultures eat rice, not just Orientals. But FACT- Liam is now part of one of those cultures. QUESTION- Does he like being part of one of those cultures? Definitely.

Along with wearing most of his cereal (despite Dad's squeegee attempts), Liam is also sporting a personalized shirt crafted by Krystal and Hailey.

*Dwight can be viewed on one of our two TV channels.

She's a Real Knock Out

This is our newest edition to our collection of 'things to do for fun around the house'. Last year, we were babysitting some kids of Dani's friend and they asked if they could come to our house. Sure, we said. What do you have there to do? they asked. We had to think real long and hard about that. Well, we responded, we've got lots of books... and a computer... and some air soft guns... How about a Playstation? Nope. An XBox? Uh, no. Maybe a Wii? huh-uh. Do you even have a TV? Well, we almost, uh... no, not even one of those. Still want to come over? Maybe you can just play with us over here, they concluded. SO- we are slowly working our way up with things to do other than play with our baby, bikes, bunny, and books- boxing seemed to fit in with at least one alliterative theme. We even have a TV now (sometimes we even watch it... we try to rotate evenly between the two channels that we receive). Brady is now Dani's personal boxing instructor (we haven't committed to a first person or third person account on this blog). She's planning on teaching a kickboxing class in the future.


Also this week- Dani hosted her first book club here in DeWitt. They read a Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini. Issues that were raised: womens rights, domestic abuse, nasty food recipes, and the US obligations to Afghanistan. Dani found a few jogging/nature trails nearby with a friend- she was wondering if they existed. They exist, but 'They're weak. Grrr.'

Funny Fella

This one's worth watching for sure. Have you heard a cuter laugh?

Liam loves watching what happens when he kicks stuff. Watch for his ninja-style wall kick when he flips over.

He even rolls on command for mom.

We're still loving the Michigan life. Liam gets funnier and more active every day. We're grateful for such a great place to be and for the opportunities that are presenting themselves for our family.

Posts to come: Our Knock-Out New Toy; Michigan's Idiosyncrasies.

Milestones

Liam just had a doctor check up. He still isn't happy about how many times they poked him, but was glad to hear that he's a healthy kid.

He now weighs 17 lbs 10 oz and stands a regal 27 inches tall.

Hot Off the Press

Headlining Events of the Week

Brady and Liam both happen upon amphibious friends

Danielle discovers scrapbooking dollar store and acquires free sewing machine (!!!)

Intramural flag football game dominated by Brady and his teammates

Old Town Blues Fest a jammin' success: Local cultural diversity was entertainment galore

Mom/playgroup hosted at Firth home: Gabe was all the rage

Stats test no contest for Dani- only the final remains to be vanquished

updates

Well, Dani's almost done with her online stats class- this Thursday she'll finish the course work before taking the final later this month. We're proud of her for sticking through on it. Her focus on that, my increasing school load, and Liam's propensity to freeze on stage (see video below) have slowed down our posting.

Liam likes to jabber all the time, especially when mom and dad are talking to him, or when he's talking to any of his ceiling-fan buddies (which is what he's doing here), but as soon as he sees the camera, he clams up and goes into investigative mode. This should serve as evidence that it's hard to film him doing cute stuff. We're lucky when we can catch him in the wild like this...

As far as news in the Firth family goes, here are some updates:

Dani has been called as a Primary Presidency Counselor and Secretary AND Pianist in the branch.

Brady has been called as a counselor in the Young Men presidency.

A young man we've been helping the missionaries teach has committed to be baptized.

Dani will be teaching a Women with Weights class at her work. She's taken the liberty of adding the subtitle Grandmas at the Gym, as that more accurately describes the class demographics. She continues to be the DeWitt Fitness Girl Extraordinaire.

Firth Action

Let's just get this out on the table, just so nobody is confused or anything- there aren't any real mountains in Michigan. That means no proper mountain biking or hiking. But, being the resourceful people we Michiganders are, there are still some pretty fun playgrounds around here regardless of the conspicuous mountainlessness. We went to Birchfield Park, which has a system of trails surrounding a small river and a few lakes. Not a lot of elevation change, but a lot of man-made toys and obstacles, and it was really pretty.

Brady had fun on his bike going over some skinny, rickety bridges that were all over the park.

Dani and Liam even put our powerhouse stroller to the test.

Here's what Liam had to say about it while we were there. Danielle was able to get an exclusive interview, but only under the condition that Liam could speak comfortably on his side...

(Any translations are welcome)

Eating johnny jump-up

For those of you who have seen Liam in action on his dad's lap, you know this is not on account of muscle deficiency or leg strength. He's a pretty funny little guy. He just likes to eat. Looks like his cousins could give him a few tips about how to get the most out of his toys.

Brady's Research (aka his new life)

So I've got my schedule set for this semester. I've only got two classes so the bulk of my time will be spent on my research projects, which I am extremely excited about. I realize nobody reading this will be nearly excited as I am about the topics, but these will be taking over my life so you at least get to know what they're about.


The first is through a grant from the Navy and is about multitasking in dynamic environments. What that means is something like, how do you do lots of different types of tasks at the same time when those tasks are changing and when the environment in which you're performing those tasks is also changing? how do you select people who are good at doing that kind of stuff? how do you train people to be good at doing all of that?) If you want to see more of the basics, go to http://www.iopsych.msu.edu/SPL/index1024.htm.

The other, which is REALLY cool (cutting edge stuff) is just picking up, so there's no cool website to see. It's through a grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and is about how teams (and the individuals in the teams) best change learning strategies in a dynamic environment. What's extra cool about this is that we're going to be getting some hard, quantitative strategy modeling into the computer (for future programs) that should be really useful pretty much everywhere in the universe that there are people trying to learn stuff, or so we hope.

This is cool stuff because both projects (especially the Air Force one) are very theoretical (meaning they've got basic frameworks that are capable of being developed into a lot of different things in applied settings) but will also be implemented in very applied ways in at least two branches of our country's military as soon as we're done.