Scroll down to get our new land line number.  We'll be canceling Sprint this week!

Luke's new favorite food may be Cheerios.  He does manage to get quite a few into his mouth, but the rest of them end up here!

Another report from the Virginia Wilkersons:

While there was a little bit of hype about Hurricane Hanna, all we experienced was a medium rain and some wind.  The worst we had to do was take the star off our front door so that it wouldn't scratch the paint from banging the door in the wind.  Oh, and pay too much for an overly nice flashlight I bought at Wal-mart in an attempt to be prepared.  When I went to Wal-mart on Friday, all the cheap flashlights and D batteries were sold out as were the battery operated lanterns and the cheap brands of bottled water.  So I had to buy the 20 dollar flashlight that is heavy enough to use as a club.  

Saturday and Sunday we had stake conference.  Jared got to listen on Saturday while I spent most of the time watching Luke, and I got to listen on Sunday while Jared took care of Luke.  The talks were really good.

Now, here's what individually is going on.

Luke:  Luke got a new bed this week!  He finally has a crib!  He actually got it because I ruined his pack and play by trying to wash it.  I warped the boards in the pad.  And washing it didn't really get out the pee smell that I was trying to get out in the first place.  Luke seems to really like his new bed, and Jared and I are excited that this week Luke went to sleep without being rocked EVERY SINGLE NIGHT and for every nap.  Luke continues to pull himself up on things.  We went to a birthday party on Friday night, and Luke was using strangers' pant legs to stand up.  It was all innocent until he bit someone's knee.  He still topples over a lot so he has lots of bruises and bangs on his forehead.  Oh, the rough life of a baby!

Jared:  Jared started his fellowship jobs.  He works in the law library on Monday nights and he works in the office for students with disabilities twice a week.  His first job was actually to do some computer programming for the office.  He didn't really know what he was doing, but he figured it out pretty quickly.  If it had been me, I would have gone insane.  My boss would have walked in an hour into my job to find me sobbing and a hole in the computer screen where I got so mad I punched a hole in it.  (Okay, he'd probably find the computer fine and me sobbing with a broken hand because I'd tried to punch a hole in the computer screen).  Anyway, Jared seems to like his jobs okay.  His classes are getting better and better.  His civil procedure was his least favorite, and while it may still be his least favorite, he likes it a lot better than he used to.  He says his teacher doesn't pore over each case and rehash the same ideas over and over.  Most of what goes on during the day seems a little bit confusing to me.  Lots of hypothetical situations and bizarre cases.  He'll have to explain all of that.  Jared has been playing basketball at the church 2-3 times a week.  He rarely played basketball in Utah, but he really likes it here.

Stacy:  Luke and I went with a friend to Jamestown settlement this week with a friend.  It was really fun!  There is an indian village, a settler's fort, and replicas of the first three ships to bring settlers to Jamestown.  I'm going to make a CD of pictures to send to Franklin where I used to teach.  Anyway, we saw a demonstration of loading guns.  Actually, we heard the guns before we walked into the demonstration.  My friend Nora jumped so high and screamed really loud when the gun went off.  A group of people standing near us all started laughing, and I was snorting and almost...well, you know.  Then we went and found the demonstration to see the end.  We also saw blacksmiths there and a guy making some kind of game board.  Nora knew what it was, but I'd never heard of the game.  

I went with Luke a couple of times to Waller Mill Park to run.  Afterwards  we watched the ducks.  Luke loves to see the ducks.  

We love Virginia!

We have new phone number!

757- 566- 7937

Since I've been home instead of working, I've been getting a lot more calls during the day, and we've gone over cell phone minutes.  As you all know how expensive that can be, we are asking that you please call the house phone.

Thank you!!!!

Don't be fooled by the innocent smile you see below.  This little guy can cause more trouble that you would believe.  Last Thursday, I took him to a BBQ for friends that live in our apartment complex.  It was at a grill over by the basketball court, and there isn't really a good place to put Luke down and let him play.  But since he was fussing so much, I put him down.  Within seconds, he was covered in grass with blades of it sticking out of his mouth.  By the end of an hour, I was at wit's end.  He'd eaten dirt, bugs, and sidewalk chalk.  He'd been passed all around the circle being held by lots of friends and neighbors.  He tried to steal Elizabeth's ice cream.  I gave him some fudge bar (STUPID MOMMY!) which ended up all down his shirt, Elizabeth's husband's hands, and then my shirt (WHITE).  I decided it was time for us to leave and get cleaned up.  While I was buckling him into his stroller, he leaved forward and grabbed a cupcake.  His hands were coated with blue and red frosting.  Before I could get the wipie out to clean them off, he rubbed his hands all over his face, and then all over the stroller.  I'm not exaggerating when I say it took me 2 hours to clean up the mess-- sweeping up the grass in the kitchen and bathroom, vacuuming up the grass in the living room and hallway, bleaching our clothes, bathing Luke, scrubbing down the stroller.  Who knew what was hidden behind that angelic smile?  Are girls this bad?

Brown Eyed Handsome Man...Er..Luke Man that is!

Luke cut two top teeth today.  Strangely enough, they are not his two front teeth, but the teeth on either side of the front two teeth.  He looks a little like a Vampire.  And since he does bite, I'm starting to wonder....

Friday was a big day for Jared and I because we had our first real date since we've had Luke.  We left him with Nora for a couple of hours and had dinner together.  Other than one time in Utah leaving him with our friends Scott and Callie to go to the temple (which doesn't really count as a date) and our trip up to see William and Mary, we haven't gone anywhere together without him.  While we love him a lot, it was awesome!  We went to California Tortilla which is a lot like Cafe Rio or Bajio and then walked around New Town for a little while.  For those of you who know Utah, it's kind of like the Riverwoods shopping center in Orem only bigger.

Just to let everybody know:  Jared's cell phone completely died.  He can't even push buttons.  We don't want to sign a new two year contract with Sprint, and we can't get a good deal on a phone without one.  We'd have to buy a phone at full price, so we're just going to pay the cancellation fee (practically the same price as a new phone!) and get a land line.  We will let you all know our new number as soon as that is set up, and in the mean time, call my phone to get a hold of Jared.  My number is 801-921-3731.  Or you can email Jared.  He checks his email several times each day.

Luke and I have officially entered the life of hanging out together every day while Jared is in school.  It's not bad when we have other people to play with too.  "Real" law school classes start on Monday, and I think Jared is mostly excited.  I am too actually.  Mostly we're both excited to find out what it's going to be like and how much we can plan on seeing each other.  Big things this week:

Luke:  Luke can take a few crawls up on his knees now before he starts slithering on his stomach again, so he should be real crawling really soon.  He also learned to pull himself up using the couch and other objects.  He stands up to look at his little CD player a lot--the problem: he can't get back down.  Luke loves his CD player.  He has found the pause button (but doesn't know to push it again to get the music to come back) and the volume control.  Luke also decided that the pool is pretty fun.  He's started splashing and smiling in the water instead of just zoning out while we walk around with him.  I think he likes sitting on the steps of the pool the best (always with me keeping a hand on him--don't worry, mom!)  Luke also went to sleep BY HIMSELF several times this week.  When I say by himself, I mean that I put him down, tucked him in, and he went to sleep without screaming and without having to be rocked. Go Luke!!!  On Tuesday, there was an ice cream social at the nursing home where Luke and I volunteer, so Luke got to demonstrate to every body what a little pig he is when it comes to ice cream.  (See pictures to left and below)  Luke's major damage this week: I let him chew on the remote control, and he bit the reset button.  That screwed up everything so that the television wouldn't do anything (not even play DVD's) because it kept scanning for channels trying to reset settings.  Well, we don't have cable and we hadn't bought an antennae, so we had NO channels which meant that the tv just kept scanning and scanning.  We had to buy an antennae just so the tv would stop scanning and Luke could watch his baby einstein again.  On the upside, we got to watch a few very FUZZY olympic events.  Luke had lots of fun with Papa yesterday.  Dad, Luke, and I went to Colonial Williamsburg to walk around for a little bit.  We'll probably go back on Sunday.

Stacy:  The biggest thing this week for me was something that I'm still not sure about.  In fact, I'm a little bit embarrassed.  I decided that I would get the started kit from Mary Kay to see if I would like selling.  If I was dedicated and a good saleswoman, I could make quite a bit of money.  The problem is that I'm not sure how dedicated I am and I may just have a box full of lots of base with nothing to do with it.  Of course, I could find out that I love it, so...anybody want to order Mary Kay??  Two really fun things happened for me this week.  On Tuesday night, Nora came over and brought paints and canvases.  We painted and talked.  I made a blue abstract painting that is really more than streaks on canvas, but I really like it and I had lots of fun making it.  I hung it in the living room over my computer so that I can look at it and feel happy.  Dad coming was my other big highlight.  It is so fun to show off our new apartment and get to talk to him in person.  I am also really excited to have one year of Amber's CDs.  Jared is going to be even more excited when I download them all onto his computer, but I don't have a choice because I can only add the songs onto my ipod from his computer.  So hopefully Jared will enjoy Michelle Branch, right?

Jared: I went through "law camp" this week. Basically it's a mix of orientation and classes. So, we get to meet other students (lots of cool kids here) and professors, eat ice cream, etc. We also got to learn in a classroom setting where professors sometimes used the Socratic Method. We even had homework and had to write a memo to our mock senior partner. One of the best parts of the week came Wednesday night when my "law firm" (about 15 of us under the senior partner) went to the senior partner's (his name is Rick Moschel) house for a pizza party. Aside from getting to chat with my fellow junior associates, I got to see what a successful lawyer's  house looks like. Dang.

Real classes are starting on Monday, so I am doing the readings today. Most of the professors here are world-renowned in their fields, so it is great to study under them. 

I learned yesterday that I will be working (as one of 76 graduate research fellows) at the law library (at the reference desk) and at Disability Services on the main campus. That second job worries me a little, because my supervisor there assumed I was an expert on disability law, which I am not. In fact, she seemed to assume that I had professional experience with disability law BEFORE coming to law school. She said that she wants me to write policy for the Disability Services Department for the University...gulp, gasp. In short, I haven't a clue what to do, but I'm optimistic that after reading the Americans with Disabilities Act a few times I'll get my feet under me. Riiiiight.

 

Jared started law school orientation today.  There was a special meeting for spouses and significant others this evening at which I found out that law school orientation is more like an extra week of classes for students.  

Luke had a hard day because I dragged him to Wal-mart and to Cosco.  Luke doesn't like shopping because it means he can't roll around and play.  Luke is so good at his little army crawl.  He kind of struggles knowing when to stop though, so he has a lot of bumps on his head from crawling into things.  We've had to barricade all the corners in the living room so that Luke won't be able to play with the lamp cords.  However, it's just impossible to baby proof everything.  Luke gets stuck under chairs a lot, and really, what can I do about that?  Get rid of all our chairs?

I have lost one pound!  Woo hoo!  Not a lot, I know, but if I can loose 1 pound every week, I can be skinny in a couple of months.  I've gotten to where I can run for about 40 minutes without stopping.  I think that's the longest I've ever gone.  I know I was supposed to run at least that long during junior high track practice, but I always ran just far enough that the coach couldn't see me, and then I would swing on the swings at Lieder Elementary.  Now you know why I never won a race.  Other fun events: On Friday night I went with a friend to hang out with some girls from church.  We made out own slip and slide.  My best technique was to slide on my knees.  I could go pretty far.  It was really fun.

Okay, not to be completely negative, but I've found some new pet peeves.  1: I bought a book shelf at Wal-mart today, and the picture on the box shows about 15 books spread out on a 5 shelf bookshelf.  Hello.  It's called a bookshelf.  It is not a vase shelf or a woven basket shelf.  They need a new picture.  2:  Bathrooms without changing stations.  Next time I go to a store or a restaurant without one, I want to just go back into the hallway (or the table) and change him right there.  3:  People who don't vote on my blog.  Only one person has voted: me!