Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We are filled with gratitude this winter season. Our friends and family have been a wonderful support this month. All of the genuine love and service shown to us is humbling. As we truy to muddle through everyday challenges, we can see the hand of God guiding and sustaining us to accomplish things that seem almost impossible.  It has helped us to better as a family and as individuals.

I personally am grateful for my association with the woman's organization at church, Relief Society. I am the assistant secretary there and with the responsibilities given to me with that position, I have had the chance to be strengthened by my friendships with dozen of faithful women who are ready at a moments notice to say the right words of comfort and support, to share the load, and to readily serve and support one another.

I also have another responsibility as the Ward Choir Director. Why they chose me for that calling, I am still trying to figure out. :) it has been a real stretch for me, since I have never been very comfortable leading music or being the one completely in charge of a large group of people. I have played the piano/organ for church for over 12 years but leading music is a lot harder for me. But again, I see blessings as I do what is asked of me. We had a little program for Christmas on Sunday and the pieces we performed were absolutely beautiful. I felt the spirit very strongly.

Chris is still busy with the young men. The bishop recently asked him to meet with all the boys in the class and their parents to determine where they are in their Scouting and another personal enrichment program called Duty to God. The church combines these two programs to prepare young men physically and spiritually to serve their two-year full time missions, and to be upstanding citizens, and good fathers and husbands. So that's a pretty hefty weight of responsibility when you are working with 16-18 year old teenage boys! Chris enjoys it though. He is finding ways to connect with the boys, to help them to have more focus and direction in their lives. I am proud of him for taking on such a difficult set of responsibilities and trying his best. I married a keeper!

Chris is working harder than ever at work right now. Since it is Christmas break and most of the students are out of town for the break, he is getting crazy middle of the night hours with his Tile Maintenance crew on campus. He has been working from midnight to eight in the morning every day this week and will be working an extra temporary job here in town on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for an extra 10 hours a day on top of his normal shifts at school. Luckily it's only for three days but I feel really bad for all the sleep he is missing. I love him so much and am grateful that he takes his role as our provider so seriously.

Westley is growing like a weed! He has grown out of all of his 12-18 month clothes, and now can fit even some 2T clothes. He has the cutest personality. He loves people and especially other children and babies. We are enjoying his discovery of communication. He tells a lot more what he wants or doesn't want with a lot of eye contact, grunts, very direct facial expressions, and simple words. It's pretty cute whenever someone hands him something he gives a high then low pitched, " Dak-Deuce" ( thank you). He still likes to run around saying " Football!", and he likes the Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood kids tv show which is inspired by Mister Rogers Neighborhood. He recently got a set of blocks and at the moment is throwing them over the baby gate and watching them tumble downstairs. No matter how many times we tell him not to throw the blocks, he still thinks that is their purpose in life. Goofy kid! He is all boy.

 We hope and pray you are all well and that you have wonderful Christmas season. If you haven't received a card from us for Christmas, don't worry. We decided it would be better to send New Years cards this time. We love you all and wish you the very best this season.  

Love,

 The Wyman's

Brrrr! It's White Out There!

Westley's Halloween Costume (Zebra)

Hello from the world of winter! *sigh* Yes, the snow came. I should have known better... We went to the local high school performance of Irving Berlin's White Christmas on Friday night, and sure enough, the next morning we woke to about an inch and a half of cold, wet snow. I don't know why I always dread the first snow. Eventually, I love the crisp feeling in the air and the moonlight shimmering across a glittery, white landscape, but somehow I always get just a tad grumpy when it suddenly appears. Chris is much better about it. He likes snow. Must have grown up in Virginia, or something. :P

I have some pictures to post of this story as soon as I find where Westley hid our IPod. (He is good about us playing "Hide and Seek" for weeks)... So we woke up to the snow and Chris decided to shovel our driveway before we packed it down with our car. He went to work on it and was doing great. Westley woke up and searched the house for him like he does every single morning. I thought he would think the snow was cool, since he was too little to care about it last year, so I threw open the blinds and curtains and showed him the wintery covering. He was really confused why the world was white. He kept looking at me like something was wrong. Then I pointed out Daddy plowing the snow.  Westley did not have the reaction I expected. He looked at me and started to bawl. My fun-lovin', easy-goin' kid takes after me when it comes to seeing the first snow. Hahaha!

I kept saying, "No, it's ok! It's Daddy!" I motioned Chris over to show Wes that it was okay, but it took us forever to get him to be okay with the new experience. Chris took off his hat and smiled and waved, but nothing would make him smile, until Daddy started to throw snowballs at the window. That did it. The tears turned to giggles. We'll wait to take him out in it for another day when we are all feeling brave. :)

As far as other news, Chris has been battling a horrible cough for three weeks and has not gotten his voice back yet. He went to the doctor last week and they said he was on the mend, but it sure doesn't sound like it. We have been doing everything under the sun to help him get back to regular life (REALLY), but looks like we just have to be patient some more. I have a scratchy throat, but nothing too serious.

Westley is healthy and strong. He keeps us running all day long, both of us. His favorite activities currently include sneaking over to the kitchen table and pulling out a chair to lift himself onto the table top, dancing on tables, climbing on top of the piano, and reading books backwards and upside down. He has added new words to his vocabulary, like "bed", "uh-oh!", and "Jesus". He frequently points to pictures of the Savior in our house and at church and smiles widely, points and says, "Jesus". He loves being in Nursery class at church because they sing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", which is his favorite song. He also has been very affectionate to his little orange stuffed dinosaur. We often find him watching Baby Einstein with it on his lap or beside him and catch him kissing it on top of the head repeatedly. We love our little boy. He is growing much too fast.

With the holidays coming, we think of home and family more. We miss you all and wish we could be together. Looking forward to hearing news of Sarah's baby girl (due around New Years), and pray all goes well with their family. Can't wait to hear of the rest of your festivities! Love to all.

Lindsey Wyman

Toddler Time

   These last two months have gone by so fast and have been filled with adventure.  Westley is growing so much and definitely can be called a toddler now. He hit his year and a half mark six days ago, which means he is officially nursery age.  In our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have 3 hours of church.  The fist hour is our main meeting called Sacrament Meeting, which is where we take the bread and water and hear talks by individuals from the congregation.  Well the other two hours are for Sunday school.  During Sunday school there is a nursery for toddlers 1and ½ and up.  Westley finally gets to go and I don’t have to chase him around the church for two hours.  He loves nursery so much, he was mad when I took him out to go home.  

   Well, Westley has also grown to become very helpful.  He hands Lindsey dirty dishes that she just put in the dishwasher, thinking it’s time to put them away.  He also hands me his jacket and points to the closet making an ooh, ooh sound.  He is so much fun and I am grateful to be his dad.  Saturdays are Westley/Dad days.  The two of us like to kick back and watch a good BYU football game together.  He claps when I cheer and always gets excited, running around the house announcing Football! Football!

   A few weeks ago, Lindsey, West, and I traveled to Salt Lake City for our churches General Conference.  On that Saturday, we went to a bounce house where they had tons of bounce house play areas.  Westley got so excited he couldn’t contain it and ran everywhere.  It was so much fun and we learned that he is such a thrill seeker.  He loved the slides even though they were twice as fast as a normal one.

   Last Sunday we traveled to Idaho Falls to participate in our friends baby blessing. After the service we spent time with them and there family for dinner and conversation.  Westley saw the newborn in a newborn bouncy seat and West gently rocked the newborn.  It was so cute. He loves other kids and babies.

   

I am sorry that this entry is so short, but I will make sure we post again next week. Until then, We love you! Take care.

Vacation!!!

Well, this "weekly" blog is turning out to be more like a "quarterly" blog. Sorry folks! :) Time runs away from us, fast.

I wrote this portion WAYYYYY back in August when we got back from our North Carloina/Orlando trip:

We have had a fulfilling summer. We said goodbye to dear friends and family in July as a group of our favorite people all graduated. It's kind of fun to see how everyone's lives pan out. Our friends are leaving and making their mark on the world everywhere from Washington to Oklahoma. Hopefully we can keep in touch!

We had a very special chance to visit Chris's family this summer. My sweet friend, Kierra, who was my roommate when Chris and I were engaged, was able to come and stay with Zella for 10 days so we could take a much needed vacation. We left July 23 for Utah as soon as Chris finished his finals. Boy, were we all excited to have his done with the semester!

We hurried down to our favorite spot in Salt Lake, "The Gateway" shopping and entertainment plaza. We love it there! It reminds us of the Branson Landing touristy shopping center where we had so much fun two summers ago. Anyway, The Gateway, though built for the Salt Lake Oylmpics and has a modern aura, is connected to a beautiful old Union Pacific train station house. It is a fun place to eat, listen to live music, people watch, and to just window shop (which we are getting pretty good at - that window shopping!).  Westley's favorite part is the dancing fountains that kids can run through. Being the water lover he is, you can imagine he doesn't stay dry long.

We stayed the night in the Airport Inn Hotel, which was clean, though run-down, and the service was stinky. Oh well, it was good to get some sleep before we had to be at the airport at 4am. Westley was great on all of the flights but one, which is saying something because I think we were on 8 different flights at least throughout the trip. 

We flew into Norfolk about 6pm where we were picked up by Chris's little sister, Sarah. It was great to have time to spend with her and her husband, Brian. We had a lot of fun together. Sarah drove us to Grandma and Grandpa Grigg's house in Elizabeth City, NC. It was very pretty down there, with lots of trees and fields. Kinda made me homesick for the Midwest again. Idaho has some pretty places and a certain level of majesty from the mountains, but I sure miss my rolling hills and green luscious fields. Westley had lots of fun getting into his Great-Grandma's toys and just about everything else. :D What a boy! We loved spending time together. Westley also feel in love with Sarah's puppy, Dory. She quickly became "his" dog and would follow him around the house licking his fingers and toes and making his giggle. Whenever they were together, you could tell they were just as happy as could be! 

After four days at Grandma's we were sad to leave, but glad the vacation was scarcely started. I didn't realize how much work it is to get me to relax! HAHA. Sounds familiar... my dad always took several days to unwind before he could leave the workload and responsibilities behind. Hmmm, father-like-daughter, I guess. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Chesapeake with Brian and Sarah our last night in VA and went down to Virginia Beach in the evening. Westley LOVED the sand. He thought it was the coolest thing ever! We played mini-golf there too. It was a blast! 

We also took him to a fantastically huge playground in Chesapeake called The Fun Forest. We highly recommend taking your kids there! Except for the humidity, we could have stayed there playing for hours. 

We flew from Norfolk to Orlando, where we were picked up by Dad and Lisa. I have to say hands down, it was the best trip to Orlando we've ever had. Everyone enjoyed each other so much. Westley loved swimming with Grandpa every single day and we had a blast with everyone at Disneyworld too! We enjoyed spending lots of time with Aunt Jackie too. We love our family so much and look forward to future trips to spend more time together! 

We're Alive!

            These last few weeks have been a blur.  I’ve (Chris) been so busy with my upper level Biology and Chemistry classes that I don’t know when I’ve had time to breathe.  Lindsey has been very busy helping Zella, working in a new calling for our church, and keeping track of a baby who now runs around the house and growing up fast. 

Westley has been growing up a lot.  He is not just walking now but sprinting and trying to climb.  His favorite thing to do is walk around the house with a phone in hand talking and giggling to the imaginary person on the other line.  (I think he gets that from Lindsey).  His favorite food is any type of berry, especially Blueberries! He can’t get enough of them. 

Lindsey’s new calling in our church is being a secretary to the Relief Society Presidency.  The relief society is the woman’s organization in our church and let me tell you they are way more organized than any of the men.  Lindsey has her hands full, but she loves it, especially being able to get to know and serve the other ladies in our ward (congregation).  I’m very proud of her and all she does.  She is an inspiration to Westley and me.

 I still work with the young men, which at times can be a daunting task, but I love it.  I am grateful to see how prepared our youth are for the difficulties ahead.  I am also as mentioned before, trying to finish these last few semesters of my Bachelor’s degree here at BYU-Idaho.  I love learning how our bodies work at the molecular level.  It brings an added testimony to me of the Love and Miracle our Heavenly Father provided in the gifts of our bodies.  It amazes me all that goes on molecularly every second that keeps us alive.  Though they may become frail at times, our bodies were a miracle and gift from God. 

We love all of you (family and friends).  Thank you for your love and support.  Westley can’t wait to see his Great Grandparents and Aunt Sarah, Uncle Brian, Grandpa Joel, Grandma Lisa, and Aunt Jackie.  Just one month until we see you. 

Here are some new pictures of Westley. 

Spring Has Sprung!

Hooray! The warm weather is here! For how long remains to be seen, since we do live in Rexburg (aka Iceburg). We always seem to get crazy snow storms all throughout the "spring" months, sometimes even through summer! Let's hope it leaves us alone for a while, because Chris, Westley and I are loving the warmth. We got to go out to St. Anthony for a drive to look at the notorious Sand Dunes in the middle of the mountains near Rexburg. Here is a picture of what the dunes look like, aerial view: 

March was an extremely hectic month. Chris got his teeth fixed, Westley is starting to get some hair (kinda), and I, Lindsey, gave myself a haircut. New beginnings all around. : ) We are working even harder to eat healthier, exercise, and accomplish our personal and family goals. I have been working more diligently to combat my fibromyalgia pains through exercise, diet, and stress reduction. We really value our few short hours together for family fun. Here are some pictures of our activities: 

Storytime with Daddy

Our Little Monster

Looking at Easter Chicks

Helping with Housework

Chris helps a lot with this when he can by running home after work to give me a little bit to exercise and go out of the house before he has to hurry back to school. I am trying to do yoga and learn to relax the painful muscle cramps and foggy headaches that pop up all day long. We also have a deal, he will do the dishes every day, if I take the time to write a novel. He is so sweet. I'm really excited to be writing again, since I stopped when I got to college. I've taken up sewing again too, and am loving it. I'm working on a baby Ducky quilt for a friend, helped my cousin make an Easter skirt, and made a baby girl Onesie Dress for a friend's baby shower. Here are the skirt and the dress...

Chris has a new hobby that he has discovered as well. He will probably chide me for mentioning this, but he LOVES to sing! He is getting better at developing his voice and working the kinks out of his technique. Almost every evening before he goes to bed, Zella and I sit in the living room and listen to him practice. His favorite songs to sing come from Les Miserables and My Fair Lady, and always church hymns. We are working on expanding the repetouire. : ) I challenged him to try out for the local playhouse production of Les Miserables next month, but he probably won't have time to commit to it with all the things he is already involved in with school and church. 

Westley is growing by leaps and bounds. We took him to get shots recently and they said he is in the 93rd percentile for height and 87th for weight. He always begs for food at the table (but still eats EVERYTHING he finds off the ground :P), and has started to baby babble a lot more. He has said "Mama", "Bath", and "Dada" over the last two weeks. Walking with his baby walker toy from Auntie Jackie is his favorite thing. He is cruisin' around like nobody's business! Video collections below: 

Oh, by the way, we also just found out that Westley knows how to use the Wii remote to turn on his favorite Netflix show, Kipper... I'm in for a world of trouble now! :D Since the weather has turned fair, he and I have gone on more walks with my friend Lisa and her daughter Clair. Clair and Westley are pretty much best friends. Here are some pictures/videos of their fun together: 

Anyway, that's what we've been up to. We hope you have all had a wonderful Easter weekend! We are so grateful for our family, for the Savior, and for the sacrifice that He made so that we can be reunited with our dear loved ones again some day. We love you all and are grateful for your love and support!