Bon Jovi and Jimmer take over

There has been quite a bit of commotion in our home this past week. As you probably heard in the video, we have been listening to the music of Bon Jovi a lot because mom and dad are going their Salt Lake concert tomorrow (this was mom’s Christmas gift to dad). They are getting really excited but are also sad their friend, Dan who was originally going to come with them, has moved and can no longer make it. On their way, I will be dropped off at Smith’s in Draper. I’m sure I’ll have a great time there because I get to go see Cousin Jake play the drums in a band concert.
Another contributor to the commotion has been Jimmer and BYU’s basketball team. As most of you know, it is March Madness and BYU has made it to the Sweet 16 in the national collegiate tournament. Mom and dad are a little addicted. If it were possible, their lives would revolve around me and watching basketball right now. After the last game that BYU dominated, dad was doing an Irish jig in the living room for the last ten minutes. If you have a few minutes, here are some you tube videos that are pretty entertaining:
If you watch closely, you can see 2 of my old roommates dancing beside the 3rd.


This video is funnier if you have seen the “bed intruder” music video also on youtube.


The last contributor to the commotion is mostly mom’s fault. On Saturday she had her last organized Church Basketball game. At the very end of the game, she went in for a steal and jammed her right hand middle finger. Either it is the worst jam she has ever had (and she has had quite a few) or dad’s right when he says there may be sprained or fractured. Anyway, the commotion comes when mom and dad bicker about how to care for it. Dad deals with this everyday and obviously knows how to heal it, but mom isn’t very good about listening and following instructions. She was good on Saturday about icing it because she had to play piano in Church the next day but after that she hasn’t been very good. In her defense, putting your finger in ice cold water for 20 minutes 3 times a day and wearing a bulky splint all day and night is not fun especially when you have a crazy kid like me to take care of.

New Cousin!!

This is me in my “happy place”: no pants, warm milk in a bottle and of course my “melmo”.

The best update of all is that I have yet another boy cousin on the Schlenker side (that makes 5 grandsons on the Schlenker side so far and no girls; I guess Derek and his future wife will have to be in charge of making baby girls). Beckham Mark Schlenker was born on March 10 and joined Uncle Mark and Auntie Laurel’s family. They now have thee boys and I can’t wait to see them all again so we can all play. I am sure I will be as obsessed with little Beckham as Ashton and Nick were with me when I was younger. Mommy and me are always looking for ways to get up to Canada, so if you know of an inexpensive way, please let us know!!



I have been learning so many new words lately! The three latest are “all gone” (galgon), hat and elmo (melmo). I love watching Elmo on Sesame Street so when mom and dad found a stuffed Elmo for me, I was overjoyed! He even laughs when you push his belly.
So for the past couple of months I have not been dealing with as much separation anxiety as I have in the past. But in the last couple of weeks, I have been even more extreme and simply love strangers. Mom wishes she could put me in nursery now because she thinks I would thrive. Having babysitters is so fun and going out to play is even better. Last week at Stake Conference, I wasn’t thrilled about sitting on my mom’s lap so I went for a strole and found a very friendly teenage boy. I sat in his lap and ate my cracker for about the last 15 minutes of Conference. Mom and dad didn’t know what to think but they will definitely embrace this new development.

This is me in NURSERY! Even though I am not yet 18 months, dad has been taking me for the past couple of Sundays and so far I love it (he just has to stay with me the whole time because of the 18 month rule). The first time I went, I fell off the little person chair and cut my lip so I didn’t last the whole time. But this last Sunday went much better. Mom and dad are in shock that I am so grown up.

Last week, mom substituted for a music class again. I was able to stay with one of my best friends, Rusty who lives really close to us. His mommy is so nice and took very good care of me. Mom loves that she has nice people that she can trust close by because we are not geographically close to many family members. Last week turned out to be a great experience for both of us!

This video may need some explanation: Recently mom has discovered that some particular face movements make me laugh, specifically opening and shutting eyes and raising and lowering eyebrows. A couple of days ago I tried to imitate her and this video is of exactly that. My imitation attempts had mom laughing so hard she knew she had to share it. At the end, you can hear me singing my favorite song, “Poor Old Horse” which is pretty cute as well.



If I’m not walking outside, I’m crawling with shoes on my hands.