kaput

The big news during the last two weeks—my computer died. Yep, died. The hard drive crashed and burned and broke my heart. Mr. Computer Man (Nate) tried his best to fix it, but it was beyond his abilities, which are substantial indeed. (Mainly because my computer is a Mac and Nate's a PC man.) (And apparently iMac hard drives are impossible for any mortal human to remove without destroying the entire computer.) We finally took it to a repair shop and they told us what we already knew—the hard drive was shot. However many dollars later my computer was back safe at home with a brand new hard drive. The only problem was that all of my pictures and videos and design projects from the past 3 years were on the old hard drive! We weren't sure if we were going to be able to recover anything on our own, and the cost for having someone else do it is ridiculous. Nate has been working on recovering what he can, and so far it looks like I have all of our pictures. We're still working on finding missing fonts and things for my projects, but I think overall everything is okay. I had a few panic attacks over the whole thing, but now it's all okay.

Oh, and Nate and I went to the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City on the 24th. It was our Christmas present to ourselves; we just had to wait until July to enjoy it. And for anyone who is thinking about going down and enjoying the festivities there—there are no festivities. I told Nate that they should rename it the Utah Shakespearean Play in the Evening, because that's all it was. I was under the impression that there would be entertaining things to do and see all day, so we arrived about 7 hours before the show started. We ate lunch, looked at the fine art exhibit (1 tiny room of pictures), walked around the SUU campus, browsed through the "gift shop," and then decided to go back to our hotel and watch a Redbox movie on the laptop. Don't get me wrong—we still had a good time. We were just disappointed in the festival aspect of the festival. We saw As You Like It and enjoyed it very much. The production was great, and the actors were professional. I love watching Shakespeare, so I really liked it. Nate tolerates watching Shakespeare, so he only regular liked it. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures to share from that weekend. Sorry.

As for Colin's latest and greatest tricks, he can finally clap. He still loves to dance, and his moves are getting more and more hilarious. He can sign please, thank you, more, eat, drink, all done, bath, and music. He makes the sounds for duck, cow, sheep, monkey, weasel, snake, elephant, dog. He can say Mama and Dada and Hot and Up and Hi and Bye-bye and Whoa/Wow, and he's working on No and Stop and Yes. He also loves to shake his head, and we're trying to get him to nod but he just moves his whole body up and down. That's all I can remember right now.

Okay, and now on to the pictures and videos!

Colin got a couple of cards with some birthday money from his Aunt Gina and Great-Granny Charles. I finally got him some presents with his cash a few weeks ago. He got a new shirt, a huge blue ball, and a brush. That's right, a brush. The boy loves to carry a brush around and brush his hair. Sometimes I think that having a girl won't be too much different than having Colin.

When we first brought the ball inside he kept trying to pick it up and carry it around with him. It was a little big, but he managed to do it.

He chased that ball around the house the rest of the afternoon.

The pretty boy with his pretty brush. Thanks Great-Granny and Gina!

I keep trying to get good videos of Colin dancing, but he prefers to try and grab the camera when I bring it out. I did manage to get these snippets when we were playing with the keyboard one Sunday before church. I hear that Colin's cousin Rachel used to dance like this with her keyboard too.

One of Colin's favorite new games is playing with his plate when he's done eating. He rubs it all over his head. I have a drawer in the kitchen filled with miscellaneous tupperware for Colin to play in, and he likes to put a container over his face and walk around the kitchen singing. I haven't successfully caught that part on video yet, but here he is playing with a plate.

I attached a little bear cuff thing to Colin's leg and let him try to get it off himself. Hilarity ensued.

I was trying to get Colin to sit still in the chair so I could take a picture of him to show off how much cuter he gets every day—but Colin didn't want to cooperate. He wanted me to spin the ceiling fan (which is broken and won't go on it's own). I don't know what it is with that kid, but he is obsessed with the ceiling fan. He loves to watch it.

This is the "best" picture I got, and it's kind of funny looking.

Nate has been working hard the last few weeks getting the east and west sides of our house ready for grass. He's hauled dirt around, hoed weeds, dug trenches, and put in new sprinklers. His dad has been a big help. I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll put some in when it's all finished. Anyway, Nate was out working yesterday, and then he came inside for a snack. Colin found him sitting on the floor in the kitchen and decided to share his trail mix.

I left a rag on the counter to clean up with and he decided to help me out by doing it himself.

I left a laundry basket upside-down and Colin decided it would help him in his efforts to get into all the stuff he's not supposed to on my nightstand.

My naughty little boy can now reach anything in any drawer in the bathroom. He can also grab most of the stuff on the counter.

In other family news, I continue to grow bigger every day. I think I'm at the stage now where I look pregnant and not just chubby. I really dislike that in between time when you look like you've gained weight but people can't tell you're pregnant. Blah. Colin and I go for a walk every evening around the neighborhood. He loves it because he loves being outside, and I love it because it keeps him happy in that crucial half hour before bathtime and bedtime. Also, it's the only exercise I get during the day. (Unless you count me trying to get my fat self down on the floor to wipe up Colin's mess after every meal.)