Elizabeth Ann Bauman

So it is late and I am significantly tired but I wanted to put these pictures out there. Sorry that I do not posses Jacob's natural ability for clear, artistic pictures.

Elizabeth was born 2:52 Friday morning on December 29, 2006. She was 5 lbs 4 oz, 17 inches.

Jacob Originals

So my kids have been particularly funny lately. To start Amelia has lost 4 teeth in the last month and so in turn has gained 4 whole dollars from the tooth fairy. Well it seems that all that money has gone to her head. Last Sunday (the morning her final dollar appeared) Julie and I were debating on whether we really wanted to get out of bed when we heard an upset Jacob approaching followed closely by Amelia. It was clear Amelia had done something to Jacob that he didn't appreciate and he was going to tell us about it. Not wanting to be as sharing with their going ons Amelia was trying to persuade him to not tell us. Just as he got to our door we heard Amelia plead her final offer, "I'll give you a dollar if you don't tell!" Well if that wasn't funny enough later that night I overheard Amelia ask for the toothpaste during teeth brushing. "I'll give you 100 dollars if you give me the toothpaste." I wish I could get the interest that turns 4 dollars into 100 in such a short time. In other Amelia news, here is a picture of Amelia with her new bangs.


Jacob has also had his funny moments as well. You'll have to ask about the undie dance. But on top of his significant comfort with his own body we discovered last night that Jacob has an artist side that we didn't know about. I was working on a photo project last night so I plugged the camera into the computer to transfer some recent shots. To my surprise I found many random photos that I didn't remember taking. "Julie, have you been taking random pictures?" Nope, not her. Jacob. Well, we explained the importance of not using the camera without permission or when we were aware of it, but as it turned out some of the pictures aren't too bad. So here are a few.









And a special request from Andrea. Here is a picture of Julie. The due date is 1 month from today but we are hoping for an earlier arrival in 3 WEEKS!!!!

Blog Redemption

There is only one way to redeem myself from having neglected posts for so long....post pictures of my cute kids. This first picture was inspired by my wonderful sister. She kept asking if the leaves have started falling yet. Well Phelan, they are falling. This picture was in the beginning of it all. A guy from work let me borrow his leaf blower to collect and mulch my leaves. This was more at his request then mine because as it turns out it is way easier to rake and hand bag leaves then it is to blow them around and then mulch them. The only disadvantage of that is it takes more bags. So far I have filled 23 large black bags with leaves and I haven't even done the back yard. But I think the leaf season is over for the most part now. Phelan when you come here (which we are very excited about) I have more leaf pictures for you.


This second picture is of the kids' new PJs. I wasn't going to post it but it is just too cute. We got these about a week ago and the kids are loving them. Other recent happenings of the kids include a end of soccer season party, Jacob tried to shave but has decided to wait, and Amelia has lost 3 teeth. That of course is the last picture. She is very excited about it too because the tooth fairy has come 3 times leaving 3 whole dollars. I sure wish there was a hair fairy. I'd be rich. :)


Well, I do apologize for not posting for so long. Really though there hasn't been much exciting going on. But at the same time I have been very busy. I will try and be better moving forward. Things to look forward to include Cindy and Dave's visit, Thanksgiving, and more blogging fun. Actually, I want to plug Stephen's blog again. He is amazing with his blog. He is constantly putting up new songs and updating. You should really check it out (and leave a comment) But after Thanksgiving he will be posting Christmas songs. Not only is this a fun idea but I will be trying to contribute a little. I have been working on compiling some of my favorite Christmas songs and albums with comments to send to him for his blog. So check it out.

This year's Halloween

My last posts have shown you pictures from last year's Halloween, but I finally have pictures from this year. As you can see Amelia is little mermaid and Jacob is Superman. The pictures are from the ward Halloween party. It was pretty fun. I typically have some reservations about being social but every once in a while I make an effort. In this case the results were pretty good. We have made some good friends here. It is funny though because our best friends have actually just moved here from Utah as well. Also, I have found one sure fire way to making friends in the ward. Stay and help clean up. This observation actually started last week. So last week I went to clean the church. I wasn't originally scheduled to do so but I had missed my turn the week before so I volunteered to make up for it. But in addition to that I had cleaned the church two weeks prior because the quorum leader had called and asked if I could help because they were short. Anyway, when I showed up last week the guy that lets people in and is kind of the church maintenance man recognized me and was surprised to see me. He seemed really grateful I was there and a big deal that I had come twice in such a short period. For me however it didn't seem like a big deal. Cleaning is easy. If I could clean myself into celestial glory then I would be set. OK, back to last night. Our good friends are on the activities committee so I thought it would be nice to stay and help clean. (Which come to find out the Elders were in charge of but nobody ever mentioned it last Sunday) Well, the point of all this is that I think the cleaning up was just as fun as the party because I got to talk and joke with the others that were cleaning. So my observation is that helping is by far a better way to make friends then partying.

Today was also a fun day. Our good friends came over to watch the BYU vs. Air Force game. We BBQed hamburgers and watched and visited. BYU kind of dominated so it got to be kind of boring because we were going to win and there wasn't much drama. I like my football when my team wins with drama. Afterwards we carved pumpkins. I did the old woman/witch from Snow White and Julie did the cute little face. I have another pumpkin but it actually takes a long time to carve these so maybe I will do it tomorrow.

New Jersey, Permits, and Pie

Well, thank you all for asking about New Jersey, but as it turned out I didn't go. I think it was for the best that I didn't because it would have been a wasted trip. A lot happened and it would have been bad to have missed it. Also, I think the company that we were trying to get the bid from had already decided to not go with us.

In other random news I got my motorcycle permit last week. I know that doesn't mean too much (and to some of my family it is more of a bad thing) but it feels like I am getting one step closer to my Vespa. In case you haven't heard I am hoping to get a Vespa soon. I think the soonest it would happen is next spring but I am so excited. If you want to check it out it is the Vespa GTS. I have test rode it and it is so nice. Two guys at work have gotten scooters in the past two months and they keep asking when I am getting mine. One of the guys has offered to let me use his to get my license but for now I am happy with the permit.

So I am watching Michael as I am writing this and the part about pie just came on. I love that part. I love pie. I think it would be so fun to go to a great small town diner and just order two pieces of every pie (except the ones with nuts). Personally I am a fruit pie guy myself but Julie is definitely a cream pie person. Sometimes I wonder how we every manage to get along :) Well, that is all for now. I mostly just wanted to give an update about NJ since people had asked about it. Well, that and since Whitney has thrown down the gauntlet about posting so little (at least I hope that is what she meant) I feel the need to post more often, even if they are boring posts.

And the winner is.......

So my group won the $25 gift card at work. I found out that two of the programmers that are from BYU were speculating who would win one day and both agreed that I would. I think they were bummed they weren't on my team. We had our choice of several places and I chose Best Buy. The worst part of winning $25 dollars is trying to figure out how I am going to spend it. I just want too much. So knowing this about myself I gave Julie the chance to pick where I got the gift card but she didn't catch the hint. So after much debate I bought Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 with an expansion pack for Julie and the new Barenaked Ladies (or BNL when I am around my mother) CD. In case you didn't know I am a big fan the Ladies. LOL :-) I have to give credit to Stephen and his blog however for letting me know that they had a new album. Everybody needs to visit his blog. One of his latest posts was inspired by me (at least I will claim it) because I asked him about a group called OK Go. He posted a video for one of their songs. It is funny. Stephen, of course, is a great guy. He is one the few things that I really miss about Utah. Ahhh, good times. But anyway, the new album is great. It feels more mellow then most of the past albums but I love it. (Yes I believe it is possible for me to not like a BNL album, just unlikely) To me it feels like their Christmas album "Barenaked for the Holidays". 'Course that may be just a result of being really excited to start listening to Christmas music. I know it is way too early but I just can't help myself. Anyway, I love BNL's Christmas album. It is very cool. It was one of the favorites last year among my office mates and other classmates that would stop by my office. Maybe I will do a post on Stephen's blog about it when the season is right.


Let's see......I have lost my momentum a little but I know there is something else I had in mind for tonight. Oh well, just enjoy the cute picture of Julie and Jacob from Amelia's soccer scrimmage tonight. Amelia's soccer ends this week. I think she has had a good time and she has definitely developed some stamina in the process. She really doesn't do much more then run around but at this age that is all soccer is anyway.

October Conflict

Ahhhhh, October. Fall leaves. College football. Cool mornings. And the impending doom of Halloween. That's right I am not one that gets excited about Halloween. There were those days when I did but I have tried to forget them, not unlike those days when I wore MC Hammer pants. But I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I am not one of those that doesn't like it because 'Halloween is a pagan holiday'. In fact, I am willing to endure Halloween just to make those people uneasy. But let's not dwell on that (I have nieces and a mom that reads this blog). This is a picture of the pumpkins that Dave and I made last year. Mine is the less cool one. I think this year I will try the one Dave did and new one. And therein lies my internal conflict. I hate Halloween but Julie has a talent for finding the one thing that peaks my interest. Also, watching my kids get excited over these things is enough to hide my dislike. What a softy.

Well, honestly there is nothing to report except randomness. That is why the blog hasn't been updated. It turns out that deciding on what randomness to write about is difficult. Work has been busy. Home is busy. But neither one has been exciting enough to report. Next week I might have to go to New Jersey for work. At first I was excited about this but now that some of the reality of what I have to do has set in I am not so sure. I guess we will see. So as I finish this post I suddenly have lots of ideas for what I should have posted about. I should really keep a list as things hit me. Sorry, you'll have to just enjoy the picture for now.

New Van and Free Stuff

So most of the family already knows this but last weekend we got a new minivan. Julie is very excited. So are the kids. We feel like we got a good deal and while this van doesn't have every convenience of the modern world it is very nice. The nicest thing about it is that we are no longer a one car family. Leaving my family stranded while I was camping was too stressful so we went ahead and got this.

My random thought for the day is to comment on the influence of free stuff. We had a training at work the other day and afterwards they gave us 'homework'. I would have done it under normal circumstances but then they offered a $25 gift card to the team that finished first. Well, I was sold. To add to the motivation, I was responsible for the majority of the task which meant that free stuff for other people was on the line. Well, this morning I turned in the work for the team and we were first. Now I just hope it was right so we get those gift cards. Well, it made me think about all the crazy stuff I have done for free stuff. T-shirts in particular can make me do crazy things like run a 5k. But I have my limits. I won't wait in long lines for free stuff. You put large crowds in lines for a long time for free stuff and the nasties come out of the woodworks. I have enough issues with people without putting myself around them when they get rude and mean. But I'll save that for another post and keep this one happy.

Thank-you everyone for your comments. It has been so fun to read them. Keep posting!

Glasses and Scouts

This blog was created with the intent on giving me a place to put down some of my thoughts on the things that happen. However, for my 'first' post I want to just show off my cute daughter and her new glasses. My daughter and I both got glasses this last week. I have actually worn glasses for most of my life so I just got new ones. However, these are the first glasses for my daughter. She is so excited. I don't know what inspired her enthusiasm but it is cute. I was worried that the kids at school would damper her excitement by making fun of her but so far everyone is being pretty nice.


So my wife's family is really into scouting. Actually, it's not that they are crazy about it, it's just that they are almost all Eagle Scouts. A few years ago my wife's family had a family reunion/birthday party for her grandmother at which they had a court of honor. If you haven't ever been to a court of honor, at one point they have all the Eagle Scouts come up and form an 'Eagle's nest'. Well, let's just say that I was one of a few males left sitting in the crowd and those others were just not old enough to be Eagle's yet. But no worries, I made a choice to not be a scout when I was young and I don't regret it one bit. I know that scouting has it's good side but I also have other thoughts that my wife has told me I am not allowed to say in the presence of her family. Anyway, she has always said that I will have my chance to be a leader in scouts so that I can learn to appreciate it. Well, a couple of weeks ago she got her wish because I was called to be an assistant scout master of the 11 year old scouts. This last weekend we had a overnighter and to say the least it was interesting. It turns out that 11 year old boys can't do anything except play in a fire. Actually, they are very capable but whenever we asked them to do anything it was "But I don't know how." Some were eventually willing to try and were usually successful. However, some never would try and whined and cried at every thing. It was sad to see what city boys these boys were. So as a result I have decided that it is my quest to make sure my kids are not afraid of nature touching them.