The Holmgrens

A Boy and his Monkey

2011-10-26T12:00:00.001-07:00

Mav and Monkey have become inseparable and I find that adorable...

Wheeler Farm

2011-10-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

I guess I've been to Wheeler Farm, but I don't remember it. Fair enough - I wouldn't want to drag 6 young kids to a place like this either, especially with moody teenagers at one end and crazy toddlers at the other.

In any case, it was fun to actually see it and remember it! When we were up in Utah this past weekend, Mav got to go with his cousin, Elodie, and they had a lot of fun together.

She's dressed in her cute skeleton costume and he's wearing a skeleton t-shirt, so they pretty much match ;-)

The only animal he showed any minute interest in?

Shaun the Sheep.

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails... Wait, that's gross...

2011-10-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

As far as toddlers go, people seem pretty convinced that girls are more mentally driven and boys are more physical. According to my mom, I broke the mold on that one by being a nut-job little girl, so between Danny and I there was really no hope that Mav was going to be a calm, relaxed sort of toddler. Things like this:

...are not unusual sights in this house. Walking across the arms of the couch, jumping from heights far too advanced for his age, and running way too fast into certain danger are standard behaviors for this little boy. But he's not atypical in this, as I've learned over the last few weeks. See, two weeks ago, he was running really, really fast. And he stopped very, very quickly when he ran into the corner of the CD cabinet. His head swelled instantly and we had to watch for concussion symptoms (which I remembered from Micah's incident).

The next morning, he did it again, same spot on his forehead, against a wall. In seconds, his head looked like this:

I ask you, how do you not panic?! This picture doesn't even do it justice. Every time he even brushed against it, it got bigger. I finally took him into the clinic. They sent us to the ER, who sent us home with instructions we already knew. "Watch for throwing up a lot, disorientation, etc, etc." Got it.

Luckily, he's been completely fine, he just looks awful. The bump has gone down but it's still there, and all of the fluid has seeped down into his eyes, giving him 2 black eyes.

Everyone that sees him just gives a little chuckle and says "Yep, that's a boys for you."

I think I'm in for a lot of ER visits with this kid...

The Haboob We Actually Saw...

2011-07-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

When we got home from the last Utah trip on July 5th, we got half a dozen texts from people asking us if we lived through the big dust storm.

Dust storm?

You mean the half a minute of wind we barely noticed hitting our windows when we were watching TV?

After watching the videos of it I was shocked. We missed a WALL of dust?! How did we do that?!

Frankly, I was disappointed. A massive tower of wind and dust and the only evidence it came through at all is a thin film of dirt on Danny's car? Not that I wanted felled trees or broken windows, but there was nothing!

I had finally gotten over my deep, soul-crushing sadness over missing this when I got a second chance. Monday night Danny, Maverick, and I were driving down Thunderbird toward the 17 (for some of you that means nothing, but it's kinda in the middle of the valley) when what we thought was just storm clouds turned into this:

And here, due to lighting, a far more dramatic representation (This one kinda looks like the cloud in Independence Day that's hiding the alien ships' initial arrival. Just without the fire and aliens inside.):

These pictures can't even begin to portray how huge this thing feels. Remember that scene in The Mummy where the tiny little plane is swallowed by the sand storm? Yeah, it's like that! But I don't think this one was started by an angry, curse driven zombie. Could be wrong. Just a hunch.

These storms are, apparently, pretty rare down here. They're a phenomenon called a haboob (no, I didn't make that up) that only happen in a select few places in the world including AZ and the Middle East. It's part of the monsoon weather (which is a technical term for heavy rains due to weather patterns of some such or another - not just a panicked term we here in AZ call any old rainstorm because they're such foreign, inexplicable things in our sunny desert!) and it has to have very specific conditions to occur.

And we happened to be driving into it.

Did it occur to us to turn around? Not really. How often do you get the chance to outrun a dust storm literally the size of Phoenix?! It was like driving in fog. The particles are so fine it's not like you hear it hitting the windshield or tearing at the car. It's dust, not sand or dirt. So it really didn't "feel" like anything.

The coolest part that isn't in the video is driving out of it. I took this picture to show the difference:

See the brown in the rearview? See the blue ahead? Yeah, that quickly things went from murky and dark to clear and bright.

It was actually really pretty.

On a side note, there was some destruction "near" to us. Our friends Nick and CJ were in the hospital having just welcomed their brand new baby boy, Wyatt, the day before when the dust storm blew their room's window in! Nick had to grab it before it fell on the baby! Scary!

Maverick Laughing (At Himself)

2011-06-20T23:31:00.001-07:00

Yay Zoo!!

2011-05-07T17:38:00.001-07:00

In a lot of ways, I think I'm still 5-years-old.

I still cut the crust off my sandwiches (they're gross!).

I love Gushers, Pop Tarts, and most things fake but delicious that I know I shouldn't eat but I do anyway.

And I tend to get inordinately excited over the silliest things.

Case in point: Not a month after we moved down here to Phoenix we got a zoo membership and have already been there a couple of times. I can't tell you how thrilled I was when I got that little pass in the mail! I can go to the zoo as much as I want? Heaven!

I have always loved going to the zoo and aquariums. I had the typical childhood fantasy of becoming a biologist of some sort (Marine biologist was the front runner until I realized that involved a lot of time underwater - no thank you!) and spending my days up to my armpits in smelly, wonderful animals. Once I decided to be a mom instead of a scientist (Was it really ever on the table? Yeah, not really, but it's a nice thought.), I knew that my love for animals was one big way I could connect with my toddler.

Yep. I'm still kind of a toddler, too, I guess.

The zoo is so much fun with Mav! He's so curious. I don't know how much he sees or understands yet, but he gets very interested in certain animals (the giant Komodo Dragon, for instance) and just stares in stunned silence - a feat not often accomplished with our little chatterbox!

Here's my boys, having fun together:

This is why Phoenix Zoo is so cool: you get so close to the animals! In the picture above you can kinda see a spider monkey just to the left of Mav's turned head. In that exhibit you're actually walking in and around the monkeys! How cool is that? They just tell you to not touch the monkeys or pretty much anything in the enclosure because they pee on everything. Below you can see how cool the cheetahs' exhibit is and the new orangutan exhibit. They've got 4 in there, including this funny little guy:

Lastly, for Grandpa Holmgren, an adorable koala that we were lucky we got to see since he and his friend were on their last day at the zoo:

Aren't they cute, lazy little fellas?

He's a little obsessed...

2011-04-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

This is how much this kid loves his Shaun the Sheep. It's pretty funny...

Maverick's in Training

2011-03-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

Mav is a stud. He decided he wanted to help Danny train for his triathlons, so he came up with this idea. I think if he can ever get over sitting with that helmet on for more than 10 minutes this will be mutually beneficial!

First they had to get the bike ready, so he helped pump up the tires.

Then they were ready to ride!

A Halfway Unfortunate Update

2011-03-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

This is only half bad news, so I'll start with the good: Gibbs is on the mend! He's sounding much better and has his energy back.

The bad news? Now Sparrow has it.

Tell me again how totally and completely different it is to have dogs rather than kids?

Anyway, the vet said that since it spread from Gibbs to Sparrow, he's more sure than ever that it IS NOT Valley Fever. The odds of them getting it at the same time having rarely left their yards are astronomical. This is just your run-of-the-mill bacterial infection. So that makes me feel better! Just a couple weeks of antibiotics for both of them and we should be good!

I don't like having sick pups. They're just so...sad...

We're so done with the Veterinarian...

2011-03-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

This is Gibbs.

For those of you that may not know him well, Gibbs is the sort of dog that looks like he's got the wisdom of the ages in his soul - up until anything walks past our window, then he's a fiercely dedicated watchdog, no doubt shouting all manner of obscenities at that potential assassin. With Mav he's an absolute pushover who lets the toddler crawl all over him, step on him, and pull his ears and lips without a single sound or movement of protest. He's incredibly sweet, loving, and generally well-behaved.

He's also been the victim of an onslaught of unfortunate situations since we moved down here to Phoenix.

First, last Friday night Danny noticed Gibbs' lip was a little swollen. When he took a closer look, he saw light through the lip. Our dog had a hole you could pass a pen through in his big, floppy lip! I was appalled. I had been home almost all day with him and hadn't heard a peep or seen a thing. We took him to a new vet recommended by friends and he basically told us there's no way to know what happened and really no way to fix it except with time and patience. If they sewed it up, Sparrow would just rip the stitches out and probably cause more damage. So we cleaned it out a few times (with weak tea, which I'd never heard of using before) and he went on antibiotics for a few weeks while it closed up.

We still suspect this one had something to do with it:

Doesn't she look suspicious?

The second ordeal started on Saturday with a little cough that escalated to a horrible, gut-wrenching hack by Sunday night and by Monday he couldn't eat. The vet told us there was the possibility of Valley Fever. He told us this with the obvious expectation that we would be thoroughly alarmed, but since we aren't from around here and it's a local ailment, we were clueless. I guess it's like a really bad cold that humans and dogs can contract from spores. If left unchecked, the sickness can be pretty dangerous. But he wasn't 100% sure, so Gibbs is just back on some antibiotics and a cough suppressant for now.

Poor Gibbs.

A Slight Obsession

2011-03-08T11:03:00.001-08:00

I'm obsessed with baking. It just makes me happy to create something that is delicious and pretty and takes a little time and effort to produce. It lets me release a little steam (if I've got it) and it relaxes me. I'm not saying, by any means, that I'm a good baker, only that I enjoy it.

The other day I decided to try my hand at detailed frosting. I've done a couple easier techniques before, like buttercream and this fun one with just glaze frosting:

But trying to make specific shapes with colored goo is a whole new ball game. Besides my lack of hand-eye-coordination (think about my handwriting, people!), I didn't own any kind of decorating tools. I didn't want to buy any (I'm just that cheap), so I had to figure out a new trick. My solution? A syringe we got from the vet! It sounds a little weird (and possibly quite gross, depending on your tolerance levels - I promise it was thoroughly sterilized) but it was perfect! It was small and had a long, curved tip that allowed me a lot of control. So, with it, I was able to do this:

Not perfect, but not bad for a first timer! The Star Wars cutters are from my mom. She found them at Williams-Sonoma and I LOVE them! Not to mention the recipe that came with them is amazing!

So there's my confession. I'm a baker married to a triathlete. Probably a good thing, or I'd be 300 pounds by now...

Little Words

2011-02-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

Mav is trying to talk. He's made Mama and Dada sounds for a long time now, but things have turned sincere. He's mimicking our words and sounds! I know what you're all thinking:

"Uh-oh, Maddie. If he's mimicking you, what horrible words is he trying to say?"

Well, he has yet to let loose with a swear, but I'm sure the day is coming and we'll cross that bridge then.

In the meantime, his favorite word lately is "DAD!" Not just a oh-hey-dad Dad, but a rather urgent I-must-find-him-this-very-second Dad! I attribute this to Danny working normal-people hours, something he hasn't had to do very often throughout Mav's life, so Mav had a week or so of adjusting.

When we were appliance shopping last Saturday, whenever Danny was out of sight for even a second, Mav would scream at the top of his lungs "DADDADDADDADDAD!!!" until he returned! This was especially amusing in the rather empty warehouse we visited as it seemed to echo on and on.

His other favorite word right now is "Baby." This is what he says when he wants to cuddle and it's adorable! He reaches up and starts crooning "Baaeeebbeee... Baaaeebbee..." until you pick him up. Then he burrows into you and keeps singing his Baby Song and it just melts you right away.

I've also found it helps when he's yelling really loud at inappropriate moments (as toddlers are wont to do). I just say "Baby" and he gets all soft and wistful.

"Baaeebbeeee..."

Happy First Birthday, Maverick!!

2011-02-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

Due to the move down to Phoenix, we celebrated Mav's birthday a week early (which was his original due date, oddly enough). These are some pictures from his party!

We got this outfit for him while on our cruise in Mexico. It was hard won, but sooo worth it – it’s so freaking cute!

It’s really hard to get two tiny kids to look up at the same time! But aren’t they adorable together?

Yay pirate birthday!!

Opening presents…

Grandma Great!

Group shot as they sing Happy Birthday

He didn’t quite know what to do with such a large chunk of food, so this was his solution:

Dad tries to help:

Eventually, Danny just smashed his hand into it and Mav finally figured it out!

Took the dogs a little while, but they got it all cleaned up!

A Good Workout

2011-01-15T07:42:00.001-08:00

My brother posted this on our family blog and I could not stop laughing!

The Suspense is the Best Part

2010-12-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

We all know that the best part of scary movies is the tense buildup and the best part of roller coasters is the climb up the hill while you're sitting there freaking out about what's about to happen to you.

Mav's favorite part of being thrown in the air is NOT actually being thrown. It's the countdown.

And he shows it with his awesome, old man, gaspy laugh.

PS Sorry about the lousy video - the lights are really low. But it's the sound that's important anyway ;-)

Happy Birthday Danny!!

2010-12-08T17:14:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy year!

You're a dad!

You've decided to and actually competed in three triathlons (a sport we were previously only vaguely aware of ;-) )

And you continue to set your goals high!

We're so proud of everything you are, babe! Happy 27th Birthday! (And congratulations on your acquisition of all of the knowledge and wisdom afforded to 27 year-olds.)

Down South

2010-12-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

For those who haven't heard, we are moving down to Phoenix in February. Danny's job is taking us down there and we're excited to be starting a new phase in life! Plus, by mid-february, I should be pretty ready to say good-bye to snow and hello to some 70 degree weather ;-)

We went down there this last weekend to get an idea of the area and where we'll be wanting to live. Saw several houses (that place got so hacked by the economy!) and it's gonna be a hard choice! We stayed with our friends down there and had a blast with their kids! Mav hadn't ever seen so many kids to play with outside of Primary and I was convinced he'd never want to sleep the whole time we were down there. We got this video of him playing on the swing set:

The higher we pushed the happier he got! This boy is too brave sometimes. I hope that isn't a sign of things to come ;-)

Quick update on Maverick in general! He's got crawling down to a fine science and is now working on walking! Scratch that, running. This boy is convinced he can run, no matter how many times the floor proves him wrong. It's so fun to watch him be so determined to make it work and I'm pretty sure he'll have it down in a month or so.

Turkey Tri 2010

2010-11-09T08:22:00.000-08:00

This last Saturday was Danny's last triathlon of the year. For Danny, it was perfect weather! For those of us standing still, it was a little bit chilly! But I bundled Maverick up like a burrito and he was a total champ.

This tri was a little different than most in that it was what's known as a Reverse Triathlon. You can probably guess what that means, but I'll say it anyway: the order of events is backwards from a typical tri. Run, bike, swim. They probably did it because to go swimming and then go outside, soaking wet in 40-50 degree weather would have been unwise, but it's also fairly common at other times of the year too. Anyway, Danny didn't like it. Swimming is his toughest event, so to have it last after he's already run and biked was a pain. He also just likes to get it out of the way and on to the rest of the race. Still, he had a great time and is anxious for next season to begin!

Here's pictures!

Morning of the race. It wasn't that early - probably 7-7:30 at this point - so that was nice!

The mass of people getting ready to start the run.

Off they go! Go Danny!

This run route was kinda cool because it passed the start area again before swinging around for the finish, so I got to see him about 3/4ths of the way through the run!

Off on the bike!

The swim was in the Orem Rec Center's pool. Danny had never done a pool tri before and he's...not fond of it ;-). It was just too crowded and too hard to find any kind of rhythm. You have to try to pass the slower swimmers, like on the freeway, but (also like on the freeway) the pass lane was usually occupied by someone going the same speed as the guy in the slow lane! So, it was a little tricky and he ended up walking a lot more of it than he'd wanted. (On a side note, I apologize for the horrid picture. Mav and I were watching up in the observation deck behind glass and the pool was very badly lit. This was the best i could do!)

1:15 was his total time. That included a gnarly hill on the bike that they had to take on twice and swimming in a pool filled with other racers. Yay Danny!!!

3 Years!!

2010-10-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, Danny woke up to find that his temple bag, including his clothes and (most importantly) his recommend, were gone. They'd been stolen out of my car two days beforehand and we didn't realize until the morning of the wedding. After performing a veritable circus act of hoop-jumping, his dad (and bishop), Randy, got everything pulled through and we were able to get married.
It was a beautiful fall day, but as we all know, the wedding is possibly the smallest part of marriage. In the last three years we've faced a lot! Moving 4-5 times, tackling 3 puppies, losing one, losing a baby, buying a home, and (most importantly) successfully starting our family. Maverick is the best part of our lives now, but it all started with just the two of us - and that's one heck of a beginning!
I love you, Danny! Happy Anniversary!!

Stansbury Days Triathlon

2010-08-23T14:56:00.001-07:00

This last Saturday Danny participated in his first ever Triathlon! This has been a long hard road for him, but he's enjoyed every minute of it. He's trained week after week for a few months now and the first one finally came.

Saturday was perfect weather, especially at 7:00 in the morning. There were about 95 people in this tri (it was a community event, part of Stansbury Days) so it was a pretty good turnout! And for a community event it was very well put on! Very organized and exciting! Here are some pictures that will tell the story better than I can:

Stansbury Lake. See that little buoy waaaayyy out there? Danny had to swim to that, then to the other hiding in and amongst the houses, and then back. Long way!

Danny's number. They mark it on our arm so you can be identified in the swim before you have your bib on.

Right before the swim. He didn't know I was taking a picture otherwise I'm sure he wold have smiled rather than looking so fierce!

All of the swimmers headed out! I love the ducks that look completely unfazed in the bottom corner.

Out of the water, headed for transition 1

Peeling off the wetsuit

Headed out on the bike!

Coming back in at the end of the 12 mile bike for transition 2

Transition 2

Action shots as he heads out on the run

Coming into the Finish Line!

He did it!

Placed 2nd in his division! First race ever and he got a medal!

You can see why I'm so proud of and excited for him! 400 m swim, 12 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run - all in 1 hour 28 minutes! I can't wait for the next one. Bear Lake, here we come!

Little Versions

2010-07-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

Those of you that have known me for a while know that I have a strange obsession with small versions of pretty much anything. So when we were walking around Ikea and saw the display for their POÄNG chair (a surprisingly comfortable chair that looks something like a '70s deck chair), I was ecstatic to see that they had a baby version! It's like a fourth the size of a normal one and I couldn't resist sitting Mav in it, even though he can't really sit yet:

I kinda wish I'd bought it, but I'm excessively cheap. Maybe when Mav really can sit in a chair I'll think about it ;~)

As for a general update, Mav (who looks pretty much like a mini version of Danny!) is now 5 months old, weighs roughly 16 lbs and is 27 inches tall. He's gotten to the point that he knows what he does and doesn't want and what he wants pretty much all the time is DAD!! He's a total daddy's boy and I love it. He lights up every time Danny walks into the room - but it's not like he's all that hard to please in general. He's started on "solid" food (I don't know why they call it that when it's not much thicker than formula) and has a blast trying to "help" me put the spoon in his mouth. I get the feeling meal times won't ever be boring with him. He sleeps through the night and is just starting to take regular naps, which is nice.

Overall he's a happy kid! And we couldn't be happier with him.

A Long Way Coming

2010-07-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

If anyone has talked to Danny sometime in the last four months or so, you may have noticed he looks a little different. Not long after Mav was born, we both decided it was time to get healthy. I've taken after it with gusto, but the little I've done pales in comparison to all the work Danny's put in! From day one he was at the gym every day he possibly could and altering his entire lifestyle all with one intention: feeling good.

Sometime in May, though, he realized he needed a more tangible goal. So he started looking into races and decided that he could, given a few weeks of specific training, run the Freedom 5k on July 3rd. Not long after that he decided that he could also do a triathlon! But more on that in a later post.

July 3rd turned out to be a pretty chilly morning, considering the time of year, but that was perfect for all of the runners. We got there at 6:30, Danny hopped on the bus, and Mav and I settled in to wait. (As a bit of a side note, we have a seriously easy baby. We dragged him out of bed at 5:30 in the morning, threw him in the car, and then paraded him around in the cold morning air for several hours before he even started showing signs of wear!)

At about 8:00, Danny crossed the finish line! He'd done it! His goal had been to finish with a time of at least 35 min, so he waited eagerly to find out if he'd done it or not.

27:44. He blew his goal out of the water, surprising himself most of all! He came in second in his age division!

We had a fun time entering the world of race runners and talking to seasoned vets. They were all super nice and helpful, giving tips to us both and congratulating Danny on his race.

In 4 months, Danny's lost 35 lbs. He's gone from struggling to complete a 3 min run on the treadmill to blasting through his first race. I can't tell you how proud I am of his accomplishment! 5 kilometers may not be super far to run, but 4 months of hard work and diligence sure is a long way to come.

To be continued at the end of August, after Tri #1...

The Giggles

2010-06-07T16:10:00.001-07:00

I love this little boy's laugh! It's just infectious and while he's a generally happy kid, this bout of giggles came out of the blue. He just started laughing at nothing, so I decided to encourage it with a little tickling ;-)

Maverick's Favorite Game

2010-05-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

Danny has discovered just about the best thing Maverick can think of: Pat-a-Cake! He loves playing with his dad, to the point that all Danny has to say is "Wanna play pat-a-cake?" and Mav lights up, all grins and giggles! He probably laughs the hardest at this - though tickling him gets him going pretty good too ;-)

3 Months!

2010-05-24T13:26:00.001-07:00

Our baby is already three months old. This is his exactly-three-month-old-picture, taken specifically on May 14th:

He's had a few milestones lately. First of all, he rolled over for the first time! He's been trying desperately for about a week now, but he couldn't quite get up and over his little arm. But on Saturday he pushed and pushed and finally got from his back to his tummy! He looked quite pleased with himself, as well.

Friday, the night before, Danny was going to do some laps at our local Aquatic Center, so Mav and I tagged along so he could have his first swimming experience! After the fist initial shock at being plunged chest deep in slightly-less-than-warm water, he settled in and loved it! We have a little lazy river thing that goes around a water slide and we just went around and around and he had a blast. Then I helped him float on his back and I don't think I've ever seen anyone so relaxed in a pool. I was glad to see my fears hadn't transferred to him! I hope he really loves the pool.

In his little swim trunks

This is our pool - you can see the "river" winding around the back, there.

He just couldn't stop chattering away excitedly after we got out (forgive the image quality - Danny was swimming and I was on my own for these ones!)

He finally just crashed after a little while, only to wake up again and talk all the way home! I think he had a good time

Maverick talking

2010-05-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

A Belly Button!!

2010-04-30T21:26:00.001-07:00

8 weeks! After testing, waiting, cleaning, and being generally frustrated with that little stubby nothing, his umbilical finally fell off on April 11th, exactly 8 weeks after he was born. He now has an adorable little "inny" belly button!

Mav's Blessing Day

2010-04-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

March 28th was Mav's blessing. Our families and friends drove all the way out to our house and attended our ward's sacrament meeting to witness Danny give our son an absolutely beautiful blessing. He told Maverick that struggles and temptations are part of this world, but that he would have the power to overcome them, and also be fortunate enough to be part of and experience good things and good people. It was honestly the most spiritual sacrament meeting that we've had since we've been married!
Afterward, everyone came to our house to play, hang out, and see Mav. I was dumb and was so busy running around that I never brought out my camera. Luckily my dad had my back and took these for me:

Verbal Skills

2010-04-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

I tried to get a video of Mav talking. He's started making more sounds than his grunting and creaky door impersonations and I love it! This isn't the best video, but I think you'll get the idea. And just so everyone knows, repeating their noises back to them is helpful for their verbal development. As is acting like an idiot for a camera. Okay I made the last part up, but the other part is true!

We had a tiny scare with him the other day. His umbilical cord still hasn't fallen off (it's supposed to fall off before week 2 and we're headed into week 7 now) so his doctor had us take him in for testing. I don't much like holding my baby down while someone jabs a needle around inside his arm looking for a vein. They were checking to see if his white blood cells were doing what they were supposed to be doing. They called back the next day and I guess they are! Everything's fine, we just have to be patient and wait for the fool thing to fall off by itself. Grandma Julie says that he's hanging onto it because he just want to be a newborn for a little longer. But considering he's already 11 lbs and 23 inches, I'm thinking he's fighting a losing battle! So he's doing fine - perfectly healthy and happy!

Studio Pics

2010-03-13T18:15:00.001-08:00

These are a few pictures taken by Laura Bruschke at Busath. She took a TON of beautiful pictures that are getting processed right now. Thanks Laura!

More Mav Pictures

2010-03-06T13:25:00.001-08:00

Johnny loves Mav so much he calls him his "brother" instead of his nephew.

Mav's one and only cousin Elodie came over last week to meet him.

My favorite picture. Very peaceful and chill (especially when he's sleeping!

Taken on Danny's iPhone with bad lighting...

MAVERICK AND HIS DOGS

All 3 kids in a row...

Mr. Gibbs is very much the protective one over Mav.

I went to grab a drink the other day and Gibbs jumped up on the couch to get make sure that Mav was safe. It was very cute!

More Maverick

2010-02-16T19:40:00.000-08:00

We brought Maverick home from the hospital today. We were so grateful for the wonderful facilities and staff that took care of our every need at Intermountain Medical Center. It was the easiest delivery experience I could have ever asked for.

Now that we are home, it is becoming more and more evident that Maverick is a real part of our family and home and I just love it!

Maverick is a very chill baby. The nurses and doctors commented throughout our stay at just how quiet, relaxed, and mellow he has been, even when getting poked, prodded, moved, changed, and tested. We brought him home and he slept while we got him changed into his outfit, loaded him into his car seat, loaded him into the car, drove home, and unpacked him. He wakes up every now and then and just looks around with his big dark eyes. I don't think he can see much yet, but he's trying to see what he can see!

Here is a little movie I made of the little guy and some more pictures of him.

My dad holding his grandson on the first night. Bishop Holmgren stood up in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and announced to the ward that the babies of the ward were now safe because "Sister Holmgren is now a Grandma and has her own baby to play with." I think by now he has taken prideful ownership of Maverick and is glad to be his Grandpa too.

Welcome Maverick!

2010-02-14T21:59:00.001-08:00

Maverick Daniel Holmgren

Born 2-14-2010 9:23am

21 inches

7 lbs 10 oz.

Maverick was finally born this morning after a very smooth and easy labor for his mommy. Both mommy and babe are doing great, healthy and strong.

Getting his first bath

My brother Johnny FINALLY is an uncle!

Betsy had never held a baby before. She was very worried that he was so fragile, but she did great!

Daddy holding baby for first time.

Maddie right after delivery

Really the only thing Mav doesn't like is having his temperature taken. Toughen up kid, there are worst places they can take it than the armpit!

Final addition to the nursery (except for the baby)

2010-02-06T09:55:00.001-08:00

The Pirate Nursery

2010-02-01T17:14:00.001-08:00

These first few pictures are all progress pictures just to show how it was done and why it took so long!

Here's the finished product.

My friend Kelly from my old work and her husband, Rich, surprised me with this beautiful treasure chest that they made for Maverick as a present. Isn't it beautiful???

Baby's First Pictures

2009-09-21T21:38:00.001-07:00

So we went to the doctor last Tuesday for the first ultrasound. The doctor said that the baby looks healthy, is developing normally, and has all its necessary parts, including the parts that make it....

A BOY!!!!!

Danny struggles to see it, but apparently that white arrow indicates masculinity...

He apparently has already inherited the Holmgren talent for fitting his hand in his mouth. (No, don't ask Danny to demonstrate for you, he can't do it...)

Miss Sparrow

2009-08-31T20:22:00.001-07:00

Her real name is just Sparrow, but we always feel the need to add the "miss" since Gibbs is "mister". Anyway, she's a little sweetheart! Little more vivacious than Gibbs, she's always looking for something to be doing (cute, but a little troublesome sometimes) and very curious, but always looking to be held and loved. She and Gibbs are getting along great! A few spats now and then, but for the most part, they've loved having a sibling and are actually helping each other with a lot of things. She's as good as he is at house-training already! They're favorite game is stealing toys and rawhides from one another and then running away, seeing how long they can get the other to chase them.

Here are some pictures of her! We got her on Friday but both Friday and Saturday were just packed! Hence the late blogging (we really do love them the same, this is just second child syndrome, you know). But I finally got some good pictures of her while they were taking a nap with Danny on Sunday afternoon:

You can see she has a lot more flashing (white) than Gibbs - very feminine! Her neck marking is actually really cool! It spirals from the top of her head, down under her neck, and over her right shoulder.

This is proof they do occasionally calm down and quite enjoy one another! It's not a very cute picture of her, but they like to sleep curled up together whenever possible. Look how big my baby boy is! Sniff.

She's still small enough to fit under the couch (Gibbs, much to his dismay, has found he is too large already - stop growing, babies!) and apparently loves to hide under there as much as she can - even nap under there! How cute is this?

Welcome Mr. Gibbs!

2009-08-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight we brought home puppy number one. We call him Mr. Gibbs, but he's already taken on the names Gibbsy, Gibbsabee, Gibbles and Bits, and of course, Gibbs.

Jack Holmgren - April 2008- August 6, 2009

2009-08-06T19:06:00.000-07:00

As most of you have heard, Jack left us today. It is very difficult for me to express my feelings right now.

I had a dog growing up, but she was an outside dog and I'm afraid to say we never really got to know her. After 4 or 5 years, we decided it was best to give her away and she went to live on a farm where she would be happy. I didn't feel much emotion at that time. I had no idea of the loyalty, friendship, love, and awe I could feel from a dog.

I felt all of those feelings with my Jack. Recollecting on our short time together, I figure that Jack and I probably spent an average of 2 hours per day separated from each other. Besides that, he was my little companion. I'd wake up in the morning with him at my feet. He would follow me around the house as I got ready for the day. He'd lay under my desk while I worked. Then when I had to leave for installs or other errands, it was always evident that he would rather be with me than at home, no matter how hot, cramped, or lacking water the truck may be. He was so genuine in his love for Maddie and I. My heart is broken, something that I never knew could happen over a dog. But I've known for quite some time with Jack that when this day came broken is all my heart would be.

2009-08-04T06:05:00.000-07:00

This year for the 24th of July, because my mom's house was all torn up refinishing floors or something, we got to have our first holiday celebration at our house! My Utah-resident family all came out to partake of Danny's marvelous barbeque skills. Danny's rightfully proud of these ribs - they were AMAZING!!!! So I decided to play with my new lenses (Danny's birthday gifts to me) and see what kind of pictures I could get. With such tantalizing subjects, I'm not sure I could have failed:

Also a quick update on my little garden! It's grown a lot! Not huge and flowery yet, but I'll give them till next year before I'll expect that. But the plants themselves are bigger, and there are a couple with little flowers on them! I'm so happy. I have a semi-successful flower garden!

Whoever thought Utah was boring...

2009-06-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

I'd had a really long day on Saturday. There was a Primary activity early in the morning I'd signed up to go help with and then it took me three hours to get from my house to downtown (due to the major I-80 closure, I had to go all the way down to Lehi!) for a wedding that night that was really long and a little boring - so just a long and mildly frustrating day. But, on my way home, I passed the Great Salt Lake, and I saw this:

How can you still be tired and annoyed once you realize you live in a place like this?! If you still think this lake is ugly and smelly, you ought to try driving past it everyday. This kind of view is pretty typically gorgeous. I love living out by the lake (and it's never smelled at our house)! I just loved this picture and wanted to share.

The seed is planted (sort of)

2009-05-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

We have been waiting for almost 2 months for our pre-planned flower garden to come. Maybe we don't have the greenest thumbs, but we want to have a splendid garden, so we ordered a whole garden of plants out of a catalog. After a couple of frustrating phone calls with the company's outsourced call center (eh hem) we finally had our plants arrive "on time" today.

Maddie spent a couple hours this evening shoving the things in the dirt. Sure hope they grow and look beautiful!
While Maddie was cleaning up, she had me go outside and take a picture of it. We will keep a little photo journal of the progress. Hopefully in the future there will be more colors than just brown with specks of green......
P.S. (From Maddie) The "blank" spots really do have plants in them. I promise!

Jack vs. Technology

2009-04-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

For the last two months, Jack has been chasing his nemesis. After several weeks of battle, he thought he had defeated the foe. Then tonight, the enemy reappeared. Fortunately, this time it was caught on tape.

Just so you know, he's still fighting the cardboard...

Mystery Solved!!

2009-02-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

After all of the trouble we've gone through, Danny and I finally have an answer as to why I've been sick all this time!
The last three months have been just about the weirdest and, physically, the worst of my life so far. Most people know I had my gall bladder out at the end of November because I was so sick. That worked for a little while, but pretty soon the pain was back and getting worse day by day. When I asked my surgeon why his procedure didn't work, he recommended I go get an upper endoscopy and hope that it showed me something more useful.
So I went in last Tuesday and got it done. Two days later my doctor called to say she'd found something, but she wanted me to come in for a blood test to make sure. Yesterday she called and told me I have celiac!
Celiac is when your small intestine reacts badly to gluten, the protien found in wheat, rye, barley, and a few other things. It hurts the villi on the walls of the intestine, which make it impossible for them to absorb nutrients from the food I eat. Basically, the more gluten I eat, the more malnourished I become. The only way to fix it is to go on a completely gluten-free diet! That sounds kinda sucky (no bread, no cookies, etc.) but it's pretty easy compared to living in pain. In a few months, my insides will have fully healed and I'll feel a lot better!
I don't know how long I've had this problem, but I'll have it for the rest of my life. It's getting pretty easy to live with, though. It's becoming a more common allergy these days, so restaraunts and grocery stores are becoming more knowledgable and starting to carry a lot more gluten-free foods. My older brother has it too, so I've got a lot of family help and support. Danny has been amazing putting up with me over the last few months (I make just about the worst sick person that ever lived - I'm a pain!) and we're both glad to have a solution! I'm relieved this is all that's wrong and that it's so easy to fix!
Man, life is weird, huh?

Meet Migo!

2008-12-21T12:16:00.000-08:00

This is Maddie! Danny and I were wandering around Walgreen's last night and discovered this guy. He's a stuffed dog, roughly Jack's size that we names Migo, short for "amigo". We bought it, thinking we'd use him for a little behavioral experiment. When we went to bed last ngiht, we put Migo on the bed where Jack could see him. We thought the most he'd do was jump up and chuck the intruder off his spot and ignore him. But Jack got defensive! He immediately stopped in his tracks, growling and barking at the usurper! He approached carefully, almost scared - it was funny! Once he figured out it wasn't real, he found himself

a great new toy to play with.

As a bit of a sad epilogue, Jack took ten minutes earlier today to rip out one of Migo's eyes and all of the stuffing in his head. I did my best to patch him up, so now he has some new, oddly shaped shades! We don't have high hopes for his survival, but at least he won't have to see the horrors he has to feel.

Back in Utah

2008-11-09T14:04:00.001-08:00

So it's been a long time since we have posted. We moved back to Utah from California at the end of June after things didn't work out as we had thought with Prestige. I started working with Mike and Taylor Proudfit's company, Titan Alarm and have been in charge of the operations for Salt Lake, as well as offices we opened along the way in St. George, Denver (now closed) and Boise. That has been a much better work experience and I have enjoyed working with those guys again.

We rented an apartment in Taylorsville and immediately started looking for a house. In September we purchased our first home in Stansbury Park, which is about 20 minutes from downtown Salt Lake. We love it out here. It is far enough away from the city to not feel cramped and feel like we have space to spread out, but close enough to be very convenient for Maddie's work and to visit family. We are right on the banks of the Great Salt Lake and it is very pretty out here.

Poor Jack has now lived in 4 homes in the first six months of his life! He's quite the little trooper, but it has been a little difficult adapting in each new place. We finally had him completely housebroken in our apartment in Taylorsville, but adjusting to the new house has been a few steps back for him. I think he is starting to distrust that this will be out last move.

Shortly after moving back to Utah, Maddie got a job working as a receptionist at Electrical Wholesale Supply (EWS) in Salt Lake. She has enjoyed working there and they have treated her very well.

It was very interesting to see the hand of the Lord bless us when we came back. The summer in California was the most difficult and stressful summer I have had working in the alarm industry and it just didn't ever feel at home. Once we made the decision to move home, blessings poured out. I was able to immediately start working for Titan, which provided much more stability in our lives. Maddie quickly got her job at EWS, when she had struggled for 4 months to find a job when we were living in Pleasant Grove after we got married. We found a good apartment without a deposit, which was good since money was getting a little tight after moving to and from California in 2 months. Then we were able to find an absolutely gorgeous house and find it at a time when the price had been reduced by about $50,000. Without so many things falling into place, we wouldn't be in the position we are at in life right now. It has been a real testimony to me of the blessings that come from living the Gospel, particularly paying tithing.

The one sad part of our lives in the last six months was our baby. Shortly after coming home from California we went to the doctor for a checkup and the doctors discovered that the pregnancy, for whatever reason, had not been a valid pregnancy. It was pretty hard on both of us for a few days, but the good thing we got out of it was knowing that we were capable of having children and having the feeling that we will be able to have children in the future.

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

Maddie got me this awesome Patriot's jersey for our baby for Father's Day. Since I don't have a human baby to put it on yet, I put it on the puppy!

We have a Baby Holmgren ETA!

2008-06-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

We went to the doctor today and he gave us a due date! Through the very scientific method of spinning a little cardboard wheel to the right dates, he figured our baby will be here sometime around the 8th of February!

We're going to be human parents now too!

2008-06-04T11:48:00.001-07:00

Jack's First Video

2008-05-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Jack's work week

2008-05-15T14:12:00.001-07:00

Jack's doing great! He's teething right now so certain things like carboard boxes and office chairs will never be the same, but it's no great loss. Since I take him into the office everyday he's become something of the technician's mascot, though all the reps love him, too. He spends most of his days sleeping on his bed here and playing with whoever shows up! One of his favorite playmates is one of our rep managers, Neil. He loves him! As you can see, they often play themselves into a stupor. Yes, they're both fast asleep, though Jack's eyes don't ever really look it.
The current heat wave is presenting somewhat of a challenge to his little body. Because of their short noses and short coats, Boxers don't tolerate extreme temperatures very well (I know, bad thing for a Utah dog). It's almost 100 degrees outside today when last week I was wearing a jacket! Nobody around here has air conditioning because it rarely gets this hot. So we had to get a fan for the office and ice packs for Jack to sleep against. Dang, it's hot...
Anyway, all in all, he's getting bigger, and according to the vet, he's perfectly healthy! Yay Jack!

Maddie got a baby for Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

Maddie has been wanting a puppy since shortly after we got married (ok, I wanted one too!) When I was on my mission, I had a good friend who had two beautiful boxers and I have just loved them ever since. They are strong and confident and once I showed some pictures to Maddie, she agreed we should have one. We couldn't have one in our last apartment, but I told her we would get one once we moved to California. Maddie looked all over for good breeders of boxers and found one close to where we live. Today we went and picked up little Jack.

Poor sleepy Jack.

We're here!! And we have internet!!

2008-05-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

We’re finally fully installed in our new apartment in Alameda, California! It’s beautiful here and we’re excited to explore and get to know the area.
The drive was long, tiring, and mildly terrifying at times. Danny drove the whole thing due to the complications we encountered and the fact that I’ve never driven anything more challenging than the Yukon and a large truck with a car dragging behind I is a whole different thing. The wind coming across the desert almost blew us off the road, construction in the mountains had us squeezed between larger trucks and concrete barriers, and coming down the mountains had us fighting traffic and gravity! But it was all expertly navigated by Danny and I didn’t spend too much time biting my nails. It was all worth it once we got about an hour from the end and we saw all of the strawberry fields and green, rolling hills in Northern California. I can see why those cows on the commercials are happy!
We spent the night on the floor on our air mattress again. I had a hard time for a while, I was homesick for Utah and our first home, but we eventually got to sleep and crashed pretty hard. This morning we got up and had to figure out how to unpack our huge truck. There’s two ways into our apartment from parking lots: a long way and a short way. The short way, unfortunately, is blocked by construction work on the building next door (the complex is still being renovated). So Danny went down and negotiated with the site manager to let him pull the truck through it all and pull it right up to the door! After that it was a matter of 20 feet from the truck to the elevator and another 20 from the elevator to the apartment. Danny’s friend, Tim Chen, from last summer is here and he stuck around and helped us move everything! Between the three of us and occasional help from Neil Papa (Danny’s partner’s younger brother), we got the truck unloaded in less than two hours. We’ve started to unpack now (I’m realizing how frustrating it is to do all that work over the last few days and only have to undo it all again) and we’re about there! There isn’t as much storage as our place in Pleasant Grove, but we’ll make it work. There’s a lot more room, though, so our furniture isn’t smashed together anymore. We also have a lovely, large deck, which makes us sad we didn’t bring the grill, but they’ve got some here anyway. We’re excited to be here and make it our home for the next few months!

Getting things rolling...

2008-04-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

Things are going well around here. Danny's helping Prestige Alarm get ready for the summer. We're anxious to get going, but it'll come soon enough. In the meantime, we've got enough to keep us busy. Danny's classes are almost over, which means he's in the midst of finals and big papers and presentations. I've started a very temporary job at Robert's Craft as a morning cashier. We've already had two major thefts and I've only been there for two weeks! Who steals crafts?! Anyway, it's good to finally have something useful to do, and I get to meet a lot of fun people. All in all, things are busy and wonderful!

The lovely and WARM Phoenix, AZ

2008-03-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

We got back yesterday from our two-day trip down to Arizona. We went down to Siren Alarm, for whom we'll be a dealer this coming summer, to get trained on their systems. We got there early Thursday morning and spent the better part of the day learning all about how they run things.
We spent the night at Taylor and Becky Proudfit's. We had a wonderful time seeing our friends again and playing with Weston and Jameson. It's so fun playing with kids who love you! We were sad to leave them all and come back to chilly, windy Utah. I'm so sick of being cold...

Trip to California

2008-03-20T10:22:00.001-07:00

We had a fun trip this weekend to Orange County with Maddie's family in celebration of her sister, Micah, getting married. The whole family was there except for one couple who were violently ill and couldn't make it to the wedding or California.

I spotted Matt Hasselbeck (QB for the Seattle Seahawks) at the baggage claim.

Later spotted John Beck (former BYU and current Miami Dolphins QB) at Disneyland

Getty Center in LA

The Fam at Disneyland

Maddie and I at Getty Center

American Fork Canyon on a Nice Springlike Day

2008-02-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

Maddie and I got a little Spring Fever today with the nice weather so we decided to go for a drive up American Fork Canyon and take some pictures.

Cool Reflection

85mm f/14.0 ISO 400

85 mm f/11.0 ISO 600

17mm f/10.0 ISO400

Slatted Bridge

85mm f/11.0 ISO400

Tibbles Reservoir

78mm f/14.0 ISO400

Panorama of Tibbles Reservoir

6 images shot freehand stitched with PhotoStitch

Lots of bridges today. I like rusted steel bridges.

85 mm, f/8.0, ISO 400

85mm f/8.0 ISO400

85mm f/5.6 ISO 800

Work is a Headache

2008-02-29T10:28:00.001-08:00

My work has become quite a source of aggravation these past few months. Firstline's bankruptcy has definitely removed some security from our lives. Joined forces with Pinnacle for a couple of weeks, but left after some promises weren't fulfilled. Now I have joined up with an old friend from Firstline, Lee Papa, who is running Axis Alarm. I will help run the tech program at Axis. We will be moving to New York for the summer, which will definitely be a fun adventure for us.