Walking, Refinishing, and More

The  "bus on a bus" design by H

What a week! School is in full-swing for Greg now. That means an early start to the day and a later finish. (And Hinckley still wakes up two or three times at night.) Just so you have an idea, we normally wake up at 5:30 am. Tuesdays are Greg's long day; he goes to campus at 5:45 am and comes home around 9 pm.

Greg is enjoying school and is learning a lot. He finished his job with the law school this week. Next week he will begin work at the faculty center at BYU. The faculty center job should provide him with more instructional design experience.

Since Greg was gone this last Tuesday evening, Hinckley accompanied me (Kassie) to a Relief Society activity. It was a great activity and I really enjoyed associating with the women. However, I spent much of the time chasing down Hinckley. This event was in the outdoor pavilion by the church, and since it rained a lot Monday and Tuesday there were puddles all around. Well, Hinckley took it upon himself to create his own fun and splash in all the puddles. I took it upon myself to let him do it. Some battles aren't worth fighting--as long as he was in the general vicinity, he could splash in any puddle he wanted. Needless to say, he was soaked when we came home. He decided to follow up on this experience on Thursday by diving into the kiddie pool in the backyard that was filled with dirty water when I momentarily turned my back. He sure does love water!

Hinckley loved his first dentist appointment (hence the balloon) 

Once the rained ended, I put my whole heart into refinishing the desk I started working on last week. I decided I wanted to learn how to refinish furniture, so I volunteered to work on this old desk that Greg once used. I thought it would be a simple matter of painting it and replacing the hardware. As always, I underestimated the amount of time and energy it would require. Just so you know if you ever decide to take upon you such a project, it isn't that simple. Painting a quality piece of wood furniture requires you to sand the desk, fill in all the scratches and holes, apply primer, paint it, drill accurate holes for new hardware, stain it, and put on the new hardware. Oh, and you have to sand it multiple times between primer and paint layers, and you need to wait before applying more layers. It is a hard process, but I had so much fun doing it. I learned so much and it is really cool to see how an old piece of furniture can become beautiful and valuable again.

The original desk (with Greg's name carved in it!)

On goes the primer

Last coat of paint

BEFORE

AFTER: Final beauty - hardly a scratch

On Wednesday night, Greg and I went to a dinner for first-year BYU graduate students. The ballroom was full of graduate students; it is hard to believe Greg is one of them now. It was a nice even and we had some good food. Most of all, it was nice to be together and have a baby-less date.

Saturday was packed with church activities. There was a ward service project at the park in the morning, followed by a chili cook-off. Once again, I mainly just followed Hinckley around the park, and then I took him home for a nap after about half an hour. Greg did some great work sweeping tennis courts and cleaning tree areas, though. Later that day, Greg went to the leadership session of conference and the evening session while I stayed home with the baby. On Sunday morning, we had a regional conference broadcast. It was great to hear from Elder Nelson, Elder Scott, and a few other speakers. We were encouraged to do our family history work, pray often, and remember to do the small things like scripture study and family home evening.

Taking a break at church

The boy who walked

The big news this week is: Hinckley started walking!!! He started this week by bravely letting go and taking a few steps. By Saturday, he could get up after falling and take about ten steps at a time. He spent a good hour going around the house taking a few steps, falling, getting up, and taking a few more steps. He gets so excited when he successfully moves forward a little. Greg and I get pretty excited too! It is super cute to watch him toddle forward with his arms outstretched like a zombie. It is hard to imagine that our baby is walking; it seems like that is the final step in his transition from a baby to a toddler.