Happy Holidays to U!

Eight years ago today.

So, eight years ago our little boy was born. He was due in February, but he just couldn't wait. At the time, we'd decided the best way to keep everyone in the loop was to start a blog. (but we didn't call it that, the term "blog" wasn't really mainstream yet.)

Here's the first entry . . .

10/30/01 (930 grams or 2 lbs. 0.8 oz.)

I made my grand entrance today at 1:14 p.m.. Dad saw my first pee, which I did just for him. Dad also caught me on video tape when mom saw me for the first time, (they rolled her right from recovery to the newborn intensive care unit where I was waiting to meet her). Mom couldn't believe how tiny I was and immediately asked if it was okay to touch me. My Apgar scores were 7 at one minute and an 8 at five minutes! (my "health" scores, out of a possible 10) I thought I should come out and impress everyone right away. Lots of family were at the hospital to welcome me including; Charlynn (Mom & Dad's neighbor and friend), Grandma Pollock, Grandpa Wells, Grandma Lay, Grandpa Wagner, Aunt Kelley, Aunt Stacie, and Aunt Marianne. Tonight, Mom and Dad's good friends, Charlynn, Kellen, Baby Samantha (she is due to arrive on January 3), Mom, and Dad all came to peek in on me. Of course they oooh'd and aahh'd over how cute and fuzzy I am. (I'm still covered in "Lanugo Hair," the hair that covers all baby's in the womb.)

12 Frames of Stone

Okay. So this is a little artsy. It was for a video editing class! a FINE ARTS video editing class! So lemme alone! There isn't a section of video more than 12 frames (less than 1/2 a second,) long. It's a little snapshot into our lives in 2004.

(BTW, I got an A and this was featured as an Experimental Video at the Utah Film & Video Center's showcase, "Works")

Enjoy.

A reason to grab the video camera.

Hey, remember us? :) Well we've been a bit busy now that Amy is the new "Associate Vice-President of Programs and Services" at the Clements Group. Way to go babe!

On Friday, Stone had to give his "Expert Report." As most of you know, I'm the photographer. I love to get my digital camera and go to town, taking lots of pictures whenever Stone is doing something.

But for this assignment, I had to grab the video camera, which is something I haven't done in months (or longer) and videotaped Stone's report. He did a great job and I will post that video soon.

But also on that videotape, I found this little gem. It's nothing spectacular, just an afternoon of Stone and I playing in the yard in August of 2006, about 2 weeks before we moved to Stansbury Park. One thing is for certain, I am definitely going to use the video camera more. :)

The Picture Says It ALL!

Okay, so I was looking through some old albums that Rick brought in from the garage today and I came across this gem...LOL! It is my new favorite picture! He is probably going to kill me for posting it...but after the horrible week that I've had, I think he may just let me get away with it.

Love you Ricky Ticky!

ah, here's a blast from the past.

Hey! It's not Amy it's Rick!! I wanted to put up my first post, but I didn't know what to write about. Today on Facebook, a friend of mine posted a link to "www.fmylife.com," (probably NSFW.) If you haven't been there or heard of it, it's a collection of horrible little anecdotes that people have experienced. Most are funny, some are sad and I think a lot are just made up. This gave me inspiration for my first Pollock Chronicles blog post!

So, I present my little moment . . .

Thursday, April 14, 2005

So Amy, Stone and I are driving home after getting a little takeout. We turn onto our road when we see this big black dog running around sniffing everything. No biggie, it was in the field far from the road, but I always get a little worried when I don’t see an owner around.

We get to the house and my new neighbor is on her driveway, yelling "Sadie! Sadie!!" I say, "Oh, she's . . ." then I realized it might not be her dog and I ask "Is she big and black?" and my neighbor looks at me like I’m absolutely crazy and says, "my daughter?"

Yeah, that’s right. She was yelling for her daughter, who I would guess is NOT big nor black.

Thank you. Thank you very much. The End.

Bribery...There's No Other Word for It!

So anyone who knows Stone knows that he DOES NOT lack energy! He is our outgoing, happy, social little boy.

His outgoing nature extends to the classroom as well...if you catch my drift. We noticed that on Stone's last two report cards, while his school work grades were very impressive, his citizenship grades weren't as high. We scheduled a meeting with his teacher to talk about what he could do to improve in this area. Afterall, we know how social and chatty he is:)

Together we created a little incentive plan. What is the plan you ask?...Each day Stone works on sitting still in his seat, not talking to the other kids at his table when he is supposed to be doing school work, and listening to Mrs. Larsen's directions. Then, after school each day, we receive an email from Mrs. Larsen letting us know how Stone did on his goals. Once Stone has five good reports in a row from Mrs. Larsen, he earns a prize. This plan has worked SO WELL! We've been doing it now for 4 weeks, and so far Stone has only had two days where he didn't get a good report. We're really proud of him and how hard he is working. Its hard to tame the chat:) We feel so lucky that Stone has such a wonderful teacher, who goes the extra mile to ensure his success. Now we have to figure out how we can afford to pay for all these prizes:)

Birthday Bash...Er, Something Like That...

I'm so behind on my blogging...or I guess I'm more "out of order" than anything:)

Rick turned 36 on January 10th. To celebrate we went with a group of friends from our old neighborhood to El Matador in Bountiful. It is Rick's all time favorite restaurant. We ate, we chatted, we laughed, we gossiped (oh no, just kidding we DID NOT GOSSIP!:)

Of course, if you go to El Matador, you have to go to Baskin Robbins (or 13 flavors as Stone calls it...lol) right next door! It was a fun night spent with great friends!

I just want to say how lucky I am to be married to Rick. He is truly one of the funniest people I've ever met. He keeps life fun and he never lets the little things bother him. Well...let me qualify that, UNLESS those little things are politcal that is:) I couldn't ask for a better father for our son. I hope Stone knows how lucky he is to have a dad who gets to be home with him. I see Rick in Stone and am so grateful that they are so much alike. The world will be lucky to get a little Rick clone:) I love you Rick!!!!

Okay okay...you can't blame me...I haven't embarrassed Rick ONCE on this blog yet....that is until now:)

What a Kid!

Stone is such an awesome little boy! We've been having family discussions about saving money and being more frugal. Anyone who knows us knows this is not an area we excel in:) We are spenders...a bad habit we are trying to curb.

This morning Stone came into my office and asked "Mommy, what are we saving our money for right now?" I told him that we are going to Disneyland later this year and that we are saving our money for that trip. He got thoughtful for a minute and then left the room. He came back with his piggy bank and said "You can have all the money in my piggy bank.":) He is constantly surprising us with his thoughtfulness.

Stone is also obsessed with watching the news. It is his TV program of choice...he even has a preference of which newscast he likes to watch. At first we had a hard time letting him watch the news...it is always so somber and sad and we weren't sure we wanted him exposed to so much "real life." But we decided that it is okay as long as we watch with him and can discuss it afterwards. Needless to say we've had some really funny and interesting conversations. Its amazing how much "he gets it."  

The other day when I was driving Stone to school he said "Mommy, there is a horrible crisis in the world today." Of course, I was intrigued and asked him to explain. He went on to tell me about the high price of gas and how it is hard for the farmers to farm their land because they can't afford gas. He said that he would try to eat more fruits and vegetables to help the farmers. I got such a kick out of his little sense of responsibility to the world! I can't say that we've been consuming more fruits and veggies at our house, but afterall, isn't it the thought that counts???? :)

I'm a Digital Scrapbooker...WHAT?!?!?!

Yay! My first digital scrapbook page. I'm so excited! I'm still figuring all the ins and outs of how it works, but I think I've got the basics down.

My friend Tracy showed me the digital scrapbooks that she had put together and they were SO cute! It convinced me that I had to give it a try.

I will continue to do Stone's books the old fashioned and expensive way (ha ha)...but am going to do a yearly family scrapbook digitally. Atleast that is the plan:)

Thanks Trac...for all your help in getting me started!