Skyline Drive

Skyline Drive (not the one in IF) is a scenic byway that runs right along the ridge of the Shenandoah Mountain Range. Cassie and I took one of our few weekends and took a short drive back in October. Unfortunately we were a little early for the full display of colors but it was a nice drive.

Just looking at all those trees you can imagine what it would be like if they were all yellow, orange and red. In the following weeks the trees lining the interstate between Laurel and Baltimore were blazing red and orange, but I never had my camera so you will all have to imagine what a sight it was.

Can you believe these pass for mountains out here?

Toothless No More

Well, the toothless wonder is no more........., toothless that is. Drostan has gotten his first two teeth. Since getting his teeth he feels it is his duty to use them to the utmost. He chews and slobbers on anything and everything he can get his hands on. Just this morning he turned my lunch bag into swiss cheese. The problem is he has been biting Mommy, and as you can guess that doesn't go over well.

Just a friendly game of tug-o-war with Dad. (Probably the only time I can get in his face like this and still have him happy to see me)

"If I could just figure out how to move I would have it made". Drostan is trying his hardest to figure out this crawling thing. He is able to assume the position but as you can see.........

...he has trouble getting anywhere except back down. Timber. But he keeps trying and should have it figured out by Christmas when he will come home and show off.

This has trouble written all over it. But dang he is CUTE!

It's Official

Our baby is the cutest baby. We went to the ward Halloween Party and our baby was judged to be the cutest, or at least his costume. Candie gave Cassie this costume when she was in Idaho.

He doesn't so much like to keep the gloves.

Announcement: Drostan cut both his bottom teeth this last week.

Where's Waldo

Not quite Waldo but somewhere in all those toys is my little boy. It reminds me of that scene in E.T. when they are trying to hide him. I just thought the pictures were so cute so I posted several of them. These stuffed animals all belonged to Cassie and her siblings.



That is one good boy. He stayed still for all those pictures.

Animal Lover

Well Drostan is certainly making his grandpa Madsen proud. On his first trip to the Madsen menagerie he has proven himself to be quite the animal lover. Big and small Drostan seemed to like all the animals and the animals seemed to like him also. Yes, that is a live dog/rat and it tastes good too.
First time on the horse, who needs to learn to walk the horses do all the work.
Second time on the horse, it was a much nicer day and Drostan slept through most of the ride.
He is shaking "hands" with Randy's psycho bird. The bird actually started reaching through the cage to touch Drostan and then Drostan started touching back. The bird doesn't do that with everybody.

He also got to help grandpa feed the horses and llamas, played with all the 50 different dogs, and he especially liked playing with the kittens. (No pictures)

Fun in Idaho

So Cassie went back to Idaho for a visit in the middle of Sept and took Drostan. Of course, Drostan was the hit at every party and everybody wanted to play with him. I don't know that I missed the sleepless nights but I certainly missed my little boy and his mama. I was so glad to have them both home again.

Drostan and his cousin Dash (2yrs old)
Drostan and his cousin Alexis (5 yrs old) Drostan and his uncle Aaron.
Drostan playing with his newest aunt, Valerie and Jared.
Cousin Ryker sharing his teddy bear with Drostan.

Proud new owner

So I am now the proud new owner of a Hyundai Sonata. Of course as soon as Cassie gets home she is going to steal it from me, but my name is on the title not hers (because I bought it while Cassie was gone). In fact, Cassie has not even driven it, but I have been enjoying being able to drive it. I found out that I can squeal the tires anytime I want if I floor it.

This is not actually our car because ours doesn't have a sunroof, but it is the same color. I can't take any pictures because Cassie has our camera. Of course I have been wanting to buy a new camera.............................

It has a big trunk, and not that I will ever need it, it also has a glow in the dark handle to open the trunk from the inside. How cool is that!

Glow in the dark is always cool.

Tagged

So I have finally been tagged. Several of my friends have been tagged but I had somehow avoided it until now. Thanks Angie. Everybody does tagging a little different so I will explain the rules of this particular "tag" first.
-Link to the person who tagged you
-Mention the rules on your blog
-Tell your readers 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
-Tag 5 fellow bloggers by linking to them (actually it is supposed to be 6 but I only know 5 that haven't been tagged).
-Leave a comment on the tagged victim 's blog and let her know she's been tagged.

So in this particular tagging "Devan and Cassie" were tagged so we only need to come up with six things between us. That being said it was still kind of difficult. Try to find anything unspectacular about Cassie. Like I said kind of difficult. So I did my best

#1 Cassie is a backseat/sideseat/sidecar driver. It is horrible. It must be a part of her DNA. No matter where she is sitting she can't help but tell me how to drive. Never mind that I drive in DC on an almost daily basis (DC traffic being insane) she still tries to tell me how to drive in DC and anywhere else we go. On the way to my parents house she will tell me how to get there.

#2 Cassie is a spectacular mother. She is practically a single mother sometimes. According to some in my family, my boy is "very challenging" which is code for "pain in the ---". So the fact that she can do it all with a smile day after day is very spectacular to me. (Personal disclaimer: I try to help as much as possible but my schedule is a little full and we love our little boy, "challenging" or not)

#3 Cassie is a furniture mover. She can't leave furniture in the same place for very long. Growing up we never moved the furniture. In fact I remember when we moved out of our house on Kearney the carpet under the couch in the front room (a lovely golden shag) was a completely different color, we're not talking shades here, a completely different color than the rest of the room. The couch had never been moved. I have come home from work and Cassie would have rearranged the whole house. We used to have some pretty heavy furniture too. She's amazing thats all I can say.

#4 I love my job. Techincally, it isn't my job yet because I am still in school but it still counts. What other job lets you jam a 3-4 inch needle in someone's back and get away with it? Or knock someone out and watch them get cut open? Greatest job in the world. Now some of you think I am crazy but thats just me.

#5 I love the Nintendo Wii tank game. Whenever I have the time (which is almost never) I love to play it. I have reached level 50 and my record is 218 tanks. I can play it for hours when I don't have homework, or a screaming child.

#6 I hate raw tomatoes. It is the stangest thing. I love salsa, spaghetti sauce, tomato soup even but a plain raw tomato makes me gag. I have tried, on my mission, since I have been home, I just do not like raw tomatoes. I can even put them on hamburgers, as long as they are not too big. Weird.

So there you all go 6 spectacular and not so spectacular things about Cassie and I. Now I tag Ryan and Di, Trevor and Ariane, Melanie and Justin, Angelee and Jeff, and Brett and Celeste.

SAY WHAT?!?!?!?!?

So Friday night I got a call from the stake executive secretary. He asked if Cassie and I could meet with the Stake Pres on Sat morning. We said that we could and then started to dileberate on which of us was going to get a new calling (what else would the stake president want). Cassie is the first counselor in the Primary presidency and I am first counselor in the Young Men's presidency. The executive secretary was moving out of the ward and I did not want that job. So Saturday arrived and we met with the Stake president. He asked us to tell him a little about ourselves (because he doesn't know us that well). Then he what callings we had and I told him I was in the Young Men's presidency and very happy about it, and Cassie was in the Primary presidency. After that he kind of lowered his head and said, "they not going to be very happy with me". Then he asked if I (Devan) would accept a calling to serve as the.............(drumroll please).................second counselor in the bishopric. ????huh????? What did you say? I was somewhat stunned. I didn't see that one coming. The Stake president said that I still got to work with the young men, so I accepted. So on Sunday I was sustained as the newest counselor in the bishopric. The bishop and the other counselor are the same (except 2nd became 1st) and I am the second. So when I go home next week Dad will ordain me to the office of High Priest and then I will be set apart when I get back. Now I have to figure out how to juggle school, clinicals, baby, wife, and ward. I better be earning brownie points for this one.

My how they grow

Cassie and I were looking at some pictures the other day and we couldn't believe how big our baby boy has gotten. When you lug them around everyday you just get used to them getting fatter and fatter, and when you see them everyday it doesn't seem like such a big change, but when you look at the pictures........He looks like a completely different person.

He used to just lay around and gaze out the window, now he is sitting up looking around at everything. Look at that little boy sitting up, he isn't even four months old yet.

Mr Drostan "Joe Cool" Ball

Cassie saw these little sunglasses and had to buy them for Drostan. And he actually leaves them on.

The Instruction of Drostan

Due to my insanely busy schedule time with my son is at a premium. I figured since I have so little time I should spend it teaching him the really important things first. You may need to turn the volume up to hear Drostan "talking" but he is becoming quite the chatter box. Cassie, for her part, is teaching him to be camera shy so everytime I pick up the camera he shuts up.

Drostan hasn't quite figured out how to actually bounce in his bouncer but he likes to play in it all the same. For a little while anyway.Here is one of the few times he didn't get all camera shy. It took about 20 shots to get this one but here is the toothless wonder.

Playtime with Dad is so fun.

Mom can be fun too.

Cuter Every Day

Some of you have yet to meet Drostan so you are unaware of how unique a child he is. He sleeps less than some adults (I don't just mean at night) we are talking cumulative hours here. He is also brighter and more alert than many adults (read most of the working class on Monday morning). He likes to be held and wants the whole world to revolve around him, just try ignoring him for a few minutes and he will remind you that he is in the room. Then there are the universal baby issues, hungry all the time, poopy all the time, and throwing up on everything in sight. And yet despite all this he still gets cuter everyday.

He loves his daddy.
Definitely more alert than some schmo at a desk (right?)
Look at me and my bad self in my own chair. I am such a big boy.

Side note on the chair: it was in the garbage pile by our house and we snagged it and Kris reupholstered it for Drostan (like brand new).

More baby pictures

For this post I am going to dispense, for the most part, with my clever commentary. I know the majority of people reading this are just checking for pictures of the baby, and I don't blame you. I have said, unbiasedly, before that he is the cutest darn baby. What can you do?


Sometimes happy
Sometimes not
Held by many, harmed by few. He does look a little worried though.
This is me looking cute.............
............ and this is me melting the hearts of everybody in the room.

July 4 2008

So here is the idea: We are living near Washington DC, the capital of the nation, which has a fantastic fireworks show and we just had the cutest baby in the world. We should invite our families out to see the fireworks and visit the baby.

Here is what we didn't consider: Mothers+Fathers+Brothers and Sisters+Nieces and Nephews=28 people. We live in a two bedroom townhouse. We (meaning me) are the only ones that know where we are going.

I really got to think these things through better. Luckily only only sixteen of the 28 showed up. Even then herding 16 people downtown in Washington DC is like her sheep.



And to make matters even better, it decided to rain on us..............three times.
Some people apparently enjoyed the rain. Drostan is under the blue poncho eating, so he didn't mind it either.
He was awake for the show and he didn't cry at all. The first explosion startled him a little but after that he just looked up and enjoyed the lights.
Wild man in his leopard blanket and patriotic tee-shirt. It really all turned out very well.