Year In Review 2011

Here are my top 20 albums this year. (Here is the Year In Review 2011 Mix, with the best song off of each album.)

1. Wilco The Whole Love
2. The Strokes Angles
3. Bon Iver Bon Iver
4. Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
5. Foster The People Torches
6. Young The Giant Young The Giant
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers I'm With You
8. Adele 21
9. The Black Keys El Camino
10. Radiohead The King Of Limbs
11. Incubus If Not Now, When?
12. Foo Fighters Wasting Light
13. Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes
14. Mister Heavenly Out Of Love
15. Coldplay Mylo Xyloto
16. Holy Ghost! Holy Ghost!
17. Washed Out Within and Without
18. Grouplove Never Trust A Happy Song
19. The Head And The Heart The Head And The Heart
20. Wavves Life Sux - EP

Honorable Mentions:
Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2
The Decemberists The King Is Dead
Death Cab For Cutie Codes & Keys
Jay-Z & Kanye West Watch The Throne

What are your top 20 albums of the year?

Will has been walking for about 2 weeks now, but in short spurts. That is until we let him loose in airports and the Kirtland, Ohio Visitor's Center.

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Top 5 Deli Sandwiches

1. Chicken Salad sandwich from The Quilted Bear.
2. Turkey Bacon Avacado sandwich from Kneaders.
3. Italian Night Club from Jimmy Johns.
4. The Empire State from Gandalfo's.
5. Blimpie Best sub on white from Blimpie.

(I realize I've left off Philly Cheesesteaks. I didn't consider them "Deli" sandwiches, but if I had to choose it would be a close tie between Moochies and DP Cheesesteaks.)

Will's Top 5 recognizable TV show intro's

1. Sesame Street Intro
2. KSL News Intro
3. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Intro
4. Little Einsteins Intro
5. Sportcenter Intro

Top 5 explanation.

I was recently reminded about the movie High Fidelity with John Cusack, which comes from the book of the same name written by Nick Hornby. In it they are occasionally making top 5 lists of music, girlfriends, movies, episodes of Cheers etc. This made me realize I am constantly making top 5 lists in my head about everything: Top 5 fry sauces, top 5 bread appetizers at restaurants, top 5 songs that remind me of my junior year in high school, top 5 jobs, top 5 ANYTHING.

I realized that though I have been lacking in the photo a day posts, these top 5 lists could come in handy. I also have a couple guys I work with that I always need to have top 5 recommendations in ANY food category handy at any given moment. Sometimes my top 5 lists go into a lot of detail and can change at any given moment. But for the most part, they are just fun for me to compile.

So, in light of the movie/book High Fidelity, todays top 5 is: Top 5 Records: Side One, Track One (Opening Track).

1. "Everything In It's Right Place", Kid A, by Radiohead.
2. "Dance Yrself Clean", This is Happening, by LCD Soundsystem.
3. "Black Dog", IV, By Led Zeppelin
4. "My Name Is Jonas", Weezer (The Blue Album), by Weezer.
5. "Privilege", Make Yourself, by Incubus.

Near & Far with Will

Our little boy Will was cracking up when I was doing my Grover impression of Near & Far with him.

Day 169

Will is 17 weeks today and will be 4 months tomorrow. He's growing so fast, and time is starting to fly. He now looks like a little boy to me, and not an infant anymore. I guess it never ends. I love having this little guy around.

Day 168

About the time Will got RSV, we got him this humidifier. This has been great to use, I hope it is still helping. Maybe we seem like over protective parents by having all of these devices, noise making machines, battery powered nasal suction machine, and humidifiers, but having your baby in the hospital at such a young age will do that do you I guess. And he's our first so BACK OFF! :) (Lovingly)

Day 167

This is Will's sound machine. He comes by it honestly, because I haven't been able to get rid of mine for around 15 years now. I'm so weird, but so dependent on it.

Day 166

Day 165

Makeshift La-Z Boy.

Day 164

By far one of my most favorite pictures of Will.

Day 163

The final project. These are on the wall next to Will's changing table, and sometimes he'll just sit, stare, and smile at them.

Day 162

But for now, I just hope he stays a little boy full of imagination...

Day 161

Maybe he'll just be a rock star though...

Day 160

"Football Will". However, if basketball doesn't work out, I couldn't think of a better sport to play than football. It's almost a tie with basketball. But knowing he'll most likely be super tall, I think he might be better suited for roundball.

Day 159

"Basketball Will". Of all sports, I really hope he gravitates to this sport the most, but I am biased and will lovingly persuade him to play as much basketball as possible.

Day 158

We'd been struggling as to how to decorate Will's room after he was born. Shara came up with an idea for me to draw a few different cartoons of Will and our family. The next few "photo of the day" pictures Will be what I came up with, and then the final product.

This is our little family as it is now.

Day 157

After years of not having a digital scale, and wanting to help us be more accurate in our weight loss efforts, I elected to purchase this digital scale. So far I love it, and can't complain. I pretty much weight myself every day because it's so cool, plus it lets me know that I can't eat horrible that day either. THIS, was a good purchase.

Day 156

I'm considering canceling my Rolling Stone subscription, when this is their choice for a cover story.

Day 134-155

Again, the slacking has ensued, and I need to post many-a pictures in one day to catch up...

Will has been enjoying his Bumbo lately, and this was the first time we put him in it. He didn't know what to expect at first, but I know it's growing on him. We love the Bumbo!

I feel this is a very artistic picture which shows the quiet, contained rage of this cat.

This should be the new face of Gerber.

He's looking older and bigger to us every day! This picture is no exception.

These are my favorite PJ's for him. His little belly shows very easily in these.

He's getting so much better at lifting up his head while on his stomach now.

No matter what position Will is lying in, he will just sit and watch basketball. Which, as a Dad, makes me very proud.

Will gets so many kisses from his mom, that, at times, I get pretty jealous.

He's probably trying to tell us something here.

I'm getting him ready for all the throwing around and wrestling that ill happen when he's older.

"Don't stick your tongue out at me, kid."

When we first got our baby monitors from one of our showers, I instantly thought they looked like Eva from Wall-E.

We are getting very good at taking our Vitamins every day.

We probably eat this once a week. It is amazingly good, and is a perfect serving size for just the two of us. Add an English Muffin, and this meal is complete!

When we came home from the hospital, we realized we needed more than a bulb to suction out Will's nose. Our friend Kira Kitterman let us know about this at Walgreens. We has used it daily, and it's amazing how much it gets out of his nose. Plus, and this might be gross to some of you, but I think it's cool to see how much it pulls out.

Will at 15 weeks.

He's a happy, drooling baby. We can't keep his shirts dry any more. But we love him. He slimes us all the time too, but I know it's only going to get worse. I think I'm getting used to it.

Day 108 - 133

I know, I know... It's been a while. But I have good excuses (Will being hospitalized being the main reason). However, to just get caught up so that I continue doing this every day, I'll just give a sampling of what happened during these couple of weeks. So, enjoy!

Andy's birthday was a couple of months ago, but we finally got together and went shooting west of Utah Lake. I have to say, aside from the fog and cold temperatures, I had a blast. I love getting together with these guys and just being dorks. We had a really good time.

This may go down in history as one of the best shots of Will during his "baby years" (Credit to my wife Shara for taking this shot, as well as many others I have posted on here as well)

Will's blessing day. Poor guy was so sick as you can see in the following picture as well. He was taken to the hospital and later admitted that night with RSV. More of those pictures to follow as well.

This is Will's SECOND blessing outfit. He outgrew his first one. We ordered this from eBay, and was really excited about the look of it. When it arrived, we pulled it out of the package only to find it smelling of cigarette smoke like the dickens. A wash or two later and it was good, but he barely fit into it on the actual blessing day. Glad we didn't wait any longer.

After a doctor visit to his pediatrician on a Friday, and a trip to the emergency respiratory clinic, Will was admitted Monday morning at 1:45am to the Primary Children's Medical Center in Riverton. We would spend the next 4 nights and 4 days there trying to regulate his breathing, maintain his blood oxygen levels, and get him on a normal eating cycle once again.

Day 1: This was his worst day. He got progressively better every day. On top of symptoms from RSV, he started a fever as well.

Day 2: He's looking better, happy, but still needing suctioning, and albuterol treatments to help his lungs receive more oxygen.

He couldn't move very far from his little 5 foot radius of how far his oxygen and monitor chords would reach, so we had to show him every detail of his room. He loved looking at this screen and seeing it move.

Day 3: My mom was able to come visit, and brought him this little sock monkey, along with some snacks for us at the hospital. It was a lifesaver, we needed snacks! He was improving much better this day, but still needed to stay because of needing to stay suctioned, and oxygen when he slept.

Day 4: He improved significantly this day, and only needed bulb suctioning (something we could do at home) and only needed oxygen when he slept. They sent us home with some oxygen and later delivered out more when we got home. We were relieved to be able to come home after all of that.

This is a sad picture, but I wanted to remember what he looked like with this oxygen tank. He actually was very cooperative with that being in his nose for a few days.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This should catch me up, it's not for every day I missed, but I don't think anyone is really counting anyway. So stay tuned...

Day 107

Will's 2 month check up went very good. He is 13 lbs even, and 24 1/4 inches long. He has a little torticollis, which is basically a little stiff neck that we will need to do some little stretches with him every day, but other than that, he is looking great!

Will also had to have his 2 month shots today as well. This nurse was FAST! I thought she had only done one shot while I took this video. He was a champ though and even though he cried, he was tough.

Day 106

Will is starting to put on some weight, check up is on Monday. We'll see how big he is really getting.

Day 105

I failed to mention in a recent post, that the Reese's Valentine Heart is also 2nd to the Christmas Tree, but I think it's better than the Easter Egg. I'll let you know when Easter rolls around what I truly think though. (Sorry for the cell phone horrible resolution and out of focusness)

Day 104

January 22, 2011. Will is officially 2 months old today.