Tyler & Barbara Little

Trolley

2012-01-24T20:38:00.000-08:00

Elliott always sees the trolley go by and gets really excited, so a couple months ago we went for a ride. (As always, you may want to disable the music player at the bottom of the blog before watching.)

Zoo and such

2012-01-21T13:20:00.000-08:00

We've been to the zoo and wild animal park several times in the last month. Tyson, Brett, and the love of Elliott's life (Dahlia) were able to join us at the wild animal park.

And here's a random picture of me in the lab at work.

Christmas tree

2011-12-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

We took a few Christmas tree bokeh pictures today. Here they are.

Elliott hung out with his baby sister and sang her Jingle Bells.

Elliottron

2011-11-07T16:24:00.000-08:00

A few photos of Elliott's Tron costume. Once again, we went crazy making a costume for Elliott that ended up being way more work than we thought it'd be. But we were happy with the results. We didn't finish it in time for a pre-Halloween party (but he did get to trick-or-treat with it on Halloween), so Barbara whipped up the secondary costume shown below.

Pumpkin patch with cousins

2011-10-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

Last week Chris ditched work and Bryson ditched school so we could all go to a pumpkin patch together. It was a lot of fun.

A few weeks ago we drove up to Lake Cuyamaca and fed the ducks. We started out with a leisurely duck feeding, but after a moment this gaggle of geese ran from the other side of the lake and started attacking Barbara and Elliott. So of course I started recording as Barbara's motherly defense instincts kicked into gear.

Girl!

2011-09-27T22:55:00.001-07:00

Barbara had an ultrasound today, and it's a girl! And it's a good thing, since she already started buying girl clothes last week. Here's some maternity photos we took today where Barbara gets her model on.

Tricycle

2011-08-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

Riding around with E.

Elliott is two

2011-07-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

We had Elliott's birthday party yesterday, and here is his year two video. Enjoy the show. (You may want to turn off the music player on the bottom of the page.)

Flowers

2011-05-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

We went to the flower fields in Carlsbad a few weeks ago and moseyed about.

Riding bikes on the 52

2011-03-20T20:28:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I'm amazed at how excited Barbara gets about little things. They had a bike ride/run for the public on the section of freeway that is being opened up near our apartment, and Barbara was giddy as ever. I woke up yesterday morning to her telling me about a dream she was just having about the free tee shirts they were giving away at the event.

It was pretty awesome riding our bikes on the freeway. Enjoy the video and pictures. There are more pictures in flickr.

Snow in the Lagunas

2011-03-01T23:26:00.000-08:00

We went to the snow twice within the last week. We wanted to live it up before it melts. Elliott loved it.

Downtown

2011-02-25T17:04:00.000-08:00

We went downtown the other day and took some pictures.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-16T11:08:00.000-08:00

Here was our day:
1) Barbara gets her favorite health food in bed.

2) We drop off Elliott and get new shoes.

3) We go to where I had my first job and play miniature golf for the first time together.

4) Eat loads of steak at Black Angus for lunch. (No picture--you wouldn't want to see a picture of Barbara gnawing on a raw hunk of meat. It wasn't pretty.)
5) We go on a bike ride with the boy.

6) Barbara flips her hair around so I can take a picture.

365

2011-01-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

I saw a Flickr group called Project 365 recently--you take a picture a day and post it online. It sounded fun, so I've been doing that since the start of the year. It usually ends up going something like this:

BARBARA: I'm tired. Let's go to sleep.

TYLER: OK. Wait! I need to take a picture today.

BARBARA: [Groaning sound.]

TYLER: Hold still. [Shutter click.]

BARBARA: You're not using that picture.

Then I stay up another hour or two and Barbara goes to bed. Here are a few I actually managed to take during the day.

I got lazy and embedded these pictures from Flickr. You can see the other Project 365 photos here.

Our sad, neglected blog

2011-01-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

We've been horrible bloggers lately. Forgive us, and let's move on to a better blogging future.

Here's a video to perk this drooping site up a bit. Christmas photos coming very soon.

Elliott 0 to 1

2010-09-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

Here is Elliott's year video. Most people probably already saw this on facebook, but here it is anyways. Enjoy!

Cabrillo

2010-09-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

Back in San Diego

2010-08-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

We're back! Yesterday was my niece Holland's 2nd birthday. It was an Alice in Wonderland party, so we dressed up Elliott and his cousin Felix in Tweedledee and Tweedledum costumes that we made. Barbara sewed the shorts and suspenders, and I made the hats. It was a fun party, and we enjoyed seeing everyone again.

Later that day Elliott went swimming with his cousins Bryson and Camryn.

The last of the Alaska pictures

2010-08-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

We're back in San Diego now, but we wanted to post a few more pictures of our days in AK49.

We watched Owen a few weeks ago, and we made giant paper airplanes. He loved it.

The next set of pictures are from our trip to the Russian River.

Anchorage

2010-08-16T01:10:00.000-07:00

My good friend Craig came to Anchorage last week, so we met up with him and went on a hike. Besides the rain and mud and our ghetto summer car almost exploding, it was a lot of fun, and we're glad Elliott got to meet him.

There are mushrooms everywhere here right now, and they're straight out of Alice in Wonderland.

Two pictures from the park.

Seward

2010-08-14T21:43:00.001-07:00

We checked out Seward, Alaska yesterday for the first time. It was a fun day trip (even with the rain), and we hiked to a glacier.

Twenty-five

2010-08-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

Today is Barbara's birthday! We went over to Angela and Erik's house and barbecued steak and shrimp shish kabobs. Kaitlyn made Barbara a crown, Kali painted her a picture, and Owen colored her a picture. She's still wearing her crown and bossing me around while she points at it.

The last picture needs explaining. No, Elliott isn't wearing leggings. Those were his gift for Barbara. (She likes random socks, and she needed some from Alaska.)

Birthday!

2010-07-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Barbara's great grandpa's funeral. We're happy that Elliott was able to enjoy some time with him, and we will miss him.

Elliott turned one!

Over the past year I've been taking a picture of Elliott about every two to three days with this video in mind. I want to end up doing a time lapse video of Elliott growing up for as long as he'll let me keep doing it. Maybe I'll let him decide if he wants me to keep doing it when he turns eight or something. He's totally going to hate me. Watch the video in HD full screen.

We had a little birthday party for the boy, and he didn't really go for it. We had high expectations for him, so Barbara spent all day making a cake that was a replica of his Domo stuffed animal, Erik brought over studio lighting, and we all cheered him on when we put the cake in front of him. Maybe he just wasn't ready to eat his favorite stuffed monster, or maybe it was the pressure from the group of people in front of him, but he didn't appreciate his first birthday cake. Owen and Oliver took over where Elliott left off, so the Domo cake wasn't made in vain.

We love our boy, and he's so fun to be around. We're very blessed.

AK

2010-07-19T23:07:00.000-07:00

We've been taking a lot of pictures lately, so here are a few more recent ones. Enjoy.

Algumas fotos recentes

2010-07-07T01:38:00.001-07:00

My Boys

2010-06-21T00:17:00.001-07:00

Barbara wanted to post the blog this time, but she's falling asleep right now. I just nudged her and asked her what she wanted to say, so here it is, just about word for word. She said it in a sleepy voice while her eyes were shut.

"Today Elliott is 11 months old.

And it's Father's Day, yadda yadda. Make that sound good.

I'm so grateful for my boys, and I love them. I'm so blessed to have Tyler as our loving fathers. Don't post this. Don't post what I'm saying. For the examples of our fathers. Something like that. You sum it up. For my boys.

Goodnight. Goodnight. I love you. Goodnight.

You do it good like you always do."

Here are some pictures of today. Barbara got me some new records that I love.

Walking, Crawling

2010-06-11T00:13:00.001-07:00

We walked (and crawled) around the Kenai River today. It's crazy that Elliott is almost a year old.

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-03T17:41:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we went out on Erik and Angela's boat to go camping. We all ate s'mores, while Elliott ate rocks.

On Monday I went halibut fishing with Erik and his family. We came back with TONS of fish--enough to last us all summer. Even then, I'm sure it won't be the last time I go fishing this summer. Wahoo!

Barbara's first Mother's Day as a mom

2010-05-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day, Barbara! And Kay! And Debbie!

Here's a video I put together for Barbara. All the video is from Christmas till now since that's when we got our camera.

We're so grateful for our moms and their examples.

Antlers, Guns, Wolverines

2010-05-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Alaska, Elliott!

We came to Alaska a week ago for the summer. We're pretty excited and have been having a lot of fun. Here's Elliott's new friend, the stuffed wolverine (note the endearing looks on both their faces)--it's in the lady's house we're housesitting for. And there was a moose hanging out a block away from us the other day. Alaska is full of crazy stuff like this. It's like Idaho on steroids.

More to come soon.

Here's some footage of the butterfly exhibit at the Wild Animal Park from before we left. Apparently Vimeo doesn't let you watch embedded videos in HD. (Annoying....) So I recommend watching the video here: http://vimeo.com/11369805

The Friendly Reunion

2010-03-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

Last week we had our friends from school in Rexburg come and visit. We all live in different places now, and it worked out perfectly to have everyone come together. Barbara played the role of tour guide and tried planning every five minute increment of time while they were here (including bathroom breaks), but we managed to calm her down. A very fun week. Except when Elliott managed to get smashed under a giant elephant's foot. Can't wait for Friendly Reunion 2011.

Swings

2010-03-13T22:26:00.000-08:00

We took Elliott to the park the other day and tested out our new GoPro HD camera. They're pretty fun to play with. Check them out here.

Hot Tubbin' with the Baby

2010-02-19T06:19:00.000-08:00

Check it out.

Lately

2010-02-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

Elliott Likes to Laugh

2009-12-01T22:04:00.000-08:00

Halloween Photos...Finally

2009-11-13T07:50:00.001-08:00

We went a little crazy with Halloween this year and made costumes based on the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are." Barbara sewed Elliott's Max costume/wolf suit from scratch, and I made our masks out of paper mache. It took weeks, and they turned out pretty good. After three Halloween parties, two visits to our moms' elementary school classrooms to read the book, and a visit to Barnes and Noble for a book reading, we were ready for this Halloween to be finished.

Elliott's Baby Blessing

2009-10-17T23:59:00.001-07:00

Elliott was blessed last week in church. He looked awesome in his little man Sunday clothes that Barbara is in love with. We were even going to have a tiny tie for him to wear, but his neck is so fat now we can't even button his top button. Thank you to everyone that could make it.

Elliott Two Months, Back in San Diego

2009-09-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

Elliott is two months old! We made it back to San Diego and have been having fun with family. He has finally been able to meet his two grandpas, some of his great-grandparents, his great-great-grandpa, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. He's been doing great.

This last one is how we kept his pacifier in one day.

Grand Teton National Park

2009-08-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

We went to the Grand Teton National Park for the first time yesterday. I guess Obama is taking his family vacation there and in Yellowstone right now. Whenever we'd see a black SUV we'd yell, "Obama!" but we never saw him. Oh well.

Elliott drank his first chocolate shake the other day. He chugged the whole thing and cried when he had a brain freeze afterward.

Elliott, 2 Weeks -- Barbara, 24 Years

2009-08-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

On Monday Elliott turned two weeks old, and on Tuesday Barbara turned 24 years old. My mom was able to come up for two days to see him since she was visiting Utah. She watched Elliott on Barbara's birthday so we could go out on our first date since the baby has been born.

Here are some of the faces Elliott makes--I think his kissing face is the funniest.

Three Days Old

2009-07-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Elliott came home from the hospital yesterday and has been enjoying our hot apartment since then. Debbie has been helping out so much with everything--we're grateful for her.

He flexed his tiny muscles at us right after his bath. I think he already knows people think he's cute, so he's flaunting it now.

He was in such a deep sleep yesterday afternoon that I had to take advantage of the moment and play with him a little. He didn't even notice that I was moving him around.

Elliott Parker Little

2009-07-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

He's here! After two hours of pushing and a little help from a suction vacuum, he was born. Elliott arrived at 6:05 pm on July 20th, and both he and Barbara are doing great. He weighed 8 lbs 2 ounces is 20" long.

We are happier than we can describe.

More later.

Where We Are Right Now

2009-07-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

So we're in the Madison Memorial Hospital right now, and Barbara is doing great. Epidurals are AWESOME. Hopefully he'll be born soon and we'll post some baby pictures!

Here are a few other random pictures from the last two days. We've been trying to live it up a little before the baby is born.

The Fourth

2009-07-19T10:30:00.001-07:00

Here are some belated Fourth of July photos. It was Barbara's first time ever going to a rodeo, so it was a lot of fun seeing her wince and cry, "Oooooooh!" every time they tied up a calf or a guy got flung off a bucking bull. They had an event where they attached dollar bills to a calf and got all the little kids in the audience to chase after it to try and grab the money. Awesome. Couldn't have been more Idahoan.

We lit some fireworks later in the park by our house.

Also, Barbara is going into the hospital tonight to prep her for induction tomorrow morning. Wahoo!

Yellowstone

2009-06-17T09:09:00.001-07:00

I had a day off from work yesterday, and we spontaneously decided to drive to Yellowstone National Park for the afternoon. We got an annual pass since it didn't cost much more than the regular one, so I'm sure we'll have some more Yellowstone pictures as the summer continues. It was beautiful!

When we pulled up to Old Faithful and checked when it was supposed to go off next we saw that we'd just missed it by about ten minutes. It goes off every ninety minutes, and we didn't want to wait that long since we both had meetings that night, so we ate our lunch and decided to leave. Just as we were getting to the parking lot, we saw the thing start shooting up water and heard people cheering. (Yeah, that's right. People were cheering. Pretty intense.) We were happy to be able to see it, get some pictures, and then take off before the crowd of people did. Sorry the colors in the Old Faithful picture are weird--you couldn't really see the geyser because the sky was white, so I did some photoshop tweaking.

Marcos and Helena's Wedding Photos

2009-06-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

Here are the promised photos of Marcos' wedding. He didn't really have anyone to take pictures for them, so I volunteered last minute. I still need some more equipment to make more professional photos, but I think there are a few nice shots.

Holga Photos

2009-06-07T11:24:00.001-07:00

Barbara and I just recently pulled out my old Holga camera that I haven't used in a while, got a 35mm adapter, and started playing with it again. For more about Holga cameras, look at this site: http://microsites.lomography.com/holga/

They're cheap and a lot of fun to play around with. We took a roll of film yesterday and here are a few good ones. We'll post some of the wedding photos from my work friend later.

The Rexburg Temple

2009-06-04T21:46:00.001-07:00

I recently found out that a friend from work was getting married and needed a photographer, so I volunteered. Barbara and I went to the temple the day before so we could find some good places to shoot from. Here are a few shots of Barbara (and her belly filled with a rapidly growing baby boy).

Tyler and his imaginary bride are featured below. Just getting a feel for what some of the wedding shots would be like.... We'll post a few of them soon.

To our Moms

2009-05-10T22:07:00.001-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

This is for our dear sweet mothers who dealt with our dysfunctional childhood behaviors--like Tyler's whining and Barbara's ADD. We love you.

Graduation

2009-04-20T07:54:00.001-07:00

Sorry Erik, but we got behind on the blog and there's going to be some serious blog vomiting. Finals and graduation took its toll on the blog....

So I finally graduated. My parents were able to come up and celebrate, and it was a lot of fun. Honestly, we were a little worried about finding things to do in Rexburg to keep us occupied for several days, but there was plenty to do. Like playing Boggle. And spelunking.

Debbie's Birthday

2009-04-20T07:30:00.001-07:00

It was Barbara's mom's birthday on Friday, so we made her a video to celebrate. It took way too long. Our thanks to Tyson for his garage band skills and his killer electric guitar whammy sounds.

Tyler's Birthday

2009-03-15T21:23:00.001-07:00

So last Sunday I woke up to see some crazy looking object flying through the air at my head and Barbara shouting, "TODAY IS YOUR DAY OF ALL DAYS!" She had drawn and cut out a bird from a Dr. Seuss book ("the birthday bird"), taped it to a bobby pin, then let it fly down a thread she was holding which was pinned to the wall just over my sleeping head. A great start to any day.

We had some people over and played bunco and ate ice cream cake. I got a microscope from Barbara and her parents which I'm very excited about. I know, I know, I'm a biology nerd, but I just can't help it.

My friend Tyson made this video for me as a gift. Wow, it's fantastic.

Seeing Oliver

2009-03-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we went to see our friends Brett and Ciara near Salt Lake. They just had a new baby boy, Oliver, and it was a lot of fun.

Dinner with Elder Little

2009-02-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

My cousin David just finished up with his mission in the Pocatello, Idaho mission. We were really hoping he would be transferred to Rexburg, but that didn't happen. We did, however, get to see him since John and Janet came to pick him up. It was fun catching up and swapping mission stories.

Stan's Interpretation of the Sonogram

2009-01-29T20:36:00.000-08:00

Barbara's dad sent us an email with this "enhanced version" of the sonogram. Click on it to see his interpretations. This is probably one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time.

Barbara's First Sonogram

2009-01-26T19:53:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that Barbara is pregnant--she had her first doctor's appointment today. It was awesome! The sonogram was incredible to see, and the baby looks healthy and alien-like (which means Barbara's genes are definitely the dominant ones in this family). We won't know the gender for a few more weeks. Any guesses?

Dinner with Cousins & Playing in the Snow

2009-01-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

My cousin Trevor and his wife Holly invited us and my other cousing Rachel over for dinner today. It was fun getting together with family and having Barbara meet Rachel for the first time.

Our friend Rob just got back from his mission and is going to school here now. He had never been sledding before, so we took him a few days ago.

Belated Christmas Photos

2009-01-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

We'd like to thank our friend Ciara for reprimanding us into finally posting our Christmas photos. We got a bit behind schedule, but I think we'll do better now.

This is in Rexburg:

This is in San Diego (at the Coburn's & Little's):

This is the night of our one year anniversary:

This is playing croquet with Mike, Amy, & Afton:

This is New Year's Eve at Laura & Johnny's:

Christmas Tree Hunting

2008-12-07T08:52:00.000-08:00

One nice thing about Idaho is that you can pay $10 to get a permit and go chop down your own Christmas tree. We went with Tyson, Brett, and Matt up to the mountains yesterday and picked out a tree we liked. It may be a little skimpy, but we like it. We had to hack off the bottom two and a half feet to get it into our apartment (the ceiling is only seven feet tall), but that's okay. We say no to fake trees!

Thanksgiving in Boise

2008-11-30T23:14:00.000-08:00

We went to my Aunt and Uncle's house (Ann & Gordon) in Boise for Thanksgiving. I haven't been there in nearly ten years, and it was Barbara's first time there. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone again and meeting my cousin Paul's wife and new baby.

Barbara's asleep right now, so I can get away with posting the picture showing my winning Boggle score. (It's vain of me, I know, but I can't help myself.) We also celebrated my Grandpa Little's 83rd birthday which he'll have December 2nd.

My Uncle Gordon took us shooting the day after Thanksgiving, and Barbara shot a gun for the first time in her life. It was pretty scary seeing her with a shotgun. She got way too much enjoyment out of shooting weapons....

My dad, uncle Gordon, cousin Paul, and I went to a Boise State football game. Although I'm not the biggest football fan, the seats were in the second row and it was a lot of fun (aside from being cold--that's why I'm wearing Barbara's mittens below).

We carpooled with Tyson and Brett and stopped by Craters of the Moon on the way back, where there are tons of lava formations. It looked just like The Land Before Time.

Pie!

2008-11-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

Since all of our friends are going to be in different places for Thanksgiving this year, we decided to have a pie party. We thought it would be fun to dress up as pilgrims and indians to celebrate. So we told everyone to dress up as an indian (except our friend Bruce who we told to dress up like a pilgrim--he had no idea he would be the only one).

Halloween

2008-11-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

This is our Halloween.

Enjoy.

Fall

2008-10-19T18:58:00.001-07:00

All the trees are going to look dead soon, so we're living up the fall weather while we can. This is Barbara's favorite time in Rexburg, so we decided to take some pictures.

I looked in a journal from last year and saw that it was one year ago today that we got engaged. We went to Smith Park and took pictures under the tree where I proposed.

Apparently I had a bug on my face right before the self timer went off, so that second picture was right after Barbara smacked me in the jaw.

San Diego & Natural Disaster Party

2008-10-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Barbara had two weeks off teaching school for spud harvest, so she got to go home to San Diego. (I don't think elementary school kids really need two weeks off for that, but she'll take the time off anyways, thank you very much.)

The idea for a natural disaster party has been in the works for quite a while. It sprung up when our friend Kiri made lava cake a few months ago, then it developed from there--things like eating blizzards, making "funnel cloud cake" (I always thought that one was a bit of a stretch), playing Twister, making a volcano, and (my favorite) playing "Pin the Hurricane on Texas."

Spud Day

2008-09-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of the Gem State, we went to Spud Day in Shelley. Spud Day is a set day of the year in certain communities where the potato is celebrated. It consists of potato sack races, lots of food, (including free baked potatoes), a tug-of-war with a pit of mashed potatoes in the middle, and a demolition derby. It is strangely awesome.

This is the third year I've been to Spud Day and the second for Barbara. It's kind of this sick tradition that we get a giant smoked turkey leg each time. Nothing brings people together like passing around a giant hunk of meat, I guess. The next three pictures are Spud Day in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

I won that beanie I'm pointing at in the demolition derby--which is way better than the hat Tyson won the first year we went. Take that, Tyson.

Why There Haven't Been Many Posts Lately

2008-09-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

So I got online the other day to see if there was anything interesting to do around here that I hadn't done before. After not having much luck, I found this random forum talking about things to do--here are the top seven things on the list (paraphrased by me, except when quoted):

1. The famous Idaho Falls Zoo (boooooooooooooooring)

2. The local dollar theater that shows old kids movies for free sometimes during the summer

3. The regular priced movie theater

4. McDonald's (This is for real--I mean, a real person wrote this)

5. "Go to downtown Idaho Falls and let the kids play on the benches. [The BENCHES!] Those who have done this saw it's amazing what games the kids will invent for themselves."

6. Buy a kiddie pool to play in

7. "With that wading pool DRY get generic Cocoa Puffs or a similar cereal and put enough in for the kids to play. Then you can store the generic Cocoa Puffs for potential re-use. That's if it all hasn't been crunched, fed to family pets, eaten by the child/children, [peed on,] or ended up elsewhere. This usually is an outdoor activity, but could be moved indoors if blanket/sheets are placed under the plastic wading pool so clean up is easier. For my friends who have done this, children will be entertained for hours. Besides, if they didn't eat breakfast...well you could accomplish two goals."

As you can see, it's been difficult for Barbara and I to find things to fill our time with. Thankfully, our friend Todd fixed Barbara's bike recently though, so we've been riding around everywhere on that. There are some good parks and trails in Rexburg to ride.

We got hot.

BYU-Idaho Web Page

2008-08-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

That's right, friends. It's me on the BYU-Idaho web page. Here's the link:

http://activities.byui.edu/outdoor/default.htm.

Unfortunately some other chumps share my spot on the page, so you may have to refresh it a few times to find me.

Last year a girl from my old ward told my roommates and I that they needed people to take pictures of for the activities department, so we went. Some of my old roommates got put up on posters and flyers around campus, and now I'm on the web page.