Hair Flowers

So my sister Becky and I made these hair flower headbands for our babies, and I just had to post a cute little pic of Cami wearing one. They sell for $10 or so at baby boutiques, but only cost a dollar or two to make, so we were very proud of ourselves.

Five Months Old: Cami's New Tricks

In honor of Cami's five month birthday (no, we're not actually celebrating it, though that would be a good excuse to make a cake...), I thought I would post a little of what she's been up to these days. Cami is getting to the silly age, and it's fun to see her little personality comes out. She loves to squeal and sing, and particularly recently, stick her little tongue out. She will get very excited and spin around in her saucer, knocking off all the toys! She is very happy most of the time, but still has a pretty intense little personality, and knows how to get upset as well.

Cami loves to put things in her mouth and she loves her feet! As you see from the picture above, she has found the perfect combination!

"I can sit!" (Okay, so she didn't actually say that, but don't the picture's say it all?) She still has to totally support herself with her arms, and sometimes she topples over, but she's getting better at it every day.

Well, I have more to post but the little roo is awake (I hear squealing from upstairs), so we'll save them for another time. Happy 5 months Cami!

Cami in Action

Back by Popular Demand, Cami Pictures!!!!

Conference Weekend

You probably have all noticed by now that there is on the left hand side of this blog a small strip of ad space. It is a small, trivial piece of blog which stands as a testament to my own arrogance. I put it in there without asking Carrie, and knowing full well that nobody in there right mind is going to pay to advertise on the Diggins Family blog. Still, somewhere in the back of my own mind I must believe there is a possibility that someday a check for 57 cents in going to arrive on my doorstep just for updating our blog. When I first put it up it had a nice little sign about hurricane relief and I smiled at the .0000001% percent chance that our blog would someday produce residual income.

A funny thing has happened to my little piece of blog hope in the last few days. Instead of nice humanitarian messages Google is instead using the space to provide links to sites they think my readers would enjoy. Base on the content of the blog they decided every link should be to a American Idol superfan site or to celebrity gossip site. That's what I've become...according to Google I am now Chris Diggins - your source for the latest scoop on American Idol and updates on celebrity gossip.

Now I don't have to tell you about the horror and shame I felt once this fact finally settled in. So today I'm taking steps to change the little ad window and make it more representative of who I am and who we are as a family. So today I am appealing to the best parts of my nature and writing about General Conference

For our friends who are not LDS, General Conference is the twice a year meeting where the entire Mormon church gets together to hear messages from our leaders and enjoy watching church on TV, from home, and in our pajamas. Cami especially loves conference because she gets to keep her daily schedule and Mom and Dad are both home all day to play with her.

This Conference was a different experience without President Hinkley. Much has been said, and said much better, about what President Gordon B. Hinkley meant to the church and and the unique opportunity it is to see a new prophet and first presidency called. To me, President Hinkley was the only church president I have know. I joined the LDS church in 1998 when I was 17 years old in Pennsylvania. It will be 10 years this August and it's incredible the amount of life that you can pack in 10 years. Going from 17 to 27 is all about changing, growing, and having the experiences that eventually will define who you will become. All that time the church I had just joined was changing right along with me. New temples and programs, New conference locations and new ways to reach out across the world. I felt that while I was always striving to be better President Hinkley was doing the same with the church and making sure that the whole church was better and that we were trying to be better as individuals.

I missed President Hinkley more this conference weekend then I did at his funeral or at the time of his passing. However, I felt glad to sit and the beginning of a new era for the church and what would probably be a new era for my family. I know that God has called a new prophet in Thomas S. Monson and that he is the Lord's servant chosen to lead the church at this time. Listening to President Monson I became impressed once again with the emphasis he placed on people. His memory is a marvel. I feel very strongly that his example is one for the church to follow. President Hinkley gave us everything we need, Temples across the world, programs to lift and educate the poor and afflicted, Materials to educate ourselves on everything we would want to know about the church and share it with our friends. If we take what President Hinkley gave us and follow the example of President Monson by using it to care for others more than we care for ourselves then I know the Lord's work on the earth will continue to progress at an amazing rate.

Sadly I'm behind on this one. Too often I think of myself in terms on my job, my family, my comfort, or rest that I need. I feel the challenge to think of others like the Lord thinks of them. It's a difficult task, but it is one worth pursuing. I am grateful that the Lord gives us leaders and examples for our day, and that he continues to give us the messages we need through his servants on the earth, just as it's always been.

That's all for this week. I'll put some pictures up a little later. I'm more than a little excited to be here for Kansas vs. Memphis. Let's hope everything breaks right for the good guys. Until next time.

Idol Thoughts

This week I'm taking a break from jotting down my sports comments for a few reasons. First and foremost I'm learning that 90% of the people who are reading this blog are women, and of those women 80% are here for the baby pictures and catching up purposes only. Since my sports thoughts tell you nothing about what we've been doing and typically includes no pictures then I am failing miserably with our key demographic. I have considered starting a separate sports blog, but most of those I've seen started only have one post that hasn't been updated in six months ( I'm staring right at you Jeff Cooper!) and it's most likely that few of our current readers ( Again mostly women) would click over to check it out. At least here I have a disinterested, but a captive audience.

My second reason for not going with sports talk this week is that my bracket is utter garbage and I'm a little bitter. FYI Carrie's bracket is better than mine once again...this will make three straight years... I don't want to talk about it. Needless to say I can already feel the smug, satisfied little smile that all you women who read my last post have. The lesson as always is don't mess with Karma, even on the Internet.

So since my bracket failures will ultimately result in the loss of my man card I decide to go all in this week and give you a breakdown of American Idol. So here's my thoughts in the order in which they are going home.

9. Syesha - She is American Idol's version of vanilla ice cream. You get someone like Syesha every year, looks like she fell out of a GAP ad, sings diva music ( Ugh.) , and is generally plain and uninteresting. Top that off with the fact the Carrie and I are SO sick of the type of music she sings ( last year I think they had 9 Syeshas on the women's side...I detest years where the only decent girls sing Diva/Soul music and they have several of them) and she has to go.

8. Kristy Lee Cook - Saved by the fact that it's country week this week and the only country singer in the competition isn't going to go home on country week..It's unamerican. Speaking of which, I completely agreed with Simon that she made the smartest music choice in the history of the show last week. It's like she read all the papers and said to herself ,"Let's see them just try to vote me off when I'm singing God Bless the USA." Still, she's not the greatest performer and 8 is a good spot for her.

7. Ramielle - I really wish she would be next to go, but apparently she's really popular with Filipinos and they vote en mass for her. I'm glad she has a fanbase and they enjoy her music, but now I have really great idea why Filipino music never makes it big over here. She can leave at anytime and that would me okay with me.

6. Michael Johns - He's been getting better. I have nothing nice to say here because of my steadfast belief that he's been pushed on the audience as "great" when he's average as best. That and I keep thinking of the "Take Home Chef" whenever I watch him ( An amazing show by the way. This single Aussie guy goes to the supermarket and finds the best looking woman in the place and offers to buy her groceries and cook dinner for her and her "significant other". He then spends all day cooking with her at her place and surprises the man of the house with a camera crew at the front door when he gets home, before letting him know that he was just there to cook dinner. I don't know about anyone else, but no dinner in the world makes up for the heart attack I would have by being met at my door at the end of the day by an Aussie soap opera star, my wife, and a camera crew. Just me I guess.)

5. Carly Smithson - I think she's better than this but I'm sure that America collectively hates the fact she's already had a record deal and couldn't cut it. A little unfair if you ask me, but people like what they like. She's been great a few times and I generally look forward to her performances. Nothing interesting to say here because Carly does nothing interesting but sing well. For me she's like a female Michael Johns...only if I liked Michael John's singing.

4. Jason Castro - My favorite quote of the year - " I guess if I'm going to do this I should put some more time into it." Really Jason? You do realize you're in the top ten of American Idol and now you're pretty much forced to record and perform music for the next 6-8 months? Yeah, I'd think that If all you had to do from week to week was pick and perform one friggin song you would want to put some time into it. Here's a hint, if you want America to stop thinking you're a stoner then stop doing and saying stoner things every time you're on the air. That said I love this guys sound. He's mellow and different and very interesting week to week. It's also nice to have someone that isn't so polished on the show, just to make you feel for a split second like it's a amateur competition. Right before you remember it's American Idol.

3. Brooke White - The first of our two Mormons this year. I am so biased on this one that I probably shouldn't say anything. However, I do not believe that it's a coincidence that her worst week was the week she wore the shorter yellow dress without sleeves...just saying. She has a naturally calming voice and if the next two weren't going to be enormous music stars she could win the whole thing.

2. David Cook- I want him to win. He's a rock star and ready to record right now. He's better at this point in the game and Daughtry was at the same stage two years ago. His song choices are always interesting and usually very well executed. I don't think he's smug at all, just a rock star trying to pull off the persona. There's a chance that his act could get old between now and the finale, but he's the one I look forward to listening to every week. His only weakness is that the American Idol crowd isn't his ultimate fanbase. I'm not sure a rock singer can win the whole thing...but I know who can.

1. David Archuleta - Donny Osmond reborn. A Disney Channel star without the Disney Channel. His biggest obstacle at this point is himself. I have this sinking feeling that David A. feels that his music will not only sell records, but cure world hunger, end poverty, and eventually lead to world peace. I'm sure the he sees himself as a mix of both Bill and Ted only without the guitars and the great catchphrase .( However in about two weeks I'm expecting him to bust out with a "Be Excellent to Each Other" on stage and claim the catchphrase for his own) This can be the only explanation for the fact the he feels it necessary to perform a "song with a message" every other week. I'm glad these songs have personal meaning for him, but they are seldom good and are really hurting his chances at winning, especially when David Cook is so good week to week. I think if someone sits down with Archie and lets him know that he'll have plenty of time to solve the worlds problems and be the UN Ambassador to some impoverished African nation after he wins then he should be okay. For now he need to stick to singing popular music and just be content with being the winner of American Idol.

That's all for now. Cami is scooting all over the place and I'm sure we'll be crawling in no time. Between solid foods and all this moving around that girl growing up fast and melting all kinds of hearts. Until later.

How's your Bracket?

Just a quick four thoughts on the NCAA Tournament over the weekend. Originally I was going to do five thoughts but I just finished reading the new Bill Simmons article on ESPN.com in which he gave his five thoughts on the same subject. Since I've been trying very hard these days to rip off Bill Simmons in only 50% ( Down from 80%) of my sports related conversations and postings I decided to cut my thoughts down to four in the hope that no one would notice that I'm doing the same subject at the same time...unless I went out of my way to point it out..and even if I thought of this idea for a blog post waaaay before I read the article....oh well, here's what's on my mind.

1. Texas A&M nearly single handedly ruined my whole weekend. As we previously blogged I came into their first round game against BYU knowing that the Aggies were probably going to win. I understood and accepted that as I was filling out BYU on all ten of my brackets. I stuck with my team, I took the beating I knew was coming, I moved on. Then as if ending my Alma Matter's season wasn't enough A&M took it upon themselves to nearly destroy my brackets by coming within an eyelash and a few bad calls of beating UCLA. I have UCLA winning the whole shooting match in every bracket. Thank Christmas they didn't pull off the upset this weekend and send me to my third straight year of losing to Carrie in the bracket contest.

The funny thing about all this is that I actually like Texas A&M. I had a great time on campus in September watching a football game at Kyle Field. The campus has a great feel and they have some unique traditions. ( Like 10,000 unique traditions. You can't attend a home sporting event in College Station without a guide or a manual.) I usually want to see their teams win, but this weekend they just made me angry and gave me a heart attack.

2. If I have to tell the truth I think Kansas is the best team in the country right now. However KU presents a special problem when it comes to picking a bracket winner. There is no way in the world you are going to win a bracket pool in the state of Kansas by picking the Jayhawks to win it all. Let's say by some happy twist of fate you're right and KU is the national champion after two decades of waiting. Now you are one of 100 people in your pool who have the national champion right. So it's completely up to the points you scored in the early rounds, and that's more of a lucky guess then anything.

So I figure that if KU wins I have no chance of winning any local contests anyway, I might as well pick the team I like second best and roll the dice ( This year it's UCLA). It's a sound strategy that I hope will pay off, or will land me in dead last.

3. Speaking of UCLA, I actually like them better after watching them play a pretty bad weekend of basketball. Against A&M they couldn't shoot for beans and they still managed to beat a decent squad on the strength of their defense alone. Kevin Love had 7 blocks despite the fact he reminds me of the guy with six kids who occasionally shows up for ward basketball games and complains about how out of shape he is, right down to the bad back and slight waddle he has when he's running up and down the court. I guess that's why I really enjoy cheering for Love, even though he is an exceptional athlete and a top 5 player in the country he always looks like an average joe that's having one heck of a lucky game.

Still, any team can win when the shots are falling and everything is going right. UCLA is showing the ability to win when things aren't clicking by playing good defense and making plays when they have to. I think that wins championships and they leaves me feeling really good about my pick.

4. As of this moment I have a 2 point lead on Carrie in the bracket contest and it looks like the long night of darkness might finally be over. Carrie hates this. We watched a few games together and every time it seemed that a team I picked would beat a team she picked in the last seconds ( Thank you San Diego and Stanford!!). I think she lost 4 games to me by a total of 8 points. She got a little angry at me for jumping around and celebrating each time her team would lose. Still, I feel an angry wife is a small price to pay for the return of the confidence and manliness I will feel when I retake my rightful place as the family bracket expert.

Cami's First Easter

The Easter Bunny has made his (hers? Its?) first delivery for Cameron Diggins. Sadly, Cameron will not be able to eat her Easter candy this year due to her just starting out on solid foods. Oh well, just looks like more for Mommy and Daddy. Enjoy Cami's Easter pictures. Cami and Daddy make the same expressions! She was actually pretty quiet today at church and at Grandma and Grandpas. That makes everybody happy!
Cami posing next to Grandma Rowe's Lamb cake.Cami with her first easter basket. She went right for the bunny.
Cami is looking a little overwhelmed with Easter.
Cami and the Easter bunny getting to be good friends.