The Week

Blogger is STUPID! I have been trying all week to post but first could not log on, then once I finally got to log on I couldn't write anything. Lame.
But since I am in Cali now and blogger seems to be working I thought I should post right away before Jeni sets me on fire for not posting often enough.
It has been a busy week for poor Andi. Monday I took her to the ENT, who said yes tubes ASAP. And ASAP happened to be the very next day. So 8 am tuesday morning Thad and I took Andi to the surgery center to have tubes put in. The surgery was quick but the anesthetic happens to make babies very cranky, so we took her home where she cried and yelled at us for an hour before going to sleep. The worst part is that she was not allowed to eat before the surgery and when it was over she was too mad and disoriented to eat so she woke up starving!
By the afternoon she was back to normal, but wednesday woke up with a cold, by the night it had turned into a cough, and Thursday morning we were back at the drs. We got some meds that are helping her nose and cough, but it wires her beyond belief. She seriously was running circles in the living room till 10:30 thursday night. Which means her walking skills have greatly improved in the last week, no dress required.
Anyway today we drove to Bako, made great time, and didn't have much trouble with Andi at all. But as usual we are all glad to be out of the car.

The Walker

We discovered yesterday that Andi actually can walk very well. She doesn't walk at home more than two or three steps at a time. We think that is because there is nothing super interesting to walk to, and if there is she knows it's faster to crawl. But yesterday at church Andi walked away from us several times, and didn't seem to have any trouble getting around. I think her motiviation at church though, is that she hates crawling in dresses. Her knees get caught in the dress and she can't move very well, so she realized at church it's easier to walk. So I think I'm just going to put her in dresses everyday untill she starts walking at home. She's still in pajamas today, but when I do get her dressed it will be a dress.

The Tree

Here are the pictures of our tree as promised. The first one is with the dimmer. . . peaceful glimmer of lights.

And this is before when we were flagging down airplanes.

Decking the Halls and side notes

I can't believe we've only been back a week! This last week Andi got her 4th ear infection. . . which means she get's tubes for her birthday, yay! I'm taking her to the ENT on the 18th for a consult so we'll see what he says, but Andi's Dr basically said 4 infections in 6 months it's almost automatic. I've had a cold all week that feels like it's turned into strep or something fun like that today, so I get to go to the Dr this week. Oh, and yesterday was the first day since we've been home that the temperature reached above 30 degrees! I hate winter!
But we did manage to find a Christmas tree this week. It's a fake one, and pre-lit, but it's really big and looks real. The only problem was that when you plug in the lights it's like having a spot light in the living room, it was so bright! So Thad spliced a dimmer into the cord so we can turn the light up and down to optimal brightness ;) And we have a bald area at the bottom of the tree where Andi kept yanking ornaments off, so we finally just took them off within her reach. Not so pretty, but when the lights are on it's nice.
We braved the cold yesterday to put our lights up outside. I wish we had more things to wrap in lights, but it was nice not to have to be in the cold that long. I'll post a pic of our lights when we get a good one. Other than that Christmas shopping is all done and projects are completes. Now Thad just has to finish papers and take finals and we are going back to Bako again ;)

Yet another Bako trip

It has been a busy couple of weeks for us. Last Thursday we headed to Bako for the wedding extravaganza and I feel like we were running the whole time. Friday we spent the day setting up for Kelsies reception and had a dinner that Night with our fam and Cameron's fam. Saturday we were up at the crack of dawn to be down at the temple and then back to bako for the reception that night. The sealing was beautiful, and the reeption was a lot of fun. Andi tore apart my bouquet, but was a good sport about being drug around otherwise. Here are a few pics of the day. My siblings.

Andi Also discovered the piano this trip.

Turkey day came and after a marathon soccer game with my brothers, we spent the day with Thads fam and feasted on Grandma Richards famous food. Thad has been excited for a Grandma Richards Thanksgiving for months.

Then it was wedding time again. Set up friday, family dinner that night. Early wedding on saturday and reception saturday night. We had to recruite baby-sitters for the temple this time though, there were so many kids and babies! And the reception was in this awesome backyard and was totally beautiful. A little cold, but very nice.

The Bridesmaids, or matrons since we are all married

Andi and her favorite baby-sitters. The giant shirt is to keep her dress clean.

Sean and Ashley came to hang out with us while we took pictures. It was so good to see you guys, we miss you!

it's always something

Here's what I don't understand. Andi's teeth seem to only grow at night. She is totally normal and happy all day, but once she's asleep it's like the teething kicks in to overdrive and she wakes up screaming and is up for hours. Why can't her teeth bother her during the day so we could all sleep well. And why can't ALL of the teeth come in at once so we have one horrible week instead of stretching this trauma out little by little over 2 years. I just don't get it.
Anyway, besides that fun, I am cleaning and doing laundry and packing so we can go to wedding central (bako) for 10 days. And today I am grateful for baby einstein dvd's. We've tried all kinds of disney movies, but the only thing that keeps her attention is baby einstein. So I pop in one of those and I have a 20-30 minute window to get things done and she literally will not move. It's great.

Andi's new tricks

Well the last week or so Andi has learned all kinds of new tricks, like turning on the dishwasher, turning off and on the computer, climbing on the coffee table, turning all the way around in her high chair and standing up, and emptying out dresser drawers.
Her new favorite foods are cheeses-its, halloween candy, and honeycomb cereal. . . all compliments of Thad of course. I feed her dried fruit and cheerios, but find her sitting in Thads lap with her arm in the cheese-it bag.
She also loves making forts with Thad. For some reason the forts make her super hyper and she crawls around in circles in it.

long week

This is what happens when Thad is on Andi duty.


Andi has actually been sick this last week. Another ear infection! If she gets one more before the end of the year we have to do tubes. I don't look forward to that at all, but I have a feeling it will happen. If she picks up even the smallest little cold within a day or so it turns into an ear infection.
So, I have been looking forward to the whole daylight savings extra hour of sleep for quite some time now. We kept Andi up an hour later than usual in an attempt to help her adjust to the change so she'd still wake up at 7 after the time change. But our attempt failed and we did not get that extra hour. Andi was up at 6 ready to go and there was no explaining daylight savings to her. And now we have to wait an entire year to get that extra hour of sleep.

off and running

This has been an eventful few days for Andi. She started standing by herself a little bit at a time a few days ago, and last night took her very first step. She was walking along my leg and when she ran out she just stepped away trying to get to Thad. She fell on her behind of course, but she tried without any coaxing.
Look, No Hands!

As most of you know Andi is a puke machine and has been since day one. I can't count the number of time she's spit up all over me, in my hair etc. There have been several times when I just think to myself, one of these days i'll get you back for this. Well last night Andi got what was coming to her!
We were up in Draper at Thad's Aunt & Uncles and all the cousins were there. Heather(cousin) has a little boy who is a month younger than Andi. Luke and Andi were playing , crawling after each other, fighting over toys and what not. Anyway, Luke was, I think, trying to give Andi "loves". He wraped his arms around her head, opened his mouth and slobbered all over her head, wiping his snotty nose in her hair! I know I should have been grossed out or worried that she would catch his cold, but all I did was laugh! Finally, she got paybacks for pukeing on everyone! Yay for Luke!

Feelin the Burn and stuff

So Monday was my first day at the gym in . . . well. . . ever! It has been over 5 years since I've had any regular exercise program and let me just say that an hour of Turbo kickboxing was probably not the best way to jump back in to things. I am so sore! I can hardly pick Andi up this morning(it's always worse the 2nd day). So I think I'll try pilates instead of Turbo for a while and work my way up to that.
I had enrichment last night. My first as a committee member and it went really well. We had a dinner and I was running around getting stuff together, so when I finally came in to sit down at a table I noticed something interesting. Everyone was sitting by age groups. All the really old ladies at one table, the middle agers at one, luckily there was a seat left at the young moms table or I would have been lost! I guess we just gravitate to people we have the most in common with. Anyway then there was a program and all in all it was a nice night.
oh, and I just realized I hadn't posted any pics of Andi's teeth, so here ya go ;) She's not exactly happy to be having this picture taken because Thad wouldn't pick her up, but you can see her two bottom teeth pretty well.

And here is what she likes to do in the car now. . . weirdo!

on line shopping

So I've never been a big fan of the "stab you in the shins" pointy shoes everyone wears these days. But in looking for shoes for the bridesmaid dresses I went out on a limb and ordered these. I was actually really afraid when I opened the box because they are a whole lot pointier in person than in the picture. . . and they are going to be bright pink. But I put them on, and suprisingly they don't make my feet look like boats. This has broadened my perspective a bit on shopping. . . all those things I thought I could never pull off might actually work. Thad totally hates the shoes though. . . especially since they are going to be pink ;)

Home on the Range

So today Thad went to the Engineering and Technology school career fair on campus. He has a few info sessions and interviews lined up with some companies he's kinda interested in. But get this, the one he's really stoked about is a Co called Union Wireless. Basically they build and maintain towers for cell phones companies. They offer some really great benefits, a Co truck, good pay, and they are not all over so we wouldn't have to move around. The Guy at the booth wanted to hire him on the spot and he'd be put in charge of all the construction operations. Oh wait, did I say that it is in Mountain View WY!?!?!?!? In the brochure about the company it calls mountain view a "fontier comunity" . . . nice way of saying in the middle of nowhere! closest big city is SLC 2 hrs away. It get's better. . . population 1,600!!! It took me a while to figure out why Thad was so excited about this company and then He said that the guy he was talking to told him about all kinds of great fly fishing spots. So Thad want's us to move to nowhere WY so he can be close to good fly fishing. I know there is more to his excitment than that, but it really makes this whole issues suspicious. WY! I'm crossing my fingers that before April he gets excited about a different Co. Because I'm just not sure I'm cut out to be a country girl.

whirlwind

What a weekend! Both my parents and Thads parents along with our sibs came to Provo this weekend. They got here friday afternoon and left sunday morning, so really they were here not even 2 full days but we were busy! Tenille found her wedding dress and veil, and ordered bridesmaid dresses, and Mom B found a "mother of the bride" dress. I shopped with my mom for 3.5 hours on saturday and we managed to narrow down shoe options and find nothing for her to wear for Kelsies wedding, but we did find a dress for Lexi to wear as a flower girl, and bought material to make Andi and Cuatro wedding attire.
Thankfully the weather was very nice so we weren't running from mall to mall in the rain, and the boys had stuff to do outside while the girls shopped. With two weddings coming up within a week of each other it seems like wedding talk/business never ends! But I do get two cute new dresses ;)

Winter Wonderland

I've been so distracted by our house drama that I forgot to complain about the weather. I know, I do it all winter long, but this is bad. There has been snow on Timp for over a week, and I'm not just talking a dusting of snow, I mean like a foot. The high yesterday. . . 50 degrees. Hello, it's September! I don't know what's going on here, but I am definitly dreading the next 6 months. Winter is going to be forever this year! So far we only have rain in the valley, but it's been raining for weeks now. I feel like we are back in Vancouver. Last night was kinda cool though, the thunder was so loud that it shook the windows and woke me up at midnight. At least I'm not walking in snow yet. . . I guess that's one thing to be happy about.
oh! and speaking of house drama, our landlord finally called us back. He's assured us at the earliest the house would be coming down in 6 months, but probably not that soon, and he'd give us 2 months notice when it happens. So we should be done with school and out of here by the time they tear it down. Kinda sad, but at least we don't have to move!

Surprise!

So I've told you all before how our house was bought by a land developer who doesn't charge us rent. He told us months ago that our house would not be part of his new development because of zoning restrictions. Well, yesterday I came home from running errands to find this.

That giant whole would be my driveway. Apparently our house is going to be part of the new development and they needed to lay new sewer pipes. And by part of the new development I mean they are going to level our house and build a new one. The best part is that we still can't get our landlord to call us back and let us know exactly when our house is being demolished.

So now i'm thinking that me getting a job handed to me was not so much to bring in a little play money as much as it was a hint from Heavenly Father saying "your gonna need this". I hope not, and I hope we will get to stay in the house till April but with that hole, and lovely peice of machinery sitting right outside the living room window i'm getting very nervous.

In other news Andi's first tooth has made it's apperance. It's not all the way in, but just poking out enough to see and feel when she puts my finger in her mouth.

more changes

Well, now that we are all unpacked and settled in I've got time to tell you about all the little changes that have happened this last week.
First off Thad and I both got new callings. He is now the 1st councilor in the Elders Quorum and I am on the Enrichment board. I have to say I threw a bit of a stompy fit when I found I was getting released from Young Womens, and I'm still a little bitter about that. But I guess it's time I learned to appreciate Relief Society and enrichment. We'll see how that goes.
Also I got a job, well Thad kinda got me a job. Anyway Thad works for a guy who ownes a bunch of houses in Provo and Thad takes care of them. Their manager lady just quit so I'm going to be doing the management part of it. Dealing with tenants and contracts and rent and all that. It's only a few hours a week and the owners are really nice so that will be fun.
My sister got engaged a couple weeks ago and since then we've been wedding planning like crazy. I took her to Alyssa's and found her "the dress" in an hour. We found bridesmaid dresses on-line, which I have to order today, and she picked out flowers, cake and invites in Bako. So the bulk of it is done, which is good cos she's in Jersey till mid october and getting married Nov 18.
That's what i've been up to.

I'm Back!

Well It's been an action packed, fun filled, long yet short month. We headed to Bako the 2nd week in August and spent a week at my parents house before we left for the beach. We discovered that Andi LOVES the pool and has no fear of the water. She kept sticking her face in it, trying to drink it I think, and though she choked and sputtered would stick her face right back in it.
Saturday Kelsie and her "friend" (now fiance) Cameron arrived and we went to Rosemary's. For those of you who don't know, Rosemary's is by far the best ice cream place in the world and if you are ever near Bako you need to stop and eat there. Sunday my brother blessed his baby boy and we had a big family dinner where everyone had an opportunity to size up Cameron. He handled it well.
Monday we headed to Pismo and stayed in this awesome beach house. The 12 of us actually had plenty of room and it was right on a cliff over looking the ocean. We also had wet suits with us this summer which I decided is really the only way to go boogie boarding. I wasn't cold at all! It was awesome. Here are a couple of pics we took as a fam.

The whole crew

Kelsie and her now fiance Cameron

We got back from the beach Thursday afternoon in time to do some laundry and gt re-packed to go camping with Thads family. Friday afternoon we went to Wishon and Thad of course went fishing. He'd been talking about it for weeks. I always think that a few good fishing days will get it out of his system for a while, but that is never the case ;) We had a great time and Andi saw her first bonfire and trout.

The whole gang (yes Tara is holding her 1 month old and they camped in a tent trailer!)

Thad showing the kids how to gut a fish.

As you can tell they were almost as grossed out as me.

After camping we still had 4 days to just hang out. Unfortunately Andi got a double ear infection and couldn't go swimming anymore. We had a b-day BBQ for Thad at his parents Thursday with all the fam. And then drove back to Provo early Friday morning. And this is Andi boxed in by all our stuff in the back seat. Poor thing hates the car again.

We had a great 3 week vaca, and I know we'll never get to do that again. But we are glad to be back home and start getting un-packed from our WA move.

I'm not in right now

Well, we are getting all packed up this weekend and will be driving to Provo on Tuesday. Yay! I know you will all be sad, but I will be out of blog contact for almost a month as we will not have internet conection in Provo before we leave for California. I should be able to check on your blogs at some point on our trip, so keep them updated!
I will return in September.

The Wrestling Match

I've known since day one that Andi is a big fan of being naked. She doesn't get the chance often to be so, that is until she figured out how to crawl. She will sit still during the diaper change until the diaper is off, and then she's off. It doesn't matter if I'm holding both her legs, she flips over and wriggles free and starts scooting away! This morning's wrestling match was pretty rough, I finally had to put my leg across her stomcah and chest so she could not flip over, and try to put the diaper on working around my own leg. I think i'm going to find a way to strap her down from now on.

Week of the Babies

The stork has been busy this week. At least with my family members! My sister-in-law Tara had a little girl(Paige) Thursday night. My Sister-in-law Stefanie had a BIG boy(Walter Glenn Ray IV, or Cuatro as we call him) this afternoon. And my best friends wife is having a baby any time now. Yay for the babies!

Pictures

Here are the action shots of Andi crawling as promised!

Out of Order

Sunday night the computer decided to shut down and die. . . completely. We couldn't even get it to turn on! So after Thad pulled everything out of it he discovered that the motherboard had died and it took 2 days to find one a new one. So I've been without internet for 3 days! I felt so disconnected. . . I couldn't check e-mail or your blogs. . . but luckily it's fixed ;)
I'm getting antsy to go back to Provo. I keep getting these spassy urges to start packing. . . I start eye balling things around the house that we won't need in the next 2.5 weeks. So I have to distract my self by cleaning. I just wish we could pack up and go right now and get it over with! But I'm sad, the neighboor kids have been mowing the lawn for us this summer, and one of them e-mailed me to say that the lawn is dead! Apparently the sprinklers broke and our cousins who happen to be staying there have not fixed it. Thad and I worked so hard on that yard to get it looking good and now it's dead! I'm very upset.
Andi has begun crawling, sorta. She get's up on her hands and knees and lunges foreward, but from the initial lunge it's more of an army crawl. . . scrambling and pulling with her arms and pushing with her legs. It's very funny, and surprisingly effective. I've been trying to load a pictuer of it, but Thad has not finished fixing this dumb thing and it won't read the photo card. Oh well, I'll put one up when its fixed.

Agh!

There are few certanties with babies. With Andi we know that anything in her line of vision must immediately go in her mouth. Whether phisically possible or not, she will try to put whatever it is in her mouth, and if the object is too big, she covers it in drool. The other thing is that she freaks out over toothbrushes. Everytime I take her into the bathroom(she likes to stand on the counter spit at her reflection in the mirror) she tries with all her might to wriggle out of my arms and get mine or thads toothbrush. Yesterday during this event I realized that we actually had a baby toothbrush for her just waiting for a little chomper to come in. So I gave her the toothbrush and she would not put it in her mouth. The one object in the house that she is supposed to put in her mouth and she wouldn't do it!! She'd get close, then make a weird face and pull it away!


Oh! and my sister called me from Jersey last night with a disturbing situation. She was sitting with her employer and another lady and neither one of them knew what Newsies was! They had never heard of it! Fearing she might have slipped into some twisted alter uiverse she called to verify her sanity. I mean, who doesn't know what Newsies is!?!?! To shake off the bizarness I had to immediately turn on the soundtrack. What kind of Crazies live out on the east coast!? I'm still disturbed.

ho hum

So we finally have a picture of Andi with her hair done and I thought it deserved to be shown off. It's finally getting long enough to put a clip in it ! !


There is nothing terribly interesting going on lately. Our stake is having a pioneer day celebration at some park. We are going, but I can already gaurantee it will not be able to compare to Pioneer Village in Bako. That is one thing the tri-stake does very very well back home. . . TONS of good food, music, parade. . . not even the 100 + weather keeps people away. It's quite the party every year.
I really have nothing else interesting to post about, but we are going to Cali in a few weeks yay!

Half Birthday!

Today is Andi's half birthday, I can't believe it's really been 6 months. But then I look at her and can't believe it's only been 6 months. She's grown so much! She is still not crawling, but I still think she's going to skip that and go straight to walking. She sits up by herself now, and even stands holding on to the couch and coffee table. See. . .

She loves her jumper, mostly b/c she can walk around in it, and walks well if you hold her hands. She just doesn't show any interest in crawling. I've been looking up stuff to see if it's bad that she skips crawling and all I see are a bunch of people(Dr's included) arguing back and forth about the issue. Some say it doesn't matter, some say it does. I dunno.
It has been a long week. Not for any particular reason, it just feels like it has lasted forever! thankfully it's almost over.

Pirates and more. . .

Well we had a fun weekend. It was Dave's(Thads cousin here in vancouver) Birthday on the 7th, and to surprise him Mike, Heather Spencer & Hilllary drove out from Utah to hang out for the weekend. We of course saw Pirates on Friday night, which was so packed that we were on the very front row! Strange angle, i'm not even sure why they put seats that close to the screen. And I was kinda irritated by the ending of the movie, or lack thereof. Total cop-out ending. . . it's like the whole movie was just the lead up to say, hey, Pirates 3 soon to come! BUt it was still good, I'm just bugged b/c now I have to wait who knows how long to get some resolve and closure on the story.
Anyway, Saturday we went out to round lake and had a picnic with everyone. Thad caught a couple of ugly sunfish just to prove to everyone that he could flyfish even in a lake. It was pretty warm this weekend, Sunday of course always feels the hotest b/c we can't go to the mall to hang out in the AC or to the pool. But we did find a way for Andi to cool off ;)

Andi's first 4th of July was eventful. We started the day by buying her some new toys. We bought those foam alphabet puzzle piece mats and some blocks. I don't know why I didn't buy one of those mats before. It is genius! she spent like an hour just scooting around chewing on the letters and whenever she spit up, duh, the carpet was saved. Definitly a good purchase.


Then we went with Thad's Cousin to a BBQ at his in-laws, which was nice. Andi even enjoyed the fireworks. . . at least the ones she saw. They do their firework show really slow, one little popper at a time, so she was falling asleep before the good stuff started.
Growing up in a place where the big cool fireworks are illegal I had no idea how great a show you can see without going to a stadium. After we put Andi down for the night we sat on our patio and just watched the sky and there were fireworks going off everywhere! It seriously sounded like a warzone. . . I don't know how Andi slept through it. But it was really cool. I think we are going to buy some today and smuggle them back to Utah for New Years ;)

Happy 4th!

Well, it has been a fun couple of days. Friday we went down to Corvallis to hang out with Tanya & Billy for the weekend. We had a lot of fun, played games, watched movies, went on a picnic and walk along some river. Unfortunately they did not have Monday off so we came back to Vancouver Sunday night. This is our little picnic/hike.




Thad however did have Monday off which was great, because it was my birthday. So we planned to go downtown in Portland and check out Chinatown and the Pearl District. . . both of which sounded very cool and a little touristy from the website. I was expecting something along the lines of San Francisco. . . but it was really LAME! Chinatown was nothing but chinese restaurantes and the pearl district was full of construction and homeless people. So we came back and had a picnic at the park down the street.

Trouble!

Okay, so I discovered today that no matter how young they are all girls are capable of the craziest moodswings, even 5 month olds. Andi woke up this morning very happy and playful and we had fun for about an hour. Then the beast turned and did nothing but scream and whine, and nothing I did made her happy! She was like that for over an hour before she calmed down and went back to normal and she has been normal and cheerful since.
It makes me very nervous for the teenage years. If she can pull something like that at 5 months, what are we going to do when she's 15 and teenage insane?!

The Coast

We definitly went to "the coast," not the beach this weekend. It was very pretty and nice and cool. We went to Cannon Beach and walked along the water for a while. Andi thought the waves were very funny. Then we walked around the little town, which was very cute, touristy shops. We even found a bead shop and got stuff to make Andi a new bracelet. . . like she cares, but her other one is getting too small. Anyway here are a few pics of the day even though Thad is going to get mad that I am posting pics before he is ;)

Bubbles!!!

Andi took her first bubble bath last night and loved it. She kept trying to eat the bubbles, and I think she actually sucked a few down. She did manage to cover her entire face in bubbles and suck a few up her nose too, which she didn't really like.
We are headed to the coast this weekend. . . yay! e are taking Andi to the aquarium and to whatever else we can find in Seaside. I'll let you know how it goes ;)

Andi's Page

In case anyone was wondering Andi's page has been down all weekend because that part of the BYU server is down. There are new pics on the site, but we have no idea when it wil be back up. Keep checking!

I'm a big girl now!

Well, She's not walking yet, but Andi has figured out how to take the bumper pads off the sides of the crib to play with. The last few mornings I hear her babbling and walk in to find her chewing on the bumper pads or the ties that are supposed to keep them on the crib. And laying sideways like this.

We also finally bought a high chair this weekend. We started Andi on Solids this week and she loves the cereal, and we figured her swing was probably not the best place for her to be eating. So here she is in her new big girl chair.

For my Friends

Someone once said that life's largest conflicts are between your head and your heart. I couldn't agree more. But I think that no matter the struggle the heart will always win, because the heart cannot forget. The heart does not suffer from memory lapses or forgetful spells, but holds on to feelings, people, emotions you think your head might have forgotten.
I am having one of those conflicts today and thankfully my heart is winning, or reminding me of what my head had forgotten.
It is strange to me how content I can be in my life, and how much I can feel at a loss at the same time. My life is good. I am happy. I have a wonderful loving husband; a beautiful sweet baby girl whom I have the privilege to stay home with and take care of, and I have accomplished some of my life's most important ambitions.
But today I miss my friends. My old college roommates who are scattered across the country; My old high school friends, many of whom I've lost track of; and those people I've known my whole life who always seem to live so far away. There is a melancholy, a bittersweet sadness, in knowing where they all are, and what they are doing with their lives, and being unable to be apart of it all. In being unable to have them share in my joys every day. My parents used to tell me that friends come and go, but family will always be there. That is true in a way, but very untrue in another. My family will always be there, and we will get together for holidays and summer vacations, weddings, births and funerals. And while I won't see my friends nearly as often, I will always have them in my heart. I will always want them to be apart of whatever event is happening in my family. I will reminisce and look through pictures and wish that I could transplant everyone I love to the same place. And I will treasure what they have taught me, for each of them has changed my life in a different way.

This is what comes of watching Dawson's creek re-runs by myself in the morning. The funny part is that I never watched the show when it was on in new episodes. But I watched the last 2 episodes of the series today and felt somehow attatched because of how life had scattered them. Thankfully it is time for Andi to wake up and I will now be distracted from this weird funk that I am in.

just checkin in

I don't have anything exciting to talk about. Life is back to normal since our little trips. Although Andi decided to turn in to a teenage since we've been back and does not want to get out of bed in the morning. I usually don't set an alarm b/c she get's up right about 7 every day, but saturday and sunday I was dragging her out of bed at 8 or 8:30. Oh, and now for some reason she sleeps with one arm hanging out of the crib between the bars. I know I did that as a kid, always had an arm or leg hanging off the bed, but i'm not sure it started this early. Strange.
Anyway, it's temple night so Thad is getting off work early and we are having counsins kid baby-sit again. But this time Andi will be awake so we'll see how he does ;)

catching up

Well, I hope you all saw the pics of our weekend in Corvallis on Andi's website. I am back from Cali and so now have some cute ones to post of that trip.
Andi decided she loves swimming so here are a few pics of her in the pool.














Thankfully on our trip home we had an entire row on the plane to ourselve. So Andi spent the flight like this.
I love going home, but am so glad to be back. Andi sleeps so much better in her own bed, as do I. And I sleep much better when we don't have to share a room! But it was a fun trip and we are looking foreward to my fam coming to visit in July. We are headed back to Cali in August Sean and Ash so don't forget!

Trauma

First of all, Thad put some great pictures of last weekend with his family up on Andi's website. So since they are up there I'm not going to put them up here. So check them out there.
Second we have had a rough few days with Andi. She was really fussy and whiney and just not herself saturday and I just figured it was teething. Well Saturday night she woke up around midnight just screaming. SO I picked her up and she was just burning up, it hurt my arm to hold her. So we gave her some tylenol and water in her bottle and took her outside by the pool to cool down. Sunday after Dad and Walter gave her a blessing we took her to the Dr's office I used to work at and she has a wicked ear infection. All the Dr had to do was put the light thingy in her ear and she started screaming. So we got her some meds and keep her on tylenol and she is much happpier today. Much more like herself. ANd since the meds are a 5 day supply she should be much much better by the time we have to fly home. Poor baby.
Oh, but we did take her in the pool saturday and she is a fan. and looks stinkin cute in her bathing suit ;)

Friend!

Okay Lisa! Now my life is complete! I have found everyone I miss! well sort of, I still need your e-mail Lisa.
Graduation went well last night. Bobby secretly(well he told me and kels but we couldn't tell the parents) auditioned for and was chosen to sing at graduation. Mom and Dad were completely surprised, "Bobby's singing. . . by himself. . does he know that?!" But he did really well, and I was so proud of him.
Tonight we are actually still in the middle of the party for he and his group of friends. The nice part is that it was a family party, so the kids all came with their familes. But as an older sibling I am a little tweaked about all the hoopla. My parents never threw parties for me. If I had one I planned it and did all the work. I guess those are the perks of being at the end of the line. Loosers get everything!
I am, at the moment, waiting for the paint to dry in these blocks we are using as center pieces for tomorrows baby shower. I have become a little crafty in my stay at home mom career. Not really, Thad cut out teh blocks and sanded them, I just get to paint them.
I will report back when more fun happens.

Keeps going and going . . .

Well, Monday was really nice. The boys went fishing of course, and the girls went downtown. They have a super cute walking path along the river in Corvallis, and all these fun shops, including the best bakery/deli ever! It was a great discovery. Andi quite enjoyed herself, and even tried to drink out of my straw, she didn't get anything out, but tried really hard.
Tuesday and today I have been doing all the laundry from the weekend trip so I can re-pack everything for California this weekend. Andi and I are flying to Bako tomorrow morning for my little bro's graduation and my sister-in-laws baby shower. Plus my parents are hosting a graduation party for Bobby's friends, and I am teaching YW's on Sunday, and Tarin is throwing her little guy his first birthday party. As usual it's non-stop action. Should be fun. I"ll post pics when I get them!

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, our weekend has been fun, and it's not over yet! Saturday noon-ish we headed down to Corvallis to hang out with Tanya & Billy(Thad's sis and bro in law) and Thads parents who are visiting the NW for the week. Andi of course hated the drive but loves Tanya's little dog Roxi. I was afraid she might be scared of the dog, but can't get enough of watching it run around. The dog even licked her ears and Andi just tried to grab it's nose. Tanya and Billy are building a fabulous house here in Corvallis and we got the grand tour. I Was way impressed with all the colors they used on the walls and how awesome it looks. I've got to get brave like that, it looks great. Tomorrow I think the guys are going fly-fishing, and i'm not sure what the girls are doing. But i'll be sure to post if it's anything fun!

Chuck Norris

So lately Thad is really entertained by anything that mocks Chuck Norris, as we all should be. Anyway, he found a hilarious website with a Chuck Norris fact sheet. . . here are a few of my favorites. . .


Fact # 64 - Chuck Norris never goes hunting. Hunting implies you might fail, Chuck Norris goes killing.
Fact #42 - Chuck Norris never sleeps, he waits.
Fact # 36 - Chuck Norris can slam revolving doors
Fact # 88 - Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he's never cried.
Fact # 27 - The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.

So Funny!

Where are they?!

Okay so i've managed to get in touch with everyone I have been missing but Leeann and Rebekah. If any of you have talked to them recently or know how to contact them let me know. Or tell them to start blogging and join the fun. Jayme, I expect a blog from you any day now ;)

Welcome to the Real World

Well, we've had a fun weekend. Friday night we hired our first baby-sitter. Not that we haven't been out on dates since Andi was born, but Kelsie watched her while we were in Provo so that doesn't really count cos it was free. Anyway Thad's cousins kid Carter came over so we could go see The Davinci Code. Fabulous byu the way. As usual the book was better and there were parts it left out, but all around good suspenseful actionpacked thriller. So we went to a very late showing so Andi would be asleep for the night and 11 year old Carter really wouldn't have to do anything, but be there just in case. But I think Andi has this sense, she knows when i'm gone. She woke up 30 minuted after we left and we hadn't left the poor kid a bottle, showed him where diapers were, instructions or anything! She sleeps 10-12 hours a nigth now, so why would we! But he changed her and made a bottle and tried to feed her and everything, so we were really impressed. Bradon is 11 and I don't know that he would have figured out what to do, but Bradon is the baby and Carter has 4 younger siblings, so he seems older than Bradon.
Anyway Saturday night we went to an office BBQ at Thad's bosses 20 acre gentlemens ranch. It was fun, but kinda weird at the same time. They had coolers full of beer and everyone was drinking. We've just been in Utah so long that it seemed bizarre, you just forget what the real world is like living in the bubble. But Thad works with some really great people, a couple that I would have thought were LDS if I didn't know better. So Thad picked up a couple Books of Mormon at church today to have at work.
All in all, good weekend.

Totally No Lack of Cuteness

Okay so you have to see these pics we took of Andi this weekend. This first one I call her first modeling shoot.

And this one is just to show of Thad's editing skills. I was actually holding her up, but it totally looks like she can stand by herself!

Tweaked!

OKay, I'm a little tweaked and no one is picking up their phones for me to vent. So I will vent to all of you at once. I have had headaches everyday for almost a month now. 2 excedrine usually takes care of it, but i'm pretty sure that will eat holes in my stomach sooner or later. So I called around to Chiropractors offices today(i'm pretty sure the headaches are because my back is tweaked) to get an appointment and check prices since we don't have insurance right now. Anyway, I set up an apointment for this one place at 2 o'clock. So I just went and the lady was like, Oh your a new patient we need you to come back at 4 instead because we didn't schedule enough time for a new patient exam right now. So I leave and then they call me to say that they miss quoted me a price, so instead of $38 dollars a visit it is $350 for the initial and then like 50 after that!. Are you kidding me!!!! So I cancelled my appointment and luckily got an appointment somewhere else for later today that is much more reasonable. But it irritates me that they didn't call and tell me before I got there that I needed to reschedule, vastly miss-quoted the price and made me drag Andi out when she was supposed to be going down for a nap! Loosers!

Bizarro!

Okay, the stupidest thing keeps happening to my shirts. Seriously this is weird. It has happened to 4 of them and it makes me crazy! For some reason randomly I look down and there is a tear in the elbow. . . left elbow on all four shirts. I moisturize like crazy so it's not like my elbows are rough and rubbing holes, if so it would rip both sleeves. But I decided to patch one of them and it seemed to work. I wore it for the 2nd time today since I patched it and guess what. Another tear, left sleeve just above the patch! Thad thinks I do it on purpose so I have an excuse to shop. . . like I think we have the money for that. Whatever. . . it's stupid! Has anyone else ever had this problem?

Nostalgic

So I have reconnected with my old roomies and King Henry friends the last couple weeks and it has made me so nostalgic. So I had to post some pictures that just make me happy. I love you guys and miss you all!

I have been thinking that in a year or so when we(spouses included) are all done with school/not pregnant and can travel, need to have a reunion.

There is nothing super exciting to report from here. In the last week I have managed to find Costoc, Albertsons, blockbuster, Target, and Papa Johns, you know the essentials. But I haven't been to adventurous as far as exploring goes. Maybe this weekend when Thad is around to help with Andi we'll go exploring.

We kind of have a tradition of going to a show for my birthday, and being near portland this summer we want to do it again. Hairspray is coming. . . anyone seen it? Should we go?