AK --> AZ

CAHOOTS

2012-02-04T06:20:00.002-09:00

This post thinks that picture is a link and therefore, this will all be blue and underlined. Awesome. Camille and I running an obstacle course/race thing at the end of April and it is going to rock. I'm thinking of wearing my hair in mohawk and sporting some goggles. Also, I hope there are no tightrope situations where I have to cross a river with piranas in it.

january

2012-02-02T09:49:00.002-09:00

Well, January is all done and I have not blogged at all. Here is what's going on. Gracie is still Gracie. She has started singing Disney songs in front of random strangers when we are at the park, the play area, or even in the doctor's office waiting room. It's pretty funny and a little strange.

She also quotes Disney movies all the time.

She likes to wear her "pearls" everywhere.

She loves being naked, or just in panties.

She's about 90% potty trained and it's annoying.

She likes to call me sweet pea and say "yes, your majesty."

She loves primary and her sunbeam teachers love her.

She throws a lot of tantrums. She likes getting her way. all. the. time.

We're working on that.

Liam turned 6-months-old. I cannot believe that. He had a happy half birthday, but it is now officially very hard to get him to hold still and NOT grab the paper.

Difficult. He had an appointment for his helmet last Tuesday and he looks great! He only has to wear for about 2.5 more weeks. I'm pretty excited about that because that thing has started giving me a dead arm whenever I try to feed him or rock him to sleep.

He also had his 6-month checkup. He weighs 23 lbs. (above 97th%) and he is 29 inches long (also above 97%). He's basically the size of a 1-year-old. Which is why I already buy him 12-18 month clothes. Holy huge kid, batman. But he's so stinking cute.

He is almost sitting up all on his own.

He rolls all over the place, which means I have to vacuum more frequently.

He likes to eat his feet. And any type of food.

He has two teeth on the bottom (which are very sharp, watch out).

We are working on eating cheerios. It's pretty funny because he is confused as to why I put them in his mouth. I try to explain that they're food, but he keeps spitting them out while laughing at me. Weird.

And, in January, I got my craft on. I wish I had a before picture of this dresser. I probably do on our old computer. In November 2010, I found this awesome hutch at an antique store in Merced. I snatched it up with intentions to redo it for a dresser for Gracie. It came to Arizona with us, but the top shelf part did not survive our move to our new apartment. It used to be cream colored with yellow and green trim around the drawers. It looked pretty beat up and old. But, I got a vision, bought some Krylon spray paint (which I'm obsessed with now) and some new cute knobs and voila! Repurposed. Now I've got the craft bug. I'm working on re-painting all the picture frames in our family room and making it a new color scheme. Fun city!

Happy February everyone!

Christmas

2011-12-31T11:55:00.004-09:00

Look at these cuties. All dressed up and ready for Santa to come. I love that Liam is looking at Gracie and not at the camera. He's always looking at her and I think most of the time he's thinking about how weird she is. But he also laughs and laughs at her. So I think he likes her.

These pictures are all really out of order. After Christmas, we went and saw the temple lights. Gracie tried to jump in the water. As usual.

Gracie also likes to take my camera, line her "friends" up, and take their pictures. There is Buzz, her pride and joy and the only thing she asked Santa for all season.

Gracie also loved this piggy bank, we she promptly dropped on the floor 5 minutes after opening it. It shattered in about 10 pieces. oops.

Liam was there too. Looking all drool-ey and confused.

But he liked his new book.

He even helped unwrap it.

Can you tell that this one is obsessed with toy story? I mean OBSESSED. Gracie got loaded up and Mike and I soaked it all in. Christmas was fantastic.

Excuse my hair

2011-12-24T17:42:00.003-09:00

She seriously does not enjoy smiling for the camera. Today in the car Mike was singing a Christmas song and she kept saying, "Go daddy! You can sing it! Go daddy! Go daddy!" She's so great.

I'm so glad this baby boy is in our family. He has stolen my heart.

Sorry I look so rough, I just got out of the shower.

2011-12-13T18:30:00.002-09:00

Liam got his helmet today. The first thing we did was put his Alaska sticker on it. True, he's never been there, but he's got some roots there.

He's been a pretty good sport about it all day. Though, his naps were shorter than they would have been without it, I think. He seemed to wake up really mad that it was on him. He's also been "grabbing" at it. He doesn't grab anything really well yet. But, he's curious about this thing on his head. I think he looks super cute no matter what. Love this kid.

Joyeux Noel!

2011-12-12T09:39:00.003-09:00

You know who is stoked about Christmas? This kid. Here she is doing her Santa-is-coming-soon dance. Gracie is the cutest! She walks by our tree all day and says, "Our tree is so cool." Oh, and just as I was typing that she was singing, "Last Christmas, I gave you my heart but the very next, you gave it away." We have been listening to the all Christmas music all the time station and she knows most of the songs. I love hearing her cute little voice singing them around the house.

We took her to see Santa and she told him about 10 times that she wants Buzz Lightyear for Christmas. That is fine with me :) She has also asked for a doll, a necklace, and a vacuum? I don't think Santa is bringing her a vacuum. But mommy would like one :) It's fun getting into the Christmas spirit with Gracie. We have been baking/decorating cookies with good intentions of mailing them to people. Then eating them. We have been controlling ourselves by NOT eating the popcorn that Mike painstakingly strung to hang on the tree. Christmas is cool (as Gracie says).

Seeing this makes my heart happy.

This guy doesn't know what's going on, but he has popped his collar for the occasion.

Liam had his 4 month appointment a few weeks ago. He weighed in at 18 lbs. 11 oz. and 27 inches long. He is literally in the 99 percentile for both. He's huge! He has grown out of his infant carrier. That is fine with us because who wants to carry a small child in that thing?

He was also evaluated because his head has been misshapen. Tomorrow morning we go to get his plagiocephaly helmet. Booo. He will have to wear it 23 hours a day for 3-4 months and then he'll have a normal head! It's actually not that big of a deal except that I have to wash that stupid thing everyday. And I'm nervous about how it's going to affect his sleeping. Supposedly the babies get used to the helmet really fast and it doesn't make their sleeping worse, but we'll see. I'm skeptical. I'm also sad that for 3 or 4 months I won't get to snuggle as close to him or kiss his cute head. We also have to cut his cool hair. Cloudy day. But, the good news is, our insurance is covering the entire cost 100%! That is a miracle from fasting and praying. It is very expensive and a lot of insurance companies won't cover it. We were blessed.

During Thanksgiving break Mike and I were able to spend some time with this guy! Brad Kartchner, thanks for coming to visit! It was so super fun to see him and reminisce about great experiences and fun times in Madagascar.

I mean, look at the hairdo. I so don't want to cut it.

But this one did get cut last night. I was sort of sick of Gracie looking like a ragamuffin everyday, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. Her hair was almost down to her booty when wet. I wanted to cute to just about her shoulders. Here's the thing, though. I'm not a hairstylist so it kept getting shorter and shorter and I was like ahhhh! So, we just went as short as possible. She looks so stinking adorable and I can hardly recognize my baby girl! I love her golden locks. Her hair is so stinking pretty.

So cute.

It is raining today and I'm in love with it. I love the smell and cold. It finally feels like winter.

Merry Christmas

Another post

2011-11-23T09:47:00.001-09:00

One time Mike and I went to an outlet mall and we both had to use the bathroom. After I came out, I found Mike waiting for me with his good pal Winnie the Pooh. It was pretty funny.

This is Noel Gallagher. (It's pronounced "Noll" not "No-el).

This concert rocked.

This cute looks like a linebacker. 18 lbs. 11 oz. and 27 inches long. He's huge.

But I sure can't get enough of this face. I'm not kidding. I am totally 100% in love with this baby.

I'm so glad he's in our family.

A small post about some big people

2011-11-21T18:58:00.002-09:00

This guy had a birthday. We went to LA to see Noel Gallagher in concert.

He played "Wonderwall." I felt like I was back on a bus in 8th grade going on a field trip to Yosemite listening to Jenny's discman. Yeah, that was run-on.

(Gracie took this picture of Mike)

These two rock my world. Liam is in his scrubs.

Oh man, can you handle the cuteness?

Halloween and Rashes

2011-10-29T21:07:00.002-08:00

Well, we went to Trunk r Treat. I was supposed to be a clown, but my wig was making me too itchy and my nose was making me sweaty. So, yeah. But Liam was the cutest banana ever and Gracie did a great time saying, "trick or treat!"

Gracie had good time helping to hand out candy.

She's been making funny faces in pictures lately. It's cute.

Oh, and to any of you who were trying to diagnose my face in the other picture, I have Shingles. I had to get a steroid shot (in my nether regions...booo) and now I have to take a pill five times a day! Ahhhh. It sucks.

we're still here.

2011-10-28T11:44:00.002-08:00

Anyone know what is wrong with my face? For 3 days now I've had an itchy/painful/irritated left eye/face area. It also has red bumps on it and on my forehead. I wen to urgent care last night and they put me on antibiotics so hopefully they will help. It's bugging me.

poppin the collar for church

I can't believe how big he's getting

everytime she sees me taking pictures of anything, she wants to jump in.

the end.

Really?

2011-10-14T19:13:00.002-08:00

Ok, so we snapped this picture last Saturday at Gracie's soccer game. The whole team was either on the field playing or sitting with the team on the sideline waiting their turn....except for the two Ketcher kids. Caleb and Gracie literally sat and played in the dirt. The game is actually going on BEHIND Mike, who is taking this picture. Sigh.

Also, Gracie "plays" soccer now

2011-10-05T14:46:00.004-08:00

I use the term "plays" VERY loosely. I'm pretty sure they set the ball in front of her and told her to kick.

She mainly just squatted on the field and cried because she didn't understand why everyone kept using the same ball and stealing it from her.

But, she looks stinking cute in that uniform.

I like this picture. They are running drills. With 3-year-olds. Hilarious.

one time I traveled alone with 2 kids

2011-09-26T16:16:00.004-08:00

Two weeks ago the kids and I went to CA...without Mikey. Ugh.

Gracie was terrible on the flights there. TERRIBLE. But, we went to a children's fair in Mariposa and she insisted on getting a dragon painted on her face. No matter how strongly I suggested the butterfly. So, she redeemed herself with her coolness.

She played with giant bubble wands.

She looked stinking cute with a pumpkin (which she then threw on the ground. awesome).

She made me put a ton of pipe cleaners on her arms as bracelets and got really mad when I tried to take them off later.

She is also a budding photographer. Gracie knows how to use our camera. As in, our expensive digital family camera. She doesn't throw it around, so I pick my battles and let her use it. This is a self portrait she took of herself. I know she took it because her finger is on the lens. Classic.

This guy was there too. And he rocks my socks. He started taking medication for his acid re flux about two weeks ago and he is a totally different baby. He is happy and smiley and sleeping like a champ. Wonderful.

Yeah, she's cool.

My Grandma Ketcher came out to CA to stay with my parents while my aunt, who she lives with in Salt Lake City, was in the hospital getting her meds straightened out. It was...interesting. And, I got to fly her back to Utah while the kids stayed with my mom. I was gone for less than 24 hours, but it was WONDERFUL. I stayed with Camille and Micah and we talked and laughed until we peed and Nigel became my best friend and Bradley smiled at me the whole time. What a great day.

And, even though my mom probably wouldn't want me to post this picture, but I wanted to show you how so totally amazing she is. My mom made me leave the house everyday while she watched the kids. I saw movies, went shopping, stayed overnight in San Francisco, took naps. All while she fed and changed my kiddos. She also got up all night every night with Liam so I could sleep for two weeks. All the while, dealing with Mother-in-law who has rapidly advancing dementia and requires a lot of emotional care. Can you believe this woman? I mean, how on earth did I get so lucky to literally have the best mom on the planet? I got some much needed rest and relaxation. My mom is my hero.

The boy

2011-09-05T11:37:00.001-08:00

Hi, my name is Liam.

I like hanging out with my dad.

I'm also very handsome.

See ya.

I'm surrounded by poop

2011-08-27T12:35:00.002-08:00

No, really, I am.

I am so completely frustrated.

Gracie has decided she DOES NOT want to be potty trained.

Seriously.

Sometimes I just leave her half naked and we sit on the potty a lot.

She will literally hold it all in until like nap time, when I put a diaper on her, or night time, when I put a diaper on her.

And, if I ask her if she peed or pood, she says, "no!" and gets real mad.

She does not want to be potty trained.

But she sure wants the toy she can get if she fills up her potty jar with marbles.

I guess peeing and pooing in the potty just isn't worth the toy she keeps telling me she wants.

I am so tired of cleaning her butt.

It is disgusting.

And, I'm tired of her peeing on the floor without even flinching about.

She doesn't care.

So I'll probably be the parent of the ONE kid in Sunbeams who is STILL in diapers.

And the kid on her soccer team that is STILL in diapers.

ugh.

Ok, I don't need advice on how to potty train. Trust me. It won't work right now.

I just need to scream at the world.

I HATE POTTY TRAINING.

how did G get behind the couch in the first place?

2011-08-18T11:21:00.002-08:00

Sadly, this is the most entertaining thing that has happened today. sigh.

the annual birthday/anniversary post

2011-08-17T09:51:00.003-08:00

It's that time in August again. Mikey and I celebrated our 5th anniversary! We are still so in love. Because of new babies and work and school, we were unable to go anywhere overnight or do anything super big to celebrate this milestone, but we did have fun. The Decemberists were playing in Mesa the night before our anniversary so I snatched up some tickets for us and we had a grand time. The concert was amazing That was basically our present to ourselves. One of the main reasons we were so excited to move out of Alaska was so we could go to more concerts. We love live music! And, in Anchorage, the one time we got tickets to a normal concert up there, for the White Stripes, they canceled their show. Booo.

What a great show.

All of these pictures are out of order. But anyway, here is Gracie stroking Liam's face and trying to maul him. She occasionally will say to me, "Baby brother is so cute and little, mommy." It's funny.

Gracie is pretty nice to Li Li for the most part, but she has turned into something truly terrible to me and Mikey. Sigh. Apparently the terrible 2's do not end when they turn 3.

Here's my handsome little guy. Except, he's not so little. This kid eats like 35 oz. a day and the nurse at the doctor's office is not too concerned. Wow. This kid is huge.

And this cutie turned 3! We keep asking her how old she is and she says, "2." Literally, we worked on her saying "3" for like an hour yesterday but not matter how many times I ask her how old she is she WILL NOT say 3. Oh well. Someday she'll realize she's not 2 anymore.

The big thing about G turning 3 is that now she has to wear big girl panties. I put her in her Dora panties this morning and an hour later, she peed in them. She pretty much hates the potty. In fact, she'll hold her pee in for like hours until I put a diaper on her. The thing is, the fact that she can hold her pee in that long is just more evidence that she should be potty trained. So, it's 11 am and we are on our second pair of panties for the day. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck...and pray for me.

Gracie got a Diego doll which she's been carrying around nonstop and saying, "he's my best friend." She also got a Mobigo which is like a little handheld educational video game situation. She really likes it.

I love the morning pictures with bed head and closed eyes. She's funny.

I will throw this picture in of me and my sweetheart at the concert. We are a happy family.

Except, on Monday we attempted to grocery shop with all four of us. Uhhh, Liam alternated between crying and spitting up the whole time and Gracie was throwing produce around. When we got in the car to go home Mike said, "that was the worst hour of my life." I laughed pretty hard at that. I bet he's grateful he gets to got to work in his office everyday while I relive that hour over and over throughout everyday. But really, life is good.

we are women of God

2011-08-09T13:09:00.002-08:00

I don't usually get all preachy on my blog here, but I have been thinking a lot about this since I became a mother of 2 and wanted to write something on here.

Being a mom is so hard. We are tired. We are worn out. We are worn down. We get frustrated. We don't know what to do sometimes. We might even get angry. But, I know that we have a loving Father in Heaven who is aware of our struggles. He is aware of our needs even before we are. He knows what I am dealing with; a baby boy who doesn't sleep the greatest and cries quite a bit of the time. He knows I have an almost 3-year-old who spits at me and doesn't listen to a word I say. But he also knows these 2 sweet spirits as His children and he knows their hearts...and mine. They were sent to me and Mike because of who we all are, not in spite of it. We fit together. Knowing that Heavenly Father's hand made my family helps me to have hope that we can do this

together.

I don't feel like the best mom. Some days I don't even feel like a good mom. But, I know I'm a daughter of God and I know that I am doing the best I can. I can do all that I am capable of and God will make up the rest of it.

One of my favorite conference talks of all time is called, "The Women of God" by Neal A. Maxwell. He was a member of the quorum of the twelve Apostles before he passed away in 2004. I know it's an entire talk, but I'm going to post the whole thing here anyway. If you're a mom, especially of young children, and you're having a hard day, read it. It will help.

The Women of God

by Neal A. Maxwell

We know so little, brothers and sisters, about the reasons for the division of duties between womanhood and manhood as well as between motherhood and priesthood. These were divinely determined in another time and another place. We are accustomed to focusing on the men of God because theirs is the priesthood and leadership line. But paralleling that authority line is a stream of righteous influence reflecting the remarkablewomen of God who have existed in all ages and dispensations, including our own. Greatness is not measured by coverage in column inches, either in newspapers or in the scriptures. The story of the women of God, therefore, is, for now, an untold drama within a drama.

We men know the women of God as wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, associates, and friends. You seem to tame us and to gentle us, and, yes, to teach us and to inspire us. For you, we have admiration as well as affection, because righteousness is not a matter of role, nor goodness a matter of gender. In the work of the Kingdom, men and women are not without each other, but do not envy each other, lest by reversals and renunciations of role we make a wasteland of both womanhood and manhood.

Just as certain men were foreordained from before the foundations of the world, so were certain women appointed to certain tasks. Divine design—not chance—brought Mary forward to be the mother of Jesus. The boy prophet, Joseph Smith, was blessed not only with a great father but also with a superb mother, Lucy Mack, who influenced a whole dispensation.

When we would measure loving loyalty in a human relationship, do we not speak of Ruth and Naomi even more than David and Jonathan? And no wonder God with His perfect regard for women is so insistent about our obligations to widows.

A widow with her mite taught us how to tithe. An impoverished and starving widow with her hungry son taught us how to share, as she gave her meal and oil to Elijah. The divine maternal instincts of an Egyptian woman retrieved Moses from the bullrushes, thereby shaping history and demonstrating how a baby is a blessing—not a burden.

What greater conversation of anticipation has there been than that of Elisabeth and Mary when also the babe in Elisabeth leaped in recognition of Mary? (Luke 1:41).

Does it not tell us much about the intrinsic intelligence of women to read of the crucifixion scene at Calvary, “And many women were there beholding afar off.” (Matt. 27:55.) Their presence was a prayer; their lingering was like a litany.

And who came first to the empty tomb of the risen Christ? Two women.

Who was the first mortal to see the resurrected Savior? Mary of Magdala. Special spiritual sensitivity keeps the women of God hoping long after many others have ceased.

The charity of good women is such that their “love makes no parade”; they are not glad “when others go wrong”; they are too busy serving to sit statusfully about, waiting to be offended. Like Mary, they ponder trustingly those puzzlements that disable others. God trusts women so much that He lets them bear and care for His spirit children.

In our modern kingdom, it is no accident that women were, through the Relief Society, assigned compassionate service. So often the service of women seems instinctive, while that of some men seems more labored. It is precisely because the daughters of Zion are so uncommon that the adversary will not leave them alone.

We salute you, sisters, for the joy that is yours as you rejoice in a baby’s first smile and as you listen with eager ear to a child’s first day at school which bespeaks a special selflessness. Women, more quickly than others, will understand the possible dangers when the word self is militantly placed before other words like fulfillment. You rock a sobbing child without wondering if today’s world is passing you by, because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms.

So often our sisters comfort others when their own needs are greater than those being comforted. That quality is like the generosity of Jesus on the cross. Empathy during agony is a portion of divinity!

I thank the Father that His Only Begotten Son did not say in defiant protest at Calvary, “My body is my own!” I stand in admiration of women today who resist the fashion of abortion, by refusing to make the sacred womb a tomb!

When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses? When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand, the everlasting family will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution, formed outside telestial time. The women of God know this.

No wonder the men of God support and sustain you sisters in your unique roles, for the act of deserting home in order to shape society is like thoughtlessly removing crucial fingers from an imperiled dike in order to teach people to swim.

We men love you for meeting inconsiderateness with consideration and selfishness with selflessness. We are touched by the eloquence of your example. We are deeply grateful for your enduring us as men when we are not at our best because—like God—you love us not only for what we are, but for what we have the power to become.

We have special admiration for the unsung but unsullied single women among whom are some of the noblest daughters of God. These sisters know that God loves them, individually and distinctly. They make wise career choices even though they cannot now have the most choice career. Though in their second estate they do not have their first desire, they still overcome the world. These sisters who cannot now enrich the institution of their own marriage so often enrich other institutions in society. They do not withhold their blessings simply because some blessings are now withheld from them. Their trust in God is like that of the wives who are childless, but not by choice, but who in the justice of God will receive special blessings one day.

I, along with my brethren of the priesthood, express undying gratitude to our eternal partners. We know that we can go no place that matters without you, nor would we have it otherwise. When we kneel to pray, we kneel together. When we kneel at the altar of the holy temple, we kneel together. When we approach the final gate where Jesus Himself is the gatekeeper, we will, if faithful, pass through that gate together.

The prophet who sits with us today could tell us of such togetherness, when at the time of his overwhelming apostolic calling he was consoled by his Camilla, who met his anguished, sobbing sense of inadequacy and, running her fingers through his hair, said, “You can do it, you can do it.” He surely has done it, but with her at his side.

Notice, brethren, how all the prophets treat their wives and honor women, and let us do likewise!

Finally, remember: When we return to our real home, it will be with the “mutual approbation” of those who reign in the “royal courts on high.” There we will find beauty such as mortal “eye hath not seen”; we will hear sounds of surpassing music which mortal “ear hath not heard.” Could such a regal homecoming be possible without the anticipatory arrangements of a Heavenly Mother?

Meanwhile, there are no separate paths back to that heavenly home. Just one straight and narrow way, at the end of which, though we arrive trailing tears, we shall at once be “drenched in joy.” I so testify in the name ofJesus Christ. Amen.

Family of 4

2011-08-07T17:11:00.004-08:00

Well, there are 4 of us now. And my mom is leaving tomorrow and I'm scared. Having two kids without her help is freaking me out. But I know it will be ok because Liam is so stinking cute.

I like it when he has gas and smiles. It's so cute and I can't wait until he smiles for real.

Liam had his first bath at home. He wasn't a huge fan. But a clean, delicious smelling baby is the best! Also, he is HUGE. This kid is seriously heavy already. We pretty much skipped newborn size diapers and clothes. They just don't contain him. And he's only sprayed a couple times and both time I managed to avoid the pee. I feel like we're pretty successful there.

And we blessed him today before my parents had to go home. Here is our family now. Everyday I think, "maybe today I'll wear my hair down" and then by the time I'm done getting ready I'm already sweaty and I then I think, "nope, putting it up." It's so hot here. So so very hot. Oh, and Gracie sure didn't want to take off that Pocahontas-looking purse. But, she had on a super cute dress. Sigh.

I love this last picture of my dad and Liam. They are two super cute Ketcher boys.

We are doing well. Liam is great and Gracie is doing a good job at being a big sister. She has really been acting out for the most part and every once in a while she will come up to Liam, stroke his cheek and say, "Aww, baby brother. He is so cute." I love these kiddos.

And, I registered Gracie for soccer. They have a special little 3-year-old league around here that doesn't keep score and basically runs around chasing the ball. They don't have practices, just 30 minute scrimmages on Saturdays. We're hoping it will help her to work better with other kids. She's not all that cooperative. Plus, I'm excited for her to wear her cute little uniform.

We are happy. And tired.

Liam Howell

2011-07-25T11:57:00.002-08:00

I HAD A BABY!

Thursday afternoon the hospital called me to confirm everything for the next day and they said my c-section was actually scheduled for 10:30 am instead of 4:30 pm. Yay! I was stoked because that meant I didn't have to fast all day long. So we headed to the hospital at 8:30 and got ready to go. All the nurses and the doctor were really awesome. Everyone kept telling me that this time the section would be a lot more enjoyable of an experience than the first time with Gracie. I was skeptical, but they were all right! It was wonderful! Everything was on time, I knew what to expect, and all the people were so nice.

I was extremely nervous about getting the spinal because, well, it's a spinal. But, it was no biggie at all! Just like a normal shot and over really fast. Then, my body was numb in literally about 10 seconds. It was strange. I was a little shivery from nerves and the room being freaking freezing, but they covered me with warm blankets and it was great.

They brought Mike in where he took his place at my head and held my hand. A few minutes later, he was here!

Liam Howell Dierlam

July 22, 2011

11:04 am

9 lb. 5 oz. (uhhh, we estimated him at like 7 lbs. 5 oz. yeah, we were wrong)

22 inches long

He is a big boy!

He is breastfeeding like a champ and sleeping a ton. Mike is in love and I am in love. He has a ton of hair and he so super handsome!

Meanwhile, my blood pressure is high (again grrrr). So, we will probably be in the hospital one more night while they find some medication to bring it down for me. Ugh, I hate blood pressure. I miss my Gracie bug! So, we are one happy family.

My cute eternal make out partner

2011-07-13T09:36:00.003-08:00

If any of you were under the false impression that Gracie looks like me (Randi), here are some pictures to prove that you are mistaken. Gracie is definitely a Dierlam. She looks just like her daddy did back in the good 'ole '80's.

I like this bottom one the best. How cute are these dudes! So, Mikey is the younger of the two in most pictures, and the middle child in the ones with all three boys. Don't you just want to snuggle him?

T-minus 13 days

2011-07-09T16:27:00.004-08:00

I seriously hate taking these belly pictures, but here you go. 37 weeks today. Full term. As in, please get this kid out of me! But I feel bad smirking in the picture, so I smile even though I'm pretty dang tired of being pregnant. My maternity shirts do not fit over my belly anymore. It's like blazing hot outside. I can't sleep like ever. I'm uncomfortable in most positions. I have terrible heartburn. I have a hard time hefting my body around. It's hard to stand from sitting, or getting out of a car. My feet are very swollen. Those are my main complaints. On a good note, my blood pressure is ok. A little elevated, but not too bad. We have everything we need for this baby boy and we're ready for him to get here! I am having a repeat c-section as Gracie was a c-section and I have decided not to try for a VBAC. That means, I am scheduled for surgery on Friday July 22 at 4:30 pm. My surgeon is chief of staff at the hospital and the hospital is across the street from our new apartment, so I think it should go well.

Meanwhile, we have now changed Liam's name at the very end here. He is now going to be

Liam Howell Dierlam.

Howell is Mike's Grandpa's middle name and he felt strongly about giving this little boy that name, so there it is. I like it. So, less than two weeks baby....yay!

This kid is still here. This is a picture of her on her last day of swimming lessons (for now). I seriously can't get over how cute she is. I watch her during her lessons and I'm so proud of how old she's getting. She is now fearless at the pool as well. She literally just jumps in over and over again. Unfortunately, she does this even if no one is there to help her. On one hand, I'm proud that she's not afraid of the water. On the other hand, this is not a good habit to get into. But, now I know, she either has to have a life jacket on, or we have to be in the pool with her at all times. She is pretty good at turning her body around and getting back to the wall though, when she does jump in. I'm just so in love with her. Although, I could do without the meltdowns. Right now, I'm focusing on making sure she knows she is loved like crazy so she doesn't have a breakdown when "baby brudder" shows up. And her birthday is coming up so we are going to make it extra Gracie special. She has requested a Wonder Pets cake. Goodie.

On Father's day, I decided to make Mike his favorite breakfast...biscuits and gravy. He was getting the biscuits out of the oven for me and since our kitchen was oh so tiny, he sort of jabbed me (hard) with the hot pan. You can't tell in this picture, but that line is a REALLY bad burn. Oh, it hurt so bad. In this picture it has started to bubble up and be gross. It is just today starting to fade and heal up. I don't really want a big scar on my arm but it would be a funny memory of Father's day 2011. Unfortunately, breakfast didn't even turn out very good. Sorry, Mikey. But we love him anyway.

A few weeks ago we ventured out the lake with Aaron and his kiddos to go out on the wave runners and get some relief from the heat. Gracie had such a good time in the water.

And it was Mike's first time on a wave runner. I always forget that he grew up in Alaska and didn't have all the same experiences as I did. It's so fun to watch him do all this fun stuff for the first time. He was like a little kid. He took a bunch of pictures of himself, that I elected not to post, but here is one he took when he went out exploring by himself.

Mike is so great. He started school this past Tuesday and he's excited to be back in the educational grind. He has pretty much decided to go for his Masters in Accounting and Finance Management. Basically, he wants to be a CPA. We are so proud of how hard he works and he's really excited about this next step. Also, they love him at his job. He's been doing so well, he got a shout out from the big boys in Chicago in a company-wide email. I'm not surprised at all. That's just how great he is.

What? How did she get so old?! We just moved into our new apartment a couple weeks ago and we are LOVING it here in Chandler. The AC actually works in this place, and we like the complex a lot. We went to our new ward and it seems so much better than our old one. We are really happy here so far and look forward to bringing baby boy home here too. Yahoo for our family.

big mama

2011-06-08T18:03:00.001-08:00

Hello chins and boobs. I have gained a couple lbs.

And there's baby boy. Yikes.

I heart SD

2011-06-08T17:40:00.005-08:00

So I totally heart SD...as in San Diego, not South Dakota. Mike's brother Matt is in the Navy and he'll be leaving in a couple months for a year and half, so we headed over to San Diego to hang out before he leaves. Leslie commanded me multiple times to update my blog, so thanks to her picture taking and awesome camera, here you go. We had a grrrrreat time. This was the first time Gracie got to play at the ocean. I always say she has never seen the ocean and Mike would remind me that we lived in Anchorage. I don't count that. This time, Gracie got to see waves and play in the warm sand. She was in heaven.

These pictures are in no particular order. At one point, Leslie busted out a ton of plastic cups and Gracie played with them forever. In fact, we brought them home and she has been playing with them everyday since we got back. Also, Leslie and Mike's mom threw me an impromptu baby shower with just us and it was so great! This kid is so blessed to have two awesome families. Thanks for the gifts and the cake! I'm pretty sure baby boy has more clothes than me!

Mike would have spent all day everyday doing this if I didn't drag him out of the water to eat or drink.

And this is how I spent the weekend. Gracie bug playing in the sand and me on my huge booty eating. I won't lie, it was fantastic.

This is such a cute picture! Gracie has finally started looking at the camera. Now we have to use the trick, "Gracie, show us your teeth!" and that's how I get her to "smile." I remember using that trick on my nephew Robby when he was her age. Anyway, this is Matt, Mike, Nana Juju, Leah, and Gracie. Notice how Matt and Leah literally look like twins. I mean, there is no question she is his daughter and she is a Dierlam.

Leah is so stinkin cute. And she was pretty stoked to have friends visiting her. I could tell.

They also had some matching outfits so we did the classic photo shoot. All the pictures turned out so cute.

Ok, so I actually bought Gracie this seashell at a shop on the beach. I know I know. But she loved it! She kept putting up to her ear and telling us she could hear the ocean. We were like, uhhh, it might be the ocean behind you, not the one in the seashell. Kids are funny.

Aunt Leslie helped her build a "sandcastle." Leslie did most of the building and Gracie kind of slacked on the job.

Man, I love these two.

This might be my favorite picture of the whole trip. I could look at these two all day. They are so in love with each other and they are both in love with the ocean. I have such a great family.

We also took some dips in the pool. Gracie LOVES swimming.

I seriously can't believe how old she is getting. We set her up in a big girl bed a couple nights ago and I was surprised at how emotional I got looking at her laying in it. And, she has done awesome! The first night I only had to put her back in it twice and then she stayed all night. Then last night I didn't have to put her back in at all! She went to sleep and stayed there all night again! Granted, she is up REALLY early again these days, but it's been great! Gracie has always been a pretty good transitioner. Is that a word? She got rid of binkies herself, she went cold turkey from bottle to sippee with NO problems. She's good at stuff like that. Which makes up for the meltdowns that are happening pretty much daily around here. sigh. She's two. And she's good at it.

One more thing, I know there is a serious lack of pictures of me around here. That's because I don't enjoy having them taken these days. But, I will post one that Mike's mom took when we weren't looking so you can see just how big this baby is getting.

End of April beginning of May

2011-05-10T12:16:00.004-08:00

This year, Gracie went to her first Easter egg hunt. Our apartment complex had a little hunt and we went to it. Gracie had a blast! She didn't even know there was candy in the eggs...she just liked collecting them all.

Unfortunately, she did not win the prize for the most eggs found because a bunch of kids cheated. As in, they came with eggs already in their baskets and then their parents just ran around finding eggs for them. ugh. parents.

Then, one day, she was in her bed talking for like an hour before she finally fell asleep for her nap. When I went to get her up later, this is what I found. She lined all her friends up between her crib and the wall. It was funny.

And this is what we're working on these days. I hate it. Today she sat on the potty for literally like 20 minutes. Nothin. Then, 10 minutes after I got her up off the potty, she peed all over the floor and her shoes. Are you kidding me? Potty training is pretty much the worst.

But she does look pretty dang cute her big girl panties.

boobies and babies

2011-04-20T15:52:00.003-08:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about breastfeeding.

Weird, I know.

Here's the back story:

Gracie was born 3 weeks early because I developed pre-eclampsia. She was really healthy but a little small, so she had to stay in the NICU for 10 days while they watched her and made sure she gained weight. So I pumped in the hospital and took the milk to NICU. But she was using bottles because she was in there and because my blood pressure wouldn't go down so I was pretty sick on my own. After she finally came home, she was having none of the breastfeeding. She got so used to the bottles in the NICU, she didn't want to work that hard to get food. We tried EVERYTHING to breastfeed. I'm serious, whatever you think you would have suggested, we tried it. It was terrible. It was stressful and both of us ended up in tears at every feeding. In the end, she only latched on one time in the doctor's office with the lactation consultant (of course) and never again. So, I pumped for 6 weeks. Exclusively. She was not on formula. She got all breast milk, but I was spending all day pumping and feeding. It was exhausting for me. The day Gracie turned 6 weeks old, I weaned her. She was on formula for the rest of that first year. I had a lot of guilt at first about weaning her. I felt terrible that we couldn't figure it out together. But, bottle feeding was a blessing because it made both of us happy. And, I'll be honest, I loved having the freedom to whatever I wanted without having to worry about breastfeeding. Especially since Gracie was a pretty hard baby and I needed LOTS of breaks from her.

Now that I'm having another baby, I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do. I know some of you will probably think I'm seriously selfish and rotten, but I'm just going to say it--I don't want to breastfeed him. I know. But, like I said, it was nice to be able to go overnight with my husband and not have to worry about feeding the baby while she was with my mom or Mike's mom. And I never felt like I missed out on any bonding with Gracie. I felt pretty dang bonded feeding her at like 3 in the morning. Even if it was with a bottle. So now I'm torn. I know breast milk is the healthiest thing for this boy, but I also know that baby's on formula turn out just fine. Seriously fine. I'm considering half breastfeeding and half bottle feeding so that I can still have some freedom, but get him healthy as well. Any ideas? Have any of you part time breastfed? How do you do it? I've heard you have to wait until you have your milk established, but I'm afraid that by then the boy won't want the bottle and it might be too late. Ahhh. I don't know. Maybe I'm a terrible person for not really being stoked about trying breastfeeding. But I was so happy bottle feeding Gracie. Any thoughts would be helpful (although, if your thought is "you should breastfeed because breast milk is best and it is recommended," I don't really need to hear it because I KNOW.)

how we roll

2011-04-13T19:11:00.002-08:00

Gracie and I went to the children's museum again and she loved this dragon.

Here is our night time routine:

1. books books books

2. Entertainment provided by Daddy. Tonight: juggling rings

Daddy is too funny.

3. Family prayer and goodnight.

I am sooo in love with this kid.

Just some pictures of our life

2011-04-04T11:17:00.002-08:00

We took G to her first Suns game. It was super fun and she had a blast, but the camera was acting up, so this is really blurry. I'm bummed because she is actually smiling at the camera for once.

We went to the Ostrich Festival with Kim and G rode her first pony.

I just think this is cute because geez, now that looks restful.

She looked really cute for church so I tried to get a picture. For some reason, she just kept sitting down. sigh.

Last Sunday we made cookies after church and she could not wait to eat them.

23 weeks. Ugh. I look yucky in this picture.

2011-03-30T16:28:00.002-08:00

Hey everyone,

I know this might be tacky, but I have had some friends up in AK ask about buying presents for baby Liam, so I went ahead and registered at Babies R Us. It's really nice of people to think of us because we had to sell most of our baby stuff when we moved. sigh. Anyway, no big deal, but to anyone who is interested there you go.

Registry

please help Dan's family

2011-03-28T12:50:00.003-08:00

On the side of my blog here I have put a link to a website where you can do a great thing.

One of my best friend's, Debbie, has a really cool cousin named Dan.

Dan's wife just had their first baby in Washington a couple weeks ago.

The baby was born at 29 weeks, 11 weeks early. She is doing great. But while Danny was driving some of their stuff back from Idaho to Washington, his car hit black ice, he flipped, and was killed instantly.

This is too tragic to believe. Now his sweet wife is recovering from having a baby.

The baby will be in the NICU for a month or two.

And she lost her best friend.

If you go to this website, you can donate money to Dan's wife and his new little daughter.

Let's mourn with those that mourn and lighten their burden.

We'll miss you Dan.

I'll always remember gettin jiggy wit it in Debbie's living room. You rocked.

2011-03-15T19:38:00.003-08:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about being more Christ-like. I need to stop being so judgmental and learn a little more from people. I was reading Catie Davis Vineyard's blog tonight and I really think that she said to a T exactly what has been going through my mind as of late. So here it is:

Each and every single one of us are experiencing our own "Degree of Difficulty." We all experience different things in our life that help mold and shape the way that we are. Our experiences are what make us who we are and determine how we act. What is difficult for me maybe easy for someone else. If we were to hold everyone to the exact same standard, not bringing into consideration their experiences, both big and small, awesome and crappy, we would not be able to properly function. By having that mindset, we are not utilizing the Atonement to its full capacity. I would be no where in life if it were not for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This story was something I needed to hear, something that I need to remember when I think about my family or others and am not satisfied fully. As long as we are all striving to do our best, we will succeed in the long run. Because of our loving Father in heaven, we will be blessed in ways we did not ever think possible.

We are all doing the best we can. All of us. Let's do less judging and more loving.

Gracie's first swimming lesson

2011-03-07T11:30:00.002-09:00

Last week I signed G up for swimming lessons. I was pretty excited about it. She loves swimming and she couldn't wait to go.

Unfortunately, she was THAT kid in the class. The one that doesn't listen at all and just wants to play with all the toys. Sigh.

See, she looks pretty upset. I mean, she's really good at all the skills and she LOVES the water. So she's not crying because she's scared, it's just because she was done listening. So, it was a long half hour. The main problem was that she did NOT want to go home after only 30 minutes. She wanted to play play play. So we went straight to the pool at our place when we got home. I'm hoping that she gets used to the lessons. We just have to help her learn that at their pool we listen, at our pool we play.

And here's Liam. I put this picture on facebook and said I was 21 weeks, but I am really only 20. Woops. I'm jumping the gun. Still, I can't believe I'm halfway. He will be making his debut sometime around July 23 or 24 or something like that. I have started to feel him a little now and I'm remembering how cool it is to have a person growing inside me. Unfortunately, this time around, I have bad sciatica. Which means that he is sitting on some nerved on my left side and I basically have shooting pain up and down my left leg a lot of the time. Oh joy. Little boy, you better move over soon.

we like to potty...we like...we like to potty

2011-03-04T10:35:00.002-09:00

This is what potty training makes me feel like. Somebody with experience...help me. How do I potty train this kid? The other day I put G in her princess panties (actually, she wanted to wear 2 pairs at once so ok). I asked her every 5 minutes if she needed to pee pee. She kept saying "no." Then after about 20 minutes I asked her and she said "yes." Then I realized it was too late. She was wet. So we discarded those panties and put on a fresh pair. Thirty minutes later she was wet again. Ahhh. So we got rid of panties all together. She sat naked for a little bit while I watched her constantly. Finally I was freaked out and said, "ok, let's put a diaper on you." When she got up to come over to me, there was a huge poo on my carpet! Oh, and I found a few minutes later the huge pee puddle in the hallway. What the what?! How do I potty train a human being????? Help me! I'm going to try some incentives, but I don't know if she understands them yet. ugh. I'm stressed.

2011-02-12T16:55:00.001-09:00

This is a terrible picture, but I circled his boy parts by the arrow. I know you all want to see them.

even teams

2011-02-12T07:46:00.002-09:00

GREAT NEWS!

We are having a

BOY

!!!!!

And we are so stinking excited. I actually have my doctor ultrasound scheduled for the 28th, but I didn't want to wait anymore, so we went in to one of those private 3D ultrasound places. It was really fun and, sure enough, the tech confirmed my suspicion....this kid has boy parts! Gracie is going to have a little brother. I'm glad we're evening out these teams and Mikey is excited to have his basketball player. Anyway, his name is Liam Anjaka Marcus Dierlam. Phew, a mouthful. But we love him already. The tech had a hard time at first because he was crossing his legs and not giving us anything. So far, he's not like Gracie at all. She loves running around naked. Haha. Yay!

jeez, babies.

2011-01-24T06:52:00.002-09:00

Here is a recent picture of Gracie. Yeah, she has worn that sweater for a long time now. Honestly, I don't think she's grown in a while.

And here's my belly at about 12 weeks. I feel pretty darn big already. I am 14 weeks now and definitely feel pregnant.

And here's the kid. This picture is a little creepy because I think it's looking at us. At any rate, everyone's healthy and good. We are crossing our fingers for a boy and we will find that out on Feb. 28. It seems so far away.

December

2011-01-04T14:44:00.004-09:00

Well, I can't believe I haven't blogged at all during the month of December. Here is what happened.

We went to the park...a lot. That is definitely something we would not being doing in Anchorage right now.

Gracie and I also took a trip to the Phoenix Children's Museum. It was super cool! They have tons of hands on stuff for the kids to do and G was in Heaven. It reminded me of the Exploratorium in San Francisco. G especially loved this "car wash" through which you could ride a bike. We are still working on teaching her how to pedal a bicycle.

The museum also has an art room. Yeah, I was nervous about giving this kid a paint brush, but she did ok. They have a big papier mache type castle thing that you can just paint and paint. She loved it.

We got a small Christmas tree. This was the day I put it up. Pretty much after this day, the ornaments at G level started disappearing one bye one. By Christmas day there were pretty much only ornaments at the top of the tree. It was kind of sad.

G got a train set for Christmas that I was sure Mikey was more excited about than she was going to be, but I was wrong. Everyday she says to me "mommy, play trains?" It's cute.

She got the hang of unwrapping pretty quickly.

Hello Christmas morning hair.

Who are we kidding? Her hair looks like that everyday.

So December was good. Except that right after Christmas, we all got the sickies. G ended up with an ear infection and pneumonia, Mike got a cold and I got some sort of cold situation that just won't quit. Oh, and it's super fun being pregnant and sick. super fun.

Meanwhile, I went in for my first prenatal appointment yesterday and it went great. We are tentatively set up for a C-section sometime around July 23.

Hearing that little heartbeat is my favorite. And that heartbeat was way strong. My midwife couldn't stop talking about how strong it was. Let's hope it's a boy...

G has something she wants to tell everyone

2010-12-01T08:24:00.000-09:00

Mesa!

2010-11-14T19:04:00.002-09:00

This is where we live now. Mesa, Arizona. We are in love with this place. The sun is so warm and wonderful. All the shopping I could ask for. So many good restaurants. Wonderful!

And we live by this place. So great. Our apartment is ok. We are on the bottom floor and I seriously think we live below the LOUDEST people on the planet earth. Literally, Mike had to go all "Mr. Heckles" on them the other night because one of their kids was jumping up and down. He banged really hard on the ceiling and they got the hint. So, needless to say, we will be buying a house as soon as our lease is up here (and as soon as we sell our place in AK).

One of the first things we did was become members of the Phoenix zoo. G loves animals, and the membership price is amazing for a year of free admission. I am excited to take her there a lot.

On the way to Mesa, we stopped in San Diego to meet our new niece, Leah. She is so stinking beautiful. Matt and Leslie are great parents.

G was interested for about 0.5 seconds. We had been in the car 7 hours, she hadn't had a nap. The baby was not that cool to her.

I, on the other hand, wanted to hold her nonstop and had my baby fever amped up a whole bunch.

Also, I went to my high school reunion. It was awesome. And this little gem was in Merced so I got to see her. I miss you, D!

We did the classic family picture pose. Good times.

Anyway, we live in the Grand Canyon State now. You should come visit. We have been in the pool everyday. In November. Boo ya.

All Saints Day

2010-11-01T17:43:00.003-08:00

Today is my birthday and now I get to share it with this cutie! Our Sister-in-Law had a baby early this morning! Now Leah Michelle Dierlam and I share a birthday. Congratulations to Matt and Leslie! We cannot wait to meet her.
And here are some random pictures. This is G and her friend Ray-ray.

Also, G taught herself how to go out the doggy door so we don't have to help her. Yes, I teach her self-reliance. It's important.

Good job kiddo.

And she likes the arcade.

So, I had a grrrreat birthday. And another year is over.

Mikey got a job! He will be a high school admissions representative for Devry University in Mesa, Arizona. So, we will drive to San Diego on Sunday to meet our new niece then head on to Mesa on Monday. We are soooo excited to finally get settled and start a new life in Arizona. Yahoo for sunshine!

I have something to say

2010-10-23T16:58:00.002-08:00

I have a 2-year-old little girl.

She throws a lot of tantrums.

She throws a lot of things.

My mom's cell phone: broken.

Sippy cups: broken and spilled everywhere.

Toys at my head. Like wooden boxes. At my head.

She eats crayons and colors on EVERYTHING.

She WILL NOT sit in a stroller. Imagine how stressful that is.

She WILL NOT sit in a grocery cart without a battle.

She hates holding still.

And you know what?

Some days she watches a lot of TV. A lot.

So that I won't go crazy.

So that maybe the throwing will stop for a while.

She eats french fries.

Not everyday, but sometimes. And I use them so she'll be good in the car.

Or in the grocery cart. Yeah, I bribe her.

Some days she doesn't eat one vegetable.

I don't make her quilts (though, I wish I could).

I give her juice (ok, but it IS watered down).

She still uses a binky.

She's not potty trained.

Some days we don't get dressed.

Or do our hair.

And there are dishes in the sink from 2 days ago.

I am not a bad mom.

And it's not right that I feel like I am sometimes.

I'm so sick of seeing all these mommies with their pretty makeup and their perfect little kids.

The mommies who let their toddlers watch one cartoon Saturday mornings.

And who feed their kids 100% organic.

I am a good mom.

We say "I love you" about 100 times a day.

We give hugs and kisses double that.

We dance and sing songs.

Gracie might not have the best mom.

But she has the best mom for her.

Stretch marks and all.

And I think she's pretty dang lucky.

I love this kid

2010-10-16T18:17:00.002-08:00

we are alive and stressed out

2010-10-14T13:41:00.003-08:00

Life is still moving along. Mike went to Phoenix on Monday for some interviews (which went great) and will be back tonight. We still live in California. Out of suitcases. At my parent's house. sigh. Anyway, here is G relaxing at the park in Mariposa.
She spent like 30 minutes going back and forth between these little peep holes and saying, "hi mommy." It was pretty dang cute.

It was so fun to finally see Mikey last weekend after 6 weeks apart. Boo for being apart. I picked him and we went to the coast for a couple days sans baby. I took Mikey to Ikea so he could fall in love with it (and he did). We went to a Raiders game. It was hot and we got sunburned. But being surrounded by the Raider Nation was an...experience.

And the weekend was made perfect with a California BLT pizza from this beautiful place. Oh, CPK. I love you.

So, we're still alive. We will hear back about these interviews next week and then we'll go from there. If everything goes well, we'll be moving to Phoenix soon. I hope that's true. Living here is getting old.

I love this picture.

2010-09-12T20:48:00.000-08:00

back back to cali cali

2010-09-08T14:45:00.003-08:00

Well, we did it. We left AK. Gracie and I now officially live in Mariposa, California. I know, right? Mikey will meet up with us in a few weeks unless he finds a job before that. I'm kind of torn. I want him to come hang out with us, but I also want him to find a super great job. Meanwhile, I'm back in CA and I love it.
Gracie slept pretty well on the plane. And by pretty well, I mean she was out cold. It took a few minutes to wake her when we landed.

She is LOVING being here. She has so many things to do! She loves playing Gamma's piano.

She loves swimming with the doggy.

And riding her new bike.

There has been a significant decline in tantrums with a big backyard and tons of things to do. And she has conveniently learned how to go out and in the doggy door so we don't even have to open the door for her. Bonus.

This morning Gracie and I went to the Fresno zoo. It was awesome. Gracie was so amazed to see that elephants and giraffes really exist beyond cartoons and books. The look on her face the first time she saw an elephant was priceless.

Unfortunately, this was the only hippo there. And it is for fakes.

Gracie LOVES flamingos. I'm not sure why.

This peacock wanted a BLT I think. Hilarious.

There she is pointing to her new friends. We miss Mikey but we are loving California. It's sooo good to come home.

Sunny Days

2010-08-25T18:20:00.002-08:00

The weather has been so nice this week. If it would stay like this more often, I would never want to leave Alaska. Gracie stood in the wind with her arms up saying "coooold."

And last night I was enjoying the weather out on the balcony and the moon/mountains were so pretty, I took a picture. I will definitely miss days like this here.

This picture is a little blurry but I like that there is a plane flying by on the right there. It was cool.

Whoopety-do! Gracie's 2!

2010-08-16T19:59:00.004-08:00

Guess who's 2? Gracie, that's who! Today was a good day. I cannot believe my baby is 2-years-old. We had our usual ups and downs today. Lots of grumpys towards the end of the night, but nothing too bad today.

This is the cake I made for Gracie. I am super proud of it because even thought I'm a pretty stellar baker, I am TERRIBLE at decorating anything. And, I will be honest, this cake didn't look as good up close. But G loved it.

And we avoided many tantrums with these babies. I pulled them out of the trunk where I was hiding them while she napped today. When she came out into the family and saw them, she looked up in aw and whispered "wow." And then she proceeded to carry them around with her all day. Everywhere she went.

This is during her birthday cake part. She was getting extremely tired and over-birthdayed.

She ate like 2 bites of cake and wanted to get down.

And her friend Saibree (and Saibree's parents) came over for birthday dinner and cake. Afterward, these kids were grumpsters, so we threw them in the bathtub. What a great birthday.

Happy Birthday Gracie Bug! We love you.
Oh, and Mike and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary. It was great, but I didn't take any pictures. Woops. We are still totally in love. It rocks.

Family Pictures 2010

2010-08-08T19:09:00.003-08:00

My friend Rebecca did an awesome job with our family pictures this year. They turned out great. Thanks girl!

Yes, that is the ocean behind us at the bottom of the rock cliff. Dangerous.

I LOVE Gracie's smile. Zoom in on this and look at her cute teeth.

And Alaska, ladies and gentlemen. We will only be living here for 23 more days. Maybe if it hadn't rained every day all this summer I would be sad. But it has. So I'm not. Well, kind of.

My kid is beautiful

2010-07-30T11:51:00.002-08:00

I love this kid. Since we are hoping to be moving soon, I wanted to get some family pictures taken in the Alaskan wilderness. So we headed out to Beluga Point and my friend Rebecca snapped some shots for us. I have only seen a few so far, but they are great! Look how gorgeous my baby is!

We're pretty hot too.

And, last week Gracie was playing with her bunny. At one point, she went into her bedroom and came out with a couple diapers. She then tried to put them on her bunny. So I helped her out and it was so cute! She started snuggling it and patting it on the back. What a good mommy!

We're still not sure what's going on with the condo. We have had a small increase in traffic in the last couple weeks, but we also decided we will probably lease it come September. Who knows what will happen.

I want this

2010-07-07T20:51:00.001-08:00

If I had $100 right now, I would buy this. It is from Isla. Love it.

that's quacktastic

2010-07-06T21:32:00.002-08:00

June and July have been pretty great so far. We took Gracie to the duck pond in Eagle River. She loves that place. She kept yelling "quack quack" and throwing entire pieces of bread at them. She went through a loaf pretty fast.

Double french braids...I know, right? She's such a big girl.

Mommy and Gracie feeding the ducks.

Don't you wish your family was cool like ours?

We also did some swimming recently. This is Gracie's friend Saibree. She's super cute and funny. And her favorite word is "mine!" Gracie is so laid back, though, she doesn't really care when Saibree takes all her toys.

Here is a rare picture where I snapped quick enough while she was looking in the direction of the camera.

Gracie always looks surprised because I have to faker her out to get her to look at me.
The fourth of July was fun. It included a 6.5 hour wiffle (woofle?) ball tournament which Mikeys team won. And of which Gracie and I left after about an hour. Boring.
Anyone want to buy our condo? We still own it and are praying really hard that it sells. Thanks for the good wishes.

June

2010-06-16T19:58:00.002-08:00

June has been fun! Because I am concerned about the amount of time this kid spends watching "moomies" (movies). Ok, it wasn't that much, but anyway..., I decided we need to watch less TV, so we've been doing lots of fun things. Today Gracie and I went to the zoo. It was gloomy and rainy and I thought "hey, let's go to the zoo!" It was perfect because there weren't many people there. This was Gracie's first time. She liked the bears and the seals. Too bad her first zoo experience was the Alaska Zoo. Sorry, G, no elephants or giraffes here. But there is a polar bear!

And this crazy cool camel.

Gracie also had her first experience with finger painting yesterday. At first when I put the paint on her "pallet" she ate some. Quickly deciding that was yucky, she dove in...with her pinky.

For some reason she would only use her pinky to paint. It was really funny. Then she started painting her tummy. At that point I decided it was bath time.

On June 12, I did the Alaska Run for Women. I mostly just walk, but this time I even ran a little! Woo hoo! I did it with a few girls from work and it was really fun. It was especially cool to have these cuties cheering me on at the finish line. I am now training for my 60 day walk in September (donate here: www.the3day.org PLEASE)

And Mike was VERY excited about the Renaissance Fair a few weekends ago. I mean, he talked about it all week. You can imagine my excitement to go see people dressed up in Renaissance garb and talking weird. Yeah. Anyway, they had a petting zoo so G was in Heaven. She kept chasing these ducks around trying to pet them and they would run away. So this girl who worked there held one for her. She also liked to pet the lazy pregnant pig.

Jeez, check out that look. Whose daughter could that be?

And Mike with his much anticipated Renaissance-y turkey leg. Weird.
P.S. I had a gyro from that gyro booth behind him and oh-my-heavens was it good.

summer time!

2010-06-02T12:53:00.003-08:00

You heard me, it's summer time! Finally! And it is roasty. Yeah, 75 degrees last week. I was melting. I know I know. That's not hot at all. But it is to us. And so, off to the lake we went. And I'm pretty sure Gracie would live there if she could.

Yup, those are still snowy mountains back there.

This bucket is literally her most prized possession. She fills it up then dumps all over herself. Then she freaks out because the water is oh so cold.

That's a happy baby.

That's a happy naked baby.

What a good life, huh? Things are good. We had a great Memorial Day weekend. It was full of amazing food. Mmmm. Bring on the sun!

I live in Alaska

2010-05-17T11:46:00.002-08:00

I live in Alaska. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and that's what I think. I live in Alaska. And then I just want to go back to bed (but I can't because it's 5am and the sun is shining hard core through the window). Here are some of the recent events in our life. We took Gracie out to the boardwalk at Potter's Marsh to run around. She loved the duckies.

I love this picture.

Then, Mikey and I went on our annual no-baby vacation. Last year it was Hawaii. This year, Homer, Alaska. Yeah, not exactly Hawaii. But fun, nonetheless. It was cloudy and and sprinkly, but it sure was pretty. And the company was great. And the crab burger I had was a-mazing. There were a lot of interesting people in Homer...

Also in Homer, I picked up a lighthouse.

And Mikey picked up this big piece of wood.

So, life is going along. Selling the condo is real slow going, but we reduce the price a tad and our realtor swears things pick up in June. But, frankly, we've decided that if we don't sell this place by the fall, we are leasing it and heading out. We refuse to spend another winter here. So, we can't wait to see everybody we've missed in the last 4 years!

spring. everyone's pregnant. but not me.

2010-05-07T12:03:00.003-08:00

Ok, I don't know what happened with the pictures, but I don't feel like uploading them again.
I spent 2 hours last night at the ER. Gracie has been kind of sniffly and yucky and last night she was breathing VERY rapidly and she had a high fever so I took her in. She's fine. She does not have RSV or pneumonia, which I was worried about. But it sure does make for a grumpy sleep-deprived baby today. Yikes. And, because I'm tired, I'm feeling a little...blah.

The other day a couple came to look at our house without notice and it was a wreck! They were very nice and really liked it, but still. I just want someone to buy our house! It's so frustrating to be completely out of control of the situation. I woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine. It made my heart ache that we don't have a backyard for Gracie to play in. I mean, we can walk to the park, but there are always a TON of people there, including really annoying junior high kids and other toddlers whose parents don't stop them from pushing or walking UP the slide. Sigh. I'm excited for us to have a house of our own. With a yard. And a garage. And a third bedroom. And, realistically, that's just not going to happen for us here in Alaska. It's time to go. Please pray that someone will love our place and want to buy it.

Anyway, enough glummy stuff. Isn't this kid stinkin cute? She learned how to climb up the ladder to the slide the other day. I mean, a real ladder! She's so athletic! It makes Mike proud.

pictures

2010-04-28T20:24:00.001-08:00

I just finished looking at Catie Vineyard's wedding pictures.
Sometimes I see pictures of people that I love so much it's overwhelming.
Like my mom and my dad.
And Camille's Mom.
And Camille.
It also totally made me wish I could have been there.
What wonderful people.

Also, do you ever wish you could go back and do a day over again?
I want to do my wedding day again. Not because it was bad or I have regrets. But because it was the greatest. I want the same groom and friends. I want to dress up in a pretty dress and dance around. And I want Gracie there too. All dolled up and eating strawberries. Maybe someday we'll have to have a mock "renew your vows" type of thing. Even though we didn't have vows. Because how fun would it be to do it again?
I just want to be surrounded by all those amazing people I love. ALL OF THEM. Not separated by stupid miles and states. I miss so many people.

The Amazing Show

2010-04-05T12:32:00.002-08:00

Does anyone else love these guys? Every season of The Amazing Race, Mikey and I go online and each pick a team to cheer for. We pick or teams BEFORE the show starts, so we can't cheat and just pick someone who is winning, etc. I picked these guys and they rock! They are total cowboys and totally nice. They never argue. They aren't the smartest people I've ever seen, but they are super hard workers and they are super cool. Last week they got last place, but they were not eliminated. This means that this week they had an extra task they had to do that no other teams had to do. Not only did my boys finish the extra task, they got way far ahead and ended up in 1st place! Woot woot! I love this show. And even though I don't think these buckaroos are going to win the million dollars, I totally want them to. Because they would probably just use it to by cattle and boots. Love it.

It's Spring!

2010-04-03T20:36:00.002-08:00

It was 45 degrees today. Yeah, that is toasty warm for us. Awesome. Snow is melting. The sun is shining. It's awesome! Gracie can now breath in her carseat because she does not have a huge jacket to try and fit in there.
Meanwhile, we are going to put our condo on the market at the end of next week. We put the futon down in G's room so we can sell and she loves it! She just climbs up there and sits with her books. It's really cute. I also cleaned the carpets today and we took a TON of stuff to Goodwill. Getting the place ready to sell is stressful/nerve-wracking.
We don't know exactly what the future holds for us, but we have some plans. We will try and sell our place and then move into an apartment month-to-month until Mike finds a job somewhere, then we're out! We have a few places that we are looking into moving, but our number 1 choice is Arizona. We like the housing market (sad for people who are foreclosing, good for us). And, Mike has found a few jobs online that he would be interesting in applying for there. Nothing is for sure, but we really like the Phoenix area and that's basically what we're shooting for. And, yes, I know it is hot there. I am from Merced, not Anchorage.

Yesterday G and I went outside to play in our parking lot (yeah, exactly why I want to move and buy a house). No worries, she still won't look at the camera. Now I say, "say cheese!" and she says, "cheese!" while she's walking away from me. Effective.

I have to surprise her if I want her to even kind of look at the camera.

She (and I) were loving the sunshine.
G is the best. She now says "okay" (properly too) and she says "hay hoo" (thank you). In fact, she talks nonstop. It's pretty awesome. And also sad because she does talk back a little. Bummer. She runs everywhere and is getting really good at stairs without crawling up and down. She loves Elmo and the Care Bears (good girl). She loves dogs and cows (for some reason). And she LOVES going to nursery. We could not love her more.

Tonight we were watching Elmo on youtube and G put her little arm around me and patted me on the back. It was my favorite part of today. Wish us luck on selling the condo. If any of you want to hang out with us again, we have to get out of Alaska! We need all the help we can get.

gettin outta dodge

2010-03-10T10:26:00.003-09:00

I have absolutely no idea how to put pictures in order, so here are some from our trip to CA. Mikey had some reflooring to do around the house, so Gracie and I decided to get out of the way and headed to California. On the way, we had a 4 hour layover in Seattle, so we met Lindsay and Co. for breakfast. They were good sports even though it was 6 am. Look how old these kiddos are! I can't believe it.

One of the reasons I was so excited to go home was so that Gracie could actually play outside. Granted, it rained most of the week, but I did not care. I still stuck her outside and she loved it.

hIt took a little while for Gracie to remember her Nana, but soon they were good, snuggly friends.

The portable DVD player saved my life. Here is Gracie enjoying Word World in the airport on our layover.
I

This is my favorite picture from the trip. Gracie was in love with this cat.

I spent a couple days in San Francisco by myself while mom stayed with Gracie and it rocked! I got to meet up with my old college friend, Erin and talk about our missions and eat delicious food and hang out and people watch (San Francisco is the best place for that). It was way fun.

Gracie also loved Nana's "jump jump." She's not too good at jumping yet, but she's trying.

It is so nice to be home. The flights were horrible with an 18-month-old who won't hold still, but the rest of the trip was amazing. Unfortunately, we all got sick when we got home, but at least were here in our own beds together. I love this kid. And Mikey did a great job remodeling. Now we have some cleaning and finishing touches, then our condo goes on the market. Pray for a fast sell.

dentists and valentines

2010-02-13T11:54:00.003-09:00

On Wednesday Gracie went to the dentist for the first time! I was more than a little apprehensive about this appointment. When I take Gracie to the doctor, he sits across the room from us as far away as he can and, still, Gracie is screaming in my lap. But, though she did cry while the dentist was trying to look in her mouth, it was pretty minimal. Even the dentist said it was nothing compared to most patients. Yay! And Gracie has even more teeth than I thought. She's even starting to get her canines. Great. Now it's more dangerous than ever to put anything, especially your finger, anywhere near her mouth.

Meanwhile, here is me and my valentine. We had our Valentine's date early so as to avoid crowds. And because it was the only time Mike's mom could babysit. We went to a movie and ate at the Glacier Brewhouse....mmmm. Don't get me started. I am so in love with him. He's a great valentine.

And we took Gracie swimming again yesterday. Mike had the day off, so he came with us and it was a blast! Gracie was loving life.

I was so proud of this kid. Even when she would accidentally fall under water, she didn't care! She would stand back up and say, "aww" like she just drank something delicious (which I'm sure she did drink a ton of pool water) and smile. That's my water baby!

Pictures out of order. This is Mike and Gracie playing in the snow behind our house.

Gracie is loving the pool with daddy. She went down slides and played with all the other kids that were there. It was fun to watch her interact with all the other families. She is the coolest!

due for a blog

2010-02-03T14:01:00.002-09:00

Today Gracie and I went swimming. She could not have been any cuter. Look at that belly! She loved the water, but didn't really like the slide. We went down two times and both times she had a death grip on me and at the end she cried. So yeah, we were done with the slide.

Then she laid out. She didn't want to get a bathing suit strap tan.

No kidding, Gracie WILL NOT look at the camera. I will call her name for like 5 minutes and as soon as she looks and sees the camera, she looks away.

This is how depressed the camera makes her. This is what she looks like when I capture her looking at the camera. boooo. She will only smile if I have a helper to make her laugh behind me. Sigh.

Mikey has been juror #2 on a murder trial here in Anchorage and it will finally be wrapping up in the next few days. They go into deliberation tomorrow I think. He's excited to be done after 5 weeks of doing his civil duty. Fortunately, the Daily News still pays him full salary while he is on the jury, so he didn't have to stress TOO much. In fact, I think because he didn't have to worry about that, he was able to kind of enjoy the experience. But it has been a little stressful because after he gets out of court everyday at like 2pm, he has to go to work for a few more hours. It's been a long 5 weeks.

We are also getting an awesome tax return which has made us very happy. It's about twice as much as I was expecting and I know that Heavenly Father is totally blessing us. We now have the cash to remodel what we want to in the condo so we can pretty it up and sell it. It made me feel even better about out decision to try and move out of Alaska this summer. That is the first step, selling the house. I feel very blessed and grateful for the Lord's watchful care. Tithing is a blessing.

Sweety McCutie

2010-01-24T21:17:00.004-09:00

Well, Gracie looked so grown up and cute today for church, I thought I would take a picture. Here is a documentation to prove this kid WILL NOT hold still and smile for a camera.
"Gracie, look at mama."

"Gracie, stop walking and hold still."

"Gracie look over here."

"Gracie, turn around."

Also, she can count to 5, sort of. And she says, "1, 2, 3...go!" I don't know why, but everything is a race apparently.
Today I spoke in Sacrament Meeting and Gracie was NOT happy I was on the stand. In fact, Mike took her into the foyer after about 2 minutes where I heard her screaming through the Sacrament. Then the screaming stopped which, I later learned, was because Mike had taken her home. She had not had a nap before church and was GRUUUUUMPY. He told me that she screamed the whole way home and as soon as they walked in the door, she threw up. Then she threw up again, went to sleep for 2 hours, and woke up super happy. Yikes. Look out folks, I think we have a drama queen on our hands. It's funny because most of the time, she couldn't care less if I'm sitting by her or hanging out with her. But at church, no way. She wants both parents frustrated trying to wrangle her.

Meanwhile, I watched part of the Hope for Haiti telethon on Thursday? while I was working out at the gym. To be honest, it was hard for me to watch a lot of it because it literally broke my heart. I heard stories of mothers using their bare hands to dig through rubble to get to their crying 2-year-old. As a mother, and I think all mothers are like this, when I hear stories like this, it is impossible not to think of our own little ones. I can't imagine hearing Gracie's little cries and it taking 50 hours to get to her. But I would do it. I would dig until my fingers bled, dig until I stopped breathing if it meant I could save my baby. I hope we are all doing our part. I looked into what was happening with adopting and the process is still the normal, lengthy, adoption process it would be. But it makes me so happy to hear all the stories about these babies getting homes. I read that the google search "haiti adoptions" went up 3,000% percent last week. 3,000%!! What a great thing to witness. Humanity opening their hearts and their homes to these people; these babies. We should all hug our babies (and other family members for that matter) a little harder. We should all be a little more patient with the ones we love and tell them we love them.
I could not love this little drama-rific, throwing up because she was so upset, peeing on the bathmat, not taking a nap when I need her too, screaming in her carseat all the time, little sweetheart more. Gracie is the reason I breath.

Gracie is funny

2010-01-18T10:22:00.002-09:00

Gracie LOVES putting hats on her head.
It's really funny because she can never see where she's going.
Please excuse my messy house and probably something stupid on TV.

2010 3day walk

2010-01-07T10:26:00.004-09:00

Well, I did it. Yesterday I received my information packet about registering for the Susan G. Komen 3Day Walk for the Cure. I have been receiving this information for a couple years now and have been thinking about doing it for a long time. There were always reasons why I didn't sign up. But this time I opened the packet and watched the inspirational video which, of course, sealed the deal. I immediately went online and registered. I will be walking in Seattle September 24-26.

What is it? It is a 3 day walk for a total of 60 miles. Each night we camp and have activities. We support each other and meet new people. It's going to be awesome. Extremely hard, but awesome. Also, in order to participate in the walk, I have made a commitment to raise $2300 for the Susan G. Komen foundation. If I do not raise at least that amount, I can't participate. Womp womp.

At first I kept thinking, "who knows where we'll be living then," "raising that much money? Yikes," "60 miles? what the what?" But then I decided that all of these things may be inconvenient, but not nearly as inconvenient as breast cancer. This walk is the least I can do as a healthy woman with two legs and a body that will allow me to help. $2300 is not that much money. If everyone just gave $5, it would be amazing! So, if you're reading this blog, please go to my personal page:

Randi's 3day walk donation page

I am really excited about this. I watched my mother-in-law go through chemo and never once did I hear a single word of complaint come out of her mouth. She is strong and she has survived twice now. But this puts my daughter at a higher risk when she gets older. I want to find a cure before she grows up. I don't want anyone's daughter, sister, mother, friend to be sick; to have their lives ripped from them. Please, any amount you can give is appreciated. $5, $10, $15, whatever. Please give. Tell all your friends. We've all been touched by this terrible disease. For more info on the walk and where the proceeds go, click the link below

the3day.org

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010-01-02T11:07:00.005-09:00

2009 was a great year for us! It was also the fastest one ever! I can't believe it's already 2010. This year has brought us a ton of joy and fun and a whole bunch of learning.

Wow, look at this kid. This picture is funny because, to me, it's like a classic toddler picture. A long day of church, Daddy didn't want to put dress back on after diaper change, dirty, and tired. Love it.

Christmas was also great. It was fun because Gracie is getting old enough to love the presents. On Christmas eve we went out to Peters Creek to have dinner at Audrey's (Mike's Dad's girlfriend) mom's house. Did you follow that? Anyway, the food was awesome and the company was good. Gracie loves her Grandpa and she sure loved that drum he got her (don't mind the beer box he wrapped it in).

Gracie and I in our Christmas jammies. Please excuse us as it is Christmas morning and we look rough.

Gracie enjoying her stocking goodies (while Mikey enjoys Mario Bro's Wii in the background).

In December we also took Gracie on her maiden voyage to Chuck E. Cheese's. This ride made me so nervous because she wanted to jump out. You can tell by my hands at the side of the picture ready to catch her.

She loved this weird Chuck car that took her picture.

Lastly, I learned to play Risk. I've never played before and the first time I tried, I totally kicked Mikey's trash in 45 minutes. He was sad.

Look at that world domination. By the way, it wasn't beginners luck, because I have since beat him again and, again, it was in record time. I rule.

We are sans computer & I can't figure out how to blog from this ipod. We are still alive

2009-12-22T21:43:00.002-09:00

giving thanks

2009-11-29T11:12:00.002-09:00

What a great week! Thanksgiving was totally awesome. Audrey made the most delicious dinner and I made the most delicious pie. Just what you would want on Thanksgiving. Though we were a little sad that Marcus couldn't be there. Here is our little family in Mike's Dad's backyard. Yup, it's Alaska alright.

The day after Thanksgiving we got snow absolutely dumped on Anchorage, so on Saturday we decided to take Gracie sledding for the first time. She had a blast and it was great because there were no other people there so we had the hill to ourselves. I uploaded more pics of it, but they accidentally deleted.

a good day

2009-11-17T22:21:00.002-09:00

We had a great day today. It was Mike's birthday and I'm super glad he was born. Here is a quick little video of Gracie saying "baby" and "hi." She points to babies everywhere and says "baby." She also points to herself in the mirror and says it. It's super cute. She will definitely be getting a cabbage patch kid for Christmas.

wow, another post

2009-11-06T10:39:00.002-09:00

Well, we are having computer issues, but I figured out how to get some pictures on here, so you here you go. This past month has been pretty rough with me getting sick with one thing after another, so I've been pretty neglectful of a lot things, including this blog. But Halloween weekend was really fun. I turned 27 on Sunday and it was a great day. Here's a picture of me with my birthday sundae at IHOP.

Gracie was the cutest bumblebee ever! And we taught her how to say it...kind of. Mostly she just says "buh-bee" but it's so cute. She looked great in her costume and we took her around Trunk or Treat. She did not know what was going on, but Mikey and I have enjoyed her candy thus far. We only stayed at Trunk or Treat for about 15 minutes because it was like 10 degrees outside. Then we went over to Grandpa Dierlam's house to get toasty and have some treats.

Mikey and I went to the Morris' Halloween party. I'm a cat. Mikey is some sort of Greek god or something. We went to Blockbuster after the party and this girl said, "who are you, Jesus?" and Mikey said, "no, I'm a Roman, like Julius Caesar." Then she said, "what, Julia Caesar? You are a woman? haha!" And Mikey said, "No, Julius Caesar, he's a man." The girl was like, "no, that's a woman." Then we left. I am sad that the education system has failed this girl so badly.

And Gracie is growing up! She's still not walking independently, but she walks holding our hand all the time, so she's getting there. Meanwhile, she likes to point to babies and say, "baby." It's so cute. And it's funny when she points to herself in the mirror and says it. She also repeats a lot of things we say and it's weird to see her growing into a toddler!

I just think she looks so big in this picture with her cuteness and her pink Chucks. We love her a lot. She's high maintenance and a little whiny, but really, that's what I deserve after I acted at her age. Yikes. Sorry mom.
Alaska is getting cold. I am dreading winter. That's all.

Baaa....too long!

2009-10-18T10:52:00.003-08:00

Ok, friends, sorry it's been so long since the last post.
We have had major computer problems and when I finally got this up and going ( we literally have 4 computers at our house), the pictures wouldn't upload to blogger. So here's a pictureless blog entry.

At the end of September Gracie flew down to Utah to visit John and Jen and to see lots of other people.
I was extremely worried about how Gracie would do on the flights as she definitely does not like to hold still or be confined in my lap for any amount of time. Well, she did great! The flight there was a red-eye so she slept the whole time- much to the relief of the elderly couple next to us. On the flight back we had a whole row to ourselves so she played for like 45 minutes then snuggled up in my lap and went to sleep. It turned those two flights were the least stressful part of the trip!

Gracie sort of had a hard time not knowing where we were or what was going on, so she was definitely not sleeping well. And our idea of having Evan and Gracie share a room--not so good. But I loved visiting with Jen and Evan. He is so stinkin cute! I was happy to see that he looks just as cute and snuggly in real life as he does on her blog. I'm grateful they let us crash their house even though we were kind of annoying and I got the flu the last two days. Booo. Jen kept us fed the whole time and was a great hostess! And it was way fun when my mom stayed with the babies so Jen and I could go snatch up some deals at the Park City outlets. Getting out of Alaska to do some real shopping is super fun.

I also went to my mission reunion. There weren't very many people there (shame on all of you for not showing up) but it was fun to catch up with the few people there I knew. And there was a girl there who just got home in February so I was able to ask her a lot of questions about people I new on Reunion and stuff. And Brad Kartchner came and visited me at John and Jen's when I was sick! Thanks Brad! It was so fun to catch up! The reunion sure did make me miss Mada something feirce. The Church is growing so much there and the reports that were given were great and encouraging.

I watched conference, but plan on watching it again on my computer as a 1-year-old is not very condusive to quiet conference time.

So we're home now and ready for Halloween! I'm going to be a cat (boring, I know) and G is a little bumble bee. I'm excited to take her out and get her some loot. But, hey, does anyone have any suggestions how to get this kid interested in walking? She is 14 months and is NOT interested. I know she's fully capable, she's just so good at crawling she doesn't care about walking. Hurry, friends, 'cause she's getting too heavy to be carried around all the time. Ok, pictures next time. I promise.

it's the little things

2009-09-14T22:31:00.001-08:00

Today was a hard day.
Gracie has been snotty and stuffy for about a week now. Last night she was up off and on until about 1:30 with an almost blister-like diaper rash and congestion. Today she would not nap and was therefore grumpy and whiny for 90% of the day. It was frustration. There were a few moments of her crying in her crib and me crying in the family room praying for patience and for her little body to relax so she could rest.
It was a hard day.
I had to go to work tonight, which made the rest of the day even worse. When I got to work, there was a man standing behind the cashwrap leaning up against the counter. It was a little strange. I turned around and realized that he was special needs and that he was with the woman that I was currently helping at the register. She needed help finding a sweater so I walked over to the toddler boy sweaters to grab one for her. The special needs man followed me and when I turned around I said, "Hi there."
He said nothing but smiled and reached out to gently squeeze my wrist.
This small, seemingly insignificant gesture literally made my day. I was moved immensely by his touch. I can't imagine how the Lord works through these special people, but today, He knew I needed a little squeeze and this man was the one to come through.
It was a hard day.

E R you going to the mall later?

2009-09-07T20:35:00.002-08:00

We spent 3 hours at the ER today. Can you see why? No, Mike is not crossing his fingers.

Yeah, 3 hours later, it was popped back into place and Mikey is now in a sound Vicodin induced sleep on the couch. Ouch.

The little g

2009-09-05T20:50:00.003-08:00

Here is my sweet little g.

She may be a little high maintenance sometimes.

But this face makes it all worth it.

She's 1.
Can you stand it?

what we've been doing...

2009-08-30T11:28:00.003-08:00

This morning I was on the phone with a friend from the ward when I realized, "G's been a little too quiet" and I found her with an entire 125 box of sandwich ziplocs surrounding her. Awesome.

Mikey has finished another season of softball. I'm a little relieved because now that's one less night that I have to find a babysitter or one more night we get to spend together! We are so proud of him. He's pretty much the best one on the team. (I'm not exaggerating. It's rec league).

G and I also went with some friends to a super cool indoor playground on base. G is getting so old! I can't believe it.

She loved this toy.

What a big girl! She's getting better with the walking thing. She holds our hands and has figured out how to move one foot at a time. I think she's going to walk pretty late on her own because she is so good at crawling. She's not really interested in walking anywhere yet.

And last, a teaser of her 1st birthday pictures. It was difficult to get some good ones because she kept crawling toward the camera to grab it. Anyway, how stinking cute is she? She did great in the pictures and I can't wait to get them all back.
Her one year stats: 22 lbs. 6 oz.
29.5 inches long.
And I HATED the appointment. I hated having to hold her in my lap as they did the finger prick. She kept looking up at me while she was crying like she was saying, "mommy, make it stop." Let's just say, by the end of the appointment, we were both pretty much in tears.

let there be love...

2009-08-28T11:09:00.005-08:00

"Let There be Love" is the title of a song from Mikey's favorite band, Oasis. It is the song that plays on my celly when I get a call from our house. And it reminds of Mikey and how much I love him.
I posted all about G Bug's birthday but there was also another small celebration that week. Mikey and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! I honestly can't believe it has been 3 years. And it's been amazing.
Mikey is so patient with me. He makes me think of the scripture about charity. Love endureth all things and beareth all things. Mikey endures a lot and, at the end of the day, he still tells me he loves me. And that is everything.
For our anniversary we went to Kobe, one of our favorite restaurants. Our chef made our fried rice into the shape of a heart. It was cute, but the other two guys at the table sure didn't care. Oh well. Then we walked around downtown and had dessert at the Snow Goose, looking out at the pacific ocean. Sometimes when I wish out loud that we could live near the beach, Mikey points to the ocean and says, "we do. It's right there." Yeah, there's water, about a mile out past the yucky quicksand mudflats. It was a good, low-key anniversary.
My heart is full of gratitude. I AM IN LOVE.

Happy Happy Birthday G Bug!

2009-08-16T17:37:00.002-08:00

What a grrreat day! I can't believe G bug is 1! We could not love her more.

what news? no news

2009-08-03T09:02:00.002-08:00

Nothing much has been going on around here which why I haven't been blogging about it. Gracie turned 11 months old and I seriously cannot believe how fast the past year has been. She is now standing up next to everything (and we're working on cruising), she destroys everything (we finally put latches on the chemical cupboards), and she give us kisses. It is my favorite. She's been kind of difficult lately, but even when I get really frustrated one of her kisses or snuggles just makes all the frustration melt away. I am sad she is not my little baby anymore, though. She was a lot less exhausting that way! ha!
And I babysat two of one of my friends kids the other day and they have a daughter that is about 3 weeks older than Gracie. They were so cute crawling all over and climbing all over me wanting fruit snacks. It's funny because Gracie is like twice her size. But Gracie's rolls on those thighs are slowly going away as she moves around more and more.

Mikey just finished up the summer semester and now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. He only has one semester left until he will finally be a college graduate. We are very excited. And then we will be all grown up and stuff. Yuck. But I'm excited because that means that we are closer and closer to moving. We plan on moving out of Alaska sometime around next summer. We don't know where yet; wherever Mikey can find a job. And though we will miss all of the good friends we have here, we are ready to go start our life closer to family. I'm proud of how hard Mikey has worked so that we can have a good life here and wherever we end up.

Family Pics and whatnot

2009-07-19T20:29:00.003-08:00

I have been wanting to take some family pictures for a while now and when my friend Jen offered to take them for us, I said sure! So we went out of Cheney Lake and took some shots. It was a little cloudy, but they turned out great! Gracie is not 11 months old and going strong. She stands up all the time and has now realized that by standing up she can reach things that would normally be off limits. So she does it a lot now. And she says "ball" and has the Darth Vader heavy breathing thing going on. It's funny. We set her down among some flowers at the shoot and she looked so stinkin cute! She did this vogue pose and Jen captured it perfectly. Look at that gem.

Love it.

The fambam. I'm going to crop this one so it's closer up and cuts off our feet. But it's my favorite one!

My two favorite people in the world.

My besty. I can't believe how much he puts up with. I know that there is not "one" person for everyone on earth; that there are a handful of people you could be happy spending your life with, but in our case, I think Mikey was put on the Earth for ME. Who else could handle my insanity on a daily basis? Trust me. Ask my mission companions. And, I can't believe how much I love him. Even when he drives me crazy. I don't ever want anyone else to drive me crazy. He is my best friend forever and ever.

I went to a wedding yesterday for a girl with whom I used to work. Mikey had class so he couldn't come, but some girls from work and I were each other's dates and it was sooo fun! Bride was beautiful, church was beautiful, reception: gorgeous (with photo booth included..awesome), and the food was delish. I haven't danced like that in years. Heres to weddings and the fun and alcohol that make them all that they are.

If you thought that last picture was cute...

2009-07-10T12:26:00.001-08:00

Are you kidding me with this kid? Where did she come from? Cute!

love

2009-07-06T11:35:00.002-08:00

This smile makes everything better.

Not a trick....an illusion.

2009-07-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday as Gracie and I were watching our favorite show, Sesame Street, the most amazing thing happened. I heard Gob's magic music from Arrested Development and ta dah! Will Arnett showed up as Max the Magician. It was AWESOME. Gracie did not appreciate it as much as I did as I do love the show AD. So he did some tricks, I mean illusions, with Big Bird and Elmo and it made my day. Do kids really understand how great Sesame Street is? They always have super funny/cool celebrities on there doing funny things. I love that show. And I love it even more after yesterday.

she likes to move it, move it

2009-06-29T10:09:00.004-08:00

Gracie turned 10 months old! I honestly cannot believe how fast she is growing up. She is now crawling, doing some sort of bye bye wave I think, saying mamamama, eating everything, clapping her hands all the time, standing agains the pew in church looking at the people behind us (classic), and generally being super-de-duper cute. Also, she cannot keep her extremities inside her crib when she sleeps. No matter what I do, some body part ends up outside the slats. Or, in this case, 2 1/2 body parts.
And I thought I would add this picture of her destroying her room and making lots of fun messes for me to clean up. She's so nice.

This post is long overdue, because G has been crawling for a little while now, but we have been changing computers and stuff, so I was just able to upload these pics/videos today. Here she is, crawling around. She is extremely mobile now and she likes to destroy our home. Her favorite thing to mess with is the DVD tower that stands next to the TV. I have now moved that to a kitchen chair because I was tired of her knocking over on herself and then me having to clean up all the DVD's...again. But it's really fun to have her getting around. I really like it. Yes, she is destructo, but it's not too bad. I just don't leave anything out that I don't want her to mess with, or that might hurt her. So I let her do whatever and then when she goes to bed, I follow up and clean the mess.

Summer is great! It has been really nice outside here and we have been attending quite a few BBQ's. Yum. Mikey is playing softball every week but I don't get to go as much because I usually work on Monday's. Not much else is going on. We are happy and we love each other.

Pheww

2009-06-15T15:55:00.002-08:00

What a great weekend! On Saturday Mikey convinced me to accompany him to the Three Baron's Renaissance Fair. That's right. There were a lot more people there than I imagined there would be. And a lot of people dressed up like you see here. Does anyone know what that guy in that weird costume is supposed to be? We had a good time walking around and looking at the wares and the people. We also had the traditional turkey leg for a snack. Mine was a little disappointing as it was a tad bit on the charred side, but not too bad.
Mikey made me get in the stocks. Booo.
Also on Saturday I did the Alaska Run For Women. It is 5 miles long which was a surprise because I thought it was a 5k. Wrong. I know 5 miles isn't too far for all of you people who are like riding your bikes down the state or training for a marathon, but for me, it was hard. I haven't worked out in a while what with vacations and family in town and housesitting. blah blah blah. At any rate, I walked the whole thing (because when I AM in good shape, most of you know I am NOT a runner) and came in at 1 hour and 23 minutes. Not too bad, eh? I made sure to walk pretty briskly because I didn't want to come in last. I really had nothing to worry about, though because there were over 5400 women there and some had strollers and some were elderly and whatnot. So I did pretty well.
This was the starting line. It is hard for me to describe the feeling I had as all 5000 of us lined up to begin the race. It was amazing! And when they blew the air horn and we got going, I couldn't help but get choked up quite a bit. It was so touching to see all of these women join together to fight breast cancer. It is so great to be a part of something and to help change things. We have all been touched by breast cancer in some way and me walking 5 miles is such a small contribution to the cause. I was so happy to be a part of it. I was all teary for about 1/4 mile. Then I got kind of tired. wah.
And I did it with these great girls. We are the GAP gals. That's our team from work. They are hardcore and ran the whole thing. They also run tons of 5k's and relays and half marathons here in Anchorage, so they are pretty nice to let the walker be part of their team. Why am I so tall?

Tests

2009-06-11T16:48:00.002-08:00

I love these two people. They are the reason I feel alive and happy everyday. I just realized today that Mikey and are starting to feel the financial pinch. Mikey got a pay decrease a little while ago (not too much, but still) and we have a mortgage and condo dues and many other bills. I know you all know what I'm talking about. And this paycheck is the first that I have felt THIS tight with money. We are definitely blessed: Mikey still has a GREAT job, we have enough to pay all of our bills on time, we pay tithing in full, we have plenty of food and gas for our car. But beyond that, not a whole lot. And that's fine. But it's hard to go from a little spoiled, to not so much spoiled. I remember a few years ago I was a Relief Society teacher giving a lesson on Tithing. I didn't have any big, spiritual experiences to share about it other than the fact that I do it and I know it blesses my life. Today I have been thinking a lot about it. I am grateful for the principle of tithing and the feeling of safety and security it gives me. And I'm thinking I might just have my own experience with it here soon. Yikes. Scary, right? But I know the Lord is watching over my family, and watching over all of us. If we put Him first, financially and spiritually, we'll be ok. We might not be rich with "things," but we'll be very wealthy in all the important things in life. So yeah, it's a scary time to be alive, but it's also the most exciting time to be alive!
And everytime I see this face all of the worries just vanish.

And here's a shout out to Elder Noesi, the FUNNIEST missionary we've had serving in this ward yet! Man, this guy had me rolling on the floor laughing. Just look at him. He looks a character from a cartoon. Love him! We are sad he got transferred last week to Fairbanks. Boooo for transfers.

HI there.

2009-06-08T16:06:00.004-08:00

This has been a grrrreat last few weeks. First off, Mikey's little brother Marcus up and joined the Air Force. Ok, he didn't just up and join, he thought about it for a long time. He reported to boot camp in Texas last week and it's weird that he's gone. Mikey is really going to miss his brother and best friend. He's going to do so great, though. But he is missed.
And, my mom came up so we could go to Hawaii! Mikey and I definitely needed this vacation after what was probably the most stressful semester of all for him. This much needed break came at just the right time. So we left Gracie is AK with Nana and headed to Honolulu. This is a nice picture of Mike sleeping for like 20 minutes in the Seattle airport. Our flight from Anchorage left at 2:30 am, so we were a little tired.
And this is how I spent my vacation. We bought this cheap tube and floated around in it for hours. Mikey convinced me that the ocean water in Hawaii was not gross like the ocean water in central coast CA, so I ventured in and did not regret it.
This is us with the Duke at Waikiki. We were waiting for our parasailing shuttle to pick us up. boo ya.
One day we rented a car and drove around the island, stopping frequently for good photo ops. Here's a bad one. But it's still nice, I guess.
We found out that the temple is closed because they are doing a complete renovation which is not going to be completed until like next summer or something. If you look closely, you can see that the temple isn't even white right now, it's a stone gray with some wood boards and stuff. bummer.
The view of waikiki. Unfortunately, some of the days we were there it got cloudy and gloomy in the afternoon/evening, but it was still warmer and sunnier than AK, so it's all good.
yes, please.
And we went parasailing. People kept saying, "aren't you scared?" and "really, you're going parasailing?" and I kept thinking, "should I be nervous?" because I wasn't. It turns out there's nothing to be nervous about. It was FANTASTIC. So peaceful and relaxing being up there with great views and next to the person you love. It was awesome. I look crazy in this picture, though.
So, all in all, the trip was PERFECT. Mikey and I are now ready to conquer the world again after recharging our batteries. Although, we were very glad to get back to Gracie. After about day 4 away, we started missing her something fierce. I'm grateful to have such an amazing husband who loves me despite how crazy/annoying/moody I can be. I'm glad we got to go on this trip. Someday we'll take Gracie back.
And it was nice to see my mom, as usual. We talked a ton and just relaxed together. It made me think about how important family is and how lucky I am to be apart of 2 really great ones. I am blessed.

Aloha

2009-05-30T20:46:00.001-08:00

Hey friends! I don't have my camera here at the internet cafe, so no pics, sorry. But we're in Hawaii and LOVING it. Don't worry, we are just as pastey white as ever. And we miss our G bug, but we are having a great time. Mahalo!

9 months

2009-05-16T09:59:00.002-08:00

So today is my Gracie Bug's 9 month birthday! I can't believe how fast time is going. I'm already starting to look at stuff for her first birthday bash :) She is doing so great and we fall more in love with her everyday.

I love this stinking face.

I'm a mom

2009-05-11T09:39:00.003-08:00

Some days I wake up and I think "I'm a mom" and I can't believe it. It makes me feel overwhelmed and under-qualified. But then it makes me feel completely, totally, 100% happy beyond what I ever thought I could feel. I am so grateful for this sweet spirit that the Lord has sent to our family. Gracie makes my day. She makes my life. Yesterday was a great Mother's Day. I didn't take any pictures. Oops. Anyway...Mikey got me a sweet card complete with a homemade coupon book. I can now have a long foot rub or a whole evening without the booger any time I want! Actually, the coupon book says it expires on 12/31/09, so that's weird. Mikey did a great job of making me feel great yesterday. Appreciated, loved, adored. I'm grateful for his partnership in this crazy parenting thing.
I don't know what I did to deserve the great life I have. And I owe it all to MY mother. She is my rock. Literally, I have no idea what I would do or what I would be without her. And if I am half the mom she is I will be a lucky lady (and Gracie will be a lucky bug). My mom rocks. She is my example and my hero.
Thank you Gracie for making me a mom and showing me what unconditional love really means.

Jonah and the technicolor whale

2009-05-04T09:39:00.002-08:00

So for the past week Mikey has special ordered all kinds of channels through the cable company so that he can watch the NBA playoffs. Now, it's pretty annoying overall to have so much TV, but if I had not had these channels this week I would not have stumbled across this little number. It's a show on BBC (of course) called "Any Dream Will Do" where all of these boys are trying to win the spot of the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Oh my amazing show. I seriously could not believe how ridiculous it was. These boys are huuuularious. And they were singing like rock songs but with like Broadway gestures and dancing. And, the best part was that Andrew Lloyd Webber himself was one of the judges. C'mon Andrew, really? These boys are kind of making your amazing show weird. But, alas, I could not stop watching. If you have BBC, look out for this show. It will change your life. As will most British TV shows.

Also, we took Gracie to the park yesterday and it was the first time she has sat in the grass in her little life. A few things to notice: her muffin top over her diaper (love it!) and that pathetic look on her face. She didn't really like the grass. She started whining immediately. Bummer.
She did like the slide.
And the swings. Though it's hard to try and swing with a squirmy, 20 lb. weight in your lap.
We're so excited that summer is finally here! It has been so ridiculously nice this past week and it better last. Oh, and Gracie cut her first tooth on Friday! I can't believe how big she's getting. Where did my tiny newborn go?
Mikey finished the semester last week and on Friday we went to dinner with his family at one of our favorite Tepeyaki places. It was fun and I'm so glad this semester is over. I never got to see Mikey and he was so stressed out. So now he's taking 3 classes this summer and a few in the fall and that's it! Yippee! He'll be done in December and it's nice to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Now we're just relaxing until we go to Hawaii on the 28th. So stoked.

Love this kid

2009-04-27T09:49:00.001-08:00

C'mon, who wouldn't love love love this face?

Yahoo!

2009-04-16T08:23:00.001-08:00

Gracie is 8 months old today! And what is with her left eye? It's always squinting like that. Weird. Anyway, at 8 months she can sit on her own, blow lots of wet raspberries, roll over a bunch, laugh like crazy, eat a ton of food, and she excels at being so super cute and popular. We love our Gracie bug!
And a few days ago she went swimming for the first time. Please excuse this bad picture. The lady at the pool took it...not so great. But even though Gracie looks sort of happy, she really just whined the whole time and finally started crying. The pool was not her favorite. It's definitely not as warm as her bathtub.

2009-04-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Easter! Can someone please tell me how to get a baby to actually look at the camera just one stinking time?

40 degrees

2009-04-08T11:46:00.002-08:00

Guess what? It's in the 40's and that means....spring has finally arrived in Alaska! I know because the ground is a disgusting flavor of dirt slurpee and I can finally take Gracie out for walks. Although, she is a little confused about the sun. She sure hasn't seen much of it so far in her life. But she likes it, I think. And yesterday we had a 4.7 earthquake which totally freaked me out. It was only lasted for like a second but it shook our house really good (it was only 16 miles from here) and for that entire second I was looking at the door frame and wondering if I should stand under it. I don't have a desk to huddle under like they make you do in California during earthquake drills at school.
And Gracie can sit on her own. She's still a little wobbley, but she's doing great. Yes, she is only in a diaper in this picture, with drool dripping down her chest and she's playing with a granola bar wrapper. We are high class around here. Really, though, wrappers are her favorite and, lucky for me, they are cheap. Yahoo for spring and yahoo for Gracie!

Ginger snaps as far as the eye can see...

2009-03-30T18:27:00.003-08:00

Aww yes. There is nothing like fresh baked cookies sitting on the counter waiting for me to eat them. I bought a healthy baking cookbook a few weeks ago and have loved trying all these healthy variations of baked goods that I love so much. Each of these cookies has 45 calories and only 1 gram of fat (no saturated fat). It's so great! That way I can eat a bunch and not feel too bad. Mmm, and this recipe was grrrreat!
Gracie and I have been working on her sitting up on her own. This is what happens after a little while sans my hands helping her. I like this action shot of her falling over. And if she's going down, she's taking Pirate Dora down with her.

And here she is sitting on her own for a moment or two. My hand is not helping her, I promise. I also don't know why her mouth is always open.

apology letter

2009-03-27T09:14:00.002-08:00

Dear Tina Fey,
My husband really likes renting TV shows on DVD. Recently he started to rent 30 Rock starting from the first season. Reluctantly, I joined him in watching. I was pleasantly surprised that.... I LOVE YOUR SHOW.

Please let me say that I am sorry that I ever said you were not funny. Because you are funny. You are as funny as the day is long, my friend. And thank you for putting Tracy Morgan on your show. He is also funny. Especially as Brian Fellows, but I digress. You are so cool and I want to be like you. And so, there it is. I'm sorry. I eat all of my words about not liking you and not thinking you were funny. And my words taste good.

Passionately yours,
Randi K. D.

p.s. I still did not like Baby Mama very much. Sorry.

Twilight

2009-03-21T20:58:00.003-08:00

So I saw the movie Twilight this weekend because, only because, it was at the cheap theater. It was...good. Now, let me explain. The movie was about a billion times better than the book because I didn't have to hear Edward described as a statuesque god every other sentence and because the movie did a relatively good job of minimizing the sappy, cheesy drivel that I felt the book mostly contained. But, of course the book is like that....it is written for 15-year-old girls people! Anyway, that being said, I thought the cinematography was really well done (besides the cheesy special effects..but it's about vampires...how could it not be cheesy?) and I really liked the soundtrack and, even I have to admit, that Patterson fellow is a nice looking young man. Yes.

Now, I do not enjoy the character of Bella. But, the girl did a pretty good job of portraying a depress-o lame new girl. What I don't understand why everyone wants to be friends with this girl. I mean, she's got two guys wanting to go prom with her and girls who want to be her friend and why? Because she uses them for rides and pumps them for info? Bella is seriously lame and never smiles and is totally fake to these people and only cares about being friends with Edward. Why do they keep wanting to hang out with her? After the first time I probably would have given up. She's about as cheery as the weather there. She and Edward did have pretty good onscreen chemistry.

So there's my review. Overall pretty good. I'll probably see the second...in the cheap theater. I would like it noted that Mikey said, "this was one of the best movies I've seen this year." Uhh, yeah, he liked it more than most girls I've met. Weird.

7 months and going strong

2009-03-19T10:37:00.002-08:00

Life is great, huh? I mean, I am a little jealous of all you people with spring/summer weather. I probably won't see it for like 2 more months. yuck. But, these two folks make me soooo happy! Gracie is 7 months old now and she is grrrreat! She is pretty much sitting on her own, with minimal wobbles and she eats lots of different foods. She rolls a bunch and talks like crazy. If you blow raspberries at her she blows them back. And I think she says hi. Probably not, but it sounds like it so I say she is. She is just as chubby as ever and I love it. I will miss her chubs when she starts moving more and losing some of it.

Mikey's mom has been in town for a week and it's always fun to have nana's around. She gave me some recipes and she gave me some alone time while she stayed with Gracie. Gracie wasn't sure about her at first, but she warmed up quick and now she laughs like crazy at her Nana Juju! It's fun hanging out with Mikey's mom and hearing about the family and California. It makes me want to move away even more! I would love to be going to Sacramento today.
Here she is in all her glory. This is best shot I could get. She just loves to eat that paper. Paper is her favorite thing to gnaw on. Today she went to town on my grocery list. Yikes.

Mike is planning out his school schedule for the next two semesters--which are his last. Yippee! He will graduate in December and then in the summer/fall of 2010 we'll be going South. Where? We don't know, but we'll keep you posted.

couple things

2009-03-13T15:20:00.002-08:00

1. I have lost 22 lbs. since the second week of January. I'm not kidding. And I haven't felt this good in a long time. If you want to know how I did it, go here. It's a "diet" I have been on and it works! The reason I put diet in quotes is because it is really more than just a diet. It has totally helped me to revamp my eating habits and how I take care of my body. It rocks.

2. I made a cheesecake. I just want to tell you all that I LOVE to bake. I'm not kidding. Whatever it is, I love to bake it. And I love to eat it. Mikey took today off of work so I've been really confused thinking it was Saturday so I made this cheesecake for the elders who are coming for dinner on Sunday. Oops, it might not be so fresh...and it might not even be here at all by then. But anyway, if you need something baked....I'll do it. And I will love it.

Daddy's girl

2009-03-12T17:15:00.001-08:00

I think the pack of Nike onesies we bought were Mikey's favorite purchase when I was pregnant. And, they finally fit her! But I will not let her leave the house in one without some sort of distinguishing item, such as a headband. I don't like people thinking my sweet one is a boy. I mean, c'mon, she's already bald. Don't rub it in. But yeah, Mikey's proud of his baby girl. And you know what? I think the feeling is mutual. You cannot imagine how happy Gracie gets when she sees Mike walk in the door from work. Wow. She just can't get enough of him.