Wrapping up 2010

I am finding less and less time and desire to blog these days but I feel the need to wrap up last year. I turned 30 the week before Christmas and for the first time I felt like I had a "hard birthday." Entering a new decade and leaving my so-called youth behind stung bad at first, but once I ripped the band-aid off I realized I'm still awesome (no, really) and the 30's are going to be the decade we raise and hopefully add to our little family and we have soooo much to look forward to. Lots of people have told me things like, "the 30's are better than the 20's" or "you really don't know what life is about until you are in your 30's" etc., etc. Anyway I am okay with it now...

We had a wonderful Christmas at home and got to see almost all of our loved ones and tried to pack as much quality time as we could into a few short days. My dad and Tammy were amazing sports to come and visit us and stay in our guest suite (toy room equipped with two twin beds). They live in Vermont and it's hard that we, and especially Lily, can't realistically see them more than one or two times a year. We love them so much and are so glad that they got to see Lily in the adorable phase she is in now.

Christmas was a blast this year, with most of the joy coming from giving Lily gifts and having her actually be excited. Our sweet girl was 21 months old on December 2nd. She continues to keep us on our toes. (Perhaps I shouldn't mention the incident where I was driving down the freeway and she completely finagled her way out of her carseat, after I unbuttoned the button to free her trapped foot, thinking the shoulder straps were enough to contain her--that was "fun!") She, aside from being a handful is so so sooo much fun. She is wilful and hilarious and sassy and energetic and sweet and brave and being her mom is pure joy!

We are much looking forward to whatever 2011 holds and we wish you all a vey very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

Adventures Back East

Hello All. I'm sure you have all enjoyed Chris' adventures in blogging while Lil and I have been away. Contrary to what I know you have all feared, I came home to find that the house was still standing and the power was still on and things were in decent shape. He even changed our sheets, which is very important to me, but not very important to him. When I came in the door I was surprised to find flowers, a sweet card, and best of all---he had refinished our old coffee table and replaced the knobs to surprise me.
Lily and I had a great time in Boston, then Maine, then Vermont...but it proved to be a little long to be away from Chris. The occasion for the trip was my little sister Lindsey's graduation from college in Maine. My sister Rachel, aunts, cousins, etc. went early to enjoy each other and a few days in Boston before driving up to Maine for the graduation, after which my two sisters and I drove with my Dad and step-mom Tammy to their home in Vermont for a week. I had a blast spending time with loved ones that I see so rarely these days. While in Vermont, Lily came down with a scary high fever of 104+ that wouldn't break with tylenol, motrin, and cold baths so we had a few rough days and a 2 a.m. trip to the emergency room. She had no symtoms aside from the fever and her blood work, etc. all came back normal, so all in all, after chest x-rays, urine and blood cultures, etc. it was just a really expensive way of finding out that she must have had some viral or bacterial infection. It all cleared up and she had no signs of fever shortly after coming home from the ER. While we were there we visited the Joseph Smith memorial and went to church right near his birthplace on Sunday. I was extremely grateful to be able to have the mission president there give Lily a blessing and I credit the blessing for her speedy recovery.
We missed Chris and he missed us and we are glad to be back home. I have told Chris that he now has a readership that he can't let down and so hopefully he will contintue to entertain you on the blog...actually I might make him start his own blog so you don't worry about sorting the fact from the fiction...

 

Thanksgiving at Dad's "Farm"

About a month ago my dad left big city Atlanta and moved to a tiny little town in Vermont, called Woodstock. He's always dreamed of having land and living a quiet little existence and now with his career winding down he jumped at the chance to live his dream. We thought he went crazy until we saw the place (we still think he's a little crazy). The population of the town is 1700. It is a picturesque, quaint little town and now with his land and his farmhouse and his tractor, etc. etc. my dad is a self-proclaimed "fake farmer." He has the land and the barn, just no cows to milk or sheep to graze...He lives in a cute farmhouse, built in 1790. Yes, you read that right. It is adorable and charming, but very funky. None of the walls or floors are straight, flat, square or perpendicular. If it weren't so dang far away I would go there every chance I could get. There aren't direct flights and the closest airport is a 1 1/2 hour drive from their house, so let's just say that flying/layovers/long car rides and Lily don't exactly paint a pretty picture. The first picture in this post is of how we survived our flight: tylenol before and sugar during (exemplary parents, we know). While we were there we had lots of fun with things that have wheels: atvs, motorcycles, tractors, etc. We each gained an embarrassing amount of weight for such a short trip because of my step-mom's fabulous and fattening cooking (Thanksgiving dinner was just the tip of the iceberg). The highlight of our trip aside from being with family we rarely get to see was driving to Sharon, Vermont to the birthplace of the prophet, Joseph Smith. We attended church and visited a monument erected in his honor and the small plot of land where his birth home rested. The peace and the spirit surrounding that place is hard to describe. Loved it! It was a great way to end the Thanksgiving holiday and made us so grateful for all that we are blessed with.

The longest flight of our lives

The barn, house, and swimming hole

Fun on wheels

Fun on wheels, Part II

The white bench is where the prophet's house rested.

Update

Quick update--We have been extremely busy and I intend to upload pics and such in the near future when life calms down a little. But just so I can shake my guilt for neglecting our blog for so long-here is a brief update:

All of us:

We are under contract on a house in Salt Lake in the Canyon Rim area. We close in a few days and are thrilled to be basement dwellers no more!!

Chris:

What started out about a year ago as an idea, a dream (a pipe dream, or so I thought) has become a reality--He and his business partners got funded and they now have a full-blown, fully operating business. His company deals with the land remediation industry, primarily with oil spill cleanups. It has been an amazing blessing and we are so grateful for the opportunity that he has to get paid to do something he is passionate about (which is to start and grow businesses--not clean up oil spills.)

Sarah

Sarah spends her days corralling (sp?) animals and playing peek-a-bo and doing everything with one hand. Her other hand is usually busy toting around an adorable, but demanding little one. I may or may not have mentioned that I quit my job and have been loving being a housewife, although I feel like I am more of a full-time baby carrier rather than a person who actually gets anything done around the house. How do some nice Lynn Wilson burritos sound for dinner, Honey?

Lily

Lily is almost 6 months old and is full of personality. She is rolling all over the place and eating solids and "talking" up a storm. She loves to play in her doorway jumper and she loves walks in the baby bjorn. She still insists on "hanging out" with me around 1:00 am and 4:00 am each morning and I am much looking forward to a full night's sleep at some point.

Ruby

Ruby had an acl replacement surgery for her knee a few weeks ago and we spend much time going on walks and doing an elaborate physical therapy regimen with her. She is so light and agile that we have had a hard time getting her to actually use and strengthen her knee. She can get around on three legs like you wouldn't believe.

Rex

What? Who's Rex you ask? Well we thought that we didn't have enough going on with starting a company, and moving, and hauling babies around, and recuperating Ruby--so what better time than to adopt another dog?? Rex is a two-year old black lab mix that we rescued. He spent his first night at our house smack in the middle of our bed. He is a big sweetie and he gets along great with Ruby . We always said that when we got a house that we would need to get Ruby a friend, but we figured why not rescue a fully trained dog instead of dealing with those first few nightmarish weeks of having a puppy. We will post pics of him soon.

Driggs and Jackson Hole

 

 

 

 

Over Memorial Day weekend we drove up to Driggs and Jackson Hole to spend time with my dad and that side of the family. It was our first time road-tripping with a baby in tow and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The highlights of our trip included: Stopping for a quick "hello" with the Budges in Pocatello, me nursing Lily in the backseat while driving on the freeway...yikes!, the view of the Grand Teton from our condo, my dad playing the guitar, good talks and reminiscing with family, ice cream with the Becks in Victor, a big rainstorm, followed by a beautiful rainbow, shopping and lunch in Jackson.

Lily's Blessing

 

Lily's Baby Blessing, May 3, 2009

Christmas: Part II

My dad's side of the family came into town on the 26th to celebrate Christmas and to have a family ski vacation. We usually go visit them in Atlanta for Christmas and I have been begging my dad for the past five years to come here and ski instead. It figures that my dream finally comes true and I can't ski!!
Me with my sisters Rachel and Lindsey

Dad and the girls

Chris and Tammy

The fam playing Texas Hold 'Em

Me: 29 weeks and as big as a house!

Christmas: Part I

Our last childless Christmas

Me: 28 weeks; Whit: 18 weeks

Chris' mom put candy cigarettes in each of our stockings. Here is Jeff lighting up.
My adorable grandma Maggie in her Christmas day outfit

Family Pics

I've really fallen off the blogging bandwagon lately and with my growing girth I am becoming less and less inclined to post pictures of myself...but this family pic turned out okay so I posted it, if for no other reason than to get out of my blog rut and move forward- so our readers don't forget about us.
Stay tuned for posts regarding a successful home science experiment and a story of our adventures with the A-Team.

Maine

I spent last weekend visiting my sister Lindsey, who goes to Bowdoin College in Maine, and also surprising my Dad who went to visit Lindsey but had no idea I would be there. Maine was the most beautiful place I have ever seen in the fall.

Me and Linds on the gorgeous Bowdoin campus

More of Bowdoin-I must mention that the place reminded me of Hogwarts for several reasons:
*The campus is full of really old castle-like buildings and cathedrals
*The studetents are all affiliated with social houses with names like Howell House and Quinby House
*The students eat every meal together in a large dining hall
*While walking through their student union building I saw a sign that read "Quidditch Tryouts"-no kidding. Apparently they hold a quidditch tournament every year. They run around on brooms while other kids try to knock them down while searching for a penny "the golden snitch" in the grass
*The kids there all have rosy cheeks and wear lots of scarves-one guy in particular was wearing a thick, long black and white striped scarf with a Bowdoin insignia

Breakfast at the Bruswick Diner

Walking in "The Quad"

Dinner with me, Tammy, Lindsey, her boyfriend Ben, and my Dad

Chicago

We spent last weekend with my cousin Kat and her husband Mark in Chicago and Nauvoo. It was so much fun!

Downtown Chicago was awesome! We met up with Mark and Kat and they watched Ruby for us while we went into the Chicago Museum of Art, which is free on Thursdays and Fridays during the summer! How cool is that? Then we walked around and Chris pointed out all the buildings featured in Batman: The Dark Knight.

A favorite painting by Seurat. It was awesome to see it up close...and for free!

A crazy bicycle brigade came charging down the street, stopping all traffic. It was nuts!

We got to see Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio. Chris is fascinated by all things Frank Lloyd Wright.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House

Nauvoo

Us in front of the beautiful Nauvoo temple. It seemed sort of funny to take pictures in front of the temple with our dog--but all dogs go to heaven, right?

Walking around outside the pageant...I was a little nervous that someone was going to tell us we couldn't bring Ruby, but alas...all were welcome. Lots of people wanted to come pet her. Look at the smile on that dog's face!

Chris, me, Kat at the pageant. The Nauvoo Pageant was awesome! The stage is set so that you can see the temple in the background. As the pageant was ending, it had gotten completely dark and then while the cast was singing some beautiful hymn I can't remember the temple lights up on cue...aah it was cool.

Some flooded out little town in Iowa that we drove through to get to Nauvoo. It was very sad to see abandoned houses, wrecked beyond repair.

Our cute doggy, posing for the camera again.

A Cousins' Get-together

We had a fun get-together with a few cousins (the ones who were able to make it) to say good bye to Katherine and Mark who are moving to Chicago in a few weeks. I have always been pretty close to my cousins, but with all of us growing up and getting married and such, I tend to see them less and less. Katherine is my mom's sister Margot's daugher, and Bill is my mom's twin sister Kate's son. It was fun to hang out and catch up with those who were there.


Mark, Kat, me and Chris

Mark, Kat, Lucy and Bill

The girls: Kat, Lucy, Aunt Kate, and me

The other girls: Ruby and the Park's dog Sadie.
I may sound like a dork, but these dogs were so cute together I couldn't get enough of watching them play. It was hilarious because I took about 20 pictures trying to capture the two of them looking at me-each picture shows Ruby posing perfectly for the camera, while Sadie would not calm down. This was the best I got.

I insisted that we get a "family photo" of me Chris and Ruby, because we have never taken one and each shot we got features me cheesing it up and Chris refusing to smile...oh well.
He thinks pictures aren't worth taking unless you are doing something cool in them, while I tend to get a little camera happy.

Atlanta Trip

On the 26th we flew to Atlanta, GA to spend time with my dad. We spent four days hanging out, going to movies, renting movies, and basically just relaxing. I failed to take any family pictures while we were there. I did get pictures of the amazing Georgia Aquarium we visited. I highly recommend it to anyone who visits the Atlanta area. The first picture is a whaleshark (I think, well either way it's some sort of whale or shark.)
A stinging nettle
A jellyfish

Holiday Highlights

Holding our chubby niece on Christmas Day

Ruby and Chris on Christmas Eve
Visiting Whitney's new puppies, Hannah and Hank on Christmas Day
Ruby enjoying her new bed and reindeer toy on Christmas morning