We Had a Great Christmas!

As I am wandering our house tonight and doing laundry, I feel as if we had a perfect Christmas this year. We werent overwhelmed. Things were just right. I feel very blessed to live in my house, in this country, with my family. Ahhh.

Happy Birthday Lexa!!

This day 6 years ago we brought our first baby girl into the world! After 18 hours of labor and a failed epidural, Alexandra Joy came it two pushes! From the time the nurse checked to see if I was ready to push to the time she was born was less than 20 min. She started to crown before the doctor was even there and they told me to stop! Lexa was 6 lbs 11 oz. Such a skinny thing. We have loved having her in our family and look forward to more years to come. :)

Boston Weekend

Nolan had an IEEE meeting in Boston last weekend and I got to tag along. He had a meeting in Boston in spring of 2007 that I also got to be at and I wanted to go back. Marilyn is a wonderful grandma and flew here from Washington for a week of fun with us and the girls. While we were gone she took them to a pumpkin farm (run by men from a rehad center) and to a discovery childrens museum in Fort Collins. Both looked like a lot of fun and tired everyone out by the end of the day.

While in Boston Nolan had meetings Friday night, a conference all day Saturday with a 30th celebration dinner Saturday night and meetings on Sunday morning. During this time I played and relaxed. We actually were staying in Cambridge and on Friday night I walked to a restaraunt called Legal Seafood. I got to walk through the MIT campus. The rest of the night I watched the season premeire of Ugly Betty and work on my cross-stitch I am trying to get done for Christmas. Saturday I slept in till about 10:45. Left the room around 12. Ate lunch at Faneuil Hall and did some shopping. Then I went to the Museum of Science. I saw a movie on their Omni Dome, like a combo of plantetarium and Imax. Then I wandered around the museum and saw a show in the planetarium before I left. The show was about the origins of the universe and how the universe seemed to work. It was very interesting and it seemed to me that the more questions they had and asked, the more it confirmed to me the existence of something bigger than ourselves, like a Heavenly Father who was smart enough to create it all!! It was very cool. I went with Nolan to the celebration dinner. I asked him before we left if I should bring along "walking" shoes or just wear my high heels. He said we would definitely come back to the hotel before going out with everyone after the dinner. So, no walking shoes. After the dinner our friend Vishnu, who lives in Boston and has a car, invited some of us to walk to a place that served amazing hot chocolate in Harvard Square. The bus to dinner really made me sick so I was willing to walk miles in heels just to get a ride back in a car! My feet were ready to fall off, but the chocolate was definitely worth it!! I even bought a couple of packs for me and Marilyn of white chocolate mix. Sunday Nolan was off to meetings and I just slept in and then got ready and packed to go. We all had lunch at Legal Seafoods after their meetings were done. Half went to the airport and half went back to the hotel. Nolan and I got some pictures on the river. It turns out there was a really big rowing competition that weekend. While waiting to go to the airport it started to snow. We were with a girl, Gigi, who grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in LA. She once saw snow already on the ground but had never been in falling snow. She was pretty cute and funny to watch running around outside the hotel. :)

Once we all got to the airport most of our flights had all been delayed. Nolan and I had to run throught the Chicago airport to make our connection to Denver, but we did it! We made it home around 2 am and took until around 3 to finally get to bed. Grandma stayed until Tuesday morning.

We had a great weekend and the girls loved having time with Grandma. :)Thanks Marilyn!!!!

My Wonderful Day

I have this problem of not returning library books on time, thus incuring large overdue fees. This kind of frustrates Nolan so we made a bet at the beginning of the summer. If I could go through the whole summer and not get a late fee, I could have a whole day to do whatever I wanted. If I did get a late fee I would have to wear a matching dress with my girls. Now you may think that I just didnt check out any books the whole summer! Not true. I did check out lots of books and turned them all in on time. I thought "summer" meant until school started. Nolan thought it meant until the official first day of fall in September. Either way you look at it, I won!! So today I was able to claim my reward. I slept in until about 10:30, read a book for a while, worked on my cross-stitch and watched movies, read and slept a little more, made dinner, helped put girls to bed and am now cross-stitching again while Nolan is watching football. We had our first big snow today so Nolan took both girls out a few times and it was pretty funny. Clara is so cute in her get up. Not once today did I have to take care of the girls, although during my nap Clara kept coming up the stairs and yelling "mama!" at my door. I had to get up and play with her then!! So, thanks Nolan for a great day!!! I should make bets like this more often!!

What A Day

I was dropping Lexa off at school today when she closed the car door on her thumb. It was black and bloody instantly so I RACED her to the emergency room at Centerra. I called my mom on the way so she could call the school and tell them Lexa wouldnt be there today. Then my mom and dad came up and watched Clara while I was with Lexa. That was really nice because I hadnt brought any shoes for Clara (thought we would just be dropping her off and then going home). Without shoes on she couldnt walk around the ER. It is pretty hard to keep her entertained and happy while Lexa was freaking out and crying. They ended up burning a hole in her nail so the blood could drain out. She felt much better after that! She had a few x-rays and her thumb was fine. We got home just in time to watch two kids. Lexa is fine but realizing how much she uses her thumb!! I was so sick today and being in the ER was fun. On the way out they gave us a flier so we could recognize the symptoms of swine flu, just in case we picked it up there. Ha!

Our Church is Awesome!

We had our primary program today at church. It was focused on families and temples. It went very smoothly and well. I was playing the piano for the primary so I got to be right in the middle of it all. Lexa even remembered her line and said it clearly and slowly.
At the end of the program one of the counselors in our bishopric said a few words. He talked about doing family history recently. When he was 19 he joined the church. No one else in his family was or is a member. In doing family history he found out that his family had joined the church in Europe and came to the US to live in Utah. The father of the family died soon after making it to Utah and the family eventually fell away from the church. He thought he was a pioneer in his family by joining but found out he was reviving his family legacy! It was very cool and powerful. Then the closing song was Families Can be Together Forever. I got to play the piano for this too. We had the primary stand up and sing. The kids were on one side of me and I could hear the strong voices of the congregation singing that they could be together forever. It was amazing and awesome. I wanted to sit and cry, but I couldnt because I had to still see the music so I kept it under control. I love that we can be together forever and that we can teach our children to have hope and love in this world.

Bragging Time

Lexa took scraps from the floor of the basement (other projects she had done) and made a person!

This bird cracks me up! Especially the tuft of feathers on its head. That was on purpose!

Lexa made a super-hero of her dad, and then covered him in his super-hero outfit complete with cape on the back.

Lexa made me a heart face. She figured out to cut the circles in half and then put them back together again with a different colored half! (for the eyes)

I am a proud mama. Everyday Lexa amazes me. I dont have any grand ideas that she is the smartest kid in the world, but I love to see her growing and discovering and being creative. Her learning to read is as exciting to me as a baby learning to walk. But I wanted to display some of her recent art work. We have a basement where we give her freedom to create, paint, cut, paste, color, etc. I love seeing how her mind works and comes up with these things!

Heart Attack

My sweet baby girl, Lexa and her friend Mykaela decided to heart attack my bedroom while I was canning pears this afternoon. I knew they were being sneaky, but had no idea why. It was a very nice surprise. Here are a few pics, and yes, Lexa made my bed this morning as well. :)

Now For Something Completely Different

I feel like I just want to say something just so that the title with the word rat in it can go down.
I was talking to Lexa this week about what the president would say to her in his speech. I told her that he would basically say things like do well in school and to work hard. She said,"That is exactly what I need!!" It was awesome. I actually was ok with her hearing the speech. He is the President of our country and Lexa does go to public school. I want her to learn to have respect even if we disagree.
In other news, I tried to make pear butter tonight for the first time. I have made apple butter before so luckily I knew the process. But about 6 hours of work rendered 3 1/2 small jars of butter. It better be darn good.

Update on the Rats

I thought the rats were gone but was filling up the van with gas on Tuesday and heard them again!!! Went home and our neighbor, the fearless Jen, found a baby rat squeaking at her on our driveway while we were gone during the day. She picked it up, put it in a tuperware with papertowels, and tried to feed it milk. The baby didnt even have its eyes open yet. She put the tuperware under the truck, trying to let the mom come back and get it. When we realized they were in the van we put the baby on the driveway. It was moving around all day and making the cutest sounds!!! Even baby rats are cute!! We opened the van hood and found another nest. We opened the Maxima hood and found the hood scratched up but no nest. At this point I was really tired of dealing with them. A guy in our ward, who also works with Nolan in the elders quorum, owns a pest control company called PestRite. Gave them a call. Mama rat never got her baby. Nolan dealt with the baby and I didnt want to know how. I told him to leave it out for the neighborhood cats. Mike came the next day. We never heard the rats again, but he laid out boxes with rat poison. Hopefully they are either gone already or they wont die in the engine where we cant find them but they smell really undescribably bad. Mike will check the food tomorow and we will see what is happening.

Sleepwalking Daughter

So tonight Lexa opened her door and stood at the top of the stiars. I asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom. She started rambling about stuff, but not ever finishing a sentance. I finally walked to the top of the stairs and asked her if she was awake. Her eyes were totally dialated. she told me to follow her to her room. She walked in and went straight to her bed. Not another word or movement out of her. I put her blanket on and told her goodnight. not a word. My child sleep walks.Another time happened in March. My in-laws were here and asked if Lexa was supposed to be up because she was wandering around upstairs. I went to ask her what was wrong. She was rummaging through the clothes she had taken off earlier. She asked me to help her find her other sock. This started to make me suspicious because she HATES to sleep with socks on. So I helped her find it. The next thing she said was, "But what about my underwear??!!" Sure enough, she had taken off her underwear somewhere. Found them in a ball at the end of her bed. Her bed was dry, floor was dry. She said she already went to the bathroom (never heard a toilet flush or saw unflushed toilet) and she just had to wash her hands. We got her all dressed and she went back to bed. Does not remember any of it. This should be more and more fun the older she gets (hopefully not dangerous!).

Aw Rats!

We inherited Nolan's parents Maxima this summer. So we are trying to sell our Ford Ranger 1994 truck. Nolan rides his motorcycle to work and I drive the mini-van to school. Well, Saturday was the day to get the truck ready. Nolan spent all day washing and waxing that thing. I tried to help clean the chrome wheels, but my hands tired and I got about 1 1/2 wheels done. I did however buy Nolan some engine degreaser so the engine would look shiny and new. Nolan came running in telling me I had to come see something. He said he opened up the hood and some great big rodent was staring him in the face. He slammed the hood and the rodent ran somewhere into the engine. He opened it again and saw a nest with two babies on the top of the engine. The mom kept poking her head up to look at her babies. It was definitely a rat. I must admit it was a lot cuter than I thought a rat would be, more Ratatioulle than sewer rat. My neighbor Jen is fearless and decided to help Nolan get rid of them. The Human Society advised my mom that we should be wary of Bubonick (sp?) plague. Here was the plan. Drive truck to field, carefully take out nest and babies, leave by truck, watch mom come out, and drive away.
Good plan, but when they got there the mom had pulled the babies further into the truck. They could hear them but not see them. They threw the nest in the field and left the truck there for a few hours. When Nolan went back he couldnt hear or see anything. He took the truck to get the oil changed and they didnt see anything. Luckily they didnt tear up any hoses or wires. We thought it was done, but when I was out this morning I swear I could hear them somewhere under the truck bed. We looked underneath and could see rat droppings and what looked like material from a new nest. We cant hear them anymore, but no promises that they are gone. I think going the humane was is out the window and we are calling the pest control people in the morning.
I would expect mice out here, BUT NOT RATS!!!!!!

Life is Good

So, things are going better. Things came to a head with my calling this week. Had good, honest communications on both sides. I was frustrated with not being able to give my all and the other person involved was also frustrated with my not giving 100%. But the Lord knows what is best for all, whether it be putting us in positions where we are needed more, or we are supposed to learn and grow.
Nolan took me on a date this weekend. We went to the Hibachi grill, japanese steakhouse. It was my first time to somewhere like that. It as amazing food!!!!! The steak was to die for! :) Then we went to see GI Joe. That was also good. Then we played Mexican Train with my mom. We had a good time and I actually won. It is hard to beat Nolan.
Lexa is liking being in school. She learns new names everyday and loves her new classes.
Nolan and I are continueing to plug away at our workouts. We are going from once a week to once a month with our personal trainer. I am almost down to a weight I was when we moved here to Colorado. Nolan is down to a number he doesnt remember the last time he saw!!! I am so proud of him and of us.

Callings (HELP!!)

I feel frustrated with my calling recently. It is an easy calling. I am the activity days assistant. So I pretty much just show up to an activity twice a month, only two hours a month! Yet it is in the afternoon, from 4-5. Therefore I have to take Lexa and Clara with me. Lexa thinks she is one of the 8-9 year olds and I spend the rest of the time chasing after Clara. I feel frustrated because I spend the entire time chasing Clara and trying to keep her happy. She is a kid that needs a lot of attention and at 18 months will get into everything! The time makes it so that Nolan cant be with the kids. I also have a HUGE problem with the idea that I have to find a babysitter just to fill my calling. I even have asked to be on a night route for visiting teaching so that I can go without the girls. I hear a lot of talks focused on us keeping our family first and callings second, they shouldnt take over our lives. I have never turned down a calling or asked to be released but I truly feel like I am not right for this calling. The girls deserve someone who can give them their full attention. What do you all think???????????

Start of School

Two days after we got home from vacation school started for Lexa. Yes, school was starting August 13th!!! It was crazy early. But we also got to see our friends the Shaw's from Texas. They were on their way back to Austin from Utah and stopped for a day. It was awesome to see them. We had a lot of fun with Guitar Hero. It really hope they will stop by again.
Lexa's teacher this year is Mrs. Kruger. Lexa went to the preschool at Tozer for two years, so she is used to the school, but not used to having a new teacher. She only knew two people in her class, so she was really nervous about making friends. I told her to try to learn one persons name a week. After one week she already knows half the class, and gets to see her old friends at recess. She is in half day kindergarten but most her friends are in all day. In preschool she got to go to obsticle course day (occupational therapy) and library day. This year, she gets to have music class, PE, library, counseling day, and computer lab. She loves it. It is awesome for me to just be able to drop her off and not have to walk all the way in and sign in and out.

Reception in Cowichan, BC

Victoria, BC and ferry pics