Special Extra Long Weekend

David got back from his audit trip and I got home from my parents and we were excited for the long weekend ahead.  Neither of us wanted to worry about dinner, so I grabbed a coupon and we headed off to Olive Garden and let them take care of the cooking and clean up.  Like I always do, I ate too much salad and bread sticks and was only able to take a few bites of my meal that I couldn't pronounce...but it tasted delicious!  We boxed up our meals and had them the next day for lunch and they were still so tasty!

Saturday we went for a walk/run with Katelyn (where David went through the poky stickers that he took out so fast he was hoping I wouldn't notice the flat tires) and then relaxed most of the rest of the day.  Nothing fancy, just unpacked and relaxed.

Sunday was very nice as well.  I taught my lesson to my girls and it went great.  They are almost always behaving and we had a new girl move into our ward and I think she felt very welcomed by the girls.  In Primary, we sang songs the whole time and the chorister made brownies for all the kids.  She told them all about how soft and chocolatey and yummy they were and had everyone drooling.  But, she said that EVERYONE had to sing the whole time if they even wanted a chance to taste those brownies.  The oldest boys class in primary NEVER sings as they feel it is silly and they say they aren't good singers.  The whole 30 minutes of singing time, those boys were singing loud and proud and wanted to be sure that their brownies weren't given away to their parents.  They seemed to be almost pleading with the chorister as they worriedly sang for that brownie. They were willing to be silly and they wanted the whole building to hear their "terrible" voices. It was very fun and they had great voices.  Those boys will do anything for brownies!

Monday David worked on our bed frame again.  He's too proud of it to give up on it, but it seems like it needs a lot of work.  David's solution this time was to level off and re-cut the legs so they were all the same.  He felt very manly using his new circular saw.  He got cutting and decided he wanted to trim everything down.  I think he just liked using his saw!  He made more work for himself though and ended up taking all day to put it back together. He was exhausted and wore out.  He was proud of his work though and all that work he did seems to have paid off.  The frame is definitely sturdier and doesn't wiggle one bit!  It looks a lot better too having everything cut evenly and crisp.  Not too shabby!

Tuesday was our 3 year anniversary!  David took the day off of work and we made a fun day out of it!  It started with a job interview that went really well and we are hoping it turns out well too.  David has been nervous and excited about it for the last two weeks!  After the morning of interviews, we headed to the park for a picnic lunch.  Nice and simple.

We forgot our stroller, but were saved when a friend let us borrow theirs for the day and we headed to the zoo.  I was excited about it and David and Katelyn just went along with my excitement.  The weather scared us as I dressed for warm sunny weather and it started raining when we got to the zoo.  It cleared up quick though and was beautiful for the rest of the time we were there.

Some of the animals put on quite the show for us...

This prairie dog made me think of you dad ;)

 These goats are fiesty.  If you have food, they love you.  If not, they could care less about you.

 The penguins swam around and did some loops and turns for us.  Katelyn and I were mesmerized by them!

Some of the animals weren't quite as excited for the visitors... but this leopard was still very pretty.

This sleepy animal of some sort missed the memo about the hammock and slept on the hard wood...

This is what we paid to see?

These prairie dogs were cute.  The bubble dome is also pretty cool.  There is a cement tunnel under the prairie dogs and every once here and there is a dome window that people can stick their heads up to see what the prairie dogs are doing.  Fun idea!

Sleeping tiger...ready go!  I'm sure they were really pretty, but I was a little bummed they were so sleepy.

These monkeys were all snuggled in a row.  I only see two heads, but there are another two in there somewhere.

I like how this monkey just hangs out clinging onto things...

We walked around with the wallabies...

 Here's that pretty leopard again.  I liked her.

 I liked this giraffe slide even more though.

 David like this big tortoise...he was actually moving and looking at us!

 David loves me so much that he was willing to be a tortoise.  What a good sport and a cute tortoise:)

 I liked the lions too...Katelyn wasn't so interested.  A little side note...We were asking one of the zoo workers some questions and she mentioned that her and her husband were volunteers.  Her husband helps out with feeding the lions and carving up the meat they feed them...and he's a vegetarian :)

 The mama lion was watching me very closely

 The giraffes were my favorite.  This mam giraffe likes the bushes on the other side of the fence.

 I wanted a family picture with the giraffe.  David thought I was silly and Katelyn tried to get out of the picture.  The giraffe turned her booty at us.  I didn't have any help on this one.

 But these giraffes were so neat to me.  The mom and her baby were so cool to watch.

 Katelyn woke up as we left and was a happy girl.  If she only knew what she missed out on!  I claimed this trip to the zoo was for Katelyn, but I know that David wasn't fooled by that.

Happy 3 years babe!  I think we are safe to say we aren't newlyweds anymore.  We do have a baby now so that qualifies for something right?  Newlyweds or not, I will always love your goodnight kisses :)

Home Again

The last couple weeks have been close to perfect.  It all started with a visit home.  This would have been better if David were able to come play, but he was being responsible or something to that effect and decided to go on his business trip for a scheduled audit.  So I took off and went to visit at home for the week so I wouldn't have to be so lonely here on my own.

We all kept busy with one thing or another.  I always get there and then relax and then as my time there is coming to a close there are always too many things I want to do before I go!  I guess that just means that I have to visit more often.  Life is rough!

Mom is working on memorizing The Living Christ and is hoping to have it completely memorized by the end of next week.  She would work on adding a paragraph a day while she went on her 6 mile walks. She was about halfway done when I left last week and so she should be about done now. . . right mom?!  Each day we would quiz her on it and see if she still remembered all that she had been working on.  The first time through, I would help her through as a little refresher and then she was really good and just needed a few key words.  As I was helping her, I was able to memorize a few paragraphs.  Sometimes she remembered them too well, so I wasn't able to help her enough times to remember it myself :)  It is a powerful testimony that is so neat to sit and think about the meaning of all the parts of it!

I was able to get into an exercise routine that I have kept up this week being home.  I always feel better when I get out and do something to sweat a little each day.  Just yesterday though, my steal-of-a-deal-free-jogging-stroller bit the dust...literally.  It has always had a rough time with steering, keeping air in the tires, turning, wobbling, keeping the seat up, and some other small issues.  We had just got new tubes for the tires and one of them had a bulge in it so Katelyn's head would sway back and forth to the rhythm of the tire with the lump, and the faster I run the faster she sways :)  Katelyn didn't seem to mind, so we didn't worry about it.  But David found a patch of stickers when he took her on a walk and was hoping I didn't notice, but when I told him that two of the three tires were't holding air at all and I asked him if he went through some stickers he said, "I pulled them out right away!"

So the tires need to be replaced again, but I think I am done with it, because as I was running yesterday I came to the last stretch before I was home.  Dad always taught me to sprint the last 100 yards or so just so you finish strong and it is always fun in a race to pass a couple people right at the end too.  So I  was sprinting...probably REALLY fast ;)...and as I was turning the corner one of the back wheels FELL OFF!  I am sure this was quite the site first off because I am sure my sprinting probably looked like I was working really hard and not even going fast enough to blow Katelyn's wispy hair, but as the wheel fell off, the rod/axel? or whatever the wheel connects to, hit the road and grinded us to an abrupt stop which I was not ready for so I ran into the stroller and got tripped up by it.  I checked on Katelyn and she wasn't even phased by it...this is another reason I have a hard time believing I was going as fast as I was imagining/trying to go.  BUT she was buckled in, so I am sure that the trusty seat belt did such a fantastic job holding her in safely as we came flying in to that fast stop.  I think I will just stay hopeful that I was truly sprinting really fast.  I am on the look out for a new jogging stroller though.  I can deal with flat tires, but wheels falling off is a little too much.

Anyways...Back to my visit at home...I introduced Mom to the world of coupon shopping and we even went on her first shopping trip.  She was thrown off on all the prep work that goes into the shopping trip, but was drawn right back in as we were checking out and she saw her total drop from $6 down one dollar at a time down to $1.  We dropped some coupons for yogurt in the driveway before we left so we only came home with some diced jalapeños, Tabasco sauce, and Worcestershire sauce, so Dad wasn't too excited about this trip.  He wanted some ding dongs, cocoa dino bites, and ice cream :)

I made a yummy dinner with mom while I was home and now I even have a meal named after me.  I don't know if they decided on what to call it, but something along the lines of Lorry's sausage pasta or something clever like that!  After all there is Tracie's Chicken, Ryan's Pies, Chris' pizza, Dad's meatloaf, Amber's Sasla soup and some other non family recipes too.  So I am now a legend :)

Dad and I wanted to squeeze in a game of tennis, but the nights or mornings he didn't have work or meetings were rainy!  Another time...

I pulled out Katelyn's dresses hoping to finish them up, but there just wasn't enough time when Katelyn didn't need me.

Katelyn learned some new dance moves while she was home.  She was rocking out for Abby, Luke and Dad and Abby helped her get her arms into it, but she just got too worn out and fell asleep still dancing.  Abby still had her arms waving and Katelyn was out.  She was fully entertained each night and passed out when she had enough.  Sometimes she is hard to put to bed, but not on that trip!

All in all it was another wonderful trip home.  Katelyn is a million times better in the car than when she would scream as a newborn so that helps.  We always have a fun time at home and we don't mind the low key nights when everyone has meetings or things to go to.  Spending time with mom and learning her cooking, sewing, gardening, or anything tips are always fun to chat about.  The house is getting quieter and quieter now that we're all big grown up kids!  I am feeling older and older and its not fair!  The homemade ice cream always makes it better though...yummm :)

Poor Cake

Dad turned 60 this month and wasn't too excited about this one.  He and many many others just can't believe it...well, some days he can and feels a little creeky ;)

I wasn't able to be home for his actual birthday which was probably a good plan since he was hiding out at work all day.  When he came home LATE at night, Mom had his favorite stroganauf and chocolate cake ready.  He was hesitant to eat and dig in because of an early morning doctor's appointment/blood work that he was supposed to be fasting for, but Mom wasn't going to let him off the hook and let that yummy food go to waste.  He didn't resist much and his eating began.  I'm sure he savored each bite of dinner and then Mom went off to get his cake set up with all the candles. . . all 60 of them.  Here's how she explained it:

"Oh, the cake, I had to put 60 candles on it and a  six and zero candle. so I put the 60 candle in the middle and then 58 candles circling it.  I lit the first half of the cake, and by the time I got the second half of the cake lit, the 60 candle was melting away and the regular candles had melted down to the frosting and was burning the frosting.  It was one hot cake!!!  We got a big laugh out of it.  There was melted wax all over the top and dripping down to the plate."

That beautiful chocolate cake took a beating!  You can hardly tell that those big candles in the center are the number candles!!  Sorry Dad, but it looks like you really are old!  I think that you redeemed your youth on your quick trip to Six Flags California with Abby that weekend though.  

 Even though you got a little puke-y, you couldn't help but finish off the day with a few more roller coasters!

A year supply...

This is why I love coupon shopping:

6 Brownie Mixes
3 Bottles of Soy Sauce
3 Tubs of Butter
10 Boxes of Multi-Grain Cheerios
4 Packages of Jello Temptations (Cheesecake treats for a little dessert each night...yumm )
4 Boxes of Oatmeal
2 Bags of Quakes Rice Snacks
2 Fuze Drinks
8 Bags of Goldfish
8 cans of Green Chilies

I got all 50 of these items for $27.60 which means I got them each for about 55 cents!

I go coupon shopping every other week and it is so fun to be able to buy things we will use and eat and some extra special treats too!  We haven't stocked up enough that we don't have to grocery shop each week for our meals each week and we would have to buy our milk, bread, eggs and produce anyways.  I am hoping I can work up to that point where I can have a pantry full. . . . not my own supermarket full that takes over my home like on the extreme couponing show... but enough to be able to provide for our family for a year if we ever needed.  I mostly have us set up for the beauty/hygiene/non food items for a year which is so nice.  It is a little nerve wracking for me to check out because I don't want to be a nuisance, but I think I have found my favorite cashiers that are helpful and even encourage coupon shoppers like me.

I love doing this and especially love that none of us will have to starve if some disaster were to happen.  I only have one problem though... we have been storing all of our stuff under our bed and it is full now so I am trying to think of a new place to hide our storage that would keep it accessible. I am okay with that problem though :)

Dancing and Waving

Katelyn is 8 month old now and she continues to learn new things all the time.  Some new things she has figured out lately. . .

• dancing to oldies music.  I love that she almost swings herself off balance...too cute!
• She can pick up Cheerios one at a time. . . or any intriguing piece of something left on the floor. . . and she can finally get it into her mouth.  No more diapers with Cheerios stuck in the front :)
• She will wave using her whole arm.  
• She can get down from standing along something.  She used to just plop down, but now she figured out how to squat a little to ease the plop a bit.
• She used to just stand in her crib when she wanted out, not she rests her head on the crib for a more pathetic look.
• She will follow us anywhere we go.  She will crawl over anything or will drag it with her.  She likes to "help" with the dishes and making dinner by pulling herself up on our legs and dancing or whimpering until we pick her up or acknowledge she's there.
• She will fake cough or fake scream/cry to get our attention and stop once we look at her and give us a sweet smile.
• She figured out how to squint her eyes and do a cheesy smile.
• A few times when playing with her toys with her she seemed to have said "thank you!"  We aren't convinced she knows what she's saying yet, but it always surprises us.  She jabbers and says a lot of different sounds, some regular sounds, some creative/slobbery ones!
• She loves to get her hands on a laptop.  Something about whacking all the keys and loving it!

She sure can fill a diaper, but we still love her and can't stop smothering her with kisses and tickles!

I thought I'd be retired by now!

David's birthday was a big one!  Big ol' #25!!!  Yikes that's old. . . .right?!  I asked him what he thought he'd be doing/where he imagined himself when he was 25.  He said that he thought he would be retiring by now!  Almost David...you are almost there. :)  He mentioned that he's a third of the way dead so why wouldn't he be retired and playing for the rest of his life?  :)

That seems like a big birthday to me, but when I asked David if he wanted to do anything special, I got nothing except that he wanted cookies and cream ice cream.  I already knew that so I had to think of something special for him on my own.  I didn't think up anything too fancy but I planned out a week of little things each night to celebrate.

Monday we started off the week with the final basketball game.  Our brackets went down the hole long before the final game, so we were able to just enjoy the game.  David picked the underdog Butler to win, so I went for Connecticut. The game was actually really dull and low scoring.  We loved the night though.  We had Cafe Rio style chicken tacos. . . yum!  They were good!  We had our concession-type snacks to munch on through the game.  Through the game we anxiously waited for our teams to score three point shots.  We kissed for every three pionter :)  We were disappointed it was a low scoring game and definitely not enough three point shots were made!

At halftime we played Horse with rolled up socks and a laundry basket.  David ended up winning that one. . . it was his birthday week, so I had to let him win right?!  I am too competitive for that, so he honestly did beat me.  Those shots from the stairs and off the light switch didn't fool him!

We were going to have a "dunking contest" with fresh made cookies and milk, but we were sugared out from the candy we were eating, so we saved that for another time.  It was a boring game, but it was nice to sit and snuggle as a family to watch the game.

Tuesday wasn't as fun.  David had a homework party while Katelyn and I tried really hard not to distract him so we could play the rest of the week.  We were mostly successful with that.

Wednesday David got to go out and play ping pong.  He hasn't played in a long time and really liked playing that night except that with work all day and then ping pong at night, he didn't get to see much of his family since by the time he got home from playing it was time for bed for all of us.

Thursday we had a casual date at the library.  David loves bookstores and libraries.  He mostly likes business books or whatever topic he is into for the week/month.  I mixed it up a little and we designated a meeting spot.  Then we went off and found certain types of books anywhere from cooking, travel, children's books, and poems.  We would meet up and share something we found like a recipe we'd like to try or have made for us, or a place we'd like to vacation to, a children's book we liked when we were little, or a poem that reminded us of each other.  It was hard to try to find something quick, but it was fun to share what we found.

Friday we had a date alone.  We started trading off every other Friday with another family in our ward.  So one Friday we get to have date night and they watch Katelyn and the next Friday we watch their little girl while they have a date.  We went out to eat and it was nice to just be able to talk to each other all night and not be interrupted by stinky diapers, bath time, feeding time, or entertaining-Katelyn time.  After sharing a meal at Red Robin, David was serenaded by the wonderful singers and even got to wear the "birthday ears" (two helium balloons were tied to the ends of a ribbon and then the ribbon was placed under his chin so the balloons floated and looked somewhat like Mickey Mouse ears).  He got some ice cream out of it so I think it was worth the little embarrassment.   David really wanted to look around at Home Depot after dinner.  I tried to remind him that we were supposed to do things that we can't usually do with Katelyn around, but that's what he wanted to do and it was his birthday date, so off to Home Depot we went!  So romantic right?!  I finished off the date with a massage and he loved it.  He was a little skeptical about it, but he was able to be so relaxed and just enjoy the quiet.  Now that's something that doesn't happen with a baby around!  As much as we love having Katelyn around, it has been great having dates every other week!

Saturday night my family came into town.  We shopped around while we waited for an hour to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  That food tasted so good!

Those rolls and cinnamon/honey butter are amazing...yumm!  It was quite a different experience having Katelyn there.  Trying to feed Katelyn and entertain her was tricky and didn't leave much time for me to eat my meal.  I felt like I had to scarf it down between feeding her cheerios and sweet potatoes as I saw the next course of my meal on it's way out.  David got a big Texas "YEE-HAW!" and some more ice cream for being a birthday boy.  Abby and I shared our meal and the boys. . . I mean men. . . stuffed themselves so much they were waddling out of there.  Luke got the biggest steak they had. . . 16 ounces I think!  He had no trouble polishing that off, but when we got to my place he met his match.  Let's just say that he forgot to spray/light a match/cover up what he left behind :)  Cake and ice cream had to wait a bit!  We were entertained by a line dance from the waiters and the bus boys were fascinating to watch as they would swipe all the dishes off the tables as people left leaving the table and seats cleared in like 10 seconds.  It sounded dangerous, but they had it down and were even cheered for their speedy work.

We finished off the night with German Chocolate cake and David's favorite cookies 'n cream ice cream.

We chatted until way to late in the night like always!  I put up balloons and made a cheesy looking birthday boy sign that Katelyn loved chewing up.  I got David a new circular saw and have a lot of "fun" projects in mind for him!  He got some cake at work and so we had plenty of cake left over for the next week.  Somehow we didn't have any trouble finishing it!  Don't ask how that happened!

Sunday was his actual birthday and we kept it pretty low key.  We went to church  and said farewell to my family, went home teaching, played games, had a simple dinner, ate some more cake and David chatted the night away with his dad.

He's another year older, not quite retired, but pretty happy with where he's at.  David turning 25 seems like nothing compared to Dad turning 60!  Now that's old!!  Love you Dad :)

It was tough to think up things to do.  I think it is safe to say that he enjoyed having a week to be spoiled and catered to.  But now he's worried I will be expecting something great for my birthday. .. Of course not...but I wouldn't mind a bit!

There she goes!

Katelyn passed her 7 month birthday late last month.  Then as April came in, she took off.  She figured out how to really crawl and this was not an April Fool's joke.  She means business when she's crawling.  She seems to love it and will pause to make sure you are watching and give you a cheesy grin and then keep on going.  She showed off for everyone during our monthly family skype FHE over conference weekend.  She seems so proud of her new talent and she loves when we cheer and clap for her.

As she crawled across the floor for the first time I had so many feelings flood in.  I was excited that she figured this out and learned how to move.  I was nervous about all the things she would be able to get to now that I couldn't just sit her down and know that she'd stay there.  I was sad that she's becoming more independent and she's doesn't need me as much anymore.  I was proud of how she learned how to do something new.  I was happy to see her so happy and excited to be getting herself closer and closer to the phone all by herself.

As long as I am in sight, she will sit and play with shoes or toys.  She will move around and roll around with whatever she's wanting and then as she's done playing, she will whimper and crawl over to one of us.  She has figured out how to pull herself up our legs or to stand along the couch and will peek over the edge or around our leg so she makes sure we know she's there.

She's trying to figure out how to crawl over things, but for now she just plows through and drags any toys or blankets along with her :)  We have become her personal jungle gyms as she likes to climb all over us . . . or other babies at play group. . . to keep our attention on her or something.  We never really know what she's thinking, but she seems to be very expressive so we feel like we have a good guess most of the time.

Along with pulling herself up on things, you would think that getting back down would be part of that skill, but that hasn't come yet.  She used to be a really good sleeper, but now if she wakes up at night she will stand up in her crib and then call out for help.  So I have been waking up multiple times a night to find her standing in her crib.  It never takes much to get her back to sleep so I wonder if she knew how to get herself down if we would have our good sleeper back.  It could be teething, hunger, scared of the dark, loneliness, or even a bad dream, but I blame it on her inability to get down for now :)  We will never really know, but I miss those nights of uninterrupted sleep.  

She loves playing any type of peek-a-boo game.  She loves having a blanket or towel over her head to figure out how to grab it and pull it off and have everyone cheering for her.  She also loves to play with people that sit behind us in church.  She will lean from side to side to peek at the family sitting behind us hoping that they will play along.  She's so irreverent, but too cute to ignore!  I will sneak around the corner and play it with her and if I take too long to come back she will start crawling after me.  The best thing about this game is definitely her face and her reaction.  She knows that the face is somewhere close and when it pops up she couldn't be happier!  Most babies love that game and she is definitely one of them!

Lately she has had a thing for the dishwasher.  Whenever we are loading or unloading it and she hears the noise of the dishes, she will quit playing with her toys and head on over.  It might be that it is at her level and she is trying to help, but her "help" is cute, but not really helping.  She also likes to "help" by sorting her clothes.  She knows right where they belong, but then changes her mind a few times.  Soon enough we will have her helping out and I don't think she will be so eager then :)

For a few months now she has been a good "kisser."  It seems and looks like she is trying to eat my face, but I like to assume she's sharing her love!  I used to think she was teething and would use my chin or cheeks or collar bones to massage her gums, but she's been doing these "kisses" for a long time now and I don't think she has been teething all her life.  She even put a nice little hickey on my chin.  David wasn't even around for me to blame it on him and we were both impressed with it :)

Here is a video of her recent talents.  She sure is a cutie and we are very entertained by her growing personality.