Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Lucy's new toy

So a friend of mine was getting rid of baby stuff, and gave us a fun new toy for Lucy. A baby jumper bouncy thingy:) She will love this, especially since she is now standing on me only holding my fingers. Lucy wears me out..she wants to stand so much, I think my arm muscles are growing:) When I try to sit her down she refuses and locks her legs and then talks to me like she is telling me to stop it or something. What a crack up! She also likes sitting on our laps holding onto our fingers and talks to us. When we sing to her she starts singing back, what a doll! I am glad something else can give her some entertainment and let me take a break every once in a while:)

This morning she woke up and laid in her crib for about half an hour and talked to herself, or I like to think the angels in the room watching over her:) After I feed her in the mornings, she will usually take a 3 hour nap after laying her down, but today I just kept hearing her on the monitor talking and giggling. She is definitely growing older and discovering that mommy can't 'make' her sleep..we shall see how this ends up. I guess I shouldn't bank on those morning naps anymore, so I am at least grateful she is sleeping 9-11 hours a night now. I feel blessed!

Oh yes, one last thing. Lucy is now scooting herself across the floor and up and down the crib. She turns and everything. Her little legs are getting so strong, and she is getting smarter. Too bad she doesn't know what to do when she pushes herself in a corner and gets stuck:)





Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Evan received his Master's Degree!!

So Lucy had her first road trip. I was a little worried about how she would be in the car, but she did GREAT! She really is my angel baby, someone said she is so good so that I would have more:) We left at 5:50am and got into Salt Lake City at 3:30 with 2-45 minute stops and only 9 1/2 hours.She slept the entire time, with the exception of playtime with her favorite toy the butterfly and second favorite, the giraffe:)

After we got in, we settled into my sister Jessica's place, got changed and visited for a little bit. Jessica was so nice, she moved in a few days early so we would have a place to stay and wouldn't be charged for a hotel. We picked up his brother Linwood and his wife Brook, and headed off to a reception for the graduates, a little meet and greet. We even bumped into an old childhood friend of his, Randy Braby, and Evan got to meet his Mentor and another Mentor who helped grade him. There were yummy snacks and we were so dehydrated we drank and drank and drank the yummy lemonade.

After stopping at the grocery store for a few things, we went home and crashed. We were exhausted. Since Jessica's beds weren't in yet, we had our blowup mattresses, and Lucy slept on the floor in between us. It was a fun night, and felt a little like camping.

Saturday morning we woke up and showered and got ready for Evan to walk and receive his diploma, he actually graduated Dec '08, but this is when he was able to walk. He graduated from WGU, Western Governors University. He received his degree called, A Master of Education in Learning and Technology. They were going to take a class picture together, this is an online University, so the grads met each other for the first time taking the group picture. We had a hard time figuring out how his Master's sash went, we finally got it. While Evan was standing for his picture, Lucy and I met a little girl who wanted to stuff toys in Lucy's mouth..she was wondering why Lucy was so little. (different and more pictures on my facebook)



I was getting teary eyed during the entire ceremony. I am so proud of Evan, and I am so happy that it is all over. He worked so hard to get this, and it made us sacrifice time, energy and money. There were great speeches, better than we both had expected, some of those made me cry too. Lucy was great she pretty much ate or slept the entire time, she probably was awake for the last 30 minutes just smiling and cooing. During some of her sleep she kept kicking her feet and kicked my camera onto the floor..oops. Very loud and startling.

Evan walked and got to shake hands and finally saw me in the very back waving at him. I am so happy that he did this, I think getting this degree has made him a stronger person, although I don't think he is going to rush out to get another degree anytime soon;)



Afterwards there was a reception with food and pictures. We ate and then took the shutte back to our car and met up with his brothers Miles and Linwood, and later Brook came. We met Miles' chickens and saw his beautiful big garden! Lucy had fun with his aunts and uncles.








We then went to my brother Jens' house. He put on a BBQ for Evan to help celebrate. We had more family and friends come. It was realxing and fun and it really made Evan feel special. After the BBQ we returned to Jessica's and got to sleep on a nice comfy bed:) She has the cutest place!







The next morning we went to introduce Lucy to my grandparents, her great grandparents. SO SPECIAL!!! They were so cute with her, and Lucy loved them! We only got to spend an hour with them, and I am sure they would have liked more, next time hopefully.



We made it home in 9 1/2 hours again. Lucy did great and actually only got fussy for about 5 minutes, and then fell asleep, we were home 30 minutes later. I love my own bed. Trips are fun, but I always miss my own bed when we leave.

YAY Evan! I am so proud of you and happy for your accomplishment and sacrifice for our family and improving our future! Thank you everyone who gave us prayers, support and help!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Our 3rd Anniversary of Married Bliss!

It has been 3 wonderful years!!! Getting better each day through all we go through. I feel so lucky and blessed to be married to Evan and have a little girl, Lucy!! Evan is my best friend!

So, this year we decided no gifts for our Anniversary since when we find and buy our home this summer, that will be our gift:) (House hunting is a little discouraging right now, we have already looked at 40 houses...ahhh) We hadn't planned anything for our anniversary, and on Sunday during church, I had the thought that I would get a babysitter and surprise Evan with going to do a session in the Denver Temple and then we had a free coupon for the Melting Pot.


I told Evan he had to be ready for our day at 8:45am, and along the way he asked what he should wear so I suggested his outfit, and then to throw him off a little, I asked him to check I-25 to see how traffic was, for sure then he would not guess we were going to the Temple. I am bad with surprises:) So we got dressed, I made breakfast tacos, Evan dressed Lucy, packed the diaper bag and we were on our way.

We dropped off Lucy and then on the way to I-25 I said, 'oh no, I forgot the tickets' (earlier I had told him we had tickets for something), so we were going to swing home really quickly "to get the tickets", and since we are about 6 houses down from the Temple, when we saw the Temple, I said, "just kidding, we are going to the Temple". Evan loved the surprise, and really was surprised:) Yay me for finally not spilling the beans on a surprise for him.

After the Temple we went to the Melting Pot, yay for coupons! So yummy! Since we didn't want to be gone all day we asked the waiter to be fast and bring everything all on top of each other. He did a great job! Yummy and speedy:) Cheese, salads, many different meats and fish, and chocolate to top it off! YAY!



Lucy had a great day and I was excited to pick her up, I missed her. This is our second date without her, (the first time she did great, but I missed her so much I cried a little). She is a great baby and we were told she did great! I am happy we can get a babysitter and not worry. We have some great girls in the ward that are willing to babysit for us:)


Well, new year, new goals, great husband, my best friend!!! I am happy to spend my fourth year with Evan. Can't wait to see what wonderful things happen this year:)

I love you Evan!!!

Here's a slight recap of a few of the happenings in the past year...



Found out we were pregnant!


Went to my 10 year HS Reunion, Evan had his 10 year mark too.

Wow was I pregnant!


Lucy arrived!

I got sick with some infections and spent about 3 weeks in the hospital,
Evan was right along side with me! Great husband!

Evan's turn for the hospital, he had his deviated septum worked on.


Evan received his Master's degree! Such a great thing!

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Happy 4th everyone!!! We are very thankful to our soldiers and for all of our freedoms!

We started out our fabulous 4th of July at a ward party. The park was great. We got to talk to good friends, and Evan even took a turn watching the bounce house. There was popcorn, snowcones and cotton candy...I think all the kids that were there are going to sleep well tonight:)


It was kind of chilly so I got to cuddle Lucy a lot:) Everyone loved her dress(my sister Jennifer sent it to me-very cute) My wedding rings fit again - yay!

She is starting to like her rattle and likes to show it to us.

Lucy just thinks her daddy is the funniest ever!!! ...and he is!

So cute!
Her beautiful blues! She kept trying to lick her bows on her dress.



After a nap Evan and I cleaned the house, sorted through tons of things, and then ate hot dogs, onion rings, and raspberry peach cobbler/pie(it was an experiment..turned out yummy). It rained today, so it was nice to be able to watch the Highlands Ranch fireworks from the backyard. So fun! Lucy even got to see some before she fell asleep:)

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Corn..oh how I love corn!

So I have occassionally wondered about corn; baby corn, blue corn, etc. Am I the only one?






Blue corn is grown blue and then pops white...mysterious!!!







Baby corn is appearantly regular corn


my first exposure to this was in the movie 'Big' with Tom Hanks


It can be eaten in a fun way;)
Good old fashioned corn on the cob is yummy!!!!
Popcorn on the cob
People love corn so much they pay tribute by making cupcakes that look like it


I love corn! I think it's my new favorite food