New Year's Resolutions

Do you make New Year Resolutions? I seem to have trouble actually fulfilling mine (strange, I know, and highly uncommon, I'm sure). I thought by posting them on the blog, our readers could help remind me occasionally to do them. Here we go:

1. Finally get the last tattoos of my ex-girlfriends' names removed.

2. Trim toe nails more than once a quarter.

3. Stop giving Kat reasons to beat me.

4. Limit Nintendo time to 40 hours a week.

5. See a doctor about my mole.

6. Break my addiction to chlorox.

7. Change a diaper this year.

8. Let Kat win at least one game a month when we play together.

9. Eat at least three servings of vegetable per week.

10. Meet the families I home teach.

Getting closer

Here I am at 28 weeks. I am still wearing the same outfit that I have been in the previous photos but as you can see it is getting rather snug so I don't think I can wear it again for next months picture. At this point I can't sit and breathe at the same time. I can hardly walk because of a constant pain in my leg and I don't sleep at all due to headaches, heartburn, and having to get up and go to the bathroom several times. All these symptoms mean that I am nearing the end so bring it on. Speaking of getting closer, Lily is also doing well with potty training. She didn't have a single accident yesterday. She doesn't go much in the toilet either so you might wonder what she is doing. The answer is she holds it. She is still a little nervous to go on the potty but at least she knows not to go in her pants. Even when she wears a pull up she won't go. She did go a couple times in the toilet yesterday and was excited. She ran up to me a few minutes later with excited eyes and said "Yay Lily peepee potty." She is such a little champ. May I just say that being pregnant and potty training your child with only one bathroom in the house has not been pleasant. Yesterday she had been sitting there for about 10 minutes and I asked her if I could please use the potty for a minute and she shook her head and said "NO" Then she proceeded to sit there for another 10 minutes. Her cute little bum has a permanant red mark on it from sitting so much.

Are we crazy?

The answer is yes. We are crazy. At least that is how I have been feeling these last few days. We have decided to potty train Lily. I didn't want to right now because she is only 19 months old, but the truth is it was her idea. It got to the point where I couldn't even go to the bathroom without her barging in, glaring at me and then trying to push me off so that she could "sit" as she calls it. She also hates wearing a diaper and I was getting so tired of her taking off her diaper because then I would spend the next 10 minutes wrestling her to get it back on and then clean up the little puddles I would find on the floor. Not to mention the times she took it off in bed when she was supposed to be sleeping and smeared number two all over. Today is day three on training. The first day was a complete failure and I decided that night after she went to bed that I would give up and try again in a few months. The next morining I went to the grocery store right after breakfast and when I got home I found that Jacob was still continuing the training. This time we didn't put pull ups on her. We rolled up the rug (which is the only carpeting in the whole house) and let her run around "commando" as my brother-in-law, Ryan, would say. That day was spent sitting in the bathroom with her reading books for long periods of time just to have her get off the toilet and pee on the floor a few seconds later. Again I thought she was too young and that it was hopeless. Later that evening a few light bulbs seemed to turn on in her young little mind. She kept going to the laundry basket and pointing to her many pairs of pants that she had wet and would say " Wet. NO. Wet. NO." So I decided to continue on to day three. This morning she had been drinking a ton and saying "Potty. Sit." but it was still a hit and miss for the first few hours until finally she started taking off her clothes and saying "sit" again so I sat her on the potty and this time put her feet in a bowl of warm water. It took a few minutes but she FINALLY went in the toilet. Too bad Jacob had just stepped out to deliver some Christmas treats. She got some m&m's and now she walks around clapping her hands saying, "Yay chocolate." She went one more time in the potty before her nap and was proud of herself. Now I have a little break while she is sleeping so I think I'll go take a snooze myself.

Goofball

This morning as I was cutting more banana for Lily's breakfast, She came to me asking where her juice was. Focusing on the banana, I just kept telling her I didn't know where it was. As I turned to her to ask her where she put it, I then saw the lump in her leg and realized she was just teasing me. As I was getting the camera I heard her in the other room say " Oh! There it is."

Happy Twenty-Five!

It's my wife's birthday today. The big quarter century. I could do the husband thing and go on and on about how awesome she is and show pictures of all that stuff, but I thought I'd just post my favorite picture of her and me, and post a couple little poems I found on the internet that pretty much encapsulates how I feel. The first is anonymous but has some jokes I think she'll find funny.:

You say your wife is wonderful

She’s like no other kind

Her beauty’s so unparalleled

She makes most men go blind.

You say your wife is magical

Her every word’s a charm

She’s sculpted like angels

Blowing trumpets with one arm

You say your wife is talented

She cooks like Boyardee

Every bite is heaven sent

A five-star French cuisine

You say your wife so patiently

Looks after your five boys

They’re all so perfect, well-behaved

And love to share their toys

You say your wife is luminous

That she transforms a room

By waltzing in so gracefully

With only an old broom

You say your wife is pure and clean

She never passes gas

And rarely burps and couldn’t scream

(And always shaves her legs)

You say your wife is clever

And she has a rapist wit

When telling jokes at parties

She will put the guests in fits

You say your wife is number one

And I say that’s just fine

I only let you ramble on

Because you’ve not met mine.

The second is by Lord Byron:

SHE walks in beauty, like the night  

Of cloudless climes and starry skies, 

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meets in her aspect and her eyes;      

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which Heaven to gaudy day denies. 

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress      

Or softly lightens o'er her face,

Where thoughts serenely sweet express         

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.    

And on that cheek and o'er that brow           

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,           

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,—

A mind at peace with all below,        

A heart whose love is innocent.

Welcome Home ... I guess

My wonderful sister Becca was so nice to fly Jacob and I home for Thanksgiving. In return, we watched her two little boys while they went on a vacation. It was so fun to see our families again. If we hadn't gone home, it would have been about a year before we saw them again so we were very grateful. We had a good time visiting with them and enjoying the nice weather.  The first picture is of the lodge we stayed at for a few days. It was so nice and relaxing. We returned home tonight and when we landed we saw that the weather was horrible. Then we went to get our bags and one of them was missing. Who knows when it will show up? We arrived home to a FREEZING cold house with absolutely no food. We ate it all before we left so it wouldn't go bad. We remembered there was a ward party that would have dinner and we were just in time for it so we got in the car ... only to find that it wouldn't start because the battery was dead.  We went back inside to make some calls for help and our phone died. I went to get the charger and remembered it was packed in the bag that the airline had misplaced. Next we tried the neighbors' houses to see if we could use a phone or get some help, but then found that they were all gone at the ward party. We then proceeded to eat top ramen and a box of chocolates (thanks, mom). Since it was so cold, I put Lily in a hot bath then rememberd all her warm clothes were also in the lost bag. Jacob sent emails to his friends' phones and we were finally able to get some help.

Thanks to everybody who helped us and thanks Stacey for driving in the awful weather to pick us up from the airport. We have such great friends.  Jacob got a ride to Wal-Mart to get a car battery and I am so glad that he remembered to pick up a few groceries since tomorrow is Sunday and we wouldn't be able to go to the store.  I was impressed with the stuff he got. It is probably the first time he has ever done the shopping without a list from me.  It has been a long night but now our car is fixed so we can get to church tomorrow and we have food to eat. Now the only thing I am worried about is how to do my hair tomorrow. All my hair stuff was in that darn bag. I won't be able to blow it dry, so for those of you who will see me tomorrow, if my hair is wet. you know why.

This is just a quick video of Lily playing with her cousin Cody. After that, there's a cute clip of Cody talking to his mom on the phone. It was so cute how excited he would get every time he heard her voice so I thought she might like to see it. 

 

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One of the top 100 Greatest Accomplishments of My Life

So, I've been spending most of my days lately studying for the upcoming boards I'm taking on Dec 22. It's the most important test of my life thus far. 400 questions of pretty much everything I've learned so far in dental school plus the things they never taught me. Every now and then I take a quick break and play a little game: usually Internet Spades. But, since I'm at my sister-in-law, Becca's, house, my laptop isn't connected to the internet, so I play either Freecell, Hearts, or Spider-Solitaire. I'm not really a HUGE fan of the latter, but whenever I see someone play it, it gets me re-interested. Lately, I've been playing it more often during these breaks, and finally I decided that the easiest level was just too easy. (My record for moves was 89.) Then I tried medium. It was fairly challenging, but I beat it almost every time I played, so I figured, what the heck, let's do HARD! I'd only tried hard once, and my brain started to drip out of my ears and nose, so I stopped. But for whatever reason, I was ready. On my 3rd try, I beat it! In fact, I took a picture of it just to prove it to you. Here it is:

I don't know if 240 moves is good for the hard level, I could have done it in about 6 or 8 less, but I arranged it with the last 4 stacks of each suit piled up with just the Aces left out so they didn't automatically disappear. I wanted to show Kat just so she'd believe me. Anyway, WOOT WOOT!

A Sad Commentary on Our Society

when a man is trampled to death by mindless shoppers trying to race one another to get a few bucks off a piece of merchandise. Story is here. I don't know what words can adequately describe the senselessness that happened today other than animal-like. Stampedes and the human species should only be linked when large amounts of them are trapped in a room caught on fire, and even then, some order should be hoped for. But this... I sincerely hope that the people responsible know who they are and know what they did. Something needs to be done to curb this type of behavior before something even worse happens.

Prego update and more

Here I am at 6 months. I must say the time is passing faster than I thought. I am not looking forward to the end of it except the part where I get to hold a beautiful baby boy in my arms and call him all my own. I'm pretty much gaining about 10 pounds per month now and am going to pass up Jacobs weight much sooner than I thought.  I just have to keep telling myself it will all be worth it. It sure was the first time. 

It's snowing. (boo hoo) Lily keeps looking out the window and saying "bubbles" She loves it. I guess I am going to have to move those knives off the counter. She has not discovered that she can reach them yet but it's only a matter of time. 

I had some left over chicken baby food that I was going to throw out until I discovered you could make dog treats with it. Lily loves our neighbors dog and I thought she might enjoy making him some treats and feeding them to him. They smelled aweful but the dog (and Lily) loved them. 

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Quantum of Solace

I took a little time out of my busy pre-finals weekend to go see the new James Bond movie with a friend from school. In case you wanted a reliable opinion on the film before you go see it, I'll be happy to provide. No spoilers here, so don't worry.

Quantum of Solace starts literally minutes after Casino Royale ends. So if you haven't seen CR yet, I would highly recommend it. Otherwise, you'll be annoying your fellow movie-goers by constantly asking, "Who's that?" or "Why is Vesper important?"

There were some great things about this film, and so terrible things about this film. Let's talk about the terrible first. Most of my complaints in this category revolve around the editing job. If you've seen even one of the Bourne films, you'll know that every single fight sequence is hyper-edited, super fast cuts, and nearly impossible to follow. If you love that, well, my complaints won't be so bad.

I don't know where movie editors and directors got it into their heads that the audience doesn't like to be able to follow a good fight scene, but somewhere they did, and we all have to suffer for it now. Bond has three or four big action scenes, and I'll be darned if I can tell you exactly what happened in any but one of those. Compared to Casino Royale, which was fight-light, this Bond packs a much bigger punch, and puts it right in the mouth... over and over again. And again, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but if you loved the simmering tension of the last film, you'll be missing it here.

Fortunately, there's plenty of the good to make up for QoS's shortcomings. The Opera scene. Not much more needs to be said about that, you'll know when you see it. It was just dang cool. QoS still had the emotional Bond trying to cope with the damage done by Vesper in the last film, and it was good to see him trying to deal with everything else on his plate. I think the writers did a good job working that in without making the film into another Walk to Remember.

The villains were decent, the girls were good, the acting was great. Lots of stuff blew up. All in all, the movie is a solid notch on the Bond Belt. If you're like me and you put Casino Royale as the best of the Bond films, then QoS belongs somewhere not far beneath it. I'd put it right underneath Goldeneye, at a solid number 3 of all time. That may change when I watch it again, and I have a feeling enough critics complained about the editing that they won't make that mistake again.... I hope.

Recent Chest X-Ray Taken at My Physical...

Some of you probably don't know this, but I passed out after one of my lectures a few weeks ago. Nothing to worry about, I hadn't eaten in a while, and was hypoglycemic. After all 84 of my classmates worried and fretted over me for the next few hours, I decided to get everything checked out via a physical. The doctors ran a couple of X-rays, and you'll be amazed at what they found:

A small growth on my heart. So it's not just in my blood after all...

If You Haven't Read This, Then You Should

I've been involved in several debates and discussions with friends inside and outside of the church regarding the latest social/political issues that have reached the ballots this year and in recent years. It boggles my mind to find faithful members of the church that disagree with the church's stance on these issues. There is plenty of room in our doctrine to debate and disagree about, but when the leaders of the church speak out on an issue and ask for the support, work, and contributions of its members, the time for debate is over.

I'm speaking specifically on Prop 8 in California and its siblings in other states.

If you haven't read this INCREDIBLE talk by the late Elder Maxwell, it's time you did. Here's the link.

If you don't feel like reading it all, let me point out two VERY significant points. One is a quote from Elder Romney in 1941:

President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had “never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1941, p. 123)

The next is even more important, and undoubtably prophetic:

This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions. Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.

Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel.

There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself.

If those words weren't fulfilled in part this year, I don't know what a prophecy is. He also talks about how religious opinion will be attacked and people will try to replace our state's recognition and embrace of religion with irreligion. I'm sure it was beginning back then, but it is full blown now, and very much a part of the Prop 8 debate.

I hope someone out there reading this is enlightened and understands a little better about how I feel.

Lily Update

I can't believe my little girl is 18 months already. She had a check-up a few days ago and she has finally hit 20 pounds. She is doing great in all other aspects of development and we are so proud of her. 

Some things that I love about her....

She gives lots of hugs and kisses. So sweet.

she is very friendly to people. She says hi to everyone we pass in the grocery store and then says bye on the way out.

She carries around a tissue and wipes her own nose when it runs. I just have to watch her closely though because she will wipe other kids noses with it if they have a runny nose.

She is great at sharing food with me whether I want it or not.

She loves her blanky. The other day I told her she could pick two toys to bring in the bath and she picked a ball and her blanky.

I took the video below because she was doing so well eating with a spoon and I was proud of her. I have recently been trying to teach her colors. So far she just knows how to say them but that's a start. Our favorite color that she says is pink. I don't know how she came up with that sound for pink but it's pretty funny.

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And now a word on gay rights....

This is a subject that has been near and dear to my heart for several years now. When I was in high school, our LDS stake president announced that the church was joining an effort to put an amendment to the state constitution that defined marriage as only between a man and woman, similar to what California, Florida, and Arizona did this year. I was the first one to raise my hand and ask "Why?"

The stake president told me why, and I don't remember the specifics of the answer, but I do remember leaving the meeting with the impression I needed to do what the church was asking me to do. So I petitioned.

In November, the amendment passed and since then, Nebraska has not allowed gay marriages.

Now the big issue in California and other states is that the homosexual community asserts that the amendment to the constitution is stripping away their rights as citizens. They say it is a an outrage similar to denying women the right to vote, blacks their freedoms, or any other example of discrimination you want to use. I assert that it is NOT.

If you will examine the Bill of Rights found in the first ten amendments to the US constitution, you will read about several rights GUARANTEED by the founding fathers. The right to bear arms, freedom of speech and press, freedom of religion, etc. You will also notice, however, that while everyone has the right to assemble, there is no right to marry. Marriage has never been defined, and I'm sure that's because our founding fathers never imagined that the notion of marriage would be challenged. Well, it is.

The Constitution was written by God-fearing men. It was. Get over it. Our country was founded by God-fearing men. And ever since then, we've operated and legislated partly based the majority of the population's Judeo-Christian values. God is in our Pledge of Allegiance, on our money, in our courts, He's everywhere!

Now all of a sudden, the majority of the country wants to define marriage as between a man and woman. Homosexuals are claiming that their rights are being stripped. WHAT RIGHT? There is no right being denied them. They can assemble if they want. They can have a gun if they want. They still vote, still worship, and still have life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Would it be too much to ask the homosexual community to take a step back and stop screaming "MY TOES ARE BEING STEPPED ON!" and instead ask, "What can we do together to meet the demands of both opponents and proponents of a homosexual union?"

Why does it always have to be us meeting their demands? I'm certain solutions and compromises can be found to satisfy both parties. It's been done before, and it can be done again. Rallying in front of the Los Angeles Temple isn't winning them any friends or sympathizers. They're creating more tension, more animosity, and more friction between themselves and their self-annointed opponents.

Here's a clue: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints never made gays their opponent. They made it an objective to preserve the sanctity of marriage as they way they believe, and apparently as the way over half of California believed.

Instead of claiming the advertising was misleading and deceitful, why not try to find new solutions? Instead of claiming that you are hated and discriminated against, why not try to see the situation from your opponents' perspectives? Instead of filling your hearts with more hate, and then calling us hateful, why not try to love us, too, and sympathize with us?

I'm sure some of you out there now are popping gaskets, and I guess that's how it will have to be, but we don't hate you. We love you. And we believe differently than you do. We want to work with you so that you have the same freedoms guaranteed to you that everyone else is guaranteed. Just stop shouting at us so we can talk.

To President Bush

8 years ago this week, I cast the first ballot of my life and I did it for you. It wasn't because I hated your opponent or because I liked you, it was because I was raised a Republican and I voted accordingly. I had no idea what you would face or the kind of hell on earth you would be put through as our president. I don't think even you knew the vitriol you would face when you decided to leave your gubernatorial post and run for a higher office. Even if I had known, I would have voted for you anyway.

In these 8 years, I have become a man. I met my wife and married her, received a college education, entered graduate school, welcomed my first child into the world. In these 8 years, you have always been in the background, most often as a hiss and a byword, a bad joke made by comedians with no imagination and writers with no real sense of patriotism. You were the easy joke, like the kid in school that everyone liked to beat up on and tease just to make their goon friends laugh.

I remember vividly the day the towers were attacked. I remember the resolve you showed and promises you made. I remember being afraid that attacks would happen again, maybe even closer to my home next time. Fear for my future and safety was ever present, but in time it faded. The only reason it faded was because you, Mr. President, went on the offensive and hunted the organizations that threatened my safety.

In these 8 years, that was the only attack on my homeland when there could have, and probably should have, been more. Thank you, Mr. President, for keeping me and mine safe.

I haven't agreed with every policy and every decision you've made. I haven't always known who or what to believe when accusations were thrown about by both sides of the political spectrum regarding the reasons behind your choices, but I have always given you the benefit of the doubt because you are my president and I voted for you.

In these 8 years, I watched with sadness as your political enemies and supposed allies used a war to their advantage. Despite that their homes and families were safe, that they had food on their table and clothes on their backs, they still fought against you in the name of their political party. They put the best interest of the nation and her citizens second to their treasonous tactics to gain power. Rather than fighting back at them, you kept your attention focused on fixing our nation's problems to the best of your ability.

I am just a citizen going about my business as best as I know how, and I cannot judge whether or not you performed your sworn duty to the best of your ability. It's common to hear the saying that only history will be an accurate judge of someone's presidency, but knowing who writes our history books, I'm not sure that I agree. I assert that only God and you will truly know. So I will trust that you did.

Today we as a nation stand on the brink of electing a man who I did not vote for. Many say that his election is a direct result on your unpopularity. So be it. I only hope that he will perform his duty to protect me and family as well as you did, that he will pick up your mantle and continue to hunt our enemies to the ends of the earth so they can never harm us again, that he will continue to make it possible for me to provide for my family so long as I work hard, and that he will put America's interests before his own. Thank you, President Bush.

Thank you for enduring the harsh treatment of media, pundits, and entertainers, their hypocrisy and venom, the disloyalty of the members of both the opposing party and your own. Thank you for your efforts to help improve education, employment, and our country's problem with immigration. Your efforts may not have been perfect, but well-intended. Thank you for caring about America more than your own image. I hope history will be kinder to you than the present is.

Mr. Obama, you have large shoes to fill. Don't stumble.

Halloween

This was Lily's first year really doing something for Halloween. I didn't know how she would react to the costume but she actually didn't mind it. She left the hood part on for quite a while. We had fun hanging out with some friends and eating lots of pizza and goodies. I am a dental student if you can't tell. I forgot to put my Dr. mask on. This is Lily's Halloween outfit that she wore multiple times a week because she loved the kitty on her shirt. I even had to put her down for a nap holding the shirt one day because she wouldn't let go of it.

Here we are getting all ready for the night. I felt bad because Lily was getting over a cold but she did ok.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carving Pumkins

Last night we carved pumkins with our friends. Thanks Stacy and Justin for inviting us over and thanks Aaron and Mel for the pumkin. I have not carved a pumkin in a long time. Jacob actually did most the work. I only cleaned out the gutts. Our pumkin is the one on the right. It is Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas if you can't tell.

This is just a little video I got of Lily and Jack playing. Jack had a Birthday card that plays music and they love to dance to it. They were being so silly.

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Just me being grateful

Yesterday afternoon, I had my teeth cleaned at the dental clinic by my sweet husband and being pregnant, I started to get very hungry. On the way home, I felt like I might die of starvation. I was thinking about all the things I could make to eat that wouldn't take long as soon as I got home. I decided a grilled cheese sounded good. After much complaining we got home and I made a sandwitch for Lily and I, (I was not neglecting Jacob. He didn't want one.) We sat down at the table to eat. At this point, I felt so sick, I was about ready to inhale the whole thing. Just before I took the first bite, I glanced over at my sweet 18 month old little girl and she calmly set her sandwitch back on the table, folded her arms and bowed her head to pray. I stared at her for a few seconds feeling guilty that I had forgotten to give thanks for and bless the food. Later that night I was thinking about it and I decided that lately I have been spending too much time complaining and not realizing how good I really have it.
So first off I want to express how grateful I am for my husband and for all that he does for us. He works so hard and has to put up with a LOT of stress in school. Somehow he still manages to be so sweet when he gets home. Lily and I are always so excited when it is time to go pick him up. I also want to say how grateful I am for my little girl. She is such an example to me at such a young age. If I never have any more girls I will forever be grateful I got this one. I also feel so blessed that I am able to have children and that I have a sweet little boy on the way. Although this has not been the most pleasant of pregnancies, I still love to feel that tiny little life inside of me and I can't wait to meet him. I am so grateful for my family. My parents and parents-in-law have done so much to help us through the difficulties of being a poor, struggling student family. It scares me to think that I might not be able to repay them for all that they have done. I am grateful for so much more but I will save it for the journal.

PS. I am also grateful that my husband is going to proofread this when I am finished so that I don't look like an idiot. Although I could do without all the little chuckles I will hear whenever he finds a mistake, I am still grateful. I am glad we can tease each other.

Pictures

This is my belly at almost 5 months. I think it is too big for 5 months but for those of you who don't think so, I should tell you I have been this big since 9 weeks which is why I didn't want to post any pictures till now.
Here is the little sweetie. Right now it just looks like a cute little alien. Jacob thinks it looks like him, and that is okaywith me at this point.

The Gender of the Baby...

Let me start with a story: Boy, did we wait a long time in the waiting room! We arrived 15 minutes early and were seen after waiting an hour. Around 2 o'clock, the people with the 1 o'clock appointment were being seen. On TV was the Tyra Show. I've never seen itbefore, but what was today's topic: Sex Addicts. Boy, let me tell you how comfortable that was.... Kat and I sat there looking around at the unwed mothers with their friends waiting to be seen, trying to lighten the mood. Then, after Tyra's show ended, Divorce Court came on! Boy, what a fun wait we had! We had a very helpful nurse, and the doctor assured us that everything was fine, and the baby is healthy. 10 fingers, 10 toes. It's all good! The best news of all...... we didn't get a parking ticket after being parked for 2 hours in a 1 hour slot! Boy was I glad! We're very grateful to our Heavenly Father for blessing us with a healthy child, and we can't wait for it to come!

Creative slides

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Lily loves slides and since I was feeling too lazy to take her outside to the neighbors yard, I decided to help her make one inside. She seemed quite satisfied with it. I tried to get her to say some words for the grandparents but she was a little distracted with the slides so she doesn't say them as well as she usually does. We will have to try again later.

Fruit Farm

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These videos are supposed to go below the last post but I kind of messed it up.

The Fruit Farm

Yesterday we went to a fruit farm with Lily's friend Jack and his mom. I love it when Lily gets to spend time outside because she loves it so much. Thanks Stacy for inviting us. We had so much fun swinging on tire swings

Eating lots of apples. They are one of Lily's favorite things to eat.

Driving tractors

and going on a hay ride.
We also went on lots of slides, played in the sand, walked through a corn maze and threw rocks in the creek. It was probably the most Lily has ever done in one day.

Just some cute pics

This morning as I was putting on my makeup and getting ready for church, Lily got my lipstick somehow and this is how Jacob found her. I can't figure out why it is writing blue and underlined but oh well. After I got her all ready for church I decided to take some pictures because she has a new dress and new shoes (thanks grandma and grandpa Crosby). Also her hair is finally long enough to put in pigtails so I was excited.

I told her to smile and this is all I got. I just liked this picture because of her big blue eyes. Her eyes are about the only thing she got from me so I have to brag a little. 

 

Favorite Game

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Who needs a wii fit when you have a Lily?

2 Items of Business

First item: For my birthday, I used my gifted money (thanks mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, other grandma, other grandpa) to buy a Wii Fit. I started using it the day I got it: About one week ago today. I weighed in at a whopping 181 lbs! My BMI was 27.5. After one week, I'm still about 180 and my BMI has slightly gone up. Don't let that worry you. I'll be reporting in every week or so to let you know how things are going. My goal is to lose about 20 lbs, although Mr. Wii Fit says I need to be around 145, I haven't weighed that little since I graduated from high school, when I was running every day and only eating Raisin Bran. Anyway, if you own a Wii and you want to a new, fun way to work out, I'd highly recommend this. We chose to get it simply because I didn't want to spend the same amount of money for a good pair of running shoes (they both cost about the same). Plus, Kat can use it, too. Bytheway, Kat weighs in at a trim 140, with a BMI of 21. Which is perfect for her body size.

Second item: I recently discovered a new website called Today's Big Thing. It puts a new funny or cool video up everyday. Most of them are PG-13 or safer, but I'm not guaranteeing anything as Kat and I only checked out a month's worth of posts. The point is, you HAVE to see this amazing football catch: http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2008/09/25 if you watch nothing else. But Kat and I would both recommend looking for the raccoons dancing, the post-it notes experiment, and the skee-ball mishap. TTFN

Lily's Favorite Band

I take full credit/responsibility for this. If you know me well, you know that I like almost all kinds of music because I play music all the time, especially while I'm working at school, writing, or cleaning. Well, somewhere along the way Lily started listening, then dancing, and now singing the songs I like. In fact, she's singing them so much, it's starting to drive Kat mad. There's one song in particular Lily REALLY likes. You can hear it here. Just go to the page and press play on the button on the right side. You won't hear lyrics until about a minute into it, and there's not very many; maybe that's why Lily likes it so much. Whenever I go in at night to put Lily back to sleep (this rarely happens as she usually sleeps straight through the night), I sing her a blink-182 song. As she gets older, we'll introduce other things to her like Metallica or Pink Floyd. That's a joke, Carol. Please start breathing again.

Little Woman

Lily has become such a little woman. After getting all ready to go out the other day, I said to her "Ok, Lily, I just need to get my shoes. Then we will get in the car and go to the store." She turned and ran to the front room as I went to get my shoes. When I came back, I found her standing by the door with her hat and her purse. I thought I had her all ready to go, but I guess I missed a few things. Her purse contains an old makeup case with a mirror (which she checks often), chapstick (which is applied to the face around the mouth on a regular basis), a comb, and a fake cell phone. I don't know where she learned this from. I don't carry any of that in my purse except a phone. You can always tell when she puts chapstick on because she smacks her lips. (Ok, that she did get from me.)

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I just thought this was a cute video. Jacob and I love the way she says, "buh bye" at the end.

Lily's Best Friend

Lily and Jack are such good friends. They are about a month apart, and it is so fun to see them grow and play together.Here they are feeding each other cheerios. This is the scary part. They love to kiss. Lily is a very affectionate girl. Kissing is her way of showing that she likes something. She kisses pictures of dogs, cats and babies. All her stuffed animals get kisses, and Jacob and I get them, too. She even loves to kiss herself in the mirror. She thinks the mirror is called "Lily." 

Ben and Jerry's vs PETA

I don't know how many of you have heard about this, but PETA (People for the Ethical Treament of Animals) wants Ben and Jerry's to stop using cow milk and switch to human milk. Yes, human milk. I don't know how close that puts PETA from the line of insanity, but I thought of some great names for Ben and Jerry's new flavors. First, here's the old top ten:

1. Cherry Garcia® Ice Cream
2. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
3. Chocolate Fudge Brownie™ Ice Cream
4. Chunky Monkey® Ice Cream
5. Half Baked™ Ice Cream
6. Phish Food® Ice Cream
7. New York Super Fudge Chunk® Ice Cream
8. Coffee Heath Bar Crunch® Ice Cream
9. Cherry Garcia® Low Fat Frozen Yogurt
10. Peanut Butter Cup™ Ice Cream

THE NEW TOP TEN:

1. Moo-moo Mommy's Milk

2. Chunky Evolved Monkey

3. Teet Treats

4. Peanut Butter C-Cup

5. Jiggly Piggly Strawberry

6.  Coffee Drinker's Heath Bar

7. Fuzzy Peaches

8. Penelope Cruz's Frozen Yogurt

9. Mammary Mocha

10. Areolar Aurora

Hitting your local grocery store hopefully NEVER.

Google Chrome

We haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd just make a brief mention about Google's new web browser, Google Chrome. I really like it! It's much much simpler than IE7 or Mozilla's Firefox, so it runs faster. Perhaps my favorite feature is the screen you'll see every time you open it or start a new tab... The top 9 page. It displays which nine sites you view the most, so you can just click and go right to it! It also figures out which website you want to visit as you type the URL in, saving you precious seconds. If you're looking for a new way to spice up your web browsing, give it a try.

The Lily Parade

Lily and I commemorate the start of the new season of football!

This is on our anniversary. Lily was a great sampler, especially with the cheesecake, which she sampled several times. My job was to redirect her fork to the whipped cream.

Say, "Cheesecake Factory!"

Lily has a love/hate relationship with the vacuum cleaner. She's simultaneously fascinated and horrified by it. When we turn it on, she runs to the corner and hides, peeking out every few seconds in morbid curiosity. Then when we turn it off, she runs out, turns it on, SCREAMS, and runs back to the corner, usually crying. But she just can't seem to help herself.....

Lily truly is her father's daughter. As many of my mission companions will tell you, I spent a lot of time in front of the mirror. Lily's favorite place to play is somewhere she can see her reflection. On Sunday we had a BYU Concert Choir song playing during which they break into a sort of tribal song. This is Lily's modern dance interpretation. She gave herself a standing ovation.

BYU and MWC celebrate HUGE day!!

Not only did BYU absolutely ravage the UCLA Bruins (59-0), but all 4 Mountain West teams playing PAC-10 teams won. BYU demolished UCLA, then ate smoked bear hide for lunch, TCU beat Stanford, New Mexico beat Arizona, and UNLV (yes, UNLV) beat ASU!!! Who says MWC is a mid-major conference?? We can play with the big boys alright. Best part of the day: BYU blocking yet another UCLA field goal. Here's what the final ESPN drive chart looked like :

Taking Time to Smell the Roses

I have been dreading the day when Lily would learn to climb on the table. Yesterday that day came. Every time my back is turned for a second she is up there. The thing that encouraged this behavior is the roses that Jacob gave me for our anniversary. Although it makes me nervous when she gets up there I think it is kind of sweet that she just wants to smell the roses.

Silly dancing

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Jacob and Lily love to dance together. It is so fun to watch them. Lily is always dancing and singing and she gets so excited when Jacob comes home so she can play with him. She talks about him all day while he is at school.

More dog

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Lily is still in love with dogs. The other day we were looking through my parenting magazine at all the cute little babies and we found a page with a big dog on it. I ripped it out for her and she ran back to the bedroom to show Jacob because she was so excited. Jacob had a good idea to hang it on her wall so she could look at it whenever she wanted and not rip it. She loves that it is in her room and every morning when I get her out of bed I have to lift her up so she can give it a kiss.

Do you believe in Magic yet?

This is BYU dominating the UW special teams line for a game winning block. Are you a believer or do you need to see more?