Our Weekend Get Away...

My wide eyed little Nephew Dylan -- at Brooklynn's party.

Brookie and Grandma blowing out the candles on her My Little Pony cake.

The Birthday Girl.

A picture I forgot to post last time that cracks me up.

A glimpse at our room -- the picture of the other 1/2 of the room didn't work out.

--Also I have a couple pictures from the Jazz game but for some reason they aren't showing up when I plug my card into the computer. Oh well!

THE WEEKEND

So this last weekend we had out little get away to celebrate our 3rd Anniversary. Although we only had about 36 hours completely to ourselves it was still a nice break from our regular routine. Thursday we set off after Todd got out of class for the day and made our first stop in Downey. We stayed the night there and the next morning headed off for our next adventure. We left Reese behind with Grandpa and Grandma Z and Todd and I made our way south and checked into the Providence Inn. We stayed here last year too. This year we had the New Orleans Room. It was just as nice as last years room (last year we had the Bridal Suite) but it didn't have a fireplace. Oh well for about $30 cheaper we'll live without the fireplace. We caught a matinee - He's just not that into you and ate at Fredrico's for dinner. We actually ran into a friend of ours their from Pocatello and had a nice visit. It a nice little relaxing stay at the inn. I hardly knew what to do with myself since "someone" wasn't clinging on me all day and driving me bananas. I remember last year missing Reese a lot more, but then she was only 2 months old and I definitely didn't miss her too much this year. Mommy needed a break.

Saturday morning we got up checked out and headed out on the next leg of our journey and made our way south yet again to Salt Lake City. We spent the afternoon bumming around the Gateway. We saw another movie -- Coraline in 3D. As you can tell we don't go out to see too many movies so we made up for lost time. We did a little shopping had some lunch at Applebee's and then made our way to the Jazz game. We were able to get their early enough to each get a free full size Jazz basketball that they were handing out at the door and we even found a short line to get Thurl Bailey's autograph (I would have preferred Kyle Korver's but the opportunity never presented itself so we settled with the old guy). We had a nice time at the Jazz game even though we were up in the nose bleeds -- someday we'll fork out some real dough and get some decent seats but right now we are poor college students. After the game we headed back up North to Preston to stay at my mom's for the night. Reese had been delivered there by the other Grandma earlier that day and luckily she was sound asleep by the time we got home.

Sunday morning we went to church with my mom and then headed up to Grandma Nan's for Birthday dinner. It was Brooklynn/Justin's birthday dinner and it was more like Thanksgiving! We had ham, turkey, stuffing, rolls, sour cream potatoes -- the works! Yum! Reese loved having all the other grand kids there to play with. It was fun to have all of my family there too since we don't see them as often since we moved. After we stuffed ourselves with dinner and cake and ice cream we set off for home finally. We had a nice weekend. It went way too fast - but we're back to reality now, back to work, school and taking care of the homestead. Hopefully we'll be able to getaway sometime soon again.

Just a few pics...

One of her favorite pastimes -- pulling all the Tupperware lids out of the drawer. Not one of my favorite pastimes putting all the lids back in the drawer 10 times a day.

Reese showing off her new necklace! She is really getting into "pretties." She loves to put on her tu tu, wear her necklaces, her cowboy hat and point out everyones earrings.

A lady in Grandma Z's ward came over for a visit with a big bucket of bows we got to pick through and keep. Reese loved digging through the bucket and trying on all the bows.

Hanging out at Grandmas Poole's. Reese helped make an 'Ethan' sandwich out of couch cushions.

--- more pics from this last weekend still to come

Happy Anniversary... yesterday!

So Yesterday was our 3 year anniversary. We are going to SLC this weekend so we didn't really do anything yesterday. I did cook Todd some dinner though. That in itself was probably a big enough surprise for Todd. I really do cook (don't think I'm a bad wife) but Todd enjoys to do it more than I do so I'm not about to deny him that pleasure. I'm excited to have a child free weekend. We could use some little R&R!

Hooray for Circuit City going out of business...

Ok not the best news for circuit city, but great news for me. I got a new digital SLR camera... a Sony A200!! I am so excited! I very soon learned that I have no idea how to use the camera beyond the auto setting but I am excited to start learning. It's only an entry level SLR but I couldn't refuse the price (which since I have no idea what I'm doing will be great)! I haven't seen any decent SLR's for under $500. So imagine my delight!
I love my point and shoot but it's so frustrating to miss photo opps of Reese due to lag -- already I've been able to catch smiles on almost every picture I've taken on the new camera!!!! Yeah!!! Any other SLR users out there know of any good books or anything to help me figure out what I'm doing? I did take a photography class a few years ago at ISU - I should have paid more attention and kept my book. It wasn't a digital class though so I'm not sure how much it would have helped.

Getting crazy with the you tube clips...

This was on the soup tonight and oh geez... you just have to watch. The version on The Soup was a lot shorter -- but still very funny and kind of creepy.

Oh can I even tell you how excited I am!!

In the spirit of Valentines Day and just because I love Ice Age. Sadly this movie doesn't come out until July!

About mi esposo...

Our Wedding announcement Photo.

Such a wonderful daddy!

Something he is never allowed to do ever again - he looks like freaking Mario!!!

The night we got engaged -- not the best photo I waited til just recently to get these developed off the disposable camera and the pictures were all really crummy looking.

The first time I met Todd -- summer 2001.

New Daddy!

1. Where did you meet your husband? I met him at Grand Targhee the summer before our Senior year in high school. We were both attending a convention for school. I became really good friends with a girl from Downey in my group who introduced me to Todd.

2. How long did you date before you got married? We didn't start dating until after his mission our first date was June 1st and we were engaged November 12th so about 6 months.

3. How long have you been married? It will be 3 years next week.

4. What does he do that surprises you? it surprises me when I ask him to take out the garbage and he actually does it...j/k he is really good at little surprises like flowers when I least expect it or even simple things like picking me up a mt. dew on the way home from work.

5. What is your favorite feature of his?Physical feature? When I very first met him I was so in love with his hair. He had the cute skater looking hair that flipped out on the ends. He's just handsome. I also love his size in comparison to myself... I need to feel protected.

6. What is his best quality? Even after 3 years he still treats me the way he did when we were dating. He is very respectful towards me (even though I am a brat sometimes). My opinion is very important to him. He is a wonderful father.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? mostly just babe -- when he's being a goof he calls me kimberlee.

8. What is his favorite food? He really like lasagna -- I think he just likes food in general.

9. What is his favorite sport? He is a sports fanatic. It just depends on the season -- probably football and basketball are the top. He also loves soccer, tennis, golf -- pretty much any sport.

10. When and where did you first kiss? Just outside my backdoor at the end of one of our dates. The first kiss is always so anticipated and my hair blew right in the way of our lips so it was kind of a hairy first kiss.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Since we're so busy just being able to be together as a family without having any other obligations -- we can just chill and enjoy each others company.

12. Do you have any children? Just our one year old girl Reese!

13. Does he have any hidden talents? He is pretty good with a finger skateboard!

14. How old is he? Turned 25 last month.

15. Who said I love you first? Todd did and all I said back was "me too." It's scary when the L word is first mentioned, I don't think it was quite the response he was looking for.

16. What is his favorite music? He likes everything but country. Reel Big Fish, Beastie Boys (I think his favorite song in the entire world is Sabatoge), Zebrahead, and a lot more. He doesn't listen to a lot of Hip-Hop/Rap unless it's Old skool like LL, Tupac or Run DMC. (I'm trying to think about what is in his CD case).

17. What do you admire most about him? That he honors his priesthood. I am very grateful that he is worthy to provide such a wonderful blessing in our home.

18. What is his favorite color? I always ask him this and I don't ever really get a response. I guess blue - but he likes red and black too. Actually now that I think about it whenever I've asked him this he usually responds with clear.

19. Will he read this? I highly doubt it. I pretty much take care of the blog -- he only looks at it when I ask him to.

20. I tag...Everyone with a husband!

Just an update...

So we are still going strong with CIO and for 3 nights in a row has slept in her bed the whole night! It's working great for naps too she cries for maybe 2 minutes and then takes a hint... It kin of makes me sad when I hear her wake up and cry because she still has a cough and now her nose is quite runny -- until it's unbearable she is going to stick to our routine. The only other thing that worries me is the position she is in when she falls asleep. She is literally bent in half. It looks so uncomfortable. I tried straightening her out the other day but it only woke her up. Maybe it will just make her really flexible and not do any damage to her little back.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!

We let Reese open her present when it came in the mail... we weren't patient enought to wait unil V-day!!

The sleep chronicles...

So far I am so please at how Reese is doing with CIO (crying it out). Why didn't I do this sooner? Last night I mentioned she cried for 5 minutes and went to sleep and slept until 8:30 the next morning. There were a couple times I heard her wake up and whimper for a minute and then went back to sleep. Today I put her in her crib for her nap and this time she cried for 2 minutes maybe and then went to sleep for 2.5 hours! Tonight I put her in bed at 9:25 and not a peep at 9:27. I was able to get a full nights sleep last night and couldn't be happier! We'll see how tonight goes...

P.S. I am so annoyed at our upstairs neighbors why are they noisier at night than during the day. If they wake my child up there is going to be **** (bad words) to pay!!! Sorry I don't want to be one of those neighbors who complains -- but seriously can we be respectful?

Busy Weekend...

So this weekend Reese and I went to Preston. We had a baby shower to attend on Saturday but decided to take a few extra days to hang out with my family. We got down there Thursday and spent the rest of that day hanging out with our good friends Kate and Sadie. Reese loved having a little play mate - there is definitely truth behind the saying "double trouble." We went to Logan and went shopping and enjoyed some Jamba's.

Friday we visited Grandma at work (good ole' PHS) and she took the liberty of taking her around and showing her off. Naturally Reese performed as a good little monkey should. She waved, danced, and teased everyone she came in contact with. We spent most of the afternoon at Grandma Nan's (Reese's Great Grandma). I was trying to finish up a quilt that I was giving for a baby shower the next day and while Reese terrorized Nan's house. She successfully had goldfish crackers smashed all over the front room floor, threw my scrap fabric all over the kitchen (and even made a game of throwing the scrap fabric in Grandma Nan's hair), and not to forget she bullied her cousin Dylan to a speechless stupor (he was so afraid of the wild woman).

Saturday was pretty eventful. Early in the morning my friend Josie and I went to Logan to visit a friend who just had her baby and chatted he morning away with stories of the "good old days." It was great seeing some old friends. That afternoon was the baby shower for Josie and Amanda. Thankfully I had my quilts done (I about threw my sewing machine out the window the previous day when it kept acting up while trying to finish Josie's quilt). Saturday night we just played around at my mom's house and left to come back home early Sunday morning.

Tonight I'm finally being brave and letting Reese cry herself to sleep. I'm tired of sleepless nights. I know I should have done this eons ago but it's hard to not comfort her. Attempt 1: Left her in her room at 9:45 cried for 5 minutes and fell asleep. We'll see how the rest of the night goes. Wish me courage!! I feel bad for our upstairs neighbors, oh well! They deserve it with their game nights and stupid blasting radio!!
Josie's quilt. I forgot to take a picture of Amanda's - it was hot pink and lime green.

Reese made some new friends at the baby shower. Kate had a lot of nieces and nephews to keep her entertained.

All dolled up and ready to head to Grandma's!

I heart Jamba Juice. They used our extra juice and made a little jamba for each of the girls. They even cut the straws to fit in their little cups! As cute as it was we soon learned that these could not be enjoyed without adult supervision!

Superbowl Weekend...

We went home for the weekend to spend time with both of our families. It was the first time we've been home since we moved to Rexburg. It was nice to spend time with everyone. We started the weekend off spending time in Preston. Friday night we went to the boys high school varsity game (since my mom does the score book for the boys teams) - it was a pretty sad game... almost worse that watching a church ball game. Not at all how I remembered the games being when I was in school. Saturday morning my mother, Reese and I made a quick trip to Logan to pick up a few things for a baby shower I'm going to next weekend. While we were in Wal-Mart I noticed there were actually 2 employees working that can pierce ears and I was finally brave enough (yeah I'm the one that had to be brave since Reese had no idea what was coming). We got her ears pierced. We almost did it back in October but there was only one person working and they advised she might not let her 2nd ear get done after she got the first one done. She did so great! She didn't even cry! She kind of whimpered for half a second and then was perfectly fine! My mother pointed out I was a much bigger wuss when I got mine done (I was like 6 months) she said I screamed my head off. Sunday we were in Downey to watch the game. We had extreme nachos for dinner and Reese loved that! She loved even more that she could just pick what she wanted off of Daddy's plate. If she picked up a chip with out any cheese or meat on it she would dip it in some on Todd's plate. I should have taken a picture of the cheese ALL OVER HER FACE, but you'll just have to use your imagination. Reese even got 2 fists full of M&M's while daddy wasn't watching and shoved them in her mouth faster than she has ever eaten anything before (which goes to show she knows when she's doing something wrong). I'm surprised she didn't have a tummy ache later --

She showed a lot more interest in my mom's cat this weekend. She would pet him so softly and just say "oh yeah" over and over again. She even gave him loves by pressing her face up to his tummy which scared me to death because I know how easily that cat can turn on you. It's been declawed and since then has become a biter (since it is his only defense), surprisingly he never retaliated while Reese annoyed him.

Sorry this isn't the best picture of her new earrings but it's the only one I have right now.

In the car on the way down to see the Grandma's, shoveling chicken nuggets into her face and wearing mommy's sunglasses.

We also went to a Marsh Valley game Saturday night since Todd's dad had to be there. She loved both basketball games - especially the pep bands. She danced and cheered during both games. They were her first games and she loved them.

PS Candi we got Reese's birthday present today and she LOVES, LOVES IT!! I don't have any pictures right now since my battery is dead. She loves to point at the different characters and smash her face into them. Perfect present! I had looked at these one time but they weren't ever available when I tried to order them -- so good job for reading my mind! (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about it's a Sesame Street Pillowcase with her name personalized on it with a character behind each letter).