A Three Year Old!!!!

Happy Birthday to my little girl who is always letting me know she's not little.

Move #1: To Preston's Parents

Well, this move actually took place on Jan. 1st. We moved from Rexburg to Preston's parent's house in Boise. We are here until we find a house. We want to buy and move in before the baby comes at the end of March but I'm not opposed to bringing the little one back to Craig and Debra's house if things don't work out.

Any how, we left Bosie the day after Christmas to go home to pack and then the next weekend we moved. Craig and Debra came down to help. Here are a few of the pictures I took, but don't expect much, I didn't take many.

These next 2 pictures have an interesting story. Preston and I dismantled Sharli's changing table. Sharli watched us through the whole process. It wasn't hard. Just remove some bolts and the shelves detach from the sides... (it's harder to explain the process than it was to actually take it down. Then we bundled the sides together and propped it against the wall. Then we moved on to some stuff downstairs. Sharli followed us and after a while I noticed that she picked up a box of screws. I didn't think much of it until she wasn't down stairs anymore. I went in search of the little one and found her in right by her dismantled change table with a bunch of screws scattered around. I was about to get after her but then I noticed something about all the bolt holes in the changing table. Look closely at the picture and maybe you can see what I saw.




There are screws in the bold holes!!! I guess she has inherited her mommy and daddy's "mechanical" minds.

I was sooo amazed by her peceptiveness. And all this at only 22 months old. Sharli is a smart, observant little girl.



So after we got all packed... You all know how moving works.


You pack the truck...

You keep packing the truck...


You take silly pictures of your husband who's packing the truck...

You then take pictures of your daughter who got into the treats that were for those who were packing the truck...

And then you forget to take any more pictures the rest of the time that you're moving. Craig and Debra were there helping us even if you can't see them in any of the pictures. And don't worry, I didn't help move too many boxes, especially not the heavy ones. My back was starting to hurt pretty bad then, though it wasn't as bad as it does now. (Thrity four weeks along really changes the way you appreciate your back.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, we got to Craig and Debra's without any problems. Unpacked everything into the basement and we've been living here ever sense.

Preston got a job at the end of January working as a teller at Washington Trust Bank. He's still waiting to hear from the Geology Masters program at Boise State University to see if he'll be accepted to start this fall.

Me, I'm due to have a baby girl on March 27th so I'm just staying home trying to keep myself busy. Like I said before, my back is really hurting me and I think I've pulled a groin muscle so I'm trying to take it easy. I don't think I was in as good shape as I was when I got pregnant with Sharli so it's taking it's toll.

We've been looking at houses since around Thanksgiving and have finally found one that we like and we can afford (funny how those two need to go together). We're scheduled to close on March 26th, yes the day before my due date, but we have been told it would probably close on the 19th. That's what we're banking on. March 26th is also when the Rexburg house is supposed to close so I think this will be good timing.

Sharli is just as cute and sweet as ever so not much more to say there. I think I'm pretty much caught up on current life so I think I will end this post here. Have a great day!

The New Year

Well I don't know if my statement of "I'm not dead yet" last April convinced anyone. But I'm really not dead still and I get to be a stay at home mom again. Yippy! This means I will have more time, maybe. Of course Preston still has to find a job to take my place as bread winner but I have faith that it will happen. He's working hard at finding a job. Actually, we've both been working hard at packing this week. We are picking up the U-Haul tomorrow, packing it, and driving to Boise on Saturday. Fun New Years celebration, huh? But it needs to be done at point in time.

So I will give more details about life later. What I really wanted to do tonight is post some pictures. Since I'm not on my computer, I only have some Christmas pictures. Not a bad place to start back up so here we go.

We spent Christmas with Preston's family this year. We went down on Dec 17th, the day after I got done teaching classes, and stayed until Dec. 26th. We really had a good time. Eric and Amy (Preston's brother and soon to be sister in law) flew in 2 days after we got there and stayed for a few days. I hadn't seen him since February so it had been a while. But Califonia seemed to have treated him well since he convinced a good girl that he deserves her. And Amy seems very convinced. I met her for the first time and I really liked her. I didn't get any pictures of them (silly me).

But I did get some pictures of the "Christmas Eve" nativity play all the kids put on. I put "" because we didn't actually do it Christmas Eve but on Sunday night because we wanted everyone there for it. (Melissa and Kryst were in town but leaving before Christmas too). Sharli was asked be a shepard. (she's in front) I couldn't get a picture of the whole group (the wise men are missing) from where I was sitting but hopefully I can get on from someone else.

I love the prop's. The stable was made out of Steve's new 32" flat screen TV (awesome use of inginuity Jennifer) and the sheep were cardboard with bubble wrap. These were a big hit with the actors. In fact, they forgot about acting and just kept to managing the sheep which made little pops throughout the presentation. It was so fun.

I think Sharli was really tired when all this was going on because I couldn't get her to smile at all! But at least she looked at me at one point in time. Actually, I'm surprized that she wore the towel and stayed put the whole time. She must have really been tired.

Well, the rest of the week was kinda a blur of last minute Christmas shopping, wrapping and what not. On the actual Christmas Eve, Preston and I continued our family tradition of having the Norweigian dish called kjutt kaker (that's not the real way to spell it but I can't find the "special characters" in here) which is basically flattened meatballs prepared a special way and sevrved in a buttery, creamy, tastey gravy. It's soooo good! We made it for Preston's parents and also Jennifer and Steve's family. I think they liked it.

Then Christmas morning came. It was fun to see Sharli get into unwrapping presents. Where she was only 21 months old, she didn't understand about Christmas time and presents and stuff. But she did like all the Christmas lights. She always pointed at any lights we saw. And she did like helping to unwrap the presents.

We forgot our stockings so Santa filled a lunch sack for Sharli. She got some books, a color book, candy cane, and a cell phone in her stocking.

She got these fun little Disney books from Craig and Debra (Preston's parents). Her other gifts included clothes, more clothes, more books, a puzzle, and a few stuffed animals. I think her favorite gifts were the stuffed kitty from G-mom and Bakka (Craig and Debra), her cell phone, and a little tiger from Grandma and Grandpa (my parents). She's always carrying them around. I think my favorite ones were the cute clothes. I bought her alot of clothes and I think this may be the last year that Sharli won't care too much.

And here's Preston.

Hummm.... That's all the pictures of Christmas that I have at the moment. Plus it has now offically been the new year for 1 hour and I'm tired so I'm going to finish this post a little later.... Maybe days later as I'm in the middle of moving so don't be a hater if you are reading this. Be grateful you got anything. I will finish, some day... So Happy New Years!

I'm not dead yet

Contrary to popular belief, I have not dropped off the face of the earth. I have just been very busy.

In a nut shell, here’s what I have been doing. Being a wife, being a mom, teaching 3 sections of “Math for the Real World” at BYU-Idaho, grading, grading and more grading, and on top of that, planning a trip to Italy. (We leave next Friday) But the semester ends in a week and I will finally get to visit Europe and life will slow down... hopefully. So here’s just a few photos to appease the people and hopefully you will see more posts once I get back from Italy.

Sharli was an Ewok for Halloween.

We got family pictures taken in November by Preston's sister.

We got a chocolate lab that we named Bruno in December. (He's alot bigger now)

Sharli's first birthday was exactly a month ago from today, on March 3rd.

Don't worry, she cheered up.

Sharli got her first pair of shoes and is starting to try to walk. (see previous post for a video of her first steps)

All in all, we are doing great. We are a happy little family and I'll post more once we get back from Italy!

Sharli's First Steps

Here's a clip Preston posted without me knowing .

We have a Crawler!

Sharli crawled for the fist time today. By crawling we mean taking more than 2 "steps" on her hands and knees. We have been working on this for a long time. She really likes Cheerios's and so we place them in front of her and have her move towards them. She would start to crawl but then gave up and got onto her tummy. She would usually do the army crawl to the cheerio or roll to her back and scoot. But not at 7:00 tonight! She crawled across the living room twice by the time we were done with her. Sharli also fell asleep early tonight, I think we exhausted her.

I don't have much time between being a mommy, planning lessons and grading papers so blogging has dropped down on the priority list but Preston and I thought we should share this with everyone.

Happy 6 months!

Sharli is 6 months old today! She went in to the doctor's office and got her shots. Nice 1/2 birthday present, huh? She did quite well considering she now has 3 holes in her legs. She weighed in at 15 lbs (skinny little girl) and measured 26.5 inches in height.

She loves to play in her walker, sit up all by herself, pull mommy's hair, and has started lunging at things from a sitting position which then puts her on her tummy. No crawling yet, thank goodness, but I doubt it will be long.

As for foods, she has tasted rice, oatmeal, peaches, butternut squash, peas, vanilla ice cream and today she got a little of my raspberry dessert as a half birthday surprise. I interpreted her funny face to mean that she thought it was interesting. I should have gotten a picture!

As you can see, she has also developed a taste for cell phones. Mine had a rubber case and she likes it. She can also pick up her Binky and put it in her mouth after chewing on it a while.

She sleeps well, I guess. Bed time is at 8 she wakes at 12:30, at 5:00 (and sometimes at more) to nurse and get up at about 9:00. I don't know if that good or not but it works for her. I like that she sleeps in; it means I get to also!

All in all, Sharli is a healthy little girl and nobody could ask for a better tempered little one. I love you Sharli! (yes, that is Lord of the Rings in the background)