The Grand Adventure

One Year of Rachel

2012-01-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

Rachel turned a year old earlier this week. In comparison to Lauren's first birthday the festivities were considerably more low key, but still fun. Everything took place in about 45 minutes because Ryan had a late class and then had to hurry off to youth night. Here are some pictures:

Pancake faces for dinner

Birthday cupcakes

Rachel really wanted to touch the fire

More about Rachel:

She is a great eater. She eats just about anything and everything we've given to her and some things we haven't (little treasures of left overs found under the table)
She is very feisty and not afraid to stick up for herself with Lauren
She likes to have a good time
She is starting to enjoy books and toys more and more

In case you're wondering:

She has no teeth
She is not walking yet, but is gradually starting to consider the idea
I don't how much she weighs, we haven't had her doctor appointment yet, but she has already grown out of the coat I bought her a month ago
Basically the only word she says quite understandably is "mom" which she uses towards anyone as a plea for attention or food

Christmas Joys

2012-01-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

We were so blessed this Christmas to get to spend three weeks with both of our families. Sadly I forgot to take very many pictures so I will be relying on family (hint, hint) to send any of the ones they have my way.

The girls were in heaven the whole trip getting loads of attention and lots of new toys and books to entertain. I also feel like the three weeks allowed both of them to gain a stronger relationship with both sets of grandparents and aunts and uncles to the point that they felt comfortable with them when Ryan and I were not around. We managed a few nights out alone which were wonderful.

Much to Lauren's and my dismay (since I had packed a ton of snow clothes) was the complete lack of snow our entire time in Utah. Every time Lauren's would see a small patch of usually blackish grayish nasty snow she would beg to build a snowman or make a snow angel in it. However there were some nice days in the upper 40s and lower 50s where we were able to go enjoy the park.

We were also able to go to Temple Square and check out the lights, go to the Children's Museum, Lauren rode a trax train for the first time (which she loved), and we went to several family parties and visited other extended family, and Ryan completed his Zelda game :)

But at the end of the three weeks it was time to come home and to quote one of Lauren's favorite books: "To say goodbye is always sad, but coming home is never bad." Thank you Woolsey and Merkley mom and dad for the great Christmas gift!

Christmas Jammies, they're tradition

Rachel's first Christmas

Lauren's kitchen

Let's face it all your kids really want for Christmas is a big
cardboard box.

This is OUR box, find your own mom

Rachel getting shoved out of the box

A Year in Review

2011-12-30T10:42:00.001-07:00

I failed at sending out Christmas cards but this is what the card would have said in more detail. I'll even post the new family picture we got :)

We've experienced a lot of changes and have grown a lot. We started the year off with a bang named Rachel. She joined our family mid January and has been keeping us on our toes ever since. After about three months we found that she had an intolerance to dairy, soy, nuts and chocolate. This lead to a very large alteration in our diet since I had to largely avoid eating the list of items. We adjusted and through much exploration and trying new recipes, actually started eating a lot healthier and have enjoyed those benefits.

Ryan did an internship at a consulting firm in Indianapolis.

We rented a community garden plot and canned over 150 jars of peaches, peach and apple pie filling, spaghetti sauce, dry beans, apple sauce, salsa, peach syrup, green beans, and vegetable stew. Plus we made a bunch of freezer jam. While that makes it sound like we had an amazing garden, a lot of the things we canned actually came from orchards or the farmers market. We're still working on the gardening thing.

Lauren is potty trained! This is most definitely her greatest accomplishment this year. While we still aren't 100% at night, she has been dry the last 6 out 7 nights, which is a pretty big deal.

Ryan is soon going to starting his last semester of grad school! Yay! and now we just need a job :) Let the application and interview process begin!

I was looking back at a post that I made at the beginning of the year where I typed out a few goals and here is how I did.

Goals:
1) Get both girls in cloth diapers. Check. And another bonus for getting Lauren in and out of them.
2) Eat / Cook Healthier for myself and family. The whole non-dairy thing turned from a trial to a blessing in this respect. We made some good progress the past 9 months and now as Rachel is approaching the point of being completely weened I get to make some choices as to how we can continue and do better. Before we do that however I am going to get some chocolate ice cream and a pizza (it has still been a long 9 months).
3) Exercise on a regular basis. This basically didn't happen at all and is at the top of my list for this next year. Enough said.

Overall I think it has been a great year and we are really looking forward to this next year as it will hold a lot of big and exciting changes for our family.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa...

2011-12-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a little something to get you excited for this weekend...

Silliness

2011-12-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Lauren has taken to choosing her own wardrobe
(These are my knee highs and church shoes sported here)

She did this herself... flapper anyone?

Lauren trying on our stockings

First hair cut

Trying out the bangs, not sure how I feel about them yet.

This is our nativity, apparently everyone got bored so they are playing
hide and seek in the cookbooks (says Lauren)

Don't mess with this

This is Rachel's angry/frustrated face, I've been getting it a lot lately.

End of a Season

2011-11-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

So I took the girls out to the garden to finish cleaning it up before winter. It was kind of sad to see everything dead and most the plots empty. I've loved having a garden this year. It always felt so good to get out and dig in the dirt, and then subsequently eat the food that we planted with our own hands. One of the most amazing things has been to see how much our girls have grown, especially Rachel. When we first started our garden Rachel was about 3 months old. She would sleep in the stroller and I would work, as soon as she woke up and started crying we would go find a place for me to feed her, usually the nearby park bench while Lauren played. Today Rachel stood up in a wheelbarrow and watched or played with my keys and when she got sick of that she crawled around in the dirt, squished dirt clods with her hands and chewed on sticks. Lauren has become more helpful and wants to do more, especially when it comes to using the big shovel. She always wants a turn. We look forward to having a garden again, hopefully next year depending on where we are at.

While we are sad to see this season go, we are looking forward to the next wonderful season...

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T19:14:00.001-06:00

I've always kind of enjoyed Halloween, even though my opinion of the holiday has soured somewhat after living in Russian and Bloomington, where it's more or less just a poor excuse to get plastered.

But, as always, kids make everything better! I think Lauren and Rachel genuinely enjoyed themselves this year, and that makes me happier than I ever was going trick or treating myself as a kid. If you can't tell (even though I'm sure you've already heard), Lauren is Madeline. Rachel got the hand-me-down ladybug costume, but still so cute.

These pictures (above) are from Saturday, when we had our church trunk-or-treat. Today, on Halloween proper, we carved up the biggest pumpkin we've ever had (26 lbs for $10!!). I have to say I'm very proud of the result--I think I've graduated from novice pumpkin carver to journeyman. Check it out!

Fall Festivities

2011-10-30T18:28:00.001-06:00

So we've done a bunch of fun things outside this month enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Here are the highlights:

Fall Sunday afternoon walk

We like the really big leaves

Down on the Farm

Luckily the farm had 4 rocking horses as well as real animals,
Lauren had to try all of them, twice.

Headed out to the pumpkin patch to find our perfect pumpkin

All the pumpkins there were rotting or huge, and Lauren really wanted a clean
pumpkin. Whenever we would look at one she would say "Oh this one is dirty
lets find a clean one." But they didn't have any so here we are with
our whopping 26 lb. (dirty) pumpkin.

And of course making our fall sugar cookies, yum!

Quality control over sprinkles

Did you know...

2011-09-15T20:09:00.000-06:00

This is one of Lauren's favorite phrases as of late. "Did you know that we live in Indiana (she used to say Indinana)?" "Did you know that cake is really good?" "Did you know that doggies are really nice?" "Did you know trees are green?" "Did you know..." fill in the blank, etc. The best one of all that she does every so often usually when I'm in a bad mood or she has just done something naughty, "Did you know Jesus loves you?" Almost makes me cry every time. Some days you just have bad parent days where you don't feeling like you are doing anything right, but every now and then your two year old repeats something back to you or remembers some little thing you've been trying so hard to teach them and you feel like maybe you are doing something right. I love our girls and all they teach me every day. They are so sweet. Some days I can't wait to get them to bed, but most days I'm excited to see them when they wake up and fill the day with all kinds of silliness.

We like trains

Painting masterpieces

Everyone loves story time with Dad

Rachel helping Dad study

She loves public finance

Peach Canning Marathon

2011-08-26T12:47:00.000-06:00

Since our stop at an orchard on the way back from Nauvoo failed we decided to try another one a few days later. We came back with 1 and 1/4 bushels of peaches and then spent the next few days canning and eating them. It was wonderful. The end result: 19 quarts of just peaches, 5 quarts and 16 pints of peach syrup, 8 pints of peach salsa, 8 containers of freezer jam, 7 quarts of peach pie filling, and a delicious peach pie. Yum!

Everything we canned, minus the jam

Ryan made the pie, it says "Fruit of the Gods" with a picture of a peach :)

It was good...

Really good

We Love Peaches!!!

End of the Summer Fun

2011-08-20T11:35:00.001-06:00

So as part of our celebration at having Ryan back we went on a little family trip to Nauvoo, Illinois. What seemed like such a trek when we lived out in Utah is now only 6 hours away. We drove out first thing on Tuesday and the six hour drive turned into eight with all the potty and snack/nursing stops. It was a good drive though and the girls were great. Ryan and I racked our brains for stories and fun songs to sing to entertained when they got sick of their other books and toys. We stayed in at a great place called Camp Nauvoo in a bunk house style one room cabin. It was perfect for us, just a set above camping in a tent (which did not go well the last time we tried), we all got to sleep in a bed and it had air conditioning. I think they mostly rent out to large family and youth groups during the really busy season, but we had the place almost to ourselves the first night (the only other people were our friends the Clark's who happened to want to come the same week!) and then a soccer team was there the second night but they were pretty quiet. It was so nice to have a cool place to come back to for naps and in the evening.

The first night we got there we went to check out the temple. It was so cool to see it in person, I really wish Ryan and I had had time to go through, hopefully next time we go. The next day we just took things at pretty easy pace, which was a must with the girls. We went on a wagon ride around "Old Nauvoo" and checked out the visitor's center. Then since we only had that one day we tried to pick a few things that the girls would really enjoy and other "must see" things. The Family Learning Center was one of our favorites. They had several little stations the taught you various things that the pioneers did: weaving, baking, candle making, rope making, pottery. It was really fun to learn how they lived. Lauren also really enjoyed the Pioneer Children Pass Times. They had pioneer clothes to dress up in and little games that pioneer children used to play. Ryan and I thought the tours of the homes and other buildings would have been really cool but Lauren ran around trying to touch everything, so we only made it through one. While the girls were taking naps Ryan and I read through some pioneer journals and the Our Heritage book that the Church put out. it was so amazing to learn about what our ancestors went though and their lives and journey to Salt Lake. It made it so much more real to be there and walk the places that they walked. We didn't get to spend near as much time as we would have liked, at our pace it probably would have taken at least 3 or 4 days. But now we better know how to plan our next trip out there. We had a great time and it was so nice just to spend it all together without any other distractions. I hope we can go again soon.

Lauren loved riding the sheep

Ryan making us a rope

Lauren with our completed rope

Lauren playing the pioneer games

Rachel the trooper

Lauren loved dressing up in the pioneer clothes

Daddy on the Weekends

2011-08-13T11:54:00.003-06:00

So Ryan moved back home last night. YAY! For the past nine weeks he has been doing an internship up in Indianapolis. We initially had planned on all of us moving up there for the summer, but in light of various issues and all things considered the best situation for us turned out to be Ryan living up in Indy in a hotel during the week and then coming home on the weekends. Quite honestly when we were looking at all our options this was the very last one on my list of desirable options. I remember telling Ryan at least a couple times, after very rough days with the girls, that I did not think that I could handle that all day with the only help from him being Saturday and Sunday for nine weeks. But I am happy to say that I have not gone completely crazy and both children are alive and well.

We've been so blessed all summer, so many things that may seem insignificant but made the world of difference to me and were an answer to many prayers.

Our Neon lasted the entire time, which is amazing, we didn't think it would make it past May which would have meant no car all week for the girls and me
Our neighbors loaned us their double jogging stroller for the summer (a stroller may seem like an odd thing to pray about but it was one of the top things on my list, especially with the possibility of not having a car)
Our Garden : it got us out of the house several times a week, we would walk over about every other day and Lauren would help me by pulling the tops off the yucky weeds and Rachel would hopefully take her nap
One crazy day when we were out I found a surprise little bag of cookies in our diaper bag (apparently from someone at church)
Great friends that would either invite us over to play or come over to our place
Mother's group - a very welcome activity once a week

Hugs for Rachel

The biggest thing that saved me this summer was Lauren and Rachel. I was so worried about how things would go with both of them, especially at dinner and bed time which is the craziest time of day. There were lots of times that were pretty crazy but for the most part the girls were really good. They adore each other, which was a huge help, and they even kind of play together. Lauren is always so excited for Rachel to wake up and always asks to play dishes with her or read her a story. I really enjoyed all our time together this summer I feel like we learned and grew a lot. I, for one, feel very capable at handling things on my own, it's definitely not my favorite way to go but I know that I can handle it when needed.

We are so grateful that Ryan was able to get this internship (especially the paid aspect of it), we think it will help open more doors for him along the way to finding a job. But most of all we're grateful to have him back home on more than just the weekends!

Ballerina Lauren

The girls playing blocks

I love my girls!

Princess Lauren

Rachel kicking back and reading

For Rachel

2011-07-21T20:42:00.001-06:00

Our Little Rachel (this is her most common face)

Brand new Rachel

Since most of this blog has been dominated by posts about Lauren and other randomness, this long overdue post is for Rachel. Rachel is now six months old and bursting with personality. It's amazing to me how much spunk you can see in a six month old. I love this age! She is so much fun and loves making all kinds of weird noises that of course sends Lauren and anyone else who hears her giggling. One of my favorite "milestones" that Lauren and now Rachel has hit is when they realize what kisses mean. They start to like getting them and will smile or laugh - at least for the time being :) Rachel also loves being on her tummy and playing with or more watching Lauren. Rachel ADORES Lauren and Lauren likewise. Whenever Rachel wakes up Lauren gets really excited and asks if she can play dishes, or trains, or whatever with Rachel. Even though Rachel doesn't do much I get the sense that she loves being included. Lauren can make Rachel laugh like no one else. They both feed off of each other, I think they will probably cause a bit of trouble.

For the longest time this is what Rachel would do
whenever I took her picture

Rachel has been a very different experience than Lauren was for me. When Lauren was born I was only with her maybe 50-55% of the time. Ryan and I both had class and traded off often. Ryan spent many hours pacing the floor with Lauren during the day but I rarely ever did that with her. As a result of this I have noticed that I have a much shorter tolerance when Rachel just wants to be carried and walked around. I didn't have to do that with Lauren, Ryan did. She has definitely helped me work on my patience. She has also been a bit more challenging eating wise...or more the regurgitation that comes from the eating.

Lauren really wanted Rachel to ride her bike with Piggy

At around two months we became concerned that Rachel was spitting up a lot, more than we ever remember coming out of Lauren and it seemed to be fairly frequently. Her pediatricians first response to this was to go off dairy, the spitting up could be due to some kind of reflux and dairy apparently makes it worse. I was kind of skeptical that this would do much, so I didn't try very hard to stay off dairy. Of course we didn't see any results, the doctor had her checked for other problems and I saw a couple lactation consultants. Finally I faced up to my denial that dairy was a problem and went more or less completely off dairy. We also found a few other culprits namely: chocolate, soy, and nuts. So that's what I've been trying to avoid. I don't know for sure if it is reflux, allergies or just intolerance, I'll I know is that when I eat those things Rachel doesn't sleep well, is congested, spits up a lot and often, and has gas and diarrhea. And hopefully she'll grow out of it. This has been a huge test of self control for me, but at the same time very gratifying to know that there was something I could physically do to fix the problem. And it really does make all the difference, I'll do it for her.

I am so grateful for Rachel and love being her mom.

Rachel in her new dress from Aunt Sarah

Tummy time

Rachel and Mom

Big Blue Eyes... to go with the big forehead and baldness
(Sorry Rachel inheritance doesn't always work out in your favor)

A Bit of Awesomeness Growing in the Garden

2011-07-21T11:15:00.000-06:00

View of the left half of the garden

Our tomatoes and green peppers

Our garden has gotten huge in the past few weeks. Even though we have been ravaged with all kinds of bugs and blight on the tomatoes and green peppers things seem to pulling through enough that we are still getting a lot of fruit/vegetables on them. I think out beans are about done, but we were able to can 25 pints worth! Now we are just waiting for all the peppers and tomatoes to finish coming on. Our mutant marigolds have finally started getting flowers on them, which is exciting. Some how we missed the part on the package that said they grow to be 18"-24" high. We thought we were buying your typical everyday 5" high marigolds until they kept growing and growing and growing. They are now averaging 24"-36" and are taller than any of our other plants. Who knew marigolds did that?

Mutant Marigolds

These green peppers make Ryan VERY excited,
he LOVES green peppers

View of the whole garden plot

Our first harvest yay!!

Our green beans pre-canner stage

19 beautiful pints of canned green beans.
Planted, grown, canned, and to be eaten by us!

Getting Big

2011-07-17T18:47:00.000-06:00

The girls are getting bigger and bigger everyday; with this constant growing a few changes have been made around our house. Rachel has grown out of the bassinet and needed the space that the crib would provide, therefore Lauren has been booted out of the crib and has joyfully accepted "the big girl bed" as her new place of rest. I had been keeping an eye out for a toddler bed and mattress for a while but everything seemed kind of expensive. But thanks to Criagslist we got this little bed complete with mattress for $25 bucks. Not as good as free but definitely more in our price range. So thank you Craigslist. Lauren has been really good at staying in it for bedtime and even naps, I'll admit I was pretty worried about how it would all go down, but so far it hasn't been bad at all.

Our next big challenge is far more daunting to me than a bed though. We've decided to take the plunge starting tomorrow (I have a thing for starting goals or new things on Mondays) and start......potty training. I think Lauren is definitely ready and now seems to be a really good time to start. All the same though, it's like standing at the beginning of a marathon: you're excited for what you are about to accomplish, but at the same time you know it's going to be hard and messy and probably not go quite how you imagine and you already wish you were done with it. But like a marathon, the best and only way to get done with it is to go forward. And go forward we will...tomorrow. Wish us luck.

Fourth of July Festivities

2011-07-06T20:38:00.000-06:00

Apparently she was being chased

For the fourth we went to our ward pancake breakfast at the church the went to check out the parade with some friends. For some reason I assumed all parades were like the ones I'd seen in Utah and on TV: floats, marching bands, horses, firetrucks, people throwing candy, interspersed with various political figures riding in convertibles and the sidewalks are packed with people on camp chairs and blankets. Fun, right? So going in with this expectation Bloomington's parade was kind of lame, and as Ryan put it some of the so called floats were at little "kinky." There were a lot of fire trucks and dump trucks, flat bed trucks with people waving, and various other trucks. Basically it was like one big Bloomington commercial with various businesses riding down the street with their logo on the side of their truck interspersed with a couple flat bed trucks with people shouting out about what ever they feel like. Some of them did throw candy though, which Lauren thoroughly enjoyed. Maybe most this is how most parades outside Utah are and my expectations are too high. I don't know. Here are some pictures though.

Patriotic Lauren giving a pose

Classic Rachel face

Holiday Weekend

2011-07-06T11:52:00.001-06:00

Pancake breakfast while camping

So Ryan was home for a nice four day weekend last week, we were super excited and planned on getting lots done in the garden and around the house. The night he got home Lauren said she wanted to go to the beach (she must have gotten this from grandma), Ryan laughed and said the nearest beach was a long ways away. The wheels in my head started turning though. The next morning I received an email from an Indiana tourist site saying "Visit the Dunes! Your summer getaway!" The pictured it showed looked like a pretty good beach to me and the dunes are only 4 hours away on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. So I asked Ryan if he was up for a road drive/camping trip. He said he was game, then I called my sister in Michigan to see if her and her family wanted to meet us and camp that night then go to the lake the next day. For better or worse they dropped their plans for the evening and decided to join us. A few hours later we were on the road. It was great to be able to visit with Sarah, Steven and Jacqui. Lauren loves Jacqui and will follow her just about anywhere. That night while we were camping Lauren and I saw fireflies for the first time, it was awesome. Apparently it was so awesome that Lauren could sleep most the night. She tends to get more and more wound up the later it gets until finally she crashes. Because of this Ryan helped calm her down in the tent and Rachel and I slept in the car.

The beach

The next day our little girl who was so excited to go to the beach got sand in her eyes withing the first hour of being there. Within 30 minutes she had rubbed them so much that her eyes were red and puffy and she could barely she out of them. She was miserable and was crying about wanting to go home. Since there wasn't a whole lot we could do there to get her cleaned up (everything was covered with sand and just made it worse) and she was obviously not going to enjoy being there, we left Sarah and Steven at the beach and headed home. Our first stop of course being somewhere we could rinse out Lauren eyes and get the rest of her cleaned up.

Despite some craziness it was fun to get away and definitely worth the drive to see family and stick our feet in the water even if only for a few minutes :)

Summer Reading Challenge

2011-06-24T12:59:00.000-06:00

Our library is doing an adult summer reading program during the month of July. There are nine prompts to choose from and as you finish one you submit an entry that will put you in drawings for prizes. There are small drawings every week and then a big one on July 31st. You can only enter and entry for each prompt once. I thought this would be a good way for me to branch out a little bit, plus I like prizes.

Here are the prompts:
1. Reread a book you loved as a child.
2. Tackle the classic you "cliff-noted" in high school.
3. Discover a book of poetry and read some aloud.
4. Read a book written the year you were born.
5. Hoosier connection: read something about Bloomington or Indiana or by a Hoosier author.
6. Choose an author or the setting of a book that is foreign to you.
7. Play opposite day: Try nonfiction if you usually choose fiction or vice versa.
8. Spend an aimless hour exploring the Main Library, Ellettsville Library or Bookmobile or wandering the website. And/or ask a librarian to show you a reader's advisory database.
9. Find a book about an exercise or diet you have never tried and try it. (gluten free? tex-mex? yoga? chair exercises?)

Here are the ones I've done so far:
1. Reread a book you loved as a child.

The Boxcar Children
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
I loved this book, and the rest of the series, when I was younger. There was just something about it that would fire up my imagination; it was the ultimate way to play house. Sometimes I would pretend our bunk bed was a boxcar that I was living in. It was fun to read it again and remember how much I loved it when I was younger.

6. Choose an author or the setting of a book that is foreign to you.

Sofia Petrovna
by Lydia Chukovskaya
This is a story based on the experiences of the author and her friends and family during the Great Purge in Russia during the late 1930s. Sofia Petrovna works in a publishing house as a typist when various acquaintances and other workers disapear and are accused to being traitors to the Communist party. Sofia's son is taken and she spends her days standing in long lines at the prosecutors office hoping to hear any news of him. It was fascinating and heartbreaking to read what kind of experiences people in the Soviet Union went through, all the uncertainty when what you believed in all the sudden doesn't make any sense and takes your family away.

Christmas in June

2011-06-19T20:04:00.000-06:00

Ponies at Wheeler Farm with Aunt Leah

For our Christmas gift this past Christmas Ryan's parents said they would fly the four of us out for a visit to see our families. We opted to taken them up on it after the end of the semester when there was a little less craziness and nicer weather, well the weather wasn't as nice as we thought it would be but it was a great time all the same. Since it was our first time being back since we moved to Indiana we had a lot of visits to make with family and good friends, and of course some of our favorite places. We'd been hyping thing up with Lauren for months hoping that see would be excited to see a bunch of fun things, like the Hogle Zoo, Wheeler Farm, Temple Square, BYU (that wasn't for Lauren that was for Ryan and I). We wanted to check out some more things but figured we were trying too hard, all Lauren really wanted to do was play at grandma's house with toys, chase balls in the grass, and follow grandma's cat. Lauren did get to have her birthday party while we were out there, which she has been looking forward to and talking about for months. Every time we talked about going to Utah she would talk about her party with cupcakes and do a little dance. So we had a party with cupcakes and even some balloons, which are always a big hit with her.

Supervising the sheep

We had a great time being out there with our families again and the girls were great little travelers. We even got through airport security ok with us and all our loads of bags, car seats, stroller, and other miscellaneous whatever. One sad travel event though, we suffered a little casualty on the way back coming through the airport, our beloved Piggy. I'll have to write about that in another post though.

Thank you Woolsey Mom and Dad for the great Christmas present! It was a great trip!

Who knew these were at Wheeler Farm?

This is what Rachel did everywhere we went

I think Lauren wanted to see the temple more than anything else. She
was so excited to touch it and see the big Angel Moroni on top.

The zoo was supposed to be really fun but thanks to the new
animatronic dinosaurs she spent the whole time fearing for her life.

Making cupcakes with Grandma Merkley

Attempt at family picture

Typical shot of the girls, Rachel crying and Lauren is mad because
Rachel is touching her.

Lauren's new birthday outfit of choice.
Thanks Sarah, Steven, and Jacqui!

Lauren and her birthday loot

Our Own Little Piece of Indiana...

2011-05-29T12:15:00.000-06:00

sort of, actually we are renting it. All the same we are pretty excited about it. We decided that this year we wanted to rent a community garden plot and then I got really ambitious and decided to rent two! One is about 200 sq. ft. and the other is 100 sq. ft. The first time we went to the garden I was already regretting renting one at all. As soon as we started working Rachel started crying so spent most the time nursing her in the car and then the rest of the time she just wanted to be held, luckily Lauren was happy to dig in the dirt with her own little shovel and rake. We have discovered since then that the best time to go is when Rachel wants to take a nap then Ryan and I can both get things done. Lauren has been really great in the garden. She loves to plant seeds and dig.

Our smaller plot

Our tomatoes :)

Hopefully our plants survive all the torrential downpours.

We also got to Utah just in time to help Grandpa Woolsey plant his garden...

Likes to feel the dirt between her toes

She's a natural

Three Years

2011-05-05T11:47:00.001-06:00

Tuesday May 3rd marked a wonderful three years for us. It has been a pretty awesome, adventure filled three years. I love Ryan, he is wonderful! :)

Our Highlights:

Trip to Zion (just us, someday we'll be able to do a trip like that again)
Birth of Lauren
Both of us graduated from BYU
We moved to Indiana
Birth of Rachel
Ryan is now half way through grad school (yay!)

On top of Angels Landing in Zion Ntnl. Park

Graduation from BYU

The day we brought Lauren home from the hospital

Rachel's blessing day

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T18:36:00.000-06:00

So we have had a great and rainy Easter weekend. Here are a few pictures:

Dying eggs, Lauren thought this part was pretty cool

Skirts from Sarah

Every time the skirt started to slip Lauren would pull it
up to her armpits

Easter dresses from grandma

Goal #1: Cloth Diapers

2011-04-24T18:21:00.000-06:00

Since it was Earth Day on Friday, I’ll start off talking about this goal. This will probably be way more information than most of you want to know, so if you don’t care to know then skip this post and conclude to yourself that we've turned into a bunch of hippies. If you are interested though here it is…

We actually didn’t start cloth diapers because we wanted to be more environmentally friendly, though that is an added benefit, basically we’re just poor. I've thought a little bit about using cloth diapers before but my biggest hang-ups were not knowing anyone that used them (aside from parents and grandparents), not wanting to turn our washing machine into a poop can, and they seemed hard to use and time consuming, not to mention gross. Around the time Lauren was born my older sister started using them, then I started to find out about other friends or neighbors that used them. I wrote a couple of websites down but didn't really have the time to do much research. The first month after Rachel was born diapers for both girls got kind of expensive. Doing the math, we would save over $1000 a year by switching to cloth diapers. Money, in this
case, turned out to be a good motivator, so I started researching. In two and half months of researching and trying different things out, I feel like I've learned a lot and we are starting to get into a pretty good groove. After starting a stopping with Lauren a couple times, we've now had her in cloth diapers for about three weeks. Yay

If you care to know, here are a few things I’ve learned and a few links to get more information
that I found to be really helpful:

First of all if you are handy with a sewing machine you may consider making your own cloth diapers, cloth wipes and wet bags. I know a few people that have done that and say it is much cheaper than buying them, plus you can customize them to whatever works best for your kid. Since I don’t have a sewing machine, nor am I handy with one, we bought ours. Our budget is structured in a way that I only have a certain amount allotted for baby stuff each month, so I have built up what we have over the course of a few months. It has been kind of nice to do it this way because I've been able to hit a lot more sales and try a few different things.

While looking up cloth diapers the variety is pretty overwhelming. It’s difficult to know what will work. A lot of it is really just a preference issue, if you want something really fast and easy (similar to a disposable) or if you don’t mind having to fold a cloth and then wrap it around your baby’s bum, or if you want something in between. It also depend on what works for your kid. Regardless of what kind you get though, they will be more bulky than disposables; that’s just the nature of them. We use several different kinds and they have all worked pretty well on Lauren. They are all "One-size" which means they have adjustable snaps so the diaper can get bigger as your child gets bigger. The only problem I have found with these is that Rachel still doesn't fit into them very well yet, granted she is pretty small and skinny. So depending on how big your newborns typically are you may want to get some newborn cloth diapers. There are several newborn options that that will fit babies from around 5 lbs. up to 10 or 15 lbs. By the time they are 10 to 15 lbs. they should fit into the "one-size" diapers pretty well.

The websites I've been on recommend 20-24 cloth diapers for newborns (if you wash them every other day), and then you can get by with less as your child gets older. Lauren, for instance only goes through about 5-6 a day, and I wash diapers about every other day. I've got about 26 “one- size” diapers though because both Lauren and Rachel will be using them.

Since we are now to the point that I haven’t had to buy disposables in a couple months, I’m actually really glad that we switched to cloth diapers. Call me crazy but I get a lot of satisfaction out of throwing a load of diapers into the washing machine and using them again, as opposed to paying around $100 bucks for disposables that are all going to be thrown away. I think it has been a pretty good investment and that it will now start paying off. We've spent around $250 total on everything we have (cloth diapers, cloth wipes, wet bags, detergent) and I feel like we have plenty for both girls.

Here are the websites I've used and found to be really helpful. Most of them also have really good general information on types of cloth diapers and how to use them. There are also reviews on products which I found incredibly helpful. All of these websites sell several kinds of diapers, wipes and other diapering accessories:

www.clothdiaperclearance.com Has various items on clearance, overstock, and seconds
www.cottonbabies.com This company manufactures BumGenius, Flip, and Econobum and has free shipping to anywhere in the US
www.simplewondersdiapers.com
www.jilliansdrawers.com Sells various new and gently used diapers (Gently used have been used for 21 days or less)
www.kellyscloset.com Always has some kind of sale or coupon (Check under the coupon tab near the top of the screen). Sometimes has gently used diapers for sale.

If you have some money to put into it, Jillian's Drawers and Kelly's Closet (the bottom two websites) have sample packages that let you try several kinds of diapers for a few weeks and then return any you don't like for a full refund. Used is also a really good way to go if you want to try several different kinds and don’t have a lot of money up front. The websites all have pretty good return policies but be sure and read them closely.

Goals

2011-04-24T18:09:00.000-06:00

Even though it is way past the beginning of the year I felt like actually writing down (or typing) a few goals that I have for this year:

1) Get both girls in cloth diapers
2) Eat / Cook Healthier for myself and family
3) Exercise on a regular basis

I figure three is plenty especially since these will all take a fair amount of time and thought. I’ll try and make posts occasionally with details about they are going and if I find anything that does or does not work really well. I’d also really appreciate any comments, suggestions or recipes that have worked well for anyone else.

Recently

2011-03-19T12:22:00.000-06:00

So this will be the last post with pictures for a little while. Someone stole our digital camera and I don't know when we'll be able to get a new one. Luckily we already had most the pictures downloaded onto our computer, but all the same I'm pretty ticked about the whole situation. I don't even care so much about the monetary value, it wasn't a super nice or fancy camera, but it was more valuable to us in the sense that we could share the pictures and movies with our families that are not close by and whom we don't see often.

All that aside, we had a great couple months. Both the girls are doing well and growing quickly and we were even fortunate enough to have some family come out to visit. Lauren was in heaven the whole time and talks about seeing them again a couple times a day. Here are some pictures from hanging out with family:

Jacqui and Steven with Rachel

Rachel's new dress from Sarah and Steven (Thank you!)

Family picture after blessing Rachel

Rachel and Lauren with Grandma and Grandpa Woolsey

Lauren in her super cute pig hat from Sarah and Steven :)

Hitching a ride on Grandpa

We are all very excited to be able to go out to Utah in a couple months and visit. Lauren is really looking forward to her party with "tuptakes" (cupcakes), jumping in the grass, seeing both sets of "Mamer and Papa" (Grandma and Grandpa), and catching balls with Uncle Nate and Uncle Mike.

Some other good news is Ryan got an internship for the summer and we had our first ever spring break! We didn't do anything super exciting for spring break but Ryan was able to get a lot done. Last good news is that it is starting to get warmer and we have been able to hit up a few parks. We can't wait for spring to really set in.

Cute Girls

2011-02-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

We love our girls:

Quirks and Perks

2011-02-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

Lauren's favorite dress

So I really wanted to do this post about Lauren before Rachel was born but didn't quite get to it. Lauren, being the adorable 20 month old girl that she is has developed some very amusing quirks as of late, I am quite sad that I am not able to capture pictures of all of them, but here they are all the same. First, she is very in to dresses. She likes to wear one every day, the same one actually. It is pink and has butterflies and flowers and if I haven't hid it from her then she insists on wearing it over whatever outfit she has on. And of course it never matches, I've stopped caring and I'll take her anywhere regardless. If she can not wear this beloved dress then she has to wear her jacket, the pink one with flower buttons. These are her favorites but occasionally she will settle for another dress or jacket. One that always makes me laugh is when she wears her rain jacket with the hood, she always has to have to hood on. Lauren also loves to brush her teeth. This made me very excited because we don't have to fight her while getting ready for bed. Sometimes I even have to take her toothbrush away from her kicking and screaming. I never thought I would have to forcibly make my child stop brushing her teeth but I just don't want her chewing on it all day and sticking it heaven knows where. Another quirk as of late has been sleeping with her towel. This started out just to be something she liked to do after she had a bath but now she has to sleep with her towel underneath her in her bed every night and every nap. She started wailing one night because she did not have her towel in her bed, since she rarely cries when going to bed I hurried up to she what she needed. She just kept saying "towel, towel" over and over; quick fix, so I hurried and got it. Lauren is also very tidy. This is one of my favorite things. Before going to bed we always clean up all her toys in her room. Just tonight we cleaned her room and then I told her to go get her stories, on her way to get her stories she found at least five little things that needed to be put away or in the garbage. She wouldn't get her stories until that was done. If anything spills on the floor she will run in the kitchen and get the towel hanging on the oven door and wipe it up. She will even clean up after me sometimes, putting things in the garbage or closing drawer behind me. (She must get that from her dad).

Lauren and Daddy in the "snack spot"

Another one of my favorite things is the "snack spot." At various times during the day Lauren will tell me that she wants a snack, so we go and check out the pantry at get our snack. I just got really lazy and wouldn't even take the snack to the table, but would just park it right there on the floor outside the pantry. Now whenever we go to the pantry and get out a snack Lauren will say "snack" and sit down on the floor. (This spot is especially nice in the winter, since there is a heater vent right there.)
Lauren has always been so wonderful and helpful. She loves doing what I do: "helping" me brush my teeth, putting on my deodorant (with the cap on), brushing her hair, and especially cooking in the kitchen. She always insists on sitting up on the counter by me so that she can watch and help mix. Lauren has also been great with Rachel. She loves to go up and talk to her and show her pictures in our books, especially the pictures of Jesus in her scripture. She also keeps me informed if Rachel is crying or has spit up some "cheese," as we call it.
I love Lauren so much, her silliness and smiles always make it a good day. Ryan and I just love to laugh at all the funny things she says and does and the way that she gets excited about anything and everything. Thank heaven for little girls!

We have a static problem

And Then There Were Four...

2011-01-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

On January 18th at 3:11am, our little Rachel Catherine was born. She weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. and is healthy and hopefully happy to be here. One of the most amazing things was when Lauren and Ryan came to visit. I hadn't realized just how big Lauren had become--she's huge compared to Rachel. Since the labor and everything went well and we were all able to come home the next day, which was really nice considering Ryan and Lauren were at home. I can't say that Rachel is super good at eating or sleeping yet, but we're working on it. It has been a pretty overwhelming week with Ryan going back to school but every day we figure out a little bit more and things are getting better. Lauren has been having a little bit of a hard time adjusting, though she does seem to like Rachel. The first day Rachel was home I was changing her and Ryan was reading to Lauren in another room; Lauren heard Rachel crying and stopped Ryan mid-story (which she never does) and ran in and gave Rachel her Piggy, which is a big deal because Piggy happens to be her favorite little friend that she rarely ever shares. Lauren does get angry with me though, mostly when I don't respond to her needs as quickly as she would like. Luckily Rachel does takes naps during the day and so Lauren gets some one on one time then. Mostly I've been so grateful for our ward and my wonderful visiting teachers, who have made sure that we've had meals and that Lauren's had places to go if needed. I'm also grateful for how quickly I felt like I was able to heal. Even though I'm not totally back to normal I have been feeling really good and have even managed to get a few showers this week :)

Here are a whole bunch of pictures of the blessed event:

Daddy's Girls

Yay for hospital food

Daddy and Rachel

Checking things out

Classic Dad and Baby sleeping pose

Just for scale, Rachel and Lauren's doll

Rachel and Lauren (and Piggy)

Taking a snooze

Our Girls

Catching Up Again...

2010-12-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure how to best sum up the past couple months other than with pictures and some videos. So here are some from our church Halloween party. I let Lauren pick her costumes from a few that I thought were cute. It was definitely no surprise what she chose:

Our favorite red monster

Elmo and Dad

Lauren even got to do some trunk-or-treating, the proceeds of which were heavily taxed by Ryan and I, mostly me though (I like treats). Besides Lauren shouldn't eat that much candy anyway, and I was sure to save the fruit snacks and other small treats for her.

Thanksgiving was also a blast. My cousins invited us out to Columbus, Ohio, where we stuffed ourselves silly and watched all the kids run around like banshees. Sadly I didn't get a picture of that part, but I did get some of the Air Force Museum that we checked out the day after Thanksgiving.

Lauren and cousin Jacque

Jacque is Lauren's favorite

Lauren and Dad checking out the cockpit

The next cool thing that has happened is Bloomington got a whole bunch of snow, which apparently never happens in December. Missing our Utah winters, we were very excited and got out to make a snowman at the best possible opportunity. Sadly our snowman didn't even last an hour before the neighbor boys pummeled him to the ground. At least I got some pictures beforehand though...

First Snow

Quite warm and poofy

Our Snowman

And finally some randomness about Lauren. She has started talking a lot more lately and is starting to get a little more understandable. Some of my favorite things she has said include once when we were at the grocery store and I was getting her some Cheerios, Ryan told her that I was going to buy them; the whole rest of the time we were in the store and all the way home she kept repeating "Buy it, buy it." I told Ryan that I was always going to take her shopping with me and Ryan said that he was never going to give her plastic (debit/credit card). Another one of my favorite moments was when we woke up to it snowing outside and so we went downstairs and sat in front of the window snuggled up in a blanket with just the Christmas lights on. Lauren leaned back on me and sighed and said "Happy." It was so cute. She likes to point to her self regularly now and say "happy" and then point to Ryan and I and say "happy" and wait for us to agree. Mostly though she likes to identify things, and if she doesn't know what it is she'll ask "what's that?" It's lots of fun and I feel like she is soaking up everything.

Here are two silly movies for your enjoyment:

Arts and Crafts

2010-10-21T15:30:00.000-06:00

So I’ve never been one who was very crafty, but being out of school and home all day has allowed more time for some exploration into my long lost or barely existent crafty side. Most of this is crocheted stuff. I started learning how to crochet this summer because I wanted to make cute stuff for Lauren. I found a book at the BYU bookstore on clearance for $5 with patterns for little kids and started trying things. So don’t look too closely at the crocheted stuff, I’m still learning J

I saw another little girl with a hat like this and that's what made me want to learn to crochet

A little something to make our apartment feel more fallish

Storage pockets

A birthday present for my brother-in-law, Michael

Catching Up

2010-10-21T15:23:00.003-06:00

We currently don’t have the internet at our apartment so there is a lot of catching up to do, hence the wave of blog posts. So I’ll start with the big news first that most of you know anyway, but for those of you who don’t we are having another little girl the end of January. We’re pretty excited, I can’t entirely speak for Lauren though she doesn’t really get it, but I don’t think she’s opposed to the idea…yet. When we were getting the ultrasound she started clapping when the doctor said it was a girl, I’m sure she had no idea what that meant but just felt like something excited had just been said. I’ve tried to explain to her that there is a baby in my tummy and she just pats her tummy and says “baby.” Whenever I even say the word baby she’ll come over lift up my shirt, pat my tummy and say “baby,” or lift up her own shirt and say “baby.” The best part is when she climbs up on Ryan and pats his tummy and says “baby.”

Lauren is at such a fun age right now, I love it. She understands and responds to a lot of what we say to her and is getting better at communicating in a more understandable way to us. She has a very funny and animated personality and loves just being silly. Going to parks is almost a daily activity and all we do is go down the slides and sometimes swing on the swings. Reading books is still one of her favorite past times and her repertoire has expanded way beyond her baby books and includes books on politics, the Supreme Court, law, geography, religion, and public finance. It makes me laugh how she will consistently pull the same books off the shelf: the US Atlas, World Politics (mostly for the pictures of maps), Gideon’s Trumpet, Founding Brothers, etc. She also loves to flip through the pages of our scriptures and the Gospel Principles manual, and points out all the pictures of Jesus. I’m so amazed every day at how much she is watching and picking up on everything we do and say. She will automatically fold her arms to pray when we sit down to eat or before we put her to bed, she likes brushing her hair after I brush mine or likes to help me brush my teeth. Lauren is also a great helper in the kitchen and will carry things from the pantry over to the counter or from the kitchen out to the table, and loves “mixing” things. It makes cooking take a lot longer but I love how she is so excited to help. I love being able to be home with her every day and see all the funny things she does.

Lauren and Daddy

SLIDES!!!

The climb up the slide didn't end well

More Pics of Campus

2010-10-21T15:17:00.000-06:00

Here are some more pictures of campus...

The library, the outside is supposed to look like stacks of books

The student building that also doubles as a hotel. It's huge.

This is actually just off of campus, but I love the hanging flowers.

Bloomington in the Fall

2010-10-21T15:11:00.000-06:00

I love Bloomington in the fall; all the trees have exploded in reds, oranges, and yellows. For family night a couple weeks ago we just played in the leaves. Lauren was pretty skeptical at first but she got the hang of it and I think enjoyed it; whenever we go outside now she goes and sits in the leaves and throws a few in the air.

The community has a lot of fun things going on all the time. Just earlier this week we went to a swap meet. Anyone can bring things to donate and then if you donate you get a ticket to come back at certain hours the next day, after those hours it is open to anyone in the community to come. There were all kinds of things: appliances, books, electronics, clothes, furniture, bikes, etc., and everything there is free, so you just show up, paw through things and take whatever you want. Our ward does a similar thing at activities sometimes. They call it an exchange table and you can bring and/or take anything you want. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure right? All I can say is Lauren is getting some fun things for Christmas and it has all totaled to less than $30.

Indiana!!!!

2010-08-30T09:46:00.000-06:00

Well the move was successful and we survived our first week in a “real” college town. While there are definitely some things we miss about Utah and even Provo (oddly enough), for the most part we really like it here. Everyone we’ve met, even those we’ve chased down on the street to ask for directions, has been so friendly and more than willing to go out of their way to help us out. The campus and town are beautiful, there are trees everywhere, lots of butterflies, and most of the buildings are made out of limestone, which gives the campus a really old, academic feel. It is a bit more humid here and it seems like there are a lot more bugs. The water also has a very “earthy” taste to it, which apparently is because of all the minerals in it. I feel like we’re starting to acclimate to things though.

We love our new place, especially not having anyone living above or below. We do share one wall with our neighbors, but they’re hardly home and are pretty quiet otherwise. While Ryan was at orientation all last week Lauren and I worked on getting the house together. My goal was to have it all put together by the time Ryan started class, which is today, and after about a dozen trips to various stores and taking care of the ant problem, I think we made it.

Lauren has been adjusting pretty well, especially after rediscovering all her toys and stuffed animals that have been packed away all summer. She loves being in her room and playing and getting out all of her books and looking at them or reading them with us. She likes to keep three or four going at the same time. I think the most difficult adjustment for her has been being home with just me all day. For the past year Ryan and I always traded back and forth all day and took turns going to class, or we lived at the Woolsey’s and always had grandparents or aunts and uncles nearby. But now she’s stuck with me all day until Ryan gets home in the evenings, then she follows him around everywhere until bedtime. She loves looking at family pictures though, and pointing everyone out. Thank heaven for parks though and we’re starting to make more friends and get to know other kids at church that we can play with.

All in all, things are going great and we know this is where we are supposed to be. We are really looking forward to the next few years and all the new experiences they will bring.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the move and our townhouse; I’ll post more of campus and Bloomington soon:

Home

Lauren's special chair

Lauren's Room

Lauren reading her books


View out of our back window

Universal Destoyer of the Human Spirit

2010-07-04T08:16:00.000-06:00

"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference." — Eli Wiesel

This is part of a facinating article that appeared in the Deseret News yesterday. Here is the link to the full article if you are interested: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700045266/Indifference-is-the-universal-destroyer-of-the-human-spirit.html

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

2010-07-04T07:39:00.000-06:00

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Hoosiers, Graduation, and First Birthday

2010-05-26T15:20:00.002-06:00

So it has become time for a massive update, tons has happened the past three months. The first and probably biggest piece of news is that Ryan was accepted to Indiana University to start grad school in the fall! Which of course means that we are moving to Indiana in August! We're pretty excited to say the least. Ryan was also awarded an awesome fellowship, which of course sweetens the deal. Ryan flew out in March to check out campus and housing a little bit and he loved it, so he turned in his acceptance stuff right there on the spot. I know essentially nothing about Indiana, but I've heard good things about the Midwest from people that have lived there. So we're trading in our cougar blue for crimson Hoosier red (I don't even know what a Hoosier is), and looking forward to a new start.

The next big thing that happened was graduation. Ryan and I both graduated at the end of April with our bachelor's degrees. Ryan in Russian and me in Construction Management. My "official" graduation is actually in August since a few of my independent study grade didn't get submitted in time, but I'm done with all real course work and it feels great. We barely survived finals week though, with all our final papers and projects we were going crazy, Lauren decided to go crazy too. She has been a trooper all year long, but in that last week she decided enough was enough. She literally screamed every time I left the house and decided that it was time to cut her first teeth, all four of them at once. Which in turn led to explosions every half hour for four days. One of those explosions happened to be all over my mom in the middle of convocation. They both had poop all over them, and spent the rest of convocation in the car. A few days after graduation we moved out of Provo and back to West Jordan, where we are living in Ryan's parents basement to help save money for the BIG move. Ryan will be starting an internship in about a week, but in the mean time we've loved having him home and Lauren has loved having both of us home all the time instead of in shifts.

Ever since we moved Lauren has turned into a whole new kid. I think it is due to all the extra attention. She loves playing with her uncles and most days we can't even get her to eat breakfast or dinner because she is too busy making googley eyes at her uncles and grandpa. Today is her first birthday and it is amazing to look at how much we have all changed in the past year. It seems like it has been so much longer than a year, we love her so much and have enjoyed every minute of her. She has such a funny personality. She squeals in delight whenever Ryan or I chases her and loves to push or pull anything that can be pushed or pulled. She is on the verge of walking and loves trying to pick up large or heavy things like scriptures or soccer balls. I love her smiles, her big hugs, and her laugh and especially when she crawls over and lays on my chest, sighs and says "Mom." Having her made getting though school hard, but also easier at the same time. She could always brighten my day when I got home and she would almost jump out of Ryan's arms to see me. Every time I did poorly on a test she could always made it better and helped me remember what is really important. I love watching her discover new things and learn every day. She has been catching on to things so quickly, it is so amazing to watch. We love Lauren and look forward to lots more years. Happy Birthday Lauren!

Nothing like a little negotiation to get you excited to go to the dentist...

2010-02-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

In light of some pricey dental work I've had done in the past couple weeks, here is something to make you laugh, or at least smile a little bit. On of my teachers showed this in class when we were talking about negotiations. I'm sure Ryan wished he could have done this before I went to the dentist. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB9c2ocJOx4

Calling Out ShAnneDrew Strabley!!!

2010-01-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Shiloh,
Since I know you are one of the only people who reads this blog, this post is for you. As you know we got Ryan's favorite game, Carcassonne, for Christmas. Due to an awesome sale at the toy store, we bought two of the expansions over the weekend: Traders & Builders and the Dragon. We played yesterday and they pretty much rock, even though Ryan totally kicked my trash. We're calling you guys out for a game night, at your convenience of course. You pick the time, we've got the place. Prepare to get your game on!

Sincerely,
RyLaurNah Woozly

Last Semester!!

2010-01-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

We're already three weeks into our last semester! At times it seems like April won't come fast enough, but there is so much to get done in between now and then. Ryan and I both have about 13 credits this semester and then I have 3 independent study courses to finish my April 2nd in order for them to count for graduation in April. I made a very idealistic plan of how to accomplish it all over Christmas break but now I'm way behind where I need to be, time to kick it into high gear I guess...or just postpone graduation, but I really just want to be done. Ryan has just finished applying to grad schools, sadly we won't find out anything until March or April.

On another note though, Christmas break was great and Lauren is growing like a weed. She is currently on the verge of crawling and will only do it out of shear desperation. She gets up on all fours then takes one crawl and then plops back down on her stomach and flails her arms and whines until she realizes that I 'm not coming to pick her up and then she'll come one more crawl and plop back down again. This will usually repeat about 4 times and then she refuses to go any further and starts crying. One of these days she'll figure out that it is an effective way to get around.

Here are some of the recent pictures:

Christmas Morning

Lauren loved all the paper

Her new dress that Grandpa got from Russia

Playing with stacking cups

Crawling position

Final Finals

2009-12-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

We finally both finished our finals on Friday evening. This semester has definitely been a stressful one, Lauren has been such a trooper though. It's been weird for me to not even be worried about getting super good grades but just trying to pass my classes. At least my grades will be able to spell words though, words like BAD, ADD or ACE (hopefully no E's though...). We've now got two weeks of blessed Christmas break.Wahoo!!
Here's some pictures of getting ready for Christmas...Lauren is a great helper...

The Christmas Spirit

2009-12-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

Check out this clip if you haven't seen it anywhere else yet. . .

The Christmas Spirit

To Sleep or Not to Sleep?...I wish it weren't a question

2009-11-20T08:32:00.001-07:00

So after two months of Lauren sleeping through the night and then out of no where three weeks of her waking up every hour or two I was starting to go a little crazy. It was still another month until her 6 month check up and I didn't want to wait that long to get her to start sleeping again. So I went to the library and got a bunch of books about getting babies to sleep. Turns out she just needed to go to bed way earlier, so we've started a little bedtime routine and put her down at about 7pm every night. She's been doing it for about two weeks now and it has made a world of difference. It took a few nights of letting her cry herself to sleep, sometimes for nearly an hour, but she goes down pretty quickly now and she sleeps about 7pm to 6 am. The sleep schedule works out pretty sweet for all involved, I'm getting way more homework done, just in time to save my grades this semester (hopefully).
We are now in the process of attacking Lauren's nap schedule, which until this point has been pretty much non-existent. She has never really been one to take naps, even when she was just a few weeks old we'd be lucky if she went down for an hour or two. It's coming along pretty slow but I think she is starting to realize that she needs naps.

So when she doesn't take naps she goes a little crazy. She will laugh her head off at everything for a while and then start screaming. This is the state I found her in about a week ago when I got home from class. It was around 5pm and she had decided to continue her nap strike that day... she usually doesn't even think this game is very funny...

A Beautiful Piece of Music

2009-11-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

So Ryan found this piece of music yesterday and I just thought I'd share. It's really pretty, sorry I don't know what the words mean but hopefully one of you can figure it out; I'm sure they're really pretty too. It's by a minimalist composer named Arvo Part, it's called Fur Alina. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQJGi9ZLpHE

Mozart Shmozart

2009-11-02T13:00:00.002-07:00

So Ryan discovered this morning that our little Lauren is a child prodigy. You think composing at age 5 is cool? how bout 5 months. We're expecting her first symphony next week...

Trick or Treat

2009-11-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

We had a great day on Halloween spending it in West Jordan with family. In the morning we were able to go through the temple with Ryan's brother and then just chilled and did homework the rest of the afternoon. That evening we dressed Lauren up and took her trick- or-treating to a couple of the neighbors. Ryan and I didn't dress up cause we're lame but I couldn't pass up this cute costume for Lauren. I must say she made off pretty good for only going to a couple houses, too bad Ryan charged a candy tax on everything she got...well almost everything. She got a bunch of baby food from Grandma Woolsey, which Ryan didn't want and we also let her try a dum-dum sucker from Grandma Merkley. She was cute as a bug though. :)

Costume Preview

St. George Marathon

2009-10-05T08:29:00.001-06:00

Over the weekend we headed down to St. George so Ryan could run in the marathon. It was a fun trip and nice to get away for a few days. It was also pretty nice to stay in a hotel this year instead of a rainy campground. Lauren even participated in her first "race," actually it was the Mayor's Walk so I'm not sure that really qualifies as a race. She did great though, just slept in her stroller the whole time while I pushed. When we made back to the finish line to watch for Ryan we were worried that we had missed him so we went down to the end to go find him. We looked for about 45 minutes and couldn't find him anywhere. I could have kicked myself for not arranging a place to meet before hand. Ryan's dad and I even checked the injury list and first aid tent because we were so sure that he had to have come in already. Luckily we saw him just as he was coming through the shoot. He ran out of steam early and had to walk a lot of the last few miles, but he finished! It was way slower than his previous time but that's okay. I was so excited that we found him that I didn't get any pictures; but we got some of Lauren in her race day shirt :)

Ryan got pretty tired on the way home, so we decided to let Lauren take the wheel.

New Tricks, a Best Friend and Bear Lake

2009-08-15T10:14:00.000-06:00

Lots has been going these past couple weeks. Lauren is now about two and a half months old and getting big so fast. Some days it seems as though she gets bigger between the time Ryan leaves for work and the time he gets home. She has even been learning some new tricks, my personal favorite is sleeping from 10pm to 5am every night. :) She has started grabbing and hanging on to things better; she is a big fan of her rattle and any other toys that make noise. Lauren is also getting better at holding her head up and every now and then she'll roll over. Even though these tricks kind of make her sound like a dog, she has definitely got a personality of her own. Speaking of pets, Lauren has new little best friend. His name is George, George the Giraffe. As Ryan puts it he is a cross between a giraffe and a flying squirrel. Lauren loves to cuddle up with him during naps and chew on his face. This is the closest she will be getting to a pet for quite a while.

Last week we got to go to Bear Lake with my family. Which was Lauren's first experience with camping. She did quite well. The forecast said that it was pretty much supposed to rain the whole time but the weather stayed good until the morning that we left. We were able to rent a canoe and a paddle boat and make a pretty sweet sand castle. Jacqui got quite a kick out of just about everything. It was a lot of fun.

Summer term for me is finally over. It was only 7 weeks but it seemed like so much longer because we were all trying to adjust to so many things. I think Lauren handled me being in school quite well, I was only gone for two hours a night though and in the fall it will be a lot crazier. We have two weeks until fall semester starts, but until then Lauren is enjoying the extra attention and not having to eat every meal at the computer or having a book propped up behind her (I must say though, I am getting a lot better at typing one handed).

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-13T08:29:00.000-06:00

Here in Provo they have what's called Freedom Days, it runs pretty much all summer with all sort of activities. On July 3rd at 6:30am they launch hot air balloons from a field. People come from all over the country with their hot air balloons to participate. We decied to go check it out...

Laundry Day

2009-07-02T08:34:00.001-06:00

Deep in the heart of the Provo jungle, along the trenches of University Avenue, dwells a creature few have witnessed. Neither the man nor women, whom she holds captive, have been able to resist her powers, especially at feeding time! Her most powerful weapons include projectile venom from both ends, earth-shaking hiccups, and the most deadly pouty face followed by a chin-quivering, paralyzing cry to which none have been able to resist succumbing. The creature is covered with brown and blonde fuzz, has large blue eyes and a monstrous mouth, containing a long tongue. Her covering changes daily so it is often difficult to identify her; however only today, laundry day, were we able to discover her true identity……The SOCK MONSTER!!!!! Our photographer barely escaped with her life and these were the only photos that could be salvaged. The only hope for humanity is to calm her into a state of happiness or to lull her to sleep. Signs of this state include a smile, non-threatening noises or a larger than life yawn. Be cautioned though, that in this state she can easily be startled and then all hope may be lost.

Tulips!

2009-07-01T10:40:00.000-06:00

So for our anniversary back in the beginning of May we went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was pretty sweet, I highly recommend it.

Lauren Marie

2009-06-02T07:47:00.000-06:00

I was approaching 5 days past the due date and getting to the point where I was sick of being told how big I was and asked when the baby was due. Luckily Memorial Day held the turning point...I'll attribute going into labor to cutting down the willow tree (I wasn't actually doing any cutting, just taking branches to the dumpster) and taking Jacqui, my niece, on wheelbarrow rides. The next morning, on May 26th at 4am I woke up to contractions that were about 5 minutes apart. My water broke around 4:15 and I woke up Ryan to tell him to start getting ready to go and at 5am we were admitted into the hospital. Our room had an awesome view of Mount Timpanogous and the Maceys parking lot, I wish I had a picture. 14 hours, several games of Skip-bo, some channel surfing, a couple naps and one epidural later, at 6:10pm Lauren Marie Woolsey was born. She was 8lbs. 1oz. and 20 inches long, brown hair and blue eyes (which I am told all Caucasian babies have when they are born). We stayed in the hospital for about two days before we could take her home. The days of a good nights sleep are now over, but we wouldn't trade her for anything. Her latest and greatest tricks include projectile spit up (which sometimes shoots far enough that it doesn't even touch her clothes), kicking off her diaper, and blowing spit bubbles. Life is good.

Married People Have Blogs

2009-06-01T19:05:00.000-06:00

So I have been told by several people that single people have facebook and married people have blogs, so since we are married here is our blog. Sad when you work with computers all day and then it takes you two hours and looking at everyone else's blogs to figure out how to set up your own; but here it is how ever great or not so great. Honestly I have been prolonging this for quite sometime mainly because I couldn't think of a name for it and I couldn't think of anything interesting to say, but we've had a few interesting things happen as of late so I decided now is as good a time as any. Maybe someday I'll even be able to get Ryan to write a post or two. I hope you enjoy the adventures of the Woolsey's.