Laudie Family

Valentine's Crafts - Day 2

2011-02-07T10:02:00.001-08:00

We did another little activity on Friday. We made tissue-paper flowers. Amy loved this. Even though I had to do most of the work for her, since scissors are hard and she's a little rough with separating the tissue paper, she has been carrying around the flowers every day since!

Financial Goals for 2011

2011-02-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

The past year and a half have been crazy, to say the least. We have moved 4 times (including a short stint at my in-law's house) and have changed jobs 3 times. After all the craziness of life and this economy, we are determined not to be thrown into panic-mode anymore.

Our solution? We are going to put aside, what we consider, a year's supply of money. This is not the amount we would spend if we were employed, but should the economy freak-out, should Mike's company suddenly close, or some other devastating event, we don't want to have to immediately move or worry how long we can survive with the amount of money we have saved. So we decided to buckle down for a year and put away a large amount into our savings each month.

So January has come. And we did it! We were able to put away the full amount we wanted to, plus a little extra! We did go over on some of our budget items, but we stayed under on the others. So we are pretty darn proud of ourselves! In fact, with the money we had saved from our previous savings, plus January, plus February and our tax refund (woo hoo!), we will possibly be halfway there already! Although we plan to save for the entire 12 months, putting aside more for a down-payment for a future house and a celebratory trip to Europe hopefully planned for Summer 2013!

Valentine's Crafts - Day 1

2011-02-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I strive to be a good mom. I feel like I'm succeeding this week. I've decided that, during Matthew's naptimes, Amy and I are going to do a Valentine's craft / activity / something together. Yesterday was the first day, and we made Valentine's placemats for the table. Cardstock, stickers, glue, sequins, and doilies, along with some contact paper, makes a fun little placemat for the family. And she had a lot of fun doing it ("Mom, I want to do the glue myself.").

Great job Amy!

Funny Amy

2011-02-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a new year, so it's time for the Biggest Lewis-er again... yes, we put all our weight back on... dang it. The goood news? I'm winning (bring it everyone!)... so far! I bought some special K, and by bought I mean got for .15 a box with a coupon the other day. Amy asked for some, but knowing she probably wouldn't like this non-sugared cereal and not wanting to waste my healthy food, I told her it was for mommies who wanted to get skinny.

Well, the next week she was at my in-law's house while Mike and I were out. My MIL, whom I had sent an extra of my super duper cheap boxes of Special K to, asked Amy if she wanted a bite of her cereal. To which Amy responded, "No, it's for mommies to get skinny." My confused in-laws got a good laugh out of that one!

This is what my kids look like each morning when they have their morning snack of cereal and Toy Story.

An excuse to wear a formal!

2011-01-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

I love to dress up. Any excuse to doll myself up, I'm in. Usually I prefer it when I'm thinner... but I've lost some weight, so it was okay this time. My MIL, mine and Mike's birthdays, bought us tickets to their ward's YW fundraiser. It was a formal dinner and dance. So we went through the closets, sorted through a lot of jewelry, gloves, and purses, and got all dolled up. The girls got a flower for their hair, the boys got a rose for their lapel, and we dined and danced the night away, complete with Salsa dancing instructions and a band. The YW served us delicious food (note to self: get that gravy recipe) and we had a great time visiting with friends and family. And I got to go out with my good looking hubby! Thanks Mom & Dad Laudie!

P.S. Our night out also included babysitting. I don't think the kids minded at all!

Note to Amy: Don't fall asleep near your brother. He will pile dolls on your back.

Happy 30th Birthday Mike!

2011-01-25T18:28:00.000-08:00

30 years ago, Michael Richard Laudie graced the world with his presence.

30 years later... he's still here! Hooray for us!

My sweetheart turned 30 today. While we had originally intended for it to be a little more of a low-key day, the kids and I just couldn't pass up the excuse to shower him with love and attention. We started off the day by delivering cupcakes, balloons, and a candy bar to his work - just so everyone would know it was his birthday! It's so fun that he finally works somewhere that we can do that - everywhere else has been in classified areas and we couldn't sneak up on him!

Then we came home and cleaned and cooked and cleaned some more, because that night it was party time! Mike's parents and siblings, including Jim and Emilie and their crew, came over for the festivities, along with John and Elon and Austin (John works with Mike at Imagine Learning). I had invited a couple of Mike's old roommates (shout out to Bryce and John!), but being the dingbat that I am, I accidentally gave them the wrong address (South... not North...) and they didn't have my phone number, but they were there in heart!

We started off the night with some good food - Mike requested ribs for his birthday dinner. Being the worrier I am about not having enough food, I also made BBQ pork sandwiches, a TON of garlic mashed potatoes, a TON of steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and a lot of rolls. Mike's mom supplied the jello. After eating more than our fill, we moved onto the games.

For the record, I am not typically a party game person. I'm more of a "have games and activities available and if people want to use them, great, if not, that's fine too." However, it was Mike's 30th birthday, so I wanted to spotlight his 30 years, so there were games. The first game was "How old is Mike?" I printed off 27 pictures of Mike (one from each year - there were a couple of years that Mike was apparently absent from in his family's collection of pictures) and mixed them up. Then everyone had to guess which picture was his newborn picture, which one was age 1, etc. Surprisingly, it was more difficult than I thought. Even Mike only got about 19 of them! The grandprize winner was Mike's dad, followed close behind by Emilie.

The next game was "name that song." I got a song from each year of Mike's life (not the #1 hit, but just a popular song) and played a clip from it. Points for name of song and artist. While it was recommended that I outsource this project next time (some of my songs weren't appreciated - who doesn't recognize the Tootsie Roll anyways!), everyone seemed to have fun and it was an enjoyable stroll down memory lane! The winner of that game was John by a landslide!

Of course we had cake! This year Mike picked a brownie trifle (brownie, chocolate brownie pudding, whipped cream, toffee bits, repeat). This was a change up from the cake he has requested every year since we were married (Strawberry Tunnel cake), but very good. I think this is the first time that there were NO leftovers of a birthday cake - granted we had a lot of people over! And, yes, I did put 30 candles on the cake. Looks a bit like it's going to burn the house down, doesn't it?

It was a really fun night, and we were all happy to celebrate Mike's birthday with him!

In honor of Mike's 30th birthday, here are 30 things I love about Mike:

30. He has no rhythm when it comes to dancing- it makes me smile to watch him try to dance!

29. He is completely blind. Ever watch a blind man look for his glasses or contacts in the morning? Sometimes I put them right in front of him so I know he'll never find them!

28. He's always willing to try new things - recipes, activities, etc.

27. He's also a creature of habit - while he tries new recipes, he'd still pick Chicken Divan over almost anything because that's what he's always loved.

26. He's neurotic and obsessive about organizing things on the computer. Seriously, do you need your music classified by artist, title, include the lyrics, etc.? How about scanning all the pictures in your parents' closet for the past 35 years and labeling, dating, and tagging everyone in all the pictures? Yep. The world needs crazy people like that!

25. He couldn't tell you the time if his life depended on it. Even if he was sitting next to a clock, he would still be surprised by the time and be late to wherever he needs to be.

24. He's loud. I feel the need to apologize whenever we go to his parents' house because he runs amok with all the kids and gets them all hopped up and energetic. But my kids, and his siblings, and the kids in nursery, love it!

23. He's cheap. My family used to think my wallet was tight, but then I married Mike and we together were worse. But he's amazing at helping us keep on budget and saving for the things that are really important to us.

22. He's an avid disc-golfer, and he actually tries to learn and get better! I'm a "throw it wherever and see where it lands" kind of player, but he actually aims and stuff. I'm impressed.

21. He loves to read. He listens to books on tape while he's working and almost always has at least 3 books by his bedside that he can't put away because he's in the middle of all of them.

20. He loves puzzles. Mostly logic puzzles, but pretty much any puzzle will make its way into his hands.
19. He's a game-player. Any type of game, especially if its a strategic game, he loves. Our boardgame collection grows every year.

18. He's COMPETITIVE. Which works out well, because I am too. Our motto is "If I can't win, at least I'm going to beat you" (meaning each other).

17. He's a compulsive cheater! The first time he played Phase 10 with my family, he held a wild in his lap - now we always watch him very closely.

16. He still wears shirts that he wore in high school!

15. His "Friday shirt". This is the shirt he wore every Friday night, until he found out my roommates and I were laughing about it behind his back... because it's a Hawaiian shirt with a printed shirt beneath it... and he left it unbuttoned low enough that you could see the printing! Shiloh? Brittany? Am I right? For the record, I don't think he's worn the Friday shirt in our entire married life... maybe once, but I don't think so.

14. He loves the outdoors - especially camping. This makes me (and the kids) happy, as we love it too!
13. He loves holidays! Mike is always willing to dress up for Halloween, hide Easter eggs, decorate gingerbread houses, and shoot off fireworks!

12. He is a great sport. Even when the game becomes "beat Mike" or we break into song singing "Out in the desert he wanders," he takes it with a smile and a playful comeback!

11. He loves my family. We're a family of loud sisters, but he not only takes it but joins in!
10. He loves his family. He is a great son and brother!
9. He loves to sing. While I am practically tone-deaf, he sings in the ward choir, even though I refuse to go. One of these days he'll get a music calling - he's been holding out for years!
8. He's a hard worker. When we wanted sprinklers in the backyard, who dug the trenches? Yep, Mike.
7. He served an honorable mission and talks about it! We are continually talking about when we can make it back to Estonia and all the things he wants to show me!

6. He loves music and is very musically-inclined. Wherever we go he always looks for a community orchestra to play in to keep up his ability. I hope my kids get that drive and talent!
5. He lets me be a stay-at-home mom.
4. He's always willing to serve - if someone's moving, his name is on the top of the list.
3. He has a strong testimony.
2. He loves my kids.

1. He loves me.

Happy Birthday My Love! Can't wait to spend your next 30 years with you!

Sleepy Matthew

2011-01-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

Matthew has, within the past month, switched from two naps to one. So now he's up until after lunch, then down for a couple hours. Well, sometimes he doesn't make it...

Pretty Pretty Princess

2011-01-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

The Disney Store in Orem was having a Princess Tea Party for little girls 3 and up. Doesn't this sound exactly like the kind of thing my daughter would want to go to? YES! I think she had a pretty good time. They were limiting it to 50 girls, so we got in line 1/2 hour early (that's the soonest they'd let you) and got her crown, which was her pass to get into the party. It was a good thing too, because they did fill up. Then we spent the next 1/2 hour walking around the store, looking at all the disney stuff (again, heaven for Amy). I was a mean mom and didn't buy any of the 100 things she said "can we get this" to, unlike those other soft moms.

When it was time for the party to start, it was a bit cramped with 50 little girls AND their parents/siblings that were watching on (they just did it in an open spot in the store - not much room). After playing "guess that Disney princess" and "carry the sugar cube from the sugar bowl to the tea cup", they decorated a princess cup with jewels and called it good. It was a fun little thing, but definitely a little chaotic with all those girls (and one boy whose mom said he loves princess stuff and wanted to be the prince... yeah...). But I definitely had the prettiest princess at the ball!

Soldier Hollow

2011-01-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

We've been to a few work parties in our married years. A couple family barbeques, a couple adult Christmas parties... but Imagine Learning has BY FAR the best party ever! They rent out Soldier Hollow, a sledding hill complete with lift, for two hours of play time. SO FUN!

We got all suited up and headed to the hill. We soon found out that kids could not sit on laps, which started to make us nervous. We didn't know if Matthew would sit on the tube all the way up the lift by himself, or if Amy would be willing to try, but we gave it a go anyway.

Amy on the lift

Mike & Matthew on the lift

Matthew did try to wiggle out, but we made it to the top. I read part of the rules before going down, which said "don't drag your feet". So I didn't. And believe me, it goes pretty fast (the employees said they clocked themselves at 65 mph the night before). But I was brave and refused to put my feet down. Apparently the guys at the top are supposed to tell the sledders that when you get to the lighted cones you're supposed to start to slow yourself down. Oops. When the guy at the bottom started waving at me, I dropped my feet and we only went through one of the netted gates. In my defense, some people made it through 3 layers of the fence.

Now Amy is the biggest chicken when it comes to trying new things, and I was afraid, what with the whole "going through the net" thing that she wouldn't like it, but she had the biggest smile on her face and said "Can we go again?!" When I turned to find Mike and Matthew, apparently Matthew had tried to wiggle off the whole way down and did not have an ounce of fun. So I sent Amy with Mike and Matthew and I settled in with some hot chocolate. That made him much happier.

After a few more runs (the line was getting long for the lift, so we didn't get to go more than a couple more times), we headed in for some dinner. It was quite good - soups and chili and hot dogs and salad. Very family friendly, which I appreciated. Matthew was much happier when there was food around!

After warming up, we found out that both of the lifts were supposed to be open to us, but one was broken, so they agreed to give us another hour of sledding. Amy was dying to get a few more runs in. We went back outside, and either everyone didn't get the memo or they took kids home, but we were one of maybe a dozen people out on the hill. After 8-10 more runs (every time we got to the bottom, Amy immediately said "Can we go again?!"), we were cold and tired and ready to come home. But not without Amy's plea to come back again another time! Definitely the best work party ever!

December in Arizona

2011-01-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

While we didn't make it to Arizona for Christmas this year, we did make it down the following Monday. We made the long drive with the kids, complete with movies and snacks. The kids were actually really good most of the trip, but we were ALL ready to be out of that car when we got there. Matthew loved when we got to stop for a potty break, because that meant a short reprieve from his dungeon we call a car seat, but it was usually followed by a short tantrum when we tried to put him back in it. Oh well. We made it.

Lunch Break at Burger King - a chance to run amok!

Lisa and TJ and Riker were there for a couple of days more before heading off to Washington for the rest of their vacation, so we were able to overlap and spend some time with them.

Calli and Brendan are now in Arizona (hooray!) because Brendan is now done with Chiropractic school (hooray! - Anyone need a referral?) and they live less than 1/2 a mile from my mom's house, so many nights we got to go over after the kids were asleep and play games (don't worry, my parents were still at home, it's not like we left them alone in an empty house while we played games down the road).

Summer and Jessica were there too, Summer home for Christmas break and Jessica enjoying her vacation from school. Didn't see a ton of Summer... she really only slept at the house. Jessica, a little bit more, but not much. Gotta love a social life!

Of course we spent lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa! What did we do? Well, most of the time we ate. Yes, ate. Why, you ask? Because on January 1st we were starting the Biggest Lewis-er again (because we all got fat again... boo...), and we had to eat all the candy and fattening things in the house or else mom was going to throw them away. Honestly, I was tired of junk at the end of it... although I could totally go for some of it now.

Mike was only there for a week because then he had to get back to work. We worried whether he would get to come at all, since he just started this job and we didn't think he'd have any vacation time built up to be able to visit. But, just one more reason we love this company, the CEO "gifted" Christmas Eve to New Year's Day off for everyone in the company - no charge to vacation time. HOORAY! So Mike came down for one week, and we tried to fit in everything he wanted to do before we came back. So what did we do?

First of all, we spent some time with my Grandparents. We laugh that Mike is Grandpa's favorite because my Grandpa is a story-teller - mostly fish stories at that - and Mike is an attentive listener and asks questions about said stories. We had spent some time with them up at their place in Lindon a few summers ago and had learned to play 42 with them (it's a dominoes game that's very fun), so we went over a couple of afternoons to visit and to play 42 with them. It was so fun. Amy and Matthew ran around outside (because it wasn't freezing in Arizona and they refused to come inside because they knew when we came back to UT they wouldn't be allowed to run outside without coats anymore) and played in the leaves and looked at the horses. Of course Amy had to pick an orange or two... along with the whole box of oranges and lemons we brought back with us.Gotta love Arizona citrus! We sure do!

We also got to spend some time with our friends the Owens. Man we miss them! We used to live around the corner and we practically lived at each other's houses. They were the type of friends that you could call on a Friday night and say "we're not doing anything tonight. Want to come over and do nothing with us?" And they would, and we'd eventually pick a movie or game or just hang out. Yep, definitely miss them. We made it over to Goodyear for some pizza and games with them. They also came over on New Year's Eve.

Speaking of New Year's Eve, that was the last day before Mike went home. So of course he wanted to get some disc golfing in. So the Owen's came over to Calli and Brendan's with us after the boys went disc golfing. We had a great time with the Potter's - eating (of course), playing lots of games (my new game learned is Puerto Rico - very fun!), and shooting off fireworks (did you know they legalized it in AZ for a couple days a year? I'm really surprised!). The kids ran around crazy and the babies crashed in all different rooms.

Amy and Matthew loved playing with cousins. Taylor, Keaton, and Brody were at my mom's house a lot because she watches Calli's kids while Calli's at work. So we got to see a lot of the cousins. Amy and Keaton are really good buddies now - most of the time. Brody and Matthew played in tandem pretty well. Taylor liked to be the queen of the babies and tell everyone what to do. Such is a life of 5 kids, 6 and under.

Amy, Matthew, and I stayed an extra week to spend some more time with my family. It worked out well that we did because my Grandpa was getting knee replacement surgery that week and Mom spent a lot of time shuttling Grandma to west Phoenix to visit him the hospital, so we were able to help out and watch Calli's kids while Mom was out.

I also celebrated my 27th birthday in Arizona. I spent the morning shopping with Calli and Mom, followed by lunch at Pita Jungle (yum!). Later I went out to Goodyear and had dinner with Nikki (miss her so much!). It was a low-key day, but very nice.

The trip ended with the drive back to Utah. While I am totally and completely capable and comfortable driving back by myself with the kids, my very loving father and mother insisted on driving back with me. Thanks Mom and Dad! They got to stay for a couple nights and then flew home. They even willingly sat in a car for 11 hours on their ANNIVERSARY! Now that's true love.

All and all it was a great trip and we are definitely missing the warmth of Arizona these days! Can't wait to go again!

Best Prize Ever!

2010-11-22T06:50:00.000-08:00

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?

My holiday wish is that we can feel the true Christmas spirit this hoilday season. While we always strive for that, we need that extra boost this year! What a great end of this year and jump into the next year that would be!

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?

Santa leaves out his "Santa gifts", the stockings are filled, and we open gifts first thing. If we're visiting AZ, we have sausage gravy and biscuits at Grandma Knight's house. If we're in UT, we SLOWLY open ALL the presents.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?

A new house. We're currently renting, and a gorgeous, amazing, lovely home is what I would wish for.

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?

My friend shared with me this great tradition where they wrap 25 books and put them under the Christmas tree on Dec. 1st. Then they open one present every night and read that book to their kids.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?

We loved Life, Dr. Mario, Tetris, and Pacman!

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?

"Mrs. Claus" brings Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve, and when we're out doing something Christmasy (looking at lights, watching a Christmas movie, etc.), she sneaks into the room with the tree and leaves them out for us to wear that night.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?

I would love Christmas in New York. I would love to see the tree in Times Square and ice skate in Central Park!

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

I would love to give my husband a DS, my daughter the Toy Story 3 game, and Rock Band for our family!

Hello Michigan!

2010-08-09T12:46:00.001-07:00

That's right, we've moved again! Add another state to our travel log.

Is this the picture I took? No, mine was fuzzy because I was balancing my camera on the steering wheel while driving down the freeway, so I went with this one.

We now live in Brighton, Michigan, which is about 15 miles north of Ann Arbor. We are getting settled, unpacking boxes, and getting back into the swing of everyday life.

Here's how we got here:

Mike took a new position with SAIC, a defense contracting company that was very impressed by his radar skills (or something like that -I'll pretend to know what he actually does...). I'm sure you're asking "wait, didn't he just take a new job in Ohio last year?" Yes, yes he did. However, due to ridiculous wait times for his security clearance to transfer and the lack of contracts the company won, they laid him off in February. Here's something you should know about me - bad news = no desire to blog because I want to wait until I have good news to counter said bad news. That's the excuse I'll use anyways!

Mike started work mid-June. He spent his days working hard and getting caught up to speed on the projects the team is working on, and he spent the evenings house-hunting and playing video games. He was able to come home on the weekends (it is only a 3 1/2 hour drive). We had hoped I could move up as soon as mid-July when I got back from my AZ trip with the kids, but alas, the home we found (and love!) was not available until August 1st, so we were in Ohio until the very last day of our contract.

So what was I doing while Mike was in Michigan? Packing? Eh. Cleaning? Eh. House hunting online so that I had a reason to clean and pack? Yes. The kids and I drove up a couple times to look at some houses that we thought might be possibilities. We weren't loving any of the homes, so a couple nights I spent sending mass amounts of emails to relators who were selling homes to that I liked to see if the homeowners would consider renting. And you know what, 2 weeks later the homeowners of the house we're in now needed renters, and we were on their radar! What a great blessing, for us and them!

So, once we found a place I figured I should probably start packing for real... but I didn't. Lucky for me, I have the most AMAZING mom who flew out for a week to help me clean, pack, and babysit my kids while I cleaned and packed.

One very important lesson I learned during this move: I will NEVER be a truck driver. I had to go pick up the giant moving truck because Mike was not able to get back in town after work on Friday night until after the rental company closed. The entire drive I was thinking "I'm going to hit something... I'm going to hit something..." But I didn't. Which is good. Although I'm sure I annoyed many people while I drove 20 mph down Dorothy Lane. Oh well. At least I didn't hit them, right?

(My mom told me at least twice that we needed a picture by the moving truck before we returned it. Apparently I didn't listen.)

After a full day Saturday of loading up (thanks so much Kettering Ward men and ym! You guys were amazing!), waiting for the carpet cleaners, waiting for the realtor to walk through the house, we finally made it to Michigan. Mike drove the truck, I drove Mike's truck with the kids, and Mom drove the car (note: the real reason Mom came was because Dad made her - he didn't trust us to tow a car behind a giant moving truck! Haha!). We stayed one night in a hotel and then moved in. We had a lot of help from our new Brighton Ward (Thanks guys! You were equally amazing!) on Monday night.

And now we're at the unpacking stage. We're liveable, but still slowly organizing and settling in. We have great neighbors with a little boy just a year younger than Amy. She asks me at least 10 times each day "Is Rowen outside? I'll go check!" She loves having a neighbor her age. She was also happy that this house also had a playset, and I'm happy the slide isn't as gigantic as the last one. I am much less stressed when she stands at the top because it's about half the height. Yeah.

Help! My belly's too big and I can't sit up!

So that's us! I'm going to try and backtrack and get caught up on our happenings back to January (has it really been 6 months! Slacker!).

Magic Show

2010-01-29T20:14:00.000-08:00

For our January ward activity, Brother Thurman Smith, a professional magician in our ward, offered to do a Magic Show! Hooray! I love this for many reasons:

1. I love magic shows!

2. It took very little preparation and coordination.

3. It's a great activity for the young and old!

There was a family visiting that used to be in this ward who do magic as well. When Brother Smith had done a show for the ward previously, they had been his opening act, so they offered to do it again.

Then, the main attraction! It was really great, especially when he did his head-cutting off act! FANTASTIC! Now, onto the next activity...

My Baby's Getting Big!

2010-01-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

Matthew is getting SO big! He is now a proficient crawler. He started out just going backwards, backing himself under entertainment units and couches. But eventually he learned to get on his knees and throw his body forward. Now he gets on his hands and knees and just goes!

He doesn't venture too far yet (hasn't attempted the stairs or even the front room or deep into the kitchen for that matter), but he can get wherever he wants to go. He is also a climber. He's still a little bobbly though, so he typically either loses his grip and whacks his face on whatever he's coming on (usually the tv stand), or he gets stuck because he doesn't know how to climb down from whatever he's climbed on (like the side of his walker).

It's so funny to hear Amy whining from the other room because Matthew has crawled over to whatever she was doing (like a puzzle) and is touching her stuff! She hasn't figured out how to pick stuff up fast enough, so she just sits there and cries until we come and move him. I can just imagine the fights in the upcoming years!

But, at the same time, she really likes how active he is. She crawls around on the floor with him or sits down and says "come here buster!" She asks me to bring him downstairs so she can play with him in the basement a lot.

Riker James Grier

2010-01-29T19:45:00.000-08:00

At 6:00 AM on Tuesday, January 12th, I got a call from my little sister, Lisa. She was having her baby! Hooray! However, the baby was breach (butt first), and she was going in for a C-section! Boo! So I rushed off to Columbus, since my mom wasn't going to get there until that evening (she changed her flight because she wasn't planning on coming til the end of the month - Lisa was 3 weeks early). I got there about an hour after Riker was born. He's adorable! A full head of hair!

Very flexible after being stuck like this for so long!

Congrats Lisa and TJ! You'll be great!

Snow Day

2010-01-29T19:26:00.000-08:00

Remember that pitiful little snow day I blogged about previously? I'll admit, I was afraid that was as much as we were going to get. Boy, was I wrong! It snowed for about a week straight.

Every once and a while I try to do something fun, like when we first moved to Arizona and I cooked hot dogs and set up lawn chairs and towels in the front room of our apartment on the first day of baseball season so we could watch the D-backs on tv. Well, I decided we'd celebrate snow day. I had grand visions of snowmen and snowball fights... until I remembered that snow is really light and powdery on the first day and doesn't pack well. Oh well... we settled for snow angels and throwing snow into the air. After playing in the snow outside, we came in for warm chicken soup and hot chocolate with our snow tablescape. Then we did some skiing on the Wii. Amy was surprisingly good!

I love my family!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-01-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

Another birthday has come and gone. I'm now 26, and it pretty much feels like 25. I now have 2 kids, I live in a new state, and I'm definitely growing up.

I spent the day relaxing around the house, not cleaning, etc. That night, Mike and I went to Mimi's Cafe (thanks Hansens for watching the kiddos!). Then we came home for cake! Yum - German Chocolate! Actually, half-German chocolate, half chocolate with chocolate frosting, because Amy and Mike don't like coconut.

Mike got me a new saucepan (which I DESPERATELY needed), an organization container for my scrapbooking stuff, and Pride and Prejudice. My mom contributed additional funds to my freezer fund (picture coming soon).

Mike's Christmas Concert

2010-01-29T19:12:00.001-08:00

Oops, this one is a little out of order. Mike had an orchestra concert on December 12th-13th. While it was a "Christmas Concert", Mike played in the couple of short Christmas orchestral pieces, then they had a couple longer pieces that were smaller groups (not strings), which was a bummer. But Mike did good nonetheless! Way to go babe!

Christmas Outfits

2010-01-29T17:17:00.002-08:00

We had some cute Christmas outfits this year, so here's our holiday ensembles!

Post-Christmastime in Arizona

2010-01-29T17:17:00.001-08:00

We did finally make it to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights, but not until after Christmas. It was as beautiful as always!

Mike flew out late Sunday night, taking the red-eye back to Ohio. We were sad to see him go, but glad we got to stay an extra week with my family.

One thing we finally got around to doing was our Christmas craft that my mom got for us. She had my aunt pick up these super cute Noel blocks for us to paint. Mom and Calli and I loaded our stuff up and went to Grandma Knight’s house (we needed some peace from the kids because we knew we’d get nothing done with them there!). By the time we got set up, got lunch, went to Joann’s, and finally got started, we didn’t get very far. While I did get mine MOSTLY painted before I left the next week, I will admit that my mom finished the touch-ups and embellishments for me! Thanks Mom!
My Dad promised Amy months ago that he would heat up the “Little Pool” (meaning the hot tub) for her to swim in when she came to see him in Arizona. So one night, the tub was warmed up and we all got to lounge in the pool! Taylor was even brave enough to jump into the actual pool! Crazy girl! Matthew really loved the water!
Amy spent a lot of time playing with her cousins. Taylor and Amy wore the princess dresses from Grandma’s chest EVERY DAY. We often had to convince Amy to take off the dress so that we could take her pajamas off, put her clothes on, and then put the princess dress back on. They also spent a lot of time playing with Taylor’s play dough set in the backyard. We sure wish they lived closer to them! Amy and Keaton got along MUCH better this time! It was so fun! We of course took the opportunity to go quadding with my Dad one day. We The kids had a lot of fun roaming around, riding the quads, and snacking. It’s always a blast to go out to the desert and ride!

Matthew's Baby Blessing (finally!)

2010-01-29T17:16:00.003-08:00

Though most of you probably didn’t notice, there haven’t been any baby blessing pictures of Matthew yet. Well, that’s because we had not blessed him yet. With the chaos of the move, and wanting to have family there, we kept delaying the blessing. Well, we finally got the chance over Christmas break. While Mike’s family wasn’t able to attend, due to crazy busy Christmas schedules, it was nice to have some family there.
Matthew borrowed this adorable outfit from his cousin Brody. Get this – while it’s a little short on him, he totally fits in it. Brody wore this when he was a month or two old. Brody is definitely going to be the enforcer of the group!
Mike, Dad, and Brendan were able to bless him. Grandma and Grandpa Knight came over for dinner afterwards too. It was beautiful and a very special day for all of us.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

2010-01-29T17:16:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve brought the annual Fiesta, featuring Gecko Grill! So good! We also had the 1st annual Lewis Family Nativity! We finally have enough kids who are old enough that we can play the parts (maybe someday we'll be able to just watch the kids do it).

Amy and Keaton were Mary and Joseph, Mike was the Donkey (he's such a good sport!), Calli and Jessica were shepherds, Taylor and Summer and I were angels, and Brendan and Matthew were wisemen (Brody was asleep, so he participated in spirit). Dad told the story, and mom did recording and picture taking! Then we got to sit outside around the fireplaces and sing Christmas carols. It was really fun!

While we were outside, Mrs. Claus brought the kids matching jammies - after all that coordinating, you'd thing we would have gotten one nice picture for Grandma, but we never did... dang it.
Then there was the pinata to take care of! It was a pretty tough one that the kids barely dented, so it was up to Brendan to beat it down - and he did! It's fun that the kids are old enough to go after the candy now instead of just picking up one and walking away! Christmas is definitely getting more interesting as the grandkids are growing up! The night ended with Mom reading (sort of… she made up a couple lines here and there) The Polar Express (much to Amy’s delight!). Then the kids went off to bed so Santa could fill their stockings and leave them toys! Christmas morning brought happiness to all! First of all, to the shock of all, CALLI DID NOT FIND THE PICKLE! There are two pickles on the tree these days - usually because Calli always finds one and the rest of us can fight over the other one, but this year Summer and Mike found them. Mike got the Biggest Loser workout cds (Yes!). Then it was time to open presents. Amy got a little princess doll set, along with some other little things in her stocking from Santa. She also got a McDonald's set and teaset from Grandma and Grandpa and Matthew got an alligator toy. Mike and I received gift cards (which were spent on a deep freezer! Woo hoo!). Grandma and Grandpa Laudie sent Amy a play tent (which she slept in at naptime for about a week) and some books, and Matthew got a cute outfit. Mike also got a frisbee golf bag from Brendan, and I got the Pioneer Woman Cookbook from Lisa. Mike also got a shirt and tie from the Laudies. We got some nice presents from my boss and his wife, including a really nice bottle of perfume for me, a teddy bear for Matthew, and a puppy play set for Amy. And more games and cds and so much more! Basically, we got a lot! We still had the traditional sausage gravy and biscuits, but dad made it instead of Grandpa! Grandma and Grandpa came over for lunch later that day, along with Summer's beau, Matt. We pretty much relaxed the rest of the day.

Pre-Christmas in Arizona

2010-01-29T16:05:00.000-08:00

We took a very extended trip to Arizona for Christmas this year! It was great to be with my family again (except Lisa and TJ, who were stuck in Ohio for Christmas, due to the fact that Lisa was 8 months pregnant on Christmas!). I braved the skies with the kids by myself! I was very nervous, but they really did great! Amy did puzzles, snacked, played with dolls, and pretty much amused herself. Matthew ate, slept, and watched Amy. It also helped that we had a layover. I was worried about hauling two kids and carry-ons through a strange airport in a limited amount of time, but it was nice to get off the plane, stretch our legs, and get a change of scenery (especially for Amy!).

We arrived in Arizona on the 15th and just hung out with my mom, dad, and Jessie for a couple days until everyone else arrived. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Amy was so happy to be able to go outside without snow clothes on! We also went to their ward party, which was Christmas in Zarahemla. Basically they had Cafe Rio and made rain makers and headdresses. They also had a nativity, which was nice.

Mike flew in late Thursday night. By the time I picked him up and we got home and ready for bed, Calli's family came in. They took the train to AZ this year and Brendan's dad drove them down from Flagstaff. Summer finally got in Friday late-afternoon, and we were officially all there. It was definitely a packed house, with 5 kids ages 5 and under (1 - 5 year old, 1 - 3 year old, 1 -2 year old, and 2 - 7 month olds). Matthew didn't sleep real well - he woke up at least twice a night. He did the same thing when we were in Utah for Thanksgiving, but it was definitely hard for this long of a time. I had chosen to ween him a couple weeks before we came, so it was nice to be able to give him a bottle and have Mike get up with him at night too.

We spent most of our time just hanging out and such, but there were a few highlights:

First of all, we went out to Goodyear on Friday afternoon/evening to catch up with some old friends. Mike went to play Frisbee golf with Richard Owen, while I caught up with Mandi Allen and let the kids play. Then we met up at the Owen's new house with the Beckers and had dinner and games (the Allen's even caught up with us later in the evening). It was so familiar to be back on that side of town with such good friends! It definitely made me a little homesick for Arizona.

Me, Lindsey, and Nikki! Miss you girls!Amy and her future hubby, Keaton

Amy and Lilee were playing "go to sleep"

Saturday was my dad's birthday (51!), so we all went out to dinner to Ruby Tuesday's. Amy and Grandpa doing Angry EyesSummer's special...

We had sent him his gift early (tickets to Tim & Willy's Breakfast Show at Night! I would have loved to go with him!). We played the candy bar game when we got home (consisted of rolling dice, stealing candy bars from each other, and everyone winning something... except Summer!).

With the family getting bigger and busier, Grandma Knight decided to have the traditional Christmas morning sausage gravy and biscuits on the Sunday before Christmas for dinner. Unfortunately, she went into diabetic shock that morning, and while we all still got together and it was fun to see all the aunts and uncles and cousins, we definitely missed her! It was fun to watch Amy and Kinsley (my cousin Kim's daughter) become better friends too!
The Kids

The Grandkids

The Great-Grandkids

Kinsley & Amy

Brendan & Brody, Jason & Kamri, Mike & Matthew

We had the house to ourselves on Monday night because Mom and Dad went out to a dinner theater (Mom got Dad tickets for his birthday), and everyone else had friends to go see. We stayed in and watched the Polar Express in 3D. It surprised me that Amy watched it, because she refused to wear the glasses, and it's not clear without them. Oh well.

We had to make one trip to In-N-Out for our favorite burgers! Amy and Matthew were big fans of the fries! Yum!

On the 23rd we went to Gammage Auditorium at ASU and saw The Forgotten Carols! I love it so much! It was a nice way to just relax and actually feel the Christmas Spirit! We were able to get a sitter for all 5 of the kids and enjoy a night out with the adults.

Ohio Christmas Morning

2010-01-29T14:14:00.000-08:00

Because we were flying to Arizona for Christmas, we knew we couldn't haul any large gifts for the kids with us. So, on Sunday night we informed Amy that Santa Claus was going to make a special trip to Ohio to bring some big presents that wouldn't fit on the airplane. She quickly informed me that she would listen for the jingle bells that night (again, obsessed with the Polar Express).

The next morning, we woke her up and she had the saddest look on her face. "Mom... I didn't hear the jingle bells." She was truly distraught. I assured her that Santa had still come, and that we should go downstairs to see what he brought. What did he bring?

A baby grand piano.

A sit-n-spin.

And a trampoline!

She was a happy girl.

Santa also brought me a craft table! Woo hoo! I have now crafted more in the past month with a table than I have the whole 5 years prior! Thanks Santa!

Santa also brought Mike an jigsaw - he's slowly accumulating tools. What a man!

Fondue!

2010-01-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have followed us over the past year know that we have a love for fondue. It began at the melting pot years ago, followed by a Valentine's Day visit to the Melting Pot again (courtesy of my dad!), followed by purchasing our own fondue pot and making our own last Valentine's Day. We have wanted to have a fondue party with other couples and decided we'd do it the Sunday before I left for AZ. Thanks to the Raders, Hansens, and Daltons for coming over and having fun with us! We did a 3 course fondue course (cheese, oil, and chocolate). Everyone brought some dippers for the cheese and chocolate course and we provided the rest! It turned out really good, we got to try some new recipes, and the company was fantastic!

We are definitely craving fondue again, so if anyone wants to get together, we're up for it any time!

Ward Christmas Party

2010-01-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

The stress of my life for two months now: The Ward Christmas Party! After a very successful Halloween party, and lots and lots of compliments, I knew I needed to step it up for the Christmas Party!

Stress #1: The Food - Everyone knows that if you don't have good food, nothing else really matters! Here's my secret to having amazingly good food at our party - Brett Rader! The guy is an amazing caterer, got us a killer deal on a complete meal (LOTS OF FOOD!), and basically removed all the stress from me at all! I was responsible for paper goods and drinks... that's it. Thank you, thank you, thank you Brett! It was delicious and I appreciated the help!

Stress #2: The Activity - I wanted to do a very interactive activity, but we have a lot of older people in our ward who would want the option NOT to wander around, sit on the ground, etc. My solution: Christmas in Nauvoo. This is an idea I stumbled across here. We started off with a sit-down dinner in at Joseph Smith's "Mansion House," followed by some thoughts by Joseph Smith (Bishop Brown), then the chance to wander through the shops of Old Nauvoo, and finally dessert and music. So now I had my idea!

Stress #3: The Help - Biggest stress ever! I have a very small committee, and our ward is considerably small, especially those who are active enough to consider for help. Not to mention, those who are active have other callings that they are busy with! Luckily for me, I ended up with a few AMAZING helpers! Special shoutout to Veronica, Shelley, the Ebers, Andre, Matt Rhynard, the YW (Rachel & Dena!), the Hansens, and of course the Bishop (our "Joseph Smith"). I was able to share my vision with them and set them loose! They took on decorating, the activity, and all the set-up for their own activities! What amazing people! I am eternally grateful for all they did!

For my own sake (and maybe for someone looking for a fun activity when YOU get to be the ward activity chair), here are the activities we did:

I was in charge of the Mansion House, where we would have dinner, our message from "Joseph", dessert, and music.

Our "Old Nauvoo" activities were:

1. Skovil Bakery: cookie decorating

Look at the super-cute decorations! I wish I had thought to use a sheet for the exterior - would have been SO much easier to hang than all the cardboard! And look at the oven! Veronica, I don't know how you did it, but WOW! 2. Wood shop: decorate buzz saws / whirligigs

*Thanks to my mom and dad for sending me the whirligigs pre-made from their activity last year! Definitely made life easier!3. Riser Boot Shop: decorate santa hat / pictures with Santa

*My original thought for this room was to do lacing of stockings (since it's the boot shop), but the YW and their leaders are CRAZY busy, so they did Santa hats instead. Amy loved it, as did the other kids! 4. Blacksmith Shop: stick pull / hammer horseshoes into stump 5. Red Brick Store: "buy" candies, hot toys of the season, play pioneer games

*I thought the little sections of brick on the wall was so clever! It gave the concept of the brick wall, without having to cover the whole wall! Love it!6. Dance Hall: Learn Virginia Reel
*Dallas and Keri were troopers! People were seriously AVOIDING this room so they wouldn't have to dance, but they got out there, pulled people in, and everyone had fun in the end!

7. Printing Press: This was a place to let the missionaries have a place to share a message / materials. They also did coloring pages.

Tons of fun, right? So fun! Everyone did an AMAZING job!

We finished with dessert and hot chocolate and music. Mike, Dallas Hansen, Jocelyn Rhynard, and Cameron Heaps played some beautiful instrumental Christmas pieces. The grand finale was a choral piece by Rachel Fauber, Rebekah Chrisman, and Felicia Bauman. It really was so incredibly beautiful and brought the spirit so much! I had intended to have everyone sing a carol at the end, but I didn't want to ruin the moment!

Final Stress: Santa Claus. I know a lot of people have their feelings about having Santa Claus at the ward party. I'll share my two cents, and just ask that if you disagree with me, that's fine, but this is my blog and you don't get to tell me I'm wrong on my blog! :) I think that Santa Claus is a fun holiday tradition that kids really enjoy, and while I don't feel that he HAS to be there, there's no reason to exclude him if there is a non-central way to include him. Yes, Christ is the center of Christmas, but we were doing Christmas in Nauvoo, where Santa Claus would have been recognized, so I wanted to have a place for him in our shops. He wasn't in the chapel, he wasn't even in the cultural hall where he was the center of the party - he was in one of many rooms being used for the activity. End of soapbox.

I will say, finding someone to play Santa Claus was harder than I thought. Thanks to Dena's tip-off, I was able to find a costume (thanks Felicia!), but finding someone to wear it was more difficult than I expected. I was turned down by no less than 4 brothers before I finally approached the high counselor assigned to our ward (he's not in our ward, but his son's family is). He finally agreed! Hooray for Bro. Rhynard!

The night went quite smoothly, if I do say so myself. We didn't have as large as a turnout as we had planned, which happens during the Christmas season, but we had a good crowd and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! Thanks again to everyone who helped!

P.S. Best part of the night? I totally fit (barely) into my old high school pioneer trek costume! Booya!

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

2010-01-29T12:17:00.001-08:00

We got our first more than a faint dusting of snow on December 8th. It wasn't enough for snow angels or snowmen, but it was the most we'd gotten to date, so we were excited! Amy got all bundled up and headed out to see what was going on. She had seen snow the previous year in Utah, and she kept talking about eating it (because that's what Amy does... she eats...). Matthew enjoyed the view from the safety and warmth of the house!

Oh Tannenbaum!

2010-01-29T12:01:00.000-08:00

The first thing we did when we got back was find a Christmas tree (because we only had 2 weeks of Christmas at our house before heading out to AZ for the rest of the holiday). In Arizona, there is a live tree lot on EVERY corner... they don't have that many in Ohio. We drove around for a little while looking, and finally went to Lowe's and found a rather nice one!

Amy really enjoyed decorating it this year! She kept calling the balls "Jingle Bells" and shaking them to see if they made noise. She became OBSESSED with the Polar Express movie this year. We got the book at the library and then watched the movie countless times. Many nights she'd go to bed and tell me she was going to listen for Santa's jingle bells.

Thanksgiving in Utah

2010-01-29T10:59:00.000-08:00

After 5 years, we finally made it back to Utah for Thanksgiving! We left on Thursday the 24th and came back on Monday the 30th. This was our first adventure flying out from Ohio with the whole family, and it went pretty well. The kids handled the plane ride decently - considering they didn't sleep AT ALL. But there weren't any major meltdowns, so that was good!

It was exciting to get to see Mike's family again. We hadn't seen them since the previous Christmas - meaning they haven't met our little Matthew yet! Grandma and Grandpa definitely were loving on our little chunky monkey! They couldn't get enough of him, and he definitely loved the attention!

We spent most of the week just relaxing, catching up on some sleep, and playing games with the family. Amy had a blast playing with all of aunts and uncles and cousins! She especially loved jumping on Grandma's trampoline (see the forthcoming Christmas post to see the result of that!). The weather really was beautiful, especially on Thanksgiving day! It was bright and sunny - resulting in boys playing football and then a couple rounds of croquet. Thanksgiving lunch of FANTASTIC of course (it's all about the gravy, as Mike's mom would say... and the gravy was fabulous!).

Mike of course took his turn in the kitchen, making some homemade biscuits from scratch to go along with some sausage gravy. Ben was his helper (love the Strawberry Shortcake cup Ben... work it!).

We also got to see Mike's Grandma Laudie on Saturday. We weren't able to make it to her 90th birthday party (because we were in Ohio, of course), so it was fun to see her and let her remeet Amy and meet little Matthew. Mike is not in this picture because he scored some tickets to the BYU - Utah game (his secret reason for wanting to go to Thanksgiving in Utah!) thanks to his Dad and brother Jim, and the game-goers had to take off early to get to their seats! And what a game it was! Go Cougars! The boys of course rushed the field! (sorry for the picture quality - stole these off of Joy's facebook!)

We also got to meet this little bundle joy - Shayla, Jon and Carrie's new baby girl! Matthew and Shayla checked each other out...

...then he attacked her, so they had to be separated!

Amy got some special Grandma / Grandpa time! They made a run down to the corner mart for a soda and treat on day, and then there was some special Grandma M&M cuddle time one morning! You can always count on Grandma's to have candy - even first thing in the morning!

And just as a shout-out to Grandma's new kitchen... can we all say WOW! So nice! What an improvement! I can't believe what a difference a couple feet make! I think we wore Grandma and Grandpa out!
And just because it's cute... here's Matthew napping in the play cradle. What a cutie pie!

Amy's Clever...

2009-11-04T19:14:00.001-08:00

Amy's favorite phrase, which she repeats ALL DAY LONG EVERYDAY, is "I'm hungry." A couple days ago she used this phrase on me for the 100th time, and I finally said, "Amy, if you say you're hungry one more time, you're going to time out." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "um... I want some food." Clever Amy... very clever.

Cute Kids!

2009-11-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some random pictures of the kids that I just thought were so cute.

Matthew and Amy have become really good friends as he's gotten older. He is 5 months old now and quite proficient at rolling over, smiling, giggling, sitting up with help, grabbing things, etc. He also eats rice cereal now too. We can't believe how big he's getting, although he has stayed much slimer than Amy was at this age! Amy loves having him around and will often ask if I will let him play downstairs with her. I take him down and let him lay on the floor while she plays with her toys around him. It's so cute!

Amy wanted to fish one day, so I put together a makeshift rod and made little fish with paperclips to catch them.

Amy loves to play with Matthew. She perches by his walker a lot!

Matthew loves his walker and has gotten really good at flipping the toys around on it.

Yum! Rice cereal.

He looks so big here!

Best friends!

We were waiting to meet Mike for lunch one day, and he was going to be a little bit, so I let Amy run around in a grass patch in front of his office. She was having so much fun and I got these super cute pictures of her.

I realize this one is blurry, but it's my favorite!

Matthew's favorite movie is the Lion King Sing-Along Songs movie, especially the Lion King songs. However, he is very picky about which songs on the movie he likes. Sometimes he tolerates them all, but a lot of times he does this when The Little Mermaid comes on:

ABC... Amy's Turning 3!

2009-11-04T17:34:00.001-08:00

My little girl turned 3 on Monday, November 2nd! Where does the time go? I swear she was just born! Wow. Well, we had a really great day! We spent the morning getting some birthday supplies, and made her birthday cake. She also ate all the halloween candy she could, since we implemented a no limit rule for her birthday. Then we met up with Mike for lunch at Red Robin. After an afternoon of running errands, including picking up her bike without her seeing it! I'm sneaky like that!

When Mike got home that night, we had a dinner of sweet and sour chicken (she loves rice, sauce, and pineapple!), then on to the birthday party! We opened all her presents, which included an animal set from Grandma and Grandpa Laudie, a birthday cake set and lacing set from Grandma and Grandpa Lewis, an electronic alphabet thing, a paint thing that hooks up to the computer, cereal, silly string, and her new bike. She was definitely spoiled!

We did a little singing, a little candle blowing, and a little cake eating to finish the night. Definitely a full day!

The night ended with a reinactment of "The Berenstein Bears: Too Much Birthday," meaning she burst into tears about not getting to keep playing but being so tired but wanting more cake. She was much happier the next day with all her new toys though. She's having a birthday party on Saturday with all her friends, so more pictures will come! Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Happy Birthday Baby!

I Love Coupons!

2009-11-04T17:31:00.001-08:00

I had my best coupon shopping trip of my entire life last week! I bought over $100 worth of stuff for $5! Holy Cow! It was awesome! Thank you Kroger!

Daddy's Special Violin

2009-11-04T16:28:00.000-08:00

Mike has been amazing about finding an orchestra to play in, no matter where we live. When we were considering moving to Ohio, we googled community orchestras and found the Miami Valley Symphony. What a find! They had their first concert of the season on the 24th-25th of October and it was FANTASTIC! Mike played so well and the group sounded great as a whole! Way to go Mike!

Boo to You!

2009-11-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

It is Halloween time again! I LOVE Halloween! I love the decorations, the weather (at least in Ohio), the costumes, the candy, the fun! It's all so great! Here is what we were up to this Halloween...
Amy got a couple of Halloween packages in the mail! The first came from Grandma and Grandpa Lewis full of candies and toys and goodies! The funny thing about this was, we ended up with a few things that weren't supposed to be in our box and we were missing a few things that were... apparently the box opened up at the post office and they just shoved stuff back into whatever boxes were sitting there. Nonetheless, great prizes! A few days later we got another package from Grandma and Grandpa Laudie, full of socks and books and note pads! I have to say, I love that my mother-in-law sends me magnetic notepads. There is always one on my fridge and I definitely use them. I really don't know how I lived without them before!

Mike and I have a funny love for cornmazes. The reason? Who knows. Maybe it's because our last date with other people was at the same corn maze on the same night, just a couple weeks before Halloween (we started dating the next week). Whatever the reason, Mike found a cornmaze just a couple miles from our house (Adventure Acres) and planned a family trip to it.

It was definitely colder than we had expected... Matthew was a good sport, as we kept trying to wrap the blanket on his head. We started off just letting Amy lead us around. This ended up being a good idea, as she led us to the first 3 markers in a row! After we took over, we did get lost for a while, but eventually found our way out. All and all, fun was had by all and we will definitely do it again. The leaves are as big as our head!

Matthew did crash for a little bit

Peek-a-Boo!

It was a tradition in my family (as I'm sure it is in a lot of families) to carve pumpkins the FHE before Halloween, so that's what we did. Amy helped clean them out, then headed off to bed and left dad and mom to do the carving work. It was nice to have such good weather so that we didn't have to worry about our pumpkins getting gross. Mike's still shriveled a bit, but it didn't melt the way they did in AZ.

Eww!

The serious artist

I did the scary halloween face on the left. Mike did the graveyard on the right.

Now, the main feature: Costumes! I decided to make Matthew a frog for Halloween, since my family was constantly telling me that's what he looked like with his skinny frog legs and big frog eyes. I stole the main costume idea from Nikki - I made Matthew the frog prince and Amy the princess. I decided to be ambitious and make Amy's costume. It turned out really cute, but definitely needs some fixing up (I'm still learning! Next time mom comes to visit I'll have her help me!). Nevertheless, it held up well for the ward party and trick-or-treating, and it looked cute in the pictures, and that's what's important! Matthew's I found for $3, so I just bought his and added a crown.Mike and I were planning on going as Mario and Princess again this year, but my dress needed a new bodice made (it was held together by safety pins last time), and I just ran out of time between Amy's costume and planning the ward party, so I pulled out an old stand-by (Raggedy Ann). When we were first married, I was able to talk Mike into going as Raggedy Andy with me, but now that we're an old married couple, he doesn't love me quite as much as he used to, so he decided he would still go as Mario. Party Pooper. Oh well, it was still fun to dress up.

The wanna-be seamstress at work.

Look at those frog toes!

Mario and Princess

So, the most time-consuming party of my Halloween this year was planning the Ward Halloween Trunk-or-Treat and Chili Cook-off. I think it was a huge success! I got a lot of compliments and apparently there were more people at this event than had ever shown up at the ward parties before! We even had to set up 2 more tables during the party because we just didn't have enough seats! There were a couple things that I was really proud of. The first was my really cute photo backdrop. Unfortunately, it wasn't used by as many people as I had hoped, and I don't think everyone realized I had a camera and would be taking the pictures for them, but it was still super cute. I was also proud of myself for finally getting a hold of the Dayton Daily News and rounding up a couple end rolls of paper (for free!) to cover the tables with. This way I didn't have to spend money on tablecloths, and people could just color on the tables while they were visiting or waiting for the trick-or-treating.

The games turned out pretty well. I wish we had a bigger space to use because I had to kind of spread out the games around the edge of the room, but they still worked well. We had a cupcake walk, a sucker tree (the kids made ghosts out of the suckers), pin the nose on Jack, a bean bag toss, a ring toss on pumpkins, and pumpkin bowling (with pie pumpkins). Thanks so much to everyone who stepped in last minute to help run the games! You guys were great! And a huge thank you to those of you who stuck around to help clean up! Holy cow was that great!

Amy loves hymn books. She was entertaining herself before the party started.

The food table

The drink and game table (guess the number of pumpkin seeds, vote for the best jack-o-lantern, and halloween puzzles)

Pin the nose on Jack and Bean Bag toss... I'm such an artist! Or not.

Picture Backdrop

Sucker tree and craft area (pick a sucker off the tree, wrap a tissue around it, tie it with a string, and put eyes on it)

Coloring on the tablecloths

Happy Halloweeny family

Mike was a good sport and took care of Matthew the whole night while I ran around like crazy.Ring toss (left) and Bean bag toss (right)

Pumpkin Bowling

These brothers and sisters showed up early and Amy adopted them. She kept returning to their table all night long and sitting on their laps.

On Halloween (called Beggar's night out here), we spent the day getting ready for some Halloween fun. We started off with pancakes for breakfast, in the shape of pumpkins (I wasn't brave enough to try pumpkin-flavored pancakes... I wasn't sure Mike or Amy would eat them. Maybe next year). We went to Chipotle and got our "Boo"ritos (if you dress up like a burrito, or wear tinfoil anywhere on your body, you get a free burrito! We did the kids too (the manager came out and took a picture of Matthew because they thought it was so funny! We walked away with 4 free burritos!).

We went to the library for a little bit, picked up our Jack-o-Lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's, got some dry ice for our rootbeer, and then came home to get ready for Trick-or-Treating.

Amy liked waving her hand in the smoke.
Amy definitely made bank and had a blast going up to everyone. I was very proud that she said thank you after everyone gave her a piece of candy. That's my girl! I learned that Amy is terrified of Halloween masks though. When we had been at Wal-Mart a week before, Mike had put on a really scary mask and she FREAKED OUT. Well, when she was standing at a door trick-or-treating, a kid in a spiderman outfit came to the same door and she just looked back at me and started bawling. He totally terrified her. I told her it was just a kid being silly, but when she saw one of my primary kids dressed up like Spiderman later, she told me it was the "Scary Spider." After we were done trick-or-treating, we ate some pizza and rootbeer (and candy of course!) and sent the kids to bed. Mike and I watched Mr. Boogedy and Bride of Boogedy (gotta love it!) and raided some of Amy's candy! I think it was a really fun Halloween!

Grandma's Here!

2009-11-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

We were so excited for my mom to come visit! We have missed her a lot! Before she got here, we had to make sure we could get the fireplace to work, because Grandma is just like Grandma Knight (her mom)... ALWAYS cold. It's certainly nice to have a warm spot on those cold days!

She got to our house on Sunday, toting gifts (because that's what Grandma's do!). Amy wore her Cinderella dress around for quite a while! (sorry for the lack of pictures... mom took most of the pictures that weekend and she can't find her camera card. dang! The only one I had on my camera was of my mom making a weird face... and if I post it then she will post that horrible picture she has of me, so I won't!)

It was a little cold that week, but mom was a good sport and let us go play outside anyways! We went to a park on Monday and let Amy run around.

On Tuesday we went to Carriage Hill metropark. It was a cute little farm, with animals and historic houses. We wish they would have told more about the history though. We walked into one of the houses and the lady just kind of stared at us while we looked around. But there was the cutest little playhouse for the kids! Amy could have stayed there all day.

We also did a craft, of course! Mom helped me make a super cute Halloween banner.

Mike and I also got to go on a date... without the kids! Woo hoo! Let it be known that I am STILL a lousy bowler... but it was a lot of fun! Thanks mom for staying home with the kiddos... especially grumpy Matthew!

Now we're even more excited than before to go to Arizona for Christmas to spend more time with Grandma, and to see Papa... because the kids can never get enough of him!

Fall Activities

2009-11-03T08:17:00.000-08:00

We've had a very busy fall, which was especially fun because it's our first real fall in a long time. It involved a lot of cooking and baking, as all good seasons should! We started off with some yummy baking. I found an awesome price on bananas (20 cents a pound!), so I bought a ridiculous amount and made 8 batches of banana bread. Our freezer is now stuffed with mini-loaves.

Our next fall activity was picking apples at a local orchard and making the apples into applesauce. Amy loved picking the apples and sampling them along the way. Matthew liked it too... until we lost his pacifier down one of the rows. Of course we didn't have a backup, and it was his hospital pacifier... the only one he had ever used... and the only one he liked! We've since broken him of his need for that pacifier, but it made for a grumpy baby for a little bit. He liked sucking on the apples though. It took a lot of work to make our applesauce (thanks for the directions Mom Laudie!), but we ended up with some delicious cinnamon applesauce, all bottled and sealed so that we can enjoy it all year long! Amy really liked helping!

We got some pie pumpkins at the same farm that we got the apples. I've never made pumpkin puree, but it was super easy and we're excited to get to try it in our pies and breads and pumpkin rolls this holiday season.

Our non-food related fall activity has been, of course, playing in the leaves! We've enjoyed the beautiful leaves here in Ohio. Unfortunately, I wasn't very good about taking pictures of them. I swear I had some, but I'll have to find them. But Mike and Amy have spent many nights raking and jumping and sliding in the leaves!

Camping in Kirtland

2009-11-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

Or, camping NEAR Kirtland, at least. We decided to take advantage of Mike's 3 day weekend over Veteran's Day and drove the 4 1/2 hours to Kirtland. We found a great little campsite about 15 miles from Kirtland where we could set up our new tent (we have definitely outgrown out little tent) and enjoy the beautiful outdoors. We got there Friday evening and set up camp. We just relaxed that first night, setting up camp, cooking tin foil dinners, and roasting marshmallows.

Amy and Matthew loved the hammock!

Happy, Smiley Family!

Matthew keeping warm in our sleeping bags

Amy's new "house"

Whoever camped before us left a bunch of red and blue beads all over the ground. Amy LOVED them. From now on, whenever we go camping I'm going to take a bag of beads and dump them all over the campsite. She spent the whole weekend picking them up, dropping them, carrying them around, and picking them up again This is the tent set up in our house. We wanted to make sure we knew how to set it up before we went!

We didn't take an ax with us to chop wood, so Mike had to get creative.

Amy wants to be just like her daddy!

The next day we got up, had sausage gravy and biscuits, and headed towards Kirtland. There is SO much I could say about Kirtland! Luckily for me, I don't really have to. Mike is in the process of putting together all of the great info we learned and the interesting stories we heard, so when he's done I will post that file.

We were able to visit Historic Kirtland, which included the Newel K. Whitney store and home, as well as other historic homes and buildings.

This is the school of the prophets, one of the 4 places the Savior appeared in and around Kirtland

We were able to meet up with Elder and Sister Crosby from Mike's parent's home ward who are serving a mission there. Amy basically adopted them as her grandparents for the day. After spending most of the day at Historic Kirtland, including a nice picnic lunch and visiting with the Crosby's, we headed over to the Kirtland Temple. It was a magnificent building! What a special thing that was accomplished by those early saints!After another nice evening around the campfire, we went to church in Kirtland and then headed to the Morley and Johnson farms. We really loved learning about these great families, especially the Whitney's, and the sacrifices they made for the growth and development of the church. We enjoyed a great, relaxing day, complete with Amy's favorite: WATERMELON! On Monday, we headed out to Amish country. We didn't really find much to visit and enjoy, but we did pass a horse and carriage and see several Amish families, which was kind of cool. We headed up to the beach at Lake Erie after that. We wish we had gone there earlier! It was really great. Amy loved feeling the sand between her toes. Unfortunately, it started to POUR about a half hour after we got there, but it was fun while it lasted. Matthew loved the water too! He thought it was hilarious. He just kept giggling. Ultimately, it was a very enriching, fun trip. It is definitely a challenge to do with little kids who are restless and want to touch things, but it was fun to experience these things together as a family. If anyone is interested in going, we provide a great place to stay over on your way to Kirtland! Again, more details from Mike coming later.

Summer Fun!

2009-11-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

I know... I know... another bunch of months have passed since I've updated. Prepare to be bombarded. I know I could just post the recent stuff and go back and play catch-up, but knowing me I'd never catch up. So here's the first of many posts.

We had a lot of fun this summer! One thing I realized is that there are times that I really do miss the HOT Arizona sun... like when I want to go swimming. It is definitely pleasant here, but I like to be really hot before I jump into a cold swimming pool. Amy sure didn't seem to mind though.

There's a splash area at the local outdoor mall (The Greene) just a mile from our house, so I went there several times with the kids, and a few times with Mike in the evenings to listen to the great live music they had. It usually took Amy some time to decide to get in (she liked to stick her hand in the water and splash a little, but didn't want to fully commit), but when she finally did she giggled and ran around and kept trying to give us freezing cold hugs. It was actually pretty cold the last time we went at the end of the summer, so I didn't bring her swim suit because I was sure she was not going to get in... WRONG! She had never gotten so soaked. What a crazy girl! Matthew loved to go too. He loves to go outside and stare up at the sky and look around at all the people. Amy is OBSESSED with animals! She can spot one across the park every time!

The other fun thing that Mike has really had fun doing this summer is Frisbee Golf (apparently called disc golf to those who really play!). He bought himself a set of frisbees (apparently there are different sizes and weights depending on if you're "putting" or "driving"). There are several courses right around our house and he's enjoyed going out Saturday mornings and playing. We've gone for FHE a couple times too.

2009-10-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

I hope I win! I hope I win!

Gypsy By Provocraft

Funny Story

2009-08-21T09:18:00.001-07:00

So a couple weeks ago we had some potatoes in our pantry that started to smell. I opened the pantry and Amy was sitting at the table when the odor came out. I don't know if she just forgot the word "stinky" or what, but she informed me, "Mom, there's a poopies in my nose!"

Cute Kiddos!

2009-08-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

Right before we left Arizona, Chris Allen offered to take some pictures of the kids for me. Thanks so much Chris! Thanks to Mandi too becausw without the marshmallows we never would have gotten a good shot of Amy... after the third shot she announced "I'm done!" Here are my favorites:

(she's not really angry here - this is her "Mike face" that we have to do every time we get her pictures done!)

Anti-Social

2009-08-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Amy is quite content to play near kids, not necessarily with kids. Some kids, like Keaton and Lilee and Benjamin and Brooklyn, she does play with. But it takes her some time to warm up enough to play with new kids. Not that she's really shy, but she just doesn't seem to get the concept of going to play with kids. She loves nursery and never bats an eye when we leave her there, even her first week in the new ward, but she doesn't really need anybody, just some toys or puzzles or snacks.
So a couple weeks ago we had some friends over to barbeque. We brought out both of Amy's table. There were five kids... and four could sit at a table... and the other kids all knew each other. So Amy sat by herself. She pulled a typical Amy and chowed down while the other kids got distracted by the playset and wandered off. She's so funny. I had to take a picture of my anti-social daughter.

Matthew's Curl

2009-08-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

I want to document this before he loses it or he gets a million of them so you can't tell which one it is anyways. Matthew has, almost from birth, had the cutest little curl on the side of his head that sticks straight out (can a curl stick straight?). No matter what you do, it sticks out. I'm afraid, son, that you will be inheriting your father's fro head. Blame Daddy.

New Calling!

2009-08-20T08:57:00.001-07:00

Things not to do when you move into a new ward:

1. Become friends with members of auxillary presidencies.
2. Tell the bishop you are eager to serve.
3. Go to activities where you are one of a few, and the others all have substantial callings.
4. Show up to the 24th of July celebration with your kids dressed up like pioneers and pulling your husband's covered wagon.

Why should you not do these things? Because the Bishop thinks you are strong, active people who can be put in leadership positions and asked to take on difficult tasks. My new calling?

Ward Activity Chairman (not co-chair... just chairman)

While I have looked on with envy in previous wards at this calling (party planning committee, anyone?), I am very nervous about this calling. Here's why:

1. I don't know the ward at all. I don't know what they like, what they don't like, how many people show up to these activities, what talents people have that I can use, etc.
2. The biggest challenge with this calling is going to be getting people to show up, which is never easy.
3. I always want to "go big or go home." I want to go the whole nine yard. I don't know how not to buy too much food. I don't know how to pick the most elaborate activity.
4. I am a really lousy delegator. I am always so afraid of inconveniencing someone that I just do it myself.

This will be a fun calling, and I will definitely learn some things from it. So here's where I need your help: Tell me about your FAVORITE ward activity of all time (the more details, the better!). Here's hoping I don't blow it!

To Be A Pioneer

2009-08-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

Pioneer Day is always a fun holiday at the Laudie home. Mike's family had a lot of fun traditions, including pushing the "handcart" (a wagon) down the hill to the cemetary where they ate cornbread and talked about those who made the trek. While our closest cemetary was too far to make this a tradition here, Mike was definitely excited that our stake celebrated the 24th of July, since our stake in Arizona typically didn't. There was a stake potluck on Friday and a ward breakfast on Saturday. There was going to be a children's parade at both, so I decided Amy needed some pioneer garb. I pulled out the handy sewing machine, found a simple bonnet pattern, and set to work. I just faked the skirt (didn't use a pattern) because it didn't need to be as complicated as the patterns I had made it. But I was super pleased that I was able to figure out the pattern and get the bonnet to turn out so well! Amy was so cute!

We got this cute little red wagon (you'll see why later), so Matthew just lounged at the stake potluck.

Amy appreciated that they had hotdogs. Did the pioneers eat hotdogs?
And this is why we had a great need for a wagon. We'd wanted to get one anyways, and when I found this one on craigslist, Mike fell in love. He wanted to make a covered wagon out of it for the ward breakfast children's parade. So, after the stake potluck and we got the kiddos to bed, Mike set to work converting the wagon to a pioneer covered wagon.

Amy woke up the next morning and you would have sworn it was Christmas. "My Wagon!"

It was a big hit with all the kids at the breakfast the next morning. Who says you can't buy your child friends?

Our happy pioneer family. I don't fit into my old trek dress, and I didn't have time to make myself a new one (kids take priority when it comes to costumes because you can stand back and say "isn't she cute? Yeah, she's mine."), but Mike found the clothes he wore to our stake's trek last year.

Daily Life

2009-08-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun things we've been doing lately:

Inspired by my older sister, when blueberries went on a really good deal, Amy and I decided to buy a bunch and make blueberry muffins and blueberry freezer jam. Amy loved to help me smash the blueberries. It turned out pretty well too!

Amy has been spending a lot of time "stomping in the rain." She thinks it's great fun to go outside with her pink umbrella and just walk around the deck. Sometimes she puts the umbrella down and lays in the water. Does anyone else have a kid who has the horrible habit of licking water off the floor, or am I just lucky?

My mom had bought some fruit loops while she was here, intending to let the kids make fruit loop necklaces, but alas we never got around to it. So I sat down with Amy after our visitors had left to "teach" her how to do it. I say "teach" because basically I showed her one and she was off. It amazes me the little things she learns so quickly, like threading. I guess she's getting old. She had a blast making it, but even more fun eating it!

This is Mike and Amy stomping in the rain together.

So, funny story. We have this fantastic slide in the backyard, but it's actually quite steep and fast. Amy works hard to slow herself down as she goes down. Well, it was raining pretty hard one day and Mike gets the brilliant idea to let Amy go down the "water slide." Amy agreed to do it, so up she went, and by the time Mike blinked she had come down SUPER fast and slid right past him onto the ground. Needless to say, she didn't go on the slide for a few days after that.

We Are A Happy Family!

2009-08-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

My mom and Amy flew in the next week. Thank you so much, Mom, for braving the airs with Amy, especially with the unexpected layover. We were so excited to see Amy (especially Mike who hadn't seen her in about a month). She was pretty wired by the time she got here too.

We spent the next day relaxing with Amy and my mom. Mike was super-excited to have Amy there, so he came home from work during lunch time and took her to lunch with him, and when he came home he took her out to feed the geese. There were these huge geese that wandered the apartment complex, and often wandered into the road and made you stop and wait while they slowly crossed (except for that one unfortunate dead one on the side of the road who clearly didn't move fast enough for some driver).

We spent the night waiting to hear from our soon-to-be visitors. "Visitors?" you ask. Yes, visitors. My sister Lisa and her husband TJ drove out to Ohio (he's starting law school at Ohio State) and had laidover at my sister Calli's house in Kansas for about a week. They were going to crash at our place Friday night before going the last hour to Columbus the next day (and to see my mom). Calli decided that since Mom was going to be within a day's drive of her, decided she would bring her three kids up to see us and Mom too!

Lisa and TJ rolled in around 11 pm after what Lisa refers to the worst day ever. Calli and Brendan and the kiddos rolled in at about 4 am. We were so excited to see all of them! It was nice to have family here - I think it made the transition easier. While the new move was exciting, it felt more natural to have family around to help out. Brendan was there for a couple days, then flew back to Kansas for classes the next week, then flew back at the end of the week to drive back with Calli and the kids. What a good husband! Mike was glad to get to have a friend for those couple days too.

My Mom was amazing that week we were still in the apartment before we were able to get into the house. I felt a little guilty because she kept taking the kids off their hands. In the mornings she would take the kids for a walk to look for "treasures," i.e. rocks, sticks, and leaves. Then she would sit downstairs on the patio with them and let them color them with crayons until lunch. She's pretty much the best grandma ever. This was especially appreciated because Amy and Keaton decided life was too quiet if they weren't fighting. Amy would grab Keaton around the neck and Keaton would scratch her across the face. Sometimes it would be quiet in the room and Amy would look around, see Keaton, and push him just to make life more interesting. Wow... I'm glad I only have one 2 year old. I'm sure they will be much better friends later.

Mike had saved his fireworks from the 4th of July and we went out that first weekend (while Brendan was in town to be his accomplice) and we shot them off at the park. Calli, Mom, and I were a little skittish about this since they're really loud and we were the only people shooting them off since it wasn't exactly the 4th. The kids loved the sparklers, although the loud fountains and aerials made Amy nervous.
At the end of the week, we finally moved into our new house. Here are some of the things I love about the house: - 4 bedrooms (which means the kids each get their own room, plus we still get an office / craft room)
- 2 full-size baths upstairs (so I don't have to share a bathroom with Amy), plus a half bath on the main floor and a half-bath in the basement.

- A fireplace, because we all know I intend to sit by the fireplace with my hot chocolate all winter long while it's FREEZING outside. - A very open floor plan, so that the living room and kitchen are separate but joined. - A separate "piano room," or living room. It's nice to have one room that is always clean for visitors. - A pretty green backyard with a built-in playset. Amy would look at the pictures online before we moved out here and say "my swings!" I like that the backyards are open (most backyards in Ohio don't have fences at all), but I'm glad that we have a short white picket fence around ours so we still feel part of the neighborhood but Amy doesn't wander out when I send her in the backyard. - A basement! I never appreciated basements until we moved here and I haven't had to look at Amy's toys! She keeps a dozen books and half a dozen stuffed animals in her room and the rest I throw down the stairs if she brings them up. It's fantastic! After living on top of them in Arizona (we only had a "great room", so she always had her toys in the front room), it's great not to see them EVER!

- The Deck: So nice! It's nice to have an open area for our table and barbeque. Come on Owens... you know you want to sit on the deck and make tritip!

- Nice neighbors. We came over to see the house the night before we moved in and our neighbors immediately came over to say hi. They have 5 kids (all a little older than Amy, but she likes to watch them play) and are so nice. They're the kind of neighbors you could borrow a cup of sugar from. I like that! We didn't have that on our immediate street in Arizona, so we went around the corner to the Owens, Beckers, or Hardings. Our new neighbors aren't as great as you guys, but they are a suitable substitution for now!
- Beautiful neighborhood. This is the kind of neighborhood that people go on walks in the evenings and sit outside and have community garage sales and the kids ride their bikes all day long. I love that! We had a street like this growing up, and it's been sad in recent years to live in areas where there is NOBODY outside EVER. Granted, the beautiful weather definitely helps.

Of course we had to come up with at least one project while my mom was in town. So, we decided to recover my kitchen chairs. This became essential in the past couple weeks because Amy decided to smear chocolate pudding all over two of them. This, coupled with the kool-aid stains, made for some ugly formerly-white chairs. Don't worry, we definitely covered two of them with the new material, and then a layer of plastic covering over that. Amy has already proven this essential, so I'm glad we did that! Here's the before and after:

Ultimately, I think that we will be happy here. My mom and sister got to stay for a few more days once we got into the house, which was much nicer to have more room for the kids to run around at. But, then it was time to say goodbye. Calli and her family headed out Sunday morning. Thanks so much for coming guys. I hope you didn't hate the drive too much, because we'd love you to come back again! We'll definitely make it down next year at least for Brendan's graduation.

Matthew and Brody (19 days apart)

All of my parent's grandchildren: Taylor (5), Amy (2), Keaton (2), Matthew (2 months), Brody (2 1/2 months)

And so we had to say goodbye to my Mom again. Thanks for everything Mom! We couldn't have made it here without you (not with our sanity intact, at least).

So here we are in Ohio. We're all moved in (except the office, which is still a disaster area), we're getting to know the area really well, and we're enjoying our new ward (although we definitely miss the Sarival Ward! Best ward ever!).

Hello Ohio!

2009-08-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

First impressions of Ohio:
- it rains every week
- the sun is only out for a couple hours each day
- it's not as humid as I had expected
- it's very green - it looks like a giant golfcourse
- I will be okay here.

Matthew and I flew into Ohio on Tuesday, June 30th. He was PERFECT on the flight! He slept the entire time until the last 10 minutes, at which point he woke up and stared around at everyone. I couldn't have asked for a better flight with him. Ironically, we watched "New In Town," the new Renee Zellwegger movie. While I am not a fan of Renee AT ALL, it was kind of funny because she moves to Minnesota in the winter, and some of her experiences with her first winter make me think of how I will be this winter in Ohio.

Mike met us at the airport with roses (what a good husband!), although he had some trouble finding us. I was holding Matthew and had already pulled our luggage off the carousel, so I couldn't go after him, so Matthew and I watched Mike wander back and forth among all the other carousels for about 20 minutes. It was pretty funny. I tried yelling at him, but he didn't get close enough to hear us.

We didn't get to see much of Ohio because it was starting to get dark, but what we did see on the drive was very pretty. Mike drove us the hour from Cincinnati (that's where we flew into) and arrived at our corporate housing apartment. It was a super nice furnished apartment with two rooms, and the complex had a pool, a really nice fitness room, and a tanning bed! It also had a really nice movie room with a big screen and couches that you could use, but we never got around to taking advantage of it. We were quite comfortable there.

That first weekend was the 4th of July, so we headed over to Centerville (the next town over) to check out their parade and festival. It's fun to have all these little towns that still have town parades where the fire department drives through and they have the mayor and town council waving at people who really don't know or care who they are. They had a big crafty fair with local vendors and homemade crafts and stuff like that. It was really a nice day. Matthew was a good sport too.

I spent the rest of the first week completely lost. I never really appreciated the way that Arizona streets are straight and only run in one direction and only change names between cities (and only some of the small streets). In Ohio, streets completely curve so when you think you're going south you end up going west. They also change the names of the street at every other intersection (okay, that's an exaggeration, but it sure felt like that!). So that was my first week in Ohio!

Since You've Been Gone

2009-08-19T09:59:00.001-07:00

I'm going to backtrack a little bit and hopefully get caught up to the present, so here we go:

Mike headed out to Ohio on June 13th. That was a sad time and we missed him, but Matthew was only 2 weeks old and there was still the move and the house to deal with. And I needed more time with my family before I left Arizona. But, the call of the paycheck was there, so Mike packed his bag, or rather his box, and flew out to Ohio. We got some really great perks from his new company, including a REALLY nice furnished apartment to stay in for a month and a rental car for two weeks, so he was all set when he got there.

He jumped right into his job, although he was, and still is, waiting for his security clearance to transfer over. He likes the feel of the smaller company and hopefully will find some more joy in this work than he did with Lockheed and the big corporation.

He also had to get busy finding himself a car and finding a house for us to rent. He found a cute little car pretty quickly, but unfortunately we've found quite a few problems with it recently and we're probably going to get rid of it now.

As far as the house goes, we had been checking websites for a couple weeks and found several nice homes for rent. We decided to rent for now because we don't know the area yet. So I sent Mike a list of houses we had found and a list of things to look at. Well, our favorite one online was the one we got because Mike walked in and thought "Lindsey would LOVE this house." It is beautiful. I will post more details about the house later, but Mike did a great job!

So, what were Amy, Matthew, and I doing while Mike was setting up our new lives in Ohio? Well, mostly we were still getting used to a family with two kids and a temporarily single mom. We didn't have to worry about packing or any of that, so we got to play a lot! Amy taught Matthew to read booksand watch movies

and sleep at the same time!

We also spent a lot of time with my family. Grandma and Grandpa wanted to spend as much time as possible with the grandbabies!

We did have to do some packing of the stuff we would need in Ohio until our stuff got there. So we packed out suitcases, and the movers came bright and early Monday, June 29th. They were great! I walked them through the house and they set to work. Mandi Allen was great and offered to take Amy to the library with her kiddos to get her out of the house, which helped a lot. Thanks so much Mandi! Right when they got back, my mom came over to take Amy to her house for the afternoon (since her bed was in a box and there was no way she was getting a nap at our house) while Matthew and I stuck around the house to supervise the packers.

At the end of day 1 of packing, it was time to party! My mom had invited a bunch of family and friends over to her house to swim, chat, eat, and say goodbye to me, Amy, Matthew, Lisa, and TJ. It was a blast, but so sad when people started leaving and we realized we actually had to say goodbye. It was great that Amy got to play with Keaton and Lilee one more time too! She's going to miss them, along with her other friends. Grandma and Grandpa Knight were able to come down from Linden and see Matthew for the first time and get to say goodbye to us too.

We spent the night at my mom's house, and the next morning Matthew and I had to say goodbye to Amy. This was definitely hard because she was with my parents the whole week we first had Matthew, and now we were going to be on opposite sides of the country! I definitely went through withdrawals without my Amy! But we said our goodbyes and Matthew and I went to meet the movers. They had finished packing everything the last night, so they loaded up the car and our stuff started its trek across the country. I have to say, having professional movers has been an awesome experience. They were so great and we didn't have to lift a finger!

And here is the empty house. My mom came over shortly after the movers left, we did some last minute vacuuming and cleaning, and we were off to the airport. I guess I should mention that the reason Amy was not coming was because we decided it would be easier if my mom brought her the next week (since she couldn't fly out with us that day due to the fact that my dad had gotten her tickets to Wicked later that week), so she was crashing at Grandma and Grandpa Lewis's house for a week and a half.

We definitely bawled all the way to the airport. We're such big babies. And then my mom stayed at the airport until she physically couldn't see my anymore, and every time I turned around to see if she was still there I just started crying again. I have no clue how I'm going to survive without my mom. She has been a constant in my life and my best friend! She is always there for me and always goes out of her way to make sure we're loved and taken care of. Thank you so much for all you do, Mom. We miss you already and can't wait for a chance to come visit.

Ohio, here we come! Arizona, we will miss you!

Party Time!

2009-06-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

PARTY!

I'm a little behind on the blogging (again), but I wanted to send out this invite to everyone before it got too last minute. My mom is throwing a going away party at her house in Gilbert on June 29th (the night before we fly out and the week Lisa, my sister, and her husband move to Ohio for law school). It's going to start at 6:00 pm. There will be food and swimming and games. There will be plenty of hamburgers with all the fixings (if you want something else, feel free to bring it and throw it on the grill!) - just bring a side or dessert to share!

If you will be able to make it, leave a comment so I can let my mom know how many more to plan on, although she tends to make more than enough food anyways! So if you can't commit but find you can make it when Monday rolls around, COME! I'd love to see you! If you need directions, let me know in your comment and I'll get them to you!

5 Years!

2009-06-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 5 years tomorrow (Friday)! Mike and I got married on a VERY warm (110 degree) day in the Arizona temple. I am so blessed to have this wonderful man in my life. Here are the top 10 things I have loved about being married to Mike for the past 5 years:

10. I don't have to kill bugs! Mike is my designated bug killer, as well as "what was that sound" checker.

9. He has a slightly unhealthy need for competition and contention. Mike is definitely a cheater when it comes to games, which you would think would be a bad thing, but it makes the game interesting. He's also a bad loser, which makes it really funny to beat him at games. Lindsey O. and Liz B., as well as the rest of my family, can attest to this. Most games become "make Mike lose" games.

8. He's a die-hard BYU sports fan. I have always enjoyed sports, but there's a whole new element when you're OBSESSED with a sport, or in this case a sports team. Our ward here has definitely been split BYU-Utah, which has led to some fun and funny, yet friendly, competitions.

7. Mike is a great cook... when he makes certain dishes. I admit, Mike is an over-seasoner, so if he doesn't have a recipe, he tends to overdo it sometimes, and cookies are just not his forte; but, Mike does make some really good dishes. My favorites are his gung-pow chicken, pepper steak, and his barbeque recipes. Yum!

6. Mike is a bit OCD when it comes to projects. His recents ones include organizing all the music on the computer (correct title, artist, genre, and in the case of his Estonian music, lyrics) and converting his old cassette tapes into mp3s. He also gets obsessive when he starts to clean. Granted, this has not been a constant thing over the past 5 years, but when it happens he can physically not stop until the area he's cleaning is spotless. While this can be annoying when there are other things that need to be done, I have to admit that I love being able to find any picture or piece of music I want at any time.

5. He's always willing to learn a new skill. He's learned to do minor car repairs, build shelves in my closets, and lay sprinklers in our backyard. He works hard at researching what he needs to do and then jumps into it.

4. He's cheap! Mike is really good about eating leftovers, saving everything, and not spending money on unnecessary things. Of course, there are those splurge moments, but in general I don't have to worry about Mike using money we don't have or should not spend.

3. Mike is a hard worker. I am so lucky to have a husband who works hard to support our family so that I can stay at home with my babies. As I've been working a little more over the past couple months, I've realized how much of a blessing that truly is.

2. He makes really cute babies with me! Amy is definitely "mini-Mike" and Matthew has some great features from him too. Let's face it, I think my husband is hot and makes cute clones.

1. I get to spend every day with my best friend! I love you, Mike, and look forward to the rest of eternity with you!

Ohio!

2009-06-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's official. The AZ Laudies will soon be the OH Laudies. Mike has accepted a position with Applied Signal Technologies in Fairborn, Ohio (right outside Dayton). He will start work on June 15th (yeah, that's in a week and a half), and Amy, Matthew and I will follow him out a couple of weeks later. While we really wanted to stay here in Arizona, there were just no job opportunities here at this time, so as we started to look elsewhere there seemed to be a number of opportunities. We never really imagined ourselves as Ohio people, but I guess it's just a new adventure!

Personally, I'm nervous and excited about the move. I'm nervous for the unknown area, new ward, new house, and all that goes with the move. I'm also very excited for this new chapter in our lives and the chance to explore a new part of the country. We are very sad to leave friends and family in Arizona (especially my family that we have been spoiled to live so close to for the past 4 years!). I will miss Arizona, although Mike can't contain his excitement for snow. Ultimately, we feel this is the right move for our family and will embrace Elder Wirthlin's recent talk and say "Come What May and Love It!"

The Baby Story

2009-06-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

For posterity's sake, here is the tale of the birth of Matthew Richard Laudie:

The story actually begins in Kansas, where my sister, Calli, was supposed to have a baby on May 20th (scheduled C-section). My mom had tickets to fly out and help Calli with her other two kids and told me I was NOT to have my baby until she got back to take care of Amy. My doctor is very pro-induction, so any time two weeks prior to the due date, as long as the baby is doing well, he gives me the option. My mom was going to be back on the 31st, so I was given the green light as of that date to have my baby.

Well, Calli messed with Mom's plans by going into labor on May 5th. Mom flew out there that day and so she got back on the 19th! Woo hoo for me! I was ready to have this baby. I don't remember being this uncomfortable with Amy, but maybe it's just memory block. So, at my 38 week appointment, my doctor asked me if I was ready to have a baby. Yes! He said he'd put my on the list of inductions on Monday (Memorial Day) to come in that night and have the baby the next morning. So we had a very nice holiday. We spent the morning doing some last minute cleaning. Mike went golfing with Richard, and Lindsey Owen and I went and got pedicures. Then we went with the Owens over to my mom's house for swimming and dinner, just waiting for the call to come. We stayed until a little after 9, having called the hospital and confirming I was indeed on the list and that I was next on the list. They couldn't give me a time frame, but it sounded pretty likely that it would be that night.

We left Amy there when we left because even though they had not called me yet, I would probably be going in the next day if not that night. We got home around 10:30, got ready for bed, and were in bed for about 5-10 minutes when FINALLY the phone rang. I said "FINALLY!" and Mike groaned a little (he was really tired at this point and was kind of looking forward to just going to bed). We headed out the door and got to the hospital right before midnight. We got registered and headed up to labor and delivery.

After all the pre-delivery questions, getting an I.V., and getting settled into the room, the nurse said I had progressed to a 4 (which is amazing since 4 days earlier I was at maybe a 1!). So we got to skip the gels this time around and start right into the pitocin. I got my epidural within an hour of starting that and then Mike and I went to sleep for a couple hours. Note to Mike: Next time, where warmer clothes! Those rooms are always freezing! I was numb from the waist down, so I couldn't feel it.

We woke up the next morning around 6:30, just as my night nurse (I had fantastic labor and delivery nurses this time around! They were just great!) was about to leave. When the new nurse came in, she watched the baby's heart rate through a couple contractions and noticed it was dropping a bit with each contraction, but recovering fully between contractions. After about an hour of this, she put an internal monitor on him to make sure she was tracking only his heart rate, and we spent the next two hours watching his heart rate drop with contractions. I continued to progress, and when it got to the point that I would be ready to push, the nurse said she wanted the doctor to be there because if the baby goes into distress while I'm pushing they may need to do a C-section. Yikes! She said she didn't think it would come to that, but she wanted to be safe.

Doctor McKernan came in and I pushed for about 10 minutes. The cord had been around the baby's neck and so when the contractions were tightening around him, his heart rate would drop. After 10 minutes of pushing, the doctor was able to get a hold of him with the suction cup and pull him out. And he was beautiful! He was a perfect little 8 lb. baby and I am SO grateful for modern medicine and competent nurses and knowlegable doctors who are able to take a potentially dangerous circumstance and make it turn out perfectly.

We have really loved having Matthew home with us. Amy is constantly by his side, rubbing his heard or holding his hand. She literally fell asleep on the couch the other day, and as soon as she woke up she stumbled over to his bouncer, still half asleep, and sat in "her spot" next to him. She is constantly asking to hold him and help get him things. I always told Mike that Amy and I do so well together that I couldn't imagine having another one. I just couldn't imagine sharing my love two ways, but now I can't imagine not having him. He's my perfect little man that I get to selfishly enjoy more than anyone else (the bonus of being the one with the food!). I love to cuddle with him and have him lay on me as I read or watch tv.

So there you have it! Sorry there are no pictures (gross!) to go with this post, but I think it's a good choice.

My Work and Glory

2009-06-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

From Mike: So I'm not looking to make a habit of posting here, but while we have traffic from blog stalkers checking out our new little man, I wanted to share this video clip I recently put together.

This is from an old 70's documentary called Powers of Ten (for those of you who might recognize it from High School Physics class), and I've sped up the footage, dubbed music over the narrator, and added scriptures at the end. I've named the clip My Work and Glory for obvious reasons once you've watched it through and read the scriptures.

Every time I watch this, my heart is touched because it so directly reflects my personal testimony of our Heavenly Father's plan for us. His creations are so vast and incomprehensible that all I can do is stand in amazement and exclaim How Great Thou Art! And yet, despite his countless creations and our relative nothingness, I know that we are everything to Him. He sent His son so we might reach our full potential, so we might become even as He is. Of all God's creations, we--you and I--are His greatest, and He will give us every opportunity to achieve eternal life.

As a new father all over again, I can't help but reflect on what I wouldn't do for my two children, what I wouldn't give to see them protected and able to realize their greatest dreams. And if I then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto my children, how much more shall our Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? How lucky we are to have a loving Heavenly Father who cares so much about us and will give us eternal life, the greatest of all gifts, as we embrace His son and obey His few, simple commandments.

More Baby Matthew Pictures!

2009-05-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

We have had a really nice couple of days here at home. Amy is still staying at my mom's house, so our family is incomplete. It almost feels like we've rewound 2 1/2 years and it's just me, Mike, and Amy all over again. So yes, Mom, you will have to return her at some point so that she can get to know her little brother better!
I'll post more details later, but here are some more pictures of our now 3 day old baby! Enjoy!

What a happy big sister!

Lisa came to visit! She wants it noted that her hair was curly that morning and she came from work!

Matthew and Papa and Amy. Amy thinks he's SO soft. She kept rubbing her face on his.

Ready to come home!

The proud Daddy!

Dressed and on the way to the doctor's office for our first office visit!

It's a Boy!

2009-05-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Matthew!

So this is the official announcement of our little guy, who showed up Tuesday morning. Mother and baby are both doing wonderfully, and we are thrilled to finally see him. So a quick rundown: (without all the motherly details of the delivery Mom Laudie has been pressing for having experienced almost every conceivable birthing scenario with her 11 deliveries -- when she finally got Lindsey on the phone, there was more than one occasion for her to say, "Michael didn't tell me that! Why in the world wouldn't he have told me that they didn't start you out on the gels first?!?" Any other Mom Laudie's out there will have to call Lindsey for the gory details [623-848-1443]... I'll spare the rest of you...)

The Name: Matthew Richard Laudie
      Why Matthew? We like the name. The fact that it has family significance on my side is mainly a formality and an excuse for us to use a name we like. The significance? Matthew William Dalton, my great-great-grandfather was the pioneer member of the church on that line... my understanding was that he was passing through Salt Lake during the gold-rush era and never made it on to California... The fact that he was a polygamist? That just means our Matthew's gonna be a handful when he turns 16!
      Why Richard? That's my middle name. Given Lindsey's family history of producing girls, this may be my one opportunity to pass along my name in some form or other, so I get to pass along not only my middle name but my initials as well. With as much as Amy is a Momma's Girl and wants nothing to do with me half of the time, this may be my feeble attempt at getting a child who worships his daddy.

The Weight: 8 lbs even
      How often do you hear that? Most babies have weights like 8 lbs 2 oz or 7 lbs 18 oz. When you hear 8 lbs, you think the dad is just trying to play cool and round up or down, as if he doesn't remember the exact weight... That's my style. Often someone asks me to pass along some detail or other, and even though my memory is spot on, I have this weird tendency to downplay the detail. Example: I've been asked when Lindsey was due at least 20 times where I've responded, "Oh, the first of June", or "The end of May'ish", or "Sometime before the Second Coming of Christ". Why beat around the bush like that when I know very well that the date is June 6th? I'm gonna stand by the whole cool concept; with me you can just assume that I'm this wonderful father who remembers the exact time, day, weight, height, etc, but cool enough that I can spare you the humiliation of hearing the details and forgetting when you have to parrot them on. You get asked, "Honey, when were the Laudie's expecting to have their baby?" Instead of, "Well, gosh, I think it was June 6th at 5:55 pm... or was that June 5th at 6:66 pm?" you can just say, "Well, Mike says they're due before the moon turns to blood!" and you're covered. But in this case, I'm not sparing you the details; little Matthew (or not quite so little Matthew) was exactly 8 pounds, no rounding required on my part.

The Height: 20 and 1/2 inches
      I'm not quite sure why we care about this statistic. "Wow! Your baby was 21 inches? Mine was only 19 and 1/2... Golly, yours was long! Like a little string bean... maybe you should name him 'Bean-jamin'!" The weight stat I can understand. "An eleven pound baby?!? Glad it was you and not me!" This is one of those stats that I'd either downplay or downright forget and then get whacked in the back of the head by Lindsey later for not remembering how long the neighbors' newborn was (see The Weight above). But I'm providing the detail for those of you who obviously know what to do with it (and to save my poor head from a good whacking!).

The Time: 10:53 am
      Now this is a big one at the Laudie house. Have you ever seen City Slickers? At the beginning of the movie, Billy Crystal gets a phone call in the middle of the night at his exact birth time from his mother, "Happy Birthday Curly! I remember the night when you were born... you were so little... the doctor thought you were going to... and in the middle of that, I pulled out a baseball bat and started whacking your father over the back of the..." This is the annual phone call I get from my mother, almost word for word. And I wouldn't miss it for the world. Lucky for me and Matthew, we were both born in the late morning and won't get woken up in the middle of the night by our moms when they make the birthday time call. I guess the same goes for Amy, who was born at 11:02 on 11/02 (leave it to a Laudie [thanks Dad] to figure that one out!).
      We went into the hospital late Monday night after having a nice day of golfing, yard work, swimming, and barbecuing for the Memorial Day holiday. We were told to expect a call around 7 or 8 pm that night, and after exhausting all hope of having the baby that night and settling down to sleep by 11, we finally got the call. So we spent the night in the delivery room, waiting for modern medicine to help Matthew on his way into the world, and neither of us got much sleep. And after a long morning of contractions (thanks again to modern medicine for the pain relief) and a few little scares with the baby heart monitor and a tangled cord, Matthew finally showed up at 10:53, and had a proud father and an emotional mother thrilled to finally meet the little tyke.

The APGAR Score: 8/9
      "What does that one mean?" you're wondering. You've got me. My guess: It's a measure of Attractiveness, Piano-playing ability, Greatness, Academic Aptitude, and Regality. In reality, I think it means that we had a pretty healthy baby at 2 minutes old and an even more healthy baby at 5 minutes old.

Well, so much for me sparing you the details... okay, so I left most of the gory ones out, but given my rambling nature (Thanks Mom Laudie), I've taken 1,256 words to tell you what I could have in the following summary:

The Name: Matthew Richard Laudie
The Weight: 8 lbs even
The Height: 20 and 1/2 inches
The Time: 10:53 am
The APGAR Score: 8/9
Mother and Baby are both healthy and doing fine. We got home late yesterday afternoon and are getting settled. Amy is with Lindsey's folks (Thanks Grandma Lewis!). You can get the more interesting version of events from Lindsey in the days to come on her blog.

Now wasn't that so much better than my commentary on events? And let's be honest, if you've made it this far in the email, it's only because you're holding out hope that I'll actually attach a picture or two of the star of the day. So to reward you for your patience, here you go. We love you all, and are so grateful for your support and help through the pregnancy.

Lots of love,
Mike, Lindsey, Amy, and Matthew

See Mom, I Remember How To Blog!

2009-05-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

So here it is! We're caught up! I figured it would be a good thing to get caught up with all our activities before the baby came. In case you miss the note later, we are planning on going to the hospital tonight to be induced! Woo hoo! So our little boy will soon be here. We've been very busy setting up his room, buying a new car seat, and cleaning the house so that we can enjoy this week with our new little one! We're going to my parent's house to go swimming (because that's what we do on Memorial Day, of course!) and then we'll leave Amy there for some Grandma / Papa bonding time while we head over to the hospital to welcome our little boy.

Free Visit to the Phoenix Zoo!

2009-05-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

We're not really good about watching the news as often as we probably should, but we did happen to watch the other night and found out that the Phoenix Zoo was giving 2 free passes to everyone with a Fry's VIP card on Friday, May 22nd and Friday, May 29th. Since Amy still gets in free because she's under 3, we all got to go to the zoo. Mike and Amy haven't been to this one before, and it's years for me, so it was fun. Definitely a lot of walking involved, but it was a cooler day. It was humid, but the overcast clouds helped keep things cool.

Amy's favorite part was actually a squirrel who lived by the Meerkats. He had no fear and would run up to her, or Mike, or our lunch. She thought it was great!

She also liked the orangatans. Every time we told her it was time to go see more animals, she would say "I'm looking!" and turn back to the window.

So if anyone else is interested in some free entertainment, go to the Zoo this Friday with your Fry's VIP card! Check 12 news for details.

I'm a Wanderer

2009-05-25T10:49:00.001-07:00

Mike has become quite the little traveler the past month. As his resume was received by different companies, there were a couple that were quite eager to fly him out to their location (notice he had to fly... again, nothing here in Arizona... boo...) so he spent a good amount of time at the airport. Here's an overview of his trips:

Trip #1:

(Mike called me and said "Guess where I am?" What a meanie!)

Location: Los Angeles, California (interviewing for a job in Ohio)
Company: Applied Signal Technology (he also interviewed with ImSar while he was up there)
Time away: 1 night
Outcome: Really good offer (we have to respond by Friday)

Trip #2:
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Company: Applied Signal Technology (he also interviewed with ImSar while he was up there)
Time away: 2 nights (he got there Thursday night and asked them if he could stay an extra night so he could spend some time with his family before flying back - they were kind enough to oblige us!)
Outcome: No word from ImSar, but AST made him pick which location he wanted an offer from and he was more interested in the Ohio job. Sorry family in Utah! Just wasn't right for us right now!

Trip #3:
Location: San Jose, California (for San Jose or Sacramento postitions)
Company: Northrup Grumman
Time Away: 1 day (flew out that morning, flew back that night - long day!)
Outcome: Expecting an offer from San Jose this week

Trip #4:

This is the view outside Mike's hotel window. He couldn't believe how green it was!

Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Company: Northrup Grumman
Time Away: 2 nights
Outcome: Expecting an offer this week

So, as you can see, Mike's been very busy. We're excited for all the attention his resume has been getting him but are anxious to make our decision this week. As I said, we're expecting 2 more offers before we make any official decisions, so we'll just leave it at that for now. Watch for an update shortly about where the AZ Laudie's will be settling down in the coming months.

Jet Skiing!

2009-05-25T10:31:00.001-07:00

My dad took us on another fun jet-skiing adventure! We went up to Lake Roosevelt again and Amy had a lot of fun! We got her a life jacket this time so she could actually go out on the jet skis this time. She cried a bit when we put it on her (I think it was because she was having too much fun just swimming near the shore), but once she got out with Mike, she had a lot of fun! I decided not to actually go on the jet ski this time, since we were all the way at Lake Powell and I didn't want to have to try and make it to a hospital if something went wrong! Oh the joys of being pregnant...

Amy and Jake (TJ's brother) floating near the shore on the tube.

Lisa and her Chex Mix.

Dad pulling Jessica behind the jet ski.

Having fun! Lisa, Dad, and Jessica.

Summer attempting to stand up on the tube.

After Summer stood up on the tube.

Amy and Mike playing in the water.

Just staying cool!

Amy using her lifevest for the first time!

Getting ready to go out with dad!

Happy Cinco De Mayo and babies on the way!

2009-05-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Mike served his mission in Estonia. Do you know what they eat in Estonia? Me neither. Why? Because the medical bills were so high from missionaries in the baltics eating things that did not sit right with them that the elders weren't allowed to eat with the members. So what recipes did my husband bring home from his mission? Chinese Gung-Pow Chicken (the best ever! Yum!) and tortillas!

So, for Cinco De Mayo, we had our traditional burritos with homemade tortillas. They were delicious, of course!

As another surprise, my sister Calli gave birth early that morning! She was supposed to have a c-section on the 20th, but apparently he was ready to come. Brody Tres Potter was born on cinco de mayo. We're excited to get to meet him... eventually! But for now, he sure is cute in his pictures. Congrats Calli and Brendan!

The great thing for me that came out of this was that I get to have my baby earlier! My mom was going to fly out to Kansas a couple days before Calli had her c-section and stay until May 31st, leaving me strict instructions that I couldn't have my baby until she got back so she could take care of Amy while we were in the hospital. Well, when Calli's baby came she flew out that morning, so now she's back! Yeah! So today, Monday, May 25th (Memorial Day) is D-day for me! I'm supposed to call the hospital tonight to see what time they want me to come in and be induced! Hooray! I'm so ready! It's still all starting to hit me that we're going to have a baby tonight, or tomorrow morning more likely. We've been talking to Amy about it and I think she's finally getting it.

This is a really funny conversation that Mike had with Amy the other day. The baby is Kylee Owen, but Amy woke up from her nap and was sure that this was baby brother. This is when I realized that she actually understood that baby brother was a real baby.

This is how Amy and I typically spend our afternoons. I don't remember being this tired when I was pregnant with Amy (at least not after the first trimester), but I can take a good 3 hour nap every afternoon and sleep from 10 to 7 every night. Craziness.

It's about time!

2009-05-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

So my cousin Kim and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. We're only about 6 months apart and we grew up doing a lot together, from sleepovers to double dates. Well, somehow, with Kim living in Queen Creek and me living in Goodyear, we haven't seen each other in a year and a half (granted, part of that time Kim was living in Georgia, but still!). So we finally got our families together over at my mom's house so our little girls (who are about 5 months apart) could play! We knew we had to do it soon because Kim and I were both VERY pregnant. Kim gave birth about a week later to another little girl, Kamri! Congrats Kim and Jason! I'm glad we got to see you!

This is Kim. Kim hates when people take pictures of her. This is the best I could do.

While we girls didn't get in, both because we are mondo-pregnant and because it was freezing cold, the boys took our girls swimming. It had been in the 90's, but the water hadn't quite warmed up yet, so the girls were totally shivering, but didn't want to get out!

Amy's World

2009-05-25T09:30:00.001-07:00

Here are some random pictures of what Amy's been up to the past few months.

Amy is a book fanatic. If you let her, she will let you read books to her ALL DAY LONG. As soon as I finish one, she says "I go get another one." She has gone from my close-the-door-and-go-to-sleep baby to my "leave a door open" and "I want a book" baby. She feels she needs to go to bed with a minimum of 3 books in her bed. This is how we find her asleep because of that!

Amy loves to be a princess and dance around at Grandma Lewis's house. She especially has a thing for this rock. She just stands there... Random child.

My mom made this super cute chef's hat and apron for Amy to use when she's cooking in her kitchen. She totally posed like this by herself too. So cute!

So here's my "I'm a bad mom" story. Amy and I were going to the store and she was standing in front of me helping me push the shopping cart. I didn't notice her shoes were untied, so as we were walking I stepped on her shoelace and she fell. Her eye landed right on the the wheel of the shopping cart. Poor baby. She was very sad, but my promise of a "special treat" made everything better. I know, I'm a bribing mom.

The Goodyear Park turned the splashpad on a few weeks ago, and Amy likes it much more this year than last year. In fact, she likes to lay on her stomach and try to drink the water. Yeah, I know, gross. We're working on that. She does the same thing in the swimming pool and at the lake. Blah.

Amy has gotten in a bad habit of coming into our room between 2 and 5 am. So, to stop this, we started putting the baby gate up in her doorway. This was her plea for us to stop putting it up.

Baby's Room

2009-05-25T09:12:00.001-07:00

My mom did an amazing job helping me with Amy's room before she was born (I think that was before my blogging days, so here's a peak if you've never seen it).

Even though we don't know how long we'll be in Arizona with the job search still going, my fantastic mom decided we still wanted to make the room feel like a baby's room and so she came over and painted some stripes around the room and bought him an adorable bedding set with trucks and tools. Thanks Mom! You're the best!

Blue Baby Shower

2009-05-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

I'm so bummed that I forgot to take pictures of this, but I wanted to send out a HUGE thank you to all the girls who threw and came to the baby shower for our little boy! I'm going to try not to forget anyone, but thank you Brandi, Sarah, Nikki, Lindsey, Kimmi, and Katherine for such a great shower! The food was amazing, the games were fun, and the gifts were much appreciated! I'm going to have one well-dressed little boy! Thank you, too, for all of you who dropped off gifts since then. We feel very blessed to have such great friends. While I'm still not sure what to do with little boys, I definitely feel better prepared to figure it out!

March For Babies

2009-05-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

We got to participate in the March for Babies (March for Dimes) walk again with our good friends the Beckers! Nikki lost her first son when he was born prematurely, so this has been an important cause for her. We enjoy going to support their family by walking with them. This is the second year we've been able to go. We had a good time and are proud to be part of such important work! My friend Natalie just had her baby born at 25 weeks this week (under 2 lbs), so I see again how important it is to support this cause! The advances and medicine have supported Natalie's little boy and he is fighting with all his might! Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your new little family, Natalie!

Getting ready for the walk. Richard Owen (Shirts 'n Stuff) made great t-shirts again this year!

Amy loved finding the characters along the walk and holding their hands. I think someone wants to go to Disneyland (besides me!)!

Lounging in the grass, eating lunch after the walk

Nikki and I were due a day apart, so we had to do the belly shot!

Our group coming up on the finish line.

Easter Fun!

2009-05-25T08:34:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of fun with Amy this Easter. Even though she's still young, she is definitely old enough to find the little pleasure in coloring Easter eggs and hunting for candy!

We spent the night before Easter coloring eggs at home.Amy thought it was a lot of fun coloring on the eggs with a crayon and then making them "dive" into the eggs. Needless to say, it took a little more time to clean it up this year than in past years. We started off using the dippers, but Amy soon realized it was easier to take the eggs out with her fingers. She also realized that she can go through a dozen eggs rather quickly, so then she started to redunk the already dyed eggs.

Easter morning started off with a short discussion of why we actually celebrate Easter. We knew Amy would shortly be distracted by the candy hidden all over the front room and the fun of going to Grandma's house and playing, so we took a minute to teach her that "Jesus got owies" (this is her caption for the crucifixion picture), but then "Heavenly Father made it all better" (resurrection picture).

Then the sugar-high began! She first found her Easter basket with her little memory game, princess bucket, and of course an Easter bunny! She still carries that thing everywhere!

We hid candy and Easter eggs all over the front room, and she had a blast finding them. Last year she was quite content to hold one, but now she realized that she could fill her basket and keep getting more! Woo hoo! It was hilarious though because she had to shake every single egg she found to make sure there was really something in it. Then it was on to Grandma's house. We decided to go to my parent's ward since we have such a late block time. That way we could be over there for Easter lunch. Amy wore her beautiful new pink Easter dress that Grandma Lewis got her. She also got another private Easter egg hunt. One of these years she's going to have siblings and cousins around to fight her for them, but for now she enjoys being the center of attention.

We had a wonderful dinner with my parents, Summer, Jessica, Lisa & TJ, and Grandpa and Grandma Knight. The food was delicous (as always) and we all ate more than we should have!

General Conference Camping

2009-05-25T08:18:00.001-07:00

We spent out General Conference weekend camping with the Inman's, Owen's, Earl's, and other friends up near Flagstaff. Here's what I learned: Flagstaff is COLD in April! It was still a lot of fun though! We crammed ourselves into the Owen's car, with all our gear, and headed up Friday evening. When we got there... there were snowflakes on the ground! Ahh! Mark had warned us that it would be cold, but snow was not on my radar! We slept in the Owen's huge tent the first night, and we were definitely a little chilly (note to self: put extra blankets inside sleeping bag - keeps you much warmer!). The next day the wind blew a lot, which kept things pretty cold. We stayed bundled up by the fire and still enjoyed being outside. The fun thing was that these families had brought up a satellite dish so that they could pick up conference! So we enjoyed all of the conference sessions outside in the beautiful nature!

That night, the families with campers invited those of us in tents to come inside, which we did for the sake of the kids, although it was definitely warmer the next day than the day before. We are definitely fans of camping, but next time we may wait until it gets a little warmer. I really wanted to go camping before the baby came, so this was kind of our last chance before I couldn't bear the thought of sleeping anywhere but in my bed.

Lindsey and Kylee, and Mike and Amy keeping warm by the fire.

Richard was in charge of dinner one of the nights and made some awesome chicken with his family's famous cheesy potatoes! Definitely a camping favorite of ours now!

Me and Amy snuggling by the fire. I was definitely happy to hold her all she wanted because she was warmer than any blanket!

Yum... hot chocolate...

Mike and Richard took several trips out to find more firewood. This time they "accidentally" went four-wheeling instead. They found some mud and the car just drive right through it. Boys...

Some of the little boys had thrown a rope over a tree and made a little swing by tying a note at the bottom of it. Amy thought it was so much fun and just pushed herself around in it all morning. This is the day that it had finally stopped blowing cold wind, so she got to venture away from the fire!

Tough Times

2009-04-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

This has definitely been a season of trials in our family. About 2 months ago, Mike lost his job. Boo. Life has definitely been a blur since then. We've been working hard to stretch our savings, I've been working a lot more, and Mike has been around a lot! He's been working really hard at job searches and networking. Luckily for us, there have been job opportunities available for him to apply to. I'll post the results shortly, as there have been some new developments, but this has been both a time of stress and joy. Here are some of the blessings we have found amidst this trial:
1) Amy has a new found love for her daddy. He can walk into a room and she immediately starts to giggle because she wants to play with him! This is quite the contrast from her constant need to sit by me and on me. Granted, she's still Mommy's girl most of the time, but she definitely misses him when he's not here and asks for him when he's out. Sometimes I'll be on one side of the house and I'll hear hysterical laughing come from her room where they're running around and tackling each other and just having a great time! It's so cute to see!
2) Mike has learned a lot about what he wants to get out of a job. As he has been looking at jobs and realizing he would have options and wouldn't have to take the first job that jumped out at him, he's learned a lot about what he's looking for, such as the fact that he likes somewhat smaller companies as opposed to the large Lockheed Martins, and there are different technologies that he is very interested in that he hopes to be able to work with in his next job.
3) We can live off a VERY tight budget. VERY tight. We have made "budgets" before in the past, but most of the time they end up being averages of what we already spend and don't require us to watch our money at all. This time we watched it at least weekly to see where every penny went. And we learned we can do it! Yes, we had to turn down some dinner invitations and we tried to drive around less, but it is definitely doable!
4) We have learned to rely a lot on the Lord and what he wants us to do. As many of you know, we have found NO job opportunities in Arizona. This has been very hard to stomach because we love our home, our ward, our area, and being close to my family. I really believe, because the Lord knew this, that he knew he wouldn't get us to look outside the state without removing all possible options for us staying. Well, we thought, there's always Utah. We've done Utah before, it's not a big unknown, and Mike's family is there! Utah would be nice. However, the jobs in Utah just didn't sit right with Mike and to our shock we knew we weren't going to Utah. So out we venture into the great unknown (again, details coming soon). Lucky for us, the Lord knows what's going on with us and what we need.
5) We have the best friends and families ever! We have always tried to be the kind of friends that people could call on when they needed something - meals brought in after a baby, babysitters, house sitters, whatever! We have definitely put our friends and families to the test to see if they would do the same for us - and they did! Thank you so much to all of you who have watched Amy while I was at work and Mike was busy with job searches. Especially my mom who was always willing to drop everything to let Amy come play for the entire day while I put in some time at work. Thank you for those of you who invited us over for dinner or camping or games. It was so nice to get out of the house sometimes because our attempt to keep to a tight budget kept us somewhat limited to the house and nearby parks. I feel so blessed to have friends and family that are so willing to help us out when the need arose. I know the Lord blessed us by sending us all of you! Thanks again!

Oh Sugar, Where Art Thou?

2009-04-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

So you know how they say you don't miss something until you don't have it. So true. I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes for this pregnancy - that means I'm diabetic while I'm pregnant but shouldn't be after the baby comes. What does that mean? That means once a week ultrasounds to make sure the baby's not in distress and still has plenty of fluid. It also means that I am on an 1800 calorie diet which completely eliminates sugar from my diet! What a nice surprise right before Easter - the season of Robin's Eggs, my absolute favorite! Oh the things we do for our children - he better be worth it! (I know he will be, I'm just kidding.)

You Make My Liver Quiver!

2009-04-29T12:03:00.001-07:00

So remember the good old days of high school when school dances required you to come up with some cheesy way to ask or answer your date? My mom always tried to convince us that the best way would be to put a piece of liver on leave a note that said "You make my liver quiver. Will you go to prom with me?" Yeah, needless to say she never was able to talk any of us into doing that one.
Come to find out, the west valley has an LDS prom for the high school kids and they decided to have an adult prom the night before (after seeing all the work they put into decorations, I think that was really a good idea. They put a lot of work into it and it needed to be appreciated by more than just the high school kids). So my husband, knowing how much I loved school dances (yes, I really did. I thought they were a blast!), decided he'd take me to the prom!
I had seen the signs in the church hallway and the announcement in the bulletins, but didn't really bring it up or ask him if he wanted to go. So, imagine my surprise when I wake up to this (those are Hershey's kisses):

Yes, in the spirit of prom, Mike decided to officially "ask me" to the prom. I'm really glad this is one of the mornings Amy decided not to come into our room before I woke up because I can imagine the look on her face if she had found a trail of chocolate and no parents awake to stop her!

Of course I had to then answer in like, so here's what Mike found the night before the prom:

Now, being 6 months pregnant, my mind of course turns to the dress... Where do you find a pregnant prom dress? My mom has closets full of old prom dresses from me and my sisters (with 4 girls graduated, we went through a lot of formals). I had hoped that maybe I could squeeze into an empire-waisted dress because that would be above my belly. But, alas, no such luck. So I ended up finding an old formal skirt I had and a formal shirt from my cousin's wedding and called it good.

First things first, we had to have a day-activity - remember those? Mike had gotten some free spring-training tickets to the Royals game up in Surprise, so Mike, Amy, and I went up and lounged in the grass and enjoyed our sunny afternoon at the ballgame - which was a little warm, hence our lovely hair as Mike decided we needed to have a mini water fight with our waterbottles to cool down. And the Royals won! Mike's from Kansas City, that's why we like the Royals a little bit!

So off we went to prom. We had 5 couples in our group (yes, we had a group!). We started off at P.F. Chang's (mmm... Lettuce Wraps!) and had a really good dinner before we headed over to the prom. Our waiter asked us what the occassion was because the girls at the hostess desk were wondering. We laughed for a minute and then finally owned up to the fact that we were indeed going to Prom.
So after dinner, we headed over to the stake center for the Phantom of the Opera themed prom. Wow! It was fantastically decorated. They had built a gondolla in the hall, made the hallway into a dungeon archway, set the stage to look like the operahouse, and even built balconies and an organ! It was beautiful. So we danced the night away, had a great time with some friends, and all and all just really enjoyed ourselves. I did tell Mike that we have to go again because next year I'm going to fit into one of my old dresses!
Here's our group: Mike and his really pregnant prom date:
Stud Muffin: I had to take a picture of just the top of me so that I didn't look pregnant and fat in every picture!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

2009-04-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

Mike had the opportunity to play in the city's softball league this year. Sarah Harding put together a team and asked Mike if he wanted to play. He had a lot of fun! By the end of the season they were doing well consistently, but alas, did not make it through the tournament. It was definitely a fun experience for him though!

Valentine's Dinner

2009-04-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

This one is out of order a bit, but I do have one more Valentine's Day post. I know, I know, I've had my Valentine's Day post up forever, but I promise this is the last one. Mike and I had enjoyed our at-home valentine's day a lot, but decided we still wanted to go out to a nice V-day dinner. I had a gift card from my boss from Christmas to this really nice steakhouse called Fleming's, so we decided to try it out. We got all dressed up, dropped Amy off at the sitter's house (thanks Kimmi!) and headed out. The food was delicious and the restaurant was very formal-feeling. In this ambiance, imagine our embarressment when this happened: We cut into our steaks, after spooning our side-dishes onto our plates, only to find that we had been given the wrong steaks (I got his, he got mine). So we decided to just pass them across the table. I, being the wise one, used both my utensils and got my food from one side to the other. Mike, not as wise, decided to balance it on his fork. Flop. It landed right in the middle of the white tablecloth. So, for the rest of the night, that's where our cups sat - right in the middle of the stain to cover it up. However, every time the waiter came to refill our cups he'd pick up the cup and reveal the stain. Yeah, we laughed about it all night long. It's probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but we found it really funny.

Thanks for a nice night out Mike! I love you!

The Results Are In...

2009-04-29T11:06:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I definitely haven't blogged in a very long time. My mom is here painting the baby's room (post on that later) so she said I should get caught up in my blogging while she's doing that. So here we go:

After weeks of eating a lot of grilled chicken and not much other meat, the results are in for the biggest loser contest! Mike and Richard both worked very hard and sacrificed a lot of yummy food (except when they really wanted it. In that case, they decided as long as they both at the same amount then it wasn't really cheating).

Final weigh in amounts:

Richard: 181.2 lbs

Total Weight Lost: 21.0 lbs (10.386%)

Michael:

Total Weight Lost: 20.0 lbs (10.905%)

Winner: Mike (by .519%)! It was a close race, but Mike did come out victorious in the end! That's my husband! Good job Mike!

Here are some before and after shots. No, Mike doesn't have a habit of wearing a tux around, but it just so happened he had two occassions that required it right at the beginning and end of the contest, so it worked out that he was wearing the same clothes.

Happy Heart Day!

2009-02-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

I have to say, I love Valentine's Day! Not necessarily because of gifts or nice dinners or anything like that, but it is just an all-around happy day. This year was no exception. Because it's rare that V-day falls on a Saturday, it was a special treat to have Mike home with us all day! Mike's family has always had a very family-oriented Valentine's Day because it is actually his little sister Amy's birthday. We decided that this year we would also have a family-fun day and Mike and I would go out this week when we won't have to pay a babysitter or fight the crowds. We woke up and Mike and Amy played "find the heart" (you know that game you play in primary where there are only 5 places in the whole room to find the picture, but you play it 20 times anyways) while I cooked breakfast. I have to say, we played that game several times for a lot of time that day because Amy thought it was hilarious. If we put it at her eye level, she found it pretty quick, but if we hid it a little better she'd walk up to every piece of furniture and smile and say "is it over here?" and wait for us to answer.

For breakfast we had this delicious quiche (super easy, really delicious) with this cute pan my mom got me a couple years ago, with pink milk, strawberry muffins (because they're pink), and oranges (because we picked a bunch at my grandma's house the other day and they are delicious!).

After breakfast we cleaned up, we made heart-shaped sugar cookies (with the intention of taking them to friends, along with the Valentines Amy colored, but alas, they are still unfrosted on my counter!) Afterwards, Mike cleaned up the backyard (the last time he'll have to clean up after Cougar!), and then I had to head over to a baby shower for Samara. Mike and Amy played while I was gone and he put her down for her nap. When I got back, we decided to head over to Walmart and get our family gift, which was a Wii Fit. We also picked up a fantastic fondue pot at Target on our way home because I had purchased all the ingredients for an elaborate fondue dinner!

Dinner was delicious! We started off with this cheese fondue recipe with french bread, broccoli, cauliflower, and apples. Then we had a ceasar salad, then on to the main course (sorry no pics! I swear I thought I took one before we ate, but apparently not!). We had some sirloin steaks that I had chopped up. I marinated half of the meat in this marinade and left the other half for dipping in sauces. We mixed up four different dipping sauces, and added some red potatoes and onions on the side. We were definitely stuffed by the end of the meal! Amy wasn't quite as impressed as we were, but she picked a little here and there and enjoyed the movie we had picked her up from RedBox (Little Mermaid 3). Amy and I cuddled on the couch while Mike did the dishes (yeah he did! thanks honey!) and talked with his family on the phone. After we had let our food settle, we pulled out a chick flick, warmed up the chocolate/peanut butter/chopped peanuts fondue with strawberries, bananas, pretzels, and marshmallows, and relaxed on the couch. It was a really great day and I am so grateful for my little family and the fun memories we are able to make together!

By the way, the fondue pot is so cool that we totally want to have a fondue party now! Any takers?! Definitely in the near future...

Crazy Weather!

2009-02-16T16:36:00.000-08:00

So this post seems really silly now because it has gotten so much colder the past week than it was. So, for my family in Utah who thinks it's crazy that I put my daughter in her swimsuit and sun hat and sent her in the backyard to play in the wading pool, I PROMISE it was totally 85 degrees that day and she did not want to play outside otherwise. I tried to convince her to go play with her bubbles she got from Grandpa Laudie for Christmas (she is officially obsessed with blowing bubbles now!), but she stood in the doorway and just looked uncomfortable. As soon as i mentioned the word "swimming" though, she was out the door and ready to play! She only played for about half an hour and then came in to warm up a bit, but she definitely was having a blast! She's definitely ready for summertime so she can swim! My little fishy!

On an unrelated note, we recently found a new home for our former dog Cougar. While he was a new, learning experience to have, he was a bit too much dog for my little 2 year old who wanted to play with him but not be tackled in the process. This has by no means deterred us from getting a dog again, but next time we will definitely get a smaller dog! Cougar now lives in Mesa with a nice family with 3 kids and 2 other dogs. An interesting note is that we found out the week he moved out that he was actually mostly German Shepherd. Go figure. We got a nice card from the family just the other day letting us know that he's fitting in with their family just fine, they're starting obedience school with him next month, and that they just love him. It was a good decision for us and him.

This is Amy saying goodbye to Cougar. I wish I could say the sadness in her eyes was because she was going to miss him, but actually he just licked her face (which she hated) and she was a little mad at him. It was a bitter sweet goodbye, but it's been nice to be able to freely use our backyard again.

Happy Birthday Mike!

2009-02-16T16:11:00.000-08:00

So I'm a little late in this post, but Mike's birthday was on January 25th. We started to make some fun plans (fun, stay-at-home plans because it was on a Sunday) and Mike realized he had an orchestra concert that night! He's been playing with the Scottsdale Symphony and they have apparently changed their concerts to Sunday/Monday instead of Monday/Tuesday like they used to be. Needless to say, he was a little bummed. Despite that, we had a really nice day. We went out the night before (thanks Kimmi for watching Amy!) to Outback Steakhouse... yum. It was nice to go out with just the two of us! The Owens came over later for cake and ice cream. We had a very relaxing morning. Mike's family has the tradition of doing cake and presents on the night of your birthday, whereas my family is MUCH less patient and we want our presents first thing in the morning! However, because of the concert that night and Amy possibly being asleep when we got home, Mike broke with tradition and opened his presents before church. Amy gave him the classic Ritz and spray cheese (yuck!) that he loves, and his mom sent him a really nice shirt. He also got some nice cards from his Aunt Daveda and my grandma and a gift card from my mom. His big present, however, was the Wii. I splurged. I swear, the month preceding his birthday, 5 different guys asked him what kind of game system he had and, while he denies it, it was a little embarrassing for him to say "Oh, just a Game Cube." When you own a system they are no longer making games for, it's definitely time to upgrade. So, Mike got the Wii. He's been having a lot of fun with it, and even Amy's gotten a strike or two at bowling!

"No Way" is what he's saying here. Mike's a bit of a penny pincher... okay, he's CHEAP, so I knew this would blow him away! I'm a really bad secret-keeper, so everyone in my family and the ward knew what he was getting, but I did somehow keep it from him. Every time he'd say something like "you know what I could really use..." I would just smile and say "but that's not what you got!" It drove him crazy!

After church, we rushed home to get his birthday dinner done before leaving for the concert - Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. After a quick, and I mean QUICK, dinner, Mike and I rushed off to the concert (thanks Owens for watching Amy!). It was a nice concert. Mike did very well. Sorry for all the fuzzy pictures - the lighting was really bad in there.

Look Mom! Cute vinyl!

Mike is on the far right of the main orchestra section.

Happy birthday to my husband! I love him very much and hope he had a happy day!

Valentine's Projects

2009-02-13T14:41:00.001-08:00

With Valentine's Day tomorrow, I decided I should finish off the last of my Valentine Day projects for the year. I am happy to say that I actually finished all of them! Woo hoo!

Project #1: Heart Wreath. This is SO super easy. I copied it from here.

Project #2: Valentine Mailbox. This is just one of those little wooden mailboxes from JoAnn's. I thought it would be a cute place to put Valentines from each other and from family and friends.

Project #3: Love Blocks. My mom decided to outdo my craftiness and made super cute LOVE blocks, so I stole her extra wood and made some too.

I have to admit, I haven't crafted in a while and I'm still new to the whole scrapbooking thing, but I really enjoyed doing these projects the past two weeks! It's been much more rewarding than watching television!

New Recipes

2009-01-27T17:59:00.000-08:00

I was just recently directed to this awesome website. Here are the reasons why I LOVE it:
1) The meals are super easy and quick to make. Most involve less than 10 ingredients.
2) They are cheap recipes. They actually give you an estimate at the bottom as to how much each meal would cost you.
3) It's created by moms, so the meals are typically very kid-friendly. I tried this one tonight. I have never seen Amy completely clean her plate at dinner time. She's more of a snacker, not a big-meal eater unless it's something she ADORES (which to date has been potato or tomato soup and chicken divan). But she absolutely loved dinner tonight and kept asking for more!
4) The recipes sound like things we would actually eat! The ingredients are actually things I recognize and as I read through them, they sound good to me! That's hard to find in a new recipe.
5) They give photo directions at each step so that it's clear what you need to do. The directions are really simple anyways, but it's still nice to look at your food and say "Hey! That looks just like the picture! I must have done it right!"
6) They post a new recipe practically every day (except sometimes Fridays). I seriously sat here going through all of their old recipes because I loved them all! I think I'll have a new morning ritual - get up, go to the bathroom, get Amy some breakfast, check the recipe of the day!

Anyway, that's all. Let me know if you try any of the recipes and either really like them or are not a big fan.