Happy Anniversary to us

Scott and I have now been married for 5 years! How time does fly!

Sledding!

Richard has been so excited about the snow we have been receiving. I broke down and bought him snowpants and boots even though I previously asserted it might be a waste of money. Well, so far we've had plenty of snow to warrant buying the clothes to keep him warm and dry. We got a sled from my sister for Christmas. Richard and his cousin immediately wanted to go out and try it out!

Christmas!

I had to work Christmas Eve, which was a bummer. I was psychologically prepared, though, so it wasn't too bad. It was very busy. I then set up Christmas once I got home and then went to bed. I had to get up about 1 1/2 hours later, which wasn't fun. However, I didn't want to make everyone wait to open presents. Richard had a lot of fun. He got a battery powered CAT digger that he really likes. He also seemed excited about the games I bought him. Audrey liked opening the first few presents but then I think got tired of the process. She just wanted to play with stuff and look at the tree. She loved her toothbrush, a musical bunny, and her books.

Disneyland!

We went to Disneyland and had a fabulous time! I love Disneyland and the kids had a great time as well. We went with the Hales' and another sister, Thamina. I thought things were so fun with the decorations of Christmas. We played hard and didn't get nearly enough sleep. However, what's the fun in sleeping when you could be playing!

Richard's favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters and Small World.

Audrey loved the lights, the sounds, and the bright colorful everythings!

So, not much to talk about in this corner. I sat down last night and had a huge present wrapping session. So, now I'm just about all done. I helped Richard wrap a couple of presents, and he was SO excited! He tried so hard to pull the tape off just right and then put it on the paper. Somehow, he didn't quite catch the concept of taping two ends together and so would just randomly place the tape. I tried harder to guide his placement, but some still ended up a little bent, twisted, and not quite in an effective location. Oh, well. He was having a great time. I let him pick the bow and the location of the tag. He then placed the gifts he wrapped under our tree with great excitement. Oh, having a three-year-old has definitely boosted my ability to feel the excitement of the holidays. I didn't realize how muted it had become until this year, since this is the first year Richard has really grasped the concept of what is going on.
Audrey is quite the chatterbox. I don't remember Richard jabbering as much as she does, but she's almost always making noise. She's starting to say a few words. Of course, if you don't know that's what she's trying to say, it's hard to understand as with all newbie toddlers. However, that's what makes it so endearing! She says shoes, eye, dad, mom, kitty, fish, and I think mouth. The last one is questionable. I guess you can see what is important in her life! Especially since the first word I could identify was shoes!

Success always seems so close...

It snowed again last Saturday. We got a few more inches. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the snow. I've decided I need to get Richard some snow pants and boots. Audrey doesn't care for the snow enough to get her some. She'd rather stay on the sidewalk away from the snow.

We made cookies for neighbors for Christmas. Richard loves to help put things in the bowl. He doesn't care much for cookie dough, which shocks me! I LOVE cookie dough! He doesn't care much for cookies though, either....

I might possibly be making progress with potty training Richard, but I hate to get excited only to have my hopes dashed again. I got frustrated with him today and explained that I didn't like cleaning his diapers just because he's lazy. So, then he's asked to sit on the potty a couple of times today! Audrey saw him doing it and wanted to be part of the fun. Who knows. At this rate, Audrey just might be potty trained first! She may just be that motivator I need to convince him being potty trained is a good idea...

SNOW!

We had a nice snow storm on Saturday. As soon as Richard realized it had snowed, he was asking to go play in it. I made him eat breakfast first, but I daresay he didn't eat as much as he usually does. He seemed to have a great time! He stomped through the snow, threw snow balls, and just went beserk. We also brought Audrey outside, but she seemed very unsure of what to do in the snow. She much preferred walking on the sidewalk. Scott helped her as it was very slippery. Neither child has snowpants and so both came in with soaking wet pants. Alas. I'm cheap and don't want to buy something for $30 that may be worn only a couple of times depending on how much it snows this year and how long it sticks around. Richard only came in because Scott was getting tired of being outside. I went out again with Richard later in the day and also had to make him come in because I was getting cold.

We were able to go to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on Sunday, which was wonderful. My sister so kindly volunteered to watch the kids so we could go. It has been a very long time since Scott and I have done something together without the kids that was not in our family room. It's always wonderful to go to the Conference Center, listen to the First Presidency, and hear the MTC sing. I just enjoyed it so much more as it was given to me rather than solicted to work out by me.

We have run into a huge problem with our camcorder. It has not been recording consistently. I was going through the tapes when I was down in Gunnison this last week so I could record them to our laptop using my parents camcorder. I realized that one tape was missing half of it and another tape was missing about a third. Most of the other tapes were missing at least 10 minutes. The tapes are only 60 minutes long. I was sick when I realized how much we don't have that I thought we did have recorded. I don't have the second half of Richard's birthday party, because we had to switch tapes in between. I then don't have anything until Halloween. So, we've lost all of Audrey's birthday and other things. We don't have anything of Audrey until we went to Houston last June and then only bits and pieces until Richard's birthday. We don't have Christmas of last year or the year before that. So, I spent a lot of time going through my Mom's tapes to fill in the gaps. It became a much larger project than I thought it was going to be. So, this last weekend, we took advantage of the day after Thanksgiving sales and bought a new camcorder. We bought a hard drive camcorder. We got it for a couple of hundred off, which was nice. Scott heard that we should avoid a camcorder with tapes, because it has too many moving parts and is more likely to break. He heard it from a guy he home teaches, who does video work for the church and so is probably pretty reliable. Plus, Consumer Reports ranked it the "best buy" and so we felt good about buying it. We've already recorded quite a bit and are glad it's actually recording when we think it is. I still need to go through more of my Mom's tapes to replace things we've lost.

While in Gunnison Richard and his cousins made sugar cookies. It took some effort convincing him that it would indeed be fun. However, once he realized that, he seemed to have a good time.

We had Scott's parents here for the last few days, which was enjoyable.

Scott won't be able to get his thesis done in time to not pay tuition next semester. Alas, so close.... He's going in tomorrow to get the measurements on the cylinder he needs to do and so hopefully that should be his last time in the chamber. He needs to send the probe back to the manufacturer at the end of the month, so he has to get it done.

We put up our Christmas tree. Richard was very excited. He's seen decorations up in all the stores and so was thrilled to help put things up in our house. We just bought a fake tree, because that was the cheapest option. It's only 6 feet, but we didn't pay much and so that's the way it is.

My sister from Califormia came in on Saturday to spend the week of Thanksgiving. I'm here in Gunnison to spend time with her. Scott's parents are flying in late Tuesday night. They'll spend that night in West Valley and then come to our place on Wednesday. We'll be spending the majority of the rest of the time with them, so I want to spend what days I have with my sister and her family. I also want Richard and Audrey to have the opportunity to get to know their cousins. We'll spend Thanksgiving day with my family, though, since we ate dinner with the Woolston's last year.

Scott got an e-mail from the ME Department secretary saying that he does not qualify for December graduation but if he gets his thesis defended by December 10 and off to the printers (or whatever) by December 20, then he won't have to pay tuition next semester! I don't care the official graduation date on his diploma and he'd have to walk in April anyway, so it doesn't bother me that he wouldn't officially graduate until April if we don't have to pay more tuition! So, Scott is working really hard while I'm in Gunnison to make a lot of progress since his progress will be limited once his parents arrive.

We've encountered some problems with our camcorder, which is aggravating. When I went to go through our tapes to label them, it wouldn't show anything! I worried that somehow stuff hadn't been recorded. However, it did that with every tape we've ever recorded on, and I know that at least the first one had stuff on it, because we've watched it before. So, I bought some head cleaner and Scott used it three times (which is the max). Then, he was able to view stuff on the current tape we're recording on, so at least I know everything I thought we'd recorded was recorded. However, when I got everything out last night to work on labeling, it again wouldn't show anything! Rats! So, I have to ask someone if I can borrow theirs. I guess the reader part of our camera is about gone.

So, the latest in our finish-the-research saga. I don't know if you remember all the problems we've encountered, so I'll recap. First, the probe and the connecting cable was missing. The professers on campus passed the buck with no one knowing where it was. Then Scott requested one from the manufacturer. They asked him to use the one at BYU. Then, miraculously, they did send a probe. Scott went to do his research and the mounts for the probe were missing. Then, he went in this last Saturday and the computer was missing! Then, Scott got an e-mail from his professer yesterday saying it would be gone for a few days! We are so annoyed! Every time Scott goes in, he hits a problem! A physics student has ironically been around every time Scott has another setback and was there on Saturday and helped Scott look for the probe, cable, and computer. Well, this guy fortunately noticed the computer was back this morning and e-mailed Scott. At least SOMEONE on campus is helping him! So, Scott went in last night to get measurements! Yea! Unfortunately, he forgot to plug the cable into the microphone and didn't realize it until he was done. So, he had to do them twice. He was really upset. He wanted to just get the measurements while he and all the equipment he needed were there, but he didn't get home until 12:30. Now he just has to figure out how to do measurements on a cylinder that the professors have no idea where it is.

We had our family pictures taken on Saturday. We went to JCPenny, because I want to spend as little money as I can. They actually turned out pretty good! Richard was very cooperative and even smiled! Audrey was cooperative. She looked pleasant but expressions were a far cry from a smile. Alas, you can't get everything! I knew from how the photographer was acting that it would very lucky if Audrey smiled. The photographer just wasn't trying hard for Audrey. At least Richard responded. We had a letter from the corporate office that I got last year apologizing for making me pay for Audrey's out of focus pictures that covered the cost of the sitting fees and 3 sheets. So, that was very nice. Unfortunately, on Friday, Audrey had a nice tumble. We were just outside enjoying the beautiful weather and Audrey was practicing walking. Uneven and slanted surfaces are still a little tricky. Especially if you are holding a tire pump. She lost her balance walking down the driveway and thunked her nose on the cement. It was a nice cherry red! On Saturday morning when I went to get her up, I could see even in the early morning dim light that it was still quite discolored. When I asked Scott if it would look bad if I put makeup on her, he said, "Well, it can't look any worse than it does now!" So, I put concealer on Audrey's nose. She wasn't too thrilled with me, but I think it looked much better! It's hard to tell for sure on JCPenny's high quality computer proof screens, but I don't think her nose looked bad at all! By Saturday afternoon, it was a hard brown scab instead of the soft, raw skin. So, I'm glad the pictures weren't later, because scabs are a lot harder to put makeup on!

My mom and Thamina came up to go shopping, so we joined them since Scott couldn't work on his thesis anyway. We wandered the mall and Coscto. We decided it was time to go home since I had to work and Richard was acting tired/sick. Then, Richard threw up oranges, apples, and other fun stuff just a few minutes after we left Costco. So, we stripped him down in the mall parking lot and tried to clean things up. He threw up again at home. Then, I left for work! Scott refused to let Richard have anything else to eat or drink the rest of the night. The next morning Richard heard me come home and came to my bed to cuddle. We were talking and I asked him if his tummy still had owies and if it was still saying, "No food! No food! No food!" Richard said, "No, it's saying 'Yes food! Yes food! Yes food!'" I guess he was hungry. He hasn't thrown up since and the rest of us have been fine, which is nice.

So, I've been told I ought to have a blog. So, for those of you who are bored with your life and want to read about mine, I'll be posting stuff. I can't say it will be stimulating, entertaining, motivating, or even worth your time. However, I'm attempting this for now. So, here are a few of my musings of the past week....

We went to a Halloween party the Monday night before Halloween. They said we didn't have to dress up, which was nice, because that's not my thing. Richard was Cookie Monster and Audrey was Tinker Bell . Richard would not wear the headpiece.

We decorated milk cartons and Richard thought that was great fun! I cut holes out of the bottom and then shoved Christmas lights inside. Richard really liked that and kept asking me to turn it on.

Well, Richard agreed to wear the eyes to his Cookie Monster costume on Halloween. We put Audrey in a puppy costume since it was warmer. We just did the ward Trunk-or Treat and figured the kids got enough candy. Then, we could just go home and put the kids to bed. We just didn't feel the need to wander to more houses. Richard did seem to enjoy himself. I had a hard time getting him to go to bed because of the kids that kept coming to the door. I don't think Audrey understood at all what was going on, but she did enjoy the Smarties we gave her.

I had a RS "Fabulous Friday." I don't like how my work looks on crafts and so I just bought the kits for some spice packages that you could throw in sour cream or something for dip. Scott had to work late that night, so the kids came with me. Richard had a great time playing in the nursery and Audrey practiced her escape techniques. A girl about ten-y-o volunteered to watch her so I could participate in the activities, which I appreciated. Audrey is starting to walk much more than she crawls, which is really fun. She takes little steps, but you can tell she's getting much more confident. She has also figured out how to go down stairs! I stay behind her, because I still don't totally trust her, but she's not had any trouble so far. She just is slow and careful.