Thanks Carrie for making it one of the best birthdays I can remember. We got a babysitter and headed off to IFly indoor skydiving in Hollywood. VERY FUN - though not as easy as I make it look in the video below (I'm in the red).


We saw Avatar in 3D and hung out in good ole Hollywood. Here's some photos of our night:

Me after 3 hours of alien 3D magic

Wondering how I survived the longest minute of my life

Wishing we'd had a real camera instead of a cell phone.

Happy Birthday, Eric!!

Tomorrow is Eric's 29th Birthday! He is an awesome father and husband and will make a great dentist, too. We are so proud of his accomplishments and hope that this will be his best year yet!

Boy, Oh Boy

Yesterday we went to get our ultrasound and found out that we would be having a boy. I was so surprised, I was sure it was a girl. But Eric had thought it was a boy all along. I'm still adjusting to this news, I don't have any idea what kind of trouble I'm going to be in for. But really, we're ecstatic and cannot wait for June to come. I've been feeling much better lately, which is awesome, I don't think I'll ever take my health for granted again. Bring on the blue!

Christmas Vacation

Hard to tell from this picture, but Lillie loved being out in the snow.

Lillie and her partner in crime, Emmett. They got along pretty well most of the time but Lillie is turning into a pretty bossy little girl and sometimes wouldn't share Emmett's toys with him.

Lillie played the role of baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. She LOVED pretending to be the baby. She sat so still and would pretend to be asleep, loving every moment of attention.

Reading Luke 2 with Grandpa. She sure grew to love her Grandma and Grandpa. She would say Hi Grandpa and Bye Grandpa everytime he went by.

Lillie got her first professional haircut by Aunt Krista. Wish we lived closer so that I could always take Lillie to her. She did a great job and Lil looks so much better! And I have to admit Lillie was a pretty good client too.

Here's Lillie with the other little girls that came to visit from Butte. She loved following around all these older girls.

Lillie loved being out in the snow, whether she was being pulled on a sled or on a snowmobile, she was a happy camper. The one thing she didn't like was wearing gloves, but that's kind of a necessity. It was so cold!

We had a great Christmas break. It was fun for us to spend time with Eric's parents, siblings and extended family. We don't get to see them often enough.

Christmas Miracles!

The last twenty four hours have been sheer madness for us, with last minute preparations to get us packed and ready to spend the next two weeks in UT and ID. It all started last night.
We had a really early flight this morning and so we rented a car so that we wouldn't have to pay for long-term airport parking. Eric was busy all that day but then finally took off and arrived at the car rental place 5 minutes after it closed. Oops. But the guy was still closing up and let Eric in to pick up his vehicle. So nice.
Fast forward to this morning after we had dropped off the rental car and finally was able to get a shuttle to the airport. We had so many bags and stuff and one very unhappy almost-two-year-old. It was more than could be moved by two people at one time. A young man behind us put down his stuff and moved ours over to be put into the bus. Saving us a lot of time and a big headache. So nice.
Then we get to the airport to see enormous lines to check bags! Longest I've ever seen. Of course we hadn't planned for this and so we got to the front of the line 15 mins before the plane was supposed to depart. Great. The guy behind the check-in counter said that there was really no chance to catching our plane, but just in case, he let us leave all our luggage while he tagged and it weighed it so that we could get on our way. So nice.
We move to the security check line. It was not that long, but very slow. We get to the front of the line after our plane was supposed to have left. But we still head to our gate, just to find out what the damage would be. Miraculously, the plane was running late and we were able to make our flight! We were one of the last to get on, so we had to split up for seats, but then the girl next to me gave up her window seat so that Eric and Lil could come sit by me. So nice.
But the best part of all is that we had a safe and non-stop flight (if we had missed ours, the next flight would have had two stops!) and when we got here, all our luggage made it with us. So nice. If you know me, then you know I hate flying, add on all the extra stress and pregnancy and lack of sleep, and you've got one grumpy lady. Today could have gone very badly. But instead I am relaxing in UT while Lillie takes a long nap. So happy and so grateful.

We went about a month without having disneyland passes, but then all my begging finally paid off and Eric let us renew. Lillie has been crazy about mickey and his friends lately and so I knew that she would love it. It was a fun day, Lil's favorite part was the Its a Small World lights and ride, which was pretty spectacular. I just enjoyed being outside, which doesn't happen hardly ever. I love Christmastime and Disneyland didn't disappoint!

Our Guilty Pleasure

Is there anyone out there who is still watching Survivor like we are? This is my favorite season yet! Russell is so hilarious, we cannot get enough of him. I look forward to Thursday 8:00 all week long. I hope he can stick it out til the end, but I'm sure he'll at least be the fan favorite. Love it!

Lillie and Santa

So she wasn't smiling, but at least she wasn't crying. Santa is not a big deal to her yet but she loved getting the stuffed puppy that she got afterward.

I promise those pants are normally more than long enough for her.

TMI? Maybe

So tonight I was laying on the couch, no surprise there, with my barf bowl next to me (which I learned from my first pregnancy where I had to throw away 3 rugs), when Lillie came up to me and kept repeating something. I finally figured out that she was saying "coughing" and she grabbed my bowl and pretended to throw up into it. Tongue out, barfing noises, and coughing at the end. Wow, I guess she's seen that happen a few too many times. I know I have. I just hope it doesn't have any long lasting traumatic effects on her. Because it has on me!

Trip to the Park

This afternoon Eric convinced me that a trip outside would do all of us some good and so we went to the park. Because I had been really terrible about taking pictures the last 6 months or so, we decided to bring along our camera. Photographing an almost two year old is pretty much impossible. Lillie was so excited to be out of the house that she couldn't hold still. We had many, many blurry photos but here are the few that at least were in focus. She is so sweet and funny and smart. I am amazed every day.

Rival Week

Traveler and Tommy Trojan
Smiley Hadley

Emily, Kyle and Hadley

I love this one because of the blurry victory "v" in the foreground

Brad and Shanell

This month's date night was a trip to the USC v. UCLA football game. It is always an exciting time when you're playing your rival, but the game was pretty boring...while we were there. After we left, sometime early in the 4th quarter, 3 touchdowns were scored and the Bruins rushed the field. Ha ha. I'm actually excited that we weren't there after the game because there would have been a lot of yelling and fighting among the fans. It was actually kind of chilly that night so that, coupled with a tired babysitter, led to our early exit from the game. Hadley, our neighbor's baby, was such a trooper. She lasted as long as I did at the game. Fun times!

Thanksgiving 09

 

 

 

 

This year we got together with a few couples in our building who also were staying around to have Thanksgiving dinner. And can I just say that it was amazing. My friends, Shanell and Emily, are truly amazing cooks and did such an awesome job with the turkey, potatoes, gravy and rolls. HEAVENLY! So my contribution was an awful fruit salad and stuffing, that did turn out...eventually. I had to redo the stuffing because we bought a brand that looked fancy but we had not had before, which turned out to be a big mistake. It tasted like soggy dog food. Not what you want to feed your friends for Thanksgiving dinner, so I had to borrow a stuffing mix and add in all the extra yummies that I thankfully had not wasted on the first batch. It just made everyone wait for dinner. Hey, I never claimed to be a good cook...

After the awesome food, the little girls ran around and around like wild monkeys, glad to be the center of attention and to have a new stuff to get into. The boys got in some good rounds of Mario Kart, so everyone was happy. It was a great day, I was grateful to be able to keep my food down, and to spend sometime with friends.

Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

 

Stephanie will always be one of our best friends. She is so sweet, funny and caring. She is a great teacher, friend, and a wonderful wife. We hope she had a fabulous birthday, we wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

Luna Nueva

I went with a group of girls from my ward to New Moon on Friday night and I have to say it was a lot of fun. I read the Twilight series back in 2007, so I couldn't remember much at all about the book, I just knew that it wasn't my favorite. So I didn't have high expectations for this movie, especially since I thought that Twilight was super cheezy (still liked it, but c'mon, "spider monkey"?!?). But I thought it was way better and am excited to read the book again. It was fun to get excited like all the 15 year olds around us, the squealing and screaming really does add to the whole experience. A fun night, I recommend the movie!

But most of all, the movie made me so homesick for Washington!

What's New??

So our family went through a huge change 7 weeks ago when we found out that our party of 3 would soon become 4!
The last month and a half have been the most difficult of my life, even harder than last pregnancy, because last time all I had to worry about was myself. I am so tired of the nausea and vomiting and fatigue. Sigh. It lasted 5 months with Lillie, I really hope it's shorter than that this time around. But it's pretty much been the same.
Lillie has had to raise herself, she has never eaten more unhealthily or watched more tv. Eric has had to take a lot of time off from school to help me and Lillie. He does a lot of the cooking, all of the grocery shopping and some of the cleaning. My house is a constant wreck, I never get dressed or leave the house, I am just trying to survive. I miss being around my family more than I ever have in my entire life. Sigh.
But really we are excited, I'm already a fourth of the way done. I'll be ecstatic once I'm done with morning sickness. Our new addition should be here in June.

Too Smart for Under Two

I just walked into our living room to see the opening credits for Bambi playing on the tv. I know for sure that Bambi was not in the dvd player, so Lillie had to turn on the tv, open the dvd player, and exchange dvds. She's getting too smart. I'm going to have to move her movies out of her reach.

One of Those Days

So today has been one of the worst of my existence. And I've kept telling myself all day that things will be resolved, the crisis will soon pass and this will all be a distant memory. But it is not ending.
Tuesday I went to get a prescription filled and when I went to pick it up, the pharmacist said my insurance had changed and that I was no longer covered for the meds. And the pills are WAY too expensive to just cover the cost til I get it figured out.
So I have spent the ENTIRE last two days calling my insurance company over and over, the pharmacy, my doctors office, etc. No I mean I've literally been on the phone so much that now I already have $77 worth of OVERAGES on my phone bill with 5 days left in the billing cycle and an unresolved issue. And I don't talk on the phone, I've never gone over. I still don't have my prescription filled and I now am no longer able to see my doctor under my current insurance plan. And I can't make or receive calls on my phone.
If this issue doesn't all worked out easily and quickly in the next few days, I will be needing a few MORE prescriptions. I am so sick of dealing with people who do not care one bit about my situation and cannot take two seconds to send a fax or fill out a piece of paper for me and won't return phone calls.
This is a nightmare! Can't wait to start it all over again in the morning.

Please ignore the previous post. I had no idea those pictures were going to be posted and there is more than one that I would have not allowed to be viewed publicly!

Carrie

My cute wife - the big 2-6.

Yesterday was Carrie's birthday and she is happy to say she has passed over the quarter century hump and is now 26 years old. She'll also tell you how much fun she had at Disneyland without our little rug-rat tagging along. She will also definitely tell you what a great husband she has for making the day so special.







But seriously, Carrie is the greatest wife and mother ever. She does so much for our little family and I want her to know how much Lillie and I love and appreciate her. Now here's some photos of Carrie through the years.

Halloween 09

This year our Halloween celebrating consisted solely of a trip to the ward trunk or treat. Lillie really enjoyed asking other people for candy as she is already a pro at asking her parents for it. That girl has got one sweet tooth, so yesterday was a trip to heaven for her. Bribing her with candy was the only way to get her to put and keep her costume on, so she consumed a lot of candy.
Being in dental school, I guess you probably gotta be dental related items once in your lifetime, so we went as a tooth, toothpaste and toothbrush, in case you couldn't tell. Some people couldn't.