Death by Slobber

FYI: My cell phone is no longer working. Brielle sucked on it and slobbered on it so much that it doesn't work anymore. I am sure it is FULL of saliva. I tried to keep it away from her, but she managed to always get a hold of it and would completely maul it. I don't know why it tastes so good, but every time she had it she would have large pools of spit on her clothes, running down her chin and all over the phone.

So, if you need me, call our home phone 801-274-2271. I don't have some of your numbers anymore either, so I'll have to start all over with my phone book. 

Mill Creek Canyon Hike

It's fall! I love the fall. I've been missing the leaves changing and picking apples and the cool weather of fall in the East. There is nothing so wonderful as being in New England in October. We do enjoy some beautiful leaves here in Utah too though. We went to check them out today. Scott got home from work and we drove up Mill Creek canyon just behind our house. It was gorgeous. Beautiful fall colors! We did a 3 mile hike at the top of the canyon. It seemed to be UPHILL the whole way. And there was SNOW. Wow. Brie rode in the back carrier and loved the hike. She always does. She looks at the leaves and the river and pulled on Scott's hair. We hiked all the way up to the ridgeline where we were able to over look most of Mill Creek canyon. It was a beautiful spot and the sun was shining on all the yellow and orange and red leaves. We also found a log swing up there. Cool huh? It was a great fall hike. Hopefully it won't be our last before it gets too cold.


 

What do you do for yourself?

My visiting teachers came to visit me today. They are very fun and very nice. They are both about my age and one has a daughter that was born just a couple months after Brielle. I love getting to chat with them and become better friends with them, but today when they left I felt kind of confused and sad.

They were asking me how I was doing and I said great. We talked about Brielle and the things that we do together. Then Carrie (who is the one with a baby girl also and continues to sell real estate) asked, "Ok, well besides taking care of Brielle, what do you do for yourself?" I didn't really have an answer. I go walking/running for me, but Brie is with me. I read, but after Brie goes to bed. I spend a lot of time on my calling in the Relief Society, but that is not necessarily for me. We go out and we go on trips and we seem to be filling our time with fun things, but Brie is always a part of them. I felt like I should have an answer of something that I am doing JUST for ME. And felt bad that I didn't.

I've continued to think about it though and I'm starting to not feel bad about it. I have waited and prayed for and dreamed of and hoped for and wanted these days of me getting to be a mom and just take care of my child for a long time. I am so glad it is here. I don't feel like I need anything else. I've had time for just me and being a mom to Brielle is SOOOOO much more important and fulfilling and fun.

There may come a point when I need to do something that is just for me though. Are there things that you do that are just for you, beyond raising your children and taking care of your husband, that help to fulfill you or just help you enjoy life more?

My Favorite Lunch

Well, I am right now eating one of my very favorite meals of all time and I thought I would share it with you. It is the perfect season for it. I've had it for lunch a few times this week already.

So, I went to Fred and Rama's and gathered up some of their deliciously ripe tomatoes and then went to the store and got fresh basil and mozzarella (the squishy kind). I lay slices of tomato and mozzarella out on a plate. Then cut up the basil and sprinkle it on top. I then drizzle a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top. YUM! I love it. Today I am eating it with a tortilla that I cooked up from the frozen tortilla dough we found at Costco. Perfect lunch. Thank you to Fred and Rama for such delicious tomatoes.

Nine Month Appointment

Our baby Brie turned nine months old on Monday! Can you believe it? I can't. I always tried to imagine what she would be like at nine months and just couldn't picture it. Now I can't imagine her any other way. She is a "live wire" as my grandma says. She is so active. She crawls everywhere. She pulls herself up on to anything easily and then walks along it. She loves to walk around the house being held by the hands. She eats everything now and even picks the bits of food up and puts them in her own mouth. She is very happy. She squeals and babbles all the time. She is also learning some independence and definitely lets us know when she is not happy with something (usually an item being removed from her mouth that shouldn't be there). We love her and are so happy she is ours.

Along with turning nine months came another doctor's appointment with Uncle Brian. He checked her out and all looks good and healthy. She is progressing along her developmental milestones and has a healthy heart and healthy ears, etc. And, surprise, surprise . . . she is small. Her stats were:

Weight: 16 lbs. (5th percentile)
Height: 27 inches (27th percentile)
Head: 43.4 cm (25th percentile)

I took the camera this time because I wanted pictures of Dr. Brian and Brielle. Well, I got so into what Brian was saying and doing that I forgot about taking pictures. So, we have some of us.
The nurse poked Brie's big toe to draw blood to check her iron. She put a band aid on her toe that was pink and purple. Brielle could focus on nothing but getting that band aid OFF! She sucked on it until it finally came off and then laid back and enjoyed the victory of removing the band aid.
 

Cracking Up

These pictures are so funny to me. I laugh every time I see them. Before our trip Scott and I went with Brian, Rachel, Annabelle, Clara, Fred and Rama to Swiss Days in Midway, Utah. We had a great time walking through and checking out all the cool crafts. Afterward we all went to the Dairy Keen in Heber for hamburgers and fries. It was getting to be Brielle's bedtime. We've noticed that once she gets really tired and her bed is no where in sight, she gets slap happy. She cracks up at anything with a full hard belly laugh. It is hilarious for us to hear it. At the Dairy Keen Grandma Rama was twirling a pin wheel for Brie and she LOST it! She was laughing so hard. She had us laughing so hard we were in tears and many of the people in the restaurant were watching her and commenting. Grandma sure is fun entertainment!


 

American Heart Walk

Yesterday was the American Heart Association's Heart Walk. We had a great time participating in this fundraising event. Scott headed a team at work and collected donations. His goal was to collect $200. Because of such generous family, he was able to collect $393!! Yeah!! Thank you so much to you who were able to donate and were so generous. We really appreciate it.

We wanted to do this heart walk in support of some of our family members who have had heart troubles, most especially my dad. It was a fun morning. We got to Wheeler Farm SUPER early and hung out with all the other walkers and ate Costco muffins for breakfast. They then had a little pep rally for us to get us ready for the big walk. I thought this was supposed to be a 5k and was excited to have a good morning walk. We started out and went three times around a loop and were done. It was maybe only 1 mile, but I guess it got the job done.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you to those who helped out! We hope that what we did in raising this money will help in the cause of future advances for heart patients like my dad and other family members.




 

Making New Friends

Brie has found a new friend. I had the Huggies box out to pack away all the clothes that are too small for her now and she discovered the baby on the front and fell in love with him. She pointed at him, rubbed his cheek, smiled and laughed with him - it really is a beautiful relationship already. Go get him Brie! We wish the two of you the best of luck!

 

Last Day

After a great time in Seattle with our Randi, we headed back to Oregon for a couple more days with Glenn and Renee. We got to go on another walk along the river that runs through their town (my favorite thing to do in Eugene) and had lunch one last time at the restaurant along the river that we all really like.
Brie played with her cousins some more and loved it. They have so many fun toys. She also really likes their stairs and would go up and down as many times as we would allow. We were not aware that she even had the ability to go up and down a full staircase, but she proved us wrong. One of the first nights we were there we were all eating dinner and I looked to check on Brie and she wasn't playing where I left her. Scott found her up the stairs.
Our last night in Oregon was the Family Home Ginger Night. Glenn rounded up a wide variety of Ginger Beers and Ginger Ales and we did a taste test. We had to rate each one on it's appearance, presentation, aroma, taste, burn, after burn, etc. It was quite a fancy tasting with cheese and crackers too.
We had a fantastic trip and are so grateful to Glenn, Renee, their girls and Randi for taking such good care of us! Thank you! And that is all . . . until next year's anniversary trip! 

Seattle Mariners Game

We took it easy our last day in Seattle. We woke up and had a leisurely morning of watching Brie play with the singing Bass fish that is used as decoration in Randi's parent's house. She crawled all around it and was fascinated with it when it started singing "Take Me To The River" to her. We were thoroughly entertained. We then went to Ikea for our first Ikea experience ever. Whoa! It was crazy! The place was HUGE and there was no way out! Ikea will be a mad house that we will probably avoid when it opens here in Utah. We had a great lunch of Swedish meatballs and bought some finger puppets for Brie.That evening Randi took us to a Seattle Mariners game at Safeco Field. We love a good baseball game! It was very fun. The stadium was really nice and the fans were quite well behaved also - as compared to being in the bleachers with all the drunks at a Dodgers game. Brie had her first taste of a ball park hot dog! She loved it. She also just loved being at the game. Everyone was clapping all around her and she thought they were all cheering for her. She clapped and smiled at everyone who would look at her. The funny thing about that is that every time one of us stood up with her or she was lifted up a little bit we saw a bunch of flashes going off. Then we stood up to take the picture below in front of the field and we saw a group of Japanese people a few rows up taking pictures of us also. They were trying to get a picture of Brie any chance they could. It was hilarious!

So, Brie did very well and we all had a good time. The game went quickly (and you know baseball games can sometimes drag on) and we were packing up and ready to go with the Mariners winning. WELL . . . not so fast. It was the bottom of the ninth inning, Seattle ahead, 2 outs and a full count (2 strikes and 3 balls) and we were just waiting for the last out when the batter hit a home run that landed just 5 rows ahead of us! Aggggghhhh!The game went to 13 innings when Seattle finally won it!

When we walked into the stadium they handed Brielle a Seattle Mariners lunch box. Yahoo! All the kids got them free. So now she keeps her finger puppets in the lunch box. This is her playing with the octopus finger puppet. One day she'll learn.