Friday, September 28, 2007

assistant for a day

I spent yesterday morning and afternoon in the city at the American Dental Association annual convention with my mom and Richard. Wow. Who knew dentists, hygenists and assistants could be so crazy!? I had no idea there were so many types and kinds of dental vendors. I packed a few bags full of toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, mouthwash and tons of other fun stuff and learned all about invisalign (the braces I want to get). And if asked, my occupation was not "homemaker" for the day...it was "assistant." This isn't completely false...I did do some emergency assisting for Richard during high school. The fact that the emergencies were usually full of blood, cracked teeth and swollen mouths and thus made me vow to never enter the field of dentistry in any way, shape or form doesn't matter. All in all, a very fun day...and I'm going back today for more!

Monday, September 24, 2007

one month older and wiser too...


Leah turned 7 months old on Saturday! She is now rolling over in both directions (although reluctantly still from stomach to back). She sits up on her own and bleats like a lamb when she laughs. She loves to hear her own voice and will scream...and i mean scream...out of the blue just for fun (she does this only when she's happy, not sad). I think the neighbors might be wondering what is going on! She scarfs down everything we feed her including peas, pears, bananas, rice cereal, carrots, sweet potatoes, applesauce, her hands, clothes, blankets and more...and stares at us if we eat and don't share with her. And yes, she still looks like a little bird waiting to be fed.

She LOVES when Ryan comes home to play with her. That is definitley the happiest time of her day. She goes running with me a few times a week and her favorite part of our runs is when she gets to drink the water out of mom's water bottle lid. Running is hard work!!

She is growing up so fast!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

i've been tagged

so, i've been "tagged" for a few different games, and i'm just now getting to it...and i decided to combine them all into this one. here are 60 random facts that you may or may not know (or even want to know!) about me. we'll see if we can get ryan to do his random facts at some point...here goes...

1. I have never seen ANY Indiana Jones movies.
2. I hadn't seen any Star Wars movies until Episode One came out...and now I wish I'd never seen any.
3. I absolutely love peppermint ice cream, but you can only get it at Christmas time (or so I thought until I found and purchased it at the grocery store last week!!)
4. I never ever ever ever ever want another C-section.
5. I want to run a marathon one day. Hopefully soon.
6. My greatest running moment thus far is crossing the finish line with my mom in the 2005 Provo Canyon Half Marathon. We weren't fast and it probably wasn't pretty, but we finished together.
7. I am what you might call "pet retarded." I have never owned, nor will I ever own, a pet...unless we have a blind child.
8. I have only ever cried in 2 movies: Hope Floats and Armageddon. But I cry without fail each week while watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
9. I was disqualified from my school-wide spelling bee in 5th grade for misspelling "accreditation" (I spelled it "accredition") and got 4th place. The 3rd place winner got out on the next word...and it was something ridiculous like "fish."
10. Ryan and I have a goal to mini-golf in all 50 states. So far, we've hit Utah, California, Missouri, Tennessee and Alabama.
11. I have been mistaken for many different ethnicities. Some of which include: hispanic, native american, asian, chilean, argentinian, russian, indian, eastern european and pacific islander. And then no one believes me when I try to convince them I am caucasion.
12. I love Christmas music...even in July.
13. I majored in Public Relations...but I'm not sure why.
14. My favorite book is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.
15. I love my first driver license picture. I like to call it, "the neck." If you're lucky, I might post it sometime because "I lost it" when I went to get a new one when I got married. Then, amazingly, I found it just when I got home. Strange.
16. I love crossword puzzles and have finished two NY Times puzzles all by myself.
17. My grandmother's name is Elmo.
18. I hate my ankles, or should we say "cankles."
19. I love sending letters through the mail. Not email...but true mail. I'm a pen and paper type of gal.
20. I save all of my bags, ribbons and tissue paper from gifts. It drives Ryan nuts, but if he knew how much money it has saved us...
21. I don't rip the wrapping paper when unwrapping gifts. It drove my siblings nuts on Christmas morning because we took turns and they had to wait for me.
22. My husband and I had a contest to see who could graudate with the highest GPA from BYU. I won by .03...but we both graduated Cum Laude.
23. I love white tulips.
24. I don't like cake, which means I get creative for my birthdays. I've had ice cream cakes, rice krispie treat cakes, pies and root beer floats.
25. I love making lists and filling out forms. I fill out lots of junk mail just for fun and then shred it.
26. I am what Ryan calls a "choir nerd" and proud of it.
27. I've never had a bloody nose.
28. I had never been on a prescribed medication until Leah was born...but pain meds after a c-section don't really count.
29. I worked at Einstein Bagels during high school and ended up being a baker. This meant going to work at 3am on Saturday mornings. You can think of some pretty scary stories when you are all alone in a building at 3am on a dark, Saturday morning...
30. I still sleep with my baby blanket. It is awesome. Cold when it's warm. Warm when it's cold.
31. I have always wanted to be a broadcast journalist...my favorite journalist is Tom Brokaw.
32. I have only been in one car accident...in my roommate's car. But, it ended up sort of sealing the deal with Ryan when we were dating...a blessing in disguise???
33. Once in Jackson Hole, my friend and I got lost so we pulled over in a neighborhood to ask directions. A nice man wearing gray sweats and walking with a young boy helped us out...we didn't realize until later that the nice man was Harrison Ford.
34. I love The Cosby Show, Friends, Full House and The Office.
35. I love Apple Jacks and Snickers Blizzards.
36. In 5th grade, I was Queen Isabella in our Christopher Columbus play. I fell off the back of the stage and hit my head because someone passed me a note asking me to go steady with them. I still have a bump on the back of my head. And, if you're wondering, I said no.
37. I have a longer inseam than Ryan and he's 4 inches taller than me.
38. My neighbors and I used to eat the ramen noodles from their food storage and then HIDE (yes hide, not throw away) the seasoning packets. We were shocked when their mom found our hiding place (behind the rest of the ramen noodle packets). Moms know EVERYTHING.
39. I love surprising other people, but surprises for me make me apprehensive.
40. I used to be a ballerina...and took another ballet class this summer. I tried gymnastics for awhile, but gave up when my little sister got to the same level was me. I think i'll stick with plies.
41. I like cooking, but have horrible food presentation. Ryan even told me so the other day...
42. I have a crooked tooth and am still very embarrassed about it...and am asking for braces for my 26th birthday. Seriously. Ask Ryan. (Mom and Richard - do you want to pay for them since you paid for Kelli's???)
43. Novocain (sp?) doesn't work on me. Let's just say after 7 shots on one side and 9 shots on the other, I could still feel the wisdom teeth being extracted.
44. I love gummi bears. Mostly the 6 lb. bag of Brach's Gummi Bears from Costco. I love them to the point that Ryan is worried I will one day become a gummi bear or give birth to a gummi bear. I love gummi bears.
45. I love baths.
46. When I was younger, if friends called after 9:00, my mom and Richard would tell them I was asleep. I'm quite sure I was NEVER asleep by 9:00.
47. I love sleeping on the floor. One summer I slept on the floor every night...right next to my bed.
48. In high school, I made up a word in my health class: alagonchy. It means "scared or afraid." My teacher was sure she had heard it before...she lied...it's not a word...I've checked in the dictionary. We used it all year long anyway and it's now a part of my family's daily vocabulary.
49. I only gained 18 pounds when I was pregnant...and only wore maternity pants after Leah was born because the panel was soft on my incision.
50. The only other "celebrity" (other than Harrison Ford) I have met is Cori Jacobson. For all you Saturday's Warriors freaks out there, she plays Julie. I got her coveted autograph at Sizzler's when I was 7. It made my year.
51. My lowest GPA ever was a 3.6 - during my first semester at BYU - and I about died of a heart attack. I realized later that taking Econ 110 from Kearl, Biology 100, Music 101, Book of Mormon and American Heritage all at once was probably not such a good idea for a first semester freshman. I didn't feel so bad about the 3.6 once I figured that out...
52. My mom washed my mouth out with soap when I was three years old because my friend's mom called her and told her I said the "f" word while playing with her daughter. AFTER my mouth was all squeaky clean, my mom found out the word I said was actually 'fart.' That's what I get for having older brothers.
53. I got a bike when I turned eight - a sweet pink and purple Huffy with a fanny pack on the handle bars. It was backed over by a car when I was also eight. I haven't had a bike since.
54. I had a goal to date 100 different guys before I got married. I made it to 61...but much to Ryan's chagrin, he was actually number 54.
55. I had an article published in the online version of the New York Times in 2003.
56. I am banned for life from the Shiloh Inn in Salt Lake City. Two words: pool hopping.
57. The color yellow used to give me headaches. My room was painted yellow when I was little and my mom had to redo the whole thing because I coudln't sleep.
58. I didn't throw up from the time I was 7 until I was 24. And when I was 24 I did it at a huge family party at Ryan's aunt's house...everyone thought I was pregnant and kept waiting for me to make an announcement. Nope, wasn't pregnant.
59. I won $1,000 from a radio contest during college.
60. Every morning before my siblings and I left the house, my mom would say, "Be good. Do your best. Work hard." We still say it to each other today.

Friday, September 14, 2007

a preview...

one of our new neighbors, Tawni Atherley, took some pictures of Leah and her 2nd cousin, Jack, (they were born on the same day!) last week. here is a preview. once i get them all, i will definitely post them...

ebony and ivory

since i have started teaching piano, leah has been a bit jealous...so she decided to teach herself how to play...look at those fingers fly!

Monday, September 10, 2007

one of these things is not like the other...

okay, folks. it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out who leah looks like. my sister needed some pictures of ryan and i when we were first born (although my first picture in this cold, cruel world is at 9 days old...you can tell i'm not the first child, huh?), so after scanning them for her, i thought i'd post them. now i know people who say leah looks like me are just plain lying. period.
i will take credit for the nose and perhaps the lips, but other than that, leah is definitely daddy's little girl. and even though i'm super excited she got ryan's eyelashes, i do wish she got my hair. check out that mop!!

(top: maren and ryan, bottom: leah)

Sunday, September 9, 2007

reconnected

So, after a few days of a sketchy internet connection, I think we are back up and running. Blogs have been viewed, emails have been checked and I'm feelin' good. Time to post our fun-filled labor day weekend with Dan and Heather. Enjoy.


Wednesday, September 5, 2007

we bleed blue...

Saturday marked the beginning of the new football season for the BYU cougars...all I can say is i'm so glad we won. My brother and sister-in-law, Dan and Heather, came up from southern california to visit us over the long weekend...had BYU not won, it could have been a rough few days for Dan. He now thinks Leah wearing her much-too-big BYU cheerleading uniform is a good luck charm.