Comparisons

I couldn't resist posting pictures from Laurel's first birthday as well as Andrew's. We celebrated Laurel's first in San Jose with my parents. Laurel and my mom share the same birthday, so it was fun to have my parents with us that year. This year we didn't have family in town, but we were able to celebrate with our good friends. It was difficult to get Andrew to look at the camera because he was more interested in touching the cake - I can't say that I blame him!

We love a parade . . .

We enjoyed spending the afternoon at a community parade celebrating homecoming at the local high school. Both Laurel and Andrew enjoyed the parade, particularly Laurel. Each group that passed us by threw out lots of candy to the children on the side of the street. Laurel informed me afterwards that it was "totally awesome" and "when can we do that again?" Fortunately for her, our community does these types of parades periodically throughout the year. She is already looking forward to the Christmas parade so she can fill another bag with candy . . . . .

BYU

I took the kids to BYU for a day so that we could visit one of my favorite places. Provo is not my most favorite place in the world to live, but I sure did enjoy attending BYU for my undergrad years. I'm always amazed at how much the school changes each time I return. I began my BYU experience back in 1994 and with a brief hiatus for my mission (1997-1999), I finally graduated in 2001. In those years, I remember the construction of the new library, the Eyring Science Center, and the Benson Building. Since then, it seems like everything is new! BYU will always be one of my most favorite campuses. Not just because of its beauty, but I have so many great memories that I made. Here are just a few:

- Freshman year at Carroll Hall and my roomies (Heather, Emily, Shona, Becky, and Caroline)
-Study relief at the Morriss Center (Deseret Towers) for ice cream . . . $1.00 bought you a gigantic scoop of some of the best ice cream you'll ever eat . . . now I know where the freshman 15 came from :-)
-Getting drenched during a crazy water fight in our dorm . . .
-Yelling out my dorm window when students were loud as they walked up the sidewalk towards D.T. It was usually midnight or later - the funny thing is that Dale remembers some crazy girl yelling out the window once while he and a group of friends walked up that sidewalk back in 1994 . . . it was probably his crazy future wife! Ha Ha! One thing people should know about me is that I can't stand it when anyone interupts my sleep with loud noises - of course, now that I have children, that's a regular occurance.
-Working out at the RB and in the weight room . . . I can still smell the sweat in that gym!
-Going to a spring dance at the Tanner Building and my undergarments glowing in the dark! Nobody, including my boyfriend, bothered to tell me until afterwards! No wonder everyone was looking at me - I thought I must have been looking pretty good, but apparantly that was not the case - I was the joke of the evening!
-Girls nights out at Los Hermanos, McDonalds, and Stevenettes for the best shakes.
-Four wheeling in my roomies Jeep up at Squaw Peek, Death Valley CA (spring break 1999), and anywhere else it would go.
-Nearly getting stuck in the birth canal at Nutty Putty Caves - that was a rush I will never forget!
-Snowshoeing and hiking in the beautiful mountains surrounding Utah Valley.
-Passing Econ 110 and Stats 223 . . . it was seriously a miracle.
-Working at the Varsity Theatre and Candy Jar. Friday and Saturday nights were crazy, but it was fun to see friends and enjoy sampling the candy when it accidentally fell on the counter . . . oops!
-BYU Football, Basketball, and Volleyball (men's and women's)!!! Need I say more.
-Intramural sports
-Working at the Career Placement office for the director, who was one of the most difficult bosses I've ever had. I loved him, but he was still difficult. I still don't know how I survived that job. Anyone who worked with me knows why it was difficult . . . you just had to be there.
-Meeting my husband at a mission reunion. Yes, I did get my Mrs. degree while at BYU, but I managed to wait until I was 24 and had only 2 semesters left.

I could go on and on about my years at BYU, but I better not. There were good days and bad days, but collectively they were great years. I hope that whereever Andrew and Laurel choose to go to college, they will have great memories like mine.

Above are some pictures of the kids on campus. We stopped at the new alumni center named after President Gordon B. Hinckley. It was very impressive, which is fitting for the buildings namesake. We then strolled through campus and eventually made it to the bookstore for ice cream and candy. What a great way to end the day! Poor Andrew had to settle for a bottle, but one day he'll hopefully get the chance to sample BYU ice cream.

Mother's helper . . .

Andrew is going through a stage right now where he's extremely clingy and unwilling to be left alone. This makes it difficult for mom to get housework done, which could be why my home doesn't look as good as I think it should. I can leave certain things messy and survive, but I have to do our laundry for obvious reasons. Trying to be creative, I decided to place him in the laundry basket as I emptied the contents of the dryer into the basket. He loved it! It could be the warm clothes from the dryer, or just simply being a part of the action. Whatever it is, it worked and I was thankful.

Swimming with Friends . . .

Today we had a great swim date with our friends, the Millers! We know the Millers from Wharton and Bain and we sure enjoy getting together with them. Here is a fun picture of the kids - Sara-Jane (2) Christian (5) Andrew (8 months) Laurel (4 1/2)

Rainy Day

Our day started out at the gym - I'm trying to go several times a week so that I can regain strength in my back and my abdominals. If I don't work out, I tend to have back pain. I went to my first spinning class (bike workout) since Philadelphia and I loved it. My instructor in Philadelphia was the best and I miss those workouts. Today was good and I look forward to regaining some of the strength I lost during pregnancy.

When we got home, I quickly got Laurel ready for swimming. She was so excited to go! It was a beautiful day with blue skies, so it came as quite a surprise when I looked out the window moments after getting home only to find severe thunderstorms moving in. The weather here in Dallas is some of the craziest I've ever experienced. As I listened to the wind howl, I knew that swimming would be canceled. Within moments, there was a downpour. Poor Laurel - she was devastated. I'm glad we were inside during the storm. The weather was severe enough that it blew out windows in the lobby of Dale's office building in Las Colinas!

I quickly pulled out some white chocolate, pretzels, and sprinkles in an attempt to salvage a little girls afternoon. The three of us dipped pretzels and talked about everything under the sun. My ploy was successful and a smile returned to Laurel's face. Andrew seemed to enjoy the activity as well. I've never been more thankful for pretzels and white chocolate!

Update

We've had a busy week, filled with activities and sickness. My little man came down with an eye and ear infection last week - he was miserable. I took him to the doctor and they put him on penicillin - by the way, he's now 17.25 pounds. The next day, he begins breaking out in rashes all over his body. I thought it was something I had eaten, until I realized that it's probably the medication. So, as of today, no more penicillin! He's also teething and miserable, so he has a fever of 102 and a runny nose. I'm not expecting to sleep much tonight . . . it's a good thing I think he's so cute.

As for Laurel, well, she's been in great form this week. Where do I start? Well, to begin with, she came into my office a couple of days ago and said, "Mom, I'm so smart it scares me!" Well, she's right, but I never expected that phrase to escape her lips. Indeed she is smart - I don't think I ever said things like that as a kid. She's learning to do chores around the house. She makes her bed and is good at cleaning up messes. She also enjoys setting the table.

Dale's busy with work, but I have to say that we have fun when he's around. He had a great review last week, so we're happy about that. We enjoyed a family date last Friday night. Dale took us out to dinner and a dollar movie - we saw "Horton Hears a Who" and really enjoyed it.

I'm of course busy with the kids, but have a few other things going on. I'm trying to get geared up for my thesis. I'm hoping to complete it by December, but I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have a faculty sponsor and am pretty close to choosing a topic. As of tonight, I'll be writing on German internment camps in the United Stated during WWII. Many people assume that the Japanese were the only internees, but that's not the case. Crystal City, Texas had one of the biggest German camps - I'm hoping to visit Crystal City. One day I'll look back and be glad I did this, but right now it just seems like a huge hurdle.

Andrew and Laurel at 8 months

I thought it would be fun to post pictures of Andrew and Laurel, both at 8 months. You can certainly tell they're siblings! The big difference is that Laurel had lots of dark hair and Andrew has a nice amount of platinum blonde hair.