Indexing, Fall Band Concert and Parties

I forgot Sunday night The I*s came over. Julianna enjoyed some posole with us while Phillip and Aaron worked on the recharter for scouts.

Monday the 18th - I really should remember something, but I can't think of anything.  Blogging?
Tuesday I don't remember much during the day.  I've been working on indexing more lately, and I did some that day.  I also made posters for the Relief Society Christmas Dinner.  I talked with Sara on the phone.  That evening was a Relief Society Night about indexing.  It was great!  That night Melanie didn't sleep well at all.  I ended up on the couch with her from about 1:00 until 3:00 am.  When I woke up and put her back in her crib Aaron was on the phone.  It was odd because he wasn't on call.  But he was talking to the Dr. that was.  I could tell something was wrong.  I can't say anything, I don't know much, but it affected a lot of people at work.  It was great to see them help each other out and work through the situation together.

Wednesday was our weekly shopping trip.  I bought a whole lot of groceries, and some Christmas presents, and the materials for a Relief Society gift.  I hope it turns out.  I'm not the most creative person, but I can copy ideas pretty well.  The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, and measuring (measure twice, cut once, right?)  That night was scouts, Aaron and David went to the C*s to pass off swimming stuff.  David finished his last requirement for 2nd class!!!  Timothy's pack met at the church.  The Young Women were doing their Young Women in Excellence Program, and were having technical difficulties, so Aaron asked me to bring our laptop to help.  Wendy was so thankful she sent me home with limes and satsumas when I picked up Timothy and the laptop.

Thursday another preschool day for Amy.  This time I did some painting for my RS project.  I don't know if we did anything else though.  That night after dinner was David's 6th grade band concert.  I tried to get there early, but we ended up getting there right on time.  Well, David has to be there at 6:00, and the concert starts at 6:30.  We got there about 2 minutes until 6:00, and there was hardly any seats left in the auditorium.  The only place that had 4 seats together was the very front row.  It actually worked out nicely for us.  Melanie had a large area she could wander around in, and the stage was high enough she couldn't climb up onto it. Aaron joined us about five minutes before the concert started.  We listened to the 5th grade band, and then the 6th graders entered the stage.  Aaron took some pictures.

We enjoyed the concert, which was rather short, and then I took the younger kids home.  Aaron waited for David and took him home.  We still had time for baths and showers.  I think that night Aaron and I cut the wood for my project.

Friday I had to wake up Melanie from her nap to make it to our oil change appointment.  Afterward we ran to the store for a few things, but I don't remember what else we did during the day. Aaron had a half day.  After meeting he ran a few errands, and then helped me get dinner ready while preparing for a camp out.    We had the missionaries over for dinner at 5:00.  I made a Chinese dinner (stir fry, fried rice and egg rolls).  Sister R* had told Sister F* earlier that day, "I wish someone would serve Chinese food."  And voila, that's what we did!  So they definitely enjoyed it.  At 5:30 the scouts started to arrive.  The plan was to use our firepit for dinner, watch a movie downstairs then camp out in the back yard.  David was doing a requirement for 1st class which was planning meals for 2 days, and cooking 3 of those meals for him and at least 2 others.  He did pretty well, he just didn't want to clean up after the meal.  "That's not in the requirement,"  He protested.  Too bad for him, he had to do it anyway.  There were just a few boys and they chose to watch Star Wars.  After the movie they played scrabble, and then slept out in the tents.

Aaron came in at some crazy hour.  He was freezing.  He grabbed a few things and then went back outside.  Melanie ended up with me in the bed at some point, and she slept in, so I stayed there with her.  Timothy and Amy both ended up getting dressed and joining the scouts outside.  After the scouts cleaned up and left David quickly finished his chores, and then was picked up by his friend Kyle and his mother.  He played at Kyle's house until it was time for the birthday party they were invited to.  It was at the skating rink.  Aaron and Amy attended a wedding that afternoon while Melanie napped.  I watched the BYU vs. Notre Dame football game.  Which was rather disappointing.  I was crocheting during part of it.  Aaron and Amy were back, but were heading to the reception which started at 4:00.  I needed to pick up David and Kyle at 3:45, and since it takes 20 minutes to get there, I quickly jumped up when I realized it was 3:26.  I had Timothy grab his shoes and coat, and put Melanie is the carseat and left.  I ended up not needing to take Kyle home, as his mother stayed in the city for shopping.  I was supposed to pick up my chocolate order at the same time, but the delivery got pushed to Monday, so I just picked up David .

David had a blast at the party, and told us all about it on the way home.  I think I just made waffles  for dinner.  At some point I remembered that  needed to make brownies for Sunday, so I started those, and that's all I can think of right now. 

One last thing: Melanie has a new word.  She says "uh" for "up".  She will walk over to me and when she wants me to pick her up she'll say "uh", and usually bounce a little.  Too cute!!!

Melanie is 13 months

Last Monday I didn't realize it was the 18th, until I got an email about my" 13 month old."  What, could she really be 13 months old already?  Yep.  So I took some pictures after her morning nap.

And some of Amy too

 

I don't have much in the way of stats.  

• She's about 19 lbs, she still uses the infant car seat, although I have a convertible one that I should switch it out with.  
• She is now walking more than she is crawling, but still a bit unsteady.
• She still isn't saying any words other than "da" for "that".
• Sunday night she slept so well. She woke up at 11:00, and I nursed her back to sleep, and she didn't wake again until just before 6:00 am!!!  I only wish that were the case every night.
• She loves to squeal, and scream, and talk really loud.  She thinks it's funny.

I can't think of anything else new.  She is sure growing up fast!

Ribbon Festival

I am so far behind...
Saturday the 17th, we had our normal chores.  We needed to get a few last outdoor chores done as well.  We discussed what we needed to to at breakfast.  To my surprise when David was done with his chores he went outside and started raking the leaves!  Then he took off the plastic sprinkler heads.  Then he spread straw over the strawberries.  After the house was clean and lunch was made we watched the BYU game.  It was great to finally we able to watch an entire game.  Not that I was expecting it to be a good game.  We were playing Idaho State after all.  We had a little scare when they marched down the field and almost scored early in the game, but we held them to a field goal, and proceeded to go 49-3 in the first half!!!  Melanie napped, and I crocheted.  The game wasn't well attended because it was snowing and raining, and of course it was Idaho State.  But it was fun nonetheless.  Aaron left with Phillip to go to Lowe's.  He bought some pavers to finish off the firepit he built last week.

Another of Melanie's favorite places to play (and destroy) is the bookshelf in the living room

That evening David had the Ribbon Festival.  He participated in 5 events and got ribbons for all of them.  He played 3 songs (one memorized) and played music games, and did the improvisation class.  We thought about taking all of us to the event, but then decided that just one of us would go.  I asked David who he wanted to go with him and he picked me, so I went.  I enjoyed the 20 minutes ride down to the church.  We ate a sandwich for dinner and talked. 

Afterward I treated him to McDonalds.  His choice.  I just had some ice cream.  He wanted a bacon cheeseburger!  We talked on the way home, and then it was time for bed.

Sunday I can't remember.  I think Melanie napped before church.  Aaron needed to leave early to hand out Friends of Scouting donation slips, so he took the other kids early, and I waited for Melanie to wake up, which was just as they left.  But I still took me 5 minutes to get out the door.  I enjoyed church.  Especially the second hour.  Aaron and I didn't attend Sunday School.  It was the priesthood preview.  For those boys turning 12 next year.  It was yet another reminder that David is growing up, as Aaron and I attended for David.  Benjamin is the only other boy turning twelve next year.  Aaron spoke as he is the deacon's quorum adviser.  Bishop also spoke.  Then Michael C* (Deacon's quorum president) showed them a little about passing the sacrament.  They had some refreshments, and then it was time for the 3rd hour.  Relief Society went well.  After church Aaron took the kids home and fed them lunch while I went with the rest of the presidency to visit Coral - the newest mom in our ward.  It was great to see her and her baby.  After I got back Aaron and David went home teaching (right next to where I was visiting Coral).  I can't think of anything else out of the ordinary. 

Glitter, Pie Night and More Pictures

Pictures:

 One of Melanie's favorite things to do while I work in the kitchen is pull out all of the plastic bags

 Amy made these and wanted me to take a picture

 Melanie's crazy hair (after the rubber band is pulled out)

 The beautiful sunrise on the 15th

Last Monday was Veteran's Day.  I didn't plan anything special.  We just played at home.  I was too lazy to take them anywhere, and they thought it was too cold to play outside.  So that's it, nothing exciting.  Tuesday they were back in school.  That morning I made zucchini bread, and cooked beans in the pressure cooker, so I could them put them in the crockpot for dinner.  It was nice not to have to worry about dinner after the kids came home.  It was my turn to teach preschool.  I got some things ready for the letter "g".  Aleya came right on time, and so we waited for a while, but no one else came.  I got an email from Crystal saying they had car trouble, and wouldn't be bringing Cecil and Kameron, so we went ahead and started.  Truthfully Aleya was bored.  She really wanted everyone else to be there.  Perhaps she felt like she was in the spotlight, I don't know, but she didn't really want to participate.  Preschool was boring that day I guess.  I still picked up David after piano, and then picked up a couple of books that were on hold. Nothing else comes to mind.

Wednesday I needed to go shopping in the city, but I wasn't quite ready after dropping off the boys, so we came home and left about an hour later.  I had hoped Melanie would fall asleep on the way there.  She did.  She was still asleep when we got to the second store, but I woke her up knowing she wouldn't stay asleep.  A short trip to Walgreens and then Costco.  Then home.  It was lunch time by then.  I can't recall if I did anything else out of the ordinary, just 4 loads of laundry.  That night was scouts for the boys and Aaron.  It was raining, I remember that.

Thursday was another preschool day.  All six kids came.  It was loud and a lot of fun.  Since we were doing the letter "g" I decided to use glue and glitter.  It was really messy, but they had a lot of fun.  I think I will be cleaning up glitter for weeks!  We didn't have much planned for the rest of the day.

Friday after Melanie's nap we went to the grocery store and picked up a few things that I needed and that were on sale.  That night there was a ward activity.  Pie night.  There must have been something else going on that night because there weren't very many people there.  But there were a lot of great pies!  I made this one:

 It was so good!

Somehow I got nominated to start off the event.  We enjoyed pie, and some pie trivia, and a kids coloring contest.  The contest was won by our resident artist Leaa W*.  Cindy C* had the most right answers for the trivia contest (11 I think), and I came in second (7).  I don't remember who came in third. I was in shock that I got 2nd.  The prize was a pie tin, a rolling pin and measuring cups and spoons.  It was over around 8:00, but we ended up staying for a while and talking with Julianna and Rebecca W*.  Eventually Melanie was really tired, and the kids were getting a little crazy so we went home.  Later that evening I took a picture of my hand.  I had bruised my pinky - I don't remember how it happened, just that it hurt, and a day later a bruise appeared, and the next day it was a deep purple:

 

Stake Women's Conference and Pictures

First up some pictures:

 Melanie likes to make noise with her hand in her mouth.

 David made this with the Jenga blocks on the 9th

 Melanie is just too cute

 Aaron came home from work with these roses on the 10th - they are still beautiful today

 Melanie climbing on her push toy again

 Melanie in a pretty dress she refused to wear 4 weeks ago because she couldn't crawl in it.

Now for an update...

Last Saturday was an awesome day.  I got to sleep in a bit, but got ready and had breakfast.  Then I picked up Michele B* and drove to the Stake Center.  It was much more enjoyable to have a great conversation rather than just listen to the radio.  We got there early enough to hear the prelude.  As I was looking at the program I noticed the name Kim S*, and thought about someone I knew with that name.  When the music started I saw her up there in the ensemble.  We met in Texas.  She was only there for 6 months, but we were visiting teaching companions, so I got to know her for a bit.  I knew from her blog she had moved to the Northwest, but I had no idea we were in the same stake.

The program was 3 hours of music and speakers with a 15 minute break about halfway through.  I really enjoyed all of the talks.  I gained something from each one.  The music was heavenly.  The women that sang, played the piano, flute and violin did a magnificent job.  During the break I got to talk to Kim, and we reconnected.  Her husband is a federal prosecutor here.  After I talked to Kim  I went to find Britt D*.  We knew each other at Wymount!  Back in our BYU days.  We hadn't seen each other in 10 years!  She recently moved after her husband's medical training. I didn't know they had moved here until we saw Shyler's picture in the paper announcing that he had joined a local orthopedic group.  Little did we know that the night before, at the adult session of Stake Conference Shyler and Britt watched Aaron leave to take a phone call.  I started a conversation with Britt on Facebook, and found out where they lived.  I told her which people I knew in her ward, and found out she was having dinner with Tim and Abby R* that night.  So back to Women's Conference... we didn't have a long time to chat but I talked with her and Krista C* (I knew her from the big City), and that was fun.

After the second half of the Conference I needed to listen to my voice mail, and then get in line for lunch.  The phone call put me a little behind, but Abby, and Britt we just getting in line, so I joined them.  So I ended up sitting with a bunch of ladies I didn't know from the 6th ward, but it was fun to chat with them.  After it was over, I took Michele and the sister missionaries home.  We made it to the church right at 2:00, in time for the sisters to make their meeting.

While I was gone Aaron made a fire pit.  He had bought an old tractor tire rim and dug a hole in the ground.  Now we can have an outdoor fire when ever we want to.  Great for hot dogs or marshmallows or anything really.  He also made a trip to the dump with the kids and got rid of all of our garden refuse (what we didn't compost).  When I got home Aaron was making applesauce again.  Melanie was in her high chair after waking up from her nap, she had a small goose egg on her forehead.  She finally fell down the stairs, but only a couple of stairs.  I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier.  She is always going up and down the stairs.  After changing out of my dress clothes I cleaned up in the kitchen, and things like that.  Eventually I started making the pizza.  David wanted to have a movie night with some friends.  So he invited them over for Saturday night.  That was the voice mail I needed to answer, one of the moms was calling to confirm.  So when the boys arrived at 6:00 we had some pizza and rootbeer.  They ran around outside for a bit (in the dark with light sabers), and then started Star Wars Episode II.  I got the girls in the tub, and Timothy in the shower, and then put them to bed.  Some of the boys brought snacks, and David popped some popcorn.  They paused the movie a few times to play either with light sabers or hide-and-seek.  Really?!  11 year-old boys like hide and seek still?  They had a lot of fun, and after Kyle and Taevon were picked up Aaron and David took Bryce home.

Sunday wasn't quite as busy.  We all slept in.  Yeah!  Aaron left early to get a few things done.  Melanie didn't take a nap before we went to church, so Aaron had to get her to sleep during sacrament meeting.  He later told me he had to put her blanket on the floor, lay down with her and sing her to sleep.  What an awesome dad!!!  She slept through the last 20 minutes of sacrament meeting and about 40 minutes of Sunday School!  Aaron was glad to find out he had an assistant for scouts.  They released Phillip from his Sunday School calling and called him to help with the deacons and the scouts.  Lincoln was released as the deacons teacher and will be working with the Webelos now.  I sat Melanie on her blanket during Relief Society and and she watched me go up to the front of the room.  She was OK for a while, and then decided she needed me, so she got up and walked over.  It was the cutest thing.

After church there was lunch, and home teaching, and nap time - unfortunately only for Melanie - and then an early dinner.  Aaron had planned a Scout fireside for all scouts, cub scouts and their families.  There was a broadcast from the church the previous week about 100 years of Scouting that the church has been involved in.  It was a fun production.  So Aaron downloaded it and played it for our Scouts.  It was good to see several families there.  We wished more had come.  We did have refreshments afterward.

New Call Schedule, and More Importantly - Videos!

Monday with the kids at school (Timothy was feeling fine in the morning), and Aaron at work I tried to get the house in better order.  It helped to not have to worry about dinner.  We had dinner, FHE and games at the G*'s with the S*s.  I had to come up with a dessert.  And it was delicious!!  I think I will make it for the peds Christmas party.  Unfortunately David S* was on call and didn't make it until after dinner and FHE.  We were just about to start dessert when he arrived.  He ate dinner while we ate dessert, and then we played Apples to Apples.  Melanie was really tired (having woken up at 5:00 am again), so at 8:30 I gave up and took her and Amy home while Aaron and the boys stayed to help clean up.

Tuesday - I'm sure we did something, but I can't think of anything except preschool.  Since Becky's house is a little further away Crystal asked if I wanted to carpool.  It worked out great, especially since we both have extra carseats, no switching needed.  I picked up Cecil and Cameron at her house, put Cameron in Timothy's seat, and Cecil in Amy's old seat.  Then I came home and put Melanie down for a nap.  Crystal picked them up at Becky's and dropped Amy off before picking her kids up from school.  Crystal needed to talk to a teacher after school, so David had his piano lesson at 4:00 instead.  We ran by the library quickly just to turn in a couple of items.  That evening was a little rough trying to get dinner ready.  Melanie was really clingy and Amy was getting on everyone's nerves.  I needed a break!

Aaron has a new schedule at work both during the day and a new call schedule.  They are trying a new thing with taking a weekday four day call, and a weekend three day call.  That means they rotate through every 5-6 weeks, so rather than having one day a week and one weekend a month, they have a week of call (M-Th) once every 6 weeks, and a 3 day (F-Su) weekend call every 6 weeks.  That meant that instead of being on call every Tuesday he'll be on call one Tuesday every 6 weeks!  Now I'll get to the point.  I usually don't go to book club because it's always on Tuesday night.  But now I can go!!!  I hadn't even read the book, but I went because I just needed a night away!  It turned out to be the perfect night to go.  I didn't have to have read the book since Wendy (who didn't really enjoy the  book all that much) just pulled quotes from the book and we discussed them.  Julianna had made BYU brownies - yum!  It was a great night!

Wednesday - a trip up to the city.   Melanie didn't fall asleep until on the way to Costco, and she slept all the way through Costco, and most of the way home.  The late nap pushed her afternoon nap much later, but it all worked out.  We were back in plenty of time for playing before lunch. That evening after dinner Aaron took the boys to scouts, but I picked them because there was supposed to be a calendar meeting afterward, but it didn't happen.  Oh well.

On to Thursday... Somehow I didn't get to my workout, but I did take the kids to preschool.  Really?!!!  What do I do all day?  Oh yeah, clean, play with kids, feed kids, make dinner, clean some more, and the house is still a mess.  Nothing really exciting.  Aaron found out about a Scout volunteer award ceremony, so he attended that, and got to talk to some people about other scout camps in the area.

Friday was an OK day.  I got my workout in (that's 3 for the week), but nothing else really comes to mind.  Melanie napped great in the morning, but the afternoon was a different story.  She wouldn't go to sleep.  I tried to put her down at the normal time, but she cried for 30 minutes.  So I got her up and I snuggled with her for a bit, and I nursed her, and tried to put her down again.  She cried for another 30 minutes, so I gave up.  When I got her out of the crib, she was happy, and playful, and didn't even seem to miss her nap until about 5:00.  Oh she was grumpy and clingy.  We had planned on going to the football district championship game, but I ended up with a headache.  As much as I wanted to go, I knew I wouldn't get to enjoy the game.  So I sent Aaron and David, and stayed home with the other kids.  Thankfully Amy and Timothy played like angels while I took care of Melanie and put her to bed at 7:30.  After I got the kids in bed, I quickly cleaned up in the kitchen and went to bed.  Aaron and David got home at about 9:30.  The game didn't go well at all.  They just didn't play their hardest, and they lost 17-7.  Oh well, a disappointing end to an otherwise undefeated season.

Now for the fun stuff.  I've taken a few pictures and videos and need to post them.

 Melanie was a bit fussy on Sunday when I was trying to get her to walk

 She likes to climb on her push toy

 I love Amy's photo bomb!

She loves this little toy, I love that I got it for free

This video was just a cute one of Melanie playing
 
In this one Melanie thought it was hilarious that I would say "oops" when she banged her head on the floor.
 
And here's one and Aaron and Melanie playing

First Steps

Friday the 1st was a fun day.  My brother Mike talked to me on the phone that morning, we had a great conversation.  I don't remember much else except that Melanie took her first steps!  I've been trying to get her to do it for a while.  Finally she took took tiny steps.  She did it twice that day, but not when I tried to get it on video of course.  Hailey and Caleb came over after school, and the kids had fun playing with them.  That evening we had a Stake High Priest Dinner and Meeting.  It was the first time we left Melanie with a teenager.  They all did great!  I nursed Melanie earlier in the evening, and left her in the high chair eating dinner and everyone else was getting ready to eat dinner.  The meeting was at our church building (it's about the midway point distance wise for the stake).  It was nice to know I could run home if there was a problem, but I had complete confidence in Madison.  We had a delicious dinner and then got to hear from the C*'s.  They recently returned from their mission in Russia.  They were in Samara.  They had some amazing stories to tell, and so many pictures.  Some very sobering, and some magnificent.  A fun video showed them at the local fruit stand with a box of apples labeled from their hometown.

Saturday was another busy day. I took some pictures before breakfast.

We had crepes for breakfast.  We topped them with fruit (from the freezer) whipped cream and nutella. 

 Amy made this creation

 So of course Timothy wanted to create something too, and have me take a picture of it.

 

After breakfast Aaron did some yard work, and we cleaned up the house.  I was trying to concentrate on getting the kitchen counters cleaned.  With the garden empty I was trying to get rid of all the produce sitting in the kitchen.  All the apples, peppers, squash etc.  It was so nice to reclaim my countertops.  Confession: I still have a box of onions on the floor, and a basket of crookneck squash on the counter.

I don't remember much about the afternoon, but that evening Aaron and I had another date.  This time it was up in the city, and several hours long, so we had asked Julianna and Phillip to watch the kids.  They arrived at 5:15 and we headed out soon after.  We got there about 10 minutes early, but some people were already there. They were all at the bar, I think it took 20 minutes or so until everyone moved over to the room for our event.  It was a retirement party for Dr. M*, Dr. F* and Dr. R* .  Each thought the gathering was the other Dr., so it was fun to surprise them.  It was at a gourmet Italian restaurant.  We had some appetizers and chatted while walking around.  Eventually we were seated and ordered our dinners.  I think it was close to 8:00 when we finally ate.  I had linguine with clams - delicious! There was time for a presentation and opportunity for people to reminisce (I'm surprised I actually spelled that right the on first try!!) and express thanks.  Then we ordered dessert which wasn't served until 9:20.  We said we'd be back around 9:30, so after we ate we didn't stay much longer.  Melanie sometimes wakes to eat around 10:00, and I didn't want to chance it.  I sent a text to Julianna letting them know when we'd be home.  Literally less than a minute after we got home Melanie was fussing.  But when I went up there she was still laying down with her eyes closed, so I let her fall back asleep. We chatted with Phillip and Julianna for a while.  I was happy to hear that Melanie didn't give them hard time.  She even climbed all over Phillip and wanted him to pick her up.  She had taken a short nap earlier, so she went down for bed around 7:30.  Eventually we then let them go home.

Sunday morning came way too early for me.  Melanie had woken up around 1:00 and I nursed her back to sleep, but then she woke up at 5:55 am.  Because of the time change the clock read 4:55 am!!!  Really?!!!  I was so tired.  She took a nap at 8:30, but she was a little grumpy!!! The rest of the family slept in until 7:00 after the time change.  I was up for 2 hours before everyone else.  So tired!!!  But we made it to church and everything went great.  I was teaching the lesson in Relief Society, and I think that went well.  Melanie fell asleep on the way home, and we enjoyed a quiet afternoon.  When Melanie woke up we entertained ourselves with getting her to take a few more steps.  This is the best video I got.



We ate dinner around 5:30.  Just before dinner Timothy said he was feeling sick.  I was trying to determine whether he was just hungry (after fasting) or truly sick.  During dinner I could see his face grow pale and decided he was really sick.  He didn't quite make it to the bathroom.  Cleaning carpets is not my favorite thing to do.  Poor Timothy  He went to bed early. 

We were excited to show grandparents Melanie's new skill so we did a video call with each of them after dinner.   We ended up not doing FHE because Timothy was in charge of the lesson.  He had one planned, but never got to give it.