Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a day to remember loved ones lost; both those who have fought in wars to protect our freedom and loved ones who have passed on to a greater work in the next life. We decided that we would celebrate this day in remembrance of Tannon and the huge part that he played in our lifes. By doing this we are going to share ten things that are fun to remember that many might not know.
1. For the first couple years of life we celebrated Halloween as famous couples...aka cat & mouse, Minnie & Mickie Mouse, Oscar the Grouch & Cookie Monster...and more.
2. Tannon had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bunk bed...way cool- it was the van that they would drive around in.
3. Tannon was petrified of the lobsters at the grocery store.
4. When we would babysit Tannon would be in charge of cooking the macaroni...I couldn't make it worth a flip and Tannon was the best mac'n'cheese maker ever.
5. When dating, Tannon would go above and beyond what he should for a girl-including having us chaufer a girl around town to get "beautified" with me hidden in the backseat videotaping everything.
6. Tannon had more friends than I think any one person could ever have.
7. All of Tannon's friends that were girls were gorgeous, whether it be on the inside or the outside.
8. Tannon did a date once were he filled a kid swimming pool full of mac'n'cheese. He had some of the most creative dates.
9. Tannon had impecable style, and he once bought a pair of $200 designer jeans at the height of his poverty. He was super picky about what you should wear and shouldn't...and would tell you if what you were wearing didn't go well.
10. Above all else He was the most loving hugable person ever. Hence the nickname "T-Bear".

We love and miss you but know you are doing a greater work!!

Temple Square Visit

I hope that this is one of many visits to Temple Square up in Salt Lake City!! It was fun to watch as Halle's eyes would light up when she saw the Temple and when she saw the Christus Statue or "jeje" as she calls it. Temple Square was beautiful with all of the flowers in bloom, and the peacefullness and spirit that was felt there was so strong and wonderful. Halle wanted to run around, and through everything that she could...including playing a game of catch me if you can around the statue during a presentation (and yes we were embarrased but she was loving the fact that we were going after her!!) We are excited for more family to come up and visit us so that we can go more often with them! Either way we have to take huge advantage of this while we are here in Utah as the nearest temple for us in Indiana is in Kentucky!! (that is a 2+ hour drive) And we have 5 temples within an hour from were we live-we are gonna get a visitin!

The Redder's

One of the big benefits from living in Utah is that we are a lot closer to our friends that we went to college with. Ironically both of us were friends with these two before they even got married!! So we get along great with both of them. We met up with them last night to go eat with them at the Rambi Grill (I have no idea if that really is the name of it) but it was super good and it was so much fun seeing the both of them. Marissa is due (I believe) 2 weeks before I am so we had to get some tummy shots of the two of us- and of course the guys felt left out because they weren't getting the spotlight so we took a picture of the two of them. (goofballs) They are living up in Rupert Idaho while Kyler works for Zion's Bank and Marissa gets the opportunity to be a stay at home mom to be. We were so excited to see them and are planning a lot more trips to connect with them. Yeah for friends!!

Take a LOOK!!

Everyone who reads...please take a look at my friend Amy's post today- she needs some help from a fello Texan!!

Big Girl Bed!!

I am writing about this before the night even starts but we have moved up to a big girl bed!! Halle picked her sheets out, and we are wearing matching princess jammies. She has been in bed for about 30 minutes and so far she is still staying there and starting to sleep. I will let you know how the night goes!! Wish us luck!

Prego Stuff

So I gave in to peer pressure and here are some pics of me pregnant. I am 26 weeks pregnant today which makes me about 6-1/2 months pregnant. For those of you who knew me when I was pregnant with Halle I think I am a bit smaller with dude (who knows why though because I still have the same bad habits!!) We also have a picture with Halle and I together...notice the matching bellies?? haha-Along with these pics I thought I would include certain things that I just couldn't live without being pregnant:
1. My Reef flip flops. These are the most comfy flip flops you will ever purchase in your whole entire life. The $20 that you spend on these is well worth it. I just today replaced my pair that I bought when pregnant with Halle. I am even going to go so far as to say that you could quite possibly run a mini-marathon in these things.
2. My body pillow. I can snuggle up tight to this thing and it doesn't move, doesn't make me hot...and most of all doesn't complain about snuggling with a hot-body pregnant woman.(husband??)
3. Swimming pool. This is the best workout that I have gotten in weeks. I can't run anymore for fear that everything will fall out, I don't go walking with Halle because let's face it she doesn't have the patience for walking and neither do I. I also love a swimming pool because I feel weightless again.
4.Frozen Grapes. We all get that craving late at night and me especially ever since I became pregnant. Frozen grapes are the best thing because they fulfill that craving without me feeling totally guilty the next time I go in for a weight check.

That is all I can think of right now...so above all else enjoy the pics!!

Swim, swim, swim...

It has been a beautiful week and to make it better, or swimming pool finally opened on Friday afternoon. Since then we have been swimming 3 times!! These pictures are from Halle's first swim of the season. Early this morning I went to Walmart and got some floaties made perfectly for Halle's age, and by this afternoon she was kicking on her own in the water!! By the end of summer we are going to have a genuine fish on our hands. We are excited for all of our friends and family to come over and go swimming with us so that we can play lots of games and show off our swimming skills!!

Check it out

So Halle is down for a nap and I am looking online at cute t-shirts when I ran across this one. I think it is hilarious. Now there are a couple of things about this shirt that make me laugh...if you have ever been pregnant before than you will totally understand. You don't have to have a t-shirt that says touch my belly-strange people will do it anyway without given any sort of permission!! And then there is the budda, yes as a pregnant woman who has to also take care of a 2 year old I feel like one big budda sometimes, and the thought that maybe if I rub my belly long enough it will bring me the good luck of no tantrums, no big stinky diapers that make me nauseous, and a husband that will cook, clean, do the laundry...and massage my feet. Maybe I should get this t-shirt...or maybe ask for it as a b-day present...a very early one!! And as a side note...Dustin does offer to do all of those things EXCEPT massage my feet. So I guess the budda is working some magic.

Help me out!

So, being somewhat new to Utah I am unfamiliar with the...might we call it, the shopping areas. I am searching for a cute maternity store...that of course sells cute maternity clothes! Since I worked full time with Halle I didn't have to get very many clothes, now since Halle is my work I do! So, if any of you have ever lived in the area please give me some helpful ideas for where to go!!

More Utah updates

So I finally got around to getting pictures downloaded and wanted to share. The first one is of our first official BYU cougars baseball game...lots of fun. You have to enjoy the pics of Halle eating icecream, of course outside...as you can see I didn't want that mess inside!! Then my sweet dad truly loved being up here to see Halle (so did my mom of course) but he loved it, and she loved him just as well. They enjoyed reading stories together right before bedtime. Super cute!!

We Made It!!

Well, we all made it safe and sound. The flight over here was nice and long for Halle and I, but I am sure it would have been much longer if we had ridden with Dustin!! Dustin made it safe and sound Friday night- so he spend Saturday getting our new apartment ready for us to arrive with the help of my parents and sister. It didn't take much to get it ready as we really didn't bring much with us!! My parents were in town all weekend as they had been up in meetings up at BYU-Idaho and decided they wanted to stay longer to see Halle (of course!) It was nice seeing them and we are excited to be able to see them a lot this summer. (They plan on coming up to drop kids off at summer camps at BYU, and we will also be camping with them in June!) Sunday was Mother's Day...it was a great day. Although Halle and I are still having a rough time with the time change...two hours doesn't seem like a lot until you have a 2 year old and pregnant lady involved!! Eewww! Dustin started work yesterday and is enjoying it, he is working with the Student Leadership office and ...yep my mind has gone blank- and one other office. He will be leaving on his first retreat this week for 3 days- they are going up to SLC for a conference and are putting them up in hotels, and everything!! Halle and I will have a lot of fun girl time this week. We are excited for summer to start- as we speak they are getting the pool ready to open for the summer (yipee!!) I will try putting up some new pics as soon as I get the camera out and start taking some pictures!! Hope all is well!

Great Times

So here is the story for the day...hopefully this isn't how my luck is going to be for the next couple of days. Dustin left early this morning to head to Utah so it has been Halle and I all day getting the house ready. To explain our house (for the purpose of the story) we live in a townhome, on the main floor we have a sliding glass door and a deck. The deck is about 5-1/2 or 6 feet off of the ground and wooden. Ok, now for the story. Halle and I were washing the windows inside the house, then went outside on the deck to wash the windows...we closed the sliding glass door and started cleaning away. All of a sudden the lock on the glass door fell down and locked us outside on the deck. Me, a 6 month pregnant woman and a two year old-trapped outside on our deck in 90 degree humid heat. I didn't have the phone with me, keys...nothing. I also realized at that same moment that I had locked the front door, and all the lower level windows. What was I to do? Well, I didn't have many options so I climbed up on the deck and jumped down (yes...and I am ok) then turned around to see if Halle could fit through the wooden slates on the deck. I tried pulling and pushing but our little darling is just a wee bit too big to fit. So I told her to stay right there and I would be right back. (Like she would be going anywhere) I ran around the front of the house to find our neighbors just leaving (luckily they are super nice) and I borrowed their phone to call our management company. They said oh we will be there in a while, just hold tight. I then re-explained the situation that my two year old was on the deck by herself and they were there in about 2 minutes! So, luckily my sticky situation ended up ok...and no we didn't finish cleaning the windows. What a day!

Bad Mom...

So do you ever have one of those days that you just feel like a bad mom? Well, today was one of those days. It started off like it always does, a little Sesame Street...nothing big. Then Halle had a dentist apt. that we had to be at at 9:30-so we are going out to the car and she (of course) didn't want to go so pulled her feet out from underneath her as we were walking to the car. I pulled her up and then put her in her car seat. As I did this she started crying about her arm...I thought (here is the bad mom) I thought, oh get over it...I know I didn't let you go play but we have to go so buck up. We got to the dentists office (she cried the whole way) and I went to get her out of her car seat when I noticed her arm was swollen. Well, we had to go into the dentists office so we didn't have to pay just because we didn't show up so, I walked in (she is screaming the whole time) and said "I am here for our 9:30...we aren't having a good day is there any way that we can reschedule?" Of course they were booked all the way through September but I knew it wasn't going to work out. So we left, no future appointment scheduled and called our pediatrician. Talked to the nurse, told her the symptoms and she said get over here now. So I rushed all the way to the other side of town to the pediatricians office to see what was wrong. (My first thought is, I broke my daughters wrist...this is lovely!) Walked in and our wonderful Doctor (in all seriousness she is the best we have ever had!) told us that yep- Halle's elbow popped out of place. She popped it back in and then taught me how to do it also (it is a very common thing among kids...which made me feel a little better). While we were there I asked her to check out Halle's ears, nose...the works since we are flying this weekend. AND Halle still has a little ear infection!! From a month ago...it is still there! Luckily I had it checked out...could you imagine flying with a two year old who has an ear infection? That would not be fun. So...that is my bad mom story for the day, made me feel pretty bad- the thought that my daughter's elbow was out and she had an ear infection for the past month. Love it! Needless to say we are on antibiotics so hopefully our flight will be smooth sailing!!

Mom's project

So last night I finally sat down and made the dress that I have been meaning to for weeks. I saw a dress just like this at Gymboree and thought...now that can't be that hard. And it wasn't at all!! I finished it in one night and Halle got to wear it to church today. It falls right below her knees (which you can't tell) and also has big pink buttons going down her back (once again you can't see) and I think it is one of my best creations ever. The other big thing is last night I "talked Dustin into" letting me bring my sewing machine to Utah. (Which we know didn't take much talking into...more of I really want to bring it...and of course he relented!!) I am super excited to bring it that way I can still work on all the little boy projects I want to get done. I feel that is one of my biggest weaknesses, I have so many crafts that I want to do that I never seem to finish them. For example we still have 3 packages of stockings that I need to make...that we have had for over a year. Those are coming to Utah too...we'll see if I can even start those while in Utah!!

Getting Pretty

As Halle's hair is getting longer and longer I decided to try a new hair do this week. Halle first half french braid!! She thought she was the cutest thing ever...but of course it didn't stay as "neat" all day. We also did a little pedicure time with mommy. We love the fact that our toes can be pink now, and manage to show everyone that we possibly can.

All A's

Well it is the end of Dustin's first year as a Masters Student and I have to brag...he just got his grades for this past semester and got all A's!! Including an A in his PhD class...and I think that is pretty great! Actually I know that that is great! So congrats to a hard working husband!!

Birds and Bugs...

For those of you who have seen Finding Nemo (more than likely everyone) we all know the bird Nigel. One of the first times we meet Nigel is when he runs into the dentists window head on and then continues to talk to the fish in the tank. Halle is absolutely petrified of Nigel! Every time he runs into the window it scares her so bad that she just loses it all over, complete with sobbing, shaking until I switch it to a different movie- but then she is sad because she can't watch "Meno" anymore. Well, we didn't think too much of it until this afternoon when I put her down for a nap and then all of a sudden we hear a huge boom and then she starts wailing from upstairs. My first thought was that she had somehow learned to climb out of her crib and is now laying on the ground in her room. We get up there and she is just panic stricken, her fingers are bleeding, and she is telling us something about a bird in between blubbering (while she is still in her crib). Come to find out, we believe either something ran into her window, or she was just dreaming but she had the vivid image of Nigel running into the window. It had scared her so bad that while she was sleeping she had bit her fingers (she sucks her fingers) so they were bleeding. Yikes! So-needless to say we have put Nemo on the back shelf and will once again start watching it at a later time...much much later.


GROSS!! I KNOW! For those of you who haven't seen these things...count yourself lucky. These are house centipedes. They are most commonly found in damp basements (thanks for the great basement that we have). Just the other day we found our first one...of course using my skills I learned from growing up in Aubrey Texas what did I do... I stuck a canning jar on top of this thing and made Dustin take care of it. (Yes, that is what we would do back at home...stick a jar on top of it and eventually someone else would do something about it...it is the best way to catch big spiders and scorpions!) So we just thought it was a creepy bug in our house...and it was gone. Nope- just the other night Dustin and I were watching DejaVu (pretty good... fun movie to watch) and all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see one of these things walking along the wall!! I screech, Dustin jumps, and it is a mad hunt. These things are fast...really fast...and they can jump. Needless to say it was pretty entertaining to watch Dustin kill this thing while the cats were trying to help. Which bring about my last point...didn't we get these cats so we wouldn't have any bug problems? They are slackers, and will be put on the treadmill tonight to re-train and get ready for the next big hunt.