San Diego & My Best Friend's Wedding

My best friend Heather gave us a great reason to escape snowy Utah when she decided to be married in sunny San Diego last Friday. She was a beautiful bride.

Jason her husband seems to be a great guy, well he must be since he won Heather's heart. I was beginning to wonder if anyone would ever make the cut. I'm so glad he did, and I am so happy for her and him.

Her wedding was followed by a beach BBQ, it was great... I wish Sammy would have been more interested in socializing more than trying to escape into the ocean, and eating seaweed and sand. I admit, Aaron and I both wanted to have a blast but we were both a little stressed with our little adventure seeker who we couldn't take our eyes off. I wonder if I will ever have a child who will cling to my leg and won't let me out of his sight. Since I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum right now, I wouldn't mind a little more separation anxiety coming from my baby :).


On Saturday we got to go to the famous San Diego Zoo. It was fun to see the animals and point them out to Sam, not to mention did I say we were in San Diego? The weather was beautiful, it was a perfect day to be outside together.

We ended our trip with a nice visit with Aaron's family in Riverside. Uncle Bob cooked us ribs and chicken on his grill, Grandma Vicky made her famous beans and rice, and we got to talk photography with Uncle David.
San Diego was a great getaway, but it just didn't seem like Christmas in California. Now that it's over and done, we're glad to be back in snowy Utah!

Fields of Gold

So I was looking for my journal tonight to write in, but I couldn't find it in the whole 10 seconds I looked. Sometime in those 10 seconds I remembered I did have a blog that was in desperate need of an updating!Aaron is applying to PA School right now as we speak, he has 13 applications submitted so far including schools in AZ, CA, NY,PA,OR,TX and UT... well we can cross the UT one off because they didn't want our business so we're looking else where but we're optimistic that Aaron will get in somewhere. I've also been quite ambitious myself lately, and I am also preparing to begin applying to grad school. I took the GRE yesterday and received a good score, so now all I have to do is buckle down and pick some schools. This is the hardest part I think though because obviously Aaron's getting into school is more important to me than me getting into school, and not a lot of schools have both our programs. So we'll just have to toss up options into the air and see where the wind takes us because we're both going for it!
Nope, we haven't forgotten we have a wonderful son. He's all part of this decision too, It's going to be a rough couple of years for all of us! Speaking of the bubs, I still love being his mom. I'm probably never going to change my position in feeling like it's so much harder to be selfish with a child. But I do love him so and so really... it's really not that hard. I mean c'mon, who could resist this face?

Sam's been learning some new words. So far (and finally) he can say Mama, Dada, baba, papa, ouch (outh), gotcha (dot tha), Gidget (didit), pants pants pants (ba ba ba), and up. He can also shake his head no and say uhuh, and nods and says uhHUH. At his last apt in October he weighed 28lbs, and was I believe 33 inches tall. This little man is growing so fast not even my muscles are keeping up with him... that's why its a good thing he's walking like a champ now, minus the few falls and quick trips we had to make to the Dr. to get some stitches on his lip (actually a walking with a bottle in his mouth accident) and have his elbow popped back into place (yeah, don't pick a heavy kid up by the arms... ever.)
Anyway, glad the holidays are here! We're looking forward to spending some fun times with family and friends! Love to all!

Summer Sets

As I contemplate what to write in this post, I can think of many stories to share. I only wish I updated this sooner so that I could have remembered/recorded it all. Not that we had an amazingly eventful summer, but this summer was filled with lots of firsts. 1. Aaron's first college degree. (Biology) 2. Aaron's first full time job. 3. My first time ever without a job. (since freshman year college) 4. My first summer as a SAHM. 5. Sammy's first birthday. 6. Sammy's first words. 7. Sammy's first steps.

Oh yeah, and we moved to Bountiful! The move was bittersweet for me at first... I don't really miss the rabbit hutches... sorry wymountians... I loved that place because that was where we called home for 2 years, we brought our baby home to apt 569, and we had some great friends in our ward, but we're glad to be away from the construction, and the living wall to thin wall and on top of our neighbors. I thought that since I love Provo so much, I would definitely need time to adjust and feel like Bountiful was home, but the feeling came quickly. We know we belong here, at least for now. We still live in a small place (a duplex), and we're renting... it's only appropriate since we are living off half of what we used to! But we feel very fortunate and blessed to be in our situation.

Yes, we've had a low key summer, and I loved it! I think I needed time to adjust to being a full time mom- and let me tell you, it was an adjustment! This job is hard work, but I'm so glad it is me who gets to do it. In saying that, I don't regret leaving my wonderful job. I knew when I left full time employment with BYU I'd probably never have a better office, better coworkers, or better benefits. That job had great perks, this one just has more. Poopy diapers, screaming flailing baby and all!

Sam at 7 months

we are playing catchup. Sam is really 10 months on the 15th. he is growing fast and learning to demand more things. So imagine him even bigger than this.

little buddha

I love this picture. I just wanted everyone who looks at this to see this cute picture of Sam.

Teether

Sam has two teeth! This picture was taken before they sprouted, but as it appears he was taking the cutting part pretty well ;).

An update on our family- We're still very busy! I hope it slows down for us when Aaron graduates next month. We'll basically have a year without school so we'll only be working. That is going to be so nice!!! At least the being done with our undergrads part. :)

Aaron is almost finished taking a CNA certification course. He's excited to start getting healthcare experience for PA School. CNAs are very hard workers. I once had an opportunity to become one, and I took the class for a week, but then another work opportunity working for the Girl Scouts of America came up as a camp counselor. I couldn't pass that up, so I walked away from a summer as a CNA. Aaron will most likely work in a nursing home. I personally found that maybe that kind of work would have been hard for me. I'm so glad though that there are people who can do that kind of work and are very good at it--- because they care. I'm not talking about those who don't. That's why taking care of people who can't take care of themselves can be difficult. Aaron worked with the mentally handicapped last summer, and he told me a story about how a woman did not get to eat any dinner one evening because she did not come when they told her to. He said she cryed because she wanted to eat. I felt so bad for her I even became tearful. He said she was being taught a lesson that when it is time to eat, she needs to come. I understand that, but even still I would feel so bad. I would be way too emotionally involved working in that kind of environment. I guess someone like me should just stick to working with computers and people for now.

I'm so proud of Aaron though. He'll be done after this next weekend. I'll try to get a picture of him up wearing his scrubs ASAP :)

Catching up

Here is another video of my punk! ;) My little one turned 7 months this past Sunday so this video is actually not on schedule, we'll be publishing one more shortly then we'll finally be caught up. After he's a year old, I'll try to be a little more creative and just put the good pics of him up. :). Sam is such a good baby. Against much of my own mind's opposition, Aaron and I decided that we needed to sleep train Sam since he'd been waking up several times a night as well as not wanting to go to bed at night until after 10. Since I have to get up early to go to work, this was just not working for us. We took this past holiday weekend to put him to sleep right around 8pm and let him... cry it out! I know... I feel terrible just saying that! BUT he only cried longer than 20 min for the first 3 nights, and for the past 2 he's gone strait to bed in less than a minute. How about that! So... I guess I don't feel so terrible, just more rested ;). AND I more than welcome his screams and squeals at 6 in the morning. Yep, he's sleeping through the night too. It's pretty crazy!
Now all we have to do is get this going to sleep on his own to work with naps too! We're a little more lenient with that though.

Aaron picked out the fun song