Brad, Teri & Ellie

Christmas, etc......

2012-01-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

So, um.... it's been a while. Ever since I inherited Brad's "old Ipad", the laptop has become somewhat forgotten sitting underneath the couch. The Ipad is just so darn accessible. It is so easy to check facebook and cruise the internet on it, but it just doesn't cooperate with blogger (if anyone has suggestions on how to remedy this problem, let me know). Anyway, the ease of the Ipad has really made me slack off on the updates. Sorry. So, we'll start off at about Christmas (sorry this is so belated). This might be a long and wordy post.

Let me just say it now, Christmas is so much fun with a toddler. Ellie loved everything about Christmas. I don't think she really got the whole Santa Claus bit of Christmas, but every morning she would walk out of her bedroom and see the Christmas tree at the end of the hallway and would just kinda crouch down and whisper "Christmas tree!" or "Christmas lights!" in a very excited and awed tone. She loved Christmas trees and lights. I think the Christmas lights were how she first started learning her colors. Now that Christmas is all done and put away, she reminds us frequently that the Christmas tree is in the ceiling. Temple Square was another fun event of Christmas. She loved the "bubbles" on the reflection pond. She tried to blow them. She loved seeing the nativities from different cultures. She thought the Eskimos were Mr. Potato heads, and the red Japanese figure was definitely Minnie Mouse.

The Potato Head Nativity

Yes, in Ellie's eyes, that red figure just had to be Minnie Mouse

She had so much fun with her nativity sets at home too, she loved "Baby Jesus" and the "twinkle little star" the most. Even now, when we sing a song before bedtime she always says that she wants to sing a "Baby Jesus" song. Stories about "ho ho ho" were fun to read too. She also had fun with anything related to a jingle bell or with anything that remotely even sounded like a jingle bell. Christmas morning she slept in. Ooo, that was difficult for two parents full of anticipation for Christmas morning. We waited a whole hour after waking up before we went in a got Ellie up. She had fun opening presents, but didn't exactly tear into them like we were kind of hoping. She did well though, and enjoyed all of her gifts. Her surprise favorite was her potty. We bought her the potty because we were out and about doing shopping, and decided we should just get one, and since it was all boxed up, we wrapped it. Well, after opening up that potty, she would not open another present unless she was sitting on her thrown. Then she carried the thing around the house wherever she went. We let her drag it around on Christmas, but the next day I established it's place in the bathroom after many tears and screams on Ellie's part. Besides the potty (which really hasn't been used yet for it's rightful purpose, sadly) some of Ellie's favorite presents were her "rocky giraffe" from PaGa Winter, her "dishes toys," and she loves to say "hi" to Grandma on the cool cell phone she got.

the living room on Christmas Even after the Ellie was dreaming of sugar plums. You can see the "rocky giraffe" on the left.

What every good parent does before wrapping presents.... make sure they work well, and are safe to play with. This was Brad's creation the night we wrapped all the presents.

The silly little potty chair

Brad and I also had a great Christmas. It was so lovely having Brad around a little bit more than usual over the school break. We loved not having to think about school despite the increase in work hours that still kept him away at times. He did get to have a few days off the week before school started up again, so he threw all of his energies into this....

tada! He finished the piano! Wahoo! It's hard to believe that it isn't sitting in the garage anymore. It's been a permanet fixture down there for more than 6 months, and our faithful little Saturn has had to endure the elements outside on the driveway the whole time. We bought that old, beat-up, so-called instrument last February (see before pic here), so its about time it took it's rightful place in the living room. I love having a piano, despite the fact that it is desperately out of tune. I still enjoy it on a daily basis. Hopefully we'll be able to remedy it's unique sounds after it acclimates to its more permanent home in the living room. And if anyone just happens to have a piano bench sitting around that they don't want, we'll be glad to take it off your hands.

As far as preggy and baby news goes, all is well. The belly is still acting as a pin cushion, and it never has really learned to enjoy it's new calling in life. Geez! Those stupid shots HURT! But, I am way more than half done with the pregnancy standing at 27 weeks tomorrow, and I can't wait to stop the pin cushion gig. "Baby Brother," as Ellie calls him, is doing well, and is always right on target at our appointments. He is sitting a lot lower than Ellie ever did and he definitely favors the right side of my belly. Despite him sitting lower, my poor ribs still hurt. I just have a small torso, I guess. This guy is a very active little fellow. I started feeling him around Thanksgiving, at about 18 weeks (?) or maybe even earlier. I don't think I felt Ellie until well after 20 weeks. I am loving all the movement. Maybe not the blows to my bladder, but I'll just have to endure them because the rest of his little jabs are just so fun. I told myself that I would be better at taking preggy pics this time around. Well, I haven't. That is the end of that. I don't think I have a single one yet.

Oh, one other thing that Ellie got for Christmas was a way-too-big pair of Snow White plastic shoes from her Great Grandma Frandsen. Today she was clomping around the house in them, and I got this cute little video of her. I just had to share it. Sorry it is sideways, I don't know how to fix that.

Piggers

2011-11-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

(Brad writing today)
I grew up with five sisters (six at one time, I didn't forget you Kei). And needless to say, my father has had a lot of female hormones to deal with throughout the years. He really has done an amazing job. My sisters make up one of the best group of women I have ever met. But there is one thing my father never quite got down. My sisters love to give him a hard time recounting how traumatic it was the day that daddy had to do their hair for school. I believe most counts include Kristi crying. So, when Ellie was born I decided that I would at least be able to do pig tails and a fair pony. So after may tears on both of our parts, Ellie and I are proud to show off "Daddy's Piggers." Feel free to comment on how great they are...

Ok, so she is just cute regardless of who does her hair.

Teri Had a Little Lamb

2011-10-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we got a lovely box of hand-me-down clothing from Ellie's cousin Ainsley. To our delight, there was a couple of very cute Halloween shirts that we thought would fit Ellie for the upcoming holiday. One day, not long after, Brad was getting Ellie dressed and pulled out an orange Halloween shirt and asked Ellie if she wanted to wear it. With a big grin on her face she said "Halloween!" Ok. So, how does she pick up on these things? We had hardly even talked about Halloween, but I guesss she just knew she would love this holiday. And she does. She loves her Halloween shirts, she loves loves loves "punkins", she loves coloring Halloween pictures, she loves learning new Halloween words, and of course she loves Halloween candy. She however does not love her costume so much. I found a very cute idea online of how to make a cute little lamb costume, so I went to work. It really only costed me about $6 to make the costume which was just great with me. It turned out so cute, in my opinion, but Ellie didn't care. As soon as I got it on her, the first time, she started tearing the cotton balls off! There was seriously cotton ball carnage after the first fitting. Well, we've worn it a few times since, and she is at least tolerating it now despite the missing cotton balls in some places. We are love seeing Ellie really experience all the fun things about this Holiday. It is so much fun.

The infamous lamb costume. She's super cute in it. And our pumpkins don't look half bad sitting next to her either.

There's Teri and her little lamb. Ever since we put the pumpkins on the stairs at the beginning of the month, Ellie favorite game when we're outside is towalk up the steps and "count" the pumpkins in toddler fashion, you know "one, two, five, ten". She is getting better though. She also just enjoys a good sit next to her pumpkin friends. Her other favorite pumpkin related past time involves her attempting to move them while straining to say "heavy heavy heavy" the whole time. Her attempts are never very successful.

How Ellie occupied her time while we finished carving pumpkins (it's kind of gruesome when you think about it a bit)

It took a while to finish

The first thing Ellie did when we cut open her pumpkin was take the lid and start chewing on it. I guess it's cold, and she is teething. It was just funny. She wouldn't put it down. She also, just in general, has an obsession taking off the jack-o-lantern lids and putting them back on.

And here's cute cousin Ainsley at Grandma and Grandpa's Halloween party. She makes a good bumble bee.

A few weeks ago

2011-10-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Brad was lucky enough to receive an Ipad 2 as part of a class he is taking in pharmacy school. He has actually been using an Ipad since he started pharmacy school last year (which he highly recommends for graduate school, by the way). And as much as Brad loves his Ipad, who wouldn't give up an Ipad for an Ipad 2. So guess who got the hand-me-down? Well, if you didn't guess, I did. Unfortunately blogger does not play nice with an Ipad, so that combined with our slowly dying laptop means I have been super bad at doing anything on the blog. Now, I know few people actually read this blog, so it really doesn't matter in that respect, but it is the only semblance of journal keeping that I currently do, so I have to keep it at least somewhat updated so I don't feel overly guilty for my lack of keeping our own family history. So there you have it. You probably don't care, but that is why I have not blogged.

A few weeks ago (a few less weeks ago than the above few weeks ago) Brad had a week long fall break. Can we say "GLORIOUS" !?! Yes, it was glorious. I unfortunately still had to work most of the week, but we did get to take a day trip to Salt Lake as a family. The real reason for the trip was to ride the train. Ellie is a lover of trains. Probably largely due a couple of choo choo train toys given to her by Grandpa Winter and a fun song we sing with Grandma Christensen. Anyway, we rode the train down to Salt Lake. At the train station where we got on the train, there was a buffalo statue. These buffalo statues are in random places throughout Utah, and are usually painted in a unique way. This one was black. Pretty boring. I know. But she was mesmerized. And ever since she love to say the word buffalo. Except she just says it so cute, more like "bufa whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa." She just doesn't know when to stop the whoa whoa whoa part, and it is darling. That has probably become the most memorable part of the train riding trip. Who knew the memory we would make would have almost nothing to do with trains at all.

Along with the train ride, Brad did lots of work on the yard. It is looking so much better this year than it did last year, so it is slowly becoming what we want it to be. We loved having him home for the week. And now, there are 6 more weeks of class left in the semester, so we are on the downward slope of the semester, and are anxiously awaiting quite a long break. Which will, of course, be lovely.

These piles are some of the fruits of Brad's yard work. More work! Oh, and along with chopping and pruning, Brad also pulled up a lot of the remnants of our very fruitful garden with the help of his friend Mikey. There were many a squash that we did not eat, so Mikey and Brad took this as an opportunity to make some great compost. They chopped up the squash and other dying veggies with by throwing them at eachother and then slicing them with a machete. Boys.

Ellie having fun working in the yard with Dad.

Just a cute picture of my two favorite people.

Clots

2011-09-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

For about two weeks, I was having some unexplained back and leg pain. It started in my lower back and hurt terribly. I was worried that if it persisted I would have to call in sick to work because I could hardly walk. Luckily, it mellowed out after a day or two. Then this stupid pain started radiating down the back of my left leg. I thought it was sciatic nerve pain even though there was no reason for it. Well, I lived with that pain for a few days, then this annoying pain migrated to the front of my left leg around my groin area. It seemed to be feeling better though, so I decided I would just have to wait it out. Well, a few more days went by with this constant ache in my leg. I was a slow walker, and tried hard not to limp. I still had no way to explain the pain, and that was probably the most frustrating part of the whole ordeal. Eventually, by the 8th of September, the pain started to move down my inner thigh, and I even felt it a little bit in my shin. I just figured that the muscles or tendons that were hurt initially were probably connected to the muscles and ligaments down my leg, so if one thing hurt, other things were bound to hurt eventually too. But, I finally decided to contact my doctor's office and ask their opinion. I spoke to them over the phone on Friday afternoon, and they encouraged me to go in and have my leg checked out. I didn't think it was anything serious, I didn't have any swelling or redness, just that pestery pain, so I decided to schedule an appointment for Monday since I had the day off of work. Well, Friday night came along. Brad and I were getting ready for bed after having watched a very stupid movie together. It was at this time that I realized that my leg was, in fact, starting to swell. There were also patches of red all the way down the inner part of my leg. Yikes! That surprised me, and the changes started to really really worry me. I was also worried that I was overreacting, but these signs pointed at the possibility of clots in my leg. Brad decided that we needed to go to the ER. I really didn't want to take this route, but in the end I gave in. Brad's mom came over to our house so we wouldn't have to wake Ellie, and we headed out on a midnight adventure (the last time we headed out on a midnight adventure was the night Ellie was delivered, so of course this was brought up on the drive to the hospital. This time, unfortunately, the circumstances were a little more unknown). We got to the hospital and then played the waiting game. We saw the doctor who agreed at the possibility of clots. He said it was a good thing that we decided to come in. Well, lo and behold, I did have clots. This actually really surprised me despite all the signs. I had one large clot in the upper part of my leg and clots throughout all of the veins in my lower leg. They started me on blood thinners and sent me home with instructions to stay down and keep my leg elevated. The leg continued to swell and be painful for a few days, but eventually the blood thinners kicked in, and I started to see improvements. The instructions to stay down persisted for 2 weeks, but I did finally get to go back to work this Tuesday.

And why did I happen to get blood clots? Well, the only explanation is this......

Yep. This little peanut is already starting out to be a trouble maker. Everyone said Ellie's personality is more like me, and boy I better watch out when we get a little one like Brad. Maybe I'm being warned early on. Who knows! Anyway, we are really excited about this little baby even if it is causing a lot of concern. It is totally healthy as far as the doctor can tell, and hasn't been phased by the whole ordeal. I am now 11 weeks along, and we are expecting the addition to officially arrive in mid April. By the time it comes Mommy's belly will be a well worn pin cushion due to the twice a day shots I have to take throughout the pregnancy, but it will be well worth it. We are so excited to see our little family grow!

Ellie at 14 months

2011-09-13T20:03:00.000-07:00

Ellie, as always, is an ever a growing girl. It is hard to keep up with everything new that she is doing from day to day. It is hard to think that I can't call her my baby any more. She is now definitely a toddler. She started walking a few weeks after her first birthday, and now her signature scoot is gone forever. Now the real exercise will begin. We just about lost her a couple of weeks ago at church. She just walked out of Sunday School class without us noticing. She only made it to the foyer so we were lucky. We can't wait for her to be old enough to go to Nursery just so we don't have to chase after her for 3 hours.

Ellie loves to read stories with Mommy and Daddy, especially stories with lots of animals in them. She is so good at making all of the barn animal sounds and a lot of other animals too like elephants, monkeys, and snakes. The library has become a great resource to keep my sanity from the monotony of reading the same board books over and over and over again. Now we read three or four books for about three weeks and then switch when we take a visit to the library. This last bunch of books we got from the library included the book "Opposites" by Sandra Boyton. Ellie loves all the Sandra Boynton books. She loves the rhymes and all the animals in them. Well, earlier this week she kept walking around the housing saying "Ap-a-sit" and for the longest time I couldn't figure out what she was say, maybe A-B-C or something, but then we sat down to read book the Sandra Boynton book, and she she "Ap-a-sit" again. It finally dawned on me what she had been saying all week long. I'm pretty impressed with a 3 syllable word coming from a 14 month old. Unfortunately her new favorite book had to go back to the library today :(

She has become a little parrot when it comes to speaking. Anything we say, she likes to try and repeat at least one word from what we say. Some of the cute ones lately have been "busy" "cook" "pretty"and "messy". I don't really think she knows their meaning completely, but she is definitely on her way.

Ellie also absolutely loves the gift she got from her cousin, Ainsley, for her birthday, an episode of "Baby Signing Time." She is doing a great job learning the signs in the movie. We have to limit this annoying moving to one time a day, more to maintain Brad and my sanity than anything. The songs on that video are just so so catchy. WE CANT GET THEM OUT OF OUR HEAD! We are singing them ALL the time. But if Ellie doesn't get her fix of the show every day, she walks around making the sign for baby while say "baby, baby, baby" over and over again. What a cutie.

Ellie is a great eater. She was introduced to watermelon this summer and now if there is watermelon within her sight, she will not eat or do anything until her appetite has been satiated. We've just learned to use watermelon like a dessert. You don't get to even know that there is watermelon until the end of dinner. She also was introduced to corn on the cob a few weeks ago. I think she likes it better on the cob than off. She has just enough chompers to make it as a viable option for her. She is only picky when it comes to meats. I don't think she likes the texture very much. But if we disguise them with something else, usually we can get her to at least eat some.

So yep. There's a little update on our sweet Ellie. She's as cute as ever, and we love, love, love seeing her grow up.

This is Ellie saying "cheese" to the camera. This is actually a good "cheese" face. Any time she get her picture taken now she squints up her eyes and makes a silly little cheesey smile.

The Zoo, Take Two

2011-09-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

The weekend of my birthday (known to the rest of America as Labor Day weekend) we decided to finally go to the zoo as a family. We have attempted the trip two other times in the past month, but both times we failed to actually make it to the zoo. Ellie and I went to the zoo back in May with Grandma, Grandpa, her aunts and her cuzzy, but I was so happy to finally be able to go and experience the joys of the zoo with just Daddy and Ellie. It has been quite a while since Brad last went. Brad seems to think the last time he went to the zoo was on a field trip in elementary school. He has only poor memories of that sad journey. His room mother chaperon decided it was important to first see the insects and snakes (probably because it wasn't crowded there), and after that, they had to go eat lunch and head home. He was a little bitter then, and is still a little bitter now. But he had loads of fun on our trip last week, so I guess the zoo experience has been redeemed to some extent. Ellie loved the zoo again this time. She had so much fun seeing the elephants, giraffes, and rhinos, but we think her favorite part of the zoo was probably the elephant slide. Yep. All those cool animals, and she just had a smile from ear to ear going up and down that silly little elephant slide time after time after time. Brad's favorite part of the zoo was just spending time with his girls. I agree with him. I just had fun being with my two favorite people.

Here's our sweet Ellie enjoying the amazingly exciting elephant slide

Ellie had to experience all aspects of the zoo, including all of the flowers and weeds along the path. She is so cute. Any time she see a flower, whether it be a real flower, a silk flower, a picture of a flower, or a weed that has some semblance of a flower, she has to smell it. So of course she had to do this with all the "flowers" seen with our strolling about zoo too.

She though the rhinos were quite interesting. She likes to point to their horns in books, so she pointed to the horn on the statue too.

I don't think she really trust this gorilla next to her.

Family Reunions

2011-08-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

We had a family reunion the last weekend in July and another the first weekend in August. The first was with the Winter Family. The latter was with the Frandsen Family. We stayed in a cabin with the whole Winter family. We saw moose, did fun crafts, and just had fun being with family and learning about our family history. Almost the whole Alan Winter clan was in attendance. We were only missing Josh. Ellie had so much fun learning how to move about with all of her on-the-go cousins, and Brad savored every minute he had with his brother. I forgot to use my camera at the Winter family reunion, but we had so much fun. Luckily, our talented sister-in-law took some great pictures of our sweet family. Ellie didn't exactly cooperate, but I think we still got some wonderful shots. Thanks Kristen! Sorry, I can't post them right now though. The last day of the reunion, we went to Jordanelle Reservoir and enjoyed a beautiful day on the lake. It started to rain just as we were leaving, but it was beautiful the whole time we were out. Between the boat, the jet skis and the beachfront, I think everyone had some fun.

The Frandsen reunion was the first weekend in August down at Grandma and Grandpa Frandsen's home in Sandy. Grandma Frandsen, of course, made her famous yeasty root beer. Apparently Ellie is a fan. She couldn't get enough of it. Brad was able to be there for the Friday festivities, but had to work on Saturday, so Ellie and I ventured down with Grandma Winter, Whit and Emm. We had a lovely time, and it was fun to see cousins we rarely get to see.

Ellie sporting some cool shades at G. Grandma Frandsens

Playing under the parachute with the whole Frandsen clan

And Ellie first experience with Grandma's famous burp beer (root beer, boot-legger style)

Some of the Winters enjoying the burps

Asthma Camp Adventures

2011-07-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

First of all, I just want to say that I have an amazing husband :)

Brad got the rare opportunity to go be a counselor at Camp Wyatt last week for Asthma Camp. I'm sure he wishes he could say he did it for some noble reason, but he didn't. Heck, he doesn't even have asthma. He really decided to do it to get elective credit for school. And after the week of camp, he said he deserves those credits. It was definitely an adventure. He got to do some really fun things as a counselor like a camp out under the stars, canoe, swim, teach kids about asthma, alleviate homesick children, eat cotton candy on a churro (you'd never see that at Diabetes Camp[which is this week]), walk sleep walking children to the bathroom in the middle of the night (or 3 times in the middle of the night!),and keep Jeffery's shoes on (not successful). He came home on Friday with so many silly stories to tell, I am glad he had a good time. Unfortunately,Asthma Camp had it in for our family. I think that just about any big event that could have happened, happened while he was away for Asthma Camp activities. Now I don't mean to complain, but let me just tell you all the things that overlapped with Asthma Camp. Training for Asthma Camp was on Ellie's first birthday. Rob, Kristen and family got to Utah the day Brad left. Whitney had her baby. We had our third anniversary. Ellie took her first steps. But we survived. I'm sure this wont be the last time that he will be away from us for long stints of time, so we better get used to it. I sure look up to those Moms who do so much without their husbands around. It's hard work to say the least.

Sorry for the picture-less post. I didn't take any pictures last week, and neither did Brad.

Miss Messy Ellie

2011-07-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

We had a fun birthday celebration for Ellie on Saturday. We had a great party with lots of family and a few great friends. I made some homemade bubbles that we were going to play with, but for some reason, the bubble mixture didn't work out. I was pretty bummed because I remember having hours of amusement as a child making huge bubbles with the recipe I used. Despite the bubble letdown, we still had a delightful get together. We started out the party with a barbecue dinner with some of Ellie's favorite foods. After a little bit to eat, it was time for Ellie to have some fun with her presents. It was so fun to watch here open each gift. She did very well, considering a one year old's attention span. She loved each gift, and you can really tell because she hasn't even touched any of her "old toys" since Saturday.

I decided I out try my hand at creating a fun cake for Ellie's birthday. She loves her monkey, so I decided to make a monkey cake. I found the basic idea online, and then adjusted it a little bit. I think for a first time cake decorator, I did a pretty good job. That monkey is pretty darn cute. Too bad the monkey brains got consumed quite quickly. All of my hard work must have tasted pretty good too I guess.

And here's the cutie pie with the chocolate all over her darling face. Oh! I was so happy she got herself good and dirty for some nice first birthday cake pictures. She really didn't eat much of the cake, but I made sure she got plenty of frosting on her serving to make her nice and messy.

Ellie's Birthday

2011-07-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ellie turned 1 yesterday. Holy cow. It is hard to believe that she has been a part of our family for a whole year. I think back to a year ago on the night she arrived, and it doesn't seem long ago at all. It is amazing to watch your very own little one grow and develop. Ellie definitely has her own personality and she showed it early on. She is usually a very content little girl, but whoa! when she doesn't get her way, she knows how to throw a tantrum. Some of her favorite things include her giraffe and monkey toys, balls, her fluffy blankey, books, magnets from the refrigerator, and tupperware. She also seems to like a lot of stuff she knows she isn't supposed to be playing with, but I guess every one year old is that way. Ellie is a very good eater in my opinion. She will pretty much eat anything that is put in front of her, but some of her favorite foods include peaches, sweet potatoes, spaghetti, graham crackers, sloppy joes, and anything sweet. She is accumulating quite the vocabulary also. About two weeks ago, she discovered the word "no" and now that is probably her most used word. It is so funny though, she rarely says the word defiantly, usually it is a soft little nod of the head and a timid "no". She usually says it when she knows she is doing something she isn't supposed to be doing. That of course, doesn't stop her from doing it. She also likes to say "mom" "dad" "tickle" "ee-eee-ee" (monkey sounds) , "hi", "ball", "dog", and a few others. And she loves to vibrate her lips together to make car noises too. I think she is on the verge of saying a lot more because she can sure babble up a storm. She is also learning to point at body parts, and some animals too. She isn't quite walking, but she is steady with just one hand assisting her, so fairly soon we'll have a true toddler on our hands. For now, her primary mode of transportation is still her signature scoot. She has a constant redness on the outer part of her shins from scooting everywhere. We love our Ellie, and look forward to many more happy birthdays with her.

Ellie with my phone (one of the many objects she seems to think is a toy. She does put it up to her ear and say "hi", which is pretty cute)

Ellie on her birthday in her birthday suit

A Trip to Park City

2011-07-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we got to go to Park City and spend some time with the Christensen family. It was so nice for Brad to have a whole weekend off of work, and it was so nice to just get away as a family. We did some shopping at the outlets. Holy cow, a mom can just go wild at the outlets. I think there are more children's clothing stores there than any other kind of store. Along with shopping, we did some swimming in the pool. This was Ellie's first experience with "swimming". Like many things that we put her through, I think she tolerated it, at best. She didn't want to splash around and play like we were hoping she would, but she didn't really cry either. Well, then again, she did cry the second time we put her in the pool, but that we soon alleviated with the appearance of a ball to play with. And since Ellie didn't want to splash in the pool, we got to go see other people make splashes in a pool up at the Olympic Park. Those aerial skiers are pretty amazing to watch. I hope we can catch the show they do sometime, we only got to see them practice. Brad and I also did some biking around the city as well. There are so many trails in Park City. It was fun to ride just a couple of them while we were there. I would love to explore some other trails in the future. It is so scenic up there, it really makes for a pleasant ride. I wasn't the best at taking pictures, but here is one of Dad and Ellie in the pool.

Fire 'n dirt 'n girls

2011-06-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

Fire and dirt and girls. What a great combination, right? When all these combine, it equal Girl's Camp! Woot! Okay, you really have to add in a few other things too like braiding hair, and makin' crafty things, and spiritual upliftment, and lots of laughing. I had the opportunity to go and spend 3 days with the young women in our church group last week. I left Ellie and Brad home alone overnight for the first time, but they came up the second night to keep me company. Actually, they really needed priesthood brethern to be there, so Brad offered to help out last minute. And of course, if Brad is there, Ellie had to come along too. There was no objections from the young women with this arrangement, so it worked out well. Ellie did really well with her first camping experience, if you even want to call her experience camping. We really got pampered. They let us have the room in the cabin while everyone else slept in tents. Brad had fun chopping wood (and has a big blister to show for it) and just enjoyed being away from the pharmacy for a day. I also thought it was nice to get away from work for a couple days, and I also had fun getting to know my girls on at a different level. I was really impressed by all of our young women. There were 17 girls at camp for 4 days, and there wasn't a single quarrel, everyone got along, and everyone was included-no cliques. Impressive? Yes. Although it was fun, it was still nice to get home and sleep in my own bed.

Ellie chillin' by the campfire

Dad and Ellie exploring the campground

2011-06-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

About a month ago on one of Brad's days off during the week, he decided to surprise me by picking up a children's bike trailer that he found on KSL. It was the weekend of Memorial Day, so he thought a bike ride would be a great family activity over the holiday weekend. Well, he got it home and started setting it up so it would be all ready to go when I got got home. This is when he realized that the hitch was not included with everything else. So we didn't get to hook it up over Memorial day. Instead we had to wait a couple days to get the hitch from the previous owners. But about 2 weeks ago, we decided to take it on its maiden voyage, so on a beautiful Sunday evening we rode it out to visit Grandma and Grandpa. I don't know how Ellie felt about the whole experience, I think she tolerated it-at best, but I realized that I have really missed riding my bike. It was just lovely. I hope we can get out a lot more this summer and use this trailer quite a bit as a family.

gearing up for the ride

All buckled in

Daddy and Ellie lookin' good

Well On Our Way

2011-05-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

We are well on our way to finally having a garden this summer! Hurray! Thursday was Brad's day off so after I got home from work, we set to the task of getting the garden planted. Brad's parents had quite an assemblage of strawberries growing in yard that were about to overthrow all the other plants in the garden, so we happily took some of the plants off of their hands. In addition we were able to plant quite a few tomato plants and some peppers. We still have to plants some squash, cucumbers, carrots, and corn. That is our goal for this evening. It would have been nice to get it all done on Thursday, but despite our attempts at distracting Ellie from the dirt with enticings such as cheerios, graham crackers, and toys, she decided that dirt was ore interesting. And as probably most parents know, you don't just dirty yourself with dirt when you are 10 months old, you must taste the dirt. So once Ellie discovered dirt, we had to end the project for the time being. But! We are well on our way!

We are also well on our way to a happy, clean, and newly painted piano. I am using a lot of guidance on this project from Allthingsthrifty. This week we got some paint stripper to finish the job that elbow grease just couldn't cut. We took off all the panels to show the innards of the piano, and vacuumed the lovely instrument out. We also took off all the keys to the paino. That was an adventure! Who knew so much stuff was hiding underneath those piano keys! We found 3 earings, who knows how much loose change (mostly pennies), stickers, and mouse poop. Pretty gross to think that mice were once upon a time tickling the underside of those ivories. Yuck! Anyway, the piano is now in the garage awaiting some paint stripping and some final sanding. Then it is onto paint! Oh, and I don't think it will be done by May (Brad just tells me to have faith).

And our little Ellie is well on her way to being a one year old. That's right, she is going to be 11 months old on Monday. Only one more month until we reach that milestone. She is so much fun to have around. This past week I have really noticed how much fun she his having putting stuff in things. She loves to play with the little red bucket in the picture. She pulls it out of the bottom drawer in the kitchen and dumps everything out of it. This is followed by attempting to refill it, but most often she gets distracted by one thing or another that she is putting in it, and forgets about the task. This of course means I am left to clean up the mess. That's okay though. She now has 4 pearly white teeth. I think another is wanting to pop through too. She is saying all sorts of words too. When it tickle her back she says "ticka ticka." She points to the window by the neighbor's house and says "da" (dog). She points to Dad and says "da." She picks up her monkey and says "ee-ee-oo-oo." She doesn't say "ma" when I'm around, but Dad said she says it when I'm gone. Anyway, as usual, we are loving her.

A Piano Project

2011-05-21T12:37:00.001-07:00

Back in February I was perusing KSL when I came upon this beauty. Ok, so it isn't exactly a beauty, but I had been toying with the idea of wanting a piano, and this one fit into the budget. It has definitely seen better days, but Brad and I have spent the last month trying to strip the layers of paint that have accumulated on it and we are almost done with the task. It is looking better...... sort of. Now the task at hand it to decide how to finish this wonderful instrument. I originally wanted to just stain the wood after we stripped it, but I don't think this is a viable option after seeing all the different types of wood there are. I am considering the idea of staining the flat top surfaces of the piano, and antiquing the rest, similar to this table refinished by Miss Mustard Seed

I can use all the help I can get. So if you have ever painted a piano, or refinished a big piece of furniture, or know a little something that might help me in this endeavor, I would greatly appreciate a comment. This project, according to our summer project outline, is supposed to be done by the end of May (we'll see if it really happens). Wish us luck!

The Zoo, the zoo! A Trip to the Zoo!

2011-05-16T10:51:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, like about half of Utah, we decided to enjoy the sunny weather while visiting the animals at Hogle Zoo. It was so stinkin' crowded, but it was a super fun experience. Ellie and I drove down to Salt Lake with Grandma and Grandpa Winter. We met Aunt Aubrey and Ainsley at the zoo. Unfortunately, both Ellie's dad and Ainsley's dad had to work, so Grandpa got a day with his girls. And what a fun day it was! I was very surprised at how much Ellie reacted to the animals. The first animals that I think she really saw and noticed were the ostriches. She just kinda looked at them hesitantly, but didn't really want to take her eyes away from them. We then saw giraffes which was so fun. Ellie pointed at them and waved at them and said her cute little "hi" to them. Oh, it was adorable. And as we walked away, she did all she could to just keep looking at them and wave and say "hi" to them ("hi" is both hello and goodbye in Ellie's world). She was so interested in all the animals, it just really surprised me. This interest was not always an excited interest, but interest nonetheless. The other animals that she really enjoyed seeing were the camels. She once again just pointed and waved. Oh, and she loved the point and say "OOO" in a very excited tone whenever she saw something she liked too. We had a good hour and a half in the zoo before we booked it for the car because of a rainstorm. We got to the car just in time for the storm to really hit hard. We had so much fun on our first to the zoo. Thanks for taking us Grandma and Grandpa! Hopefully Daddy can join us for our next trip to the zoo.

Ellie and Grandpa discovering the ostriches

The souvenir giraffe

An attempt at a cousin picture. Ainsley was much more willing to look at the camera than Ellie was.

Hurray for giraffes! Ellie doing her signature wave.

Miss Ainsley and Grandpa

An Ellie Update

2011-05-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

First off, I want to say how nice it is to have a summer break! Brad finished his finals the first week of May. We still don't see him a lot because he is now working full-time at Shopko, his new working "digs." But since he doesn't have to catch a 6:30 train, we do get to have Daddy home in the mornings which we love, and it is so nice while I am trying to get ready for work. Dad usually has the task of dressing Ellie in the morning, and this morning he put her in the cutest little outfit. I didn't realize until I got home after work that he put it on backwards! It made me laugh, but it doesn't matter. I so appreciate the help in the mornings, and Ellie looks cute however she is wearing her clothes.

In Other Ellie news, she is just being an all around doll! Okay, maybe not all the time (like earlier this week when she was trying to break those nasty two top teeth), but for the most part, she is just so cute. She has started to love waving her hand and saying "hi." She started doing that the last couple days in April and during sacrament on May 1, she was sitting down the isle from us with a couple in our ward and she just looked down the way at us and with a big smile, and with a big wave she said "hi." We had seen her do it before, but it just was so cute! And last week at church, I think that's all she did during sacrament was wave and say "hi." She waved to all the primary children as they walked up to sing the Mother's Day songs, and she waved to them as they went to sit down. She waved at the cute little boy across the isle from her, and she waved as we walked out of the chapel. It was rather darling.

She also learned to make kissing sounds about the same time she started waving. She couldn't quite figure out how to make the noise, so she resorted to sticking her finger in her mouth and pulling it out to make the noise. Once again, it is very cute.

Ellie does not like the idea of crawling, but she really wants to get around. So, she scoots everywhere. It is so funny to watch her, and she has become quite proficient at it. This is a video of one of her first "long distance scoots" down the hall. Sorry, the movie switches directions half way through. She is super fast now, and we came to the conclusion this week that the stairs cannot go unprotected anymore. We now have a gate in front of them.

Isn't that funny! She puts all that energy into getting to the train, and then all she does is spin the top a couple times and tosses it away. Ha! Kids are silly, I often wonder what is going on in their minds.

In other mobility news, Ellie also like to hold on to our fingers and walk around the house with our assistance. This, unfortunately, has led to the creation of many a tantrum when she wants to keep walking and Dad or Mom need to be done. Oh dear, I've not had tantrum before this, and I must say, she likes to throw them when she doesn't get her way. Now she throws tantrums when she doesn't want her diaper changed, when she doesn't want to get out of the bathtub, and when she can't play with the thing she wants. Any advice on curbing the tantrums?

Despite the tantrums, we love this girl. She just keeps growing and growing, and she seems to have made drastic changes in her personality and growth in the past two weeks. Here are a couple cute pics of the fast growing lady.

Mommy and Ellie on Easter morning. Aren't her piggers adorable?

This is Ellie playing with her musical toy. She loves to pull herself up off the floor, push the buttons to get the music going, and wiggle her little bum and dance.

Spring

2011-04-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

I love spring. It has been so nice to get out of the house and enjoy the lovely weather. Last week we ventured out into the yard for the first time this season. Dad mowed the lawn, I raked up the grass, and Ellie moaned while she sat on a blanket close by. She just wanted to be more involved. She finally settled down for a bit when I gave her a rake, . She should enjoy her blanket while she still can. Soon enough we'll be using those little fingers as weed pickers in the flower beds.

With spring also comes Easter. I don't know why, but I love to dye eggs for Easter. I love to search the internet for new and fun ways to decorate them. Yesterday BriAnn and Isaac came over for the day and we colored some eggs in the afternoon. Dad got home a little early from school so he became the baby sitter

Our pretty Eggs

Daddy being a great sitter. His hitch hiker thumbs made for great pacifiers.

A cute idea I remember doing a hundred years ago with egg shells

Pants

2011-04-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

Conference was a couple weeks ago, but I haven't had time to get these silly pictures uploaded. I spent Conference Sunday at my parent's house while Daddy helped the pharmacy moved again. Uncle Lee must have been bored during conference, so he had fun with Ellie's pants. He started with this...

And it morphed into this....

He stuffed them full of paper. I have no idea where he came up with this idea, but they make for cute pictures.

The Barn

2011-03-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

Who can say they were proposed to in a Barn? Not many, huh? Well, I can. Three years ago today Bradly Dean proposed to me in the barn in his back yard. We lovingly call it a "romantic space." From what Brad tells me, the original plans for the night did not include the barn, but nothing really went right that night. The first offense was me insisting we work on Chemistry homework instead of enjoying time with each other. Then there was the dinner that he cooked for us that ended up being a family affair rather than a dinner for two and about an hour and a half after the planned dinner time due to cooking difficulties. Then there was his funny dad who insisted on Brad going through with the night despite the lack of atmosphere. I think for most of the night I was oblivious to what was going on or that Brad was so nervous, but I think I finally realized something with his father's insistent coaxing. In the end, despite all the difficulties getting there, Brad really did make the barn a "romantic space." He had lanterns lit around a swing inside the barn and we just sat and enjoyed dessert and each other's company while staying warn next to a fire. It's fun to think back three years and see all that we have done in that time. We have grown so much, and love each other so much more. Love you so much Brad! Happy engagement anniversary!

The happy couple on the momentous night

A picture we took outside the barn. We sat on that very swing when he proposed to me.

Spring Break

2011-03-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Spring Break "stay-cation" style this year (Actually, I don't remember the last time I really went some place over spring break). Monday, we decided drive down to Provo and see the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. It was very worth the drive to go down there. We rented an ipad that gave a lot of additional background info related to the paintings. It was very informative and really added a lot to the exhibit. I did however have to remind myself to focus on the paintings a time or two instead of the ipad. After our time in the exhibit, we met up with my Aunt who is a professor at BYU for some lunch at the Brick Oven. I've never been there before, but it very delish. After lunch we met up with Nela. Nela's family is from Costa Rica. Brad served with her father in one of his areas on his mission. She came to Utah about the time Brad and I got married to learn English. She is now married, and we got to see her cute little boy who is about 1 1/2 months younger than Ellie, but much much bigger than Ellie. It was so fun to see her and her little big man.

Brad's oldest sister, Kristi, and her family were all in Utah this week from Ohio. We haven't seen her husband in over a year, so it was great to see the whole family. We got to spend time with them on Tuesday and Thursday. They have three very energetic little girls, and I think Ellie had fun meeting them for the first time. We spent a lot of time out in Hooper just enjoying time together. They also had fun at the Treehouse on Thursday morning. I was at work, but got to meet up with them for lunch. Alas, I took no pictures of these cute girls together. It sure was fun to spend time with family we don't get to see very often. Having a baby brings new light to family visits.

Brad worked his regular hours at work this week, so when he came home from work on Friday, we had a movie night invite out at Milly and Rob's. They had super nacho supplies for dinner, and icecream too. We left before the movie, Mega Mind, was over due to a grumpy girl who didn't want to fall asleep.

Saturday night I went on a night out with my youngest brother. He had tickets to the Utah Symphony in Salt Lake, so he invited me along. We had a lot of fun, and it has really been to long since I last went to a symphony.

It was so nice to spend lots and lots of time with family, and just relax and not really think about school for a bit. Brad has four more weeks, and we'll be done with his first year of pharmacy school! Hard to believe, but I can't wait!

P.S. Sorry about the long post with no pics.

Teeth

2011-03-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

"Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething."

~Mark Twain

We are getting into the phase where we will learn just how true Mark Twain's words are. Ellie is officially cutting her first tooth. I didn't feel anything on her gums yesterday, but when I got home from work I noticed the sharp prominence jutting out of her lower gum. I tried to take a few last pictures of her toothless grin, but apparently she doesn't really like to show her gums when a picture is trying to be taken. This a cute picture of her anyway.

Meal Time

2011-03-04T15:25:00.001-08:00

We are enjoying the whole idea of a variable diet with Elinor here in the Winter home. She loves eating food. I'll bet that she can't wait to have some good chompers in order to have the whole experience. But for now she is either eating mush or chewing soft foods away with her gums, and loving every minute of it. She loves to use her fingers to pick up food whenever possible. This includes green beans, pieces of squash, and bits of bread to name a few. And if there is only a bowl of mush available, she just throws her hands in the mush and squishes it through her fingers. This is they followed by running her mush filled hands all over her face, all over her arms, all over the high chair, and all over her clothes. I put a bib on her every day, but sometimes I question its purpose. I think her favorite part of eating is the mess that entails. Here are a few pics of the sweet girl.

Abe is such a Romantic

2011-03-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

President's Day is always a holiday I look forward to. Not only do I get payed to not go to work, Brad has school off, and I get to look forward to a special treat. Every year since we have been married, we celebrate the day with flowers. Okay, okay, you might be thinking that President's Day is usually less than a week after Valentine's Day, so why would I need flowers? Well, I have never wanted flowers on Valentine's Day. They are overpriced for the holiday, and I just don't think its worth it. We always do something nice for Valentine's Day, we just don't celebrate with flowers. Anyway, so instead Brad has made it a tradition to give me flowers for President's Day. This year he was such a sweetie that he also got me some other President's Day gifts: a mirror for our living room, and a new pair of pants. I have been searching for a mirror to hang in our living room for the past little while, and Brad found exactly what I wanted without me being there. I was more than impressed. And he knew that I had wrecked a pair of pants in the wash by leaving a tube of chap stick in the pocket (isn't that aggravating!?!), so he got me a new pair. He got himself a pair too. So, in case you were wondering, we think Abe Lincoln is quite the Romantic at our home. Happy President's Day!

President's Day flowers of years past. I loved that bright happy daisy! It was much needed in the dreary cold February of our basement apartment.

President's Day gifts with notes from none other than Abraham himself attached.

This year's P-Day flowers. Once again, I love the brightness of the flowers. It is a welcomed change to the drab February weather.

Nap Time

2011-02-25T15:49:00.000-08:00

Ah, the joys of a long nap. I am jinxing myself by writing this, Ellie will probably wake up soon, but I love it when Ellie and I sit down for some down and dirty play time in the afternoon and then follow up the fun with a long and lovely nap. I love nap time. I actually get stuff done. Since she has been down for her nap this afternoon, I have loaded and started the dishwasher, started the laundry, swept the kitchen floor, shopped for a new dress online(didn't buy anything though), read up on some blogs, and now I am writing this post. Now, nap time should always be this fruitful, but alas it is not. I always tell myself to not look at the computer when Ellie goes down for a nap. The computer pulls you into a time wasting vortex during nap time. One of my new year's resolutions was to use the first part of nap time as scripture study time. Well, uh, there is some work to be done in that area. So, I better go now, I need to get some more things done before nap time is over.

Sunday Mornings

2011-02-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

Ah! Sunday mornings, we've missed you! I really love a relaxing Sunday morning. We slept in this morning, which for us is about 7:15 these days, made a yummy breakfast, and enjoyed some family time. That unfortunately got cut short by a pharmacy call. Despite being cut short, it was still a lovely morning. Now I'm not going to complain about 9 o'clock church because, I know, it definitely has its advantages, but Sunday is really our only "chill" day since Brad has to work Saturday mornings. So we are soaking our blissful mornings up while we have the coveted 11 o'clock slot this year.

We made a scrumptious breakfast of French toast, fruit (courtesy of Bountiful Baskets), milk, and don't forget the vitamin!

Ellie helping with clean up after breakfast.

Ellie Bellie

2011-02-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

Ellie's just as cute as ever. Here are some of our favorite photos of her in the past month or so.

The Joys of Home Ownership

2011-02-10T14:49:00.000-08:00

We have now lived in our home for over 9 months. That is really hard to believe. I feel like we are still settling in, and working on projects, and getting everything in its place, etc. Last month we had the first major malfunction of our home since we have moved in. I noticed a water spot on our garage ceiling in December, and well, it grew. So we had a slow leak someplace in the innards of our home. Well, luckily, it was between semesters so Brad actually had time to tear open the ceiling in the garage and in the utility room in order to find the source.

This led to a hole in the bathroom......

Which led to an adventure in fixing that nasty leak......

Which led to some new dry wall.......

Which led to our decision to paint the bedroom while we at it. Because, really, who wants to pull out all that paint stuff just to paint a bathroom? Besides, we'd been complaining since we moved in that we sleep in a cave........

Which led to a heck of a lot of patching. Don't ask me what why someone would need soooo many holes in their walls, but it looked like a spread of bullets had gone through the dry wall.....

Which eventually led to paint! Glorious, lighter colored paint!

(look at the difference in th ceiling colors! Yikes! We did live in a cave!)

Which led to this. It is still a work in progress, but it is much much MUCH better.

In other "house news," last month we finally bit the bullet and threw a few nails into our beautiful hole-free living room walls. Every single room in the house looked like the above picture. Anyway, you can see why it took me 8 months to finally gain up the courage to puncture our well-formed walls after all the patching we did. In the end, I hung up my Christmas presents from Brad.

This year, I asked him for some shelves to put in the living room. I told Brad exactly what I wanted, and he built them for me. I have such a handy husband.

Last year, I asked him for a picture of the temple for our home. He painted a great picture of the Bountiful Temple, the temple we were married in, to hang in our living room. I have such an artistic husband.

Little by little we're settling in. I am happy to say that we love our home.

Grandma Winter's Big Day

2011-01-31T14:09:00.000-08:00

We had the pleasure of being a part of Brad's Grandma's wedding on Friday. She and her new husband were married in the Bountiful Temple. They had a nice luncheon in North Salt Lake after the ceremony. It was a nice wedding, and we are very happy for Grandma and Jake. It has been fun to see Grandma so giddy and energetic (not that she has ever had a lack of energy) about the whole ordeal. We know she'll be very happy with Jake.

I don't profess to be a photographer, but I did want to post a few pictures for family to see if you weren't able to be there. I think we took about 8 pictures total, so sorry I don't have more to offer.

Grandma and Jake just outside of the temple

At the luncheon

Ainsley and Milly chillin' at the luncheon

Pretty Whitney at luncheon

When "H" freezes over

2011-01-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

"H" being Hooper of course.

A few years ago, Brad's parents invested in a bunch of plastic. With a little bit of ingenuity, and a lot of water, voila! An ice skating rink was born. Now mind you, the first year they attempted this feat, it was a Christmas present for the family (which included a bunch of skates, of course), but Brad was on his mission. Can you imagine being in hot, humid Costa Rica, and hearing about a Christmas gift like that? I think it would make you miss Hooper and freezing cold weather quite a bit. That's what Brad said at least. Anyway, this year Mom wasn't able to get the rink set up before the trip to Arizona when we had that big cold spell, so she got it set up the week after. And it sat......for a very long time......because it wouldn't gosh darn freeze! We called it the kitty's giant water dish for almost the whole month of December. We finally got to test the waters, or rather the ice, out about 3 weeks ago, and it was glorious!

The last time the rink was up, was the year Brad got home from his mission. That Christmas season is full of lots of memories for us. Not because we were lovey dovey in love, but because we actually weren't "dating" at the time. I think Brad's whole family thought we were because I spent so much time over at his house, but we weren't. Despite the fact that we weren't together, we spent a lot of time ice skating. I think I probably used that as my excuse to be with him. And I really fell in love with the ice rink(Well, and Brad too!)! It is so fun to have the rink back again this year, and it is better than ever! The ice is so much more smooth this year, the skates have been freshly sharpened, lights have been added for ambiance, and there is even some kind of a manual Zamboni contraption that they use on it from time to time to keep it glassy smooth. Pretty crazy, huh? And best of all! I can hold hands and skate with my sweet hubster all I want cuz now I am with him for eternity!

Take a look at that beauty! I'm referring to the rink. Just imagine, on the other side of the rink are tiki torches, and a warm crackling fireplace with a few chairs around it to warm your fingers while resting.

Our skating buddies on Friday Night, Milly and Emm.

Brad in his winter wear

me in mine (you can't see it, but Mom got warm fuzzy pink socks to wear inside our skate as part of our skating gear. Mmmm warm toesies are always a good thing)

Our attempt at figure skating. I know... you're jealous of our grace

Once again, another portrayal of our unforgettable poise and grace

Acknowledging the onlookers after the standing ovation

And what post would be complete without a cute picture of Ellie? I guess I may be a paranoid mother, but she stays inside with Grandma while we skate. We don't want a sick girl on our hands. Maybe I'll build up the courage to bring her out one of these days.

2010 in Quick Review

2011-01-12T15:51:00.000-08:00

I just took down last year's calendar over the weekend. It is pretty crazy to see everything we did last year. I don't think we'll have this much going on for a long time.

January

-Brad's first pharmacy school interview

February

-Another interview! This time in Arizona which gave us a great excuse to visit Brad's brother.

-We got ourselves a Realtor and started out on the house hunt.

March

-Brad got accepted to his first choice of school!

-Put an offer on our house

April

-The pharmacy moved

-finished off our time as wildcats

-Closed on our house! Finally!

May

-Moved into our house

-Painted our house

-Fixed our house

-Made our home

June

-Milly's wedding

-New arrival! Elinor Jean!

July

-Lots of adjusting

-2nd wedding anniversary

August

-Brad started graduate school

-bought our first car together

September

-Elinor's blessing

-Lion King

-Back to work for me

-Lee came home

October

-School

-Meet the Frontrunners & co

November

-Another trip to Arizona for an outstanding Thanksgiving dinner

December

-Craziness

-Many a family gathering

-Final Tabernacle Choir dinner

-Ellie's first Christmas!

Brad and I have said this again and again as we look back at this past year, "we have been so blessed." We know the Lord has been guiding us through all of these momentous events. We are so grateful for all we have. Mostly each other.

Ellie + Cuzzy Isaac = Cute

2011-01-04T20:16:00.001-08:00

......they come from a good gene pool, don't you think?

6 months! Wahoo!

2011-01-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

Ellie had her half birthday on Thursday of last week! I know it is so cliche to say this, but she is growing up so fast, and I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is a super good eater and has added a few delicious veggies to her repertoire of foods. She is sitting up without any assistance now, and looks like such a big girl. She is very chatty and says phrases like da-da, ni-ni and nay-nay, not to mention all her loud high pitched squeaks. Here are a couple of cutie pie pictures of her on the momentous day.

Ellie just lookin' cute. That cute beanie was a gift from Grandpa Winter.

Ellie is starting to give a little crooked cheez smile. It is quite adorable.

Christmas

2011-01-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

My other Christmas post was more about the festivities leading up to Christmas day, so here are some of our pictures from Christmas day. We had such a great time spending Christmas as our own little family along with both my family and Brad's family.

Ellie looks a bit drunk in this picture, but she is just such a cutie playing with her new toys on Christmas morning.

So wrapping paper is probably what enthralled Ellie more than any gift she got. What do you expect? She's 6 months old!

Ok, Ellie really likes cardboard too.

This is what Brad and I got for Christmas. We have been using Grandma Frandsen's (Brad's grandma) table for the two and a half plus years we have been married. We decided is was about time to get our own. We are very happy with our choice.

Ellie basking in the joy that is Christmas!

Christmas is a very different experience when you have a little one. It is infinitely more fun. We had so much fun celebrating with her and all of our family.

Christmas

2010-12-29T15:15:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! We'll let the pictures do the talking.

This was Ellie's first experience sitting on Santa's lap. This was at the Christensen family party in Idaho where we go bowling, eat, sing carols, hand out gifts, exchange ornaments, and of course sit on Santa's lap. I don't know how much she liked Santa. But she did like Santa's gift. She started gnawing on the cardboard it was hooked to before she left Santa's lap.

The Winter family party was the same weekend. This is a very fun party where Mom makes lots of gingerbread, and every family gets to take home a decorated gingerbread house at the end of the night.

We handed out sibling gifts. Rob and Milly got snuggies. Whit gave us some stellar slippers. I am wearing them as I write this post.

As part of the festivities, Aunt Milly gave out haircuts. So Ellie got her ears lowered for the first time. I think she needed it.

Procrastination

2010-12-13T07:31:00.000-08:00

So it is finals week at the U! Wahoo! Brad will be done with finals on Thursday, just in time for us to go enjoy a night with the Tabernacle Choir and David Archuleta. Pretty excited! It's hard to believe he's already done with a whole semester. Anyway, we got home from our Winter family Christmas party last night fairly early in order to get Ellie in bed. Brad should have sat down to study, but we had a few laundry items that needed to be hung up, so he sat down to do that. We also had a set of sheets that had been sitting in the laundry hamper for over a week because I didn't want to fold them, mostly because I never feel like I am really folding a fitted sheet. Brad's mom taught us how to do it once, but it never really stuck in our brains. So what did we do last night instead of studying? We learned how to fold a fitted sheet. We also learned a cool way to fold a shirt.

the fitted sheet tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5k9nWcuFc

the shirt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5AWQ5aBjgE&feature=related

Now if that's not procrastination, I don't know what is.

It all started with a Japanese steak house

2010-12-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a Japanese steak house in the good old town of Ogden. Inside that Japanese steak house was a basement. And in that basement was a gift shop. And what do you suppose they sold in that gift shop? Chop sticks, you say? Well, actually I don't know, but they sure had a heck of a lot of Christmas trees. Yes, we bought our Christmas tree at a Japanese steak house. I think it is rather random. The nice Japanese lady who ran the gift shop was just that...nice. She thought our little Ellie was so cute and kept talking to her, and eventually gave Ellie a necklace to take home for free. Wasn't that nice? She showed us how to string our lights perfectly, and gave us a great deal on our tree. Better than any Black Friday deal I would even wager. So we bought our Christmas tree, and it sat in our basement for a few days until THE APOCALYPTIC STORM hit on Tuesday. We tried to get the leaves raked before it hit Tuesday afternoon, but alas, we have about 4 piles of leaves buried under snow. Ok, so the storm really wasn't apocalyptic, but the weather service sure made it sound like it would be, but it sure made us feel all cozy inside our home. On a side note, as first time homeowners, we did not have a shovel. Brad ran over to the local hardware store to grab a shovel before the storm hit, and some garbage bags (part of the reason our leaves are covered by snow now) and just about every person in the store was buying a shovel. I thought it was a funny story. I guess we weren't the only ones unprepared. So yes, our home was so cozy and warm, we just decided we needed to put up the Japanese Christmas tree. So we did. We left it for a few days to go visit Arizona where we ate turkey on Thanksgiving with the Winter Family minus 2 siblings (we missed you Kristi and Milly), had some Black Friday fun, and enjoyed good company. Ellie had her first plane ride and she was a champ. She learned how to be loud while we were there too :) We had so much fun in Arizona, we didn't want to come back again to real life. We did come home, and decided to decorate the tree Monday night for Family Home Evening. Then we talked about gratitude. We love our Christmas tree and all of its ornaments (most of which are homemade). We are really looking forward to Ellie's first Christmas. So much to do before December 25th!

The Cuzzies having fun together in Arizona. Sorry no pics of adults. I'm a bad picture taker. I really wish I had pictures of the polar bear challenge.

Our lovely Christmas tree

(and Brad's foot. It's hairy, but you can't see that)

All Things Ellie

2010-11-17T15:46:00.001-08:00

So my life and Brad's life are both pretty boring and normal. My life is work, Brad, and Ellie with the occasional change just to mix it up. Brad's life is school, work, me & Ellie. He has an exceptionally hard week in school this week. Lot's of studying equals no time to play. Actually, he still makes plenty of time to play. We love him for that. Ellie's life, unlike our boring lives, is ever changing, so as many posts before this have been, this post is really dedicated to all the fun that Ellie is experiencing here with us!

We started Ellie on some rice cereal this week. She has really been interested in watching us eat at dinner time, so I was hoping she would be eager to eat. She's not perfect, but since more of the mush is in her mouth than is hanging out on her bib, I call it a success. She likes to blow bubbles with the mush on the spoon. I guess she's just exploring the texture. She loves the spoon and gets so excited when it comes to her mouth.

Yum!

I think Ellie has passed Daddy on the amount of hair on their heads. It's not hard to beat Daddy though :) Brad thinks Ellie's hair looks best when it is in its "mad scientist hairdo."

I just love going in to get Ellie after a nap or first thing in the morning. We call Ellie the most pleasant alarm clock. She is always awake between 6:15 and 6:45 in the morning. Now that isn't always ideal, especially on a Saturday morning, but who wouldn't want to get up when you hear sweet cooing in your bedroom from down the hall? She just makes you smile when you walk in, especially with some of the silly and cute positions you find her in.

Ellie still loves her thumb. She's quite interested in the the pacifier, but I don't think she really gets it.

She's growing up on us, that's for sure. She went to the doctor for her 4 month appointment last week. Bad planning on my part, it was the same night as our ward's Young Women in Excellence, and I'm in the YW presidency. Duh, not a good idea with an ornery girl, but thankfully Brad was home. I was pretty much a huge stress ball that day, but I guess I need a little stress every once in a while. The night went well, and Ellie did so much better with her shots this time around. Hopefully this is a good omen for the future. Don't forget parents....Tylenol is your friend. Don't wait for a fever and lethargy to begin because it is hard to kick it. Anyhow, despite all this growing up we're seeing, she is still a little lady. She's only in the 10th percentile for weight and about 60th for height. We can't wait for new adventures in the future like next week! First plane ride! Any suggestions?

October going ons

2010-10-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that October is on its way out already! I haven't posted for quite a while, so I better catch up on a few things. First off, my youngest brother, Lee, got home from his mission the last week of September. It has been fun to have him home. We spent quite a few afternoons together after he got home because he didn't have a job, so he had nothing to do. It was nice for me to have someone to talk to, and he got to get to know Ellie a little bit. He now has a job working as a delivery boy at the same pharmacy where Brad works. Oh, and have I ever mentioned that my sister and other younger brother work there also?

(Lee just getting off the escalator at the airport)

Two weeks ago was fall break for the University of Utah. The U has a whole week off for fall break. Weber State gave us a measly day for fall break! Anyway, it was nice to have Brad home a lot more that week. He watched Ellie while I was at work in the mornings, and I am sure Ellie loved the one on one time with Dad. We had the opportunity to go and visit the Aquarium down in Sandy with Brad's sister, Aubrey, her husband, Nate, and cousin Ainsley. Ainsley had so much fun looking at all the fish. I don't know if Ellie really knew what was going on, but she was able to follow a couple of the big yellow fish swimming through the water. It was fun to spend time with family and watch our cute kids enjoy new experiences.

(Brad, Ellie, Aunt Aubrey, and Ainsley exploring at the aquarium)

We had a Halloween party with some friends on Saturday night. We forgot to take our camera with us to get pictures of everyone's costumes. My brother, Derek, and his wife, BriAnn, were there. BriAnn is expecting a baby in December, and they had really cute skeleton costumes with a little baby skeleton in BriAnn's belly. I thought that was a really cute idea.

Ellie is doing so well. We are just having so much fun with her. Her new favorite toy is this crinkley book. She entertains herself for quite a while with this thing in front of her. In other news, she loves to suck on things, she drools a ton, she loves to use her legs and stand up with our help, she is sooo close to rolling over, and she loves to make noise. I can't believe how fast she is growing!

(For your information, I did not put her book there, she loves to have it there, right in front of her face. She tries and tries and tries to get a piece in her mouth, making oodles of noise the whole time)

A First

2010-09-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well, Ellie Bellie has had a rough weekend. We experienced our first bout of sickness with her. Let me tell you, if you can postpone that first, it is a good idea. I got home from work on Friday afternoon and sat down to feed her. She ate really well (mostly because she still wont take a bottle and hadn't eaten for 6 hours) and after her meal, I sat down to eat some lunch. I picked her up after I had finished and.... she handed her whole lunch back to me down my shirt. The whole afternoon Ellie was just so fussy, she wouldn't let me put her down. In fact, she wouldn't hardly let me sit down. I finally resorted to taking her on a walk because, if all else fails, a walk will calm our little girl. It did, but as soon as we got home she was back to crying and fussing. Now, one throw up isn't anything to fret with a newborn in most cases, but I tried to feed her again later and in the middle of nursing her she threw up again. This time it was not like other spit ups I have seen. It was yellow and super chunky. Yuck. I had been handling the events of the afternoon pretty well, but this put me into a stream of tears followed by a phone call to my mother. Thankfully, Brad got home about that time too. After a call to the doctor's office, consulting both our mothers, and talking to a good friend, we decided to not even try to nurse for the rest of the night. We used a syringe and fed our sick little Ellie Pedialyte and water throughout the evening and night. Today she has been much better, but is definitely still feeling the effects of this stinkin' stomach bug. I am glad that she is smiling a lot more and has a bit of her energy back. She is such a sweet girl. It's no fun to see her sick.

I tried to get a picture of Ellie smiling, but she got preoccupied with the flash on the camera

Ellie has become very good at finding her thumb (Should we discourage this? She doesn't want to touch a pacifier)

Going Ons

2010-09-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

Last week I started back to work after a lovely ten weeks of maternity leave. It really went by way too fast. I am now working 4 days a week, in the mornings, to get my 20 hours in at work. It was so hard to leave cute little Ellie, but I know she is in good hands. I am not going to lie, I cried as I left her a couple of times. Once again, I know she is in very capable hands. To make things even harder, despite our practicing with a bottle, Ellie revolted last week and didn't take her bottle at all for the six or so hours I was gone on a couple of the days. That made her super tired and just not herself in the afternoons which of course led to more tears of worry that my little girl was starving and whatnot. Last week was probably the most emotional I have been since the week or so right after my delivery. We were both quite exhausted by the end of the week, but we made it through it. We had a nice weekend and a good day together today, and tomorrow we go back to work again whether we want to or not. Thankfully, I can say that I don't dread going to work because I hate my job, actually, it is quite the opposite. I have great coworkers, an understanding boss, and a fun, and usually calm, atmosphere to work in. This, at least, has made the whole transition a little better.

All is well at the Winter home for the most part. Brad is in the full swing of things in school. He really got to show what he was made of last week. It was a rough week. He had 3 tests 2 quizzes and a paper due, and miraculously he still had time to be at home with his wife and daughter without fretting too much about all of that stuff. I think he'll do well in graduate school. I am so proud of him so far. Anyway, we can't do a post anymore without a cute picture of our little one. So here is her "founding fathers look" (it is supposed to be a powdered wig) as Brad calls it. Geez, the things my husband does with her diapers. Hehe

A Great Weekend

2010-09-07T10:58:00.001-07:00

We had such a wonderful, long weekend and we got to spend a ton of time together as a family. We started the weekend off extra early on Friday because Brad got out of class super early! It was such a welcomed phone call from him around 10:30 that he was on his way home. It was especially fun because Friday was my birthday. I wasn't planning on seeing him until about 5 o'clock Friday night when we were going to meet up after class in Salt Lake. So instead, he came home and made me birthday WAFFLES! I love Brad's waffles. They are so delish! Yes, that was great! And to make the day even better, Brad bought me icecream (it's the little things that make me happy). And to make the day pretty hard to top, we went to see The Lion King Friday night! We bought tickets for the show back in January or February, so we had been building up quite a bit of excitement for Friday night, and I was not disappointed. That was such an amazing show! I absolutely loved it! The music, the costumes, the actors,the dancing the puppets, oooo it was just phenomenal.
Saturday we spent a lot of the day cleaning the house. Brad worked his tail off in the yard mowing the law, trimming rose bushes, and weeding the flower gardens. He also took a load of branches and left overs from the previous owners to the dump. We were so tired by the end of the day that we just stayed home Saturday night and watched one of our favorite movies.

Ellie's blessing was on Sunday. It was a beautiful day, and Brad gave a wonderful blessing to her. We had a big crowd of people at our home afterward for a breakfast, and it was really a lot of fun.
Brad started dressing Ellie Sunday morning while I was still doing my hair. He had fun laughing at Ellie's "elegant exercise outfit" before he put the actual dress on her.

My mom and I spent the last week working on making the blessing dress. I always have high hopes for my sewing projects, but they usually get over my head. Thankfully, my mom comes to the rescue by helping me finish the project. I hope some day I can be a little more self sufficient in my sewing, but I guess I need the help while I am still learning. Anyway, we put the finishing touches on the dress on Saturday afternoon. I think the dress turned out really really cute.

She is such a sweet thing. She spent a lot of time meeting family members, and she was so well mannered through the whole ordeal. She was plenty tired by the time our house had emptied out, but we had so much fun.

We are a happy family. We are so grateful for all the love and support we have received from all of our family and friends. Events like these make you realize and really appreciate them all.

Monday was pretty relaxing too. We went to Hooper Tomato Days for a little bit, and then just hung out in Hooper for the afternoon. It was so nice to take it slow because I have a feeling that school is going to start picking up a lot for Brad, and I start back to work at the end of this week. It was so much fun to spend time together. I relish weekends.

Starting School

2010-08-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

(Grandpa Winter got little Ellie some U of U gear to support her daddy)

Brad started his pharmacy program last week at the University of Utah. Brad kept saying that he felt like a little freshman on a new campus. He didn't know where anything was, and felt like everything was new. It soon became pretty apparent that he didn't have to worry too much. All of his classes are in one building, and he has all of his classes with the same 57 people. Once he started going to class, he said he felt like he was in grade school because everyone in his class just migrated single file to another room in the building for the next class. Ok, not really single file, but no one really knew anyone so they just walked silently through the halls. He found it kind of amusing. He has been taking the Frontrunner train to school, so that has been a new experience too. There are 2 other girls that went to Weber with him that commute from Ogden, so they all sit together. They also discovered midway through the week that another student hops on in Kaysville, so they will have a pretty good study group going to and from school every day. The ride is about a half hour longer than driving, but it is going to be some great study time for him, and he doesn't have to worry about parking, traffic, or weather very much which is a huge bonus in my opinion.

He had his white coat ceremony on Friday afternoon. It made me quite proud to see him receive his coat. He has worked so hard to make it this far, and I know he is very excited at being one step closer to becoming a full fledged pharmacist. We were able to leave Elinor with Grandma Winter so that we could go on a short dinner date after the ceremony which was probably a first since Elinor was born. Hurray for Brad! Only 4 more years to go!

More on Ellie

2010-08-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it's hard to believe, but Ellie has reached 8 weeks! Yesterday she had her doctor's check-up. She is doing well and growing like a weed. Her height is now in the 90th percentile (don't ask me where she got her height from), and everything else has stayed pretty constant. I also had to experience the dread of giving my little one shots. I give immunizations on a daily basis at work, but let me tell you, it is a very different experience when it is your own child. She screamed bloody murder, like I have never heard her scream before. It was quite traumatic for the both of us. Luckily I know that in the long run this will help my little girl. OK, so I usually don't get on my soapbox when I blog, but here's my nurse's plug for immunizing. Here's just one example why everyone should immunize. My doctor told me that the newest routine immunization, the rotavirus vaccine, which has only been used for about 3 years, has made it so he has only seen about 3 cases of rotavirus in the past 3 years where he had over 50 each year before the vaccine. My point? Vaccines work. Vaccinate your kids. I digress...back to Ellie. She was quite grumpy all day, but let me tell you, Tylenol is your friend after shots. It made Ellie feel so much better when she had Tylenol in her system.

Here is a comparison of how much Ellie has grown. Here is the dress that Ellie went home from the hospital in:

And this was her wearing it on Sunday. Look at that adorable smile!

On another note, I have tried on more than one occasion to take some cutsie, more "professional" looking pictures of Elinor. I am not very good at it. There is definitely an art to it. Don't get me wrong, Ellie is always cute, but my pictures just aren't very professional looking. Two weeks ago my sister-in-law was in town, and she took some very cute pictures. I wasn't expecting much after the photo session because I felt like Ellie cried through the whole thing, but Kristen is a miracle worker. So here is a couple of the pictures she took. Even the one of Ellie crying is cute. Thanks Kristen.

A Month Plus Some

2010-08-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

Our little Ellie reached her one month mark on Saturday. It is hard to believe that it has been a month, we can't really imagine life without her. It is so fun to see her grow and develop. She was such a skinny girl when she came out. We were happy to see the formation of a cute little double chin after about a week's time. She now has a lot more beef on her arms and legs than she did initially and has quite the chubby little tummy too. We measured her crudely last week, and she is at least 23 inches long. That is 4 inches more than the hospital measurements. She loves to explore the world and look at everything around her. Her neck has been strong from the beginning, but every day it seems like she is more stable with it. She has made it through the majority of two weeks of church. The first week she slept the whole time, while last week she showed off her beautiful eyes to the ward a little more. Last week Ellie started grasping things a lot more. This unfortunately brought on the discover of her hair. Often times, when she is angry, she will grab a chunk of hair and hold it in a death grip. This of course makes her more angry. It is a viscious cycle until will can release it.

This is a picture of Ellie after a bath. This is a good picture of her considering she is usually screaming bloody murder after tub time. She has yet to learn how relaxing a bath can be. She looks pretty cute though, doesn't she?

I've been meaning to post this picture for a while. This was taken about a week and half after Ellie's birthday. This was Ellie's first encounter with a cousin (Ellie is the one on the right, if you can't tell....hehe). The cute girl on the left is cuzzy Ainsley. Ainsley is only about 6 months old. I can't believe that Elinor will make such drastic changes in just 6 months. I just think the contrast so funny.

I am sure that this will not be the last post completely dedicated to our cute little girl. We are such proud parents, and so happy to have as part of our eternal family.

2 weeks

2010-07-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

Hello. Well, it is hard to believe that 2 weeks have already passed since the speedy delivery of our little Ellie. We are happy to have her here, and everyone in the family is doing well, despite a little bit of sleep deprivation. Ellie went to the doctor today for her 2 week check up. She is now 7 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long. Go Ellie! You're growing like crazy! Just to let you know a little about Elinor: She now has a cute double chin and chubby little belly because all the splendid fat she has accumulated. She has a very strong neck and very strong little legs. She uses her legs to kick off her blanket while she is sleeping which results in her angry grunting because her little toesies are cold. She does not like to be swaddled. In fact, usually her arms are above her head while she sleeps. She does not sleep for more than 3 hours at a time, even at night (much to our dismay). Maybe someday. She poops a lot....we've gone through a lot of diapers. But that's to be expected, and its a good thing because she's she no longer has a yellow tint to her skin. We are so happy to have Ellie as part of our family.

A Speedy Delivery

2010-06-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

Early this morning at 3:02 our beautiful Elinor Jean Winter was born. She weighs 6 lb 7 oz and is 19 in long. She has lots of dark hair (more than me, Brad). And we also learned that she is not very patient. You see she was actually due until July 11, but she decided she wanted a June birthday. Last night after Teri and I did a late night delivery for the pharmacy we arrived home and started getting ready for bed at about 11: PM. Teri felt just fine until her water broke in the middle of family prayer. We were totally unprepared! Well, at least we did not have a bag ready. So while Teri is leaking a bit I am running around the house in my "daddy jammies" packing a bag with who knows what. But within a half hour or so we were checking into the hospital. Once checked in Teri was dilated to a 3 and looked like she would be a while. But Ellie had other plans. In about 45 minutes she was rechecked and was dilated to a 7 and in the transition phase of labor. Because the hospital was having quite the busy night (11 deliveries!) the anesthesiologist was preoccupied and Ellie could not wait. Long story short, Teri delivered natural (no drugs, and she did awesome), Our doctor made it just in time, and 3 1/2 hours after our family prayer we were holding our new baby girl in our arms.

I am so very grateful for the help we have received from our family, the medical staff, and the Lord. Elinor is beautiful and we love her so much already!

Little Surprises

2010-06-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

So, a little history behind our house:

It was previously occupied by a Latino family for about a year before we moved in. They let the yard and house get a little under maintained. (the yard was atrocious) But before they moved in a nice lady lived in our house who was a gardener by trade. She actually worked in a nursery. And being the gardener that she was she planned a very nice garden where different flowers would pop out at different times of the spring and summer. So we have been enjoying these little surprises popping out of our ground. (the only pictures we lack are the tulips that came up the week we moved in)

We are very grateful for this gardener lady and her skills. Thanks to her our yard, which has taken a back seat to painting lately, does not look absolutely horrid.

Thank you random gardener lady!!

Christensen Family Trip to Park City

2010-06-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

Since we've been working so hard on the house the past month, we were lucky enough to have a family vacation planned this week with the Christensen family. It has been nice to get away and not think about work, school, or projects that need to be done on the house.

Here are some of our pretty pictures from our adventures here in
Park City

The beautiful Christensen gals

And the manly men

Here we are at the Upper Provo River Falls
almost up to Mirror Lake

Teri is dressed very appropriately

Now here we are at This is The Place State Park.
We decided to take a trip to the park because Mom and Dad recently discovered that our great great grandfather's cabin from Emery county was moved to the park last year. A big family lived in this tiny cabin, and it was the post office to boot.

Us having fun on the train ride around the park. Weeee!

More Home Improvements

2010-05-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

Boy, it sure does take a long time to paint a house when you have a limited time schedule. To start off the week, Brad had his first experience texturing a ceiling on Monday. We had to cover up where a swamp cooler used to be in the hallway. He did a really good job, and now you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. Wednesday was another painting day. Tanya, Janel, and Mikey came over and painted the army room. It needed two coats of primer to cover up all that lovely green, and all those lovely holes. They also painted the ceilings in the kitchen, living room, entry, and hallway. By Saturday of this week we were able to get the final coat on the walls of the kitchen, living room, entry and hallways. Thanks for all the help yesterday: Nathan, Rex, Tanya, Dad and Mom (Winter), and Mikey. Throughout the day, everyone kept noting how our next door neighbors were having a party and how jealous they were of the blow-up bouncy room inflated in their back yard. Well, right as we started the cleaning up process, Brad commented to our neighbors about how cool their bouncy room was. And the good neighbors that they are, they invited everyone over to have a go in the big blow-up toy. I think that pretty much made Brad's day. Not only did everyone get to have some fun in the bouncy room, our nice neighbors provided us with the left over food from their son's birthday party. It was really nice of them especially since I didn't have anything planned for dinner. Mikey, Brad, and Nathan stayed up until midnight taking tape off the walls. It is really great to see the front room without accents of bright blue tape. Thanks again everyone for your help. We couldn't get this all done without it. I am not much use in my "current state." I attempted to paint yesterday, but trying to stand up or just move around and not touch wet paint is more than a chore with a big belly. Anyway, thanks again. We are so much closer to having some semblance of order in our new home!

Brad, Nate, and Rex showing our new neighbors

just how mature we are

Weeeeee!!

We were too lazy to get a ladder,

but not too lazy to be creative!

(we actually did end up getting the ladder out)

The fruits of stripping tape at midnight

And now the prettiest little preggy out there

(this was written by Brad)

Here are the much anticipated photos

2010-05-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

Janel is dressed and ready for work!

This is our newly whitened kitchen

A huge thanks to Janel, Tanya, and Mikey.

Yes those were the wall colors and yes there were a lot of holes.

Oh and for those that have not seen it yet.

This is our new home.

Week 2 Home Improvements

2010-05-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

This week on the Winter Home Improvements List

-Applied putty to the nail/screw/staple infested walls
-Sanded the walls
-Applied primer
-cleaned behind the stove
-de-gooed the stairs and landing
-Got a garbage can!
-Got a garage door opener
-weeded the never ending dandelion patches
-Mowed, trimmed , and fertilized the lawn

We are now in our second week as home owners, and it as you can see by our list, being a homeowner is a lot of work. I was at a public health conference the first part of the week, and Brad took one of those days to prime the walls with the help of Janel, Tanya Platt, and Mikey. I came home on Wednesday night pleasantly surprised to no longer have grease stained kitchen walls, and holes all over our living room walls. I can't wait to have the painting done in the house because we can't completely unpack yet, not to mention set up a nursery. ;In the process of prepping the kitchen, Brad was the lucky candidate to clean behind the grease covered stove. That was quite the project. I didn't get to see the mess, but I can only imagine what it was like after cleaning the grease covered walls and ceilings (the previous owner really liked cooking with copious amounts of grease).

We finally got a garbage can yesterday. That was quite a relief. We had quite the pile of refuse accumulating in our garage from two weeks worth of cleaning and daily living.

Brad mowed the lawn for the second time yesterday. He is completely frustrated with the thriving dandelion patches growing throughout the grass and flower beds. He fertilized yesterday with a combination fertilizer/weed killer. We hope to see some improvements in the coming weeks.

I'll post some pictures of the painting festivities the next time I have my camera.

P.S. If you can't tell by the random post created by my brother, Brad installed a dead bolt in our front door last week. He thought it was a lot of fun, and Nathan had fun capturing everything on his camera.

Winter Happenings

2010-05-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

WAZZUUUUUUUUP!!!!!

Word to your mother.... The Winters are in a house....

This blog was brought to you by. Nate

Out with the Old... In with the New!

2010-04-03T21:07:00.001-07:00

So today we helped Dad move his pharmacy to its new location. After 20 years of keeping his practice in the Ogden Regional Medical Center Plaza we picked up camp and hauled it all two blocks down the street into the Family Fresh Market. After some neglect and rent raising most of the doctors in our old building moved out into new offices nearby; so we took that as a sign that we too should head out. Luckily our new friendly neighborhood grocer invited us over.

Some of our empty shelves.

Its amazing how fast candy will sell when you announce 50% off.

This is our new place!

We sure hope that we like our new location. Wish us luck!

A UTAH MAN AM I

2010-03-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

So the months of application filling outing, essay writing, good grade seeking, and interviewing have come to an end. We are three for three on interview to acceptance and did not even go to two interviews. Brad was accepted to the PharmD programs at University of Southern Nevada, Midwestern University, and University of Utah. After much deliberation we have decided to go to the University of Utah!!!!

And the sweetest part of all is the fact that I am not going to the Y!!!! Take that Grandma Winter, Susie and ElRay, Todd and Debbie, Jerron and Jeremy!!!!!!

A Utah Man Am I!

Much toTell

2010-02-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

Aagain, it has been a long time since my last blog post. I might just become a once a month blogger.

Much of my absence is on account of me working full-time right now. The health department has needed some extra help to get through the H1N1 mess, so I have been able to pick up full-time status temporarily. It has been wonderful: I'm not in school anymore, our apartment is cold and lonely, and who couldn't use the extra money?

Brad has been going through the interview process for pharmacy school which has been an experience. It is fun, yet such a long drawn out process, and I just don't exactly love the waiting game we have to play. He has interviewed at the University of Southern Nevada-South Jordan campus, Midwestern University-Glendale, AZ campus, skipped the interview at University of Wyoming (who would want to live in Laramie for 4 years?), and has interviews at the University of Utah and Idaho State University in March. So far, the 2 schools he has interviewed with, he has been accepted to. We went down to Arizona together last week for the Midwestern Interview and absolutely enjoyed ourselves. We stayed with Brad's brother, Rob, and his wife, Kristen. Brad loved the program at Midwestern and would probably pick that program over Southern Nevada. Rob and Kristen were so fun to be with, and Joel, their little boy, is such a character. We didn't remember to use our camera, but at least Kristen took some great pictures while we were there. You'll have to go to their blog to see a couple priceless ones (can you tell they're brothers. They're actually twins born 5 years apart!)

The last and best news of the blog was saved for last. Can anyone guess what it might be? Well, if you couldn't, we hit the half way mark of our pregnancy this week. I've popped out quite a bit in the past couple weeks. Half way means that we also had "the big ultrasound" this week. It is so fun to see our little one swimming around in my belly. We found out that we are going to add another girl to the Winter family (the odds are really against the guys in the this family: in Brad's family 2 boys 5 girls; of the Winter grandkids so far: 1 boy 5 girls). Baby is due to arrive on July 11, and our doctor nick-named her "Slurpee" (get it! The due date is 7-11). We are so excited to be calling "it" a "she" now. And now we can think of a more permanent name. I'll be adding some ultrasound pics when I can get to another computer.

Sorry this was such a long post. I like to break up posts with pictures, but they were in short supply for many of my blogging topics. Anyway, all is well, with the Winters. Hopefully I'll be back soon with more news of the future pharmacist.

Nerf War

2010-01-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

There is a long standing Christmas tradition in the Winter family. Most families traditions include things such as acting out the nativity, making homemade fudge, or decorating your house with the most lights on the block. The Winter family tradition is nothing of that sort. The Winter's tradition is to have a full out Nerf war in the living room with the whole family. This year the tradition was a little delayed, but it was a big success nonetheless. We met the family at a Kaysville church cultural hall, and had a splendid time with the festivities.

2009-12-14T19:50:00.000-08:00

As you can probably tell, I have been quite occupied with other things for the past couple of months hence my hiatus from the blogging world. But now there is reason to rejoice! Rejoice with me all! For I am now Weber State alumni instead of a Weber State student. That is right, my friends, I have finally graduated with my bachelor's degree. Friday was the commencement ceremony, and I had a lot of fun celebrating with all of my nursing friends. To make it even more fun, Brad graduated with me. He wasn't to keen on the idea of walking in the ceremony for his associate's degree, but I said "you're going to be sitting through the long ceremony anyway, you might as well walk." So he did. Besides, he got to wear a purple robe, and he was pretty stoked about that too. My parents took us to lunch before the commencement ceremony which was a great idea because I had to leave about 45 minutes after the ceremony in order to get to Salt Lake before call time for the Tabernacle Choir Concert. Which, by the way, was wonderful. Natalie Cole did a great job. She definitely had a different style than past artists, but I guess each artist has been quite original. She was very captivating on Friday night. David McCullough was great to have at the concert also. He seems like a very down to earth type of guy. He's a great story teller, and just has so much knowledge to share. And of course Richard Elliott gave an amazing performance on the organ. He can just fly! I can't understand how his mind can keep track of so many things! I love being a part of such a great production.
In other news, Brad has all of his pharmacy school applications in, and we are now awaiting the invitations to interviews. We hate the waiting game, but it has to be done. So, anyway, there is a little bit of catch up in our lives.

September

2009-09-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

So, school started, and now I never post. It is a sad fact of life that school takes up time. Anyway, I thought I should at least take the time to post a least once during the month of September. And guess what is so special about September? It is my birthday month! My birthday is actually on the 3rd of September, but we have pretty much been celebrating it all month long. Brad and I actually celebrated my birthday on my birthday. He took me shopping for some new clothes which I truly needed. I had a bell recording that night, but when I came home, he had made cupcakes. The funny thing is, is that we only had one egg in the house, and the cupcake recipe called for 3 eggs. So what did Brad do? He used his awesome conversion skills that he learned in pharmacy tech class and convert the whole recipe to 1/3 the size to account for the lone egg.

The next birthday celebration was about a week later with the whole fam. We met is Salt Lake and went to this delicious pizza place called Setebellos. I highly reccomend it. Guess what my siblings gave me? New KNIVES! We have a pretty shoddy set of kitchen knives and I constantly complain about how I can't even cut a carrot decently. So thank you fam!

The final birthday celebration was on Sunday. Mom made angel food cake, and we had fresh peaches on top with whipped cream. MMmmmm... that is so good.

This month has really just flown by. We are already in the 5th week of classes at Weber State. That means we're almost a third of the way through the semester (can anyone tell that it is my last semester of school, and I am a little more than eager to be done?) . Brad has made wonderful strides on his applications for pharmacy school. He is meeting with his professors for letters of reccomendation and for guidance on his personal statement. I am very impressed with how ahead of the game he is. He is really doing great despite his very hectic school schedule. So, all is going well for us.

This is the only picture I have of all the birthday festivities. Isn't it a becoming picture? Brad's pose in the background is also one in a million don't you think?

Pictures

2009-08-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hawaii 2009

Here are a few pictures from our Hawaii adventure with the whole Winter family. It was such a fun experience, and we are so grateful to Mom and Dad for planning the whole thing for us! This is Brad and me being Tahitian warriors. I know, we're fearsome.We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center while we were on Oahu. We got to go to a really fun Luau and drink mango shakes from a pineapple. We ate fresh shrimp from Remy's shrimp shack. It was literally a shack on the side of the rode. But the shrimp was fresh, and it tasted great. It was a messy meal though.

When we got to Kauai, we went on a awesome hike along the Napali Coastline. It was so lush and green and just full of spectacular views. The whole trail supposedly takes about 3 days, but we only took the first stretch. It landed us at a very pretty beach, with some severe warnings

The last day, we went Kayaking along a river after playing on the beach. The kayaking was way fun, and that is where I received my sunburn of all sunburns (see previous post). It was totally worth it though.

Wear Sunscreen.....

2009-08-23T19:20:00.001-07:00

I would like to bear testimony of the importance of wearing sunscreen. We were so good throughout our whole Hawaii trip to apply generous amounts of sunscreen, and because of our earnest efforts, we were not burnt at all until the last day of our vacation. But the sun had it out for me, and my legs now look like swollen tomatoes. We went kayaking the last day of our vacation, which means our legs were a perfect target for the sun, while the rest of our vacation they had been well hidden in the waves of the ocean. To make the matter even worse, I spent the whole next day on a plane where I could not elevate my feet. I wish I had a picture to show of the moment we landed in Salt Lake. It wasn't pretty. I had kankles! This picture is 4 days after the sunburn occurred, and the swelling has gone down drastically. However, I can still make polka dot pictures with the edema that remains after elevating my legs for significant amounts of time. So, yes, sunscreen does work. It prevents cancer. It prevents unnecessary pain. And it prevents kankles.

Hawaii

2009-08-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

So we've spent about the last week in Hawaii with Brad's family. We have been having a great time, and really have not had time to sit down and post. I am just logging in to say hello since we have a little down time this evening. Let me tell you, Hawaii is amazing! We started out our trip on Oahu where I discovered what I want my new hobby to be... snorkeling! I know there isn't a lot of supreme snorkeling spots in Utah, so it wont really blossom into anything more, but I highly reccommend snorkeling. We went to Shark's cove where we saw angel fish, clown fish, a turtle, the Hawaii state fish, and all sorts of other amazing tropical fish. We got to Kauai on Sunday and went on an beautiful hike on Monday morning along the coastline near the Napali coast. Today we went to the ocean and played in the waves and did more snorkeling. This has been such a great adventure, but unfortunately, probably the only think Brad and I forgot was the memory card to our camera. I know! pretty stupid, huh? We were able to buy one, but I can't transfer the pictures to the computer until we get home, so I promise a few pictures next time. Until then... Aloha!

SIBLING ADVENTURE 2009!

2009-08-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

So, BriAnn and Derek really instigated this whole thing. And for that, I give them a great big THANK YOU! We went camping "siblings only style" this past weekend and had so much fun. We stayed at Spirit Lake in the High Uintas and I highly recommend it. The camping trip really only consisted of fishing, eating, card games, and sleeping. But really, what could be better? Derek and BriAnn went up a day early and set up camp. Nathan, Janel, Brad, and I drove up after I got off work on Friday. Here are some of the pictures of all the fun we had.

Having fun at our campsite

Derek and Nathan being men with their fish. Derek caught 2 fish, and Nathan, I think, had 4 within his sight, but for some reason we couldn't get one in the boat for him.

Brad and the canoe.

Yes, believe it or not, I even caught a fish. It has probably been at least 10 years! Brad caught 2 fish! We were in this great little hole and caught all 3 within probably 30 minutes! I love fish cooked in the fire. It is so good. BriAnn also caught one, and we got to reap the benefits of her fine work because she doesn't like fish.

Isn't the scenery nice?

Nathan :)

Janel and BriAnn on our little hike while the men fished

Packing up

Everyone on our last day.

Yes, we truly enjoyed ourselves. We had fun improvising during the camping trip since none of us are pros at the planning part of the camping experience quite yet. We cooked pretty much anything we wanted to on a stick in the fire including rolls, starbursts, and bacon. When you're camping anything goes.

CAMPING ROCKS!

He He He.

FHE Catch Up

2009-07-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

Tonight for family home evening, we wanted to think about our family history, it being pioneer day last week and all. And besides, we went to a family reunion this last week. As we discussed it, the thought came up how will our future generations know us. Unfortunately, since being married over a year ago, neither of us have been very good about keeping our own family history (ie we stink at writing our journals). We decided the next best thing would be to post in our blog the "goings ons" of this past month.

So.....

First off, toward the beginning of July one of my families I (brad) home teach had a bounteous crop of rhubarb. Brother Stewart, being the amazingly nice person that he is gave us a tour of his "secret garden" and also gave a a ton of rhubarb. Teri was wonderful! She used it to make strawberry-rhubarb crisp and then she made her very first pie from scratch. It was delicious! I'm glad I have her; I thought that rhubarb was a berry :)

Next on our list, can I get a little sigh from everyone? We celebrated our first year anniversary on July 12th. We knew we were going to have a super busy weekend, so I made Brad a lovely steak dinner complete with the only real silver we own, candle sticks, on Friday night. We didn't do much else, and I (Teri) will not lie, I didn't think Brad was going to remember. But he did not fail me, he just kept it a great secret. He had our neighbors keep a custom made bouquet of flowers that were similar to the flowers at our wedding, and had them sitting on the breakfast table on Sunday morning. The table was also decked out with my favorite breakfast, WAFFLES! By the way, my husband probably makes the best waffles ever.

(Brad again) I really do. Anyway, moving on...
To keep this brief (too late) I will let the pictures tell y'all how much fun we had at our family reunion this last week end up in Eden.

Hot tubbing with Joely-pooh.

Me driving the boat.

Sisters chillin.

Milly blowing a kiss.

Cousins on the boat.

Teri falling down:) but with such grace!

Well that's about it. We hope you enjoyed our FHE mega post. (We switched off back and forth who was writing. Hope you got that)

Happy Independence Day Slave!

2009-07-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had as great of an Independence Day as Brad and I had. We did all the normal things you would do on the fourth, you know... shop at Walmart, pea in your parent's garden, and sit on the roof. Ok, so those types of things really aren't that "American", but we had a great day. First of all, we slept in. That is a good thing. Then we ate waffles. Yet another wonderful thing. Then we went to Walmart. Not so great. But it was Saturday and of course we had those few items that we needed before the sabbath, so we made a quick trip to Walmart. Yes, I know, what could be more American. Then we went to Brad's parents' and picked peas in their beautiful garden since they are out of town. We had a wonderful barbecue dinner at my parents house complete with homemade icecream! Wahoo! We then made the trek back to Hooper for fireworks. Ok, so instead of sitting with the hoards of people at Hooper Park like everyone else, I bet you can't guess what we did. Ok well maybe you can, but I thought it was pretty much the funnest thing I have ever done on the Fourth of July. We watched the fireworks show from Brad's family's roof, and it was probably the best seat you could have. We had such a great day, I hope ya'll did too.

Pigs Flying

2009-07-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

We really didn't see any pigs flying, but I think Brad experienced the swine flu this week. Brad started out with a sore throat on Sunday night, and by Monday he had no energy and really was not feeling his best. We had a family party on Monday night so I enlisted Brad to the task of making a jello salad. Well, he overdid the jello and so we had 2 huge pans of jello. I guess the surpluss of jello was a blessing in disguise because he had no appetite due to his sickness, but he seemed to manage the jello, so he downed a whole 8x8 pan of it on Monday and that was really all he ate all day. By Tuesday he had a high fever, aches, chills, sweats, etc. and didn't move from the living room couch all day. He started feeling better on Wednesday, but was definitely not recovered. I tried to have him help me with the dishes, an easy enough task I thought. Well, half way through the task, he got so light headed and weak, he had to go lay down. The poor guy. Anyway, he is finally feeling well enough today to go to work. We'll see how he does. He was never really diagnosed with H1N1 influenza, but normal flu season is done and over with, so probably anyone with flu symptoms probably has the swine flu. I've never had to experience a sick husband before. Let me tell you, it really wasn't any fun. I am happy to say he is in much better spirits today.

A Shout Out to ElRay, El Rey de las Hormigas

2009-06-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write this post for some time now, and after a little pressure form my mother-in-law :) I am finally doing it.
At the beginning of this spring our cosy little apartment was finally just the perfect temperature, but apparently it was too appealing for some to resist. Black ants started their invasion of our small home and became quite a nuisance last April. We battled them to no avail until we finally sought out the expertise of Teri's Uncle ElRay. He is entomologist who spends his days conjuring up horrible fates of insects who dare threaten the human world. We mentioned our problem and within a minute or two he handed us a small tube that would bring an end to our little invaders. ElRay we thank you. Within seconds they took the bait and then two dates latter they were no more!
We have now been living ant free for over two months now and we owe it all to ElRay, now know in our home as El Rey de Las Hormigas.
Brad

Spring and Other Things

2009-05-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

I have had a lot of free time lately, but I have not utilized this time by posting on the blog. I decided it was about time. Weber State finished spring classes about two weeks ago. Brad has already started full swing into summer classes. How fun does that sound? I, on the other hand, cannot take summer classes, and I am worried that I might become very bored. I have kept myself occupied thus far, but only having a part time jobs provides me with a lot of free time. I have decided to read the books Brad has to read for his fiction class to pass time, I am open to suggestions for new and inexpensive hobbies.

We did plant flowers and vegetables last week. I guess you could consider that a hobby. Unfortunately, I don't know how well the tomotoes are going to do....we'll stay optimistic though. Most of our veggies and plants are in buckets and pots because we only have a 3x3 plot of dirt by our little home. I was so excited to plant some flower seeds in this little plot of dirt along with a couple tomatoe plants, but we have some sort of a bug, I think ants, that had a hay day over night, and the tomatoe plants are no more. And as soon as a single leaf pops up out of the ground from the flower seeds I planted, those dumb bugs chomp it up quite swiftly. Like I said, we'll try to be optimistic. Whatever the vermin is, it is leaving the chives alone, probably because they smell like onions and do not appeal to the bad-mannered bugs.

The tomatoe plant that has the most hope of survival.

These are the chives. We got the start from my parents house.

I hope we get at least enjoy some of the fruites of our labor by the end of the summer. I guess only time will tell.

In other news, my younger brother, Nathan, gets home from his mission in Salta, Argentina in five days. I am pretty stoked to see him. I can't wait to see how he has changed, and of course how he has grown. He is definitely staying busy his last week in the mission. We talked to him last week on Mother's Day, and he doesn't seem to even have time to think about coming home. I wonder if he's trunky at all. Even if he's not trunky, My mom sure is trunky enough for the both of them. She has been making all sorts of preparations for his return. She decided to paint a wall of his bedroom green to surprise him when he gets home. I helped Mom pick out the color last week, and we just need to paint one more layer on before it will be ready for him. This is the only wall in my parents entire house that has a color other than white on it, quite a bold move on my mom's part. Anyway, it sure will be fun to see him on Wednesday.

Our Attempt at being Domestic

2009-04-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

My mother provided us with a whole flat of wonderful red strawberries last week. Of course, two people cannot very easily eat that many strawberries without becoming sick before they go bad. So, what did we do!?! We made jam! Very tastey jam, I might add. We spent Monday evening learning the ropes of making our very own homemade strawberry jam. Truthfully, it wasn't that difficult of a task, and it wasn't that time consuming. We worked together on this fun project while watching a movie displayed on our laptop that we had perched on the minute amount out counterspace we have. We were so pleased with the end result of our domestic endeavor. And better yet, we get to reap the benefits of the ordeal every time we eat a peanut butter sandwhich or have a slice of toast! Yum, strawberry jam.

School

2009-04-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

It's almost over!

Birthday & Easter

2009-04-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend. Saturday night, Dad, Mom, Janel, Brad, and I drove down to Provo to see BriAnn's students in their totally awesome production of "The Music Man." It made me a nostalgic of the good old days of junior high plays. I have so many good memories. It was a great production, and so much fun to see.

Sunday, I got the great opportunity to go play with the Bells on Temple Square on Easter morning with the Tabernacle Choir on Music and the Spoken Word. Let me tell you, there is nothing like being able to literally be in the middle of such wonderful music and sounds. The bells were positioned in front of the choir and behind the orchestra, so we were completely engulfed by the beautiful sounds created. It was such a great way to remind me what Easter is really about. Every song reminded me of Christ. We have so much to rejoice and sing about!

After the broadcast and church, we went to my parents' house to have Easter dinner. Dad, Mom, Janel, Derek, BriAnn, Brad, and I were all in attendance. We had a great dinner that was prepared by my mom, and after dinner we got to color Easter eggs! For some reason, I find so much enjoyment out of this activity. Anyway, we made some very colorful creations as you can see. In addition, we celebrated my dear Bradly's birthday. He turned 23 on April 13th. He's such great guy. I hope he had a good one. Anyway, all in all we had a very fun filled weekend. We had so much fun spending time with our family.

Conference Weekend!

2009-04-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know it is now Friday, but Brad and I had a great weekend last weekend. I actually had a camera with me, so I even took some pictures. We enjoyed spending our time with family, friends, and watching conference.

Saturday night we spent the evening over at the Winter's house. Brad's dad makes really good fish, so we had a great dinner. Nella, Will, and Mari all came up from Provo to spend some time with us.

We had fun while the boys were at Priesthood. I wish I had had my camera because Milly got nice and creative with everyone's hair. She had curling irons going and wigs on everyone. She actually only cut my hair, but I think it looks great! We had delicious apple cobbler after everyone got home.

Sunday Morning, we started out the day with yours truly giving shots to family members! I love being a nurse at times like these! I actually checked up on all of my family members' immunizations, and everyone needed a tetanus shot, so I performed the dirty deed!

In between conference sessions, we drove to Sandy to visit Grandma and Grandpa Frandsen. They had a great meal for us while we watched and listened to conference intently.........

and then we all went for a nice walk in the park behind their house.

It was so fun to spend the weekend with family and to be uplifted by the wonderful words prophets, apostles, and church leaders. I am so grateful for all that we have!

Fancy Dinner

2009-03-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

So last night Brad and I made homemade lasagna for dinner. My sister-in-law gave me the recipe, and it was sooo delicious. I make dinner all the time, but for some reason lasagna just seems really fancy. I felt so accomplished by the whole ordeal. The recipe does however make a 9X13 pan of lasagna. When there are only two people eating, that much lasagna can go a long ways. Hopefully we aren't sick of it by the time we have finished the pan.

My Fickle Little Wife

2009-03-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

So my dear sweet Teri really is the cutest little thing and she is very smart, but she can be very frustrating at times. Not the kind of frustrating that makes you mad but the kind that makes you shake your head and laugh. She puts so much into the smallest most meaningless decisions. For instance she thought that our "about us" description wasn't up to par so she spent a good long while writing and re-writing the description of us. She even wrote a haiku or two. (which I thought was a great idea, and they were pretty good) But in the end she left it blank and handed the computer to me, the guy who didn't write it good enough in the first place!

I don't know what I'd do without her. She makes me smile every day. She is my life. I love her so much!

Spring Break

2009-03-10T20:07:00.001-07:00

I have learned that spring break isn't much of a break when you have online classes and have a job.

Homework

2009-02-25T16:21:00.001-08:00

Brad is diligently doing O-Chem homework next to me. He whispers to himself while he thinks through the problems. I think it is cute. I should really be doing patho homework or something, but I have been ready to leave the library for over a half hour now. I am definitely done with the homework thing for now. Brad is much more persistent in completing homeowork than I am. Our roles have somewhat reversed in that aspect.
Our favorite place to study on Weber's campus is the library in the institute. Sis. Johnson, the librarian at the institute, is pretty much the most kindhearted person I have met. She provides students studying in the library with afternoon snacks every once in a while and she is always smiling. The library is actually completely desolate right now, and we really need to leave.....so I will start packing up Brad's homework for him.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T20:51:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated our first Valentine's Day as a married couple by going the very place we started our celetial journey together. AWWWW! Yes, we went to the Bountiful temple accompanied by wonderful friends and family. Mom, Dad, Aubrey, Nate, Rex, and Tonya all went with us. Before being spiritually fed, we fed ourselves [physically at Lone Star Steak House. Mmmmmm......and after we enjoyed a wonderful Fahzookie at the Fire House Pizzeria (it's a really good little pizza place in Centerville). All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend our first Valentine's Day.

I love my Teri!!!!!!!!!!

Our New Blog!!!!!!

2009-02-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

So we are finally joining the 21st century and are starting a blog! We warn you now, we are not very exciting but we felt so left out on the whole blog movement. So, this may be our first and our last post ever. We hope not. So, until next time.......

That was Teri. I (Brad) am a little more optimistic about our blog. I figure that no matter how boring our lives are at least relatives will feel obligated to read it. And besides I can spin a good yarn (Hooper translation: I can tell stories in a way that makes them seem more exciting than they really are).

Hope y'all enjoy our blog!