Fun summer!

Matt and I went camping with our three nephews. We made them walking sticks from the tree that fell in our yard. They really love them.

The weekend of July 4 Matt and I along with my sister Sharon and her family went to Amish country. We went on a buggy ride, and had a lot fun.

We were able to go to Palmyra New York this summer.
My nephew Colton was blessed at the top of Hill Cumorah. We also went to the Joseph Smith farm.




I was able to go to Aruba with the family I nanny for. I had a great time, but
Sure did miss Matt.



This picture was taken the night Matt and I got home from a fun day at Ocean city.
I guess I'm not too good with the spray on sunscreen!!

Matt and I sure had a fun summer. We wish it didn't go so fast. We hope everyone
had a fun filled summer too.

SNOWPOCALYPSE 2010!!!

We're snowed in right now, by state order. We're not allowed to be on the road unless we have an official reason, or legitimate emergency. Over the weekend we got a little more than 2 feet of snow, which kept Melissa in Texas for a few extra days due to her flight being canceled. She got a new flight yesterday, and it literally got in a few hours before the next storm. So far we have gotten a bit over a foot of new snow, and we're just hitting the biggest part of the storm. I've been out and cleared the driveway one time with the expectation of doing it again.

This is the drift next to the driveway. It's almost as tall as us. Maybe by the end of the storm it'll be taller than us.




This is the walkway from the front door that I dug out. It's pretty much a canyon of snow. I guess it doesn't matter too much, we're not getting mail today, or maybe even tomorrow.



This is the view of the house. There is a ton of snow here. If you notice there is a big chunk of snow falling off the roof. I believe the only reason why it hasn't fallen is that it has frozen itself around the gutter which is bending down and will most likely need some repair when the snow melts around July.

We're hunkering down and waiting for the snow to end. So far we still have power(obviously) and we're hoping it stays that way. The satellite is still working, much to my surprise, and we've got everything we need to survive, as long as we don't go crazy.

Catching up

So it's been a while...



This is Thanksgiving. I was put in charge of carving the turkey. It was kind of a bittersweet day, being so close to the anniversary of my dad's death, I couldn't help but think of him doing the carving like he normally did. It was still a fun day, filled with family, and food.



A few days later we put up the tree that we cut the week before. It is always a fun time to decorate the house.



Kyleigh thought that she could help with the ribbon that was for wrapping the tree.


A few days before Christmas we were hit with a huge snowstorm. This is the second round of snowblowing. We ended up getting around two feet of snow, or as you can see enough for Melissa to sink to her knees.


Christmas was a fun day, we spent time with family and mostly just relaxed during that week because Melissa was lucky enough to have the whole week off.



On Dec 30 Melissa and I had our three year anniversary. These are the roses that she got for that special day. She liked the roses, but she really loved the vase that they came in.




On New Year's Eve, it was about 7:00 and we thought that we needed something to do for the next few hours, we put this puzzle together along with my Mom, all in one night, again Kyleigh thought that she could be a good helper, but mostly just tried to put the pieces on the floor.

It's been a good few months. The good days have outnumbered the bad days, and that makes life much better.

Our Cats are Such Good "Sharers"

So Kyleigh was in the window enjoying herself, when Reno came up and placed himself in the window too. I watched him kind of back up as he was laying down. He's so nice.



In case you feel bad for Kyleigh, this is how I found them about an hour later.




It's a good thing we have taught them to share so well.

Melissa's Birthday

On the ninth was Melissa's Birthday. It was Sunday so we woke up and went to church. Melissa was substituting for the chorister in Primary, so she got to sing happy birthday to the kids and to herself. After church we just relaxed for a while because in a few hours it was going to get a bit more exciting. My sister Lauren, her husband and her two boys came over, Melissa's sister Sharon, her husband and her three boys came over, so for dinner we had seven adults, and five very active little boys. It was exciting. My mom mad a recreation of the top tier of our wedding cake, except it said Happy Birthday Melissa on it.



That was all good and fun, but the family that Melissa nannies for was on a long weekend and so she had Monday off. We decided to go to King's Dominion for some more fun. Growing up my family loved King's Dominion and went most summers. It had been many years since I had gone however and I was excited to go back.



This is the drop tower that takes you up and up and up and then lets you free fall for what seems like a lifetime.



This is us just before leaving on "The Dominator." It was my favorite ride. It has the world's tallest inverted loop. Lots of fun.
It was really hot and in the afternoon we went to cool off in the water park, which felt wonderful. Aside from the heat it was a great day.

So Melissa came home on Monday after watching the two kids. She was tired but happy. I saw her driving up so I went to meet her at the door, and as she came in I just started laughing. She had no idea why I was laughing, but this is what I found:





Mary had thought that it would be nice to decorate Miss Melissa. Melissa said that she remembered Mary touching her back, but she didn't realize that stickers were being placed. I guess that's what happens when you give a three year old stickers.

Nothing too exciting

Daily strawberries from the garden here in Maryland.


Reno and Kyleigh love the windows, they can hardly fit.


Kyleigh was not too sure about moving to Maryland, she loves it now though.

It's not so much that I don't like posting, it's that's there is nothing too exciting going on. We have moved to Maryland. Matt will be finishing school and working. I will be working as a nanny. I love being with children, so what better way to be with children then to be a nanny. The hours are great, Monday-Friday 8-6 p.m. The pay is amazing and the kids are adorable. Rob is eleven and Mary is three. Between swimming, story time, playdates, games, lessons, cooking, cleaning and just being plain silly with Mary, we will have a fun, busy summer. Once school starts, Mary will be in pre-school three days a week, so I will stay busy cleaning and organizing. I love doing all of the above, so it will be a perfect job for me. We are excited to start new here in Maryland, there is so much fun stuff to do. We will have something fun to do every weekend. My sister Sharon and her family are here, so that is even better. We are expecting lots of fun filled days in the future. I will be sure to post our fun times. Looks like Matt already posted the fun we had at the D.C. mall. I also will be posting my weight loss progress. There will be pictures and journals on my progress. I need to scrape off about 60 lbs. It will be hard but worth it. So look out for that.

A day on the Mall

Melissa's sister Sharon arrived in town last Saturday with her three boys. It was exciting to have them here finally. John has been here for two months already and I think that everyone was ready to be reunited. We went to their house for Sunday dinner and had a good time with them, and decided that Tuesday would be a good day to visit Washington DC and the Museums on the Mall. We went back and forth as to whether they would drive down and park, or spend the money to take 5 people on the Metro. In the end, they took the Metro. We met at the Archives and were on our way. We first went to the Air and Space Museum, which has always been my favorite. Melissa and I, not having any kids, didn't bring any bags, and since the Metal detectors there only seem to detect if you are carrying a chunk of metal the size of your head, we walked through and then turned around to see Sharon and John having their bags inspected. We were very sad that we don't have kids at that moment. Our life is much too simple right now. Anyway, the three boys loved the museum. They had seen the new "Night at the Museum" movie and were looking for all the things that they had seen. Unfortunately the effects of too little sleep and waking up early began to show. It was at that point that I thought again, "My life really is too easy, I need some kids." We solved the issues and moved on to the Natural History Museum. The kids all loved the hall of mammals and Justin especially loved the gemstones and crystals. Justin seems to be a geologist in training. The gift shops had lots of neat things and being kids they wanted some, but having just started a new job, and paying rent and Mortgage for a couple months, Sharon and John decided against buying them stuff. Sadness ensued, made worse by how tired the kids were, but we got through. At this point we headed toward the American History Museum. The last time that Melissa and I were here and went to DC we missed the opening of the remodeled museum by a month. We were excited to see it, but with Melissa having an activity that she needed to get home to and the tired kids we were only able to see two of the six wings. It was at that point that I decided I really needed to come back alone. Melissa doesn't get as tired as the kids, or at least is old enough to not let it ruin her day when she is tired, but she looks at Museums like most people read National Geographic: Look at the picture, move on. I was lagging behind because I like to read stuff. I don't generally read whole articles in Nat Geo, but I do like to read the blurbs that go with the pieces. Regardless of tired children and speedy look throughs, it was a fun day, and we look forward to spending more time with Sharon and her family as they explore the sights of their new home. By the way there are no pictures of the day because we forgot to bring our camera. We'll have to get them from Sharon who had hers.

Blog Mutiny

Melissa doesn't post much anymore. I think that I'm going to take over the posting. I guess the biggest thing that has changed in our lives is that we are in Maryland. Things are going well for us so far. I am still looking for a job, but Melissa has found a nanny job 12 miles from the house and she is super excited about it. It is for two kids. An 11 year old boy and a three year old girl. She says that they are super cute and she can't wait to start.
Our cats are adjusting well. They aren't so much getting along with the pre-existing tenant. Clio is not so excited to have them here in the house, but they are starting to tolerate each other. I don't think they will ever be best friends, but if they tolerate eachother we'll be happy.
I guess, long story short, we're doing fine, and hoping to just keep getting better.

R.I.P. Kitty

So this is Matt. A week ago Friday I was at work. It was a normal day. About half way through the day I get a call from Melissa. I picked up the phone and well... sobbing. We had been talking about putting our oldest cat to sleep. He was almost 16 years old and had lost half of his body weight over the last year or so. He slept more than usual. He really only left the bed to eat and use the litter box. We had almost done it a couple of times already, but Melissa wasn't ready. On Friday she got the guts to do it. She took him into the local animal shelter and said her goodbyes. She started to cry and ran out as soon as she could. On her way home was when she called me. Luckily it was a pretty slow day at work and when I told them what had happened, or at least what I figured had happened with the crying and the words that I could understand between the sobs, they told me that I could go home for the day and be with her. It was hard for her, but she knows that it was the best thing for him. He will be missed.

Two necks....

A few hours ago I was doing my niece's hair. We were in front of the mirror when she said, "you have two necks". When I asked her what she meant she pointed to my double chin. I said sarcastically, "oh thanks", she then said, "your welcome". Thanks for the compliment Allie.

What a week... And it's not even over.

So I have been helping my mom out with babysitting my nieces and nephew. Tuesday I had Keegan, it was a beautiful day outside so we spent most of the time outside playing. He needed a diaper change(poop) so I began changing him, he wasn't cooperating well and decided to grab the diaper and throw it at me. All I remember is a piece of poop flying at me, hitting my shirt and then landing on the carpet. I gasped out of shock and lets just say when I looked down at him he had the biggest smile on his cute little face. How could I be mad. Today I took Alliscen and Halee to the park. Alliscen made a friend right away and ran with her new friend to meet her mom. Before I go on Alliscen likes to call me mom and pretend that I'm her mom. As I walked up to them Alliscen pointed to me and said "that's my other mom, I have two mommies". She also said "I just have two mom's, thats all, just mom's". I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life. Instead of walking up and explaining that I was her aunt, I just wanted to hide at the other side of the park, and that's what I did. I think the shock I was in left me speechless. I wonder what the rest of the week will bring me.

My favorite person.

Matt is my favorite person. He is always there for me.
He has so much love for me. He helps me with my anxiety.
He knows my hopes and dreams. I love him with all my heart.
I do not know who I would be without him. I love the idea
of being with him for all eternity.

FED UP!!

I am so fed up about the excessive amount of gray hair overtaking my beautiful brown hair. I'm 27 and have no family history of early signs of graying. I don't think I'm stressed, I really just don't know what is going on. I'm making an appointment for some highlights, it's all I can think about for fixing the problem. I really hope I can overcome my madness and realize that it is not the end of the world. For now I think I'm entitled for a little bit of panic. Is anyone in the same situation?

Weird...

Don't ask. We don't get it either.

Torturing the cats

We have no children to occupy our time, so we torture our cats. We found a $1.50 costume at WalMart and thought that maybe our cats would like it. Ok we really didn't think that they would enjoy the sweater, but it would be fun to see what they did. Kyleigh was too chubby for it, and we had to squeeze her into it. She kept trying to step out of it, and fell over trying to get it off. Tugger was frozen in his spot after it was put on. He couldn't figure out what was going on and when he finally moved he was creeping low like he was trying to get out from under something. We didn't even try to put it on Reno. We have breakables in the house and he wouldn't have reacted well. He freaks out at stuff.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve was a blast. We went to my sister Sharon's house. We ate pizza and tons of sweets. We took turns playing Wii and watched Eagle Eye. I fell asleep which is very common for me. I have a hard time staying up late. My poor husband poured his own sparkling cider and welcomed the New Year without a kiss. He tried waking me up and so did my sisters and I may have sat up, but I was not all there. I didn't make any goals for the New Year, but I do have a sweet dream and that is to have a baby. So we'll just see what happens with that.

Christmas 2008

Christmas was good this year. It was hard since it was only a month after Matt's dad died. But in spite of that it was a good Christmas. Melissa has a very hard time when there are presents in the house that she can't open. She was doing alright when she knew what they all were, but as soon as there were a few surprise presents it drove her crazy. Luckily Matt waited until a week before Christmas to get her the surprises. With the presents from family and friends the tree did look pretty full underneath. One of the presents was a beautiful advent calendar from Lauren. She made it and it will be displayed with pride next year. She also remembered the kitties. She sent three little toys for them, that had catnip in them. On Christmas Eve the cats were locked up because they were interested in the toys and would have taken them out of the stockings that they were in. We also got two sets of our wedding china and a picture of the D.C. Temple from Matt's mom. We cleaned out the china hutch that we have in our house from Melissa's grandma, and put our china in it, and hung our Temple picture on the wall. It was a good Christmas.

Christmas Santa

Melissa's Grandma had this up year round in her home. Just before she passed away she gave it to Melissa because she knew how much she loved it. This is the first Christmas since she passed and it's little things like this that help us remember the people we love.

Babysitting

Matt and I watched my nephews one night for my sister Sharon. Our night consisted of guitar hero for two hours. Jake's getting pretty good, Justin will be good he picks up fast, and little Kyle, well he thinks he's playing. We turned off the game and thought popped popcorn and a movie would be fun. We turned on the popcorn machine and I said well stand together so when the popcorn starts I can get a picture. If you look close you will see the lid starting to fly off. After the picture was taken popcorn flew everywhere. Jake ran away, Justin jumped off the counter, I stepped away, Matt stood there for a few seconds as Kyle was left on the counter with the popcorn flying all around him. He was terrified as all of us were screaming(except Matt of course) and not helping him down, luckily Matt came to the rescue, he grabbed Kyle and unplugged the popcorn machine. We had a pretty good laugh after wards.