Rich Mel and Caleb

Just checking in.

2010-08-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

We know... it's been a while.
That fact is, things haven't really slowed down.
So just know that we're alive and well.
See ya.

Us.

Stairs

2010-03-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

Little Mr. Big Stuff! (stolen from Steph)

2010-03-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

All's safe with Flight Engineer Caleb watching.

2010-02-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

First day as a Flight Engineer on a Regional Jet Simulator, and he did a fantastic job of keeping us safe.
-Dad

"Uh-Oh"

2010-01-20T21:59:00.000-08:00

Little Caleb hit first gear on Dec. 24th and never looked back.

That's why it's been so long since we've posted.

Since he doesn't use "Da-da" and "Ma-ma" at the appropriate times, his dad thinks that his official first 'word' is "Uh-Oh" because when he says it, he means it.

"Time keeps on slippin.....into the future"

2009-12-03T17:30:00.001-08:00

Time, where is it going? November is gone and we are looking at another Christmas ALREADY? How did this happen? We had a fun November! We started the month moving into this big beautiful home in Hyrum. It is not much more money and more than twice the space. Good trade up eh? The best part is, if we somehow finagle a way to stay in Cache Valley, we can buy this beauty. Who knows where life will take us, we are as interested to find out as any of you are.

With more space, we were able to host our first Thankgiving Dinner. Interestingly enough, we had my entire family here, as well as Rich's. The only missing family member was Rich's Dad. We also had Rich's Aunt and Uncle, who are locals in Hyrum. We fed 28 Adults and 4 Children! We were bursting at the seams but so pleased to have enough space to have everyone. The food turned out great too!

This is all of my nieces, on both sides :-)

In the Caleb Category:

Mr. C is making all kinds of progress in the mobility category. He scoots, mostly backwards, but also goes from sitting to a belly flop to get a little further. He's been getting up on his hands and knees and rocking for about a month now. I'm pretty sure our beautiful christmas tree will put him over the edge and he'll be crawling in no time. I know my days of a non babyproofed house are numbered, I guess I'm enjoying the last of them.

Today, Caleb showed me how much he loves Kleenex, apparantly its pretty tastey.

While Grandma and Auntie Ang were here for Thanksgiving, they showed Caleb how to hold his own bottle. I guess I baby my baby too much. He has a new found independence but he prefers Mom hold it for him.

He continues to love his bath and entertain us during bath time. The other day I was soaked by the time he was done. I think he'll be a swimmer. This is the edited photo.

And the slobber slobber never ends. I imagine teeth will be cutting before too long. I think my days of breastfeeding are numbered.....I'm pretty sure I'm not enduring teeth. He doesn't seem to get the fact that biting is a no no when I'm feeding him...he'll cry when I yelp but then still thinks I'm something to gnaw on the next time....no good!

I guess thats a mini-update. If I think of it, I'll take pics of the Casa and post them later.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Winding down.....

2009-10-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy busy for me over the last couple of weeks. I didn't get to see near enough of my guys. Now that the October 15 filing deadline is passed, life is calming down!

Today we went to Bear Lake. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed it tremendously!

This was Caleb's first time sitting in a booster seat at a restaurant. He thinks he's pretty cool. Notice the diaper bag behind him to fill up all of the excess space.

Buddies at the lake

Finally sitting up

2009-10-01T20:23:00.001-07:00

I witnessed Caleb rollover today. I think he's been a bit slow in that category, but the doctor said it was just because he was being lazy about it. He's been sitting up for a few weeks but getting better and better.

Notice the Halloween pajamas? Compliments of my Mom, they look adorable on him.

Random...

2009-09-29T21:00:00.001-07:00

Just a few updated pictures of my Handsome Men (this is for you Mom)

Righteous Pride..........and a thank you!

2009-09-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I come from a military family. My Dad served in Deseret Storm, and my brothers have both spent time in the middle east helping in the current conflict. I met my husbands shortly after he returned from basic training. Coincedentally, all of the military men in my life are in the Air Force. You can be sure that the fact that Rich is willing to serve his country gave him one more feather in his cap in my scoring system.

A few Saturday's ago was the annual Governor's day, where the Utah troops march for the governor, and formally report on the annual activity of the Utah National Guard. I attended and was able to cheer for our Airmen and Soldiers as they marched. I consider myself a die hard patriot, and I was filled with such pride, admiration and gratitude for all of the Men and Women in Utah who faithfully stand ready to aid in protecting and defending our freedom as well as the freedoms of people around the world.

Thank you to all! We are so proud of you!
I dig a man in uniform :-)

2009-09-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

To "Banana" ...

Or to "Pea (pod)"?

Solids...

2009-09-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

How Caleb feels about Green Beans.....

How Caleb feels about Rice Cereal......

Any question?

Much awaited England Post

2009-09-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

For those who do not know, Rich, Caleb and I, along with Rich's younger brother Cliff, were able to go to England for 11 days in August. Thank you American Airlines for kicking us off of our Honeymoon flight and giving us $800 each in travel vouchers. Our plane tickets to England cost us $32 each out of pocket, and then $100 for Caleb. Wahoo!

Also a HUGE thank you to our hosts, the Beaumonts, for being fabulous, patient, and SUPER FUN tour guides. As always (or as it has always been for me anyway) we had a wonderful time!!!
I know everyone wants pictures, here we go:

These pictures are totally out of order, and aren't in groups according to location either. I'm too lazy to put enough time into blogging to actually do things properly. At least you get a little taste of the trip.

Let me clarify......

2009-09-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

In case there is any doubt by anyone reading the last blog, we are NOT expecting another child. The taco shells were old :-)

So... the date is May 30th.

2009-08-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

From the Dad.

Last night, as we sat preparing our homemade tacos for dinner, my wife looked up from playing with Caleb, and said "So... the date is May 30th". She looked back down at our little boy. I stopped what I was doing and jerked my head toward her.

"What?!?" May 30, that's... that's... yeah, that's about nine months from now.

For all the joking, I don't feel prepared for number 2 yet.

My wife laughed at me when she realized why I had such a strange look on my face.

"The taco shells expired May 30th. But they still taste good, don't they."

Oh. ... Five minutes earlier we'd been fighting over the taco shell bag. She wouldn't let me see the expiration date until after I'd eaten them.

By the way, I don't like eating expired food.

England

2009-08-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

Our whirlwind tour of England is over, and we're settled in back home. It was exhausting, but it was a blast.

Little Gentleman

2009-07-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

From the Dad:

Here is Caleb, showing how excited he is to stand with his new shoes. I think it's his second time wearing shoes, and he doesn't mind them.
He just turned three months old today. He's in a very smiley phase of life, which we're grateful for. It's great to find him smiling up at us at 4:30 in the morning. Well, I guess it's his mom to whom he smiles.

I'm finding that there are far too many pictures of me and the baby. We need more pictures of mommy! I'm also always wearing the same shirts during our photo-ops. What would the fashionistas say? Oh well.

Who am I kidding?

2009-06-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

I lied in my last post. I wonder if life will ever slow down again. We are enjoying our little man so much. He is such a joy to us (and a whole heck of a lot of work too). The whole theory of taking him to work with me was great "in theory." In application, taking him to work means I NEVER get anything done. I think one day I was at the office for 9 hours but only counted 4 client hours....very painful. Anyway, he has a babysitter now 4 hours a day and she has 3 children that LOVE him. When he gets there in the morning, their 2 year-old is watching for him out the window and she starts yelling "baby, baby, baby". When he gets inside, they get in his face and kiss him and invade any personal space he had. It makes me smile. First children (meaning birth order) miss out on some of that great interaction with other kids, so I'm glad he gets the "kid love" to help him be more tolerant. It is too quiet at our house but it sure isn't at theirs, so its good that he gets exposure to kid noise. Hopefully when we have more children there won't be much of an adjustment for him because of the kid love he's getting. Maybe thats my justifying guilty conscience talking there so that I feel better about leaving him, who knows. Anyway, pictures are what people want, I know. So take a look at the last few weeks.

Just after he pee'd on Daddy. See the nice wet spots on the shirt. Does he look like he feels guilty? I don't think so ;-)

Sleeping with Dad.......classic shot.

Bathing is no longer a traumatic experience. I wouldn't say he loves it yet, but he tolerates it. You can see the tolerant look for yourself.
Big boy clothes. That was a day in the office. This is his business casual.

We are getting smiles and coo's all the time now, but oh boy are they hard to catch. The towel shot is the best we have, and this one just above is right AFTER a smile. Oh well. He's still so handsome!

The loves of my life....

2009-04-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

My life has finally slowed down just enough to blog about our latest adventure. Thanks to Rich for keeping you up-to-date on the happenings, and now to the details!

I was due April 15, which came and went thankfully. Although I was sooo ready to be done being pregnant, I was really really glad I could stay and work up through the tax deadline with the rest of the office. Those last few weeks are so intense and so tiring and I would have felt really bad if I would have abandoned my work associates and left all of my work for them to do. But on April 16, I was ready for the baby to be OUT! It came and went and so did the 17-20. On the 21st I had a doctors appointment and on the 22 the doctor had scheduled me for induction at 6:00am YOUCH! When I went in for my doctors appointment, my blood pressure was elevated just enough, and I think the doctor saw the despair in my face enough to say that I should just head on over to the hospital and they'd get me started.

At that point, I was scared and all by myself because Rich was at work. I told him it was going to be a long day and there was no reason for him to be at the hospital immediately because there was lots or processing and just plain boringness. Anyway, they started me on a Pitocin drip around 11:30....of course I had to get poked TWICE before the IV was workable. I digress.... the first couple of hours weren't too bad, the contractions were pretty management but were only 1-2 minutes apart. They started to intensify around 2ish just after Rich, my Mom, and my Mother-in-law showed up but I was only dilated to a 3-4. At that point I was faced with the decision I'd debated for weeks, epidural or no epidural. The contractions hurt, but I was ok, but the thought of 5-8 hours (or more) of that pain, every 1-2 minutes, I just figured I'd give in anyway so I might as well enjoy the process. They brought in the Anesthesiologist and started the process. HATED IT! I had never heard of the electric volt shots you receive if they get to close to a nerve, I yelped twice and about squoze (is that a word?) Rich's hand off. Then sat back and waited for the pain to go away. It did thankfully, but only for a short time before I felt this intense pain and pressure all through my abdomen and below! It hurt way to bad to even cry, I needed to preserve ALL of my energy just to endure. They also had inserted a catheder which was AWFUL. I think the most common phrase I used during the whole process was "I'm not loving this part". I felt so deceived, I kept thinking that all of those testifiers of epidurals and the pleasantries were LIARS! I got them to take out the Catheder and then had them bring in the Anesthesiologist again. He repositioned me, and gave me another huge shot of the stuff, at which time I'm pretty sure my legs fell off and disappeared entirely but the pain and pressure continued. The Anasthesiologist came in again and checked on me, and then basically told me that the only other option was to re-insert (oh no!). He also said he was going into a C-Section and wouldn't be available for an hour so I had to decide immediately if I wanted to try again. I told him I could wait the hour (and prayed the pain would subside). Shortly after that, it did, and the nurse checked me. We found that I'd dilated from a 4 to a 9+ in that hour of misery and pain. Probably a little too much intensity, even for the epidural. Craziness!

Anyway, a short time later, I was pushing. I pushed for 40 minutes before the babies heart rate slowed, and the doctor took action and said we had to get him out of there.....he said he usually doesn't do episiodemys (forgive my spelling) but he had to. After a couple of big snip snips (and a silent but sincere "thank heaven for the epidural") I delivered my little boy.

Can I just say, parenthood is the most AMAZING experience? I can't even decribe the feelings I felt at the moment I saw my beautiful baby! I can sit and just stare at him for HOURS! He is so sweet, he has the sweetest tempermant and LOVES to cuddle with anyone who will snuggle with him. I was so touched (and not sure why I was surprised) that he knew my voice, and quieted right down when I was speaking to him after he'd be slapped around after delivery. I am so grateful and thank my Heavenly Father most humbly for this amazing journey I have embarked on. The wait has been so painful, but the reward is FINALLY oh so sweet!

Rich is the cutest Dad alive! You can see by the picture. Sorry if there was TMI!

2009-04-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

OK, he is here.

It's amazing how many people there are to tell. I'm sure we've missed some folks so far.

He came at 8:30 last night.

He came out 7 pounds 14 ounces.
His eyes were wide open and he was blinking and blinking.

He loves being wrapped up like a burrito.

He has a quiet little cry. We hope it stays that way.

-Rich

T minus 4-ish hours?

2009-04-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

The epidural is in.
The baby's heart is beating at 127 per minute.
It's a beautiful day outside, and mommy's doing well.

The wait is on.

Hopefully the last........

2009-03-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, this is hopefully my final photo, also my photo just a few days AFTER my 8 month mark. I am going to the doctor every week now, and today the doctor told me that I am 60% effaced and 1 centimeter dialated. I kind of think the whole 1 centimeter thing is like the doctor throwing me a bone.......probably means I'll be pregnant another 3 weeks, which is great for work, but oh boy am I ready to have my little baby boy here and equally ready to have my body back!!!

Oh well, if I went into labor now, I'd be filled with guilt knowing my co-workers were working like dogs to pick up the slack for me. I would also feel a real need to get myself back to work as soon as possible and help them finish all those stacks of tax returns on my desk. So, not an easy situation, and probably better to have my little guy stay where he is for just a little while longer. When my body groans every morning as I am getting up, I sort of beg to differ if that makes sense.

Just some extra photos of what I'm REALLY loving about pregnancy NOT! I call my feet the Woolley Mammoth Shrek feet. Seriously, they are hideous. Who knew they could get so big! My mind recalls a time when I was driving back to England from a nice little vacation in Italy with my VERY pregnant friend Deb. Her feet were huge (very similar to my own now) and we actually stopped in Austria and where she was wading in a COLD stream of the runoff of the Alps to help the swelling. It was momentus, and I was videoing Deb and the other amazing scenery too, but behind the video I was giggling THE WHOLE TIME because I thought Deb's feet looked soo funny! I deserve every ounce of water weight I am carrying! I can't wait to wear normal shoes again. At least at work I can officially call myself "barefoot and pregnant"!

7 down and 2 to go!

2009-02-13T20:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, if I'm being perfectly honest here, these blogs are a bit selfish now. I want to see how much I've grown. I feel HUGE......somehow this kid will get bigger (and so will his Mommy). We are getting so excited to have him join us! I have my nursery ready, and we have all sorts of fun clothes and toys and baby items to help us enter the world of parenthood. Now I just have a little more time, and a few hundred tax returns to do......

Six Months!

2009-01-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

As you can tell, what I affectionately call the "Buddha Belly" continues to grow. Rich rubs it for luck, (or to get lucky, or perhaps both). I use it to catch food that would normally fall on the floor. I also use it as a sympathy ploy to get my husband to tie my shoes, or to get him to pick things up off the floor when I've dropped them. It actually serves its purposes really well, although I'm not gonna lie, I'd trade the sympathy for my body back. Soon enough, I will get my request, and then I will start the long climb back to fitness. For now I'm embracing the new me, and eating what I want. I know I'll regret it.

Life is great for us! Its been a busy busy time, and its going to get busier. I'm enjoying my last few days of life as I know it before I begin the dreaded tax season. Then, if all goes well, the baby will come shortly after that (and for the partners and clients sake, hopefully not before then). Life is an adventure we are enjoying.

We had a great holiday season, spending almost a week in southern Utah with my family. We loved being there, and equally loved coming home to our cozy little house, and our nice comfy bed. After a quick bout with the flu/cold/flu/cold (and the chain actually continues for me) Rich was back at school and I was back at work. We're not really sure how time has gone so quickly but sure enough, it has!

Wow does Logan get cold! I am really appreciating the fact that I insisted on a place with a garage (shockingly, it wasn't that easy to find). Now if I just had one of those automatic car starters :-) just kidding, but seriously. A 5 minute drive to work doesn't mean I have much exposure to the cold at all. I'm pretty spoiled.

Rich is close to finishing his Commercial Rating, and will jump right into his CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) Rating. He also took a couple of Air Force Officer Qualifying Tests over the break and got a 99 on one, and the other, he received 5 scores, 96, 97, 98, 98, and 99. I married a smart one! I like to brag about him.....obviously he picked me, so he had to be pretty smart ;-) Hope all is well with all of you. Keep in touch!

Due to popular demand.......

2008-12-10T20:37:00.001-08:00

Since everyone is requesting to see me in all of my glory, I am reluctantly posting this picture. I am reading this pregnancy book called "Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy". In the book she talks about those girls that have a little cute belly, and don't look pregnant anywhere else and how she hates them (I loathe those girls too.....ok not really, I'm just a little jealous). I'm one of those lucky girls that is pregnant from the tip of my head down to the bottoms of my feet......I'll confess its not so pretty. I'll ever be grateful for my wonderful husband's goggles of love. Somehow he still thinks I'm beautiful. Inside, I know the truth, and so does the rest of the world. My step-father-in-law maintains that men are born with the goggles. I say Hallelujuah to that!

We're buying blue!

2008-12-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize I would be such a pathetic blogger, but there you have it, I am. Life is just great! We are busy busy but having a wonderful time.

We had our much anticipated appointment with the doctor, and found out we will be having a boy! For those of you who are worried that sometimes they make mistakes, let me assure you, the clearest picture we received, was of his cute little boy parts. There is absolutely no question in the mind of anyone who has seen the picture, that we have a son coming to our home. I would love to post the picture, but I imagine it would be crossing some sort of ethical boundary. Plus, IF he ever found out what I did, he would never forgive me!

My Mom and my Mother-In-Law came to the appointment with Rich and I, and that was so fun! Its exciting to have a new baby coming, and we loved being able to share the joy of seeing that little guy moving around with our Moms. Anyway, the funniest thing about the ultrasound appointment, was that AFTER we saw what we came to see (meaning identifying the gender) the baby would not show his face. I think he was a bit embarrassed from being exposed! He must be a bit shy like his Daddy ;-) I'll post pictures of him hiding, he is stinking cute!

1st: Hiding behind the placenta

2nd: His little bum and crossing his legs (I do that when I pray......he gets something from me!)

3rd: His arm across his face anda nice placenta shot.

Note: they say at this stage they are mostly just skin and bones, so I've been working on beefing him up......

"It was short, and wonderful."

2008-10-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

So, Mel mentioned that I could add some photos of our trip to Baltimore and D.C. It just occurred to me that Mel and I, in the first three months of our marriage, have been from one end of these great states to the other, almost. Perhaps one day we'll go to Lubec, ME. Who knows.

Anyhow, Baltimore was great. Philly wasn't my favorite, but our original cheese steak sandwiches were! D.C. was the most beautiful part of the trip, in my opinion. It's something else to actually stand at the base of the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and so many other sites. Our guides were great. Thanks to Nate, Steph, and Abby.

Dad for a day... or two.

2008-10-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Once a month can't be too bad. Well, Mel's off working and we'd talked of posting pictures, so I guess that leaves me. A few weeks ago we got to babysit my 'nephew' Odie. The little tike kept us up the first of two nights as we had barricaded him downstairs. The poor little guy isn't accustomed to sleeping solo and Mel would have nothing to do with that dog in her bed. I was told that this was my child for the night and I had to care for it. Sigh.

The next day was Saturday. I didn't have to work for a while, so Odie and I went for a jog to Petsmart at 7:40 a.m. Yeah, I know, it was closed, but the day's goal was to run him ragged. We ran back before lunch so that Odie would have something to chew on besides furniture and clothes, if so inclined. A trip to the park and another walk that night meant that Mel and I had a nice quiet night. Sunday came and Odie was returned to his 'dad'. I do miss him, but I'm not as anxious to own a dog. I'm not ready to put in the time that a dog would need. Call me lazy. Now bring on the kids...

A little update (pun intended)

2008-09-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

I'll admit I expected us to post with more frequency, but time flies when you're having fun, and working hard (Mel), going to school (Rich), and stuff. But here, I'll let Mel drive now.

Drumroll, please.

After 7 confirming tests taken over a period of 3 days, we were finally convinced that I am expecting our first baby. More shocking, but oh so appropriate, the baby is due April 15. I am probably the only girl on the planet that hopes I carry my baby full-term. (for anyone who doesn't know, I'm a CPA, and I do taxes, so I need until April 15 to get all of my work done!)

We are surprised, and excited, and thrilled of course.

We saw the little peanut via ultrasound last week, and heard its little heartbeat. Super fun stuff!

Yes, we are still alive :-)

2008-07-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

After much encouragment by family and friends, I decided it was finally time to catch up on blogging. My biggest delay was due to my inability to find my camera cord to transfer all of our pictures to the computer for uploading. However, I finally found it, yay!

So, in brief, our wedding was wonderful! We were a bit worried about the weather as the wedding approached, important only because of our garden reception :-). I was ready to move it to a church, but my decorator insisted that wedding receptions for temple weddings don't get rained out, so we went ahead and decorated the garden. It ended up being completely beautiful, slightly chilly, but a wonderful crisp evening. (see a plethera of wedding photos at in the slideshow).

Also noteworthy, we loved the order of events, and would do it again that way in a heartbeat. For those who don't know, we broke the rules by having our wedding reception the night before our wedding. We also took most of our temple pictures,the morning before our ceremony so that our guests didn't have to sit around for hours and watch (we've all done it!). So our ceremony was at 1:30pm, we had a really nice dinner at the Lion House at 4:00pm, and we were finished with everything by 5:45pm and on a carriage ride to our honeymoon suite!

Our honeymoon started out pretty eventful, with an overbooked plane, $1600 in travel vouchers (yahoo), a brief unplanned stop on Oahu with no luggage, and then the remainder of the week spent in Kauai, Hawaii. We had a free 5 star hotel accomodation, thanks to Uncle Deloitte and the many nights spent travelling for work in the blessed Marriott Hotels, earning points!

Kauai was absolutely beautiful! A great romantic spot for us to enjoy the beginning of our lives together. We visited amazing sights, went on a BUMPY raft ride, got sick on a helicopter ride, swam at the beach as much as possible, and ate lots of scrumptious and SUPER expensive food!

Life has now calmed down in good 'ole Logan,

Utah. Rich has spent the summer attending school and flying his Instrument Rating, while I have been working at a great CPA firm up here, and enjoying the wonderful weather. We have travelled almost EVERY weekend to one family event or another (which have been really fun!), and we were also super excited to spend our first weekend home this last weekend, to enjoy Logan.

We have been trying to act like grown-ups :-) by starting our food storage, including making jam with strawberries that were on sale, and buying 40 lbs of chicken which we laboriously cut up and prepared to can.

We also got Mountain bikes and have ridden them EVERY chance we get. Rich rides his to school and work. I'm not quite that dedicated, but we're having fun exploring the trails of Cache Valley.

Well, thats probably a good update on us. I'll post more later! Ciao for now!

Getting Started

2008-04-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hello all! We've decided it must be time to join this lovely blogging world. This is probably the easiest way to show pictures, to communicate with all of our wonderful friends, and to keep everyone current on our life together. We don't keep in touch with our loved ones near enough so hopefully this will help!

We will be married on May 24, 2008. We are so excited for this day to come! People keep telling us that our engagement has been fast, but we beg to differ! Our engagement will have been approximately 9 weeks when we finally reach the big day. For any of you who have recently gotten married, you know that two months feels LONG. It makes it worse that we are living apart. I will move up there in about 3 weeks and that will be great. In the mean time, I'm planning a wedding, and trying (unsuccessfully) to concentrate on work.

Here is a preview of our engagement photos. Rich is way hotter than this photo shows him, but he liked the picture of me, and he said that nobody cares what the guy looks like so I guess this is the one we will be sending.

I'll add more soon!