Amelia and her Mommy

Amelia loves Emily.

Emily says that Amelia loves me, too, but I know it's not true. I know Amelia will love me and I know that I love her very much, but Amelia loves Emily.

Which isn't much of a surprise for two reasons. First, everyone loves Emily. She's awesome. Second, Emily's a wonderful mother. She's very attentive and she's concientious. She wants to nurture, teach, and care for her daughter.

So tonight Amelia was screaming in her bed. I went in to try to comfort her. I held her and whispered to her and tried to make her feel better. It didn't help. Emily came in and kissed her and held her and after about seven seconds Amelia calmed down. She actually started smiling!

I'm not complaining. I'm glad Amelia loves Emily. I love Emily, too. I'm happy that Amelia has someone that can take such great care of her. I'm a lucky man and I love my beautiful girls.

Before I Die

So, a lot of people write lists of things they would like to do before they die...like visit the Eiffel Tower, go on a safari to Africa, skydive...mostly adventurous, courageous, ambitious tasks. Most of these lists contain anywhere from 50-100 such dreams.

I compiled my list today- it could hardly be called a list as it only has 1 line item: buy a house in San Diego.

Yesterday, Chris and I went to the zoo in the afternoon for a few hours with Amelia, and then we drove around Point Loma looking at the quaint, though pricey, cottages.

That's my dream...to buy a cottage here in San Diego for my family - something small, with pretty flowers, a good view of the Pacific, a red front door and a hammock in the back for Chris. I've heard it said that the first step to accomplishing any goal is to write it down...so there you go. My goal is written down. Visit the blog in 30 years to read about my cute cottage.

Moving into reality... the summer is really flying by. Everything I was looking forward to this summer has already happened. Chris starts TAing again this week, work is picking up as our season gets busy and the weather is cooling off again - to 70 instead of 75.

Amelia is starting to sit up on her own. She is eating more and more food- and has even surprised us by waking up in the middle of the night again - not a pleasant surprise. Mia is such a happy human being. She loves being outside, listening to music (especially her daddy playing the guitar), eating applesauce (she says "mmmmmm" after every bite), and taking baths. I think her expressions of contentment are the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.

My life is so wonderful right now - it is great to wake up each day with my husband and my baby. It doesn't get better than this - well, unless I was waking up in that cottage. I'll let you know.

Grad School

I had a great week at school. In 2003.

I'm kidding. Last week everything just seemed to go well. For the first time in a long time I was genuinely excited about my work and my prospects. Just a few weeks ago, I was still seriously considering dropping out of school. Grad school really is a roller coaster. I don't know how I'd do it without my family.

I even went to school today, the first time in a long time that I seriously worked on a Saturday. Granted, I spent most of my time planning and trying (unsuccessfully) to figure out how to use Microsoft Project to organize myself. I was only on campus for about 4 hours and then Emily and I took Amelia to the zoo. She, of course, had no idea what was going on. She does enjoy being outside, however, and she likes being carried in the Baby Bjorn front carrier. Afterward, we went to dinner at Chipotle (good burritos!) and then drove around Point Loma looking at houses.

We really love living in San Diego. We would love to live here forever and visiting Point Loma today only reinforced that sentiment. Fortunately, last night we spent time looking at houses all over the country and we found that there are lots of places we would like to live. I'm still excited to graduate and see where we end up.

(The above picture is a beatiful beach house in Nags Head, North Carolina that is about the same price as the two bedroom condos across the street from us in La Jolla.)

Your Name is Safe in Our Home

The first "family rule" that Emily and I set after we got married was "no camping." It's a great rule. Since, we've been invited to go camping several times. We don't have to explain that we don't like sleeping on the ground or eating food with dirt in it. We just say "sorry, that's against our family rule." Surprisingly, most people let it go at that. The exception was my dad, who argued with me for about 5 minutes about whether we did, in fact, have a family rule about camping. I won in the end, of course.

Yesterday we attended the Andersens' ward. One of the talks was about gossip and so for family home evening we discussed how our family could apply the principles. After much deliberation, we set a new family rule:

"Your name is safe in our home."

I'm very excited about this opportunity to improve in this dimension. Gossip can be carnally satisfying, but it is a completely destructive form of communication. It does nothing for the spreaders and less for the targets. Emily and I decided on the following course of action to apply our new rule:

1. We will give silent and loving cues to each other as reminders to not speak ill of others.
2. We will not engage gossipers. Even seemingly benign responses like "that's too bad" or "oh" can encourage the blabbing. Instead, we will either completely disengage (by leaving the room) or we will attempt to change the subject.
   
3. We wish to defend our loved ones when they are disparaged in our presence. We do not, however, want to begin a contentious interchange nor humiliate the gossiper. Therefore, when we hear someone maligned, we will counter with a sincere compliment and attempt to change the subject. For example
   
   

   "That Jimmy is so obnoxious. I hate the way he combs his hair."
   "You know, Jim is so funny. He always makes me laugh. Hey, by the way, did you hear about the index of leading economic indicators? Isn't that interesting?"

08/14/06

I've been working on Amelia's baby book this past week - and spent some time looking at photos of her birth. March 13, 2006 will be forever engrained in my memory...what a happy day! Being her mom is great. She learns so much every day and has just recently discovered who I am and what I do. She knows I'm the food lady, the diaper lady, the nap lady, and the kissing lady. It's fun that she knows who I am and she likes me!

Amelia is slowly eating more and more baby food. The verdict - likes peaches, sweet potatoes, prunes, oatmeal, rice cereal and applesauce; doesn't like bananas, or peas...they make her face wrinkle and her body shudder. So far, she hasn't rolled over again...maybe she will again soon when she sees something she wants. I should probably stop getting everything for her.

We spent last weekend at my parents house for Ashley's 2nd reception. It was fun to see people from the ward and show off my baby. KaRynn was there with her little baby, who is only 10 days younger than Amelia, but about 5-6 pounds lighter. Amelia looked like a giant!

Eric is moving out this week to go to school at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. I am so proud of my little brother. He is handsome, smart, funny and considerate. He loves my daughter so much that he has her picture as the background on his new cell phone (so does Uncle Todd). He is excited to play basketball at school - and has been working very hard to pay for everything. He is going ot school full-time, playing basketball, and working part-time. What a great guy!

Summer Vacations

Every summer we make the trek.

Utah is so hot and dry in the summer. We were there for pioneer day, and I pondered the state of minds of our forefathers as they came into the desolate valley that July. I guess after the trip they had made, the Salt Lake valley was an answer to prayers.

It's been nearly 150 years since William Wignall brought his family across the plains in the Willie Handcart Company. We often discuss the trials they endured on the westward voyage, but it seems pretty clear that the trek was just one of many hardships. They arrived at the valley! Yeah! Now what? No home, no cleared farmland, no neighbors, and no certainty about where they would be sent (Brother Brigham sent William's family to Payson. At least it wasn't St. George!).

We enjoyed our trip. There are always more things to do than there is time. We stayed at my parents' home in Farmington, encroaching on Jenny's new "dorm-apartment" in the basement. Barry's brother Mike came down with his new wife Christine and their 4 kids (ages 1, 2, 2, and 5!). We shopped and ate in Centerville on Friday. On Saturday, we shopped and ate in Park City. On Sunday, we rested. On Monday, we shopped and ate in Layton. A good time was had by all.

Seriously we had a good time. On Saturday, I went with Barry to buy a new desktop computer for their home office. We went to several retail outlets and had a miserable time dealing with salespeople. I'm writing this here as a reminder to myself: Dell.com

We made a trip down to Payson to see Dad. He was very lucky; that was Amelia's happiest day of the whole trip. She just smiled and played with him the whole day. He grilled some great steak and salmon. I was glad that Amelia finally got to meet Grandpa Dave and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Mark and Cleo. Amy and Renvic were also there. Their kids are getting big fast. I remember going to the twins' first birthday party soon after I got home from Honduras. They'll be 8 this winter. The younger boys are adorable and they love grandma and grandpa (of course).

We got to see Sabrina and Grandma Shirley as well. Both were excited to see Amelia. Emily and I are grateful for the many wonderful people who love our daughter.

We visited Spencer and Jenny Smith at their home in Sandy. Their kids are loads of fun and I wish I could see them more often.

We briefly visited Brian, Courtney, and Todd in Provo. We anticipated seeing them a few weeks later at Ashley's wedding (!), so we just went to dinner and visited at Todd's apartment.

There are many places in this world that I would like to see, but when it comes time to plan a vacation, the people I want to see are more important. To Utah!

I'm grateful that there are so many people we want to visit. I wish we got to see them all more often.

The Beginning

August 6, 2006

I've always felt that my life wouldn't actually begin until I had children. My patriarchal blessing states that my most important role in this life is to be a mother. When Amelia Grace was born I did actually feel like my life had begun.

And what a life! Everyone in my family knows that I think my life is perfect - and it is, and has always been. Having a baby just added so much joy to my perfect life.

Amelia is growing up so much. Today when I was feeding her oatmeal in her new high chair she started banging on the tray like a drum. I, being amazed, called Chris into the room to watch our genius baby in action. However, he informed me that it was him who had taught her this new ability. He would pound on the tray, she would watch and then she would copy him. To anyone else this seems like a small accomplishment - but to doting parents, this is a marvelous feat and a revelation of how our actions will affect her life. We'll have to be more careful with a copycat around.

This week my sister Ashley got married. When I moved out of the house she was only 16 and didn't wear make-up yet, or kiss boys. Now she is a married woman. She is such a good girl...and was so unbelievable gorgeous in her dress. I love her so much, and I am so proud of her. She just gets it! She understands the gospel so simply and surely. She was never nervous about getting married, because she was so sure that she was doing the right thing. I don't think she knows (I should tell her), but I've watched her sweet faith in her Savior, and my testimony has grown. Now she is moving to Provo so her new husband, Bryan, can finish his degree at BYU. I hope she visits often.

I celebrated my 5th wedding anniversary this past week - on August 4th. I can't explain how great it is being married to Chris. We just have so much fun! I don't really believe that there is only 1 right person for everyone...but I can't imagine anyone else more compatible to me than Chris. It's such a wonder that I get to be married to him forever.

Chris says I have to post more regularly. I'll try my best to write the things I think my kids will want to read, and the things I'd like to know about my parents.