Clubbin'

I've just recently started to feel the loneliness of having Tyler gone all day. Most days he leaves before 7:00 a.m. and doesn't get home until after 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. So, I've decided to do a little clubbin' to help pass the time. Ha ha, anyone who knows me won't believe that sentence for a second. But I did host my book club this week, as well as attend my first card club meeting. I've been in a book club for several years and although a lot of members have come and gone, it's been a lot of fun. It keeps me busy reading and gives me something to look forward to every month. I made chocolate mousse from scratch and it turned out very well!

A while ago a girl in my ward hosted a card-making Enrichment activity and set up a card club at it. There are eight of us and each month we have to make eight identical cards that fit a theme. Then we get together and exchange. The nice part is that we get eight different cards but only have to come up with one idea! Even though the meeting didn't last very long, it was something else to look forward to. I'm excited to get to know people better and to be forced to get my creative juices flowing.

As promised...

And here's another picture of Ada. Look how pretty she is!

Blankie

After Ada was born, my friend Vanessa gave her an ADORABLE pink blanket that she crocheted herself. It didn't take long for it to become Ada's favorite blanket, and now she's obsessed with it! She can't sleep without it, and when she's awake she pulls it out of her crib and carries it around the apartment. If she happens to let it go and leave it lying around, she soon starts saying "blanket!" and walks around until she finds it. Yesterday she would not let it go when it was breakfast time, so I had to leave it on her lap under the tray while I fed her. When it was time for a bath, she refused to let go and I had to force it out of her hands. She was NOT happy. Then today I was doing laundry and she saw me put it into the washing machine. She kept reaching for it and saying "blanket!" and got mad that she couldn't have it. I'm going to have to start being more sneaky when I have to separate her from it. But I think it's adorable that she loves it so much, especially since I carried around a crocheted blankie when I was young. Right now our camera has a picture in it of Ada with the blanket over her head, but the battery just died. Until we get another, this old picture will have to do.

Music

I'm not in the mood to do much right now, so I thought I'd copy my friend Sabrina and post about music. I was just looking at our family space, which Tyler so graciously put my favorite song of all time on. If you want to hear it, go here. Turn it up really loud and be prepared to be moved to tears :). Anyway, just for fun I thought I'd also include a list of bands I've seen live. (There are some concerts I'm ashamed to admit I've been to, so I won't include everything.) Here goes nothin'...

Radiohead (twice)
Weezer (three times)
U2 (twice)
Coldplay
Morrissey
Blur (with a bunch of other bands)
The Cure
Keane
Depeche Mode
Matt Sharp
Ron Sexsmith
Counting Crows
The Wallflowers (twice)
Dashboard Confessional
The Beach Boys (free at the Olympics!)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Jethro Tull (I'm actually not ashamed of this one)
Interpol
Stephen Malkmus
Blink 182
The Aquabats
The Violent Femmes
The Beta Band

Is that it? I've been a concert-goer for many years, so I know I'm missing some. Some of these bands opened for other bands, and a lot of them were playing together at a big event, like BASH. I used to be into music a lot more than I am now, which is good and bad. It can be expensive, but it's a lot of fun! I need to listen to more music that I like, instead of to the stinkin' radio. As far as bands that I'd love to see, I'd have to say Belle and Sebastian, Oasis, Travis, and The Shins, just to name a few. So there ya have it! That was a nice trip down memory lane.

Football season is here!

I thought I better post before tomorrow's game in case BYU loses. I won't be in the mood if that's the case. I don't know much about the team and I have no idea how good they'll be, but I'm hoping for a decent season. We'll get a taste tomorrow afternoon. I'm excited to have something to cheer for again after the Jazz's great playoff run. This is a fun time of year.

The Utes had several bouts of bad luck last night in their 24-7 loss at Oregon State. In the first half they lost their two best offensive players to injury (one for the season), and after scoring first, gave up 24 unanswered points. I didn't watch much of the game, but what I saw was pretty crappy and neither team looked very good. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out.

On a different note, Ada has been walking around like a mad woman for a couple of weeks now. She looks so cute and you can tell that she is proud of herself. She seems to be a lot happier now that she can transport herself like a normal person. She's a lot of fun.

Tyler is back in school and has night classes Monday-Thursday. It makes the days seem longer. Poor Ada doesn't even get to see Tyler some days (poor Tyler too) and most mornings she wakes up saying "da-da" while walking around the apartment looking for him. It's very cute but it makes me sad. We've survived four years of school since we've been married, so I guess we can survive one more. May still seems far away though.

All Done!

Yesterday was the first day since Ada's birth that I didn't breastfeed her. I've been trying to wean her for over three weeks now, and it's been harder than I thought. She doesn't come begging to be fed (although I can tell she really enjoys it), and my body hasn't had a hard time adjusting. The hardest part has been trying to replace breast milk with something else. The very first day I offered her cow's milk she drank it after a few sittings. The next day she wouldn't touch it, and then we left for vacation, so we stopped trying. When we got back I bought strawberry Nesquik to flavor the milk, and she drank it. The next day she wouldn't touch it. In the meantime I had been dropping feedings until I was down to just one. I didn't want to just stop, though, because I wanted to make sure she was getting enough to eat. She's underweight (it will be a while before she can go in a front-facing carseat) and I didn't want her to starve. I started feeding her yogurt every day, and every once in a while she'd decide to take a few sips of milk. She still doesn't drink much, and I have to just set her cup out and let her drink it herself instead of trying to force it on her. I feed her Cheerios with milk in the mornings, and finally decided that she probably won't start wanting milk until the nursing is done. So I'm finished! It's a little sad, but I'm also excited. Even though I wasn't a big fan of breastfeeding at the beginning, I will miss it. My little girl is growing up!

Baby Steps!

So today Ada suddenly decided that she could walk. We went to my parents' house and she started walking between my mom and me. After that she would walk across the room. She took at least 12 steps several times. They were just tiny little steps, but she was definitely getting around. I almost started crying while watching her because it was just so darn cute. I can't believe how big she is getting! It took her a while to warm up before she'd do it for Tyler tonight, but I think she's actually getting the hang of it. We tried filming her but she decided to throw a fit every time we pulled out the camera. She's not a performer. She walks better on her own than when we're trying to force her to. She always has had a mind of her own!

Photos

We went boating this weekend with Tyler's family, and I biffed it hard while waterskiing. Check out my battle wound:


The picture doesn't do it justice. The bruises aren't too dark, but they're pretty swollen.

Also, here's a picture of the pretty flowers Tyler got me for our anniversary:


Lilies are my favorite.

The Craziness we call Summer

Things have been a little crazy lately, and the state of our apartment is evidence of that. I spent this past week reading the final Harry Potter book. It was difficult to find time with Ada around, so I really could only read while she was napping. I neglected pretty much everything else during that time, which explains the mess surrounding us. I did finish it, though, and it was excellent. I'm glad to finally know how everything ended. I was not disappointed.

The week before last we were on vacation, so that made things a little crazy. To add to everything, Ada has been out of sorts the last few weeks. As soon as we left for vacation, she decided that she didn't want to eat much and still hasn't seemed to get her appetite back. She got shots the day after her birthday, and just over a week after that she started getting a fever and a rash. Her temperature got up to 103.7. That only lasted a few days, and then she had one day where she was better than I can ever remember her being. She just seemed happy all day. That soon ended though. Since then she has been ridiculously fussy. We don't know what to do with her and don't know what is wrong. Hopefully this will soon pass.

Today was one of the craziest Sundays I can remember. I had to go to church early for a temple recommend interview with the Bishop (Tyler had already been there since 6:15 a.m.), then rush to the chapel to play prelude since I was asked Friday night to play the organ in Sacrament Meeting (I don't know how to play the organ, by the way). I then had to meet with a member of the Stake Presidency for another interview, and then rush to Primary, where I had to fill in as an emergency pianist. After Sharing Time ended I had a Primary Presidency meeting that went long, and then had to rush home to get Tyler & Ada so we could drive down to Murray for my friend Kim's baby blessing. We hung out at my parents' for the rest of the day, since it was our week for dinner there anyway, so I did get a nap in this afternoon. That made up for everything.

This week promises to add to the chaos. Wednesday night I have a wedding shower, Thursday night we have a birthday party, Friday night we have a wedding reception (I'm a bridesmaid), Saturday morning we have a wedding and then a luncheon, and that night we have a baptism. The following day we have another baby blessing. Sheesh! We'll have about a week to (hopefully) relax before Tyler starts school again. Then my family comes into town for Abby's mission farewell, so there will be a lot going on then. Let's hope we can survive August.

Four Years and Counting

Today is our 4th anniversary. I can't believe it's been that long, but then it also seems like I've been married forever. Since we just returned from vacation, we don't have any plans except a wedding reception tonight (how dare someone else get married on our anniversary!). Tyler and I have lots of great memories, with many more to come. Some favorites include rubbing elbows in the car, Countdown e-mails, driving up Emigration Canyon, traveling to Boston & Maine, and of course everything to do with Ada. Love ya, hon! We've actually made it four years! Not that I expected anything different.