Happy Birthday Adam!

Adam, I can't believe you are already 9 years old. Time has gone by so fast! I still remember being in the hospital and smelling your head. It smelled like Jergens baby lotion- the one in the pink bottle- and I couldn't get enough of it.

Through the years you have taught me so much and I am so proud of your tenacity and your gentle spirit. Your smile and laugh can still light up a room and you can take any situation and make it a good one. You have such an imaginative mind that will take you far in life whether you choose to be an architect, an archaeologist, a lawyer, or a basketball star.

Thanks for being spiritual and staying close to the Lord. He will guide you in all that you do- just ask!

We love you Adam. Happy Birthday Buddy!

Andrea Marshall - ASP Stager

Oh my goodness! I had such a great time in Denver attending the Accredited Staging Professional Home Staging Conference - say that fast 3 times! I learned so much and am so excited to begin putting my skills to work.

Early Wednesday morning I left my entire family and headed to the airport scared to death. This was the first time I had ever been ANYWHERE by myself and I was so excited and scared at the same time. So, in my mind I took baby steps... just get to the airport on time... find a seat and a place for your bag on the plane... get off the plane and follow the throng of people to the underground train system in the Denver airport... Find Enterprise rent-a-car to get your rental car.... turn on GPS to direct you to the location of the conference. After making a few U-turns I made it to the conference!! I think that deserves a gold star! ***

Anyway, after three days of classroom instruction and an actual hands on staging project I was graduated and became an actual ASP stager. How fun is that? I am excited to put my training to good use- starting on my own home. (Aaron is nervous... he just left for Orlando so I have full range of the house for a few days. He's not sure what he will be coming home to.)

Here are some before and after pictures of the house we did. My group was in charge of making over the kitchen/dining area and family room. I am so proud of what we were able to accomplish with the resources we had.

Family Room Before

Family Room After

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

"Amer"

As we all know, Alex has been a very slow talker. Just in the last couple of months has he really started to say words and sentences. It's been funny and frustrating at times to hear what he says and several times I have had to say "show me" because I just couldn't understand. It took me a long time to figure out that "bum" meant bum and gum- depending on the circumstance.

So, last night at dinner, we were all sitting around the table asking Alex to say different words. He is really good at mommy, daddy, and Abbi but he calls Adam - Amer (A- mur). Adam was trying to get Alex to say his name right so he had Alex pronounce each sound of his name. Here is how that went:

Adam: "Alex say A"
Alex: "A"
Adam: "duh"
Alex: "duh"
Adam: "a"
Alex: "a"
Adam: "mmm"
Alex: "mmm"
Adam in a drawn out tone: "Adam"
Alex in a drawn out tone: "Amer"

We all started laughing so hard.

GNO with Abbi at the Utes gymnastics meet

Abbi and I along with several other moms and their daughters from our neighborhood spent last Friday attending the Utes Gymanstics meet against Washington. What a fun outing! We first got dinner at the Training Table and then it was off to the meet. It was fun watching the girls scream, yell, dance, and get excited! The Utes even won which made it so much better. To top off the night, we stopped for ice cream on the way home.

Although Abbi claims to be BYU blue... she is now a big fan of Utes Red (but only for gymnastics)

Potty Training update

We are now about a week and a half into potty training and I must say Alex is doing AWESOME!! He will go pee all by himself without being reminded. I showed him how to stand and do it and he thinks that is pretty cool! As for the "other" we are still struggling with it but today he went, without being asked, and even wiped himself! Yay! We of course had to call Daddy at work to share the good news.

Okay, so as I am sitting here blogging this I can only laugh to myself because it is such a "mom" thing to do- get excited about your child's bathroom habits and then devote an entire blog entry to it! I know all you other moms out there will totally understand the excitement of it all though. I haven't had to buy diapers for over a month now! Maybe I should take the extra savings and go get a pedicure- I think I deserve it after cleaning up "accidents" for the past week! Anyone up for it?

Potty Training - Day one

Whew! I survived day one of potty training Alex. We have actually done well with only a few wet accidents and 1 other. When I decided I was going to start potty training, I told Alex that when his diapers ran out then that meant it was time to be a big boy and go in the big boy potty. So everyday I would say "Alex we are almost out of diapers- do you know what that means?" To which he would reply "more!" That little stinker!

Anyway, Alex has enjoyed running around the house today in nothing but his Cars Big Boy undies. I even found him with his snow boots on at one point but when I tried to get a picture he ran away- maybe next time. Hopefully he will be one of those boy geniuses and train with minimal effort. (I'm trying to do the whole positive thinking thing here- don't rain on my parade!)
Side note: Here are the pics of Alex in his snow boots. They are blurry but too cute to pass up!

A question to the universe

Why does a child walk past three bathrooms to stand over you in your bed to tell you they are going to throw up? (Abbi)

Just throwing it out there? (pardon the pun.)

Adam-isms

Adam is pretty humorous and some of the things that come out of his mouth just catch us off guard and make us laugh. Here are a few examples.

1. Last night while coming home from Grandma and Grandpa's house, Aaron and I turned on 80's on 8 on satellite radio. They were playing the top hits from 1984. I turned to the kids in the back and said:

"These are the songs from mine and Daddy's era." To which Adam replied: "You mean error."

2. To preface this one, we told Adam about Santa Claus this year. Christmas Eve night we put the kids to bed and then proceeded to bring out Christmas. I knew we were being kind of loud with the bags and such so I went down to check on the kids who were both still awake. I kissed Abbi and told her to go to sleep. I then went into Adam's room and he said: "Way to be Santa Claus, Mr. 4th of July." I started laughing and asked him why he said that. He said we were being really loud and he could hear everything we were doing. I went back upstairs and told Aaron. After we composed ourselves from laughing, we decided to wait a little while before finishing up.

A weekend fit for a queen

What a great, fun, and relaxing weekend. Friday night was spent with great friends for dinner and movie. I met up with Lori, Debbie, and Shelly at MacCools for dinner where we were able to catch up on each other's lives and laugh a lot. Just don't tell Lori that "Twilight" was cheesy.... That makes for an intense moment! We then walked across the street to the movie theater and watched "Yes Man." I love going to the movies and this one is worth seeing. Hearing Debbie giggle throughout the movie was the best part though! These ladies are awesome! We met while working at CMAC over 10 years and have become the best of friends. Our group was a rare find and I love getting together with them every few months to celebrate birthdays!

Saturday was spent with my mom and sister at Gardner Village. We met up at the Cottage Retreat Day Spa where we were pampered for an hour and a half. Mom decided to get the cottage pedicure and Ali and I got a luxurious mud wrap. It was heaven! They first brush mud all over your body then wrap you up cocoon style and let you detoxify for 20 minutes. They then come back and wash off the mud and wrap you in hot towels. This leaves you with super soft skin. I highly recommend it! I seriously felt like a queen.

After the day spa, we went and had a yummy lunch complete with carrot cake at Archibald's. And what girls day out is not complete without shopping? So, after walking through some of the shops at Gardner Village, we loaded up and headed to the mall. What a great day with the girls. Too bad Melanie and Karen weren't able to make it. We missed you!

So, after a weekend of being spoiled and pampered it is hard to come back to real life. But it was really worth it! Thanks Aaron for sending me out for the weekend. I appreciate it!

Our Yellowstone Vacation

All right... we made it to Yellowstone... barely. We left Saturday afternoon and settled in to the car for what we thought was going to be a 5 hour drive to West Yellowstone. 8 hours later we finally pulled into the Worldmark parking lot. It got quite scary at times with white out conditions along the way. We even stopped to help one lady who had slid off the road and rolled her car. I have never been so glad to get to our destination. It was 11:00 when we pulled in so we unloaded the truck and went to bed.


Yesterday, we drove around town to see what is going on... not a whole lot. A lot of the local stores close up for the winter due to low traffic. It is a shame because West Yellowstone has that old time Mayberry feel. I am excited to stroll through the stores that are open and see what they have to offer. We also spent a lot of time in the indoor pool which the kids loved! Aaron and I sat on the side and actually had time to read! It was a pretty lazy day but very much needed.


Today we decided to take a snow coach ride through Yellowstone. It is basically a van that has been outfitted like a snow-mobile. Our guide drove us through Yellowstone stopping at various spots along the way to see wildlife, geysers, hot spots, waterfalls, bubbling mud, and Old Faithful. Alex's favorite animal we saw was the Bison. Every time he saw one he would yell out "Bi-en." We also saw a coyote, elk, 2 bald eagles, swans, mule deer, and lots of birds- the ravens here are huge. They tried to take a box of Eggo waffles out of the back of our truck.


I must say Old Faithful was kind of a dud for me. We stood out in the freezing snowy temperatures and waited for it to go off for 20 minutes. (Alex and Abbi didn't quite make it- they got too cold so Aaron took them into a warming hut). When it finally did go off, you could barely see it because the sky was white, the steam was white, and the water was white. There was no contrast to actually see it- bummer! Oh well, our guide was very good and he led us to some other geysers that erupted right as we got to them. Those were very cool! All in all it was a great expedition and we all had a great time in snowy Yellowstone. The scenery was so beautiful and I loved looking at all the hot pools.


Firehole Falls

The Great American Bald Eagle

A Bison

Sapphire Pool