Updates

WE'RE BACK!!
Atleast for today.  I can't believe how far behind I have been on my blogging.  I don't know how anyone keeps up on blogging, I can't even keep up on my laundry.  I'm going to try and do better I promise.

We are all doing well and enjoying being here in Columbus.  Dave is staying really busy with work and continually checks the weather in St. George cause that's where he really wants to be. Biking, hiking, running, golfing, lots of business with all of the retired old men, it doesn't get better than that.  Come June he will have 1 year down, 4 to go.  Time flies so fast.  We moved here when Norah was 6 weeks and now she is almost 10 months.  I can't believe it.

I am working for a home health agency, I work nights, which is really nice that I don't have to worry about daycare etc.. I know the kids are safe at home with Dave and I don't worry.  I mainly work with the same family and I absolutely love them.  They are so good to me so instead of dreading work I actually look forward to going.

Dave and I are serving as ward missionaries and we really like it.  It has been by far my favorite calling.  I love the missionaries so much.  They work so hard and I have learned so much from them.  When we first moved out my brother Sean was still serving a mission.  I look up to him so much, he is such a good kid and I would do anything for him.  When I was called to be a ward missionary I automatically thought of him and told myself that I would love and take care of the missionaries here like I would want someone else to take care of my brother in Minnesota.  The church is true!

Dave and I made a goal to run the capital city half marathon in may so we are training for that.. 7 miles this week..  Yikes!  If I have to run one more mile on a treadmill I may kick myself, so hopefully the weather warms up soon so we can run outside.

Lucy started preschool last fall and loves it.  It is a chore getting her out the door on time but once were out it's good.  She has learned so much and always comes home with a new story or song.  She also loves the kids club at the gym.  She knows right where everything is and she loves to wash her hands with the magic soap.  She is a sunbeam and shared the scripture a couple of Sundays ago and it was so cute.  Her teacher says that she really likes to sing and that they are trying to teach her that she can sing during singing time but needs to listen when it's learning time.  I told the teacher good luck with that.  Lucy told me today that her favorite primary song is "Once there was a snowman" and then she sang and did the actions for me.  Dad says Lucy and I have an "intense" relationship because we bicker all of the time but love each other so much.  Lucy's favorite things to do right now are paint pictures, color, make princess crowns with daddy, sticker books, play hide and seek, the running game, dance party, drag Taco (her stuffed dog from Taco Bell) by a leash (dad's belt), act like her own made up doggie, Aggie, and pretend that otter pops are her bones, make tents, dance with her princess get up, and watch moobies.. she is a busy girl... and that's why she will be in pre school 4 days next year.  She has sooo much energy.  She also loves to "read" to us.  She loves to blame things on Norah, like today when I asked her who got the toys out again, "it was Norah" she told me. This is also kind of funny although I'm not sure where she got this from but when I ask her to do something she doesn't want to do she tells me that she has a broken leg, I just have to laugh.  My other favorite thing lately is when I say "It's time to brush teeth, take a bath, time to eat dinner etc" she says "I did it yesterday!"  I don't think she understands what yesterday means.  She says Ah, man, which is really cute.  We walk on eggshells with her and you never know when she is going to snap but she wouldn't be Lucy without a thousand tantrums a day.  She also claims that she dreams of noodles every time she sleeps.  Pretty funny.  

Norah is sooo chill and I love it!  Except that she is an early riser... that doesn't go over well in our house.  She is 10 months and getting so big.  She is a fast mover and is so funny because she doesn't crawl on all 4's, she army crawls.  She gets up on all 4's but prefers to drag herself.  I don't go anywhere without her following me, she works so hard to keep up but she does.  She has 2 cute little bottom teeth and has a 3rd starting to poke through on the top.  Her favorite things to do are to unplug the TV, especially when Lucy is watching her favorite movie (Lucy gets so mad and is getting really good at no, no norah!), she pushes buttons on the cable box, and pull books and movies off of the shelves, (Dave calls her a squirrel) oh and she eats anything off of the floor and I wonder why she has been sick most of the winter, I'm sure she is addicted to Motrin and Benadryl by now.  Speaking of eating, Dave has a new nickname for her, McNorah (as in McDonalds) because she eats anything you put in front of her.  She eats more than Lucy does now.  If she gets fussy I put her in her high chair and put food in front of her and she is happy.  It's awesome.  She is starting to grow some fuzz on her head (fuzzhead is another nickname for her) she is not the dark haired Norah I pictured she would be but I will take her the way she is.  She is a very happy, content baby and I just love her so much!

I am so so lucky!

Ahhhh, it's so good to be caught up, it's another productive all nighter, why not.

Randoms...

These are some of my random favorites...

Lucy drinking my hot chocolate with her favorite wizard of oz shoes.

We went to Walmart and I told Lucy that if she was really good I would let her pick something little to take home, well she chose this purple dinosaur soap.  Later that evening while they were taking a bath I heard Lucy just busting up laughing so I went into see what she was laughing at and she had been drawing on Norah's head.  They are so funny.  Look at Norah's cute little teeth.

Lucy is ready for preschool, do you think she likes pink?  Guess how long it took for her to get dressed (head to toe)?  Could've taken maybe 5 minutes, but no it took 15 because she didn't want any help but she was so proud of herself. I'm pretty proud of her.  Norah is proud too.

Another "I do it myself" expression.  Note the outfit below.  I don't fight with her about what to wear anymore, I just let her do it.  Someday she will look at these pictures and laugh.  I got some very funny looks at the store that day.

Lucy sharing some popcorn with Norah.  We had to have the "it's so nice of you to share but she is too little to eat popcorn" talk.  Atleast she is sharing.

They are so cute, they will always be best buds.

Norah and her favorite church friend, Jarvis.  If I ever wonder where Norah went I just look for Jarvis and there she is.  So cute!

Daddy and his girls, what would he do without them.  

I love this picture of Norah, she has such big eyes, they are staying blue so far.

My mom sent this pink skirt to Lucy for Christmas for dress up purposes but Lucy really wanted to wear it to church so I let her.  There were many cute comments made about it.  My favorite part is her hair that day.  I'm telling ya she is not cooperative especially in the morning with combing the hair stuff so I do my best.  It's adds to her personality, it's cute.

I'm pretty sure Dave did her hair this day.. it's okay babe, atleast you tried.  This is hands down one of my favorite pictures if her.

We went to dinner after one of our friends, Martin, was baptized.  Can you find Norah?  Yep, she is by Jarvis!  Ha Ha.  I love it!

This is my favorite picture of Norah.  She is such a cute little bug.  She has a little fuzz growing on that bald head of hers.  Yay!!

Dear Lucy, those fries are supposed to be in your tummy not on those toothpicks.  

I love my 2 little girlies!

Big Events/Holidays 09 etc...

This is a shortened version of events/holidays in 2009... 

I can't believe that Lucy is old enough to go to preschool!  Covenant Preschool is a Presbyterian Church in the neighborhood that a lot of the girls in the ward take their kids to.  It's a great little place and Lucy loves it!  Sometimes she shows up with her pants, shirt, and/or shoes on backward (because she won't let me help her), and hair not combed (because she won't hold still and we are late again!!!... and not because of me :), several times I have come to pick her up and one of her teachers has fixed her little pony cause its in her eyes or whatever.  Mrs. Simmons and Mrs. Muhl are her teachers this year and they always tell me what a cute little girl she is.  She brings home something new everyday to add to our fridge collection.  Each day I have to secretly take a couple of things down and recycle them, if you know what I mean, she would throw a fit if she noticed something was missing.  She is in the 3's class and goes Tuesday and Thursday from 9-11:30 am.  She loves her M&M backpack (packpack) she's so cute.

In September my mom, Jenny (my sis), my Aunt Lisa, Jayne and Kate (cousins) and Penny (Kate's baby girl) came to Columbus for the Country Living Fair.  It was so fun to have them all here.  We had so much fun and it's a memory I will never forget.  I miss them all so much!  I wish they could come more often.

For our 8th year wedding anniversary Dave surprised me with a trip to a bed and breakfast in London.  Yep, you heard me right.  London.  London, Ohio.  We took the girls and had such a fun time.  It's so funny because it's randomly become a tradition that we always go to a bed and breakfast place and take the kids.. but it always seems to be some old creepy antique place with cats (we will have to work on that next year) but we don't care it's just fun to be together because that's what it's all about. I will spare all of you with the cheesy anniversary messages.

Our first halloween in Columbus was really fun.  We took the girls to "Boo at the Zoo" a night, which I have no idea where those pics are otherwise I would post them, ward party with trunk-or-treat, scavenger hunt at the local grocery store (which by the way, Giant Eagle is one of the chains out here and they have an "Eagles nest" where you can drop your kids off while you grocery shop, whoever came up with that is genius!!) Trick-or treating of course, Lucy couldn't decide if she wanted to be Tinkerbell or a princess so I bought a princess dress and added wings, whatever makes her happy.  She looked really cute.  Norah dressed up as a baby this year :).  I didn't even think to dress her up, it didn't really matter because it was so cold that she was bundled up in the stroller all night anyway.  Next year.

Lucy and some of the neighborhood kids.

My 2 little girlies!

Dave gets 2 weeks off this year so he decided to take one week off at Thanksgiving so we planned a little getaway to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  It was a really pretty drive and always so cool to see other parts of the country.  We went to this really cool aquarium, probably the best ones I've ever been to.  I love this picture.

I thought this pic was cute of dad and the girls.

Lucy and daddy, they are so cute together!  We ate, slept, explored, shopped, etc.  We went on this really cool tram ride at this huge ski resort, at the top there is a mall with a skating rink and little shops and stuff, it was really cool.  We had so much fun.  It was nice to relax and just hang out together.  

Dave played in the annual ward turkey bowl and wore cleats that were too small and came home with 2 black toenails.  Since he's such an awesome Dr he decided to cure himself and poke holes in his nails to relieve the pressure.  I had to post the picture, sorry.  We made it home in time for Thanksgiving day which was really fun.  We had dinner with the Hymas, Rasmussen, and Burt family.  We love them so much and are so thankful for their friendships.  It made out first holiday away from home a very memorable one, of course I didn't get any pictures :( I wasn't really thinking.

First Christmas in Columbus and Merry 1st Christmas to Norah!  Christmas was pretty chill this year which was really nice.  On Christmas Eve we took the girls to "Princess and the Frog" and ate dinner at Cheesecake Factory with Martin and Kayla.  Christmas day we opened presents and then had some friends over for dinner and games.  New Years was pretty quiet.  Dave was on call so me and the girls got chinese take-out and went home and watched TV.  At midnight I was folding the mound of laundry that had been piling up on my couch and Lucy was watching a movie in my bed so I went and got her and we watched the ball drop together and then we went to bed.  Pretty exciting!!

In January Lucy, Norah, and I took a trip back to Utah for a winter break since we didn't make it back for the holidays.  We also wanted to see Sean (my brother), he returned from his mission in Minnesota so we wanted to spend some time with him.  We did so many fun things while we were there.  Now that I live away from home I look back at all of the things I used to take for granted like having someone to go to Sonic with and get a drink, or go to the mall and get lunch, simple things like that.  We used to do it all of the time but now I would kill just to be able to call my sisters or mom and have them meet me at Target, Costco or whatever just to get out.. now they are too far away :( I still have yet to find a coke friend, sad but true.  Okay, I lied, Lucy is my coke friend, she's always up for a little coke, but it's not the same.  Anyway, that was all kind of random but it was fun to go back and visit and those mall, Target, Sonic etc trips mean so much more than they ever did before.  I miss you guys.  Come see me soon.

Norah and Uncle Sean.  We love you Nusk and are so glad that we were able to come see you.  OSU is calling your name.  We have a very lonely futon right now... you could come to the mall with me.. Sonic?  I'll buy you some popcorn chicken?  I love you dawg.