Wishing and Dreaming

Oh how our Megan wishes she could figure out crawling. She has developed her own little way to scoot toward desired objects, it's pretty funny to watch. She is good at digging her toes into the carpet and trying with all her might. We are having fun watching her figure things out. And we are enjoying our last few days of having a fairly immobile child. Soon she will be everywhere!

We are also enjoying Megan's new accomplishment of SLEEPING ALL NIGHT!!!! Woo hoo! After our trip, Megan was a little messed up on her sleep schedule. Before we moved she would consistently sleep from 8 pm to 4 am, nurse, and sleep til 7. Then all of a sudden after the trip, she was waking up and nursing at midnight AND and 4. Well, my patience with this lasted about 2 nights before I said HEY! No way, you don't need to eat, you just need to go back to sleep.

So at midnight the next night, I picked her up and hugged her and put her back in bed. It took about 40 minutes of whining, but she fell back asleep and SLEPT TIL 6!!! And the next night, she woke up at 2 am, whined for 10 minutes and again slept til 6. Since then, she consistently has been sleeping from 8 pm to 6 am--and occasionally even til 7 or 8. The best part is, she'll still go back to sleep after nursing at 6 am- usually til 8. It's bliss. And I'm sure my body will eventually learn to sleep all night again too...but for now, at least I can just look at the clock and roll back over! It's been so great, I wish solid nights of sleep for all of you--sweet dreams!

Here is Megan scooting video #1


And Megan scooting #2



This is really NOT a good picture of our girl--I was trying to take a picture in these cute overalls but instead caught a snot bubble.


But this one is sweet :)

Tagged by Carrie

1. What was I doing 10 years ago... getting ready to graduate from 8th grade, enjoying life as a new teenager
2. What was on my to-do list for today? Install the printer on the computer, hang pictures in Megan's room, balance the checkbook
3. What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire? buy a house, only fly first class, go to australia, invest, start some cool charities, donate to BYU
4. 3 Bad habits... I love to sleep in--even when I have already gotten plenty of sleep (I blame the past 2 years of working half days/half nights), I have to have a deadline set--even for small tasks (that way I can put them off as long as possible...I love the rush of trying to get something done by the last second of a deadline), I hate to floss!
5. Places I have lived..... parent's home in houston, david john hall in provo, the condo in provo, wymount, our current apt in houston!
6. Places I have worked... Willow Pool, Star Satellite (my least favorite job ever!), the NICU at UVRMC in Provo
7. 3 Things people don't know about me....
*I love (LOVE!) dill pickles. The really big ones like you see in the jars at the movie theater. I always have--my mom had to make a rule that I was only allowed one pickle a day (and my siblings had me convinced for a while that if I ate more than one, I'd turn into a pickle).
*I love to balance the checkbook. Seriously. It feels like a game and when the balance in the ledger and the balance online match, I win!
*I know how to tap dance. I took tap for 8 years or so growing up and even took an intermediate tap class at BYU.

And, just for fun, here are some adorable Megan faces:

Check out that little snaggle tooth!

Final Cruise Post

I know I've posted about a million pics already, but it was an awesome vacation!

Second formal night (the one flip-flop/one nice shoe look is really in this season)


Dan is already embracing his new home state (that's a Texas flag inspired vest courtesy of my parents)


Our short-lived family shuffleboard tournament...it was COLD!


Megan conked out while playing cards the last day--all that fun just wipes you out!


Our fearless waiters--Oscar from Colombia and Shu from India. They were fantastic!

Cruise Post #3 (The Ports)

Our first port of call was Cabo San Lucas. We took a glass bottom boat ride which I mostly enjoyed...except when I realized that our boat had a grand total of 1 dilapidated life jacket...for 14 people including 2 infants, one of whom was strapped to me! Thankfully we didn't sink. Unfortunately it was the glass bottom boat where Dan broke his toe.

Lover's Beach viewed from the glass-bottom boat


Land's End


Seals! Cool to look at but not-so-cool to smell :)


The family on Lover's Beach, Pacific Ocean in the background


Megan ready to shop in Mazatlan


The family in Mazatlan


Megan enjoying the beach...she fell asleep while we walked to it and never even knew we were there!


Mazatlan had my favorite sand--it looked like there were swirls of gold in it as the water washed over it. It was soft too.


The scenic view from our boat while docked at Puerto Vallarta (ha- that's the view of the WalMart and the Sam's Club--how quaint)


Sunset in Puerto Vallarta. We played on the beach between the second and third rock jetties. Megan's first time in the ocean was definitely a success--she grinned the whole time!


One more of sunset--it really was beautiful


Dan and a happy little Megan


Heather and Randy


The ports were fun, I had never REALLY been to Mexico and overall I liked it. But it did make me grateful to live in the good old U. S. of A.--Mexico was like a whole other country :)

Cruise Post #2 (Formal Night 1)

Once we got underway, we spent 2 days cruising.

Here is a group shot from the card room--we spent a lot of our cruising days there. Why weren't we laying out and taking in the sun you ask? Well--until we got to Mexico, it was only about 60 degrees on deck! Ali and I tried laying out Monday afternoon, but by the time we got sunscreen on we were shivering and quickly gave up to get in the hot tub.


Megan's favorite thing to do--help! She is an excellent cardeater...


Dan and I on the first formal night. We had the late dinner at 8:30 pm and all nights but one, Megan cooperated by going to bed in the stroller at 8--our waiters only saw her once!


One of the two tables--check out Heather's cute face.


The other table. I especially like the food-grin from Robbie.

Cruise Post #1

Woo hoo for cruises! We enjoyed and survived our first cruise. The enjoyment was because we had fantastic company, food, and sites to see. The survival included many elements: Megan's first tooth, an ear infection, a 2 hour time change, and an eye infection and for Dan, a broken toe. Amber's survival was simply having to deal with the other two :)

Waiting to board the ship in San Pedro, CA


On the boat, it's pushing off!


Megan getting ready for the "mustard" drill


Most of the family (Heather is laying nearby trying not to get sick)


Megan's favorite cruise hangout--the stroller!

Limbo Limbo

We're finally feeling like we're back to some semblance of real life after a few weeks of limbo. Our stuff made it to Houston just fine, we spent 4 days unpacking (but not really getting settled since we would come to our apartment during the day but meals and nights were spent at my parents' house), and then headed off on our cruise with Dan's family. I must say I didn't love going on vacation in the middle of moving. I was pretty stressed before leaving, trying to make sure we had everything packed for vacation and I hated leaving our new apartment in such a mess! I've really enjoyed attacking pile after pile and finding homes for everything now that we're back. I've even gone grocery shopping (it's amazing how having food in the fridge makes everything seem better :). Here's some pictures of the mess that was our apartment. Follow up pictures will be posted eventually.

The Main Living Area--observe the lack of cinderblock and the high ceilings. and the boxes...they are a lovely touch


Megan's room


The master bedroom

Fun times at Grandma's house

We've really enjoyed our weekend in Bountiful. Megan especially has enjoyed being snuggled and spoiled by Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Ben.

Megan loves to help me get ready in the morning--the double vanity really comes in handy!


Megan and her Great-Grandfather. We got to spend some time with Grandfather and Mama Laney this afternoon.


Megan in her (and Mom's) favorite toy at Grandma's--the swing set! Megan loves to swing by herself--she smiles and giggles nearly the whole time.

The Only Way to Move

One of the biggest perks that comes with Dan's new job is that his company moved us--we didn't have to collect a single box, pack a single item, or carry a single piece of furniture down those dreaded three flights of stairs. Dan and his dad had so much fun carrying all of those items UP the stairs, they were really quite sad to miss out on that experience...NOT. Let us tell you, THAT was the way to move. We went to Dan's graduation ceremony at 8 am, were home by 9:30, put away a few small items and waited for the movers. They arrived and got started around 11 am. We were there for a little while but were basically in the way. So we walked around Costco, went out to lunch, and took naps only to be rudely awakened by the movers around 2:30 pm. They were DONE! That's right my friends, by 3 pm, a mere 4 hours after they started, our entire apartment was boxed, labeled, and safely tucked into the moving van. It was amazing. Anyway. We were able to get a head start on cleaning and finished up Saturday around 1:30 pm. We've been relaxing since then in Bountiful and will fly to Houston tomorrow.

Megan was a big help while we cleaned the apartment--she took great naps so we could get lots done.


*Just a side note: The green pillow Megan is sleeping on was the first and last piece of "furniture" in our apartment! For the first 3 weeks of our married life, it was the only place to sit in the apartment--it served as couch, table, and chairs. And then, at the end of our time in Wymount, it served as crib and bouncy chair as well!

Class of 2008

Just in time for his 10 year high school reunion, Dan is wearing graduate robes for the second time! He is officially done with his baccalaureate education and I am so proud of him. One of Dan's lifetime goals was to get in to BYU and now he is a BYU alumnus. It was not an easy road but he was determined and put in the hard work necessary to accomplish it. He is a pretty amazing guy...sigh, I'm so lucky :)

The whole family before the school-wide commencement...it was between snow flurries and about 35 degrees! Brrr!


Megan and Dan outside the Marriot center


The whole fam


Dan and his parents at the smaller graduation ceremony


Megan really enjoyed the ceremony :)

The End of an Era

It has been a very eventful few weeks for our little family. We have had lots of "lasts" and are looking forward to many firsts. A week ago Friday, we went to dinner with some of our favorite people in the world! Maren, Brian, Brigham, Bryan, Lynn, Nathan, and Stephanie. We went to the Bombay House (a really, really yummy Indian restaurant in Provo). It was some delicious food and even better company. We will miss our many Utah friends. It is hard to believe that I have known Maren and Stephanie for 6 years and all the boys for about 5. Wow, how time flies.

Lynn, Bryan, and Brian


Stephanie, Nathan, and baby boy bump


Maren, baby boy bump, and Amber


Brigham helping eat some ice cream


Dan and I enjoying our last night of entertaining in 650 square feet of 1960's cinderblock!