Monsoon Season

Who says it never rains in the desert? Having lived here for not quite a year, I'm not sure if this is typical or not, but we've actually had a couple of nice storms lately. In spite of all the water you see in the pictures below, it actually only rained for a short time. The ground is very hard here and doesn't absorb the water very quickly. And you wouldn't believe how fast it dries up once the sun comes back out!

Here are some pictures of Seth and Hannah enjoying the rain we've gotten from the thunderstorms during the last week.

Joshua's First Buzz

Bald but beautiful!

So I had some questions about why Joshua's birth was so bad. It was nothing serious or life-threatening. Let me just say that "Pitocin" is a bad word at our house. I've been induced twice because these darn babies refuse to come on their own; this second time I was wanting to go natural and do hypnobirthing (which I loved and would highly recommend to anyone not being induced!). Anyway, to make the story short, my body does not handle Pit very well, but I forgot just how horrible it is until it was too late. I couldn't sleep for three days afterwards, my shoulders felt like I'd just done an eight-hour weightlifting session, and my stomach muscles were sore to the touch for two full months.

If you haven't had kids yet, this isn't supposed to scare you. I don't think childbirth is a scary thing and this isn't supposed to be a "childbirth horror story" or anything. I don't even think Joshua's birth needed to be like that. That's why I was so irritated that things happened the way they did. In fact, I liked the natural/hypnobirthing stuff so much that I have determined I will keep having babies long enough to have one come on its own and be a full-out hypnobirth...I guess we'll see how many it takes!

Happy Anniversary!

Seth and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on June 28th. (This is a busy time of year for us.) I just looked it up and found out that this is the "wood and silverware" anniversary. Did I get wood or silverware? Well...my book was made from a tree, and we used silverware to eat dinner, so close enough :)

Seth planned a wonderful day for us. We had an hour and a half of babysitter time during the day, so he took me over to the bookstore and let me choose any book I wanted (I got Arabian Nights and an old art book called The Art of Walt Disney -- from Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom ...eat your heart out, Tiff!). Then we went over to the park and had a little picninc while he read to me. This was an awesome date because I love getting new books and we love reading together. Now we read a new Arabian tale every night before we go to bed, and when we're done with that book, we'll do the date over again and start something new. What a fun new tradition. Thank you so much, honey! After we put the kids to bed, Seth fixed up a fancy and delicious Jamaican dinner for us (reminiscent of our honeymoon) and just before we sat down to eat, we had to take time out for a little potty-training session with Hannah. So we microwaved our food and then enjoyed our delicious dinner.

After dessert and another chapter in Arabian Nights, Hannah rolled out of bed and hurt her shoulder badly enough to warrant a midnight trip to the ER. (AGAIN...for those of you who are unaware, she obtained the same injury back in March by rolling off the couch. We have all tile floors, so it's not hard to get hurt here.) Last time, the doctor thought she might have fractured something, so we didn't take any chances with this incident. No broken bones, just a badly bruised and swollen shoulder/collar bone. It's so sad to see your little three-your-old unable to use her arm at all -- she needs help lying down, sitting up, etc. and if you ask her how her shoulder is, she says "It's feeling sick." So sad!

But in spite of all the drama of ER trips and tantrums and teething and potty-training, we are very happy and have been very blessed in our five years together. Or maybe it's because of all that...after all, the happiness is in the journey, right?

Thanks for making the journey with me, Seth. I love you!

Happy Birthday, Boys!

We celebrated Joshua's first birthday on June 19th. (Well, we celebrated on the 21st because the 19th didn't pan out quite the way we'd hoped...the day started out with Joshua overheating and vomiting at the playground -- at 8:00 in the morning! -- and just got better from there.) Pictures are better than words at describing the way we feel about this incredibly adorable little guy, so here is a tribute to Joshua's first year of life, in pictures.

Can you say "stretch marks"?

The worst thing I've EVER been through...but it was worth it! Look how cute!

Best friends from the beginning...

Happy Halloween!

Ho ho ho...

Just before a (much-needed) haircut

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Joshua's favorite gift was the blanket from my mom.

Hannah waiting patiently for a piece of birthday cake

What more can I say? We have THE cutest son in the world. He is so sweet and lovey. He loves to cuddle with anything soft (like his new blanket) and has the most beautiful blue eyes in the world! And a million other wonderful traits that would take too long to list. We love you, Moshie!

We celebrated Seth's 28th birthday on June 20th. He can be seen modeling his favorite bday present below. Does anyone else's husband think he's really a ninja? Even when he talks in his sleep he's usually a ninja fighting bad guys...but I guess that's another subject altogether. Happy birthday, hero! I love you!

I know, it has an obviously homemade look, but as a workout t-shirt, it works.

I've Been Tagged

4 Jobs I Have Had
1. Teaching Assistant at BYU (philosophy and tap)
2. Subway sandwich artist (that's really what they're called)
3. Cutco knife salesgirl (no kidding!)
4. Assembly line worker at Exact Research (I packaged golf cleats with a bunch of college students)

4 Movies I Would Watch More Than Once
1. Harry Potter (doesn't matter which one)
2. It's a Wonderful Life
3. South Pacific (original)
4. Life is Beautiful (I love foreign films)

4 Places I Have Lived
1. Boise, ID
2. Provo, UT
3. Millbrae, CA (San Francisco)
4. Ridgecrest, CA

4 Places I Have Been To/Visited
1. Disneyland
2. Chicago
3. Jamaica
4. Mexico (Rocky Point) (and Tijuana, but who counts that?)

4 Favorite Foods
1. Dessert (anything...)
2. Indian food
3. Korean food (especially bulgogi)
4. Pizza

4 Places I Would Like to Visit
1. Hawaii
2. East coast
3. Europe
4. PEI (I think every girl wants to go there)

4 Things I Am Looking Forward To
1. Moving out of the desert (someday...)
2. Doing more Latin ballroom dancing
3. Seth's and my Florida trip in Sep (Universal Studios, Dancesport Championships, cruise, resort)
4. and most of all...

WINTER!!!

4 Friends I Am Tagging
1. Tiffany
2. Darlene
3. Michelle
4. Sarah

HELP!

Okay, so can anyone tell me how to make that list of friends' blogs on the side of my page? I told you, I really don't know what I'm doing! And how do I respond to a comment left on a posting? Email?

This reminds me of when I was in high school and my AP English teacher (Mrs Pierose, for all you old Borah Lions out there) yelled at me when our class was working in the computer lab, saying I would never be able to graduate from high school if I didn't take a computer class first! (When I say I'm computer illiterate, I mean it. I didn't even type most of my papers in high school even though it was "required" -- I had nice handwriting so most of my teachers let me get away with it.) Anyway, I'm proud to say I not only made it through high school, I also graduated college without it. So there! (okay, so maybe it would have been a good idea...)

Don't worry, we're still here!

So I promise it won't always be a month between posts. Sorry about that. :D The kids and I spent a wonderful couple of weeks visiting with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Buzz, and since we've been home it's just taken me awhile to get the motivation to learn this all over again! This will be mostly pictures because we always have lots of those to share. These are some of Hannah's spring/3-year-old pictures, pictures of our trip to Boise, and just some other cute photos.

Joshua is about to turn one on Thursday. He is just a super cute little boy. He loves to crawl around and chase balls, cars, sippy cups (pretty much anything he can get to roll), but his favorite thing to do is unscrew knobs (sorry, Mom). He spends most of his day turning the knobs on our dresser and kitchen drawers, and when he's not doing that, he's sitting in front of the overturned toy shopping cart or doll stroller, spinning those wheels. He also likes to inspect the underside of the glider while it rocks, seeing if he can figure out how it works. Can anyone else tell he's descended from a long line of engineers?

Hannah loves to watch and act out movies, stamp cards, play Uno Attack, and sleep in other people's beds (sorry, Mom). Everywhere we go, she finds a spare room, kicks off her shoes, and tucks herself in. The really bad part is, she refuses to have anything else on the bed while she's in it, so if something's in her way, it goes on the floor (sorry, Mom). Hannah is also too smart for her own good (well, if not for her own good, then definitely for my own good!). Her latest phrase is "I thought you said..." and boy, does she use it against us! Example #1: One night (we're working on finishing up potty-training) I put her to bed and told her I would come back when she was ready for a clean diaper. Sure enough, a little while later she called me in to change her. Well, since she'd already gone I decided I would put panties on her instead of wasting another diaper, but when I tried to do that she said accusingly, "I fought you said if you need a clean diaper..." So she got a clean diaper. Example #2: The other morning Seth was trying to coax her out of bed, so he told her we would eat pancakes when she got up. So he got her out of bed and then tried to lead her past the kitchen to the bathroom, saying "Let's go potty first. " So she turned to him and said, "I fought you said we were going to eat pancakes!" We're learning to be very careful to tell her exactly what we mean! We're also learning what it really means to have integrity, as she makes sure we keep our word!