Double "A" Groesbecks

My Little Valentine

2012-02-14T13:53:00.001-07:00

{Hands in the mouth c/o teething. Darn you 2 year old molars!}

Harlee is being festive today sporting her Valentines outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Groesbeck and headband from mom and dad. She was quick to tell me how cute she was once she was dressed this morning. She also got a chocolate rose from us but that didn't last long; she decided it would do for her breakfast. Candy for breakfast on holidays is the rule, didn't you know?

Sometimes...

2012-02-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

This cute blog I follow does a weekly "Sometimes..." series where she gives the first half of a "sometimes statement" and then you have to fill in the rest. Her answers are great and she encouraged her readers to join in on the fun. I'm giving it a go.

I can't stop myself from googling over newborn baby clothes and diapers. So. Tiny!

I want to freeze frame snuggling on the couch with Harlee.

I find it mildly concerning when Harlee kisses boys on the lips at church and points out the "cute boy" on her favorite movie.

I want to soak up all of Harlee's energy...AND the milk she just spilled on the floor.

It really hits me that we have some major changes happening for us this year. New baby, moving to another state, and grad school!

I can't believe how lucky I am when I look in the mirror and see my giant imperfectly stripped belly.

I feel like I never, never, ever have a clean house. As clean as I want it at least.

I feel like a really good person/mom every time Harlee recognizes a picture of Jesus. Yep. I taught her that.

Unloading

2012-02-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am absolutely going insane and in need of a massive venting session. I apologize, but here it goes.

I've heard that constant pain can make people go crazy and I've never really believed it until now. I've been in constant severe pain for 3 or 4 months now. I'm not meaning "ouch" pain, I mean "causes me to shake at times" and "just want to scream" pain. Might I add, I have an extremely high tolerance for pain. Back, sciatic nerve, pelvis, and knees working together to slowly kill me. Oaklie, you really aren't being nice right now. Learn from your sister. {Didn't think I'd ever say that!}

The knees on my pants are starting to get worn out because I crawl from room to room a lot. Walking is just too much to handle and in times like right now, crawling is too much. Crawling puts me closer to the ground so I don't have to bend over to pick things up, takes some of the weight off of my pelvis and Harlee can't ask me to pick her up or "hold you" as she puts it. I wish! There aren't enough hot pads to go around, Tylenol doesn't even scratch the surface and although I appreciate the countless back rubs Andy gives me it only helps the pain while he is rubbing and no relief for after. I tell my doctor how miserable I am and as long as I'm not in labor he doesn't care. I'm just another whiny pregnant lady to him.

Because of my misery my house is falling apart and my attempts of putting it back together fail. Its always a mess and I struggle mustering up the energy to keep up with Harlee as she destroys it beyond my control. She knows she can move faster than I can and takes full advantage of it. Living in a mess is not calming or stress relieving to say the least.

I have been banished to my house for 2 months not having a car so I can't go anywhere except for on the weekends when Andy is home. Our car has been in the shop for the entire 2 months and is going to cost us an arm and two legs {I'll give 'em mine} to pay for it and Andy takes our Xterra to work in Idaho Falls every day racking up a hefty gas bill as well. I'm really not sure why the mechanics seem to think we haven't needed our car for that long. I should have asked them if I could use THEIR car for that time and see how they liked it. I have errands to run, meetings, doctors appointments, story time, and laundry to do. BUT, it doesn't matter. Not their problem. Yes, I live in a central location and could just pull out the stroller and take Harlee to these places but remember my little pain problem. I can barely walk to the bathroom without tears welling up let alone 6 blocks to the grocery store.1-2 weeks, doable. 8 weeks, unacceptable.

Ok, I'm done. There are people who have it much worse than me, I know, but for my sanity I just needed to vent a second. Get it out of my system. Now to focus on the good.

What am I thankful for? A husband that is so patient with me and loves me. A silly but caring little girl that runs to give me a hug when I'm feeling down. And tiny baby girl that will soon be blessing our family with her presence.

Somethings Gotta Give

2012-02-07T13:04:00.001-07:00

As we arrive to week 33 the expected is happening. It's all getting worse. I sit up: can't breathe. I lay down: acid reflux/heartburn AND restless legs. I sit propped up: back/sciatic pain. I stand: lower back pain. I walk: more pain. Hot pads don't do a thing. Tylenol just laughs at me and that's as strong as the drugs can get. Hot baths are a no no. Back rubs are only in the moment relief. To top it off, I only sleep between 3 and 4 hours a night. I'm not and can't win I'm afraid.

You know you've made it when your "big" clothes no longer fit; i.e. basket ball shorts, big hoodie sweatshirts and T-shirts that have always drowned me. It's a good feeling being too fat for your fat clothes! Ok, I'm not that fat, right on track with my gain actually, it's just this belly of mine that just sticks right out front and pulls all things tight and makes all shirts too short. Either the growing needs to slow down a titch or this baby comes sooner than the 7 more weeks predicted. Yes, 7! It makes me want to scream thinking it could be that much longer. We've just got to survive at least 4 or 5 more weeks before she is considered full term.

Daddy Dance

2012-01-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

I witnessed just about the cutest thing ever last night!

Harlee was watching Nutcracker Barbie which tends to get her in the dancin' mood. At the end of the movie when Clara Barbie is dancing with the Prince, Harlee jumped up and grabbed Andy by the hand and said, "Dance!" dragging him off of the computer and into the living room.

She stood on his feet and they waltzed around the living room.

They even did a little twirling which she was a huge fan of.

Love these two!

Unborn Wiggles

2012-01-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

I recently found a poem I had to write for a poetry class I took when I was pregnant with Harlee. I still view pregnancy the same way despite my many complaints. I'm not a poet in ANY way shape or form but Andy really likes it and convinced me to post it. I may regret it...

Unborn Wiggles

This tiny body wiggles in my womb,

Dancing and prancing around her interim bedroom.

Newly formed appendages swinging about,

Ali better hold his breath; he best watch out!

As I surrender at night, to rest from the day,

This small, delicate, and unborn life is ready to rise and play.

Like a feeble butterfly she flutters through space,

Swaying wings to and fro with ease and grace.

Growing and stretching the little one tumbles,

I stop to soak in and sigh as my swelling stomach rumbles.

Feeling like kernels are popping beyond control,

Bouncing and rolling, my heart she stole.

With life's first movement, I began to love,

My unborn wiggly gift sent from above.

Dear Harlee

2012-01-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

Dear Harlee,

I love how you can't say the word "puppy" without barking afterwards.

I love how you are always the first one at the table with your arms folded for prayer at mealtimes.

I love your bear hugs.

I love when you ask me to hold you like a baby. That means we get to snuggle.
I love how you zone out when you watch T.V./movies just like your dad.
I love the way you count. "1,2,3,8,9,2,2,3..."
I love when we read books together. That also means we get to snuggle.
I love the scowl on your face when you don't get your way.
I love when you conduct the music at church from our pew.

I love how you tell me to "be nice" when I take something away from you.
I love your crazy bedhead every morning. It's a great way to start the day.
I love how you only give kisses on the lips. That's only the proper way to do it!
I love that you are showing interest in using the potty.
I love when you sing. Monkey's In The Tree and Wheels On The Bus are my favorite.
I love how you can say the word "Einstein" better than your own name.
I love how you idolize your dad. He IS pretty great.
I love how quick to say sorry you are.
I love that you are MINE and I get to keep you forever.

Love,
Mom

Downward Slope

2012-01-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

I just compared this picture (30 1/2 weeks) to the last belly picture we took 2 1/2weeks ago and it appears there has been LOTS of growing going on in the last few weeks and I'm definitely feeling it. {Try hard to ignore the bad shadow, it just makes me look bigger than I already am. Bigger in all the wrong places}

As I'm now on the downward slope of this pregnancy with only 8-10 weeks left I was thinking about how weird it is that the first 12 weeks seem to fly by regardless of how deathly sick I was and the last 12 weeks just take their sweet little time.

I feel like I am carrying really low this time around. When she decides to drop I worry she'll just fall right out! I find myself trying to hold up my belly as if it is doing any good.

She is measuring slightly bigger than Harlee did already which causes me some worry as Harlee wasn't super tiny and she came 2 weeks early. If this one hangs on til the end we could have a hefty baby on our hands!

We've recently started getting all the baby gear together which has helped the idea of having another little one set in a little more. I plan on getting out all the clothes this weekend or next weekend. I've secretly been really excited for this just to see all the tiny cute outfits Harlee wore. Also, I'm gearing up to read "Happiest Baby On The Block". I hear people swear by it and I'm willing to try anything as long as it means I get a happier baby than Harlee was. Fingers crossed!

I feel I have so many cons to pregnancy so today I'm going to list the perks to pregnancy:

Only having to shave my legs once every few weeks. It's magical.
The clear complexion
Fast growing nails
Getting daily back rubs from the husband
The phrase, "Let me do that; you're pregnant."
The big smiles I get from random strangers as they glance at my belly
Being able to give in to cravings without too much guilt
Having a good excuse for the numbers going up on the scale
Laughing at myself as I try to roll over during the night-picture a turtle on its back. Cracks me up every time.

Lastly, some things people have said to me that made me laugh:

7 year old outspoken boy in primary: "Your tummy is FAT! Are you having a baby??"
My dad, "You look like a tick ready to pop"
Harlee pointing to a stretch mark, "Owie Mom? You ok?"
My brother, "How much do you weigh now?"

Harlee Funnies

2012-01-18T15:27:00.001-07:00

Towards the end of Sacrament meeting Harlee asked for a drink. I handed her a sippy cup which she took a drink of, made a funny face and threw it at me saying it was "hot". Then pointed to the door saying "cold" hinting to me that she needed a cold drink. Such a diva!
Also during Sacrament Meeting , Harlee reached over, grabbed my finger and began to pick HER nose with MY finger.
She never seems to be able to be quite in those time she really needs to be. Like in church. It's those moments she decides to talk 100 miles/hour about who knows what in her loudest voice possible.
Harlee came walking down the hallway pulling her little pink wheeled suitcase behind her heading to the door and said, "Bye Mom!" I asked her where she was going and she answered, "Go home."
In a moment I was busy doing something Harlee decides it would be fun to empty the towel drawer in the kitchen. I obviously wasn't giving her the attention she wanted so she came over to me, got my attention and pointed at the drawer showing me what she did and said, "Oh no! Mess!" When I showed her my disapproval and asked for her to help clean up she said, "Nope!" and stomped proudly out of the room. Guess that's what I get!
For some reason every time she takes a bath she asks me to take her picture and starts cheesing it up. If she only knew the future consequences from this request, I don't think she'd be asking.
With a wad of stickers in her hand she heads to the garbage can to throw them away. Tripping over air Harlee drops the stickers and falls down sitting on the sicker pile. She then stands up and starts looking for the stickers that are now stuck to her bum. Looking like a dog chasing its tail she starts turning in a circle saying, "Garbage! Where are you!"
Harlee's version of the Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song, "ooooooooooooooohhhhhhh! Blablablablablblablabla. Bunbob-uh-pants!! Blablablablabla. Bunbob-uh-pant! Bunbob-uh-pants! Bunbob-uh-pants! Bunnnnnboooobb! Paaaannnnnts!" {Insert lots of jumping, and clapping}
When it was nap time the other day I asked Harlee if she wanted to take a nap. She said, "YES!" Then began listing everything that she needed to go "night-night". "Billow (pillow) night-night? Minnie night-night? Sippy (sippy cup) night-night? Oaky (Oaklie) night-night? Monkey (her monkey hooded blanket) night-night?" She's very particular about her bedtime/nap time routine.
Getting home from Visiting Teaching, there was a package waiting by the door. {A bathtub cradle I had ordered for the babe} Harlee saw it and asked what it was. When I told her it was a present for Oaklie she started cheering and grabbing at the box frantically trying to open it. We took it inside and as I was opening it Harlee was still cheering but also trying to open the box saying, "Oaky, where are yyyyoooouuu!" Once I got the box opened and pulled out the bath chair she continued to dig through the box looking for Oaklie. After a minute of digging she looked at me and said with a very concerned look on her face, "Where's Oaky?" Sorry Har, guess the stork didn't drop her off today.

Something Has Come Between Us

2012-01-15T18:02:00.005-07:00

This post will seem familiar to any man who has a pregnant wife and for those who are thinking about having children, consider this a warning. The infidel is the body pillow. It is every pregnant woman's BFF. As a result the husband is benched for months on end; the pillow replaces your role as the snuggle buddy at night. When the infidel makes its move to replace you, a little of piece of your manhood flies out the window. Why you may ask? Well for me at least (it may be different for every man) I feel like I am no longer able to provide for my wife, and it is a blow to my manhood when an inanimate object can provide a better service then me. Let me put this into perspective. It kinda feels like when the fat kid beats you out for last place on the dodge ball team.
Rejection is never a welcome friend and that is why I hate the body pillow, but I know Abbey could not sleep without it so it's a sacrifice that I can make so that she is comfortable.

Dad's Journal #4

2012-01-13T15:37:00.001-07:00

I have been pondering the things of the universe, like why do people have more then one child? Here are some of the reason that I have thought of:
1. So you don't have to bless the food every other night
2. Cheap labor (legal of course)
3. You will always have someone to visit you in the rest home on holidays
4. To add zest to FHE
5. So the first child won't develop the only child syndrome
Another thought that I have been throwing around is that having another newborn in the house is going to be a huge adjustment. Harlee is getting to the point where fatherhood is starting to reap the rewards of many months of child raising. She is becoming fun to wrestle with and play tea time with. Who would have guessed I would ever have tea time, princess cups and all! Also she is getting very independent which makes life easier on mom.
I am having a hard time understanding loving another kid as much as the first. I am sure that once I see it born into this world, I will quickly understand the concept of loving all my children the same and not playing favorites.

Going Bananas

2012-01-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

This just about describes how I've been feeling lately whenever I get dressed, move, eat or do anything for that matter...

Last night as I was laying on the couch in pain, with feet wedged in my ribs, unable to breathe, and knowing I wasn't going to be able to get off the couch unless I rolled off or Andy came and pulled me off; I decided I'm ready to be done with this. I'll trade for the labor pain if it means I can be somewhat comfortable again.

On a side note. I took my glucose test last Saturday and failed. Well...more like just didn't quite pass. I had to score under 135 and I was right at 135. They would have let it slide if I hadn't have failed the first glucose test with Harlee as well. Because I didn't pass the first time with her either, the doc suspects some kind of resistance is going on. I guess it gets worse with each pregnancy so they want to be sure. Now I get to go back again this Saturday bright and early at 8:30 am with no food in me to get poked at for 3 hours. The primary activity I've been planning all year is also Saturday so I'm really not liking having to add one more thing to my already full plate. Anyway, fingers crossed the test goes well! I really don't know if I could give up Arctic Circle chocolate dipped ice cream cones! :)

Painted Nails, Cute Puppies, and Haircuts

2012-01-10T10:46:00.002-07:00

We took an unexpected trip to Blackfoot this weekend due to us only having one working car and me having a dental appointment. It was kind of nice to get out of town even if it was just to Blackfoot.

Sunday we had a little nail painting extravaganza. Even Harlee got in on the painting and loved it doing a little art work on herself.

She had loads of fun playing with her pals Milo and Suzie. She loves them and they love her... especially when she has cheese in her hand.

Monday was my dental appointment and wanting to make the best use of our time in Blackfoot we decided to get hair cuts as well. I've been in dire need as my hair has gotten way too thick, long, and unruly since being pregnant. Harlee was in need as she has never had a haircut and has been sporting a mullet since the beginning of time. {No joke, she was born with a mullet}

When we first got her in the chair she kind of freaked out not liking the cape.

She then calmed down a little and decided it wasn't too bad. I think she just liked looking at herself in the mirror. She gets her vanity from her dad. :)

Here are the finished products for both of us!

We cut about an inch, maybe a little more, off of Harlee's hair evening things up and probably 6 or 7 inches off of mine. Its amazing how much a haircut can do! Harlee looks so grown up and I'm pretty sure I lost a few pounds during my hair cut. It is soooo much lighter and feels amazing! Thank goodness for layers and thinning.
It was definitely a successful and much needed trip!

Mini Mommmy

2012-01-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

I caught Harlee in the act of playing mom recently.

It started out with wearing my shoes.

Then moved on to changing diapers on her doll.

Me thinks my job as mom will be lightened somewhat when Oaklie is born as Harlee will probably try to take over as her mom. She loves to change her doll's diaper, always makes sure it has it's binki when she's not feeding it, wipes its face after she feeds it, and loves to rock it wrapped up in a blanket. I'm sure she will have her days, but I think she'll be a helpful big sister.

Princess Junky

2012-01-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

Harlee got gobs and gobs of Princess stuff/dress up stuff for Christmas this year. She gave it a test run the other day and thoroughly enjoyed herself to say the least.

As she proudly pranced around the house, she was sure to stop every once in a while to remind me that she was a "princess".

During one of her sick days last week she suddenly announced that she wanted to "play toys". She grabbed my hand and drug me down the hallway to play with her; because you can't play with toys alone you know. She climbed into her bed and began telling me what toys she needed. Her Princess Tea set of course. Not dressed for the occasion since I was getting tired of changing her clothes every few hours due to throw up, we had a little tea party.

In her new princess backpack came a fun princess art set complete with princess pictures to color, princess markers and some water color paint. We decided to give them a try.

We learned that water coloring is a bit of a difficult activity for such a little girl. I showed her how it worked then let her try. She dipped the brush in the water, smeared it onto the paper, then dipped into the color, and then back to the water. Our results? A very soggy plain paper, some very colorful water and a very frustrated Harlee. As a result, we brought out the markers and she went at it like a pro.
As you can see, Princesses are the love right now. Everything pink, Harlee lets me know is princess. That means princess shirts, coats, bed, and markers are all princess...except none of them actually have princesses on them. She insists on watching her Barbie movies everyday which she also calls princess. I think I'm beginning to go a little insane from them; I can feel my brain turning to mush.
She's quite the girly girl but I don't mind. It's fun to watch her do her girly thing!

Week 28

2012-01-02T09:29:00.001-07:00

28 weeks and here is the belly

Things are progressing slowly but surely. Actually, not so slowly. In my wide awake state last night around 3:00 I had a moment of panic as I realized I have only 10-12 weeks left before our little one comes. I'm not really sure I'm ready to do it all again yet. Good thing I've got a few weeks, huh?
The only way to describe the pregnant life right now is pain. Lots and lots of it. Sciatica is NOT my friend. It used to only bother me in the evenings but it is constant now. My guess is it has something to do with the fact that she is getting bigger.
She's a very active little gal! Especially when Harlee is laying on top of her. Harlee usually just turns and gives me a dirty look whenever she gets a kick as if I'm the one doing it. I think she is really starting to understand whats going on. She'll periodically ask, "Where's Oaky?" and then come pat my belly or go point at the ultrasound pictures on the fridge.
I have my glucose test this week which I'm so much looking forward to. Not really. Thinking about that nasty drink makes me gag. Just eager to get it over with and hope all goes well.
Oh the life being pregnant.

Can't Believe It

2011-12-31T12:30:00.001-07:00

This may seem silly, but for those who know Harlee, this is a MIRACLE!!

She fell asleep on the floor watching a movie!! Never in her whole 20 months of life has she just dropped and fallen asleep during the day. {The only other time she has dropped to the floor and gone to sleep was when were flying from North Carolina to Utah at 10:00 at night having not had a nap the whole day. She gave up on fighting it and just got down on the floor and zonked out.} This is not an exaggeration. From day one she has always needed me to put her to bed in order for her to go to sleep. She never ceases to amaze me, even if it by doing the simplest of things.

Rewind

2011-12-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

As 2011 is drawing to a close I want to look back at the great year we have had!

January

Harlee started walking

February

Full of lots of love: Heart attacked Andy's truck on Valentines Day

March

Took my last final as a college student

April

Harlee turned a year old

I graduated from BYU-Idaho

Celebrated Harlee's first Easter

May

Took a trip to Driggs, Idaho to stay in a "cabin" with my family

June

Got a new car

Spent lots of time at the splash park

July

Went to the annual Sorensen Family Reunion in Afton, Wyoming

Learned to paddle board

Found out we are expecting baby #2

August

Andy and I took a trip to Orlando, Florida with my family

The 3 of us went to North Carolina to visit Andy's mission

September

Harlee's first visit to the zoo

Went to the Eastern Idaho State Fair

October

Picked pumpkins at a pumpkin patch

Went Trick-or-Treating

November

Found out baby #2 is a girl

December

Andy graduated from BYU-Idaho

Harlee met Santa

Harlee got a big girl bed

We celebrated Christmas in Utah

Celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary

We've had a great year and count our blessings daily for all that we have. We look forward to the adventures that await us in 2012! Out with 2011 and in with 2012!!

Dear Andy

2011-12-27T12:36:00.001-07:00

Dear Andy...

You are the cheese to my macaroni; you are the horizon to my sky; you are the bacon to by eggs; you are the laces to my sneakers; you are the jelly to my peanut butter; you are the smile to my face; you are the gravy to by mashed potatoes; you are the bubbles to my bath; you are the milk to my cookie, you are the ink to my pen; you are the ketchup to my french fries; you are the water to my ocean; you are the icing on my cupcake.

Our forevers go together.

Every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favorite.

If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day so I never have to live without you.

1 Universe, 9 Planets, 204 countries, 809 islands, 7 seas, and I had the privilege to meet you.

So, glad we are forever.

I love you and thank you for a great 3 years!

Holiday-Who-Be-Whaty

2011-12-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

This year's Christmas was a great one, however, a quick one. With Andy's new job, he only had Monday off giving us 3 short days of celebration. Friday after he got off of work, he met Harlee and me in Blackfoot where we opened gifts from my family. I got a camera and am so in love with it, as well as a sewing machine from my sister! Harlee was spoiled rotten. Those darn grandparents! She got books, clothes, a purse, Santa diapers, a lady bug pillow pet and a Hippo chair. Andy got socks, a sherpa hat and a range finder.

After everything was opened we were headed on our way to Utah to spend Christmas with Andy's family. Harlee had a long day of no napping and playing with lots of cousins leading her to crash hard in the car.

Christmas Eve was spent getting reacquainted with cousins, eating lots of treats and waiting for Santa to come.

That evening we did the Nativity. Elli was Mary, Andy was Joseph, Alison and I were Angels, Andy's dad was a shepherd, Brandon was a wiseman. Harlee didn't really cooperate with the costume thing so she did her own thing when we said she couldn't be baby Jesus...

We then opened our Christmas jammies

and it was off to bed.

Christmas morning, Sunday, the kiddos didn't wake up until after 8:00 am. Having to be at church by 9:00, we very quickly looked at what Santa brought us and got ready for church. Santa brought Harlee a play kitchen, a potty training doll, Color Wonder markers and coloring book, mini Mrs. Potato Head, a princess tray, Shrek 4 and Megamind Blu-rays, and candy. The candy was of course the first thing she noticed.

After church we came home for more toy playing and to start opening the presents that were under the tree.

Again. Spoiled. Rotten. Andy got a 180 piece tool set, some archery stuff, movies, and 4 games. I got some much needed maternity clothes, a case for my new camera, and some nice knives. Harlee got everything girly she could ever imagine: pink suit case with a princess sleeping bag in it, food for her new kitchen, princess dress up stuff, a cape made by Grandma Groesbeck, clothes, books, a princess backpack, a puppy, and puzzles. There was a bit of a Princess theme this year. Even Oaklie got in on the gifts. She got a new outfit (the only one she will have that's not a handy-me down), a toy, and some of the cutest leg warmers I've ever seen made by my sister-in-law. I'm excited to put them on her rolley polley legs!

Christmas night, the whole family went to Temple Square to look at the lights. I had never been before. It was lots of fun and the lights were amazing!

We had a great Christmas and are now back to reality. Andy to work and me to mommy duties and of now finding a place for our fun things. Harlee woke up sick and has been throwing up all morning. Christmas got the best of her I guess, or maybe it was the fact that she lived on sweets all weekend.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas and here's to hoping for a great new year!

Going On A Picnic

2011-12-21T10:47:00.001-07:00

Harlee woke up from her nap yesterday in quite the grumpy mood. It was one of those moods where she wasn't happy regardless of what I did and didn't even know herself what she wanted. Being past lunch time, I figured she had to be hungry; I was starved. With the mood she was in I knew she wasn't going to eat so lunch needed to be fun. Sooooooo, we had a picnic.

I spread a blanket on the floor and put a lunch together of chicken salad sandwiches, apple slices and crackers. She whined at me the entire duration of getting things together saying "hold you". As soon as I put our finished plates on the blanket and sat down she stopped crying and started smiling. Not what she was expecting I don't think.

The picnic was a great hit! I just hope and pray I didn't start something bad have her wanting to eat in the living room EVERY day.

A Nut

2011-12-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

My Harlee is quite the nut.

She's a Wing Nut

A TV Nut

A Dress Up Nut

And A Silly Nut

Her nuttiness is why we keep her around.

I'm A Big Kid Now

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Look who got a big girl bed!

Grandma and Grandpa Groesbeck brought Harlee's big girl bed when they came to visit this weekend! She has yet to sleep in it as we aren't in a super big hurry to move her into it. We're working for a gradual move in to the bed. She loves to pretend to go "night-night" in it as well as jump on it. She is very proud of it and has to show everyone who comes to visit. She's just growing up too fast!

Scary Santa

2011-12-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

Harlee has been talking about Santa since December started. She LOVES him and we often hear lots of ho-ho-ho-ing coming from her. Yesterday we went to the mall so Harlee could finally meet him. We had to wait in line for quite awhile and I thought it was going to just about kill her to have to wait. She kept escaping and trying to run to the front of the line to see him. When it was finally our turn to visit with him, she suddenly decided he was scary! She wouldn't talk, touch or even look at him and started to cry. Because of her sudden change of thoughts, I had to sit in the photo with her and she wasn't even ok with that. I think the picture captures her thoughts pretty accurately:

She definitely surprised us.
It's a good thing Santa visits when she is sleeping or she'd be scarred for life if she knew he was coming into her house.

Graduation

2011-12-17T11:03:00.002-07:00

Well, he did it! He finally graduated!!

Convocation was at 8:00 pm in the BYU-Idaho Center. Andy's parents, both sets of my grandparents , my parents and siblings were able to make it. Due to it being so late at night Harlee enjoyed it from the comfort of her crib. Ashley was so kind to stay behind and be here while she was in bed. We are so thankful for everyone that was able to come!

Here are some photos from the night:

A direct quote from Andy, "Four years of hard work for 3 seconds of fame walking across a stage with a toilet seat hat on my head. Worth it? Heck yes!"
Congratulations Andy! One step closer to being a big boy! {I didn't say grown up because he will always be a kid at heart}

Traditions

2011-12-11T17:32:00.001-07:00

A constant topic of conversation throughout Andy and my marriage has been traditions. What traditions did we have in our families that we want to do in our home and what new traditions do we want to start? We decided early on we would keep the usual but ever so important traditions of Family Home Evening, family scripture study, family prayer, etc.

With it being Christmas, there are tons of drastically different traditions that take place in our families. Again, which ones to keep and which ones to start?? So far we have decided on jammies on Christmas Eve (P.S SO excited for this years) along with the reading and acting out of the Nativity. It can't be Christmas Eve without the Nativity. A new tradition that we have started is the Christmas Scripture Tradition. Every evening in December we read together a section of scripture telling of a story of Christ's life or one of his parables getting us ready for the true meaning of Christmas. The scriptures are short, usually between 2 and 8 verses. Long enough to feel the spirit but short enough to keep Harlee's attention.

So far we have really enjoyed doing this and look forward to it every night. Reading stories of Christ calming the seas, or cleansing the temple and his suffering in Gethsemane, and His birth has brought to the forefront of my mind of His love for us and of how I should be patterning my life after His.

While still in the search of new traditions, this will definitely be one we keep for many many years to come.

By the way, new ideas are welcome!!

Copy Cat

2011-12-08T11:52:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since I have done a "How Harlee Is Growing" post. I do them so I can look back and remember the things she did at different points in her life. Kind of like updating her baby book, just more in detail. If you find the updates boring, I'm really sorry.

Harlee is 20 months old. I'm really having a hard time believing that she will be 2 in just 4 months! It goes by way too fast!

Andy and I were talking yesterday saying how much she has grown up in just the last month or two. I hear once they get a little sibling, they seem to grow up even more. Yikes! She has been a major copy cat constantly doing and saying what we say. She is talking so much more now! She used to pick up new words here and there when we say it but now she is mimicking sentences! The phrases she has picked up just this week are: "What did you do?" "What happened?" "What the poo??" (thank you dad!) and "I'm sorry." Another phrase she likes is, "(insert a name here), Where are you?" Her vocabulary is absolutely exploding right now!

She has become VERY lovey dovey as well. I get on average 100 kisses a day from her. She will stand right in front of me grab my face with her hands forcing me to look at her and say, "MOM! Hi." Smile and then start kissing me all over my face. She volunteers hugs to everyone. She always warns you by saying, "hug? hug?". She hugs the TV when she sees Mickey and likes to give hugs to Milo and Suzie (my parent's dogs) over skype. She is the sweetest little thing. Whenever she sees someone upset she says, "sad?" in the cutest little voice and goes to comfort them. A few weeks ago I took her to nursery and there was a little boy crying. She ran right over to him and started rubbing his back and hugging him.

Harlee has recently given up her high chair. She insists that she sits at the table now. I'm really not sure what made her make the switch but oh well. Now we can put the high chair away for a few months until Oaklie needs it, giving us a little more kitchen space.

She also loves to help with chores: she always puts her plate and fork or spoon in the dishwasher after she is done eating; she likes to help pick up toys (most of the time); she likes to put the clean utensils into the drawer; she likes to help sweep the floors; and loves to help make dinner.

Some of her favorites:

Movie: The Grinch or Megamind
Food: she's been really picky lately but she likes pasta and hot dogs the most
Activities: coloring, reading books, and watching movies, skyping, dancing, singing, helping mom cook
Song: Wheels On The Bus or Monkeys In The Tree
Book: The Very First Christmas, or Twas The Night Before Valentines Day
Color: I'm guessing green since she is the only one allowed to use the green crayon
Animal: Puppies! Puppies! Puppies!

Another Day In The Womb

2011-12-05T18:03:00.001-07:00

Today marks 24 weeks! Maybe its just me but time seems to have stopped after week 20. The last month has seemed so long for some reason when the first half of the pregnancy whizzed by, almost without me! I really don't know why it has seemed so long. Nothing has really happened to make it drag. Who knows.

So. Changes? Just the obvious ones such as my belly growing a little closer to massive everyday. My bending over days are starting to come to a close as I can't quite bend as well as I'd like. I tend to forget about my belly and bend to get something and slam to a sudden halt about half way down. One of these days I'll start remembering I'm pregnant. Harlee has found new uses for my belly. It serves nicely as her pillow, chair, and step stool. None of these things do I or Oaklie appreciate.

As I've mentioned in a previous post. I've had a little bit of sciatica. It's not pleasant but it could be much worse. It usually doesn't start bothering me until around 6:00 pm unless I do lots of sitting, then it bugs me more. Days where I'm really active and always moving, I hardly notice it at all. I guess that's the trick? Really, other than that, its not too bad. The belly itching has started a little but nothing some lotion can't help.

The phrase, "eating for two" has always bugged me. I learned in all of my past health/nutrition classes that women only need to eat 500 more calories a day when they are pregnant so the "eating for two" thing was just annoying to me when people said it to me. Especially my husband. Well, lately I've been eating for 5. I now know how teenage boys feel! I'm hungry ALL the time. This is not an exaggeration. I can eat a huge meal and still need more. No matter what or how much I eat I'm hungry. It's a bit frustrating. I'm definitely dreading the scale at my appointment on Wednesday. I lost a pound at my last doctors appointment but I have a feeling I made up for it this month. Last night I had a dream that I gained 30 lbs in a month. Nightmare!

She has been quite the little wiggle worm lately. Its kind of fun to just sit and watch her move and contort my belly. My favorite is when her little bum pokes out. Harlee doesn't hold still long enough to feel her move but Andy has been getting to feel her lots lately.

Anywho, here is a belly update:

Seeing Spots

2011-12-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

I have been cutting out a lot of vinyl lettering the last few days working on Christmas gifts for Primary. That being said, there have been lots of scraps of vinyl showing up around the house. Harlee was trying to be too helpful when I was cutting things out so to keep her busy we plastered her nakedness with vinyl scraps.

At first she wasn't so sure what to think. But then she kinda liked it.

Hot Dog Love Affair

2011-12-02T20:25:00.001-07:00

~~Harlee likes hot dogs~~. Scratch that. Harlee loves hot dogs. Nope. Let's try again. Harlee would do anything for a hot dog. She's crazy about them.

Whenever we get them at the grocery store she has to hold them until we buy them. She asks for one every day for lunch. And she does her special little hot dog dance and sing-a-long to the Hot Dog Song on Mickey Mouse Club House daily. She's crazy about them.

This afternoon we went to Idaho Falls to do some errands. We were gone long enough for it to be dinner time when we were done and decided to make it a family date night and go out to dinner. We told Harlee we were going to go eat because she had been asking to eat. When we told her we were going to go eat she replied, "hot dog?" Thinking nothing of it I said, "Yeah, sure. Hot dog." We went to the restaurant but Harlee wouldn't eat anything. She just played with my food that I was sharing with her and smeared ketchup all over my shirt. Thinking it must just be one of those days where she doesn't have much of an appetite we just finished our meal and headed home. As soon as we got in the car to head home, I heard a "eat? hot dog?" from the backseat. She was still waiting for her hot dog. The whole way home she kept asking about her hot dog. I thought she'd just forget about it but never underestimate the needs and wants of Harlee. She won't give it up.

We walked into the house and she went straight to the fridge pulling on the door asking for her hot dog. I was torn. My thoughts: She wouldn't eat her dinner so I shouldn't make her anything different to eat; she needs to learn to eat what we are eating. BUT, I did kind of lead her to believe that we were going to eat hot dogs for dinner. Plus, I don't want her starving when she is actually asking for something to eat when eating is something she doesn't do a whole lot of lately.

I went with my guilty feeling of betraying her and not getting her a hot dog at dinner and made her a hot dog. Never have I seen such a celebration. As I was warming up the hot dog and cutting it up she was clapping, and dancing, and throwing her arms up in the air cheering and marching around the kitchen chanting, "hot dog! hot dog!" I put her up to the table with a fork and that hot dog was gone in half a minute I swear. Each bite was followed by "mmmmm" or "yummy!"
Never again will I get in the way of Harlee and her hot dogs.

Graduate!

2011-12-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Announcement made by yours truly

It's true! Andy is graduating! In two weeks to be exact! Our days left in Rexburg are far and few as he is currently applying to Graduate school and on the hunt for a job until he gets accepted. Not going to lie, it is scary! It seemed like we would never finish and move on with life but its actually happening!! Only two more years in school and we'll have to be big kids and find a big kid job and buy a big kid house and pay lots of big kid bills and loans and taxes and...maybe school isn't such a bad thing after all. With some fear in our back pockets, we are still excited to see what and where the next stage of our lives will be.
Woohoo! You made it Andy! All those hours studying in the library, testing center lines, and writing papers has paid off!

Just My Luck

2011-12-01T11:19:00.001-07:00

{This post is me venting so if you don't want to hear it, which I don't blame you, don't read.}

I have had quite the string of bad luck the last few days and am ready to throw in the towel. Lets start with Tuesday.

I made Andy's grad announcements, which I'll be posting about soon. I sent them to Walmart to get printed around 5:00 pm. The photo center closed at nine so I decided to just pick the announcements up after my Primary presidency meeting which was at 7. My thinking, "oh, I'll have plenty of time to get them. Our meetings never go that late." Well...it did. We got done at exactly 9:00. What are the odds? At our meeting, it came up that I was going to Walmart afterwards so I was assigned to pick up some vinyl for the Christmas gifts we are making for our teachers and the kids, as well as some book rings for the Article of Faith flash cards we are making. No biggie right??? Well because I got done too late I decided to just go first thing in the morning to get everything so I could get started on mailing out the announcements and cutting out all 5.3 million letters on my Cricut.

The next morning I get up, get myself ready and then move on to Harlee. She wouldn't get dressed. Once that fight was over (I won) and got her dressed, we made our way to Walmart. I went to get the vinyl first (not the smartest move) to find that they were out of what I needed. Nice. Oh well, I can order some online and get it here in two days. Then I go to find the book rings and find out that Walmart doesn't carry them. Huh?!? Guess we'll order those too. Already getting frustrated, I go to get the announcements. The one thing I knew Walmart would have. Nope! They didn't have them. We did some digging around and found them at the Blackfoot Walmart Photo center. What. The. HECK!??! Because there was no way of getting them to me they trashed my pictures and I had to reorder them on their lame excuse for a computer thing they had set up for customers to use. I needed 30 announcements but I could only print 15 at a time therefore making me do 2 separate orders. Harlee started getting cranky, pushing buttons, screaming, the whole works. Made the Walmart visit even better, let me tell you. Once I finished ordering, the photo lady tells me that she could have done it for me on her computer so I didn't have to do two separate orders. Thanks for THAT info! We then had an hour to wait for the photos to print. To kill time I took Harlee to ride the bikes they had in the isles. She freaked out because she couldn't do it by herself. Soooo we moved on to the dolls. She played with the dolls and freaked out because she couldn't get them out of the boxes. Then she played with a horse and freaked out for who knows what and started clearing ALL of the toys off of the shelves. Wanting to put HER up for sale, I threw her back into the cart and we headed back to the photo center to see if her screaming could maybe push them along a little. It did. I got the photos, to find that they way they printed, it cropped them too small and they looked dumb. I was so fed up with it we just took them and went home. What are the odds that I would go to Walmart in pursuit of 3 things and they didn't have any of them? Just my luck.

I went home ordered the vinyl and rings and then went to work addressing the announcements. Things were going ok, not as efficiently as I would have liked since Harlee was helping but it was fine. After awhile I go to stand up and I have this excruciating pain in my right buttock and back of my thigh and I can't walk; my leg kept giving out on me. Yep. You guessed it. Sciatica. Oh joy! I read up on it online and find the only way relieve the pain is to get rid of the pressure on the nerve. Yeah...well...the pressure bearing thing can't really come out right now. She's still cooking and can't come out for 3 more months. That means 3 months of fun fun fun. Then I had a crazy dream that my leg fell off because of the sciatica. This was a result of me reading before bed that severe sciatica causes muscle atrophy and can lose functionality of the leg if it isn't taken care of. No more reading before bed.

This morning I get up, make a to-do list, feeling really motivated. I got a few things checked off and moved to the Cricut to start cutting letters on the vinyl I DID have. I adjusted all the knobs, measured and cut the vinyl and started cutting the letters to the size that we had decided we wanted them on our tiles. Too. Big. Ugh! Now I'm stuck with huge letters. The smaller size looks dumb or we can't arrange them how we want. I know, its not a big deal but it was just one more thing. One more headache I didn't want to worry about. One more thing to make this already huge project be a pain in the rear. {Could this be the cause of my buttock pain?? I kid. :)}

Every time I touch something it goes wrong in some how. It sure doesn't make me want to continue doing things! I'd be juuuust fine with staying in my pajamas all day watching the Grinch with Harlee and eating Oatmeal Cream Pies. Just fine. I'm sure I'll look back and think how funny this all is, but right now; not so funny. Here's to hoping for some better luck the rest of the day and week!

These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

2011-11-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Harlee and Dad 2011

Me and my dad 1991

There is just one thing all little girls must do...wear their dad's boots and just a diaper. All the cool kids are doing it.

Dirty Windshield

2011-11-10T08:54:00.001-07:00

Just a few pictures from the ultrasound.

This one is of her face. Can you see that tiny little skeleton face looking at us? She has her arms crossed to.

This one is a side profile. She's pretty cute.

She was quite the little stinker during our visit. When we first started, the ultrasound tech was trying to get measurements of her head but she wouldn't hold still . She was extremely active the whole time just kicking and punching but would never roll over so we could see her very well. She was sitting with her head up and back facing out hiding everything and wasn't going to budge. Such a stinker but we'll keep her anyway.

Harlee Is Getting A....

2011-11-09T16:02:00.001-07:00

SISTER!!!

Sorry all you get is a lame picture of a balloon. My plan was to take a picture of Harlee with the balloon but we all know how napless almost 2 year olds are. She didn't cooperate to say least.

We are very excited, some of us more so than others. Dad really wanted his boy. Maybe next time...in 5 years. :) She was kind of a shy little thing not wanting us to see the "important parts" or her face. After lots of poking at her we finally got a look at both. I'll post ultrasound pictures later. Everything looks good, and she is right on track growth wise so no moving up the due date. Dang! We'll be happy whenever she decides to come.

Half Way

2011-11-08T17:34:00.001-07:00

This week marks 20 weeks, the most exciting week of pregnancy in my opinion. Why? Week 20 is the half way mark and its time for an ultrasound. THE ultrasound. Which is tomorrow. We are excited to say the least. We already have a name picked out for both boy and girl so we are ready for whatever they tell us. The only kicker is we like both names so much its hard that we can't use both. On the contrary, I'm so glad there's not two in there. :)

So, how is pregnancy treating me?? Welp; not amazing but it could be much much worse. I've started getting some pain; lower back pain which I didn't really have with Harlee, some hip pain that isn't nearly as bad as with Harlee, and severe round ligament pain. If you don't know what that is...Google it. In other words, the hot pad and body pillow have been my constant comrades...as long as Harlee doesn't see them, then they are hers. Andy's great and gives me lots of back and foot rubs. Its a good thing he enjoys it and I hardly ever ask for it. Where I'm only getting some pain, I count myself lucky. I could have pregnancy rhinitis, or still have morning sickness, or be on bed rest, or....you get the picture. I count myself lucky just having a little discomfort as long as it doesn't get too much worse.

I'm feeling lots and lots of movement which is a good sign I guess. I don't remember Harlee being this active this early. The second Andy touches my stomach all movement quits; kinda funny. All is going well so far, lets keep fingers crossed that it keeps going that way.

{Like I said previously, ultrasound tomorrow, so make your guess NOW on the poll. Also, be on the look out (aka here and /or on Facebook) as Harlee will be making the announcement of whether she will be getting a sister or brother.}

What Ya Doing Under There? Under where??

2011-11-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

For some reason, the dress I was wearing yesterday was just calling Harlee's name because she would NOT leave it alone. She found the need to climb underneath my skirt and play in it like a tent or something. Maybe my belly poking out make it appear more tent like?? Who knows.

She liked to climb in there and start tickling the backs of my knees until I would squeal. She thought she was so funny.

She may be a stinker but she can be calm too. Can you believe it!? I find it hard, but it does happen. And she wasn't even sick.

Dad's Journal #3

2011-11-04T21:18:00.003-06:00

One thing that I love about being a Dad is putting Harlee to bed at night. I really can't wait till she gets older so I can tell creative bedtime stories to her about the famous Mr. Invisible. For those who are not familiar with Mr. Invisible, he was the main character of my Dad's bedtime stories he'd tell us when my sisters and I were little. Mr. Invisible's plans were always foiled by three little kids who were similar to us in age and description. Sometimes I love to peek on Harlee before I go to bed and just watch her sleep. She gets herself into some of the most interesting positions when she sleeps. She evens sleep talks, just like her old man.

Pregnancy is not for the sissies, it is hard on the mother. It's different for each pregnancy but still hard for the mother and the father. It is worth it when you hold that new baby that has just come from your Heavenly Father. The Lord truly blesses those who have children, because it is never convenient but it's the right thing to do' and He blesses those who keep the commandments. I know these things to be true because I have seen it happen twice in my life with my two beautiful children.

Better Late Than Never

2011-11-01T16:21:00.003-06:00

We got a package from Grandma Groesbeck today and Harlee found some Halloween goodies.

We opened them up and decorated her pumpkin with them. Thank goodness we hadn't already carved hers.

She loves it. Better late than never.

A Trick and Lots of Treats

2011-11-01T09:12:00.000-06:00

Halloween has come and gone again and was a big success! We started our Halloween by getting quite the scare!

We were sitting on the couch watching some Paul Blart: Mall Cop with Harlee when we heard a loud banging sound. We went out to see what it was and this is what we found at our front door:

Our front entryway to our apartment building decided to fall down! I'm just glad nobody was out there when it happened and we were the only ones home. Now we get to look forward to some construction in the near future. On the bright side, it did make our building look pretty spooky and deserted.

After that excitement we ran a few errands and came back home for a Halloween dinner.

A Jack-O-Lantern pizza!

After our bellies were full we headed out for some trick-or-treating. We stayed pretty close to home and just hit up a few streets in our ward.

We started with a short street to see how Harlee would do. She did great other than wanting to be carried the whole way down the street. I think it had something to do with the tons of other kids running from house to house running her over. She didn't get down saying "trick-or-treat" but she'd hold out her hand for candy and when they gave it to her she'd say thank you and put it right into her bag. The second street we went to was much better.

There, we met up with another family in our ward that has a little boy that is 4 and one that is a little younger than Harlee. She thought they were great and wanted to walk/run around with them.

She loved trick-or-treating so much she threw a tantrum when we started heading to the car. She took off running up to another house for more candy.

After an hour of collecting candy, we wen to the ropes course where they were having their Heights and Freights Halloween activity. The climbing tower was lit up and they had candy at the top for those who made it all the way.

They also had donuts and hot apple cider for everyone to drink. Harlee was still in candy gathering mode as she walked around to everyone saying "hi" and holding out her hand. She only got lucky with one piece of candy but I don't think she minded since she compensated with lots of attention from those college students. One of the girls that Andy works with at the course was fooled by Harlee's awesome puppy dog skills. Word on the street is that when we got there she was on the other side of the course when she saw us and turned to the guy next to her and said, "Oh look! Andy brought his dog!...no...wait....that's his kid!" Priceless. I'd almost rather people think she was a real dog than get all the "oh look at this cute little guy" comments that we got. Her pink and purple shoes weren't enough I guess.

We didn't stay at the ropes course very long since it got really cold and windy. Harlee and I tried to hide out in the car bundled up in coats but she wanted out to visit with people. Such a social butterfly.

And I'm sad to report that the new coat I got last winter already won't fit my belly. I could only get the belt done up above by stomach. Sad day.

All in all, I'd have to say Halloween was a success. Harlee got lots of candy (but not too much) and wore her out. She is still asleep and it is past 9:00! She NEVER sleeps in that late! I vote we go trick-or-treating again tonight!

Hocus Pocus

2011-10-30T12:59:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Rexburg had a fun little Halloween carnival that we went and checked out. Harlee dressed up in her costume and got to do a little early trick or treating.

It only took a minute for her to figure out the getting treats and putting them in her bag thing. Keeping them in the bag however didn't make sense. Must. Eat. Them. Now!

The street was lined with pumpkins in the pumpkin carving contest and I must say, there were some pretty amazing ones.

Hard to believe some of these were pumpkins once upon a time!

There were also hay rides for the families. The ride was full of "Weeeeeeee!". Harlee loved the horses and they loved her. One of them kept playing with the hood on her costume while we were trying to get our picture taken.

Across the street, inside the building they had yummy apple cider and fall treats such as pumpkin bread and jack-o-lantern shaped sugar cookies. There were also games and a scary witch giving out candy and twisty Halloween straws. She was a pretty scary looking witch! Harlee kept a very close eye on her. She wanted the candy but wouldn't let that witch get too close to her. This was her face as the witch was coming towards us.

I'm actually surprised how calm she was. Scary faces make her freak out. The Halloween costume isle at Walmart is an adventure.

It was a fun little Halloween outing and I think a good test run before the actual candy gathering tomorrow. Now, if only we can convince her that it's mom's candy. :)

Tricks or Treats

2011-10-28T14:27:00.000-06:00

For some reason I was reminiscing with myself today of past Halloweens and costumes. I dug up some fun/embarrassing pictures I'm afraid.

I believe I was 4 or 5 in this picture. It's hard to remember since I'm pretty sure I wore this bride costume for 4 years in a row. I remember the year we bought the costume I HAD to be a bride and the only costume we could find was this one that was waaaaay too big for me. My mom, trying to please me, got it for me anyway and just hemmed it up, letting the hem out a little every year. My sister was a killer bee. An old costume but still stinkin cute.

Yep....thats me in the middle. I thought it was great that nobody knew who I was. The mind of an 8 year old...

I believe this was age 9 or 10. I was a baby. All the cool girls were a baby that year...or so I thought complete with footy pajamas, pig tails and a binky. Aimee was a clown (poor girl always got my hand-me-downs), Ashley a bunny, and Hunter was a pumpkin.

Age 11?? I was...gothic?? Not really sure on that one. Aimee was a devil and Ashley a flower. Unsure on where the other siblings were.

Then I got too cool for costumes...until I went to college...

Roommate on the left was a smurf, middle roommate Barney, and I had just gotten up.

The next year, our whole apartment dressed up as the spice girls. Best. Costumes. Ever.

Then there was 2 years ago when Ashley was Vampira, Hunter was Harry Potter, and Parker was Malfoy.

And last year: Ashley a boy, Hunter a detective, Parker an old woman, Harlee a duck and Milo as Woody.

Can't wait to see what this year brings!

The Great Pumpkin

2011-10-14T19:59:00.000-06:00

We took a little trip to a pumpkin patch this afternoon to do some pumpkin picking! It was a first for me to pick my pumpkin out of a field other than my grandma's garden. Going to a pumpkin patch was on my imaginary list of things to do this fall and wow was it fun! There were tons of pumpkins everywhere!

Harlee had a blast looking at all of the pumpkins...and posing for the camera.

This is the pumpkin she picked out. I'm telling you, she's in L-O-V-E with it.

Hers was the first find so she gladly helped us find ours. Almost every pumpkin she found she wanted to take home, like the ones in the picture, that we didn't buy.

Once we found our pumpkins we weighed them and paid a whopping 5 bucks for all 3 of the best looking pumpkins I've ever owned. Score!

They also had a cute little straw maze for kiddos so we let Harlee wander through...half a dozen times. And she loved that to.

When we got home we put them outside our front door and when Harlee came up the stairs and saw them she let out the most excited squeal that has ever come out of her. She fell in love all over again with her little pumpkin and kept telling me it needed to be inside. After telling her that the pumpkin needed and liked to "sleep" outside she was ok with letting it stay there.

We had such a fun time and will definitely be making pumpkin patch picking a tradition wherever we go. It's so much better than going to the grocery store and digging through those giant bins and paying out the nose for old beaten up pumpkins!

Now all I have left on my "Fall to-do list" is carving these pumpkins and making caramel apples!

Make Your Guess!

2011-10-12T15:36:00.002-06:00

I've really been having a hard time remembering to do belly pictures with this baby. I did them every two weeks with Harlee but this one I'm lucky if I do it every 3 weeks. Hopefully it's a forgiving child and doesn't ask too many questions later.

I'm just over 16 weeks now and growing steadily. I had a doctors appointment today and I'm guessing since it literally took me longer to get a urine sample than it did to actually visit with the doctor, it means all is going well. He didn't say much, just listened to the heart beat and said see ya in 4 weeks for the ultrasound. So...the ultrasound is on the calendar and we are a bit excited. If you'd like to make your guess of what the gender is go for it! I'd love to hear what your gut feeling is. I'm not sharing what mine is. :)

I've been feeling great! I don't remember the second trimester being this good to me with Harlee. As soon as the morning sickness went away the back and hip pain started with her. I've had some heart burn which I didn't have a lick of last time but it seems to be calming down some...of course as soon as I invest in some Tums. I've started feeling movement which is fun. It's usually the feeling of popcorn popping or a strange rolling sensation. Harlee is slowly kind of catching on to things (I think). I asked her where my baby was and she came and poked me in the belly. Could have just been a coincidence but it was cute.

Here is the belly progress:

Growing, growing, growing we are!

Tales of Harlee

2011-10-11T13:01:00.000-06:00

Harlee had her 18 month check up today and just as usual, all good news. First, her stats:

Weight: 24.9 lbs 60%
Height: 31.5 in. 45%
Head Circ: 19.3 in. 96%

The doc said she looks good and is growing steadily. She's a very social girl but not so much when it comes to the doctor. She was really friendly until he started trying to listen to her heart; she just didn't want him touching her with that stethoscope. She also got one shot which makes her done with vaccines until Kindergarten. Wahoo!

She is fairly advanced when it comes to talking. Good and bad. I remember the good ole days when she would just grunt at me if I made her mad, now I'm "yucky". Some of her most common words lately: scary (Halloween maybe influencing this), yucky, more, Daddy, stuck, bye, mom, baby, Gru (Despicable Me), shoes, book, kitty, Grandma, Grandpa, Sue Sue (Suzie my parent's dog), puppy, hi, good, sippy (sippy cup), eat. To help her learn more words I talk to her as I do everything throughout the day. Such as, "I am going to the refrigerator and will pour you a cup of milk." She has picked up a lot of words by doing that but I'm afraid she may be a little dyslexic as she says some words backwards. For example, sock. She says kcos. She'll come around one of these days I'm sure.

She has started going to nursery and loves it! She must be noisy because the first time she went, the whole day after we got home from church every time she would squeal or yell she would put her finger to her mouth and say "shhhhh". No surprise. I'm sure coloring time is fun since she likes to eat crayons. Hopefully by seeing what other kids do with them she will figure out that they aren't treats. She doesn't believe me when I say they aren't snacks, just tries to share them with me.

Although we love her to death, she has been a beast the last little bit! I fear for the terrible 2's/3's. Going into public is a no-can-do. A little story for you. Yesterday, Aimee and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things and it was a nightmare of a trip. Throwing her cup and fruit snacks at people, climbing in and out of the cart, wanting to push the cart, running away, clearing everything off of the shelves, eating my shopping list, throwing things out of the cart, screaming, kicking, etc. She's embarrassing. People would just watch me with big eyes and have looks on their faces as if wondering if she was the spawn of satan or something. She wore us out. Not even the two of us could control her. This wasn't just a bad trip for her either, its EVERY trip . I felt dumb as I watched a mom shop with 4 little kids guessing ages 5,3,2,and 3 months shop. All 4 kids were little angels following her around and helping her shop. I couldn't even control my 1! I so hope this is just a stage she is in that will pass!

She has become a major daddy's girl also. She is SO in love with him. If I counted, I probably have to tell her Daddy is at school 50 times a day where she is always asking where he is, "Where's Daddy!?" She thinks he is pretty neat and is always trying to be just like him. Here she is wearing his hunting boots.


{Bad quality photo courtesy of my Ipod}

I've never seen a girl get so excited for when her dad comes home as Harlee does. It's practically a party every time he walks in the door. I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind the greeting nor does he mind being the favorite.

Harlee sure keeps us on our toes and wears us out to the point that we don't even make it to our beds before falling asleep. But, no one can make me laugh as hard as she can. After a long hard day full of tantrums and fights with her she will always come put her little arm around my neck, give me hug and big wet kisses and give me one of her funny little grins. It's hard not love her.

Let's Pretend

2011-10-07T14:54:00.001-06:00

When I was younger, one of my favorite things to play with my sisters was Grocery Store/Mall. We'd set up our little shop in the dining room, have our cordless phone to "scan" the items being purchased, and we'd each have a credit card of some sort (usually a library card or mom's drivers license) and we'd shop each taking turns being the shoppers and the "cashier person". Harlee has recently started to go shopping for her play time as well. I absolutely love watching.

She usually has one of my shoes on one foot and one of Andy's shoes on the other foot, my purse slung over her shoulder while pushing her baby doll stroller with one of her dolls or stuffed animals in it, and has Andy's first drivers license in her hand. She'll go into her room and find a toy, come find me, give me the toy, then give me the drivers license and say "ummmm... thank you!" and walk away proudly with her "purchase" and card. She continues to do this until pretty much every toy in her room has been brought into the living room. She's so funny! Whenever we take her shopping she has to be the one that puts all of the items on the counter and give the cashier the money; it's no mystery why she plays like this.

She also loves being a little mommy for her dolls. Sometimes after she wakes up from naps I'll hear her playing. She'll ask her baby if its hungry by saying, "Eat? Eat?" Then she'll feed the baby its bottle until it burps (her doll burps when it is fed) because she thinks its funny. I can't wait to see what a good big sister and helper she is when the baby comes.

Here are some pictures of her playing last night: my purse, her basket of shoes and dad's hat. {She had just finished eating Spaghetti-Os so no shirt.}

Love this girl. She's quite the entertainment these days!

Forget Me Nots

2011-09-27T10:32:00.000-06:00

I found a bunch of pictures today that I never got around to blogging about! I blame it on the morning sickness.

After one of our many vacations (I believe after Florida) we hung out in Mapleton with Andy's family for a few days before coming home. Grandma Groesbeck thought it would be fun to let the girls jump on the tramp with the sprinkler under it.

Harlee made it a fun game to run across the tramp, through the water to Grandma screaming and giggling to give her a hug. She did this over and over and over.

Great fun!

When we got home from North Carolina we stayed in Mapleton for an day or two so we could see Andy's two cousins that were going into the MTC. One of the days, we went with Emilee and her kiddos to the Spanish Fork reservoir for a little swimming.

Again, more fun times.

A few weeks ago, I was wanting to do something fun with Harlee because I was getting bored with our usually "play time" rituals and I know she was too. We decided to make our living room into a big fort! Harlee was really excited as she wasn't much help building it. Once she finally cooperated enough for me to get it up she had a great time. We put her pillow and a blanket inside along with her favorite stuffed animals and ate snacks and watched a movie of her choice, Baby Einstein.

We had a great time in our fort until Dad got home. Harlee went a little crazy and demolished the fort; she was so proud. It was short lived but I think she had fun based off of the random cheesy grin she'd give me occasionally.

It Popped

2011-09-21T13:00:00.004-06:00

Here is the belly today at just over 13 weeks...

It kind of just popped out there recently!

We went to the temple with our ward last night and we were laughing because my temple dress makes me look about 13 months pregnant.

Things are going as good as I could ask for right now. Nothing out of the pregnancy norm at least. No more sickness, no more energy, no more memory, and no more waistline. I'm calling on the belly band and maternity pants. I'm feeling much bigger at this point than I did with Harlee. Time to bust out the pictures and compare them I guess.

Never Say Never

2011-09-20T11:31:00.000-06:00

When I was younger, my little brothers would run around dressed up in their Halloween costumes of Captain America and Spider Man All. Day. Long. I was always so embarrassed of them and wondered why in the world my mom would allow them to dress like that. I told myself that I would "NEVER let my kids wear their Halloween costumes all day long, especially when it wasn't even Halloween". Welp. I did it. Yesterday in fact.

I went through Harlee's clothes recently putting away the summery/12 month clothes and got out the warmer clothes and 18 month stuff we had gotten as hand-me-downs. While pulling out the new stuff I found another Halloween costume (a cow). That made our costume count up to 3 for this year; a dog, Snow White, and now a cow. I wanted to try it on her to see if it even fit her and could be a consideration for this years dressing up.

It fit and was super cute. And she liked it. Lots. She insisted on wearing it for a while until she decided she wanted the dog costume on instead. Not in the mood for a fight, I put the costume on her. She was thrilled and went about her Harlee duties until it was nap time. Knowing the costume was really warm I tried to take it off of her before she went down for a nap but she wouldn't let me. So she took a nap in her costume (for 3 hours might I add).

Moral of this story? Never say never.

DAD's Journal #2

2011-09-16T19:21:00.006-06:00

Well I guess it's about time for me to do another entry. Time has just passed so fast. I have started school, which is my last semester. We have had two amazing vacations also. This week I like to testify about the power of priesthood blessings. As you all know, we went to Florida and North Carolina recently. We were a little worried since Abbey is pregnant and when she has a parasite in her she tends not to fair too well because she is one of, the less then 2% of women who get Hyperemesis gravidarum. Your wondering what it is, in lame men terms is morning sickness on steroids. Parasites(babies) tend to do this to her.
For those who may think calling our future offspring a parasite is cruel and in humane. Well I have some advice for you, Google the definition of parasite. Second, if you think it is cruel and in humane obviously you have never been pregnant or seen your wife pregnant. If you have then you would probably agree with us. Sorry for the long soap box speech.
Abbey was nervous about traveling and vacationing while being sick. I gave her a priesthood blessing before we left. She was not cured of being sick but it let off tons and then we came back from Florida it got worse again. She was flat on her back and making frequent trips to the porcelain throne. I pretty much had to become Mr. Mom for a week. If you're thinking this a post about me and how great I was for becoming the best hubby ever, your wrong. This post is about how much respect I have for Abbey and women who give birth. Birth is like pushing a bowling ball through a garden hose. Yeah that does not sound like fun but some one has to do it so God gave it to women because He knew that men could not handle it.
Back to the story, the week passed and then we headed back to the promise land of North Carolina, AKA my mission. Miraculously the morning sickness(don't even get me on that one) let off again. With a few problems like hurricanes, earthquakes and snakes; we have a great time. We even had a smooth trip traveling with Harlee. Once we got back to life, Abbey started to feel sick again. Coincidence, I don't think so.
I do have a very strong testimony of the power of the priesthood, which is the power to act in the name of our Heavenly Father. I know that it is real, and it works to bless the lives of those who we love so much. I know with a tiny amount of faith and a blessing all things are possible. I really don't know why he trust us with this power but I am slowly learning why. I know that motherhood is a divine calling, there is nothing more important the being a mother. I knew Abbey would be a divine mother and that is the major reason why I married her.

Love Dad

Where The Heart Is

2011-09-16T10:13:00.001-06:00

On Wednesday I had my first doctor appointment where I got to hear the baby's heart beat! That first time always makes me really nervous. This time I was especially nervous. It is still early enough miscarriage is very possible, I feel like I'm starving the poor thing, prenatals are a no go so we substitute kiddie vitamins, and Harlee for some reason thinks my stomach is a trampoline. You get the picture; it's scary! The nurse practitioner got her little heart beat monitor out, put that ice cold goo on my stomach and went to work in search of the heart beat. Right off the bat we heard one. I got so excited...until she said it was mine. We listened...and listened...and listened...and listened. I was getting SUPER nervous at this point! And then, 5 minutes later, she found it! It was quieter than mine (because it was hiding in my back I guess), 10 times faster and kept coming in and out. She said the baby kept "swimming" away from her. She chased it around for a bit longer saying it sounded good and strong. SO. What have I already learned about this child?

1. It is a tease. Hiding from us!? Little stinker.

2. Wild already. "Swimming all over the place"?? Cant begin to tell you how pleased I am to hear that baby #2 doesn't hold still either; and it's only the size of a lemon! I worry Harlee will be the "calm" one. Is it an Andy Jr?! Nightmares already!

3. It's a trooper. Already having to put up with a mom who hasn't been able to feed it like she wants to and a sister who jumps all over it. One tough cookie I say.

All in all, my appointment went well. I've gained a pound. Woohoo! But, with the appetite I've had lately, I'll be gaining that 15 pounds back in the next week or so. Andy already tells people I'm eating for 2; isn't he sweet? Yes, I love my popcorn. All of it. Another thing, who knows when my due date really is. The receptionists tell me the 28th and the nurses say the 26th. Beats me. I say we should settle for a week earlier. :) I know of 6 or 7 babies due in March and mine is last. Talk about a torturous month having to watch all of the others come first and having to wait!

We look forward to finding out what gender this little peanut is at the end of October/first part of November. Andy wants a boy "so he can wrestle with him". However, I think Harlee will be a great wrestler, shes tough. I think a boy would be fun but a girl would be cheaper since we already have loads of girl stuff. No matter what though we'll be happy.

Dancing Queen

2011-09-15T10:41:00.001-06:00

Harlee has made me a proud mama lately. She LOVES to dance! I caught one of her performances on video this morning. Excuse the fact that she doesn't have any pants on. I was getting her dressed when she decided she HAD to dance NOW and that getting dressed could wait.

Let me give you a little background info: She as become obsessed with the movie Despicable Me in the last few weeks. It might not be the best thing that she has to watch it first thing in the morning but it makes her a happy girl the rest of the day so we go with it. The movie has lots of catchy music in it that literally makes Harlee drop whatever she is doing to dance to the music. This video is of the dancing scene at the end of the movie (her very favorite part).

Love that little bum shake! Don't ask me where she got it from! Maybe it's time to bust out the tutus and start her on some Tendus, Pliés, and Arabesques ??

An Udderly Fantastic Time

2011-09-09T12:21:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the cheesy title but that is the theme for this years Eastern Idaho State Fair! We took Harlee for the first time on Tuesday. We started our visit off with fair food. I got my dose of an Indian Taco while the rest of the family enjoyed the Bulls-eye burger (bacon cheeseburger served on a doughnut instead of a bun) and homemade curly potato chips. After stuffing our faces we walked through the commercial buildings to look at all the "good buys" that the fair had to offer. We ended up getting Harlee a felt paper doll. They are great for sacrament meeting entertainment!

We then walked through the Hobby buildings looking at the cakes decorated by locals and judged by the famous Food Network Cake Challenge competitor Norman Davis. There were some impressive cakes! After cakes and photography were were off to see what else we could find.

My brothers saw these crazy water ball things that they just HAD to try. All it is, is giant see through balls that they fill with air. You climb inside, they zip you in it and then let you run around in them on water.

After watching the boys literally run themselves ragged we went and played with the animals.

Right after taking this picture Harlee noticed a piece of grass on her hand that she had gotten from the lamb. She pulled it off, said "YUCK!" and then put it back on the lamb. Silly girl.

Aimee worked in the Candy Apple booth all day before we met up with her at the fair. Evidently she had candy or caramel on her pants that the cow thought was yummy as he started eating her pocket. Love her face.

This guy stood on the fence the whole time we were there. Harlee didn't quite know what to think of him.

Feeding the piggies.

Feeding the goats.

I think it is safe to say the petting zoo was the highlight for Harlee. When we got home I was surprised to hear how much fun Andy had as well. The last time he went to the fair was when we were dating and it was really cold and rainy. We ended up just eating a funnel cake and going home. He wasn't very impressed. We've both decided though that the fair is more fun with kids.

We may be going back to the fair Saturday for the Demolition Derby so our fair fun isn't quite over yet!

Day At The Zoo

2011-09-09T11:00:00.000-06:00

As the summer is winding down, I realized that we haven't done a few things on our list of "things to do this summer." In efforts to complete the list we decided to take Harlee to the Idaho Falls Zoo last Saturday.

It is a small zoo but it was fun. I don't think I could have handled a much bigger zoo so it was good. My family had nothing to do and wanted in on Harlee's first trip to the Zoo so they came along. Here are some pictures of our fun:

So happy to be there

Goats

Riding a tiger

Lions

Zebras

Monkeys of all kinds

Petting a llama

Riding a rooster

Journal 1

2011-09-08T09:59:00.001-06:00

July 26, 2011

I have just found out that I will be a father for a second time. Abbey and I both knew she was pregnant before she took the test, but we did it for reassurance. I think this child is meant to be in our family since its a miracle baby. I have been swamped with school and work the last couple of months which means I have hardly been home, and its a necessary step for me to be home to have a baby (I hope the baby is not someones else's. jk). I have decided to make a journal of my view of the baby number two experience. This is mostly for our future child's sake but also for me because as I try to remember Harlee's 9 months in Hotel Mommy, I really don't remember a whole lot.

I have a lot of thoughts rushing through my head at this moment, mostly grateful and proud to be a father again since there is no grater calling than being a father. Our Heavenly Farther wants to be called Father instead of God, master of the universe, omnipotent, or any other title. It is a humbling to know that I have the same title as "father" as our Heavenly Farther.

It was a big step to have Harlee, but I think it is an even bigger step to go from one to two. Yes I am nervous knowing that I have to provide for another body but I have faith that the lord will provide since we are doing what he wants by having a family.

Baby Baby

2011-09-02T11:51:00.000-06:00

For some reason it still hasn't really hit me that I'm having another baby. I've seen it in the ultrasound

{look at that little alien-like face; it on the left of the little peanut. One only a mom could love}

and I'm seeing it in my already growing waistline, but it still seems so surreal.

On Monday I will be 11 weeks along! This pregnancy seems to being going faster than my last one; we'll see if I'm still saying that 5 months from now.

So, how is this little bebe treating me??? It's beating me up already. I have lost 12 lbs and all of that was within 2 weeks. I had a few days flat on my back, unable to move. The only time I could move was rushing to the bathroom every 2 hours to empty and already empty stomach. I'm still down 12 lbs even though I'm not throwing up as often, but I can't really eat anything. When I do force something down, it's in tiny amounts. Food either smells bad, tastes weird, or looks nasty! Poor Andy and Harlee have had to suffer to since I haven't been able to keep up with my regular cleaning and cooking schedule. My prenatal vitamins don't sit well at all so I've tried taking 2 of Harlee's gummy bear vitamins a day. So far so good!

We have been on 2 big vacations whileI've been sick. {Not the BEST timing in the world} Thanks to Priesthoodblessings I was able to make it through fairly well. Didn't feel 100% but goodenough to have a good time. Now that I'm home I've been feeling pretty blahagain but hopefully only two more weeks left of it. Fingers crossed!

Oh Harlee

2011-08-30T12:41:00.002-06:00

It seems like Harlee has all of a sudden grown up a ton. She has become such a copy cat saying and doing what she sees.

She has also become quite the girly girl. She is always carrying around a doll of some sort, playing dress up, wearing lipstick (chapstick), talking on the phone and posing for the camera.

A few weeks ago she and Andy went with my dad to Driggs, ID to get my brother from scout camp. While they were there my dad did a little photo shoot with her. The pictures turned out great!

We also caught her hamming it up for the camera while wearing her Snow White costume...

She can be such a goober sometimes but we love her.

Down Yonder: The South

2011-08-30T12:28:00.000-06:00

We recently got home from our trip to North Carolina. North Carolina is where Andy served his mission. He has been itching for several years to take me and show me his "home". We had a great time visiting some of his converts and other ward members he got to know.

We arrived in Charlotte Monday evening and headed to Forest City where stayed with some of the best people (I'm not just saying that because I know they are reading this). The Simmons' adopted Andy as their grandson on his mission. They are full of laughs, great stories, and an endless supply of Twist Up, Cheerwine and Heavenly Hash. One of the days we were in Forest City, Clarence took Andy and I to shoot some of his fun guns.

The next day we first stopped in Shelby to visit the Skelton family for just a few minutes. We then headed to Mt. Airy. For those familiar with The Andy Griffith Show, we got to tour Mayberry.

We walked down Main Street and did a little shopping.Then went to the Mayberry Jail and found these hoodlums.

Saw the Mayberry Courthouse

And saw Andy Griffith's house!

After doing the touristy stuff Mt. Airy offered we visited with the Ray family. The Ray's son served his mission in Provo and Andy happened to pick him up and give him a ride somewhere one day right before he left on his own mission. Elder Ray told Andy where he was from which obviously sparked Andy's interest since that was where he was going. When he got there he got to know the Ray family in the Mt. Airy ward and Brother Ray, who is a chiropractor, adjusted Andy the duration of his time serving in that area. Get this, the world gets even smaller. Elder Ray, who was the missionary in Provo and the son of the chiropractor, just so happened to be a student at BYU-Idaho as well so we saw him quite often. Small small world.

After seeing the Rays we met with The Hiatts at McDonald's for a little chow and playing at the play place. After eating we went to see their Bull dog puppies. SO cute!

They loved Harlee but she didn't love them so much. They were bit excited to see her.

We then went to Winston-Salem to see who we could run into. That was a short stay since we only got to see one person but it was still worth it!

We then went to Catawba, South Carolina to visit the Becks. We got to see Sammy, a ward member in that area. We had plans to see a family that Andy baptized but they ended up being busy. Amazingly enough, we ran into a few of them at the grocery store. We were glad we got to at least see some of them for a few minutes.

Saturday, Andy's birthday, we spent the day again in Forest City visiting the Parson's. Andy had a great time shooting guns with Gary, while Harlee and I had fun visiting with Robbin and playing with their cats and chickens.

Sunday we went to church in Forest City before we had to head home. We had such a great time! Although it was great, I think we are done with vacations for a while. We tend to bring unfortunate things with us everywhere we go it seems like. First Florida where we brought a hurricane. Then NC where we brought another hurricane and an earthquake. For the safety of others, we better stay home.

It was great to see another part of the country, meet the people Andy loves, and make new friends and family.We love the south!

Time To Fill You In On Our Lil' Secret

2011-08-18T09:58:00.000-06:00

We've got a secret that we are finally ready to share. Want to know what it is??? See if you can guess...

Get it?? Check your math.

How about now? Do you follow??

Is this a little more clear?

There is a little person inside me. Harlee is going to be a big sister. Another voice to call us mommy and daddy. It's true. I'm pregnant! And we are so excited.

Florida Vacation

2011-08-16T17:51:00.000-06:00

So how about I get with it and blog about our trip to Florida!? It was only two weeks ago...

We (Andy and I) went to Florida for a week with my family to play and soak up some Florida sun. Harlee stayed in Utah with Andy's parents. Word on the street is that she had so much fun playing dress up with cousins, swinging, and jumping on the tramp, that she hardly noticed we were gone.

We laugh about our trip saying that we should have had a movie crew following us around for the week. It would have made for a fantastic Family Vacation Movie. You know the ones. The ones where its just one unfortunate event after another? It made for some grumpiness in the moment but we sure get a laugh out of it now. Where to start? The beginning.

We flew out of Salt Lake early in the morning on Saturday the 30th. Our plane was having difficulties getting permission to take off, they told us, so we sat on the run way for an hour. The non stop flight to Florida was good and long but we enjoyed ourselves sipping gingerale, munching on pretzels, and playing trivia games on the plane's personal tv screens. Yeah Delta! Once we landed we found our luggage and headed to get our rental car. Turns out it wasn't a car at all. It was "The Beast", an 8 passenger van.

Then it was off to check in to our timeshare. We checked in, they booked us for the wrong room, we were annoyed, but got over it. It had enough beds and AC so we were fine.

Sunday we went to Sea World. My first experience with Sea World was the 8th Grade Science Trip forever ago, and I hated it. This time it was much much better.

The Manta Rays begging us for more food.

Observed a little Penguin napping. I'm going to try sleeping like that I think.

Watched some crazy seals.

Watched sharks swim around us.

And caught a glimpse and a splash from Shamu.

The next day we hit up Epcot where we

learned about Captain EO

toured a few countries

and earned our horns.

After most of our day at Epcot we went to Magic Kindgom.

Saw Cinderella's Castle,

got stuck in the stocks,

and ran past the light parade. Literally. I was lucky to get this one picture.We rode some run rides and waited in some long lines but it was fun!

The following day we went to Universal Studios and rode some great rides and saw some neat things

including Hogmeade, the Hogwarts Express and the Hogwarts Castle.
Andy's favorite ride was the Incredible Hulk roller coaster. He went on it by himself while the rest of us sat inside an air conditioned building.
That night, Andy and my dad went to pick up a few groceries at a grocery store called Publix. When they got there they learned that it was on fire! What the what?!
The next day we were so theme parked out that we decided to spend a day at Daytona Beach.

We body surfed, relaxed, took naps and showed off our sexy tan lines. My brother Parker miraculously got stung by a massive jelly fish on this thigh. Supposedly jelly fish never are in that area but they just happened to be all over the beach while we were there. Everyone got fried crispy to! Somebody smart said, "we are at sea level, we wont burn." Uh huh. Crisped. The skin is still peeling.
The next day we hit up Disney Hollywood. I didn't get any pics because that's just how the day was. It was too hot (heat index at 110). Everyone was too tired (except for mom, she was the energizer bunny the WHOLE trip). Everyone was burned and sore. It was short lived and I honestly don't remember much of that day. We went home and sat in the pool, munched and watched Shark Week and the hurricane that was threatening to keep us Florida forever.
Friday, Parker's Birthday, we went shopping at Downtown Disney. Those not familiar, Downtown Disney is ONLY shopping and eating. That's it. Parker requested lunch at Rain forest Cafe which was really fun!

Once our tummies were full we shopped till we drop.

Saturday morning we checked out of our timeshare and headed to a yummy breakfast. We still had a few hours before we had to return "the beast" so we went to check out the Orlando Temple. So pretty!

We then returned the van, shuttled to the airport, checked luggage, went through security and then we waited. This is where the real fun started.

We were there really early so we just found some open seats a few gates down from our gate and had a seat. After awhile seats closer to our gate opened up so we picked up and moved. Ten minutes before we were to load, Parker realizes that his carry on is GONE! His carry on was his suit case from the week containing all of his clothes AND 95% of the souvenirs from the trip. We were sick. We figured out that when we moved to the closer seat, Parker thought my dad had his bag and my dad thought Parker had his bag so it was left there for the two hours we waited. We contacted security who told us that IF somebody turned it in it would be at the Lost and Found...which was on the other side of the airport. The HUGE airport. We ended up having to load the plane without it. When we landed in Cincinnati for our layover my dad noticed he had a missed call and message from his receptionist at his dental office. Before the trip he had put one of his business cards on the bag in case it got lost. Someone DID turn in the bag and the airport called his office! Such a relief!! We just had to have it sent UPS to us. It only cost $140 to ship. Ouchee!But at least we got it back.

The flight to Salt Lake was dandy. Andy sat next to a guy on the plane that was pretty much himself only 10 years older. He was headed to Utah to hike and camp in the Uinta Mountains for a week. They had all the same interests including occupation. The guy was over Environmental Health for his county which is pretty much what Andy is going into. They talked the entire 4 hours home.
We landed at 8:00 pm. It was so great to be on home turf again and we were eager to see our Harlee again. We grabbed our luggage and dashed to the shuttle that would take us back to our car. My family had to wait for a different shuttle to go back to the hotel to get their car. It was only almost 40 minutes before it showed up. Then they had to head all the way home. Their luck didn't change because they then got stuck in traffic. It was a loooong night for them.
We had a great time on our trip but we are so glad to be home. I have never been so thankful for Idaho summers and Rexburg water. *Florida water tastes like sulfur. No joke.* It took me the longest time to get used to normal summer temps. It was 75 degrees when we got home and I was freezing!!
Great trip, great fun, great laughs, great memories!

Yard Sale Treasures

2011-07-23T09:32:00.002-06:00

Lately I've gotten in to Yard sales and I'm really not sure why because I rarely find anything I like for me or Andy. Harlee is the one that seems to find everything she's ever wanted in life at the sales. This weekend we hit up a few yard sales and Harlee came out on top once again.

At one sale we went to she jumped out of the car and ran straight to a dog costume. She thought it was a life size puppy and instantly fell in love. Kissing it, barking at it, hugging it, talking to it; it was a hoot to watch. The lady running the yard sale thought she was so funny that she said she would give it to us for a dollar. I assumed it wasn't her size so I didn't think anything of it. Well...it just so happened to be her size. Andy talked me into getting it for her. She was the happiest little girl you could ever imagine. I can't even describe how excited she was...for a Halloween costume!! Once we got home we put it on her. It was like falling in love all over again for her. Look at the love:

Now, if she doesn't grow much before October, we're set for Halloween!

Show Some Pride

2011-07-17T19:51:00.001-06:00

For the weekend we went to Blackfoot to celebrate with the town during its Pride Days. Pride Days is an annual "celebration" if you will, spread out over a few days full of activities and things to look at and do.

We started our day with a free breakfast at Jensen's Grove and ran into Spot from On The Spot Cleaning. Harlee thought he was pretty cool. She gave him hi-fives, and waved at him non stop. Spot liked her to; probably because she was the only kid there that didn't cry when he came up to visit.

After our tasty and free breakfast of pancakes, eggs and hash browns we played with a Shetland pony and some rabbits.

Then we went to climb on the tallest jungle gym I think I've ever seen.

By the time we were done going down slides, the bounce castle was up and running. Harlee gave it a whirl. She didn't quite understand the point of it but she still had fun.

We then went to the face painting booth. Ashley and Parker got their faces painted but Harlee wasn't so sure about it so she just got a sparkly heart on her hand. She loved it and kept showing it to everyone.

With so much done and so much to do we were getting hot so we treated ourselves to some shaved ice and a relaxing ride around the park on a train.

The shaved ice was yummy but didn't cool us quite enough so we went to put our feet in the water and wait for the snow machine races to begin.

We watched literally 1 race before Harlee started being naughty. Fancy that! Luckily they were just starting the free baked potato feed so we scurried our tummies over and partook of the yumminess. Everything tastes better when its free! Harlee was just about shot for the day so we made a quick look-see at the muscle cars at the car show right by where we were eating. After that we were home bound in dire need of naps. For all of us.
We had a good time, saw lots of friends, got a little sun, free food, and showed some Blackfoot pride. Great weekend I say!

Another Harlee Update

2011-07-13T08:17:00.000-06:00

Harlee had her 15 month check up this week so it's time for some stats.

Weight: 22.8 lbs. 50%
Height: 31.5 in. 81%
Head circumference: 19 in. 96%

I was a little bit surprised by the numbers. The fact that her weight is average is weird. I'm sure those thighs of hers aren't average. Her height?! Where did that come from? Above average? She's always been a shorty and neither of her parents have many inches to brag about. I'm almost certain it is because she just went through a growth spurt. Her head, however? Not a surprise.

Overall, her doctors visit went well. She is progressing normally and is doing things that she is supposed to. We have noticed that she is bow legged and pigeon toed so I asked the doc's opinion on that. He did a few tests on her and thinks she will be fine and that it will eventually fix itself, no need for braces or goofy shoes.Yay!

Words of Harlee: Her most common lingo

Hi
What's that?
Dad
Daddy
Mom
Abbey
Jesus
Bubbles
Stinky
Yeah
Cheese (a snack OR posing for the camera)
Shoes
Bye
Aimee
Wow
Puppy
Love You
Hunter
Bampa (Grandpa Hatch)
Papa (Grandpa Groesbeck)
Baby
Thank you
Mickey
Uh Oh
Oh No
Book
Night-night

She Loves:

Wearing our shoes
Purses
Friends
Reading
Going new places
The park
Tangled...every.single.day
Phones
Singing
Dancing
Eating erasers off of Dad's pencils
Skype
Giving hugs and kisses
Going for walks
Mom and Dad
Dolls
Make up
Snack time
Taking baths
Dogs
Sharing her food with strangers
Helping Mom do laundry
Praying
Brushing her teeth

She Hates:

The vacuum
The doctor
Carseats
Being told no
Teething-she's getting 5 at once right now (4 molars and a late comer up front)
When visitors knock on our door (it scares her to death)

That's my little girl in a nutshell for you. She's quite the character but we love her. I just wish she'd slow down on the whole growing up thing.

How About Some Family Pictures?

2011-07-12T09:30:00.001-06:00

Remember the family reunion we went to over the 4th of July? Well, we got some family pictures done while we were there. What's a family reunion with out family photos??


My family

Just the 3 of us

This is the whole family being serious...

...This is a more accurate view of what we are really like.

This Is Me Struggling To Come Up With A Title

2011-07-11T07:54:00.003-06:00

Here's a peek at our weekend:

I signed Harlee up for the Summer Reading Program that our local library does every summer. If I read to her everyday of the week she gets a "free ride on the carousel pass" for every week that we visit the library. We had a few of them collected so we decided to go to the park and use them. I went on the first ride with Harlee and she was NOT a fan.

Excuse my juvenile facial expression in the photo, I was in the middle of a "mom moment" as I call it, trying to show Harlee how fun it was by making a total fool of myself.

We only went around a few times on the horse until we resorted to me holding her.

The next ride, Andy went with her and it was suddenly fun. Little stinker!

Notice her pointing? The splash park is right next to the carousel so she was begging to go play.

After the carousel we went to play on the slide and swing.

We then went to feed the ducks. The only kicker was it was really hot so the ducks stayed hidden in the trees. No amount of bread was going to bring them to us.

So we went back again today and had much more success.

Then Harlee found a dog and it was love at first sight.

Then we went down more slides.

This is how Harlee likes to go down, flat on her back.

That's our weekend in a nutshell. Sorry for my lack of creativity; I forgot to put on my "clever cap" this morning.

Up A Creek Without A Paddle

2011-07-09T14:05:00.000-06:00

With Andy being very involved in Outdoors Activities on campus and now a student director, he has gotten to be involved in lots of fun trips that he probably wouldn't have been able to go on otherwise.

Yesterday, he got to lead a trip for stand up paddle boarding. What is that? It is just what it says. You stand on a giant surf board type thing with a paddle and paddle your way down a river.

Although I'm not a student anymore, I got to help facilitate the trip with Andy. We went to a place on the river just a few miles outside of Rexburg called Warm Slough. It is a stretch of the river that is really slow moving and calm. The intense winds didn't let it be so calm for us pushing us up stream and giving us white caps but it sure made for a good shoulder, back, ab, and thigh work out! I'm feelin' it today!

Normally you start out kneeling

Then work your way to standing up

Cris-Cross Apple Sauce is nice too

No matter how frustrating the wind was for me either pushing me backwards or in circles or into the trees, I have to admit, I did have fun. Just don't tell Andy ;)

"Woooow!"

2011-07-07T13:55:00.001-06:00

I'm finally getting around to doing a fireworks post!

This year we watched fireworks in Blackfoot for their city fireworks show. My dad's dental office is in prime location for the show literally right across the street from the fireworks so we had pretty much the best seats and parking spots in the house! I was really nervous about Harlee and the fireworks. Reason 1) the show didn't start until 10:15 which is waayyy past her bed time of 7:30 or 8. She is quite the naughty little stink if she stays up too late. But who isn't?! Reason 2) I was afraid she would be scared of the fireworks because loud noises are pretty much the only things in the world that scare her. Vacuuming is quite the horrifying event at our house.

Harlee surprised me in every way possible.

10:00 rolled around and she was still happy as a lark, dancing to the music we had playing and showing off for everyone around us. People in surrounding areas and neighborhoods were lighting of their own fireworks and every time Harlee saw one she would say, "Woooow!" then clap her hands and then do the sign for "more". She loved them! Once the real firework show started, the look on her face said that she was a little surprised by the noise but she got over it really fast and continued with her "wowing" and clapping. The show lasted 12 minutes and she held still for just about the entire time. Rare for her. Here is some of the show Andy caught in photos.

Although we had a great time, we were ready to get home. Normally it takes us 45 minutes to get home from Blackfoot; because we hit all the major traffic from the other firework shows in Idaho Falls and Rexburg, it took us and hour and a half to get home. It was one late night, but it was worth it.

Weekend Of The 4th

2011-07-04T19:09:00.000-06:00

Every 4th of July my Mom's family does a big family reunion in Wyoming. Here are photos of our fun!

Mud Volleyball in action.

Team cheering section.

The team

Harlee at the parade

Grandpa kissing Harlee....

...And Harlee kissing Grandpa

Princess Harlee

After we got home from Wyoming, we went jet skiing!!

Harlee ate an entire bag of licorice and half a bag of Goldfish crackers.

Playing in the water with Dad.

So far our 4th of July weekend has been a success. Only time (and Harlee) will tell if we get to watch fireworks tonight. Lets hope!

Window Faces

2011-06-29T10:40:00.000-06:00

Last night Harlee escaped out to the back porch and shut herself out. I kept an eye on her out the window as she peeked through the railing looking at the grass and random objects she like to thrown down onto the grass. She must have gotten bored because this is what she started doing:

I'm really not sure where she comes up with these things but I'm glad she does. It makes my life more enjoyable. Looking at the window you'd think we had a dog with the slimy goobers we have all over it but nope, just a Harlee.
Side note:
If you ever find yourself desiring hair like Wolverine

All you have to do is put your hair in high pig tails for a day and...

you've got it made.

Nursery Prep

2011-06-27T13:05:00.000-06:00

We have been working a lot with Harlee recently on church things in preparation for nursery in 3 months. Yes, we are counting down the days!! She already loves the nursery and begs to go in every Sunday. Who wouldn't want toys, coloring and snacks for two hours?! Plus, that's where all of her little friends are going and she wants to join. Some things she is learning:

Prayer:

She has been learning how to pray. She is so good about folding her arms and bowing her head. Not as good for the camera but all we have to do is say the word pray and she gets in position. It's cute! Now we just have to work on not clapping in the middle of the prayer and holding still.

Love One Another:

This one we didn't have to work at, she offers hugs and kisses gladly.

Jesus:

She has also learned who Jesus is! She even can say his name. Sometimes I'll ask "Where is Jesus?" and she will go point at a picture of him on the wall and say "Jesus!"

Primary Songs:

Yesterday Harlee came into Primary to visit me for a minute. It just so happened to be singing time which is her favorite. We were singing the song, "Scripture Power". Each time the kids say the words "Scripture Power" they are to hold up their scriptures as high as they can. The kids LOVE the song and sing it really loud! Harlee thought it was so great that she started "singing" {very loudly} along with throwing up her arms when the kids did. Even after the song was over Harlee kept on singing and had the entire Primary's attention and giggles. The whole day we'd catch her singing it with her arms up in the air. Here is a video of her singing along with us.

So far I think we are on the right track and she will be ready for nursery in no time. I can't wait! :)

Splish Splash Fun

2011-06-23T14:24:00.000-06:00

We checked out the splash park for the first time today and had lots of fun!

When Harlee saw the water when we first got out of the car she was sooo excited. Once we got close to it she was a little hesitant and not so sure about it. I'm not sure if it was the water or the billions of kids running screaming and splashing around that freaked her out. After about 10 minutes or so though she warmed up to it and had loads of fun.

She loved splashing through the water.

Laughing at the water shooting out of the ground.

Harlee and Aimee

Aimee decided to take Harlee down the slide...

...the water was a little chilly for her.

We had a blast and Harlee made a new friend named Juliet who we will be playing with more often! Yay for new friends!

Out With The Old, In With The New

2011-06-22T09:33:00.000-06:00

Recently we've had a major turn over of our vehicles.

We sold both Andy's truck and our Camry in replacement of our new pride and joy, the Xterra!

Its kind of sad to see the Camry go since it was my first and only car. It stuck with me through my High School days, my College days, my Newlywed days, and now my mommy days. Its been a great little car for us; we will miss it dearly.

Thank goodness we have a new car that we love even more than the Camry so our pain is short lived. Andy and I have wanted to own an Xterra since we first got married but have had to be patient. Well, we finally got one and are so in love with it. We fight over who gets to drive it when we are out running errands. It is just too fun to drive! Harlee likes it to because she sits really high up and can see so much more. Plus the windows are tinted so the sun doesn't blind her anymore. She gets really excited whenever we ride in it. My favorite was the first time she rode in it. She kept excitedly pointing out the window saying, "WOW!" "What's that?!" It was a whole new world for her!

It's the perfect car for us right now. Bigger, 4 wheel drive for wintery roads and off roading {although, Andy says he loves it too much to take off road, he is babying it}, a bigger trunk space to haul all of the extra things that come with a baby when traveling. We love our new car!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T09:00:00.003-06:00

Want to see what we did for our favorite dads on their special day??

We got a three photo frame and put these cutie patutie pictures in them

"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, glad as I can be! Clap my hands and shout for joy and climb up on his knee. Put my arms around his neck, hug him tight like this! Pat his cheeks and give him, what!? A Great! Big! Kiss!" Mmmmmwa!

Adventures In Babysitting

2011-06-13T14:27:00.000-06:00

My parents went to Florida for a week so my brothers came to stay with us while they were gone. Harlee loved waking up to them hugging and kissing her every morning. She also thinks they are the funniest creatures born literally laughing at their every move.

We had fun teasing each other about silly things they did like Parker throwing his bowling ball behind him...twice, playing games like Skip-Bo and Pass the Pig, kick ball in the living room, watching movies, playing basketball, going on walks, and going to Fat Cats for some pizza, bowling and glow in the dark mini golf. These were the only pictures I was able to of our night at Fat Cats before my camera died. Fail.

Parker bowling Hunter bowling

Andy beat all of us in the 2 games of bowling we played. Harlee was our cheerleader clapping, cheering and giving hi-fives after every one's turn in between mouthfuls of pizza.

After our bowling game we went on to play glow golf. It was super fun! I was a little nervous about what Harlee would think but there was no need to worry; she loved it! We didn't keep track of points because Harlee was helping me cheat by picking my ball up and putting it in the hole for me. Only once did she step in a hole and fall down. It didn't seem to bother her though since she jumped up laughing at herself and clapping {must have thought it was a trick I guess}.

We had other plans this weekend of feeding ducks and going to the water park but the cool rainy weather got the best of us again.

Now that the boys are gone I'm going to have to work extra hard at keeping Harlee happy and entertained. I will never be as funny as them no matter how hard I try just because I'm mom and mom is never very funny. That's just how it is!

All Pooed Out

2011-06-12T20:13:00.000-06:00

Warning: this post is about bodily functions that may gross out some. If this is you, don't read on.

Where to start...We've been having issues with Harlee and her pooing lately. She was sick last week so I had been watching her diapers really closely. Friday, she had been feeling lots better but I was still keeping an eye on her poo. As I was changing her messy diaper getting her ready for bed I noticed a little somethin' somethin' special in it. I found one of my earrings! I had been looking for them for several days thinking I was losing my mind because I always put them in the same spot on my night stand. I am super careful about closing our bedroom door because Harlee looooves to play with my things. Evidently I didn't close the door all the way one day; Harlee somehow got in my room and helped herself to my earrings. They were some of my favorites and so far I've only found the one...in her poo. In her diaper. Sad day.

THEN, tonight, we were relaxing on the couch after a Sunday walk when Harlee jumped off the couch, walked to the middle of the living room lifted up her dress and took off her diaper. She has NEVER done that before! She was so proud of herself. She then went into the kitchen and pooed on the floor....then picked some up and came to show me! Gaahhhh!

This poor girl has sooooooo many stories for us to share with her future boyfriends and lovers. She's going to wish she could take it aaallll back... {Insert evil laugh here}

#1 Fan

2011-06-10T09:25:00.000-06:00

Harlee has always like the movie Tangled but just recently she has taken an extra liking to it. For those of you that know her know that she doesn't hold still for more than a minute. Well...Tangled gets her to hold perfectly still for just about the entire movie. I mean perfectly still. I have to remind her to blink sometimes.

She usually starts the movie off like this for the first 10 minutes or so.

Then gets tired and has a seat.

Then she decides to get even comfier and lays down...kinda.

When it's over she does her happy dance while the credits play.

We have watched this movie every day this week and I don't see this trend ending anytime soon.

Marking Moments

2011-06-04T07:51:00.000-06:00

"A mark for every breath you took, every blink, every sleepy yawn. One for every time you sucked your thumb, waved hello, closed your eyes and slept in the most perfect darkness. One for every time you had the hiccups. One for every dream you dreamed within me. It isn't very pretty anymore. Some may even think it ugly. That's OK. It was your home. It's where I first grew to love you, where I lay my hand as I dreamed about who you were and who you would be. It held you until my arms could, and for that, I will always find something beautiful in it."

I found this on Pinterest yesterday and I grew to really like it. I got a lot of stretch marks when I was pregnant with Harlee, similar to the picture. I have always hated them, felt embarrassed, missed my smooth flat stomach, and felt ugly. Reading this put it in a different light for me. They truly are a reminder of the first life changing moments with Harlee. They are a reminder of how badly we wanted her part of our family. They are a reminder of the first kick I felt. They are a reminder of the first time I saw and held her. I would never trade for a smooth flat stomach if it meant missing out on these "marked" moments...

Mickeydee's Adventures

2011-05-31T08:49:00.000-06:00

Andy and I had plans of possibly going camping, or hiking, or swimming or feeding ducks or going to the park for Memorial day but the weather got the best of us. Being so cold and wet we had to quickly try to think of fun things to do indoors. Sooooo, instead we went shopping for things to make the Father's Day gifts I've planned for my dad and father-in-law. {By the way, I'm sooo excited for these!} After we got everything we needed we decided to let Harlee experience McDonald's Play Place. To McDonald's we went. When we got there she was eager to play so she chowed down on her French Fries like none other. Then it was time to play. I think she liked it.

In the train with Dad

Waving at everyone that would look at her

The blue slide with Dad

We made a new friend named Zach. He thought Harlee was pretty cool but was sure she was a boy. He was a little confused though, he thought I was the jungle gym climbing and crawling all over me. When we were headed to the slide he said, "Hey! You go down the slide with me and she {Harlee} can follow us." Ummmm maybe not. :) He was quite the character.

Going down the red slide with mom.

After McDonald's we racked our brains for something else do since that only took a measly 45 minutes of our day. We decided since Rexburg wasn't offering us much, we should go to Blackfoot.

Harlee hated the trip down but as soon as we pull into my parents drive way she got really excited and started saying "Hi! Hi!". Andy spent the day helping my dad and brothers work on filling in their pond in the front yard. My mom, Ashley, Harlee and I went to Idaho Falls for some shopping and hit up some amazing Memorial Day sales. 1cent shirts? Yes please!! It turned out to be a pretty good day; we are just glad we something to do besides sit in our apartment all day wishing it were sunny.

Dreamin Big

2011-05-28T10:49:00.000-06:00

When Andy and I first got married I discovered that he is a sleep talker. It was quite the surprise the first time I heard it. It bugged me a little at first because he would wake me up but now I find hilarious. The things he dreams and talks about are beyond random and its fun to tease him about it later. After a few months of being married he suddenly stopped talking in his sleep. Just recently he has picked it up again. Some of my favorite things he has dreamed, said and done in his sleep:

"Kill the ghosts!!!!" {Isn't that the point of a ghost?...They are dead}
"Go take a urine sample. We do them at school so we might as well at home too. Go take a urine sample!" {I'm not sure why he is doing urine samples at school...}
"Hurry! Eat your handful of worms! You eat them like a hamster. (Then proceeds to demonstrate)"
He dreamed he gave birth to a hamster. I'm noticing a strange hamster trend
After we watched the movie Taken he had a dream that someone had taken me and he was trying to find me and get me back. He began punching imaginary people in his sleep resulting in punching me. The next morning as I told him what he did he said, "Oh, that's why my wrist is so sore!"
On many many occasions he has sat up in bed and started shooting imaginary bows or guns
I can't tell you how many chemistry equations and reactions I've learned from him in his sleep.

Harlee is starting to do the same types of things I'm afraid. There have been so many times I've heard Harlee talking or crying and when I go check on her she is sleeping. Last night I went in to check on her before I went bed and found her just sitting in her crib staring off into space. I'm starting to think I should set up a camera one of these nights to see if I can get any of Andy or Harlee's episodes on video...

My silly sleepers:

Fun Firsts

2011-05-25T19:52:00.000-06:00

We've sure been having lots of firsts around here, such as:

Harlee's first time sitting on her potty. No business was done but she finds it fun to sit on it and have serious conversations with me. Plus, she enjoys the production put on by me of clapping, celebration and lots of "Yay!"s

First sunglasses...ok...these are dad's. But we have decided she has to get some of her own because she LOVES sunglasses but gets really mad when they fall off her face. She walks around like a little diva when she's wearing them.

First ice cream cone. This was actually mine but she claimed it as hers but was so kind as to let me get a lick in every once in a while.

First bits of green on the bushes outside our apartment.

First taste of summer weather.

First bouquet of a dozen roses from Andy. He has gotten me flowers before but this is a first for the roses. Aaaaaannnnddddd, they are orange...kinda. Love them!

A Wrap Up

2011-05-24T15:17:00.000-06:00

Here are just a few more pictures from our weekend get away

Harlee loving the trip

Loving on Parker

She's the best hug giver I know.

Back of the house

Front of the house

We had such a good time! It felt great to get away and just relax from life. I need a trip like that every weekend I've decided. Who wants to join me?

The Escape

2011-05-21T18:32:00.000-06:00

We finally escaped Rexburg!! Now if we can escape the end of the world in 10 minutes we will REALLY count ourselves lucky.

My dad has great friends that let us crash their expensive "cabins" if you choose to call them that. This is our crib for the weekend.

Front entryway

Living room from balcony

Bedroom 1: Our Room


Bathroom 1: Our bathroom

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

Bedroom 4

Another living room shot

The balcony overlooking living room

View from living room

Bedroom 5: Master bedroom

Master Bathroom

Master bath cont.

The kitchen

Dining room

One of the porches

Basement Family Room

The crew

Some "cabin" huh?! I don't think a 5 bedroom 4 1/2 bathroom fancy house is a cabin but I'm not complaining! It's pretty sweet, however, I feel guilty changing diapers on their silk rugs.

This morning we slept in had a quick breakfast and went for a drive to visit the house my grandpa and his 7 brothers and sisters grew up in. Such a tiny little thing!

My parents wanted to show my brother's Targhee so we went for a quick trip there to find it closed off. It felt like we were at the north pole with all the snow still on the ground.

I thought the striated snow banks on the sides of the road were so pretty!

For lunch we stopped at a little grill in Victor. It turned out to be quite the interesting little joint. It turned out to be mostly a bar but there was a little restaurant in there to. Our waitress was nicely decorated and we found it to be quite fun reading the profanities in her tattoos and counting her earrings. Our water cups were cute too!

So far it's been a great weekend. If anything exciting happens I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Livin In A Zoo

2011-05-19T09:01:00.000-06:00

Don't believe I live in a zoo??? See for yourself.

I've had frogs hopping all around me and monkeys swinging from my neck all morning!
{Sorry the pics are so blurry. She gets excited sometimes}

You Know You're A Mom When...

2011-05-18T10:57:00.000-06:00

As you are thinking to yourself the things you need to do that day you refer to yourself as mom saying, "Mom needs to do dishes" "Mom needs to do laundry" "Mom needs to vacuum"....
You go around the house doing your daily duties humming tunes to shows like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Dora The Explorer or Tangled
Your snack for the day includes apple juice, fruit snacks or string cheese
You can change a diaper in record time
You'd rather watch the Disney Channel than the news
Words such as: "stinky, yucky, night-night, or potty" are your daily lingo
The only books you read are Zip! Pop! Hop!, Corduroy's Day, and It's Potty Time!
The only adult regular interaction you get is on Facebook
You are ready for bed by 8:00
Going to a meeting is a vacation

Weekend-O-Fun

2011-05-16T13:37:00.000-06:00


Follow the leader at the park

It takes lots of concentration to cross the bridge

Going on the big slide with Dad

Giving someone the stink eye

Swinging isn't scary any more...

It's LOTS of fun!

Playing in the blanket

Reading books with Grandma

Playing in forts with Grandpa

Showing us where her belly button is

Wearing Dad's hat

We had such a great weekend!! Grandma and Grandpa Groesbeck came to visit and Harlee had loads of fun playing and showing off for them. Saturday morning Andy help at the Ward clean up by cutting down a tree. He loved getting to exercise his manliness using a chainsaw and hooking a trailer up to his truck. We then went to the ward lunch and had tastey pulled pork sandwiches, every kind of salad under the sun, and enough brownies for everyone to have their own plate. On Sunday, after church we went to the park and played with puppies, on the jungle gym, slide and swing, and blew bubbles. Sunday evening we got to visit our friends in the hospital who just had their baby. To say Harlee liked the baby would be an understatement. She would scream, giggle, hug and try to hold tiny baby Gianna herself. Harlee was so curious watching everything the baby did and got very concerned whenever she'd cry. She loves babies.

We had such a great fun filled weekend; now its back to the grind of school for Andy and household chores and busy Harlee for me. Let's hope the great weekend is a predictor of a good week ahead.

Clearing Up The Confusion

2011-05-14T13:54:00.000-06:00

While Harlee was taking a nap I was bored so I decided to check my blog stats for the week. I saw that I had one view on my Baby Groesbeck post, which was posted forever ago. I didn't think anything of it. I then went to the next tab to view traffic sources. I saw there were a few things under the category "search keywords" {for those who don't know what that is, its things people have searched on Google that has directed them with a link to my blog.} One of the things searched was "picture of a baby Groesbeck bird". It took me a second of put the pieces together but that was my viewer! Hopefully the bird photo searcher didn't confuse Harlee's ultrasound photo with a bird. Who knows. Babies don't really look like babies at that point so maybe they could pull it off as a bird??

After doing a little research I found there is no such thing as a Groesbeck bird. There IS however a species called Grosbeak. Just to clear up the confusion, here is the difference between the two babies:

Baby Grosbeak

Baby Groesbeck: aka Harlee

How To- By Harlee

2011-05-11T12:41:00.000-06:00

How To Be Cute While Playing With Toys:

Go to your bedroom and find the toy basket. Then take everything out of the basket and find it a new location by throwing it on the floor. Then, climb into the basket and bring in with you only those items you choose to play with.

See your mom with the camera, give her a cheesy grin, climb out and chase her down the hall growling at her.

How To Eat A Quesadilla/Grilled Cheese:
Grab the two sides of the quesadilla/grilled cheese with both hands. Pull them apart and scrape the cheese off with your teeth. Proceed to throwing the rest on the floor.

The question is why wouldn't you do it that way!? The middle is where the good stuff is!

How To Dress Like A Gangster:
After you take your tights off, ask your mom to put them on your head. When she does, make sure your ears are poking out giving you a Dumbo-ish look. The tag on your forehead is a nice touch as well.

Hope you learned everything you ever wanted to know! In case you didn't know, all you have to do is ask a 13 month old. :)