Trip to Washington

My sister and I packed up our kids, crammed as much as we could in my car, and drove up to Washington for two weeks. We had an awesome time, and I am missing it already. We stayed busy but also got to relax a lot. Addie had so much fun, she would be exhausted by the end of the day. She got to play in the mud, sand, and dirt as much as she wanted.

She also got to ride horses, finger paint, and play in the water. Seriously, how much more fun could you have?

We took an interesting hike up to the old Franklin Cemetery. Franklin used to be a mining city. All that is left now is the cemetery, a covered mining shaft (going 1500 ft straight down), and some old rail tracks. It was hard to read the engravings on the headstones, but it appeared that those buried there died young. The area is seriously overgrown and eroded. I was afraid that we might see a casket, or worse, a body. Luckily we didn't but it was a beautiful hike.

Summer Fun

It is getting hot around here, so today we spent a good portion of the day outside. We had a good time coloring, riding bikes, playing with bubbles, water, and taking turns playing under the baby toys. Before we know it the weather will be too hot to play outside, so we had to take advantage while it lasted.

Memorial Day

For memorial day we visited the cemetery where a lot of Scott's ancestors were buried. It was really special to visit the grave of Grandma and Grandpa Moss. I never got to know Grandpa Moss, but Grandma Moss will always hold a special place in my heart. It was fun to hear stories from Scott's extended family about their ancestors. They made some big sacrifices so we could live in America and be part of the LDS church. We are forever grateful.

Funny Sleeping Habits

Addie usually doesn't take a nap, making her extremely tired and cranky at the end of the day. Lately she has been falling asleep in weird places or positions. It has been making me laugh.

The other day she feel asleep eating dinner, and when I woke her up, she stumbled over to the carpet and put her head on it. She feel fast asleep with her body still on the tile. At night we will often find her head between the bars, or other weird positions. Needless to say, she has fallen off her bed a couple of times.

She has been tired, but it is not worth giving her a nap. If Addie takes a nap (even a 10 minute one) she will stay up until 11pm. If I keep her awake the whole day, she will go to bed by 7 or 8pm. Nighttime hours are my only sanity.

Olivia's check up

Olivia had her two month check-up today. Here are her stats:

Weight: 12 pounds (63%)
Height: 23.5 inches (74%)
Head circumference: 15.2 inches (26%)

Overall she is healthy and happy. She is on Zantac for her reflux and it seems to be working well. The other night she slept 10 hours straight! She usually sleeps between 6 and 10 hours a night and takes pretty good naps during the day. Her eyes are still blue and lightening a bit. The doctor thinks that they will probably turn hazel. I love this baby.

Silly Girl

Addie's favorite joke:

Addie: "Knock, knock"
You: "Who's there?"
Addie: "Boo" (not to be confused with "poo")
You: "Boo who?"
Addie: "Baby don't cry!!" (hysterical laughter to follow)

Adelyn loves the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. She wants us to read it, or tell it by heart, every night. Her favorite game lately has been the "jack game" where one person will repeat the chant from the book "Fe fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!..." and the other person (jack) hides (usually in the closet). Then the person pretending to be the giant comes looking for "jack". We take turns being the giant and jack. Addie thinks this game is hilarious. We love that silly girl.

Update

Did I mention that my thyroid went back to normal within hours of delivery? So weird. Most of the doctors said that I would probably have hyperthyroidism for the rest of my life. I feel so much better now, but am hesitant to ever get pregnant again.

I have been trying to get into couponing and had to share my latest trip. I went to Smiths and spent $7.63 out of pocket and saved $31.37 (by shopping sales and using coupons). I saved 76%. Yahoo! I got a lot of stuff and was very proud of my efforts. Getting started with couponing has been a little confusing but it has become fun and worth my efforts. I am tempted to try living out of my freezer for a couple weeks as the freezer is full and it is almost summer and time to restock. I really admire all those women who can feed a family of 5 on $200 a month and can live out of their food storage for weeks at a time without shopping at a store. I hope to be able to build up my food storage (with items we actually use), learn to make bread (so far I have been a failure... any tips?), and overall be more organized about making and storing meals. I tell myself it is more of a hobby, than a duty, so I stay motivated. Wish me luck.

Scott is back to school (summer semester). Ten more long weeks before the next break. We have heard from more than one person that the hardest semesters were the first two. We hope that is true and have the hardest part behind us. I keep reminding myself that it will be worth it, and how we know that this is where we are supposed to be right now. A couple years ago, Scott lost his job (due to the housing bubble popping, and most Land Aquisitionists loosing jobs) and we went through what felt like an eternity of unemployment (8 months). Near the end of that time period we were getting ready to sell our house (after depleting most of our savings) and we were seriously wondering why it was so difficult to find employment. We started to consider other options, like education. We had the realization that Scott needed to go back for his MBA. Scott does not love school, so this was a hard realization. As soon as we looked into different programs, signed up for the GMAT, and seriously committed ourselves to continuing his education, he found a job (the next week!). It was a confirmation to us that he was supposed to go back to school and we just needed to figure that out. I wish we could have figured it out sooner. The job Scott got (and still has) is not ideal and Scott struggles with it. I think that if he had gotten the job of his dreams, maybe we would have decided he doesn't need to go back to school after all. So here we are, struggling through employment, education, and single parenting, but knowing it is what we are supposed to be doing makes it all worth it.