Indefinable monetary value

We had the chance to head down to BYU while visiting Andrew's parents for Thanksgiving. I just can't help but to smile when I see these photos.

364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds...wait for it...surprise!

Well, the big day has come and gone. It has been a year since Little Bug's birth. We kind of hope her second year goes a little slower 'cause that first one flew right by! It has been such a fun year. Right from the start she has been a complete joy. We're so glad you are ours Little Bug!

She was also a very lucky girl in that she got to celebrate her big day twice; a party with each side of the family! And I was definitely excited to dress her up in her tutu for both events.

She was not so sure about either of her cakes, but she certainly enjoyed the candles. She also loved her presents. Andrew and I have not purchased many toys, so she was excited for some new stimulation!

Party number two.

Happy birthday Little Bug!

I knew she had been quiet for too long...

This is what happens when your child discovers the thrill of toilet water.

She gets plunked in the bath immediately.

"And that poor dog, Dodo!"

For our anniversary I gave Andrew Wicked tickets. Now that I think about it, giving tickets for a show as a present is a great way to get another date out of the deal:) So, last weekend we dressed ourselves up and headed over to San Fransisco. Well, we actually stopped by a Wendy's drive through on the way over. We were short on time and hungry. We did that the last time we went to a musical and it just seemed fitting to do it again. It really was a wonderful and enjoyable way to spend the evening together.

3 Years

I came in a little late and sat down. I am always running late Sunday mornings. Once I got myself situated I looked up and noticed there was someone new in the crowd that day. Although I could only see the back of this gentleman's head, he looked to be quite cute. After Sacrament meeting ended I thought I should introduce myself. After all, I was the activity committee co-chair and it was my job to try and make everyone feel included and welcomed. At least that's what I told myself. After the prayer ended I promptly stood up and walked over to the new guy. His name was Andrew and I thought he seemed quite nice and good looking to boot.

It so happened that it was quite an exciting A's baseball season that year. So, exciting in fact that the A's had a shot of making it to the playoffs. I admit I was spending most of my time either at school or at the ball park. I made it to church on Sundays, but the rest of the week I was MIA. To Andrew, I had disappeared. Well, the A's did not go far in the post season and I quickly found myself attending church activities again. According to Andrew I had returned! Soon after, I began receiving text messages from him...and then more text messages from him. Annoyingly, he only sent me texts for two months! I have since learned that he got in trouble for the increased cell phone bill.

Then one day as I was hopping out of my car to go take a final, I got a call from him. This was something I could not pass up! He proceeded to ask me out and I remember quite vividly putting an emphasis on how I would love to go out with him. The date was set for the following week and I was excited to say the least.

Months previously, I received a blessing from my father which stated that if I remained active in all of my church activities, I would soon meet my eternal companion. It could not have been more right. About a year and a half later we were married November 4, 2006.

We celebrated the date by going out to one of our favorite restaurants. Then we came back to our apartment and had the same type of cake that we had on our wedding day. It was nice to spend the evening recalling all our wonderful moments together. So here's to all the years that come!

Little Bug= Ladybug for Halloween

It seemed fitting to dress Little Bug up as a bug for Halloween. In case there is slight confusion, she is a Ladybug just a brown and pink one. So, we got to sewing her little ladybug shell, treat bag, and antenna. I'm not going to lie, neither Andrew or I really sew. It was like the blind leading the blind here, but Andrew managed the creation of the pattern and somehow I was able to sew the few pieces together.

Here we are, all ready to hit up some trunks for our home wards Halloween trunk or treating. I have to admit, we were both pretty excited to be able to eat most of Little Bug's candy this year.

Here is Little Bug pulling Andrew to get going on the trunk or treating! She was ready to fill that treat bag.

Enjoying the fruits of her labors.

We're thinking it was the sugar high or possibly her new found freedom, but after trunk or treating Little Bug could not be stopped from walking around the church grounds.

I managed to get one photo of her resting from all her running around.

Can't wait till next year!

A new phase

We're a little late posting this, but our Little Bug has recently learned to walk! She took her first steps October 15th.

To preface the story we need to tell you that Little Bug absolutely loves playing with my makeup containers. She was happily walking around with the support of our couches, which she had been doing for a few weeks already, when she looked up and saw me carrying away the makeup. She must have panicked at thought of losing the makeup toys because she forgot to hold onto the couch as and she took her first determined steps towards me.

Now it was accidental, but it opened her eyes to the concept of unassisted walking. Since then, she has been practicing the art of walking and has now decided crawling is for babies. Before she learned to walk she could stand up and grab for things, but now she is getting so fast at getting into things we can hardly keep up. Just last week we noticed she was chewing on some tape and a few days later I discovered she had a chocolate wrapper in her mouth! Obviously these are baby "no no's."

We're all adjusting to the latest developments around here.

The first video is Little Bug before she took her first steps and the second video is of her walking around before trunk or treating;

Pumpkiny Patch

I was uber-excited to go to a pumpkin patch this year. I realize it's all going over Little Bug's head, but there's still something really fun about taking your kid to a pumpkin patch for the first time. Little Bug's favorite part was watching all of the other kids. In fact the kids were so enthralling that it was really hard to get her to even look at the camera and for those that know her, she's usually a perfect little ham.

While at the pumpkin patch I started really getting in the mood for some pumpkin bread, you know the kind with the chocolate chips. Yum. While vocalizing such thoughts, Andrew informed me pumpkins weren't even edible. For a second there I really thought he believed they couldn't be eaten. He was adamant. It was then I remembered he's just not a fan of pumpkin flavored treats. I'm pretty excited that means I get to eat an entire loaf of pumpkin bread myself, that and the quart of pumpkin ice cream in the freezer.

Bodega Bay

For my birthday, Andrew took me to Bodega Bay for just a little get away. It was our first over night without Little Bug. On our way up, it hit us how strange and of course wonderful, it was going to be to sleep in the next morning. That is until we woke up at 7am like clockwork. We thought such a thing might happen. Despite this fact, it was a very nice and relaxing get away. Thanks for spoiling me Andrew!

And just for kicks, here's Andrew scared of the waves crashing around him! You can't see the details too well, but that would be him with his mouth wide open screaming. Go ahead and click to enlarge.

Slurpee

The other night Andrew and I decided to go for a little walk and get ourselves a Slurpee to share. We were clinging onto the last feelings of summer. We decided to give Little Bug just a taste.

Here she is getting every last drop.