Is it Halloween Yet?

Last year at this time I was thinking, "next year is going to be so fun because Anders will be able to appreciate all the fun things to do around Halloween." This year I'm thinking, "last year was so easy!" It actually is really fun to have a toddler that really gets the idea of Halloween and gets excited about things. There's just so much to do for one little guy! We've had so much fun so far and expect to have a full week of Halloween activities. It's probably best to break it up so the post isn't too big. Here's a taste of what our last week has looked like:

Black Island Farms

My cousin, Cindy was in town with her cute little guy, Atticus. They invited Anders and I to the Black Island Farm, along with her sister Stacy and her smart little guy, Jay and their Grandma Lori. We had such a fun time! Anders was in love with all the pumpkins. I'm so glad we had the chance to get together with Cindy while she was in town. That day sure wiped us out though!

My Gym Halloween Party

We've been so excited for Anders' gym Halloween Party since we heard about it. We got to bring a friend with us for free, so of course we invite Sharee and Carson! The party was insane! We had to wait in line to get in the door and we couldn't see a thing because there were so many people there. This is the only picture I got of Anders because it was just too crazy. It was fun to see Carson experiencing all of Anders' favorite things. We were invited to go to my mom's school carnival right after the party, but unfortunately, we had to pass. We had a little too much Halloween fun at this party. Okay, so it was me...I just couldn't stand the thought of more screaming kids dressed up in costumes running around me and pushing Anders over. We went to see Wall-E instead. It was the first movie we've taken Anders to in a whole year! He did so great! He sat there the whole time, eating popcorn laying on my shoulder. Thanks Daddy! We had so much fun!

Day's Pumpkin Patch

We went to pick out pumpkins for Grandma and Grandpa Speirs last Saturday. Anders even got to paint one of the pumpkins he picked out! He had a great time. He still tells me about Carly's pirate pumpkin. Way to go, Carly! You're the best Mr. Potato Head expert ever!

Firth Family Fright Night

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I am the biggest Halloween bum! I love to enjoy everyone else getting into it, but I refuse to dress up. I hate dressing up in costumes. My family makes this even harder on me because we have a Halloween Party every year with costume contests and all. Christian and I usually do something dumb that's very last second, but this year...nothing. Boy, did we hear it! These are the only pictures we had on our camera, sorry Billy and Nikki! We absolutely LOVED their cute idea! Ryder was so proud, Billy lives for dressing up for Halloween, and Nikki...poor Nikki finally gave in to the pressure. Way to be such a good sport! Next year, maybe we'll join you. I wish we'd taken more pictures. I know there will be plenty of other people posting pictures of this FABULOUS event.

Anders' Tag

Thanks again Tara! Sorry I'm so delayed on all my tags!

5 Things You May Not Know About Anders.

1. He's left-handed, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense because neither Christian or I are left-handed. The closest people that are left-handed to us is my aunt Amy and Christian's uncle Layne and his son Little Layne. He does everything with his left hand. He kicks, swings a bat, throws, writes and everything with his left hand.

2. When he sleeps, he has to have two binkies, one in his mouth and one in his hand. He randomly switches the binkies from his mouth to his hand throughout the night. This is a horrible habit that I'm still not sure how we will break.

3. His favorite things to watch are musicals. Christian's not very proud of this. His favorite show at the moment is Annie. My mom bought me this movie when I had surgery and Anders watched it with me. He wants to watch it about once a day now. We would worry if he didn't know how to throw a ball so well or shoot baskets with ease. Luckily, he's a pretty well-balanced kid!

4. His favorite thing to eat are Popsicles. If his ever says "pee-otto," he's actually saying "please Popsicle." I hear this more than anything everyday. We try to limit him to 2-3 Otter Pops a day.

5. In the car, he has certain cd's he wants to listen to and won't give-up until we give-in. These include High School Musical, Mamma Mia (hence his love for musicals), Wicked (only 2 songs), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Wee Sing, and primary songs. I love to hear him singing the songs he knows. Again, it helps that he seems to be pretty athletic. We'll just keep working on that.

Shishin or Daddy?

I just had to add this funny little new-found freedom Anders has figured out. A few days ago, amongst some jibber-jabber that Anders was saying, we heard him say, "shishin." We both paused and said, "did he just say what we think he said?" We decided that there's no way he did. Where would he figure that out? The next morning (his birthday), he climbed in to bed with us and rolled over to Christian and said, "Dad...dad...SHISHIN!" Finally, Christian opened his eyes in disbelief. He immediately tried to convince him that his name was "daddy" and not "Christian." The more he tried, the more mad Anders would get. Finally, I told him to just let it go and it will wear off. The funny thing is that when we hear kids call their parents by their first name, Christian goes on and on about how disrespectful that is. It's almost like he jinxed himself! We thought maybe he'd forget it, but already today Anders has asked me, "where's Shishen?" He also pulled the morning routine thing again. It's so hard not to laugh. Christian really doesn't think it's as funny as I do. It will wear off, won't it?

6 Quirks Tag

I was sitting here sharing some popcorn with Anders when I was reminded that Tara tagged me a long time ago and I totally forgot! Sorry Tara! I'm way behind and I'm going to hurry and catch up.
1. Everyone HATES sharing popcorn with me because I pick each kernel out piece by piece. I only like to eat certain-shaped popcorn and the half-popped kind. Yes, I actually do search the bowl for these particular pieces. Wow, that sounds even more crazy when I put it in writing. I'm a nutcase! Christian usually has me pick out my favorite ones and then he'll start eating.
2. If I don't do my exact routine in the shower, I will forget what I haven't or have done because I'm so deep in thought. I have forgotten to condition my hair, rinse my hair, shave, etc. I have to get back in and finish the job. I guess everyone has a routine, right?
3. (This one drives Christian crazy) I can't stand wasting my time in the bathroom because I am afraid I'll miss something. This especially happens in Fairview, when we're all sitting around the table chatting. Christian actually has to stop the conversation so I will go. I know it's not good for me, but I hate to do it!
4. I am EXTREMELY picky about what I eat. If it's fruit, it has to be flawless and very crisp. I can't eat mushy grapes or red delicious apples because they're just not crisp enough. If it's chicken, it has to be completely white. I totally examine it when I'm eating it and if I see anything like the nasty vein, I'm done. When I cook chicken, I totally dissect it. I cut out everything and lose half the chicken. My dad's favorite quirk is that I won't eat any kind of meat on a bone. Doesn't matter what it is, I won't eat it!
5. I know, I have major issues involving eating...but the list goes on! I have not been able to fully explain this to people and I don't understand it myself. There is a small handful of people that I can eat the food that they make by hand. I couldn't ever eat the treats people would bring in elementary for their birthdays if they were homemade. My small handful usually includes most of the people in my family and a few other people. It may have something to do with sanitary fears, but I'm not sure! I honestly can't explain it.
6. I have the hardest time making choices when I'm eating at a restaurant, picking a treat at the store (this one goes back to my childhood), or even at the grocery store. It drives Christian and my other family nuts! I get such anxiety when I have to make a decision and my time is limited. There are even certain stores that I go in that the first place I have to stop is the bathroom because of my shopping anxiety. Places like Borders, Target, Ross, Michael's....they're not good for me. There's too much to look at and decide from. It may have something to do with my major "buyers remorse" issue. I always feel like I could have made a better decision after I finally make the decision. To try to avoid this by trying to do as much research as possible about the items I'm going to be deciding between. Sometimes my family even makes me look at menus online before we go to the restaurant. I'm a nutcase, I'm well aware of that!

Happy Birfday Anders!

Yesterday was a very overwhelming day. My baby officially became a big boy and turned two. I was so surprised and pleased to see how much he really understood that it was his birthday. It made me so happy to see him be able to take it all in. All day, all we heard was "Anders' birfday." We started out the day by taking him on a special shopping trip to pick out a present with the money Grandma Larsen gave him. He is so proud of his red football. Ideally, he would have come right home and taken a nap. Since it's conveniently fall break for Daddy, Anders was especially difficult to convince that he would be taking a nap. After a couple hours of "Super Nanny" techniques, we finally succeeded! I started frosting the cupcakes for the party later that night (obviously not early enough because Anders woke up halfway through it). He was so excited to see his "birfday cakes" and kept saying, "hold one, Mom?" It broke my heart to tell him no because I knew that he really didn't want to just "hold one." He also remembered that we told him that after his nap, we'd go to his birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese (which could have been part of our nap time problem). Right when he woke up, he was pumped to go to the party at "Choo Choo Chesse." Here are a couple of pictures of Anders enjoying the gifts he got from his party guests and also some pictures of our rockin' family party at Chuck-E-Cheese!

A once-in-a-lifetime picture. He somehow gained enough courage to actually touch the mouse!

Finally getting to eat his "birfday cakes."

Ryder, prending to eat a cupcake when an adult was looking. When we weren't looking, he was actually taking the candy off all of the cupcakes. What a stinker!

Showdown between Anders and Ryder. We realize that we'll be reminding Anders his whole life, "it's doesn't matter if you win or lose..." when he's playing against Ryder.

Of course, Anders is saying, "hoo ha boy." If you've been following our blog, you'd know that he actually means "yee ha, Cowboy!"

Well, Chuck-E-Cheese was exactly what we expected. Even though it has only been open for a few weeks, it draws the same crowds as any other Chuck-E-Cheese would (if you know what I mean). However, there were about 15 times as many people there! I thought we'd waited long enough for the crowds to die down. Boy, was I wrong! Anders didn't seem to mind! Oh, did I mention that I was struggling with the flu the whole day?? That definitley added to my Chuck-E-Cheese experience.

Wee Witches Weekend

I think I'm the only person in my family that has never been to Gardner Village. Even my little brother has been dragged to Gardner Village during Witchapolooza. He is still complaining about seeing all the women wearing sweaters with witch buttons. When we found out it was "Wee Witches Weekend," I couldn't pass it up! I found this great costume online for Anders. He is a HUGE Mickey Mouse fan. It's really hard to get him to take it off once he puts it on. It was fun to walk around and see the other kids in their costumes, but I have to say that Anders rocked the house. We had kids stopping and saying, "hi Goofy." It was so cute. Gardner Village is a fun place, but it's not really a shopping place for kids. The shops and things aren't set up for kids and could make a person crazy if they attempt to take a 2 year-old in them. I found it interesting that they would designate a weekend where everyone brings every kid they know. It created a very kid crowded place. The witches were cute and Anders loved looking at them. If you plan to go this weekend with your kids, don't plan on shopping! It's way too crazy.

Here's our little Goofy champion!..or as Anders calls it, "Foofy."
There were lots of cool fake witches, but we were lucky enough to find a REAL one!
This was a really difficult picture to take. Anders could see a man on the top of a building that he was sure was a pirate. We tried everything to get him to look at us. Was a silly kid!
One of our resting stops.
Anders was so funny getting his face painted. He sat completely still. He was so proud of the pumpkin on his cheek. In this picture, he's relaxing watching a witch on the lake. He could have sat there forever. Sometimes I'm lucky to have such a mellow kid (let me emphasize that it's only sometimes!).

*As a little side note, I had my post-op appointment today. I found out that my ovary had a benign tumor cyst on it that somehow made it heavy enough to twist and prevent blood from getting in or out. This is what made it about 10 times the size of a regular ovary. Who knows why this happens sometimes! I just happened to be a lucky one. The baby is still doing great and there's no reason to expect any different at this point. For those of you who have been waiting to find out how heavy my ovary was, be prepared to be disappointed. The pathologist didn't weigh it! What a bummer. It had to be a couple pounds because I'm 16 weeks along and still have not gained a pound. So it probably weighed however much you should gain in those 16 weeks. I now have permission to pick Anders up quickly, but not carry him. I can put him in the car seat or highchair now. Yipee! You don't realize how important that ability is until you lose it. We finally got a chance to thank my doctor for following her "doctor's intuition" and prioritizing me as a patient. It really validated my pain that she trusted that my description of my pain was accurate enough to cram me in to her schedule. We feel so blessed that she followed her intuition and figured out exactly what was wrong and took care of it. Who knows what could have happened to the baby or me if she didn't. She's amazing. We have felt so blessed throughout this whole process and couldn't possibly put it all in to words. We feel like the Lord prepared us for what was going to happen in so many ways. The support we have received since my surgery is amazing. We have an amazing ward that has really stepped up to make this as easy on us as possible. These last few weeks have flown by so quickly and it's because of all of the support we have received. I'm so grateful for the many hidden blessings inside our trials in life. I just wish it didn't take an event like this for us to recognize them all.

Oops!

I haven't been able to get out much, as I'm sure you can imagine. Last Thursday, I got the doctor's approval to start driving again...what a privilege! Today, I decided to get brave and take Anders to his gym all by myself. The teachers were great in helping me lift him to do all of the activities and things. I picked up Carly afterward, because I'm not quite brave enough to go to the store by myself with a nearly 2 year-old yet. After the store, we decided to take some lunch to my mom at work. First, I need to give a little background about my family and Sonic. My parents are regulars at the Layton Sonic. It's really embarrassing to pull up to Sonic with my mom and she says "hi" to all her friends through the window. They all know that her regular is a Route 44 Caffeine Free Diet Coke with a splash of Cranberry. Since we've moved closer to my parents, Anders has been present for MANY of their regular Sonic stops. Therefore, their order also has included a small apple juice slush (Anders' juice). Every time we drive by Sonic, Anders says, "bye bye juice store!" I wasn't aware of seriousness of the situation until today. I pulled up to the drive-through and told them to wait just a second while we figured out what to order. All of the sudden Anders yells out in the back seat, "Umm...juice...french fries...and...Grandma's pop!" It was really hard to order our lunch after that. Should I be worried??

A Slight Change of Plans

I have looked forward to this weekend for a long time! My family planned a fun week in Park City at the timeshare. This weekend was supposed to be the only time Christian would be able to come up with us and have fun. We have literally been counting down the days and planning every item we were going to take. I had a hard time sleeping on Friday night, knowing that we were only hours away from a badly needed relaxing weekend. At about 4:00 AM I woke up with an achy pain in my side. I instantly knew that this was a continuance of my excruciating pain I felt last Friday, when the Instacare diagnosed me with a Kidney Infection. It mysteriously went away later that night and I was anticipating the day that it would return. Well, here it was! I had done a little research since then and decided that the description of my pain was more fitting to a Kidney Stone since my OB/GYN was convinced that I did not have a Kidney Infection. I rolled around in unexplainable pain all morning and could not find a position that I was comfortable in. I thought about how big of a wimp I must be because my brother Kenny has been suffering with Kidney Stones on his mission and yet he continues his work. Finally, Christian convinced me to let him call my doctor and she told us to come in to see her at her McKay Dee office at 11:30. When we got there, the front desk informed me that she had an emergency surgery this morning and it would be an hour and a half wait. The thought of that nearly put me over the edge. I had no idea how to compose myself in public. I could hardly do it at home! All the cute pregnant ladies in the waiting room were doing the best they could not to stare at my pale, pathetic face and composure. I guess it was a little too hard considering I had a husband sitting next to me that probably had a similar expression on his face. He was a mess. After sitting for about 20 minutes, the lady at the front desk announced that the doctor was just called in to an emergency C-Section and everyone would have to reschedule. I instantly though they'd just send me over to the emergency room, but she pointed at me and said, "except you. You can come back right now." The nurse asked me how I would rate my pain between a 0 and a 10 and I answered, "probably an 8." She and Christian both looked at me and Christian said, "you do realize that a 10 means you're basically dying." I just looked at him and said, "yeah, I'm pretty sure it's an 8." I ran my idea across my doctor about it possibly being a kidney stone and she said that was what it sounds like to her. She decided to send me down to radiology to have them check my kidneys. She debated for a while about whether to have them also check out my ovaries while they were at it. When she'd mentioned that, I remembered the sharp pains I would feel when I would get cysts on my ovaries when I was taking Clomid while trying to get pregnant with Anders. I later told Christian that I could see a similarity in the two pains, but this one was many thousands of times worse! Our appointment with the radiologist was scheduled for 4:00 that afternoon. My parents were gracious enough to postpone their trip to Park City until we returned so they could watch Anders. I just kept telling myself, "I need to just figure out where these stones are and get some REALLY good pain killers and we can be on our way too." I was still convinced that we were going to Park City later that night. I was even willing to wait until Saturday morning if I had to. Christian and I watched nervously as the Radiology Tech scanned over the baby. We were so relieved to see that the baby was looking really good. The heart beat was great and at times, I was convinced that I could feel the baby move when she was pressing so hard on my stomach. She then moved over to my kidney that I claimed to be having problems with. Christian and I both watched very carefully for her to measure anything because we knew she wouldn't be able to tell us anything. She scanned all over and had me turn every which way I could so she could get a better look. When she was over my kidney, I said, "are you sure you're at my kidney? That's not even where it hurts!" She said yes, but left it at that. At about 6:30, she left the room, acting very suspicious and said, "I'm just going to go talk to the Radiologist really fast and then we'll call your doctor." Christian and I were thinking about all the things it could possible be and Christian was convinced it was something with my right ovary because she spent a lot of time looking at it. While we were waiting to hear anything, the Rad Tech kept up the suspicious behavior by repeatedly asking, "are you sure you doctor didn't give you any instructions of what to do after the ultrasound?" I just kept saying, "no, she just said she'd call me." At about 7, the Rad Tech let me know that the doctor was on the phone for me. Our conversation went as follows:
Doc: Melissa, I'm so glad we had you go in there!
Me: Yeah?
Doc: Yeah, I'm going to need to meet with you and your husband to discuss the details, but apparently the Radiologist can see an 11 centimeter mass on your right ovary. What this means is that we will have to do surgery. Unfortunately, the best times to do surgery when you're pregnant is during the 1st and 3rd trimesters. You are exactly 12 weeks, so we're going to have to go ahead and do this tonight.
Me: Oh...
Doc: Can you have one of the Techs show you the way to Same Day Surgery and I'll me you up there in 10 minutes and we can talk before we take you in?
Me: Yeah.
I hung up the phone, not sure who I should talk to first, the tech that obviously already knew what I had heard, or my ghostly husband. I didn't know how to tell Christian what I had just heard, and I especially didn't want to do it in front of an audience. I decided to just ask, "where's Same Day Surgery?" While we were walking, I explained all that she'd told me to Christian. He took it better that I'd planned, but I also forget how he tries to "be the strong one" in front of me. We got up to the surgical floor and called my parents. My doctor arrived in amazing time and we sat and talked about all the risks. She informed us that this will be a risk to the baby. Of course, she went over other risks, but that all seemed minor to me. I could lose my baby? What was happening to me? My poor Christian had the job of filling out all my paperwork while they poked an prodded at all my dehydrated veins. Within minutes, they were wheeling me down to room 12. I remember asking my doctor if they were going to have to remove my ovary and she wasn't sure. I just said, "great, that's all I need. Anything to make the process more difficult, lets do it!" The next thing I remember was waking up to a man screaming, "I'm supposed to be at the hospital!" It took me a second to realize that I was in the recovery room. I listened closely as the nurses by my bed were talking quietly, not knowing that I was awake. One said, "did you see the pictures? I've never seen anything like it! It was massive!" The other one said, "no, but I heard about it. I hope they bring the pictures back in." At that moment I blurted out, "is my ovary gone?" The nurse ran over to my bed and said, "yup, but it's a good thing. Wait until you see the pictures." I just waited as I came more and more out of the medication, but was entertained by the man struggling coming out of his. "I'm supposed to be at the hospital! Where did you take me? My pain is at a 10!" I guess some people come out of medication differently. I tend to be chatty...poor nurses. They wheeled me up to the Labor and Delivery floor and I saw Christian pacing right outside of my room. He just looked at me with an interesting expression. The nurse wheeled my bed into its spot and immediately, Christian asked her, "did you see the pictures yet?" She said, "no, do you have them?" He proudly showed her and said, "Melissa, you can't see them yet. You wont like it." Whatever! I demanded to look at them and did everything I could to refrain from laughing because it hurt so bad. I was in total amazement. They informed us that my removed ovary was 18 centimeters, which is about 5 1/2 inches long! It felt so validating when Christian said, "you know how I questioned you when you rated your pain an 8? I don't question you anymore." Our entire hospital stay was filled with many emotions. I was constantly anxious every time the held the Doppler up to my stomach, for the fear that I wouldn't hear the baby's heart beat that time. It was such a rush of relief every time we heard it. They kept very close watch on our little baby. I have an amazing husband. He never once complained about being by my side for three days straight. The nurses kept telling him he was doing their job and they had nothing to do. He was constantly refilling my ice and adjusting my pillows. He can't stand the thought of someone else doing things that he could be doing himself. He very proudly showed my pictures to each visitor and nurse we had in our room. He held me up very tightly during each of my very slow walks around the halls. I could not possibly show my appreciation to him enough. This weekend reminded me of how excited I should be and am to have such an amazing companion to be with me throughout eternity. It was kind of strange to feel like we were on the set of Grey's Anatomy. I could hear the nurses outside my door all night talking about the pictures in my chart and how "cool" it was. They'd come in and say things like, "are you the ovary girl?" I was overwhelmed with how many people came to see us and sent their support. We feel so spoiled and are now understanding the reasons behind us feeling so strongly like we need to move so close to family. We don't know what we would do if we didn't. We're so grateful to be in the ward that we are and to be so close in proximity to our families. I came home from the hospital last night and am doing well today. I'm able to walk around a bit. They tell me that it will take about 6 weeks to completely heal. Lets hope sooner, considering my incision is about 5 inches vertically down the center of my stomach. It frightened me to hear the doctor's concern about my growing belly and my incision. Yikes! The bottom line is that I'm doing fine and shuffling my way through each day. The most important thing is that the baby is doing great and we are over the scary hump now! What a miracle! Christian and I ended up having a memorable weekend together and were blessed with all the time we could possibly want to share alone! Wasn't quite what we had in mind.




Scroll at your own risk!

Weak stomachs should not go any further!




Here is the picture I promised. The only reason I decided to post this is because I really don't think you can get the FULL affect unless you see it for yourself. I have yet to show this picture to someone that wasn't shocked. This was my right ovary that should be very small. As you can see, it wasn't. I appoligize for the graphic nature in the background. Just focus on the large organ and compare it to the adult-sized hands holding it! Now do you see why I laughed when I saw the picture???

Full of Emotions

I have to give a quick shout-out to my AMAZING sister-in-law, Amy. She literally has the ability to do anything you wants to do. She has become a very professional photographer over the past few years and has quite the eye for it. I'm really touched right now, because she just posted a sample of the pictures she took of my family last Saturday. We are a very close family...I don't think anyone could argue that. Unfortunately, it has been a really long time since we've had our picture taken. We decided to get our pictures taken on the one day that we would all be together. My aunt Amy (not the photographer) got sealed to her husband PJ on Saturday. We all wondered if we were crazy to think we could do it all in one day. It got a bit stressful planning it. But right now, it's clear to me that the Lord had every intention of us doing it exactly the way we did it because he knew we'd need this glimpse of happiness we felt that day. That day was full of emotions for me. When we arrived to get our pictures taken, I found out that my uncle John had to take an emergency flight home to be with his wife. She had had two seizures and it was discovered that she had a brain tumor the size of an orange. His family (and Kenny, of course) are the only people missing from our picture. After the rough few days we've had with everyday bringing an update of not-so-good news, it is such a breath of fresh air to look at these pictures. It broadens my perspective so much. I am reminded of why we are here and where our focus should be. The memories behind these pictures will always be emotional and very meaningful to me. It was the day someone very special to me became one step closer and I know that I can count on being next to her for eternity. I know that the Lord knew how important this memory would be for our family and made it possible for us to enjoy the moment. Please take a look at the sample of our AMAZING family by clicking on this link.
http://clipsandclicks.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Carly!

This is a surprise for Carly that we know she'll love! Carly has always been really funny about her birthday. When she was younger, she'd wait to see if people forgot her birthday before she'd say anything. It actually did happen once while we were in Disney World. She'll never let anyone forget that! Even to this day, she gets mad if people schedule appointments or meetings on her birthday. It even bothered her to schedule a dentist appointment for the day after her birthday! So, I guess the best thing would just be to set aside this entire week as "Carly week!" I wanted to make sure to be the first to wish Carly a happy birthday, which would explain why Anders is still in his jammies...just be grateful you can't see me! Happy Birthday Carly! We love having you live so close now and don't care that you're turning **! You're still the same old Carly that we love. Thank you for being such a great aunt to Anders. I love to watch him go straight to you when I tell him no. Please excuse my singing, I forget how dorky I sound when it's recorded.

Thanks Tara!

What the heck, I guess while I'm on here, I might as well step up to the challenge Tara set me up to! Thanks Tarason!

8 Things I am Passionate About

1- Christian

2- Anders

3- Baby Larsen

4- Trying new recipes

5- Singing in my car (now I have a back-up singer in the backseat!)

6- Twilight series (still haven't read the last book)
7- Naps (especially lately)

8- Presidential Election (I'm very torn)

8 Words or Phrases I Say Often

1- Thank you! (usually when I'm taking something away from Anders)

2- No Popsicles, you just had one

3- Do you want to watch Shrek? (I'm horrible)

4- Are you done for the day yet? (seems to be the only thing I say to Christian these days)

5- I'm exhausted (again, this is a recent one)

6- Should we clean-up?

7- Do you want to go to Grandma Baas (Firth)?

8- Don't throw rocks at the chicken.

8 Things I Want to do Before I Die

1- Raise my family

2- Own a home

3- Try out for the Tabernacle Choir

4- Visit Sweden again

5- Finish Pharmacy School

6- Learn to cook in a dutch oven

7- Travel with my family

8- Get my Masters

8 Things I Have Learned from my Past

1- Try everything so you don't have regrets

2- How to be sensitive to certain situations

3- Laugh when you're frustrated, it feels better

4- Don't prejudge people at church, you'll be called to be their visiting teacher!

5- Your car wont always come through for you when your tank is empty

6- Watch EVERYTHING you say in front of a 2 year-old

7- Keep in touch with your friends

8- Always read the expiration date first

8 Places I Would Like to Go or See

1- Australia

2- Maine in the fall

3- Take Anders to Disneyland

4- Norway (again)

5- A Cruise anywhere but Mexico

6- Tahiti

7- Nova Scotia

8- New York

8 Things I Need or Want

1- Clothes to wear to all the weddings

2- Flat black shoes

3- My piano back

4- Money

5- Energy

6- A vacation

7- A pedicure

8- FRUIT...I love fruit right now

8 People I Tag

1- Sharee

2- Nikki

3- Margie

5- AnnMarie

6- Maria

7- Mom

8- Cami

The State Fair

I wasn't sure what to expect when I suggested that my family make a trip out to the State Fair on Friday night. Supposedly, I've been before, but have no memories of it. The only fair I have any memories of is the Cache Valley Fair. I was hoping the State Fair would be a little more like the fair on Charlotte's Web. While it wasn't JUST like the fair on Charlotte's Web, it was a heck of a lot closer to it than the Cache Valley Fair was! No offense to the Cache Valley Fair lovers, because I know they are so proud of their hometown fair. We had so much fun at the State Fair. When we first got there, we walked through all the stinky animal houses. It's just so fun to see people take such pride in their livestock, especially at a time where so many people are giving up because of the expense. Anders' favorite was the Bee display. He was fascinated by it! That picture we took was of him telling the other people around him that they're bees. I was so proud of Anders because he overcame so many fears at the fair. He actually rode a pony (with the help of "ampa beers"). After he realized my dad wasn't going to take him off the pony, he finally gave in. Eventually, he was saying, "hoo ha boy," which means "Yee Ha Cowboy!" I usually have to translate that one for people. He also rode the carousel, which he will never turn down. The other part that made me so proud was when he rode the dragon ride with Daddy. I wasn't sure what to expect, but Christian says he liked it! Yipee! He's not a big ride chicken like I was (and Carly still is!). I'm really sad I didn't get a picture of the highlight of the trip, but I'm sure Nikki will post pictures on her blog! Billy was so excited to let Ryder jump on the bouncy thing with bungees clipped to him to make him go higher. When they were standing in line, we were watching all these big kids jump really high and Billy pointed out the kid that was doing back flips to Ryder. You could instantly see his eyes light up. As soon as they hooked him up, Ryder instantly started jumping and throwing his head back (obviously trying to do a back flip). His back flip on the bungees looked about like his back flip into the pool. Finally Billy grabbed him and threw his feet backwards and he did a back flip. It was so funny to see this three year old jumping 15 feet in the air and doing back flips. He was so proud. It's so fun to watch the fearlessness of Ryder and be thankful that I don't have to worry about my kids being that way. Sorry Nikki! Our poor Anders has a little bit of me and a little bit of Christian in him. He is VERY cautious and content with sitting back and watching Ry Ry take risks. It sure makes my life a lot easier. Another one of my highlights was seeing people's obsession with fried foods at the fair. There were places to buy everything you could possibly want fried...chicken, corn dogs, fries, Twinkies, Oreos, PB&J sandwiches and so on. The longest line in the whole park was the place that said, "Anything you could possibly want fried" on the board. That's where they sold the PB&J sandwiches, Oreos, Twinkies and such. It's humiliating what this world has come to! Overall, our trip to the State Fair was well worth it and I would definitely do it again!

Good when they're hot...good when they're cold...

We have been waiting for weeks to take Anders to the Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband concert. He LOVES listening to the CD in the car. He basically listens to two songs. One is "Superman" and I think he only likes that song because he's a boy and loves anything that says Superman in it. His other favorite is obvious, he loves the Corn dog song! It's so funny to see him sing it. The lyrics are so cute. If you haven't heard it, you should listen to it. We tried to get a clip of him during the Corn dog song, but it was kind of dark. I had to take those two pictures of Anders with my cute little cousin, Megan. I just love watching her interact with him. She is so motherly and caring. She even caught his throw-up in her hand once! That was pretty traumatizing for her. Anders absolutely adores my cousins. They're all the perfect age to be his buddies and he loves how excited they all get to see him.

When we first got to the concert, we were so excited about these amazing seats we had. They were in the reserved section and it was really comfortable. Then, we spotted my family up on the grass. I took Anders up to see everyone and I could not get him to leave. My cousin and his...date were kind enough to switch us for our amazing seats up close for their grass seats in the back. It ultimately was a great switch. It was cozy and Anders had a blast!

Harvard, here we come!

The other day at my grandma's house, we overheard Anders in the other room counting the chain links on her coo coo clock. We were amazed because he counted all the way up to twelve! After twelve, everything is "enteen, enteen, enteen..." I tried so hard to get him to do it again. Of course, he'll never do it when I want him to. At least I have a witness! This is the best I could do!

Our last few weeks

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We miss you Daddy!

Our house has been a little lonely since Sunday because Christian had to go back to Omaha to do his labs and other stuff. He gets to go back once a year, which is great for him because he gets to reunite with his buddies and do something new. It's not fun and games though, it is highly intensive classwork and studying. We were lucky this year because he only had to be gone for one week. We miss him horribly though! Anders tells everyone "daddy airpain." He gets so excited to talk to Christian on the phone every night and tells him all about his day. Every morning, he comes in my room and asks "ere's Daddy? Oh..airpain." He and Christian are such good buddies. He really misses his best friend. We're half way there! Can't wait to see you Daddy!

We've moved!

The long laps in time since my last post is due to our recent (long-awaited) move. We moved back to my old roots...in fact, we are within walking distance of my parents, my grandparents, three of my aunts and uncles, two of my mom's aunts and uncle, and three of my mom's cousins. The funny thing is that the only people mentioned that aren't in our new ward is my parents. We were a little nervous at first, but now, it is clear that we are exactly where we're supposed to be. Anders absolutely loves his new house! He gets his own "big boy bed" in his new room and even has a toy room! It's the best thing ever. We also live on a little farm and we have a chicken that peeks in our back door that Anders loves to taunt (and throw rocks at). There's also cows and horses that Anders runs along the fence line with. Our yard is so cute! I'm so excited to be exactly where we're supposed to be. We absolutely love it. I'll post some pictures of the inside later. Sorry, no outside pictures, that's just too risky.

Why not join the rest of world?? Here's my Tag.

Here is a fun little game...Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark...get set...blog your memories!! You can leave a memory for me or Christian!!!

This one's for you, Nikki!

Christian was as excited as a 9 year-old last week when he came home from work. Sitting on the front doorstep, he found the product of my nightmares for the next few days. We've identified it as a Wolf Spider. Now, throughout my life, I've seen a lot of spiders that we called "wolf spiders." I now realize that those were just measly house spiders (you get a lot of those when your house is a couple hundred years old). This spider was about 4 inches in length and its abdomen was probably 2 inches long. The worst part about finding spiders is that my husband's weird country boy side of him comes out and insists that he keep it as long as he can. He even catches grasshoppers and things so he can watch the spider eat it. When we lived in Logan, he caught a Hobo Spider in our house and kept it for weeks. It's really embarrassing to talk about. Luckily, our little "friend" died on Sunday. We think one of the grasshoppers Christian gave him killed it. Hallelujah!

It's always fun with the Firths!

My cute grandma and grandpa plan these fun Family Home Evenings a couple times a year, and this year was no exception! We took advantage of the fact that Amy and PJ's family was here from Arizona and partied the night away. We played a game called "Police Line-up" and found out that Christian was the oldest person to not have any tickets, Jessica has been to more temples than most people, and Carly's feet are as big as my 9 year-old cousin's. We also had a little program and a way cool drawing! Oh, I failed to mention that I spent the entire day preparing two of the largest dishes of lasagna known to man. It took me even longer than it should have because I wanted to make one spicy and one not. After all that work keeping the two meats separated, I labeled them wrong. Everyone who wanted mild, actually got spicy. Go figure! After eating and our lovely program, we played volleyball, had s'mores, and did fireworks. Finally, we watched "The Best Two Years" on the side of the garage with a projector. This one will definitely be difficult to top. Who would have expected my grandma and grandpa to plan such a shindig?