Omaha...here we come!

It's getting so close we can already smell the manure in the air!

So long...

• $12,000 a semester in tuition!
• Working for free + tuition!
• Bouncing around from location to location every 5 weeks!
• Relying on other busy professionals to fulfill requirements for a grade, letter of recommendation, or confirmation of a rotation opportunity!
• Living in limbo and not knowing if we were coming or going!

Hello...

• Long hours of work!
• Paycheck!
• Days off!
• Benefits!
• House hunting!
• Student Loan payments!

I guess it's finally time to be an adult! Christian will officially graduate on May 15th (his birthday!) and starts his residency at the end of June at Primary Children's Medical Center. Between now and then, he will be studying like crazy for the boards (licensure exams). We could not be more proud of him for this HUGE accomplishment. He has waited for this day for a LONG time and worked SO hard for it! All I have to say is, Nebraska, I hope you're ready for us! We're coming with bells on...maybe we should make it cow bells so we can fit right in!

Here are some of our highlights of the pharmacy school process:

USU graduation 2004

Graduation trip to Sweden, Norway, and England 2004

A's game 2005 - To most people, that's just another trip, but to someone who is limited on time due to pharmacy school, it's a HiGHLiGHT!

Anders was born 2006

Trip to Orlando 2007

Moved from Logan to Layton and lived with my parents for a few months

If it weren't for our children's births, Christian would claim this as his biggest highlight. We scored Bench Warmer tickets to a game that we weren't even supposed to go to! We got to go to the game for free and then found out that morning that our tickets were chosen to be Bench Warmers during their warm-ups! We sat on the bench and watch them warm up and got to take pictures with each of the players as well as Jeff Hornacek and had them all sign a ball. The best part for me was seeing how happy Christian was.

House-sitting for Billy and Nikki. I want you to know that all I wanted to do what take a picture of Anders playing in the wildflowers behind Billy and Nikki's house. I did not try to get all artsy...it's just natural. :)

Christian went to the College World Series during one of his many trips to Omaha

We can't forget this bad boy! For more details click here

Eva was born 2009

Lived in Fairview for 5 weeks for one of Christian's rotations

Lived in Pocatello for 5 weeks for another one of Christian's rotations

Everyone always said that someday, we'd look back on these days as some of our fondest memories. So far, I think they're right! I wouldn't change a thing.

Take a picture, it lasts longer!

We have had a very interesting couple of days, to say the least. Eva was being treated for a double ear infection and was on day 9 of amoxicillin on Wednesday, when she broke out in this rash in her diaper area. I immediately made an appointment to see the doctor (because that's the kind of mom I am) for that day. At that point, the rash was starting to spread up her abdomen a bit, but was still covered by her clothes. After seeing the doctor, she advised us to take Eva off the amoxicillin immediately and to come in if anything changed. She wasn't sure at that point that this was the cause of the rash since it hadn't developed too much. We kept her on Benadryl all

night and woke up to a spotted baby. She was COVERED from head to toe in spots. I called the

doctor again first thing in the morning and was able to get her in...again. This time, my experience was a little different. I stood in line to check her in and was immediately overwhelmed with grown women STARING. I found myself starting to become self-conscious because for some reason, people thought it was okay to just stare at my poor baby. This doctor's visit was so different because she actually had spots all over her face. I looked at my beautiful girl and couldn't help but frown. This baby had no idea that people were staring at her because they thought that maybe because it's temporary, it's okay to stare. Eva was still in high spirits and smiling at everyone that made eye contact with her. What is wrong with people?!? The entire time we were in the waiting room, I could feel all eyes on my beautiful happy girl. I just wanted to scream! After that visit, it was clear that my poor baby a serious allergy to penicillin. The doctor informed me that her spots will begin to fade in a week or two!!

I can't help but be bothered by my experience at the doctor's office. I instantly turned into this mother bear, trying to protect her baby. It seems silly that I would let such an experience bother me so badly. Why does someone has to deal with the difficulties of an illness or disability and also have to worry about the stares or comments of other people?

I guess, on an extremely small scale, I can understand why staring hurts individuals who have a disability. I have always been, and will continue to be very determined to teach my children all about disabilities. For instance, right now, Anders is very interested in canes. He thinks they are so fascinating. I have tried very hard to explain to him that sometime people need them when they can't walk on their own very well. The canes will help them walk. We even stop and look at the canes for sale next to the pharmacy in hopes that touching one will normalize it for him. I have noticed that he doesn't stop and stare anymore when people cross our path using canes. He understands it and it's normal to him!

Now, let me step back down off my soapbox and tell you that Eva is still covered in spots and we've decided to ride it out in the comfort of our own home. I guess it's normal for the spots to turn to a bluish/purple color that really resembles a bruise. Many of her spots have done this and I'm just waiting for the ones on her face to do the same. Can you imagine if I took her out of the house now?? If we thought people stared before, I can't even imagine how they'd stare if they thought they were bruises...in that case, rightfully so!

Diva-licious 1st Birthday Bash

Here's our Diva (after she was hosed down from all that pink frosting) waiting for her presents. Her dress only took me about 3 weeks to make...blah!


March 27th, 2010 completely freaked me out. I am blown away how my baby girl can go from this:

to this

so quickly! Eva was nicknamed "Eva the Diva" by her aunt Nikki shortly after she was born because she was very colicky and very high-maintenance. I thought she'd eventually grow out of this name, but she's only defining it more strongly as she gets older. She is our Diva. She has everyone in our family wrapped around her tiny little fingers and knows that we will jump at her every demand. She is now perfecting a squeal that has proven to get response even more quickly. She is a lot smaller than Anders ever was, but much more tough. I have to pull her away from him because she is constantly trying to wrestle him or pull his hair...out of love. She truly loves her big brother. In fact, today, when I picked them up from the daycare at my gym, the ladies were telling me that they were so sweet together. Anders got hurt and started crying, so Eva immediately started crying. I love watching their relationship because it reminds me of my relationship with my brother...sort of. There are some very major differences, but I vividly remember crying when Billy would get in trouble at daycare (many times a day). I have many memories of Billy making sure I was okay in social situations because I was so shy. One thing I think back on many times is when I was in high school and Billy was in his first year of college. I had issues with an older boy following me and throwing things at other boys that would talk to me. My brother was aware of the many issues I'd had with this boy and was irritated with it. One day, Billy borrowed my truck to go to a drive-in or something. As he was pulling out of our driveway, he noticed this boy following him. He took a couple of turns and noticed him still behind him. He immediately pulled over and stepped out of the truck. The boy pulled over behind him and when he saw Billy step out of the truck instead of me, he sped off. Eva's so lucky to have an older brother. I remember when I was growing up, I was determined to start my family off with a girl because families that had girls first seemed so much happier. :) I wouldn't change my family for the world! I get to watch Anders be head-over-heels for his sister and see their sweet relationship grow everyday. I love Eva's expression when she gets to wake Anders up from his nap. I love when she throws herself on top of him in hopes that he will wrestler with her. I love when she says "pretties" and pulls her bow out of her hair (sometimes). I love when she puckers up and leans in for a kiss. I love when she scrunches her nose and eyes and breaths through the gap in her teeth. I love that she will lay on my shoulder when she's tired. I love her love for babies, real or fake. Gosh! I should stop now or I will go on forever. I just love my Diva!

This is where it all began...

On March 29, 2002, Christian and I got engaged! My family does an Easter Egg Hunt every year on the Saturday before Easter. Christian and I had been dating 3 months (don't judge). I thought it was weird that everyone decided to whip out their video cameras for an event that happens every year...that should have been my first hint that something was about to happen. Next, I thought it was odd that everyone was pushing ME to help my 4 year-old cousin, Megan gather eggs when I brought a guest! While I was helping Megan find her eggs, I was a bit annoyed with Christian because I thought he was being so anti-social with my family. He was sitting on this bench by himself, away from everyone. Eventually, my little brother started yelling my name and pointing to this plastic egg that was decorated with ribbons and had my name on it. My first thought was..."here my mom goes again." She always has to one-up herself. I was a bit embarrassed at the thought of my mom going this far. I was 19 years old! I was about to throw it in Megan's basket and open it later, but Christian told me to open it now. At that point, butterflies went through my entire body because I KNEW what was going on. I popped it open and saw an engagement ring. Instantly, screams were coming from all directions. Christian now knows my family enough to know not to do things like that in front of them. Let's just say my family handles excitement very differently than Christian's family. It is so fun to have that Easter Egg Hunt to remind us of the monumental one 8 years ago. None will ever top it!

Karma

My sister and I were ruthless back in the day. My little brother is 6 years younger than me, so of course he was a big target to our constant teasing. One thing we always teased him about was his teeth. He had a gap in his front teeth and since I was passed my braces phase, we teased him about it. We actually referred to him as "Goof Troop" because his teeth looked a little like Goofy's. Here's a picture so you can get an idea of what we were working with:



I know, I feel bad! I even felt bad at the time, but it was his right-of-passage, right? Well, don't worry, Karma has really come back to bite me in the butt!

At first, I thought it was just a fluke with Anders...

Can it still be considered a fluke if the second fluke is a lot bigger??

By the way, this is my 100th post! :)

IDAHO...it's more than just potatoes

I just can't even believe it! We are wrapping up our stay in Pocatello. I never thought I'd say those words. It seems to have gone by so fast and yet, I can't even remember what it was like to live in our own house. What will we do with ourselves?? I'm pretty sure that by staying 5 weeks in Pocatello, that means you can accomplish pretty much anything. In doing so, we have sucked this town dry of all it's entertainment.


This picture is to show-off Eva's awesome "sleepy hair" as Anders calls it. Unfortunately, it also shows how trashy we have become without the luxury of a highchair. Yes, she is eating something off the floor and I'm not stopping her. Instead, I'm taking a picture! The reason I am not stopping her is because it was a Cheerio from the pile I put on the floor for her earlier that morning. What? Is something wrong with that? Don't judge until you've lived in a hotel for 5 weeks.


This picture was after I'd given up of reminding Anders that there are people below us and on each side....STOP JUMPING! Those words mean nothing to a 3 year-old. Now, I'm just embracing it.

This picture just cracks me up. Our Diva has sensitive knees. My form of entertainment these days consists of me leaving her pants off and watching her crawl like this because she can't stand the way the carpet feels on her knees. I don't really do this for fun, but it is really funny.

After our Pocatello experience, we may not ever eat out again. One thing I learned from this occasion is not to eat pizza after strictly eating healthy food for 3 weeks straight. I regretted it the rest of the night.

Anders has officially become that stinkin' kid that jumps in front of the camera right before you take a picture. If you look at my camera, the majority of pictures look like this. Stinkin' kid!

Who hasn't dreamed of having this kind of fun on a valet cart? Anders had this great idea to hang from the top bar. I put him up there and told him to wait while I grabbed my camera. You can see the panic in his face as he realized that it was a lot harder than he thought. I had a hard time taking the picture because I couldn't stop laughing. He was saying, "cheese cheese cheese" in his most panicked voice.

My mom came up to visit us last week and Anders was so excited to show her everything he'd been up to. We decided to go to this fun place called Outer Limits. It was basically Chuck-E-Cheese with good food and a space theme. This is Anders all-time favorite game no matter where we go. The kid has skills!

Here's our Diva's first ride. She was so funny. She did not want to get out. It just kills me to watch how my kids have such different personalities. Anders would have never gone for this!

This is Eva's new trick. She pretends to offer you something that she has (in this case, a yummy Texas Roadhouse roll)...
and then totally psychs you out!

While Christian was miserable (he actually referred to it as "Poca-hell-hole") I actually am glad to say that there are several things I will miss about our experience. I'm sure there's something Christian will miss too!
1. I will miss our visits to the library. I can't emphasize enough how much my kids enjoyed this! It was so fun to feel so welcome by those people we came in to contact with there. If I could find a program even close to what they offer somewhere close to us at home, I would go there for sure! Way to go Portneuf District Library!
2. I will miss being within close proximity to a mall that I could take my kids to and not be tempted to spend money...at all! I'm still so confused as to why this mall had such a great play area for the kids and yet resembled the mall from Saved by the Bell. It was so bizarre!
3. Anders will miss the Tiger on the ISU campus we drove by twice a day. We all had to say, "hi Tiger!" every time we drove by.

I will NOT miss:
1. Walking outside and taking a deep breath of...cigarette smoke. Blech! Seriously, I can't believe how many times I was asked if I had a lighter! I love the Utah Clean Air Act.
2. Squirrels that don't hibernate. We thought it was funny when we saw our first squirrel, but it is seriously out of control. They are EVERYWHERE and they all have a death wish. I have slammed on my breaks a few too many times.
3. One-Way streets. Brigham Young clearly did not design this place. All these one-way streets are totally throwing my Auto Pilot out of whack. It's nerve wracking! I guess it's just something you have to get used to!

I'm pretty sure that during the summertime, this place would be a lot easier to enjoy. I think it's safe to say that winter is not the time to visit beautiful Pocatello.

Someday, these will be fond memories...

So here's the run-down. Our family has relocated to Pocatello, Idaho for a 5 week period. Why would someone voluntarily uproot their family and move to Pocatello you ask? Christian is right smack in the middle of his last year in pharmacy school...the year of rotations. Because he did not attend a Utah school, this one blasted rotation was really difficult to schedule. Our only two options were to go back to Omaha or to go to Pocatello. Why did we choose Pocatello? Well, we're starting to wonder that one ourselves! We are current residents of the Marriot Townsplace and are working our way toward Idaho residency! Did you know that you only have to stay in Idaho for 30 days to become a resident? I found that interesting. Here are the things that we have found to keep us busy:

Anders' favorite thing is to make as much noise as possible to make sure they never put anyone in the rooms on either side of us or below us. It works out to our benefit until we have to go to breakfast in the morning to face all the dirty looks.

I'm sure it would have been fun to go to really go to the Idaho Museum of Natural History, but they decided to close it that morning until spring to rearrange their displays. Bummer! If you've ever tried to park in the ISU student center parking lot, you'll understand how this was a HUGE waste of our time!

We love movie nights! Isn't Red Box the greatest? There's nothing like popping popcorn and drinking hot chocolate and watching a movie together. Well, when you have a three year-old, the fun lasts until his popcorn and hot chocolate are gone and then we're trying to think of something else to do.

Okay, this discovery has truly been a lifesaver! Who knew Chubbuck (right outside of Pokey) would have the best storytime?? I literally take the kids to the Portneuf District Library just about every day. They read stories to the kids, dance, sing, and do really cool crafts. I even signed up for a Library card so we can check out books. The ladies are so nice and know my kids by name. We love it so much!

The other great thing about the Portneuf Library is the Children's Center. They have computers for kids that are loaded with games. Anders has totally fallen in love. I'm sure I'm totally smitten over this place because it has provided us with guaranteed safe, clean, and free entertainment. I could not have asked for anything more!

Here's our other source of free entertainment. The play area in the Pineridge Mall in Chubbuck. I'm not going to complain about the size of this mall because I was just pleased that there was one! Also, we've lived in Logan and have lived with small malls in the past. Plus, their play area was pretty dang good for the size of that mall! I'm happy if my kids are happy! There's just nothing better than sitting back and watching your kids have the time of their life requiring no effort on your part.

Of course, nothing beats swimming in the hotel pool! I am so proud of Anders. He is trying so hard to overcome his fear of water. He will now come off the top step of the pool and even float on his tummy while I'm supporting him! This is HUGE progress!

Pocatello really hasn't been a horrible experience for us. I am really enjoying trying to make the best out of our situation. It has helped me to really appreciate small things that make my kids happy. The biggest lesson I am learning is that attitude is EVERYTHING! We are very fortunate to be staying in such a good hotel with two rooms. I know I wouldn't last any other way. You seriously can't beat free breakfast everyday (and not just your typical continental breakfast), housekeeping, and free access to the pool and exercise room (I'm sure I'll use it once while we're there!). We are now half way to the end of our Idaho experience and cannot wait until we get to look back at these memories we are sharing together...fondly. :)

Our Year in Review

2009 was a year of many things. I didn't realize all that we were able to experience until going through our folders of pictures. Here is one picture representing each month this year for our family.

January

We decided to begin the potty training process with Anders. He was so excited to wear his new "undies." I admit, it may have been a little early. It took several months for him to be fully trained, but our goal was to train him before Eva was born (ha ha!). I'm just glad I have another 3 years before we have to go through that again!

February

My sister Carly and I were so excited to have the opportunity to go see Celine Dion in concert. This came as a total surprise because they were my aunt Cherilyn's tickets, but she was too ill to go (pregnancy ill, so it was okay). I absolutely LOVE Celine, so this was such a treat for me! Carly was more interested in watching Mia Michael's dance routines.

March

This month was the biggest month for us! We welcomed our baby, Eva into our family. We have loved every second with her. Anders has really proven himself to be the best big brother Eva could possibly ask for. I don't know how Christian and I were so lucky to have such great kids!

April

We were still staying indoors for the most part, due to our brand new baby. We were very excited for Easter and for Anders' to enjoy the annual Firth Easter Egg Hunt. He had a great time. I think he was most excited to do something for himself for the first time in about a month!

May

I'm not going to lie, May was NOT my favorite month. During this month, my anxiety hit big time. Christian went to Omaha for his summer labs for 2 weeks and I was home with potty-training Anders and brand new Eva. This picture actually reminds me a lot of those emotions because Memorial day was actually my breaking-point. This is the day I was such a mess that I scared Anders enough that he never left that top step of the pool the rest of the summer. Oops. I spent the rest of the summer trying to coax him off that top step of the pool. On a more positive note, Steve and Lezlee (Christian's sister) got married this month! I wish I had pictures of that!

June

How could I resist not putting this as our highlight for June? Eva's first pedicure. I was surprised how easy it was to paint her dainty little toenails and how difficult it was to take a dang picture of them! They were so cute and attracted a lot of attention. Having a girl is so much fun!

July

The milestone for the month of July was getting rid of Anders' binkie. We debated for months on how we were going to do it with as little damage as possible. With all the discussing, we decided to just try to let him throw it away himself. He thought it was a great game we were playing...until it was time to take a nap. He screamed and screamed when he realized what he'd done. This is the picture of him looking for it in the trash.

August

This is the only picture I have from my sister, Carly's wedding. This month was INSANE with events and gatherings. My brother came home from his mission and Carly had showers and other wedding events. Such a crazy month, but we were so glad to share it together!

September

My family decided to take a quick trip up to Yellowstone in September. It was so fun to watch Anders first exposure to camping (other than ward camp outs) and wild animals. He handled it a lot better than I did. For pretty much being raised in Yellowstone, I am one big Yellowstone baby! I have no idea where my intense fear of animals came from! The trip was very fun and we can't wait to do it again!

October

Anders turned 3 years-old on his birthday. He could not possibly decide between having a pirate birthday party or a Harry Potter birthday party. The solution? One of each! We had 2 family parties (for both of our sides) and he could not have been more excited!

November

We had quite the experience in November. We were able to spend the entire month in Fairview with Christian's parents. Christian set up one of his 5-week pharmacy school rotations in Mt. Pleasant at the Skyline Pharmacy. We thought that would be a good chance for our kids to get closer to their grandparents. I am so pleased to watch the special relationship both my kids now have with their grandparents.

December

This picture was taken at our annual Firth Family Christmas Party. Anders had a fantastic Christmas. He is officially at the best age to enjoy the magic of Christmas. My favorite thing to watch him do was stop at the mall just to wave at Santa. He would stand there and waive until Santa would recognize him and waive back. He was convinced Santa knew who he was.

Wow! What an incredible year we've had. I just can't believe we have finally made it to 2010! This coming year is a big deal to our family. Christian will graduate from pharmacy school! See ya 2009! 2010...watch out!