The Long Awaited Reunion . . . . and Meeting

Dad looks tired.

Not surprisingly, Mom is loving on all the grandbaby's she hadn't seen yet.

Since I'm a bit of a slacker at blogging lately, of course it's Tuesday and my parents have already left to go on their church history tour and I'm just now sitting down to tell you all how it all went.



My parents arrived back in Nampa around 4 pm on Sunday. I know because I called them as soon as I got home from church which got out at 4. I somehow managed to wait until we had had dinner, Aftyn had had some kind of a nap, and we all had had some time to relax before we made our way to their house which is approximately 4 minutes away. Can you believe I waited 3 hours?!? I can't either.



Walking into the house which was full of family, all time seemed to vanish and it was as if my parents had never left. There we all were, in our usual spots on the couch, the floor and in various rooms. Amazing how so much can change and still be the same.

My dad still looks the same, his hair is a little grayer. My mom, always known for her infamous ability to "rat" her hair at least 2 inches off her head, now wears it straight, no more "foof". Both seemed much more confident in themselves, and definitely seemed to work as a team. And it wasn't something they were lacking to begin with. I can clearly see what their mission has done for them.

Aftyn, in spite of only 2 1-hour naps on Sunday, was surprisingly happy with my mom. She didn't seem to take to my dad very well, but she's coming around. It's amazing how having them at home seems natural, yet I now feel like I'm sort of living at home again since we live so close.

My parents will be back from their long awaited church history tour in about 2 weeks. Can't wait!

A little Anti-climatic

Things around here seem a little anti-climatic this week, in comparison to all the exciting things going on all around us. Here are just a few of the things everyone else has happening:

-1 sister on a mediterranean cruise. She just landed in Barcelona Spain this morning.

- 1 sister's husband just got a permanent job after having part time work for a little while and
no job for even longer. The new job requires a move to a city a few hours away.

- my parents just drove home from their mission and are visiting with a sister and family in
a city many hours away, so we haven't seen them yet

- 1 sister is getting ready to get married in 2 months

- 1 brother contemplating a move because of his job

Now, lest you think I am feeling sorry for myself, here's some of our exciting news this morning.

- Reed's playing tennis this morning with his usual group of guys. First time this season!

- Aftyn is going to get to meet my parents for the first time in her life tomorrow hopefully!

- my sister in Barcelona just called ME to let me know she had landed and all was
okay. (sorry Mom, but next time leave your phone ON) :)

Look for pictures tomorrow of the happy meeting and reunion of my parents with all of us

News of our weekend

Now we have recorded for posterity ONE of Aftyn's many funny faces.

This is her outfit for church yesterday.

While at my sisters house burning weeds, my sister and I left the menfolk to do the burning and walked to a nearby garage sale. I found there a bundle of knitting needles, with at least 6 matching needle sets and probably more, all for $1 ! One of the best deals I have ever found going to garage sales.

Those are some of the highlights of our weekend, how was yours?

You may learn something new

I've been feeling a little burnt out about blogging lately.

Maybe it hasn't been just blogging.
Who knows.

But today I found my old digital camera. The one I had before Reed and I got married.

I popped the media card into my computer and looked at old pictures and remembered the hobbies I used to have in a different time and place.

I've decided to share a little known part of my past. Here goes.

This is Lucky. He was a spunky big goat. He knew a trick.

This is Bunny. In this picture she was pregnant.

This is Clyde, the baby Bunny was pregnant with.

Just so you know, Lucky was not the daddy. Clyde's daddy was a one night stand. He hopped the fence, impregnated 2 goats, and then got kicked out and we literally never saw him again in his pen next door. Poor little guy. Lucky thing we had Lucky to be his father figure. :)

Bunny and Clyde. My dad came up with Clyde's name and thought it would be funny. Sadly, it came to fit that little stinker and the problems he and his mom caused.


This is the epitome of baby goat deliciousness. Isn't he better than an easter bunny? Don't you just want to scoop him up and play with his long floppy ears?!?

So this is my big secret. I love goats. I love playing with fun goats, running around in the pen with them, teaching them tricks. Goats, to me, are better than dogs. They're built to live outdoors, like to play, chew on your clothes and fingers and it doesn't hurt, and have quirky little personalities. Reed says someday I can have a goat. :) Except I want 2 because they are social creatures and don't like to be alone.

Other little known fact, when Bunny got pregnant, I did lots of research on how to prepare goats for having a baby as far as vitamins and supplements and things. And when I woke up that April morning and my dad told me he thought she was in labor, well you better believe I took half the day off of work so I could help her and see this cute baby she was about to have.

Now let's hear some little known things about you. What weird quirk are you hiding?

Time to Re-Adjust

I know we all have moments in our lives when we realize our course has altered somehow and we're not headed in the same direction we used to be.

The time change and life lately really threw Aftyn and I for a loop. Suddenly, I had a baby who was acting naughty yet who was not normally a naughty baby.

After doing some real pondering about the situation, I decided I hadn't been faithful in keeping her on her usual schedule of naps and time with mommy. So yesterday we re-implemented set naptimes and bedtime. I already had my old Aftyn back after the first nap. My sweet little baby girl!

She's not perfect, but I realized this situation wasn't her fault. We just needed to do some tweaking together to get her back to her happier, well rested self. :)





Aftyn loves watching video of herself. She will sit for at least 10 minutes once a week while we go through her home movies.

When Aftyn began teething at around 7 months, I started to look for creative/fun ways to help her deal with the pain of teething. Luckily I had some otter pops from last summer still in the freezer. So with a little help from me, Aftyn began to enjoy a slight reprieve from teething because of numbed gums. And I began to find out how much I really enoy those things!

Except for 2 flavors. Blue and pink.

Yuck.

I don't much care for them.

Not sure why.

Give me red, purple, orange and green any day!

Because of this realization and not wanting to waste, I now have quite a collection of blue and pink otter pops, with no one waiting to eat them. Perhaps you would like them? Otherwise, I may have to start pawning them off on my scouts come warmer weather. :)

What normal, everyday things do you not like?

Things that need to be Recorded

(There are a few funny things going on with this picture. See if you can find one.)
Aftyn said "mama" today! Obviously, she has no idea what she's saying, other than the sound. But I was pretty excited! :)

Aftyn is such a funny girl. Anytime she is awake in her crib, she likes to stand by the side, hold on, and jump up and down. It's more like bouncing than jumping, and man does she smile and smile while she does it! (After taking her picture, I decided to drop her mattress down finally because it really needed to be done.) I think she considers her bed to be her own personal trampoline.
My sister Alyson once said to me, "Aftyn reminds me of you in her stubbornness. Doesn't that scare you?" At the time, no. Now? Yes. She definitely has a will of her own lately. I am already sure I will live to regret my stubbornness.

Here's what we do :

Recently in our household we have been worrying a great deal about weight.

- I want to lose more of it

- Aftyn needs to gain some of it

- Reed's somewhere in-between :)

Good news of today?

Aftyn is finally gaining - in numbers too astonishing to hear.

Check out the chubs of her belly!

And what are we doing to celebrate?

I stripped Aftyn of her clothes, she's standing without help, and pulling her hair for fun!

(And anything else she deems worthy for celebrations. )

Me - I'm just sitting back and enjoying the fun.

What Aftyn's Been up to

Aftyn has finally become aware of the bows in her hair, but I'm pretty sure I can keep her from pulling them out. She's pretty good about listening when I say no.

She's crawling around like a crazy woman, and pulling up on everything. We've had some funny/scary things happen because of that like Aftyn pulling up on a chair in the kitchen, slipping because the floor was slick with socks on, hanging on for dear life in a funny/awkward position which luckily I happened to see so I scooted over and saved her from bonking her head on the kitchen floor. She cried a little after that, but overall, she just crawls on to something new.

She's started growling. I'm not sure if this is because of the cold she's had that has made her voice a little lower. We will have to wait and see if it continues after her cold goes away.

Her little personality is really coming out! It's so funny and comical. She gets so excited and loves to flail her arms around when she gets that way.

She has discovered a recent love of chewing on buttons and finding little things on the floor to chew on.

She loves when we put blankies/burp rags on her head and when she pulls them off, she giggles and laughs. She loves to laugh. Truly.

Spring Cleaning

Clearly this picture has nothing to do with the rest of the post, but it's fun to look at, right?

Yesterday, Reed and I finally accomplished a goal after months and months of trying. We cleaned/pulled all the weeds in our back yard! I can't even tell you how fabulous it is to only see green grassish sort of stuff growing back there, not just dead tall weeds. And after we haul all the loads of dead weeds off our property, I'll take a picture to share. It's a beautiful sight.

Our next goal back there? A fence, sprinklers and some actual grass. :)

Official 9 month pictures!

There are her 2 teeth!

More Pictures

Feeding the Guys in the Suits and Ties

Anyone have any good ideas of something I can make easily and that will be something different for the missionaries tomorrow night? Anyone?? Anyone?? Is Spaghetti such a bad idea?