From Colorado to Utah to Tennessee!

And now a summary of our summer vacation. At my parents' house My sister and I make (and are yet to finish covering) a pinata. We find some decorations that look great as a grass skirt for Madeline. We complete the look with some leis.


Madeline goes to her first parade in Duchesne UT where we visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Fun!!! Madeline in her first dress-ups (well, I dressed her up and she was less than impressed!)

Madeline enjoys Granny's (Raymey's mom's) house which has a rocking chair that is just right and an amazing postcard rack which Madeline is allowed to play with!

Mamie (Madeline's special doll) takes her first bath after all our travels. Madeline is caught off guard by the paparazzi, then embraces the attention.

Daddy, Mommy, and Madeline go swimming together back home in Nashville. We had a great summer, but it is good to be back. In other news, Raymey has his job offer! It is official, we'll be returning to Cincinnati next summer where Raymey will take the Ohio bar exam and start work in September. We're feeling really good about it because we like the area and Raymey likes the firm. Yea!!!

Summer Pics

I need to figure out how to add a slideshow. I don't know how. Right now we have a good internet signal, so I've got to add as many pics as I can. I'll write more at some point, but here is a summary of July in Kentucky and Ohio.

Us at a Reds game. Madeline discovers sunglasses!

Madeline plays at a park close to our place in Kentucky next to the Ohio River. Raymey gets a really cool looking bruise from a softball at one of his games.

Madeline plays with frog noises, looks at herself in the mirror, and "measures up" at the aquarium down the street from where we lived. She loved all the fish, and we enjoyed going there so many times this summer.

Madeline's first pigtails, Madeline falls asleep while eating a cracker (how is that possible?), and sleepy Madeline jealously guarding "Madeline" (has anyone read the books-yeah, it is the Madeline from the stories) because she thinks I'll steal her.

Madeline's first Swimming Lesson

Tag!

OK, I hate this kind of thing in emails, but it might be interesting in a blog. My aunt tagged me so now I'm gonna try it. I might learn something interesting about someone. I hope I'm doing this correctly.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

First random thing: I must sleep with my feet cold. Every night I get my feet wet several times before going to sleep to cool them off. Recently (and usually just from late spring to early fall) I've started sleeping with an ice pack at my feet. I got the idea from a friend who sleeps with wet socks and a fan on her feet to keep them cold. I tried this and it didn't work for me because the socks dried out.

Second random thing: Once when I was a kid we were next to some obnoxious kids at a parade (this fact does not excuse my behavior). They kept taking the candy that was falling right in front of us, and it made me mad. So I opened a candy, put it in my mouth, then wrapped it back up and threw it in the street. The kids picked it up and kept it. I do feel bad about this now.

Third random thing: I don't drink coffee but I really love the smell. It reminds me of several different jobs that I've had and it just smells good. I hated the smell when I was little.

Fourth random thing: I don't really like to receive carnations because the smell reminds me of funerals. There are faintly comforting because I think my parents gave me carnations a couple of times growing up, but the smell mostly makes me a little sad.

Fifth random thing: My favorite Christmas CD is the Muppet Christmas album with John Denver.

Sixth random thing: I love cilantro and lime. I think I could add these two things to about 2/3 of everything that I eat. They are great in different Asian foods and Mexican foods, what else could you possibly want to eat?

If I didn't tag you because I wasn't sure if you'd want to do it write a comment here and do it on your blog (or you could do it in the comment here if you don't have a blog coughmarenjesslyn). I think it would be fun to read any things that people feel like writing.

Pam! I burned my foot!

Madeline likes to wake up to the smell of fresh bacon every morning...does anyone watch The Office? When we saw Madeline playing with our new pan, we totally thought of Michael calling Pam. Luckily, Madeline did not sustain any injuries.
Madeline enjoying cheese puffs in the car, and not enjoying the 5 return hour trip from Nashville to Cincinnati. I think she got as much on the carseat, face, and hands, as she did in her belly.

Madeline likes to open doors, especially the bathroom door. Our new game is that I hide in the dark bathroom and shriek when she opens the door. If someone did that to me, I'd be mad! As you can see, Madeline loves it!


Madeline annoyed because she can't figure out what the heck Mommy was doing with that darned book for so long. Madeline kept scrunching up her face and looking through the pages, convinced that there was something interesting there.

We had a good weekend. On Friday the three of us went to the Aquarium to see the "Fsssssshhhhh". On Saturday we went to the branch picnic and enjoyed carne asada, games, and good company. Afterwards we left Madeline at the picnic with friends and went to a dinner the interns Raymey works with. We are so lucky we have met nice people that are willing to watch our baby while we do all of these activities that are required with Raymey's job. On Sunday afternoon we drove around different neighborhoods in Cincinnati and picked up flyers at "For Sale" houses. It was fun for us to get a feel for which neighborhoods we like. There are some very pretty houses around here. We think that the German influence shows in the houses-a lot of the houses have this cute European village feel. It was a good time! I guess we should get some pictures of the two of us, but we are usually behind the camera, not in front of it!

MMMMMMMMMMuppy!!

All of my blogs start with exclamation marks!!! So, Madeline has this ABC baby video that is super simple and goes through the alphabet with an object for each letter. It is about half an hour long and has classical music. It is really funny because it is the only TV she'll watch because there is very little going on. Regular TV must seem really complicated. So, I'm trying to get her excited about letters and words so for example as the video plays I'll say "Aaaaaaaaaaaaa Apple, Yea!!!" Madeline's favorite letter is "B", not that she knows what it is, but she loves to say it. She's also recently learned the word "puppy" which sounds like happy. So, for just about all 26 letters I say the new letter like "Zzzzzzzzz, Zebra, Yea!!!" and Madeline responds the same for each letter "Bbbbbbb Uppppy, Yeaaaaaaaaa!!!!" and she jumps around and giggles (which reminds me, I must be a very enthusiastic mother because Madeline has started saying "yea!!!" a million times a day when she does ANYTHING!). I'm glad she's happy about learning! Raymey and I have a favorite response from Madeline. For "M" there is this monkey that pops onto the screen from different directions and Madeline gets really really pumped. I think the monkey is her favorite character on the video. Yesterday we were watching the video and I kept trying to emphasize the "mmmmm" sound in Monkey.
Me: "m, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmonkey"
Madeline: "baby!!!!"
Me: "no, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmonkey"
Madeline: "Uppy!!!"
Me: "no, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMonkey"
Madeline: "mmmmmmmmmmmmm-Uppy, yea!!!!!!!!!!"
So our little Madeline thinks a monkey is a puppy or a baby but you say an "mmm" sound. We love watching her learn.
Also, in other news, we did make a trip to Nashville last weekend. We took a TON of laundry and also returned some things home that we won't need for the rest of the summer. It was so nice to be in our comfortable apartment-we love that place! I think Madeline enjoyed looking around the strangely familiar surroundings. On the 4th we went to our friends' home for a BBQ and had a blast. It was so nice to see friends from our Nashville ward and for Madeline to have so much room to run around in the yard. We're a little torn because we've had a really good experience in the ward (well now Spanish branch) here and everyone has been so friendly and kind here so it is too bad that just as we're getting comfortable that we'll be leaving. On the other hand it will be so nice to return to Nashville where there is always something going on in the ward. I'm excited to attend the play group this fall because now Madeline isn't such a lump-she plays! I'd love to attach some pictures-we have a lot, but our "borrowed" internet connection isn't strong enough to upload pics-darn.
P.S. I was one-upped in my last blog because I was whining about our queen sized bed. I have been sufficiently shamed and will try to accept my bed.

King me!

I think that they should stop making Queen sized beds. I guess at least that 2 people shold not try to sleep in one. Every night I toss and turn and can't spread out-and Raymey is quite a bit taller than me-I'm sure he needs more room. I think I remember that when I was little my aunts didn't want to have to sleep with me when we'd visit because I moved all over and kicked (in my sleep). I think I still do. Raymey's grandpa told us that when he (Papa) and is wife (Granny) were younger that Granny would always say that Papa was on her side of the bed. So Papa built a contraption that held a board right down the middle of the bed. I think they may have tried it for a few nights and Granny finally told Papa to get that thing off the bed because she was bumping into it all night and she couldn't sleep. Papa on the other hand slept just fine and had no trouble with the board-he did take it down though:) I am pretty sure that the same thing would happen with Raymey and me. I am always looking at the headboard to see how far over I can go.
In Japan we slept in a bed that was somewhere between a full and queen sized bed. So, I should be grateful for our "spacious" queen in comparison. But, all I could think of last night as I was tossing and turning from midnight to 2am was that when Raymey graduates one of the first things we will buy is a KING SIZED BED!!!