Home at Last!

On the 16th, Fox, Kels, the kids, and I started our drive to Pleasant Grove to visit Dave and Amber. Our van started making a crazy grinding noise in rush hour Friday night traffic in downtown Salt Lake City. Ouch. We made it off the freeway and tried to figure out what was going on. Long story short, our van was towed to a place near Dave's. Turns out we needed a new engine! Argh. And that the new engine wouldn't be ready until the next Friday! Double Argh! In actuality, the car wasn't ready until Tuesday evening. So, after Fox and Kels found a ride back up to Logan on the 19th, I hung out with David and Amber until the 28th. Yep. It was really fun hanging out but definitely a challenge being away from the help we rely on, like Fox and Cash's toys. Dave and Amber are so fun and cute and wonderful, though! They really got a taste of what having two kids under age 2 is like!

Finally, I drove us home in our "fixed" van today and got home around noon. After having the kids by myself for 10 days, I was looking forward to going to my weekly sewing class this afternoon.

And then the van wouldn't start.

Triple Arrrrgh.

There is something up with the ignition or battery or something. The place that worked on it wants to tow it back down to Orem to take a look. That's over 2 hours away. Hmm.

Despite all this trouble, I'm so grateful to be back up with Fox in Logan. I am also incredibly lucky that the roads were clear today as I drove home. I also drove straight through, which is a blessing, because the car wouldn't have started again had I stopped somewhere.

We'll see what happens!

Daddy's Girl

Cosette is now 8 weeks old and is already proving to be a Daddy's girl. She doesn't go down for the night until 11 pm and then sleeps in, just like her Daddy!
Here she is looking freakishly like Fox:

Being cute:

Still getting loved on by big brother. He loves to lay next to her and hold her hand.

I guess technically she looks most like Rebecca, my mother-in-law, who is also very tall. I have a feeling Cosette will have the height, too. Fox is already planning her career in professional volleyball.

Watch, Read, and Listen

I have cute pictures of the kids, I do! I really hate to make blog posts without pictures, but I can't find my camera cord! Here's what I've been enjoying lately, though.


Watch

Fox and I finally got a date night! We left a restless Cosette and a sleeping Cash with Kelsy so we could go see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". Fox and I always like to see movies that get Oscar buzz, because we are really huge fans of watching the Academy Awards (although some, including myself, would argue that the awards are not indicators of movie greatness). The movie was almost 3 hours long and a little melodramatic. However, the message of the movie is really sweet, and the music was wonderful. My date had to remove his glasses to wipe his tears. I would definitely see it (once).

Read


Santa left "The Road" in my stocking, and I couldn't put it down. It is the story of a man and his son trying to survive in a world that is almost at its end. It won the Pulitzer and will be a movie later this year. It is a huge reminder to have food storage or who knows what you'll have to eat when the world is at its end.

Listen

Technically, this is a "watch" but the songs are so catchy that I count it as a "listen". This is a 42 minute musical about an evil villain (who isn't too evil) trying to get into the "Evil League of Evil", while at the same time trying to deal with unrequited love. It's hilarious, and you can watch it for free at hulu.com

Happy Anniversary to Us!

"A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong."
Milton Berle

Yeah, I'm a good wife!

Fox and I were married on New Year's Eve six years ago! To celebrate our anniversary, we...what did we do? We stayed home and watched a few episodes of "Chuck" and played "Celestial Companions" (basically the LDS-version of the Newlywed Game). Exciting, eh? The downfall of having your anniversary on a holiday is that people (ie potential babysitters) are out doing stuff!

We had fun, though.


I wanted to add a picture of us to this post, but I have zero pictures of us alone together since 2005, when we got our digital camera. So, I'll get sentimental on you instead. Fox and I often talk about when we knew that we wanted to marry each other. My moment came one day when we were taking the bus to run some errands. Neither of us had a car at that time, so we spent a lot of time using the buses. We were telling each other funny stories from our childhood, and we were laughing the whole way home. When we got off the bus, Fox looked at me and said, "If I wasn't in love with you, you would be the coolest friend". So, that's how I knew. I knew like you know a good melon. (Who knows where that line is from?) We both just really enjoy each other's company and are always finding things to laugh at. It has been so neat to be part of a relationship that has progressed from being poor college students to...being poor college students with kids together! I really look forward to the years to come and all of the adventures that we will encounter. Together.

We've Moved!

We've moved! Hooray! It was a long process that started last Friday. Fox took out the seats in our van and made several trips with our stuff to our new (3rd floor) apartment in north Logan. We are now in an actual apartment--with a dishwasher and big plans to get a washer and dryer soon--instead of a chopped-up house with a huge list of safety hazards. The moving went really well. We didn't have too much stuff, and our friends watched the kids while we cleaned. We're sad that we are farther away from Kelsy, but we are directly behind Wal-Mart (which is probably bad) and right next to the Cache Valley Fun Park--woohoo!!

This is our 11th move in 6 years. Wow.

Our Christmas

Merry Christmas! Our Christmas was so fun this year. Cash didn't fully realize what was going on, but he got excited about Santa and "Missmiss Tees". Fox and I had so much fun getting ready and filling stockings. Christmas is so magical when you have kids, and I know it's going to get even better as our babies get older.

Here, Cash is building a gingerbread house with his Daddy. Fox got the big gingerbread pieces, and Cash got whole wheat crackers to build with!


A shot of Coco on her first Christmas. I didn't even realize she had woken up. When I went to check on her, she was just smiling away!

Our paper Christmas tree, complete with Fox's origami reindeer ornaments. We just didn't have the room in our tiny apartment for anything else!

Right after Cash's nap (hence the hair), he ran out of his room thinking that Santa had come again. Hey, if Santa comes when you sleep...


Cosette in her cute Christmas dress from Auntie Sandy:


Around four p.m., we headed over to Garland (about 25 miles away) to visit Uncle Charlie. When we got there, they had been shoveling snow all day! Logan hadn't gotten much snow that day, so I thought we would be able to drive back. However, it started really snowing shortly after we got there.
We decided to spend the night and had a lot of fun hanging out with the Smith's. They cooked us a big dinner and breakfast. I only had 2 diapers for Coco, so Lisa and I fashioned a cloth diaper out of old dishtowels and some silver safety pins. I used Cash's large diaper for the diaper cover, and it worked! Needless to say, I have learned my lesson and am putting my fashionable purse away for now. With babies, you definitely need to be prepared and there is no packing light!


We hope you all had a great Christmas!

One Month Old

Cosette will be one month old tomorrow! She is a good baby and growing quickly. She still sleeps all day and then is mostly awake from 5 pm or so until 11. Gotta work on that!
On Tuesday, she slept through the night (7 hours!!) and also smiled for the first time.
Cash is still doing great with her. He is always very gentle and loving. The only sign of jealousy he shows is when he gets hurt and wants me to hold him, when I am already holding Coco. He'll say "Hold you, mama! Baby--chair!" (translation: hold me, mama. put the baby in her bouncer!) We are really enjoying this sweet little girl. Here are some recent photos from this past week:

A hint of her smile. Who do you think she looks like?


Pensive at bathtime:


Coco loves tummy time, because she loves laying on her tummy. She doesn't even attempt to hold her head up. She's like "I'm good--I'll nap here".