This is me and A right before A's baby blessing in church on Sunday November 4th. Doesn't he look cute and attentive for his big day?!? I volunteered to help take pictures before church, but really I just wanted an excuse to hold A before the mass family gathering occurred after church.
There is a song they always play on a country radio station every Halloween called "Pumpkin Head Harvey" - for those of you that have heard it, hopefully you can attest to the fact that it can easily get stuck in your head! For instance, right now, even just typing this I am humming the song... "Pumpkin head Harvey, Pumpkin head Harvey, he comes alive when it's Halloween time..." Anyway, A was a little pumpkin for Halloween this year so I always thought of the song when I saw A in his costume. Isn't he adorable?!?!
Then there was our city saving, death defying super-hero batman, otherwise known as C. He always wants to play superheroes and as long as you wrestle with him, he is happy :) I was sad that I didn't actually go out trick-or-treating with him this year. We just got to do our little photo op with costumes on the day before!
And finally, the boys together. Does the song "We Are a Happy Family" come to mind when you see this picture? It does for me!
The last week of September, my sister-in-law M and my nephew A came out to Utah for a visit. (I kept meaning to put these pictures up sooner, but it never happened.) This is Me, A and baby A. It was the funniest thing - whenever A saw A, he would just want to hug, kiss and hold him - oh wait, that's what I like to do when I see A too!!! It's a good thing A is going to have a little sibling pretty soon!
There is an elementary school right by my house that has a pretty fun park. It even has the "old school" teeter-totters, or see-saws, or whatever you want to call them these days. One day M and I took C and A over there and they thought it was great fun! Who could be more fun than their aunt B???? No one I believe :)
C has a homemade batman cape and A thought that looked fun so my mom made Andrew a cape out of fabric so they could be twins. This was the cutest picture before they took off on the count of three for the car. Guess who won?!? It was great fun having M and A around - I only wish they lived closer so we could see them more often!
On Tuesday August 21st A. T., my 4th nephew, was born. I rushed right over to the hospital as soon as I had put in my 7 1/2 hours of work at school. He is REALLY cute, even if you can't tell in this picture.
After going to the hospital every day after work, it wasn't until I was there on Thursday, two days later, that he had his eyes open for more than a second, so this was my attempt to document his eyes being open... He really is a happy boy... I just don't think he liked being unwrapped to have a camera shoved in his face :) Oh... I love being an aunt!!!!!
Do we look like we could have lived in the wild, wild West? Probably not, but oh well... this is the best we could do in 100 degree weather with all these clothes made out of corduroy on top of the clothes we were wearing in the first place... Ah the joys of family bonding :) We took this picture at a 10th wedding anniversary for one of my Baker cousins. It was a hoedown celebration on August 13th.
Since I graduated in May, I have tried to keep in contact with the people that did the graduate program with me up at the U. We generally find anything to make into a party, so since one of our numbers is pregnant, we decided to have a baby shower. Oh the laughs we have when we are together. We look back at school with humor instead of trauma :) It's always nice to keep in touch. Who knows when we will need each other as references/resources in our future careers...
I did it. I have finally become one of those crazy people that go to the store at midnight the day of the book release and stand in line with a ton of other crazy people and wear a yellow Hufflepuff bracelet and discuss facts from previous Harry Potter books and give my own professional opinions of what will happen in the final book!!! My mother informed me I was crazy, but I responded with the fact that I have to do crazy things in my youth. And then she made the comment that going to Walmart at midnight was not youthful - merely stupid. Stupidity won out for me though when after purchasing the book and being home at 12:30am and only sleeping 4 1/2 hours (4am-8:30am) I finished the book at 6 pm yesterday. The moment I decided I was really crazy was when I had been reading in my bed from 8:30 without getting up at all and finally at 11am I had to force myself to put the book down so I could use the restroom that I had been dying to use for at least an hour... I enjoyed it though which is all that matters! I've even considered reading it again already... do you think I have a problem?????
Stop #1 - Los Angeles. We went to the Los Angeles Temple with my cousin J for the first time in preparation for his upcoming mission to Baltimore Maryland. The following day I got to go to church for my friend's farewell that is going to Chile on her mission. That evening we played Hand and Foot with my cousins (try it and you'll get hooked). It's always fun to have game night with the Potter Family. However, the fun was not to last long...
Stop #2 - San Diego. During my stay in San Diego I managed to go to Home Depot and Walmart about 10 times in a 3 day stay as well as help clean out my Grandma's old house so there was nothing left and clean the new house. On the plus side we had ice cream with fresh blackberries for dessert most days :) My parents and I also managed to get to the temple and do a session. Talk about an amazingly beautiful temple!
Stop #4 - Oakland. To end our day in San Fransisco, we drove to Oakland to do a session at the temple. While here, my dad gave me a tour of the grounds and showed me the bench that my sister T fell on and cracked her chin open. Ah, family memories...
Stop #5 - Sacramento. We visited more family (my mom's brother) and enjoyed a 7:30 am session at the temple where I was so tired I couldn't even get my contacts in. Ah the rigors of a vacation! It was nice to see some cousins that I hadn't seen in awhile though :) The greatest part was going to church on Father's day with my cousin and his family where we sat in the front row (since we were late) and spent the whole time trying to keep their little boy off the stairs that lead to the pulpit. Never a dull moment with children around...
Stop #6 - Seattle. After driving an entire day to get to Seattle I had the pleasure of helping my brother and his wife clean the house that they just bought, followed by two full days of going from quilt shop to quilt shop along the coast. Quilt Shop Hopping - you should try it some time (in moderation of course)... My brother J is starting a job at Microsoft in July so they just moved from Utah to Washington and we already miss them. So it was good to see them. Isn't my nephew A so cute?!?! I certainly think so!
Stop #7 - Portland. This was our last and final stop before returning home. We spent the day with my brother N going to a huge Rose Garden, watching Ocean's 13 and going to a bazaar in downtown Portland. It was good to see everyone but it was nice to come home. I need a vacation from my vacation! And as we were driving home through Idaho/northern Utah I was reminded of my one and only speeding ticket that I had received last year. And I decided there was a very good reason for speeding there - it felt like we weren't ever going to get home!! Fortunately, no speeding tickets this time :)
