Well Andy wasn't kidding in his last blog about us being parents!! 4 days after he wrote that blog our little girl, Samantha Janell, was born. First of all....she wasn't supposed to be born for another 2 weeks. Second of all...she wasn't supposed to be a she at all! Sara had an ultrasound that indicated a baby boy! That technician needs to be fired! Thursday the 29th of July I got a call around 5 pm from Sara telling me that I was a mom! I was in complete shock and insisted that she was kidding and playing a cruel joke on me. Her story was just too unbelievable....an early baby, a girl instead of a boy, and she delivered in her bathroom at home!!! Come to find out, she wasn't kidding! She gave birth at home around 11.30 am and she and baby Sam were taken to the hospital by fire truck! Our little girl sure has a great story to tell. She was 9 lbs 5 oz and our little chunk is now 2 months old and 11 lbs 8 oz!!!
Andy and I flew to Utah the next morning and drove straight from the airport to the hospital to meet Sara and Samantha. Sara was so sweet and handled the whole situation so well. Samantha was a beautiful baby that didn't look like a newborn! She never looked like a newborn but rather a month old baby! We suspect she wasn't in fact early, but late in her arrival. There were some complications simply from timing since all of our paperwork hadn't been approved yet. We weren't going to be able to take Samantha home with us right away or even take custody of her until some things were done. Our amazing lawyer stepped in and managed to get a judge to sign an order on a Friday afternoon to allow us to take custody of her for the time being. We were very relieved and grateful. We didn't want to stay in a foster home with people we didn't know as we began our parenting journey. We felt much better that we were going to my parent's home to stay until all of the other paperwork was done. We weren't sure how long that was going to take and it ended up taking a lot longer than we thought. Poor Andy couldn't stay in Utah with us forever so he had to go home to work which made all of us sad. He was able to come back for a weekend but sadly missed the majority of his baby's first month of life. I was in Utah for a whole month before being able to fly home to New Jersey with Samantha. It was a long wait, but as I look back I'm so grateful for the help that my mom and sisters gave me. And so, Samantha and I flew home August 27th.
Those are the main details of how we became parents. There was a lot more involved and Andy may add some things into it, but now I'll just jot down some of my feelings about it all. We weren't expecting to be parents so quickly and while I thought I was ready for it....I don't think you can ever be totally ready for the life-changing event that it is. You suddenly forget all about yourself and you forget your needs and your whole life is wrapped up into this little, pooping, crying, eating, fussing, adorable infant. I had a rough first couple of days coming to terms with the whole adoption. I felt so horrible for Sara. I felt like I had stolen something from her. She never gave me any indication that she felt that way, but that's how I felt. I broke down one night and so I received a blessing from Andy with the help of my dad. I felt a lot better after that. I still thought of Sara everyday and I still do. She is an amazing girl.
Sunday, July 25, 2004
We're going to be parents???
Fatherhood. That's not a word that I expected to apply to me right now, but it looks like it soon will. Thanks to Ashly's sister's, boyfriend's sister, it looks like we should have a baby in just under 3 weeks. Needless to say, this is not how I expected the adoption process to go. Normally it takes people years to adopt a child. It's taken us a few weeks.
Ashly told Sara about us after finding out that Sara was planning to give her child to an adoptive couple. Ashly first told us about it in early June, and we sent a letter and some pictures to her to share with Sara. Then she asked us for another letter. This was when we started to really buckle down on the paperwork. Then Ashly told us that Sara wanted to talk to us on the phone. We weren't sure if that was a no-no or not, but LDS Family Services said to go ahead. We called her on a Sat. afternoon, and during the course of that call, she told us that we were at the top of her short list. Woo Hoo!!!
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Sent from my Treo
Ashly told Sara about us after finding out that Sara was planning to give her child to an adoptive couple. Ashly first told us about it in early June, and we sent a letter and some pictures to her to share with Sara. Then she asked us for another letter. This was when we started to really buckle down on the paperwork. Then Ashly told us that Sara wanted to talk to us on the phone. We weren't sure if that was a no-no or not, but LDS Family Services said to go ahead. We called her on a Sat. afternoon, and during the course of that call, she told us that we were at the top of her short list. Woo Hoo!!!
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Sent from my Treo
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Fourth of July in DC
One of my fondest memories of my summer in Washington, DC was watching the fireworks from the Mall. I figured since we were going to have a 3 day weekend, we could go down again this year. I got a good rate on a hotel room, but it turned out we didn't need to use it. John & Katherine Faust had to cancel their trip to San Diego at the last minute, and they generously offered to let us stay with them in their new home. It was a great place - much bigger than it looks on the outside. We loved the master bedroom. It had a step down area in the front of the room that was more than large enough to accommodate a couch, desk, and a tv. Awesome.
We got to their place around 2pm. After a tour of the house, we took the Metro downtown. Man, it may be kind of 70's retro, but that thing is a whole lot cleaner than the NYC subway. Downtown we went to the Spy Museum. It's privately owned, so it's a lot more high tech and "edgy" than most museums there in town. It's pretty cool, but there's a lot more to read than there is to see. I think we both enjoyed it though. After we finished up there, we met John and Katherine a couple of blocks away at the District Chop House for dinner. John eats there for lunch sometimes, but I guess the lunch menu is a lot cheaper. He was kind of embarassed for bringing us to a pricey place, but it was about a 3rd cheaper than it would have been in NY, so it wasn't really a big deal. Tasty food.
On the way home, J&K were nice enough to show us around the monuments, which are beautifully lit at night. The highlight was the brand new World War II monument. It is quite large, and very well done. It has only been open since Memorial Day, so it was kind of crowded, but rightfully so.
Actually, the real show stealer was the fireflies. Kristi had never seen them before, and she was enchanted by the little insects with the glowing backsides. It was really cute - I wish I could have gotten a picture of her reaction.
Sunday morning we went to church with the Fausts. It seems like it's still a very strong ward. The district president from Belarus was there, and he bore his testimony. Apparently there is no such thing as freedom of religion in Belarus. A very sad thing to think about on the day when we celebrate our independence...
Kristi and I skipped out after Sacrament Meeting and went to the Udvar-Hazy branch of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It's basically a giant hanger out near Dulles airport, filled with airplanes. They have a Concorde, a Blackbird, the Enola Gay, and a space shuttle. The shuttle is still being put in place though, so it wasn't that cool.
After that we went back to the Faust's for a 4th of July BBQ. The massive rain storm knocked out the power for about 45 minutes, so we dined by candlelight. It was fun to spend some time with them again. Marcus (now Bishop Faust)spent some time playing with my Treo to see if it would work for him. It did what he needed, but I don't know if it was really fast enough for him.
We'd planned to go in to the American History museum before the fireworks, but because of the weather and the BBQ, we opted for a nap instead. By the time we woke up, the weather had cleared up enough that we were willing to risk going into town. Kristi and I rode in on the Metro again, and camped out on the lawn below the Washington Monument. We really lucked out, because they were launching the fireworks from just a couple of blocks away, so our view was totally unobstructed. It didn't seem to last as long as the last time I went, but it was still a lot of fun. We even managed to get home at a reasonable time, though still too late for home made ice cream at the Faust house.
Monday morning we said thank you and good bye to John, Katherine, and the boys, and drove downtown to see the American History Museum. It was funny to see Fonzi's jacket in the same museum as the Star Spangled Banner. We spent a couple of hours wandering through there, and then headed out to the Cheesecake Factory at Tyson's Corner for lunch before hitting the road in earnest. Surprisingly, we didn't hit very much traffic at all on the way home. The one notable exception to that was the parking lot known as Delaware. Man, that place is always a mess.
Well, Kristi's uploading the pictures to Snapfish right now, so as soon as that finishes, I'll be back to plug those into the above slop.
We got to their place around 2pm. After a tour of the house, we took the Metro downtown. Man, it may be kind of 70's retro, but that thing is a whole lot cleaner than the NYC subway. Downtown we went to the Spy Museum. It's privately owned, so it's a lot more high tech and "edgy" than most museums there in town. It's pretty cool, but there's a lot more to read than there is to see. I think we both enjoyed it though. After we finished up there, we met John and Katherine a couple of blocks away at the District Chop House for dinner. John eats there for lunch sometimes, but I guess the lunch menu is a lot cheaper. He was kind of embarassed for bringing us to a pricey place, but it was about a 3rd cheaper than it would have been in NY, so it wasn't really a big deal. Tasty food.
On the way home, J&K were nice enough to show us around the monuments, which are beautifully lit at night. The highlight was the brand new World War II monument. It is quite large, and very well done. It has only been open since Memorial Day, so it was kind of crowded, but rightfully so.
Actually, the real show stealer was the fireflies. Kristi had never seen them before, and she was enchanted by the little insects with the glowing backsides. It was really cute - I wish I could have gotten a picture of her reaction.
Sunday morning we went to church with the Fausts. It seems like it's still a very strong ward. The district president from Belarus was there, and he bore his testimony. Apparently there is no such thing as freedom of religion in Belarus. A very sad thing to think about on the day when we celebrate our independence...
Kristi and I skipped out after Sacrament Meeting and went to the Udvar-Hazy branch of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It's basically a giant hanger out near Dulles airport, filled with airplanes. They have a Concorde, a Blackbird, the Enola Gay, and a space shuttle. The shuttle is still being put in place though, so it wasn't that cool.
After that we went back to the Faust's for a 4th of July BBQ. The massive rain storm knocked out the power for about 45 minutes, so we dined by candlelight. It was fun to spend some time with them again. Marcus (now Bishop Faust)spent some time playing with my Treo to see if it would work for him. It did what he needed, but I don't know if it was really fast enough for him.
We'd planned to go in to the American History museum before the fireworks, but because of the weather and the BBQ, we opted for a nap instead. By the time we woke up, the weather had cleared up enough that we were willing to risk going into town. Kristi and I rode in on the Metro again, and camped out on the lawn below the Washington Monument. We really lucked out, because they were launching the fireworks from just a couple of blocks away, so our view was totally unobstructed. It didn't seem to last as long as the last time I went, but it was still a lot of fun. We even managed to get home at a reasonable time, though still too late for home made ice cream at the Faust house.
Monday morning we said thank you and good bye to John, Katherine, and the boys, and drove downtown to see the American History Museum. It was funny to see Fonzi's jacket in the same museum as the Star Spangled Banner. We spent a couple of hours wandering through there, and then headed out to the Cheesecake Factory at Tyson's Corner for lunch before hitting the road in earnest. Surprisingly, we didn't hit very much traffic at all on the way home. The one notable exception to that was the parking lot known as Delaware. Man, that place is always a mess.
Well, Kristi's uploading the pictures to Snapfish right now, so as soon as that finishes, I'll be back to plug those into the above slop.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Omar's Party @ Django
Nothing like standing around for an hour with your co-workers and a bunch of clients, at a bar. Bo-ring. I guess free booze is attractive to some people, but otherwise I really can't tell what the draw was. The place was nice enough, but not even a Golden Tee in sight. I stayed for a little more than an hour, but I just couldn't take anymore. On the plus side I had a pretty good conversation with James, who's a really good guy. We kept each other sane holding up the wall, away from the inane chit chat. Well, I'm rambling, and my stop is coming up, so peace out!
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Sent from my Treo
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Sent from my Treo
Monday, June 21, 2004
Hey! It works!
Apparently you really can post a blog via email. Cool! Now if I could just learn how to speed up my one thumbed typing , I'd be set. Or if I could just manage to get a seat on the train, I'd be able to get another thumb in here. It looked like there were some seats in the front - I'll have to try that next time. Looks like this blog might be totally pointless. But hey! Isn't that what the web's for? finally got to 14th street, and I can sit. Sad that I'm excited to speed up my typing by using 2 fingers! Well, that's enough of this. Até mais.
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Sent from my Treo
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Sent from my Treo
Blogging from the Treo
Rumor has it that you can publish to your blog via email. Será que é possível?
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Sent from my Treo
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Sent from my Treo
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
What are the odds that I'll be able to keep up with this? Pretty low I'd say. But I do have blogger on my Link bar in IE now, and it's got a bright orange icon that makes it stand out, so at least I'm going to notice it more often.
This past weekend was Memorial Day. We didn't have any real plans to speak of, except that we thought we'd go out and catch the new disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow. It was actually pretty good. We both liked that it just showed how people were dealing with the disaster, instead of building a huge space laser to re-heat the earth. The big news of the weekend though was that Kristi's Nana passed away Sat. morning. It had been a long time coming, so it was something of a relief to everyone, but it's always a sad occurrence. So Kristi flew out on Monday morning (Memorial Day). That brings me to the most noteworthy part of the weekend - the 50 minute roundrtip drive out to LaGuardia and back. I think that it must be some kind of record. No traffic whatsoever. It was great. I was tempted to drive out onto Long Island, just to see what was there, but I didn't want to push my luck and get caught in some freak traffic, so I hussled back to JC where I vegged out all day. Watched TV and played computer games. Absolutely no redeeming value in the day at all. And I think that's what holidays are all about ;-)
Of course today being 1 June, it's dad's birthday, so I need to give a big shout out to him. Happy Birthday dad! We got him a pair of nice earbud headphones for him to use on the plane, since he's always flying around the west for his church calling. They aren't electronically noise cancelling, but they are designed to fit snugly in the ear, thus blocking out as much sound as possible. Hopefully they'll live up to their reviews!
This past weekend was Memorial Day. We didn't have any real plans to speak of, except that we thought we'd go out and catch the new disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow. It was actually pretty good. We both liked that it just showed how people were dealing with the disaster, instead of building a huge space laser to re-heat the earth. The big news of the weekend though was that Kristi's Nana passed away Sat. morning. It had been a long time coming, so it was something of a relief to everyone, but it's always a sad occurrence. So Kristi flew out on Monday morning (Memorial Day). That brings me to the most noteworthy part of the weekend - the 50 minute roundrtip drive out to LaGuardia and back. I think that it must be some kind of record. No traffic whatsoever. It was great. I was tempted to drive out onto Long Island, just to see what was there, but I didn't want to push my luck and get caught in some freak traffic, so I hussled back to JC where I vegged out all day. Watched TV and played computer games. Absolutely no redeeming value in the day at all. And I think that's what holidays are all about ;-)
Of course today being 1 June, it's dad's birthday, so I need to give a big shout out to him. Happy Birthday dad! We got him a pair of nice earbud headphones for him to use on the plane, since he's always flying around the west for his church calling. They aren't electronically noise cancelling, but they are designed to fit snugly in the ear, thus blocking out as much sound as possible. Hopefully they'll live up to their reviews!
Friday, May 28, 2004
Fashionistas on the beach in Makena
Wow! It actually works! I guess I'm going to have to go back and try to edit some of my previous posts - that would make the blog much cooler!
As you can tell from that picture, we just got back from Hawaii a few days ago. It was a great trip. My family is still there - they don't get back until tomorrow. Totally unfair.
It was an uneventful trip - great for Hawaii. Kristi got a nice sunburn the day after we arrived, so that kept us out of the sun during prime daylight hours, but that's about what I'd planned on anyways. I actually picked up some sun, which is amazing. We stayed in the Kahana Falls in Kahana (above Ka'anapali, and then commuted down to Makena every day. Kind of a waste of a couple of hours, but it's a pretty drive, and it's so nice down at that end of the island (and at the Ziegler's condo), that we didn't really mind. And it was nice to spend time with family, which we don't get to do too often out here. And let's not forget the gorgeous sunsets....
The find of the week was when I bought a rashguard at the surf shop. After Kris got burned, I got really paranoid about getting too much sun, so I picked one up to keep the sun off while I was in the pool. By the time we'd left, Dave, Elaine, Julie, and Meghan had all gotten them too. I'm such a trendsetter!
We started on the road to Hana one day (the back way), but it was kinda gross and rainy, and I could tell that Kristi's stomach wasn't going to be too happy driving on that windy, undulating road, so we turned around and went back while the rest of the family forged on. However, I did manage to haul her around the north side of the island one morning. It really is gorgeous and serene up there, even if some parts of the road are SUPER tiny. It helps a lot that they've obviously repaved it since the last time I was on it though.
The food was great, as usual. Kristi made some awesome Banana Macadamia pancakes, there were steaks and ribs on the grill, chocolate covered macadamia nuts (which might have made it back home to Jersey too), fresh Ice Cream sandwiches, and lots of Lapperts. Perfect! The only problem with the trip was that it was too short. Hopefully we'll be able to turn it into an annual event though - that would be the best!
The other big news is that I no longer work for Neovest. One of my customers, ESP, made me an offer, and it seemed like the perfect time to make a move. I think that the opportunity for growth is much better here - I was starting to get a little stale at Neovest. So far, so good - we'll see how it shapes up!
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Slackers!!!!!!!!
I can't believe how long it's been since we wrote in here. I'm going to have to get a lot better at this. I've actually got a long one that details our trip to Israel, but it's got a lot of editing work that needs to get done on it first. I'm going to have to make time for that. In the meantime, here's a quick re-cap of the past little while.
We found out about a job opportunity (Enterprise Account Manager) at Omniture, the company in UT where Richele works. I had a couple of interviews with them, and they even flew me out there, but after that it died. I could go on and on about why I think they didn't offer me the job, but in the end, when I walked out of my interview there, I wasn't really feeling all that good about the job.
Last night we bought a new car! We go back this afternoon to pick it up. It's a 2004 Passat GLS Wagon, this time with automatic. Looks like Kristi's going to have to drive in NJ after all! ;-) I don't know if we got a killer deal on it or not, but I held my ground on my trade in price, and after about 3 hours, we finally got it. The new car is Silverstone gray - hopefully it will be as great as the last one!
Well, I've got to take off - I'm writing this during a lull in my time here at Knight. Hopefully more to come soon!
I can't believe how long it's been since we wrote in here. I'm going to have to get a lot better at this. I've actually got a long one that details our trip to Israel, but it's got a lot of editing work that needs to get done on it first. I'm going to have to make time for that. In the meantime, here's a quick re-cap of the past little while.
We found out about a job opportunity (Enterprise Account Manager) at Omniture, the company in UT where Richele works. I had a couple of interviews with them, and they even flew me out there, but after that it died. I could go on and on about why I think they didn't offer me the job, but in the end, when I walked out of my interview there, I wasn't really feeling all that good about the job.
Last night we bought a new car! We go back this afternoon to pick it up. It's a 2004 Passat GLS Wagon, this time with automatic. Looks like Kristi's going to have to drive in NJ after all! ;-) I don't know if we got a killer deal on it or not, but I held my ground on my trade in price, and after about 3 hours, we finally got it. The new car is Silverstone gray - hopefully it will be as great as the last one!
Well, I've got to take off - I'm writing this during a lull in my time here at Knight. Hopefully more to come soon!
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Andy and I suddenly became aware that we haven't written in this thing for a long time. I have been given the task of writing about Thanksgiving and Christmas and "The Flood", and Andy will write about our trips since I'm horrible at remembering where we went and when with whom, blah blah.
So I guess I'll start with Thanksgiving. Actually, I'll start just a couple of weeks before that with my trip to Utah for the birth of baby Cameron!!! He was born November 2nd on an early Sunday morning. Kami and Chad were nice enough to let me be in the room with them when Cam was born. It was great!! Kami was so brave and she did so well and everything went smoothly. I was able to spend a couple of more days in Utah visiting them in the hospital and I was even there when they first brought him home.
Kristi and the new baby Cameron - one of my favorite pictures.
It was too fun!!! He is now over 3 months old and getting so big and cute!! He is very healthy and happy. He smiles and giggles all the time except when they put the phone up to him so I can hear. Then he just gets too interested in the phone and gets quiet! What a little stinker!!
Andy and I got to spend about a week in Utah for Thanksgiving. We worked most of the days that the office was open so that we didn't have to take much time off of work. We didn't do too much besides hang out with family. I spent as much time as possible with Cameron. He was still so small, but so cute!! Thanksgiving day we had a small dinner with a few of the Hall's. The night before that Pat had us over for a big Thanksgiving meal as well. She wanted to cook a big dinner, but had to work on Thanksgiving, so we did that with the family the night before. Andy ventured out that night and went shopping for all the good deals they were having. He had to stand in line for a while, but got a great deal on all his wireless router stuff. Whatever that does! All I know is that he was happy, so it was worth it. Mostly, it was just a relaxing, fun week with the family and the baby!!!
Colored Christmas lights are the coolest!
Christmas was another fun week. We flew to California and spent about 4 full days there. Andy's entire family was there for Christmas which made it even better!!! Andy couldn't even remember the last time that his whole family was together at Christmas. It was also my first Christmas away from home. It was a little difficult, but we had a fun time in California, so that helped. We were able to get together with Brandon and Claire and Matt at the infamous Village Host and just eat and chat for a couple of hours. I think Andy was grateful to have some quality friend time. It was fun for me to have a kid in the house at Christmas though. I've always been the youngest at Christmas, so it was fun to have someone younger who was excited for the day. Julie went up to bed after giving Santa some cookies and the reindeer some carrots. I helped to eat the carrots which was very odd. I've never been the adult who helped eat Santa's food!!! Then Carol had an idea for me to go up and read a cute Santa book to Julie. We laid in bed together and read the book. It was very cute!
Christmas Day Andy surprised me by buying an Ipod for me!!! He and his parents chipped in together and bought me the Ipod for my main gift. It was awesome! Andy got a nice picture of me opening my present and having a shocked look on my face! Tricky little man!
Can you say "timing"?
It took a while for everyone to open their presents and then we had a breakfast that I am convinced is still sitting in my arteries somewhere. We ate the famous Stir-About and Grandfather Eggs. It was all very delicious!! Although, I can't explain the Stir-About since women aren't allowed to have the recipe. Oh well. The less I have to cook the better!
We left the Higham's house on Saturday so we could be in Utah for Cameron's blessing. There's quite an amazing story about our flight home too. Andy could probably do all the mumbo-jumbo, but I'll put the story simply and get to the good parts. Our flight was oversold so they asked for volunteers to go on a later flight. I've learned my lesson about that and you should always jump at that opportunity. Well, the problem was they didn't have any other flights that day, only on Sunday and we had to be in Utah for the blessing, so that didn't work. Andy is persistent and didn't give up that easily, so he talked to the lady again. She said we could get on a Delta flight that left 30 minutes later and she would give us flight credits. We thought we'd get like $200 each, and we were happy about that, but when we counted all the tickets she gave us, it came out to $600 each!!! We had to fly across the airport to get to the Delta terminal and then they said we couldn't get on that flight because it was booked as well. We decided to stand-by and go to the terminal just in case and we lucked out! We asked the girl if we could get on and sure enough, we got the 2 best seats on the plane. So, we got $600 each in credit vouchers, just for racing to the Delta terminal and leaving about an hour later. Not too shabby if you ask me!!!!
Anyways, we got to Utah and went straight to Tepanyaki for a yummy dinner!! It was (of course) great food and lots of fun. Sunday was Cameron's blessing followed by food at Kami's house. Again, great food and lots of fun. Then we just had Monday there and left Tuesday. It was a short trip, but worth it.
And now......"The Flood". We had the fire in July, and now we have the flood. Andy and I were sitting in our living room watching TV one Sunday night. All of the sudden we heard this awful sound followed by rushing water. It sounded like someone upstairs moved something large across their floor, and then turned the bathtub on. A few seconds later the fire alarms go off. Everyone goes into the hall and starts to file outside into the cold. Andy and I thought that since we heard a loud noise near our place, we should go check out our side of the building where our balcony is. We walked around the building and sure enough, there was water GUSHING out of the balcony right next to ours. It finally clicked that where the water was coming from was right next to the wall in our place. We raced back inside and saw that our floor was already drenched. Our adrenaline kicked in and we hurried to move all of our furniture and electronics out of the way. The water kept coming in as the firemen were trying to shut off the water. The apartment next to us where the water heater was looked like a swimming pool!! It turns out the pipes had gotten so cold that they froze and burst! Water came about half-way into our living room before they turned the water off and it stopped. It took them a while, but they finally came in and sucked up the water with their heavy duty wet-vac. We then ripped up the carpet and put a large fan in the room. Water had also damaged our wall in a couple of places. It took a couple of days for the floor to dry fully and for them to come and fix everything, but after about a week it all got taken care. What a pain!!!! We've lived in that place about 8 months and we've had a fire and a flood! A couple of weeks after our flood, another pipe burst in the entry way to the complex and flooded there as well!!! Yeah, we live in a quality place, what can I say!!!
So I guess I'll start with Thanksgiving. Actually, I'll start just a couple of weeks before that with my trip to Utah for the birth of baby Cameron!!! He was born November 2nd on an early Sunday morning. Kami and Chad were nice enough to let me be in the room with them when Cam was born. It was great!! Kami was so brave and she did so well and everything went smoothly. I was able to spend a couple of more days in Utah visiting them in the hospital and I was even there when they first brought him home.
Kristi and the new baby Cameron - one of my favorite pictures.
It was too fun!!! He is now over 3 months old and getting so big and cute!! He is very healthy and happy. He smiles and giggles all the time except when they put the phone up to him so I can hear. Then he just gets too interested in the phone and gets quiet! What a little stinker!!
Andy and I got to spend about a week in Utah for Thanksgiving. We worked most of the days that the office was open so that we didn't have to take much time off of work. We didn't do too much besides hang out with family. I spent as much time as possible with Cameron. He was still so small, but so cute!! Thanksgiving day we had a small dinner with a few of the Hall's. The night before that Pat had us over for a big Thanksgiving meal as well. She wanted to cook a big dinner, but had to work on Thanksgiving, so we did that with the family the night before. Andy ventured out that night and went shopping for all the good deals they were having. He had to stand in line for a while, but got a great deal on all his wireless router stuff. Whatever that does! All I know is that he was happy, so it was worth it. Mostly, it was just a relaxing, fun week with the family and the baby!!!
Colored Christmas lights are the coolest!
Christmas was another fun week. We flew to California and spent about 4 full days there. Andy's entire family was there for Christmas which made it even better!!! Andy couldn't even remember the last time that his whole family was together at Christmas. It was also my first Christmas away from home. It was a little difficult, but we had a fun time in California, so that helped. We were able to get together with Brandon and Claire and Matt at the infamous Village Host and just eat and chat for a couple of hours. I think Andy was grateful to have some quality friend time. It was fun for me to have a kid in the house at Christmas though. I've always been the youngest at Christmas, so it was fun to have someone younger who was excited for the day. Julie went up to bed after giving Santa some cookies and the reindeer some carrots. I helped to eat the carrots which was very odd. I've never been the adult who helped eat Santa's food!!! Then Carol had an idea for me to go up and read a cute Santa book to Julie. We laid in bed together and read the book. It was very cute!
Christmas Day Andy surprised me by buying an Ipod for me!!! He and his parents chipped in together and bought me the Ipod for my main gift. It was awesome! Andy got a nice picture of me opening my present and having a shocked look on my face! Tricky little man!
Can you say "timing"?
It took a while for everyone to open their presents and then we had a breakfast that I am convinced is still sitting in my arteries somewhere. We ate the famous Stir-About and Grandfather Eggs. It was all very delicious!! Although, I can't explain the Stir-About since women aren't allowed to have the recipe. Oh well. The less I have to cook the better!
We left the Higham's house on Saturday so we could be in Utah for Cameron's blessing. There's quite an amazing story about our flight home too. Andy could probably do all the mumbo-jumbo, but I'll put the story simply and get to the good parts. Our flight was oversold so they asked for volunteers to go on a later flight. I've learned my lesson about that and you should always jump at that opportunity. Well, the problem was they didn't have any other flights that day, only on Sunday and we had to be in Utah for the blessing, so that didn't work. Andy is persistent and didn't give up that easily, so he talked to the lady again. She said we could get on a Delta flight that left 30 minutes later and she would give us flight credits. We thought we'd get like $200 each, and we were happy about that, but when we counted all the tickets she gave us, it came out to $600 each!!! We had to fly across the airport to get to the Delta terminal and then they said we couldn't get on that flight because it was booked as well. We decided to stand-by and go to the terminal just in case and we lucked out! We asked the girl if we could get on and sure enough, we got the 2 best seats on the plane. So, we got $600 each in credit vouchers, just for racing to the Delta terminal and leaving about an hour later. Not too shabby if you ask me!!!!
Anyways, we got to Utah and went straight to Tepanyaki for a yummy dinner!! It was (of course) great food and lots of fun. Sunday was Cameron's blessing followed by food at Kami's house. Again, great food and lots of fun. Then we just had Monday there and left Tuesday. It was a short trip, but worth it.
And now......"The Flood". We had the fire in July, and now we have the flood. Andy and I were sitting in our living room watching TV one Sunday night. All of the sudden we heard this awful sound followed by rushing water. It sounded like someone upstairs moved something large across their floor, and then turned the bathtub on. A few seconds later the fire alarms go off. Everyone goes into the hall and starts to file outside into the cold. Andy and I thought that since we heard a loud noise near our place, we should go check out our side of the building where our balcony is. We walked around the building and sure enough, there was water GUSHING out of the balcony right next to ours. It finally clicked that where the water was coming from was right next to the wall in our place. We raced back inside and saw that our floor was already drenched. Our adrenaline kicked in and we hurried to move all of our furniture and electronics out of the way. The water kept coming in as the firemen were trying to shut off the water. The apartment next to us where the water heater was looked like a swimming pool!! It turns out the pipes had gotten so cold that they froze and burst! Water came about half-way into our living room before they turned the water off and it stopped. It took them a while, but they finally came in and sucked up the water with their heavy duty wet-vac. We then ripped up the carpet and put a large fan in the room. Water had also damaged our wall in a couple of places. It took a couple of days for the floor to dry fully and for them to come and fix everything, but after about a week it all got taken care. What a pain!!!! We've lived in that place about 8 months and we've had a fire and a flood! A couple of weeks after our flood, another pipe burst in the entry way to the complex and flooded there as well!!! Yeah, we live in a quality place, what can I say!!!
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