I never realized

How great the drive-thru is.
The other day Jared and I were out running errands and it occurred to me how truly great the idea of a drive-thru is! We went to the Library and dropped our books off courtesy of the drive-thru and then we went to Walgreen's to pick up a prescription also courtesy of the drive-thru. It makes life so much easier when you have a baby and a heavy carseat. It seems silly to get out the stroller when you just want to drop something off and it is quite awkward to carry books and a carseat. It just made me really appreciate the drive-thru.
I also dropped off my first item of hazardous waste courtesy of a drive-thru. When we got home from Egypt Mark really wanted a flat screen for our computer instead of the big bulky ones. So back in the fall of 2008 we found one and since then we have had the old computer monitor either in our apartment somewhere or in the trunk of the car, since we bought the highlander in October it has been sitting in the "trunk" area. Well since we are driving home today (any minute now I am waiting for Mark to call and say I am on my way lets go!) we needed the space and really did not feel like putting it in the apartment. So I did some googling and phone calling and went and dropped it off. It was sort of weird because you pull up to this garage area that is totally deserted and then magically, the garage door opens even though there is no one in sight. So you pull up and as you pull all the way in they close the door behind you so you are in a garage/warehouse sort of thing with a garage door behind you and in front of you. A man came up with a full body suit and gloves and asked what I had and then they took it out of the back and I had to sign a paper saying that I swore that the items I dropped off were from my household and not a business. It felt like I was in a movie dropping off some stolen goods or materials to make bombs. But they were very friendly and it was free and convenient, Jared didn't even know we had done all those errands, he slept right through it all. We hope he will sleep most of the way home too. We are stopping in Vegas tonight to stay at Mark's Aunt's house and then off to California Saturday! Hooray!

The good, sad, and bad news

Jared went in for his 2 month check up today and is doing really well. His weight is now 11 pounds 4 ounces (43%) and his height is 24 inches (86%) so basically he is a lot like his dad, tall and skinny. Although he really does have a little belly (Jared that is). At first I was concerned about his weight because the percent seems so low but the pediatrician said to not worry, that Jared was pretty average in his weight and looks great. The sad news is that his pediatrician is leaving the clinic to join the Peace Corps. He and his family are leaving for Senegal and then Morocco after the New Year. While this is very admirable and exciting for him and I am sure they will have a great experience I am bummed that he won't be Jared's doctor anymore, I really liked him. Oh well. I asked him if there was another doctor from this clinic that has similar views as him and he told me the doctor that his kids go to. I am sure it will be fine.
Jared did have to get his first round of shots today and he did awesome! The first one was sort of funny because it was an oral shot and the nurse would squeeze some into his mouth and Jared would swallow it and then his whole body would shake, the nurse said it was the sugar in the shot. Then he had one in his right leg that I don't even think he noticed and then he got the last one in his left leg and he was not okay with it. But after a few minutes of crying he got over it. What a tough guy. So far he hasn't seemed more fussy at all. But we will see.
The bad news is that my eye is still so dark! It has been about a week and I can't wait for it to go away. It is starting to turn a lovely shade of yellow on the edges but is still nice and purple/red right under my eye. Oh well. Sooner or later it will go away.
And the other good news is that we are most likely leaving for California on Friday! there is a 30% chance of snow over Vail, CO but Mark thinks we can make it. We will stay in Las Vegas Friday night with Mark's Aunt and then drive on to Turlock Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing our families, taking long walks in the sunshine with Jared and Mark, (well it really has been very sunny here just not so warm) and eating In N Out Burger and frozen yogurt!

And the Winner is...

The Door Frame

Yesterday morning I came up close and personal with the door frame. I had finished feeding Jared and was walking back to put him to bed when I tripped on the ottoman of the gliding rocker (it was dark in the room) stumbled for 2 or 3 steps and then fell head and face first into the bathroom door frame. Luckily nothing happened to Jared but I have an awful black eye and had the worst headache yesterday. I guess this is injury number one that I will receive while raising this kid. Mark was still in bed, (the sound of my head hitting the door frame woke him up) and I am so thankful that he was home so he could hold Jared (who was not even crying, wasn't really phased at all) for me while I cried and put ice on my face.

The last time I remember getting a black eye was back in high school. I went miniature golfing with some friends and right near the beginning of the course a very good friend smacked her ball and it bounced off the wall of one of the structures and got me right in the eye. The funny thing is we continued to play and finished the whole course. I know she bought me a cold water bottle to put on my eye but I don't think it helped a lot.
I hope that this black eye gets better before we go home for Christmas. We actually have a few activities planned for this weekend (Christmas concert and ward dinner and I am going visiting teaching tomorrow) but I am not so sure I want to go out in public with it. It gets old having to tell the story over and over. Oh and we also have interviews with the Stake President on Sunday to renew our recommends, great.... oh well.

If you're happy and you know it...

SMILE!!

Jared has been smiling for a little while now and it is so adorable. Yesterday I finally got a really good picture of it. He is so fun. It is next to impossible to only kiss him once!

We have been having lots of Christmas fun. We bought our tree and decorated it, went to a Creche exhibit, watched A Charlie Brown's Christmas, drank Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshakes and Egg Nog, went to a Christmas party, sent out Christmas cards and have made Christmas sugar cookies and there is lots more to do! We hope you are enjoying the holidays too!

Cousins and Sisters

While Susanna and Ryan were here Susanna and I got some cute pictures of Lisa, Lyra, and Jared. I think that it is so fun that Jared will have Lyra, who is only 28 days older than him as a cousin and Lisa who is just 4 years older. I always wanted cousins my age when I was growing up. I thought it would be the funnest thing. I hope that Jared will get to see all his cousins (Cade and Cameron in California too!) as often as possible.

I think that they are both making great facial expressions here.
Lisa kept saying again and again that "Jared was the cutest baby in the whole world!" Who can argue with that?"

A beautiful day

The Friday after Thanksgiving was a gorgeous day here. Amazing blue skies and mid 60's so we (Mark, Jared and I and Susanna,Ryan, Lisa and Lyra) headed over to the Garden of the Gods which are an awesome red rock formation here in Colorado Springs. We have known that they are here forever but haven't gone over and are so happy that we did. It was great to be outside in the sunshine and do some walking after our delicious Thanksgiving meal the day before.
Now, I took Geology at BYU Idaho and pretty much hated the class and found my head bobbing almost everyday in there but seeing formations like this is much more exciting. I wish that my Geology class could have had weekly field trips or at least bi-weekly then I might have actually cared. Because seeing geology is way cooler than reading it on a power point. It ended up that I didn't even need to take the class in the long run but oh well. Its done. As we walked around I couldn't help feeling that we had somehow ended up in Southern Utah where you see all the famous red rock pictures. I haven't spent much time there but would really like to. One of these days.
My sister Susanna was also incredibly patient well, really everybody was because I wanted to get a good family picture for our Christmas cards and I can pose for pictures again and again with only making slight adjustments like moving my head forward an inch so its not in shadows. Thanks to the Terry's and Mark for being so accommodating.

Kissing Camels Formation





The Trail





The Terry's!

Oh Christmas Tree!

On Saturday we went out to find the perfect Christmas tree. This tree is very likely our last "live" tree for awhile. We often go home for Christmas and are not able to enjoy our tree for a third of the month of December so while we love the fresh scent of a "real" tree, and the fun of picking it out we should probably be more practical. So after Christmas we are going to see if we can find a nice artificial one on sale. Maybe when we are done having kids and they are old enough to enjoy the experience we will start going up into the mountains as a family and cutting one down. Until then, we did find THE perfect tree this year. As we started walking around the lot the seller came up to us and said that we should pick out a tree and then talk to him if we needed a lower price. So we found the tree and got it for 10 dollars less. Not our hardest bargaining attempt but it made us happy. I think having a newborn baby with us may have softened the guy up, Jared is already earning his keep.*

Underneath are all the Christmas books I checked out from the library yesterday. We like to read one Children's Christmas story each night before we go to bed. We buy one new book each year. I love traditions.

Now all we need to do is make some Christmas treats and send out Christmas cards. We'll be home for Christmas in 19 days!

* I had Jared weighed today and he is up to 10.74 pounds! I hadn't had him weighed for about 3 weeks and so the lady did the math and he had gained 19 ounces in 20 days which is basically perfect! He is supposed to be gaining an ounce a day and apparently he is. Such a super star. And he is an amazing sleeper! I don't know how he figured out that he should be sleeping for 7+ hours at night but he did and I think its awesome! He is so good to us! (I hope I didn't just jinx it...)