December

(Unfortunately the photographer took it right before she smiled and wouldn't take another, so lame)
December was a busy month, which was really good. Rosalie enjoyed everything that had to do with Christmas, the tree, the lights, the candy canes, even Santa. We attended Sean's work party and Rosalie got to see Santa, she was so excited that she ran right to him and sat on his lap. I think all she really wanted was the candy cane though, she is obsessed with them. I am grateful that we had the season to help heal us after a rough November. I am not saying we were better, but we had things to look forward to and that helped.

Rosalie enjoyed playing PS3 with Sean, his early Christmas gift. She holds the controllers and presses the buttons and everything, it is so cute.

The dynamic duo.
Making cookies with me, she jumped right in there when she saw me bring out the supplies, I had to finish them when she was asleep because I couldn't get anything done. I thought it was really cute how much she loved it though. She only eats the frosting though, haha.
We also went and spent a weekend with my family and had a mini Christmas with them. They babysat Rosalie and we were able to go to see Harry Potter 7, it was awesome. Rosalie loved to go and walk the dog while we were there.
And steal baked goods from the counter, she only really licked the frosting off.
We went to see the lights on this crazy culdesac that goes all out for Christmas, one house even had a snow machine. Rosalie loved being with "Ama" and "Bapa."
Then we came home and gave Rosalie her Christmas gift from Santa at our house. She loved the slide and sat on it to watch her shows, slid every toy imaginable down it, and slid down it in all directions.

After that Sean had a busy week at work and we headed out to Cali for some time with the Hartley clan. We had a blast, and I think that deserves it's own post, so until I have more time, I hope this will make you guys happy, and feel a bit more caught up with what is going on.

P.S. Rosalie is growing so much and talking so much, I almost would have to do a daily update to keep up with all of her shenanigans.

November

November started out just fine, but did not end well, which is the reason for my blogging hiatus. We had planned to go to Florida with my family and when we were about 2 hours away from our destination we got a phone call from my mom. Our friend's plane had crashed and it did not look like there were any survivors. He was the pilot and was flying with his MIL and Uncle. A really thick fog had come over that area all of a sudden and the airport they were landing at did not have to proper equipment to handle it. They missed the runway by 30 seconds air time and landed in the water. We were all devastated. We continued to drive and meet my family and be with them at that time. We arrived at around 2 in the morning, went to sleep, and then got up and helped everyone pack so that we could all go back to TX. We spent Thanksgiving alone. Not because we didn't have many kind offers from people to go be with them, but because we just couldn't handle being with anyone. The following week we attended the funerals. These people were not just our friends, they were our family, and this has forever changed our lives.

I could not find anything happy to blog about for a while, which is why I haven't posted anything. I had so many plans to have beautiful pictures of Rosalie playing on the beach and having fun with my family. But I have nothing. I am still very sad, but things are getting better. I just continue to pray for their family that they will recover from the loss.

Sorry

Sorry my blog stinks. I don't feel like fixing it because nobody really reads it. I don't know if I am going to keep it up or not.

October 2010

Our little witch!!!

I have been a terrible and lazy blogger lately. I just have dreaded getting on here and posting for some reason. We have really really enjoyed it here so far. It was still a pretty warm month. Texas doesn't exactly have a Fall, but it was still cooler than the month of September, on some days.

We started off the month by going the the zoo, Rosalie was not sure what to think, but we still had a blast. She was not too into the petting zoo because she had spotted a slide right next to where we were and since she is obsessed with slides that is all she could think about.

The next day Sean started work. We dropped him off and Rosalie cried. She was not happy to leave Daddy behind. It was a slow first two couple of weeks, but things have picked up for Sean at work and he is really enjoying it now. He had the opportunity to go to a recruiting event at BYU and loved returning to Utah, even if it was only for a day.

Sean's first day of work also happened to be my birthday, so we celebrated by having Sushi and Angel food cake. I also got an amazing new phone and some sweet thoughtful gifts from Sean, diet coke, chocolate, and flowers.

While Sean was away we visited my parents in Austin and had a blast just hanging out with "Mama" and "Bapa" as Rosalie calls them. Rosalie also enjoyed chasing Elvis around the house and feeding him, as well as exploring the backyard. She loves to be outside, even if it is hot humid and yucky out.

The photos of Rosalie in the yard are courtesy of my little brother Grey, he loved following her around with the camera.

There she is feeding Elvis his dog food like it is a treat.

Then we got a few good days of cool weather and enjoyed it by going to a "pumpkin patch" aka a Baptist church with pumpkins and bales of hay, haha. We just didn't feel like driving an hour out to the really nice pumpkin patch when we didn't really have the time after Sean got home from work. We still had fun though because Rosalie was so excited about all of the "pumpies," as she calls them. She kept picking them up and throwing them like a ball though, luckily no one got hurt. She is at a funny age now where it is almost impossible to get her to sit still or look at the camera, so I did my best. You can tell that is was a very windy day, look at Rosalie's crazy hair.

running to get more pumpies, and making faces at the wind, she did not like the wind
moving so her head is a blur
here she is about to throw the pumpkin, and some ladies walking by laughed so hard.

trying to sit on a pumpie

Next on our Adventure list was the ward Halloween Carnival. It was 90 degrees and 100% humidity that day, and they did not turn the AC on in the church. We were a little miserable, but we had the cutest little monster there. Rosalie had a blast seeing all of the kids dressed up, and running around the gym. She kept saying basketball because she saw the hoops in the gym. I again could not get her to hold still or look at the camera for a picture, so all of the pictures I have are of her running, but they are fitting considering she was Wonder Woman.

Rosalie had a blast, unfortunately we didn't get to stay for Trunk or Treat because it was getting late and it was so dang hot, but she didn't seem to mind.

Something Rosalie learned to love this month is climbing, she climbs on everything, the shelves to get her movie down, the high chair, the toys at church, on the table, everything. Here I caught her in the act.

Rosalie also loves to dress up, here she is in a hat and gloves.

I don't know what to do with my hands
Cheesey!!!!

Lastly we carved pumpkins on Halloween, and Rosalie painted a pumpkin. We totally had a blast!

We have been having so much fun down here, at least Rosalie and I are loving it, and I'm pretty sure that Sean is too. It is great to have lots of new friends, and now that it has cooled off again we are just enjoying the weather. Life is great, we are so lucky and so happy!!!!!

September is flying by

We have been keeping busy this month by having lots of fun!!! We have explored some oHouston, but the humidity and rain has kept us mostly indoors.

We have experienced a couple of tropical storms and found that Rosalie is terrified of thunder. She just wants us to hold her every time she hears thunder, and it wakes her up.

First thing we did was enjoy the Museum of Natural Science and the Butterfly Museum. We saw the dinosaurs and jungle animals and gemstones and minerals, then we went and saw lots of bugs. Rosalie loves butterflies, she says bu-er-by for butterfly, and moves her little hands to show how the fly. We tried to teach her to do it like Napoleon Dynamite does it in the move. The butterfly museum is great for kids, they have all sorts of insects and bugs in little enclosures to look at, then you walk into a jungle like area that is filled with beautiful plants and butterflies everywhere flying free. Rosalie loved that place, and of course I forgot my camera.

Next thing we did was take Rosalie to the Aquarium to see the fish. She LOVED the fish. She even got to touch some stingrays and see a tiger, a random part at the end of the exhibit, but she thought it was awesome. We also got to ride a ferris wheel, a train, and a carousel, but she didn't think they were as fun as the fish and tiger.

Mammy's turtle!

She just kept saying wow to the fish, it was really cute, they totally baffled her.

Then we went to visit my family in Austin. We had a blast, Rosalie chased the dog around the house and fed him snacks. We also did some shopping, and then Sean came and we just hung out with the family. As usual I did not take pictures.

We have had the chance to see some friends while we've been here, and go swimming, and go to the park, and go on runs, and go to the gym. We are just loving having this time together.

Rosalie is loving going to the gym kid's center, and she has started doing all sorts of new fun things. She now colors, for a very short time. She talks a lot more. It is surprising how fast she picks up new words, and I love hearing her try to repeat us. She loves babies, and when we take pictures she demands to see the baby in the picture. She still loves animals the most, and so we have little toy animals and rubber lizards that she enjoys playing with. She has started to love doing songs with movements, like head-shoulders-knees-and toes, itsy bitsy spider, popcorn popping, wheels on the bus etc. She loves music, and dancing, and the guitar and piano. She absolutely loves chocolate, sweets, and pretty much anything with sugar.

eating a nutella and peanut butter sandwich, she thought it was divine.

Charlie Chaplin goatee thingy from a chocolate bar she ate, so funny.

She loves bubble baths.

She loves this box, it is her playhouse.

She loves playing with her bows and shoes.

She puts on her own shoes, except for her boots which she hasn't figured out yet. She sometimes pretends to be shy and puts her head on our shoulders and won't look at new people, or she doesn't want me to put her down and will cling to my neck and arms, so cute. She hates when I do her hair in ponytails or pigtails, but I try anyway. I can't get her to keep headbands on anymore, but she calls them pretties because I called the pretty to try and get her to keep them on.

She doesn't really enjoy the weather here, and neither does Sean, nobody loves humidity, but we will get used to it. It is really fun being near my family so that she can spend time with them. I haven't been this close in proximity to my family for a few years, so I'm enjoying it. I just wish the world were smaller sometimes so that we could be closer to all of the people we love, someone needs to invent an easier way to travel fast.

We still have a few fun things we haven't gotten around to because of weather or diaper rash preventing us. We plan on going to the beach and to the zoo and to the children's museum. I have found on Tuesdays and Thursdays after a certain time all of the museums and stuff are free, so we have taken advantage of that. We have also been trying out lots of places to eat, so far our favorite was an authentic New York Pizza place, gotta love Houston and the food diversity choices.

We have plenty of room here for visitors, so if anyone wants to come see us in Houston we would love to have you. That's all for now folks...

The Move

Somehow we survived the move. It was a crazy week leading up to our trek to Houston. Linda came to visit and help us pack, we are so grateful, and we had so much fun.

We went to Sammy and Ben's wedding.Rosalie got to meet Abuela Marcia at the wedding. It was such a long day and Rosalie was a really good sport about it all. We were happy to have the opportunity to see family one last time before leaving Utah.At first Rosalie enjoyed the packing and all of the boxes, she loved to climb in them, and use them as her little huts. By the end of the 2nd week of intense packing she was more than annoyed and concerned. Every time I would put things in a box and start taping it shut she would start to cry. I think she did not like us putting everything away that she knew and was comfortable with.

My mom came to bring my little bro Stephen up to BYU and move him into the dorms.

The morning of the day we left we sent Rosalie off on the plane with my mom, thanks a million for taking her. Then some awesome guys from the ward, my little bro and his roommate, Sean and Rick all did the heavy lifting and got everything into the truck before 1:00 pm. By 2:30 we were on the road to Texas. We made it to Gallup, New Mexico the first day and stayed there for the night. Then we got up as early as we could, we were all exhausted, and drove all the way to San Antonio. We stayed really close to the River Walk and the Alamo. Rick went and ran on the River Walk, and as we were leaving we drove by the Alamo. Sean's comment was, "that's it." He couldn't believe it was so small and felt that we Texans talk it up. I think that he just doesn't understand the history behind it, I never said it was a big building.

We arrived in Houston on Monday, and after a little delay in the apartment office, we proceeded to unload the truck, in the pouring rain. Sean's friend Jamie came to help, and he was awesome, we could not have done it without him. We were done by four and started unpacking boxes. It was great to get so much done in such a short time. Rick left on Tuesday, and Rosalie came back home on Wednesday. We tried to get a lot done before she got here so that it would feel like home. She has adjusted pretty well, she has her moments where I'm sure she is worried that something is wrong. She has found her way of beating the heat here, it is pretty much refusing to wear a shirt, and trying to pull it off once I get it on her. We walked around WalMart getting some essentials with her shirt halfway up, as she struggled to remove it. Silly girl! I will post apartment pictures as soon as I feel it is cute enough to document. Below is Rosalie's heat technique.