Grandparents

So, we've got a lot of things coming up and we just finished a visit with my grandparents, Ken and Char. It was nice to have them here and we enjoyed their company. Annabelle was particularly fond of Char, well more of Char's walker. I should have taken a video of her pushing it around and climbing on it, but I didn't. She was also very taken with Ken. Once Annabelle went to bed, what else was there to do but play cards. We played a very riveting game of Zilch, followed by quit game of memory. What fun.

Annabelle is on the mend from whatever illness she had and so tomorrow, Michael and I are dropping her off at some friends' house and the two of us are heading to Boise for Michael's swearing in ceremony. Then, Wednesday, Michael has to attend a CLE (I can't remember what it stands for, but he has to attend a certain number of them to be in good standing as a lawyer). I have never been away from Annabelle this long and am feeling a little nervous, but I think it will be good for Michael and I to get away for a little while. I'll write about our trip when we get back. In the meantime, here are some pictures of my doting grandparents.

Update...

I haven't written in a few days and to be honest, we had things scheduled that I was planning on writing about, but they all got canceled. For example, the members of the Rexburg office of the law firm and their wives were all going to go out to dinner. They said that any day this week would be fine with them and asked Michael to pick the day. So I found a babysitter for Wednesday night of this week. Well, two days before the dinner, one guy said he couldn't go that night, so we switched it to Thursday night. Thankfully, our babysitter (who is Michael's cousin) said she was available that night to watch Annabelle. Well, the following day, another guy said that he couldn't go Thursday night. So, we changed it to Friday night (meaning tonight) and once again I had to ask Christy if she could babysit Annabelle tonight and again she said she could. Well, once again, someone couldn't make it Friday night. So, our big, nice firm dinner has been postponed indefinitely. Michael and I were both looking forward to getting out without Annabelle, especially since the place we were planning on going has a reputation for being absolutely delicious. It's called Stockmans, but I think it's only known around here.

In other news, Annabelle has another ear infection and we're dealing with that. I feel so bad for her because her nose won't stop running and she is constantly plugging or pulling at her ears. She has been waking up screaming in the middle of the night because of the pain (I think) and also has been getting up over an hour earlier than usual for the past fours days. I am also a little stuffed up and am tired due to getting up in the night and early in the morning with Annabelle.

I was asked to play the organ in our ward last week and this week. There are only three people who play and they all have callings. So, the three of us will be switching every month. I took an organ class at BYU, but that was several years ago and I have since lost my ability to play the pedals with even the simplest song. Last week, I practiced a lot and actually got good enough that I could play the pedals on two of the three songs. But when Sunday came, things didn't go quite as I had planned. The opening hymn went fine and I played the pedals well enough, not perfectly as I had wanted, but it sounded okay. The closing hymn was the song I was most nervous about. It was the hardest of the three and I was attempting to play the pedals. Well, I think I was just too nervous because I completely butchered the song. Well, okay I didn't have a complete meltdown, but after one verse, I was so off with the pedals that I just quit playing them. I was so disappointed because I had practiced so hard. Oh well. This week, I got to pick the songs, and I picked some easy ones that I could play the pedals with and hopefully, with practice, I'll do better this week.

My paternal grandparents are coming tomorrow for the weekend and so I'll have more to write after their visit. It will be fun to have them here.

Must see Annabelle video

Okay, here is the best video of Annabelle so far. It's the one of her jumping in the bounce house. You'll love it. Make sure you have the volume on.



I couldn't fit the entire movie on my blog so here's the continuing story.

Jumping and playing in mud

I live in on a street full of townhomes called "The Meadows". There are about 116 occupied townhomes, with numerous more being built. Tonight, we had a Meadows Block Party to try and help people meet each other. It was funded by the HOA (Home Owners Association) and, although I am not obviously not a member of the HOA since we didn't buy our home, I was asked by a member of the board to help plan everything.

So yesterday, I went around to every occupied home and placed a flier on the the door informing the tenants of the party. But when today came, it was pouring rain and I wasn't sure it would clear up in time for our gathering. Thankfully, it did and we had a fair number of people turn out.

The most notable event of the party was the inflatable bounce house. Annabelle went crazy when she was inside. She wouldn't stop screaming and loved being chased by all the big kids.







Make sure you check back with my blog this evening. I have a great video. Annabelle is absolutely adorable and having the time of her life, but Michael has the laptop with the video on it so I have to wait until he gets home from work before I can upload it.

Another thing she really enjoyed was playing in the mud. Due to the amount of rain we received today, some spots of the lawn, particularly the part located by the playground, were really muddy. Annabelle tried to get on a swing, but slipped and fell in a pile of mud. Once she found out how fun this was, she couldn't resist rolling all over in it. Here's a picture.





Overall, it was nice evening that followed a glorious BYU victory over Wyoming 44-0. Days just don't get much better than this.

Puppet arms... and legs

Usually when I am doing the laundry, I put Michael's socks on my arms and come up with a quick puppet show for Annabelle. Today was laundry day, but I didn't have a chance to perform a show. Annabelle beat me to it. Before I knew it, she had already gone through the basket of clothes and pulled out a sock and was trying to put it on her hand. She needed some help, so I put a sock on each hand. But it didn't stop there. She then tried, with sock-clad hands, to put more socks on her feet. Obviously, since they were Michael's socks, they were went pretty far up her legs. Here are some pictures.







Here are the two most beautiful girls on our house.

Baby's best friend

Annabelle has not been one to get too attached to stuffed animals. She has a baby doll that she gets when she goes to bed, but I have forgotten to take it on some trips and Anabelle hasn't even realized she doesn't have it. I have her stuffed animals, all five of them, sitting on her bed and she has never shown interest in them.



So, imagine my surprise when all of the sudden a few days ago, she starts carrying the largest of the animals around with her. She likes to give it hugs. Sometimes, I move the bear's head and talk in a low voice, as if I'm the bear, to entertain Annabelle and she loves it.




Here is a picture of Annabelle giving the bear a piggy-back ride.


And in this picture, she is giving him "five".


I took two short videos of Annabelle playing with her new best friend.

A first time for everyting

Everyone experiences something for the first time. Annabelle had a few "firsts" in the past few days. I've been trying to teach her some colors, but didn't want to use the same one toy we've been using. I thought I could mix up our color learning with something new. After some deep thinking, I remembered we had the game Candy Land that we had yet to open. So, Annabelle and I played our first game of Candy Land. Annabelle would pick a card and then I would move our pieces to the right spots. It was unbelievable how the game turned out. My first or second card put me way up at the top of the board, almost near the finish. I thought that it wouldn't be a very long game and that I would win easily. Well, that's not what happened. Each card kept working out really well for Annabelle and not good for me. Within another few tuns, I had to go back to near the starting place and Annabelle jumped ahead. She ended up winning pretty handily after all.

(I'm the yellow piece and Annabelle is the blue piece. Look at how badly she beat me.)








Another first Annabelle had was driving. Well, kind of. When we were at Michael's grandparents' house this weekend, Annabelle had the opportunity to sit in the driver's seat of Grandpa's car. We were getting ready to go somewhere with Michael's grandpa standing by the open driver's seat, when Annabelle pushed, I mean literally shoved, him out of the way. She then proceeded to climb in the car and was pushing the buttons on the door and turning the steering wheel like she was driving. She looked so happy to be up there. Too bad she won't be doing anymore than that for 15 more years.