Duncan & Liz

Strange Sleeper

2012-01-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

Planking?

"Let me out of here!"

???

Life with Mya

2012-01-24T22:59:00.001-07:00

Mya is so busy these days that it's a chore just keeping up with her. She is getting taller all the time and finds something new to get into everyday. Her two favorites lately have been the garbage can and the dishwasher. I probably shouldn't be admitting this, but last week I found her munching on a quesadilla that she had pulled out of the garbage can from a few hours earlier. Not my greatest mothering moment there. I used to be able to keep her out of the dishwasher by closing it tightly (so you have to squeeze the handle to open it) but thanks to a little lesson from her Dad she's got that down pat and now I can't put anything sharp in the dishwasher until right before I turn it on.

The majority of the time she is so happy and independent. I think she could play by herself for hours if I would let her.

But sometimes she decides she wants a little help with something and she let's out a loud scream to let me know.

And if I don't help her with whatever she needs, things quickly escalate to a full blown tantrum.

But once we've got that under control she's right back to her sweet self.

And her "get out of my way" attitude.

With the occasional pause to smile for the camera.

She's such a sweet little girl and loves to give kisses all the time. Sometimes I'll be feeding her lunch or reading her a story and she'll just lean over and give me a smooch. Those are definitely some of my favorite mothering moments.

I am blown away all the time by how much she is learning and growing. Although she can be a handful at times, I love the days like today when I get to stay home and just hang out with her. It's nice to be able to slow down for a bit and capture a few hours with her before she gets any older. I miss my little baby sometimes, but I wouldn't trade this age for anything.

Finishing out 2011

2012-01-24T22:28:00.001-07:00

Turns out I actually did take a few photos of Christmas with my fam! I didn't find any from Christmas day, but here are a few that were hiding on my camera.

Opening a present on Christmas Eve. Mya was the slowest un-wrapper ever so we decided to have her open one every few hours on Christmas and Christmas Eve.

Learning to drive the stroller.

Getting box rides from Papa.

Girl time on the chair. No, we weren't just sitting like this for the picture. All six of us were sitting on the chair chatting before this was taken. I love having girl time with so many awesome sisters!

Not sure who took this picture. Or why. But I kind of love it. Definitely shows who's the boss around here and who's just trying to keep up.

It's Time

2012-01-22T18:09:00.001-07:00

Oh boy is it time. I have taken a lovely break from blogging but it's time to get back into gear. As Duncan so kindly reminded me this morning, "You're missing our child's life! We're never getting that back honey!" And even though he was mostly teasing, I do actually feel bad that I haven't made a record of anything we've been up to for the past two plus months. Since catch up posts are the hardest to do, I'll try to make this short and sweet.

I "built" this house for Mya two months ago and it still sits in our family room in all it's duct tape and cardboard glory (and is still used on a regular basis).

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family at the most amazing cabin in Park City. It was such a blast just hanging out and spending time with everybody in such a beautiful setting. This was definitely a favorite family vacation for us.

Mya has picked up quite the love of dancing and can often be found booty shaking to the sound of a crackling fire, singing, phones ringing, or any form of background music.

We survived hurricane force winds and 24 hours without power after a crazy windstorm that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to Davis County. (And no, that hair was not caused by the winds - it's au naturale bedhead.)

My car hit the big 100,000 miles. It was a sad day, but she's still going strong.

Dunc's parents came to visit from Brazil so we were able to enjoy lots of fun activities with them before Christmas.

Not sure if Dunc will agree, but I decided Festival of Trees will be a yearly activity for us.

We also hit up the lights at Temple Square (which Dunc has begged me not to make a Christmas tradition in our family).

Unfortunately, Mya decided she was old enough to walk by herself through Temple Square. It was great fun except for the times she almost got stampeded or threw fits because we picked her up for her own safety.

Family picture at Temple Square.

We also managed to squeeze in a mid-week trip to Grand Junction to have the first of our two Christmases.

As you can see Mya was ecstatic about her Christmas present (don't worry Shawn, she really does love them! :) ), and her parents were even more overjoyed about the large present in the background! Thanks to Dunc's parents for the awesome TV that now graces our living room.

Mike sporting the hat I gave him for Christmas. I'm thinking I should get started on a girly version for Mya.

Chilling with Grandma.

The Glenn grandbabies.

And I hate to say this, but I have zero pictures from our actual Christmas with my family. It was such a blast and we can't wait for the next holiday season. Once again we were completely spoiled by both families and we loved being able to party for almost two months straight!

Adulthood

2012-01-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

My day has been spent setting up retirement accounts, applying for life insurance policies, and searching for the best deal on prescriptions. Can someone please tell me when I got old enough for all this adult stuff?

Recap of the last couple months coming soon . . . ish.

Mya Update

2011-11-18T11:47:00.001-07:00

Mya is growing up so fast! It is crazy how big she is. I took her in for her 12 month check up a few weeks ago and here are her stats:

Weight: 19.2 pounds (20th percentile) - She was in the 5th at her last appointment. Looks like she's finally starting to catch up!

Height: 30 inches (80th percentile)

Head: 18 inches (55th percentile)

In the last couple of weeks she has started to talk like crazy! On her birthday she could pretty much only say ball and car but now she is mimicking everything we say.

Some of her favorite words and phrases are:

Did it! (dih ih)

Uh oh

Some! (dum!)

That (dat)

Down

What's that? (huh dah)

What is that? (huh eee dah)

Drop it (doh ih)

Got it (guh ih)

Monkey noises (oo oo oo)

Sheep noises (ba ba ba ba ba)

Thank you (ahnk ooo)

It's so fun having her talking more, but unfortunately she almost talks in a very high pitched squealing voice which is not exactly music to the ears. Here's a clip for you:

And no, I don't usually reward her squealing and tantrums with cookies, but she was being so good yesterday and wouldn't squeal at all so I sort of lured her into it with the cookie. I know, I'm an awesome mom.

Anyway, the squealing has been a little hard to deal with but I'm trying to keep my sanity and have patience and I think we're making a little progress. I was asking my mom the other day why she thinks Mya talks like that (I mean, it's not like we squeal at her!) and my mom says, "Because she's your daughter. You screamed like that until you were 3." Greeaaaat.

Here's another little video of some of Mya's latest tricks. She makes us laugh all the time.

I'm loving everything she is learning at this age. She is so fun to be around and we love having her in our family! I seriously feel so lucky everyday that I get to stay home and play with this girl.

Life

2011-11-18T10:28:00.001-07:00

We have been busy having way too much fun to blog about it all. It's been a nice break, but it's time for me to get back to blogging!

To start things off, I went on a fun overnight stay to Park City with some of my cousins and sisters. We spent the night eating dinner, chatting in the hot tub, and cramming six of us onto a king size bed for a little movie watching. Okay, the six didn't last long, but four of us did sleep decently well in that bed. The next day was breakfast and some shopping. A quick but fun girls trip. We're all hoping Allison wins another free night at the hotel so we can go back and party again soon!

Next up was a trip to Disneyland! Mya's first time to the happiest place on earth. It was supposed to be a trip for my little sister's fall break with just her and the parents but ended up being my mom, my sisters, and me and Mya for the first couple days, then Jason and Allison joined us for the last couple days. We had so much fun and Mya absolutely loved it! I didn't think she was old enough to really like it, but she loved watching the people and even had fun on a few of the rides. On the second day as we were walking into the park she was squealing and waving her hands in the air. It was so awesome. Everybody around us was pointing at her and laughing at how excited she was. Unfortunately we were too busy planning fast passes and enjoying the Disney experience to take very many pictures but we did take a few on the last day.

The crew (minus Mom).

The Halloween decorations were so fun.

Walking down Main Street.

Getting excited about the characters. Tigger was a definite favorite.

Waiting in line.

It's a Small World was her favorite ride.

She loved all the singing and dancing characters.

Thanks Sarah for letting us tag along on "your trip"! :)

A few days after we got home from California we repacked our bags and headed to Colorado to visit our first niece!

(Pictured as Sacajawea)

While we were there we hit up their city's Halloween festivities and let Mya test out her cow costume before the real deal.

Pretty cute cow don't you think?

My favorite part was the tail swinging from side to side as she walked.

We really did teach her to say "moo" but it sounded more like, "boo" and has since disappeared from her vocabulary. It really was cute though.

In Grand Junction Mya loved playing with her cousin Mikey

and playing games with Grandma.

We're glad that Jamie and Kevin live close enough for us to have weekend visits. Now we just need to get Tanner and Autumn back on this side of the country. . .

And I think that catches us up for now! Sorry for such a long post.

Birthday Festivities

2011-10-16T19:27:00.000-06:00

Baby Mya was just about as spoiled as any baby can be on her birthday. In true Barfuss family fashion, we celebrated not just once, but twice: Once on the actual day, and once when it was more convenient for everyone else. This is a little sad to say, but I'm pretty sure Mya's first birthday (the one she won't be able to remember) is probably going to be the best birthday party she'll ever get.

We spent her actual birthday at the pet store, the toy store, eating cupcakes and opening presents. She LOVED the toy store, had fun at the pet store (but was a little nervous about touching the animals), wasn't interested in the cupcakes, and looks adorable in her new clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Glenn.

At the pet store

Didn't want to get too close to the bunny.

The birds were a definite favorite.

No pictures from the toy store, but she got seriously excited about every toy we let her play with.

Opening the present from her Brazilian Grandparents.

The darling clothes from Grandma and Grandpa.

And her first time "blowing out the candles." Don't mind my husband who loves to harmonize and pretend he's in a boy band. Ha ha. Love ya Dunc!

Cupcake Time!

I was hoping for some good messy cake time, but she had more fun feeding it to me than eating it herself.

Since Mya isn't old enough to have a say in what we do for her party, I thought it would be hilarious to do a moustache bash. Although some people probably think I'm totally weird for choosing that, I seriously had a blast getting everything ready. I was laughing to myself the whole time. And so it happened.

The Guests

My Dad: "Wait, take another one. No wait, take one more."

The Games

The Gifts

The Cakes

The Candle

(Once again, she didn't want any cake.)

The End.

"Thanks for coming to my party everyone!"

Happy Birthday Mya!

2011-10-13T16:23:00.000-06:00

One year ago today the most amazing present came into our lives! She has been such a joy from day one. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by, and I am blown away by how much she has changed in one year.

Birth Day

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight Months

Nine Months

Ten Months

Eleven Months

One Year!

Happy birthday Baby Girl!

Children's Museum

2011-10-12T12:02:00.006-06:00

We had a blast with our friends Katie, Maddie and Zach at the Children's Museum at Gateway yesterday. Unfortunately I only took the camera on my phone and even then I only took two pictures.

Farmer Mya

First time riding a horse (apparently Maddie didn't want to get too close to Mya. Ha ha ha).

While we were there Maddie ran up to me and said, "Liz, can I be a man?" Sorry Maddie, but you're gonna have to ask your mom about that one. Ha ha. Love that girl!

Thanks Katie for inviting us! Let's get together again soon!

Pigtails

2011-10-12T12:02:00.004-06:00

Mya's first Pigtails!

My mom isn't a fan, but I, on the other hand, think they're pretty adorable. When else in your life can you rock the poky piggies?

Sick Baby

2011-10-07T22:56:00.000-06:00

We've had a sick little one around here all week. Fever, fussy, tired, and sad. Poor baby. Today a rash showed up. Looks like she's had a case of Roseola. I hate having a sick baby - it's so sad! But I guess that's part of being a parent . Baby girl has been doing a lot better today. Hopefully we're done with this round of sickness!

Also, voting is open for the Crochet-Along I did. If you have an extra minute, would you mind popping over to Maybe Matilda and voting for my project (#39)? :)

Grand Junction

2011-10-02T09:14:00.084-06:00

Unfortunately, our latest trip to visit the Lewis clan in Grand Junction didn't start out very well. . .

We made it about 3.75 hours into our 4 hour journey before the flat tire pictured above decided to rear its ugly head. At 1 in the morning. Yeah, not too fun.

This is how Dunc felt about it.

Mya wasn't too happy to be woken up either.

I actually thought it was an adventure. But only because we had AAA and didn't really have to figure out how to change a tire on the side of the freeway. Did you notice that nice new non-tinted piece of triangle glass? Yeah, that's because our car was broken into only six days before the tire-incident. I'm convinced we need to sell this car. It has been nothing but bad luck for us lately!

Fortunately the glass and the radio were the only two casualties of the break-in.

A few hours of sleep after we made it to our destination and it was straight to the dentist's office. A HUGE thanks to Kevin for taking care of our pearly whites! I am proud to report that I had ZERO cavities. That might be a first for me. :) Dunc, on the other hand, had two - after six years without seeing the inside of a dentist's office. Let's just say we're really glad to have a dentist brother-in-law.

And then the fun finally started! These two are finally old enough to play together and Mya loved having a little friend. Mikey wasn't so sure about the whole arrangement but he seemed to warm up to it by the end.

Now you can probably see why Mikey was not as excited about having a friend as Mya was. She's always the aggressive one around other kids. Hopefully that will turn into good things when she's older and not just bullying. :)

"The babies" were like little birds while I was trying to eat my cereal. They both came up and started begging for food as soon as I sat down. It was so funny. Love those cuties!

I had to throw this in here because it's so funny. Every time I clean out Mya's ears she holds super super still and makes this face. I don't know why she does it, but it's hilarious.

And we have the Lewis's to thank for Mya learning how to walk. I think it was this little toy that gave her the confidence to start walking on her own.

Thanks Kevin and Jamie for having us! We're excited to come see you again soon and meet your new baby!

Learning to Crochet

2011-10-01T20:08:00.001-06:00

So some of you may know (and by some of you I mean only Sydney and my mom) that I've been learning how to crochet by following a "crochet along" on the blog Maybe Matilda. While I'm slightly embarrassed to show my work on here for all of my many readers to see, part of the crochet along is posting a picture of the cowl (a scarf turned into a circle, for anyone who may not be familiar with the term cowl) we made and linking it up to her blog. So here you go, my first crocheted project in all of it's awesome glory!

Please don't judge. And don't worry, back to the regular posts of my cute baby soon.

Baby on the way!

2011-09-30T20:55:00.010-06:00

Nope, not for us. But one of my best friends is going to have a baby any day now! My friend Lauren and I threw a baby shower for Kaylee to help her get some of the many baby necessities. We had fun catching up with old friends

and playing a game or two.

Three lovely ladies showing off their guesses of Kaylee's belly size.

Things maybe have gotten a bit awkward for the guest of honor with everyone wrapping their arms around her belly.

But in the end, she came out a winner. Turns out she's much more in tune with the size of that belly than any of the rest of us. Sorry if we gave you any self-esteem issues K! We still love you and think you're such a cute little pregger.

Can't wait to meet that little man of yours!

One Day

2011-09-29T15:27:00.002-06:00

One day my little baby is going to have a baby of her own. And when she comes to me and says, "Mom, you need to hear the awful noises my baby is making. I don't know what's wrong with her!" I'll just have to tell her. . .

"Sorry honey, but I'm afraid it's genetic."

2011-09-27T20:43:00.003-06:00

Her new favorite sleeping position.

(And yes, that hair is sweaty. Apparently it's hot under there.)

11 Month Pictures

2011-09-26T08:25:00.004-06:00

Just in case you were wondering what it's like to try and get Mya to smile for a picture these days,

And that's when we decide to call it good enough.

More Peek-a-Boo

2011-09-25T12:13:00.002-06:00

Some of you may remember back in May when I posted the video of Mya playing peek-a-boo. Well shortly thereafter that trick disappeared. BUT it has recently made a reappearance in Mya's ever growing repertoire of talents. Only now she's added quiet purring or cooing noises when she's covered up and she's learned to hold really still until she sticks her face out. We haven't been able to get a great video of her laughing her head off while she plays (which is usually the case) but these will give you a little idea of what it's like.

One week later and. . .

2011-09-23T11:46:00.000-06:00

She's walking!

Zoo Day!

2011-09-12T19:11:00.043-06:00

I have been wanting to take Mya to the zoo pretty much since the day she was born. Weird I know, but it's always seemed like so much fun to take your little kids to the zoo. Well we finally got a chance to go this week! My cousin Anne Marie is in town with her three kids so we packed up the Excursion and headed to the zoo. I love Anne Marie's kids and it was definitely more fun to be there with them. They say the cutest things and make me laugh so hard.

Caroline and Katie Jane

Mya was still a little young for all the animals, but she got way excited about the carousel

and was fascinated by the bird show.

Thanks for the fun time Klepkos! (And mom and Andrea!)

And a little P.S. . . .

This was what resulted from feeding a very tired Mya in the car on the way home. Apparently that was one bite too many.

(And yes, after 11 months, I'm still just as in love with those amazing blue eyes!)

Baby Steps

2011-09-12T13:45:00.001-06:00

We thought the little one was close to walking weeks ago. She LOVES holding onto our hands and walking. She has been steady for weeks, but refuses to walk on her own. She's taken a few steps here and there but as soon as she realizes we're not holding on, it's down on her bum she goes. Yesterday she finally started making some big progress. She was actually excited about walking on her own! Check it out below.

It's all about baby steps, right?

Dinner with Daddy

2011-09-11T19:29:00.001-06:00

We HATE busy season! Dunc has been working crazy hours and we basically never see him these days. You may think I'm exaggerating, but last week Mya went from Tuesday night to Saturday morning without seeing Duncan at all. On Friday while Mya and I were eating dinner, she kept hearing our neighbors door opening and thinking it was Dunc. She would get so excited and start waving like crazy. It was so cute, but so sad.

A few days ago we got sick of never seeing him and decided to swing by and pick him up for dinner. When Duncan works late he gets an allowance for dinner, so we made it a high rolling night and stopped by none other than . . .Pizza Hut.

It was so great to be able to spend some time actually talking to him even though it was only for an hour. And Mya loved playing with her Daddy.

Aren't they the cutest little pair? I love that she barely comes up to his knee.

Mya recently figured out the whole pointing thing and is constantly pointing at everything. Her favorite things so far are ceiling fans, lights, and vents.

As you can see from those stuffed cheeks, Mya loves pizza almost as much as her daddy. I love how chubby her face looks in this picture.

It was a great little outing, but we're definitely looking forward to getting Dunc back sometime in the near future!

Daddy's Girl

2011-08-24T22:03:00.000-06:00

The other day as I was feeding Mya her lunch when she spied this picture of Dunc:

She got so excited! I caught part of it on camera, but I wish you could have seen her at the beginning. I've never seen her act like that before. It was so adorable.

She sure loves her Daddy!

2011-08-19T15:09:00.000-06:00

Thanks to this new trick (pulling herself up on everything)

baby girl now thinks crib = play time.

After at least 18 times of going to her room and tucking her back in, she finally got this tired

And one more tuck-in was all it took to convince her that crib really does = nap time.

Here's to hoping this doesn't become a habit.

August So Far

2011-08-16T22:41:00.000-06:00

I've been putting off posting on the blog because I knew that the Lake Powell post was going to be long! But now that I've got that out of the way, here's a little bit of what we've been up to this month.

Making more booties.

More boating.

Celebrating TEN month birthdays. I can't even believe it!

And last but definitely not least, learning how to crawl.

Or something like that. :)

Lake Powell

2011-08-16T22:29:00.000-06:00

Well we did it! We survived Lake Powell. Bringing a baby definitely made this trip different from all previous Lake Powell trips, but I'm so glad I decided to go. Although I felt like I was working my hiney off trying to keep Mya happy (changing from swim diaper, to regular diaper, to swim diaper, to regular diaper, sunscreen, putting her to sleep, feeding her, sunscreen, putting on a swimsuit, sunscreen, changing another diaper, sunscreen, I think you get the picture), I had so much fun hanging out and couldn't have asked for better company. Here is a picture overload of our trip (all courtesy of my sister Sarah,since I didn't take a single picture the whole time we were there):

Before you get too bored I'll show you this awesome hike we went on. There is a place in the channel where the canyon wall is separating, forming a tiny slot canyon (pictured above). You swim to the start, climb up the rocks, walk through the canyon, enjoy the amazing views, and then pray for your life as you try to find a way down. It was so much fun but so scary!

Beginning the "hike".

The start of the slot canyon.

Climbing down.

This was right before the point where I started praying for my life. You have to wedge yourself in between the two rock walls and then slowly lower yourself down. It was crazy! Even though I was terrified, I can't wait to do this again next time. Now onto the rest of the trip. . .

Todd and Allison were nice enough to let Mya and I ride with them. I was so glad they decided to come!

Playing games on the houseboat.

My little sister struggles with some of the basics in life. This is the second trip she has had a run in with the ceiling fan.

The gorgeous canyon we stayed in.

My cousin Matt is a stud.

Since Dunc couldn't make it this year, everybody watched out for Mya and me. I have the best family!

Princess Mya. She seriously LOVED that tube.

I can't even begin to say how awesome these girls are.

Nakey baby. Just letting her dry out a bit. :)

Love these girls!

Yes, we shared our campsite with a beaver. So gross looking in real life. In other critter news, I caught a fish while we were there! It was a very proud moment.

Can't wait til the Holmes fam move back to Utah full time! Two years is way too long.

Right at home in Lake Powell.

We can't wait for next year!

Barfuss Family Reunion

2011-07-27T10:02:00.002-06:00

We had a blast at the annual Barfuss Family Reunion this past Saturday, but unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures. We loved hanging out with cousins and Dunc and I even won some gift cards for our awesome bowling skills (or not so awesome in my case). Dunc had the most spares in one round and I had the lowest score out of everybody. (In my defense, I was holding Mya during that round.) After bowling we partied over at the Beck's where Mya had the cutest little giggle fit.

Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever heard? I sure love hanging out with that little giggler!

Growing!

2011-07-26T15:01:00.000-06:00

Mya has been growing like a little weed lately! When I took her in for her nine month checkup last week, we found out that she has grown almost FOUR inches since her last appointment three months ago. No wonder she eats so much. We are proud to say that she has jumped from the 10th percentile to the 75th percentile in height! Can you believe that?? As far as weight goes, she's still on the low end, but has gained four pounds since her last appointment. With all that growing this girl almost fills up her crib, but as you can see from the picture she's still as comfortable as ever in there.

Mya's 9 Month Stats

Weight: 15 lbs 9 oz (5th percentile)

Height: 28 inches (75th percentile)

Head: 17.5 inches (55th percentile)

Looks like she'll be long and skinny like her Daddy!

Basketball Lovers

2011-07-15T20:37:00.001-06:00

Looks like Mya might love basketball just about as much as her Daddio. . .

9 Months

2011-07-13T22:37:00.000-06:00

I can't believe we've got a nine month old in our house! She is growing up way too fast!

On her birth day.

Five days old.

Nine months

It's hard to believe this is the same baby we brought home from the hospital. She has changed so much already! We love her more than ever and seriously can't believe how lucky we are to have her in our family.

Mya's First Ponytail!

2011-07-13T20:54:00.000-06:00

After being mocked by my family all day, Mya likely won't be getting another ponytail any time soon, but for the record I think she looks dang cute!

Fourth of July

2011-07-10T15:00:00.006-06:00

Independence Day has always been one of my favorite holidays and this year was no let down! I love the fireworks, the parades, the candy, the music. It is all so much fun! I loved that we got to celebrate for a whole weekend this year. Wish that happened every year!

We started the weekend off by going to Stadium of Fire with my family. David Archuletta has such a good voice, Brad Paisley was a blast, and the fireworks were amazing. The little one slept through about half of the concert and woke up in time to watch the fireworks. I was worried she would get scared and be one of the screaming babies I've seen in years past, but she did so great! She loved the fireworks and was squealing and cheering right along with everybody.

On Monday we got a late start, but made it to the Kaysville parade just in time. (Sorry Shanna, we were probably one of the people in front of you!) I know, we're pretty rude for not going early to get seats, but as we were walking toward the front of the parade route, everybody stood up and went to the road anyway, so we just joined in the fun. I loved having a baby as an excuse to try and get some candy. :)

After the parade we went down to Orem to BBQ and party with Dunc's mom and his cousins, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures! Duncan's mom is staying in Utah for a few weeks before she meets up with her hubby in Brazil for a year. It has been fun to be able to do stuff with her more often. Now, we just need to get them to move closer when they come back. :) As we were driving home from Orem we got to see fireworks all the way across the valley. It was an amazing sight. I love living in this country and am so grateful for the freedoms we have here! Overall it was a great fourth of July, and I already can't wait for next year's celebration.

Summer Fun!

2011-07-09T12:35:00.005-06:00

Apparently we've been having too much fun this summer to make any time for blogging! We've been spending time with friends and family and going swimming and boating as often as possible. Here is our summer so far in pictures (and a few videos).

We've been swimming about twice a week this summer! I almost feel like I'm in high school again. It is awesome! This is Mya with her friend Bridger. She seriously loves kids and babies and gets so excited when they are around.

Here's a visual example for you:

Zach is the fastest little crawler I've ever seen! He was chasing Mya all around the apartment that night, while Mya would "run away" squealing. It was hilarious. I wish we lived closer to the Hazens so we could play with them more often!

Believe it or not, we've only been boating once this summer. So sad, I know. Hopefully that will change for the last half of the summer.

Isn't she a little boating beauty? Ha ha. Poor thing. I hate that she has to wear that huge life jacket!

This lasted all of twenty minutes that day, which made me really nervous about taking her to Lake Powell for a week. Have any of you moms taken a baby to Lake Powell?? Do you think I should take Mya?? I want to go so bad but I'm worried about taking her with me!

And yes, I did manage to get some air even though it has been two years since I was on a wakeboard.

Life is good and I am so glad summer is here!

Oh and I can't forget, Mya is a pro at feeding herself now! I took this video a few weeks ago, but since then she has gotten really good at using her fingers and can even feed herself cereal and other small foods. It's so fun to watch her becoming more independent. I can't believe she'll be nine months in less than a week!

Bring on the Lake

2011-06-08T20:20:00.002-06:00

This girl is ready for her boating debut!

Our Month of Fun is Over

2011-06-05T20:12:00.000-06:00

We have been living the greatest little life for the past six weeks. Dunc graduated the end of April and hasn't worked at all since then. But tomorrow is the dreaded first day of work. At least for me. I think he's a little excited about starting his new job, but I'm sure he's going to miss me loads and loads. He might miss Mya just a little bit too. I have been so spoiled by having someone to run all the errands with me, take care of Mya when I want to read my book, stay up late to watch movies with me, and someone to sleep in with me in the mornings. It has been wonderful! But I guess all good things must come to and end. I wish we could have Dunc around all the time, but I guess somebody has to pay the bills around here and it sure isn't going to be me. :) He is going to be a great tax accountant!

During our month of fun we went to Georgia to visit Tanner and Autumn and check out their cute new house! We convinced Greg and Shawn to meet us there and loved getting back to "our" Southern roots. While we were there we went to Tybee Beach, walked through Savannah, enjoyed some yummy barbeque, visited the Mennonites (similar to the Amish), stopped by Juliet for some fried green tomatoes (where the film of the same name was filmed), and even ate some fried oreos. Thanks for being such gracious hosts T & A!

Tanner taking Mya for a ride on the lawn mower.

Mya LOVED Grandma Shawn at dinner that night. She would giggle every time Grandma looked at her.

Picking strawberries at the Mennonite farm.

Tanner a little worse for wear after letting Mya ride on his shoulders.

Mya HATED the ocean. She started screaming her head off as soon as her toe touched the water. Hopefully that will change when she gets older!

Other things we've been up to this month were getting together with friends, hiking, and Mya learning how to say "mama", wave, and drink out of a sippee cup.

Mya and Bridger playing together.

We're so happy to finally have nice weather for hiking!

She's been capable of using a sippee cup for a while, but isn't too keen on water. As soon as we gave her some milk in that thing she went to town with holding her own cup.

She finally decided to make noises other than screeches!

Waving to mama.

Wish we could live like this forever. We have had a blast!

Book Club

2011-05-31T22:14:00.000-06:00

Anybody interested in joining a book club? My friend Hydee and I want to start a book group that gets together once a month or so. This month we decided to read The Secret Life of Bees. Let me know if you're interested. We would love to have anyone join!

Mooooooooo!

2011-05-14T20:16:00.000-06:00

This little cow sure loves her new PJs.

Brag Blog

2011-05-12T07:19:00.000-06:00

So I've been doing a little bit of sewing lately and I wanted to show off all the cute things I've made!

Mya has been dominating the solid foods and I seem to always run out of bibs so I decided to make her some with fabric scraps from the quilt I made my mom a couple months ago. I'm so proud of how they turned out!

I have this problem that once I get my sewing machine out I have the hardest time putting it away because I just keep thinking of more and more projects I want to do. After the bibs came these shoes for Mya. They are my first baby shoes, but I think they turned out pretty cute! If she can keep them on her feet for very long I'll definitely be making more.

Next up: a table runner for our new table! I'm so excited to finally have a real table! We're moving again in a couple weeks (just across the breezeway to get away from this nasty smoke smell), but once we get settled in our new apartment you are all invited to come share a meal with us on our new table!

Final bragging point is that my husband is pretty much awesome. Dunc got me these gorgeous flowers for mothers day and made me a delish breakfast in bed. I feel so lucky to be a mom and having another holiday to get spoiled on is just a bonus on top of that. Happy mothers day to all the wonderful women in my life!

Peek a Boo

2011-05-09T23:57:00.002-06:00

The little one has a new trick! She loves to play peek-a-boo and does all the work on her own. If you catch her at the right time she'll even provide the sound effects too. Stop by anytime to see the amazing show for yourself!

Also, here's a taste of what it's like playing with Mya when she's tired.

P.S. Sorry for the bad quality, we took those on Dunc's iPod.

Back to BYU

2011-05-07T22:32:00.000-06:00

The sun finally decided to come out here so we took advantage of the nice weather and went down to a BYU Baseball game.

This little diva had a blast. Ignore the greasy hair please (she doesn't have much of it so I thought it would be a good idea to cover her whole head with sunscreen). She loved the music clips and got a kick out of us singing along with "Love Shack". I wish the good weather would have come out before the last weekend baseball game!

After the game we headed to Carrabba's to put a gift card from Dunc's birthday to good use. If you've never had the Chicken Bryan there you seriously need to get it. It was SOO good!

Mya has recently gotten big enough to sit in a highchair when we go out to eat and she loves being a part of the action. I love seeing this girl grow up!

Quilt Show

2011-05-07T22:08:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my mom talked me into going to a Machine Quilting Expo with her. It was quite the adventure, and by adventure I mean it was pretty much boring. But there were some seriously AMAZING quilts there. I can't even imagine how many hours they must have taken. And the sad part was that a lot of them were not very cute at all. I did get to use a long arm quilter for the first time though and had so much fun with it. Just wish I knew someone that would let me borrow theirs every once in a while.

The highlight of the afternoon was spending time with my awesome mom and baby and then going to dinner with them and my sisters in law. Living close to family is so great.

Movies of Mya

2011-05-04T21:36:00.008-06:00

Here are some gems from the past month that haven't made it to the blog yet:

Our Appreciative Eater

Little Laughs

An Independent Thinker

The Hazens come to visit!

2011-05-03T21:09:00.004-06:00

We had our friends up to our new apartment for dinner tonight and had a blast hanging out with them. We first met the Hazens when Brian was in Duncan's junior core group. The first time I met Katie was in the hospital the day after Maddie, their oldest, was born. Kind of a random place to meet someone for the first time huh? Anyway, things have definitely changed and gotten crazier as both of our families have grown. It's a little bit of a circus when we get all three of our kiddos together but we love getting together with them!

Cute Maddie, being the center of attention.

Mya and Zach playing. As long as Mya doesn't grow up to be taller than Zack we'll be arranging a marriage between these too.

Love this little dress. Thanks for sending it Anne Marie!

Cousin Friends

2011-05-02T14:07:00.000-06:00

We got together with my Dad's side of the family last week for my aunt's birthday party. It's always fun to see the relatives but one of my new favorite parts of family get togethers is comparing Mya to my cousin's baby William.

They are only two weeks apart but on opposite ends of the size spectrum. It is so funny to see them together. I love it! What's really amazing to me is that even though they are so different in size, they are pretty much right on developmentally. It has been way fun having a baby the same age as my cousin. Now if we can only get our next baby the same age as one of our siblings babies. . .

Moving Day

2011-05-01T15:00:00.029-06:00

We didn't waste any time after graduation and jumped right into moving day! Dunc has a job lined up in downtown Salt Lake so we decided to move up north for a shorter commute. After looking way too many places we found an awesome apartment in Bountiful and were so excited to move! We enlisted the help of pretty much everyone we know and got everything packed and moved the day after Dunc graduated.

Unfortunately when we got to our new apartment we were more than a little disappointed. The place was SO nasty and dirty! My SIL Jamie gets the most charitable award for cleaning cat hair off of our cupboards on her birthday. Thanks Jamie! Also thanks to all my sisters, sister-in-laws, and my mom and MIL for getting this place liveable. It was definitely an effort. Shout out to the men too for doing all the heavy lifting, but let's be honest, they never read this anyway.

We also were surprised by the lovely scent of cigarette smoke stenching up our main bathroom. Not pleasant at all. After 12+ hours of airing the place out and some baking soda cleaning solutions it's starting to smell a little better but still needs help. Anybody know a good way to get rid of cigarette smell?

Other than those two big things we LOVE our apartment. It is awesome! We went from a two bed, one bath apartment, to a two bed, two bath apartment, but it feels more like a four bedroom apartment with all the storage we have here. Two of my favorite parts of the house are the huge storage closet and the awesome walk-in in the master bedroom. I'll post pics once we get the place more put together.

Meanwhile, Mya will be busy with her new favorite pastime of watching cars out the bedroom window. I think she could be happy there for hours.

There's a MASTER in the house.

2011-04-30T22:27:00.001-06:00

After seven long years at BYU (okay two of those were on a mission . . .) my handsome husband graduated with his Masters Degree in Accounting! Way to go Dunc!

Doesn't he look so scholarly in those robes?

Jamie and I entertained ourselves during commencement by taking pictures from across the Marriott Center. Anybody want to play "Where's Duncan?"

Thanks to the family that came into town to celebrate with us!

Mya couldn't get enough of that tassel.

The whole crew after 7:30 a.m. commencement. Who's idea was that anyway? And yes, maybe I was running late. And maybe I did get pulled over on the way there. For my registration being expired. The worst part was that it wasn't even expired! We had just forgotten to put the new sticker on . . . six months earlier. Whoops! Luckily the officer was nice and when I told him I was late for my hubby's graduation he let me go without much hassle. And I still made it to the ceremony just in time!

Can't believe we're no longer a BYU family! I thought I'd be thrilled when we finished school, but it is definitely bitter sweet. We've had some good times with some great friends there. Thanks BYU for such a fun ride!

Mya turns six months!

2011-04-29T22:27:00.000-06:00

I can't believe this little baby is already six months old! The older she gets the happier she seems to be. We love having this happy girl around. At her six month appointment she weighed in at 12 pounds 9 ounces and 24 1/4 inches long. She's still on the tiny side and cuter than ever.

Some things that Mya does at six and a half months:

Rolls over both ways.
Sits like a champ.
LOVES to eat. (If you eat anything around her she starts to yell, grunt, and reach for your food. We were at a party tonight and Mya almost snatched a glass of punch from an unsuspecting lady walking by.)
Sleeps 12 hours at night.
Loves being the center of attention.
Hates being left alone. She cries the minute you're out of her sight but as soon as she sees you again she's happy again.
Scoots to get toys she wants. She'll roll to her stomach, reach for something, roll to her side, push with one leg, and then roll back to her stomach to see if she can reach it now. It's pretty funny to watch.
Loves to play with her toes.
Is fascinated by "the mirror baby".
Constantly wants to play with my hair.
Thinks the sound of her own screeching is the most beautiful sound in the world.
Wakes up smiling every morning.

She is some serious fun and we are so glad to have her forever!

What a week!

2011-04-29T21:31:00.000-06:00

We have had one crazy week and a half! Full of doctors visits, graduation ceremonies, family, moving, playing, and more family. I've got a lot to blog about, so get ready for a barrage of posts!

Happenings

2011-04-07T16:37:00.001-06:00

Here's a little taste of what we've been up to lately:

Dunc has been learning to feed Mya. Or at least attempting to learn.

This is what she looked like when he was finished.

Needless to say it was definitely a "straight to the bath" kind of a meal.

And although feeding babies may not be his forte, he is definitely a hit with all the little ladies at playgroup. They LOVE it when he shows up.

Mya has now entered the world of 3-6 month old clothes (yes, she will be six months next week). And she looks dang cute in them if I do say so myself! Especially when she does her little happy dance (demonstrated below).

She's also sitting up now! Still pretty wobbly, but she went for about a ten minute stretch today without toppling over. We're so proud.

And her sitting up makes this jacket so much cuter, don't you think? (Thanks Allison and Todd!)

Conference weekend was another great one. I love hearing all the talks, and girls night on Saturday is always a highlight. This year we went to Arella's pizza in Bountiful with all of these fun ladies and then came home and made new wreaths for our doors.

Lot's of exciting things coming up: Dunc is in the Division I intramural championship game tonight, he's graduating in two weeks and then we're moving and starting out on real life!

Rice Cereal and Cougar B-ball

2011-03-17T21:44:00.001-06:00

Today was a big day. First, Mya had her first solid food (if you don't count the tiny bit of mashed banana I gave her in the car when we were stuck in Vegas traffic), and then the Cougars made it past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row!

I'm pretty sure Mya loved the cereal. She just didn't like how long the whole process took.

This was her before we started.

She knew just how she was supposed to open her mouth.

And I think she loved feeling like a big girl. Can you see the smile in her eyes?

While the smile wasn't on her face by the end of the whole experience, she was content enough to convince us to try again tomorrow.

After that fun we had a bunch of accounting friends and their families over to watch the BYU game. It was fun to get everybody together two and a half years after we all met. It's crazy how much things have changed for us in such a short time! One marriage and three babies later, everybody is finishing up school and getting ready to start careers. It's an exciting time, but we are getting sad to move away from all of our great friends!

Random Goings On

2011-03-15T19:15:00.000-06:00

I'm having a hard time putting words together today. Haven't really felt like myself all day. For that reason, I'm not even going to try and write a coherent blog post today. Hope you enjoy the randomness that is this post.

Mya is constantly crossing her legs. Even in the bathtub. She must have been like that in the womb or something because it seems to be her most natural position.

Aren't those blue eyes beautiful?

I made this quilt for my mom's birthday. Quite proud of it.

We had a blast in Vegas at the Mountain West Conference Basketball Tournament. We were lucky to have Dunc's parents all to ourselves for the weekend and were grateful they let us sleep on the pullout couch in their hotel room.

Mya went swimming for the first time while we were there. Her expression was pretty much what you see above the whole time.

As soon as we got her out of that wet swimsuit she zonked out.

Trying out Grandma's glasses at one of the games.

The basketball games were a blast. And seeing Jimmer drop 52 in person was AMAZING. Go Cougars! Mya was SO good for all five games. We are lucky to have a little girl that already loves basketball!

One Week Post Op

2011-03-03T13:30:00.001-07:00

We're one week past Mya's surgery and she is doing SO WELL. I can't even tell you how amazed we have been by her recovery. Her lip already looks amazing and she is back to her old self. It took a few days for her to stop sleeping all the time, and then we had a little scare with a fever and a swollen soft spot, but she is one happy camper now and we love it. Thanks again for all of you who prayed for her, we know she has been watched out for!

For the first few days she was pretty much like this:

(Yes, I ask myself everyday why I decided to cut her hair and make her look like a cancer patient. So sad.)

Then she started to do this:

And finally did this:

And here is where we're at today:

(She's in this phase where she'll be smiling away and as soon as I pull out the camera she's all business.)

You can see in that middle picture that she doesn't have her Logan's bow on (that little metal bar). After the surgery the doctors said we probably wouldn't need to change the bow at all because they put special glue on that would make the tape stay on. The first night in the hospital she ripped it off (twice), and has repeated that trick many times. A few days ago I found her like this after her nap

and then it came off again today after her bath. That girl is a smarty pants to get it off so easily all the time!

Happy Birthday Husby!

2011-03-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

This handsome man had his 26th birthday this week. He's hit the bump where he is now closer to 30 than 20. That's a little bit scary. But really, 30 doesn't seem the old anymore. I guess that's a little bit scary in itself.

Anyway. . . We had a blast celebrating! Dunc claims he doesn't like big birthdays, so we had planned to just go to the MWC Tournament for his birthday. Then I got to thinking about how lame that is for a birthday because it's not really special for you at all when everybody else gets to do it too. . . (Can you tell I like to be spoiled on my birthday?) I decided to splurge and got him a wii (which we may or may not be taking back and/or trading for a Kinect).

The best part of the day was the surprise we had for Dunc when he came home from work. A bunch of our friends came over to celebrate with us! When he came home he was just chatting away to his Dad on the phone and everybody was hiding in our apartment. It was probably a good five minutes before he heard people whispering and realized what was going on. Thanks to everybody that came! I wish I would have taken pictures but I completely forgot. Oh well. Maybe next year! Happy Birthday to my amazing husband!

Home Again, Home Again

2011-02-25T10:55:00.001-07:00

After a lot of cuddling, a little bit of crying, and a long night in the hospital we are home again. Mya is doing so well! She really hasn't cried much and has been sleeping pretty constantly since the surgery. I did get a few laughs out of her last night which was wonderful. Her lip is already starting to look a lot better - it's amazing the difference a few hours can make.

Just a few thoughts on the hospital: 1) Whoever thought it would be a good idea to make two sick babies share one hospital room divided by a very thin curtain deserves whatever they've got coming to them from every mom who has had a sick baby stay in one of those rooms. 2) It's amazing how much you can pay to have someone tape some wires to you, come in every three hours and say, "She's doing great! Anything I can do for you? No? Okay, see you in a few hours." They really should have let us go home yesterday. 3) Props to all those moms who have had sick babies in the hospital! The nurses told us most babies in the unit we were in are there for 10 days or longer. Some have been there for months waiting for transplants. One night was plenty for me to gain a new respect for anyone that has spent extended time there.

Overall we are doing well and glad to be back in our home environment. Thanks for following along!

Update

2011-02-24T14:03:00.001-07:00

Here's where we're at. Isn't is so sad? Honestly though, seeing my baby after the surgery was so much easier than waiting for it to happen. After we gave her to the doctor this morning I just started bawling. I felt like the biggest baby because all the other parents were so "no big deal" about it. Maybe it's because their kids were having different procedures or they were older or something. Everybody was looking at me with eyes full of pity which was pretty embarrassing, but I didn't care. I'll cry for my baby when I want to. :)

Mya's lip still looks pretty funny to me, but the doctor's say that it will look better with time. She nursed well right after surgery and the nurses say that she is doing great. She hasn't fussed at all since I fed her and has just been purring away in her sleep. I'm feeling pretty lucky and glad to have the worst behind me.

Here we go!

2011-02-24T10:20:00.002-07:00

As you can see, Mya wasn't too happy about going without food this morning, but other than that she did pretty well. She's in surgery now so we'll update again when we get a chance. Thanks to all of you that let us know you're thinking of us and praying for her. Love you all!

Oh and by the way, one of the other parents told me I looked like I was from Bosnia. Bosnia? Really? Ha ha ha.

Pictures of the Babe

2011-02-23T23:07:00.001-07:00

Last week I was hanging out with my friend Hydee and she asked if she could do a mini-photo shoot of Mya while we were at her house. Of course my answer was yes because you can never have enough pictures of your baby girl! Mya would not cooperate at all, but Hyd still managed to get a few pictures of her smiling and showcasing that awesome double chin. She is one talented photographer to be able to get these shots from such an uncooperative subject!

Then to follow that up, we met my sister at her apartment in Salt Lake later in the week and she did some family pictures/Mya photos for us. She's still in the process of editing most of them, but here is a sampling of that shoot. I'm so impressed every time Laura takes pictures for us. She does such a great job!

If any of you are looking for someone to take some amazing pictures for you, I know either of these girls would be interested. I'm lucky to be surrounded by such talented people!

St. George

2011-02-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend in St. George with my brother, his wife, and her mom and grandma. Even though it snowed down there we enjoyed relaxing, reading, playing games, and kickin it in the hot tub. Thanks a bunch to the Heatons for letting us enjoy your awesome home! Unfortunately we only took pictures at the St. George temple, but here is proof that we really did go together.

Haircut

2011-02-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Can you believe Mya is already on her fourth haircut? Today was the first time I finally caved and decided to cut the hair on top. Say goodbye to the mohawk and hello to the butch:

I definitely went a little bit shorter than intended. Oops! Let's hope it grows back fast!

2011-02-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

And that is why Dunc occasionally refers to her as the fountain of living waters.

Our Little Sleeper

2011-02-15T14:39:00.017-07:00

Dunc and I both love to check on Mya after she falls asleep at night and we have found her in some pretty adorable positions lately. Here are some examples:

We can't get enough of her!

Last Weekend

2011-02-14T15:10:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun hanging out with my family last weekend! My parents decided to up and leave for Hawaii with some friends so my brother and sister came down to spend the weekend. It was a blast and believe it or not, I think my mom was even jealous that she was in Hawaii instead of partying with us. :) I wish we would have taken some pictures, but of course the camera was busy with Mya all weekend so the best I got is Jason's knee in one pic.

On Friday night we red boxed Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Jason and I thought it was pretty funny but Sarah tried to tell us how stupid it was (even though she was laughing the whole time too). Saturday Sarah and I went for a walk while Jason watched some b-ball and then we all went to Color Me Mine with Spencer Sydney. I was pretty impressed with the artistic talent in my non-artistic fam. Here are some pics of our work:

If you're wondering where my handsome husband was for all of this, he was at work and then the BYU Basketball game. We were all planning to go to the game, but when my mom took the all sports passes to Hawaii with her we had to improvise.

After the game we went to Cafe Rio with Todd and Allison then came back to our apartment to watch State of Play. Once again, everybody but Sarah really liked the movie. :)

Sunday consisted of going to church and making a birthday visit to this guy:

My Grandpa Barfuss is 89 this year! Doesn't he look great??

It was such a fun weekend and we hope to repeat it again soon!

Somebody around here has a Valentine!

2011-02-14T14:37:00.001-07:00

This cute little something showed up in the mail today for this cute little girl.

Inside were two darling outfits

that Mya ate right up.

And some date money for her to share with her parents!

All from Grandma and Grandpa Glenn.

Grandparents make the BEST valentines!

Thank You!!

2011-02-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

I can't say thank you enough for all of the comments on that last blog post. You are all so sweet and made me cry just a little bit with the kind things you said. I didn't even know that some of you read my blog, and it really touched me that you would leave a comment. We are seriously lucky to have all of you in our lives!

Pre Surgery Musings

2011-02-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty hesitant to talk about Mya’s cleft lip up to now, but for some reason I feel like sharing today. So while this post is mostly for me, I know that a lot of you are interested in Mya’s upcoming surgery and might find it interesting, but long.

Mya’s surgery is two weeks from today and yes, I am worried about it. I’ve had a few dreams about it and a few more day dreams about it. I’m sure that everything will go great. But it’s kinda scary to let some doctors you don’t even know take your beautiful little babe and put her under the knife! Having said that, Dunc and I both feel really good about the doctor we chose and he comes highly recommended from a few of his former patients. If you're interested in seeing some before and after pictures of cleft surgeries he has done, click this link: http://kidswithcleftsutah.blogspot.com/search/label/Dr.%20Morales. I'll warn you that some of the pictures are a little bit alarming (including the blog header).

It’s hard to tell what Mya’s lip will look like after because I feel like all of the before and after pictures I can find are of kids with much more severe clefts. The one thing I don’t want is for Mya to go through this whole surgery and then have her lip look worse than it did in the first place. While we think Mya is just gorgeous and the most beautiful baby around, we hope that when she gets older she won’t have to be self-conscious about her cleft lip and that it won’t affect the way people interact with her. I know that her cleft is comparatively minor, and it’s not a huge deal, but I also know that kids and teenagers can be pretty ruthless and I don’t want her to have to deal with teasing or not feeling confident.

When the doctors finally brought Mya over to me in the operating room after she was born the first thing I remember thinking was, “What’s wrong with her lip?” I still feel horrible that those words came anywhere close to my mind the first time I saw my perfect baby girl. It was so hard for me to tell my family and friends about her lip, and I felt like I needed to warn everyone that came to visit so they wouldn’t be alarmed when they first saw her. It was really hard for me. I knew that Mya was perfect, but I was worried about what everyone else would think of her. I am so grateful for awesome family and friends who helped me feel like Mya was the most beautiful baby they had ever seen and who were so supportive during that time of insecurity for me. I remember one day when my sweet sister-in-law told me that she had been showing off pictures of Mya to a girl in her class. It made me feel so good that she would want to show off my daughter, even with her imperfect lip.

I don’t even notice Mya’s cleft anymore and it’s only when I see pictures from certain angles that I remember she has that little imperfection. It makes me wonder why I’m having surgery done to change the looks of my baby who is already so cute. But then I remember those feelings of insecurity and those are feelings I never want Mya to have about herself. I hope that after her surgery the only thing she’ll have to worry about is a couple small scars.

For the first while (I’m not sure exactly how long) after the surgery Mya will have to wear what is called a “Logan’s bow” taped to her face to keep the surgical site from getting damaged. Here is a picture of what that looks like:

She’ll also have to wear fabric arm restraints for three to four weeks to make sure that she doesn’t touch her lip after the surgery. I think that will be hard for Mya because she LOVES to be moving all the time, and she especially loves to suck on her hands. From what I’ve read, they basically just keep the baby’s arms from bending at all so she won't be able to touch her face, but there are other kinds that keep the arms pinned to a little diaper cover.

We’re told that she won’t be able to use her binky for a month, but she should be able to breastfeed unless it’s too painful for her. If that doesn’t work, we get to resort to dripping milk down her throat with a syringe like we did the first few days after Mya was born (NOT FUN).

I’ve read a few accounts of moms that have gone through the actual surgery process before and it’s nice to know what’s coming, but also not nice because then you worry about it more beforehand. I think the hardest parts will be handing her over to the doctors, especially if she’s crying and just wants her mom, and when she wakes up from surgery in pain, confused, and sad. It’s the worst to have a crying child when there is not a lot you can do to help them.

I really shouldn’t complain when there are so many moms that go through this and more difficult situations. We are so lucky that Mya only has the cleft lip and not the cleft palate which entails so much more. Most likely this will be the only surgery she will have to get, but she might have one more when she is 6 or 7 to make some minor adjustments. We’re definitely shooting for just this one.

In the long run, I know that it’s the right thing to get this surgery and I know that everything will be just fine. But in the mean time, would you please send up some prayers for our little baby and her parents? We could definitely use them!

Four Months!

2011-02-09T18:40:00.001-07:00

The little one will be four months old on Sunday! It is just CRAZY how fast those four months have gone by. At her appointment today she weighed in at 10 lbs. 3.5 oz. (less than 5th percentile), and 22.6 inches (6th percentile), with a head circumference of almost 16 inches (40th percentile).

Some of you know that I have been trying to get Mya to like her doll for the past few weeks and today we made some great progress! She actually acknowledged the doll, reached out for it,

and promptly put it in her mouth.

Hey, progress is progress and I'll take it!

A Day in the Life

2011-02-07T23:09:00.001-07:00

Tonight our friends Randon and Beth came over for FHE treats and Beth asked me what a normal day is like for me when I'm home with Mya. I was a little embarrassed that she asked that TODAY. Today I slept in until 11 and Mya until 11:30. While that's not exactly normal for us, I will admit that on the days I don't work we usually sleep in until 8 or 9. No complaints there. I did manage to take a shower today, but never quite got to putting on my makeup after that, and come to think of it, I went from one pair of pajamas pre-shower to another pair of pajamas post-shower. I think that's the first day I've done that since the week after Mya was born, so don't judge me! :) We managed to get a little bit of laundry done, cleaned the house, and made some delish peach crisp but other than that we just had fun hanging out and playing with Mya. It was a great lazy day.

Recently Mya has started splashing so much in the bath that I had to move her bathtub from the bathroom counter to the real bathtub. It's so funny to watch her go crazy. She doesn't smile, so we're not sure if she's having fun, but she's not crying either so we figure that's a good sign. Here is a video for your viewing pleasure:

We had a few other big events in the life of Mya today. She laughed again (she's probably done this less than 10 times) and we got it on camera! I love her little giggle, but she doesn't like to let us hear it very often yet. Hopefully that changes soon!

Also, she finally hit the big TEN POUNDS today!! That's what the doctors were hoping she'd reach before her surgery, so we got there with two and a half weeks to spare. As you can see from this picture, most of that weight gain has come in the form of a second chin. We sure love that double chin!

We're on a roll

2011-01-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

The little one learned how to roll over this week! We could be in trouble because she absolutely HATES tummy time, and now it will be harder and harder to keep her there. The first time she did it was at my parents house on Thursday, but unfortunately no one saw. I set her down on her tummy, went to get something in the kitchen, and when I came back she was on her back!

These are from Friday when she did it a few more times. As you can see, she was pretty pleased with herself.

Dunc was so proud of her that he went out and bought her these flowers. Aren't they pretty? She didn't exactly appreciate the gesture yet, so she gave them to me. What a sweetie.

More Mya

2011-01-14T22:55:00.001-07:00

I know, I know, you're on picture overload from that last post. But I just had to share these fun pictures of the little one.

A few weeks ago she started to discover her hands and now she is constantly running them through her hair, rubbing them together, or touching anything in reach.

Isn't she a doll?

I had to put this one on here because it is her classic "stretching" face. She does it randomly and we're not quite sure what it means, but it definitely makes us laugh.

Mya was pretty happy to come home and get back to her own bathtub after bathing in the sink for two weeks.

She turned three months old yesterday and also hit the big nine pounds!! We are so proud of our little chunker. :)

This is her having a blast playing patty cake. She starts grinning like crazy when we pat her hands together.

Being a mom is the greatest thing ever! I am seriously so lucky and couldn't ask for better pay than the smiles this little one gives me! We sure love her!

We're baaaack!!

2011-01-14T22:31:00.001-07:00

About time don't you think? We've been having so much fun lately that blogging has taken a back seat.

Have you noticed that everyone gets back into blogging by writing a really long/kinda boring if you weren't there post, bragging all about what they did over the holidays and how they had way more fun than you did?

I thought about not writing one of those. But then I decided, what kind of blogger would I be if I ignored the fact that we had so much fun?? Not a very good blogger at all. So here you go! Hope you enjoy and just remember that your Christmas really was AWESOME. Even if mine was more awesome. :)

There were board games,

card games,

Wii Fit games,

Just Dance games,

and games with Mimi.

We also managed to squeeze in some

Nana time,

bath time,

nap time,

bowling time,

and the occasional four generation photo.

In addition to all that fun, we also got some PRESENTS!

Dunc got a new sweater,

and a new beard.

I got a blingin watch,

and the cutest baby in the world.

While Mya lucked out with a new play yard,

more Nana time, (Isn't she the cutest great grandma?)

and just a little bit of attention.

Yep, we were PRETTY DANG LUCKY. Time to officially begin the countdown for next year!

Fun Times

2010-12-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

(Going for the flower power pirate look)

Mya is two months old! Can you believe it? Time has flown by. We took her to the doctor on Monday and here is where she's at:

7 pounds 8.5 ounces (2nd percentile)
21 inches long (8th percentile)
15 inch head circumference (30th percentile)

Other fun things we've been up to lately include . . .

Hanging out with Ecuador friends. Alli's baby, Soren, was born exactly a week before Mya, and April's baby, Kaben, was born about six weeks after her. It was so fun to get together with these girls while they're in town and play with all of our babies. (Mya wasn't too happy we interrupted her eating for a picture.)

Meeting Santa at our ward Christmas party! Believe it or not she was one of the few that didn't start screaming as soon as the parents handed them over. This picture was right BEFORE meeting the big man.

Turns out she likes him better than me. Sad. We'll work on changing that before next year.

Baby Blessing

2010-12-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today we had the opportunity to bless Mya in our sacrament meeting. Dunc did a great job and we felt a lot of support from both of our families. It was so fun to get together with everyone. Thanks for coming!!

And just for fun . . .

Smiles, a Missionary, and Family

2010-12-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

We had a great Thanksgiving break out in California with Dunc's family. While we were there the little one started smiling!! Not the best picture, but it's the only time I thought to try and catch it on camera. Doesn't this little gummy grin melt your heart? So fun.

We also got to be there when Duncan's brother got home from his mission. He was supposed to fly in around 3:30 but when we were ten minutes from the airport he called to let us know he was still in Phoenix. Bummer. Instead of wasting two more hours in the car we went to Ikea and had fun playing with the little kid hats.

(our cute nephew, Mikey the viking)

When Loren finally got to Oakland, everyone just stood there taking pictures of him, so Loren pulled out his camera and started taking pictures of us. It was such a funny homecoming. I loved it.
My family "just happened" to be on vacation in San Francisco over the break (I think they couldn't stand the thought of being away from my brother and me who were supposed to be with our in-laws), so Shawn and Greg invited them to Thanksgiving dinner. What sweethearts. It was a good time with both of our families and the food was delish. Mmmm. Wish I had more of those leftovers!

Oh Glorious Day!

2010-11-18T18:08:00.001-07:00

This little angel slept for 7 straight hours last night. 12 to 7. It was AMAZING. Here's to hoping the next time isn't too far away!

The Little Elf

2010-11-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had an appointment to meet with a plastic surgeon about Mya's lip. She didn't think it sounded very exciting and decided she would rather hang out in Mama's bed all day.

Can you find the baby?

There she is!

After discussing surgery the doctor mentioned that Mya looked elfish to him. I mentioned that he looked oompa-loompa-ish to me (not really, but I probably should have). Needless to say it was mutually agreed upon through the awkward silence that Mya will be taking her lip elsewhere to be operated upon. Guess we should have listened to the babe and hung out in bed yesterday.

Rainy Day

2010-11-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

Isn't this little girl so cute???? She hasn't quite mastered looking at the camera yet, but we're working on it. . . We had a great morning hanging out in our PJs and cuddling until noon. Being a mom is pretty awesome on a rainy day Monday!

Mya's Birth Story

2010-11-05T10:15:00.000-06:00

***Disclaimer: This is a very long post! Also, don't read this if you are pregnant and/or hate hearing traumatic birth stories.***

Mya's birth story began a week before she was actually born. I was 38 weeks pregnant and my doctor decided we needed to schedule an induction for October 13th at 5:00 a.m.* Little did we know at the time, but Mya was coming on October 13th no matter what we had to say about it.

On the night on the 12th I tried to go to bed early knowing that the next day was going to be a long one, but pretty soon after I laid down I got this stabbing pain on the side of my belly. I tried to switch sides, roll over, etc. but nothing made the pain go away and since my mind was already running like crazy I decided to get up and wait for Duncan to get home from work in an hour or so. When Dunc came home I was still in pain but figured I would try to get some sleep again and thanks to having another warm body in the bed I was able to sleep for a couple hours.

When I woke up around 1:00 a.m. the pain was still there and this time there was no hope of going back to sleep. When I started crying because it hurt too bad to sleep I decided to give up on sleep and get on the internet to try and find out what the pain was. I found some dumb answers that made me feel like it wasn't anything big and then started reading blogs and creeping on facebook. Around 2:30 I realized that I was having contractions and they were coming every five minutes. I was so excited!! For those of you who don't know, I really wanted to go into labor on my own before the induction, so when I started having contractions my happiness made the other pain a lot more bearable.

Fast forward two hours. Dunc and I are on our way to the hospital full of excitement and anticipation about becoming new parents. It was so surreal to leave our apartment that morning knowing that when we came back our whole lives would be completely different.

We got to the hospital around 5:00 and they took us back to a room. The nurse put the monitors on me and she noticed that Mya's heartbeat was sounding really irregular. In the non-stress tests I'd been having for the last month (see the note below) we had heard the irregular heartbeat, but this time it was a lot worse than it had ever been before. The nurse went to get another nurse to have her come listen and about 30 seconds after she walked out I felt my water break. I was elated! I wasn't going to have to get induced after all!

I told Dunc that I thought my water had just broken so he took a look and said, "Is it supposed to be all bloody like that?". Uh oh. I wasn't too worried since we were at the hospital already but when the nurses came back and looked they seemed to be a lot more worried than I was. They started paging all sorts of doctors and nurses to come to my room. I knew that couldn't be a good sign.

The doctor on call checked me and I was dilated to a 4 with contractions every 3 to 4 minutes. Things were looking great there, but Mya's heart rate wasn't holding up as well. Soon after my water broke her heart rate dropped way below normal but rebounded fairly quickly. But after all the doctors and nurses came in her heart rate started to flat line, which isn't a good sign. They had already called my doctor to come in early that morning and as soon as he walked into the room and took a look at Mya's heart rate, heard about the pain in my belly, and saw the blood he told me we had to do a C-section right then because the placenta had started to tear away from my uterus and we needed to get the baby out as soon as possible.

Everything after that is pretty much a blur. Before the doctor came in I was in the middle of texting my mom (happily) that my water had broken and I didn't need to get induced, but when the doctor came in and said "C-section", I didn't even have time to text her I was going into surgery before the anesthesiologist was getting me to sign papers, Dunc was getting dressed in scrubs, and I was being wheeled off to the operating room.

It was a pretty crazy experience and I'll admit it was pretty traumatic for me. As we got to the OR my doctor says, "Don't worry Liz, we'll have you unpregnant in 5 minutes and 12 seconds," and all I'm thinking is, I still WANT to be pregnant in 5 minutes and 12 seconds, this labor thing is supposed to take hours not minutes!

After they got Mya out I heard her crying what sounded like a "wet" cry and I was so worried about her. I kept asking, "Is she okay? Is she okay?" but nobody answered me. It was awful! Luckily I heard her crying start to sound better and the anesthesiologist told me a few minutes later that she was doing okay. She had swallowed a lot of my blood but got an 8 and a 9 on her APGAR scores. She's a fighter!

I wish I could say that Mya's delivery went exactly like I had imagined it, but that would be about as far from the truth as you can get. I am so grateful that it turned out the way it did though. I'm so happy my doctor scheduled the induction for that day and that we were already at the hospital when my water broke. I was reading yesterday about placental abruption (which is what had happened to me) and apparently it happens in 1% of pregnancies worldwide and there is a 20 to 40% fetal mortality rate and can lead to maternal mortality too. That is pretty crazy! I am so grateful that I was in good hands and that both Mya and I came off without any major complications. She is our little miracle baby! We couldn't be luckier to have her!

*Mya gave us a little scare earlier in the pregnancy. When I was 34 weeks pregnant it appeared that she had stopped growing and the ultrasound showed that her abdomen wasn't keeping up with her head growth - a sign that the placenta wasn't working like it should be. I started going in for non-stress tests (where they monitor the baby's heart rate) twice a week and we had a follow up ultrasound two weeks later. That ultrasound showed that her abdomen was catching up and she was continuing to grow, but because the doctor was still concerned about the placenta he didn't want to let me go all the way up to my due date.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T14:19:00.000-06:00

Introducing Mya Glenn

2010-10-14T11:04:00.000-06:00

She's here! At 5 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long Mya made her grand entrance into the world on October 13th at 7:06 in the morning. We are feeling so lucky to be her parents and falling more in love with her all the time!

Baby Day

2010-10-13T02:28:00.000-06:00

It's 2:30 in the morning. I'm supposed to leave for the hospital at 4:15 to be induced. Naturally I can't sleep (I swear I really have tried and tried and tried), so I figured I would make a graceful entrance back into the blogging world. See you all in a few days with pics of our beautiful baby girl!

It's a Girl!

2010-06-19T09:33:00.001-06:00

I think it's just about time for another update. Although we've both been working and going to school Spring and Summer terms we've managed to squeeze more than a few fun events into our lives.

First of all, we found out we're having a girl! We are so excited for this little chica to get here.
Finding out it's a girl has helped us get serious about this naming thing but we're still struggling a bit. Any good suggestions? In other good baby news, we bought a crib a couple days ago! It won't get here for a week or two but I'll post pictures after we get it set up. I'm so excited, I love it!

Here are some pics of other fun stuff we've been up to lately:
Over memorial day weekend we went camping in Green River with Andrew & Hilarie, and Jaron & Amy and then headed over to Moab. While the other four went rafting, we headed to Arches (Dr's orders). It was a great quick little trip.

We started things off on Memorial Day with the Annual Extended Barfuss Family Four Square Tournament. The Becks brought some good competition this year, but I think it's safe to say with the new additions of Duncan, Allison, and Sydney the Barfuss/Glenns held their own.

We then headed to the Farmington cemetery where we gathered with some of the Holmes clan to remember Grandpa and Benjamin. After that it was off to the pool, a BBQ, and a good old fashioned home run derby.

A couple weeks later we went to my favorite place on earth, Lake Powell! Unfortunately I had to leave Dunc on his own for the first half of the week while he provided for the family, but he was able to meet up with us for the last few days of the trip.

(Justin learning to clear the wake)

(Dunc gettin some air)

(Dunc's wipeout)

We had a blast wakeboarding, playing games, hanging out with cousins, eating great food, and enjoying the amazing beauty. It was pretty painful to be stuck in the boat watching everyone else wakeboard and waterski (Dr's orders again), but this little baby is definitely worth it. We can't wait to go back!

Finally, we got to go hiking with Jamie, Kevin, and Mikey in Salt Lake yesterday. My legs are definitely on the sore side this morning, but it was gorgeous and we loved hangin out with them!

One year down, onto the next!

2010-05-23T19:13:00.000-06:00

Dunc and I celebrated our one year anniversary this weekend! I can't believe how fast this year has gone. We've been through some ups and downs, but overall I couldn't be happier about marrying this awesome man! Before this starts getting mushy, let's jump to what we did this weekend. . .

We started things off right by going to visit Kevin & Jamie and our cute nephew Mikey! We sure love that little boy. He showed off his laughing skills while we were there and then "Unkie Dunkie" (a name he's been dreaming of adopting since his childhood years) got Mikey to fall asleep in his arms. We thought that was a great sign for the rest of our weekend so we headed off to our reservation at the Waldorf Astoria in Park City.

As we got onto the freeway about to head up the canyon we saw a sign that said, "I-80E closed. 4 hour delay. Find alternate route." So much for that great sign from Mikey. Turns out there was a fatal accident on the road to Park City and any alternate routes would have taken us about 2 hours. At this point it started to rain pretty hard and we were stressin' that we wouldn't make it to our hotel. Thanks to some coaching from my dad we called the hotel and they gave us our money back. Then we headed to Crown Burger to feed my starving belly.

While we were there we called up Armstrong Mansion and they said they had plenty of open rooms and would give us 20% off for booking same day. Wahoo! We stayed at this bed and breakfast the night we got married and loved it. Once again Armstrong came through and we had a great time there!

The next morning we decided to give Park City another try. Fortunately we made it without any delays, spent a few hours and way too much money at the outlets. Bought these sweet aviators for our upcoming Lake Powell trip and headed to Main Street for some grub.
When we got there I picked Main Street Pizza and Noodle for lunch. Unfortunately, Dunc and I were both inexperienced enough (or maybe you could say dumb enough) to order neither pizza nor noodles. Worst $30 we've ever spent. Oh well.

This place was my saving grace when I may or may not have had to make three separate trips to the restroom in the hour and a half period we were there. We became great friends.

After lunch we drove around Park City and enjoyed looking at all the cute little homes around historic main street. We even found this sign that almost said Glenn! Dunc wasn't very impressed, but I made him get out and take a picture next to it anyway.
We then went back to Provo to finish the celebrations with a nap, Papa Johns, This Is It! and another red boxed movie which will not be named because Dunc is embarrassed that he picked it out (cough cough New Moon cough).

We had a great time and wish we could make every weekend a getaway like this until this little baby gets here! I love being married to this guy!

In other good news I started feeling the baby kick regularly yesterday! It has been so awesome and exciting! Dunc thinks he's felt a few kicks too. We find out on Friday whether we're having a boy or girl. Can't wait!

Mexico Pictures

2010-04-09T21:16:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures from my cruise to Mexico:

After walking along the boardwalk and realizing there wasn't much to do in Cabo we decided to take a bicitaxi and see what the rest of the city had to offer.

My favorite part of this picture is our driver in the background. That guy was crazy!

Family Pic in front of the cruise ship

My dad decided to try his skill on the bike. The driver was pretty worried about his cart but I think he started to like it as he was forced to run along to keep up and everyone started honking while pointing and laughing at him. Poor guy. It was a pretty funny sight.

Fun Mexican place with the Pack Fam.

Getting serenaded by the Mariachis.

Sarah and I were totally creeped out by this hanging creature when we got back to our room that night.

We paid our $1/person to watch this guy jump off the top of that railing into the seven foot deep water below. Definitely worth the dollar.

Josh and Cord in front of the Cathedral in Mazatlan.

Jason served as Nana's body guard when we were in Puerto Vallarta.

Getting ready for our sweet ATV trip

The trail we rode up was just a little bit dusty.

But the view and the food at the top were amazing! I've been dreaming of that food ever since we left...

Did I mention that we're having a baby?

2010-04-01T18:06:00.000-06:00

Yep, you read that right. We're having a baby!!!! And we couldn't be more excited! I've been meaning to post our good news for a little while but with the end of the semester I haven't gotten around to it until now.

We actually found out two months ago today. A few days before my period was supposed to come I started having these battles in my head, "I bet I'm pregnant. I know I am." and then, "No, I don't feel like I'm pregnant yet. I'd probably be sick or something." Then back to, "Maybe I do feel a little bit different." And then, "There's no way."

The thoughts were driving me so crazy that I stopped by the store and bought a pregnancy test. I'm not sure why, but I didn't want to tell Duncan about it. I wasn't sure how I would feel if it came back negative, so I wanted to keep it to myself for a little bit, just in case you know? When I got home I started reading the box and learned that the test is way more accurate if you wait until your missed period, but how is a girl supposed to wait that long for such a big piece of information?? I decided to take it the next morning. There were two tests in the box, so if it came back negative and I still missed my period I could always try again later. . . After hiding the test in the dryer I went to bed and tried to get some sleep.

The next morning Dunc was in the shower when I snuck the test out of the drier and gave it a go. It came back positive! I couldn't believe it! I was in shock! I started shaking all over and let out a little squeal. This is how my conversation went with Duncan:

D: Are you okay??
L: (Too in shock to say anything.)
D: Liz, are you okay? Is there a spider or something? Do you need me to come kill it?
L: Get that soap out of your eyes.
D: Why did you just squeal?
L: Just open your eyes!
D: Just a sec.
L: Hurry!
D: (Seeing the stick in my hand) What's that??
L: Baaaabe. Look at it! It's a pregnancy test!
D: Oh my gosh!!! You're pregnant! Are you serious? Is this some kind of trick?

Neither of us could believe it!!

I spent the next few weeks super paranoid that I wasn't actually prego or that I was going to have a miscarriage or something, so when the first doctor's appointment came and we got to see our baby's heartbeat it was such a huge relief for me! I've never been a big worrier (that's Duncan's job) so I don't know why I was so worried about it. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones.

Anyway, things are going great and I am due on October 19!! I haven't really been sick at all and am feeling so lucky! Hopefully that's a good sign for the rest of the pregnancy.

Here is our first picture of the little guy or girl:

I'm pretty sure you can already tell what a great looking baby we're going to have. :) We're so excited and already can't wait for this baby to get here!

Suspenders Girl

2010-03-22T19:07:00.000-06:00

Today I saw a girl on campus wearing suspenders. They looked like they were giving her a major wedgie. I felt bad. It made me think that sometimes school feels like a major wedgie. That's how I had been feeling before last week, so I was oh so glad when March 13 rolled around and it was off to Mexico for a family cruise! It was major wedgie relief!

The cruise attendees included my parents, Sarah, Jason, and Todd (unfortunately Duncan and Spencer missed out), the whole Pack family, Doug and Erin, and Nana. We had a blast! We took the bicitaxis around Cabo, van toured Mazatlan, and rode ATVs through the mountains of Puerto Vallarta. I loved spending time with the fam, eating tons of food, and soaking up the Mexican sun.

I wish I would have snapped a picture of suspenders girl for my blog, but I didn't think of it until it was too late. Here's to hoping she gets a trip to Mexico sometime soon for her major wedgie relief!

Love Day

2010-02-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Since everyone else is writing about what they did for Valentine's Day I figure I might as well follow along. Don't be jealous though, cause Dunc was SO good to me! Don't tell him, but I'm pretty sure he was just making up for last year :)

On Saturday we got to spend the whole day together! Complete with an oil change for my car at Jiffy Lube where they made us feel like royalty, a few hours at Color Me Mine where I've been wanting to go for the last two years, and dinner at P.F. Changs with a gift card we still hadn't used from our wedding. It was so fun!

But Dunc didn't stop there. On Sunday morning he made me a french toast breakfast before going to his church meetings. And then my favorite gift of all! He scratched my back for the WHOLE sacrament meeting. Ahh. It was amazing. I love back scratches and usually I have to scratch his back for at least 50% as long as he does mine but not Sunday. Sunday it was pure bliss for the whole meeting. I loved it!

Spring

2010-02-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Every year Utah weather plays an awful trick on me. It starts getting warmer and warmer to the point where there's no WAY spring isn't right around the corner. And then it hits. The snow comes back. And so does the depression. I'm pretty sure it's going to happen again this year, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up. But it's pretty hard when you're at BYU and there's no snow on the ground, people are studying outside, and nobody is wearing coats (even though it's still only 40 degrees outside). No more winter please!

So I actually wrote this post a couple days ago and forgot to post it. But guess what happened during those two days? Yep, it snowed! Luckily the sun is out again in Provo so at least I can still hope for Spring!

Marriage

2010-02-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm sharing a table in the Tanner Building with this married couple. They are so funny. This is the conversation they've had over the last half hour while I've been here:

Husband: That test was awful.
Wife: ------------------- (Nothing).

5 minutes later:
W: I'm starving!
H: Me too.
Silence.

5 minutes later:
H: What me to go downstairs and see what they have to eat?
W: ------------------
H: Do you want me to go get some food?
W: Yeah, I'm starving.
H: Okay, I'll go down and see what they have and then call you see what you want.
W: No.
H: Why not?
W: I already know what I want.
H: What do you want?
W: A sandwich.
H: Like a cold sandwich?
W: I don't know.
H: Okay, I'll go down and see what they have and then call you.
W: Don't call me. I won't answer.
H: You wouldn't be that cold would you?
W: -----------------

5 minutes later:
H: Okay, I'm going downstairs, I'll just call you when I see what they have.
W: Wait, read my article before you go. (She's been typing this article since I've been there.)
H: I'm just gonna go and I'll read it when I get back.
W: No. Then I won't have time to fix it.
H: Well if I don't go get food now, we won't have time to eat it. And I need to finish my cover letter.
W: But then I won't have time to fix my article!

Husband proceeds to read the article.
H: That was a good article.
W: How good?
H: Really good.
W: Not better than good?
H: It was an amazing article!
W: Good.
H: Okay, I'll call you when I get down there.
W: No! I won't answer.
H: Then what do you want?
W: A sandwich.
H: I don't know what kind. What kind do you want?
W: Just pick one for me. Don't talk to me.

Husband goes downstairs, comes back with two sandwiches and two drinks. He puts one sandwich and drink in front of his wife.
W: Eww. I don't want that one.
H: But you told me just to choose! Here you can have mine.
W: Takes husband's sandwich.
H: (Quietly) Yuck, I hate mushrooms and they put sauce on it.
W: Do you want this one?
H: No, I'll just eat this. So how's the article coming?
W: Don't talk to me.

Ha ha ha I loved this conversation. The girl was being such a brat to her husband and they were not communicating at all. It's funny to see other dysfunctional marriages/communication issues and be so grateful for my husband who puts up with so much crap from me. Hopefully I'm never as much of a brat as this girl was being! Isn't marriage funny sometimes?

P.S. Thanks for the advice about getting a masters. It's really nice to hear what other women have to say about it!

Decisions

2010-02-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of decisions right now. Mostly just one decision. Should I get a masters degree or just stick with the undergrad? I can't decide! I've now been debating this for over a year. At first it was yes. Then I got engaged to Dunc and because of some school induced stress/tension between us I decided not to. School started again last fall and I started playing around with the idea again. I talked to the people in the Accounting department and they said the odds were very good that I'd get accepted and it wasn't a problem that I had decided not to go for the MAcc a year earlier. A few weeks ago I decided (for what I thought was the last time) not to do it and to be done in April. Now I'm considering it AGAIN. What is wrong with me??

I talked to the people in the advisement center and pushed my graduation back to August. That way I can get some graduate credits out of the way during spring and summer, hopefully get an undergrad scholarship, and just possibly bring in some more Obama money. Seems like a good idea right? By doing that I've successfully delayed making the final decision one more time. The application is due March 1 so maybe I'll have a final decision by then? Then again, I could deny my acceptance to the masters program anytime before Fall semester.

Why am I having such a hard time with this decision? Any advice??

Dunc's Internship

2010-01-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

Isn't he a good looking accountant?

Dunc started his internship at Tanner LC on Monday and he's loving it! He's already blown the budget on one tax return but we're pretty sure he's going to start cruising through those returns in no time at all. He loves the people that he's working with, which means that we'll probably be in Salt Lake for a while if this internship turns into a job offer. We feel so blessed that he was able to get the exact internship he wanted and I'm glad that he's liking it as much as he thought he would. It's also nice that we're going to start having some real moola comin in soon! Dunc did work three hours of overtime his first week, which doesn't bode well for the real busy season that starts in mid-February. Hopefully he'll be able to make it through those long work weeks and I won't get too lonely without him!

Hawaii!

2010-01-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Dunc and I just got back from an amazing trip to Hawaii! We had been playing with the idea of going somewhere before his internship for a while but hadn't really settled on anything during the semester. Then three or so weeks ago we started checking out flights and hotels and found some great deals to Hawaii that we couldn't turn down. I went to my first day of classes for the new semester and then peaced out for a week in Hawaii. I'm feeling good about this last semester of college! Here's what we did while we were there:

We left for the airport around 4:30 in the morning to catch our 6 a.m. flight. This was the awesome view we had as we were flying into LA.

Dunc tried to get some sleep on the plane, but this position didn't seem to work out too well for him.

This was our first full day there. Ahh, it was heavenly. I want to be back there.

It didn't take me long to learn something new about my husband. We'd only been there for an hour when he leans over to me and says, "How much longer do you think you're going to want to stay here? I'm bored." Who get's bored of the beach that fast?? Maybe next time I can convince him to bring a book so we get more beach time. He convinced me to let him do this to me so we could stay longer.

This was the morning we hiked the Diamond Head crater to see the sunrise. Unfortunately we left a little bit later than planned so we didn't get the full effect but it was still a great view!

We spent an afternoon/evening at the Polynesian Cultural Center where Dunc got called out of the audience to show off his Polynesian dancing skills. And won this cute little headband.

Next we went on this awesome hike that reminded me of Ecuador. There were so many plants. It was unbelievable! The trail was super muddy and I'm afraid my shoes will never be the same, but it was well worth it.

This is from that same hike. There were some amazing views! The hike ended at this little waterfall where you could jump into the pool at the bottom but we were deterred from jumping by the big crowd of people smoking at the bottom. Sorry, no pictures of the waterfall.

We also went to Pearl Harbor

and shot off a couple anti-aircraft missles while we were there.

On our last day we went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. It was so cool! You swim on top of the coral right in the middle of huge schools of fish. The fish and plants were so pretty! I was freaked out at first cause I didn't want to touch the coral and I was afraid of the fish touching me, but luckily they kept their distance. Dunc's favorite part of our vacation was when he saw a sea turtle in the bay. This snorkeling experience was unreal.

Finally we stopped at the Pali highway lookout. None of the pictures do justice to the beauty of the island. It was so fun to just drive around and enjoy it. We loved this vacation!

Three Christmas Break Discoveries

2009-12-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

1. Do any of you recognize this fruit? We discovered that it's called a persimmon. I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you have an expert with you to pick out the the perfectly ripe one. Kevin claims they can be good but all of ours were disgusting!

2. The Christmas tree at Union Square in San Francisco is HUGE! It was so fun to go into the city and see the lights.

3. Greg fits in surprisingly well with the black manikins at Nike. Who would have thought?

We've been having so much fun in California with the Glenns! I don't think I've ever played so many games in one week - bang, balderdash, goblet, blokus, hink pink, etc. It's going to be quite the shock when we go back to the Utah snow and the demands of school and work. Maybe they won't mind if we just stay here for the rest of the winter?

Temple Square

2009-12-18T18:17:00.000-07:00

Today Dunc told me that I've been slacking on the blog and it's about time I updated it. I thought about telling him I've been busy taking finals, buying Christmas presents, and trying to earn money for all of our lovely car repairs. But then I thought to myself, "He actually reads this thing??" And it made me happy.

We're on our way to Cali tomorrow! Woohoo!

Christmas!

2009-12-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

Christmas came early to our apartment this year! On Saturday afternoon Santa sent a few of his elves (a.k.a. my mom, dad, and Sarah) to bring us some Christmas cheer. Being the newlyweds that we are, we don't have any Christmas decorations, and with how busy I've been, and considering the fact that we won't even be in Utah for Christmas, getting decorations and making our house festive has been extremely low on my priority list (sorry for being a bad wife Dunc!). I think my mom felt bad that we didn't have any Christmas stuff up, so she came to visit and crashed us with this beautiful tree!

I didn't think I'd really care about not having decorations, but it has been so fun being able to sit by the tree and watch the snow fall outside. I love it! Thanks so much mom, dad, and Sarah! You guys are so great!

Here are some pics of the other decorations:

I love Christmas! Now if I could just sit inside and watch the snow all day instead of driving in it, I think I'd be one extremely happy camper!