Cheesecake Factory

For Sterling's big 25th birthday we went out to the Cheesecake Factory. Mostly because we couldn't decide, and neither of us had ever been there, so we thought we'd check it out! It was fabulous!

We met up with our good friends Adam and Aleesha, and we spent a lovely toddler-free night, especially lovely because I got to hold little Lydia for a good while(I can't wait to have a baby again!). 

Sterling got some Mexican dish that he loved, we ordered Thai lettuce  wraps for an appetizer and they were AMAZING, and then we got cheesecake for dessert. I'm not a big fan of how heavy cheesecake is, so I got the key lime and it was SO DIVINE! 

We went to the new Cheesecake Factory at the City Creek Mall, and it was a beautiful restaurant. Sterling had never walked around the mall before, so we spent a minute doing that.

The lighting in the restaurant was horrible, so by the time the wonderful Aleesha figured out my camera, our smiles were pretty done. But thanks for the picture!

We also got our drivers side window stuck down when we went through the pay parking lot. Argh. Adam was awesome and called his mechanic friend, and we were able to get it up for the drive home! Thanks again guys, and...

Happy Birthday Sterling! I love you SO SO SO much!!!

a bit o' random

- Last night I went to a WSU meeting where several DO schools had representatives there to talk about differences between MD and DO. They said families were invited, and Sterling wanted me to come. BLAST FROM THE PAST I saw this kid that I kinda had a crush on in high school. He said hi, and that my baby was cute, and his wife was expecting in February. I said that was neat, cause I was expecting in February. And then I found out that she's in the dental hygiene program. And that he and Sterling will be applying to medical school at the same time. It was just somewhat odd to meet up with an almost complete stranger who is living the same life!!!!! (although I am SO SO SO happy I was not having a baby and in dental hygiene at the same time as well as having my husband studying for the mcat :) )

-This morning I was teaching my four nieces and nephews piano lessons, but I was also supposed to be babysitting. Somehow no one realized that my nephew Anders was not awake. With three minutes til the bus came I woke him up, got him dressed, made him brush his teeth, and handed him 2 fruit snacks and a baggie of Honey Bunches of Oats as he walked out the door. And made the bus. Haahaa.

-I really love fall. I really love this baby's second trimester. Not last pregnancy, because I was gypped and still had morning sickness the entire time. But right now is so much fun! I feel the baby kick all the time and I feel great. The beautiful leaves just add to the all-around feeling of goodness.

-Yesterday my boss closeted me in his office and made me tell him what I thought of a new employee. It was hard, because I don't think much of this person. He said he'd rather know that now, then after 8 months of struggling. Then, when I explained some of the things I had noticed this person doing he said "Some things ---like mobility---can be taught, other things just can't be taught." I just about died, because I have NO IDEA why I seem to forget to do mobility on my patients pretty much 50% of the time. Grrr. I really do try dr.!!! I promise!!! Haahaa, it was pretty funny though. (Mobility is checking to see if a person's teeth move. We never really did it in school because really, how often do you see that? And I never had to do it at regular general dentist offices for the same reason. But its pretty important at a perio office because sometimes its the deciding factor on whether or not he'll try to save a tooth. Its easy to check really fast if I forget to do it, but I should remember. I just have a hard time.) Haahaa

A Morning at the Farmer's Market

Sterling, being the AMAZING husband and father that he is -and everything good about Saturday's at our house- agreed with me that it might be fun to try out Ogden's Farmer's Market. They do it every Saturday all summer long, and we've never been. It was a blast!

Towards the end of our morning, we were all a little thirsty, and we came upon this little stand. I had to buy a drink JUST because of its awesome name. We got their special for the day : Caramel Apple Cream Soda. Ruthie picked the crazy straw. It was a little weird, but definitely good. Ruth LOVED it, and would've drank it all by herself if we'd let her.

We actually didn't buy the limeade, but Sterling and I saw the same guy at a 24 of  July event, and it was delicious!

Our friends Jason and Jocellyn came with us. Jason was kind enough to push our stroller while we kept Ruth occupied with her Caramel Apple Cream Soda. Thanks guys, it was fun!

Best. Picture. Ever. Ruth loves twirling.

Ruth also loved every single horse that we passed. They're all up and down the streets in downtown Ogden now.

There was cool musicians, LOT of delicious looking fruit stands, and more horses for Ruth. I could've eaten everything in sight, luckily, everyone gave out samples!

Our celebrity baby. People just love babies, love her little legs when we let her walk around, and love her hair. She had a great time! (and fell right into an exhausted sleep when we got home)

Sterling let me buy a new necklace at one of the little shops. It took me FOREVER to pick one because I loved them ALL! Other shops were neat because of the hand-made work, and I LOVED all of the neat Halloween decorations that were out. I really wanted a painting that said Love Fiercely, with all of these neat, bright colors around it to put in our bedroom. It was an AMAZING canvas of colors, and I'm not usually partial to modern art. I could have bought her entire shop. I was in LOVE with the color, and the design. All in all, it was a really fun morning, and I'm really glad we decided to check it out. It was worth going just to smell all the delicious smells wafting through the streets. The kettle corn smell was amazing, but so was the bbq and salsa and fresh fruits. MmmMmm.

Hike of Brutality

I haven't really been hiking since...oh the first of July when I started having morning sickness, and my sister that I went hiking with all the time was also pregnant, and all our kids had the hand, foot and mouth disease. When we hiked in Canada, Sterling carried Ruth. Also last week we 'meandered' and Sterling carried Ruth. But I'm still in pretty decent shape, and I've been training for a 5k (so I can beat my boss) even though I'm pregnant, so I figured I was up for a "family stake hike" and since we were hiking up Snow Basin and got to ride the gondola down for free, it was really only HALF of a hike, right?!?! WRONG!!!!!

This hike was STRAIGHT UP the ski hill. Pretty much. In about fifty yards I wanted to turn back. But I wanted to see if it got better. It never did. I had to singly lift each leg every time I moved it and convince myself that it really could go forward one more step. By the time I was REALLY done, we figured we'd have to hike less if we just kept going up and then we could ride the gondola all the way down. Plus, Sterling had to be back to take a test at the testing center, and we figured that would be faster for him.

Every single person we passed made a comment about Sterling being a true hero/ironman/etc. for carrying Ruth up the mountain. Several small children were stopped along the way. It was NOT what we were expecting from a lovely 'stake hike' that was advertised for FAMILIES. We made it to the top. Since I had thought it would be a nice little jaunt, I hadn't packed anything except some starbursts and some kid granola bars. I was ravenous. The smell of food wafting from the lodge at the top of the mountain made me nauseous because I was SO instantaneously hungry. I told Sterling we had to get on the gondola immediately and go down to eat, or we were buying lunch at the lodge. He voted the lodge. We shared a ten dollar hamburger. Yup. Biggest rip-off of my life. But it came with one of those REALLY delicious crunchy side-pickles. They also let us have cheese fries instead of regular fries at no extra charge.

It was probably the best meal I ever inhaled. It really was a delicious burger. Probably not ten-dollar-good, but definitely worth it, this once. It kept me satiated until we were home and I was able to procure more food for this Little Boy Blue that thinks his mommy needs to eat like an elephant.

Since it was so incredibly strenuous, I wasn't really up to taking pictures. Plus, I was really disappointed because we got lost on our way up and saw all these BEAUTIFUL fall colors, and all we saw on the hike was rock and more rock. No beautiful fall colors. What a waste. But I did take some at the end when we were on the gondola. Ruthie thought it was great fun. I should have taken a picture of the lodge. Apparently its new. And it was gorgeous.

View from the top of the mountain. Nice smog from the Idaho forest fires.

All About Ruth

Umm...cheeser??? Ruth has definitely found her 'cheese' face, and it is hilarious!

 Ruth is into everything these days. She likes cheese, yogurt, bananas, and potatoes best. She just got her first molar, the canine above it is also coming in, and she can say hi, uh-oh, mom, daddy, and baby. She LOVES walking up to people at church and saying "HI" with a really big smile, and then watching them curiously to see what they will give her. Today she scored a sticker from one guy, three princess dolls from a nice lady, and a bracelet from a lady clear across the chapel (this was during sunday school, I don't let her walk around during sacrament meeting). She likes to say 'Mmmm' really loud after pretty much every bite, and since she never really used a sippy cup, she doesn't understand them very well, but drinks from a cup like a CHAMP. She also charms everyone at church because of her red hair. Seriously, I can't get over how much people --especially the older people--just adore her red hair. They love it. Her hair, by the way, is crazy. Today I found a burr stuck in it. Crazy? Yeah. Ruth has also become much more loving lately. She'll come up and give kisses and hugs, and lay her head on your lap and smile all the time. She never used to do that, and she used to squirm whenever you tried to hug her. She is also in love with babies. The lady across the aisle from us in church today had a brand new baby, and Ruth walked over there every few minutes to gaze at him and *softly* stroke him...hence the newly acquired word, 'baby'.  I was thinking about other stuff I wanted to say, but I can't remember it right now.

Sterling came to help me get her to smile, but then she was a little distracted. First, happy to see dad and wanting to be held, then a little disconcerted by his scary noises, and then really happy to be attacked-in-air by him. I love it when they play together.

Hey dad!

Hey dad hold me!

What are you playing, dad?

I do NOT like these scary sound effects, dad!

Okay, that was funny dad!

This is a picture of me at the exact same age(my baby book says 14 months and Ruth is almost there), and with the same hair style as the picture of Ruth! I just thought that was kinda fun. Too bad Ruth is looking UP at Sterling in her pictures instead of straight ahead so it was a better comparison(mostly cause her eyes are scrinched, but if you look at the above picture, her eyes look more like mine). I actually got out my scrapbook to see if there was a picture of me in the same dress Ruth is wearing, since it was once mine, or several of my sisters, but I don't have a picture of it. Too bad.

I spent an evening with Devaney and Ruth at the park while Danica was at soccer practice. It was fun, except it was long, and I was STARVING, so we had to make a Wendy's run mid-practice.

Ruth has also started doing this fake grin, which is kinda funny.

Ruth at grandma's house trying to avoid the cat.

She's watching to make sure the cat isn't following her.

18 weeks

 I'm posting these pictures for my wonderful sister Kayli, who lives in Switzerland, and is due six DAYS before me!! (She keeps saying our kids will be born WAY apart because she'll go early...but we'll see. We have no idea what I'll do because I was induced with Ruthie because she was breech.) Kayli thinks she's looking super pregnant already. I HIGHLY doubt that since she is tinier than me and three inches taller.

 

 At 18 weeks I'm feeling really good. At our new place we have a tub, and I have IMMENSELY enjoyed that with this little boy. He's already kicking like crazy, enough that Sterling can feel it too, which is tons of fun. My co-workers said I was craving chocolate last week...but lets face it, I crave chocolate on a regular basis even when I am not pregnant, so I'm not sure that is anything of note. I'm still hungry ALL THE TIME, but I've found that a bowl of cereal between meals is a great addition to my diet. Also, if I eat another little meal before I go to bed, I feel great in the morning too. So really, not too much exciting. Which is good, I'd rather everything be simple and easy!

This is me at 19 weeks with Ruthie. I choose to think that it is the horizontal stripes and skirt that make me look bigger already with this Little Boy Blue. Ruff.

List o' Goodness

Busy and good all rolled into one = today.

1. Up at five to teach piano lessons to my sister's little munchkins. I just can't get enough of her 8 yr old right now, she is at that stage where she just wants to please-at least in the piano playing department-and she is super cute about it. Also she has red boots. I am jealous. My other niece got her ears pierced and proudly told me that I  "was the first to know outside of the people living in her house." I feel so privileged, haha! Plus, I snagged a wheat pancake from the stack my sister made, and they are my favorite. Two breakfasts are definitely the norm lately.

2. I ran into work for two hours this morning to help finish some of the paper work (we are going paperless and since its been a slow process I am trying to speed the hygiene end of things up). It made me VERY VERY VERY grateful that I work on people's teeth, not talk to them on the phone. People want to know all about their bills and all sorts of ornery things. I'd rather not stare at a computer screen and talk on the phone to people all day. So glad that I clean their teeth and don't have to listen to anything about their finances.

3. Finally got baby locks for the cabinets under our kitchen sink. So nice to be able to let Ruth rummage through any cupboards she wants now, and not worry about her and the cleaners.

4. I cleaned my kitchen. It always feels SOOOO good. But then I feel like a monster trying to not let Ruth do anything to ruin it. And then I think that that is a bad mother. So maybe I should never clean my kitchen. But then I wouldn't feel so good. Conundrums.

5. I also made dinner. Hashbrown casserole. An oldie but a goodie, and it sure tasted good to me tonight! Ruth ate so much I thought it was going to start exploding out of her--she has really started eating these days. Which brings me to another happy note...

6. Ruth has a molar!!!! She has had a runny nose, and been slobbering like CRAZY lately, not to mention much more fussy and waking up at night sometimes. The molar on her left side is poking through the gum tissue. I just hope the other ones aren't far behind so we don't have to keep going through this process.

7 and 8. Sterling came home with the happy news that he got a 95% on his first test of the semester, and that he found a job as a work study in the Registrar's office on campus! He's been looking for a job, mostly I think because he is kinda tuckered out from being a CNA for the last two years. Also, he thought that if he could find one on campus we would have less juggling with our one vehicle. This one works out perfectly, is the perfect amount of hours, they work around HIS school schedule, he'll be home EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND, and he can study while he's working!!! Fabulous. Just in time too, because I was ready to tell him to start picking up the CNA hours :).

9. We celebrated by going to buy 20 pounds of chicken breasts on sale that we had heard about--to freeze in our chest freezer---only to find out that it is a regional sale. Logan only. I called my wonderful sis-in-law Lindsay Ann, and she said she might be able to grab us some tonight. If not, I'll be there tomorrow because my mom called me up and said APPLES ARE READY!!!! I LOVE bottled applesauce, and have been wishing for a long time now that I bottled more last time. This time I'm making double. MmmMmm. A day at mom's and a day with applesauce. Tomorrow could not look better.

10. To drown our misery over not being able to purchase the chicken tonight, we stopped at Zeppe's. Sterling has never been. I used to go almost every Monday night after our Single's Ward FHE with a bunch of people. It's a frozen custard/Italian ice place and it is the BEST I have had. Sterling agreed, he LOVED it, and thought it was a good way to end our day. Next time though, he knows to go with the one dollar kid size, like me. The small did him in. Haha.

To top off the entire list, I'm getting another one of these (a boy one) soon! His kicks are getting bigger and bigger!  Awww...wasn't Ruthie the prettiest baby girl ever?!?!

And that concludes my list of wonderful things that happened today. Hope your day was great as well!

Pendulum

Why does it seem life always goes in these wide pendulum leaps instead of just slowly changing? Either you are bored (think this summer when I had morning sickness so I didn't want to go anywhere or do anything and I had no husband to play with because he was studying OVER 24/7 for the mcat) or you are INSANELY BUSY (think right now when I work two days a week, teach piano, babysit sometimes once a week for my sister, twice a week for a friend, picked up extra shifts at work, want to bottle applesauce, and am trying to find time to train a little bit for a 5k, and actually have a husband in evenings to spend some time with, also I have a calling that I have to prepare for-no showing up and playing primary songs for me anymore, although I kinda like my new calling- and I'm desperately trying to finish Ruth's baby book before we get a new baby, not to mention Dr. appt's for this new little one).

I love being busy. I hated being bored and sick. Why can't they just overlap a little teensy bit so its not SO MUCH of a drastic change? All in all though, I love fall. I love getting back into a routine. I love the food and the leaves and the weather and the bustling spirit and the feeling of starting a new chapter in life.

I am feeling FABULOUS lately. I don't know how many of the old wives' tales are true, so whether its because this a boy, because its my second pregnancy, or just because, I have been so much less sick. I can also feel him kick and move like crazy, and last night even Sterling could feel those big kicks!!! Makes it so much more exciting and real! Oh and the other hygienist in our office that works 1 day a month said she'd cover my maternity leave---if I covered hers! She would go on maternity leave pretty much right as I would be finishing mine. Perfect planning, haahaa.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a few photos from our Canada trip this August of Red Rock Canyon-aka, my favorite spot on earth.

red rocks are especially yummy

We put our camera on the rock-face to try and get a family photo. This was the best we got.

I think I have hiked further into the canyon that this with my siblings when I was younger, but it was late and getting chilly and we weren't really prepared in the baby department to go plunging through that. It was fun to hike as far as we did though.

Little Legs, a hike, and church

This is her first real pair of bluejeans, and LOOK HOW ADORABLE those little legs are!!! I couldn't get over it, all day long. She's not the easiest to take pictures of lately though, cause those little legs are constantly in motion!

Look how cute those legs are!!!!

We went on a hike yesterday morning, because the leaves are changing, and I want to go out and enjoy every single second of it! Ruth had a pretty good time, despite her nose that seems to be running a million miles a minute.

The light was still coming over the mountain and the lighting was beautiful!

We saw this cute little bridge. But it was a different trail. We decided we'd try it sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Family picture.

Okay, take another look at those ADORABLE little legs poking out of that big dress!

And the pig tails. Aren't they so ADORABLE?

I know this is an odd picture. But she looks SO GROWN UP walking away from me all on her own. Oh sad day. And look at the little dimples on her fingers, I love those SO SO SO SO much!

And look at those gorgeous eyelashes.

Gorgeous little girl.

I called daddy for some smile back-up. He did a wonderful job, even if she was sitting in poor lighting.

I wish I had my sister Kayli's talent to capture the moment. Ruth is SO hard to sit still for a picture right now, and I feel like she is at just one of the most adorable stages ever. She is so much fun. 

Except during church. Does anyone have any great advice for 13 month olds at church? We have five more months before nursery and I feel like they are going to last FOREVER. Plus, I'll just get her to nursery and then we'll have another one, who planned that anyway? (at least they don't overlap) IF we get her to take her morning nap early, and IF she stays down for a decent amount of time, then she usually does great for about the first 15 minutes of sacrament meeting. The next 30 minutes are a game of keeping her from crawling under, over, and around the bench, keeping her occupied, and guessing what toys to bring that might have the best luck. Today Sterling's phone--turned off--did the trick for a good ten minutes. Thats a record. My problem is, she doesn't really color yet, or like stickers, and she gets sick of our quiet books in about four seconds. She doesn't really need a snack right then, so they usually end up making more of a mess than anything. Today she fell backwards off the bench and onto the floor (not very far, just from where we were sitting) and once she calmed down the dad in front of us turned around and said his kids did that so often him and his wife called it the 'disappearing-kid-trick' haahaa. Not to mention that Sterling usually spends the next hour-while I teach the 12 year olds-walking the floors of the gym with her, and I spend the next hour-while he leads the senior primary in singing time-walking the halls with her. I was SO EXCITED to be able to finally have a calling that allowed me to go to Relief Society. But that is already a dead dream. Sigh. So...any good suggestions? 

Other than that Ruthie is so cute lately. She keeps herself pretty much occupied playing around the house, she can go up the stairs by herself, except going down she has to yell at me to come sit her down, and then she'll go down just fine, silly girl. She has a hard time sharing with her cousin Devaney and the little girl I babysit, Olivia, but they do pretty well for the most part. Her eating habits go on and off--some days she'll eat everything fabulously, and the next day she turns up her nose at everything. She is pretty much completely weaned from the bottle. When she gets extremely fussy sometimes I will pull one out with a couple ounces to get her to sleep, but that is more of a crutch for me than anything else. 

I just pulled out all the clothes the next size up for her, and they are toddler clothes, not baby clothes, and it is SO SAD! So cute, but so sad. I can't believe how big she is. Oh, and she also LOVES our new tub. She loves that I only fill it up with enough water so she can lay back her head and splash around like she is swimming. She smiles and laughs and laughs. So cute. 

Now, you probably are terribly sick of my beautiful baby rant, especially since she is MY daughter, and not yours. But someday, when I catch up on her baby book(before Christmas!), this info will be super useful.