The Oaks

Argh...so tired!! Here I am waiting for Noelle to fall back to sleep after a two hour bout. Hopefully, she's down for good this time. She always seems to find the times James is at work. Frick!! Anyway, I thought I would blog real quick like while I am waiting. Today, Noelle and I went to my annual trip to "The Oaks" with my friend Jamie and her mom Gale. It's a restaurant up in Ogden Canyon, on the way to Huntsville/Pineview. We go during color change and it's a lot of fun to sit next to the river and wait hours for food every year. Hate the food and the service, but love the trip. Only these last two years, was I able to bring a new person along, Paul McCartney. Noelle loved it this year. Last year, she was a tad young. Lots of fun, more pics to come. (Jamie has most of them) As word of warning, we have lots of fun things planned this October to blog about... So keep an eye open!!

Bunny goes hop hop hop

Real quickly. I wanted to show you how I was showing Noelle why we change diapers. I used the "bunny goes hop hop hop" as an example. You may find that the "bunny goes hop hop hop" needs a size 5 diaper rather than a 4. Fat.

No point of crying over lost hair.

So I did it. I was pushed over the edge by my lovely sister-in-law Nicole into deciding to cut Noelle's bangs. It was so hard to do. I've wanted to do it for it so long, or at least something, because I can't do her hair everyday. It's just too hard. So I finally did it. I cried when the first cut was made and James fell over crying from laughing so hard. It was so bad. I did my best to fix it the best I could. I hope it looks semi-decent until it grows a bit, so I can get it re-cut. My daughter's first hair cut, and I cried like a baby. It's so bad!!! Don't humor me...I know it's bad...my poor baby. She looks as if she has a mullet.

Food with sticks

If you know our Noelle at all, you know she likes sticks. I would say the food on it, but typically that's not true. The only exception is an ice cream bar that her grandparents give her on occasion. (Or every time we're there *Wink*Wink*) I just wanted to share a photo of Noelle's love of sticks. Yummy! Oh by the way, for all of you who know...I FINALLY met my neighbor! She had a baby so I had an excuse to bring her something and meet them. Come to find out, she was my visiting teacher. What a slacker! Ha ha! It was nice to finally meet the family that has been living next to us for a year and a half now. Props for me!! Yea!!

Free Ikea Advertising

I know, I know, I'm a slacker. I have been distracted and stressed to a degree I've never known before. But I thought I would at least add some pictures and some updates. These pictures are from today. We bought some butcher paper for Noelle and inner artistic tendencies. (At least, I think so) We taped the paper to the floor and let her go wild. Unfortunately, she was less interested in drawing as she was in basically everything else. I added a photo of the final drawing, which obviously includes some of my own stick figure-esque drawings for the upcoming holiday. Also, I've included some photos of Noelle's room. As some of you might know, she didn't have her own room up until a couple of months ago. It's finally done and this is what it looks like, at least for now. Just consider this your Ikea catalog. Although the "Love Sac" is from my previous life as swinging single. She has since inherited it. It's ok, they're overrated anyway. If you haven't noticed, the room has a common theme, "bugs". I wish I could show you the sign for it. Noelle tries to do it, but is too uncoordinated. The sign is your thumb on your nose with the two fingers standing up (as if they were antennae) and then you extending and then clenching your pointer and middle finger a couple of times. I can't think of a better way to explain than that. Hopefully you can get a visual. Other than the usual, nothing is really going on in our lives. Sometimes I wish I had more to talk than Noelle, James and my family, but my world revolves around them.

"More"

I just thought I would share something I found cute. Noelle has officially learned her first sign. (as in ASL, we've been watching "Signing Time") She says and signs "more". It's so cute!!! She does it while I'm feeding her. (of course) I've been trying to get her to say "more" for a long time, but it finally stuck, along with the new sign. I've found learning some ASL has been a lot of fun for me. As an English major, I'm supposed to take a foreign language. So, I'm thinking I'm going to take ASL. Who knew it was a foreign language? (meant to be hypothetical) Also, yesterday, at my parents' house, Noelle started saying "sit, sit". She yells at the family dog, Caesar. At first, we weren't completely sure if she was swearing or what. It took us a while, but we figured it out. What a smart girl, already understanding to yell at the "dumb dog".

Another update

So let's see...it's been awhile since I've been on. Let me try and catch everyone up. On the 24th of July, also known in Utah as "Pioneer Day", James and I took our first over night away from Noelle. Thanks to my gracious mother who took her for the night, we were allowed uninhibited fun. So we chose to go the Heber Valley Railroad for their "Fiddlers and Fireworks" event. (I know, so rebellious) It was actually some of the most fun we've had in a very long time. Everything was perfect. Perfect weather, perfect setting, perfect activity. We might have to make it a tradition. I am not sure when we'll be able to have another night away from our precious yet restricting baby girl, so I'm glad we took advantage of it. There are many nights that I wish I could escape for just a moment. So I'm glad there was moral, ethical, and legal opportunity for me to fulfill that wish.


We took Noelle to the zoo recently. Although, it seemed to be bad timing for her, it still was a lot of fun for us. She seemed to be more interested in the fact that there was a "BA!" (ball) in the elephant habitat, than there were actual real life elephants. Also, the meerkats, were confused with "deggies" or "(insert panting noise)" AKA doggies. But this is a common misconception for Noelle, so nothing new. Nevertheless, a fun new experience for all of us.

James recently broke his hand. At first, they said there was a floating piece of bone in his hand and he needed a cast today. Although, when he went in for his appointment to get it, they wanted to do new x-rays and sent them to the radiologist. At this point and time, they're not sure what bone is broken. They want to wait another week to do more x-rays and see if they need to do surgery or just put on a cast. It wouldn't seem like it, but this has actually been more of a stressful experience to me, than it has been to James. So next week, I'll have to update once again.

As a reminder, mostly to myself, I start school on Wednesday. I'm actually more excited than nervous at this point. This is most likely to change, by the time I'm driving down to school on Wednesday morning. I'm officially starting my 7th year out of high school, so this seems very different and new to me. But I'm glad I'm starting later than never.

I'll keep you all updated.