Is there a doctor in the house??

It's easy to recognize the "firsts" in life - first steps, first words, first day of scool, first boyfriend, first marriage (haha!), first baby (and then the cycle starts again); it is not, however, as easy to recognize the "lasts." Fortunately we get a couple freebies, like the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, EVER. Just like Friday was for Joe! Congratulations, Joe! No more college for this family for another 18 years ... unless Patrick turns out to be as smart as Doogie Howser. If that's the case, though, I don't think any of us will mind :)

How did I get here?

And now it's my turn to have a birthday - 25 years young! But how did I get here? I've decided to break it down into 25 life-changing events or decisions that brought me to where I am today.

1. I was born. This is very important to the next 24 items!
2. The analytical portion of my brain failed to mature, rendering me a helpless mess at math.
3. At 8 years old I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, officially making me a member of the LDS Church.
4. I planned and replanned and (poorly) painted my parent's house in an attempt to "make it more awesome." Although it did not, in fact, make it "more awesome," it was the beginning of my love of interior design.
5. In an attempt to make my high school transcript "more awesome" for chance at a good college, I took foreign language classes. Apparantly colleges want "well-rounded" students. Since French is obviously far superior (though far less useful) than Spanish, I took French. Since 4 years of language looks the best, I took 4 years. That's pretty much all the thought I put into that.
6. I fleshed out my procrastination skills, really turning it into an art. From high school on out I procrastinated about everything that could be procrastinated.
7. I attended EFY (Especially For Youth) at BYU the summer I was 16, reconfirming my faith in religion; specifically that I did, in fact, want to be LDS.
8. I proved so inept at match that I dropped out of pre-calculus my junior year of high school, cementing my future as a non-mathematician.
9. I dated a nice guy named John who introduced me to his friend Jennifer. Though John and I broke up, we remained in contact and were good friends.
10. I attended college at BYU-Hawaii, where they had a "language track" or a "math track." If you studied foreign language for at least 2 years you were not required to take any math classes to graduate from college. Lucky for me, I could refer back to life decision #5 and did not take any more math, though I took LOTS more French.
11. As long as I was studying French, studying abroad IN France made a lot of sense. There I received lots more college credit in French language courses, causing me to consider majoring in French.
12. My love of Interior Design and complete disinterest in any other majors BYU-H was offering led me to change universities. None of the BYU's offered undergraduate degrees in Interior Design, so I had to go somewhere that did. Not being a millionarie, I had to go somewhere in-state. CSU was my best option, so I transferred after 2 years of college.
13. Still in contact with ex-boyfriend John, who was still in contact with old friend Jennifer, who was a student at CSU, I got a call asking if I needed a place to live. Although my first semester at CSU was starting in 2 weeks, thanks to procrastination I sure was homeless. Fortunately she needed a third roommate for her and her friend, so I came to live with Michelle and Jennifer.
14. CSU's Interior Design undergraduate program is 4 years long, no ifs, ands, or buts. They flesh out the 4 years with basic requirements, which I had already fulfilled in my 2 previous years of college. With lots of time to spare, I completed my load with more French language courses.
15. Somewhere in here, I broke up with other guys and was single for the first time in a long time. This is important for #18.
16. I met Angela in the various French classes we took together. As you remember, I was still taking lots of French.
17. During football season I jumped on the CSU bandwagon with my roommates, Jennifer and Michelle, who were fanatics and never missed a game, including televised games. Although I was no fanatic, I went along out to CB&Potts to watch the televised CSU v. New Mexico game. CSU was losing terribly, so when Angela (#16) called to hang out, I ditched the TV game and went out with her instead.
18. While hanging out with Angela, who was dating one of Joe's best friends from Craig, she asked me if I'd like to meet Joe, then asked Joe if he'd like to meet me. Being single for the first time in a long time, I figured it would be worth a laugh. Little did I know, it was worth a lifetime.
19. Joe asked me on a date, and I said yes.
20A. Joe asked me to marry him, and I said yes.
21. Asked Joe to tag along to church with me and he was pulled in by a) church basketball, b) great home teachers who were not dweebs, c) 3 more hours with me on Sunday, and d) the promise of a whole lot more than one little lifetime together. To get an amazing guy who, amazingly enough, converts? A girl can't get too much luckier in one lifetime! But read on.
20B. A year after the wedding we recommitted and were sealed in the Denver Temple.
22. Although not married long, we were very much in love and anxious for a child, so we tried to time the due date to be between semesters. If this hadn't worked, we were going to wait 6 more months and have a baby in the summer. Neither one really panned out; I had a baby the first week of my last semester of college.
23. Our love of family life caused Joe to re-think his pursuit of a teaching degree, causing him to go back to school for Construction Management. I didn't have a huge decision in this, but I was a huge supporter!
24. Although I continued my studies in Interior Design, the CSU system jerked me out of quite a few French language credits from my study abroad, making it a hassle to get a second major in French. I settled for a minor and graduated with my I.D. degree in May of 2008.
25. With January just around the corner and Joe's official 1st day of work even sooner (December 22) we are just waiting for insurance to become official so we can repeat #22, without all the hassle of babysitters while I go to class.

So now you see - if I hadn't been so bad at math, I wouldn't have taken so much French, so I wouldn't have met Angela, who wouldn't have introduced me to Joe, and I wouldn't have had a beautiful baby and be looking forward to more all by the time I turned 25. Thank goodness for being creative instead :)


My birthday wish: to have more time to read Les Miserables - 154 pages down, only 1,039 to go!

Finished product

Ta-Da!

O, Tannenbaum

Like everyone else in the world, we got our Christmas tree this weekend! And, like everyone else in the world, it's time to show some pictures of our handiwork.

On Saturday morning we went up to Red Feather Lakes where you can cut your own tree for $10! Instead of simply paying for a tree it's more like paying for a fun trip to the outdoors, the experience of trekking through knee-high snow with a bundled toddler on your hip (weighing twice as much as usual from the extra layers), the joy of finding "the one," and then sawing it to the ground and dragging it like a neaderthal back to the car with you. I say $10 well spent! Of course, as soon as we drove back through town we were dismayed at how much more perfect the trees in the tree lots looked, but our has real personality and memories attached to it, and that's what's important to us (at least that's what we tell ourselves!). I'll let Patrick narrate the rest.

K, dad, we've been driving for 2 hours, but I think we're getting close - I can smell the pine!


You think I should just pull over here on the right? Alright, but you'll have to help me park.


Thanks. I needed a little help with that gear shift. Now where's my jacket? This hat just isn't going to cut it with that cold outside.


Man, mom and I look good all bundled up! What's that? Put my arms down? Sorry, no can do - too many layers in the way!

Ok, enough with the photos, on to the hunt! I think I see one over there - see where I'm pointing? Yep, over there! Mush! Mush!

Now this is more like it... except for that whole grove of aspens. Let's avoid that like the plague, they're too tough to decorate when they look dead.

Yay, Dad found it! The perfect apartment tree! Big enough to sit on the ground, small enough that if I topple it, I won't kill the furniture. Hey, um, dad? Where'd your coat go?

Now THAT is pure strength. Better keep up the snacks so I can get big like him.

Mmmmmm, I REALLY deserve these crackers, it was tough getting carried through all that snow. Now let's head home! ...I'll drive.

Happy Birthday Joe!

Today Joe turns 25 - happy birthday, Joe!

Funny how birthdays are remembered differently by the parents and the child. All my birthday memories are about balloons and friends and fun pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey games we played. A mother's memory is probably something more like the actual birth day, going to the hospital and hating her husband for a few hours and then, of course, finally meeting that not-so-smiling but oh-so-cute face. So in honor of Joe's mom getting the short end of the birthday-stick (I prefer pin-the-tail to a hospital any day) a whopping 25 years ago, here's a tribute to the cutest baby around: Joe!

And now the handsomest father I know (on another memoral birth day). I love you!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Fort Collins finally had its first snow of the season! Unseasonably late, to be sure, but definitely in time for Christmas! Patrick sported his new winter coat with a hood since he refuses to wear hats, and I hate to think how quickly a mitten would get flung in the snow, so he doesn't wear those, either. Perhaps I'll knit some with the string that attaches all the way through the sleeves and over the shoulders? We'll see how motivated I get, if this cold keeps up, and how long his winter slumbers (naps) are so I can get some more crafts done. But for the time being the cold doesn't seem to bother him and he loves running his fingers through the snow! So I say mittens, shmittens. Still, nice hood :)

A Drinking Problem

We've had a few great ideas to try yucky "adult" food on Patrick, positive it would get a great disgusted face out of him. So far, nothing. Sure, baby food needs to be spit out and thrown on the floor, but lime wedges? MMMMMMM!! Freezing cold ice cream? Bring it on! Crazy carbonated drinks? Put that in my sippy cup, please! So why fight it? Instead, we've decided to make him the new face of Diet Pepsi, keeping it in touch with the younger generation!* We're going to make millions.

*This stunt is performed by a professional baby with an empty drink; similar stunts should not be attempted at home.