Thursday, January 27, 2011

Catch up Time!

This is the first of 5 posts... I have a lot of catching up to do. And here it is! Just for you . . . and for journaling purposes ;)



**I never posted these!! It's May now... May/25/11 :) I never posted these posts I was saving as drafts b/c I hadn't added photos... I should go back and add photos. . . But I'm posting these suckers now!

Thanksgiving Part I - Vegas/Iowa

Thursday, a week before Thanksgiving, we drove down to Vegas. It's cheaper to fly out Vegas, MUCH cheaper. Cheap Hotels too, and the best free entertainment in the US.

*We stayed at the Station Palace. You have to pay a $15 amenities fee when you stay there, which includes a free airport shuttle. AND you can park your car there when you fly out Vegas, we saved big time w/o paying airport parking daily fees.

*We walked up and down the strip for 2 hours with Scarlett in the stroller(9-11pm). It was a blast! It was also ridiculous because we were in search for a 'cool, not your average inexpensive restaurant' place to eat dinner. And... we'd pass one and decide to see what we'd find next. Seth and I were both kinda grumpy b/c we were tired and hungry. It was an adventure. We'd walk in and out of hotel lobbies to see what neat things we could find. And we actually ended up eating at the 'cool, not your average inexpensive restaurant' - Panda express. ha - yea, that really worked. AND! It was just a few blocks away from our car, we ate on the way back. Joy.

*We got lots of compliments and 'aww' looks b/c of Scarlett. A few men who had clearly had a few drinks in them, advised Seth while we were waiting at a crosswalk. "You better not let that one out of the house once she turns 12. She is a cute, it's all down hill from here". Thanks boys.

*Our flight left Friday at noon to Cedar Rapids, IA. 20 min drive from my home. Mom, Dad, Aaron, and Kara picked us up about 6:00pm and we drove north to Cedar Falls to see my High School football team play in the State Championship game! It was pretty fun!!

*We Spent Saturday, Sunday, Monday in Iowa City. Saturday, my sister and Bro in Law Alicia/Tim came down from their home in Wisconsin. We all went to eat at Texas Roadhouse and then to see "Unstoppable" at the theater.

*Sunday was busy, busy too! We went to Church at the home ward. And There was a big Hartley Family dinner right after. It was so great to spend time with Gma & pa Hartley, Dillon & Sarah were in town from Georgia... Armbrusters, Days, tony's family, Tim & Hannah's family, etc were all there. It's never a dull moment during a Hartley Family gathering. Scarlett really enjoyed Gma Hartley's homemade Macaroni & Cheese. But then again, who doesn't?

*Monday, Seth went to join his family who was gathering in Nauvoo for the wedding on Tuesday. But I stayed another day in Iowa City with my family. Monday night my sister Kara had a Jazz Band concert, she plays the piano. I'm glad I stayed for that. Scarlett really enjoys live music, a lot. It was really fun to see her dancing on my dad's lap during the concert... Alicia and Scarlett's Cousins Ellia & Beck were there too. After the concert Alice and I drove to Nauvoo with the kids to join the wedding festivities on the Burke side.

I love that a lot of our families live in the same state, Iowa. We're lucky, it's such a good thing!

Thanksgiving Part II - wedding/traveling

This whole Thanksgiving trip was crazy packed with traveling and exciting things! (not calling it a vacation, it wasn't very relaxing... esp after leaving Iowa City - when is a wedding ever relaxing??)

*Tuesday (11/23), Seth's youngest sister Amy got married in the Nauvoo temple. It was a very memorable ceremony, and a lot of preparation and thoughts had been put in this day. Nauvoo weddings are especially enjoyable because Nauvoo has a very big, special place in my heart. I Loved being there, especially with Seth and Scarlett with me.

*The Bride and Groom looked stunning. The sun was setting as pictures were being taken, and it was a beautiful day. A bit nippy... but not everyone can get as lucky warmer November weather as Seth and I did on our Wedding day in Illinois Nov 25, 2006. We got family/group/wedding party pictures.

*There was an hour between the pictures and when the dinner was to begin. So Seth, Scarlett, and I along w/ the Jarvinen's headed to Seth's parent's hotel room to help his dad pack up the room and check out. That night they were to stay at my aunt Cheri's house (where we had stayed the night before, just down Mullholland St, the main streen in town). Sandi, Seth's mom was with the bride and groom taking more pictures with the photographer around town.

* Seth's dad, Steve, had a heart attack just 3 weeks before this wedding. Three weeks is not enough time for anyone to recover from a heart attack, especially recover enough to not be overwhelmed with their baby's wedding!!

As we were all in the room trying to decide where to pack what, Steve collapsed. It was the scariest thing I have ever witnessed. He didn't lose consciousness, but it was clear something was wrong. I called 911 and an ambulance came, actually two did. Davin and Seth had carried him to lay on the bed, and he was being attended to by the EMT's within 15 min. Nauvoo doesn't have a hospital, the closest was Keokuk and Ft. Madison.

I was pretty shaken up through the whole experience. I'm so grateful my sister, Alicia was there for the wedding. Most of the extended family was just next door, in the building waiting for the dinner to begin. But Alicia was outside in her car when I had left to try to find Sandi. Alicia helped calm me down and talk through the experience too.

*Seth and I missed out on most of the dinner the groom's family worked very hard on putting together. But we were glad we could go to the hospital and be with Seth’s parents. It’s hard being away from our parents, especially in these sort of circumstances. So we’re grateful we were there this time.

Keokuk hospital decided to transport him to Iowa City to the University of Iowa hospitals. Which was convenient! So the in-laws came over to stay at my family’s home as they had Steve in observation for 24 hrs.

Things were looking good for Steve. They did a catheter assessment and his heart actually looks amazing compared to how much it was damaged during the heart attack in October. So that was great news! On Thursday, Thanksgiving, Steve was released from the hospital and joined us all in Waterloo where we spent Thanksgiving.

Waterloo – Seth’s grandparents and aunt/uncle live there, 1 ½ hrs north of my hometown. Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, of course… And pies galore! It was so fun to be with tons of cousins, and there were so, so many little ones running around. It’s neat to see how our families are all changing.

Thanksgiving day was our wedding anniversary as well. Happy wonderful 4 years Seth! Under the circumstances we didn’t really go out and do anything fun, but it was nice to be with family.

*Friday – we drove to Michigan. 9 hours… It was a full day of traveling. Scarlett did pretty well, she slept most of the time.

*Saturday – Reception day! We decorated the church’s cultural hall in preparation to party. We kept Steve down, and away from all the excitement as he was recovering. But that was pretty impossible, so Seth dropped him off at an Urgent Care and left him there a few hours. They found out he had Pneumonia. This was his second time in 2010 getting Pneumonia. In March, just after Scarlett was born he was in the hospital for 10 days because of Pneumonia. This man needs a break from physical ailments!!!

*Reception – The party went on. Jake and Amy were the beautiful bride and groom again. They had a beautiful first dance, they were nice to each other as they cut the cake, and shared many “hello’s” and “Thanks for coming” to the many who came to celebrate. We danced the night away, and mingled with friends we don’t get to see often enough.

Scarlett magically napped through a lot of it. As everyone was clapping after Seth read a letter to Amy that her dad wrote for her, Scarlett clapped for the first time! I had been trying to teach her to clap for weeks up until that moment, it was exciting! Now she LOVES to clap her hands, it’s super cute.
*Sunday we said our good byes to the Burke’s. It was tough to leave right after the big events and craziness. We didn’t get much time to just sit down and visit and enjoy each other’s company. That’s just part of the family wedding package though. We drove back to Iowa and Monday we flew out of Cedar Rapids.

** You’d think this was the end of this LONG, traveling Thanksgiving/Wedding of ours. . . But we still had a long, long day ahead of us.
Our plane got into Vegas at 9:00ish, we took the free airport shuttle back to our hotel, found our car untouched… and began our 5 1/2hr drive back to Orem.

At about 2:00am Seth stopped to get gas in Beaver, UT. I then took a turn driving and not 5 miles out of the Beaver, our car’s transmission went out. BUMMER!!! So, good thing we had a full tank of gas. The tow truck guy, Rick, didn’t get to our stranded car until 3:30am. It was -3 degrees out, we are so lucky it wasn’t the engine, etc and our heater continued to work.

I am TERRIFIED of wide, open spaces… in the country… AT NIGHT!!!! TeRrIfIeD. What a great way for me to face my fears. Oh yea, and Scarlett was sick. She caught a cold from dear cousins over Thanksgiving day. I had made a Doc appointment for her while we were in Vegas, assuming we’d get home that night. Nope….

We got towed back to Beaver. Stayed in a hotel room from 4:15am – noon check out time (SUPER LAME!!!) And hung out at the hotel’s lobby and breakfast room until we knew what the plan would be. My brother Ben came to the rescue. He borrowed his Dad in law’s truck, we rented a UHaul trailer, and we were towed back to Orem, getting in at 10pm. UGhghghgh, all along Scarlett’s goopy and crusted over, she's got a nasty cold and needed the doctor... Turns out later she had an Ear infection.

If you ever go to Beaver, chances are high you'll meet a Rick Jarvis. He's the tow man, UHAUL inventory supervisor, best mechanic in town, and . . . Bishop. We call for a tow truck - they sent Rick. Rick says he'll take our car to his shop, he's the main mechanic in town. Sweet. In the morning I call to find out if there's a trailer at the UHAUL place - they say I need to talk to Rick. Later in the day, I was trying to find a ride for us to get to the UHAUL Rental place. So I try to find a Relief Society president or bishop (through a local church branch of the same church we belong to) using lds.org. The only Bishop listed was a "Bishop Jarvis", I called the number and left a message at a home message machine. Later in the day I asked the lady at the front desk of the hotel "So... is Rick's last name Jarvis?" Her reply: "Yes ma'am". Of course it Rick! He is the man of the town. Oh, Rick also was buds with the hotel and got us a somewhat discounted price.

THAT Was our Thanksgiving adventure... INSANE!!!! Lets re-cap one thing here...
Thurs-Fri - Vegas, NV
Sat thru Mon - Iowa City, IA
Tues - Nauvoo, IL
Wed - Iowa City. IA
Thurs - Waterloo, IA
Friday-Saturday - Howell, MI
Sunday - Iowa City, IA
Monday- Beaver, UT
Tuesday - Home Sweet Home.

Insane.

with a 9 month old.

Christmas!!

Christmas this year was different than any other Christmas I've ever experienced!! We were a family... of our own... in our own home. We got a real tree. We had our Miss Scarlett with us. We went to Christmas parties Every Single Weekend During December!

I Love The Holidays! I do. But ... the month goes crazy fast with all the Holiday Everything. You know what I'm saying.

We saw the Christmas Motab concert, with David Archuleta as the guest. LOVED IT. Really wish we had walked around Temple Square to enjoy the lights though, :( :( :(. Next Year.

Seth's work party was at the Grand America hotel downtown Salt Lake. It was a blast. About 1,000 people were there. They had a photo booth - That was a ton of fun. Random tables with good food on it, like a Chinese theme you could make up your own Take Out box... steak/potatoes/veggies, etc. . . finger foods . . . hot chocolate/coffee/bar. They had Xbox Kinect & wii's hooked up to huge TV's you could play different games on to get raffle tickets. We had a gigantic, everyone involved Rock-Paper-Scissors contest. They had the final 4 people who hadn't lost go up on the stage to finish it all out. 3rd place - SLR camera 2nd place - Gigantic TV 1st place . . . drumroll. . . . Trip to TAHITI!!! (worth $7,000). Insane.
They also had an ugly sweater contest - we all voted on a winner, who go $1,000 cash. Neon Trees performed at the end... 9:30pmish. They were amazing performers. It was a great evening.

My work party. Catered dinner at a UVU ballroom. Had a little co-worker baby face/current picture contest. And got our Christmas bonus. I'm glad there are cool girls I work with and we sat at an entertaining table.

Ward party... Christmas music, dinner. We mingled with one of the counselors in the Stake Presidency and his family. Turned out he went through the same Masters Program Seth is currently in the middle of with University of Phoenix. It was so awesome we could chat about how it's going, what it'll be like, get tips and advice, etc. It was super cool, and encouraging.

We had a Christmas Eve party with some friends and family. Seth's Sister and her family came, Phil & Sierra, My Brother Brian, and Ashley&Ian. We played a game, ate chili, visited, Exchanged gifts.

After everyone had left, we were very ready for bed, but we read the Nativity story from the Scriptures and cuddled on the couch with our beautiful Christmas tree across the room. I wish we weren't as tired as we were...

Christmas Morning!!! It was exciting! I had planned to make my mom's sweet roll she always makes Christmas Morning - but I didn't. :(. We opened presents. SCarlett was much more interested in the wrapping paper until we'd show her what toy would do what. Except for her pillow pet, she really lit up for that! She squeeled, and kissed it multiple times. It was pretty cute.

We skyped with Seth's parents as Scarlett opened up the gifts from Gmapa Burke. She loves the Baby Einstein piano they gave her. She also got a baby doll from them, her first one! And I was surprised how interested she was in it, and the look she gave it when she saw what it was. It was touching? Not sure what the word is... but I could see my little girl's heart become fond of it in an instant. It was cute.

My brother Brian came over late morning and we watched blue ray movies (we bought over Black Friday) on our new blue ray player. We watched the movies ALL DAY LONG! In our PJ's... in fact, we wore PJ's for the rest of the weekend!

Later afternoon we went to the Jarvinen's for family Christmas Day Dinner. It was pretty yummy!! Aubrey fixed up Ham, Potatoes, rolls, bean casserole, etc. etc. Amazing Pie w/ ice cream. Scarlett and Preston had a blast cruising around the apartment chasing each other. Well, I think Preston was just walking toward Scarlett and she would think he was chasing her and start laughing hysterically. Those two are soooo cute cousins together. It's crazy adorable. We played some games... went home and watched another movie. :).

And that was our Christmas! Seth got . . . a remote control helicopter, clippers for me to learn how to cut his hair, Inception, two neck ties, can't remember what else. I got perfume, cashmere hat/glove set, an awesome folding table I can craft/sew/scrapbook on. Family present - blu ray player w/ movies. Scarlett - pillow pet, reverence book, toy I can't explain from us. And the baby Einstein Piano, bib, doll from Gmapa Burke. AND she got a savings bond, Cute book, dress, and pocket nativity from Gmapa Hartley. Oh! Davin, bro in law, handmade me this really cool Japanese lantern. It's awesome! We have it hanging in our living room, but need to work out the plug in situation so we can use it. It's pretty amazing though. Seth got a Video Game and cousin Preston gave Scarlett this fun Kangaroo shapes toy that talks and sings. My brother Brian got us some cool movies, a vintage mickey mouse sweatshirt, and Scarlett - a cute hoody. It was such a great Christmas, look how blessed we are. And nothing tops the feeling of Christmas' spirit. Nothing tops the feelings sent straight from Heaven, and having the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ's life in our lives.

That... was our Christmas. It was it's own different, special, exciting and fun Christmas season.

As of late...

New Years was nice. We really just stayed in and had an evening to ourselves. We watched "How to Train your dragon". . . and had some Martinelli's together. Scarlett was fast asleep.

The new year is always an exciting time of year. . . the sense of renewing goals and starting fresh. But is always a downer in a way b/c . . . Winter is still here, There's no paid holiday at work until Memorial Day, and It's back to real life after the best time of year.

Scarlett hit 10 months at the beginning of the year. She gets cuter every day, it kills me. Her confidence in the last few weeks to walk has increased enough that she is letting go of furniture to take 6-7 steps to one of us or a different peace of furniture. At 10 months 3 weeks she randomly decided to crawl on all 4s. So random. We thought she'd never crawl!! She just has always been interested in standing and walking around furniture. But... a few days after she started taking her steps she just started crawling places. silly girl. Now she can sit up on her own from a laying down position too! It was like magic, within 2 days it was almost as if she decide to sit up, get up, crawl, and walk on her own.

I've really been learning a lot about her personality too. It's difficult to explain. She's happy, it's very easy for her to just look at you and smile for a while. She loves to clap, raise her hands in the air at "soooo big are you!". She's almost always crossing her feet in her car seat, high chair, sitting on my lap, even just sitting down sometimes. so cute. She likes to carry clothes or shoes around with her as she cruises furniture. She loves mirrors. She's getting the sippy cup down pretty good. She has a temper, gets annoyed or upset easily if she can't pick something up or I make her lay down to change her diaper, etc. She LOVES peek-a-boo, or leaning around a corner or chair to get your attention, and then she just grins a bit before she begins 'peek-a-boo'. She likes to get caught doing something she knows I ask her not to, especially turning the speaker/bass knob by the TV. She likes to be chased. She likes when mom chases her and dad around the house. Just recently, in the last few days she points, points at everything. Which is a developmental thing, I've read. And is way cute. She gets really excited to go places, or to be picked up out of her crib in the morning or from a nap. Everyone is her friend. She sees any younger child and gets so excited that she may get their attention. This is why primary is perfect for us.

Did you know she dances? :) She's been doing it for about 2 months now, but the girl loves her music. Well, she loves to dance. She doesn't need music really. She headbangs, hard. She loves to raise one hand in the air as she's nodding her head, it is hilarious. Absolutely Hilarious. She eats great, sleeps amazing. Loves bath time... A lot. Loves books, Baby Einstein, CHURCH, and Raja. She Loves, and Adores her daddy. She gets so excited to see him and watches him wherever he goes. Sometimes, when he is at work... she'll glance over at his chair to see if he's home. That melts my heart. We wait outside for him if it's nice out, when he comes home from work. Or we'll wait for him by the window, and she'll start waving. She loves her daddy!!

Sorry,I'm going on and on. I feel extremely blessed and forunate for this beautiful little girl in our life. I absolutely love my sweetheart and enjoy taking care of her needs.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Here we go!

Are you ready for this? Scarlett has begun walking and crawling in the last three days. . . She showed absolutely no interest in crawling at all, her entire life. We knew she'd walk before crawling. She's always shuffling along furniture and walls, it's been for months now.

The last week or so Scarlett would take a 3-5 steps between Seth and I. But in the last three days she's decided to attempt crawling on all fours. No more of that side-leg-sweep-army-crawl thing she had going on.

Tonight Scarlett and I had a night with the girls while Seth was at class. Scarlett was walking to people and furniture on her own without us trying to get her to! It was so exciting, she's really getting her confidence up. AND she was crawling too!! Seriously, Just within those few hours, at a friends house she decided crawl AND really walk for the first time! She's definitely mobile now.

The poor miss has such a crappy cold right now though. She's been coughing and sneezing all night long. But it hasn't stopped her. Boy does she hate me wiping the snot off her face. :( She has actually had a cold since she got sick over Thanksgiving. She had Amoxicillin to treat an ear infection the first of December, and then they gave her a different antibiotic to treat a sinus infection just before Christmas. And through those two antibiotics she still had this cough, that is now much worse with this new cold she caught. Poor girl! I took her in to the doc again after the nurse suggested I should since the cough had been lingering past 6 weeks. Doc said it was 1. RSV or Bronchulitis. 2. mild asthma 3. pnuemonia. He said it couldn't really be 2 or 3, so he said it's 1. Which... I'm pretty sure she doesn't have RSV, b/c that would probably mean it's bad enough she'd need breathing treatments through a nebulizer, or she'd have a congested cough. Well, this cough of hers wasn't really congested, it was just there... or she'd have coughing fits throughout the night. I'm not really worried, but don't want to neglect anything if it is something to worry about. ANYWAY! Now... she really has a cough, and is much more sick than the lingering cough she had. But she still sleeps... still eats... still smiles, plays, dances, is happy! Sigh, she's such a keeper.

So! Now that that was completely boring, here's a video clip I got of her crawl tonight... should have busted out the camera for her walking - I'll get some tomorrow! So much stuff to catch up the blog with - Thanksgiving and Christmas time. We'll see... but just know - we're alive, happy, and busy, busy!