Come Come Ye Saints

Today was the first day we were able to go to our new ward. Its been 3 Sundays since a couple guys helped us unload, so they were beginning to wonder where we've been. It is possibly the friendliest ward I have ever been in. It seemed that everyone wanted to say hello and see who you were. It is probably about 100 people or so. The building isn't the typical LDS square around the chapel and gym. It has has hallways that branch off to the sides, and so far, our investigations show that in order to get from one side to the other, you must cut through the chapel or cultural hall (gym). There's no hallway connecting the two. Very odd. I'm getting set apart next week as Bishop, so that is exciting. Just kidding. That's for all our friends in Mesa who were sure that we would instantly get big callings since we went to BYU-I and lived out west (lots of Mormons in the west for those of you trying to piece that together). (By the way Sean, I didn't get your texts with the juicy stories of our mutual friend, seeing as I don't text. Call me, the number is the same still).
Anyway, here are some pictures to hold you over...

Molly doesn't really know how to play Wii yet, but she thinks it is important and likes to hold a controller while you play.

Playground at Pioneers Park. Molly cried while getting on Clifford and when it was time to get off.

Molly's first Pony Tail (80's style on the side)

Gabriel napping before church, trying to stay a float on the memory foam.

Gabe enjoying some time with us, while Molly got an early night to bed.

Happy Pioneer Day!

I was thinking that I should post something because its been a while. I'm kind of a blog junkie and I hate it when people don't post for a long time. To me a week is a long time. Drew makes fun of me a lot. It's kind of pathetic, but what are you gonna do. Things have been pretty mundane around here. We've finished all of the major unpacking and are slowly putting the little things into place. I have to admit that I've been a little preoccupied. Drew bought me a book that I've been thinking about for a while, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I'm almost done with it. I probably would be if I didn't have to do other things, like take care of my children. :)
We went to Minnesota over the weekend. We visited our friends the Cutts. We had a lot of fun which would have been documented better if we had brought our camera with us when we went out. Ahhh the joys of having an overflowing diaper bag that seems to contain everything and nothing at the same time. So you should go to the Cutts' blog to see pictures of the trip. Julie is much better organized than I. We went to The Mall of America. It was amazing to be in a mall that big and at the same time I couldn't imagine anyone actually shopping there. It was like a zoo, but we did go on a Saturday. Drew and Tom went to a Twins game. Drew isn't a big Twins fan, but being true to his Cubbies he cheers for anyone who rivals the Soxs. We also went to a really fun Park. There were big slides that went down a hill. Molly had fun going down on our laps. One of the slides was enclosed and as we took turns going down you could hear the person in front of you thudding against the wall. It was great even though it hurt a bit. I don't think it was designed for full size adults. The ground at the park was just like the floor in the swamp building at the Brookfield zoo, very cool. We had a really good time. I wish that it could have been a little longer. The kids barely had time to settle before it was time to head back.
We are really enjoying Lincoln. Everyone is so friendly. The most impressive thing this week has been the Steve and Barry's store. It's two floors and has to be at least double the size of any other Steve and Barry's I've ever been in. Which is funny because the mall isn't very big. It's comparable to Idaho Falls. So needless to say we found our place to buy Husker apparel.

(PS for those that don't know, Pioneer Day is the day that the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, July 24)

Welcome to Lincoln population 225,581...

We are finally in Lincoln and have our Internet hooked up! Exciting huh? Well, we're happy about it. We got here late Sunday. So far we have about 75% of the apartment unpacked. Mostly we have to get the kids room together. It's a work in progress. I'll post some pictures once we everything together. I really like our apartment. We are the second people to live here. Everything still looks very new. We are also on the first floor. It's nice being able to walk out the back door and let Molly run in the grass. The one thing that I'm not fond of is the smell. The person who lived here before us was a smoker. So we're airing it out. Our back door faces the pool. Its been in the 90's here, but I haven't seen many people swimming. There are about ten people who go tanning everyday all day. Even if it's cloudy they are out there looking for a ray of sun. It's entertaining. The demographic in Lincoln is a lot different than Mesa. When we went into Wal-mart there were all kids of people. The college kids, the overalled farmers, and people in camouflage. And literally every other person that you see has a Nebraska shirt on. The Corn huskers stadium is amazing. It has to be one of the biggest college stadiums.

Changing the subject. Molly is loving her big girl bed. She has been going to bed around 9 and waking up at 8. For anyone who didn't know Molly isn't the best sleeper. She preferred to sleep in between Drew and I . As you can imagine three in the bed was a little crowded. She must have just hated her crib that much. She is even going to bed a lot easier since she's gotten her own room. Wahoo for that.

Gabe is growing bigger all the time. He is so happy. If he's crying and you talk to him and smile he can't help but smile back. Very sweet. When I was in Chicago I was looking at some of my baby pictures. Gabe and I look identical. So did Ben and I. I think he'll look like uncle Ben. Well hopefully with shorter hair :). (We love you Ben, in spite of you having the longest hair in the family)

Drew and I have been spending most of our time unpacking. However, we did take a break yesterday to celebrate Drew's birthday. Another trip around the sun completed. What an accomplishment. :) We love you Drew.

Gabe right after he woke up. Just being cute.

Molly chatting it up on her cell phone. She likes sitting in Gabe's bouncy chair.

Molly and Drew taking a walk.

Drew's birthday.

Tomorrow we are off to Minneapolis to visit some friends for the weekend. Lots more pictures to come I am sure.

Still in Chicago...

It's true, we are still in Chicago. We're having a friend of a friend do some work on our car. It's taking longer than we had hoped and anticipated. I can't complain too much because we're saving a lot of money, but we'd like to get home. I still haven't seen our apartment. I'm excited to get everything unpacked and settled. I've really enjoyed the time we're spending here, but it will be nice to get back to normal.
Gabe is getting so big. He is in size two diapers and probably is around 15 lbs or so. He is the happiest baby. He smiles all the time. He's such a joy. He also sleeps really well. When he's tired he likes to be laid in the crib and left alone. I wish that Molly was like that...
When Molly sees an animal she gets so excited. She would make the funniest noise. I'm not sure how to describe it, she would make a loud noise as she breathed in. Since we've been at my moms house Molly has started saying Kitty. At first she just said it for the cat, then the dog and now every animal is a kitty. She doesn't make that noise anymore and I miss it. I'm sure that most of you know the noise I'm talking about :). She's started eating with a fork. She gets really offended if you don't offer her one. She also loves straws, yogurt covered raisins, balls and anything outside. It's amazing how much they have grown since we have been here.

An Update for My Wife

One wake of no shaving, quite lame.
After a couple of days of packing.

Most of our stuff. The pile is of course bigger now.
I love you, I miss you, and I'll see you next Thursday!

Worst....Game....Ever

So last Tuesday, (17th) I ended my term as young mens' president in our ward by taking the boys to a Dbacks game. (For those of you totally oblivious to anything besides the Cubs and White Sox, the Dbacks are a professional baseball team in Phoenix, Ariziona) I was totally pumped. The church payed for everything, the Dbacks are smokin hot this year, and to top it off Brandon Webb was pitching. It couldn't be better. The game starts and bam down 2 nothing in the 1st, 3 in the 2nd, 4 in the 3rd, 7 in the 4th, and finally down by 8 in the 5th. That's when we mounted our come back and scored, you guessed it, one run. Oakland put on 1 more in the 8th and 6 more in the 9th. We lost 15-1. So in that regard, it was the worst game I've ever been to.

But there is some light to every story. The strangest thing happened, and I have no possible explanation other than I am really really, incredibly, ridiculously, good looking. Its about the 4th inning when these too girls come to our row (probably about 9 or 10). They ask my friend Sean and I (were sitting on the end) if we would like some popcorn, where upon we of course say no thanks. (here comes the strange) They then say, "But we got it for you," and hand us three large popcorns for the six of us. We say thank you and pass 2 down to the other 4 guys. At this point we have no idea what just happened, but naturally, we assume that something must be wrong with this popcorn. So we're not sure if we should eat or not. But just then, (try not to fall off your seat in your excitement) we see the girls on the other side of the row and they are sitting just off to our left, their parents sitting right in front of me. So now we have to eat it. We do, and wouldn't you know it, I'm up the rest of the night getting really friendly with the toilet....no not really. The popcorn was fine. The story doesn't end there though. 2 or 3 innings later the same girls are back at our row with 6 bottles of water. I couldn't take it anymore and I blurt out "why are you giving us all this stuff?" (A little rude I've been told, but I had to know) The younger of the two replies with "we just have it." I shout back " what do you mean you just have it. You spent $45 on us, are you trying to kill us, are you gonna follow us home, are you gonna stalk us now, what the heck......" OK, so I didn't say that, but I was thinking it. After that they didn't come back with anything else, probably because I questioned them instead of just saying thank you. But what else did we really need, besides ice cream of course.

So crazy huh? I have no idea who they were, or why we were getting stuff, but we came out $45 ahead and full of artificial butter topping.

A wee update

So, I haven't blogged in forever... I thought that an update might be nice. As most of you probably know I'm in Chicago with the kids. We're having all kinds of fun. We went to the zoo with my family and my friend Sam and her daughter Zara. Gabe slept through most of it. Molly loved chasing the goats at the petting zoo. We went to lake Michigan. Grandpa thought it would be too cold to swim, Molly thought different. She loves the water and didn't want to get out. Today we went to lake Kathrine. We took a little girl that Julie was watching, Ella, Molly's new best friend. They had a great time watching the ducks, and exploring. When we get settled in our new place in a few weeks I'll have to post all kinds of pictures.


It's sad not having Drew around. While we have been gone he's packed almost all of the apartment. I guess our dining room is stacked full of boxes. Last Saturday it was 114 in Phoenix. It's tolerable with A/C, unfortunately Drew didn't have any. Of course it would break when the office was closed. He was angry to say the least. So he went to our friends, Sean and Julia's house and slept on their couch. But it wasn't all bad. Side note: I realized that I had lost my keys two days before we left for Chicago. It isn't uncommon for Molly to take my keys and hide them. After looking in all of her common hiding spots and turning the apartment upside down, I was in a little bit of a panic about it. Anyway, Julia found them in their couch when Drew was there. Talk about a sigh of relief.