Game day

Today is the opening game of the Husker's season. Kick off was at 6. We ran to Wal-Mart to get a few things after dinner. I have never seen it that empty. I guess I should have believed people when they say the town shuts down on game day. Unfortunately all the tickets for the season were sold out last April. We'll just have to make sure that we get to a game sometime while Drew's still a student. I think sometime in the next six years I should be able to accomplish that goal.

This is going to sound really lame to probably everyone reading this. Drew takes the bus to school, so I have the car. But I'm scared leaving the house all by myself with both kids. Lame I know. So anyway we're on WIC and the only appointment I could get was while Drew was in class. So I sucked it up and went alone. I'm not sure what I thought was going to happen, but everything went great. I have really good kids. I'm not sure why I was so worried about leaving the house with them. So with the realization that I can go out alone, we have been. Here are some pictures of a fun park we found. When we parked there was a little girl playing with her dad. About 10 min. later there were four minivans full of kids. I guess 11 is a popular time at the park.



This morning we went to Lincoln's botanical gardens. They were beautiful. Molly enjoyed petting all of the leaves. They had nice ponds with big fish. I think Molly's favorite part was some stairs. She could go up and down for ever. Gabe wasn't very impressed. He slept until it was time to go.






Drew just informed me that the Husker's won 47-24 against Western Michigan. Go Big Red!

Another side note... Gabe rolled over! He went from his tummy to his back. I'm so proud. I knew it was only a matter of time. He has been so close for a long time. We'll see if he's really figured it out in the next few days.

This one goes out to Katy.....

When Katy blogs about people being "tagged" and never following through.... Well, that's me. So here goes...


Four Random Things I Like About My Husband/Wife
1. he tries to read my mind
2. he always drives and somehow never gets lost
3. he asks me opinion about clothes before he leaves the house
4. he's a great cook (Drew makes a killer cheesecake)

Four Jobs I Have Had
1. Kindercare teacher
2. enrollment specialist at Melaleuca
3. early morning janitor at BYU-Idaho
4. Hobby Lobby fabric counter/cashier

Four Movies I Have Watched More Than Once
1. Big Fish
2. Dan in Real Life
3. Thank you for Smoking (the clean flicks version)
4. 13 going on 30

Four Places I Have Lived
1. Midlothian, IL
2. Rexburg, ID
3. Mesa, AZ
4. Lincoln, NE

Four TV Shows I Have Watched
1. Prison Break
2. Bones
3. House
4. Cold Case

Four Places I Have Been Most Recently
1. Wal-Mart (North)
2. Church
3. Michael's
4. UNL campus

Four People Who E-mail Me Regularly
1. Norton Anti Virus
2. Red Box
3. Suzie
4. Beth

Four Favorite Foods
1. Italian
2. Mexican
3. Greek
4. Chinese

Four Places I'd Like To Visit
1. New York
2. Washington
3. Quebec City
4. Anywhere in Europe

Four Things I Am Looking Forward To This Year
1. Halloween
2. Twilight coming out
3. Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday)
4. Christmas

I'm not going to tag anyone because I'm horrible at following through yada yada yada

Graduate school has begun

For anyone wondering, Drew's started school. Last week was orientation. On Thursday, being true to tradition, the math chairperson had all the first years over for dinner. It's nice getting to put faces with the names I've been hearing. It was neat getting to meet some of his professors. I was surprised at how informal everyone was with each other. I have to admit I was a little nervous about bringing the kids. As you can imagine it isn't common to start grad school married with a couple kids. But they were a hit. Professor Meakin had a dog, that was all Molly needed to be comfortable.
Classes started this week for Drew. So far so good. It's sad not seeing him as much. When he was teaching H.S. he would leave around 7 and get home around 3. Now he's leaving at 7:40 and getting home between 5 or 6. That will take a little getting used to. But I'm proud of him and I'm looking forward to our time here. Lincoln is a really nice city. There are a ton of parks and things to do with the kids. So even though Drew will be busy working, I'll be able to have fun.
A Molly Story
On a completely unrelated note I have a funny Molly story. This morning I had a couple people coming over so I was cleaning. I wanted to make sure that I gave them a false sense of what my life is really like. So I was making sure all the toys were put away, and everything was dust free and uncluttered. So I was in the kitchen finishing the dishes and I hear Gabe's swing going. I thought it was odd, but continued cleaning. When I rounded the corner into the living room what do I see? Molly, who woke up at 7 about an hour and a half before her usual time, had climbed into Gabe's swing turned it on and fell asleep. I guess she was tired and knew that I wasn't going to rock her to sleep. So she did it herself. It was really cute. I'm going to have to make sure that I put the tray down so that she can't get in there anymore. To be honest I was shocked that it supported her.

Resourceful...

Molly loves being outside. Recently she's figured out how to put her own shoes on. The other day she found the biggest book she could and placed it in front of the door. Then she put on her red crocs, and grabbed some play keys. She was so proud as she stood on the book waved at me and tried to open the door. Hopefully it will take her a long long time before she figures out the deadbolt.














Gabe's first time eating cereal. 8/18














He's smiling, but not swallowing.














Molly loved the cereal too.














Gabe is getting so close to rolling over. It's going to be sad when I can't leave him on the couch unattended anymore.

Week in review

I feel like it's been forever since I've blogged. So here is a random update about the past week. We've been in Chicago. I know, it's the second time in a month. We got back on Friday. We had a good trip and a lot of fun.

Last Sunday 8/10 we blessed Gabe in the Orland Park ward. It was so nice that so many family and friends we able to be there. We planned for that Sunday because Beth (my sister), Kurt (my brother in law), and Ethan (my nephew) were going to be in town. It was the first time that we've seen them since Ethan was born last year. It was fun watching Molly and Ethan play. Molly is very territorial. Since we spent so much time at my parents house last month she wasn't always the nicest sharer with Ethan, but they had a good time.

We went downtown and did all the touristy things ie. millennium park, navy pier, the beach, magnificent mile. Molly love love loves the water. She didn't want to leave the beach and she had a lot of fun in the splash area at millennium park. She also loved the bean. We pushed the stroller right next to it so that she could admire herself. We put Gabe's feet in the water, he smiled, but wasn't that impressed.

We went to Brookfield zoo. Molly loved all the kittys (every animal that she sees is kitty). She liked the petting zoo and the play zoo. She dressed up like a bird and walked all over carrying an egg. Gabe slept through most of the zoo.

We took family pictures with Drew's family. Gabe never sticks his tongue out, but in one of the pictures he looks like Gene Simmons. It was really funny. Molly being true to self didn't really smile. My favorite picture was one with Suzie (Drew's mom) and all the grand kids. No one was looking at the camera and Molly was trying to crawl away.

We took advantage of having a babysitter. Drew and I went and saw The Dark Knight. I thought that Heath Ledger did a great job. I was a little disappointed with Aaron Eckhart. I loved Aaron Eckhart in Thank you For Smoking, I was hoping to see a little more of that character. I also thought that they were setting it up for him to be in the third movie, so I thought they rushed his part. All in all it was a good movie. I think I let it get built up too much before I saw it. But what a great opening scene.

Assistant Drew

I'm always really proud of Drew. We are both eager for graduate school to start in a few weeks. This afternoon they offered Drew a teaching assistant-ship for the fall semester. So that means that he'll get a small stipend and we won't have to pay tuition the first semester. Maybe we will make it through this with less debt than we anticipated. It's exciting to see things fall into place. He'll be teaching calculus for a couple hours a day. Then I guess he'll have some office hours and grading that he's responsible for. So now when people ask what brings you to Nebraska, I can tell them that my husband works at the college. :)

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.