Happy Birthday to Me...

Well all, I hit the big 2-3 yesterday! It was really a fabulous day...and for those of you who care to read about the details, here they are:

Neither Zac nor I have Friday classes which, in itself is spectacular. But to have no class on my Birthday...double bonus! So we slept in, or tried to. Logan still determines when we wake up, but we didn't have to shower or get ready or anything. Good stuff. So my dad called around 8 to wish me a happy one and apologized for the fact that my card wouldn't get to me for a few more days. No big deal, but nice to know there is one on the way :-) So we putzed around the house for a while and finally got ready to go. Go where you ask? To IKEA of course!!!!

So we took Logan to his best friend's house and they played all afternoon while I got to go shopping with the husband. I asked for a storage bench (for shoes and blankets and toys) and a coat rack, so we went to Ikea in order to pick them out. If you have no clue what Ikea is, you should Google it. It is fabulous. It's like Disney World. Only home furnishing centered. And only one restaurant. But still amazing.

So I got exactly what I wanted and then headed back to get the baby. But instead of going back to an empty house while Zac had to work for a few hours, I stayed at Mat and Dani's. We played Guitar Hero, watched Gilmore Girls, played with the babies...had a good old time. Followed by pizza and the the best cake EVER (Confetti Cake with Rainbow Chip frosting) when Zac joined us later that evening. Seriously, I love that frosting. If I had to do our wedding over again, I think I would have said "forget the $400 cake. I want a Betty Crocker confetti cake with Rainbow Chip Frosting." So it was great.

We didn't have birthday candles, but made do with some that Mat and Dani had around the house. Good times! And while we ate the cake, we (as in Dani and I because the boys swear they've never had good birthdays) talked about our favorite birthdays. So here are my top three: #3: My 6th (I think!) when Mom got me a Cabbage Patch Doll cake...and Dad took my 3 friends and I sledding out behind my Aunt Eunie's house. We'd sled down this huge hill and make my dad pull the sled back up it so we didn't have to walk. Then on the last run when he was taking us back to the top, the rope snapped on the sled and we went hurdling down the hill backwards and thought we were going to die. Then, to take us back up, he threw each of us over his shoulders and hiked back up the hill carrying the sled. It was a good day! #2: My 14th. I wanted a slumber party and then to go bowling. The thing was, our car had died a few weeks before and there was no way we'd be able to take everyone. So I said it was fine, just a slumber party would do. But the next morning, we found out we were going bowling and that my parents had arranged transportation...in a freaking stretch limo!!!! Seeing that thing pull in our driveway was so awesome! #1: I think I was in 3rd or 4th grade...my birthday was on a Wednesday because we went to Spaghetti Dinner at the American Legion. My God-Mother, Sue, came and I hadn't seen her in forever (and don't think I've seen her since then). So after dinner, we drove home and I noticed a ton of cars at my Grandma's. Then I noticed that a light was on in our house at about the same time I saw someone dive into a snowbank in our driveway. Turns out all the cars belonged to random family members that were throwing a surprise part for me at our house and my cousin Chris was late and was walking over when we pulled in the driveway so he tried to hide. I didn't see it coming...so yeah. I think that was my favorite birthday memory.


Logan trying to get his hands on a skewer of Garlic Beef Tenderloin...or is that one Bacon Wrapped Turkey? Either way, YUM!

Then today, Zac, Logan, Mat, Dani, James, Liz, Savannah, and I went to Tucano's Brazilian Grill. It is SOOOOO GOOD!!! We stuffed ourselves silly...then the waiters came and sang Happy Birthday to me in Portuguese while pounding on an insanely loud drum. I had to stand up and the table clapped...it was awesome. Afterwards, Liz came to the house and we rearranged the entire apartment to accommodate our new storage bench. It has been a great couple of days...I really love my Birthday! Thanks to everyone over the years who have made it so special!!!!


Brazilian Lemonade...double Yum!!!

New Semester, New Highchair...

Ok, I guess they don't really correlate, but that's what's new this week. When we were home, Logan used Madison's old highchair, which was a new experience because we didn't have one here. We were just creative in the ways we fed him. But he got used to the idea of eating in his own spot, so Aunt Liz and I went shopping. Well, when we got to Target, they only had the $120 ones in stock (yikes!) so we thought we'd try our luck at Babies-R-Us. We found a decent one for $40 that wasn't in stock, so we went for the next cheapest one. It was $60, but I still had some store credit and ended up paying about $35. He seems to like it and it folds up so it's easy to store in our pantry when we need the space.


Aside from that, school started yesterday. I didn't get to add any of the classes that I originally wanted to take because of a hold on my account. So instead of being able to add them online, I had to go to the classes with an add card and ask the professor to sign me in. The first class was the 2nd half of the New Testament. I wanted to take it from the same guy I took a class from last semester. So I went to the class (with Logan in tow because we didn't have a sitter yesterday) and asked him to sign my card. There were like 40 empty seats, so I knew it wouldn't be a problem. So I got into that class and I'm really happy about it! Then I decided to try my luck at Manufacturing 202: The History of Creativity. It fulfills a General Education requirement (civilization classes...yuck.) and I was told it's the best class EVER. There were 225 spots...all taken. So I went just to see if I stood a chance of getting in. Turns out there were about 70 other people thinking the same thing. So there was a "lottery" going on where the TA was going to draw 25 names and add them to the class. Well, as luck would have it, I was number 23. Yay me! So that class is only Monday evenings and New Testament is 1-2 on Mondays and Wednesdays. The last class I'm going to try and add is today at 4:30... Shakespeare in Film... so wish me luck! I had the same professor for another Shakespeare class, so I'm hoping she'll let me in just based on that, but we'll see. Well, I need to go get some lunch before the baby wakes up! Love you all!

Crap on my head...

"I don't know why they keep doing this, but Mom and Dad keep putting crap on my head."

Missin' the fam...

So It's good to be home, but we sure do miss everyone. So I thought I'd post some pictures of Logan with some of his favorite people!





Those fingers in his mouth...well, we'll have to fix that later!

Baby's 1st Christmas...

Christmas eve was nice. I guess Zac's brother and his wife put together a program for the family. Zac's Grandparents came over and so did his cousins Ana, Alex, and their families and we all had dinner. The program was nice...especially when Joel added his own spin on the Christmas hymns...hahaha! If you've never heard Joel sing, well, you're missing out. It was fabulous :) After that, we all opened presents from Zac's grandparents and our pajamas that Jaylene makes for all the kids every year. Logan even got ones that matched Zac's. It was cute!

Christmas morning at Zac's we opened the rest of our presents. I got a vest from Old Navy from Matt, a ton of great stocking stuffers, and a "new" digital camera from Zac's parents. And Zac got me two new pairs of shoes that I wanted! I gave him some cologne from Abercrombie and Fitch, and he got a new computer program form his parents. He also got a Tetris Cube and another hand puzzle thing from his brother Jon. And Logan made out like a bandit. He got a Zoo thing with 2 monkeys, a parrot, and bananas that make noise, clothes, bowls from Ikea!, a bunch of other stuff I can't remember right now, and, my favorite, a HUGE playground ball that was bigger than him. I'm sad we had to leave it, but there was no way it was going to fit in our luggage.

Later, we went to my parents' house. There, Zac got sneakers from me and I got a Rachael Ray cookbook from him. Yay! My parents totally spoiled me with a TON of new kitchen things...pie server, ladles, a pastry board, blah blah blah, and my mom even made me a new apron! Zac got new gloves, a sweater from the Gap, etc. I won't bore you. We were pretty excited. And then Logan, again, was spoiled rotten. More cute clothes, toys, baby food, and my favorite, a Winter Coat from Baby Gap! He's sooo cute in it!

After that was Christmas at my Aunt Karen and Uncle Ed's with the family. We got a bunch of stuff there, too. And the best gift Logan got: My rocking horse from my first Christmas. He doesn't quite get it yet, but he will!

It was a great Christmas this year. However, we got so much stuff, we had to bring back 3 more bags with us than we went to New York with. OYE!

Vacation Recap...

A thousand apologies, BriAnna! Our vacation was soooo busy, I literally never had time to post. So here's what happened:

Our flight was supposed to leave at 11:59 pm on the 23rd. It was delayed until 1:30, but we found out before we left the house, so we had an extra hour and a half to just kick back and relax at home. The flight went well and Logan was a perfect little angel! Zac's mom picked us up from the airport the next morning in good old Rochester. We were all exhausted and starving, but happy to be home. So happy, in fact, that when we got to Zac's parents' house, we had to take a 2 hour nap. After that and a nice hot shower, I zipped over and saw my parents and the puppy!!! I miss them so much!

The next day was Christmas (I'll post about that later!) Followed by party after party after party. Friday we all went to the temple while my parents watched Logan. Then Sunday the 30th, Madison was baptized!!!! It was awesome.

New Year's eve Zac's whole family went to Adventure Landing in Greece. Logan was too young to appreciate it, but the rest of us had a blast.
After two exhausting hours of that, we randomly ended up at Zac's brother's wife's mom's house and we ordered Country Sweet Wings. Mmmm, wings!!!! I miss them, too! After dinner, we headed back to Bloomfield to play some serious Settlers of Catan (which I won TWICE) and watch the ball drop. Then we rang in the New Year with some Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice...the only way to do it, in my opinion! Tuesday Logan and I went to a meeting for my parents' Buddhist practice. It was nice. After that was Christmas at mu Aunt Janice and Uncle Bob's house...where we met Logan's newest 2nd cousin, Jacob. He was only 4 days old...and soooo tiny! He was only 6 12 when he was born. Logan was that size when he was a fetus!!! Hahaha...

Well, the 2nd was our last full day home so a bunch of the kids and I went ice skating. Madison and I had a good time skating together! Then my mom took me birthday shopping at Old Navy and Macy's. I made out pretty well!

We left the morning of the 3rd and got back to Salt Lake with no problems. I got our bags while Zac picked the car up from long-term parking. While I was at the bag-claim, I saw a girl from my English class last semester. Then I ran into her again while we were loading the car outside. And she was sitting there waiting for her ride, freezing, and not getting a hold of him. Well, we couldn't just let her sit there so we offered to give her a ride back down to Provo. The only thing was we barely had room for the three of us and our luggage as it was. But somehow, Zac fit it all in. Granted, the front seats were all the way forward, Zac's knees were up around his ears, and I had a duffel bag on my lap that almost covered my face entirely, but we all fit! Once we got home, we slowly started to unpack and chowed down some Wendy's for dinner. We're slowly getting back into the swing of things here and getting ready to start school on Monday.

So that's what happened while I wasn't posting! Hope you all had a fabulous holiday!

2 Whole Years...

Wow!!! I can't believe it, but it was two years ago today that Zac and I were married!!! A lot has changed in the past few years...some not so happy things like sudden deaths of Uncle Gary and Mary Therese, and some spectacular things like Zac being accepted into the BYU animation program and the birth of our son. But through it all, we've only grown closer, stronger, and happier as a couple and I think we'd both agree that life is nothing but wonderful now that we're sharing it together.

Ok, ok, enough sappiness. I have to finish up because we're leaving for the airport in the next hour!!!! I can't believe that we'll be in NY tomorrow morning! And if I don't post while I'm there, please forgive me. I'll make up for it with pictures of Logan's first Christmas as soon as I'm back. Well, love you all, take care, and see you New Yorkers in about 12 hours!!!!!

4 Days and Counting...

Until Christmas, that is. Only 2 days until we leave. WOAH....when did THAT happen??? Christmas really snuck up on me this year. Snuck? Sneaked? Whatever.

I was watching tv while I was babysitting for a couple in our ward this evening and I saw a Macy's commercial that stated "Only 4 more days to shop!" and I was like, "SERIOUSLY?!?!?!" and had to check my calendar. I don't know where the time went. I'm glad my shopping was done back in November...otherwise I'd be in trouble. I've been so caught up in writing papers and stressing about finals the past two weeks that I wasn't really paying attention to the date. I mean it's already the 21st!!!!!!! Which also makes me realize something else...6 months ago today I was giving birth! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I know it sounds cliche, but it's true!


Our Little Guy...6 whole months ago!


Happy Family!!!

So all of my finals are over and I've got pretty good news to report. My written Spanish final was better than I expected. I was hoping for a mid-70 and I somehow managed to swing an 88!!! And my Spanish oral went just about the same, with an 87. And now I never have to worry about that crazy language ever again! I feel really good about my American Novel final...despite the fact that it was at 7:00 am yesterday and I only got 3 hours of sleep before hand. And then my crowning glory...Book of Mormon. I literally aced the final. A whopping One Hundred Percent. 100/100. Can't get any better than that!!!!

Well, I have some serious cooking to go do. Last year, we didn't make anything for any of our neighbors. I don't know why...maybe I was being a Bah Humbug. But this year we received a bunch of treats from a lot of our neighbors that we have grown closer to this past year. So I feel like I should show some love and appreciation toward them, as well! Chocolate covered pretzels and some homemade butter mints should do the trick! So once I put some Gloria Estefan Christmas music on, I'm off to the kitchen. "TTFN!"

Steele Look-alike Meter...

So I should be studying for my Book of Mormon final that I'm planning on taking tomorrow, but alas, I am not. Instead, I'm fooling around online. And while I was looking at our friend's blog, I saw this nifty little "Look-Alike Meter" and just had to try it out. Since Logan was born, even up till today, I have no idea where Logan gets his looks from. I don't think he looks like either one of us, but my friend Theresa swears he is a perfect balance of the both of us. She says she can see and I equally in him. So when I saw this cute thing on our friend's blog, I thought I'd try it out and see what it said. On her blog, it said her son looked more like her, which I totally agree with. So I tried it with our pictures. Three different times. And every single time, it ended up saying Logan looks equally like both of us. Go figure!!!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Free genealogy


It's fun. You should try it out. You have to create an account (like you have to do with everything fun online these days) but it only takes a few seconds. And it provides a lot of entertainment. ALSO...how have I not brought this up? WE'LL BE FLYING HOME IN ONE WEEK!!!! Like this time next week, we will be checked into the airport, waiting to board our plane. We're excited!!!! Well, i think I'm gonna try and study a bit before Logan wakes up to eat. Love you all!!!

Another one bites the dust...

Another semester, that is! We finished classes today and the Fall Semester of 2007 is now in the past. Well, we still have finals. No, correction... I still have finals. So this next week is going to be a little rough. I have a Spanish written final on Saturday (I know, SATURDAY. How outrageous is THAT!?). Then I have a religion final Monday and then I'm tutoring for that same final later that afternoon. Tuesday is my
Spanish oral final (blah) and then I get a break on Wednesday. Following that much needed respite, I have my last final for my American Novel class...at 7:00 AM Thursday. Again I say, how outrageous is THAT!? Oh well. Then, thankfully, I'm done.

So you may be wondering what my reference is to that I am the only one with finals this week. Well, now that Zac has been officially accepted into the Animation program, he plays on computers during his classes and turns in pretty pictures for his finals. Ok, ok, I don't give him enough credit. He works really hard. And he's super talented...I couldn't even begin to TRY to do what he does. So these are two of his final images he had to turn in for one of his classes. Basically, he's awesome.


If you click on the images, you can see them in better detail. Zac can explain the actual process to you, but he basically drew the dragonfly, then drew it again in a program on the computer. Then he works with lighting and shading and textures and colors to make it 3-D and makes it look like a photo. From the designs on the dragonfly to the shape and size of the blades of grass...it really is phenomenal. My husband is so talented!!!!

So other than the semester being over, not much else to tell. I'm sick again, but that's not new. It seems that it happens A LOT these days. I think Logan is stealing all of my antibodies. And...hmmm... Oh! Zac's Aunt Pam and Uncle Mike are in town this week, so they took us, Liz, Savannah, and Matt out to dinner at the Brick oven. It was really good!!! Nothing beats a good salad bar and homemade root beer for this girl. And Logan just loves being the center of attention. It was the first time he met his Great-Aunt Pam and Great-Uncle Mike. I have a feeling he likes them.

Well, only 10 days till we leave! And 11 till we're home! It's coming up so fast...we can't wait.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, we FINALLY decorated our tree. It's been up for two weeks with just the lights on, but now it has ornaments. Whoo! After Church, we came home and had a nice Turkey dinner. The home teachers came over, then when Logan woke up from his nap, we set to decorating the tree. Well, it was more like Zac played his annoying computer game, Logan hung out under the tree and tried to eat the ornaments, and I decorated, but whatever.
Then we spent about ten minutes trying to get a family picture. The camera has a self-timer, so Zac and Logan sat in front of the tree, I'd set the 10-second timer, then I'd run over to the tree. The flash would get ready to go and just as the picture took, Logan would look at me instead of the camera. This happened 4 times. Then, since it's a terrible camera, the batteries died. So after a battery change, we tried it again. Then, SUCCESS!


So after that fiasco, we popped in "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and sent Logan off to bed with visions of sugar plums and all that jazz. So we're going into our last week of classes!!! Only four more days!!! For me, that means 2 English classes, 2 religion classes, and 4 dreaded Spanish classes. And Zac's lecture classes are pretty much done...now he just goes in to finalize his projects. For his 3-D class, his assignment is to make an animated bug. It's a really cool dragonfly! Hopefully when he's done, I can publish an image on the blog. Well, we're curling up to watch a movie, so I'm done writing for now. And we'll be in NY in 2 weeks!!!! Can't wait!!!!

"A Hard Day's Night..."

That's a song title, right? The Beatles, I think. Well that's pretty much the last 24 hours in a nutshell. Logan woke up every one and a half to two hours last night. We gave him Tylenol at like 3 and that was his longest stretch of sleep...till a whopping 5:30. And when Logie doesn't sleep, neither does mommy. Even if she has a huge Spanish test the next day (it kicked my trash, by the way). So the day wasn't much better. Everything went wrong, from not having time to eat lunch (and having to bum a piece of pizza from my bestest friend, Marie), to probably failing my Spanish test, right down to ripping my NEW jeans on a stupid desk. This whole next week is going to be rough. I can tell. I'm behind reading in my English class...by a whole book and a half. I have four papers due by Friday. I took my one test today, so that only leaves three more this week. I forgot how much school can suck this time of year. All the teachers are trying to cram one more big thing in before the final. I hope they all rot. Ok, not all. Just most.

So yeah. Logan is being a pill. But it's not his fault, it's the teething thing. So he decided to tell you all about it in this little video. I hope it gets some laughs. The best part is that he puts his thumb exactly where the tooth is coming in! Priceless.

Well, I have papers to write and tests to study for. I'll write again later this week, if I survive!

Let it Snow...

So I've been keeping an eye on the weather forecast for the past few weeks. It has been so nice here (like 65 and sunny every day) that I knew it was just too good to last. And seriously, for the past month or so it has been picture-perfect outside. It was like the calm before the storm...I just knew it. So finally on Friday, the good old Weather Lady, Jodi Saeland from Fox 13, broke the news to me. And not to expect it in inches, but feet. Grrr. But it's usually how it happens around here. Not steady accumulation like back home...it just dumps on us here, sticks around for a few days, melts, then dumps on us all over again.

So Logan and Daddy and I got to go play outside in it for a while yesterday. As usual, Logan was unimpressed. He's such a sweet boy! Then we came inside and his cheeks were all rosy, so Zac went nuts with the camera. Yeah...our crappy camera which needs to be replaced by Santa this year. Which I believe I already hinted at. *Wink wink* Anyways...

That was about it. For our outside adventure, at least. Other things from this past week: I was really sick. It was a terrible cold which just kept getting worse, topped off by a fever on Friday night. It was a whopping 101.4. So I slept on the couch with the fan on all night. I felt better Saturday, so a friend from my Spanish class (BriAnna...you should check out her blog, too, if you have time. It's super cute) hooked us up with babysitting and Zac and I got to go out on a date. WHOO!!

But back to the sick thing. Logan got it, too. But he never came down with a fever, which I was really thankful for. He's going through enough already. Which reminds me that I haven't posted this yet, but LOGAN'S GETTING HIS FIRST TOOTH! We noticed it Thursday night. It's his top right one (which is weird because they are supposed to come in on the bottom first. But that's my son!) and it's just barely breaking through. But it's definitely there. You can even see it in this picture if you look closely!

Lastly, Logan had peas for the first time this week. He's still not sure whether he likes them or dislikes them, but I'm sure we'll know next week when we try squash or carrots or something more appealing. After all, I hate peas...so I can't blame him either way! Well that's all for now. I can't believe we'll be home in only 3 WEEKS!!!!!

Family, Fun, and Guns...

We made it back from Idaho! And we had a GREAT time. So here's the rundown of the weekend:




Thursday we woke up and started right in on Food prep...after all, we had like 30+ people to feed. I was in charge of rolls and used Grandma Myrtle's recipe. But I had to double it. And I lost track of how much yeast I put in, so after the rising time was up, the dough was over-flowing. It was AMAZING. But they turned out perfectly. So there's a picture of that. And there is also a picture of me eating, that's right, SQUASH. Just for you, Grandpa! And I didn't even have water yet to chase it down! Go me!!! Then, after dinner, in true Idaho fashion, we went outside and shot clay pigeons with some sweet shotguns. I even got to shoot a little!!! It was a ton of fun!


Friday was amazing. Well, Thursday night was! We went to Best Buy at 8:30 Thursday night. And camped out until it opened at 5 am. Logan got to stay all toasty warm in the van with a bunch of people watching movies. He didn't even seem phased by the whole experience. But we got some really spectacular deals and we only have one more person to buy for and our shopping is DONE!!!!! So then we came home and slept most of Friday afternoon. Zac's Aunt Jan was great...she watched Logan while I got to sleep for a few hours.

Then Saturday, we headed out at 7:30 am so we could be back for the "Holy War" football game between BYU and our super-evil rivals, The University of Utah. BOOOO, Hissss. So we made it home and watched the Cougars kick some serious Ute butt. After all, you can't spell suck without the U!!!! Hahaha...losers.

Well, all in all, Logan had a great first Thanksgiving. Love you all tons!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Turkey Day all!!!!! Well, since we're in Idaho, I don't have any pictures to upload yet, but I will as soon as I get a free second back in Provo. The food was amazing...and my rolls kicked some serious butt! And we're headded off to stand in line for several hours for Black Friday shortly, so I've got to run. I'll post soon!!! Hope you all had a great day!!!