Update

I updated my picture blog for all of you interested in pictures of happenings in my life. There's everything from the group posse picture before I left, the family sushi party, the move, church history trip, our new place, and the start of med school.

tysonandbethany.blogspot.com

Honestly, not much is new here. Eden was really sick a few days ago and now has a never ending runny nose and cough. Tyson and I were starting to feel sick as of last night with sore throats. But I have been able to get a cleaning schedule in order (that is of course is no fun, thus making it hard to keep up with) and also finally getting back to cooking real meals and foods. Want to see what I'm eating....or would like to try eating someday...or what I've eaten in the past few months?

mylittleblackrecipebook.blogspot.com

I just use this blog to keep track of my recipes and try new recipes...instead of having millions of books and papers everywhere that can lost in the mess. And since I'm always on the search for new recipes I figure that others may be too.

My DEEPEST Apologies

A recent phone conversation held between me and my mother.

Mom: So, I looked at your blog today.
Me: Yeah? That's part of the new house. What do you think?
Mom: There weren't any pictures of Eden. I wanted to see Eden.

So, dear mother...my deepest apologizes. Here's a blog all about Eden. :)

(And to all of you future mothers...once you have a baby, you become non-existent. When you enter a door and say, "HELLO!" the first thing they say is "Where's the baby?" When you go to a grocery store people no longer greet you...but greet the baby. And blogs and Facebook merely become personal photo galleries dedicated to baby. But heck, I don't blame them...Eden is MUCH cuter than both me and Tyson.)

But FIRST, an instruction manual on how to keep a baby happy during a LONG car ride.
(We drove from Utah to Missouri and also all around the church sites.)

This is how to keep your baby happy during a long car ride. See, this is my baby...and she's so happy to be in her carseat for hours and hours and hours.

The trick is...give her a bottle...

And someone to share with...

Make sure she's NICE and LOOPY...

And then let her drive on occasion.That's all there is to it! Your baby will be as happy as a clam if you follow these basic instructions! This is a no-fail method!

Alright, no more silliness. But Eden did do EXTREMELY well in the car during the 2 days of 7 hours drives. I was impressed. Now here an update on Eden...she'll be 15 months old tomorrow! Man, how time flies!

I was actually curious the other day and decided to write up all the words that Eden says now that she is talking like crazy (I wrote it in Excel cause I didn't want to write them and count them all). I'm sure I missed a few words, but I counted 81 words that she says on a normal basis, 61 words she says on occasion, 16 words she has said once but never again, and 23 noises and imitations of things. After I started writing it, the list got bigger and bigger and took more time than I anticipated....I don't plan to write them all down on my blog, but off the top of my head I would say her top 5 used words (besides mommy and daddy) are "No", "Yeah", "Lamby" (her stuffed animal, said "Amby"), "Owie", and "Milk" (said, "Nilk").

Eden is walking all by herself, but is still a little unsteady. I think it has to do with her small feet. I didn't realize that she had small feet until we compared it with a few others...she still wears a size 2 and sometimes size 3. Doesn't matter though, she'd still rather be carried.

She's starting to realize possession. She's not as bad as she used to be, but she's a hoarder. She'll get and hold everything she can at once and just sit there as if her life was dependent upon keeping those things safe. Here's a picture of when we were organizing the pantry and she decided to hoard all the cooking oil.
Eden loves food. As my sister put it, "I've never seen anyone get so excited about food as she does." Another favorite word of hers is "eat". She'll eat most things...but definitely likes things over others. She asks me everyday for "noodles" (said "noonles") even though we more than likely don't have any...same with bananas. Here's a picture of her eating banana bread...which she LOVED.
This is my new purse that I got at Good Will. It was $2 and I wanted a new purse. I love it. Eden loves it too. I think she carries it around more than I do. Whenever she sees it, she puts it over her head and tries to walk without tripping (often getting frustrated because its hard).
This is one thing Eden didn't like. We went to this place (I can't think of the name of it right now) but it had a Narnia exhibit going on (which we didn't go to because it closed before we got there). But they had this station of a large green monster and Eden was EXTREMELY scared of it.
Eden really is a wonderful baby (she doesn't seem so much like a BABY anymore although she will sometimes point to herself a say "baby" and says "waah!") She is such a bundle of fun and we'll have to keep updated on what's going on with her now that we're pretty much settled into our new place. :)

One Internet Connection Later...

Its been a while since my last blog. Much has happened and not nearly enough room to write it all. We just got hooked up with internet yesterday....so that's my excuse for not keeping you all updated.

To make a long story short...here's what I've been up to....

Turning THIS...

Into THIS....
And turning THIS...
Into THIS...
And finally turning HIM...
Into HIM...
(By that I mean, Tyson started med school and this is him at the big white coating ceremony where they present him with his first official white coat).

I haven't been able to take pictures of the whole house for whatever reasons, but its definitely turning into home sweet home. It's been great here. We love our place, neighbors, and ward. But we've also been enjoying exploring antique shops (where I got my kitchen hutch shown in the picture above), green trees and brush everywhere, and figuring out how to live by ourselves since it's been a while.

I don't even KNOW where to start because there has been so much going on. Tyson's family helped us move out here and then we drove around to all the church sites like Nauvoo, Carthage, and Liberty Jail. Tyson had days of school orientation (which he found boring but enjoyed making some friends) and his white coating ceremony (with the INCREDIBLE party at the Marriott afterwards). I spoke in sacrament in our ward and Tyson was given a calling and set apart as an Elders Quarum teacher. Eden is talking, talking, talking! She says so many words and does so many new things now that I can't keep track any longer. And we've met so many new and incredible people. Overall, it's been GREAT!

We do miss everyone back home and it's a whole new world. I need to look at everyone's blogs to find out what I've been missing out on during my time without internet. We love you all and will try to keep updated on life in Kansas City!

A New Chapter In Life...

Today we started packing for Kansas City. The ABF truck (the company driving our stuff to KC) arrived this morning, Tyson and his "crew" worked their tail off wrapping and loading furniture, and I tried as much as I could to pack things into boxes in a somewhat orderly fashion while trying to entertain Eden.

I no longer know what day it is, what time it is, where to find anything, what my day-to-day plans are (or even hour-to-hour for that matter), and what lies ahead. But I guess that's what happens when you are moving from one place to another and starting a new chapter in your life....This chapter is called "Med School".

...Actually, that would be TYSON'S chapter. I'm afraid that mine may end up being, "Living in a new place with no family or friends close by, except a one-year-old, not knowing what to do with myself with all my free, lonely time while Tyson is living his chapter in life called Med School"....

I admit that I'm afraid of change. I am excited, but afraid. Tyson and I have never really lived in a place we could call "our own". Heck, for over a year we haven't even lived BY OURSELVES. We currently live with Tyson's parents and before that we lived with an older couple that we helped cook and clean for. Before that we lived in a basement apartment that was fully furnished and was incredibly strict about painting or hanging things on walls, limiting our designing creativity. Now Tyson is going to KC on Monday with Hayden to paint our little townhouse (and we are even using accent colors on walls, nothing dramatic by any means) and we have the liberty to tear things down, build things up, put things on walls, and see how LITTLE amount of furniture we own. Although, we lucked out and got a washer and dryer from a neighbor, a futon from my grandma, a spare bedroom bed from my mom, and many other donations from people of which we are eternally grateful.

In fact, there is so much and so many people that I am eternally grateful for. Moving has made me think back on all those things. I haven't had to pay for groceries or housing for over a year. I've been able to visit family at least every other weekend and not feel pressure over how much gas we are using. I have so many friends and family that gave me baby clothes, baby toys, baby EVERYTHING so I've pretty much only needed to buy diapers, wipes, and baby food during Eden's first year of life. We've come across so many people and things and people who HAVE things where if anything we have too much stuff instead of too little like poor newly weds should be worried about. And we haven't gone into debt once (in fact we've kept a decent amount saved). All of these things are about to change...and yet, I'm still excited.

So, thank you to everyone who has helped Tyson and I during our first few chapters in life here in Utah. We wish we could do more to show our love and appreciation. We'll miss you all. Life will be scary, but exciting, and I'll try to keep all of you who look at my blog updated every step of the way.

Playing Hard

Tyson has got a new job and is working hard. Eden and I on the other hand are playing hard. Its been busy and fun....at least for me and Eden.

The only exciting event that Tyson didn't have to miss out on was going with family to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. The temple is stunning! Tyson's Uncle Bruce was actually the one who designed all the interior work for the temple. He did a beautiful job!

Macie, Eva, Kylie, Eden, and I boating with the Strattons. It was my first time water tubbing and on a water weenie. Eden enjoying playing inside the boat and eating lots of snacks (although she wasn't too fond of the life jacket).
Yesterday we went to Wheeler Farm with Liz, Melissa, and Melissa's kids Nathan and Abi (technically we also went with Liz's baby as well since she's pregnant). Eden loved watching the animals and making the animal noises. She also loved getting out and playing around in the playhouse and other fun things around.
Even when Eden is at home she plays hard! She's becoming more and more active by the second...which makes me a little afraid for when she can walk confidently by herself....

But with all this play...Eden has also picked up a new skill...chiropractics. After watching Tyson's mom pop Kylie's back...she became interested in learning. Let's just say...maybe it's good that Tyson and I don't have another baby yet or else there could be trouble.



*For more pictures go to tysonandbethany.blogspot.com

Fourth of July

Fourth of July was a blast (quite literally with all the parade noises and fireworks)! We started out at 4:30 a.m. when we agreed to help out with early morning paper route for Tyson's brother, Hayden. It was actually pretty fun (so long as I don't have to do it everyday).

At 9:00 was the parade in Provo. Eden enjoyed it because it meant being outside, eating, and dancing to the music.

The other exciting news is that KJ, Macie, and baby Eva were able to visit from CA for the holiday weekend! It's been wonderful having them over. We all miss them so much and we'll be gone to KC before they come back to UT. Here's a picture of Eva and Eden in their little 4th of July outfits.
Later that day we were invited to KJ's family party at the golf course (his family owns the golf course and his grandpa (Granpa Herb) owns a house on the hills of the golf course with an incredible view of Orem and Provo. We were able to eat BBQ, ride in golf carts, and watch fireworks that went off all around the city.
This is the view from the golf course where we watched the fireworks. I definitely don't have a very steady hand...this picture just doesn't do any justice for how amazing it was.
After a LONG day, Eden (and everyone else) was EXHAUSTED.

Tahoe Trip

For the last week and a half I've been at Lake Tahoe and the Redwoods in CA. It's been loads of fun for me to spend more time with my family. And its kind of sad that I'm getting back to real life and I need to start thinking about things like"packing for med school"...*sigh*

Alright, here's the picture version of the trip with descriptions above...

Eden did very with all the driving! She would sleep a good majority of the way. The drive ended up being around 8 hours to Tahoe and 2 hours to the Redwoods. Tyson, Eden, and I had to change rooms we stayed at more than anyone. We switched between my grandma's hotel at the Marriott (which had all the shopping areas) and my parent's condo up the woods (which was exciting because we saw 2 large bears in the middle of the night snooping around for food). We also had problems with the condos in the Redwoods and we had to switch condos after the first day...I think we were able to unpack ONCE the whole trip...
This is at the hike going down to Vikingsholm Castle. This is a picture of Emerald Bay...gorgeous huh?

At the end of the hike was a little beach. There were geese there and Eden would hold out her arms in hopes that the geese would give her a hug...didn't work...
After a while of playing there was no way of stopping the three little ones from jumping in the water. So Trey, Eden, and Dakota stripped down to their diapers and had a WONDERFUL time playing in the sand and water!

This is the Vikingsholm castle. We were able to take a tour of it and it was pretty neat. It was full of Norweigen antiques and had a killer view of the beach!
After the hike we all got ice cream (they were really good and GIGANTIC). Eden, although not supposed to have it, LOVED the ice cream.
My family also spent a day on the beach at Lake Tahoe just swimming and lounging.
This is me and Eden's handprints. I tried to get Edens the best I could. I would press her hand down and then she would eventually just grab a handful of sand...thus the large holes in the middle of her handprint.
Tyson was probably ready to kill me after taking so many pictures...but he loves me anyway. :)
This is at Virginia City. We were able to ride on a trolley, train, and just walk around to all the historic mining areas. It was really cool and everyone enjoyed it a lot.



We later went on a different hike to a lake (I can't remember the lake's name). It was a beautiful hike. Part of the way up it went to some falls and then the rest of the way went to the lake.

My sister, Becca, told me that if I went waist deep into the lake then she would buy Tyson and me dinner that night. What poor college students are willing to do for a decent dinner!
When we went to the Redwoods in CA, we first stopped at the Big Trees National Park. It was really amazing and fun to walk around. Unfortunately during the hike mentioned above...Tyson accidentally dropped my camera into the lake. So, I wasn't able to take pictures of the Big Trees...I wanted to let my camera dry out a bit before using it.

BUT...here are pictures that I took later of us at the condo's pool. That was WONDERFUL because it was 95+ degrees there! HOT HOT HOT!

Everyone played an intense game of 500.

Then on the trip home we were stuck in some traffic. In fact, we had to put the car in park for a while because I-80 was at a complete stand still. When we got to the problem it appeared that this truck and it's load had caught on fire and completely melted the entire truck. Scary...
So, that was our trip! It was great and I loved it. Go see more pictures go to my picture blog at tysonandbethany.blogspot.com !