The Albrecht Family

Christmas can wait.

2011-11-04T14:29:00.001-06:00

These really helped me out in the past

2011-10-27T14:28:00.001-06:00

Do we let them win?

2011-10-03T12:25:00.001-06:00

So I am sitting in the playroom with Cole right at the moment ignoring his now 5 minute long tantrum because......I gave away his bike......wait no that's not it. He is crying (still) because I just beat him at the game Memory. You know the little cards with pictures. I let him win three times and then I won-thinking it was good to teach him about winning and losing. Don't get me wrong it wasn't some planned life lesson or anything like that,we were just playing and I decided to beat him.
So- random question, do you let your kids/or any kid you are playing a game with win each time or beat them occasionally? Just curious.
By the way he is still crying....over a memory game.

There is an App for that.

2011-09-26T15:38:00.001-06:00

This may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I just downloaded a free Blogger App. It is pretty wonderful. Blogging from my iPhone right this moment.
I have had a few people ask me why I haven't been blogging and encouraged me to start up again. Surprisingly none of these people were my family and they were really the only people I thought actually looked on my blog- so apparently I am not as boring as I thought I was since I got a few requests to blog again.
It has been a whirlwind of a few months. We moved, my parents came home (which is wonderful!!!), we have been on a few trips. Lots of fun things going on.
Thanks to my friends in the last few months for the request to start up on the blog again. Let's hope it lasts.
I just added a few recent pictures- which were taken on my phone also- so they are pretty much the best pictures ever.

I tried to title this post There's an app for that and then it added a bunch of random letters and computer code junk on- phone blogging is still a work in progress.

My terrible (funny) day

2010-12-22T22:03:00.006-06:00

Earlier this week I spent close to a half hour writing about a funny yet terrible day I had earlier this week. It was a very long detailed post, it included my realtor running his car into a tree 3-4 times and some funny quotes from my 3 year old. Somehow it got deleted but not before it posted just the title to my blog. So sorry for the blank post and thank you to Lauren for letting me know. Now you get stuck reading my run-on sentence filled recount, just to warn you there are lot's of these " " " " and these ( ) in your reading future. My blog is kind of like a journal so I like to add events, as embarrassing as they may be.

So long story short (actually now that I am rereading it it is more of a long story long) I ran out of gas AND let my car battery die in the same day - actually within the same hour. It was dark, my kids were sick, it was in the middle of a snowstorm. Mere seconds before I got in my car and it wouldn't drive I had run my smart mouth in front of Justin and our Realtor Barry. I had asked where the nearest gas station was and then threw in a jokingly "well it's not like I am going to run out of gas or anything - that's what you do Justin" comment. Sure enough the next thing I know the two men are laughing at me who had run out of gas. You would think I would learn to keep my smart mouth shut!

Luckily Justin was there in his car so he came to the rescue and drove away to get more gas. The house we had been looking at was up near Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon area, There was 6-8 inches in the driveway since the house was vacant, so Justin had to park about a 1/2 block away and walk this entire time in a mini blizzard and in slippery dress shoes. He filled up the tank, I tried to start it the lights go out and it wouldn't even make a sound. Justin, who knows much more about cars than I do asked - laughing "Did you leave the DVD, overhead lights and headlights on the entire time I was gone? You probably killed the battery" me somewhat snotty - "I really don't think in 20 minutes the battery would die, this car is only a year old!" (again with my smart mouth! and pretty sure I rolled my eyes - ask my mom -that is just what I do, hopefully I will learn). We were both laughing at this point since running out of gas and killing your battery in the same hour is pretty funny. Truthfully -I had been running the Navigation system (what better time to program your radio stations then when you are stranded), DVD player, overhead lights (Cole was scared the dark and sick so I turned them on for him), the mini fog lights (I accidentally turned those on) and the headlights had flipped on since it was dark. I truly didn't think I would run the battery down in 20 min. though.

Justin's car couldn't make it up the drive where my car was to jump my battery. I nicknamed Justin's car the "Bobsled" a few years back since it can't even get up our driveway with 1 inch of snow. My car is getting cold, the kids are getting restless and the snow is still coming down. Justin flags down a car - in a snowstorm - and asks him if he could help us jump my car and that his wife and 2 small kids were stranded. This guy who was pulling into his driveway right across the road says no "he doesn't jump cars". Really? Who wouldn't help someone in a snowstorm jump their car? After telling this story 2 different people have said "Well the guy was probably afraid of Justin" hmmm I don't' think Justin is scary but that is just me. If we buy this house (which we put an offer on) I may have to let our awesome dog............there are about 700 annoying things our dog could do and I can't pick just one at this moment. Justin had a few nice parting words with the guy which included but not limited to, something along the lines of "well enjoy your nice warm house while my wife and kids freeze to death while we walk out in this snowstorm to find some help".

Justin flags down a second set of guys and they said "well since it is Christmas, we will help you" and Justin told them to not put themselves out. It had been a long evening of problems so everyone was a bit edgy. These guys were nice enough to stop for 2 minutes and let us use their battery to get my car started. Once there was power to my car it looked like a flipping float in the Disney's Electric Light Parade. I don't think I could have had 1 more light on.

In the time it took to jump my car the first guy the - "I don't jump cars" - guy as Justin and I like to refer to him now, was back and carrying a car scraper/brush. I asked him super snotty "are you here to brush my car off?" (a strange defensive side comes out when you feel like your kids might be in danger - as Sarah Palin would call it a Mother Grizzly so I blame my snottiness on Sarah Palin) and he said he had just come over to "check things out". Really? You wouldn't help us but you want to come over and be nosey? I think the scraper/brush was for his protection against scary Justin since he didn't actually brush any of the 4 inches of snow off my car. I mean, if I was going to go home, pick out a self defense weapon I would definitely pick a snow scraper/brush. We thanked the two guys that did help us who were really nice and kept telling us about the neighborhood - in the middle of a blizzard.

We get home and the day couldn't have ended any better. We open my parents Christmas Card to a surprise! The online company my dad has used for years and years to send all sorts of cards made a huge mistake and sent out incorrect cards to my parents Christmas card people. My parents have lots and lots of friends and send out quite a few Christmas cards each year s0 there were plenty of people that got an envelope with the return address and names of my parents, but inside the card there was a cute picture of an African American family on the front of the card, and the inside said "Merry Christmas from the Brown family". Then I noticed that the back of Justin's nice dress pants had ripped. He had slipped getting into my car - since he was in dress shoes and there was so much snow - and ripped a 12 inch hole in the back. The pants were ruined and all we could do was laugh. Just a funny day altogether.

I hope you enjoyed the 20 minutes it took to read this rambling post. Please know if your car says 35 miles left before empty - it is lying!!! Unless it is a jeep. I could drive my jeeps around on 0 for miles ages.

The Nativity Story

2010-12-04T22:39:00.004-06:00

Christmas is well on it's way and I was wondering if anyone who reads my blog has a good children's book that tells The Nativity Story? I have seen a few here and there and of course online but I am generally pleased with recommendations from my friends and family. Really to be honest there is no way I have the time to read 9 Nativity books at Barns and Noble and pick out a nice one with my kids with me - I don't even have kid free time to go to the dentist let alone the bookstore. If you and your kids have enjoyed one together please let me know the name and author of the book.

Merry Christmas

A PSA of sorts.

2010-11-22T20:36:00.005-06:00

* Justin just asked me what a PSA was. PSA = public service announcement.
Warning - Just so you know I am a little hopped up on Percocet at the moment. I will let you know later if blogging while under the influence of narcotics is a good idea or not. I mean they tell you not to drive but there is no warning about blogging of Facebooking.

Early this morning I had my gallbladder removed. It was a scheduled surgery at LDS Hospital and I am feeling much better than I expected. I am sure my pain meds have a great deal to do with how I am feeling though :) Wow - that makes me sound like a druggie.

I had what is called Cholecystitis: Inflammation of the gallbladder, often due to a gallstone in the gallbladder. Cholecystitis causes severe pain and fever, and can require surgery when inflammation continues or recurs. - Thank you Web MD.

The reason I decided to share this lovely information is that when I first started experiencing Gallbladder Attacks, I had NO idea what was going on. I feel somewhat informed on medical conditions from being an EMT, working in the ER, my years working for an Internal Medicine clinic and growing up listening to my Dad who is a Physician take calls when he was on-call for his medical practice. I have had hundreds of conversations with patients asking them "what brings you into the ER/Dr's office today?" and I had never talked to a person who was experiencing the same symptoms or pain I was having.

I had 6 excruciating painful attacks over the last 3 months. It is hard to describe the pain. I couldn't get off the floor, it felt like someone had reached inside my chest under my diaphragm and was squeezing as hard as imaginable in between my ribcage. Breathing would cause stabbing pain in my back and I had sharp pains shooting down my right arm, along with my hands going numb. I would be fine one moment and then brought to my knees another. I could hardly get to my phone, debated calling an ambulance during the first attack since I thought I was having a heart attack. It sounds SO ridiculous now but the reason I didn't call an ambulance was that my kids were home, Justin was out if town and I think I must have been delirious with pain since I was worried what would happen to my kids if the paramedics took me to the ER. Poor Cole was scared to death each time. He kept telling me to call a Fireman.

The first attack lasted 15 minutes, after I felt exhausted but OK. I told myself if it happened again I would go into the DR. 2 days later I had another one that lasted over an hour. Justin was in town this time, came home early form work after I called begging him to come help me with the kids. He raced home, took one look at me and said we are going to the ER. On the way there the pain went away and I am so stubborn I refused to let him take me to the ER so I made yet another ridiculous decision and had him take me to the InstaCare near our house. Not knocking InstaCare but for what I was going through it was a dumb decision on my part.

We had the kids with us in the car so I had him drop me off and I just walked in. The Nurses were awful, they kept smiling. nodding their heads and asking me if I was feeling a little anxious and was I possibly depressed and that is why I was in "some pain". I practically yelled the words "I don't want pain meds" I just wanted to find out what was wrong. The instaCare Dr. did a few tests and said he had no idea what was wrong and to go home and try to relax. As I was walking out of the office he told me it could possible be my gallbladder but since I was younger and not overweight it was a small possibility.

My OBGYN was wonderful and after calling there she immediately sent me in for an ultrasound which showed multiple gallstones and I was scheduled for surgery a few months later.

SO again why am I telling you my boring story. Well it turns out that pregnancy can cause gallstones to form from the increase of hormones in your body which causes the gallbladder to not function properly. Since a large number of my friends are in the middle of pregnancies or starting families I thought I would blog a little PSA about the gallbladder.

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/picture-of-the-gallbladderhttp://

I was really nauseous for weeks leading up to my first attack. I had a newborn at the time and I just thought I was a little tired and rundown. I even bought a pregnancy test since I couldn't understand why I was so nauseous. At the grocery store checking out the lady looked at the test, looked at me trying to wrangle Cole back into the flipping buscart and then she asked how old Mason was. When I told her my baby was 3 months she got this funny look on her face. It was actually pretty funny. I am sure she thought oh this poor lady.

So there is your PSA on gallbladder. I had a great surgeon and really feel better today - my surgery day - than I have in 5 months. I feel so lucky to have had great friends and family that have rearranged schedules to help my with my kids and shared their nice words of good luck and get well.

On a funnier note I think I misspelled 50% of this blog (and I typed email instead of blog). Thank goodness for spellcheck, it makes blogging while under the influence possible.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Kinda a big Deal

2010-11-10T18:19:00.006-06:00

It's kinda a big deal or you could call it a big day. I have a new keyboard! Yeah! Look at all these C's I can type ccccc! So exciting. I just typed the word exciting without having to SLAM on the keyboard or spellcheck. I am one lucky girl. There was another C, oh the bliss of having a computer a keyboard and a working letter C.

Justin gave Cole the old keyboard and now it has 0% chance of typing any letters ever again since the first thing Cole did was jump up and down on it repeatedly. I figured Cole was pretty upset that the C didn't work as well :) Then he was carrying it around calling it a skateboard, which I am guessing prompted the jumping. Keyboard/Skateboard, both similar in shape I guess, both have the word board in them. He still thinks it is a skateboard like the one his cousin has. Since he is 3 I will continue to let him think it is a "big boy" skateboard. Much safer than a real one. To be honest after it not working for months, I felt like jumping up and down on it repeatedly a few times too, Cole just beat me to it.

Today was another rare occasion when the boys took a nap at the same time (and Cole took a nap at all) so I thought I would try to post a few pictures. My Mom has been telling me on the phone how she had been checking my blog for more pictures and there hadn't been any new ones for a while. It finally occurred to me that she probably wanted to see more pictures of my boys since she is living far away in fabulous Missouri. I mean Missouri is fabulous enough and don't even get me started on Kansas....she needs pictures of my kids as well :)She is just too nice to come out and tell me to put more pictures on my blog. Love you Mom. Speaking of my parents they have a little over 7 months until they will finally be home. I guess I should start finding a new place to live.

So here, just for my wonderful mom are new pictures of the boys. Another big deal - there are actual pictures of me with my kids. Amazing I know.

Mason 5 months

Sad and embarrassing fact - This picture above is the ONLY family picture we have.

This is Justin's Dad holding Mason. You can tell where Mason gets his blue eyes from.

Halloween 2010. Cole was Buzz Lightyear and Mason was supposed to be Woody. I was so proud that I was prepared for Halloween. The boys had their costumes a few weeks before the 31st. True to Albrecht form Mason grew out of his costume in the 3 weeks leading up to Halloween. It fit perfect when I took it out of the box but he must have packed on the pounds in 3 weeks. I even tried cutting the back since he was going to be in his stroller most of the time anyway.
I tried stuffing him into it, nothing worked. His Chest was too burly.

Bailey gets an honorable mention at the end for two reasons. First, he is Masons favorite thing these days and second, he scared off about 10 little boys that were hiding in our bushes trying to steal our pumpkins on Halloween night.

Vote for Ashlie

2010-10-16T09:45:00.002-06:00

One of my adorable nieces is competing in the Miss Utah High Pageant this November. If you have a facebook account - I would LOVE it if you would go to this link, Ashlie LIKE the page and then in the photos box under contestants LIKE her picture. She is the first one - Ashlie Albrecht. If you really want to be nice you can post this on your facebook wall as well - it would count as your good deed for the day. Who doesn't need some good karma these days.

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful Fall weather. Justin, the boys and I are all doing wonderful. I hope to get some time to post some pictures soon.
Annie

It is completely worth the $14.00

2010-08-26T14:10:00.029-06:00

About 8 weeks ago I decided (I still have the same C deficient keyboard in case you were wondering) that I would save the $14.00 it costs me to get Cole's hair cut and give him a buzz cut. A few of my friends had said that their husbands buzz their little boys hair so I figured if they could do it so could I - right? Sounds easy enough... doesn't it?

How to give a buzz cut - read up on the settings that are best on the clippers, learned about the angles to hold the clippers to make the hair blend evenly. Had the clippers all charged.There was even a site dedicated to giving yourself a buzz cut, which made it seem that much easier. I'm not going to lie. I felt pretty prepared to give my son his first haircut compliments of mom.

What started out good went horribly wrong when the clippers got stuck in his hair and ripped out a tiny patch.Ouch!! Poor Cole. He screamed, started to cry and I was only 1/4 of the way done. The fact that it made him cry made me feel even worse - the kid has an unusually high pain tolerance. Right before I had Mason he tripped in my bedroom and smacked his head on the dresser . He didn't cry or even make a peep, just jumped up and ran into the kitchen. I followed him in a few moments after to see him sitting at the counter eating fruit snacks with blood running down his head, no crying just bleeding. I'm the mom that always says "Oh he's fine" after he falls off the slide at the playground - but he almost always just jumps up and runs off.

For the next hour or so if I even came near him with the clippers he would completely melt down. Of course I had started at the front of his head so he looked really funny for a few hours before I finally bribed him with enough candy and a movie to let me finish. After this fiasco - I have even more admiration and respect for my friends and family members that are hair stylists.

The rest of the week he kept rubbing his head and saying "Mom hurt my head" and "where my hair go?". The dresser incident had left a scar on his head we never knew was there and kids with large heads - such as Cole's - really shouldn't have buzz cuts. They really shouldn't have super short "google-taught" buzz cuts. I am just glad he is young enough to not remember. So really, it is completely worth the $14.00 to get your kids haircut.

Beautiful Buzz Cut Memories

Cole in the crib with Mason.

This is what happens when my 2 year old tries to pour himself another bowl of cereal. Notice Bailey in the corner just dying to get at the cereal. I had to give Cole credit - he did get most of it in and on top of his bowl.

Cole feeding Mason. He loves to give him a bottle.

Unhappy Mason being held by Cole.

I blinked and 3 months have past.

2010-08-09T18:30:00.004-06:00

Let me first start out by telling you that the C on my keyboard is temperamental. Which is SO annoying. There are so many words with C in them - which if the C is left out are still words but just don't make any sense without the C in them. I literally have to strike the C key as hard as I can to make it work. When I hit the spellcheck it turns the whole page yellow with C mistakes. I am hoping this rant helps get Justin to replace this new keyboard with yet another new keyboard since he is in charge of all things electronic in the marriage - it was in our fake prenup - which I should do a post about because it is pretty funny - or so I am told.

Do I really have a 3 month old baby? Well today I do. I really and truly can't believe how fast the last 3 months have flown by. Everyday is busy and crazy but I wouldn't want it any other way. Mason is still a mellow baby. Sleeping and eating better than I could have hoped for. No one likes a bragger so I will just leave it at that. On a random note - I googled bragger because I wasn't sure it was a word and I have a friend who did a whole blog post on peoples grammar and how she thinks it is SO funny when people misspell or misuse words (which I am 100% positive I do in every sentence - well every sentence and run on sentence) and I NOW have huge grammar complex. Thank goodness for google since it told me not only IS bragger a word there is also an Ehow site that gives you 3 steps on how to deal with a bragger. I found this totally ridiculous and funny at the same time - so I will share .http://www.ehow.com/how_5280789_deal-bragger.html So if I start acting like Debbie Downer in our next conversation you will know I am trying to stop the bragger :)

I won't bore you with too many baby details - anyone can google 3 month old baby and he is doing all of those things. Mason is still "livin large" at his 2 month appointment he was 13 and 1/2 pounds and 25.5 inches. The nurse measured 3 times. He is wearing 6 month onesies and growing out of those as I write this. A few weeks ago I was laughing at the fact that my 2 year old was wearing size 5 pajamas and my 9 week old was wearing size 6 months. Oh, and I am NOT bragging about the size of my kids. People think that Cole is 5 and is just naughty.

Cole is still doing really well with all the changes that come with a new brother. He stopped calling Mason "hey little guy" and now he has nicknamed him "Mace". When I took both boys in to get ALL of Masons shots, Cole gave our nurse the meanest look and started telling her to "stop hurting Mace". As we were leaving the office he turned to the nurse - glared again - and said "you hurt Mace" this was after the nurse had given Cole handfuls of stickers and suckers to try too get back on his good side.

Anytime Mason cries Cole tells me that "Mace is sick" or "Mace is hurt". I left both boys on my bed for less than 30 seconds while I was putting laundry away in the same room - when I turned around Cole had piled all our king sized (heavy) pillows on top of Mason. He said "me hide Mace". I have found Cole in Masons crib (now there is a stronger baby lock on his door) Cole laying under the baby gym almost on top of Mason and my favorite was coming back into the kitchen to find Mason happily in his bouncer draped in the newspaper with Cole saying that Mason was cold. He looked like a little homeless baby.

Obviously you can tell that Cole is VERY busy ALL day. It keeps me on my toes. I have been neglecting my blog since I literally can't let Cole out of my sight. Today the stars aligned and both boys are asleep! Just this morning I was changing Mason and when I left Cole in the kitchen he was happily coloring. When I returned maybe a minute later, Cole had pushed his chair to the sink and sprayed the kitchen down with the faucet that pulls out. The other day Cole wanted to wear his batman costume and he was playing in the backyard with Bailey. I went to switch the laundry and when I came back the fence was open and Cole was gone. I found him trying to trick-or-treat with (surprisingly) trusty Bailey right at his side. I lucked out that my 2 neighbors Cole had stopped at were out of town. He is a busy, busy 2 year old. I am not complaining. I usually laugh, roll my eyes and remind myself that I feel lucky to have healthy kids who can get into trouble and that they will be grown before I know it.

Here are some pictures of Mason. They were supposed to be for birth announcements but since he is now 3 months old I am pretty sure I am not going to find the time to get them out. The photographer I usually use is either in jail, or skipped the country or ran away to start a new life. I emailed, called, facebooked and nothing. The photographer I did use I would NOT recommend. It is called Studio LUSH photography. They are in Pleasant Grove. I was not that impressed with the pictures. The pictures below I cropped and changed since they were all off centered and it was just a pain all around to work with her.
I have lots of funny things to post and catch up on so hopefully - and that is a BIG hopefully - the stars will align again and I will find some free time. It does make me feel better to check on my friends and family's blogs and find that they have not posted for as long as me.

Mason B. Albrecht

2010-05-17T15:33:00.008-06:00

Mason has arrived!! All 10 pounds, 4 ounces and 22.5 inches of him! I feel the need to remind anyone reading that I was induced 1 week early and he was still over 10 pounds. Delivery went really well, nothing too exciting, no C-section, no screaming and under 5 hours from when we set foot in the hospital until he was born. After having a 10 pound baby, I have really been considering including my anesthesiologist on my Christmas card list. Mason was born May 11th at 2:45 P.M.

After he was born the respiratory therapists had to work on him for a few minutes so they couldn't tell us his weight for a bit. The Dr, nurse and respiratory therapist all separately made mention to a football players, basketball players and the next player on the jazz while they were giving him a little help to breath better. After hearing all of that I was pretty positive he was on the big size. When they told me his weight I responded with "seriously, I just had a 10 pound baby?" and then "I just lost over ten pounds in under 10 minutes".

Every nurse that I had in the next two days felt the need to tell me how much their babies weighed at birth. Twice I got to respond with "So, I just had 2 of your babies". On the flip side I had great care in the hospital. I actually felt pretty good but I think the nurses felt bad for me. More than once I had nurses come in that were not assigned to me to bring me pain meds and anything else I had asked for within minutes. Much different than my experience when I had Cole.

I went to a breastfeeding class while I was in the hospital and the nurse teaching it said "Oh, your the one that had the 10 pound baby, they were talking about you in report". I was starting to feel a little like a freak and a celebrity all at the same time. During my class one of the fathers told me he "had to see this 10 pound baby". I told him he looks just like any other baby just bigger. Later that day I thanked Justin for not being the kind of man that A - would go to a breastfeeding class and B - ask a stupid question like that.

Mason was labeled an LGA baby. LGA stands for Large for Gestational Age. They had to preform blood sugars every few hours both days we were in the hospital. LGA can cause a list of problems for mom and baby but we lucked out. The only thing the Dr. told us was his skin was somewhat red in color (a sign of LGA) but that will fade quickly. My pediatrician and OBGYN told me that it is pretty rare to have that large of a baby when the mother doesn't have Gestational Diabetes. Justin was bigger than Mason at birth but according to his Dad he was on-time and Justin's mom had Gestational Diabetes.

Mason is a really, really content happy baby. The first night he was home he slept a 5 hour stretch and the second night a 6.5 hour stretch. I took him to the pediatrician today and he is gaining weight like he should and loosing some of his redness. The jury is out on his hair color. I thought it was red at first but that may have had to do with his over all rosy appearance for the first few days. Justin and I have gone back and forth everyday between strawberry blonde and blonde. When Justin was born there was NO question he was a redhead.

Here is Justin after the delivery. Sorry no pictures of me :). When we were going up the elevator there was another father-to-be who was telling us they had been in labor and delivery for over 18 hours waiting for their baby to get here. The best part about this father was the fact that he was dressed head to toe in camo. Even a camouflage jacket over a camouflage t-shirt. Maybe he was tyring to hide from his wife/girlfriend? Justin looked almost boring in his blue shirt and jeans.

Here is Cole meeting Mason for the first time. I love his raised eyebrow look. Cole has been great so far with the addition of a brother. He calls him "hey little guy" and tries to give him a binky all the time. He also tried to give him a raisin and some string cheese, so I will have to keep an eye out for any food Cole sneaks away.

Does that hand on Cole's shoulder look familiar to anyone? It is my mom! She was able to leave her Mission for almost a week to help with Cole. It was so nice to have her here. It made everything so much easier knowing Cole was with my mom at his own house while I was at the hospital. Cole calls my mom NYE. We call her Nana, but he decided NYE was better. He had a fun week being spoiled by my mom. I will be a long 13 months untill she and my Dad get home.

Wish me luck as I try to figure out how to go from 1 kid to 2. My sister-in-law Lauren won the guess the weight game. She had a baby the same size. They may need to study why the Albrecht genes tend to produce such large babies. Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday then...... Baby Day!!!

2010-05-08T03:31:00.000-06:00

Only a few days left until my body is no longer for rent by this baby. Unless he decides to make an early appearance I am scheduled to be induced on Tuesday May 11th. Thankfully that is 1 week early. As of right now I am 38 weeks and a few days and the baby is measuring 41 weeks + or 3 weeks ahead. I am taking bets on the weight and length. Whoever guesses the weight or length closest without going over will get something of value sent to them from me. If you are against "betting" then consider it a participation prize.
Right now it is 3:39 AM on Saturday morning. I have had insomnia for months with this baby. I had it with Cole as well but it didn't start until the last few weeks. After Cole was born I actually slept better the first 4 weeks he was a newborn than I had the last 4 weeks he was on board. Having insomnia makes me an even bigger slacker on blogging. I really do have time all night to be down here typing away. My Mom even told me I sound tired? I am not sure how that is possible but I must look even worse if I sound tired.
Let's see those guesses on weight and length. Just for reference Cole was also a week early and 8lb 7oz and 22.5 inches. I am not sure if Justin was early or late but he was 10lb 14 oz and 23 inches.
I will keep the blog posted as much as I can. I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day weekend.

Tommy the Tumor

2010-04-02T08:57:00.000-06:00

Keeping his reputation as the most expensive and high maintenance dog ever, Bailey this week had a tumor - really a tumor - removed from his paw. Justin and I named his growth Tommy the tumor thinking we were funny. When it did in fact turn out to be a tumor it wasn't as funny. It has been growing for a few months. The Vet told us to watch it since some dogs get growths that will go away with time. Bailey never seemed to notice it so we just kept watching it grow.

When we finally took him in what started as a small black mole looked like he had an extra large red jellybean growing straight out of his paw. This is his 3rd surgery, 4th time he has had staples in him and the 7th time he has been put under anesthesia for some type of medical care. He is only 5 years old. Between Justin and I and our combined 62 years on earth Bailey has us beat on the number of times under general anesthesia.

Taking the 100+lb dog to the vet almost 9 months pregnant with a 2 year old is a circus. "Dog" as Cole calls him, can jump pretty high in most cases. Even after his knee surgeries he would happily jump on the kitchen counter if I let him. He jumps up the rocks in the backyard 4+ feet high with no problem. The ONE place he will NOT jump is into the back of my jeep. It is not even that high. Loading "Dog" into the car now requires a large telescoping dog ramp. It is quite the site. Next time you see and advertisement for a dog ramp in a magazine or at the pet store and ask yourself, who would buy that huge thing? - the answer is me.

7 weeks or less

2010-03-13T16:18:00.000-06:00

Well this baby is getting close to arriving and Justin and I can't wait to meet him. We still haven't picked out a name so any name ideas would be much appreciated. My Dr. told me last week that this baby is getting BIG. Which was how Cole started out - but this baby is even bigger at this point in my pregnancy than Cole was. At 31 weeks he is measuring 34 weeks! I was induced with Cole a week early and he was 8lb 7oz and 22 inches. Thank goodness for inductions! I know many women that are 100% ANTI-induction but it was a good choice for me and everything went smoothly. I asked my Dr. what happens to women that are anti-induction who also measure large and she told me about one of her patients at LDS hospital that delivered (via c-section) a 12 lb 8 oz baby! That is just scary.

So my new due date is May 11th. Which is only a week early and may need to be moved after another ultrasound to check out the size of this baby. One of my cute cousins just had her 5th boy induced early for the same "big baby" reasons as me - and he was 9lb 6oz!! Go Melissa. Justin was 10 lb 14 oz when he was born and I really don't want to learn what that was like.

I must be looking pretty sad and pregnant since last night at the supermarket the bagger asked me if I wanted help out with my groceries. When I told him I was fine he said "no really I INSIST" quite sternly. He was intent on helping me out with my 4 bags of groceries and then asked if I had someone at home to help me get them inside. I almost......almost asked him if he was planning on driving to my house if I didn't have someone to help me inside with them but I somehow held my tongue. Of course I carried them inside by myself. He was just trying to be kind I know - I still find it funny how some people (some pregnant women included) act as if pregnant women are slightly paralyzed.

That is the end of my pregnancy rant for now. Today is St. Patrick's Day and I love this holiday since 3 years ago today was when I found out Mr. Cole was on the way. Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone.

Aquarium

2010-03-10T16:18:00.001-06:00

Justin and I decided to take Cole to the Living Planet Aquarium due to his new fascination with the movie Finding Nemo. I had never been to the aquarium and was surprised how small it was. We had a good time but were in and out in less than an hour.

Cole and Justin at the Stingray Pool.

Cole loved seeing a live Nemo.

Snow Much Fun

2010-03-10T14:48:00.001-06:00

I will be playing catch up for the next little while with my blog posts. Justin read my offer for him to get a new computer from my last post and had it ordered the next day. It is here and all set up so now I have no excuses. I need to remember to put all future requests I have for Justin on the blog - he really seems to respond well to public requests.

A few months ago when we still had some snow to speak of, we loaded up Cole and took him sledding near our house. He loved it thank goodness - since both Justin and I are hoping for some future skiers out of our boys.

I would have to add sledding to the top 10 ways to wear out your 2 year old.

So far behind

2010-02-03T08:20:00.000-06:00

I am so far behind with the blog I don't know where to start. I know it is time to post when Justin starts commenting on how long it has been since I posted something. Yes my husband is a hidden blog stalker. A few of my girlfriends even get comments from him every now and then.

Anyway, we are all doing great. A few computer glitches in the last few months - so I am waiting for Justin to order and set up the new desktop so I don't have to wait 45 minutes for each picture to load (did you read that Justin - get that computer already :)).

Cole is doing what 2 year old boys do and driving me a little crazy from time to time. He has learned to open dead bolts and continues to break apart the child lock doorknob covers. By accident he found if he falls on the pressure mounted baby gates he can knock them down - so now he will run full force into them to knock them down and then just laughs. He is always within eye range of me to say the least. One nice thing is that he now lets the dog in and out of the house.

I have 14 or less weeks to go with this baby. My Dr. and the perinatologist Dr. said this baby is quite big just like Cole was so they are going to induce me at least a week early!! That was good news.

Justin is - as always - doing amazing at work. He was the top in sales in the Nation AGAIN this year. Go Justin. The top shelf of his closet is now stacked with plaques and glass awards from the last few years. Sadly I can't go on the awards trip since I will be too pregnant - so if anyone wants to volunteer to go to the hospital with me if I go into labor while he is gone at the end of March that would be great. I will still have 6 and a half weeks until this baby will be due - so hopefully it stays put. I am excited for him and would never tell him not to go on his big trip. I just told him he has to bring me back something shiny and if I have this baby while he is gone it better be something really good.

My parents are still very, very busy in Missouri. I was able to visit them after Christmas for a few days. One of my aunts flew out with Cole and I and we surprised my mom with her visit which was really fun. We flew in the day after Christmas which happened to be the same day of the biggest snowstorm Missouri had seen in 20 years. They have a less than a year and a half left until they get home now.

Naughty Bailey dog is still the same. My vet called me a few weeks ago wanting me to come into the office to talk after some tests we had to do on Bailey. Dr. Barton told me Bailey had a drinking problem - a water drinking problem, where he drinks too much water. Nothing to worry about but I like telling people that my dog has a drinking problem. I really have to add that these tests included getting urine samples from my 106 lb dog 3 mornings in a row and that these 3 mornings - lucky for me - were after snowstorms. Please picture.... me, pregnant in snow boots and pajamas running after my dog in 8 inches of snow in our backyard trying to get a urine sample. The whole thing was pretty funny and since I worked in a hospital as a CNA and an EMT for years there was really no grossness factor.

That is the last of my little update. Pretty boring with no pictures - but our laptop takes FOREVER to load pictures. Happy February to everyone.

Happy Birthday Cole

2009-12-04T10:16:00.000-06:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Cole!!

Cole turned 2 on November 1st. It seems like last week that he came home from the hospital. At his 2 year old pediatrician appointment the first thing the Dr. looked at was what size clothes he was wearing. 4T. He is 39 inches or 3'3''. 36 pounds and his head is 53 cm. At least he is off the charts on all levels. He is equally large on all accounts. No more bobble head stats. Now I can look back and laugh that the Dr's were worried about his growing and weight for the first few weeks.

I have enjoyed (probably too much) acting taken back and surprised when complete strangers comment on how big he is for a 2 year old. I have started replying to their comments with "Really? You think he is big". As well as telling snoopy strangers he is already on a baby football team when they ask "Are you going to put him into sports?".

At 2 he loves to play trucks, throw and catch a football, colorand dance. His favorite music being rock & hip/hop - AC/DC, Lady Gaga and Ludicris being his favorite in the past few months. He must climb on everything. He is fascinated with shoes and the vacuum. Everyday he pulls the salad tongs out of the drawer and picks up toys with them.
He hates having his diaper changed - it is a battle. Gets really upset when I channel surf on the radio in the car. Also really hates having his hair done.

Favorite present. Uncle Brandon and Aunt Jessie found an extra large Tonka truck he likes to ride in.

Cole with Grandpa & Grandma Albrecht

Happy Birthday Cole!!

It's a...............

2009-12-01T14:45:00.000-06:00

Japan

2009-11-27T16:19:00.000-06:00

Justin and I safely arrived home from Japan on Tuesday November 10th. We were fortunate enough to spend a little over a week traveling and had an amazing time taking in the culture, eating the yummy food and taking the trains and subways all around the Tokyo area. While we had been hoping to travel to Japan for the past 2 years after two of our friends moved there the timing never lined up. Finding out I was expecting a baby and that our friends were going to move back to New York from Japan in the next year made us finally get out act together. We ended up booking our tickets and flying away 2 weeks later. Talk about a last minute trip 3 1/2 months pregnant halfway around the world. Good thing we have our passports up to date. Even better we have AMAZING friends that offered to watch Cole while we were away. Thanks again Holly and Tay!!

Nikko

Shinkyo Bridge, Nikko.

Katie and I at the entrance to Nikko.

The three wise monkeys over the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan.

Eating lunch - Udon and Soba noodles in Nikko. Justin was a little too big for the tables.

Many more Japan photo's to come!

Mid May

2009-11-14T22:33:00.000-06:00

A new baby Albrecht is well on the way! Scheduled to arrive sometime mid May. I am 14 weeks and counting, feeling SO much better and can't wait to find out what this baby is going to be.

Cole is still in shock over being told he was going to be a big brother.

A Utah man am I.....during football season.

2009-10-17T10:06:00.001-06:00

It is well into football season. Since I went to both USU and Utah I only feel it is fair to cheer for Utah during football season and USU during basketball season. This may or may not also be each schools strong sport. Here are some pic's of Cole. He wears the respectful school colors on game days.

It took all of 4 minutes for his shirt to get filthy. You have to love little boys for how fast they can become a sticky little disaster.

He meant well

2009-10-07T18:26:00.001-06:00

The other day I walked into the laundry room to find Cole washing the floor with a kitchen washcloth and the dog water. Yuck. He meant well. I really couldn't get mad. He had DUMPED the dogs dish out on the floor spilling water everywhere. What a funny site to see my not yet 2 year old scrubbing away as best he could. I think I must clean too much.

If you need your floors done I will gladly drop Cole off to do the job.

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-22T16:47:00.000-06:00

Over Labor Day we went to Bear Lake with 3 other couples and their boys. I knew the trip was off to a great start when I realized I left my toiletries in their bag all packed up and ready to go in SLC. I had to laugh at the fact that I realized this moments before we arrived in Bear Lake instead of moments after we left the house. Even better was finding out that Rachel had forgot a bra. Yes I just said she forgot her bra. Funny stuff. The first night we were there after a great afternoon on the lake Rachel and I went on an adventure to find toiletries and a bra in Montpelier Idaho. After 4, yes 4 stores, using the oldest gas pump I had ever seen and 6 lottery tickets later (I won 8$) we ended up with not 1 but 3 bras and as many grocery store toiletries a girl could ask for. Rachel scored a pretty sweet 2 for 6$ special on the oldest bras I have ever seen and then found a more suitable replacement bra at store #4.

The oldest gas pump I have ever seen - half of the dials didn't work.

We spent Saturday afternoon crossing the Lake to Shell beach. The little boys had a blast playing in the sand and getting completely filthy in the process. We were all having a great time and I started to notice that the other 50+ people on the beach had left all around the same time. Not thinking anything of it other than it was close to dinner time, we spent another hour or so letting the kids run around like little boys do best. As we loaded up the 2 boats to make the 50 min journey across the lake to get home we all noticed HUGE dark clouds in our midst and nothing but large white capping waves as far as the eye could see. We made it home safe - obviously - but not before we took on quite a bit of water into the boat, were all soaked, cold and starving by this point since it took quite a while to get across the lake with HUGE waves and rain coming in at every which way.

Looming storm clouds

Arriving safely at the marina. Can you see Cole hidden in the towels?
Captain Justin braving the storm.

The rest of the trip we ate lots of yummy food, watched the little boys run crazy all over the cabin, beach and boats.

Cole watching the action behind the boat.

Dixon making us feel like we are really terrible at wake boarding after watching him.

Dixon

Chip

3 little boys trying to get into trouble.

The gorgeous view from our cabin

Reflection of the moon on the lake and marina.

Question??

2009-09-17T15:51:00.001-06:00

So lately my blog isn't updating. I was wondering if anyone else was having this problem? I log on and it hasn't updated comments or other peoples blogs on my side bar. When I click on the "Search Blog" tab at the top of any blog it will update to the most recent post. Also, if I log on through my phone the blogs are all updated just not when I log on through my laptop. Any thoughts? Is my blog sick? I have searched on Blogger for help with no success.

Catching up...

2009-08-22T09:36:00.000-06:00

Catching up. Hmmm. I wish I had lots of exciting things to post about but mostly we have just living day to day. Cole is still all over the place. Loves to climb on anything and everything. He must run everywhere. He is 21 months - 35 lbs, 38 inches tall or 3'2'' as I like to tell people when they ask. After what Justin and I like to refer to as the "when animals attack" incident he is now afraid of cats - picture to follow. If we show him a picture of a kitten or cat in a book he says "No More" and holds up his arm. I know I shouldn't' think it is funny - but it is. Cole has mastered the scowl and grumpy face which is actually quite hilarious.

When animals attack. Poor Cole. None of us saw the "cat incident". The owners of the cat both separately said Cole must have either A - hit the cat or B - poked it in the eye. Funny since nobody saw it happen. I have been waiting for him to smack Bailey or poke Bailey in the eye. I am still waiting - at least Bailey would deserve it. Please don't send PETA after me.

If you were wondering who wears the tightest PJ's in the Albrecht house - it is not me.

Cole in the tightest PJ's you will ever see. They are 3T.

Just in case you didn't get a close enough look at the tight PJ's.

Here is an action shot while dancing.

As a family we have been spending a lot of time out on the boat. Justin has been spending a lot of time working and traveling for work - but enjoys his job which is great.

I just finished up a summer of pro bono babysitting for my 8 year old niece. Any downtime I used to have while Cole was sleeping has been going towards keeping an 8 year old entertained. I have to admit it was a learning curve going from a 1 year old to an 8 year old. She is really a sweet little girl. I can undoubtedly say after watching someone else's child all summer it makes watching just your own seem like a breeze. So if any mom's out there are feeling fed up with being at home all day with their kids - add a few more kids for a few days and then just having your kids will seem like a walk in the park.

We spent a weekend at Bear Lake with our "B team" the Billses where we were thrilled to hear that Rachel is expecting their first baby!!! SO exciting. Baby Bills is expected to arrive at the end of February. Congrats Billses.Then Rachel told me I had to keep her baby a secret for over a month. It nearly killed me. Would it be lame if I put a baby countdown clock for Rachel's baby on my blog? I am obviously not excited for her at all. I only whipped the camera out once on the Bear Lake trip and the pictures ended up looking like Justin and Ed were more than "just friends". Not that anything is wrong with that :) Since Justin and Ed are both bigger and stronger than me and I spend a lot of time on a boat with them and like to stay dry most of the time I have decided after much debate to NOT post the "just friends" pictures.

Justin and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We ended up giving each other the same present. Watches. Same brand, style, color. The only difference was his/hers of course. Not talked about. Not planned. I bought his online and he bought his in a local store. Now we match. We had a great dinner at Flemming's downtown - and in true Cole fashion he pooped in the tub for the nanny that night. Sorry I know it is gross but poop stories are kinda funny when you have kids.

My sister is still living in the basement on occasion. Her stuff is here and every once in a while I will come home to an extra 100lb dog in my house, but I really only see her bi-weekly. My parents are still crazy busy in Missouri. They have had lots of naughty missionaries - the latest naughty incident was when 2 of their missionaries invited the Bishops daughter over to get in the hot tub. Funny - not for my parents to deal with - but funny to others none the less.

Bailey Dog turned 5. He is still SO much work everyday. Cole loves him and enjoys giving him food, toys, phones, brushes, cans of food, caprisuns, wallets, sun glasses, string cheese, pens, - pretty much anything Cole can get his hands on goes straight to Bailey. I spend a chunk of my day rescuing precious items from Jack - that is Baileys name when we are mad at him. And yes he answers to both names. On the flip side Bailey is amazing at getting the newspaper in the morning. We will keep him for that reason for now.

Raining Gorge....I mean Flaming Gorge

2009-07-06T15:09:00.000-06:00

After last years super fun 4th of July: http://justinalbrechtfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/nothing-says-4th-of-july-like.html

we decided last minute to put together a family camping trip to Flaming Gorge. We checked the weather, called up some other Albrecht's and were set for Cole's first camping trip. Justin and I feel like we are being punished by the weather Gods. Practically EVERY weekend this spring and summer has been cold and rainy. We thought for sure we could luck out and get a few days with sunshine over the 4th.

We drove through storm after storm on our way to flaming Gorge. The highpoint was a 45 minute cattle drive with Cole saying "Boo, Boo" at every cow, since that is what he says instead of Moo right now. A Big thanks to Wyoming for having cattle drives through the middle of the highway on a busy holiday travel weekend. As we pulled into our campsite it was pouring rain. It continued to rain all evening and into the night. Lucky for us it cleared up in the morning and we were able to spend a great day up out on the water.

Here is a sweet camera phone picture of the cattle drive. We went 5 miles an hour for 45 minutes.

This was actually a double rainbow - but it is hard to see. I was worried my camera wouldn't fare well if it took too long of a rain shower.

If you ask Cole "who's big and strong?" he will flex his little muscles for you. Yucky side note - after we returned home and I was giving Cole the "I haven't had a bath in 3 days of camping" scrub down I asked him 'who's big and strong?" and he pooped in the tub. Funny stuff - I will not be asking him that in the tub in the future.

Cole was one happy camper despite the weather. Do you like our sweet 16$ stroller. We packed SO much stuff we couldn't fit either of our big strollers. Justin was so upset that the choices were pink and Winnie the Pooh.

Another huge storm rolling in.

Look at the dreary sky behind me.

My nephew Issac jumping into the lake. We did have a few good hours of sunshine.

Not only was this Cole's first camping trip, he also experienced another big first. Below is his first minor concussion. While we were scrambling to set up camp (in a torrential down pour) he took a header into the picnic table. Poor guy. He only cried for about 30 seconds though.

Here is the Monster fish my brother-in-law Brandon caught.

Despite the cold weather we had a great time. We are headed to Bear Lake with our friends the Billsessssssssss ( is that the correct spelling Rachel?) next week. I would bet $ that we see lots of rain again.

Here comes the sun

2009-06-30T22:18:00.000-06:00

Finally the sun decided to join us this summer. I had actually started a smear campaign against the weather man after EVERY weekend had thunder showers. We wasted no time to head up to Pineview reservoir to soak up as much sun as we could handle. Justin and Cole can only handle about 10 minutes of sun so I had to take one for the family and spend the entire day working on my tan. Our friend Bart came along and was nice enough to spend most of the morning teaching Justin and I how to wakeboard.

Bart told both Justin and I that he would be surprised if we got up on our first try behind the boat. I think we were as surprised as he was that both Justin and I got up on our wakeboards the first time we tried. How long we actually stayed up in another story, but for our first try not too bad.

Justin - not bad for his first time on a wakeboard.

That is me in the back. Cole always wants to look into the camera lens.

My sister, Margie.

Our wonderful tutor Bart.

We met our good friends Dixon and Rochelle (somehow no pictures were taken) and let the boys all play in the water. Cole had his first short, slow ride on the tube and did pretty well. He was trying to claw onto the tube at first and then he loved it. Cole also had his first encounter with Pez candy and what a mess that was.

Where is my life jacket you ask? I get the gold star for safety that day. I completely forgot.

Cole and Daddy. That little boy loves the water.

Wish me luck. We are heading to Flaming Gorge for the 4th of July. I can't wait to see how camping with a VERY busy toddler is going to turn out.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Breakfast of Champions (if you want to be champion of the biggest loser)

2009-06-16T12:58:00.000-06:00

I was having cake for breakfast. Why not Cole?

The sugar kicked in for then next picture.

Huh?

Left all my boys at home

2009-06-15T09:04:00.000-06:00

Last week I left all the boys at home (this includes Bailey-dog since he is MORE work than Cole) and headed down to beautiful Moab with some of my fav girlfriends. If you have never been to Moab, there are so many amazing things to do. Hiking trails, jeeping trails, river rafting, mountain biking, Arches National Park and so much more. We did absolutely none of these things. It was actually extremely relaxing to just sit in the sun, read worthless magazines (sorry Cosmopolitan), eat lots of junk and talk, talk, talk. We did venture out to have dinner a few times and to attend the Moab rodeo. I love the people watching at the rodeo. Classic.

I felt like I was risking my life at the rodeo to capture the photo below. I just couldn't stop myself from taking a picture of this scary bikers head. I decided if he caught me I would remind him that he decided to have D.O.T Approved tattooed on his head - so people would look at it right?

Justin gave me an F in blogging

2009-06-03T08:30:00.000-06:00

Justin told me last night that I deserve a "BIG F" in blogging. I am still quite surprised that he even reads our blog. Seeing that I haven't updated in quite some time I had to agree with him on my F. Here is my attempt at catching up. Get ready people here comes..... the 3 M's.

Mother's Day, Missouri and Memorial Day!!!

I know just the mere mention of anything Missouri is SO exciting. Almost as exciting as the mention of Delaware.

The Saturday before Mother's Day is officially first day of boating season in the Albrecht household. Even though the forecast called for cold temps and rain we headed to Utah Lake anyway. The Billses came with us. While no one actually got in the water we all got some sun and had a great time together.

Cole is quite the little trooper on the boat.

There is nothing like snow in the distance to make you want to get into your swimsuit. Cole makes this mannerism at least 100 times per day. It is followed by a loud "HUH". If you have spent more that 10 minutes with Cole you have seen it. I had to add it to the blog for posterity.
Cole with "Aunt Rachel".

Cole and Justin picked out some flowers for Mother's Day. For some reason I only took a picture of this sunflower. Of course there are no pictures of me and my child on Mother's day. I really need to make Justin take pictures of Cole and I.

On to..................Fabulous Missouri. We went out to visit my parents over my mom's birthday. Yes, if you are counting this is my 3rd trip in under a year to Fabulous Missouri. Missouri is just THAT fabulous. It was great to see my parents. They are VERY BUSY, never get a day off and while they are exhausted they are doing great as Mission Presidents. I would like to add that I had to address my mom as "Sister Van Komen" to get her attention - VERY STRANGE. I wonder how long that will last after they get home in 2 years?

Here is Cole tucked into the luggage on the airport shuttle. Last year we bought a GoGo Babyz travelmate that screws onto your car seat making it a stroller for the airport. I LOVE IT!! We have used it on 8 flights so far and it has been wonderful. http://gogobabyz.com/products-c26-gogo_Kidz_Travelmate.aspx

While Cole LOVES the airplane, I LOVE the mean, glaring looks our fellow passengers give me as we are boarding the plane since we have a child with us. Then when we are getting off the plane everyone wants to chat me up and now comment on how cute Cole is. Really people - now you want to be friendly?

In my parents mission territory they have a great farm where the Missionaries do service.

We packed up Cole and headed for farm county, it was really fun. While at the petting zoo we ran into a old college friend we had not seen on YEARS. Crazy who you will meet at a petting zoo in Kansas isn't it?

Justin and Mike Alexander.

After running into Mike, Justin decided to feed Cole to some goats - or at least that is what happened. Cole must have tasted really good that day.

Here is my mom with a few of her Missionaries that were working at the farm that day.

HUH?

The only goat that didn't try to eat Cole.
The only picture I am in from our trip. Sitting on a cow bench. Very classy.
Here are a few of my parents 200+ missionaries. Also the only picture that had my dad in it. They came over and sang happy birthday to my mom - which included a ukulele serenade.

I promise I am almost done with the longest post ever.

For Memorial day weekend we went to Jordanelle and Rockport. Again sadly it was a slightly cold and rainy weekend but we managed to get everyone but Cole out on the water. It was COLD!! Thank goodness for wetsuits.

Cole was very confused that people were behind the boat.

So now I am caught up on my blogging. I need to thank the Wiggles video "You Make me Feel like Dancing" for making this longest blog post possible.

Happy 18 month Birthday to Cole

2009-05-05T13:11:00.000-06:00

Happy 18 month Birthday to Cole!

Here are his 18 month stats, they are all in the 90%. I am sure this is a big shocker to you all. Especially since Justin and I are so short and tiny ourselves :)

Weight 30lb 7 oz (91%)

Length 34 inches or 2'10" as I like to say. (91%)

His head is in the 98% - can it go over 100%?

My favorite part about this visit was how my pediatrician kept going on and on about putting Cole into sports and how he was impressed Cole had defined quad muscles. Funny. Last time the Dr. told me he always wanted a patient of his to be in the Olympics and he now hopes it will be Cole since he is so big. Hmm. I am still not sure how to take that. Yes I know my son is big - he is an Albrecht, if you have met the rest of the men in the Albrecht family you would understand.

We love you Cole!

Yet another Naughty Dog Post

2009-05-05T12:41:00.000-06:00

Naughty Yellow Dog

Easter Weekend

2009-04-14T17:05:00.000-06:00

Jazz games and and Zoo trips and WICKED, oh my! Justin and I were doing our part in stimulating the economy last weekend. Needless to say we will now be doing nothing for a while. You are welcome economy. WICKED was SO amazing. Thanks Mrs. Rachel for letting me buy your hubby's ticket from him :) Sadly the Jazz lost but I did catch a free tiny basketball for Cole. This was my first holiday as a parent where Cole actually got into the festivities. Cole is now a master Easter egg hunter. I had some decorative eggs on a table arrangement that he would point at for me to hide for him. The Easter bunny even brought me a basket to my surprise! Complete with flowers, all the chocolate a girl could ever want and a mani/pedi gift certificate. Thanks red headed Easter Bunny.

You can't make this kind of thing up!

2009-04-04T16:02:00.000-06:00

If you have read the book or watched the movie you understand why this is ironic and funny. The DVD is shot - thanks Bailey.

I rarely buy DVDs I have always thought they were a waste of money. I talked myself into this one since it is SO much like our naughty dog. The last non-baby DVD I bought was Harry Potter as a replacement after Bailey chewed through my mom's copy. Thanks Bailey.

The partners in crime. I was actually cleaning up a million tiny pieces of a swiffer sweeper that Cole had handed off to Bailey when he gave him the DVD. Lovely. It has just been one of those days. Cole LOVES the dogs. He watches them play outside for hours which I have to admit is a nice perk. At this moment I have to say that is the only perk I can think of. I hope Cole still loves our dog after he finds out his college fund had to go to replacing items Bailey has destroyed.

Bailey and his new life partner Bear my sisters dog. We have a full house here now that my sister has moved in for the next little while. It is just like I am 15 again living in my parents house with my sister......except for the husband, baby, 2 dogs and no parents part.

I hope everyone got a nice little laugh at my crazy Saturday. Enjoy your weekend!

When did my baby become a little boy?

2009-03-23T08:25:00.001-06:00

It seems like overnight Cole has transformed from a soft spoken timid baby to a kitchen table climbing wild little boy. When did this happen? I know I should be thrilled that he can open doors and is strong enough to climb on EVERYTHING and rearrange the furniture (really he pushes the coffee table and kitchen chairs all over). Thrilled in not the word I would choose just yet. The other day out of the corner of my eye I caught him jumping from a kitchen chair onto the table. While I am quite impressed he pulled this stunt off without any injury or damage to the furniture - I am feeling more and more like a referee these days. I hope my EMT training is not going to be needed this soon in my child's life.

Costa Rica

2009-03-04T14:16:00.000-06:00

Justin's company sent us to Costa Rica last week for a Presidents Club "good job Justin" trip. He won't brag about himself so I have to. He was the top sales in the Nation. Go Justin!! We had a great time despite our luggage getting lost to and from and a few medical emergencies in our group. I just think anything that goes wrong on a trip just makes it more interesting.

Costa Rica is much more tropical than any other place I have traveled to. There were howler monkeys, iguanas and beautiful birds all over. This was our beach. It was made out of shells. Not very soft to walk on but it was gorgeous.

This is a lounge that is over the water. Every night it was lit by a different color of lights. Really pretty.

One night at dinner with some of Justin's coworkers from Canada and Ohio. This was a sushi restaurant on the resort which was "all inclusive". I was very surprised at how good the food was. Our Canadian friends had never tried sushi before so it was funny to see their faces when all the food came out.

Yea a couple picture. Can you see my sweet sunburn. Ouch. How did I get burned and the white redhead didn't?

They put on shows all night throughout the resort. This night was "fire and ice". I am not sure where this stilt wearing show boy fit into this theme but he was there all the same. I asked Justin to take my picture with him and below is what I got.

Just a picture of me and the midsection? When I walked up to this guy to get my picture with him he started saying "hold me lady" "hold me lady" I am not exactly sure if he needed me to help him balance or if that was the only english he spoke?

Another night they had 5 people standing pretending to be statues on tables for over an hour. Then with no warning they turned on techno music and they started dancing all sexy. I felt bad taking their picture because I was laughing at them. The picture is terrible since I was shaking from laughing. I am not sure if they think Americans like this type of entertainment? I say Americans since all the music they played was in English.

One of a few terrible self portraits. I have over 100 pictures of Justin on this trip and there are about 6 with the 2 of us in them and maybe 4 of me. Nothing like 90+ degree heat and humidity for a lovely picture.

This is Susan and Steve. I have to put a picture of them in since I was voted the person in our group of 60 to accompany Steve to get stitches after he ripped his fingers open. I also have to put in for comedy aspect that he had consumed a few too many margaritas to think he needed stitches. I had to pull my mom voice out and make him go. It was bad. He ripped the webbing between his pinkie and ring finger. Big gaping laceration. Since I can say the basics in Spanish and was an EMT years and years ago that is how I won this scary position. Scary. The "Doctor" was younger than me. There were flies all over in the ER. Scary stuff. They didn't even clean his hand before they started stitching him up. Yikes. So far he still has his fingers intact. Sadly in the commotion of trying to get him to a clinic I forgot my camera :(

Our bag containing all our toiletries and Justin's shoes was lost by Continental. Thanks Continental!! 2 for 2 on this trip for losing luggage. We decided to take a taxi into the tiny town of Tamirindo 20 and look for the necessities. Quite the adventure. We spent 160$ for the cab, flip flops, mascara, toothbrushes, toothpaste and of course sunscreen. If it was written in english on the bottle we bought it. The best past was when we realized we had to call our cab driver (who spoke no english) on a pay phone to get him to pick us back up. I was SO glad I had packed my little travel spanish book.

Somehow one afternoon at the pool the boys talked me into going fishing. I was 100% planning to layout on the boat and take in some boat time. Eventually they were catching SO many fish I was instructed my our boat captain that I had to fish. So here I am. I was afraid of my fish for some reason and I almost fell out of the boat. It was fun none the less.

We saw dolphins, stingrays, and lots of sea turtles. It was actually really fun.

I love these pic's of Justin dropping his fish. He actually dropped 3 different fish but I will spare you of more fish pictures. They told us we may get dirty and to wear old clothes which is why we both look so stylish on the boat. I had fish blood all over me at the end. Yuck.

This is the golf course at the resort. There were monkeys in the trees but I couldn't get close enough to get a picture. One of the little boys on our trip was attacked by 3 monkeys. 2 grabbed his little legs and 1 jumped on his back. Poor little boy he was terrified and all scratched up. After that I didn't try very hard to get monkey pictures.

Breakfast on our little patio. I really wished the food wasn't so good. I think I somehow fit an extra meal in everyday. If you wanted say...a cheeseburger they would just bring you one and they were amazing.

The mango-monkey tree outside our villa. There were also kitties all over. People would be lounging at the pool petting a kitten. Since I am not pro on 3rd world animals we stayed away from them. One of the people in our group let a cat from the resort sleep in their bed with them! Yuck. She said since she had scratched her cornea on the trip the cat made her feel better.

Our little Villa.

Justin at the airport. He was on work calls forever. He hates carrying my carry-on since it has the little ribbon on it. While he was distracted on a call I slipped it on his shoulder. He carried it around for 20 min while on the phone. I was quite entertained. He was not :).

We had a great time. I have to thank Hillary for taking Mr. Cole or "inspector gadget" as she nicknamed him. We couldn't have gone without you agreeing to watch Cole. Thanks again. You are such a great friend and I just keep racking up the things that I owe you for.

St.George trip

2009-02-11T09:00:00.000-06:00

I really have had nothing exciting going on the past month. I really didn't have a reason to post anything for over a month. I just fell off the blog wagon.

Last week Hillary and I packed up the 3 kids and headed down to St. George to get out of the yucky air and take in some sun. We left the hubby's at home and armed with bags full of treats made it down without much of a fight form any of the kids. We did stop and buy a new Elmo DVD which I am sure saved our ears from the 2 toddlers on the end of our trek.

Here is a tiny Picture of the kids in the car. I was excited to learn you could cram 3 large car seats into the back of the jeep. ( I stole the tiny pics form Hillary's facebook page)

Lot's of firsts for Cole on this trip.

First Hamburger - at In-N-Out burger, not a bad place to mark the occasion of your first hamburger. I did take a picture but it is on Hillary's camera. If I get the picture I will post it.

Another tiny picture of us at In-N-Out.

First time playing at a park - he couldn't walk last summer and ever since he has been walking it has been too frigid to go outside for more than 2 min.

First Burrito - yes we were feeding our kids SO healthy as you can see.

First group bath - this one is self explanatory. I am hoping that Cole and the Burton girls will end up in High School together though so I can bring up the fact that they have all taken a bath together.

Hillary and I bought matching sunhats while we were in St. George and decided to take a picture of ourselves in our matching hats and sunglasses. I set the timer on my camera not knowing it was taking 5 shots in a row. I am about 95% positive only Hillary and I will find this funny but I am posting them anyway. Maybe one of these days I will get blog savvy enough to turn this into a little family book like my other blogger friends. We were laughing so hard I am sure we scared the kids.

This was our first attempt of a "do-it-yourself" picture. I told Hillary she looked like the Hamburglar.

Christmas

2009-01-07T11:25:00.000-06:00

Christmas was very different this year. Going through all the Christmas traditions without your parents there is strange - especially since we are babysitting their house for them. Waking up Christmas morning in the house you grew up in without your parents and siblings around is strange. Cole is still too little to understand the whole thing. He did look pretty cute in his tiny Santa suit that my dad bought and had monogrammed for him.

This is Cole climbing into the Elmo box. Elmo is kind of scary to tell you the truth.

Here is Cole on Christmas. The entire morning all he wanted to do was run down the hall to my dads office and look at these pictures. Since I was born my dad has put together a yearly montage of family pic's. It has been a fun tradition. For some reason Cole loves to look at them. We had to force him to open his gifts.

My dad even sent Bailey his own monogrammed Santa hat. Notice the dirt on his nose. He was trying to bury the hat but couldn't figure out how to get it off.

Dance Baby Dance

2009-01-06T17:50:00.001-06:00

Dance Baby Dance

2009-01-06T17:46:00.001-06:00

So...I couldn't figure out how to post the video and video re-cap together. This works just as well.

Cole started busting out some dance moves the other day. It was pretty funny. Now if any music is on he starts dancing. Really ANY MUSIC - cellphone rings, commercials on TV, annoying baby toys that sing for hours on end (my least favorite being a small gorilla that sings "Wild Thing" and dances by squatting up and down - Cole loves the singing gorilla).
We decided Cole's dance moves were a cross between running in place and trying to fly. Kids are funny. I hope this dancing phase doesn't end soon, it makes me laugh everyday. In case it does I have over an hour of video now. I have spent the last 30 minutes trying to remember why Cole was shirtless on this particular afternoon? We do have shirts for him I promise. I tried to edit out my voice but when I did the music was lost and then the video lost that special something :).

Twilight Spoof.

2008-12-22T09:40:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZGles1k74w&eurl=http://clarkandclark.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

So I stole this from my friend Rori. Thanks Rori!!!!! Except I am not blogger savvy enough to get the video to actually be on the blog, so you can click on the link. I thought it was pretty funny. Hope you all enjoy. Only a few more days until Christmas.

A Politically Correct Christmas Poem

2008-12-14T09:59:00.000-06:00

I found this online and thought it was funny, yet sad. Christmas was so much easier when we were younger. I think it is more fun now though. Merry Christmas.

Twas the night before Christmas and Santa's a wreck...How to live in a world that's politically correct? His workers no longer would answer to "Elves","Vertically Challenged" they were calling themselves. And labor conditions at the North Pole, were alleged by the union, to stifle the soul.

Four reindeer had vanished without much propriety, released to the wilds, by the Humane Society. And equal employment had made it quite clear, that Santa had better not use just reindeer. So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid, were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

The runners had been removed from his beautiful sleigh, because the ruts were deemed dangerous by the EPA, And millions of people were calling the Cops, when they heard sled noises upon their roof tops. Second-hand smoke from his pipe, had his workers quite frightened, and his fur trimmed red suit was called "unenlightened".

To show you the strangeness of today's ebbs and flows, Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose. He went to Geraldo, in front of the Nation, demanding millions in over-due workers compensation.

So...half of the reindeer were gone, and his wife who suddenly said she'd had enough of this life, joined a self help group, packed and left in a whiz, demanding from now on that her title was Ms.

And as for gifts...why, he'd never had the notion that making a choice could cause such commotion. Nothing of leather, nothing of fur...Which meant nothing for him or nothing for her. Nothing to aim, Nothing to shoot, Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise. Nothing for just girls and nothing for just boys. Nothing that claimed to be gender specific, Nothing that's warlike or non-pacifistic.

No candy or sweets...they were bad for the tooth. Nothing that seemed to embellish upon the truth. And fairy tales...while not yet forbidden, were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden, for they raised the hackles of those psychological, who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.

No baseball, no football...someone might get hurt, besides - playing sports exposed kids to dirt. Dolls were said to be sexist and should be passe. Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.

So Santa just stood there, disheveled and perplexed,he just couldn't figure out what to do next?He tried to be merry he tried to be gay, but you must have to be careful with that word today. His sack was quite empty, it was flat on the ground, nothing fully acceptable was anywhere to be found.

Something special was needed, a gift that he might, give to us all, without angering the left or the right. A gift that would satisfy - with no indecision, each group of people in every religion. Every race, every hue, everyone, everywhere...even you! So here is that gift, it's price beyond worth...

"MAY YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES, ENJOY PEACE ON EARTH"

Seriously

2008-12-04T10:48:00.000-06:00

Seriously I don't have patience for certain things. I was trying to change my background to a fancy festive Christmas template and somehow I lost my blog list and the fancy festive Christmas template did not work. I definitely do not have a computer certificate of completion from ITT tech but it shouldn't be that hard. (sorry Bill's family that was joke to you hehe). I spent 10 minuets re-adding all my blogs, never clicked the save button and accidentally lost them all again. I almost gave up blogging all together at that moment.

Is it just me or has this happened to others. Also, sorry if your blog didn't make the cut. I will add it back eventually. Happy blogging.

Thanksgiving Extravaganzza

2008-12-03T14:31:00.001-06:00

Yea! Thanksgiving is over. It was a whirlwind of a week. It started out on Wednesday with my IUD going missing. No, I am not going to go into detail on this. If you know me well enough to read my blog you may ask all you want about it. I am happy to be a public service announcement on IUD's so just ask, I may even draw some sort of diagram. Anyway, I am not pregnant and after a trip to the Doctor and a trip to the hospital it was all sorted out. All I could think about during the whole ordeal was I had a million things to get done since I had house guests coming that evening. Thank you to Wendy for the pep talk and Justin for taking off work and getting the rest of my "to do" list done.

Thanksgiving day was funny. My test turkey a few weeks back took 2 hours longer than expected and the actual T-day turkey was done 2 hours early. Go figure. Lucky for me most of our guests arrived 3 hours earlier than expected so I just had to call a few people and tell them the time for dinner had changed from 5:00 to right now.

We asked for any volunteer's to say a blessing. My 8 year old nephew Tristan was the first (and only) volunteer. His prayer was as follows "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless the food will be GOOD and that Issac will come up later to play". It was the best and shortest Thanksgiving blessing I had ever heard. His prayers must have been heard since the food turned out pretty good.

Some of the nieces and nephews. Poor Cole he was so confused with all the people in the house.

Justin's brothers and sisters.

One broken treadmill (thanks nephews) 5 dishwasher cycles and a few loads of laundry and Thanksgiving was over. Sunday our last house guests left and the house felt strangely calm. It really was fun to have a house full of Albrecht's. Maybe I am a sucker but I think we will do it again next year.

Cole helping with the basting.

The girls. We never did get a picture of the men, or the whole group for that matter. Oh well, there is always next year. I like that I look exhausted and that I have some type of food or stain on my shirt that no one told me about.

Go Utes!!

2008-11-23T19:13:00.000-06:00

Saturday was a great game! Sorry to my BYU friends :( We had a fun day tailgating which included breakfast and lunch. Thanks Ricci's. We took Cole for a few hours and he loved all the people to play with.

Check out the old man behind us. He was close to 117 years old.

The girls - I am not sure who's hand is close to caressing Lauren :).

We thought we would take a picture in the bathroom since we spent forever waiting in lines.

Most of the group. It is kind of a horrible picture of all of us.

Rachel and I. Her comment was "I think I have about 600 pictures of you and I just like this" it is true. I will spare you all the photo montage. Look at all the people tailgating. It was a fun day.

Cole and Cousin Coon. He loved all the attention. He would just toddle over to a new person and hang out.

Cole and Harm. Thanks again for setting up the tickets each year Harm.

Why Hillary is my favorite

2008-11-20T21:47:00.000-06:00

Hillary is my favorite because she scored Twilight tickets for us Thursday at 5pm. She has "people" that can do that sort of thing. It was a great surprise. Yep I just got back and it was great. Don't worry I would never spoil it. It was serious business. They were wanding every person with metal detectors and taking cellphones and cameras away, putting them into little white lunch sacks with the owners names and returning them at the end of the movie. I even was frisked - really they were frisking people. Quite the full service evening :) It was easier to get into the White House tour than to see the Twilight movie. They made airport security look easy.

All my Twilight friends enjoy. There were many girlie squeals from the audience, literally the girls behind us were screaming and gasping for breath at one point. Although if they tell you to leave your cellphone in the car, listen to them.

Thank you Hillary :) your the best. If only we could have had your mom drive us to and from the movie - it would have been like we were 14 again.

Test Turkey and Tackle practice

2008-11-19T15:50:00.000-06:00

Well the test turkey turned out great. It did however take close to 2 hours longer that I expected. I was glad I didn't have a house full of hungry family waiting. Justin, Cole and I had a lovely mini Thanksgiving at 8:30 at night. A little late, but I was pleased with the outcome and surprised at how much turkey Cole could eat. He just kept saying "mo, mo, mo", which in baby-slang (or baby-bonics as I like to call it) is more.

While we were waiting for the turkey to finish Cole learned he could pull things out of the cupboards and pass them off to the dog. Lovely. Partners in crime. We have lost 2 bottles, a few Tupperware containers and were about 3 seconds away from my cellphone being crunched in the doggy jaws of steel. I did get pretty good at tackling the dog. For being 106 lbs (the dog not me..I would be dead) with 2 replaced knees he is unbelievably fast.

Cole loved it. He would laugh so hard he would fall down. When I would catch the dog he would point at the dog and say "mo, mo, mo". Sadly for him I asked Justin to install the baby locks on the cabinets. Now Cole and Bailey walk from cupboard to cupboard trying to open them and find treasures. Poor little guy at least he is persistent.

What have I done tag.

2008-11-18T10:38:00.000-06:00

TagWhat have I done??

Anything in Red is on the yes list.

What have you done?
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo - in 3rd grade
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris - I have been to France though.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child - I was adopted does that count?
16. Had food poisoning - too many times. Twice from Applebees. Yuck.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - I have been there but we couldn't walk to the top.
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept overnight on a train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked -More than once.
23. Taken a sick day when your not ill - the next day my boss asked me if I needed to go home since I still looked terrible. Sad :(
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb My neighbors had one that they treated like a dog for a summer. They even brought it to primary. I guess they figured city kids had never seen a lamb?
26. Gone skinny dipping - with 5 of my closest friends. You know who you are.
27. Run a Marathon - Nope I can't run a mile. I am in the process of training for the mile :)
28. Ridden a gondola in Switzerland
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors - I have no idea where that is, so maybe.
35. Seen Amish country
36. Taught yourself a new language -My sister Margie and I speak gibberish not an actual language, but it drives people nuts since they can't understand us.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant - Justin has.
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - I even was a girl scout? How did I never sell cookies?
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - I even have a scar.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar - It's overrated.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - surprisingly no. I have had many "you need a better attitude and need to support me as the boss" talks.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - It was broken for me in surgery, and then pinned back together. I think that counts. I had to spend two summers on crutches.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - With a boy of course. He tried to turn around fast and scraped us up against a brick wall. I then had to go to my dad's office and tell him that I had been sluffing school, with a boy, was on a motorcycle and now needed stitches. All were forbidden in my house. I have a nasty scar to prove it.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - A fish. Yuck on gutting fish.
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life -I was working at University Hospital on my lunch/4am dinner break and a CRAZY person pokes her head out of the ladies bathroom and says "do you want to see blood" and then slit her wrist. At that point I didn't know what to do. Did I leave her there and go get help. She did have a knife and could have hurt other patients a few feet away. I sure was not going in there. So I started yelling for help and then total panic broke out with security breaking down the locked door to "take her down" they cuffed her to a wheelchair and took her to the ER with blood going everywhere. It was an eventful night. Years later while I was a sales rep up at the hospital Dr's, nurses and security still ask me " do you want to see blood". Oh the memories at University Hospital.
90. Sat on a jury - I have testified in court though.
91. Met someone famous - I met Steve Young at a funeral.
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. One cavity or less - I have terrible teeth. I don't even know how many cavities I have.

Funny what can change in a day.

2008-11-14T10:47:00.000-06:00

About 2 weeks ago Justin and I were talking about what we were going to do for Thanksgiving, since my parents are in MO for the next 3 years. We had been invited to a friends family for dinner (thanks Rachel) which I thought would be a fun change. We tossed around the idea of doing our own little dinner just the 3 of us and even going out.

The next evening Justin came home from work and informed me that we were having Thanksgiving here with his entire family. I found this funny and actually started laughing a little bit before I realised he was serious. By entire I mean 17 people that also includes 7 house guests. The number has slowly dropped from 22 since lucky for me 6 family members are going elsewhere. Thank goodness. I was trying to remember if a huge family dinner was ever discussed. Funny what can change in a day

I am actually excited... now. I have always thought the more the merrier when it comes to a party. Justin's family is also hilarious and really easygoing. Minimal family drama. So if you don't have any place to go for Thanksgiving just come over here. I am even looking at dressing Bailey up in a turkey costume. He likes costumes - really he does.

Today I am cooking a "test" turkey, since I have never actually cooked a turkey before, unless I include a turkey melt. We will see how it goes. It really doesn't sound all that hard. I was surprised at how long it takes to defrost in the fridge. So if any of you have any advice for cooking Thanksgiving for 17 people send it down. Anyone else cooking/hosting? We deserve a girls day out after. Let me know.

Poor turkey :(. At least they aren't very cute to look at.

Go Utes!!

2008-11-05T18:29:00.000-06:00

Big game tomorrow!! Go Utes. I hope those Texas Christian University players (I thought I would share what I learned when I googled what TCU's name was) have never seen snow :) If you are going to the game we will see you there.

*Note to the Bills family - if you miss anymore games you may or may not be voted out of the the season ticket club. Just as there was voting to get in to the group (yes Lauren there was, and we all LOVE you and Mike), there may have to be voting to not be in the group. I haven't cleared that by Harm yet, but I bet I could sway his vote. I don't care that you live in Logan. :( Really I just miss you as my bathroom buddy. You will be missed tomorrow.

Look who voted

2008-11-04T15:41:00.000-06:00

So sad to say that a second after I snapped this pic he took a spill and whacked his cheek on the coffee table. Even better is that I am taking him to the pediatrician tomorrow. Nothing is better than when your Dr. asks "So...how exactly did this happen". Oh well, I have a friend that works at CPS. Hopefully he will vouch for me as a parent.

Halloween and Birthday Boys!!

2008-11-04T14:24:00.000-06:00

Halloween was fun. Cole loved his costume when we first got it. I put him in it a few times to try to get him used to the mane (he was a lion). He would wear it around no problem. Come Halloween he HATED it. It sounded like borderline child abuse if you could have heard him wale. I actually thought it was funny.
We went to a fun birthday party for Lola (thanks again Nat) at a cute farm in Syracuse. Cole loved the animals and somehow won a pumpkin during a piglet race. I still don't know how he won??? But non the less he did win and couldn't have cared less.

Halloween night we had our favorite overnight guests - Ed and Rachel - staying with us and ended up not taking him trick-or-treating since he was being a the cowardly lion at the time. We had a bunch of trick-or-treaters and Justin got sick of the doorbell ringing, so he put the candy on the front step and guess what??? No one dumped the whole bowl. Kids these days.

Look at that happy child!! Justin and I were laughing so hard (we are bad parents, we laugh when our child is crying) we could barely keep still to take a picture.

The next day was Cole's 1st birthday. I can't believe it has been a year!! It really has flown by. We had a little family and close friends party. Cole had protested his afternoon nap so he was asleep when people arrived. I was going to let him sleep another 30 min while people ate until my mother-in-law walked in the door and told me that they had to go soon. I did the unthinkable and woke a sleeping baby......so in all the pic's he looks a bit drugged, but really he is just sleepy. The things you do for family.

After we took his cake away he kept saying "more more more".

The presents - he actually liked the presents and not the boxes like everyone said.

Cole seemed to like the bagel Ed bought him for breakfast more than anything else the whole day. He was holding onto it like it was a lifeline.

Happy 31st Birthday to Justin as well on the 28th. There are a few pictures but they did not turn out well, so I am going to be a good wife today and not post them.

Happy Birthday to my favorite boys!!

2008-10-29T10:43:00.001-06:00

For a list of early voting locations clich here: http://elections.utah.gov/Early%20Voting%20Location%202008.pdf

Rachel Bills, Lauren and Mike Ricci, myself and Justin get a....
(really is it just the U football crew that vote??)

Anyone else that vote's will get added :) Including myself.

15 hours of.....

2008-10-27T12:36:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday Cole slept 15 hours through the night! He has always been a great sleeper but seriously 15 hours? I put him down for a late nap at 5 and left for dinner with some girlfriends. When I came home Justin said he never woke up for dinner. I asked him "did you check on him? Is he breathing?" Like his mother, missing a meal never happens. So off to dreamland he stayed until 8 am. Crazy. My mom said he must have been in a growth spurt and needed his rest. Then on Saturday I noticed he could do this.....see pic below.

He is not even on his tip-toes.

I know touching the doorknob is no big whoop - but are most 11 month old's that tall? I would have to say no - since he is in the 98% for height and that was 2 months ago. So, I am hoping he is not smart enough to figure out how to turn the doorknob. His hand are also huge though - so just by accident it will probably happen soon.

Bailey was watching Cole in action. Intently waiting for the door to open so he could try to get away. One may think??? Isn't that dog big enough to just step or slightly hop over that tiny baby gate? Not our dog. He's not that smart, thank goodness.

Cabo San Lucas

2008-10-23T11:10:00.000-06:00

We had a great time in Cabo. The weather was perfect and no one was mugged, which in Mexico is about all you can ask for. It was really nice to spend a few days with Justin with no work or cell phones. We did miss Cole so much. I may or may not have held a complete strangers baby in the pool.

Our lifelong traveling partners the Bills's were great company. I don't think we took one picture where one of us isn't laughing out loud. Unlike our other trips to Mexico we were offered drugs on more than one occasion. Luckily a few of us are D.A.R.E. (drug abuse resistance education) graduates so we were able to say no. I keep thinking...what was different this trip? Do we look more like drug users than the last few time? Is that what having children does to you?

Pic of Justin and I we are both laughing. It was the only one that looked half decent.

In the picture below we were at a restaurant called the Giggling Marlin.

Below is the famous Cabo arch and Lovers beach. The pic is a little squirly since we were on a rocking boat.

Justin and I para sailing. It was lots of fun. All we saw was a flying fish and a dead pelican. Yuck.

Justin after going on the doon buggy. They were filthy. They told a girl in the hotel they had been mugged after she asked why they were so dirty.

Rachel and I went to the spa while they were out in the hot sun. I had my first and last massage buy a guy. I didn't think to request a female. It weirded me out. I know they are professionals but it was too strange for me to relax. Even funnier is that Rachel and I were in the same room. When the boys booked it they must have given the spa girls the impression that we wanted them together. How many friends can say they had a couples massage together.
The Cabo Group. I asked some man to take our picture (since he was laughing at our conversation earlier) his wife gave us - well me the death stare the rest of dinner and then again at breakfast. I thought it was funny, so I would just smile and wave.

Below is the elevator - we still don't know which one we were supposed to push.

Justin and I thought this was funny - which way would you go?

Pic at the pool. If you notice it is surrounded by shade. Justin and Rachel are not sun friendly. At one point we had 5 umbrellas for 4 people. A girl came by and asked if she could have one of the umbrellas. When I told her we were using them, she asked "ALL of them"?

The food was alright. We are not overly picky. I really enjoyed the translations. The one below is my favorite and that it was food we were supposed to eat at breakfast.

Which Grey's Anatomy character are you???

2008-10-07T18:30:00.001-06:00

Go RAMS.

2008-10-03T18:12:00.000-06:00

So I have now read 4 of these highschool tags - so I guess I am officially tagged x4. So here goes.

Did you date someone from your high school?

I think I would have been considered a serial dater. I always had a “serious” boyfriend. Same went for college too.

What kind of car did you drive?

Big surprise here. A Jeep.

What is your most embarrassing moment in high school?

I had so many it was hard to pick #1. At Christmas dance as a sophomore while exiting the carriage downtown in front of Carnigie Hall I fell out of the carriage. My heel got caught in the little platform and down I went. Luckily Santa appeared and helped me up since my date and around 20 strangers looked on and laughed. I ripped the bottom of my dress and broke a fake nail. Good Memories.

Were you a party animal?

Not really. Luckily for me I had really good friends, or else I probably would have been in a lot of trouble. Now as for my college friends………that’s another story.

Were you considered a flirt?

Yes. I believe I still am. I have talked my way out of ticket or two in the past few years.

Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?

Choir, only to fulfill a credit though.

Were you a nerd?

No. I wasn’t smart enough. I was forced to join and participate in the physics club. My friend Lisa Rowland and I had a teacher Mr. S, who offered us extra credit to build a solar car and enter it in the physics club contest. He said he needed more girls in the physics club. We built it with 99% of the credit going to her dad. Our little car was the slowest. We did make the physics club look good though.

Were you on any varsity teams?

No. I was a cheerleader.

Did you get suspended/expelled?

No. I was almost taken to juvenile hall by a police officer when a friend and I were skipping school and were pulled over. At Highland if you were picked up during school hours by the police they took you downtown and your parents had to come get you. Somehow I talked my way out of getting taken in.

Can you still sing the fight song?

Yes. Sing and still do the little dance. I feel lame that I still can though.

Who were your favorite teachers?

Mr. S. he taught physics and math. Also just for blog fun, my junior year my history teacher Mr. Brimley was arrested and sent to prison for embezzlement. The rest of the year we had a substitute. All she did was show movies such as Forest Gump and Newsies. I learned a lot that year.

Where did you sit during lunch?

Never at school. We ate out every day. My favorite was Dell Taco.

School & Mascot?

Highland High. Ram

Did you go to homecoming and with whom?

Yes. 3 years and 3 different guys. Chris, Spencer and Sid.

If you could go back and do it again, would you?

Some parts.

What do you remember most about graduation?

The jazz were in the playoffs. Most of the boys had headphones on listening to the game. During one of the boring speeches someone updated the crowd with the score and everyone cheered.

Where did you go senior skip day?

I think we went boating. My senior year I spent a lot of time doing anything than going to school.

What was the best part of high school?

My friends. I had 2 favorites – Hillary and Marielle. We had a lot of fun.

Alright blog friends. Time to take a trip down memory lane and dish your HS stories. Tag to you :)

Trip to Missouri

2008-09-29T18:44:00.001-06:00

Our little family spent the last week in Missouri visiting my parents where my dad is the Mission President. We had a Utah Star sighting while visiting. Can anyone guess the man on the left in the picture? The gentleman on the left is Duane Cardall, who has been on KSL 5 news for years as an anchor and the religion specialist. He and my dad were companions in Holland 40 years+ ago.I must say that they both have pretty great hair for being 63+.

My mom was nice and bought Cole a bunch of toys to play with while we were visiting. Unfortunately he found her exercise bands and free weights fascinating. He would crawl out of the room with the toys and plop down in the middle of the weights. It was funny.

Here is Cole crawling around pulling a 6 lb weight everywhere. I have to admit it did slow him down quite a bit.

The home they live in is nice. Most of the house has been updated except the master bath. This red tub is HUGE. The pic's don't do it justice. It is even up on a platform all alone. Cole loves it he could crawl all around.

Cole and my mom.

I left for a few minuets to find my mom teaching Cole how to crawl through a hoop. Why?.... I still don't know but I guess it is a good sign that he caught on faster than Bailey did.

Good times at Jordanelle

2008-09-17T08:27:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we spent the day up at Jordanelle. It was so cold driving up the canyon in the morning I was sure we would get on the water and get right out. The Jeep said it was 49 degrees at one point. Fortunately for us it warmed right up and we had a great day. A bunch of people had told us that Cole would go to pieces once we put him in his life jacket but actually in true Cole form he loved it.

If you look close you can see that he has 6 teeth It seems like they just arrived overnight. It makes me sad - he is not a baby anymore :(.

Typical mom/wife I was the only one who got a sunburn. I was so worried about Cole and even more worried about redhead Justin I completely forgot to throw sunscreen on myself. Such is the life of a mom.

The water was pretty cold. I jumped in anyway and told Justin it was too cold for his tender water temperature tastes. I even added that I promised NOT to tease him if he chose not to get in. Men are funny creatures, of course he jumped in and the look on his face was priceless. He hid the camera from me on purpose. He looked SO surprised at the temp. Funny stuff. I laughed for at least 10 min. I reminded him that I did not promise not to tease him if he did jump in. Good times at Jordanelle.

Free fun at liberty park.

2008-09-10T10:56:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago my girlfriend Hillary and I had made plans to go to the pool with the kids. Sadly for us all the pools were closed :( Really ALL of them, I called all over the valley. It was the first day of public school and apparently all the lifeguards are high school students. Since the kids were all greased up with the 17 anti-crypto required diapers on we decided to go see my favorite sister (also my only) who has been spending this summer as a gardner/lifeguard at the Liberty Park water feature.

The kids had a great time. It is really geared for walking age kids but Cole loved splashing and watching his toys float down the little streams. Hillary's girls had a lots of fun exploring and walking all over in the little tide pools and mini fountains.

So, if it warms up again and you are looking for something fun to do that is also free :) Go check it out. It is directly east of the green house (not at the playground). It is also chlorinated which is nice to know. Beware Saturdays are really crowded, I would recommend a weekday. If you see a tall blondie running around it is probably my sister go say hi.

Goodbye little red house

2008-09-07T13:15:00.000-06:00

It has been a busy few weeks we finally sold our house. Yea! I was afraid if I said too much before the ink was dry and the check was in the bank it would fall through. The people that bought our tiny red house wanted to close 15 days earlier than we had planned. Justin and I packed and moved in 2 days. We did hire a moving company to help - mostly due to the time crunch and we have good friends who own a moving company. Unfortunately for us they broke the glass door to our dryer and lost a main part of a bed frame. Beware if you sleep in our guest room - the bed may or may not fall apart on you. We did have friends staying last weekend and they didn't report any furniture mishaps :)

On the big moving day a large family of hornets or bee's ( I didn't get close enough to decide) had moved in and set up shop under our porch. Lucky for us it was at the old house. I pulled up to the house and two of the movers were running around in circles flapping their arms all over. I thought they were on drugs for a second until one of them yelled for me to stay in the car due to the bee attack. Poor guys they were each stung at least 5 times.

We are 90% unpacked and now have 2 sets of everything. I feel like we are in college again having to label all of our stuff. I told my mom when they get back I was apologising in advance if I pack up and take her stuff. It is getting hard to remember who's is who's.

I hope all of you had more fun on Labor Day than we did. I am still waiting for a 3 day holiday weekend when we don't have a project.

Annie Needs

2008-08-26T10:37:00.000-06:00

I completely stole this idea from my cousin Melissa. Go to www. google.com and type your name into the search box with the word needs after. Ex. annie needs. Hit search and funny things come up. My top 5 were as follows. Some of the text looks strange since I was too lazy to type it all out and just copy and pasted.

1.Annie needs to be rescued by the armed forces

2.Annie needs to release a LIVE album!

3.Annie needs a home.

4.ANNIE NEEDS MIRACLE

5. Annie Needs Love

Justin's were much better.

1. Justin Needs an Attitude Adjustment

2. JUSTIN NEEDS TO TIE HIS SHOES

3. Justin needs to hook up with Jessica Simpson - I know he wishes this one was first but sadly for him it was not.

4. Justin needs a webmonkey

5. Scruffy Justin needs a wash

So it is kinda silly but try it out you may get a smile out of it. If you are running out of things to stick on you blog...you just found something. Who knows maybe you will find something that you do need.

Poor Bailey

2008-08-14T18:25:00.000-06:00

Our poor dog, or should I say poor us. We had to get Bailey's right knee replaced almost a year to the date that we had his left knee replaced. Seriously...if you are not a pet owner they actually do replace pet's joints. He just looks so sad. On the positive side all the pain med's and tranquilizer's make him quite enjoyable to be around. Kind of like a 106 pound accessory. It is such a pain we have to take him outside on a leash for 6 weeks and he has to stay confined for 4 weeks. That wouldn't be so bad except I am home this year and I will have to listen to the whine and not be fooled by the sad sad puppy eyes he gives when he is locked up.

Since this is my first post about Jack (his alternate name given by Justin, "since he is a jack@#* at times") I decided to do a top 10 list of naughtiness.

#1 Scratching Justin's brand new truck door.

Yep 6 claw marks scratched right into the black paint.

#2 Eating Justin's eye drops he had for after his Lasik eye surgery.

We were up at 4 a.m. to keep on the "drop schedule" looking all over for them and then I found the mangled bottle. Dr. Hoopes did think it was quite funny. Not cheap to replace.

#3 With the help of Mocha Bills (Rachel and Ed's Lab) tearing up the carpet, pad and a new rug in our basement. On the flip side they were less than an inch from pushing the coffee table into the T.V screen.

#4 Eating the wiring of our sprinklers, out of the valve box.

He got into the box which Justin and I need a screw driver to get into. He did that twice, even after we put two cement pavers on top.

#5 So many shoe's I lost count.

Never Justin's, just mine, and yes I did have them put away - he learned how to paw open the closet door.

#6 Ripping off many fence slats.

He wasn't smart enough to run away. I would get home from work and there would be a 4 foot hole in the fence. There was Bailey running around with full length fence slats in his mouth.

#7 Eating every binky he can find. At least 15.

Cole LOVES Bailey and now will just give them to him.

#8 Many Holiday decorations have been put to in their grave by Bailey.

He even got up on the couch, stepped on a side table and carefully picked put little pumpkins from a glass hurricane. He eagerly showed me when I scraped up a demolished pumpkin, showed it to him and said "go get it".

#9 Marking the garbage can/cold air vent.

He has been housebroken for years. After we had Cole we came home to find he had marked the Kitchen garbage can (which had baby diapers in it) unfortunately for Justin (since he had to clean it up) when he marked the garbage can he also got the cold air return.

#10 Chewing through wiring under Justin's truck.

I was too afraid to tell Justin, but worried it might have been something important like the brakes (I'm a girl...I don't know anything about cars) so I took a picture and had some guys at my office look at it and they said it was the hitch wiring. Again I will see if he reads our blog, he still to this day doesn't know about that one. So many of you are probably thinking 1. this is a super long post about a silly dog and 2. why is the dog still alive? Well 1. I am running out of things to post and 2. Despite his naughtiness he is a sweet dog. Cole loves him more than we do that is for sure. He gets the paper and he sounds really scary to strangers that come to our door. He did keep barking one morning at 3 a.m. until we let him out - when we did I saw a man pop up from our neighbors car door and take off running down the street. That redeemed him for a while.
I think God blessed us with such an easy, content and great sleeping baby as a reward for not giving up on Bailey. Justin and I agree the first 9 months with Bailey were SO much harder than the first 9 months with baby Cole.

Happy 5 year Anniversary.

2008-08-08T09:41:00.000-06:00

It has been 5 years. I still can't believe it. Time goes so fast.

We had a great anniversary. Justin is great at suprises, even if I try to snoop and spoil every single one. When he had bought my engagement ring he had to put it into a safety deposit box so I wouldn't find it. Believe me I looked everywhere. This year his suprise was a beautlful pair of earings. I woke up and he had a little box wrapped up on my pillow.

Our friends Holly and Taylor were planning on watching Cole for us while we went out to dinner. Then another great suprise. Holly had her baby that morning! They named him Hendrix. What a sweet little baby. We will never forget his birthday. My sister called wishing us a happy anniversary and offered to watch Cole. I don't think she really thought we would take her up on it but we did. Justin took me to Bambara - wonderful. I would recomend it to anyone.

Some of my favorite things about being married to Justin are that we make each other laugh so much, almost to the point of tears at least once a week. He is a great hands-on dad. I love how crazy he is about Cole. Seeing how Cole lights up when Justin comes home is one of the best parts of my day. He is a great and loyal friend - he must be since we remodeled our house inside and out and most of the work was done by his Sigma Chi brothers from way back in College. It is amazing what you can get done with a bunch of big boys. He loves his job and dosen't complain when he has to work so hard just so I get the oporotunity to stay at home with our little boy. He hasen't killed our dog yet (I bet you thought I was going to stay on the sappy train..nope) If you know anything about our Bailey you would know it is a feat of nature that he is still around. Most of all I am truly lucky to have married such a wonderful man that treats me better than I deserve. I can't wait to see what and where the next 5 years take us.

Team Edward or Team Jacob???

2008-07-31T10:34:00.000-06:00

For all you Twilight fans. !! I can't wait for the new book. I don't even like to read that much. This series just reeled me in. I am trying to resist picking the book up on Saturday since it is Justin and my 5 year wedding anniversary. I don't think Justin would be thrilled if my nose was in a book all day. I did read the 5Th Harry Potter on our Honeymoon, but I reserved it for the beach only.

I am Team Edward. What are you?

2008-07-31T10:25:00.000-06:00

Breaking Dawn Countdown V.2Widgetbox

Seattle

2008-07-29T10:44:00.000-06:00

Last week we packed up the baby and went to Seattle for a friends wedding. It was so great. The weather was wonderful and the city is surprisingly kid friendly. Nice restaurants comparable to Market street had stroller parking and highchairs. Cole is still restaurant friendly so we were planning on keeping him on our laps but all the places had highchairs. Most of the nice restaurants in Utah don't even do that and Utah is the kid capitol.

Justin did commit petty theft on our trip. When we returned home I noticed he had packed the hotel hairdryer in my suitcase thinking it was mine. We were wondering why our suitcase was heavier coming home and they wanted to charge us 80$$!! for 1 extra lb over the 40 lb limit. (I am NOT a light packer).

We spent a good chunk of the week with our friends Holly and Taylor. She is due in a little over a week to have a baby boy. What a trooper. All the walking and hills, not one complaint. Cole loves both of them, so you might see in a few pic's he is looking to the side - this is because he was looking for his new bestfriends. We had brunch on top of the Space Needle. Fun, good food and a great revolving view of Seattle.

Outside the Seattle temple waiting for the bride and groom. (Cole is looking for Taylor)

This was the hotel crib. I think it looks like a baby prison, but Cole loved it and slept like a rock like usual. He would pull up and shake the bars making the entire crib move.

Cole on the plane. He looks like he is drunk. Once the engine started the sound lulled him to sleep. Did you know the airport has a family security lane? The regular line was as long as I have EVER seen it. Some nice airport lady ushered us up to the left to the family lane where we got through in less than 5 min. Who knew? Next time you are traveling with kiddo's ask.

The fam down at Pikes Place. Again, Cole looking for his favorite two people.

Cole with his new BFF Taylor. He is one of Justin's high school friends. It is the best pic of Cole on the whole trip.

Nothing says the 4th of July like........

2008-07-08T11:59:00.000-06:00

75 bags of mulch. This was the first 4th of July in my life I didn't have days of activities planned. My dads birthday is on the 4th so we usually have a birthday week extravaganza. Stadium of Fire (or Stadium of Smoke as Justin and I call it) down in Provo, Oakley Rodeo and a Baseball game are our yearly activities. Fun but it makes for a long hot weekend.

I was excited to relax, hang out with Justin and the baby. Have some nice quality family time. I was a little sceptical when I told Justin I was going to jump in the shower and he told me to wait because he had a surprise. Justin came home with 75 surprises. The back yard is now complete and it really did make a huge difference. I was wishing the whole time that I was born one of those little tiny girls who people would never ask to do heavy yard work.

Sweet baby Cole just sat in the shade and laughed and was fascinated by the wheel barrel (black beauty, Justin named it that). Justin and I really lucked out in the kid department. He is such an easy baby.

Before

After

The Surprise, that was only half of the bags :(

Laptop took a great fall.

2008-07-04T12:05:00.000-06:00

So it has been a while since I posted. I have been without a computer for a while. A brilliant idea of placing the laptop on our kitchen counter/ledge and cleaning while talking on the phone to my friend Rachel went askew. Somehow (well not really somehow I am the clumsiest person on the planet) I tripped over the power cord sending my laptop to it's hardwood floor grave 4 feet below. Sorry again Rachel for the string of naughty words that flew out of my mouth :(.
Suprisingly it worked for a day but it was a bit slow. Then nothing just a black screen with weird computer code on it. This will be the test if Justin really reads our blog. I handed it to him and said it won't turn on, "can you fix it?" - leaving out the 4 foot ledge part - he didn't ask. 1 new hard drive later and a few hours with the IT man at Dealertrak (Justin's company) who got my pic's I hadn't backed up on the external hard drive, and I am back in business.
Moral of the story...don't put laptops on ledges, do backup all photo's/movies and lastly do have connections with an IT person if you didn't learn the moral from my story.

Goodbye Mom and Dad & Happy 2nd Annual 29th Birthday Margie.

2008-06-25T18:50:00.000-06:00

So sad. Saturday we said goodbye to my parents. They are off to be Mission Presidents in the Independence, Missouri Mission. I know it is a huge honor but I am still accepting the idea that they will be gone for 3 years. If I can figure out how to put one of those countdown clocks on my blog it will be there. 3 years is such a long time. I really hope they love it in Missouri and it is everything they thought it would be. They do get free dry-cleaning and a maid. I guess it couldn’t be all that bad.

I think I have gained 5 lbs these last few weeks. My dad was really into having last meals. “This is the last time we can eat with Justin before we leave”, “this is the last time we can go to TGI Friday’s” (my parents favorite restaurant….who knows why?), “this is the last time we can go out for breakfast as a family”. We had so many last meals I can’t keep track anymore. Our last last meal was for my sis’s 2nd annual 29th birthday. Her 30th was so horrible she decided to go back to being 29. I may follow in her footsteps.

She picked the SkyBox which was good but kind of funny since it is kind of a bar type restaurant. There were my cute parents all dressed up to go to the MTC sitting in the skybox surrounded by a group of guys getting loaded watching a game. Luckily my parents are exceptionally open-minded.

Surprisingly there were no tears, which is good since I don’t cry often but when I do my body tries to make up for all the times I held the tears in and I can’t stop. Although Justin was out of town and I had to say goodbye solo it went better than I thought it would. All in all it was much less dramatic than I expected.

Last dinner with Justin.

Final dinner at Sky Box. That's my sister to the left.

Cole and Justin at the farewell. Cole was very excited to be at church.

Justin sings to Cole

2008-06-22T18:55:00.001-06:00

I guess opera is not Justin’s forte.

2008-06-19T19:31:00.001-06:00

Poor Cole. Justin sang one more time and he went to pieces all over again. 3 weeks ago we were at a wedding for our friends Chief and Liz, when the boys sang her the customary Sigma Chi Sweetheart song he lost it again. He even has a special “I hate singing” cry. I guess men singing and Cole just don’t mix. So much for my dreams that he would become a famous Broadway star.

2008-06-18T16:42:00.000-06:00

I Belong in New York City

You're the energetic, ambitious type.

And only NYC is fast enough for you.

Maybe you'll set yourself up with a killer career

Or simply take in all the city has to offer.

What City Do You Belong In?

The Albrecht Family

2008-06-12T18:39:00.001-06:00

You have to start somewhere??

2008-06-12T15:12:00.000-06:00

Hello Blogging world. Here goes my attempt at blogging. I should have started this blog months ago when Cole was born but 7 months and 1 quit job later here I am. I guess I have to start somewhere and yesterday was a fun first. Cole's first haircut. He really didn't have much hair to cut. Although what hair he did have was starting to resemble a baby combover. It was funny, he liked looking at himself in the mirror the most. The cute girl at Cookie Cutters only charged me $5 since she was just giving the combover a trim. I wonder if they give old men deals on their combover trims?

Before...aka baby combover.

After...all spiked up.

Justin's Favorite...the baby fo-hawk.

(I googled the spelling on that one...pretty interesting results)