Puzzle Pieces

Ponytail

2012-01-31T23:53:00.000-07:00

Abby wore a ponytail for the first time today...

for about 15 minutes.

It was cute while it lasted.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T23:27:00.000-07:00

This is the face Abby makes when you say, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Abby had a great Thanksgiving this year. Some highlights include jumping on Grandma and Grandpa Bishop's "champine" (trampoline), playing with cousins, eating Jell-O and pie, and watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. We hope everyone had a great holiday!

Harry Halloween!

2011-10-29T21:49:00.000-06:00

Here are pictures of our inspiration and our costumes for Halloween this year.


Hermione: my inspiration

Snape: Landon's inspiration

Draco Malfoy: Abby's inspiration

Tonight we went to our ward Halloween party. We had a lot of fun dressing up, eating hot dogs (Abby had 1.5!) and chili, and trick or treating around the building. Abby even won an award in the costume contest. They gave her the "Best Girl Impersonating a Boy" award. When the judges introduced her to the crowd, she cast a spell on the judges (pointed her wand at them and said a spell). The whole audience laughed and clapped for her. She was pretty popular and we think it is pretty great that they liked her so much they had to make up an award for her. They had only planned on doing "Best Girl" and "Best Boy." It was hilarious to see people mistake her for a boy or get confused because they thought we had a girl. Poor kid, next year we will have to let her pick what she wants to dress up as.

Abby Talks

2011-09-21T22:03:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to share all the new words Abby has started saying the last few months. It is so fun to watch her learn new words all the time and it's hilarious to see which words she picks up.

"Ab"- Abby. For the longest time she would call herself, "Ab." A couple of weeks ago she finally switched to "Abby."
"miamo"- piano- the kid loves the piano
"crack-crack"- cracker- she loves saltine crackers.
"more"- more and she signs it while she says it.
"be"- bink
"ant"- ant- one of our favorites. If she spots any black spec, she calls it an ant. Sometimes she thinks there are ants on her food or in her bath. One time she was having a grilled cheese sandwich and there was a little burnt piece. She said "ant" and then refused to eat it.
"bee"- bees and flies
"muh"- milk
"chee-yo"- cheerio
"wa" or "wawa"- water
"wa"- also means walk
"shoo"- shoe
"bebo"- bib
"appa-suce"- apples, apple sauce, apple juice, any type of juice or fruit, really
"chappa"- chapel
"eye"- eye
"neose"- nose
"no"- how she answers any question that is asked, sometimes she means it, sometimes she doesn't.
"papa"- pasta, which she finally loves to eat
"up"- help
"bagoon"- balloon
"bug-gun"- buttons and belly buttons
"pung"- pillow
"bung"- bubble
"buh"- book
"bah"- ball
"baa"- bath
"baby"- she loves spotting babies, especially at church.
"cheese"
"Jeese"- Jesus
"cah"- car
"emmo"- elmo
"boo"- Blue (Blue's Clues)
"cauck"- clock- she LOVES pointing out clocks. It reminds us of "Up" when the dogs say "squirrel!"
"moo"- moon- Her favorite book is Goodnight Moon. She points out everything in it- moon, cats, clocks, balloon, cow, etc. Her favorite pages are "Goodnight nobody. Goodnight mush." She always laughs.
"ow"- cow

Here are some of her first "sentences."

"bye poop"- I promise I don't say this, I don't know where it came from.
"da mom" - dad and mom
"more (blank)"- more pasta, more cheese, more cheerios, etc.
"brow beh, brow beh"- brown bear, brown bear
"bye (blank)"- bye to anyone, or anything
"my dad"- my dad
"tank oo mom"- thank you mom- she just said this yesterday (she was prompted) and it was pretty dang cute.

I'm probably missing some, but that gives you an idea. She is also starting to say some relatives' names, which is pretty fun. Here are some cute pictures of her recently.

1 Whole Year

2011-06-14T20:46:00.000-06:00

Yes, I do realize I'm pretty behind...

Abby turned 1 on April 24, which happened to be Easter this year. Here are things she started doing at that time.

She weighed 17 lbs and 15 oz. Her length was 28 inches, which puts her in about the 5th percentile for both. We love our petite little girl.
She points at everything. Things in books, outside, in her room, etc.
She has more "words." One of her favorite things to say is "das" (dance) and then she starts to dance. She also says "da" for dad and "mamama" for mom (or to say she is hungry it seems).
We realized she knows a lot more than we thought she did. When asked, she will point to Jesus, her drink, Blue's Clues (the TV), spoon, bananas, balls, books, flags (she loves flags and will even point to them in books), our noses, Easter eggs, balloons, dogs, and cats. Oh, when Uncle Mike came to visit she pointed at him a couple of times when we asked where Jesus was. He has a beard... it was pretty hilarious.
She loved having her cousins visit. She went to the park, swam, and had a blast at Ikea with the McDonalds. She liked showing cousin Heath how to bang Easter eggs together, and trying to get him to support her while standing (didn't work so well).
She loves Easter eggs; banging them together, opening them up, trying to close them, throwing them... they are the greatest toy.
She went to the zoo for the first time and did pretty well with it. A couple times she seemed a little frightened, smiled some, but mostly just looked and looked (and pointed). I would love to know what was going in her head.

Wearing Dad's Shorts

2011-06-12T22:45:00.001-06:00

The other day I was getting dressed to go for a run. Abby was with me in our bedroom and I left for a minute to put my hair in a ponytail. I heard Abby whine a bit and turned around to see this...

She somehow manged to get her whole body through one leg and one arm through the other leg of Landon's shorts. I couldn't stop laughing. She likes to try and put clothes on, but doesn't usually succeed like this. Who knows how she did it.

Mom's Day

2011-05-09T14:58:00.001-06:00

Have I ever mentioned that I love being this little girl's mom? I really do. She is so happy all the time and very friendly. She's a fantastic eater and sleeper. She makes life much easier than I know it could be. It is such a joy to watch her learn new things every day. I'm so grateful for the chance to love this little girl.

Thanks to Landon for taking these fun Mother's Day pics for me. I love them.

I can't think about Mother's Day without recognizing my own mom and other amazing women in my life. I can't think of a more selfless person than my mom. She is such a wonderful example to me of all the qualities I would like to posses. She is such a fun grandma who is full of energy and love.

I'm also grateful for my sister, Annie. I have learned so much from her as I have watched her be a mother to her four kids. I can't forget my grandmothers, my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, my husband's grandmothers, and so many other wonderful women that give me something to aspire to. Happy Mother's Day!

Abigail's Birth Story

2011-04-20T09:18:00.001-06:00

Abby is turning 1 on Sunday. I can't even believe it. This week I have been pretty nostalgic, remembering the days leading up to her birth. I thought I should share her birth story on here. This is the abridged version, but still pretty lengthy with a lot of details. Sorry! If you don't care to read the whole thing, you can just look at the pictures of her as a tiny newborn.

On Friday (April 23, 3 days after my due date) I was told I was dilated to a 3+ and 90% effaced. I was stripped yet again and the doctor said he would be very surprised if something didn’t happen over the weekend. That day I continued to have contractions that would come and go. They would get a tad more intense as I took walks, but then would decrease in intensity once I stopped. That evening Daddy and I went out for Indian food, you know, because spicy food induces labor… right? Daddy used a contraction timer app on his phone to time my contractions throughout the evening. They were basically around 5 minutes apart, lasting about a minute, and never stopped.

During the night, I was able to sleep, but my contractions did wake me up a couple different times. When I woke up in the morning the contractions were still coming and I spent most of the morning laboring with my exercise ball and trying to relax. I was pretty confident that this was it even though things still weren’t too painful or intense. I took a bath and ate popsicles and the contractions continued (previously during the week, baths would slow my contractions). I talked to Grandma Bishop and Aunt Annie on the phone who both advised me to not wait too long to go to the hospital. They both had relatively short labors and each had experiences where they almost didn’t make it to the hospital. It was a nice, sunny day out and I walked around the lawn at our apartment complex with Daddy, timing the steady contractions.

Around 3:00 pm Daddy and I gathered up our packed bags and decided it was time to go to the hospital. We figured the worst that could happen was that they would send me home. I still felt pretty calm and didn’t have much pain at all. We walked into the Labor & Delivery floor and it was completely quiet, hardly anyone was there.

The nurse finally checked me around 3:45 and said I was at a 3. I couldn’t believe it. Contractions all day and I hadn’t made any progress? She hooked me up to monitor my contractions. They were consistently 3-4 minutes apart and lasting more than a minute. They were still relatively easy, although I did start using my breathing exercises more. After an hour the nurse checked me again and said that I made a little progress, but not a ton. She said she would call my doctor and see what he said.

Probably a half hour later, the nurse returned and said that given I was four days past my due date, the doctor wanted to start me on pitocin to help my labor progress. They got it started and I responded pretty quickly. My contractions started getting more frequent and more intense. I was still feeling pretty calm and in control. They bumped up my dose but decided to take it back down since my contractions were so frequent. After an hour (probably between 6:00 and 6:30), the nurse checked me again and said I was dilated to a four. She was optimistic that things were going to start rolling and told us to expect about a cm per hour. She said, “You’ll probably have this baby early tomorrow morning if not late tonight.”

Shortly after being checked, it hit. My contractions suddenly became very intense and didn’t seem to stop. I was having trouble trying to breathe and relax the way I wanted to. I thought, “If this is what a 4 feels like, there’s no way I’m going to make it.” It hurt. A lot.

The doctor came shortly after to check on me and break my water and I was pretty out of it. To my surprise, he said I was at a 7, maybe 8. He broke my water and you did not handle it well. Your heart rate dropped way down. The doctor had me change positions, breathe oxygen, and replaced some fluid to see if that would help make you more buoyant and take pressure off of your cord.

The doctor asked me if I was opposed to having an epidural because he was concerned if things didn’t improve he would want to do a cesarean-section. All the while I was incredibly shaky and unable to relax.

Nothing seemed to improve your heart rate and the doctor felt it was best to get you out as soon as possible. They told Daddy to sign a bunch of things and put on clothes appropriate for surgery. They took me into the anesthesiologist and he decided to put me all the way under instead of taking the time to give me an epidural or spinal. Since I wouldn’t be awake for the delivery, they told your dad to wait in the recovery room.

You were born at 7:39 pm. From the time they got me into the delivery room to the time you were born was less than 10 minutes, although your dad said it felt like an eternity. You weighed 6lbs and 7.8 oz and 19 inches long. The doctor said that your cord wasn’t around your neck. He wasn’t sure what had happened but thought that maybe your shoulder clamped down on your cord when my water broke. You bounced back pretty quickly but spent about an hour in the NICU to ensure you were okay. Daddy was able to see you and make sure you were okay while I recovered from the anesthesia.

They moved me down to the recovery room at around 9:30 pm and I was finally able to meet you. I couldn’t believe how beautiful you were and that you were inside me just hours before. Your head was perfectly round. You had the cutest nose. Your coloring was beautiful; you hardly even looked like a newborn. You had dainty hands and fingers and long, skinny feet. Your legs were skinny and wrinkly. You had the cutest furrowed brow. You were perfect.

Although we hadn’t planned your birth to go this way, we were so happy that you made it to us and that you were healthy. When your Daddy went home to get a few things he noticed a plaque in the hospital honoring the doctor who delivered you. It talked about how he was known for keeping a cool head during difficult births and delivering them successfully. We felt especially blessed because he was not the doctor that they said was on call when we arrived at the hospital.

On Sunday morning we decided to name you Abigail Mae Pratt. We were so proud to be your parents and couldn’t wait to see you grow in our family.

11 Months

2011-04-06T22:09:00.001-06:00

Abby turned 11 months old on March 24. Starting the next day we had visitors in town that lasted through yesterday! So I'm finally getting around to this post. Don't get me wrong, we had a blast with them all and are excited for more visitors next week! Here are some things Abigail has been up to the last month.

She weighs 17 lbs and 2.5 oz.
Her communication skills have improved a lot. Instead of just babbling, she really seems to be communicating by using better eye contact and working on single "words." Some things she likes to say are "ut," "dis," and "dat." Which I feel like translate to "what," "this," and "that." She doesn't necessarily use them correctly, but she is consistent with those words and often points to things as she says "dis" or "dat." One time she said "Bobo" when we were reading her book Hug (the monkey's name is Bobo). But she hasn't done it again, so it was maybe just a coincidence.
She moves around all over the place and pulls herself up on everything. We were able to retire her weighted laundry basket since she has plenty of other things she can use. She loves to walk with us and gets going pretty fast. Sometimes she will stand for a second when we let go, but her balance needs improvement. I think she would have an easier time if her feet were bigger...
Her feet do seem to be growing! She grew out of her cute silver dress shoes, which were size 0-3 months! So maybe standing will come soon.
She loves art and signs. She loves to point at all the pictures and artwork that are in our home and loves to spot the handicap parking signs outside. When we ask where her owl is or where Jesus is in her room she will look or point in the right direction.
She is really good at making messes. She loves to pull out all of her toys out of her toy boxes, her books, the DVDs off the shelf, clothes out of the laundry baskets, and anything else she can get into.
She loves to eat and says "mmm" whenever she does. She is getting better with self-feeding. She loves to eat puffs, cheerios, banana snacks (bananas with cheerio dust), and especially little chunks of cheese! She prefers pureed veggies over chunks still.
She went on a swing and a slide for the first time. She never cried, and eventually smiled about both of them. She loved seeing so many kids at the park. I'll post pics from that another day.
She likes to ride in the seat of the shopping cart. One day some silly knick knack caught her eye at Savers and she tried to stand up in it. Luckily, she hasn't attempted that since.

10 Months

2011-03-02T22:14:00.004-07:00

Abby turned 10 months old last week. Once again, she has had a very big month and has changed in so many ways. Here is what she has been up to.

At her 9.5 month check up, she weighed 15 lbs and 13.5 oz. Her length was 26 inches.
She got her first tooth. It first appeared on February 7 and is the bottom right one. She had some trouble sleeping for a couple nights with it and had a low-grade fever. It looks like the left one is about to pop up as well (March 1).
On Valentine's day I went to get her after a nap and was surprised to see her standing up! We lowered the crib to the lowest level and she is still able to stand up, but won't tip herself out.
She loves to stand and walk as we hold her hands. As we were trying to get her to crawl by putting toys far away, she would actually act like she wanted to stand and would then walk to the toy rather than crawling to get there.
She finally started to crawl on her 10 month b-day. For several weeks she had been rocking back and forth but just would not crawl. She was a pro from the very beginning, it was like she had been doing it for ages. I guess she just wanted to get it down before she actually tried it. Or maybe she had been doing it in her crib for weeks. She increases her distance every day and will even come find me in the kitchen when she is in the living room.
She pulls herself up on her toy box and a weighted laundry basket. Our couches are too tall for her to reach. She is starting to "cruise" a little but I wouldn't say that she has mastered it. She is pretty daring though, she lets go with both hands a lot, which often ends badly.
She still loves to dance and has some new moves. She prefers to stand now and bend her knees (see video from last post). She also occasionally does a little shoulder move and she waves her hands about as well. She likes to stand by the stereo and turn the volume up and down.
She LOVES this baby animal calendar that we have hanging up in our kitchen. When she spots it she reaches for it and we have to take her over and show her all of the animals and make the sounds. I have to say, I have improved on my sounds with all the practice.
She has made huge improvements on her laugh. If you have met Abby you know that she has a huge smile. As my mom says, "Abby always smiles with her entire face." However, laughing has not been her strong point. But she has quite the giggle lately, and we have a lot of fun tickling her.
She loves to eat paper. If she can get her hands on some she immediately takes a bite out of it.
She loves to take everything out of my diaper bag as well as her toy boxes. She makes a mess, but it keeps her busy in church, so I'm okay with it.
She loves kids. She had a blast watching and playing with her cousins when we visited them. She also loves to watch kids at church.
She is pretty good at waving "hi," especially to her dad when he comes home from school.
She had some interesting medical "issues" this month. One day her forehead got red and swollen and she also developed a hoarse voice. We were a bit concerned that it had something to do with the wheat cereal I had just started her on. I mentioned it to her doc at her well check and she had us do a blood test, which came out negative. But since wheat is so universal, she still had her do a skin test. She was tested for all of the things babies typically react to and had no reactions. Hallelujah!

Here are a ton of pics of her!

This is her crawling for the very first time. Luckily, I happened to be taking pictures when she did it!

More of crawling.

She loves to pick up tiny things off the floor. We now have to be more diligent with our vacuuming.

Her scrunchy face, which she frequently does.

Talents

2011-02-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

Abby is growing up quickly, and she has developed some new talents. We just wanted to showcase those talents a bit.

14 Days of Valentine's

2011-02-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

I just realized I never posted everything I did for Landon for the 14 Days of Valentine's. Here's a rundown.

Day 1: One Jones Cream Soda
Day 2: "A Table for Two." I gave him an invitation for dinner out on V-Day with a babysitter included. We went to Shoots in Provo and celebrated Chinese New Year as well. Thanks for babysitting, Aunt Mandy!
Day 3: "The Three of Us." A picture of our family framed.
Day 4: "Four Cheese Mac 'n Cheese." I went out of town that day, so it was a box of mac that he could have for a meal while I was gone. It didn't really have four kinds of cheese in it, but that's okay.
Day 5: Five edited movies he had been wanting.
Day 6: Six snacks that he likes.
Day 7: Treat of his choice at 7:00. He chose root beer floats and I insisted we do it with A&W from the tap. They were good.
Day 8: Eight photos I had edited from our wedding.
Day 9: I gave him a note saying I would play his new Killer Bunnies game with him at 9:00.
Day 10: "Ten Things I Love About You." A note with ten things I love about him.
Day 11: "Eleven minutes of back scratches."
Day 12: "12 Songs that Will Always Remind Me of You." I also provided a written explanation of the memories associated with each song.

"Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez
"Morning Yearning" by Ben Harper
"Consequence" by The Notwist
"Walk Away" by Ben Harper
"What Sarah Said" by Death Cab for Cutie
"Janet" by The Format
"Eyes" by Rogue Wave
"Gotta Have You" by The Weepies
"Bennie and the Jets" by Elton John
"Wrapped in My Memory" by Shawn Smith
"Little Cream Soda" by The White Stripes
"Hero" by Regina Spektor

Day 13: "Thirteen ingredient breakfast." Including an omelet (3 eggs, 2 cheeses, milk, hot sauce), maple roasted bacon (2 slices and maple syrup, which tasted absolutely fabulous), heart-shaped toast (bread and butter), and apple juice to drink.

Day 14: "14 Clue Landon & Katherine Crossword Puzzle." I made a crossword puzzle where the clues and answers had to do with things from our relationship; dates we'd gone on, jokes we have, gifts we've given, etc. It was fun to put together and Landon got all the answers correct. And we went out to dinner, of course.

Here is our sweet Abby on Valentine's Day!

Happy February!

2011-02-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Landon came home to this cute little guy today. I got the idea to do a "14 Days of Valentine's" from some blog (I can't remember which one, sorry). Basically, you just give your sweetheart a little something each day leading to Valentine's Day. When I found this amazing bag in a dollar bin at Target, I knew it was the perfect vehicle for my gifts.

Today he gave Landon one (since it's the 1st) bottle of Jones Soda's cream soda. Landon loves them and they are significant to our relationship. During the complicated stage before we started dating Landon would buy them and the fortunes under the caps were always giving him positive reinforcement about me (or so he believed). I guess they were right though, he finally did snatch me up!

Stay tuned for the next 13 days!

9 Months

2011-01-24T23:25:00.003-07:00

Abigail is 9 months today! Can you believe I'm actually posting on time? Abby has changed so much this month. Here's what she has been up to.

She loves to dance (see yesterday's post).
She isn't crawling yet, but she rolls around everywhere and is starting rock on her hands and knees.
She loves to read books and turns the pages very well. She and I sit and read books several times a day and she never gets tired of them.
She stands while leaning her back against the couch. She did it for about 8 minutes one day without even flinching.
She loves any variety of the game peek-a-boo: person leaving the room and then appearing, covering her face with a blanket and she rips it off, covering our faces, etc.
She is really figuring out how to use her toys. She loves her stack of cups and loves to knock over towers we build. I often put just one cup inside of another and she will immediately take the cup back out. She is very consistent with that, it's pretty cute. It's like a bug she has to fix (she must get that from her dad). She also pats her drum and can make her zoo toy make noises.
Recently she has changed her schedule a bit. She sleeps from 8:00 to 8:00 (practically on the dot) and then takes longer naps (over 30 min) in the afternoon. We will see how long she sticks with it.
She loves to eat! In the past month she has started eating three meals and it seems every day she wants larger amounts. I'm not sure how long I will be able to keep up with making all her food.
She says "b," "d," and "p" sounds. She says "di di di" the most. She says "mmm" when she's mad or hungry... I keep waiting for her to say "ma ma" or something close to it.
She is starting to learn how to clap. She waves one hand all over the place and is starting to bring it to the other hand more each day. She mostly does it with fists at this point, but I'm sure she will figure it out in no time.
She loves all electronics. I'm thinking the computer might be the best motivator for her to crawl. She also loves my phone and the tv. Sometimes she will just lounge and watch a good portion of a movie with us, especially if it is animated.
No teeth yet, but everyone always asks if she is because she chews on everything. I say, "Who knows, she has been doing this since she was 4 months old." Maybe one day they will pop up.

Here are more of her official 9 month pictures! She wasn't particularly smiley today for her photo shoot, but I still think they turned out great.

"got canned heat in my heels tonight, baby!"

2011-01-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Name that lyric...

Abby has a new talent that cracks us up. She dances! Whenever we turn music on or if music starts up on the tv, she starts boppin'. At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but she has proven to us over and over again that it is definitely on purpose.

She will do it to pretty much any music but we have mostly been listening to her Beatles' cd that Uncle Will gave her for Christmas and The White Stripes. I thought she might like the simple, yet strong rhythms of the drums. She often moves to the correct beat, which I think is amazing.

Today at church we had our primary program. When the kids starting singing, "I am a Child of God," she started dancing. It was pretty hilarious. Throughout the rest of the meeting, whenever the piano would start up, she would too. The organ didn't seem to phase her as much.

Here's a cute video of her dancing to The White Stripes.

She's a fun kid!

P.S. The song lyric is "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai.
P.P.S. I thought that song was fun before Napolean Dynomite.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T00:38:00.001-07:00

We went to Boise for Christmas and had a great time. All of my siblings and their families were there, which was fun and likely the last time that will happen. Here are some pictures and descriptions of some of the fun things we did.

Abby met Santa

Allie and Santa

We went downtown to a model train exhibit. Jack loved it!

Jack

Abby at the trains, with her "Cousin Eddie hat."

Hanging out at Annie and Dave's

Swimming at the YMCA

Me, Abby, Ellen, and Tonja

She had so much fun swimming!

Ellen & Tonja at Grandma's on Christmas Eve

Abby in her Christmas Eve get-up

Grandma with the four new babies. Fabulous photo.

Annie's four generation pic

Mike's

Rob's

Ours

Santa Ellen

Heath, Emily, and Mike

Stockings

The loot

So happy when she finally woke up on Christmas

The drum was a hit

Christmas Allie

Annie and Audrey on Christmas

A common occurence

candid Christmas

Jack with his new jammies

Jack got a sweet truck that Grandpa made

My dad and Jack

"This mess is a place!"

Christmas wore the babies out

Delicious Christmas dinner

Grandparents with all the babies

All the grandkids. All the babies were crying.

A photo shoot with Heath in Sunday best.

It was a little too close to bed time

Baby Rides!


Triplets

We did many things not pictured as well. Watched a lot of movies and The Office, ate a lot of good food, shopping, played Rock Band, and did a lot of hanging out. It was a great Christmas!

8 Months

2011-01-08T23:25:00.000-07:00

Abby turned 8 months old on Christmas Eve!

She started to enjoy peek-a-boo games. She loves it when people leave the room and then appear.
She started eating oatmeal, apples, and pears.
She rolls around a lot more and even stays on her stomach for more then 2 seconds. She still doesn't like to spend too much time on her tummy, but she is improving some.
She says her "b" sounds really well and more frequently.
She shakes her head "no" a lot. It is especially funny when you ask her questions and she answers no to them.
Her hair is growing longer. It is hard to tell what color it is. Mostly light, but sometimes it looks a little brownish-reddish. We'll have to wait and see when it's longer.
She's still the sweetest little girl we know.

Peas

2011-01-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

Abby is a great eater. She has been doing really well with most everything we have given her. The first time she seemed uninterested in a food was with applesauce. She made a funny face and spit it out. But she got over that quickly and loves it now. Tonight she ate peas for the first time and it was quite the event. She started out ok, but things declined rapidly.

Yuck!

Here's a video of her few last bites when things got bad.

Maybe she will learn to like them eventually.

7 Months

2010-12-18T23:06:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late on this, but here's an update on Abby from 6-7 months!

She started eating some fruits and veggies, including peaches, yams, bananas, and squash. She has loved them all, thankfully.
She reaches and lunges for toys and things a lot more while she is sitting and being held. She even reaches for her parents, which is a lot of fun.
She went to Florida for Thanksgiving and got to spend time with her grandparents and aunts.
She started having babysitters more frequently and is doing ok with that. It is still hard to leave her but hopefully we will all get more comfortable with it.
She giggles a lot more and seems to be ticklish.
She talks, yells, and makes a lot of funny noises. She especially likes to make zrbtt sounds.
She enjoys all the funny sounds we make.

Here are a few pics of her cuteness!

She loves being outside... this may be a long winter.

Abigail and Mama

Cute tongue smile

I love the way she is sitting

Abby and Dad

She loves her play gym. Gotta love her face in this one.

Visiting Grandma Pratt

She is very good at handling her bink these days.

So happy to be in lovely weather

She always reaches for the camera lens.


Happy girl

Just hanging out

She had a blast swimming in Florida!

"I'm only pretending to go as a cowgirl!"

2010-11-02T00:18:00.000-06:00

We had a lot of fun dressing up for Halloween this year. We had a lot of good ideas but we decided this was the only year we could do one of our ideas.

Here was our inspiration...

And here is the result.

Yep, Landon was Elliott and Abby was E.T.!

Landon's costume was easy, he looks just like Elliott! All he needed was a red hoodie and a box of Reese's Pieces.

Some more inspiration...

And the result.

I was Gertie, of course!

I already had overalls, and I found this great shirt at Savers. My mom sent me the chunky yarn to put in my hair.

We had to do this pose.

I found this little pot of flowers at the dollar store. It was perfect.

Doesn't she make a great E.T.? They really are quite similar. Not much hair, big round eyes, and they have similar facial and vocal expressions!

My parents brought down this milk crate that we secured to Landon's bike.

"Oouch!"

Okay, so we photo-shopped the glowing finger... but we did have a flameless candle that we stuck in Abby's sweater to be E.T.'s heart. It worked perfectly!

Don't we look great? Too bad hardly anyone could figure out what we were supposed to be at our ward party. It was a little disappointing. When they saw Abby they would say, "Oh, she's glowing." Landon's Reese's Pieces is what gave us away to most people. We still had fun though!

6 Months

2010-11-01T22:21:00.000-06:00

Abby had her first half birthday a week ago! She is so cute and is changing all the time. Here's some things she has been up to.

She weighed 13 lbs. 15 oz. and was 24.5 inches long at her 6 month appointment. She is still a petite little girl, however, we learned she is bigger than her mom was at this age. I was only 11 lbs. 9 oz. at 6 months.
She sits up by herself and gets better at it each day.
She likes to take long naps on Sundays and tries to use it to get out of going to church.
Grandma and Grandpa Bishop came to visit her one weekend. She had fun playing and going on walks with them.
She took a trip to San Diego. She has officially been in or driven through 7 states!
She loves to scratch different materials and surfaces. When we went to San Diego we borrowed a pack n' play from some friends. When we put her in it the first night we thought she was settling down and then heard little scratching noises on the nylon fabric. She kept doing it and since we were in the same room as her, I really had to control myself from laughing out loud. We eventually had to put a blanket underneath her.
She still loves hair and tries to pull and eat mine all the time. She usually scratches Landon's head since his hair isn't long enough to pull.
She gives us hugs and we love them.
She loves playing with her feet and sucking on her toes. She also loves to kick her feet. In the carseat, in her Bumbo, when she is being held, etc. She also likes to hold her foot and kick. We think she learned this from cousin Jack, who invented the "weg (leg) gun."
She has such a happy attitude. One of my favorite things is that whenever I take her into a different room of our home, she smiles. I imagine her thinking, "Oh yeah, this room!" Her favorites are her bathroom and our closet, where she likes to pull my shirts off the hangers.
She loves toys and books, especially when they make sounds. I would have to say that her favorite toy is this little yellow duck. It makes a soft squeak sound that always makes her smile and then she loves to shove his entire head in her mouth.
She is getting quite good at putting her binky in her mouth..
She loves to look at herself in the mirror.
She loves it when Mom sings "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Popcorn Popping," and her special Abby song.
While laying on the floor, she loves to have any type of fabric waved over her face.
She seems to get a little nervous about being other places or being held by other people. We are trying to practice with it though and think she will get better.

Here are about a million pictures of her from the past month!

Some Videos

2010-10-19T22:56:00.000-06:00

This video shows Abby's new favorite thing to do. She is beginning to know what she needs to do to get around. Isn't she a funny kid?

And here she is eating rice cereal for the first time. It was a while ago, but I just uploaded the videos today.

Abby and Technology

2010-10-17T19:59:00.003-06:00

Abby is a pretty smart little kid, so I'm trying to get her started learning all the technologies that she will need to use. Tonight she had some of her first hands on time with a computer. I have to say, she did pretty well.

You can see she is a natural. She knows exactly what to do. Her web search, however, was unsuccessful. Probably because she doesn't know any words yet.

I'm sure she will figure it out sooner or later.

5 Months

2010-09-27T23:36:00.000-06:00

Our baby girl is now 5 months old! I can't even believe it. It seems crazy that she has been with us for this long, but at the same time, it is hard to recall life without her. She is just so much fun and she cracks us up everyday. Above is her "official" 5 month picture. Isn't she gorgeous? Look at that smile. She is going to be a knock-out. Here are some more pictures to show what she has been up to.


She started taking baths in her big tub and she loves to splash around and hold her toys.


She likes to go outside and wait for Daddy to come home.


She loves going outside. If she is fussy, take her outside and she calms down immediately. She loves to touch leaves and the bark on trees.


She also loves stroller rides and car rides. She definitely keeps me in shape!

She loves "naked time."

She has become a Boise State fan. And has more hair that sticks straight up.

She loves to smile and has finally started to giggle more (see video in previous post).


She loves to read. She started holding books correctly at about 2.5 months and I thought it was accidental. No, she is just a genius. Now she can even hold them up by herself.

She had rice cereal for the first time. She has been so curious about the food we eat. She tries to grab my drinks or food whenever I put them near my mouth. At a restaurant I was holding her while putting papusas into a box. I tried to close the lid but it flipped back open. She then grabbed the lid and the papusas flew into the air and on the floor. It was comical.

So sweet!

We love our little girl so much!

Per Jack's Request

2010-09-22T21:06:00.000-06:00

I got an email from my 3 year old nephew today asking me for videos of Abby. And I quote, "I want to see Abby moving." What a kid! Here you go, buddy.

Abby in the Morning

2010-09-18T10:57:00.000-06:00

I love hanging out with Abby in the morning. She is always so happy and in the mood to play (usually by the time I get home in the evening she is a little bit fussy). I've been inspired on a few of these mornings to experiment with Katherine's new camera, and I've gotten some good shots, if I say so myself. I love her hair in some of the later ones.

4 Months

2010-09-15T22:15:00.000-06:00

I'm determined to do Abby's 4 month post so that I can actually be on time for her 5 month one... which is approaching quickly! Abby turned 4 months on August 24. It was a very big month for her!

She spent most of the month traveling. We went to a family reunion at Whidbey Island (near Seattle) with my immediate family. We first drove to Boise and she slept the entire time. Then we rode with my parents up to Whidbey Island. She did so well! We really only had to stop for diaper changes and I just pumped a bottle for her every few hours. It worked great and she only fussed the last half hour. Had we not had slow traffic in Seattle, she would have been just fine.
She met her cousin Ellen, who is three weeks older than her, for the first time. She also met her cousin Heath, who is six weeks younger then her. It was so fun to have three little babies around. She also met my brothers and my sisters-in-law.
She went on a hike, rode on a fairy to the San Juan Islands, went to the Experience Music Project museum in Seattle, rode on the monorail, went to a drive in movie, and did lots of other fun things.
She went swimming for the first time in McCall. She didn't smile about it, but didn't cry either.
She rode on her first airplane ride from Boise to SLC. Her dad picked us up from the airport (who she hadn't seen for 10 days) and she just smiled and smiled at him.
She rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time. She wasn't too happy when she did it, so she doesn't try a whole lot anymore. We have a video of her attempting, but not making it. It is long, but still cute.
She loves to go outside and just look around at everything.
She discovered her voice and started to really jabber. We have a video here.
She loves to look at and grab her toys and books.
She is still in the 25th percentile for weight and height. She is very proportional and petite. She weighed 12 lbs 10 oz. and was 23.5 inches long. The doctor says she is very strong and doing great on her communication and motor skills.

Here she is!

Abby and Heath

Tonja, Ellen, Abby, and me

What an attitude!

So cute when she sleeps

happy!

I love this picture. Abby is looking at me and Heath is looking at Emily. It cracks me up every time.

sweet little face

Three babies! Heath, Ellen & Abby

Emily took some photos of us and I love them.

us again

Chillin while we ate outside. She loved it.

Happy to be in McCall

watching everyone play tennis

I can't get over this one.

This was the day she rolled over.

I love this one... the colors, her sweet face, so cute.

bathing beauty

Graduation

2010-09-12T22:08:00.000-06:00

I graduated with my master's degree! I am officially done and it feels fabulous. I defended my thesis on July 19 and passed! Landon, Abby, my parents, and my sister all came to support me since they were in town for Abby's blessing. It was not a fun experience, but I'm glad I made it through. I did have to make some changes to my thesis, but I ended up finishing everything. I was literally working up till the last minute getting everything straightened out with submitting my thesis electronically. That whole experience was a bit of a nightmare, but I made it! I don't get my diploma until December with the way all the deadlines work, but I was able to walk in August gradutation... about 2 and a half hours after submitting everything with my thesis! Hooray for graduating!


Abby and me

Abby pulling and trying to eat my hair

our family

my bat wings

my hood and bat wings

my mom and dad

Will came too- love his pose in this one

cute sleepy girl

Abby's blessing day

2010-09-07T23:14:00.001-06:00

Abigail was blessed by her dad on July 18. It was a beautiful blessing. He even remembered her name and didn't play his favorite joke of saying "Amelia Estevez Pratt" instead of her real name... thank goodness. Here are a few pictures from her special day.

our family

Abby's headshot

showing off the lovely dress

showing off the famous belly

she wore this baby ring that belongs to my mom and that I also wore for my blessing day

I love this sweet face

I just love it when this happens

the other blog

2010-09-07T15:59:00.000-06:00

I have another blog that I started almost two years ago. I admit, I was not a faithful blogger and tossed it aside once I started my thesis project and found out I was pregnant with Abigail. BUT... I have started it back up and have lots of fun ideas for it. Go check it out here and feel free to give me any suggestions you may have!

3 Months

2010-09-06T16:11:00.001-06:00

Abby turned 3 months old on July 24th. Here is a list of the things she started doing from 2 months to 3 months.

She loves to kick her little legs like crazy, especially in the evening before bed. We would say she needed to go for her run before going to sleep for the night. Which brings me to her next trick...
She sleeps all through the night! She usually goes to sleep around 10 and wakes up around 7.
She continues to be more alert every day. She is starting to really like holding toys and looking at books. She even tries to hold books and turn the pages. She is a very smart girl!
She loves to stick out her tongue.
She is still a great car sleeper and likes to go for walks. She loves to look up at trees and even smiles at them sometimes.
She was blessed by her daddy on July 18th. Both sets of grandparents were able to come as well as her great grandparents that live close by. Four of her aunts and one uncle came. And she met her McDonald cousins for the first time.
She is still a happy baby that we love and adore more than we ever thought possible.

Here are some cute pictures from her third month.


wearing one of her mom's dresses

a nice little pose

Abby with her great grandparents

with Great Grandpa Moss

poor little girl

"I hold Abby now."- Jack

Cousin Allie

Cousin Audrey

a good look

Don't we have the sweetest little girl? We just love her!

Catching up

2010-08-31T22:23:00.003-06:00

The past two months have been jam packed with so many events, we are just now starting to catch up on life. Instead of doing a HUGE post, I'll try to separate things out a bit and do a post every couple days or so. That seems easier with organizing pics and so forth. I won't just leave you with this lame post though, here is a fun pic to see how Abby has changed.

4th of July and Thesis Fun!

2010-07-08T12:42:00.003-06:00

My study ended mid June, which gave me about 10 days to write up my thesis in order to make the deadline I needed to make. The writing actually wasn't as stressful as I anticipated. Of course, Abby was a great baby and let me get a lot done during her naps. And then once Landon came home, he helped out a lot. I think it actually worked well to have to take breaks while writing to feed Abby or just hold her for a bit. The most frustrating things occurred with the silly little details no one ever told me about; getting everyone and their dog's signatures, applying for graduation, getting a new ecclesiastical endorsement, petitioning for credits because I forgot to sign up for them (oops!), etc. However, everything worked out and I'm officially scheduled to defend my thesis on July 19! I'm so excited and the end really is in sight now! You will soon be able to call me "Master Pratt." In addition, an abstract I submitted got accepted to the National Obesity Conference. So Landon, Abby and I are going to trek down to San Diego in October to present it and hopefully have some fun while we are there. I think it will be a great way to end my "career" as a student.

4th of July was a little funny this year since it was on a Sunday. They did the fireworks on Saturday here, and then Sunday just seemed like a normal Sunday. It was still fun though. We took Abby to watch the fireworks since they fire them off right outside our door. Abby looked at them for a while, didn't cry but didn't really have much expression either, and then she fell asleep during the finale... funny kid. Here are some pictures of us.

Getting ready for the fireworks to start.
See, she was definitely watching them. Who knows what she thought about them.

2 Month Update

2010-06-26T19:32:00.007-06:00

Abigail had her 2 month birthday on Thursday! She is growing up way too fast. We are having a blast watching her grow. Here's a list of her new tricks!

She sleeps in her crib and does great most of the time. Every once in a while she has a "bad" night. It really isn't all that bad, just not as perfect as normal.
She is starting to wear some 0-3 month clothes and a few newborn things are officially too small. She also grew out of those adorable newborn diapers... sad.
She is an expert at smiling and she is starting to make more sounds.
Sometimes she prefers to lay on the floor rather than be held. Is that normal?
She loves to kick her chubby little legs.
She started going to church.
She is getting a lot stronger and I think she will be holding her head up before we know it.
She doesn't care for tummy time. She gets sad, so then I give her a pacifier, and then she starts to get sleepy.
She has started to go for jogs with Mom. She is a pretty good stroller sleeper.
She loves to have her diaper changed and lights up when we put her on the changing pad.
She is patient as Mom attempts to get good photos of her.
She is very cooperative when Mom and Dad go somewhere or have a schedule. She always wants to eat before and hardly makes a peep in public.

Here are some favorite photos from the past month.

Father's Day

2010-06-21T10:51:00.003-06:00

Father's Day was full of successes and failures.

Success: Abby wore an adorable purple dress to church.
Failure: She had a major blowout at church and we didn't get her picture in it.

Success: We all got to have a nap.
Failure: The naps ended too soon. Abby woke me up to eat and I woke Landon up by taking the above picture.

Success: I promised Landon I would play Munchkin Quest with him (I'm not usually very enthusiastic, but it was Father's Day).
Failure: We didn't play because Mandy already had plans. Poor Landon.

Success: Abby and I made this gift for Landon to put up in his workspace in his lab. Failure: It must have crunched on something when I brought it in with the groceries... it has a few small blemishes now. It is still usable, just sad that it happened.

Failure: I forgot to buy hamburger buns.
Failure: I tried to make hamburger buns and they ended up being way too small.
Success: We still used the buns and it really wasn't all that bad.

Success: We watched The Next Food Network Star.
Failure: We watched Design Star... not so good.

Success: We made homemade ice cream and it was delicious. No failures here.
*Confession: I had a scoop with my breakfast this morning.*

Overall, it was still a nice, relaxing day.

Check out this Grin!

2010-06-14T19:56:00.005-06:00

We figured out a way to get Abby's smile on camera! We discovered that when we blow on her face she will almost always take a deep breath and then do a huge smile. I can't believe it, she doesn't seem old enough to know how to play games like this! My baby is getting so big. We also learned about the continuous setting on our camera that allows us to get several shots quickly. Here are a few that we got.

1 month!

2010-05-31T23:47:00.011-06:00

Abby turned 1 month old last week and we can hardly believe it. Here are some new pictures to show you what she has been up to.

Her daddy got her a Blue's Clues DVD to help stimulate her mind. She looks pretty cute watching it in her bouncer seat. We also have her listening Beethoven's symphonies and piano concertos as well as other good music. She is very alert and we can tell already that she will be a bright little girl.She also had pumped milk from a bottle for the first time. Her silly daddy took it out of the fridge and fed it to her cold... and she loved it! We are pretty sure she is the most easy going baby around. And we are thrilled she took the bottle with no problem.

She had her first little cold. Her mom had a stuffy nose and Abby unfortunately got one as well. It was so sad to see her sick, but she was still amazingly calm and happy. In an effort to keep her upright, we had a her sleep in her bouncer for a few nights. She loves that thing, especially the soothing vibrations it does. One night she slept in it for 6 hours without waking up!

AND... drumroll...
Abby learned how to smile! Her first real smile was on May 23 while her mom was holding her. Her dad did not see it and refused to believe that she did it. But the next day, she did one for him. We have tried many attempts to photograph/video her smiles and it has been quite difficult. Here are our best efforts.

The very beginning of a smile.

Almost all the way, but not quite the full effect. She has the biggest gummy grin and we will keep trying to capture it.

Here's a few more cute photos of her!
Thanks to Uncle Mike and Aunt Emily who made her Beatles 'Help!' shirt. I like this one because it is like she is posing along with them.

Her artistic bath picture thanks to Aunt Annie. Notice the reflection as well as the large belly. She is really starting to chub up. We think she is over 8 pounds now!

And here she is just being the sweet girl that she is!

Sounds!

2010-05-16T20:52:00.003-06:00

Abigail is 3 weeks old now, and she is starting to learn more about the new world she inhabits. She is now starting to learn to look for sounds that she hears, which is pretty exciting. Below is a video that demonstrates this new skill!

Our Sweet Baby Girl

2010-05-12T21:40:00.004-06:00

Our little Abigail is almost 3 weeks old! She is doing very well. We took her to the doctor on Monday and she weighed 6 lbs. and 14 oz. She is still tiny, but considering she was only 6 lbs. 1 oz. when we left the hospital, the doctor was very pleased with her progress. She eats well and is a great sleeper. At a week old, she began sleeping 3-4 hours in the night! She is such a calm baby and we simply love her. She brings so much joy into our home. Abby has had many visitors including Grandma and Grandpa Bishop, Grandma Pratt (who shares her birthday), great-grandparents, and aunts. Everyone loves to hold her and she loves to be held. She is enjoying new things every day such as "tummy time", riding in the car, going for a walk in her stroller, and she had her first real bath this evening. We have accumulated many pictures of our little girl in the past two and a half weeks. Here are a few to show you how dang cute she is.

Coming home from the hospital
Floor time
Dad picked out these jammiesJust hanging out
Going for her first walk

Having her first real bath

Believe it or not, she is even cuter in person! Stay tuned to more pictures as she continues to grow and change.

Abigail Mae

2010-04-26T13:30:00.002-06:00

Abigail arrived at 7:39 Saturday evening. She had a little trouble once Mom's water broke; her heart rate dropped suddenly, so the doctor decided that we needed to get her out quick. Mom had an emergency c-section, which was a bit hard on all parties involved. Abigail and her Mom are tough though, and are in great shape. We are still hoping that Dad will recover.

Abby weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long at birth. She has been very patient with her parents as they learn to take care of her.

We wanted to post a couple of videos so everyone can see how cute our little girl is. Dad likes the first video because his hand adds a little perspective of how tiny she is.

39 Weeks and the End of the Semester

2010-04-14T21:39:00.003-06:00

My due date is in 6 days and I'm feeling better than I ever expected to feel at this point in my pregnancy. I finished work on Monday, my classes yesterday, and am hoping to have my finals done by this Saturday (hopefully the baby will cooperate, so far she has been very obedient).

On Monday they said I was dilated to 1.5 and 70% effaced. They offered to strip my membranes, but I declined because I would rather get this semester over with before she comes. We are getting excited, although it still seems crazy that I could go into labor at any moment.

Landon is all done for the semester and I am very jealous. We are doing well, just waiting for our life to completely change in a few days! Here is a picture of me at 39 weeks. I look a lot bigger than I actually feel!

32 Weeks and a Check-up

2010-02-28T13:23:00.005-07:00

Last week I hit my 32 week mark! Here I am to document my progress.

Landon gets upset when I pose with my hands on my belly. He says it hides my belly (I'm not sure how I could possibly hide it).

So I moved my hands, but then he was upset that I wasn't perfectly sideways.

So here you go. No hands and directly sideways. Are you happy now?

We also went to the doctor on Friday and things seem to be normal. My weight gain seems to still be on track and well as my belly growth. He said the baby is definitely not large, but not small either, which I was very pleased to hear. He also told us that a lot of first babies come late and not to anticipate going early. He advised us to plan on going about two days late, that way we won't be as upset if the due date comes and goes.

This past week we went to our last prenatal birthing class. So now we are both experts on what to expect and what to do during labor. Well, probably not, but it definitely was useful and has helped us feel more prepared and confident.

We have been taking advantage of the little Babies R Us coupon books that contain 20% off one item coupons each week. We have gotten some good deals (20% off our crib mattress) and it is nice to spread out the expenses a little bit rather than getting everything at once. I need to take some pictures of the baby's room to post on here, but for now, this is probably enough.

An Eventful Weekend

2010-02-22T22:58:00.004-07:00

We had a great Valentine's/Chinese New Year/President's Day weekend this year. On Friday, my grandma took us out to dinner since she and Fay were in town. They brought the baby a quilt and a receiving blanket, and promised a crocheted blanket once my grandma finishes it. It was fun to eat and chat with them.

On Saturday we decorated Valentine's cookies with some of Landon's relatives. I was finally able to use some of my cake/cookie decorating items including my alphabet cookie cutters to make a "LOVE" cookie. After decorating cookies, Landon took me out for Indian food where we had delicious food- Saag Aloo, Chicken Aloo, garlic naan, and mango/strawberry lassis, and samosas. We went all out! I am so grateful that I can still eat spicy, delicious food without getting heartburn! After that we went and played a couple of games of air hockey and took pictures in a photo booth. We then went to "The Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe." They sell fancy cupcakes and drinks (hot and cold, without caffeine). It is a fun little joint and a great place to take a date. After all that, we came home and watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (thanks Mom and Dad).

On Sunday we went to church and spent most of the day organizing our baby's room. It was so fun! We still have a lot to do, but it is so fun to go in and just look and imagine a baby in there. We also made calzones, something Landon has been wanting to do for a while now.

Landon created his calzone first.
And then I put mine together.

And they ended up being ginormous.

Happy Valentine's Day!

On Monday we had an Arrested Development party and did more in the baby's room. It was a great weekend!

Chinese New Year started on Sunday the 14th, but we didn't actually celebrate until Friday. And we celebrated well thanks to my parents for a generous red envelope. This year is the year of the tiger, which is what it was when I was born. Since our baby girl will be born this year, she will be a tiger too!

Nuh-Night Music

2010-01-26T19:40:00.006-07:00

On my drive home from work the other day, I decided that I wanted to compile playlists of "Nuh-Night Music" for our baby girl. I think I will make several playlists with just a few songs that are soothing and will help her want to sleep. I haven't really started compiling them, but I know artists like Ben Harper and Feist will make an appearance. I think I will also do a playlist for Sunday with some of my favorite hymns and primary songs. If you have any songs that have helped you or your children settle down and go to sleep, now is your chance to suggest them to me!

Pop!

2010-01-10T21:00:00.003-07:00

I haven't posted any pictures of what my belly looks like lately or any type of update on us, so here you go.

This was taken the day we found out we were having a girl. I was 20 weeks (just about 6 weeks ago).

Here I am just a few days ago at 25 1/2 weeks! It looks as though I "popped" over Christmas. I can't believe how much change these pictures show! I knew I had gotten bigger, but this definitely shows it. People are no longer afraid to ask me if I am pregnant. I have been feeling great and the doctor says am measuring right on schedule. I can't believe I am quickly approaching my 3rd trimester.

We spent our Christmas break with Landon's family in Florida. It was so nice to relax for a couple of weeks and forget about our responsibilities. We have been spoiled by both of our families with all kinds of baby items... Tons of cute clothes, shoes and accessories, my mom's rocking chair, a jogging stroller and car seat, and money for a crib. We feel very blessed. We are trying to sort and rearrange through all of our things so we can start setting up our baby's room.

We started school again and we will both stay busy with classes, research, and work. I'm sure this semester will fly by and we will have our little girl here before we know it. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that this year will be fantastic!

Suggest a Name

2009-12-03T21:40:00.008-07:00

Just thought that this would be a cool way to allow people to suggest names for the baby, if they cared to. I won't promise that we will use any of them, but who knows, maybe you will come up with one we really like. So, give it a shot.

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Boy or Girl?

2009-12-02T07:32:00.004-07:00

You can watch the video bigger if you follow the YouTube link.

Social Media Experiment

2009-11-19T16:50:00.003-07:00

One of the things I am considering focusing on for my Master's Degree is Social Media and its effects on society. As a fun little experiment, I saw today an article in the Daily Universe saying that BYU was getting thrashed in a contest to bring Weezer to the winning college campus. As of 4:30 pm today we were still getting killed, we had 237 votes compared to the first place Florida State who had over 9,000.

Now I am a huge FSU fan, but lets see if we can catch up and make this a contest! I wouldn't mind seeing Weezer in concert.

Belly Progression

2009-11-16T20:41:00.003-07:00

Today one of my classmates (a guy who I've only known since September) looked at me and said, "You are not showing at all. How far along are you?" On the other hand, I met with brand new client at work today. She is 32, has 4 kids, is a runner and is in great shape. I went ahead and asked her about jogging strollers since I am in the process of choosing one for myself. She looked at me and said, "I noticed a little tummy and thought to myself 'she must be pregnant and just starting to show'." So I get both types of comments. Some people say I do not look pregnant and some say they can tell I'm getting bigger. I have to agree with the latter, although I think I just look a little chubbier, not really pregnant. I guess this is the awkward stage where people don't know if I'm pregnant or just gaining a little weight. Here are a couple pictures to track my progress. You can decide for yourself.

Me at 16 weeks (2 weeks ago).
This was the day when many of my pants stopped fitting and I had to adopt the rubber band/button hole trick.

Today at 18 weeks.
I can wear these old, grungy, stretched out jeans no problem and one other pair with the a rubber band, but once they stop working I will be out of luck and on to bigger and better pants. Luckily, we got some sweet deals on maternity pants at Gap and Old Navy this weekend. They still seem huge, but they will probably fit before I know it.

The past couple of days I have thought that I can feel the baby, but who knows! I will be more convinced when it is more obvious. We have an ultrasound scheduled for Dec. 1. We are pretty excited and hope the baby will cooperate so we can find out the gender.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T19:08:00.005-07:00

I love dressing up for Halloween, or for any occasion really. However, this past month has been pretty hectic with midterms, projects, sickness, etc. Whenever we would think about what to be for Halloween, nothing would come to us and we would forget about it.
On Friday, the day of Mandy's Halloween party, I was ready to give up. I figured I could just go as a pirate and Landon could be a soccer player (our default costumes). While walking to school I suddenly came up with an idea Landon would go for. I have to say, for getting everything together in a couple hours, I think we looked pretty awesome.

Here is our inspiration.

We dressed up as Tom and Summer from 500 Days of Summer. We thought this movie was great. The soundtrack is great, and its nonlinear narrative plot was done exceptionally well. And we could really identify with the characters, as I'm sure everyone could in one way or another. Here we are!

The cute couple.
Us again.

Me as Summer. Summer always wears at least one shade of blue. She often wears headbands and tucks her blouses into her mid-rise pants and skirts.

Tom often wears sweater vests or v-neck sweaters with a skinny tie and rolled up sleeves. He also wears his headphones a lot of the time. Landon had speakers hooked up to an ipod in his messenger bag and had Hall and Oates playing as well as other songs from the movie.

The pictures may be hard to tell, but yes, I sprayed my hair to be a brunette.

Fashion Show

2009-10-25T19:49:00.004-06:00

My mom bought me some cute maternity clothes and we decided to have a fashion show since I can now stick my "bump" out. I don't stick out this much yet, but I have a feeling I will start getting bigger in the next few weeks.

Maybe one day I will look like this (below). I stuck a mixing bowl in my shirt.

My cheesy pose. I was trying to cover up the flat part of the bowl.

Gender Guesses Continued

2009-10-17T20:31:00.010-06:00

So there have been a lot of votes so far and we thought maybe we could liven things up a bit. Katherine found a website that had a few methods of "predicting" the gender of the baby. Here are the results of our tests:

Heart-rate test

First, the heart-rate test. According to this test if the heart-rate is above 140 the baby is a girl and if it is less than this, it is a boy. You can see on the first picture of the sonogram that is has the heart rate = 165.8. Katherine wanted me to mention that all of the doctors thought she was a boy, because she had a slower heart beat.

Result: GIRL

Chinese Gender Chart

Here is what the website says about this next one: "Legend states that the Chinese Gender Chart was buried in a royal tomb near Beijing over 700 years ago. The original is allegedly currently in the Institute of Science in Beijing. Rumors have it that this chart is over 90% accurate when used properly but please remember that this chart is for entertainment purposes only."

So keep in mind. Entertainment purposes only.

Result: BOY

Needle Method

In this method you thread a needle and dangle it over the stomach of the pregnant woman. It also said online that you could dangle it over her wrist instead. We tried both methods and I have to say that this method was a little sketchy. If the needle swings in a "strong circular motion" then the baby is a girl. If it just swings back and forth it is a boy. It was a little hard to tell what was actually happening... it started out in a circular motion and then ended up just swinging back and forth the first time we did it. Then we switched to the wrist motion and it seemed to be more circular. Probably not the most accurate test, but we concluded:

(Side note on this one... Katherine is very convinced by this test for some reason. She insists that it always does a circular motion.)

Result: GIRL

Old Wives Tales Quiz

This next method is just a quiz with a bunch of old wives tales such as the following:

After 15 questions:

Hardly decisive and some of the questions couldn't really be answered, like about how the baby kicks and stuff.

Result: GIRL

The Final Test - Intelligender

Okay, this one is the big kahuna. This is a urine test you can pick up at walgreen's that claims about 80% accuracy. Still enough chance of error that you want to wait for the sonogram to know for sure, but accurate enough to make things exciting.

The website for the product has the following to say:

"Can pregnant women use this test in place of a sonogram?
No, the test is designed as a fun, positive pre-birth experience for the parents-to-be. IntelliGender does not recommend test users to make any financial, emotional or family planning decisions based on the test results. This includes painting a nursery! Seeing an obstetrician as early in the pregnancy is critical for the health of the mother and the baby. Pregnant women should follow the advice of their physician for decisions related to their pregnancy."

Also, the website has these images of what the results are supposedly going to look like:

In our case the results were not nearly dark enough to be labeled as a boy. It looked much more like the girl results.

Result: GIRL

You can interpret these tests however you like, just be careful in reaching an incorrect conclusion. We will let you know how the sonogram turns out when that time comes... still a few weeks to go!

Gender Guesses

2009-10-11T19:54:00.001-06:00

I just added a poll to allow people to guess the gender of the baby. Also, feel free to make a comment on the post to let us know who is guessing what.

We're still here

2009-10-07T17:52:00.004-06:00

Emily requested a new blog post, so here it is. Here are some things that have happened since the last time we did a post.

I completed my thesis proposal and have started my project
Landon's family came to visit us in July
We went to Boise and McCall, Idaho with my parents and Annie's family
Landon started his first semester of grad school
We found out that we are expecting our first child in April!

Needless to say, our lives have been busy and exciting!
I am now about 12 weeks pregnant and had my second appointment yesterday. We were hoping to hear the heartbeat, but they could only find mine! They weren't concerned and explained that the baby was likely in a position where it was difficult to catch the heartbeat. But to be safe, they had me go in this morning for an ultrasound. It was the greatest experience! I had no idea we would be able to see the baby so clearly this early. The baby was moving around like crazy and the heartbeat was strong and fast. I am right on schedule and everything looked good. I am so grateful for the experience. My pregnancy seems more real than ever now. And now we have our baby's first pictures! The pictures aren't as clear as they were on the screen, but I still think they are fun.

This one shows the heart rate.

Here you can see the large head, the dark white line is the spine, and the body.
Another view of the cute head and body.My favorite! Look at that tiny arm and adorable little hand!

Early Birthday Present

2009-06-24T09:51:00.004-06:00

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton let me have a peak at my birthday present for next year.

Don't even try to tell me this doesn't look fabulous. Now I just have to wait patiently the next 8 months.

Alice in Wonderland- March 5, 2010

I married a winner!

2009-06-16T08:08:00.003-06:00

Last Wednesday, Landon came home at the end of the day with two prizes/awards. Check him out!
This prize is entitled, "Bug of the Week." I think Landon has mentioned that he is doing testing on lds.org this summer. As a tester, he has to find programming flaws, or "bugs." Every week they submit bugs they find and someone is awarded with "Bug of the Week." He finds bugs all the time, but he found an especially good one a couple of weeks ago, and earned his first "Bug of the Week" award!
Here is the second award Landon earned that day. This one came from a lab on campus that he has been working with. They had Landon enter into a conference where he had to submit some kind of prediction... and he won. If you can't tell what he won, here is a closer look.
That's right, an iPod nano! I especially like that the certificate says, "Team Sequoia led by Landon Pratt." He is sharing the iPod with me, which is also nice.

Good job, Landon!

Summer Reading List

2009-06-07T20:48:00.006-06:00

One of the benefits of all the time I spend on the bus between Provo and SLC is that I have the opportunity to do quite a bit of reading. I have always loved to read, but with school and all the last number of years, I haven't been able to do as much as I would have liked. Anyways, here are a few of the books I have read so far:

1. War of the Worlds by HG Wells - It looks like I am doing a lot of Science Fiction reading this summer, and what better way to start it off than by reading this Sci Fi classic. It was a decent book, although a little humorous at times because of the setting. It was written in the late 1800's so a lot of the technology used to fight off the invading aliens was pretty obsolete and archaic by today's standards. It was a little strange to read a science fiction novel that predated the automobile and that, in the novel, our most effective weaponry was horse-drawn artillery and ironclads.

2. Ubik by Phillip K. Dick - Science Fiction book #2. This one is a little bit weirder, so if you can't handle a little weirdness, don't try to read this one. One of the basic ideas behind the book is that a technology has been developed to allow for a kind of "half-life" once a person has died. If action is taken quickly the individual can be frozen and put into a kind of dream like state where loved ones are capable of communicating with them for a few days a year. Pretty crazy.

3. The Shining by Stephen King - I had been told that this book was pretty scary, and even though the movie definitely fits that description, I was sceptical that any book could really be that scary. I have to say, it did a pretty good job of getting into my head. I would look over my shoulder at night to make sure nothing was lurking after reading The Shining. I enjoyed the book quite a bit. I felt that the author did a great job of bringing the reader into the psyche of each of his characters. The book does contain a fair amount of bad language though, so reader beware.

Coming Attractions:

Neuromancer by William Gibson

A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

I will hopefully keep you updated on the rest of my summer reading as I get to it.

My Mix is Done!

2009-06-05T13:38:00.002-06:00

It took me a while to finish my girl and guy duet mix because I kept coming across more and more options. It was hard to nail down my final playlist. As I went through it I added a new item to my criteria: no duplicate artists. All songs feature different musicians/actors. That's right, I was surprised at how many actors/actressess appeared on my list. Mainly due to soundtracks where the actors did their own singing. So here is my list with comments to go along with each selection.

1. Two of Us- Aimee Mann & Michael Penn
This selection comes from the movie, I Am Sam, one of my favorite movies of all time as well as one of my favorite soundtracks. All songs are Beatles' covers and this song is a great one.
2. You Don't Know Me- Ben Folds & Regina Spektor
I love both of these artists and they really do sound great together. I love this song but it almost didn't make it because Ben Folds drops the F-bomb... typical Ben Folds. But Landon edited it for me. I would also recommend watching the music video for it on you tube, it is hilarious.
3. Train Song- Ben Gibbard & Feist
Again, two of my favorite artists. This song is simply beautiful.
4. Jackson- Johnny Cash & June Carter
This was one of the songs that inspired the mix idea. I'm not a huge country fan, but I'm a fan of Johnny Cash as an extremely influential musician. In my opinion these two are probably the most famous duet team ever. This song is my favorite of theirs.
5. Falling Slowly- Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
This is a new song to me, recommended by my brother. It is really pretty with nice harmonies.
6. Elevator Love Letter- Amy Millan & Torquil Campbell- (the band "Stars")
I just really like this song. The first verse is sung by the girl and the second by the guy and it tells a story. The vocals and music fit the feeling of the story well.
7. Volcano- Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan
Lisa Hannigan is Damien Rice's main back-up vocalist. There were a couple of songs I could have gone with including "9 Crimes," but I went with this one just because "9 Crimes" is a demo and the recording quality is not fabulous. It is good though, check it out.
8. Storytime with Rabbi- Seth Hanks & Mallory Davis- (the band "Maple Grove")
I had to include a song from my talented friends, Seth and Mallory. I chose this song because it seems more duet-like in that they sing at each other rather than just doing back-ups for each other like most of their songs. It is a good one, and Mallory does a great job on the keys.
9. Paperweight- Joshua Radin Schuyler Fisk- (from the movie "The Last Kiss")
A couple of my friends suggested this song to me. Schuyler Fisk is an actress, although I don't think she is in this movie. She is the girlfriend in "Orange County." In my opinion, this song is a great representation of beautiful harmonies.
10. Portland Oregon- Loretta Lynn & Jack White
There were a few options for Jack White duets, but I went with this one because it is fun. He also did the theme for the new Bond movie with Alecia Keys. It is a great song as well and I think it was the best part of the movie.
11. You Really Got a Hold on Me- Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward- (the band "She & Him")
This is a great cover of this song. Once again, another actress/musician. She is the girl in Elf where she also does her singing and now collaborates with M. Ward in their band.
12. Elephant Love Medley- Ewan McGregor & Nicole Kidman- (from the movie "Moulin Rouge")
Another favorite movie of mine. This is a great medley that combines cheesy love songs into a rather well done song. They both do a great job at singing in this movie.
13. World Spins Madly On- Deb Talan & Steve Tannen- (the band "The Weepies")
I love The Weepies. They are an idie folk band and have some great songs. This is just one of them were I felt they each sang about equally. A lot of their songs mostly have her singing.
14. Relator- Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
This song also inpsired me to make this mix. I was surprised that Scarlett is a decent singer. Apparently she did an album a few years ago that was pretty bad, but this song is really good (I'm sure because of Pete Yorn's influence). They are releasing an album in September, this is just their single.
15. Nothing Better- Ben Gibbard and Jen Wood
Okay, so I lied. Ben Gibbard appears twice on this mix. I honestly didn't even notice until right now, so I can't change it now. This is a great song where the two have a conversation back and forth. He is trying to convince the girl to get back together, while she insists that their relationship is over.
16. Don't Come Knocking- Bono & Andrea Corr
I am a longtime fam of U2, but I honestly didn't think Bono would make it on here... until I discovered this song. The mp3 doesn't actually exist that we could find (legally or illegally). But with his mad skills, Landon was still able to get it for me. :)
17. It Ain't Me Babe- Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon- (from the movie "Walk the Line")
Kudos to Joaquin for doing a great job for singing like Johnny Cash. Reese is great as well. I think I actually like this version better than the original one.
18. Anyone Else But You- Michael Cera & Ellen Page- (from the movie "Juno")
These two aren't the most amazing singers, but I love this song because of its lyrics and Michael Cera cracks me up. My favorite lyric... "we sure are cute for two ugly people."
19. Don't go Breaking My Heart- Elton John & Kiki Dee
Oh Elton! Not his best song, that's for sure. But I still think it is classic.
20. Lua- Conor Oberst & Gillian Welch
This is a "Bright Eyes" song that is redone by Oberst (who is "Bright Eyes") with Welch. The song is similar to the original, but good in its own way.
21. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off- Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Two amazing jazz musicians put together for a classic song. Don't even try to tell me that you don't love Louis's voice.

That's all folks! Hope you enjoy. Thanks to those who recommended songs. I'm sorry I couldn't include all of them.

The Mormon Channel

2009-05-31T21:15:00.004-06:00

One of the benefits of my internship is that I get to hear about all the cool new webpages the church is doing before they are even out. I can't really talk about them much, though, until they are available to the public. Well, the Church just released a new one a few weeks ago. themormonchannel.com . Check it out!

New Mix Idea

2009-05-28T13:00:00.003-06:00

Landon and I love to make mixes, especially when we come up with a good theme for a mix. I came up with the idea to do a mix with the best girl and guy duets. The idea was inspired partly from watching "Walk the Line" the other night and partly from coming across a great new song. The only rule is that there must be a girl and a guy vocalist in the song. Each person should have a significant part, not just a few background "awws." All genres are acceptable. I have a handful of my favorites, but would love any suggestions to not only consider for my mix but also to learn about music out there I don't know about. When I finish it, I will post my final product on here. Please help me out if you have a brilliant suggestion!

Internship

2009-05-10T19:29:00.003-06:00

As you may or may not know, I started a new internship for this summer. I am officially a Quality Assurance Intern with the LDS church. That means I get to try and find problems in all the new websites the church is producing these days. There are going to be a few new ones coming out in the next couple of months. It is pretty cool, for once I get to work on something that people have actually heard of, like LDS.org.

Actually the best perk so far is the fact that I now have a "super admin" account for the stake and ward websites. That means I can edit any stake or ward website in the whole world. Oh the power!

On the down side, I have to get up at a quarter to six every morning, and I spend around 3 hours a day on a bus going between Provo and SLC. I'm pretty tired by the time I get home in the evening. I plan on doing a lot of reading this summer, and luckily I got a little netbook for graduation. I will get some good use from that.

Twitter?

2009-03-31T22:18:00.002-06:00

I got curious about twitter and created an account.

http://twitter.com/hndsoff8

Here is some info about twitter.

My Favorite Albums

2009-03-31T19:07:00.013-06:00

I got this idea from a facebook application... you know, those things that everyone hates. Anyways, the application gives you a bunch of different categories in which you can choose your 5 favorites. One of these categories is "favorite albums". I filled mine out and then decided that I wouldn't be satisfied choosing just 5. That seemed too few.

In making my list I considered a few criteria. The first of these factors that I considered I will refer to as "completeness". This means that if I were forced to listen to the entire album I wouldn't find myself fighting the urge to skip a significan number of the songs. The album needs to be consistently good. Second, I considered how "influential" the albums were in my life. If an album had left a lasting impression on me, enough to be remembered years later, it would be more likely to make the list. Finally, I decided it would be smart to exclude compilation albums. "Best of" cd's that pulled from many different albums would not be considered.

So here they are, my top 10.

1. Danse Macabre - The Faint

2. Weezer (Blue Album) - Weezer

3. Bleed American - Jimmy Eat World

4. Plans - Death Cab for Cutie

5. Deja Entendu - Brand New

6. Hybrid Theory - Linkin Park

7. Wet From Birth - The Faint

8. You're A Woman, I'm a Machine - Death From Above 1979

9. Infest - Papa Roach

10. Darkest Days - Stabbing Westward

Some Updates... in Bullet Format

2009-03-16T16:00:00.002-06:00

Sorry we have been such slackers in the blogging world. We always say we will get better, but that doesn't usually happen. Here are some things we have been up to lately.

I had a birthday and turned 23 years old. We ate pesto pasta, opened gifts, and Landon took me to a ballet on campus. Debbie (Landon's mom) was in town and ate lunch with us and had a sleep over with us. It was a great day!
Both of Landon's parents have visited. It is always fun to have family in town. My mom and my sister and fam are coming this week as well.
We have had lots of parties lately! This weekend we had some of Landon's Florida friends over for games and treats. We also had a Y-Be-Fit party with all my friends from work. After everyone left at about 9 our house was so quiet. We decided it was too quiet and invited Marcie and Kathryn over to play games with us.
At the end of the semester I am going to do my thesis proposal... that is the plan anyway. I have a lot of work to do in the next month!
We have a new favorite game store. You can rent games for a fee and the amount spent (up to $5) goes toward a game to purchase. Killer Bunnies is our favorite right now, thanks to Gameboard Revolution.
We hung up wedding pictures in our front room... finally!

That is all I can think of right now. Stay tuned to a more exciting post, maybe even with pictures.

Good Fortune

2009-02-08T23:10:00.004-07:00

Last weekend I got a letter from BYU Graduate Studies informing me that I had been accepted to a master's program. To celebrate Katherine and I went to the grocery store and got a pair of Jones cream sodas. It is good cream soda, and we like the fortunes under the cap. Both of our fortunes were good this time, considering the event we were celebrating.

Here is mine:

Here is Katherine's:

Both were true!

Update: I just posted a photo submission on the Jones Soda website. Check it out and vote for me!

Cinnamon Santas (because that is what I'm eating right now)

2009-01-29T16:28:00.002-07:00

It really is amazing how small decisions can lead to experiences you never thought would happen to you. Walking home from school today, I became aware of this concept in my own life. Looking back to when I was a freshman at BYU, I never would have imagined that I would be where I am right now. Let me explain my realization.

Background

During my sophomore year of college, I learned about an opportunity with study abroad to go to Namibia, a country near South Africa, for the summer of 2006. I have always wanted to go to Africa and this sounded like the perfect experience. There was only one problem, I had missed the deadline to apply. I talked to the director of the program and he let me know that he had room for one more if I wanted the spot. After talking with my parents and thinking about it on my own, I eventually decided not to do it. It was extremely hard for me to pass on the opportunity.

As a result, I went home to Boise for the summer and worked. In July of that summer, I received an email about an internship at Y-Be-Fit. I decided to go ahead and apply since I needed an internship for major requirements. I did not expect to get the internship because I would only be a junior, but felt it was a good way to get my foot in the door. To my surprise, I got the internship for that fall semester.

While working at Y-Be-Fit, I got to know two graduate students who became my mentors. One day one of them asked if I had ever thought about going to grad school. I told him, "no," which was the honest truth. I never felt that grad school was for me. My goal was always to finish undergrad and be done for good.

Fast Foward to Today...

I'm now a Co-Director at Y-Be-Fit, I'm in grad school, and I just found out today that my committee chair was awarded with $20,000 to use for my study that I'm really excited about. Actually obtaining a master's degree now seems attainable.

Reflection

Had I gone on study abroad, I would have completely missed the email about the internship. Or even if I had received the email, applying would have been out of the question because I would have had to work fall semester instead of going to school (to pay my parents back for the trip and to earn money for future tuition).
If I hadn't gone to school in the fall and gotten the internship at Y-Be-Fit, I wouldn't have met Nate and Joel who were extremely influential in my decision to apply for grad school.
In addition, had I not gone to school in the fall, I wouldn't have had some majorly painful experiences that eventually led me to date my husband.
Without the support of my husband, I would not be in grad school. He could have easily encouraged me to start working instead.

And now here I am, with nothing to complain about. Sure, things don't always go well for me on a day to day basis. But I feel so grateful for the experiences I'm having and that I'm where I should be right now. And one day my husband will go with me to Africa.

That is all. Sorry if I wasted your time.

Just Some Movies

2009-01-25T21:22:00.002-07:00

We love to watch movies, so I just thought I would share a few of our most recent movie watching experiences.

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This is one of the few movies we have seen in the movie theater lately. Since I discovered Netflix we haven't had much reason to get out to the theater, but my work gave me a couple of free passes so we decided to give this one a chance. I thought it was a great movie. It was a little bit sad and had quite a bit of lovin' in it, but it really made you think about things. I can honestly say that I felt uplifted after seeing it, it made me appreciate life a bit more.

2. The Graduate

We watched this one just last night. I ordered it from an online edited movie store, which is now going out of business. This is one of the top rated movies on IMDB and I felt that I needed to check it out. For those not familiar with the movie, it is one of Dustin Hoffman's first films. In it he is a recent college graduate who gets involved in an affair with an older, married woman only to later fall in love with her daughter. It was full of awkward moments, which I think made it a lot of fun. The final scene is a classic.

3. The Witches

This one is pretty goofy. It is based on the book by Roald Dahl, so you would hope it would be decent. It was full of really ugly bald women and muppet talking mice. Also, how about Angelica Houston doing some wierd undulations.

4. The Nativity Story

We watched this one as a good Sunday activity. It is a pretty well done representation of the events leading up to and including Christ's birth. The girl that plays Mary is the star of Whale Rider, for which she was nominated for an Oscar.

5. The Gods Must Be Crazy

I got this one from Netflix, and had a really hard time convincing Katherine to watch it with me. She did not think it sounded like much, but guess what... she loved it! She thought it was so funny, and I am sure she would recommend it to anyone looking for a good laugh.

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime

2009-01-11T20:26:00.003-07:00

Sorry! Not that anyone reads our blog, but we haven't been too good at posting lately. After finals we got a much needed Christmas break. We went to Boise this year. All my family was there, although a few of my siblings got stuck in Boston for a couple days, due to bad weather.

We had fun playing in the snow with my nieces and nephew, sleeping, playing with Landon's wii (shoutout to Emily), and just having a "good ole' fashioned Christmas, down on the farm" (shoutout to Will). The song starts at about minute three of the video.

Landon got guitar hero and I got a sweet new laptop among other great gifts. We didn't do a very good job taking pictures over the break, but here are a few from playing in the snow.

Jack Sledding with his Snoopers

Will and Allie with their snowman

Annie pulling me on the sled

Mom and Audrey pulling Jack and Allie

Out Our Window

2008-11-28T06:44:00.002-07:00

This is the view from our hotel room window at night. I thought it was pretty cool, since I'd only seen Time Square on TV.

Live From New York

2008-11-27T21:20:00.006-07:00

My Dad asked for a trip to New York for his 50th birthday, so we are spending the Thanksgiving break in the Big Apple. This is my first trip to New York, and it has been a lot of fun. Our hotel is right on Times Square, so we were able to eat breakfast in our room while we watched the parade. Here is a picture of the Snoopy balloon as he went by. I think this one might be Katherine's favorite.

We ran down to the street for a minute, but we couldn't really see much, due to the crowd. We did however manage to snap a photo as the Beethoven float went by.

Then we went shopping at a Christmas market on Bryant Park (some park not too far from Times Square). They had this cool little shop that had all kinds of figurines made out of metal scraps. Star Wars fans such as myself would enjoy it at least.

I will let Katherine talk about the rest of the day, if I can get her to write now. We are pretty tired. We did a lot of walking.

Done!

2008-11-16T21:06:00.004-07:00

I took the GRE early Saturday, and I am glad it is over. One less thing to worry about. I think I did well enough that I won't have to retake it... I don't think I could get a much better score than I did, it was higher than I did on all the practice tests I took. Lucky.

For anyone who hasn't taken it, and cares, the GRE is what they call a "computer adaptive" test. This means that as you answer questions the computer decides which questions to give you next based on whether you get the question right or not. Supposedly, if you get a question right, the next one will be harder. If you miss the question the next one will be easier. In addition to this, they tell you before you take the test that you may get a section of questions that will not be graded, but instead is being used to try out new questions. You will not know which sections are the real, graded sections, and which are the trial sections. These two facts combine to really mess with your head.

For my test I ended up getting two Quantitative sections. The first one I had seemed incredibly difficult, and I was sure I had bombed it. The second one seemed really easy for the most part. I'm still not sure which one was the real section, and I spent the whole test going, "Oh man, this question seems too easy. I must not be doing very well." It wasn't that much fun. Anyone out there who still has to take it... I feel your pain.

Fashion Show, Fashion Show, Fashion Show at Lunch

2008-11-08T23:28:00.013-07:00

After the Body Worlds exhibit Katherine and I went to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. We are way ahead of the game this year. Anyways, it turned out to be a great trip for her... she got some fancy new duds. So here is a little fashion show/photo shoot of her new stuff.

First, here she is in her new winter coat. We are headed to New York for Thanksgiving with my family, and she needed a good coat for the trip. Luckily the Gap was having a sweet sale (30% of the coat!).

When asked what she calls this particular pose, the subject responded "Waiting..."

And that isn't the only thing this lucky girl got at the mall the other night. She also got a new cardigan that she plans on wearing for the family photo shoot in Boise over Christmas break. She found this nice little number at Shade.

Another classic pose.

Her last purchase of the night was also another item from shade. The "Scoop Neck Half Sleeve" was a killer bargain at only $5.00. She just couldn't say no. I have to agree with the description on the website. This shirt truly is "butter soft."

Anyways, she had a good time and got some sweet new clothes. That's why she loves me today. And here are a few other great shots from her fashion show.

Body Worlds 3

2008-11-08T22:42:00.003-07:00

For date night on Friday, Landon surprised me by taking me up to Salt Lake City to see the Body Worlds 3 exhibit! The title of the exhibition is "The Story of the Heart." I thought it was really neat. But then again, I really enjoyed my anatomy lab here at BYU. Let me tell you, if we would have had these plastinated cadavers in our lab, I would have learned everything much easier. It was really cool to see the clean dissections without the mess due to hundreds of students poking around with their probes.
I thought the figures doing different activities were pretty sweet, as well as the narrative about the heart. Some of the activities included a hurdler, an archer, a male gymnast balancing on three wooden balls, a female gymnast on the beam, "lovers" (not inappropriate, I just can't think of a better way to describe it), a woman kneeling, ice skaters, a ski jumper, a javelin thrower, and others. I also thought the sagittal slice of the severely obese person was interesting. In most dissections, the fat is removed. I will never forget the time in lab when my TA showed us a cadaver they were working on that still had the fat in it... I can see something like that being a useful health promotion tool.
The story of the heart was very educational, informing of the dangers of smoking, why we should exercise, and why having a positive attitude helps foster a healthy heart.
It was a great experience for me... Landon on the other hand had a harder time with it. But he knew I wanted to go and loves me enough to have taken me.

6 Months

2008-11-03T10:59:00.002-07:00

Our 6 month anniversary was actually yesterday, but oh well. I love you, Boo.

Hocus Pocus

2008-10-26T18:21:00.003-06:00

I put Katherine in charge of the title for this post.

On Saturday (yesterday) Katherine took me to a place in West Jordan called Gardner Village. It is a pretty neat little outdoor shopping center with a lot of craft and home decor type shops. What is cool about it though, is that around Halloween they have some more festive events. Friday and Saturday were their "Witches night out" days, when they invite all the ladies 18 and up to come out dressed as witches. Katherine was unaware of this fact, and needless to say I felt a little out of place. I wasn't the only male there, but we were definitely outnumbered.

Katherine's favorite place was a little knitting shop she found, with all kinds of fancy yarns and other knitting paraphernalia. I got a little sick of the woman standing outside with a microphone inviting all the passersby to "Cackle for a Coupon." It was really annoying.

On the way home we had a little trouble finding the interstate. Katherine was navigating, and had hoped to leave early enough to make it over to Tai Pan Trading. Somehow after wandering around somewhere in West Jordan we randomly showed up at the doorstep of... Tai Pan Trading. It was Katherine's Christmas Miracle. A little early this year.

Anyways, it was fun. We saw a lot of nice stuff that we couldn't afford, and got to look at a bunch of crazy women dressed up in various witches costumes. If you live in the area and get bored one night you can go check it out.

Sunday Afternoon Drive

2008-10-19T19:54:00.003-06:00

I'm am writing this blog to prove to Landon that I have not lost interest in our togetherness blog.

Today Landon and I drove up Provo Canyon to look at all the pretty fall colors. It was beautiful. I was driving because Landon's gas was too low. Most cars were passing me all over the place because I was going slow enough to embrace the fall foliage. We drove up the road to Sundance as well. Our favorite part was when the sun would break through the clouds and in between the mountains. It made the bushes and trees look like they were on fire. It was very cool. Good Sunday activity. These pictures do not do it justice, but here they are in any event.

Katherine's New Blog

2008-10-17T22:35:00.002-06:00

Katherine started a new blog this week. We will see if she pays any attention to this blog now.

katherinecreates.blogspot.com

My CD Mix Tape

2008-10-13T17:25:00.004-06:00

Here is my version of significant songs for each year of my life. It was hard to pick just one for each year! The years '86 to '88 are obviously a stretch because I don't remember anything, but I have vivid memories of each song for all the rest of the years. I really tried to pick songs I liked at the time and admit I did not always have the best taste (ie Mmm bop). But hey, that is what makes this fun, right? Enjoy!

1986 Huey Lewis & the News- The Heart of Rock & Roll
1987 Tiffany- I Think We're Alone Now
1988 U2- Angel of Harlem
1989 Madonna- Like a Prayer
1990 MC Hammer- Can't Touch This
1991 Amy Grant- Baby Baby
1992 Eric Clapton- Layla (Unplugged slow version)
1993 The Proclaimers- I'm Gonna Be
1994 Cranberries- Dreams
1995 Mariah Carey- Always be My Baby
1996 The Wallflowers - One Headlight
1997 Hanson- Mmm bop
1998 Sarah McLauchlan- Angel
1999 Pearl Jam - Last Kiss
2000 U2 - Beautiful Day
2001 Lifehouse - Hanging by a Moment
2002 Norah Jones - Don't Know Why
2003 Ben Harper- When She Believes
2004 Evanescence - My Immortal
2005 Death Cab for Cutie- Marching Bands of Manhattan
2006 The Format- Time Bomb
2007 White Stripes - Icky Thump
2008 Feist- 1234

Mixes

2008-10-12T17:05:00.002-06:00

One thing that I often enjoy doing is making random mixes. Sometimes I will get an idea for a mix, and can't really think about anything else until I have made it. The other day I came up with a cool new mix, and I want to share it with all.

The general idea for the mix is pretty simple: you pick one song for each year of your life. I decided that I would try and pick only from songs of which either the album or single was released that same year. Most importantly, though, the songs had to have at least some relevance to me personally. I had to bump some great songs from the list because, even though I really like them now, I was pretty sure I would not have listened to them in the year they were released (i.e. Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana).

Anyways, here are my results.

1982 - "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls
1983 - "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics
1984 - "If This Is It" by Huey Lewis and The News
1985 - "Shout" by Tears For Fears
1986 - "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins
1987 - "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2
1988 - "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys
1989 - "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel
1990 - "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode
1991 - "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.
1992 - "I Can't Dance" by Genesis
1993 - "River of Dreams" by Billy Joel
1994 - "Self Esteem" by The Offspring
1995 - "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer
1996 - "Spiderwebs" by No Doubt
1997 - "The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning" by The Smashing Pumpkins
1998 - "Sometimes It Hurts" by Stabbing Westward
1999 - "We're In This Together" by The Nine Inch Nails
2000 - "Last Resort" by Papa Roach
2001 - "In The End" by Linkin Park
2002 - "A Dios Le Pido" by Juanes
2003 - "Haunted" by Evanescence
2004 - "Sic Transit Gloria" by Brand New
2005 - "Returning the Smile You Had From the Start" by Emery
2006 - "What Sarah Said" by Death Cab for Cutie
2007 - "What I Want" by She Wants Revenge
2008 - "The Geeks Were Right" by The Faint

Phew. Long list. I'm sure many will not agree with some of my choices. Don't hate. Just make your own. Katherine is working on her list and will hopefully share it when she is done.

If you need a little help getting started, here are some good resources.

Wikipedia has a "year in music" page for pretty much every year, which includes the hit singles.
iTunes Music Store has an iTunes ESSENTIALS playlist for most years.

Grad School

2008-09-26T09:25:00.003-06:00

I signed up for the GRE the other day, an important step in my pursuit of a Masters degree in Computer Science. I have to say, I am feeling a little overwhelmed with all of the things I need to get done over the next few months.... job and internship interviews, apply for graduation, apply for grad school... All of that of course, in addition to keeping up in my classes and work.

The computer science department lists the following on their graduate studies web page:

Selection to the MS program is based upon consideration of:
preparation in Computer Science,
GPA (recommended average of 3.25 where A is a 4.0. GPA is calculated on the last 60 hours).
general GRE exam (Recommended scores: Verbal:530, Quantitative: 700, Analytical: 4.5. Scores must be received before the application deadline for the applied semester),
letters of recommendation: Where possible, one or more of the letters of recommendation should be from faculty members with whom you have worked in a research capacity, or who have personal knowledge of your research and writing potential.
content of the letter of intent

Katherine found a web page somewhere that listed the averages of students accepted in previous years... I feel like the GRE scores on that page were closer to 560 on the verbal and 740 on the quantitative... so I have my work cut out for me.

Anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to get ready for the GRE? What are your experiences with the exam?