we are in canada. we made the trip home for the memorial day long weekend. and we were welcomed home by a lovely snow storm. what is up with the weather lately? it snowed last week in rexburg. and this week it snows in calgary. the snow is following me. brutal. i ask matt several times a week if we can move somewhere smokin' hot when he is done school. i haven't convinced him yet, but i'm not going to give up easily.

i am using my parents computer right now, since i'm at their house. and i am having fun looking through all the pictures on it. i love looking at pictures. i can be stubborn when they are being taken, but i love looking back at them. i was a total bum about getting my picture taken when i was pregnant. not because i didn't want to document my belly, but because i didn't want to document my braces. yep, i had braces...for the third time. it seemed like a great idea at first. i worked for an orthodontist so i got them for free. and i am happy with the final results. but the 7 months that i was a brace face were really tough. i cried a lot. the combination of braces, bad pregnancy skin, and my ever growing belly was just too much. i did survive, but unfortunately have only a couple pictures to prove that i actually was pregnant. i found this one on my parents computer. it was taken 3 days before chet was born.

part of me that actually misses my belly and is excited to have one again. but there's no part of me that looks forward to labor again. with chet i went into it completely clueless. that's how i wanted it to be. but now that i know how it all goes down, i will be much more nervous next time it happens. i don't have terrible memories of the delivery room. it honestly wasn't THAT bad for me. but i don't like pain, and i don't like IV's, and i definitely don't like being so...exposed!

last night chet did the most wonderful thing. he slept all the way from 12 to 7. it was divine. i woke up at about 6, out of habit, and waited nervously for chet to wake up and snap. that is usually what he does after an extra long sleep. probably because he is extra hungry. (he usually eats every 4 hours now.) but he didn't wake up. infact, the only reason he woke up at 7 was because of me. i picked him up and snuggled with him. then he slowly started to wake up. as he opened his sleepy eyes they were all blinky from the bright light. it was so cute. i wish all mornings were that nice. usually i am half asleep and he is right livid.
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matt and i often forget that chet is going to grow up. that he is going to be a boy one day...and then a teenager...and eventually a man. we just think that he is going to be a baby forever. it's scary to think that we are responsible to teach chet all that he needs to know so he grows up to the best he can be. i definitely don't feel qualified! the other day matt and i used a glass of cold diet coke to keep chets milk cool. do good parents do things like that??

we are without a car. it's in the shop getting a new transmission. and oh how i miss it. i have always been spoiled enough to have a car, so going without is hard. it's probably good for me though. i have been able to go on lots of walks over the past couple days.

yesterday we found this cute bridge...

today we found this cat...(i can't decide if this is too gross to be funny. the worst part is that it is right across the street from a junior high. and it has obviously been there for a while!)

matt and i found the best park today. it is called 'nature park'. not the most creative name. but it definitely lived it up to its name. we saw all sorts of nature. we saw 2 squirrels wrestling. we saw 2 birds protecting their nest from an enemy squirrel. we saw a garter snake. and ducks doing all sorts of duck stuff. i want to go back with something to feed to the ducks. i used to love going to princess island park with my grandma to feed the ducks there. i hope chet likes feeding ducks when he is older. tank had his fun with the ducks today. he chased some right into the water. it was so funny. i have never seen him willingly go in water before. the ducks didn't seem to concerned about tank. to tanks dismay.

we thought this sign was funny.

new pictures of chetter head...

i love that he is cross eyed in this picture. too much stimulation?!

i have just discovered that our dishwasher swishes to the beat of 'we will rock you'. you know the quick-quick-slow beat that plays the entire song? ya, that is what our dishwasher is doing. and now i can't get that song out of my head. wish i knew more of the lyrics...

i have two neat facts to share about rexburg.

number one.

rexburg = windy

i would really like to go visit chicago so i can see if it really deserves the title of the 'windy city'. i can't imagine a place being more windy then here. it's not everyday. the last 2 days it has actually been pleasantly calm. but today was just ridiculous.

let me paint you a picture...

i usually just carry chet when i take tank on his walks. but today i thought i would be crazy and put him in his stroller for one of them. the stroller was in the back of our car. so i got chet in his bassinet (that fits in his stroller), got tank leashed up, and got our trash and headed down to the parking lot. i think i was being a bit too ambitious trying to do 3 things at once, because it all went downhill from there.

the wind was insane.

i plopped chet and the trash on the ground while i pulled the stroller out of the back of the car. i set up the stroller and then tied tank to it. but i didn't put the brakes on the stroller so as soon as i let go of it the wind started pulling it away from me. tank in tow. at the same time the wind decides to carry away my trash too. but in the opposite direction. and it rolls until it hits my neighbors car, who, of course, is walking out to his car at that very moment. oh man! i eventually got everything back in order, but it was so frustrating. to top it off, just when i thought i was done fighting with the wind it stole tanks poo bag. i chased it for a minute or so. but it was one of those times where whenever you get close to the bag it gets blown just out of reach again, until it finally dissapeared. i refused to go back up to the aparment to get a new bag. so don't tell anyone, but i didn't pick up after him today. shhhhh.

stupid wind.

number two.

pedestrians do not have the right of way here. if you are a pedestrian you are on the defense. if you have a gimpy leg you are in trouble because you gotta be quick. quick like an ardvark. (my 7th grade english teacher used to always say 'quick like an ardvark'. i never understood why.)

but there is some good news for pedestrians...

the city of rexburg has come up with a stellar idea for its busy intersections. flags!?

i have been slacking lately with my blogging. my mom was here for the weekend so i was distracted. it was so fun to have her here. she TOTALLY spoiled us. (thanks mom.)

we did lots of shopping and eating out. nothing super classy, since we live in a po-dunk town. infact, we went to 2 buffets. so that just goes to show you how unclassy it really was! but it was so fun. we had lots of laughs. i think were all over tired (matt and i because of chet and my mom from traveling) so that made everything that much funnier. we went to a pizza buffet called craigos. it's been a hotspot of rexburg for years now. and we also ate at chuck-a-rama. we had to go because my mom (and dad) have a crush on chuck-a-rama for some odd reason! we were trying to figure out where it got its name. it has a chuckwagon on its sign, so we figured that is where the chuck is from. and then matt said that they added the end part because everything sounds better with a-rama at the end. i don't know if that's true, but my name sure sounds rad with it.

i was sad to see my mom go. not only did we enjoy all the nice things she treated us to, but she was a huge help. it was so nice to have an extra pair of hands to help out. and someone who was excited to change chets bum and walk the dog. i was a little sad this morning when i realized my mom was gone and matt was back to school. but it's nice to have chet all to myself too!

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our latest family photo.

yesterday we had a few of our friends over for sunday dinner. dave & ashley and branden & mikaela joined us for an evening of crepes and balderdash. and, of course, lots of visiting. it was very fun. and matt makes the most delicious crepes. mmm.

dave & ash have the sweetest little girl, summer. she is at a fun age - 11 months. i am excited for chet to do all the fun things that she can. chet is 2 months today.

my mom is here in rexburg. she drove all the way down to see us. how sweet is she.

it's been nice to have some one to hang with me today. some one to keep me company. when matt gets home from school i bombard his with all the neat things i have been dying to tell any one all day. i can tell that matt gets tired of hearing me talk his ear off. his eyes glaze over. i have tried to explain that i really need him to carry on a conversation with me or i will go mad. you can only carry on so much one-sided conversation in a day. if only chet could talk. or tank, for that matter. mom took us out to applebee's tonight for some grub. tomorrow we are hitting the big city - idaho falls (if you are in the loop you refer to it as I.F.) for some shopping and more bonding time.

there is this pizza place just 2 minutes from our house. we pass it anytime we leave home. i think it has shut down because it is never open. one of the signs out front of it looks like this:

matt wondered today "do you think MOTHE HUBBAR (said in a somewhat east indian accent) is a tasty pizza place?"

i asked him if he was joking.

he said "no."

i then explained to him that it is supposed to say MOTHER HUBBARD pizza. :)

he also said mega-pickles instead of mega-pixles the other day.

silly boy.

we went to the devotional again today. it was really good. the best one so far. the talk was all about president monson, the leader of our church. he is a very impressive man. his list of accomplishments makes me feel kinda useless.

there was one story told that stuck out to me. read it if you like:

Twenty-three-year-old Tom Monson, the relatively new bishop of the Sixth-Seventh Ward in the Temple View Stake, was uncharacteristically restless as the stake priesthood leadership meeting progressed. He had the distinct impression that he should leave the meeting immediately and drive to the Veterans’ Hospital high up on the Avenues of Salt Lake City. Before leaving home that night he had received a telephone call informing him that an older member of his ward was ill and had been admitted to the hospital for care. Could the bishop, the caller wondered, find a moment to go by the hospital sometime and give a blessing? The busy young leader explained that he was just on his way to a stake meeting but that he certainly would be pleased to go by the hospital as soon as the meeting was concluded.
Now the prompting was stronger than ever: “Leave the meeting and proceed to the hospital at once.” But the stake president himself was speaking at the pulpit! It would be most discourteous to stand in the middle of the presiding officer’s message, make one’s way over an entire row of brethren, and then exit the building altogether. Painfully he waited out the final moments of the stake president’s message, then bolted for the door even before the benediction had been pronounced.
Running the full length of the corridor on the fourth floor of the hospital, the young bishop saw a flurry of activity outside the designated room. A nurse stopped him and said, “Are you Bishop Monson?”
“Yes,” was the anxious reply.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “The patient was calling your name just before he passed away.”
Fighting back the tears, Thomas S. Monson turned and walked back into the night. He vowed then and there that he would never again fail to act upon a prompting from the Lord. He would acknowledge the impressions of the Spirit when they came, and he would follow wherever they led him, ever to be “on the Lord’s errand.”

we got a parking ticket while we were in the devotional. lame! you should not be punished for doing something good. it is so frustrating trying to find parking on campus because so much of it is torn up and under construction. i should protest. or...i will just pay the $15.

i am officially getting paid maternity leave now. YAY! i looked at our bank account today and it had grown since last time i checked. i am soo happy that i qualify for maternity leave. it is definitely going to make this next year less stressful.

we hung out with our friends dave and ashley this weekend. they are such a fun couple. we went over to their house to watch the movie 'the lovely bones'. it was pretty weird. i don't think any of us loved it. my favorite part of the movie was the brownies and ice cream we ate while we watched it! but the movie does make you think about life after this one. and it made me want to start teaching chet to stay away from strangers right now! that man was creepy. our brother-in-law has brought up the idea of implanting a chip in your kids so you can track where they are. not so that you can see where they are when they break curfew, but so you could find them if they ever got kidnapped. very tempting.

happy mothers day...to me!

and to all the other lovely mothers i know.

i am so grateful to have such a wonderful mom. she is way to good to me. i love her more then i think i let her know.

and i have the sweetest mother-in-law too.

talk about high standards to live up to!

it's so weird to think that i am a mom. you know how when you have a birthday you don't actually feel a year older? that's how i feel about motherhood. i know i have a baby, but i don't really feel like i deserve the title of 'mother'. it's a big title to have.

i have loved being a mother though, whether i feel like one or not. chet is so fun.

i mean, i definitely miss my old schedule. i enjoyed going to work, hanging out with my co-workers, and meeting new people. but this is good in a different way.

there was another big celebration this week in our family. it was tanks 2nd birthday on saturday. we didn't have a big party for him this year, unfortunately. we decided to keep it simple! but we did surprise tank with a tasty birthday breakfast. pancakes, bacon, and eggs!

how is it funny when chet lets a wet fart go during dinner, yet i would be disgusted if anyone else did? it must just be cause he's so darn cute.

there is, however, one thing chet does that drives me nuts...no matter how tight we bundle him he always manages to sneak an arm out. it doesn't actually matter that he gets his arm out. as long as he's happy i shouldn't care. but it's almost like it's a game to chet. he knows how hard i try to keep him bundled and he just tries to escape to bug me. (i took the picture below this morning. i had wrapped chet in two blankets, using jocelyn's amazing swaddling technique, and he still gets out. ugh!).

matt uses this thing at school called an iclicker.

i think it's the neatest thing.

i doubt i will do a very good job of explaining it. i've never used one. and i don't totally understand how it works. but some how each class room that matt is in recognizes when his iclicker is in it. some teachers use it to take attendence. some teachers will put quiz questions on a screen at the front of the class and the students will answer them with their iclicker. or the teacher might pose a question to the class and students will state their opinion by clicking a button.

it seems so high tech to me. and fun. i wish i got to use one when i went to school here. i picture the audience members on america's funniest home videos using something similar to vote on their favorite video. which, by the way, are hardly ever funny.

you would not believe how many tries it took for chet and i to get this decent picture. it was painful.

we measured chet last night (with a tape measure from matts tool box!) and he is 21 inches long. he was 18 inches when he was born. what a lanky boy.

i also weighed him today on our bathroom scale. did the old our weight minus my weight equals chets weight trick. probably not super accurate but we are too cheap to pay for a doctor to weigh him. according to me he is 7.8 lbs.

other news...

- our car is broken. ford will be rebuilding our transmission this week. i don't know a thing about cars, but i know that's bad. thank goodness we still are under warranty.

- our computer is broken. it's in the shop too. but it's not under warranty. bummer.

- (i'm waiting for a third valuable item of ours to break. don't bad things like this come in groups of three? lets hope my leg isn't the third thing.)

- matt made delicious cinnamon buns last night. thank you maralyn for passing your baking skills on to him! he is way better in the kitchen then me. we bought hotdogs the other day. matt was craving them for some odd reason. when we got home i started getting ready to cook them. but matt said i wasn't allowed because i would mess them up. probably true...i am on a pretty bad streak of crappy dinners lately.

- we went to devotional again today. i liked the speaker a lot. his topic was on the journey of life. i won't do his talk justice but the point he made that stuck in my mind was that i need to find joy in my life. that is, afterall, why i am here on earth...to be happy. i need to be happy where i am at. i kinda suck at that. this time last year i couldn't wait to be pregnant. once i was pregnant i couldn't wait to look pregnant. once i looked pregnant i couldn't wait to have my baby. now that chet is here i can't wait till he gets bigger. it seems like i could be missing out on so much if i'm always looking ahead. we might not be living the high life, but i still love it.

i have been drinking ridiculous amounts of diet coke lately. major cravings! but this weekend we ran out. oh dear!

i went two whole days without diet coke...and its caffeine.

and i was a teary mess all weekend. like really teary. and sooo tired.

i am an emotional girl as is, and have done lots of crying since becoming a mother. but this has been extra bad. chet and i have had some wicked break downs together. poor guy.

and poor matt. i am so lucky to have such a darling husband. he's so patient with me.

don't worry though, i went and got a 12 pack today. and things are looking up. i'll keep you posted!