Yes, it has been a while

....and probably will continue to be a little longer until I make time to blog.

For now...Life is great, Christmas was wonderful, Family is amazing, Anna is the sweetest, Friends are fabulous, Chocolate and Christmas desserts are toooooo good, so hence weight is fluctuating, Snow is Abundant, relaxation is needed and taken, and we are happy!

Oh, and today marks 10 YEARS since Dave and I first "hooked up" aka cuddled. Thanks Babe for 10 wonderful years full of laughter, fun, and love. More to come later!

A Good Laugh...

I took this a few weeks ago, but haven't put it up yet! I know it is a little long but you have to watch at least until halfway through when Anna Belle plays peek-a-boo with Anna!

This was a couple days after Anna started crawling, I love the thump thump of her hands. Now she is cruisin'

By the way, Anna Belle is home from the hospital. No RSV (well 80% sure), I don't really know what she had... did not get the whole story. But we're back to the grind tomorrow and I just will have to be "Toy Nazi" so that they don't spread germs!

Crummy Day

Well I know that most blogs are "positive," in fact I was talking with a friend whose Mom hates blogs for that reason. However, life is full of unpleasant things so today I am putting it out there... TODAY was a CRUMMY DAY! After holding the girl I nanny for four hours straight with her coughing, runny nosed, and gagging on her phlegm until she threw up I then found out that she has Pneumonia or RSV! She was put on oxygen and hospitalized shortly after I left her. Thank goodness Anna is such an angel and literally played by herself the whole day. I am hoping that I kept them far enough apart that I won't have to deal with those sicknesses at our house. Now hopefully the parents can have what they need to take care of their little one.

Another crummy thing, I found out the earth lost two very special people. One, Elder Wirthlin, who served so faithfully and dedicated his life to the service of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I loved his final conference talk, I actually turned my Ipod on today and his talk happened to be the last thing I had listened to. One great quote from him is "The question isn't whether we will trip and fall, but rather how we will respond." Thank you Elder Wirthlin for your life and example.
The other person who passed was a personal inspiration to me; my wonderfully talented piano teacher, Jenny Bennett. From when I was little I had the desire to learn the piano. My mom supported my talent and sent me to one of the most amazing pianists I know, Jenny. She taught me chords and scales, which I hated while I was practicing, but realized years later how important this knowledge is. I will always remember her for the way she enhanced songs and made a simple hymn sound like a concert solo, how she LOVED the piano, and Loved her students. She taught me to split difficult songs into smaller pieces so they didn't seem so difficult, she taught me to have patience as I struggle through these pieces, she made me "count" and do "correct fingering," and hold my hands correctly. She helped me learn two songs that to this day are my favorite to play, "Phantom of the Opera" and "How Great Thou Art." My mom said the funeral was beautiful and almost everyone in the audience was impacted personally by this wonderful woman.

Also, My husband just spent over 12 hours studying and just walked in the door exhausted. poor kid.

Okay, I honestly cannot end on a bad note. The evening turned out to be okay, I got to dance and laugh with my baby and she went to bed easily, I watched a little of "Celtic Woman" (with tears) and want to see if I can get their music somehow, and though it took me over 3 hours in the kitchen I got a "taste" of home. I made my mom's recipe for Turkey dumpling soup using the "remains" of the post- thanksgiving turkey I made this weekend. It definitely was a good comfort food tonight!

Thanksgiving.... and Christmas!

No, nobody at our home is excited for Christmas! (: Okay, perhaps a little. Dave and I have vowed not to listen to Christmas songs until after Thanksgiving, so here I am Thanksgiving night ready for what is to come! I admit this year I have been in the mood to listen to Christmas music for a week or so, so this task has been difficult. I have been trying to be ahead of the game and get Christmas prepared early so I am not stressed. I think it is going okay so far. It has definitely gotten me even more excited than in years past. So I am thrilled that December is almost here! This is our Family's FAVORITE holiday! But Yes, there was another GREAT holiday today which I will talk about now...

A little bit about Thanksgiving...this year it was obviously different being away from home. I did miss my Family a TON and miss the homemade pies from Dave's side of the family and my mom's stuffing (and soon to come Turkey Dumpling Soup). HOWEVER, we enjoyed creating our own memories out here in Ann Arbor. We hosted a dinner at our home for us and 2 other families. Thanks to the Smiths for a VERY delicious Turkey as well as the fixin's that go with it. And thanks to Isaksons for HUGE, but very TASTY rolls, and yummy homemade Pumpkin Pie! We cooked Yams, Garlic Mashed Potatoes (GREAT job Dave!), and Broccoli Casserole. At the table we were able to use our fine CHINA and other glassware. It was fun to get it all out. And of course, like Mother like Daughter I HAD to get Thanksgiving napkins... it only took 5 stores to find some I liked... but my mom raised me that way and I am grateful! All in all it was fun. Now this weekend we are going to cook our own Turkey and have yummy left overs and Turkey Dumpling soup ala Heidi (with Mom on the phone!). We are also going to get our CHRISTMAS decorations OUT! Wahoo. I am sick of FALL colors and ready for RED, WHITE, GREEN and SILVER!

Hanging out (stuffed) after dinner, I wish we would have gotten a shot of Dave and I ):(Anna and Josh- I had to post both pictures so you could see how they both have beautiful big brown eyes!)
For the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about what I am grateful for and the list is too long and I think I have done enough lists on the blog lately. I did want to post more than what I have, but it is getting late, my husband is already in bed, my feet are cold and I'll just have to end it for now. I have so many other things to write, but alas, another day will come! So for now I will say that I feel overwhelmed with the blessings that I have. I know I am lucky to live the life that I do. All my gratitude to those in my life who have changed me for the better and to my Heavenly Father and Savior who have made my life possible!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

(Our little princess before her second 2 hour nap today! She had a taste of sweet potatoes then was an Angel and slept so Mom and Dad could host! I love this Little Amazing Gift!)

MVP!!

A special thanks to the clear MVP of last night's game: Max Hall! I don't know what Ute fans' plans are for Thanksgiving, but someone better be having Max over for dinner! All I know is that last night's game is probably going to ruin his entire weekend (just ask John Beck). There were times where he truly looked like he was throwing the ball right to the Ute defenders. We were kind enough to drop a few of them, but we couldn't let all of the picks get by! 5 interceptions and a fumble is NOT the way to win the Heisman, fulfill a 'Quest for Perfection', or even beat a Jr. High team. I certainly had my worries coming into this game, but Hall was kind enough to put those at ease.

Big props to both the Ute offense and defense. They came out hungry and they played their hearts out. I've been critical of Brian Johnson quite often, but he was amazing yesterday. It's hard to find faults in a 30 - 36, 300+ yards and 4 touchdown performance. It was interesting to see the Ute "D" often drop down from pressuring Hall and instead fill more of a pass coverage role, daring him to try to squeeze the ball into the smallest cracks. The D-line did a phenomenal job of watching the quarterback's eyes and getting their hands up to bat down balls. BYU was certainly good enough to give Utah a run for their money, but Max wouldn't allow that to happen. Thanks Max!

I'm excited for the next step: a BCS Bowl of some kind, though I can't seem to avoid the feeling that we're going to get hosed. Chances are we'll play another version of '04 Pitt: a team with multiple losses that noone cares about. Once again, we'll likely be denied the chance of finding out whether we're good enough to play with the 'big boys'. At the same time, I'm not naive. Our chances of beating a top team were MUCH greater in '04 than this year. Still, you hate to see a perfect season end in a bowl game against a mediocre opponent that got there by winning a mediocre conference. It will be an exciting few weeks! GO UTES!

It's Time!!

It's time for Utah to put the BYU Kittens down for good. No more last second B.S. miracles. No more blown coverages. No more having to hear Cougar fans rub it in daily for 365 days. This game is HUGE. Last time the Utes were in position to go undefeated, we had to simply run over BYU who didn't deserve to be on the same field. This time, the game should be a lot closer and with more at stake. Utes win: 2nd BCS Bowl and 2nd undefeated season. Utes lose ... we won't even talk about that.

I've been anxious for this game since the season started. I'm going to do my part from long-distance and will be wearing Ute apparel every day up to kickoff. Gotta represent! I'm really sad I can't be there to see the game in person, but at least we'll have a strong Ute contingency here in Ann Arbor to cheer them on.

Just think about it ... do you REALLY want to see intelligent fans like these with smiles on their faces? I'll blog about how to spell the letter "B" later so that you Cougs can get it right by gametime.

Make sure to vote on our poll as to the outcome of the game. It'll be here before we know it!

What's in the name??

Today I realized that there are so many nicknames we have for Anna and the poor thing is only 9 months old. We as parents try so hard to find a good name for our child, then we go ahead and call them something else other than their given name.

Then, I realized that there is so much that goes into a name, it has it's own origin and meaning and there are many around the world that could have your same name. However each person makes their name their own. I think we each fit our name and it becomes a bigger representation than just a name. I have loved being "Heidi" all my life and hope Anna will feel the same.

Here are the many names the members of our family have been called (and their meaning):

Anna- "Favored Grace"

Karen - "Pure"

Nicknames: Princess, Peanut, Bug, Angel, Beautiful, Munch, Crazy girl, Love bug, Little Love, AK, Little One, Stinky, Pretty girl, Mumshk (my mom's word), Baby girl, Smilers, Dimple girl,Pprecious, Happy girl, Cutie, Brown eyes, and many more.

Heidi- "Noble one"
Kay- "Pure"
Nicknames: Heid, Heed, Heiders, Kinners, HK, Peaches, Tin, Heidi Kay Biv, Heidaloo, Heidi Ho, Hody, Peach Dawg, Big Mama, Guys Dig, Babe, and some I have forgotten.

David- "Beloved"
Burton-"Fortified settlement"
Nicknames: Dave, Daveeed, Davey, White bread, Fatkid, Fatty, Texas Wedge, Obeseonekinobi, Tons of Fun, Miner Wedge, Chicks Dig, #31, Burton Lumber, Daddy, Dada, and many more.

What does your name mean? What nicknames have you had?

GO UTES and SHE'S MOBILE!

A few exciting things!

1st off, we have been bad at posting about our love of sports teams. Here is a shout out to our UTES!! Wahoo, win over TCU and an amazing season so far! It was so exciting to watch last week's game we stayed up late (the game ended @ 11:00 in Michigan). Anna was a trooper and finally fell asleep just in time to be rudely woken up by the whole room jumping up and shouting for a touchdown by the UTES! We miss our time of being in the MUSS and being there for the games. Luckily we have our little Ute fan club here and are able to enjoy the games with fellow A2s who also have a passion for Crimson Red.

Here is our Fan club as you can see this is soon after Anna had woken up!(thanks Cara, I stole your photo.. hope that is okay!) (This was in 2004 when Utes went 11-0--- let's do it again UTES!)

#2, Anna is crawling... here comes trouble! Though as my parents saw on Skype she goes backwards more than forwards and loves that she figured out how to go from her stomach to her bum! She is growing up so much! This picture isn't the best, but it was what I could snab tonight. By the way it is 10:30 and Anna won't sleep. We all have our good and bad nights, I guess.

#3 We are trying to teach Anna to sign and I think she said "milk" and "more" today!

#4 Yes we do cheer for the school Dave is attending, but wish they had a better year! Too bad this is the first time in 30+ years that they haven't been to a bowl game and could possibly be their WORST year EVER! At least they have won a couple including last Saturday's game! GO BIG BLUE!

Thats it for now.

I'm Lovin' it!

Yesterday and Today I was walking and here is what I was thinking: I am LOVING:

- The 70 degree weather in November
- Hearing the Fall leaves crunch under my feet
- Going on long walks with the girls (even when I have a ghetto make shift "double stroller"- made by me, a rope, and two totally different strollers)
- The smell of fall
- My AMAZING husband and how hard he works, I am so proud of him! (He just got all A's on his very difficult tests! well I guess one A-, but that is still an A!)
- Reading whatever I want, sorry babe!
- Seeing the squirrels. Seriously I don't think I have seen this many squirrels in my life. There were 6 outside one house! AND I saw my first black squirrel.
- Anna's bedtime... when it is at 7:30
- When Anna wakes up happy and is excited for a new day
- Watching Anna learn and get better at things each day
- That Anna Belle is signing "milk"
- Anna singing with a princess toy
- Talking with great friends
- That I will have a new niece in less than a month!
- That I will get to see her in just over a month
- Morning talk shows that help me have some adult interaction throughout my day


I think that is a good list for now. Good night!

An October Update

Well it seems as though the month of October has flown by. We cannot believe it is now November! The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind as Dave studied for a few mid -terms, we got Anna on a better nighttime sleeping schedule, and had Halloween celebrations. Here is a look back on what we have done...

Our friends the Dunfords had us over for "Dinner in a Pumpkin" and pumpkin carving. It was a blast! Thanks Abby and Jonathan. Our Pumpkins. Dave and Mine is the 3rd from the right and Anna's is the small one (we carved a binky).

There must have been some other presence there... SPOOKY!

This month Mia decided she liked to go under the porch, but couldn't get out. Though it made us mad we couldn't resist this funny picture.

I was in charge of decorating for the ward Halloween Party. I had issues with the white ghost balloon idea I had. So on the way to the party we stuffed the deflated white ghosts in the trunk and went and got these. Luckily we didn't have to drive far, this is what other cars had the joy of seeing along the way. We laughed the whole way there and Anna enjoyed it too!

Anna and I with Hunter, Katie, Isaac, and Abby at the Ward Party!
HALLOWEEN NIGHT at the Owens! Thanks for the yummy Chili, bread sticks and treats! Dave and I were the zookeepers for our little Giraffe.

Anna was a trooper during her "First Boo" She didn't mind her costume and was happy (as usual) all night!

Today we went with the Abernethys, Dunfords, and Isaksons to a park. It was nice to get out in the fall weather and see this beautiful place.

Our friends along the walkway they went around the lake.

This is us looking into the lake at the almost non-existent fish.

The Abernethys

The Dunfords ( I didn't get a family photo of the Isaksons- ):)

Mia and Dave up on a 50 foot look out. Mia seemed to be scared, she was making this funny face.

Mia enjoyed getting in the lake,

This place was beautiful!

The whole Miner clan! (Anna slept the whole time).

This quote was on my computer when I got on the Internet. It seemed fitting:

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

It's a MIRACLE!

After THREE nights in a row of Anna waking up SCREAMING bloody murder EVERY HOUR, we had ENOUGH! The Doctor we saw on Wednesday told me I should get her to learn how to put herself to sleep. . . meaning she should be put in her bed drowsy, but awake and fall asleep there...meaning let her cry to sleep until she learns. THis was something I have had a hard time doing, but realize perhaps I should have done it months ago. Well, let's rewind for a moment. Anna was sleeping extreemly well while I was working ( I believe now that it was God's intervention so I could have energy for work). So I thought we had a good routine. During the moving months she slept okay, but the last month or month and a half she has been a horrible sleeper. This week was the worst of it all. So that brings us back to our recent adventure. Dave and I tried Wednesday night to let her "CRY IT OUT," but 25 minutes of the worst scream in the world we gave in. Then the next night I did our old routine of me nursing her to sleep, but of course that didn't work.

SOOOO, last night (after having my sister talk me into it) we let Anna cry to sleep. It luckily only took 45 minutes. Then she SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT! Wahoo. A whole 12 HOURS! Dave and I couldn't have been happier. Then tonight came and I geared myself up for another 45 minutes and potentially longer, but it only took her 6 MINUTES! I am thrilled! I hope this is a sign of good sleeping habits. Though according to a friend, "once one thing goes well, it seems that something else comes up." (: As long as that one thing doesn't wake me up EVERY hour I think I'll have some patience.

So here is my "GOODBYE" to the following scene....

(Anna @ midnight not wanting to sleep)

Anna is 9 months!

Today (after my random mindless blogging adventure) I took Anna to the Dr. for her 9 month check up. We LOVED her new doctor. Thank you Whitney for the referral! Anna weighs 17.9 lbs is 27.5 inches long.

At nine months Anna is doing really well. She loves to eat, but still gags on some less pureed food. She loves Applesauce, pears, bananas, squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. I typically mix the fruit or vegetable with oatmeal or rice cereal. Sometimes she gets a treat of fruit juice in the sippy. She is starting to figure it out, but cannot tilt it back far enough to feed herself. She is sitting up on her own and reaching for things, she will almost push over to her knees but tends to get stuck in the splits. She is waving and starts to do it whenever anyone says Hi, Goodbye, or night- night. She is figuring out the army crawl, but hasn't pushed up onto her knees yet. If she needs something across the room sh will roll for it. She is blabbing a lot and LOVES to say da da da and ba ba ba and thhhhh. I think tonight she is calling me Na na... who knows. She loves books. Today I found her in her room with her basket of books all dumped out and books all around her. I should have taken a picture.

We tried some chicken and noodles for dinner tonight. You can see in the pictures how thrilled she was for that. I don't blame her, it smelled nasty, but I thought we might try it.

Another thing we tried tonight was take bedtime advice from the Dr. She told me to TRY to let Anna put herself to sleep... meaning let her cry it out. We tried for 25 minutes and it was horrible. Dave went to her rescue as she yelled DA DA DA and all sorts of other terrible things. (or so it sounded!)

She is our pride and joy and so much fun. Even though it is 11:00 and she is still not asleep. We'll see if I get any rest tonight!

Heidi's Random thoughts

There are too many thoughts going through my head and too many things that I want to do! I thought maybe blogging them might give you an incite to my days (and hopefully not expose too much of my crazy brain waves). This is why I don't blog every day because I seem to always have a hard time focusing on just one event and feel like I need to post it ALL. Then it comes down to it I just post about random things, rather than my actual thoughts. So here is a stab at what has gone through my head today.

1) Why did Anna wake up so much last night? Was she hungry, cold, overtired, or just wanting to keep mom up?
2) I don't want to go walking I'm too tired. Okay I'll go
3) Why am I out in this bitter cold?
4) I love walking with friends they keep me going
5) I cannot keep up with you Megan
6) I feel bad I didn't bring Mia
7) I want to run longer, but chores await
8) Anna finally fell asleep in the last ten minutes of the walk
9) Shower and work hard until Anna wakes up
10) Hooray I have gotten so much done in 20 minutes...
11) I have gotten so much done in 1.5 hours and Anna is still asleep in her car seat
12) phone calls
13) Perhaps we could go swing today, if it warms up
14) I should do something fun to celebrate Anna's 9 month birthday (can you call it that)
15) I love to sing random songs to Anna
16) I should probably check my email, but then I will look at blogs and get sucked in... must finish a few things first.
17) Hooray the dishes are done.. oops I found more
18) Anna is up, and SOOO adorable ("th th th" and "da da da" are her famous waking up words)
19) Let's eat
20) Anna is playing so well in her room ( I go in and in and find she has dumped her book basket out and is "reading" books with her mouth! (:
21) I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, especially made with homemade Raspberry- peach Jam.
22) I miss my mom's canned peaches (and of course my Mom too!)
23) Why won't Anna go to sleep on her own? Especially when she is so tired!
24) Anna is 9 months old today! I cannot believe it has gone this fast. She is amazing and learns new things everyday. She has to go get SHOTS today (yes, Childlifers I said SHOTS... I hate them!) I am not excited to hear her cry... but am excited to just cuddle her tonight!
25) I love wearing slippers all day
26) I loathe and love cleaning day... in the end it feels good and then I can actually play!
27) Why did Dave and I start a puzzle yesterday? It will take forever to finish and will sit here in my clean (an now more cluttered) living room until it is done... and do we REALLY have time to do a puzzle? (: Oh well, it was a fun "fall break" activity.
28) Why did I opt to get a black dog with lots of hair?
29) I love the fall leaves outside, perhaps Anna will go swinging instead of taking a nap.
30) I miss my Utah friends and family
31) Fine, I'll go get Anna
32) Okay after an HOUR of trying to get her to sleep, I gave her a bottle and she was out in 5 minutes (even with people working on my roof). I guess I needed to learn patience today.
33) Why is Chocolate so good?
34) I wish I knew more about the gospel
35) I wish I was a better reader, then maybe # 34 would come true quicker
36) Anna has been with me for 18 months, oh wait 17 months because she came early
37) Crazy!
38) I hope Dave us doing okay at school
39) I wonder if any wives really wake up and make their husband's lunch, I am glad Dave respects my sleep, especially after a night like that. But perhaps I should be better at that. Naa, I cook him dinner, clean, and wash his clothes, he can make his own lunch.
40) I have to change my hair appointment again! I am so embarrassed, I want to be blonde again. I miss Holly!
41) Oh no, I have forgotten to post something about Halloween on the ward website.
42) Why is blogging so addictive?
43) I hate hearing Mia whine, but don't want her out right now
44) I should have called someone this morning that I didn't because I didn't think I would have time to get together. Turns out I did. ):
45) I should stop blogging and get back to my "to do" list
46) I am excited to shop for meals ( I have looked through lots of recipes and have many I want to try. Now for the grocery list.
47) Luckily I have Randanzzos to save money buying lots of yummy fruits and veggies (I will post something about this later... It's amazing! Whitney, I am excited for Friday!
48) I should have vacuumed while Anna was being defiant!
49) I want to see Holly's cute baby belly
50) I want to see Tori's Babe!
51) I want to stop expressing my wandering thoughts so I will

If you have read this far you are truly impressive! I guess this was more therapeutic for me to get it out there. Who knows why.

Here's to getting things done while my baby sleeps! Goodbye

Awesome Ann Arbor Autumn

Try saying that title really fast! I apologize to you all that it's been so long since my last post (ok, just to Heidi because the readers probably don't care). :) I vastly underestimated how busy student life at the U of M would be. I'm really enjoying it here (minus the homework and tests, but who likes those?) and I think Heidi and I are both really glad that we chose to come to Michigan. We certainly miss friends and family back home, but we're grateful to have this exciting adventure. As usual, my post contains a bunch of pics, but that's better than a ton of words, right?

The fall colors here have been amazing, so we couldn't resist taking some leaves pics. The picture above and the following two were taken on a walk along some of the streets close to our home. We're surrounded by groves of trees, which makes for some really fun walks. Mia loves to run through the woods, which means whoever is in charge of "walking" her gets to go along for the ride!

It's not called Ann Arbor for nothing!

Yesterday, we had a blast going to a local cider mill about ten minutes from our home. Thanks to the Tophams for telling us about it. We enjoyed fresh cider (we actually tried a first ... a cider slushee) and homemade donuts (mmm... donuts). There was also a small "petting zoo", though no petting was allowed, as well as an optional wagon ride and places to take cheesy pictures (a must for any tourist).

Anna had a lot of fun playing around, seeing the animals, and seeing other kids. She is always happy and is easily the greatest thing that has ever happened to us.

After hanging out at the cider mill for a while, we stopped by a nearby pumpkin patch and picked out our "winners" for some carving. From lessons learned in carvings past, we decided to keep our pumpkin smaller this year. That way we won't be carving it for five hours!

Anna is definitely excited for Halloween, or as her shirt says, "Baby's First Boo". It's all she talks about. Ok, ok, so all she really says is "da-da-da-da" (yep, daddy won that battle!) along with a few other sounds that belong to some foreign language we have yet to find the translation for. Anna has her first Halloween costume all ready to go, but we're not giving away our secrets. You'll have to stay tuned to see!

Loving the Fall!

I cannot get enough of the weather and beautiful scenery. Today I went on the longest walk just enjoying all the leaves and their amazing colors! I wish I had my camera! These are pictures I took a few days ago. It was getting dark so they are not the best, but show a little of what I am enjoying!

Of course Anna enjoys it too!