Two "Anna's," one beaver , weird art work, and a student husband...

Yes, this is my life as of the last two days. Yesterday I started a full time nannying job! The baby I am watching is only a month older than Anna and her name is "Anna Belle." There have been a few crazy moments (no I don't ever want twins), but all in all it is great to be able to take my pride and joy to "work" with me and get paid to take care of her. (: Yesterday was awesome, Anna Belle sleep for 4 hours (yes, the mother and I were both dumb founded). It was a great way to break me into the job. I didn't want to have to work, but I feel fortunate to have found this family. The mother and I get along really well and the babies love to play together, well until Anna Belle pulls Anna's ear or sits on her feet.

About the Beaver, The neighborhood I nanny in is amazing! I went for an hour walk and fell in love with the neighborhood! Part of it reminded me of Holladay, Utah. The biggest reason I love the neighborhood is that there are huge lots and seem to all have their own "woods." The reason I tell you this? Well, today I was doing the dishes and looked into the backyard and there stood a BEAVER! Why in the heck is there a Beaver in the backyard you ask? Well your guess is as good as mine.

The weird art work... The family I nanny for are here from Boston for the school year. They are renting the house from a very eccentric family... VERY! There is art work EVERYWHERE and some of it is BIZARRE! If I can train my eye to look away it will prove to be a success. Perhaps I will post some pictures of that!

And... Yes, I miss my husband already. Dave is working really hard everyday and still feels like he is behind. I tell you, it is hard going from being together almost every day for a month and a half to days that we have to stay up later than needed to catch up on the day. I have to say I am glad it isn't medical school. I am thankful that he is working hard and wish him the best!

My Day with Mia

Finally a Video! (Hint: pause our blog music first)

In case there's any question as to whether Anna and Mia get along, here you go!

Well, we've been trying to post this for several months now! First, we didn't have a firewire hookup to be able to digitally download video from our camera. Then, we moved across the country (you might have noticed). Then, it has taken us several weeks to make it into a small enough file that Blogger would accept it. I'm sad that we couldn't put the whole thing on because it lasts about a minute or so, but here's at least a small part. If anyone has tricks to making downloading video onto a blog easier, we're all ears.

Enjoy!

"School Days..."

Well, we are finally here to the day we have anticipated for a long time. I feel like the proud parent of a kindergartener (: We should have taken one of those cheesy before school pictures, but this one below will have to do for now. We (me, Anna and of course Mia) just watched Dave walk down the road from our home to the bus stop and go off to school. ( I know that sounds cheesy, but it just happened) Mia whined the whole time, Anna watched questioning, and I watched wondering what the next couple of years are going to bring. We are excited for our new adventures and have already experienced a ton. Dave wasn't "excited" to start, like many of his fellow students, (it is a little hard to be excited when you are going back after 3 years of being out of school) but he is ready. He has always been and will be an amazing student.

Good Luck Daddy! We love you and are so proud of you!

GO UTES!!!

Well, they pulled it off at the big house! What a great year for the Utah Utes to decide to go to Michigan and play. We were so excited to have my Dad and Brother come out among others fellow Utes who were on campus yesterday. I played mom and stayed at home wishing I could be there, but not wanting to pay (yes PAY) fifty Bucks for an infant. Yes, they are insane at the big house and believe that a 7 month old needs her own seat. So my baby and I were sporting our RED and cheering from a few miles away. What a game!

Dave went to the game wearing Grey with the U of U emblem on it and a green shirt over that. Yes, something we don't want to admit to and seemed to be a cardnal Sin, but he wanted to go and ENJOY the game rather than be heckled by U of M fans.

Now that the first game is out of the way, we can sport our crimson red AND our maize yellow and dark blue. What a fun year ahead!

- Heidi

Here's Dave's contribution to the post ...

Here is a shot as I was going down towards my seat on the 4th row in the North end zone. It was my first time in the Big House, and was truly amazing to join 108,000 screaming fans. Notice the red row on the top ... awesome! Yes, I was an "under cover" Ute fan because some students here told me that it would be potentially hazardous to my health to be an opposing team's fan in the middle of the student section. A mixture of amped up testosterone and a whole lot of alcohol can be a dangerous combination. It was incredibly weird being at a game where I was quiet the whole time (at least for three quarters). Eventually, I ended up going up 95 rows to be in the Utah section so I could yell and scream and bear my Ute colors!

You can't really tell unless you make this photo bigger, but this is a pretty cool shot of opening kickoff as the ball starts to sail in the air. Go Utes!

And here's the best shot of all ... 25-23! The Utes did their best to give it away at the end, but eventually came through. I had a blast and will now shift focus to cheering for the Maize and Blue (at least in person). Go Utes and Go Blue!
- Dave

Things I never saw in Utah...

These pictures were taken on our walk yesterday...

(NO "ice"Skating)

The sidewalk I was walking on turned into this mysterious woods! (they seem to have random wooded areas everywhere it is pretty cool)

This rather LARGE squirrel won another squirrel in a fight... I wonder why, look at the size of that thing. This is jsut down the path in our complex.

This is what the three girls looked like... sort of. I felt a little silly working out in my chacos, but I left my running shoes in Utah so I wear whatever works for me that day.

Week One of Ann Arbor Living

Well we are shocked, but exactly ONE WEEK AGO we just thanked many outstanding Elders in our ward for emptying out the PENSKE and filling our home with boxes (I should have counted how many, on second thought, I am glad I didn't!) and we along with my AMAZING parents looked around exhausted, pushed boxes out of the way and got ready for bed. I made my Dad a U of U bed and thanked them for their incredible work and love (I could never REALLY thank them for all they did last week, I feel SO BLESSED!) Dave and I looked at each other before crashing and said, "We LIVE in Ann Arbor... CRAZY!!"

Now we are sitting in in our ALMOST put together Living room (it looks alot different than the picture seen above, but still not blog worthy) holding our teething starry- eyed 7 month old and feeling like the time has passed so fast.

During the day we work hard to unpack boxes, clean, and run errands. Dave spent Monday getting some things ready for school and wondering what he got himself into (especially after making a record of losing his student card within hours of getting it). Today, we went swimming in our COLD pool. In the EVENINGS, especially at sunset we have enjoyed many walks through amazing parks, seen fireflies and wild hares (that threw Mia for a loop!), liked beautiful sunsets -though they don't compare to the Utah skyline at night, talked with family on "skype," and stayed up way TOO LATE watching the Olympics (TV times in Michigan are horrible).

All in all we are enjoying our time and know it will go by FAST. We will definetly keep you updated and try to blog more frequently. We feel lucky to have the support of family and friends and though far we still feel close! Also, as you can tell from the photos, our two "girls" love being together. Mia is very good to Anna and Anna loves reaching out for Mia and just laughs as she is soaked with Mia's "love."

They are so CUTE!