Bowling Time!

     For date night last night we went on a double date with our friends, Zach and Camille and their little baby boy Zeke. It was so much fun! We got Little Caesar's pizza and some IBC Cream Soda Rootbeer to make it an even greater time. We decided to make it EVEN more fun by making it a competition between boys against girls. I am a very competitive person who trash talks a lot when I get fired up. Usually, when I do trash talk I end up losing terribly but not this time. Camille and I kicked some daddy boody! They did give it a good shot though. Camille and Trevor tied with a 130, I got a 114, and Zach got a 74. Of course, they told us they let us win so they wouldn't have to sleep on the couch. After we won the game, we took some pictures of Lola with her inheritance, Grandma Lola's pink bowling bowl that she gave to Trevor, who named it Lola. They turned out pretty cute :)

I LOVE this picture!

Momma, Lola, and Lola the bowling ball. 

Lola sporting her tongue. She loves sticking it out.

The Family

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A Little Bit of Updating

    New Breastpump

      I have to start off the updates with what I got yesterday; my new Medela breastpump! Lola is a bottle fed baby because of certain circumstances that happened when she was born, so I have decided that I would pump and then give her my milk in a bottle. Trevor and I bought an electric double pump when she was first born without doing any research on them. BIG MISTAKE. After we had bought it we were told by many people that we should have invested in a Medela breastpump since they are a hospital grade one and since I would be pumping several times a day. Well a couple of nights ago one of the sides of my pump went out so I had to use a manual pump on one side and then the electric one on the other. It took forever. Then yesterday morning the other side gave out! So finally Trevor and I decided to get a Medela breastpump. It has be life changing. Before, it would take me 45 minutes to a hour and a half (if I had taken medicine to increase my milk supply) to pump until I was dry. Now it takes 15 MINUTES OR LESS!!!!! I was so excited the first time I used it because Lola was going to be eating soon (25 minutes) and I didn't have enough milk stored for her. This new pump has made my decision to pump then feed Lola so much easier and a lot less stressful. I highly recommend any mother investing in one if they are going to be pumping several times a day. Yes, they are a pretty penny but trust me, they are worth every one of those pretty pennies.

Pad Thai

     Trevor and I love Thai food. That wasn't always the case though. Before I got pregnant I did not like it very much. Trevor's parents would always ask us if we wanted to come with them to the Thai restaurant here in Rexburg and even though Trevor loved it he would say no because I didn't (he is such a sweetheart). Then one day when I was probably 2 months along I craved Thai food. Since then it has become one of my favorite things to eat. We even went to the Thai restaurant when I was in labor  since my midwife told me to eat and sleep as much as I could while I labored at home before going to the hospital. So here I am sitting at a table waiting for our take out and I am having contractions and once we get home I only am able to eat 5 bites of it until I couldn't eat anymore. It was pretty ridiculous.  I don't recommend doing it. Anyways, one day while I was on Pinterest a couple of months ago, I pinned this recipe for Pad Thai that looked delicious and easy. I finally made it last month and we loved it. And it was so easy to make! You must try it. Tip: Make sure you soak the rice noodles until they are nice and soft even if that means soaking them longer than the package says too. Oh, and make sure your soaking water is hot enough or else they won't cook through. Enjoy!

Little Miss Lola

     

     Lola is growing up so fast! Trevor and I can't believe it some days. She went for her 2 month appointment on Oct. 3rd, which means shots. I was nervous the days leading up to it. I HATE needles and especially shots so I was scared for the both of us. Her usual doctor, Doctor Packer, who is Trevor's uncle, was on a family trip so we had another doctor come check her out. He kept saying how adorable she was and how strong her neck was for her age. It made me a proud momma. Anyways, she weighed 10.65 pounds and was 21 inches tall. That means she gain about 2 pounds and grew 2 inches since her one month check-up. Trevor weighed 11.11 when he was born so I can't imagine giving birth to a baby that is even bigger than what Lola is now. All I can say is OUCH! and give lots of praise to Trevor's mom for doing it naturally. 

     

     Recently, Lola has been drooling so much and I can always find her with her hand in her mouth. For the past week and a half she has been waking up and I will see in the video monitor her just looking up at the lights on the camera part of the monitor either sucking on her pacifier or hand or talking to herself for about 5 to 10 minutes. It is ADORABLE! I love that she can be so content with just laying there. She still loves her car seat and can sleep forever in there. She loves being in the car as long as we are moving and the same goes with her stroller. Trevor and I are so grateful that she doesn't mind being in those things and that she does so well in them.

     She 'talks' more and more now and I LOVE IT! I can see more and more of her personality coming out, which I love just as much. She loves her daddy so much. It is so cute to watch her when he comes home; her face lights up and if she is crying and hears him calling her name she stops crying. I hope she is a daddy's girl. 

     We had a problem with her not being able to keep her pacifier in her mouth and so whenever it fell out she would cry and we would have to keep putting it back in her mouth. But now she is able to keep it in there all by herself. It has been very nice. My mom and some other ladies told me that when I am trying to put her to sleep I should rock/hold her just until her eyes started to close and then go put her in her crib. That way she learns to put herself completely asleep and not us rocking or holding her. If she cried we would just let her cry it out.  It was a challenge at first because we hated hearing her cry but after awhile you get used it to. The trick is to keep yourself distracted. But after being consistent with it we are able to put her in her crib awake and she puts herself to sleep without fussing. Yes, we still have our times when she cries but we just rub her face the way she likes and/or put her pacifier back in and tell her to go to sleep. We rarely pick her back up unless after she has been crying forever and is getting purple in the face. 

     Our cloth diapers have been going pretty well. I really don't mind them at all. The only thing I don't like is the stuffing them with the liners. So if we were to get them again I would get the ones that already have the liners sewed in, even though they are a little more expensive. I would recommend parents to give cloth diapers a try. You not only save so much money but she hasn't had one diaper rash  yet. I wanted to do infant potty training with her and I did good for about 2 weeks straight and then here and there but sometimes I just forget to take her. Plus, it is a little discouraging when I seem to always be missing it. I talked to Lisa Woodruff, the lady who told me about it and has done it with all of her kids, told me to keep going and to be consistent with her and that before I know it Lola will hold it until I take her. This lady is amazing and is just always sending positive thoughts and praises to me. I just love her. So I am going to keep trying and see what happens. 

I just love with picture! Her eyes are so big and beautiful.

I know Grandma Lola is a little blurry but I just love the look on Little Lola's face.  So cute!!

General Conference

     Trevor and I have a tradition that we only have donuts on Saturday morning conference. This year we also got some very expensive ($3.00, but we didn't realize that until after we bought it) mexican hot chocolate to go along with our donuts. It was very tasty but definitely not worth the price. 

     Conference was definitely a new experience when you have a baby. It was hard to pay attention sometimes especially when you are super tired. We tried to wait to  sleep during the 2 hour break but that didn't happen so we needed up doing it during the last part of the first session. We were SO tired. Trevor and I really enjoyed what we did hear. We were supposed to go up to Trevor's aunt and uncle's house for dinner after the last session on Sunday so Trevor made a homemade banana pudding trifle. We ended up sharing it with Trevor's other aunt and uncle and grandma Lola as well since there was so much. 

Doesn't this look delicious?

So pretty.

     The banana pudding was homemade using real bananas and lots of cream. Definitely not healthy for you despite the bananas. The Nilla Wafers gave it a nice crunch. Trevor did a great job. Everyone loved it and ate it fast. 

Atlanta, Georgia Here We Come!

     Trevor is going to Atlanta for a NAEYC conference in Atlanta on November 7th -11th. We decided that we should turn it into a family vacation. It worked out great because all we have to pay for is my plane ticket since the college is paying for everything else. The hotel we are staying at has a pool so we ordered Lola a swimsuit so that during the day I can take her swimming. I am super excited to not have to worry about cleaning, cooking, or laundry for almost a week. It's going to be great! It's going to be great to go somewhere new and experience a new culture than the West. Now, the 5 hour plane ride with Lola is another story that I am nervous to see how it turns out...

     Stay tuned for our FHE of pumpkin carving and pumpkin chocolate chip bread! Yumo!!!

Family Home Evening

Our friends Zach, Camille and their baby boy Zeke along with our friends Hilary, Ben, and their baby girl Nora decided that every other Monday will would do FHE together. We have enjoyed  doing this because most times Trevor and I don't have FHE. It is hard to do just because it seems like there isn't that much that we an do. Trevor and I had the lesson for this past Monday's FHE and I decided to do a Mormon Message. I found this great one called, "Opportunities to do Good". I cried my eyes out when I first watched it but that could have been because it was 3 o'clock in the morning and I was super tired. But it  is a must watch. It has so many lessons that we can learn from like how important service is and what can happen when members get together in faith.

For dessert, we all decided to go to Kiwi Loco, a frozen yogurt place. So after the lesson we bundled up our babies, put them in the strollers and away we went.

Lola has about 6 hats but most of them weren't that warm since they were just crocheted ones with big holes. So we had to resort to this cute owl hat that a friend in our ward made for her. It was a little big but it was warm. Isn't she just the cutest thing?! I give her probably a hundred kisses a day. Thank goodness she doesn't mind me kissing her...for now.

We love this face she made. 

Daddy and Lola together. I like how it looks like Lola is smiling for the camera.

I should have taken pictures of us all eating our frozen yogurt and all the other babies. I will have to remember that next time. Tomorrow, Hilary, Camille, and I are going to make fall wreaths for our girls craft day. I am pretty excited. I am going to make this Apple Strudel Caramel Coffee Cake for us to snack on. Stop drooling! :)

Pumpkin Carving and The Haunted Mill

For FHE this Monday we decided to get into the Halloween spirit and carve some pumpkins. Trevor is way better at carving than I am. He told me that it was only because he had 9 years and 3 months of more practice ;) Now, no one laugh at my pumpkin. It didn't turn out like I wanted. 

This is going to make a yummy snack!

 Our finished work

Trevor carved this in the back of his pumpkin. Isn't he wonderful?!



About two weeks ago, we went with Mike and Shannon's family to the Haunted Mill for FHE. It was really fun. Lincoln and Shannon didn't go through unfortunately. It wasn't too bad, but there were definitely some really scary parts. We had to go in two groups so it was Trevor, Laura, and I in our group. I was the only one that was screaming my head off. Luckily, there was no camel there to sneeze in my ear :) After the mill we went to G's Dairy and got some delicious ice cream.

Aren't we a great looking bunch :)

Homemade Lasagna/ Straw Maze

On Friday, Trevor and I had a double date with our neighbors, Camille and Zach. Camille is on one of Education classes and Trevor helps them out in Primary. Camille and I both love Italian food so we thought it would be fun to have an Italian Dinner Date. I made homemade lasagna and she made her amazing homemade breadsticks. I had tried making lasagna before, but I didn't put enough sauce in it and it turned out dry. This time though, it turned out SO GOOD! I was worried the whole time it was cooking until I took a bite.

Me, just about to put the lasagna in the oven. 

The final product! Don' t you wish you could have some?



After dinner, we decided to play some game, Bananagrams and the Dice Game, as we waited for it to get dark so that we could go to the Straw Maze. Once it was dark enough, we headed to the maze. When we got there, there was a giant camel there! It was so random. Trevor wanted to get a picture with it, so we went over there. I stood next to the camel, who kept sniffing my hair and face and on the other side of me was a creepy masked guy whispering things like, "Remember to smile big". "Don't forget to smile". Just as Zach was about to take the picture, the camel sneezed in my ear!!! It was so gross! Trevor was laughing his head off. There was snort all over my hear and inside my ear. The place didn't have any napkins, so the creepy guy lent me his sleeve to wipe it off. It was very nice of him. After all that, went went inside the maze and had a great time. It took us a little over a hour and a half to get through. We didn't know it was going to be a haunted maze, but it made it a lot of fun. The chainsaw man was the scariest part. It was a super fun night!

A creepy clown that stood at the entrance of the maze.

Our Kids

Trevor has a 50 gallon fish tank that he got a while go. We have 8 beautiful fish, 2 funny crabs, and 1 cool lobster. We call them all our kids. Whenever we head off to school we say, "Good-bye kids, be good. Or when we get home we say, "Hello kids. How was your guys day?" :)
We thought everyone would like to see what our kids look like.

Trevor and his beloved fish tank :)

                                                           

This is Martha, one of our crabs. The other one is names Maximus.

This is Emmy, one of our sucker fish. The other one is named Dave.

   

This is Rockie, our lobster.

                                                       

                                       

The light blue one is Blue, the yellow one is Small Fry, the pink/red one is Jewels, the orange one is Chloe, the black and yellow striped one is Spike, and the dark blue and black one is Wendy.

First Day of School/Work

Monday, Sept. 12th, was the first day for school. A couple weekends before, we went to Idaho Falls and got Trevor some new dress shirts. He got a dark purple, black, dark red, and a pretty orange one. He was so excited to wear them all. Everyone took pictures of their kids on their first day of school so we though we would take pictures of us since our kids (our fish) don't go to school.

         Trevor looking like the hunk he is.

                                                          

                                 

                                                                           Me, looking awkward.

 

 Me and my handsome man, who I just love so much!

The classes that I am taking this semester are: World Foundations, Humanities, Education Technology, Child Development (not taught by Trevor), History and Philosophy of Education, and a Infant and Toddler class. I am looking forward to all of my class. Like I said, I love to learn. One of my teachers said this, and I really love it. He said, "There are no uninteresting subjects, lectures, or teachers-just uninteresting people." I totally agree with that. I love learning about anything. Oh, I hope to tutor a 6th grader boy, who needs help with reading and comprehension. I hope I get the opportunity, but then I am scared to death if I do. Another random comment, I am thinking about once I get my degree to teach and I get a few years of experience, I want to go back to school and get my degree to become a principal. We will just have to see what the future holds. My Child Development teacher is Trevor's head chair person for his department. Trevor actually took the same class from him when he went here. I have decided that I don't like it when my teachers find out that I am married to a professor here. I don't like being put on the spot or having the teacher make a comment about it throughout the semester. Unfortunately, they usually find out because they see me at banquets or work parties.

Trevor has been working hard in preparing for his classes this semester. He really cares about his students. He has been coming up with changes that will make his classes better and I really think that the changes he has made will help his students a lot. So far, he has really enjoyed his classes. He is excited to see what the new semester brings. I am very proud of him. We can't have lunch together anymore, so that really stinks. That just makes date night even more special and important.