Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day I like to hide expressions of love around our apartment (I guess one could blatantly hand them over, but that's not how I roll). These beauties became Robb's computer backgrounds when he wasn't looking:

I also wanted to surprise Robb with a post-class doughnut (which turned into chocolate-covered strawberries...thank you, Sugar n' Spice), so I loaded Colby up and together we braved campus parking.  According to Robb's schedule his class was located in B-66.  We first tried the Benson building, which in case you're curious designates its classrooms with a "W", was told by a couple sweet co-eds to try the basement of the JFSB, and ended our "surprise" visit by calling Robb for directions.  It's the thought, right?

(Colby has Hays hips)

Someone knocked at our door around 6:00pm and I opened it to find daisies, extra-peanutty Reese's, and Robb's laptop playing, Faithfully.  He's cute.

 Our dinner plans were postponed due to an informational meeting about a company Robb interviewed with (bums scheduled it on Valentine's) until the next day.  Red Robin...yum!  Robb conquered his fear of blue cheese and now has officially eaten every burger on their menu.  I've had four.  Maybe I need to branch out?

We have something better than butterflies.  Robb is my best friend, my sweetheart, an amazing father to Colby.  I'm so lucky to have these two boys in my life.

(A little mailbox love from Robb's aunt and uncle)

Getting Back to Normal

When sickness attacks your home, naturally some things slide.  Dishes pile up, exercise doesn't happen, and getting dressed for the day consists of changing from one set of pajamas to another.  Anyway, when Sunday hit and Robb was insisting we leave for church...now...I realized the three remaining flecks of nail polish weren't going to suffice with peep toe shoes.  Some days you only have time to address what will be seen. 

So this past week was all about returning to status quo and I think we're back.  Colby is his normal happy self, the apartment is clean, and someday I might find time to finish the rest of my toes.

:: Colby's making serious strides towards walking.  Most of the time you can find him walking on all fours like so:

Or using his "walker" to get around.  We tried tricking him into walking by himself, but the second we sneak our hands away, he sits down.

:: We got crafty.  Robb helped me convert the back of an old picture frame into lovely chevron wall art and I adore it.

:: I hosted our ward's play group this week.  There's about seven or eight moms who come and we spend most of the time protecting the eyes/ears/limbs of the wee ones from their larger, curious peers.  It's a weekly highlight for us.

:: I made Chicken, Spinach, and Cannellini Bean Quesadillas for the first time and they were amazing.  Robb was pleasantly surprised.  In our first months of marriage he put a limit on how many new recipes I could try per week after three consecutive failures (the thought of vegetarian enchiladas still makes me gag) in the kitchen and every once in awhile I can see an anxious look in his eye when I announce something new.

 :: Our garden's growing!  The basil and parsley are doing great (rosemary not so much) and once a second set of leaves appear we can transplant...and I will be one step closer to my dream of a big garden and chickens.

:: And I worked this weekend, which was crazy.  I rate the stress level of my shifts by how many breaks I can squeeze into my 12 hour day: Saturday had no bathroom breaks and Sunday lacked time for the  bathroom or a lunch break.  I was tired.  Fortunately, I work with amazing people who all pitched in, changing dressings and passing meds, so I could chart.

And one of my patients drew my portrait:  

I never realized how manly I look.

The Remaining Bits of January

:: We got a grow light for Christmas and now we're dreaming of an indoor herb garden.  So far we have three little basil sprouts, mold in the rosemary container, and parsley is keeping us guessing

 :: Robb got called as Elder's Quorum President (it's one of the lay leadership positions in our church) for our ward's 2nd Quorum (only in Utah) and I'm still serving on the Additional Activities Committee.

:: I discovered why I keep finding two little holes in all my shirts
::We went to Red Lobster, the waiter asked if it was a special occasion.  Our reply, "we have a gift card."

::Colby is completely weaned, refuses to let us feed him anymore, and is slowly figuring out utensils (hands are still the favorite way to go)

 :: We had an epic Ebert/Rigby Waffle party and played Telestrations (you're given a word, your neighbor illustrates it, the next person guesses the word based on the drawing, etc) to top the night off.  This was my personal favorite:

:: I fell in love with this song:

:: Colby walks around if there's something to hold on to (he also started clapping this month)

and playing peek-a-boo is his new favorite game

:: Robb took me to see BYU's production of The Phantom of the Opera. Amazing.

 :: And all three of us were sick this last week.  We all have awful colds and Robb and Colby both came down with fevers.

How Robb describes the feeling of footie pajamas: "It's like being hugged by your grandma while sitting in front of a roaring fire in Winter."

12 on 12 in January

I got called off work today (which I'm grateful for because attempting to take 12 HIPPA approved pictures depicting my day would be difficult). 

01.  Sleeping in
02.  Breakfast: Blueberry pancakes
03.  Impromptu sword fight
04.  More teeth
05.  Getting rid of the TV
06.  DI treasures
07.  Lunch: Ham sandwiches
08.  Christmas card love
09.  BYU Basketball
10.  Figured out our humidifier
11.  Dinner: Shumai
12.  Called off work again

Christmas

I've been procrastinating this post partly because I know at least 290 of the 328 pictures on my phone are from this 2 week period and also because my prose never does justice to this time of year (especially when I'm behind, but that can't be changed at this point).  

:: The Friday before Christmas we went to see the lights on Temple Square...along with everyone else in the Salt Lake City area.  After 20 minutes of searching, we found a spot to park with my Grandma and Grandpa Nielson and spent a good half hour admiring the beauty around us before we decided to hustle ourselves back into the warm car.

:: The Eve of Christmas Eve: We reenacted the Nativity with our good friends, the Sorensens (Erin and I did this together every year growing up and it made me so happy to have her over).  Robb and I talked about how Christmas has changed for us, that we've lost the old feeling of wonder and excitement (to some extent, we both still love this time of year and I have faith that we will rediscover it, but it will be different), but having Erin over for the Nativity brought it back for me.  

:: Christmas Eve: I had to work Christmas this year (oh, the joys of being a nurse), so we moved Christmas day up a bit since Colby can't tell the difference anyway.  We loved playing Santa for our little man who actually enjoyed opening presents this time.  Robb got his Christmas snow and I got my candy cane bread (thanks to Erin) and we ended the day eating Christmas dinner with the Valentines, a new couple in our ward.

:: Christmas day (for me at least) consisted of this:

and a little of this (I only had to work half a shift this year):

We decided to move the furniture around (more fung shui) after taking down the tree.

:: Boxing day: We drove up to my Aunt Paula's for a quick nap and her generous shuttling services, but we left much later than planned.  We arrived at the airport after three quick stops (Paula wasn't feeling well) and a missed exit with 30 minutes before take-off.  I was feeling uneasy until I spotted the security line which snaked all the way through the maze to the back of the hallway and curled around...and then anxiety hit.  Luckily for us, Robb overheard an airport official mention to another panicked individual that the lines might be shorter in the other terminal.  We sprinted over, wheezed our way through the line and barely made our flight.  

We had this waiting for us though :)

I love my family.

:: One day of down time and then we piled into a car bound for Medford, Oregon

Colby met his great-great Grandma Campbell

Ammon Ebert married his sweetheart, Estefani 

Medford will always be a home to me

Colby met his second cousin, Mason (although due to three new teeth and a delayed bedtime, he wasn't particularly charming)

Driving home we stopped at my Aunt Trina and Uncle Dane's place where we enjoyed amazing food and their delightful company

:: New Year's Eve:  Games until 10:00pm at which point three of our number decided sleep sounded good

Mom, Jory, and Em toughed it out

:: We enjoyed hand-crafted sodas from a store specializing in root beer

:: Indulged in some quality snuggle time

:: Colby learned to climb stairs

:: We went on a Duck Tour (it's a WWII landing craft turned tour bus that allows you to experience both the surf and turf of Seattle).

:: We demolished small trees

:: And got pushed around by the little guy

:: Dad took us to see a store of the company he works for (and we bought a couple more gallons of their addicting apple juice)  

:: And then our week and a half was up and life demanded we return to the reality of school, work, and massive amounts of laundry

And yes, Colby spent the entire flight raising and lowering the blind