Loot from NBMBA

Eric brought home some gifts for us from NBMBA. John Deere hats, PINK dogs from Victoria Secret, and a piggy bank. Gretta loves the piggy bank. She LOVES money. Now when ever she does something good instead of asking for a cotton ball for her "caught you doing something good jar" She wants money for her piggy bank. Last night we had a good FHE about tithing and saving money. It is so much fun to see her learn.

Both girls really like there dogs too. I tried to get a good picture of both of them, but that seems to be a joke lately. Enjoy the funny pictures!

The dog makes a great teething toy for Eliza

Gretta took this picture of her own stuff.

Eliza 17 Months

At 17 months Eliza is...
1. really becoming her own self. She is developing a real sense of humor. She loves to grab Gretta's blanket and run away and tease her. She is sneaky too.
2. loves to wave hello and good bye to people.
3. is trying to communicate more. She is very, very smart! I don't doubt that she is going to be us a run for our money and also Gretta.
4. understands everything you say to her.
6. Is still really, really clingy. She cries when I leave her for work. It makes me so sad to leave her crying.
7. Has 16 teeth. Eight on top and eight on the bottom.
8. weighs around 25 lbs.
9. rocks out to the beat! Loves the music in the car and jamming in her car seat. She also like to lead the music at church and at home. It is cute to see her wave her arm.
10. is using more words everyday. Some of her words are doggy, duck, stinky, go, thank you, binkie, more and Gretta. Of course they don't all sound that clear, but she still knows what they mean and how to use them.
11. She LOVES CHOCOLATE and will beg for it. But that isn't to unusual because she is my child.
12. likes to play duck duck goose with you. Or I think she just likes to bonk you on the head and say "duck"
13. is pretty good at feeding herself with a fork and a spoon.
14. Eliza has been sick for about 3 weeks. She is finally getting better, but it has been sad to see her so sick.
We love you Eliza!
Love,
Mom & Dad

The pictures are getting harder to take now that she is so mobile.

Gretta had to get in on the action.

The day has finally come!

So I am officially a Utah resident again for better or worse. They aren't very strict about changing your drivers license in Utah. You can actually register to vote with an out of state drivers license. I we have been debating what to do about this for a while, but we figured we would finally make it official. The good news is that my last Utah drivers license actually expired in May of 2009, so since it hadn't been 6 months I didn't have to re-take the written exam and could just apply for a renewal which was only $25. The bad news is that Eric's expired Jan 2009, so he will have to re-take the test etc.

So I guess we really call Utah home for now.

BYU vs CSU

BYU 42 CSU 23 Final Score

We have season tickets to the BYU Football games. It is one of the perks of being back in Provo. I missed last weeks game against Florida State due to my mom's birthday, but I guess I didn't miss much. I was excited. We waited until Eric got home from New Orleans to go to the game. e made it by half time. We ran into some old friends and meet up with an old college friend. (Holly, Gretta kept looking for Julie the whole game too!)
It was fun to be back in Cougar Stadium. Gretta loved watching Cosmo and Eliza love the cheering and music. It was a fun game. Go Cougars!!!

Gretchen with Amber Hintze
Amber and I went to through Rick's nursing program together and to Jerusalem too.

The whole gang! Amber and Chris have been married for 10 years and have 5 kids. Amber doesn't look a day older than when we were at Ricks. It was so much fun to see her.

The Big Easy!!

From Wednesday to Saturday, I was New Orleans at NBMBAA. For those unfamiliar with NBMBAA, it is the National Black MBA Association. And, yes, I am a member!! I was down there for the career fair. I had an interview with Air Products and Chemical (not interested thanks) and Johnson and Johnson (this one could be a winner). I should hear back from them as to next steps.

My $0.02 take on the city: humid, lots of historic charm/culture while at the same time rather seedy.

One of my friends from MBA School (who also happened to be in the mission field with me in Chile at the same time), TJ Davis, introduced me to the Beignets (French for what are closely related to powdered donuts) at Cafe Du Monde on the river's edge near Jackson Square in New Orleans. Delicious!! (pic below)






Then we continued our wild ways and headed off towards Bourbon Street. All of us in our group were married men, which made it all the funnier as we walked down the street. It was mostly bar stop to bar stop with two streets of rather questionable clientele and shops. I can only imagine what that place is like on Mardi Gras. The only word that comes to mind is Hedonism.





All in all, New Orleans was fun, awfully humid but fun. I hope that our hard work pays off with some job leads :)

Trip home for Mom's Birthday!!

This last weekend was my mom's birthday. Both Anna and I went home and took our kids. It was a fun filled weekend with lots of Grand-kids. Three kids at home is a lot more work than when I was just little Gretta. But my mom handled it well and loved having everyone visit. It was so nice to have such a short flight from SLC to BOI. Plus the SLC and Boise airports are so low key compared to LAX. The flight was completely full due to some football game. I was tempted to give up my seat until I realized I would have to fly to California and back to get home that night with two kids. Oh well. There is always next time.
Friday night after we got there they took us to Chuck a Rama. Jackson was with Nana & Papa but Anna was still at her girls weekend, so it was 4 adults and 3 kids. It was kind of wild. Gretta feed Jackson a whole bowl of chocolate pudding all by herself. Jackson would just open up wide. We made a huge mess, but had a good time.

Here are Eliza and Jackson together in the bath tub. Jackson weight almost 5 lbs more than Eliza. He is one solid kid.

Breakfast together

Saturday
First thing in the morning we went to JcPenny's to get family pictures taken. All my mom wanted for her birthday was a picture of the grand kids. Well that was a lot easier said than done. It was quite the circus. We never really got a good picture. Eliza and Jackson wouldn't go to either my mom or dad, or sit by themselves without crying. In one of the pictures my mom is holding both Eliza and Jackson who are crying and Gretta is standing next to her like an angle. At least the big group picture turned out okay.

Then we went to the park for a picnic lunch.

Nana playing with the grand kids while...

Pops and the moms relaxed.

Beautiful Flowers from Carpenter's for my mom from Aunt Marie.

Saturday Afternoon

My Dad took Gretta and I boating. Gretta LOVES the Boat!!! She was so excited to go fast and giggle the whole time.

Boating babe!

Photo of Pops by Gretta. Aka Captain Jack

Saturday Night Bath Time

After a great dinner at Yang Cheng the kids all took a bath together.

Sunday

Mom opening her presents after dinner

Grandpa and Eliza

Anna and Jackson

Playing Gestures

The big party!!!

Nana, Gretta, Eliza and Bailey with their sleep masks on.

Pops babysitting. This was the last resort when we couldn't get Gretta to sleep and we want to go see Dana's new beautiful house. Gretta said Pops fell asleep first. Plus she said she was hot.

Monday

Playing play doh together

Gretta getting a hair cut by Wendi

Isn't she cute!!! I kept thinking somehow it was going to grow long and thick, but it looks so much better shorter.

Playing at the park with Wendi and Bailey

Jackson and his favorite Aunt Gretchen. Actually I am his only Aunt.

On the plane home. Eliza enjoying her own seat.

We had a great trip!