Final finals...

Here's Rob on his very last day of school! Most likely EVER. At this point getting an MBA is not on his to-do list. He feels like he can accomplish what he wants in the business world without one so unless his goals change he won't be getting any further formal education...

He took one final Friday night and he has two to go! Then graduation Thursday and Friday.

It's been a tough weekend since we need to be packing, Rob needs to be studying, and we both were asked to speak in church tomorrow. Yikes! I can't think of anything that makes my stomach turn more than public speaking. Ahhh....

Friday Robby and I played around on campus while Rob took his test.... he desperately wanted to get in the fountain! I can't wait till we can take him swimming again, he will be so happy! He's getting better and better at walking - here's a clip of him pushing around the stroller all by himself!

Moving

We mentioned that Rob got a job and we'll be staying in Utah! Hurray! But we are still moving... we need to be out of our place at the end of THIS month and we'll be moving into a new place the end of NEXT month... How does that work out? Well, we're going to be in Maryland the first half of May (Rob will only be there for a week and we'll stay longer) and then we'll hopefully be able to stay with family until we can move into our new place - they are being finished being built.

We're really excited about getting into a new place, having a change of scenery, getting further away from campus... it'll help make it feel more like a life change. I'm most excited about the kiddie pool that our new place will have!! Hurray!

So with that being our situation we are currently trying to pack up our place and prepare to live out of a suitcase for a month. Packing is not fun. I feel like we have soooo much stuff. We have about 2 big boxes full of games - that's a lot for people that don't actually really ever play games!!!

Psst... my husband is a serious pack rat! He insists that we keep about 4 different versions of Monopoly even though we never play it and if we did we'd only need 1!!! And that's only a small example... Ok, don't tell him I told you that...

If anyone has any bright ideas on where to get moving boxes, preferably for free!, let me know! I'm about to start driving around and checking dumpsters. Oh, I did check Craigslist and KSL - lots of people asking for boxes not so many offering....

Poll Results April 16, 2008

Question: What is your favorite brand of ice cream? (Price is no object)







Ben and Jerry's: 10
Haagen-Dazs: 5
Breyers: 1
Dreyers: 3
Edy's: 0
The ginamunous store brand gallon tub: 0
Turkey Hill: 0
Snell Grove: 1

So I made up the word ginamunous. I think it's much more descriptive that ginourmous. And it's more fun to say. And I'm a little surprised that Dreyers got more votes than Breyers. I grew up on Breyers. It's my moms favorite ice cream so we had a lot of it. But Ben and Jerry's got my vote!! I love the half baked Ben and Jerry's. It's so good.

New steps! New steps!

Ok so Robby took his very FIRST step about a week before his first birthday when I was at Lisa Kearn's house... it was a mini step. But it was a step! Then I remember Amy telling me he had taken a few steps while she was watching him April 1st.... and now he's taking steps all over the place! He's also gotten better at standing up without holding onto anything!

Here's two short videos of him taking a few steps on Sunday!

I'm excited for him to be able to walk so we can play outside without getting so dirty!

P.S. It reminds me of the part in Strictly Ballroom, "new steps! New steps!!!" Ha ha.... has anyone else even seen that movie?

Tulip Festival

Monday we had a great time visiting Thanksgiving Point for their Tulip Festival. It's fun having Taba and her girls around to invite me to go on little excursions with them. We walked all around - it was a lot of walking! - and stopped at different fountains and gardens. The kids would've loved to jump IN the fountains but they settled for lots of splashing! The weather was perfect with great sun and a cool breeze. I love the kids with their little hats on! Of course Robby kept pulling his off but it was cute while it was on!

"Comment Deleted"

So if you haven't noticed there have been several comments lately that we've deleted. Don't worry it wasn't someone saying something rude or sketchy it's just these random dumb comments that are links to ads or something. Like it will be from "Guhn" and all it says is: "See Please Here." And the word here is a link so some random ad. So we might be enabling that word verification function when you post a comment to make it more difficult for computers to randomly post comments which I'm not sure how that process works but whatever it is it's annoying. The other option is to make the comments have to be approved before they're posted. So don't be surprised if you see either of those things happen soon.

Have any of you had problems with dumb comments on your blog???

It arrived!

Sorry I'm a loser and haven't blogged about this yet but the car seat came Monday afternoon! Hurray! I couldn't put it in the car till Tuesday morning and that was when he had his very first ride in it! He seemed like he was kind of in awe of his new position. While I don't think the car seat has made him LOVE being in the car it certainly seems to make it more bearable! Thank goodness!!!! I wish I'd gotten a video of him when he had his first ride in it but oh well!

Family Pictures

I wanted to get some family pictures taken for Robby's first birthday and Russ was kind enough to do them for us! We did them Saturday evening at the gardens at Tahitian Noni - which were just open to the public so if you haven't been there you should go stop by, it's beautiful!!! You should also check out Russ' blog to see the other great pictures he's taken!

Here are the pictures he sent us today!


Thank you, Russ & Holly!

hangin' out at Carmax

After I recently posted about the Jetta getting out of the shop it went back into the shop less than a week later. It wasn't the oil light this time - it was the temperature gauge. Ughh.... They replaced the water pump and it didn't end up costing too much but we were just worried about what would happen next. So, we took the Jetta to Carmax Thursday night and had a good experience. It wasn't too busy so it didn't take too long and they even had a fun little play place that we could hang out in. Robby liked using the walkers to walk and to sit in....

We got a decent offer on the Jetta and so we took it and we'll put the money towards figuring out our current car situation!

Company Party!

We had a great time Saturday afternoon at Apx's Company Party! I'm so glad Scott is now working at Apx too so we could all hang out together. The only bad thing about the party is that I did NOT get a picture of Lindsay in her basketball shorts!! Dang it!

It was an awesome party - great food, music, moon bounce, cash box, cotton candy, Rob even played in a bball tournament.... Apx really does know how to throw great parties. It was Robby's first time on a moon bounce and I was a little wobbly and pretty nervous - Liv and I took Robby and Syd together and we were both just holding on to the kids for dear life, trying not to drop them, or get trampled by the bigger kids running past us.... Rob was a little less timid with him and they went down the giant moon bounce slide... Robby had a ball!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Tonight we went to Jack's birthday party! Even though his birthday isn't until the 13th we wanted to give him a little shout out!

I remember first meeting Jack and finding all those crazy similarities! It was great to meet another mommy going through some of the exact same things I was!

Now I have to say these kids are actually a pretty cute group! And Robby sure loves Jack! We're so glad to have Jack and his mom and dad as friends!

Hope you have a great birthday, Jack! We love you!

I am so impatient.

Those who know me know I am pretty impatient. I don't like wasting time and I like to control as much as possible.

Rob's parents were kind enough to offer to get Robby a big boy car seat for his first birthday! I was so excited about this purchase I couldn't even wait for them to come out for Rob's graduation to shop for this so I started looking online and found an amazing deal on a Britax Marathon. My mother in law was nice enough to let us order this one and now I'm just waiting for it to arrive!

Waiting.... I ordered it April 5th. It shipped April 7th. I have the tracking number for UPS.... which I check about 6 times a day to see exactly where in the country it is and why it isn't at my door yet!!! It has been stuck in Hodkins, IL since April 9th. Grrrr.....

I am impatient. I know this. I am just really excited for this carseat. I am really excited for Robby to sit forward facing in the car. The last several days have been especially bad when it comes to the car seat.... I get near the car and he starts gripping my shoulder.... I open the door and tell him he just has to get in his seat for a few minutes and he cries and stiffens his body. Ugh.... I am really hoping that sitting forward facing will make him a happier boy in the car. Which will make a happier mom in the car! :)

Come on, UPS! Hurry up! Every time I see a UPS truck coming down our street I watch out the window and watch as they deliver some package to someone else hoping he'll hop back in his truck and come out with a very large box and head in our direction.... Maybe Monday? Hopefully!

P.S. I know I am crazy.

Idol Gives Back

The Parsons fully support American Idol's fundraiser Idol Gives Back. We didn't even realize that it was on tonight but were happily surprised! I love that they donate the money they raise to so many different causes. It really seems like the money goes so far! So give them a call or get online and donate what you can!

Happy Birthday Auntie Lindsay!

Auntie Lindsay,

We hope you had an amazing birthday! You deserve it! We love you!

The Parsons

Poll Results April 8, 2008

Question: What is your cell phone carrier?





AT&T: 9
Verizon: 9
Sprint: 2
T-Mobile: 6
Cricket: 1
Alltel: 1
Some other carrier: 0
I still don't have a cell phone: 1


I'm not very convinced that they major cell phone providers are much different but it seems that people really like one or the other. I just switched from AT&T to Verizon so I'll have to see if I notice any difference.

School Paper

For class I had to write a paper on why you should paint the floors in a factory. There really wasn't much research information-- I even asked the professor if there was somewhere I could find more information and he basically said no. So I scrounged around and tried to find what I could. I had to email a couple people and figure out a lot based on my internship last summer. So I finish the paper and turn it in hoping I get a decent grade but didn't really think it was that well done. When I got it back my professor specifically mentioned in class that one of the papers was very well done--and guess what--it was mine!!! I was really surprised--on the paper he wrote that I did a great job with a crappy topic and that it would be the most cited paper on the topic in the world. I don't know about that but I got a perfect score and that's good enough for me.

My teacher also has a website that he runs and he puts up his favorite papers each semester so you can check out my paper there when he posts it. The site is: www.freequality.org

One year check up!

So yesterday we had Robby's 1 year dr apt. I had made the apt for a Thursday afternoon because Rob doesn't have class but since he already started working part time he couldn't come with me. By a stroke of luck I ran into Amanda (almost LITERALLY ;)) on my way there and she hopped in the car and came with us! It was such a blessing to have her there to help! That would've been so hard to do on my own. Robby was ready for a nap when we left the house so he was tired and kind of cranky but was such a champ! He let Dr. Savage check him out and was very cooperative and friendly with her! He was not a fan of the 2 nurses who tortured him with his shots but after a minute of sadness some graham crackers and apple juice touch away the pain! Thank goodness!

Robby has grown alot since 9 months! Let's compare! I even put the percentiles for those who like that kind of thing ;)

9 month apt.....
weight: 16 lbs 8 oz - 5th %
height: 27.5 in - 50th %
head: 44.5 cm - 25th %

12 month apt....
weight: 21 lbs 4 oz - 25th %
length: 30 in - 60th %
head: 46.5 - 50th %

So not only has he gained weight but he's gone up lots of percentiles.... he wasn't gaining weight for a while there and even was losing weight for a few months.... so we're happy he's grown so much! And we're excited for him to switch to a big boy car seat soon!

Happy Birthday Robby!

Today my baby turned one!

We did it! We survived a year of being parents! Everyone is still alive and we're all very happy! It is amazing how much kids develop in the months 0 to 12! To think that just a year ago we had a newborn... Wow.... it's been such a journey! I am so proud of the little man Robby is becoming. I feel so lucky to be his mom!

We had such a great day that this is guaranteed to be a picture overload for most of you all!

We started with a great visit from Taba and her girls and lunch at Bajio's! Check out the awesome Robby collage Anna made! :)



and then the party! oh boy....



It was such a fun day! Robby woke up too early, napped too short in the afternoon and was tired when the party started but he was such a champ and did so great! He got more into opening the presents than I thought he would and even was good at signing thank you to whoever gave him the gift! I love the picture above of him saying thank you to Lindsay for the lion she got him which apparently was his favorite gift! I have THE BEST friends who made the party so awesome for me - I didn't even have to ask and they would just do whatever was needed! And let's just talk about how amazing it is that the entire place was cleaned before they all left. What the heck.

Robby, we love you so much! Hope you had a great day!

New Phone

Those of you know Esther and I really well know that we like nice cell phones. Ever since our car accident where my cell phone was lost (December 2006) I've been using old phones from people who've replaced their phones including one of my old ones, one of Esther's old ones, and one of Andrew Pincock's old ones. They all have issues either with the battery or charging or something but I've managed to get by. I wanted an iPhone for a while but was kind of waiting till they got cheaper and we figured out what we wanted to do with our contracts.

Anyways, one of the benefits of my new job is that I get a cell phone. The phone I got is a Samsung i760. I didn't have any choice in the matter and it's taken a little while to get used to, but after playing with it and testing it out I've really started to like it. It's definitely an upgrade from my 2 1/2 year old Motorola Rokr or Razr (x2) which were fun but really beat up and had issues.

All in all I'm pleased with my new phone--it's a lot bigger but not un-manageable. It has lots of fun features (and I'm sure I'll find even more as I play around with it some more).