Back to Normalcy....for now

Much to my relief (and of course Colby's), Colby's PhD qualifying tests are done! For the last 2 1/2 weeks, he has had his nose in his books ALL. DAY. LONG. That means he would only stop for food and a little gym time. But now they are over and I couldn't be more excited. We just have to wait for the results. If all goes well, they will be done and over with! Whew! Now he just has to write his thesis and defend it in October. But for now, this weekend, we are going to enjoy a little break.

And he's off!

For the last couple of weeks Calem has been trying to crawl, but just couldn't figure it out. He would scoot both back legs forward and then do a superman dive to see if he had gone far enough to reach whatever he was trying for. Over and over again he would try and after quite a few attempts, a lot of grunts, screams of frustration, and reaching fingers, he would finally get it. Take a look at the inch worm .



About a week ago he finally was able to put it all together, and he's off! He is getting pretty good and getting into everything. He seems much more content and that makes my life so much easier! I would much rather chase him around than have him ornery because he can't reach anything. Of course I say that now...I am very good at eating my words. That may actually explain the recent couple of pounds I seemed to have acquired. hmmmm.

Here he is crawling.

ATK test launch

We went to Promontory this morning to see ATK test their Ares rocket. It was the first one I ever saw and it was pretty cool. There was an actual countdown- T minus 10..9..8..7.............. And then it lit up and you couldn't hear or feel it for probably 10 seconds and then the ground, including our car vibrated for the full 2 minutes. It's crazy to have so much power concentrated in one place. Here is a pic.
This pic is obviously one I didn't take, but this one is from Colby's phone.
Even though we were pretty far away, it was still pretty dang cool. On our drive home, we saw some environmental company's cars on the side of the road with tarps out on the ground. We thought that maybe they would be able to collect some of the debris that would fall from the massive smoke cloud. Then- we thought it started raining- nope. Our car got covered by crap falling out of the sky until it was like trying to drive looking through frosted glass. Crazy. I would hate to live close to the test site just for that reason. It's too bad there have been so many layoffs and budget cuts for ATK.

Sunny San Diego

We just got back from a week long trip to San Diego! It was a vacation for Calem and I and work for Colby. Colby presented some results from his thesis project at a conference so it was a good excuse for me to tag along and have a little vacation. It was awesome.

Our trip started a little rocky by missing our 8:30 flight- (even though we were there over an hour early). Twelve hours later we were finally on a flight. Colby informed me that I would never win the Amazing Race which pretty much ran me into depression. Unfortunately this comment may be true as I consistently took the wrong exits everywhere (sigh).

For the first 4 nights we stayed in Old Town San Diego which is a pretty cool place. It is all decked out with old looking Mexican style buildings. Think Jackson Hole but in Mexico. We ate at a Mexican Restaurant for my birthday and we were serenaded by two on guitars singing in Spanish. Awesome! There is also a Mormon Battalion Visitors Center there with a really cool video tour. And we got our picture taken at the end.The sister missionary snapped this pick at exactly the right time. I love that scrunched up face!

We also found 3 in 1 tickets which lets you go to Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and the Wild Animal Park for 5 straight days. Tickets were spendy and I'm not looking forward to buying tickets for kids. The parks were really cool though and I'm glad we went.This is of the panda exhibit, you can barely see the panda through the glass. This is a "see Calem you've already been to the zoo" pic. Somehow I don't think this will get us out of going again some time.
There were some really pretty beaches and these are pics while visiting some tidepools.
This pic is from our second hotel room. It had a full wall mirror and Calem loved looking at himself (or the happy baby) in the mirror. As you can see, I thought it was pretty funny.
All in all we had a really good trip (and Colby's conference went well). Calem did great all week and was really a trooper. The plane ride wasn't even bad. I love vacation though it is always a relief to get back home.

Always playing catch up

Since it has been over a year since I posted it's hard to catch up. But here are the most eventful things that happened in the last year:

1. My little sister Lacey was married! It was a fun day and even though she took a huge risk of having an outside reception in May, it turned out PERFECT! That girl has got some luck. We are also excited about having Brandon in the family, he's pretty cool. Again. That girl has got some luck.

2. Next we decided to get prego...and it worked! Nuff said.

3. My dad and mom, Dix, Rich, Sun, Me, and some other friends ran the RAGNAR Wasatch Back in June. I was eight weeks along and no one knew yet. I kind of liked having the secret.

4. Colby and I saddled up on the motorcycle and headed off to Glacier National Park. Halfway there, we met up with Doug. He was kind enough to let us crash on his floor and shower in the morning. He's awesome. Glacier was awesome and so PRETTY. You can see so much on a bike. All in all we covered 2000 miles in a weekend....saddle sore.

5. Dixie and I decided to run a marathon this year. I had never even thought that I could run one. We signed up for the Mesa Falls Marathon and Jenny the half. It was the prettiest run ever. You got to see the Tetons about 8 miles in and then you ran by the Mesa Falls and then you ran along a river path. There was so much scenery 23 miles went by so fast. The last 3....SUCKED! I was 17 weeks along and looked like a fat girl running.

6. In October My Dad and Mom, Dix, and I decided to run another RAGNAR. This time in Vegas. It was fun and we ran with tons of friends. It was pretty interesting running with 5 1/2 month belly. All the attention that bump brought got OLD. I was glad when the race finished for that reason.

7. Colby and I decided it was best to further Colby's education one step farther...phD. We will be staying at USU and Colby will continue to work for his professor. He will be working closely with the Idaho National Lab and we think there are some great possibilities that will come from that. I'd rather stay poor while I'm used to it :).

8. The last thing that happened this last year was CALEM. Our BIG little boy was born on January 27. We couldn't be more happy or excited that he is here ( may tell you something else at 3 am). He is now 3 months old and over 21 lbs.! He is Colby's mini me and it is so fun to watch those two.

This last year has been AWESOME!