Happy Birthday Nolan!

Our little man turned one year old on November 28th. With Dave leaving that night to take his second round of boards and considering we had just moved to Oklahoma a couple weeks before and didn't have any friends or family nearby, we just had a simple little party.

Nolan did some modest damage to his cake, but enjoyed every bit of it. 

He was all business and never cracked a smile.

Aly, on the other hand, was all smiles. She could hardly contain her 

excitement all day in anticipation of cupcakes.

It seems impossible that it has been a whole year since we welcomed little Nolan into our lives. He has brought us so much joy with his sweet little personality and those big dimpled smiles he flashes. We feel so blessed to be his parents!

Oklahoma

We've been in Oklahoma for about three weeks now. Our arrival started badly, as the propane company seriously misled us about the cost of heating the beautiful 4-bdrm home we had planned to stay in. We simply couldn't afford it on our student loan budget, so we ended up moving into an apartment closer to where Dave is in clinic. It was an absolute nightmare having to move everything we own twice in 4 days without any help, but we'll laugh about it someday.

We're settling in pretty well now. The town is quite small, but has a Wal-Mart, and Joplin, MO is only a few miles down the road with everything you could want. We miss the mountains of southern Utah and Colorado dearly - outdoor activities around here consist mostly of fishing and hunting. Thankfully, the holiday season gives us plenty of activities to take the kids to on the weekends.

Dave loves the clinical experience he is getting. The clinic is very disease-heavy, and he sees a lot of rare and interesting conditions - he always has several stories to tell when he comes home.

The local ward is very small, but the members are wonderful - they have been so good to us, and have made us feel at home. We got together with a handful of other young families in our ward for Thanksgiving, and have managed to make a few friends already. We got invited over for dinner again at church today, so either the people here are sincerely nice, or they think we're really poor because we're students:) Regardless, the people are nice and we are enjoying experiencing a new part of the country.

Fall Fun

We've been enjoying the beautiful fall weather here in Colorado. It has snowed twice already (once we got a good 6 inches or so), but the weather seems to rebound every time back to the 60s or 70s with plenty of sunshine. We can't believe how gorgeous all the leaves are!

Once there was a snowman....tall, tall, tall!

In the sun he melted....small, small, small.

Our snow angel!

Nolan's fridge antics just keep getting better.

And the toilet antics?... I spend half my day washing his hands.

 

The corn box.

This week, we attended the ward chili cook-off/trunk-or-treat party. We love the ward here - some of the best saints you've ever met. Although our chili didn't win an award this time (and definitely should have, according to Dave, who took it upon himself to sample every last pot of the 30 or 40 chilis represented:)), the cook-off was a blast. Aly was a tiger (that was the costume that Dave's parents sent for her), and Nolan was a bumblebee. It was adorable to hear Aly say, "Grrrrrrr! Twick a' tweet" every time she approached another trunk. Not as feminine as a princess costume, I guess, but she enjoyed herself immensely, and that's what counts. Cutest tiger you ever saw, to be sure.

Aly won the cupcake walk on her first try.

Sorting through the loot.

We've had some cute quotes lately from Aly. Most have been forgotten, since we're terrible at recording these, but here are a few.

Me: "Aly, do you want to go hiking today?"
Aly: "My legs don' wanna go hiking today. My legs just wanna stay home."

We've been bribing Aly to sleep in her bed all night and not wake us up - if she sleeps through the night, she gets a pack of fruit snacks. Dave started taking a little cat nap while we were playing in Aly's room today.
Aly: "Daddy, you need to sleep by your own self in your own bed, and if you don' wake me up all night long, then you can have fruit snacks."
She reads Dave a story, kisses him on the cheek, then shuts her door. A minute later she opens it, jumps on Dave and says, "Daddy, get up, get up! Thank you for not waking me up all night long - now it's time for your fruit snacks!

Aly: "Daddy, carry me!"
Dave: "Aly, you carry me!"
Aly: "No, Daddy, you are too heavy! You are not a baby."

Aly: "Dang it!"
Me: "What did you say?! Where did you learn that?"
Aly: "Yesterday my Daddy said 'dang it'."

Aly also gets a treat for going potty in the toilet all day without an accident (we're  in the midst of potty training).
Aly: "I went potty, and now I need a snack."
Dave: "Aly, I went potty, too. I need a snack."
Aly: "Daddy, you are not a big girl like me. You cannot wear big girl panties, and you cannot have a snack."

Dave started snitching some food off of Aly's plate during dinner.
Aly, scowling: "Daddy, don' eat my munch, or you will get a big time-out!"

We were with a female friend of ours some time ago at an activity. We had been working with Aly on naming body parts lately.
Aly, while pointing to each body part on our friend: "That is your nose, and that is your ears, and that is your boobs..."
Our friend: "What did she say?"
Me (lying through my teeth): "Um, I think she said 'belly'. Sometimes she's hard to understand."

We're reading a story about Moses and the Exodus at bedtime, and there is a picture of Moses standing on the mount with the stone tablets, and Aaron standing below with his staff in hand.
Aly: "What does Aaron have in his hand?"
Me: "A rod - it's like a big stick."
Aly: "Oh... he is going to hit Moses with it when he comes down?"
Me (thinking to myself that the Disney movies we let her watch are maybe a bit too violent if she gets ideas like this), "No, Moses and Aaron like each other. They are brothers. Aaron doesn't hit Moses."

We take off at the end of this week to travel to our next destination: The Middle of Nowhere, Oklahoma. Although we are going to miss the mountains and scenery here dearly, we're quite excited. We managed to make a connection to a ward member who is renting us an enormous 4-bdrm country house, newly remodeled, complete with plenty of land, a big barn, and a field of cows next door. We asked him about arranging a time to pick up the keys, and he laughed at us. Apparently nobody locks their homes in the area. Unbelievable, right? He laughed again when we asked him about the neighborhood. His reponse was, "what neighborhood?" The nearest neighbor is over a mile away, as far as we can tell. Everyone has a thick accent, seems very friendly (at least over the phone), and talks as if they have all the time in the world. It will definitely be...interesting. And perhaps a little refreshing. Internet access might be an issue, so bear with us if another period of time goes before the next blog post.

Until then.

Mischief Makers

What use is a blog if you can't randomly post cute snapshots of your kids? Enjoy!

Nolan's great-grandfather designed this jet!

Refriger-raiders

Feeding the giraffes at the zoo.

Nolan's favorite pastime...unloading the dishwasher

Colorado adventures, continued.

Okay, it has been a while since we've blogged anything. The weather here is still great, so we've been hiking every chance we get. Between that and caring for a teething Nolan and a potty training Aly (who is doing great, by the way!), our time is pretty well consumed. I'm too tired to write a longer blog entry, so here's a glimpse at some of our recent fun in Colorado: