Sadie's little buddy

We are so fortunate to have the Gardner's here to play with us. It has made this transition to D.C. virtually painless for me and for Sadie. Jess and I hang out all the time and drag our little girls around with us. We even make them dress up in Target with ridiculous hockey helmet snow hats for our amusement. Lucky for us, they are awesome little buddies. They play so well together although Sadie covets Lizzy's cute little pigtails. One day she have her own. But until that day comes she's learning from Lizzy how to keep her clips in and not pull on her piggies. They are both such little smarty pants. It's so fun to see them learning so many new things together.

Sadie smiles

Sadie cracks me up. Any time I ask her to smile she tilts her head to one side and says "ahhhh." I don't know where she learned this because before this all I could get her to do when I whipped out a camera was squint her eyes to avoid the flash. I'm happy she's decided to cooperate with the photographer because if any of you know me well, I take a lot of pictures:-) We finally went into the city and saw some monuments. Sadie loved the WWII monument because of all the fountains and tourist that were oohing and ahhing over her and her little stroller (best $5 I ever spent). She was attempting to sit down on the step and instead of just turning around and sitting down, she stopped about two feet away and backed (shuffled) into a sitting position. What a cautious little thing. I wish I had that on film. It had me and everyone standing around me in stitches.

Utah alums go crazy!!

It's about time!!

I've been giving some of my friends grief for not updating their blogs and here I am like a month overdue. Here we are!! We made it to D.C. and are already having a great time. Fortunately we already have a lot of friends and family out here so we feel right at home. Chase's brother and sister both live here with their families and my good friend from the college days (Jess Gardner)lives here with her husband who I actually went to high school with (John Gardner). The best part is they have a daughter who is two weeks younger than Sadie and they are already best buds.



They are in the process of learning how to share and are doing exceptionally well. Look at those cute little bellies. When we finally found an apartment we realized that we are in the same ward as the Mecham's and the Gardner's. It's a small world when you're a Mormon. We've been so busy getting settled that we haven't really toured the city yet but that will be this weekend. We're excited to show Sadie our nation's capitol!!

The Trip
Traveling to D.C. was actually really fun. We drove to Utah from San Diego and didn't arrive until 4 a.m. that Saturday morning. We hit a small bit of traffic through southern California and had to get a little creative to avoid going crazy with impatience. Anyone who has experienced "SoCal" traffic understands. Sadie was asleep so we decided to just keep on driving. She was such a great little traveler.



We didn't have to turn on a movie once!! At every pit stop she turned into a regular tornado and went ballistic in Chevron pulling things off the shelf and putting them back. I think she was just excited to be walking around.





Old Friends
Once we got to Utah we had a fabulous time hanging out with family and old friends. The best was being able to see our old buddies from San Diego that have moved back to Utah. We had a delicious little BBQ at the Poelman's new home and reunited with them, the Draney's, the Green's and the McDowell's. It was fun catching up with them and seeing how much all the kids have grown.













The Weber
Before Chase drove the rest of the way to D.C., we went up Weber Canyon to spend a day at our favorite place..the cabin. It was a day filled with throwing rocks in the river, feeding horses and hiking up to see the waterfalls.



The best part was when we got to a bridge, there was a HUGE bull moose standing in the water, not too far away. We didn't really know what to do. We weren't sure if it was going to charge or not but we decided to take some pictures anyway. Such safe parents we are! Sadie's first moose sighting!! As you can see she was pretty excited.




Daddy daughter hike..with Chad too:-)

My dad took my siblings and me up to the Uintas for a beautiful hike. We left Sadie home with CC and Pops (she wasn't complaining...she loves them!!) and explored the lakes and played log tag. Even when it rained it was still fun because we are such a lively bunch.















Thank goodness for baby wipes
I flew out the next day to D.C. and other than the incident when a woman behind me threw up all over my neck and hair, it was actually a very pleasant trip. It felt like someone opened a coke can after shaking it up a bit. I looked behind me and this woman had her hands cupped over her mouth and then ran to the bathroom. Those of you who know me well probably would think that this type of situation would throw me over the edge. However, all I really cared about was that it didn't touch Sadie. I took a long shower when I arrived in D.C. It was pretty nasty though. The lady had pretty good aim. She reached my tray table all the way back from her seat!! Fun stuff. Sadie was a dream. She played the whole time and took a little nap. I really don't mind flying with her. She's a pretty good buddy to hang out with.

As for Sadie, there is quite an update. She is talking like crazy. In Utah she learned how to say Grandpa, thank you, please, and will pretty much mimic any words I say as long as they aren't too complicated. The cutest thing was how every time she saw my parent's cat she would go up to him waving and say "hi kitty." So, so cute!! The cat didn't care for her and hissed like crazy but it just made her love him more. Poor Walter. My sister Lizzie will be pleased to know that she has learned to say her name because Jess and John's little girl's name is Lizzy. Seeing that she sees her just about every day, she's learned the name pretty well.

Sadie the Lady

Once a lady, always a lady. When we had our second ultrasound the doctor pointed out that we had a "dainty lady" on our hands because her legs were crossed. We of course thought that was the cutest thing ever and still do. Sadie crosses her legs ALL the time, whether she is eating, reading a book or just hanging out. She's such a little lady!!

All the faces of Sadie

Sadie has many moods. Here they are, to name a few:

The Sass













The Manipulator













The Defeated














The Sweetheart


















The Amused


















And finally...the Silly Billy

Sadie Strolling

So we occasionally go down to Seaport Village to visit Chase during his lunch break and we bring along Sadie's new baby stroller which she can't get enough of. Watch carefully to see that instead of steering which she is capable of doing, she lifts up the stroller completely and goes the way SHE wants to go. She cracks me up. She'll be going in a straight line and decide to go off the beaten path just for the thrill of being different!! Just like Grandpa!!

Sadie finally weighs 20 lbs!!!

Sadie finally reached the 20 pound mark and we turned her around for the first time this week. She's such a little peanut!! We didn't know if we were ever going to be able to turn her around. I promise I feed her....or try to. She's not the heartiest eater but thanks to a weepy phone call with my big sis, we have tried some new foods that her cousin Ruby likes and is eating once again!! It's like a whole new world for her. All of a sudden I can't feed her fast enough and she loves going on car rides. She points to everything now and loves looking at us in the rear view mirrors. What a crack up. She is so fun to watch!!

Staying afloat!!!

So just when I thought the drama was over after a month of Sadie being sick off and on she surprised us once again. I like to keep things positive so I am only writing about this because in hindsight it's really quite funny. One needs to have a sense of humor during these "desperate times." So this morning Chase walked into Sadie's room before he left for work and saw blood all over her face, her clothes and the crib. I'm sure he panicked while I was sleeping heavily in the other room. I heard her screaming so I geared up to get ready for the day. Chase brought her into me shirtless with remnants of blood around her face. He tried cleaning it up so I wouldn't freak out. I guess she was picking her nose (again) and got a bloody nose (again) and bled all over herself and her bed. So Chase went off to work as I cleaned everything up. I gave her some breakfast while trying to get her bed ready again so she could go back down for a morning nap. So a couple hours later I heard some cooing from the other room but I was so into my Harry Potter book that I decided to finish the chapter (2 pages) and let her keep talking to herself. Sadie was not blessed with a lot of patience ( I wonder where she gets it:-) and decided to take off her diaper herself and attempted to clean herself up with her own hands. Yes, that's right. I came into her room and there was Sadie feces all over her crib!! Just after I cleaned up everything from the blood!! So I stuck her in bath for the second time around and cleaned her up again. The nastiest part is that she had poop all over her hands and around her mouth. I hope and pray that she didn't try to eat it!!! She's asleep again after her play date with the boys so lets hope there isn't another disaster waiting for me when she wakes up. Harry Potter will have to wait next time.

My Seven Wonders

We hear so much about the wonders of the world. Here are the 7 wonders of my world:
1: This will always confuse me and will keep my mind "wondering" for a lifetime...why do some women wear a thong sticking out of a mini skirt with their love handles overflowing on top? Why why why!!! Don't we like to hide those things?
2: How did they live w/o baby wipes before they were invented? And what's in them that gets rid of any stain or smudge.
3: Why do people take the mufflers off their cars to make them noisy? Why are Harley Davidson's legal and why do some people put a three foot lift on their car? On the other end of the spectrum, why do others make their cars so low they can barely get over a speed bump w/o doing permanent damage?
4: No matter what evidence is shown, people still smoke!!!
5: Sadie, Sadie, Sadie!! Need I say more?
6: How Chase can get ready in 5 minutes and me...indefinitely. And how he can look so incredibly hot w/o trying at all. Love that man!!
7: How do you keep a shower clean when you shower every day? Baby wipes?

Happy Independence Day!!

We had a grrrrrrrreat 4th of July. First of all we all (including Sadie)slept in, which is always nice and just lounged around the house during Sadie's morning nap. Chase didn't have to work so it was fun to have his delicious smoothie that I only get when he's home in the morning. Yummy!!


We met up with the Dargers and the Jeffries at the pool for a BBQ. Later that night we went up to USD to watch the fireworks. They were far enough away to not scare Sadie and she had quarters for eyes as she watched all the booming fireworks light up the sky. Note to anyone who wants to watch fireworks near the beach: Beware of the marine layer...you won't see anything but a red, white and blue cloud. Oh well, we had great company and that's all that matters.

Sadie's little buddies

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends out here in San Diego. Sadie always has so many fun babies to play with. Here's some of her bestest buddies. Here she is taking a bath with Peterson Darger. We'll dig this photo up when they start dating 20 years from now:-)


And here's little Kayla Bingham who lives just down the road from us. We get to see her on early morning walks and stops at the park.

Sadie can just take her pick from any of these cute little guys. She's outnumbered by Tanner, Davis and Peterson 3 to 1!! Lucky girl!!

Us Mommies get along pretty well too. Here we are at one of our weekly pool dates.

Sadie's growing up!!

So we did a little experiment to see if Sadie would eat with a fork. She's loves watermelon and if we stab it for her, she puts it in her mouth. Hooray for Sadie!!

Lets go Red Sox

Well this was the event of the year for Chase. The Red Sox came to San Diego and we mysteriously had tickets to the game:-) He probably hid the tickets where the fruit loops and coke are stashed. Boy can that boy heckle!! He turns into a new person when he's at a sporting event. Even though the sox lost we had seats right by Mani and that's all Chase needed to get him through the next few months until he can go to a game at Fenway when we're back East this fall.

Make new friends, but cherish the old.

Well, we did it. We finally sold the Jeep. Chase just drove away with it to it's new home after we took several pictures of it and wept a couple of tears. The Jeep was so much more than just a car. It represented a chapter in our lives that is now over. We've had this car ever since we started dating in 2000 and it's been so good to us. So many memories. We are growing up. We are now thinking about what is safe instead of what looks cool or what drives the fastest. We are thinking about gas mileage instead of using the Cannon Sinclair card. If we weren't driving to D.C. this fall we would keep it forever. No more will we complain about the gas mileage. No more will we worry about the car blowing up with the A/C running full blast. No more will we bounce around on the freeway. But at the same time, no more will Sadie look through the back window at the cars behind her and giggle. No more drives up Lambs canyon to look at the stars. No more throwing the surf board in the back and whatever else will fit to go the the beach. No more bumper stickers and no more ski rack up Cottonwood Canyon. No more Jeep. I thought I would never say this because I have always hated the Jeep, but I am really going to miss it and miss seeing Chase look so hot in it. On to bigger and better things, like a sedan...oh..how exciting. At lease I have my Vespa when I feel like being wild and crazy again.