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.

A week with Mimi and Grandpa

We were fortunate enough to have lots of grandparent time this month. A week with Pops and CC on the East coast and a week with Grandpa and Mimi on the West. It was awesome to have my parents here. The only other time they have really been here was when Sadie was born and I was a little out of commission due to not being able to really walk that much. I was determined to show them the best of San Diego this time around. Unfortunately the day they got here, Sadie got sick. She must have caught a bug because the poor thing couldn't keep anything down. Although I think she was really enjoying not having to eat all her veggies and having Gatorade instead of water. My friend Dani told me about the "BRAT" diet where you feed a sick baby Bananas, Rice cereal, Applesauce, and Toast to help settle their stomach. This worked and she eventually got better a day later. She's really going to miss eating jello and having high fructose corn syrup in her sippy cup. At first I was a little frustrated that Sadie would get sick during the worst possible week but now that I look back it was the best time because with Chase working all day long, I would have have been home alone with Sadie and cleaning vomit all over the place with no one to help me. I was very grateful to have my parents there for support and for advice at the same time.

To make up for lost time we ran all over the place once she was feeling better. We went to La Jolla one day and shopped around on the main street out there. Sadie's favorite store was of course "Muttropolis" where she encountered a very friendly baby bulldog who loved her as much as she him. He licked her toes and she thought she had died and gone to heaven. It was hilarious. Mimi bought her a cell phone from Geppetos that looks extremely real and has been entertaining her ever since. We went on a hike in Torrey Pines and spent the rest of the day in Del Mar which is always fun. We also showed them the beautiful island of Coronado and walked on the beach for a while. It was a great trip and although their inflatable mattress deflated in the middle of the night, they seemed to have a great time hanging out with us but especially with Sadie Lady.
The highlight of the trip was seeing Mimi ride our little scooter. I didn't think I could ever get her on one of those things and she totally wanted to ride it. It was a very proud moment for all of us.
Grandpa took off one afternoon for hours exploring our surrounding with the wind rushing in his face. Knowing his views about the environment, I wouldn't be surprised if he purchased one himself so he could save a little more gas here and there. I love my parents!!!! I'm so glad they could come and see us!!!

Sadie and Walter Video

Cannon Beach Bums!!

It's about time we updated the blog seeing we've been home for a week from the Cannon family vacation in North Carolina. We had such a great time and even though we spent most of the time lounging on the beach, we made a lot of fun memories and it was so great for Sadie to be around all of her cousins. Sadie's cousins Ethan and James are around the same age so it was awesome watching them interact. Ethan was walking all over the place and was a great example to Sadie. By the time we left she wasn't just taking a step here and there, she was walking as her only mode of transportation. This was wonderful for the beach because she had a lot more fun walking around and playing in the inflatable pool than she has in the past here in San Diego. Before it was just a battle with the sunblock and the sand on her face and that was never fun. It's amazing what a difference two feet of elevation can make!!





Of course every day, we had to go on a search for doggies because we couldn't say no to the constant "uuff..ufffs" from Sadie. I've mentioned this before, but she is absolutely obsessed with dogs. She has learned a lot of new animal sounds. She can do the elephant while using her arm as the trunk, the monkey, gorilla, cat, and just learned to snort like a little piggy. It cracks me up every time she does the elephant. She was drilled by the older cousins to say lots of new words as well. She can now say "duck, ball, moon, ma ma, daddy, dog, no" and a strange language we call "talking." She likes to read to herself now and goes off in this cute little gibberish as she turns the pages. She's also learned to give kisses but only when she feels like it and it usually ends up being a big mouth of slobber on your cheek. We're having so much fun watching her learn how to do all these things. She loved watching and attempting to fly a kite as well.

She turned into a cuddle bug on the beach. I think the crashing waves worried her a little so for the first time since she was an newborn, she actually nuzzled up and cuddled with us as we sat on beach chairs. Before she was usually so hyper that this would have only lasted for a half of a second.

She took a lot of naps on the beach usually in Pops arms as he watched everyone play in the water around him or build that day's sand castle before the tide swept it away.

Overall, it was a great trip and even the long flight to D.C. was awesome. Sadie is just a great traveler. She even surprised a lot of the passengers on board at how pleasant she was. We are lucky parents!!
Chase just relished the short time of not having to read a law book. He also gave up his five month resolution to not have sugar and boy did he give it up. He couldn't handle watching everyone eat candy around him and he totally fell off the wagon. He says it's the best wagon he's ever fallen off of. He went from no sugar to eating fruit loops for every meal, gummy bears in between, and m&m's for dessert. I've got him back under control now that we're home and actually had a little argument in the cereal isle over a box of fruit loops that we were most certainly NOT going to by. He says he'll just come back and get them when I'm not looking. It wouldn't be the first time. Once he bought a huge case of coke from Costco and hid it in his closet. I guess we can officially call him a "closet drinker." Obviously we have different views on nutrition in our home.

I had a great time with all of the other moms and we actually handed all the kids over to the husbands one morning and went out for a morning of shopping and pedicures. It was awesome!!


Also, before we made the drive down to the Outer Banks, we had lunch with an old friend of mine from college and her little girl who is Sadie's age as well. Seeing that we are living in D.C. for the fall, I think it's safe to say Sadie and baby Lizzie will become very good little buddies. It was so fun meeting back up with Jess at our favorite restaurant...Cosi.


Well I can hear Sadie stirring in her crib which means it's time to sign off. Until next time. Here's some more pictures of the trip:


CC and Sadie in matching attire for church.

















Sadie upon discovering a doggie!!!














Sadie and her uncle Heber just chilling on the beach

Sea World

So we took Sadie to Sea World for the first time and she loved it!! There were a couple of times when the dolphins splashed the audience that she got a little scared and screamed her head off. We think sudden movements and screaming scare her a little bit. If I tickle Chase or vice-versa she shows a little distress. She's in a sensitive stage right now. She got to see the dolphin show, a doggie show, and of course the Shamu show. I can't believe how big that whale is!! We have a friend here who plays for the Chargers so he can get into all of the parks for free. It was kind of cool walking through the back entrance. I felt very high profile. We also rode the roller coaster which was sooooooooooo fun. Definitely not as scary as the State Line roller coaster but a lot of fun. The coolest part was that because we were doing a kid swap with the other couple we came with we got to go to the front of the line. Having a baby definitely has it's advantages.

Sadie takes her first steps

Sadie has been teasing us with little steps now and then for about a month but on Mother's Day she gave me the best gift ever and walked 8 consecutive steps in the middle of the floor with out any support. It was so overwhelming that it made Mom (and Dad...shhh) weep tears of joy. Our little baby is growing up!!

Sadie's real birthday

So Chase and I were so excited to celebrate Sadie's birthday with her but everything seemed to go wrong that day. It's actually quite humorous in retrospect. The first thing we did was go into her room with a video camera singing "happy birthday" as she first woke up from a nap. She's seemed a little distressed which was a strange considering she's usually all smiles when she first wakes up. Well, we continued singing and now when we watch the video we can plainly see that her leg was stuck in between the wood crib. Poor thing was trying to tell us and all we wanted to do was sing to her. I eventually figured it out when I tried to get her out of bed and she was unmovable. So sad. So after she had recovered from her first traumatic experience of the day we tried to give her some birthday cake because she didn't like it at her birthday party a couple of days earlier. We were dumb enough to actually light a candle and place it in front of her. Of course she tried to grab the flame and when I gasped and intervened it scared her so much so cried for the next ten minutes. (See picture below) There was nothing we could do to console her. Sadie is a tender hearted little thing, but this was just extremely unusual behavior for a baby who has a cupcake in front of her. So I ended up eating her cupcake..yum..and she had her lunch of Yogurt and applesauce (what she wanted in the first place.) We decided that on her birthday Chase would take a break from studying and we would visit all the places that Sadie loves. She went to the zoo in the morning and the beach in the afternoon. She loved the zoo, as always, but had a hard time at the beach because the water was too cold and it scared her a little bit. We hope we aren't raising a wimp but even I won't get in that water with out a wet suit. When we finally got home we ended up putting her to bed an hour earlier than usual because she was so cranky. Some birthday. The poor thing had a miserable day. So we've decided that from now on we aren't going to try so hard to please a one year old when birthdays come around again. We'll just stick to the old routine and let her play with my wallet. That's all she wants to do all day anyway. Also, on the eve of a birthday we won't keep her up until 11 p.m. watching the jazz game at the Jeffries. No wonder she was such a mess. GO JAZZ!!

Sadie tells us her life story at 6 weeks old in the video below.

Hello everyone. Well Chase is studying again (actually I'm looking over there and he's actually sleeping...poor guy is totally wiped out), so I thought I would update our blog now that Sadie has finally gone down for a nap. Today we celebrated Sadie's birthday with her friend Tanner Swenson. It was hilarious watching the two of them and how differently they reacted to the cake. Sadie didn't want a thing to do with it. She thought the candle was pretty neat but thought all the sweet stuff underneath was nothing to write home about. Tanner on the other hand, chowed down and had frosting all over his face. Sadie had more fun watching him get all messy than eating her own cake. It was a pool party so a bunch of us San Diegans got together to celebrate in the warm sunny weather. I'm going to try again with the cake on Sadie's real birthday (the 8th) and see if she really doesn't like it. A part of me hopes she doesn't. We don't need any more sweet teeth around here.

So good news. Chase was hired on by Judge Swift in the United States Tax Court. This means two things; 1) we will be moving to D.C. in the fall, and 2) he won't be working for the SEC after all because the Judge wants him full time. We are so excited to get back to D.C. where we first met and fell in love (cheesy, I know) and to have Sadie there with us. As for this summer, we are staying here where Chase will be working for the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Corporations. I love San Diego so I'm glad we get to be here for the best time of the year....summer!!! We plan on spending a lot of time at the beach and the pool. All we can think of right now is just getting finals week behind us. It's amazing to think that Sadie was born right in between two of Chase's finals last year. I'm proud of him for always being such a great dad and husband to me but also being able to handle all the studying as well. What a guy!!

Well, that's all for now. I'll write more when finals are done and we are all sane again.