Colorado!

We have been in Colorado for just over three weeks and are enjoying it. We did the drive in one, long day. Poor Jeff drove 17 hours on only four hours of sleep and poor Tyler was stuck in a car seat for that whole time! Tyler did great the first 14/15 or so hours, but had a hard time after that. I don’t blame him! We are staying with my aunt Julee and Uncle Bryan. They have been kind enough to let us stay here as long as we need. They have even offered for us to stay here for Jeff’s entire program, two and a half years!  It would be tempting if Jeff didn’t have such a long commute. In the mornings he leaves at 6:45 a.m. and it takes him 40 minutes to get to school. In the afternoon, he leaves at 5:00 p.m. and it takes an hour, sometimes more, to get home. So, while it is wonderful to be here, we know it can’t be long term.

The two words I would use to describe the house are spacious and gorgeous. The house looks like it could be in a magazine. Up at camping, Linda called it “the castle”. I think that is fitting. Jeff, Tyler and I pretty much have our own “wing” of the house. A few days after being here, we had all of our things delivered from Pods in Philadelphia. When the Pods delivery man came to this house, he kept remarking on what an amazing house this was. He asked Jeff if it was his house and when Jeff told him no, that didn’t stop him from continuing to tell Jeff how great the house was. Jeff said later on he could hear the delivery man on the phone with a friend talking about what an amazing house this was. We are keeping our things from Pods in the barn until we move into our own place.

There was wedding her yesterday. Random. But an older couple in Aunt Julee and Uncle Bryan’s last ward needed a “place with a view” for their small wedding and so the bishop asked if the wedding could take place here. Aunt Julee said sure. It was kind of funny, the wedding took place outside, but then the photographer (who was also Aunt Julee and Uncle Bryan’s realtor) took the couple inside and took pictures all around the house!

Funny story. The scenery of this house and actually Colorado in general is beautiful. I thought it would be. Well, something that is neat about here is that deer roam freely. One day I said to Uncle Bryan, “We saw three deer this morning”. Uncle Bryan replied, being the hunter he is, “Those are bucks and how many horns did they have. Three and four? There are a few three and four horned ones that come around.” I said I didn’t know and he said, “Well, I’ll let it slide this time, but from now on you better know how many horns they have.”  

"Bucks, not deer"

 Another funny thing is, well kind of sad, is that because the windows reflect the trees, birds often fly into them and die! Depending on how loud the bang is, you can predict if they made it out alive or not. We are so grateful for Aunt Julee and Uncle Bryan for opening their house to us.

It is so fun to live here. The kids are so funny. At home are Baylee, Shelby, Trista, and Tanner. They are all pretty fun in their own way. Baylee reminds me a lot of myself when it comes to school. Shelby’s new thing is to tell yourself, “You’re great, don’t even worry about it” as a way to boost your own self esteem. So, ten times a day you hear someone telling himself or herself that he or she is great and not to not even worry about it. Trista is so good with Tyler, it is crazy. She can put him to sleep when he is fussy. Tanner is so funny to watch, with and without Tyler. Tanner thinks it is so gross when Tyler spits up on him.  He just laughs (something he often does) and goes “Gross!! I have to go change!”  It is crazy to see them growing up because I remember them all when they were little.  Aunt Julee is a really good person to be able to spend time with. She is a good example of a righteous and good hearted mother. I think I can learn a lot from her. It is neat to see that Uncle Bryan not only works hard at his job, but comes home and helps around the house too. We are blessed to be around such a great family.

Jeff has been in school for two weeks now. His first week was pretty easy, just setting up accounts, getting lectured by financial aid, getting an id card, etc. The second week, and next week, is a lot harder. They are/will be lectured all day and receive some intense training, that way they can start working on their own patients. Jeff already helped put on and take off a set of braces. I was impressed but he wasn’t, apparently he had already done that in dental school. Well excuse me! ;) 

Worn out!

Studying with dad

Jeff has also decided to take up fishing again. He bought a pole last Friday and went fishing the next day. I am happy he will have a hobby. 

 

“Baby Ty Ty”, name given by Mason (or MPC as he refers to himself as), and I just stay at home. I am trying to learn more about him and find out how to be the best mom I can. It is so stressful to think that I am responsible for a human being’s development! I read what he should be doing at each month in order to make sure he isn’t behind. He is such a funny little guy (and yes, I realize I use that word a lot). He has great big brown eyes, a huge smile and cute little laugh. When he smiles really big, his ears move back. He has been sleeping a ton since we got here. I was worried at first, but quickly realized he was probably so exhausted from all of our traveling this summer and that he was just catching up! 

Baby and Momma time at the beach in CA

A few things about him:

First Nap in Colorado

-He doesn’t like the dark. In fact, if I don’t put his shirt on over his face fast enough, it freaks him out.

-He always has his hands busy and has since he was in the womb! The doctors told me Tyler was head down but I didn’t know how that could be true because I always felt this little scratching in my lower stomach. I thought it must be his feet moving. Well, when he came out and had his little fingers scratching and moving I finally realized it had been his hands all along! 

All Smiles

- He is big for his age. We haven’t taken him to the doctor yet, but a few weeks ago Jeff did some at home measurements and he was in the 99% for height, and in the late 70s for his head and weight. On Sunday I was talking to this woman who was holding a small baby girl. I thought because of the baby’s size and sleepiness, she must have been a few weeks younger than Tyler. Nope, she was born four days before him!

-He is an active and alert little baby. He has actually always been pretty alert, right from when he was born. The nurse said “Let’s see if we can get him to open his eyes” and then said, “Oh, he already is.” Anytime people saw him or his birth pictures, they often commented on how alert he was. 

Looking Innocent

-He has brought Jeff and me closer together. Having children really can help bond a family. Having a baby is hard work and is overwhelming, but I just keep asking for Heavenly Father’s help.

 -His hair only stays "done" for a few minutes, for the time it takes it to dry. He was born with a lot of hair and still has most of it. I brush his hair right after he comes out of the bath but you would never know it if you saw him more than five minutes later. 

-He used to love to drink his own bath water! What a terrible habit he got into. Thankfully, he forgot it once we got to CO. Actually, I made the mistake last week of letting him taste water from the tap and he remembered that he liked his bath water and spent the rest of the time in the bath trying to drink the water.

Since we have been in Colorado, I have been able to visit the Reeds and we have seen the Wheats twice. I went to Krista Reed’s farewell the first Sunday we were here. She will be serving in the St. Louis mission. I told her about Ted Drews, even though I have never been there. It is amazing to see her go on a mission; I remember when she was 12. Woah, have I known the Reeds that long? I guess so. Tyler spit up all over Brother Reed:  his suit, tie, shoes, and even managed to get it on the carpet. I had warned Brother Reed Tyler might spit up on him but since Tyler had already been burped and spit up, he thought Tyler wouldn’t do it again. (Oh ya, Tyler always seems to spit up on Jeff. No matter if he ate, two minutes or two hours ago, he always spits up on Jeff). I love the Reeds. I hope to see them soon. We saw the Wheats a few days after we got here. We went to their house for dinner and games. We played a pretty cool game, a game that looked lame, but was actually very interesting. Kevin had been given the game years ago but never played it because it looked so weird (the cover looked anime-ish).  Last night they came over for games. Kevin is so ridiculous. He told the kids that Jeff came home early from his mission because he was flirting with a girl in Venezuela. I said it wasn’t true and to not believe anything Kevin says. Baylee said, “Oh, I was going to say, ‘Really? Ace, did you know this?’”  

Well, I think that is it. Tyler has been napping and instead of napping myself, I decided to write a post. I have been wanting to blog for awhile now but haven’t had time because when Tyler sleeps, so do I.