Addie is amazingly good at playing computer games with the mouse. Here she is coloring Dora the Explorer on nickjr.com...it's her new favorite "special activity," narrowly beating out playdoh.

Addie really likes playing with Uncle Matt's dog, Toby. She was feeding Toby dog food one tiny chunk at a time. Here she is at bedtime.

Here's another of Heidi with Aunt Amie

Amie & Matt arrived tonight shortly before 7pm. We immediately got Jake and Heidi together to play and they were so cute. Here's Heidi with Aunt Amie and Cousin Jake just before bedtime.

Excuse me while I practice posting photos...here is what our house looked like on July 25th. It looks pretty much the same now, but with a roof and and garage pad over on the left. 

Heidi Lynn says hello from under the sheets after her nap on Monday, August 16. Putting sheets or blankets over her face makes her giggle with delight. 

Return of the Post

It has been more than seven months since I last posted here and I don't know why that made me feel like I couldn't just start up again. I suppose trying to "catch up" seemed too daunting. So I won't catch up. I'll only tell you that we are alive and well and now we are four...

Meaning that Rich, Addie, and I are still alive, and I had my baby girl on April 15, 2004 (during the "Apprentice" finale at 9:40pm) and she is delightful and healthy and smart and beautiful. I thought I couldn't love a baby as much as Addie, but I do. They are fabulous kids and I love being their mom. I can't believe I'm their mom sometimes (I mean, they are cute and smart and funny, etc...did I really give birth to all this?), but I do love it.

Oh, yeah...we named the baby Heidi Lynn. Heidi because (a) it's Germanic like Adeline and (b)all the Heidi's we have ever known are so cute and fun. Lynn because it's my dear Grandma's name and my middle name.

Also, we started building our house in a mutual self-help housing development. That means we get a nice low interest rate and lots of support from the USDA. Plus, we all help build the 10 houses in the development as our downpayment--about $13,000 in sweat equity. It's cool because I am learning how a house goes together, which makes maintaining a house as an owner a lot easier. I am also learning what a wimp I am--I only work there 2 or 3 times a week (Rich goes almost every day) and I get blisters and a sore back everytime! Tonight we were rained out by a wicked summer storm while trying to backfill window wells, so I didn't get sore, just wet and muddy.

It's super late and I am super tired and my whole family is asleep, so I must say g'nite. But I will be posting more often, trying to document this time in our lives.

Sisters...Addie holding Heidi on April 18th

Heidi (40 minutes old), Jamie, & Addie on Heidi's birthday--April 15, 2004

Our Family in SLC, 30 July 2004: Addie, Jamie, Heidi, And Rich

Happy New Year

It doesn't seem that long since I wrote, but I guess it has been. Our wonderful CHristmas trip to AZ was a bust--we got the worst bug ever and had fevers and chills and chest coughs and vomiting starting Christmas eve and persisting even until today--2 weeks and counting. Shucks. We DID have a good time with family and friends, even though we looked and felt like slugs.

Also, I did have a second ultra sound on December 15th and the baby appears to be a girl, which I am quite happy about.

I don't have much else to say right now and I keep having coughing fits anyway, so I'll write more later. Happy 2004!