a.rose

I'll make this quick. Hallie has a few words now! She started talking in MI thanks to a cat named Bubble. She loved that little guy, and refers to him as "Bup." That's pretty much what broke her language barrier. (She had been saying "what's that?" and "daddy" for months, but would not move past those words) Now she says, pretty much clear as a bell: (and I might forget a few) what's that daddy bath church peach juice please more more this toys oats pizza home pretty breakfast (ok not clear as a bell, but she tries real hard. she loves breakfast.) So we're excited about this!

Yesterday Hallie and I got to go to Nauvoo, because my visiting teaching companion offered to let us go with her when she went, and that she would watch Hallie for me so I could go to the temple. So, of course, that was wonderful, and we had a great day - thank you Sandy! But that's not the point here. While we were in Nauvoo, and Sandy was having her turn in the temple, Hallie and I were walking around after lunch. We heard bagpipes playing nearby, so of course off we went to investigate. We found a cluster of people, and the bagpipes were louder, so we knew we were in the right place. There were four people playing the bagpipes, and two people playing different drums. They were in full Scottish-wear, and they looked and sounded fabulous. Hallie had (dare I say obviously?) never heard anything like a bagpipe band (?) before, so she was enthralled. We stood there and listened to them for a while, and I realized that I had the goofiest, cheesiest grin on my face, and I don...

We went to MI to visit my parents for the Fourth of July, and it was really nice because both brothers and my sister were able to come with their families too, and it was the first time in a long time that we've been all together like that for just a vacation. Which might make you think that it was relaxing, until you remember that it was MY family. :) Which really means chaos!!! AND bonus, I talked my friend Al into coming up too. Here are a few photos of that awesome weekend. (note: I don't know how it happened, but I have NO pictures of Dan and Rachel!!! Yikes, I apologize, and I love you two.) Beautiful, beautiful GranB! Pappy is just loving having us all around. Annibelle, Mindee, and Pete! (Pete wanted to match Mindee.) Mimi, Jill, and Jeff hiding in the back. Hallie loves her Al soooo much. (Mostly because Al gave her kitty.)

I am still alive, albeit somedays I think only barely. I haven't given up hope yet though; each night I go to bed thinking 'tomorrow I won't be sick anymore.' Today I am feeling better, but trying to lay low to keep the germs from being suspicious. But, the pictures of Hallie and everything else just keep piling up, so here I'll put up a few in an effort to begin catching up. Hallie wears "high heels". Hallie loves swimming. This pool had a deep end, and a shallow end! How clever! Hallie helps Daddy clean the bathroom. I try to stay out of it, or I would worry about the chemicals, but I do tell Devin to at least put her in her swimsuit and then I mostly just cross my fingers and try not to think about it. (Am I am bad mom?) Hallie loves to read.

Well, I haven't gotten on my computer much lately, and most of you are probably angry with me because I haven't been answering my phone either. (I know, I know, you hate it when I do that.) This really isn't the way I wanted to do this, but I think it's going to be a while before I manage to get everyone called, and maybe this will make you not hate me so much. This is the main reason I've been so sick and tired lately: This, and I've just plain been sick this week. It's no fun when you're not allowed to take anything! (Ok, I know it's never fun to be sick, but please pity me. Please?) :) So, look for Baby Rose #2 January 20th, 2010!!! YIKES.

So, my friend Alisha said I should update my blog. This post is not going to be something new though, rather something old that I found and wanted to post, so would that be called a "downdate"? I think I would rather call it a "postdate", but if an "update" is new... That's not the point. So I found this video on our computer, and I don't think I even knew we had it, and while it makes me look completely ridiculous, I have to put it on here because it captures one of my favorite moments. And besides, you all know I am an absolute dork, so I really lose nothing. So when we lived in the Netherlands last fall my parents came to visit and we went on all sorts of trips, we drove to Belgium, Germany, and France. While we were on our way to France, my mom and I were talking about Paris, because that was our first destination, and we were speculating as to what it would be like to actually be in Paris! You know, like PARIS!!! It's given so much ...

note: Al, I had to put up another post. To see the one with pictures of you, it's just below this. So, my mother teaches English to Koreans over the phone. Sometimes I help her out by typing out her written evaluations of the lessons. Sometimes, my mom doesn't understand what they are saying. To her credit, she understands them much better than I do, usually. Here is my favorite instance of when I knew what the student was trying to say, and my mom still hadn't figured it out when I called her laughing. You might not think it's funny, but I have to transcribe it from the recording so that I always have it to reflect on when I need something like this. The conversation started because my mom had had trouble getting ahold of him, and he said he hadn't heard the phone ring until just now, but she had already called four times. So he said there was something wrong with his cell phone. So my mom said that instead of a ringing sound, she heard music playing that s...