a.rose

There are certain things in this bleak and dreary world that I am sure should not be documented. As an example, I present you with this: Yes, this is me, in eighth grade, in a swimsuit. Who took these pictures? Who thought that this ghastly image was important enough that it merited documentation? Let's move away from this unpleasantness to something a little more, pleasant. Because there are some things in this beautiful and glorious world that should be documented. Like, more of our time in the Netherlands: Let's actually travel a bit to Bruhl, Germany. I spent a beautiful day there once... Devin, Dad, Mom, Me What I wouldn't give to live here. Check out that awesome forest! Mom and Dad's new summer home This is what we came to Germany to see, this palace that belonged to some guy, at some time in history, that had some large amount of money and property. I think this was the place that had 400 bedrooms, 0 bathrooms. The tiny people clutching each other in the

Yes, it snowed here yesterday. Wild! I had to remind myself that it's still October. It's easy to get confused, the stores all decked out for Christmas, and then snow. We have yet to go trick or treating though! Oh dear. Well, in honor of that strange weather happening yesterday, I thought I'd put up some pictures of Hallie's room, so you can see how she sleeps in style. Thanks to Alison and Nicole. Also note her new crib! We love it. This was Devin's idea, to put the silver frames up like that. (note to Nicole and Alison: the paper got all destroyed in the move, so it did not look so good anymore. Devin had this idea. What do you think? I really like the way it looks...) This growth chart is courtesy of GG Boling. The cute little girl standing beneath it is courtesy of, me. She's biggest! Also I thought I would showcase our new table, because I absolutely love it. I was desperate for a new table, and we actually got one! Miracles never cease... We had the

Let's take another turn down memory lane. This is the International Court of Justice. If you commit a crime, you get tried at court. This is the place where you get tried if you have committed an international, global, really offensive crime. I do not want to see anyone I know there. I love the lighting in this picture. This is the world peace flame. Let's keep it burnin', baby. Mom and dad by the list of countries who are in agreement with having global peace, or something like that. I don't remember that. I do remember that it was really chilly.

We had stake conference this weekend. I sang in the choir. It was so fun to be in a choir again. I was so proud of Devin and Hallie, that was the longest I have ever been away from her, can you believe it? She was cold to me at first, but she eventually warmed right up again. One of the speakers mentioned the Den Haag Temple (the Hague, to you) and it took me back to last fall. I have already been thinking a lot about our time in the Netherlands lately, because that's where we were at this time last year, and because we have been walking to get our groceries lately, just like we did then... So, in honor of that, I have decided to put some of my favorite pictures of those times up here, and relive those memories. This way I'll know what stories go with the pictures in ten years! Devin and I at the temple, please note Devin's awesome hair. (Hair cuts were too expensive there for our budget, and I was scared to try...) With Mom and Dad Boling who came to visit us just aft

Life is fraught with troubles. They assail us on every turn. (Here are some good words. One of which I have just learned is considered archaic. I wonder what I read that leads me to know archaic words?) Back to the tribulations of life. I am currently struggling with one. I hardly know what to do with myself, nor do I have any ideas for a possible solution, that I have not already tried, and failed. If you wish to hear the sad tale of my trouble, read on. I can not take a shower. I have found it to be the hardest task of my day. When to do it, how to do it, why can't I do it, all of these things plague me. I wake up in the morning, and we go mall walking. I am sure that I could shower before we go, but then I would have to get up even earlier, and it is already painful enough for me to get out of the warm comfort of my bed into the cold darkness as it is. Also, I would have to shower again when we returned, I think. Then I come to when we return. I usually persuade H

We have been successful, Hallie has been a real trooper in taking the bottle, and she is really loving her graham crackers, rice krispies, and whatever we give her for dinner. I'm so proud of her! (and, quite frankly, of Devin and I as well... it's been a long process!) Devin and I have become mall walkers. That's right, we wake up at 6 in the morning, go to the mall, walk around and around, and then I drive Devin to work. It's really fun. The place is packed with the elderly, and interestingly enough, the majority were males. I'm not sure why this surprised us, but there you have it. It's a really nice mall. We figured the loop we do is 1/3 of a mile, so we went about a mile and a half today, but we got there late. That's pretty good for an early morning walk with baby I feel like. Any other news? We went to a Halloween party, and didn't really have a costume for Hallie. Devin's mom had recently sent us a package with Halloween socks and

Hallie has 5 teeth now. How exciting. She got the three new ones while we were in Michigan visiting mom and dad. What does this really mean? It means that she is biting things with sharp, brand new teeth. What is she biting? Namely, me. At the risk of sharing too much information (although, this is my blog), she is off solid foods, which means that I am her main source of food again. Don't they say that you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you? Especially when the "hand" is so very sensitive? Well, to make a long and painful story short, I cut her off tonight. She bit and pulled twice today in a very painful manner, and I couldn't take it anymore. We got a bottle ready (although the manual pump is quite a nuisance at times also) and force fed her that. She took it like a champ. We'll see how long my resolve lasts. Probably until she bites me again. I would also like to discuss words. I have many favorite words, that I just really like to use v

I feel that here at the beginning I should clarify something. It may look as though I have been "blogging" for quite some time now, but in reality, I had a blog 4 years ago, in which I wrote a handful of silly entries. I have copied and pasted those here so that you may laugh at me if you should like to. Just bear in mind that I was young then. Devin and I have been getting everything unpacked and sorted. Today we went to Target to buy some stuff that we needed, power cords, floor lamps, laundry basket, etc. The main purpose of telling this story is, again, so that you may laugh at me if you so choose, and also to illustrate what an imbecile I am. I suppose it could happen to anybody, but I have a feeling that it just doesn't. We were getting out of the car to go into the store, I was making some random comment to Devin and closing my door at the same time. I apparently don't always account for where all of my fingers are prior to such actions. You got it. S

Well here I go. Blogging again. We'll see how long it lasts this time. Devin will never understand this. That's ok. Is anyone going to read this? That's what he'll ask me. Why do people want to read it? Who has time to read it? What do you write about? He doesn't understand things like this because he works hard all the time, and as we all know, I do understand things like this because I hardly work. But seriously, what will I write about, and will anyone read this? I guess I will just have to see. Mimi said it was easy to put pictures up, so that will be fun, people can see pictures of Hallie and I can write about the picture. Well, that's all for now I think folks.

We spent a week and a half in Michigan after we moved to Peoria, before Devin had to start work. While I was there mom kept me extremely busy with projects. I am quite pleased with the results of my efforts. They may not be perfect, but I put a lot of time into it, and I think they turned out pretty well. I painted some bags, and I made some bracelets.