The Pictures Kyle DIDN'T Show You

Modern Art

Here is Meghan trying some sweet potatoes. She thought they tasted great. However, she quickly lost interest in eating and started a short lived modern art gallery. This finger-painting is titled "Untitled."

Given that we're far away, I wanted to be able to talk to all the people that we miss. So I went and got a headset for Skype, Google Talk, and MSN Messenger. Here's a shot of me Styling it.

I'm Enjoying my job. I do web stuff. My commute is pretty reasonable, just under a half hour. I live in a windowless box with three other developers. I bring lunch usually, although on Wednesdays, I go out for Thai Wednesday with the rest of the office. Tanya is so sweet, she makes my lunch in the morning. All in all, I think I'm doing well for having been on the job a short time.

Moving to Maryland Part 2: Always Exercise your Pets

Driving is hard work. So we had to get out and Kyle did a couple of jumping jacks and stretches to limber up again. We also ate a small breakfast while Meghan crawled in the damp grass and played with ants. Then it was on the road again.

Meghan quickly got tired of her car seat. She didn't mind being in it after a while, but if we tried to put her back in after a break she would start crying. She would play with toys for a short while, but was not happy that she could only get out for diaper changes and short breaks.

We passed through states as quickly as we could heading for Ohio to rest at Tasha's house. But remember that wobble? Well, Kyle just couldn't understand the idea of "go slower." My spirituality must have increased by a power of magnitude I was praying so much.

We stopped for gas in the middle of Nowhere. Apparently Fat Dogs are popular there.

As it got later we managed to reach Mormon Island. Ready for a break we parked at a camping spot and prepared to set up the tent Kyle had purchased a few weeks before for this exact purpose. Unfortunately, someone had misplaced a vital part. So, while Kyle and Meghan rested on a blanket, I got to drive around to find a Walmart where I could purchase a cheap tent. My Walmart sensing abilities are top notch because it didn't take me long even though I had to make several turns to get there. I quickly returned to camp, set up the tent and allowed Kyle and Meghan to crawl inside for a nap. We decided to camp the night there and leave in the morning. It was very refreshing.

We set out again, determined to reach Tasha's. Kyle still did the majority of the driving. So I still sat in back with Meghan. I must admit, the view was rather boring from there.
Driving through some of the states were tedious because they delighted in lowering the speed limit for tourists and truckers. That was obnoxious. But I endured. We stopped in Dutchland and saw the windmills - or rather, some small town along the way that built windmills for historical purposes. Unfortunately, either I'd gotten bored of recording, forgetful or just plain ran out of battery because we had no more pictures of the rest of the trip. .

Friday night, we arrived at Tasha's house in the middle of the night after a winding drive during which we got lost at least once. Grateful for the chance to get clean (hurray for hot water showers!) and lay down on a bed, we slept the rest of the night.

My Little Indian

While we wait for Daddy to come home, we hunt turtles. Mmmmmm, tastes good!

Moving to Maryland Part 1: Getting Started

For our Move to Maryland we decided to drive across country, towing a trailer filled with our junk. I was sure it would be an adventure. Even the UHaul that we rented said "America's Moving Adventure" so that was counted as a positive sign. I was a little nervous about whether we would fit everything into the UHaul but since we sold so much stuff at the Knorr K-norr Emporium Garage Sale there was no problems.

The actual moving part of the Move to Maryland began in the evening. We arranged to leave from Riverton (where Kyle's parents live) at night so that Meghan would sleep most of the first couple of hours. We packed our bags and said goodbye to Kyle's family. It was sad to leave but we would/will see them again.



We set out East, headed towards Wyoming. Meghan quickly fell asleep, as we predicted. As we hopped on the interstate we were confronted with our first problem - one that would stay with us the rest of the trip. As Kyle accelerated, the trailer began to wobble back and forth. This wobbling may not have been too big of a deal in a bigger car but our little Blazer started wobbling along with it. I was sure we were going to die. After a few phone calls and reassurances that wobbling trailers weren't a big deal and that we should just go slow, we rebuckled our seat belts and drove into Wyoming.


Wyoming came quickly, and with it a lovely sunrise. Kyle, being the trooper he is, did most of the driving. I stayed in the back and slept and fed Meghan as she needed. I was also in charge of documenting the event. Here are pictures from our first day.

While Kyle plays...

Kyle is currently playing chess online so I'll do a quick update. Here is Meghan standing in her crib. She has gone from scooting to crawling to using things to stand and climbing up stairs and onto boxes in one short month. Its quite a business keeping after her. She also says DaDaDa and EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Kyle enjoys his job and I love mine. Other than that, we don't do much interesting. Kyle has resurrected his chess hobby and I'm back to reading when I'm not cleaning or changing diapers.

Saying "Hi!" from Maryland

We have finally arrived in our new state, Maryland! It is very warm (and humid) and also very very green. There is lots of news to update about but as this is a public computer (no home internet yet) the update will have to wait. So here is a picture of Meghan saying hi, just to let everyone know we're alive.

Family Photo

Here is a family photo of us. Taken in our new townhouse in Maryland!

GRADUATE!!!

Here we have a mannequin posing as Kyle in his graduation cap. We've both finally graduated, but rather than pay $40 bucks each to put on a dress and piece of cardboard, sit for several hours and hear a few boring speeches, we decided to skip the ceremony and party instead. We partied Thursday with Matt, Corinna, Bruce, and Bruce. We spent the evening in the yellow room at B&B's. Corinna came over and made waffles in the morning. We left that evening for Salt Lake. Saturday we vegged with Kyle's Family binging on 6 hours of television. I think my eyeballs fried. All in all, much more fun than hearing pomp and circumstance 50 times in a weekend.

Getting Ready for Camping!

Since we're moving to Maryland, we figured we had better have some camping gear, especially a tent, so that we wouldn't be completely homeless when we arrived. So, Kyle purchased a tent to house our little family. Here is Meghan testing it out.

While Mom is away...

Kyle left these pictures on the camera to show me what Meghan does while I'm gone. And here I am wondering, where is Kyle while she's getting into all this trouble?

Fun in the Trauma Center

Here is Meghan enjoying the Trauma Center we borrowed from Nana and Oompa Butt. Unlike Vonn Knorr, Meghan likes Trauma Centers. They make her feel like a big girl.

Another issue we have is taking naps. Getting nursed to sleep every time is logistically impossible. So here is how Meghan puts herself to sleep: Flips to her stomach, scoots around screaming, gets stuck in a corner then falls asleep in exhaustion.

We're going to...

MARYLAND!

Kyle has accepted a job offer from White Oak Technologies, Inc and everything is all official now. So we'll be packing our bags and moving out there before May 21, which is when he starts. We're looking at living in Charles County, probably somewhere around Waldorf or La Plata at first before finding a house.

Lots of things to do before then though, like graduate (only 1 week, 2 days of classes and 1 week of finals!) and sell our contract.

And Loving It!

I came across some good news that I just had to share. Get Smart, the old spy spoof show of the 60s, is now available on DVD at TimeLife.com! All 5 seasons of it! If we had money, I would tell Kyle to get it for my birthday. Unfortunately, I shall have to wait. It won't be available in stores until Fall 2007 so TimeLife is the only place and way to get legitimate, real copies. One day...

IT LIVES!!!

For his birthday, Kyle got a new motherboard for his broken Rio Karma mp3 player. He was mucho mucho excited. The selection wheel broke when we were first married (black part of picure on top). So he got a new one last year, but broke it. Above is the evidence.
So, this year, we tried again so that I could avoid having to buy him a 200 dollar mp3 player. At 15 bucks, free shipping, for a new motherboard I figured it was a good investment. This time, he managed to assemble it correctly (below). So, happy happy day!

DDR Queen

Meghan and I get our exercise by playing DDR. She's very good at it and makes the selection screen change while I'm trying to set my options. That can make it challenging
to pick my song. She likes to pick the hard songs that are way too fast for Mom to dance to like Afronova.

4 months

Meghan was born 4 months ago Sunday. We took her picture today, and so here she is. She's accomplished a lot in the past month. She has a habit of rolling onto her tummy (even when she's half asleep). From there she kicks and tries very hard to move. She's not content staying in one place anymore. She tries to sit up, and can if you let her hold your fingers. She has also developed a habit of sucking her fingers. (See photographic evidence).
All in all, she's growing well, and is really cute.

A Trip to Maryland

Kyle flew to Maryland Monday morning for an interview with White Oak Technologies, Inc. on Tuesday. While he was there, he took the opportunity to take a look at Maryland - unfortunately, he didn't take any pictures so all the pictures here I had to find on the internet.
He was near DC. For reference, DC is the little square cut out of Prince George's and Montgomery counties.

The interview went well. Kyle was impressed with White Oak and they were impressed with him from the sound of it. Who knows? Maybe they'll like what they heard. We may end up in Maryland after all.



While he was there, Kyle took the opportunity to play DDR at a mall. Some black kids challenged him to a DDR face-off. Unfortunately, Kyle was a little rusty and lost.

But that's OK, because he can still beat Vonn.




While Kyle was gone, I played with Meghan and wrote my paper. But that night, I was scared to sleep by myself - I was afraid the monsters would get me since Kyle wasn't there to protect me. I'm afraid I must suffer from the overactive imagination that afflicts certain members of my family. Even though I told myself there were no monsters, I had to get up and close the door, then run back to bed.

Fortunately, I survived and was not killed and eaten.

Its Just like Vonn's!

Today we finally got Meghan a toy gym. She no longer has to sit under Dad's guitar stool. She has moved up from the C plan to the B plan!

Although we will admit some similarity in gym style to the Knorr one....

As you can also see in this picture, Meghan has been chewing on her hands a lot. And drooling a lot. I hope she doesn't get any teeth too soon.

Blackmail Material

Today we developed an old cheapo camera we had lying around. How delightful it was to find pictures of the twister-a-thon! I absolutely love Stevie's skin tight black shirt and Bruce's headband.

Babysitting Buddies

Last Friday we had the opportunity to babysit Vonn Knorr. We figured since he was so cute, we had to put him in our blog as well. Luckily for me, Kyle took on the task of being Vonn's babysitting buddy. 15 minutes after Vonn arrived, the living room was trashed. But that didn't stop us from having a grand old time.

Vonn played with Meghan, learned to juggle, played guitar and danced. To play with Meghan he did one of three things: tried to pick her up, hit her or threw toys at her. Learning to juggle consisted of grabbing the balls from Kyle and throwing them either at Kyle or Meghan. To play guitar he did strum with the pick, but preferred dropping the pick inside the sound hole.

But he really did dance.

Spring Break

We returned to Logan after a fun (and warm!) time in Riverton. Kyle enjoyed playing with Meghan on the broken trampoline.
Meghan is trying very very hard to roll. She can make it 3/4 of the way, but hasn't figured out what to do with her arm. She has also figured her hands out and spends a lot of time feeling her gums and hugging her toys. Her eyes seem to be changing color as well and currently look somewhat grey.

When we arrived home I was surprised when I found a package for me from my husband. It was the music from the Broadway Musical Beauty and the Beast! It's a lot like the movie, but has extra songs that are lots of fun, such as Gaston's song "Me."

1 Year, WooHoo

Tanya and I celebrated our one year anniversary on Sunday. To celebrate we went to see Breach on Monday morning. I highly recommend it. We caught the matinée. Tuesday for lunch we went to the Olive Garden. We're down in Salt Lake for spring break, so Nana Butt watched Meghan while we were away. The date was split into two parts because we didn't want to be away from Meghan too long.

Meghan is rolling over from her tummy to her back now, which is good for her, because she can now end tummy time on her own, without anyone's help. Just so we can be like everyone else, here's a picture of her.

Or not, blogger keeps choking on upload.


Kyle