We made some videos of Marcella about a month ago...when she first started drinking from a glass. Here they are! (broadband only, they're pretty big.)
Smaller File (50 MB)
Larger, Better Quality File (71 MB)
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
A type of newsletter
Kanien and I are pretty good about posting pictures and stuff, but we hardly ever do "life update" or "newsletter" posts. I'm going to try one today.
May has been a busy month for us. At the start of February I asked the Library if I could attend a conference/training session in Vancouver, WA. They said yes. The conference was set for May 3-5. The semester finished the last week in April, but I had some schoolwork that unexpectedly extended into May. One of my professors this past semester had a penchant for asking me to rewrite papers. It was something I'm pretty unfamiliar with. All of my teachers up to this point either gave me good grades or bad grades on my essays, and that was the end of it. This guy refused to grade two of my papers until I had rewritten them. One of these was my final essay. He asked me to rewrite it after classes had ended. I was glad he was giving me the opportunity to improve, but not too excited that I had to keep working on school stuff even though school should have been over. He also asked me to have it done by May 5. That meant it would be due when I was in Washington. Well...I went to the conference, had a good time, finished my paper during breaks, and got a good grade. The whole ordeal (conference+paper) was pretty time consuming, and it set the tone for the rest of the month.
Ted Hollist is in school at Ohio State University. About three weeks ago he called me up and asked if I'd come out and see him if it only cost me $100.00. I said I would, but told him there's no way it would cost so little. Well...a friend needed him to drive a car back to Utah, and a one-way ticket from SLC-Columbus costs $100.00. I asked Kanien if she could handle Grandma and she said she could.
Meanwhile, Kanien and I volunteered to watch Lizzy and Kristin while they were in Europe with Spencer. This is more work for Kanien than it is for me, but I still have to wrestle with the horrible commute to and from Salt Lake City each day we're up in Kaysville. The trip to Ohio would take place the last weekend Mom and Dad would be gone. Sooo...Kanien would have to do all of the Kristin/Lizzy stuff, take care of Marcella, and feed Grandma Noni for the days I was gone. She still said she'd do it. Thinking back on it, I'm amazed she did. The trip was more driving than anything else, but it was fun to hang out with old high school friends. That was the weekend before Memorial Day.
Kanien and I had planned to go to the Cabin over Memorail day. We'd been looking forward to it since February. We were supposed to go last December (after Christmas), but couldn't get away from our committment to Grandma Noni. No one else wanted to watch her during the holiday, so we cancelled. Dad initially said the family would all be there over Memorial Day, but he realized it would mean missing three weeks of Sacrament Meeting in a row, and they might remove him from the bishopric if he did that. We invited Cameron and Amie Jacobson to come with us.
Kanien's Dad is a member of the 19th Special Forces. He has been assigned to go to Afghanistan for 18 months. He'll be leaving June 9. Kanien has been spending time up there with Marcella. We're all going to miss him, but it's sad to know he'll miss a lot of the growing up Marcella will do. Kids change so much in their first two years, and Marcella will be two when he gets back. So we decided to leave her with Kanien's Mom while we were in Island Park.
I wanted to leave around 5:00 on Friday to head to Idaho. Lots of stuff happened, and we didn't end up leaving until 8:30 or so. We got to Tremonton around 9:00, stopped to eat, and weren't on the road again until 10:00. We arrived at the cabin at 2:30 (almost) am. After a quick bathroom break, we realized there was no water. It was so late I didn't really give it much thought, and just went to bed. Between us four and the 10 people in the Wards party, we filled every bed in the cabin.
Cameron and Amie
After we got up the next morning, Dave and Cameron started checking out the pump. Everyone has heard Mom and Dad's horror story from last December. Being up there with no water was pretty miserable. They had to melt snow all day just to get enough water to drink, wash dishes, flush toilets, and take bucket baths. It didn't sound very fun, so I was really hoping Dave would be able to fix it. Here's a picture of us around the pump house. Dave has a capacitor in his hand. We thought this might be the culprit, but it wasn't.
We ended up calling a pump man out. He came and said the pump had died, and would need to be extracted. The pump isn't something that sits in the pumphouse above ground like you'd think. It's a submersible pump that sits at the bottom of a 30 foot (or so) pipe; it fills a pressure tank that supplies the cabin with water so you get constant water pressure. To replace it you have to pull out the 30 feet of pipe and then access the pump. It's something a professional has to do, so we were without running water for the duration of the trip.
Big Springs
Saturday morning we went up to Ray VanMitchell's (or VanMitzell, I'm not sure how you say his last name) cabin to ask him if we could use some of his water. He said we could. His wife also said we could go up there to shower if we wanted. So Cameron and I ended up lugging a huge rubber tub filled with water back from his cabin four times. It wasn't fun, but it did lessen the water issue. We didn't have to melt snow for water. The trip was more like camping than a cabin trip, but it was still very fun. We played games, ate good food, read books, hiked, went to Big Springs, Moose Creek, and Mesa Falls, and just had a great time.
Glacier Lily
Lucky Dog
Mesa Falls
We got home last night and picked up Marcella from Mom and Dad Wallin's house. They had watched her most of Sunday and Monday. She's growing quickly and doing great. She crawl, but only backwards. It's pretty funny to watch. I'm going to try and get a video of it tonight, but I can't guarantee anything. She's learning to respond to us, too. We've taught her "Sooooo Big!" and some form of "Pat-a-Cake". We need to get those on video, too. She's started to sleep on her side. It's somewhat difficult to explain in writing, but I'll try to get some pictures of what I mean. So now we're supposedly back to our normal routine. I've been starting a garden, and taking pictures of the process. Once I get them all organized, I'll post how it has turned out so far. We enjoy the family we have here in Utah, and miss the people who aren't here. I hope you all have a great summer!
There are more pictures here: Picture Gallery
I know it looks like there's just one picture, but it's actually a link to a page with more pictures. You can click on the pictures for various sizes.
May has been a busy month for us. At the start of February I asked the Library if I could attend a conference/training session in Vancouver, WA. They said yes. The conference was set for May 3-5. The semester finished the last week in April, but I had some schoolwork that unexpectedly extended into May. One of my professors this past semester had a penchant for asking me to rewrite papers. It was something I'm pretty unfamiliar with. All of my teachers up to this point either gave me good grades or bad grades on my essays, and that was the end of it. This guy refused to grade two of my papers until I had rewritten them. One of these was my final essay. He asked me to rewrite it after classes had ended. I was glad he was giving me the opportunity to improve, but not too excited that I had to keep working on school stuff even though school should have been over. He also asked me to have it done by May 5. That meant it would be due when I was in Washington. Well...I went to the conference, had a good time, finished my paper during breaks, and got a good grade. The whole ordeal (conference+paper) was pretty time consuming, and it set the tone for the rest of the month.
Ted Hollist is in school at Ohio State University. About three weeks ago he called me up and asked if I'd come out and see him if it only cost me $100.00. I said I would, but told him there's no way it would cost so little. Well...a friend needed him to drive a car back to Utah, and a one-way ticket from SLC-Columbus costs $100.00. I asked Kanien if she could handle Grandma and she said she could.
Meanwhile, Kanien and I volunteered to watch Lizzy and Kristin while they were in Europe with Spencer. This is more work for Kanien than it is for me, but I still have to wrestle with the horrible commute to and from Salt Lake City each day we're up in Kaysville. The trip to Ohio would take place the last weekend Mom and Dad would be gone. Sooo...Kanien would have to do all of the Kristin/Lizzy stuff, take care of Marcella, and feed Grandma Noni for the days I was gone. She still said she'd do it. Thinking back on it, I'm amazed she did. The trip was more driving than anything else, but it was fun to hang out with old high school friends. That was the weekend before Memorial Day.
Kanien and I had planned to go to the Cabin over Memorail day. We'd been looking forward to it since February. We were supposed to go last December (after Christmas), but couldn't get away from our committment to Grandma Noni. No one else wanted to watch her during the holiday, so we cancelled. Dad initially said the family would all be there over Memorial Day, but he realized it would mean missing three weeks of Sacrament Meeting in a row, and they might remove him from the bishopric if he did that. We invited Cameron and Amie Jacobson to come with us.
Kanien's Dad is a member of the 19th Special Forces. He has been assigned to go to Afghanistan for 18 months. He'll be leaving June 9. Kanien has been spending time up there with Marcella. We're all going to miss him, but it's sad to know he'll miss a lot of the growing up Marcella will do. Kids change so much in their first two years, and Marcella will be two when he gets back. So we decided to leave her with Kanien's Mom while we were in Island Park.
I wanted to leave around 5:00 on Friday to head to Idaho. Lots of stuff happened, and we didn't end up leaving until 8:30 or so. We got to Tremonton around 9:00, stopped to eat, and weren't on the road again until 10:00. We arrived at the cabin at 2:30 (almost) am. After a quick bathroom break, we realized there was no water. It was so late I didn't really give it much thought, and just went to bed. Between us four and the 10 people in the Wards party, we filled every bed in the cabin.
Cameron and AmieAfter we got up the next morning, Dave and Cameron started checking out the pump. Everyone has heard Mom and Dad's horror story from last December. Being up there with no water was pretty miserable. They had to melt snow all day just to get enough water to drink, wash dishes, flush toilets, and take bucket baths. It didn't sound very fun, so I was really hoping Dave would be able to fix it. Here's a picture of us around the pump house. Dave has a capacitor in his hand. We thought this might be the culprit, but it wasn't.
We ended up calling a pump man out. He came and said the pump had died, and would need to be extracted. The pump isn't something that sits in the pumphouse above ground like you'd think. It's a submersible pump that sits at the bottom of a 30 foot (or so) pipe; it fills a pressure tank that supplies the cabin with water so you get constant water pressure. To replace it you have to pull out the 30 feet of pipe and then access the pump. It's something a professional has to do, so we were without running water for the duration of the trip.
Big SpringsSaturday morning we went up to Ray VanMitchell's (or VanMitzell, I'm not sure how you say his last name) cabin to ask him if we could use some of his water. He said we could. His wife also said we could go up there to shower if we wanted. So Cameron and I ended up lugging a huge rubber tub filled with water back from his cabin four times. It wasn't fun, but it did lessen the water issue. We didn't have to melt snow for water. The trip was more like camping than a cabin trip, but it was still very fun. We played games, ate good food, read books, hiked, went to Big Springs, Moose Creek, and Mesa Falls, and just had a great time.
Glacier Lily
Lucky Dog
Mesa FallsWe got home last night and picked up Marcella from Mom and Dad Wallin's house. They had watched her most of Sunday and Monday. She's growing quickly and doing great. She crawl, but only backwards. It's pretty funny to watch. I'm going to try and get a video of it tonight, but I can't guarantee anything. She's learning to respond to us, too. We've taught her "Sooooo Big!" and some form of "Pat-a-Cake". We need to get those on video, too. She's started to sleep on her side. It's somewhat difficult to explain in writing, but I'll try to get some pictures of what I mean. So now we're supposedly back to our normal routine. I've been starting a garden, and taking pictures of the process. Once I get them all organized, I'll post how it has turned out so far. We enjoy the family we have here in Utah, and miss the people who aren't here. I hope you all have a great summer!
There are more pictures here: Picture Gallery
I know it looks like there's just one picture, but it's actually a link to a page with more pictures. You can click on the pictures for various sizes.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Joni's Wedding
Okay so I have finally got some pictures from Joni's wedding to post here, because I seriously thought it was really cool. They had a bunch of things that I had never seen before. The doors looked sweet. Joni looked super cute! I really liked her dress. Going to this wedding made me wish I could do my wedding all over again, not because i didn't like my wedding but just because it is so much fun. Well, I hope you all enjoy and for those of you whom I have told this about, I hope you get the picture now. Love ya guys!
ps sorry if some of them are blurry, Jon took our camera with him.
ps sorry if some of them are blurry, Jon took our camera with him.
Cedar Point
Kanien was kind enough to let me travel back to Ohio and see Ted this past weekend. He needed someone to drive back to Utah with him, so I got a cheap ticket through Southwest, flew out there, went to Cedar Point, then drove back to Utah with him. It was pretty fun, but not what I'd call an ideal vacation.
I guess the highlight of the trip was when we went to Cedar Point. I'd heard a lot about Cedar Point, mostly from David and Tara (Ogden/Olson respectively), so I was pretty stoked about going. While it was a fun park, I was underwhelmed. I thought it would be mind-blowing, but it wasn't, maybe because I'm older and not as fascinated by roller coasters. There weren't very many lines, as it rained most of the day, but there was potential for HUGE lines. Ted said the time he'd come, they had to wait almost two hours for one of the coasters, and that wasn't even one of the busiest days. I couldn't believe people would wait that long...that realization could have dampened my experience as well. Here's a picture of their second biggest roller coaster, Millenium Force. It has a drop of 300 feet, and you reach 100 mph. It was really fun. The biggest coaster there, Top Thrill Dragster (400 foot drop, 120 mph), was closed so we didn't ride it.
The drive home was long, but pretty fun. It made me want to road trip with Kanien and Marcella...I bet the fun would last about 10 minutes!!!!!
I guess the highlight of the trip was when we went to Cedar Point. I'd heard a lot about Cedar Point, mostly from David and Tara (Ogden/Olson respectively), so I was pretty stoked about going. While it was a fun park, I was underwhelmed. I thought it would be mind-blowing, but it wasn't, maybe because I'm older and not as fascinated by roller coasters. There weren't very many lines, as it rained most of the day, but there was potential for HUGE lines. Ted said the time he'd come, they had to wait almost two hours for one of the coasters, and that wasn't even one of the busiest days. I couldn't believe people would wait that long...that realization could have dampened my experience as well. Here's a picture of their second biggest roller coaster, Millenium Force. It has a drop of 300 feet, and you reach 100 mph. It was really fun. The biggest coaster there, Top Thrill Dragster (400 foot drop, 120 mph), was closed so we didn't ride it.
The drive home was long, but pretty fun. It made me want to road trip with Kanien and Marcella...I bet the fun would last about 10 minutes!!!!!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Staying at Grandma and Grandpa's place
Here's what it's like when we're at Grandma and Grandpa Wallin's house.
If you want to see more, go here.
If you want to see more, go here.
Friday, May 05, 2006
It's all gone!
My hair that is. Yep, that is right, I cut my hair.... It happens to be about the length that I said I wanted it, but I am having a hard time believing that I really did it. Everytime I walk by a mirror, I am amazed, because i am still not used to it yet. It was the weirdest feeling today when I washed it. I can't believe it is all gone! So for all of you getting a good laugh, don't tell me about it, but if you think it is cute, let me know. I love you all!
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Monday, May 01, 2006
Princess
This is from Mom and Dad's house last night...hopefully the light will be a bit better tonight.
Jon
Kanien's Masterpiece
Yeah...it's a Peach Pie and it was about the tastiest thing I've ever eaten in my life. I don't really need to say anything else, do I?
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Cutie
Something funny...If you read Kanien's post about our zoo trip with Mim, you know Marcella drank from that purple Nalgene bottle. Well the other night I had filled the bottle with Kool-Aid because we were going to watch a movie and I didn't want it to spill. We didn't drink all of the Kool-Aid and so Kanien just put the entire bottle in the fridge. Yesterday when I got home from work I was a bit thirsty, so I took the bottle out to get a drink. When Marcella saw the bottle she about died, she was so excited. She screeched, reached out towards it and grunted quite enthusiastically.
I didn't want to give her kool-aid so I poured the kool-aid in a glass and filled the bottle with water. Marcella kept grunting and screeching until I stooped to give her a drink. She sat and drank for five minutes. I think towards the end she just liked the sensation of the water, because most of it ended up on her bib/shirt.
We bought her a sippy cup but she won't drink out of it. I don't think she knows she's supposed to suck to get the water from the cup...she expects it to just flow in there like it does from a normal cup or a bottle. Anyway, eventually she'll get the hang of it. I just thought it was funny that she recognized the bottle and wanted to drink from it so bad! I guess Kanien will have to buy another Nalgene!
Jon
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Projects!
Why is it that I always have a million projects to get done and I THINK.. yes, I really believe I will be able to accomplish all of them in the day that I have down listed that I will do them?. Maybe it is because I am an over achiever (just to make it sound more positive) yes, I love to be be busy and get so excited to start a new project, then get burned out half way through.
My new goal this year is to finish what I have started. That doesn't mean I will finish the projects I have been working on forever, but I cannot start something new until I have finished the thing I am working on at the momment. So right now I am currently working on knitting a blanket.
I have gotten pretty far, and I am almost to the burnt out stage, but I will prevail, because sitting on my floor right now are 7 or 8 I can't remember blankets ready to be sewn together and made, they are just calling my name, and I am trying hard to resist. I am on my second ball of yarn out of four that I need to use to finish this blanket and I will do it!! My goal is by the end of next week... but remember I am not an overachiever, so maybe more like the end of two or three weeks, you will see the finished product. So I hope you enjoy the little bit I have done so far.
Here is another project that I successfully finished this year, one that I am super proud of, I just need to get some pictures to put on it and actually hang it on Marcella's wall and we will be set. I hope you all have a great day! I love you!
My new goal this year is to finish what I have started. That doesn't mean I will finish the projects I have been working on forever, but I cannot start something new until I have finished the thing I am working on at the momment. So right now I am currently working on knitting a blanket.
I have gotten pretty far, and I am almost to the burnt out stage, but I will prevail, because sitting on my floor right now are 7 or 8 I can't remember blankets ready to be sewn together and made, they are just calling my name, and I am trying hard to resist. I am on my second ball of yarn out of four that I need to use to finish this blanket and I will do it!! My goal is by the end of next week... but remember I am not an overachiever, so maybe more like the end of two or three weeks, you will see the finished product. So I hope you enjoy the little bit I have done so far.
Here is another project that I successfully finished this year, one that I am super proud of, I just need to get some pictures to put on it and actually hang it on Marcella's wall and we will be set. I hope you all have a great day! I love you!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
The BEST husband in the world!
So I just thought I would make a little note about how I think Jon is the best! He knows when to have fun and is always making me and Marcella laugh. He is such a good father. I couldn't have asked for anyone better. Here are a few things that he gave me, that all of you looking at these pictures should get your husbands to get you. (or just whoever looks at this get these for someone you love, or like, or heck just get it for yourself, because it will brighten your day! believe me, if it wasn't Sunday, I would walk on over there and buy me one right now.)
Yes, this is what you all need to buy and try. It is the Best thing you will ever eat. It is a cinnamon carmel apple. It is divine. For all of you living out of state, if you want one, let me know and I can mail it to you.
The Zoo Excursion
Howdie, yes we have a zoo pass, so you will probably hear about how we went to the zoo today or each weekend, until we are all zooed out, but this time we brought Miriam along. And she brought Ben and Ben brought his sister. It was a blast. It was super crowed and super hot, but we had a lot of fun. Marcella figured out how to drink from a water bottle, and had a fun time drinking the whole rest of the day. We need to get her her own cup though so we don't get these mouthfuls of back-washed saliva-filled water when we drink from the bottle. Yum! Well, we finished the day with having a fun picnic at Layton Park. We had sandwiches and played alittle frezbee. Then for the best prt of all we all played wiffleball. It was so much fun. I wish that all of you could have come and played with us. maybe someday we will be able to have enough people to play teams. We are excited for another game to convene next saturday, same place same time.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Newest Recruit
Coach Whittingham really wants Marcella to play Linebacker for him this fall, but she's got to gain about 220 pounds first. We went to a Utefans.net charity dinner...I was asked to video the event and so Kanien and I got in free. After it was over Kanien asked Coach if he'd hold Marcella for a picture...so we got one, right after he told his wife how cute she is! Pretty cool eh?
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Jeffery McCann
What are the words you would use to describe Jeff? Well, he is not only smart, extremely smart, brilliant, and did I mention smart? but he is funny. Jon Marcella and I all agree that Jeff has the best laugh that you will ever hear. Just thinking about him laughing makes me happy and makes me want to start laughing. it is contagious! We all agree that you need to move back so we can have more fun times together and laugh along with you guys! We miss you! Happy Birthday!
Some Videos
You can head on over to www.jonandkanien.com if you want to watch some videos of Marcella. There are two videos there. One is of her taking a bath when she's 4 months old, the other was taken last night, of her sitting up and laughing. I've got two formats up...one is a WMV file that won't play unless you have Windows Media Player 9 or better. The other is an MPG-1 that will play on any computer on the planet...the WMV files are better quality. Let me know if you have problems downloading them. Enjoy!
If just clicking on the links doesn't work, the easiest way to view them is to right-click the link, select "Save target as.." or "Save link as..." (depends on which browser you use), choose a location to save them that's easily accesible or that you'll remember (i.e. your desktop), then hit OK. Next find where you saved the file, and open it.
For convenience I'll post the links here, too.
Bath WMV
Sitting Up WMV
Bath MPG
Sitting Up MPG
Monday, April 17, 2006
Image Galleries
Hi
I've got a lot of pictures up on our website. Check them out here:
Galleries
To enter the galleries, you just click on the picture to the left of the page. Then you can look at the thumbnails, browse through all of the images, make comments about the ones you like (and want us to print for you), and complain that you aren't in enough pictures.
You can also head to www.jonandkanien.com to see a (somewhat) new layout, but there's nothing there that's not posted here. This blog has pretty much taken place of our other website, But not totally, I guess.
Jon
Easter
So I was looking at our pictures to post, and I realized, i didn't take any pictures on Easter. I am bummed, because marcella looked super cute in her dress. I will take some pictures and then post them later, when it is sunny again. So here are some of her on Saturday. We had fun at Nana's and Grandma Dougal's! Thanks guys!
Look what I got
I'm going to eat it....
Marcella had more fun playing with the empty eggs then finding them
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
