Beach Trip

We took a trip to the beach last week. Amora hates riding in the car, but we got one happy shot at the beginning of the trip.


She was very intrigued by the sand and had a lot of fun playing in it.


When she's really excited, she rotates her ankles. She was constantly rotating her ankles in the sand. And baby feet are just so cute!


You can't see her face too well, but she did not like the water. She was mad at me for trying to get her to play in it.


We went to a fun little Cajun restaurant on the beach. It was super cute and Amora loved playing with the crackers.


But she is my daughter and loves to shop. We don't have to plan extravagant vacations, all we have to do is take her shopping and she'll be a happy little girl. She loves making friends. She'll look at someone and half smile. If they look back, she'll give them a big smile. If they don't look, she frowns a bit and searches for a new friend. It's so fun watching her grow.


Update on our situation: we haven't been able to find jobs in Alabama, so we decided that we are going to move closer to family. We leave for Coeur d' Alene at the end of the month. We're excited for this change and ready to see what the future holds for our little family. Wish us luck!

Sad News

I thought that I had it made by choosing a career that is needed no matter how the economy looks: teaching. There are always going to be kids who need to know about the things I teach (especially sex, drugs, and obesity). Apparently I thought wrong. The school I teach (or taught) at decided to cut the health department by half. Sadly, I was the half that got cut. I believe this is because the other half was tenured and I was not. They have assured me that it has nothing to do with my teaching. Either way, as of last Friday, I am unemployed. Because of this unfortunate turn of events we won't be buying a house anytime soon. Our dreams of home ownership are on the back burner. There is exactly one health teaching opening in the area that I am applying for. If I get the job, we will stay in Auburn indefinitely. If I don't get the job, we will move back west and live with my very generous in-laws in Coeur d' Alene. Both options have their pros and cons, but we're optimistic that we will end up in the right place for us. God hasn't let us down yet, and we're sure He won't do so now.

I had my birthday last week and Adam and Amora took me to a steakhouse. It was nice going out as a family. It wasn't my favorite restaurant, but we still had fun.


On another note, I have a really cute child. She's now five months. I swear she gets cuter and more perfect everyday. Everything is worth it because of her and my awesome husband.

I normally don't take pictures of her sleeping because I enjoy being productive during that time, but she was so cute I had to test my luck.

Amora tried rice cereal for the first time last week. She's a woman who likes to be in charge. She takes her spoon and tries to feed herself.

She also is getting really good at sitting up by herself. This is one of my favorites. It's like she's saying "Ta Da!"

And I love her focused face. There could be a huge storm in the background and she wouldn't even notice. I think she may have her daddy's selective hearing.

Cindy's wedding and more

Last weekend we had a lot of fun seeing all of the family for Cindy's wedding. Amora did okay on the plane and for the trip, but she was a little fussy with her nap schedule off. The wedding and reception were beautiful. Cindy looked great. They went to Mexico on their honeymoon and (as far as we know) didn't get Swine Flu. All in all, it was a success.

Here's my beautiful sister coming out of the temple with her new husband. They are so cute together!

Us waiting outside the temple for pictures. Amora was ready for a nap by then.

Amora met her cousin Billy for the first time. They were instant friends. We didn't even pose them.

The Loumeau's joined us and we hung out the day after the wedding. They sure do love little Amora.

Another cute thing: Amora is really starting to like books. She likes to talk to the books. Maybe she thinks they'll talk back.

Even though it's hard leaving my little girl so I can go to work, I've found it to be very rewarding. Our last unit was on human sexuality. For their unit project, I have my students write a paper about their goals for sex and what they learned over the unit. I love reading these papers because some of them have changed their goals after the unit. It makes me feel like I'm fulfilling one of my callings in life. Also, I had the sweetest student last semester who came and visited me with a Mother's Day cake because it's my first Mother's Day. Isn't that nice?

But the weather's warming up and I am itching to go outside and play with my family. Two more weeks until summer vacation! We don't have too much planned except Amora and I will take a trip to Oregon next month. I'm also determined to take a trip to the beach. I'm normally too cheap to take vacations (hotel, food, gas: it adds up). But hopefully we can save a bit and have a nice weekend trip later in the summer.

So much to look forward to. Update on the house: nothing. We are hoping to close the 29th of this month and put our notice for our apartment to move out on the 31st, but we're not sure if it'll work out on that timetable. Anyone willing to house a homeless family? We'll just have to wait and see how this all unfolds.

10 Secrets to a Successful Marriage

My beautiful sister Cindy is getting married May 1st to an awesome guy. All of these thoughts about weddings and marriage got me thinking about the lessons I've learned or seen other people learn in the past 4 years. Luckily, I married a very patient man who has been understanding of the mistakes I make. But I thought, "Wouldn't it have been nice if I was humble enough to have learned from others instead of attempting to be a good wife through trial and error?" I'm sure most of you already have an internal list of how to make a good marriage, but I thought I would share mine:

1. Don't emotionally shut down during problems. Sometimes it's our natural tendency because we use it as a defense mechanism, but it is really hard for husbands to see and basically impossible to solve problems. When I feel like shutting down because I am unable to organize my thoughts, I tell Adam that I need a few minutes. I make sure to think about key points to how I'm feeling and then talk to him when I'm ready.
2. Understand that your spouse will likely not have bad intentions. There were things that bugged me about Adam, and I would criticize him for them. I finally realized that he is a good person who never (and I mean never) is malicious. He sometimes reminds me "I'm not a bad person, I just do bad things." This helps me be more patient when he can't read my mind.
3. Try to speak as positively as you can to your spouse. Our culture is often sarcastic and mean. This affects the way we eventually see people. This will eat away at your marriage. Make your jokes and teasings light and try not to manifest underlying frustrations.
4. When solving problems attack the problem and not the other person. Realize that we all make mistakes. Your spouse shouldn't expect you to be perfect and you shouldn't expect him to be. Try using "I-messages." (I feel upset when you don't pick up your clothes because then I have extra work.)
5. Spend time together. I can't tell you how many couples say that they are too busy to go out to eat or on a date. Make your relationship a priority. Odds are, if you're that busy, then taking one hour off isn't going to make it or break it.
6. Choose your battles. If you want to, you can find things to argue about. Choose the things that have a solution and are really important to you. We can't micromanage our spouses.
7. When arguing, speak in a soft tone. Our natural tendency is to yell back when someone is yelling. The fastest way to calm a person down is by speaking calmly to that person.
8. Be the first to say "I'm sorry," even if you don't really mean it yet. You'll eventually mean it. The spirit can start to soften our hearts when we humble ourselves enough to apologize.
9. Don't share all of your problems with the world. Your spouse should be your best friend. You can vent to someone occasionally and ask for advice, but make it a habit to try to resolve things just the two of you.
10. Know that no matter what, you are marrying the right person the right way. Times will not always be easy and you may look back and wonder, "what if," but it doesn't matter because in the end you are with the person you're meant to be with. Make it work. Believe me, it's so worth it.

Amora the Champ!

I was so worried about going back to work a couple of weeks ago because Amora is normally a pretty fussy baby. Imagine my shock when I came home the first day and she seemed just fine without me. Maybe it was just a fluke, I thought. But day after day, she has done an amazing job with me at work! No screaming, not much fighting the bottle, just a realization that this was the way it was going to be. Such a blessing. The only day that was miserable was when we learned that Amora has strep throat. We're still not quite sure how she got it, but she sure let Adam know something was bothering her. But she's now on a round of antibiotics and feeling much better.

I think the transition has been hardest for me, though. Going back to work has been a challenge. It's been hard leaving my beautiful little girl and coming home tired but wanting to spend time with Amora. I have a very challenging group of students this term and a some difficulties with not having an actual classroom (the destruction from a recent tornado displaced the junior high school to our school and forced me out of my trailer). I'm convinced that this is the best thing for our family, and that will help me finish the school year strong. And next week is a four day week because we have Good Friday off. I'm also looking forward to having a couple of days off to go to my sister's wedding at the end of this month.

Amora seems to be learning new skills everyday. She's laughing now which just about the cutest thing in the world. She also is tolerating car rides more. I went out yesterday and she fell asleep in her car seat on the way home. Normally she'll just scream when she's tired in the car seat. I'm pretty sure that she gets cuter everyday too. We love our little girl.

House update: we have settled on a price with the seller and have the inspection scheduled for this Tuesday. If everything goes well we will close May 29th. Adam and I are really excited for this new change. And I'm happy that I won't have to deal with the noise from apartment living.

Back to Work

Tomorrow is my first day back to work after my maternity leave. I'm really going to miss this little face.

I'm feeling a lot of different emotions. First, I'm really sad that I have to leave Amora. Second, I'm scared of how she's going to do without me. She's not the easiest baby and doesn't care for bottles. I'm also reassured though because I know this is the best thing for my family. We need to have money to eat and live, and I need to work to accomplish that. My job also gives health insurance and retirement benefits. But in spite of my worries, a small part of me is excited. I love my job and feel like I can make a difference in my students lives. I love my job as a mommy more though. But I know Amora will be in good hands with her daddy.

She just better not do anything cute without me! Wish me luck. It'll definitely be a trial for our little family.

On another note, we made an offer on a house on Friday. It needs a lot of work, and we're not sure how the inspection will go, but it's a great deal and much closer to my work. Hopefully all goes well. Here's a picture of the house:

Good Week

We have had a week of some very important milestones. First, Amora slept in her crib for the first time and actually didn't mind it. She slept for an almost 8 hour stretch. It was much more traumatic for me though because I couldn't sleep from worrying about her. Now, we're all sleeping where we belong. Also, I have miraculously begun a pretty effective way of getting Amora to sleep for her naps and for the night. I would say it works about 85% of the time which is much better than what we had been doing. I call it the "5 minute walk-5 minute rock" technique. When I can tell she's getting tired, I walk around with her for 5 minutes to calm her down. Then, I rock her in the rocking chair for 5 minutes. Awake or not, I will then put her in her crib for 3 minutes (because she's almost 3 months old). If she's still fussing after the 3 minutes are up, I'll rock her for another 5 minutes and try again. She has been sleeping for longer periods and without many tears. What a miracle!

Amora also is getting pretty good at turning herself around in the crib. I'm never quite sure where in her crib she'll be when I get her up from naps.



Another fun new skill she's learning is holding her head up. She's getting so strong!


All in all, it's so much fun watching her figure out new skills. It doesn't hurt that she's so darn cute!