Catching Up

I apologize, again, for being so long in posting. My Grandpa Weed died on October 18th, and so I was gone for all of last week for the funeral. Em, Dottie, and I drove out to Provo. It was a very somber yet peaceful experience. My Grandpa was a wonderful man. I was very touched by the things said about him at the funeral. I only wish I knew him better. Growing up in PA, I didn't get to visit my grandparents as much as we would have liked to. And although I was in Provo during college, it was hard to get over to Grandma and Grandpa's often because of school.

I realized on this trip what a special and wonderful family I have. My Grandpa was a man who demanded respect of his children, but in a loving way. As a result, my dad and his siblings have truly become outstanding individuals. They have all chosen worthy careers, but more importantly, they have learned to put family first. I was struck with the solidarity of my family. Although I have many cousins (there were some cousins there that I haven't seen since I was like 10 years old), our individual families are tight-knit. I really think that is a unique thing in this day and age.

Anyway, I was very grateful to be there, and to see my family again. I really love my parents and my siblings. If only we could be together always . . . I also got to see my friends, Morgan and Amanda, my bosom buddies from college. Well . . . Amanda's been my bosom buddy forever, since the 7th grade. I really miss her, since I've moved to Colorado. I was pretty bad at taking pictures on this trip, but I have a few, mostly with Amanda.

Pregnant Me, Dottie, and my cosmically connected friend, Amanda.

Dottie and Mandy Bear cuddling.

The story: Emily needed to buy a modest formal gown. Pretty much the only place you can find such a thing is Utah. Well, Dottie wanted to try on dresses, too. She threw a tantrum, we gave in. Here is her pretty prom dress.

I got back from my long trip to Utah last Thursday in the late afternoon. Joe and I had made plans to visit Joe's parents in Gunnison because we wanted to celebrate a late birthday with Joe's mom. Joe had the day off on Friday, but we had to be back by Saturday morning because I had a practice for the Primary Program (I'm the chorister). So, we had a whirlwind visit to Gunnison. We left at 8 pm on Thursday night (Joe had parent-teacher conferences until then),got there at 11:30, and we spent Friday with them. It was a fun trip -- I got to see Crested Butte for the first time, a cute skiing town nearby. Here's a picture from that trip:

Dottie in the corner o' pillows on Grandma and Grandpa's couch.

So, we left Gunnison at 6:30 on Saturday morning to make it back to Colorado Springs for a 10 am Primary practice. After that, we went and carved pumpkins with Em, Craig, and Maureen. By 3 pm, I was simply exhausted. Joe and I went to bed at 8 pm. Then, the next day was the Primary Program at Church, my first! Things went surprisingly well. I was proud of my kids.

I have mostly spent this past week recuperating from the trips, and cleaning my house. Joe + me being gone = messy house. And then, of course, we had Halloween. This was Dottie's first year of trick-or-treating! I must say, she wasn't a huge fan. She liked the part where she got to grab candy out of the basket, but she was scared of a lot of kids' costumes. She's been having nightmares about it ever since. Then, we went to a Halloween party at our friends', the Hickmans. Dottie slept through the whole party. Trick-or-treating wore her out.

Yes, my daughter was Dorothy. I couldn't resist. The name fit, we had a dress, and we bought the shoes. Can you tell she loved the costume?

Close-up of me and Dottie. Ignore the zit in between my eyes. Apparently, I'm still going through puberty. I was a witch, a pregnant one.

In other news, Dottie graduated to a toddler bed last night! The baby's coming in 2 months, and we need to get her psychologically and emotionally prepared. Step one was potty training (which is still an on-going process). Step two was the toddler bed. We bought one off of Craig's list, and I already had bedding from a mega sale at Burlington Coat Factory. So, last night, we put her in the bed, got her all excited to sleep in a big girl bed, and put the child lock on the door. 30 seconds after we left her, she was crying at the door. I tried putting on the night light and the "Mozart Makes You Smarter" CD (her favorite), but to no avail. Finally, I just cuddled with her for like 5 minutes, and she fell asleep. But, she woke up at 6 am, crying at her door again. Yes, the toddler bed is going to take some getting used to. But I'm glad we're doing it now and not when I have a brand new baby crying for my attention.

Dottie, pre-sleep, when she thought the bed was still "fun."