Happy Halloween

We deprived Zaida of the opportunity to go trick-or-treating because we really did not know where to go, but she still got to wear her costume for two days. She and Eden dressed up for the ward party. Eden and Zaida both went as bugs.

This past week Eden and Zaida also got to go to a pumpkin patch where Zaida tromped around exploring corn fields and pumpkins. Lately Zaida has been on a kick where she needs to have her shoes on if she is awake just in case she has the chance to slip outside. This past week her favorite pair have been this bright red pair. She loves to hear the sound that they make when she walks on the tile floors. While Eden was out shopping with her, she would start marching in place just to hear the clanking sound that they make. At home she will take normal sized steps across the carpet, but as soon as she reaches the kitchen she starts taking as small of steps as possible just to hear the clank (It is always nice to have another woman clanking around in high heels).

Zaida's Birthday

It's hard to believe that a year ago we were sitting in the NICU for a week waiting to take Zaida home. We have been blessed since then with a happy, healthy little girl with a knack for adventure. This last week we were able to have Eden's parents visit to help celebrate Zaida's birthday. She didn't seem to mind the extra attention and loved to "talk" to her grandparents and walk around the apartment back and forth from one person to the other to see what everyone was doing.

On her birthday everyone went outside to enjoy the day. While outside one of our neighbors came out and offered everyone an otter pop. Zaida's got spilt on the side walk so Eden got some water to wash it off. The water end up in the grass/dirt making mud that Zaida found and enjoyed playing with.

After dinner we came home and Zaida got to open her presents. Notice Eden's white necklace that Zaida is wearing. She has worn that thing for probably the past week and has become quite attached to it. If she sees it she has to wear it. She will then start walking around the apartment taking the necklace off and putting it back on. Zaida was more interested in a DVD from the library than opening her presents, but once she pulled out her new toys she seemed pretty pleased with the product. It was hard to get her to put them down so we could have her pull out the other items in the bags.

Before the night ended we stripped Zaida down to her diaper and sat her in the her high chair for the ever messy cake and ice cream eating. Eden cut her a piece of cake and we placed it right in front of her. She touched the icing but didn't want to pick it up, so Eden got a fork and we gave her a bite. She smiled as though she liked it but wouldn't eat anymore so I gave her another bite off the fork. This time she took about half of it. It was about this time that she noticed the banana she had been carrying around prior to being placed in her chair. She motioned for me to open it and then began eating it until it was finished, this was a strange feat due to the fact that she usually will only eat one or two bites of banana. Upon completing the banana she started fussing to be let out of her chair so she got down and that was it.

Out west

This is late in coming, but I thought that I would put it up anyway. At the end of August we got a phone call from my Dad telling us that my grandpa had past away and the funeral would be sometime the following week. I talked with my brother, Ryan, and his family to discuss traveling together since they live 4 hours east of us. We decided to drive and we would leave that night (Friday), drive through the night so the girls would sleep the whole way and everyone would be happy when we got to Utah.
Ryan, Rachel, and Jane got here just about 11 pm so we took off around midnight. Zaida had fallen asleep on our drive home from the state fair (which was only about 10 minutes away) so she was already in her car seat. Three hours into our trip our plan to have the girls sleep the whole trip failed as Zaida woke up. Both her and Jane woke up off and on through the night and the morning. However we still were able to make pretty good time as we made it to my parents house in 13 hours.

While in Utah we enjoyed time with family and going up to Idaho to visit Eden's parents and grandparents. While there we even got to have an early birthday party for Zaida. We were able to spend a little over a week back "home" and enjoyed seeing everyone again. Here are some pictures from the trip.

This is what breakfast accommodations were in Rawlins on the way out. Zaida seemed to like her perch on the storage bins.Zaida took her Grandpa for a walk around the Box Elder County Fair

While we were in Idaho Eden's family had an early birthday party for Zaida.

If you ever find yourself in Idaho Falls around lunch time you should hit this place up just so you can say you ate at the tie-dye bagel shop, just don't expect too much, I mean it's still a bus.

We thought Zaida would enjoy feeding the ducks and geese on the river in Idaho Falls, but it turns out she enjoyed feeding herself more.

Before we left the river we went over by the boat dock and as soon as Zaida saw the ramp to the water she went to the edge. That wasn't close enough, we were barely able to get her clothes off in time for her to go splashing around. She is apparently unfazed by cold water because I sure wouldn't go in it.

Sarpy County Fair

Nothing says summer to us like county fairs. This week we hit up another two fairs to bring our grand total to 4 since we moved out here. Don't worry, we still have our county fair and several others in the area that we may go to as well as the State fair here and in Iowa- I hear the Iowa State Fair has a Llama show- how could anyone pass that up.
Zaida has this thing for always wanting to carry around something while we walk around, lately it has been either a rock or a stick. If she doesn't have one she will stop and sit on the ground at the first one she finds and pick it up, if neither of those things are around then she will pick up anything that doesn't seem to belong on the ground. After enjoying this wood chip for awhile she deemed it necessary to share it with the horse.She also liked petting any of the animals that would stick their head out of their pens, although I don't really approve of the petting of goats, in this instance I thought it was alright since we made sure to pet the sheep first. After petting the animals she then decide it was funner to walk by the pens and any goat that was sticking their head out she would give them a good pat, she would then squeal and the goats would jerk back into their pen.

Home on the Plains

Well for those of you who didn't hear or notice, we moved. That's right we said good-bye to the Cache Valley, and the entire state of Utah and have now settled in the lovely plains of Nebraska. Okay so it is more of a city but you can imagine what it would be like if it were the plains. We have been back here since the middle of July and are starting to get a feel for the area. I will admit I have missed being able to go and randomly stop in at family and friends homes, but don't fear, Eden had an answer for that. She decided to make cookies for every apartment in this building and the next (they are 4-plexes) and we would deliver them so we could get to know our neighbors. I learned two things during the few minutes that we spent delivering these treats. 1. Although most the people back here are very nice most neighbors apparently don't drop cookies off to each other. 2. We are the minority in these two buildings.
We spent several weeks with family prior to moving out here so Zaida was used to a lot going on, or maybe living in the sorority house had something to do with that, regardless, to try and keep busy we have spent some time at two of the local county fairs and have been grabbing brochures and free magazines at stores and rest stops like true tourists. Eden learned that last weekend was the "Wild about Omaha" weekend (like I said, we are hard up for entertainment). Basically, it was free admission to the zoo and several other places in the city. We decided we would get up and head over early Saturday morning. By the time we drove the hour to Omaha the traffic to get of the free way to go to the zoo was backed up nearly a half mile so we decided to skip the zoo and visit Winter Quarters instead.
It was interesting to go back now. The last time that either of us had been was pre-temple days. I always find it interesting how positive and happy the pioneers were to live in those little cabins. We saw the cemetery while there and Zaida was more interested in having me walk her down hill so she could feel the effects of inertia and play with the flowers.
After we got back home Saturday night we discussed the option of going to Missouri to tour the church sites there this week before I start my research and school. I had a meeting Tuesday that I thought would firm up the day I started my research (it didn't) so we decided we would leave after church Sunday and drive down to Independence.
We saw the Visitors center in Independence and that was good for a history stand point. Zaida woke up earlier than usual that morning so by the time we were finished in the visitors center she was ready to head out. Then we went up to Liberty to see the jail. On Sunday we had the lesson on the revelations received by Joseph Smith while in Liberty Jail so the timing of the trip was pretty impeccable if I do say so myself. This site was a must visit. It was sobering to see the size of the jail in real life and think of the conditions as you stand there looking at it.
We decided to skip the other sites and headed back home. Since then things have become pretty boring. I have started my trainings to become certified to do my research and Eden is now busy tending to Zaida, which right now consists of lots of walking assistance and book reading, especially if the book has farm animals in it.

On the road again

A lot has happened in the last month and a half so I will try to catch everyone up to speed. May 1, I graduated with my Masters in Animal Science, the following day Eden's brother graduated with his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. The following week my youngest brother, Mark, got married and then the following day my grandma past away so the next week we had her funeral. In between the wedding and the funeral, we went with some friends to Island park for a weekend getaway. It was a blast!!! We went into Yellowstone, which is one of my favorite places, and got to seen new born Bison calves. It was awesome!!!

Last weekend we went up to Idaho for Eden's Grandma's 80th birthday party. I must say I was hesitant to be participate in this party due to Harriet's 80th birthday not occurring until January, but due to her good health, attitude, and the spring in her step I concluded that she should make it to 80 and beyond, so why should I miss out on a party? While there we had a good time seeing Eden's relatives and enjoying some chicken in a barrel. Zaida also got to go on her first horse ride when we went up to help with the cattle drive. She enjoyed it, but I think she enjoyed helping her great-grandpa drive the truck even more.
This week it is off to Reno with my family for a sheep show and sale, then hopefully we will be home for a while so we can get things packed and ready for our move in July. Then again, we can never stay in one place too long so we will probably be hitting the road again soon.

Road Warriors

We were going to try and blog about Feb. in March and that never happened, so here is the cliff note version prior to my recounting March. Zaida grew, Eden worked and Adam wrote his thesis. That about sums it up. I did take a trip down to Missouri and Oklahoma the end of the month to meet with my major professor since he retired in December and fled the Intermountain west, I also toured Oklahoma State University to see how I liked it.

March however was a more eventful month. Due to the imposed furlough at the University Eden had spring break off so she and Zaida accompanied me to Nebraska. The purpose of this trip, besides freezing, was to determine if the University of Nebraska was where we should go. I met with professors in North Platte, where they have an extension center and then the next day went to Lincoln to tour the main campus and their facilities. Upon completing the tour I was very impressed with the facilities and the program and haven't seen anything like it.

My older brother, Ryan, and his family live 4 hours east of Lincoln so we went to visit them. We went to see the sights of Coralville, however the only thing we got to see was the mall, the outlets, and hobby lobby. It didn't help our cause that the temperature was -7 the first day and about 20 the following two days. Ryan and Rachel were gracious hosts and did give us the windshield tour of the flood zone and the campus of U of I. However, I have made a conscious decision to never visit them again in the winter due to the cold temperatures causing us to only have shopping for an activity.

The rest of the month we were busy as Zaida determined it necessary to start trying new foods. We found that she hates rice cereal, pears, oatmeal and loves potatoes and bread. We found out this week that she will eat sweet potatoes, but I think that is due to the ability to read the label and see the word potatoes, she is a very advanced individual. She also got two teeth, earlier than we expected, but they are here, and she reminds me often by grabbing my hand and putting it in the chomp zone before I can remember that she has teeth.

We went to Vernal for a lamb sale, but half way there my dad called and said he wasn't coming with the lambs, we continued on our journey anyway and had a good time visiting the Bingham clan. It was good to see them again and I enjoyed helping Jake by tearing out trees in the pasture.

I defended my thesis on the 26 and now am finishing up the revisions on my thesis as graduation nears. We also made a final decision on where we will be living next fall. I was lucky in that I was accepted to all three schools that I applied, but we are headed to Lincoln. So if anyone is in Nebraska in the next 3-4 years let us know we would be glad to have you stop in. I will be changing my focus from animal nutrition to animal reproductive physiology, but will still do a lot with nutrition and reproduction interactions so I am pretty excited. Eden's job ends June 30 so we will be moving in mid July.

January 2009

In case nobody noticed, Christmas came and went, as did the New Year. We spent both of those holidays enjoying the company of family. This past month we went on our first major road trip with Zaida the road warrior. I have been conversing with several different schools, and by several I mean two, about pursuing a PhD. One of these schools happens to be Washington State University, which invited us to come up over the 3 day weekend and tour their campus.

For our navigational assistance we borrowed my dad's gps. This device allowed for ease of travel when trying to find houses or hotels, but gets really confused when you deviate off course, which I did constantly because I am a guy and as such have an acute sense of direction.

We went to Boise the first day of our travels and went to the outlet mall and visited one of Eden's friends from high school, Carlee ( who is married to Kurt, who isn't one of Eden's high school friends, but due to matrimonial vows has been accepted into the group, as was I). We had a good time catching up and visiting with them.

Sunday was our longest day in the car, we went from Boise to Pullman, this trek took about 6 hours and was very unpleasant for those with weak stomachs. It was mile after mile of twisty turny roads. At first I was a little disappointed with the city of Pullman. Although it is small, it is based on four hills and any time I thought I was discovering something new I was really just driving around the hill. This disappointment was alleviated a little when upon turning around one bend in the road we were greeted by two brown bears sitting in a large pen staring at a group of Rocky Mountain Big Horn sheep that were in a large pen across the road from them. Apparently the University does studies on these animals.

Our tour of the University was very good. The professor who showed us the sites and I would be working under was a very nice guy and would be great to work for. At the end of the visit I was informed that I was accepted to the school, which was another bonus.

We took a different route home, traveling up to I-90 and through Montana, and then down I-15. This was a preferred route and would be the route I recommend to anyone that wants to go to Pullman and visit the bears.

Other news includes Zaida turning four months old. She has an appointment with the doctor this week so that will be fun for her. Eden hasn't had to go back to school this semester so she fills her free time, which isn't much, with reading all sorts of random books and magazines. As for myself, I have one class on-line to finish my course work and then have been spending the bulk of my time writing my thesis, which is a real treat.

Here are some pictures of Zaida for her fan club: