Well, not much happened this month... just kidding: We had a BABY!!!
So, Orianna was born July 1st at 3 PM, wieghed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. The labor lasted for 4 hours (from when we got to the hospital). Tamara did great, and she still looks great, and she had a fairly easy labor, and our baby is beautiful... so pretty much every woman in our ward hates her right now. We are proud parents and have spent the majority of this month just hanging out together, talking to Orianna, and realizing how alert she is.
On July 4th we went to Tamara's family's house to light fireworks and watch fireworks from Thanksgiving Point. We ditched early to put Orianna to bed. While I was holding her on my chest to burp her, she lifted herself up on all 4s, raised her head, and looked at us. 3.5 days old and she is already strong enough to do that!!! Crazy!!! We may have had super-baby.
The next day she crawled across the bed (not on all 4s, but more of a commando crawl) and she rolled over. We are afraid to leave her alone on the bed or couch because we think she might roll/crawl off it. I thought you were supposed to get a few months of worry-free near-vegetative babyness?!!? Oh well. We are pleased to see her progress and amazed.
Orianna's favorite activity is to experience different senses. She loves to look at lights, shadows, and people. She always gets really intent on figuring out where noises come from (it took her about 30 min to figure out that the meat sizzling in the pan wasn't me making noise while cooking). She LOVES to smell things (particularly Red Vines and Chocolate).
We have greatly enjoyed seeing her use her senses. It's funny how obvious it is.
Other than that, we haven't done much. We put all our house projects on pause, and I haven't worked on Mission Show Box all month.
But, we've enjoyed a slower month of just bonding.
Proud parents,
-Tamara & Rob
and Super-Baby Orianna.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
2008 July: North
We've spent the month in transit it seems like. I think we left town every weekend of the month. We had family reunions, and a wedding. The wedding was unique, so I'll tell you about it. My old roommate was only active for about a year after his baptism, then the pull of clear water in the reservoir, the feel of water skis on his feet, and the roar of a powerful boat engine pulled him out of activity. He married a girl who is also inactive, but comes from a fairly active family. The wedding was performed on his uncle's large estate. His uncle's house sits right along the canyon in Twin Falls and has a breathtaking view from his backyard. The wedding was performed by her uncle, who is an LDS bishop. It was very thoughtful, and very well done. The bishop probably gave the only sermon that a lot of the attendants had heard in a long time. He ended with a powerful plea to the couple to get their lives in order and go to the temple. Ironically, the soon-to-be-dedicated Twin Falls temple was visible from the wedding site. The wedding reminded both Becky and I how grateful we are for our own eternal vows. We're so blessed aren't we?!
This last weekend we went and watched the opening ceremonies of the International Dance Festival. Becky had never seen them, and it was a weekend that all my family could get together, so we went and enjoyed ourselves. Alex also spoke in church. He sounds/acts/speaks like El. Bednar. He's very mature spiritually. We're proud of him.
We're still playing the waiting game for medical school. I called one of the schools about a week ago to see if they'd received my application yet and they told me it was still too soon, and to try back in the middle of August. We're just waiting, and hoping for the best.
This last weekend we went and watched the opening ceremonies of the International Dance Festival. Becky had never seen them, and it was a weekend that all my family could get together, so we went and enjoyed ourselves. Alex also spoke in church. He sounds/acts/speaks like El. Bednar. He's very mature spiritually. We're proud of him.
We're still playing the waiting game for medical school. I called one of the schools about a week ago to see if they'd received my application yet and they told me it was still too soon, and to try back in the middle of August. We're just waiting, and hoping for the best.
2008 July: Robertson
Hey all,
I figure if I don't get this sent now, it just isn't going to happen. July, as predicted, was insane. And since I am in need of going to bed, I will just give you all the highlights. For the fourth of July my boss at Grand river got us tickets to go to the fireworks show in Idaho Falls. Yes, tickets. We got t go to the Shilo inn to watch the fireworks. While there we were able to show up when we wanted, we got a front row seat. We got to hear an orchestra play as we were catered dinner. I was a good dinner, good show, and good music. We (Morgan and Myself) wowed everyone at our table when we were able to name all of the songs that the orchestra played. We even got the name of the theme song for MASH correct. Bonus points if you know it without googling it. Right after the fireworks, we went out to our car to find that it was dead. We waited for about an hour stranded in Idaho falls at 1 in the morning until my parents could pick us up. We returned the next day to tow it back to Rexburg and take it to a mechanics. Luckily it wasn't anything too major. The piece to replace cost about 9 dollars and labor was about 40 - I am really going into the wrong business.
The next weekend was my family reunion in Blackfoot. That was an adventure. It was the first time that we slept in a tent with the girls. We made it through the night without too much trauma. It was an enjoyable time to spend with family that I haven't seen in years.
School finished up the following week and I about died with all of the last minute things that were going on. But I survived. I received my evaluations. Some bad most good and no one accusing me of being anti-mormon or blasphemous - just being young inexperienced and a bit arrogant. oh-well. But I had some really good reviews and the good reviews were in the majority so I will count the semester with my book a success. Although almost all of my students claimed that they learned a lot on the evaluations and nearly all of them complained about the reading and the work load. Maybe someday they will put two and two together - you get what you put into a class.
We then went to Miriam's graduation ceremony. that was nice to see her get her degree. The usual festivities ensued. But those were nothing compared to what happened the week after that - she was married. Morgan did the flowers for the wedding and they were marvelous despite the headache that she received when she went t pick up her flowers to work with, and a large chunk of them were dead and wilting. She made it work and it only took one extra trip to Idaho falls and despite the fact that she was sick and both of the girls were sick ( I never caught it).The sealing was very nice and very large. We filled the largest sealing room in the Rexburg temple - and in the entire church if you want that little point of trivia. She married Jason Andrus and he is the youngest of 9 kids. We helped with the reception that night. It was a fun and crazy night.
Now we are in the process of moving. We have cleaned and packed all of our apartment. We have the truck loaded and we take off for a new adventure to Minnesota first thing in the morning. With that said. I wont be seeing a computer for any substantial period of time in who knows how long (as soon as we get to Minnesota we are going to Morgan's family reunion). So I need to head off to bed. Good night, and good luck.
Love you all,
Derik, Morgan, Kyla, and Daria
I figure if I don't get this sent now, it just isn't going to happen. July, as predicted, was insane. And since I am in need of going to bed, I will just give you all the highlights. For the fourth of July my boss at Grand river got us tickets to go to the fireworks show in Idaho Falls. Yes, tickets. We got t go to the Shilo inn to watch the fireworks. While there we were able to show up when we wanted, we got a front row seat. We got to hear an orchestra play as we were catered dinner. I was a good dinner, good show, and good music. We (Morgan and Myself) wowed everyone at our table when we were able to name all of the songs that the orchestra played. We even got the name of the theme song for MASH correct. Bonus points if you know it without googling it. Right after the fireworks, we went out to our car to find that it was dead. We waited for about an hour stranded in Idaho falls at 1 in the morning until my parents could pick us up. We returned the next day to tow it back to Rexburg and take it to a mechanics. Luckily it wasn't anything too major. The piece to replace cost about 9 dollars and labor was about 40 - I am really going into the wrong business.
The next weekend was my family reunion in Blackfoot. That was an adventure. It was the first time that we slept in a tent with the girls. We made it through the night without too much trauma. It was an enjoyable time to spend with family that I haven't seen in years.
School finished up the following week and I about died with all of the last minute things that were going on. But I survived. I received my evaluations. Some bad most good and no one accusing me of being anti-mormon or blasphemous - just being young inexperienced and a bit arrogant. oh-well. But I had some really good reviews and the good reviews were in the majority so I will count the semester with my book a success. Although almost all of my students claimed that they learned a lot on the evaluations and nearly all of them complained about the reading and the work load. Maybe someday they will put two and two together - you get what you put into a class.
We then went to Miriam's graduation ceremony. that was nice to see her get her degree. The usual festivities ensued. But those were nothing compared to what happened the week after that - she was married. Morgan did the flowers for the wedding and they were marvelous despite the headache that she received when she went t pick up her flowers to work with, and a large chunk of them were dead and wilting. She made it work and it only took one extra trip to Idaho falls and despite the fact that she was sick and both of the girls were sick ( I never caught it).The sealing was very nice and very large. We filled the largest sealing room in the Rexburg temple - and in the entire church if you want that little point of trivia. She married Jason Andrus and he is the youngest of 9 kids. We helped with the reception that night. It was a fun and crazy night.
Now we are in the process of moving. We have cleaned and packed all of our apartment. We have the truck loaded and we take off for a new adventure to Minnesota first thing in the morning. With that said. I wont be seeing a computer for any substantial period of time in who knows how long (as soon as we get to Minnesota we are going to Morgan's family reunion). So I need to head off to bed. Good night, and good luck.
Love you all,
Derik, Morgan, Kyla, and Daria
Thursday, July 3, 2008
2008 June: Hope
Well what has gone on this month???
To start off with, my family came down for the Scottish festival in Lehi, and it was a blast once again. Both my sons tried the caber toss but we only got Scott doing it on picture.
They also came to Temple square to visit me when I was working and letting the boys see the temple and all of the water fountains there. You can see some pictures at our blog: jmskhope.blogspot.com
The rest of the month is about same old same old. I have just went into $50,000 in debt and still need 40-50 more to live off of, so happy times.
My 2nd oldest brother got married on the 28th, all I can say is good luck with that.
I went on a hike to the G with the elders quorum but instead we climbed up to some water falls and it was a blast, they took pictures of us and me in my kilt, all of us but a couple of sisters stood under the waster fall with was the run off of the snow up top, so it was very cold.
Michelle got called to be the Primary chorister and she really likes it so far. I am still the ward mission leader, that is just a big mess right now.
Other than that it has just been get up go to work come home eat and go to bed.
So hope everyone is doing great. Our phone number is 801-802-6113 if anyone needs to get a hold of us.
To start off with, my family came down for the Scottish festival in Lehi, and it was a blast once again. Both my sons tried the caber toss but we only got Scott doing it on picture.
They also came to Temple square to visit me when I was working and letting the boys see the temple and all of the water fountains there. You can see some pictures at our blog: jmskhope.blogspot.com
The rest of the month is about same old same old. I have just went into $50,000 in debt and still need 40-50 more to live off of, so happy times.
My 2nd oldest brother got married on the 28th, all I can say is good luck with that.
I went on a hike to the G with the elders quorum but instead we climbed up to some water falls and it was a blast, they took pictures of us and me in my kilt, all of us but a couple of sisters stood under the waster fall with was the run off of the snow up top, so it was very cold.
Michelle got called to be the Primary chorister and she really likes it so far. I am still the ward mission leader, that is just a big mess right now.
Other than that it has just been get up go to work come home eat and go to bed.
So hope everyone is doing great. Our phone number is 801-802-6113 if anyone needs to get a hold of us.
The Hopes
2008 June: Bates
This month was spent preparing for the birth of our daughter.
We cleaned our whole house, got a crib, put together a nursery, and got all the hospital stuff ready.
It actually all went as planned, and worked out perfectly. So, we are very grateful that it all turned out well.
She wasn't actually born until July... so I'll just let you check out our blog for that information: http://bateses.blogspot.com/
Other than that, I just spent a lot of time working on MissionShoeBox.com which is progressing nicely. I think we should be able to launch in a few months.
Well, we hope you are all doing well,
-Rob & Tamara
We cleaned our whole house, got a crib, put together a nursery, and got all the hospital stuff ready.
It actually all went as planned, and worked out perfectly. So, we are very grateful that it all turned out well.
She wasn't actually born until July... so I'll just let you check out our blog for that information: http://bateses.blogspot.com/
Other than that, I just spent a lot of time working on MissionShoeBox.com which is progressing nicely. I think we should be able to launch in a few months.
Well, we hope you are all doing well,
-Rob & Tamara
2008 June: North
This has been an eventful month for the North’s. I got my MCAT score a week ago. I got a 28M. That’s above average, and good enough for the schools I’ve applied to. I would like to have done better, but this is good enough. I know that the Lord helped me do my best work. He helped me balance my time studying with my other responsibilities. I finished my application to medical school and submitted it about 10 days ago. I had a little help from Derik (thank you again) with my personal statement. Derik told me that I should consider cutting out the segment where I talk about being daring enough to eat a piece of pizza off the lunch room floor in high school, and the part about where I used to burn grasshoppers with a magnifying glass. I don’t quite understand why he said that, but hey, he’s the guy with the English degree. J No seriously, Derik had some helpful comments. Now we’re just waiting to hear back from the schools. Hopefully they invite me to fly out for an interview…hopefully I can afford to fly out for an interview.
This last weekend we had a family reunion on Becky’s side. We spent a few days camping near Vernal Utah. It was beautiful weather. We floated the Green River on Friday. Each boat had a bucket for “bailing water” (we used them more to give the other guys something to bail). It was a wonderful weekend!
On a serious note Alex went in to the hospital in Rexburg about a week ago complaining of abdominal pain. They discovered an abscess in his small intestine (common for Crohn’s patients) and had to operate immediately. They cut out a thin segment of his small intestine. He’s been in the hospital for the last week, and will be out shortly. It has been a challenge for him and for our family. Times like these remind us of how important family is, and how much we love each other. We're grateful to be sealed for eternity so that no matter what happens we will have each other again.
God bless!
Stewart and Becky
This last weekend we had a family reunion on Becky’s side. We spent a few days camping near Vernal Utah. It was beautiful weather. We floated the Green River on Friday. Each boat had a bucket for “bailing water” (we used them more to give the other guys something to bail). It was a wonderful weekend!
On a serious note Alex went in to the hospital in Rexburg about a week ago complaining of abdominal pain. They discovered an abscess in his small intestine (common for Crohn’s patients) and had to operate immediately. They cut out a thin segment of his small intestine. He’s been in the hospital for the last week, and will be out shortly. It has been a challenge for him and for our family. Times like these remind us of how important family is, and how much we love each other. We're grateful to be sealed for eternity so that no matter what happens we will have each other again.
God bless!
Stewart and Becky
2008 June: Robertson
Hey all,
Honestly, my first reaction to reading Rob's little baby-on-the-way announcement (besides that of happiness for Rob and Tamara) was excitement that I could procrastinate writing this for another day. But I thought better of it, and so I am writing it now. June has been a busy month for us. I just know that I will leave something out. So you have my permission to fill in any juicy details that you felt that I left out. I think that my month was mostly lived in the post office. We were sending out birthday presents, father's day presents and what have you presents almost everyday during the beginning of the month. One thing that has facilitated the stepped up trips to the good P.O. is the discovery of Amazon Marketplace. We found that you can post for free until whatever you are trying to get rid of sells - unlike ebay when it is only on for a week and then you have to repay. We are taking a hard look at everything that we own and are seeing what we can get rid off. We decided since we are poor and this move will cost over $1,000, we will try and sell our unwanteds instead of DIing them. So far, it is working rather nicely. We are selling movies, games, books, and other odds and ends. So far we have made about $100 on amazon. We just need to do that 10 more times and we can get this move paid off.
Another big thing that happened - we got a Wii. We found a good deal on it and nabbed it. At the same time, we also got the Wii fit. So we have been exercising on it nightly. The thing is brutal in its honesty and its niceness about it. If you are overweight, which i was, it makes your character plump up accordingly. I watched my little character gain a foot around the waist instantly. Ouch. But, I have lost 10 pounds during June because I have finally started to exercise again. Just need to loose about 12 more pounds to reach my ideal weight. Morgan needs to gain weight to be ideal - at least according to the Wii, I on the other hand think she is already there. And I didn't just write that because she is standing over my shoulder watching me type this.
Father's day was good to me. I got breakfast in bed. Spoiled. Everything else after that was extra spoilage, but I don't want to make the rest of you feel jealous so I wont elaborate. We spent the day down in Blackfoot at my grandparent's house. It was an enjoyable day.
A few days after that, I learned that a student had been plagiarizing all of her assignments. I sent out a couple of general emails and made a class announcement about plagiarizing and what to do if you have or even thought that you have been guilty of it hoping that she would turn herself in. She never did. I called her into my office and asked her point blank if she wrote the papers she turned in. She said that she had. I then pulled out the web addresses of each and every one of her essays and asked her to explain why each of the essays that she has written were on free essay sites on-line. She played dumb and lied to me for a good half an hour as I asked her question after question. Her basic story was that two different people wrote the exact same essay word for word; she turned hers in and the other person posted it on-line. After 30 minutes of that rather painful conversation, I told her that I was going to fail her because she plagiarized her work and then lied to me for a very long time about it. She broke down, and cried that they would kick her out of school and out of the country (she's from Europe). She wanted a chance to make it right. I tried to tell her that I had given her many chances, but she wasn't listening to me. She confessed that she had paid $40 dollars for one of the essays. I asked her about the others, but she still played dumb. She begged me to change my mind for another 5-10 minutes. I couldn't; I wouldn't; I didn't. She ran out crying, and that was about the time that I lost all control that I had managed to keep. That was a miserable conversation that I never want to have again.
Morgan and I then were able to go on a trip by ourselves. My parents took the girls for a weekend and we left Rexburg. We went wherever we wanted to go. We went to see a play and drove around the mountains, went hiking, drove around some more. We went shopping, and spent the entire weekend just relaxing and getting ourselves emotionally prepared for the big push to the end of our stay in Rexburg, Idaho. It was a much needed break. I think it was the first vacation or time away from work or responsibility that I have had since...I can't say for sure. I know that it was really the first vacation that I haven't done any work at at least for the past 3 years – no wonder I am turning into such a dullard. On the way back to Rexburg, our car started having some problems. I just hope that it isn't anything serious since we will be driving the car to Minnesota in a couple of weeks.
Now we are bracing ourselves against the month of July. It will be crazy. Shudder. Good thing that we have rediscovered the joys of audio books. I have a subscription to audible.com and am getting some amazing deals from that place, and we getting the most out of netlibrary.com where you can “check-out” audio books to listen to and download to select portable devices. This month between the two of us we have listened to The Ceiling: How Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, Portuguese Irregular Verbs, Where God was Born – the story of the Bible and the Middle East, Lectures of Faith and Reason, Confessions of St. Augustine, Girl of the Limberlost, Anna Karenina, The Qu'ran:a biography, and Siddartha: an Indian Tale. I think that it will be audio books that pull us through this blasted move. Anyway I think that is everything on our end of the Jell-O belt. Wish you all the best and Heaven's blessings,
The Robertsons
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
