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
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