Big Trip

Steve stayed an extra week to help me with Katie as we ventured to Utah. It took 2 days to pack and we finally got everything to fit within the weight restrictions. I woke up Saturday morning to snow. Being worried that the roads would be bad we left Harrogate in our rental car early. Katie slept for over 2 hours in the car. It was great. She never travels this well. We had a really rough night so I wasn't surprised that she was tired. Check-in and security at the airport were really easy and the flight from Kentucky to Chicago was only half full. Because of this Katie was able to sit in her car seat. It was nice not having to hold her. She slept half of the 45 min flight and then woke up just in time to land. So far so good. I checked the board as soon as we got off to find that our next flight had been delayed. Everyone got something to eat. Katie felt a little warm. I was worried that she might have a fever. She was cutting some teeth. On the next flight Steve and I sat apart from each other and placed Katie between us. There were enough empty seats that again she had her own seat this time we had gate checked her car seat though. Without being strapped in she thought it was time to play. About 1 hour into the flight she got fussy and kept rubbing her eyes. With Steve's help I was able to switch her into her pj's. I then stood and rocked her in the isle and she fell asleep. We landed late and got stuck in traffic on the way to my parents. In the end we walked through the door at 2:30 am TN time. It was a long day but at least we made it to Utah.

My Musicians

A little know fact among his friends is that Rick plays the piano. He doesn't like to admit it but I'll tell everyone. One night Rick sat down at the piano and of course you can't leave Katie out of anything musical. She dances and sings any chance she gets. She wanted to play with Daddy. I thought it was so cute she couldn't play with her hands without dancing with her hips.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a big event for us. We were able to have dinner at Rick's dad's house. Steve was in town so we of course had to make a competition of the holiday by cooking 2 turkeys. Rick did a brown bag turkey and Steve brined his and then deep fried the bird. Both were great. Rick's looked picture perfect and Steve's was extremely moist. We shared the holiday with a few student families from the ward the Passey's and the Sloan's. After dinner there were a lot of football games which the boys enjoyed watching. I had so much fun I forgot to take any pictures even though I had my camera there.

Fun in the condo

I'm still trying to catch up on our lives. During November we were able to visit with some friends of ours the McArthur's. They were so gracious as to share Ken with us while he was home on leave from his tour of duty. They even found a location close to us because Katie is such a bad traveler.

We have a tendency to live near each other. They lived in Cedar City, UT where we met. They have also been in Lawton, OK and Spanish Fork, UT the same time as us. They moved back east to North Carolina and 6 months later we moved east to Tennessee. It had been almost a year since the last time we saw them and in the mean time they had a little boy Colby. It was so nice to finally meet him. I find Lisa to be one of my dearest friends. I'm so glad that we were able to coordinate our get together and hope to do it again really soon! Maybe next time my daughter won't attack the bathroom.

We stayed in Pigeon Forge and while we were there were able to go see the aquarium. It was so much fun watching the kids faces light up when the fish came up close.

November Fun

We did a lot during the month of November. It was nice to take some time to see friends and spend time together as a family. Rick was able to take a break from studying (note his books on the right) to watch some TV and cuddle with Katie. I'm pretty sure that Katie enjoyed his break as much as he did.

Katie was able to enjoy the fall leaves with her friend Elli Passey. They invited us over for dinner one night and the leaves were just too tempting to resist.

Katie's Photo Shoot

So I wanted to have Katie's picture taken for her 1 year birthday. Unfortunately the week of her birthday she ended up with bruises all over her head. Hazard of learning how to run and climb. So I waited a week and asked a friend from the ward to take some pictures. Unfortunately Katie ended up with a runny nose and I didn't want her pictures to be when she was sick. Once again the pictures were delayed. In the end we were finally able to do her photo shoot a month after her birthday, but who cares she is still one right. Jennifer Sclater (the friend from church) did an excellent job. We were only out for about 30 mins and she had the pictures done and edited in no time. Her talent is indescribable too. Like the saying goes, "a picture speaks a 1000 words." These pictures shout at how great Jeni is at photography and how my baby girl really is adorable even though she is a toddler now and gets lots of bumps and bruises. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

I have to note that just after the photo shoot we went home and Katie ended up with a bright blue bruise on her head that night. Thank goodness we did the pictures when we did.

What Else?

There are some weird things going on here in Harrogate.

Rick's parents decided to Kill their lawn by using Round-up to make way for a new and improved yard. They had the missionaries help. The elders still say it was the weirdest phone conversation when Rick's mom called to say thanks for killing the lawn. Anyway so the lawn was dead except for the tall green bunches that were growing scattered across the dead lawn. We all thought they were weeds until Rick's dad went to put the mower away and ran over a set.........Yep Onions. They have a chive patch instead of grass. Who knew.

At our house Rick's keys went missing, again. This was the third time he lost them since moving into this house. They always turn up. Just like his clicker for the garage and his wallet. Did I mention he is loosing stuff? I think it is due to the overload his brain is going through right now due to school. Well Rick and I both saw the keys in the front room on the floor but couldn't find them when we needed them. I later cleaned that room and still had no luck. So for the last couple of days I have been making the house sparkle while looking for his keys. Did I mention they are the keys to the BMW so they are expensive to replace? They were not to be found.

Katie our beautiful daughter wasn't feeling well and had a cough this last week. She was really clingy and that is why the house wasn't in the best shape to begin with. Now she is doing better. She loves bath time and her latest thing is throwing her diaper away for me after I change her. After watching Katie throw a diaper away Rick suggested we check the trash for his keys.

I put it off until there was no other option. Rick brought home some gloves from his cadaver lab and while he studied I went dumpster diving. I started with the garbages in the house. Nothing. We hadn't taken anything to the dump this week just in case we needed to go through it, so I went outside and started pulling bags out of the trash can. I'd open a white bag and empty its contents into a larger black bag.

All I have to say is if I was pregnant, which I'm not, I would have been throwing up right an left.

In the 5th bag I came across some of my Tupperware that my little angel had tossed away.

Evidently she didn't like them.

I kept digging through the muck

and found the Keys.

I was really glad that we didn't take the trash to the dump. The incident had success in finding the keys, bewilderment that Katie actually threw them away, and now frustration on how to keep this from happening again. Got to love 1 year olds!

The Holler

Moving to TN comes with its own vocabulary. Most of the time I can pick up what things mean but I had no clue what a "Haller" was. I just knew that people lived there. Finally when someone spelled it out for me H-o-l-l-e-r, it made more sense. Holler is a Hollow. I felt pretty smart that I knew where the word came from I still didn't know what it meant. The only thing hollow-ish I knew of was "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." That wasn't helping me out at all. Finally I looked it up in the dictionary. It said it was a large wooded ravine. That word I did know. So when we were invited to go to the Holler for some shooting Monday morning I was at the least intrigued to see the area.

It was beautiful. We were on a dirt road caressed by trees on every side. It was like driving up a canyon in Utah just more trees and less steep.

Shooting was fun. I hadn't been in a while. Katie wasn't too sure about the shotguns though. When everyone started skeet shooting I had to take her inside the house to play. While inside one of the many Holler residents talked about having a group from the ward come up for a bon fire and some steal the flag.

So Saturday night was an adult only game of steal the flag at the holler. During the day the area is beautiful. At night it can be dangerous running through the woods. They have briars

everywhere that catch your clothing and scrape you up. If you stopped and looked around the scene looked like something off a scary movie where someone gets kidnapped in the woods by a psychopath. It was Awesome. I haven't had that much fun in ages. I had such a great time I hope that I can convince my family to do a game next summer while we are in Utah. Who knew going local could be so much fun.