General Updates

This entry is just a general update of the family and not too exciting. Mostly I just wanted to get this all down for posterity. :)

I officially started classes again this Tuesday (Monday was Memorial Day). The work load is rough as I am reading about a chapter every other day plus extra reading assignments, quizzes, and cases. I will also have three exams during the next five weeks. The work load is fairly intense, but the subject matter is interesting, so it helps the work not seem too grueling. I have to apologize to my family, and especially my AMAZING husband who will have to bear more of my home duties, in addition to his own work and yard maintenance. How did I luck out to get such an awesome partner!?!

I am looking forward to participating in an externship at Deloitte next week. The two days I am in Las Vegas will help me see what it is like to work in an accounting firm and help me meet a bunch of people who work down in Deloitte's Vegas office. I'm very excited for the opportunity.

My accounting assistant here at SUU (student) graduated with his Bachelor's degree this spring and took a job up at the Tax Commission in Salt Lake. While I am really happy for his career to be progressing, I am nervous about the increased work load. My department is not replacing him due to budget cuts. It's going to be really busy this summer because summer is the busiest time for conferences and events on campus as well as in the accounting department with the end of year closing and new year budgets.

Enough about me, though. Andy is working hard at his job as well as working VERY hard to put in a front yard at our house. He has got a garden set up and waters it frequently. He has dug trenches all over our half acre to move the water to the back so we can landscape the front, he has been leveling out our back yard with the Bobcat we borrowed from my dad and grandpa, and it seems like each new project creates more projects... Hopefully we can get a front yard by the end of the summer.

Cambrie is learning more and more about reading and letters. She knows her letters VERY well and the sounds that go with each. She is starting to sound out words and spells words for me to interpret all the time.

Cambrie, over the last month or two, has been going through some behavior problems at school (preschool/daycare). She is good most weeks, but occasionally is acting VERY defiant and ignoring the direction of her teachers. Unfortunately, this behavior is sometimes exhibited at home as well. I know she is a very independent person and always has been, and I've tried to parent her with this consideration in mind, but lately it seems my tactics are not working. There is a girl at her school who is her friend and I can't help but speculate that some of the behaviors she is exhibiting are learned from this particular girl. If anyone has any tricks or references for parenting "spirited and independent" preschoolers, any advice would be welcome. :)

Calina is talking more and more every day. I understand most of what she says, but she's not to the point where anyone could understand her. She repeats most of the words I tell her, and I think she is doing very well for her age (I'm not biased at all). Calina's independence is blossoming as well. There are times she does NOT want to take her vitamins, to brush her teeth, or to get her diaper changed, but nothing that isn't age appropriate. She is a sweet little girl and has recently learned to give us kisses....it just melts your heart!!

Over and out from the Crosby's.

Gone Fishin'

Last weekend, Andy and I got ourselves out of the city and into the mountains for the first time this spring. We went up the canyon by Paragonah and went fishing at Red Creek Reservoir (Paragonah Reservoir). It was so fun to breath the fresh mountain air and witness nature in all it's springtime beauty. We took up some food and had a picnic dinner at the side of the lake. Although it did try to rain on us, the rain quickly turned to sun and Cambrie, Calina, and I went on a walk up by the stream that feeds the reservoir. This stream happens to be where the resident rainbow trout spawn. We probably saw 500 fish in the stream. Cambrie and Calina were both tickled to death that they could see all these fish and hear them splashing in the stream. We had fun "sneaking" up on the fish so we could get a better look, and then when we would make noise, we would see them swim off in a flash. The little walk we went on was BEAUTIFUL and very fun. There are restrictions on fishing in the stream, in order to protect the spawning trout, so Andy stayed on the lake in his bass fishing boat. He got in a few hours of fishing and got a lot of bites, but no fish. Still, the outing was worthwhile. Pictures to come when I have a minute to download them. :)

Check this out

I found this awesome giveaway on a hair blog. She is giving away a nice flat iron:

http://hairandshare.blogspot.com/2009/05/flat-iron-giveaway.html

Who doesn't love free stuff? The giveaway goes through May 31. :)

Crazy Stuff!

My Grandma sent this video to me. I only wish I could do some of the stuff these ladies can!

Calina update: Little talker

This morning when I was getting the food together to take to work, Calina spotted some mangos on the counter. She was wanting them pretty badly. She spit out her binki and was reaching for them. I picked one of them up and told her, "It's a mango." Carefull to say the word mango slowly and clearly. She said back to me "Mano." It didn't sound perfect, but in her little baby talk she is sounded it out enough for me to understand what she said. Lately, it seems Calina learns how to say a few new words each week. Here are a few things that she can say:

dog (dah or dah-de for doggie)
jacket (daa-det)
drink (dee)
more (moo)
cat (dat)
That (dats)
pappa (pa-pa)
momma (ma-ma)
daddy (da-de)
Cambrie (na-na)...don't know why, but every time she sees a picture of Cambrie, she says na-na
eye (ah)
ear (ee)
mouth (mah)
nose (no)
diaper (da da)
Hi (hi)

I'm sure there's more, but those are the ones she uses every day. It's bittersweet seeing her grow up. I'm excited that she's doing well and talking, but also sad my little baby's growing up.

Cambrie update: I can read

While I was fixing Cambrie's hair this morning, she was studying the light switch. The following conversation took place:

Cambrie: Mom, I can read.
Mom: Oh, really?
Cambrie: Yeah, right here says "no" N - O
Mom: (pretty perplexed) where?
Cambrie: Right here (pointing to the light switch)
Mom: Oh, that's very good Cambrie! But it actually spells "on" O - N

So, Cambrie just read her first word, kind of! I talked to her a little bit about reading from left to right, but she actually saw the letters and sounded them out and figured out what it means...kind of crazy!!

Catching up

I've never been good at journaling, so I'm glad I have this blog to keep up on the happenings of our family. That said, I haven't been all that great at keeping the blog up, either!! So, there is quite a bit I just posted trying to catch up on things. I'm hoping I'll have more time in May when I don't have classes going on!

Easter

We had a really great Easter. On Saturday we headed over to the Enoch City offices for the city easter egg hunt. After hearing about the hunt in Cedar City, I was glad we made the choice to stay in Enoch. I wouldn't say it was calm and nice, but it wasn't crazy like the Cedar City one. Calina and Cambrie were both able to get a few eggs, so they were really happy, and for the most part, the kids were able to find the eggs on their own and we didn't have a lot of pushy parents.

The girls woke up early on Sunday morning to find that the Easter bunny had come to our house. Then we got ready for church to learn more about the true meaning of Easter. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of everyone in their fancy shmancy easter attire. After church, we went to my folks house for another easter egg hunt and a yummy easter lunch/dinner.

Cambrie found her Easter basket!!

Calina dumped her basket out, but here it is after mom and dad helped her put it back together!
Calina loved the toy turtle the Easter bunny put in her basket.

Calina and Cambrie on another egg hunt in "the park" at my parent's house.

Cambrie is happy she found an egg!

Birthday Girl

Last week Cambrie turned 4!! I can't believe how fast she grows and how quickly she is learning about everything. For her birthday, we got a cupcake princess cake from Wal-mart and brought it to her school to share with all of her friends. She was so tickled to carefully hand out one cupcake to each kid in the class. We also got some easter eggs filled with treats for her friends as favors (she picked them out).

After her birthday festivities at school, I took the rest of the afternoon off of work and we went home and got the house ready for the family to come over for a birthday bash. The party turned out really fun. We ate some pizza, opened presents, played in the cul-de-sac, and ate some yummy cake.

Here is Cambrie with her presents.

Cambrie's birthday present was a princess bike. Andy set up this neat little treasure hunt for Cambrie to find her bike. She opened up a box with a picture in it, she went to that location and found another picture. Here is a video I started taking part way through.

After she found her bike, we all went out into our cul-de-sac and played with our outside toys. The kids had an absoloute blast. The weather was just perfect and we all had a great time watching them have fun!

Here is Calina hanging out with Grandma Vicki

Alex, Cambrie and Calina having a ride in the wagon. Gotta love those baby rolls!!

Alex pulling Calina in the wagon

Grandma Vicki did the most waggon pulling. The babies loved it when she went FAST!

Calina would just laugh and laugh when Grandma pulled her FAST. This is a video Andy took of her having a great ol' time.

Cambrie and Calina

When I first found out that Calina was a girl, I was admittedly a little bit dissapointed. I was SURE I was going to have a boy. However, in retrospect, I think Heavenly Father knew that we needed a girl and that we needed Calina. I have since found out how FABULOUS it is to have two girls (somewhat) close together. Cambrie and Calina are such good friends (most of the time). I can see how in the future, they are going to be such good friends. It makes me really happy. A couple of weeks ago, Calina was drinking her bottle, and wanted for some reason to be close to Cambrie. She climbed up on the couch and was at first bugging Cambrie, but then Cambrie realized she just wanted to sit by her, so they sat together reading Cambrie's Tag book. Really cute moment.

At the Park

When we transfered Zoe to Bonnie and Kirk, we met them in Filmore to make the exchange. Cambrie and Calina had a lot of fun playing on the playground at the Mavrick in Filmore.

Cambrie having fun

One of those RARE shots of Calina where she is:

a. smiling and

b. holding still enough that the shot isn't blury.

Calina was having fun walking around in her shoes. This is the first time she has been able to walk around on an uneven surface with shoes on her own. We don't have grass, only dirt, so she had a blast walking between the grass and the gravel.

Cambrie looking back as she's climbing the equipment. What a good sport to pose for a picture. :)

Bye Bye Zoe

After realizing that we aren't taking care of Zoe as we should be, Andy decided she needed to find another home. Our good friends the Poulsens expressed an interest in taking her should we ever want to get rid of her, so we asked Bonnie if she was still interested. She was, so Zoe went to live with Bonnie and Kirk. While we were all sad to see Zoe go (especially Calina), it was very comforting that she was going to such a great home. She has been with the Poulsens for a little over a month now, and is loving living with them in their house and playing in their fenced yard. She is getting so much more love and attention and is learning so much! It really is such a relief to have her enjoying her life so much more! Here are a few pictures of Zoe just before she left:

Kirk gripping the leash (probably thinking, what on earth did we get ourselves in to). Zoe is one strong pup!!

Living Dead Girl

Cambrie just LOVES to pretend. She can tell ellaborate stories and we can play "mommy and kid" (I'm the kid) for HOURS without her getting sick of it (usually it's me that can't take any more). :) So, last night Cambrie was laying on the floor pretending that she was dead. She just layed there with her eyes closed so peaceful. I, on the other hand, was in kind of a rush trying to pick up my living room because the releif society president was coming to my house. She was going to be there any minute, and I needed Cambrie to help me pick up her toys. So, after several times of asking nicely for Cambrie to get up and help me pick up the living room, she said to me, "Mommy, I'm dead. Dead people CAN'T walk!!" So, I said, "Okay dead girl, you need to start coming back to life." She sat there for a minute, still dead, and I reminded her, "Cambrie it's time to come back to life." She slowly started to raise her arms to start getting up, and said, "Look mom!! Jesus is helping me!!"

Viva Las Vegas

Over Spring Break, Andy had a conference in Las Vegas, so we packed up and went along with him! The weather was just fabulous (70's and 80's), and the girls and I got in some good R&R and swimming time while Andy was away during the day.

Cambrie and Calina at the M&M Factory

Cambrie posing in front of the Excalibur castle.
Us at New York New York. Calina wasn't wanting to look at the camera.
Watching the fish at Ceasars Palace. We were waiting for our table at the Cheesecake Factory. Calina was obviously a lot more interested in those fish than she was in the camera.
Still waiting for our table, we took a look at F.A.O. Schwarz

At night it was kind of hecktic and made me realize that Vegas is not much fun when you have two little kids to carry everywhere. Trying to navigate busy streets and all the endless walking is very tiresome for little ones! Cambrie enjoyed seeing some of the sights on the strip, but it took us hours to eat dinner each night by the time we parked and walked a couple miles, decided on a place, got in our reservation, ordered, ate, paid for the food, etc. One of the last nights we were there, we decided to heck with the strip, and ate dinner at an Olive Garden off the strip. It was the best, most relaxing dinner we had while we were there!! So, I don't think we'll be bringing the kids along the next time we go to Vegas...

Our room, however, was a dream!! We stayed at Summer Bay Resort which is a gated/manned time share resort just behind Harrahs (where Andy had his conference). The room was a one bedroom suite with a fully functioning kitchen and laundry room. The bedroom had a big walk in closet with a bench where Calina slept in her pack n' play. It was perfect! The quietest, darkest room in the place for the lightest sleeper!! Cambrie slept on our bed in the bedroom while we still wanted to be awake, and then we moved her to the couch bed when we were ready to go to sleep. During the day, I was able to read, or watch a movie or take a nap while the girls napped. As I mentioned before, we had a good time during the day just hanging out (at the pool or in our room) and relaxing!!

Here is Cambrie hanging out in our room:

This is a picture of one of the pools at the resort. We went swimming three times in the four days we were there. It was fabulous!

This is an old picture I found of the resort on the internet. It has since been rennovated, but it gives you an idea of how close it is to the strip. I walked with Cambrie and Calina to meet Andy one day for lunch and with Cambrie walking on her own and me pushing Calina in the stroller, it only took us about 7 minutes to get to Harrahs. Probably another 5 to get to the front of the casino....proabably only about a 10 minute walk from the strip if you don't have two kids!

Zions

One of my bestest friends came to visit me last weekend. It was so much fun to visit with Jasmine her and her cute little girl, Maili. Cambrie and Maili played hard all weekend, and were sad to say goodbye when it was time for Maili to leave. Jasmine's parents, Kirk and Bonnie came down too and they stayed with my parents. On Saturday, we heard it was supposed to be like 70 degrees in St. George, so we went on a little river hike in Zions. It was really fun to get out, although the sun didn't come out as much as I would have liked, and the wind was blowing at times.

Here is a picture of Bonnie, me, and Calina while we stopped at the river to throw rocks and sticks in....we're easily entertained, I know! :) Calina was smiling at Jasmine who was just to the side of my mom who was taking the picture.

Cambrie cheezing it for the picture. She was getting ready to throw that stick in the water. I think she must have been squinting in the sun or something...Calina just LOVED Kirk this visit. She was frequently reaching out for him to hold her. I think she's the first "Meier" child to not be scared of the guy. It is definitely a long time coming, because he is such a nice guy!
My mom and I on the hike. Andy kept sneaking up behind us with Calina....silly Andy.
Jasmine (and her cute baby bump) and Bonnie stopped to have a mother/daughter picture. Our family on the hike.
Cambrie and Maili had SOOO much fun on this hike! They were having "horsie" races with their grandpas being the horses (and their hair being the reigns). They were just LAUGHING and LAUGHING as they were bouncing up and down along the trail. I think they thoroughly exhausted their grandpas!!! Andy helped Cambrie climb up this rock wall near the visitors center. She was pretty stoked that she ws so high!
Maili wanted to join in the fun too. Kirk and Bonnie made sure that she was securly held while she was up there! Way to go guys...make us look like bad parents!! :) After our fun hike, we went into St. George for a little shopping and a YUMMY dinner at Ruby Tuesdays! I never knew getting soup and a salad bar could be SO DELICOUS!! I highly recommend it! I didn't get any pictures with my camera (we forgot it, AGAIN), so THANKS Mom and Jasmine for the pictures!! :)

LASIK Surgery

On Monday (President's Day) Andy got LASIK surgery done at Hoopes Vision Center in Sandy, Utah. The surgery has been a long time coming, so Andy was both excited and nervous to have the procedure done. I posted a video of a LASIK vision correction surgery I found on You Tube. It's obviously not Andy's actual surgery, but it's basically what happened to Andy on the day of his surgery. Just a warning, if you are squeamish about eyes, you might not want to watch it. It's really not that bad, but I just wanted to warn. :)



Here's another example:



So the first part of the surgery when they put that plastic bracket on the eye, they are cutting the corneal flap with a laser called Intralase. This is a fairly new technology. A lot of LASIK vision centers still use a blade to cut the flap, but at Hoopes, Andy's flap was cut with Intralase. So when the laser cuts the flap a lot of bubbles form where it is cut, so it makes it difficult to see after the flap is cut. Andy sat in a massage chair while we waited for the next part. I got to join him, too because there were no other patients waiting!! Then in the next part, the flap is loosened and folded back while the laser corrects the vision, then the flap is replaced and the surgery is done! Pretty genius.

Andy's surgery went very well. We went in the next morning (18 hours after the surgery) and he was seeing 20/25 in each eye separately and 20/20 with both eyes together! The doctor said that his vision should improve even more, and should fluctuate for the next three weeks. Right now he puts lubrication drops in his eyes every hour he is awake and has a steroid drop and an antibiotic drop that he puts in four times a day. The lubrication drops will need to continue for the next two months, but the other two will be finished a week after surgery.

It's pretty crazy to have Andy drive and watch TV and do everything without glasses!! Here is a picture of him on a hike in Zions:

The Age of Reasoning

Last night was a first. It started out normal enough when the kids when to bed. Calina stirred a little bit before we went to bed, but that isn't uncommon at all. When Andy and I went to bed we realized that we had forgotten to give Calina her dose of antibiotic that night. We were both tired and thinking that it wouldn't be worth waking her up for it. Well, fortunately (or unfortunately) she woke up around midnight, so I decided to give her the medicine since she was awake anyway.

As a background, I have been nursing Calina asleep since she was brand new. She's never really been put asleep any other way, except for an occasional night when her mommy is not around and she goes to bed with a bottle. Also, I stopped pumping at work last month, so my milk supply is waning, and I pretty much just have enough to feed her once while she is going to bed and again when she wakes up...no more.

So anyway, last night she woke up and I gave her the medicine and was trying to comfort her back to sleep, so I made a bottle for her. She didn't want ANYTHING to do with it. She was VERY ANGRY with me that I wasn't feeding her in the "normal" way. So I put her in her crib and went to bed. Obviously, she wasn't happy about that either. By this time Cambrie was awake and yelling at her to be quiet. So they sat in their room for a few minutes yelling and screaming until I finally got out of bed again and tried to get Calina to sleep. She was still VERY ANGRY that I wansn't breast feeding her and DIDN'T want the bottle. So, at my wits end, I looked at her and said firmly (but nicely), "Do you want to go back in your crib?" Well, I think the message got through! I didn't expect it to, but it did! She clung to me just like she does when she knows I need to put her down, and I continued, "Calina, you need to calm down and go to sleep or I will have to put you back in your crib." So after that, she calmed down and went to sleep. This is the FIRST time I've been able to reason Calina out of a fit!! YAY!

Birthday Trouble...

The FIRST rule of parenting: The minute things seem a bit calmer than normal, RUN!! RUN and look to see what your kids are doing IMMEDIATELY!!

Calina thought it was pretty cool that when you pull a tissue out of the box, there's another one waiting for you to pull out again!!! NEATO!!

How could ANYONE get mad at THAT face!?!

Party Time!

I can't believe that my little Calina turned one!! She is such a sweet, loving, cuddly, little girl, and always so happy! She just fills our home with joy and love. Here are a few pictures of her on her big day!!

Good morning birthday girl!

Birthday Cake!!

Andy and I got her an ice cream cake for her birthday, which sounds really yummy, but as it turns out is kind of difficult for a one year old who hasn't quite mastered a fork to eat. She really loved it, and wanted to eat lots of it, but it was a little hard for her to feed herself. Immagine trying to eat ice cream with your bare hands...she was pretty frustrated that it would melt through her fingers before she could get it to her mouth....oh, well, you live, you learn!!
Look at all my presents! THANK YOU everyone!! :)
Happy, happy birthday girl!!

That night Grandma Jeri (Andy's mom) came up through Cedar City on her way up to Springville and had some dinner with us and some birthday cake after dinner at our house. We had such a good time, and it was SO fun for her to be with us for a few hours! I just wish I would have gotten some pictures of her with the girls while she was here!

Look Who's Talking!

Calina has been saying words for a while. She started saying "dog" a few months ago, and can say mama and dada to the right parent. But lately, she has been surprising us with more and more sounds. She says "eep" for sheep (and can even follow it up with a "baa baa"), she can say "at" for cat and meow like a cat, and she even made chicken noises for me once (can you tell she REALLY likes animals?). But I have to say that when she learned "tickle, tickle" it is my favorite!! She got her little pudgy fingers next to Cambrie, and said "tickle, tickle, tickle" just as plain as day as she was squeezing her hand next to Cambrie's back (trying to tickle her). Here is a cute video I got of her later that night: