Compatability

Last night, Aaron and I were watching the news and they were talking about the start of the upcoming college football season. I felt a feeling inside of me, that really is quite difficult to describe, other than a pit of dread and if I'm being completely honest, part disgust for the next few months ahead, with every Saturday being consumed with football games, and being unable to go and do things with my husband on Saturdays, because so many things have to revolve around what games are on TV. The real problem is, the longer I'm married the more I hate football. I used to just really dislike it, but every year it evolves into something worse. Don 't get me wrong, I don't hate sports, just football. I love basketball, and find that very entertaining, I just can't get into football. The more I watch, the more I hate it. I like watching the highlights of the game, because I get to watch the best parts, without having to devote four hours of my day to it. Hopefully next year we can buy season tickets to the University of Utah football games. If it takes selling my plasma twice a week to get it done, that might just have to happen. I can appreciate the enthusiasm of going to games, and I think that it is a great time for male bonding. In fact, I loved it the year Aaron had season tickets to the U. He got to hang out with some of his friends at the game, get some time away from the wifey, enjoy a great football game, and I didn't have to watch it! A win-win situation!! Now don't get me wrong, I think my husband's love of football is kind of cute, I love that he has that enthusiasm, I just don't share in the enthusiasm. The reason I think it is cute, is because Aaron has such a wide range of interests. He really has such a variety of interests, it is one of the things that I found so attractive while we were dating, and is definitely one of my favorite things about him now. I love that he is so well rounded, I think I would go absolutely nuts if his whole life revolved around sports, and this is all he could talk about. Luckily for me, I am truly blessed, and I don't have this problem.

With that said, as I laid in bed pondering what my Saturdays are going to entail this football season, I realized (not for the first time) how compatible Aaron and I really are. We may not share in the love of football, but most of our interests are the same. We have the same tastes in so many other activities and the ways in which we want to spend our free time, even if we don't have the time/money to do those things at this time. I know this is part of the reason adjusting to marriage was so easy for us, it was such a smooth transition. We really are lucky to have found each other.

One of my favorite pictures. This was while we were still in the hospital. Aaron had gone to a Utes game that day (at my insistence, really! I knew it was hard for Aaron to sit in the hospital, and we had bought those tickets, and I wanted him to use them.) Aaron had just gotten back from the game, and Piper just watched and watched him. Isn't it an adorable picture? I think so.

Well with that said, I DO care what happens with the Utes this year, I hope they do well in their new conference. I hope Aaron has a lot of good games to watch this year. Go Utes!!!! (And go Aggies!! Although I don't hold out much hope for them, I do love them!!)

Summer Fun

I don't really have much to blog about, so I thought I would just post some pictures of some of the activities Piper has been up to lately.

Enjoying her first ice cream cone - completely solo, without any help from Mom or Dad. A proud moment for us ice cream lovers.


One of our favorite things, going to the park behind our house. Piper loves climbing up the different levels to get to the slides, and of course she loves going down the slides. She loves to say "Ready, Set, Go!!" A phrase she learned from another kid at the park. She also loves the swings, but since I have to stand right there in case she falls off, I haven't got a picture of her on the swings.

This summer we have enjoyed our fire pit. Since we didn't get to roast some s'mores for the 4th of July, we did it a couple of days later, and Piper learned of the joy of a simple s'more.

Piper showing off her sticky face. Incidentally, she kept saying "Sticky, sticky." This however did not prevent her from grabbing a handful of dried grass clippings, which was funny because she kept trying to wipe them off, without much success of course!

Just getting warmed up on the s'mores.


Creating magnificent chalk artwork on the sidewalk and driveway!

Working hard, helping Mom pull weeds out of the flower beds. (And a few flower petals as well).

Let's not forget how much we love our bunnies. Here is Piper getting up from her minute of crying and being consoled by Cooper our bunny. For those of you who didn't see on Facebook, one day we had four little girls over to play. Piper all in all had a good time. Three of those girls were triplets, and during the time they were over, I had to change three poopy diapers. After each diaper change, Piper wanted her diaper changed as well, which was so funny, since Piper hates having her diaper changed. Every time I wiped their noses, Piper had to have her nose wiped. Each time I gave them a high five, Piper had to have a high five. You get the picture. I guess this is what it will be like when the baby gets here. But when it was time for them to leave, Piper was SO upset. After they left Piper sat right next to Cooper, flopped her body down, flew her arms over him and buried her face in his fur and sobbed. It was one of those moments as a parent, that you can't help but laugh a little, but also it was sad. She laid there for about a minute and cried. Well I FINALLY realized what a good photo op that moment was, but caught it as it was winding up. This is Piper getting up from that incident and giving him one final kiss before coming over to get a hug and cuddle from Mom.

All tuckered out! Piper fell asleep during dinner and I couldn't resist getting a picture of it.

Piper has enjoyed summer and has loved spending every minute outdoors that she can. Despite a wasp sting and a couple of tumbles outside, this does not deter her nor slow her down. She loves to run around and explore the outdoors. Hopefully soon I will be getting over this "morning sickness" and we can take a camping trip, something I have been dying to do, but in reality, don't really feel up to leaving the comfort of my bed and the convenience of throwing up in toilet, for sleeping on the lumpy ground and scrambling to open the tent door and stumble my way through the dark to vomit in a bush.

American Girl

Well the 4th of July has come and gone. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. I'm always a little sad when it is over. This year we didn't do too much, we can thank the pregnancy for that. But I think we still had a great weekend. Saturday we went over to Josh and Kim's and had a BBQ, and spent a great evening with them and their family. They have a daughter that is 11 months older than Piper and they played and got along really well with each other. Their daughter had some princess shoes, and Piper thought that this was great! For those of you that don't know, Piper LOVES shoes. And I mean LOVES. A couple of weeks ago grandma Hurst bought Piper some shoes and talk about excited. Anyways, Piper had fun playing over there and so did mom and dad. It is such a blessing to have good friends to share life with.

Sunday both Piper and I were sick. We had to stay home from church while poor Aaron braved our primary class by himself. Although I'm sure it went well because the kids love him. Last Sunday when Aaron was dropping Piper off at nursery and she was having her meltdown, the kids kept asking "Where is Brother Stringer?" concerned that he wouldn't be there. It really is so cute. I'm so lucky to have someone like him. He just takes things as they come and is so patient and understanding. I'm really grateful he is like this, especially recently, since some nights dinner doesn't consist of anything nice, and the house isn't exactly up to par some days.

Monday brought us lounging around, relaxing and enjoying each others company. Then mid-afternoon, we combined lunch and dinner and had a BBQ with some fantastic food. After food coma set in, we laid Piper down for a late nap and engrossed ourselves in episodes of 24 on Netflix. After Piper woke from her nap we went down to Sandy city to their festivities. There was food booths, craft booths, all sorts of fun things. Then they had their parade in the evening, which was kind of strange, I have never been to a parade in the evening. But it was a great success. Piper really enjoyed the parade and did a good job sticking by mom and dad.

At home.
Enjoying a snow cone while waiting for the parade to start.

Being a cute, silly girl!
One of my absolute favorite things was watching my daughters face light up during the parade. This isn't exactly a picture of her with that expression, but here she is waving to some veterans who were waving at her.

One of the best parts of the parade was a refueling jet that did a low fly by over the parade. It scared Piper the first time, but the second time she handled it better, giving a tentative laugh after it flew by. This is the plane flying away after its last fly by.

After all the festivities were over, we were all a little tired, at least I was! We were going to go home and cook some s'mores in our fire pit in the back yard, but it started to rain, so that let that out. The last fun of the day involved giving Piper her glow in the dark bracelets which she thought were pretty cool. She even wanted to share and made sure that mom had one too. So we settled down on the couch cuddling and admiring our glowing jewelry in the dark. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture of her and the bracelets, because she wouldn't quit looking at them long enough to get a picture.

All in all a fun weekend! It is great to celebrate Independence Day and to reflect on the kind of life that I have because of others actions and sacrifices. No country is perfect, but I am grateful to be born and raised here, with the kind of life that I have had because I am an American. What a great blessing!