To the Nice People

I've been pleasantly surprised lately by the niceness of random strangers. I don't live in a city full of friendly people, but apparently there still are some out there. Two days ago I was at Costco loading the trunk after doing some shopping. A greasy mechanic guy came over and lifted the large watermelon and gallons of milk into the car. Wow, I really didn't expect that. If I still lived in Utah I would, but not here. Today I was steering a large cart full of groceries out to the car and realized someone was walking right behind me. Once again a rough, grimy looking man told me he wanted to put the bags in my car for me. I was shocked again. Both times the guys that helped me did not look like friendly people, but I guess that's exactly why we aren't told to judge. My faith in humanity is being restored! Now the question is, are these people really that nice or do I look that large and uncomfortable that people can't help but feel bad for me?

Oh Happy Day

I am so excited to announce that after 2 1/2 months I finally broke down and bought a new camera! Our last camera took it's final pictures at Macie's birthday party (late March) while we were outside hitting the pinata. Sadly it met the pavement with the lens open in a moment of excitement and, well, that was the end of that. Needless to say, our video camera has gotten more use over these last few months than it ever has before, but there are still fun things I wish I could have caught in still pictures.

We prolonged buying a new camera because I wanted a major upgrade: the Canon Rebel XTi. After searching and searching for good deals, I just couldn't bring myself to spend such a large chunk of change. So I settled for a Nikon Coolpix P80, and have been very satisfied since I bought it yesterday. I feel like I got a good bridge between the SLR and a regular point-and-shoot digital camera. A big plus for me is the size; it's not small enough where I'll drop it (hopefully!), yet not too big to carry around everywhere. The quality and features are SO much better than what I've had before too. I'm looking forward to learning about cameras and sharpening my photography skills. All I remember from photography class senior year of high school was showing up late and Anna spending lots of time in the dark room. Go figure, right? I know some of you remember those days!

Of course I had to experiment with the 18x zoom, and my napping husband was the perfect subject.

Growing Up!

I realize I haven't posted any pictures of Macie in a long time. She is finally looking more her age now that we can do different hairstyles. It's long enough for little ponytails and is super curly too. I think she is such a little beauty! I am her mom after all.

We see my parents off and on pretty sporadically. My mom was last here after traveling to Utah for her doctors' appointments earlier in the month. We're expecting to see them again this coming weekend. We usually don't know too far in advance when they're coming so it's always a nice surprise! Macie loves having more people around to play dress up and give her attention, as you can see. We have no shortage of princess accessories at our house.

What cute cousins! Macie and Sadie girl are quite the pair. Even though they are almost a year and a half apart in age they act like sisters. We are going to miss her when they move next month.

Check out those curly piggytails. I love it! We're still working on growing bangs, but at least short bangs are easy to work with.

We get to see my dad even more than my mom because he comes to Vegas for short business trips every now and then. We usually don't know until the week before, and he's usually only here for a day or two. Nonetheless it's still fun! He always gets a rental car when he comes and this last trip he drove up in a minivan. We were laughing about it until we put Macie's carseat in and had room for us all to fit comfortably. Macie was upset when we got to the restaurant because she thought he was taking us to his house. She was kicking and whining saying, "I want to go to Genoa!" Poor girl, she has no concept of distance.

I should have gotten a shot of the back of her head because a little water, gel and hairspray does wonders for Macie's curls in back. She definitely doesn't get the curly hair from me.

I love my silly Macie. I can't imagine life without my little goofy girl.

Getting There

I've definitely noted by now that I am not a consistent blogger. I have had good intentions to update my blog lately, but it just doesn't happen. I'm so tired! And as usual, things are very busy with all the commotion at our house. My sister is finally hitting crunch time for her wedding (June 28th) and we couldn't be happier to start the countdown ourselves! I love Lisa, but wedding planning isn't the funnest thing in the world. Things just haven't been pretty lately trying to get invitations out, details taken care of, etc. I have a feeling this will drag out to the very end. Let's just say my sister is very young and is still learning how to be an adult.

We threw a fun bridal shower brunch for my sister earlier in the month and everything turned out great. I have gotten so bored with the traditional shower games, so we decided to spruce things up a bit and do something new. It included blindfolding the bride and having her put on a bag of clothing and accessories in a certain time frame. You can see some of the result of that in the picture below of me with my Mom and sisters Lisa and Mel. What you may not be able to notice is her reddened face. We also blindfolded people at the shower and had them apply make-up to her face. Not only was it hilarious, but the final result was even a bit scary. I don't have pictures on my computer, but you can imagine I'm sure. Needless to say, we weren't bored with those games! Too bad she cleaned it off before the picture.

My mom showed off her artistic abilites and made a great fruit tray complete with a carved watermelon. Too bad I wasn't blessed with any artistic genes. I couldn't even get the crepe paper to look nice so she had to do the decorations too. I have no creative vision. All in all things went well and we had a great time.

Funny Talk

My daughter is hilarious. She had several funny comments today that I hadn't heard before and I have to get them written before I forget.

#1 - Macie and I were walking downstairs this morning. I ask her this question every day and usually get the same response...but not today!
Me: How did you sleep sweetie?
Macie: I sleep so hard Mommy.

#2 - My neighbor wanted me to run over to her house for a few minutes. I couldn't get Macie to come to the door to leave.
Me: Come on Macie, let's go.
Macie: Wait Mom, I need my purse. (She gets her purse on then stops and puts her hands up in a new realization.) I need my mate-up on!
She always takes her purse everywhere, but she's never mentioned getting her make-up on before she leaves. I wonder where she got that one?

#3 - We were just sitting around playing with toys.
Macie: Mom, I show you my magits. (magic)
Me: (Totally surprised) Ok Macie, what's the magic?
Macie: Tum over here Mom. (Pointing at the vanity set) Its my magit mirror.

#4 - We were outside at the mailbox and a neighbor started talking to Macie.
Neighbor: Macie, are you having a little brother?
Macie: (In thought) No, I not have little brother. Mommy have little brother in hers tummy.

Mom Time

This past week I've been visiting my parents in Genoa. We're actually heading back home later today. We've had a great time enjoying the wildlife and great weather here. Macie loves to go looking for lizards, quail, deer, cows, etc. She has this fascination with deer and always wants to touch them, but of course you can never get close enough because they run away. Her cousins Bella and Gus arrived yesterday and it's been really fun having them around too. The girls are a little crazy, but have a great time together. My dad likes to get them all wound up, so it's very loud around here to say the least!

My mom found this family picture from 1982; I was 1 and my brother was 3. Doesn't my little Macie look like me or what? I also love my dad's poofy hair in that picture. Not only did we get to spend Mother's Day here with my family, but also my mom's birthday the day before. At this time last year my mom spent her birthday and Mother's Day in the hospital. She was undergoing chemotherapy in preparation for the stem-cell transplant she had on May 31st. It was a very stressful time, and we all really enjoyed being at home with a healthy mom this year. She is still dealing with effects of the transplant that do limit some of her activities, but all in all she is pretty much back to normal everyday life. We feel very fortunate that she is alive and well today. She is definitely an example to everyone through the challenges she endured and the positive attitude she always maintains. We love our Annie!

The Results Are In...

It's a boy!!! Our little guy was quite the wiggle worm during the ultrasound, making it very easy to determine the gender. As you can see from the spread eagle shot, there's no denying it. Those who have asked me know that I was hoping for another girl, but I'm not disappointed that a baby boy is coming. I think having a boy is scarier for me since I've already done the whole girl thing and had such a great experience with Macie from the very beginning. Different will be good. I won't lie, I'm a little nervous about going from one to two regardless of the gender. However, motherhood has proved to be the most rewarding thing I've ever done. I wouldn't trade a second of it for anything else, tantrums and all. There can't be anything sweeter in life than having your little one tell you that they love you and give you kisses. I feel lucky that I was able to spend all of my time over the last 2 years day-to-day with a child.

I have no doubt that my Macie will be a great big sister. She's already saying: "I'm gonna have baby brother." It's still a long wait for her, but hopefully helping with the preparations will keep her excited about it.

I have to share this last thing the nurse said while Macie and I were at the doctor's office:

Nurse: "So, your daughter looks like her Dad."
Me: "Why do you say that? Doesn't she look like me?"
Nurse: "Not really."
Me: "Oh."

Hmmm, I thought as Macie has gotten older she's started to look a little different. As in, not as much like her Daddy. Not that that's a bad thing, I just want her to look like my child too! However, my mom said she found a family picture when I was a two-year-old and I looked a lot like Macie. Take that! I'll have to scan it when we go visit my parents in a couple weeks. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture of Baby Boy Waldron's face. A little scary looking huh?

Eventful Day

So it happened again like it does every year...I got older. My birthday was on Monday the 21st, and thanks for all the birthday wishes. Don't feel bad if you didn't know because odds are I don't know your birthday either. People that know me well can definitely attest to the fact that remembering specific things just isn't my thing. If you aren't in my immediate family I don't know your birthday, with only a few exceptions.

I did have a fun day but unfortunately have no pictures. Last month at Macie's birthday party I dropped and broke my camera in all of the pinata commotion. Hopefully we'll have another one soon. Anyway, my sister Mel took me out to lunch to Atlanta Bread (my favorite lunchtime spot) and then I had a great few hours cleaning at home. Seriously, I was in a cleaning mood and had a great time. Josh took me out to dinner to a restaurant we've been wanting to try at the Red Rock, Terra Rossa. It was SO GOOD!

Macie was so funny throughout the day when people would ask her if it was Mommy's birthday. At first she would say, "No, Macie's birthday." But after a few times I guess she realized it wasn't all about her for one day and relented. What a cutie!

Put Me Out of My Misery

Let's just say this last week hasn't been the most fun. Sunday afternoon Josh left for a business trip and didn't get back until last night (Friday) around 10pm. The day after he left Macie got sick with the stomach flu. It was great fun cleaning out the garage and spraying it down to get the vomit out. By some miracle I didn't get sick. I spent the next few days disinfecting and keeping my fingers crossed that she was over it. On top of entertaining her I have been getting bigger, more uncomfortable, and tired beyond reason. Teaching aerobics classes is really taking its toll on me. My hips are already getting so sore that getting up and down hurts at times. I know, what a whiner right? Well it gets better. I got home from the airport late last night and then had to be up at 5:45am to be at 5 hours of instructor training at the gym all morning. I tried lifting light weights and taking it easy, but I came home, slept 4 hours, and still want someone to shoot me. What doesn't hurt? Good question. The best part is that I have 2 more sessions at the same time tomorrow morning! At least Josh is back to play with Macie so I can take 4 hour naps.

Macie and I did have some fun times while Josh was gone though. We spent some time playing with cousins Bella and Gus before they leave for several weeks. My brother Ben joined the National Guard and is gone for 10 weeks of Basic Training, during which time Trish is going to go spend some time visiting her and my parents in northern Nevada. We'll miss our cute cousins so much!

I love watching Macie play with kids now that she's getting so big and is into pretend play. She loves dressing up, loading her baby stroller and purse, and going to "work." She's also a fabulous cook in her little kitchen and likes to make me things like cookies, eggs, gatorade, ice cream, veggies and hamburgers. She also makes a great cup of tea, complete with cream and sugar. Lately she's been very into board games so we spend time every day pulling out games, one by one, and "playing" them according to Macie's rules. She especially likes Life, Scrabble and Acquire. Today she developed a new love for sidewalk chalk, her present from Josh's week away in Kansas. She is definitely a girl who never gets bored. Hmmm, maybe that's why I'm so tired these days.

We're Back!

Josh and I had a great trip to San Francisco last weekend. The skies were clear, but the temperature was cold and the wind made it ever worse. Despite the chill it was a lot of fun. We spent a couple days in and around the city, seeing pretty much everything we were looking forward to seeing. I actually remembered more than I thought I would from my trip to San Fran almost 5 years ago. It is one of my favorite places so it was nice to go back with Josh. We had a great time with my cousin Natalie and her husband Greg. We haven't seen them in so long! It was good that we went when we did because they're moving next month and we wouldn't have had excellent tour guides to get us around everywhere.

I missed little Macie so much while we were gone! I was always thinking about her and what she would think and say if she were with us. There were some things I knew she would totally enjoy, and others that I knew she would have a hard time with. For example, walking around for days straight until your feet feel like they're going to fall off isn't something Macie would've liked. On the other hand, she would've loved the trolley and the sea lions. When we got home my sister brought Macie to meet us at the airport and it felt like I hadn't seen her in forever. She looked so much older! I guess stepping away for a few days makes a big difference. After Macie ran up and hugged us the first thing she said was, "Macie's presents?" That's my girl! She still thinks it's her birthday. When we left we told her we would bring her a present when we got back. Growing up my parents always did that for us and we thought it was the best thing ever. For me, there's nothing like making a little child happy in simple ways.

I tried to keep the slide show short, but here's a quick rundown of what we did while we were there:
-Walked around Sausalito
-Golden Gate Bridge
-Shopping at Union Square
-Rode the trolley
-Ate some great treats at Ghiradelli Square
-Walked Fisherman's Wharf
-Went to China Town
-Visited Muir Woods
-Took pictures at the Oakland Temple
-Saw a first edition Book of Mormon on display at the Visitor's Center
-More shopping in Oakland at Nordstrom Rack and Gap
-Ate GREAT food all over the place

It really was nice to relax and have a fun time with Natalie and Greg in the city. I loved seeing the nice (and not so nice) architecture and going up and down all the busy city streets. It's fun to visit someplace different for a change and experience new things. However, the even greater part is definitely being home again.