New School Year

Tomorrow begins a new school year, granted I have already had a week of college but it doesn't seem to count until seminary begins. Tomorrow marks day one of our study of The Book of Mormon, do I have butterflies, yes, but I am so excited to begin a new year. I know most of my students already but am looking forward to meeting some new freshman as well. I am optimistic that this is going to be a great year.

P.S. If I don't post as regularly please understand.

Sparks Fountain

Well Farmer's Market was coming to a close so we thought it appropriate to let Bailey have one last romp in the fountain for the season. You can see she wasn't afraid to get wet.

She speaks

Bailey has become a full on chatterbox lately. Here is a sample of one of our conversations.

Finally!

It is finished. The court actually gave us the whole proceedings on DVD so I hope to have some video up here soon. Also, they certified a copy for us right there while we waited. It's kind of cool being in court when they like you. It turns out that family court judges love adoptions. Think about it there normal line of work is divorce, custody battles, removing children from unfit parents. Our attorney is actually business partners with the judge. This would normally be cause to reassign the case but with it being uncontested there wasn't an issue. In fact our attorney called the court to have the case reassigned as a formality but the judge wouldn't do it. It turns out that he really wanted to do this. All in all it was an amazing experience, I am so glad that we have it recorded so we can go back and see what he had to say.

The Human Slinky

So four days before we are supposed to go to court to finalize the adoption Bailey finds the rough weather beaten concrete stairs and decides to just tumble down the lot of them. So she's bleeding from her face and arms and now we're paranoid that we are going to look like child abusers. Luckily, after using Neosporin like it was going out of style she healed up nicely so by the time court rolled around no one was the wiser. Shhhh.

Our Staycation

Well we missed my folks terribly this last week. To make matters worse we also missed my niece and nephew who were visiting from New York. But, we couldn't spend the week moping about what was beyond our control so we tried to have some fun and we were, at least I believe, successful.

We went Monday to Virginia City to peruse the shops and to take in the atmosphere. We also were brave and tried to watch the gunfight. Bailey started out doing fine but as the show went on she got more and more upset by the noise until she finally broke out in tears and we had to leave, kind of embarrassing but oh well.

Tuesday, we went to the park and had a picnic, outside of my being accosted by an English Bull Dog it went without incident.

Wednesday, we tried for some Geocaching which was successful in that we tried, Bailey however didn't last long so we returned home pretty quickly. The evening went better, we had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson and played a lively game of pin the tail on the donkey (a word of advice, Jennifer cheats. :D)

Thursday, was awesome. We have a really cool water park in Sparks that is geared towards younger children. It is pretty small but only $3 per adult and children under two are free. They have a whole series of different fountains and there were a ton of kids there for Bailey to play with. I think she kind of freaked one girl out though. Since Bailey doesn't really know how to play with others she just walks right up to them and then stares. This poor little girl who was the focus of her stare down kept looking around then back at Bailey, she wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole situation.

Friday, was the crown jewel of the week. Not only did Jennifer and I celebrate our eighth anniversary but we also enjoyed our wards annual daddy daughter camp out. Jenn brought her dad and I brought Bailey. It started out pretty rough for Bailey, everytime she fell down she got stabbed by pine needles. Grandpa luckily brought her wagon and began towing her around the camp site. She had a lot of fun after that, besides the head wounds that is, but more on that later. We sang silly songs, ate S'mores and had a generally agreeable time.

So, while it was not the week we intended it was nonetheless a good week. I love you mom and dad and hope to see you as soon as we can.

Birthday Wrap Up

Before

After

Well today was great. As I was getting ready for church I found a box on my pillow. My wife bought me a brand new bow tie (since I've learned to tie them I've really gotten into them). I decided to don it for church and for the rest of the day as well.

We went to Jenn's folks for Sunday dinner as usual. I wasn't sure that my mother-in-law remembered as there was no mention of a birthday dinner and I didn't want to make an issue of it but to my surprise she had prepared an amazing birthday spread. I've been on a kick for the past couple years where I have really wanted German food and she pulled out all the stops. There was a pork roast in red cabbage. Sausage in sauerkraut and another type of sausage. Of course for sides we had potatoes and more cabbage. She even made my favorite cake, German Chocolate, from scratch. It was so good and I ate far more than is really healthy for me. Thank you everyone for remembering me today it was a pleasure to be able to share this day with you in everyway.

Staycation

It has been difficult for me and Jenn to adjust to living on just a single income. We had grown accustomed to just knowing that the money is there. Well, we experienced a sharp learning curve this last week. Every year we go to Salt Lake City for a week in August to relax, get away from home and mostly to be able to visit with my parents. Unfortunately, this year will be different. We were scheduled to leave on Monday the 10th. Well, just recently a light started blinking on our dashboard informing us that maintenance will be required in the near future. We decided that it would be best to fix prior to our making the drive through a mostly barren I-80. What we did not foresee is that the routine maintenance would come with a bill for nearly $500. This in conjunction with another surprise expense pushed us over the edge. We were forced to pull money out of savings which was intended to pay our attorney on the 18th after we finalized the adoption. Suddenly, we found ourselves in a bad spot. The worst moment by far was having to call my parents on Friday night and to have to tell them that we would not be making it after all. I still have the time off but with no plans we have decided to take a new look at our hometown. To live in Reno as tourists. We will see Virginia City, Lake Tahoe, etc. While I am upset with this turn of events, I nonetheless hope to enjoy the precious time that I will have with my family. Wish me luck.

Thoughts on Thirty

As I look down the barrel of my thirtieth birthday I feel that it presents as good a juncture as any from which to assess where I'm at. I have to admit it's hard. I am starting to feel in recent years that I am no longer a child. There are moments when I realize that it is time for me to now be an adult and I don't know that I'm ready for it.

Here are some hits and misses from the first three decades of my life. I had hoped that by now I would be through with college, sadly I have fallen far short of this objective. I take classes every semester but the degree seems to be moving ever farther from my grasp. If you catch me at an honest moment I would admit that I don't honestly believe that I will ever graduate. Furthermore, I can't believe that I am still working retail. When asked as a child what I wanted to be when I grew up I can honestly say that I never answered, "Assistant Manager at The Men's Wearhouse", but that is where I find myself. Perhaps, the greatest injustice of the advancement of years on me has been the proliferation of my nose hairs, seriously I have told my body at least a zillion times that my nostrils are not cold but it still persists in growing hair. In all honesty the cure for male pattern baldness exists inside the follicles that line the inside of my nose. If only medical science would dare to go there.

Now, let's talk hits (in order of importance) I have married my best friend in the whole world, we have a marriage that is healthy and continues to be fun. I am learning to love her more and more with each passing day. We have a beautiful child together, she lights up our lives with her smiles, babbling and creativity. I have served an honorable mission for my church and lastly we own our own home. What's more, though I haven't finished school yet I enjoy very much the taking of classes, truly, there lies value in the journey not just in the destination. Also, though I might at times not like the hours or may feel like throttling someone at work (coworker or customer, it depends on the day) I enjoy my job. I have been extended and turned down more than a couple of offers since starting there. The Men's Wearhouse continues to be good to us and I am glad of that.

I guess the only genuine complaint I have about getting older is the nose hairs, now what can be done for them?

Baby Mimicry

After careful observation of mommy and daddy, Bailey has picked up some new tricks. Now whenever we hold her over the sink, especially after brushing her teeth she spits. Sadly, her spitting skills are still some time in coming so she usually ends up just drooling on herself but the idea is there. Also, she will now tuck herself into our bed whenever she is playing up there. She will pull the blankets up over her lower half and then fling herself back against the pillows. It's adorable, provided there are a sufficient amount of pillows there, otherwise she ends up smacking her head into the hall.

Our August Vignette

If forced to pick a favorite month, at the risk of offending the other eleven, I would have to say it is August. It is during the summer so there is no school but school is close enough to make me realize that I need to live it up while I can. Also it is in August that we celebrate the anniversaries of my birth as well as our wedding. To that end I have rendered a small vignette to celebrate everything that I love about this month using the medium of sidewalk chalk, enjoy.

Cause for concern

So with our court date fast approaching I am becoming increasingly concerned about the natural clumsy tendencies of a one year old. I think it is natural that as they learn to interact with their environment that their will be instances when certain laws, such as gravity will assert themselves. For example, look at that big bruise just over her left eye. I think most parents would agree that your child can have some such marks without it being considered gross neglect, but try and tell that to the judge, which is precisely what we will have to try and do. I am so paranoid that the day before court she is going to give herself a black eye or some other wicked looking injury so we will come across looking like horrible people. I think we all know the answer...packing peanuts and bubble wrap.

Hey Everybody, Let's Do The Bailey

Bailey loves to dance whenever we have music going. This is her signature pirouette. I hope to one day capture her turbo squat into a sway, it is truly the embodiment of grace.