Finally, here is a new post!! Thanks for being patient!

So, I know…I keep saying I’m going update and then I don’t. I am 100% guilty as charged. Although I will say that I have had enough hands-tied-crying-baby-no-internet-too-engrossed-in- the-stupid-twilight-series excuses to make for valid and credible reasons as to why I’ve been blogging MIA, but let’s be honest…we don’t usually care about the excuses, right? At least, I know I generally don’t (hope that doesn’t make me rank a little lower on the kindness scale) however, I DO k now that what we (we, meaning all of us stay-in-touch, chillin’ at home or work, blogging junkies) really care about are the posts…the actual facts of our existence, not the dull excuses as to why no update has been inserted. So with that said, Mike, Andrew and I are back and should be for awhile now. We FINALLY have the internet in our little basement (got it yesterday after about of month of rubbish from all the different companies we talked to—but that’s a long story for another day) and Andrew is now on a good, predictable, solid nap schedule so I also have “some time to kill”! So, without further ado here is an update as to what’s been going on over the last 3 months!

AUGUST

In August we were sooo lucky to have Mike’s family come for a visit—not a short or easy trip to make, so it was wonderful that they could come!! Mike’s brother, Matt, flew in first and stayed with us in my grandpa’s basement for a week before his parents flew in. We did a lot of fun things together. We went to movies, played Frisbee golf, went shopping, visited old friends and basically got re-acquainted OR newly acquainted as it was Andrew’s first introduction to uncle Matt. Then a week later, when Mike’s parents flew in, we had some even more fun when we all went mini-golfing, shopping at the preparedness store and rode the Heber Creeper. However, the highlight was having the family meet Andrew for the first time and to have everyone together for his baby blessing. The fam was here for almost a month and during their stay they were able to go on a church history tour of Nauvoo for about a week. I think they really enjoyed it and it was a great opportunity for them! We also got family pictures taken (unfortunately I can’t post these on the blog because I don’t know how to scan them in) but it was a lot of fun and I love seeing the pictures hang on our walls. Well, there was a lot more that happened while they were here and we all had a great time! Andrew really took to his gran and granddad West and I know he loves them as much as we do! We can’t wait for the next time we get to see them again!

OH! One other thing I remembered around this time was that Andrew and I both got hair cuts! I copped mine off and Andrew, well, some of you may remember his oh-so-hideous baby mullet! Well, we chopped that off too! He is much more handsome!

Matt & Mike playing some frisbee golf

Matt & Mike went to a Real Salt Lake Game

Andrew and his uncle Matt

Pictures of us at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens

We showed them a real American gem, Cabella's,
and gran West proved she is a natural cowgirl!

This is a nice picture of Andrew and Grandad
West as we rode the Heber Creeper

Ewwww, gross the baby mullet! See
what I mean, he really needed a haircut!

Cut it off! Hurry!

At Andrew's blessing:From Left to right--Alan ,
Megan, My dad, My mom, Heather, Jeanette, Stephen
Mike, Andrew, Me, Liz, Matt and Mike's Mom and Dad

This picture also uncludes our good
friends : Morgan ,and Dave & Hejdi Swan
Thanks for coming!

Saying goodbye! We went and had breakfast
with Mike's parents and Liz the morning they
flew home!

SEPTEMBER

September was pretty much a month of getting into a routine and back to everyday life. Mike started school again. This semester he is taking a few classes at UVU so he can fit in the pre-reqs he needs for grad school (he would have had to take more time if he stayed at BYU this semester). He really likes it there so far with smaller classes, etc but I know he will also be glad to get back to BYU next semester too. Mike also got a new job at the MTC as an athletic trainer and he works literally all day on Saturday (15 hours). Classes and work definitely keep him busy and Andrew and I are lucky when we get to see him at the end of the day. He works so hard for us and we love him sooo much for all he does!

My friend Chelsea also had a baby shower during this month and it was a lot of fun to see her and all our friends. There were a lot of people from the old BYU ward who came and it was so good to see them all. So many people now have babies, I sure wished we lived closer to everyone!

OCTOBER

This month has been going great so far! Mike has had a few breaks and the weather has been fantastic so it’s been really fun to go to parks or take walks in the canyon. Andrew has finally established a good nap time schedule which makes my days run a bit smoother. He is growing like crazy too! He can now sit up on his own (although, he has been able to do that since he was about 4 months old) and he LOVES to eat new foods. He can eat rice cereal and all the stage 1 baby foods. His favorites seems to be bananas, apple sauce and sweet potatoes. In fact, there is only one thing he won’t eat and that is prunes—I sure can’t blame him though! He can now get up on his hands and needs but he just kind of stays there and looks worried. He hasn’t figured out how to move yet but I think he’s getting close. The last new thing is that he can now suck on his toes, and he loves it! He will happily spent his days laying down with his toes in his mouth!

I still work a few hours a week teaching smoking cessation classes at the Utah County Health Department and it’s a lot of fun—I have been teaching there now for over 2 years! Time flies but I still love it, and I really do love all my little “delinquent” teens!

Pictures at the park:
Andrew and Mike going down the slide!

Andrew loves mouse, which was a gift from Grandad West

Andrew was helping me cook--he was holding the vanilla for me!

He loves sitting in big people chairs!

These are just a couple of pictures where he is being especially cute and fun!

We took these last pictures on conference Sunday between sessions.
We decided to go up to the canyon and look at the leaves. It was beautiful!!!

Well…I guess that is a pretty good update but I can honestly say, and promise, that I will be updating our blog A LOT more now so please come and check us out! We always love to hear from you!