sick sick sick of sickness and update

We had a little excitement the weekend of November 13. Laura woke up at 11:30 Friday night complaining of the worst headache ever. She was really dizzy and nauseous and every time she moved her head, she would throw up. She made it through the night, but wasn't any better in the morning. She said something about going to the hospital and I knew it was serious. I made some calls and got Laura's parents out of a church meeting to come get Evelyn. We went to the ER and after some tests, they determined that Laura has vertigo.

As a side note; isn't vertigo more of a symptom than a diagnosis? I thought so, but apparently I was wrong.

Anyway, Laura has been sleeping at her parents house so that they can take care of her and Evelyn and I can do school and work. Needless to say, I'm lonely at home and Laura is really tired of sleeping all day. She's still really dizzy when she moves her head, but the headache and nausea have gone away. Hopefully she'll be able

to be up and about for Thanksgiving next week.

Meanwhile, Evelyn has been having a ball playing with her Grandma and Grandpa Richards.

They went to In-N-Out

She ate a mini Twix candy bar

And now since the blog hasn't been updated in a long time here are some random pictures of what has been happening to our family:

Evelyn was a cow for Halloween

Last family picture for 2 years(l to r, Courtney(Uncle Cory's girlfriend), Uncle Cory, Aunt Jen, Grandpa, Uncle Brent, Grandma holding Evelyn, Uncle Bryce, Mommy, Daddy)

At the park across the street from the MTC.

Uncle Brent loves his niece, he'll be serving in the New York New Your City North mission until November 2012.

Tooth!

Last week on Wednesday I found Evelyn's first tooth! It was just barely above her gum but it's there! It's her bottom right.

Caleb just finished his Summer school semester and starts up next week with the Fall semester. We're hoping he'll only have Fall, Spring and Summer school and start pharmacy school in the Fall of next year. We won't start filling out school apps until early next year.

Caleb & I teach the 11 year old primary/sunday school class and love it but I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to do it. Evelyn's quite a distraction now that she can climb up on things. She also LOVES paper, books, manuals, scriptures so the kids have to keep the scriptures off their laps and floor!

I've started a new cross stitch pattern and hope to have it done before Brent leaves on his mission to NYC. It says "New York" and has a few scenes from NY on it.

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I'm really enjoying couponing. I love to shop (for anything but clothes for myself) so couponing is great! Today's 3 transactions at Walgreens included the same 2 items.

2-Head & Shoulders 2 in 1 shampoo/conditioner (14.2 oz each)

Total = $2.54

3 transactions/6 Head & Shoulders = $7.62

The same stuff from Costco is $.26 an ounce and I got it for $.09!

Couponing - Smiths!

Smiths has some really great deals when you use your Smiths card...

7/14/10

3 - 12 pkToilet paper
3 Fruit Juice
3 Toothpaste
1 - 2 pkBar soap
3 - 2 pk Sponge
Lime Juice
Onion

Before=$41.08
After=$29.12

7/21/10

10 Feminine products
10 Yogurt

Before=$52.80
After=$35.33

20 Mentos Gum (yes, 20)
Bottle water
Gallon water

Before=$23.49
After=$4.17

7/28/10

10 Tissue
2 Dish soap
3 Ranch
6 Taco seasoning
3 Shave gel
2 Toothpaste
4 Colgate Wisp
2 Deodorant
4 Toothbrushes
10 Travel size toiletries
1 Gum
2 Yogurt
2 Tights
Socks

Before=$83.69
After=$65.04

RETURN! I didn't pay attention to some of the items and had to return some things.

3 Ranch
2 Toothbrushes
2 Colgate Wisp
2 Deodorant

REFUND=$19.82

I then went and purchased some other things.

2 Pump hand soap
2 Colgate Wisp

Before=$7
After=$.32

8/4/10

2 Fruit Juice
3 Conditioner
3 Shampoo
3 Body wash
1 Frozen pizza

Before=$33.85
After=$11.57

Todays deals - 8/11/10

9 Hamburger helper
9 Tissue
4 Cereal
3 Fruit Juice
2 Gardettos
3 Bugles
3 Chex mix

Before=$47.99
After=$22.66

Couponing - Walgreens!

I've started couponing and wanted to post some of my great deals for you all. (Not that many people read this. . . . )

Walgreens -

8/3/10

3 pk Huggies Wipes
3 Ban Deodorant
3 - 2 pkg Bounty Paper towels
3 pk Huggies Diapers
3 Razors
3 - 24 ct Crayola crayons
3 - 20 ct Crayola markers

Before coupons, mail-in rebates, etc.=$91.05

SPENT=$36.98

8/9/10

8 Toothpaste
3 Razor
3 Shave gel
3 feminine products
2 body wash
4 - 200 ct Ziploc bags
3 candy bars

Before coupons, mail-in rebates, etc.=$81.40

SPENT=$14.28

Keep in mind, all items are name brand!

I am really enjoying the deals and already have a nice emergency supply!

Friends

Sunday evening we returned home from a short trip to California for our friends Kellie & Brad's wedding.

We drove up Thursday and went to dinner at Claim Jumper. The lemons kept Evelyn happy but she was still loud as ever! She actually loved them!

The next day Mom, Jen & I went to get pedicures from the place we used to go to when we lived down there and they remembered us, which was fun.

Afterwords we went to lunch at Souplantation where Evelyn made one of the biggest messes I've ever seen her make. By the time we left she had food all over under the high chair. Oranges, bread, raisins, cheerios, ice cream cones, brownie.........

After lunch we took at swim in the awesome pool that was heated to 84 degrees! I was really surprised we got Evelyn in, it just took a little getting used to. We even dunked her proabably 10 times and she didn't mind it too much.

Friday night we also went to Aunt Cheryl & Uncle Stacy's place for dinner with the family. It was great to see everyone and thanks Grandma Jeanne for the adorable tea set you got Evelyn!

The next morning was the wedding at the Newport Beach Temple. It was a great sealing and such a beautiful day!

The cute couple!

After the sealing was a luncheon at the Long Beach East Stake center and a reception later that evening. It was such a great trip!

Evelyn eating some blue licorice on the way home.

A few updates:

-Evelyn can now crawl, not just army crawl.

-July 15th she pulled herself up to the couch for the first time and doesn't stop. We're going to be in trouble soon!

-My cousin Kim and her 4 girls (we missed you Nick!) were staying with us just before we left for Cali and her 3 year old Lauren called Evelyn, Ed-o-lyn. Too cute!

-July 27th at the end of Evelyn's nap, I walked into her room and she was standing up in her play pen. I knew she could pull herself up, but it was still an accomplishment. :)

-Laura-

Pictures!

The blog wouldn't let me keep posting the other day so here are some more!

June 4

Playing on the grass in a new outfit!

June 5

On Sunday she tried squash for the first time and liked it by Monday. The peas we tried today, but she doesn't like them so much. We'll try again when she wakes up from her nap.

She's on the MOVE!

About a week ago she really started scooting around. Not quite crawling, but close enough. She'll get up on her hands and knees and move her knees but fall on her tummy because she doesn't move her arms. She'll get it eventually. Right now we're just working on getting things out of low shelves!

Today is also Uncle Cory's birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I forgot to mention, last Friday was her 6 month birthday. YIPPEE! We can't believe 1/2 a year has flown by since she was born. Sometimes I miss her being brand new, other times it's a relief. :)

Pictures

The latest pics......

May 11 - Attacking the plastic

May 17 - After her fight with a cat.

Just kidding. She took her nails to her face before we cut them.

We won't be waiting so long next time......

May 26 - Spoon-fed rice cereal. She didn't like it too much.
I think it was too thick at first so I watered it down.
Then it was too watery.


More rice cereal



June 4 - Playing after the bath.

Life is busy

Wow!!! We, (by that I mean both Laura and myself) aren't very good at this blog thing. Here are some new things that have happened in the last month.

Evelyn has learned how to sit up all on her own. She can even stay up for more than a couple of seconds. Such an intelligent child.

The other night I was getting her ready for bed, I left her on the bed and she rolled herself over and while my back was turned, she started to giggle. I turned around and lo and behold...she was up on all fours! She'll be crawling before we know what happened.

Evelyn had her 6 month checkup and weighed in at 15 lbs 13 oz and 27 inches tall. That's good enough for 56th percentile for weight and 98th percentile for height. I wonder where she got that from?

Laura stays busy with taking care of Evelyn all day. She's been doing a lot of family history and she continues to amaze me with her many many talents.

Caleb....well I have just been busy with summer semester at school. I'm currently taking physiology and so now I go around spouting useless information like "calcium binds to troponin, which moves tropomycin, allowing myosin to bind to actin." Its interesting, just not great conversation making stuff. This is another reason that Laura amazes me. She will listen to me spout incomprehensible babble and she still loves me.

-Caleb

New things

The week of May 2nd Evelyn learned to:

-do the indian call with Mom or Dad's help, of course.

and

-roll from her back to her tummy! To date, she's only done it twice but we're fine with that =)

Here are some new(ish) pictures...

Evelyn & Ava

Ava is 2 days older than Evelyn

With Aunt Sarah the day she went back to Puebl0, CO


April 17 in her Bumbo

Kissing Aunt Sarah (before she left)

Playing around before bedtime

Busy Times

So, the past month has been a bit crazy. I will try to get to everything without forgetting things or boring you to death!

March 24 - Cory came home!!! We were all so excited and still are that he's home from Texas. He had a great mission but is happy to be back!

At the airport

Out to dinner

March 28 - Cory's homecoming with lots of family and friends.

Caleb & Evelyn

Cory & Laura

The next week, March 31 - Cousin Zac got home from his mission in Argentina!

The Baxter Family
April 2 - Caleb's sister Sarah came home from her mission for Easter Vacation (AKA - getting her gallbladder removed)!

April 5-11 - CANCUN!!

Cancun was fabulous. We went with Laura's family (including Evelyn) to an all inclusive resort and we'll go back someday!

Our days were filled with sunbathing, swimming, sleeping, snorkeling and a whole lot more. We also went to Chichen Itza and Tulum, both Mayan ruins. Chichen Itza was cool but Tulum was way better! Tulum was on the beach with a nice breeze and beautiful surroundings compared to Chichen Itza which had no breeze and a bunch of people trying to sell you stuff. Not quite what I had in mind for a National Park but whatever.

Out on the beach was a pier that had a ton of fish by it so a couple days we hung out there and swam with them. It was so cool!

The water was perfect, warm and crystal clear. Caleb, Cory, Brent & Bryce all took half a day and went parasailing and had a blast.

On the way to Chichen Itza we lost our camera so all our pictures are from my Dad's camera.

Enjoy!

Our bathing baby

The fam :)

Evelyn LOVED the oranges!

Tulum

The beach at Tulum- Caleb, Laura, Brent, Cory, Jennifer, Bryce

By the last night, we were exhausted! 4-5 days vacation with a baby is just enough. This was day 6. :)

Laura's family - Evelyn, Caleb, Laura, Bryce, Mom, Dad, Jennifer, Brent & Cory

More updates coming shortly after I have time to upload more pictues!

- Laura

California

Before Evelyn was born Grandma & Grandpa Baxter said they'd fly us down to sunny Long Beach to meet the baby so that's what we did the weekend of March 12-14. We got in Friday afternoon after a great flight with Evelyn. Friday we had a good time catching up and watching VERY old family videos and playing with the baby, of course.

We stayed with our good friends, the Winns, in the trailer in the backyard which was great! We had our own space and didn't have to pay for a hotel! Thanks Winns!

Saturday Caleb and I got ninja turtle ice cream things from the ice cream man. Yes, in March. It was a gorgeous weekend!

Saturday night was spent with Uncles, Aunts, Cousins & pizza. Nothing better than that!

Uncle Stacy & Babes

Aunt Cheryl & Evelyn

Crazy Aunt Lori & Evelyn

Me, my Grandpa Max & Evelyn

It was so much fun to see the family since most of them I haven't seen since Caleb & I were married.

Sunday morning was Daylight savings and our flight was supposed to leave at 7:20 am. We got up and finished packing at 4:30 am, ate breakfast at Grandma & Grandpa's then headed to the airport. We got there a little early and what happened, you ask? The flight was delayed an hour! It wasn't too bad, but it would've been nice to sleep in a little.

Evelyn did great on the flight again but I wasn't feeling so good because of turbulence. It was freezing in Utah and on the way out to the car Evelyn decided to explode her diaper. I felt bad. It was so cold outside she was holding her breath so I wanted to get her in the car and be on our way so we went straight from the airport to my parents house to bathe her and get a nap.

Thanks Mom & Dad for helping with the babe while we took naps! Evelyn also had a long nap with Grandpa and was in a pretty good mood. Here are a few pics!

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa for the great trip! It was a great weekend!

-Laura