So addicted.....

To so many things. Lately, it's been fan fiction and my Zune. I know, I'm a freak=) But I have always been one to enjoy a good read, and when it involves characters that I have grown to love, I will read just about anything. And since I don't want Aubry just watching movies all day when it's too cold to go outside, or we are just stuck at home, I play my music for her. She seems to really like New Found Glory (who doesn't?), Coheed and Cambria, and Bowling for Soup. Or maybe it's just cause that's what I like to listen to??

That's all we have been up to lately. Although, Krysta came down for a visit, and somehow I didn't take one darn picture!! I even have an awesome video camera and nothing!! In case you were wondering why I seem to be jumping around on topics, it's cause it is late and I feel an overwhelming need to post something on my blog.

I think, though, that I will have a Halloween post. Remind me to take pictures, cause Aubry will be Red Riding Hood, I will be (hopefully!) Reno from Final Fantasy 7 and I think Chris will be something with a brown cloak, perhaps a Jedi or something. So cross your fingers that we don't look like freaks!!

P.S. I really am gonna try and update more. I'm tired of being a lamer.......

The Piano

So we are renting this house from a nice couple who left us some awesome things that they couldn't take with them. They left us the washer and dryer (awesome) and their very old piano. I was really excited about the piano specifically because one of my callings is to play in Sacrament meeting and for the Spanish Branch. And lets face it, I ain't that great to begin with and need all the practice that I can get. So I had the tuner guy come out and give it a once over. He repaired the broken pedal and tuned the heck out it. For which I was really grateful. It's bad enough making my own mistakes, but if I can't tell what is my mistake and what is the horrible sound coming from the instrument, there are problems.

I enjoyed the piano for a couple of weeks, and then I had an epiphany. A source of INCOME!!! It sits so silently in my living room, taking up so little space, and providing entertainment to my and Aubry so why not others!!

So I advertise. I ask around, I beg. I got some wonderful students. Very dedicated. I am actually learning while I am teaching as well. Trying to figure out the best ways to teach kids, when I remember being the most obnoxious student. So bad in fact, I had more teachers then all my sisters combined. So, I try and remember what it was about the teachers that I actually liked.

It's a process, but I think I have hit my stride=) I still have some openings, and I have to say, that all ages can learn. Adults may think it's too late to learn, but they are SO WRONG!! I have a few adult students and they learn no faster or slower than my young students. You just have to PRACTICE!!

So I just wanted to brag about my awesome piano and advertise for some more students to share it with. And, also, share this cute picture of Aubry. She insists on playing a little every day!!!

Can't think of anything

I seriously can't think of anything to post about. Nothing important seems to be happening in mylife lately. We are just working and trying not to over heat this summer. Aubry is 15 months old this Saturday. I can't believe she is so big. While I am sad to see her get older, (thus reminding me I am getting older too), I am also excited to see her starting to get the hang of talking.

I will be excited when school starts. I know I am not in school, but hopefully my piano lessons will pick up=) So many of my students do vacations over the summer that I miss seeing them=)

Well, that is about it for us. Although we did empty our storage unit the other week. I now have all of my books at hand!!! Hooray!!

Musical

Seeing as it has been almost a month since I last posted, I will try and condense weeks into sentences. For our anniversary, we both bought guitars. We got Chris a traditional Fender Acoustic, while I got a Black Fender Acoustic guitar. We performed with some other people at out ward Pioneer day party and that was pretty fun. I also got my hands on my mom's old accordion and am teaching myself whatever I can. Aubry is really liking the whole music thing. I have been watching all the musicals that we own with her, and she loves them. Her preferred play thing is the piano and she whines until I put her on the bench and let her pound on it. I am hoping that I can instill a love of music in all the kids that we have. It has taken a few years for me to admit my love of music. I hope that I don't let my kids waste any time in loving it as well.

Things are going well with my piano teaching. The summers are hectic, but school starts soon and I am hoping to land a few more students for the school year. I am thinking about taking some courses online to improve my musical theory and teaching skills. Chris is still working for TSA in Vegas, but we are hoping that he can transfer to the new airport in St. George next year. I am hoping that we can save for a house in the coming years, but I realized that it is okay if we rent. I thought that owning a house was the next big step, and that is what I have been focused on for awhile. I realized though, that having a house doesn't necessarily create stability. I have seen many close friends and family lose their houses in this crappy economy and I don't want to rush into anything and regret it later.

We are, however, not putting a family on hold. I don't want to wait until I am "ready" for more kids or a family. I want that to be my main focus for the next little while. It doesn't matter if we rent or own a house, we can still have a family wherever we are.

I have to say though, I hope we can stay in Moapa for a long while. Even though it is super hot here right now, I love being here with the people I grew up with. I love my callings in church and I don't want to have to start over in a new ward with people I don't know. I don't make friends too easily, and right now, I need the close friends that I have got.

I also want to publicly apologize to Chris for blowing my top yesterday. I don't often lose it like that, and it seems that even if he had nothing to do with it, he is usually on the receiving end of my tantrums. I don't think I could live without him and I am looking forward to spending some quality time with him on our vacation next month=)

5 Years

So we hit our 5 year anniversary mark this week. July 1, 2005. We celebrated by going to the first movie we have gone to in over a year. We went into Vegas and saw the Prince of Persia. It was so good!! We had played the game and I couldn't believe how awesome the movie was. Then we went to the guitar store and the mall for a an hour or so. The wonderful Udall family watched Aubry for the afternoon and then Jenn and Amelia put her to bed. It was really hard to leave her alone for that long. I have never done that before. Apparently, she was great. Makes me want to have a movie night every week=)

Things are going pretty slow around here. These past two weeks of June and the beginning of July, have been really rotten all around. Cars catching fire, houses catching fire, and of horrible heat wave. We have been taking Aubry to the splash pad and she really loves it. We also set up a little pool on the cement behind our house and let her play in that for awhile.

My piano teaching is going well, and I am now currently giving spray tans for those interested. I am hoping that with a little extra money coming in, we can get a new car or at least one that just runs. It really sucks only having one car=) Well, that is the current update. Happy 4th of July everyone=)

And We're Back

Oh wow. Almost two months with no internet!!! How did I ever function? And so much important stuff has happened, first birthdays, new business, dead cars.....how will I ever get you guys all caught up?? I will try my hardest. First, some info. Aubry is 1!! Can you believe it??? I can't!!! I mean when did my little girl grow into a toddler?? Well her stats are as follows...

17 lbs 5 ounces

She can walk.

She can find my nose.

She loves the water.

She loves her chair (will post pictures)

She loves her grandma's.

She loves chicken nuggets.

and she is finally sleeping through the night. mostly...

And I will try and post some pictures.

The next item of business, is to tell you about a new business. Air Bronze. A new mobile air brush tanning business owned by yours truly and her best friend Kelly. We have all of our equipment at this time, so we can finally begin to make some money!! I am also teaching piano again and loving it!! So here come the pictures!!!

Hanging out a cool pool in St. George with Kelly.

Her new birthday chair.

Not a very messy birthday cake.

New baby doll.

The Moapa Splash pad.

Moving!!

Dear Aubry,

Oh what an interesting month it has been. Amelia has come home from college, Jenn has come home from her mission, and that means this house is super crowded with people who are not used to sharing their space. Not really complaining per say, but we wished we had our own space. And now we will!! We will be renting a small house from a wonderful couple in Moapa. The house is pretty old with some repair projects that need done, but we need to move out from Grandma's house and that was available for what we can afford.

You will be one years old in a couple of weeks!! Hard to believe that it has been almost a year since you were born. It's been up and down and in and out, but I think you are turning out great. You sure have a temper though, and are fighting the word now alot. You started sleeping through the night really well on the family vacation to San Diego last week, but you got a cold this week and kept me up way too long cause you couldn't breathe out of your nose=( Tonight is our last night here so hopefully we don't throw you off too much, but Aunt Jenn really wants her room back.

Grandma Godfrey will be visiting for your birthday!!! I know you are excited, especially since you haven't seen her in 10 months=( She is coming down for 10 days and we are so happy!! Your birthday will be at the park in Moapa, and hopefully we can play in the water fountain. You liked it last time we went, but got cold cause the wind. I tried and failed to get a real job this past month, so I am going into business with Kelly. We are doing air brush tanning, which is actually pretty good. It's safe and cheap and helps you look good, without harming you. Plus, I am teaching piano again, and that is going really well. I have some great students and I am looking forward to getting some more.

Your dad is hoping to transfer to the new airport in St. George next year, so cross your fingers little girl. You could be living next to your best friend Chayse someday!!! Hopefully, I will keep up on the blog more as soon as we get our new computer. Love you tons, my not so little girl!!!

Amber

Crazy Girl

Dear Aubry,

Wow. It has been a while since I have posted. Mainly, because my computer crapped out and so did your dads. But hopefully, I will have an income in the next couple of weeks so that I can justify getting a desktop to replace it! Things have been pretty crazy around here. Mainly, because you are walking!! I know right? You did your first big walk on March 13th, at Chayse's birthday party. It was so cool, but now that's all you want to do!! You are getting more and more confident and seem to have no fear at all. In fact, you also decided you were old enough to go up the stairs by yourself. Scared the crap out of me, but you were fine. You still haven't fallen down the stairs, so you aren't scared or anything, but a little fear would be nice. I have some video of you walking and I am so proud of you. You may be super small, but you make up for it by being mobile=)

We celebrated Easter with your cousin's and went to the egg hunt here in Moapa. You had lots of fun, and you got lot's of eggs, mainly because your dad was with you and made sure you had enough.

Things haven't really moved forward in the past month. We thought about buying a house here in Moapa, but apparently we can't afford anything. So we are going to rent a house for a little while and hopefully I can get a job and bring in that extra income. I applied for a couple of jobs and I have an interview, so cross your fingers. I am also thinking about going into business with Kelly, but we haven't made our final decision yet. I can give piano lessons, so if anyone needs them, adults included, I am willing to teach.

Aubry, you are such an awesome baby. Everyone loved seeing you at the fair. Complete strangers came up and wanted to see you. Which was a little odd, but fun. You were so patient with me at the fair, and such a good sport. We went on the merry-go-round with Kelly and Chayse and it was a blast!! Then we spent a couple days with Lara and your cousins just hanging around the house while Neil was working at his families booth. I love staying home with you and I hope that I only have to work part-time cause I know that I would miss you something crazy.

Cross your fingers, and lets hope that I can get a job somewhere or work from home, so that someday you can have your own house and room again.

So Lazy

Dear Aubry,

Wow. It has been a month and a half since your mom has posted on here. She must have a good reason, like no computer. Yes, a sad, sad tale it is. My laptop finally bit the dust. I will admit I have always been really hard on it, so it only last three and a half years. Sigh, now I am using Chris's tiny computer that is really hard to type on. Lame. Anyway, so much has been going on. We went in for your 9 month appt. with the dr (a week before you turned 10 months=) and you were 16 pounds, and 27 inches long. Wow. So big!! You gained 4 pounds in three months!! You are sill in the 5 percent for weight and the 10-25 for height. I hope that means you will be taller than your mom. Sadly, we are still living with grandma and grandpa. Your dad hasn't gotten accepted anywhere for a transfer so we are still homeless. You don't mind though. You love it here with all the animals and all the space. Your parents like it here too, but we need to be gone so when your aunt Jenn comes home in six weeks, she has a place to live.

That's right. We are still in Moapa, which is good and bad. I love it here and I love and have missed the people here. We have been welcomed back home with open arms and I just hate the idea of moving away again. But I just don't think that Chris will be able to support us out here with his current job, and I would dearly love to get out of the heat. Ideally, we would move to St. George or Hurricane so it would be cooler, but still close. However, our third choice, behind Boise (which rejected us) and Salt Lake (also rejected) is Provo. Yeah, the home of the cougars (gag). I don't mind the thought of living there, cause Krysta and zac live there. But, sigh, I wish we could just settle down somewhere with a good job and get it done.

Thanks for all the help and support from everyone, and pray that we can find something in Provo or St. George area. I would love to buy a house soon.
PS no pics cause they were on the laptop. No worries I backed them up, but too lazy to put them on this laptop.

Dear Aubry,

Dear Aubry,

Well, so far this new year has been really good to you. You are putting on weight and eating so good lately. I am no longer worried about starving you. January was spent refining all of your growing abilities. Crawling super fast, eating super fast, drinking super fast, and standing up and walking on the furniture, not so fast. We worked really hard together to make videos for your grandparents and your Aunt Jenn on her mission. We went on long walks with your dad, and played in puddles. Me and your Dad have been called to teach in the primary. So that means that you have been spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Cox in Relief Society and Sunday School. That seems to work out really well, because mom and dad have our hands full with 6 year olds.

You love spending time outside and sometimes that is the only thing that makes you stop crying. No more teeth so far, but I have high hopes for some top ones in the next month or too. Two weeks ago, we went and played at Chayse's house. You and her had so much fun standing up together and even having and eating contest!! It seems that Chayse didn't want you to win and ate two whole bottles of baby food!! It was a lot of fun, and I think we are going there again this month.

You are so proud of your dad for putting in another transfer to Salt Lake City. You hope that we get to move there soon. You also helped him apply for two other jobs online and we hope to hear from someone soon. Before you know it, we will be packing up and moving to a new home, but we don't know where yet!=)

You have so much to be proud of this month. You are a great napper and you can almost sleep through the night. I don't mind getting up and feeding you, but soon you will be able to handle the whole night without me or your daddy. We are also going to be working on getting you to say "Mama" before you say, "Dada". But I think you might even say "Kitty" first!!

Well, think next month is going to be full of surprises, so here we come!!

Love,

Mom

This is a video from before Christmas that I had promised Kelly I would post. So here it is.

Dear Aubry,

Aubry has the crawling down!!!

Official Christmas photo!!!!

Standing all the time now. And posing.......

Dear Aubry,

It's a New Year already and things are going so well. You are crawling around so fast and are pulling yourself to standing all the time now. Sadly, you had to stop breastfeeding because apparently my milk was starving you. You like formula pretty well and are already putting on weight. I was super scared when we went to the doctor and found out that you hadn't gained even a pound in three months. Needless to say, as your mother I felt like a complete failure. Not to mention, you managed to lock yourself in the car when we went and visited Kelly and Sam. I was letting you play with my keys and when I closed the back door and went to the front door, you locked the car. I know, right? What 7 month old can do that?? Well, you can dear daughter. After the fire engine and police car left, you were safe and sound in my arms and we even took a picture with your rescuers.

Your first Christmas was pretty good. You managed to score all sorts of loot, including clothes toys and a ton of books (from me=). You also rang in the New Year with your dad and me, and your Aunt Amelia. Something exciting also happened on New Year Eve's day. You got into the cat food for the second time, and convinced your parents that you needed your own room and bed. Things are going well in that department but you haven't slept through the night yet. I am hopeful for the coming month though. Your dad is putting in his application to the Air Traffic Control job soon and he is also putting in his transfer to Salt Lake City. Keep your fingers crossed. Well, I love you tons little girl and we will see how much you weigh this month and hopefully you will be back on track. You sure seem to have grown already now that you are on formula.

Love,

Mom and Dad