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

Dear Aubry,

Me and Aubry again.

I found this picture and laughed.

Dear little girl,

Today was hard. You woke up at about 6 am and I knew your were still tired because you woke up crying. After trying to calm you down, I gave you your pacifier and rolled over. For the next hour you cried and crawled and rolled around. Finally, you fell asleep. Please note, that while you were crying for whatever reason, I too was crying. I was sad that you were upset and that it was 6 am in the morning and I was now too awake to sleep anymore. You slept for the next 45 minutes and woke up smiling, so lesson learned. After a breakfast of Apples and Cherries, which went down better than that last fruit you ate, we played with the remotes and enjoyed a visit from my visiting teachers. As 10am rolled around, you informed me of your desire to take a nap. Very forcefully. I fed you some milk and you went to sleep for the next 2 and 1/2 hours. During which, you permitted me to watch a movie. (thanks btw)

Upon waking, you calming let me know your were hungry and whereupon you dined on harvest veggies with mixed grains. We than visited the post office and the bank, while talking to your Aunt Krysta.

You gracefully received your dad's new computer from the Fed Ex guy, and hid it away where none can find it. As you now play around my feet, I wonder what other surprises you have for me today. If you would crawl, that would be great. But I just wanted to let you know how your day was going. I love you tons little girl and I do enjoy the times we have. I especially enjoy watching you inch worm your way around the floor.

We are off to clean the bedroom, so look out world, I might just clean my room!!!

Sincerely,

Your tired mother.

Lazy.....

Yes, I am so lazy. I haven't blogged in forever. And I have done Aubry's 6 month pictures. I am a bad parent=) Well, Aubry is 6 months old now. She is so close to crawling still. I think I mentioned that Chris let me get a video camera for my birthday. Well, it came in the mail yesterday and he wouldn't let me open it!!! How mean right! Other than that, things are going good. Chris will be putting in his transfer to Salt Lake this month, and we will see how that goes. This is just a short post cause nothing is really going on this week. Although, I have noticed, that my mom is making me make cookies like every week. Anyways, here is the video I took of Aubry. Enjoy.

Blog Stalker....

So I admit it. I am a stalker. A blog stalker. I randomly read peoples blogs and they have no idea. I kinda feel bad about it, especially because I am sure they would feel weird about me reading it, but sometimes, that's all there is to do around here. And then you feel even weirder seeing them and saying, "Yeah, I know all about what is going on in your family even though we haven't spoken in 6 years. I read your blog!"

Well, it's the day before Thanksgiving and I really should be making pies right now, or cleaning my room, but I feel the urge to post something. Aubry is 6 months old. She is days away from crawling and is a great eater. She loves bananas and squash. She'll eat peas, but for some reason does not like peaches. Can't really blame her. Not a huge fan of peaches myself. I am not sure how much she weighs at this point. I haven't taken her into the doctors for her shots yet, but she is finally in size 2 diapers. Yea!!!

No word yet on what we are doing about Chris's job or our life or where we are moving. Just don't believe anything I say about it. Whenever I say we are going to move somewhere at a certain time, just don't believe it. I have said it a million times and we haven't even made it out of Nevada yet. So those of you who I talked to about moving to Boise, or Salt Lake or even out of the state, don't hold your breath. I wouldn't be surprised if we never moved. So just don't get your hopes up anymore=(

On a lighter note, Chris let me buy a video camera for my birthday so we can document Aubry's crawling when she finally does it. Oh and a quick endorsement for Best Buy. They price match now, and they even price match Amazon.com!! We saved 80 bucks!!!

Trying on Chris's TSA beanie. Way too big.

in the crawl position. She rocks and moves her legs now.

One of the few pictures I have taken of us together.

Sometimes the days go by.....

Wow. It has been quite awhile since I have posted. So much has happened these past couple of weeks that I can't even begin to wrap my head around it. First off, moving to Boise has been put on hold. Things with Chris's work didn't come together in time and finding a job up there is alot different when you don't live up there. So we moved in with my parents. Things are going good here, my parents love the fact that Aubry is here and that I love to bake desserts=) Chris is commuting to Vegas four times a week and that is really tough on him. I feel like this is all my fault. That if I had planned better and prepared better, we would not by having all of these problems. If I could have been content in Vegas, or if we hadn't moved down here at all, we would be better off. Chris's school is on hold until we find a place with an ITT Tech that we can afford to live. I feel guilty about him missing out on school when he was doing so good.

Aubry is growing up so dang fast. She is six months old in a week, and it doesn't feel real. She eats baby food and sits up on her own. She is almost crawling. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. Hasn't taken that first step yet, but it ain't far off. She has finally been able to fit into her 6 month clothes. She can still fit in her 3 month ones, but at least she isn't drowning in the 6 month ones. Naptime is alot better these days, and thank goodness for the baby monitor. I can't imagine not having one in this huge house and having to stay near her room in order to hear her.

Oh and she has one tooth that has broken the surface and is getting the second one soon. Amazing. I think it's pretty darn cool. It helps me to know that even though she is tiny for her age she is still developing at a good rate. We went and hung out with Kelly this past Friday and had a really good time shopping. I got everything I am going to get for Aubry for Christmas this year. A bunch of books, and clothes. I am pretty sure she will be getting toys from everyone else=) Hopefully, not noisy ones. She is at the stage where she is screaming for no reason, just to hear herself=) It's cute, but we don't need anymore added noise.

I am grateful to everyone who has helped us out these days, especially my parents who are giving us a place to live. Things are hard but we will get through them. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember to be thankful for the bad and good times=)

Another Freakin' Update

So, once again things are falling apart and not happening the way that they are supposed to. I am very annoyed to say that Chris's transfer hasn't been turned in by his HR person to be approved or denied. We turned in the paperwork at the beginning of the month, hoping that we would know by now, only to find out that nothing has happened. Stupid woman HR rep. So now we will be homeless in two weeks and have no idea if he should quit the TSA and move already or wait and still have a job. What sucks even more is that this past weekend we went to Boise and found an apartment that we really liked. Unfortunately, without proof of income or a letter saying that he will have a job in Boise, they won't approve our application. So, despite swearing to never do this, we will be staying with my parents until we figure stuff out.

It's not that I don't love my parents. I really do. It's just that this feels so embarrassing having to ask for help like this. I like being able to take care of things by myself. I don't like asking for help, it feels like I am failing to be an adult and that I am mooching off of my family. GRRRRR!!!! I just am so annoyed with Chris's job!! They are making this suck! We need to move to Boise so Chris can finish school and then we can focus on finding him a great job.

So, that's the big deal with us. We have two weeks to move the majority of our stuff to a storage unit, then move to my parents, for a couple of months so we can finally get away from the TSA.

On a lighter note, Aubry is doing good eating rice cereal, and hopefully by the end of this week, she will be on real baby food. She rolls over all the time and is not allowed on the couch anymore (cause she rolls off) and she laughs and sleeps really good. Wish us luck with Chris's transfer and hopefully, we can make the move to Boise in the next couple of months.

I love my computer...

I love my computer. Yes, yes, I do. why do I love it? Well, it hasn't failed me yet, and it doesn't judge me. Nope. During my husband and Aubry's three hour nap, it hasn't complained once about the endless blogs I read. It doesn't gripe that maybe I should be doing something a little more productive, like the dishes. No, it sits so soundly on my tray table, and silently reassures me that despite reading nothing worth remembering, it still supports me...=)

On a more productive note, I have once again decided to learn to knit. Chris's mom was down when Aubry was born and ran through the basics, but then I haven't touched it since them. So I got it out and sat through conference, trying to remember everything. So far, I remember important things, but I haven't managed to knit anything in particular. Oh well. Maybe I will make Chris a scarf. Sounds good.

Aubry is having good sleep days and bad sleep days, and my goodness I am having just bad sleep days. Sometimes, she just starts screaming, then when I wake up and roll over, she is sound asleep again!!!

We are at least getting over our colds this week. Thanks to the humidifier. Other than that, nothing at all is going on. But thanks for stopping by!!

Oh Yeah...

Boo-YA!! Aubry is doing so good lately with her naps. Like right now. She went down without a fight and I didn't even have to hold the pacifier in her mouth. I put it in and she rolled over and went to sleep. I am so amazed. I want to say thanks to everyone who recommended the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby. It read like a blender manual but it had some awesome ideas. Besides Aubry doing better at her naps, things are progressing slowly with Chris's transfer. We still haven't been able to turn in his transfer packet, because of letters and information that he needs from his supervisors. Which is really lame. But since we now have less than a month to move, we are getting on the ball. I am still collecting boxes so if you got some, I'll take em'.

Despite having a nasty cold this week, I have been feeling so awesome. The weather has finally turned really nice. Fall is my favorite season. And for some reason, it feels like Christmas. Probably because my nose is red and it's nippy outside. Kinda weird, I know. This holiday season will be the first that we will spend away from our families because of the move. I am not sure how I feel about it. Happy that we will probably have a white Christmas in Boise, but sad cause I will most likely miss my family. I know that I am really excited to get away from southern Nevada, but I am very aware that I will miss my family. It is all part of growing up, and I have to face the reality that I really can't live in the heat anymore. Maybe in the future that will change, but right now I need a change.

I am gonna miss hanging out with Lara and sewing every week. Hopefully, I can find a sewing group or something in my new ward in Boise so I can continue expanding my wardrobe and Aubry's. Well, I will keep everyone posted and updated with the move this month=)

Found It!!

I found her laugh. Hope you can hear and enjoy it!!

Cold...

Yeah, you guessed wrong. You thought perhaps by "Cold" that I meant the temperature. Nope. Poor little Aubry has a cold. She tipped me off by sneezing snot all over me. It sucks that the doctors can't really do anything about the common cold, but at least it isn't any more serious.

On another note, we tried rice cereal yesterday and she isn't quite ready for it. Still has that tongue reflex thing. Oh well. We will try when we are in Elko next week.

I am so excited for our trip!! We are going to Boise next week (hopefully Chris work approved time off) and we are stopping in Elko for the night up and back. We get to see my Aunt and cousin who live there and have never met Aubry. Super excited. Then we are going to Boise and spending time with Rachel and fam and trying to find an apartment up there for our move. Everyone please keep us in your prayers that Chris will be able to transfer. It would help so much.

Despite the rice cereal set back, we are moving forward in the nap department. She is taking longer and better naps each day and it makes my life a little easier. She is just doing so good!!

I got some boxes from my old job at Deseret Book and I am hoping to get some more from some friends in town. But if anybody hears about boxes somewhere, please let me know and I will take them off of your hands!!

The Elusive Laugh...

So Aubry can giggle. She really can. But she won't on camera. So my goal this coming week is to get some cute video of her laughing and doing silly things. Wish me luck.