Where A Kid Can Be A Kid!!

While Court was in Chicago for work, I spent the week at his parent's house. It was a really nice getaway, and Meredith really had fun spending time with Awna D, Geezer, and her aunts and uncles. She got to go play at the splash park, the mall, and even Chuck E. Cheese! It was a very busy, very fun-filled week!

On Wednesday, my sister-in-law Kim and I took Meredith to Chuck E. Cheese. We met up with Kim's friend Maren, whose husband is the manager of the local CEC. He gave us a GREAT deal on pizza and tokens (Thanks Ryan!). It was Meredith's first time in the land of the big Cheese...or "Chuckie Mouse" as she calls him. When we first walked into the dining area where they had the big animatronic (or whatever it's called) Chuck E. Cheese, she was a bit nervous...I took her down to this little dance floor they had where she could see herself dancing on a T.V. monitor. That totally changed her mood and from then on out it was go, go, go...when the pizza finally came, she wasn't too interested because she was so busy waving and yelling "Hi Chuckie Mouse!" and dancing...always dancing. Meredith's favorite thing to do with the tokens was to ride all the fun kiddie rides...her favorite being a little crousel. It had three horses that were small enough, and went around slow enough, that she could ride it all by herself. She must have ridden that thing for a good 30 minutes. I had to force her to get off of it. When it was time to go, she was sad and kept running away and climbing on the rides. I had my hands full of the diaper bag and drinks and had to keep setting them down to chase after her. I'd get her back by me and start picking up the drinks and diaper bag again and then she'd take off running! Ugh! But I finally got her out the door and into the car. She was fast asleep by the time we pulled out of the parking lot. Oh what fun "Chuckie Mouse" is! The only downer was that Court wasn't there to witness it all!

Here are some pictures and a short video of our fun in Chuckieland!

I Like to Move It, Move It!

Here's some more video of Meredith dancing...we were watching American Idol and when Daughtry came on, she started cutting a rug! The other video is of her looking at a book with her dad. She'll be 2 next month...I think she talks very well for not even being 2 yet!

My Funny Meredith

Meredith has been making me laugh all morning. She does the funniest things sometimes! This morning I've been working on laundry, so she's been entertaining herself. I about died laughing when I came out of the bedroom with a load of laundry and found her sitting on the couch reading...with her bunny ears on, but pushed to the back of her head. Maybe I'm just punchy today, but that made me laugh, so then I grabbed my camera and started videoing her, and eventually got her dancing!

Here she is reading with the bunny ears on.

And here she is dancing!

Easter Egg Hunt!

Today we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at a friend's place. Court smoked up a bunch of meat for the event...which was delicious! Seems like we've had lots of BBQ lately...but I'm not complaining because it is soooo delicious!

Anyway....they had all the dads go out in the front yard and hide the eggs. Then they let the kids 4 and younger have a 2 minute head start. Meredith had a lot of fun. Here's some fun pictures...

All the kiddos lining up for the egg hunt.

Look closely and you'll see lots of Easter eggs!

Collecting Eggs

Wearing Bunny Ears

Perusing her loot.

Comparing Loot with cousin Taylor.

The people who threw the party just got 4 little bunnies. They were so cute and all the kids had tons of fun holding them. Meredith loved petting the bunnies...but we had to work with her on being "soft".

Trying to get her to kiss the bunny.

With her cousins.

Brian Baity on the News

Most of you probably know my friend Brian Baity.  You know that dude I Barbecue with.  

He is also an artist and made the news in Salt Lake City because of his carving.  This is the Video.

The 10th Semi-Annual Conference Sunday Barbecue

Here are some of the Photos of the Day (Including the TV outside close to the cookers). Mmmmmm. Meat.

Sesame Street LIVE!

A few weeks ago, Court's sister called and asked us if she and her husband could take Meredith to see Sesame Street Live. Meredith is a Sesame Street fanatic, and they knew she would love it. Of course, Court and I had to tag along! So yesterday, we loaded her up and headed to Beaumont. The show itself was okay...definitely more entertaining for the kids. I couldn't really even tell you too much about the plot because I was so focused on Meredith and her reactions to what was going on. It was fun to watch her dance and yell out character names, letters of the alphabet, and numbers. She was so excited, although she didn't like it when the characters got too close. Our tickets were for one of the back rows, up high...but we were surprised to see tons of empty seats down on the floor. During intermission, they were selling Elmo balloons down in front of the stage. Meredith looked at Court and said, "Daddy...Elmo loon?" Of course, Court couldn't say no. Even though those dang balloons were $10 a piece! Yikes! But Meredith loved that balloon...sadly we left it at Court's parents house on accident, so her enjoyment was short lived. (Mom and Dad - save it for us...Court says he has a helium canister at work, so we can blow it up for her again!) Anyway...after intermission, we stayed down on the floor and sat in the 5th row since no one sat there through the entire first half. That allowed Meredith to see the characters up close and personal. Like I said, as long as they didn't get too close...she was very happy. Here are a few pictures and a video.

The video is a collection of clips of Meredith watching the show. It was pretty dark in there, so the video is not the best. And I admit it may start to feel a little long...sorry! But you get to hear her say the names of some of her favorite characters and dance around. I figured it would be something fun for her to see when she's a little older. I mean, I never got to go to Sesame Street Live when I was a kid, but if I did, it would be fun to see myself at 2 years old dancing and talking about all the characters! Her initial reaction wasn't as strong as we expected, but I think she was more shocked at first...like, what? Ernie's here? Elmo? What? We'd been telling her all week that she was going to see Elmo on Saturday, but she'd just look at us like, "What are you talking about?" LOL.

Waiting for the show to start:

The show from the perspective of our original seats:

3/4 of the way through the first half, Meredith started getting a little restless, so I took her down to the floor...there was a big open area at the back where I could stand and let her run around a bit...she liked being able to run free and dance around...here's the stage from that perspective.

Waiting for the 2nd half of the show to start

Meredith spent most of the 2nd half standing in the aisle dancing. At one point, I was talking to Matt and I saw her take off running out of the corner of my eye. By the time I got to her, she was almost to the stairs leading up to the stage! I was so embarrassed! But most of the people who saw her just laughed.

The show was called "Elmo's Green Thumb" and the gist of the show was that Elmo had this new friend "Sunny the Sunflower." Sunny had out grown his pot, so Elmo had to find the right spot in Big Bird's garden to plant it. So, they visited different parts of the garden and talked to the ladybugs and crickets. Then they finally found the perfect spot.


Meredith got to shake hands with some of the characters...of course, she was shaking like a leaf and clinging to me. If they stood there too long, she'd start crying. As soon as they walked away, she was fine. I guess they would be huge and scary to someone so little.
The Count

Grover - Meredith calls him "Grober"

Cookie Monster - so tall you can't see his eyes in this picture! LOL!



After the show ended we went up and took a picture in front of the perfect spot Elmo found to plant his new friend "Sunny the Sunflower"

Thanks Uncle Matt and Aunt Kari for such a fun time!! ;)

Here's the video of Meredith at Sesame Street LIVE!

Time Out For Women 2009

On March 13th and 14th, I was lucky enough to get to go to Houston with some family and close friends to attend Time Out for Women. It was so much fun! It was especially perfect timing because I had just finished reading the Book of Mormon in 40 days. So I was on this huge spiritual high, and then got to go and listen to some really wonderful presentations for 2 days - it was the icing on the cake! The theme was "Sweet Assurance" and the presentations focused on how we can strengthen our own testimonies and gain the sweet assurance that even through the difficulties we face, we can still feel close to our Father in Heaven and have his spirit with us. For me, I heard a lot of messages focusing on hope and strengthening family relationships. I'm sure if you asked others who attended, they'd say they heard other messages too. That is the greatest thing about these Time Out for Women events...you get to have very personal spiritual experiences!

On Friday, we headed to Houston early so we could do some shopping and go out to eat before the event started. It was a blast! We went to the Sam Moon outlet, Kohl's, The Woodlands Mall, and Target...oh so fun! Even though she wasn't with us, Meredith made out like a bandit! She got some new clothes and books! For late lunch/early dinner, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory... so good! Then, that night we got to hear from Sheri Dew, Abe Mills, Jenny Jordan Frogley and Kenneth Cope. Sheri Dew never disappoints...she shared some stories about her family and encouraged us to stay on course and to not let the current state of the world and/or the personal challenges we may be facing deter us from having hope and being happy. Then Kenneth Cope, Abe Mills and Jenny Jordan Frogley each performed some of their music. Abe Mills was in my broadcasting program at BYU, so it was especially fun for me to see him again. He did a funny medley of classic "boy band" songs. He invited all the men in attendance to come up and be in his "boy band". There weren't very many men there...but they were all great sports and went up on stage. Abe sang and they followed his lead in doing some dance moves. Afterwards, we all went to TGI Fridays and ate and then went back to the hotel. I fell asleep fast and slept hard - I was exhausted! Here's a few pictures from Friday night...

The Boy Band!

Kenneth Cope

The Cheesecake Factory
On the left...me and Caryn.
On the right, from back to front....Michele, Sunshine and Jennifer

Saturday we got up early, got dressed and ate breakfast at the hotel's continental breakfast...which was pretty good! Then we headed over to the event. The presenters were Mary Ellen Edmunds, who was VERY funny (ok, they all were funny, but I thought she was funniest), Brent Top, Chris Stewart and Wendy Watson Nelson (wife of Elder Nelson). In between each speaker, Kenneth Cope, Jenny Jordan Frogely and/or Abe Mills would perform a couple of songs and then present the next speaker. We ate at the Mall for lunch and did a little more shopping before heading back home. I rode back with Michele and Jennifer...and we had quite a nice visit for the entire ride home. I really felt the spirit as we talked about things we learned from the event and each shared some personal experiences. It was neat....we laughed, we cried...I don't think I'll ever forget that ride home! That night, I again fell asleep fast and slept hard...what a great weekend!

Mary Ellen Edmunds

All of us

Back row (L to R): Caryn, Jill, Grammer (my grandmother-in-law)
Front row (L to R): Danita (my amazing mother-in-law), Sunshine, Michele, Me, Jennifer

I have to give a special thanks to my mother-in-law and my father-in-law who made the event extra special (you know what I mean)! Thanks so much! I can't wait for the next Time Out for Women!

Meredith's 1st Shiner

Meredith got herself her first shiner today. It's not too bad...but it's definitely the worst injury she's had so far in her life...which is a good thing, I guess. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I think she somehow tripped and caught the corner of her eye on her potty chair. She cried pretty hard...poor baby.

Here's a couple of pictures:





You can't really see the shiner in these. I just thought they were so darn cute that I had to post them!

Future American Idol?

Meredith has developed a love for singing...it's so cute! Her favorite song to sing is "Part of That World" from the little Mermaid. Just today she came walking out of her room singing the "A..B..C.." song. I didn't even know she knew that one. I haven't sung it to her much, so I was surprised to hear her singing it. I've been trying to get her singing on video, but usually once I pull the camera out, she stops and refuses to do it anymore. So tonight, when she started singing in the bathtub, I grabbed the camera and started recording. I finally got it on video! YES!!! She also sings "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" and the "A..B..C.." song on this video...so it's kinda long... but I think it's worth watching! Enjoy!

P.S. Sorry you have to endure my singing... :)

Random Photos

I was just cleaning off my camera and came across a few random photos that I thought I'd share...


Meredith loves stickers, so the other day I bought a pack of them at the dollar store and let her have at it. She stuck them to her shoes, her shirt, her coloring books. And, of course, I got in on the fun and stuck some on my face, which she thought was funny, so we put a bunch on her face and arms.




This picture is from a few weeks ago when I was getting ready for church. Court usually has a meeting the hour before Church starts, so most Sunday mornings I'm on my own getting myself and Meredith ready to go. A few weeks ago, after I finished putting my shoes on, I went looking for Meredith and found her in the bathroom sitting on her potty chair talking on her play cell phone. I asked her who she was talking to and she said "Matt." Matt is her uncle...she won't go near him when he's around, but she sure talks about him a lot!



Here we are getting to hold baby Parker for the first time. Parker is my sister-in-law Kim's first baby...such a sweet and darling little boy! Meredith wasn't so sure about him, though. Especially when her own mom was holding him and kissing him. Her face in this picture tells the story. Now, whenever we see a baby, she says "Parker!"



Court took this picture...he found her giving her Winnie the Pooh friends a ride on her horsey. She loves those little Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals and carries them around with her all the time.


This is from one of our recent trips down to Court's parents' house. Meredith was doing her tired whine, so I handed her her "bankie" and pretty soon she was quiet. When I looked back, she had fallen asleep with her blanket over her head.