Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Greetings from Texas

I just wanted to say "howdy" to all of you. This is my first contribution to the infamous "Crane's Nest" blog. We recently enjoyed Amanda's visit to San Antonio and I enjoyed being San Antonio's best tour guide for Mrs. Pope. I know that Amanda enjoyed the Alamo but I know Mike would have appreciated it alot more. San Antonio is a great city to visit and this past weekend's 70 degree weather must have been a tropical vacation for Amanda. Victoria really enjoyed having her Aunt Amanda here with us and especially enjoyed showing off her bedrooms, here and at my parents house. We gave Amanda a crash couse on being a parent; she changed diapers, read her books and put her to bed. When the time comes, she will be a wonderful mother. We look forward to hosting you all down here come this May. Just make sure that you bring your shorts and flip-flops!!

All is well in San Antonio. Victoria is growing up so fast and and she is so fun to have around. She is like a sponge as she absorbs everything that she comes across. Aside from identifying all her colors, singing "I am a Child of God," and counting 1,2,6,8, it's amazing how well of a conversation you can have with this 22 month old girl. Rachel is anxiously awaiting the birth of our soon to be son. We are all excited for the new addition and Victoria is starting to let us know what the "baby boy" can & cannot have.

Well, I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to hearing about you all soon.

Until next time... Richard II

Amanda's Visit!

We had such a wonderful time! I think Amanda enjoyed the San Antonio atmosphere! Victoria sure loved having her around, just like she would any of you. [just a subtle hint to all of you to come visit!] We visited the Alamo and even watched the informational video. Amanda insisted she didn't know very much of the history of the whole thing. We ate all of the traditional San Antonio fare: BBQ, breakfast tacos, Mexican desserts and even a little Indian food. She even got breakfast in bed, it was her Birthday, but I will be willing to negotiate if it will get any of you to come visit. I sure miss her already and even Victoria keeps asking, "where did Amanda go?" Then she remembers that we dropped her off at the airport and then her mind turns to snacks and peanuts, which apparently brings back fond memories for her. She says, "She's at work. Too bad". I really miss you all so much! Come visit! I can't wait until Mom gets here in March! All you have to do is have a baby and she comes. It is so nice! I am really looking forward to it. Not to mention the birth of this big baby taking up all the space in my belly! Only 5, okay maybe 6 more weeks!

Monday, January 28, 2008

The boys in our family

So the boys in our family have a unique obsession with horsepower, speed, and having the best of anything... Go to my blog to read the newest passion!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Great News!

Today, January 24 2008, is a great day.
I inadvertently fixed my computer today!
This may not seem like a big deal, but it is!
It's been broken since approximately July!
I was so excited I just had to write about it!
On my newly fixed laptop!

Also, I'm thinking about a possible field study in South Africa next year...
any thoughts?
also, any ideas for a summer job for me?
Alaska? Rachel your thoughts/maybe call Capt. Deb?
Del Sol internship?
Free humanitarian trip to Ethiopia?

over and OUT!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Feliz Navidad






As you know this year for Christmas it was just Maren, me, mom, and dad. We definitely didn't want to stay home and just miss everyone so mom came up with the Cancun plan! THANK YOU MOM! We had a wonderful time. It was beautiful weather and mom had found the best resort! Maren and I even had a full size jetted jacuzzi in our room - which she used EVERY NIGHT with multiple bottles of bubble bath while we sipped on our free hot/cold chocolate delivered right to our room! We had an amazing tour of Chichenitsa which was amazing. We swam in a big deep well and cliff jumped on the way - dad was a great cliff jumper! We were not fantastic at getting the cameras to work fast enough so we can't prove how high he jumped.

One night when Maren and dad were checking BYU's progress in some bowl game and I was working mom left the business room and then didn't come back for a while. When she did come back she had had the scare of a lifetime. She had a crazy and desperate look on her face and told us a story about getting stuck in the elevator. It came down to about two minutes, but in that two minutes she'd had a lot to think about! I mean we were in a foreign country and she hadn't told any of us where she was going.

We kayaked and mom and dad also paddle boated. We shopped (briefly - briefly dad). We saw some shows at the resort. For those of us nearing business year ends WE RESTED. It was wonderful! Here are some pictures of the trip and I hope everyone else puts in some thoughts. I will have to say my favorite part was at a club when a midget dressed as Beetlejuice scared Maren half to death!

Monday, January 7, 2008

Victoria was being so funny! Richard has taught her to say, "you wanna fight?" or "put your dukes up." She really likes Allison, a girl Javier is dating, and kept giving her random hugs throughout the night!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! We sure did! It was so fun to watch Victoria flip out over her presents and anyone else's for that matter. Whoever was opening got a little extra help and excitment from Victoria! She kept say Wow and Oh! It was so funny! She would look at you like do you see what I see! and I am excited! The hit gifts were a Fisher Price Farm and a new Radio Flyer bike. She also got a number of Elmo dancing chickens and the sort.
On New Year's Eve Richard and I left Victoria with Rosalie and Richard and headed to Fredericksburg, a german town about an hour away for the night. The town pretty much shutdown as soon as we got there, but we had a very nice dinner and a relaxing evening at the Hoffman House B & B.
Happy New Year!