Holidays at Full Speed

Let's see. Where did we leave off? Oh yes, October. It doesn't seem long ago, really.  Let's hit the major holidays, I guess.

Halloween

Mark and Kristilyn bought us a pumpkin while they were visiting us. Here's what we did with it.

And thank you to the Hoopes for loaning us some costumes for the ward Halloween party. Brandon's got his glare on.

Thanksgiving

Melody cooked her first turkey.  We didn't get food poisoning or anything. It actually turned out to be quite a success.  So much so that we were too busy eating to take any more pictures than just this one.

Christmas

While Christmas technically is not here yet, we are enjoying the season. Here's a picture of our tree. Melody says that it looks the same as last year, but Brandon says that we need a picture because, hey, it's in a new place.

Family Visitors

The Eliason family came to visit us last weekend. We had a blast. The days were filled with listening to James and Grant chatter and giggle. I was amazed to hear them explain words like camouflage and automatic. The nights were full of donuts, chocolate milk, ice cream, games, and talking. It was so nice to share Kansas City with family. Thanks for visiting us.

Birthday, Baseball, and Bad Weather

We haven't updated for a while. Here's what's been going on.



Here's one of the news reports about the microbursts that we had. We're not sure if this video is going to work, so here's the website if you're really interested:
Semi-Interesting news article about our weather.

 

Happy Birthday to Me

Sort of.  I am officially 10,000 days old today.  In retrospect, it has been a well lived 27.38 years so I believe some thanks are in order:

First of all, a big thank you to my parents.  It's been a long haul, but you've been wonderful.

Second, thank you to Melody for putting up with me for 1,370 of those days.

And finally, thank you to WolframAlpha for making the math so effortless.

Vacation Pictures

Now that the move is complete, we had a few extra days that Melody could take off work so we visited family in Utah and Idaho.

Considering that we flew into Salt Lake we spent very little time there. We drove the first weekend to Boise to see my family, then the next week to Bear Lake with Melody's family. We enjoyed the good company, beaches, hiking, cave exploring, and overabundance of great food.

Here are some pictures of the main events (most of which turned into neice/nephew photo shoots).

Things we learned this week

• Sleep is only a luxury.
• It is hard to solve problems when sleep deprived.
• You come across a lot of problems when trying to work on projects.
• If you are looking for a one-day project, don’t refinish your hardwood stairs.
• It is important to know what kind of wood you are finishing when buying stain. We just guessed.
• It is time well spent to ask the advice of store clerks at Lowe's, Sutherland's, etc. for do-it-yourself projects.
• 2 Ibuprofen seem to work when you break a toe during a move.
• Friends are important, especially when moving.
• Always look in the back of the U-haul before driving away.
• When buying a dryer exhaust hose make sure it comes with connectors.

Haggling 101

Those of you know Brandon and me know that we are nice “blue” people. We worry about other people and about what other people think about us. Haggling is a hard thing to do. We hate it. The first job offer I received here in Kansas City offered me a low wage and I haggled for a hire wage. The outcome of that incident wasn’t good. They withdrew the job offer completely. At that point, I used an agency to find a job.

Brandon and I have been looking for a washer and dryer for our new townhouse. We decided that we should buy used because we don’t know what life holds in store and where and when we will move next. We spent some time on Craig’s List but those are first come, first serve and we will only have a moving truck on Saturday morning which limits our ability to buy one. While looking online we found a used appliance store and after work today we went to check it out.

We were greeted by a 7 ft tall, well-built man. He told us where the washer and dryers were and then followed us to the back of the building, ducking under the door frames. We picked the one we wanted and then I asked Brandon if we should try to get the price down. He was concerned that this was a business, not someone’s house. We decided to go for it anyway and I said I would do the talking. We showed the 7 ft tall man what we wanted and then mentioned that Craig’s List has them for $100 cheaper. He mentioned the warranty. I mentioned that the machines shouldn’t break down to begin with. Brandon asked about a dent in the machine and the man said it was already factored into the price. I suddenly realized that I hadn’t decided how much I wanted him to reduce the price, but I had already opened my mouth and out came, “well can you take 10 or 20 off the price?” I meant $10 or $20.

Hesitantly he said he would take 10% off the price ($34). Brandon and I agreed. After the fact we realized just how naïve we are. I think haggling takes some practice. At least we are learning to ask.

Historic Week

This week has been a historic week. Brandon took his last section final at KCUMB. Congratulations to Brandon! He still gets to study like crazy until he takes his board exams the end of June but at least most of the school work is out of the way. We celebrated by eating KFC at Maken Park(where else?).

Saturday we went to the ground breaking ceremony of the Kansas City, Missouri temple. President Ronald A. Rasband presided. Elder William R Walker, executive director of the temple department and Elder Donald Deshler of the 6th quorum of the Seventy and all their wives were also there. Only about 1500 people were invited to be on the temple grounds. The 11 surrounding stakes in the temple district watched the ground breaking by satellite at the stake centers. We got tickets to go to the temple grounds because a member of the bishopric wasn’t able to go so the Bishop asked if we wanted them. We got there around 8:45am. It was windy, cold, and dirty (but at least it wasn’t wet). Brandon’s suit will definitely go to the cleaners this week. The grounds are on a hill and we couldn’t actually see anything (choir, speakers, or turning of dirt) but it was neat to be there.

The rest of our week was busy as Brandon studied like crazy, and I babysat, made over 150 cookies, and we looked at townhouses and tutored.

New York

I went to Olean, New York to visit my sisters this past weekend. I flew out on Wednesday, April 21st. I flew through Charlotte, North Carolina which was exciting because I haven’t been to North Carolina before. Julie and Kristilyn flew in from Utah that night too.

We spent the weekend playing with Daniel and Anna, cooking, cleaning, playing games, and talking. I borrowed part of Julie’s blog that gives a quick update on Daniel and Anna.

Anna (14 months) needs a lot of attention with all of her special needs. She has a feeding tube in her stomach and Katrina has to hook her up about every 4 hours. She also has a lot of other seizure medications that have to be taken at certain times as well. Anna has little seizures throughout the day and at least a couple bigger ones even with the medication. Even though she is 14 months, she looks like she’s about 6-7 months old and has the developmental level between 2-4 months. She has an occupational therapist, a vision therapist, and another therapist that come in the mornings once a week and Katrina is working on getting some respite care so she can have time to get other things done like grocery shopping, cooking, etc. Anna can’t sit up by herself, but she can kind of support her head and turn it somewhat. She has the most beautiful brown eyes, cute button nose, and soft curly hair. She feels good to hold and doesn’t cry very often anymore.

Daniel (almost 4) is just as bouncy and energetic as ever, and just as adorable. He loves to be outside, so we spent a lot of time walking around the block or following him on his big wheel around the block when it was both sunny and rainy. He likes to tease and say, “Come on.” He’s also being potty trained right now and trying to have “perfect days” so he can go to McDonalds. He was really pretty good the whole time we were there. His favorite movies are “Mr. Kruger’s Christmas” and “The Restoration.” He has a lot of other cartoon movies, but doesn’t want to watch them. He likes to dance to music, play basketball in the back yard, and play kid computer games. He’s very social and doesn’t like to be alone. He would prefer to do everything with a buddy, and we took turns being that buddy for the whole weekend!

Daniel is so sweet and caring. As we were leaving Olean, Anna was upset to be in her car seat and was crying. Katrina held her hand and she quickly quieted down. As we drove to the airport, I started to cry realizing I wasn’t ready to leave yet. Daniel, who was sitting in front of me, heard me cry. He held up his hand and told me I could hold his hand. It made me cry harder. While I was there I was sneezing a ton because of allergies. I also cut my finger open. Daniel asked me at least once a day how my finger was and how I was feeling. He is very observant to others’ feelings.

The weekend wouldn't be complete without a crazy sleep walking event. On Sunday night I had a weird dream. In my dream I was in bed and I pushed the blankets onto the floor. As I did, I heard a baby cry. I got so stressed out because I thought I had just pushed a baby off the bed. In reality I was sitting on the bed and then stood up on the bed. Julie woke up and said my name. It kind of woke me up but not fully. I said "Help!" three times. She sat up and grabbed my arm and pulled me down onto the bed again. I was so stressed out. I laid there for a minute and then I realized I probably scared Julie so I tried to explain my dream but realized that it didn’t make sense and I didn’t really understand why I was so stressed out. It was so weird. I don’t think I have slept walked since being married. I guess I was just over tired.

Dear Melody

Dear Melody,

How have you been? I'm just fine, thanks for asking. A touch busy at times, but so are you, I hear.

I'm writting you to let you know that I have a couple of concerns that we need to address before they get out of hand.

First of all, we need to sit down and have a serious conversation about that blog of ours. I know that it's a sore subject around here, and I know that you think that it's my responsibility, but all this arguing back and forth about who is going to write the next post really isn't getting us anywhere. Do you know how long it's been since we updated? November. No really, November. You can take a look for yourself if you don't believe me.

Second, why so camera-shy lately? It must be your inner native-american that thinks that the camera is going to steal your soul. I have trouble repressing my inner native-american at times, too. How about this, I promise that if the camera ever steals your soul that I'll make it give it back to you straight away, honest.

Lately though, it's been getting out of control. I mean, I keep trying to get a picture of your new hair cut, but if you continue to dodge the camera or put your hand in front of the lens, your hair will grow back by the time I get a decent shot. So, I decided to take the matter into my own hands. Since you won't let me take a picture of you, I decided to have a local artist draw a sketch of you with before and after takes of your new 'do. I think that the results are fairly stunning:

Before	After

That's all for now. Talk to you soon.


Love, Brandon