This weekend was a treat for us. Actually, the whole week was fun. Collin didn't have school on Monday...yeah. If you have been around Garrett recently you know that he is obsessed with dinosaurs so we took he and Gaby to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. It was awesome. We had a great time checking out all the dinosaurs. Garretts favorite is the t-rex, and yes he can tell you all about it. He like to tell everyone and anyone who is willing to listen that he is going to be a paleontologist when he grows up and that they study dinosaurs who died because they wouldn't eat their steak. Garrett can also name quit a few and identify them. He even pronounces them correctly. My grandpa Bruce likes to try and throw him off or teach him about a different one when we see them. Gaby loved most of the museum, but there were some things that frightened her quite a bit. Collin and I had a blast. They also have an erosion table and a place where you can practice digging for bones. We had a great time.
Of friday evening Aunt Lerin came to visit. We were all so excited. Lerin has spent a great deal of time with our family and now that we moved further away we don't get to see her as often. Not to mention she was nannying in Oregon for Jennifer until just before Christmas. Friday we went to dinnner at Red Robin and shared different kinds of lemonade. The drinks are great there...so is the food. Then we hung out at the house. We made carmel corn, blew up the air mattress so we could have a slumber party and watched Labryinth. The one with Jennifer Connelly, and David Bowie. Collin's sister Devrie would be so jealous that she wasn't with us. Lerin had never seen it before. Saturday we got up and were going to go shopping all day, but Lerin was sick. Earlier this week she had a major allergic reaction to something and ended up at the doctors for shots and lots of pills.....at least that is her excuse. We finally got her going and out the door at 2 we went to the mall and wandered around. Collin took the kids so that Lerin and I could have some sister time. We hit Costco, and had lunch at Sizzler, then we stopped at Walmart where the stupid self-check out machine wouldn't give me my cash back so we had to wait for a manager. Lerin could not stop laughing she thought it was so funny. When we got back to the apartment Collin and I got ready and actually went on a date. Lerin was more than willing to babysit and give us some alone time. We shopped for a freezer and then went to dinner at Macaroni Grill. We are trying out new places to eat when we go out. It was great to be out without the kids and just enjoy time with Collin. Uninterrupted time with my husband....crazy. Lerin left earlier today. It was so much fun to have her with us. Thanks again Lerin.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Ha Ha Ha!! It's Collin's Week Again!!
So I'm sitting here writing the blog for this week, and Annie is shaking her head at me because I'm such a dork. At least that's what she says.
This week has been good for all of us. It was the second week of school for me. That means lots of reading (like around 200 pages that need to be read by Wednesday) and lots of teaching. I'm taking genetics and Advanced Neuroscience this semester. It should be interesting. I have been fighting with Provo College, however. Last semester I was teaching three labs for them and tutoring around sixteen hours a week. This semester, I don't get to teach the lab anymore and my tutoring hours got cut in half. The kicker is that they want me to tutor five different subjects--physiology, chemistry, microbiology, anatomy, and math. Eight hours is not nearly enough time to tutor all that. So I've been trying to get Provo College to allow me at least four more hours. That way, I'll at least have time to tutor physiology, microbiology, and chemistry. I think I won, but I won't find out until Tuesday.
Also, I've been getting good results in the lab, which is nice. We were having some problems with the PCR reactions we've been running, but we couldn't figure out what was happening. So my lab partners and I met with Dr. Edwards and we all decided to scrap everything and start with new water and new cDNA dilutions. Well, when I did a PCR run with the old dilutions vs. the new dilutions, we got bad results with the old ones and great results with the new ones. So now that we've figured that out, we're going to start running some RT reactions to test for receptors in hippocampal neuron types.
Annie and the kids have had fun at home this week. Gaby has gotten back on the potty-training bus. She does pretty good...as long as Annie and I remember to take her to the bathroom. No self-regulation there yet. Hopefully she'll get there soon. Garrett is working hard on learning his letters and the sounds they make. He walks around sounding out words. Well, he tries, anyway. He asks us what words are a lot, but he's getting it. The freaky thing is that every now and again, when we're driving around or something, he'll see a sign for a store that we haven't told him, and he'll ask us "Is that..." and name the store. Freaky. Personally, I think he's reading the names and just doesn't realize it. Oh, and he got to go with Daddy to the lab this week. He thought that was really fun. Now all he talks about are dinosaurs and going with Daddy to the lab. Gaby is obsessed with pink. Everything pink. We love our little princess.
Well, that's it for us this week. Daddy has a long weekend so we're going to play tomorrow. Look forward to another exciting blog entry!
This week has been good for all of us. It was the second week of school for me. That means lots of reading (like around 200 pages that need to be read by Wednesday) and lots of teaching. I'm taking genetics and Advanced Neuroscience this semester. It should be interesting. I have been fighting with Provo College, however. Last semester I was teaching three labs for them and tutoring around sixteen hours a week. This semester, I don't get to teach the lab anymore and my tutoring hours got cut in half. The kicker is that they want me to tutor five different subjects--physiology, chemistry, microbiology, anatomy, and math. Eight hours is not nearly enough time to tutor all that. So I've been trying to get Provo College to allow me at least four more hours. That way, I'll at least have time to tutor physiology, microbiology, and chemistry. I think I won, but I won't find out until Tuesday.
Also, I've been getting good results in the lab, which is nice. We were having some problems with the PCR reactions we've been running, but we couldn't figure out what was happening. So my lab partners and I met with Dr. Edwards and we all decided to scrap everything and start with new water and new cDNA dilutions. Well, when I did a PCR run with the old dilutions vs. the new dilutions, we got bad results with the old ones and great results with the new ones. So now that we've figured that out, we're going to start running some RT reactions to test for receptors in hippocampal neuron types.
Annie and the kids have had fun at home this week. Gaby has gotten back on the potty-training bus. She does pretty good...as long as Annie and I remember to take her to the bathroom. No self-regulation there yet. Hopefully she'll get there soon. Garrett is working hard on learning his letters and the sounds they make. He walks around sounding out words. Well, he tries, anyway. He asks us what words are a lot, but he's getting it. The freaky thing is that every now and again, when we're driving around or something, he'll see a sign for a store that we haven't told him, and he'll ask us "Is that..." and name the store. Freaky. Personally, I think he's reading the names and just doesn't realize it. Oh, and he got to go with Daddy to the lab this week. He thought that was really fun. Now all he talks about are dinosaurs and going with Daddy to the lab. Gaby is obsessed with pink. Everything pink. We love our little princess.
Well, that's it for us this week. Daddy has a long weekend so we're going to play tomorrow. Look forward to another exciting blog entry!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Christmas Break
Okay, so its been a while. Christmas was great. We headed to Idaho to see all of our family. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning was spent with the Johnson and Eckersell side. Christmas Eve was held at Grandpa and Grandma Eckersellls house. We had the traditional dinner of sandwiches and soup...so good. Then we had a program where they either shared a story or talent. Grandpa Bruce had us share memories that we had from Christmas's in the past. What an amazing experience. There were tears and there was laughter what else could you ask for at Christmas. After the program we had the nativity with Andria as Mary...she had never participated how she got away with that I will never know, but we finally got her there. Gaby was an angel again, and Garrett was a wiseman...I think. We eventually filed downstairs for Santa; Colby, to come. Everyone gets matching pajamas until they get married. It was great. Garrett and Gaby were in heaven. We eventually said our goodbyes and headed back to Dad and Moms to tuck in for the night and wait for Santa. There is a tradition that exists within the Johnson home that I plan to continue on to the Merrill family.....If you don't believe you will not receive.
Christmas morning was crazy. Garrett and Gaby had all the attention where they were the only grandkids home this year. How exciting for me I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! I can't even sleep in on Christmas morning I am too excited. There were piles of presents and tons of everything. Garrett got a new dinosaur and somehow we missed getting his dinosaur dance on film. Gaby got princess pedicure and that was about all she cared about. One of my favorite gifts that we gave my parents was a ski trip from all the kids. It was great.
Christmas afternoon we attempted to brave the roads and the weather and make our way to the Merrill party. It definately shows how much we love them and how much we wanted to be with them. We had a great Christmas dinner....Prime rib, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole (one of my favorites), bean casserole, and tons more. It was amazing. Teresa is an incredible cook and always has great food around the house. Of course , then we got to the presents. Garrett, Gaby, and I all got new snow boots...YEAH! They were much needed and much appreciated. Collin got a jump start kit for our car. We got tons of fun things. Being with Collins family was great.
The weather cleared up a little so we headed out to the field and rode the snowmachines. The kids loved that was until Grandpa Craig crashed with Gaby. It wasn't really a crash, but she won't get back on the snowmachine with him....not yet at least. She is okay with the four wheeler. They were driving along the ditch and Gaby isn't the best at holding on so when she started to fall Grandpa tried to save her and he machine tipped on the ditch bank. It was so funny. The next day we went back out for a little while and ended up playing in the snow. Uncle Patrick shoveled the snow off the deck and dumped it all down one side and made us a slide. Collin tried it out first to make sure it was safe and then we all went. Whether it was on our tummies or backs it was so much fun. We had to crawl up on a chair to get over the rail but it was worth it. Collin and Garrett started a snowball fight with Lerin, Gaby and I. Wednesday my family left for Oregon for my nephew; Chandlers baptism. I was so sad that we couldn't go, but it just wasn't working out for us. We were able to attend Collin's neice; Ainzley's blessing, which was wonderful. Kurt did a wonderful job and she is a beautiful baby.
Christmas and New Years was wonderful. We are excited for the New Years and the adventures that it will contain. The kids are growing like crazy and I try to enjoy everyday with them. Collin is amazing and everyday he does something to show me how much he loves me. Our parents are wonderful and have helped us through the highs and the lows. Siblings have always been there to step in when we need them too. What would we do without our families in our lives. I am so thankful that we are able to live close enough to see family and be there for important events. Happy New Year to all that read this and we hope that you have a great year ahead too.
Christmas morning was crazy. Garrett and Gaby had all the attention where they were the only grandkids home this year. How exciting for me I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! I can't even sleep in on Christmas morning I am too excited. There were piles of presents and tons of everything. Garrett got a new dinosaur and somehow we missed getting his dinosaur dance on film. Gaby got princess pedicure and that was about all she cared about. One of my favorite gifts that we gave my parents was a ski trip from all the kids. It was great.
Christmas afternoon we attempted to brave the roads and the weather and make our way to the Merrill party. It definately shows how much we love them and how much we wanted to be with them. We had a great Christmas dinner....Prime rib, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole (one of my favorites), bean casserole, and tons more. It was amazing. Teresa is an incredible cook and always has great food around the house. Of course , then we got to the presents. Garrett, Gaby, and I all got new snow boots...YEAH! They were much needed and much appreciated. Collin got a jump start kit for our car. We got tons of fun things. Being with Collins family was great.
The weather cleared up a little so we headed out to the field and rode the snowmachines. The kids loved that was until Grandpa Craig crashed with Gaby. It wasn't really a crash, but she won't get back on the snowmachine with him....not yet at least. She is okay with the four wheeler. They were driving along the ditch and Gaby isn't the best at holding on so when she started to fall Grandpa tried to save her and he machine tipped on the ditch bank. It was so funny. The next day we went back out for a little while and ended up playing in the snow. Uncle Patrick shoveled the snow off the deck and dumped it all down one side and made us a slide. Collin tried it out first to make sure it was safe and then we all went. Whether it was on our tummies or backs it was so much fun. We had to crawl up on a chair to get over the rail but it was worth it. Collin and Garrett started a snowball fight with Lerin, Gaby and I. Wednesday my family left for Oregon for my nephew; Chandlers baptism. I was so sad that we couldn't go, but it just wasn't working out for us. We were able to attend Collin's neice; Ainzley's blessing, which was wonderful. Kurt did a wonderful job and she is a beautiful baby.
Christmas and New Years was wonderful. We are excited for the New Years and the adventures that it will contain. The kids are growing like crazy and I try to enjoy everyday with them. Collin is amazing and everyday he does something to show me how much he loves me. Our parents are wonderful and have helped us through the highs and the lows. Siblings have always been there to step in when we need them too. What would we do without our families in our lives. I am so thankful that we are able to live close enough to see family and be there for important events. Happy New Year to all that read this and we hope that you have a great year ahead too.
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