A Tribute to Deseret Towers

It's the end of an era!! BYU has torn down Deseret Towers (DT) - the dorm I lived at when I was a freshman at BYU. They've probably been there forever because they were pretty old when I lived there and that was in 1995. I'm not sure what they will do with the area, but it's SO sad to me to watch them go. I loved living there - even though I got sick of it by the end and I gained about 20 pounds over the 10 month period, I still loved it. I loved the friendships and the memories I made there. Here are some pictures of my life at DT:

Me in my first room (S hall room 708). That is where I met Sherri Cowley. We were roommates for the summer and then I moved over to T hall so I could be in Freshman Academy. Thank heavens I went that summer and roomed with her! I can't imagine a life where I didn't know Sherri. It seriously makes me teary just thinking about how much she's meant to me the last 13 years. Sherri is the closest thing I have to a sister.

Me and Sarah Rackham pointing to our rooms in S hall. Sarah lived next door to Sherri and I that summer. Again - thank heavens I got to meet her, too!

Sherri and I pointing to our mailbox in the Morris Center.

Sher and I getting ready for a football game. I know the picture quality isn't the greatest, but you get the idea...Adam, do you like our school spirit?!

This was the view from our room in S hall. When I first got there to check in, the girls downstairs said that my room had a great view - and yep -they were right! Sher got to live there the whole year - lucky girl!

This is me with Sandy DeGroot. Sandy and I grew up together in San Luis Obispo and then we lived in T hall and were in freshman academy together. Sandy has been one of my best friends over the years. She's known me over many stages of my life!!

This is me and Sandy with Amy Allen - she was Sandy's roommate. I haven't kept much in contact with her since college, but I loved her - she was so funny!! She really was one funny gal. For some reason we thought it was fun to take pregnant pictures in the middle of the night...
The last one was us about to go to a dance. I can't even remember the names of the other girls!

This is Sherri, laying on top of our friend, Laurie Bertrand. She was from Texas (as was Sherri) and so they had a "special bond." Sher still stays in contact with Laurie (I think). I think she and her husband are both doctors in Salt Lake!! Wow...what a smarty pants! Laurie is wrapped up in my baby blanket. I slept with it every night until half way through college. I realized that it was probably strange to still have it and so I took it home and left it there. Ahhh...
Notice the Steve Young pictures on my wall - I sure did love him! Also, there is a small cut out picture of John Walsh on the right side of the picture. My plan was to marry him when I got to BYU, but I guess that didn't happen. He wasn't even the quarterback anymore my freshman year - I believe it was Steve Sarkesian...maybe?

These are our great friends, Chachi, Dave and Randon. Amy and Chachi dated for most of freshman year and then I dated Chachi when he got back from his mission. I went with Dave to a DT dance (see the picture where Amy and I are winking at each other) and at first we were just friends, but then I ended up liking him a lot. He liked me back for a very short period of time, but then decided that he was in love with Sherri.
The picture with the retainers was Chachi being silly. He and Amy snuck into my room one night when the floor was open to guys and I was off somewhere else. They took this picture with my camera and my retainers and I didn't know about it until I got my role of film back. So silly...

So there you have a few of my memories of DT. Now to the pictures that I took a few weeks ago. Sherri was visiting and so we went to take these pictures together. Every hall was down, except for U hall which was right next to T hall (when T hall actually existed). It looks pretty scary though - like a bomb went off or something!

This hole is where S hall was.

If you look closely at this picture, you can see a little foundation still remaining - this is what is left of T hall. The Morris Center is still standing and is in the background of this picture.

Anyways, thanks for strolling down memory lane with me. I loved living there and these memories will have a special place in my heart forever.

A wet experience

Yep, Ella peed on me this morning...it was all very...very wet. I was en route to the bathroom after undressing her in her room and I stopped off in my room to change the channel on the tv. Bad idea. All of a sudden I felt very warm and very wet! Goodness gracious. That was a lot of liquid!
Does this happen to anyone else or just me? :)

Yummy Salad

My neighbor, Cristina, introduced me to a new salad the other day. It's SO yummy! It's like a treat. Here is what is in it:
Spinach
Cottage Cheese
Dry Roasted Sunflower seeds
Craisins
Poppy Seed dressing (we used Brianna's)
Just put the amount that you want of each thing and enjoy! It's seriously so delicious. Let me know if any of you try it and what you think!

Spoke too soon...

This is an update to my post about my allergies. I called the doc on Monday to see how I am supposed to "end" all of this and they said to come in and get checked. When I did they said that my body isn't ready to be done with the therapy yet and so I just had to get a refill on my stuff. They said it all just depends on my body and it can take up to a year to be cured of the allergies! SO...needless to say I'm still doing it and it may be a while.
I just thought that once the 5 months were up I would be done. Oops!
For Chris: Adam does have a lot of allergies and we have talked about him going in to get tested, but we're not sure if we should go that route or have him go to an allergist. Now that we're on this new insurance (which doesn't cover naturalpathic doctors) we only have a limited amount left in our health savings account that we can use to go to the naturalpathic doc (it would be pretty expensive to pay out of pocket). So we'll just have to see. I'm sure it would be good for him, though!

Pink Cheese

So Henry was eating ham slices tonight and after each slice he said, "Mommy, more pink cheese." :)

One week to go!

So this past year Adam and I have been going to a naturalpathic doctor. He has this nutritionist woman in his office and she can test you for allergies in a very strange way. I'm still not sure how I feel about all of it - it seems pretty hoaky. I went in for the testing and she said that I was allergic to 5 things - progesterone being one of them. She sent me home with this little dropper and fluid that contained the 5 things I was allergic to. It's been a progressive process - each month I have increased my dosage on the amount I take. I do it for a total of 5 months and the theory is that at the end of it I should be cured of these allergies. I have 1 week to go and I will be done. Now is this doing anything in my body? i'm really not sure. But I think I will go back in after and have her re-test to see if I'm still allergic to anything.
Now this is the part I'm most excited about. After she did the testing I asked her about how I get so sick when I'm pregnant and I wondered if there was a correlation between that and my allergy to progesterone. She said that there is a very good chance that once I'm cured of the allergy that I will be able to tell a difference the next time I'm pregnant. Isn't that just about the best thing you've ever heard? I'm not sure what will happen, but I figure that even if it's just a smidge better I will be so happy. And if there is any difference it will be a true miracle.
And hooray that it's almost over. Some days I will miss taking my vitamins, but I NEVER miss taking my allergy therapy - the possible advantages of taking it are too great to pass up.
Like I said, I'm not sure what will happen, but I'm excited about the possibilities.

I buzzed Ella's hair

This is a shot of her hair before. It was starting to grow a little on top, but it was still pretty thin and whispy. I've heard rumors that if you buzz their hair you can encourage growth and fullness. SO...that's what I did! I'm not sure what I've done. :) Sometimes I think it's super cute and then sometimes I wish it was time for it to grow in a little more. BUT nevertheless, Adam and I still think she's so beautiful. In some ways we think that this brings out the beauty of her face a little more since her funny hair is no longer detracting from it. :)
And here are the after shots (take a deep breath Mom Brundage):

Henry's Little Jammies

I had a pile of Henry's old clothes waiting to be boxed and put in the attic. He found this pair of jammies from last summer and has insisted on wearing them just about every day since. Some days I'm lucky, though, and I can get him to wear a sweat shirt and sweat pants over them. For some reason, though, he just loves them. Silly boy.

Snow Day at Grandma and Grandpa's

few weeks ago we went down to Elk Ridge to play with Grandma and Grandpa. They had SO MUCH SNOW! Adam and Henry played out back for probably 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Adam dug out a slope so Henry could slide down it. Henry absolutely loved it! And Ella stayed warm inside and had fun with Uncle Ammon. (PS There is supposed to be an 'A' at the beginning of this, but I had technical difficulties...)

Blasted Strollers!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a TERRIBLE time making decisions. Adam thinks I'm ridiculous because of it, too. So we've had money for a double stroller since October and I just haven't decided which one to get.
I decided I was just going to get this done and so after much deliberation this last week I decided to base my decision on price. So yesterday I went to babies r us and I bought a duo-glider (it was the cheapest of the options). I got it home and Adam put it together and Henry jumped in it to test it out. I promptly noticed that his head almost completely cleared the seat! For some reason this really bothered me. It just seems like kids should be able to rest their heads while they're in a stroller. I asked Adam if we should take it back and of course he said no because he hates to return things - he thinks that you should buy it when you're ready and then that's it. I'm much different. So the past 24 hours I've been going over and over it in my mind trying to decide what I should do. I called Graco and they said that the quattro-tour duo stroller has seats that are 2 inches taller than the duo-glider seats. So this morning the kids and I put the stroller in the car and we went back to babies r us. But even when I got there I just didn't know what I wanted to do! I'm a tortured soul, really. I just have so much anxiety over certain decisions. I'm not quite sure how I ever got married.
But long story...long still...I returned the duo glider and bought the quattro-tour duo and I left feeling very uncomfortable and unsure. But now that we're home and a few hours have past I am starting to calm down a bit.
The good news is that we now have a double stroller! And now I'm ready for spring so we can go on lots of walks. :)

Pictures from California Visit

Here are pictures from our trip to California. We had a wonderful time! It's just too bad that's it's over.

Amy, Ella and cousin Maggie having fun on Grandma's bed.

Henry wearing earphones that he found somewhere in Grandma's room.

Ella Bella in a very good mood.

Sherri, Chase and Anna came up from Huntington Beach for a visit. Anna is 6 months older than Ella and Chase is 6 months older than Henry.

Chase and Henry got along really well, which was exciting to me because I'm determined that one day they will be roommates and great friends in college. :)

Ella and Henry swinging at the park by Avila Beach.

Grandpa helping Ella get warm at that same park.

Adam, Amy, Henry and Ella at Avila Beach. Unfortunately this was our only effort to get to the beach. Henry LOVED it. He thought it was great.

Henry loves climbing in things and will even dump everything out in order to do so...I believe Grandma usually keep stuffed animals in this cradle.

Ella and her cute cousin, Will. They are only 3 weeks apart in age.

Adam and Ella on Christmas Eve.

Grandma and Ella on Christmas. Ella is wearing her cute new little hat from her Auntie Kate.

Amy and Adam ice skating on Christmas day up in Atascadero.
The end!

Singing might not be his strong suit, but...

Henry just started to sing and I couldn't be happier. He NEVER sings and I didn't realize this until Sherri came to visit last week with her kids, Chase and Anna. Chase is about 6 months older than Henry and he sings all the time, which made me realize that Henry just never sings. So I thought I'd work on that and I'm getting him to sing just a little. He only sings about 3 sounds at a time, but it sure is cute. And it doesn't exactly follow any resemblence to the song we are singing, but nevertheless, he's trying! Hooray.
On a similar note, I got him to pray for the first time a few nights ago. Usually when I ask if he wants to pray I get an emphatic NO! But he decided to try and it was really great. It's too bad Adam wasn't here to see it. I'll have to see if I can get him to keep doing it so that when we go home he can show his Daddy.

Another Milestone for Ella

Ella rolled over today! She cheated a little tiny bit because she was on a little bit of a slope, but nevertheless, it happened - twice! Yeah for Ella!
And Henry J is speaking so well - he seems to say more and more words every day.

Movie Review

Last night Adam and I went to see Dan in Real Life. We loved it! It was a really great movie and we recommend it to everyone.
We didn't really know what to expect, but it was essentially a romantic comedy (which I didn't know going into it).
And one of the best parts about it was that it was clean - who would have known for a PG 13?
Anyways - great flick - go see it if you haven't yet!

Hooray for Ella

Ella is learning how to go to sleep by herself and all I have to say is hooray. I have this really bad habit that I have done with both of my children and it is this: I teach them to only go to sleep if I am feeding them or sometimes walking around with them. It has so far proven to be a very stressful thing because they sometimes will wake up right when I put them in their beds, which means I have to start all over again or sometimes they just won't sleep much at all.
This last week Ella was just getting worse and worse with her sleep and I was going insane and so one morning when I couldn't take it anymore I decided it was time for her to learn how to do this already. She's actually doing really well, which is a huge blessing. Sometimes she cries a little, but sometimes she just talks to herself for a few minutes before she's quite. Seriously - huge blessing.
With Henry, our pediatrician had told us that in his opinion (and there are MANY opinions out there) babies shouldn't be left alone to cry themselves to sleep until they are about 6 months old. So that is what we did. But Henry is very sensitive and didn't like that and so for just about 2 weeks, he cried for 2 hours every night as he went to sleep. It was very traumatic for everyone involved. Although now Henry is a great sleeper and he has been since he learned how to do it on his own.
Ella is just under 5 months, but I figured I needed to do it and I am so glad I tried. She is sleeping so much more and I feel a lot better about life.
So again, hooray for Ella.

Happy Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween and we had a fun day. Henry dressed up as a fireman and loved it. He actually wore his costume all day Tuesday AND all day Wednesday. Ella was a penguin and only wore her costume at the actual parties that we attended(it was pretty warm and not very car seat friendly).

First we went to Adam's work for a Halloween open house. Everyone decorated their cubicles and passed out candy to the kids. Adam had a theme with his desk and costume - a work theme. It was very clever and creative, which is no surprise, since Adam is clever and creative. I mean - would you expect anything less? There are 3 pictures showing his cube. He had poetry and birds and a game and everything.

I dressed up as a mom who actually got ready for the day, since that isn't my strong suit these days... :)

After Adam's work party we hurried home, finished our chili for the ward party and ran to the ward party a little late. They had a chili cook off and we entered our sister in law's (Lindsey) yummy recipe. Unfortunately we didn't win, but it was fun to sample other chili's. You know, we've been making our own chili for years now and I am actually pretty happy with that one. Lindsey's is great, too. It's nice to have a new recipe to try.

Adam took Henry around trick or treating to the rooms at the church and he said it was quite the adventure with MANY kids running around those halls.

Henry got a lot of candy and Adam and I ate some of it last night and other than that I'm not very excited about having so much candy here. Henry loves candy and wants it whenever he sees it. And as for me - I have absolutely no control when it comes to sweets, as most everyone knows. Adam was nice enough to take a bunch to work so now we have a little less here.

All in all in was a fun day.