Slacking

Sorry about the lag in blogging. I've been busy getting us all used to Charles' new work schedule and getting stuff ready for Chelsea to come out here and now getting ready to visit my family in Nebraska for a week. I can't believe that Trevor comes home one week from today! So, right now I'm cleaning and making sure that Charles will have enough to eat and do while he is still here (he can't use time off until he has worked with Provo for six months) all alone over the Fourth of July and I'll spend my whole trip praying that he doesn't blow himself up.

There are a few updates below this, as well as one way down the page, if you are interested.

Actively Engaged

Charles' sister, Elisha, is getting married on August 8th and to save money she asked me to take her engagement pictures. We went to Tahitian Noni's Gardens (her fiance, Greg, works for them and could get us in for free after hours) and spent about two hours taking pictures. They must have turned out okay, because she is considering having me take her wedding pictures (Yikes! Lots of pressure). It was a lot of fun, though, and I got some cute pictures of Sydney and Charles while we waited for them to change clothes halfway through.

A few more from that day...

Camping

We went camping as a family for the first time, with the Phairs up Hobble Creek Canyon. It was a lot of fun and Sydney did MUCH better than I thought that she would. She slept in between us and only woke up twice (which is what she usually does) and wanted to nurse to go back to sleep. I didn't sleep well, but I never do when I'm not in my bed in my house. Charles was the biggest wimp out of all of us, spending about ten minutes in the car with the heater turned up because he was cold at about three in the morning. Still, it was fun and we are planning on going camping again over Pioneer Day weekend in a few weeks.

Talented Baby

I was rearranging the furniture in the living room and pulled out Brooke's keyboard to try and find a space for it. While it was sitting on the floor, Sydney crawled up to it and started "playing" and I got this awesome shot.

Duran Family Reunion

This past weekend was my Dad's family reunion up at my Aunt Becky's house in Provo Canyon. We had a lot of fun spending time with family and especially getting to see my Dad and Talia.



This first collage is from the first day of the reunion, when Raquel set up an obstacle course for the kids to run and we spent time playing games and doing scavenger hunts.



The second collage is pictures from the hike up to Timpanogos Caves on Saturday. I'd have more pictures of people, but we all got separated on the hike up and Charles and I kept trading off carrying the baby.



This last set is from inside the caves. Charles and I ended up going in a tour before everyone else, so the only other people we knew in our tour was Yolanda's family.

Tricks

Fire!

We went with the Phairs to Tepanyaki, a Japanese grill where they cook the food right in front of you for Karen's birthday. It was pretty amazing! We really enjoyed the food and the entertainment and the fact that we only had to go to one place for it all.

Caught in the act

This is the face of a baby who is totally innocent, right?

*note that she is standing on Charles' N64 and is about to pull dvds off the shelf for the millionth time*

New Tooth

Sydney has a new tooth...her top left eye tooth. I have no idea when it came in since she HATES us putting our fingers in her mouth. (trying to get anything that isn't edible out of her mouth is a battle we fight multiple times a day) It also looks like the right one is about to break through any day, so our baby will have fangs for a while until the front two come in.

Taking down names

Charles started his new job today. He came home super excited since he gets all sorts of benefits and gets to drive around his area of Provo, writing up people for violating city code and then, if the case goes far enough, gets to make presentations in court.

Stewart Falls

Yesterday, we went on a family hike and got almost to Stewart Falls. It was nice, not too hard and the perfect temperature to spend some time in the mountains. We would have made it to the falls, but we couldn't find the trail head at first and I had to be back to the apartment to make dinner for a family in our ward boundaries.

Charles carried Sydney the whole was in the baby carrier. She was so good, only getting upset when it was time for her nap. We just turned her around so she was facing in and she slept almost the whole way back to the car.

This last picture is along the trail to the falls.

Fevers and Rashes and Screaming...Oh My!

So, Saturday afternoon we noticed that Sydney was really warm. We checked her temperature and it was 102 degrees. So, we gave her some baby Tylenol and spent the evening home. She didn't show any other signs of being sick and her fever wasn't high enough to take her into the ER (and we did not want to go there AGAIN this month) so we just watched her. She still had a fever on Sunday, so Charles and I traded off going to church (I went to choir and Sacrament meeting to sing with the choir and Charles went to teach Sunday School and get sacrament with the next ward) and watching the baby. Her fever seemed to break early Monday morning, but she still had a slight fever all day. Yesterday, she was fine, so we didn't worry about calling the doctor. Then, this morning, when I went to change her diaper and dress her for the day, we noticed that she had a rash all over her chest and back and down into her diaper. So, we called the doctor and took her in to find out that she had roseola. On top of all this, she's been a pain to get to bed, staying up until midnight the other night, alternating between screaming and playing all night.

Happenings: Past, Present and Future

• Charles was offered and accepted a job working for Provo City. He will be starting on June 2nd and will work four tens and have three day weekends every week. We can't wait.
  
• Sydney just stood on her own (without any support) for ten to fifteen seconds. However, we're pretty sure it was because she was distracted...she won't support herself on her own if you try to make her.
• Sydney and I (well, just me really) have tickets to fly out to Nebraska for a week when Trevor comes home from Denmark in a month and a half.
• We have a series of visitors coming during the month of June. My dad and Talia will be coming for a Duran family reunion (that probably should be in Spanish, but I'm feeling lazy) and will be here for about a week. Then, after that, Chelsea will be coming for two weeks to attend SOAR and will fly back home with me as I head to Nebraska.

Little Helper

Whenever I try to do anything on the computer, I have a little helper who tries to aid me in typing. So, I am limited in when I can post and actually do anything to when Sydney is down for a nap or in bed for the night. So, usually whenI blog, I back date several entries so that they are close to the date they actually occurred on. So scroll down the page a bit to see some entries from before Sydney got sick.

Flower Child

So this is actually from the week before Sydney got sick, but I love this picture SO MUCH! Especially the dimple in her left cheek! Too cute!