Longer Out Than In

Today marks the day that Aidan has been out in the world longer than he was in. (It doesn't possibly seem like I was pregnant for as long as Aidan has been born, but I guess I must have been!)

Welcome to the world, beautiful baby boy! We're so glad you're here!

Growing Up

Our days of freedom are officially over: Aidan learned how to crawl! At first it was just a lot of rocking back and forth like this first video...

which eventually turned into the push-up/inchworm thing he's got going here...

but he eventually figured out that he can actually make himself get the thing he wants!

He also cut one of his front teeth this morning, although it's still too small to get a picture of. Sigh. My baby's all grown up and saving China! (10 points)

The Last Decade

Well okay, I really am 30 today... This "milestone" birthday got me thinking about what I've spent the last 10 years doing. I'm sure this might hold true for many people, but my twenties sure were full of life changes! Over the last 10 years I:

• Finally decided on a major
• Finished my bachelor's degree at BYU
• Bought my first car
• Started my teaching career
• Started my master's degree through SUU
• Changed jobs to start teaching in a second school
• Went through the temple, eventually becoming a temple worker
• Finished my master's degree
• Lived in 3 different college apartments with 15 different roommates
• Started dating the man I eventually married
• Lost my father to cancer
• Married my sweetheart
• Moved from Utah to Iowa (moving into a 4th apartment with a 16th roommate :)
• Started teaching at a different school (again!)
• Also started teaching at Sylvan
• Became the Young Women's President
• Got pregnant
• Had a baby
• Stopped working to stay home with my son
• Lost my childhood home (my mom had to sell it)

Whew! Quite the list! I'm so grateful for all the wonderful life experiences I've been able to have so far! While I'm sure that the next decade probably won't be quite as eventful as the last, I do hope that my thirties bring some of the following:

• My husband finishing his degree
• Being able to move somewhere different
• Buying our own home
• Having more kid(s) - no, this is NOT an announcement! :)

Whatever life brings, I'm so happy I'm still here! Here's to the next 30 years being as wonderful as the last 30!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all had a great day with friends, spouses, and loved ones. If was back in elementary school with you, I would have given you a valentine card! And not just any one, either - I would have dug through the box to choose the very best one, just for you!

Debate

Mike and I had a debate going for a while. I finally got on the Internet, and I'm pretty sure that I'm wrong. It would be rather easy for you to check yourself, so before you do, go ahead and tell me which one you think it is. Then you can look it up.

So the big question:

You know the man song in Mulan? (You know, the best song in the whole movie? If you don't, you can watch it here.) Right at the beginning of the chorus, are they saying

"Be a man"

or

"We are men"

???

Let me know what you think!

The Lion King

Mike is the most wonderful husband ever. The Lion King came back to the Des Moines Civic Center for only 2 weeks (they had come a few years ago). I really really wanted to go! It was a last minute decision, and Mike didn't want to leave Aidan with a sitter for that long that late at night, so he said he would stay home with Beebs and I could go to the show!

It was AMAZING!!! The costumes and puppetry were absolutely stunning. This next picture shows two of my favorite costumes in the entire show. The giraffes are actually dancers on four stilts, and the leopard puppet had me mesmerized every single time it came on the stage.

All of the actors and costumes were just fabulous. These pictures are great, but they don't even do justice. Seeing how the characcters MOVED was what made them so incredible to me!

I was about 6 rows back on the edge, and as the ticket-taker said, "You're right in the safari zone! Make sure you keep your arms and legs in the jeep!" I didn't quite get what he said until about 5 minutes into the show. I was glued to the stage when I suddenly sensed something behind me. I turned around and nearly had a heart attack - three feet behind me was an elephant coming in from the side!

It was an absolutely phenomenal show. I highly recommend going if you ever have the chance!

Winter Beauty

Anyone who knows me knows that I despise winter. And yet, when I woke up yesterday to see every single tree covered in such perfect frost...

... even I had to admit that Heavenly Father is one amazing artist!