Grant's first snow

On Christmas Eve we had snow here in Utah. When we got here there was already snow on the ground. This new, cold, wet substance was quite intriguing to Grant. He quickly learned how to say the word --"snow"--and was very eager to feel it, stomp through it and taste it. He enjoyed snow quite a bit.

As you can see, the more time he spent in the snow the more comfortable he got.

He is always timid at first with new things but then can't get enough.

Christmas in SLC

Today is Christmas and we have spent the day doing virtually nothing. We were up about 8 AM and opened presents. Grant had a great time playing with each toy for awhile after opening it. His Grandma Mellen got him a great wood fire truck from Pottery Barn and a Little People pirate ship. His Oma Glenn got him some good Jesus books and a funny t-shirt. He loved opening presents. After presents and breakfast were done, I'm not sure what we did. We did a lot of nothing. We went to Chad's aunt Carol's home for dinner then tried to enjoy the Temple Square Christmas lights in 9 degree weather. I don't remember the last time I was that cold. Grant was most enthralled with the water fountains and features still flowing on Temple Square. He started saying water and snow over and over again and even got himself out of the stroller to see the water.


Grant trying to find the treasures hiding in his stocking. He didn't totally get the concept and couldn't figure out why there were several matchbox cars in there.
This is Grant trying to open his new fire truck. He opened it one small piece of wrapping paper at a time.

On Saturday, Grant finally got to see Santa Clause. Three tries are a charm I guess. We tried twice before we left Tucson but did not want to wait forever for a 30 second visit that Grant was inevitably going to scream through. We ate dinner and shopped at Trolley Square then went right up to see Santa and Mrs. Clause. We took our own photos but it beats the endless wait.

On Christmas Eve, I had the stomach flu so that put a big damper on things. I was feeling better by night time and we all went swimming in the indoor pool. It was snowing last night so it was fun to watch the snow falling the glass room while we swam. Grant loves the pool. He jumps in, goes under and loves to swim between me and Chad. Unfortunatley, he floats as well as a water logged tree trunk. He hasn't quite grasped the concept of kicking, floating and using your arms. We will start swimming lessons again in a few weeks and hopefully learn the basis. He now tries to blow bubbles in the water by sucking it in. Not a good thing really.

Our Christmas Adventures

Well, after being home for exactly one week from Puerto Rico, we are off again to Salt Lake City to be with Chad's mom, sister and brother for the holidays. Despite my deep and avid protestations (I'm a lawyer, we all know I'm good at that) I lost out and we had to drive to the promised land, which is about 14 hours away. We arrived this evening. We luckily drove to Vegas last night and stayed with Chad's friend Mike and his family for the night and then drove the rest of the way today. We are not so lucky coming home unfortunately. The trip will be made in one day. Thank goodness for laptops and DVDs. They help kill the time with the child but it's still a struggle. I have already decreed that this is the first last and only road trip of its kind for a very long time. Toddlers and car seats for long periods of time just do not mix. We will be here in SLC through Wednesday then begin our pilgrimage home on Thursday. Chad's sister is coming back with us and my sister is flying in for New Years on Friday so the fun doesn't end when we depart SLC.
I'm not really sure what we're going to end up doing here but honestly I really don't care. I'm just happy to be some place wintery for a brief period of time. There is actually snow on the ground and predictions of more snow to come. Coming from Tucson, I get sentimental for those freezing Chicago winters. I have just been looking at some blogs for some of my friends and they have pictures of their kids in the backyard making snowmen. It did snow in Tucson last winter, oddly enough. It even stuck for awhile but it's not the same and what is Christmas without snow. Chad's mom lives in a condo by U of U. Her building has an indoor and heated pool and hot tub, which Chad and I have already made good use of. When Chad's mom took us to go look at it, Grant started to get in. When I told him he couldn't swim because he had his PJs on he actually started trying to take off his shirt. I'm not really sure when or how he got so smart. He blows my mind on a daily basis with the things he knows and understands.
I am looking forward to Christmas morning with Grant. He is already trying to open all of the presents. He got an early lesson in present opening with some early Christmas gifts and now he thinks it's time to open all of them. Sadly, I forgot both my camera and video camera at home and didn't remember until we were half way to Vegas. I am at the mercy of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for pictures and I hate that. Sometimes, I'm just not a good mom.

Cute pictures of Grant

Grant cuddling pillow given to him by his Grammy.

Grant helping mommy make Christmas sugar cookies. It was all I could do to keep him from eating all the dough. He snuck pieces right and left and just ate more without sneaking. He's a sugar freak.

Grant in the "ugly" Christmas sweater his Aunt Kitty bought for him.

Grant bothering and harassing Barry -- on of his favorite things to do.

Pictures of our trip to Puerto Rico

Carols Rosario beach in Isla de Culebra. There is a big coral reef in this bay that we snorkeled around. It is very beautiful.

Me and Chad at the big waterfall in the El Yunque rain forest. I swam in the pools of this waterfall.

Stella beach south of Rinco. There were only about 10 other people on this whole beach when we were there and this is not a postcard.

Street in Old San Juan. All of the houses are brightly painted and have unique and ornate doors.

Puerto Rico - Days 3-5

Sunday:


On Sunday we headed out for a long drive/tour of the western side of the island. We left here about 7:30 AM, with our first stop the Rio Camuy (Cam-oo-ee) Cave Park in the middle of the western side of the island. It is a 268 acre underground cave system and has the third largest underground river in the world. We were told it was always busy so get there early because they only let so many people through each day. It was raining the whole way there and we knew that they didn't even run the tours if it was raining but we went anyway. When we got there it had stopped raining and there were only about 5 other people waiting. It worked out beautifully. We had the tour, which was amazing. You wouldn't believe the size of the cave they took us in and the rivier is just incredible. A definite must see in Puerto Rico. They even have a fountain of youth you can drink from (natural water running from the cave down a rock wall - quite good and I feel younger already).

From Camuy we headed to Rincon, a popular surfing/snorkeling area on the west coast of Puerto Rico. We made it there but not without challenges. It is very difficult to drive in Puerto Rico because all the roads are windy and many not well marked until it's too late. I think every time we drove somewhere we ended up getting lost at least once. We did find the beaches we were looking for and they were beautiful. We watched the surfers at the surf beach, then checked out the snorkel beaches (Steps and Tres Palmas) then headed to the swimming beach. It is crazy how none of these beaches have many people on them and the people that are on them are usually locals. It is almost disconcerting, like we shouldn't be there or something. The swimming beach had very fine, soft sand but the water had rocks all along the bottom so swimming was dificult and sometimes painful. We just relaxed for awhile before heading further south to drive through Ponce, on the southern coast of Puerto Rico.

We just did a lot of driving to see the island. It is unbelievable how green it truly is. We finally cut north and stopped at some thermal springs in a town called Coamo. They were marked on our map so we decided to try it out. When we got there we were the only non-Puerto Ricans there. Again, disconcerting. We stuck around though and got in. There are cement pools built to hold the water and it is nice and warm. I started talking with a woman who has lived in Puerto Rico her whole life. She was telling me about the springs and answering my questions so I started to feel much more comfortable. When we were baked through and red as lobsters we headed back to our car and back to San Juan. It started raining really hard on the way home and visibility was terrible but we made and boy were we exhausted.


Monday:


This was tour Old San Juan day. We were so exhausted from early days on Sautrday and Sunday that we slept in and went to Old San Juan for the day. Our original plan was to go to the island of Culebra for the day and then do the biobay kayaking tour but we changed that plan on Sunday because we were exhausted and needed sleep. Thank goodness for exhaustion. Because of what we now know to be Tropical Storm Olga, it was quite rainy and overcast throughout the day and the ferries to Culebra were closed that day due to 15-20 foot swells.

We took a bus to Old San Juan. It's $.75/person each way and takes about 30-45 minutes. You get to see a lot of the city, even driving through ghettos. It was an adventure, especially coming home during rush hour. In Old San Juan we walked through San Cristobal fort and El Morro castle. They had great views of the ocean and city and we even had a good history lesson in how Puerto Rico came to be. I always enjoy learning about the history of the place I am visiting. Old San Juan is known for its beautifully colored buildings and fancy doorways. They are amazing - pink, periwinkle, sea foam green, orange, you name it they've got it. The streets are also cobblestoned in many places. The area is filled with shopping, food and sites. We stopped for awhile in the San Juan cathedral during one of the several 10 minute rainbursts of the day. Other bursts were waited out in a museum, under a tree in a park and in the doorway of a shop. We were very damp by the time we made it home.

Coming home the bus was so packed and we'd been on it so long, we got off earlier than our actual stop, but it turned out to be earlier than we'd anticipaetd so we had quite a hike home in the rain. Just add it to the already wet day and it wasn't that bad . The food here is quite expensive, which is disappointing and painful on the pocketbook. In the evening we had our free drinks - well Chad did. He loves those virgin pina coladas and then watched a movie. We rented several and brought them with us. Again, I love having a lap top.


Tuesday:


This was the day I was waiting for most. We got up super early and left the hotel by 7 AM to head for the ferry to Culebra in Fajardo about 1 hour 30 mins but only 33 minutes away. We got directions from the front desk and were diligently following them but somehow we ended up on the opposite site of the city than we needed to be on. It was a disaster. We stopped a guy in the residential neighborhood we were in and he gave us directions. Thank goodness other countries want their children to be bilingual. Most know english here. Maybe we should get on that bandwagon and teach spanish but that's for another blog on another day.

Anyway, we hightailed it to the ferry with the guy's directions, which seemed questionable when being given but were actually perfect, (we did confirm them with two other people before we got to the ferry) and made it there with 45 minutes to spare before the 9 AM ferry. We were mostly worried because again we were told it gets packed fast and to get there early. Not so again. I guess it's good not to travel in high season (except you experience things like Tropical Storm Olga).

The ferry ride was torture. Chad took dramamine because he always gets seasick. I don't so I didn't take anything. Bad choice. About 35-40 minutes into the 1 hour 15 min ferry ride I was so sick I just wanted to jump overboard. The storm was still working its way through and the waves were so high. As I write this, thinking about it is making my head light.

When we got to Culebra there was no activity. We went across the street to Culebra Dive where I had gotten information a couple days earlier about snorkeling and equipment rental. Of course, the shop was closed for the day. Then we saw an American woman handing out information about her guesthouse. There are no hotels on the island just privately run guesthouses. She was talking to another guy and his father who were on our ferry. I asked what she suggested we do and she immediately pulled out her cell phone and called Willy. Willy is the taxi driver for this island of 2,700 people and he rents snorkel equipment. He has lived on the island his entire life and even pointed out his mother's home as we drove by on our way to Flamenco Beach.

On the drive, he stopped at a deli so we could purchase sandwiches because he said none of the food places at the beach were open today. What we learned is that no one was expecting ferries or planes because of the storm so our arrival was a complete surprise. Many things had closed for the day because without tourists what's the point.

We got food then stopped at Willy's house to get snorkel gear. On the bus, we started talking with this couple from Minnesota. I told them what I knew about snorkeling on the island from the research I'd done and confirming it with Willy so they asked if they could tag along. When we got to Flamenco Beach, we arranged for Willy to come back at 4 PM to pick us up for the 5 PM ferry back to Fajardo then headed out on a 25 minute hike to Carlos Rosario beach for snorkeling.

Chad was leading and at the end headed left into what we later discovered to be the wrong beach because the waves were huge and unsnorkelable due to the storm. Our friends, Rob and Janet, headed off to see what they could find and Chad suggested we go the other way on the trail. We found the calm part of the beach. I went back to get Rob and Janet and met two nice women, who later we got the privilege of seeing topless, who explained to me about the snorkeling. I guess the presently highwaved beach - Tamarindo - was beautiful glassy water the day before. Go figure.

I took Rob and Janet back to the other beach and we all snorkeled for awhile. Chad and I lounged on the beach to rest and our friends headed back into town. We snorkeled one more time then hiked back to Flamenco Beach to check it out. The sand was beautiful and fine but it was a red flag day so no swimming. The waves were really high and you could see two undertows going two different directions. While sitting on the beach a stray cat came up, loudly meowing and promptly made himself comfortable right next to Chad on his towel. It was quite funny.

Our plan was to go do the biobay kayaking excursion that night after returning from Culebra but while on the beach the guy called and cancelled because of bad weather. We were very disappointed. We met up with Willy at 4 PM and he took us back to the ferry port. We started talking to our friends Rob and Janet and told them about the biobay cancellation because they were also supposed to do the tour, we discovered. They had heard you could just go to the place and hook up with a tour so we decided to do that when we got back to Fajardo. The ferry ride home was much better because I took dramamine and fell asleep and the water was calmer. when we got back we all headed to the park where the biobay excursions start.

Rob and Janet beat us to the park and ran over to our car when we pulled in to tell us that a group was leaving right then and we could join it. Chad and I had changed into normal clothes so that is what we kayaked in. The kayaking was fun but exhausting. The point of the excursion is to see the glow in the dark organisms. When anything moves through it, it glows. We kayaked through this narrow passage of mangrove trees into an open lagoon where we grouped in the middle and heard a little speach on the organisms and the lagoon. It was pretty close to pitch black. All of the fish in the lagoon glow because they move through the organisms. They make glow green paths through the water as they swim and jump. There were tons of them visible in the lagoon. I've never seen anything like it. When we got back to the port we were exhausted and soaked but happy for having been able to do this. After this excursion we headed back to the hotel where we slept like babies.



Wednesday:

Trip is over and it's time to go home. We got up and had breakfast then went to the pool for one last swim/relaxation time. We then got cleaned up, packed and headed for the airport, which turned into an adventure in and of itself. We got the airport very early for our 5:20 flight. Everything was fine at first. We had found a plug outlet, which was more challenging than you'd think by this other couple and had settled in for the wait. We eventually started chatting with the other couple who are about our age. Turns out they're LDS and living on a small island in the Carribean, where the husband is going to med school. Our flight got delayed and delayed again so that we didn't leave until almost 6:30. We only had a 30 minute lay over in Houston on the normal schedule. thanks to bad weather in Houston that flight was supposedly delayed. Basically it was hit or miss whether we were going to make it back to Phoenix that night or have to sleep in Houston. Somehow and I still really don't know how, our flight that left an hour late from San Juan made it to Houston so that our regularly scheduled 8:50 flight out of Houston only had to wait an extra 15 minutes for us. I don't get it but we made it back and the trip ended, sort of. We still had to pick up Grant, say good bye to my mom and sister and drive to Tucson.

Puerto Rico - Day 2

Today was an adventure. We left our hotel at about 9 AM and picked up our rental car. It was right across the street from our hotel. We then headed to El Yunque rain forest for some hiking and exploring. We did a 1.6 mile round trip hike to a beautiful, big waterfall. I swam in the pools around the fall. Chad didn't have his suit on so he didn't go in. It was fun and I felt tough. After we hiked out we drove through the rest of the forest then headed to Fajardo. Our intent was to find Seven Seas beach. We found it but it was not easy and when we got there it was almost completely deserted. There was a parking lot there that we were supposed to park in but it was empty. It looked like it had been abandoned about 35 years ago. We went to the beach and there was no one. I was waiting for zombies to come out of the trees and eat us. That's how creepy it was. We didn't stick around. Instead we headed to Luquillo beach in Luquillo. Thank goodness we found that. It was beautiful. It is lined with palm trees. The waves are small and calm. The sand is so fine even in the ocean. There are no rocks. There were people but not not very many. It has been overcast but not cold. It was that way today while swimming. The water was cold for about 2 seconds and then it was so nice. We swam and relaxed on the beach. By this time it was about 4 PM and we had not eaten all day, so we headed to the kioskos by the beach for some local food. We had mofongo con camarones, pollo empanada, and a friend plaintain filled with beef (I can't remember the spanish name. The mofongo is mashed plaintaines mixed with garlic then formed into a mold and filled with something, in our case shrimp and a yummy sauce. The fried plaintain with carne was the best though. It was home after that. We are tried and doing nothing tonight...oh, of course we had to go get our free drinks from the hotel. Well, Chad did. I don't like them. We are heading to the caves tomorrow and the west coast beaches. We are working on snorkeling on Monday on an island off the east side and kayaking the bio bay at night. More to come.

Puerto Rico - Day 1

We began our weeks vacation in Puerto Rico today - travel was all day yesterday. We left Tucson late Wednesday night and stayed at my aunt's house. Thursday morning we picked up my sister, who dropped us off at the airport and is keeping grant for the week. We left Phoenix at noon (45 minutes late) and arrived in San Juan at aboug 10:45 (right on time). Puerto Rico is 3 hours ahead of AZ right now. Today we took it easy, enjoying the free breakfast buffet. Oddly, Chad woke up before me this morning. This has only happened maybe 3 times in the history of Chad and Lindsay as a couple. After breakfast we took a walk to and down the beach, then came back and swam in the ice cold pool and lounged by the pool for a couple hours. I managed to get a sunburn in a big patch on the top of my left thigh only. Weird sun angle I guess. After swimming we cleaned up and walked to a restaurant recommended by the bartender (a local) I hit up for information while at the pool. The food was good, traditional Puerto Rican, but more expensive than we would have preferred. Chad had this gigantic pork chop thing. I took a picture of him with it and will post it when we get home. I had a yummy Cuban food sampler plate. We then took a walk on the beach in the other direction then came back to our hotel and have been doing nothing all evening. The hotel offers free cocktails from 5:30-7:30 so we took advantage of that (virgin, of course). Chad napped and I watched Grey's Anatomy. I love having a lap top then we enjoyed the hot tub until the pool closed. We rent a car tomorrow and are off to unknown areas of Puerto Rico. More adventures to come...

Our dogs

This is our dog Sooner resting her head on the pillow after a long hard day of doing nothing. She thinks that she's a cat.

This is Barry, our almost 3 year old lab. He always looks like he's pouting.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was quiet this year. We stayed here in Tucson and had my sister and brother who live in Phoenix. My sister came down Wednesday and left Friday morning. My brother will leave this Friday evening. My turkey turned out perfectly this year. I have found a great recipe that I will probably use into the future. It has a cornbread stuffing, maple syrup glaze and bacon strips on top of the turkey. I also brine it over night. It is so juicy and good. We also had the traditional rolls, green salad, green bean casserole (my sister Shelli is the only one who eats these), sweet potatoes (Chad is the only one who eats these) and many, many pies. Grant had a wonderful time helping all of us bake and cook. It's his new favorite thing to do...that and read books. I have a few cute pictures I will post of him helping Shelli make rolls.

We tried to go out this afternoon and buy some of those hot sale items. We went to Ace Hardward to buy a traditional red Radio Flyer wagon but they were sold out. We then went to Kmart to try and buy an iPod accessory package but we did not read the flyer closely enough and discovered that it does not go on sale until tomorrow and then only from 7 AM until noon. We headed to Office Depot last and they did have the 2GB flash drive I needed. 1 out of 3 isn't bad I guess.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. I would love to hear what you're all up to.

Girls Night/Garage sale

I have had requests for more photos so I will post a couple from our recent trip to the zoo. Grant was terrified of many of the animals but was absolutely enthralled with the carnivorous Paku fish. He literally watched them for 10 minutes and did not want to leave when we pulled him away. Weird.



















Thursday night was girls night. two months ago my friend Shannon and I decided to start a monthly girls night for women to get together and eat, chat and do nothing without children. First it was at her house, last month it was at mine and on Thursday we had someone else host. There are always varying numers and varying individuals at the event but it's fun and a nice break. We really do absolutely nothing. Chad always pumps me for gossip and information I may have learned about girls night he doesn't understand that there's absolutely nothing to tell. We really talk about nothing and have fun doing it.





This morning was the sequel to a garage sale that my friend Amanda and I tried to have last month. Last month it was an utter failure. If not for selling a bicycle for $20 I would have made $10. This time around we had it at my house instead of hers and we did much, much better. I made between $30 and $40. She did well and I sold stuff for my friend Amy too. After last time I had almost a whole car load left and so did Amanda. At the end of today, we have one laundry basket of clothes, one box of books and one box of miscellaneous items. It was fun doing it but I'm exhausted. I've been up since 6:15 AM.





Grant is starting to pick up animal noises after many months of teaching. He has a big animal book he loves to read. The other day he made a chicken noise and tonight he was making a monkey noise. The boy is finally learning. He loves to get a book and bring it over to me and climb on my lap to read. He gets bored with a book after 2 minutes and doesn't actually let me read the words to him. He then gets up and gets another book. I'm trying to get him to take one book back and get another one but the best I get is a look of utter shock and disbelief as he either walks away without the book or takes it then drops it part way back to the bookshelf. We bought him a ball 3-pack that has a basketball, soccer ball and football in it. He gets the idea of tackling in football but doesn't understand that picking up a soccer ball is a penalty.

The Bobbing Vulture

As promised, here is a picture of the giant bobbing head vulture that Chad so desperately wanted for his birthday. I don't try to understand.

Happy birthday Chad!!!!

Today is Chad's birthday. We celebrated yesterday because he had to go to PHoenix tonight for a dinner meeting on applying for residencies. His lovely, thoughtful wife got him an iPod and this crazy looking 3 foot high vulture with a bobbing head. I'll take a picture of it and put it on this blog. They are made locally by a guy who runs a small shop. Chad saw them when we first moved here and has wanted one ever since. It's a good Tucson souvenior in the event we move from here. He also go to go to indian food for their lunch buffet. I hate indian food so it's truly a treat for him. Instead of cake he requested pizzookie from Oregano's, which was fine with me. I love pizzookies.

Grant is developing quite the personality. He loves to attack us when we lay on the floor. The other night I was sitting on the floor and he came over and tried to push me down so that he could attack me. It was quite funny. Of course when we sit on the floor we not only get a toddler on us but we get two large dogs who also want in on the action. Grant also likes to attack the dogs, particulary Barry, when they are wrestling. It is quite amusing, although I get nervous he's going to get something he doesn't really want with that battle.

Grant also will not eat anything anymore without a fork or spoon of his own in his hand. He seldom actually uses the utensil but he has it there for moral support I guess. He is really turning out to be a lefty, which I find fun. He holds his utensils and crayons with his left hand, opens doors with his left hand and throws primarily with his left hand. I am curious to see if he will grow out of this. I have suspected since he was quite young that he would be left handed becuase of his actions but the doctor told me it was too young too tell. I think his mama knows best.

I have joined the health and fitness enrichment group. I am supposed to exercise and diet to meet my physical health and fitness goal. I need to lose 7 pounds to get back to what I weighed before Grant. I have absolutely no motivation at this moment to do this but I still went to the meeting and said that I would. The big question now is whether I will follow through.

Old posts

I tried to start a blog on a different site awhile ago but the site was too hard to use so I gave up. This one seems easier but anyway here are the two posts I did on that site. I don't know what would happen if you clicked on the links in this blog so i wouldn't recommend it. If anyone knows how to erase an old blog please let me know.

Update
August 20th, 2007 at 3:09 am (Uncategorized) · Edit
It has been a long time since I’ve talked to many of you so here’s what we’ve been up to. Chad is in the midst of his fourth and final (thank goodness) year of pharamacy school at University of Arizona in Tucson. The last year is spent doing six week rotations at various places. There is no coursework. Chad was in Prescott for six weeks doing a rotation at the VA and living with my parents. He would either drive home for the weekend or I would go up to Prescott for the weekend. When he finished that rotation he headed to Fairbanks, AK for six weeks. He got home two weeks ago and it’s nice to be done with that. Fairbanks wasn’t the greatest experience of his life and he was happy to be home. He was able to do some fishing on the Kenai River, where he caught a salmon, which is now in our freezer an quite delicious. He also got to spend a weekend a moose camp, shooting guns, hunting and doing other Alaska man things. I had very helpful family and friends while he was in AK but it’s not the same as a husband. We missed him terribly and are happy to have him home. Chad is an elder’s quorum instructor who rarely gets asked to teach, so it’s his favorite calling. He was the ward website administrator and loved that because he could do it on his own time and didn’t have sunday committments.
I am still working full-time for Donau & Bolt practicing family law, doing divorces, child support, child custody etc. I was going to start my own firm at the beginning of the year but my bosses were willing to let me work on a flexible schedule solely set by me and my court obligations so I stayed with the firm. I just have to keep working as hard and making them enough money and they won’t care when I do it or how. At this point, I have a full-time case load but I’m not in the office full-time. It was too hard to be gone every day from 9-5 with Grant. I only got to get him up and ready to go and then get him home to feed him, bathe him and put him to bed. Now I am with him much more during the day. It’s still not ideal but it’s better and soon enough I will be able to take a break from practicing law. I am the Laurel advisor for one active Laurel. I will have another Laurel in October. It’s a good calling. It beats primary.
Grant is 15 months on Friday. He is as stubborn and strong willed as ever. He’s been that way since he was born. He crawls like lightning but refuses to walk. Just as with every other milestone in his life thus far, he will do it when he’s ready and not one second before. Grant will not be moved until he wants to be. Grant is a true Mellen in that he loves to sleep and loves his naps. He sleeps about 12-13 hours at night and takes 1 or 2, 2 hour naps each day. Without them he’s a disaster. I certainly don’t complain about nap time. He has a good time at this babysitter’s houses. He spends one morning a week with a lady in the ward who has two young girls that just love Grant and three days a week with another lady in the ward who runs an inhome daycare that right now only has one other little girl. I couldn’t ask for a better babysitting situation for him.
We have two dogs now, Barry, a white lab and Sooner a black/brindle Australian sheperd/Chow mix. Barry is 2 1/2 and Sooner is 1 1/2. Barry seems like a saint compared to our over-active Sooner. They take patience and really are our other children but we love them. They were good companionship and extra security for those many nights this summer when Chad was gone. They kept me safe in bed and made sure I was aware of every noise outside.
Next spring Chad will be graduating and we will likely be heading out of Tucson for unknown regions of this country. Chad will be doing a one year pharmacy residency at a yet to be determined location. I will begin my hiatus from the legal profession and Chad will begin his career as a pharmacist. We are both excited for the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next.
Comments
Drunk driving
August 18th, 2007 at 5:57 am (Uncategorized) · Edit
For my first entry, I thought I’d share our little adventure with drunk driving this evening. We were driving home from eating dinner tonight and we got stuck behind about 10 other cars driving at least 20 miles below the speed limit. Chad noticed that the leader of the line, the car holding everyone up, was weaving in and out of the lane. We finally reached the road we needed to turn on and guess which car was directly behind us! You guessed it…the slow, weaving car. We started following it because we had no other option. The car stopped at green lights, swerved off the road and back on, turned its headlights off then on several times. I called 911 to report the drunk driving. We kept following the car expecting to see a cop car any minute. Our next turn approached and sure enough the swerving car turned the same direction. We kept following it and no cop car appeared. I called the police again to report the drunk driving. We kept following the car. At our next turn, the other car also turned. We kept following the car but no police car appeared. Our next turn came but we decided to continue following the car. Shortly after we passed our turn, another car started following the drunk driving car as well. We kept following the car. It almost side swiped a car. It continued to drive about 20 under the speed limit. It stopped at a few more green lights, straddled the lanes and almost drove off the road a few times. I called the police a third time to report it. We kept driving along with the other car following this menace. The car finally turned and we turned but Chad decided he was done, the police were useless and he didn’t want us to end up in some weird, scarey part of town. Chad flipped a “U” to head home, but just as he did, a police car with flashing lights whizzed by us toward the drunk driver and then another one and then another one came. We quickly turned back around and pulled in behind the other car that had been following the drunk driver. Another cop car pulled in behind us. I got out and was told to wait a minute for someone to take my statement. A minute or two later, a sheriff came and took my statement about what we witnessed. Chad saw an officer make the drive walk the line, which Chad reports she did very well, considering how she was driving. I gave my statement and we were on our way. It was shocking to us that it took three calls from us and who knows how many from the other car following the drunk driver and at least 20-25 minutes for any police to pull this woman over. Thankfully, the woman was driving 20 under the speed limit almost the whole way, rather than 20 over or she could have killed someone.

My first entry

I have wanted to do this for a long time as a type of journal so I thought now would be as good a time as any. We are coming to the end of our time here in Tucson. Chad will finish pharmacy school in May and then we are off into unknown lands. He will do a residency somewhere yet to be determined. I am still working but have a flexible schedule so I am home more with Grant. It is working pretty well but gets stressful when things are hectic at work. Chad has a four month break right now until the end of February. He is playing stay at home dad, which isn't too hard since I'm home a lot and Grant sleeps a lot.

Chad and I are headed to Puerto Rico in December for a much needed vacation. Then we are off to SLC for Christmas with Chad's mom. Of course, Grant will be joining us on that trip. We just bought tickets to Chicago for a long weekend in January. We are trying to get some traveling in now since once Chad's done with school we have no idea when he will have the time to go anywhere. I will let you know how the vacations go.

Grant celebrated his first real Halloween this year. He is now almost 18 months. We did a trick or treating at the zoo before Halloween. because it continues to be in the 90s here in Tucson, we had to scratch the planned constume of chicken for that night and borrow a mouse costume. He had a good time I think but still doesn't really get it. On Halloween night it had cooled off some so he was the chicken and what a cute chicken he was. I took Grant and one of our dogs, Barry, trick or treating around the neighborhood with another family from our ward. Chad manned the door at home with our other dog, Sooner. Grant had a good time I think but just kept trying to chew open the candy.