Memorial Box Monday

Our pastor's wife and soon-to-be good friend (I can tell already) has a tradition of putting momentos of God's faithfulness in a memorial box. The box is displayed in their home and they tell friends and family the stories behind these little items. This is to remind them of the times the Lord has come through for them in amazing ways. I want to adopt this tradition for our family so that we always remember His faithfulness to us in big and small situations. When I get home (and find a good box for display) I think I'll put in the pen from my first day of training at my new job today. It's a bobble head pen with a little guy on to who looks like a troll doll. When you push on him he yells various forms of the phrase, "Thank you." I love this little guy! As I'm learning more about my new job and the company I'm working for I am more and more grateful. They truly seem like they want to take care of their people. The benefits are amazing! I took this job even though the pay won't cover our expenses (not even close). But as I've prayed about it I just keep hearing from the Lord that it isn't my job to do the math. It's my job to thank Him for what I have and be as good a steward of it as I can. Hopefully Mr. Bobble Head Troll Pen will remind me of that.

Away From Home

This will be short since I'm writing on my iPod and it's a little tough. I am away from home for the next nine days and missing my family already. Pray that I can stay focused on the job training I'm here for. Also pray for Mark as he tries his hand at single fatherhood.

One More Old Video

This one was taken on November 9th. She was just over three months old. This was the very first time she laughed. We just happened to have the camera handy. For several months after this video was taken, it was the most we ever heard her laugh at one time. Now she pretty much cracks herself up every day. :-) 

The thing that amazes me the most is how much she's grown. I know it happens fast, but I can't believe how much bigger and more grown up she's gotten since these were taken!

Old Video

I wasn't really blogging when we took this video. I decided it might be a good idea to put it up so that family and friends who haven't seen them can get their fix!

This is from the last day I was home with Norah before I went back to work full time. She was just a few days short of three months old. At the very end of this one, it sounds like she says, "Hi". I was SO excited that I got it!

Cutest. Socks. Ever.

The socks that Mark's mom bought her finally fit on her feet. I'm SO excited!! I couldn't get a picture of her smiling (probably because she was in The Chair of Torture), but this one is close. Not only are these socks totally adorable, she has a really hard time pulling them off. Bonus for Mom!

If you absolutely must have a pair of these socks for the little lady in your life (and who wouldn't?) the website is trumpette.com. They have a boy version in "golf shoes"!

PEEK! aboo

Norah learned to play peek-a-boo today. By "learned" I mean, she was covering her eyes on her own and I started yelling peek-a-boo every time she did it. It took about 5 minutes for her to figure out the cue. What can I say? She's a smarty pants. So smart, in fact, that she'll really only do peek-a-boo if the grown ups around her are making as big a fools of themselves as humanly possible. Hence, my annoyingly shrill voice in the video below. She prefers it if I yell the "peek" part as loudly and high pitched as possible. It comes out sounding like PEEK! aboo. So not only did she get to learn a new game that she loves, as a bonus she gets to make her whole family look crazy in the process. Smarty pants indeed.

A Trip to the Big City

For those of you who don't know, Durango can sometimes feel a bit remote. There's tons of stuff to do here, especially if you love the outdoors. There's world class skiing (At least I'm told there is. You won't catch me careening down a mountain at 4 billion miles per hour any time soon), there's AMAZING hiking, biking and all manner of river sports. 

As far as shopping goes... notsomuch. The locals are somewhat annoyed by this, but we deal with it because we LOOOOVVVE how it makes the tourists feel. The first week she moved here my mom was walking through the "mall" (seven stores and a Mrs. Fields) and overheard one lady say to another, "Is this there another mall in town somewhere?" Um, sadly no.

One of my favorite stories of tourist confusion occurred while I was pregnant. When you're pregnant, people believe that you're especially helpful and approachable. This seems to be more true the larger, moodier and more uncomfortable you are. That's a story for a different time. But anyway, I was in Wal-Mart late one evening. I was approximately 17 months pregnant and was purchasing some type of candy that I had been craving all day. I went to the self checkout for the express purpose of not talking to anyone about how enormous I was. The lady at the self checkout next to me looked extremely confused. The look on her face said something to the effect of, "I clearly do not belong in a Wal-Mart." I finished buying the now half empty bag of candy and turned to leave. As soon as she saw my uncomfortably round profile she smiled and said, "Excuse me. Could you tell me where the nearest Target is?" I did my darndest not to reveal my satisfaction in the answer I was about to give, smiled as sweetly as I possibly could and said, "The nearest Target is an hour away in the next state over." Then I tried my best to look apologetic and said, "Welcome to Durango." I walked out, finished off my bag of candy before I got to the car and thought, "That was possibly the most satisfying personal interaction I've had all week."

All that to say, we drove an hour away to the next state to go to Target today. We got a few items that we can't get at Wal-Mart and a few others that are, let's face it, just better at Target than they are at Wal-Mart. Mark also likes to pick up groceries at the Safeway out there since they have a few things there that we can't get at the grocery stores here. It was a good trip, a productive trip. Norah took a good long nap on the way there and on the way home. Thanks to the naps she was in a good mood pretty much all day. Not bad for a Saturday. We also got her a couple of cute little springtime dresses on sale at Target. More photos soon!