The Night Before Finals....

First of all, I would like to say congrats to Wayne and Natalie on the safe arrival of Jesse. Having watched Mason and Spencer with Quaid, I would imagine they are super good big brothers.

Everybody at our house from Papa Bear on down to the littlest Cub is ready for me to be done with finals. One more week and I am basically finished with everything but the crying. Then we will have some true vacation time with each other and we all are excited to come visit between Christmas and MLK Day.

I don't have any new pictures ready. But we are getting the kids' done professionally this week. So we will let you know when they are ready.

Thanks to everybody for your love and support. Megan, especially, has appreciated the extra "talks" since I have been busier with school lately.

Happy Holidays!

The Library

Today was stake conference. It was one of the new fancy pants televised type. And ironically one of the speakers talked on how the Saints need to do more of their own leading; that we don't need a General Authority visiting regularly. Hmmm... The messages were good though. There was instruction given for both Megan and I that will help us be better spouses to each other. Mikiya made it all the way to the concluding speaker this time before getting restless. Quaid slept nearly the whole time, waking up for the final 15 minutes to completely soil his brand new dress shirt clear through to his car seat. Hence, the 90's boy band look he is sporting in the attached picture.

We went to the library on Saturday. Taking the bus and having multiple floors to visit is a little different than what we were used to walking across the street in Rexburg; where coincidentally we lived farther downtown than we do here. But it turns out all three of us still found books to read.

Megan ran into a friend from high school, so we barely missed our bus home. So we did the only sensible thing and started walking. You all know how much Mikiya and I love to sit in one place. Actually, we had some method to our madness. Mikiya desperately needed some lunch, but not a $10 meal. We ended up walking about 10 blocks from the bus stop, before we stopped again to wait for the next bus. While we were waiting a guy stopped his car and asked if we wanted a ride home. He seemed very nice and considerate, but Megan had already bought her ticket and the rides are the highlight for Mikiya.

As you can see from the pictures, Quaid continues to grow. He rolled over once this week. We think it was an accident, but he is learning nonetheless.

We enjoyed seeing everyone that we did last week and look forward to seeing who we get to with the upcoming holidays.

Love you all!

Arrgh, Matey!

We took one more step towards becoming a long term member of the community. Quaid and Mikiya had physicals this week. This included shots for both of them. Both kids actually did really well. For the record, both are in the upper percentages for size and are healthy overall.

Yesterday was the ward Halloween activity. It consisted of a chili cook off and then a "Trunk or Treat" for the kids. We broke tradition this year. Instead of having a family theme for costumes, we had two categories. Megan and Quaid were "Sports Fans" and me and Mikiya were "Pirates". It was fun! Mikiya had thought about being a princess, I for one was glad she picked princess. Megan's nylons would have been much too short for me.

Happy Halloween!

P.S. Our pictures taken the old way turned out better. So stay tuned for those.

And Then There Were Four

Okay, I have been a poor blogger. But I will try to get into a more regular routine. If you want to see my other contributions to the blogging world, visit www.idahosbdc.org. I must warn you though, there are not any pictures of Quaid or Mikiya.

Well this last week was surreal for me and real fun for Megan and the kids. Last weekend we had Miles & Sheila visiting for a few days. I think the highlight of the visit for the kids was going to their hotel and swimming. Quaid didn't have quite as much fun as Mikiya as the pool was too cool and the hot tub was too hot. Talk about your Goldilocks episodes. Mikiya also had a blast showing Grandma and Grandpa the greenbelt and how to "herd" the ducks and geese into the water. Quaid was just content to be outside in the fresh air. On Sunday, Miles flew to St. Louis for work and Shelia drove back to Idaho Falls. Megan and the kids went with her. So I had to fly solo all week. It has been good to have them all home. The house and car seemed so empty while they were gone. But they did have a good visit with all the family they saw and the kids did quite well in the traveling part of the adventure.
For those interested, here is the "Spanish love song" Megan was asking you all about.

Delays

Sorry for the lack of new info. We had some technical difficulties that have now been resolved. We will have the new pictures and stories forthwith.

Musical Chairs

Mike thought I needed a turn telling the weekly adventures of Quaid and Mikiya, so here we go. Yesterday we had a few errands to run, so we took the bus. Mikiya was thrilled! She got to show me where you sit and all that fun stuff. None of the buses we took had tons of people on them, so she thought she needed to try out several different seats. My perspective was a bit different. It was nice not to have to worry about traffic, but all I could see was the germs everywhere and not wanting the kids to touch anything or breathe in the yuck. The mall was one of our stops, and Mikiya thought it absolutely wonderful to ride up and down the escalators. We also went to Deseret Book. It was wonderful to walk in somewhere that was so familiar. However, it did make me a bit homesick. I thought of Layton as it was a young man helping us. And one of the large pictures on the wall was a beautiful night picture of the Idaho Falls Temple. Oh how wonderful to see and feel that comfort!!!

The kids are growing quickly and having fun. Ever since Chelsea read the pirate book to Mikiya she walks around the house yelling "ARRRGH Matey!" I think it hilarious! She can't decide what she wants to be for Halloween. One minute it's a pirate, then a princess, a cowgirl, a turtle or something else. She thinks Quaid should be some sort of animal. Today after church, Mikiya decided she didn't need to walk on the sidewalk, so she climbed up the two foot cement wall in her pretty dress so she could run on the grass. Mike told her Grandma Gallup would get quite a kick out of that. Mikiya despriately misses Kaelie and wants to type her own emails to everyone nearly every day. Quaid is already outgrowing his 0-3 month baby clothes and thinks he's a big boy. He loves to take baths and showers and sing along with songs. His eyes are becoming more clear and blue and his smile is just so cute! Everyone tells me what a beautiful baby he is. I love it!!!

We hope all is going well for everyone! We love and miss you and we'll write again next week.

New Pictures

Okay, I will try the pictures again. Still working on video. I think it may just be speed to patience ratio thing. I will keep you posted. (ha ha get it)

Back to the Country

Nothing too new this week school or work wise. I did have my first test as a grad student. However, it should be noted that it was in my undergrad course. Never fear I will get a chance this week and next for some grad tests.

Our fun adventure, as documented in pictures, this week was our trip with the Beltrans to the Idaho Corn Maze in Kuna. (Which I learned is pronounced "Q-na"). It was pretty fun, they have two different mazes as well as a hay ride, farm animals, and play area. Quaid even got a little sun burn, so he is well on his way to "building lots of character" under our parental supervision.

Afterwards, the four of us went to Meridian to do some shopping. And by shopping I mean 10% shopping together and 90% Mikiya and I exploring PetSmart and battling wills everywhere else. But anything with my wife and kids is better than classes and work.

Mikiya wants to add a note this week.
kmmhpptuuujlddeewwwrrlgggggcccaaH
Alright, I am not sure what all of that means other than there is a k for Kaelie, h's for horse, l for Layton and Lauren, r for Riley, w for Walton, g for Gallup, c for Chelsea, and a for Aubrey.

If anyone would like to see more pictures from our outing, than tell me or Megan and we can email them to you.
Talk to you all later,
Mike

The Bus Ride

I have officially made it to week 3; only 60 some odd to go.

Yesterday Mikiya took her 1st bus ride. We found a Super Wal-Mart in Garden City and we needed a few groceries as well as miscellaneous items. And conveniently enough, that is one of the stops on State St. Mikiya thought it was really exciting. She is going to be quite the city girl. She said her favorite parts were the giant windows and the bikes that rode on the front. And of course she gave me a running, loud commentary on the other passengers. Forturnately, she didn't say anything offensive or embarrassing. Besides, English wasn't the first language of one of the other families. (If I had to guess I would say Tagalog). At any rate it was an entertaining ride for all.

Quaid is starting to push the limits on some of his clothes; so we must be doing something right. He is becoming much more responsive (smiling and chuckling) to our speaking and singing to him as well.

I am trying to get video on some of our posts. Wish us luck.

Adios

The Boise Life

Well, we are still getting used to big city life. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be riding my bike through downtown Boise at 9pm coming home from school, I would have laughed in their face. Yet here we are. Megan is handling the new life rather well herself. A couple of days ago the news said there was an attempted kidnapping two blocks from our apartment. But she hasn't said a word about moving back to Idaho Falls. Yeah!!

Hopefully, this weekend we will be able to get out and explore some more. There are parks and greenbelts all along the river.

We had a fun Labor Day with Wayne and Deanna's families at Beltran's house. Rudy cooked up meat and there was enough balls for everyone to play "with each other".

Okay, Rudy and Deanna gave us their old digital camera. (Can you believe it Lloyd? We finally went digital.) So hopefully, these pictures will attach in a friendly matter.

Till next time!

The Big City

Okay, we finally have an actual presence on the World Wide Web and soon we will be directly linked to the family web page for everyone's convenience.

Yesterday was the first family trip downtown. Our new bank has an office two blocks from the Capitol building and we wanted to go in to set up our accounts. Mikiya loved the hub bub of the city. Especially, the giant garage we parked in (free) and watching all the buses from up on the third floor. She got so excited. I believe most of you out there are familiar with the finger twisting, mouth open and smiling state. She also thought the rose gardens at Julia Davis park were pretty cool. And all the colors smelled so good, even when sniffed six or more inches away! Hee, Hee! Good times.

Quaid was a little bit lower key. I think mainly due to his newborn tendencies. Although he does seem to be tired of going so much in the car. Hopefully, the long weekend and me being more familiar with Boise will help him out and shorten out the trips, if not the frequency as well. He is still getting more smiley though. We will get current pictures soon.

If you don't have our current phone and address and would like it, drop us a line. Good Day!

Changes

Well, we finally got moved to Boise, though still getting settled. Mikiya is thrilled to be in her new house and to have her animals, puzzles, and a cupboard that is big enough to be a clubhouse for her. Quaid is starting to smile more, especially if you make variations of raspberry noises to him.

School is okay so far. I still have a 4.0. It is going to be quite the experience for all of us. Well wish us luck and we'll try to get some pictures for next time. And thanks for coming to our inagurual celebration,