Hallelujah!

You know in Handel's Messiah how everyone has to stand for the Hallelujah chorus? I feel like everyone should stand with me as we sing the Hallelujah chorus because....
I'M DONE WITH THE SEMESTER!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Now who wants to party?

6 Months

Yup, Esther is 6 months (as of last Saturday). Where has the time gone?! Seriously, I say that every time, but time is flying by too quickly for me! Actually, I know where the time has gone. Towards my schooling. Poor Esther has been tossed around to various people's homes as I have been frantically getting schoolwork done. But least you begin fearing child neglect, I finish tomorrow, and I will resume my full mommy duties with vigor! :) I can't believe how quickly our little girl is growing up!
Sorry, this is the best picture I could get of her. She has recently insisted on sticking out her tongue all the time. Cute, but hard to get pictures and her clothes are always soaked with the amount of drool she produces.
As you can see in the above picture, Esther is sitting up like a pro now. She slumps over every now and then, but rarely has a hard crash. She kinda skipped the tripod sitting that most babies do. She has also figured out how to roll from her back to her tummy. She's getting pretty good at it too, which has her parents a little nervous. Not only do we have to be more careful about where we place her and what is nearby, but I'm worried about her sleeping now. Let me tell you why.
The other night I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I decided to peek my head in her bedroom and I found she had rolled over to her tummy and she was face down into the mattress. I freaked out and picked her up quickly. It seemed like forever before I heard her breathe. Thankfully she did and didn't seem phased at all. I spent the rest of the night getting up to check on her. It didn't help that when I told Mike about it (I had woken him up with my frequent in and out of bed) he said he had just had a dream that he was golfing with Esther and had managed to smack her in the head with a golfball. Anyways, so ever since then I've been worried about her rolling over onto her face again. Thankfully she only rolls one way, so we've been strategically placing her in her crib so it would be hard for her to roll over. However when she woke me up this morning and I went get her, her head was where her feet had been and her feet were where her head had been when I put her to bed. My theory is she had walked her feet across the bumpers to switch around. Here's a picture of her sleeping. Sorry it's blurry, but I didn't want to turn the flash on and wake her up.
Anyways, she's doing great despite her mother's paranoia. She's such a joy to be around and everyone is always telling us what a good baby she is. We would have to agree.
(Thanks again to everyone who has helped watch Esther so I could get schoolwork done.)

Color

I'm taking a family and cultural diversity class and my teacher sent us this. :)


When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in sun, I black
When I cold, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
When I bruised, I black
When I die, I still black.

You white folks....
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
When you bruised, you purple
And when you die, you gray.

So who you callin' colored?

Happy Pioneer Day!

Whenever I think of pioneer day I think of the conversation that Mike had with his grandma when he called to tell them he was engaged. After telling the story of how he proposed his grandma asked him to tell her a little about me. I hadn't met them yet. The first thing he tells her is "She comes from good pioneer stock!"
WHAT?! I come from good pioneer STOCK? That's the first thing you tell your grandma about me? Not, that you thinks I'm fun or that I have a great personality. Pioneer Stock.
Now I get it, though. Mike's Grandma and Grandpa Smith have long lines of pioneer heritage. Seriously. I'm pretty sure all his ancestors crossed the plains. :) And Mike's family is proud of that pioneer heritage, as well they should be.
My family, on the other hand, is a little bit more mixed. My grandpa Cole's Grandpa Cole was born on the plains of Nebraska as his family came west. My great great grandpa and his wife were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake. This is the pioneer stock Mike was talking about. My other three grandparents are modern pioneers. My grandma Cole joined the church in South Africa. Some missionaries came to the University she was studying at. She served a mission in South Africa and then eventually immigrated to Salt Lake. My grandmommy and grandaddy Sampson both joined the church when they were young in Virginia. They remember holding hands while riding to church in the back of one of their family's station wagon. So although I do have the traditional pioneer heritage that I am proud of, I am also grateful and proud of my grandparents who were the pioneers in their families.
And I'm grateful for my little "pioneer" sweetheart. Happy Pioneer's Day!

Those days...

Do you ever have those mornings where your alarm goes off and it still takes you 30 minutes longer before you're out of bed? Yeah that was me this morning. Mike took Esther when she woke up at 6 (don't even remember hearing her) so I could sleep. Unfortunately I've been so busy with school and projects and tests that I'm just exhausted. I'll be done by the end of next week, but I've got a ton to get done before then. I think I might hibernate for the first week of August. Sleep...oh that would be nice...Anyone want to adopt my kid for a week? :)

Close to the angels

Yesterday was Mike and my anniversary. It also happened to be our stake temple day. Initially when I heard it was the stake temple day I was a bit annoyed. I wanted it to be our special day where we have some grand adventure together in Chicago seeing all the sights and probably a play or two. However, after being reminded of the importance of temple worship by my sweet hubby, we decided to participate in our stake temple day.
It just so happened that about 6 weeks ago we were invited to attend our ward's family history Sunday school class. After checking out new.familysearch.org I noticed that some work needed to be done on my Grandma Cole's side of the family. One of Grandma's callings in this life has been family history and I tell you what, she is GOOD at it. So I checked with Grandma and found out there were quite a few names that she had that needed the work done. It turns out that the family line Grandma has been working on was the Keightley line. This is Esther's middle name, one because I like the name, and two because I've always felt a strong connection to this family line. So we did a bit more research to make sure the work hadn't been done and then got the names ready to take to the temple.
Then yesterday morning we woke up bright and early and dropped Esther off with some friends who volunteered to watch her (they later took her to some other friends, so she was taken care of all day). Then we drove down to Chicago. By 8:45 we were in the baptistry doing the work for 7 members of the Keightley line. Mike baptized me for 4 women and Mike was baptized for 3 men. Then we did the confirmations. By the time we were changed and everything the information was ready and we did their initiatory work. After we were done with that (which took a while because the temple was REALLY busy [Saturday was the last day before the temple is closed for it's 2 week summer cleaning]) it was time for lunch, so we ran out to the car and ate the sandwiches Mike had made for us. Then I went back in and did the 12 o'clock session with our ward, while Mike watched our friend's daughter so they could go on the session too. I was able to pass out the other names to members of our ward, so all 7 Keightleys were in the same session. Then Mike came back in and we sealed the family together. This sweet family had been waiting for about 130 plus years to have their work done and what a sweet experience it was to be participating as their proxy. I certainly felt close to them in a way that I had not felt before. I understand now more of what it means to have our hearts turned to our fathers. I definitely feel a literal connection to these people. I certainly felt close to Heaven and the angels there.
I could not help but think while we were in the sealing room of two years ago when Mike and I were sealed. I cannot think of a better way to celebrate our eternal family than to help our ancestors in their eternal families. I am so grateful that we had this experience and I think we just might make a tradition out of it. Well at least doing sealings on our anniversary. There was another couple there that was celebrating their 45th anniversary and they said they had been doing sealings every year on their anniversary. How cool is that?
Anyways, I just wanted to share what a special experience Mike and I had yesterday. Thank you to all of those who helped make yesterday possible. :)

So Mike is changing Esther's diaper and first I heard "EEEWWW GROSS ESTHER!!!" Then I hear "Esther! How did you do that?" Then "I don't get the physics behind that..."
Oh I love that man! :)

Two glorious years

I got up this morning to do a post for my hubby in honor of our anniversary, but as you can see below, he beat me to it! Thanks sweetheart. I love you too! Here's to you and two wonder-splendor-ific years! Oh and I love you....r silliness. :) Sorry the video takes forever to load. I was planning on posting it on Youtube, but it wouldn't let me because of the music I have on there. Oh well. Enjoy it anyways!

Happy Anniversary!!!

This is Mike, by the way. So tomorrow is Robyn and my 2nd anniversary--yes, we admit we are still practically newly-weds!
I am taking this opportunity to write about my sweetheart while she is gone shopping, so thank you Esther for crying to the point that Robyn felt an urgent need to go buy teething tablets.
Anyways, Robyn, I hope you appreciate all that you do for Esther (changing her diaper 4-10 times a day, feeding her every 2 to 3 hours, putting off whatever you need and want to do to spend quality time [and to keep her from screaming her happy scream all day and night], changing her clothes 3-5 times a day since she can be a little Niagra Falls sometimes, doing tummy time for her and not letting her just struggle and kick and get red in the face before helping her like some other parent of hers does, rocking her in your arms to sleep like she likes it, making her smile once every hour, and getting a good portion of her cuteness on camera--she'll thank you later for it, and I thank you now for it.
So now that I've broken about 73 grammar rules in that last paragraph, I'll keep going. Thank you, Robyn, for giving my tummy a good time (by making delicious desserts, dinners, and eating "salads" with me [my salads consist of lettuce and dressing, but Robyn smiles and says thank you anyways]; thank you for keeping me sane throughout school and especially during finals weeks. Thank you for getting us out and about to socialize with others--sciencey types like me need a little help doing that occasionally. Thanks for doing our laundry, our dishes, and other housework, and thank you for decorating so our appartment feels like a home! Thank you for texting me little notes and pictures of Esther being silly while I'm at school/work--I appreciate it and how it makes me smile!!! Thanks for keeping me wanting to do my best to be a great husband, dad, and student. Thanks for being you, and keep it up and keep smiling:) !!!
Here's to a fabulous 2 years of marraige!!!

Thanks for the fun!


Thanks for all you do for our family!

Thanks for the laughs and smiles! (Especially the courtesy ones after my "jokes")

Thanks for your patience and your fun-loving attitude!
Thank you for you!

Our Little Sunshine

Look out boys, Esther has already figured out "the look".

5 years

Five years ago today I entered the MTC for a 4 week training session before heading off to San Diego. What a blessed decision it was for me to serve a mission! Oh the sweet and precious lessons I learned. I served at the Mormon Battalion Visitor Center as well as on the temple grounds and as a half day proselyting missionary. I honestly had no clue who the Mormon Battalion was before I got my mission call. But oh the things I learned from them! They served our nation in a way that most people (members and non-members alike) have no clue about. Serving at the temple grounds was also an incredible blessing. It was sometimes difficult to be sitting outside the temple waiting for someone to come so we could give a tour to them. I often wished I could just enter the temple while we waited and participate in the important work there. I also had the opportunity to serve with dozens of wonderful senior couple missionaries. I learned so many life lessons from these dear brothers and sisters. Some had saved a lifetime so they could afford to spend their golden years on missions. Some had been blessed with riches, but left that behind to serve the Lord. All helped me to understand that the things of eternity far outweigh every other distraction; that family relationships should be cherished; and that living the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing in the world. Everything else falls into it's place when we do that. With the help of companions, members, and especially investigators, I grew to love my Savior in a way that I never even knew was possible. I came to understand the personal efficacy of the Atonement.
I cherish the time I spent in San Diego and the way everything I did there has impacted my life now. Thanks be given to our Heavenly Father who has always had a plan for me, because believe me, it is much better than the plan I had for myself!

Esther's check up was today. She's 14 lbs 8 oz and 24 3/4 inches long, so that's around the 30th percentile for both height and weight. :)
I'm amazed at how productive I can be if I am able to accomplish something first thing in the morning. For example, in addition to Esther's check up I was able to accomplish the following:
completing necessary paperwork for background check (which included going to the police station to get my fingerprinting done, all with Esther in tow...)
washed, dried, and folded 3 loads of laundry
did the dishes
read 6 chapters in my text book for school
completed a report for one of my classes
washed bottles
went on an hour long walk with my sweetheart and princess
most importantly: I snuggled with my little miss and my hubby.
Here's to productive days! May there be many more to come! :)