Now that Melissa and I are getting ready to have a baby, I started thinking about, why do people have babies?

I don't want to sway you too much with my opinion, so if you think you are gonna be swayed, just post.

Is it just our nature? Do we want to better the world, or help out somehow? Why not adopt? Or better yet, go found a school or develop a training program for those with lower socio-economic status and benefit a lot more than just one person. It's crazy, everyone has babies! We know there are countless children around the world in need of a mom and dad. I guess I just can't get over how *easy it is to have a baby.

Gospel aside, I think in the end it's mostly because people want to have something to do (satisfy curiosity) and learn how great at being a parent they are (selfishness/pride?). I think people get kind of bored and then out of curiosity want to see what a little, in our case, aaron or melissa, looks like and acts like. But I'm curious to know what you think on this. (I took the religious factor out of this question so we could think about people all over the world... )

If you really hate politics or anything to do with America and the war, this is a boring post. If you don't know much about politics (me) then this is a little clip for your enjoyment.

I'm not all in the know about politics and whatever wars are going on in "the Iraq", but I do know that a lot of Utahns don't think Hillary should be in the next president. I think something in my gut tells me she shouldn't be the next president. Here is one little video clip, I'm sure it's one of hundreds floating around out there, courtesy of Sean Hannity, that shows Hillary flip-flopping on the war in the middle east.

Hey team, this is Aaron. Kajsa brought over the best salsa last night and Melissa and I had a great time chatting about blogging and going to the park and TV last night, and one of the things we talked about was how you can find out what your blog is supposedly "rated" from this website:

http://www.justsayhi.com/bb/blog_rating

I think everyone should find out what their blog is "rated". I told Melissa ours was PG and she felt pretty shocked. But when I told her about the excessive amount of use of "dead", "death", and "puke" on our blog, she understood. Now all y'all need to make sure you are guiding your kids while they look at our blog.

Also, I was reading what Melissa said was the funniest post of her life by Scott Lind. It really was funny. The best part is when he mentioned that he went to the restroom to "take a rest". You'll have to read the whole post yourself. He's a great writer. I'm not sure how to get to his blog, but I'll wish you luck getting to his blog. It is really funny.

I'm in class right now so I'm not checking for the format of this post, I'm just posting and not looking back.

clarification

dear team,
I realized that I was not very clear in my post about my dear sister Em. Ha! No, she is not the actual secretary IN the General Relief Society Presidency, but she is the Presidency's secretary. Office stuff and other good stuff, but paid employee, not an actual calling. :) I was talking to Kajsa this afternoon about our car situation for the broadcast and she was like, "How come you didn't tell me about your sister!" and I was thinking to myself, "it's cool, but Kajsa, soo much enthusiasm??" :) And then Michelle's comment too spurred this "clarification". So, good stuff.
Too bad that at our building, it was ONLY audio, no visual. So, remember how I told everyone to keep their eye's peeled? Well, I couldn't even do it myself! Sigh. Too sad, but luckily it was still a really good meeting.

keep your eyes peeled!

??? have you seen this girl ???

hey guys!

why do we not have too many pictures JUST us? Lame that I had to crop our family picture to make it look like we had a photo op. together. where are all our hawaii pictures I ask you??


ahhh, em & miss chalk. lovely.

Christmas 2006, looking Oh! so stunning!

another cute picture with my scarf that she always wants to steal. too bad I use it SO often in Texas now :(

Well team, today is Saturday. I have been looking forward to this day for a few weeks now. Why? you may ask yourselves. Well, tonight is the General Relief Society Meeting!!! (if you click on the link you can view/listen to it in ANY language you want! Did we even know that Yapese is a language? I think not! but if you speak it, you can listen to it!) Now, you might be thinking, "Calm down, Melissa, I mean, it happens every year!"

But no, no, no. This year is different.

My older sister, Em, (the gal pictured above) is the secretary for the General Relief Society Presidency. !!! Sister Beck, (who we know from our little Alpine), asked Emily to be a secretary. AnneMarie Toone, who is one of Em's BFF's, is Sister Beck's personal assistant and goes to EVERY single meeting with her. Crazy, eh? So, Em has been getting me pumped for tonight and all the neat things Sister Beck and the other women are going to talk about. Emily has nothing but wonderful things to say about those women in that office. And, I feel especially cool by association. Wait, I AM cool by association. Yesssss!

I don't know that most of you know my sister Em. She is incredible. Totally incredible. And it only makes sense that she would be doing something really great with her life. I mean, can you imagine working with those ladies? Hellloooo Awesome.

So, this is a shout out to you Emmers! I will be straining the whole night to get a glimpse of your darling face! :) Tonight I totally wish I was in Utah (no offense, Texas friends) because, of course, Em scored some great tickets, and I bet they'll be good seats too! I totally envy my mom and sisters!!!! But, I am going to our Stake's broadcast and the projected screen will have to be enough. (sigh).

Lots of Love to Em. Everyone, I posted her picture so you too can feel cool by association. Keep your eyes peeled! (that is a sick expression, by the way, but...alas, I use it).

what is the deal?!

team,

After my last post, even more death has come my way.

Yesterday morning while loading up in the car at 5:25ish a.m. on the way to seminary, I hear a big thump thump under my car. Mind you, I hadn't started it yet, thankfully, and I was like, "oh no, there is a rat or something stuck in my car's tail pipe (a few Saturdays ago I was listening to NPR Click and Clack on Car Talk...they are hilarious, and there was a girl who had a mouse epidemic in her car...tons of baby mice everywhere in the ceiling and EVERYWHERE! and she parked her car outside, just like me...just thinking about it makes me want to SCREAM!) So, naturally I think I have a billion mice/rats in and under my car.

No, actually, it was a teeny tiny puppy. AGAIN, my next door neighbors! Under the car, luckily I got him out from under the car, but sheesh! I could have killed it! Puppies don't belong under cars! Close call.

Fast forward to later that day, I took my lunch break around 3:00 p.m. (i know, not good), and went to my little bench in the middle of this grassy area in the shopping center. I had sandals on with exposed toes (obviously) and, you know, was just walking. Well, I had barely looked down when I was LITERALLY centimeters away from stepping on a dead bird!!! GAG! I love birds, just not dead ones.

PEOPLE, WHAT IS THE DEAL?!?!?? I NEVER have experiences with dead animals or killing or whatever, and it is crazy. If I was a superstitious person, I think I would be going nuts and analyzing WHAT does this all mean?! But, luckily, I'm not. But, definitely considering it. :)

Tell me, is this weird? First the cat, then the near death of the puppy, and then the bird? All within 24 hours??? OOooooooo....(picture me singing a Halloween ghost sound there). Weird.

So, maybe it wasn't a good idea to put nice sweet pictures of these animals up, but I don't like posting all text no visuals...so, there you have it. The cat at the top is the new Halloween black/grey cat. Not too creepy, right?

dead cats and lots of garbage.

team, you may be wondering what in the heck I'm talking about. Let me warn you...it's sick. What is it?
My life!

So, we missed the garbage day last week. Aaron was going to take it out the night before, but forgot...and I was going to do it in the morning, but slept instead. hmmm....sick, I know. But honestly, we don't generate too much garbage between the two of us. Especially when cereal and milk are our main staples.

Okay, we missed a week. Whatever. Life goes on. I collected it all and was ready to get it all "disposed of" this morning. Went from room to room, chucked my old blowdryer that finally died after SO many great years of service, finally went through some stacks of paper and got rid of random things like old receipts, old envelopes, junk mail, etc. In the end, I had quite a hefty load.

All bundled up and ready to go outside in the backyard with my flip flops on to brave our wild backyard and pull the big can around to the front...when I discovered, to my HORROR, a dead cat. Just lying there right by the trash can. Dead. Not asleep, totally dead.

Pardon me while I lose my Kix.

Luckily I saw it before I ventured up right next to it. This is one of the two cats that has been seen in front of my next door neighbors house. It is/was? (how do I write that?) a yellow/orangey cat. Did it really belong to my neighbor? Do I go tell her? Do I wait for Aaron to get home? Yes. Do I make him "take care of it"? Yes. But, what do we do? Bury it? Throw it away? Ewww.
I hate this topic.

Well, let's take a guess. Did the Wood family get their trash out today? Nope. It's in the garage. The drapes have been closed to the backyard. And me? I'm left alone in my puke. Just kidding! :) I totally didn't throw up! :) Just thought that line would be funny...but now I realize it is really like 5th grade humor gross.
Sorry.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Bleuugh!

p.s. I was going to post a picture or something to add "visual interest" but, tell me, honestly, what in the heck would I put up? The dead cat? A garbage can? oh well.

hello austin!

Sweet Kajsa's family were nice enough to let a bunch of us come up for the weekend and party it up! And! they even let aaron and I stay over TWO nights! :) Man alive, it was so much fun. We love Sweet Kajsa's family. Especially a cute little sister of hers! :) Kindra was a doll. You'll see some pictures of her in minute! Here are some random shots we took...enjoy!

aaron and gunnar smith. so cute!

the king of bunker hill? no, just a little rock. Cute Aaron has a big wing span!

jalapeno (sorry to all my spanish speaking friends, I don't know how to do an n with a squiggle on top) poppers? I wasn't gutsy enough to try them, but many did and loved these little treats. Notice the cool Texas holder thing. Just another of the many neat things at Kajsa's house!

sweet kindra. she was a hoot! don't worry, the night we came in she was having a High School Musical 2 party...the house was totally decked out in EAST HIGH memorabilia. Too fun! Too bad we were a little too late! :) She totally shared my love of that movie and all things disney channel. Too bad I still haven't seen it yet! GOODNESS! I am such a slacker!

kajsa, you should frame this one. It is too fun. This is Sweet Kajsa's dad, he was great! He is a dentist in Austin and took all of these geeky kids to his INCREDIBLE office. It was so great! And they were such wonderful hosts! I can't believe I don't have any of Kajsa's mom and brother Kade! But go to Kajsa's blog and you can see so many funny pictures of her fun family. I think this one is one of my favorites!

this is a fun one of Brandon and Denise and their cutey Brayden. They are first years that just moved into the ward. You want to hear about an AWFUL pregnancy? Talk to Denise. Not my mom Denise, but this Denise. (well, my mom denise has some pretty good horror stories too, but I think this denise might have her topped). Things like IV's and nausea medicine that they give chemo patients...3times a week? yeah, that is THIS denise. Crazy!

look at this cute little nielson family! I love jaylie's cute little face in this one. Way to go Kip and Kajsa!

the two cute hanks' sisters and little lily smith, just playing by the pool. I wish I had a swimsuit with a little floatation device already inside! How cool would that be. hmmm...on me? wait, that could be so uncool. But for these cute kiddos? very cool.

well team, there you have it. I posted. I being Melissa. I think I am going to post again...because, let's face it, I have much to show and tell. I finally broke down and uploaded ALL of the pictures we've taken in the last while yesterday. So, get ready for some goodness. Oh, and before you go...notice the time I posted this at. Yeah, this seminary thing is really cramping my Saturday sleeping in pattern. My internal alarm clock woke me up....and well, here I am. Not teaching but posting. You are so grateful for that, aren't you? :) More to come soon.

Lots of love to the people of the blogging world.

Melissa's been really busy in barns and in utah and so here is an intermediate post from Aaron.

This first picture is from a fun weekend we had up to Kajsa's family's house just north of Austin (in their barn). A bunch of people from dental school came and we had a great time checking out her dad's office (he's a dentist) and bbqing and eating and swimming and hot-tubbing and basketballing and movieing.

Then we were up in Utah for a really quick trip so we could play water balloon volleyball. Thanks Mom and Dad!

The real reason we came up was because Adam just got home from Brazil, and Kirstin and Klint were blessing their new baby, Max Morris Starr.

The trip wasn't even close to long enough and neither one of us had much desire at all to come back to Texas. We love the grass, fresh peaches, family and friends but we are back now and we love sleeping in our own super comfy bed. (ps-thanks tyler for letting us use yours while we were there.)

Melissa will be backing posting soon, she's on temporary maternity leave from "like all the regular normal things in life... or something like that."

no liars here! just little CHUNKY babies!

attack of the chubs!!!! This is baby Aaron-face.

As soon as I saw this picture, I burst out laughing!

This is a teeny tiny picture of Baby Aaron. When he was born he
weighed 10 lbs. minus one single ounce. Uh, oh...Melissa weight 8lbs. 11 oz., maybe we might have a big momma on our hands. No little 6 pounders gracing this household.

how funny is this toothless wonder. It is so funny, that is SOoo Aaron!

This one...well, I skipped a few years, and decided to post this because...wow, why wouldn't I? Can you just see the terror in his eyes!? Jenga is falling!!! This moment captured on film...priceless. (oh, aaron is the one on the right, Carter, his cousin is the one standing).
ok....now, onto other items of business....

dear team...

A few points of clarification, if you please! Yeah, my dad gave me a call yesterday because he wanted to make sure that I knew that Aaron had posted the announcement yesterday on the blog...AND that he used the word HE numerous times when referring to the baby. Thanks dad, Aaron's dead meat. :) In reality, we have no idea. Obviously, being only 7 weeks along!


I am not a liar! Even though MANY of you have assumed so! :) On my post dated August 13th, I did announce that we were NOT pregnant. Well, team, we found out a day later that we were. I posted in ignorance. :) Don't be haters, just lovers, please.


One of these days, I'll write the play by play on how we found out...it's a good story. But, for now, just know we are crazy excited and crossing our fingers that this little kiddo inside of my body will be healthy and strong. It's a little...what's the word...hmmm....WEIRD to think that there is a little tiny baby in me!

We were lucky enough to have already seen the little flicker the dr. called a heartbeat! Can you believe it!? We already had an ultrasound. It was funny when I was at the dr.'s office, the nurse said, "Actually, can you move to this other room, the dr. wants to do an ultrasound..." and I was thinking, "Oh, there's another patient who needs an ultrasound in the room I was in." Aaron, always picking up on my clue-less-ness, said, "Hon, she's talking about you. We get to have an ultrasound for YOU." And I was like, "WHOA!" And that is how the conversation went. I would post the printout...but really, you won't be able to see anything, just a little blob with a white dot. :) How cute!


Anywho... we're jazzed. Really jazzed. So, mark the month of April as a good one. We're due April 22nd!


Well, that is the clarification for ya'lls. Enjoy.

You might of heard rumors or something else... it is true. Melissa and I are really expecting a baby!

We got to go to the doctor already and see our baby's first pictures. He looks like he's really small and fuzzy right now, but we hear they get bigger and cuter later :)

Anyway, melissa has been really busy since she's working/seminary teaching/and pregnant. She's always wanting to post more blogs, but I tell her, "no, you gotta go to sleep." So sorry to everyone out there for keeping her away from the internet.