More pictures

Our adventures with our great visitors continue!

Here are a few pictures of my baby in his blessing outfit.On Tuesday, we drove out to Lake Michigan. It is big enough that you'd think you were at the ocean! It was a very windy day, but Abby loved playing in the sand with grandma and grandpa.On Wednesday, we visited some gardens that had an indoor bulb show (and banana trees and goldfish).
Today we went back to see the butterflies (and to the MSU dairy - yummy ice cream). I am guessing that Abby was not aware that a butterfly was on her head right then.We've had some nice weather the past 2-ish days for going outside. (Please, Utah, don't send us your storms.)And Briton just keeps growing and smiling. Thanks, grandmas and grandpas, for coming to see us. We love you and look forward to July!

Many pictures

We have had grandmas and grandpas visiting!

On the day my parents arrived, Abby was so excited to take the cushions off the couch and ran up to me with seldom seen amounts of enthusiasm asking for sheets for the hide a bed. We couldn't understand why the excitement for bed making until it occurred to my mom that she expected to sleep in that bed with grandma and grandpa. (She got to lay there for "a couple minutes".)We went to MSU's butterfly room. Not too many of the butterflies had emerged, but fun, nonetheless.Briton was blessed on Sunday. It was a great day!
This is a silly picture of our family posing in front of some delightfully delectable pies from a local bakery. They are so pretty!Our baby can stand up...
Monday night for FHE we went to the MSU bug room. Abby enjoyed shining the black lights on the scorpions to make them glow. (It was pretty cool. I've never seen that before.)
My parents have gone home and we have had some fun adventures with grandma and grandpa Wessman the last few days! I'll post some of those soon...

2 babies with the same mom and dad

By the way, Briton is already a month old. Wow! I think that in the past 24 hours he has grown up a couple weeks worth...

We are loving grandparent visits and will have lots to report on soon.

One more story

Last night when I was writing the post, I knew there was something I was forgetting. Here it is:

The weather has been so beautiful! (I hear it's been nice in Utah too for those of you out west.) Abby was riding her bike in the driveway and slid into the grass. I am not sure where this came from, but, as her bike slid into the grass, she said, "I sorry grass. You OK?" Wasn't that considerate of her to not want to hurt the grass?!?

A couple little stories and stuff

Tonight before bed, Mike was reading an ABC book to Abby. (I was sitting nearby.) She's heard this book hundreds of times so Mike was letting her fill in the blanks (i.e. A is for ..., B is for ..., etc.) When he got to O, he waited for her to fill in the blank. She hesitated and said octopus. That's great because octopus does start with O. The only "problem" is that it was a picture of an orange. I was impressed that she knew that octopus does start with an O. (She has other ABC books...still I'm impressed.)

The other night we were driving home and Abby pointed out that Mike was driving mommy's car. I told her that although I usually drive the Santa Fe, mom and dad are a team and that we share cars. Mike said, "Team Wessman! Are you part of our team?" (Abby thinks: If mom and dad are a team and they get to share cars...and now they are inviting me to join their team...BINGO!) Abby then said, "Abby drive!"

Abby was making silly faces so Mike made silly faces back at her. They kept exchanging the faces and Mike was leaning in imitating her until their foreheads touched. Abby chuckled as their faces got closer and said, "almost kisses". Cute girl!

Cute kids:

On a different note, here is a recipe for some cookies that I made the other night. Mike and I thought they were a huge hit. The Andes mint idea comes from my in-laws who melt Andes mints on brownies. Mmmmm...

1 1/2 sticks of margarine or 3/4 cup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon peppermint
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Nuts

Andes mints

Directions:
Cream butter, sugars, beat in eggs and spices. Add dry ingredients. Stir in nuts. Bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees on greased cookie sheet.

While the cookies are cooking, unwrap as many Andes mints as you have cookies in the oven. As soon as you pull them out, put a mint on top of each cookie and let the warmth of the cookie melt the mint. (You may need to put the cookie sheet back in the oven for 20-30 seconds to encourage the melting.) Take a knife or fork and spread and swirl the green and brown colors in the mints.

Wedded bliss

Today is our 5th anniversary. Life has been very good to Mike and I! Marriage has been a joy! I stole this off of Anne-Marie's blog. (She had her anniversary this week as well!)

1. Where did you and your husband meet?

We met at an institute Family Home Evening activity (square dancing:) up at the University of Utah on July 28, 2003.

2. How long before you kissed?

It was Labor Day weekend - just over a month later.

3. Who kissed who first?

It was Mike.

4. How long from the time you met until you were engaged?

We got engaged on December 26, 2003. Mike says he had planned to propose on Christmas Day but the weather was not good and he wanted to propose outside on a snowmobile ride. (We were at the cabin. Incidentally, we were also at the cabin Labor Day weekend - see #3.)

5. How did he propose?

We went for a snowmobile ride while at my parents' cabin for Christmas. We rode around for a while (while it was snowing) at ended up at the top of Fish Creek (one of my favorite little rides). Mike suggested we take a picture so he set up the timer on the camera and took a picture. He asked if we could take another and then proposed for the camera!

6. Did he pick out the ring or did you?

We went ring shopping a few times and I found one that I really liked but I left it up to him. He ended up having a different jeweler make the ring that I had liked with a few little modifications. We had already set a date by the time he proposed, but I told him I couldn't start planning the wedding until I was officially engaged. Time was starting to run short so he got me a simple gold band and proposed with that until the "real thing" was ready.

7. Do you still like the ring?

I love it! I always wanted an anniversary band style ring and I got it.

8. Where was your wedding and reception?

We were married in the Salt Lake Temple and had our reception at my parents' church. It was beautiful!

9. How many bridesmaids did you have?

My sisters and sisters-in-law were my bridesmaids (Tami, Stephanie, Kaley, Bekah and Lara). That makes 5.

10. What color were your bridesmaid dresses?

Gold and cream - they all looked really nice!

11. What was your bouquet made of?

Roses, mums and calla lilies, I think. The roses were cream with a rosey red on the edges. My flowers were fabulous. My mom and neighbor did them all. There were a lot of really unique arrangements and they looked great.

12. Who gave you away?

Nobody. No giving away in the temple ceremony.

13. Did you cry during your wedding?

I really can't remember. I was so excited that I might not have, but I wouldn't be surprised if I got a little bit teary.

14. What style was your dress?

It was exactly what I wanted. My mom and I shopped all over and we were just about convinced that she'd have to make it, but we found it. I don't know what the "style" was, but it had a fitted beaded bodice. The skirt was not very full with a small train. It was very simple.

15. Was your wedding kiss sweet or sexy?

Sweet.

16. Who caught your bouquet?

I can't remember....

17. What flavor was your cake?

I think there were a few different flavors - maybe lemon and chocolate? I know that one of the layers was a big rise krispie treat (frosted so no one would know, of course) and that when we went to cut the cake, I realized I didn't know which layer to cut so I had to go and ask our wedding planner which layer was the rice krispie treat so that I didn't cut into it. I was slightly emabarrassed.

18. Did you smash the cake onto each other's faces or feed it to each other nicely?

We were nice.

20. What did you serve your guests to eat?

It is hard to know since I didn't get any:) There were breads with spreads, fruit, meat balls, desserts and other stuff. (I don't remember what the desserts were.)

21. What did your friends do to decorate your car?

We left both our cars at my parents' house, but Mike's friend, Quin, was able to track it down and do the typical stuff to both of them. I know that one of our cars sat decorated in an airport parking lot for over a week while we were on our Honeymoon.

22. What was your favorite wedding gift?

It's hard to pick one because we got some great stuff. We use our wok and our rice cooker a ton. My parents' bishop was a printer so he let me design my announcements and print them for me as a gift.

23. What was the worst wedding gift you got?

I can't think of anything. If there was something we didn't need, we returned it:)

24. Where did you go on your honeymoon?

We went to Tahiti! It was AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL. It was funny the way it worked out. We planned to do Mexico or Florida and were shopping around online one night when Mike's roommate said, "You should go to Tahiti. My parents really like it there!" We just laughed but looked it up and then laughed harder when we saw the prices (way out of our price range). We realized we'd need some help with the planning so we went to a travel agent to discuss some options. She gave us some suggestions and ideas and then at the end of our conversation she said something like, "You might want to consider Tahiti. I have a package here that might work for you." We laughed some more when we realized that her package might be viable. A couple days later, I saw a booklet at Costco for their travel packages. I picked one up to thumb through and, lo and behold, there was Tahiti again. We ended up using Costco Travel and went to a fabulous resort on the island of Moorea. We highly recommend it!

25. Looking back, is there anything you would have changed about your wedding?

Hmmm...It was a great day. It would've been nice if my brother had been there. (He was on his mission.) I realized at the last minute that we hadn't planned for the cutting of the cake and the first dance so we threw something together and it was fine, but a couple mixups. The first few minutes of our reception, people were playing with the lights and that kind of bugged me. I thought that the March weather would not be great, but it was a nice day - no leaves on the trees, but a nice day. Really, it was a fabulous day and any "changes" would be very insignificant.

Briton's Story

Here is a bit of a birth story:

Briton's birth story would not be complete without a small snapshot of the preceding couple weeks.

• We (Abby, me, Briton in utero) arrived in MI on January 10.
• He couldn't be born before January 31 because I really didn't want him to come "home" to a hotel and at least by then we'd have closed on our house.
• But, he also couldn't be born before February 6 because we wanted decent insurance.
• He really should be born before February 10 though so that my mom would be in town, but when that didn't happen...
• We requested that he wait a few more days until Abby and I were over our colds.

I think that the poor kid got sick of all of this and went on strike. Something like, "Fine, you win. I'll just hang out in here until I'm forced out." That wasn't too bad of a way to go, but the day or two before the designated day, Mike was sick so we almost had to put him off again, but happily, we didn't!

After that the story is not too long or complicated...

On February 18, we went in to the hospital at 7 am to be induced. It was really quite simple. I was in my room by 7:05 and my nurse was waiting for me there getting everything ready. She put me on the monitors and realized that there was already some pre-contraction stuff going on. She says that I was definitely ready to have this baby. By 8 am, the Pitocin had been started and I was progressing. At around 9:20, my water broke on its own and I got an epidural within the next half hour. All along, the nurse was telling us that she predicted this baby to be born before 1 pm. That really surprised me since I was in labor with Abby from 5 am until 6 pm. At around 11 or 11:30 I noticed that I was feeling some mild pain with the contractions. The mildness (stress the word "mild") felt just fine, so I didn't say anything for a while. I learned a lesson there. I got a little "boost" to the epidural at around noon, but that wasn't in time so it never caught up. I think there was very little of the numbing stuff left (there was probably more than I think - wimp!) for the rest of the time. There were several times over the next half hour that I entertained the thought that he might just need to stay in for a while and that everyone else could just figure out a way to get him out. (It really, really hurt, but I survived.) I pushed from 12:07 until he was born at 12:33, and, yes, he is worth it!

Briton is doing very well. He was born at 8 lbs. 6 oz. and when we took him in for a weight check yesterday, he had put on 11 oz. in 7 days to bring him to 8 lbs. 12 oz. He is quite the growing boy and we all (Abby included) think he is great!

All these pictures were taken when B. was 18 days old.

I got tagged on Facebook

My 3 favorite people (minus Hope):

Three names I go by:
1. Marinda
2. Mom (what Abby usually calls me)
3. Minda (what Abby calls me on special occasions)

Three Jobs I have had in my life (try to share your most interesting ones!):
1. A janitor at BYU
2. A "whatever they asked me to do that day, but usually Accounts Payable" at my uncle's garden center
3. Sales clerk at Express

Three Places I have lived:
1. Del Rio, TX
2. Osorno, Chile
3. DeWitt, MI

Three Favorite drinks:
1. OJ (it's cheap here - I drink gallons)
2. Sprite
3. Water, no ice

Three TV Shows that I watch on a regular basis or when it's in season:
1. American Idol (but I'm not into this season...yet)
2. The Office (but I get irritated...)
3. PBSkids (no complaints yet)

Three places I have been (other than where you currently live):
1. Scofield, UT (my favorite place for a cabin)
2. Yellowstone (my favorite camping destination)
3. Some scattered int'l Air Force Bases that made for some pretty cool teenage family vacations

People that e-mail me regularly:
1. Mike
2. Mine and Mike's parents
3. Ebay, Amazon, Motley Fool, etc., etc. (maybe they are not people?)

Three of my favorite foods:
1. Whatever I have tried at this Midwest Italian chain, Bravo! - Mmmm, it is so good
2. Tacos or taco salad
3. Panda Express sounds really good right now

Three Things I am looking forward to:
1. Briton's blessing in a couple weeks when our parents will be out
2. Summer visits to the "beach" on the Great Lakes
3. A fabulous 3 week trip to Utah this summer - Yellowstone, sister's wedding, family, friends, showing off my baby:)

Three places I would like to travel to:
1. England and Wales (Mike's mission) and the rest of Great Britain
2. New England in the fall
3. Another cruise

On a different note, this is my baby. I think he is scrumptious!

2 Reasons I am grateful for the organization of the church

1. We have an instant family when we do crazy things like move across the country, start a new job, buy a new house and have a new baby in a 6 week time frame.

That means that we can go from knowing no one in an entire state to having countless meals and babysitters available when the new baby comes.

That also means that when we wanted to paint our house and do some minor projects during the week we owned the house but hadn't had our furniture and stuff delivered (i.e. we didn't have a vacuum, hammer, screwdriver or anything else), we had people we could borrow from and they were OK with it!

That also means that when your kids don't have their grandparents close by, they have lots of people that are willing to fill in as grandmas and grandpas. A slightly related experience: Tonight, I asked Abby to run with me to the home of a fabulous couple in our branch that have always been so kind and loving to Abby so that we could return some dishes. They live less than a mile away, but Abby insisted on packing a purse before we could leave. This is what that turned into. That bag was full. And that was just to take in the car. (She told me that with the teddy bear it was too heavy so I got to carry the purse.)

(If you don't find this picture funny, that is OK. I laugh every time I look at it because I was there while she was packing the purse for the long journey down the street so it amuses me at least...)

2. We have opportunities to serve.

Nearly every day I talk to Mike on the phone while he is at work. Nearly every day he asks me, "What do we have going tonight?" In Murray, we were so busy. There was always something going on. Here, I think I have gotten pretty comfortable saying, "Uh, nothing." We don't have callings. We don't have much going on with friends and family. (We don't have any family around, unfortunately.)

Today we got a sacrament meeting speaking assignments and Mike got a calling. No more sliding under the radar, I suppose:) I have been especially struck by the thought that service in the church makes us happy. We truly love it!

I love this scripture:

Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah...

Serving in the church allows us to participate in that great work of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world!

****

Another thought: This past week, my step-grandpa passed away. He was a very kind, generous and quiet man. His health has not been good for quite some time. We told Abby that Grandpa Tom had died and gone to live with Jesus. She responded, "In the temple." How sweet of her to know that the temple is Jesus' house.