Friday, July 29, 2011

We have the tooth! The whole tooth! And nothing but the tooth!!!

Ladies and gentlemen... it has happened. Naomi finally has a tooth that is coming in. It broke through today...yay! It is the bottom left front for those who are interested. We don't have a picture yet, but we will try to catch a photo of it soon. We saw the gums turning white... then this afternoon we felt it.
She is growing way too fast.
Just a short one today to update you all.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

We're back!!!



So we are back from vacation. I'm sorry that it has taken so long to go through the photos and choose JUST 51 out of the over 800 that we took. So we will take you through our trip via photos.
We started our trip on Friday July 1st. Aric was asked to organize and prepare the breakfast for our wards Canada Day shin-dig. He did a wonderful job too.
As soon as we could, we hopped int he car to begin our 3 week road trip with our good friends the Palsky's. ( They joint he story once we get to Utah.)

So we hopped int he car and drove as far as Lethbridge, to spend the night with Grandma Wutzke. Then the next morning we got back in the car and drove to Idaho Falls. We didn't ant to push Naomi's good mood with too much driving. We decided to splurge a little and get ourselves ad hotel right on the falls. We got a nice room that overlooked the falls, and were happy to be done driving for the day. All was good until Aric went to give Naomi a bath, and take a shower himself. Then he found that there was almost zero water pressure. Anyway our room was switched to an even nicer room... with a great view for the temple. As seen here
Naomi had a "fantastic" first night. While I was up consoling her I decided to open the door and snap a beautiful night shot of the temple. Unfortunately I didn't have my tripod handy so it's a bit blurry when in a bigger size.
On Sunday we went to church at the stake center next to the temple. man can I say that I didn't really like that ward. No one said hi to us. Granted we weren't there for very long as Naomi was a restless little thing. So right after the sacrament we headed out to Utah.
In Utah we first stayed at my good friend (twin separated by birth) Rachel Perkins house in Sandy. On July 4th we head to Orem to see the parade and spend the rest of the day at Rachel's parents (Jerry and Lynn Perkins) house. Oh good times. I miss spending my summers with them.

Naomi and I at the parade

I'm pretty sure this was the highlight of the parade for Aric!

This was the most interesting thing I saw at the parade. Captain America?

Only in Utah will the missionaries be invited to walk in the parade. There was probably 100 or so walking in it

Cosmo Cougar strutting his stuff

Hanging out with Rachel and Rebekah Perkins at the parade

At the Perkins family home later Aric decided to take on the little boys in a sword fight.

Not sure who ended up winning. If you ask Aric I'm sure he would say he won

Naomi has a real love for swings

That afternoon Aric and I headed to Salt Lake to pick up our friends the Palsky's. They went to Utah with Travis' parents for a family reunion. So when they were done, we picked them up so they could join us on the rest of the trip. We met them at the conference center and brought them back to the Perkins for the rest of the day. Except I snuck for a bit to go and see my mission companion Candice Packer. It was great to catch up with her, and her family too. They are great people.
The plan was to go and watch the fireworks in Lehi, but we decided that Naomi and Jake (Palsky's 4 month old) needed to be put to bed more than we needed to see fireworks.
The next day we headed back to Orem to show Aric, Robin and Travis BYU campus (actually just the Bookstore). I was shocked to find out that none of them had ever been to BYU. Then that night we split the couples up and went our separate ways for the night to visit family. We met up with Aric's aunt Cami and uncle Lee and their son Aaron, for dinner. It was nice to catch up with them. I think next time we need to spend a little more time with them. I feel bad that the last 2 times that we have seen them it has only been for dinner. But dinner is better than nothing.

So the next day we headed up to Park City to stay with my aunt Laureen and uncle Paul for a few days. It was very nice to spend some time with them and my three cousins who live in the area. We hit the outlet mall which is always a blast! Aric actually bought a watch! He hates watches!!. But it looks good on him. Now while were at my aunt and uncles Naomi gt her first fever. The poor thing was so off of her game. She got weirdly cuddly. And actually she started doing the cutest thing. She would crawl over to me and kneel next to me and lay her head and body on my body, and fall asleep. Awe it just melted my heart. The fever lasted about a day and half, poor thing.

Naomi in her new snuggling pose
"Paging Dr. Wutzke"
We took a day and headed back to Salt Lake to take in some of temple square. Aric and I took a tour of the conference center. Aric had never been in it before, but we were both amazed at the size of the building. I was even amazed having seen it before. I just love Temple square. It's amazing how there is such a busy world going on outside the walls of Temple square. But inside it is so serene and calm. We enjoyed talking with the sister missionaries we meet. Aric really enjoyed chatting with the french speaking ones.

Our cute little family

Our next stop on our trip was Burley, Id. We headed up there to spend a couple of days with with Aric's aunt Terra and uncle Kelly. Now that was relaxing. We really didn't do much. Watched a bunch of movies, ate WAY too much, and drove sea-doos on the snake river. That is one of my favorite things to do. man I got on that thing and I was off. I hit the max speed of 65 m/hr in no time flat. What was really neat was that it around 6 that we started playing on the snake river. So there was actually a section of the river that was just full of fish swimming really close to the surface looking for food. Seriously if I had a butterfly net, I could have caught about 20 in one swipe. I don't even like fish, but it was pretty cool to witness.

I told you she was a big swing fan

Another new love of hers is the trampoline
So downstairs Terra and Kelly have a pool/ping pong table. We had some pretty fun games on that. One of my favorites was our "family" game. It was all fun and games until Naomi got one in the eye!!!! Ha ha ha... don't our parents always warn against stuff like that?
My adorable little angel


I found a new way to calm down Naomi while in the car. She is my little Diva :)

She just loves the headphones

Our next stop was Oregon. It was the longest leg of trip with 4 adults and 2 infants in the van. We dealt well with it. We made sure to rotate our seating arrangements often so no one was in the back for too long. It was about a 9.5 hour trip. When we got to Oregon we checked into our hotel. What were we thinking? We had booked a hotel online and booked all 6 of us into the one room because we got such an awesome deal on it. Hahahaha I have never been so cramped. BUT... it was cheap!!! Good thing it was only for 3 nights. That first night was Naomi's worst night of trip so far. She woke a couple of times, and the last time I felt bad for the whole room so I took her out at 11:45 and we walked the halls, checked out the pool, and sat in the lobby until Naomi decided that she was tired and fell asleep on the couch. That happened to be finally at 2:05am. I was exhausted!!! Next day Chelsea and Daniel took us on a walk/hike up to a look out point. It was quite beautiful. WOW... am I out of shape! It's sad really.

At the look out

Later that day we got the chance to see my aunt Rhonda and uncle Don before they headed up to Canada on their vacation. I haven't seen them IN Oregon for probably over 20 years. It was nice to see them.

Aric, Me, Naomi, Don and Rhonda

Chelsea and Daniel took us on a mini road trip to go some sites from the movie"The Goonies". it was pretty fun. We drove out to Astoria,OR and saw the house that "The Goonies" was filmed at.


Then we headed to the county Jail where the bad guys broke out of at the beginning of the movie.

Then we headed out to Cannon Beach where there was some filming of the movie was done. You may recognize the rocks coming up in some of the next photos.

Chelsea and Kimber at Cannon beach
The famous rock formation


Isn't Benson oh so cute in his dad's sweatshirt?

We tuckered out the little one. Yes she is sleeping with one eye open


Chels and Daniel took into downtown Portland to experience the wonders of Voodoo Donuts. They have the craziest flavors. From Oreo to captain crunch to fruit loops to just about anything you can think of. Of some of them are the size of dinner plates.

After that we sat and enjoyed our donuts. They were oh so tasty!!!! Kimber is shown here liking the last of her donut.




The clan left to right
Tavis (red hat), Robin with Jake, Daniel in blue, Aric, Me and Naomi, Kimber in stroller and Benson playing with the water

After our trip down town on the train (which was Chelsea and the kids first time!!!) we got in the car and headed to Seattle to visit with Aric's sister Casey.
We didn't do much that first night. Went out to eat then relaxed. Day 2 there, we got up really early to catch the ferry to Bremerton where Aric finished high school. We joined Sandy and Herchel Elijah for church. Aric lived with them his final year of high school. So we went to church there and he was able to see some old friends. Then kindly after church Sandy and Herschel had us over for some food and chatting. A buddy of Aric's from school was able to come with his wife to visit as well. Naomi was hit of course!!!

Naomi on her first ferry ride

Casey has 2 really friendly boxers, Sully and Oscar. They were so excited to have company, and they just loved the kids.

Our little tuckered babe

Naomi has found that she loves to pull herself to standing positions and to even jump on couches. She really is getting so big

She would fall asleep on us all the time. She is just so cute awake... and even more while asleep

Casey took the day off of work and took us to Pike Place Market. Always an interesting place. I found a real jewel there this time.So for anyone who has wanted to feel like a Canadian or more like a Canadian. Make sure that you read the back!!!


Our next stop on the tour was In Mission, B.C. to spend a couple of days with my brother and sister-in-law and their kids. The fist night Neko wanted to help out with Naomi's bath time. So she hopped into her bathing suit and and into the tub to help scrub the Gnomster down. It was so cute!

Ian and Sharlene and kids took us out to Harrison Hot Springs for the day. It was beautiful day and location.The town reminded me a lot of Waterton. We got some lunch and ice cream and went for a walk partly around the lake.

Huxley hangin by the lake. I love his hair

He is just so adorable

Smile for the camera Naomi!!
The next day we headed into Stanley Part in Vancouver to meet up with a friend of Travis. What a beautiful park. I like how it has park areas and forest areas. Aric and Naomi got pretty close with that squirrel.

Our trip home was a very long one. It was about 14 or 15 hours. When we rolled into Travis and Robins house at 2:30 am Naomi thought that she had had a great nap.
I sent Aric to sleep on the couch while I stayed in the nursery with the wide awake Naomi. She rolled around my bed for an hour and a half before she finally conked out again. Then she woke early and I was exhausted and just ready to be home... inmy own bed! So I woke Arid up and we decided that we would let the Palsky's sleep and we would empty the car and bring their stuff in for them. Well after I got their child seat out and Naomi's back into place, I stepped out of the van and hit the curb I didn't see and over I went on my ankle. Now at this point I was very tired and now writhing in pain, and soooooooo ready to be home. Once we got home... it was glorious. Our bed was so comfortable!

My beautiful ankle


So now we are trying to get back into normal life. Naomi hasn't been sleeping super well since we got home, so we are trying to ease her back onto the bedtime routine. She is starting to adjust well. We had to quickly baby proof the living room when we got home since she only starting to crawl right before we left. Not she is into absolutely everything!!!! It's crazy how she is changing so fast. Even today she is putting herself up by the board that is covering the dvds and is now starting to pull the dvds off of the higher shelves. I've got to come up with something more inventive. Wish me luck.
Well I think that is enough for now. This definitely the longest post ever!!! But that has caught us up. I hope you enjoyed.