2007-05-28 Natalie's Update

Happy Memorial Day! We hope you all had a great day. We had LOTS of fun, but are all worn out from the birthday activities. Brian and I stayed up late last night blowing up balloons and decorating the kitchen with streamers. Brian decorated the table with all of Ava's zoo animals. She kept saying that she wanted to go to the zoo again, so we had the zoo come her. It was really cute. Ava could hear us in the ktichen and kept peeking out of her room. It was after 11PM when she finally stayed in her bed. She was just excited for her big day. I stayed up really really late putting her monkey cake together. It took a lot more work than I had anticipated.(Elsa said she wants one when she turns 5, and I declined.) Ava woke up at 6:45 wanting to see the balloons and "have her party." I made her get back
in bed with me and we slept until 9AM. When she did finally come downstairs, she was amazed. She said, "Look! The animals all came to my birthday." She had requested that we have balloons to fall on her head, but "not her elbows." So, once she came downstairs, I was waiting with a big garbage bag full of balloons. All the work was worth her excitement. She was absolutely sweet and darling throughout the whole day. We opened presents right after breakfast. While the girls played with the new toys, Brian mowed the lawn, and I piped the frosting on the cake. It took two hours! It was overcast all morning and the forecast expected a 60% chance
of rain. Finally, at 2:00, when it was still clear outside, we took the girls swimming. Ava said as we got out of the car, "It is a beautiful sun shiny day for my birthday." It truly was. They loved being in the pool and playing on the bumper boats. Elsa showed off her swimming skills, and Ava liked getting into the water. Each time she would step in, she'd declare, "Oh, it's cold!" She said this each time and then would giggle. Afterwards, we quickly changed the girls out of their wet swimsuits, just in time for some of our friends to arrive for cake and ice cream. Ava had a difficult time blowing the candles out on her cake. I had to help, but only after she singed both sides of her head and her eyelashes. (Ava doesn't do well with hot objects.) Ava got a few more presents, which was even more
exciting. Her friend, Zoe, gave her the little pet shop animals. Ava was in heaven. Every time we go to the store she asks for them. Everytime we go to someones house who has them, she sits and plays with them the whole time. I should have clued in. Now she tells me that she wants to frog and not
one, but two butterflies. She is funny.

Brian managed to sneak off with the older kids and his kayak down to the lake. Elsa came running in the house in her underwear asking for her swimsuit. The older kids had jumped into the lake with their clothes on and were swimming. Elsa wanted to join them. Pretty soon all the little kids were swimming in their underwear. A little of the unexpected! As we were saying good-bye and getting ready to head to our neighborhood BBQ, our neighbor came by with a giant cookie that said "Happy Birthday Ava!" She said that since we hadn't shown up yet, she didn't think we were coming. She had arranged for all the neighborhood kids to sing "Happy Birthday" to
Ava. We quickly put clothes on our naked girls and went over. Ava was so shy with all the attention and starting crying in the middle of the song. (Now Elsa would have basked in all of the attention.) Ava quickly got over it and enjoyed the evening running around with all the kids. I was touched that they went through the effort to remember it was Ava's birthday and then to get her a dessert to celebrate. We live in a great place. There were over thrity kids running around between all the backyards. The girls had so much fun. It was funny to see all the little girls playing with foam swords and toy guns, a novelty compared to the usual dolls and ponies at home. We enjoyed great weather, so much for the expected rain. The girls crashed right after their baths. They were yawning before we even got home. I asked Ava if she had a good birthday and she replied, "Yes, I loved it.
Thank you Mommy!" See how sweet she is. My little angel, but she'll tell you, "No, I am a big girl. I am Ava." That she is. A big three year-old.

Love,
Natalie

2007-05-28 Michelle's Update

May 28, 2007

Hi Everyone,

It's been kind of a down week for me, but the weekend was so crazy, I forgot to feel down. It's been nice. On Friday I went to dinner with some friends. Saturday we had a bbq with the duncans and then I went to the temple and came home to the neighbors being over for dinner and then we went to the Jensen's for games and didn't get home until after 10. Sunday I napped I was so tired. Today we spent the day at the royal gorge, which is in canon city. It's only 1 1/2 hours from here. It's a great place. They have river rafting, helicopter rides, sky diving, etc. We, of course, stuck to the more family friendly events. We hit the petting zoo, mule rides, Hans did the sky coaster, the train ride, carousel, and other stuff I am missing. We walked across the suspension bridge and took a tram across as well. It's beautiful there. The kids slept the whole way home and now are bathing and cranky. It was worth it though.

Katelyn got stitches this week. She stepped on a peice of glass and after an hour of debating and bleeding I ended up at the drs office getting stitches for her. I was SO grateful the drs office does them and I didn't have to go to the emergency room. She's been needy since this and crawling around kind of pathetic like. She needs to be sitting on me at all times. Even when we are driving in the car she whines, "MOm, HOLD ME!" Last week she said, "mom, LOOK (this said in an awestruck voice) the baby has moved around to your bum!" I guess my behind looks bigger then my tummy. I'm grateful for her for keeping me laughing.

Hope you all had a great holiday.

Love, Michelle

2007-05-26 Natalie's Update

Hello All,

I hope you're having a great Memorial Day weekend. We are staying home this
year, which is nice. Unfortunately, it is rainy weather or we'd be at the
pool right now. Today is the first day it opened, and we were hoping to
enjoy it. Instead, we are heading to the garage to clean it out. Sounds
fun, eh?

We've had a pretty busy week. The girls finished their last day of
preschool last Thursday. They had parties and said their good-byes. I am
sure that I will miss preschool more than they will. I liked having one day
a week to have four hours to myself. I got a lot accomplished in that time.


Ava is so excited for her birthday. She asks me each day, "Is today my
birthday?" We are going to have a small party for her on Monday. She wants
a birthday cake and balloons. She didn't want a party with friends. She is
low maintenance -- for now. We went to the zoo yesterday to start her
celebrations. It is the only she she has talked about in association with
her birthday for the past four months. We decided to go on Friday to beat
the weekend crowds. It also happened to be the opening of their oceans
exhibit. Ava was timid at first when we told her she could pet sharks in an
open tank. Once she saw Elsa doing it (and about 50 other children), she
was intrigued. Both girls had so much fun. Elsa would have stayed all
evening for the chance to pet "just one more shark." It is a good thing we
can go back often. Ava's favorite part is the penguins. They are so fun to
watch. She sleeps with her hard penguin figurines. I am still amazed at
her affinity towards animals. She LOVES them. She plays with her animals
all day long and then piles all her stuffed animals into bed with her at
night. She is definitely more into animals than anything else. Elsa, on the
other hand, loves her baby dolls, dress-ups, and crafts. Elsa loves to
color and draw. She had gotten quite good at drawing pictures. She
recently got a new set of markers, which she takes out first thing in the
morning and often it is the last thing we do in the evening. She keeps them
right next to the kitchen table so she can color with any spare time.

Elsa continues to enjoy swim lessons. She jumped off the diving board on
Wednesday and was so proud of herself. I was proud of her too. She made
sure that she called her grandparents to share her exciting news. It is fun
to watch her progress. She can't wait to show-off her new skills to Brian
in the neighborhood pool. (If only the weather would cooperate.) Elsa
enjoys soccer and runs hard. In last weeks game, she was a disstressed by
one little boy that just chased her around the field pushing her over from
behind. It was sure annoying to watch. Where was this boys parents to
teach him proper sportsmanship? After the third shove, Elsa was in tears.
She couldn't understand why someone would be intentionally mean to her. I
realized that I will face many heartaches as my girls experience unfavorable
circumstances in life.

Brian is definitely beating me at exercising. He biked into work three
times this week. I was saying to Tom that I am not sure if it is really for
exercise or to save money on gas. Lucky for Brian, he can accomplish both.
The bike ride each way is 24 miles. He will reach his 100 mile goal for the
week. I am impressed with his fortitude and determination. I need to
follow his example. Brian is slightly discouraged with the boat. It isn't
running well, even after recent repairs. I can't believe we haven't been
out on it yet. Last year we had it in the water at the beginning of April
and went out at least two to three evenings a week, but this has been a busy
spring for us with our trips to Portugal and New York. We don't have any
trips planned for the near future. (We need to save up again for travel
expenses.) We'd love for any of you to come visit. We'll promise to get the
boat running properly by the time you arrive. We have lots of fun here in
the summer with the boat, the pool, and other attractions. We haven't done
a compelling sell to have you visit Indiana. Hopefully, this will change!

We finished our garden last week and we're pleased to watch all the spouts
coming up the ground. We planted cucumbers, carrots, chili peppers,
zucchini, squash, brocolli, and tomatoes. I also planted a few herbs, which
I am most excited about. We are going to our Ward's Progressive Dinner
tonight. We have some fun couple in our ward that we both enjoy, so we are
looking forward to going. We hope the rain lets up for Monday so we can be
outside and enjoy Ava's birthday. I can't believe I have a three-year old
as my baby. They do grow-up quickly. It is so fun for me to spend my time
with them. They bring me joy!

We miss you all. Have a great weekend.

Love,
The Heaths

2007-05-20 Michelle's Update

May 20, 2007

Hi Everyone,

There are a lot of pictures attached. We've had an eventful couple of weeks. There's a picture of Ashley in her new sunglasses. It's really really bright here all day everyday. We have all gotten sunburned at 8:30 in the morning. I've learned to do sunscreen first thing. And now, thanks to hairspray sunscreen, it's quick and painless. Hooray for technology. There's also a picture of Katelyn's face. She fell off her bike. She was trying to sit on her bike while holding some beads and her bug catcher and before she could get her leg onto the other side the bike started going down the driveway. She was a good sport about it as there were barbie bandaids to put all over it. It's healed nicely. There are also some pictures of Ashley graduating from pre-school. I loved her pre-school, but I did a little dance I was so happy it was over. And this was only twice a week. I like my flexibility. Now we have nowhere we have to be since we also quit ballet. It's really really nice. I realize my life will be crazy in the fall so I am enjoying this lifestyle immensely. Ashley did a great job. Her teachers love her and say she is wonderful (is this a surprise to anyone?). She is still quite shy, but performed all her graduation duties quite well.

There's a picture of Justin rushing the graduation stage. It's his favorite game. It makes church interesting. He also loves to rush the pulpit. We try and sit up front to lessen the excitement since it's not as far to run, but it hasn't really helped. Hans let him go up there last week and bore his testimony, but it hasn't changed the habit. It's a fun game to him. I've tried steering him towards the back of the congregation, but he knows it is more fun to rush the pulpit. I made a scene at the graduation. I am to the point now where I get crazy looks due to the pregnant belly and three tiny children, I am sure. I just smile.

There are also some pictures of us sitting outside on our patio and of Katelyn playing with water. It is what we do all day. It's so nice. Justin loves the water and the trampoline and I just sit on a chair and keep my pregnant legs elevated. I have FINALLY sleep trained Justin. I don't know how he was lucky to be almost 14 months old when it happaned, but actually I think he is happier now. He wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30 and then takes a nap at 10. No matter what. I wake him up at 12 and put him down at 3 again and wake him up at 5 (usually he's already awake). Then he goes to bed when he is tired and sleeps til morning. It only took 2 days to do this. Makes me wonder why I waited. It's SO nice.

What else? There are a couple of pictures of Hans on his new 50cc dirt bike. It's fun. It's street legal too. He wants to ride it to work when he is in his new space. He looks ridiculous on it, but it is a lot of fun. The girls love it. Justin is terrified. He runs top speed the opposite direction when he sees it coming. He is timid. This was Hans' father's day present early. He was extremely surprised. He rides it everyday.

Hans signed the lease to the new building. He is signing the architect on Monday and then it is just a matter of time (probably mid-september) when it will open. It's named Cordera Family Dentistry. It's kept Hans extremely busy. He's had a lot of lunch meetings and keeps himself busy on Friday afternoons. I've been so grateful that his office closes at 12 on Fridays and he has business hours to get his other stuff done. It's been nice for him to not have to take time off of work to accomplish all this. It's exciting. He signed a 10 year lease so we are here at least that long, I suppose.

I think that is a long email. I have been busy with kids. We are enjoying ourselves. We go swimming at the YMCA, to the park, lots of playdates with friends, etc. I finally found a running partner and it's great that it happans to be Kim. We run 3 days a week early in the morning. I am halfway to C-section day. Crazy. I decided to not find out the sex of the baby. Kim thinks I'm just in denial about this baby, but it's not totally true. I'm excited to keep it from ourselves.

Well, hope all is well with everyone.

Michelle

2007-05-14 Brian's weekend

Here are some fun pictures from our weekend.

Craig King was baptized on Saturday at 1pm. He received a Book of Mormon 20yrs ago while he was in the hospital and gained a testimony. Last fall, his wife passed away and had been pleading with him to go to Church with her (she wasn't a member of the Church). He felt bad about not going to church with her. He didn't go with her because it was too painful to sit for an hour drive to Church and then for 2 hours during church and an hour drive home. Early this year, the Sister missionaries tracked into him. Natalie went to teach with the sisters 2 weeks ago and so we were excited to see him be baptized. I was a witness and helped lower him into the font and raise him out of the font. It was quite an interesting baptism.

You can also see the picture of our garden that I am building (slowly because of the rocks). Also, I thought you would get a kick out of the refund I received from the vending maching at the Empire State Building.

Finally, I attached pictures of the girls in their Sunday dresses on Mothers' Day. We actually attended Morgan Gast's (our neighbor's) first communion at Geist Catholic Church. The priest shook Elsa's hand on his way out of the service, but Ava refused. Elsa asked if she could do her first communion when she grows older. The Gasts really appreciated us coming and I got into quite an interesting discussions with our other neighbors who are starting to talk about religion as they are expecting their first child together and potential baptism. His mother is Jewish and she (Nikki) is Lutheran, but neither have been to Church in years. He took the first communion at the Catholic Church on Sunday (by accident) and Nikki was giving him a hard time for going up there and taking the communion. To be honest, I kind of thought about going up just for the experience, but thank goodness I recognized that I would have been drinking wine from the same cup as everybody else in the congregation! Plus, I would have felt awkward when I was teaching the lesson in Elders' Quorum an hour later.

Brian

2007-05-13 Natalie's Update

Hello All,

Here is an update. It has been a while. For those of you that didn't know,
we spent last weekend in New York City. We arrived on Thursday and left
this last Tuesday. We met up with Tom and Paula which was great. We
enjoyed nice weather and a beautiful apartment. We were the typical
tourists and hit all the hot spots of the city - Statue of Liberty, Times
Square, South Seaport, FAO Swartz, and the Empire State Building. The girls
loved seeing their Grandparents and cousins. Brittney was really cute with
Elsa and Ava. She was a big help. It was great to see Nicolette and her
family. I can't believe how big Brittney and Noah are now. The last time
we had seen them was at Brandon and Whitney's wedding. I guess a lot
happens in two years!

I've attached a few cute pictures, mostly of Elsa since she had her school
program and first soccer game this last Thursday. We returned from NY in
time for Elsa's program. She did so well singing "God Bless America," "Look
Mom, No Cavities," "Thanks God for Making Me Me," and "Mom, It's Your
Special Day." Elsa was so excited to give me my present which was a flower
pot with flowers made from cookies and gum drops. However, Elsa didn't want
me to eat it since the flowers were too pretty. All the other mothers ate
their flowers while Elsa was concerned about me driving home "so slowly" so
that the pot wouldn't get hurt. I do have particular children!

Elsa played in her first soccer game on Thursday evening. She did great in
practice, but spent her first five minutes in the game playing with a blade
of grass. When we yelled "Elsa get the ball!", she got sad because she
thought she was in trouble. By the end she got the hang of going after the
ball but got pretty worn out with all the running and the heat. We had to
keep reassuring her that we were cheering her on and not getting mad at her.
Ava said, "It's ok Elsa, just get the ball." We all had a great time. Elsa
continues to do well with swimming and riding her bike. With all these
activities, she is getting plenty of exercise.

Since Ava had opted out of swim lessons and is still too young for soccer,
she often is just along for the ride. Ava is my little companion everywhere
I go. She is a great sport most of the time, but just a couple of weeks ago
when I told her we were going to run errands, she threw her hands in the air
and declared, "Mom, I do not want to go to the bead store!" Poor child. Her
time will come when life revolves around her, maybe. She is finally and
surely potty-trained. She goes throughout the night without any accidents.
She does have an occasional accident during the day. Fortunately these are
about once a week. It makes me a much happier mother to have her
potty-trained. I was losing it with the constant clean-ups. Ava's hand is
totally healed; no signs of any burn. Thank goodness. We're blessed.

After the NY bike tour, Brian is back into biking. Poor guy doesn't know
where to put his free time - biking, kayaking, or waterskiing. We came back
to beautiful weather, which makes Brian even more anxious to get the boat in
the water. He has spent the last few nights working on the boat - cleaning,
power washing, and waxing. He was hoping to get it into the water today,
but it will have to wait. He was biking this morning, and then we went to a
new convert baptism this afternoon. Brian is currently putting in a small
8x12ft garden. He had pulled up the sod in the spot and is now getting the
stones and soil at Home Depot.

I am enjoying a few minutes to catch up with some journal writing. Since we
got back late Tuesday night, I've been going non-stop. I spent all day
Wednesday preparing for an Enrichment Activity that took place in the
evening, then all of Elsa's activities on Thursday. Then Friday I took Elsa
and Ava to the zoo. Last minute, I dragged them around while getting all
the groceries and supplies for the Ward's Father-and-Son campout which was
last night. (Go figure why Brian was in charge of the breakfast since he
doesn't have a son and wasn't going.) Hopefully, this next week will be
less hectic. I am excited to see Nicolette again when she drives through on
her way to Vancouver, Washington.

That is about it for now. Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers!

Best,
Natalie

2007-05-06 NYC Five Boro Bike Tour

We rode 55 miles, enjoyed each others company and the company of 42,000 other riders, saw NYC in a new light, and generally had a great time.

2007-05-06 Michelle's update

May 6, 2007

Hi Everyone,

Attached is a picture of me at 17 weeks pregnant. Enough of you have asked if I look pregnant, so there you go. I like to think not, although I have had two total strangers ask me when I was due. It really really caught me off guard. I'm not wearing maternity clothes yet and don't feel like I look too pregnant. Hans has said he keeps doing a double take at my stomach the past week and thinking, "wow, she really is pregnant." The reality is starting to sink in a bit. I still feel sick at night, but nothing at all compared to what it was. I feel great most of the time.

I am still trying to find some clarity from our Father in Heaven concerning this job. I am hoping to find a resolution soon, as I am supposed to start training next week and my dad has so graciously accepted to come babysit the 16-18 while I train all day. It's almost worth working just to have him come be with us:) Thanks for your generosity and willingness. I have been grateful to have something to pray about and study for, as the 10 weeks of really ill pregnancy allowed me no ability to read and study my scriptures. Pretty much what I did was stare at the ceiling. It's hard to get back in the habit, once out, and now I am back in. So that in itself is a good thing from applying for the job, right?

Hans is well. He had a busy week of meetings with architects, consultants, etc. and is overwhelmed with the enormity of the project at hand. He's excited about it. I am excited to particpate in the decorating and furnishing of the new office. It should be fun. He's also delegated business cards/logo stuff to me. I am new to this stuff, but it should be fun to learn. I'm grateful he has a consultant to help him along. It seems to have eased a lot of his stress.

The kids are great. Justin had strep throat last weekend, but the antibiotics seem to have cleared it up. It was kind of frightening since he had a 103 degree fever for two days. I assumed it was his ears, but no. I'm grateful. This is the 1st cold to not go to his ears. Maybe we are in the clear. The girls are great. We've had a cold week so have spent more time inside. I did take them to pump it up, which they love. Katelyn calls it hump it up. They both took naps when we got home. Hans took the girls on a date this week swimming and they had a great time. I was glad since he's been so busy this week that he had some time just to play with them. We planted our tomato plants yesterday during the nice rain/hail so I hope they make it. I also got basil and now just need to find some zuchini. That is the extent of the garden this year. The girls are excited about it and ran out first thing this morning (even though it is freezing) to see if any tomatos had grown.

If anybody has any ideas how to get bright red nailpolish out of the carpet, please let me know. We painted our bedroom yesterday and had absolutely no paint get anywhere and right as we finished Ashley broke the bottle of nailpolish and it splattered EVERYWHERE. So now instead of noticing the nice paint job, it's the red nailpolish that gets the attention. I've tried some things, but nothing has worked yet. I was a little lightheaded after all the fumes from painting and nailpolish so our house is a comfortable 55 degrees since the windows are open to vent.

Hope all is well there,

Michelle

2007-04-29 Michelle's Update

April 29, 2007

Hi Everyone,

It's been an eventful week as far as the weather goes:) We had a blizzard on Tuesday which closed the schools down for two days and kept us stuck inside. Then by Friday and for this whole weekend it has been rather hot. Today was over 80. We somehow skipped the 60s and 70s. We're enjoying sunscreen, playing on bikes, drawing with chalk, playing with water and the pool, collecting bugs and painting, among other outdoor activities. It's SO nice to have other families here this spring/summer. The girls go out and play with the neighbor kids. They are much younger, but the kids are good humored with them. Today the girls had their faces painted by the neighbor girls outside and they had a nice course set up with cones to ride their bikes through. We do this everyday. Justin absolutely LOVES to chase the girls while they ride their bikes. He tries to run, which is amusing. Yesterday he would run straight forward, come to a complete stop, spin in 1-2 circles, and then take of running in a straight line again. It looked like some sort of basketball drill and he thought he was quite funny. I love how much he likes himself. He says "HIIIIIIII" to everyone we see, whether or not they are looking at us. Every sacrament meeting he loves to make a mad dash for the pulpit, laughing the whole time. I inevitably have to take him out of the meeting. He also screams at the deacons passing the sacrament until he gets some, which inspired us to sit right behind the deacons so we get it first. I cut his hair this week. He is very blonde. My blondest baby. Plus he is getting tan. He's quite handsome:)

The girls are great and really enjoying the outside activities. Katelyn is amazing on her bike. She would ride all day if I could handle it. They jump for hours everyday on the trampoline. They're getting lots of exercise. Katelyn has been crashing at 6 or before at night and sleeping 12 hours straight. It all wears her out. She also got really sunburned, despite the sunscreen I put on her face. I need to do better. Ashley is getting much braver about talking to other kids she doesn't know and has loved having all the kids out. She and the neighbor Kadie ride a lot and jump together a lot. It's nice to have this for her. She keeps begging me to chop her hair off, but I can't bring myself to do it. It's so pretty. She hates the washing and brushing of hair so I can't really blame her. I may take her to get it bobbed eventually.

I accepted the job at the hospital since I passed my drug screening. I am having serious second thoughts, but I think it will be enjoyable and stimulating. The HUGE downside is that it is all at night. I wish I could find something enjoyable and stimulating during the daytime, but then I have to find babysitting. Oh well. I think they are out of their minds to hire me so I feel like I have to give it a chance and put in my time. I told them I would commit to 6 months part-time and then drop to one shift a week. or about 3 shifts a month is more like what I will do. Part time, thankfully, really only means 3 shifts every pay period. Not too bad. I'm looking forward to using my nursing skills and working, I'm just worried about staying awake. I have a hard time keeping my eyes open past 9 pm. I am also having a baby in 5 months so I'm hoping my 6 month commitment can be negotiated down to 4 months. We'll see how it all goes. I told myself I would give it a 1 month chance. My daytime training starts May 14th for 2 weeks so I am scrambling for babysitters since the kids are all still in school. Then I start nights. I am trying to find someone to babysit my girls here the day after I work for 6 hours or so while I sleep. They announced it in young women's today and quite a few were interested so I just need to start calling them. They guaranteed me one shift could be Friday or Saturday nights so I can sleep while Hans is home.

Writing all that about the job makes me think I am crazy to do this. How do you do it Emily? You are pregnant with the third and doing this. Any advice?

Hope all is well with all of you!

Michelle