Love at Home

I love my little family!

I get so much fulfillment out of being a mommy and a wife. I definitely need to be better in both areas, but I'm learning as I go. It's amazing how much better I know Tanner now that I'm not working and spend all my time with him. I feel more comfortable in my ability to fulfill his needs and understand his special baby language. And now that I'm not teaching, I can focus on Eli as well. Eli and I are also growing closer to each other as we figure out how to be parents together. He is my best friend and I'm so grateful that he's my sweetheart and the father of my baby boy. Tanner adores him, see:Cutest!

I just felt stretched too thin when I was teaching because I am a perfectionist and I felt like I wasn't doing well as a teacher, a mom, and a wife. I have to do a perfect job at everything or I get stressed and frustrated. I've always been super busy with a lot on my plate at one time. This summer has been the first time in a LONG time, when I have just been able to enjoy life without the stress of work, callings, etc. I know life will usually be busy, which I do like, but it's just been nice to have a break.

Eli and I were talking about how blessed we are last night. Heavenly Father really has blessed us so much, especially with good health, a good relationship, a darling and spunky little boy, good and very supportive family and friends, and good jobs since we've been married. We definitely live within a tight budget and will for a while until Eli is done with medical school, but at least I'm able to stay home with Tanner and he has been able to work at an amazing hospital, Johns Hopkins, this summer.

We are really really hoping that medical school works out this time, but we have learned that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and we will be faithful and trust in him. When he didn't get into medical school last year, we were pretty bummed. It took me a while to accept the fact that we were living in Payson, Utah and that Eli was back at BYU. I loved teaching but I didn't want to extend Eli's schooling by 2 more years. Most of our kids are going to be raised while Eli is in school! Looking back on this past year, I am SO grateful that medical school didn't work out. First of all, we have both made amazing friends - mine at my school and Eli's in his masters program. Our friends bring so much joy into our lives. One of those friends is becoming my new sister-in-law! Andy and Paige never would have met had I not student taught there and then got a job last minute at the same school. I didn't even want to student teach in Payson because I had been trained for an urban environment! I'm glad Heavenly Father sent us to Payson! Also, starting my teaching job a couple weeks before school started and being pregnant for the first half of the year was pretty stressful. Eli cooked dinner every night and helped in my classroom. He helped keep me sane and healthy, something he probably couldn't have done had he been in his first year of medical school. So we are grateful for the way our life has turned out so far and are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us next!

We have one more week in Baltimore before heading back to Utah for Eli's last semester of his MPH. It's been fun exploring the East Coast and we'll miss the lushness of the trees and plants. But it will be fun to be back in Utah (after a 2 week stop for Tan and I in Colorado - yay!). Well, I'm off to sell all of our furniture and go on a few more adventures with the munchkin. Asta la pasta!

P.S. Here's the most darling picture I captured of our little FIRECRACKER and a couple of his top teeth! He got 5 teeth in just one month - youch! But he didn't complain hardly at all. He's the happiest, spunkiest, energetic, little guy.

Ocean City

A couple weekends ago we went to Ocean City, Maryland with my mom. We drove 4 hours there and spent Friday night at a hotel. We spent our time on the beach playing in the water and sand, walking on the boardwalk, swimming in the pool, shopping for cheap souvenirs, and eating yummy treats. Tan even had his first taste of vanilla ice cream and he was a HUGE fan! The water was warmer than the Pacific and the waves weren't as big. This city had a different feel than beaches in Southern California. We had a blast!!

Randomness

I have lots of random things to post today:

1. CONGRATS to my brother Andy and his NEW FIANCE, Paige!!!! They are such a cute couple and I couldn't be happier for them (and for me getting a new sister-in-law!)!
If you don't know the story about these two lovebirds, here's the short version: Paige taught at the same school as me (the only reason I ended up at that school was because I had student taught there a year earlier - CRAZY!! Good thing we decided to move to cute little Payson, Utah.) I set them up at the recommendation of our school secretary after Andy visited my classroom in November when he had just returned from Iraq. They went out over Thanksgiving break in Utah and she spent a night hanging out (and participating in a super fun and sticky marshmallow gun war) with our family in Midway. They talked on the phone mostly as friends until the beginning of January. Andy came to visit his new nephew Tanner in January and went on a date with Paige then. They actually almost broke things off but didn't. More long distance until April. She spent spring break with him in Georgia where he was attending Captain school for the army. A month later, she moved to Georgia to be with him. Two months later they got engaged! It's so crazy to me because Paige and I were friends even before she met Andy! I always told Andy that he would marry one of my friends! Well I married one of his friends (he knew Eli long before I knew him) from high school so now we're even. SO EXCITING!!! The hard part for them is planning WHEN the wedding will be because he is leaving for Special Forces selection tomorrow and doesn't have any idea what his schedule will be like for the next year. They have more long distance in store for them with Andy going to training without being able to communicate for a few weeks and Paige going back to Utah to start teaching again. She is getting a glimpse of being an army wife right away!

2. My sisters and Paige (we missed Doug's wife, Dana!) came to visit for a few days. I miss them and Tanner misses all the attention. We packed their trip full with visits to Baltimore, DC, a crab feast, a hike through the woods, getting stuck in the rain, stories about Aly's Africa adventures, and lots of yummy sweets. They get an A++ for awesome sistas.

Here's a link to a few more pictures of our adventures together: http://picasaweb.google.com/saramorey13/BaltimoreAndDCWithTheGirls?feat=directlink

3. Eli and I are still happily married as evidenced by this picture Kristie took of us! It's amazing how many pictures you take of your child once you have a baby and how little pictures you take of yourselves.

4. Eli has been working late for the past couple weeks so Tanner just stares at him when he gets home. He sat still for like 3 minutes when I shot this picture which is so unlike Tanner. He is GO GO GO GO GO all the time! Isn't he precious?!
5. We miss Ari and Christian after spending a weekend with them in Upstate New York at Silver Lake. They let us hang with Christian's family at their cottage for a few days and we loved being with them! The lake was gorgeous as well!
6. Tanner experienced life jackets for the first time. He didn't like it one bit. He screamed until we gave him his binky and then he fell asleep because he couldn't move. Poor kid! But as my dad would say, "Better safe than sorry!"7. Eli and I went sailing for the first time. I commend all you sailors out there. It's a lot of work! I felt so close to Christopher Columbus not having a motor and all.
8. Like I said above, Tan is quite the active little munchkin. He crawled an actual, bona fide crawl when we were at Silver Lake. He just whipped it out (at midnight when we arrived) like he'd been doing it forever! Now he army crawls and normal crawls and switches between both. He also learned to sit up from crawling at the beginning of last week. He just randomly did that as well which shocked me! It's amazing how babies just learn to do these things on their own! Eli and I tell each other about a hundred times a day how cute he is! Oh and now he has 3 teeth. Once the first one popped up, the rest have been speedily making their appearance.
9. Tanner learned how to control his glowing super powers! Ha ha ha, just kiddin. But he did experience his first arcade which was actually a little too over stimulating, even for him.
10. After a year off due to being pregnant, I popped right up skiing and, let me tell you, it felt INCREDIBLE!!! Can't wait to go skiing more in Colorado in a few weeks. (Mom, we need to learn how to back the boat into the water together!)
11. Eli showed his evil farmer side a little bit this weekend. I wouldn't want to run into him at night in a cornfield.
12. We are loving the beauty of the rural areas in the East. Everything is so green and lush. We'll miss that back West. And there are A LOT of barns.
13. Check out this cool trick Eli did with our camera and a sparkler!
Whew, now my head feels clear! I can clean my house and prepare for my mom to come tomorrow. I'm excited to see her again and Tanner will LOVE being around her again!

Oh, one last thing. Tanner has started biting me sometimes when he nurses. Any suggestions on how to get him to stop doing that? I want to keep nursing until he's one but definitely don't want the biting to continue.

Have a fabulous August!