Rich, Heather and Alana’s Blog

My life has felt a bit like a circus lately, and I think you’ll see why in this post! So, pardon the lack of blog frequency and the presence of blog length!!! I can’t seem to blog more than once a week, and when I do, it seems there are too many photos and too much bulk, but I’d rather document thoroughly than fail to document, so here goes!!!

Alana has become a very fast crawler, which has served her well since she is so busy. But she noticed that crawling left her at a slight disadvantage to being carried: she could not hold things since she needed her hands. So, she has concluded that simply carrying things in her mouth is the logical solution! It allows her to crawl quickly from point A to B, and also allows her to take objects with her

 

 

 

She also had a great time emptying the contents of one of my cabinets…

 

She even managed to spill a bag of egg noodles all over the floor: 

 

I try to snap at least one photo of the two of us every few days, just to have the memories!

On a side note, everyone who knows (or has seen) my dad says that Alana looks just like him. I hear that constantly! 

 

Last week was my mother in law’s birthday! Unfortunately, the rest of the family wasn’t available on her actual birthday, so Rich and I had them over to our house for dinner and cake and presents, just the five of us! Again, Happy Birthday and we love you so much!!!

 

Then on Wednesday evening, Jonathan came in town to say goodbye to us as he is moving to Utah! We will miss him so much! We were thankful for the opportunity to spend the evening with him and he even treated us to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, where we all ate too much and enjoyed each other’s company!

 

 

 

Back at our house, we found ourselves in a discussion about what Jonathan planned to do with his gorgeous, amazing bedroom set. He loved it but knew that it wouldn’t be practical to keep it since he’d probably be living in a small space for the time he’d be in Utah. Before I knew what was happening, he and Rich were bartering and negotiating, and at 10 PM the decision was made that we would be buying the bedroom set from him! 

The only problem with the decision being made that late was that the set was completely packed away, deep in the recesses of Jonathan’s trailer. Everything he owned would have to be moved out of the trailer in order to get the bedroom set out, and then, obviously, everything would need to be loaded back up again. Jonathan was open to the idea, but estimated that it would be a three-hour (not-so-fun) process. 

I looked at Rich, smiled, and blurted, “Carpe Diem!” So we all threw on work clothes, grabbed some ice water, and ran downstairs to begin the process! Sometime around 1:00 AM (and once the guys had assembled the bed in our room) I told the guys I couldn’t handle any more (those of you who know me are already surprised that I made it until 1 AM) and I left them alone to load everything back up again.

 

 

Jonathan grabbed this photo before I fell into bed, and yes, the wall color looks horrible with the new bedroom set. I will be painting this week!

And so, four and a half hours after we began, at around 2:30 in the morning, Rich fell into bed alongside me and said that the re-loading had gone well. We were so sad to say goodbye to Jonathan the next morning, but we are excited for him as new adventures unfold! Thank you again for dinner, Jonathan, and thank you for being willing to endure all of that hard work for us! We are forever grateful! 

 

Then, Thursday evening was such a treat! The legendary Denis Reggie came to our local PUG Group and spoke. Denis is referred to as the ”Father of Wedding Photojournalism” and we were more than honored to meet him and listen to his presentation at the Holritz’s home. 

The family: 

 

Myself and the wonderful, amazing Amber: 

 

And thank you so much to Nathan for these photos of Denis’s presentation: 

 

 

 

Friday night was no less fun! Jason and Kellie came over and we enjoyed a dinner and game night. The official game never actually happened, but we did some impromptu improv, a little tv watching, and some trailer viewing! We love these two and are SO thankful for their friendship!  

 

I’m not sure if someone said “pucker up” or “look like gang members” but we managed to look rather ambiguous

 

Saturday was a blast, also, as our nephew Jake turned 7! Rich had an appointment but Alana and I enjoyed watching some soccer and then a birthday bash at McDonalds! 

Here, Jake spends some time with Alana - so cute! He’s so good with her! 

 

 

My mother in law with Jeff and Jackie’s little Adeline! 

 

While at McDonald’s, I broke down and gave Alana her first french fry. She liked it. Shoot. 

 

Her first time at a McDonald’s play place: 

 

 

And this is just another way in which Alana endears herself to Rich and I. She has started doing an adorable little “head tilt” just for fun. It’s as if she knows how cute it is. We, of course, do it right back at her, and on and on it goes. I finally caught it on film yesterday: