Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Anyone who is reading this, I'm sure is already aware that the Aggies lost their bowl game :( So I won't dwell on it a ton. But we did end up going, and I'm really glad that we did. It was a lot of fun, and the game was...good except the last 2 minutes. There ended up being a smorgasbord of people that we went with. Josh drove in a car with his friend Jonny, his brother Jake, and Jake's friend Kami. I drove in a car with myself and Meili, my parents, my brother and his wife, daughter, and dog. We left Saturday the 17th at about 10 in the morning and got to Boise about an hour before the game. After the game, we ate dinner at Cheesecake Factory and left the next morning. My car stopped at Shoshone Falls on the way home-which was beautiful!

The players as they were coming on the field

Josh, Meili, and I. Look at how cute her hat is-made by my talented friend, Hope. Our tickets were pretty good-we were on the bottom level on about the 20 yard line. Luckily for us, most of the action happened right in front of us.

Spuddy Buddy: the mascot for the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

This is the view from where Josh was sitting

Kami, Jake, Josh, Meili, Nelson, and Jonny

The good news about the game...

-The Aggies played really well, and dominated most of the game.

-It was cold, but not as cold as I thought it was going to be-and warm enough that we were able to take Meili with us.

-We supported the Aggies in their first bowl game in a long time.

-The Aggies won more games this year than the last 3 years Josh played combined.

The bad news...

-The Aggies lost.

-In my (very humble, uneducated) opinion, it wasn't the players fault that they lost-which was the part that sucked the most for me. When Josh played, we were always able to say that the O-line didn't block well enough, or the quarterback made poor decisions, or they had stupid penalties. I felt like we lost this game, purely by conservative coaching and play calls.

-It came down to the last 2 minutes-which was the story in about 9 or 10 of the games this year, and one of these days, that is going to be the death of me.

-It was still cold.

I'm still so glad we went, and excited for next year. Go Aggies!

The Month of the Hair

This month, I realized that Meili doesn't fight me as much when I try to do her hair anymore and when I do it in the bathtub, it's even better. Plus, her hair is also getting to the length where I can do more than the one ponytail on top of her head. So I have, of course, taken full advantage of that. Therefore, many of the pictures I took have to do with her hair.

I wish you could see this better because her little pigtails were so cute!

A different way I tried pigtails.

This next picture is called "Unsupervised..."

Ha Ha! Love this picture! Naughty or nice? You decide?

The added bonus of doing her hair is that when I take it out at night, it looks all crazy like this!!

As for milestones for the month...

-The first question everyone asks-is she walking? Well...no...not exactly. She got to the point where she was pretty comfortable walking the length of the rooms throughout our house, but then we went to Boise, and she was always either in her car seat or being held, so now she's backtracked a little. But we're not concerned because she is fully capable, it will just be on her own time-like so many other things in her life.

-She started out the month shaking her head at everything: "Do you want to eat this?" (Head shake.) "Do you want to read this book?" (Head shake.) "What would you like to eat? (Head shake.) Then she started kind of saying "Na," now she has learned a very distinct "Nooo!" and yes, that is still the answer to everything.

-She still has just the 2 crooked teeth, but I'm thinking another is trying to pop through right now.

-She's mimicking more and more everyday, and gets more and more fun everyday.

If I Could DVR My Life

I promised myself that after Meili turned one, I would stop the monthly updates. But then she just did too many things this month and I made the last year of my blog into a digital scrapbook-which I love! So, I guess you will have to put up with more regular updates.

Maybe it's the fact that Meili turned one, and so now I really realize how fast time goes, or maybe now it's sunken in that she will only be this size for today, but this month, I've just kept thinking about how I wish that I had the whole last month recorded. I know there would be so many scenes that I would replay over and over.

As far as milestones...

-At the beginning of the month, Meili finally got her first tooth! By the end of the month she has...one tooth. And it looks like it might be coming in a little crooked. But we'll take it! We have all worked hard for that one tooth.

-Meili has taken up to six steps at a time, but for the most part, she's just stubborn. She'll try to walk when she wants to, but if we try to push it at all, she just sits down. So we're letting her go at her own pace.

-It's as if Meili now knows that she is a one-year-old. She all of a sudden got super picky about eating. There was about a week, that she would eat fruit and junk food and that was it. She also decided that it's time for her to start talking. She jabbers to everyone as if they should know exactly what she is saying.

-She has just barely started making animal noises. She's done a lion/panda/tiger a few times (because in our family, they're all the same noise-roar), and she's pretty good about doing a monkey-especially if she sees a picture.

-She also points at things that she wants, and waves bye when she feels like it.

-And of course, the development we're most excited about (sarcasm)...She is OBSESSED with the book The Night Before Christmas. I like the book and everything, but I just don't understand how kids pick their favorites. It's a book much like many of the other books we have, but she wants to read this multiple times a day, and multiple times in a row. Today I tried just talking to her about the pictures, and she looked up at me like "those aren't the words."

K, we're shifting topics now...

This is titled "How the Gods of Football Shined Down (yes, that's right-shined) on Romney Stadium." So for those of you that don't want to read about Aggie football for the next couple of paragraphs, you are welcome to skip this section.

Starting off with some background...I have been somewhat of a fan of Aggie football for as long as I can remember. But more seriously for the last 8 years. For as long as I can remember the Aggies haven't been very good at football. Listen...I endured 3 years of Josh playing football, and in 3 years, the team won nine games. One season the offense didn't score a single point in 4 games straight, and I became the Queen of finding the silver lining. I also endured games that we lost 42-0, 63-10, and screwed up in games in every way imaginable. But I pressed on and never lost faith-I also never believed that things would really get better. In all those years, I have never been so frustrated, and disheartened as I have been this season...And in the end, that just makes the story that much better.

So, now fast forward to the Louisiana Tech game this year. It was truly disgusting, and after 4 should-have-been wins that we lost in the fourth quarter, I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I told Josh that I wasn't going to anymore games this year. But, Josh being the wonderful banker that he is, he ended up getting tickets to the San Jose State game because he was the best in the district. So I felt bad not using tickets that were given to him as a reward.

The week before the game, I kept going back and forth trying to decide if I could handle another heartbreak, because it was supposed to be really bad weather. The day of the game, it was snowing pretty hard. I waited and waited and waited for it to clear up, and it never did. So about an hour and a half before the game, I texted a couple of my friends to see if they would watch Meili. I still hadn't heard from either by 12:30, and the game was at 1. So Josh started to get ready to go without me. Right when he was on his way out the door, one of my friends texted me back, and said she could watch Meili. So I got ready as fast as I could, we got a bunch of cold gear together, dropped Meili off, and made it to the game a few minutes late.

Josh had heard that if we took cans of food to the game, we could get free Chick-Fila. So we started walking around to find where we needed to turn the food in. As Josh was walking around he told me to stop by the Icon table to guess our scores for halftime. I filled out my guess, then wrote down all of his information, looked to see if Josh was anywhere nearby to guess his score-but I couldn't see him, so I wrote down the first 2 numbers that came to my mind. Utah State 10, San Jose 7.

And then there was the game. It was pretty much the same as usual...awful. Only this time it was colder.

At half time the Aggies were down 20 to 7. I asked Josh if he was ready to go home, and he said that if the Aggies got down by 3 scores, we would leave. Right before the second half started, they announced the winner of the Icon half time prediction. Someone named Josh Anderson. Hmm...that's weird. It couldn't be MY Josh because his score was off by 13 points total-which is quite a bit of difference when it comes to football. Josh wanted to go check.

We walked up to the table, and I said, "My husband's name is Josh Anderson, but it couldn't be him, cause his score was WAY off." (I should know, I guessed it.) The man at the table showed me the paper and sure enough, my handwriting. So JOSH WON A TREADMILL! Yea!

But that's only the beginning of how the gods of football shined down on Romney Stadium...

(I just wanted to point out, that everything had to align for us to win the treadmill. If I hadn't gone to the game, if we hadn't gotten to the game late, if it hadn't been so cold, we probably never would have won. So it was meant to be. Someone knew that Josh and I are truly meant to be skinnier.)

Now, we'll fast forward to the 4th quarter. If there's one thing I know about the Aggies, it's that incredible things happen in Romney Stadium. However, usually they do not benefit the Aggies. In the 4th quarter, the same player (who will remain nameless, because I think he was also partly responsible for the win in the end) turned the ball over 3 times in 3 consecutive series! So I figured this was just more of the same that I have seen for years. But somehow, in someway, the Aggies pulled ahead! It came down to the last 3 seconds in the game, and I knew that even with 3 seconds-it wouldn't last. San Jose decided at the last minute to try for a field goal...a 69 yard field goal. Josh said to me, "I know no one in the NFL has kicked a field goal that far, but I don't know about college." Yeah, famous last words. I had flash backs of Fresno, who, a few years ago beat us at the last second with a 59 yard field goal-which was a school record. Like I said, if there's anything I know about the Aggies, it's that with them, incredible things happen. Luckily, someone had a lot more faith than I did, because the Aggies BLOCKED THE FIELD GOAL, and we miraculously won the game!! What a beautiful day!

That's just the beginning...

After the game, the commentators on the radio started talking about bowl games. They said that if the Aggies won 2 of their last 3 games, they would be bowl eligible-which hasn't happened since 1997. If one of the 2 games they won was Nevada, they would have better than 50% chance of going to a bowl game. If one of their wins wasn't Nevada, they would have less than 50% chance of going to a bowl game. I really had no hope then. In all 6 years that the Aggies have been in the WAC, there's 2 teams they've never beat: Boise and Nevada, and with the rocky road they had had this year-no way.

Without going into anymore detail. Yes, the Aggies did beat Nevada-which is unbelievable in itself to me. Even after the win, I still didn't believe they would get a bowl game. One thing my dad has drilled into my head is that NCAA stands for Nobody Cares About the Aggies.

But then, the announcement came on Monday. Not only did the Aggies get invited to a bowl game, but they got invited to one that is extremely close to us, and if everything goes as planned, Josh and I will be spending Saturday December 17th at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho!!! WOO HOO!

Here is our beautiful girl-who was such a trooper at the Nevada game!

Go Aggies! I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN! I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN! I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!

The Excitement Continues

As I said in the last post, Meili's birthday party was this Saturday. Even though it was November 5th (because that worked the best as far as scheduling), I still wanted to do a Halloween party. Our house was super crowded, because Josh and I both have big families now and there were lots of rowdy kids, and the whole thing was a little bit chaotic. But I still thought it was super fun, and we're very grateful for everyone who came and was a good sport about all the chaos.

(I always forget to take pictures of the decorations before the party, so this was after the fact. But you can still see them.) My sister, mom and I made these pumpkins a few years ago as Thanksgiving decorations, and my mom let me borrow them for the event. I still love them!

I made the banner and am hoping that it will hold up for a few years, so I can get my money's worth out of it. Scrapbook paper is more expensive than it was the last time I bought single sheets! I also made the cupcakes-which was quite a fiasco. We had pumpkin (against Josh's wishes), chocolate, and funfetti (because I LOVE funfetti!)

The night started with some kids games, including face painting. Two of my friends from work were nice enough to agree to do the face painting (even though they wanted everyone to know that they are not pro.) I thought they did a great job, and the kids loved it! Thanks Jen and Jillian.

I'm sure Bren (and Jillian) would like me to let everyone know that this is a snake and not a worm!

Alex and his spider.

Alex and Bren came back later for bats too!

This is the best picture I got of Meili in her bee costume. Even though she hates costumes she did pretty well with this one throughout the night. I think there was so much going on, that she forgot she was wearing it.

Look who came to Meili's party! It's Dwight and Jim from the office! (Hee Hee Hee) My sister-in-law Sarah, prepped us for Shasta's costume by saying how excited she was, and what a good costume it was. I was not expecting this!! She even has her stuff in jello with her!

What a good sport! I'm sure she'll get revenge on them later for dressing her up like this!

Here's another example of parent's torturing their kids when they have no say. Wynn was such a cute little stinker. Everytime I saw him, he was still smiling, even though his parents are so mean!!

Chloe the cat, and Gigi the cheerleader. (My very talented mom made both their costumes!)

Audrey as none other than Fancy Nancy!

My sister Bethany with Kennedy...

...who is obviously Pebbles

Yes, it was Meili's birthday, but I think the skunk was Josh's highlight. While Meili was opening presents, Josh got a little sidetracked taking pictures.

Get me out of here!

Meili opening shoes from Grandma and Grandpa

An Aggie outfit from Jake

I added this picture because it shows the stroller that we got for Meili (which I was super excited about), and it does a little bit of justice for the chaos that was Meili's party.

Here's Meili just getting going with her cake. She started out by taking the spiders off. Then she picked all the little purple dots off and ate them. Then she dug her fingers in through the spider web. When she really got going, and started getting messy, she dropped the cake on the floor. I think she enjoyed herself.

I was trying to get a picture of her messy face, and she was distracted, so when I tried to get her attention, I startled her and she started crying. It's sad, but I kind of like this picture.

What a fun family Meili has! Thanks everyone for coming, and for all your love for Meili. She is so lucky!

Too Excited to Sleep

There was a Disneyland commercial when I was younger, where a family was getting ready to go to Disneyland, and she went into her parents room in the middle of the night and told them that she was too excited to sleep. I totally know the feeling.

I told Josh and my mom in the last couple of weeks that I have never been so excited for a birthday in my life. (Granted, my sisters disagree. They think I was probably more excited for my own birthday when I was 5, 8, or 10 (Inside joke)). In the last month, I can think of at least a few nights that I couldn't sleep because I was planning for Meili's birthday. The funny thing is, I knew exactly how it was going to go: she would have no idea that her birthday was any different than any other day. I would go to work and she would go to daycare. She would take a few naps, we'd try to get her to eat food. Then we'd try to get her to open presents, and she'd wonder why we were making her go through so much work to see clothes that look like everything else that's already in her closet. Yes, not much would change on that day, but I was still so excited.

This wasn't actually on her birthday. When Josh bought seeds for our garden, he bought pumpkin seeds, because he said that Meili would need a pumpkin since her birthday is on Halloween. We planted 4 plants, and got this one tiny pumpkin. Lucky for us, it's just the right size for Meili and she loved it.

I love this picture. It totally looks like she's posing. Because Meili's birthday is on Halloween, and we were having her party this weekend, the only "birthday stuff" that we did on her birthday, was open presents. I also didn't make her actually dress up for Halloween, since she would have to wear her costume at her party, and she doesn't particularly like costumes.

Don't you just love that picture!

I've shopped for presents for Meili all month (well actually for a few months.) and I might as well have just stopped with this ball. It was her favorite! I took A LOT of pictures with the ball, but they're all blurry because she was moving too fast cause she was so excited. (I also could have gotten her a camera, because rather than opening presents, she just wanted to play with my camera.)

I thought she would like this car the most. (I feel like these cars are kind of a standard one-year old present.) She doesn't like it so much. She hasn't even touched it since her birthday, and we've stopped trying to get her to play with it. (And we got it for super cheap which is why it looks like a boy car.)

New developments this month:

-Meili tried really hard to get some teeth out before her first birthday-but with little success. We can see them barely under her gums, so any day now.

-I also had a glimmer of hope that she would start walking before her birthday, but no such luck. She took 3 steps on the 22nd, but now, even though I think she could walk, she chickens out. She's kind of regressed, so now I don't know if she will even before Thanksgiving.

-We've started transitioning from bottles. I really think Meili couldn't care less. She's never been much of a food girl anyway. Josh and I are just having a hard time cause bottles are so convenient.

-She's pretty much transitioned to whole milk, and didn't mind that change either.

-Her chattering just gets more fun everyday.

-And, no matter how hard I try, I can't get her to keep shoes on for anything.

At her doctor's appointment on Friday, she weighed 17 lbs. even (with a full diaper no less). Which puts her barely below the chart (in the 2nd percentile). Can you believe that? She's gained one pound in 3 months! I do think it's funny that she was exactly 8 lbs. when she was born, and exactly 17 at her 12 month appointment. She was also 29 1/2 inches which is the 63 percentile. So at least her weight can be a little more evenly distributed in her body.

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

1 Year pictures

After reading the title, I know, you're thinking, "Have you gone nuts Kaleena?" Well, as a matter of fact I have. But, in spite of that fact, I do realize that Meili is not 1 year old yet. Oh, trust me, I am savoring every last minute of my baby before I have to start calling her a toddler. However, I decided at the last minute that I wanted to get Meili's 1 year pictures taken outside before it got too cold. So, one of my coworker's husband's, who is an aspiring photographer, graciously agreed to try his hand with our crazy little wiggle worm. After the first few outside, he said that she was doing better than other kids that he had worked with...I think he was regretting his words later that night :) JK! I think she did as well as can be expected for the fact that I had tried on about 7 outfits on her that day, and she didn't get to do anything she wanted for about 2 hours straight. Anyway, enough talk... Brady, Jillian, and Holly, thank you very much for all your hard work! We love them!

For the rest of you, enjoy...

This is more of an outtake, but how cute is that face?

How big is Meili? SO Big!

And, I AM HERE!

I love this picture, because Meili has a Pooh Bear like this that she loves, and she will just go up and cuddle with him randomly.

This is Jillian's family's horse, how cute is that?

Please don't grow up anymore baby. I can't handle it.

11 Months

So, for real this time, this is my favorite stage of Meili's so far. I swear, she gets more and more fun every month.

-I think it was toward the end of last month that she learned to get down the stairs by herself. That made life a lot easier for me because now she can go up and down all day, as much as she wants.

-She also has gotten better about playing by herself.

-Meili is chattering more and more everyday, and Josh and I like to pretend that she is saying whatever it is that it sounds like.

-She has gotten better at cruising around the furniture, but she really can't stand by herself, so I don't know if she'll start walking this month or if it will be next month, but probably pretty soon.

-One of my favorite things, is that she gets more cuddly the older she gets. When she is playing, every once in awhile, she will turn around and just come hug Josh or I. I LOVE THAT! She also has a baby that she hugs every time she sees it, and a Pooh Bear that she loves to cuddle with.

-While we were in Texas she learned how to clap, and that's the only thing, so far, that we can get her to do on command.

-I also like that we can feed her pretty much anything we're eating.

Yes, I've loved this month, but I'm sad that this is the last month before she turns one. She's so old :(

In this picture, I think Meili is saying, "Not now, Mom! This is so embarrasing!"

This is of Meili eating a donut. Yes, she is taking after both her mom and dad, and she LOVES sweets. I don't know how babies know what is good for them and what isn't right off the bat, but if we try to feed her bread and a donut at the same time, she will turn down the bread, and always eat the donut! I don't get it, but it happens every time!

There was a time that I said that Meili was pretty neat when she was eating. Those days are long gone!

I wish this picture wasn't blurry! Because I swear that's the cutest face I've ever seen!

Yes, she also likes ice cream sandwiches :)

And I gave Meili her first haircut today. Yes, that was pretty much as many hairs as I cut. And yes, there is more hair than that when I shave my legs. But it really was a huge difference, and I couldn't stop looking at the change all day long. Such a big girl!