The Walkers

Sometimes when I fall asleep holding Kaiya, she gets a pool of drool on the top of her head. When the ringing phone wakes me up, I practice saying "hello" a couple times in an attempt to minimize my man-voice. Every once in a while, I just give all my students A's on their papers and call it a "present". Really, I just don't feel like reading them. Sometimes when I'm sleeping in on a day off and I hear the garage door (meaning Brad's home unexpectedly), I hurry and jump in the shower so that my husband will think I'm somewhat productive. I've been known to buy new underwear instead of just doing the laundry. I have totally scared myself (like, screamed out loud scared myself) in the middle of the night by catching my reflection in the mirror and thinking I've seen a ghost. Twice.

The best three investments a girl can ever make: #1. Black knee boots #2. A jogging stroller #3. A husband who jogs Brad takes Kaiya for a run a few days a week after work and she LOVES it. I might love it too - I get a whole hour at home to myself. It's getting kind of cold, though, so we bundled her up pretty well the other day before they hit the pavement. I'll be so sad when it snows and I don't get my "alone" time anymore. (Is that awful?) I love her Cabbage Patch Kid smile. Oh, and she's getting pretty good at that standing thing. Last night we caught her one-handed. FYI: Tylenol is good for teething in more ways than one. (Relax. She can't get the lid off. Yet.)

I went to get Kaiya after her nap yesterday and she was standing up in her crib! I thought it was really cute so after changing her diaper and whatnot, I got my camera, put her back in, and tried to take a picture. Apparently she thought I was trying to put her back to bed because this was the result... The close up just made it worse. I did manage to get this really creepy, really chubby pose. And this "almost" smile. So much for that Kodak moment. Anyway - on to some other fun stuff: Here's Kaiya showing me her new teefs. (Which are totally coming in crooked; should I be worried?) And she loves to crawl around with stuff hanging out of her mouth. It's usually a sock or the ear of a stuffed animal... this time it was a necklace smuggled by Isabel from Nana Walker's house. (I've got to remember to give that back.)

I was talking to my friend Jen about Yann Martel’s Life of Pi recently, and she reminded me of the following idea - The author refers to agnostics as being caught up in “the thrall of reason, that fool’s gold for the bright.” This line is so telling of our generation. I think that agnosticism is a common fallback for people who consider themselves to be too smart for religion, but to me, it just seems like they’re too lazy for it. (At least atheists believe in something .) Maybe God exists… Maybe not… There’s no structure, so there’s no accountability. And what's the point in living if not to progress? I think Martel sums up his argument effectively with these words: “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”

My mom and dad got to see about twelve hours of THIS yesterday -- man, Idaho is boring -- on their drive back to Washington. I am so sick of saying goodbye to them. They came to visit for a week after dropping Matty off at BYU Idaho, and I'm not sure when I'll see them again (February, maybe?). This sucks. Will someone please give my dad a million dollars so that he can retire and move here?

Thanks to everyone who came out last Saturday to support Meg's Miracle. We were able to raise a lot more money than expected and had a ton of fun in the process! Laurel has (as always)posted an excessive amount of pictures on her blog/Picasa if you're interested.... I just thought these two were funny. Kaiya was SO good all day. Look at that bald beauty!

Some of you probably know my big brother, Scott and his wife, Megan. They are seriously two of my favorite people in the world. (I even like their dogs.) They're usually pretty private, self-sufficient people and will probably be embarrassed when they see this post, but oh well :) For the past several years Megan and Scott have been battling infertility. It seems like more and more of my friends are dealing with issues like this and it sucks. There's no other way to describe it. Megan and Scott would make amazing parents; they're already the best aunt and uncle EVER. It just doesn't seem fair that they are still waiting for their turn to have kids. But I have faith that someday, somehow they'll get their children whom I know are waiting for them too. It's been a long, hard road. From fertility meds to artificial insemination to in-vitro fertilization to adoption prospects, nothing has worked. Yet. And I won't itemize all the other crap (non-fertility related...