Out of the Mouth of a Toddler

Rachel makes us laugh and smile on a daily basis by some of the things she says. Here are some of our conversations that I have remembered recently:

• Once we found out we were pregnant I had to go to our huisart (family doctor) in order to get a referral to a midwife. After going to the huisart I called Andy to fill him on how it went. Rachel wanted to talk to Andy as well. Andy asked Rachel what the doctor said and without missing a beat Rachel responded, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!".
• Rachel loves to start out our prayers. They go something like this: "Heavenly Father... Thank you.... Mommy feel good.... Blessings.....(we fill in some blanks)Amen." It's so sweet to hear her say "mommy feel good" since I felt so crummy the first couple months of this pregnancy.
• Rachel surprised Andy one night by informing him that she had a string on her pajamas. He asked her where she learned the word string from and Rachel simply responded, "Texas".
• One day I was laying on the bed on my side and Rachel climbed up on the bed. She quickly patted my bottom and told me, "Cute bum, Mom". I'm glad someone thinks I have a cute bum! :)
• Andy asked Rachel what his name was the other day. Usually she'll say "Andy or Drew". Well, that day she responded by saying, "Handsome". I guess Rachel listens when her mom calls her dad handsome! :)
• Last night we were driving home from the grocery store and looking for another train along the track for Rachel to see. Soon enough we saw one up ahead, but it wasn't moving and was obviously not working. We told Rachel it was broken and she quickly asked, "batteries?".

Grandma's & Uncle Jeff's Visit

Believe it or not I was excited to get home from London. Why, you might ask? Well, my mom and brother were waiting for me at my house! They flew in a couple hours before I got back from London. They were here the whole first week of June and we had a ton of fun. It was wonderful to have visitors and to spend time together. Rachel absolutely loved having her grandma for a roommate and whenever Jeff was out of her sight she became quite concerned. Rachel loved all the surprises that Uncle Jeff and Grandma brought her. :) Here are the adventures of our busy, fun week! We took it pretty easy on Monday and headed to Zaanse Schans to check out some windmills. We didn't last very long there because it was so warm! We even tried to duck into a souvenir shop for awhile, in hopes of cooling down, but it was worse inside than outside. The Dutch really need to consider the benefits of A/C! Tuesday morning we then all boarded a plane and headed to Barcelona, Spain. We spent the next three days in Barcelona and enjoyed the cooler weather down by the Mediterranean Sea! We purchased a 2-day pass on a hop-on, hop-off tourist bus, which basically took us to all the must-sees in Barcelona. It was well worth the money and we enjoyed the narrative history that we learned while we rode the bus. One of the first places we got off at was the Park Guell. We had a good time exploring the park and were able to take some pictures with great views of Barcelona. Before getting on the tour bus on Wednesday we checked out the Palau Reial, which is a royal palace that was built in 1924. Once we were on the tour bus, one of our first stops was Sagrada Familia. It's a church that was started in the late 19th-century and is still under construction today. After touring through Sagrada Familia we headed over toe Placa de Catalunya. You can see Rachel trying to get the birds to allow her to "hold you". Uncle Jeff bought some bird food and Rachel loved having all the birds around. We also stopped off at the Palau Nacional. We definitely saw some architectural marvels while we were in Barcelona. Of course a trip to Barcelona wouldn't be complete without a stop at the beach. Even though the water wasn't that warm it didn't take Rachel that long to enjoy it. It was tough to get her away from the water so we could get some dinner! :) We then spent Thursday morning at the Barcelona Aquarium. Rachel enjoyed checking out the fish.
Thursday afternoon we walked around Barcelona a bit more and then headed back to Amsterdam. We definitely enjoyed our trip to Barcelona. We couldn't have asked for better weather and it was fun to see some more of Europe. On Friday we headed into Amsterdam for the day. I guess we were pictured out, because I don't have any pictures of our adventures that day. We did take a canal boat tour and once again it was awfully warm. We missed our cool Barcelona weather! :) On Saturday morning we went to Clara Maria to see how Dutch shoes and cheese are made. We got that quick outing in right before having to head to the airport. It was no fun saying good-bye to Grandma and Uncle Jeff. We all enjoyed having them here. Rachel hasn't slept as well since her roommate has been gone. :) We're so glad they were able to make it out to visit!

London, England

On May 29th I headed to London for a trip with some friends. It was so much fun! Rachel had tons of fun with her daddy and I enjoyed a trip with lots of freedom. :) As I met up with Claire and Ruthie at the airport we discovered we were all wearing green. So, we of course had to take a picture once we got checked into our hotel in London. Thursday afternoon we did a tour at Westminster Abbey. It was amazing how much history there was and how huge it was! We then headed to the Piccadilly Circus area. On our way we grabbed a picture of Claire in one of London's famous telephone booths.
And then of course it had to start raining. The three of us wouldn't make good Boy Scouts, because we certainly weren't prepared. We quickly ducked into a souvenir shop and purchased some cheap ponchos. Aren't we cute? Through the rain we head to Trafalgar Square in search of the Texas Embassy Cantina. The salsa, chips, free refills, and my chimichanga were all good, but the rice and beans weren't that impressive. We wanted to see if London truly knew how to pull off a Tex-Mex dinner. After dinner we found a poor guard that we had our picture taken with. And then it was on to Les Miserables. Our sweet friend Amy treated us all to the show and we wish she could have been there with us. It was so good and definitely my favorite show of the trip.

I guess my picture taking slowed down on Friday. We slept in late, did lots of shopping, and then even Ruthie and I headed back to the hotel in the afternoon for a nap. We were enjoying our vacation! My big purchases were a pair of sandals and a puppy that does flips for Rachel. Friday night we headed to The Osmonds 50th Anniversary Show. Not exactly my generation, but it was part of the package deal of the trip. I did enjoy the show though and even recognized a few songs! :) Friday night we stayed out way too late, because we went out to eat after the show. I've just gotten too old to stay up until 2 am! :) Here we are eating past midnight...
Saturday morning we were pretty lazy (I wonder why!) and really didn't get going until about 11 am. We then did some more exploring and shopping. Ruthie and I enjoyed lunch at T.G.I.Fridays. It was so nice to have free refills! I also loved that when people spoke to you, the first language they spoke was English. You didn't have to ask for English. And everything around you was advertised in English. It was great! It was nice to have more of an American feel since it will be awhile until we head back for home leave. Saturday night we went to see Wicked. Great show! It was definitely worth seeing.
I think we were all sound asleep by midnight on Saturday night - we'd worn ourselves out. We slept in on Sunday and then headed home. It was such a fun trip with such wonderful memories. It was so much fun to go see and do so much. Andy was such a good dad and husband to take care of everything while I was gone. I wish he could have enjoyed the plays with me. One day we'll go see them together! :)

Early Christmas Present...

We are looking forward to our early Christmas present expected to arrive some time around December 1, 2008! It will definitely be an interesting experience having a baby in Holland, but we are excited for the new addition to our family. It is quite common to have a home birth, no medication, and of course the use of midwives in The Netherlands. We are using a midwife, but have been insistent about a hospital birth. As far as medication goes, it all depends on when the baby comes. The anetheseologist only works from 9-5, Monday-Friday. So, it will depend on when the baby decides to arrive. :) We have had two midwife appointments so far, one at 9 weeks and the other at 13 weeks. They did ultrasounds at both appointments, which I was impressed by! Below you can see some pictures of our 13 week visit. We could see the baby kicking away and waving to us on the computer screen. The appointments are a bit different than the U.S. They take my blood pressure each time, but I have yet to be weighed. I guess they don't worry about weight gain... We meet with the midwife and her assistant each time we go. So far all has gone well and they speak English very well. We head back for another appointment in 2 weeks and then a few weeks after that we'll head to a clinic to find out whether we're having a boy or girl. At the bottom of our blog we have a baby countdown, if anyone is interested. Thanks for all the congratulations and excitement!

Ik ben zwanger!

http://www.freetranslation.com/ (Dutch to English)

100 Interesting Things About Me

I was tagged. I don't know how interesting this is going to be, but here it goes...

1. I was born in Bountiful, Utah.
2. I claim to be from California, even though I have lived more years in Utah.
3. I moved to Fresno, CA when I was 9 years old.
4. I returned to Utah to attend BYU.
5. I have 4 brothers and I'm right in the middle.
6. My dad calls me "the rose between four thorns".
7. I'm a daddy's girl!
8. When I was little I always wanted a sister, but as I grew up I began to realize the many advantages of being the only girl.
9. I am extremely proud of all 4 of my brothers. :)
10. I kept snails as pets when I was little (probably 7 years old).
11. I love talking to my parents on the phone.
12. I moved to Houston, TX when I was 23.
13. I moved to The Netherlands 6 months ago.
14. I have never had any debt (besides my current mortgage).
15. I have been married for 7 years.
16. Andy and I were set up by our fathers.
17. I have a 2-year old daughter named Rachel.
18. I am a very emotional person.
19. I usually cry at least once a day over something I read, see on TV, or something Rachel does that just touches my heart.
20. I'm a homebody - sometimes several days can go by without me going anywhere.
21. I do enjoy traveling, but hate planning trips.
22. I love cruises (not as much planning).
23. I graduated from BYU with a degree in Elementary Education.
24. I got through college in 3 years.
25. I was a teacher for 5 years.
26. I taught two years in Utah and three years in Texas - 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades.
27. Fourth grade was my favorite grade to teach.
28. It wouldn't really bother me if I never went back to teaching, but who knows some day I might...
29. I love to take naps.
30. I love Mexican food.
31. I enjoy reading.
32. I don't really enjoy cooking.
33. I like paying bills.
34. I love chocolate.
35. I don't really have a favorite color.
36. I loved my calculus class in college.
37. I love when Rachel wakes up and sings in her crib.
38. I love that pictures of me when I was Rachel's age look like Rachel.
39. My hair has gone somewhat curly/wavy since Rachel was born.
40. I don't really like to play sports.
41. It drove me crazy growing up when all my brothers would watch was baseball - 4 votes against 1 and I would lose.
42. I love playing games.
43. During my teenage years we really started playing games a ton as a family - almost every Friday or Saturday night - fun times!
44. I love to win and can be pretty competitive.
45. I loved babysitting during my teenage years.
46. I babysat up until I went away for college.
47. I was (still am) a very girly-girl.
48. I loved playing dolls when I was little.
49. I used to complain to my mom that the boys had a lot more G.I. Joes than I had Barbies (I didn't quite understand the price difference).
50. I enjoy movies, but I'm not one to watch them over and over again.
51. I only own about 5 DVDs.
52. I love watching CSI Miami.
53. I actually like going to the dentist.
54. I love the way my teeth feel after a good cleaning.
55. I like foods in their original form - cucumbers and grapes should not be altered into pickles and raisins.
56. I'm not a fan of tomatoes, but can eat them if they're cut up really small.
57. I loved family vacations growing up - trips to the beach were my favorite.
58. I enjoy sewing, but haven't done it enough to really be good at it.
59. I usually enjoy learning how to do new things.
60. I have self-taught myself how to cut Andy's hair since we moved to Holland (Andy's request - haircuts are expensive here).
61. I've been fortunate enough to travel to some really neat places.
62. I'm pretty lazy about my hair and not that creative.
63. I really don't like getting ready every morning.
64. Getting ready for bed isn't much more fun, but I have to do the same routine and the same stuff every night.
65. I cannot sleep with make-up still on - I have to wash my face before going to bed.
66. I'm a side-sleeper.
67. Once the alarm goes off I get up pretty quickly (Andy's the opposite). :)
68. I feel blessed to have a lot of wonderful friends (new and long-timers).
69. I love it when my whole family gets together (it's been two years).
70. Scents leave an impression on me - I have different scents to remind me of different things - my mom, my dad, my honeymoon, etc...
71. I sometimes speak before I think and then really regret what I've said.
72. I don't like confrontation and I really try hard to avoid it.
73. I really don't like making decisions.
74. I like relaxing in a bubble bath with a good book.
75. My hair has gotten darker and darker as I have gotten older.
76. I used to be a blonde.
77. I haven't highlighted my hair since college.
78. I use to get perms in the late 80s and early 90s.
79. I've had a pedicure once.
80. I've had about 3 manicures - proms and my wedding.
81. I love having my toenails painted, but haven't painted them but a few times since Rachel was born.
82. I'm not much of a decorator - our house in Texas was quite "simple".
83. I painted our dining room and front bedroom all by myself - and I must say I did a pretty good job! :)
84. I have actually read the whole Bible front to back.
85. I love hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon.
86. My favorite dessert is a brownie sundae.
87. I love to laugh - really hard and really loud.
88. I enjoy exercising when it's a class of some sort and there's variety.
89. I get very bored of the treadmill.
90. I prefer rice over potatoes.
91. I prefer chicken over red meat.
92. I prefer vanilla milkshakes over chocolate - weird, huh? (except when it comes to frosties).
93. I hate being sick.
94. I'm lucky to be a very healthy person.
95. I have taken a multi-vitamin pretty much every day for the past 10 years.
96. I floss my teeth every night.
97. I love the smell of rain.
98. I enjoy watching lightning storms.
99. I'm generally speaking a very happy, optimistic person.
100. I hope I really didn't bore you to death!

I feel bad tagging people - I don't know why, but I do. So, if you think this is a fun challenge, go for it, and consider yourself tagged! :)

Too Cute!

Rachel sure did look cute yesterday in her new dress. Thanks Grandma and Papa Smith for such a cute dress! Rachel was so excited to wear something new. :)

Funny Story

I hope I get this story right... While I was out Friday night, Andy heard Rachel over the monitor at around 9:30 and she wasn't a happy camper. So of course, he went up to investigate. Here's their conversation:

Andy: Rachel, what's wrong?
Rachel: Change diaper. (Rachel makes a throat clearing sound and waves her hand in front of her face.) Very bad.
Andy: Okay.
Rachel: Lots of wipes.

Andy turned on the hallway light instead of turning on her lamp and that upset Rachel. She didn't want the light on. But Andy explained to her that he needed to be able to see to change her diaper. Once Rachel had a clean diaper on, she didn't forget to say "thank you Daddy". So, Rachel got her diaper changed, Andy sung her a song, and then she went back to bed. Sometimes she surprises us with the things she does! I don't think either of us have ever used the term "lots of wipes". I guess she's one smart girl and hopefully getting closer to being ready to be potty trained! :)

Girl's Night Out

I have the most wonderful friends in the world! Claire, Ruthie, and Amy all treated me to a fun night out to celebrate my birthday. We were also joined by Amy's sister, Karyn, and Amy's baby, McKay. It was so much fun! We took the bus into Amsterdam and had dinner at Hard Rock. And then of course the night wouldn't be complete without a trip to Ben & Jerry's. :) I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends here in Holland. Thanks girls for such a fun night!

Beach Noordwijk

Andy had a holiday on Monday, so we decided to try out our first Dutch beach. It was quite crowded, but we had a great time. It's only a 30-minute drive from our house, so I'm sure we'll make more trips to the beach throughout the summer. The water was freezing cold, but the beaches were nice. No one else really went in the water either, so we weren't the only chickens. We simply enjoyed getting a little sun. Rachel absolutely loved playing in the sand! She first started out by simply grabbing handfuls and letting them go (luckily she didn't exactly throw the sand). Rachel also enjoyed playing with some toys in the sand - we need to purchase some actually beach toys! :) And then one of her favorite things was for her dad to bury her legs in the sand. We had a great time and here are some pictures of our beach adventure: