Up next...

This last week I got a job! It's in Livermore, CA (Bay Area) working as an industrial hygienist for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It was a stellar opportunity and we both feel great about the situation. I'm actually a native of the Bay Area, so it's like a homecoming for me. It will be nice to show Mal and Madie around my old stomping grounds. Since it's a federal facility (Dept. of Energy), they bring in private consulting/contracting companies to do the work for them and the government is the 'customer'. It's actually a lot like the Idaho National Laboratory, where I did my internship last summer. The contract will expire in August, but they are negotiating the extension of the contract right now. If the contract expires in August, then we have other possibilities. In my experience, one opportunity always leads to another.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay.

This is what Livermore looks like in the spring, where we will most likely live near/or in.

Of course...what would a blog post be without a photo of Madie? This is her in our laundry basket.

I May Have Married An Axe Murderer

Here's picture of the Salt Lake Temple taken in the courtyard of the Church Office Building. It was from our family outing a couple of weeks ago, but Mike didn't include it in the post. He's so modest! I think he's really got an eye for this kind of thing, and it keeps getting better!

And here is a great video to show she has already adopted her parents' sense of humor. This cracks me up! It's almost as good as hearing her giggling in the back of the car for no apparent reason. All we can figure is she was laughing at Cow (her best friend, for those of you who don't know) because I had hung her by her ring to the handle of the car seat. It's the first time we've ever done it (except for when she was a couple of months old, but she couldn't see it very well because it was too high above her head) so that's the only thing we can think of. It was so cute!

Uh-Oh!

Red alert! We have a standing baby! I have actually been trying to get her to stand while clenching the couch for a while, but the idea didn't really interest Madie. It would last three seconds before she would start screaming. I guess she didn't like being shoved against the couch?? Anyways, this is evidence that she did it! I had to coax her with a National Geographic (which she loves to wrinkle pages with), but she was content and was standing for about ten seconds.

Nothing else to report from our family. Mal's been teaching more and more every day and really seems to enjoy it. Though she comes home and is worn out! It's been a good experience for her so far. As for the job hunting, it's still happening. I get callbacks every once in a while, but it's a grim job market right now. I have been looking for an interpreter job in Salt Lake as of yesterday for Spanish. I think that would be really fun for a little while until I am accepted into a graduate program or find a job in my field.

Madie has been sitting up as well, though she slouches pretty far forward. I tried to upload some videos, but the internet connection isn't letting me!

The First Dance Lesson

Remember back when I said I was going to learn to really dance with my husband? Well, I fiiiiiiiiiinally remembered far enough in advance today to not make any plans. I found this excellent site for learning ballroom dance and it actually lays things out pretty plainly.

Today, we learned the correct posture and hand positions and a basic American style waltz. (I'm not sure what the difference is, they just had "International," "Latin," and "American.") We also learned to do it with the quarter turn and the reverse turn.

Then Madie woke up.

We both had a lot of fun with it. I think it'll be great learning to ballroom dance! I've always thought it was so beautiful. The best part is, I don't have to drag my husband kicking and screaming through it. He's eager to learn!

A Long Lost Memory

Yesterday one of my mentor teachers was telling me a story about his little four-year-old daughter deliberating with herself about sending money from her piggy-bank to the Haitians after watching an ad asking for money on TV. Her parents suggested it, but tried not to push it too hard. Finally she came to the conclusion that she would like to. He said it was the proudest moment of his short fatherhood.

It recalled to mind another intuitive, sweet moment in childhood.

When Jacob was really little--I'm talking like, four or five--he developed a sincere fear of death. I remember him not being able to get to sleep at night because he was so scared he wouldn't wake in the morning. This went on for maybe a few days and finally Mom and Dad tried to help him out with it by talking to him about it. Jacob still wasn't totally soothed though until Sam, who was about seven then, came in and gave this awesome metaphor:

Jake, life is like going outside to play. Mom and Dad send us out to play all day if we want. But sooner or later, it's gonna get dark and it's gonna get cold, and then you'll want to go back inside.

Just goes to show the depth of a little kid. Man, they're creepy that way.

Creeeeeeeepppppppyyyyyyyyy!

So THIS is probably the creepiest thing you'll see this year, and we just got started!

I mean, it's not that I don't feel a little pang of disappointment when people ask how old my son is, even though it's overwhelmed by a much larger pang of pity for the stupidity of the observer for not being able to recognize the delicate, feminine bone structure and Jersey-cow eyes and lashes--she is clearly a girl! Either way, I would NEVER put one of these creepy baby wigs.

I can be pretty vain. I realize that. I try not to be, but there are certain things I'm vain about. I just figure as long as I don't waste away in front of the mirror and as long as I don't project my vanity onto others (*ahem* like my child!) then I'm okay. I also figure, the baby doesn't care! She's clueless! It's not like an old friend of mine who was tall and very slender and kept her hair cropped very short--she too looked feminine, but in the audience of a darkened theater a performer calling for a participant addressed her as "sir." Yikes! Poor girl. She was old enough to feel embarrassed. Honestly, when people say, "Oh, you are just the cutest little boy!" my girl cracks a big, toothless grin with a string of drool. If you're lucky, she won't spit up all over you.

I know a place to go....downtown

Mallory didn't have to go to school today, so we decided to explore Salt Lake a little bit. There are some historical sites that I visited when I was a kid that I really can't remember at all, and some that Mal has never visited before. We decided to check it out!

Our first stop was the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, aka the former Hotel Utah. The interior of the building is just amazing, there are so many ornate features that really make you feel like you are in a royal palace. We saw the chapel where the Apostles attend when they are in town on Sundays, and a few other banquet rooms. This picture above was taken on the 10th floor of the building, overlooking the west end observatory window. Madie was so good today! She didn't freak out at all.

Here is another good one of Mal and Madie. After this we headed to the Beehive House (Brigham Young's home) and saw how they lived. It's interesting to see things when you are older because it's like you are seeing it for the first time, completely different eyes.

After the Beehive House, we headed over to the Church Office Building, and I went on an elevator to the 26th floor to look at the city from the observation decks. The view wasn't great due to the severity of the inversion, but you could still see quite a bit. Mal and Madie decided stay in the lobby and rest a little bit. Our final stop on our tour was the new Church Library/Archives building, next to the Conference Center. It was really impressive, and I wish we had more time to take a tour. The building is only six months old, and is full of everything from residential records to Baptist history books. They also have a tour where they take you to the Joseph Smith Papers that are on display. Maybe next time.