Ode to a Perfect Diaper

I love my husband. But sometimes men just don't get it--especially when they have a pregnant woman on their hands.

I was given a large bag full of free baby samples. I had as many baby magazines and prenatal vitamins my heart could ever desire. Because this complimentary gift bag was given to me late in my pregnancy I didn't need much of it and because I try to keep our place clean I thought I could sort through it and get rid of some of clutter. Really, this was a BIG bag of stuff. In the midst of all the junk I came across a small Huggies box. I opened it and gasped at the cute newborn diaper that had been placed delicately inside. I removed the diaper and held it in my hands.

This was a great diaper! It had Tigger! It had Pooh Bear! It was beautiful! I could only begin to imagine our small infant son in this fabulous diaper. I admired the organic cotton that Huggies assured it was made out of. Yes, it would only last a few short hours before it would be thrown away but it was worth saving. As I rested my eyes on the diaper I realized that it had, in many ways, become a symbol of our baby. It was small, fragile, delicate, precious, and adorable. As you approach the end of your pregnancy you think a lot about that baby that is moving and kicking around inside of you. You wonder how the baby is doing and if it will come out healthy, and you wonder how in the world you will learn to take care of such a small innocent thing. I took the diaper and cradled in my hands and thought about all of this. This diaper was a keeper. I could toss out much of what was in the gift bag but not this. I placed it gently in the "keep pile".

Then Brian walked in. I was sitting in a large pile of baby stuff on the floor. He flopped on to the couch--right next to the keep pile. I looked up. I smiled tenderly at him, still full of baby diaper thoughts. The diaper had given me an excited feeling...yes the baby was coming soon. I watched as Brian picked up and examined my diaper. "Good" I thought. "He is getting excited and having the same baby thoughts that I have just had. Look at what a good father he will be." For surely Brian was as emotionally tied to the diaper as I was. Surely he saw how it represented our firstborn child. I got back to work sorting through the pile. When I looked back up at Brian something had gone terribly wrong. To my horror, my husband was spitting in my newborn Pooh Bear-delicate-organic cotton-diaper! AHHHHH! What was he thinking? What was he doing? I let out a cry. I snatched the diaper from his hands. I felt the inside to see how corrupted it was. I realized that a little spit could dry and it was still usable. I was still boggled at what odd infatuation Brian had with spitting in it. I looked at him. I was brooding and I felt hostile. He could see the tears in my eyes. "I was testing the wetness indicator" he said innocently. Hmph. Apparently he wasn't thinking at all about our precious baby boy when he was examining the diaper. Of course, he was just seeing how it all worked. That seems to be what men like to do. I tossed the diaper back in to the keep pile and continued to sniffle. Then, as if it dawned on him, Brian saw the Pooh Bear characters on the diaper. He knows how much I like Pooh. So he proceeded to rip the organic cotton Pooh characters front off of the diaper to save for me and threw the rest of it away. Oh my gosh. He was insane! This time I sobbed and sobbed. The diaper had been destroyed. Tortured. Mutilated. By my own husband at that! How could I ever trust him with my child?

Poor Brian. Poor, poor Brian. He had no idea what had just happened. He thought he had done such a good thing. I looked at the ruined diaper and back at Brian's concerned face and I couldn't help but laugh. I was hysterical. I was roaring with laughter and trying to mourn my diaper all at once. It dawned on me that perhaps Brian was not the insane one in the room.

And finally, before we went to bed that night, Brian tossed something at me. It was a whole pack of Huggies newborn-Pooh Bear-organic cotton-diapers.

First Week of School!

Every kid needs an awkward-face, first-day-of-school picture, right? Too bad my face is awkward no matter what day of school it is!

The first week of school at University of Houston has come to an end! It's been interesting to make the switch from BYU-Idaho to UH because first of all, UH is about three times larger! Besides that, all sorts of religions, nationalities, and other walks of life are represented in their full beauty! It's a great experience to get to know other people and learn about them.

Classes are going well. I have an Introduction to Musicology class where we study how to research and write about music. There is a lot of reading and writing for that class, but we have a good teacher and he really knows his stuff. I also was required to enroll in the Music Theory review class because I need a little brush up. The class is really moving quick and there's hardly a moment to breathe! Between the two classes, I can easily fill my day with homework and study.

I also had my first conducting lesson this week with Dr. Hausmann. I really like him a lot. He is an accomplished conductor and has already been so helpful. One non-musical lesson he has already taught me was about humility. I don't think he meant to do that, but about four or five times in our lesson he mentioned how important it is for conductors to have humility when the stand up on the podium. He has a philosophy that conducting is a lot like dancing. I like that idea because as a conductor, you really need to feel the music inside before you can interpret it on the outside - just like a dancer. Dr. Hausmann will also conduct the choir that I will sing in on Monday nights. We found out that our fall concert is going to be November 13 -- the day Kayla is due to give birth!! What do you all think I should do?! I mean I really love my wife and I would sure like to be there when she gives birth, but a concert sounds like a lot of fun!! :o)

The only frustrating thing about this past week has been the bus systems. I ride the public busses into Downtown Houston, then I transfer to my choice of three other bus routes that will get me near the University. The problem is trying to figure out which of the three routes I should take to get me there the quickest. Needless to say, I've spent a lot of time waiting for busses that just barely pulled away right before I got to the bus stop, etc. I think we've got the schedules figured out now, though, so maybe next week will run a little smoother.

Well, that's the update for the first week of school.

Happy, Happy, Happy

Happy #1: Happy Birthday Brian!
This is Bri with some bed hair the morning we woke up in...

Star Valley, Wyoming! We had such a fun day! We spent the night before his birthday at our Aunt Sue's cabin and spent most the day with Aunt Sue and Uncle David. They fed us some great meals, we went hiking, we went on a beautiful drive, we played frisbee in the house...what more can you ask for? Here are some pics of the cabin and property:

Here are Aunt Sue's horses. She let us feed them carrots. Brian seemed to be more brave around them than I was (where's a fish when you need one?).

Baby bump!

And here is Brian all spiffed up for a fun birthday night.

Okay so here is how our night played out: we decided it would be fun to watch a Chuckars baseball game in Idaho Falls. A funny thing that we didn't plan on until just before the game was Brian dressing up like Red Robin's mascot to run the bases at the end of the game. Who wouldn't want to do that on their birthday?

So we left the game a little early to get dressed. Check out the tights. Need I say more? Best looking birthday boy around!

Almost done...he sure is looking excited!

A little more...

Getting closer...

Ta da! Introducing Red! Little does anyone know who the man is behind the mask...except for me...and now you I guess! I was officially Red's body guard for the night. Yes, a pregnant lady was assigned to protect the mascot from attacks...some job.

We couldn't pass up getting some footage of all of this. We really giggle at this because Brian is trying out the moonwalk and some other dance moves to please the crowd in his big costume. And then they're off to run the bases...again and again and again. You'll see by the last clip he is quite tired. Wouldn't you be in that costume? But Red continues to have that goofy smile pasted on although the man underneath is dying of heat. Brian is a good sport.

Brian mingles with his fans...and the children gradually get more violent...is the body guard about to step in? Nope. Guess not.

Poor Red. He is tired. He is hot. The children are pestering him and holding his tail. His body guard is simply unreliable. He almost trips at third base...and he finally gives up and walks to home worn out. But when all is said and done Red had a very successful night.

Thanks for the fun memory Bri!

And this is what happens when you run around in a giant bird costume in 100 degree weather. Told you he is a good sport.

A birthday just wouldn't be a birthday without cake in a mug and a visit from Tyrel and Suzi.

Happy #2: Kayla graduates! Happy Graduation Kayla!

What a wonderful, happy experience it was for her to get a degree from BYU-Idaho. She now has a B.S. degree in Univ. Studies with minors in music and communications with a cluster in Spanish. She plans on getting a graduate degree in Speech Pathology sometime in the future. Thank you to everyone that has supported her throughout her time in Rexburg. It was fun to have some family come up to help us celebrate. Here are a few pictures of the day!

Mom and Dad :)

Rachel and Parker

Tyrel doesn't understand how his little sister graduated before he did :)

Happy #3: Happy Anniversary!
We celebrated our first anniversary on July 25th! What a great year we've had!

Our Pirate-cital

Yar, matties!

Yesterday we attended the semester recital for Kayla's Piano Pedagogy class. All the students did fine, but Kayla's student, Jett, did a fantastic job. Kayla has really put a lot of effort and patience into teaching Jet how to play the piano. He's been a struggle at times, but he really showed his stuff yesterday.

The class decorated the hall like a pirate ship and everyone, including Kayla and Jett, dressed up for the event.

Jett and Kayla. Jett has a wig on and Kayla's newspaper pirate hat feature's an oragami parrot that her dashing husband so kindly made for her.

The recital room.

When asked what his name was, this little boy responded, "Jack Sparrow!"

Look! A monkey hugging a monkey!

You've got to take a look at these videos. They aren't very long, but they're pretty funny. The girl who was the MC was in Kayla's class. Her name is Janna. She has quite a talent of voice impersonations. In this video, not only does she speak Pirate, but you'll also hear her "ugly witch" voice, her "hill-billy" voice, and her "Irish magic" voice.




In this video, you'll hear her "Indian" voice. The boy's name was Chevy. She responds saying, "Good car! Pull big boat!"



Here is Jett playing his piece, "Mysterious Procession." Sometimes, though, he'd call it, "Mysterious Possession". He actually made a mistake, but covered very well. Our favorite is at the end when he forgets to bow and walks off the stage scratching his wig.



We look forward to music in our home. Kayla is and will be a great, motivating piano teacher. Anyone looking for lessons?

It's a Boy!

We had our 20 week appointment today and the ultrasound revealed that we're having a boy! It was nice and clean cut- no worries about modesty here! The doctor said the baby is actually a little bigger than what they thought and could be born as soon as November 1st. The old due date was November 13th. Everything is doing fine. We're excited!

Such a proud mother-to-be...

Wait a second...who's the real mom here?

A Trip to Rexburg Cemetery

This past Sunday, Brian attended Stake Priesthood Meeting where the topic of discussion was Family History work. The meeting was wonderful, with talks given by our Elder's Quorum president as well as President Eaton (Ty and Suzi's Religion teacher) and our Stake President, among others. President Eaton's message was about how when we seek out our ancestors and learn the stories of their lives, they become real people to us and we learn to love them like family.

The meeting was very inspiring. After dinner, we decided to make a trip outside of Rexburg to the cemetery where we looked for the grave of John Greenleaf Holman, one of Kayla's ancestors from Pleasant Grove. We found the name of J.G. Holman on a board provided by the cemetery that said who owned which plots. We went to the block where the board said J.G. Holman owned a plot of land, but we couldn't seem to find anything tactile that had John Holman's name on it. We searched for a good 20 minutes or so. Not wanting to give up, we finally found the Holman family! Just ten or so yards away from Thomas E. Ricks lies our ancestor, John Greenleaf Holman, and what appear to be his decendents and/or children.

We plan on participating more fully in Family History work. It can definately be very exciting!

This is John Holman's grave marker.

A marker indicating his service in the Mormon Battalion,
placed directly in front of his headstone.

The grave marker next to John Holman's. (One of his wives?)

This is a fairly recent grave marker next to John and Sarah's.


These four markers are in front of John and Sarah's markers.
The names on these markers read (from foreground to back):
Baby Holman (Aug. 20, 1915)
Gordon Holman (Mar. 28-30, 1922)
Lilian Holman (May 24, 1923)
Zeke Holman (Nov. 23-24, 1928)


The J.G. Holman plot at Rexburg Cemetery.


A view of the Rexburg temple and the campus of BYU-Idaho
from the grave site of John Greenleaf Holman.