2 Years

This past Tuesday (July 21) Curtis and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. It has been an exciting 2 years with lots of changes. Moving to Arizona and having a baby, just to name a few. I think it is common around anniversary time to think about how we got to this point. Crissy gave me the idea of filling out this questionnaire to help to remember how it all started.

1. Where did you and your husband meet?

Curtis and I met while working at Cosmo’s Connections in the Cannon Center at BYU. Curtis likes to joke about how we “made a connection at Cosmo’s Connection” (it is okay if you didn’t laugh). Curtis was the shift supervisor and I was just a poor lowly grill worker looking for some attention from her hunk of a boss J. We had overlapping shifts. I started a few hours before he came in and remember always watching the clock waiting for Curtis to come in.

2. First thing said:

I have no idea what exact words were exchanged but I do know that I was extremely stressed out. We were not yet fully staffed when I first started working at Cosmo’s (in fact I was the ONLY worker aside from the supervisors). The supervisor (Brad) was on the register and I was working the grill. We were quite busy and Brad didn’t have any time to show me what to do, so I basically had to make it up as I went along. I had only been working for a couple of hours before I met Curtis for the first time. I had no idea what I was doing and was very frustrated. When Curtis came in I didn’t realize that he was a supervisor so I think I kept asking him if he knew how to do things because I thought he was probably as lost as I was and so I wanted to help him out in any way that I could. I felt pretty stupid once I realized that he was my boss…but I don’t think he even caught on to the fact that I was trying to help him out…haha

I remember that I was very offended by Curtis the first day because once another worker with experience showed up at the end of my shift he said something to her like “Stephanie, THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE HERE!” …like he was glad to have someone other than me around or something. I left that day wanting to quit. However, once that horrible first day was over it didn’t take long for me to warm up to Curtis :)

3. First date:

We started our first date off by eating at Café Rio. I swore to myself that I would NEVER go on a date to Café Rio because it is hard to eat their food without making a mess. So much for that plan! I was a pretty cheap dinner date because I had a punch card filled up and ready for a free meal. So, rather than save it for a time that I was actually paying, I used it so that Curtis wouldn’t have to pay for my meal…stupid.

After dinner we went to Fat Cats and bowled a couple of games. I was excited because my roommate Arlena and I used to go bowling all the time and I was getting pretty good (thanks to the tutelage of Arlena). However, I think my nerves got the best of my and I bowled horribly (like in the 80s or 90s). Fortunately, Curtis didn’t do too well himself and I still managed to beat him even with my dismal scores. (Curtis later decided to take a bowling class to ensure that this never happened again, and I don’t think I have beaten him since.)

Once we were finished bowling we went and saw Nacho Libre and the dollar theater. I had seen it once before but had fallen asleep through it so I didn’t really catch the whole story. I still was unable to catch the whole story while we were watching this time because my mind was too busy analyzing every last move Curtis made.

We finished off the night sitting on the couches in my apartment talking until BYU’s curfew hit. Curtis was very good to make sure he was out of my apartment by curfew, and I was very impressed.

4. First kiss:

About a week later Curtis and I went bowling on campus with a friend of mine and his friends. After bowling the group went to someone’s apartment for pizza. Curtis and I hung out with them for a bit but didn’t stay for long. I was living in Magna at the time and had about an hour drive ahead of me. I dropped Curtis off at his apartment and we talked in the car for a while, then we eventually got out of the car and talked out on the curb for a while. I remember it being really awkward because I think we were both waiting for the other one to make a move…Anywho, the first kiss happened around that time.

5. When "I love yous" were first said:

Wow…I honestly don’t remember…maybe Curtis will have to answer this one??? Perhaps the night this picture was taken. This was the night of Curtis' ward Christmas party.

6. Long or short courtship/engagement:

After 8 months of flirting we finally went on our first date in August of 2006. We got engaged on March 8, 2007, and married on July 21, 2007. Perhaps a long courtship and engagement by BYU standards, but a very short one to the rest of the world.

7. Where did you get engaged?

One night in August I took Curtis home from work and we ended up going on a walk. Weended up at some memorial little park on Center Street I think. This was before our first date…in fact I think it was this night that Curtis asked me on a date. Anyway, that was the first time that we really spent much time together outside of work and class. So, when it came time to pop the question Curtis took me on a walk and we ended up back at that park. I thought it was extremely thoughtful because I had almost forgot all about that.

8. Where were you married?

We were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

We had our reception in Lindon, UT at Somewhere Inn Time.

9. Where did you go on your honeymoon?

Acapulco, Mexico. We stayed in the Mayan Palace for free thanks to my parents who had a free one week condo stay with Great Escapes. It was beautiful!

10. Where did you make your first home?

Haha! Finding an apartment was quite stressful because Curtis had just graduated and was trying to find a job. We had no idea where he would end up, but we needed to find a place to live. We ended up in the tiniest apartment known to man in Midvale, UT, which worked out perfectly because Curtis was offered a job close by. The apartment was only $475 including utilities. There was barely enough room for the two of us and in our backyard we had not only the freeway, but railroad tracks as well. Every time a train would go by (which included all hours of the night) the apartment would shake a bit…ahhh good times.

Since then we have lived in an apartment in West Jordan, UT, follwed by a short stay in my parents' basement in South Jordan, UT while Curtis was in training.

We are now renting a house in Sierra Vista, AZ and just signed all the paperwork to buy a house that will hopefully be built by Christmas!!! (This is our future house)

It has been a wonderful two years and I am excited for the next 2! (We'll see how I feel after that before I commit to anymore) ;)

4 weeks old

I have been trying (rather unsuccessfully) to get time to slow down! I can't believe that Nathan is 4 weeks old today. He has already changed so much it is making me sad! He is slowly becoming more responsive to things like his daddy's voice and face (he watches Curtis walk away whenever he leaves the room). He is constantly grabbing anything that he can get his hands on while he eats (which usually consists of my hair!) He also always wants to look up. His favorite thing to do is to be carried around sitting up with his head as far back as he can so that he can look up. Now that he is four weeks and seems to be gaining weight well (we will see for sure at his one month appointment on Tuesday), I have started to cut out the middle of the night feeding, which has been amazing! Nathan does pretty well sleeping, averaging about 7 hours a night. He is more alert during the daytime these days (but he still sleeps for at least half of the day). He likes to spend most of his awake time either laying in his bassinet looking around or else sitting in his rocker (a wonderful gift from his Aunt Becky) looking around. He is such a curious kid!
Unless, of course, Curtis is home, in which case he can usually be found in Curtis' arms or laying next to him.

(I love this picture because he is grabbing on to Curtis' shirt with his toes!)

He has become a very amusing sleeper, mostly due to his snoring. He also makes some of the funniest noises in his sleep. I stood by his bed with my camera ready to take a video of him making these noises but ended up with about 15 minutes of nothing but silence. He also sleeps with his hands in the air out in front of him like so:




The only time he doesn't sleep with his arms straight out is when I have him wrapped up tight, however, the second I unwrap him he stretches his arms and legs like a little body builder.





I can't even begin to imagine what changes are in store for the next 4 weeks...

On Our Own

The first two weeks of Nathan's life have been pretty easy thanks to the help of family and friends. My mom and sister took turns getting up at night with Nathan, I would just get up to feed him and pass him back off to my mom or Alli and go back to bed. Not only did they handle the night duty but they changed diapers all day long, made meals, went shopping for anything that I needed, and cleaned the house. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. On Sunday afternoon my dad and Alli, the last remaining vistors, headed back home, leaving me and Curtis to care for Nathan alone.

Once Curtis got back from dropping off my dad and sister at the airport, he had to head straight to bed to get enough rest before he went back to work at midnight. I was on my own. The first night was not one to remember, and the next day I was absolutley exhausted! I about broke down and bought a plane ticket to Utah so my mom could help me again. However, spending $500 on a plane ticket seemed a little extreme. I stuck out the first day and am now on day 2 which has gone much smoother! I didn't realize just how much my mom and Alli were helping me out until they were gone!

Alli saying goodbye to Nathan.

Grandpa saying goodbye.

Haha...I got it right when he was yawning...so cute!

More goodbyes

Pretty sure Nathan is already addicted to TV!

The importance of swaddling

Over the last few days I learned that a tight swaddle is the answer to a good night's rest. Nathan has been so good this past week, he rarely cries, and never wakes up on his own at night. In fact, I am sure that he would sleep the whole night through if I didn't have to wake him up to feed him. In lieu of this discovery, Arlena wondered whether or not swaddling would help HER sleep through the night. And so we created what we like to call the "adult swaddle."

Arlena sporting the adult swaddle

Nathan sporting the infant swaddle (though a loose version of it)

Alli captured Nathan's attention by making fish faces. What talent.

Though Nathan has thoroughly enjoyed his time with his Aunt Alli and Grandma Ashton, he was still waiting for one important visitor...Grandpa!

Grandpa Ashton getting to know his new grandson.

More pictures of Nathan...just because he is so darn cute!

Nathan's New Cousin

So Curtis' sister Becky just had her third child (all boys), Tristan Rush Lavallee, born on July 2nd, 2009. That makes Tristan 11 days younger than Nathan...

For the record, Nathan now has twelve cousins--four from his mommy's family (all boys) and eight from his daddy's. Aside from Tristan, he has two cousins pretty close to his age--Bradley Socci (about 10 months older), and Krisanne Hernandez (11 months older). And who knows how many more cousins Nathan will have that are just a little younger than him...

But we're excited for him to have some playmate/cousins and hope that all the cousins will know each other well throughout their lives.