Nothing Much

So I realized that when I talk to people in my family, I'm much more interested in what they are doing than updating them on my life. My life just isn't that exciting. But I figured that there has been enough going on lately to warrant some sort of update, especially for people that we don't talk to often enough. It's not the most interesting post ever, but I figure that if you're actually reading this, then you might care anyway.

Will

For the past several months Will hasn't been up to much at work. He mostly reads. In the last couple of weeks, though, he's started getting pulled in to work at the FBI facility down here. Sometimes there's still not a whole lot going (and he can't read down there), but most of the time he actually has stuff to do. The biometrics project they are working on for the FBI seems to be going well. It's hard to tell when most of it is "sensitive but unclassified". The coolest thing was when we were watching the pilot episode of a new show called Alcatraz (I think that's what it's called...) and we saw that when they were running fingerprints, they were using the new system that Will helped with. The show wasn't that great. We haven't watch any more episodes. But it was pretty cool to see that.

Other than that Will spends his time reading, playing Skyrim, and playing with Ellie. He does all the random odd jobs around the house and is in charge of the finances. I joke that after 8 months living here he still doesn't know where things go when he empties the dishwasher, but really I'm just happy that he helps me empty the dishwasher. He's also in charge of getting our cars in good condition. In the last month or so we've had:

blinkers go out

brakes go out (yeah...)

a windshield wiper break

uneven tire wear

a bad battery

no heat

a broken emergency break (with a constant loud chime)

crappy headlights

a slow leak in one tire

leaky coolant

Most of those problems were with my car, but some were with Will's Jeep. Most of them have been taken care of, but we're getting the brakes checked out tomorrow.

He's in the Young Men's Presidency and finally gets to (or has to, depending) go to Mutual, now that he's not taking a class this semester. Luckily there's not deadline for finishing his Masters.

When Will is gone, Ellie looks for him everywhere. She's taking to shouting "Daddy!" at the top of her lungs randomly, like she's being kidnapped or something. Like in the middle of the grocery store. Sometimes she thinks that I've locked him in the basement and she sits by the door and cries, calling for Daddy. It's sad and funny at the same time.

Ellie

Ellie is officially 18 months old and has hit the Terrible Twos. She says "No!" constantly. Thankfully she's still a good girl and mostly a good listener. Her favorite foods are cheese, pancakes and strawberries, although cheerios are starting to become a hit too. She is getting really good at talking. Her vocabulary is growing faster than I can account for. Lately, though, she has taken to adding random syllables to her previous words. Examples include:

A-do-dee (all done)

hi-yoy-yoy (hi)

ha-oo (hug)

bye-ee (bye)

uh-oh-ee (uh oh)

may favorite is probably:

bye-cookie-cookie (bye)

We don't know why she added the cookie-cookie, but it's pretty funny.

She's particularly good at enunciating certain words such as:

birdie (she says the R very well)

Ellie (most of the time she says Eh-yee, but she can do the L if you ask)

She loves reading books, giving hugs and kisses, and playing with her baby.

She has also taken to the show Curious George. Normally she doesn't pay attention at all the to TV, but the other day I was really tired of reading her the same books over and over again, so I turned on Netflix. She loves that monkey show. In fact, the other day we had a conversation that went something like this:

Ellie: Ee-ee! (that's what a monkey says)

Me: a monkey?

Ellie: Show? Okay!

And the other day I asked if she had a stinky diaper and she said, "Hey! Hey! No way!"

She has also grown a ton. She wears shirts meant for 3 year-olds because she has ridiculous monkey arms. But she still has a skinny bum. She's grown 2 inches in the past 2 months. 

She has also peed in her little potty. I bought it because it was a good deal, not really expecting to use it. But she wanted to play with it, so I figured I'd let her try. 3 days after we got it, she peed in it. Ever since then she's been scared of it. It used to be a toy, but now it's "pa-ee yuh!" (potty yuck!) I'm hoping she'll get over it. I'd like her to be potty-trained before she turns 2.

I'm also amazed at how much she understands. This morning I told her it was time to get dressed and she ran into her room, took off her pajamas all by herself (unzipped, pulled out her arms and footies) and put her pajamas in her laundry basket. I was so surprised and proud. Then she ran away from me in just her diaper and I had to chase her down and fight to get her clothes on.

Me

My life is busily quiet. I do my own thing and Ellie is a good helper. The biggest thing going on with me lately is my new diet/work out. I started it back in November (horrible time to start, by the way) and so far have lost about 10 pounds. That's not including gaining weight from the holidays and then losing it again. I still have about 10 to go. Before I started my BMI was healthy, but at the high end. I'm hoping to pull it back down to the lower/middle range. This is a big deal for me because it's the best shape I've ever been in. My current weight, as of this morning, is 24 pounds less than when I graduated from high school. I ride my exercise bike every morning (give or take) for about an hour (averaging 19 mph) and I've cut out my evening bowl of ice cream :( It's gotten easier since Will decided to diet with me. We eat big lunches and a smallish dinner. Well, that's the plan anyways.

I've been on a bread baking binge lately. So we've been eating lots and lots of bread. It's ridiculously good. I got myself this book for Christmas, after learning about it from my sister-in-law over Thanksgiving. The best part is that you don't need a bread machine, the bad part is that my baking stone broke in half a month or so back. We still use it though, until I can get a new one (or two). With my new-found bread baking skills I made bread bowls a while back. Delicious!

It was way too much food, but it was so delicious that we ate every bite. (Potato Mushroom Soup)

I've also started painting in Ellie's room again. I'll put up more pictures when I've done some more work. 

And I really need to take my final exam for my Family History class. I really, really don't want to. There are only a handful of places in the state that I can take it and the closest one is about half an hour away, on campus of WVU. I don't want to have to learn my way around another campus, find parking, and pay (probably $25-50 an hour) to have someone not really pay attention to me so that I can take a Family History exam. But it needs to happen. Someday.

The other thing keeping me on my toes are my church callings. Currently I am the ward organist and Primary teacher for the entire junior Primary (last week I had 4 kids...). But I am also substituting for the Primary Music leader for a couple weeks, although someone took over for me last Sunday since I had to run in and talk to the Young Women about the joys of womanhood. Sundays usually exhaust me. I'm just glad that Ellie goes to nursery and LOVES it. My organ playing is getting better. Probably because I've started playing the piano for fun again. There are free tutorials through lds.org for the organ, but I haven't really had to time to run over to the church and practice. Will just got a key to the church, though, so hopefully that will happen now. I've had a few people express interest in me giving piano lessons, but I haven't heard too much about it lately. I'm glad though, because I never really had formal piano lessons myself, so I'm not sure how to give them.

I also bought some grape plants that I'm excited to plant in my "garden". Except that the spot I was going to do a garden currently has tons of random bulbs coming up, and I'm not sure what they are. I suspect tulips or daffodils, which would be beautiful. I don't know if I could pull them up for a garden. Maybe I can replant them. That's the problem with buying a new house: you don't know what other people have planted. I also have big plans for our fruit trees.

Anyway, I think that's our latest information. Like I said, nothing incredibly exciting. Probably the most earth-shaking news it that we recently found out that the contract Will is working on will finish several years before we though it would. So instead of being here 5 years, we might only be here 2 or 3. That's not set in stone though.

So that's everything. Not super exciting, just everyday life. It's a good life though.