Archive for February 2011

Avery’s Birthday

originally posted at http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/02/averys-birthday.html







This will be the first post on the new blog. I have found that blogger is easier (and cuter) than wordpress, so I will be blogging here from now on. On Saturday the 19th, Avery celebrated her first birthday! This first year with her has gone by so fast! Here are all the awesome things my one year old can do: walk (she started walking at about 10 months), sign the sign’s for “more” and “thank you”, although she never signs thank you at the appropriate time, only at random times like in the bathtub, can pat her head when you ask her where her head is, roll her eyes at me, eat an entire corndog by herself, smile a lot and sometimes sleep through the night. Ok, not too impressive, but I love her! On her birthday we had pink pancakes for breakfast. We went to Maceys to get balloons and I let her have a sucker that the cashiers give to kids for the first time, because it was her birthday. That night some family came over and we had pink and white cupcakes. She got a bunch of cute new outfits and lots of attention. Savanna even put on her unicorn costume for Avery, she loves it and giggles and hugs unicorn Savanna whenever she has it on, so cute! She is a sweety and I am excited for this fun age she is entering in to. Happy Birthday Avery!

My Engagement Story

originally posted at http://melbeea.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-engagement-story.html


In order to tell the story of our engagement, I will have to first tell you the story of our first date. For those of you who don’t know, Andy and I were set up on a blind date by my Aunt Mary and Uncle Fred (more Mary).
We met on August 27th when he picked me up for our date. Andy was well prepared for our first date. He planned on going up to canyon for a picnic and walking around the falls. He even had picked up some yummy sandwiches, but I didn’t know about that then. Well, it happened to be raining that day, so he gave me the option of going to this authentic pizza place. I chose that plan since it was raining. We went to the pizza place where I ate pizza with corn on it for my first time. After dinner he started driving me back home, and then he noticed that it had stopped raining. We decided to try the canyon anyways. We went up to Canyon Glen and started walking the trail towards Bridal Veil Falls. For those of you who know me well, you know that I can easily get spooked in the dark outdoors. As we were walking it started to get dark so I kept noticing all the dark shapes ahead. Andy noticed that I had slowed down my pace a couple of times. He then said, “You think that dark bush up there is a Bear, don’t you?” I looked at him very timidly and told him yes. We then decided to turn back. We ended up talking in his car for awhile…..away from the rain that had returned. Then he took me back home.
Now that you know about that date, I can tell you about last night’s date (February 10th).
Andy picked me up and hinted that I needed to be dressed warm. He even bought us matching beanies. On the drive he made me put both beanies on and over my eyes, so I could not see. However, I have a good sense of directions, and I was pretty sure we were driving up the canyon. When we parked he got out, and told me he would be just a minute. He left me blindfolded in a car for about 10 songs. Thankfully, he left the car running and music on. Then he led me down an icy path to a camp-chair next to a fire. He had been building a fire and putting together our sandwiches while I was sitting in the car. We ate the sandwiches and fed a stray cat. This was just the first part of the date. Here is a picture of us trying to stay warm…

After we ate he walked me back to the car, and then he cleaned up our stuff. Then he blindfolded me again and drove for a couple more minutes. We got out, and he asked me what I could hear. I told him that I could hear water from the river. That wasn’t correct, so he asked me what water a part of our first date. I told him rain, so he had to clarify that it was water that we actually didn’t get to see. As I guessed Bridal Veil Falls he pulled off my beanie/blindfold, and I saw that we were on an illegal pullout across from Bridal Veil Falls. The snowy mountain was beautiful. Andy then turned me around, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. He said, “Will you marry me, Melissa? Now that I finally got our first date to work, I want to work on making everything else work in our lives.” I leaned over and said, “Of course I will. Yes!” Then I kissed him. He pulled out the ring, which I couldn’t really see in the dark, and said that he hoped I was right about my ring measurement (4 1/2). I wasn’t, but I told him to just shove it on so he did. He then got a flashlight so I could see it. After taking a few pictures we drove back to my place, and I started announcing to the world that I am engaged to an amazing man! I look forward to spending the rest of my life and eternity with Andy. He makes me happier than I ever could imagine! I look forward to being Melissa Bayless!


He is also really good at picking out gorgeous rings!

Any quotes above are probably not word for word because I am horrible at remembering exactly what is said. The gist is still there.

Jonathan’s Science Fair Project

originally posted at http://myfoibles.com/?p=593


Jonathan entered the science fair in his school on February 2nd.  He did an amazing job with his project.  He proved that not only an Idaho potato could power a clock, but also a red potato and a sweet potato could as well.  He peeled them all and it still powered the clock.  Then he cooked them all, and it still powered the clock.  Then we made mashed potatoes…and it STILL powered the clock.  Jonathan and I had a good time and we laughed that the mashed potatoes worked.  Then we called Uncle Andy who explained to us why our experiment worked.  Jonathan learned that the potato needed water and could not power the clock without it.  Thus, dried potato flakes would not power the clock.  Jonathan did an excellent job explaining the process to the three judges that visited his project and could tell them all about the acid inside the potato.  I was very proud of him.

A big shout out to all of my sixth graders who did an excellent job on their projects as well.  Thanks for always making me feel needed and happy.

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