Fun Times!

Marcelo & I at a birthday party for his Brazilian friend's daughter's birthday! It was a gigantic party for a 1 year old. There was a balloon arch, blow up things all over the place, a sheet cake, bubbles, lots of adults (funny to me), and much more!

Some of you were having a difficult time seeing pictures of Marcelo so I thought I would post a few. So here he is and he's wonderful!

Master Strayer

I know its a little old news, but I just got my Masters Diploma in the mail and its pretty cool. It seems a little anti-climatic seeing as we just didn't have time to celebrate or walk because of our exams and moving, etc

But here it is:

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BYU vs SDSU

So as we were leaving Kate's dorm room to get something to eat for a late lunch (we were all starving) I told the kidlets I wanted to take a picture. Clay & Ali both said they didn't want to take pictures so I promised them I wouldn't take anymore if they took a really good one. As you can see...there were many more photos!

No worries, Clay is not upset-just being his lovely self! We ate outside at one of my favorite places to eat in Old Town. Everyone loved their food but only Clay could wolf it all down in one sitting! (He's a growing teenage boy)

We had a blast singing, dancing, and just being plain wierdos (aka Shields) in Old Town!

It's was so much fun to hang out with family in San Diego!

Do we look alike at all??

So fun to have Kates so close by--don't worry I'll be back to SD soon!

I had no idea that so many people from my extended family would be at the game: Jeff & Pat, Zach & Mckay, Matt, Brett, Theresa, Jeffrey, Mary & Spencer, and Scott & Brooke.

Looking good Spencer!

We train 'em to be Cougar Fans when they're young!

Love it Mary!

We ended the trip on a spiritual note!

Little Baby Strayer

Today we had the ultrasound. It was so cool. The baby was moving around like a little monkey. At one point it had its back to us and you could see the entire spine and the vertebrae. It was soo cool. Another time, the radiologist was checking for arms and legs and stuff and she was measuring the femurs and taking pictures and the kid totally stretched out and had its legs straight and kicking around. She was able to find the stomach and bladder and you could see the heart fluttering on the screen. That was cool. I couldn't feel anything, but it looked so cool. She said everything looked good. I am about 14 weeks along and the baby looks healthy.

I love that you can see the little fingers and nose and spine, etc. My favorite moment was when it opened its hand and basically waved at us! (See below) Mike said he had like a flash-forward moment when the kid was kicking around and stretching out its feet that we were holding the baby. It was the coolest thing ever and made all the sickness (yep even on the new prescription- I had a bad episode last night) worth it.

Without further ado.....Here's little baby strayer.



Here is little baby strayer waving! You can see all the fingers, nose face, etc.


This one just has the kiddo contemplating its belly...


Here's another baby shot. Mike said, "The head and the belly are the same size! We're having a little Ethiopian baby. It's been starved cause chels throws up everything she eats!"


Here's the last one. It looks like a wave or an attempt at sucking its thumb (like its mother!) I told Mike, "I used to be a big thumb sucker when I was a kid." He said, "Really. I don't think I ever did that. I think I just twisted people's hair." Surprise!?!

TED Fellow

Since this is a family blog is should be no surprise to anyone that Chelsea was chosen to be one of the 103 prestigious TED Fellows. She has been invited to share ideas at a conference in India in November. She is one of 53 to represent the US. She's pretty much amazing and I know we are all SO proud of Chels!

If you go to the TED website it only takes a minute or so to see the amazing people that are a part of TED. Again I am not surprise to see my little sister's name among them. Chels you are doing amazing things with your life, you are an inspiration, and I can't wait to hear about India! Please take lots of pictures for us. Also get better fast so you can enjoy all that amazing Indian food!

Extra Credit Reading

Dear Family-

I was thinking about something we could do together as a family even though we are all spread out. I was thinking we all like to read (okay Ali maybe not you but I bet we could convince you). I know years ago I think Dad, Mom, Kylee, & Chelsea all read, "Count of Monte Cristo" around the same time and it was fun to talk about it.

So I was thinking we could pick a book, not too long, in any genre, and all read it. I know a bunch of us are in school but I end up reading "outside" books all the time. In fact I just finished a book I think everyone should read, "Leadership and Self Deception".

This way we can all gchat, fbchat, email, text, call each other and discuss it! I don't know if any of you are onboard for this but it was just a random idea of mine. So let me know what you think, send book ideas, comment, etc.

Kylee

Camryn & Bubba

So apparently Camryn loves animals and this is a story to prove it. She told me this as were were driving around town one day and i died laughing. Here goes...

Apparently her teacher (Mrs. Purcell) told the class that whoever gets their permission slip to her first, gets to take the class pet (bubba the bunny) home for the first weekend.  So that night she asked me (dani) to set an alarm for her at 6:00 so she could get some things done before school. I woke her up and i guess she did homework and ate breakfast and asked for a ride to school. Mom had to leave because she was subbing at the high school so Camryn waited outside with her backpack so that when Dad came home from basketball he could drop her off at school. He picked her up 7:10 and they drove to school. They forgot to have morning prayer and dad told Cams that she had enough time so they prayed in the car when they were in the parking lot of the school. Right as she got into the front gate, she looked to her right and saw Reese, a boy in her class who was also wanting to be the first kid to get the bunny. They stared at eachother and started sprinting at the same moment towards Mrs. Purcell's classroom. Unfortunately Camryn's foot was bruised so she was in pain but figured it would be worth it in the end if she got the bunny so she kept running. Reese yelled for Mrs. Purcell and as they rounded the corner at the same time. Sadly, she saw Reese first so he got to take the bunny home but Camryn got him the second week.

((written by dani & camryn))

*I thought this story was so funny because I couldn't believe that Camryn was determined to be the first one and the shock when she realized that she wasn't the only die-hard bunny lover. Just thinking of 2 little kids sprinting as fast as they can just to get time with the class pet makes me laugh. Good job Cam!