the RADFORDS

7 things blog

2012-02-17T13:13:00.005-07:00

In honor of Stori Rose turning 7 months I have compiled a few lists.

7 things you might not know about Mel:

1. I use shampoo as; body wash, face wash, shaving cream, soap, and of course to clean my hair.

2. Never been to California. Ever. When I do I plan on going to the Ellen Degenerous show.

3. Made my husband get braces because, well, cause they were free I suppose. SDR calls me the "tooth nazi" cause I am always examining his teeth.

4. I believe that cereal can be an entire meal. For example: 2 bowls of Honey Bunches of Oats for dinner and 2 bowls of Cocoa Pebbles for dessert. My max bowl amount in one day is 27. Don't judge. It was college. It was Cocoa Roos.

5. Shaving my legs is optional. My leg hairs are as fine as Jude Law, as thin as Keira Knightley, and as blonde as Gweneth Paltrow.

6. I am afraid of spiders, elevators, roller coasters, the dark, and afraid that Maverick will stop making frozen yogurt.

7. Being married and a mom apparently hasn’t changed me at all. In the words of my niece Daphne, “ You know, I thought that once you got married you would be mature or something. Nope. Then I thought for sure when you had your baby that you would change and be mature. Still nope!” haha ouch. I’ll have you know that I have stopped burning pooh on people’s doorsteps AND I pay bills. Way mature.

Steven Daniel:

1. He doesn’t snore, never stinks, never burps, and rarely toots.

2. Peanut butter and cheese go on everything.

3. When he was telling me about a sad part in Forrest Gump, tears began to form. Bet you didn’t see that one coming!

4. He prefers college football over NFL. But he prefers NBA over college basketball

5. If you speak to him, it would be wise to do so in Office, Seinfeld, or Lord of the Rings quotes.

6. He learned how to take amazing pictures from YouTube videos. And his pictures really are amazing! He also knows more about guns than people that work at actual gun stores.

7. He ends up wearing my deodorant more than half the time cause he never remembers to get his.

our Stori Sweet Stuffs:

1. LOVES to give kisses. If your not careful she could make your cheeks raw from all that slobbery love. Usually she holds on to your hair with both hands and shakes her head until she finally reaches your face.

2. She loves her sippy cup. It is by far the cutest thing to watch her drink out of it. Oh and she eats fruits at breakfast and veggies at dinner.

3. Her and Amber go back and forth doing fake coughs. She also copies me when I do raspberry sounds or roll my tongue.

4. She finally loves her dolly! She giggles and flaps her arms when she sees her. (That poor doll also gets kisses from the Sto Ro).

5. She loves when her daddy scares her!

6. Still a little burrito baby. No matter how tight we wrap her up for sleep, this little Houdini manages to get at least one arm out.

7. She always tells me that I’m her best friend. Sometimes she says that to her dad, but only so he doesn’t feel bad.

Both of us love you SOOOO MUCHHHHHHH Stori Rose. You should know that we always fight to hold you and have to take turns at church because we both want you with us. You are loved. Happy 7 months {and happy 23rd to FAE}

This is sickly stori rose

2012-02-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

This picture just breaks my heart.

I had to work while Dan took her to the Dr. and I was stressed out the whole time! No mother should have to work while their little baby is sick with a 101.1 fever and horse voice.

I finally got the call from Dan and he said that she had the dr. said that her throat looked horrible and that she had early symptoms of Strep Throat. He put her on antibiotics and children's Tylenol.

I would rather have my leg hairs pulled out one by one than to have to watch this sweet baby go through this. I was so worried about her fever sky-rocketing during that night that Dan volunteered to sleep on the couch so that Stori could sleep in the bed with me. "Sleep" was from about 5am-7:40am.

Here's to hoping these antibiotics kick in soon!

In other news, we got a $400 tax return for having stori rose last year!

In even other news, $340 of it got lost yesterday.

Welp, that's all.

what we love

2012-02-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Love day tomorrow! (and happy birthday Sherlene)

We'll be spending it at home with some Original Thai & Cherry Pie.

here are a few of our loves

Stori Rose loves BABY FOOD
Finally!

She went from this------->

<--------- to this

and this ------>

in just a week!

Dan and I love....

Stori Rose and taking pictures of Stori Rose

FOX news

Up all Night

Modern Family

Working out

BBQ wraps with Jo Jo's

Taco Tuesday

Cherry Pie

Frozen Yogurt

Zumba

Guns

Taking pictures

Weekends together

Mitt Romney

Family time

Temple Trips

and Date nights

2 weekends ago SDR and I went to our first movie since the day I went into labor.

We went to the cheap theatre with Ambs & KDS, Hails & Daniel, and Britt & Dusty.

We saw one of our new FAVORITE movies"We Bought a Zoo."

and I HIGHLY recommend you go see it. Like tonight!

Be prepared to cry. both happy and sad. mostly happy.

Then it was off to Kiwi Loco for some cake batter Fro Yo.

Does a date night get any better. I think not.

And Stori liked it too cause she got to hang out with her Grandmother.

lovin that

2012-02-06T10:00:00.010-07:00

tall & small snowman.
GOODNESS GRACIOUS I LOVE THIS GRILL!!!

It seems like every day we find something new that makes her just laugh and laugh.

she Loves being on her daddy's shoulders.

even though it gives me anxiety! Love those two crazies!

p.s I actually know the real words, but stori rose only likes the "tall" and "small" sound

well......... cut me hair

2012-02-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

yep. don't read my older post about me not cutting my hair until my next baby...

cause i cut it...

and i'm def not having a baby.

just found my dream haircut on pinterest and HAD to have it!

some REALLY awkward pics of the result.

aaron said I look like a real- estate agent! haha I should have noticed this before I went to church lookin like this!

I don't regret cuttin me hair at all, so i'm glad SDR finally told me that he wants me to have short hair.

What's better than one 6 month old???

2012-01-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

TWO six month olds

sure love these best friend twin cousins!

Snow Day!!

2012-01-26T15:41:00.001-07:00

It finally happened! SNOW!

I was so excited to take Astoria out in to the tundra and see how she felt about it...... Well these faces pretty much say it all...

Clearly she loved it.

she even loved the "snow flavored milk"...

And I thought she was loving this mini snowman....

Until she decapitated it. Where is the love Stori Rose?

Somehow even cold, snowy, dreary, frigid days are nice and warm and toasty with my Stori Rose!

i need a support system

2012-01-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

.....one of my love/hate resolutions was to grow my hair out until I have my next baby....

But on a daily basis I tell myself that:

I'm not a "long-haired person" anymore
that I would only put my hair in a ponytail if it was long
and that I actually fix my hair if it's short {Which, for the most part, is true....ish}
that long hair isn't great for someone on a budget for the cost of shampoo, conditioner, hot water, etc.
I say to me self, "red heads don't look good with long hair"
and that I would have to just put it up for work if it was long...

All good reasons right?!
But then I see this

.... and maybe I do want long hair?

just maybe.

Plus pinterest is FULL of adorable long hair styles that are just begging me to try.

Happy 1/2 bday Sto Ro

2012-01-17T21:13:00.002-07:00

181 days.

6 months.
half a year.

These are all words to describe how big you are! Turning 6 months is quite impressive.
(You've lived in 2 years already)

You started Rice Cereal

And then stopped Rice Cereal.

You play for hours with all your favorite toys

And work out with Mom & Dad at the BYUI gym.

It seems like you have really chunked up this last month! (Which is why we take you to the gym with us everyday)!

You are sitting all by yourself

rolling and scooting around our tiny living room

finally an AMBI ROLLER

hold your own bottle

interested in everything you see

so ticklish

laugh so hard when we sing "red solo cup"

and go to bed all by yourself without having to be rocked!

OH and you have moved into the crib! It was one of your New Years Resolutions... that and you outgrew your bassinet. I think i've finally adjusted with you so far away. (Atleast 16 ft)

And how could we forget how much you like having unlce aaron live so close. He just loves you!

SO HAPPY 1/2 BIRTHDAY ASTORIA ROSE! MUCHO LOVE from Mom and Pops

Mondays...

2012-01-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

I love Mondays
Mondays are my "stay at home mom" days and I absolutely love spending every minute of the day with Stori Rose.
I love waking up with her in the morning
feeding her myself and not having to pump.
I love tummy time and bum time as we practice her sitting up and crawling.
I love not putting on makeup until noon
and not putting on my work scrubs for the whole day.
I love singing to her to put her down for naps
and playing peek-a-boo with her as she so happily wakes up.
I love bathing her, picking out her clothes, and rubbing that most glorious smelling lotion on her chubby little thighs.
I love watching her learn new things and listening to her giggle so hard after I make ridiculous noises.
I think she loves me too!

Well this Monday is especially grand because Steven Daniel started his job today!! We have been searching for jobs in Rexburg for quite some time, and nothing ever came up.

We were worried that I would have to go back to work full time...which would mean no more "stay at home mom."

Last Sunday our Bishop went to Dan and asked him if he would like to interview at Lockwood (Where our Bishop is the Manager). So Dan went in last Thursday and came back about 6 minutes later with a job! We feel so blessed. Especially because they will let him work around my work schedule and his school schedule as well.

So Thank You Bishop for letting me still love Mondays!

Learned to roll her tongue....

...hold her self up...

...and chew through wood.

Escuela WARNING may include inappropriate material

2012-01-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

It was a Monday afternoon.
The sun was shining. No clouds in sight.
44 degrees in January.
All signs that would point to it being a good day.
until....
We reached for bread to make a PB&J sandwich.
No bread.
Reached for the milk for cereal.
No Milk.
No Cereal.
Things began to get worse.
We knew a trip to the awful, horrible, terrible Walmart was inevitable.
We get to Walmart and notice that EVERY single checkout line was full. Not just full....backed up and the lines formed down the shopping isles.
How could we be so foolish.
It was clear that Rexburg was no longer our lovely local hometown.
It now belonged to the 18,000 college students and their parents.
We even heard these words spoken in Walmart from a father to a son, "Do you think you will be able to eat up on campus, or do you need us to pack some lunches for you to take?"
REALLY REALLY?
Well we left Walmart and didn't even bother going to Broulims to get the rest of our groceries for fear that we would hear some mother offering to blow her daughters nose for her.

On a happy note, school started yesterday and my handsome husband did not have to go!!
I love "off-track husband" so much cause we actually get to see each other! Stori loves hanging out with her daddy and watching all of the extended versions of Lord of the Rings. She has even learned how to scream like a "ring-wraith."
Dan would like to wish a "Happy semester to all, and good luck to all the freshman with having to wipe their own bums for the first time" his words, not mine!

This is a picture of someone that actually does need help wiping

Eclectic Christmas/Stori post

2012-01-01T17:41:00.003-07:00

{Quite a bit to get caught up on. I was going to write the updated stats of Stori Rose on the 17th but that was also the day of Fake Christmas Eve and the day that my sweet friend Desi was killed in a car accident. (Still so unreal).
Lemme catch up real quick-like}
~Fake Christmas Eve. This is where all my family gets together a week BEFORE Christmas so that we can still celebrate it as a family before everybody flees to their in-laws for REAL Christmas. It's a grand ol' time as long as you don't have any unwanted phone calls.
I of course brought out all my old ugly sweaters that I've been collecting for the past 8 years. We decided to have Stori and Hazel be a part of the tradtion this year.

snoozin with auntie sherfalene

Stori was lucky enough to be Baby Jesus for our Nativity scene this year. She did a fabulous job and she added her own little touch by sticking her tongue out for the performance. I felt like it added a lot to the story. She has some fantastic cousins that always wanted to hold and play with her. She thanked them by slobbering all over their hands. Stori loved getting passed around between cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandmother. Even though she is grandkid #31 for my mom, she is one loved little girl.

Learnin to say prayers

SDR guessed the EXACT amount of M&M's in the jar. Plus he guessed 1 number off of the Green ones. and my mom guessed the right amount of Red ones. That's talent I tell ya.

~Stori Rose turned 5 months. Stori has been able to roll over from front to back/back to front for about 2 months but she can not roll to the right! Always to the left. She always has her tongue sticking out.
Loves her toy bumble bee more than any other toy (even more than froofie).
Me thinks she has started teething; drooling and she stops crying if we rub her gums.
She still sleeps at night but she has started waking up for short periods and realizes that she needs her binks.
About an hour after eating, she will sleep for 1-3 hours. She is still eating about every 3 hours (5x's a day).
Can still wear most of her 3 month clothes.
Sits by herself for minutes at a time.
Loves to make raspberry sounds and spit out her binks. LOVES to give kisses!
Does stinkers once a week.
Loves the song "the wise man built his house upon a rock." Always tells me that I'm her best friend!
Tricks daddy into thinking that he's her best friend. We all know the truth.....
LOVE YOU ASTORIA ROSE RADFORD!

~REAL Christmas. We left for Kennewick right after Desi's funeral on Thursday the 22nd. We got there in really good time because there was absolutely no snow here, there, or even on the blues. Stori did great on the long road trip too. She slept, ate, and played at all the right times.

After the 10 hour car ride. A little worn out

We loved being able to hang out with the family each day. Every single family member on Dan's side was able to be home for Christmas and it was perfect.

Christmas Morning!!! She got her first dolly from Santa.

While making Stori's stocking this year, I decided I wanted to start a new tradition. I wanted her to have a teeny tiny stocking cause she's just a babe, but I also wanted her to have a normal size one that she'll have for always. So what i decided to do was to make a teensy one for all my little kids on their first Christmas. Then after the first Christmas, it will become a Christmas Tree ornament and they will get their normal size one.

I think it will be fun when I'm old, to see all those tiny stocking hanging on my tree representing all my little babies.

Astoria's stocking says "Stori" and then I made a rose out of felt so that it says "Stori Rose"

She loved her first Christmas and hopefully one day she will love that dolly Santa gave her. (She still chooses that silly bumble bee).

Opening her Christmas Eve jammies. Don't you want to SQUIIIISHHH her!?

Christmas Eve walk by the Columbia River.

Wishin she could drink some of mama's hot cocoa

Stori's famous kisses!!! :)

Cutest lil reindeer.

Some of the family getting ready for 8 hours worth of Mafia. Chase made for a great mobster!

We had such a great week in Kennewick. Wish they all lived closer to us so we could see them more than just at holidays!!!
So happy Fake Christmas/Real Christmas and Stori's 5 months.

Saying goodbye to Desi

2011-12-17T23:55:00.002-07:00

One of my BEST FRIENDS was killed in a car accident today. I talked to her last night. I saw her on monday. I'm holding a check written and signed from her. I've texted her for the past 2 weeks discussing a Christmas present for her boyfriend. I got a picture from her last night. And now she's gone.

Desiree Anne Bramwell. I've known you literally since I was born and we have been friends ever since then! I have so many wonderful memories of you. I could write novels of all the funny things we've done together. I don't remember a weekend that you, me, haley, and shannon didn't spend together when we were young... haha I remember the time Haley body slammed you while you two were wrestling. I remember when you stayed at my house and we were playing with my nieces and emmy threw up in my mouth! You laughed all night long! But that was pretty much how you always were...laughing. You were such a happy person and I don't know one person that didn't like you. Really really! I was so lucky to get to hang out with you a few times these last 2 weeks! We loved taking pictures of you and that cute little girl Tayler. You could tell that she loved you so much. Dan and I love to reminisce about the High School days when you and him went on a date and you forgot your money for the food and the pictures. He always said that you were one of his favorite people. I agree with him. When we would go out with our friends for lunch, it always seemed like you me and cha would go off and have our own conversations and laugh the whole time! I seriously have so many wonderful memories with you, (especially at girls camp). I'm so glad you got to see my little daughter and tell me how much you want children of your own. I loved seeing you so happy this last weekend. I hate that you will never get to take that carriage ride on Temple Square. I will miss you so much and I you have no idea how much I want to talk to you again. Thank you for 26 years of great friendship. I love you pheasant!!!

Here's the link to the accident info. I still can't believe it.
http://www.localnews8.com/news/30021414/detail.html

Steak feast

2011-12-02T21:42:00.001-07:00

It was a Sunday in September and we decided we needed to end the summer with a Steak Feast with some of our favorite people. You know I LOVE Fall and Christmas, but these pictures make me desperately want some nice Summer weather.

The guys grilled while us girls made buckeyes and prepared ourselves to watch "Top Gun"

Told them to "act natural" for the picture.... haha. And I just noticed all these guys match! For cute!!

Wow, lots of pictures of Amber! haha

I swear Haily and I were there too.

It was such a fun day!

on december 1st...

2011-12-01T13:45:00.001-07:00

*Stori Rose rolled from her back to her front today! SDR was selling his plasma when it happened so he was pretty bummed that he missed it.

*Right after she rolled over she grunted and grunted and then.... well, let's just say SDR wasn't sad that he missed that.

*This is a video of Stori Rose laughing the hardest I've seen her laugh before. haha. this is my favorite! (She's naked because what happened after she rolled over....ya, going once a week doesn't make for very fun diaper changes)!

christmas plaid

2011-11-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

In this photo I see:

(4) forms of plaid on my flocked christmas tree.

(2) plaid pajamas legs

(7) christmas moose wearing plaid

(1) cozy plaid blanket to wrap up in while watching Home Alone and eating popcorn...

If only I knew where to find christmas plaid jammies for little Sto Ro...

She had her shots 2 weeks ago and I made Dan go with me this time to see how sad it is....

She slept most of the day away but for the next few nights she would wake up with a fever.

She also got eczema on her little chubby legs and we had to take her back into the dr.

Poor little lamb.

Thanksgiving healed her up pretty good though...she slept from 7:30pm-7:30am last night. YAY!

1st Dam Run

2011-11-19T23:15:00.001-07:00

We did it!! (But only the 5k. don't judge)

Stori slept through the whole thing even though she rode in this arctic tundra stroller!

It was my mom's first '1st Dam Run'. She totally rocks! (She walks like 19 miles/day so I knew she would do amazing)

I'm sure I'm standing on my tippy-toes or somessing. Why must I be a Giant!?

Joel was the only 10k runner. But the rest of us had GREAT reasons for only doing the 5k...and the snow wasn't even one of them.

We had a fun weekend in Logan/Clarkston. We made our crafts, ate yummy food, shopped, listened to Christmas music, and slumber partied til the wee hours of the morning!

Wondering where SDR is? Well, he thought he'd make a better photographer than runner. Maybe next year he won't be so shy.

baby steps or milestones?

2011-11-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

Astoria Rose Radford is 4 months today!

I recall an incident that happened when Stori was only 2 days old. I sat up in my bed looking down at my sweet little girl in her giant bassinet and thought to myself, "I wish she was 4 months old so that I wouldn't worry about her so much while she sleeps."

How foolish could I be?!

Now my baby REALLY IS 4 months old and I STILL worry about her while she sleeps in that, now tiny, bassinet. (I don't know what I will do when she outgrows it).

I guess I have managed to move the bassinet about 2 feet away from me as opposed to RIGHT next to the bed. A sheet of paper wouldn't fit between her and me about a month ago.

To some of you that might be a baby step....but to me, it is a huge milestone.

And ya know what else? I actually let her take naps in her real crib. Milestone!

I guess the only baby steps around here are from the steps I take into Stori's room to check on her while she sleeps.

man I love her.

and her dad.

that may or may not be our Christmas tree that we put up 17 days ago...

10.31.11

2011-10-31T21:39:00.000-06:00

Braces, bow ties, 90's bangs, socks with sandals, Star Wars shirt....need I go on?

Instead of going as the Radfords this year, we went simply as the Nerdfords.

And we have the CUTEST nerd of all!

Check out the Hendy's and their amazing outfits. So fun!

This is the life

2011-10-28T22:04:00.001-06:00

Can't think of a better way to spend a Friday night!!!

Oh how I love these two!

Sto Ro

2011-10-17T21:12:00.001-06:00

my lil babe is 3 months old today. Look at those eyes and try to tell me you don't love this lttle gril....
Stori's 3 month-ness
-she smiles all the day long!
-she will sleep 11-12 hrs a night if she eats atleast 6 times in the day.
-loves to read the book "Ma! There's Nothing to do Here" with mom before bed.
-she's loving tummy time nowadays. She can push herself up for about 10 min. without laying her head down.
-she rolls from her tummy to her back. (just not for the camera) :)
-does not like broccoli even a tiny bit!!! She learned how to cry because I ate that horrible green vegetable.
-Still loves mornings, walks, and hangin with mom.
-if she is ever fussy, she can instantly be calmed by just taking a step outside. She loves it out there!
-she is giggling a few times a day. Wish I could capture if on camera
-she has a new love for her swing. It is her pre-sleep routine.
-she keeps eye contact and will follow me everywhere I go.
-not sure if it's accidental, but she can put her binks in her mouth if it's resting on her chest. haha. it's the cutest thing to watch her little fists pushing it all the way up to her mouth!!!

We sure love this little gril more and more each day!

family pictures

2011-10-15T12:09:00.001-06:00

We had Meg take our family pictures while we were in Jackson last week and here they are... thanks Meg!

Stori Rose has a red nose from the cold :)

I love all things plaid so I thought it would be fun to do some plaid pictures. Poor Stori Rose was too cold and had to wear a few jackets! :)

and I just had to throw this beautiful picture in that SDR took. This is "our spot" in Jackson.

"Bruces"

2011-10-13T21:14:00.000-06:00

SDR is such a champ!! Look at him rock these Boise State colors! :)

Yay for "BRUCES" haha

Jackson trip

2011-10-12T23:55:00.003-06:00

SDR is anxious to work on all of our pictures from Jackson so I have to be real quick-like with this post!

Our 'Annual Yellowstone trip' turned into a weekend in Jackson instead.

It was so very very FUN and so very BEAUTIFUL! I love my family sooo much!

We stayed at a fun hotel with an outdoor hot tub that we all enjoyed thoroughly.

Walked around the cute little shops and found a store with the most beautiful name...

just the girls

We saw more wildlife than ever before!

Momma, Pappa, and baby moose.

Family of Grizzly bears-Mom and 3 cubs

And saw one lonely but adorable black bear.

We had a picnic at the base of the Tetons and found some beautiful autumn quakes

Discovered Signal mountain where SDR almost got jumped by a chipmunk

And ate at a yummy Mexican Restaurant called the "Merry Piglet" (so cute)!

Astoria stayed in her first hotel room. Unfortunately she woke up at 3:30am FROZEN cause the AC was blowing right on her. So she "slept" with me the rest of the night.

We had such a fun weekend and can't wait to go back! Hopefully with all the family next year!

p.s. Astoria Rose laughed for the first time on Sunday!!!! It was in Relief Society and she laughed 3 or 4 times. On the 4th laugh she had all the other sisters laughing with her!

p.p.s SDR threw Astoria in the air to play with her and she cried the saddest cry I've ever heard. Too soon Dan. too soon.

p.p.p.s. Stori Rose rolled over from her belly to her back on 10/11/11 (same day that SDR got braces! :) )

Little Stori Talkin

2011-10-01T08:53:00.003-06:00

(not sure how to crop it to where she talks, so go ahead and fast forward about 30 seconds-ish)

But this is why it's so hard to lay her down at night! We have much better footage of her talking, but for some reason it takes forever to put on here. It's been 3 weeks just to upload this video!

2 lovely months

2011-09-25T00:23:00.001-06:00

my favorite little red head is 2 months old. Can you believe it? I sure can't.

And I still can't believe how much I love this little Stori Rose.

here are a few things about this beautiful 2 month old

-she has been sleeping through the night for the past 3 weeks; goes to bed at 11:30 and wakes up at 6:30 to eat, then goes back to bed til 9:30. 2 days ago she didn't wake up til 8!

-doesn't love tummy time even though she's great at it!

-is talkin up a storm. "Coo's" and "Uhgoos" say it all

-hair is still red and still sticks straight up.

-eyes still haven't changed color

-loves that daddy has started singing Christmas songs to her

-swings her arms and can hold onto objects

-stands while just holding onto her tiny hands.

-smiles all day long (except when we mention tummy time)

-giggles every once in a while. Seriously cute!

-she no longer crosses her eyes (the gunther).

-weighs 11 lbs

-she moved up a size in diapers-not sure she was quite ready, but we ran out of newborn ones.

-she's starting to drool lots. hope that doesn't mean teeth soon! :)

-still a crowd stopper. Even had a lady come up to me and tell me that she was gonna steal her. All I said to the creepy lady was, "No, um... I like her".

-loves hanging out with grandma all day on Wednesdays cause she just eats and sleeps all the live long day.

-misses mommy all day tues and wed while she's at poopy work.

-She loves to be held facing out-she wants to be looking at everyone and see whats going on.

-she got her shots yesterday...saddest thing I've ever ever seen! She cried for about 1 minute and then fell right asleep. The nurses were surprised at how well she did. She pretty much just slept the day away. Whimpering while she slept, which just broke my lil heart! She decided that she needed some comfort food for dinner-which meant I had to eat that comfort food for lunch. She chose Thai food. I finally gave in and went out to eat with my dear friend Charlsee. Anything for my baby! :)

Newborns are so addicting! Now I see why the Duggars have 19 and counting! :)

sad, terrible, and all things opposite of good...

2011-09-12T22:37:00.000-06:00

I have about one hour and 24 minutes left of being a stay at home mom. {insert cries from mom and baby}

Wish me luck on my first day back at work. I will need it!

Would you want to leave this???

birthday tribute

2011-09-09T15:34:00.000-06:00

....27 amazing things about my amazing 27 year old....

You always take me to the best Mavericks to get me my frozen yogurt. Or drive to every single one til we find the right flavors.
When we met on campus, you called me Morgan. I thought you were so cute... and delusional. Even though we met on campus, we somehow have pictures of us together in High School. 4 dance pictures, seminary graduation friends group pictures, and you are even standing right by me in our high school graduation pictures. We were M.F.E.O. (sleepless in seattle acronym).
You never stink. Even when you are sweaty. How is that possible? seriously, how?
You sure makes beautiful babies. That is a fact.
You deep clean the apt atleast once a week, and do all the regular cleaning for everyday: make bed, dishes, sweep, garbages, change diapers, laundry, etc.
You loves your little girl almost as much as i do.
While dating, you danced with me at the butte until your car battery died. We'll save the rest of that story for later.... haha. You also danced with me during an entire 70's love song infomercial. Even with your fam watchin. Loved it!
Only been arrested once.
You tell me I still look pretty without makeup on. (Yes, I have questioned your eyesight for a long time now)!
Your singing. You may sing Johny Cash, Charlie Pride, and other depressing oldies, but stori just loves it. Or maybe she doesn't, cause you always put her to sleep while singin those to her. :)
You are sensitive. In a good way! Not like you cry all the time sensitive, but the kind of sensitive where you can sense when someone has their feelings hurt and will do anything to make them smile. You are real good at that SDR!
You Find humor in almost everything. And you can take being made fun of. Which is fun for me!
You are a Big ditz... I could write a book on all the funny things you do and say. ex: salmon.
You love spending time with family.
You love me more than soda. You even put a really really stamp on it.
You are so easily scared. I LOVE it! I scare you atleast once a day. I hid in the bathroom after work one day cause I knew you thought I was still at work. Well you walked in and started eating. 15 minutes later you walked down the dark hallway, and BAM. hahahaha the best scream and body contortion I have ever witnessed in me life! priceless.
You are a baby wrapping machine.you can wrap up Astoria for bed better than anyone else.
You always put Astoria and me first. You make me breakfast, lunch, and always help with dinner.
You work so hard in school! And you're almost done babe!!!
You work hard in plasma! :)
You give great blessings. You gave me a blessing right before we went to the hospital to have Astoria and it made me feel so at ease and I knew everything was going to go well.
Your laugh out loud Adam Pontepee laugh. By yourself even haha. so cute.
You can quote every line from seinfeld, office, modern family, arrested development, etc. It really comes in handy.
Your testimony! I learn so much from you. You help your scripture retarded wife figure things out and can almost always answer my Gospel questions.
You win the prize for loving peanut butter more than anyone else. Ever.
You take grand pictures. like ridiculously grand pictures that will probably make you rich some day! I make fun of you sometimes for getting carried away with your camera, but you always make the pictures worth it!
And finally, you write me sweet notes like this...

Steven Daniel RadfordpMelanie Christensen Radford

Hey sweetie! Just wanted to tell you publicly that you are doing a great job with Astoria and you are the best Mom she could ever hope for! I really love you and I am so grateful for you! See ya around the apartment!

I love you so much, and love that you love me so much!

Hope you have enjoyed a few things that I love about you.

happy 27th birthday Estevan. You are the BEST!!!!

Astoria wanted me to tell you that she loves you too!

blessing day

2011-09-03T08:51:00.004-06:00

Astoria Rose got blessed...

...and found her hand.

Her daddy did a really great job with the blessing. He sounded like an experienced father blessing his 8th child. It was really beautiful and put a lot of pressure on us as parents to make sure that we are good examples to her and teach her all that we can. Grandpa Radford noticed that SDR was bouncing her really high during the blessing, and as soon as SDR sat down with her, she threw up ALL over her dress. haha. We love this sweet little girl, throw up and all!

showin off her bracelet we made.

I made this blessing dress. No big deal. :) I made it in college before I ever had Astoria, and glad I decided to have her blessed in it. It was either this or the dress I was blessed in. Both good options.

With cousin Hazel in their blessing dresses

Happiest parents in all the land I tell ya!

With Grandma Faylene

And some of SDR's family

August 28th was a lovely day, and we are so glad that our sweet baby girl is officially Astoria Rose Radford (not victoria like the bishop had announced).

P.S. she also learned how to sign "I love you" and outgrew her premie/newborn clothes.

the "I love you" sign

Q&A

2011-08-23T20:45:00.001-06:00

Q: Has a baby ever been as cute as this one?

A: Well perhaps, but I’ve personally never seen one. :)

So let’s learn a little bit about Astoria ROse. The one month old.

*This lil’ lady loves being held. Especially by mom while watching chick flicks.

*She has so many people that love her, so she never has to worry about being put down. Grandma Faylene makes certain of that.

*She can't go anywhere without getting compliments on her amazing red hair. {She is often asked, “where did you get that hair color from?” to which I think- really, did you not see her mom… you know, the one with red hair?}

*If you butter her up and tell her how cute she is, she will give you the most adorable smile you've ever seen.

*She really loves being awake in the morning. That’s when she smiles the most. I never thought I'd be a morning person, but it's happening people.

*Awake before the sun no matter how much sleep we have. It’s a good thing she’s cute or else I would be upset about no sleep.

*Still doesn't really cry-not that she would really have a chance to cry though.

*She now weighs 9lbs. And just one month ago she was 6lb 9oz. Atta girl! Eating is her specialty. She’s even been a pro with the bottle and sometimes tries to get milk off her dad!

*She can smack her tongue ridiculously loud, and has done that since birth.

*She holds her head up like a champ and will stand if you balance her.

*Loves going on walks with mom and dad.

*She has the cutest little bum that sticks up in the air.

*Her dad thinks she’s the cutest thing in the world when she sucks on her orange binky.

*Finally fits into her newborn clothes and still has skis for feet.

*Loves a nice warm bath.

*Hates when the AC turns on and loves all her blankets.

*Hates that her mom has to go back to work, but glad dad and grandma will get to watch her.

*Gives us the “Gunther” look when trying to focus.

*And of course, makes us the happiest we’ve ever been.

“If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up!”

Name the movie.

The "Gunther" look

1st Fair trip: Cache County

Loves her daddy (but not as much as me)

First Church experience: Hazels blessing

First walk around the greenbelt

Lovin on Grandma and Grandpa Radford

Nice warm bath

We couldn't ask for a better, sweeter, prettier baby.

oh how productive

2011-08-16T16:37:00.002-06:00

........him. not me.

SDR woke up,
read his scripts,
worked out,
burped and sang to Astoria Rose,
changed 3 diapers,
showered,
did the dishes,
donated his plasma,
made lunch,
and is now at the Temple.
ya, pretty productive right?

All while I slept,

fed Astoria Rose,

slept,

held Astoria Rose,

Repeat.

thought about showering,

thought about working out,

fed, burped, and held Astoria Rose,

and now I'm off to make pizza for

dinner/movie night with the Hendy's.

Ya, this is the life.

If only I didn't have to go back to work in a few weeks.

Also, my sweet baby has baby acne. *We have tried Proactive and we are contemplating putting her on birth control to see if it will clear up.... she's still the "Cutest ol' gal on the block!"

* don't think I'm #1 crappiest mom. proactive and birth control are all jokes.

Anniversary The Great

2011-08-11T09:45:00.001-06:00

12 poopy diapers

1 (2) hour nap

Breakfast at noon

PJ's all day

Spit up on shirt

Spit up on pants

Cafe Rio

Flowers

Red Box

Small child

And 3 happy Radfords

To you this may not seem glamorous, but to the 2 of us, this was a terrific way to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary.

Now if you remember, we like to put on our wedding clothes each year to make sure that we can still fit into them. When I found out that I was due just 1 week before our anniversary, I immediately thought about having to squish into my dress. I think I should get a bye this year.

August 1, 2009

August 1, 2010

August 1, 2011

Let's not talk about whether or not I zipped up the dress... let's just talk about the fact that I got the dress ON! (Atleast the shoes still fit)!

But I had a great excuse this year for not fitting into my dress. What is Dan's excuse? haha jokes. no but seriously.

I love love love my handsome husband and so very very glad that I decided to marry him. Even though I thought I was too little. It has been the best 2 years and so excited for billions more.

newborn pics

2011-08-05T15:56:00.004-06:00

Astoria Rose, 4 days old.
Lots of pictures (but it's okay cause she's so cute). SDR did a GREAT job taking these!

Hazel in the bottom shelf, Astoria with the binky. 2 hungry girls for sure! :)

the hair...

2011-08-03T18:18:00.003-06:00

We LOVE this little squirt and LOVE all her hair! Our cute lil orangutan!

My 26th birthday on the 26th. I had the best birthday gift anyone could ask for!

B-day consisted of: French Toast and scrambled eggs breakfast made by SDR, 2 hour nap with Astoria Rose, Gringos with mom, SDR, and Stori, fried ice cream, sugar cookie cake, Adjustment Bureau, bike basket, painting of Christ, Lake House, and a b-day song from the Hendy's with scotcharoos. Seriously, life is grand!

little preview

2011-07-25T13:56:00.001-06:00

I can not stop holding this cute little babe of ours! She is ridiculously adorable and is so relaxed all the time. Sometimes the only time i put her down is to use the bathroom (I'm still trying to figure out how to do that and still hold her)! ha

We have spent 2 days of torturing her so that SDR could get some cute newborn pics. Here's a lil' sneak peak at how dang adorable Astoria Rose is. Trust me, she's the cutest thing you've ever seen.

SHE IS HERE...

2011-07-22T18:51:00.001-06:00

...and she even came early...

{Sunday July 17, 2011}

Astoria Rose Radford

6lbs. 9oz. 19 inches long

tons of BEAUTIFUL red hair and the most AMAZING eyes.

She is ever so tiny but we love her lots and lots and lots! That's a lot!

First Family Photo. SHE IS SOOO CUTE!!!!

The Story of 'Stori'

{skip to the end if you just want pictures}

We spent all day Saturday in Idaho Falls; we went to Kung Fu Panda 2 in the morning and then we walked around the greenbelt with a picnic and some contractions. Then we headed to Rexburg and walked around the Nature park with even more contractions. So I called my mom and all my sisters in Logan and asked them about their labor pains-each with different stories. So I was in denial that I was actually in labor. But then it was off to Gringos for some spicy food. At Gringos, my contractions were about 2 minutes apart so we decided to go for our 3rd walk of the day around Porter Park. We only made it around twice before I knew we had to go home. So we went home and watched an episode of Modern Family while we timed my contractions to know if we should go to the Hospital or just sleep it off. Well they were consistently 5 minutes apart so we decided we needed to go in because I was group B strep positive and needed to be on antibiotics 4 hours before delivery. I had such a nervous excited feeling thinking that we might not come back to the apartment just the two of us...

On our way to the hospital Saturday night

We walked into the hospital and explained to the nurses that it was okay if they sent us home cause we weren't sure if I was in labor. She sent us to an exam room to get checked to see if I was dilated. Which I was-but only to a 1. So we were sent on a walk for an hour. Let me tell you this. That was the worst hour of my life (and I can probably put a really really stamp on that)! I was having contractions every 20 seconds and they were getting worse with each one. SDR was great at being the supportive husband. I said several times that I wasn't strong enough to do this but he was quick to tell me that he loved me and that I definitely could do this. So after the hour I still hadn't dilated anymore and I was sent to the jacuzzi for an hour. That turned out to be only 30 minutes because I couldn't handle the pain anymore. Went back and got checked and the lady discovered that the reason I wasn't dilated anymore was because I had scar tissue built up and it was preventing me from dilating. She called the Dr. because the baby was low and ready to be born even though I wasn't dilated more than a 1. He gave the O.K. to send me to the labor room and get my epidural. EPIDURAL. my favorite word!

Once I got that epidural at 3:30am, I was able to relax enough and I immediately dilated to a 4. then an 8. then a 10. On the last check the nurse did, my water broke. Which was such a cool feeling.

so tired but ready to deliver this babe

After my water broke, it was go time! So the nurse, SDR, and I started the real labor stuff. At 10am we began the pushing. I actually really really liked the delivery process. The epidural took the pain away, but I was still able to feel the pressure of contractions and I was able to feel every time I pushed. I knew that each push was putting us closer and closer to seeing our beautiful baby so I gave it everything I had. One hour later SDR cut the cord and our baby girl was on my lap looking straight up at me. She was so alert and so peaceful. We couldn't help but crying with happiness. She was finally here. We were now a family of 3!

look at those eyes!

love her so much

BATH TIME

Proof that we belong together

SOME OF THE MANY VISITORS that love Astoria

GETTING READY TO HEAD HOME

she loves me :)

She is now 4 days old but it feel like she's been a part of our family for years. She's going to think her name is gorgeous because that's all she hears from her dad and mom. We love every minute of this little squirt.

still cookin

2011-07-16T18:34:00.000-06:00

Remember the time I swallowed that basketball........

This was taken today after our 3.5 mile walk.

4 DAYS LEFT!

And this pic is from Wed after our 3.5 mile walk. Yep, trying to get her out.

We had to have another ultrasound because the doc says I have a "deceiving torso". He said I don't look full term but when he checked me, the baby was big.

So we saw her little profile again, and this time she was covering her nose with her hand. It made SDR and me feel kinda bad cause we made fun of her big nose in the last ultrasound. haha. But everything is great and she is healthy. Just really low and hiding in my deceiving torso. The Doc says she weighs about 7lbs. 12 oz.

Bags are packed. We're ready to go. Just waitin on you A.R.R.

Some summer Rants & Raves

2011-07-01T23:36:00.000-06:00

SDR and I are absolutely lovin our lives right now.
I go to work, SDR goes to class, and we arrive home at the exact same time. Then our evening adventures begin.

Our first task is to go work out. I walk about 3.5 miles on the treadmill while I watch "Chef Brad" make some 'abtholutely fabulouth' meals. SDR runs about 4 miles to music while I hand him water.

We leave the gym and head home for dinner. Our fave is Taco Tues. (which sometimes lands on Wednesdays).

Then we clean the apartment and gather our bikes from Baby Rad's room. (which reminds me, we're loving the creative names you guys are coming up with. ex: Seagull ha).

Anyway, our bike rides are spectacular! We usually go to the Nature Park, Porter Park or the Gardens. AND We have made some stunning discoveries with the Rexburg parks. Just hear me out...(rant)...

PORTER PARK= Telestial Kingdom

NATURE PARK= Terrestrial Kingdom

BYUI GARDENS= Celestial Kingdom

"If Porter Park knew what was going on in there, it would go confess to the bishop"

-SDR

Seriously, why do couples think everyone wants to see them making out wrapped up in blankets. And thats while is LIGHT outside. So who knows what happens when it's dark? And the girls. oh man. They just throw those BYUI standards right out the window along with all their clothes!

Ok. Then we have the Nature Park. Not too bad... we just try to avoid the topless skater crowds. (At least it's the men that are topless).

Now we have the BYU-I Gardens. Beautiful. Peaceful. Full of modest people. Brides getting pictures taken.

Ya, that's where we wanna be!

After our bike rides we usually do some Maverick hopping to see which one has the best Fro Yo. Head home with the fro yo and soda and start watching a movie or an episode of Seinfeld, Modern Family, Office, or Community. I would say that's a pretty grand way to live!!!

Switching topics now

I'm starting to really panic about only having 2 weeks left of being alone with my hubby! I know that the baby is going to bring soooo much happiness and that we'll love her more than anything...but sometimes I stress out about missing out on the time I have with just me and SDR. Pretty lame thinking huh?

Only 2 dr. appts left 'til she comes!!!! :) oh ya that's a Rave!

As you can see, between weeks 36 & 37, my belly turned into a torpedo belly. Both rant and a rave. So enjoy!!

too little

2011-06-10T18:57:00.005-06:00

I am probably the worst pregnant lady ever.

It's still weird to say that I'm pregnant. People actually ask me when I'm due. ME.

Being pregnant is just something that Moms do. That my friends do. That my sisters do.

I feel too little to be the pregnant one. To be the one raising a small human being.

To be the one getting up in the middle of the night, the one to change diapers, the one to buy baby toys and clothes, to clean up the spit-up and drool.

To be the one that makes the rules. The one who picks out what baby wears, what they will or won't play with.

The one to make the nap schedule, to take them to their Dr. appointments.

The one to baby proof the house, read stories, buy diapers, sing primary songs, feed.

The one to teach crawling, walking, talking, reading, crafting.

The one to teach them scripture stories, right and wrong, how not to hit, how to be polite, how to do the chores, ride a bike, play volleyball.

To teach them how to shop at D.I., estate sales, and ROSS dress for less.

The one that get's them ready for dates, dancing, and their wedding.

To be the one they call Mom.

That is a lot of responsibility.... and I feel too little.
Good thing I have an amazing husband to be the other responsible party.

Good thing for my amazing mom, sisters, and friends. Hopefully I can be like them one day!!!

But all that can wait a month or so.... right now I need some help with some pregnant lady/baby vocabulary...

-What exactly does it mean to "pack your bags" for the hospital? Is there something special that goes in this bag besides a toothbrush?
-When that time comes and I'm like, "holy crap, my water just broke", what do I do? Do I go to the ER or to some special baby having station? And why don't I know this answer?
-And how do I tell people (Dr's and nurses) that I want an epidural? Do I do that when I go in when I'm in labor, or is that something that I need to schedule?
Holy Schmoley I know nothing. Being pregnant is easy. I take care of this baby without even knowing it. Once it's outside of my belly I'm lost. Wish me luck. 39ish days left.

P.S. SDR has been wanting to take preg pics of me for a while, so we spent a saturday and did just that.

32 week pictures (currently 34 weeks though)

We have to move....

2011-06-07T21:26:00.002-06:00

...just found a spider. We don't do spiders.

(but we'll have to wait to pack until the NBA finals are over).

Our "Campout"

2011-05-31T21:15:00.000-06:00

Memorial Day weekend is when people usually venture out into the wilderness to do some camping.

Well this year we decided to be nonconformists.

The rain, wind and muy pregnantness of myself, kept our camping trip to a very local destination.

Our very own living room.

We grilled up some hamburgers and jo jo's.

Ate on our camping chairs

And even set up our tent.

We decided that we would watch a movie about people camping, so we watched "Last of the Mohicans". haha ok it was a stretch, but we weren't really feeling "The Great Outdoors" at the time.

And let it be known that I finally stayed awake for the ENTIRE movie!

After the verryyy long preparation for our campout, we were feeling quite tuckered out.

The thought of sleeping on the hard living room floor when our soft bed was only 8 steps away was unbearable.

So we moved the tent to the kitchen, brushed our teeth, and went to our comfy bed.

Best camping trip ever.

cuties

2011-05-31T20:34:00.000-06:00

We went to Montana for cute little Maizy's baptism.

We have loved our road trips to Montana and we even decided that Dan would make a great Cowboy and I would make a great stay at home wife...So beautiful. The land, not me!

We saw the cutest moose I've EVER seen

On the way home we drove through Yellowstone and saw a few more cuties...

Cute little cinnamon black bear

Cute little baby buffalo

And a cute little mountain goat thing (the momma is pushing it up the mountain. Very hard to see).

Ya, it's all pretty cute.

We sure love Yellowstone, Jackson, and all things that Montana and Idaho have to offer. Oh and a little bit of Wyoming too... haha jokes....that one is for my mom!

Baby Trivia

2011-05-20T23:16:00.001-06:00

So you wanna know Baby Rad's name eh? I wish we knew for sure.
Well...to be completely honest...we do have one that we are kind of in LOVE with. But it is definitely OUT THERE and it is definitely one to think about. Not everyone that we've told has a positive reaction to it and we're wondering if we should be concerned.....????
We don't want some boring shmoring name that just anyone can have, however, we don't want people to absolutely despise our beautiful Baby Rad because of her name. Makes sense right?
As much as I want to say the name, I just can't. I'm not ready for everyone in the world {'cause everyone in the world reads this} to tell me how much they hate it. My sister said it's best to wait to announce the name until the baby is born because it will already be linked to a human and maybe they won't judge it as much.
BUT, I will share some clues to this enigmatic name.

Trivia Level: Advanced
a) the meaning is "like a hawk"
b) it's a location
c) you may crave a specific candy bar upon hearing it
d) babycenter doesn't know a single other person with this name
e) and its nickname can be read.
Welp. best of luck.

P.S. I now go to the Dr. every 2 weeks....that means it's getting realllly close! I can't believe I only have 8 weeks left! The Dr. was very pleased with my results after drinking my sugary drink (which tasted like a melted Otter Pop-not too bad). He said he would love to hire me to teach other pregnant women how to be so healthy. So good work Baby Rad. We sure love ya!

Changes...

2011-05-06T18:23:00.002-06:00

I have decided that getting behind on your blog is one of the most stressful and overwhelming feelings ever. On the other hand, I have thoroughly enjoyed not having Internet for the last 3 weeks. Really really, it was nice not having to spend hours stalking people, boring others with my blog, and checking facebook. Instead I cleaned, decorated, organized, reorganized, redecorated and relaxed with my hubs in our new apartment. What? New apartment?

Enter #1 big Change.

SDR and I found a great deal on an 2 bedroom apartment in Rexburg: It is the bottom floor of a 4 plex, includes a washer/dryer, AC for my fat pregs self, cable, internet, and ALL utilities. Plus it is located 47 steps from my friend Fae, 2 minutes from fro yo, and 7 minutes from work. (Rather than 40 minutes).

I'll post pics of the after apartment. This is a definite before!

Change #2.

I was stressing out about moving to Rexburg and still having to travel to Idaho Falls for work. {And with gas at a ridiculous price, I would probably rather quit}. Well the very day we moved to Rexburg was the very day I started working at the Rexburg office! I feel so blessed. Now we get home before 5:30 everyday rather than 7:30. We actually have time to make dinner, work out, AND watch an entire movie before bedtime. We love all this time we get to spend together.

Change #3

SDR is back to school this semester. He has decided to do fast grad, so he should be done next April.We really enjoyed his last time off track but glad to get going again. This semester is going to be crazy...mainly because I will be giving birth to Baby Rad the VERY week of FINALS!!! Great planning eh?

Change #4

We moved into a married student ward. It is very much the opposite of our previous family ward and I think we'll really like it. In Relief Society they passed around the announcements in a folder like usual, BUT the first paper in there was titled "Are you Pregnant and When are you Due?" No joke! haha. And even better, I was the 3rd person from the front and the 3rd person on that list! Gotta love it.

Change #5

Finally cut my nasty hair! I have always thought that I need to have long hair because I was always the friend with long hair. Then a few years into college I discovered that I was a secret 'short hair' lover trapped in a 'long hair' body. {haha sounds so awkward} So I cut it. And I love it! And I will cut it again after Baby Rad is born! Hopefully cut off more nasty fake color. Also, the very day I cut my hair, we were out on my moms deck and a squirrel, yes a squirrel, pooped right on my head. See the pooh?

In other news, we spent Easters at my moms beautiful house and spent the whole day outside in the sun with almost all the family and lots of friends. The weather was amazing and my mom has the perfect yard for egg hunts and yard games. Speaking of games, that same day I had the privilege of telling everyone that a 7 month pregnant lady beat all my brothers and all the Radford boys in the basketball game 'around the world'. No big deal.

And I would like to end with a little friendly FACT: You probably won't like the name we pick for Baby Rad. But guess what? WE will love it and probably won't care that YOU don't, so just love it anyway. Or else you can't hold her! Mmkay? Thanks :)

Thought this was a cute family photo of sodas.

Muy Pregs

2011-04-09T18:38:00.001-06:00

I am not very good a taking belly pictures lately…. I think it’s because I am always wearing gross scrubs and have my hair slicked back from working all day.

Preg updates

-Hair: It wasn’t until I went to Montana to visit my sister that I realized my hair hasn’t been falling out. It is also getting really fine and hard to fix. So I am at war with myself…To Cut or Not to CUT????

-Fat: It’s getting very difficult to feel pretty. I am at the in-between stage with clothes. Too small for maternity clothes, but busting the seams in my regulars.

-Cheap entertainment: “Did you see that?” “OH OH did you feel that? That was a big one huh?” These sayings are an hourly occurrence. I LOVE feeling Baby Rad move and I ALWAYS want SDR to feel. It’s the best when I’m lying on my back and we watch this lil girl squirm, roll, and punch every surface of my belly.

-Sleep: I am just now, at 26 weeks, starting to feel a little fatigued and uncomfortable. Still nothing to really complain about yet-I’m certain it will get MUCH worse.

-Breathing: When I eat too much, I swear Baby Rad is all the way in my rib cage and it literally hurts to breath. I know there has to be an easy solution… oh ya, don’t overeat!!!

-Food: Cereal is my best friend. No matter what meal I have, I always have cereal for dessert. Sometimes Cereal IS the meal and I still have sugar puffs for dessert.

-Shopping: Things have REALLY changed. I was at the usuals: ROSS, TJ MAXX, and Target, and found myself in the baby section the whole time. Before being pregs, I would have rather consumed moldy milk and rotten cheese than go shopping in the baby section. I was traumatized as a child.

-Work out: I am still walking for about 45 minutes each night and it still feels great, but I have to drink more water and need a longer cool-down.

-Love: I love life, my family, my baby, my super hot spouse, my slippers, my bed, movies, popcorn, blog stalking, cereal, baby hats from my sis, my treadmill, no monthly visitor, ice cream, fabric, skirts, baby sun dresses, fingernail polish, earrings, Pandora, fat clothes, road trips, mountains, great friends, conference, DVR, blue skies, going for walks/bird excursions, and makeup. To name a few.

Life is grand! Just grand!

he tricked me....

2011-03-25T13:27:00.005-06:00

2 years ago, on this VERY DAY (March 25, 2009) this is what my brain was doing…

I drove to class and watched my EMPTY left hand ring finger more than the road.
I got to class and thought about Steven Daniel Radford more than I thought about my grades.

Thinking “Why is my ring finger EMPTY and why did my boyfriend just tell me last night that he’s not sure he’s ready to get married yet?”

I got texts from SDR all day telling me how much he loved me- "Well then WHY not give me a dang RING for heavens sake????"
Drive home from school and get ready to go on a date with SDR. It was a Wednesday.
Drive into I.F. to meet SDR at his parents place. Trying to imagine how this night was going to turn out. Since he doesn’t want to get married yet, does he also not want to date me?? Is there another girl? Is there more than one girl? Does he just want to be single? (My head was not thinking clearly).
Get to his house. See SDR and get the biggest BUTTERFLIES I had ever had. It was a fact that I loved this boy more than anything and I really really really really wanted to marry him. I wanted to be Mrs. Radford. But he’s not “ready” for that….
Much to my surprise, the rest of the night was perfect. PERFECT!

-Eat at Texas Roadhouse, go to the Temple to walk off some of the calories we just ate, go to “our” place where we fake got engaged, SDR hands me a cherry cordial, I drop something, SDR gets on one knee, picks up what I drop and says so many mushy gushy words that make me cry, he tears up, we kiss, we hug, we kiss again….

-Now that EMPTY left hand ring finger was OCCUPIED!!!

Welcome Mrs. Radford!

self timer engagement shot. it snowed romantically.

If you are looking to surprise your love with a ring, this way will most def work, but I'm not sure I would recommend this same form of torture to any other love struck couple. But yes, I was surprised!
And if you need to get a hold of us tonight, we’ll be at Texas Roadhouse. :)

pink or blue...

2011-03-13T17:54:00.002-06:00

Today was THE dr. apt.
The one where you learn sugar and spice or frogs and snails.

So in honor of this day, Steven Daniel dressed in Blue and I dressed in Pink. That way we represent lil' Rad no matter what it is.
Both of us had really strong thoughts and dreams of this baby being a boy. The Chinese calendar even agreed with us. We decided weeks ago that if it was a boy (which we were planning on) then we would celebrate by eating at Texas Roadhouse. If it was a girl (which we were 50% sure that it wasn’t) then we would celebrate by eating at Red Robin.

*And just to clear things up, we didn’t necessarily want a boy, just felt that boy vibe ya know?!*

So back to the dr. appointment…
Nurse: “Okay, everything looks really good. All the organs are developing and all the measurements are great. Now, lets check that gender………”

Next thing we hear “Welcome to Red Robin, just the two of you?”

We are soooooooooooo excited!

20/20

2011-03-02T21:56:00.003-07:00

!!!HALF WAY!!!!

It is also our 20-month anniversary!

20/20

Very lucky to be married to the witty, handsome, sassy, smart, random, funny, lovely Steven Daniel,

Very lucky to be the mom of this amazing lil' runt that entertains me with all its karate-chop moves.

I wish to buy your stuff!!

2011-02-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

Oh please let me buy your stuff!

We are moving to Rexburg in April and I am in need of soooo many things! So if you (or someone you know) have any of these things that you are looking to get rid of and haven’t taken them to D.I. yet, I would be more than happy to take them off your hands! J

1. CRIB! (doesn’t need to be fancy)

2. Mattress (for baby)

3. Dresser

4. Car seat

5. Stroller

6. Jogging Stroller

7. Swing/bouncy thingy

8. High Chair

9. Rocker/Glider

10. Vacuum

Pretty much anything for Baby Rad.

If you know someone or somewhere to buy these from, just let me know. Thanks mucho.

Almost half way!

2011-02-25T00:08:00.000-07:00

What we say to each other on a daily basis...

"We're really doing this huh Harry"
-Dumb and Dumber
"You're doing it Peter"
-Hook

Yes, we're really doing this... and we're almost halfway there!

"Whoooaah, we're halfway theerree, WHOaaH, livin' on a prayer..." Yep, we speak to each other in quotes and songs!

And just as a side note, I now know exactly what to do to prepare for this baby.

I have been watching "Baby Mama."

Dan is now able to feel Baby Rad kick! S/he never stops and I love it. BEST. FEELING. EVER.

viva vegas valentines

2011-02-24T23:53:00.000-07:00

WARNING: I suggest you skip this post because it is very long and very boring to anyone but me and possibly Dan. But you have been warned.

So remember how we're pregnant?

Ya me too...

That means next year we'll have a baby for Valentines Day.

So why not go to Vegas THIS year, before the baby comes?

So we went. And we had a blast.

We decided to invite our dear friends to join us. How cute are we?
We made a pact to go on a vacation every year together. Next year is in their hands.

We started our party on Friday when we headed down to SLC to pick up the Petersons. We hit up Chipotle, IKEA, and the back massagers at Bed Bath & Beyond and then we began our adventure...

Road Trip included: 8 sodas, 2 chocolate milks, 7 sandwiches, a plethora of plums and M&M's, and 5 amazing rounds of "7 steps to Kevin Bacon". haha Anyway,

Here are some highlights of our vacay.

Many trips to Paris...

...New York

AND HERE!

Plenty of State Lines to kiss on (Arizona/Nevada line on the Hoover Dam)

Some nauseating views looking down at Hoover Dam and driving over the freaky deaky bridge.

The Las Vegas Temple (kind of sounds like an oxymoron).

St. George Temple

Baby Rad really enjoyed to trip too. Didn't stop kicking and growing-and I'm sure s/he loved all the food that was consumed! :)

One of the nights we just spent the 2 of us, and we acted like total honeymooners! It was fun to go back to the same places that we actually went on our ACTUAL honeymoon in August of 2009.

It was ever so romantic. One major difference... I actually got ice cream on this trip. Our entire honeymoon I spent craving and searching for ice cream. But every time we stopped for that frozen goodness, random obstacles would occur. Like; long lines, closed signs, or a snoop dogg look-alike cashier who didn't know how to scan in an ice cream snickers. (Still upset about that). So on our re-enactment date we found an open Coldstone without a mile-long line! Much happiness.

Then we went to the Excalibur (where we stayed) to see if the Corona Bottle was still there. Sadly, it was gone.

Then watched the water show at the Bellagio

And walked the entire strip until we were all tuckered out. It was perfect.

On Valentines day we ate at P.F. Changes and met a misunderstood waiter who likes to "hike in Utah." "AND MT. BIKING"-SDR

hahaha oh man I haven't laughed that hard in a LOOONG time! personal story, don't feel left out.

After dinner, we went to Phantom of the Opera and sat on the 5th row. It was definitely the highlight of our trip! Then watched another water show and headed back to the Palace Station.

Before the show and dinner, we all took to the strip. The boys rode the New York, New York Roller Coaster while us girls talked about babies.

The 4 of us has such a great time in the 70 degree weather! Oh and we went to the friendliest ward any of us had ever been to. Such a change from the people we met on the strip and in the Wal-marts! :) We also loved feeling actual warmth as we walked around taking feet pictures.

And that was our wonderful vacation. We got home late Tuesday night and had to be to work bright and early Wednesday morning (and in -17 degree weather). Such is life.

P.S. I love SDR

I have my reasons...

2011-02-17T20:49:00.001-07:00

One day I will post something other than baby news. In fact, I already have a blog post forming in my brain about all the fun things we did in Vegas! Just waiting on Steven Daniel to reveal all the photos we took! But for now, baby thoughts:

REASONS FOR THINKING IT'S A BOY
* Chinese Calendar tells me so
* At 8 weeks (after 7 weeks of hoping hoping for a girl) I had a strange 'feeling' that it was a boy
* I had an amazing baby boy dream at 10 wks and now want a boy extremely much
* We have a cute boy name picked out

* (Hoping it looks exactly like his father)

* Someone told me I was getting headaches b/c I was having a boy
* Someone else told me I was having a boy after examining my stomach and muffin tops...
* Someone else told me etc. etc. etc.
* Steven Daniel is, and always has been, convinced that it's a boy
* My mom bought baby Rad the cutest lil' boy moose sweater
* Everyone is having boys....must be the season?

OK. That's a pretty good list right? Firm, sturdy evidence. Especially the Chinese Calendar.

REASONS FOR THINKING IT'S A GIRL

*Because we're planning on having a boy!! :)

So any guesses?

Picture of "Melanie" created by Dan. Picture of "Daniel" created by Mel.
See why baby Rad should look like Dan??

baby rad

2011-02-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry for all those haters of belly pictures. It's my blog and I'm in charge! :)

Go ahead, take a look. I just keep growin growin growin. Baby center just informed me that this child is the size of a turnip. Really? A turnip? Well, if I were in charge of saying how big it is, I would def say the size of a cantelope! Seriously, this belly is large...

And since Steven Daniel and I will be spending Valentines day in Vegas, I thought I'd just jot down the latest reasons why I love him before we go.

His laugh is identical to that of Adam Pontipee(from 7 brides for 7 brothers). Adorable.
Working out together while watching episodes of Seinfeld.
A combination of items 1 and 2: I love listening to SDR laugh out loud by himself while watching Seinfeld. haha
We carpool to work every day, which means we have an extra hour to spend together!
He's the perfect sap! Cries in movies, has a million lovey dovey nicknames for me, and thinks a chubby red head is cute!

And there you have it.

Happy Valentines Day.

WHY?

2011-01-27T21:00:00.002-07:00

Why do I love this so much??

Yep, still laughing...

Craft Day with Mac Rae and FAE

2011-01-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning was craft day. With FAE. We spent most of the time 'not crafting', but once I busted out the Shock Tarts we got motivated and made some fabulous necklaces! :)

This is my first attempt and I am kinda in love.

I even wore it last night to the one and only Texas Roadhouse.

And then again to church today.

You should see the one AMBS made cause it is freaking amazing! I plan on making one of those next. And the list doesn't end there. Oh no no no... many crafts to come.

P.S. wanna know what FAE looks like? I'll show you...

sorry fellas, she's taken.

PREGS

2011-01-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

Still not really sure how to be pregs.

I guess I am in my 2nd trimester already but I really don't know what's going on. It seems like expecting moms usually do all the homework once they find out they are preg and pretty much know everything the Dr's know. I feel the exact opposite. I haven't read any books, looked up any pregnancy stories or even started trying to wrap my brain around the fact that this baby is really IN there and at some point has to really come OUT!

(Dan stole a pic of me in the Dr. office-allowed?)

The Dr's say that baby Radford is measuring big/a week farther along. So perhaps I'm technically 15 weeks? who knows. :) I just know that it's somewhere between a lemon and an apple. Now that I can relate to!

BELLY!

Not so much a pregnancy belly, but def pregnancy arms! HELP!!

Side notes:

-on the way to the cabin with my work friends, I felt lil' babe move for the very first time!!!! LOVE!

-about 3 weeks ago I had this overwhelming "boy" feeling and now I want a boy terribly bad!

-my mom purchased the most adorable moose sweater for baby s/he.

-not sick at all anymore, however I get headaches after the slightest workout. any ideas?

denial

2011-01-03T20:20:00.001-07:00

So I'm 3 months pregs and I am in total denial. Wanna know why? Well I'll tell you, and you just may share my 'denialation'... (perhaps I made that word up)...

- I stopped feeling sick and nauseous about 3 weeks ago
- I haven't started to show yet
- I have stopped eating a jar of pickles each day
- I still wanna throw up when I smell my shampoo and hand soap, but I have stopped cursing at it! :)
- Not nearly as tired as I was in weeks 1-8
- I only eat 1 package of shock tarts a day

Do you see why I am in denial?

Also, something ever so sad has happened. I CAN NOT eat Fro Yo or Mentos anymore. To be honest, it makes me real sick-like to even think about it. So perhaps I really am still pregs. I SURE HOPE SO!!!

P.S. We are due July 20th for those that asked. We. Can. Not. Wait!!!

Pic of dan throwing a snowball at a small child....he's gonna make a great dad! :) I loves him!

Christmas present AND FUTURE!!!

2010-12-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

It is very much true! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

(from the 3 of us)!

questions I've asked myself today...

2010-12-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

Why do I make faces like this for pictures? Especially at my bridal shower!!! Honestly.

Why did I ever change my hair from THIS----->

<----To this? WHY??? haha feel free to laugh

And more importantly, why did I go rock climbing immediately after donating my plasma??? haha. And this was while I was at BYU-I and clearly smart....guess I lost the smarts in the yellow water part of my blood!

And lastly, why does my wardrobe contain more t-shirts from D.I. than pretty shirts? (every outfit in all of these pictures from this post today are from D.I.). I blog-stalked a lot today and found a girls blog who said she only buys clothes that she is absolutely in love love with. And guess what- she always looks cute! So that is my new goal: throw away the clothes I'm not in love with and start finding good deals on loveable clothes that will make my wardrobe ROCKIN instead of lacking! ha. So D.I. still isn't out, I just need to be more decisive and organized with my "cheap" purchases.

Also, I will grow my hair out again, and find the natural color I tried to hide from.

numbers

2010-12-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

1-husband that I love more than all the presents on Christmas morning
2-feet that I love to have rubbed
3-hours that it took to deep clean our bedroom and bathroom yesterday
4-Christmas trees in our home
5-stockings hanging in our room
6-siblings that I wish could all be home for christmas
7-shock tarts that i just ate in the last 30 seconds.
8-times 2 = 16, the number of months we have been married
9-visits to frozen yogurt stores during thanksgiving break
10- fingers that scratch Steven Daniels back every 10 minutes :)
AND
20-Days left 'til Christmas EVE!!!

Washington Wonderland

2010-11-28T16:02:00.002-07:00

Thanksgiving was in Washington this year and we were able to be there for 9 days!

We had A LOT of fun, and A LOT of SNOW!

Here's a photo album of our adventures....

The beautiful Thanksgiving dinner
(the meal wasn't actually done at this point, the kids just decided to eat "Hook" style). haha

The celery sticks that were eaten before the meal. My bad!

Met the newest member of the family. Welcome Rick!

Dancing after church. We went to Steven Daniels ward growing up.

Went to the Columbia River Temple with Vern and Nicole

We celebrated birthdays with each of us having our own cake/pie.

Games, Games, Games! Mainly Monopoly this year.

Snow, ice, sledding, shoveling, fro yo, and all things cold this Thanksgiving

We saw a lot of stinkin Lincoln

Bird watching and a lot of picture taking

The birthday boy!

Marisa the beautiful! She let me straighten her hair.

We certainly enjoyed sleeping in on this trip! (So did Michael).

Thanks Radfords for a great vacation.

Remember?

2010-11-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

Remember how I don't have to work until next NEXT monday?
Remember how I get to spend Thanksgiving in Washington?
Remember how I don't have to put braces on anyone for 11 days?
Remember how I love Steven Daniel? (And how he doesn't have to do homework for 11 days).
Well I remember.
And I'm VERY thankful. We are taking a much needed vacay from school and work and we will get to spend day and night together. I sure love those days.
Happy Thanksgiving (eve, eve, eve, eve, eve, eve).

p.s Christensen Fam-you will be missed dearly. And I know you will miss me even more. But you will get through this hard time. You can call or text if you feel the need to hear from your fave red head!

shhhh

2010-11-09T23:13:00.000-07:00

This is what we accidentally did last night for FHE

.....and dan wants credit for makin the tree stand....

he's so tough and manly! ha

'Moosography'

2010-11-05T13:08:00.006-06:00

....hahaha...

I'm not even going to pretentd that we look good! We struggled with our costumes this year because we had so many options of what to be. (Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks, Marge and Homer, Mario and Princess Peach, Orthodontist and nerd, Bonnie and Clyde, etc). Time caught right up with us and I still hadn't made any costumes. So our last resort was to dress up as things that we love!! haha Which is why I am a Moose (a Christmas moose) and Steven Daniel is a Wildlife photographer! ha. I think we're pretty believable and we sure had a lot of fun!

I made the hooves out of plastic cups, the antlers out of cardboard and the body out of literally 7 layers of sweatshirts and vests. Dan already had his outfit, just added one of my Dads old hats!

Our pumpkin that desperately needs braces.

Family party at my moms house! What cute/scarry kiddos

Max looking at my strange antlers! sooo cute!!!

Don't worry, I already have next years costumes picked out. And you WON'T be disappointed! :)

What I learned from school...

2010-10-19T21:41:00.010-06:00

So Dan and I got to talkin' a few weeks ago and we realized that we have NEVER had a class together. I graduated too soon I suppose (Bachelors degree in 5 years-yes, that was years not semesters)! I quickly sorted out my options and ruled out enrollment due to; homework, cost, my job, too many credits, and quite frankly, desire.

Simlple. I'll just go to school with him for a day and call it good.

So last Friday I went to classes with him...and loved it! We went to Accounting, library time on the 1st floor, Graphic Design, and then a work out in the Hart. I sure loved being back on campus and pretending to be a student again. I even took my backpack with me to fit in. But something interesting happened in one hour of class time that NEVER happened in my whole 5 years at BYUI. I found out what I wanted to do when I grow up.

Design fabric. I know its something Iwill never be able to do, but oh how I love color. Oh how I love funky and vintage and pattern and all things plaid! :) It makes sense that my favorite part about blogging is designing the header and my favorite part about sewing is the fabric. In fact I could buy yards and yards of fabric and not even make anything. Really I could, I can prove it. If only I would have found out this love BEFORE I graduated.

Ah well, ya live ya learn. Atleast at my job I get to pick out funky colors for people to put on their braces. It's kinda the same! :)

FHE or FME?

2010-09-27T21:13:00.003-06:00

Family Home Evening has quickly turned into Family Maverick Evening.

Monday Maverick Melanie should be my new name. Feel free to shorten my amazingly awesome alias alliteration to M3.

It takes about 16 minutes round-trip to drive to Maverick from our house, which is plenty of time for our FME lesson. We do simple activities from our Newlywed FHE book and truly enjoy our drive together while talking about real grown up stuff and wishing one day we would actually act like real grown ups. The drive home is much more enjoyable because I have my GIANT "small" cup of FROZEN YOGURT and Dan has his GIANT"giant" soda! Come home and watch Castle. Yes, I'd say FME has become quite succesful!

Happy Birthday Estevan

2010-09-15T21:52:00.005-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEEK STEVEN DANIEL

I'm glad your birthday was on a Thursday this year. I'm also glad that it was on the first day of school. And on a full day of work. And on a day that we had church meetings until 9. Why would I be glad that your birthday fell on such a day? So that we could celebrate it Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and also the following Wednesday! What a fun week! I made you a card with all the good words written in it, so here I'll just say:

Your hair is brown and so are your eyes

you sing and dance and tell me I'm your prize

You're as tall as a door and smart as a whip

The shirt you wear has a grizzly on it

Your nice and sweet and cute and tough

And made of all that good Radford stuff.

You joke so much it makes me chuckle

I especially liked our cowboy pictures with the buckle

Your number one husband i believe thats true

you make me feel like I'm the best there is for you.

Hope 26 is the best birthday yet

if it's not then I guess it's time for me to fret

I love you trillions you sexy man of mine

Being with you has been awful mighty fine!

Side note: I think I may have come close to perfecting the horrible cursed PIE!

Brigadoon/Phelps Lake

2010-09-15T21:10:00.008-06:00

Yes, you've heard me say it before, but we L.O.V.E Jackson! The last time we went we took my beautiful mother along. She had this secret hidden place for us to discover. She used to work at "this place" when she was 18ish and wanted to hike to the same places she used to way waay back then. :) One problem. It doesn't exist anymore! The cabins, the beach house, the bridge, the homes, the road....They are all gone! We hiked high. We hiked low. We hiked all around trying to find it-atleast 6 miles of wandering. Luckily the BEAUTIFUL scenery more than made up for all that walking. We decided that my mom was living in Brigadoon and that we can only return in 100 years. Thanks mom for showing us Phelps lake! We will definitely be returning!

Be jealous!

2010-09-06T15:38:00.017-06:00

We have had so many fun adventures and traveled so much while Dan has been out of school! Oh how we hate to see our 7 week break go!

Good news though, Dan planned a 'surprise day date' for me last weekend and it was perfect! We started out at Mesa Falls. (The date we never had because I kept ditching him every time he asked me to go when we were dating haha). la la la, change of subject :) but Steven Daniel packed and made us a picnic (I even got an 'I LOVE YOU MEL' on my sandwich). Could he be any cuter??? Straight from Mesa we headed to Yellowstone again, one of our FAVORITE places!!! We were in awe of all the beauties we kept discovering ....................especially.............the.......... GRZZLY BEAR! And I'm not talking about the type of bears that Dan thinks he sees, (what we know as dogs haha) but this is a real life GRIZZLY BEAR!!! And that is the part that you are suppose to be jealous of! You jealous? :) It walked RIGHT in front of us, we're talking like, less than 15 ft away. I had such weak legs! Luckily we were still in our car, we were about to get out to start hiking down to the lower falls of the Grand Canyon, but were stopped by the bear walking out of the forrest towards our trail. Our timing was perfect!!! It was as if Daniel paid that bear to walk past us as part of the date! We got the O.K. from the ranger that it was safe to hike and so we did. It was beautiful and we wanted to tell everyone we passed that we just saw a grizzly bear and they didn't! haha. But this was by far our most animal packed jellystone trip ever! We stayed there 'til sunset and then ate in West Yellowstone at our new favorite pizza place, 'Wild West.' We had so much fun spending the ENTIRE day together. We played 20 questions the whole time and laughed the whole time! I love being married and I love steven daniel. Oh, and he loves me too! :) Thanks a whole heap for the best 'SURPRISE DAY DATE' ever!! and to the grizzly bear, thanks for not disappointing!

Okay, so that is our wonderful Grizzly bear. Now here is where our date began.

Mesa Falls.

Our picnic

The photographer and his assistant

Then it was off to Yellowstone. These bottom 2 pictures were actually taken the week before our date when we went to the Playmill with my work. We saw Beauty and the Beast and then ate at Wild West! oh it was perfect!

And some of our animal sightings

What a perfect day and I sincerely hope you are all jealous! :)

beach, burns, bears, and blueberries

2010-08-23T21:14:00.013-06:00

Say what? A 10 DAY VACATION?!?!?! Yes please!

We drove all day Friday and crashed with the Radfords in Kennewick, WA. Played a lil' phase 10, ate some delectable cherry ice cream, and laughed a whole lot at the horrible Skip card! :)

Saturday mornin we drove to downtown Portland where we stayed for our 1 year anniversary!! On our way there we stopped and hiked to the top of Multnoma Falls-muy packed with tourists.

We loved the hotel we stayed in and had a blast in the pool acting like teenagers. We ate some superb food and shopped our little hearts out in Ikea! Oh and don't forget the popcorn and movie! :)

We went to the "Saturday Morning Market" in downtown Portland and totally met Jimmy Hendricks-the proof down below! haha. We also bought some sweeeet twinner Nepal hats there! To say that we drove A LOT around Portland would be an understatement! We eventually found our way to Chipotle, the Zoo, Japanese Gardens, and the many places we didn't even have in mind but thoroughly enjoyed! :) Crappy camera=less pictures in Portland, but we were lucky enough to stay with my sister Bridget and her kids for 4 nights! Love them! We watched a lot of Shark Week on Discovery channel haha! Hit up the outlet mall and goodwill in Woodland, ran in the mornings, visited the Temple, P.F. changs, ate more ice cream, got lost a million times, watched movies, played with kids, relaxed, and slept in! ahhhh perfect!

We went to Champoeeg Park and rode our bikes-yikes thats's a creepy picture. We loved picking blueberries at a local farm-7lb's for $5 and all you can eat while you pick!

Thursday finally came-HELLO OCEANSIDE! Cute family picture eh? :)

We had our beach house in Oceanside but spent most of our time at Cannon Beach. Did I mention that I love being a Radford?! Cause I do! :)

The beach was absolutely perfect! We didn't have any schedules or appointments so we had a few relaxing days of enjoying each other. We got to shop in the cute little towns, and took several trips to Tillamook for even more ice cream!

We literally loved every minute of this trip...it's pretty clear to see why!

Playing in the sand and games of Homerun Derby. Sandwiches and fruit for lunch!

Quick trip to Seaside for some dinner and souveniers-oh hey, there are our twinner Nepal hats!

Dan and I got up early Saturday morning to walk on the beach together. We found a whole heap of stuff...please don't report us, we didn't know it was illegal to catch starfish-we didn't keep them so don't worry! :)

We loved loved loved our beach house! Spent a lot of time in the hot tub until I got sunburned-those two don't mix too well! The house was ginormous and cozy, so it was even fun just watching movies together. We spent so much time together as a family, It was perfect. And this is one of my favorite pictures of these crazy kids on a pretty hike!

Taking care of jo/nick and enjoying the deck.

This is how I enjoyed my last night on the beach....a sunburned invalid. Thanks Cathy for taking care of me and my swollen sorry legs! :)

This is the only picture we have of the beach house. We were very sad to leave it and the people inside. Oh and very sad to have to drive 15 hours to get home for work on Monday morning!

We are all counting down the days until we can get together again on the beach! Next year I'll wear sunscreen! :)

This is us

2010-08-15T19:41:00.015-06:00

It's official. August 1, 2010, I woke up next to Steven Daniel Radford for the 365th time. (Minus a few work campouts and volleyball tournaments). I still can't believe that we found each other and that everything has worked out, but I'm so glad it did. So terribly glad!

I still remember the very first words he spoke to me that June, 24th on BYU-I campus. "Hey Morgan!" Ouch! My name is clearly NOT Morgan. Despite that minor mistake I still managed to say "hi" back and secretly think how cute he was and that I needed to talk to him. Well, we managed to "randomly" keep running into each other in the same spot of the library everyday. (1st floor by the water fountain). I only avoided him twice in the library because I didn't get ready those days-don't judge, this was my future eternal companion I was trying to impress!

Our first date was June 28th, 2008 to the Butte for a bon fire. I remember 7 main things about that night; dropped off by my mom at the high school, another girl tried to hold his hand, "Hot Rod" quotes, scary radio shows, jumping over fires, not wanting to leave the date, and getting an immediate text from Daniel telling me that he had a lot of fun and we should hang out again really soon! Talk about butterflies! :) 2nd date he met my family at our CFFR3 on the 4th of July. My family knew right then that he must be special because I NEVER took guys home, especially for a family reunion! (Secretly held hands at fireworks and on our walk...)

First kiss was a month later at the high school. We danced on the football field and I told him that dancing wouldn't work cause I wasn't going to kiss him for a long time. I guess I lied! (he never asked really really)! :)

L-O-V-E. About that...he knew waaaaay before I did that he loved me. (must have been the RM mentality or something) He told me the time that we hiked the Butte at night and watched "Signs." I said thank you or something equally lame. Then his car battery died and we had to have my mom come get us haha awkward! Anyway, back to love. I kept using the excuse that I was too little to get married and that I was having fun just dating him! I only wanted to say "I love you" to ONE person, so I needed to be 'for sure for sure' before I said it. Well November 11th, 2008 I got enough guts to say those 3 words. To be honest, I actually knew sooner than that. It was a warm day in late September, we went to his parents house for Sunday dinner and looked at family pictures all night. Thats the day I knew. I knew I was going to be spending holidays and Sunday dinners with his family and I loved it. I started to feel physically ill after we had to say goodnight each night. I couldn't wait to stop saying goodbye!

Yes dating was a lot of fun, but I started to get reeeaaally anxious to get engaged! 2 days before he proposed I asked him if he was even ready to get married-which was actually the night that he asked my brother Josh for permission to marry me. haha he had the ring the whole time the little sneak! So on March 25, 2009 we were finally engaged. Oh how I loved that day! :) It was a Wednesday and it snowed! Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then a typical walk around the Green Belt to work off some rolls. We went to this spot that we joked about getting engaged at one day. We had a couple laughs and he then hands me a cherry cordial like usual. I open it and start to eat. Dan pulls me away from the river and says "you dropped something." I say "no I didn't." He says "yes you did." (this goes on for a while). As he reaches down to get what fell, BAM he's on one knee! I'll spare you the lovey-dovey-gushy words, but there were definitely some tears from two happy lil' love birds! :) Good thing he pulled me away from the river because I would have lost a very important, very beautiful ring! I couldn't wait to shout it out to everyone that I was going to be "Mrs. Steven Daniel Radford!"We set the date for August 1st, 2009 and immediately started planning.

2 days after he popped the question, me, my mom, Aleisa, Bridget, Megan, Jen, Kristie, Cathy, and Marisa shopped and found the wedding dress of my dreams. (And I did happen to snag another proposal from a Jamaican guy who took my picture at Margines! haha). I actually LOVED planning my wedding and getting things ready. My mom was a champ with the girls dresses, the yard, and pretty much EVERYTHING for the reception and Temple! Things got hectic though because I graduated, turned 24, recieved my endowment, and got married all within 6 days of each other. Good thing I have an amazing family!!!

The day before we got married I met Dan at his apartment to go to James and Sadie's wedding. One thing he failed to mention to me before I got there was that he was deathly ill and throwing up. We still went to the sealing but immediately after we went to my Mom's house where he slept/threw up the entire day. He got a blessing from his Dad and brothers and woke up August 1st healthy and well. Our sealing was beautiful and we were so blessed with such support! I really missed my Dad that day!!!

Next thing I knew we were outside and people are cheering for us! FOR US?!!? we were really married? What an amazing feeling to know that I was sealed to my best friend and that I no longer needed to say 'goodbye' to him! Our luncheon was at our church and the Radfords worked wonders! Off to pictures and finalizing decorations. The weather was PERFECT for our outside reception at my Mom's house. It literally was just one big party with everyone I loved. Kids jumping on the trampoline, swinging on swings and hammocks, Michael playing and singing, friends reuniting and staying all evening, and laughing as I introduced my "husband." Steven Daniel surprised me and sang "Let my love open the door" while I kept falling in love! :) The day was perfect and I couldn't have asked for a better groom! LOVE you Estevan!!!

Dan gave his highlights, so here are some of mine:

getting married
honeymoon to vegas
celebrating every monthaversary
dancing almost every night
getting sung to on a daily basis
watching movies with giant bowl of popcorn
starting random new traditions
traveling-any road trip with S.D.R is a blast!
racing up the stairs
Sunday bike rides
waking up every morning next to someone so handsome
picking apples
running together
falling in love with animated movies together
Dan popping my back every day
back scratches
making lunches for each other
feet pictures
spending time with each of our families
figuring out how perfect we are for each other
monthly temple trips together
evening prayer time
kisses goodnight
finding love notes
staying up too late and laughing til I cry
hiking and camping
fishing
picture taking escapades
Dan dying my hair and putting up with my hair questions :)
D.I. treasure hunts
Trying to get Dan to quit soda
frozen yogurt trips
family reunions
waking up early to walk on the beach
decorating for Christmas in October
waking up together on Christmas morning
"winner takes all" competitions
decorating together
Salt Lake trip to see the lights and friends
sharing tears
buying our car
both turning 25
board games
moose blankets
making dinner together
making pies for all occasions
weekly dates
matching p.j.'s
starting our disney movie collection
cleaning together with music
CFFR's together
celebrating new jobs
celebrating end of semesters
laughing at each others lame jokes
dressing up like Ricky and Lucy Ricardo for Halloween
Thanksgiving with my entire family
becoming favorite aunt and uncle
jet skiing in Lake Mead
seeing Phantom of the Opera
listening to every musical we both had memorized from childhood
teaching primary together
beach housing it up
setting goals
star gaizing
seeing another 2 semesters done for Dan
and spending every spare moment with each other! I hope year two is as great as year 1!!

August 1, 2009 August 1, 2010-still fits! :)

One year of enchantment. By Steven Daniel Radford

2010-08-15T14:05:00.002-06:00

I'm sure that all of you are wondering what I am doing posting on this blog since I have never posted before! The fact of the matter is that Mel and I have been married for more than one whole year now and I feel a need to share with our few followers how awesome it has been! It has been a year of enchanment full of wonderful surprises and fun times! Here are a few of my highlights from the past year.
Vegas honeymoon!
Yellowstone trip along with countless trips to Jackson!
My bear sighting!
1st Christmas together with my fam!
Trip to the Coast!
Star Valley memorial day weekend!
Mel trying to shoot skeet!
Mel trying to keep me from buying guns!
Putting on 40 lbs! (me not her)
Lots of temple trips!
Hiking Darby!
Being asked a hundred times a week whether or not Mel's hair is as long as the girl's on the tv!
Taking lots of pictures with the new camera Mel let me get!
Trying to get mel to go mounting biking!
Having a beautiful wife who I am completely in love with!
Happy Anniversary Mel/Mels schmels/tootsie wootsie pop/sweet pea.

Adios

2010-07-28T23:14:00.004-06:00

We're OFF TO OREGON!!!!
When we return we will have been married for one whole year! Go us!!
Lots to post about but we're busy packing.
See ya in a week and a half!
not so mental note: Darby, camping, anniversary, birthday, and beach.
P.S. I am 25!!! happy birthday to me

the RADFORDS

7 things blog

This is sickly stori rose

what we love

lovin that

well......... cut me hair

What's better than one 6 month old???

Snow Day!!

i need a support system

Happy 1/2 bday Sto Ro

Mondays...

Escuela *WARNING* may include inappropriate material

Eclectic Christmas/Stori post

Saying goodbye to Desi

Steak feast

on december 1st...

christmas plaid

1st Dam Run

baby steps or milestones?

10.31.11

This is the life

Sto Ro

family pictures

"Bruces"

Jackson trip

Little Stori Talkin

2 lovely months

sad, terrible, and all things opposite of good...

birthday tribute

blessing day

Q&A

oh how productive

Anniversary The Great

newborn pics

the hair...

little preview

SHE IS HERE...

still cookin

Some summer Rants & Raves

too little

We have to move....

Our "Campout"

cuties

Baby Trivia

Changes...

Muy Pregs

he tricked me....

pink or blue...

20/20

I wish to buy your stuff!!

Almost half way!

viva vegas valentines

I have my reasons...

baby rad

WHY?

Craft Day with Mac Rae and FAE

PREGS

denial

Christmas present AND FUTURE!!!

questions I've asked myself today...

numbers

Washington Wonderland

Remember?

shhhh

'Moosography'

What I learned from school...

FHE or FME?

Happy Birthday Estevan

Brigadoon/Phelps Lake

Be jealous!

beach, burns, bears, and blueberries

This is us

One year of enchantment. By Steven Daniel Radford

Adios

Escuela WARNING may include inappropriate material