Wild Spring Break

Beware: This is a bit long!!

This week is Mark's Spring Break from school, and we've really been enjoying the time he's been home. (I can't even tell you how wonderful it is to be experiencing such nice weather. Spring is definitely here, and I'm so excited!) The past couple of days have definitely been ones to remember, and it's not because we've gone on a trip for break like we would've wanted. It's because there have been a few odd things happening to us.

Monday nothing terribly strange happened. It was Mark's court date. He's been working on a case all school year for the clinic he's been participating in, and this Monday was when his case went to court. It was his first big chance defending someone on this asylum case, so he was preparing for it for a long time. Apparently the judge didn't rule for or against them, but he's just kind of "on the fence" about the case. Mark's team has to do more research and come up with more information that the judge requested before the next court date, which is in June, before the judge will make a ruling. So, I guess that means that Mark did his part well enough, knowing that it was a fairly difficult case to win.

As for me, the strangest thing to happen on Monday was that I went visiting teaching and stayed at her house for about 3 hours. I wouldn't normally impose on a person's time for that long, but she's a new mom too, and I think the both of us just needed some social time. The three of us were just chatting away, talking about our little babies, watching them dose in and out of sleep, and just enjoying time together. I think she needed the time just as much as I did... I figured that I didn't really have anything waiting for me at home since Mark was in court and he hadn't called to let me know how it went yet... so I stayed there. Turned out that Mark had gotten home just after I left, so the whole time he was wondering how long I would be gone... no harm done... other than throwing Canon's sleep routine out the window!

Now Tuesday was a bit more odd. We slept in a little later than usual because Canon let us. We were just enjoying some time at home as a family when suddenly we had to make an emergency trip to the doctor. I'm not going to tell you why, so don't ask! I'm still embarrassed about it! Then, since we were out, and we didn't really get to eat lunch before we left, we went to Burger King and then out to buy Mark's birthday present. Really, it turned out to be a long wild goose chase... that's still not over. Mark made a New Year's Resolution to do something constructive with his hands each month, and so he decided he wanted to build a model. Do you even know how difficult it is to FIND one of those around here? We went to about 3 different stores right in our area. None of them sold the kind of model Mark wanted. Then we drove an hour west of here to a place we found online, and that turned out to be a place where a bunch of guys come to race the remote control cars they built themselves... not what we were looking for. We then went to the Natick Mall to see if there might be something there... nope! Then decided to check out Toys 'R' Us, but they didn't have anything either. After all that, we just went home and watched LOST. (We finally got all caught up through Netflix. It was the first time in 5 1/2 seasons that we actually watched an episode as it aired on TV.) For some reason Canon had a REALLY hard time going to sleep that night. He woke up from me putting something away in his room, and then he was screaming for over 10 minutes. I guess we threw him for a loop with our outing for the day.

Wednesday I was planning on staying at home, but then Mark found some good news online regarding the Utah Bar Exam Application process. (He needs to submit an FBI background check, and it takes 8 weeks. So he didn't finish all his application stuff because he was waiting to get that back. Turns out that they'll let you register without the background check completed!!) So we were rushing around to get the last bits of his application together so that he can try to make the first late fee deadline, which is this next Monday. We drove out to Quincy to get a certified driving record, and if we had known how simple it was to do it there, we would've never even tried the other 3 RMV locations he already went to. Sheesh! Once we got back, Mark was going to go through all his application materials to make sure everything is there and then go to the Post Office to send it off.

While he was doing that, I decided to go grocery shopping. Canon was still sleeping in his car seat, so I figured I could get everything done while he was still napping and then I can get him home with all the groceries and everything would be hunky-dory. Well, that's what I thought until I got to the check-out line and discovered that someone had stolen my wallet...right out of my diaper bag in my cart!! I thought that there was something suspicious when I got a phone call from Bank of America verifying a strange transaction on my debit card. I wanted to call Mark to make sure that it wasn't him before I just said that I didn't authorize it, so I took down the information that the automated-call sent me and proceeded to the check-out lanes. It never occurred to me that my wallet was not in my diaper bag where I left it at the beginning of my shopping trip. Ugh! The worst part of the whole ordeal was that I was so stressed out about all the phone calls I was going to have to make to cancel the cards and go to the bank and everything... I went to the service desk to talk to them about the food in my cart... but not once did I think about calling the police until after I got home and Mark mentioned it. Ugh, again! So I called to file a report, but they said they'd call me back. I returned to the grocery store to talk to them about it, but they couldn't really do anything until the police filed the report and asked the store for the surveillance footage. I wanted the whole thing to just be over, but the police were taking their sweet time in calling me back. So, Mark suggested that we go out to eat dinner... to make me feel better. (Did I mention that I have a really sweet husband?) I was in no mood to cook after that, so we dined at Uno. It wasn't until after we finished eating that they finally called me back to take the report.

Not only have I managed to mess up my son's sleeping schedule (no matter how hard I tried to stick to it) for 3 days in a row (and bad nights' sleep to pay for it), but I've also managed to lose my wallet while I was no less more than 10 feet away from my cart at any moment. Oh well...what's done is done. I did all I could do about it today, and I'll have to the rest tomorrow... including grocery shopping again. I wonder what the rest of the week will bring us!

Just a Life at Home

Being home means that I get to actually prepare homemade meals and not wait until 8:00pm for dinner. It's been fun because I can try new things, or at least some things that I haven't made in a while because they take too long. Here, we're making chicken cordon bleu.

It seems like our family isn't terribly interesting this semester, but we try to spice up our lives with a little spontaneity. This past Saturday Mark and I wanted to get out of the apartment, but we weren't really sure where to go...just someplace new... so we drove out to Natick, MA to visit the new mall that just opened up a couple years ago. That was such a pretty mall, with a lot of natural lighting that came in large sun lights in the high ceilings. It was kinda fun to just walk around. It turned out that Canon was not napping very well, so we didn't really want to stay out for long, but it was still fun to just get up and go. Is it lame that I think walking around a mall was fun? Wow! That's sad! :)

As for updates on the Dahl family, Mark is still waiting to hear back from the position in Washington, D.C. In April I'll be traveling to Maryland for a friend's wedding, and I'm working on making shawls for the bridesmaids. I'm getting excited to show her my baby, Canon. Canon is getting so big now. Today he rolled over for the first time. I was so excited that I woke up Mark this morning to tell him. He rolled over the other way while playing this afternoon. *sighs* Pretty soon I won't be able to just leave him and find him right where I left him. He's going to be moving around in no time!! If you haven't had a chance to check it recently, take a look at my baby blog for updates on Canon.

LOST and the Ducky Blanket

So Mark and I are staying up way too late every night (ok, not that late, but late enough that I wish I hadn't done it...and then I go ahead and do it again the next night) watching episodes of LOST that we have on our Netflix instant streaming queue. Each episode ends with us wanting to watch the next one, and I feel like it's taking over my life. We're in the middle of the 5th season now, and the 6th (and final) season just started airing on tv. I've basically gotten to the point where I want to watch as many episodes as we can so that I won't have to watch them anymore. Ha ha! It sucks me in, and I've even been having dreams about it. Yeah, I can say that I'm totally addicted to the show, but I liked the first 3 seasons better than the 4th and 5th so far. I think that's mainly because the flash-forward thing doesn't work for me as well as the flash-back thing... and you probably don't have any idea what I'm talking about unless you watch the show...but the flash-forwards do keep me intrigued and I want to find out how they get to those points. AAAahhhhh! I don't remember if I've been so involved in a show before. It's kinda fun, and kinda NOT at the same time!




Mark says that Canon' favorite show is LOST, but I don't think that he's seen it enough to really have an opinion about it. :) However, Canon does get the cutest expression on his face when he watches it.

Actually, he gets this look on his face when he sees figure skating, basketball, or really anything on the television... anything except for maybe Baby Einstein. I don't have him watching a lot of tv, but I don't completely avoid it at all costs either. Every time I see this, I can't help but laugh. I really love being a mother and seeing the cute things that babies do. Just yesterday Mark told me that he's enjoying being a daddy. Aw, music to a wife's/mother's ears. It's so great to Canon as a part of our family.

One thing that a baby brings to a home is lots and lots of stuff...play gym thing, bouncers, swings, blankets, etc...which brings me to the topic of the ducky blanket. Someone very kind gave Canon this adorable ducky lovey blankie for Christmas:

Oh sure, it looks cute and innocent, but it's possessed. (Ok, so I forgot that it plays music when I ran it through the wash, and now it has some sort of short in the wiring...but for all intensive blogging purposes, it's possessed!!) This ducky's music goes off at random whenever it wants, without us pushing the button to make it go off. Frankly, most of the time that we push the button, we can't even make it go off on purpose. I heard it playing while it was in the crib while Canon was asleep so I grabbed it out so that it wouldn't wake him up. (Yeah, who am I kidding...like it would actually wake him up!) I brought it into the living room with me while I folded the laundry. It was just laying there on the ground, and it played its music at least 7 times while I was folding the laundry...I think I lost count before I was finished. It went off at least 4 times randomly in the middle of the night, and that was 4 times while I was awake due to the baby. I've already heard it go off more than once this morning, and it's not even lunch time yet. It even went off sitting on the couch, just as shown in the picture above...while I was blogging. Yeah, I think Mark and I are probably going to be getting rid of this blankie. It's cute and soft and everything.... but I think that high-pitched "Rock-A-Bye, Baby" tune is going to get old very soon...and there's nothing we can do about it. *sighs*

Happy Birthday, MOM!!

Just a little shout out to the wonderful woman who raised not only me, but my seven older siblings too!!

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!!

Just for Fun

Before Canon was born, Mark told me that we were not allowed to become boring parents who never go out just because we have a baby. So, for the sake of not suppressing my husband's spontaneity, if it's something that sounds like it won't hurt, I'll go along with it. And so it was the case the last Friday in January. Mark got the urge to go for a drive. We played "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to determine whether we would go north or south. Turns out that I won, so we drove to Maine. After all, we can't expect to live in Boston for 3 years and never having made it to Maine. It was only a couple hours away. So, we got in the car and drove. What was our destination? Well, we didn't really know where to go since most of the fun things we could've seen were closed by the time we arrived. We didn't really want to spend a whole lot of money, but we started to get hungry... so we went to McDonald's. By the time dinner was done, we just decided to go home. So...it was a long trip just to go to McDonald's, but it was fun just to get in the car and drive.

The spontaneous bundling of the baby

Canon and Mark at the McDonald's

Another update from our family is that Mark had an interview at DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security) in Washington, D.C. this past Thursday. We were so lucky that he ended up scheduling the interview for Thursday instead of Friday because of that horrible snowstorm in the area. He was able to fly in that morning, have the interview, and return to Boston by 2pm and go to his second class. (phew!) Mark felt like the interview went well, and we should hear from them within about 2-3 weeks or so. This interview was for a 2-year position in their Honors Fellowship Program. He'd be working for their general council, and if he performs well, they'd offer him a long-term position that could send him to live anywhere in the Pacific Rim. It's very likely that he'd be asked to live somewhere in Asia, but after Boston, I think we can handle anything! :) We would really like this opportunity, but now it's all up to the Lord's will at this moment. I finished applying to the University of Utah's Masters Program in Speech Pathology. So, even if Mark doesn't get this job, we'll have a goal in mind to pursue. Now, if we are both accepted into these programs, we will most likely go to D.C. instead of Utah... but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

As of right now, Mark and I are really loving the time we get to spend together. I'm so grateful for every day that I get to stay home with my baby. Mark has liked having dinner at a reasonable time... and I'm getting pretty good at making French bread too. :) I honestly feel like we're the closest we've ever been to living the life we've dreamed of since we got married. Howbeit, we were hoping that the reason I was at home was because Mark had a job and we could afford life on one income...not because we couldn't find affordable childcare. Oh well! So far, life feels grand, and we're happy. We're anxious for a job, but we know that that is mostly out of our hands now. We are just waiting to see that the Lord deals us.

Whole New Year

There have been a few things keeping us busy since the new year started, and I'm finding it difficult to get to the computer often enough to post regular blogs. It's one of my new year's resolutions, so hopefully I can keep up on it all. :)

My maternity leave ended in the beginning of January, and I was going to return to work on the 18th. The week of the 11th I went to an elementary school to observe the speech pathologists there. I took Canon to a couple of the babysitters that we had lined up for when I returned to work. However, one of them realized that it was much more difficult than she expected it to be. She informed me that she wouldn't really be able to handle watching Canon like she anticipated. That actually meant that I was down to only 2 babysitters that could each watch him only once per week. I couldn't honestly expect that Mark would be able to watch Canon 3 whole days each week as a full-time law student, no matter how optimistic Mark was about his workload. So I resigned from my position at HIG Capital. I love being a stay-at-home mom, but I find that I don't get the same Internet time as I did when I sat at a computer all day at work. We will miss the income and the insurance benefits, but I think it will be worth it to stay at home with my son. I'm currently applying for government aid to help with what Mark's loans won't cover.

Mark has returned to school, and he only has classes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. So far he seems to be on top of all his schoolwork, and he's still trying to figure out where to apply for jobs for after graduation. He has been offered an in-person interview with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They called and conducted a phone interview before Christmas, but now they are paying to fly him to D.C. Working for the DHS would be really good for us, but it's only for a 2-year fellowship program, so there's no guarantee that he'll actually get a job with them. However, it sounds like the majority of the fellowships get offered full-time positions. As of right now, we're just hoping that he will be able to find something that will be a paid position, like this one...so keep those fingers crossed.

He's also applying for the Navy, Army, and maybe even the Air Force JAG Corps. Any one of those would be good, but the idea of certain deployment is not so appealing. Hopefully something will turn up soon. All we know is that he's planning on taking the Utah Bar Exam this summer, and it looks like it will be pretty difficult for him to attend the Bar Prep Classes that begin a week before graduation IN UTAH!!

I just finished applying for the University of Utah's Speech-Language Pathology Master's Program. Now that we're thinking we could end up in DC, I'm half wishing that I applied to schools there too. Oh well! We can't afford schools in the DC area right now. We'll just have to wait and see how things turn out.

As of right now, we both have high hopes for 2010, and we look forward to what the Lord has in store for us... we have no idea what that really is right now, but this is bound to be one interesting year!

Christmas Vacation

Mark and I flew to Utah to visit with family for Christmas and New Year's this year. This was our first time traveling with a child, and I was nervous about the infant on the airplane. Honestly, he was surprisingly great on both flights. The flight to Utah, Canon had a bit of a break-down because he was hungry, but he wouldn't nurse. Once we put a bottle of formula in his mouth, he calmed right down and did wonderfully the rest of the flight. On the return plane, he slept the entire time except for a bit to eat and then at the very end...you know, when your ears start to hurt. He cried for a few minutes, but there was really nothing that I could do for him, so I just hoped that it didn't bother the other passengers on the plane. He did really well though, and I was so grateful for that.

Even though it was a trip where we stayed with family and didn't really do much other than just hang out with family, I felt like it was a true vacation. There were so many people who were willing to help out with Canon that Mark and I actually got to eat together... at the same time!! It was so nice. Several relatives were so excited to meet Canon that I was able to have fun on the trip without worrying about the baby too much. There were many pairs of hands who wanted to help out. Now that Mark and I have come back to Boston, I'm reminded of how much I really need to do on my own, or give Mark to do, in order to take care of our newborn. At least I appreciated the help that I was able to get... it was so great!!

Our trip to Utah held many fun events for us. We arrived late on December 23rd and planned to not leave until January 3rd. We spent several hours at Grandma and Grandpa Dahl's house, playing games and eating great food with the family. We opened presents at Mark's parents' house with siblings and their families, then later more presents with cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Dahl's house. We attended a birthday party in Provo for my brother's son Joseph. We blessed our baby boy, but I'll speak more of that a little later because it is a story in and of itself! We visited with some of our best friends, Mikey and Breanne. We also went with Mark's family to have family pictures taken. (When we actually get the cd of pictures, I'll be able to post some of those shots...but I still need to wait a couple more weeks.) I went shopping with my mother-in-law and new sister-in-law with money given us for Christmas. We also had the chance to visit with my brother's family and meet for lunch as a surprise for my father's birthday. All in all, it was a very fun trip, and I almost dreaded going back home to Boston. This was the first time in my life that I remember truly feeling homesick. Mark and I would really like to move back to Utah after he graduates.

Now, about Canon's blessing, we planned to bless Canon at Church on Sunday the 27th, but my parents (who were driving out from Illinois) got stuck in a snow storm in Omaha, NE. So, we postponed the blessing to Monday night. We had invited several friends and my two brothers who live in Utah to attend Church with us for the event, but we had to call everyone to inform them of the change. My parents had to stay overnight in Nebraska, not nearly as far as they hoped to get that day, because the road was closed. Once it finally opened again, they continued on their way, but they were still not able to make it by Sunday night (easily). So, instead of tentatively planning for Sunday night in case they made it, we just changed our plans to Monday night. Since Monday is supposed to be reserved for family night, the church building is generally not to be made available for events. However, considering the circumstances, my father-in-law (who is also the ward clerk and already has a key to the building) was able to convince the bishop to authorize us to use the building. What better family night can you think of than the ordinance of blessing a new baby? The bishop was hesitant because he didn't want to get in trouble by the Stake President, but we did it anyway. As we had finished the short "ceremony" and were starting into our family pot-luck, a member of the Stake Presidency approached us and asked who authorized it, and then proceeded to tell us to never do it again. Apparently if the general authority who lives in our stake noticed a light on, the Stake President could get a call from the First Presidency. Yeah, it sounded like they could get in trouble, but I stand by the thought that it was a worthy cause to be there and I don't feel guilty about it at all.

As for the actual blessing, I think Mark gave a very beautiful blessing. If I hadn't been writing frantically, trying to keep up with him, I would've been crying. Canon was so good through the whole thing too, no crying at all. I think he squawked a couple times, but he was well behaved. We took several pictures of those who participated and some of the family who attended. It was so great to have so much family support, and we didn't even invite all the aunts and uncles and cousins that live in the area. If we had done that, we couldn't have been able to fit into the Relief Society Room... the chapel would've been the only room big enough to hold that many people, and the circle was already 12 people big. I love having so many priesthood holders in my family. That is such a wonderful blessing that we receive through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here are a few pictures from the trip. Enjoy!