Crazy

It's weird to think that Jason and I have been in Ohio for nearly a month. I'm loving being home with my family, and I can already tell that I'm going to miss everyone and everything when we leave to go back to Rexburg in December/January.

Anyway, not too much is going on here. We've been making apple pies with the apples we picked, we made a mess of the family room so that we could paint the walls - a task that needed to be done years ago, we've been watching all the Ohio State football games, we went out to eat with my mom for lunch today to celebrate her birthday during her lunch hour...

Most days are kind of the same, but that's what life is like when you're a mom, right?

Andrew turns 9 months on Wednesday. I can't believe he's been around that long already. Life, I admit, has not been easy since he was born. It's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Sometimes I take breaks from him, and I'm glad I do because I get the chance to miss him and remember that he's pretty much the most important thing to me in the entire world.

He's getting so big. Since we're not in Idaho, we're not taking him to a pediatrician for his 9-month appointment. I wish we had a scale so that I could weigh him! Everyone's always asking how much he weighs, and I just have to guess most of the time. 2 1/2 months ago he was 22 lbs 3 oz, so I'm assuming he's somewhere around the 24 lb mark because he gains 2 lbs every time we go back to the pediatrician's! It's ridiculous.

And he's getting so... old. I don't know how else to say it. He's saying mamamamama and dadadada and all sorts of other sounds. He rolls over, sits up alone, crawls, and pulls up on everything ALL the time. He hasn't quite figured out the cruising thing, but he's working on it. He just hasn't figured out that moving his legs is the fastest way to get somewhere. He's got his pincer grasp just about down and can grab his puffs and stick them in his mouth by himself. He's doing so much nowadays sometimes I wonder if he was ever not able to hold his head up. That feels like so long ago, and yet yesterday.

Life is crazy.

And here's my crazy 9-month-old baby, having fun with his grandma.

Picture Time!

So. I finally found the cord that connects the camera to the computer, and we also now have decent batteries in the camera. That means it's picture time!

My family came out to Idaho on a road trip, and here are some of the pictures from that:

My grandparents in Idaho Falls took us out to eat, and it was my mom's personal mission to make sure Andrew was fed as well.

Carrie and I got to sit next to each other. She's crazy. I love her. <3

Jason got to have some man-to-man time with my dad, not something he gets with me!

Susette and Joshie boy!

Some explanation for this next picture - Andrew was having some difficulties with *ahem* easily pushing his bowel movements out, so here is a resulting picture...

Hahahahaha!

Yay for Grandma and Grandpa! We love them.

After visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, we went out to Yellowstone, taking the route through Jackson Hole. I only got one picture of Jackson, and we were moving fast in the car, so here's the picture:

The famous antler arch!

The weather was beautiful that day, with a clear blue sky, so our view of the Teton Mountains was amazing!

Andrew rode in car with my parents and Susette and Josh, while Carrie rode with us in our car. Andrew loved being with my family, especially his grandpa, as you can see in this picture:

Family picture! This is the entire Budge family, so far.

We only saw one animal on our drive through Yellowstone - a bison, which moved very, very slowly....

This isn't really a geyser like Old Faithful or anything, but I thought the steam and hot liquid running down into the river looked really neat.

This is where the steam was coming from. I thought it was beautiful!

And then we left for Ohio! Hurray!

We had a barbecue before the Ohio State-USC game, and Andrew loved being outside. The fire was especially interesting!

He loves playing with his aunt Suzi...

And with his uncle Josh...

And with aunt Carrie!

We went out to eat at a restaurant called Schmidt's in German Village for my birthday last Friday, and here are some pictures from that:

Family picture! It was bright out, so all of us were squinting, but that's ok!

Andrew with his daddy!

There was a duo music group - an accordion and a tuba - that Andrew thought was interesting... sort of...

And now we're here! Hurray! You've been caught up. :) I might add pictures from my phone soon...

Apple picking and my birthday

This last week here has been pretty interesting.

Last Friday, my mom had the day off from work, so she took Jason, Andrew and I to this place called Lynd's Fruit Farm to pick apples. They had three kinds available for picking that day: Gala, Macintosh, and Honeycrisp. They're all really yummy. My mom makes applesauce and apple pies from the apples she picks from this place, and it always turns out great. She's been working on applesauce all week, and today we're going again to pick the apples that she'll need to make her famous apple pie.

My birthday was the 16th of this month (Wednesday), and it was a pretty chill day. We just hung out around the house, and that night we had some yummy cake. Last night, to celebrate with all the family, we went to this place in Columbus called German Village, where Germans settled as they moved here. There's a restaurant in that part of town called Schmidt's, and they serve traditional German food. It was really good. They even had entertainment from a duo, one man playing the accordion and one playing the Tuba. My sisters told them that it was my birthday, so they played happy birthday for me and took my picture. I'll add the picture later, because I currently can't find it....

My family gave me a present - a $50 gift card to H&M! I am really excited to use it because as I said in my last entry, I have a hard time finding clothes that fit that I can actually buy because it's usually too expensive for us. A lot of my clothes are yeeeaaarrs old. I'm in desperate need of an update.

Other than that, it's been pretty relaxing. I don't have much to do other than take care of Andrew and help around the house a bit. And when Jason's gone with his internship or studying, it's nice because there's usually someone here to keep me company. It's been great.

I love my family. :)

Ohio!

So. I got new batteries for the camera. I put them in. Turned it on. Well, attempted to turn it on. The new batteries don't work. Totally lame. So no new pictures this blog either. *sigh*

To make up for it though, Jason, Andrew and I have made it to Ohio! The trip was kind of a whirlwind. We left Rexburg last Thursday. I really thought we were never going to leave. We had so much cleaning and packing and laundry and everything to do before we left, the thought hit me that we might not be able to leave until the next day, but we made it happen.

We stayed with my uncle Lynn and aunt Janice in Sandy that night, then drove to Provo for a tour of their law school. We had been there for a couple hours, and by the time the tour came around, Andrew was asleep on the floor in a remote corner of the building, so Jason went on the tour by himself. I was kinda sad at first - I wanted to see everything with him! - but the tour ended up just being of their extensive library, so I guess that would've been kinda boring for me.

While in Provo, we picked up Jason's younger sister, Katie, who had been there for an old mission friend's wedding. We hadn't seen her since July, so it was fun to see her. We drove up to Salt Lake, where we stayed with my uncle Rod and aunt Jeanene for Friday and Saturday nights, and Jason's older sister Shauna met up with us there on Friday night. We talked for a long time, enjoyed Pupusas (native food to El Salvador, where Jason served his mission), watched tv, and watched several episodes of a tv show called Parker Lewis Can't Lose, a favorite show of Jason and his sisters growing up.

Saturday we lounged around my aunt and uncle's house for the morning, then spent the later part of the day shopping! We went to this store similar to REI or Dick's called Kirkham's for Shauna, then we went to the Gateway Mall and spent a good long time there. Jason and I didn't get anything, although a couple times I really wanted something. I hate being poor! You end up not even being able to replace a thing that needs replacing! ...such as jeans with holes in them. *sigh* Oh well. Oh, and I've realized that shopping for clothes after having a baby is completely different from before having a baby. My body is shaped differently, even though I didn't know it. Things don't fit correctly anymore!

Sorry for complaining. Moving on.

Jason and I flew out here Sunday, but we missed our flight! We thought it took off at 11:14, but it took off 10:38, so we got there just in time for the plane to be taking off, just about. Whoops! We talked with someone and got it worked out, so we arrived in Columbus 2 1/2 hours after our original time, but I think it worked out better for everyone. My parents had just gotten done with a fireside celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Columbus Ohio temple, where my mom would've had to rush to pick us up and get to the fireside if we had taken our original flight. It was fun though because both of my parents plus Carrie and my friend Rachel were able to come to the airport to get us! We had a great ride home.

There was a family reunion on Monday in Kentucky, so we had more traveling. I didn't recognize a lot of the people because it was a reunion for my great aunt Pete (her name is a completely other story), my grandpa's sister. We spent 8 hours in the car and 2-3 hours there. It was a long day, especially for Andrew. Poor guy.

We've been relaxing for the most part since Tuesday. My sister, Carrie, is a hairstylist, and she gave me a new haircut yesterday, which is cuuute - I actually have bangs that are nice instead of those super-long ones that just barely don't fit behind your ears. Then we met up with a friend of Jason's from Washington that's out here for dental school. It was pretty fun.

I have plans to meet up with one of my friends today and just take a walk around the neighborhood to catch up.

Can I just say how much I love being home? I think I started to miss it more and more out at school, especially when I got married and the idea that I may never go back to Ohio to stay got into my head. Going to school in Idaho and marrying a guy from Washington state makes it hard to come home at all. I'm so excited that Jason, Andrew and I get to be here for several months for Jason's internship, that my parents get to be grandparents, that my sisters get to be aunts, and I get the help with Andrew that I've longed for these months on end.

Yay for Ohio!