Busy Weekend

Josh's parents and little sister, Kelsey, were in town this weekend.  It was a short weekend but we packed it as full as we could with exciting outings.  On Friday, we helped Kelsey find an apartment in Provo since she will be attending BYU in the fall.  Saturday we went to the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival which was fun.  Josh and I got to have lunch with an old friend who was in town.  Then in the afternoon we all went to the zoo.  Here are some pictures from our very busy, but very fun weekend!

So, we were almost finished walking through the zoo.  I thought Rex would enjoy a little ride on the carousel.  It went pretty slow and I figured sitting on top of an animal that goes in circles would be right up his alley.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  He cried the entire time, scared him to death.

He did like how the ground squirrel burrow had holes where he could peek in on them. 

Thanks for coming to visit Grandma, Grandpa and Kelsey.  We always eat way too much, but we have the best time when you come into town!

Haircut

Rex has had a few haircuts by Mom and Dad, but this past weekend he had his first professional haircut.  We took him to Cookie Cutters because they have TV screens to distract the kids from what is happening to their hair.  We knew this would be perfect for Rex since his number one obsession is TV.

The finished product all dressed up for church

Watch out ladies...

Rex @ Eighteen Months

Rex had his 18 month check up today, so we figured it was probably time for a post discussing his latest talents, tricks, and silly things he likes to do.

During a fairly recent bath night, Josh decided to make up a game where he would hold a cup and Rex would put various bath toys in it and then they would dump them out.  Josh counted each item as Rex put them in and Rex thought counting was pretty cool, so he joined in.  Since then, he has had an obsession with counting things from snacks, to stairs, to just about anything.  A couple rules:  Rex never starts with one.  One doesn't exist in Rex's counting system.  His starts at Two and ends at Six (or "Iss").  Within the last couple of days, he made up a new rule:  order no longer matters and we've added Nine and Ten to the lineup.  Its perfectly acceptable to start with Two, jump to Five (or "Fise") and then jump to Nine. 

Here are a few clips of one of his snack counting episodes, pre-Modification:



One thing we're beginning to notice about Rex is that he's really friendly.  He likes to wave and say "Hah" (hi) to random strangers.  This might include the couple standing behind us in line at Cafe Rio, the man walking down the hall at the doctors office, or the cashier at Wal-mart.

He's a bit of a chatterbox.  One of his favorite things to do these days is after we put him to bed, he will lay in his crib and talk to himself for up to an hour.  He also enjoys kicking the daylights out of his crib during these episodes.  Recently, he's been waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning, having a short 20-30 minute conversation with himself and then fall back asleep.  We aren't sure if he's actually awake and talking or if he's talking in his sleep.

But our favorite thing about Rex is his sense of humor.  He makes us belly laugh about something everyday.  He's quirky and does some random funny things.  Enjoy this video of one such random, funny outburst:



We love our little guy!

Business School Plans

So, those of you who know us well probably know that we've been making business school preparations for the last two years!  It all started with Josh studying for the GMAT, taking the GMAT, applying to BYU, being accepted, applying to Virginia, not being accepted to Virginia, then deciding not to go to BYU and deciding to wait and apply the following year.  So, studying commenced again, Josh retook the GMAT and applied to 5 schools this past fall.  With a few options to choose from and after much thought and prayer, we have decided that Duke University is the place for us.  So, we will be planning a move to Durham, NC this coming June.



This past weekend we had the chance to travel to Durham (without Rex - thanks Grandma!) to take part in the new student admit weekend - Blue Devil Weekend.  We had a great time.  Josh loved the chance to check out the school and to make sure that he wasn't only in love with the idea of living in the mid-Atlantic and in the heart of ACC Basketball country.  I got to hang out with other "partners" and learn about Duke's awesome and very supportive program for the partners of the business school students.  We both fell in love with Durham and can't wait to move there this summer.  Here are some pictures of Duke campus and Duke gardens.

This is where the Blue Devils play basketball

Duke Gardens

The Fuqua School of Business (that is "Few-kwuh", by the way)

Part of our plans for the weekend included finding a house to rent.  After 3 days with no luck, our friends (who are also looking for a house to rent) told us about a house they had seen.  The house wasn't going to work for them, so we thought we would check it out.  We saw the house within 30 minutes of learning it was available.  It was perfect, we were sold!  The landlord had several other couples interested and told us he would contact us after they had chosen who they were going to rent to.  Luckily, they chose us.  We are really excited and so relieved that we don't need to make another trip out to find housing.  Here is our cute house that we will be renting while in Durham.

The best part about the house is the amazing back yard.  There is so much room for Rex and Harley to explore and it's completely fenced, so we don't have to worry about anyone escaping. Harley is going to go nuts chasing squirrels--they are EVERYWHERE!

So, hope you guys enjoy the upcoming finale of the NCAA basketball tournament. 

And.....GO DUKE!!