6 Weeks Old

Well, we missed a week, but here is the latest installment of the weekly video. She's been smiling a lot more lately, and making happy noises, but I didn't get as good of a smile in this video. Oh well. Sorry I sound ridiculous, it usually makes her just beam. Enjoy!

Happy Memorial Day!

Don't worry, the weekend report won't be nearly as extensive as the week.

Saturday

Clark was a cleaning machine in the morning, in preparation for all the folks coming down for Julia's blessing. Which was more work than it normally would have been due to the fact that we had been out of town for a week, and thus things hadn't been cleaned for a while. Oh, and we also had to finish unpacking and getting everything put away. And take care of a baby. And somehow we managed to cut Clark's hair. It was a busy morning.

At around noon, my Aunt Laura and Uncle Art stopped by on their way up to Salt Lake. It was nice to see them, and have them meet Baby Julia. She was mostly excited about seeing them, and only cried a little bit.

People started arriving in the afternoon, and took shifts hanging out at the apartment. By dinnertime, everyone was in town, so we all went to dinner at the Pizza Factory. Which was delicious, but very VERY noisy, and rather crowded. I would have preferred a quieter setting, but you know, it's hard to find a place that isn't crowded on Memorial Day weekend that serves good food that everyone will enjoy. So Pizza Factory it was, and it was good. We had 16 people in our party: My parents, Clark's parents, Clark's Grandma Meme, Clark's Grandma Stewart, Jessica, Whitney, Kim, Patrick, Brett, Sabrina, Adie, Clark, Julia, and myself.

Kim and Patrick stayed at our place Saturday night, and it was great fun to have them. Especially since we still had to go grocery shopping for the next day's meals, so they got to watch Julia for a little while. Here's a picture of her on Saturday with her Daddy:

Sunday

The big day. Blessing Day. Clark went to church early for Choir Practice. I opted to stay home so that Julia could be fed as close to Sacrament Meeting as possible. Today of all days we wanted a Happy Julia. Kim helped me get her all gussied up, and then we were off to church. Julia did so well during the meeting, up until the last 30 seconds. The closing prayer seemed to last forever. But we made it! And the blessing was lovely, Clark did a great job. I'm so grateful that he holds the priesthood, and that he was able to bless our baby girl. Here she is in her dress:


After church, we all came back to the apartment for some lunch and to take pictures. Unfortunately, I was running around, so I didn't get very many pictures at all. I'll need copies from everyone who took some, wink wink, nudge nudge. I did get a shot of Julia and Adie together, and one of the Millars and Blockburgers.

I look really short in this photo.

Sunday afternoon was spent hanging out, chatting, and recovering from the excitement of the day. We had a spaghetti dinner Sunday night (which was delicious if I do say so myself), and then more hanging out and chatting. At one point, I looked around the room and saw Sabrina talking to my dad about politics; Clark, Brett, and Steve talking politics (it was a popular subject in the living room); and all the ladies around the kitchen table laughing and having a good time. And I thought to myself, "I am so grateful to have all these people in my life." It was one of those moments where everything just felt so good.

Monday

The day of departure. We did manage to hit the St George City Cemetery with my family to visit the graves of our ancestors. And we had lunch at the In and Out Burger, which wasn't quite so in and out as it was the last time we went, but oh well. Still tasty. And then we went with the Millars to The Children's Place, where I found a swimsuit for Julia. And that was pretty much it. Everyone headed home, and they all made it safely there. And Clark and I had the rest of the afternoon to recover and get ready for another crazy week.

Yesterday and today have been pretty normal. Tomorrow Clark leaves for Youth Conference. He'll be back sometime on Saturday. I have a feeling that Friday will be a very lonely day, so if anyone wants to stop by. . . :)

And here are a couple of pictures that are just too cute to leave off the blog. My mom snapped them while we were in Salt Lake. She's just growing up so fast! 6 weeks tomorrow. . .

The Week in Review

One might say that the Blockburgers have been busy this past week. I would call that an understatement.

Julia survived her first vacation! She did so well with all the hustle and bustle, and she slept most of the time in the car. Let's have a little run-down (OK, there is nothing "little" about this, it's very long, so read at your own risk):

Sunday

After a crazy morning at church (courtesy of all our callings), we came home, packed up the car, and headed up to the Salt Lake Valley. Julia had to stop twice for feedings, once in Beaver and once in Provo, but other than that she was a real trooper, and didn't complain at all. We headed to the Blockburger residence to drop off Grandma Stewart, and to have dinner and visit. Julia got to meet Aunt Suzanne, and we even remembered to take a picture:

After that we headed over to visit Clark's Grandma Marty, and we snapped a 4 generation picture:It was nice to visit with her and her husband Jim, and I was really glad they got to meet Julia. Jim is 100 years old, so who knows how much longer he'll be around. And when you've lived 100 years, you've seen a lot of stuff, which is why I love to visit with him, he's always got stories to tell.

After that, we headed over to the Andersons' new house, which is beautiful. Here is the outside of the house:Seriously, I love it, and I loved staying there for the week. And let me just say that the piano sounds so good in that house, it gives me chills. Now I want a piano, but alas, the budget won't allow. But in any event, we arrived pretty late Sunday night, and went to bed.

Monday

I took Clark to the airport in the morning. As a side note, he took the camera with him, so all pictures in the rest of this post are courtesy of my mom. After we got him off, we had a busy day of running errands, having lunch at Jamba Juice (can you believe that they don't have a Jamba Juice in St George?), and cleaning the house in preparation for the evening's festivities. Oh, and of course feeding Julia. That takes up a lot of time. Monday night we had the Hurst clan over for FHE, so they could see the new house and the new baby. I love my mom's family, so I was really happy to see everyone that came out. And I think Julia liked to see all the new faces, even if it did get a little overwhelming near the end. We also snapped a 4 generation picture with my grandma:

"Four generations of red-heads," as my grandma says. Of course, who knows what color Julia's hair will end up being, but I'm thinking there is a real chance it could be red. This makes me happy.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a little more low-key. We went shopping for a blessing dress (and found one!), and spent most of the day just hanging out. Grammie (that would be my mom) got lots of Julia time in. Oh, and I watched American Idol by myself. Which is actually pretty normal, courtesy of the Young Men activities. Oh, and we didn't take any pictures.

Wednesday

Plans got all shuffled around due to a vehicular mishap (not my vehicle, the M's vehicle). This means that I didn't get to see Sabrina, or Adie. :( But Julia did get some much needed sleep, since she didn't take a single nap on Tuesday, and it was kind of nice to be inside with all the cold and rainy weather going on outside. I think Julia was cold for the first time in her life! Much of the day was spent with Grammie. I was also going to meet up with Al and Ada, but alas, there was illness present, and thus it didn't happen. :( But we did talk on the phone, which was nice. I don't call people nearly enough. Meaning ever. But just know that if I'm not calling you very often, you are not alone.

I did get to go to lunch with Karen and her daughter Sarah, which was so much fun. Karen made quite the trek down from Syracuse, and I was so grateful she did. She got to meet Julia, I got to see how much Sarah has grown up, and we got to chat, which was wonderful. Oh, and Panda Express has delicious food.

In the evening we got to visit Amber and Tyler, which was very fun. Amber has a very cute bump going on, and I can't wait for the arrival of her daughter in just a few more weeks!! And you know what I love? I love that I can go months without seeing certain friends, and yet when we get together it's almost like no time has past. I LOVE that. And it kept happening on this trip. I love all my friends. I really lucked out with all of you.

Because I would much rather be visiting Amber, I did not see the American Idol results show, but I hear it was pretty good. Hey Megan, did you tivo it? Can I invite myself over to watch it?

Thursday

More plans were shuffled today due to ill health (not my health, the Porters' health). This means that I didn't get to see Danielle, or Laneah. :( This was especially sad because it's been such a long time since we last got together. But I'm hoping that we'll get to play soon, and then Brandon and Clark can be there as well. And I did get to chat with Danielle on the phone, which was nice. Remember that thing I LOVE (see above)? Yeah, it applies here as well. Good times.

I did, however, get to visit my cousin Jana and her new baby boy, Alex. He is awfully cute, and it was fun to see the babies side by side. Oh, and Lynlee is delightful. Such a funny girl! Jana took some pictures of Julia and Alex together. Hopefully I'll get a copy of those :)

And Clark's cousin Katie came to visit with her daughter Hailey. Hailey brought Julia a "baby" of her own, which I thought was so cute. Here's a picture of us all, Hailey is holding Julia's "baby":

It was so fun to see you guys, thanks for coming to visit. I wish we lived closer, because I'm pretty sure we'd be hanging out.

Thursday night we (Dad, Mom, Whitney, Julia, and I) headed down to Provo so that Julia could meet her Auntie Kim and Uncle Patrick. We had a delicious meal, and a delightful visit. Here are Julia and Kim:Julia adores her Uncle Patrick. She was smiling so big when he was holding her! Here are some shots of her with her new boyfriend:

Friday

Clark's plane was slightly delayed (something about not having a pilot, like that's a good excuse), but he got in around 1pm. We were both so glad to have Daddy come home! Friday afternoon and evening were spent packing up and heading back to St George so we could be here when everyone trekked to our neck of the woods for Julia's blessing. We did caravan down with the M's, and had dinner together at the Wendy's in Beaver, where I almost lost my cell phone (thank goodness for kind people in this world). And now, this post is far too long and I have a baby to feed. Stay tuned for the weekend update!

Weekly Quote 5/26/08

"We watch the season pull up its own stakes
And catch the last weekend of the last week
Before the gold and glimmer have been replaced
Another sun soaked season fades away."

This is from the song Stolen by Dashboard Confessional. I thought it was beautifully poetic. This has been a busy week, followed by an even busier weekend. I promise I'll update soon; I'm just too tired tonight. New quote up!

Weekly Quote 5/19/08

"I never planned in my imagination
A situation so heavenly.
A fairyland where no one else could enter,
And in the center just you and me."

This quote is from Julia's favorite song, "Stars Fell on Alabama." I like it. Look at this, there's a new quote up, and I'm even on vacation!

Julia's First Vacation

For those of you who live in or near the greater Salt Lake area:

Julia and I will be up there next week! Clark is going to D. C. for a business trip, and leaving us in the care of my lovely parents. Yes, we're excited. And yes, we'd like to see you! So, if you want to either meet up somewhere or stop in for a visit, just let me know. We'll be there from Monday to Friday. Oh, did I mention that we'll be staying at my parents' new house? Yeah, that's right, their gorgeous new house in Daybreak! I can't wait. So yeah, hopefully we'll get to see you soon!

4 Weeks Old Video

Yay, we have video! Poor thing has some baby acne on her cheek, but she's still pretty cute. Also, I realized that she is wearing the same thing she was wearing on the last video. I promise, we change her clothes!

4 weeks old, and no video to show it

I was going to try and post a video today, but I didn't manage to take one. That's probably because most of the day was spent either running around, feeding Julia, or trying to get Julia to calm down and sleep. Not really conducive to taking a video.

Julia decided today that she didn't want to sleep while the sun was up. You might think this is an exaggeration, but it's not. She woke up at about 8am, I fed her, and we went for a walk. She fell asleep for part of the walk, probably about 1/2 hour. Then we came home, I fed her, and we went to the park. She slept during the ride over there, so maybe about 15 minutes. Then we visited Clark at work; no sleeping was involved. Came home, fed her, and went to visit Megan. No sleep there. Came home, fed her, made dinner, Clark tried to lull her to sleep, but to no avail. I fed her, and she fell asleep for about 1/2 hour. She finally actually fell asleep at around 8pm. Yeah. About an hour and a half total of sleep over a 12 hour period. I have a feeling she'll sleep well tonight. And I have a feeling I'll sleep well, also. Actually, no, let me recant that. I'll probably wake up numerous times in the night and run into her room to make sure she's breathing. Because that's what I do. But at least I can check on her and then go back to sleep, rather than staying up for another hour feeding her.

In other news, The Office season finale was tonight. It did not disappoint. If you are the person who called at around 8:45, I'm really sorry, but I was not about to miss one second of this show. I mean, wow. Goodbye Toby, hello Holly, goodbye Ryan, hello mini-Jan, fireworks, ferris wheels, proposals, and Dwight and Angela?!! I couldn't tear myself away for a phone call. And I'll say it again, if you don't watch this show you are missing out. After a long and busy day with a somewhat fussy baby, it helped me feel cheerful again. I can't believe we have to wait a whole summer before another new episode. Stupid summer.