DanceSport

For those of you who don't know, Steve and I LOVE ballroom dancing. Steve danced on the Back Up Tour Team (thats REALLY good!) last year and a lower team the year before that (when I met him). I have since started to take actually ballroom classes and this was the first year that I have been able to actually take a class with Steve in dancing--380.

At BYU, we have a competition every semester called DanceSport, where all of the ballroom classes get to compete against each other (with the level they are on), there is an opportunity to compete up in classes, and there are amateur events that you can compete in. This semester was easily the best competition for me because I finally got to fulfill a goal of mine of competing with Steve. On Friday, we began our competition weekend with Open competition of WestCoast swing. Steve and I have kind of dubbed this as 'our dance' because he originally taught me the basic steps and has lead me through many different steps prior to my even knowing if I was dancing it right or not. We did not even make it to the next round because we were pretty much competing against BYU tour team members. That was okay with us--we were only in it for the fun.
Friday night, we competed in our 380 class event with the American waltz. We made it really far in our competition and we had so much fun. We ended up getting cut just before the final round, but being in the top 12 is pretty dang good for a gold-level class. It was really nice to see our friend Greg make it to the final though. We were proud that he got 4th!

Saturday morning bright and early, I competed with my friend, James Scott, in our 284 International Waltz. The reason I couldn't compete with Steve is because he has completed upper level classes and it would have been cheating if he had been in this competition. So we danced and made it to the quarterfinal round which was called back for that night. So instead of sticking around dancesport, we headed home, did a little grocery shopping, I fretted a LOT about the upcoming competition, and we watched BYU beat New Mexico in football.

That evening, James and I also competed in the Tango (competing at the Gold level) and made it to the second round. I wasn't too disappointed at being cut, but it was frustrating.

The quarterfinal round for the waltz came, we danced and made it to the semifinals. We were VERY pleased when we danced well and made it to the FINAL round! I could hear Steve, Elise and her husband Mike cheering for us as we danced and we felt like we did a great job! When the awards were presented, we were very excited to accept 2nd place! My first earned trophy! Steve has three and I was happy to add something to our dust-gathering repertoire.

Discoveries

Joshua is very entertaining. Today, Steve and I spent a full hour just watching him figure out how to scoot. What entertained us before having baby? Anyway, we documented a few of Joshua's discoveries. Here are some of them:

His feet:

Stuffed animals:

Grabbing for and closing his fist around toys:

(My favorite) His tongue:

Everything belongs in his mouth:

He does NOT like being wrapped up with his arms not accessible:

Giggling allows him to stay up a few minutes longer:

He can (infrequently) hold the bottle by himself:

His socks are stretchy:

Joshua is figuring out the whole scooting thing. He will plant his face in the ground, get his legs up underneath him and work his way towards whatever he wants. He hasn't quite figured out that using his arms will greatly enhance movement, but he'll get there. Dear mom and dad, please baby-proof your floors for Christmas. There is one smart little baby coming your way! :D

October Madness

October was a very exciting month! Some of the highlights:

-Natalie applying for graduation!!

-Reunion with our friends from the 138th ward

-Urgent care for Uvulitis

-Getting a new nephew--Tyler James Wilson! Congratulations Becky and Jon!

-Matt Gibbons' birthday!

-Going to the dentist and finding out that I really don't have cavities!

-Homecoming!

-BYU dancelab

-Throwing our first Halloween costume party!

Life really has been so good! Here is my new favorite picture of Joshua and mommy:

The reunion that we went to was for the BYU 138th ward and we got to meet up with so many of our good friends. Something that amused us was that there were probably 6 babies there and 2 or 3 on the way. Good old BYU wards!

This is our friend Mindy Vandergraff. She and her husband were married about a week or two before us and our sons were born about 1/2 hour apart. It was fun because Steve saw her Steve in the hospital when Joshua and Braden were both in the nursery.

Steve asked me out to Homecoming this year. By way of invitation, he created a backdrop for my computer that had a big 'Y' on it and said "Natalie, will you got with me to Homecoming?" Naturally, I said yes. We went to the formal dance with 4 other couples: Greg and his date, Elise and Mike, and two other couples that we don't know very well. Thank you Matt and Emily for babysitting so we could have such a great night!

Because Steve and I have been getting really into the books we have been reading, I immediately picked mine up after I was ready to go.

Two pictures that Emily took for us:

We met up with our group at Greg's (Steve's former roommate for those of you that don't know him) apartment and we all went up to Pleasant Grove where a family of one of the guys offered to have us up for homemade pizzas. They were so good and the family was so nice to have us up there!

The dance was in Spanish Fork. We had a blast doing lots of ballroom dance. Steve and I discovered that we don't really know how to dance if it isn't ballroom-related.

Elise and me:

My sweetie and me:

Elise and her sweetie:

BYU did a great job making everything feel like a formal dance including pictures in the gardens. Although this is not actually one of the pictures, we took it while we were waiting in line.

Neither couple had realized it, but Kevin and Kristen ended up at the same dance as us, even though there were 3 to choose from. We must have good taste or something...

(Please note that Steve and I picked the right colors...)

Halloween was so much fun for us! I had never thrown a real party (outside of bridal showers) and I was excited all month about this one!

On Friday, because we had two outfits for him, we dressed Joshua up as a frog. One of the guys from my classes was not thinking about the fact that it was almost Halloween, finally figured out that Josh was in a costume and said "Oh! I just thought you were being one of those weird moms that dresses their kids up, and when you look back at the pictures you say 'Mom, what were you making me wear?'" Thanks?

The Sunday before Halloween, we decided to create our Haunted House. We originally were going to make it all from scratch, but when we found a premade gingerbread house kit, we opted for that.

Joshua discovered pumkins as big as he is. It was fun to watch him try to get his mouth around the pumpkin. Luckily, we washed it really well first.

We were trying to be creative:

Here was our little setup. We made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and a really great pumpkin soup. We also had rolls and water. It was fun to have everyone just eat and chat.

Elise and Mike came as vampires. Mikes cape was really great and Elise actually drew bit marks onto her neck.

Holly Malmrose and Becca McPartland from my classes came as a beach bum and lady bug, respectively.

Alisha Walbrecht was a doll (she was especially convincing when we had her lay down on the couch), Greg Sorensen was a Death Eater, and Alisha's roommate came as Marie Antoinette.

We had some fun with the pictures. I'm voting the Death Eater will win.

Camille and Jason came as the queen bee and Prom King. Camille says Jason doesn't get much into Halloween, but we thought his costume was great.

Any guesses on what Kevin and Kristen came dressed as? Kev was very pleased when I guessed him right off.

(A: Aragorn and Arwen)

I was really quite proud of our outfits. We are all M&Ms. We bought Josh's costume in Las Vegas when we were down there in April and I was able to make the rest. We tracked down white gloves and the right colored shirts and I cut out the Ms and put them on. We had a lot of fun! Thank everyone who was able to come!

Newfound Mobility

On September 19, Joshua rolled over for the first time! The look on his face was something like "Oh!" It was darling. He didn't do it again until a week later when Steve got to see it, and then he decided to do it about 5 or 6 more times. Seeing as I didn't walk until I was 17 months old and I had no need to learn how to move (thanks to 3 wonderful older siblings who wanted to see me happy and would get everything for me!) I'm pretty sure this early mobility thing is NOT from me!

Goodbye Old, Hello New!

Goodbye beautiful, lazy summer: hello school work!

We had a wonderful summer, complete with a new baby, trips to Vegas and Washington, swimming, hikes and lots of needed rest! We have been looking forward to the school year where we can show our baby off and work hard while we get closer and closer to graduation. I have mostly been spending the weekends studying, but I don't really mind.

BYU football got going well with an exciting win against Oklahoma (ranked 3) and then we stomped Tulane a week later. Go Cougars!

Here is his much needed rest.
Gorgeous sunsets!

Goodbye taco-bed: hello new foam mattress!

About a month ago, I started waking up with pretty bad backaches due to our old mattress, so we decided that it was about time to invest in a new bed. Several trips to IKEA later, we were able to come home with the bed that we wanted.

This particular bed (our old one) was used by Steve when he was living with his sister Laura, and then when I was living with his sister Shauna, I slept on it. We were then able to share it as a couple. However, since it is a full size, we decided to upgrade as well.

Labor Day was the day that we were able to put together our new bed. Steve did the majority of the work while I fed him instructions and entertained Joshua.

It is so nice to get a good-night's rest without waking up in pain! Yay Queen-sized beds!

Also on Labor Day, we were able to go on a double date with Camille and Jason Millar. We met up at the Scera theatre for a live concert by Take Six. I had not previously heard of this group of 6 black men (SUCH good singers!) but I am determined to start getting their CDs! What a great show!

Camille entertained Joshua for part of the concert:

I wish I had thought of this! They looked super-comfortable!

Our family! Joshua didn't really appreciate the noise, but he did sleep through some of it!

Goodbye 2-month old baby, hello 3-month old baby!

Wow! Time sure does fly! This sweet little boy has been in our home for three months now! It is amazing how much we feel like he is a part of our family, and not just an infant! We love it! He is full of smiles, is already great at sleep-training, and just makes us happy!

I was entertained when Steve came out of our room dressed this way. I had gotten Joshua ready for the day without Steve seeing what he was wearing and he came out in the same outfit. They matched completely. My boys are so adorable!

We love being parents!

Maybe this is a little premature for Halloween, but when Joshua was born, he would curl up on our laps and he looked like a little frog. When we saw this outfit at Wal-Mart, we couldn't help but get it. He's our little frog-baby. He doesn't know whether or not he likes the hood, but we sure like dressing him up!