Sunday, 31 March, 2002

Alicia has been especially crabby the last couple of days.  It is a tell-tale sign that she is teething.  It is so unlike her.  She is usually so easy-going and sweet.  I think it might be her two front top teeth.  Poor thing.  She has been waking up at 5:30 am also.  Poor all of us.

Last week, I was sitting on the stairs with Amy and she said to me, “I love you...Sweetheart.”  That is the first time that she has said it to me.  What a sweetie.  I always say to her.  “Know what?” and she now answers, “I love you.”  She has also taken to calling me “Honey” at times.  I don’t know where she picked that up because I usually use sweetheart and various forms.  She has also started calling kids, boys, and talking about the boys all of the time.  The boys at the park, the boys riding bikes.  Probably just a glimpse of what is to come when she gets older.

Alicia is really good at scooting around the floor.  She hasn’t quite got the hang of full-fledged crawling but has started to get up on her hands and knees and rock.  I say that if she was in the army she would be really good at crawling under the barb wire with the way she moves pulling herself along with her arms and elbows and pushing with her feet.

My brother, Shane, is buying our blue Honda Accord.  We hadn’t planned on selling it quite so soon, but he needs a car as he is going to work in Milwaukee for the summer and this will work out well for him.  He doesn’t have the money to pay us right now (which would be lovely) but will pay us throughout the summer in installments.  We, therefore, are looking for a new vehicle and have decided that a minivan is probably the smartest move for us right now.  Neither Chris nor I are really that excited about being minivan owners and drivers, Chris less than I, but they have plenty of seating that we could expand into and they are safer than SUVs.  We are waiting right now for our income tax to come through before we make a move on anything but have pretty much decided on a 1999 or 2000 Honda Odyssey.  They hold their value really well, as most Hondas do, and have some nice features.  Chris fasted today for blessings and inspiration in our search.

We are going to Utah next week, probably leaving Sunday afternoon after the morning conference.  We are not sure exactly how long we will stay but could possibly be there for the whole week.  My parents are going to be there as well, though we will miss seeing Shane whom they will pick up on their way down.  (He will have to return to BYU-Idaho on Sunday afternoon, but we will likely see him at the end of April when he comes to pick up the car though.)