The Bar...Before, During and After

I've been putting off this post so long it has become ridiculous. It made it easier to include things before and after so it wouldn't be so terribly boring to write. Now, hopefully, I can get on with blogging.

The Before
The week before the bar was one of my hardest weeks. Erica came down with what we later discovered was Roseola. She had a high fever, she wouldn't eat, she was in a terrible mood, a major rash broke out (see picture) and we had no idea what was wrong with her. On top of her being sick, I was sick too. On top of all of that, I realized I only had a week left to cram and I was not even close to being ready. I was VERY stressed out. Thanks to family and friends offering to take Erica, grocery shop or whatever, we made it through. Thanks to all who helped or even offered to help. It meant a lot.


My parents happened to be in town for a few days at this time to help my brother move to Phoenix. They came down for a few days and watched Erica so I could study. They brought Erica's cousin, Lincoln, with them. She was happy to have a playmate.


The During
I have no pictures of the bar. I don't want to remember it. It was 2 days, 6 hours each day. One day was 12 essays on Arizona law. We had a half hour to read each question and type an answer. The next day was 200 multiple choice questions. It was awful. I am so glad to be done. As soon as I turned my test in I got a massive headache. I'm glad it waited until the test was over. I got In-n-Out on the way home to make me feel better. It helped.

Troy's mom and sister, Sonja came to town during the week of the bar to watch Erica while I was taking my test. It was so nice to leave her with family and not have to worry about her during the test.


The After
Once the test was over, it was so fun to play with family and not have to worry about studying. Erica was feeling better too. We ended up going boating. Erica usually gets a good 15 minute nap on the boat.


Troy getting some air. That means I am driving the boat. I'm very proud to have learned how to do this during my married life. Never thought I would be able to.


Troy's mom even helped with finishing the retaining wall. I will put up a few completed pictures once I download them off the camera.


Erica showing off some bling. She LOVES jewelry, make-up, dresses, etc. I don't know where she gets it.

Quiz

Question: What do you do when your two-year old child farts louder than you thought humanly possible in the middle of church? (Keep in mind that you are sitting on hard chairs that enhance the sound, you are sitting in the gym that makes everything echo because you were late, and all kids for at least the next 3 rows up turn around to see who did it.)

Answers:

A. Stare straight ahead, stone faced, as though you heard nothing.

B. Start laughing even more uncontrollably than all the kids for at least the next 3 rows up.

C. Calmly pick your child up, slowly walk out of church, and never come back again.

D. Try to outdo her.

We opted for B. I think we got that one right.

Putting off the Post About the Bar

I'm still not ready to write or even think about the bar yet. Instead, I will share some pictures with you from July.

This is the size of bugs we are finding around our house this year. Yuck!!!


Erica and Troy getting wet in the monsoon storm.

Um, I don't know what to say about this one.

Erica and me doing an ab workout.

Four Letter Words

We've been working on our four letter "F" words. I think she's got it down pretty good, don't you?

Disneyland and Sea World

This year Disneyland lets you get in free on your birthday. I wanted to go to Disneyland for my 31st birthday and Erica is still free. So, we all got in for the price of one, which is still way too expensive, even for three people.


Erica loved Disneyland and still talks about the Tiki room - we accidentally ended up in there and thought it was the stupidest thing we had ever seen. However, it was one of Erica's favorite. She was a little scared on the Jungle Cruise, but talked about it a lot afterward. She liked Dumbo, or as she calls it, "Go, elephants, go!!!" We only made about six rides before she was done, but we had a great time.

We also stopped by Sea World on our Southern California tour. Erica loved the sharks the most. She also liked the starfish, penguins, otters and polar bears, but she had NO interest in the dolphins.

Here is how Troy decided to hold Erica over the shark viewing area. Does this make anybody else really nervous?

Troy, Erica and Troy's sister Molly. When everyone asks where Erica gets her blond hair from, we say, "Molly".

The only family shot we could come up with.


On the way out, we made the mistake of letting Erica walk instead of ride in her stroller. She tripped and landed forehead first on the pavement. We had to take her to the first aid place at Sea World. She turned out to be fine, but she had a nasty bruise for awhile.

At the end of our trip we got to stay with my brother's family. He has an awesome pool that we spent most of our time in. We also hit up the beach one more time. Troy spent his time in the water and we spent our time at the slide.

California 2009

Hello again. The bar is finally finished and I'm re-entering the blogging world. I am just going to do this chronologically so future posts to come are the rest of our California trip - including Disneyland and Sea World, the bar (I'm not quite ready to think about it again yet), family coming to visit and a trip to the ER (everything is ok). So, with that, here is the beginning of the last month and a half:

At the end of June, we braved a road trip to California. I usually try not to drive anywhere with Erica that is more than a half hour because she hates her car seat. We purchased a DVD player for the trip and decided that was one of the best investments of our married life. Although we were sick of watching the ABC movie for the 100th time by the time we arrived, it kept Erica happy and was better than listening to her cry.

We spent a couple of days at the beach. It was colder than usual, so only Troy braved playing in the water. Erica and I hung out on the sand. She loved to roll around in the sand and chase the birds. Troy's sister Molly and her husband Brad were also vacationing in California at the same time, so it was nice to meet up with them.

We love Arizona, but we sure miss living close to the beach.