I thought of a funny story that happened a few weeks ago and I thought I’d share. You know those moments where you think you’re cool and someone lets you know very clearly that you’re not. Well that’s what happened.

I am the Miamaids advisor in Young Womens. For one of our combined activities I had to drive the young women around to ward members houses to deliver Christmas cards. I had the David Cook CD in my car and I smiled as I envisioned the girls thinking and also commenting about how young and hip I was. (I was born for Young Women’s! haha)

I picked up the girls and as we headed for the car I casually 🙂 mentioned that I had the David Cook CD in my car and I hoped they liked it. The girls instantly moaned and groaned. They made several comments about how they didn’t like him at ALL. I was shocked! I thought all teenage girls watched and loved American Idol. Where had I gone wrong?

A few minutes later the girls started talking about David Archuleta. Then the light bulb went on. I asked, “Do you guys NOT like David Cook because you like David Archuleta?” They all looked at me like Duhhh.

I had blown it. I had the wrong Idol’s CD; the old people Idol. My bad!

Just as a disclaimer I loved both David’s. 🙂

Showers affect my mental health. Enough said.

P.S. Not my bathroom.

More pictures of our baby.  Ahh we love her!!!!

Hallie wearing her Sunday dress.

Naked play time is the best!

Well if you read the last post by Ben he mentioned our plans for the inaugration weekend. Because we live in DC the inaugration affected us in a drastic way. Our plans changed suddenly when Ben called me from work on Thursday informing me that road closers were forcing him to take the next Wednesday off.  This meant he had a 6 day vacation from work. My parents are always talking about how much they miss Hallie and wish we could go back and visit (even though we were just there for Christmas). So after checking flight prices and yo-yoing back and forth whether to go or not we called my parents. They were thrilled and couldn’t wait to see their little princess.

Our trip started off before the sun was up Saturday morning and dragged on until the sun had gone down. Our first flight was rerouted and delayed. We waited in the DC airport for 3 1/2 hours.  Unbelievable!! However the rest of the trip wasn’t bad, just long.  We counted up all of Hallie’s plane rides and our return flights were number 11 and 12.  She’s such a good sport!

Here are some pictures of the trip.

Hallie got her own seat on one of the flights

Looking out the window

Four Generations of Crane’s

Hallie got to meet her Great Grandparents

Hallie also got to meet my old companion Honivah Rafaranirindraibe

There were a lot of things that we did that unfortunately we didn’t take pictures of.  With the help of babysitters Ben and I were able to escape and go to lunch and later bowling. (Our first date since Hallie was born.) Thanks mom for watching Hallie. We were also able to go to the Temple-thanks LaRae and Kyle.  And last but not least Ben talked me into skinny dipping in the hot tub! Ahhh so funny, but also very enjoyable. Swimsuits are a pain! 🙂

I think that sums up our trip, except the fact that our flight home was also delayed but only for an hour this time. Lucky us! Ugghhh

Now we are home and oh so grateful we live in the DC area. It is home to us now and we love it. (Besides the missing family part.)

Thanks Mom and Dad for flying us out. We love you and miss you already!!

Hallie is now five months old. It’s amazing how much can change in such a short amount of time. We can’t remember our life without her.

On Saturday I was able to drive down to the district and see two great friends that I haven’t seen since my mission. (2 years-crazy!!)  My last companion Sister Maxwell who is from Salt Lake and Kessia Cruz who was a delight to teach.

Driving there was a breeze and Hallie even fell asleep. However parking was a whole other story. After driving around for 30 min with Hallie now awake and screaming I found a parking garage and consented to paying the 16 dollars it cost.  I figured it was a small price to keep me from swearing.

With that said it was so worth it. Sarah (Sister Maxwell) is amazing.  She was in town for a school trip and set side time to see us. One of my favorite things about her is the fact that she always follows through with what she says-amazingly dependable! On top of that she is hilarious and so fun to be around. Kessia is one of the most genuine people I know.  She is unbelievably positive and I would even describe her as perky. Kessia was baptized about two years ago and is now considering a mission. Wow, she would be unstoppable! What a blessing it is to have good friends. Thanks Kessia and Sarah.

Sarah, Kessia, me and Hallie

Kessia and Hallie

Hallie insisted she chew on the straw

Welcome to the new year everyone! I thought that I would post a few updates on our little family.

The most recent Hallie news is that she learned to roll over yesterday. Yeah!! Dad has been practicing hard with her. She is also sleeping through the night as long as she is next to me. She still fights naps during the day because she is afraid she is going to miss something.  She loves watching people and for that reason she also loves the mall. Good for her and mom! For Christmas she received a completely new wardrobe thanks to Nanna and her new favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See which Grandma Crane gave her. (Her eyes never leave the book and its bright pictures.) Hallie turns five months next week! Crazy how time flies.

Ben is still loving his job at the Census Bureau HAHA.  He is going to start trying 10 hour work days (which really means 12-13 with his commute). This would mean he could take every Wednesday off and spend it with me and Hallie. (I’m a needy wife who can’t get enough time with my sexy husband.) He has also been regularly attending the gym at work and I am reaping the benefit of his tight abs. Mmmmm 🙂

As for me, I went running by myself today.  Since Hallie was born I haven’t been exercising as much as I should.  I gained 40 pounds during my pregnancy and I still have 12 lbs to lose. I realize that I am back to the weight I was when I left on my mission, but I lost a lot after I got married and once you drop to a size 2 you can’t go back to a size 8 and be satisfied.  Anyway, the whole reason I’m writing this is because I haven’t felt comfortable leaving Hallie with anyone yet-she’s way too cranky. However, today I changed my mind and my friend Stacey watched Hallie so I could go running.  It was AMAZING!! I hated running until my mission. I think all the rules made running seem almost freeing in a way.  I remember longing to run, which was COMPLETELY foreign to me. The past four months the longing has returned. I’ve been able to go on walks with Hallie and sometimes I’ll run behind her stroller, but today, ohhh today, it was amazing! To be by myself and run was therapeutic. I swear I’ve heard a thousand times that I need to take care of myself first, but I just didn’t think it was possible.  Although I don’t think any mom could put herself first, I do believe that every mom needs to take some time for herself.  I’m hoping that my ‘alone’ running time will help me emotionally and mentally as well give me back my body that I so desperately long for.   Thanks again Stacey I owe you!

That’s what we’ve been up to so far in 2009. We hope you are all doing well and we look forward to seeing as many of you as we can this year.

Ben’s sister came home from her mission yesterday. She served in the California, Anaheim mission and was probably one of the best sister missionaries that there ever was! We weren’t able to be there to pick her up at the airport, but we were able to talk to her on Skype last night. Too bad Hallie was ornery.

Alix, we are so glad you are home and we are so grateful for the example you set for us by serving so faithfully.  You are amazing and we can’t wait to see you on Christmas.