Really....uh, weird.

So in trying to find ways to advertise for our music classes, I posted an advertisement on craigslist.com. I got THE strangest email EVER in response to it. Read on...


"Good day to you over there, I need a Music tutor for my son (Smith), i got your advert while surfing through the internet and i really want my child to be taught by you.Smith is 13 year old and easily catch up.Although,i understand you are in (US) but i've arranged with my cousin sister living there that my son is coming to stay with her for his period of tutoring and she had agreed with me,i was base in France. 1.CHARGE FOR AN HOUR.... 2. TOTAL CHARGES FOR 1 MONTH THAT HE WILL BE TAUGHT 3 TIMES PER WEEK..3. FULL NAME 4. HOME ADDRESS 5. YOUR PHONE NUMBER... And mode of my payment will be by Check."

So just to see if he was legit or not, I sent an email back. I didn't give him any of my information (I'm not that stupid) and I asked him some questions to specify what he wanted. It's been several days and I haven't heard back from him. So I'm guessing he wasn't for real. Kinda creepy, huh?

Lunch Time

Abby does this really cute thing when she eats. Click on the link below to view.

Lunch Time

He Passed!

In June, Brian took a test to certify as a Certified Information Systems Auditor and he just got word today that he passed! He's very relieved, and I'm very proud. Along with passing this test, he is required to complete 5 years of experience in the IT or audit industry, which we think he has, if they accept his previous work experience outside of Protiviti. He still has to complete an application and get approved before he can carry the CISA title, but he's got the hard part over with. This certification is a major milestone in his career, and it will be nice to have that title under his belt.

When we had Abby and I stopped working, he had some qualms about being the only one "bringing home the bacon." I think he's doing a pretty darn good job!

Not Much

Not much has been going on since I last blogged. Abby is teething, so she's been less than her perfect self lately. Poor girl. Brian and I spoke about tithing on Sunday and that went well. Brian's job is going good, and Melinda and I are working on getting our early childhood classes started. That's about it! Life is good.

Coming Soon!

I'm A Believer

Is there such as thing as shopping divine intervention? Cause if there is, it happened to us! Brian and I were talking the other day about how we needed a sideboard or console in the office for storage. A couple of days later I went to Target and spotted a marked down box on the bottom shelf. It was the perfect piece for our office. The original price was $329 and it was marked down to $40! It did take us two hours to assemble, but it was worth it.

Close, But No Cookie

So I set Abby down on her tummy this afternoon and she stayed on her knees. She stayed that way for a couple of minutes and then plopped on to her tummy. I was smothering her with praise the whole time so you should have seen the proud look on her face. She can't pull herself up into that position yet, so she probably won't crawl for a while now, but she's making progress. She also sits up very well on her own. Oh! And the greatest thing of all, she's growing lots of little blonde hair all over her head! About time!

In other news, the city of Murphy is trying to start a education series and so they signed me on to create two early childhood classes; a music class and a storytime/art class. The only problem is that they only had two weeks to advertise before the classes started, so they cancelled the music class and just advertised for the story time class. The coordinator called me today and told me the story time class was also off because only two kids signed up. I had already bought the books, made up the lesson plans and bought art supples. I'm not going to get reimbursed for it either. Although they were going to pay me peanuts, I was still excited to start teaching again. They will try again in the fall, but by then Melinda and I will have hopefully
started our own classes.

A Bittersweet Visit to 7-Eleven

My sister-in-law (Melinda) kindly reminded me that today is 7-11, which means FREE SLURPEE. In commemoration of 7-Eleven's 79th birthday, everyone gets a free slurpee. Anyone who knows me really well, knows I love slurpees, so I was quite excited for lunch time this afternoon to get a free one.

I walked into a local 7-Eleven to my work and asked the clerk if they had free slurpees today. She said yes, so I continued to the slurpee machine and found that they had set-up a stack of cups labeled "Happy Birthday, 7-Eleven." Unfortunately, the cups are 7.11 ounces large! That's smaller than a coffee cup. To my dismay, I did not get a free one, because that's just not enough.

I have to give 7-Eleven credit. The marketing campaign worked on me. I bought a regular size slurpee (32 ounces), a sandwich, and a bag of chips. (Why would I change my objective? I wanted a slurpee.)

So, if you didn't take the opportunity to get to your nearest 7-Eleven to get a free slurpee, you didn't miss much. If you did, I hope you still got a slurpee.

They're great!

4th of July

Happy Independence Day!

Okay, so I'm definitely not the type that wears holiday-themed aparrell, but I think it's okay to dress our babies in thematic clothing every once in a while, right? She does look a little ridiculous, but SO cute.

Yesterday morning we went to the lake with Mom, Dad, Eric, Sheena, Jeff, Kristine and their family. We had a great time out on the jet skis and playing with the kids. The water was smooth as glass so Brian and I got up to 60 mph. Ahh! There's nothin like it! Well, except following a ski boat's wake and jumping the waves. That was fun too! We love jet skiing!

Later that day we went to Mom and Dad McMurdie's and played games. We got all the nieces in coordinating outfits and took a picture. Since Eric and Sheena live in Utah now, it was great to get the girls together while they're still babies!

3rd of July

Last night we went with my family to concert in the Gardens in Fort Worth. It's a long-time tradition in our family, and there were like 30 people in our group this time! We had some Chicken Express, and sat back and listened to the Ft. Worth Symphony perform some great patriotic music, and then watched an awesome fireworks show set to music. Abby did really well. A little jumpy at the beginning, but she got used to it!

Abby chewing on her glow bracelet and Brian and Abby watching the fireworks

Scary Diaper

Abby's had some pretty scary diapers before, you know, the kind you're afraid to open. But yesterday morning she had one that was pretty frightening. Brian was changing her diaper and discovered a quarter-sized amount of blood in the front of her diaper. We called the nurse who got us in to see the doctor later that morning. The doctor was really perplexed, because it wasn't mixed with her urine, as you would see if there were a kidney problem. (I know I'm being graphic, sorry.) And she didn't have any other symptoms. So he did a catheter to gather a urine sample and then sent us to the hospital next door for a ultrasound.

Abby was such a good baby. She giggled throughout the catheter, which the nurses said has never happened before, and she was very patient during the 30 minute ultrasound. We got the results of the ultra sound while we were there, and they came back showing everything to be normal. The doctor thinks that it was a fluke thing. It is normal for new newborns to have patches of blood in their urine, because they are still flushing out their systems from the birth, but a baby her age should be way past that. We haven't gotten the full urine analysis back yet, but the doctor tested her urine in his office and said everything looked clear and normal.

The doc. sent us through STAT so we didn't have to wait for anything, thankfully! He assured us that everything was probably okay, but I'm glad we didn't have to draw this out over a couple of days. It only took a little over two hours from the time we got to the doctor to the time we left the hospital with the results. Although I wasn't extremely worried, I NEVER want to go through anything like that again with any of my babies! We're so grateful that everything is okay.

Six Months

Abby had her six month checkup this morning. She's 17 lbs. 7 oz. and is 26.5 inches long. (That's the 90% for height and weight. woah.) He gave her A+'s across the board and says she's ahead of schedule in the sitting up department. He told us to baby proof the house, cause she'll be moving really soon. It's so exciting to see her grow and develop. She's getting to be such a big girl! Am I ready for that?

Virtual Tour

I was looking back at past blog entries, and realized that we've never put pictures of our new house on the blog. It's still a work in progress, but here's a quick tour.



This is our living room on the right side of the house just past the entry. Walk further inside and you come to our dining room, which is just off of our living room.

Past the dining room is the kitchen and the master bedroom. I'll take pictures of those later. If you go back to the entry of the house, and go to your left, you enter the hallway.

The room by the small window is Abby's.

Through the french doors, right next to Abby's room is the office

Then the bathroom and laundry room.

And then the last room is our spare bedroom, wich isn't very exciting to look at.

SO you've seen most of our house now. If you ever want to visit, we'd love to have you!

Small World

Last night Brian, Abby and I took cookies to a couple of neighbors we had never met before. There's a lot more small babies and children than I first thought, which is GREAT! Lot's of future playmates for Abby.

At the very last house on our street there was a family parked in the driveway, and as we walked by, I noticed one of the girls staring at me. She said hi and I did a double take and realized it was a student from the school I taught at in Plano! She and her family are moving onto our street this weekend. Isn't that crazy? They're going to be fun neighbors. They invited us to their housewarming party next weekend and he's already got big, grandiose plans for blocking off the road and having a street party sometime.

We're super excited about having neighbors! We think we will have great opportunities to share the gospel with them.

Ward Party

We went to our ward party Saturday night and had a nice, relaxing time. I think we're beginning to feel like a part of the ward now. It takes a little more effort when you're in a big ward like ours. We both have callings now. I'm the primary chorister and pianist. Another girl has the same calling as me and we switch off every month. That makes it really fun. Brian is an advisor in the Teacher's quorum. He's glad he still gets to serve in the young men's organization.

Abby was a real trooper at the ward party considering she was at the mall with me all day long. We had a girls day at Grapevine Mills with Missy, little Ben and Melinda. I've never seen Melinda catch the bargain bug so badly before. She had this wild look in her eyes. Who would have thought that 99 cent shoes could do that to a person...

Abby was so tired she was trying to hide the bags under her eyes.

Exams and Other Work News

Yesterday was a pretty important day for me. Aside from the big party that we had last night, I sat in a large room with about 200 other individuals for nearly 4 hours taking a very difficult test. Over the last couple of months, I've spent countless nights with study groups or on my own at the office preparing for this exam. I am extremely thankful for the support of an understanding wife and daughter (assuming Abby understands anything that's going on).

The Certified Information Systems Auditor is an internationally accepted certification program in the IT consulting field that provides me some upward mobility. The requirements for the certification require passing the exam and 5 years of experience in the IT or audit industry. I'm hoping to hear something within a month, but it will be up to 6 weeks before I receive either an application for certification or a list of things to study.

In other news, I received a phone call from the managing director of the Dallas Protiviti office. She congratulated me on my promotion to Senior Consultant. Yes, this does mean a higher wage, however it also means more responsibility and higher expectations. I'm looking forward to that and hope that I can exceed those expectations. Work has been enjoyable and I think I've been able to contribute.

Housewarming Par-tay!

Well, maybe it wasn't a par-tay, but it was pretty fun! All the fam came out to tour the house and hang out and play games. We love it that both sides of our family get along with eachother! Thank you to everyone for driving forever to get here, and thanks for the wonderful presents. Really, the greatest gift of all is just to be with the ones we love. Aww! No, really!

Everyone playing one of our favorite games, Apples to Apples.

Danny and Gideon. Or should we say, Slick and Shady?

Jared keeping Squealer company.

Name that Look

It is becoming very clear that Abby has inherited her daddy's eyes. She's a very expressive child both verbally and facially, but whenever I take pictures, she defaults to the wide-eyed, what-the-heck-is-that-thing-flashing-in-my-eyes look. You'd think she'd be used to it by now cause she might be the most photographed baby around. Any ideas on how I can get a different face out of her?


Anyone got a good name for this look?

Crazytown

Brian has always prided himself as being the

normal one in our little family, but the last couple of months have shown otherwise, with pictures to prove it. Having Abby has officially sent him hoppin' onto the goofy bandwagon. I guess extremely adorable babies do that to you.

Welcome aboard, Brian.

Enjoy the ride.

Symphony in the Park

So tonight we went to The Allen Ampitheater to see the Allen Philharmonic Orchestra perform patriotic music. Gma and Gpa McMurdie and Michelle came along and we had a nice little picnic and enjoyed the music. Best of all, it was FREE!

Water Baby

Saturday we went to Grandma and Grandpa McMurdie's to swim. It was Abby's first experience in a swimming pool so we had great fun! We both love the water, so we're trying to expose it to her early so she'll love it as much as we do!

Don't you love "firsts?"

Ranger Game

Last night was our first Ranger's game with Abby. We had a great time, and she did wonderfully! She was so tired, she pooped out for a while, which is hard to do in such a loud place. We love having such an easy child. :)

The Monsters Next Door

So yesterday they poured the foundation for the house next door early in the morning. It's fascinating, but very loud! And along with this big guy there are at least two cement trucks and a dozen workers, so you feel like you're being invaded. It's fun to watch the houses around us go up though.
(I forgot to change the camera to color. Sorry about the B&W.)

Professional Development: Business Continuity Training/Exam

The past few weeks have been a bit stressful for me because I've added onto my normal load - work, church, home/family, and Evening Song - some opportunities to obtain certification and training. Most recently I completed a weeklong training from the Disaster Recovery Institute on Business Continuity Planning (BCP). This training was focused on professionals who coordinate, plan, and execute the processes to enable an organization to survive and recover in the event of a disaster (flood, tornado, hurricane, etc...).

Why did I take this training? Protiviti has a suite of services to assist organizations in assessing and planning their BCP program. Since I am still young in my career, and interested in these services, I thought I should gain some training so I could potentially be staffed on a Business Continuity project. This was a really nice thought while the Dallas office had a recognized expert in BCP. Recently that person decided to leave Protiviti, leaving me confused and bewildered as to whether I should still pursue this avenue.

Well, I completed the training and took a long exam. Hopefully I pass, but if not, I'm not sure it's a total loss. At least I was able to get a week off from project work and study for my other exam coming up June 10. More on that later.

Oops...

So we got recessed lighting installed on Saturday and it looks REALLY good! Our electrician, Mike, was up in the attic straddling support beams, when oops! his foot slipped. Brian and I were eating breakfast and looked up to see a leg sticking out of our ceiling. Needless to say, all of us were a little stunned. Mike is all right and the ceiling got fixed by a drywalling crew that was working down the street. (Thank goodness construction is still going on around here!) The house is all put together now and everything is beautiful. He really did an excellent job!

The Hum and Snort

I fed Abby her first bowl of rice cereal today. At first she didn't quite know what to do with it, but pretty soon she caught on and would open her mouth wide while I dribbled it inside. Of course, most of it ended up every other place but her mouth. Then towards the end she started doing the Hum and Snort. That's where she puffs out her cheeks and humms through her nose which makes a cute little snorting sound. (see below) She does it a lot, but it was especially funny to watch her do it with rice cereal seeping from her mouth.

Abby is so much fun!