Alisa and Mark or Mark and Alisa??

I just had to put this in. Mark went to go to our blog after I was done with the last post and typed www.markandalisa.blogspot.com instead of what ours is (alisaandmark). Get this-there is a couple in Australia named Mark and Alisa! You should go see what it says to see how we nearly had a heart attack when we first saw the page. Hahahahahaha!!

Halloween and other random stuff

We had a fun time at the Hatch/Tucker family (Mark's side) Halloween party on Friday night. Natalie was the cutest ladybug ever, I was a bunch of grapes, and Mark was a leaf-blower. If you look closely at his hat you'll see the leaf hanging in front of his face which he would blow. haha, punny! We had a little costume parade and contest that Natalie actually walked in with everyone else but we didn't win. Oh well! It was so fun to see everyone's costumes. My costume got a lot of laughs but boy was it uncomfortable! I attached all the balloons to one of Mark's dress shirts so luckily I could take it off and be normal when I wanted to. Plus I couldn't hold Natalie while wearing it. She didn't really like her costume, but eventually got used to it and was a happy girl. Here's a little movie of her in the costume so you can see the dots on her back at the end. She was not a happy camper!

On another note, she gets really excited when Mark comes home from work, and even calls him "dada" now. It's so cute, and the other day I caught her glee on video.

Our friends the Kishpaugh's came to visit and brought their little girl Ava to play with Natalie. They are the same age and are so cute together! Natalie was a little shy at first but she eventually warmed up to Ava and they had a great time playing.

Whenever I open the fridge Natalie makes a beeline for it. I don't know what on earth is so interesting about it (maybe the fact that it is unexplored territory?) but she can get there so fast. The other day I left it open and let her look inside for a minute. She was sad when I told her it was time to close it. Good thing she isn't strong enough to open it herself!

Well, that's all for now. Love you all!

Fun at the park

Natalie and I take a walk to the park pretty much every day now that the weather is so beautiful and cool. Natalie loves the stroller and can't get enough of looking at all the houses, cars, trucks, trees, butterflies, birds, you name it. Sometimes while we walk I'll say "wheeee!" and Natalie will imitate me and say "eeeee" at the exact same pitch. It's so cute. Anyway the other day we went to the park and I helped her go down the slide a couple of times, then she wanted to crawl around. After a little of that I let her hold my fingers and walk around, and boy what a surprise she got when she got to the sand and her little foot sunk right in! She plopped right down and started grabbing handfuls of it and dropping it. I was afraid she would put it in her mouth, but nope. She only wanted to do that with a little rock she found. Don't worry, I didn't let her eat it. I took some cute pics. Enjoy!

Our Utah trip

We are back from our trip! It was so fun. Natalie and I decided last minute to join my parents and brother on their trip to go visit my sister Melanie and her fam. I canceled all my piano lessons and we were off! I learned something important right off....just because you decide to drive at night doesn't guarantee that the baby will sleep. No, she screamed for a while and finally fell asleep, but woke up every once in a while until we pulled into St George at 2am. Oh man, what a night. Luckily she slept until the next morning and we left for Provo later on. We saw Melanie and Brooklyn, and Natalie was so excited to see her little cousin. They had a great time crawling around together, pulling up on each other, and tugging each other's hair.

Natalie and I stayed at Mark's aunt Nancy's for the first few nights and Natalie slept pretty well over there. She loved exploring Nancy's living room and kitchen and playing with Nancy. It was really fun to visit with her. We watched the first session of conference with her on Saturday, then my family picked us up between sessions and took us down to Melanie's apartment in Spanish Fork to watch the afternoon session. It was so great! I have to say, watching conference with a baby on the loose is a sure way to keep from falling asleep! This was about the time that Natalie began walking (see previous blog). It was amazing! She walked pretty much every day on vacation, but has yet to do it for her daddy to see. :-)

The next day we watched conference again at Mel's but brought Aubri with us. She is Mark's sister and is in her first semester at BYU. It was again a great session and I heard most of it (when I wasn't putting Natalie down). We enjoyed a yummy breakfast that Mike and Devin made for us. Between sessions we loaded up the babies in their strollers and went to a little duck pond nearby. The babies were fascinated by the ducks as they swam around. Soon a little old grandma came with a huge bag of bread and all the ducks joined her on the sidewalk. We gathered around and the babies got to see the ducks up close! They were fascinated. The weather was pretty chilly so we all were in sweaters. Later in the week it warmed up a bit which is good. I almost could have worn shorts.

We spent the rest of the week at Melanie's and the babies took turns taking naps in the crib. We went to Salt Lake on Monday to pick up Mom who flew in later due to a conference she had been at the previous few days for her work. After we got her we drove to a little restaurant called "The Pie" which is a place known for its yummy pizza. We met my good friend Christine there and had a fun time visiting with her.

On Tuesday we went to BYU campus to show Natalie her mommy's old stomping grounds. We strolled (literally, haha) through the HFAC (fine arts bldg) which is where I had spent most of my time and saw some old friends in there, then found Aubri where she was studying. It was fun to see her in her element and meet some of her roommates. We wandered around the bookstore and visited the new Gordon B. Hinckley building on campus. It was so pretty! At this point Natalie was a super cranky-meister so we went home. Melanie and I visited some quilting stores to look at their cute fabrics while the babies napped at home with Grandma Barnes.

Wednesday was a relaxing day spent mostly at Melanie's. The babies had little colds so we were letting them get good naps. In the afternoon Melanie, Mike, Brooklyn, Natalie and I all went to this fun little park by the temple in Provo as we waited for the family to get back from visiting some family. We got some cute pictures of the girls. When they got back, we all went and ate at Los Hermanos in Provo, then back to Melanie's.

I was off to visit some friends who live in Utah- Rachel, Tiffany, and Emily. It was so fun to chat with those girls! I miss them. I didn't get a picture of that, sorry.

The next day, Thursday, we packed up and left for St. George and stayed the night at my grandparents' house. The next morning we visited my Great-Grandpa Ellis who is 94 and in a care facility there in St. George. He didn't talk much, but we could tell he enjoyed having us there because he smiled a few times and even laughed once. I think he liked seeing his great-great-granddaughter, even if she was acting cranky (as you can tell from the pic).

The next day was Friday and we drove home. Natalie did really well on the drive home, even though it was so long. It was perfect timing though because she came down with some nasty sickness on Saturday. I am busy taking care of her, poor thing!

Anyway, that was our trip. We had a fabulous time but we are sure glad to be back at home so Natalie can sleep in her crib where she's used to sleeping! Kudos to my family for putting up with my naptime stress. I love you guys!

This is Natalie mid-yawn with a sock on her ear.

She walked!

I would like to announce that yesterday Natalie took her first steps! She took two all on her own. I was watching Natalie and Brooklyn play on the floor (we are in Utah this week) and I looked down and Natalie was standing up. As I was vaguely wondering how she got there without some sort of furniture nearby to pull up on (maybe she used Brooklyn?) she started walking! AAAAAHHHHH! After she lost her balance and plopped on the floor I awarded her with many hugs and kisses and "yay"s. I was thinking we'd at least make it to 10 months before she started walking...she's just over 9. Crazy. Anyway, I'll post some more pics of Natalie with her cousin Brooklyn whenever I get to a computer and can download them. Adios!

Learning to walk

So Natalie is getting closer and closer to learning how to walk. It's crazy. I'm sure she still has a month or two before she's doing it on her own, but she's cruising and spending long periods standing on her own. I'm going to attempt a video on here so you can see. My little baby is growing up! Sniff.

So as many of you know, we are trying to rent out our house so we can move in with my parents and save money for law school. We have had our house on the mark et for a month now, and we're hoping that magical person shows up soon who will want to rent it! Yesterday we got a call from our realtor that someone was going to come look at the house between 12 and 1 today. So last night Mark and I spent time cleaning carpet spots, packing boxes, wiping down mirrors, and moving stuff into the garage to make our house look emptier and bigger. This morning I spent several more hours cleaning and wiping down and organizing (as well as taking care of Natalie, the wonder baby who does not nap on the days mommy really needs her to). So 12 rolls around....then 1, and this person hasn't shown up. Arrrrg! Now it's 2:30 and still, they haven't come. bummer! To look on the bright side of things though, at least my house is clean. Now I can sit here and post on my blog without feeling guilty. :-)

We got our backyard "landscaped" aka "covered the ground with decorative rock" so we don't have a backyard full of dirt for potential tenants. Devin, the expert rock guy (his summer job was shoveling rock) came over to help. Thanks Dev! It looks much nicer now and it was just in time too--the next day someone came and looked at the house.

Well, ta ta for now!