Pretty Sure We Brought This On...

Stella going off the bottle, and learning how to put herself to sleep..., tantrums, shrieks in the wee morning hours, and a new persona that is rearing its' head.

It's My Party...

So, I though I was going to be able to post a lot of pics from Stella's birthday party here. Wrong. There were so many kiddos crammed in our little apartment, that I couldn't get a shot of anything or anyone without a bunch of toddlers crowded around it. It was fun, though, and we ended up with about thirty people who came to wish Stella a happy birthday - thanks to all of you!

Robbed!

I just have to post this, as this is the craziest thing that has happened to our little family in a little while.
This last Saturday, Glenn was scheduled to work (he works at Trader Joe's, for those who were unaware). Generally off at ten, Glenn usually arrives home between 10:10 and 10:15. At 10:10 in the evening, I got a text from Glenn, "We just got robbed!". Surely you're joking, Mr. Aydelotte. I responded, "R U OK?". Nothing. In moments like these two minutes seems like an eternity, but it took me that long to finally decide to call his phone, not knowing what the situation was at that moment in the store. It rang and rang, and finally went to voicemail. I waited another minute or two and called again. This time he picked up, "I can't talk right now, let me call you back in a few minutes." What?!? Some words of advice, my darling husband, please, please, please try and fit the phrase, "...but I'm/we're alright...", in there somewhere. It was about 15 minutes between finding out his store was robbed, to learning that no one was hurt. So, some guy, enters after the store is closed, points a gun in every one's face, and orders them all to hit the deck. Luckily Glenn had to run to the restroom, and missed all the fun. By the time he made his way back up to the front, the guy was gone, and the woman who replaced Glenn up front was recovering from having a gun pointed at her head. Glenn did hear the two gunshots fired, but figured someone had dropped a case or two of wine. It has shaken everyone up, including our little family. Thank goodness no one was hurt.
And, yeah, the scoundrel got away.

Camping!

We just got back from the Elders Quorum campout. It was down in the Portola Redwoods. Stella's second campout. Stella's likes: marshmallows, hanging out in the Pereira's tent and giggling with Jake and the girls, the campfire, playing in the faucet, the nature walk, and kicking up all of the surrounding dirt. Stella's not-so-likes: cold water, falling on her little face the last day and ending up with a rather beat-up looing face (poor baby), and going home. She loved reading stories in the tent, right before bed, and snoozing in her sleeping bag. We got to spend two nights, and were fianlly allowed to light a fire the second night. Friday, we headed to the beach, but it was so windy, blowing sand in our eyes, that we didn't stay for too long. What fun!

Here are just some of the moments we caught on camera:

As you can plainly see, Stella spent a lot of time catching up with her buddy Jake.

Sigh....

I think that few things are more touching than when a child does something without being prompted. Stella has yet to reach that stage where she'll say something just because we asked her to. In fact, while she will mimic what Glenn and I say, she will never, ever say something when I ask her to (please, thank you). Never. She just won't do it. She isn't defiant about it, she just sweetly ignores my request. Plus, she speaks about herself in the third person (very cute).
Like all of you parents out there, we tell our kiddo we love her all the time. Every day. Several times a day. Yesterday, Stella and I were sitting on the floor, reading some books, I think, and she looks up at me with those beautiful blue eyes and says oh-so-sweetly, "I love you." Aawww... A half hour later, "I love you." Aaaawwwww... I must have heard that four or five times yesterday.
Yes, I'm in love.

Raleigh, Raleigh Doodle All The Day

There are certain smells I associate with airports: Damp dirt, a wide variety of perfumes & colognes, stale pizza, the oh so faint scent of feet (this one seems to serve as a backdrop to all other smells), plane fuel, and the smell of old carpet, to name just a few. I shall explain later on, why this happens to be the first thing that comes to mind, when blogging about my latest little adventure.
A couple of months ago, I got off the phone with Rachel, and immediately told Glenn that I thought it might be fun to just take off and visit this friend of mine. As the time got nearer, it was easy to find excuses to put it off (Stella, stuff at home, etc...). Glenn was very insistent that I needed to get away and visit a girlfriend who didn't have any kids, so I could really get a break. I am so glad he practically kicked me out of our place for a long weekend.
Rachel and Jonas were so great about having me stay with them. It was fun to catch up with one of my favorite mission companions, and reminisce about our mission experience. As I have stated before, we were together for about six months, so we had some crazy times. As it turned out, I also had the opportunity to get to know Jonas a bit better, as well. What a darling little family these two are. Rachel is expecting a baby in September, so there will soon be three of them.

Also that weekend, my brother, Rob, got married. He married a beautiful girl named Sommer. Since their wedding was only about an hour away, I was able to make it out to visit with them, as well as my adorable, sweet little nephew, Josh. I hadn't seen this kid, since he was about nine months old. Now he is about nine, I think. As the ring bearer, he looked quite dapper in his tails.

Speaking of dapper, my Brother Scott flew out as Best Man. Words cannot express how much I love this brother of mine. We have been through a lot together, and, being only a year apart, we were always pretty close growing up. We only have time to catch up with each other about once a month, but I truly appreciate the great man, husband, and father my brother Scott has become. He has always had my back, and I know that he always will. I hope he knows that about me as well.

My brother Robert is in the army, stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC. He has been to Iraq, and Afghanistan, and has seen a lot. He, too, is such a great daddy to Little Man Josh. It is fun to see the cute relationship they have with one another. Rob found a great girl in Sommer, and I am so excited to have her as a part of our family. She is such a great mom to Josh, already.

So, here it is, right before the ceremony is supposed to start, and the three of us are catching up (we haven't been together in one room in a few years), when all of a sudden is seems a little too quiet in the halls. I didn't think much about it, until the Maid of Honor (she was pretty fun to have around, by the way) comes running in telling us to get our behinds into the chapel, as Sommer is already half way down the aisle. Yikes! How embarrassing! Everything went well despite that, and I so enjoyed catching up with these brothers of mine.


Coming home, I was delayed by about a day, as all flights from JFK to CA were cancelled. Lucky me, got to find this out after spending about six hours at the airport. Rachel and Jonas were kind enough to fetch me from the airport, so I could spend one more day with them. Thanks guys!!

PS - Thanks to my Amazing brother Zack (and of course my super-duper hubby), Stella had so much fun this past weekend that she didn't have much time to miss me. Thanks for taking such

great care of our girl!