TetonEdge.net: Playing in the Tetons

Hi Everyone!

Just thought I would do a little Heidi update as Derek downloaded some cute videos that I took of Heidi this week. She is doing great and weighs around 15 pounds. A perfect little pudge. The first video is of her being tickled by Nichole’s foot, that is the big blue thing. She just looked so cute and was making the best noises. Little kids giggles are the best! It was nice to hear her laugh too since she has been a little crabby, we think she is going through a growth spurt since there are no teeth yet. The second video is of her clicking her tongue. That was something that Grandma Patty was trying to get her to do over Christmas and she is finally able to do it really well. The bad part is when she starts doing it during church. Oh well at least she is not crying but she does scream sometimes too. I can’t believe how fast she is growing and I cannot believe that she is 7 and a half months already.

Derek and I are doing well. Derek is keeping busy with work and just finished up a review so he was able to meet with his advisor while he was here for a few days which was nice. We have also gotten a lot of rain recently so we have lots of lakes around the property.

The other exciting thing is that we put a contract on a house last week. We found one that we really liked and we are  just waiting for appraisal and inspection to come through. It is north of Panama City in a little township called Greenhead. It has a Chipley address though. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath home and has 17 acers for the horses. So we hope things go well with it. Other than Heidi growing up, us needing Noah’s Ark, and putting a contract on a house not much is going on!

We’ll update you all again soon!

Love  Derek, Nichole and Heidi

P.S. Go COLTS!!

Well we have been drying out after getting 5″ of rain in a little under 15hrs. Our property has been the land of lakes and I swore we needed a canoe on Thursday night to go out and feed the horses. Other than that things are going well down here in Florida with us settling into a routine after the holidays.  Heidi is doing great and getting bigger everyday, we have included new photos in the gallery and a few videos of her talking and playing with Nevada below. This should satisfy the grandparents for a little while

Derek will be starting to travel for work over the next few months for conferences, reviews and meetings so he will be busy. Also we have started to look for a house as we feel that this is the place that we need to be and we are really enjoying the area and the job. We are in a good position with where we are renting so we don’t have to be in any big hurry to buy. However, we have seen a pretty good prospect this week.

Hope everyone is well.

Derek, Nichole, and Heidi

Hi everyone!

Just thought I would update on everyone on how Heidi is doing. She went to the Doctor this week and is doing really well. She is 12 lbs 2 oz and is 24 inches long. She has been doing really well rolling over and working on sitting up. It has been pretty cold here so we have been bundling up. All of the animals are doing well and are  growing some pretty thick coats that would do Colorado proud.  I took some new photos of Heidi and we hope you enjoy them.

Love,

Derek, Nichole and Heidi

Just got this from Dad, this was a picture Heidi with her Grandpa in front of the new firetruck, thought I would share this with everyone

Derek

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I thought I would write a quick post about our holiday adventures. We are just finishing up the last day of our week long trip up to see Derek’s parents in Jackson Hole, WY. We were able to spend Christmas up there and enjoy time with the family and catching up with friends. Most of them came for a visit just to see Heidi. We were also able to make it over to Burley, ID to see Derek’s grandparents so Heidi could meet her great grandparents. It was a great visit and even though it was short we were excited to see the family as it has been a couple of years and it was great to see the grandparents in good health. Heidi handled the trip great and really was a great traveler on her first plane ride across the country. We have put new pictures up in the gallery for everyone to enjoy of our Christmas trip. Some of the landscape and artistic shots were done by Matt, Derek’s brother-in-law and he is developing into a really great photographer. You can see some of his work at http://mellorphotography.daportfolio.com/. Here are some of the favorites, enjoy the rest.

Love

Derek, Nichole, and Heidi

All-

We have sent out our Christmas Letter and thought we would post it here for all of those that did not get it in the mail. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Christmas Letter 09

Derek, Nichole, and Heidi

We just had a great Thanksgiving with Derek’s parents in Florida. It was nice to have our first Thanksgiving at home and not having to travel anywhere. We really had a great time relaxing and just enjoying time as a family, though Grandma and Grandpa really enjoyed spending time with Heidi. We had a great meal on Thursday that Nichole prepared with Derek frying a turkey. We also had the missionaries over for dinner from the Branch so we had a pretty big crowd in our small house for Dinner. We also went up for a drive to a place called Watercolor which is about 30 minutes from Panama City. It is a resort community right on the beach and they have a beautiful garden and beach front and really just enjoyed walking around. Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was great and we all have so much to be truly Thankful for, especially the many freedoms we enjoy.

Derek, Nichole, and Heidi

p.s. more pictures up in the gallery.

Hi Everyone!

Just thought we would update you all as to what was going on with us.

First of all Derek went to Fort Collins to do his PhD Qualifier. He was gone for a week and got to see some friends and was able to get enough studying done to pass. This means that step one of 3 is complete for him to get his PhD. We were very excited and proud of him for getting this step done.

I did ok while he was gone the puppy was a little hyper but we managed to keep her busy enough.

We were able to start Heidi on solid food with some rice cereal. She seemed to like it and ate most of it. Though some of it did end up on her bib, the booster seat, her hands and tray. We got a video and some pics so we hope you enjoy.

Hope everything is going well for you all! There are also new pictures up in the gallery.

Love,

Derek, Nichole and Heidi

Well I thought I would let everyone know that I passed my Ph.D. Qualifier today. It was a little stressful and glad that step 1 of 3 is done. I have also enjoyed being in Colorado and catching up with everyone and seeing our great friends here. I am truly thankful to the Andrew’s for letting me crash in their basement during the week and for the Miller’s for letting me stay with the in Denver. It has been weird to think that we have been gone from Colorado for 6 Months. I have also posted my slides below from my presentation for anybody that would like to check them out.

PhD Qualifier Slides

Derek

I finally got the pictures up on the blog in the gallery of our last horse ride in October. It was Emma’s first time out since we have arrived in Florida and she did awesome. Both horses did great in a new environment and Nichole and I really enjoyed the time riding together.  We were able to go out with our Neighbors Ken and Cristi up to their friends house, Tony and Missy, in Wasau, FL. They had 50 acres for us to ride on and Cristi watched Heidi so Nichole and I could ride. It was really awesome for them to let us ride and for Ken and Cristi for taking us. Enjoy the pictures.

Derek, Nichole, and Heidi