Gas is finally under $3 here. Thank goodness. Hopefully it keeps going down...we'll see.

I went to the doctor on Saturday because I've had problems with my digestive tract in a really short period of time. It's been really abnormal. So I'm waiting to get blood test results from the community health fair this Saturday, and then return some samples to the doctor. It's probably going to require a colonoscopy and/or endoscopy. Yippy. Hopefully nothing major is to blame, but it's most likely some chronic issue like IBS.

Sometimes it's really hard avoiding milk for Dallin. He can't even eat the mashed potatoes I prepare without having a massive blow-out followed by rashes everywhere the poop touched. It's been a little easier than I thought it would be, though, because he's done fine about not complaining about the foods we're eating that he can't. We try not to eat cheese or yogurt or drink milk around him because he wants it more, but he seems to get enough from almond milk. I think he's a little dehydrated right now because of the massive blowout of this morning. I'll need to remember to give him some pedialyte when he wakes up from his nap.

Fall is in full swing this week. Highs in the upper 50's all week. I bought some pumpkins today for us to carve and decorate tonight. Then our house will look nice and autumny.

It's been quite a while since I posted. I've been going through bouts of stomach flu-like stuff and a cold. I think probably one of the hardest things about being a mom is being sick and being a mom. Dallin doesn't really get it, so he's still all high energy while I'm an energy slump. Because of sickness, and a crazy child, I've been practically anti-computer recently. Plus we have no heat in our basement and we've had evening lows below freezing.

I've started a new hobby this month. I've been taking advantage of the changing of the seasons and have been collecting changed, fallen leaves and pressing them. So far I've made 4 framed leaf-art things. I think they're really pretty. I just find a lot of satisfaction spending time outside, looking at nature, and then being able to recreate something beautiful from it. A couple weeks ago, before it started snowing, I went through our dead branches pile from pruning our trees and stripped a bunch of branches of their leaves and cut them to equal lengths. Then I made a square wreath out of them. On Saturday I made a dry leaf garland out of leaves and twine and wrapped it around the wreath. My most recent addition is some pinecones hanging in the center of it. It's nice and autumn-y. It's quite satisfying creating something from scratch, entirely of your own making.

Dallin has been teething lately. He's cutting about 4 molars at the same time....so he's a bit of a pain most of the time. Really a patience tester. Somedays I'm good at patience, others I'm really bad....

I got a travelocity.com update in my inbox today. The subject was "Even more reasons to book your flight to Houston." Haha. I think that they need to think about the emails they send before they send them. Right now, I can't think of very many good reasons to be in Houston. It looks like the hurricane is going to hit late Friday or Saturday. I really hope my family and friends are safe through it. I remember when there was the chance that hurricane Rita could hit Houston and then it veared towards Louisiana and I was so nervous. Now it's totally tracked to hit Galveston and Houston and I am pretty worried a lot...especially when I sit down to the computer to check the news. I'm nervous that I'll read an article saying that it has been raised to catagory 3 or 4.

Well, life does go on. Tom has been really busy lately with his string classes starting up and youth orchestra. He convinced me that Dallin and I should do Music Play at the education center. We did it in the winter and it was a lot of fun, but we decided not to do it this fall because Tom is so busy and he wanted to spend time with Dallin and me. I think it will be a lot of fun...probably a bit more energy....especially since Dallin is walking around now and is more curious about everything around him. The moms there seem to think he's pretty cute...I hope they keep thinking that. I think he just loves the extra attention.

Well, Tom doesn't get home for another 40 minutes or so, so I'm going to have some mommy time upstairs with ice cream and a book.

I got my hair cut finally! I even found a really good hair cutter here in Evanston. She did an awesome job. I've always wanted to go really short, so I took the plunge this time.

My parents are in the path of Hurricane Ike, so I'm really hoping all goes well. They're not near the coast, but will still be in the path. We already bought our tickets for Christmas in Houston, so everything better still be there when we get there. I found out that my grandma is going to come for Christmas as well, and she's on the same flight as us. It'll be great!

I really don't have much to say.

I took Dallin to the pediatrician for his 15 month well-baby check-up. He's been having trouble with various milk products in that they have been giving him minor hives around his mouth and at times diarehha and a runny nose. He's also had a terrible diaper rash since we've tried both soy and rice milk. So the good news from his appointment is that he's up from the 5% in weight up to the 25%. The bad news is that the pediatrician recommended stopping all milk for 6 months. It's totally stressing me out because he's quite dependant on a bottle of milk before naps and bed, and when we tried giving him a bottle of water this afternoon he totally freaked out. I don't think I can handle this right now. I wish he could be like every other kid and just drink whole milk! AAH!

The most annoying thing just happened. I was feeding Dallin a bottle and my cell phone rings, and it's some electronic thing saying something like, "Please hold for a courtesy call from Citi..." I nearly hung up and I wish I had. It was Citibank calling for my Home Depot card asking all these questions about when I was going to make a payment and home much and if I was going to do it on the phone or what. I was like, ummm...I HAVE NO IDEA, and I don't really want to tell you how much and when I'm going to pay. The last statement we got in the mail said that we still had a 0 balance to pay (thank you, home depot no payments no interest for 12 months). Then he tells me that I have a $58 minimum balance due and I'm like, what are you talking about?!?! So I finally get some slack when I say I'll go online and look at my account today. It was so annoying. And the more annoying part is that when I look at our account online, the statement date was yesterday and it's not due until the end of the month, so there was absolutely no way I could have known anything he was talking about!!! If he had waited like, a week, instead of a day, to call, I would at least have known what he was talking about and that he wasn't trying to steal my credit card information or something. UGH! It was so annoying!!!!

It's snowing!!! Blasted Evanston! Of course it would snow on Labor Day...sheesh. At first it was raining, and that was very welcome, but then it turned to snow. I'm wearing fleece, and socks, and a long sleeve shirt under my fleece. It's so not right!

Well the funeral was really good. I don't really enjoy viewings...but the actual funeral was very nice. Tom and I did a musical number. All the grandchildren and my sister, Michelle, did musical numbers as well. Besides all that, it was a lot of fun seeing family I haven't seen in a few years. I haven't spent time with some of my cousins, aunts, and uncles for a while, and we were able to spend much of the day together. My Aunt Renita and Jeff are driving through Evanston tonight and are going to stop in for a visit. I'm glad she called me because it gave me a chance to straighten up the house and get things looking nice. Dallin has been asleep for 2 hours. So nice!

Today is Tom's first real day of school. He came home for lunch and will be home in about an hour. Being a teacher is so nice, or rather having a teacher for a husband, because he can come home for lunch and he gets home in the middle of the afternoon.

I think I hear Dallin...time to go.

Tom has officially started going back to work. Yesterday was a work day and today through Thursday are inservice days. I have to admit that even though I like having him around and it makes watching Dallin a little easier, it sure is nice to have complete control over the schedule of the day. I get a lot done! And Dallin and I can go do errands whenever we need to without another schedule to conflict. I went to play group for the first time since the beginning of summer. It was fun seeing some friends I haven't seen in a while. Dallin had a blast. He found a puddle in the wood chips and had a ball. His clothes are trashed, but it was fun watching him have fun. I need to figure out what to do for a dessert for the ward party tomorrow night. Oh yeah, I remember what I was going to do. I was going to make a black forest pudding dessert. Tom doesn't really like it so I never get to make it. But since other people will be eating it, it will be fine. Not too much else is going on.

My Grandpa Fisher passed away today from complications associated with Parkinson's disease. We knew that it would be coming, so we're all grateful that he didn't have to suffer too long.

I'm taking some medicine where if I miss one dose, I take the missed dose as soon as I remember. In this case, I took two doses at the same time. Consequently, I was nauceous all day. No fun at all. It finally went away tonight when I ate a bowl of mashed potatoes and took a short nap. Needless to say, I will not forget a dose again.

In case anyone is curious to see pictures of our kitchen remodel, here is a link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2095347&l=98f9a&id=193307756

I thought tonight I would profess my love to my husband by listing what I love about him. So bear with all the mushy gushiness.

I love Tom because:

• he surprises me by making the bed and doing small little chores around the house.
• he plays with Dallin so well
• he is so handy with things
• he supports me with my flute endeavors, even if they're just a dream for now
• he's my lover and good at it, too
• he's a really good teacher of music and of scriptures
• he earns the money
• he has high moral values
• he will give me some time off for myself
• he is patient with me and with Dallin
• he has a strong testimony of the Gospel
• he's hot
• he has nice eyes
• he has a nice smile
• he loves me
• he has a strong conscience
• he loves music as much as me
• he's good at setting good long-term goals
• he keeps in touch with his family
• he enjoys going on walks and hikes with me
• he listens to me and tries to understand what I have to say, even though it's difficult sometimes
• he likes my cooking
• he's a good uncle
• he's a good friend to me and those around him
• he served a full-time mission
• he picks flowers out of the yard for me
• he can be really thoughtful with his gifts
• he can take me to the temple
• he is a good dad
• he's a competitive game player

Well, that's all for now. That was fun. Maybe I'll do it again sometime.

It's already starting to cool down here in Evanston. I think we got a cold front this weekend and now it's in the upper 70's/low 80's for the high and 40's/50's at night. It's so weird being so cool especially having grown up in Houston where August is nearly unbearable. I'm not complaining too much because it feels nice, but I'm not ready for fall or cold weather yet. The winter was so long, and now the summer is so short.

I'm getting closer to finishing Breaking Dawn. I think I have about 150 pages left. Good stuff.

Tom had jury summons this morning. Thank goodness he didn't get chosen for the jury because that would have just messed up our last week of summer. While he was doing that, I renewed our car registration. Why is vehical registration so expensive? When I got home, I put the stickers on the license plates so I wouldn't forget later, and when I got to the front of the Subaru I realized that the whole front of our car is disgustingly bug-ridden from our drive home from Ogden on our anniversary. It was disgusting. It sounded like rain drops were falling on our windshield, but in reality it was nasty bugs. It was too bad that our windshield wipers need repair because when we'd try to use them, they'd just leave a nasty, streaky mess all over. Anyway, there were smashed bugs all over the license plate, so I couldn't put the sticker on it. At least we'll be driving half legally.

Tom took Dallin out to play in the sprinkler this afternoon. It was cute. Dallin seemed more interested in just walking around, though. We used one of our swim diapers, though, so that the whole package we bought for one swim trip doesn't go to waste.

I made a double batch of banana bread this afternoon because we had 4 bananas that were about to make their way to the trash can. We love banana bread in our house. I was talking to our neighbor next door this morning and she has zuccini in her garden and she's going to bring some over when they're all grown. We love zuccini in our house.

Dallin is turning into a one-nap-a-day boy. I started reading Breaking Dawn this morning with Dallin drinking a bottle of pediasure on my lap and he totally dozed, but as soon as he ran out and I had to get up to get some more, he woke up. And there went the hope of a morning nap. Then he took a short nap right before Tom's cello lesson, and woke up 10 minutes into it probably because the cello warm-ups. Hopefully this means he goes to bed early.

I'm totally starting to ramble on now. I should probably go back upstairs to assist Tom with watching Dallin.

this one will be short because the pizza in the oven (not a frozen pizza) has probably less than 10 minutes. Tonight I made a pizza with alfredo sauce, home-fried potatoes, chicken, and italian shredded cheese. It should be very good.

We got a lot of rain this afternoon for Evanston. I think we've gotten rain about 3 times this summer, and most of those have just been short drizzles, so it was nice to get a good downpour. Except for the fact that I had clothes out on the clothesline at the time, but that was my own risk.

Yesterday we had a little outing to the Uintas for a hike. We brought the baby backpack, jackets, and a picnic, and hiked the Fehr Lake trail. It was only .5 mile to it, but there was another lake .75 mile beyond. It rained a little, but it was still fun. A little tiring carrying Dallin, but still quite enjoyable.

I got my flute excerpt book in the mail yesterday and played a couple of them that I already knew. It will be fun working on them.

Okay, I don't really have that much to say, so this is it!

We're babysitting for our friends today while they go to the temple. They have 2 kids 6 months older and younger than Dallin, so it's kind of fun for them to get together. They have babysat for us a lot over that past week or so, so now it's payback time. So far so good. Right now their kids are falling asleep for naps, but Dallin has already taken one of his, so we're trying to keep him calm and quiet, thus my writing in my lj downstairs.

So I went to bed late last night, (after midnight) and then woke up at 3 with a stomach bug. Not fun.

We're redoing our kitchen right now. It's been going on for about a month now (minus 1 week while we were on a reunion and 1 week of hardly doing anything because of MAT camp). We replaced our base cabinets, put in a new countertop, refinished the top cabinets to match the bottom ones, and are repainting everything: walls, ceiling, window and base trim, and doors. We are now to the point that we have one more window, two door frames, the ceiling border, and one door. It's the nitty-gritty stuff.

Dallin is telling me to stop, so there I go.

I have decided that it is time for me to start keeping my lj again. I don't know...I guess I'm just kind of bored keeping my own little journal at night...plus it takes a while to write things with pen and paper, so I don't really bother writing down normal day-to-day things. So, here I go. I'm not going to even bother updating on anything because most people who are going to be reading this already know me, know that I'm married and have a little boy, and that I have a pretty boring life here in Wyoming. BUT hopefully by reading my lj I can realize that, NO my life isn't so boring that it shouldn't be written down and that there's probably somebody (at least in my family) who wants be to blog. Anyway, it is much later right now than I usually stay up and I haven't even gotten ready for bed or anything, so this is going to be short. Yes. Short. Why is it that now I worry about capitalization where as when I used to keep my lj I didn't care. Is that what a college degree does? Or marriage? Or is it that me capitalizing words is just one place that is neat and tidy? Get married and have a 1 year old and you'll get used to messes. At least for a day or two.

Well here is a life update: the last week of July here in Evanston was the Young Musicians Music, Art, and Technology camp (MAT camp). We got to associate with a bunch of professional musicians, which was so refreshing, and it made me want to go to grad school even more. So I made a goal this past Sunday to do a bunch of grad school research about audition requirements, teachers, tuition, etc., and ordered some flute music, and I've made a goal to practice everyday (whoops about today...time flew). Manhattan School of Music has an Orchestral Performance Masters degree. I think that would be so cool because out of any kind of performing: chamber groups, solo, orchestral, I would play with an orchestra any day. To sit in the middle of a good orchestra and be surrounded by so many good musicians and to have a great conductor to follow is such a fulfilling experience for me. I just love it. In my parallel universe, I would be the principal flutist of some major symphony like Chicago, or San Francisco, or New York Phil. It would be so cool. Well, one day I'll be able to go to graduate school, and when that day comes, I'll be so ready. I'll have my audition repertoire worked up and my flute chops all ready. It's kind of like the person who has always wanted to travel Europe, so they make an itinerary and research what sites they want to see, even though they don't have a ticket or time off....but they're ready and looking forward to it so much. That's kind of how it is with me and Italy. One day I'll go. I want to learn some Italian first, though.

Okay, this has already gone on way longer than I thought it would. I'll write some more tomorrow. Yes. It will be my new goal. While Dallin naps. Yep.

go to http://www.collages.net. the user name is van Langen, and the password is 9014. enter by supplying your email address, then you can see my wedding pictures! they'll be online for about a month. go see them!

17 days!!! woot! i'm so excited!!!

i figured since everyone else on my friends list is updating, maybe i should too. i'm almost done with week three here at sewanee. it's really hard this year. it's very tiring and the repetoire is pretty demanding. but on the bright side, only 22 more days until i get married! crazy! i'm really excited, i mean, come on, what can get better than spending the rest of my life with my best friend? i'm really excited...excited for everything. excited for the honeymoon, excited for the wedding day, just plain excited to be able to see him again! 16 more days until that happens. i saw tom last sunday...he came up to listen to one of my concerts. we played kodaly variations on a hungarian folk song, and lutoslawski concerto for orchestra. it was way cool music. they were both 20th century pieces. this week we're doing nielsen symphony no.4 "inextinguishable", chabrier espana, and a britten piece that i don't play in. other than that, not too much else is going on. my family is having a family reunion this next week, so that will be fun for them. yep.

Tomorrow Tom comes! Finally! It's been like 5 weeks since I've last been able to see him. It will be nice not having to talk on the phone, but rather talk in person. Sewanee starts on Saturday. We're driving up together all day on Friday to Atlanta and staying at his parent's house, then I'll drive up to Sewanee the next morning. I got some music in the mail from Sewanee the other day because I was asked to play in the opening Festival Orchestra concert with the faculty and other invited students. It should be a lot of fun. I only have to play in 2 pieces, and one of them I've played before, so it's not really a stressful situation. I'm really looking forward to Sewanee. It's going to be an awesome experience, and tons of fun. I'm really hoping I win one of the 10 spots in the concerto concert. It would be such an amazing pay-off for all the practicing and pain I've put myself through to learn and perfect the Liebermann, and when I mean pain, I mean pain. Anyway, hopefully the 5 weeks I'll be at Sewanee will make the time go by quicker and the wedding day will come sooner.