Owl Hat

I had to post my accomplishment.  I have been trying for awhile now to find the cute crochet owl hat pattern.  I found some and was never able to get them to turn out the right size.  They always ended up being able to only fit a doll.  So I made it my own.  This is my first try at a hat, but I think that it looks pretty cute. 

Penny wasn't very cooperative with my picture taking.  What do you think?  I know it is rough but I am proud of myself for finally at least getting one done:)  You might be thinking that owls don't have ears but they have those 'horns' so that is why there are ears.

Christmas and Crochet

It has been awhile since I blogged, but for good reason.  A lot of things have been going on here!  We had Thanksgiving with some wonderful friends, the Pehrson's.  It was of course delicious, and the company was better:)  We had a mini road trip to North Carolina, where Chuck interviewed at Duke and Wake Forest.  I loved it out there, it was very beautiful.  I could definitely live there. We thought it would be a good idea to drive during the night when Penny was sleeping...bad idea!  I got terribly sick and was throwing up every half hour.  So Chuck got stuck driving most of the 15 hour drive.  Not to mention the fact that because of frequent stops, Penny decided to be awake from 1-6am.  Awesome!  But the trip was worth it, it will be something to talk about later in life.  Chuck is now done with interviews, HALLELUJAH! He is still up in the air about where he wants to  match.  Technically it is only a little bit his choice, but he said that almost every program he interviewed at would be a terrific place to go.  So that is very reassuring.  We won't find out where we are going till March.  Then we had Christmas.  It was delightful with lots of family time, good food and of course presents.  This year Chuck pulled out the big guns and got me a new CHI.  My old one was being held together with duct tape.  He must truly love me:)  He got some cool movies and an awesome back scratcher, gloves, scarf, clothes, what else can a man need!  Penny of course got loaded with toys!  She had a lot of fun opening presents and resorted to trying to peek the night before by opening Chuck's gift with a fork.  The thing this girl comes up with.  Then we had New years.  I stayed up till midnight and everyone else fell asleep, story of my life.  Not really though, according to Chuck.  He will tell you that I am always the one that falls asleep before 12, and that is very true statement.  What a whirlwind couple of months and a whirlwind year. I am sure that 2012 will be even crazier;)

 Penny with Santa at Branch Christmas Party

 Attempting to open presents with a fork.

How do you like those heels and skirt? haha

Penny loves her baby that Grandma B got her.  That is also one of her favorite words:)

Lately I have become an old woman and gotten into crochet.  I mean really delved deep into crochet.  I sometimes can't sleep at night because I am counting stitches in my head,  it isn't like counting sheep, or else I would be asleep a lot earlier. Here are my projects.  I don't really know what to do with all the things I am making.  I started out making food (not pictured) but liked stuffed animals better.

 Giraffe, with a very thick neck.  I need to fix that:)

 Hippo

 Dinosaur

 Penguin

 Jellyfish and Lion

There is a few projects that I have started and not finished because I messed up, but I have to say that I think my animals look pretty good for just learning how.  For some reason Penny won't play with any of the things I make.  She played with my peas in a pod but that is about where it stopped.  Well that is all that has been going on here.  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Moab, Halloween, and Home

First I want to brag so if you don't want to be bothered skip ahead...haha but I am so proud of Chuck.  He has 15 interviews and counting for residency.  He has been driving all around going to these interviews in cities he doesn't even know.  He is so brave.  He also totally rocked the step 2 and got top 5% in the nation! I just want him to know how pretty darn amazing he is!  Not to mention that he has been a great husband and Dad through all this stress.  Penny and I love you very much Chuck.  You are a true Champ! So Chuck, Penny and I all got to go home to Utah for 2 weeks at the end of October.  It was a lot of fun!  We got a lot of family time in.  Penny got a lot of attention and has been stuck to my legs since we got home.  I am still getting pictures together and so this is only a partial post.  We first went to Moab with Chuck's family it was a lot of fun.  We hiked, climbed, jeeped, and got really dirty.

 

Penny also got to go on her first horseride.  She got to ride Yellow Rose and I think she liked it:)

We also went to the pumpkin patch.  Can you spot Penny in the picture below?

Penny dressed up in 2 costumes this year.  Both are special to Chuck and I.  She first dressed up in Tinkerbell that I had worn as a little girl.  Then she dressed up as a pumpkin, which Chuck and all of his siblings dressed in when they were little.  I didn't get a good picture of her in the pumpkin costume because she wasn't happy but I think my Mom got some, so I will have to steal some from her.   I thought she was the cutest Tinkerbell and pumpkin ever!  Course I am pretty biased:)

 Penny still has a constant obsession with shoes.  She wears everyone else's shoes and tries to walk around in them.  She has kind of mastered it, with the occasional slip. 

Well when I get some more pictures I will put them up.  Penny got a lot of time with cousins and aunts and uncles that I need to get documented in pictures.  We are just getting excited to eat lots of food for Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks.  Yay!  I love food!

Elmo and Other Happenings

It has been quite a while since my last update.  I am just going to sum everything up and then share some pictures.  What have we been up to?  A whole lot of nothing!  Chuck has Oct. - Dec. off and so we have just been all lazy bones and doing nothing.  Which has been quite enjoyable. Well, I guess there have been some things that we had to do.  Chuck took his Step 2 exam and feels good about.  He has also got quite a few interviews and is preparing for those.  We are excited!  What a sigh of relief!  I have never felt so much joy and stress and every other emotion at once.  It will only intensify come March when match day arrives.  Penny was recently sick.  And I mean sick.  She has never really thrown up like that before.  She also had never had a temperature of 103.  Which she had for almost 3 days straight.  It was miserable.  She is starting now to get a rash on her body, we are waiting and seeing what happens.  We don't know if she had Roseola or what.  All I know is, having a sick child really is so miserable.  I had this constant worry, and I have a sever phobia of vomit.  It was very very hard to clean up her vomit and not want to have a panic attack and vomit myself.  I know Penny has the worse end of the deal.  I have been trying to teach myself crochet.  I am making Penny play food.  I have started making a pea pod with my friend Jocelyn's help.  She is a gem and came over and taught this lady how to crochet.  I will take pictures as I go, cause they are the most adorable foods you have ever seen!  Now for picture update.  Penny has begun her obsession with Elmo.  She even sings the song Elmo's world around the house.  Listen very closely and you can hear her sing it at the end.  She tries to sing it again but gets distracted by her diaper.

We also went and visited the zoo.  It technically wasn't Penny's first visit, she went once at 3 months, but this one was much more memorable.

I tried to get more pictures but literally she was everywhere and my camera was not as fast as her.  Oh well:)  Moving on...Nothing else really going on, just a bunch of silliness!  That is how we like it here in the Burtis home.

Penny and her friend Elizabeth got into the pantry one day.  Big surprise!  Vinegar was everywhere and the smell of vinegar makes me nauseous.  It was a bad...

I guess we haven't been as boring as I thought.  We really have been busy!  I think we are actually worn out. So Penny is now going to say.... Goodnight:)