'Sbeen a long time since I blogged and rolled...

Hey everyone, we're still here. Lately I feel like I just have no patience for blogger right now. Talk to me when there's a drag and drop option for pictures and videos.

Before

After--our little handy project for the summer

We've had a really busy, hot summer in Omaha. There was a brief moment of stillness after the wedding traveling, but soon thereafter we went with Ryan's family to Carlsbad, California for Independence Day. It was really cold, and I'd rather not talk about it. Although, it did allow for many fun indoor games, with lots of (card game) golf, phase 10, o heck, telephone charades, you know, games that make you feel differently about the people around you. It seems like those are my favorite memories from vacations--the late night games. Ryan has had such little vacation time this year because of an internship, so I stayed a little longer with his family. Uh, a few more days in California? Yep.

Sadie playing at one of the many airports we've been to this summer

We also announced that we're expecting our second child in February, if you didn't glean that from the last post. A week after Carlsbad, my sister Rachel came to visit us in Omaha. I was terribly sick with several things: morning sickness, bronchitis, allergies, hibernation sickness from the telocarbonite, whatever. Rach was great to have there to help with Sadie. I was just so exhausted that I had to pump myself up to get up the stairs. So I kept to the couch, and Rachel played and read with Sadie, fixed her lunch and dinner, got her from her naps. Everything! She was a real lifesaver. I don't know how much of a vacation she had, but it made it easier for me. We did get to a few things that even I hadn't seen or done in Omaha, so that was fun. It was great because she was there for my birthday. We met Ryan for lunch, did a little shopping, and later all went out for dinner. Thanks again everyone for the well wishes that day. Rachel, you're welcome back, if you dare.

Read her a book, and you'll be friends for life

The weekend after Rachel left, Ryan's parents came out to Omaha. They were going to do a little road trip and hit up Nauvoo, Independence, MO, and a few of the jails in church history. They were in Omaha for just a couple of a days, but it was great to have them come and see where we are, attend our ward, etc.

Sadie was just a little performer when they were there, which made me glad. I knew with such a short visit she might be shy, but she was quite the opposite. Crazy kid runs around laughing, which is all she's done this week too. We're in Arizona now because Ryan had a week in between finishing up his internship and school. It also happened to be Ryan's parents 30th wedding anniversary, so we came down for that. Little did we know that we would also make it for the birth of Alexis and BJ's little girl, Lyla. She is completely adorable, and I'll let them tell everyone about it.

I let her have her own squeeze of ketchup



The things parents do to get their kids to laugh


My personal favorite video from this summer


Evidence of the world's greatest sitter--she taught Sadie all the animal sounds she knows! She's up to 10 or so animals now.

I'm feeling great! We find out the gender of little baby #2 in about 6 weeks!

February Madness

With the success of the first March Madness of baby naming for Dan and Heather's baby, it only seems fitting to regroup and gear up for the second tournament. Instead of having everyone submit names which will eventually be voted on, only the expecting mother and father will be allowed to submit names. The expecting mother and father will first agree on one girl name and one boy name. Those two names will then be submitted and everyone will have the opportunity to vote on whether they would like the girl name or the boy name, thus indicating if they would like us to have a girl or a boy. We will give every vote significant consideration, but given that genetics have a way of undemocratically deciding these things, the final determination is out of our control.
Then, because the names will have already been submitted, the new member of the Sandstrom family will officially be named. Stay tuned for the epic conclusion of Baby Naming Madness II, or the newly adopted name, "Mid-February 2011 Madness."

posted by Ryan, under Karen's account

Well I got all worked up to blog all the stuff that I haven't for the past few months, and then Al and Tipper Gore announce their divorce, and that set me back.

I think I left off at Sadie's birthday, which was a while back. Since then, you guys have all seen her walk, so I'll spare you the first steps movie, which was really, like, her 5th, 6th, and 7th steps. She only keeps getting better too. Here are just a few shots from before all the trips, and if I don't post them now, they'll be lost in iPhoto forever.

Like mother, like daughter. I wish I had the original shot of me with a (clean) diaper on my head. She looks like the subject of a Flemish painting.

Here we are at the Botanical gardens, catching the tulips before all the traveling.

Beautiful lilies at the gardens. Here's my Swendsen flower obsession coming out.

Ready for summer! The weather has been beautiful around here.

Now to the wedding extravaganza. I think it merits that title on account of all the traveling alone. In total, I took 10 separate flights in all my comings and goings, but it was an absolute blast. Thank you again Mom and Dad for everything! Ryan and I didn't get any shots in Calgary, but I've seen a few already. Here are some of ours from Connecticut and New York.

The first dance to Norah Jones' Come Away With Me (excellent song choice, by the way).

Most of us at the Lincoln Center, with the Temple in the background.

Central park, with some water behind us. I can't remember what was significant about this place.

My Grandma and Grandpa Low are still making to all the family events. They are absolute troopers who have attended every single wedding in the family!

Me at the reception, making sure people don't fall down the steps, with all the grandeur in behind.

Ryan and me on Sunday, with the Checketts' place behind us.

Times Square

Rachie and Me at the M&M store, shamelessly acting out what we really want to be doing.

For those not familiar with my itinerary, Ryan and I were in NY without Sadie. She was well taken care of by Alexis, Ryan's sister who is expecting in August. It made the trip so wonderful and relaxing knowing that Sadie was being well watched. Thank you again Alexis; you have a forever sitter in me now. Ryan had to get back to work in Omaha, so I stayed a few days longer in NY with my sister and parents. Rachel was a loverly traveling companion. Here we are at the Empire State Building, with the Chrysler Building behind us.

Rachel holding up the "Empire Tate"

Story time: we stopped to smell some flowers outside the Empire State, and Rachel smelled a little too close. I asked her, "what is on your face?" And then I start laughing so hard when I realized what it was, that I couldn't explain it to her, so I had to take a picture of it for her to see. She was laughing because I was laughing. You can see the yellow pollen on her right cheek.

The Guggenheim: gorgeously depressing. The main exhibit was something about Haunting, so it was a lot of sad/creepy double exposures from Warhol, etc. The classics wing was great, with some Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Picasso, and more I can't remember. I loved my art history classes at the Y, but even those couldn't prepare me or help me appreciate the main exhibits.

I think these are the doors of the Trinity Church, if I'm remembering right. They are, apparently, the "premier showing of American bronze bas relief doors" according to mom. Rachel and I joked that the small, bearded head was the door handle, and you just crank his beard to open the door. And then we realized that you do! If you look closer, the head close to my elbow is a little more worn than the rest of the door.

The NYSE on Wall Street. I liked the pediment, but thought it would have been more representative if there were more people losing their life savings on there.

Rachel in a shoving war in the financial district.

A memorable scene from "Hitch"

A New York staple: the smog. And Lady Liberty.

A cute couple at the pier

Rachel and me with the Statue of Liberty. We posed in a hurry because another boat was closing in on us and was going to block the view.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art! I could have spent an entire week there and still felt like I didn't get to everything! As Rachel and I went around, we had different songs going on in our head. In the Greek and Roman wing, it was "Bless my soul, Herc was on a roll..." Of course in the Egyptian part, it was Walk Like an Egyptian.

A recreation of a wig that Cleopatra would have worn. Shot all Rachel's idea.

Me by the Temple of Dendur, or something like that.

Rachel's version of a hieroglyph, which you can see better if you zoom in on the picture. It's about 4 "bricks" up.

Me copying the the image just above my right shoulder. We talked a lot about the impossible views in which the Egyptians painted, with a frontal shot of the torso, but profiles of the legs and face. It's trickier to imitate than you think! If I couldn't be with my husband or baby, Rachel was the best person to go around New York! Thanks again Smachie.

Sadie looking like she owns the plane. She loves to be a big girl and have her own seat.

Photos not shown include our time in Arizona, and Utah where we for Scott's med school grad. That was such a cool experience, and I'm glad we were there for that momentous occasion. Congratulations again Scott.

To keep all my travel's straight, I flew with Sadie to Calgary, drove down to Utah with my sister-in-law and our kids, flew to Phoenix with Sadie, dropped her off there, flew to New York, flew back to Phoenix, picked up Sadie, flew to Utah, and then flew back home to Omaha. It was a whirlwind trip, and it was tremendous fun, but it's nice to be back home and settling in to normal life. Currently, the College World Series is going on in Omaha, which kinda bogs down our neighborhood, but the general atmosphere is very fun. Too bad we've having such terrible storms!

Pregnancy jokes on April Fool's day are decidedly the worst pranks to pull. I've been caught up on some already, and they're not really people that I know well--imagine people who actually are invested in them! It's just a recipe for tears for some sap. Ryan loves to joke about that, but we've completely outlawed that around here.

As promised, here is evidence of Sadie's birthday party. By no means feel like you have to watch all of the videos in their entirety. I'll add pictures afterwards because they're on Ryan's computer. I made 96 cupcakes in preparation for this little shindig. Sadie will care about that someday, I think.

You can catch a glimpse of the many cupcakes here. I had a few large baskets full, complete with Easter grass. It's great that Sadie's birthday will always have an automatic theme!


Opening presents here. We tried to go battery-free this year.


Taking care of business here.


On another note, this is the first year that I've ever watched a single American Idol episode. Lots of people have told me this is the worst year to start, and I would have to agree slightly. There isn't incredible talent, but it's still fun to make guesses. I've been listening to my ipod a lot lately, and think that Andrew Garcia should sing "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5, and Crystal Bowersox could do anything by Norah Jones. I'm just saying.

Where do children get some of their ideas?

Crazy bedhead (click on it to zoom in; it's worth it)

Walking with Dad

Her favorite new face to make. I think it's because more bottom teeth are coming in, and it's awesome.

Back in Omaha

We've finally gotten back into the swing of things here after being gone for spring break in AZ. I'll post pictures later, I'm getting lazy. It was glorious to hang out in Mesa and just relax. We had our friends, the Despains, stay with us at Ryan's parents, and it was lots of fun. Again, more on that at a later date.
It was nice to come home to almost zero snow, but apparently that's about to change: we're due for more this weekend. Is it okay to pray for rain instead of snow? Today and yesterday have been so nice, it makes me want to get started on our garden. Also, nice weather just makes people happier.
Yesterday Sadie and I had green food for lunch in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. The holiday is sort of a funny little one for non-drinkers. It always makes me think of my brother Scott, whose favorite color is green. I think it's unofficially his favorite holiday because of all the shades of green people wear. He and my other brother, Brian, had a lengthy discussion once about which color was more abundant in the world, green or blue (their favorite colors, respectively). Scott tried to talk about the combined surface area of leaves and grass and plants, to which Brian replied with the sky and ocean that looks blue. I think the jury is still out on that one.
I'm in the process of planning a party for Sadie, who turns one on next Tuesday. I'm still undecided on how much of a party a one year old needs, but I know this is really only for us and the grandparents to enjoy (from a distance). I think I'm going for cupcakes on our front porch with the neighbors, weather pending.
Sadie turns 1? I feel like this last year has gone by in a flash. I almost feel like I could recall events from every day this last year, like it all happened in a month. Things are definitely more fun than they were this time last year. I was still hoofin' it to class between work last March! I'm glad we have hallmark events in our life to help us remember how things were. I'm sure graduation would have been much less memorable if Sadie hadn't come right before then.
On an end note, march madness is upon us, and BYU made it through to the next round. Today could not have been any better.

I'm just saying...

Laker's Center Pau Gasol

Baby ostrich