Peaceful Sabbath Day

Sundays happen to be my earliest day of the entire week. Bishopric meeting starts at 6:30AM, a full 1.5 hours earlier than I even attempt to get out of bed Mon-Sat. This particular Sabbath Day has been very peaceful and restful. Though I still woke up at 5:45AM, the day has been filled with just hanging out with family, napping, and of course playing with Darcy. Darcy and Daddy went for a quick walk while Mommy prepared some food for dinner. Darcy loves to play outside on the porch, and has especially taken a liking to a bench at the end of the porch. We were playing on the bench so I asked her to wait there while I grabbed my camera. To my shock and amazement I got back and she was still there. I was able to snap a few quick pictures of her peacefully sitting on the bench. I love Sundays!!

I said I would post a few picture, and I came through!

I keep putting this off!

I've been putting off updating this blog as I am so lazy and haven't uploaded pictures to my computer in sooooo long. I have the typical and decent excuses like: crazy at work, Darcy is 19 months and more than a handful, CPA exam 2 weeks ago, Kelly's wedding, etc etc etc. But, I figured that since Darcy is in her high chair and won't be allowed down until she uses her words "down please" and Tara is taking a quick nap, I would go ahead and throw something on here. I've already checked out craigslist, autotrader, banana republic, nordstrom, overstock, realtor, and various other websites that I frequent; this was the last of the bunch.

We are currently searching for a house. We've looked at 3 houses so far and put offers in on all 3. 1 offer was a low-ball and was not accepted. 1 was accepted, but only after they tried to counter my above-asking price offer with an even higher offer, so we let that one go on principle. The last was an incredible home in Foxenwoods, all of them have been so far, move-in ready and gorgeous. We were the high bid, but they gave the 2nd place person a second chance, somebody tipped him off and he outbid me. They wouldn't let me put in another offer, so that one is gone. Now we are waiting on a house out in Lake Marie that is a major fixer-upper to come on the market. It is owned by Countrywide, but they haven't put a price on it yet since they finished the foreclosure process. We really love the potential this house has, plus my parents live in Lake Marie, and now Tara's sister Rachael and her family live in Lake Marie too. We would totally take over the place. Our little 400 square foot apartment is really feeling cramped. I'm starting to get tired of having to tip toe in our room to go to bed because Darcy is already asleep in her crib, right next to our bed. The rent is cheap though, that's why we are sticking it out until we find the right place to buy.

It's taken me about 10 minutes to get this much down, and Darcy is still stubbornly refusing to use her words. I keep reminding her that Daddy is not going anywhere, at least until tomorrow morning for meetings before church. So she can fight it all she wants. At least she is the silent stubborn type right now. I took another part of the CPA exam 3 days after Kelly's wedding. I had to drive up to Fresno. I think it went ok. Won't know for around 4 weeks if I passed.

I'll get around to posting some recent pictures soon. Which of course really means that I'll probably post some next month!!!

Darcy and Berkley are Best Friends

Darcy has a best friend named Berkley. I guess you could say that Darcy's parents are good friends with Berkley's parents, which makes Darcy and Berkley best friends. At Thanksgiving we went out to Avila Barn to take some fun photos together with the two girls. Darcy and Berkley are so much fun. They love playing together at church and anywhere else they are together. Berkley's Dad John and I are planning our "mancation" which is a "man vacation", to hike up Mount Whitney and back in one day. It sounds crazy, 22 miles in one day, up to a peak of 14,500ft above sea level. But, we hear that if you can do the miles, the altitude is actually better to do in one day instead of trying to spread it out over 2 days. Unless you are up that high for a few days, one day up and back is the best way to avoid altitude sickness. I keep telling myself, Seth you are crazy. Ya, I know. But hey, it's worth a shot. Berkley and Darcy are so cute together. I love these shots of them on the hay bail and in the wooden boxes.

Our First Bloody Experience

We had our first major blood incident on Friday. We were house-sitting at my parents house enjoying the additional square feet of space for everyone to roam. I was at work when it all happened. There is a round table in the tile floored entryway that has a few framed pictures. Darcy proceeded to climb into her stroller that was parked right next to the table. Upon climbing in, she even stood up and leaned over the grab at some of the pictures. The stroller rolled backwards away from the table causing Darcy to fall head first into the tile floor. She took a big chunk of skin from her upper lip that just kept bleeding. Being a baby, she refused to let anyone touch it with anything, even to simply soak up the massive blood. I got the call and came rushing home. Luckily the office is only 2 miles from the house. At this time Tara and my sister Kelly had laid Darcy on her back on some towels on the bathroom floor. I had Tara change her clothes and cover her shoulder with a towel and then pick Darcy up to help calm her down as she was screaming so loud. Within a minute Darcy had calmed down almost completely, but the bleeding hadn't stopped. We decided to take her down to Urgent Care to get examined. The doctors said she isn't showing any signs of concussion, fractures, or anything like that. He told us just to keep her calm and watch the bleeding. Darcy fell asleep by the time we got home and took a good long nap. It stopped bleeding by the time she woke, only breaking open a couple of times after that while she was eating. Today she is going great. A nice big scab on her upper lip and that's almost the only sign of the fall. I am so grateful that she is such a trooper and that nothing serious happened. I'm sure it isn't the last time we will experience blood with kids, but I feel a little better prepared now having dealt with the first one.

We love being parents!

There are so many moments, often many a day, that causes you to think, "Man I love being a parent." When your child does something that you notice for the first time it makes you all tingly and excited to have been able to see it. We bought Darcy a little pink camoflauge backpack. We helped her put a sippy cup, book, and baby inside and put the straps over her shoulders. Today at lunch I helped her put her backpack on and she took off walking and even grabbed the shoulder straps with her hands like adults do. It was just so cute. Since I'm at work all day, Tara has the chance to see so many new and cute things. I love technology because it allows me to get video messages and picture messages of some of the new and exciting things happening in Darcy's daytime life. I am basically done with this chapter of the blog, but I never quite know how to end these things. Goodnight?!?!

When you become a parent and begin to lose the amount of sleep most parents experience, you begin to wonder, "Was this really a good idea?" Then you look down at your sweet daughter or son and they look up at you and hold their arms up just wanting you to hold them. Of course you do just that, because in a short time they will be too big and too independent to be held by Dad and Mom. For a moment at 2AM you think, "Ya, its worth it!", but a moment later you remember that it is 2AM and you have to be up at 6:00AM to get ready for meetings! At that moment you think, "I think 1 child is just perfect!" I don't know how many other parents have felt or thought that, but I don't believe I'm in the boat all by myself. Luckily, all the good, sweet, and wonderful times more than over power that bad feeling and you really just want to have more babies! Well, I guess that is my thought right now. Man, I'm tired.....

Our trip to Brianhead Utah

We made our trek out to Brianhead Resort outside of Cedar City, Utah. The whole Leishman clan traveled the 9 hours by car on New Year's Eve, arriving in St. George around 6 in the evening. We spent the night there, driving the remaining 2 hours the next morning. We packed up and headed for Cedar City and Super Wal-Mart. Super Wal-Mart is great. They have everything you could possibly need. While shopping in the store, Justin Rivera proposed to Kelly in the cereal aisle. Of course Kelly said Yes! We are very excited to welcome Justin to the family. He is a great guy and will make Kelly very happy. While in Brianhead we spent 2 days snowboarding and 1 day snowmobiling. It was a lot of fun. Most of us had not been to the snow in years. We had a ton of fun and got to spend some time in the car chatting. By the way, Darcy did great in the car there and back. We were so blessed!!!

Christmas at the Leishman's

Well, Tara and I have been married for 2 1/2 years, but we have yet to decorate for Christmas. This year we decided that it was time to decorate. We bought a fake tree last year after Christmas (great deals on decorations with the after-Christmas sales) and also bought some ornaments to put on the tree. Those after Christmas sales are great on the wallet. We were able to find a tree that had a price tag of $250 for $60. All the ornaments were 50-75% off too. A great way to buy decorations! We put up our tree and decorated it for FHE last week. It is so nice to decorate for Christmas. It makes our small apartment feel much more homey! I'll post some Christmas pictures soon.

Darcy is now 1 year old!

I can't believe we have a daughter that is now 1 year old. Darcy turned 1 on November 1st so we had a nice family dinner and party. She of course had no idea what the big fuss was all about, but she sure enjoyed all the attention that was being shown her way. She likes her new toys and her parents especially love the ones that make all the nice noises. It is amazing to look back at the past year and see how far we've come. From being all by ourselves, to having a tiny, helpless infant, to a 1 year old that can't hold still because she just loves to play! Well, I will have photos later from the party. I've been super busy with studying and taking exams that I haven't had time to work on the photos. I shot them in Raw, so I need to compress them to load them on the web.

One of 4 out of the way

Well, I at least I hope that one is out of the way. I don't find out if I passed that first of four parts of the CPA exam for about a month or so. Wow, I never knew that it was possible to make a 90 question multiple choice exam so difficult. Wow. And now I still have another part this Monday. I've been studying all day today (Saturday) to continue to get ready for this thing. I feel ok, but still feel like I could be more ready. There is no way to truly be completely ready for this exam, but you can get to the point that you feel comfortable with your level of study and knowledge. I'm beginning to feel that way about the multiple choice part of the exam, but the new simulations are going to be something all on their own. Those are going to be very tough. But, I've done harder things in my life, so I'm sure that I won't die sitting there in front of the computer answering questions. If Tara could push out Darcy, than I should be able to survive this as well!!! Just a quick plug for how tough women are! Well, now that my 5 minute break is up it's time to get back to studying. I will keep you posted on progress.

I thought studying ended when I graduated!

Well, I guess I very wrong. I've been studying like crazy, like I've never studied before, and I'm not even in school anymore. I graduated more than a year ago and I'm at this studying thing again. I'm sitting for the CPA exam next Friday. The exam has a pass rate of around 30%. Even worse if you do what I am crazy enough to do and sit for all 4 parts in the same month. Only about 5% of those that take the exam do that. I figured that I may as well give it a try. Why postpone it? I'm really not looking forward to taking an exam that has 4 parts ranging from 3.5 hours to 5 hours each!!! But, it is something that I really want to be able to tack on to the end of my name. Seth Leishman, CPA has a nice ring to it. After this I still have 3 more securities licensing exams, the CFP, and CA insurance exam to sit for. Wow, it seems so far away, but I hope to have all of these done within the next 2 years. That would be really great to do that. Well, back to studying!

Seth

Photo Books

Well, Darcy will be turning 1 year old on November 1st so I was thinking about what I wanted to do for her birthday. Tara is going to plan a nice party, but I wanted to do something special too. Tara and I have been working on a photo book for Darcy that documents her first year on Earth. I've taken around 2200 pictures since she was born, so I had plenty of shots to choose from. I narrowed it down to around 35 to put into this new photo book. There are two places on the internet that do great jobs with these hardbound books. www.shutterfly.com and www.mpix.com are two that do great jobs with these books. Both offer very customizable platforms to build and design the book. The one I did turned out to be 20 pages, hardbound, and glossy pages. All for 30 bucks. Now we have something that will last her whole life and then some and serve to help her and her children see what she was like as a baby. We are very excited to debut it at the party. Anyways, for anyone that is interested and wants more details let me know and I can help you out.

Seth

It had to start sometime!

Well, here we are. A family blog. I didn't know when the day would come for us to start a family blog, but I guess that day is today. This blog is meant to post our family happenings, some photos, and maybe some video if we ever get that technologically advanced. This will simply be the first post to get things going. Both Seth and Tara will be posting as new and fun things happen, or just whenever!