Justin, Amanda, and Ollie

Lengthy, if nothing else.

2012-01-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

I know that the majority of this blog revolves around Ollie, but I guess that there comes a time every once in a while when I should write something about Justin and I. It's a little hard to think of things that don't involve Ollie, because really, he is our world right now. But that probably won't ever change. At least I hope it doesn't.

I have been trying to tap into my creative side a little more lately. I feel a huge void in my life when I'm not working on something and playing music regularly. Sometimes I get so consumed in Mommy things that I foget about this, and I get unhappy and dissatisfied and grouchy. Then I remember that maybe it's because theres a little thirst inside for something that hasn't been quenched in a while, and I'll sit down at the paino or pick up my guitar, and in a little while things are better again.

Justin has this too, I think, in a bit more of a physical way. When he doesn't run, he gets kind of crazy. It used to be when he didn't skatboard, or when he didn't play frisbee,and now that running is his thing, he has to, or else he gets fidgety, he can't sleep, and he's so much more irritable. He's been struggling a little bit lately because his bursitis has been bothering him a lot. He runs exclusively barefoot (in vibrams) now, which has seemed to help a little, but every time he tries to increase his distance, it flares up.

Anyway, I've been working on a quilt for Ollie. Right now I'm in the last phase of piecing the blocks together, and then I will have to assemble all the blocks into the quilt top. I really like it. There are 12 different fabrics, and they are all grey and aqua. When I look at it, makes me think of puddles on a sidewalk. I'm making it twin sized so that when he gets into a big bed, he can use it. I'll post pictures when I get the top done.

Two weekends ago I happened on a tatting how-to video on YouTube. I never realized how easy it was until I saw that, so of course, being the needlework enthusiast that I am, I had to try it. I made my first motif (a heart) and it turned out great. It's time consuming, but really beautiful and simple, and something on my life list over there (<---) so I'm happy to be able to check that one off! It will take a lot of practice for me to be any good, but I'm already dying to make something or buy something that I can put an edging on. Preferably something with a Peter Pan collar. For me.

I've been delving into the world of Montessori lately. Ollie is at the age where he is just soaking everything up like a sponge, and I really want to make the most of it. Having gone to a Montessori, I've always planned to use the principles in my home, and there is so much good literature out there on it, it's really only the constraints of my bank account that keep me from getting lost in it. We've started doing a few activities Montessori style, and I try to make things easily accessible and simple for Ollie so he can start doing more things independently as he's ready.

I really love so many (although not all) of the Montessori concepts. I feel like it provides a framework for children to learn at their own pace, and build confidence by being independent. Ollie has a strong will, and I can see him becoming so proud and satisfied when he masters a task on his own. I can't wait to be in a more permanent living situation so we can set up his room and toy area to be better suited for this. I'm hoping to have my Dad build some shelves-- he's already volunteered.

The weather down here has been phenomenal lately. I guess we're having an unseasonably warm winter, and those words are music to my ears. We spend most of our days out on our balcony reading, playing the guitar, playing, or just resting. We've also been able to go to the playground a lot, and take Ruby to a little dog get together several days a week. Ollie loves the playground, and has an affinity for the slides. He goes down them all by himself, but isn't big enough to climb up to them, so it ends up being a serious upper body workout for whoever is there with him, Justin or I. I wish there were things there geared toward younger kids, but it's so close that we can walk there, so I can't complain too much.

Justin has been doing AMAZINGLY well at his school. Everyone told him before we came down that he shouldn't bring his family, it was going to be too stressful, but he has proved them all wrong. He's managed to maintain an A average, which is REALLY good. He's ahd to study a lot, and I won't say that it hasn't been a sacrifice on all of our parts, especially his, but he's turned out to be quite the smarty pants. I'm seriously SO PROUD of him. He is awesome. And he never compains. He's incurably happy and satisfied with his life. In that way, among others, I want to be just like him when I grow up.

Aside from that, he's been making some new friends (another one of his talents), running, and being a good Dad to Ollie. That's about all he's had time for. He and I have opposite problems in that regard.

Sunday was my 25th birthday, and it was a great one. The boys spoiled me with their good behavior (O) and thoughtfulness (J). We went shopping almost all day on Saturday, and Justin surprised me with an appointment for a massage. Sunday we had an amazing breakfast (my favorite meal), and Justin made some delish Indian food for dinner, complete with the BEST NAAN EVER. Seriously, it was so good.

That's about it for now. I'll get back to posting regular Ollie updates soon.

18 months

2012-01-26T10:22:00.001-07:00

I've had these pictures for a little while, but we've been having some major computer issues here (aka we need a new one). But it finally worked long enough for me to get these up. I can't believe he's 18 (almost 19!) months old. Time goes by so quickly! I still feel like a new mom, and like I'm trying to get adjusted to taking care of a little person. But it's already been a year and a half.

He is so sweet though. He blows kisses, folds his arms and closes his eyes for prayers, give big bear hugs, and loves his pup pup. I wanted to get some pictures of him with pup pup since we usually remove her for pictures. But he loves her so much, I wanted to document it. He gives her kisses more than he does Justin or I combined, he feeds her bites of his food, and puts her on his bike for rides. It's really so sweet and just melts my heart. At night if he's left pup pup out in the living room and is already tucked in, we'll go back out to get her, and when he sees us with her coming back into the room he squeals with excitement. Just one of the many reasons I'm sure all of our apartment neighbors hate us.

But I still think it's adorable.

Thankful

2012-01-16T15:19:00.001-07:00

Every day is a treasure, especially ones like these. They won't last forever.

Mega picture update

2012-01-12T12:07:00.002-07:00

These pictures are from my phone, and I haven't put any of those up in, oh, about 9 months or so. There are a ton of them. They go from newest to oldest.

Some doilies I made this weekend.

Ollie's yogurt face at breakfast this morning

On a walk, doing his favorite thing... pointing.

Excited about a waterfall

That's part of a stick stuck under his nose, not a really gross boogy.

At the lake by our SC apartment

Hiking with Dad.

This was her when we moved in. To welcome us to SC?

Reading a book about Trucks.

Workshop buddies.

Where's Ollie?

He loves Q-Tips.

Checking out the tree with AJ

First carousel ride. He was afraid of the horses though...

Found a stick at Mather!

Chillin on the porch with Gran. Pointin' at stuff.

Pumpkin carving

Helping Mom and Gran walk the Dogs.

Sharing a seat with Pup Pup.

The only way to enjoy a long car ride is snuggling with your best bud.

An unidentified member of our family who happens to be a Green Man!

Ollie wasn't sure about him at all.

Reading with Dad.

This never happens. But it did, once.

First ice cream cone, at Maceys.

Wearing Dad's shoes!

We miss Calvin.

Visiting Dad at work.

Silly boy!

A cross stitch sampler I made. And Ollie stepped on.

Justin bought me a guitar! I'm teaching myself how to play.

Gangsta!

Monkey...

First lollipop, from the checkout guy at the grocery store.

Sweet sticky heaven.

At the splash pad by our house in Spanish Fork.

Columbia

2012-01-09T19:13:00.001-07:00

We made it! Another road trip brought us down to Columbia, SC, and so far, things are great.

We packed up Saturday morning. Justin said it was like packing for Armageddon, but Ollie and I are going to be down here for three months with no friends and nothing to do, so we came prepared. It wasn't much, I just brought: all of Ollie's toys, his trike, his backpack for hikes, my sewing machine, my crochet stuff, my guitar, quilt making materials (more on that in a minute), some food, linens, clothes for whatever season, our computer (we only have a desk top), my pressure cooker (from Justin for Christmas!), and a few more odds and ends. Thanks to Justin and my Dad's superior packing skills, we got everything in the car, in a car top carrier, with a dog, a baby and a carseat, and Justin and I. It was no small task, but those guys were pros, and we're now living with all the comforts of home down here.

He's already told me I need to make a trip up to drop off some of this stuff before we actually move back. Otherwise, I cannot buy one single thing while I'm down here, or poor Ruby won't have a seat in the car on the way home.

Our apartment is really nice. It's completely furnished, almost like a hotel. It's in a great location, near to every kind of store you could imagine, and a mall is close by. Across the street is a really lovely park called Sequicentennial Park. It's huge, and has miles and miles of trails for walking and running. There's a lake in the middle, and picnic tables and benches all over. There's even a dog park there, but we haven't been able to find it yet. It's really easy to get lost on the trails because they wind around and criss cross all over. The dog park is on the other side, so I'm a little afraid to venture over there myself for fear of not getting back.

Tonight we went for a walk there.On our way home came across some people with their dogs playing in a baseball field on the edge of the park by our house. We went over and introduced ourselves and asked if Ruby could play, and they couldn't say no to her big brown eyes. Turns out they meet there every day at 4:30 or 5 to let their dogs play after work. It's perfect timing for me so I'm hoping to be able to take Ruby over there so that if Justin can't run with her at night she still gets some good exercise in.

And she is missing Rosie so much since we left my parents house, playing with other dogs eases the pain just ever-so-slightly.

We drove around today in downtown Columbia, and it looks like there will be some neat things to explore. The first thing you notice is that there are HUGE baptist churches on almost every other block. And I'm not joking when I say huge. Some of them take up the entire block! I won't lie, I'm completely intrigued and would love to go to a service one time just to see what it's like. If it's anything like the baptist TV programs, then it's sure to be exciting.

The next thing you notice is a lot of neat older buildings. There are several that are in disrepair or condemned. If we were reading the signs right, it looked like there was an assylum that is now closed and condemned, just sitting vacant in the middle of the city. We also found our closest Chipotle, so life here can really begin.

Justin starts his training tomorrow, and I think he's excited about that. I'm excited to get started on some of the projects I have planned to do while I'm down here, especially a quilt! I decided I want to make Ollie a quilt for when he is in a twin big boy bed. I bought the fabrics at our favorite little quilt shop before I left, and am going to work on getting the top pieced. The pattern I'm doing is called Sugar Pop and Change, and it's a variation of a coin stack pattern. The fabrics are all greys and watery blue-teals. It's really light and clean looking, and I can't wait to see it all come together.

Ollie is adjusting well to being here. He's slept by himself in a queen sized bed for two nights now without waking up, and went to sleep tonight again without any problems. I was worried about his sleeping arrangement, but everything seems to be fine. My mom gave him a hand charged flashlight that he keeps in his bed with him, and can pump up if he needs light. I think that helps him to not be afraid.

Well that s about it for now. I'm going to try to be a better blogger while I'm down here. I'm bad at blogging when I'm home because I'm pretty sure my mom is the only one reading this, and when I'm home, she sees everything firsthand and doesn't need to rehash it on the blog. But anyway, hopefully I'll be better.

One last thing- Jeremy and Camron announced to everyone that they are expecting again! We're really happy for them and the kids to have another member of their family.

Wedding!

2012-01-03T12:31:00.004-07:00

These are in REVERSE order.

Silly me.

Silly blogger.

Ollie Update

2011-12-12T16:54:00.004-07:00

Ollie is 17 months now, and it's been a while since I gave an update about him. He weighs in at about 22 lbs, is still blonde blonde blonde, and cruises all over the place.

He still loves fruit, and has recently started eating a little bit of meat. He never has really liked any kind of meat, so we didn't push it, but now he'll sometimes eat chicken or turkey. Some other things he loves, foodwise:

CHEESE

Vanilla Yogurt

Oatmeal

RAISINS

Eggs

Rice

Apple Cider

Ollie discovered trains over Thanksgiving when his cousins Peter, Marie, and Thomas came over, and we've had a train track set up almost constantly since. We play trains almost every day. We read a lot of books, and love to watch Little Bear while we eat our breakfast. He's also slightly obsessed with these two Sesame Street sing along videos we have. I have to limit the video watching time, because otherwise I think he'd watch it over and over again. He's figured out how to restart the movie on the DVD player after it ends...

Ollie also loves running around outside, especially with the dogs. It's been cold and wet here, so we haven't been outside as much as we like, but we're looking forward to warmer weather in South Carolina next month. We're giving Ollie a long overdue tricycle for Christmas, so I'm sure he's going to love riding that thing around outside.

Ollie is much better about being gentle with the animals, and as a result he gets to spend a little more time with the other animals besides Ruby (she was never particular about his gentility).He still shrieks when he sees animals on TV, on packages in the grocery store isles, or anywhere else. The other day we saw some horses pulling a buggy in downtown Harpers Ferry, and he was beside himself.

He still isn't talking much. He will say things from time to time (he asked us for cheese several times one day) but he doesn't say anything with particular regularity. He definitely understands everything we say though. We'll ask him to get things, or if he wants this or that, and he'll walk right over and get/do whatever it is.

He loves the Christmas lights around the neighborhood, on the tree, and in the hallway. I bet that for the next few years Christmas will just get more and more fun for him.

Ollie dances a lot, and makes us dance with him. He has a few toys that make music, and we listen to some kids albums, and he comes over and motions for us to pick him up, and then starts bobbing his head and waving his arms so we know we should be dancing too. It's really cute.

But then again, I think everything he does is cute! I think that's what being a mom is about.

He went to nursery at Church by himself on Sunday for the first time. My Dad took him in there the week before and stayed with him the whole time, and he did great. Usually kids don't go to nursery until they are 18 months, but they told us we could bring him in early to get him warmed up to the idea.

It was really good but really sad too for me to see him in there. Watching him playing with all the other kids, and sitting at the table eating snack like a big kid was kind of heart wrenching. But I'm glad that he's happy and comfortable enough to be in there alone. I went in to get him at the end of church, expecting for him to be excited to see me, but instead it was more of a "oh, it's you again," and he went back to his toy. (In his defense, he had a balloon, which is pretty cool.)

But it's good. He's just growing up. Poop. :)

There are so many other things I could say, but I'll leave it there. Ollie is one very sweet, very happy boy! Being his mom is the most wonderful blessing, and I love every minute of it. even the hard ones. I'm pretty sure Justin feels the same way.

The past week

2011-11-29T06:20:00.003-07:00

We've been pretty busy here the last few weeks getting ready for a whirlwind of parties and activities last week. The boys and Kassi came in Monday night/Tuesday morning, and it was great to see and spend time with them. Thursday, we had my Mom's family over for Thanksgiving, which was fun, loud, crowded, and delicious, and then we had a bridal shower for Kassi on Saturday night! Tommy, Kassi and Jake left on Sunday morning, and then we all collapsed into a heap of exaustion from too much fun, partying, and good food.

Here's a few highlights from the week:

Mom and I made Kassi a scrabble cake for the shower. It took way too long, but was totally worth it. Rarely is it that I see something or have an idea, and the execution works out pretty much just like I imagined it, but this was one of those times. I'm pretty proud of it!

We played some fun games...

And mom gave Kassi a "little something" to wear... hahaha.

We had our first big boo boo. Ollie found a pencil sharpener, which he then stuck his finger into, resulting in a big gash on his finger. I think it must have been a really clean slice because he didn't cry at all, I just all of a sudden noticed blood all over his hands and cup and the floor. It bled like crazy, through several band aids, but healed pretty quickly. We are now back to our non-band aided self.

My mom gave Ollie an early Christmas present, a SLIDE! He loves it. It only took him about 1 minute to figure out how to climb up, sit down and get his legs turned around the right way, and then scoot until he slid down. Then he found out he can drop things down it, like trains.

Yesterday, he figured out how to do a somersault dismount off of the slide. As he's going down, he plants his sweaty little feet on the end, which flips his head forward, and if he's lucky he has enough momentum to get him all the way over. Unfortunately most of the time, he forgets to tuck his head, so it ends up being more of a face plant. I'm not sure how to stop him from doing this; we may end up with some rug burns on his forehead soon...

If he gets the hang of it better, I'll take a video. It's pretty amazing.

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-31T16:49:00.002-06:00

Ollie was a lumberjack. The facial hair, he got from his Daddy. The guns are all his.

To bad I didn't have an axe. Or a hack saw. Just kidding.

All manly men get a little ketchup in their beards sometimes...

I think Reagan was diggin having a 'mature' guy around.

And Ollie loves milk, so 'nuff said.

Applesauce Party

2011-10-20T08:19:00.004-06:00

We got smart this year and moved our apple saucing outside. I'd say we have it down to a science! This is definitely one of my favorite fall family traditions. I've missed it so much since we've been gone, it was good to make it back in time to do this! We've been making applesauce every year since I can remember, and it is the BEST apple sauce in the world. Period. This was Justin's first time, and I think he really enjoyed it.

And this isn't even all of it!

Later that afternoon Dad and I took Ollie and the pups down to the river on a walk. I feel so blessed to live in a place where I can just walk around and see so many beautiful things and have so many places to explore.

I love this picture!

The Move

2011-10-17T15:14:00.010-06:00

We made it! Here's a run down of our trip!

By the way- the formatting is royally screwed up and I couldn't figure out how to fix it so things line up right and the pictures are centered like they usually are. Darn blogger. Maybe next time I'll have more time to mess around with it.

Justin's coworkers threw him a little surprise going away party. Somehow everyone managed to keep it a secret (even me!) and it really meant a lot to Justin that everyone pretended to be sad to see him go. Hahaha.

We stopped in Oklahoma to visit some family. The first pictures are from when we saw Great Great Uncle Pat and Great Great Aunt Bobby, and Cousin James in Broken Arrow.

We made a little side trip over to see Justin's Mom's and Sister's graves.

We stayed in Guthrie, OK with Uncle Mark, Aunt Jennifer, Tyler, Brandon, and Leah. It was a ton of fun, and we finally were able to go back to the mexican restaurant that has the best queso dip in the world. It was awesome. And we managed to escape without playing any Yugio, much to Brandon's dismay. We're really hoping that the boys get to come visit out here next summer!

Our next stop was to Broken Arrow to Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Jim's house. We loved getting to spend time with them, and Grandma Phyllis made us lots of yummy food. Ollie had tons of fun playing with the balls she gave him, and in the back yard. We even got to meet the neighbors pet turtle. Ruby was itching for some turtle soup, but luckily he got away.

We saw Grandma Helen and Uncle Jamie and Aunt Lisa while we were there too! It was really great to catch up with everyone and let them meet Ollie.

Last, we stopped in to see the Housewrights in Missouri!

Ollie fit right in.

They have tons of animals, including cows, a cat, dogs, a horse, and lots more cows. Ollie was in heaven!

Brody showed us how to handle the animals.

I was a little freaked out by the huge eye balls.

It was SO GREAT to see them, and we can't wait to go back as soon as we can!

Now we're here at home in Harpers Ferry, and we've gotten settled in for the most part. Justin has started his job, and is excited about it, eventhough he's just been in training for the last week. I have lots more pictures to post, so hopefully I'll be able to get back on the blogging bandwagon and get them on here soon!

2 Weeks to go!

2011-09-13T12:29:00.002-06:00

I've been a lazy blogger lately, mostly due to being busy getting ready to move. I'm probably not going to be blogging again until after we get to WV, unless something really cute happens, so don't get your hopes up. We don't have to pack, but I've been trying to just go through everything, organize it, and weed out the things we aren't taking. We've sold our couch and our red car, and I'm almost done going through things.

WE ONLY HAVE 2 MORE WEEKS!

I'm excited and nervous at the same time. It's a little stressful, no matter how little stuff you have to move, and theres always an amount of anxiety that's associated with change, I think, but it's all good change, I keep telling myself.

The only bad thing about all of this is that Calvin is going to have to go to a shelter. Probably this weekend. This makes me so incredibly sad, but it's just one of those things I have to do. I just hope and pray that some happy family with a lot of kids finds him and gives him a lot of love and attention for the rest of his long life. We'll probably take him in on Thursday or Saturday. So if you decide before then that you have a place in your heart for a sweet little kitty, let me know.

We have a few things still left to do in Utah before we go. They mostly revolve around restaurants. But we're also going to try and go to the State Fair and This is the Place monument before we leave. Other than that, just packing, waiting, and bitting our finger nails waiting for the big day!

If you get the itch to come help us clean on the 25th, let me know...

Grandpa Rick would be proud.

2011-08-24T16:24:00.006-06:00

Ollie wanted to help Dad and Uncle Jake replace a few lights in Moms car. All three of these dudes rock my world with awesomeness!

First Haircut!

2011-08-24T16:11:00.004-06:00

I was in denial for a long time about Ollie needing a haircut. I guess I just didn't want to admit that my baby needed a haircut. But I always vowed that I wouldn't be one of those moms who let their kids have long hair that got nasty and tangled in the back, and then they went out in public and thought their au natural kid was the cutest thing ever. And then that's exactly what I did.

But the wings had to go.

Luckily, Hanna saved the day, and 15 minutes and a few lollipops later, Ollie was a little boy and not my baby any more.

Giving up nursing and getting a haircut in the same month is taxing on my emotional well being.

But Hanna did an AMAZING job, and was so quick and awesome. And it helps that Ollie loves her and Chris and their cute puppy Io. He felt right at home.

So thanks Hanna! You are the best!

We stopped about halfway through to savor the moment of a fluffy mullet. Thats what the weird looking picture is :)

^ mullet ^

What a stud muffin I have!!!

Tommy's Engaged!

2011-08-22T13:48:00.013-06:00

We are so excited for Tommy and Kassi! We love you guys!

Splash Pad

2011-08-18T09:19:00.009-06:00

Last night Uncle Jake came over and we went to the Splash Pad at our local park! The water was freezing, but it was super hot. We had a blast! Uncle Jake is the best!

I love this picture!

Happy!

Tromping around with Dad

It always feels better to get that wet swim suit off!

This is where Ollie spends a lot of his time, especially in the mornings. He loves to look outside and dream about chewing on all the rocks in our front garden...
He and Ruby have that in common.

This is his other favorite spot. I actually have to keep the window locked because he's figured out how to push out the screen. It's about a 9 foot drop out of the window because our basement window well is directly below.

Ollie climbs on and off of the couch ALL DAY. I guess he's just getting his work out in...

Mom! Get that thing off your face!

So Blessed

2011-08-17T16:05:00.003-06:00

Justin and I are so blessed. We were talking the other night about our next few months, and really life is so wonderful, and I guess good things come to those who wait.

We are so excited to move and start this new job. It is really one of the biggest blessings we've ever had, aside from Ollie, each other, our families, etc. It means that we get to go home and set our roots down somewhere. We can have stability and enough money, and I can stay home. It will help Justin further his education even more, with the possibility of another Master's degree, and all in all just set us up for a good future. Why do we deserve this? There's so many people today that don't have these things, yet we are the lucky ones.

All I can say is that prayer works. It has been a hard two years waiting for all of this to come through. I wouldn't say that I lost my faith at any point, because if there's one thing I know, it's that God has a plan for even me, but I did get frustrated. The waiting has been hard, especially because we really just didn't know anything. But Justin and I always said to eachother that we knew that as long as we were doing everything we could, things would happen as they should.

And we did do everything we could. Justin has worked hard at his current job, and he completed his masters at the same time. We've tried to be smart about our choices so that it would set us up for success in the future. I'm so glad he went ahead and got his Masters before we had Ollie, and so that he would be able to go ahead and move along in his career.

We'll probably be moving the last week of September so that we can have our house available for renters on the 1st of October. Meanwhile, I'm kind of going crazy with nothing to do. His employer is moving us, and we found out that means they have to pack everything too. I feel like I should be getting things ready, but really, there's not going to be much to do until moving day. I will be going through things and weeding stuff out that we don't want or need. We'll be selling our couch and Justin's red car, and I need to find a place for Calvin, because we really can't take him.

Speaking of Calvin, if you know of anyone who is looking to adopt a sweet sweet four-year-old grey kitty with one eye, let me know. He needs to be an outdoor cat, but he'd only ever been an indoor cat. He has the bad habit of occasionally marking his territory. We have an unfinished basement, and have sectioned off some of it where we keep him when we aren't home, or are upstairs, so we manage it alright. He's fine inside when we're with him, but if we leave, and he's upstairs alone, he may mark things...

It's bad, I know, and it's going to be really hard to find a place to take him with that problem, but I'm sure if he could be an outdoor cat, he'd be fine. He really is so sweet, and is so gentle with Ollie, and doesn't mind Ruby a bit. I think he'd be happy to live anywhere, I'm just afraid that I'd find someone to adopt him, and he'd pee on something of theirs, and they'd take him to the shelter where he'd be euthanized. We can't keep him because we'll be living with my parents for a while, then moving to South Carolina for a few months, then renting somewhere in NoVA for a while until we buy, and I'm not going to try to move him around that many times and worry about him making messes in other people's properties, or deal with the fees associated with that.

I feel terrible. Please though, if you know of ANYONE, either in Utah OR WV, please let me know. We can move him back home if there is a good place for him there.

Anyway, enough about the cat.

We are really excited to move, and I hope the next 5 weeks go by quickly! I think they will. Meanwhile, we're going to try to get our fill of our favorite restaurants and people before we leave, so let us know if you'd like to get together!

New favorite

2011-08-11T10:14:00.004-06:00

I bought this album from iTunes yesterday, and it is awesome. I so rarely buy new music, but if it's Eddie Vedder, then I don't have a choice.

It just reaffirms my deep and unabashed love of Eddie Vedder. The album is all acoustic ukelele songs, a few covers, but mostly original, and is very chill. I love Pearl Jam, but I love Eddie's solo stuff more because it's very relaxed. And awesome.

I could listen to it all day. Oh wait, I already have.

Here's a preview.

But really, all the songs are this good.

Canning

2011-08-11T10:04:00.003-06:00

My mom and I did some canning while I was home. Some things were tried and true (Jam, Peach Butter, and Canned Peaches), and other things were an experiment (Corn, Dry Beans, Chicken). I didn't get a picture of the chicken, which is OK because it wasn't the prettiest thing ever, but MAN WAS IT GOOD. I can't wait to get back there and use her mother-of-a-pressure canner to work up our food storage a little.

Don't you wish you had a mom like mine? She is the best.

First Birthday Party!

2011-08-11T08:55:00.016-06:00

We had a little party for Ollie on the 4th of July to celebrate his first year! It was so much fun, and we had a wonderful time with all of our amazing family. It is so wonderful to have so much family all in one place, and we felt so loved that everyone would take time on their holiday to come celebrate Ollie!

Margaret Elizabeth Thomas

2011-08-08T08:16:00.001-06:00

MARGARET ELIZABETH THOMAS, age 82 of Reston, Virginia passed away Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at Reston Hospital Center.

Margaret was born September 27, 1928 in Nokesville, Virginia, daughter of the late John DeWitt and Mabel (Reading) Cox. She was also preceded in death by one brother, William Partlow and her sister, Mary Hedrick.

Survivors include her loving husband, Howard T. Thomas; four children, Robin Weiss, Melinda Goode, Bruce Thomas and Jennifer Van Vliet; one brother, John E. Cox; 17 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.

The family will receive friends from 4:00-6:00 P.M. Sunday, August 7, 2011 at Pierce Funeral Home, 9609 Center Street, Manassas where funeral services will be held 11:00 A.M. Monday, August 8, 2011. Interment will follow at Stonewall Memory Gardens, Manassas.

First Birthday!

2011-08-05T10:06:00.006-06:00

Justin turns 28

2011-08-05T09:31:00.005-06:00

Justin's birthday was June 12th, but due to my computer not working and being out of town, I'm just now getting them up. I think it was a fun day! We went Outback and had mint chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. Ollie stole the lid to the ice cream when we weren't looking, and was in hog heaven.

Elevated

2011-08-03T21:04:00.003-06:00

I found out this morning that my Grandma passed away during the night. There really aren't adequate words to describe the feelings that come when someone you love dies. But mostly, I'm just so grateful for the Plan of Salvation, and the knowledge that I have that there is more to existence than this life alone. I know that we will see her again. I know that she and Papa will be able to be together again. I know that she must feel so free and relieved to have shaken off her painful, burdensome body. These things bring me a lot of peace.

But of course we'll miss her.

My heart aches for my grandfather who is still here, and who must spend the rest of his time without her. I've always thought that it was a funny thing that we want to spend our lives with our companions, and then someday, they are taken away. It almost seems as if your being set up for failure. Kind of like getting a pet- you get them, knowing that one day, they will die, and it will be heart wrenching and terrible, and your life will never be the same without them.

But it's worth it, isn't it? To have all of those precious years of joy, the memories, the lessons learned. Our relationships really are what comprises a full life. And thanks to our Savior, Jesus Christ, those relationships extend beyond the grave. The time apart will be just a short blip on the eternal spectrum. I am so grateful and at peace having this knowledge. I am still sad, but I can be sad and at peace at the same time.

All of that said, I thought I'd mention a few things that I especially loved and will miss about Grandma.

She called me by two nicknames, and this always made me feel so special. I was one of a lot of grandchildren, and I always felt like she loved me just a bit more because she had a special nickname for me. Now, she probably had nicknames for every one of us, but if that were the case, I never knew. My nickname was a secret, and she promised me she would never call me it in front of anyone else, lest I get embarrassed. So I had a second nickname, Snookers, that was a little less embarrassing. But she'd always wink at me when she called me Snookers, like, "What I mean to say is 'Booger-Drawers'!"

Don't ask me where either of those names came from. They've been around since I was too young to remember. I just hope it didn't actually have anything to do with either boogers or drawers.

Also, now that you know my secret nickname, you must promise to never utter it in public, ever.

You always knew there would be at least one good thing to eat at the family reunion, because Grandma was sure to show up with a couple of buckets of fried chicken for the pot luck table. You just had to make sure to get in line quick enough to get some before the only thing left was red velvet cake.

She was beautiful. Grandma was always dressed to kill, and took a lot of pride in her appearance. Her nails were always manicured, hair was always set, and outfit picked out with coordinating jewelry. I thankfully inherited her beautiful skin, and love of the sun. I think we were both born to sunbathe.

She was always the life of the party. I think that this contributed to our regular family get-togethers. Every few months, we'd all get together at Grandma and Papa's to celebrate the recent or upcoming birthdays, and this, among other things, helped us to be a very close-knit family. I have so many fond memories of spending time with my cousins at Grandma's house, and I think we remain closer than the average extended family because of it.

One time at the beach, Grandma and Papa took my cousin Kelly and I out to get a "double dip of somethin' " for dessert. Papa was craving some spumoni ice cream, and Grandma kept giving him the hardest time about wanting spumoni, and how gross it was. They went on and on, back an forth for the entire car ride, and Kelly and I say in the back giggling the whole time. I don't know why, but this memory has always stuck out to me as a really fond one.

She and Papa love each other, and their marriage is a model to the rest of us. I know that by the time I came around, they had already made it through most of the difficult patches, but I always admired the love and care and attention they gave to each other. There could never be a doubt that they love one another. You could see it in everything they did. I want to be like that when I get to that point in my life.

Grandma has always been of a weak constitution, and especially in the last several years, has had to deal with so many health problems, and has been in a lot of pain. She always bore it bravely though, and tried to not let anyone else know the discomfort she was in. It shows to me how strong her character was that she bore those trials with grace and dignity.

She knew how to get every piece of corn off of the cob, and not have any visibly left in her teeth when she was finished. That takes skill.

"Grandma, would you like some (cake/pie/dessert/etc.)?" "Ohhhh, just give me a sliver."

There are so many more things I could say, I know as soon as I publish this post, I'm going to remember a million other things that I should have written. But I guess I'll just leave it here.

Please include my family in your prayers, especially my Mom. She is so good and brave in situations like this, but no matter how much you did or didn't expect it, losing a parent could never be easy. Thanks for all of your love and thoughts.

We miss you Grandma. Stake me out a good spot on the beach up there, and I'll see if I can sneak in a bottle of Hawaiian Tropic and a few head bands.

Still Here!

2011-07-25T15:37:00.002-06:00

We're still here! Still alive and better than ever! I've been a negligent blogger lately, because darnit, I'm on vacation. And yes, I know that I'm super super lucky to have a month long vacation, and that I should take a few minutes to post an update, especially with all that's been going on, but I haven't. But now I am!

I'll try to go in chronological order. I'll have to post pictures when I get home (and there are lots!).

So we started our adventure with driving across the country. It wasn't terrible, but I will never EVER do it again, unless there is no other possible option at all. It took us 36 hours to get here, with one small 200 mile detour, thanks to yours truely. We didn't stop to sleep at all, just switched and tried to sleep while the other was driving. It was kind of tricky though because the non-driver was also responsible for keeping Ollie and Ruby happy, and Ollie seemed to be awake and crying just about any time I had the opportunity to sleep. But we made it, and it's over, and it was totally worth it to be able to come out here, have our car, and bring our Ruby girl.

Ollie's birthday was on the day we got here, Saturday, so my mom made him a birthday dinner of Macaroni and Cheese and burgers. We had cupcakes, and of course took the requisite naked-cake-eating picture. It was great.

Monday was the fourth, and we had a little family party. The kids kept cool in the sprinkler and kiddie pools, and we had a ton of delicious food. Ollie had a good time playing with lots of cousins and his uncles and aunts. It really was a great time, and we were so glad to be able to share his birthday with so many special people.

Time flew by for the next two weeks. We were able to see Heidi and Zach's (Justin's sister and brother in law) apartment in Germantown, which was lovely. We had a picnic lunch at the park with Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Camron, JJ, Jaedon, and Kaylee, we went to Aunt Melinda's and saw her chickens, jumped on the trampoline, and played with cousins Sophie and Spencer, went shopping with Aunt Marge and her boyfriend AJ. We picked lots of flowers from Gran's garden, ate ice cream cones naked in the pool (just Ollie, haha), consumed our weight in melon, took long walks on the C&O canal and at Murphey farm, had lunch with Nanny and Dr. Bob.

The very best thing happened on Thursday, July 14th, when Justin got a call from his future employer to say that they wanted him to start the middle of this fall! We have been waiting for so long, and the timing could not be more perfect.

Our beach week was perfect to say the least! Ollie was kind of nervous about the sand. I think it kind of freaked him out a little that he couldn't brush it off once it was on his hands. He tried brushing it off on his face, his hair, his mouth, his eyes, but alas, it just spread. Just when we thought he was going to lose it in frustration, he decided that it would be better to just eat it, and enthusiastically shoveled handfulls into his mouth. At that point, we went up to the pool.

The week was great though, and so relaxing. It has been such a treat for me to have so much help with Ollie. He's really become attached to everyone, and it will be hard for me to go home and be back to sole care provider for most of the day. But it won't be for long right?!?

I'm pretty sure Ollie has grown at least an inch while we've been here. He is growing so much physically and mentally. He tells us no, and grunts and points us in the direction we should go whe we're holding him. He's been walking more, and when we're holding his hand, it's not uncommon for him to almost break into a run. He is busy busy busy, but all the activity has helped him be a much better napper than ever before. And he is still sleeping through the night, even with being in a different bed ad house, and then another house at the beach, he has been great. He still loves to sniff everything, and he's very ticklish. His hair is even whiter blonde, if that's possible, and he's gotten a little tan on his legs and arms. He still has those blueberry eyes, which I can't get over. He climbs like a crazy man. Just as I'm writing this, he climbed up on the couch and positioned himself in between me and the laptop. His favorite things to do are knock over block towers, play with the animals (although Rosie isn't as in love with Ollie as Ruby is), play "Little Bunny Foo Foo", and eat anything and everything that everyone else is eating.

Justin already drove home with Ruby and my two brothers who were going back to school. I'll be here another week, but when I get home, I'll post more updates, with pictures!

Almost vacation

2011-06-27T07:50:00.003-06:00

We had a terrible weekend here- we were all sick as dogs at least 1 day. Our house was a war zone of throw up, ginger ale, and weepy adults. We were very lucky though that Justin and I weren't sick at the same time, and that Ollie got it while I wasn't sick so that we could take turns caring for eachother. I guess that's one of the thousands of perks to being married- having someone to wipe your face and hold your hair back while you're yakking your guts out.

Whew.

I'm glad this weekend is over.

And now we have a lot of fun things to get ready for and look forward to over the next month! If you're back east, and would like to see us sometime, let us know! We'll be there for a few weeks!

Bad Request

2011-06-22T10:10:00.003-06:00

I have been trying for weeks now to update this blog, but for some reason, the photo uploader isn't working. It is very frustrating. I have lots of pictures to share, from my Mom's visit, and Justin's 28th birthday, but I haven't been able to get them up. Has anyone else been having this problem? (It says "Bad Request" every time I try to upload them.)

Oh well.

In the meantime, Justin turned 28 (old man!!). I bought him a pair of Vibram barefoot running shoes, as he's started to get into barefoot running to hopefully aleviate some of his Bursa issues. So far so good! He's back up to 4 miles without any pain, so I'd say it's working well. I just have to make sure he doesn't jump the gun too quickly and hurt himself. He's antsy to be running long distances again.

Justin's first father's day was good too. We spend the day at home, grilled and roasted marshmallows on the stove (it was raining by then). It was a nice relaxing day. I got him a light set for his bike so he's a little safer while he's riding all over tarnation at night time. (He alternates bike riding with running because he's a little obsessive compulsive and fidgety.)

Ollie started walking! So far he takes 3 or 4 steps max, but he's getting better all the time, and more brave. He's honing in his climbing skills as well, and manages to make it from the couch to the computer desk (a 1 1/2 foot gap), up onto the couch and onto our bed (sometimes). He also still is obsessed with the dishwasher. Whenever we are washing dishes, he makes a mad dash over to us, and tries to climb up and/or pull everything out.

He's started drinking from a sippy cup a little better, and LOVES ice.

His new thing is playing 'telephone', where we put random objects to our ears and have conversations. It's pretty darn cute.

He has a few new teeth. Now there are 4 on the top (two are just barely poking through still), and two on the bottom. Surprisingly, he hasn't been fussy at all with this last batch. I think it's because they're smaller.

I have to say that Ollie is just SO MUCH FUN! He is so cute, and so animated, and gets excited about things. He claps for himself, jibber jabbers all the time, and is just so fun to have around. We take him to the pool, and the park, and on lots of walks, and it is so fun to have such a happy baby that enjoys doing everything. As long as there's something going on and someone paying attention to him, he's happy. He brings so much joy to my life. A lot fo exhaustion too, but a lot of joy!

On another note, Justin's cousin Blake and his wife Lisa welcomed their second little girl yesterday! We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet little Hazel!

11 Months

2011-06-08T08:02:00.006-06:00

Almost a year, and I still can't get enough of those toes.

Rainy Days

2011-05-24T08:41:00.006-06:00

Now that the temperatures are finally out of the freezing and hard frost range, we, like the rest of the country, have been having a lot of rain.

Ruby is getting a little frustrated that we haven't been able to take our afternoon walks.
As am I.

It doesn't matter much to Hobbes. Once in a while he gets the itch to dart outside, but then he quickly realizes the error of his decision and yowls to come back inside his cozy, soft, temperature controled, all-you-can-eat-buffet-containing, quiet house.

And yes, we still have the cats. I don't post about them as much because they are pretty boring compared to a baby.

We spend our time finding ways to get our wiggles out.

Ollie has learned to climb the stairs, he cut his 4th tooth, he gives high fives, and we build a lot of block towers to knock over. We've also made bread, cookies, pickles, salsa, yogurt, sauerkraut (didn't turn out so good), and granola. We've read a lot of books, and a lot of books a lot of times. We've figured out how to get Ollie to give us more kisses. You kind of have to trick him into doing it, but it's so dang cute...

Sloppy.

2011-05-24T08:29:00.001-06:00

Is this kid great or what?!? Here he is tearing into some breakfast casserole last week.

I'm seeing a pattern here...

2011-05-17T16:33:00.006-06:00

I guess we end up sitting at this place on the couch at least sometime during the day, most days. And they happen to be picture opportunities? I don't know- I just noticed that I had a lot of almost the exact same picture.

And this one is just cute...

2011-05-17T14:05:00.003-06:00

I've been having a hard time finding the motivation to do anything but the bare minimum lately. Bare minimum being defined as (in no particular order):

Keep house reasonably neat and tidy
Get dressed
Feed Ollie and I, make dinner
Spend time with Ollie

I think of Ollie as a high maintenance child. I hope hope hope that my next child doesn't prove me wrong by being even more demanding than Ollie is. It isn't that he's a bad baby-- inversely, he's really a happy kid. He's just BUSY. He's always moving, always getting into things, and never ever napping or resting. We don't have him watch movies yet, but even if we did, I can't fathom him sitting still anywhere for more than 3 or 4 minutes, unless he was asleep. He's adorable, giggly, a good eater, and SO much fun. But he is exhausting!

Sometimes I find myself trying to tune him out just a little. For example, I'll take him up to my room, shut all the doors, take everything off the floor, spread his toys all over the place, and just curl up in my rocking chair for a little bit, watching The View, or Ellen, or something.

Lately I've been thinking about how fast the last year has gone, and how it just seems to be getting faster all the time. This Thursday is Justin and my 5th wedding anniversary. How have we been married for 5 years already? Time flies. And I'm not just saying that. It has gone so quickly. It kind of scares me! It makes me worry that I'm not doing enough with Ollie. I know I'm just paranoid (for lack of a better word), but I've dreamt about being a mother my entire life, and now I am. Why am I wasting it watching mindless TV?

Now don't get me wrong-- I don't watch a ton of TV. But still.

So I've been trying to spend more time just sitting and playing with Ollie. I know I probably won't have as much one on one time with any of my other children, but that doesn't mean that now, while I do have the time, I shouldn't spend it with Ollie.

So today we are having pancakes for dinner. Yesterday Ollie never mad eit out of his pajamas. I haven't put on make up in days. But it's great. I love Ollie, and I love watching him grow and learn.

Last night Ollie stood alone for the first time. It was funny, because he just let go in a fit of excitement, and upon realization that he was no longer braced against something his eyes got huge, and he buckled to the floor. It has seemed for a while that he has the ability to stand alone, but is just afraid to let go. I think this confirmed that hunch. We'll see how long it takes him to figure out that he's stronger than he thinks he is.

He's also been giving kisses for a while, but he hands them out VERY reluctantly. I only would get one or two a week. But in the last few days, he's been giving me kisses a lot more. He only does it when he's in a particular mood, but it is the sweetest thing ever. I'm sure all moms feel the same, but when he leans towards me, eyes and mouth wide open, banana smushed all over his face, and plants one right smack on the lips, my heart melts. It makes any amount of exhaustion or frustration worth it.

He's figured out how to smell things too, and he will lean in a smell my neck if I've put on perfume, or my lotioned hands, or his food. It's adorable.

***

In other news, I've been doing a little bit of experimenting in the kitchen lately. I bought 50lbs. of Organic Millet for my food storage, and have been learning to use that. I LOVE it just cooked plain with butter and S&P, but it would be nice to find some other recipes that use it. The awesome thing about Millet is, firstly, it's gluten free and very high in protein, magnesuim, phosphorus, and niacin. Also, if you want it to have a rice like consistency, you cook it in a 3:1 ratio (3 parts water to 1 part millet). That means that it goes a lot (1/3) farther than rice does, because you cook rice 2:1. But you can cook it in really any ratio you want. It has a couscous-like consistency in a 2:1, and you can keep adding water to make it go further (it just eventually turns into a mush). Additionally, you can add it to soups and stews that you're cooking for a long time as a thickener. I haven't actually done this, but I've heard that you can just add a little and it will thicken your stew, and add nutrients at the same time.

In case you don't know what millet is, it's the same stuff that is in birdseed-- the little white balls. Only when you buy it to eat, it's been hulled, and as birdseed it still has the hull on. It really is delicious, and has a nuttier flavor than rice I think. If you like brown rice, I don't think it's much of a stretch taste wise. And the consistency is kinda fun.

Also, I made yogurt!! It was really easy, and turned out to be delicious. I could eat A LOT of yogurt, and I prefer mine to be more tart and a natural consistency, so instead of spending 4-5 dollars per quart of Brown Cow or whatever other brand, I can make it for 3 dollars a GALLON! And it stays good for a pretty long time. I can flavor it with honey, maple syrup, jam, vanilla, or whatever else I want, and I can make it with whole milk for Ollie, because whole milk yogurt is hard to find, and pretty expensive.

There really wasn't anything especially hard or tricky, and no special equipment. I just googled "making yogurt at home" and came up with a plethora of tutorials. The next thing I'm thinking about it Kefir, but I haven't really delved into that world yet. I'll probably make yogurt a few more times before I start that.

I think I need to start making my green smoothies again...

***

We are still waiting on news about the job. We are praying, fasting, and praying some more that it will come through soon. We need it to. If you have an extra opening in your prayers, please include us and this job in them.

To keep myself sane, I've been dreaming about houses. Have you seen SouthernLivingHousePlans.com? Don't go there, because you will spend way too much of your time looking through floor plans and day dreaming about building a house. Or maybe that's just me.

It doesn't help that I also found two 20 acre lots for sale on RedFin this morning, right in Bakerton, which is about 10 minutes from my parents house. Perfect location. For a good price. And how awesome would 20 acres be? Hmmmm.....

Delicious Dinner

2011-05-12T10:21:00.000-06:00

Justin found this recipe, and we made it last night. It was AMAZING, fast, simple, and really low calorie. We made the grilled cheese sandwiches too, with the kale, and they were surprisingly good!

Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese and Kale Sandwiches

Try It!!

10 months

2011-05-12T10:13:00.000-06:00

Ollie is 10 months old now! Where has the time gone?

He is still a bundle of energy, giggles, and fun. He is constantly moving and crawling and climbing and babbling. He LOVES to read books, and I often find him by himself by our bookshelf looking at his books.

On a good day, he takes 2 20-30 minutes naps. On a normal day, it's only one. It's just about impossible to get ANYTHING done around here, but I really can't complain, because he's the cutest, happiest little boy I've ever seen. Maybe our next child will take naps...

I'm still nursing him, but he loves to eat solid food, and has recently started feeding himself more often than not. There really isn't anything he doesn't like, expect peas and green beans, but if I mix them with a little chicken broth and butter he'll usually come around.

We took him to the pool for the first time this past weekend, and he had a ball! We bought season passes to Seven Peaks water park, so we plan on going swimming a lot this summer! The great thing about the pass is that it was super cheap, and we can come and go as we please. We are excited for when we can meet Justin there after work for an hour or two, or pop over during the day. Tommy bought a pass too, so it's going to be tons of fun. Now if we could just get some consistently warm weather?!

Easter 2011

2011-05-12T09:30:00.000-06:00

9 Months

2011-05-12T08:44:00.000-06:00

OK, I know he's already 10 1/2 months, but just because I'm behind doesn't mean the pictures aren't cute...

The Park

2011-05-04T10:38:00.011-06:00

Catching Up Again.

2011-05-04T10:10:00.003-06:00

I have a lot of catching up to do. I blame it on my computer having techinical difficulties, and also Dad being in town last week, and also me just being completely lazy and not interested in blogging. Sorry!

So here is the written update. I'll follow with a bunch of pictures shortly.

Everything here is great! Of course, like usual.

Ollie is getting HUGE. He has two bottom teeth, and one top tooth. There are 5 others working there way out though, which has made him a bit clingy for the last few weeks. He really takes teething well, and only gets really fussy when they are just about to poke through. He turned 10 months on Monday, and I can't believe how quickly the time has gone.

He eats all sorts of things now, some of his favorites being:

Scrambled eggs with cheese
Beans of any kind
Soup with beans of any kind
Refried Beans
Spaghetti
Melon of any kind
Yogurt
Multi Grain Cheerios
Tortillas
Anything that Mom or Dad eats

He still loves to read, and will almost always sit on your lap to read a book, even if he's doing something else really fun. He loves Pat the Bunny, and Gran also got him Pat the Puppy, which is equally as fun. I wish those books were made out of something stronger because they are getting loved to pieces, literally.

Justin got a new bike as an early birthday present, and has been riding it daily because of a problem he's been having with his ankle. He went to the Doctor, and has Retrocalcaneal bursitis.
He has a prescription gel for it, and has been trying to nurse it back to normalcy, but it has severely hampered his running. He's pretty upset about it. It's frustrating, because there's really nothing that can be done except to stop running and hope it heals, but he's just gotten so into the whole running thing.

As for me, I found out yesterday that my Thyroid problems have spontaneously cured themselves, which is awesome. I guess I must have some kind of super power or something. Just kidding, of course. About the super power.
We have had a terrible terrible winter here with more snow and coldness than we've had for a very long time. It's finally starting to get into the 50s and 60s, so I'm really looking forward to being able to go outside more. I especially can't wait for the pools to open. I'm going to be soaking up all the sun I can get.

OK, well I'm going to try to get some pictures posted before Ollie wakes up from his nap. Whatever I don't get done today, I'll try to post in the next few days.

I thought this summed it up nicely...

2011-04-16T08:37:00.003-06:00

An article about "Book of Mormon, the Musical", highlighting what the LDS Church has done in the 7 years it took to write this play. Have a look.

Food Storage

2011-04-13T09:34:00.006-06:00

So I mentioned yesterday that I had been working on my food storage a little bit. Here is the long version of that: I've been thinking a lot lately about my food storage, and how minimal it is. It's one thing when it's just Justin and I. If we aren't prepared, it's our own fault, and we'll have to suffer through it. But now that we have Ollie, it's a different thing. I would just feel terrible (understatement) if anything happened, and we couldn't provide for Ollie because we hadn't prepared.

We've been warned and warned and warned again, and I can see the wisdom in those warnings, especially with all of the things that are happening these days.

I've been trying to learn how to use my wheat more, lately, grinding my own flour for almost all of my cooking/baking, sprouting, and trying to find recipes that use it beside bread. I've been talking with our ward preparedness specialist, and getting excited about it. I want to learn more about sprouting other things, but for now I've just stuck with the wheat.

The preparedness specialist, Sister Pearson, announced on Sunday that they were going to host an informal discussion at their house that night if anyone wanted to come. I went, and since have been on a kick with the food storage. I want to just kind of tell you what I'm doing, and if you have any ideas, expertise, questions, or insight, please please please let me know.

I kind of feel like getting into food storage is like taking a proverbial plunge into a very deep end of a very big dark and scary pool. Blindfolded. With your hands tied behind your back. But I guess it doesn't have to feel like that. With things like a bad economy, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, flooding, etc., there's a lot to worry about. Not having my food storage is something that looms over my head a bit. I was talking to Sis. Pearson on the phone yesterday, and she said that someone had told her once that he viewed "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" as a commandment. Once you're prepared, you aren't allowed to be afraid any more, because you've done what God has asked you to do to prepare, and the rest is in His hands. I thought that was a pretty amazing thought! If I can just get my things in order, then I no longer have to fear; nay, I'm not allowed to fear anymore!

So that means I need to get my stuff together, right? We talked on Sunday about a few different methods that people use to plan out how much food they need. Some make a meal plan for 7 days, and then multiply it by 52 weeks to get their year supply, others plan meals for a month, etc. Once I started thinking about this, it kind of clicked and made a lot more sense.

So last night I wrote down 15 meals that we like and make on a regular basis that can be adjusted to be made from mostly shelf stable (canned/dried) food. Just so you have an idea, here are the meals I chose:
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chile with Rice
Beef Stroganoffe
Brazilian Beans and Rice
Chicken Supreme
Blackbean Soup
Pancakes
White Chile
Sloppy Joes
Fried Rice
Tacos
Chicken Haystacks
Chicken Pot Pie
Shepherds Pie

So we would plan to eat each of these things twice a month for a year. Next, I plan to write down the ingredients with measurements for each of these meals, and multiply them by 26 (times eated in the year), and then I'll know how much of each ingredient I need to have stored to have a years supply. You would do this for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks as well. I know this is common knowledge for the Food Storage Guru, but for me, this was a bit of a lightbulb moment. It seemed so overwhelming, but now, with a bit of simple math and a food scale, I can figure out exactly what I need.

Yesterday I found a chart online (<-- link) where you can write what you need, take inventory of what you have, and just keep track of everything. Does that make sense? Am I just so incredibly behind that everyone else is already doing this? I think that's probably the case, but everyone has to start from somewhere. In my case, that's zero.

SO. There's a few things that I need to do to get started. I'll list them so this doesn't turn into an incredible ramble:

1) Figure out how much flour my wheat is going to make. To do that, I plan on measuring a pound of wheat, grinding it, and seeing how much flour it makes in cups. I know that I buy the wheat in 45 lb. buckets, and since I bake bread once a week, and know how many cups of flour I use each time, I can calculate how many loaves I'll be able to make from each bucket.

2) Things like spices, baking powder, yeast, etc. are sold in ounces, but recipes are in teaspoons/tablespoons. I guess it would be beneficial (also neurotic) to measure out how much a teaspoon or tablespoon of each weighs, so I can know in ounces how much I'll need for a year. I'm not afraid of having too much as much as I am of falling short.

3) According to several people I've talked to, canning meat and beans is very easy, as long as you have a pressure canner. Meat is definitely the most expensive thing to have in storage, and frankly, canned meat kind of scares me. But if I canned it myself, buying the meat when it's on sale, I know exactly what's in it and when it was canned.

Beans can cost anywhere for 50 cents to 1 dollar per can. I bought two 20 lb. bags of pinto beans for 9.99 each, and the same size bag of black beans for 16.99. I'm thinking that if I could can 12 jars or so of beans at a time, and just keep them on my shelf, I can use my beans with the same convenience as canned beans, but the price of dry. Has anyone done this? Do you have a relatively inexpensive pressure canner that you love?

4) Did you know you can grind beans in a wheat grinder?!? I had no idea. So that means you can have refried beans in under 5 minutes. Or blackbean soup in the same amount of time. Now, I know you're supposed to soak beans because it is supposedly bad for your digestive system to eat beans and grains that haven't been soaked, but once in a while, when you're in a hurry, or in an emergency, I think it's fine! So I want to try grinding beans. I'm kind of excited about that.

5) I order 50lbs. of millet and 50 lbs. of popcorn, so I need to learn how to use millet. I've heard you can just use it like rice, as a thickener in soups, or even like couscous, depending on how much water you add to it in cooking. With the popcorn, I want to try grinding that also, to have my own cornmeal.

Does anyone eat millet regularly?

I'm going to keep working on this, and hopefully start checking off some of the things on my list. I'll try to keep you posted on my progress! I would seriously love if anyone wanted to jump into this with me a bit- I kind feel like it would be more fun to not do this by myself. Even if you're not interested in doing the exact same things, I'm open to ideas and suggestions. And my plan is to try, once again, to get into couponing to slowly start chipping away at my years supply. If anyone does this or has some good insight on that, let me know!!!

March into April

2011-04-12T13:01:00.006-06:00

So right now, my photoshop is working, which means I can't get any of the raw images off of my camera... So here are a bunch of pictures from my phone that give you a little idea what we've been up to.

Ollie has perpetually crazy hair.

Jake helped me make some sweet potato baby food. He almost threw up while doing this, but managed to muscle through. Poor Jake and his dislike for so many delicious foods.

This was the best fortune I've ever gotten.

We took Ruby down to the high school to play some fetch. Ollie was kind enough to let her off the leash to play.

My work-in-progress embroidery. I have since completed half of another square.

Apparently Ollie loves Honey Dew Melon. Dont worry- he was under close supervision.

I happened to take this picture of us right as Justin walked in the door from work.

Ollie loves his Daddy.

"Helping" with the dishes.

Justin got a new bike! He loves it and is already jumping curbs and popping wheelies.

Vroom Vroom.

Ollie fell asleep while doing yoga in his crib.Justin sent me flowers! I think I'll keep him.

Ruby loves the belly rubs.

Like I said about the hair...

She is such a snuggle pup...

I'm working on my food storage, and I'm super excited about it. This is what I got yesterday at Maceys Case Lot sale. Maybe I will go into more detail about this later...

He has his Daddy's pink lips.

Today is good.

2011-03-29T09:58:00.002-06:00

Today has been a good day! Ollie slept in a few minutes, so I worked on my embroidery project, which is this:

{source}

I'm almost finished the row on the right, about 1/3 of the way done. I'm trying to alternate easy squares with more intricate ones so I don't get burned out. Justin already made me a beautiful frame for it (While we were home. I am slow.) and I can't wait to see it finished and framed. We turned on PBS ,by chance, watched a documentary on one of my favorite children's authors, Virginia Lee Burton, who wrote this:

I have really good memories of reading this book, and I can't wait to share it with Ollie.

We shared some scrambled eggs and yogurt for breakfast, talked to Gran, made this week's batch of bread, and read a few books.

Now Ollie is taking a nap, and we plan on going to the park this afternoon. I really love spring. I always feel like a new person, and like I can accomplish so much more in just those few extra minutes of daylight.

My first 5k!

2011-03-28T09:01:00.004-06:00

This weekend I ran my first 5k! I know that's a measly amount to a lot of people, espeically Justin, but for me it was kind of a big deal. In 7th grade I decided that I should do track, and since I was no good at any of the events, they had me run the 800 open. My little brother Tommy never hesitates to remind me about how I came in last place. (If you watch The Middle, I was totally Sue Heck in more ways than one.) I have never been a runner (nor has anyone in my family) so in 'training' for this run, I ran farther than I ever have before at one time. I'd like to say that I finished with some awesome time, but it wasn't even close. I'm not sure who arranged this 5k, but it involved running on the side of a super windy mountain in the snow for 1.5 miles, then down a severely steep, extremely narrow, covered-in-ice decline (with a stroller). I fell on my butt on the decline, and I'm pretty sure my tailbone is bruised, but I finished it. I ran the last 1.5 miles, and I am proud of myself for doing it. Justin ran it (read: skipped along) with me, which was awesome. He pushed the stroller most of the time, including down the rediculous hill, and encouraged me the whole way. He's awesome.

Before. It was really cold. And those were Jake's seeds.

Jake came to cheer me on! What an awesome brother!

Afterward!

We also got a new dishwasher this weekend. Our old one has been making horrendous noises for the last year or so, so we finally broke down and bought a new one. Everyone had to help Dad get the new one in.

Ollie has become an expert escape artist. And sometimes it's so stinkin cute I just can't find it in my heart to stop him. I'm sure that will go away the first time he pees on my bed or something.

Also, this picture makes him look like he has no feet, but I assure you he has two very cute, very stinky ones. Stinky in a baby way.

Update

2011-03-16T10:55:00.002-06:00

I've gotten in the habit of just posting pictures, because it's easy, but I guess it's time for another update.

Ollie has been learning new things like crazy lately. He still does the army crawl, but is getting around very efficiently. I really have to watch him closely, because of course he never just wants to sit and play with his toys- he's always going for the DVD player, power strip, or most often, Ruby's basket of toys. He must have some kind of special magnet or radar in him that tells him exactly where all of his favorite dog toys are at any given time, because I'll set him down, turn around for literally seconds, and he's made it across the room and located one of the rubber dog bones. I don't know how to keep him away, because at the same time, Ruby will bring her toys over to him, drop them right in front of him, and try to get him to play with her. It's funny, and kind of adorable that they love playing together (he cracks up whenever she comes over to him) but it's pretty gross. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Ollie is also pulling himself up on everything, and has started walking by pulling himself along the couch or the piano bench, or some stable surface. He constantly amazes me with his energy and intensity. If he hones in on something he wants, it's hard to divert his attention. And he usually finds a way to get to whatever it is. I try to let him crawl and walk and pull and climb as much as is safe and my sanity allows because it keeps him happy, and I can see the improvements in his strength and skill every day. This age is so fun.

He loves Cheerios right now, and has just learned how to feed them to Ruby. She knows when it's time to eat, and lurks around the highchair waiting for scraps to fall. But now she isn't just getting the scraps- whatever is in his hand he'll just hand it right to her, and she gobbles it right up. He thinks this is hilarious, probably because it tickles his little hands, but I find it a little counter productive.

I think he's weighing about 17.5 lbs. His hair is coming in thicker, and is still very light blonde. I can only imagine this summer that it will be even more light in the sun.

We've been trying to get out as much as we can now that the weather is getting nicer. We go on jogs, walks with our neighbor friends Heather and Kaden, and yesterday we went to the park. Ollie loved the swings, but I think his favorite thing was trying to get the mulch into his mouth if possible. I took him down the slide, but he wasn't too interested. I think he's waiting for something a bit more extreme. Merry-Go-Round anyone? It's nice to live in a place that has so many sidewalks and paths and parks. There are lots of places for us to go, and new things to see all the time. It's really a lot of fun, and getting out in the sun is such a mood booster after such a long and gloomy winter inside.

Justin is doing great. Running, as I've mentioned before, is his big thing now, specifically training for his marathon in June. When he isn't running, he's usually playing with Ruby. She loves him so much- it's completely adorable. Whenever he's home, she's stuck to him like glue, and always vying for his attention against Ollie or I. She been running with he and I both, and her little paw pads are getting worn down. We've been trying to figure out what to do about it. It's hard to leave her here, because she loves running with us SO MUCH. Justing starts to get dressed in his running shorts, and she is immediately excited to go. When he leaves her, she sits at the door and whines the whole time. So what do we do? Shoes? She never acts like it hurts, limps, licks them, or shows any signs of it bothering her at all.

Anway. Justin's job is going great, and we're still waiting to hear about moving back east. We are REALLY hoping to hear soon. I'm kind of dying from waiting so long. It's very frustrating and hard to be out here in limbo for so long. But we are so thankful in the meantime that Justin has a great job, and one that he loves, and likes the people he works with, and pays enough for us to get by.

Justin and I just got called to teach Temple Prep in our ward, which is really exciting. I'm still playing the piano for the ward choir, but Justin was released as Mission Leader. We are really enjoying getting to study and learn as we teach this class.

I'm doing pretty well. Just trying to stay sane, keep my house clean, and exercise when I can. I'm in the middle of about 4 craft projects and a book, which I will post about if/when I get any of them finished. I just read Unbroken by Laura Hilenbrand, and it was so good that I made Justin read it too. He loved it as much as I did. It's a non-fiction (true story!!) about a WWII bomber whose plane crashes and he floats on a liferaft in the Pacific for 47 days, and is then captured by the Japanese and spends several years in POW camps. It was SO interesting, and was written SO WELL. I would recommend it to anyone. For a non fiction, it was a page turner, and just seriously so interesting.

Right now I'm reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which is another non-fiction, and is also really interesting. It's a little more heavily laden with scientific info, which makes it slower reading in my opinion. I've been reading a lot since Justin got me my Kindle. It makes me feel a little more human- like I'm using my brain for something besides figuring out how to remove hard water deposits from the sink.

Aside from that, I listen to a lot of public radio (nothing new) and Pandora (Avett Brothers, Griffin House, Eddie Vedder, Bon Iver, Bruno Mars, and Childrens Folk music). I'm excited for watermelons to come back in season.

8 Months!

2011-03-04T13:56:00.003-07:00

Sunday at our house.

2011-02-28T11:30:00.002-07:00

Someone had a blow out diaper while the Home Teacher was here... So he got to stay clothes-less for a little while. I know he did that on purpose... He's started sucking his thumb off and on. Also, I think he's finally teething for real, so maybe that has something to do with it. I'm also hoping that's why he's had an insanely runny nose for a few weeks now.
Also, he likes to raspberry a lot. Especially when he has a mouthful of squash. Or sweet potatoes. Or especially something that stains my shirt.

If you didn't know, or haven't noticed, Justin has lost about 45 lbs. recently...

And he's going to absolutely kill me for posting this picture. And writing about this at all.

But doesn't he look fantastic? I mean, he always has, but he's really gotten into running, and is obsessive compulsive about counting his calories. All his hard work has paid off, and my husband is wasting away into nothing! I'm a little worried that I'm not keeping up...

He runs about 20-25 miles a week, and has recently decided to sign up for the Utah Valley Marathon in June! I really am proud of him, and I'm so glad he's found a new hobby.

I decided to put all of O's toys in a basket in the living room, and he loves it. He crawls over to it and pulls everything out. Or if I plop it down in front of him on the floor, he'll sit there and occupy himself for a while, which is really nice for me.

Ruby is totally jealous that he has so many cool toys.

Especially ones made of her favorite things:

Cardboard

Squeakers

Fluffy filling

Wood

Crinkly stuff that makes noise

But she is so good, and never even touches them... But a little sniff doesn't hurt, right?

Key Lime Pound Cake

2011-02-28T11:07:00.003-07:00

I made this yesterday to take to a friend's house for dessert, and it was so yummy I had to post about it! It's a yummy, dense, moist cake with a tangy glaze.

Key Lime Pound Cake
Makes enough to feed an army, or 4 small loaves
(Original recipe says 12 servings, but those must be mammoth sized slices...)

Recipe from the March 2011 issue of Southern Living

1 C. Butter, Softened
1/2 C. Shortening
3 C. Sugar
6 Lg Eggs
3 C. All-Purpose Flour
1/2 t. Baking Powder
1/8 t. Salt
1 C. Milk
1 t. Vanilla Extract
1 t. Lime Zest
1/4 C. Fresh Key Lime Juice (from about 9 Small Key Limes)
Glaze (see below)

Preheat oven to 325*. Beat Butter and shortening until creamy. Add sugar gradually, beat until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition until just blended.

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until just blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla, lime zest, and lime juice. Pour batter into greased and floured 12 C. tube pan (I used 4 small loaf pans.) Bake at 325* for 1 hour and 15 minutes (less for smaller cakes) or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack.

Prepare Key Lime Glaze and immediately brush over top and sides of cake. Cool completely before slicing, about 1 hour.

Key Lime Glaze

Whisk together 1 C. Powdered sugar, 2 T. fresh Key Lime Juice (about 3-4 small key limes), and 1/2 t. vanilla extract until smooth. Use immediately.

Tommy's Homecoming!

2011-02-28T10:27:00.006-07:00

We had entirely too much fun, and were entirely too excited to see our Tommy. It was a great day!

Home!

2011-02-22T15:22:00.007-07:00

Here's a quick snapshot of our trip home! I'll post Tommy's Homecoming pictures separately, as soon as I don't have a crying squirming baby in my lap :)

Rawr!!!

Hike to Maryland Heights

Look out ladies... the Tommonator is BACK!

Crawling?

2011-02-06T18:14:00.000-07:00

No Words

2011-02-01T10:06:00.001-07:00

7 Months!

2011-01-25T15:20:00.007-07:00

He wont be 7 months until next Wednesday, but I felt like taking pictures today.

You're probably getting sick of the on-the-couch pictures, but I love how the sun comes through the window there in the afternoon, and I also think it's kind of cool to have a picture of him in the same place every month so you can see the progression of cuteness.

And he IS cute, No?

This is his very excited face.

Looks like an old man, with no teeth.

This is the view I get all day. He's constantly grabbing at everything, especially including my face, hair, earrings, and eyeballs.

Punkin Toes! So stinky, yet so refreshing.

The nose keeps getting pinker.

Just a man and his spatula...

Sometimes it doesn't end up the right way. We're working on it though.

This is Ruby's far-off, belly scratch gaze.

Answer Found

2011-01-19T15:55:00.003-07:00

God Bless my sweet husband for having the foresight to know what I would need.

It doesnt make a mess or take any brain power,

and I only need a hand when I have to turn the page.

Why did I not think of this sooner?

I need to relax.

2011-01-19T15:07:00.003-07:00

I feel like I've been wound kind of tight lately.

I started writing a post about OCD tendencies, anxiety, and obsessing over To Do lists, and then I freaked myself out a little, so I decided not to scare you away with all of that.

But I need something that I can do to relax that doesn't make a mess that I can do when a baby is screaming and crawling all over me and won't nap at all. So basically that doesn't involve using my hands or brain in any way.

Yep, I didn't think that exsisted either.

Remind me to never ever ever have another kid at a time when we don't live close to at least SOME family. Having no help and no breaks and no babysitters or date nights EVER gets a little taxing after a while and I think my brain is starting to seize up.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I am so in love with my boy. And I never ever ever for one milisecond regret having him or think the timing was wrong. It was perfect. But everyone needs a little break once in a while, and we didn't think we'd still be living in this terrible, dreary, cold, awful place.

Ollie finally slept through the night for REAL for the first time last night. I would think that I would feel great, but actually, no. I think I have 6 1/2 months of lost sleep to catch up on. Anaesthesia is starting to sound heavenly.

And this is where I stop. Are you glad I only subjected you to the Readers Digest version of my mental problems today? I thought so.

He goes until he crashes.

2011-01-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

He won't take naps, but sleep while he's eating dinner? Sure.

Blueberry Eyes

2011-01-15T18:17:00.005-07:00

There was a song on a lullaby tape we used to listen to called Blueberry Eyes. It's from a musical, but I'm not sure which one. I sing it to Ollie now.

It goes like this:

Blueberry eyes

and two lips red-ripe cherries,

Apricot cheeks,

Watermelon seed hair.

Sleep now my darling, my soon to be beauty,

Sleep, dearest harvest,

in bloom everywhere.

This boy definitely has blueberry eyes!

Two perfectly ripe blackish blue blueberries.

We bought this picture from Target today because we saw it, it was cheap, and it looks just like Ruby! Crooked teeth and everything. It's going in Ollie's room.

I have never bought mass-produced cheesy and cheap art before, but this had to be an exception.

We are suckers and are completely overly obsessed with our dog.

At least we admit it.
And who wouldn't love this sweet girl?!

Sprouts::Sprout Bread as Baby::Baby Food. OK, maybe not.

2011-01-12T15:07:00.006-07:00

First of all, is it at all possible to have a clean baby when they start eating solids? I mean, for real. You bathe them, and then have to feed them a few hours later, at which point they become covered from head to toe in whatever it is. I really can't give Ollie a bath every time he eats. We usually do bibs, and towels in the lap. I'm not really sure why he doesn't have one on in this picture. But I think that short of a Haz-Mat suit, there's nothing that would keep his clothes clean. Or his face. Or his hair. It's every where. I guess that's just part of the experience.

I've had some fun making a little bit of baby food. Yesterday I made about a months worth of food for about $5.00. Way better than the jar foods, that are about $0.75 a piece. This batch is frozen peas and pearl onions cooked in chicken broth. I tried it, and man, it was good. O agreed when I mixed them with his usual sweet potatoes at dinner last night. Yum.

Mangos and Blueberries.

I know I know. It's going to be a friggin mess. Oh well. I wasn't really thinking straight. It tastes good though. Maybe we'll have to eat that naked. Just before a bath.

My collection: You know what's in the trays. In the bag already frozen is apples, sweet potatos, carrots, and pumpkin.

My lovely assistant.

So maybe you already saw my stuff on Facebook about this, but I've had the itch to sprout for a little bit now. Specifically to make sprouted grain bread. I always buy it, and it's so good. And sprouted grains are so much better for you anyway. I found out that someone at church knows a lot about it, so I talked to them on Sunday and got the courage to try it. It was awesome! Within about 18 hours my wheat sprouted. It was exciting! Here is it soaking.

After it soakes, you drain it and lay it on its side (so excess water can drain out) and keep it in the dark. I used a paper bag because I don't have extra cabinet/pantry space, and I knew if I hid it somewhere in that abyss that I'd forget about it and it would get moldy. So here it is, working away.

Today I made bread using the best wheat bread recipe, courtesy of my cousin Janine. I actually got it from my mom, but Mom got it from Janine... I just made regular wheat bread and cut the water back a bit, and added my sprouts, which had been pulsed in the food processor.

Next I'd like to make actual sprouted wheat bread. With sprouted wheat flour. I have another batch sprouting already, and am hoping to figure out how I can dehydrate them without a dehydrator, in my oven, and then grind them in my mill. I'm a little nervous about that though because they have to be super dry or they will gum up in the mill. I'll keep reading and see what I find...

This bread is so yummy, and despite being made with exclusively wheat flour, it really isn't tough or dry at all! Quite the opposite actually, it was so soft that I squished it when I cut it with my semi-dull serrated knife. SOOO yummy though. Mmm. AND it was easy. I don't want to post the recipe on here yet without asking Janine first though, so if you really want it just email me :)

****************************

Aside from this, we've had a pretty laid back January so far. Ollie has been growing like crazy, and we're sure he's going to crawl soon. He is constantly grabbing and pulling himself all over the place, he just hasn't really figured out the leg part yet, which is key. He's sitting like a champ, and is already pulling himself up to standing, as long as he has a really good grip on something sturdy.

Justin was an incredibly thoughtful hubby and bought me a Kindle for Christmas. I LOVE IT. Its not something I would think to get for myself, and I'm not saying I wont ever buy another book, but it is so awesome and convenient, especially when youre holding/nursing a baby and dont have 2 hands to turn the page. I've been reading a bunch and am really really enjoying it.

Another example of how sweet and thoughtful my hubby is:

I bought a coat when I was in high school from The Trail House in Frederick, MD, and I have loved that coat. I've loved it so much that there are love holes in the pockets and the elbows are getting thread-love-bare, and its stretched out and mis-shapen. Its warm and cozy, but not too bulky. I have looked and looked and looked and scoured the internet for another coat just like it, but have never been able to find one. I figured they just stopped making it, as it's probably 8 years old now. I bought a few other fleece jackets to try and find one as good as this jacket, but they paled in comparison. None were as warm, comfy, or fit quite as well as that jacket, so I kept wearing it, love holes and all.

Well, Christmas Eve Justin really wanted us to open a present each, and so he came down the stairs with this big awkward looking package. I opened it and seriously could not believe it when I saw the exact coat, but brand new. He found it! A new coat, the exact one that I loved so much, but in a new color, Brown, which is always a good choice.

Is he the best or what? Take a look.

Old Coat.

New Coat.

He is the best.

Almost 6 Months!

2010-12-29T08:37:00.003-07:00

He's been sitting up for about a week now! And I mean sitting up without toppling over for the most part. He's been "sitting" for longer, but it didn't really count. He still does the occassional topple, but I feel OK leaving him on the blanket by himself for a few minutes.

This boy is ACTIVE. He got it from his Daddy.

I'm terribly afraid for when he starts crawling, which doesn't seem to be too far away...

Santa

2010-12-25T12:26:00.002-07:00

I guess Santa had already finished his final revisions to the Nice list

before Ollie sat on his lap last night.

Or maybe he doesn't mind babies chewing on his beard.

Either way, Ollie had fun telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T10:37:00.002-07:00

What, then, shall I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd,

I would bring a lamb.

And if I were a wiseman,

I would do my part.

Still, what I can, I give Him.

I give to Him my heart.

Merry Christmas! I hope it's been a wonderful year for you all. I didn't end up getting a Christmas card out this year, so I'll consider this the yearly summary, and try again next time.

It has been a whirlwind of a year for us. I still can't believe it's already Christmas again. It seems like it was just a few months ago that I was newly pregnant with Ollie, and wracked with worry, anxiety, and anticipation to see if we would have better luck with this pregnancy. All of that was unneccessary, and Ollie came to us this July; our lives have been turned upside down ever since.

Becoming parents is such a unique experience. I can understand why Heavenly Father has asked that we have children, because I really think you learn things about your self, your spouse, and the world that it would take ages to know otherwise. And meanwhile, amidst all this learning, you feel more lost and less smart than you ever have before.

A lot of things about having a baby swept me off my feet, but Oliver has brought so much joy, peace, and unity to our home that I can't really imagine what life would be like without him. Well, maybe I can imagine, but I don't want to.

I love being a Mom. I love watching Justin be a Dad. I sometimes really feel like my heart is going to explode with gratitude to Heavenly Father when I watch the two of them talk and play and laugh with one another.

I feel like it's easy for me to get caught in the doldrums. Money, jobs, and the drama of life gets my mind in a fog sometimes and I forget that I have so many wonderful things to be grateful for. Having Ollie has simplified my life in the sense that he and Justin are the only things that really matter most days. If they are happy, healthy, and fed,then my job is done. Everything else is the icing on the cake, and can wait. When I have my focus in the right place, the other things fall into place. When I trust that the Lord has perfect timing, and knows my needs perfectly, and will help me through anything, then my mind can be clear of worry and doubt.

In reading the Christmas letters we received from friends and family, it seems that across the board, folks had a very hard year. There is so much sadness in the world. I hope that this Christmas can be a time of clarity and simplicity. That we won't get wrapped up in the sadness and hardships, but that whatever Christmas is going to be this year, that we can enjoy it and make the most of the time we have together.

We aren't able to go home this year, which is sad for me. But I'm looking forward to spending the next couple days with my own little family. Right now, our days are filled with so many smiles, so much babble, and many first time experiences. It is really a magical time, and I am trying to soak up every minute of it.

I hope that your Christmas will be magical too!

We wish you all of the things you need, some of the things you want,

and lots of happiness and love to go around this coming year.

Merry Christmas!

Justin, Amanda, Oliver, Ruby, Calvin, and Hobbes

Snow Days and Good News

2010-12-21T09:45:00.003-07:00

We woke up yesterday morning to 3 or 4 inches of snow, unexpectedly. I'm not sure if we just hadn't watched the news, or if they just didn't talk about it much, but we had no idea the snow was coming. It hasn't stopped snowing since, and now theres about 2 feet outside, and it's still coming down. It's not supposed to stop until tomorrow, and I would guess we could get another foot by then at this rate.

That means that I'm kind of stuck here, which is OK I guess. Snow days mean a pajama party with myself, and a white christmas is always sentimental...

Here are some pictures I took this morning when Justin took Ruby out to piddle. As you can see, it's a lot of snow.

I had a great day yesterday for many many reasons, and here are a few:

Ollie sat in his new high chair for almost an hour while I did the dishes, picked up, and vaccuumed. That is a new record. I think he loves his new chair.
I got to take a shower.
It snowed all day and Justin didn't get in an accident.
I ate way too many Christmas treats, mainly pumpkin cranberry bread, but also pecan puffs.
Despit said indulgence, I dropped another pound, probably due to my newly discovered thyriod problem.
Justin gave Ruby a bath, so she smells like sunflowers and oatmeal.
Justin got a call from his soon-to-be employer! We have been waiting for this for soooo long. He has to go home for one more interview, and we should hopefully be able to find out then what our time line is for GETTING OUT OF UTAH! We didn't get a start date yet, but we should soon.

So Justin is flying home TOMORROW and coming back on Thursday night. I'm really glad that he's going out so soon, so we can keep this ball rolling. Also I'm glad because he'll get to see the family before Christmas! I felt so bad that he wasnt going to get to see them, but now he can, for free. Eventhough its only for a very very short visit.

Family Pictures!

2010-12-20T09:52:00.004-07:00

Justin, Ollie and Ruby humored me for a little bit on Sunday morning and we took some family pictures. I just did them at home with my tripod, which was actually way harder than I expected, because we're cheap, and I don't really want to pay for family pictures. Also, when you do them yourself, you can have a re-do as many times as you need to get the right smile, hair arrangement, etc. I think they turned out Ok. Definitely not professional, but Ollie will be able to see what we looked like, and that's the point.

Also, you can't take your dog to a picture studio.

And whats a family portrait without the Ruby girl?

Various looks of surprise and confusion from Ollie.

Also, "what's that blinking light?! I want it in my mouth NOW!"

Face break.

We got these matching shirts a long time ago because we thought it'd be hilarious to take a picture together in them. After we did it, we decided it just looked stupid.

Ruby carried this block of ice for several miles on a run the other night. Justin said she kept dropping it and stopping because it was too heavy and she was tired. Eventually, Jusitn picked it up and carried it for her, but then she spent the rest of the run jumping beside him to try and get the ice back. She loves her treasures that she finds.

And she has Justin wrapped around her little paw finger.

I was asleep when he let her bring this in the house... I'm assuming it was just for the picture.

2010-12-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

My Momma.

2010-12-15T12:18:00.001-07:00

Isn't she beautiful?

I'm so lucky.

She'll probably hate me for posting this too.

A Magic Trick and Ollies First Food

2010-12-02T14:25:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving and 5 Months!

2010-12-02T12:11:00.006-07:00

Ollie is 5 months today! It kind of makes me a little sick to think he'll be 6 months next month...

These pictures are all out of order, but theres some of Marge, Ollie's 5 Month pics, and Thanksgiving.

Enjoy!

A Good Week Ahead!

2010-11-19T10:48:00.002-07:00

I love love love Thanksgiving. I think it's my favorite holiday, mostly because it isn't commercialized like all the others. It really is a day that is just about spending time together with family, counting your blessings, and eating good food. How wonderful! I love getting to cook for other people too. It's fun to cook for Justin and all, but on Thanksgiving, I get to go all out. By the end of the day, or even just by dinner time, I'm pooped, but it's worth it. Hopefully this will be the last year for me to make the entire dinner by myself. I enjoy it, but I can't wait to be home and to be able to share the meal with more of the people I love the most.

I think this year will be especially great. I feel like I have so many things to be greatful for! It has been one heck of a year, and to have gotten this far without seriously self destructing is blessing enough. My sister Maggie, aka Marge, (who got her braces off YESTERDAY!) is coming out on Tuesday to spend a week with us! I'm SO excited for her to come. Its really strange when your littlest sister goes from younger sibling to friend, but her growing up just makes being her sister even more fun. She's hilarious, says so many of the things I wish I had the guts to say, and gets more beautiful every time I see her. My fantastic brother Jake will be here too, since he's here at school, and I'm hoping to put some of his mad cooking skills to use in the kitchen. Cousin Anna is coming over too! It will be an awesome day. I'm so excited.

Growing up we always had very large family gatherings, which is something I'm so grateful for. I have so many wonderful memories of Thanksgivings at Grandma and Papas house with all the cousins, alternated with Thanksgivings eating by the woodburning stove at Poppy and Grandma Maureens. Now that Ollie is here, I'm excited for him to be old enough to be anxious to spend time with his family like we always were. Our little Thanksgivings always seem a bit empty compared to what I'm used to, but the same spirit is there.

Like I've said before, one of my very favorite traditions is watching the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Justin hates parades and refuses to watch it with me, so I'm really glad Marge will be here. And hopefully Jake will come over early enough to see it as well! It's so fun to enjoy a little breakfast and hot chocolate or cider, and see all the awesome and/or rediculous celebrities, floats, musical numbers, etc. Even though the whole "Santa bringing in the Christmas Season" thing is a little silly, watching the parade does really feel like the start of the holiday for me.

So anyway, this should be a good week. Marge comes in on Tuesday, Wednesday we'll have some fun, and get a little pre-baking done, Thursday is the big day, and Justin gets to be home, and then Friday will be spent hiding from all the crazy Black Friday Shoppers. Maybe Mag and I can do a little project, or set up Christmas decorations, or both.

I'll probably be away from blog-land for a bit, but I'll be back in a week or two with lots of fun pictures, and maybe a video or two!

In case you were disappointed by the first video...

2010-11-17T18:21:00.004-07:00

He actually CAN do it.

Proof:

Ollie at 4 months

2010-11-17T16:56:00.001-07:00

Saturday Stroll

2010-11-10T12:01:00.004-07:00

We took a nice little walk up Hobble Creek Canyon on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, and we figured it was probably our last chance to enjoy the Indian Summer we've had here this year. Of course we took Ruby, and she had a ball. She's pretty easy to please-- new smells, new places, and a little bit of water and this girl is as happy as a lark.

Ollie is liking walks more and more. He tends to be a little upset when we first buckle him into the stroller, but one we get going, he loves it. I think he likes being able to watch Ruby walk out in front. Lately, he calms down whenever Ruby comes near him. I think he's intrigued by the big, furry, licky thing. I have some funny pictures of them that I'll have to post soon.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

Halloween, a wee bit late.

2010-11-07T11:33:00.002-07:00

He was the cutest little bumble on the block!

P.S. The drool is out of control.

Grandma Phyllis

2010-11-01T15:36:00.003-06:00

Justin's Grandma Phyllis (his Mom's Mom) flew all the way out here from Oklahoma to visit us and the rest of the family that's out here! It was so nice of her to travel all this way. On Saturday we stole her from Aunt Dawn for a few hours, and brought her down to our house for a little bit. We had a really nice time with her, and it was so good to see her! Our paths don't cross very often.

Ollie loved getting to meet his Great Grandma! He was a bundle of smiles and giggles the whole time she was holding him.

We couldn't even get him to look at me to take a picture, he was so entranced with Great Grandma Phyllis. It was adorable!

Thanks for coming to visit us Grandma Phyllis! We hope we can see you again soon!

Cold Day

2010-10-26T12:12:00.002-06:00

Some days I really just don't know what to do with myself. Today is one of those days. It's cold and windy outside (is it ever not windy in Spanish Fork?), so walks aren't very fun for my little babe. For now, I've settled on eating and apple with Peanut Butter while watching Beauty and the Beast (thanks to my thoughtful Mama!) and blogging. We'll see how long the nap lasts.

I really wish I had more friends. My mom is always talking about going to lunch with so-and-so, or meeting up with this or that person. I wish I had people I could call and go to lunch with. The problem is when you only have one friend, and that friend has more friends than just you, you feel bad bugging them all the time to do stuff. Maybe it's just me not being very confident in the idea that someone would actually want to go to lunch with me, or maybe I'm just really bad at making friends.

Anyway, so today it's apples and peanut butter for lunch. And maybe some left over Quinoa.

I'm getting started on Christmas, and honestly the hardest part is not talking with people about what I'm thinking about making. I need to keep it a *SECRET* or it won't be as fun on Christmas. I'm hoping to get ahead a little and have things done sooner than later, but it's kind of hard when I only have about 2 hours of free time a day, and I spend it eating apples and blogging. I might be subconsciously dragging my heels because I really am not ready for it to be winter yet. We still haven't gotten a start date for the job, and the thought of spending another winter here makes me nauseous.

In other news, Ollie is getting cuter and more fun all the time. He's sleeping like a champ now! We usually put him to bed around 9, he gets up to eat around 4:30, and then is up for the day at 7 or 7:30! I could survive if we continued this forever. But a solid night sleep is still an exciting prospect. I would say that this is great because it actually gives Justin and I a little time sans child in the evening, but he's been running like a maniac lately, so after he puts O to bed, he heads out for his evening run. If I were to wait up for him, I'd be waiting close to 2 hours, so I generally just go to bed and savor the extra sleep. Maybe some day we'll get a treadmill, and I can sit and talk to him while he runs in the nice warm inside.

I am SO PROUD of him though- he's gotten his mile time down to about a 7'30" mile, when he runs 4 miles. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!?! I want him to time his fastest sprinting mile, because I'm sure it will be much lower. He hasn't done that yet though. But seriously, that's almost 1/2 what I'm sure my mile time is, although I haven't timed myself lately (ahem. because I don't exercise very much...) Also, the other day, his resting heart rate was in the 30s. THE THIRTIES. Mine is like 85 or something. He's crazy. And a little obsessive. But I'd rather him be healthy and obsessed any day.

Ollie has become very vocal lately. He's been a talker for some time now, but over the last week or two, he's really started the babbling. It's adorable, and only makes him even cuter than he already is. My favorite thing, and I think his too, is bed time. Justin has a great routine, and puts him to bed every night. It is so fun for me to sit in bed and listen to the two of them talking and giggling and squealing at one another. Justin is so good with him, and you can just tell that he loves his Dad so much. Whenever we go out, I always carry him (like in the store, or wherever) because he doesn't like being in his car seat very much. I used to carry him in the Moby, and still do if it's nap time, but he's finally big enough for the front pack, and loves facing out and checking out the world. I carry him around a lot of the day as well, and he is as happy as a lark while I'm doing dishes, vaccuuming, etc., which is a huge blessing.

Well, I hope thats enough of an update for now. Its easier and cuter to just post pictures all the time, but I know I need to actually write some things once in a while... So I'm good for another month, right?

Pumpkin Carving 2010

2010-10-25T16:31:00.004-06:00

Shirts-- who needs 'em?

2010-10-14T15:14:00.007-06:00

So we won't judge the quality of my parenting by whether or not my kids are dressed. It's in their genes to run around shirtless, and in almost every picture we have of Justin from the age of 2 through 9 or so, he's missing shirt, pants, or both. We'll attribute it to a free spirit.

Today, Ollie spit up at least 8 or 9 times on his shirt, and that was after a blow out diaper on the onesie he was wearing. We decided to ditch the shirt. It was warm enough in the house anyway.

Also, I thought this was a funny sequence of pictures... Enjoy!

Sleeping Boy!

S-T-R-E-T-C-H awake!

Oh, Hi Mom.

Wait. What the crunk? I was sleeping!

What's that thing in front of your face?!

Oh YES! I have FINGERS!

But WAIT. I was SLEEPING!

I'm SAD!

*Whimper*

But I'm kind of tired of crying.

*Ahh*

Happy Boy!

Whoa! Enough pictures already!

Except I don't really mind that much.

I love you Mom.

And Lamby.

New Toy

2010-10-04T12:51:00.002-06:00

Jake downloaded an update for Photoshop that lets me edit RAW images. Let me just say, a whole new world of photo editing has just opened up, and I'm having a hard time convincing myself to do anything else during nap time. Also, Ollie is getting sick of me taking pictures of him. He's a good sport though. And look at those Baby Blues...

So I might just keep putting up mountains of Ollie pictures over the next little bit. I'm having way too much fun not to.

And Gran is coming out on Friday!!! We are all excited, especially me. I'm going to try not to pull her away from Jake too much... But it will be difficult.