Goratrain and Ian-ator

Cherry Pop Refashion Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-02-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wish I could really sew. Like really sew. Not quilts, not beanbags, but real clothes...that is without someone coming to rescue me (thanks, Mom for always rescuing me in the middle of my projects).

Love this lady and her amazing talent. Maybe Fairy Godmother will grant me just one wish!

Cherry Pop Refashion Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

A Challenge

2010-02-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

Niev and Ian like to sword-fight. Ian got out the swords and said,
"Niev, I challenge you to a sword-fight."
Niev, without a moments hesitation, said, "Well, I challenge you...
to be baptized!"

Niev Turns Three!!!

2010-01-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

Since Niev's birthday was on Sunday this year, we decided to have a small party on Saturday with some of her closest friends. Niev was very excited this year about her birthday. She had mentioned numerous times since Halloween that her birthday was coming up. Niev wanted a bubble gum party this year. I didn't even know exactly what that meant so I asked her if she would like to dress up at her party as a pirate. She got very excited and so we decided that we would have a Pirate-Bubble Gum Birthday Party. When I asked Niev what she wanted written on the invitations, she said, "Come to my party and eat bubble gum." Very Niev!

The day finally came and Niev was ecstatic! In our house we have a Birthday Pirate that comes and decorates for everyone's birthday. Niev woke up and was very excited about the streamers the BP had used.

Niev of course, chose to wear her pjs to her birthday party and you can't argue with the birthday girl so...Dinosaur jammies it is! While we were waiting for all her friends to come, I put on a CD that I had made for her with all of her favorite songs and boy, did they dance!
We read to them from David Shannon's "The Day I Became a Pirate" and then had them don eyepatches. None of the girls were huge fans of the half-blindness so they only lasted for a picture.

We then had a sword fight. The girls were surprisingly timid and not very aggressive. I had made a rule that when the music stopped they had to freeze. I had made that rule to ensure that if they got out of control that I had a chance to break the chaos up. They enjoyed the freezes more than the fighting. I guess I need to have a boy.

They had a coloring activity and a scavenger hunt (candy necklaces were the prizes) and then it was time to eat some pizza and cake. Overall it was a succesful party and I think Ian and I had just as much fun as the kids. Niev's favorite part of the party was that I had a bowl of gumballs on the table and as soon as they wanted a new piece of gum, they spit out their old piece in the garbage and then they were allowed to get a new piece. We quickly got rid of all the extra gumballs. Rowan also enjoyed being in on the action. She loved dancing and trying to keep up with the big girls.

The Pirate Gumball cake!

That night, we babysat the girls' friends, Emma and Linnea. They watched Cinderella. Niev was in heaven.

On Sunday, her real birthday, she awoke to find her real presents from Mom and Dad waiting to be opened: an indoor swing and a backpack.

No one should swing by themself so rowan got a swing too.

Preacher Niev

2010-01-23T21:59:00.001-08:00

Niev loves to play "Church". She will often make Ian and me sit on the couch while she stands at the "pulpit" (the coffee table) reading from the "scriptures" (any of her books). She will sing uproariously and then once in a while decide that we are going to do a baptism. She needs a prop for this one though and often uses Rowan. Poor little sister!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-23T21:23:00.000-08:00

I know I'm just about a month off with this post, but better late than never. The girls sat on Santa's lap and were very brave. Niev asked for a puppy (even though she already has one) and for a
We put up our Christmas tree with the girls' "help" and it wasn't as nerve wracking as I thought it would be.

We left cocoa and a candy cane for Santa and Niev insisted on leaving bubble gum and water for the reindeer (I think she thought that she would get in on that action).

Sorry I can't get this picture to rotate!!!!

We awoke to the greatest Christmas day ever. Just our little family.
A day filled with playing with every toy received, some piano playing, great food, laughter and best of all, naps!
Ian and I were laying in bed that night and we both said that we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas. We are very blessed.

Rowan's birthday

2010-01-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

It is really difficult having a baby girl whose birthday is in December. Rowan turned one on December 12 so we had a little party just here at home with the girls.
I attempted making some cake pops (Bakerella.com) but I couldn't find colored candy coating so I tried adding food coloring to just the white candy coating. Didn't quite work so well. It was a nightmare. I also couldn't find a fine tip decorating tip. See for yourself--they were awful and absolutely hideous.

I tried to make cupcakes, but that didn't go quite as well as I had hoped either.

Honestly, this took all the humility I had to post these pictures!

Singing happy birthday

Not quite sure if she really likes this much sweetness

Diggin' in!

Niev didn't mind that they were hideous.

Rowan has grown up so much lately. She is talking a bit more and really enjoying being mobile. She is our climber. If she can get her leg on it, she is climbing it. She has absolutely no fear. Her first words were "mom" and "dad", of course, but her next word was "Bonzer" (bon-ba). She loves her puppy and they are the best of friends. She is a really happy baby, but needs a regular schedule. We love her so much. Niev loves to play with her baby sister and Rowan really enjoys Niev chasing her. Happy birthday, Ronin!

Rowan opening her presents from Mom and Dad

Niev and Rowan fulling enjoying her present

Santa pictures 2009

2010-01-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

Niev with Santa

Rowan giving Santa the third-degree (or as good as one can without being able to talk.

Now she is done.

Doing the staring thing again?

Dang my girls are cute.

Niev as a dancing diva

2010-01-08T21:47:00.000-08:00

Rowan received this handy, dandy spinning thing in her stocking and Niev has laid claim on it as her own personal microphone.

She has got her momma's moves. She loves making up her own songs and really belting it.

Welcome to the Dollhouse

2010-01-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

Ian and I enjoy making things for our girls. It gives us a little pride in the toys our girls have. We decided that the girls (especially Niev) needed a dollhouse and dolls for Christmas since Niev was using her blocks for dolls and pretending almost anything was a house for her "dolls". We stayed up countless nights painting and ModPodging and polyerethaning. It was fun to work together, but kind of stressful when we saw how much work we still had to do on Christmas Eve! The pictures aren't great, but they get the idea across. It is much better in person...trust me! Gramma Buh painted all the furniture and fake Aunt Vickie made the pillows and bedding. The girls really love it.

Closed

Open

The library

The grocery store

The ocean

The bedroom

The kitchen

The living room with doll doctor and doll Dwight

The dining room

The playroom

The bathroom

Being thoroughly enjoyed!

We also made Rowan a pound-a-peg toy. The multi-colored peg was painted by the talented Niev.

Gifts for Baby Jesus

2009-12-14T20:13:00.001-08:00

We have been doing a Christmas chain as a family this year. We thought of 24 things to do as a family that would help us have a Christ-centered Christmas. We then created a chain with those 24 ideas. Today's activity was to share what gift we would bring to the baby Jesus. Niev went first and without even having to think to hard about it replied, "I would give him some of my books." What would you give baby Jesus?

Caution: Future Artist in Progress

2009-12-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

So I think my daughter has been hanging out with her daddy a little bit too much in his garage/workspace. She has truly honed in on his artistry skills. Check out these sketches (I have an entire drawer full of them in case we are short on cash then we can pull them out and collect our baby-genius prize).

This was drawn by Niev when she was just over 2 1/2. When I asked her what she had drawn she seemed put out that I would have to ask. "It's Niev," she replied taken back that I didn't recognize her right away.
This is her family. (you might have to click on the picture to actually see it. I am holding Rowan and Niev is standing next to Daddy. (I must be mad a lot because she only gives me eyebrows! and they are down-turned.)
This is her friend Emma and Emma's mommy Jen. When she drew glasses on Jen I told Niev, "Jen doesn't wear glasses." I then looked at Jen (because she was over at the time) and realized that she actually DOES wear glasses! She is observant! (BTW, the glasses are the rectangular things around the eyes.)

This is so tender to me. It is a picture of Niev and her dad laying in bed on pillows because Niev is sad. Daddy is wearing his glasses. Niev has a very loving daddy.
I love seeing the creative side of Niev. Somedays it drives me crazy. For example, I was trying to get somethings done on the computer. Niev knew I wasn't paying attention to her so she went into the kitchen got out my honey and proceeded to poor syrup into about four different bowls each about two feet apart. Needless to say, there was syrup all over my kitchen floor. The next day, I was folding laundry. I could hear Niev in the kitchen so I called to her, "What are you doing?" She said, "Oh I'm just drawing a picture!" She was in the kitchen for about 20 minutes which is a long time for her to draw so I decided to see exactly what she was doing. She was drawing with HONEY!!! Let me remind you that I have carpet in my kitchen. Now I have sticky carpet in my kitchen. Ian and I both took some turns using some elbow grease and a lot of Resolve, but it is still a bit stiff in places. Someday I won't have carpet in the kitchen, but I will always be grateful for a creative child. I do love her.

Social Darling Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-12-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

Social Darling Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

I just don't think it gets any cuter than this dress. When will I have mad skills like this? When?

The Hop, Skip and a Jump Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-11-20T18:21:00.000-08:00

The Hop, Skip and a Jump Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Meet my Prince Charming

2009-11-18T23:27:00.000-08:00

I know that blogs are really all about people bragging about how great their lives are (when in reality, they only tell the good and the days they don't blog or don't have much to say are the days when they are swearing at their kids, burning the Hamburger Helper and turning on Dora the Explorer and calling it Pre-school). I try really hard to not be amongst this group of bloggers, but sometimes things happen that make you want to tell everyone just how fabulous you have life.

I really slacked in cleaning the house today. I tried to do dishes until Rowan pulled a KNIFE out of the silverware rack and I called that duty quits until naptime. I tried to straighten the living room, but Niev and Rowan pulled out more toys than I could put away. Niev was also yelling at me the whole time telling me that those were her toys and she was playing with them. I tried to fix delicious meals, but I was just too tired. I tried to be a good mom, but then my sister called. Sorry, when there is a new baby in the family it kind of takes precedence. Plus I was avoiding doing all previously mentioned tasks. I did manage to take Niev to storytime today and even had Rowan in tow. This rarely happens because my husband works from home so I can put Rowan down for a nap and then leave Rowan with Ian with a monitor (you should all try having your husband work from home. It is great. I highly recommend it!) So in that realm I really felt accomplished. But I had a meeting tonight and when I left the house, it was a disaster. I mean dishes everywhere, toys strewn about, dinner still needing to be put away, floors littered with everything imaginable (and a few things you probably didn't want to imagine!).

Enter Prince Charming...

I come home from my meeting and the floors are vacuumed, dishes are done, house is completely straightened, closet doors are back on their hinges!, a load of laundry has been done!, dishes have been put away!, our bedroom is clean! I am speechless. I knew I married good, but this is insane. I love my husband and his unselfishness. He had tasks he wanted to get done tonight. He had an agenda, but he put it all aside for me. For this, I am eternally grateful. He is so thoughtful. Thank you Ian for always making my life so much easier (and way more FUN!).

two more reasons why I love him

Summer reruns

2009-11-18T13:18:00.000-08:00

This summer we spent a lot of time swimming at the public water sprinkler park thingys (I never quite know what to call them). Niev enjoyed them thoroughly. So much so that we went there almost EVERY day. By the end of the summer she finally got brave enough to go through the mushroom pool's waterfall. It was a proud moment. Thanks Jen for the pictures. I never ended up taking my camera. She still has a suntan on her back from her swimsuit and I swear I ALWAYS put sunscreen on. We just really went that many times.

Before we left, we would always have to allow some time for this fire engine. I would go up to the little window, order food, she would go to the back to fix the food and then she would deliver it out of the window. (I swear we have only gone through a drive-thru like twice in her lifetime. Must have made an impact!) I wish you could see her sno-cone machine. Classic!

Sisters

2009-11-16T21:25:00.000-08:00

I have been wondering lately if Niev and Rowan will be very similar. I have not come to any type of conclusion on this question as of yet, but I did run across some photos from the last several months that I thought interesting.

Evidence
Exhibit A: They both like to wear hats while reading.

Exhibit B: They both love wrestling with their daddy when he gets off of work.
Exhibit C: They both hate to wear clothes (see exhibit B).

Exhibit D: They have mastered the model pose.
Yes, even Rowan has.
Exhibit E: They adore each other and absolutely live to make the other one smile.

Please don't call on Mom for prayer.

2009-11-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

Tonight Ian asked me to say family prayer. I was really feeling a lot of love for my little family and must have really been getting into it when Niev interrupted. "That's too much. MOMMY, that is just too much. Stop. I said,'STOOOOOP!'" I could barely close my prayer I was laughing so hard.

And so the tradition begins: Moms always say the longest prayers!

Paula Buh is a SAINT

2009-11-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

Last night I was talking with a group of friends and the subject turned to in-laws. Many of the women were not close to their mother in-laws and often times it sounded as if their MIL were judgemental and quite nosy. They not only told them how to run a house, but how to raise their kids, how to talk to solve issues with their husbands and how to go about their spiritual growth. It broke my heart.

It also gave me a great sense of appreciation for Ian's mom. She doesn't pass judgement or seem to belittle me in her own sly way. Instead she loves me unconditionally and accepts me as a true daughter. I love when she comes to visit because not only can Ian and I get away for a bit, but it is great to chat with her. She is so easy to talk to and always seems to take my side (even if she really doesn't think that I am right). I admire her strength and the way that she has kept her family together through some very demanding and straining trials.
I love her for the son she raised. He truly attributes much of who he is to the wonderful mother he has. (He keeps the seat down on the toilet, takes the kids when I need a break which is about weekly now, and truly is smitten by his children and shows them the greatest love a father can give. This is all due to his mother.) She even forgives me for being a really bad blogger!

She is the most fabulous grandma that I could ever ask for. She eats up every minute she can with my kids while she is here. She calls Niev on a very regular basis and holds long, in-depth conversations about her day. She celebrates with Ian and I at every milestone of our girls and shares in our sorrows at their heartbreaks and sicknesses. She truly has mastered unconditional love. Honestly, what more could I ask for!

Paula, I love you and wish you lived closer (please move now!) You are so good to me. Thank you. We all love you dearly!Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!

Beautiful girls

2009-11-03T20:57:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to brag about my girls for a bit. Isn't that why people blog? Come on, be honest. That IS why you blog. But really, they really are becoming so cute.

We got a dog several months ago (Rowan was 4 months old and YES we are insane for getting a dog when we just had a new baby. Blame Ian; it was his birthday gift.). He is a pug-chihuahua mix and is really such a good dog. Rowan and Bonzer are the best of friends. They play so cute together and he is very patient with her. She will smack him, just lay on him and roll around. He puts up with a lot.Doesn't that make you want a dog (hint, hint Smiths)?

We carved a pumpkin at the VERY beginning of this month. Niev was WAY more into the cookies than carving a pumpkin, but isn't that typical Niev! By the time Halloween rolled around, our pumpkin was rotting. Niev kept telling us that pumpkin was getting dirty and we needed to clean him off (mold was growing on the outside).

Rowan FINALLY got her first tooth about two weeks ago (maybe a bit longer). It was a top one. Weird, I know! She now has three teeth, two on top and one on bottom. She won't show them, but she still is pretty cute. How can you not want to just smother her with smooches!
She is trying to walk. She is taking a few steps at a time and then will (very controlled) go to the ground to begin crawling. She is fast little crawler. As soon as I open the dishwasher or the fridge you hear, "woosh, wooosh, woosh" as she is crawling as fast as she can to get into stuff. She is quick!

Niev is very much into pretend play. She will make anything into a doll and make it talk. It is really fun to be in her world right now. She is a great little artist and draws the most amazing people (glasses with a bridge, sleeping people with pillows and girls with long lashes). She recognizes her name (or any letters in her name, ie. she sees an N in Natural and says, "That is my name", while pointing to the N.) I love my smart, firey girl.

I swear we wear clothes in this house.

See, here they are wearing clothes. yes, we are getting ready for church, but they are STILL wearing clothes in the house. It counts.

House improvements

2009-11-03T20:46:00.000-08:00

While I was away making applesauce at my mom's house, Ian was busy painting the girls' room. Isn't he fabulous! We had the paint for SEVERAL months, but it is really hard to paint a room where little ones have their quiet time, their nap time and their sleep time. What a saint he is! (Sorry no pictures, but imagine a really great greenish-gray color that is perfect. Yep, that is the one. Isn't it great!)

We recently wanted to update our light fixtures, but didn't have a lot of spare cash so we went a cheap route.

I don't have a before picture, but the original chandelier in our entry was about three feet too wide for our small entry. Ridiculous. We found this idea on line (wish I could remember where) , but improved it with varying the bulb sizes. We really LOVE the outcome. It gives a whimsical, bubbly feel rather than the heavy overdone feeling of our old gaudy chandelier. We are so pleased.Now we just need to pick a hallway color--any ideas???

We also wanted to update our dining room light. As you can see it was REALLY 60's and ugly. Gold is not in.

Spray paint does wonders! The blue really adds to the room.

Hope we inspired you to do something on the cheap that adds a bit of spunk to your house!

Grosgrain: Shabby Apple 'Dare to Design' Lawn Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-11-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

Grosgrain: Shabby Apple 'Dare to Design' Lawn Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

A lucky girl would be able to win this dress. Please let me be that lucky girl!

Halloween is finally over!!!

2009-10-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

I overheard Ian talking to his mom about how "everyone should just give up on Lora's blog". Well, you've asked for it so here it is. Good luck keeping up!

Normally I really love Halloween, but this year has been extremely chaotic with the Primary Presentation and then my volunteering for too many things for our Halloween Carnival. I have truly learned to just keep my mouth shut and NEVER show up to meetings.

Tonight we had a Halloween Carnival, Bake-off and Trunk-or-Treat. I have been thinking about the girls costumes since around Labor Day and then costumes took a backseat while we were preparing for the Primary Program this last Sunday. Once Sunday was over, I realized that that I really didn't have much time to get everything done that needed to get done (especially since Niev and Rowan's costumes were more in the design phase rather than the sewing and done phase!).

Last night at 11 p.m. Ian and I put the finishing touches on the girls' costumes. They really turned out so cute.

Niev kept jumping up and down so it was very hard to get a picture of her. She LOVED eating dinner with her friends (I can't get the underlining off of this part...sorry!)

Niev was so cute saying, "I'm an astronaut and Ronin is a rocket." When she was trick or treating, she would say, "Tick, trick or treat." I just couldn't correct her. She was trying so hard to say just the right thing that would get her candy.
She kept trying to see what the girl was painting on her face so she was being EXTREMELY wiggly for the poor young woman painting her face!

Today was busy spent preparing for the carnival (which I was in charge of!!!) and then baking a pie for the pie bake-off (which I proudly won second place! Sorry Derrick, my pie was still better than your whiny-story pie). I'm so glad that tomorrow, then only thing on our calendar is going trick-or-treating with the girls.

Monsters, Monsters everywhere!

2009-10-26T10:48:00.001-07:00

Niev had her first monster encounter last night. She woke up at 4:30 and came into our room whining that there was a monster in her room. She went on to explain that he was going to get her so she swung her arms and the monster couldn't bite her. He kept trying to bite her, but she just kept swinging at him

Ian gave her a ratchet-type tool and told her it was a "Monster Blaster". He then preceded to throw all the monsters out of the house (great dad, huh!). She refused to go back in her room and cried for a while after Ian forced her to go back to bed (we've been having problems with her trying to sleep with us after about 5 a.m.). I just hope her "Monster Blaster" works tonight!

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-10-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Isn't this just my kind of dress! Love it.

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Practice makes perfect

2009-10-07T22:44:00.000-07:00

Rowan is amazing...she got her first tooth today. It is her top left. Weird, huh? Aren't they supposed to get their bottom teeth first. She is a unique little girl, what can I say!

She has been pulling herself up like crazy and now she is free-standing. I even caught her today practicing her free-standing. She was being really quiet on the other side of our counter so I went to investigate. She was practicing and so concentrated that she didn't pay any attention to me. When she finally did notice me, she just laughed and shrunk to the floor. Love that girl. She is adorable. More later? Can't promise since you all know how bad I suck at blogging. Sorry, but I have things to do...

A free bike every week? They must be crazy busy...

2009-09-05T00:07:00.000-07:00

or crazy rich (which means crazy busy making tons of money).

Aren't these fun bikes!

While the cats away, the mice shall play

2009-08-25T17:08:00.001-07:00

I think I may be in for some double-duo trouble:

I was in the garden, quickly picking corn (that I grew with my own two hands...and some water, seeds and good soil!). When I came inside (not being gone five minutes), I found Rowan COVERED in Desitin and Niev trying desperately to rub it in. Rowan was just trying to eat it.

Can't help but love sisters!

Speaking of sisters, I got a chance to see my sister this weekend without the kids. My parents were heading to Utah just for the weekend and Ian offered to watch the girls to allow me to go. What a fabulous husband! Melissa has a son that is Niev's age, but it was Father-and-Sons campout, so Melissa was child-free as well. We shopped, went out for dessert and laughed until tears were streaming. I will be forever grateful for an unselfish, self-sacrificing husband. He truly is fantastic. No one has a fighting chance trying to convince me that they have a better husband. No way, no how!

PS--Niev must have really missed me because she got into my make-up, shampoo and the fridge within the span of three hours. I was trying to clean my house. I gave up on that and just played with my Desitin smelling girls!

Ha, ha, I beat you this time!

2009-08-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

Kelley, I posted before you did. I really can't believe it! Miracles do happen...I guess I can't take full credit seeing as these are YOUR pictures with YOUR camera that YOU copied and put on a CD for us. (I told you it is all because of the "where do I put the pictures issue" that I am not blogging!)

This last weekend, Ian and I spent in Portland (a very quick and spontaneous trip at the suggestion of Ian--shocking, I know). Because it was for Ian's birthday, I told him that we could spend the entire weekend with his sister, Kelley, (my sister, Julie, also lives in Portland). He was kind enough to allow me to go to breakfast each morning with Julie so that I could spend some good quality time with her. I loved every minute of conversation with Julie that I got. We went to Farmer's Market to grab some goodies and then a great breakfast the next day. With Kelley, Brian and Hudson in tow, we went to the zoo. We road the train in and Niev thought that was pretty special. Her Gramma Buh comes on the train from Portland to visit us and she asked where Gramma Buh was when we got on the train. We love Portland and visiting our sisters and their wonderful families.

Rowan looks so much like a boy here, a very cute boy but still a boy!

Rowan was enraptured by the zoo

Niev's favorite--the penguins. This is the only "decent" picture she would take because she wouldn't let her eyes off the penguins for a second.

Niev kept asking to go back to the tractor-car
Niev really thought this eagle's nest was very cool.
Hudson and Niev getting their pet on at the petting area
Sisters, sisters--there were never such adoring sisters (just for you, Kelley!)

Rowan and Hudson totally loved each other

Hudson and Rowan getting some suck-face time--I told you they adored each other

A Giveaway...again!

2009-08-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

Some very cute stylish bags, in case anyone was wondering!

Sew Cute Shop Amy Butler Birdie Sling GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I was walking Niev and her friend, Olivia, to the park today. Our new dog, Bonzer, was in tow and I was wanting to stop to make sure I had my book in the back of the stroller. I said, "Heel, Bonzer." Olivia then turned in the stroller and said, "My daddy says, 'Heel' to my dog Luna, too". Niev quickly responds, "My daddy says, 'YEE-HAW!'" Laughter ensued.

Thank yous

2009-06-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

Niev was saying the prayer as we were having our family nightly prayer. "Thank you for the potty and for pee pee. Thank you for wipes. Thank you for flushing. Thank you for washing hands." Can you tell that we are in the throes of potty training?

PS--I will try to post pictures soon. The girls and I are in Parma enjoying the stress-free life of the farm.

Catching up is hard to do

2009-04-30T22:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I have totally been MIA in the blogging world. Don't you worry your pretty little head though; I have been keeping up with all of your blogs so I have been enjoying the blogging world, just not actively participating. Two kids is surprisingly busy--more so than I thought it would be.

We had a fabulous Easter. On Saturday, we went with some friends to see the Easter bunny and do the egg hunt thing at a local church here in Kennewick. Niev LOVED it. Unfortunately, the parents don't know quite how to control themselves at these sort of events so Niev went home with a very small amount of eggs, but she was happy. She even saw a boy that was sad because he didn't get any eggs; Ian then encouraged her to share one of her eggs with him. She is becoming a very sensitive, bright girl. (Now if we could only stop the biting and hitting!) She even gave the Easter bunny a hug and waved hi to him. Pretty cute.

We dyed Easter eggs together as a family in an unusual way this year using silk ties. Things got so busy I didn't take an AFTER picture, but here is the before!

Niev woke up to a fun Easter basket left by the Easter bunny on Sunday morning. In it were marshmallow chicks, marshmallow bunnies, bubbles, a book, a big bouncy ball, eggs to hide and some eggs already hidden by the Easter bunny. She loved the candy and was more excited about eating the eggs' treasures than actually finding the eggs. (Can't really blame her!)

One FHE, I gave a lesson on temples and got a great idea from one of the blogs I follow (thanks Katie) to build your own temple using sugar cubes. Ian and I participated in a friendly contest of "best temple" while Niev enjoyed licking the "temple".

I've recently been called as Primary President and am a bit overwhelmed with the calling. We luckily have a small primary and so it is quite manageable. Our first Sunday was Easter Sunday and the bishop hadn't replaced me as chorister so I was over Sharing Time and Singing Time. By the end of church that day, I was exhausted and felt like I had been riding a rollercoaster for two hours. I think once I actually get things under control, I will really enjoy this new calling. I have three fabulous counselors/secretary. Each of them are so enthusiastic, creative and a great support to me.

The girls are so much fun right now. Rowan is laughing and smiling pretty regularly.

She is eating oatmeal/cereal from a spoon and really gobbles it down. She hadn't been sleeping more than a five hour stretch so the doctor told me to put it in her bottle, but it still wasn't enough so she eats meals with us now. Niev thinks Rowan's food is pretty tasty and is always asking Rowan to share her food. At her last appointment she weighed 14 1/2 lbs and seems to have beefed up since then a bit. When we took her to Spokane for her eye appointment, the specialist couldn't see anything! She said her eyes looked perfect. At Rowan's 4 month appointment, our pediatrician (who originally saw it) looked again and couldn't see what he saw before. So who knows what it was, but at least it disappeared on its own. I'm not complaining!

Rowan just stares at her dad. She is so intrigued by him. She will reach up to touch his face (probably because it is rough) and will smile the biggest at him. It really is the sweetest thing!

Rowan is a big fan of Niev's. She thinks Niev is hilarious. Ian and I were worried that she would always live in fear of Niev, but to the contrary. She brightens up as soon as she hears Niev's voice or sees Niev paying attention to her. It really is the cutest thing. I'll try to upload a video of the two of them playing on Niev's bed together. Adorable! stay-tuned...

Niev is potty training and has been for at least a month. She is still taking a duke in her panties at least every other day if not more (anyone have any advice for me! We have tried everything!). She loves Mr. Rogers, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Sesame Street. (We get all the old school stuff from the library and we own some SS.) She loves going to nursery and playing with all her friends, especially Olivia and Emma. She loves having her friends over to play. Normally, this involves her taking her bed apart (two twin mattresses stacked on top of each other) and jumping from one mattress to the other mattress. I'm just waiting for someone to get hurt (does it sound like I'm neglectful???) She is hilarious and loves to be a show-off.

She is very independent and has learned to open the fridge (hence the need for a fridge lock), climb up on the counter (hence us taking all the barstools away from the counter), turn on the DVD player (hence us shutting it off manually), etc. As soon as she sees me start to feed Rowan and begin pumping, she runs out of the room to see just what she can destroy in five minutes. But as soon as she hears me coming, she will say, "I put it back, I put it back." She goes a mile a minute and still is even though she has been sick the past two days.

Notice the remote--now you know who really wears the pants in this family!

She is very picky about her footwear. She doesn't really care what I dress her in, but she MUST wear her "boots with cherries on them" everywhere she goes (including church--yes, we get MANY comments on them, good? bad? who knows.) We are in the process of trying to find replacement shoes for those boots. I love them but not chapel attire!

Swanki Hats GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-04-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

I love both of these items. I expect that you will be hearing a LOT about this blog!

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/04/pleated-petal-tank-anthropolification.html

Swanki Hats GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Gotta check out th is site!!!

2009-03-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

I just found the most creative person in the world. I have been feeling like I need to take advantage of a new sewing machine that Ian got me (used, $50, great shape, etc.) and this site has been totally inspired!

Summer of 69 Thrift Store Refashion Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grateful for hinges!

2009-02-21T21:35:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, I am the primary chorister in my ward. It is a trying calling for me, but much loved by many of you (if you have any fun ideas, please send them my way!!!). Anyhoo, I have several kids in Junior Primary that make the calling so entertaining. Many of the little ones sing loud and very off key. We were singing "Hinges" and when it came to the very last line, one little five year-old who was singing particularly loud, sang, "I'm so glad I have hinges or else I would crap!" We had about a two minute break for me to catch my breath on that one. Boy am I glad we have hinges!!!

Impromptu girls' night and Scary checkup

2009-02-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

(All these pictures are almost a month old--I haven't uploaded my new pics of Rowan)

Yesterday we had Rowan's 2-month check-up. She weighs a whopping 12 lbs 4 oz. and is 24 inches long (the doctor commented several times about how she weighs as much as a 4-month should). She got three shots and did fairly well (just needed a little lovin' from mom afterwards). During the full body check, the doctor found a mysterious object in her eye. Upon further investigation, he realized it was not on the surface, but rather in her eye. To save you the details, he basically had no idea what it was and is referring us to a specialist on the 27th of Feb. up in Spokane, WA. I was only freaked out about the financially end of things yesterday, but today, I am a bit more worried about what this will become. We shall wait and see.

Rowan had been sleeping clear through the night all last week, but for two nights in a row, she decided to wake up 4-5 times. It was maddening! I was VERY grouchy for two days (poor Ian and kids!). I hadn't been able to get anything done during the day either because Niev or Rowan seemed to always need my attention so my house was a disaster. Now some of you might not understand what a disaster is. I define a disaster as not being able to see the floor, not able to prepare a proper meal because all the dishes are dirty and there is no counterspace to cook on, and laundry is piled up. When Ian got off of work, he was wanting to play a game with me so we played one game then I told him I better get to work on cleaning the kitchen and making dinner. He wanted to play one more game. Then Rowan was hungry so Ian asked me to feed her. I was getting very frustrated since it was already past 6 p.m. and I had no idea what was going to be for dinner. Then a knock came at my door and Ian told me to put a shirt on. It was one of my very favorite-est people in the world, Jen from my ward.

Ian had called her earlier in the day while I was at the doctor with Rowan. He planned an entire night out with Jen. We went to dinner and then went to Barnes & Noble. Now to some of you this may not be very exciting, but Jen is a very well-read person. She seems to have read every great book ever written, she has great taste in books (meaning she was repulsed as much as I was by the horribly written vampire book! Sorry to you die hard fans, but it was awful.) and so we just walked around talking about great books, our husbands, and laughing. It was just what I needed. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated Ian for being so kind. He is so good to me that sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve such an unselfish, kind, thoughtful and generous man. He can be a real butt sometimes, but for the great majority of the time, he is fabulous! I came home ready to love my family again and want to snuggle with my hubby. I cannot tell you what a big fan I am of Jen and Ian.

Niev is growing up so big. She says the funniest things and loves Sesame Street (old school episodes, of course, because Elmo annoys me). She loves her little sister and wants to over-love her by laying on her to give her a hug or bite her to give her the biggest best kiss ever!

Niev with her kitchen that her Daddy made her for her birthday

Niev on "Christmas morning" with her Aunt Vickie homemade apron

Rowan's blessing & Niev's birthday

2009-02-10T07:03:00.000-08:00

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind (to say the least). Rowan is now 7 1/2 weeks old and only waking up once during the night. Some nights she will even sleep all the way through the night (I count my lucky stars on that one!). Anyway, this is allowing me to be more human and Lora-like. We found out that she was being "colicky" due to the fact that during labor I was given an antibiotic that killed all the good bacteria in Rowan's stomache. She was always in so much pain and now we have that under control so I am beginning to see how people end up with three or more kids. I was beginning to think that only crazy people would have another baby after two kids!

My nephew came home from his mission in Cancun and so I drove alone with both girls to Parma, Idaho to see my family. Ian thought I was crazy, but both girls did amazingly well. While Ian's mom was here for Christmas and New Years, we celebrated Niev's birthday with a pumpkin pie. Then in Parma, we also celebrated Niev's birthday with cake and ice cream. Once I got home, we had a small get together with one of Niev's friends and had cake and ice cream again! Niev would walk around the house singing "Happy Birthday" to herself. She was beginning to think that every other day was her birthday. She is a very fun two-year old. It is hard to think that two years ago, she was as little as Rowan.

Last weekend we had Rowan's blessing. My parents, grandma, brother and sister-in-law, sister and family came into town for the event. It was a great time. I enjoyed having everyone here and playing games while catching up. Rowan looked beautiful in the same dress Niev wore during her blessing. My grandma (who is 87) had made it and will always be a special heirloom in our family. She also made a beautiful crotcheted blanket for Rowan.

Niev used to only respond with "mmm-hmm" instead of "yes" so we have been working on saying a full and real "yes". So now she will say "mmm-hmm yes, yes". It is really the cutest thing.

Sisters are the best of friends!

Who's idea was it to have two kids?

2009-01-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures of Rowan and I as we left the hospital (and yes, Rowan is strategically placed to cover the many rolls left after a baby has left the womb).

Thought I should update you all on our little, but growing, family. My mom came into town to help out with Rowan when Rowan was born. She was a HUGE help! We hadn't gone grocery shopping in weeks when she arrived, but somehow my mom made some pretty delicious meals with the pathetic amount of food that we did have in the house. She was a life-saver!

Then it was just our little family through Christmas time. I wondered at times if I was insane having more than one child. I think we concluded that Rowan is a bit colicky and we got her some chamomile pills that help soothe her. It was a bit stressful some days with Ian working and Niev and I trying to help calm this crying baby, but luckily Gramma Buh (Ian's mom) came to save the day!

Gramma Buh LOVES Christmas. She lives and dies Christmas. Can't wait for the next Christmas as soon as one Christmas is over. SO, we decided as a surprise/present to Gramma Buh that we would postpone our Christmas until Gramma Buh arrived (of course we had to get special permission from the big Claus himself first). Ian was very excited about doing this. He almost blew it because he kept calling her as she was driving from Portland to see where they were at. It was great to see her shock and excitement at this idea when she arrived. (More on Christmas later!)

Niev has adjusted to the baby much better than I ever imagined. She loves to give her kisses (on the lips only) and hugs (more like huge body slams). She asks to hold the baby ("Hold you me, baby") and loves when I pump so she can feed the baby herself. Whenever I am feeding the baby, I have to keep my ears open for what Niev is doing. I have documented with pictures a few of the things that she has done while mom is feeding Rowan:

Lots of coloring!

A bit of cooking!

Some tears of joy!

But a LOT of cuddling her little sister!

She also got into my tub of oil and dumped five spoons and two batteries in the huge tub. I'm just glad she didn't end up spilling it on our carpet (who has ever heard of high-pile carpet in a kitchen!).

We are slowly adjusting to no sleep, consistent crying and no time alone and quiet, but as of right now, we wouldn't change it for the world! (But ask me again in a few more weeks of no sleep and maybe the answer will be different.)

Finally...Pictures!!!

2008-12-29T21:16:00.000-08:00

Please excuse my tardiness in posting pictures of our beautiful new babe. If Rowan is sleeping, Niev is being demanding and if Niev is sleeping....well, that means I am trying to snooze as well (Rowan tries to prevent this of course!).

When I went in for my doctor's appointment, he checked me and I had not progressed in any area. I made an appointment for the following Monday. Although I still didn't feel ready for a new baby, I was very discouraged leaving the doctor's office. (I wasn't even dialated to a one and the baby really had not dropped.) On Thursday night just past midnight, I kept waking up with slight belly pains, but I was so drowsy that I didn't realize that they were contractions and just kept thinking I was trying to fart. Finally at 5 a.m., I realize that I am having contractions, but they are about 10-20 minutes apart (just enough to be annoying as you still can't sleep much, but very mild on the pain scale). When I wake up Friday morning after a horrible night's sleep, I still can't tell if it is the real thing or just fake contractions. I finally call Ian in from work at about noon and ask him to start timing the contractions for me. We madly start cleaning the house (it was a disaster and I would have been very embarassed if my mom saw my house in that much of a mess!). By 3 p.m., I am to the point of not being able to walk, but the contractions are only 10 minutes apart (although consistent). We went to the hospital and after waiting, what seemed like an hour, they finally checked me and I was dialated to a SIX! I ordered a epidural (love those things), but they said it would probably be about an hour. They gave me some Newbane (spelling???) to take the edge off and it made me so dizzy I couldn't even open my eyes. I also was very sleepy from not getting much rest. They gave me the epidural, checked me again and I was already at a 10, but they wanted to wait for some of the Newbane to wear off so me and baby would be more alert. Finally after waiting for over half an hour, I started pushing. Pushed for 11 minutes (a total of about four pushes), much better compared to the three hours+ of pushing with Niev and a beautiful little girl was in my arms.

Adjustment has been trying and tiring, but Niev loves her baby sister, I am glad to be recovering well and Ian is completely overwhelmed with work, church callings and trying to help out around the house. Rowan is starting to adjust to this planet, but still is quite a screamer. We are enjoying spending time together as a family. I am not a very good newborn mom so I might not post very consistently because I will be ticked off most the time due to the fact that for the next three months or so I will not sleep well or get a hot meal seeing as Rowan seems to always know when food is on the table and she wants her share!

Rowan Ainsley has arrived!

2008-12-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

Niev would like to introduce her new baby sister, Rowan Ainsley Strawn, who was born Friday, December 12 at 5:23 p.m. Mommy and baby are at home doing well. Pictures coming soon!

She's a girl!

2008-12-11T23:01:00.000-08:00

No we haven't had our baby, but Niev is starting to actually let me keep a clip/rubberband in her hair! She actually looks like a girl. Lately, I have had SEVERAL people tell me what a cute boy I have so I decided to put my foot down and actually FORCE her to wear a rubberband on Sunday. I told her we couldn't leave for church unless she let me do her hair. Then I mentioned how adorable she was with her hair fixed and continued to tell her that she couldn't take it out until church was over. Of course, I expected to pick her up from nursery with her hair a disaster, but to my surprise, she actually had kept it in. (As soon as we got in the car, she ripped it out, but HEY, beggars can't be choosers...she does listen...church was over!)

Since Sunday, she has let me do her hair almost every day. She may not keep it in, but at least it is progress.

Before:

After (this is after she pulled her sweatshirt over her head, so it isn't pristine, but you get the idea):
As you can see, I am not a girly-girl and have no clue how to do kids' hair. I don't even know how to my own hair unless it is really short!

By the way, I lost my mucus plug today. That is one step closer to having this baby girl. (I know it's gross; they really need to come up with another name for that gush! It wouldn't be so gross to talk about if it was disguised by another name.)

Let the Christmas celebration COMMENSE!

2008-12-09T23:06:00.001-08:00

What is with Ward/Church Christmas Parties and no Santa! Can I tell you how frustrated I am with wards that think that you can't have a Christ-centered Christmas and have Santa come at the end of the party!

As you can tell we had our ward Christmas party this last weekend. It was a dinner, small program and then the bishop handed out candy to the kids. I was very disappointed in the no-show of Santa for many reasons: 1) Where else can you get a FREE picture of Santa? 2) Isn't Christmas also supposed to be fun? 3) What is a Christmas celebration without mention of both Christ and Santa? (Can't they just be friends?) 4) Santa is what get kids very excited about Christmas and I had been telling Niev all day long that she would see Santa that night! I was very bummed to say the least. People should know not to disappoint a pregnant woman!

On Saturday, Ian truly took the entire day off!!! So we went Christmas tree hunting and went to see if we could find Santa. (Our real estate agency had invited Santa to their office for a few hours to take pictures.) We drove by the agency's office and there was a line that would have taken WAY too long to get through. I thought for sure I would be disappointed again in no free picture with Niev and Santa. Off we went to find a Christmas tree. We were so excited to graduate this year from a 3-4 foot tree to now a 6-7 foot tree. Niev seemed a bit confused by the process and the chainsaw definitely freaked her out, but we found a beauty of a tree!
Ian checked by the office to see if the line had died down at all and we were in luck! There were only two people left in line! I could hardly contain my excitement to see Niev totally freak out at this weird bearded guy showing no skin on his entire face, trying to hold her. I really do love the "crying on Santa's lap" pictures. I think they are just about the greatest thing around. Here it is in all its glory:
And just so you don't think that I also have a slight appreciation for the typical "I am cute on Santa's lap" picture:
She at least wasn't totally grimacing.

Back home we went with a Christmas tree on top of our car and pictures of Santa done!

We then spent the evening decorating the tree and getting out our Christmas decorations. Niev found this very exciting!
She found many uses for our advent calendar wreath: sitting on it, wearing it as a hat, throwing it like a frisbee, etc. She really did look like a post-pregnancy woman sitting on those inflatable donuts that make your bum not hurt so bad.

Daddy and Niev putting the star on top of the tree:
Oh, sad star!!!

Niev was very "helpful" in decorating the tree.She thought the balls should bounce and that if you stuff the ornaments far enough towards the middle of the tree, they wouldn't fall off. Overall it was a very fun-filled Christmas celebration!

Overwhelmed

2008-12-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

My gracious mother-in-law has offered to get me a baby sling/carrier for Christmas and has turned the buying over to me so that I get just what I want. I thought, "Okay, that should be easy enough." WRONG! I quickly found out that a baby sling is not just an easy buy. There are way TOO many options! I need advice/opinions/reviews from you moms out there (even you secret blog stalkers). Where did you get your sling? What did you love and hate about your sling? Is a sling something you would get again? What do I need to know about buying a sling? Was your husband able to use your sling too? etc. These are the questions that I need answering! I've done some research but I get overwhelmed with all the options and I don't want to make a wrong choice. Let me know what advice you have. Thanks!

Baby update

2008-12-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

So many of you have mentioned to me that you wanted pics of me huge, fat and pregnant so here they are. This was taken about four weeks ago, so I have grown considerably. At one of my doctor visits I had gained four pounds in a two weeks period and then the next week, I had gained two more pounds. Then Thanksgiving week, I didn't go walking at all with my friends and had Thanksgiving...I lost a pound! The doctor says this baby is measuring small and since then I feel that I might go late. I'm due in one week and that is just weird. It seems forever ago that we found out it was a girl, but then I don't feel ready to have two! Ready or not here she comes!

The shadows make it look really weird. Sorry, it's the only picture I have...

A fan of Jesus

2008-11-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

After lunch today, Ian was about to head back to work, leaving me to clean up Niev and dishes. He normally helps clean up Niev so this was something new (but I had stolen a bite of his ice cream so he said that I didn't deserve his help. He was going back to work). I then turned to Niev and said, "Who do you want to get you cleaned up? Mommy or Daddy?" Ian and I then took turns whispering the other person's name: "Mommy?" "No, Daddy." "No, Mommy", etc.

Niev got a very serious look in her eye, leaned across the table and whispered, "Jesus".

I guess she knows who her real friends are.

PS--Ian did end up cleaning her up; I have the best husband!

Her newest fascination--stickers stick to anything, even me!

When will Halloween end?

2008-11-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

We were in the car taking Niev to her friend Olivia's house and I was prepping her for her good behavior. "When you are at Olivia's you need to share, okay? Make sure that you are talking nice and being a good friend while you are playing. And Niev what do you say when someone gives you something?"

Niev's response: "Trick-or-treat!"

I was going for a "Thank you", but I guess she really enjoyed Halloween this year!

100th Book Day!!!

2008-11-15T08:35:00.001-08:00

Hip Hip Hooray!!! for 100th Book Day

Gramma Buh (Ian's mom) called yesterday to inform us that it was 100th Book Day! She has kept track of all the books she has bought Niev and the books that we had previously purchased. Well, evidently yesterday Gramma Buh purchased her 100th book for Niev. For those of you who don't know Paula, she is a book fiend. She is never seen without a book in hand (especially while eating breakfast) and a great way to torture her is to hide her book from her. It is great fun and you should really try it sometime. She kind of becomes a crazed dog trying to pick up a trail that has dead-ended. Too fun to sit back and watch!

Boy, did we celebrate! We read a gajillion books, took a long needed nap with Mommy, went to the library with Dad, baked a celebratory cake (good thing I was already having the missionaries over for dinner) and then cuddle with her best friend, Olivia, and read books until Olivia's parents showed up. It truly was a great first 100th Book Day. November 14 is now officially 100th Book Day so mark your calendars and I will see you next year at the library!

Note: Olivia and Niev climbed up on the couch together, put the blanket over their laps and then asked to read a book. Aren't they the cutest little friends? We read about 15 books in all that night. P.S. Do you like how they are twinners with the pink shirts?

Here is my little reader at 12 months old--notice the book is upside-down! She has always loved books.

I have pics of her looking at a book on her stomach when she is less than six months old, but I can't seem to find it right now. It is the cutest picture. What a lover of books--Gramma Buh is so proud!

Update on Niev and visit to Atlanta

2008-11-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

First off, I expected to hear applause ringing throughout Washington when I finally posted so that all would know that I had finally gotten back onto my computer and that I was not lost., but alas, there was none. (Melissa, you really let me down. I expected a prayer chain of some sort to herald the event!)

Ian received a call from a good family friend of his about a month ago. They wanted to commission paintings of their children done by the world-renowned, Ian Strawn. By the way, if you haven't seen his website, you must! They wanted to fly Ian out to take pictures of their kids as well as wanting us to babysit their five children while they were attending a wedding in Utah. They used to live in Boston (a very cool city--according to "cool people"), but they just recently moved to Atlanta (a slightly less cool city--according to everyone). So off the three of us flew to Atlanta, GA! Niev is still free flying, but that does mean that she is on our lap. Luckily, with four flights total, we only had to have her on our laps for one of the flights. She thought it was great to be in an airplane. When we took off the first time, she just watched out the window and giggled quietly. By the last flight, she didn't care. She loved playing with the buttons on the armrest and watching Sesame Street on Ian's MP3 player (even though she didn't care about the headphones!). She traveled REALLY well and only when she got super tired on the flight back, did she even cry, wimper or whine. In fact after we landed, the lady in front of us, on our longest flight in which she was on our laps, said, "Oh, I wasn't even aware that their was a baby behind me! Wow, what a good girl!" We could not have asked for her to be better. Ian was really cute, planning different activities and things that she could do on the plane. He was very nervous about disturbing/annoying everyone else on the plane, but we were both pleasantly surprised in how well she did.

Taking care of five children is challenging. Ian and I both decided that we are glad that we are taking kids one at a time. The kids ranged in ages from 4 to 14, four of the kids being boys. I thanked the stars every day that the only girl was 12 and not 4 because she was a HUGE help! We enjoyed catching up with our friends and getting to know their children a bit better.

We were all very glad to get home, but Ian and I had some great conversations of how we imagined our family working when our kids are older. It was great to see how we worked together during the entire trip.

I am the Primary Chorister in our church which isn't a huge calling except for once a year when we do the Primary Program. This is when the primary children (ages 3-12) do a presentation for the main meeting in our church. There is a lot of singing as part of that presentation. Anyway, I was gone the week that our primary did their program. I felt like such a slacker! How is that for taking our calling seriously! I guess they did great without me, but I felt so guilty for missing it.

Niev is getting cuter by the second, but she is also developing a bit of an attitude. She has learned to yell at people and tell them, "NO!" which is very disturbing to me. I still think of her as a baby and babies shouldn't smart off. It was amazing to see how much her vocabulary expanded during the week we spent with older kids. Her pronunciation has gotten clearer and she has learned to identify much more in her environment.

Learning about balance. It impressed me that she could balance as long as she did.

She would get a bit overwhelmed when all the kids would get home from school. The boys really loved Niev, but at times, she felt a bit mauled. She would quietly come up to Ian or me and say, "Bed? bed?" She would then proceed to just lay on the bed, sucking on her bink (I hate that she still has that by the way!!!) and then when she felt ready, she would come back downstairs.

Riding her first tire swing and LOVING it--she kept just saying, "Woah, woah, woah!" while giggling!

She loves toothpaste. Not kid toothpaste, either. If she can get her hands on adult toothpaste, she is in heaven. She will even settle for sucking on anyone's toothbrush just to get a hint of the minty goodness. The poor kids were always reporting that Niev was in the bathroom sucking on someone's toothbrush. (This was a much better resort though, than putting thick hard potpourri down a toilet that plugged it up for two days--sorry Mom and Dad!)

She is very aware of babies, buses and of course animals. We will be driving in the car and she will emphatically say, "BUS, BUS, BUS" until you recognize that, yes, there is a bus. She really loves to put her baby, named Bau (pronounced bow), to bed and feed her. She goes around telling everyone, "Bau sleeping, shhh, Bau sleep." I hope this transfers for when the real baby is sleeping. She is great fun.

She loves to march. She will go around the house forever marching as long as Ian and I join in. If we don't then she will often pull at our waists, saying, "Up, moch, up, up". How can you resist that! She also loves dancing and stomping as fast as she can. I hope to post a video of her dancing with her friends. She is too fun.

Is the marching band still a nerdy thing to be a part of?

Her hair is getting long enough to tuck behind her ear, but she still doesn't leave anything in her hair, but I also am not very persistant with it. If you noticed, I have gone fully to everyday wearing a ponytail. She is not getting the clear message from mom that girls primp for an hour every day. Her hair is long and in fact we were told at a restaurant the other day that we needed to cut our BOY'S hair! She does sometimes look like a boy with the surfer long hair going. We do also dress her in boys' clothes sometimes so I can't blame just the hair. I just can't do too much pink, although my sisters would be proud, I am doing much more than I ever imagined myself.

Niev is one of her boy shirts. I thought it was cute--do you blame me?

MIA from the internet world, back in time for Halloween

2008-11-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, I do realize that I haven't posted for almost two months, but I'm pregnant. Doesn't that cover anything you are lame about doing?

I will first tell you that my husband is amazing a did a really great job in Brazil. He was very nervous about his presentation, because he was the only English presenter of the entire art conference. Luckily, they translated through headphones so the feedback was pretty immediate. He got several compliments (one girl paid for the conference just to hear Ian--she had been following his work for quite some time!) and many people told him that he really saved the conference for them. They said that most of the speakers either talked over their heads or were giving useless information, but Ian was funny, personable and gave great tips/hints/ideas of how to make their talents useful. We were very glad to see him get home safe though. Niev was shocked when he would be in the same house as her and exclaim, "DADDY!" as if to say, "What the crap are YOU doing here?!?!"

I enjoyed spending time with my family and learning how to be a real Mormon mom: canning pears, peaches, jam while cleaning my mom's house and of course eating out with Mom and Grandma. I have realized that my mom is a powerhouse and works all day. Every day I was there she definitely outworked me, but I'm pregnant, right? Don't worry that my mom is well into her 60's and can pile drive me into the ground.

Ian and I had been talking about having Niev be a dinosaur for Halloween. We have this philosophy that Halloween costumes should totally be creative, homemade, and something random/fun/interesting. I had read somewhere last year about doing a dinosaur and cutting sponges for the spikes on the back. I thought, "I can do that!" Come to find out, it is a lot harder making a costume than anyone would have you believe! I hope Niev appreciates all the work that went into it. My mom helped me sew the tail and Ian helped out quite a bit. (I do have a great husband.) He did the eyes and the teeth. She turned out pretty cute, but the tail needed to be a bit higher on the costume, but I was too lazy to rip one of the sponges off of her back. So here she is...our Niev-osaur...drum roll please!
I was nervous that she wasn't going to keep the hood on (as you can see she has gained a bit of an attitude), but as soon as we told her she had to keep the "hat" on if she wanted to go T-O-T, she was more than willing! It was fun to watch her.

Ian thought it was hilarious that the dinosaur was actually eating Niev!

We went trunk-or-treating at our church building (which she had a sneak-peek at when we were in Atlanta--another post another time!) so she recognized how this should go. Every car that we stopped at she would say, "Trick or teet" and then quickly say "tank ooo" because she knew mom would take away some of her candy. Anytime anyone would just drop the candy into her bag, she would reach in until she felt candy, just to make sure that she really did get some! She had a great time!

Niev and her friend, Olivia, who we do MANY playdates with!

Thanks Grandma Weber for making the perfect Trick-or-Treating bag/pillowcase! She got TONS of loot!

Here comes Brazil!

2008-09-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

I know many of you have mentioned that I need a new post. I must apologize; it has almost been a month. Niev is still cute, rambunctious and sleeping very happily in her big-girl bed (yippee!!!). I think I needed to have more patience and understanding. She isn't as old as I try to make her be sometimes. Live and learn.

Ian has been asked to speak at an art conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This has been in the works for several months, but I didn't want to admit that it was going to happen because I couldn't go with him. With the prep for this trip and Ian working in order to catch up on the work he will be missing while in Brazil, I was doing a lot of Mommy/wife duties. He is safely in Brazil, I am safely in Parma, Idaho with Niev at my parents' house and life is good. Ian stays in Brazil for a week. I am sure I would blog more, but I just got Niev down and am totally exhausted.

Being a single-mom for a week is no fun at all! (Stacey, I don't know how you do it! I am about to lose my mind and I only have one!)

Calling all parents--I need help!

2008-08-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

About ten days ago, we had a very rough night with Niev. She was not wanting to sleep in her crib and just cried. It was literally an hour and a half and she still was not calm or asleep. Now Niev has never really had a problem sleeping. She has slept through the night at 8 weeks old and then been a dream to put to bed since she was a babe. This was a rare incident with her not going to bed as she should. Both Ian and I were fried with no patience or sanity. We were grasping at straws. We had talked about moving Niev into her big-girl bed (a mattress on the floor), but the conversation always went the same way:

"When do you think we should move Niev into her big bed since we now are expecting this new baby in December?"

"I don't know."

End of conversation. (Note to reader: Most of our conversations do no go this way. We do make headway, but on this topic both of us were clueless.)

This night really had us trying all sorts of tricks and having her "cry it out" was not working. So we decided to try her big-girl bed. It was still a pain to get her to sleep, but eventually she fell asleep with Ian lying next to her (Trust me, neither of us liked this, but we were desperate. We had tried everything else). Of course this only made her ask for us to sleep with her. Our solution was that each night after this, we would set a chair in the room and each night the chair would get closer and closer to the door until finally we were sitting in a chair outside her door. Then for two or three nights, we could just do our routine, plop her in bed, leave the door slightly ajar and viola! she was back to our dream sleeper.

First night in her big-girl bed!

Now I have a few question/problems:
1) She can climb out of bed so the past two nights, the minute we put her in the bed, she starts climbing out of bed.
2)She wakes up in the middle of the night and won't go back to sleep for over an hour! Just cries and cries unless we lay down next to her in her bed.

Now I have read several articles on this (which tell me that I did EVERYTHING wrong leading up to the transition) but none of them talk about what to do if your child gets out of bed right as soon as you start to leave the room. I don't really know how to put a child back into bed when their body hasn't touched the bed for more than a split second. Or how do you get them to lie down long enough to stay in bed without rewarding their behavior by giving them the attention that they are desiring at that moment? She hates her crib now. She cries if we even mention her having to sleep in it. So I know she wants her big bed. I am at a loss as to what else to do.

Stay on a routine--check.
Let her sleep with a favorite blankie/doll--check.
Have a nightlight--check.
Let her read in bed--check.
Make a big deal of her sleeping in her big bed--check.

Ian does remind me that this hasn't been that long since we put her in her new bed, but I just have been really spoiled by Niev. She has raised us as parents way more than we have raised her as our daughter. I just am tired of dreading bedtime. Plus, in 16 weeks, we will have a new baby on our hands. I am not very good at multi-tasking so I need this problem to be solved. If you have any advice (or even some empathy) this would be much appreciated. Just consoling me that this will pass and I won't have to do this with our next one because they will share a room, etc. will almost make the last several night worth it.

Just so you know that we still love our daughter and think she is the cutest! In case you were worried.

Eating something chocolaty--I had just asked her if she wanted me to eat it because it was too gross. Hence, the face!

Her jammin' to her tunes!

Now I am married to an old fart

2008-08-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today is Ian's 28 birthday. Can I just tell you how hard it is to be married to an artist? Creative things just seem to ooze out of him where as for me they are a struggle and something I stress over for as long as I know about them. And of course, what does Ian want for his birthday? A cake that requires me to be creative.

For Mother's Day, Ian bought me a quilt for Niev's big-girl bed. It has an alien theme which you might be thinking, "Okay, that is really bizarre and next you will be dressing up Niev as a gothic maiden", but seriously it is really cute. Ian and I both thought this could make a really fun kid's room.Back to Ian's birthday...he wanted one of the aliens on his cake. Now you have to understand for most moms who quilt, cook, sew and can get any stain out of clothes, this would be...a piece of cake. I am not one of those moms. When I was teaching, Ian had to come to my classroom and do my bulletin boards so that they looked good (and of course I left them the same all year long!). I am not one for presentation. Who cares what dinner looks like as long as it tastes good! (Please forgive me, Melinda, I know this goes against everything you stand for!) I stressed about what to do with his cake from the moment I was told about it until I got it done this morning. I had never done a REAL birthday cake. Remember Niev's???
And I was pretty excited about her cake and how well it turned out (for me and my skills!). Anyway, I knew Melissa (my sister) would understand my conundrum and would empathize with me and the demands of my husband. Her words--"Does he understand what a tall order this is?" Exactly the right thing to say! As soon as Niev was down for her morning nap, I set to work. Voila!
I do have to say, I am pretty proud of myself!!! I was almost in tears when I saw the finished product because I knew Ian would be so proud of me.

For the record, he did tell me last night that I didn't HAVE to make a "special" cake for his birthday. But how could I disappoint a man on his birthday! And I knew it would make him super proud and very happy.

Enough about me. Ian is a fantastic father. He plays with Niev so well and has so much more energy (and patience) with her than I do. I feel so blessed to have him as my husband, best buddy and greatest love. He truly has made me so happy being married to him these two and half years. He is a hard worker, a great provider and a fabulous confidant. My greatest times are spent talking to him and making each other laugh until tears are running down our faces. I look forward to many more birthdays together. I hope you always know how much I love you and adore you, Ian!

Count Dracula

2008-08-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Major bragging is contained in the following post. If you do not want to think that Niev is an amazing girl and her mom is very proud, do NOT read!

While we were at my parents' house visiting, I noticed my mom teaching Niev to start counting. She started off by my mom saying, "One..." and then teaching Niev to say, "TWO!" I thought my mom was amazing for doing this and Niev was even more amazing for accomplishing it. So throughout the past three weeks, we have been working on counting. She is quite advanced in my opinion, but maybe someone else would think differently.

Here is a video of her counting (please excuse my obesity on the couch--remember, I'm pregant!):

We have reached up to five, which I am so stinkin' proud of her for. I feel like she is a genius and am so impressed with how quickly she learns new things. I do always have to prod her to say one, but that will come.

Niev also has learned from Ian how to talk to the baby:

We never quite know what she is telling the baby, but hopefully it is good! She will often come up to my belly and kiss it or give it "pats". Niev is adorable!

My mommy is a dog

2008-08-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Niev loves to play with my wallet. She pulls all the cards out and then tries desperately to put them all back into place.

Yesterday, she was in my wallet (because I didn't put it away in its hiding spot) and it was the first time that she had actually made comments. Normally, she is very focused. It's pretty bad when your 19-month old daughter points to your driver's license and says, "Doggie!" She did this twice yesterday. I thought maybe it was a fluke, but today she saw my picture on my license and again said, "Doggie!" I think I might need to cut my hiar!

Lora OR doing the dishes???

2008-08-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have read just for a few minutes after climbing into bed. Therefore, Ian has fallen asleep just a few minutes before me. Several nights in a row, after I close my book and lay down to sleep, Ian has wrapped his arm around me and said, "Goodnight, Lora, I love you." Now normally this would be an "Awwww, how sweet," but you have to realize that Ian talks in his sleep so I know that he is not consciously expressing love--it is just his dreams talking.

Well the other night, I closed my book as usually, climbed under the sheets and snuggled up to Ian. He very clearly says, "I love you, Lora...almost as much as not doing the dishes." I was laughing so hard that it woke him up and I told him what he said. His reply? "It totally made sense in my head a few seconds ago and it was a compliment!" I guess I have asked him to do the dishes too often around here.

I love sleep-talking!

Baby names...Drum roll, please!

2008-08-01T08:38:00.001-07:00

As mentioned in my previous post, we are deciding upon two names. Let me preface a little bit. We need a name to go with Niev so it can't be Jill or Megan. Ian and I still really like original, unique names, but hopefully not weird names. We really like the names Rowan and Ainsley (not sure on the spelling yet), but we don't like how they fit together (first and middle) especially with Strawn as a last name. We are still bouncing both names around and will hopefully come up with some middle names before the baby comes in December. We are very excited about our little girl.

Niev is a little dare devil lately. She has found that she can really scare Daddy by jumping from the coffee table to the couch and finds this hilarious. We are both enjoying the stage that she is in right now. She is a crack-up! Life is good!

And the new baby is a.....

2008-07-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had our ultrasound and Ian thought it would be a great idea to bring Niev so she could also get her first glimpse of the newest little one in our family. Of course, she didn't sit as still as we would have liked, but she was still pretty good. I think it kind of freaked her out a little to see this doctor putting stuff on my belly.

We are having a baby girl!!! We have two names that we are deciding upon, but love them both and they don't really go together for a first and middle. Oh the quandary! We are very excited for Niev to have a little sister. We babysat a baby in our ward and Niev mauled that baby--covering it with blankets, putting its bink in the baby's mouth, giving it "pats", etc. She wanted to make sure that baby was well taken care of. Our poor baby will have more help than it will ever need, but we are very excited for our growing family.

I have lots more to update on, but I thought I would at least get this info out before I update on my visit to Parma, Gramma Buh's visit, Grandma and Grandpa Weber's visit, and babysitting my niece and nephew. A lot has happened this summer that will probably not be recorded, but life will go on I guess.

Beuller? Beuller? Beuller?

2008-07-21T21:24:00.001-07:00

I am still alive and pregnant. Niev is still cute. Ian is still painting-artist-guy. We are a happy little family. Things have been a bit crazy with it being summer so I have totally slacked on posting, but I will soon...promise.

This post is dedicated to Melissa!

I love date night

2008-06-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Ian and I arranged for a babysitter swap so that we could go out on Friday night on a date. I looked forward to this alone time with my husband all week. I couldn't wait for Friday to come. I had always heard that once babies came into the picture that have an uninterrupted conversation was pretty much impossible. Little did I know how true this really could be. Dinner time is spent with Niev asking for "burr" (more) or throwing what she doesn't want to eat on the floor or spitting a bite out onto the table, etc. It is no longer the time when we catch up on our lives together.

Anyway, on Friday we went to "Son of Rambow" which is really cute British film. The editing was kind of weird in parts, but oh so cute. It is about two boys that go to the same school, but are total opposites. One is the rebel, bad-boy of the school and the other is the shy, quiet kid who is a bit weird because he belongs to the Plymouth Brethren group (kind of like the Amish). They become friends and it is about their blossoming friendship. It really is one of the cutest films I have seen in a while. I would highly recommend it.

After the movie, we went to dinner at the Olive Garden (the dining experience in the tri-cities is very limited). Being pregnant, I easily out-ate Ian. I really thought my belly would explode, but I couldn't help myself; the breadstick and salad are too delicious!!! (Melissa, you know about me, pregnancy and the Olive Garden so I am sure you can relate to Ian being quite shocked out how much I could down!)

It was great to be reminded of why we love each other and realize that we were still the best of friends. I truly enjoyed our weekend together.

When we went to pick up Niev from our friends, she was sitting on a Sit-and-Twirl and saying, "Wee, wee, wee!" She didn't even miss us!

No circus for us

2008-06-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

We had heard there was a circus coming to town and would be in our area on Monday. Now I normally think of the circus as a place for creepy men and crazy people to hang out, but when you marry an artist that paints "interesting" people, you end up in places you never would have imagined yourself. We also found out that it was free float day at A&W. We planned on going to the circus with Niev, stop by A&W on the way home, and making a Family Home Evening out of it. Well, Ian got sick. He didn't feel well all day. We didn't make it to the circus or A&W (I did find out that the free float day was canceled--no loss there).

WARNING**The following contains Lora's inner thoughts which are not always positive. Continuing to read may lead to negative thoughts about sick people, Ian or groaners. Precede with caution!

I love my husband...when he is healthy. When he is sick, he groans and it is the most irritating sound. I can't handle it. It makes me not feel bad for him one bit! He winces and moans as if he is playing a mummy in a horrible horror flick in the 90's. I can't get away fast enough. It truly is worse than nails on a chalkboard.

So unfortunately for all, he was sick yesterday. Niev loves her dad though and would not let her lay down for a nap. She continued knocking on the bedroom door until finally Ian let her enter. She climbed into bed with him and was being the cutest thing ever!
Kissy-faces are the cutest on 17-month olds (and 27-year olds!).

One of my tactics at trying to allow Ian to get some rest without Niev was to give her a popsicle. I am not anti-sugar, but I try to limit the amount of sugar she has in a day so this was a real treat. After it started melting too much, I put it in a bowl for her as to try to avoid some of the mess.I think she quite enjoyed it. Every last drop!

Best father for my children

2008-06-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

Ian with Niev and her buddy, Tyler at her 1-year birthday party

Happy Father's Day to my one and only true love! He is the unselfish one in our relationship. For example, it being Daddy's Day yesterday, he should have been the one to take an uninterrupted afternoon nap. But after Niev had knocked on his bedroom door twice (both times crying as I pulled her away), he allowed her to come in. He then let ME take a hour and a half nap (even though I told him not to let me sleep longer than 30 minutes!). His reasoning: I'm pregnant and need my sleep, plus I had made a delicious lemon chicken thing for lunch that he LOVED! He is so kind and thoughtful.

The sun was quite blinding! (Niev 9 months old)

Niev loves her Dad. We have to build a wall to separate Ian's garage door (his studio) from the rest of the house because Niev hears him talking or squeaking his chair and she will run over and knock on his door unmercifully. She then will talk through the door if that does not warrant a response. She loves to give her Daddy pats or rubs on the back as he holds her. She definitely prefers him over me (which is not a bad thing after spending all day being mauled by her). When I get her out of her crib in the morning, her first words after "Out, peese" are always, "Daddy!". She really cannot spend enough time with her Dad.

I loved this time period when Ian and Niev had matching haircuts! (Niev 6 months)

I have always loved children and one of the priorities I looked for in guys that were marriage material was their views on children and excitement level for having a family. Ian's matched my desires so perfectly it actually turned me off at first (I was not wanting to date him at first, remember). I had never met someone that desired children and loved ALL kids as much as me. I could not have married a more perfect match for me. He is priceless and such a great caretaker, father, husband and love of mine!

Stuff, stuff and more stuff

2008-06-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

Ian had asked me for several weeks/months/YEARS to watch The Story of Stuff online. He found it really motivating and true. I watched it last night and I think she has some very interesting points, but I wasn't quite as excited about it as Ian. Don't get me wrong it was great, but it did seem a little extreme and maybe a bit depressing. Maybe I have a hard time facing the reality of the world. I'm not super environmental, but I enjoy different viewpoints of what I can do differently to help things be better.

I did enjoy however that she mentions in the 20-minute video how we are controlled to think that we constantly in need of new things. She gave some interesting statistics that make you realize how media controls our thoughts and actions more than we realize. She also leads to the point of our stuff controlling us as well. We think we MUST have that new gadget or electronic gizmo, when really society and media help us to think that. I did like the overall feeling of simplify, simplify, simplify!

I would recommend checking it out for yourself and if you do please let me know what you think. I am very curious in people's response to this video. It only takes 20-minutes and it is well done and entertaining as well as informational. Click here to watch the video.

PS--Luckily Niev is a bit more herself today. She seems to be pulling out of this sickness. YEA!

Sickness in the Strawn house

2008-06-12T17:26:00.001-07:00

Niev is sick today. I hate when a baby is sick; you never feel as if you are doing enough! She woke up this morning with a horrible fever. We fed her and I put her down to play. She was not her normal Niev. Very lackadaisical--not her normal busy self. I sat down on the couch for a few minutes to outline my day and dream about going for the first time to the local farmer's market to see if it is any good. Niev waddles up to me slowly and says, "Up, peese!" I pull her up and she lays on my chest for a bit. She begins to squirm as if she wants down, but them cries when I put her down. I pull her back up and just lay her on the couch next to me. She rolls over on her stomach and tucks her chubby arms under her belly (her usual comfy position). I started rubbing her back and tucked a blanket around her. Every few minutes, she would say random words: Dadda, out, slide, baby, etc. Finally, I look over and cute little lips are puckered out and she is asleep. She had only woken up an hour and a half previous to this. I moved her to her crib where she slept for over three hours! Poor girl. So needless to say, it has been a tough day.

Here is a picure of Boston and Niev at about 6 months old--gotta love Boston's excitement!

Memories in the corner of my mind

2008-06-11T12:39:00.001-07:00

I have recently been going through some of Niev's older pictures from birth until present--organizing, picking favorites, categorizing, etc. I didn't realize what an alien I gave birth to. She was quite tiny even though at the time I thought she was HUGE (a whopping 8 lbs 7 oz), but I guess when you think of that coming out of your body, that tends to distort the picture a bit.

Luckily she grew up quickly and within a matter of a few weeks became quite the chunk! I love the sumo-boobies in this picture!
This reflection has allowed me to remember a few fond memories of my sweet girl that I haven't written down anywhere yet so please excuse my mushy gushy mother-ness.

It was very hard for me to go back to work after having Niev. Luckily, I took 8 weeks off and only had about 11 more weeks of teaching 6th grade left when I went back. This did not make that transition easy by any means. I was fortunate enough to have a loving and supportive husband that stayed at home and took fantastic care of Niev. More importantly, this is what greeted me each day when I came home!
There are several memories of mine that as soon as I would get unloaded from work, I would scoop Niev up and play with her on my lap. Oh the giggles that she rewarded me with. Ian, I think, was feeling a bit ripped because he had been with her all day and did not get this kind of reaction. This time was something I looked forward to all day. Near the end of the school year, when I was getting hate letters from parents, pressure to teach the next year from my co-workers and feeling exhausted from a years worth of hard work, Niev was giving me smiles, giggles, and gaauhhs before I could even try to make her laugh. She was my world and still makes life so rewarding.

We had a rocking chair in our last apartment that squeaked horribly. When Niev was just barely home from the hospital, my sister Melissa came to visit us at home. Melissa was rocking her in the noisy rocker and Niev was actually imitating the squeaking of the rocker! It was amazing. I should have known then that she liked music. Melissa stopped rocking and Niev stopped making her high-pitched groaning noises. It was classic.

I do realize I look very haggard here. And I thought I was so skinny!

When she was about six months old, she would eat anything in sight. Whatever she found she ingested. We visited Ian's grandparents on the coast and a group of us were in the bedroom chatting, including Niev and her aunt Kaki. As we were talking, Niev LUNGES for Kaki's nose and starts sucking on it as if it were her binkie! She started make carnivorous noises as if she were a T-rex and for several minutes sucked on Kaki's nose! We were all laughing so hard to do anything about it except grab the camera. I finally pulled Niev off of Kaki and Kaki did form a dark hickie on the end of her nose. It was quite disturbing and yet hilarious. Poor Kaki had the ugliest end of nose any of us had seen for several days. You are a good sport Kaki!
Don't get me wrong, some days I really consider getting a job so that I don't hear whining all day or have to deal with laundry, dishes and the never ending chores. But then I think of Niev's cute smile or her "Peese, Peese, Peese," with her head slightly tilted. Being a stay-at-home mom has been a challenge for me. I won't deny it. I loved teaching and consider going back almost weekly, but I wouldn't miss Niev's cute moments for teaching. Not at this stage in my life. That is not what I am to be doing. With every job, there are miserable things. I just need to accept the ones that I don't like about being a mom and housewife, instead of trying to change them.

Although we are expecting another baby, I hope that my first babygirl will always know what a prize she is to her mother. Niev has truly trained us how to be parents. She has been the easiest baby ever! I keep telling Ian, "I don't know what we are going to do when we have a real baby!" because Niev is completely unreal. I love you, Niev. I could not be more proud of my daughter. She is beautiful, bright, happy and has a large sense of humor for a 17-month old. What a perfect first baby!

Phone calls from Gramma Buh

2008-06-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

So I don't know if I have mentioned it or not, but Ian's mom loves being a Gramma. She has looked forward to being a gramma since she was just a tiny girl and Niev made her greatest dream come true. Unfortunately, they live in California so they don't get to see Niev all that often (Paula does try to visit as often as possible, but that is normally about every six weeks; a lot happens in the life of a little one in six weeks time!). Luckily we have phone calls. Gramma Buh has called Niev since she was about six months old and could barely giggle or babble on the phone. As Niev has been able to communicate more and more, these phone calls truly have been little treasures.

I clipped several videos together so sorry if it seems choppy, but I wanted you to get all the highlights!

During my birthday trip to Portland, Ian had called to talk to me and Niev. I told her to tell Daddy that she missed him and loved him and it was the first time she started kissing the phone like that. I thought I was going to cry.If you ever tell Niev, "Say I love you!" (and she is in a good mood) she will pucker up and give kisses. It really is the sweetest thing. She is truly the joy of our lives right now. Tiring, but so much fun! We wouldn't trade her for the world (most days anyway...)

Best Present Part 2

2008-06-07T22:37:00.000-07:00

One of the days at the coast, we went on a beautiful hike to the lighthouse and to the Octopus Tree. It was fun to see the kids outside, exploring, experiment and experiencing new things.

After staying at the beach house in Oceanside for a few days and catching up with Melissa and Julie, we headed back to Portland for a day of Powell's (one my favorite hot spots in Portland), even more great food and of course some cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. It really was such a delightful trip, but poor Niev and I were missing Ian something awful.

Melissa and I drove back to Kennewick together and I was able to show off our new house. When Niev saw Ian, she got the biggest smile and started saying, "Daddy, Daddy, hi Daddy!" She was so excited to see him. It was a great moment. (Unfortunately, she won't let him out of her sight these days which makes it very hard for him to go to work; he has a heart made of butter.) For the first few days that we were back, it seemed to surprise her every time Ian would walk into a room. She would again greet him with, "Daddy, HI Daddy!" Ian ate it up.

We decided to go to a playground next to our library. Something that is really great about this area is that they have water parks next to a lot of the playgrounds. Little did we know that the water would be turned on and so of course Boston and Niev had to partake! They couldn't run or strip off their clothes fast enough! They had a blast. It was freezing cold water and it was close to 6 p.m. so the little guys were freezing, but we could NOT convince them to come out of the water. In fact, they both had to be carried to the car in order to forget all about the water.

Niev trying to catch the water, yet running away from it at the same time:

Ian caught some great pictures of Niev and Boston playing:

My sister, Kathy, drove down from Moscow, Idaho that day to spend time with Melissa and me. She brought her daughter, Jenna, with her. We stayed up late talking, went on walks, cooked, tried to play a few games (they were not up for it, and yes I still think you are both party poopers!). Overall it was a great birthday! They even made me a cake and sang to me. Melissa accidentally sprained her ankle the day before she was flying out. She was pretty sore, but luckily I had some "voodoo healing salve, save the world" cream and she could fully walk on it without pain in a few days. Because of the problems with the ankle, I have no proof of the rest of the vacation. We did go to another really awesome park with the best playground and a great water park, but Melissa was the only one that remembered her camera.

Overall, this birthday, I realized that my husband loves me and wants me to be happy. He knows me more than I give him credit for and he works really hard at being a fabulous dad. I also realized how much my family means to me. I really love my growing family, but sometimes I need to be grounded again by my original family members. I truly am blessed.

Birthday gifts are the best--when given by my husband!

2008-06-04T21:41:00.001-07:00

This is the first birthday in several years that I have not been in school, finishing up teaching for the year or too busy to really care that it was my birthday. Because of this, my birthday was one that I really didn't care about. In the years past, I just wanted to relax and have no real responsibilities for just one day. Because of all of this mind set in the years past, I decided that I wanted this birthday to be special. (One might say that I was also feeling a bit overwhelmed with being pregnant and have a VERY busy 16-month old.)

I had told Ian over a month ago that he had better plan something very special for this birthday. Little did I know that he was already on the ball. Some of you may know my little sister, Melissa. She is my dearest friend and the move to Washington has been hard on both of us (moving from a 15-minute drive to now a 9-hour drive tends to be hard on seeing each other regularly).

Tuesday night, Ian and I were lying in bed talking and Ian mentioned that I needed to pack my bags the next day because on Thursday, I would be going on a trip with Niev. He didn't tell me where I was going or what I would be doing. On Thursday, he told me to drive to my sister, Julie's, in Portland and that she could tell me the rest of the surprise. Unfortunately, Ian had too much work to be able to take off almost a week, so off I went with Niev to see Julie. I was SHOCKED to see Melissa at Julie's. I was so excited. Ian flew Melissa into Portland to meet my sister, Julie and we all headed off to the Oregon Coast to Julie's beautiful, relaxing beach house. Boston and Niev were so cute together and played like great friends (with just a few "bully" moments from Niev). It was a great break from the every day work. On Tuesday, Melissa and Boston drove back with Niev and me to see my house.

Another sister, Kathy, was planning on coming down to see Melissa at my house. She was not aware of our plans so she had to leave immediately on Tuesday night. It was great to spend so much time with all of my sisters. I could not have asked for a better birthday present. My husband knows me well. He seems to always know just what to do to make me feel loved and appreciated as his greatest love. He is my everything. I cannot thank him enough for this birthday surprise. Julie and Tom were real troopers for putting up with two very active babies destroying both of their houses. Thanks for all the great food and hospitality. Thanks to Melissa and Jeremy for making all the sacrifices to also make this possible.

It was a blast to see Niev and Boston at the beach. The water was freezing, but both of them loved the waves and playing in the sand. Niev couldn't wait to take a dive into the waves. She had absolutely no fear. If we were not there to stop her, she would have just kept walking straight into the waves. She really was so cute with her determined self. Notice how she is trying to get free of Julie when Julie is only trying to help her. What am I in for when she is 16???

She finally got too cold so we took her back to the beach and started playing in the sand. She was investigating the sand castle/mound that Tom and Boston were working on when she slipped and fell, face first, into the sand mound. Her mouth must have been open because she had sand clear in the back of her tongue. Note the sand in her eyelashes:
Then because of her trying to spit out the sand, she formed a perfect muddy goatee. I could barely hold the camera still (yes, I am a horrible mother to take pictures instead of helping my baby girl, but words alone cannot give you these images!) I was laughing so hard.
She got so cold that Julie had pity on her and wrapped her in her sweatshirt.
She then would not let us pull the hood up just so she could see out of it.

More pics to follow, but I must go to bed. It really was the greatest vacation. Ian is amazing!

Ready for my photo shoot!

2008-05-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

Niev really enjoys having her picture taken. She will say "cheese" more readily when the camera is out than when we are asking if she wants some string cheese. The only problem is that you only get about a picture every two minutes because she HAS to see what the picture turned out like on the photo viewer. But we have recently found that if you put any type of glasses on her she will pose for quite some time. She is truly a ham...Her aunt, Kelley, and Gramma Buh bought her some awesome science glasses and she had a blast with those!

She has found the joy of a perfect box. This box was waiting to go to recycling and she hopped right in it and called it her car all day. (She was just a bit sniffly this day so ignore the runny nose...I know my child looks homeless, but what do you do?)

She loves to pull clothes out of her dresser drawers. She found her swimming suit and just had to wear it. Dress-up is something that she is experimenting with. She will often grab my silky underwear (clean or dirty) and wrap it around her neck. She is happiest if she can actually get her head through an arm hole or leg hole. I know it is gross and obscene (hence why we have not posted a picture yet of this joyous occasion), but if you saw how happy she was, you would let her do it once in a while too.

It's been a long time

2008-05-19T20:19:00.001-07:00

I don't know how so much time has escaped me lately, but it has been forever since I posted. And unfortunately I don't have much time right now. Niev is as cute as ever and really does steal everyone's heart that she is around.

My grandma's best friend for 60 years, Hazel Fewkes, died on Mother's Day. She is a one-of-a-kind woman. My grandma, Thora, is hilarious and is the life of the party and her and Hazel made quite a pair. Hell, damn and more choice words that would only make me blush were a regular part of her vocabulary. She will be greatly missed. Anyway, Niev and I went to her funeral in Portland (Ian had to stay and work). I met my grandma, Mom and two of my aunts. We stayed with my sister, Julie, and had a great time. Niev kept us all giggling and entertained. My aunt, Noreen, is an avid Diet Pepsi drinker (sorry Paula) and Niev became truly addicted. She would beg Noreen who has the softest heart of anyone for some of her "juice". Noreen couldn't help but give it to her watered down just a bit.

It was also great to have Ian's mom, Paula, here. She was able to paint while visiting with Ian in his garage. She gobbled up every minute with Niev she could possibly get. Here is a video we sent her a few months ago:

So maybe that will explain a little bit of why I have not blogged for a while. I have not been feeling as good during this pregnancy and I look forward to the beginning of June when the first trimester is over. We are very blessed and excited to add to our little family. We cannot wait to see Niev's reaction to the baby. We are due near the middle of December (Angela, I cannot believe we are going to have ANOTHER baby so close together. I wish we lived closer so we could wallow in our sorrows together of morning sickness!). Life is good. Ian's career keeps progressing faster than we ever anticipated. No complaints from our happy household!

Grandma's coming to town!

2008-04-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow my mother-in-law (the saint, Paula, Gramma Buh, Ian's mother, Niev's favorite phone buddy) is coming into town. I CANNOT wait. I know there are those of you out there that say that your mother-in-law is your archenemy, but this is not true in my case. She is a great friend and one of the best babysitters found on this earth. She adores Niev almost as much as I do and can't seem to get enough of her. She has the patience of Job which is perfect because about the time that I run out of patience with Niev is about the time that Paula comes for a visit. I have not been feeling well lately so my patience is definitely been wearing a tad too thin. Luckily, Paula is on her way to rescue me.

Ian is also excited to see his mom (he is kind of a momma's boy, but in a good way). I can tell he is excited because every time we talk about it he gets giddy and then he has been singing anything and everything (you have to know my husband to realize that he does have a great voice but he doesn't always use it to his best advantage...it can be REALLY annoying!).

I really cannot express how much this means to me that I can go on as many dates with my husband within the 10-day period of her stay as my little heart may desire. Niev has a constant playmate that will personally entertain her, teach her, read to her and love her. Plus, I could talk to her for days on end. It is the greatest deal EVER! Honestly, more people should become friends with their MIL so they can have this great opportunity as well. I guess to make things fair, you should be able to also have Paula as your MIL, but unfortunately Ian is the only boy in his family, so your kind of out of luck.

General Conference

2008-04-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

I have a small confession to make. I had a quiver in my testimony when Pres. Hinckley died and Pres. Monson was sustained as the new prophet. It is not that I didn't believe at all that God chose him, but I had not yet gained that personal witness. I have always loved Pres. Monson, but he wasn't one of my faves. Anyway, I had gone with a prayer in my heart as I listened to conference that I would gain that personal testimony that he had been called of God and would lead the church in truth and righteousness. I cannot express to you the feelings that came over me as I listened to his final address on Sunday afternoon session. What a powerful speaker. I loved hearing from him and found that witness that I was truly seeking for. I now can say that he is a prophet of God and that I know he is the Lord's mouthpiece.

I also was very touched by Elder Ballard's talk on Sunday. Everything that I have felt as a wife and mother (positive and especially the negatives) he seemed to address, validate and calm my anxieties. I truly felt that his talk was designed specifically for me. I sometimes think to myself that I really wish I could just go back to teaching because compared to being a stay-at-home mom, that was easy. I seemed to have that completely under control. I'm not sure I have my house, Niev or anything under control anymore. It was a very special message to me and touched me in such a way that made teaching school seem minimal and almost pointless in comparison to staying at home and helping my family. I loved conference. It was just the pick me up that I needed. What a blessing we have to listen to God's servants every six months.

Confessions of a blogger's husband

2008-04-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Though I have not previously made any appearance on this blog, I feel it would be remiss if the first half of it's namesake never posted a thought. And that thought is this: my wife is amazing.

It would be nice to say that it was love at first sight at our meeting, but it would only be half true. She hardly gave me a second glance. Luckily for me, things change with time, and I am now humbled by the depth and fullness of love I feel from her.

I am grateful for her.

I am grateful for the way she cares for the Nievlet and I...making dinners, changing diapers, cleaning messes (made by both of the juveniles in the house), and a host of endless other menial and repetitive tasks she'd rather not do.

I am grateful for the simple chores she does to take care of our home...washing dishes, vacuuming floors, washing clothes, grocery shopping, cleaning toilets, and more, some of which I'm sure I'm not even fully aware of.

I am grateful for the larger things that she does to improve our home, and bring it closer to the potential we saw in it when we found it... painting walls, pulling carpets, putting up curtains, putting up bookshelves. Largely she does these projects on her own, being very aware of the demands of my work, and I am impressed with her willingness to try new things and dive headfirst into projects she's not entirely sure she knows how to complete. She has been a quick learner, and a hard worker.

I am grateful for the concern and care Lora has for the raising of our daughter. Lora has worked hard and done a wonderful job to create a loving, nurturing, and creative environment for Niev. I truly did find the right mother for my children.

I am grateful for Lora's commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ and his church. Lora's example has made me a better man, a better priesthood-holder, and a better member of the church.

And mostly I am grateful for Lora's friendship. She is always there for me with a hug, willing to talk things out, willing to forgive, willing to comfort. She believes in me, in my career, in me as a father. We still find ourselves talking 'til two in the morning from time to time, excited to share the details of our day and our thoughts (and we still find ourselves exhausted the next morning).

I am grateful for my sweet wife.

Ian

Books Galore

2008-04-05T20:13:00.001-07:00

We have finally gotten bookshelves put up! Ian wanted to make the booshelves himself so it took some time just because of the common demands of work. I was able to put books up that have been stored in boxes since I graduated from high school (yes that was over ten years ago and yes they needed a tad bit of dusting)! I get so excited to sit and just read now that all of my books are in their finally resting place--until we move that is.

I had been wanting to make some curtains for this room as well. When we painted, we took down their ugly, heavy white curtains and patched/painted over the holes. We didn't think about how hot that room gets during the daytime and how we could easily be stalked during the night. Thank goodness it only looks onto our backyard. We looked at fabrics and the fabric that I really wanted was $33/yard. The window is 110 inches which is only a little over three yards, BUT we would need to get six yards in order to make it long enough. Then to make them as full as we would want them we would need to add another 1-3 yards of fabric...Needless to say, it was getting mighty expensive (we hadn't even looked at a rod at this point!). That got put on a back burner. Then we went to Target and found the exact curtains (slightly different material, but same dark chocolate brown color) that I was wanting to make! Sorry, no picture! But, the family room is all done except for little things (new furniture and new baseboards). It feels so great!

On the Niev front, she walks around using anything and everything as a telephone (hand-held Yahtzee game, Tinkertoys, laptop batteries, playing cards, etc.) . Her latest thing is laughing hysterically at her own "conversation" while using the phone. I haven't caught it on video yet, but believe me, it is good.

She is a very social little girl. We went to Dairy Queen yesterday for a little family treat and there was a man sitting kitty-corner from us. Niev waved and waved until he finally waved back. Then she continued to stare at him while he was trying to have a peaceful meal by himself. She kept staring, then waving, then staring, then jabbering, he would look and then she would wave. It was cute for the first couple minutes, but after ten minutes it was kind of embarrassing. We will need to work on restaurant manners.

Ian--Artist and Carpenter

2008-04-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

So in the last post, I was informed that I made Ian sound like a tyrant. He isn't. He has been busy painting so he can fund my house improvements; therefore, the inside house "stuff" has been left up to me. He has been very supportive in whatever I want, but he doesn't have the free time to help with it as much as he wished. Then on his free time, he has been making me a kitchen table.

When we were planning for this move, I told him that I wanted a REAL kitchen table, not a desk that we bought at IKEA when we first got married because it would actually fit in our tiny apartment (it had fold down sides) and would work as a makeshift table. He told me he would make me one. I laughed, but sure enough about a week ago, he bought the wood, started sketching designs and now it is finished. I love it! We still need to paint it or do some kind of staining, but you will at least get the idea. I love having a husband that is handy! Plus, he find it fun to work with wood, building things with his own two hands. He can definitely be proud of himself. Now he just needs to make me some chairs!

Upclose--I love seeing all the different wood grains and colors!

Niev seems to also enjoy it! Isn't she the cutest!

Back to painting...

2008-04-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Once again, I have been trying to make this house look a bit more like our house. I found this great color that I really wanted to paint somewhere in my house, but I hadn't decided exactly where. I decided to paint our dining/living room area in this great orange/red color.

Before:

After:

Someday we will also have great couches or a big reading chair rather than a white futon, but one thing at a time I guess.

After I finished completely painting both walls (and being so careful that my line was perfectly straight) Ian tells me that he would really like it if the wall that is white was also orange. I told him that would be fine, but that he would have to do all the edging this time. That takes forever!!!

Yes, I used blue tape, but the it is imperfect and my husband hates when he can see mistakes so I had to go back with a tiny paintbrush and paint a perfect line on the ceiling and corners. Now he wants to paint the wall that I was so careful about to make that perfect wall. Oh well. I guess he is helping me with my patience...

My Little Reader

2008-03-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Niev has a fabulous grandma that is an adamant reader. Many of you might think you are adamant readers as well, but I have a question for you. Do you have a slight...no actually a MASSIVE panic attack because you can't find the book that you were reading. Sometimes when we visit her, Ian and I will purposely hide her book just to see her go CRAZY! It's great fun.

Anyway, as I was saying, by the time that Niev was about two months, she was the proud owner of over 50 books thanks to her Grandma Buh. She loves books and loves to "read". Since she could hold her head up she would sit on her belly and look through books. Lately she has been doing the cutest thing.

She won't let me read to her all that often because she will grab the book and start reading it herself. The only way that I can read to her is give her about three books and then read a different book aloud to her.

Fun at the park????

2008-03-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we realized that Niev had never been to a park so we decided to take her to this great park near our house; it actually has a ton of ducks, geese, seagulls, etc. We thought she might actually enjoy feeding the ducks. Sometimes I think we do overestimate her abilities.

She was a bit oblivious to the birds so we decided to take her on a slide. FUN, huh! I don't think she was that impressed.

There was a woman there that was laughing hysterically at Niev's face coming down the slide. "I'm not sure she sees the point in that," was the stranger's comment. I think I would agree with her. (Do you like how her shoes were making her grip to the slide so I had to push her the rest of the way!)

So then we tried a twisty slide (this video is a little chaotic because a little girl tried to climb up the slide about the time that they came down...sorry.).

You can see that she did NOT appreciate that. So next we moved onto the swings. What kid doesn't like swings?

I guess playgrounds have their age requirements. Ian and I were so excited to go with her and then she kind of pooped all over our party. I guess we will have to wait a while longer (maybe next weekend) before she is fully ready for the playground scene.

I promise she is a fun and talented little girl.

Niev IS fun!!!

2008-03-26T22:28:00.000-07:00

So I just shared all the disappointing moments with Niev and after some thought (and some great video), I realized just how awesome she is! She may be too young to run unabashed amidst the slides, monkey bars and swings all the while still doing her part in feeding the endangered birds. BUT she is really quite adorable and can do all sorts of great things!

She can draw beautiful pictures.

I saw that sidewalk chalk was on sale and thought Niev would really get a kick out it. It would combine two of her favorite things: doodling and being outside. (Plus the mess is left outside--Bonus for MOM!)

She can bounce on a cement step with the best of them.

She really enjoys Raffi's "Bumpin' Up and Down" song. It talks about bouncing in a red wagon and on the video Raffi bounces on his chair. Niev laughs and starts bouncing as soon as you set her on the step and start singing that song.

She is VERY strong.

She loves to show off...I know, I know, it is slightly embarrassing to have a daughter with such gigantic muscles, but she is strong! Arnold, you ain' got nothin' on Niev.

See, my baby girl is really good at doing age-appropriate things!

Update on Ian's art!

2008-03-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, my husband is an amazing artist. Truly, he is very talented. When we first started dating, I thought, "Oh great. He has this pipe dream of being an artist, but who really makes a living at selling ART!" Then when we decided to get married, I told him that I would fully support him, but that after two years of him focusing on an art career, if things were not progressing towards him making a career out of it, he would need to find something else to do. Even Wal-Mart. We would have to pay the bills. Ian has always been concerned about allowing his wife to stay at home, so he readily agreed with this decision.

Some of you have asked about his career and how things are going. He has galleries in San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and Boston. This keeps him VERY busy; basically, as soon as one piece in a gallery sells, the gallery wants to replenish your stock. He is constantly painting. He works a regular 40-hour week and the majority of his time is used painting. A piece was bought that he had done two months ago, and when he looked at the piece to prepare it for shipping, he was quite disturbed by how unprofessional it looks. He said, "I don't realize how much my skill is increasing until I look at something that I did a while ago and then I can hardly look at it. It is just too embarrassing

The gallery in SF is taking his work (4 pieces) to a fair in New York next week. He just finished up an art fair in London that was just a weekend extravaganza. He sold two pieces, the director of the ENTIRE fair said that he enjoyed Ian's work the most out of all the pieces (this is a GIANT compliment!) and Ian also had interest in a commission piece. This is all very exciting. Needless to say, I don't think Wal-Mart will be seeing Ian at any job interviews. I am very proud of him for his hard work and commitment to his career. Somehow, he still balances play, work and spiritual matters very well. He is a great provider and I am very proud of him. You should all look at his website because he really has done some amazing work lately (especially the little girl sitting next to all the sound equipment--I love that one!). www.ianstrawn.com

Niev and Daddy with the same haircut

The Easter Bunny's visit!

2008-03-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

For Easter, we decided to visit my sister, Kathy, and her family in Moscow, ID! She has five adorable children ranging in ages 14 to 3. We played games, chatted, ate fabulous food and explored their new home. It was great to see them. I realized that I had not been to see them in almost two years. I guess once you get married, start having kids, and are preparing to move, you don't quite take the time to go on vacation as much as you do when you are single and uninhibited. There house is beautiful and great! We painted Easter eggs on Saturday with the kids. Ian and I had a contest for who could paint the best egg and of course I won (you could even ask Kathy's kids--mine was the best!). I didn't take any pictures though of painted eggs, dumb I know.

While Niev was taking a bath, the Easter bunny must have tip-toed in through the basement door and dropped off her Easter basket. Isn't he so clever! He happened to get all of her favorite things: bubbles, fruit snacks and tons of marshmallow Peeps. Thanks Easter bunny. She seemed so excited about all the things in her basket. She kept jabbering away the whole time she was rummaging through all her loot. She was especially stoked about her fruit snacks (you can hear her saying the same word over and over...I don't know if that was church or not, but she knew what she was saying!).

Niev has visited our Nursery twice and done fabulously (except when they brought out the parachute and the kids went wild, I guess she started crying because all the kids were going CRAZY! The parachute and kids were beyond her tolerated limit of noise). So we decided since we were visiting, we could pass her off as an 18-month old. WRONG! Within 20 minutes, she was brought to us in Sunday School. She had puffy, red eyes from crying so I knew that she had cried for a while. Evidently she isn't the super baby I always try to convince myself that she is. Oh well, I guess I will settle with an above average baby if I have to.

We never have anyone around to take our picture, so we never get a picture with all three of us together. So we took advantage of my niece, Annica, after church. Click on the picture to see it bigger. It was raining outside so Niev was not keen on the timing of the picture-taking moment.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program

2008-03-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

I know many of you have complained because I have been MIA in the blog world. Little did you know that I was completely reconstructing our house. BUT now I finally feel that things are under control and that I can return to my regular life. About two weeks ago, I felt like our house still had too much old lady left over from the last owners (pink or gray carpet, plain white walls, wood paneling--you name it, they had it!). I don't think anyone would come into our house thinking, "Wow, I bet an artist lives here." I was trying to think what I could do without spending a lot of money. I walked out to Ian's studio and asked, "Where are all the materials you bought to pull up the carpets?" (We had known that there were wood floors underneath all the ugly pink carpet that went down the hallway and in the bedrooms.) Ian's jaw dropped and asked me exactly what I was doing. I knew he needed to work all day because he had a deadline for a show in New York. Anyway, long story longer, I ripped up all the pink carpet, pulled out all the nail strips and nails and now we have some beautiful hardwood floors!
Before:

After:

Ian's sister and brother-in-law, Kelley and Brian, came to visit last week and we were talking about home fix-ups (they also bought a house about 9 months ago). We got onto the subject of paint color and Ian gave me "permission" to buy paint to paint the living room and all the wood paneling. Little did I know how much work and filth this would entail. First you have to prime the wood paneling, then you have to spackle the gaps, then you have to sand, then spackle, then sand, then spackle, then prime and finally after all of that you are ready to apply your two coats of paint. After the first round of sanding, our entire living room, dining room and kitchen were covered with dust. I am not talking about something that a swiffer duster can pick up...no, no, no. Heaps of dust. I had spackle dust boogers for two days if that gives you any idea of how much dust was in the air. We decided to not do a full sanding job the second time. You can see a slight hint of paneling if you are really looking for it, but overall I think it will work. I love the color we picked. It is between a forest green and a deep rich blue (like the sash on my wedding dress). Combine those two colors and you have the color of our wall. At different times in the day, it appears to be different colors, but I LOVE IT! Ian was the one that actually picked the color and he says that "the jury is still out". Above our fireplace and below the kitchen's bar was also wood paneling. That portion we painted a rich chocolate brown. Finally, I am feeling that our house is becoming more and more of our house! Not some old persons.

Before: Ignore the blue lines--they were for something else...

During:

After:

And of course during all of this, Niev was the perfect little one that she always is. We could not be happier. She just played and entertained herself during this chaotic time. She took her regular naps and was so content while Mom and Dad were busy. She is the best!

Tag I'm it!

2008-03-08T11:31:00.000-08:00

I don't normally conform to these TAG your it things, but I love my friend Crystal from Rochester so I will comply. You better feel loved, Crystal!

10 years ago...I was a senior in high school and had just found out that I was accepted to BYU, but I would have to go Summer Term instead of Fall. I was not accepted for Fall Semester (I didn't care about grades or ACT scores...I was a bratty teenager); this ruined all my plans for one last summer to whoop it up with all my non-LDS friends. Like I said I was a stubborn idiot.

5 things on my to-do list today...Clean house (mainly laundry), spend time with Ian and Niev (I love Saturdays!), go to the park and feed the ducks, pick out paint colors for our family room and have some alone time with Ian (that is none of your business what we will be doing).

Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire...fix up our house, buy a van/SUV, TRAVEL with Ian!!!, save some of the money so that Ian and I could to aid work to help orphaned children in India (one of my life-long dreams--we would help build and teach at these schools. Long story, but sometime you should ask me), get Ian's parents out of LA and back to "God's country"/Oregon. The rest I would put away for my kids and those inevitable rainy days.

3 of my bad habits...biting my nails, being hypocritical of others while being self-righteous, laziness. I will deny being any of these things when press though.

Places I have lived...Parma, Idaho/ Provo, Utah/ Portland, Oregon/ Rochester, New York (all over Western NY because of a mission)/ Rexgurg, Idaho/ Washington, D.C./ Kennewick, WA!!!

Jobs I have had...hoeing onions in my dad's fields, working in all sorts of ice cream soda shops, secretary, census bureau questionnaire giver person, substitute teacher, 6th grade teacher and now MOM!

Things people don't know about me...I pretend to be independent more than I actually am. I wanted to be a nurse when I was a little girl. I find it hard to make friends as an adult. I love to read, but find it hard to read to my little girl. I HATE doing dishes (this is pre-dishwasher me. Now with a dishwasher it isn't a big deal). I have the most intense dreams that someone is out to kill me or murder someone in my family. I no longer can ride rollercoasters (I think I blogged about this once, but I am still in shock over it!).

Now I am adding a few of my own questions thanks to the brilliant and breathtaking James Lipton:

What sound or noise do you love?...I love to hear my husband and daughter giggle at the same time.

What sound or noise do you hate?...Tires screeching...it makes me cringe every time. Maybe I have been in too many accidents!

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?...I would love to be a family counselor. I don't think I could do it for long, but I would like to see what that would be like. I also would like to be an adoption counselor for a while. Neither of these are forevers though.

And just because a blog is not a blog without a picture:

Niev and her bestest friend!

Taken early in the morning and it was cold; she was really letting me have it! Ooo, she was mad...

Easter is not Easter without bubbles!

2008-03-07T09:55:00.002-08:00

I went to Target yesterday to look for a fan for my husband. (Paintings are taking 3-4 times as long to dry here as they did in Utah so by trial and error we are trying to correct the problem.) Of course I to stop and look at the baby clothes. I saw the cutest Easter dress for Niev and just had to have it (plus, she is down to only two dresses that fit her and only one barely fits her). So that got me thinking about Easter and Easter is not Easter without it being spring. And spring is not spring without bubbles! I realized Niev had never played with bubbles before. I love kids discovering bubbles for the first time. It has such magic to it that you don't see in adults. We seem to hide that excitement and pure joy of simple things behind a mask of nonchalantness.

It was so cute to watch her belly laugh at the bubbles floating away. She was totally enamored by what was happening. I hope I remember this day forever.

When we got home, I wanted to show Ian that the dress was totally worth it so I put it on Niev. Just when I went to take some pictures she found a wrapper to a fruit snack. It was empty because she ate it earlier and I would not give her another one. She through a royal queen-bee conniption fit. Caught her in the act.

Oh yeah, it was a good one!

No more caveman!

2008-03-06T10:58:00.000-08:00

Niev used to walk like a caveman (according to Melissa) or like she had been riding a horse for about a months straight (according to Mom). She didn't bend her knees really so she would have to swing her legs wide in order to be able to take a step. It was hilarious, but a turtle would have beaten her and a good breeze could knock her down. Niev is a fast learner so she quickly realized that there was a better way. She is now walking like a normal toddler...well, sort of. You be the judge.

She loves to dig through her diaper bag (scouting out for a binkie). When she found these sunglasses that we bought for her a year ago, she was as proud as punch. She would try to put them on, stab herself in the eye, walk to me, have me put them on her and just saunter around gloating about her fabulous sunglasses. Isn't she cute!

She has also found our curtains to be a good hiding spot. I was taught not to ever play in our curtains as a child, but Ian has convinced me that life will go on and that I just need to breathe sometimes. Plus, these came with the house and we are not the biggest fans. I love her squeals!

Something old, something new, something blue

2008-03-06T08:28:00.000-08:00

Since we found out that we were expecting with Niev, I have been so excited to get a crib set. Ian has very definite opinions on design, color, etc., but since we didn't have a crib, we couldn't very well justify buying a crib set. Now that we have a crib, I was finally able to get a crib set. I LOVE it!
I know Niev is a girl, but I am not that partial towards pink. Plus, being a teacher and all, I love the numbers/letters print (my babies will be geniuses).

Just so you know that I do dress her in pink sometimes, here are some pics from church last Sunday.

She's got moves like her mother!

2008-03-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

I don't know if I have explained just how adorable Niev is. She loves music more than eating (which is saying quite a bit). As soon as music comes on, she is dancing. I think she belongs in the ghetto, dancin' with the little girls on the street (side note: why is it that an african-american three-year old can shake her booty and hips better than I can ever dream of doing?). Her whole body says and jives. It is pretty cute. Well, tonight we put on Raffi and she loved it. At one point, she actually tried to grab at the microphone through the TV. Hilariousness ensued.
This was taken as we were unpacking her room. I was very excited to move and one of the first things I spotted that could be easily packed were most of Niev's toys. She hadn't seen some of these toys in over two weeks...enjoy!

We also put her crib up and she loved jumping in her new crib. She no longer sleeps in a playpen! She now has a soft, comfy mattress thanks to my brother and his wife. She loves her HUGE bed.

She loves to swing, go fast on slides and recently we found out she likes to go sledding (I had totally forgot to blog about this when it happened with all the moving and stuff. This is a week or so before we left Utah).

We put her on a bunny-type hill that we found with her buddy, Tyler. He was very uncertain how he felt about everything and Niev was too cold to even give a real smile. (I didn't realize that we had been out in the cold for over two hours! Time flies when you are having fun. Yes, her cheeks were very chapped. Neglectful mommy.) Too cute though.
Niev's aunt, Kelley, and grandma buh went in together and got her a rocket-bike for her birthday. It is too cute to see her waddle on it. I can't help but laugh. She has learned to get off and on by herself (sometimes with a bit of a crash) and therefore, no longer get stuck on bumping a wall. She is the cutest baby around....no contest!

Movin' and Groovin'

2008-02-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has been so long since the last time I blogged. I know, I know Melissa, for YOU it seems forever, but to me the time is flying by so quickly. Ian's mom, Paula, came to Utah to help us with the last minute packing, cleaning and watching Niev. We rented a 17-foot truck and filled it to the brim (literally, when you opened the back door a mattress would fall on top of you!). I don't know how we ever managed to live in such a tiny apartment. Paula rode with me in the car and help tend to Niev's every desire. Niev actually was a great travel buddy and she was very happy for the majority of the way. We stopped in at my mom and dad's house in Parma, Idaho (YEA!). We were graced with great beds and fabulous meals. Did I really expect anything different? It is always great to see Mom and Dad; they are the best! We were pleasantly surprised to also find my grandmother at the house. If you haven't met my grandmother Thora yet you are missing one of the sassiest, hilarious people this world has ever laid eyes upon. We played games and had a gay ol' time. The next morning, we went to Craig and Maria's to drop off a painting that they had commissioned Ian to paint. Ian had worked tirelessly and was very stressed as he had NEVER done Christ before and felt that He needed to be perfect. I was very impressed with his skill and dedication. He can't really include it on his website so here it is (please excuse the horrible picture) :

To zoom in on the picture, just click on it.

Finally, we were off to Washington! We made it here just in time to meet our 15-20 "moving crew" from our church's elder's quorum. It was great to get such a warm welcome of happy helping hands! Ian was very cute and carried me over the threshold. We quickly got the truck unpacked and Ian's sister, Kelley, shows up from Portland to help us out.

That night, Paula and Kelley gave Niev her first bath in her new bathtub. Reader, please note that she had been taking a bath in a TINY tub in the middle of the kitchen floor at our old apartment. Niev went WILD in the bath! She flailed around until all of us were worried that she would hurt herself. I was too busy unpacking/cleaning to grab the camcorder, but let it be known: She loves her new house! Here is a pic a few days later of her in the bath:
For the first week or so, she just wandered around the house excitedly yelling and rolling around on our carpet. She loves exploring all the new cupboards and drawers. It is so fun to watch her.

We love our new house and are so grateful for this time in our lives. It has been an adventure and I'm so glad that I did this with Ian. He is a very calm and collected guy most the time. We were very patient with each other and talked through any stresses or tenseness between us. I truly love my husband. What a good father and buddy he is to Niev.

Construction Zone

2008-02-26T20:08:00.000-08:00

Ian worked endlessly on his garage. When I say endlessly, I mean endlessly. He worked non-stop starting Monday at 7:30 a.m. and didn't rest until the garage was done the following Monday at about 6:00 at night. Each day he would work from 7:30/8:00 until almost midnight, only taking a short lunch and dinner break. What is he doing to a GARAGE, you may ask? Ian's new art studio is the garage. In order for him to work in the garage, come wind, snow or rain, he had to insulate and board up the garage. With the help of his dad (directing by phone) he decided to not drywall, but to put up particle board so that he will be able to hang anything anywhere. This was a very exhausting project, but the garage looks amazing now that it is finished!These are different sides of the garage, but oh well!

Before:

After:

After the garage was all done and beautified, I was a bit bugged because the inside of the house, the place where I go to work every day, was exactly the same. (I can be such a selfish brat sometimes.) I was complaining to Ian and so I told him the list of small changes that I would like done. He helped me with these and one of the items on the list was the knobs on our cupboards.

They remind me of Arizona for some reason. Ian let me replace them with this knob. Much better!

As you can tell, our cupboards are old, but they look much better with the knobs on them.

Niev is still very happy in her home and loves being outside. Her face is changing so much because her teeth are rapidly coming in.

We have moved!

2008-02-13T22:00:00.000-08:00

Finally, we have moved in to our new home in Kennewick, WA. Ian's mom was kind enough to fly in to Salt Lake and drive with us all the way to Washington. As we crossed the Washington border, I couldn't help but get a little choked up thinking that this will be the first home that Niev remembers. We are excited about our new house and it is just as good as we remembered it being. More will be written later, but I must go clean, unpack, feed Niev and Ian, run errands.....

Niev with Melissa at our "going away" party. I will miss my best friend!

Teaching RS

2008-01-28T20:12:00.000-08:00

In our ward, Ian and I each have three callings. I teach Relief Society on the 4th Sunday while Ian teaches Priesthood on the 2nd Sunday. We are both on the activities committee and are Sunday School teachers for the 15-16 year-olds. It keeps us very busy and sometimes we wish there were a Sunday we wouldn't have to teach something, but it works out.

This last Sunday was my last Sunday teaching RS in this ward. I am really going to miss that calling. I have felt very appreciated by the sisters and always get great compliments on my lessons, but more importantly I have gained a fervent testimony and excitement for the modern-day prophets, leaders and Lord's chosen. This last lesson was reviewing the talk "Mothers Who Know" by Sister Beck. If you have not read it lately, I would strongly suggest reading it again and trying to understand what she was trying to say, not what you might have heard during conference. I gained great insight to my own mom and how she came to be the selfless and charitable woman that she is to me and my family. I also learned some of my own strengths and found a thing or two that I can do better. I cannot express how this lesson has effected my outlook on motherhood. I now believe that mothers have just as much influence and power as fathers; we are to work as a joint unit to raise our children. I know Sister Beck didn't say anything jaw-dropping, but I really did gain a testimony of the sanctity of motherhood. I also realized how much I am going to miss this calling. In a way, it was filling a little of that hole that I feel from not teaching 6th grade anymore. This gave me that same excitement and love of learning and teaching others what I have learned! Now it's gone...but hopefully in my new ward, I can serve as a teacher of the YW or RS again.

Once again, a blog is not a real blog without pictures:

Our little reader and destructivator:

Introducing our walker!

2008-01-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

While we were at my parents' house after Christmas, Niev took her first steps, but only two. A couple days later, she repeated the two-step, but then we didn't see anything from her for a while.

Finally after having to listen to all of our friends brag about their children walking, Niev has finally gotten up the courage to begin taking steps on her own. Yesterday, I think she overheard my disappointed voice when the doctor asked if Niev was walking because as soon as she took her nap, she started experimenting with taking small steps on her own. She would pull herself up on the couch and then turn towards the middle of the room and began taking steps towards the opposite wall. She wasn't attempting to get a toy and reach some other destination and as soon as she would fall (about two steps) she would try it again. If Ian and I were trying to provoke her at all, she would go limp or slowly lower herself to the floor. She wanted to do it all by herself and at her own time. She definitely has her own thoughts and ideas about things. Very independent, which has its plus and minuses. It is kind of fun to watch her walk because her steps are very deliberate and cautious. She is prepared to fall at any moment.

Niev's year check-up

2008-01-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

I just got back from the doctor for Niev's one-year check-up. I forgot to list our pediatrician under some of the things we are going to miss when we move. He has been so great and kind. He truly loves Niev and recognized us while shopping at Costco (even called us by name!). He has always been very complimentary of Niev's progress and our parenting skills which is nice to hear.

She weighed in at a whopping 23.5 pounds (I keep thinking that at her last appointment she weighed 25 pounds, but I was wrong) which is in the 93 percentile. Her head circumference is 47.5 cm which was 97% and her height was 31.25 inches which is off the chart. She is very tall for her age, but everything is very close in percentiles so the doctor was happy about that. She officially has eczema, but no surprise there because Ian and I both have it. She had only one shot this go around, but for the first time since she was a newborn, she cried! Normally, she will just grimace and then move on, but this time, she puckered her lip and let out a wail! She would only be comforted by me holding her and would not even look at the nurse. Every time the nurse talked, she would whimper. She is a funny girl.

But the best news is...that Niev can sit in her carseat face forward rather than rear-facing! She has been okay with facing backwards, but I know she will love the car so much more if she is facing us. It will make going in the car that much easier and more enjoyable.

When we got home, she got her bum changed and a bottle and within five minutes, this was her:
She was sound asleep, not even batting an eye when the flash was going off. Sweet baby girl!

Things we will miss!

2008-01-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

A lot of people keep talking about how we must be so excited to be moving and we are (especially Ian!). We can't wait to have room to move, an entire yard to ourselves, and for Niev to have her own room, not a makeshift bed in the corner. We are also excited to be able to change anything about our house that we want. I have found that I am really getting excited about the potential in our house and what it could be...don't get me wrong. I love it the way that it is, but it will be nice to picture Ian and myself there. Right now, it looks a bit grandma.

While I am anxious, there are some things in Utah that I will miss dearly. We have a lot of great friends that are very close, especially my sister, Melissa. Any time that Ian is working a bit longer of a day, I pass the time by going to Melissa's house. We cook, clean, talk and watch our babies enjoy each other. It is something that I don't think I will ever find anywhere else. Melissa and I have become true sisters and best friends. We have always been close, but there is nothing like being at the same stage in life at the same time. We seem to help each other out in all aspects of our lives. I really do love her and her family. I see what a great mom she is and that inspires me to be a better mother. I recognize those weaknesses I need to correct by her example. She will be missed as well as all our other friends. We have finally found another couple that I get along with the wife and Ian gets along with the husband. Now that is a modern-day miracle. We will sincerely feel a loss when we move.

We will also miss our ward. They have been so kind and welcoming. Ian and I feel like we belong in this ward and it will be a transition that we will have to adjust to at first. Hopefully, our new ward will also feel like home.

I know Ian will say that I am being negative about our new house, but today I just started thinking about all the positives in my life and how some of those things will change because of our move. That is not to say I won't find other positives, but they will just be different. Count your blessings!

Unbiased parent of the cutest baby girl

2008-01-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

I was talking to a friend of ours the other day, and he mentioned how he had decided that before his son was born, that he would be able to freely admit that his baby was ugly and looked like an alien. I totally related with this because I knew I could be honest and not have any bias towards my own daughter. When she was born, I really thought, "I am being totally subjective (is that the right word or is it objective--it's late and I am really getting confused here), but I really can say in all the world I have never laid eyes on a more beautiful baby! Angelina and Brad have nothing on us. Niev is way cuter than their puffy-lipped baby!"

Now I look back at Niev's baby pictures and I do realize that she was not as cute as I thought she was...now don't get me wrong, she was beautiful, but not as adorable as she is now. Her adorable smile, squinty bright blue eyes and high-pitched squeal are my Achilles heel. She was sweet as a baby and now she is a real kicker. I can't think of anyone else besides Ian that I would want to spend an hour with. After we put her to bed at night, I am still relieved, but within an hour or two, I want to wake her up and have her play with us. She is really the happiest baby to be around. What a joy!

To think that a year of her life has already zipped by is kind of sobering. To think that I have spent over 365 days of my life with her and some of that time is spent with me watching TV and her playing by herself. Or even more frightening, me losing my patience with her because I didn't want to take ten minutes out of my day to hold her close/read/play and all she was doing was wanting attention. I understand I am human, but tonight I was thinking of her and how much she has grown and how fast she will continue to grow and it awakened me to the parent I WANT to become. Guilt is a positive if we change because of it! Just since July, she has changed so much. Observe:

Here are two pictures that were taken in July! That was only six months ago.

And here is a picture of her taken this week. She is no longer my chub monster. I can't waste another day of this precious time.

Niev is one!

2008-01-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

So Niev turned one on Jan.17, Thursday. She is so big and I can't believe it was a year ago that I gave birth to her. What an incredible year it has been and she is the lead singer in our band. We often think about our life before our Niev-lette and our lives seemed so shallow and dead before she happened along.

She woke up and she seemed to look older to me. I couldn't believe it! She was very excited about her birthday hat and the balloons and streamers that Melissa helped me decorate with.

We invited several friends over so it was more a party for Ian and me than it was for Niev, but we had to brag about our beautiful one-year old! This is a picture of Niev with her buddy, Tyler, who gave her a Baby Einstein video. Can you tell she is way more interested in the wrapping (no matter what variety) than she is in the actual present.

We had cake and ice cream and she ate two big pieces with ice cream. She broke out today with a bit of a rash so I think we might of loaded her with a bit too much sugar, but she had a blast.

It truly is amazing to me that at only 12 months old, she can have such a strong personality. She is not walking, but she is jabbering away. I know she is saying something real and I want to know so bad what "gshkt sonnoga" means so if any of you know little guy language, let me know! She honestly said that over and over one morning looking at me with an expectant expression. I had no clue what she was wanting from me so I just nodded and encouraged her talking.

Now when I say she isn't walking, Ian does correct me. She has taken two steps two different times, but that was over two weeks ago. To me, that isn't considered walking, but her dad is quite protective and so proud of her tiny accomplishments. She is also working on her different facial expressions. She really thinks it is a matter of hilarity when her mother bulges her eyes out as much as she can (almost like raising your eyebrows, but more like raising your eyelids--give it a try!). I think she is experimenting herself. Here are some examples:

(above picture is truly a look--I didn't just catch her between blinks)

She truly is a baby with a million and one personalities. I love her dearly and couldn't imagine how sad my life would be without her in it! I love you, my love bug.

Rubber ducky, you make bathtime so much FUN!

2008-01-15T20:32:00.000-08:00

While we were at my parents' house after Christmas, Melissa and Jeremy were there with Boston. Niev and Boston are only 3 weeks apart and they are so fun to see together. I get excited for Niev to have brothers and sisters just seeing how they interact and play together.

We decided to give Boston and Niev a bath together. Well since we don't have a real bathtub at our apartment (but luckily our new house does!) Niev is not used to so much space to move around in. I don't think Boston was used to someone in his zone while he was bathing so they were both finding this a new and interesting experience. Melissa only fills the bath a tiny bit because Boston will just lay on his back while the bath is being filled and then flail his arms and legs around as if he is trying to swim. It was very fun to see them together.

I missed filming it, but Niev loves to dunk her face in the water and blow bubbles. Well, Boston was on his stomach and he Niev bent down and "blew bubbles" on him bum. She also stuck her finger in Boston's crack and seemed to be investigating it. They loved watching each other in the bath. She would splash around and then Boston would think that was highly hilarious and then Niev would hear him laughing and start laughing. It was the loudest bath I think either of them has ever had!

Super sledders!

2008-01-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

Ian and I have been wanting to go sledding for quite sometime so Ian went to the tire shop and asked for an inner tube for sledding. We started blowing up the tube and one side blew up much bigger than the other side. It was very awkward and hard to sit on, but we thought it might change if we were to just use it again.

Christmas Day we took Niev for her first sledding experience. It took us longer to get ready than we actually spent sledding, but we had a blast. We decked her out in her new rain boots (being waterproof is synonymous with snow gear, right?), pjs and jeans with her cute red coat and snow hat with gloves. Ian was still worried about her being warm enough!

I took Niev on a ride first, but because of the awkward tube, I had to practically row myself down the hill with Niev on my lap. Ian had me turn the tube around, but then the tube just popped out from under my bum. We had a great laugh during the entire 15 minute tubing trip.

Niev likes the taste of snow and so I decided to feed her some. I tossed a little bit at her face, but her dad didn't think that was very fun at all. Moms can have a little fun too can't they. Maybe I was being a little too mean...I'll let the video speak for itself and you be the judge.

Christmas time is over and we get a new house!

2008-01-10T16:04:00.000-08:00

I have been very inattentive to my blog, but for good reason. Two days after Christmas, Ian and I got word that our loan had been pre-approved. We were very excited and Ian had been telling me that as soon as we got word of our loan, we would be on the road to look at houses. We received word about 4 p.m. on Thursday and we were on the road by 7:30. We went to look in Aberdeen, Washington, but the houses we found reflected the depressed state of the town. They had anything from rotting wood to black mold to leaking roofs. One house smelled so bad that none of us (our real estate agent included) didn't even want to step foot in the house. The smells seemed to continue to germinate in our noses for about 10 minutes after we had left the house! It was pretty scary so we scratched Aberdeen from our list of favorite places we want to live.

We found several houses in Kennewick, Washington that we were very excited about. One in particular that really made us feel at home. We made an offer and now we will be closing and moving to Washington on February 22. We visited the ward on Sunday and everyone was very friendly and welcoming. We are excited to be homeowners and can't hardly wait for February to come! The pictures are ones I took with my camera so they are not the best quality, but you get the idea. It is a 3-bedroom, 1.5 bath, 1680 square foot rambler that was built in 1963. It is definitely livable right now, but we have a list of projects big and small that CAN be done if we are wanting extra projects. Please disregard the old lady furniture.

The layout is not drawn to scale, but it gives you an idea of where things are:

The kitchen has a LOT of cupboard space--YEA!

The family room has tons of natural light. The window that Ian is standing at will become an outdoor access, but for now it is only a HUGE window.

The living room is just off the kitchen and is connected to the dining room.