The Andersons (who used to be) in Wyoming

Goodbye, Wyoming

2009-04-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

It's taken me almost a year, but I am finally changing our blog address (since we no longer live in Wyoming). This will be my last entry on this blog, so make sure you bookmark my new one: www.mykidseatoffthefloor.blogspot.com. Don't forget!!

Alligade

2009-04-20T20:50:00.001-07:00

Yep, you read that right. Alligade. Tempe's new favorite drink.

Let me describe it to you: it's usually an unnatural jewel color; marketed to athletes as a sports drink; it tastes like sweat mixed with fruit juice; and there are commercials with people sweating it.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Today at the store, we passed a display of Gatorade and Tempe got very excited and said "Mom, can you buy Daddy some alligade? And he can share it with me!"

The cupboard under the stairs

2009-04-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

After living in apartments, I never thought I would have enough storage space to consider using a closet for anything else. But our house has a 600 square foot crawl space that's pretty much an unfinished basement (with a 4 foot ceiling)--it is insulated, cemented, and has lights--so when Tempe asked me if the closet under the stairs could be her playroom, I said yes! We had a fun week putting it together.

First, we went to Home Depot to browse their "oops" paint, and found a gallon of robin's egg blue for $5 (Hint: If you aren't picky about the color for a room, "oops" paint is a great way to get paint for a fraction of the cost. Just go every week until you find a color that you like!)

After I painted (and that was fun--trying to paint a ceiling that slopes down to ground level), I put the wire shelving unit that had already been in the closet down at the girls' level. Tempe helped me choose some toys to put on it: books that wouldn't fit in their rooms and the books from the basket in the living room, some flash cards they like to scatter around, a game of "Go Fish", several photo albums that Grandma Lisa has sent, the doctor's kit, a few stuffed animals, and a basket of dolls and doll accessories.

Finally, it was time to accessorize. We went to Wal-Mart, hoping to find a body pillow on sale (I have seen them for $10 there before). We didn't find one, but we did find two really cute throw pillows for $5 each, so we got them instead. Then we went to Robert's to get wooden flower cutouts. We also got a bird and a bumblebee. I painted green flower stems along the baseboard, then hot glued velcro to the top of the stems and the back of the flowers--voila! Interactive wall art! Helena especially loves pulling the flowers off, over and over.

Even though it is a very small space--probably about 3 feet by 8 feet, but will a ceiling that slants down in the back--we got a lot in there. I'm also going to add framed family photos on the wall, and Tempe and Helena are going to help me paint a few more wooden flowers to put on the flower stems. Maybe someday I will add a roll of paper to the wall so they can use it as an easel. It's really cute, and the girls love it! They play in there while I cook (it opens off the kitchen) and enjoy having their own little space.

Here are some pictures:

Oh, and the trapdoor to the crawlspace is at the back of this closet (under the chair and pillows), so I couldn't put, say, a kitchen there. I needed to find something light enough that I could move easily whenever I need to get down to the crawlspace. That is why I decided to make this mostly a "reading nook" sort of playroom.

Yikes!

2009-04-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Before we moved into our house, a girl in my old playgroup told me that her in-laws live on Jennings as well, and asked which house we bought. When I told her it was the one on the corner, she said "Oh, that crappy little house?"

I brushed it off and chalked it up to the fact that I was so in love with my first house that I managed to ignore the badly neglected exterior. Jason and I still affectionately call it our "crappy little house", but now that my neighbors lawns are emerald green and their gardens are filled with blooming flowers, I'm starting to feel a little panic when I look at our yard.

Explanation: our house was vacant for about a year, and during that time no one came by to take care of it. No one raked the leaves last fall, which means that until about a month ago when the snow melted, we had a layer of leaves under a layer of snow, leaving us with mostly dead grass. No one pruned the drastically overgrown holly bush, no one weeded the gardens, no one painted the trim. So we are slowly getting our yard in shape, and it's a little overwhelming!

Tonight I went to Lowes to buy plants for our empty gardens and man, was it hard trying to choose things! I didn't know what would look good together or how to arrange things, so I just bought some things I thought looked nice and hopefully I will figure out where to plant them.

Here are some before pictures.... after pictures will follow in a few weeks!

Mean Mommy

2009-04-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Robert's to pick up some things for the girls' new playroom (more about that later!) and as soon as we walked in the door, Tempe saw the helium balloons. She immediately started in with the "Mommy, can I have a balloon? Please can I have one? Please will you buy me one?"

I kept saying "No, you have a balloon at home... No, you don't need a balloon." But I guess the cashier heard us, because when she was ringing me up, she asked if Tempe wanted a balloon. Tempe's face lit up and she chose a pink balloon. As we were walking out to the car, she was babbling happily to herself and she said "And Mommy say, (in gruff, snarly voice) 'No you can't have a balloon!' and the nice lady say, (in happy princess voice) 'Yes, you can have one!'"

I couldn't help but laugh at how evil I come off when I deny a balloon.

Catching some Zzzzz's

2009-04-14T14:49:00.001-07:00

Helena is a busy one-year-old. She has a lot she has to do every day: pull all the DVD's off the shelf, climb up the stairs, empty the basket of books in the living room, scatter the children's dishes across the kitchen floor, and, of course, get into big sister Tempe's things. With all that to keep her busy, no wonder she has to catch a few Zzzz's whenever she gets a chance (like in between bites of graham crackers)!

Helena was finishing her lunch today while I was making my grocery list, and when I glanced over at the high chair, this is what I found! I quietly took this picture, and she woke up bleary-eyed, took another bite of graham cracker, and then rolled her head to the side and went back to sleep. She alternated sleeping and eating for about 15 minutes, and screamed bloody murder every time I tried to take her tray away and clean her up for a real nap. Finally, she finished all of her graham crackers and let me take her up to her crib.

I miss my old friends, too

2009-04-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

Moving to a new area is hard, and I know it, but I always forget until I'm doing it again. I know that it takes about a year to really feel at home and make friends, but that year is so hard! I have only lived in our new house for two months, but it feels like forever, and I am just having the hardest time making friends. Our neighborhood doesn't have a lot of little children or stay-at-home-moms, like I thought it would. Our ward was really friendly at first, but there are never any activities or opportunities to get to know anyone better.

I really miss my old friends in Laramie. A lot. I miss my old neighborhood. I miss going for walks with Denise. I miss going to playgroup (SO MUCH). I miss playing at the neighborhood park with the Smiths (both Smiths), the Meads, and the Faulkners. I miss going to the library and seeing people I know there. I miss knowing I would have someone to sit with in Relief Society every week. I miss not being nervous about going to Enrichment activities.

I keep telling myself that I need to give myself more time and not worry, and remember--it takes a year. I tell myself that if I still feel this way in the fall, then I can worry. But it's still hard!

Doesn't anyone from Laramie want to move into my neighborhood? There are two houses for sale!

I miss my old camera

2009-04-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

I really miss my old camera. It was a Canon. I can't remember what kind, but it was the best camera EVER! It took the best pictures with minimal effort on my part, which is what I want. It died in November, and I decided to go with something different. A Sony Cybershot. Yuck. I hate it. It takes awful pictures! They are either washed out from the flash, or grainy because I turn it off. I have done ALL the troubleshooting, basic and advanced, and I just can't get it to take good pictures. I know that the ISO affects the "noisiness" of the pictures, so I set it at 100. But the pictures still end up grainy, blurry, or washed out. It's really frustrating because I used to take really good pictures!

Anyway, I am trying to sell it. Not that any of you will want to buy it after this post, but it is listed on KSL and Craigslist. Hopefully someone will take it off my hands so I can buy another Canon.

Here's one of the pictures from my old Canon. Man, I miss it.

"Grandma Lisa, you gonna stay at our own home?"

2009-04-10T19:33:00.000-07:00

My parents and brother and sister left today, after staying with us for the past 5 days. We had a great visit, and we were able to do a lot in such a short amount of time, including skiing (for some of us), the zoo, BYU, Temple Square, lots of walks, and a day full of yard work. My dad loves doing anything home improvement, and so (along with the majority of the yard work) he also hung a swing in a tree in our backyard, fixed the door to our shed, tightened some loose faucets, and (biggest project) hung bi-fold doors in our laundry closet. Yay! Now people don't have to walk past my laundry to get to our only guest bathroom.

But it was sad saying goodbye. I used to have a very hard time when it came time for a visit to end, but I've realized that for living 1200 miles apart, we actually see each other pretty often. And with cell phones and the internet, it's much easier to keep in touch than it was for my mom when she got married and moved 2000 miles away from her family. The hardest part about this afternoon was when Tempe realized that we were saying goodbye to her beloved Grandma Lisa and Grandpa K. She got a sort of worried expression on her face and said "Grandma Lisa, you gonna stay at our own home?"

Following is a hodge-podge of pictures from our visit.

Jeff, Tempe, Kelsey and Grandma Lisa sitting on the "bench" in our backyard.

Me and my girls enjoying the swing that Grandpa K put up for us!

Tempe thinks the swing is just as much hers as it is Helena's (who actually got it for her birthday)

Helena on the swing's maiden... swing.

Tempe loved standing at this window at the LDS Conference Center and looking through the waterfall when we were there to see the international art competition.

Dad going crazy with the clippers.

Tempe and a BYU racecar--two of her favorite things!

Spring has sprung...

2009-04-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

...And Helena is one! We had her "Springtime" birthday party last night. It was quite a party! We had about 30 people attend, all family, including my parents and brothers Tyler and Jeff and sister Kelsey, who are visiting from Tennessee this week (more about them later).

For Lena's party, Tempe helped me dye frosting all the colors of the rainbow for Lena's rainbow cupcakes. Margaret has some great pictures of the party on her blog. The problem with having a talented photographer in the family is that I no longer bother taking pictures at family events. So you'll have to check them out on her site instead!

Today we have been very, very busy getting our neglected yard back in shape. My dad thrives on yard work, so he had a great day doing all kinds of stuff. We got so much done! I can't believe how beautiful it looks from just a few hours of work. We are so grateful that my family was so willing to help us in the yard on their vacation!

This last picture is the results of all our hard work: tree branches, grass clippings, even a dead tree that we took out of our planter area. It's pretty gratifying to see how much we got done!

It's April, so....

2009-04-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

The summit just east of Laramie:
And here is a picture of Sinclair, outside of Rawlins. All of the trucks and cars you see lined up here are waiting for the interstate to reopen. It's been closed for 24 hours.

Oh, Wyoming. There's nothing like you (thankfully). It's weekends like this that make me so glad not to live there anymore!

*I don't want my Wyoming readers to be offended... I mean... seriously, the weather in Wyoming is ridiculous! But I do miss a lot of things about Laramie: the small town feel, all of my great friends, the way the wind howled so cozily outside my bedroom window...

Mainstream appeal? No, thank you.

2009-04-02T20:46:00.001-07:00

I have always wanted to be part of a cult following. The best definition I could find of this elusive state is not really a good definition at all: "A cult following is a group of fans devoted to a specific area of pop culture. These dedicated followings are usually relatively small, and often pertain to items that don't have broadmainstream appeal" (from Wikipedia). How can something be part of pop culture if it doesn't have mainstream appeal?

Anyway, after much contemplation, I have determined that I am part of a cult following. I cult-follow (?) "Arrested Development", Fox's short-lived, underrated comedy about the most horrible people in America, the Bluth family. Jason and I came to the conclusion that I can count "Arrested Development" as something I cult-follow last weekend after a conversation about whether or not it's fan base is small enough. My argument was that too many people like it; it seems like most of my friends and family think it's hilarious. But Jason pointed out that most of my friends and family have the same taste as me, and that they are not an accurate sample of the population. So... yay! I am part of a cult following after all! And I did it before my 30th birthday! (I should add it to my list)

ps I also wish that I was part of a secret society.

Five reasons why I love LOST

2009-03-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

1. It's like nothing I've ever seen. Ever. I can guess what's going to happen next all I want, but I'm never right. It's totally unpredictable and doesn't subscribe to the mass media drama formula like most other shows on prime time.

2. There's something for everyone: drama, horror, suspense, comedy, even a little romance (although I wish the writers would drop the stupid love quadrangle).

3. Even with all of the different elements and story lines, in my opinion, the show is about people--their weaknesses and strengths, and the relationships that they form (and in most cases, ruin). What could be better than that?

4. Ben Linus. 'Nuff said.

5. It's a "smart" show. And the best part is that there is an allusion to a great work of literature in nearly every episode--from "The Chronicles of Narnia", to "Animal Farm", to my personal favorite book of all time "Slaughter-House Five".

So if you already watch LOST, good for you. And if you don't, you should start. Just remember that you have to start at the beginning and watch in order or you won't understand anything that's happening.

Happy birthday, Lena!

2009-03-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

Daddy helping Helena stand at the girls' ladybug measuring board.

Today is my baby's birthday. My baby is one year old! How did that happen??

Helena is a darling. She loves her big sister and follows her everywhere. She loves to play with things that make noise, like rattles and tambourines. She's a lot like me in that when she is happy, she is very, very happy; and when she's sad, she's very, very sad. She loves attention (hey, also like me) and she screams to let you know when she needs more. She makes everyone love her with her beautiful big smiles, her cute little wave, and her giggles and coos. We are so lucky to have her!

Here is some random trivia about Lena.

Her full name is Helena Louise Anderson. That's Hel-A-Na, not Helen-A. Jason chose her first name (My Chemical Romance, anyone?) and her middle name is after my sister Kelsey and my Grandma Allan. She weighed 6 lb, 8 oz and was 19 inches long when she was born. She was due on April 6th; but was born on March 30th, 2008, after my midwife convinced me to let her break my water. She has three teeth (two on the bottom and one on top) and is finally starting to grow some very fine blond hair. She had a bright red birthmark on the very back of her head when she was born, but it has faded away now, and you can't see it unless I point it out.

Today we went to the aquarium to celebrate her birthday. She was a little nervous at first, but when I showed her that the fish couldn't swim out and get her, she really enjoyed it. She loved watching the tropical fish swim in their tanks and splashing her hands in the touch pool. (Tempe had fun, too)

Helena's "Springtime" birthday party is next week, so check back for pictures of our real celebration! In the meantime, you can find her official first birthday portraits on my aunt Margaret's blog.

Here are some pictures of us at the aquarium. As usual, Tempe wouldn't look at the camera and Helena is starting to follow in her footsteps. Nooo!!

Who would've thunk...

2009-03-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

... that on my fourth anniversary I would have a two-year-old and an almost-one-year-old, a wonderful, considerate husband, a gorgeous house, and my very own minivan?

Yes, it has really been four years. And so far, it's been a good day. Jason woke me up at 7 with pancakes from McDonalds (yum! My favorite!) and I am going to surprise him after work with some ice cold Dr. Peppers. We are going to the Church International Art Competition and The Cheesecake Factory on Saturday to celebrate, but tonight I think we will just relax with our Dr. Peppers and The Office and 30 Rock.

Last year on this day: I was nine months pregnant with Lena, 4 cm dilated, and contracting all day. Not our best anniversary.

Two years ago on this day: The Cheney's babysat Tempe while Jason and I went out to dinner in Laramie.

Three years ago on this day: I was three months pregnant with Tempe, and we went to Ft. Collins for dinner at P.F. Changs. Super yum!!!

Four years ago on this day: We were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. Click here to find out more about why Mormons build temples)

Best. LOST. Ever.

2009-03-26T13:56:00.001-07:00

"Although we see Sayid shoot Young Ben exactly where his heart should be (if he had a heart), there’s almost no chance that he’s dead." from Kulturblog.

Sorry, U fans

2009-03-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

Tempe knows we like the "go, go, go Cougars!" but beyond that, I didn't think she knew what BYU is. Well, she at least knows what a university logo looks like. On Saturday we were driving up to the zoo, and when we passed Rice-Eccles Stadium, Tempe saw a red University of Utah "U" logo. She pointed at it and proudly said "It's a red go, go, go Cougar, Mom! A red cougar!"

I just thought all my U-fan friends would like that :)

Roswell vs. Twilight

2009-03-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Meyer totally ripped of "Roswell", the WB's late '90s show about aliens and the teenage girls that love them!

Watch the pilot (on hulu.com). There are a few similarities between it and Twilight that really jumped out at me, including Max telling Liz that they "... can't do this. It's just too dangerous."

Of course, I still love Twilight. I forgive you, Stephanie Meyer.

The opposite of my last post

2009-03-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

Cari suggested that I make a list of the things I like about myself and I thought that was a good idea.

I am really good at school without much effort.

I keep my house super clean.

I am relatively good (not great) at lots of things: scrapbooking, writing, decorating, teaching...

I am really, really good at documenting memories for my family (like this blog).

I am a very good cook! And decent at baking as well. And along with that, I am pretty good at budgeting our food money and grocery shopping. I have a system.

I think I am a pretty good mom. I am good at thinking of fun activities for us to do together and fun place to go together.

I am pretty good at making new friends when we move (I guess because I've gotten a lot of practice).

I am good at making other new people feel welcome.

I am (usually) a good driver.

I like LOST and 30 Rock and I think those should count for things that I like about myself.

So, I feel better after this post than I did after the last one. Cari, you are the best! Thanks for the suggestion!

Frustration

2009-03-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been feeling very frustrated with myself. There are so many things that I want to change and that I don't feel confident about; yet, for some reason, I don't ever change!

I wish I was a nicer person. Sometimes I am just mean. I think mean thoughts and I mutter mean things. I don't want my children to grow up to be mean-spirited like me! I want them to be kind and loving and patient and to remember that everyone has a mommy that loves them. I know that the best way to teach them is by example, and I am afraid that I don't set a very good example for them.

I wish I was more patient with Tempe and Helena (mostly Tempe).

I wish I was more responsible with our money. I am prone to financial weakness, especially when it comes to food.

I wish I had better priorities. There is so much that requires my attention, things that can only be done while the girls are asleep--yard work, homework, housework... but by the time they go down for their naps, all I want to do is crash in front of the tv. And then I end up feeling guilty that I didn't get as much done as I could have.

I wish I was more on top of our non-existent food storage.

I wish I had a talent.

I wish I was better at doing my scripture study, planning family home evening, teaching the girls about the Gospel in our every day life, and doing my visiting teaching.

And those are only the weaknesses I am going to admit--there are more.

A simple children's activity

2009-03-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

1. Smear one-year-old with peanut butter.

2. Allow two-year-old and one-year-old to roll around in a pile of birdseed.

3. Hang in a tree for the birds to enjoy!

Grateful

2009-03-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

I was blog surfing, and came across one that really touched me: www.thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com. But I am warning, you DO NOT read it if you are pregnant, are the parent of young children, or have a heart. I just spent the last half hour crying as I scrolled through to read about the trial this family has had to endure. I read through sad blogs like this pretty often--I just can't help myself, and then I always feel sad--but this one really got to me because the little girl that this family lost was almost exactly the same age as Helena. I can't even imagine holding my Lena in my arms and saying goodbye, and knowing that it would be the last time I ever got to hold her. In this life.

Because that is the silver lining to a tragedy like this. Their daughter is gone from them for now, but someday they will be together again. Heavenly Father has given us such a wonderful gift--the gift of forever families. Someday we will all be reunited with our loved ones, and all of the mothers who have had to say goodbye to their children will be able to hold them and love them again. That is the only thing that could ever help me through losing a child--although it's something I hope I will never, ever have to do. I don't think I am strong enough. I don't think I could bear it.

Grumpy

2009-03-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

Today I am a little down in the dumps, for more reasons than one, but only one that I am going to share on here: my Adolescent Literature teacher.

She keeps sending back my assignments with biting, sarcastic comments in the margins. Comments that do not help me understand what she would like me to do differently in the next assignment. Comments that are not at all constructive criticism. And even though I know I shouldn't let someone I don't even know get me down... I do! I hate reading what she writes on my assignments. It makes me feel so bad about myself and about the quality of my work. I have always done really well in school--it's my "thing". I'm not good at sports, or art, or music, but I am good at school. So it's really hard for me when I do not do as well as I like to.

Here are some strange things. My first five assignments were all graded 97. Now, all of a sudden, six and seven have been graded 83 and littered with mean comments. But really, I don't think the quality of my work has changed at all. Also, she accidentally graded assignment six as assignment eight and gave me a 97. When I called to point out it was graded as the wrong assignment, she re-graded it and gave me an 83! Isn't that strange?

Even more Tempe-isms

2009-03-14T21:53:00.001-07:00

[Mis]quoting "The Little Mermaid": "Lena is six years old, Mom! She is not a child!"

"I think we should.... I think we should... buy a bumpy ride." (She calls the ATVs at Grandpa's cabin "bumpy rides")

Missing her paci: "Mom, I not want to grow big and strong. I want to grow little. Can I grow little and have me paci?"

Tempe is a big girl--but not by choice

2009-03-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

Today is the third day Tempe has gone without her pacifier. Woohoo! She was down to one paci, and she kept chewing on it, so Jason told her that when she bit it and it broke, we were going to throw it away and not get a new one. Well, Tuesday she bit through it and so I reminded her what Daddy had said. She remembered what I was talking about it and took it into the bathroom and put it in the trash herself. For the rest of the day she kept saying "I don't need me paci, I put it in the trashcan!"
But then at bedtime... She was ok while I was reading her a story, but towards the end of the book she interrupted me and said "Mom, can I have me paci? Just one more paci, please?" It broke my heart to see the worry on her face when she realized she wasn't going to get her paci! Even after that, she did ok. She yelled a little bit, but went to sleep without it. In the middle of the night, she woke up crying for it. Jason went in and tried to console her--she was insisting she needed it--so he said "Here, suck on a pony's nose instead" and put a pony in her mouth. It worked! I laughed and laughed when I saw her sucking on her pony's nose the next day.
So, she is officially "off" pacifiers--but not by choice.

I want to go to Disneyland

2009-03-12T13:57:00.001-07:00

I want to go to Disneyland. I really want to go to Disneyland. I really, really want to go to Disneyland. I can't even say how much I want to go to Disneyland.

And if our tax return is really as big as we think it will be, we might be able to go!

But not until fall. I can't wait that long. Six more months? I'll go crazy!

Until then, I have to be content with planning our trip and finding the best deal on a hotel. Any tips? I've never really shopped around for a hotel. We need a family-friendly hotel with a suite (separate bedroom and living space) and a complimentary continental breakfast. We also want a refrigerator and microwave or kitchenette in our room so we can save a little on food costs by eating at the hotel instead of going out every night. The hotel needs to be relatively close to Disneyland--walking distance isn't necessary, but we will need a shuttle that doesn't take too long. And of course, we don't want it to be too junky or dirty.

Do you think that's too much to ask?

I just keep picturing the expressions on Tempe and Lena's faces when we walk through the gates for the first time and they see the castle, the characters, the rides... and I keep imagining which rides they will like best. Dumbo? Winnie-the-Pooh? Mr. Toad's Wild Ride? Peter Pan? Tempe might even be tall enough to ride Splash Mountain--she just needs to grow 4 more inches!

Some more Tempe-isms

2009-03-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

Watching tv with Mom. "I feel sad..."
(Mom) "Why, sweetie?"
"We don't have a doggy..."

[Several days later] Watching "Pinnochio" with Dad. "I wish I had a kitty cat."

After hearing me leave a message on my sister-in-law's phone inviting her over: "Rachel gonna bring the girls [cousins Maddy and Libby] over to play?"

Reproving her sometimes-not-so-nice mother: "You need to be nice to other people, Mom."

Grocery shopping with Mommy before Uncle Tyler comes to spend the weekend: "We gonna share the eggs with Uncle Tyler?"

Typical two-year-old response to my demands for obedience: "No, Mom! You be-have! I not have! I Tempe Joanney!"

Untagged wedding tag

2009-03-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

I wasn't tagged, but thought this looked fun:
1. Wedding Date: March 26, 2005
2. Where did you get married? Salt Lake LDS Temple

3. How long did you date / were engaged? We dated for 3 months and were engaged for 5 months

Jason proposed to me at the Timp Trailhead on October 30, 2004 (this picture was taken the following spring, after we were married)

4. Were you a Bridezilla? Maybe... I worried about everything the entire time we were engaged because I wanted everything to be perfect

5. Wedding colors: Orange and pink

6. How many bridesmaids? My sister Kelsey and my sister-in-law Morgan; sisters-in-law Corinne and Katelyn were flower girls
7. Where did you honeymoon? We spent our wedding weekend at the Homestead in Heber, Utah, then went to New Orleans for a week a few months later

Jason caught these two vampires on our vampire tour of the French Quarter.

8. Where was your reception? The Orangerie at Red Butte Garden--it was really neat. It's a glass building that was once used to grow orange (so kind of like a greenhouse) and it was like being outside without having to worry about heat, cold, wind, rain, snow, or anything else. We also got to do pictures all over the grounds of Red Butte Garden.
9. Is there anything you regret or would like to redo? I wish I had worn colored shoes instead of white. I wish we had danced to "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes instead of "What a Wonderful World". I wish I hadn't worried about things so much. I wish our photographer had given us digital proofs instead of a proof book.
10. Did you save your cake top and eat it on your first anniversary? Nope--but we did eat leftover wedding cake for several months after the wedding.

11. How long have you been married NOW? Four years in just a few weeks!

More generosity than we deserve

2009-03-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

Due to the very giving, generous nature of both sets of our parents, the Andersons now have two luxuries that we thought we would have to live without: a second car and the Internet at home!
The car came first. Jason's wonderful father helped us find a great second car--a 2000 Toyota Sienna. That's right, I am a minivan mom. And I love it! Tempe does too. She asks me every day if we can go for a ride in the new van.
The Internet was just hooked up a few hours ago, although I can't figure out how to get the wireless to work. My mom knows how much I love blogging, and I think she missed reading about the girls, so she and my dad decided to get the Internet for us for an early birthday present. Aren't they wonderful?

Trying to blog without the internet

2009-02-24T18:50:00.000-08:00

Since this is my Internet night (I go to my in-laws to use their wireless on Tuesday nights), I thought I would do a short update. We love being in our new house, but we do miss having the Internet at home! Living without the Internet and without a car can be kind of isolating for me, but I am lucky that I have two little girls to keep me company, a sister-in-law and nieces that like to come over and play, and several nice parks within walking distance.
Tempe and Lena are getting to be better friends every day! They are actually starting to play together now, and Lena adores her big sister and follows her everywhere. Lena just learned to wave and is trying to figure out clapping. Tempe is learning more colors every day, and even tried to arrange her blocks into a circle the other night! The shape she made was more like a squashed oval, but it was a closed figure, so that's pretty good! I hope to start her in a Joy School program this fall when she is three. We also have not yet started potty-training... but now that her bathroom is painted and put back together, I really have no excuse!
Now that the weather is warming up (our last bit of snow melted today!) Jason and I need to get cracking on the yard. The house was vacant all fall and winter, so our lawn is matted with rotted leaves. I'm afraid to see what the grass is like under them all! After we get the leaves up, we need to haul out a brush pile in the back yard, take out several overgrown, ugly bushes, and add some flowers. It will be a busy spring!

Some Tempe-isms

2009-02-24T18:47:00.000-08:00

Holding Katelyn’s My Little Pony that got mixed in with our toys when we moved out of Jason’s parent’s house and subsequently became Tempe’s My Little Pony. “E [Katelyn] got this pony to me. It is so special to me. E got this pony to me!”

Dancing around her bedroom in her Sunday dress and singing. “A sunbeam, a sunbeam! Jesus wants a sunbeam! A sunbeam, yeah, yeah!”

Answering the next door neighbor’s question about where her Grandma lives. “Grandma Lisa live at Grandma Lisa house.”

At the park with Daddy. “You know awesome, Dad? Dad, you know awesome? This playground is awesome!”

Surveying her newly unpacked bedroom. “I got new toys! Look at all me new toys!” [While we lived at Jason’s parent’s house, our stuff was in storage for over eight months, and Tempe apparently forgot all of her old toys in that period of time.]

Coming into the kitchen where Helena is crying while I try to make dinner. “It’s ok, Lena. It’s ok! I’m here. Someone hurt you, Lena? Mommy hurt you?” [I tried to assure Tempe that I did not hurt Lena, but she wondered why else Lena would be crying.]

Discovering that Jason had put her Polly Pocket away in the wrong place before bed the night before. “Hey, this not go here! It go here!”

Wanting Jason to toss her in the air. “Throw me up to me bedroom, Dad!”

“Read me a story, Mom. A real story.” She pats me on my chest. “You!”
“Tell a story about me? When I was big or when I was little?”
“Little, just like Tempe!”

Bringing her green Gideon Bible into the bedroom where I am reading scriptures. “I got my scriptures, Mom! I reading my scriptures!”

At dinner at Jason’s parent’s house before we moved out. “Doodle-oodle-oo!” [Gibberish] “You know that, Grandpa?”

Walking the aisles of the dollar store after her very first haircut. “I found the perfect toy, Mom! It’s a ball!” [I told her that she could pick just one toy if she was good for her haircut; she was.]

Driving home from church and pointing at the different houses. “That not me own home, that not me own home, no, that one not me own home!”

At dinner one night. “Hey, I have the idea. How ‘bout we all go outside and play! Hey, I have the idea. How ‘bout we go to the store. Hey, I have the idea. How ‘bout we get a treat. Hey, I have the idea. How ‘bout we all play dinosaurs. Hey, I have the idea. How ‘bout we take all Tempe’s clothes off!”

Talking about whether she is obedient or disobedient. “Mommy, I make you happy… but sometimes I make you sad.”

A very bold choice

2009-02-24T18:42:00.000-08:00

I watch enough home decorating/real estate shows to know that the color we just painted our bathroom is not going to be popular, and is probably going to reqire us to repaint if we ever want to sell our house... but before you make any judgements, let me explain. We only paid $5 for the paint. I found it in the "oops" section at Home Depot, and so, really, it's not too bold of a choice, because it was a $5 choice. Besides, me and Jason like it--we just don't think anyone else will!

And notice how the blue in the shower curtain is the precise shade of blue on the wall. Crazy, huh?

Also, bathrooms are very hard to paint. Especially ours, because the wall slopes up on one side--the side with the toilet--and so it was hard to get the ladder close enough to reach the highest corner. But, we perservered, and if we got a little paint on the ceiling, well... they're high ceilings so no one will notice :)

Want a present?

2009-02-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

This is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones! Good Luck!

Reading and why we love it

2009-02-17T19:15:00.001-08:00

Last night Jason and I had a fun conversation. It started because we no longer had a couch to sit on to watch tv--we moved the loveseat that had been our tv couch upstairs in preparation for the delivery of our new red sectional (see previous post). So instead of sitting on the cold hardwood floors just to watch reruns of "Man vs. Wild", we played Rummicube and then just hung out in the living room together. I was looking at our bookshelf, which is pretty well stocked, and I turned to Jason and said "Which of these books on the bookshelf here is your favorite?"
Well, that stumped him, because he couldn't narrow it down. And so we spent quite a while taking turns naming our favorite books and discussing them. Most of them we had both read, but there are a few that just one of us had read. Here is a partial list of the books we named, and who chose them as a favorite:
"Slaughterhouse-Five" (Kate)
"The Brothers Karamzov" I probably spelled that wrong (Jason)
"The Scarlet Letter" (Kate)
"Blood Meridian" (Jason)
"To Kill A Mockingbird" (Kate)
"The Grapes of Wrath" (Jason)
"East of Eden" (Kate)
"Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" (Jason)
"The Count of Monte Cristo" (Kate)
"The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (Jason)
"Kinfolk" but only as a Pearl S. Buck token--if we owned "The Good Earth" that would be on the list instead (Kate)
"On the Road" (Jason)
I know there were more that we talked about, but it's hard to remember them now... we also came up with a few that we thought we had but don't have, and want to buy: "Animal Farm", "1984", and "Fahrenheit 451".
So, if anyone is looking for something to read, there are our recommendations!

The Great Room

2009-02-17T19:02:00.001-08:00

Isn't it great?

We just got this couch on Saturday as a Valentine's Day present to each other. We went to RC Willey just for fun, not planning on buying anything, when we saw this gorgeous suede sectional for only $800!! Can you believe that price? I didn't think it was right. But it was, and so we bought it.

A word of e.xplanation

2009-02-11T18:44:00.000-08:00

We are now living in our new house and we don't have the internet there :( So I have to limit my blogging to once a week when I go to the library. Next week I will actually write a real entry, but LOST is starting soon so I have to GIT!

Living room

2009-02-11T18:33:00.001-08:00

This is it, the room with the giant mirror. I have given up hope of ever getting the mirror down, but we do want to paint the room brown to warm it up a little. We got that cute little brown chair for $50 on Craigslist! Score!

Tempe's room

2009-02-11T18:26:00.000-08:00

Tempe loves her new room, especially the "balloons" (white Japanese lanterns) strung along the shelf under the ceiling. She also likes that she has her very own toilet in the attached bathroom.

Master bedroom

2009-02-11T18:16:00.001-08:00

We are officially moved in to our new house--and I mean moved in, unpacked, cardboard boxes flattened and stowed in the crawl space... man it feels good. Here are some pictures of the master bedroom!

Don't laugh at my crappy desk. It only cost $10 when I was a single gal at BYU. Someday we will have a nicer one!

Welcome to homeownership

2009-01-31T21:48:00.000-08:00

We have had an exhausting and emotional day today--it was moving day, plumbing day, appliance delivery day, and cleaning/unpacking day. Jason and I spent almost all day at the house and we actually got a lot done. Now we have more empty boxes than full ones! And so far, all of our stuff is accounted for.
We had a traumatic welcome to homeownership. Last night when we were at the house unloading boxes, we noticed a leak from the ceiling into the middle of the great room--a pretty steady leak. We turned off the water, poked a hole in the bubble that had formed, and forced all of the water out, then went home to cross our fingers until morning. This morning, our plumber told us that the only way to a) diagnose the problem and b) fix it, would be to rip open the ceiling to get to the pipe. My jaw dropped. I was afraid to even think how expensive that would be. But after turning on all the faucets and flushing all the toilets, the bubble wouldn't leak at all, so the plumber recommended that we just forget about it until it happens again. Then he went in the crawl space and found $1200 worth of repairs, including a broken regulator and a cracked pipe that was spraying water everywhere.
After he did his work, he came back to look at the bubble some more. It still wasn't leaking, and he went outside to look at the side of the house. He noticed that the dryer vent had pulled away from the siding of the house and that it was directly across from the bubble in the ceiling inside. So, it looks like probably the problem came from water leaking into the gap between the vent and the house and seeping into the ceiling. That is very, very good news, because we just have to silicone seal around the vent and hopefully that will be the end of it. I hope it is
My computer is being really weird now

The first of the pictures!

2009-01-30T12:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday our loan/sale of the house was finally finalized and so we went over last night to pick up our keys and do a little cleaning before moving day. I took the opportunity to take just a few pictures--more to come!

Helena in her very own big girl room! Kind of a boring picture, but we are planning on painting the walls green, so I will post "after" pictures later.

The view of the fireplace in the living room. Here are some of my favorite features: the round, lead-glass window, the corner windowseat, the tile on the fireplace hood, and the sunken living room (you can see the steps in the left corner). This is the room with the ginormous mirror and the high ceilings. It's a blah cream color now, but we want to someday paint it, probably a nice warm brown.

Another view of the front of the living room--that's the front door.

My favorite room in the house! This is the great room. At the other end is the kitchen and dining area (I'll take some pictures of those areas tonight). Isn't the brick wall gorgeous? And yes, that is another fireplace! In this picture you can kind of see the end of the windowseat--it's about 8 feet long. And I wish the hardwood floor showed up better. I will try to get a picture that does it justice. It is a distressed hardwood floor--dinged and banged up, but very artfully! The walls are kind of an olive green, which doesn't sound nice, but it's a really nice color.

We spent a few hours over there last night. After being vacant for a year, there were plenty of flies and plenty of dust for us to clean up. There was also the dead bird in the crawlspace that we had to get rid of, of course, and the old owner left us treats all over the house: cutting boards in the kitchen cabinets, cabin themed shower hooks in the linen closet, a string of really cool dragonfly lights (they're going in Helena's room), an old red suitcase in the crawl space, assorted half empty cleaners, two gallons of Ranchero Red paint (unopened!), and a giant granite slab desk in the garage. Score!

Jason is a homeowner!

2009-01-26T20:58:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned our house recently. We thought that we would be closing in early January and moved in by now, but obviously, that hasn't happened yet.
Getting our loan approved took a lot longer than we thought it would--it didn't help that just as soon as we turned in our application, interest rates dropped and the underwriters were bombarded with people refinancing! But eventually, the loan was approved, and our loan officer was actually able to get us an even lower interest rate. 4.875%, baby! That's like paying no interest at all.
So, today Jason closed on the house. He is officially a homeowner! I say Jason and not "we" because I am not on the loan and I am not on the title, either (yet). My credit rating is 0, so we just put Jason on the loan. I hope that he puts me on the title soon so that he can't kick me out of the house.
We hope to record and take possession tomorrow; moving day is Saturday. Hopefully we will have some "before" pictures to post tomorrow night!

What I really want to do before I am 30, but am afraid will never happen:

2009-01-24T19:39:00.001-08:00

Write a children's book.

Bad things come in threes

2009-01-16T19:08:00.000-08:00

1. Pell Grant problems
2. Busted computer
3. No more second car
Could be worse....

Tempe and Giraffe

2009-01-14T15:19:00.000-08:00

Tempe pushing Giraffe in a stroller, leans down to his level: What's that, Grashie? Yeah?
Picks him up: It's ok, Grashie. They nice doggies! Points to dogs a few houses away.
Hugs Giraffe: I hold you, Grashie. It's ok. It's ok.

She carried him until we were past the house with the dogs, murmuring "It's ok" all the way.

How could you not love this kid??

that mean boy

2009-01-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

Today I took Tempe and Helena to Arctic Circle for an ice cream and so that Tempe could play on the indoor playground. It was crowded, but we managed to find a table to sit at in the corner. Tempe ran off to play while Helena and I ate our ice cream.
Tempe isn't at all shy, of adults or of other kids, and so it was perfectly natural for her to see a boy a few years older than she was by the slides and go say hi to him. I could see that she was smiling at him and saying something, but I don't know what they were talking about. The next thing I know, "that mean boy" pushed her away, and then put his hand on her head and pushed it down so that it hit against the side of the playground. I, of course, got up and rushed over and he scampered off when he saw me coming. Poor Tempe was crying pretty hard, and I could tell it was more because her feelings were hurt than anything. She was trying to be nice to him and make friends and he reacted like that? I would be hurt, too!
So I comforted her, all the while scanning the room, trying to figure out who that bratty boy belonged to. Nobody got up to apologize, even though we were very conspicuous because she was crying so hard. I finally figured out who he belonged to. An elderly man who was sitting inside the restaurant, not by the playground, and who was completely ignoring his obviously disturbed grandson. I saw the same little boy push another kid and stand in front of the slide, blocking it from Tempe and another girl. That time I went over, tapped him on the shoulder, and said "You let them play. And don't push anyone again!" It scared him.
I wish parents/grandparents wouldn't allow their children to treat others like that. It's not fair to the kids who do play nice.

How BYU is ruining my life

2009-01-11T15:21:00.001-08:00

This is going to be a long post, and I may start crying in the middle of it, so bear with me. Well, I guess none of you can tell if I'm crying or not, so that doesn't matter too much, but it is still going to be long.
I am in the Bachelor of General Studies program. That means I can take all independent study classes to finish my bachelor's degree. Since I am officially in the program, I am also eligible for federal financial aid. So last year I filled out my FAFSA and at the end of the summer was awarded around $2300 in Pell Grant funds.
Most students just receive a check from their Pell Grant; well, as a BGS student, I have other requirements. I must pay for my classes up front and then after I finish 25% of the coursework, I am sent 25% of the Pell Grant funds I am eligible up to that point (depending on the number of credits I am enrolled in); after I finish 75%, I receive the rest of the Pell Grant money. So I followed the requirements very carefully, and in November was sent a check for $592 after completing 25% of my coursework. When I completed 75%, I again contacted BYU to let them know, and they told me that $592 was the maximum amount awarded for 5 credits, which is what I was currently taken. Basically, instead of sending me the amount in two parts, they sent it to me all at once.
So no big deal. I used the money to pay for more credits and got to work on them. Then, towards the end of November, I noticed that all of a sudden my student account at BYU showed $1183 in it; I didn't know why, so I called and found out that it was mistakenly posted to my account and would be removed the next day. I was advised to tear up and throw away any check that I might receive in the mail, which I did.
Still no big deal.
Until two weeks ago, when I noticed there is a hold on my record for a past due balance of $592!! I called to talk to someone about it. The first person I talked to told me it must be because I tore up the check for $1183 instead of sending it back (even though I was told to tear it up...) She told me she would email me a form to fill out and then the hold and past due balance would be removed. I waited a week, and didn't receive a form, so I called again. This time it took me 45 minutes to get through to anyone, and the girl I talked to told me she would have to talk to a processor and call me back. She said she thought I was supposed to receive two payments of $592 for fall semester, and instead, I essentially received three (because $592 x 2 = $1183). She said since I tore up the check and didn't cash it, they would just do a stop payment and it would get sorted out. I told her just as long as I don't have to pay the initial $592 back, because I already spent it. It took her a week to get back to me, and when she did, I missed the call and she just left a message saying that she was very sorry because she knew I said I had already spent the money, but I would have to pay back the $1183. !!!!!!!!!! Remember, when I got the check for $592, I spent it on more classes; when I got the check for $1183, I tore it up and didn't cash it.
So. I called back. It took me 20 minutes to get through to someone else. He listened very carefully and told me he would have to call me back. Of course.
When he called back, he told me he had talked to someone that had checked to see that the check had not cleared the bank yet. He was going to have a stop payment put on it, but that person didn't come in until after his shift had ended, so he would just leave a message for him and then get back to me on Monday. He told me that even though BYU thought I owed them $1183, the "system" had $592 in it and that's why the past due amount was for $592 instead of $1183. I don't believe him. I don't think he knows what he is talking about.
So. You can all understand why I am freaking out here. I guess the very worst thing could happen would be that they are all idiots and I would have to pay back $592; but really, that's pretty bad, isn't it?

If anyone reading this blog has experience with stupid financial aid people, I hope you can help me. They are all either unwilling or incapable of helping me themselves.

Auld Lang Syne

2008-12-31T21:32:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to do a "year in review" blog post on the last day of 2008, and then tonight when Jason and I were hanging out with our friends, Dan and Jess Hardy, we were talking about the dumb things people blog and twitter about, and how even though they are dumb, other people read about them... I think this post might fit into the category. But Jess said she likes reading stuff like this, so... at least one person might enjoy it!

January
We came back from our fun-filled vacation (cruise to the Bahamas, visiting with family in Tennessee and Utah) to dreary, snowy, windy, yucky old Laramie. Jason had to go back to school and I entered the uber-uncomfortable third trimester.

February
Tempe had her first (and only, so far) asthma attack; we went to Build A Bear to make a teddy bear for "Baby Sister"; Jason bought me a $40 cheesecake for Valentine's Day.

March
Uncomfortable, uncomfortable, uncomfortable... then... PAIN... then Helena Louise Anderson!

April
I tried to get used to caring for two demanding children while getting ready for our move to Utah; Jason tried to prepare for graduation.

May
Jason graduated from Law school!!! We moved to Utah to live with Jason's parents.

June
Bar Prep classes and studying for Jason; bicycling with Tempe and Helena all over Bountiful for me.

July
The girls and I visit Tennessee; Jason finishes up his Bar prep and takes the Bar.

August
Nothing really happened this month.

September
We begin house-hunting this month; Tempe turns two!

October
All kinds of fun activities this month: playing in the leaves, picking out pumpkins, getting ready for Halloween.... We make our first offer on a house this month (it was rejected). Plus, Jason was admitted to the Bar this month!

November
Visit to Tennessee to welcome Tyler home from his mission! We put an offer on our "dream house" this month.

December
Waiting, waiting, waiting.... then... finally! An acceptance! Christmas came one week early for us when our offer on our dream house was finally accepted.

So... that was the watered down version of this year.

Chesnuts Roasting

2008-12-28T16:58:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

We had such a fun Christmas here at the Anderson home. On Christmas Eve, we went to Jason's grandma's house--a family tradition. We ate, sang some great songs ("Jing, Jing-a-Ling" and "Six White Boomers", among others), played White Elephant, and just enjoyed each other's company. When we got home, Jason and I helped Tempe and Helena open their Christmas Eve pajamas (a tradition from my side of the family) and put them to bed. Then we did those secretive things that Moms and Dads do on Christmas Eve after the kids are in bed :)

I thought that I was a grown-up, but I must still be a little childish, because I had such a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve! When it was finally morning, we all got up at about 8:30 and went downstairs to see what Santa had brought. He brought Tempe a really cute dollhouse (and a racecar in her stocking) and he brought Helena a fun pink ride-on pony. After we all played with our Santa presents for a few minutes, it was time to open the rest of the presents.

We had quite a haul this year! It was very fun helping Tempe open her presents. She would get so excited about whatever she was opening that she would completely lose interest in the rest of the presents. Some of her favorites include some My Little Ponies and a Lightning McQueen pillow and blanket. Helena likes her two new books, her animal stacking rings, and her bead toy. Jason's doesn't choose favorites. Maybe he didn't like any of them. And as for me... well, it's hard to choose! I got the food processor that I wanted to make baby food, so that was good. My mom made me the cutest apron I have ever seen, and I love that! Jason framed a large family portrait to hang over our fireplace, and I love that too.... I don't know. It was pretty darn good. Most of all, it was nice to spend so much time with our family, just relaxing and playing together.

Tempe and Helena in their Christmas dresses on the Sunday before Christmas.

Tempe and Helena opening their presents

Helena loves riding her new pony!

Helena got into a chocolate bar when I wasn't paying enough attention to her. She was very, very excited! And Austin didn't mind because he didn't like the kind of chocolate it was.

Only a dead bird

2008-12-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

This morning we had our house inspected. Quick, huh? I was glad to get it over with. I came at the very end of the inspection so he could show me everything, and when I got there, a realtor and his two clients were just coming out after their showing. Yep, their showing. I wasn't too happy, especially because they tracked snow all over my brand new carpet!
Anyway, everything was fine. Nothing pressing for us to take care of, but we do have a short list of repairs we will need to work on. The worst thing he found was a dead bird in the crawl space. I don't know how it got down there, because the only access to the crawl space is through the house--there's no outside access.
And it's no longer on the MLS site! It's ours!!!!
I loved it even more today. Everything except the mirror wall. I hated that even more. Does anyone have any ideason what to do about that? We would love to get rid of it, but in the meantime what can I do to improve the appearance?

It's a Festivus Miracle!

2008-12-18T16:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, maybe I am jumping the gun here, but I can't hold back.... Judy the realtor called me today to tell me that we have an accepted offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have been waiting to hear for six weeks now, and I was getting pretty antsy and nervous, so her phone call was very welcome. I truly believe it was an answer to prayer.

Our inspection is tomorrow morning, and after that, I think I will be able to really relax and not worry. I know from my parents' experience that it's not a sure thing until the closing papers are actually signed. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but it's hard not to when my dreams are coming true!

If all goes well (meaning it passes inspection and our loan gets pushed through quickly) we will probably close the week after Christmas. That means we will be in our own home in early January. My own kitchen, my own furniture, my own bedroom, my own giant walk-in closet without a baby sleeping in it, my own yard, my own deck and storage shed.... well. Mine and Jason's :)

House # I forgot how many we have seen now

2008-12-15T15:45:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I (Jason stayed home with the girls because it was snowing and we didn't want to take them out) went to see a house that I thought I would love. And I was right! I did love it!

The house is a 100-year-old craftsman bungalow in the heart of Bountiful, just a block south of the Tabernacle. I have always loved that style of home and always wanted to live in that sort of neighborhood--old homes with plenty of character, near shops and other downtown amenities. It would completely solve our transportation dilemma, because I could walk to the library, post office, grocery store, park, and all kinds of cute shops. So those are two things that really attracted me to this house.

The other thing that made me really want to go see it was the bathroom. IT HAS A CLAW FOOT TUB. Can you believe it?? A claw foot tub! What more could you ask for?? Not only does it have a claw foot tub, but it also has one of those sinks that is like a bowl set on the counter (I like those), which is granite, I might add. It's absolutely gorgeous.

The house has a front porch with a swing, a large lot with mature trees and landscaping, a formal living room with built in bookshelves, 10 foot coved ceilings upstairs, a basement family room, the aforementioned gorgeous full bath + a 3/4 bath in the basement, a master bedroom with sitting room, a mudroom, a giant updated Pottery Barn-esque kitchen with bar, a built in desk, and two other rooms that would work well as bedrooms for the girls (one is in the basement and one is off the master sitting room, but it doesn't have a closet so it can't be considered a bedroom). Click on the picture to see pictures of the interior of the house. Whew! Needless to say, I was walking around in awe, as was my realtor (it was her first time going to this house). I was ready to sit down and pull our other offer and write a new one for this house.

And then we went down to the basement.

Ok, I'm not very tall. I'm not even 5'1. And my head was about four inches lower than the ceiling in the basement. I'm serious; my realtor, who is about 5'9, Jason's height, almost had to duck her head to walk around.

It was so disappointing! Unless it dropped about $30,000, we wouldn't want to risk losing money trying to (someday) sell a house that lots of people couldn't even stand up straight in.

I've been thinking about it all day and yearning for it. That's right, yearning. I want it. I loved it so much, and if it weren't for the resale value, I would still want to buy it.

In other house news, today is our official deadline. Can you believe six weeks has gone by? But we aren't going to hear anything today; the listing agent says ours is the only offer they have but it isn't ready yet. He swears it will be signed by the end of the week. He said that last week, too. Our agent told him that she has taken us to several other houses and that we're starting to get impatient. I don't think that will help any. The bank is just going to take their time, and what are we going to do about it? Nothing. If we tried threatening them and saying we'll walk away, they would say "Fine. Walk away. We already lost money, we'll just keep trying." And we have nothing to walk away to, so for now, we are stuck.

And this is my 100th entry.

Lena Lou

2008-12-06T08:00:00.001-08:00

Last night I was nursing Lena in bed, and when she was done eating, she just cuddled up against me, cooing and smiling. She is such a cuddly girl, and I love taking the opportunity to just snuggle with her every once in a while. It's so nice to hold her and see how happy and safe she feels in my arms. I'm so grateful that I have such a sweet, loving little baby!

Lena is learning how to scoot around on her tummy now. She doesn't get up on her hands and knees yet, but she army-crawls across the floor. She also has her first tooth now! I can't believe how big she is getting. She will be a year old before I know it!

Jason and I took the girls to the Festival of Trees last night, and it was another opportunity for me to think about how blessed I am to have a happy, healthy family. For those of you who don't know, the Festival of Trees is a charity event that benefits Primary Children's Hospital. All of the trees are decorated in honor of someone and are sold at auction to raise money. The trees are all gorgeous, but it's pretty sad when you think about why they are there. I kept hugging Lena closer and thinking how lucky I am that I have healthy children. I hope that they always are!

Tempe Jo

2008-12-04T15:53:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I focused on Jason, and today I want to focus on Tempe (tomorrow will be Lena's turn). Every day that I spend with Tempe, I love her more. I am so proud of the little girl she is becoming. She is spunky, smart, independent, considerate, and loving. The most rewarding part of motherhood is watching her play "mommy"--I must be doing something right if she wants to be like me! Today we were finger painting. I use an old shirt of mine for a smock, and when we were done, she wouldn't let me take it off. She is still wearing it and saying "Tempe is Mommy!" every few minutes.

She has just started saying "I love you", and nothing warms my heart more than hearing her say "I wuv you, Mommy!"

JC

2008-12-03T16:04:00.001-08:00

Blue Run Farm, June 2005

Vedauvoo, September 2005

Snorkeling in the Bahamas, December 2005

BYU-UCLA game, September 2008

Hiking in Bountiful, October 2008

Today I was thinking about my great husband Jason. I've always known I'm pretty lucky, but sometimes I get distracted with screaming kids, BYU financial aid circular logic, and intense budgeting. It's easy to focus on all the hard things about life and not think about what I have, but I hope to change my ways. Instead I am going to focus on embarrassing Jason more often.

The first time I noticed Jason was at a ward mix-and-mingle. We were all supposed to bring something that "represented" ourselves and talk about it. I brought my lion cookie jar that roared when you opened its mouth. When Jason stood up, he said, very seriously, "I don't feel comfortable sharing things about myself." I thought he was hilarious. In fact, that incident is what prompted me to invite him hiking at Bridal Veil falls, which in turn prompted me to cuddle with him during the movie later and eventually ask him out on our first date. I was so smitten that I didn't even let our age difference (5 years felt huge when I was only 19 and he was 24!) scare me off.

The best thing about him is that he still makes me laugh all the time. We haven't run out of things to say to each other, even after 4 whole years! I know, amazing, right?

I'm so grateful that I found him, and even more grateful that someone else didn't find him first :)

Argh!!!

2008-12-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

Del Espinosa, the listing agent of our dream house, told our agent that we would have an answer by the end of November. But now he says it will be another 2-3 weeks.
ARGH!
I guess I should be grateful that they are taking so long, because that means we will just have that much more money in savings. Our agent asked if it was worth it to us to keep waiting. I said yeah, it is, since there's literally no other house we are interested in making an offer on.
So we just have to be patient for a few more weeks...

I admit it

2008-11-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Today I am very discouraged. It seems like no matter how hard I work, I never get closer to my goal of graduating from college. I have 26 credits left and it feels like it will take a lifetime to finish them! If we had more money I would be able to finish those remaining credits in two or three years; but right now we are not in a financial position to contribute any money to my education. I have been so blessed to receive several scholarships in the past year and a Pell Grant, and I have been depending on those to pay for some of my classes. Unfortunately, there are very complicated guidelines concerning Pell Grants for BGS students (that's me) and I'm not sure I will be able to access all of the money that I was awarded.
It's frustrating. So far, I have had a hard time finding someone at BYU that is familiar both with Pell Grants and with the BGS program, so I haven't gotten any real answers. I have a phone appointment with a financial aid counselor on Monday and I hope that she will be able to help me. If not, I think I might scream.

The 4th Tag

2008-11-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

Tag! I'm it. Margaret tagged me with the "4th tag", where you post the 4th picture in the 4th folder on your computer. Here's mine! It's from July 29th, 2006--my baby shower when I was pregnant with Tempe. I think I'm holding up a pack of onesies in this picture. My good friend Amanda took pictures of me opening my presents. I was so happy that she was able to come! We lived with Jason's parents that summer, and most of my friends from BYU weren't around for the summer. I didn't really know anyone in the ward here, so my baby shower was all Jason's relatives + Amanda.
I tag Rachel W., Jeanne S., Amanda D., and Kristy S.

Houses #19, 20, 21, 22, and 23

2008-11-22T20:41:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since we went to see any houses, but today we went to quite a few. There were a few that we might keep our eyes on, but nothing that jumped out at us.

House #19 was a 3 bedroom, almost 2 bathroom home in Centerville, just a few streets north of the house we have an offer in on. We liked a lot of things about it: the layout was exactly what we are looking for, it has an unfinished room in the basement that could potentially be a 4th bedroom, and it has a huge backyard. But it doesn't have a master bathroom and besides, it's at least $15,000 more than we can afford. If it drops $20,000 we would probably be really interested! In the meantime, I think I'm going to send my brother-in-law and his wife over there to see it.

House #20 is a new construction short sale (feel sorry for the builder!) in Centerville, with 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. It was ok. It had no backyard, and not really any potential for a backyard, and I thought some of the materials used looked a little cheap, like the kitchen counters. They were made to look like they were marble, but they very obviously weren't. I didn't like that at all. The master bathroom and walk-in closet was too big--a waste of space.

House #21 was in the same development as #20, and had almost the same floorplan. However, this one had a much bigger lot and although it was unfenced, it has the potential for a decent backyard. We liked the layout a little bit better. The master bedroom still had a nice big walk-in closet and a nice master bathroom, but it wasn't oversized. And in the master bedroom, there was a sort of nook off to the side that was just the right size for a crib someday! We really liked that. I guess this could be an option to fall back on.

Doesn't this house look like two houses that collided and got stuck together? House #22 is a short sale in West Bountiful, with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It was a mess inside, with half finished tile in the entryway, stained and worn carpet throughout, a half finished shower in the master bathroom, and soft spots on the floor. The layout was really nice and it's in a nice neighborhood, but at $10,000 over our budget and needing another $10,000 put into it, it's a no-go for us.

House #23 is another new construction in Foxboro. We've already seen a house in Foxboro (house #16) and we really didn't like it, but we want to look at all of our options. I liked the layout of this house a lot, but it had no backyard at all yet--meaning dirt and rocks behind the house, that's it. The builder came to it with us, and he said it would be about $3,000 to put in the sod and fence. Besides that, it's in Foxboro, which is just so out of the way. So we will probably scratch this one off our list.

Still holding out for #18... we should find out next week if they accept our offer. If they do, the bank wants to close soon after. Who knows, we may even be in our own house by Christmas!

"Go on up to your crib... I mean, your big girl bed!"

2008-11-21T20:54:00.000-08:00

This week I found a great toddler bed + mattress on Craigslist for only $75! I think it was a steal, because toddler beds go fast, and this one is really cute. Tempe learned how to climb out of her crib (also this week), so it was perfect timing.

I can't believe that my baby is sleeping in a big girl bed!! She has done fabulously. She sleeps in her bed without wandering around the room or playing after we leave. She hasn't even fallen out yet! She is really growing up.

In other Tempe news, she pooped in the tub today... ugh. Maybe the worst part about being a parent. When Jason came home from work, she ran to him to tell him the story:

"Yucky poo-poo, bathtub, oh yuck! And Mommy, Mommy, oh oh, Mommy! [said with her hand to her mouth as if calling someone] Uh-oh!"

"Then what did Mommy do?" Daddy prompts.

"Oh, that's ok! Mommy [unintelligible chatter] moose poop, yuck, clean it up!"

She said something about moose poop because once when we were at the cabin, a moose had pooped out by the swing set. It made a big impression on her.

Tennessee--finallee!! (haha)

2008-11-20T15:54:00.000-08:00

I am finally blogging about our recent trip to Tennessee. We went to welcome my brother back from his mission, and it was so great to spend some quality time with him and with the rest of the family. We had a lot of fun playing games, eating dinner as a family, and catching Tyler up on The Office and LOST.

There's a pretty funny story about Tyler's actual homecoming--funny, and sort of sad. We arrived at the airport about 20 minutes before his flight was supposed to land, armed with cameras and welcome home signs, and got all settled in where the passengers come out. We waited, and waited, and waited, and kept checking his flight status. Finally, my dad started asking people what flight they were coming from, and none of them were from Tyler's flight! About 15 minutes after his flight landed, my dad's cell phone rang. He answered, and to our dismay, it was Tyler--downstairs at the baggage claim and wondering where we all were! We had, unfortunately, neglected to see if Delta came out at the same place as the other airlines (they don't). So we all rushed down to baggage claim and ran to him. Poor Tyler!! He said his stomach was full of butterflies and he was so excited to see us again, and then he walked out and.... nothing! We were no where in sight! Luckily, he had met some members on his flight, so he found them at baggage claim and asked to borrow their cell phone to call Dad. I just think it's amazing that he could remember Dad's number after 2 years!

Kelsey and Jeff waiting for Tyler's flight to land!

Elder Allan in front of our homemade banner.

While we were in Tennessee, we were able to meet up with our friends from law school, the Smiths. They live in Huntsville, Alabama, so we met at an awesome children's museum in Murfreesboro. I love that Tempe and Caleb are holding hands and looking at each other in this picture!

Tempe loved being at Grandma Lisa's house again. The weather wasn't great, but we took advantage of it when we could, playing in the yard and going for walks or to the park as a family. I'm so glad that Tempe and Helena are able to see their grandparents as often as we do, even though we live so far apart! I hope we continue to be able to see each other regularly.

Still waiting for our dream house...

2008-11-18T14:02:00.001-08:00

We've got some more information about our dream house--house #18. While we were in Tennessee last week, my brother-in-law's realtor tried to take him and his wife to our house. They said they couldn't go see it because we have an offer on it, and their realtor said "Oh yeah, they said there was an offer on it but they're hoping for something better." Umm, hello, our offer is only $4,000 less than the asking price! I think that's a pretty good offer.
But the house is also officially in foreclosure, with a sale date set for the end of the month. So we should know by then. One of three things will happen:

Ours is the best offer and the bank accepts it to avoid foreclosure.
A better offer is made and the bank accepts it to avoid foreclosure.
The bank doesn't accept an offer and goes into foreclosure.

If option 3 happens, I will be so mad. Foreclosure is expensive for the bank, so they probably still wouldn't end up with what they're owed (which is $222,000). If a better offer is made there is obviously nothing we can do about it, so we just have to keep praying that no one else will want it as much as we do!

I am trying to prepare myself for rejection, but it's hard. We are so ready to have our own place again, especially since Tempe has learned how to climb out of her crib. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for us!

7 random facts about me

2008-11-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been tagged by my cute friend Jen, so here are 7 random things about me!!

I spend a lot of time thinking "conversations" in my head... um, yeah, that sounds weirder than it really is. I just mean I think of what I would say to certain people, and what they would say to me, and how our conversations would go from there.
Between the years of 2000 and 2005, I lived in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah, Tennessee, and Wyoming.
I use Facebook to spy on people.
My go-to snack at bedtime is toast with peanut butter and a big glass of milk.
Bad grammar and poor spelling drive me crazy (so I use spell check all the time).
I started writing our Christmas letter way before Halloween.
I went to two different high schools.... crazy!!!!

Ok, now I tag... Kristy S., Rachel A., Rachel W., Cari P., Jaida H., Christie B., and Mary H.!

It's official

2008-11-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

Last night we made an official offer on our "dream house" in Centerville. Because it's a short sale, the offer goes to the bank, not the seller, and they take much, much longer to accept or reject than a normal seller would, so we won't know for quite a while. We offered $200,000, which was $9,000 less than the asking price last night... but today the price dropped to $204,000! So our offer was only $4,000 less than the asking price.
This makes me both happy and sad. Happy because maybe the bank will realize we made a great offer and accept, maybe even sooner than the December 15th deadline we gave them!
Sad because maybe somebody else will come along and offer what they're asking and snatch it away from us :(
I guess all we can do is cross our fingers and pray.

Autumn fun

2008-11-05T09:54:00.001-08:00

Officially an ABA wife

2008-10-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

**I forgot to blog about this last week. I also forgot to take my camera to the ceremony, so there are no pictures with this post**
Since we've been married, I've been a law wife and an ABA candidate wife... and now I am officially an ABA wife! That's right, Jason was officially admitted to the Bar last Thursday. I took the girls to the ceremony (luckily his parents were there to help me with them) and we were all so proud of him after he took the oath! Tempe raised her right hand when she saw all the new attorneys do it--it was pretty cute!
Afterwards we went to Rodizio's, which was absolutely amazing. If you haven't been, you should go!

Ahh, the good old days!

2008-10-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

Jason and I just spent a few minutes with an old friend of ours: Homestar Runner! We used to go there all the time when we were dating and engaged, but I don't think I've seen any Homestar Runner since then. That means it's been four years (because tomorrow is our four-year-engagement anniversary!)

That silly marshmallow guy just made me feel really happy and nostalgic.

House #18--My dream house!

2008-10-24T19:32:00.001-07:00

We saw my dream house tonight. As an added bonus for everyone, I made the picture into a link so you can go see the virtual tour and interior pictures. But they don't do it justice. It was so fabulous inside, with wonderful details that really turn a house into a home--windowseats, built in bookshelves, two gorgeous fireplaces, a distressed wood floor, slate panels in the dining room floor...
Here are the specifics: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1750 square feet, wonderful location in a family neighborhood in Centerville, short sale listed at $209,000. This house, believe it or not, has been listed for 393 days. 393!!! We can't pay what they are asking, but are hoping that since it is a short sale and it's been on the market for so long, the bank will just cut their losses, and take a lower offer. Our realtor is going to talk to the listing agent and see if he is anticipating a price cut, since it hasn't gone down in price for 2 1/2 months. And after we hear back from her, I think we will make a low offer and just cross our fingers.
I'm overwhelmed. It was so perfect.

House #17

2008-10-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

We saw house #17 last night: 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,110 square feet, listed just this week at $195,000. It's in Woods Cross, and what we could see of the neighborhood looked nice, but it was dark when we saw it, so who knows?

The house is a great value (only $92/square foot) and it's all in liveable condition, but it's pretty outdated. There was wallpaper in almost every room. And not just wallpaper, which I would prime and paint over easily, but textured wallpaper. There was new carpet in several rooms, and the old carpet was still in good condition. The kitchen cabinets were nice, but a bit outdated, and the countertop was pretty old. The basement was awesome, with a large family room, two big bedrooms, a storage room, a 3/4 bathroom, and a wet bar. The backyard also looked pretty nice: big, grassy, shady, and fully fenced.

Overall, it was a nice house.

My bad habit

2008-10-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

I have a bad habit. It's getting out of control,and it makes me feel sick to my stomach.
I look at houses that are out of our price range--not so much out of our price range that I know it's impossible, but enough that it's improbable, which makes it worse. I found one tonight that I am in love with, even without going to see it in person. It's $20,000 more than we would like to spend and $10,000 more than we can afford to spend. But it's been on the market for over a year, so maybe they will take $15,000 less than the asking price...
I wish I hadn't seen it. I'm afraid to go to a showing because I know I will love it so much....
For those of you who knew that we made an offer on a house last night: the seller countered, but only went down $2,000. The house is not worth even that, so we are crossing it off our list.

Grateful Kate

2008-10-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

I sometimes find myself thinking so much about what I want or feel like I deserve or need that I am not grateful for all of the things that I have. Or, as Conor Oberst says, "My mind races with all my longings, but can't keep up with what I've got." So I have decided to focus more on my blessings and being appreciative of what I have by keeping a daily blog of what I am grateful for: www.grateful-kate.blogspot.com.

"Pam, I have ideas on a daily basis, I know I do..."

2008-10-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

Just like Michael Scott, I, too, have great ideas (maybe not on a daily basis, but pretty often). If I had any idea of how to manufacture things or run a business, I could probably make a lot of money. Unfortunately, I don't know what to do with my ideas other than have them. So here are some of my brilliant ideas:

Triangular crayons. Who else is tired of crayons rolling off tables all the time?
A washing machine/dryer combination. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to wait for your laundry to finish so you could switch it? You would just put it in one machine, and several hours later come back to washed AND dried clothes. Edited to add: Found this listing on Craigslist... darn.
The Re-Gifting Store. I put this in bold because it is the best idea yet. Anyone who has gotten married would appreciate this. All couples get a dozen blenders, but no toasters, or nine knife sets, but no cutlery, or whatever. For us, it was Foreman grills. We got about five. But food processors? None! Some of the excess gifts are returnable, but some of them you get stuck with. So, you take them to The Re-Gifting Store where you are paid 30% of the value in cash, or get 40% of the value in store credit. Then the new, unused gifts are sold for 75% of their value. So if you have a dozen blenders but no toasters, you can sell your blenders to the store and then buy a new toaster. Everyone wins!!!! The more I think about it, the more I think it's an absolutely brilliant idea.

Well, I know I have had other great ideas, but I can't remember them. I guess that's another way I'm like Michael Scott.

Edited to add: I remembered another one. This is something that you don't have to actually buy or make, you can just do. If I wash something that isn't supposed to go in the dryer, I have a hard time remembering NOT to put it in the dryer, so I use a dry erase marker to write on the washing machine "Black dress" or "Sweater" or whatever to remind myself when I am changing the laundry.

October 13-17: Pumpkins

2008-10-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

This week we have been learning about pumpkins. We couldn't find a single book about pumpkins at the library, so we haven't read anything about them, but we've still done some fun things. We made pumpkin pudding (which Tempe didn't like) and we played "Ring around the Pumpkin". We also took two "field trips" to see pumpkins: to the Farmers' Market and to a garden store that is having a giant pumpkin contest. Tempe and Helena really liked seeing the giant pumpkins, especially because there was a perfect little spot to sit on one of them. Today is a beautiful day, so we are going to go outside and make a fingerprint pumpkin patch, and tomorrow night we are going to go to a pumpkin festival with Daddy.

Thrifty

2008-10-15T19:47:00.001-07:00

I am really trying to find ways to cut down on our spending and free up some money to save each month--especially after we buy a house. So here is what I've come up with so far:

Got the girls on CHIP and bought private insurance for myself instead of going with the company plan--saves us $600-1200/year.
Switched auto insurance to AAA. We save around $10/month AND we got a AAA membership.
Make my own baby food. I haven't started this yet, so I'm not sure exactly how much it will save, but I'm guessing it will save $20/month (maybe more!)
If I get really desperate I can either potty train Tempe or switch to cloth diapers.... yuck :(
Pay more attention to store ads and plan my menus according to what is on sale.
Start couponing. Yikes. This is so complicated. I don't know where to start! If anyone has any tips, please let me know.
Buy clothes secondhand (I've been doing this for years).
Shop for Christmas/birthdays throughout the year when things are on sale.
Use Coinstar machines to get Amazon giftcards to use for gifts (something else I've done for years).

That's all I can think of now. It doesn't seem like much... What I really need is ideas on how to save on our grocery bill when we move out. Everyone, add your ideas/tips as a comment!

Houses #13, 14, 15, and 16

2008-10-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

House #13 was yet another "yucky house", as Tempe says. I figured there was something wrong with it, because it is on the east hill in Bountiful (a very desirable area) and it was actually in our price range. It had gross carpet, old linoleum, holes and cracks in the walls (and ceiling), and other gross things. We didn't even look at the backyard.

House #14. Isn't it cute? We really liked this one--both of us!! It is in North Salt Lake and it has 4 bedroom and 1 1/2 baths. The living room has nice laminate flooring (if I hadn't told you that, you would have thought it was hardwood!) and the entire upstairs is very nice and would only need some paint. The basement needs a little more work, but has great potential and is very livable until we are able to do some of the projects. The best part about the house is that in the basement, there are 2 unfinished rooms that are fairly large--large enough for an office or craft room. The biggest downside of this house is that there is no garage or carport, but since we have never had a garage or carport, we think we could live with that. The backyard is very big, even with the huge gravel driveway that someone put in. There is plenty of grass and shade and there is a storage shed. We would probably want to either take the gravel out or pave it and add a garage, but that's all down the road. House #14 is one we will definitely think about and maybe make an offer on.

House #15. Nothing special. Needed more work than we want to do. Giant tree. 'Nuff said.

House #16 is in Foxboro, which is a new planned community west of I-15 and near Legacy Highway. The house itself was very nice, except for the hole in the living room floor that a previous owner had cut to make a laundry chute (why would you do that?). The backyard was huge, but unfenced and very blah with nary a tree in sight. But the biggest reason I didn't like this one was location. I just don't see us living in a cookie-cutter planned community. I can't picture it. I don't like Foxboro.

I feel very encouraged!!

BFFU reunion 2008!!!!

2008-10-13T20:55:00.001-07:00

On Saturday Jason and I went down to Provo so we could go to my "BFFU Reunion". It was a reunion of most of my very good friends from my freshman year at BYU--Josh and his wife Jessica, James, Spencer, Kyle, Katie, and Carly and her husband Jared. I haven't seen most of them in several years and it was so fun to catch up! We all had so much fun together when we were freshman in Helaman Halls and we reminisced by watching a horrible movie we made one evening in the fall of 2004. It was pretty embarrassing, but it got us all laughing. The only thing that could have made our reunion better is if Amanda, Cari, and Jaida could have been there :(
The very best thing about living in Utah is that we often get to see friends who have scattered across the country--most Mormons have ties to Utah, and so they all come back eventually! Just since May, when we moved back, we have been able to see Rachel Whitchurch from Laramie, the Cheneys from Laramie, Dan and Jess Hardy from San Fransisco, Christina and her husband from Idaho, the Blacks from Arizona, and now my big reunion. It's been really fun to catch up with people, some of whom we haven't seen for several years. So if anyone is planning a trip to Utah, be sure to look us up!

Houses #11 and 12

2008-10-11T16:01:00.001-07:00

House #11 was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in Woods Cross. I can't say much about this one, because we didn't even look at the whole house... I never thought we would find another as bad as the first house we saw but this one was. The owner was like the crazy cat lady on The Simpsons, but he was a man. We counted 8 cat food bowls in the kitchen + a bird. The carpet was filthy and it smelled so bad! The basement wasn't even finished. Not only was the house a mess (a $200,000 mess), but it also backed up to a municipal airport. We didn't think that would be a huge issue, but the realtor said that a lady down the street is selling her house because the airport is so loud. I guess we got the only honest realtor in the world.

Ahhhhh, house #12. So far, this house is the only house we have seen that does not need major work or back up to an airport, refinery, freeway, or traintracks. I really liked it. The shutters and doors are kind of a strange color that clashes with the house, but they are brand new and just need to be stripped and restained. Inside, there is a nice living room with a gorgeous fireplace and a bay window, a large dining area, a decent kitchen, 3 bedrooms (painted!), 2 bathrooms (one with a jetted tub!), and a large family room downstairs. The backyard is fenced in with a covered patio, and it backs up to a huge park. The street is a nice street with nicely maintained houses and "Slow down--children at play" signs. The problem? It's priced about $20,000 higher than what we can spend. But it's been on the market without a price change for 5 months and it's vacant, so maybe the seller is getting desperate (and if they are holding out for prices to go back up, they are stupid).
There were some things we would need to change: I didn't like the color of the shutters, door, or mantel over the fireplace--the fireplace would really clash with our cherry furniture. The family room had hardwood floors, and the living room had carpet, which I thought was weird and would someday want to change. The refrigerator was not included. The yard needed seed.
But overall, it had a lot of potential, and I really liked it.

October 6-10: Leaves

2008-10-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

{I really feel like structure is important for children--and for me! I do much better when I have a specific plan and my time is structured. That, with my background as a preschool teacher and my belief that children learn through play, has led me to start doing a home-based "play school" with Tempe (and Helena, too). We don't do much, but it gives us a little something every day that is planned and it really helps me get through these long weeks without a car or much to do}

This week we have been studying leaves. We went to the library and checked out as many books about leaves and trees as we could find--Tempe has enjoyed reading them all week! Some of our activities have included going for a walk and looking at the different colors (especially at the cabin over the weekend) and collecting leaves, acorns, pine needles, and different seeds. We used the leaves and other things we collected in two projects: first, Tempe made a collage by sticking everything to clear contact paper (which I then closed with another piece of clear contact paper and masking tape) and then we did leaf rubbings. We also baked leaf shaped sugar cookies with cousins Maddy and Libby, and have eaten leaf shaped foods at lunch every day: toast, sandwiches, and tortillas.

I found quite a few songs about leaves online, and made a few up on my own. Our favorite is sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell" and is really easy to make up new verses:

The leaves are turning brown,

the leaves are turning brown.

The leaves are turning red and brown,

the leaves are turning brown.

The leaves are falling down,

the leaves are falling down.

The leaves are falling to the ground!

The leaves are falling down.

We rake them in a pile,

we rake them in a pile.

We rake the leaves into a pile!

We rake them in a pile.

We jump into the leaves,

we jump into the leaves.

We jump into the pile of leaves!

We jump into the leaves.

And so on and so forth.

So that was this week's "lesson plan"! Next week: pumpkins.

This is why I am undecided...

2008-10-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

Scary Anthony Cooper of LOST...

Republican nominee John McCain...

Does anyone else think that John McCain and Kevin Tighe (Anthony Cooper/Mr. Sawyer of LOST) have a striking resemblance? I always knew that John McCain gave me the jibblies, but it took me until tonight to figure out why.

The many faces of Tempe

2008-10-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

My talents

2008-10-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

26%

Ohhh... darn.

But....

I Scored a 93%!

So I wouldn't survive a zombie attack, but my spelling is 93% perfect.

My hope chest is lacking

2008-10-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

I know I just posted, but... well... I'm posting again.
Today I was perusing Craigslist, looking for things that might be useful when we buy a house, because there is quite a bit that we either gave away when we moved or didn't have in the first place... anyway, I found this ad for a twin mattress and I thought it was funny. Enjoy!

8 Things

2008-10-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Yay!!!! I've been tagged again! I loooooove being tagged. So here goes:

8 tv shows that I love to watch

LOST (#1 by far)
The Office
The Soup
Jon and Kate Plus 8 (I like watching it on days when my two kids are driving me crazy, because it really makes me feel better about what I have to deal with...)
A Baby Story/Bringing Home Baby/pretty much anything on TLC
My Super Sweet 16/Exiled
Best Week Ever
I Love the 80s/90s

8 favorite restaurants

Zupas
IHOP (How could you not love pancakes?)
The Gateway Grille (In Kamas... ok, so I've only been there once. But I had a phenomenal salad when I went.)
TGIFridays
Catered wedding food (especially the Joseph Smith Memorial Building)
The MOA Cafe/The Pendulum Court at BYU
Ummm..... The Cougar Club tent at BYU games?? (I'm running out of ideas...)
Anywhere with good salads and sandwiches (and desserts)

8 things that happened yesterday

I rode my bike (towing my trailer and Tempe and Helena and an umbrella stroller) to our storage unit and then to Walmart.
I ate a Twix bar because I felt a little dizzy after riding my bike (towing my trailer and Tempe and Helena and an umbrella stroller) to our storage unit and then to Walmart.
I contemplated buying a Halloween onesie for Helena, and decided against it.
I spent all of naptime (2 hours!) coming up with themed activities to do with Tempe for the next 3 months.
Jason and I took the kiddos (+ Corinne) to the park.
I spent way too long watching tv after the kids were in bed.
I ran around the sport court after watching way too much tv to try and shake the stiff tv feeling I had, but I just felt sick instead.
I woke Helena up to make sure she was still breathing at 11 pm and she didn't go back to sleep for an hour :(

8 things I'm looking forward to

Buying a house!
Buying a second car!
Jason's Bar admission ceremony!
Helena learning to crawl!
Graduating from college (in like 6 years)!
Taking our family to Disneyland (probably in like 6 years as well)!
Halloween!
My BYU get together next weekend!

8 things on my wish list

A second car.
A house with 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, an updated kitchen, a living room AND a family room, a shady, fenced in backyard, and a location that is NOT next to a refinery, airport, train tracks, or interstate.
A Pell Grant.
Affordable health insurance.
Baby #3 (in at least 2 years).
Baby #4 (in at least 4 years).
Enough money to not have to worry about money (that's probably more than I think it is...)
My family living in Utah.

8 people I tag

Cari P.
Amanda D.
Janice H.
Jen C.
Jeanne S.
Kristy S.
Mary H.
Denise F.

Houses #7, 8, 9, and 10

2008-09-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

House #7 was a townhouse in Centerville with 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms. It had a very large backyard (for a townhouse, that is) and it backed up to a large common area with a playground. While we were there, we thought it was really nice and were very excited. But after we saw the next one, it didn't look like anything special...

House #8 was another townhouse with 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms in Centerville, this time in a development called Pheasantbrook. It was so beautiful! The townhouse itself was very nice, with a sunken living room with a fireplace and built in bookshelves. The kitchen had hunter green cabinets, which sounds so strange but was very nice. The patio, while smaller than the backyard at the first townhouse, was beautiful, with creeping ivy, rosebushes, and a grapevine. But the best part of this home was the development! It had ponds and streams with wooden bridges, trees everywhere, and ducks wandering around. I think it would be a great place to live with little children because it would be like living at the park. We are definitely keeping this one on our list!

House #9 was a 5 bedroom, 1 3/4 bath rambler in Woods Cross. It was pretty nice, and it had a great backyard with a firepit, playground, and several trees, but there were a few downsides: it's directly across the street from the train tracks, and it had an obvious slope in the front rooms. You could feel it as you walked across the room, and see it if you looked at the ceiling closely. We didn't see any cracks, but it is still concerning to me. The train was very, very loud when we were outside, but inside the house, you could barely hear it. I think we would get used to having the trains right there, but I would be afraid it would turn off a lot of buyers when we are ready to sell.

The last house we saw was another house in Woods Cross, with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. This one had a basement, which we really liked and would like to have. Jason thought it looked a little like a hotel when we first went in, but I didn't get that. The house didn't have much personality--no paint except in the basement--but that is easily fixed. I really liked the front porch and all the trees. The strange thing about this house is that there's no backyard. Instead, there is a 2 car garage in the back with a common driveway, and the side yard is fenced in. It's still a pretty big private yard, and since this house is on the corner, the yard isn't sandwiched between 2 houses. This house is also directly across the street from a very nice neighborhood park, which would be nice. The downside? The train tracks are right behind the park, so this house is again right across from the train. I think we will still keep this one on our list as well.

So we have now seen 10 houses, and found a few that we want to consider. There are still a few more that we want to see as well. I am confident that we will be able to find something that works for us--I just have to be patient until we do!

Fall in Mueller Park

2008-09-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

Now that it's officially Autumn, we can see beautiful reds and yellows up on the mountainside, but down in the valley, the leaves are still mostly green. Yesterday Jason had the great idea of going to Mueller Park in Bountiful to see the leaves and go for a walk. It was such a beautiful afternoon! It was pretty warm where we live (in the 80s) but once we got up into the canyon, the temperature dropped to 75. We had fun walking along the trails and collecting leaves, watching bugs crawl around, and running on the bridges. We even found a great photo location for Margaret to use!

Tempe, Helena, and I climbed this "tree trunk".

Tempe liked throwing rocks in the water.

Me and Jason :)

Tempe and Helena's favorite part of the whole day was running across the wooden bridges.

Finally, we found some red leaves!

Houses #4, 5, and 6

2008-09-27T10:09:00.001-07:00

House #4 was a 3 bedroom, 1 bath home on 9th North in Bountiful, just a few streets away from Jason's parent's house. I really liked this one, but I think Jason is right when he says that it is just too small. It's only about 1050 square feet. It had a great front yard, with two nice, big shady trees, but the backyard was really narrow. There was also a nice big side yard. The inside of the house was beautiful! It wouldn't need anything. I liked everything about it, except for the fact that the third bedroom was really narrow and there was only one bathroom.

House #5 has great curb appeal, don't you think? It has 3 bedrooms and one bathroom, and it's in a beautiful neighborhood with nice houses and nice yards. This house's backyard was fabulous. It had a covered patio in back with thick, lush grass, landscaping, and a huge garage and a storage shed. We really liked the yard! The inside of the house was ok, but had some things that needed to be updated. It looked like a little old couple had been living in this house for 40+ years. Overall, the house was in good condition, but here are the things that would need to be changed:

Strange patterned carpet in the two back bedrooms: stripes in one room, floral in the other. The carpet was nice and thick and in good condition, so we could live with it for a few years until we could afford to replace it.
Two of the closets (a bedroom closet and the utility closet) had those folding accordion doors that are used in LDS chapels to divide the gym. Weird. But probably easily replaced.
The bathroom and kitchen were sadly outdated. The kitchen needed new tile on the countertops and backsplash (and maybe new cabinets) and the island was just old. The bathroom looked like it had all the original fixtures.
There was some wood paneling that needed to be painted.

I liked the house a lot, but now that I have everything listed, I think it might be too much to take on.

House #6. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Didn't like it. It's weird with that carport addition, and the house looked like it hadn't been taken care of very well. Every room had chipped paint or peeling wallpaper--all easily fixed, I know. One of the bedrooms had white splatters all over the hardwood floor. The kitchen cabinets were outdated. The master bathroom had a tub, but no shower. And the backyard... yikes. Horrible grass (they had dogs), no landscaping, no shade, and the cement slab that was supposed to be the patio was crumbling and cracked. Even though this house needed less intense work, I didn't like it. The neighborhood wasn't as nice--it looked like all of the houses were poorly cared for.

So, probably nothing yet. But we have several more to see on Monday night.

Tempe Joann Anderson

2008-09-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get the slideshow to work--you'll just have to look at still pictures instead.

Toddler laws

2008-09-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

This is in honor of Tempe, my very own little two-year-old, who really does think this way.

If I like it, it's mine.
If it's in my hand, it's mine.
If I can take it from you, it's mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it's still mine.
If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
If I think it's mine, it's mine.
If it's broken.. it's yours.

To celebrate her second birthday (which was really a few weeks ago on September 10th), Margaret did a photo shoot for us today, and I thought I'd post about Tempe to go along with the pictures. So here's everything you ever wanted to know about our firstborn:

She never stops talking. Ever. She talks from the moment she wakes up in the morning until she falls asleep at night. Those of us who are around her a lot can understand most of what she says, but to the rest of you, well... good luck. Her favorite topics of conversation (this week, at least) are race cars, monster trucks, yucky houses and clean houses, baby apples, and Grandma Lisa.
She picks things up so quickly! I only have to tell her something once, and she remembers it for weeks. She connects a lot of things on her own now, too. For example: when we were visiting my parents in July, she became obsessed with "A Pocket for Corduroy", in which the main character is named Lisa. I mentioned to her that Lisa is Grandma's name, too, and she just stared at me blankly. But the next morning when my mom was feeding her breakfast, Tempe suddenly burst out with "Lisa! Grandma Lisa!" My mom has been Grandma Lisa ever since.
She has a very vivid imagination. She imagines all kinds of things--that the swings in the backyard are ladybugs that fly her to Grandma Lisa's house, that she's riding an elephant when she sits on the arm of the couch, that we are at the zoo watching lions and giraffes and elephants when we sit on the front steps...
She is just as independent as she has ever been. I hear a lot of "No, Tempe do it!" nowadays. Like all two-year-olds, she throws tantrums now and again, and they are most often because I won't let her do something by herself.
She still naps for 2-3 hours almost every day (not today, though--I can hear her reading books to Giraffe in her bed).
Speaking of Giraffe, she loves him so much! He is her best friend and her baby and we can't go anywhere without "Grashie".
Her favorite pastime is still reading. She likes to be read to, but she also likes to read books by herself. She has most of her books memorized and will fill in words if we skip them.
She is an almost equal mix of a girly-girl and a tomboy: she loves to wear necklaces, bracelets, bows in her hair, and makeup, but she also loves racecars and monster trucks and isn't afraid to get dirty and play outside.
Most of all, she is a spunky, smart, loving little girl and we are so blessed to have her!

I'll post the slideshow of pictures separately, but I just wanted to say again how grateful we are to Margaret for doing such great pictures of our family! She is so talented and we're so lucky that she loves taking pictures. Really, check her out: www.inksprouts.com, or Margaretephotography.blogspot.com!

Big girl food

2008-09-24T16:10:00.001-07:00

"Daddy, stop bothering me, I'm looking at Mommy!"

"Oh, something is touching my mouth, I'll open it and try to shove it in with my arm."

"Hmm, this is different..."

"What are my parents thinking?"

"Not bad after all!"

Davis County, here we come!

2008-09-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Jason and I have pretty much (like 95%) decided that instead of looking for a house closer to the office in Murray, we will look for something here in Davis County-- the Bountiful/Centerville area. We came to this decision after seeing how bad the neighborhoods in our price range are in the city and how much better traffic is now that Legacy Highway is open. It used to take Jason about 35 minutes to get home from work (sometimes up to an hour on bad days) but now that Legacy is open, it only takes about 20-25 minutes! We still have a ridiculously low budget because we also need to buy a second car, but up here we don't have to worry as much about buying a house in a bad neighborhood.
I feel so much better now that we have decided to stay up here! I already know the area and am comfortable in it, and it seems like such a great place to raise a family. There a few (and I mean a few: like four) houses that we want to look at, and several townhomes/condos. Hopefully we will be able to find something we can make work for us!

The hunt continues...

2008-09-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

Today we went to see two more houses. They were both better (much, much better) than the house we saw on Tuesday, but I'm not sure if either of them is the house for us. We'll see.

The first one is this one:

I'm not a huge fan of split foyers, but I thought this one looked pretty nice. It's in Taylorsville, a little far from Jason's office, but priced low enough that we could get a second car relatively soon. The neighborhood looks like a nice family neighborhood, and the house backs up to an LDS church parking lot instead of another house.

Well. It was hard to get a feel for the house because the people who live there were sitting in the living room while we were trying to look at it. It was so awkward! I felt like I couldn't ask our realtor questions, open drawers or closets, or comment about anything until after we had left. Overall, it was a nice house. It has three bedroom and one and a half bathrooms, a large kitchen, two family rooms, and a huge, shady backyard with a nice little patio. But it did need a little bit of work: it looked like the ceiling tiles in the downstairs bathroom are water damaged, one of the kitchen cabinets doesn't have a door (?), and the little deck outside the kitchen is missing a board that would have to be replaced before it would be safe for Tempe. Of course, I also don't know if any of the drawers open and close easily because I was afraid to open them in front of the homeowners. Same goes for the bedroom closets. But I guess that is all stuff we can live with until we can fix. I think we will still consider this house, but we would have to go back and see it again (preferably by ourselves!) before we could make a decision.

The second house we went to was this:

It's a three bedroom, one bath house in Midvale, which is much closer to Jason's work. The house was pretty nice. It had hardwood floors and a nice kitchen. But the location was much, much worse! It was about half a block from I-15, and it was really loud outside. In the backyard, there was graffiti on the fence and an apartment complex looking down into the yard. And as we were leaving, a guy handed something to the driver of a car, then the car sped off and the guy gave them the finger. Good neighbors... we crossed that one off our list right away.

So we are still looking. Even though we have only seen three houses, there just aren't a lot of other options, so it's kind of frustrating. We're just hoping something great will come up soon!

Let the hunt begin!

2008-09-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

As of last night, the Anderson family is officially house-hunting. And what a hunt it is so far!

Look at this one. It looks ok, right? A little small, maybe, but a cute house. Well, now picture it with bare patches all over the house where the paint has peeled off, broken panes in every window, crumbling columns on the patio, and instead of that nice, lush grass in the front and side yards, a bare patch of dirt littered with cigarette butts, a clump of human hair, and one shoe. Because that's what it really looks like.

Oh, but that's only the outside of the house! The inside is just as nice. The realtor warned me that it might "need new carpet". I thought ok, maybe it's just a little bit worn. But she meant the carpet was covered with ground in candy, dirt, and who knows what else--in every single room. Add that to the dead-body/urine smell that hits you when you first walk through the door, and we were sure fairly early on that it wasn't the house for us. But, being our first showing, we weren't sure of protocol, so we pretended we might consider it and looked at the rest of the house just to be polite.

The ground floor consisted of a good-sized living room, a dining room, a teeny kitchen, a utility room, a bathroom, and the two smallest bedrooms I have ever seen (I think we could fit one twin bed in each, and that's it). The kitchen and dining room actually looked ok, mostly because they had tile floors and you can't grind filth into tile, but the rest of the rooms were horrible. Then we went upstairs, to the "third bedroom", which was really just the entire upstairs with a clothes bar hung along one wall. And a fireplace. The urine smell got worse upstairs, so we hurried back down as soon as we could, but not before Tempe could pick up a jelly bean and try to eat it.

Then we went into the yard. It was a pretty big yard, lined with grape vines and a cute picket fence, but it needed completely new sod. At the other end of the yard was the gravel driveway and crumbling cinder block garage. I thought a hobo might live in it, but if one does, he was out for the evening.

As we went back into the house, through the utility room, we noticed two things: mold all over the wall, and a large trapdoor. "Does that go down to a basement or cellar or something?" I asked the realtor. She said it was probably just a dirt crawl space, but when she opened it, we found a full flight of stairs going down into a lit, cement room (the strangest part is that the electricity was turned off in the rest of the house....). On the stairs there were several pairs of little girl panties. We didn't go down (and last night I had horrible thoughts: what if there was a little girl down there being held prisoner, and when she heard us she hoped that we would find her, but we didn't go down...?)

Well, if we had an extra $20,000, maybe we would consider it. It had beautiful architectural details, an amazing view of the mountains, and a great location--a block east of a Trax station and in a nice neighborhood. But, like Jason pointed out, if we had an extra $20,000, we would probably just buy a nicer house.

Rise and Shout

2008-09-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Today Jason and I were able to go to a BYU football game--my first game in four years!! We had a great time. I owe a very big thank you to a great old friend, Robin, who offered to babysit our two little girls so that I could go to the game.

We started our BYU football experience with lunch in the Legacy ticketholders tent. Ribs, ham, lamb kabobs, pita bread and hummus, and three chocolate fountains... yum! I ate until I thought I would throw up. Then we went up to our seats and watched BYU pummel UCLA. We couldn't stay for the whole game (I had to leave after just one quarter to go feed Helena, then Jason left at halftime so we could go to his cousin's wedding) but the score ended up being 59-0, in favor of the Cougars.

I love BYU. It is such a great school, and here are some reasons why:

Ranked best value for your money by The Princeton Review.
Library consistently ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
Marriott School of Management and the accounting program consistently ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
#1 stone cold sober!!!
Ranked #1 for study abroad opportunities.

See, all you U fans have it wrong!

To cap off our fun BYU experience, when we got home there was a nice, fat letter from the Utah Bar informing Jason that he passed the bar--and on his first try, too! We're feeling pretty good now.

How could you not love these cuties?

2008-09-12T12:09:00.001-07:00

I took these pictures of Tempe and Helena yesterday while we were playing outside in Grandma's backyard. It was my favorite kind of day--sunny and breezy with just the beginnings of a fall nip in the air. Days like that always remind me of the first fall that we lived in Pennsylvania. I was happy then, but it's nothing compared to how happy I am now. I have the best husband around--funny, involved with the kids, patient, loving, and so selfless!--and the two sweetest, cutest, best little girls I have ever seen! Every day I thank Heavenly Father for those three blessings in my life.

Apple Party

2008-09-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

Tonight the Anderson family celebrated Tempe's 2nd birthday and Corinne's 11th birthday--it was quite a party! For Tempe's party, I decided to do an apple theme. It all started when I found this cute dress at Target: it has green, fuchsia, and purple apples all over it. Isn't it cute?

After I found the apple dress, I had to think of other apple party ideas. I decided to make apple spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (yum, yum!):

And then I found an adorable idea in Family Fun magazine--miniature caramel apples! I made them by scooping little apple balls out of a big apple with a melon baller. Then I skewered them on lollipop sticks and dipped them in melted butterscotch (caramel doesn't work--it doesn't stick to the flesh of the apple!). I also rolled mine in sprinkles, and voila!

Tempe couldn't wait to eat her "baby apple"!

After I decided what kind of apple treats I was going to make, I decided to do a game: Pin the Apple on the Apple Tree! I made this by painting an old cookie sheet (non-aluminum) that I got at DI for $1. It was harder to do then I thought it would be! I think I should have sanded the cookie sheet lightly so that the paint would stick better. The apples are wooden cutouts that I got from a craft store, painted, and stuck a magnet to. They also doubled as the invitations--all of the information was printed on a piece of paper glued under the magnet.

Tempe had a great time at her party. All day long she went around the house saying "Happy birthday party! Happy birthday Tempe!" Unlike last year, she liked all the attention on her while she opened her presents, although she lost all interest once she got to this present:

Now Tempe can really be Grash's (giraffe's) mommy! She was so happy when she opened this present. She gave it a huge hug and climbed off her chair, carrying it around the room. We ended up opening up the rest of her presents for her because she was so enthralled with her giraffe costume. She also got two toy food sets, a doctor's set, a few books, a puzzle, some clothes, two purses, a doll, a treasure chest filled with jewelry (I made the treasure chest!), and an aquadoodle. It was quite the haul!

Finally, the time came for birthday cake. Tempe had helped me make the apple cupcakes in the morning, and all day long she was asking me for birthday cake. She blew out the candles, took two bites, and--was done. She climbed down and went to play on the sport court.
I can't believe that my little baby is two! Well, she will be on Wednesday, the 10th. It has gone by so fast. She brings such joy to our family! Every day is a new adventure with her and I am so grateful that I get to be her mother.

Rolly Polly

2008-09-07T09:14:00.001-07:00

In the last week or so, Helena has really taken off--taken off rolling, that is. She is all over the place! She started out just going from her stomach to her back, and then she learned to go from her back to her stomach... and now she can do both so fast that she can really roll across the floor quickly if she wants to! Last night I came downstairs and found Jason sitting on the floor next to Helena's blanket... but I didn't see Helena.

"Where's the baby??" I asked, and Jason just pointed. She had rolled off her blanket and all the way under this side table in the family room. She was pressed up against the leg of the table, but still trying to roll. Jason finally had to go drag her out when she started to cry because she was frustrated!

We also noticed her pushing up really high on her arms, and trying to get her knees under her when she was on her stomach. Yikes!! My baby can't be getting close to crawling! I know she probably still has a few more months before she can really crawl, but still. She is supposed to be my little baby!

Labor Day at the Cabin

2008-09-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

Happy September!! I love September (well, all of autumn) for a few reasons:

My little Tempe was born in September--the 10th!

I loved going back to school as a kid, and so September still excites me.

I love the crisp air, the changing leaves, apple cider, and wearing sweaters.

We spent a wonderful weekend at the Anderson cabin: the Da Vinci of log homes (that's what it was called on the brochure). The weather wasn't fabulous (rainy and in the 50s), but that just gave us the opportunity to cuddle under blankets, play games, and watch movies.

We did brave the weather a few times to go out on the ATVs: during one of our rides, it started to rain and then hail, and we barely made it back before we were soaked. My poor brother-in-law Jonny and his wife Rachel got caught in it, and they were completely soaked, from head to toe. Poor Rachel was cold the rest of the day! Going for rides is Tempe's favorite part of going to the cabin. When we told her we were going to Grandpa's cabin, she said "Big ride! Big bumpy ride!" She had fun going on her "big bumpy rides".

Tempe and Maddy had a fun weekend playing together. They ran up and down the big hallway upstairs, screaming like banshees, bounced on the beds and said they were riding elephants, read books, and fought (but only a little).

Even thought Libby is one of the "big girls" now, she loved spending time with Helena. She gave her so many kisses and gentle pats! She really loves babies and Helena loves the attention.

There are several moose that have chosen our swing set as their favorite spot to rest, and this is one of them! He is the biggest one we've ever seen up there, and he was completely unafraid of us. At first when we went outside, we stayed back pretty far, but then we started getting closer, and closer, and closer. He just watched us and laid there. Austin got about 12 feet away from him. He finally stood up when it started to rain, and we all ran screaming to the house. Even then, he didn't pay any attention to us.

I love going to the cabin. When I was a little girl, we always went to my grandfather's retirement place: "The Property" before the house was built, "Blue Run Farm" after. I have so many great memories of exploring the woods and creek, riding on the tractor, having bonfires and roasting marshmallows, and playing games with my cousins. I love that my little girls will grow up with the same experiences at Grandpa's cabin. It is such a special place for our family to gather!

Kandiss and Khrystyne

2008-08-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

Yep, those are real names. Kandiss was on What Not to Wear, and Khrystyne is the name of an actress that was on Law and Order. Yikes...
Now, some people may say that I can't talk, considering I named my oldest daughter Tempe, which is anything but a conventional name. But Tempe is legitimate. It's the name of a gorge in Greece, and it's the name of a city in Arizona. If I had named her Tempy or Tempie or Tempee, then I would be just as ridiculous as the women who named their children Kandiss and Khrystyne.
Why do people insist on butchering perfectly good names? Who can take someone named Khrystyne seriously? And if people want to be unique, they should choose a unique name with a normal spelling... because Kandiss is pronounced the same as Candace, so if you just hear it, you have no idea how "unique" that person is.
When I was pregnant with Helena, I frequented a baby names online bulletin board, and you would be amazed at how passionate some people are about names--even more so than me! Strange spellings was a big pet peeve, but some other things that are apparently naming faux pas:

Giving girls traditionally "boy" names. All the mothers of boys claim that when you do this, you steal the names from boys. But it's interesting that many names you consider girl names, like Leslie or Ashley, used to be boy names.
Trendy names like Shayley, Kayley, or Kinsley. I've even seen charts with beginnings, middles, and ends, and you just mix and match to get your perfect trendy name.
Themed families, be it a letter theme, a nature theme, or a city theme. EXPLANATION: We do not have a themed family! Tempe is named after a city, but Helena is not. Helena is not even pronounced like the city. Hel-Ay-na, not Helen-a. That brings me to my next point...
Made up names. We thought about spelling Helena "Helaina" or "Helayna" or something like that, but it made the name sound made up.

I guess that concludes my rant on names. Names are my one true passion, I guess. Some people are passionate about art, or music, or sports. But not me. I am passionate about names, and I will probably never get to use any of the names that I really love... like Juniper, Milo, Pallas, or Rex. Too bad.

Exhaustion

2008-08-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

It's 11:00 and Helena has been crying for an hour and 52 minutes. She went down at 8:00--like always--and woke up around 9:00--like always.
This has been going on ever since I got back from Tennessee. It's exhausting. It's frustrating. It's discouraging.
I spend all day long with both girls, mostly at the house or within a 1-mile radius of it, and by the time Jason gets home, I am eager to spend some time with him. I work all day long to make sure that Helena eats and naps on a good schedule, in hopes that keeping a routine will help her sleep better at night.
But every night the same thing happens.
I don't know what to do about it. My gut says to let her cry it out! But we are all sharing a room right now, and so if we let her cry, it wakes Tempe. Plus, Helena doesn't "cry it out". She gets more and more worked up until she is screaming bloody murder.
So, we rock, and we pat, and we walk, and I try to nurse, and some nights it works, and some nights it doesn't. I try to remind myself that she is just a baby and she can't tell me what she needs. I try to remind myself that this too shall pass, it's a part of life, I'll miss it when she is grown, I'm lucky to have her even if she is crying, etc, etc.
But all I really want is a few hours of peace with both of my kids asleep.

i am...

2008-08-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

i am: a girl
i think: about Tempe's apple birthday party
i know: that i am not informed enough about the presidential candidates for this election
i want: to buy a house :)
i have: two daughters and a husband
i dislike: bugs
i miss: my couch
i fear: something happening to me and having to leave my girls
i feel: stuffed
i hear: a Food Network challenge
i smell: not-good-diaper smells
i crave: peace and quiet and time with Jason
i usually: go to bed too late
i search: for a way to get Helena to go to bed early
i wonder: if Helena will ever go to bed early
i regret: not going to school at UW when Jason started law school
i love: reading in bed
i care: about my girls' happiness
i always: do laundry on Wednesday
i worry: about my plane crashing and me dying and no one taking care of my little girls
i remember: the first day that i noticed Jason
i have: more than i deserve
i dance: rarely
i don’t always: shower every day
i argue: with Jason about baby names
i write: in my blog, of course!
i win: when we play Rummicube (usually)
i lose: at Scrabble
i wish: my girls wouldn't have to deal with teenage drama
i listen: to the Starting Line when Jason isn't around
i don't understand: why some people have so little tact
i can usually be found: with Tempe and Helena
i am scared: of mirrors, thanks to the preview for the movie "Mirrors"
i need: to floss my teeth more regularly
i forget: the purpose of sine, cosine, and tangent
i am happy: when i am playing with my family