The Rasmussens

A Taste of Spring

2012-02-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

I have come to realize that people in Seattle are very sensitive about the weather. When we decided to move here everyone kept saying, "Oh, bring your umbrellas." and "I hope you like the rain!" and "Get used to not seeing the sun for 6 months out of the year." So, I really thought the worst. I envisioned October through April would be full of gray skies, torrential downpours, and being cooped up inside. Let me put this rumor to rest....it so has not been like that! In fact, I have loved the weather here more than anywhere else. Sure it has rained and sure we have had some gray days, but the weather has never stopped us from doing anything (aside from the weird snowstorm we had that basically shut the city down for a couple days!) In fact, I have often thought to myself, it is December or January and I am outside playing with Nixon or running or walking around downtown and I am not freezing! Anyways, I have loved Seattle's weather so far, and whether we are having a mild winter or this is normal, I think it has been perfect!

Today was another beautiful day, sunny skies and 50 degree temps, very spring-like. Nixon and I took advantage and went for a walk down along the water.

We also walked down to Pier 57 and rode the carousel and played some games.

Sleeping or Lack Thereof

2012-02-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

Nixon has always been a really good sleeper. We had to do a little sleep training at 6 months old (which was rough for a couple days of listening to him cry it out), but ever since then, he's been a champ. We could lay him down anywhere and as long as he had his blanket, he was good to go. He was always really good at taking naps as well.

When we made the transition from a crib to a big boy bed, I feared the worst. He surprised me though and did really well. He still kept up his good sleeping habits. However, now that he thinks he is a super big guy, he believes he doesn't need as much sleep as he did in the past. Or maybe it's that he doesn't want to do what I tell him to do. Even if he is dead tired, he fights sleep because I am asking him to lay down. Seriously, he is such a stubborn kid!!

He has been really hit or miss with naps, sometimes taking them, some times not. When he does, it definitely is a fight to get him to lay down. And I fight with him, because I cherish nap time like no other! Believe me, sometimes we both just need a break.

In addition to spotty naps, he has been fighting us on bedtime as well. His bedtime is between 8 and 8:30, but lately there are nights when he doesn't actually settle down until 10:00. He is so stubborn about it! We do the whole bedtime ritual, rock in the chair, lay him down, and tell him we'll see him in the morning. Once we settle in to do our thing, we hear his door open, see his little head peek out, and see him fully emerge with a big smile on his face. This goes on several times before we actually get him to stop coming out. Now to add insult to injury, he has started getting up several times during the night. He about scares me to death when he comes charging in our room asking us to rock with him. Last night he came in around 2:30, so I got up and took him back into bed. You would think with him going to bed late and getting up in the middle of the night he would sleep in, but you would be wrong. He still gets up at the same time and is just happy as a clam, whereas I feel like a walking zombie.

Here's to hoping this is a phase and he will go back to doing this:

These quiet moments are the best! He just looks so sweet and innocent.

Two of My Favorite Things

2012-01-30T17:05:00.000-08:00

I love a lot of things in this world, but there are definitely two things that are at the top of my list.

One being chocolate

And the other being coke

I love them both so much and feel they can cure just about anything! Bad days, tiredness, headaches, hunger, thirst, etc. all can be cured with a piece of chocolate or a glass of coke. So, imagine my happiness when I was perusing Pinterest and found this cake recipe that combines coke and chocolate.

I made it last night and it was one of the best things I have ever eaten! Seriously, THE BEST!! I felt like Bob in "What About Bob" when he is eating the chicken and just keeps saying "Mmmmmm" over and over again. It was that good!

I ate a big slice last night and perhaps a little more out of the pan later. I've already had a slice today and you better believe I'm going to have another one tonight! If you have a love of coke and chocolate like I do, you should seriously make this recipe. Trust me, you won't be disappointed!

I Love Decorating

2012-01-25T15:55:00.000-08:00

For some reason I just love to decorate for holidays and seasons. I think it is because I get really tired of looking at the same decor for too long, so I always like an excuse to change things up. New seasons and holidays are very fun for that! I am not the best at doing things and wish I were craftier than I am, but it is always fun to create something and enjoy the fact that you did it yourself, no matter how it turns out.

I have been doing a little crafting and decorating for Valentine's Day. I put most of it up a couple weeks ago, a little early I know, but I just couldn't wait! A couple of Saturdays ago I went (by myself) to Michaels and Joanns. I LOVE those stores and could just wander around them for hours, hence why I like to go by myself. I think I wandered up and down every aisle in both stores, just taking it all in. I ended up with a few things to come home and make. I started off by making these frames. They were just the cheap, unfinished wood frames that I painted black. I added scrapbook paper to the back, painted the wood letters, and glued them on the paper.

I have had these wooden letters for years now, but when I first made them I intended on keeping them up all year long in my kitchen so they were painted in my old kitchen colors. I decided to pull them out of storage and repaint them for Valentine's Day.

A little display on the desk in my entryway. I bought the two jars and candlestick holders from the dollar tree and just spray painted the candlestick holder and glued them together. I actually made them for Christmas along with a 3rd one painted green, but I thought the red and white worked perfectly for Valentine's Day too. You'll notice some candy is missing from a couple of jars....yea, we just can't help ourselves! Or maybe it's that we help ourselves too much!

I actually made this candy heart wreath last year, but I still love it! What a labor of love it was!! It took forever to glue all those hearts, but totally worth it in the end! I added the bow and the little sign was from Hobby Lobby. By the way, I really miss Hobby Lobby :(

Winter Day Activities

2012-01-25T15:34:00.000-08:00

Nixon and I have been busy doing lots of fun things inside. I have been trying to come up with things to keep us busy and entertained on bad weather days. Nixon has a very short attention span, so it usually ends up that I drag things out, get it set up, he plays for about 10 minutes, then he wants to move onto something else :)

He still loves painting and coloring.

Playdough day! I love playing with play dough, it's fun for both Nixon and me.

I found this idea on Pinterest so I picked up a few supplies from the dollar store. I'm trying to teach Nixon his colors. He is pretty good at them, but gets confused at times. I think this concept was kind of lost on him, he started out matching the pom poms, but then just thought it was fun to grab handfuls and just shove them where they would fit. I'm not complaining though, at least it kept him entertained!

The Big 3-0

2012-01-22T16:10:00.000-08:00

Ben celebrated his 30th birthday yesterday.....wow, what a milestone! We spent the day together as a family and had a lot of fun. I made him crepes for breaskfast and we got right into opening presents, mostly because Nixon was practically tearing off the paper right when he saw them. Through my Pinterest searching, I found a couple ideas that inspired me. I sent a card to family members (except my brother's family who lives in China because I am a slacker and didn't get the packages in the mail until the last second and knew it would never make it to China in time! Sorry!!) I sent some party items like balloons, blowers, confetti, etc. and asked them to take pictures celebrating Ben's birthday. I was so excited when the pictures started rolling in! It was so fun to see what everyone did and get their wishes and memories for Ben. I had the pictures developed and put together a little book.

Ben's parents sent me a few pictures of him growing up that I included. Seriously, how cute was he?! I so wish I could go back in time and see him as a little boy.

I also gave Ben an Xbox with a Kinect because we had so much fun playing it with Sara and Rodney.

After some shopping, we ate dinner at The Crab Pot down on the waterfront.

Then, we ended the evening by having cake at home. I was very proud of myself this year because I made the cake AND the frosting from scratch. I have never done that before and I am pretty proud of how it turned out. Red Velvet cake with Cream Cheese frosting, one of Ben's favorites!

Nixon helped Ben blow out the candles. I think we had to relight them 6 or 7 times so Nixon could get his fill of blowing them out.

I think it is safe to say that Nixon thoroughly enjoyed the cake! At one point he had his own plate of cake and mine in front of him and was just going to town.

I surprised Ben with one more present after we had cake. I wrote a list of 30 things I love about him in honor of his 30th birthday. I got some goodies to go along with some of the items.

It really was so easy to come up with 30 things I love about Ben because there are so many things I love about him, 30 was just the tip of the iceberg. He is such a good dad and that is completely apparent in the way Nixon idolizes him. He is so thoughtful and caring. He is hilarious and makes me laugh all the time. He is my best friend and every day I thank my lucky stars that I found him! Happy 30th birthday babe.....I love you!!

I Love You Momma

2012-01-22T15:26:00.000-08:00

I tell Nixon all the time how much I love him and I always ask him to say I love you back. He will appease me and say it when I ask him to. I love how he sounds when he says it. His little voice is so cute and he says it with the biggest smile. Well, after me asking him to say it, he surprised me and said it without being prompted. We had just finished eating lunch and he snuggled in for a hug and said, "I love you momma!"

Best.Thing.Ever!!

Snowy Days

2012-01-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

Well, finally after 3 days of snow, the weather has finally decided to change. It couldn't come a second sooner because I am really tired of being stuck in the house with a 2 year old. Luckily Ben's office closed down for 2 days, so he was able to work from home. He was pretty much holed up in our bedroom working, but it was nice to see him passing through every so often and to have a little adult conversation.

We by no means got the most snow I have ever seen, but it is a totally different world when it snows in a city that doesn't usually get snow. The roads were just a big icy mess and the fact that there are so many hills doesn't help. It was quite entertaining to sit on the couch, look out the window, and watch car after car get stuck trying to get up the hill.

See those 2 cars there? Yea, they haven't moved an inch in 3 days. I saw the owner of the front car try to scrape it off and get out, but he quickly gave up when he realized he wasn't going anywhere!

We ventured out a couple days to play in the snow at the Olympic Sculpture Park right by our house. Nixon loved tromping through the snow and throwing snowballs.

Someone had built a couple snowmen that Nixon loved looking at.

Ben and Nixon building a snowman of their own (or at least the bottom layer!)

It has been an interesting couple of days. I am just glad we didn't have to go out for anything because we were prepared. I am also thankful that our power never went out like so many others did.

I Was Told This Wouldn't Happen

2012-01-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

When we decided to make the move to Seattle, one of the most exciting things for me was that there was no snow. I really hate the snow! I hate driving in it and I don't ski, so really in my mind there is no point for it to snow (other than on Christmas). Needless to say, I was quite excited to be moving to a place with no snow. I had been loving the weather here, it was chilly, but we were still able to go outside almost every day. I loved the fact that it was January and I could go running, take Nixon for walks, and still play down by the water.

I watched the weather forecast and it showed snow, but I thought no way would it do that. I was pretty sure the weather guy was crazy and we would just get rain. Then, the weather changed suddenly on Sunday when we woke up and saw a few flurries. Those flurries then turned into this:

We just sat on the couch and stared out the window in amazement. We watched as car after car got stuck trying to make it up the hill. At least we didn't have anywhere to be and could stay in by the warm fire.

The one interesting thing about it snowing here is that the city pretty much shuts down because they are not equipped for snow removal. There aren't very many plows and they don't have ice to salt the roads. We only got a couple inches, but schools were shut down or postponed today. Back in Utah, it could snow 3 feet and nothing got closed down. I think I remember school being cancelled one time in all the years I went.

We are supposed to get hit with more snow tonight and tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. Ben is really hoping he will just get to work from home.

I must admit that after all was said and done, the snow did look really pretty. I am so in love with this city anyway and think it is one of the prettiest places I have seen, and the snow only added to it's beauty.

New Years Eve

2012-01-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

We were so lucky to be able to spend New Years Eve with some of our best friends who live in Utah. It is so hard to not live close to our friends Sara and Rodney so we were so thankful to spend an evening with them doing what we do best, talking and laughing uncontrollably! We ate lots of yummy food, played games, caught up on our lives, played the Kinect, and just had a lot of fun.

We played the Kinect for hours and had SOOO much fun! It is hilarious to watch others play and even more fun to play yourself. I think I know what Ben and my next purchase will be!

Sara and I played an intense game of tennis and my arm was sore for 2 days after. I was happy to hear that Sara's arm was sore also, made me feel like less of a wimp!

I also got to play with their little boy Landon who is now my little buddy. He is so adorable!

Thank you Sara and Rodney for having us over and making our evening so fun! Love you guys, wish we lived closer :)

Cookie Cutters

2012-01-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

While we were in Utah we decided that Nixon was in dire need of a haircut. He has not had one since we moved to Seattle, oh, 8 months ago (other than the slight trims I gave him just around the bottom), so we headed over to Cookie Cutters. He immediately ran to the airplane chair and couldn't wait to climb in.

He did amazingly well and didn't move an inch the entire time. He was too busy playing in the airplane chair and watching cartoons.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

So handsome!! I love how she added layers to bring out his curls. He was so thrilled to get a balloon and a sucker. I'd say the day was quite a success!

Gifts From My Grandma

2012-01-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

While I was in Utah, my mom, sister, and I decided to make a button bracelet (one of our Pinterest pins). I think we spent more time shopping for buttons and going through my mom's stash at home then actually making the bracelets. The thing that I thought was the most fun was that through our quest to find trinkets, and other items to use on our bracelets we ended up going through all of my Grandma's old jewelry she left when she passed away. She had so many neat pieces of jewelry, things I just loved, so my mom and dad were nice enough to let me take a few things.

I love this stretchy flower ring and have already worn it several times.

She had so many broaches in several colors, shapes, and sizes. It was so hard to look through them and decide which ones I wanted, but I got it narrowed down to these:

I am so excited to wear them on scarves, purses, shirts, and whatever else strikes my fancy!

I wore one today on my new scarf that Ben got me for Christmas. I love the bright colors in this one and love that I can wear it with so many things.

Here are 3 of the 4 necklaces I was given. Nixon unfortunately already broke one of the pearl necklaces, so it needs to be restrung. I love the color of the grey and pink necklaces and am already envisioning what I will wear them with.

And finally, here is my finished bracelet.

I love that I was able to use items from my Grandma's jewelry, it makes it so much more special! This was a pendant from one of her necklaces with the initial A for Alice.

I also used two crystal hearts that were once necklaces.

Christmas Part 2 and Utah Visit

2012-01-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

We were able to spend 10 days in Utah over the Christmas break. We have such a great family and it was so nice to spend so much time with them and celebrate the holidays. The trip went by so fast as vacations usually tend to do. During that time, we were able to do a lot of fun things. There was lots of shopping, lots of playing with cousins, lots of eating yummy foods, playing games, relaxing, and a few trips to the ER, Instacare, Doctor, but I'll get to that later. Never a dull moment in the Rasmussen household!

Abbi, Alex, and Nixon.

Nixon and Papa.

Amy and Nixon playing the piano and singing.

Dallas and Nixon lounging on Grandpa's chair.

Alex pushing Nixon in the doll stroller.

Christmas with Ben's family.

I couldn't resist taking pictures of Bonnie and Jason's little guy. He looked so cute crawling around in all the wrapping paper. He is such a smily, happy baby!

Nixon playing with his new race track.

Ben surprised me with a new camera which I love so much! I am so excited about all the possibilities of being able to take nice pictures. I had so much fun taking pictures of EVERYTHING and love the crystal, clear quality. Nixon moves so fast so most of the pictures I take of him are blurry. I couldn't resist taking lots of closeups of him because I just love his sweet, little face!

Christmas with my family. You can tell Nixon doesn't feel too good.

Nixon insisted on opening some gifts on the trampoline.

Now to describe all the doctor visits. Christmas Eve was quite the ordeal. Nixon had been pretty sick for a few days and had a bad runny nose and cough. I had been giving him some cold medicine for about a day and a half and it seemed to be helping a little. Christmas Eve night we could not get Nixon to sleep. Finally around 11PM we got him settled down and in bed with us, but he was so restless and nobody was able to sleep. Around 2:30, he started coughing really bad so I gave him more medicine. About 10 minutes later he started crying and saying his eye hurt. Ben turned on the lamp and we discovered that his eyes and lips were swollen and he had a bright red rash down one side of his face, so not good! Off we went to the ER. FYI, there are zero cars on the road on Christmas morning at 3AM. The doctor gave him Prednisone and an antihistamine to take care of the allergic reaction and we had to hang out for a couple hours so they could monitor him. The nurse asked how he was with taking medicine and if he had ever been in the hospital before. Ben and I looked at each other and kind of chuckled. We told the nurse he had been in the ER about 2 weeks ago because he had swallowed a battery.

We finally made it home at 6AM and all fell fast asleep until about 9:00. Needless to say Nixon was not a happy camper and didn't want to open all of his presents. Lack of sleep and still being sick will do that to you.

The next day Nixon was still not doing well and seemed to be getting worse. He started coughing so bad that he was throwing up, so Ben took him over to Instacare where we found out he had a sinus infection and an ear infection. Poor kid! I wouldn't be too happy either. They sent us home with some antibiotics and within a couple of days, he was feeling better and was back to his old self.....thank goodness! Well, a couple days later Ben came down with a bad cough, so off to the doctor we went. Ben's diagnosis....sinus infection and bronchitis. Again, we were sent home with more antibiotics. The plague continued when Bonnie's little guy started getting sick and was taken to the doctor to find out he had an ear infection as well. A lot of the time during our visit was spent like this:

I am not sure how I survived not catching anything, but luckily I didn't! Thank you Zicam and Emergen-C which became my best friends during the plague :) So, thanks to the battery ordeal, Nixon had been to the ER/Doctor 6 times in about a month's time. Our insurance company is going to love us! Hopefully all that is behind us for a bit!

Aside from the sickness and doctors visits, we had a really nice time. Ben and I were even able to sneak in a couple dates and an overnight stay at the Sheraton Hotel downtown. It was so nice to get away and relax together and sleep in!

Thanks to our families and friends for making our visit so nice! Can't wait to see you all in the summer!

Christmas Part 1

2012-01-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

We decided to have our own little Christmas before we flew back to Utah to celebrate with family. We woke up early on the 22nd, put Christmas music on, and opened our presents. Nixon was so fun this year because he really enjoyed opening gifts and got so excited with each new thing he opened.

We were all very spoiled and had a nice Christmas with just our little family. It is fun to start new traditions and see the magic of Christmas through Nixon's eyes.

Christmas Fun

2011-12-21T22:07:00.000-08:00

We have had so much fun these past couple of weeks enjoying the Christmas season. I don't know if it is living in the city, having a new place to explore, or having a two-year old to experience the joy of Christmas with, but it actually feels like Christmas this year. Seattle has so many fun things to do that are free or relatively cheap, so we have been quite busy fitting everything in.

Explored Pikes Place Market.

The Fairmont Hotel downtown creates a Teddy Bear Suite. It was so festive and had decorations covering every square inch of the suite.

Viewed the Gingerbread Houses in the Sheraton Hotel. The detail of each house was so amazing!

Rode the carousel at Westlake Center.

Saw the light sculptures down on the pier.

Rode the train around Redmond Town Center.

Went to Candy Cane Lane. There is a street near the University of Washington where houses go all out with light displays.

Went to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue Square. They have different characters and drummers marching down the lighted street. They play Christmas music and even make it snow! Nixon loved watching the snow fall and kept trying to catch it. Best way to end the evening? Fries and a "coke-coke" from Wendy's.

And finally, we went to Seattle Center to check out the tiny village and lighted displays. So pretty at night with all the lights and Space Needle in the background!!

Already An Artist

2011-12-19T21:26:00.000-08:00

Nixon has decided he really loves to draw and color. He will use whatever he can find to draw with, highlighters, pens, pencils, markers, crayons, my eye liner pencil, whatever. He has really mastered the art of drawing circles and I find papers all over the house just covered in circles with a few x's mixed in (or his version of x) as we have been practicing writing his name.

I pulled out my paints one day because I figured he would love painting and I was definitely right. Painting is now one of his favorite pastimes. I love to watch how meticulous he is about painting or drawing. He concentrates very hard to ensure that each circle is perfect.

We have to hang his works of art so they can dry properly :)

Two of my favorites. I want to frame these and hang them in his room because I just think they are so cute and love the colors.

Only problem with having an artist in the family is that I occasionally find paint or pen in places where it shouldn't be. I guess that's the price you pay!

Kind of hard to see, but he drew all over our bathroom door with pen.

Paint on our bedspread which I can't get out. Guess I will be making a trip to the dry cleaners and hope they can get it out.

Little Full, Lot of Sap

2011-12-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

Ben and I have never had a real Christmas tree before so we decided this would be a great year to get one. We found a Christmas tree lot and had so much fun picking one out. I am sure the people who worked there thought we were completely nuts because we were SO indecisive. We were looking for just the perfect tree that wasn't too tall or too full to fit in our little condo. As we were pacing back and forth, I might have thrown in a few classic lines from Christmas Vacation. We joked that maybe we should drive out to the middle of nowhere and find the tree with the glowing beam surrounding it, but we finally settled on a little tree that is just perfect.

I also might have thrown in some classic lines from A Christmas Story, but really, I had to. The guy selling us a tree pulled one out and shook it to show us how sturdy it was, pretty much a complete remake of the tree scene in that movie. I had to give him a hard time and bring it to his attention stating, "See, no needles?", even though there were a lot of needles. Luckily he was a good sport and laughed with us.

Here we are after finding our tree and getting it loaded on our car.

I didn't get any pictures of just the tree, but here it is with all the lights on. Nixon loved to help put ornaments on the tree and so far he has only broken a few :), a vast improvement from last year!

Here is our fully decorated tree. I seriously love having a real tree! When I lay on the couch, I can smell it and it just smells like Christmas. Why have I never had a real tree before?!

(Sorry the pictures are such poor quality. All my pictures are taken on my cell phone. I really wish I could find our camera cable.....or I really should just buy a new one!)

Every year Ben and I buy an ornament from somewhere we traveled that year or we buy one that represents something significant that happened that year. This is our ornament from this year to show our big move to Seattle.

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments that we have collected over the years:

These are the very first ornaments we bought in 2002 when we got married and started this tradition.

Ornament from 2005. Ben and I took a vacation to Las Vegas and picked this little guy up from the M&M store.

Ornament from 2007 when we went to Maui for our 5-year anniversary. Such good memories from that trip, it is still one of my most favorite vacations we have ever taken.

Ornament from 2008. We had been trying to get pregnant that entire year so I wanted something that symbolized that. All we wanted was to start a family, so we definitely did a lot of dreaming. It must have worked because I found out I was pregnant with Nixon 1 month after Christmas!

Ornament from 2009. We purchased this from Malta, Italy when we took our Mediterranean cruise. I love unwrapping this ornament because it instantly puts a smile on my face. Such an amazing trip!!

Of course this is one of my favorites! Here is Nixon in 2009 at 3 months old, celebrating his first Christmas.

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

2011-12-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

I love Josh Groban and especially love his Christmas songs. He has such a beautiful voice and there is so much power in his songs. When we drove to Leavenworth last weekend, we listened to his Christmas album and when this song came on I was so overcome with the Spirit. It made me reflect on what is most important during the Christmas season.

Leavenworth, Your Bavarian Getaway

2011-12-07T13:53:00.000-08:00

Ben and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary of being sealed in the Temple and he surprised me with a quick getaway to Leavenworth. It is a little Bavarian town about 2 hours Northeast of Seattle. The drive there was so beautiful and fun because I always love to explore new areas and see different things. Once we got to the town, I immediately fell in love. The setting was so beautiful and this little town was nestled right up next to the mountains.

Every weekend throughout the month of December they have Christmas lighting festivals and the entire main street comes alive with lights and entertainment. It was so breathtaking at night with all the lights on.

We had a great time looking at the tree, listening to the carolers, looking in all the shops, eating lots of yummy foods, and just enjoying each other's company.

Father Christmas arrived in a horse-drawn carriage and handled out apples to all the kids. Nixon was so excited to receive one and immediately wanted it cut.

The next day we wandered over to the main street again for more festivities. Santa Claus made his appearance along with lots of other characters who mingled among the crowds. Nixon loved giving them all high fives.

Here are more pictures in the daylight showing how cute and quaint the buildings are.

Ben noticed this little church off the side of the road on our drive to Leavenworth. When I say little, I really do mean little. It looked like a dollhouse and was the smallest church I have ever seen so of course we had to stop and take a picture. While we were looking at it some guy pulled over and told Ben that a lot of people get married there, but because there are only 4 seats inside, the guests have to stand outside and watch. Too funny, but very interesting!

It was such a fun getaway and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved every second of it and especially enjoyed time with Nixon and Ben. I am so grateful for Ben and so happy that we were able to make our marriage eternal 6 years ago. I can't picture my life without him and am so glad that I never have to.

Toddler Rules

2011-12-07T06:42:00.000-08:00

We saw this poster hanging up in the recovery room at the children's hospital and I just laughed out loud when I read it because it is so true! Love it, every single one of them is funny.

TODDLER’S RULES

Author: Unknown

1- If I want it, it's mine

2- If it's in my hand, it's mine

3- If I can take it away from

you, it's mine

4- If I had it a little while ago, it's mine

5- If it's mine, it must never appear

to be yours in any way

6- If we are building something together,

all the pieces are mine

7- If it just looks like mine, it's mine

8- If I think it's mine, it's mine

9- If I give it to you and change

my mind later, it's mine

10- Once it's mine it will never belong

to anyone else, no matter what

Battery Update

2011-12-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

We waited and waited for the battery to come out on its own, which sadly it never did. Sunday morning Ben called the childrens hospital and they told us to call his pediatrician Monday morning. He would need to go in and get another x-ray done so they could see where the battery was. I called first thing in the morning and made an appointment for later that afternoon. We made it to the doctors and they took another x-ray only to find out the battery had not moved at all and appeared to be lodged in the stomach. For some reason, it just couldn't make it through the opening and never would have made it out on its own. Maybe this would be okay with anything else, but a battery is a very scary thing to have inside you because the acid can corrode the stomach lining and burn a hole right through it. They sent us home with the x-ray. Its a little hard to take a picture of it, but I tried my best.

Our doctor called over to the children's hospital and talked to the surgeon on duty. They got an OR booked for us and sent us on our way. I was just completely in shock on the way over, so many emotions running through my head. I was nervous, sad, scared, and guilt-ridden that this all had to happen. I just felt awful that he got a hold of the battery and that it had come this far. I was just hoping everything would be alright.

We made it to the hospital where they were waiting for us. We got up to our room and they checked his weight and all his vitals. Nixon was okay with the being weighed part because he thought it was a fun step to jump off of, but he didn't really like any of the other things they did.

He was good with the stethoscope when the doctor and nurses were listening to his heartbeat. He held it to his chest and tummy for them and they commented on what a big helper he was. He got some cool, new jammies and we settled in to wait for his procedure. We had to wait about 4 hours because they wanted to make sure there was no food in his stomach. He was spoiled and got to pick out lots of toys to play with. He got to color Christmas pictures and watch lots of Mickey Mouse.

I love his expression and hands in this photo. You know he's got to be thinking, "What the heck is going on here?!"

The surgeon came and talked to us about what he was planning on doing. Luckily, they didn't have to open Nixon up to get the battery out. They were going to do an endoscopy and attach a little basket to the end of the tube and scoop the battery out. He said that this was the least invasive way because it had no problem going down so it would most likely come out very easily. Of course they have to go over all the risks and what-ifs and your mind always thinks the worse so I was a wreck. I was just praying and hoping that everything would go smoothly and that he wouldn't have any problems. I was so worried that they were going to be putting him completely out. I knew this was the only way to get the tube down his throat, but I was so scared about him coming out of the anesthesia okay. So sad and scary to worry about your child going through these kinds of things!

After hours of waiting and keeping Nixon occupied they finally came down to take him in for the procedure. I sat in the chair just looking at Nixon while Ben held him. I looked down at his little body and was just overcome with this love. I looked at his legs, marked with little bruises where he's banged into things playing and just being the sweet, little boy that he is. All I wanted was for this to be over with and have him home again, back to playing. The surgeon said that one of us could come in while they put him under, but warned us that it might be scary to watch because they get upset and when they go under their eyes roll back in their head. Umm, I was already a basket-case and knew I wouldn't handle that well, so Ben went back with him. Once Nixon was out, they escorted us to the waiting room and we waited some more.

About 30 minutes later the surgeon came in with the battery in hand and said that everything went really well. Thank goodness!! The battery acid had started to corrode the stomach lining a little bit, so he wrote us a prescription that's kind of like an antacid that will coat the lining of the stomach and it will heal itself. We were able to go into recovery about 15 minutes later when Nixon was starting to come to. He was crying because he was so upset and scared. We went right up to the bed and talked to him, trying to get him to calm down while they gave him some more pain meds. Finally they let me hold him in the rocking chair while they continued to monitor him. He calmed down, but fought so hard against falling asleep. He just kept looking at everything that was going on. We were allowed to go back to our room where they could continue monitoring his vitals. Nixon just settled in with Ben on the bed and watched more Mickey Mouse. I just couldn't believe that he wasn't exhausted, especially since it was about 10:30 PM. I was exhausted!!

The nurse gave him a new blankie which he now loves!

We were told that we might have to stay overnight, but since he was doing so well we were able to go home. We got home a little after midnight and were all tired, but so glad we got to sleep in our own beds. This morning Nixon got up and immediately was back to his old self. He ate a really good breakfast, has been running around, playing trucks, and of course watching Mickey.

We brought the battery home and I am going to think of some way to make an ornament with it. Just so we have a reminder of the battery incident of 2011! So weird to think that just a few hours ago this was inside Nixon. You can see that it had already started to corrode after just a few days.

I am so grateful that everything turned out okay and that we are now battery free. I am so grateful for family and friends who said many prayers on our behalf and know that we were watched over and truly felt the Spirit throughout the night. I am so thankful for good doctors and the technology that we enjoy. Most of all I am thankful for my little family and the love we have for each other.

Not the Best Way to Spend An Evening

2011-12-01T14:37:00.006-08:00

Last night started out like any other night around our house. Ben came home from work while I was busy cooking dinner. Ben and Nixon played while I put dinner on the table, we ate, and were just sitting around talking. I looked over at Nixon and noticed he was playing with one of those disc batteries that came out of one of my flickering candles. You know, one of these, about the size of a quarter:

He was putting it in his cup of water, fishing it out, putting it back in, so on and so forth. Ben and I continued talking and Nixon left the table, cup in hand. He went into our bedroom and closed the door, then opened it saying boo, just playing his little games that he likes to play. Well, a couple minutes later he comes out all distraught saying "Ah oh" while pointing to his mouth. He then proceeds to say, "Where'd it go?", again pointing to his mouth. I knew right away what he had done and asked him if he had swallowed the battery. He wouldn't give me a clear answer, but just kept pointing to his mouth saying, "Ah oh!" I looked at Ben and said, "I am 99.9 % sure he swallowed that battery!" I quickly did a search of our bedroom looking for the battery, but to no avail. Ben googled battery ingestion and called the number on the website (didn't even know there was such a thing, but you learn something new everyday!) The people asked Ben what kind of battery it was, if he was having trouble breathing, choking, or looking sick to which he answered no. They told us we needed to get him to the emergency room quickly so they could do an x-ray and make sure it wasn't stuck in the esophagus which could cause a lot of damage. Not what a mom wants to hear!! So, we quickly put shoes on and headed up to the ER. The whole time, I kept looking back at Nixon to make sure he was okay and he would simply just smile back at me, thrilled to be riding in the car.

We take Nixon in and explain our situation to which the nurse panics a little bit and asks, "He swallowed a battery?!" They then get us all checked in and take us back to an exam room and take Nixon's vitals. He of course doesn't really like everything they are doing to him, but is okay as long as Ben and I sit on the bed with him. Then we wait, and wait, and wait in true ER fashion. Meanwhile, Nixon is playing trucks, coloring with the crayons the nurse gave him, reading his books, and exploring the room, not even concerned that he has a battery inside him somewhere!

Finally, the X-Ray tech comes in to take Nixon down. Ben went with him and I could hear him screaming all down the hallway. They then come back and we wait, and wait some more. Once the x-rays had been developed, the doctor came back in and said they saw the battery in his stomach. Luckily it went down the esophagus and settled into the stomach. I wish I had thought to ask to see the x-rays, but I wasn't thinking at the time. I was just glad it made it to his stomach and didn't get lodged in his esophagus which could cause damage from alkali or the electrical current batteries generate (also never knew that before, but now do thanks to Google.)

Then the doctor gave me the unpleasant news. We would just have to let nature run its course and hopefully the battery will come out on its own. So, fun for me, I get to look through each diaper and hope I find the battery within the next 3 days. If not, I have to call the Children's hospital and he might have to get it surgically removed.

I am sure this is TMI, and I am sorry for sharing, but I feel that others should have to experience my pain. We had one poop today, so I pulled out my gloves that Ben thought to grab for me from the hospital (Ben, you are a genius!!), and looked for our battery. This was definitely a low point for me I must say and not a whole lot of fun. Bad part about it.....no battery. So, the fun continues. Here's to hoping it finds it's way out before Saturday! We can now say that Nixon is one of the 3500 people a year who ingest batteries. Oh, two year olds. Who knew they could be so much fun!!

Our First Seattle Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T20:36:00.003-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving on our own this year which was a little strange. I missed playing games and just hanging out with family, but we did have some fun of our own and spent a nice, relaxing day with just our little family. We debated back and forth about how we wanted to spend the day, not sure if we wanted to go to a restaurant or try our hand at cooking. We finally decided on the latter and I am so glad we did. It was a lot of fun to plan the menu, do all the grocery shopping, and prepare everything.

We went small scale because it was only the 3 of us, so I just bought a turkey breast. I have never cooked a turkey before so wasn't sure what to expect. I read online what to do and how to season it. Here is Ben basting the turkey and getting it ready to put in the oven.

Fast forward a couple hours and here she is in all her glory! Ahhh, isn't it beautiful?! It turned out perfect!!

Here is our spread complete with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, Ben's special cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, rolls, and a little sparkling cider for a special occasion.

Here we are getting ready to enjoy the fruits of our labors. Oh, and don't let Nixon fool you. He leads you to believe that he is going to eat with us, but he wouldn't eat a bite of anything, not one single bite......silly kid!! Ben and I of course ate until we were sick!

I am so thankful for my little family and love that we can start our own traditions. Ben and Nixon mean the world to me and I am so grateful to have them in my life!

Oh What Do You Do on a Cold Winter Day?

2011-11-20T14:07:00.001-08:00

You go to The Children's Museum of course!! I am so happy that we have such a neat place to go that's within walking distance. I bought a yearly pass so when Nixon and I go stir-crazy this winter being cooped up inside we will have somewhere to go.

Nixon couldn't get out of the stroller fast enough and just ran from exhibit to exhibit like The Roadrunner. He had a blast and was so sad to leave. They had a couple new things to explore and we had a great time!

Playing at the grocery store. I love how he does the beep when he puts the food on the counter.

We Made the Transition

2011-11-16T15:48:00.002-08:00

I have been dreading this day for awhile now. I've been putting it off, hoping it would never happen, though I knew it would. People kept telling me there would come a time when Nixon would learn how to crawl out of his crib. Simple, naive me thought, "Nah, he won't do that." Well, guess who learned to crawl out of his crib. I know Nixon is getting older and can't stay in a crib forever, but I am so not ready for him to be so big! I am not ready for a big boy bed or potty training or having to think about preschool, but alas time goes by too fast and Nixon is getting bigger, every day.

He started crawling out of his crib last week, so because I was having visions of him hanging from his crib by an arm or leg or worse, falling out and breaking a bone, I immediately got online to search for a bed. I found one and had it ordered that very night and last night Ben put it together.

Nixon was such a big helper and loved helping Ben put the screws in with the electric screwdriver.

Here is the fully constructed bed and a very excited boy who is all ready for bed.

I was very nervous to actually make the transition and wasn't sure how well Nixon would sleep last night. I was expecting him to be horrible and that Ben and I were in for a long, sleepless night. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. We made a big deal to Nixon how big he was and how awesome it was that he was getting a big boy bed. When it came time to go to bed, I told him to lay down in his new bed and I laid on the floor by him. He was pretty much asleep so I snuck out. Then about 15 minutes later, I heard his door open and saw his little head peek out. Ben told him to go lay back down because it was night-night time. His door closed promptly and I could hear him get back in bed. This happened a few more times and we just kept telling him to go lay down. Finally Ben and I headed to bed, and sure enough, not long after we laid down, we could hear Nixon's little footsteps coming towards our room. He poked his head in our room and again Ben told him to go lay down and go to sleep. He ran back into his room and closed the door and that was the last we heard of him. I woke up about midnight and wanted to check to make sure he was okay (still not used to the idea of him being able to wander around!). I snuck in his room and found him fast asleep, on the floor and halfway under his bed. What a funny kid! I debated whether I should pick him up and put him back in bed, but didn't want to risk waking him, so I just left him where he was.

Fast forward to this morning. We had no problems throughout the night. Nixon slept the entire night and didn't even come out of his room until 8:00.....yay!! When he finally came to find me, he came into my room, blankie in hand, and said, "Hi Momma!". I asked him if he had fun sleeping in his big boy bed and he excitedly said, "Yea!!" After breakfast, he kept saying, "Night-night?" He was so excited to get back in bed. I must admit, after a fairly easy night of getting him to sleep in a new bed, I was a bit nervous about naptime. I am not ready for him to give that up and was just praying he would go down easily. Well, my wish was granted. We had a few repeats of last night of him coming out every couple minutes, but I just kept telling him to go lay down and he would. I could hear him playing in there, but after awhile it got quiet. I went in to check on him and sure enough, he was fast asleep, this time on his bed.

Even though I had been dreading this day, it went surprisingly well. Hopefully, things will continue to go as smoothly as we all adjust to this new phase in our life!

A Fun Weekend and a Little Pampering

2011-11-15T15:14:00.004-08:00

Ben's parents came in town last weekend and it was so nice to have some company. We had a pretty relaxing visit without a whole lot of sight-seeing, so hopefully they weren't too bored! I am lame and didn't get too many pictures of the visit, so I'll just have to describe what we did. Cris and I walked down to Pikes on Friday and picked up some fresh flowers and fish to make our famous fish and chips. We also enjoyed a delicious caramel hot chocolate on the way back.

Saturday, we drove around and admired all the million dollar homes by Lake Washington and enjoyed the view of the water.

We also drove past IHop several times (little inside joke), then wandered around the Bellevue mall, enjoyed a coke, and let Nixon play at the indoor playground.

Cris and Lyle were nice enough to babysit so that Ben and I could go out on a date on Saturday night which was heaven! We ate at a cute little Italian restaurant called Cuoco and saw the movie Ides of March. Loved the movie by the way and it didn't hurt that Ryan Gosling was in it (love him!!) It was so nice to spend a quiet evening just with Ben and enjoy dinner without having a 2-year old crawling all over us or whining because he was ready to go. I love spending time alone with Ben and we had a great evening.

Cris and I also went to a little salon by our house for some pampering. I got a manicure and had my eyebrows waxed. Cris got a manicure and pedicure. I have never had a manicure before because I don't like to indulge in things like that. I feel like I am wasting money when I have people do things for me that I could do myself. Having said that, it was amazing!! It was so nice to sit and relax and have someone else do the work for once and I was so happy with how my nails came out. I kept asking Ben to look at my nails the rest of that day because they looked so pretty. Even today, a couple days after getting them done, I am still admiring them.

Thank Goodness for Pizza

2011-11-15T14:46:00.006-08:00

Pizza makes my life so much easier, seriously! I think it is delicious, it's an easy dinner, and Nixon loves it. When I ask him what he wants for lunch (or dinner, sometimes even breakfast) he gets a big smile on his face and says "putzy" in a happy, excited voice. This is a kid who is pretty picky about eating, but he will eat pizza in any form. I can give him any kind of frozen pizza, pizza made on bread, english muffins, tortillas, and garlic bread and he will happily eat all of it.

Also, I wanted to document some of the funny things he is doing right now. He is right in the midst of the terrible twos and we have our struggles, but thank goodness he is such a funny kid and can make me laugh. Whenever we are wrestling or doing tricks he always looks at me and says, "Careful, k!" Guess he has picked up on us telling him to be careful, so now he asks the same thing of Ben and me.

He loves the color red and knows that red is the color of apples. Anything he sees that is red is now "apple insert word here" such as apple car, apple choo-choo, apple cup, etc. His favorite truck is of course the red one and he is not content until he has his "apple cool car." He also only likes to drink out of the apple cup.

He is getting very good at shapes and can identify circles and ovals. I love hearing his voice say circle and oval when I ask him what they are.

He is talking more and more and I love hearing the new words he comes up with. He can finally say Grandma. When I ask him throughout the day where daddy is he will now say "he's at work".

I am always amazed at the things he learns. I complain about Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but he learns a lot from it. The other day I was giving him a bath and he was banging the measuring cups together and said "cymbal". I've never taught him that, so I know it had to come from one of his shows.

I am always telling him how handsome he is or what a cute face he has and he will look at me and go "okay momma". It is hilarious especially with the tone he uses because when he says it you know he is thinking "okay mom, that's enough". Totally funny and makes me laugh every time!

He's such a smart, funny kid and we just love him!

The Snuggie is So Last Year

2011-11-05T19:29:00.001-07:00

Ben and I had to get new tires on our car today and I saw this infomercial as we were sitting in the waiting room. My first thoughts were, "Are you serious?! I mean, really, are they kidding?!" Then I went to the website, and no, it is for real. If anyone is trying to come up with a good Christmas gift for me, look no further! The thing that sold it for me was that it has zippered hatches in the front and back for great escapes when duty calls......genius!!

I ate all your Halloween candy

2011-11-04T14:09:00.001-07:00

This video has been floating around today and I think it is so funny so I had to share it as well. I've watched it 3 times and it still makes me laugh! I love Jimmy Kimmel, I wish he wasn't on so late.

Playing The Joker

2011-11-02T14:11:00.011-07:00

This year Ben and I thought long and hard about what Nixon should be for Halloween. We went to a few stores and looked online, but just couldn't come up with anything. I know he is only 2 and doesn't care what he is or even fully understand the concept of Halloween, but I wanted him to be something good. Our decision finally came down to his hair. His hair is on the longer side, has a little natural curl to it and would make perfect Joker hair with a little help from some green hairspray. So, we went with it. I had a rough time piecing the costume together as they don't sell Joker costumes for toddlers and even if they did, I probably wouldn't have bought one because what they did have was lame. Anyway, I was able to find a white dress shirt easy enough (plus, bonus....he needed one anyways!), we already had black pants, and I found a vest and tie at a thrift store for $5. The jacket, however, almost became the death of me. I didn't expect to find a purple jacket, so I had to get creative. I knew if I could find a jacket, I would be able to use Rit Dye to get it purple. I found a jacket at a thrift store for $5. I came home, performed the tedious process of washing the jacket in color remover, washing it normally, then washing it in the purple dye on extended cycle. After those 2 hours (2 hours of my life I will never get back by the way), I took the jacket out only to realize it looked the same.....awesome! FYI, you can't dye polyester. Ok, back to the drawing board. Another trip to the thrift store and I found a different jacket, this time 100% cotton. Completed same process as listed above only to take the jacket out and again realize it did not work.....double awesome!! It had a slight purple tint to it, but not the look I was going for. The Joker is known for his bright, purple jacket, so clearly I must have it :). Trip #3, this time to Target. I scoured the racks and was about to leave empty-handed when I decided to look through the girls clearance rack and came across a little khaki trenchcoat that I knew would be perfect. The smallest size they had was too big, but I was determined to make it work as it was a day before we needed the costume, I was PMSing, and sick with a cold/flu. Back to the store for more Rit color remover and dye and back home for round 3 of dying. I was scared to look at the jacket, but to my surprise......it worked!!! Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Seriously, was it worth it? When I was going through it, no, after all was said and done, totally!! Cutest Joker I've ever seen and I didn't see anyone else dressed up like him, completely unique which is just what we like.

We had lots of Halloween fun. Saturday night we went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat.

Halloween night, we went over to Magnolia. They close down the main street and all the stores hand out candy. There was a lot of chaos and Nixon kind of got lost in the shuffle, but he had fun holding his bucket out to get treats. As soon as someone put something in his bucket, he would take it out and hand it to us to open.

Checking out his loot at the end of a fun, busy night.

Nixon's First Piece of Mail

2011-10-28T08:05:00.001-07:00

Nixon got a Halloween package today from Grandma and Grandpa and he was so excited!!

Thanks Mom and Dad, as you can see, he loved it!!

This N' That

2011-10-26T16:18:00.026-07:00

I have some random pictures to document and also wanted to update anyone who cares on the happenings around here. Life has been good as of late and we are just busy with our daily activities. Ben is still loving his job and I am so thankful that he is happy. One of my worries about moving here was that he wouldn't enjoy his job. It is so important to me that he likes where he works because so much of his time is spent there. The fact that he does is such a blessing. Work keeps him very busy and he works long hours, but he feels fulfilled and I see such a change in him. I am so proud of him and truly appreciate how hard he works to support our family. We really love the weekends when he is home all day and there is nothing that makes me smile more than seeing Nixon get so excited when he hears Ben's key turn in the lock after a long day.

Nixon is getting so big, I swear he is growing an inch a week. He used to not be able to reach the button on the elevator for our floor and now all of a sudden he can. I am really taken aback some mornings when he comes out in his jammies because he just looks so big to me and I think, "How the heck did that happen?!" He is talking a lot and he comes up with some funny things. He is definitely in the terrible twos and our days are full of A LOT of highs and lows, most of the time the switch between the two happens very quickly. Before I had kids I would notice other kids out in public throwing tantrums and parents struggling to contain them. Now, I am that mom. I am that mom at the store with a screaming child, the one with the kid who runs away from them, and yea, the one who throws tantrums and throws himself on the ground because he didn't get something he wanted. It is so awesome! All of this would be okay because usually people are nice about it and give you understanding glances, but not in Seattle. Most people are mean and very impatient and have been opinionated and vocal to me about it. It has been a stress to me and the second he starts crying I do whatever I can to get him to stop so as not to cause a scene. It has given me a thick skin and a reason to do the grocery shopping at night when Ben can watch Nixon. It makes for a much happier mom, trust me! But even through all the annoying traits that make me a little impatient at times, he still can make me laugh like nobody else. He makes me smile everyday when I look at his sweet face and he melts my heart with his kisses and hugs. I guess the highs and lows are all part of being a mom.

He loves being a big helper. He loves to help me clean the bathtub and most recently the toilet. I just put some cleaner in there, hand him the brush, and he goes to town. I generally have a lot of water on the floor, but he actually does a pretty good job. Plus, I'm not too worried about the water on the floor because I always clean the floors last.

He loves to help me cook. He loves to pour in the ingredients and help me stir. Today we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.....YUM!

We also went to a Halloween party for Mom's group. He had a good time playing with the other kids, making pumpkin crafts, and eating treats. They had face painting, but I couldn't get him to sit still in order to do it.

His favorite pastime, and yes, he is wearing his Mickey Mouse pajamas.

And another way he likes to watch Mickey.....silly kid!

I had to throw this one in there. This was taken when we drove to Utah a couple weeks ago. He has started doing this in the car when he gets tired and it usually makes him fall asleep. I don't think he could get any closer to his blankie!

Nixon sporting his new rain boots we got to get us through the upcoming wet, winter months. He loves jumping around in them and usually wants them on for most of the day.

Last, here are some pictures of him playing outside and just being the little boy that he is.

Mom, does this pose look familiar? Like mom, like son.

Boulder the Banana Loving Lemur

2011-10-23T13:44:00.014-07:00

Yesterday we took a drive up north to Arlington to go to the Outback Kangaroo Farm. I read about this farm on a new website I found called Red Tricycle. Coolest website that lists things to do with your kids in whatever city you live in. When we first got to the farm, both Ben and I were a little worried that it was going to be really lame and totally not worth the hour drive. Luckily, we were both pleasantly surprised and had a great time.

Waiting for the tour to begin.

This farm is run by an older couple who have all sorts of animals including, horses, lemurs, wallabies, kangaroos, ostriches, emus, llamas, donkeys, peacocks, turkeys, pheasants, and chickens. I thought we would just be looking at the animals over a fence and maybe get to feed a couple of them, but we were able to get up close and personal (as you'll see later) with all the animals. It was the coolest experience!

First stop were the leaping lemurs. Me and Nixon won the dancing contest so he got to go feed Boulder the Lemur some bananas.

Next we headed to the kangaroos and wallabies. I love kangaroos, I always have, so it was fun to go directly where they were and be able to pet and feed them. They had so many kangaroos, at least 40 of them just hopping around. They are very soft and so mild-mannered.

Pheasants, peacocks, and Tommy the Turkery.

Feeding the donkeys. Nixon wanted no part of this, he wouldn't even get close to them. He just kept saying donkey, but from a far, safe distance.

Next up were the llamas. Again, Nixon would not feed them and was a little scared to get too close.

Ben and I, however, not scared at all. Here we are getting up close and personal with Mr. T. The guy told us to pick a long pellet and put it in between our lips because that's how Mr. T likes to eat. My first thought was that's disgusting and there is no way I am doing that! Ben jumped right in though, so I couldn't leave without doing it too. Kind of scary when a giant llama is coming straight for you with a hungry look in his eyes, but fun when it was all over. Besides, when else am I going to be able to feed a llama that way?

Oreo the miniature horse aka L'il Sebastian (anyone who watches Parks and Recreation will understand that.) We weren't able to pet him or get too close because we were told he has a bit of an angry streak. Duly noted, I steered clear. Oreo may be miniature, but I didn't want a run-in with him.

Emus and Ostriches.

Last on the tour, and by far my favorite, holding a 9 month old baby kangaroo. He was the cutest little thing! So soft and tiny I just wanted to take him home. If only I had a farm and $1200.

What a great day! Thank you Red Tricycle for finding us a cool place to spend our Saturday!!

Learning About Firemen

2011-10-19T12:59:00.006-07:00

Today at story time at the library, it was all about firefighters. They read fire fighting books, taught us songs about firemen, and let us see an actual fire truck. Nixon was very intrigued watching the fireman put on all his gear, but wasn't too sure what to hink once it was all on.

We then got to go outside and see the fire truck. Nixon was so excited and kept making the siren noise. He loved standing on the back and touching the lights.

Since getting home, he has been talking non-stop about everything we saw and he can't wait to tell daddy all about it when he gets home.

Happy Things

2011-10-18T14:18:00.006-07:00

I woke up yesterday morning with a new resolve and thought to myself, I am going to have a really good day and a really good week. Maybe what sparked my mood is the beautiful fall weather we have been having. The temps have dropped a little, and it is what I like to call jacket weather. I love when there is a chill in the air and you can break out the jackets and sweaters.

So, to kick off my good mood I tried my hand at making pancakes from scratch and have since vowed that I will never buy boxed mixes again, they were that good and so simple!! How have I never done that before?! After breakfast, Nixon and I went on a long walk through downtown and because I had nowhere to be, I took my time and enjoyed looking in the store windows. We also walked down to Pikes Market and because tourist season has now ended, we pretty much had the place all to ourselves. I slowly wandered through, looking at the flowers and fresh produce, sampling apples and pears, and examining jewelry, hats, and other items for sale. After Pikes, we walked down to the water and played for a long time. We threw rocks in the water, climbed on the rocks and logs, played in the dirt, and just enjoyed the scenery. It was such a nice, relaxing day and one I won't forget.

So, to add to a great day that made me so happy, here are some other things that make me smile:

Nixon's first picture he colored in Nursery and the fact that he was so excited to show it to me after church.

My fall arrangement of flowers that I picked up from Pikes yesterday. I am in love with the cabbage in the middle. It makes me smile every time I walk by the bouquet.

My favorite cereal in the world which I spotted at Target today. It was more than I like to spend on cereal, but I just couldn't resist buying a couple of boxes. I can hardly wait for breakfast tomorrow!! I considered having it for lunch today, but decided to hold out :)

Sugar cookies decorated for fall. Is it bad that I had one for breakfast this morning?

Hot Chocolate on a cold fall day. I stopped yesterday at Tully's, a local coffee house in Seattle which is almost as big as Starbucks (almost). I sort of feel out of place ordering a hot chocolate because Seattleites (is that a word?) really love their coffee and when I order a hot chocolate they look at me like, really, a hot chocolate?! But who cares, I love it and the more whip cream the better!!

Bejeweled Blitz. I am so addicted to this game. So much that I even play it in my head when I lay down to go to sleep at night.

And best of all, this little guy and his sweet profile that I love more than anything. He makes me laugh every day!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Just Might Be the Death of Me

2011-10-14T16:08:00.006-07:00

It's true, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse most likely is going to send me to the looney bin. I will end up in a room with padded walls just humming the theme song to myself day after day. I have created a little monster in Nixon who absolutely loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When I first turned it on for him so many months ago because I thought he might like it, I had no idea that that like would turn into an intense love. Nixon would be content to sit on the couch with his blankie and watch episode after episode. We watch a lot of episodes, even when it's not on tv, we have to find it online or on Xfinity (he's not spoiled or anything!) Most of the day, I have the theme song playing in my head. In case you don't know what it sounds like, let me play it for you. Heck, why not, it's already running through my head!

And never, ever forget the hot dog song.

It is really quite sad that I try to push any other show on him, Little Einsteins, Curious George, I'd even take Sid the Science Kid! Now before you start to judge, I actually do play with Nixon a lot and we go outside everyday, he doesn't just sit around watching tv all day :)

At the end of the day when Ben gets home from work and Nixon is still asking for "Gickey" we have to tell him that Mickey went night-night and there is no more. Nixon of course gets teary-eyed and breaks out the whine, but we are strong and persevere for our sanity's sake. Otherwise, this really will happen:

Whew, Look Who's Two!

2011-10-02T13:45:00.005-07:00

I have a two-year old, I never thought I would say that, but it's true!! I can't believe my baby boy is two years old, not even a baby anymore. The last two years have flown by and I am so thankful for this little man. He is the light of my life, my best little buddy, and I am so thankful to be his mom.

Nixon loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It is one of the first things he says when he wakes up in the morning. He runs in the family room, points to the tv, and says "Mickey!" Most mornings as I am cleaning up or getting breakfast, he can be found doing this:

So, because he loves Mickey so much we had a Mickey Mouse themed birthday. I tried my hand at a fondant cake and realized that it is a lot harder than it looks. I had so many ideas in my head of how I wanted the cake to look, and looking back there are things I would do differently, but I think it turned out pretty good.

For dinner we went to Nixon's favorite restaurant, Zeek's, and had pizza. Nixon loves pizza and breadsticks dripping with ranch dressing.

My parents, little brother Kevin and his girlfriend Megan were able to spend the week with us. It was so fun having them here to celebrate Nixon's birthday. They even humored me by wearing the Mickey party hats I made.

It's funny what a year will do. He actually understood a little of what was going on and loved opening presents, as opposed to his first birthday.

Blowing out the candle. Nixon had so much doing this that we had to relight the candle 4 times so he could keep blowing it out.

Nixon is such a funny kid and has a crazy little personality. He is quite a daredevil and loves being adventurous. He loves cars and trucks and will spend hours driving them around. He loves being outside, running around, throwing rocks in the water, playing in the dirt, and jumping off whatever he can find. He is a very cautious kid when it comes to jumping though, he always asks me first if it is okay to jump from whatever object he is standing on. I let him know if it is too high or just right.

I can see a lot of me in him which makes me laugh. He is so particular about things and has to have everything a certain way. He likes to drive his cars on his blankie, but it has to be laid out a certain way or else he will complain and whine until it is right. He hates having dirty hands and spills on his clothes. If he spills, we have to either clean it off or get a new shirt. If he's eating anything, candy, cereal, crackers, etc. and one falls on the floor, he cannot let it go. He cries and has a panic attack until we pick it up for him. I use the 10 second rule a lot for this kid!

He is talking up a storm these days and learns new words every day. It is fun to actually be able to have a conversation with him where he understands what I am saying and I can understand most of what he says. My favorite word he has learned is "Cool!" Now everything we see is cool, cool car, cool bike, cool boat, it's cool.

When we ask to see his silly face, this is what he does. Makes me laugh every time!

A few of my favorite pictures that show Nixon's fun little personality.

And finally to show the difference a year can make, here is a picture of him on his first birthday and one on his second birthday.

1st Birthday.

Second Birthday.

We love you Nixon more than words can say!!

Busy Summer Days

2011-09-22T12:15:00.001-07:00

I have loved summer this year. It has been so fun to explore a new city and enjoy great weather while we're at it. It has been absolutely beautiful here every day (in my opinion, though other locals will tell you different). It never got warmer than 85 degrees, which might sound hot, but compared to reaching 100 degrees back in Utah, it felt downright perfect. We rounded up the summer by doing some things we hadn't done before. Over Labor Day weekend, we went kayaking on Lake Union and it was so fun!

As we were out rowing around, I told Ben it just felt surreal that we were out there. We had awesome views everywhere we looked.

How cool is this?! A little Chevron for boats to gas up on the water. I am not sure why, but I was just in love with this little station, so fun!

We even got to row right by the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat.

We also finally went up in the Space Needle and enjoyed 360 degree views of the city, The Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound, Mount Rainier, and Lake Union.

Puget Sound.

Lake Union.

Downtown Seattle. You can see the Mariners and Seahawks stadiums and Mount Rainier in the distance.

We went to another Mariners game and watched them play the Yankees! Such an exciting game that went 12 innings and ended with Seattle hitting a homerun for the win.

We fed the ducks at the University of Washington.

We picnicked at Elliott Bay and watched the sun set.

It has been a great summer and I am sad to see it end, but also so excited for Fall and all the upcoming holidays.

Chair Transformation

2011-09-07T12:32:00.007-07:00

I have been holding onto a chair that I purchased months and months ago from DI. It kind of got lost in the shuffle with us packing, moving, having our stuff in storage, moving again, and unpacking. I decided I was sick of seeing it unfinished, so I tackled the repainting job. Luckily I had already sanded down the chair before we moved and while I still had a garage to do my projects in. I had also already purchased new fabric and recovered the cushion. All that was left to do was paint the chair.

I wanted this chair to go with the desk that I refinished Here. Here are some before pics:

And here are the after pics:

Quite a difference from the before pictures. The chair was only $7, but it was really dirty. I about died when I took the cushion off and had to pry the fabric and pad off.....it was dusty, stinky, and just plain gross! But after reinforcing the chair, adding a fresh, new pad, new fabric, and 3 coats of black paint, she is brand new. Here she is nestled in her new home with the desk:

Cheers to Having a MLB Team

2011-08-30T15:22:00.005-07:00

It is so fun to have a professional baseball team and football team in the city where you live. I am really hoping at some point we can go to a Seahawks game, but tickets are a bit on the pricey side so we will wait and see.

We got to go to our first MLB game last night to watch the Mariners play the Angels. I went to the Bee's games back in Utah, but they just were never that interesting to me. The atmosphere was fun and it was a nice thing to do on a summer night, but not exactly my cup of tea. Last night was a totally different experience though and we had a blast. First, it was so cool to walk in that stadium and see how big it actually is. Second, it was great to look outside of the stadium and see all the pine trees and be reminded that I live in Seattle (yes, sometimes I forget and all of a sudden get a glimpse of something and realize how lucky I am to be where I am.) Third, the fans really get into the game. Everyone is decked out in t-shirts, jerseys, hats, and other paraphernalia. I think that's what made it best of all, people cheering and getting so excited for every play. We definitely got in on the action and are slowly learning all the player's names.

I wasn't sure how Nixon would do and assumed we would have to leave after just a few innings. However, he surprised us and did amazingly well given the fact that the game lasted almost 3 hours, it was way past his bedtime, and he couldn't run around. We were able to stay the entire game and actually enjoy it. I only took Nixon down once to get a Dippin' Dots and a drink, but those items were more for me than Nixon :) He had so much fun clapping, saying "Yay!!", dancing, eating snacks, doing the wave, and singing during the 7th inning stretch. Today, he has been talking about the game non-stop. He keeps doing the motion of throwing the ball, clapping, saying, "go go", and a bunch of other excitable chatter that I wish I could understand.

Such a great night, and even better that the Mariners won! We will definitely be attending more games.

Woodland Park Zoo

2011-08-30T13:30:00.013-07:00

We went to Woodland Park Zoo while Sara was here. I had been wanting to take Nixon for awhile now because I have heard the zoo is amazing. Once we got there, it surely did not disappoint. It is big, really, really big! We were there 3 1/2 hours and only covered about half. I would have stayed longer because I was really enjoying it, but two 2-year old who are past naptime are not so much fun, take my word for it!

Nixon has really been loving animals lately and has gotten very good at identifying them and the sounds they make. He was very intrigued with all the animals and was growling up a storm.

Watching the elephants.

The lions were Nixon's favorite. He cried when we had to leave them. He loved watching them through the window and growling. One of the lions opened up his mouth really wide, which Nixon thought was hilarious. Now every time we ask him what the lion did, he opens his mouth wide.

Hippos. I was amazed at how big these animals were. Nixon loved the fact that they had a ball to play with in the water.

The giraffe display was amazing! They had it set up so it felt like you were watching the animals in their natural habitat.

Nixon trying to pet the goat.

Pointing out the sheep.

A couple of monkeys checking out the gorillas. The gorillas were fun to watch and of course were disgusting as always. One gorilla pooped and then proceeded to eat it while totally grossing out the spectators. Don't worry, I didn't include any pictures of that. However, the last picture of the baby gorilla snuggling with his mommy just melted my heart.

Checking out the monkeys.

Looking at the snake. Nixon kept hissing at it.

This one's kind of hard to tell, but it was full of frogs.

Can't wait to go back and explore the other half of the zoo!

A Visit From a Friend

2011-08-30T12:55:00.012-07:00

My very good friend Sara and her little boy Landon came in town for a visit last weekend. We had such a great time sightseeing, shopping, eating yummy food, and watching the boys play. Nixon was extremely hyper the entire time, I think he liked having a friend to show off for. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Playing at the wading pool at the Seattle Center.

Eating lunch at Little Coney at Golden Gardens Park.

The boys checking out the fish at the Fish Ladder.

Me and Sara at the Ballard Locks.

The boys had a blast playing bubbles. Landon's face is priceless in this picture!

Ben was kind enough to watch the boys so Sara and I could go for a run (so nice to go without having to push Nixon in the jogging stroller!). He also watched them so we could go see a movie. We saw Crazy, Stupid Love, which was so good and totally reaffirmed my love for Ryan Gosling.

Seriously love him! Who's in for a Ryan Gosling movie marathon?! You know I am!!

We had a great time and I was so happy Sara could come. We had a lot of laughs and good memories that I won't forget, including the naked boy at the beach, the girls who dunked themselves, the crazy hippy guy wearing a skirt and no shirt or shoes, and climbing the steepest hill I have ever seen. Thanks Sara for all the fun times, you are the best!!

Random Thoughts

2011-08-24T15:29:00.007-07:00

Lately I have been loving sunflowers. Maybe it's because they are so bright and cheery or maybe its because it reminds me that fall is coming, I'm not really sure.

I walked down to Pikes yesterday early in the morning. I wanted to avoid the crowds and be able to take my time. I wandered through and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful flowers and of course noticed the sunflowers. They were so beautiful that I picked out a bouquet to take home. They make me smile every time I see them sitting on my little table.

Also, we have been watching a little football, another sure sign that fall is on it's way. Is it weird that I instantly crave candy corn when I watch football? I can't wait for the stores to start selling them.

I love fall and am looking forward to it. It will be a little different this year because I have no idea what fall is like in Seattle. I am hoping the leaves will change colors. If not, I will really miss it. Fall in Utah is beautiful, there is nothing like it. I guess time will tell.

All Settled In

2011-08-24T14:31:00.009-07:00

We moved into our new place almost two months ago and are finally settled in. It has been a lot of work and I am exhausted! Even though I had gone through our things and gotten rid of a lot before we moved, I had to go through everything again and decide what was really important to keep and what we absolutely did not need. I basically went through each and every box as I unpacked it and threw away a lot of junk.....a lot. I thought to myself, "Why on earth did I even pack this in the first place?!" Coming to a place with limited space makes you become cutthroat about throwing things away. Any sentimental value I might have had to something was suddenly washed away when I had to find a place for it. If I couldn't find room, it was gone, and you know what, I can't even remember what got tossed this go-round. Anyway, needless to say, it was so nice to de-junk again, find a place for everything, and put up all my decorations. Now I can finally feel at home.

Just in case you forgot, here are a couple of pics that show all the stuff we had to wade through to get to where we are now.

So, after hanging our very last picture a couple of days ago and some power cleaning, I can now present where we live. Sorry some of the pictures are hard to see, it is so bright in here even with all the blinds closed.

View from the entryway.

Dining Room with view into kitchen.

Living Room. Who is the little orphan boy in the diaper?! Someone should put some pants on that kid. Oh and also, there is a fireplace behind the entertainment center so we are going to have to figure something else out come wintertime.

Kitchen.

Our patio with a view of the Puget Sound. I love sitting out here!

Nixon's bedroom.

Master Bedroom.

Little nook outside of the master bedroom. It was a perfect little area for my bench, just like it was meant to be.

Bathroom. It has been kind of an adjustment to only have one bathroom, but I love only having one to clean!

Seattle Aquarium

2011-08-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

I scored some free tickets to the Seattle Aquarium, so Nixon and I walked over last week. This is our second time going. We also went when Ben's parents were in town and since I never got to blog about that, I will do it on round two. It is in such a great location, right on the waterfront. It is pretty big and you can spend a lot of time there (or until your almost 2-year old gets tired and starts to throw fits!).

Nixon checking out the Tufted Puffin, shown in the picture below. How cute is he?! I wish I could take one home and just let him hang out in my bathtub.

Lionfish.

Blue Lobster.

Different fish that you would see in Hawaii. The bright colors are so pretty.

Nixon still has a ways to go until he is big as the Sixgill Shark.

Checking out the Jellyfish. For some reason, I am really creeped out by these things. They are everywhere here. We see them in the water all the time, mostly down by the docks.

I loved the Sea Otters. Like the Tufted Puffin, I also wanted to take one of these home, they are just too cute!

The starfish display is amazing! They are so pretty to look at and I love the bright colors. You can reach in and touch them, which was very interesting. They feel hard like rocks or coral. At first I was a little nervous, but given the fact that they move very slowly, I didn't think one was going to jump out of the water and attack me or anything. That woud be interesting and make for a great blog post, but thankfully for me it didn't happen!

Nixon getting in on the action. I am sure he didn't understand what he was touching, he just liked splashing in the water.

Giant Octopus.

Closest thing I could get to taking a picture of Nixon with his head in the Octopus head. He is just too busy to sit still for even a second.

Feeling Gratitude

2011-08-15T15:47:00.003-07:00

Last week was what I would classify as a rough week. I felt tired and rundown and like such a failure in many areas. I have a weird character flaw where I like to have things perfect and when I don't feel like I measure up I am really, really hard on myself. In this life nobody can be perfect, a fact I am fully aware of. Trust me, I know how ridiculous I can get, but sometimes I still just can't get over things and realize that it is okay to not have everything together all the time.

Nixon is a very picky eater and as he is my first child I have no idea if this is a passing phase that he will outgrow or if he will always be a picky eater. I have tried everything in my power to get him to eat, yet he turns up his nose at most everything I give him. I have even been reading books on how to get your child to eat, but nothing seems to be helping. It finally pushed me over the edge one night when he wouldn't even eat one bite of string cheese, not....even....one....bite! Needless to say, I lost all my patience and was forced to give myself a timeout in order to regroup and collect myself while Ben stayed with Nixon. This has been a great challenge for me and is hard to deal with every day, all day.

Then to add insult to injury, a day when I was already struggling, I had someone give me some unwanted and unsolicited advice at the grocery store. I won't get into the details of what happened, but needless to say it made me feel like a complete failure as a mother and it was all I could do to get into the car and drive away before I burst into tears. I don't know what it is about Seattle, but people here feel they can say whatever is on their mind, like whatever anybody else does is somehow their business. Most of the time I can just shake it off, but this day I couldn't.

We have been in Seattle for 3 months and now that we have settled into a more permanent routine, I noticed that I am really missing having someone to do things with. I know it will take time and eventually we will find friends. It is just not my personality to approach people I don't know and make new friends, but I know I have to push past that.

So, with all this weight I was carrying around, it has been hard to focus on spiritual things, but yesterday as I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting I realized that was my problem. I hadn't been taking the time to focus on what's most important and that is our Savior. We had a wonderful, spiritual meeting yesterday and I was so touched by the talks and musical numbers that were given. The ward choir sang "I Feel My Savior's Love" and the speakers spoke on gratitude. I sat there and really focused on how blessed I am. I have a perfect little boy who gives me kisses every day and a husband who would do anything for me. I am also so grateful for a good friend who always listens to me and who made me realize how silly I was being when I told her about the lady at the grocery store. Above all, I am grateful for my Savior who has given me the greatest gift anyone can give. I am grateful for the relationship that I have with him and the knowledge that no one can take that away from me. I know this post is a little intense and maybe a little personal, but I wanted to jot down my feelings and my experience at church so when I see this post I will remember to focus on the good, not the bad, and truly always be grateful for everything I have.

We also had a special musical number that was sung by the old Bishop of our ward. He has such an amazing voice and the Spirit was so strong as he sang this song called "Homeward Bound". Such a great reminder that we are striving in this life to get home again to live with our Heavenly Father.

A New Friend

2011-08-07T15:16:00.007-07:00

Ben's sister Bonnie stayed with us last week and she has a 2-month old baby. I wasn't sure how Nixon would do because he has never been around a baby before. He didn't even skip a beat and immediately took on the role of entertaining the baby, saying "Ah, oh!" whenever he cried, gave him lots of kisses and bounced him in the bouncer. He also learned to say baby and said it quite frequently during their visit, all day long really.

I don't blame Nixon for being completely enchanted with him. I got to bask in the new baby smell, kiss his soft cheeks and cuddle him. Seriously, he is so cute!

A brief rundown of our adventures with Bonnie included walking down by the water, going to Pikes Market, shopping, driving around and showing her Magnolia and Queen Anne, the Ballard Locks, Fish Ladder, Snoqualmie Falls, Pioneer Square and the Underground Tour (that post is coming soon!), buying cod from the fish throwers to make fish and chips, attending Seafair (also will be it's own post), hanging out at Golden Gardens Park and going on an Argosy Boat cruise around Elliott Bay. All that mixed in with some great food and yummy treats equals a fun, busy week. She had to go home today and I was sad to see her go, it was so nice to have someone to hang out with.

Bonnie getting the fish from the fish throwers at Pike's Market.

Ben and Bonnie waiting to get on the tour boat.

Snoqualmie Falls

2011-08-07T14:35:00.006-07:00

Ben's sister Bonnie and her cute baby Jaden spent the week with us and we had so much fun! Hopefully she didn't get too tired because we certainly dragged her everywhere!! There is so much to see and do in Seattle that you have to make the most of your time here. I feel like we have barely even scratched the surface of things to do and we have done so much already. Yesterday we went for a drive down south to Snoqualmie Falls. Whenever I pictured Seattle, I thought of deep, thick forests, green landscapes and evergreen trees as far as the eye can see. The drive to the falls depicts exactly the picture I just described and is so beautiful. It feels like you are in the mountains and as you look off to the side of the road, you are just surrounded by trees so thick you can't even see through them. My pictures won't do justice, but take my word for it, it is so pretty.

Nixon found a fun rock to climb on.

After the falls we drove over to Lake Sammamish, another city south of downtown Seattle. We stopped at Lake Sammamish State Park and relaxed by the lake. I had no idea how big Lake Washington is and how far it stretches. Lake Sammamish connects to Lake Washington which connects to the Puget Sound through the Ballard Locks. I am finally starting to see how it all connects together :)

A Great Anniversary

2011-08-06T10:54:00.005-07:00

Ben and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary yesterday. First, I have to say that I can hardly believe it has been 9 years. I told Ben that time sure goes by fast when you get to spend every day with your best friend! It has been so much fun creating a life together. We've had a few bumps along the way, but we have learned and grown together and truly have the greatest relationship. We get along so well it's crazy. We compliment each other so well. We can be silly around each other and have so much fun. I look forward to many, many more years to come.

Ben's sister is in town this week and she offered to watch Nixon so we could go out on an actual date. We haven't been out alone since we moved to Seattle, so needless to say I was so ready for some alone time. We went to a really nice steakhouse for dinner where we had the best steak I have ever had. Everything was so delicious and I ate until I was completely stuffed and felt like they had to roll me out the door. The restaurant reminded me of a 1920's Jazz club with the dim lighting, Jazz music playing in the background and people gathered around the bar.

It was so nice to focus just on each other and have a conversation that wasn't interrupted by whining, food being thrown or someone crawling all over us. After dinner we went and saw Captain America which I thought was just okay. It really didn't matter to me though what we did, it was fun going out and enjoying each other's company.

Thanks Ben for a great night and for 9 great years, I love you!!

A Perfect Day

2011-07-30T23:01:00.014-07:00

Today I think we had the most fun day since arriving in Seattle and that is saying a lot because we have done so many fun things here. The weather was absolutely beautiful, sunny, without a cloud in the sky and 80 degrees. I think summer has officially begun! We packed a lunch, put on our swimsuits and headed to Matthew Beach Park on Lake Washington. I have been wanting to go to a beach type place. I should preface that by saying a beach type place where the water is warm enough to get in. We go to the sound nearly everyday, but that water is ice cold, no way I am getting in that! Although, I must say I saw someone swimming in it the other day, not just putting his feet in or wading in a bit, he was all the way in doing laps. The guy seriously had to be numb when he got out.....it is FREEZING!! Anyway, the beaches along Lake Washington are very popular for swimming because the water gets up to about 70 degrees in the summer. That I can surely handle.

We played in the sand.

We swam in the lake. Nixon was fearless, he went running in the water first thing and would wade out pretty deep. I think he definitely inherited his dad's love of water.

After we got back from the beach we drove over to the Ballard Locks. Ben went on a boat tour of Lake Washington and Lake Union for a work party (ok, technically it was a Booze Cruise, but I think boat tour sounds better. Just picture Michael Scott and the Dunder Mifflin crew and you get the picture!) While on the cruise, he spotted The Wizard from the Deadliest Catch. I have talked about this show before and how much I love it. He texted me right away when he saw it and right then and there I knew we would have to go find that boat so I could see it as well. We weren't able to get very close to it and there was a boat parked right in front of it, so it was hard to get good pictures.

It is the second white tower you see and if you look closely you can see WIzard painted on the wheel house.

Seriously, so exciting to see the boat! Very cool to see it is person and see how big it actually is. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to see the captain, Keith. All the crabbing boats have to go through the Ballard Locks to get back out to the Sound when their season starts, which I would love to see. Hopefully we can research when that will be and head out to watch them.

After seeing the Wizard we headed back home because they were having the Seafair Torchlight Parade at the Seattle Center. We noticed they had blocked off the road right in front of our building so we sat on the balcony to watch what was going on. Turns out there was a 5K to go along with the Parade. Wish I would have known about it, I would have ran in it for sure.

They had a pirate costume contest and were awarding prizes for the best costume. There were a lot of people that dressed up as pirates, but for some reason someone came running by dressed as PacMan. Not really sure how this fits the pirate theme, but he did run with a sword. It was hilarious and looked very hard to run in, but he managed just fine.

Next we walked up a couple blocks and watched the parade. I haven't been to a parade in years, in fact I don't remember the last time. It was really fun and especially good to see it through Nixon's eyes. He was so into it and it kept his attention for over an hour. He loved looking at all the floats, the horses and dancing to the music.

Seattle Seahawks Cheerleaders.

Also, the star of The Price Is Right was in the parade, Mr. Drew Carey himself. Very fun to see him drive by, waving to the crowd and snapping pictures.

Me and Drew taking pictures of each other :)

Whew! What a busy, busy day, but it was a great one, a perfect day really! I can't wait for all the fun things this summer has in store for us.

The New Me

2011-07-21T14:37:00.003-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I now have brown hair. I got to a point where I wanted something different. I was in a mood where I was tired of looking at the same thing every day and wanted to experiment a little. I told Ben I was going to dye my hair and he enthusiastically said I should. Most guys seem to graviate towards blonde hair, but he actually wanted me to go dark. I asked him if he was sure and he lovingly said, "Whatever you want to do, you look great no matter what." A safe answer and a good answer, he learns well ;)

Here are a couple of pictures:

At first, it was such a shock to me that I just avoided mirrors at all cost. When I did catch a glimpse, I quickly looked away because I was not used to it at all. Now that I have adjusted to my reflection in the mirror I like it a lot and plan on keeping it (until I get bored again that is!)

Also, it is kind of hard to tell from the picture, but I have been experimenting with green eye shadow. I normally only wear pinks and browns, but got tired of that as well. When I saw green eye shadow at the store, I thought I'd give it a whirl. So far, so good. Watch out world, a new me is coming forward!

I Must Be Cursed

2011-07-19T10:28:00.001-07:00

I have been having the worst luck lately, seriously, the worst. It seems that everything I touch, breaks. Everything I try to fix, ends up worse than when I started. Everything I try to clean ends up messier. I am not sure what the problem is, but things have not been going my way. Just to give you an idea of what I am dealing with, here are a few things that have happened, just within the last week or so:

-In the course of packing food at our corporate housing, I dumped an entire bag of spaghetti all over the floor. Then because I had so much fun cleaning that up, I decided to dump a bag of fettucini noodles all over the floor while unpacking food at our new house.
-We purchased new lamps from Ikea for our bedroom. A simple thing really, not too hard to mess up, right? You'd think so. However, I managed to buy two different size lamp bases and didn't realize what I had done until a few days later after I had already bought special light bulbs because a normal one wouldn't fit. A thing I thought was weird because I could have sworn I read at the store that it took a normal 75 watt bulb.
-Our new fridge doesn't have an ice maker so we are back to using ice cube trays. Guess who has already broken a tray?
-Tried to hang up pictures and other decorations and for the life of me can't get a screw in the wall. I have made more holes in the walls with the power screwdriver than with actual screws. The outcome? I have hung one picture and have a lot of holes to patch.
-Can't remember anything worth a hill of beans. Seriously, it's true. I cut coupons and get all the way to the store only to realize I left them in a nice, organized pile on the table. I make lists of things I need to buy, once again to get to the store and realize I left it at home.
-We have very light carpet in the new house and I have been so paranoid that Nixon is going to spill that I have only been giving him water. Guess who spilled on the carpet instead? Thank goodness for Resolve!
-I was unpacking a box and decided to dust off the items with my hand and managed to cut my finger on glass. I have never seen a finger bleed so quickly and of course got drops of blood on the carpet making my way to the bathroom. Once again, thank goodness for Resolve!

Now, all those things would be enough, but I have saved the mother of all incidents for last. The one I am still shaking my head about. The one I am pretty sure I will never live down.

The

Grand

Finale

A couple of hints, it involves this

And this

That's right my friends. I managed to drop my keys down the elevator shaft. I dropped them last night as we were getting off the elevator, right when the doors opened. They somehow managed to land just in the right way, right on top of the crack, then slowly slide through. I could hear them falling straight down, down six floors and finally land with a thud at what I am hoping is the bottom of the elevator shaft. Holy smokes! How does that even happen?! It's like the entire thing happened in slow motion. I was moving in slow motion trying to reach for the keys saying, "NNNNNOOOOOO!". I looked up at Ben who of course had a look of complete shock on his face. He said, "I was always worried Nixon was going to do that, not you." Well, he seriously underestimated my unique talents. Seriously, don't give me anything sharp or fragile, basically anything you don't want broken because I will find a way to break it. What an exciting couple of weeks this has been, but here's to hoping my mishaps are over. Please!? I'm off to talk to the maintenance guy about getting my keys back. Keep your fingers crossed they can find them :)

I Could Be on an Episode of Hoarders

2011-07-14T12:49:00.005-07:00

Ben and I have moved out of Corporate Housing and into our condo. Ben took care of all the moving while I was in Utah. I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked through the door, seeing as how we were cramming an entire house and garage full of stuff into a 2-bedroom condo. It was a bit shocking and I am really glad I didn't see what it looked like before Ben worked on putting things away.

But here is a picture of some of the madness I missed. If you can't tell, that is our kitchen.

I have been working on unpacking for 3 days now and feel like it is getting worse as I go along. Ben keeps saying Rome wasn't built in a day and I can't expect everything to get done overnight, but it is driving me a little nutty to be surrounded by so much chaos. Here are a few pics of what we are dealing with:

Seriously, I don't know how it is possible that we have acquired so much stuff! It is everywhere!! Hopefully at some point we will be able to have some normalcy around here and actually enjoy our new place. Guess I should get back to it, hopefully my next post will be of our new clean and organized place.

A Trip to Utah

2011-07-14T11:52:00.011-07:00

Nixon and I were able to go back to Utah last week to visit family. My brother and his family were in town from Shanghai and my sister and her family were in town as well. It was complete chaos when we were all together, with kids running around everywhere, but it was so fun!

Nixon and I flew in on Tuesday afternoon and left on Sunday night. I was so nervous because I have never flown alone and adding Nixon made me even more scared. The flight is only about an hour and a half and goes by very quickly. Nixon did so good! On the flight there, he sat on my lap, ate snacks, played trucks and watched cartoons on my phone. On the flight home, he slept the entire time!

Waiting in the airport to board the plane.

On the plane.

Nixon got to have a sleepover with Ben's parents. He went swimming, played outside, threw rocks in the fountain, ate snacks and got very spoiled.

We got to spend time with Bonnie and her cute new baby. I miss the newborn stage, so it was so fun to cuddle with him and bask in the new baby smell. He is so cute and I just love him!

We did some shopping with grandma, enjoyed Hot Dog on a Stick for lunch and threw coins into the fountain.

We went swimming at cousin Erik's birthday party. I didn't get any pictures in the pool (not sure what happened there), but at least we got the swimsuit picture.

We went and saw Cars 2. I wasn't sure how Nixon would do, but he did pretty good. He liked the opening credits, but mostly enjoyed wandering around and climbing up and down the stairs with short breaks to check out what was happening on the screen.

All of the grandkids on the McGee side after the movie.

Also I was able to run my 3rd 5K. Last Thanksgiving all the siblings and spouses ran in the Utah Human Race and had so much fun so we decided since we were all going to be in town, we should run another one. We ran in the Zion's Children of Haiti 5K race at Sugarhouse park. Now, I have been running several times a week while pushing Nixon in the jogging stroller and can run a 5K on the treadmill and have no problems running the entire thing. However, something was not working so well with me the day of the race. I had to stop and walk a couple times and ended up finishing the race in 33:18. Not my best and I was pretty upset that I had to stop and walk. I will blame it on the hills at Sugarhouse Park. They were huge and they were pretty much the death of me. Guess I will need to throw some hills in the mix when I am out running to get in better shape :).

Kevin's cute girlfriend Megan. She looks like she is having the time of her life!

My brother Matt. I tried keeping up with him, but had to stop and walk and he left me in the dust after that. Don't know how he did it with the altitude change, but he ran the entire thing.

My brother Kevin. He was the first one to finish out of our group.

My sister Andrea. So glad she organized the entire thing!

After I stopped to walk, I looked behind me to see where everybody else was. When I looked forward I saw that my sister Melanie had blazed by me so I started running to catch up to her. We ran the rest of the race together. It was nice to be able to cheer each other on. Oh and I have brown hair now. I will post more pictures later.

Me and Melanie sprinting towards the finish line after a very hard run.

After the race. We did it!!!

What a fun trip this was! I had to much fun spending time with family and seeing all my nieces and nephews. I have the best family!

Riding the Duck Bus

2011-07-02T18:29:00.005-07:00

As corny as this sounds, riding the Duck Bus was one of the funnest things we did while Ben's parents were here. I see it cruising around town and hear the people's screams several times a day as it passes by our apartment, so I was so excited when I was finally the one doing the screaming. It was fun to dance to the music, wave at passers-by, scream for no apparent reason and learn lots of facts along the way. I also got to show off my mad YMCA dancing skills, clearly a win-win for everyone.

Vinnie the Duck.

Our entertainment while we waited in line to board the bus.

A weird pig van we saw driving around.

Grandpa, Grandma and Nixon enjoying the ride.

Seriously so excited to be riding on the duck bus and having a great time!!

The Duck Bus goes out onto Lake Washington and sails around at the end of the tour. We got to see all the boats and houseboats up close.

We also saw the houseboat where Sleepless in Seattle was filmed. It was hard to get a good picture because we didn't get too close, but it is the blue house with green trim right in the middle. I don't know why that intrigued me so much. Probably because I love Tom Hanks and knowing he was there was pretty cool.

The Duck Bus was so fun, I loved it!! If anyone comes to Seattle, I highly recommend riding it. It is the ultimate tourist attraction.

Ballard Locks and Fish Ladder

2011-07-02T14:54:00.011-07:00

Ben's parents were in town last weekend and we had so much fun! I think we ran them ragged dragging them all over the city, but there's so much to see so we wanted to make the most of their visit. Ben and I even got to do a few things we hadn't done. I'll turn their visit into a few posts so it's not so long.

We had heard from a lot of people that a must-see were the Ballard Locks. The actual name is the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and they were built in 1911. It is the passageway for boats traveling between the salt water of Puget Sound and the fresh water of the Ship Canal, which connects to Lake Union and Lake Washington. All types of boats, including sailboats, motorboats, tugboats, barges and yachts pass through and the locks' water levels are adjusted up and down so they can pass through safely.

Underneath the bridge looking out onto Lake Washington.

Nixon and Grandpa overlooking the Locks.

Another popular spot we were told to check out is the fish ladder. It was built to allow salmon to pass between fresh and salt water, and to navigate the locks. The salmon swim through the ladder into the fresh water to lay eggs. Once that is done, they stay there to die. The newly born salmon remain in the fresh water until they are ready to make the trek into salt water. Then, the cycle continues again once they are ready to lay eggs.

There are glass panels below the water line so you can watch the fish as they swim through the ladder.

The fish then come out from where we saw them in the glass panels and swim down the ladder.

Once the fish have swam down the ladder, they come out of these big white tubes to continue their journey out to the ocean.

Interesting little piece of information we learned is that boats that have been out in the ocean get barnacles stuck to the bottom of their boats and it is very difficult and expensive to remove them. However, boat owners learned that if they park their boats in freshwater, the barnacles naturally die so a lot of people pay to park their boats on Lake Washington to avoid the hassle and cost of having the barnacles removed. Also, Ben and I love to watch Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel so we were excited to learn that during their offseason, the captains park their boats on Lake Washington. I can't wait to go see the Northwestern, the Cornelia Marie, The Wizard and all the other boats. It will be fun to see how big they really are.

Summer Fun

2011-06-30T13:48:00.011-07:00

We had a couple of warm days last week, so Nixon and I spent a lot of time outside. We walked up to the Seattle Center because they have a huge fountain that sprays water everywhere and plays music. You can walk down into the fountain and get wet.

Nixon was a little afraid, so this was as close as he would get.

Most of the time he just did this.

We also walked up to a little wading pool on Bell Street Pier. They don't really have anything close to the splash parks in Utah, this is as close as it gets. Nixon had so much fun splashing and running in the water. I was naive in thinking I could just roll up his shorts and he would remain dry. He was soaked by the time we were done.....next time, I will remember the swimsuit.

Nixon found himself a little girlfriend while we were there. They were so funny leading each around by the hand and mimicking everything the other one did. Nixon cried when she had to leave, poor guy. Not even 2 years old, and already a lady killer!

Trying New Things

2011-06-30T12:52:00.008-07:00

I am definitely not a seafood lover. I hate anything fishy, the taste, the smell, the texture.....just never been a fan. I don't even like fried shrimp, and usually anything deep fried is delicious. However, I am trying to branch out and am not above just trying something. Ben has been wanting to buy some fish from Pikes Place Market, so I decided to find a recipe for fish and chips to make for dinner on Father's Day. It was really fun to go to Pikes and pick out Cod. The fish throwers are so fun to watch and I love the energy of it all. Once you place your order, they yell it to the other guys and get it all packed up for you. I took a video of us getting the fish, but blogger won't upload it for some reason....so annoying!!!

I let Ben handle the fish and make the batter while I cooked up some homemade fries.

The meal turned out so good. It surprised me because I actually loved the fish. The Cod didn't taste fishy at all, it was very fresh and tender. Hmmm, maybe I can learn to love seafood after all!

We ended the meal with a delicious ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.

I know I am a little late for posting this because Father's Day was over a week ago, but I just wanted to share how thankful I am for Ben. I really couldn't ask for a better husband or father for Nixon. He works so hard to support our family and makes it possible for me to be a stay-at-home mom. I am so proud of his accomplishments and love his drive. He is the most patient person I know and never lets anything get him upset, even when I break the closet door or lock my keys in the car (more than once!). He works hard all day and always comes home in a good mood and ready to play with Nixon. He always gives me a hug and a kiss when he walks in the door and asks how my day was. I love how Nixon's face lights up when he hears Ben's key in the lock and how excited he is to see him come through the door. We love him more than words can say!

We're Moving Again

2011-06-28T16:51:00.005-07:00

In about a week we will be saying goodbye to Corporate Housing. While it has been very nice to have a month without a mortgage payment, I am so ready, very ready, EXTREMELY ready to move into a more permanent place and get all of my stuff back from storage. I haven't really felt like I have been able to settle in and call our current place home because I don't have any of my furniture, decorations, kitchen appliances, etc. We were supplied with the basics of what we need on a day-to-day basis, but I have come to really miss all of my things. I learned that it is really difficult to make cookies, really anything, with only one measuring cup. It is really difficult to open a can with a can opener that doesn't work. It is also a little hard to mash potatoes when the only thing you have to use is a wire whisk. However, I am not complaining because we have obviously made due in the 2 months that we have been here. It will just be nice to have my things and sleep on my own bed....I have been dreaming about that!

I never pegged myself as a city girl, but in the time that we have spent living downton I have really loved it. It's probably because we are in the city, but it doesn't really feel like the city because of our location. I am sure I would hate it if we lived in the heart of downtown with all the crazies running around, but being a block away from the water is the best location I could ask for. In our search for a new place to live, we spent hours scouring Craigslist. I was a Craigslist junkie, checking it first thing in the morning and several times during the day so as not to miss a single new posting. We toured tons and tons of places. Thought about going several different routes in several different areas, but I never felt good about one single place we looked at. We finally stepped back and made a list of everything that we were looking for and then weighed the pros and cons. We finally decided that since we have loved living in the city, we would stay put. We signed a year lease on a condo in a building just a block away from where we are now. We figured there is no better time for us to do this. We only have one kid and he is young enough that it won't affect him. We can enjoy all the city has to offer, walk pretty much everywhere, Ben can continue to walk to work and we can stay by the water. I am so excited! When we went to see the condo, I finally felt good, like I could call it home. We signed the lease, gave them our deposit and haven't looked back. We move in July 6th and I honestly can't wait. I will post pictures as soon as we get things squared away, but for now, here is a picture of the building.

We have floor-to-ceiling windows in the family room with views of the Sound and a balcony. I am so excited to have bbq's again and read my books while watching the water. Now all we need are a couple of adirondack chairs and a little table for me to put my Coke on....life will be good!

Classic Boat Show

2011-06-20T16:22:00.009-07:00

Saturday we went to the Classic Boat Show down on Bell Pier. I love to sit on the shore and watch all the boats go by, so it was a neat experience to actually see the boats up close and even be able to go in a few of them.

I took Nixon to the shore on Friday night and saw this huge train of boats sailing in. It was like a parade, only on the water and I wondered what they were all doing. Once we went to the boat show, I realized they were all sailing in for the show. Kind of fun to see them all out in the water.

This boat was one of my favorites. First of all, it was huge, but what intrigued me most about it was the history. It is called the Olympus and was built in 1929. It was built for George Heck, the President of the New York Stock Exchange. It was then sold to Mary Stewart, a silent move star. It served in the Navy during WWII. After the war, it was used by President Harry Truman.

Another of my favorites was the Belle. It was built in 1981 completely out of mahogany. I loved how quaint it looked with the adirondack chairs on the deck and potted flowers.

It was really stormy the day of the show which completely covered the city in fog. It looked so pretty to see the buildings standing tall above the fog.

Playing and More Playing

2011-06-20T14:18:00.019-07:00

There are so many great parks here in Seattle, we have kept pretty busy exploring all of them. I drove over to Magnolia one day to get a library card and found a fun park at the Magnolia Community Center. It had cute little log cabins to play in, lots of slides and what I call the Lazy Boy swing.

These were taken at another park in Magnolia called Discovery Park. This is a huge park that covers 534 acres and feels like you are in the mountains. They have tons of hiking trails throughout and one that leads you to a sandy beach. This one will definitely take some more exploring because it is so big.

Even I got in on the fun, practicing my acrobatic moves....still got it!

We went hiking in Discovery Park a couple weeks ago. We attempted the trail that leads you down to the beach. I say attempted because we never made it. First of all, it is not a good idea to go hiking with a stroller. For most of it, it was okay, but then we came to stairs. We thought, we'll attempt it, of course not knowing how many stairs there were. Ben carried Nixon and I carried the stroller. That in theory should have worked, except Nixon is in a stage where he thinks he is a big boy and can do everything himself including climbing down hundreds of stairs. So of course, he is slow....very slow. When we tried to pick him up, he threw major tantrums, screaming at the top of his lungs. We quickly gave up and decided to try it another day when we have our hiking backpack. Then to add insult to injury, we were trying to make our way back to the car through this monstrous park, did I say it was 534 acres? Ben was pushing Nixon in the stroller up this very steep hill and one of the tires fell off. I just burst out laughing. We got the wheel put back on and carried on our way. I laughed about it though for about another 10 minutes. At least we are making memories! So since we didn't make it to the beach, we had to take pictures of the beach from up above.

Eating our lunch while enjoying the view.

Yesterday we went to Volunteer Park in Capitol Hill. This is also a very large park that covers 43 acres.

This is a water tower that you can go up in to get some good views of downtown Seattle.

A Day at the Beach

2011-06-17T12:27:00.004-07:00

Last weekend we went for a drive to the coast. I was in need of a little break and wanted to check out some new scenery, so we headed out to Ocean Shores for a little mini vacation. The coast is about 2 1/2 hours away if you take the short route, or about 4 hours if you take the more scenic route through Forks, WA, which I fully plan to do by the way. I'm totally going to make a day of it and check out all the places Twilight was filmed :)

It was very cloudy and a little chilly, but we still had fun. We had a great time walking in the water, playing in the sand and eating lunch. There is something so intriguing about the ocean. I could sit and watch it for hours.

Words cannot express how much I love this picture! I just think it is so sweet how much he loves his dad!