Everything Is All Wright

We've Got a House!

2011-09-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

We made an offer on the house yesterday, they countered (and said they were not leaving the hot tub) and we decided to accept their offer! Closing should be mid October. Turns out Nolan works with the guy and had a good laugh with him this morning. He also decided to leave all the pool toys for us :)
Yay!!

House we made an offer on.

2011-08-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

front of house

Front Yard

Front yard

Pretty front door windows

stairway when you walk in the front door

Going upstairs into family room

family room

family room into dining area

Tall ceillings, fan, lots of lights in kitchen, new light in dining area

Door has key lock at the very top so kids cant get out to pool

Love the light fixtures

Island in kitchen overlooking family room

Nice big window

Hot tub under covered porch, nice patio!

Pool is gated off.

Ahhh.

Down hallway to bedrooms upstairs

Bathroom for guests and girls, Nice storage!

New lights and fixtures

Hallway coat closet

This room was so cute and belonged to Cara Ann (not Clara LeaAnn)

Not in focus, but bedroom for Lexa

Looking into master bedroom

One of two closets in Master

More storage in master bath!

Master bathroom

Heading downstairs. Real tile at the bottom

Laundry room

Extended garage.

downstairs bedroom

other side of downstairs bedroom

downstairs family room

bar in downstairs family room

Last Summer Hurrah Pics

2011-08-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

Lexa chillin' at Ikea

American Girl Doll Store

Jumping up and down with excitement

Now, not so excited anymore.

Fancy cupcakes at PinkaBella

Saw this as one way American Girl Dolls can have hair done and thought "I can do that!"

Clara didnt want to be left out. Had to take a pic of her hair too.

Nolan went down with Clara

Tough Enough to Wear Pink!

Her Musical Theater Camp

First day of second grade!

Her walking to school buddy, Maddie Hamilton.

Our Last Summer Hurrah!

2011-08-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

We had just a couple last things to do this summer before school started. The first thing was to take a quick trip to Seattle. Marilyn, Lexa, Clara and I left on a Friday morning. We had grand plans to see Ikea and the zoo but had a little hiccup on the way and left a little bit later than we planned, so we decided just to do Ikea since I have never been there before. Werent sure how the girls were going to handle the store. Surprisingly enough, Clara was in love with the store. She opened every door and drawer, turned every knob and handle, and sat in every chair and on every couch. She was in heaven! Lexa was pouty and we wouldnt buy her everything she saw. Oh well. They did like the kids play area too. Then we had frozen yogurt before we left. We just handed the kids the ice cream cones and Lexa could tell it wasnt normal ice cream. I was impressed. She has a very good sense of taste. Maybe she will use that in a career someday.
We stayed in Lynnwood that night and headed to the American Girl Doll store in the morning. It just opened there this summer. Lexa forgot her doll, Julie, at home. It was the hiccup I meantioned earlier on the way to Seattle. Grandpa said instead of trying to bring the doll to her we should just buy a new one! Ha! He didnt really know how much they cost. (On Saturday morning Grandpa, Nolan and Brennan went hiking around Mt Rainier and then to a Seahawks game. They came home Sunday morning.) We finally got Lexa settled down and promised to come back after her birthday to get Julie's ears pierced. Lexa loved the store. She couldnt stay in one place for very long. Clara was just about done after 10 or so minutes because she couldnt play with all the dolls! After a fun time there we had cupcakes at a place called PinkaBella. I have never been to a real fancy cupcake shop before. It was kind of fun!
The next week was grandma camp. She took the girls shopping, did some fun crafts, including making their grandma camp t-shirt. She helped them make some beaded curtains for the doors to their rooms. They went and saw Mr Poppers Penguins. They had a lot of fun and I got a lot of stuff done! I am now an official Washington state resident (got my drivers license).
After that week, both girls had dance camps. Lexa had Musical Theater Camp and Clara had Cinderella camp. It was the first dance class for Clara and she was so cute!! She loved it. She would watch the really big girls afterwards and copy them. It was so fun to watch. Lexa was in love with her class because she felt she finally got to use her sassy attitude.
We also got to go to the County Fair. It is such a big deal here! Nolan got off work early on a Thursday and came with us. We let the girls ride the rides. Nolan went on the ferris wheel with them. We met up with cousins, the Bambocks, for the rodeo. It was Tough Enough to Wear Pink night, honoring breast cancer awareness. Lexa loves the rodeo. It was fun to be there with Janet who knows a lot about the rodeo so we could ask her questions we had. We ended up leaving about halfway through to take Clara to home and Lexa stayed. Grandma and Grandpa were there watching the Kenny Rodgers concert, so they drove her home.
Today was the first day of school! Lexa is going into second grade and has Mrs Hogg as her teacher. She is so excited! Clara will start preschool next week and go Tues and Thurs from 9-11. I start school again at CBC on Sept 19th.
We had a very fun and exhausting summer. Here's to a great school year!

2011-07-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

Crawdad fishing with Nielsens

Me and Katie Child after swimming

Lexa swimming with the boys, Ethan and Isaac. Don't ask me which is which!

When we put them to sleep, they were laying on opposite sides of the room.

Clara's twin, Ella.

Lexa with Natalie and Taylor Gameon

Our friends, Mikayla and Sawyer Moore.

Preston Pippin getting ready to swim.

This gorilla was flipping her off but my camera was too slow. Katie at the Cheyenne Mtn Zoo.

Uncle Wes and Mariann

More Adventures From Colorado!

2011-07-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday last week we went to hang out with our friends the Childs in Johnstown. They have a great neighborhood pool. We swam for a few hours and I forgot the difference between being in the sun at sea level and being in the sun at high altitudes. Well, my back was completely fried! Luckily I covered the girls pretty well. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, making bracelets and necklaces out of beads and just having fun.
Thursday night Nolan came to Colorado. Lexa and I went to pick him up.
The next morning he wanted to meet his friend Carl for breakfast before Carl was flying out of the country. Nolan had to leave our house around 6:15 so he could meet him at 7. They had a great time. Nolan stopped by to see some people at HP then came back to Longmont to get the rest of his family. Then we headed right back to Windsor to have a fun lunch with the Gameon family at Big City Burrito. Nolan had been craving these burritos for weeks. The Gameons have three girls, one of which we call Clara's twin. After lunch we went to Severance to see some friends, Lexa's classmate Mikayla and her family. Nolan and I love listening to their mom's work stories (she is a police officer in Ft Collins) and the kids had a lot of fun. After that we met our friends the Pippins at their brand new beautiful home in Ft Collins. We went swimming at their beautiful neighborhood pool (almost right next door), had bbq pizzas, put the kids to bed, then had a great night of game playing. Took us a little bit to get into our first game, Agricola. but then we had a ton of fun. We spent the night at their house.
Saturday we came home to Longmont to a surprise of my dad's brother being here, Uncle Wes, with his partner, Marianne. We had lunch at my grandma's house, GG, talked a lot, walked to McDonalds to get ice cream, and then to Hover Park. There we met most of the Nielsen Clan (family I grew up with). All their grandkids were fishing for crawdad's in the creek, like we used to do when we were little. We took a stick, tied string to it, tied paper clip to the end, put a piece of meat on the paper clip, then put them in the water. The kids had a blast. they caught about 85.
Sunday my dad took Nolan to the airport at 5:45. They were supposed to leave at 5:30 but my dad didnt set his alarm. Luckily Nolan figured this out and woke him up in time. I got the girls up and we went to our old church ward in Windsor. It was very fun to see everyone again :) We went home after church, ate some lunch, took naps, said goodbye to Uncle Wes and Marianne, then packed an overnight bag and drove to Colorado Springs. We went to see our great friends the Donohoues.
This morning we woke up, not too early, and went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We have never been there before and it was a ton of fun. We fed the giraffes, the views were spectacular, and the kids got along great. I love hanging out with Katie and was glad to see them. We left around 7 tonight and drove back to Longmont.
Not very many days left here, but we plan on making the most of it before we leave on Friday.

What? Another Vacation?

2011-07-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

Its true! We are traveling fools this summer. Good thing we bought a fancy new car to take us places :)
Friday, after Lexa's swim lessons and art camp, the girls, Richard and I headed to Utah. Richard was going to meet Marilyn there to see Sherisa's dance performance. We drove like crazy people and got to Salt Lake around midnight. Our wonderful friends the Murdocks opened their house to me and the girls to spend the night. Its like we were a part of the family. We walked right in, set up our stuff and went to sleep, not even seeing them until morning. We finally got to meet cutie pie Davis! The girls had a blast playing in their backyard with the sandbox. Imagine that, my kids and dirt.
We took off about 11 and headed for our final destination, Colorado. We had a very smooth and uneventful trip thru Wyoming. We stopped at Little America for ice cream and playing on the playground there.
Sunday I got to go to my ward I grew up in. The lesson we had in Relief Society was absolutely amazing. That afternoon though, the swamp cooler in my parents house blew out. It was about 100 degrees and crazy humid because of all the rain they are getting recently. The girls and I just laid on the bed looking at each other wondering what was happening! We even took Uncle Bob for a LONG test drive of our new car so that we could all sit in air conditioning for a little while. We had pizza with GG that night.
Yesterday I got to see my most wonderful neighbor, Jen Nethery. Her girls are getting so grown up, and they look like Malia is a clone of Michaela. We also saw some friends from church at the park so Lexa went and played with them until lunch. We had lunch at our favorite restaurant, Sonnys Country Cafe. Lexa was pretty sad about seeing all our old places, but I'm sure she will get over it. Looks like our renters are having a hard time with the lawn and tree, meaning they are both dead, but also think they are trying to fix it as well. Stopped by more friends, went and saw a swamp cooler from Craigslist. Jen came with me because we agreed it wasnt too safe to go alone. Good thing she did. There were 3 very weird guys that came out to help us! We went back to Jen and Richies and ate pizza. Then headed home.
We came home to a swamp cooler being installed and had a nice cool nights rest.
We have many many things planned for the next couple weeks. The days keep getting filled with fun stuff to do. Today we will go see Winnie the Pooh the movie.
Hopefully I will be better about actually taking pictures :)

Nolan is part pyro!

2011-07-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

Well, to be more correct I was part of a pyro crew this year on the 4th of July!

Our friends the Pippins were visiting Alan's parents in Portland, OR this summer and we went down to spend some time with them. And one of the main activities on the agenda was helping out with their fireworks show they put on! Apparently the Pippins have been putting on fireworks shows for a couple decades now. His dad is a licensed pyrotechnician and does 4th of July shoots for a company that does business all up and down the west coast. When I would hear Alan talking about the shoots they would do, I always wanted to come help out. Since we are living in Washington now it was the perfect opportunity to see some friends and light off some big mortar shells!

We all met in the booming metropolis of Creswell, OR. It is a town of around 5000 and the fireworks shoot is in the big grass fields that the grade and high schools share (go Bulldogs!). There was a large pile of sand dumped near the middle of the field and we spent the better part of the day setting up for the show.

There were a lot of families and kids all there to help and hang out. They could be there until the fireworks (aka explosives) were opened. Then they had to stay clear.

The first order of business was to dig trenches in the sand to bury the mortars (racks of plastic tubes that the shells shoot from). Alan and I were the lucky trench diggers. After that all the mortars were unloaded and buried in the trenches so only a few inches were above the sand. The sand keeps the mortars poiting the right direction and absorbs any blasts if something goes awry. Next Alan's Mom and sister Heather got out the shells and started loading the mortars. At this point all the mom's took the kids to the hotel for some swimming time. Alan's Mom and sister Heather were in charge of making sure the show would look good and that you didn't have 2 of the same mortar go off back to back, etc.

While they were doing that we were preparing the "boxes." Apparently when you see a fireworks show and like 20-30 smallish ones shoot off in rapid succession, it is ussually the results of a box. A box holds a bunch of mortars and shells which are fused in such a way they all shoot off one right after another. And apparently the good citizens of Creswell love the boxes! They cheered after every one of them :)

Part of getting to use (aka playing with) explosives is a lot of paperwork. Including forms I had to fill out. One of them had a Yes/No question section. Of which the first question was "Are you a fugitive from the law?" Really? Is anyone who wants to shoot off fireworks going to answer "Yes"? The people who should actually answer Yes are the ones who are least likely to answer the question truthfully! Luckily I am not a fugitive from the law and could truthfully answer "No" to that question and they let me on the pyro crew!

There was a bunch more setting up to do and a number of checks that the head pyro has to do before the show can be ready. A few things that they did to make life easier was rubberband the fuses down so when an adjacent mortar and shell goes off it doesn't blow the fuse away. And another was putting foil over the finale boxes and mortars so they don't prematurely go off.

The start time for the show was quickly approaching and we were all donning our gear (hard hats, safety glasses, double ear protection, gloves, and a fire coat that had a collar up around our necks). Alan's dad held a pre-job meeting to talk about every one's roles and safety. And he spoke about the most important safety rule, which is after the show has started, never, EVER, put any part of your body of a mortar. Even if you are sure it has already gone off. Because if you hand is over one and it goes off, you'll have one less hand to do the show next year!

After that we lit our flares (3 were always lit) and started the show. Alan's dad did then opener, and then Alan was next. After Alan, I got to light 80 3" shells! It was a crazy blast of fun! Fire was raining down everywhere, smoke was all around and I got to shoot off the biggest fireworks I'd ever done! I kept thinking, "I can't believe they actually let people do this!" It was quite the rush, but I was glad to share the lighting the shells with others because there was a lot of smoke.

After my turn was up, I got to watch some of the fireworks. Being directly below them provides a fantastic view of the show! After the show was done we took off our ear protection to hear the crowd and waved our flares to them.

Then the clean-up begun. But not until Alan's dad did the most dangerous part of his job. A live round check. He visually verified that each and every shell had gone off by looking down each mortar. When we got the clear signal we doused everything and cleaned and packed up.

It made for a long day, but a great time! One of the funniest parts was after I did it two different people both told me I could check that off my "bucket list!"

Thanks Pippins!!!

-Nolan, Steffenie, Lexa and Clara

We Are At It Again!

2011-07-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

So, after a whole six days at home we headed back to the coast! We just cant get enough of the green! Our good friends from Colorado, the Pippins, came to Portland, Or to see his family. They were going to go to Mt St Helens on Saturday and we were going to visit them for the 4th of July. Instead we ended up meeting them at the mountain, spending a wonderful day talking, catching up, talking about baby names for their 5th boy!, stopping at the visitor centers, taking pictures and eating dinner at a small family restaurant called Pepers. It was really good food and the kids almost brought down the house! Luckily they gave us a whole back room to ourselves so no one else was affected by our rowdiness. We now are staying in a very nice Quality Inn in Wilsonville, Or (suburb of Portland).
I feel like we are old pros at traveling by now. I was not overwhelmed at the idea of packing, knew exactly what to bring and it worked out great. The girls are also great travelers.
Tomorrow will be church with the Pippins then just hanging out. Maybe some swimming at our hotel. Then Monday we head to Cresswell, Or to help their family put on the town firework show!

Add caption

Clara saying hi to the bear

What a good daddy!

Clara saying hi to the elk

There was a curtain and screen we saw a movie on about the eruption. Then they raise it and you see this. Awesome!

The Fun Continues!

2011-06-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

We spent the night in Eureka, Ca. I wanted to see the Bigfoot Museum but it was on a parallel road to the one to the Redwood National Park. Nolan found a small, unpaved road that would connect the two and was very excited to try it. So we went to the museum. It was pretty small and kind of a disappointment, but interesting to see the evidence that they exist! Maybe they do.
After that we found our small road. It was pretty much a one lane road. We crossed a handful of other drivers but mostly had it to ourselves. At one point it became a dirt road. Then we entered the park on this road, Bald Hill Rd. We were on top of the mountains all by ourselves. It was very beautiful. The flowers smelled amazing. The girls were having fun eating cheesey poofs in the back :)
We looked at a lot of fun things but drove straight to Fern Canyon, recommended by Uncie Jon. It was a small canyon hike through a river with cliffs of ferns on the sides. Very Pretty!!! A frog almost fell on my head while i was taking a picture. And we started to see these caterpillar, worm like things gathered in the water. That was a little gross, but the rest of the hike was breathtaking.
We then drove maybe a mile back down the road and stopped to play on the beach. The girls love the sand. Clara wasnt as excited to get in the water today. I think she was tired. She stayed next to me on a towel almost the whole time. She played a little in the sand, covered herself and laid down, and also ate starbursts and granola bars. Lexa on the other hand was back in the water and building a sand castle. Nolan started to help her. I think it started as a volcano then built a wall around it to protect from the water that was starting to come closer. It ended up being a big wall they were trying to see could stand the waves. As we were leaving one finally came over the top and wiped it out. We all had hours of fun!!! And I got to read my Kindle on the beach and take pictures.
On our way out of the park we saw a herd of elk. They had babies and we could hear the noises they were making. It was very cute :) We drove to Crescent Bay and had dinner at Taco Bell. We continued on to Coos Bay, Or. We finally left California. Lexa got car sick once after it got dark. This is the first trip this has happened. It also happened one night in San Francisco. But we let her walk around and she was ok. I think I will look into those bracelets that help with car sickness.
Spent the night at Motel 6 and are ready to start another day. Nolan is debating whether to head home or to Portland for one more night. He really wants to go to the Ham Radio Outlet stores.

Fern Canyon and Beach

2011-06-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

The road we came up on

You can see the road we are going to

Redwoods

2011-06-24T00:11:00.000-07:00

California Part 2

2011-06-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

We hung out with Jon and Rischel for a little while on Tuesday. The boys all ate breakfast together then went on a bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. Us girls went and ate lunch together then just hung out. We love hanging out and the girls miss baby Elise terribly!

That night we drove to Monterey and stayed at a nice hotel. It was nice until a herd of elephants came into the room above ours at 12:30 and didnt quiet down until after 4 am. I was the only one awake so I was the only one kept awake. Oh well.

The next morning, bright and early, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is a really fun place. We saw some dolphins jumping in the water outside the aquarium. The girls loved the sea horses. Clara couldnt stop talking about the sea turtles. We were done with the aquarium around 3 and met my uncle back at our hotel. He lives in Hollister, Ca, about 45 min away. He then took us to a little beach in Moss Landing. He was trying to take us to a place called Elkhorn Slough. But we had a lot of fun. Lexa doesnt remember playing in the ocean and this was Clara's first time. The weather was cold, about 50 degrees, but the girls insisted on putting their feet in the water. Clara was in love with it!!! I thought she was going to get hypothermia. But thankfully she didnt. Lexa likes walking around and picking up sea shells and making sand castles. We probably could have stayed all day, but it was getting late so we headed into Moss Landing for dinner. We found this tiny place called Haute Enchilada. It was a little pretentious but good. I had an artichoke and cheese tamale. We left my uncle Lex and headed back up the coast of California. We passed through San Francisco again (waving at the Haynies!) and spent the night at Healdsburg. Nolan really wanted to swim so he took the girls in the morning to the hotel swimming pool.

Thursday we got some Subway sandwiches and headed out again. We were going to picnic in the Redwoods but at 1:30 we realized that wasnt going to happen. We finally stopped and ate at a park in Willits. They were setting up a farmers market in the park we were eatting at. There was a lady that used paper from different places to decorate the outside of glass containers. She was so excited about reusing items. It was a very California thing but they were very pretty.

The first place we came to following lunch was Chandelier Tree, a tree you could drive through the middle of. It was pretty tight in our car, but we made it! When we were leaving the park we came around the corner to find 3 girls surrounding a broke down car and trying to flag people down. Now, once we were stranded on the side of the road with a small child for 3 hours without getting any help, so we try to be more helpful when we see people in need. Well, they decided (no one had cell service) that one of the girls just needed a ride to Garberville, about 25 miles away. After a lot of humming and hawing we decided to give her a ride. She sat in the car between the girls playing with them. She was a hoot to listen to. She was totally a hippie chick (probably a little high) trying to make it to a weekend concert we had passed earlier called Kate Wolf. She kept telling Lexa to always believe in magic and never forget. She told us her dream is to start a Waldorf school for children, teaching through art and music. She wants to do this in a communal setting, selling produce for school funds, having parents chip in to help. She was amusing to say the least. We dropped her off a few minutes later and noticed a lot of groups of hippie, wandering, backpack people gathered in Garberville.

Then we traveled down the Highway of Giants. We stopped a few places, hiked around, took pictures. It was a way cool drive. I have never seen the Redwoods before and I loved it.

We are spending the night in Eureka! Nolan made sure to get another hotel with a swimming pool, indoors this time. So after dinner and checking in we took a quick swim and played marco polo with some other kids in the pool.

Well, the kids are crashed and we have another day of Redwoods tomorrow. Probably wont get very far tomorrow, but then starting to head home. If we have time we might try some caves in Oregon. What a fun summer trip. I keep telling Nolan what a fun dad he is to take us on this adventure :)

More San Francisco Pics

2011-06-23T21:53:00.001-07:00

To All My Friends and Family Whom We Have Neglected...

2011-06-21T00:08:00.001-07:00

I am back in the blogger-sphere! I will try my hardest to be better about blogging, especially with all the fun things coming up for us this summer.

Our first adventure was coming to San Francisco, Ca for the blessing our first cousin/niece, Elise Noelle Haynie. We started our drive on Thursday the 16th and arrived the afternoon of the 17th. Our first day here was filled with riding buses, trains, the Farmers Market, Fishermans Wharf, Hyde Harbor, Ghirardelli Square, Little Italy and finally back home for some pizza.

Sunday was a great day for the blessing. Jon Haynie did an excellent job and it was a touching blessing. It was also Fathers Day. So after church we went back to our rental house and had a great lunch with a deli tray, croissants and lots of fruit, brownies and ice cream for dessert. It was a lot of fun and a good day to relax.

Today was the opposite, a very busy day! First the boys (Richard, Nolan and Brennan) took the little girls to ride the cable cars (the moms stayed and got ready). Then we met them at a place called Posh Bagel for lunch. We included Jon, Rischel, Elise and Jon's mom and brother Spencer. Then some of us went to the Academy of Science. That was so cool. Clara was a little skeptical at first but then saw the t-rex in the lobby and we couldnt keep her out! We went into a rainforest butterfly area. A butterfly landed right on my hair bun! It kinda freaked Clara out and when she was about to leave she was surrounded by about 12 butterflies. She was screaming and it was kinda funny. Then we saw their aquarium area, then the planetarium. Clara was very scarred during the movie and kept saying she wanted to get off, not realizing we werent moving, it was a movie. She made it through and thought it was fun in the end. They also had a snakes and lizards exhibit and an African Center.

Then we met up with everyone else at the Childrens Playground at the Golden Gate Park. It was a really fun playground but the thing the girls loved the most was the cement slide. It was down a big hill and you rode cardboard down them. They must have climbed the hill and slid down about 50 times!

After that it was time for dinner. Jon's dad recommended a place on the Wharf. We had to have one meal of clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Well, we sat for about 20 min, then they finally took our order, then told us our appetizer was holding up the meal (shrimp cocktail!) then our food finally came out. It probably took a couple of hours to get our food. Kinda disappointed about the service but the food and company were great. I love being a part of this family :)

On our way home we drove down Lombard St. It is the famous windy road here in San Fran.

We do have quite a few days left of vacation but wanted to get this down before I started to forget.

Elise is adorable and we all love her. On our way here Clara knew that when we passed into California we were in the state Elise lives in. Dont know how she knew that. Also, Elise is a baby who snorts a lot. So we asked Clara what a baby says. She usually replies "goo, goo, ga, ga". But now she replies "snort!". One last funny tidbit, while at the academy of Science today a man was waving to his family and Lexa ran by, jumped up and gave him a high five. It was awesome!

I love my kids and am having great fun hanging out with them and my family. So blessed :)

And sorry about random pics. Uploading on here has not worked out so well for me.

Sledding/St George/Recital Pics!

2010-12-05T22:18:00.000-08:00

Grandma Camp 2010

2010-08-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

Well, the charger for our camera battery is lost in the move. I'm sure we will find it someday, but for now we bought a new one and can finally take pictures again. I wont try to update for the entire summer, but I will update what we did last week.

Nolans mom started the first annual Grandma Camp!

It included making a special breakfast everyday, taking Clara with them to a park, coming back for lunch, and then just Lexa and grandma having a special activity.

One day they all went to the Playground of Dreams for a picnic lunch.

One day they all went to the Childrens Museum.

Lexa and Grandma got pedicures and went miniature golfing. They also made t-shirts.

Friday they had a very grand tea party. They invited Katie and Molly Gutke and their cousins and grandpa from across the street. The invitations were made as a flag on a cupcake. Marilyn made a bouquet of vegetables including carrot tulips. She also made a tower of chocolate covered strawberries, qasadillas, bruchetta with pesto mozzerella and tomato, and a quiche. She made something called fool for dessert, which is whipped cream with some yogurt and a cookie on top. It was very fun. We had lemonade and chocolate milk to drink.

Then Nolan, the girls, Marilyn and I headed to Grand Coulee. We spent the night there and saw a laser show at the dam. It was a lot of fun! The next morning we took the Dam Tour, made lots of dam jokes, and headed home. We all had activities Saturday night.

We also stopped at a place called Dry Falls. The area used to be giant waterfalls that would have dwarfed Niagra Falls!

We Made It!!!

2010-06-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is the Columbia River Temple. It is here in the Tri-Cities and where Nolan and I got married.

Saturday June 12th was the big and final move! It took many good guys to help us pack our final truck. We got almost all of it in, but not quite all of it. People kept commenting on how big our house was once it was empty. haha.

I spent a few days with my parents until Lexa's dance recital. She had a ballet dance and a jazz dance. She did great and it is always fun to watch.
Then I spent a few days with the Murdocks in Utah. We had a fun day. Ily came up with a simple scavenger hunt for the kids. We spent the day going to different parks and looking for the items. It was so fun and the kids loved it. They got ice cream cones as their reward. After a good rest, we drove the rest of the way to Washington. Was a pretty uneventful drive, except for the rest stop with dozens of dead birds on the ground! it was gross. We are here and loving it. Marilyn is such a busy and active person. She is getting ready for a wedding reception on July 10th in her backyard. We have been busy doing yard work, planting flowers, etc. The last few days I spent painting the front doors. Marilyn has been on top of the gazebo cleaning the roof! I can barely keep up with her. Clara loves the big house and being with grandma and grandpa. Lexa loves having her friend Katie across the street. Everyone is so welcoming and glad Nolan and his family are back. Tuesday we spent the evening at the country club pool and had dinner there for grandpa's birthday. It was a fun day!

Nolan hanging out at the pool with his mom and Grandma Clara

This is Lexa's friend Katie from across the street.

School is Out!

2010-06-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

We are getting closer to moving every day! The truck will be here on Saturday and by Sunday we will be completely out. People keep asking if it is good or bad. I think it is both. On Sunday the closing song was God Be With You Till We Meet Again. Made me cry.

In the meantime, Katie came up with the boys and Lizzie. They decided to have a picnic and got most of the food themselves. They had a ball playing and I love hanging out with Katie.

My neighbor had a baby 2 weeks ago and Clara is so in love with her. She goes crazy every time they come over.
We gave our dog away. We will be living with the Wrights in Washington for about a year and they are a pet free household. We could have tried to find a foster home for a year but thought that giving him away would be easier. The company that will be renting out our house helped us out and found him a great home. Lexa cried but she is ok now.

There was what we call a 'gulley washer' the other day. It rained buckets in a few minutes and then left us with sunshine, warm weather and full gutters! The girls, my dad and my brother Caleb all went to splash in the puddles. This almost never happens in Colorado. Usually it is cold and raining

We also had the chance to go down to Colorado Springs and see our good friends before we move.

Mothers Day

2010-05-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

Saturday the girls and I bought some flowers to plant in the front of our house. I know we wont be here for very long but I love the way it looks and might entice people to rent our house. We had fun. Clara really thought that the dirt should go on top of the flowers.

On Sunday Lexa really wanted to make me breakfast in bed but dad is not here to help her. I tried to teach her the night before how to work the microwave so she could make me some frozen croissant sandwiches. In the morning she said she was afraid they would catch on fire so she just waited for me. That was even better because I got to sleep a bit. Lexa got to go shopping with Mimi (my mom) earlier in the week and get me some little things. She got me some candles and some jewelry. She is so sweet. I am old fashioned and like to have a corsage on Mothers Day to wear to church.
Nolan ordered one for me and had me pick in up on Saturday. He also ordered an edible arrangement, which I have always wanted to try, and it was delivered on Saturday as well. After church on Sunday my parents, brother and grandmother came to our house. My dad brought a lovely arrangement of deli meats and cheeses. We had sandwiches and chips, one of my favorite lunches! We went for a walk afterward then it was time for the kids bed.
After I put the kids to bed I was excited to munch on the edible arrangement. We put it out for dinner but the only ones who ate any were Clara and my mom. My mom had a very upset stomach on the way home. Clara was up half the night crying. I ate two chocolate covered strawberries and an apple slice. About 30 min after that I it made my stomach so upset that it came back up. Since then I have been fine. No one else got sick. It is a bummer because I was so excited about this present. Nolan was not happy and called the store this morning. They wanted the fruit back to see what happened and they said they would provide something else in return. They didnt show up today, so we will see what happens.
All in all, it was a good day!

Lexa's Sweet Mind

2010-04-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

This last week Lexa and I both had the stomach flu. Lexa had it on Monday and I had it on Tuesday. Clara started it the week before so I am not worried about her. On Monday night Lexa was lying in my bed while I was downstairs watching tv. She came down to tell me that she was feeling bad and felt someone rubbing her back but looked and no one was there. She said, "It was an angel". Of course my mind goes straight to ghosts, but hers went to angels watching out for her. She truly believes the angels are with her. So great!!!

Nolans Visit and the Weddings

2010-04-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

Nolan got a chance to come and visit last weekend. After picking him up from the airport we went to the zoo. The girls loved having daddy and the animals. That evening we went to play at the Pippins house! We love playing with them, it will be one of the things we will miss the most when we move. Saturday we did some chores, slept in a little bit, ran some errands and Nolan took me out to eat at Rodizio. I love that place. Sunday we went to church, had lunch with my family and then we drove him to the airport. It was a whirlwind trip.

Then we had two absolutely wonderful days. The first was Briana's wedding. Nolan drove from Washington and I drove with my girls and mom from Colorado to Utah. Nolan's parents rented a house in Murray. It was pretty interesting but nice to have us all together. Laura and Matt were already there, so was Briana, then Sherisa brought Rischel from the airport. We woke up Thursday morning to Lexa telling us Clara had throw up in her bed. Clara has never thrown up or been really sick before. Lexa was right and Clara threw up all morning. Lexa and Clara were flower girls with purple dresses, flower crowns and holding balls of flowers. It was sad to have Clara throw up all day but it actually made her quiet and cuddly instead of screaming and fussing. In the meantime, while we were all getting ready on Thursday morning for Briana's wedding, with 2 bridesmaids, we blew the breaker with all our curling irons and blow dryers. It turns out that the breaker box was in a locked closet and the guy with the key lived at least an hour away. Well, we all made it work.
We made it to the Draper temple and there was snow everywhere!! It was a great wedding, short and it was very sunny. Cold, but sunny. After the pics, we went to the luncheon at the Market Street Grill. It was very fancy and very nice. People made speeches and it was awesome.
Later that night, we went to Applebee's with Matt, Laura and Bryan and Ily Murdock. Matt wanted to watch the NFL Draft. We wanted to hang out and have fun. They came back and hung out with us at the rented house until their babysitting time was up!
Friday after lunch, my mom, Nolan and I headed down to St George, Utah. This was a very very special occasion. My moms parents live down there and are in their 80's. They have been members of the church all their lives, but my grandpa has never been interested in going to the temple. Well, he finally had some really good friends that convinced him that it was the right thing to do. So he was ordained an elder about a month or so ago and we had the honor of going thru the temple with them for the first time and seeing them get sealed and my mom get sealed to them. It was so cool to see how happy Briana was and how happy they were, but it was amazing to be with my grandparents. I have been thinking that our family is like a chain. My great-grandparents were all sealed in the temple, and my parents were sealed, as I was also. We had a missing link in the chain that kept us from being connected to the rest of our family. Now that chain is whole. We will be able to be a family for all eternity and it was amazing.
After their sealing on Saturday morning, they had a luncheon at their local club house. We had a great time and had to head back to Salt Lake, where Marilyn had been watching the kids.
While we were gone she took the girls to temple square and they heard an organist practicing in the old tabernacle. They went to the Gateway and got a horse and carriage ride. They loved it. Lexa asked the driver a million questions. And then, early Saturday Clara threw up again and had some other issues. Then Aunt Rischel also got sick, as well as Aunt Sherisa. I am so sorry to them!!!! I hope they are feeling better. Clara loved Aunt Rischel but more often then not called her Anna (Briana). She'll get it someday.
Sunday we all headed home. Nolan gave a family friend a ride from Provo back to Kennewick. My mom, the girls and I headed back for Colorado. We all were tired and had little patience, but we made it home in one piece and still alive (barely). It was an exciting drive from a little west of Laramie thru Cheyenne with blowing snow, blizzards, and dense fog.
After it all, I love my family and I love temples. I am glad Heavenly Father didnt send us here blind with no help. We have direction and guidance. It is sometimes hard to endure to the end, but it is definitely worth every struggle.

I Am a Survivor!

2010-04-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

It has been two weeks today from when Nolan left to start his new job in Washington. And it is not as hard as I thought it would be. We had a great Easter. My dad hid eggs at their house and we had dinner there.

Nolan likes his new job. He was starting to get bored but they finally have a project for him to start on and show them what he is made of. He is also having fun hanging out with his mom and dad. His dad is taking him golfing and his mom had him join her city choir to sing show tunes!

I, on the other hand, am having the time of my life! Just kidding. :) The kids and I are surviving. We call and say goodnight to daddy on Skype almost every night. I pack a few boxes every day and try to keep the house somewhat presentable just in case anyone wants to come and look at it. It went on the market last week. We have one person that wants to come and look at it and had a call on it last weekend. Hopefully we will have more interest this weekend, but there are a flood of homes that went on the market recently to take advantage of the new home owners tax credit that ends April 30th. So there are a lot of houses for sale, but hopefully a lot of people are more motivated to get out there and look.

Nolan gets to come home next weekend and then we will see him at his sister's wedding on the 22nd in Utah. My grandparents are also getting sealed in the St George temple on the 24th and we are very excited about that!!

Big Changes!!

2010-03-21T22:55:00.001-07:00

I know I havent blogged for a very long time, but I am going to have to get much better for my friends that will soon be far away.
Lets start at the beginning. Early in January, Nolan was laid off from HP. At first Nolan was nervous but I was excited knowing how much he hated working there. He had thought of looking for a different job for a while, but now he had to. So, he started networking, going to resume meetings, calling people, looking on Monster.com. He went to a conference called DVCon and had a great time, made more contacts. In the end he had 5 interviews and 3 job offers. We fasted and prayed, went to the temple and tried to decide what was the best option for our family. The three offers were from Western Digital, National Analytics, and Columbia Energy. National Analytics had a crazy 16 page non-compete clause that we were told by a lawyer not to sign. It would have been a really fun and interesting job in Greeley, Co. Western Digital was a good offer but would be the same work he was doing at HP and big company atmosphere and Nolan wasnt sure he wanted to go back to that. We both had a really good feeling about the job with Columbia Energy in Kennewick, Wa. This is where Nolan grew up and his parents still live there. In the end, we went with Columbia Energy. Nolan will be leaving on Friday to head up there. He will be working for a small company, but with benefits still. We werent sure if we would find a company that offered benefits. I always took that for granted before. He will be doing vitrification of nuclear waste. The girls and I will wait until the end of the school year and Lexa's dance recital to head up to Washington. Sounds like houses in our price range are selling within weeks so we arent too worried about that. Plus we will be living with Nolans parents so we wont have to worry about paying 2 mortgages.
We are sad to leave my family here. But we are also excited about a new adventure. I am excited about living in a place with less snow. I love Nolans parents and think living by them will be a lot of fun! Nolan is excited to experience a small company and getting to go to the family cabin whenever he wants to! I am not looking forward to packing up the house, but the good news is I have a few months so it takes the pressure off. I'm always excited to think of a new house.
We will miss our friends but are excited to see what is out there waiting for us!

New Years Eve

2010-01-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

We had a great New Years Eve. We miss when we cant be in Washington and eat Marilyns (Nolan's mom) great cooking! She makes a whole table full of finger/snack food. This year we tried to throw a big party too, but sadly no one wanted to come. We finally found one family in our ward that would come over! They have 3 girls, one of which we call Clara's twin because they look so much alike. One day the older girls even tried to take Clara out of nursery at church instead of their sister, Ella! The mom had to work until about 11. Her parents were in town and came over too, along with my mom being here.
Here is what we had to eat:
Wings from Pizza Hut - mild buffalo, garlic parmesan, spicy asian and honey bbq
Avocado Eggrolls with dip (copy cat from the Cheesecake Factory)
Cream cheese crab wantons
Devils on horseback (dates stuffed with asiago cheese and wrapped in bacon)
spinach dip
bean dip
spicy jalepano ranch dip (tried to copy Chuy's)
tortilla chips
punch (sprite and raspberry juice)
pop
lil' smokies
chicken nuggies

After eating we got the games out. We played a game called Things. It was a lot like apples to apples, but everyone wrote down an answer and then went around the table and everyone got to guess who wrote down what. Then we played a round of Imaginiff. And then we got out Catch Phrase. This happens to be Nolans all time favorite game. We have the electronic version. We stopped around midnight to cheer and drink some Martinelli's, then went right back to playing. We played till well after 2 am and were quite slap happy by then. It was an awesome and fun night.

We Had a Great Christmas!

2009-12-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

As I am wandering our house tonight and doing laundry, I feel as if we had a perfect Christmas this year. We werent overwhelmed. Things were just right. I feel very blessed to live in my house, in this country, with my family. Ahhh.

Happy Birthday Lexa!!

2009-10-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

This day 6 years ago we brought our first baby girl into the world! After 18 hours of labor and a failed epidural, Alexandra Joy came it two pushes! From the time the nurse checked to see if I was ready to push to the time she was born was less than 20 min. She started to crown before the doctor was even there and they told me to stop! Lexa was 6 lbs 11 oz. Such a skinny thing. We have loved having her in our family and look forward to more years to come. :)

Boston Weekend

2009-10-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Nolan had an IEEE meeting in Boston last weekend and I got to tag along. He had a meeting in Boston in spring of 2007 that I also got to be at and I wanted to go back. Marilyn is a wonderful grandma and flew here from Washington for a week of fun with us and the girls. While we were gone she took them to a pumpkin farm (run by men from a rehad center) and to a discovery childrens museum in Fort Collins. Both looked like a lot of fun and tired everyone out by the end of the day.

While in Boston Nolan had meetings Friday night, a conference all day Saturday with a 30th celebration dinner Saturday night and meetings on Sunday morning. During this time I played and relaxed. We actually were staying in Cambridge and on Friday night I walked to a restaraunt called Legal Seafood. I got to walk through the MIT campus. The rest of the night I watched the season premeire of Ugly Betty and work on my cross-stitch I am trying to get done for Christmas. Saturday I slept in till about 10:45. Left the room around 12. Ate lunch at Faneuil Hall and did some shopping. Then I went to the Museum of Science. I saw a movie on their Omni Dome, like a combo of plantetarium and Imax. Then I wandered around the museum and saw a show in the planetarium before I left. The show was about the origins of the universe and how the universe seemed to work. It was very interesting and it seemed to me that the more questions they had and asked, the more it confirmed to me the existence of something bigger than ourselves, like a Heavenly Father who was smart enough to create it all!! It was very cool. I went with Nolan to the celebration dinner. I asked him before we left if I should bring along "walking" shoes or just wear my high heels. He said we would definitely come back to the hotel before going out with everyone after the dinner. So, no walking shoes. After the dinner our friend Vishnu, who lives in Boston and has a car, invited some of us to walk to a place that served amazing hot chocolate in Harvard Square. The bus to dinner really made me sick so I was willing to walk miles in heels just to get a ride back in a car! My feet were ready to fall off, but the chocolate was definitely worth it!! I even bought a couple of packs for me and Marilyn of white chocolate mix. Sunday Nolan was off to meetings and I just slept in and then got ready and packed to go. We all had lunch at Legal Seafoods after their meetings were done. Half went to the airport and half went back to the hotel. Nolan and I got some pictures on the river. It turns out there was a really big rowing competition that weekend. While waiting to go to the airport it started to snow. We were with a girl, Gigi, who grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in LA. She once saw snow already on the ground but had never been in falling snow. She was pretty cute and funny to watch running around outside the hotel. :)

Once we all got to the airport most of our flights had all been delayed. Nolan and I had to run throught the Chicago airport to make our connection to Denver, but we did it! We made it home around 2 am and took until around 3 to finally get to bed. Grandma stayed until Tuesday morning.

We had a great weekend and the girls loved having time with Grandma. :)Thanks Marilyn!!!!

My Wonderful Day

2009-10-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

I have this problem of not returning library books on time, thus incuring large overdue fees. This kind of frustrates Nolan so we made a bet at the beginning of the summer. If I could go through the whole summer and not get a late fee, I could have a whole day to do whatever I wanted. If I did get a late fee I would have to wear a matching dress with my girls. Now you may think that I just didnt check out any books the whole summer! Not true. I did check out lots of books and turned them all in on time. I thought "summer" meant until school started. Nolan thought it meant until the official first day of fall in September. Either way you look at it, I won!! So today I was able to claim my reward. I slept in until about 10:30, read a book for a while, worked on my cross-stitch and watched movies, read and slept a little more, made dinner, helped put girls to bed and am now cross-stitching again while Nolan is watching football. We had our first big snow today so Nolan took both girls out a few times and it was pretty funny. Clara is so cute in her get up. Not once today did I have to take care of the girls, although during my nap Clara kept coming up the stairs and yelling "mama!" at my door. I had to get up and play with her then!! So, thanks Nolan for a great day!!! I should make bets like this more often!!

What A Day

2009-09-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

I was dropping Lexa off at school today when she closed the car door on her thumb. It was black and bloody instantly so I RACED her to the emergency room at Centerra. I called my mom on the way so she could call the school and tell them Lexa wouldnt be there today. Then my mom and dad came up and watched Clara while I was with Lexa. That was really nice because I hadnt brought any shoes for Clara (thought we would just be dropping her off and then going home). Without shoes on she couldnt walk around the ER. It is pretty hard to keep her entertained and happy while Lexa was freaking out and crying. They ended up burning a hole in her nail so the blood could drain out. She felt much better after that! She had a few x-rays and her thumb was fine. We got home just in time to watch two kids. Lexa is fine but realizing how much she uses her thumb!! I was so sick today and being in the ER was fun. On the way out they gave us a flier so we could recognize the symptoms of swine flu, just in case we picked it up there. Ha!

Our Church is Awesome!

2009-09-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

We had our primary program today at church. It was focused on families and temples. It went very smoothly and well. I was playing the piano for the primary so I got to be right in the middle of it all. Lexa even remembered her line and said it clearly and slowly.
At the end of the program one of the counselors in our bishopric said a few words. He talked about doing family history recently. When he was 19 he joined the church. No one else in his family was or is a member. In doing family history he found out that his family had joined the church in Europe and came to the US to live in Utah. The father of the family died soon after making it to Utah and the family eventually fell away from the church. He thought he was a pioneer in his family by joining but found out he was reviving his family legacy! It was very cool and powerful. Then the closing song was Families Can be Together Forever. I got to play the piano for this too. We had the primary stand up and sing. The kids were on one side of me and I could hear the strong voices of the congregation singing that they could be together forever. It was amazing and awesome. I wanted to sit and cry, but I couldnt because I had to still see the music so I kept it under control. I love that we can be together forever and that we can teach our children to have hope and love in this world.

Bragging Time

2009-09-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

Lexa took scraps from the floor of the basement (other projects she had done) and made a person!

This bird cracks me up! Especially the tuft of feathers on its head. That was on purpose!

Lexa made a super-hero of her dad, and then covered him in his super-hero outfit complete with cape on the back.

Lexa made me a heart face. She figured out to cut the circles in half and then put them back together again with a different colored half! (for the eyes)

I am a proud mama. Everyday Lexa amazes me. I dont have any grand ideas that she is the smartest kid in the world, but I love to see her growing and discovering and being creative. Her learning to read is as exciting to me as a baby learning to walk. But I wanted to display some of her recent art work. We have a basement where we give her freedom to create, paint, cut, paste, color, etc. I love seeing how her mind works and comes up with these things!

Heart Attack

2009-09-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

My sweet baby girl, Lexa and her friend Mykaela decided to heart attack my bedroom while I was canning pears this afternoon. I knew they were being sneaky, but had no idea why. It was a very nice surprise. Here are a few pics, and yes, Lexa made my bed this morning as well. :)

Now For Something Completely Different

2009-09-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

I feel like I just want to say something just so that the title with the word rat in it can go down.
I was talking to Lexa this week about what the president would say to her in his speech. I told her that he would basically say things like do well in school and to work hard. She said,"That is exactly what I need!!" It was awesome. I actually was ok with her hearing the speech. He is the President of our country and Lexa does go to public school. I want her to learn to have respect even if we disagree.
In other news, I tried to make pear butter tonight for the first time. I have made apple butter before so luckily I knew the process. But about 6 hours of work rendered 3 1/2 small jars of butter. It better be darn good.

Update on the Rats

2009-09-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

I thought the rats were gone but was filling up the van with gas on Tuesday and heard them again!!! Went home and our neighbor, the fearless Jen, found a baby rat squeaking at her on our driveway while we were gone during the day. She picked it up, put it in a tuperware with papertowels, and tried to feed it milk. The baby didnt even have its eyes open yet. She put the tuperware under the truck, trying to let the mom come back and get it. When we realized they were in the van we put the baby on the driveway. It was moving around all day and making the cutest sounds!!! Even baby rats are cute!! We opened the van hood and found another nest. We opened the Maxima hood and found the hood scratched up but no nest. At this point I was really tired of dealing with them. A guy in our ward, who also works with Nolan in the elders quorum, owns a pest control company called PestRite. Gave them a call. Mama rat never got her baby. Nolan dealt with the baby and I didnt want to know how. I told him to leave it out for the neighborhood cats. Mike came the next day. We never heard the rats again, but he laid out boxes with rat poison. Hopefully they are either gone already or they wont die in the engine where we cant find them but they smell really undescribably bad. Mike will check the food tomorow and we will see what is happening.

Sleepwalking Daughter

2009-08-30T23:48:00.001-07:00

So tonight Lexa opened her door and stood at the top of the stiars. I asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom. She started rambling about stuff, but not ever finishing a sentance. I finally walked to the top of the stairs and asked her if she was awake. Her eyes were totally dialated. she told me to follow her to her room. She walked in and went straight to her bed. Not another word or movement out of her. I put her blanket on and told her goodnight. not a word. My child sleep walks.Another time happened in March. My in-laws were here and asked if Lexa was supposed to be up because she was wandering around upstairs. I went to ask her what was wrong. She was rummaging through the clothes she had taken off earlier. She asked me to help her find her other sock. This started to make me suspicious because she HATES to sleep with socks on. So I helped her find it. The next thing she said was, "But what about my underwear??!!" Sure enough, she had taken off her underwear somewhere. Found them in a ball at the end of her bed. Her bed was dry, floor was dry. She said she already went to the bathroom (never heard a toilet flush or saw unflushed toilet) and she just had to wash her hands. We got her all dressed and she went back to bed. Does not remember any of it. This should be more and more fun the older she gets (hopefully not dangerous!).

Aw Rats!

2009-08-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

We inherited Nolan's parents Maxima this summer. So we are trying to sell our Ford Ranger 1994 truck. Nolan rides his motorcycle to work and I drive the mini-van to school. Well, Saturday was the day to get the truck ready. Nolan spent all day washing and waxing that thing. I tried to help clean the chrome wheels, but my hands tired and I got about 1 1/2 wheels done. I did however buy Nolan some engine degreaser so the engine would look shiny and new. Nolan came running in telling me I had to come see something. He said he opened up the hood and some great big rodent was staring him in the face. He slammed the hood and the rodent ran somewhere into the engine. He opened it again and saw a nest with two babies on the top of the engine. The mom kept poking her head up to look at her babies. It was definitely a rat. I must admit it was a lot cuter than I thought a rat would be, more Ratatioulle than sewer rat. My neighbor Jen is fearless and decided to help Nolan get rid of them. The Human Society advised my mom that we should be wary of Bubonick (sp?) plague. Here was the plan. Drive truck to field, carefully take out nest and babies, leave by truck, watch mom come out, and drive away.
Good plan, but when they got there the mom had pulled the babies further into the truck. They could hear them but not see them. They threw the nest in the field and left the truck there for a few hours. When Nolan went back he couldnt hear or see anything. He took the truck to get the oil changed and they didnt see anything. Luckily they didnt tear up any hoses or wires. We thought it was done, but when I was out this morning I swear I could hear them somewhere under the truck bed. We looked underneath and could see rat droppings and what looked like material from a new nest. We cant hear them anymore, but no promises that they are gone. I think going the humane was is out the window and we are calling the pest control people in the morning.
I would expect mice out here, BUT NOT RATS!!!!!!

Life is Good

2009-08-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

So, things are going better. Things came to a head with my calling this week. Had good, honest communications on both sides. I was frustrated with not being able to give my all and the other person involved was also frustrated with my not giving 100%. But the Lord knows what is best for all, whether it be putting us in positions where we are needed more, or we are supposed to learn and grow.
Nolan took me on a date this weekend. We went to the Hibachi grill, japanese steakhouse. It was my first time to somewhere like that. It as amazing food!!!!! The steak was to die for! :) Then we went to see GI Joe. That was also good. Then we played Mexican Train with my mom. We had a good time and I actually won. It is hard to beat Nolan.
Lexa is liking being in school. She learns new names everyday and loves her new classes.
Nolan and I are continueing to plug away at our workouts. We are going from once a week to once a month with our personal trainer. I am almost down to a weight I was when we moved here to Colorado. Nolan is down to a number he doesnt remember the last time he saw!!! I am so proud of him and of us.

Callings (HELP!!)

2009-08-26T12:14:00.001-07:00

I feel frustrated with my calling recently. It is an easy calling. I am the activity days assistant. So I pretty much just show up to an activity twice a month, only two hours a month! Yet it is in the afternoon, from 4-5. Therefore I have to take Lexa and Clara with me. Lexa thinks she is one of the 8-9 year olds and I spend the rest of the time chasing after Clara. I feel frustrated because I spend the entire time chasing Clara and trying to keep her happy. She is a kid that needs a lot of attention and at 18 months will get into everything! The time makes it so that Nolan cant be with the kids. I also have a HUGE problem with the idea that I have to find a babysitter just to fill my calling. I even have asked to be on a night route for visiting teaching so that I can go without the girls. I hear a lot of talks focused on us keeping our family first and callings second, they shouldnt take over our lives. I have never turned down a calling or asked to be released but I truly feel like I am not right for this calling. The girls deserve someone who can give them their full attention. What do you all think???????????

Start of School

2009-08-24T21:59:00.001-07:00

Two days after we got home from vacation school started for Lexa. Yes, school was starting August 13th!!! It was crazy early. But we also got to see our friends the Shaw's from Texas. They were on their way back to Austin from Utah and stopped for a day. It was awesome to see them. We had a lot of fun with Guitar Hero. It really hope they will stop by again.
Lexa's teacher this year is Mrs. Kruger. Lexa went to the preschool at Tozer for two years, so she is used to the school, but not used to having a new teacher. She only knew two people in her class, so she was really nervous about making friends. I told her to try to learn one persons name a week. After one week she already knows half the class, and gets to see her old friends at recess. She is in half day kindergarten but most her friends are in all day. In preschool she got to go to obsticle course day (occupational therapy) and library day. This year, she gets to have music class, PE, library, counseling day, and computer lab. She loves it. It is awesome for me to just be able to drop her off and not have to walk all the way in and sign in and out.

Reception in Cowichan, BC

2009-08-24T21:39:00.001-07:00

Victoria, BC and ferry pics

2009-08-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

Wedding Pics

2009-08-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Portland, Or pics

2009-08-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

Playing the fountains in Portland, Or and at the water park with grandma in Kennewick.

2009-08-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

We had a giant adventure at the end of this summer. Because Nolan has to take 2 weeks off of work at Christmas, he stayed home and the girls and I headed out to see his family in Kennewick, Wa. Kennewick is in the south-east part of Washington. The first day, the girls and I drove to Ontario, Or. In preparation for the trip we bought two dvd players that were able to play from USB sticks. We put a bunch of movies on each for the girls. It is amazing how the movies like Curious Buddies, Baby Einstein and Elmo's World will keep Clara's attention but Finding Nemo will not. Must be a lot of money in research!! and it works. The only problem, at the end of the first day Lexa's dvd was having power supply problems. The next day was only a 3 1/2 hour drive to kennewick. We got there in time for church and to hear Auntie Ana play her oboe in church.
We spent Sunday thru Thursday playing with grandma, grandpa and Auntie Ana. I got to play tennis with Briana. We went swimming almost every night, at the neighbors house, the country club, and grandma clara's condo pool. It was awesome. I slept and took naps! Grandma took Lexa apricot picking and let her help canning them.
Friday we drove to Portland, Or to see our great friends the Murdocks. They were having a crazy heat wave, around 109. Their poor air conditioner was running its little heart out to keep their house at 78! That night we went and swam at a beach on the Columbia River. It was so much fun. Those Murdock boys are great swimmers! But I will admit there was sand in my bag even when I got home to Colorado. :)
The next day we all headed out to play in the public fountains in Portland. We went to three different ones. I think the one the boys liked the least, Lexa liked the most! We had a fun day exploring all the city, ending with a not so fun accident (messy pants). Well, it wasnt so fun for Bryan who was trying to clean it up in a public bathroom and having homeless men laugh and leave the bathroom. It was a little funny for Ily and I. hehe.
Before the fountains we also went blueberry picking at a farm. We got to feed apples to a horse and then pick berries. It was a ton of fun, but the kids got hot pretty fast.
Sunday we went to church then headed back to Kennewick for more fun with grandma and grandpa and auntie ana.
Tuesday Marilyn, the girls and I drove to Seattle. We stayed in Issaquah at a motel 6. That night Richard met us there. We also finally got to see Nolans aunt, uncle and cousins from Virginia. We were in Seattle to see his cousin Zac get married. He was getting married to someone from Victoria, BC and Seattle was the closest temple.
The next day grandma, grandpa, the girls and I went to the Seattle Zoo. This is an amazing place.
The day after was the wedding. On the way to the temple Lexa asked me to please bring her out a piece of cake. The sweet girl thought that everything she sees on TV weddings is what we were going to do in the temple. We explained to her that she would get to have cake later. Right after the wedding I drove to the airport to pick up Nolan. We drove back to the temple where the family was having a picnic in a park nearby. After that we drove to the ferry to get to Bainbridge Island. We went there to visit Nolans friends from growing up who just had twins, a boy and girl. They made us dinner and we walked around their little town. It was very cute and had good ice cream. That night we drove to stay at a hotel in Silverdale. We didnt pay for a room on the water, but were given one. The room was nice and I wish we could have stayed longer. :) Unfortunetely there was not a lot of parking. They were getting ready for a 3 on 3 basketball tournament in their parking lot and their was a dog show going on. Kinda crazy! People not happy about it either.
The next day we drove like crazy to make a ferry from Kingston to Edmonds, Wa then on to the ferry in Vancouver, BC to Victoria. We didnt make the same ferry in Vancouver as Marilyn, Richard and Auntie Ana (who had joined the group Wed night by tiny plane from Kennewick). But they waited for us in Victoria. The ferry was an hour and a half. It was really big and we walked around a lot. There was a part of the ship that had disney playing on tv's and a play place for little ones. The girls liked being outside the most. I got a little seasick when the ferry was going around islands, but we all made it. We ended up spending the rest of the evening in Victoria. It was Nolan's birthday! We saw a lot of beautiful buildings and had the best meal of my life. It was a shellfish thermador. whoa.
We drove to Duncan, BC about an hour north of Victoria. The next day Nolan, Marilyn, Richard, Briana and Lexa went sight-seeing. I let Clara take a nap so she would be tolerable for the wedding reception that night. We did however take a quick look around a place called the BC Forest Discovery center. It was an old lumber village. It had a train and Clara did not like the whistle.
That night was a beautiful wedding reception. It was on the brides farm. They raise sheep. They roasted lamb and cooked fresh salmon they caught that week. Clara had fun chasing chickens, playing with the bubble machine and rolling in dirt. Lexa did pretty much the same and had fun feeding the sheep and goats. They had live music. We all had fun talking and dancing until really late in the night.
Next day we drove Nolan to the airport, took the ferry back to Vancouver, waited an hour to get over the US border, drove around Seattle traffic and stopped in Kennewick again, 12 hours later!!
Next day we slept in and left around 12. We drove to Ogden that night. I thought driving at night would be good because the girls would be sleeping. Not so. They were wound up and going crazy, like screaming in the car. It was pretty funny. Motel 6 again. Next day we drove all the way home. We almost went insane around Laramie, but made it.
It was a great long trip. We had a little bit of everything: seeing family, laying around and swimming, seeing friends, sightseeing and riding ferries.
I will make another post providing pictures. Not sure how to work that in to the blog right now. Maybe someone could teach me.

Campin'

2009-07-09T23:13:00.000-07:00

We went camping this weekend! It was the first of the season. It seems like our summers usually get planned out from May to September! We might not get to go too much this summer but we have plenty of other things planned out.
Our favorite place to camp right now is a place called Hermit Park outside of Estes Park. When Nolan and I were dating the park was owned by HP. Nolan was doing and internship and we went camping with a few friends from work. Now it is owned by Larimer county. They are trying to keep the same feel of the park. The campsites are all spread out and you can barely see your neighbors, not like a parking lot! We got a site in one of the new areas they opened this year. The site was at the top of a hill with a lot of fun rocks for the kiddos to play on.
We headed out on Friday after Nolan got off work. Our friends the Baldwins were also coming Friday night. They got there a little before us. We have a pop-up trailer and the Baldwins have a tent. They turned around about 3 times because of rain before they decided to stay and camp. Emily made a great dinner of tacos. We had a good night of roasting marshmallows.
The next day Nolan made breakfast (sausage, pancakes and eggs). He loves camp cooking! The kids played and we were about to go into Estes Park for lunch when the Pippins showed up! They also have a pop-up trailer, much larger than ours. It was Alans parents. They had the campsite next to us but unfortunetly it was at the bottom of a large hill going up to our site. We did go into Estes for lunch at our favorite place, the Brewery.
Most of the time there was filled with kids playing in the rocks and dirt. Pippins made a great dinner of dutch oven pizzas. Baldwins went home that night because there was too much rain for tent camping. Saturday was hiking and playing. I bought tarps and rope just so we could make a large shelter because we knew it would be raining alot. Alan, Carl and Nolan kindly made me tent city!! It was awesome. My parents came for dinner on Saturday night. We ate hawaiian haystacks. Then we drove into Estes for the fireworks. We werent sure they were going to happen with all the rain, but it stopped just in time. We met Julie from the Springs with her grandma and uncle. The fireworks were very cool! Sunday we packed up and headed home.

One of the favorite parts of the trip was the first night. I wasnt feeling very good so Emily took a walk with me. We came around a corner and noticed a bunch of lights. At first I thought it was campfires through the trees. But after a few minutes we realized it had to be something different. It almost looked like animal eyes looking at us but there were way too many of them. So we went back to the fire and Nolan and Carl came back with me to see the "electric field". That is what we named it. There were thousands of twinkling lights!!! A ranger came by patroling and told us that it was fireflies!!! In Colorado!! I guess there is a wetland there and it was a combination of a lot of rain, warm, no wind, and no bright moon. I have never seen so many in my life. It was awesome! We took the Pippins the next night but the moon was pretty bright so we only saw a handful, but even that is cool, again, especially in Colorado!

Summer Fun?

2009-06-28T22:54:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been filled with Lexa's activities. She has had Fairy Princess Camp. There they dress up, hear a story, do a craft, eat a snack and learn a dance that they perform on the last day. She also had tennis lessons and swim lessons. It has been busy. For the next few weeks she just has swim lessons. We also signed Clara up for swimming. She likes jumping in and drinking the water. We are trying to get her to blow bubbles but she ends up drinking it instead. Its pretty funny.
Hopefully this week we can finally get our flower garden in that we started in May. I am getting frustrated with the summer here in Colorado! Almost everyday has been rain and thunderstorm. Where lightening and thunder are cool, tornado warnings are not! This year in March was almost the driest March in Colorado history, now June is the second wettest June in Colorado history.
We had a great Fathers Day. Nolan did a LOT of research on getting a new grill. He finally decided on the perfect one and bought it right before Fathers Day. My dad, mom, grandma and brother came up to our house. Nolan made some great ribs, we had salmon, grilled veggies and cheesy potatoes. Then we all hung out in the backyard and watched Lexa and Clara. They are pretty entertaining.
This Friday we went and visited our good friends in Colorado Springs. Our girls dont always get along, but us moms love it anyway. We are trying to plan a long weekend there with Nolan too so that we can see some fun things in the Springs.
We have a camping trip coming up this weekend for 4th of July and maybe one later in July. End of July, beggining of August we will be heading up to Washington. We cant wait!!

The Great Summer Vacation

2009-06-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Lets see if I can get this all on one entry!
May 29th - We woke up around 6 am to get ready. We did the final packing and got the girls dressed and fed. We met my parents at the Walmart on the highway around 7:15. We picked up a few things there and headed out. My brother Caleb was also with my parents. We drove ALL day (forgot we lost an hour in the time zone). We drove all the way to Nauvoo, IL in 17 hours. Clara and Lexa did fairly well. We bought two new dvd players for them. We booked a place in Nauvoo that was a log cabin. It said it slept 6 people. There was a queen bed, single bunk beds, and a futon. It was tight but we made it work. Clara slept in her pack-n-play, mom and dad on bed, me and Lexa on the futon, Nolan and Caleb on the bunk beds. We got there around 1 am.

May 30th - Amazingly enough, Clara sleeps great in a room with people! I think sleeping with Lexa has desensitized her. Every day on the trip she was quiet and played in her crib until someone besides Lexa got up. We slept until at least 9:30 most days. We went to find breakfast. We eventually ate at a bar in Nauvoo. It was interesting. We headed to the visitors center and took a carriage ride through the country and learned about the farms and people that lived in Nauvoo. Clara fell asleep on a bumpy dirt road being pulled by horses. Then we looked at the visitors center and went to a wagon ride through the town. Clara screamed the entire time so I heard very little of the presentation. My mom went through the temple during all this. We then drove to Carthage Jail. It was a pretty special place (might have been more special had Clara not started screaming in the upstairs room). We went back to Nauvoo and ate at a really yummy buffet. We finally found Mimi and played at a local park with a merry-go-round and a teeter-totter. During this visit I convinced Lexa to let me pull her very first tooth! It was exciting. That night we saw a very good show called the Sunset over the Mississippi. It was awesome. We took turns chasing Clara until she finally fell asleep. That night the tooth fairy came, slapped uncle Caleb in the face, and left Lexa $2.

May 31- We wandered more around Nauvoo. The family living center was open and showed us how to make clothes, rope, bread, candles, etc. Nolan and Caleb saw the gun shop, we spent some time at the boot shop, went to the brick factory and to the burial site of Joseph Smith. Then we drove to Chicago. We ate dinner at the Full Moon around 10 pm.

June 1st - We had checked into a Motel 8 with two double beds. It was tight but we made it work. Clara was still great sleeping. We kind of just hung around, did some shopping during the day. In the evening Caleb, Nolan, my dad and I went to a White Sox baseball game. That was really fun. It was with Calebs school friends. And the White Sox won! Nolan bought a hat and two pink shirts for the girls.

June 2nd - I drove around looking for a salon in the morning because I was sick of my terrible hair cut! and we were dealing with humidity so it made it worse. After I found a good salon that did a great job I met the fam at Emily's pancake house. We had a huge breakfast. All meals were in shifts because someone had to be walking around with Clara so she wouldnt scream the entire time. After breakfast we went to see Caleb's school. He took us around and even showed us the cadaver lab (gross!!!). We saw the foot museum (he is at the Dr Scholl Podiatric School). We finally saw where Caleb lived. Typical college bachelor place. We made a fruit salad for a BBQ and then went to a BBQ of Calebs classmate. Clara ate about 3 hot dogs and Lexa had a great time playing bean bag toss (or corn hole in some parts of the country). After Caleb, dad, Nolan and I went to see Star Trek (Mimi did a lot of babysitting. We appreciated it!!!). It was a great movie, good concept (even though time travel drives me crazy) and we were glad we tried to watch all the old ones before we saw it.

June 3rd - We headed to the Museum of Science and Industry (or industry and magic as we called it). This place was huge and AWESOME!!!!!! We could have spent a whole week there! We saw the smart house and Harry Potter special exhibit. I liked the whisper room. Nolans favorite part was the smart home. Clara liked spinning in the rotundra. Lexa liked Harry Potter, even though she has never seen any of the films because they scare her. We tried to find a place called Gino's East to eat Chicago style pizza downtown. Clara was getting hungry so the rest of the family went to Millenium Park and Clara and I ate at the Corner Bakery. Lexa had a sub on the way home and then she and I sped to the closest theater that was showing Up in 3D. We LOVED IT!! On our way home we found out that Caleb, dad and Nolan were just eating pizza finally at around 10 pm. They brought us leftovers and we loved the pizza. One of these mornings I also pulled out Lexa's second bottom tooth and the tooth fairy came again with $2 but didnt smack anyone in the face this time.

June 4th - Nolan's grandma grew up in Michigan City, In. We were staying about 1 hour north of Chicago, then Michigan City was about another hour from Chicago. We went and saw Grandma Wright's brother, his wife, and their daughter. Uncle Leonard took us to the house they all grew up in, to the park they all used to hang out at, where Grandma and Grandpa Wright met. There was a little zoo at the park and Lexa loved it. I thought uncle Leonard was going to drop on us, but he made it. We ate dinner with them then headed back to the city. We stopped by the Sears Tower (now the Willis tower) right at sunset and then drove by and saw all the lights at the Navy Pier.

June 5th - GRADUATION DAY!!!!! We had to leave our hotel room around 7 am to head downtown. The graduation for Uncle Caleb was at the Civic Opera House. Grandma Dolly arrived in Chicago the day before by plane. We sat near the back to let Clara out. She luckily fell asleep right as they started. We all got to hear the speeches. She woke up when people started cheering. Nolan stayed in the lobby with her the whole time. Nolan came in when it was time to cheer for Uncle Caleb. He was hooded and pronounced Dr Caleb Roy (wah) Baker, DPM. We are so proud and excited for him!!!!! Afterwards we ate a quick lunch at McDonalds across the street. There we met up with a good friend from the cancer camp we used to go to when we were little. We have known this friend since we were about 9 and 10. Her name is Tracy Barnes and she just happened to be in Chicago for a conference that same weekend. Funny enough the conference was about Kinesio Tape, which Caleb is dying to learn about!!! So he actually went with her to the conference and we all went to the Navy Pier. Lexa and I rode the ferris wheel. Grandma Dolly, Nolan, dad, Lexa and I did an architectural boat tour town the river in Chicago. It was really cool and we learned tons!!! Mimi and Clara played in a fountain in front of the Pier. We also let Lexa play in it. They both got soaked and loved it. We went and found Dr Uncle Caleb and ate at the Rainforest Cafe (still in shifts to watch Clara). We went back to the hotel, dropped of Clara and Mimi, then had dessert at Chili's. We thought it would be the last time seeing Dr Uncle Caleb and Lexa cried herself to sleep because she misses him.

June 6th - Dr Uncle Caleb showed up to help with making sure the parents Element (car) was working right for the drive home. Got our oil changed, packed and headed out. Grandma Dolly was flying home on Sunday and dad was helping Dr Caleb pack and move to Binghampton, NY where he will be doing his residency for 3 years before heading back to Longmont to start his own practice. Mimi and Lexa rode in the Element and Nolan and I rode with Clara in the van. Drove all the way to Omaha, Ne in 11 hours. Got in a hotel right as a huge lightning and rain storm hit the city. Clara was so exciting to be there that she just ran in circles, smiling and laughing. She has finally found out how fun having a sister is. Clara would straddle her then jump up and down and dive all over Lexa while she was in her sleeping bag. We were on the second floor so we tried to keep them quiet around midnight, but it was hard not to roll on the floor laughing.

June 7th - Drove the rest of the way to Severance, Co and Mimi to Longmont. Left Omaha around 11:30 and got home around 9 pm. Whew!

It was a great trip. I didnt know that Chicago was the third largest city in the US. I wish we had another week there to see the aquarium and other museums. I hope Nolan will take us back there again someday. Clara was a monster on the road but is great here at home. We had a good day of relaxation with a lot of laundry to do. If you actually read all this, I hope you enjoyed our great summer vacation!!!
PS I will probably put most of the pics up on Facebook or on www.steffandnols.com . Sorry, Havent figured out how to post them here yet. Our camera died in Chicago so pics will have to be gathered from phones, Dr Calebs camera and Mimi's camera.

Busy Bees

2009-05-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

We have had quite the weekend. On Saturday I went to Sams Club to shop with my brother and dad, went to my parents house to help get ready for party on Sunday, planted a tomatoe plant from our ward for Mothers Day (it is a miracle it is still alive!!), laundry, dishes, brick around new garden. Nolan worked on the truck, hung my flowers on the porch, finished installing the screen door. Then we babysat until 3:45 am. We watch two kids, a girl in Lexa's preschool class and her younger brother. Their parents are both police officers and had to work late on Memorial Day weekend. I slept on the couch just in case the kids woke up and were confused at where they were, plus I didnt know when the parents would get there so I wanted to be close to the door. Didnt sleep great but babysitting sleeping kids is a pretty good job. I was very tired Sunday morning, but another busy day began. Oh ya, and my father-in-law got here Saturday night as well.
Sunday morning was the blessing of the Pippins baby, Spencer. Their church is at 9. Our is usually at 1 so it was an early morning for us and we had to be on time because the blessing is at the beginning of the meeting. We actually got there maybe 10 min early! Earlier than we even make it to 1 o'clock church. :) Then the Pippins had food at their house after sacrament meeting. We went home to change our clothes and headed to my parents house in Longmont for an open house for my brother Caleb. On June 5th he will graduate from Podiatry school in Chicago. We are leaving on Friday to head out for it, but he wanted to have a party in Longmont where most his friends and family lived. It was a really good party. At one point a little girl named Emily, who is only about 2 months older than Clara, was feeding Clara some chocolate pudding. It was very cute I am told. I need to find the pics! Later in the evening though Clara tripped and hit her forehead on the edge of the sliding glass door frame. It left a good mark on her head, but no broken skin, thank goodness. We got home late.
Monday was the annual ward pancake breakfast. It is my annual day to sleep in. Nolan has to explain this alot when people ask where I am! Clara did not get a nap on Saturday or Sunday and went to bed at 10 pm on Sunday so she also slept until about 10 am. Grandpa Wright, Nolan and Lexa went to the park and ate pancakes donated by McDonalds and rewarmed by the bishopric.
We planned on being in the mountains today but we were tired and it was rainy and cold today. Lexa and grandpa played at the park. Nolan worked more on the car. I did more laundry. We went to American Furniture Warehouse and ordered new kitchen chairs (VERY excited about that). They will get here on Wednesday. We ate dinner at our friend Carl and Emily's house. The girls had a good time in the rain, then dressing up and dancing around the house. Carl said that must be Lexa's influence. We were sure it was too! Nolan and his dad are now watching the Nuggets game. Whew! I am ready for the week.

New Background!

2009-05-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

I felt we needed a new background for summer, something brighter!! Hope you like it!
This is the last week of school for Lexa. Thankfully, Nolan's last week of school was last week. We finally get to see him in the evenings and on weekends again. We are planning a summer of camping, fishing, fairy princess camp, sing act and dance camp, swim lessons and a whole bunch of lounging in the backyard.

Being sick is no fun

2009-05-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

I got a sore throat on Tuesday, aches on Wednesday, cough and goopy nose on Thursday, thought ear infection on Friday in left ear, right ear started to hurt on Saturday. Turns out I had a sinus infection so bad it was pushing on my ear canals. I couldnt hear anything out of either ear and it hurt very badly, but at least I have antibiotics now. Hopefully no one else will get this. Today Nolan bought me my favorite flowers for Mothers Day, fuschia. And he put my new screen door on. What a guy!

Good Weekend.

2009-04-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

We started off a wonderful weekend of game playing, of course! We had to play one more time before our game playing friends, the Pippins, have a baby on Friday. They came to our house for a change and we played Puerto Rico, Alhambra and Ticket To Ride. We had good snacks and fun with friends.
We have been having trouble with our van stalling randomly. We had taken it to the shop to get worked on. I took it to a guy way out in the middle of nowhere, but he came with a good recommendation. He was good and didnt want to charge us for things he did not think were wrong (like the guys at Grease Monkey did). The only problem was that he didnt have the sense of urgency that we did. You see, the van is the only vehicle that holds our whole family. While Nolan can take his motorcycle and I can take both girls in our tiny truck, we cant all fit in one. So Saturday morning we drove out to the shop to get the van, with Nolan in the bed of the truck. He did great on a drizzly cold morning!
After getting our splendid vehicle, we drove to the Adams County Fairgrounds. A good friend of mine from college lives in a town called Parshall, Co. Parshall is past Winter Park and about 3 or so hours from our house. We have seen them at least once the last couple of summers. They had come down to the fairgrounds to auction off some horses for the ranch they work at. So we met them at the auction. They had to be there ALL DAY with a 3 year old girl and an 8 month old boy. I dont think I would be that brave. They did seem happy that Abilene had a playmate for a while. The girls dug in the dirt (with shovels and pails we never leave home without) and had fun around the horses. They got to pet some miniature horses and loved it. We hear that Abilene actually went home with a horse of her own!
We then continued on to Denver. Nolan went to Korea on his mission. When we lived in Austin we had a lot of choices of Korean restaurants and stores that were not too far from our house. Now we have to go to south Denver to a giant Korean market. We love this place and only go about once a year. The last time we went I was about two weeks from my due date and so sick I had to spend the whole time in the van! So we loaded up on all the good stuff we love like Bulgoki meat and BBQ sauce, kim (seaweed crackers?), curry packets, rice, mondu (like pot stickers), etc. Then we ate some side dishes before we left. While we were waiting for our food, the only other customer in the deli part came over and asked if Nolan's name was Nolan and if he grew up in Washington. It turns out to be a friend of Nolan's from high school! He said he totally recognized Nolan and said he recognized his characteristics. Now that has Nolan wondering those characteristics were that were so recognizable!!! Haha.
After the Korean store we made a quick stop at Krispy Kreme and then dropped Nolan off at his truck. He went off to a dinner in Denver and to hear the IEEE USA President talk about the future of engineering. I love my husband, but another one of those lectures just might put me into a permanent coma! Just Kidding. They are all just so smart! I had a really nice dinner with my brother Bob and the girls. Then we headed home and Nolan showed up not long after.
I told Nolan that in one day I got to have a Gyros for lunch, Korean food, Krispy Kreme and a sub sandwich for dinner. It was like the day of all my favorite foods :).

Easter Fun

2009-04-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty fun and uneventful Easter. My parents came up the night before to spend the night. My dad has been the Easter bunny every year since we moved back to Colorado. It has been at my grandma Dolly's house before, but decided to move it here from now on. We usually had all big holidays at my grandma's house, but the last meal she did was just too much for her. She has been talking for years about handing the torch to someone else and I think it has finally and subtly happened. So, my dad hid 75 plastic eggs inside the house on Saturday night.
We told Lexa to come get us up the next morning instead of just going downstairs. Well, about 6:50 am she peeks in our door and says, "Mom, I went downstairs and was looking for eggs. I'm sorry but I accidentally opened one." How do you accidentally open an egg? She has had limitations on her morning freedom until we can trust her again. She is being pretty good about it and slowly gaining privileges back. Anyway, back to Easter morn. We brought Lexa and Clara down. Clara found maybe one or two eggs and was happy. According to our count, there may be about 2-3 eggs still hidden in the house somewhere. Church was from 1-4. The girls were absolutely adorable in their Easter dresses from Grandma Wright. There are pictures up on Facebook (if your not my friend there, please go ahead and send me a request!!). After church my grandma came up and we had our Easter dinner. Before church Nolan figured out how to work the feature on our stove that delays the cooking and starts it a few hours later. The biggest advantage to having dinner at my house, besides all the kids toys being here, is that I get to pick the menu. I realized it was all my favorites and nothing I didnt like. We had ham, potato salad, frog eye salad, 24 hour salad, rolls, green bean casserole. It was great.

Oh Spring, Where Art Thou???

2009-04-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

I think this is the time of year when I begin to wonder: will the snow ever melt? will the wind ever stop trying to blow my house down? will we ever wear shorts again????? I have serious doubts to all these questions right now!
On the up side, Nolan got to stay on a project at work that he was very excited about! When he is excited about a project and the people he is working with, he puts his all into it and does a great job. Way to go Nolie Polie!!

Clara is sick

2009-03-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

Clara has been sick this weekend, but a really nice kind of sick. She has a fever and no energy. She is still drinking, eating, etc. but she just wants to sit on my lap and stare. She isnt throwing up, coughing, sneezing. I wish every sickness could be this easy.

Random

2009-03-20T00:09:00.000-07:00

I keep wanting to post something new, but feel like there is nothing of much report here in the home front. Richard and Marilyn came to Colorado this week. Went to the aquarium, did a little bit of shopping and grandpa did a lot of jumping on the trampoline. They came to hear Nolan wonderful singing! His Colorado Mormon Chorale had a concert in which they sang a 40 min requiem. It was very beautiful. It was performed at a beautiful Central Pres. church in downtown Denver. We then hopped on 16th St Mall bus and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. Lexa slept through the dinner, poor girl! Then she had to use the bathroom and the closest place to our parking spot was the bus station! A little scary at 11 pm. Marilyn left us on Wednesday morning. One of Richards physical therapist wants to open an office in western Colorado, so Richard went exploring to see what would work best. He took Nolan with him. They left Wednesday night and will come back sometime on Monday. My father is in Nepal and you can read about that at www.healthanded4nepal.org. He will be coming home on Monday as well. Lexa has Spring Break next week. Richard will be here on Tuesday and we will probably take him to the Denver Museum of Natural History. Should be awesome!
Other than that, we just keep growing and learning. Lexa amazes us every day. She is a great big sister, always helping Clara. Yesterday she even took her on the trampoline all by herself and was pretty soft with her. Clara continues to frustrate me and delight me. She is so cute and pretty. I love dressing her up! We finally got her some real shoes. She is immitating a lot of sounds and actions. She will be talking in no time, and running! She loves to play and run away from Lexa and I.
We miss Nolan and I plan on getting some projects done!

Lexa Must Be Sleep Walking.

2009-03-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight, as we were hanging out and watching tv, my father-in-law asked if Lexa was supposed to be up. He saw her walk into our bedroom. I went to see what was up because she usually doesnt do that. She was standing in my room with one sock on and looking for her other one (she hates!! sleeping in socks). She asked me where her other sock was. I helped her find it and put it on, then she asked where her underwear was at! She lifted her nightgown and her underwear was gone! We looked in both bathrooms and couldnt find it. I finally found it in her bed. Luckily the bed was not wet. She swears she went to the bathroom and washed her hands and went back to bed. I was laughing so hard!! she is so funny.

Clara LeaAnn Wright

2009-03-03T20:48:00.000-08:00

This day last year I was laying in a hospital bed watching my 9 lb baby sleep. Today she can do so much! We tried for 2 1/2 years to have another baby and are very thankful to be blessed with her in our family! I posted pics on my facebook page.

My Sweet Daughter

2009-02-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

This morning we found out a little girl that we carpool with in our neighborhood had tubes put in her ears today. I told Lexa after her dance class that we would go to the store and get her some balloons and ice cream to make her feel better. I told her that her friend was sad she couldnt go to school today and her ears might be hurting. Lexa told me that she wished it was her that had the tubes instead. I asked her why she said that (thinking it was because she is always begging me for a balloon at the store). Her answer was that Mykaela was her friend and she didnt want her friend to hurt. Lexa would rather take the hurt than have her friend be in pain! I'm still crying thinking about it. If only we could all be so selfless for our friends and family. We can learn so much from our kids!

And She's Off!

2009-02-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

Today was President's Day. For some odd reason the school district Lexa is in has decided to buck the norm and be different. They did not have Martin Luther King, Jr Day off and they did not have Presidents Day off. But because Nolan actually gets those days off, I have taken Lexa out of school anyways! I remembered to call the school this time, but forgot to call the mom I recently started carpooling with! Oops. At lease I didnt forget to drive her daughter, we just werent home when she came by. We spent another night playing games on Sunday with the Pippins. We all have been learning to play a game called Puerto Rico. I know that I am not the best person in the world at games, but I usually fare pretty well and even win once in a while. Well, Puerto Rico is not my game. I come in far and dead last every single time! And we have all played the exact same number of times. So, I went to my good friends in Texas and begged them for secret strategies. I would be happy just to not be last!! Well, I tried the advice I was given and came in second by one point! I almost won!! It was fun.
Alan really wanted to go swimming today. They usually go to Epic in Fort Collins, but we had heard great things about the Greeley Family Fun center. We found out that they have some odd hours for swimming. So we talked them into going to Longmont Rec Center. They have a great indoor pool, slides and a lazy river. It was a little more busy than usual (just Lexa and I in the whole pool) but we still all had a fun time. Nolan was holding Clara and floating in the lazy river. He said that she closed her eyes and was falling asleep. She loved playing in the water and recently discovered that she can put her face down and carefully drink from the bathtub or pool. It is hillarious and quite impressive that she does not get a snout full of water.
The Pippins headed home after a great lunch at Carls Jr and we went to my parents house. We hung out and napped until my dad got home from work. We had pizza and hung out some more. At one point Clara was trying to put a ball in my hand. She had to reach out and I had to reach to her, so I tried to get her to come to me. She walked like no problem, about 8 steps. Then she did it again for Nolan and again for Lexa. It was very cute and I am glad she did it before her first birthday!! Yay Clara!

Strawberry Jam

2009-02-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

Strawberries were $.99 per pound at the grocery store last week so I decided I would try to make jam. After doing some research and calling some people, I tackled the challenge.
Jam isnt the hardest thing in the world to make, but you cant double the recipe because the pectin is finicky and wont set right if you do. So about two containers, or 2 lbs of strawberries makes 4 cups of crushed berries. Then it mixes with 7 cups of sugar. Once that is boiling, you mix in one packet of pectin and boil for 1 min. Then the water boiler takes about 20 min (10 min extra for our high altitude). One batch went pretty fast, but I had16 lbs!! I finally decided to make a couple of batches of freezer jam. That was nice because it didnt have to be boiled and canned. But it only used 1 lb of strawberries per batch. In the end, it took about 5-6 hours, we decided to eat 2 boxes of strawberries so we only used 14 boxes, 50 cups of sugar, and 8 packets of pectin. It made about 24 jars of varying size. One sad note, I dropped a qt size jar on the garage floor.
It was a long day but I hope it was very worth it. Nolan was super daddy. He played with Clara all day, he and Lexa washed their bikes (one motorcycle, one bicycle), and took them on a really long bike ride. He helped me set up the water-boiler. We use our gas camping stove outside. Seems to keep a steady boil better than our electric stove in our house.

Project Day

2009-01-30T19:40:00.000-08:00

Nolan went to Corpus Christi this morning. I am very jealous! I love that place and I love Texas. But, I did tell myself that I wanted to get one project done while Nolan was gone this weekend.
Yesterday I got in a cleaning mode and cleaned all the piles on the desk in our family room and on the coffee table. I also cleared all the counters in the kitchen. It felt really good!
Today I started on the real project. It started with me going through both girls' clothes and taking all the small ones to the basement. Then going through all the clothes they just grew out of, all the clothes I had pulled out and sorted before Clara was born but somehow got all mixed up again. I organized, folded and labeled 7 large bins of clothes. All the clothes were on the ping-pong table for about a year now and Nolan really wants his table back so he can play. So, once the basement was organized and extra piles of clothes out of the girls rooms I went to clean the rooms themselves. We have been keeping our house fairly cool this winter. We had a space heater in Clara's room at night and let Lexa have the down comforter. Lexa was still cold and Clara's room still had a queen guest bed in it, so Lexa has been sleeping in Clara's room for a long time now. When Lexa spent the night at her Mimi's house she was complaining that she now cannot sleep without Clara. Well, if we had to decide between the two rooms, I decided that they should share the room with the castle mural and we can have a guest room again. I put Lexa's kitchen set in the basement and her Barbie castle. Then I moved her bed, a shelf and her canopy onto the other side of the room (she wanted to be by the castle on the wall). I also had to move some pictures around. Then I partially took apart the crib so I could move it through the upstairs. I found that I could take off one side and unattach the bottom board. The bottom board then folded up leaving me with a nice U shaped piece of furniture. Well, it fit through the doors but got jammed up on Lexa's new bed position. I tried lifting the corner over and in the process broke a part of the crib that slides up and down. Put everything back together again. The break is against the wall and has a string holding it together. It isnt a big deal and I know Nolan can fix it when he gets home. Then I rearranged the bed in the guest room. And Voila! After almost 7 hours the girls have a cute room together still, we have our guest room back and Nolan has his gnip-gnop table back.
It is amazing that Lexa coughs her head off at night and Clara will sleep right through it all. And sometimes Clara cries a lot at night and Lexa doesnt hear it. I love that!
Then I really had to go to the grocery store. It was pay day and we had no milk, cereal, breakfast bars, eggs, yogurt or bread. So I drug myself and the girls to the store.
Now, does anyone want to come stay in our guest room???

More From Lexa

2009-01-25T22:54:00.000-08:00

I stayed home today with Clara while Nolan took Lexa to church. I always ask Lexa what she learned in church today or what she did in school. Nolan teaches Elders Quorum and had a talk printed out with some notes. While getting out of the car after church Lexa told Nolan to be sure not to throw away his notes so that when mom asked what we learned in church today he would be able to show her. This probably stems from the 'weird' conversation we had a few weeks ago (ref. adventures in church blog).

We are Addicted to Guitar Hero!

2009-01-25T11:44:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to Longmont and got new tires for our van. The steering wheel had been shaking back and forth very badly and we discovered the tires were bad. While at Walmart, we bought Guitar Hero World Tour with some gift certificates Nolan had built up. We drove home with Uncle Caleb (his last weekend in Colorado) and we played until 4 am. We are so addicted. Most nights as soon as the girls are in bed, Nolan and I are playing it, that is when Nolan is actually here. He started school this week at Colorado State University to get his masters degree. He also directed the Pinewood Derby in our ward.
Last Friday I met my friend Katie and her kids at the Ft Collins mall to play and have lunch. Ever since Lexa was a little baby the play place at the malls will make her really sick. Well, no exception this time. Tuesday she had a fever on and off until Thursday. Now Clara and I are suffering through a sore throat. It serves me right for sharing a cup in the bathroom and not ever thinking about the consequences!!
Last weekend we also got a mini-vacation as a family. Our friends the Pippins invited us to spend the night and play games until all hours of the night. We played a little bit of everything and had a great time. The next day we all went to eat at the Big Red Chicken ,otherwise known as Red Robin, and then to our house to play some more. It was Martin Luther King Jr day so Nolan and Alan had the day off work and their boys had the day off school. I assumed Lexa had the day off until I got a call from the school asking why she wasnt there. I asked why there was even school that day! She ended up being sick the rest of the week anyway.
On Thursday her friend Lydia had a Fancy Nancy birthday party. All the girls dressed up and had a great time. I took Clara to the park to swing so she wouldnt tear down the party. She had never been on swings before. I thought she looked bored after a while so I took her out to play on something else, and she screamed her head off to get back in the swing! It was a fight when we finally left the playground but now we know what our next buy will be, a baby swing for our playset!
Also, Nolan is a very busy guy these days so I have been trying to get in a mindset of not waiting for him to do things around the house and that I can do things just as well. So I am taking out our trash, emptying the dishwasher, stuff like that. But I also took down all the Christmas decorations, took the heavy boxes back down to the basement, put the tree away. I even moved the TV from our bedroom into the basement so we can watch it while on our new treadmill down there. I even figured out where all the satelite cables went to and hooked the one from our room back up downstairs. And then I put the new dog food in our bucket and took the old bag out (its really heavy and I dont have the best back) but I did it and it was fine. I hope Nolan doesnt feel like he is not needed here anymore, because he totally is!! But it is kind of liberating realizing that I can do a lot of things myself.
Clara and I woke up sick on Saturday (Clara was probably sick on Friday too. If only babies could talk and tell us these things!). Lexa and dad spent the entire day running erands and fixing up things. She told him that she doesnt know what we would do without him, nothing would get fixed! She also told him that I was especially pretty when we got married with my yellow hair. She said brown hair is annoying (I dyed it brown last week). She also was playing with Nolan this morning and found an empty tube, probably from a Christmas wrapping, and wanted to make a rain stick because she had seen that project while watching Sprout. She is so smart sometimes!!

Adventures in Church

2009-01-11T22:56:00.000-08:00

Today I was out in the foyer at church during sacrament meeting with Clara. Her arm slipped while she was crawling and her face bonked the floor. She screamed so I held her to try to calm her down. After a few minutes I looked at her and her face was covered in blood!! We ran to the bathroom and after cleaning most of the blood away I could see that her two little teeth on the bottom had been jammed into her gums on the top. So we went through the rest of church with blood all over my WHITE sweater and her dress. She was pretty good the rest of the day but is now having a really hard night and crying every 30 minutes or so. We are giving her ibuprofen and teething tablets. Probably be on a soft diet for a few days.
After getting home we asked Lexa what she learned today. Her response, as usual, was that she didnt remember. After telling her good, we didnt want to hear about it anyway, she then told us what she had learned. Then we had to go into this whole lecture about what is lying and why it is bad, and how she shouldnt lie to her parents. Later, before bed, she stubbed her toe and said she was having such a hard day! I asked her what was so hard about it. She said, "I hit my toe, I'm tired, I had to have a weird conversation..." My response, "Wait, what weird conversation?" "Ya know, the one about lying?" I couldnt help it but laugh. Then I tried to tell her we were trying to help her become a better person, then she said she had to have two weird conversations in one day.
Then we were reading her bedtime book and I sometimes will change a word in a sentance to see if she is paying attention. She knows the books by heart and always knows the right word that I should be saying. So tonight I asked her what if all the other times I was reading it wrong and tonight I was finally reading it right? She looked at me and said, "If you really did that , it would be Really... unusual."
She cracks us up!

So Silly

2009-01-05T21:56:00.001-08:00

Nolan says he can write on our blog now that it is not girly and pink. He has two daughters. He better get used to pink.

One More Day of Vacation

2009-01-04T22:50:00.000-08:00

I just looked and Lexa doesnt go back to school until Tuesday. We could definitely use at least one day to relax. My dad picked us up from the airport on Friday. We met my mom and brother Caleb at the exit to Longmont. We ate dinner then traded Lexa for Uncle Caleb. We went home and watched football while Lexa spent the night with Mimi. We drove to Longmont to exchange people again but discovered the reason for the slowly leaking front passenger tire (a nail). The Walmart in Longmont did not have a wait. We got home around 4:45 then went to the Pippins house for dinner and games at 5:15. We put the girls to bed there and played games for hours. Alan got a new game for Christmas that none of us had played before. It was called Puerto Rico. It is a little daunting trying to learn a complicated game that no one had ever played before. But we eventually got the hang of it and I REALLY wanted to play it after church today. It was fun.
This was the first Sunday of the year, so Lexa is now a CTR 6. She was very excited about that. I had been her teacher this year so it was a little lonely going to class without her, but I made it. There were three classes her age and only 3 girls in all the classes, so 1 girl per class. Made the girls a little lonely. Happily they put Lexa in a class this year with her friend Sydney. It was also the first Sunday in about 2 1/2 years that I wasnt teaching. My first calling was 15 year old Sunday school, then Laurel advisor, then Primary teacher. Now I am the activity day girls helper. That is only two days a month, usually on Wed from 4-5. It might be little tricky finding someone to watch the girls, but I'm sure the Lord will provide a way :). I will also be helping out with the music time in Primary when our choraster is sick (she is pregnant). Nolan still is the Elders Quorum teacher and is now the Cub Master. The advice he got from the bishopric was that if your wife rolls her eyes at your jokes, they are perfect for the cub scouts. Nolan was meant for this job!!!! haha.
Of course it is the new year and most of us have goals we are working on. The most popular and the most failed (I think) resolution is of course the weight loss goal!! Nolan and I agree that it should be a big priority in our lives and look forward to being more healthy.

Some Funny Moments From Our Trip

2009-01-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

- We were playing a game called Apples to Apples. An adjective gets laid on the table by someone and everyone has about 7 cards to choose from that would fit that adjective. For example, our friend Lane laid down the card with the word hopeless and was given the cards falling in love, going to the gym, lawyers and marriage (he suffers from all these ailments).

- I asked Lexa if she had any dreams the night before. Her response was, "It seems as if I am dreamless nowadays".

- Auntie Ana asked Lexa if her friend Katie was coming over for the New Years Eve party. Lexa said, "She is, in fact, spending the night". Just the grown up way she says things crack us up!

What a Year!

2009-01-01T13:45:00.001-08:00

December was a crazy month. It seemed like I couldnt find two minutes to sit down and write. Nolan had about a million Christmas concerts. He actually had a few carolling nights and 5 shows with the Colorado Mormon Choral and the Denver Pops Orchestra. That was awesome and amazing to hear them sing. My grandma said their first number, Joy to the World, was overwhelming. I am SO proud of Nolan. Lexa and I went to see her dance studio perform the Nutcracker. The Sugar Plum Fairy was from Ballet West, along with her Cavalier. It was really good and Lexa is determined to be in it next year. We had more fun game nights with our friends the Pippins, and watched CSU win and BYU lose. I threw a fun surprise party for my friend. It was fun getting people to my house from all over Colorado and still be a surprise. We ate a lot, played a lot of Wii and saw the Parade of Lights in Longmont, complete with fireworks at the end. I finished two baby quilts and scanned about 1500 + pictures. I started a project as a Christmas present to my family. It didnt get completed, but I am scanning all our family photos and putting them on a DVD for everyone. 3-5 pictures at a times takes a little while to do. I gave up on 600 resolution and went to 300. It goes a lot faster that way.
I actually got around to making English Toffee this year, a family tradition. The last few years my toffee has had the butter completely seperate out and couldnt figure out what was wrong. My wise grandma told me to get a new candy thermometer. So I did and made a batch with the new and old thermometer. Turns out the old thermometer was about 50 degrees off!! I was totally burning it. Well, now it has turned out well. We went to Washington state on Christmas day to be with Nolans family. I made a batch of the Toffee here and everyone ate it for breakfast toffee, after breakfast toffee, lunch toffee etc.... It was gone in about a day. I also made spritz cookies at home that turned out for the first time with my cookie press. Nolan and Lexa made pizzelles, some chocolate and some vanilla and almond flavored.
Since we flew out on Christmas day, Santa came a day early to our house. On the 23rd, my family came to our house for Christmas dinner. It turned out very well. Then they all spent the night, except Caleb because he had to work in the morning. The next morning, on the 24th, we opened all of the presents. We got great and wonderful things. Lexa loves her new Hannah Montana guitar game, but I'm not sure if Nolan was having more fun than her on it! Christmas Day was crazy at the airport. Apparently everyone has caught on to flying on that day. I was very nervous about flying with a 9 month old on my lap. Clara has learned to crawl and pull herself up on things this last month. She slept for a little while and played with Nolan and Lexa the rest of the flight and did fine. Now one more trip back tomorrow then I can stop worrying! Life in Washington is always interesting and fun. Its always a challenge getting people from different families and different backgrounds to always get along. Nolan and I had a small yet significant disagreement with someone else in the family that made things not so fun for a little while, but people go home eventually :). We played games at a friends house, have eaten out at The Shainghi and Red Lobster, watched Benjamin Button, Quantum of Solace and Bedtime Stories at the theaters and had fun playing and hanging out. Marilyn makes a great layout of food for New Years Eve. We played Carcassan and Settlers of Catan and ate until we were bursting. Nolan and I won the doubles ping-pong tournament. Lexa had her friend from across the street, Katie, sleep over in Grandma's attic. They did really well.
Today Lexa went ice skating and Nolan is out golfing right now. It will be good to get home to our own house but at the same time it is nice to just have no worries (like laundry, dishes, cleaning etc) and just be able to play and be with my girls. We also found out that Clara is the spitting image of Nolan's sister Sherisa. It is a little scary how much they look alike.
Hope everyone has a great New Year!!

The Answer is No.

2008-12-02T21:35:00.001-08:00

The last post asked if the sickness would ever end and the answer is no, I dont think it will.
How was everyones Thanksgiving? We left on Wednesday and drove to St George, Ut to spend it with my grandparents. The first night we got there, Lexa threw up and Clara had sour stomach and a really high fever. It was a fun night. Thanksgiving dinner was great even if I did have to run to the grocery store for more cough medicine. I think Clara had an ear infection from being a little congested and then going over some mountain passes. She survived with Tylenol. My grandparents took us to a new park that cost around $3.7 million to build. It was really cool and pictures are the only way I can describe it but I dont have a way to post them here. You can see them at www.steffandnols.com. We also got to see the Christmas lights on at the St George temple. I remember going to see my grandparents in Arizona for Thanksgiving and going to see the Christmas lights at the Mesa temple. We had a lot of fun hanging out, beside the wonderful cold we all got!!!! I thought I was allergic to the cat, but it is more than that and Nolan got it the day we headed home. Really, we will be sick all winter I think.
We headed home Sunday morning expecting to be behind a storm, but it ended up shutting down I-70, plus the traffic was so bad that it was taking 3 hours to go 10 miles anyway. We decided to stay the night in Glenwood Springs, before it got too expensive in Eagle, Avon or Vail. We stayed at a nice enough hotel, got to see some Christmas lights in town, rented a movie and got to see the sights. The next morning Nolan had to call in to a couple of meetings so I took the girls and headed into town. I was going to take them to a park but saw a sign for Doc Holiday's gravesite. It turned out to be a trail to a pioneer cemetary that was really cool. We could see all of Glenwood Springs and the cemetary had an average death date of 1880. We got left around 11:30, made it through some wet roads, and made it home later that night.
Today we got to take out all of our Christmas ornaments. Some people really get into Halloween, but I really like Christmas. Last year we couldnt get all the ornaments on the tree but Lexa found a way this year. There is a lot to get done before Christmas, but it is a fun time of year. We are very excited to get a new stocking for Clara!

Will The Sickness Ever End?

2008-11-19T22:07:00.001-08:00

I wrote 10 days ago about being sick. Well, Lexa got sick the next day and Nolan and Clara got sick the day after that. When the stomach bug finally started to subside, we all had a head cold! Now that that is clearing up, we are getting the stomach bug back!! I am tired of this. But I will say that I have been pretty darn good about not drinking pop! I have had a few here and there, but even when we eat out I have had lemonades instead. Hard to tell if it is helping with still being sick and all, but I really still feel that it is the right answer.

Arent Weekends Great?!

2008-11-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

Nolan and I love to play games, like Ticket to Ride and Catan games, but sometimes have a hard time finding people who love to play as much as we do. We knew a few people in Texas and finally found someone here in Colorado who loves to play as well. We got to spend hours on Friday night at the Pippins house playing games to our hearts content. We played Alhambra, Ticket to Ride, Ruckus, Gillatine (sp?). We are hoping one of the days of forced two week vacation from HP during Christmas will be a good time to play more. We even worked out a way to get my girls to sleep at their house so we didnt need a babysitter.
The next morning we woke up bright and early. I packed while Nolan fed the girls. Around 8:30 we left our house. We dropped Clara off at my mom's house and then went to Colorado Springs. This was our first night without our baby! We went to our old neighbors house who now live in the Springs, left Lexa and went to the BYU/Air Force game. One year we get to see 2 BYU games, the next none. Why cant they play Air Force here one year, then here at CSU the next? Oh well. I was all set to cheer for Air Force, but our tickets were not in the BYU section and Nolan was getting a hard time from an obnoxious fan a few rows up, so I supported my husband instead. Turns out, the more we ignored the guy, the quieter he got. The lady next to me said he was annoying enough to make her even cheer for BYU. The first half was a close game, but the second BYU pulled ahead and stayed ahead. The game was riddled with penalties including one for a defensive delay of game (while they were already at the line of scrimage) and a BYU player who false started about 6 times by himself! It was a good game but it would have been better if it was not so cold. Hand warmers and hot cider helped.
We spent the night at our friends house. We had some awesome Cinnicinati style chili (which I highly recommend to anyone who has not had some before). We were all tired and sick so we went to bed pretty early. Sunday we had a great breakfast, courtesy of Dave, of french toast and bacon. We hung out most of the day and let Lexa play with her friend Julie. They used to fight all the time but are getting better and better every time they see each other. There was only one small incident this time. Katie and I are so happy! After the Broncos game we all went out to eat at Red Robin. The whole weekend I was amazed at the Donohoue's baby because she is sooooooooo quiet and happy.
We headed home to get our baby. My mom did a great job taking care of her overnight. Clara screamed the entire 45 min drive home, making me all the more glad for the one night and two days we had of peace. Babies are HARD WORK!!!!
There is one more funny thing I want to mention. The day before we left our washer would only go straight to final spin and nothing else, so I washed 4 loads at our neighbors house. I tried to scan a picture for Grandpa Wright, the scanner stopped working. When we got home tonight the TV in Lexa's playroom was not showing pictures, just sound. This is a problem we have had before and a friend took the tv apart and fixed it. Our trucks transmission has also been slipping. SO, all these things combined all at once was starting to get to me, especially right before we would be starting to try to buy Christmas present. When we got home tonight Nolan took a look at the scanner. Turned it off, started again, IT WORKS!! Looked at the tv, unplugged it, started it again, IT WORKS!! Again, he unplugged the washer, plugged it back in, and (guess what?) IT WORKS!! For the love of Pete! This always happened while I was growing up as well. Things would be broken but as soon as dad touched anything, it worked again. I guess Nolan also has the special touch.

God is Great!

2008-11-09T21:26:00.000-08:00

I had a small but very nice and impressive experience tonight. Actually I am still having it and hope the bad part will go away soon.
Nolan and I try to keep in mind the principle of Thy Will be Done. So when Lexa asks at night for Clara to stop crying, we try to tell her we need to ask for Heavenly Father to help us know how to help Clara stop crying. Well, when I was pregnant I was very sick my third trimester. I threw up a lot! and ended up in the hospital one night because of it. I was on a lot of drugs until I had Clara to help me feel better. Since then I have had this nauseous feeling come and go about every week. I haven't actually thrown up until tonight. I have had SO many people tell me to just go ahead and be sick, then I will feel better. That never happens for me! I have spent the last two and a half hours being very sick, including my stomach hurting very bad. So as I am in pain and trying to read the Ensign to distract my mind from how bad my body felt, I just started praying and praying and praying for Heavenly Father to take this feeling from me. I told Nolan I would rather have my arm cut open than have this feeling anymore. Well, the answer was easy and immediate. I have always been an admitted pop-aholic. I drink diet, but a LOT of it. The answer is that the carbonation is eating my stomach. Right now I have to make a determination to stop!!! I will probably have some if we go out once in a while, but stop buying it and drinking 5 average a day! I know that this will help my stomach heal, without drugs.
I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to pray. I know I have someone to go to when I feel completely helpless and lost. I wonder how many times I have been given these simple impressions and not listen to them. I hope I can listen harder!

A New Day

2008-11-05T21:51:00.000-08:00

Well, my choice did not win on Tuesday but I am hoping and praying for Obama. It is fun and a little hard to explain the world to a 5 year old but she is like a sponge and ready to learn! She said on Monday that Obama was the bad guy. I told her he wasnt bad but just someone we didnt agree with. When we told her today that Obama won she asked if it was the guy we didnt agree with. When I said yes, she said, "Well, we arent letting him in our house!" It was pretty funny. But I also did my best to try and explain to her the significance of the first black president for our country. She is confused as to how I dont agree with him, voted for a different guy but there are still some good things that have come from this. Sometimes it is also confusing to me but I am trying to make the best of the situation. The best thing now is that it is the end of commercials and 200 calls a day for the election!!! Let me know what you thought of the elections, either local or national!
As for Lexa, she sure loves her Uncle Caleb. He called tonight and I havent heard her chat like that in a while. They talked and talked. It was very cute. She has her big 5 year old check up at the doctor tomorrow and knows she will have a lot of shots. I have bribbed her with ice cream. I think it will work! She wants the giant cup from Sams Club that costs about $1.
Clara has been very fussy and seems to be in pain while she has been eating for a while now. She had been on Zantac for acid reflux before she started eating solid food but the reflux was very slight. We stopped once she started eating solids but the doctor thinks the reflux has come back even stronger. So we doubled her Zantac and hopefully she will be more pleasant during meal times.
One more note. We have a friend with a blog who mentioned her son was eating his pizza with the topping side down (obviously with toppings that didnt fall off too easily) and so she tried it. What a novel idea, letting the toppings hit your tongue instead of the roof of your mouth. I think I will try it tomorrow while watching the Broncos game.

Another week gone by

2008-10-31T22:03:00.000-07:00

On Sunday our ward had their primary program. I am Lexa's teacher and asked her many times a day what her line for the program was, and she knew it. Then she was the only kid who was too shy to spit it out! Then I found out that I inadverdently taught another kid his lines just while in class. Ah well, she has her mom's stage fright.
Monday was uneventful. Tuesday was babysat a couple of kids. Wednesday Lexa got to bring in her birthday treat and show-and-tell. Most kids bring cupcakes on their birthday, but Lexa wanted Entemens chocolate doughnuts. Apparently Walmart in Loveland does not sell those (or they were too lazy to admit it and check it out for me). She brought in a v-tech globe that is pretty cool.
Thursday was Lexa's birthday. She opened presents in the morning and had waffles for breakfast. We got her a v-smile hand-held game system. I dont think she has set it down since. Good thing most of the games are educational! She also got the new TinkerBell movie. It is pretty cute. We went to McDonalds for lunch and she didnt even put her game system down to play at the play place. Then we went to school. It was their Halloween party. Lexa dressed as a butterfly. We cut out wings from cardboard boxes and painted them. She was very insistent that it be a blue butterfly. We also put pipecleaners on a headband. She was adorable but the wings were very unweildy. They were a little too big. That night we had a family and neighbor dinner of quasadillas. That was all one day. whew.
Today we carved some pumpkins, went shopping, made chili for the ward party, did trick-or-treating at HP, then went to the ward party. They had a chili and mac-n-cheese potluck and then the kids played a real life Candyland to find King Candy at the end. It was cool because they left all the parents to chat and eat in the cultural hall while they took our kids. Then Nolan took Lexa around our neighborhood while I put Clara to bed and handed out candy. We dont live in the hotzone of trick-or-treating, but we had a handful of kids. We still have a ton of candy left over, not to mention the candy from trick-or-treating at HP and our neighborhood and the ward party!!
Now we are gearing up for the BYU/CSU football game tomorrow. Go RAMS!!!

We Survived :)

2008-10-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well, about 3 or so families didnt show up to the party, so it wasnt absolutely crazy. It was a lot of fun. Our neighbor Jen helped decorate the day before and spent most of the party helping us with Clara. She is awesome!! We also got to see our friends from Colorado Springs. We love to spend time with them. At times, the Wii tennis tournament seemed more out of control than the kids! One friend cracked her own 2 year old in the head with the Wii-mote, another hit her husband, and my friend from the Springs hit my pinky finger and made it bleed! It was a blast and the final winners were Nolan and Jeff (a dad of a girl from Lexa's preschool class). Shawn and Meredith Logan came in a close second.
Afterwards Jen, Katie Donohoue and I cleaned up as best we could. Then a friend came to help blow out our sprinklers for the winter. It took them a few hours to figure out how to do it. We finally ordered dinner from this awesome restaraunt (not too many to chose from where we live) with the worst name in the world (the Ant's Locker Room). They were pretty good enchiladas. Now the girls have crashed and Nolan and I are ready to do the same. Whew! Now for the primary program tomorrow...

New Hobby

2008-10-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

I feel bad a lot that I dont journal, but I love to read and get to know other people through their blogs. So I thought I might give it the old college try. Maybe now I can help other people get to know me and us, but also I can look back and remember fun things.
A couple of funny things Lexa is saying right now:
The primary program is singing I Am A Child Of God. A line from the 4th verse says "Celestial glory shall be mine, if I can but endure." The primary chorister asked the kids what endure means. Most kids started talking about going indoors. So I asked Lexa later that night what she thought it meant. She thinks it means getting her "butt in doors". It is too cute for me to correct for now. She has a whole lifetime to grow up!
We also were talking a lot about hurricane Ike (some of our hearts are still in Texas). Nolan started noticing that Lexa was pronouncing hurricane a little funny. So I asked her to say it. It sounds exactly like 'whore'ican. It is pretty funny.

Well, we are getting ready for a big birthday party tomorrow. My little Lexa is turning 5. Her birthday is always so close to Halloween that we either have to have the party way early or way late (it is Oct 30th). I wanted to keep it small, but it just kept growing and Growing and GROWING! We will have about 15 families here tomorrow. Kinda freaking out! But it is only from 1-3 so we dont have to have lunch or dinner. We have little gourds for the kids to paint and cookies to decorate and a pinata. Since we invited the whole family we are having a Wii tennis tournament for the adults. We even have a prize, a gift certificate to Target. It should be wild and crazy!!! I havent even tried to REALLY clean the house because I know it will just be trashed anyway. :)

So, there is my first attempt that blogging. Hope you enjoy and please let me know if I am slacking!