Welcome!

Welcome to our new home. I decided to move us in the interest of some increased identity safety. Sorry for the inconvenience of having to change links etc.

Not much has changed. I've been able to move everything over so far except for all of your wonderful comments. Hoping to get that figured out soon.

Wordless Wednesday: Ghost of Christmas Past 2005

Bowling Queen

While in Nevada, we took in a few frames of bowling. Gracie showed quite an aptitude for the sport (If you can call it a sport).

Check out those cute little bowling shoes! Perfect for walking a bowling ball down the lane. Good thing there was some supervision while mom was behind the camera.

Aunt Sara helped her with her technique...
About 5 minutes after its release, the ball would finally reach the pins.
Between her Aunt Sara and the bumpers, Gracie did alright!

Blessings

• Another sunny Sunday afternoon.
  
• Cori who diligently shovels our long driveway and sidewalks. I've done it a couple of times, and its a tall order. Even when it doesn't snow, the wind blows at night and we always have an inch or two across the drive in the morning. Everyone up here has a snow blower. Sadly, our budget currently allows for a shovel, and Cori has been a real champ about it.
  
• The Internet. I did almost all our Christmas shopping online this year, and it was sooooo nice. 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there, whenever I had a chance. It freed up a lot of time for us to focus on some other Christmas service things that we wanted to do. Not to mention being relieved of the adventure that is shopping with small kids.
  
• Our branch family, again. I had so much help again today. As I was struggling out of the chapel with both kids after the sacrament today to feed Grant, a friend hurried to my side to take Grace back with her. I taught in Relief Society today, and Grant was getting really fussy. Another friend took him (to the other side of the building) to rock him. Then, a brother from the branch came by after church to help Cori with the 4Runner. We got new tires on it yesterday, and when Cori went to drive it this morning, one of the tires was flat. We had just gotten it into the garage to see about the spare and decide what we were going to do about tomorrow when Brother G* showed up with an air compressor and some tools. They were able to repair what we think was the problem, and we were spared a lot of time and trouble.

Wordless Wednesday: Sunshine!

Christmas Downtown

Though modest in its size and amenities, Petoskey has a rather popular shopping area downtown known as the gas lamp district. It consists of a few square blocks of clothing boutiques, high-end kitchen/food and home decor shops, restaurants and pubs, and (of course) fudge houses. During the summer tourist season the area is quite busy and keeps rigorous shop hours. During the winter most shops close around 4PM. But on the first Friday of December there is a tradition. The whole district gets closed off to traffic and all the shops have an open house until 9PM. Not only do they open their doors to the public, but they serve food. Our friends the C*'s offered to escort us around. Amy told me that there would be food, and I was expecting it to be like going to Costco. You know, little cups and bites of yummies. Rather, we were treated to generous serving sizes of gourmet soups and appetizers with lots of desserts and hot drinks. It was about 25 degrees outside and the whole town was out celebrating. They had a tree lighting in the park and everyone sang a Christmas hymn together. Where do they do things like this any more?

We visited Kris Kringle at the old library

There were lots of musical performances and Gracie cut straight to the front for each one.

Mitchelle Street. The roaming brass ensemble is on the right. The streets downtown are decked with real garland and wreaths. So beautiful. And check out all our snow!

Petoskey High has a really amazing music program. There is a group of 20 or so students that puts together a steel drum band to play Christmas songs for this night every year. This is where we ran into the biggest crowd and I wasn't able to get the best picture.

I should have given the camera to Grace who cut right up to the front of the stage.

It was such a fun night. It felt the way Norman Rockwell pictures feel. Who wants to come out for next year's?

Blessings

• Having a night out with Cori this week. We went to a Christmas party for the Northern Michigan Regional Manufacturer's Society (or something like that). Cori was profited an invite courtesy of the Honeywell site at which he works. It was at a beautiful country club in Charleviox. Dinner was delish--we got our first taste of the famed Michigonian white fish--, we met some neat people, and we even won one of the door prizes.


• Our branch family. Friday night, a couple escorted us to the annual Christmas celebration in downtown Petoskey (post about this to follow). We had a lot of fun with them. And I always have help on Sundays with Grace and Grant. During Sacrament meeting, Gracie has her favorite people to sit with, and I'm free to take care of Grant. This Sunday, I taught during the third hour and my Relief Society pals insisted on taking Grant with them. So very nice. We really feel that we are part of a family out here.


• Being in Young Women's again (if only for a little while). Our young women's organization is staffed by 1 (only one) superwoman. She was out of town this weekend, and asked me to sub. I loved being in with the girls and getting to know them better.


• The sunshine this afternoon. It has been weeks since we have had blue sky and sunshine. But this afternoon we opened all our blinds and took a lavish nap in the brilliant light! It was made all the brighter by the blanket of snow outside.

What I've been reading

I actually finished Blink some 3 or 4 months ago. I found it completely fascinating. Gladwell is able to write about some rather technical and complex ideas in a vernacular that makes it all seem so understandable and entertaining. This book caused me to take a look at the way I think about things, the way I make decisions, and the way I watch commercials. As I got to the end of the book, I got a little frustrated because it seemed that he was arguing both sides of a debate: is it better to go with your gut (because there is so much that we subconsciously understand) or is it better to really reason things out. It seemed to me that he spent half the book in either camp. But his concluding chapter reconciled all this. He describes how gut instincts are best for certain kinds of decisions, while reason and comparison are best for others. I won't spoil it by telling you which is which. :D

Of course, we picked up The Deathly Hallows as soon as it was released. I'm proud to say that life as we knew it did not get put on hold for an all day read-a-thon. Our whole married life long, we've read these books together. Yes, we sit side by side and nod to each other when we are ready to turn pages. Actually, it is a really fun way to read a book because we can speculate about events as they unfold. But last summer, we were toooooo busy. I think I started it during our camping trip at Payson Lakes, and finished it on the way to Woodbadge. Cori didn't read it until a little later. I had to keep all my thoughts and predictions

to myself as I read. But we loved it, of course. Not only for its great literary merit (please read my sarcastic tone here), but for its wonderful fantasy and adventure. And we just wanted to know how it would all turn out. It was a fun little ride.

As soon as we got home from the hospital, I started a few re-reads. On Becoming Babywise is the sleep-guide book I referenced most when Gracie was a baby. I noticed a few months ago that this issue of baby sleep was being discussed a whole lot in my little bloggy circle. It can be a bit of a touchy subject. I really love the approach and most of the methods suggested in this book. I never had to "Ferberize" Grace, and she started sleeping through the night fairly early, and has been a good sleeper overall. Though, I should say that I have nothing against the Ferber method. I don't find it cruel or abusive. I'm just very grateful I didn't have to use it. (Yet) Grant is a more fussy baby than Grace was, but he is developing good sleep habits too. I really attribute their success to following the methods in this book. I also like the book Secrets of the Baby Whisperer.

Wordless Wednessday: Grace, December 2005

Zzzzzz

I got so much sleep last night! I feel like a new woman and just had to share. Gracie had been having trouble sleeping through the night ever since our Thanksgiving trip and Grant is still just a little lad... but last night Gracie slept from 7:30PM-8:00AM and Grant slept from 10:30PM-6:30AM. This I can do.

And when I ran the spellcheck on this paragraph I saw a message rarely seen by my eyes: "No Misspellings Found." I should sleep like this more often!

Blessings

• My mom. This Monday was an awful, no-good, very bad day kind of day. When I'm having days like these, I can pick up the phone and my mom still knows how to make everything better.



• My Grandma Bettie and Mama Jo are safely in Nevada. For about a year now, plans have been in the works to move these two precious ladies to Gardnerville to be closer to my parents. Attempt #1 had to be aborted, but attempt #2 was a success.



• Sharing my testimony in Church today. Usually sacrament meeting is a little interesting because of Grant's feeding schedule and because Cori sits on the stand- leaving me with a hungry baby and a busy toddler. But Grant slept in this morning changing his schedule up a little, and Gracie was happy to run up onto the stand with me to be with her dad. It was strengthening for me to share what was in my heart.



• An afternoon in a quiet house. Right now all my babies (Cori included) are sleeping. I should probably be sleeping too. What a waste of free time when there are dishes to do, food to cook for or Branch activity tonight, scriptures to read, and Christmas music to listen to.



• The First Presidency's Christmas devotional tonight. I love this broadcast. Its the best way to bring in the Christmas season.

The Reason

"We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son."

The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles

Tagged

So, I've been tagged a couple of times to complete a little list of things about myself that I've not posted before, or that are strange or largely unknown. I hope my dear friends won't mind if I combine their requests and bend the rules a little. Here is a list of 7 things about me that you may or may not know. If you feel like telling the rest of us about yourself in similar fashion, consider yourself tagged, and leave a comment on this post letting us know that you've accepted the challenge! I'd love to learn more about you.

1. Though I've spent my life dreaming of travel in far off places, I find I'm becoming some what of a home body. I think this is due mostly to having children now, and the reality of traveling with kids is not an easy one. I'm so grateful that I've had the opportunity to travel as much as I have. I'm so lucky to have a husband who loves travel as much as I do. We've taken off on some pretty cool adventures. But the more I see of the world, the more I love being in my own space, on my own schedule, with my own babies. (That being said, I'd still be willing to drop it all for two tickets to Europe. I'm not completely cured. Just very happy in my more home bound state)

2. I have an unnatural fear of bees. Once, while stopped at a traffic light, a bee flew into my car and I actually tried jumping out. My seat belt restrained me, and I fought it. It must have been quite the scene. The light turned green, cars were honking, I was still frantically trying to free myself from the seat belt... The most pathetic part of it is that I've never actually been stung. Its probably not that bad, right?

3. I'm so anxious to see the good in people that I often overlook their flaws. Though this sounds like a good thing, its gotten me into trouble more than a few times. There is such a thing as righteous judgement.

4. Twice in my life I really wanted to quit the piano. I will be eternally grateful to my parents who didn't give me the choice.

5. I've never been good at spelling. Through the last few years of elementary school I was in a Gifted and Talented Education program (G.A.T.E. to any of you who endured So. Cal. schools back in the day) and I thought I was pretty hot stuff. We had a spelling test at the end of each year--only ten words taken from a larger list. Those who scored 100% on the test got a special t-shirt that could be worn on Fridays. I coveted those shirts my whole childhood and never got a-one. My sixth grade year, my last chance for redemption, I misspelled the word 'sentence'. So bad. To this day, I cannot do anything without sending it through spell check. Even when I hand write notes, I double check words in a Word document.

6. My favorite color is the hue that is created by late afternoon sun on a field of wheat. It makes me feel happiness, longing, joy, peace, and completion all at the same time.

7. I talk to myself a lot. Out loud. Really, I do. If you could be a fly on the wall while I cook, you'd think I was auditioning to have my own show. When Gracie catches me in the act, she'll tug on my pants and calmly say, "Mommy, stop it."

Wordless Wednesday: Double Feature

Happy with his Dad

Nap time vs. Lunch time

She enjoyed that whole apple with eyes wide shut

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Grant Sept. 24

Blessings

* Seeing the first snowfall before leaving for our Thanksgiving holiday.

* Being able to travel across the country to visit with family. It isn't cheap. It isn't easy. But we are grateful that we can do it. Why does Michigan have to be so far away?

* 3 1/2 wonderful days at home in Gardnerville where we were able to witness and participate in Jared's ordination to the Melchizedek priesthood. This was so important to me, and I will always be thankful that I could be there.

* Seeing Grandma Bettie (my grandmother) and Mama Jo (my great-grandmother) in UT. Due to some last minute changes in Thanksgiving plans, we got to drive out to UT for the second half of our trip. My mom's sister and her family were there (minus only one cousin--we missed you Daniel). Its the first time in at least 15 years that we have all been together like that.

* Getting both of our families together for Grant's blessing. All of my immediate family, including those just mentioned, and all of Cori's- except for Damien and his fam- got together at the hotel we were staying at. One of Cori's uncles was in town with his family and they were able to make it as well. My dad rented the conference room for the evening and we ate dinner together and had a wonderful time catching up with everyone. It was amazingly special to be together like that to officially welcome Grant to the world and the Church.

* Being back home again. The kids are getting back onto their schedules. Grant is almost sleeping through the night. We've got a lot of work to do. Its good to be home.

Recap Part VI: The House

Okay, this will be the last instalment in the recap series. I just wanted to share a little list of all the work that we (we ='s me, Cori, Sandy, Ray, Jared and Sara) have done on the house in the 2 short months we've been living there. Here it is:

• 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms painted
• exterior shutters hung
• interior blinds installed
• shower curtain rails installed
• bathroom hardware installed
• 2 decks stained
• lattice hung below both decks
• lots of furniture picked out, purchased, and placed
• 1 BBQ assembled
• landscaping started
• mail box put up
• house numbers installed
• washer and dryer purchased and installed

This is all the stuff we did on our own. We also began the construction on the basement as quickly as we could. Our contractor pulled his building permit the day that Grant was born. It has taken a lot longer than we planned, but he's kept pretty well within the budget we set, so we can't complain. The whole project got set back nearly two weeks while we waited for the fireplace to be installed... Anyway, we're getting close the end, and we are so excited to have that space! Here's a little peek at the progress. It went from empty to being framed in about 4 days.

Then, after all the plumbing was in, all the information and power lines pulled through the walls, and the fireplace finally installed they came and hung the drywall. They finished all the finishing work on the drywall the day before we left to come to NV for Thanksgiving. I took a few pictures that night. So its textured, primed and waiting for us to come home and paint!

This is the bathroom.

This is taken from the guest bedroom. You are all welcome to come and stay! The door on the right goes out to the living area, and the door on the left goes into the bathroom.
This is the main living area. The fireplace is further off to the left.
This is the view coming up the stairs into our upstairs living area.
So, once we have all the painting done, they'll install the finish lumber, flooring, and the rest of the lighting and bathroom fixtures, and voila! I'll finally get the rest of our stuff unpacked, and we can really start decorating.

Well, that's what we've all been up to. You are officially up to date!

Recap Part V: Visitors (AKA Life Savers)

The last couple of months would not have been possible without the unmeasurable help of some amazing family members.

First, my brother Jared came out the weekend we moved into our new house. He lifted boxes, organized the garage, kept me company, helped Cori move the furniture, helped me unpack, and played with Grace. It was a treat for me to be able to talk with him and spend some quality one on one. Isn't he just so handsome? Sorry ladies, he's putting in mission papers.

The day he left, we welcomed my sweet mother-in-law, Sandy. She stayed for a marathon-esque 2 1/2 weeks. It was so wonderful. Especially for Grace. I got to sleep and rest and figure things out with Grant, and Gracie got 200% more undivided attention than usual. Sandy took care of so much around the house--she was always cooking or sweeping or changing laundry. Not to mention all the painting she helped us do the weekend before we had Grant (and putting up with me!). Thanks again, Mom O!
Part way through her stay, her hubby Ray joined us. He also helped so much with things that we wanted to do around the house and with playing with Gracie. This guy knows how to have fun. (Don't be alarmed. That's a non-alchi drink he's got there!) It was really nice having them both here with us.
Just over lapping their stay was my sister's. Sara came and stayed with us for just over 2 weeks as well. It was a little piece of heaven to bum around with her, plan meals with her, go shopping with her, and work around the house with her.

Conspicuous by their absence were my own parents. My mother had a knee replacement surgery just a few weeks before Grant was born, making it pretty much impossible for her to make the transcontinental voyage to stay with us. I missed my mom so much during this time. But lots of phone calls and cards from home helped ease the hurt. We'll look forward to having them stay with us soon.

So there you have it. The great secret to our success. Thanks again all! We couldn't have made it without you!

Recap Part IV: Me

For me, the last couple of months have been exciting, overwhelming, fun, exhausting and memorable. I can say that I am certain that this is where we are meant to be, and that we came at the right time. I can also say--with absolute certainty-- that I will never, EVER move that close to a due date again.

I'm staying busy with the usual daily mommy tasks. Grant is responding well to our routine. I'm so grateful to have some structure and predictability back in my life. The house keeps us hopping too. We have workers at the house for one thing or other every single day. We are currently having the basement finished. We're getting close. But if there isn't someone over to work, our contractor comes over for one reason or other. Then, we've had a laundry list of other visitors. Most recently, the task of finally getting information lines pulled out to our house so we could get our internet, cable and phone service. Oh, and our oven and dryer (both gas operating)started filling our house with the smell of burnt kerosene oil. So there was the visit from the gas inspector Friday, wherein he informed me that the smell was not coming from the gas and that he had no idea what could be causing the problem. So this morning someone is coming to look at the dryer. There's always something, right?

I've also been called into the Relief Society presidency in our branch. I love the sisters that I'm working with and for. There is a special feeling in the branch. The active members have been loving and serving the Lord and each other for so long now. It is a very close family kind of group.

I'm really looking forward to the next couple of months. Holiday time with family will be so welcomed. And then, once the basement is finished I can finish unpacking and organizing everything. And THEN, I'll be able to get to the projects I've been planning in my mind for a little while now: scrapbooks, organizing our digital photos from the last several months, and maybe even getting my sewing machine out. Cori's family has recently started a fitness challenge which is helping me get into the swing of exercising again.

Here are a few pics:

Gracie took this one at Sunset Park the night before we had Grant

Just minutes before going into the OR. It was so weird having a planned C section. Entirely too predictable!

Recap Part III: Cori

The last couple of months have been pretty huge for this guy. After moving our little family across the country, we bought our first home and he started a new job, became the father of 2, and turned 30. He's really loving his new role at work. Cori is a people person, and its very fulfilling for him to be one on one, influencing change, and seeing results from the decisions he is making. He's happy when he comes home and he's excited to go to work the next day.

Aside from work, Cori has kept himself very busy. He is so much help to me at home. He and Grace have breakfast together most mornings before he goes to work giving me another 20-30 minutes to sleep. He has spent time almost every Saturday working on the house. (Details about all we've done around here--with the help of many others--to come shortly) He has also been called into the Branch Presidency as a counselor. Part of this calling includes being the Young Men's president. We love our little branch and this calling has been a special experience for Cori and the rest of us already.





I know I can speak for him when I say that he really loves Michigan. Our only complaint is that we are so far away from family and friends. But he, like myself, has been so impressed with how beautiful the country and the people are here.

Recap Part II: Gracie

Miss Grace has really blossomed into the funnest little kid. We figured she'd have spunk. And she has exceeded our expectations. She's really lots of fun, and a great little buddy for me. Some of Gracie's favorite things of late:

• Coloring. She will sit with a coloring book and her twist-up crayons for a very long (toddler ) time.
• Running and jumping. She loves to play "run away" which consists of her running into another room (laughing hysterically) until you go and find her. Then she runs into another room etc. etc... Did this kid spend to much time in an apartment or what? And she still loves jumping. Every night after our family prayer, she hops to each of us to give kisses. This became quite the little work out while Sandy, Ray and Sara were here. Thats a lot of hopping.
• Jungle Book (Nyungle Book) and Cinderella (Inderehee). Most of the time, she watches Jungle Book standing so she can march like the elephants and dance like Balou and King Louis.
• Counting. She can count to twenty, although she likes to skip the number four for some reason. You can bet that if there is a collection of something somewhere, Gracie will take the time to count it out for you.
• Books. Gracie still loves her Princess ABC book, and all of her Sandra Boynton stories. She will go through her whole book shelf if someone will sit and read with her long enough.
• Helping Mom. Like I said, she is my little buddy. She helps with grant, with the laundry, unloading the dishwasher, cleaning the bathrooms, and putting on make-up. I love it. Every night, we put on our aprons, play some fun music and cook dinner together.

Northern Michigan has a lot of working farms. And we got here just in time for the Festival season. Every weekend there was a Harvest Festival or an Apple Festival going on somewhere. The farms look like something out of a fairy tale. It was so much fun to see the country, eat the great food (Honey Crisp apples, caramel apple pie, apple cider slushies, fresh produce, home made breads) and play with the animals. Gracie especially loved the latter.

This was taken at the Harvest Festival at Friske Farms.

And these are from Old Mill Pond Farm

Check out those trout. The pond was a little over stocked I think.
All in all,our little California girl is adjusting well to her new mid-western home.

We celebrated her 2nd birthday at the begining of October. We all wore Mickey mouse ears, even Grant. The evening started out with a yummy taco salad... Grace loooooves taco salad.
Followed by the Nemo cake made by her aunt Sara.
Then some great presents. By the way, Mom O, Gracie wears her apron on a daily basis, and loves looking through her cook book. She also received a little clothes shopping spree, the poor kid needed it, and...
This great Radio Flyer trike.
I'm excited to get her involved in the things going on in the community this winter. Our library has a lot of things for kids her age, and there is a toddler gym that is open during the winter months.