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.

Hurray!

I'm back-- at last! Yesterday we finally, FINALLY got our very own internet access. Yes, this whole time I have not been purposefully neglecting the blog. We have been these last several weeks without internet, TV, or a home phone. Being without TV has been a good thing, but the absence of the internet as been a little isolating. In the time since we last visited, the leaves have gone from green, to a rainbow of fall colors (pictured to the left) to gone. Amazing.

So, are you ready? I'm gonna fill you in on everything! But just at the pace of one family member/ subject a day.

So nice to be connected y'all. Sure have missed you!

Recap Part I: Grant

We are all just so in love with this baby! Grant is a perfect little version of his handsome Dad. He spends his days and nights doing the usual new born things: sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating, excreting, sleeping, eating... Grant also spends easily one minute out of every five stretching and grunting. Has anyone else had a baby that does this? He does it asleep, awake, in the middle of feedings... It is loud and ever present, but not without reason.

At birth, Grant was 7 lbs. 11oz and 19 inches. At his 1 month appointment, he was just over 10 lbs and over 22 inches long. The poor little guy is growing at a crazy rate. He's in the 90th + percentile for his length.

Ahhh, that was a good stretch. I love being a mom times 2. Gracie is very helpful and concerned about "Baby Nant." Already, I cannot imagine our little family without him.