Happy Birthday Gabby!

6 years ago we were living in my parent's basement while I was finishing up school at WSU and we had a little bit of a hobo spider problem. We tried spider traps and sprays which helped, but then Jarom had the idea of getting a cat (who generally love eating spiders). I was a bit skeptical at first, never having had a cat. We were dog people growing up. But after getting permission from my parents, we went to the animal shelter and found the cutest little kitten I had ever seen. She had a sister in the cage with her, but two kittens would have been too much (although now I wish we did have them both!). So we got our little kitten and she was an excellent little spider predator, but more than that, she burrowed a place into my heart and I fell in feline love with my kitty.
Then, as it took us a few years before we were able to have children, Gabby took the role of needy dependent and made sure that we learned to worship her adequately. She still will often sleep in our bed (sometimes cleaning our foreheads during the night if our level of cleanliness doesn't quite live up to her code). After we lost our first little baby, Gabby stayed by my side for weeks and was so comforting to me and greatly added to my healing. Then when I got pregnant with Isaac a few months later and spent months on bedrest, she was my constant companion (since she spends most of the day in bed anyway). We were quite the pair.Since having kiddos, though, her role in the family has changed a bit. Instead of being THE PRINCESS, she has been downgraded to just being the princess. She doesn't demand quite as much attention from us any more and has reluctantly agreed to let Isaac shower his love and attention on her. Isaac claims her completely and corrects me if I call her my kitty. No Mommy, he says, Gabby is Isaac's kitty. So even though my actions may not always show it, I love my cat and I so happy that she has joined our family. She is the best, most beautiful cat and I am so glad that she is mine, err, Isaac's. Happy 6th Birthday Gabbi-rella! (Isaac speak for Gabriella)

I think I'm a bad mom

I was at the store yesterday getting groceries and was scoping out the Kool-Aid when two other women were kind of blocking the isle. I maneuvered around them to grab a few packets when one woman said to me something about how she never lets her kids drink Kool-Aid. Well, I said, it's better than soda! And she replied, I don't let them drink that either. Then I looked at the coco puffs cereal I had also added to my cart, and then the guilt sank in. Am I a bad mom for letting my child drink Kool-aid? I know that it's just ridiculously concentrated food coloring with a hint of flavor, and I rationalize that I only had half of the recommended sugar, but it's getting him to drink fluid, right? Then with the cereal, is it bad to let my son eat the sugary concoction at will? Often, many times a day? It's better than candy, sure, but healthy? Ok, maybe not. At least it has whole grains and some nutritional fortitude... or so the rationalizing continues.

Then I get to thinking about other kid foods, like hot dogs, chicken nuggets, etc. Why is it that my son will choose a greasy hot dog over something wonderful like grilled chicken or steak? Is there something in those overly processed meat products (if you can call them that?) that calls to the appetites of our little ones? But, my little inner voice says, at least he's getting some protein.

Then I have experiences like tonight when I look over and see my son willingly put some green beans and carrots in his mouth, chew, and actually look happy about it! Then I think, ok, even though he had Spaghetti-o's for lunch, at least he ate three bites of vegetables of his own accord. That's gotta count for something, right?

Almost done!

The latest forecast shows that we will most likely be able to move in to our new house the first weekend in September, yeah! We've been packing up a few boxes just about every day and it's finally starting to feel real. While I hate moving, it does feel good to go through my stuff and get rid of things along the way. I think the real de-junking will take place as I'm unpacking and getting tired of putting things away that I haven't even touched in the last three years.
My kitchen - it looks so nice with the appliances in! I think this is my favorite room in the house and I just can't wait to get my grubby hands in there and put everything in order.
Today my BFF Mandy was sealed to her sweet little baby Sidney and we were able to be with them in the temple for that wonderful ceremony. Then afterwards they blessed her at their church and had a luncheon to follow. Andrea had her baby there too, who is 5 weeks old now, so we lined the kids up (who were amazingly all asleep!) and took pics of the kids - small, medium, and large. Too cute!!! Then of course, a few minutes after we took this, Isaac woke up Emilie, who started crying, who then woke up Sidney, poor girl! She was already having a long day!
Then a few days ago, we took the kiddos to Thanksgiving Point ($2 Tuesdays in August - HUGE CROWDS!) and Isaac had fun playing in the little water area. We weren't planning on going there initially, so I didn't bring his swimming suit, but he was happy to just run around in his shorts and get soaked. What a skinny kiddo!
This is in front of their large waterfalls, very pretty! The gardens are very nice, but it was so hot so we didn't see everything. We had hoped to go to the dinosaur museum that day, but the line was wrapped around the building! But this was a good alternative, and with all the open space, the kids could run around and get their wiggles out.

Isaac words

Isn't it amazing to see the world through the eyes of a child? For example, instead of piggy back rides, Isaac likes turtle rides. Well, if you know anything about Isaac, you know how CRAZY he is about cars, trucks, and almost any other major mode of transportation. He loves fire trucks, garbage trucks, sweeper trucks, roller trucks, and on and on and on. He is also very aware of the components on trucks, especially tires. Lately, he's been talking about two types of tires in particular, Poughcht tires and Heim-heim tires (heim for short). Today we made some headway into the difference between them.

Poughcht (think of the German throat-clearing sound) Tires are most often dual tires, like on semi trucks and ridiculously sized pick-ups.

Heim Tires, on the other hand, are single tires.

Sometimes when he sees large trucks with single tires but he thinks they should be duals, they still fall into the category of Poughcht tires. Our van, however, just has Heim tires.

I didn't know.

Here's a few more pics from our trip to California last week, these pics from the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

BUSTED

So I was driving home from getting my hair cut (Thanks Taryn!) and was making my way south on Highland approaching 9400 S to turn right and head down to 1300 E. Well, the light was red, and the eastbound traffic had a turn arrow, so I slowed down, nearly to a stop, assessed the situation, and turned right. Well, a *cough* *cough* nice cop saw my not-quite-a-complete-stop and pulled me over. Yeah, I got a ticket, and a lecture, and a possible seat in traffic school. I hadn't been pulled over since I was in high school (if you don't count the "warning" I got in college once) and was, needless to say, quite embarrassed by the whole situation. So much for a flawless driving record, and so much for Jarom's theory that minivans are invisible to law enforcement officers.

At least my hair looked good.

Another house update

So it's been a week since we last saw the house (being on vacation and all...), so it was so much fun for us to go out there tonight and see everything that has been done in just one week!The outside of the house is just about done. I think all that is left now is to pour the steps leading to the front door, the sidewalk, and pour the driveway.A close up of the entryway.

The windows on the garage. I've never seen these windows on another house, but I thought they looked neat.
Here's my kitchen where lots of yummy meals will be made. I can hardly wait to have so much cabinet space! And while I would have loved the staggered cabinets, Jarom said that he'll get the molding to finish off the tops. I love having a handy hubby. :)Here's a close up of the vinyl flooring. Yeah for easy to clean floors with little kids!
And here's my counter tops. I saw these in a few of the spec homes and thought it looked so pretty! Here's the powder room that we were too cheap to have the builder put in.... for some reason, they installed the toilet and sink anyway. We asked them to just rough in the bathroom and we were planning on finishing it after we move in. I half expect them to be gone by the time we close, but if not, less work for us to do as soon as we move in! This is the doorway leading into the laundry room. I just love the beadboard pattern on the doors!!!
This is the counter in the kids' bathroom. The master bath looks about the same, only with two sinks.
Some of the lights are already installed, the outlet plates are on and the deck is up in the back. It all looks so nice! They also put in a garage door opener that we didn't order - another thing we were just going to do ourselves after we move in, but if it's still there when we close, I won't mind! Still no word on a closing date, but we don't have much farther! Maybe 3 weeks or so?

Breaking Dawn

If you have not yet read Breaking Dawn and do not want to hear some plot spoilers, please do not read this post! Ok, now that you have been warned, I want to just write a few things that I have been pondering this evening after finishing Breaking Dawn this afternoon.

I thought the beginning of the book was WONDERFUL! The wedding, the honeymoon, the pregnancy, loved it, loved it, loved it! But then it started going downhill for me. By the end, it seemed more like a sci-fi movie than a romance thriller with everyone and their special powers and protection shields.

It seemed like Renesmee's growth just sped up a little to fast, but I guess they did just skip a few months there. But still, it seemed a bit convenient that she was talking in complex sentences just about instantly. And the name Renesmee?!? Yeah.

And the whole "fight" with the volturi seemed so lame to me! I was expecting a huge battle, a big climax, lots of tension, but no. the Volturi just gave up, realized their defeat, and backed away. I would have love to have one of them die, especially if it would have been some accident that one of them killed another. Something more severe than just a tittle shame would have been more satisfying. It seemed to me that by the end of the book, Meyers was too intent on getting her paycheck than finishing the story more completely. (don't even get me started on the typos!!) I am disappointed in the way this series ends. Even Belle should have been left with a little bit of a scar from her encounter instead of becoming some mega vampire who, all of a sudden, has this perfect life with her perfect husband, perfect child, and perfect tie now with Jacob. Even her human family situation is working out a bit too perfectly with Charlie all of a sudden embracing her strange new life. A little too perfect, she should have had something off to have to deal with as a result of her becoming a vampire.

I would have also liked to have seem more about the Romanian vampires (for obvious reasons). Couldn't they have brought some younger vampires along for the show? Maybe some women in the group? Ok, I know this is a mute point, but it would have been more fun for me. :)

Ok, there's my rambling for tonight. I know that I am often unusually opinionated and picky about books, but I had such high hopes for this one and was a bit disappointed. Please tell me what you think!

California vacation

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Shameless plugs

So there's been a few good finds lately that I thought I would pass along. The first two have to do with our little trip down here in sunny (and humid!) California.

The first is my awesome Aunt Chris's little boutique called Curby's Closet. I knew that she had some cute things that I had seen on her Etsy page, but we went by her house last night and I actually SAW all the adorable dresses she has in her house and was AMAZED!!! She had two long racks of dresses, plus a few more hanging on other racks, not to mention the shoes and bonnets and other adorable accessories! If you are looking for some adorable vintage dresses, whether to collect, to dress your baby in, or just to love, please look at her website and fall in love with the gems that she has acquired! Look at her blog to see the cute little fashion show, Through the Garden Gate. She will have another one coming soon with babies in the flower bed featuring the cutest little girl this side of the Mississippi, so stay tuned for that! :)Our next great find while in California is a restaurant down the street from our hotel, El Torito. We went there for dinner on Saturday night and LOVED it! It ranks right up there as one of the best Mexican restaurants I've ever eaten at. Both Jarom and I had carnitas tamales, cheese enchiladas, and hard tacos, and it was tasty! It was my first time having a freshly-made hard-shell taco, wow! And the biggest test - Isaac even ate! So if you come down to OC and are looking for some good Mexican food, I would suggest eating there.My next shout out has nothing to do with our vacation, but something that I just think is hilarious, the cake wrecks blog. I would highly recommend subscribing to this RSS feed so that you don't miss out on a single entry. I have never laughed so hard at (1) the hilarious pictures and (2) the even more hilarious descriptions and captions. (My favorite so far is Drew's Birthday Wish on July 30th.) If you're ever having a bad day and really need a good laugh, go check it out.

Please help!

For a while now, Isaac goes around the house singing "Rawley Dahlis! Rawley Dahlis!" We have NO idea who or what Rawley Dahlis is, and we can never get a straight answer out of him what it is. In fact, when we ask questions, he answers with even crazier questions, like "is going to the temple to get married?"

Rawley Dahlis
Known facts:

• is a girl
• wears a pink shirt and blue pants
• is not a truck
• is not on TV
• is not learned from nursery
  
• all stands up, then falls down
  

Does this sound at all familiar to anyone out there?!? Any clues what on earth a Rawley Dahlis is? Thanks for your help!

Cute kiddos

Happy Birthday to Lincoln last week! He had a fun Dinosaur birthday party last week at the park. We all had such a fun time!
And look at these darling cupcakes Rachele made for the party - how cute are these?!?!?
Last night we got together with Jarom's brother, wife, and kid at his parents house and took some pictures of the cute cousin girls together. Emilie is almost 2 months older than Michaela. Aren't the adorable?!?
It was nearly impossible to get a picture of them with both of their eyes open, and towards the end, Michaela didn't want anything to do with the photo shoot. She still looks cute though! Emilie was a pretty good sport and was mostly curious about what all the commotion was about.

House Update

We went out to the house on Thursday night and took some more pics. All the dry wall is done and the outside of the house is prepped for stucco. I can't wait to see what it looks like at the end of this week! It looks like things are still on schedule to be done by the end of this month. Wow! It's starting to get a little scary now that it's really coming down to it! Anyone want to help me pack my junk? :)