Legacy

Well, I've definitely had some mixed feelings the last 2 weeks. Things were really busy right after Christmas as we hosted our first Holiday Party. I invited mostly friends from highschool, and a few other good friends. We tried to keep the amount of people low, since it was our first party. We ended up having about 20 people. It was lots of fun to catch up with friends. And we will definitely do it again. Shortly after that we had friends over for New Years Eve. Just 2 of our best friends, Madi and Porter Moses. It was lots of fun to play games and relax after the kids went to bed. Andrew and Porter lit off fireworks at midnight, and we were looking forward to an amazing 2012.


About 8 hours later I received a phone call. It was my dad. His mother, my grandmother had passed away in the early hours of New Years Day. It was hard to hear my dad fighting back the tears. The phone call was quick. The day was going to be very busy for him. Andrew and I were starting new callings that day (Andrew teaching CTR5, and me in Senior Nursery) so, we went to church and then headed to Boise to spend the day with family. That week was full of moments of sadness but also moments where I was grateful for my eternal family. Friday night we went to her viewing, and spent time with some family. It was wonderful to see aunts, uncles, and cousins from near and far. 


On Saturday, January 7th we attended her funeral. I was able to join other cousins and sing "Be Still My Soul" during the services. I cried a lot more than I wanted to through out the song. But it was a very spiritual moment for me. The speakers, songs, and prayers were all tear jerking, but wonderful. My aunt Lajuana gave her "life sketch" at the funeral and she spoke of memories that we had. Some of my favorite memories of my Grammy are:


-Pancakes shaped like animals. When we slept over we got animal pancakes for breakfast. 
-My grandma always sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow to the grandkids
-We always played games like phase 10, solitaire, and marbles 
-Her delicious Chicken and Noodles Dinner


One of my most interesting memories was when I told my Grandma & Grandpa that Andrew and I were getting married. They were excited, but I remember my grandma being concerned. She asked if I would be able to take care of Andrew if he got sick. I thought maybe it was because Andrew had a heart condition. But at her funeral I learned that in their first few years of marriage, my grandpa was very sick with ulcers. She had to take care of my grandpa, and when they had children it was even more difficult. So, now I know why she asked me such an interesting question. And it makes me understand her even more.

June 2006 - My Wedding

July 2009 - Beth & Grammy

July 2010 - Grammy, My Mom, Me & Beth

Halloween 2010

Grandpa & Grammy with Amielia June 2011

- Pure Joy -

Although I have many MANY more pictures with my Grammy. I don't have them available to me right now. 


One of the speakers, Charles Dahlquist, spoke of my grandma's legacy. That we can honor her by living up to it. And that really stuck with me. My grandma was an amazing woman. She had 5 boys, raised them all with love, sent all 5 on missions, kept her house immaculate, fed many MANY hungry family members with delicious homemade food, and inspired so many. And she inspires me. And her legacy will live on. 


Until Next Time,


Happy Blogging

The Truth About Christmas

The Truth about Christmas is that, well, sometimes it's PURE CRAZINESS. Especially with 2 young kids. But I feel like this year, we did a lot of the things we wanted to. We decorated our house, not as much as Andrew wanted, but enough to feel non-scrooge like. We got practical gifts. We got a few fun ones for the kids. And I finished all the gifts I was working on BEFORE Christmas eve. So, I was able to relax. 


Last year we decided to make our own family traditions for Christmas Eve. Up until 2010, we'd unsuccessfully split our time between Andrew's family, who has a white elephant gift exchange. And my family, who has a Birthday Party for my cousins Austin and Kayla. They turned 17 this year, so it's been a tradition for awhile. But we really felt like having our own traditions was important. So we started some. We read stories, watch movies, and went to look at lights. We added a Chicken and Noodle dinner this year, and we plan to do it every year. All in all we felt very blessed this year....here are some pictures as an overview....


Here are my girls in their Christmas Jammies.

I was very happy with our tree and decorations this year. Simple. Classic. Done.

Stockings.

And a few presents I took pictures of.

We have been very blessed this year. Our Holidays were crazy, but good. And I am always grateful for the two beauties in my life.

Beth is growing bigger and smarter every day. She asks "What's that?" about 20 times a day. I have to remind myself that it's important to answer those questions. No matter how many times she asks. Recently Beth started waking up again in the middle of the night, fighting nap time, and getting up way too early....it's like having TWO babies. But I have to remember that it's life. And these stages pass too quickly. So we give her loves, and explain why she can't sleep in our bed, or stay up till midnight, or skip a nap. And we try to remember that every day is an adventure.


Ami just passed the 6 month mark and is right on track for growth. She's a smiley baby most of the time. She is still having sleeping issues. But I have to remind myself that there could be worse things. She has a love/hate relationship with rice cereal and we will start feeding her some baby food soon, and that's sure to be entertaining!


Well, I can't believe 2011 is almost over. A LOT has happened for us. I hope things with YOU have been as exciting as things have been with us. Have a Happy New Year!


Till Next Time....


Happy Blogging!

Family.

It's what it all comes down to right? Family. So, when my laundry is not done, my dishes are piling up, and my two year old says "Mere (come here) mom, mere, play, hide, with Beth?".....I play with her. And when my husband comes home at 10:30pm from a long day at work,  even though I'm exhausted, I stay up with him. And when my 5 month old is cooing when she's supposed to be asleep, I play with her. Because that's what matters.

So, although the last few months have been slow (compared to this summer with a new baby and our first house!) a few things have happened. We had Halloween, which was awesome. And we were able to go to Washington, which is one of my favorite places to be. Eric and Jackie were sealed for all Eternity in the Columbia River Temple. It was an amazing day. I can't wait until we have the Boise temple re-opened, and the Meridian temple! It will be such a blessing to have 2 temples so close! 

Ami is now 5 months old! She can roll over, both ways, but would much prefer to sit up in her bumbo. She likes to be part of the action! I recently gave up my office/craft room, to be Ami's bedroom, for now. I have had Ami in a bassinet for the past 5 months, knowing that between 4-6 months I wanted to move her into Beth's room. I shared a room with my sister from the day I was born, up to the day I got married, 18 years later. So, I always wanted my girls to share a room. But Ami wasn't sleeping very well. And since I'm still nursing her, it wasn't going to be easy to go in and out of Beth's room, sometimes to soothe a screaming baby, and not wake Beth up. The last thing I needed was two children awake. So, my office/craft room will be moved into the bonus room for the next 6 months or so. Ah the sacrifices of a mother. I'm joking. Kinda.

I think anyone would move things for this face....

And there are two little girls I know who have their Daddy wrapped around there little fingers.....

Sometimes I wonder how we got so lucky to have two beautiful little girls.....that surprisingly look exactly like their dad.....in a feminine way. :-)

We spent some time visiting other family the last few months too. We went to my Grandpa Bassett's Birthday party, and it was a treat to have Grandma home for a few hours during that time. We don't get to see her often enough, especially since we've moved to Nampa. 

And we spent time baking lots of fun stuff!! My assistant is wonderful!!

We made sugar cookies, which is a Halloween tradition with our family!

GIRLS RULE!!

I told Beth we couldn't go trick or treating till Daddy got home....so she stood at the window and waited for 15min.

While trick or treating I met the most HANDSOME firefighter!! My Jack-Baby! Who isn't a baby anymore, obviously, but I still think of him as a baby.

It's been a good couple of months. We are excited for the Holidays, Andrew can't wait to fall off the roof while putting up lights. There are some things about owning a home that are super exciting. Falling off the roof is NOT one of those things. But decorating is. 


Well, that is the end of my ranting, and random slide show. I hope you are all doing well!! 


See ya later, Partner!

Happy Blogging!

This is why....

There is a reason why we have the Priesthood on the earth. Many reasons. And anyone who reads this may think of a different reason. And I know at times in my life I can think of different reasons and why I'm grateful. Last night I was truly grateful. Ami has been having some rough nights. Usually starting around 8pm and sometimes, like last night, she's upset till past midnight. I'm not sure what it is, but it's rough. 


I didn't know how to make it better, which was hard for me. And I thought that maybe I should ask Andrew to give her a priesthood blessing. But I didn't know how he'd feel about it. So we continued trying to soothe her in other ways. After on and off screaming for 3 hours, I decided to just ask. I told him I had been thinking about it a few times, but I didn't really know if he felt the same way. And he admitted that he did. We both had promptings that we had foolishly ignored. But gratefully we finally listened. 


So, while my typically happy baby screamed in my arms, my husband laid his hands over her head and gave her a blessing. He asked for comfort. And peace. And soon I was crying along with my baby, but for much different reasons. As soon as he finished the blessing she whimpered a few times, relaxed in my arms, and went to sleep. It was so quick. 


We still don't know what was wrong, but I can't help but think that maybe she was trying to teach us the importance of listening to the promptings of the spirit. In 4 months she's taught us so much, and we look forward to many, many, many more years of lessons. 


How grateful I am for a husband that holds the priesthood. He has been such a wonderful father to our two girls. And I know they will turn to him for many blessings in the future. I'm grateful for a Father who gave me blessings growing up. And I'm really excited that my brother Eric, just received the Melchizedek Priesthood. It blesses people, it blesses lives, and it blesses me. Thank you Heavenly Father. 


Until Next Time....


Happy Blogging! 

Home. Sweet. Home.

Ok. So we've lived in our house for almost a month. And what a crazy month it's been! I haven't done this post for many reasons. Previously mentioned busy-ness (not to be confused with business) being at the top. But I didn't want to take pictures of my house till it was PERFECT. And then I realized, homes that are lived in are NOT perfect. So I did some dishes, laundry and made sure to only take pictures of the pretty set up areas, which means there are no pictures of the top half of my house....all in good time...


So, let me tell you a little bit about our home-buying experience. First off, I was NOT interested in buying a home this year. I was expecting a baby, had a crazy almost 2 year old, and the apartment seemed to be working just fine. But the home buying bug was biting Andrew. Hard. So, he used a technique that I have perfected over the years, which is to ask about the same thing over, and over, and over, and over, until you've convinced the other person. After a few months I agreed to talk to a Mortgage Lender. And I knew who I wanted to have for a Realtor. Almost everybody knows a Realtor right? But it's not often that your best friend is one. And that she is a DANG GOOD one. Kristin also happened to work for one of the largest Real Estate  Companies in Idaho. Silvercreek Realty Group. Funny Side Note, the owners of the company are friends of my parents. So we figured out just how small this world is. 


So, fast forward a few months. We'd been looking at houses, even made a few offers, only to be outbid 3 times. We were frustrated, and I was wanting to have my baby already! I had a labor scare, which ended in being sent home at 5cm dilated after 6 hours of admission. So I decided to keep my mind off things we needed to see some houses. We viewed a couple, and they were short sales, which I was afraid of. Let's just say they can be very hard to buy. So we looked at what ended up being our house. I wasn't too impressed. It needed some work. And a few walls removed. Which Andrew was SO excited about. He loves home improvement. I was scared. Regardless, we offered on 2 houses that we saw that day, hoping that maybe we'd get one. We put in the offers just 10 days before my due date. I thought this was a good plan, because then we'd forget about the offers. This was important because short sales can take up to 3 months to close! 3 months. Geez. 


So, over the next 2 months I got updates from my Realtor and Lender, some good, some bad. But all pointed in the direction that we were going to get the house. We offered on  2 houses at the same time, and one house ended up being taken off the market. So, that left us with what became our house. It was the largest, in the best location, a wonderful floor plan, and the best deal financially. I was told very early on in the process that I could NOT celebrate till I had keys in my hand. Because nothing is final, till, it's, well....final. On paper, signed. etc. So, after 2.5 months, on Sept 1st, we signed papers for our house. Knowing the road ahead would be crazy. On the 2nd we got keys, and on the 3rd, Labor day weekend, we started the long process of cleaning, demolition, remodeling, painting, and moving in. This process ended on the 15th, when we officially moved in and slept at our new house. The specs are: 3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Bathrooms, Bonus Room, 2 Car Garage and a LARGE patio. It's a little over 1600 square feet, which is almost double what our most recent and largest apartment was. 


We moved in with most of the painting and projects done, most of it. We were without carpet (due to a delay in shipping) for a few days. And I FINALLY got a decent speed of internet today. (Another reason why this post has been daunting). We are still unpacking boxes, decorating, and moving things around. We still need some furniture, to paint our bonus room (Boise State Baby!), to landscape the backyard (next year), and many other small projects. But here are some pictures of what we have done so far. We removed a half wall (that originally held a HUGE fish tank) and a closet (which sadly was the ONLY coat/linen closet in our house). Sorry about the fuzzy ones....


Before the Process:

During the Process:

After the LONG Process:

Our Entry way, with the newly added hooks (since we demolished the closet):

Our Kitchen and Dining Room:

So that's the bottom floor.  Minus the laundry room and bathroom, which I doubt you really care to see. So, our living room and dining room. Lived in. Not Perfect. I warned you! I still need to do some decorating and painting upstairs. And I'm currently decorating for Halloween/Fall outside....YAY for outside decorations! 


We are very happy with our home. I'm excited to spend lots of time making it better and better, when I can find the time! Andrew built some shelves in the garage for me, which are AWESOME, so we can now park both our cars in there, and store all of the hunting, fishing, camping, painting, and home improvement STUFF! Sometimes I still can't believe that things worked out the way they did. 


Well, I'm hoping to do a family post soon to catch you up on how Beth and Ami are doing. We are all getting used to a new home and routine.


Until I find time to update you about all the other fun stuff......


Happy Blogging!