Vacation Day 3: Stake Conference and Playing in the Sand

My Dad researched the church times so we thought we were going to a ward at 11, but when we got there the parking lot was packed and they had someone there directing traffic. Come to find out we got there just in time for the second hour of their stake conference and Elder Kikuchi was about to speak. There wasn't an empty seat in the house so we went into a class room that had a loudspeaker so we could hear. It was also nice so Ethan could walk around wherever he wanted since I don't think he'd sit too well since he had just sat in the car for the past 2 days. After conference we all got a nice nap and then we took Ethan out for a walk and tried to take him to the sand area to play with his sand toys. I got him out of the stroller and once he stuck his feet in the sand he went crazy! He hated sand on his feet! He kept tucking his feet underneath him and wouldn't walk anywhere. We sat him down and he just sat there and cried. He felt trapped since he didn't want to walk on it or touch it. After a little coaxing from my parents he actually started playing with it and he sat there for a quite awhile and played. It was so cute. He still doesn't like to walk on the sand, but he'll sit and play. I don't think we'll be getting a sand box anytime soon. I love the picture of him playing with his legs crossed, so cute! Oh, and I was on the phone with my best friend, Erica and I hadn't talked to her in forever! It was great to talk to her, I love you Erica!!!

Vacation Day 2: Drive to Orlando

This is a pictures of Ethan plugging his nose and saying, "P U" as we drove past a skunk smell. Anyway...We drove from Pensacola to Orlando which was about 6 hours, not bad at all. We got to the resort around 3 so we had plenty of time to explore and go grocery shopping. My parents own a timeshare at Marriott's Grande Vista resort and it was so nice! I had my own suite with a huge King bed, my own patio, a great bathroom, and plenty of space for Ethan. Plus, it connected to my parents side, it had a kitchen, dining and living area and then my parents suite. We got to stay in the new building so it all had granite counter tops and new decor so that was nice. We took Ethan out to go look around at all the stuff we wanted to do. They have lots of fun pools for the kids and then a great play area with a big maze play set and activity area. Ethan played in that thing forever! He was not scared at all! I saw a lot of kids way older than him that were really scared to go in, but he just jumped right in and didn't even look back to see if I was around. I did have to follow him everywhere since I didn't trust the other kids in there since he could get pushed over real easily and get hurt. He even made a few friends while he was there. A couple little girls looked after him for me and warded off all the rowdy kids. It was so cute. Here is a video of Ethan and me going down the big slide together. It has no sound since my dad was using his camera.

Vacation Day 1: Driving to Pensacola

So now that all my pictures and videos are uploaded I can tell you all about our vacation. It was so much fun! On our first day we drove about 12 hours from big D to Pensacola, Florida. Not even 2 hours into our drive we witnessed a high speed police chase! I'm not even joking. This guy comes flying around our car and the cops were not far behind. It was just like one of those cop shows! About 10 or 15 minutes later we saw about 10 cop cars pulled off the road and the "bad guy's" car did a 180 and ended up in the ditch. By the time we drove past they were sitting on the guy, trying to cuff him. It was so scary! Other than that we it was a pretty uneventful drive. We drove down through Lousiana and then through Mississippi and Alabama. We drove along the Gulf Coast so we could see some of the damage from Hurrican Katrina. Basically we saw all the reconstruction going on and a big park of FEMA trailers. Once we got to our hotel it was really late so I started getting Ethan ready for bed. Well, he decided he wanted to jump on the bed and the minute he got on the bed, he jumped head first into the headboard and got a huge goose egg between his eyes. He screamed for at least 20 minutes and of course it was late and the hotel was crowded so I'm sure the people next door to us weren't thrilled. Oh well. At least we made the long drive with out a major melt down and he did soooo good. I'm so proud of him.

Still In Florida

Today is our last day in the nice tropical weather of Florida so I'm enjoying it. Ryan and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary yesterday via the phone so that wasn't too fun. I think we'll try and celebrate it when I get back (I hope). So yesterday was our big shopping day complete with a wonderful meal at Cheesecake Factory! Gotta love the cheesecake! I also got to see a little celebrity sighting (not Hollywood celebrity, but NBA celebrities). For all of you that have the NBA playing at your house every evening you will know all these guys. I saw Tashawn Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Rip Hamilton from the Detroit Pistons walking into the mall. The Pistons are currently down here playing the Orlando Magic in the playoffs so I guess they were cruising the mall during their down time. Pretty crazy. I'm just proud of myself for recongizing them and knowing who they were. I guess all of Ry's basketball watching has soaked in somehow. Anyway...Ethan is still feeling yucky. All he wants to do is be held and he woke up this morning at 4 dry heaving. So fun, so fun. Well, he just woke up from his nap so I better go take care him.

Greetings From Florida!

We made the huge drive to Florida and we are here! I finally have a chance to sit and pump out a quick blog about our adventures so far. Sorry, no pictures until we get back since I forgot my USB port for my camera. It will just entice you to come back later. Anyway...we drove about 12 hours on Saturday and stayed in Pensacola and then drove about 6 the next day. Ethan did awesome and never had a melt down. He slept for 2 1/2 to 3 hours each day so that took a huge chunck of time off. Plus, the fact that my parents have a portable DVD player and he could watch Monsters Inc as much as he wanted played a huge role as well. We got to the resort Saturday afternoon and did a little exploring, they have tons of kid friendly things here so Ethan is in heaven. Sunday we ended up at Orlando's stake conference so we got to hear Elder Kikuchi speak. Monday was our big Disney World day and Ethan had a blast! I didn't quite know what his reaction would be to all of it. I didn't know if it would be too overwhelming and he'd be scared or if he'd jump right in and love it. Well, luckily he was extremely entertained by all the kids, characters, rides, and food. I have plenty of pictures and video for you. We came back to the resort around lunch time for him to get a good nap in so I think that's the biggest secret of our success. Then we were able to stay until the fireworks at 10. Tuesday we had a day at the pool. They have a ton of different pools to choose from so we went to the kiddie pool/waterfall area where they all different types of waterfalls and sprinkler type things on a beach for them to run in. Ethan mostly ran around the pool and didn't get in too much. He was too intrigued with all the beach balls and kids running around. Today we did a little time at the pool and then put Ethan down for a nap and while he was asleep my parents stayed in with him and I got a little alone time by the pool. I ordered me a pina colada (virgin of course), played my I Pod, and layed out the whole naptime. It was wonderful! Every mother's dream! Then of course Ethan woke up with vomit all over himself and his bed so reality set in real fast. I think he just gagged himself or something since he's been doing that a lot lately. I'll find him sticking his fingers down his throat and gagging all the time. I don't know why he does it! This is the first time he's ever thrown up, but he could have a little bug from all the places he's been. Who knows. He was very cuddly before I put him to bed and that is sooooo not like him so he might be feeling a little yucky. Hopefully he'll be better for all the shopping we need to do while we're here! Well, stay tuned for an update and pictures when we get back next week.

Disneyworld Here We Come!

As some of you know we're leaving for Disneyworld tomorrow! So exciting! My parents are taking Ethan and me (Ry has to stay for work, boo) down to Orlando for a week and it will be so much fun. We're doing the drive down there which is 17 hours so we'll see how it goes with Mr. Ethan in the car. I swore I would never drive for long periods in the car ever again with Ethan, but at least this time I'll have my parents in the car. Last time we drove was when he was 9 months and we were driving from Cali to Texas. 28 hours, 9 month old, by myself, still breastfeeding, need I say more. I know I can handle this "short" drive, I just hope my parents can, haha. I've gone to the library at least once a week and borrowed a bunch of their kids CDs and downloaded them to my IPOD so we're going to listen to those in the car and I think my parents are going to hook up a portable DVD player too. It won't be half as bad as last time. So I'll post some super fun pictures when I get back.

What is Homey?

I'm going to take this straight from the book, "It is a cliche, but true, that a room that looks lived in looks more homey. This implies not that you should be less neat, but that you should actually live in your rooms. When you talk, read and write, play music or games, or sew, you leave traces of this in the room. These traces then invite people not simply to look but also to be engaged. It makes them feel as though the room exist for people, to live in and do things in. Faked signs of life make the room feel desolate and lonely. Signs of real life make the room feel comforting and warm. So there you go, enjoy your home and "live" in it. Hallelujah.

Home Comforts Chapter 2: Routine

This whole chapter was about getting into a routine for all your household chores. She breaks it down into daily, weekly, monthly, and semiannually items. So here is my weekly routine that I've set up:
Monday- Cleaning day and laundry
Tuesday- grocery store and food prep
Wednesday- Odd jobs and 1 room deep clean
Thursday- mini clean
Saturday- odd jobs and lawn day
Of course there is always room to be spontaneous so things don't always have to be done exactly on those days, but it's just nice to have a general idea of what should be done and when. It's always better to wake up with a purpose for the day than to just sit around and try to make yourself be productive.

FYI- here are her lists for cleaning
Daily:
-dirty clothes in the hamper
-clean sinks and tubs after use
-check soap, and bathroom supplies (change towels if necessary)
-prepare meals and clean up after
-put out fresh kitchen towels
-clean floors in high use areas by sweeping, damp-mopping or vacuuming
-make beds
-neaten: put away newspapers, mail, and similar items
-empty garbage

Weekly:
-Housecleaning
-Laundering
-Mini clean/mini laundering
-Marketing
-Odd Jobs

Monthly:
-Launder underbedding (matress and pillow covers)
-turn mattresses (quarterly)
-wash and air pillows (quarterly)
-clean lampshades, globes, dust lightbulbs
-wahs mirrors
-clean oven
-washa and wax woodwork
-organize frequently used drawers, cabinets, closets
-dust blinds, door tops and other hard to reach areas
-wash windows
-clean ceiling fan blades

Semiannually or Annually:
-wash blankets and comforters
-remove out of season clothing, clean and store it, and replace with seasonal
-Give away unused items
-clean and polish gems, jewelry, silver, etc
-clean chandeliers and light fixtures
-tune piano 2x a year
-clean walls, ceilings and floors
-clean garage
-wax furniture
-vacuum books
-move and clean underneth havey appliances and furniture
-shampoo rugs and upholstery
-clean lampshades
-empty and clean all closets, drawers, and cabinets
-organize photos, CDs, and videos
-update household inventory
-organize buisness records and thro away superseded ones
-review insurance

So anyway, I hope this list can be helpful to those of you that are interested in what kind of time frame certain things should be done. It may be really boring and too "domestic" for some of you, but there is nothing wrong with being domestic and trying to keep a certain peace and order in your house. Let me know you guys think.

What's On My Beside Table?

Home Comforts - The Art & Science of Keeping House is the book that I've picked up this week. I have actually really enjoyed this book a lot so far so I'm going to share a little bit about it and maybe (just maybe) you'll want to be a little more domestic too. Basically the author focuses on make your home a "homey" place to be. Your home is supposed to feel like someone lives there so it shouldn't feel sterile, but on the other hand you need to keep a clean house so people feel relaxed. "Housekeeping creates cleanliness, order, regularity, beauty, the conditions for health and safety, and a good place to do and feel all the things you wish and need to do and feel in your home...it is your housekeeping that makes your home a live, that turns it into a small society in its own right, a vital place with its own ways and rhythms, the place where you can be more yourself than you can be anywhere else." Since we've bought our new house I want to make my home a very comfortable place for my family and for everyone that comes over so this book is a great resource for me. I've found that I already do many of the things that she suggests, but it's always good to learn what other people do. I also love that she makes housekeeping an "art" and a "science" since I'm a good mix of both (maybe a little more science than art). The author doesn't just jot off lists of things to do or how to clean, it's a very inclusive book about all aspects of the home. It's all broken down into sections of Food, Cloth, Cleanliness, Daily Life, Sleep, Safe Shelter, and Formalities. I'm just lovin' this book right now so I hope you don't mind if I do a few posts here and there about the things I've been learning.

Homewoven Handycrafts (as Deb would say)

I must have been really stressed for the past few months, hmmmm...I wonder why. Anyway...Cross-stitching is my big stress reducer, it helps me to zone out and think. I've been working on little monthly designs that I can frame and put in my house throughout the year. A lot of cross-stitch patterns are ugly and really old, but I thought these were pretty cute. So if you see me rolling out the thread, you'll know something is up.

Watering the Garden

Here are some more pictures and a video of Ethan playing out in the hose. He had so much fun helping me water the garden and he loved playing in the water. Ethan has this thing where he sticks out his tongue whenever he is really concentrating on something or when he's working really hard. So his tongue is out in all of the pictures since he is so engrossed on how this whole hose thing works. It's hilarious. I tell people all the time that he'll be the kid with his tongue out whenever he plays sports or concentrating on a test. Please don't think I'm a terrible mother for posting this video. I actually think it's pretty fun since he kept spraying himself in the face over and over and he didn't quite understand how to not get his face, but look at where the water came from. It's just too cute, even if he did take a little tumble in the end.

Deja Vu

I let Ethan help water my garden today and he did such a wonderful job! He loved playing out in the hose and ended up squirting himself a few times so I let him run around in his diaper after he soaked himself. I'll post some more videos and pictures of him with the hose later, but I had to share these pictures first. The picture on the left is me when I was probably 19 or 20 months and then on the right is Ethan (almost 18 months). Like Mother, Like Son.

Nanny Video

I found this video after I had uploaded a bunch of pictures off my camera. It's a video of Ethan doing all his animal sounds and then at the end he does his tribute to his "nanny." Whenever he knows that Nanny is nearby he runs around screaming her name everywhere. It's hilarious. Also, this video was done before I got my Ikea storage thing so that's why we have piles of toys in the background.

I'm Finally Pulling Myself Together

I finally drug myself to the store to go find stuff to decorate my house. I've never really been that good at decorating and I truly have no idea what the heck I'm doing, but I'm really trying. I swear. I don't have much to work with and I don't really like doing it since I don't know what to do. I guess I just feel kind of lost. Anyway...I finally found something that I thought was super cute for Ethan's room. I couldn't pass it by. Ethan's walls are pretty empty (just like the rest of my house) so i found these cute pictures at Hobby Lobby. They originally came with thick ribbon to hang them with, but Ry thought it looked too "girly/babyish" so I clipped them. So now Ethan has some cute stuff in his room. We also went to Ikea on Saturday and found some storage solutions for Ethan's toys. It's way cool and I love the way it looks. We also picked up a small table and chairs that match the storage unit. I also have to say that I built all of it myself and Ethan LOVED helping me. He honestly sat there the whole time with his screwdriver and tried to screw in stuff for me. It was so cute!

Easter

I feel so bad, but I didn't take any Easter pictures this year! I even had my camera with me...I guess I was just too busy watching all the festivities. We went over to my parents after church for our Easter dinner. My mom hid all sorts of Easter goodies for Ethan to find around the house. I have been hiding eggs all over my house for the past few weeks just as a game to see what Ethan would do (he loved it) so he did fairly well at my mom's hunt. We had dinner and Ry invited a guy from work that was away from his family for the holiday so he joined us. Dinner was so good! Oh my gosh! I'm so happy I have leftovers for dinner tonight! Anyway...we finished up Ethan's hunt and then he got the grand prize afterward...a lawnmower! It's one of those mowers with the poppers inside so it pops wherever he goes. It was the first thing he did when he woke up this morning and he hasn't stopped since. He loves his new lawnmower! I'll have to take a bunch of pictures to make up for my pictureless Easter.

Just an Update

I haven't written in awhile since nothing too interesting has gone on. We're just doing our thing and enjoying all our recent move ins. Our cousins just moved in down the street and my sister-in-law just moved about 5 minutes away so I've been hanging out back and forth seeing the progress. So fun! I planted some flowers this weekend so our yard is looking a little cuter than before and we finally moved forward with the study. We were going to get the same hardwood that we had in the hallway and put it in the study, but we found out the company left lumber liquidators and the head guy just does stuff in Indiana. No good. So then we thought we'd just find a close match, but it was too hard with the type of hardwood that we already have. Our floors have such different variations of color of dark and light and the wood grain so we couldn't get anything to look good. I think it would detract more than it would look good. Anyway...the whole reason we wanted to do this was due to a huge red stain in the middle of the floor. So I tried working on getting the stain up. We had the carpets cleaned before we moved in and that didn't help, then I tried this professional stain remover and it lightened it a lot, and then my sister-in-law used her steam cleaner on it and that helped a little too. Well, now I have a light pink stain in the middle of the room. Finally we decided that we're just going to move everything in and replace the carpet later when we replace all our carpets so it's all uniform. Last night we moved in all our furniature and started unpacking boxes. What a mess! I know it's always worse before it gets better, but it's a serious disaster area in there. I definitely need some more bookshelves. So that's all we're doing right now. I'll take some pictures once we're finished putting everything together and once my piano gets here. I'm so excited!

No Binky Week

So we made it through a whole week without the binky. We did very well and I'm so proud, I never caved! The binky only came out at naptime and bedtime, although Ethan did find a binky at Aunt Steph's house that he had left behind when we stayed with their kids. I've had to empty all my diaperbags, purses, and toy baskets just to look for any stragglers so I wouldn't have to take it away when he would find them. All binky's are kept safely in his top drawer and don't come out. This week I'm going to continue with what we're doing and let him have it at naptime and bedtime. I've noticed that he does get a little more irriatable than when we had the binky around, but I just give him extra hugs and kisses. I think we'll start having a no binky bedtime next week and then gradually phase it out at naptime...I have to get my time at naptime, I can't let it go. So we'll see how it goes.

My Husband, The Weekend Warrior

Ryan gave me the ultimate gift this weekend! It's something that I wanted to do really bad, but I couldn't do it myself since it involved power tools and man strength. So my Grandma Terry passed away back in October and I received some inheritance money from her so I wanted to take some of it and do something for my house that would help me remember her. At first I was thinking about some sort of furniture, but I couldn't really think of something. But then I found a great thing that would make Grandma Terry proud. My grandma always lived on a farm and had a great garden. She always let me go out and pick the carrots or she'd have a huge carton of raspberries ready for me when I came over(I still eat raspberries and think of her). So in remembrance of my grandma, I wanted to make a garden. I've never done any gardening on my own since I've never owned my own little plot of land so I did a little research and found the perfect thing for me to try. Many people have said that doing a raised bed garden is one of the best and easiest ways to have success with gardening and many sites had different types of construction for their raised bed. So I got a few ideas and ran them past my parents since they're good with that kind of stuff and I came up with my general construction plans. My dad took me out to Home Depot and we picked up all the lumber, dirt, and rebar and got the project going. This week Ryan worked on clearing the grass and making sure we didn't hit any water lines (we had to move the garden over twice, poor Ry). Then on Saturday he did the big build. Let me tell you, he did such a great job! I am so proud and my heart just melted as I saw him do this for me. So if you're bored of reading about raised beds then you can stop reading now, but for those of you who are interested, this is how we did it. Ryan cut the lumber at the ends so they would interconnect with each other. Then he drilled a huge hole in the ends and drove rebar down so it would be snug on the ground. The next layer of lumber her cut to just within each other and nailed the two layers together. Then we filled it with about 10 bags of topsoil, 3 bags of compost and manure, and 1 bale of peat moss. I'm starting my garden out small to see how I do and will expand later on down the road. I'm doing 3 different types of tomatoes and then an assortment of herbs: cilantro, basil, rosemary, and parsley. I am so excited for this garden and I so appreciate my husbands hard work. It all sounds so easy to do on the blog, but it definitely took a lot of time and effort to carry it all out. I am so proud!

Girl's Night Out

I went to my first "Girl's Night Out" with some of the girls in my ward. I had soooo much fun! We went to this awesome store called Sam Moon that has all sorts of trendy accessories and handbags for great prices. It's just one of those stores that is good to go to without your kids, you know what I mean? I can just picture Ethan screaming in his stroller, trying to knock over a display of necklaces and cramming the beads in his mouth. Definately a good "Girl's Night" activity. Then we headed over to one of my favorite resturants, Cheesecake Factory. Great shopping, great food, great desserts, and great company, who could ask for anything better? I have to admit that I was so nervous to move into the ward since I came from such an awesome group of girls in Cali, but I have found some way fun girls to hang with and they're just here in my neighborhood. How lucky am I? Now all you Cali girls...I miss you tons and I think you should all move to Texas!

My March Madness Bracket

So I love this time of year with March Madness. It is so fun to make up your own bracket and then root for all "your teams" but get excited when the underdog wins. Usually I have a method to my March Madness when it comes to picking my bracket. One year I did it according to my favorite mascots, another year was best team colors, and other years it's according to upsets or lack thereof. Some people, like my husband, like to look at the stats, how the teams are doing, what they're records are etc. I've tried that once on my bracket and it got me no where. So this year I just decided to pick my bracket in under 5 minutes with Ohio State going all the way. I'll always be a buckeye at heart, sorry Texas fans! I have been at the bottom of the pack in the family tournament for most of the early rounds of March madness and I just thought that this would be a year of sad numbers for me. I had some upsets that never happened and the upsets that did happen were not on my bracket. Anyway...I checked my standings today in the family tournament and somehow I moved into 5th place. How did that happen?! I swear I had been 12th most of the time. All I have to say is go bucks since they're my only hope. I bearly have any points remaining so I could be at the bottom of the pack very easily after these next few games. I also have to say that if I don't do well then I hope Suzy, Kendall, or Toni beat the pants off the Elmer boys! We have to let them know that wearing skirts can be fun!