Here we go..,...

Lucy and I at a park

Well here we are. We made the big move on Sunday after I got off work and had slept a little while. My parents were kind enough to come down on Friday and help us finish packing, cleaning, and were a big help watching the kids. So far we have survived, I just really miss Boise and my friennds and my lovely house. We are staying with kevin's parents for the time while our house sells and everything settles. They have been extremely generous letting us stay with them and my children wrecking havoc in their home. I'm not sure it will ever be the same when they are done with it...

I drew the short straw when it came to driving arrangements up to Washington. Kevin drove the car with the trailer, my mom drove our jeep, and I drove with my dad in my parent's car in the backseat between both kids. Needless to say, it called for some ice cream which Isak thoroughly enjoyed.

Lucy has discovered she really likes watermelon. We give it to her cut up in tiny pieces or let her gnaw on a rind with some fruit left on it. It makes her extremely sticky but she loves the stuff!

I was successful in finding an okay park here. The first one I went to had boards on the ground that had fallen out of the bottom of play toy and there were nails sticking up everywhere. There was also broken plastic and some other things that made it rather scary. My parent's town about 20 minutes from here also has some really neat parks so I think we should be fine.

Lucy being very excited about living at grandma's house. Her and Isak really love it because they have twice as many people to play with them and a yard to go out and play in. Also, Isak has scored himself a new kitty that his grandma is taking him to pick out right now. Hopefully that outing goes well, Isak was very excited and kept asking for the "kikis".

I've been wanting to try foam curlers for a while and Kevin so nicely picked some up for me the other night at wal-mart. Aren't they cute? She's got these 3 little tight curls on top of her head and they are ever so precious.
Below is Lucy's newest trick, the head bob. She does it whenever she's excited and will also mimic you if you do it to her. Unfortunately it also makes her lose her balance....

Kevin's job is going well so far and its really nice having him work only 4 blocks away. We get to see a lot more of him this way which is nice. Right now we are just taking it a day at a time and enjoying being near family. We will keep everyone updated!

So sad to leave....

I have made it no secret that moving away from here is going to be very hard. One of the main reasons for this is because I have a wonderful job here in Boise that I absolutely love. It is the perfect schedule for our family and gives me a chance to use my degree. Plus, I get to work with awesome people and most of the time I also love my patients. Four of us happened to be pregnant at the same time and had babies about 5 weeks apart. This was pretty remarkable considering our little unit only has about 12 core nurses that just work mainly on this side of L&D. Lucy is the oldest, then Finn, and the Alexis and Casey were born on the same day. We've gotten them all together on one other occasion and have had lots of fun comparing stats and discussing other important baby stuff. Sadly, one of these girls is also moving away so we decided it was a good time to get all together. Lucy is the oldest and also the noisiest. Aren't they all cute playing together? Yes, she is super long. This is her carseat that I think she is probably already too big for. Look at those little feet hanging over the edge? I didn't realize how big her feet were getting and put these shoes on for the first time and found they fit exactly. So she's going to be wearing them a lot so she can can get some use out of them.

Changes and football

Change. I really hate it, yet its all we've experienced since we've been married. With school and job changes we have moved many times and been in many different homes. Upon moving into our home we are currently in, I assumed we would be done for a while. I got comfortable, and that was my first mistake. I have learned that often times we when get comfortable some where, that probably means its time to change things up again so we can grow. I really dislike this fact but have grown to realize its truthfullness. So here we are. I have a great job, a beautiful home, wonderful neighbors and friends, and a very nice ward. And...guess what? We're leaving it all to move back to the desert and the land of one grocery store and no Target. That's right people, Kevin is moving us back to Othello. He took a new job there and we are moving the end of September. Shocked? So soon? Yes, tell me about it, or rather tell Kevin since all he's been hearing is my whining.
We (as hard as it is to admit this) feel very strongly that this is what's right for our family and that somehow it will all work out. Its a huge leap of faith and mostly everyone we have told looks at us like we are completely nuts. Its going to be a rough next few months (or year) but it will be okay and we will come out stronger. I'm trying very hard to have a good outlook and see all the positive things. Like, we're not homeless, we are not unemployed, we have food, we are all healthy, we have lots of family and friends, and we have the gospel that is same no matter where you go.
Below is a picture of Lucy just being very cute.
This is us in front of our lovely home. Anyone looking for a great house in southwest Boise?

This past week Kevin and I were lucky enough to get tickets and attend the Boise State/Oregon game. Aunt Colleen also came down from Portland to attend it with us and stayed for a few days to visit. It was tons of fun and we are very glad she made it all the way to Boise this year without any mishaps! Boise, of course, won and it was an awesome game. Perhaps the most memorable part happened after the game when an Oregon played punched a Boise player in the jaw after the player had been taunting him. They replayed it on the jumbotron screen about 10 times in slow motion. It was like a hockey game all rolled up in a football game! It was very exciting. I love college football and I especially love living in a town where the team wins games. Don't we look great in our matching orange attire?

Isak is going through a stage where he loves to "help the momma" and "help the dad". Really, he loves to sit on the counter next to the kitchen aid while I mix up cookie dough or brownie batter and stick his fingers in the bowl. He also loves to help me vacuumn and sweep. Below is a video of one of the great ways Isak "helps" me.

Wisconsin Trip

Long time, no post. Blogspot has been giving me alot of problems with uploading pictures so I randomly got lucky with these. I spent the last week of August with my sister in Madison, WI with her family and my dad who was kind enough to help me fly with two little kids. I only get to see her about once a year so it was alot of fun to get the cousins together and spend some time together. Her little boy Caleb is a year older than Isak and they got along really well. Below is a picture of Caleb "hugging" Isak.
We also decided to run a half-marathon together. We've ran races together before only its a been about 3 years and 2 children ago. The Madison mini marathon was the weekend I was visiting and I thought this would be a great motivator to help me get back in shape. This is us the morning before the race. I might also mention that my sister is faster than I am despite the fact she just had a baby in June. I believe that she is probably a little crazy and this is what helps her be a great runner, so I am okay with being a little slower.

This is us after the race. I actually finished in the time I wanted to so I was happy with my results. They started handing us random food as we finished, like muffins, potato chips, bananas, trail mix, and cheese crackers. I could barely stand up and they were shoving weird food in my face. But it was a really good distance, much easier than a full marathon. I might do another one this fall to keep my spirits up. All the grandchildren who are boys. Martin is 8 (oldest) then Caleb (3), Isak (2) and Reed who is just 3 months. Aren't they cute?

My dad with all the grandkids. It was incredibly hard to pose all these kids together for a picture let alone get them to look at the camera. This was about the best we could do.

We also went to an amusement/water park while we were there and Isak got to go on his first carnival ride. He rode in the little fish with his head down the whole time and I'm not sure he really enjoyed it but he didn't cry. His favorite was the choo choo train that rode in circles and the little fire engine that went up in the air (da bus go high, da bus go high). We rode those about 4 times a piece.

Isak going down the little waterslide. They had four small pools there with different toys and depths. One was just a wave pool that was heated. It had simulated waves over and over again and Isak thought this was great fun.

Valerie and I at the park. It was very overcast and about 65 degrees which made swimming quite cold but luckily the kids didn't care.




Lucy and Reed in the stroller. I think I need to get a double stroller because my kids rode pretty well in this one.

Lucy and Reed in their carseats. Reed was blessed while we were down there and Martin was also baptized so it was pretty cool that I got to be there for that. It was also Martin's 8th birthday and we had a party for him. In fact, he had this really nice birthday cake on Saturday that was a tampered with by my son. My dad was watching my two kids while I was running the race and he was feeding Lucy when it happened. Isak is really good at pulling stuff off of counters and he also loves cake. He pulled the birthday cake off the counter and "brought" it to my dad and said "want this?" Needless the say, the cake didn't really look the same after that but it was repaired.

Isak and Caleb spending some time in the stroller together. We had a tons of fun and I think I might have almost convinced Valerie to move back within driving distance someday.

Lake Tahoe

We went to Lake Tahoe this past weekend with Kevin's family and had a lot of fun. It was very pretty and Isak loved playing on the beach and running all over the house. We spent some time with some good friends of kevin's family that were generous enough to let us stay with them and put up with crying babies. Below, Isak and Kevin while our on little "nature" hike we took down a trail. We were supposed to be able to look through this glass partition into the lake but it was closed. We saw some beatiful blue jays though and tons of chipmunks that Isak had fun chasing.

Along the trail, found this great bridge that overlooked a stream. Luckily we kept Isak from jumping in.

Lucy and Conner posing. They had lots of fun pulling at each other and staring at each other.

Lucy and Conner in their bumbo chairs, enjoying some delicious pears and bananas. At one point Lucy finished all of her food and started trying to eat Conner's.
Kevin and I also got a chance to go out one evening with everyone and do some quick touristy browsing at all the little shops.

Lucy also loved the sunshine and spent most of her time under the umbrella and being held. Or trying to attack her cousin Conner.

All of us minus Vicki, who we missed very much!

Isak also loved playing in the water and was demanding Kevin take him to these rocks that were a ways down the shore. He kept finding chipmunks there and was very fascinated by them. He started yelling "stop!" whenever they would run away.

Videos of Isak driving the boat above and Lucy and Conner eating in their bumbo chairs. I'm guessing unless you're family or completely adore my children, they won't be too interesting.

Happy Anniversary

Well this is very late and for some reason blogspot is not letting me upload pictures so this one will have to do. Happy belated anniversary to us! We celebrated 4 years on the 11th..I say "celebrated" loosely..really we saw each for 15 minutes and exchanged cards before I went to work. Very romantic. The above picture was the spring before we got married when I was visiting Kevin in Hawaii. He once mentioned to me that I married "Hawaii" kevin and am now married to "accountant" kevin. I can relate to this and blame most of it on the two little rugrats that we have acquired in the past 4 years. Good thing they are so cute. Perhaps one day we will be young, thin, tan and attractive again and can visit white sandy beaches in the sun. Without the sounds of screaming underslept children in the background. Sigh...I have lots of catching up to with our trip to tahoe this past weekend and if blogspot ever starts working again, I will upload all of my pictures!

Lost Camera

I have no pictures for this post because I believe my camera has passed away. Sadly, I think it may have fallen off the hood of our jeep and has gone missing. You see, I have been painting Lucy's dresser for the past week in the garage and was taking some "before" shots of it and placed it on the car so it wouldn't get run over. I think I may have taken off in the car without realizing it was still there. I really can't remember if I took it off or not and there are no signs or remnants of it around the neighborhood and none of my neighbors have seen the thing. It was old but it still worked fine and unfortunately still had some pictures on it. So we are going shopping this week for a new camera as we have some family trips coming up and it is a complete necessity. I also need new running shoes but decided a camera was a more immediate need and I can't take pictures of my adorable children with new shoes. So this is a quick update as to what we've been up to the past few weeks with pictures to follow:

-Lucy's room is close to being finished. I repainted a ghastly green dresser that I found for $10 at a garage sale that was covered in paisley contact paper. I did her name in cute letters, my mom sewed her some cute pink sparkly curtains with a matching pillow, and bought her a cute floor lamp from Target. I just need to hang her birth announcement and some pictures and I'll be done.
-Isak is fearless with the water. Like, super scary fearless. He thinks its fun to dunk his head and run to the deep end and jump in. He really doesn't care if we're there to catch him or not. Its a great workout trying to sprint swim to where he is so he doesn't drown. Luckily he has a life jacket and he's pretty good about putting his head back and kicking his legs. I think its because we go swimming to much that he's very comfortable. I'm pretty sure he'll be ready for swim lessons next summer.
-Lucy loves to sit in her bumbo chair that I found at a garage sale for cheap. I was anti bumbo chair because I think $40 for a baby chair is ridiculous but $14 is okay and she loves it. She has 2 teeth that have broken through on the bottom and she loves to chew on everything. She's a great eater and loves baby food. Her 6 month appt is on Monday and I'm excited to see how much she's grown.
-Isak randomly decided to sit on the toilet on Friday and strained some pee out. I'm sure we are no where close to being ready for potty training but it was exciting all the same. Wow, you can tell I'm a mom when that was the highlight of my Friday..
-Kevin and I are completely uninteresting so there is nothing new with us. We're getting ready to go to Lake Tahoe next week with Kevin's family and I'm visiting my sister in Wisconsin shortly after. I'm also attempting a race of sorts that hopefully doesn't kill me while in Wisconsin so we will see how that goes.
I'll post some pictures as soon as I find a camera!