curfew bytes: country living edition

::Bittersweet::

2012-01-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

We are full of emotions. Jeremy got a job! And one that he's really excited about. And it's in a place where we will live about a mile from one of my BFFs (thanks Brooke for putting us up this past week!!). And also less than a mile from one of Jeremy's long-time friend. And about 45 minutes from three of my younger siblings (woot woot!).

It's in a beautiful city. And it's a great job that seems like we've waited a loooong time for.

BUT it's with sadness that we will not live next to Jeremy parents, and siblings. It has been a big bright spot in our lives over the past year+ to finally spend lots of time with family, and especially now that we have little Pearce for her to play with and know her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. We always thought we would be moving to Seattle for a job, but not this time.

We've enjoyed our "country life" in Cle Elum, and the new friends we've made. And we'll definitely miss the garden and lack of traffic, too!

But sometimes (always) life is full of surprises, and requires a great deal of faith. We don't always know why we are led to places, but we are truly grateful and excited for this next chapter in our lives.

My mom recently shared the following with me, as Elder Bednar just spoke at their regional conference in Louisiana:

Elder Bednar spoke to us about personal revelation and said that we should not try to "overthink" things. But that we should just try to live our lives as "good boys and good girls" and we will receive the revelation as needed and not be led astray. He reminded us that Nephi tried 3 times to get the plates...he was righteous, he was entitled to personal revelation to get them, yet "he went not knowing beforehand what he should do"...Elder Bednar said that EACH step was necessary for him to learn something and to gain experience and faith.

He mentioned that even though the movie, "The 10 Commandments" is wonderful, it is his opinion that false doctrine is taught when Moses gets to the edge of the Red Sea and puts his staff into the water and it separates so that they can escape. Elder Bednar said that they would have had to have been knee deep, if not waist deep in water...exercising extreme faith and pressing forward...before the miracle would have occurred which parted the waters for their rescue.

So it is for us....so many struggles and tests to get us to our promised lands. It brings us to our knees and teaches us to turn to Him when we can not do it on our own. Remember, you have a perfect Father who will show you the way.

We'll be moving to Salt Lake City, Utah in less than two weeks. Let the packing begin! (ugh!)

from start to finish

2012-01-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

I've been on a real big sewing kick lately. Last week we pulled out the fabric scrap bag to find cute pieces for a doll quilt for Pearce's new baby doll. Whenever we pull out the scrap bag, Pearce has a field day. Fabric was everywhere. She likes to swim in it, too.

We narrowed it down to some pinks, purples, greys and ironed them all, so they weren't wrinkly.

We cut them in little 2" squares, and sewed a little patchwork until we had a quilt top large enough for the babydoll.

After that, we started quilting, using a new free-motion quilting foot attachment I got last month to quickly machine-quilt a Christmas present (quilt) for my mother-in-law. I'm still learning how to use it, and at times it looks like Pearce is the one who is doing the quilting designs. However, this time around I made a HUGE MISTAKE.

My pointer finger got a little too close to the needle, it's just loose out there with no protection, and I SEWED RIGHT THROUGH MY FINGER!!! The needle broke in three pieces. And I was totally freaked out. I have a whole on both sides of my finger. And it still throbs 3 days later.

Apparently this is how you burp a baby, according to Pearce.

Speaking of my finger... the Fredmeyer cashier totally made my day today! hahaha

Jeremy offered to drive us to Ellensburg today for our big weekly grocery trip (normally about 30 minutes away), since we are in the middle of a snow storm over here. We've gotten almost a foot of snow in the past couple days. I guess, totally making up for the lack of snow over the past 3 months. We were checking out and I was getting me debit card out of my wallet, and the cashier (a young 20-something college student) asks "What happened to your finger?"

I think it made my day more so because Jeremy was right there with me probably thinking "Oh Brother..., here we go..." (He always thinks I'm strange for talking to strangers in public. I guess it's a southern thing.)

I reply "Which one?" (Because I don't really have lovely fingers--usually cracked from the dry weather) But then he points to the bandaid, and I repsond by telling him I sewed through my finger with the sewing machine.

Then he said, "Oh yeah, I know how that goes..."

Me: "Oh, really?"

Him: "Yeah, my genius friend has a dart board at the top of the stairs, and I was coming down the stairs when he was throwing a dart, and it went right through my finger."

It was really nice to chat with someone who understood what I'm going through. hahahhaha

bubble dress, take 2!

2012-01-10T15:07:00.000-08:00

We moved to Carlsbad, CA when Pearce was just 3 weeks old. That move was pretty rough. I was still recovering from an emergency c-section, and trying to finish packing our little apartment, while Jeremy was still commuting 2 hours each way to/from work. Pearce was brand new and going through a constipation/screaming phase. I was nervous about motherhood, Jeremy's new job, meeting new friends and getting to know a new area, even though it was just an hour south of all our friends and familiarities of Huntington Beach, CA. It was all such a big huge change in my life, and all at once. I went from living in the same city for 6 years, hanging out with friends almost every weekend that became like extended family to us, and 6+ years of a pretty stressful career in marketing. (But let's face it, I think everything is stressful...runs in my family.)

And all of a sudden, my life was completely different. (Side note: Little did I know at that time, that about 6 months later we would be packing up and moving again for an even bigger life change.)

I soon met a great friend, Elise, in our new ward. She was pregnant with her first, and new to the "stay-at-home" mom life, and also was new to sewing. She'd bring her sewing machine over to our place, and we'd chat and try to figure out our sewing machines. (And it makes me so happy that me and Elise are still friends and currently in a virtual quilting bee together!) We found this cute little quilting/fabric store in downtown Oceanside. They had tons of Anna Maria Horner fabrics, which are my favorites! And at the time they had the brand new voile line that had just come out. This little store and fabric made me so happy! They had this very same dress on display, same pattern, same fabric, and same size (2). And I made it my goal over 18 months ago that I was gonna make that pretty dress one day! And here it is! I LOVE IT!

maybe I shoulda started with finger paints...

2012-01-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

Santa brought Pearce a little set of Crayola (washable) watercolor paints in her stocking. I thought it would be a good activity this morning to distract her from what she's been asking for from the moment she woke up: "CARTOONS!?"I try to limit one (maybe two) shows in the afternoon or during dinner-making-time. And Saturday we let her watch them in the morning in bed with us. But this last Saturday she watched ALOT. And is still a little cuckoo from it...

This is the funny face I get from her when I ask her to "smile" for pictures:

She liked dipping the brush in the water more than painting. She got paint on her finger, and thought that was really exciting, so I told her to wipe it off on the paper. That's when I realized, I should've started her with finger paints instead!

Not much painting, mostly flowers by me. She was much more interested in coloring the water. And then wanting me to get clean water. (Like ten times.)

After a while of letting her do her thang... I gave her instructions:

**dip brush in water

**pick a color (pointing to one at a time)

**now paint on the paper

**then repeated until we did each color.

That way, we could at least get a "picture" out of this experience.

And a couple more photos from last week chillen' at the Safeway in her new "bubble dress" jumper. Still pluggin' along on the second one with scallops on the side.

daily life

2012-01-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

aaah, let's see... I'm gonna get a little chatty here and write down what we've been up to lately. My lil sis Sarah recently commented that I don't write much on my blog, so here goes... :-)

Me, I've been keeping myself busy with sewing. You'd think after my sweat shop to finish Christmas presents, I'd keep that sewing machine put away for months. But, I'm realizing I really love sewing! And I have a list full of things I want to sew in the next couple months, including a present or two for Pea's bday in March. (I'm thinking a little apron, since she's always been my little kitchen buddy.)

I finally cut out pattern pieces from the Oliver+S bubble dress that I've held onto for way to long. And it wasn't hard at all! I practiced first with some random fabric, and made it a little casual jumper. But I'm excited to make it again with the scallop view, and using the pretty Anna Maria Horner voile fabric I picked out for it ages ago.

Pearce has been really into dresses lately, so it'll be good to add a couple play dresses to her wardrobe. She started this habit while at grandma's house over Christmas break. Here's a clip of her twirling and checking her dress out in the mirror and of course, dancing. She's always shakin' and dancing'. (But, PLEASE ignore my voice in this video. B/c who likes the sound of their own voice?? eek.)

This week I started LONG OVERDUE sleep training for Pearce. I was chatting with my older sister Jessica recently and complaining that Pearce wakes up as soon as I put her in her crib for nap time. I call her for all mommy advice!! She knows a thing or two considering she has 5 "highly spirited" (those are her words) children. I'm pretty sure she was floored that I still rock her to sleep! So I figured, it was finally time for Pearce to learn how to fall asleep in her crib by herself. We're on day 3, and making progress...

Pearce is loving her new baby doll (thanks Grandma C!) and doll stroller. And always has to have her buckled. It's cute to see her so kind and loving (most of the time) to her baby. I think her favorite thing to do, though, is "burb!" the baby!

She has also been staying busy in her play kitchen. Her friend Audrey doesn't play with it anymore, so she is letting us borrow it for a little bit. Pearce will occasionally say "Thank you Audrey" when playing with it. While I was making dinner last night she just about emptied the entire lower pantry of can goods, etc onto her kitchen---then miraculously---moved everything back to the pantry. She usually says she's making chicken or cookies. Sooo cute.

We still havent had much snow here, which is crazy considering the massive snow dumps we had last winter. It snowed a wee bit earlier this week, and the last time was a month before that. It makes running little errands in town much easier. I like to get out of the house everyday or so, and really the only place to go is the Safeway grocery. They have a small seasonal Toy section for Pearce, and I like to scan through the hot-off-the-press weekly magazines that come out every Thursday.

Even though there hasn't been much snow, it is still FREEZING!! Daytime temps range in the 30s, and nighttime is low 20s. Newsworthy is we now sleep with an electric blanket (along with a down comforter and an extra quilt for me). It works wonders!! I no longer lay in bed for hours too freezing to be able to fall asleep. Hopping into a warm toasty bed is the best!!

Jeremy is finishing up a writing contract (for a private school in Redmond, WA) and still applying for full-time jobs daily (mostly in the Seattle-area). It's frustrating at times feeling like online applications are going into a black hole. But we are still staying optimistic that something great is just around the corner.

Jeremy has a new form of entertainment as of late...he recently downloaded a new app that picks up police scanners all over the country. I'll ask him what he's listening to (mostly as I'm falling asleep at night) and he'll tell me about the crazy stuff that's going on...

In L.A. police are stopping traffic on the 605 and 110 due to a man trying to jump off...

Or a possible arson suspect on the other side of town.

Or there is reported gunshots.

There are MANY reports of 'high speed vehicle going 90+ mph weaving through traffic'. That is sooo typical. One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Orange County right after college was that everyone on the road is a Nascar Driver...

He'll switch over to Kittitas County (our county in central Washington) and it's practically silent. With an occasional "a man drove past a school bus stop sign".

It cracks me up when he plays the New Orleans police scan. Totally take me back home in an instance listening to them talk. The other night, there were lots of undercover cops in the French Quarter for the post-Sugar Bowl crowds talking to each other.

And that's about all I can think of for now! Until next time.... :-)

back home

2012-01-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

We are back home and (almost) back to "normal" life. We spent a couple low-key days at home and adjusting back to the quiet slow-paced life. Jeremy's truck broke down and had us (me and Pearce) come tow him in the jeep. I kept thinking to myself "this is soooo country." hahahhaha But, Pearce took it very seriously and was happy she could help daddy, even if it meant being woken from her nap 15 minutes into it.

Yesterday, I was longing from something fun to do, so I suggested to Jeremy that we take the jeep up in the mountains for a little ride. So we put on some toasty warm clothes, and loaded up. I love that Pearce loves jeep rides. When I was 16 weeks pregnant with her, we went on a big Moab jeep trip. We always joke that she's been jeepin' before she was even born.

We listened to our favorite country album, Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party, along the way, and I thought it was funny when these lyrics played...

"I guess you gotta make your own fun

When you're stuck in a place this slow"

Wish I had a more flattering picture of me and Pearce--looking like we are enjoying the ride! Really we were! It's just hard to keep the phone/camera still has we are bumping up and down like crazy!!

There were tons of frozen mud puddles. My favorite part was driving through them and hearing the ice slush.

2011 was a great year. As I've reflected upon this past year, I can't help but think of how grateful I am to Jeremy's parents for letting us stay in their beautiful country home, and how that's allowed me to slow down from a crazy-stressful-California lifestyle and to be a stay-at-home mom. I can definitely say this has been one of the best years of my life (challenges and all).

Today, I've written down all of my goals, mini goals, and resolutions for 2012. I'm ready for the new year! I'm ready for what lies ahead!

Christmas with the family

2011-12-27T23:24:00.000-08:00

Can Christmas just last another week or two? I'm not ready for it to be over. I'm still singing "Silent Night" every night to Pearce to get her to sleep and we're still having family get-togethers/dinners since there are a couple post-Christmas birthdays and Brandon and Brittany are still in town for a few more days.

My heart is full. It feels like it's grown 5 times bigger this year sharing it with our sweet little girl who makes me smile everyday. I feel so blessed to have such a loving and caring family.

CHRISTMAS EVE we had a lovely dinner at Natalie's house. And afterwards did a first time White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Pearce lovin' on all her cousins, especially baby Scarlett.

Nicole is so sweet with the baby cousins.

McKay got a Barbie doll, and was asking for someone to "steal". Pearce seemed very interested, so I stole it for my gift. I'm getting excited for the "Barbie stage". Brings back many childhood memories of Megan Garcia sleeping at our house and bringing her huge bin of Barbie Dolls. We were in Barbie heaven.

McKay was so sweet to open it for her and play with her.

yay for Barbies!!

Jeremy was so excited to see one of the Hancock boys open his white elephant gift---a Mexican Luchador Mask---that he received from a white elephant party many years ago when we were dating. Dave totally got a kick out of it, too.

Brandon ended up with his dad's "Painless Dentist" sign that he had in his office for 20+ years. It was pretty funny though, because it was Leslie who brought it, and when it was Clyde's turn he stole it from whoever had it at the time, before Brandon had a chance to. I guess he wasn't ready to part with it. But then handed down the torch, if you will, once he knew Brandon wanted it.

We ate lots of yummy treats dipped in the chocolate fountain as part of our Christmas Eve tradition. And lot of people (kids, mostly) had little chocolate mustaches for the rest of the evening.

After the chocolate fountain, Clyde always reads from the book of Luke and we sing lots of Christmas songs. We get pretty "spirited" while singing the 12 days of Christmas.
And then we did our annual Christmas sibling gift exchange with all of Jeremy's siblings and spouses.
Here is a little snapshot from my phone of the pillow that I made for Natalie. I cross stitched for the first time since I was like 8! It took a lot longer that I thought it would, but I love how it turned out. I saw this in November's Martha Stewart Living magazine.

And afterwards the kids each got to open a gift. Shannon got Pearce this cute little crown, that Pearce wore for the rest of the night and ran around saying "crown" or "princess" (she doesn't really pronounce it "princess" but it's way to hard to try and spell how it actually sounds.) And Jeremy's handmade marshmallow guns were a big hit with all the nephews.

It was full on war once we handed over a bag of mini marshmallows. Marshmallows were flying everywhere. Whoops! Totally a coincidence that we left soon after for bedtime. Have to be to bed on time for Santa!!

---------Christmas DAY----------

With church at 10am, we scooted along pretty quickly in the morning with Santa's gifts. I LOVED seeing Pearce soooo excited that Santa came. For days before I would ask her 'who's coming?' 'what is he bringing?' She would shout "SANTA!!" "PRESENTS!!"

Church was wonderful. There is so many musically talented people in Jeremy's parent's ward. Seriously, like a mini orchestra. I could listen to (well tuned) violin's all day.

We had a big family dinner in the afternoon. And Pearce got to play with all the cousins again. I'll be sad for her once we go home tomorrow and she doesn't have any kids to play with. She is so happy when she is around kids.

Pearce (borderline) attacks Scarlett whenever she sees her. She tries to hug and kiss, but sometimes it ends up that she is standing on top her her suffocating her. (not really, Jenny, I'm exaggerating!! ;-) She is SUCH A CUTIE PIE!! AND makes me want a little 8 month baby again!! I miss that stage. She is such a happy baby.

Rachael and her cutie pie doggie, who Pearce is also obsessed with. She says "doggie eat" about a million times a day.

Pearce got a few more presents from her Aunties. And it was so cute when she ran over to Aunt Natalie to give her a huge hug for the doggie-back-pack she got from her.

Shannon made this beautiful pillow. She sews the prettiest pillows.

Ended the night with dessert and BINGO--another tradition.

I think we have a winner!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by loved ones. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Eve at Pike's

2011-12-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

We've made it a little tradition over the past 2 years to go down to Pike Place on Christmas Eve. Due to weather forecast stating RAIN Saturday through all next week :-(...we thought it'd be a better idea to go today instead of tomorrow.

Jeremy got his dose of Salmon, and tried something new this time--Salmon Jerky. I was surprised that Pearce ate it. And not just one bite. She wanted as much as Jeremy would share.

This is such a typical scene. I feel like I'm always tucking Pearce's hair or replacing a bow.

Also hanging out with us was Jeremy's bro Brandon (and wife Brittany) and Rachael (his sister). Same group from two years ago.

Pearce has been chasing Jasmine, Rachael's doggie, everywhere! Crawling under tables with her, sitting in her doggie bed with her, and always trying to feed her. I use this to my advantage whenever I need Pearce to come to me, I'll just call for the dog, and Pearce will be right behind her.

Off to our annual A Christmas Carol play in downtown Seattle... Crossing my fingers Pearce is okay for the babysitter. She is going through a major mommy separation anxiety phase.

Me and my girl

2011-12-21T22:47:00.001-08:00

I love these two photos my friend Sarah just sent me. Just me and my little girl. Glueing on candy to her candy house.

Sarah had us over last week for a fun Christmas kid activity and Pearce was so happy to go to Audrey's house. I don't know why I thought Pearce would help me construct and decorate the house, because she was way more interested in playing with Audrey, their sweet baby Claire, and their dog. She did help stick candy on the back wall when I told her they were "stickers".

I'm getting a little sad that the Christmas season is coming to an end, but we are enjoying the rest of our holidays in Seattle with ALL OF the Curfews! And I'm relieved that my to-do and to-make list is complete. The last two days have been so nice to relax and chill out.

2011-12-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Jeremy sent me this link the other day, and I'm afraid this is happening... Is this real??? I'm starting to think so. At first I thought it was because we took away the binky, but I now don't think so. She stopped asking for it a little while ago, and she is going to sleep pretty fine. Plus, she still sleeps through the night. However, she wakes up from naps SCREAMING, won't let us change her diaper, and says "NO!" way more than usual.

Another fun addition to the day is that she has afternoon MELTDOWNS, and she is becoming less and less cooperative. There have definitely been some frustrating moments. And at the end of a day, I feel like a wimp because I need a little break after dinner every night and sneak off for a really long hot shower. (So soothing considering it's like 16 degrees here.)

HOWEVER....there has been just as many, if not more, sweet moments, too. She still cracks us up, and is talking like crazy. And the BEST thing that has happened in the past week is that she said "WUV YOU" for the first time!! MELT OUR HEARTS. It was actually a one time thing. But, Jeremy will say, "I love you sooo much." And then she'll say back in a sweet little voice, "MUCH".

AND it's been so fun to see her get so excited about all things CHRISTMAS!!!

She loves "christmas songs" and asks for them whenever we are in the car now. The other night Jeremy put on Christmas music while we were making dinner and she kept saying "Ty Bon". I didn't have a clue what she was tryin to say, but she was persistent and kept sayin it over and over again until Jeremy figured it out and said "Charlie Brown???" Duh, mom! That was the music that just came on.

She loves playing with her wooden nativity set everyday. She loves the Angel, Mary, baby Jesus, and the camel. I need to get some video of her playing with it. She tries to put all the people through the windows. And she'll hold Mary next baby Jesus next to her chest, and say "hold you" and rock back and forth.

Anytime she sees a Santa, whether it be a small sticker in a McDonald's window or in a book, etc she says "HO HO HO!!!". And she says "night night santa" every night before bed.

She was thrilled to "help" string these ornaments to make garland. And she was so excited to show daddy the "garland" after we hung it.

"uh, oh, mama! fix it!"

Some other random pictures of Pearce. Never really sitting still. Either following me around wherever I go, or being goofy and dancing and acrobatics.

Saturday night was the Branch Christmas Party, and I was hoping for Pearce to see "Santa". But, we had to leave for bed before Santa came. :-( We also missed Audrey, who Pearce asks for whenever we're at "church". But her new friend, Riley, was there to play with. It's a miracle that a new family with four kids recently moved in the branch. Pearce loved following her around all night and playing with her and making necklaces at the craft station.

Dinner. Crafts. Christmas story reading. And even a Christmas hula dance, oh my!

Pearce was exhausted by the end of the night. Off to bed...

She gets treats from Santa everyday. (Thanks grandma Curfew!) And I love hearing her say "Tank you Santa!" after she eats her chocolate treat. It seems like she points to the Santa advent calendar earlier and earlier each day. I try and wait for afternoon snack time. But lately she's been getting it right after breakfast!

I just "trimmed" Pearce's hair this morning. I mostly needed to trim the bangs that are always in her face... but I got carried away with the scissors, because it's kinda fun pretending like you know what you're doing, and then I started trimming the ends of her hair in the back. And now it's short, and I miss her old baby hair. And I'm kinda bummed. So I keep telling myself, hair does grow.

It's crazy that at the end of the day, even the tough ones, she's upstairs sleeping, and I'm looking at these pictures and missing her. Sweet dreams little one. xoxo.

Tis the Season!

2011-12-07T15:59:00.000-08:00

Isn't December the best month of the year??

There is so much to look forward to and so many wonderful things to see and do.

I loved the new short Bible videos they showed during the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. Christ's birth story was beautiful. Pearce took a little break from playing with her toys to watch that part with us. She liked seeing all the animals in the manger and of course the baby. It was so sweet having her snuggled up with us.

I had so much fun making handmade gifts last year, that I'm trying out some new things this year. Time is crunching, and I've been a busy little elf while Pearce watches "Christmas Cartoons" (Charlie Brown, Twas the Night Before Christmas, and Mickey's Christmas Carol).

Singing Christmas songs with Pearce.

Jeremy teases me how much I love the post office. I go there all then time. And December is no exception. Each day is a fun little trip there to drop off more Christmas cards. Doing them in batches is much easier.

A little cookie exchange party with the Young Women.

And I'm way excited for a whole day of BAKING at my sister-in-law's next week.

_____________________________________

This little girl LOVES hanging out by the tree -- pointing and grabbing and shaking the bell garland.

We are almost out of candy canes on the tree -- thanks to Pearce AND Jeremy.

And ALWAYS dancing around.

Christmas Tree Hunting

2011-12-04T10:50:00.000-08:00

We at first wanted to find a tree to cut down here at the ranch (with permission of my father-in-law, of course), so we put our snow boots on and walked around to find one that would be a good fit. Most were very "pine-y" or odd shaped or too tall. We even drove up to the pond to see if there was anything different up there. No luck. But we had a back up plan after chatting with friends at church.

So we loaded up in the jeep, stopped at the ranger's station to pick up a $5 permit, and headed up to the mountains. As soon as we got on the bumpy dirt road Pearce was out faster than a sip from our fountain drinks. She definitely takes after her mama. Whenever we would go off-roading (pre-baby days) I always ended up falling asleep in the passenger side. It always astounded Jeremy that I could fall asleep in such rough and bouncy conditions. But maybe I'm the one like a baby, because it's usually the quickest I can ever fall asleep, being "rocked" to sleep.

It turned out to be a good thing that she was asleep for a while, because it took a while to find a "Christmas" looking tree. We were truly in the "wild" tree zone. Anytime we'd see a good looking tree, we'd look closer and notice it was 3 put together which made it look full. Ultimately we found one around the same time Pearce woke up. Probably not a coincidence.

And there she is! Our wild tree. Covered in smoke by the chain saw.

TIMBERRRR.....!!!

Watching daddy cut down our tree in the warmth of the car.

Ready to get out and play in snow. It's been a while.

Helping daddy set up the tripod.

I love seeing Pearce smiling with her daddy.

ok, Jeremy, humor me and hold up the tree you just cut and take a family picture. ;-)

we're legal

that'a'boy!

"are we done yet??"

In other news, we've gone FOUR days pacifier-free!! This is HUGE!! I was terrified to finally take it away completely. I was convinced this was the only way she'd sleep good (and long), and (fairly) quiet in our many, long car rides. It is so nice to not hunt down a binky each nap and night time. I'm almost afraid to write this, that I might jinx myself, and she will scream for it tomorrow. She asks for it each time I'm rocking her to sleep, but I repeatedly tell her she doesn't need it, she's a "big girl now" and we gave the binky to the babies who need it, and that she still has her blankie. It takes twice as long to rock her to sleep because she fidgets so much to get comfortable; last night she tried putting her leg up on my armrest. It's kinda cute now that she doesn't have that thing in her mouth, because once she finally does fall asleep, I hear sweet little angel-like sounds---a cross between humming and whispering little words.

A week in New Orleans

2011-11-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

There are always TWO highlights when going home. The Food. And Family.

(Not necessarily in that order ;)

There is something about "home", isn't there? Feels good. Real good. My heart is full (and my belly, too).

Went straight from airport to the first restaurant -- Mandinas -- for poboys and seafood gumbo. I was always my mom's eating out buddy growing up. So we are two peas in a pod and planned our days around what and where we were gonna eat each day.
Mom was so sweet and excited for company, she had a new carseat all ready to go in the back of the car, and a new portable crib with beautiful soft little bear bedding set up in our room. Every night my mom or I would say to Pearce, your gonna go night night with the sweet bears.
Sunday I was in shock to see my tiny little "branch" had turned into quite a crowded "ward"! Never in my wildest dreams did I envision The Uptown Branch to be a ward someday. I was 11 when the branch was split off. I was devastated to be separated from all our friends, but being in a little branch taught me a lot, and i'm grateful for the experiences I had there with my family. We met in an auditorium at the Jewish Community Center and then upgraded to a Jewish Synagogue for many years before we had our very own building on St. Charles Ave. I left for college soon after it was built, but I know how long we waited for that building, and I'm reminded of gratitude each time I'm there.

I took Jeremy and Pearce to one of my favorite little places growing up-- Camillia Grill. It is right across the street from my middle school. It was a big treat to go there after school sometimes and get a chocolate freezie and BLT. Jeremy joined the Chocolate freeze club, and we made one a day at home thereafter. It's fun to sit at the counter and watch the cooks, and listen to the waiters rattle off 6 orders at a time to the cooks, you can barely understand them. You wonder how in the world can the chef understand, let alone hear. It's funny that 10+ years later they still mumble the same local rap songs I grew up listening too. Like Master P.... "Ungggggghh, na -nah na-nah..." LOL!!

I realized after we were there just about a day, that Jeremy is not the only one of us that understands a second language. My second language is New Orleans Black Dialect. Jeremy pretty much doesn't understand a word they say. For example, we were checking out at the grocery, and the lady smiles at Pearce and says "she reeeel cute. whe' she-make two?" Jeremy says "What?" And I say, " She turns two in March."
I remember the roads being terrible with bad potholes on almost every street. But I think they've gotten even worse!! My mom calls them landmines. It's kinda fun though, I'm not gonna lie. When I first got my driver's license, I would drive my mom's minivan real fast down the residential roads (since those are the worst) and it would feel like a roller-coaster ride. Pearce for sure thought it was so fun. She would say "WOAH!!" every time we'd go over bumps.
We went to the "horsey park" -- or so we called it as kids, the horse rides are no longer there -- a few times. It's so cool to see your own child play at the same place you played at and loved as a kid. I felt bad for Pearce that all I packed for her was long sleeve shirts and pants, because it was sooo hot and humid. Every other kid was in shorts and skirts and tank tops. Oh well. She still had a blast.

Did Riverwalk. Brings back such good memories. Loved chillen by the river and going in all the little touristy shops.

My mom took Pearce home for a nap and Jeremy and I cruised around the French Quarter. We like to sit in Jackson square on the steps and watch all the freaks -- the fortune tellers, and other odd performers. And then ate Muffalettas for the first time. (Hope my wish comes true, fountain!)

I like doing normal everyday stuff too. So one of the days we went out to Metairie and ran errands with my mom, and that is when our little Danny & Clyde gas station po-boys obsession began... I should have taken a picture of these beauties. It doesn't get much better. For $3.49 you get an overflowing with fried shrimp french bread sandwich. Pure joy. We went back two more times including one last stop on the way to the airport heading home. And they also had yummy little mini king cakes. yum!!!

Took Pearce on a streetcar ride. She loved it at first. But then the streetcar was making frequent and prolonged stops, and that is when meltdown began. I called my mom to see if she'd come pick us up rather than get on another streetcar to head back home. I always love riding the streetcar and looking at all of the beautiful houses on St. Charles.

Rode bikes to and around Audubon Park. Sat on bench by pond and watched a million ducks. All during Twilight - my favorite time of day.

Did some baking. Made pumpkin scones one of the first days. And 2 sour cream lemon pies for Thanksgiving day.
Went for a walk in the Garden District. Always one of my favorite things to do. Such beautiful architecture. And fun to go into little shops, including the "Defend New Orleans" shop and picked out t-shirts for Jeremy and Pearce.

Played in the french quarter with Pearce for a bit. The weather was finally nice by this time. Thank goodness!

Hit up my all-time-favorite restaurant EVER!! Palace Cafe. Ate like Kings and Queens. Shrimp Tchefunte, Pork debris pot pie, crab claws, oyster loaf and of course, top it off with the original bananas foster. And Pearce is totally a "dipper". She'll quadruple dip and lick before ever even taking a bite.

Thanksgiving Day we headed down south to cajun country -- Schriever -- to see all of my mom's family. They always called us the "white beans from the city" (hence the url of my blog.) It was a pretty emotional day for me. Hadn't been home in 3 years and a lot has changed. When I first saw my grandma, I fought back tears. She didn't look/act like I remembered. Jeremy told me he is sorry that I am now going through what he already had to go through with all 4 of his grand parents. It's hard. But at the end of the day, I smiled thinking back to all of the wonderful memories I have with her. She taught me how to play rummy and poker. Our two-week stay at grandma's house was the highlight of each summer. She'd get us new bathing suits and we'd spend an entire glorious day at the nearby waterpark. She'd give us each a $20 bill to spend at the Mall arcade. We thought we were so rich and lucky. It would last hours. And swinging countless hours under the oak tree.

Paw paw meeting Pearce for the first time. I love that he still is so active

and gets on the ground to meet her and talk to her.

Got to meet cousin-in-laws for the first time. And LOTS of new 2nd cousins. There were kids everywhere. Pearce was in "kid heaven" AND "park" heaven. She kept saying she was at the park. She loved all the animals, kids, swing set and definitely the bounce house.

Last day we still had to squeeze in a Cafe Du Monde trip for beignets. We usually go to the one in the french quarter, but we drove by and there was a line about a block long. So we ended up at the Riverwalk with no waiting at all and sat outside by the river.

And a last minute stop at City Park on our last day.

This is as close as we got to the swamps this time. At city park. Faux swamps.

Mom was cracking us up telling some other little girl that her mom was calling her...

basically to get her out of the frame of the photo.

Super fun trip. Miss you already Mom and Jacob!! xoxo

first snow of the season

2011-11-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

Oh... to see snow through the eyes of a child! Pearce is LOVING the snow!! We had just an itty-bit last week leaving about a 1/4" on the deck, and Pearce would have to step on a small pile every time we went in and out of the house. This morning we woke up to winter wonderland outside, and rather than get in the car to go visit teaching with me, all she wanted to do was play in the snow. So we swung by the Farm & Home on our way back, and got her some cheap-o snow-boots to play when we got home. She didn't want to come inside, but she wouldn't leave her mittens on and I knew her hands were freezing, so we came in and she is now playing with her toys right in front of the fire.

snow treats! :-)

invisible snowman. can you even see it?

"bye-bye da-da. i'm not gonna pose for a picture with you when i should be playing in the snow."

pumpkin scones, anyone?

2011-11-09T23:03:00.000-08:00

I've been craving Starbuck's pumpkin scones a lot lately. I don't get them often, even though I love them. And it doesn't help that we are 25 miles away from the closest Starbucks! So what does a country girl do? I did a quick search for their copycat recipe, and found several sites that had the same recipe, so I figured it was probably a good one.

These are so delicious, and taste sooo much better FRESH/home-made. They are much more moist and soft than at Starbucks, but still have that great pumpkin and spice flavor. They're kinda time consuming to make, but not too bad, the only part I don't like is cutting in butter. The recipe makes 6 scones, and only uses 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, so I saved the reminder of the puree from the 15 oz can. I'm very tempted to make these again in the morning. They are soooooooo goooooood.

Recipe found here.

backhoe on the ranch

2011-11-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

Jeremy likes all of those Discovery channel-esqe reality shows that involve men doing manual labor and using big heavy equipment like loaders, diggers, combines, etc. Like all of those logging shows and now that new show called Gold Rush Alaska. Funny that these shows have been on lately, because when Jeremy's dad rented a backhoe the other day to dig up dirt on the property to move to the new garage for foundation, Jeremy was so excited to help out and work that machinery. It's kinda like a real-life video game, if you think about it...

So, Jeremy, these pics are for you!

trick or treat

2011-11-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

And this Halloween 2011 is a wrap. It's been a fun holiday to celebrate now that Pearce is a little older. We got her dressed as a cat in some of her regular clothes, and tricked her into wearing cat ears, by distracting her with sticker earrings. She loves her earrings, and it's the newest accessory that is a must everyday. And how appropriate, because they are 'hello kitty'.

We took her to main street where there was a little parade, and door-to-door trick-or-treating at the local businesses. All the kids dressed up (and parents) walked in the parade. Other than that, it was just a HS marching band.

And this next picture is for Aunt Brittany! Pearce got a toothbrush, and she kept trying to throw it out of her bucket. hahahaha

Driving home she was taking turns with the lollipop ("pop!") and the binky.

After dinner, Jeremy carved a mini pumpkin for Pearce. Down to the wire with the halloween pumpkin carving!

I had so many little video clips from Halloween that I put them together in a little short video...

branch harvest party

2011-10-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

We went to our branch's harvest/halloween party this weekend, and Pearce either had a sad/overwhelmed face like she was going to cry, or a sneaky/happy little face grabbing cupcakes or filling her little baggie with candy.

We were able to squeeze her into her little Chinese dress for one more year.

China doll/Cupcake snatcher

a little dancing...

a little trick-or-treating door to door,

a little fishing,

and more sneaking from the cupcake table!

Have a happy and fun Halloween!

dancing boots

2011-10-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

having a little fun at the Farm & Home

"pough"

2011-10-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Pearce relentlessly points to the closet in the family room everyday (sometimes twice a day) and says "pough!!" "pough!!" "pough!!" louder and louder until you finally cave in. This girl is in love with PLAY DOUGH!! And thanks to all of Grandma's toys, books, and games throughout the ranch house, Pearce has had nonstop activities since the day we moved in a year ago. We are always finding cool and fun treasures all the time.

We make lots of chocolate cakes, blueberry pies, and vanilla waffles. Oh, and we stop to smell the play dough often, cuz it smells so darn good!

On the Halloween front, I had planned on making Pearce a costume to match her blabla kitty doll. I figured, how hard is it to make little bloomers with lace, and a shirt, and a black tail?

Well, I didn't even get past the bloomers. I made the leg holes WAY too tight that when I put them on her they barely got to mid-thigh. So now her costume is either gonna be the same as last year's, or another kind of kitty since we already have the kitty ears. we shall see...

FHE: dinner in a pumpkin

2011-10-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

Midway through drawing the face on the pumpkin, I thought, why am I letting her draw with a sharpie?? Her hands were waving all over the place, and i'm yelling, give that back to mama! well, so much for trying to be a fun mom.

apples, apples, apples!!!

2011-10-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again for apple pies, crockpot applesauce, and lots of apple sharing.

Pearce's job was to pick up all the apples and put in the box that I would lightly toss from the tree to the ground. Some of them made it to the box, and others to her mouth.

Whenever this girl is outside, she almost always has an apple in her mouth.

And looking forward to a fun weekend ahead! Leavenworth with Shannon and Rod tomorrow. And Sterling's birthday celebration Sunday with all the Curfews.

my favorite time of year!

2011-10-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

We picked the last of what was left in the garden. It's been a dream to cook and bake with a garden the past several months, and we will miss it. Most of these pumpkins and squash are for decoration. We'll be carving the pumpkins and saving one for our annual "dinner in a pumpkin." In the meantime, Pearce has been trying to chalk them.

And has had fun rearranging them.

Hey Pearce, Can you sit on the pumpkin?
Silly, not the little green one! The big orange one!

Hey Jeremy, will you come take a picture of me with Pearce? I never get to be in any pictures with her. (yes, very dramatic.)

branch friends

2011-10-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

We are fortunate to have one other young family in our little branch, (80% of our branch is 80 years old or older) so Pearce has some little buddies at church and I have a sewing buddy. Pearce loves being a big girl now and going to Nursery with Audrey, and literally says "Ah-jee, Ah-jee, Ah-jee" every single day. They came over last week to snap a few family photos now that they have added a 5th member to their family: sweet, darling Claire. I always get nervous before taking photos for other people, because I stress about expectations, lighting, exposure, etc. I really wish I would have taken a photography class or something, because I feel like I rely on luck and hope some turn out good. These are my faves.

sick again :(

2011-10-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

We've been a little under the weather this week (mostly Pearce) and have been keeping a low profile. And I'm still not sure if I'm really sick, or just still recovering from an allergic reaction to a dog, cat, and guinea pig from my visiting teaching a few days ago. hahahaha I'll have to take some Benadryl BEFORE I go next time.

Last week I made...not one...but TWO toddler backpacks! I've been seeing a bunch in blogland recently, and decided it was time for me to give it a try. I used the Made by Rae pattern. It was super easy to follow and learned about "fusible interlining". Never heard of such a thing beforehand. You iron it on to fabric to make it sturdier and it helps hold the shape of the backpack. I used quilt weight fabric, although I think home dec weight fabric or canvas would be more sturdier. But for an 18 month old, it will do just fine. Holds mostly little ponies, little people, some crayons and some books. Pearce modeled the purple one while we walked to get mail this morning.

I originally made her a pink with neon yellow piping and was gonna send this purple one to her cousin, Eleanor, whose birthday is around the corner...but Pearce didn't want to have anything to do with the pink one, she'd slip off the straps faster than she slips off her carseat straps. So I called my sister Sarah to see if eleanor would like the pink one better, and she said yes! So we did a little swap-a-roo. Here are a couple pics I got of Pearce in the pink backpack before it was shipped last week.

there goes those little fingers...

slippity do, and it's off!

And while we're on a Pearce picture spree... The morning of her first official day of Nursery. Always a little too rushed. Would have loved to get that "picture-perfect" picture with my baby girl all grown up that special morning... but this is as good as we got...

And that's about it for now.

writing sideways

2011-09-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Pearce has been doing the funniest thing lately. She's big into hunting for pens, pencils and crayons everywhere, including purses, diaper bags, closets, drawers, cubbies, etc. She is getting better at actually writing on paper (including checkbooks, receipts, pattern pieces and sometimes coloring books). And she almost always immediately drops down flat on her belly to start drawing/coloring. And then starts squirming. And just yesterday I saw her starting to twist sideways while still drawing. Cracks me up!!

18 months

2011-09-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning singing any combination of a birthday song I could think of and adding "half" in there.

This is what she did when I said, "smile! say cheese!" very busy playing with her bag of ponies.

Onto play outside. Still loves all the many big and small rocks in the driveway.

and also a happy happy REAL birthday to Uncle DohDoh, Freddie!

home salon

2011-09-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

there is a first for everything, and this was my first time with this:

But apparently, new to me, Jeremy has experience with this! I brought home this box from the grocery and I was reading the instructions, and he said "I know what to do, I did this all the time in college." Wow. Who knew!! He experimented with all sorts of colors in the past. lol. But i'm glad he was around to help, because I would have been in over my head starting this by myself. He applied all the color, and even put on his own rubber gloves. It was quite the sight. We both at different times got a laugh out of the situation. He was a HUGE help. I started getting nervous while waiting for the color to process for the 30 minutes, because it started to look SOOOO dark!! I kinda freaked out a bit, and washed about 10 minutes early. I really like the color, but it will take some getting use to -- it's sooo different!! Meanwhile, Pearce has slept through this whole ordeal, I wonder if she is gonna act weird when I get her from her nap!

And just for kicks, here are some pics. Thanks, Jeremy!

My hair looks a little lighter in these photos because of the natural light coming in through window I'm standing next too, I actually wish it was a little lighter like this. But hopefully it will fade some.

And I can never end a post without a Pearce picture, because let's face it I have 100s of them. Yesterday, she got into one of the drawers that had leftover candy from Easter! And immediately started peeling away at this chocolate bunny and saying "bunny". I let her ~~lick~~ bite for a little bit, but then we tossed it.

It's funny Freddie made the comment about her "2 left feet", cuz know I notice she does this foot twist thing a lot.

nursery and other ramblings...

2011-09-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

I taught the YW lesson today, so I needed to sneak Pearce into nursery. It will be official for next Sunday since she turns 18 months on Wednesday, but the Nursery leader has been so nice to let me bring her in the last hour a couple times over the summer. There is only one other little girl, Audrey, who Pearce LOVES. Whenever I tell her she is gonna go to nursery, all she says is "Aw-dwee! Aw-dwee! Aw-dwee!"

My lesson ended about 10 minutes early, (no surprise there! How on earth can you teach a lesson to two people for a full hour??) so I went to get Pearce, and they were all in the primary room sitting on chairs and signing songs. I watched from the back door, and my heart just MELTED. She didn't sit down the whole time, rather it was up and all around, standing next to the other kids in their seats, then right back to her seat, and repeat. Part of the time she was rocking back and forth in her chair while the kids sang. She was smiling so big, and happy as a clam. And it hit me. She is growing up. She is a little girl now.

We drove to Mercer Island on Friday for her 18 month check-up, and made a girl's day out of it. Now that she is a little older, she is a fun little buddy to go shopping with and run errands with. Granted for a limited amount of time, but still, a fun little buddy. We fooyayed at the U Village outdoor mall, lunched, and shopped til we (Pearce) dropped.

Doc said all is looking good, she got 3 shots, and still has a large bump on her thigh that will hopefully go away soon. She loved the fish tanks, coloring stations and all the toys in the waiting room. I had this same pic on Facebook, and my lil bro commented "2 left feet???" I got a good laugh at that.

ok, so i feel like a fish out of water, cuz i wanted to put the next two pics side-by-side, but when we upgraded our operating system on the iMac a couple months ago, it wiped away our old-school Photoshop CS1, and I have no idea how to do that without psd. so i'm sad it's gone. And my 30-day free trial of CS5 was up a week ago. :-( And I can't justify paying the $200 for only using the program to put photos-side-by-side. hahahahaha. oh, and the occasional new blog header. i'll just have to recycle some old ones, b/c i have major blogger ADD. I digress...

I think Pearce looks like me in this next picture. So the one after it is of me when i was somewhere around that age. Do you agree?? Sisters, where you at?

And speaking of sisters, my sis Jess just updated her blog, and her kids are hilarious. I got a good laugh at her latest post.

dump day

2011-09-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered what the dump looks like? Well, here it is, in all it's glory. ;-) Saturday was that time of the month... and we have made it into a little family outing now, so we can get some free Dairy Queen for Pea. Me and Pearce tagged along last month for the first time, because I was curious to see what this dump thing was like. And now I know. You stop at the front station - they weigh your truck - you pull up to this big dumping area - back your truck in - and start dumping - with gloves preferably. Then you drive back out to the entry/exit station - they re-weigh your truck to determine the TONS you've unloaded - and you pay accordingly. (about $9-10, in case you're interested...hahaha). And when you have a little one in the car with you, they hand you a DQ token for a free cone or dilly bar. SCORE!

Before heading to the dump, Jeremy had to do a little work on the truck. He was ready to get rid of all the stinky in the back of the truck, mostly because he's been itching to drive around the (new) old ford truck without junk in it, because he just put in a new carburetor. It's tit-for-tat over here... every trip to NAPA, means some new fabric in my stash. I finally just ordered some of Sarah Jane's Children at Play with a big sale at fabric.com. I'm so excited to get it in the mail and finally see it in person!!

My little girl.

2011-09-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

Pearce has been on BRAT diet for a week now. (TMI?? sorry). But it's been a hard couple weeks with several sleepless nights, and plenty un-napping days. Not sure if it's teething related or bug related. It's a good thing she is SUCH a SWEET little girl (and I mean, like, the sweetest little girl on the planet!) and I love her to pieces, because if this was some other random child, it would be extremely difficult.)

I did a couple new blocks for my quilting bee this am, and it MELTS MY HEART how much she wants to do everything like mommy. She is right by my side all day long. Needed to be in the Bee Block pictures. Wanted to help cut the fabric. Wanted to touch every button on the sewing machine. Had to play with all the fabric. Yup, she's my little girl.

Sterling James

2011-08-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

My cute little nephew, Sterling, is starting kindergarden in just a couple weeks and his mama wanted some photos for this big milestone. And I gladly obliged, since I love taking photos of/around the ranch. Such a pretty place. I've always loved it here, since my first visit back when we were dating/engaged. We had quite the evenful Saturday; Jenny came out for a visit in the afternoon with the kiddos and we played in the yard (while snapping photos) and went to the Dairy Queen for a cold treat (it's been soooo hot here!!). And we all also went to visit their cousin who was in town staying at Suncadia.

One thing I learned about taking 5 year old's photos, is you need to be ready with a lot of knock-knock jokes.

Pearce wanted in on the action. I think Sterling's face is so funny in that picture, about to throw his apple out in the field.

And I of course had to snap a couple of Miss Scarlett.

Pearce: 17 months

2011-08-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

Jeremy's folks came out on Saturday, to go to the Cle Elum Car Show. Leslie stayed with Peanut at home and we got sunburned walking up and down main street looking at all the cars.

We played outside in the afternoon, and I had my camera out and handy (to take pictures of my nephew playing around in the yard) and I got a couple cute ones of Pearce making Leslie laugh. And I guess these will do just fine for her 17 month photos, since she turned 17 months on Sunday.

"Daddy, will you push me on the swing??"

Loving her "BABY!!!" cousin, Scarlett

This little girl makes me soooo happy.

Maui: the last days

2011-08-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday we took a little family (Jeremy, Pearce and I) outing and explored "upcountry" and wandered little towns there and in-between. We only had three planned stops and left the rest up to the wind: 1) Kihei Farmer's Market, 2) a famous bakery in Makawao, and 3) back to Flatbread Co. for more bbq pork pizza.

I read rave reviews online "T. Komoda Store and Bakery" for their cream puffs, coconut twist pastries, and donuts on sticks. Mmmmmmmm Mmmmmm GOOooood!! We tried one (or two) of each. It's in the upcountry cowboy town called Makawao. It had several art boutiques, cowboy boot and hat shops, and other cute little shops. But we didn't stay too long because Pearce started getting fussing, so we hopped back in the car for a pretty drive through the hillsides, green pastures, and farmland and then to the coast and down to Pa'ia for lunch. In the afternoon we were pretty mellow and hung out at the condo/pool, in the evening we shopped next door at the Whaler Village, and chatted the late night away with Brandon and Brittany when Pearce went to bed.

(All snorkel and Black Rock jumping photos curtesy of Brittany & Brandon.)

Friday went way too fast. Our last full day. We ate breakfast every morning in our room, so our last day wanted to eat a yummy Maui-ish breakfast at a restaurant. We walked down to the Whaler Village to a place called Cane & Taro. Me, waffle with coconut syrup and macadamia nuts. Jeremy, omelet with Portuguese sausage. (the food was so-so, but few and breeze wonderful.) We ran into half the family along the beach path there and back. Pearce loved every time she saw her cousins. Always greeting them with big hugs. The rest of the day was spent (me) in room while Pearce napped, and Jeremy one last snorkel run. Then in the afternoon we played in pool some more, and tried to get our last fill of the beautiful beach.

The whole family met at 4pm to take a big family photo. We spent about 30-45 minutes hanging out and trying to get walker-bys to take some photos. I'm still waiting to see if any of those turned out. But the front desk offered to take a few photos of us and gave us each a print out.

By 5:30 we were all in Lahaina at Bubba Gumps ready for Nicole's big birthday celebration dinner. She turned 17!!! the next day. We had a great time at the restaurant--very fun and lively atmosphere. After dinner, we squeezed in one very last shave ice!!!!!

Saturday morning we said our good byes to B & B and Rachael at the airport, and the other 16 of us boarded the same flight back to overcast Seattle. :-)

And that's a Hawaiian wrap!

Shave Ice & Nakalele Blowhole

2011-08-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

It goes without saying how much I love Shave Ice. Growing up in New Orleans, our favorite summer treat was Plum Street Snoballs, because of it's finely shaved ice, so fine it melts right in your mouth. I never thought it could get any better than that... but it does!! With Macadamia Nut Ice Cream at the bottom AND snowcap (sweetened condensed milk).

A lot of us were interested in seeing the blowhole (Nakalele blowhole) that was only 20 miles north of us, so we all caravanned (literally- 3 caravan mini-vans) and checked it out. It was a seep climb down to the blowhole, very rocky. Clyde stayed at the top with Pea so me and Jeremy could go down. No way a stroller would have ever made it. It was gorgeous, and I'm glad it made it on the "to-see" list.

The next two pics you can see the blowhole (erupting?)

Cliffs on the other side of the blowhole.

picture of the two of us RIGHT BEFORE a spray from a huge wave splashed us.

Jeremy and I didn't stay very long down there, because we wanted to get back up to Pearce. And it was perfect timing, because one minute after we got back up it started POURING--like buckets full of rain. Everyone else had to make the 5 minute climb in the pouring rain. Tried to get a quick photo from inside our mini van looking at the peeps coming up soaking.

Halfway to Hana

2011-08-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well, not exactly. But it sounds catchier than 1/3 of the way to Hana. My goal was to get to at least mile 10 (of 52) since there was a "bamboo forest hike" I wanted to do. I am extremely prone to carsickness/motion sickness so I thought that was a reasonable goal considering it's the windiest road on the planet. But we actually made it to mile 16 for a beautiful lookout.

I'm so glad Rachael (Jeremy's sis) joined us for our day's journey. She is so fun and always making funny faces or poses for pictures. And was also a huge help in the backseat with Pea. Pea loved auntie "ray" and not just because she handed her snacks the majority of the ride. ;-)

At mike marker 2 there is a little fruit stand with fresh pineapples and they cut it all up for you right there on the spot with a machete and put pieces in a huge ziplock. We munched on it most of the ride. The most juicy delicious pineapple.

I'm glad we got an early start (7:30am) because later in the day the road got pretty packed with other Hana-goers. We stopped at a couple spots to explore. The first was a random stop (not found in Maui revealed) and it was my favorite. It was sprinkling here and resulted in very muddy feet/legs. Here are some pics of that 'stop'.

Our next stop was Right after the mile 10 marker and was listed in 'Maui Revealed' as a Hike through a Bamboo Forest. The first mile was all UPHILL, should have been labeled UPAREALLYSTEEPHILL. I was definitely happy I wasn't the man pushing a stroller in this scenario. It was beautiful, but we only went a mile into it then turned around because we were being eaten alive by mosquitos. I woke up the next morning with about 25-30 big red bolts all over my legs. Here are pics from this "hike".

how fun... Jane and George of the jungle...

monkey see, monkey do. except I put a little too much faith in the vines...

good thing jeremy had a pair of his swimming trunks in the car that I could change into.

Our last stop was right past mile 14 to take some "look out" shots. And that was a wrap. I felt like we saw a lot, and could tell I could start getting sick pretty soon if we didn't turn around. Oh, and we were getting hungry for lunch. Lunch at a restaurant in Pa'ia that came highly recommended by my friend Elise.

Called Flatbread Co. And the pizza was amazing. So amazing we made the 40 minute drive here again a couple days later for the exact same thing!!

Mopsy’s Kalua Pork – Kiawe smoked free-range pork shoulder, homemade organic mango BBQ
sauce, organic red onions, Maui pineapple, Surfing Goat Chevre, premium whole milk mozzarella,
imported Parmesan cheese and our organic herb mix

Sound good? OH what I would give to have this pizza right now. And I thought it was clever for them to bring play-dough (pizza dough) for kids to play with while waiting for pizza. Pearce tried eating it, smelling it, snorting it, and of course throwing it.

We drove home with our bellies full, and pretty tired. We rested a bit before dinner out on the town with the whole fam. We planned ahead and had reservations for everyone at a "local" food place called "Aloha Mixed Plate". The food was so-so but the atmosphere was fun and affordable and it was right on the water and we watched yet another beautiful sunset.

Just about every night, I TRIED to get a family picture...but didn't always have the best luck. Poor girl was probably exhausted from her long day in the backseat.

Maui Beach Days

2011-08-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

Our first two days were spent primarily at the beach in front of our condos, in Ka'anapali. Most beautiful beach I've ever seen. All shades of aqua and crystal blue. But first, before unloading at the condos, we stocked up on groceries for the week at Walmart, and then grabbed lunch in Lahaina at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

After getting unpacked and settled in condo, we all met up at the beach, which by then was evening time. Was our first day really coming to an end? aaah, the anxiety! :-)

Day 2, beach, beach, beach. And a little pool, too. Jeremy got his snorkel on, and Pearce was checking it out.

We built a few sandcastles with the Hancock boys, and they "protected" her castle with motes and walls and chanted "protect Pearce's castle" over and over again.

This day she took two 2-hour naps. We wondered each time, when is she gonna wake up?? We have some sun to be catching!! (Sorry, Pea, the next few days you rarely got a nap in your crib. Maybe because you got a little too "greedy" of napping this day. hehehehe)

Getting ready for dinner.

We headed back into Lahaina (just a quick 10-minute drive) for dinner. Turns out when there is like 20 people in your party, it's hard to get seated at restaurants with no reservations. Go figure! But we lucked out and got seated at a new restaurant called "HONU". Worried it would be stupid since it was the only restaurant available, but ended up being awesome, and we went back a couple nights later. Jeremy and I split some grilled lamb riblets with greek yogurt sauce and their burger with a thick layer of goat chevre on brioche. Oh, so good! When we came back the second time, I got their Quinoa Lentil burger (with the thick layer of goat chevre as well) recommended by Rachael from the frist time we ate there. She is a vegetarian, and said it was the best veggie burger she ever had, so I decided to try my first. It was soooo delicious. Now I want to find recipes with quinoa and lentils.

It was wonderful watching the sun set every night around dinner time.

Curfew: Party of 21

2011-08-15T15:34:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law treated all six of her kids, their spouses and all grandchildren for a special memorable family trip to Maui. The majority of us had never been, and it is a beautiful heaven-like place that feels like a dream. The week went by way too fast, (sorry for sounding cheesy) but the memories will live on, especially in photos. I'm excited to share and see all the other family members photos- cuz isnt the anticipation of seeing vacation photos fun?? Am I alone here??

Pearce hula'd on cue all week long, learned to nap on the go, boogie boarded (on land-not sea), said "Hawaii" when you asked her if she likes Hawaii, did remarkably well on both plane rides (big Thanks to Leslie and Nicole for entertaining and holding her), loved splashing in the kitty-pool and "swimming" in the big pool, said "GO-WAY!" to any and all birds and flies she saw, crumbled sandcastles her cousins made, picked out a cute little hula girl doll and carried with her everywhere, and survived 'halfway to Hana'.

Jeremy did lots of snorkeling, jumped off Black Rock, swam with a sea turtle, was an excellent chauffeur including the road to HANA, trip to farmer's market, drive up to a huge Blowhole, and many small trips to Lahaina for dinner, was a good sport when it came to me taking lots of pictures, stocked up on Chocolate covered Macadamia Nut candies, competed in a few pool related contest with lil Bro Brandon, showed us all how to get the best shave ice--with Mac Nut ice-cream at bottom and snow-cap on top (sweetened condensed milk), and of course a combination of flavors including coconut and Tiger's blood.

I (Emily) ate shave ice whenever I could, including 3 stops at Ululani's, carried around "Maui Revealed" almost the entire trip, snapped photos whenever my hands were free, took advantage of the 3 hour time differnce the first couple days to enjoy the peace, qiuet and beauty of early morning 6am strolls with the three of us, enjoyed some magazines poolside, ate my first veggie burger- and it was the bomb.com, LOVED chilling and playing at the beach for the first time since I was a kid in Destin, Florida. {TOTALLY took for granted living a couple blocks from Huntington Beach for so many years. Why didn't I ever go? Because I'm craving beaches everyday now.} Also, survived halfway to Hana with sleep-deprived baby in-tow, and explored bamboo jungles with Rachael, wandered through "upcountry" towns with Jeremy, and got some of the best pastries (cream puffs and coconut twists) in a little town called "Pa'ia". Ate coconut syrup and macadamia nuts as often as I could.

I have many photos to share, which I'll probably devote a post to each day or two, but in the meantime, here are a sprinkle of photos throughout the week.

Thank you Leslie for a trip of a lifetime!

daddy's little helper

2011-08-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

this girl LOVES the garage, rocks, tools, and "helping".

and on a side note, I busted out one more dress today- this is the museum tunic dress by Anna Maria Horner (my fave fabric designer). And I had just enough left over fabric to whip up a mini-me dress for Pearce. I finished it just in time before she hit the sack, and it fits. And of course, she outshines me in hers. It's stink in' cute. I'll have to get some mommy-and-me photos of us both wearing it in Maui. Aloha!

My newest sewing creations

2011-08-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

So I caught the sewing garment bug. I've held onto an Oliver + S dress pattern for Pearce for a long time. I tried to "read" the pattern. But it was scary. And it was like reading another language. So I kept putting it to the side. (And it still is on the "side".)

However, I took the plunge, and got this great pattern and made a simple tunic style blouse. I first saw it on Film in the Fridge, and thought it looked sooo cute and that it would work for spring, summer and maybe fall. It was a fairly simple pattern to read and I did it!! I was so proud of myself, that I actually finally did a "pattern". I'm much more of a make-it-up-as-I-go type of person, but it was really cool to tackle a challenge like this, and I want to do it again! The trickiest part was sewing the sleeves, because you aren't sewing two straight pieces of fabric, it's all one big scary curve. But I just took my time, and didn't rush it. I tried my hardest to channel my perfectionist sis Jessica, and I carried on. I even sewed my first button hole!! (Had to get out the manual and change presser foot thing, but after that it was easy!)

Without further ado, my Shearwater Kaftan blouse... (Using Anna Maria Horner's newest line of fabric LouLouthi)

But that's not all folks...I was feeling good about this whole sewing clothes things, so I finally cut into some Anna Maria Horner (AMH) voile fabric that I have saved for over a year, and made this skirt. A skirt from AMH called "Flirting the Issue". Super simple, not pattern necessary. It's pretty much 2 pieces of rectangle cut fabric, sewed together and 4 1/4 inch elastic bands on the top. The directions can be found here. It called for a lining, but I figured if I was going to use another voile fabric for the lining, I might as well make it two-sided. That way, two-for-the-work-of-one! I just had to be careful while sewing the elastic part at the top so that it looked ~~pretty~~ decent enough to show on both sides.

My new two-sided flawy skirt. Perfect for our Hawaii trip next week! (p.s. I've been teaching Pearce the hula dance in preparation for our big Curfew family trip. hehehe It's pretty cute to see her wiggle her hips.)

Fabric used: Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Coloring Garden (in Berry) AND Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush First Impressions (in blush) voile

Is it possible to write a blog post without a picture of two of Pearce? Probably not. She was eating cherries on the ground while I was snapping pictures of my new blouse and skirt hanging in the cherry tree. At first I wondered why she'll always take a bite of a cherry, then spit it out, then repeat. Because I could tell she liked cherries, so it's not like she was spitting them out because she didn't like them... But then after a little while I realized she'd spit them out because she'd always see me and Jeremy spitting out the big seed in the middle. hahahah monkey see, monkey do. Our little copy-cat.

Auntie B visit

2011-07-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law, Brittany, came to spend the day with us at the ranch. Pearce was cranky until Britt got here, then she put her charm on, and was totally goofy and fun to be around. I'm glad I get to see the whole spectrum of Pearce's moods/personalities, because she's been a stinker lately. I think it's because this week we are trying to cut back (significantly) on the binky. Over the past couple months of traveling I relied heavily on the binky to soothe her on long flights, long car rides, new places and situations, and it got a little out of hand, to where she had it in her mouth ALL the time. So this week i've only given it to her at nap and bed time. So far, so good, I just have to listen to extra whining.

I digress, back to Brittany. She is visiting from Kentucky for the next couple weeks (staying at our in-laws) while her hubby is doing his summer dental internship up in La Conner area. We had a fun girls day, chatting, sewing, looking at fabric, hanging outside in the breezy sunshine, playing with Pearce with sidewalk chalk, going into town for lunch to get "chicago dogs", and checking on the garden and "thinning" some of the veggies (walla walla sweet onions, beets, zucchini) and cutting some broccoli for dinner. We have loved the past two nights making dinner with our fresh produce from the garden. I made zucchini onion shrimp butter linguini one night, and broccoli zucchini chicken teriyaki last night. And also made a couple loaves of zucchini bread (with chocolate chips and pecans!!!) It's a Paula Dean recipe -- so it was major delish. I never was really a big zucchini fan until now. And I might say it's my new favorite veg.

Brittany, it was such a fun day!! Please come back next week, too!!

16 months

2011-07-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

Last week Pearce turned "16 months". I haven't taken her monthly photos in a while (since 12 months), so I figured I'd take my camera to the park and snap a few. It's fun to look back and see how much she has grown each time. I was looking back at the other monthly photos, I guess I haven't been so consistent, but at least I have some!

12 months 11 months 10 months 7 months 6 months 5 months 4 months 3 months 2 months newborn

Pearce, you have been very active lately. And you are a little copy-cat. You want to brush your teeth and hair when mama does, you want to sweep the floor, sew or cut fabric, play on the computer, eat and drink whatever mama and dada eat/drink, and you even try to talk like us, repeating words the best you can. You are my little buddy.

Laura's Fruit Pizza

2011-07-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

I made my little sis, Laura's favorite fruit pizza for my niece's baby blessing brunch yesterday, and it turned out awesome. It was a big hit! Thanks Laura for sharing the recipe with me!

Crust:

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. oil
1 egg
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt

MIx butter, sugar, and vanilla, then add oil and eggs. Mix well then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix just until blended. Should refrigerate but if no time, okay. Put in a jelly roll pan and spread evenly. Bake @ 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

Cream cheese spread:

2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c. powdered sugar
8 oz. cool whip

Cream together all ingredients well and spread evenly over the cooled cookie crust. Use an assortment of your favorite fruits thinly sliced and place on top of cream cheese spread.

Glaze:

1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. orange juice (I used freshly squeezed from one orange)
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (I used freshly squeezed from one lemon)
1 1/2 tsp. corn starch
pinch of salt

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients using a wire whisk, whip to dissolve the sugar and corn starch starch into the liquid. Bring mixture to a rolling boil, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes, or until thickens/ Remove from heat and cool slightly. Remove pizza from fridge and brush glaze over the fruit. Cover pizza and chill until ready to serve.

sugar & kid high

2011-07-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

I originally planned a 10 day trip to hang with my big sis Jess right in the middle of the summer {and give Jeremy some P&Q while he studied for his final comprehensive exam for his ESOL masters}. Just laze around. Pretend like we actually live next door to each other and just do normal stuff everyday. Let the kids run around. Quilt. Fabric shop. Work on our blocks for this months Quilting Bee. Swim a little. Go to library. Talk. Talk. and more talking. Jessica is one of my best friends, we talk on the phone almost everyday, and we were always very tight growing up, even though we couldn't have been more different than each other as kids & teens.

She was ALWAYS reading, and I was always at her side annoying her until she'd give in and come play with me. I joke with her today that I have single-handedly helped her perfect her amazing concentration skills. Because she learned to block me out for what seemed like hours of me harassing her, yet she could still somehow concentrate and finish a book with me by her side.

She has been my moral compass and my life mentor. She is so much more than just a sister to me.

Even though we didn't do anything glamourous--in fact, Jessica had an emergency root canal at the beginning of the trip, and a half-day stay at the hospital the last day for dizziness, dehydration and early contractions (she's 35 weeks pregnant with baby #5)--I had the best week ever!

The trip got even better, when my mom and siblings crashed our party a day after I arrived. It was like a big last minute family reunion. Except, we missed sweet little Laura, who was busy working (her first real post-college job) in Provo. And not to mention, experiencing a little summer romance! ;-) Side note here: Laura is dating a really cute and sweet boy, and we are all so excited for her and love hearing all of the new updates on their relationship. Sorry to embarrass you, Laura, but it's kind of my job! We did skype with her a few times, though.

* We went to the beautiful Des Peres Park with all the kids on Friday before we hit up Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A for free "entrees". It reminded me of Audubon Park in New Orleans. Because of the beautiful lake, jogging trails and big trees with hanging branches. Only problem was we went at noon and it was thick hot and heavy. Didn't last long.

* We dressed up as Cows in order to get our "free entrees". Our good college friend, Natalie told us about it that morning, so we decided to meet up with her there for lunch. All 5 kids and 2 adults were crammed into Jessica's air conditioned car in the Chick-fil-A parking lot, trying to tape cut-out black and brown construction paper spots on our white shirts. I was panicking trying not to let Pearce pull off all of my and her spots while waiting in the very long "cow" line before we could get our free sandwiches. I'm pretty pathetic when it comes to free stuff. Because of said chaos, I never got a chance to take a picture of all of us in our "costumes". bummer! but I did get a picture of the after math. You can see some of the "spots" in the trash pile on the tray.

*Natalie, Jessica and I had a girls night out! And let me tell ya, it was awesome, and over-due. We first went to Applebees for some dessert, and then to the movies to see Monte Carlo with Selena Gomez. Such a cute PG film.

*Saturday was Ethan's birthday party. Just turned 8 and got baptized. He is such a great big helper! He helped with a couple of the dinners I did. Washing and drying veggies, peeling carrots, telling me where everything was that I was looking for and so on. He was so excited for his "friends" birthday party. And by this time, the whole family was here too to help out and celebrate. Freddie and the kids filled up 100s of water balloons the day before, and they all seemed to go a little too quickly the day of the party. It was so nice to have some water fun in the heat.

*The other bday party activity was making TIE-DYE shirts. LOVED THIS!! i want to make more!!! I made one for Pearce. I told Jeremy we have to do this for my next bday party. It is a little labor intensive considering the shirts first have to sit for a day, then wash them out, then let them air dry, then machine wash and dry. But it's all good, because they are so funky and fun.

*Whenever all the little cousins are together they like to put on a "play". Especially Grace. She is the one doing all the orchestration--from props, to characters, to costumes. This time's play was a Cinderella rendition. And I love that they included Pearce. Her important roll was the RAT. She was responsible for eating all the cereal that was scattered on the floor that Cinderella was suppose to clean up. Needless to say, Pearce needed NO DIRECTION whatsoever. She was made for this role. Oscar-worthy.

*Lots of playing in the big basement FILLED with toys and movies and mattresses and pillows. Hours and hours and hours of playtime down there.

*Played THE GAME OF THINGS with all us siblings after all the little kids were in bed one night. I'd say this was the best night of the trip. We all laughed sooo hard, and we were all cracking up at Jacob's (my 14-year old baby brother) answers. I'd say Sarah was the best at guessing people's answers. I must say, she knows us all VERY WELL. It is a super fun game, and I highly recommend it for playing with large groups of family or people you are close with. Because it makes it more interesting when you all know similar people, things, inside jokes and life events. Check out the game's website to learn more about it.

*Shared bath-times. Pearce loved having a companion in the tub. Sweet Penelope. Such a sweet baby.

*Since the park was way too hot, I took the kids out to McDonald's air conditioned play place...THREE-maybe even four-different times. It was actually a really fun place for the kids. And mixed it up with 2 different locations. And I'm glad I had Amy for an adult companion for some of these times. I don't get to see or hang out with her very often, so I was happy to get some one-on-one time with her. And I love hearing about her major at BYU. It sounds so interesting, and something that I wish I could have studied instead of Psychology.

*Sewing. Jess and I each did a second block for Elise's month. And we used each other's fabrics. Wish this could happen more often. Jess also pulled together a quilt top for a friend's baby, using the "disappearing nine" pattern. I love how it turned out. It made me itchy to start another quilt, even though I currently have two in the works.

*Went to HomeGoods with my mom about three different times (two different locations.) I love shopping with my mom. She is soooo fun. and sooooo quick. Love you mom!

* Also hit up the Sonic a couple times for Happy Hour drinks.

*And I stopped counting the number of grocery trips to Costco and Walmart.

*Oh-- and one of my very favorite parts...Grace playing with my hair for HOURS at a time. She made fabulous creations. Creations that looked like flowers, bows, fountains, you name it! She is a very creative little girl. I asked her if I could adopt her. She said yes, if her mom would let. hehehehehe

and a few other misc photos.

*Uncle Do-Do with the girls

* Penelope and Pearce initial greeting this trip

* Lots of stroller rides around the house. Oh and dance parties, too.

*and the end of a long flight home. cranky, sink, sleep-deprived, sugar & kid high toddler after six hours in the air and a 1 hour layover in Vegas.

The End.

10 day vacation = LOTS of weeds

2011-07-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

Can I first just say how grateful I am for our weather right now in eastern Washington? It was in the 70s and breezy today. It was about 99 degrees give or take every day while in St. Louis for the past week and a half. And don't get me started on the humidity!!! How did I forget what that feels like?? Because I'm pretty sure the humidity was just as bad if not worse growing up in The Big Easy in the summertime. But really, the weather is the only thing I can knock about St. Looooo... I love it there. And especially my sister's "village"-- Des Peres. A whole post dedicated to that fun trip next. :-)

It has been so fun to watch our garden grow. I think it is so wonderful to have fruits and vegetables growing right in your own yard. When we (I use the word "we" very liberally. Jeremy is BY FAR the better, more diligent, hard-working gardner.) first planted the garden, it felt like it was taking forever to see any progress. But slowly but surely, little things were popping up here and there. So cool. Weeding turned into special "date nights" for us. A couple nights a week, after we put Pearce to bed, there is still plenty of light outside, and the temperature is perfect, and it makes for a great time to weed and talk about the day and life in general. So much better than other habits of vegging in front of TV all night until it's time for bed.

I was so surprised to see so many changes in the garden when I got home from being gone for almost two weeks. Not only did the plants grow SOOOO much!!! But the weeds grew even more!!! yikes!! We've got our work cut out for us. But the broccoli, tomatoes, lettuce, corn, pumpkins, and beets are looking awesome. Only one little green bean, and one little bell pepper have grown, but at least they are cute.

Scarlett

2011-07-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

All of Jeremy's family was at the ranch for the 4th of July weekend, and I couldn't help but take a few photos of my new little niece, Scarlett. She was 2 months old in these pictures. She is a sweetheart. And so beautiful. Jenny, she is a little doll. Love her!

It's Hot.

2011-07-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

So we've been hanging out poolside alot lately. :-)

And I'm so excited to spend the next 10 days at my big sis Jessica's house in St. Louis!! And for Pearce to play with all her cousins. And that I just found out my mom is driving out to Jess's with the kids from home with her. AND... that my lil sis Sarah is ALSO gonna come crash the party too, with her two little ones, from Ohio. PAR-TAY!! (We'll miss you Jeremy. Study hard! 143)

Huntington Beach

2011-06-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

Huntington Beach will always hold a special place in my heart. It's where I lived my first real independence (post BYU graduation). It's where I lived with my two best friends (Lindsay and Brooke) and had the time of my life. It's where I met my sweet husband on 20th Street and fell completely in love for the first time. It's where Jeremy proposed to me (20th Street- bench by the beach). It's where we got married (well actually Newport Beach Temple, but close enough). And it's where we brought home our first baby from the hospital. Even though we don't live there anymore, I knew it's where I wanted our first real family photos taken. So many dear memories are there. The very talented and sweet Jylare took our family photos, and I cherish them. Thank you so much, Jylare!

while daddy's away...

2011-06-28T12:13:00.001-07:00

we will play... (opted for mcd's ice cream cones for dinner)

and the rest of our so cal trip...

2011-06-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Bedtime was finally on a good schedule before we left for california. I was putting Pearce down between 7:30 and 7:45pm. It was so nice to finally have my evenings "back". But now, she is not going down until the 8:30pm range. :-( But at least she is back to sleeping through the night (all four molars are settled in).

Anyways, here are the last bit of pictures that I had from my phone and camera. The iPhone camera is so handy, I end up taking most of my pics with it. Seems like our last 3 days went by super fast. Thursday morning we headed down to the Rainbow Factory in San Clemente. My old rainbows were barely hanging on, I could feel every rock I walked on. So I picked up some new brown ones.

We cruised up Coast Hwy and make a quick stop in Laguna Beach, and walked around a bit, ocean look-out point, and a little shopping.

Oh, what a year makes! I dug up this photo from last year, in the same spot, just different bed linens.

And that's where the photo tour ended for Thursday. We hit up Cafe Rio with Briscoes for lunch and Beach Pit BBQ with Schumanns for dinner. and I went with Michele to the HB 4th ward book club hoping to chat with friends. But it turned out to be a formal book club with no mingling--just formal Q&A with the author. :-(

Friday was another low-key day. We spent most of the day in Newport Beach first stopping off at our favorite Bakery on Balboa Island, Cinnamon Roll Fair, and snatched up the remaining 4 of their sugar cookies.

And then relaxed a bit at a lookout in Corona Del Mar.

So gross, that I let Pearce play with the pigeons. But, hey. The things you do for love...

I want to call her "Emily" in this photo below. I need to find some of my baby photos, because I think she is totally making a me face here.

We walked around Fashion Island a bit, noticing all the new stores, but quickly left because we wanted some BIG BELLY DELI!!! It was soooo bizarre--as we were parking in front of BBD, Rachael (Jeremy's sister who lives in L.A.) and his parents (who just arrived in town for Rachael's FIDM graduation) were doing a U-turn on PCH coming for the same parking spot! Not planned at all!!! It was great that we could all eat lunch together and that Pearce could see her Auntie-Ray-Ray.

Friday afternoon while Jeremy was taking his pre-U2 concert nap ;-)... I took Pearce and the Briscoe kids to the park down the street. Pearce really thinks she is one of the big kids. She was chasing them around and trying to keep up the whole time. Even trying to climb a hill... and rolling over. :-/

Tickling Jack's knees. hahahaha It was sooo nice of the kids to be so sweet and play with Pearce. Michele, you've raised some really good kids!! :-)

While Jeremy was at his U2 concert with his sister, I met up with my good friend Katie, that I miss sooo much!!! We worked at our last two marketing agencies together. She was my BFF at work. I think it's because we both like to complain a lot. hahahaha We ate at my all-time-favorite lunch place--Baja Fish. I went there like 3x a week while pregnant on my lunch breaks.

And Saturday, was kind of a sad day, knowing it was all ending... Briscoes had a BBQ at their place and we said our good-byes (see-you-laters). Pearce was still in heaven playing with her long-lost-friends. Thank you Briscoes for being wonderful hosts, we had such a great time with y'all. See you next time!

Jet-packing in San Diego

2011-06-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, have you ever seen anything more insane??
A man propelled by water 25+ feet in the air!!

Picture above is Brandon Briscoe in something called a "jet pack". Really, it's the craziest thing I've ever seen. Brandon helped Bob (guy on jetski who controls the throttle and who built the jet pack) with the welding. And from there and instant friendship was born, hehehehe. They were featured in the OC Register this past week.

So, of course, Jeremy had to give it a try...

Getting strapped into the contraption.

Brandon made it look really easy, but It's harder than it looks! After a couple tries, and a lot of concentration, Jeremy got up, and was SOARING.

and loving every second of it.

Here is a short video I took on my phone of Brandon cruising around in the air. and please use your mute button, I hate the sound of my voice. (Am I alone here?)

Meanwhile, the rest of us were just chillin' beach-side. Eatin' lunch and mango salsa. And jetski-ing (for the less brave of us).

What a great way to kick of a vacation!

home sweet home

2011-06-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

We just got home yesterday from a great little trip to our old stomping grounds--Huntington Beach. Jeremy's U2 concert that was cancelled/postponed last summer was rescheduled for this past weekend, so I decided to tag along and we made it a little family vacation. We stayed with are good friends, the Briscoes, and made the most of each day we were there. (Lots o' pics to come!)

The first thing I checked on once settled at home was our garden. Boy, did I miss it! Each plant is like our little babies. So I was tickled when I saw a whole line of bright green lettuce popping up! I saw a new pumpkin flower, and a small row of little tiny beets, too. The zucchini plant is the largest so far, and the peppers are treckin' along as well.

There are a few planter boxes on the side of the house that have a random mix of things: mint, berries, rhubarb, and parsley. And as soon as I spotted a RED strawberry, I looked deeper, and picked a handful of red beauties. Pearce and I ate them on the spot since we were right next to the outside hose.

just because

2011-06-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

some of my favorites from the past weekend

fun in the sun

2011-06-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

The past several days have been so warm and lovely. Breezy, too. In fact, "shake the house" breezy. We've been outside everyday. Now that pearce can walk, she wanders around the yard like a free little chicken. I just pull out a lawn chair and watch her. She use to love to swing on the porch swing, but now she is so anxious to walk everywhere she doesn't last long at all.

A side shout out to my bff, Linds for this cute little dress she sent Pea for her bday.

Whenever we walk by the lilac tree (everytime to/fro the car) pearce loves to smell the lilacs. Jeremy has been bringing in fresh bunches every couple days and makes the house smell so nice.

Still keeping up on the garden. Adjusting sprinklers, weeding, and such.

Yesterday we took a walk along the driveway, for a change in activity, and Pearce loved looking for all of the big red ants- YIKES!! So when I found out that she liked the rocks, I figured that was by far a better distraction. She ran up and down the driveway and collecting rocks, and throwing a few here and there.

Another shout out to my other bestie, Brooke, who gave this outfit to Pearce for her bday, as well. She is one lucky little girl!

memorial weekend

2011-06-01T09:59:00.000-07:00

We had the most fun weekend! Everyone came out to the ranch for the long weekend. It's so fun having everyone here and I love seeing Pearce playing with all the cousins.

Saturday was a FULL day of garage sale-ing. We were all out the door by 7:45am. We mean serious business! Clyde had all the garage sales mapped out the night before. We scored some good deals: Jeremy got a good condition snow board for 75 cents and a smoker for ten bucks. Me and Pearce bowed out early so Pearce could take a nap and so I could start on the BBQ. Since all of J's family was there we had a little family birthday party. We love BBQ, so I made bbq pulled pork sandwiches, homemade baked beans, and loaded baked potato salad.

Jeremy made some flavored water that was awesome, so we made a new batch everyday. He got the idea from -you guessed it- Jamie Oliver. It was the bomb. Strawberries, lemons, lime, orange, and a wee-bit of cucumber. The kids were afraid to try it at first, but they ended up all loving it.

Leslie made the most delicious chocolate pies for J's little celebration. Why is it that most of my pictures are of food?

The rest of the weekend was hanging out, playing games & watching movies, Grandpa's big breakfasts, playing in the yard including a few friendly races, tilling & planting the garden, a drive to Yakima to visit Jeremy's grandparents' cemetery & Minor burger, walks to the pond & paddleboat rides, Smore's and a trip to Ellensburg to the watch Pirates.

More wonky stars

2011-05-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how much sewing I can get done when Pearce is in bed. I've been wanting to make more wonky star blocks for my quilting bee quilt all month. I finally busted out 4 more last night. These colors make me happy.

My little assistant helping out with the photoshoot this am. Most of the photo reel were of the block half gone.

I've received just about all of the blocks from the 11 other Bee members and I love them all! It's so cool seeing the different designs and mix/match of fabric patterns. You can see the other blocks at our groups f lickr page here.

And a HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND to you all! May Mr. Sun shine down on you. At least I really really hope so because I picked up some water balloons at the dollar store last week. We are having a big family BBQ tomorrow with all of Jeremy's family for a belated birthday celebration. fun! fun!

Night-time

2011-05-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

We are lovin' how light it stays outside at night this time of year. Last night after I put Peanut to bed, I went outside to snap some photos. These photos are from 8:40-9:00pm. Is it this light outside where you live? Or is this a more "Northern" thing? It isn't truly dark outside until like 10pm. I don't remember this in Southern California. HB friends, can you remind me?

weekend photo dump

2011-05-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

We kicked off the weekend celebrating Jeremy's 35th birthday. I spoiled him all day long!! hahaha (I hope he agrees.) Started the morning with cinnamon rolls (that I picked up from a local bakery). Then met up with him for lunch in Ellensburg. Then partied the good night away... :-)

Jeremy loves pictures (yeah right.) so I took some pics of him and peanut by my favorite blossoming cherry tree. Too bad they are all blown out, so you can't see the beautiful tree. I'll have to take some more this week while it's still in bloom. Pearce dressed up for daddy for his birthday and loved all the festivities.

I made a new Thai dish since Jeremy loves Asian food (especially noodles.) This one is from my Our Best Bites cookbook, called Thai Peanut Noodles. I think it's a new fave of his, because I quote "It's like heaven in my mouth." (Thanks honey!)

He opened presents and read birthday cards and then we sang Happy Birthday (twice- because the first time I sang "happy birthday to Pearce"-whoops!) and then enjoyed Costa Rican Rum cake- one of Jeremy's FAVORITE cakes.

Pearce got a little "drunk" from the rum. I kid, I kid.

We also took a little day trip up to Leavenworth. Since it has been sooo sunny, we just had to get out and go do something. It was nice to be outside and just hang out and walk around to all the cute little shops, eat a bratwurst, sit on the lawn, and stop off at The Gingerbread Factory for some cookies.

Unfortunately, this was our (hour) car ride home. Big nasty molars cutting through. :-(

We also went to Ellensburg on Saturday to check out the Farmer's Market. There were two blocks worth of booths. We picked up some baby bok choy and other produce and also yummy caramel corn!!! When looking through my phone pics, I realized I didnt' take not even one photo- because it was FREEZING, cold, rainy, windy. BLAH! oh well. We plan on going back in a few weeks. But I do have a photo of the chicken chow mein that I made today using the said ingredients from Farmer's Market. Recipe from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (my birthday present to Jeremy- he loves Jamie). Which reminds me I am very behind on updating my food blog.

And now, still enjoying a lazy Sunday. Oh soo good.

happy birthday daddy!

2011-05-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

Love,

Pearce

Pearce {picked out} this balloon for Jeremy's birthday present. She's had a thing for balloons since her birthday. Every time we go to the grocery, she always finds and points to the balloons. She was so excited to give daddy the balloon (and play with it everyday in its hiding spot until this morning.) Happy birthday honey! We love you lots!!!

big news!!

2011-05-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

PEARCE STARTED WALKING THIS WEEKEND!!!! It has been the best weekend EVER watching her toddle around all by herself. I (we) couldn't believe our eyes when all of a sudden she just stood up, and started walking. We spent a lot of time outside this weekend while Jeremy tilled the garden. We had picnics and swung on the porch. I kinda think the grass is what finally did the trick! She didn't like touching the grass---so she didn't want to scoot. Yippity-doo-dah! You go girl!!

"What do we say to the woodpecker??" For the past month or so, Jeremy and I have woken to a woodpecker at 6am every morning. So I taught our little parrot a new phrase "go away (woodpecker)". She's mastered the "go away" part. But now, I think it might have backfired because she says it literally all day long..."goway, goway, goway, goway". whoops!

soooooo homesick

2011-05-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

It's been WAY TOO LONG since I've been home to New Orleans. My little sisters put this video together from some video clips at Christmas time and it made me sooooo homesick watching it again this morning. My little bro, Freddie, who just graduated from BYU just decided he is moving back home to NOLA and I am sooo jealous. Good luck with your job interviews!

If I were in NOLA right now, I'd go to Palace Cafe for lunch and get:
Warm fresh crusty french bread
Crab Claws Bordelaise (Sautéed blue crab claws with New Orleans style bordelaise with garlic, lemon, parsley, and Creole seasoning)
Shrimp Tchefuncte (Sautéed Louisiana shrimp with Creole meuniere, green onions, roasted mushrooms, and popcorn rice)
Bananas Foster (Fresh bananas sauteed tableside in brown sugar and cinnamon, then flambeed with banana liqueur and rum, served over vanilla bean ice cream)

and then go home STUFFED and HAPPY!!

A Day in New Orleans from Laura Hansen on Vimeo.

Pearce

2011-05-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

a sunny weekend

2011-05-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we met our newest niece-

Scarlett Elise- born May 6, 2011

She is a doll!!! And Pearce was excited beyond belief to see the little bitty baby.

What a little angel. Congrats Jenny & Scott!

We also played at Grandma's House. She has the best toys to play with. This little stroller was Auntie Ray's when she was a little girl.

Mother's Day was a beautiful day. We snapped some photos outside of Jeremy's parents' house before church. Spring in bloom- what a happy time!

We had a lovely meal made by the men in the family- roast, mashed potatoes, broccoli, rolls, and a Spinach mandarin poppyseed salad.

We are still practicing "walking". Sometimes I think she is just too comfortable scooting around everywhere that she's not very motivated to walk. I just gotta be patient. :-/

mother's day

2011-05-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's finally spring around here. lots of dandelions. and green grass. I'm grateful Jeremy captured some photos today of me and Pearce. I love being her mom.

what a difference a year makes! my little peanut was so tiny last year!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women out there.

A nomadic week in Utah

2011-04-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

What a week. It's taken me a week to recuperate. We got back last Saturday night with colds, so I'm just now recapturing our Utah week. I can count on two hands the total number of hours slept for the week. We (Pearce & I) slept in a different place each of the 4 nights we were there. Yikes! Let's kick it off in SLC.

Our flight over was half-empty, so we got our own row and Pearce got to sleep in her carseat for the majority of the flight. Gotta love my sweet and easy baby. My BFF, Brooke, picked us up and we got some lunch, went to all the cute baby boutiques in her neighborhood, and then chilled at her house the rest of the evening and I "oohed" & "aaahed" over her cute new house and her nursery that was almost complete. See more pics here on her bloggie.

She made a delish dinner and her hubby smoked us some salmon. What a way to kick off a vacation! I was so bummed when I was looking through my camera role and realized we took no photos together! :-( We of course stayed up late chatting, reminiscing, and discussing. The next morning we went with Brooke to her doc appointment. The baby is measuring 3 weeks big! Yikes. It was like deja vu for me! But really, like my mom always told me, big babies sleep GOOD! And it has totally been the story for our 9 1/2 pounder. Here is a pic from the doc's office- Pearce's new trick is to stand alone. She gets a huge kick out of it (and okay, so do I!)

After the docs office we headed down to Provo to check out Alice Lane Home store before saying goodbye to Brooke, and hello to my two college sisters, Laura & Amy. I love you Brookie! and can't wait to see pics of little Braylon soon!

We just chilled at the girls' apartment for a while. Soooo much fun hanging with my lil sisters. We ate muddy buddy chex mix, sang along to guitar, checked out Amy's book she illustrated for one of her classes, played beauty parlor (Laura is our hair girl and gave Pearce her first piggie-tails) and we made a stop at one of the hair schools for some pampering- pedicures and "blow-outs"- what a treat to NOT have to blow dry my hair.

The next day we were excited for the rest of the family to fly in. Hard to believe we were ALL together- all 7 kids and my mom. We met up at Rumbi's for lunch, and it was a JOYOUS REUNION!!

GROUP HUG! Now if only Sarah would get out here, and I could get in the group pic too!

Me and ALL of my sisters.

and my two cute lil brothers. Jacob (14) is almost as tall as Freddie (24) now!

just waking up to all the commotion.

Mom with Pearce & Jacob.

All us kids in our birth order. Jessica, Me, Sarah, Freddie, Laura, Amy, Jacob- and a little lagniappe on the end! :-)

We were obsessed with the sweet potato fries and the chips & mango salsa.

Jessica deserved this vacation big time- she has 4 kids at home and another due in a few months, so we hit up her favorite quilting store in Orem, that I can't remember the name. But I really liked it too! They had the new Sherbet Pips collection on display right in front. I recently got a Sherbet Pips charm pack in the mail that i love love love, so I was happy to see all of the fabrics in person and to pick up two of the prints to complete the back and borders for a little quilt for Pearce. She LOVES dogs lately and one of the prints has cute little doggies on it. It's funny the things you'll give into to make your kid happy. I hate dogs, so you know I love my little girl to give into this.

We also hit up the Provo Towne Centre for a little family fun. Mom got a little crazy with the "Mother's Day Display"

Freddie was so great always pushing the stroller. I kinda got to see what it feels like to have a full-time nanny, with all the help from my brothers and sisters.

Jess and her new sunglasses.

Me and Peanut.

We were suppose to go to the graduation ceremony this afternoon, but let's be honest, who wants to deal with massive crowds, parking, etc. So we skipped it and felt we could better spend our short time together just hanging out. :-) We crashed back at Freddie's place and watched American Idol and relaxed a bit. I should have taken video of just hangin- b/c my family gets so loud and excited together, we were all screaming at the t.v. Just a lousy photo instead:

But I did get a cute photo of Auntie Sarah and Pearce. Sarah left at home her two little girls, so I think she was missing Eleanor and Penelope. But Sarah is such a sweet aunt as well.

Wow, I still have more from this day! After a few hours of hanging out, we then hung out a little while longer at the girls apartment after the boys took off for a reception or something. And then went to THE CHOCOLATE CAFE in Orem for dessert late at night. I love this idea of a "just desserts" cafe--it was in a cute house and each room had sofas, chairs, and tables to lounge in while you eat your dessert. Home-made cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, etc. I had the Madagascar Vanilla cake and it was pretty awesome. I would love to find that recipe or something similar, because now that's all I can think about.

Ok, now on to Friday. We hung out on BYU campus, did the bookstore and cougar-eat. I perused the LDS book section, got Jeremy a Chinese Book of Mormon, some book marks and a student manual for the Book of Mormon since that was one of my favorite classes at BYU. I had the best teacher ever (Brother Parker) so I want to relearn everything I originally learned in his class many years ago. I also picked out a few hardback book in the Children's department for Pearcie Pie---and there is NO WAY I was leaving the bookstore without my FUDGE STASH!!! One of my favorite things in the whole world. You bet, I got vanilla praline, Mars bar, german chocolate, and Italian cream. But I got a little "greedy" and probably got a little too much, because some of it still sits in the fridge un-eaten as I type a week later...

Later in the day we headed up to Salt Lake and checked into hotel. Rested, hung out there, then walked around temple square and had dinner at the Lion House. Pretty exhausted by this point...

okay, this blog post is getting really too long so i'll just quickly some up the rest in pictures..

Saturday- rode metro-train-thingy to the Gateway Mall. I got lost from the group for like an hour with no cell phone-that really stunk. had lunch at Rumbi's (again. yes we really like this place.) and then packed up all our junk and got ready for Esther Gruwell's wedding, chilled at the Joseph Smith Memorial building for a couple hours before wedding, and ran into a few of the Gruwells while waiting. 30 minutes into wedding reception, my mom drove me and Pearce to airport to fly home. Wanted to be back home to spend Easter with Jeremy. Great trip. Loved every second. I love my family and can't wait to see them all again as soon as possible.

Look at these 2 cute kids!

Isn't she a GORGEOUS Bride??