Where has my baby gone?

With all of the recent pregnancy announcements lately (I know of 6 women who are currently in their first trimester and I am so jealous!), I started thinking about my baby. I am a little sad because he is not really a baby anymore. He is big-- probably too big to still be drinking a bubba. He will start going to nursery next week. I can't believe it. Time has gone by way too quickly. But doesn't he look handsome in his Easter outfit? I figure that he can get away with wearing shorts to church for the next few years. After all, this is Arizona, where it is 110 degrees outside year round.

Pockets

Mabel has been wearing her new "dress with pockets" ever since we bought it about 4 days ago. It is size 4, so it is a bit long, but that's the way she likes it. Every morning when we take off her cherished princess nightgown to put on this new dress, she asks me if it is still long. I think she is afraid that she might wake up one morning to find that she has grown and the dress no longer reaches mid-calf. She loves the fact that it has pockets. She likes to keep money or necklaces or candy in them and then distribute these treats to those she loves. The other night it was my turn to get a treat from her pocket. She said, "Sorry, all I have left is money." I said I would take it.

Anniversary

Five years ago this morning I was laying in bed at my parents' house, waiting for my mom to come tell me it was time to get up. I was excited, but not nervous. It was my wedding day and I wasn't the least bit afraid.

We drove to the Los Angeles Temple through pouring rain. I barely noticed the cloudy skies and torrential downpour.

We were the only couple to be married that day, so we were not rushed. We waited in the silent and peaceful Celestial Room with my mom and President Sorenson, who would be our sealer, for a long time as our guests got dressed in their white clothes. I don't remember much of the ceremony, but I remember President Sorenson's advice to always look one another in the eye. I think about that often.

Once we were sealed, we waited by the back doors of the temple for our wedding party to assemble on the steps. When it was time, we exited the temple and presented ourselves as husband and wife to our friends and family. The rain had stopped, the sky had cleared, and the sun was shining brilliantly.

After a few group pictures, we were left alone with our strict German photographer, Greta. Many awkward poses later, we finally found the courage to say "enough!", and were able to change out of our wedding clothes and go on our way. We were starving. Neither one of us had eaten all day, so we stopped at Subway. It was a bit surreal. I wanted to tell everyone in the store that we had just gotten married!

We had our reception at the Strawberry Farms Golf Club before starting our honeymoon in Newport Beach. We flew to paradise the next morning, spending an amazing week on the big island in Hawaii. It was perfect.

This has been the happiest five years of my life, but I can't wait for the next 5000. I feel so lucky to not only be married to the love of my life, but to be sealed to him for eternity. We are just beginning our lives together. There is so much ahead of us. Our future really is bright.

Five Years

Five years ago tomorrow I married the love of my life.

We're Crazy

Here is our latest project-- raising the ceilings in our brand new, just barely installed kitchen. (The kitchen was installed by the former owners after they moved out and before we moved in, otherwise we would have done this before the new kitchen was installed.) We are crazy. We were raising the ceiling in the entry hall and ran into an air conditioning vent problem. We had someone come and look at it. Luckily it will be easy and fairly cheap to fix. For not much more money, they said they could fix the vents in the kitchen, too. So we dove in and started taking out the lowered ceiling there, too. It is a mess, but it is so worth it. It makes such a difference! When we are all done, I will post before and after shots, but for now, I hope you enjoy these. As you can see below, the mountain of debris in our living room is continuing to grow. We are hoping to actually move in someday in the next few weeks. This renovation has turned out to be much more than we planned. These things are just so much easier to do when you are not living in the house.

Our Day at the Park

We took our balls to the park behind our new house today. It was a lot of fun, and even a little bit chilly. It was overcast, which barely ever happens here in the desert. They claim to have over 300 days a year of sunshine. Sometimes it is nice to have a gray day that requires a sweater, or in the very least a long sleeved t-shirt. It hasn't rained in over 115 days, a new record. I don't think it is ever going to rain again. At the park Oliver loves the slides, while Mabel loves to ride her horse "Rain."









Here are some more pictures of our new backyard:

This is our grove of fruit trees. It takes up about half of the yard.
We have oranges, lemons, tangerines, and grapefruits.

Here is the back of our house-- the entrance to our Arizona room.
Yes, that is an official term. It means a sun room, or a closed in patio.
Below is our barn (or shed). We plan on painting it red one of these days, even though Mabel told me today that we should paint it pink, purple, and yellow.
I am not surprised.

Our House

This is the view into our front hall. There is a mountain of pink insulation.
We are attempting to raise the ceiling. What a mess!

We ran into a bit of a situation with an air conditioning vent.
It may cost a small fortune to remedy.
There are bound to be a few fun surprises like that when remodeling.

Here is our family room in the basement. We just had lights installed in the ceiling.
It was a bit like a cave before. Now all it needs is drywall
(to cover the stamped concrete walls), texture on the ceiling (we scraped off the popcorn), texture on the walls, paneling, paint, carpet, and furniture.
We have a ways to go.

Fun with the Cat Door

Work

Here I am, working hard on our house. We have been demolishing a wall, scraping ceilings, sanding doors, and taking out carpet. It is amazing that I can still look this good in the midst of all the dust!

barefoot in my NEW kitchen

Well, we did it. We bought a house.

Our escrow finally closed and I couldn't be happier. Even though we have a lot of work to do, I already love this house more than I can say. I know that we will be here for a long time, and that is a really nice feeling.

After we unlocked the door and Mike carried me over the threshold, we celebrated with our first meal together as a family in our new house. McDonald's never tasted so sweet.

The Desert

As further proof that I actually live in the desert, I present the following pictures taken around my new town:

The first group includes examples of the humongous cacti that can be found in many front yards.

(notice the old timey wagon in this one)

The next group is one of my favorite landscaping features here: the dry rock riverbed that winds through areas of other kinds of rock in the yard.

This final group consists of plain old "desert landscape." I know that it is affordable, easy to care for, and saves loads of water, but seriously, does this really count as landscaping?

We went to the mall today, and even the kids' play area was desert-themed. Mabel and Oliver loved it.
Here, Oliver is standing on the scorpion thing. I am scared to death of scorpions and I am already dreading the day I find one in our new house. I guess they are really common in these parts. The people we bought our house from told me that I will mostly see them on the ceiling. Yikes!
There you have it. It is February and 80 degrees outside. I definitely live in the desert.

Oliver and His Ball

Oliver loves this ball more than anything. He takes it with him everywhere he goes. And yes, that includes taking it to church. We had Stake Conference today, and rather than ruin his morning, I let him bring his ball. He held it tight and didn't let it go. He sleeps with it, takes it in the car, and would do almost anything to take it outside. He says the word "Ball" about a million times a day. Anything in the shape of a circle counts as a ball-- doorbells, the letter O, clocks, lights, etc. He has a one track mind.

Our Pretty Ballerina

Thanks to Grandma and Pa, one of Mabel's dreams came true today.
She started ballet lessons.

She is in a combo class, so she does a little bit of tap and a little bit of ballet.

She hasn't stopped humming and dancing since we got home an hour ago.
She LOVED it.
She had a huge smile on her face the whole time.

We can't wait until next Saturday!

Thanks Grandma and Pa!

Three Fountains

While staying at Three Fountains with Nana and Grampa, we
make a daily trip out to see the fountain.

Mabel and Oliver like to throw rocks into the fountain.
They could do this for hours.

We are pretty bored these days, so this is a nice diversion.
We have 8 more days until our escrow closes. It feels like a very long time.

Whenever she sees flowers, Mabel is compelled to pick some.
But only if they are pink or purple.
(She decided yesterday that since she is three, she should have three favorite colors,
so for those of you who are keeping track, Yellow has been added to the list.)

Notice the nice desert motif on the back of the bench.
I never thought that I would ever live in the desert
(I don't think Orange County really counts as a desert since it is near the ocean).
It is very desert-y here.

Today we have nothing to do, so we will probably take a bike ride to great grandma Donna's house (she also lives in Three Fountains) to play with her Snow White toys.

What an exciting life we lead.