Friday, December 19, 2008

New Family Pics






Oh, family photos. I was actually dreading getting photos done of Kaia, because I just knew she would not smile for any of them. She'll smile for me when I'm taking her photo. But just barely long enough for me to get one halfway decent shot. But I guess that's the life of a toddler. Way too busy to sit still for anything!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Halloween

" Hmmm....what's this?"


"I bet it's something good!"

"I bet it's something REALLY good!"



"YUM!!!"

Pumpkin Patch

Kaia picked out her own pumpkin when we went to a pumkin patch a few weeks ago. She thought it was so fun that it as just her size and she could haul it around. It was so funny to watch her try to walk around the pumpkin patch. She kept tripping over all of the little ditches (sorry, I don't have a clue what those are called) until she finally figured out how to watch her step!

My First Computer

Kaia now has her very own laptop. She loves banging on the keyboard, but gets scared when it starts beeping because "a fatal error has occured."

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

All Dressed Up

Neighbor Spying

Don't you just love spying on your neighbors? We only know like two neighbors, but for the one's we don't know it's pretty fun to try and guess what they're like. This is based mostly on what activities I see them doing while staring out the window of our office. So far I've learned that one neighbor has two giant schnauzer's, works in the medical field (always wearing scrubs) and works early hours (she was leaving in her scrubs when Berkeley and I were leaving to go running at 6 a.m.). Another neighbor has a lab and a dachshund (can you tell we're into dogs?) and hits a ball for them with a tennis racket down the street (Berkeley barks at them like they're doing something threatening). Another neighbor showed great patience by stopping her car in the middle of the street when Kaia was about to run in front of it! The real question is what do our neighbors think of us? I don't think I want to know!

Bath Beard

We love bath time! If Kaia's ever a bit sad or whiny, I put her in the bath and she cheers right up. She loves to stick her face in the bubbles.

She also loves to lay down with her ears in the water and talk and talk. I think she likes the sound of her voice under water.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Yard Woes

So, if I were to do it all over, I would have bought a townhouse with no yard. OK, maybe not. But I am dreading putting in our back yard. For one, it is pretty big. Which is what I liked about the area, big lots. I won't feel like our neighbors are staring in our windows 24/7. But this yard is going to be a nightmare. It is not flat, much to our dismay. When we looked at the lots, they all looked flat, but once they put in the foundation, we realized how high up our house would be from our yard. I guess builders like to be over cautious about flooding. Anyway, so that means we have to put in a retaining wall. If we could wait and do it over time, that would be awesome, because we do have a front yard, but we have a dog. And it is pretty lame to have to let him out every two hours or so. I feel like I need to set a timer, like I'm potty training a kid. Anyway, we're also in a fight with our builder to finish the grading of the back yard. It's been a month, and it's still not done. And I'm pretty sure our sunny weekends are over, so woe is me.

Moving In

Wow - I forgot what a nightmare getting all unpacked is. I don't think this house will be organized for the next year! This picture is in our office. The computer is set up, but that is it. You should see the guest room. That is the catch all for anything I don't want to put in the basement. The basement is THE catch all. We have a really big basement and it is filled with boxes! How do we own this much stuff? We're not even that old! I guess if I don't open a box that's in the basement over the next year, it's trash!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Our New House

We closed! It's finally ours! We're super excited to officially move in this weekend (September 13th - hint, hint...if you're available, come on over!).

Some have requested photos of the inside of the house, so here you go. This is the kitchen. Yes, Becca, we went with black granite. Thanks for the recommendation. I think it looks sweet. The kitchen is the reason I totally loved this floor plan. It opens up into the living room, so I can do dishes, keep an eye on Kaia and watch The Office all at the same time!

Here's the living room. I love the mantel. The TV is coming, to be installed by Brian above the mantel.

This is the entry. We love our huge front door. It's already made moving large pieces of furniture much easier.

The master bath. Yea, we'll finally have two sinks again. Why is it so hard to share a sink?

Staircase to the basement. I really don't want to put up a gate, and I am close to trusting Kaia to go down the stairs by herself. She can do it, but sometimes she gets distracted. At least there's a landing half way down, so it's not that far to fall. :)

Brian's throne. We may never see him again....

Friday, August 29, 2008

Kaia's One Year Birthday!


Kaia turned one on August 26th! Wow - how time has flown by! It really does seem like just yesterday that I was in the hospital giving birth to her! We had several fun birthday parties over the last couple of weeks. She has loved all of the attention! And all of the chocolate!



I always wondered whether or not she would be scared of the cake or just dig in - although I had some idea considering how much she loves putting ANYTHING in her mouth, including dirt, rocks and live bugs. As you can see, she absolutely loved making a huge mess and shoving as much cake in her mouth as possible. It was hilarious.


August 26th is also Kaia's cousin Caden's birthday! He turned 5 - wow! He says he doesn't mind sharing his birthday with Kaia, just as long as he doesn't have to share his presents with her!

My Friend Heidi

My best friend from high school, Heidi, came in to town for her 10th high school reunion. It was so fun for our families to get together for dinner and catch up. I really wish I could hang out with my old friends more often. It seems life is so busy all of the time it's hard to find time for the fun things! Anyway, Heidi, you definitely don't look 10 years out of high school - I can't believe you have a first grader!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

300 Warriors

Brian participated in the 300 Warriors bike race last Saturday. Here's a little blurb about the race:

"On the fourth and most demanding day in "America's toughest stage race," 300 citizen warriors will precede the professional teams by 4 hours. Their goal: ride 98 miles and scale 14,778 vertical feet, a feat representing over 28% of the horizontal distance and almost half the climbing in the five-day Tour of Utah stage race. Finishing this ride is the equivalent to riding the Tour de France’s Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier and Alpe d’Huez."

He finished it in about seven hours and said he burned about 6,000 calories! He also said it was the hardest thing he's ever done. We're so proud of him!!!

This map is hard to read, but basically the race started in Park City, then they went over to Kamas, back through Heber and Midway, then to the Alpine Loop, Traverse Mountain and up to Snowbird. If you've ever driven to Snowbird, you know how steep it is. Imagine biking up it after you've already biked 90 miles! Obviously, I have no comprehension of doing anything like it.

Friday, August 15, 2008

We have brick!

Hey, it looks like our house with our cars parked in the driveway! We'll most likely close the last week of August. All we need is landscaping, and we're good to go!

Summer Fun!




Bike riding!

Swimming with dad!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Happy Birthday Brian!

We celebrated Brian's birthday pretty much all weekend - yea! He turned the big 3-1 on July 25th. He loves the attention he gets on his birthday, but just don't mention the number! He went mountain biking Friday and Saturday morning (his gift to himself). We had sushi on Friday (his birthday lunch from me). He had Red Lobster on Saturday - his favorite restaurant. We saw Batman Saturday night (a week late - but worth the wait). And cake and presents in between! Happy b-day Bri!

We're down to the wire!

The house is almost done! It's painted, carpeted and tiled! The cabinets are almost all in. All we need is brick and landscaping! The builder is saying three weeks and we'll be in. Yea!

Vegas!

Brian and I went to Vegas with Angie and Eric for Eric's 30th birthday. It was his first time in Vegas! We had a great time. We got lucky with the weather - it was overcast and raining a little while we walked the strip. It was so fun to spend time with the Jelin's - we only see them twice a year, or so!

July 4th

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Dino Tri!

Me, Brian and our friend Jacque participated in the Dino Triathlon in Vernal yesterday. It was awesome! We did the sprint distance, so the swim was 800 meters, the bike was 13 miles and the run was 3 miles. I did it in just under two hours. Brian decided to be a hero and do the Olympic bike distance - 26 miles (J/K - he took a wrong turn). But he only finished a little after I did. The swim was insanely cold, but the bike and run were sweet. I'm glad I did it and I just may be up for another one. We'll see!