Is This The Circus?

One of the few days we had sunshine this last month Gabe and I decided to go outside in our backyard and introduce our son to the game of croquet.

Of course he enjoyed playing with the balls, pulling the wooden pegs out of the ground, and even holding the mallet. But he didn't quite grasp the game as a whole. We had finally finished our game (after a great deal of intereference from the little guy) and all of a sudden Gabe started doing this:

I guess you learn something new every day. I had no idea! He said he learned in his P.E. class in Japan. That's one reason why you should go to school in a foreign country. The circus is his back up career plan if his job now, as an engineer doesn't work out. I'm glad to know he's thinking about these kinds of things. :)

Where?

A long time ago I wrote a blog entry about my incredible little (but bigger) brother Royce and I'm long overdue for an update. He sent in his mission papers and we foung out that he'll be leaving on July 30th for Buenos Aires, Argentina!

Congratulations Royce, you'll be a great missionary!

I've Gone Tag Crazy!

I have been really behind on my blogging lately since we've been out of town so much. Since then I have had 3 tags that I needed to finish, so here it is...

TAG #1 MY FAVORITE THINGS AROUND THE HOUSE...

My favorite thing in the kitchen is...

My kitchen-aid, I absolutely love the hands free cooking!

My favorite things in the dining room are...

My new artificial flower bouquet...

and my china!

My favorite things in the master bathroom are...

My big bathtub

and my cute cabinet. I actually asked the previous owners of the house if they were planning on leaving the cabinet; they weren't, but they were nice enough to leave it just for me. :)

I also love how much natural light there is, you can see the window above the bathtub in the first picture, and the skylights in the cabinet reflection in the second picture.

My favorite thing in my bedroom is...

Our new comforter set! Unfortunately it slightly clashes with the wall color (which you luckily can't really see in the picture) even though it goes well with everything else in the room, so we have to paint. We're going to make the back wall blue and everything else cream to match the curtains, we already bought the paint so hopefully it will happen soon.

How does it compare to the old one?

My favorite thing in the nursery is...

My glider, it' the perfect place to be for middle of the night feedings.

My favorite things in Preston' big boy room are...

The decorative pillows I found at a garage sale down the street, they were the beginning of the room theme.

It started out as a craft room with flowery walls

but when I was pregnant with Preston it turned into our guest bedroom.

and is turning into another work of art, but not quite finished yet.

We're adding a few more stripes to match the colors of the pillows... eventually.

My favorite things in Preston's bathroom are...

The decorations I got at a pottery warehouse when we were on our honeymoon in China. The vase, (we got the silk flowers in China too)

the matching soap dishes

and the Kleenex box cover.

My favorite things in the living room are...

Our "family" wall

and our toy basket end table.

My favorite things in the family room are...

Our Chinese decorations that we got in, you guessed it, China...

and our Chinese looking flowers my mom gave us me as one of many bridal shower gifts.

My favorite thing in the office is...

My craft desk/sewing table. On the other side of the room we have a desk for our computer, but this is my very own craft space. I LOVE my desk because it has enough drawers for all my stuff. Thank you craigslist, ten dollars well spent!

My favorite things in the downstairs bathroom or "powder room" are...

My "beach" decorations.

I'm hoping to eventually have more seashells in a bowl

and on the net, maybe I could even catch a fish or two. :)


My favorite things in the garage are...

The storage shelves

and shoe shelves Gabe made for me. There's even a spot to hang wet winter coats. I'm so lucky!

TAG #2 THE MARRIAGE TAG

What is your Hubby's name? Gabriel William

When is your anniversary? April 29, 2006

Where did you get married? Salt Lake Temple

How did you meet? Ward Choir at BYU

Who said I love you first? I think Gabe did, but I'm sure I thought it first. :) We are both very private people, which is kind of silly because I don't think Gabe actually told me until after we we hard already decided to get married, I mean we knew we wanted to marry each other, of course we loved each other... It was over the phone when he was visiting his family in China. He might have even said it in Chinese if I remember correctly.

Who proposed and how? Gabe proposed to me. He waited until he got the ring (he let me pick out) and then sent me on a scavenger hunt. We were supposed to meet for dinner but he had a friend bring me a note that said he wasn't going to be able to meet me at that time. I was really bummed at first then I read the rest and realized what he was doing. He then sent me to a bunch of places where we had "firsts" like where we went on our first date, where we held hands for the first time, where we had our first "kiss" (we didn't kiss for a while and so Gabe gave me a thimble like in Peter Pan a few weeks before he actually kissed me), and it ended with a bouquet of pink roses at the Mount Timpanogas Temple where he got down on his knee in the snow and proposed! Every clue came with a friend or family member to help me through it. It was all very thoughtful, I loved it!

How long were you engaged? Unofficially: four months. Officially: three months

What was the favorite part of your wedding day? This one is hard because I my wedding day was almost perfect. I loved that Gabe's grandfather was able to seal us in the temple with all our friends and family around, and the feeling I had when I looked into his eyes and realized that I was now married to him for eternity. I also loved wearing a fancy dress and how all the little girls on the grounds of the temple kept saying "mommy, look it's a princess!". I also loved dancing at my beautiful reception.

What would you change if you could? If I could change something I would have not forgotten my recommend, or snapped at my mom when she didn't have my bouquet (because it was my fault). I also would have eaten more of the yummy luncheon and reception food. I didn't feel like eating all day so I didn't get much.

Wedding colors? pink and sage green

Were you clean or messy when you cut your wedding cake? Kind of in-between. Gabe was nice to me so it wouldn't get on my dress (because he didn't want to have to pay to clean it) but I'm pretty sure I smeared it all over his face, I'm not so nice.

Where did you go on your honeymoon? All over China and Hong Kong

How long have you been married now? A little over two years

Who is smarter? Definitely Gabe. Plus he almost has a master's degree and I'm still working on finishing my bachelors which he reminds me of daily in order to motivate me to work harder on my classes. ;)

Who does the housework? I do the laundry, bathrooms, floors, and general clean up, but Gabe does a lot of dishes, takes out the trash, and loves to vacuum which is lucky for me.

Who sleeps on the right? Hmmm... I sleep on the right when I'm laying in bed, but if your facing the bed Gabe sleeps on the right. Does that make sense?

Who pays the bills? Gabe does thankfully.

Who cooks dinner? Usually whoever gets hungry first. I used to be really good at getting dinner on the table and trying new things when we first got married because I do like to cook, it just takes a lot of time. I'm trying to get better though and cook more often and find easier things to make. Gabe still cooks a lot though and he does a great job!

Who drives when you are together? Gabe does, he likes to be in control. :) I don't mind being able to sit in the passenger seat and not worry about anything especially when I have such a safe driver taking me around. He also likes to drive because there isn't a lot of leg room behind the passenger seat thanks to Preston's car seat.

Who is more stubborn? I think we both are depending on what we're discussing. Gabe is usually the one to give in first though, he's such a softy.

What is your favorite thing about him? There isn't just one thing that I can pinpoint as my favorite, there are too many. Gabe is everything I wanted in a husband and more. He's a responsible hard worker and a great daddy on top of it all.

Who has more siblings? We both are the second of five. If the question asked who had more sisters the answer would be Gabe, he has three and I have none.

Who wears the pants? Gabe does when it comes to financial things, but I do when it comes to things around the house.

TAG #3 SHARE FIVE WEIRDO THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF

#1. I did grow up in a house of boys so this might not come as a complete surprise to everyone, but I can belch louder than most full grown men. I can beat or at least compare to all of my brothers in burping contests. In fact, I taught my brother Kyle, the champion burper how to do it. The funny thing is that my best friend in elementary school taught me how, and yep, she is a girl.

#2. Some of you already know this but when I was little I used to play with slugs, and worms when I was little. When I lived in Idaho we would drive to Portland to visit my Aunt and Uncle and I would always find a few slimy friends to bring into the kitchen, my mom would always freak out and tell me to take them back outside. When we were at home I would keep my pet worms in some dirt in a paper cup and occasionally tear them apart so I could have two instead of one. Gross... I know. I'm such a boy.

#3. I absolutely HATE wearing socks, especially when I don't have shoes on! Maybe it's party because I have small feet and I can never get any that fit me right so they're always falling down and bunching up. It makes me cringe just to think about it! This presents a problem because I always have really cold feet, so I'm constantly trying to get a pair of slippers that will keep my feet warm without getting them too hot. I think I finally found some, but unfortunately they're getting worn out too fast. :(

#4. I am a complete band geek. Marching band was one of my favorite parts of high school. I was even drum major my senior year, if you don't know what that is it's because you were never able to make it to the same level of geekiness as me.

#5. Last but not least. I can pop pretty much every joint in my body. Most often my fingers, elbows, hips, ankles, toes, and neck... I guess that's kind of a lot. It drives Gabe crazy so I try not to do it too much. I blame it on all those years of ballet and gymnastics.

Now, I tag these people: Jenna, Kati, Aimee, Katrina, and any body's name who starts with an H. Feel free to pick any, all, or none of these to post. :)

Slippery Steps and Flip Flops

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had injured myself while I was in Arizona. The last day we were there (our anniversary) I had just taken Gabe to work and was ready to spend a fun-filled day with Preston at the mall and in the pool. We had walked outside and up the stairs to the lobby to eat our yummy breakfast. On the way back down those same concrete stairs Preston was flailing around his bib and all of a sudden it happened. Before I knew it I was on my back and Preston was screaming, scary... I know.

My first instinct was to call him down so I jumped up to get him to stop crying but didn't get very far. By then a cleaning lady came up and said she would help me to my room but when I tried to take a step I started getting really dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out so I went back to the stairs to sit down for a minute and every time I got up started blacking out again. Luckily by then Preston had calmed down and wasn't hurt at all so the lady was holding him for me. I had a horrible aching, sharp pain in my back and couldn't move. A nice hotel guest and former policeman called Gabe for me and he got a ride over from work and the hotel decided to call an ambulance to transport me to the hospital. The hotel people treated me really well because they didn't want us to sue them I think, but the truth is I just slipped on my flip-flop. Pretty sad, huh?

It was the strangest sensation to lay there perfectly conscious with people acting like I wasn't there at all. When the paramedics arrived they were asking everyone around me what happened and would completely ignore me when I tried to answer. The story started out with me falling down 3 or 4 stairs (the real version) and ended up with me falling down 5 or 6. The really frustrating part is that they spelled my name wrong so I had to wait forever to get any medicine in the hospital because they had to wait until it was fixed... and my bills are all coming with my name spelled incorrectly.

As a precaution, since I had injured my back, I had to be put on a stretcher with a thing on my neck and couldn't move at all, even when I needed to scratch my itchy leg, let me tell you, that was torture. The one thing I'm really upset about is the fact that my camera was right there in my bag the entire time but I didn't even get the chance to ask Gabe to take a picture of me on the stretcher, you have to admit that would've been pretty cool. Oh well. You can just imagine this is me, except with blonder hair and slightly more fashionable clothes.

Anyway, After the ride in a freezing cold ambulance (they had the air all the way up!) and an itchy leg with nobody to scratch it, we made it to the hospital and as soon as they fixed the spelling of my name gave me some medication and then did some x-rays to make sure nothing was broken. Luckily nothing was, even though it felt like it. The verdict is that I had deep contusions and bruises (I think that's what they called it). In real language my muscles and nerves were all messed up, and are still almost a month later trying to heal, but much better. They couldn't do anything for me other than give me an ice pack, muscle relaxers, and a strong pain reliever needless to say the airplane ride the next day wasn't the best day of my life.

I really was lucky though, and am grateful for all the friends and family who helped me in my time of need while we were still in Arizona and when we got home and Gabe had to go back to work. I don't know what I would have done without them. Gabe's cousin Courtney who lives in Mesa was nice enough to drive up and take care of Preston for a little while when Gabe came to pick me up and took me to get my prescriptions. The poor little guy wasn't allowed in my room in the ER and went over 12 hours without nursing, but was able to live off of solid food for that long. It was kind of nice to feel like I was missed when he started crying for me right when I walked through that door. Even when I was done feeding him he was clinging to me and I was loving it because he never does that! I just hope we don't have to go through anything like that again. :)

Jekyl and Hyde

Sometimes it seems to me like Preston has multiple personalities. During the day he's always sweet, happy and smiling and never wants to be held because he's too busy doing other things. He loves feeding himself and isn't very interested in nursing.

On the other hand there is night time and nap time... but mostly night time. A lot of the time during his nap time he acts very similar to his day self, the very happy, friendly Dr. Jekyl so to speak. But on the other hand he can become a very scary and sad Mr. Hyde.

For example, I laid him down for a nap around 1:30 this afternoon, a little later than usual, so he had kind of a hard time falling asleep but was still out within 10 minutes or so. About 40 min. later he woke up screaming like crazy and was completely out of control. Nothing I did would calm him down. We tried singing, rocking, laying on my bed looking at the fan, and of course he was pulling my hair the entire time. I thought maybe he was just done sleeping so I brought him downstairs thinking he would snap out of it and become that happy little man once again but he just started screaming harder with that poor pitiful look on his face.

I didn't know what else to do, so even though it wasn't time for him to eat I gave in, took him upstairs and nursed him. After about 20 minutes of nursing and pulling my hair at the same time (trust me it's not comfortable for me) he had transformed once again. This same thing happens a lot at night as well, usually between 4:30 and 5:00, I don't know what it is. It makes me scared of when it's time for me to wean. What if I stop, he has one of his fits, and never transforms back to Dr. Jekyl, what will I do then? Nurse him for the rest of his life?

I wish I could blame it on something like getting teeth, but I've blamed this on his molars for the last two months and now I'm starting to wonder... I swear there's at least one coming up.

A Car Ride and Scenery

The day after our Cinco de Mayo party our friends that live down the street invited us to drive up to the tulip festival with them. We had heard it was going to be extended for a few days... apparantly that was not the case. However we were able to find one daffodil field that had a few tulips scattered in it and it was still a beautiful sight!

Here is one of the sad, lonely tulips.

Gabe and Preston enjoyed playing in the flowers.

Holly was able to get some great pictures of our family.

Holly and I, with a sea of daffodils.

Although we were pretty bummed that the tulip fields were gone at least it wasn't a complete waste of time, plus we had fun! We decided since there wasn't a lot to see there we would drive to Deception Pass on the way back home.

So we did, and hiked (more like crawled slowly due to my injury) across the bridge. Holly isn't in the picture with Matt because she's the photographer.

We went right on down to the beach...

where we took another family picture of course,

and Preston ate rocks as usual, closely supervised by Gabe.

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery

and even saw wild seals swimming in the water! Preston, of course, didn't quite know what he was looking at.

Thanks again for the fun day, and the pictures Holly and Matt!

Happy Trails

To celebrate our anniversary I convinced Gabe to take me horseback riding while we were in Arizona since I've never been and always wanted to. So we dropped Preston off at my Aunt and Uncle's house and drove about 15 minutes to the Ponderosa Stables. A quaint little tourist attraction on the edge of a state park in Phoenix.During Our "15" minute wait I was able to pet a very hot horse, literally, his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. We also made sure that we were under the weight limit... and watched out for snakes! Finally they brought out Smoky Joe and Lucky 7 and I got to mount little Lucky right there in the parking lot. Here Gabe is on old Smoky in his travelin' hat, too bad I cut off Smoky's head. It was a beautiful trail ride and we learned more about cacti than I could have ever imagined. I'm just glad we didn't see any rattlesnakes! When we were through with our private hour long tour we picked up Preston and took him on over to an old western town called Rawhide for a little horseriding of his own. He's too small for the actual pony's so we figured this would have to do. We were also able to ride in a covered wagon and play on a see-saw. What a great day it was!