Sophia Turns the Big 2!

Hmm, maybe you're not supposed to use that phrase until they're at least in the double digits...oh well. :) Anyway, Sophia turned 2 on Wednesday, November 30 (have I said before that I can't believe I have a stinking 2 year old???) and to celebrate we had her birthday on Friday, December 2. Normally I had only planned on doing big parties for certain ages (1, maybe 5, 8, 12, 16 - you get the idea) but since we're down here with no family to come and visit I thought I would throw her a party with some of her little nursery friends from church to make up for it. Since last year was a big party and was so much fun but so stressful and tiring, I decided that this year would be small and simple - just cake and ice-cream and presents. Oh boy, even that had me all worked up! But it turned out good - we had a great turnout and Sophia loved it! The theme was "Pink and Purple" since I want to save the princess theme for a birthday she'll be able to remember/enjoy more, and because pink and purple are Sophia's favorite colors lately. Seriously, she gets so mad at me if I get her a cereal bowl and spoon without one of them being pink or purple, it's ridiculous. Blue bowl and yellow spoon is like a slap in the face to her. Anyway, yes this was the theme, now here are the pictures. :)

Starting earlier in the week: We got presents from Grandma's and Grandpa's! She was pretty excited to see this big box just for her!

Then the first present she opened was a thing of Mini M&M's, and she decided she didn't need to open anymore. Little stinker!

Then she finally did and had so much fun opening everything! She got a pink skirt, a shirt, some pink pajamas, some pants, the movie The Sword in the Stone and a bear puzzle that has snaps and buttons and zippers and all kinds of fun things! Thanks Grandma Daugherty!

This was the best picture I could get of her jammies - they were her favorite and she cried when she had to stop wearing them a day and a half later because they needed to be washed! LOL

Then she had a tortilla, which is her favorite food now. Weird...

Not pictured here are the gifts from other Grandma's. Grandma Hunter sent us some birthday money that went towards buying The Lion King (Sophie's new favorite movie! Thanks Grandma Hunter!) and Great-Grandma Nielsen sent Sophie a small baby doll with a crocheted bassinet and blanket, where the bassinet turns into a little drawstring purse that holds the baby and the blanket inside! So cute, and Sophie loves it! Thanks Great-Grandma Nielsen!

Then the day of Sophie's party! The cake is far from professional, but I was pretty proud of my skills with an icing bag since it was the first time I can ever remember using one! :)

Singing Happy Birthday

Blowing out the candle! (Daddy had to help a little because Sophie kept trying to grab it!)

All of her little friends after we opened presents! We have Taryn, Jesslyn, Gracie, Lindsay, Lilly, Sophia and Suzy. What a bunch of cute girls! Not pictured is her friend Kate (who was woken up from her nap for the party and not very happy about it!) and baby Brielle. (Hope I spelled all of those right!)

After everyone left Sophie systematically would bring me one toy at a time to open, play with, and then would bring me another. She loved every one of her gifts!

She even got a dress-up set!

And 3 days later, she's still singing "Happy Birthday to Me!" and carrying that dang balloon around! :)

It was such a fun day, and much better than her actual birthday where she got shots and then screamed at a restaurant that night. Thanks to everyone who could come and those who couldn't make it we missed you! :) I just love my little girl!

3 Months???

It's really been 4 months since my last post??? (Ha ha, I'll bet some of you got all excited for nothing!) I was just reading a friends blog and saw a link to mine that said "Last Post: 4 months ago" (Note: I did the math, and blogger was wrong, it's only been 3 months!)

.....Yeah I should probably do better with this. :) So life lately....has been great! Jon's doing well in school, getting A's and B's. I can't believe he's already gone through 2 quarters (and it's still weird getting used to the quarter system instead of semesters...Ah the joys of accelerated programs!) This means that we are 1/4 of the way through the academic portion, and 1/6 of the way through all of it! Translation: 1/2 a year down and 2 1/2 to go! It's gone by a LOT faster than I thought! But it's good.

Pretty much our schedules consist of Jon going to school, all freaking day, coming home to study, and then going to sleep. Meanwhile, Sophie and I find stuff to do. Usually it consists of playing with every toy she owns for 5 seconds each, and then watching me clean them up, and somehow finding time to eat and sleep in between. This week we got to celebrate her 2nd birthday! Holy cow I have a 2 year old. This has been my mantra all week. Catchy, eh? Yeah. But it was a good week, other than being dumb and planning her 2 year well-check visit on her actual birthday (yikes!) Shots on birthdays are never fun, in case you were wondering. Luckily, I had the foresight to plan her party for Friday, 2 days after her birthday, because had it been the same day it would have been a complete disaster. DISASTER, I tell you. As it was, however, it was good. She had some friends come over, got some AMAZING gifts (seriously, they were all perfect!) and got to stuff her face with pink and purple cake. It was some good times! As soon as I upload the photos, I'll put them on here. :)

The other exciting thing in our life has just been getting ready for Christmas. I've had so much fun Christmas shopping so far, probably because most of it has been online. Ah, Internet, how I love you. :) Since we're going to Utah for Christmas I want to make sure that we have ALL of the shopping done before we have to leave so I can focus purely on packing. I'm not too excited about the 10+ hour drive, especially since Jon will be studying in the car while I'M driving (it's in the middle of the quarter - boo.) but I will do it just for the fact that I miss my family and friends and mountains so stinking much! Really, I love it here and am very happy here, but I miss family. And friends. And real mountains. (Sigh) Only 3 more weeks!

Anyway, since I am super tired and have to get up early for church tomorrow and teach 12-13 year old kids (which I actually really enjoy! If it were Primary aged kids....well I have a hard time being trapped in a room with lots of children...thus I'm not an elementary school teacher like I once thought I wanted to be....yay for anxiety!) ....wow long tangent. Anyway, I'm going to bed. However I will try to post something wonderful and exciting next time and will try to make it sooner than 3 or 4 months. O_o I might have to make something up, but I'll try to make it sound good. Until next time faithful follower! (...followers? I doubt anyone knows this blog exists anymore!)

Where The Sidewalk Ends

Okay, so I've been back in Cache Valley since Friday afternoon. It is now Monday afternoon and I'm already to the point that my heart is aching - yes, ACHING - to be able to stay here forever! It's not so much the family (don't get me wrong, I love my family, but I would love them anywhere really) or the friends, it's just this place!

Today Sophie and I went to the Founder's Day celebration/parade in Wellsville. As soon as I started driving I got all nostalgic, but when I drove further into Hyrum and towards Wellsville, I started noticing all of the things that I love about Cache Valley. I love that there are many (MANY) places without sidewalks. The grass and gravel just merge on the side of the road. I love all of the trees - everywhere there are trees that have been here far longer than I have. I notice my mountains. Yep, you heard me, MY mountains, because they are my protection and my scenery and just mine. (Okay, they are anyone's who lives here I suppose) I love the run down old houses that have been fixed up to be adorable, and the ones that haven't. I love seeing kids toys left out on the front lawns. I love seeing these old stores that have somehow been in business since the beginning of time (even if they've had a few name changes). I love all of the streams and hills. I love the big ditches. I love the tractors. I love the cows. I love the old barns, the broken cars, the rusty cars that are still driving, the four wheelers, the trucks, the quarter pop machines, I love it all. The last few years (since having Sophie really) I have been yearning to come back here to stay someday. I want that security of not needing to lock my car or house doors at night, and walking throughout the neighborhood and seeing people you know just sitting on the grass having a good time. Oh I miss it so much! And there's nowhere really that compares to it. I mean, you can compare any small town in Cache Valley to another, but you can't compare Cache Valley to any other place. I've been other places and have liked things about them, maybe even loved things about them (I really do love Arizona, for example) but the second I turn that last corner through Sardine Canyon and see the view of the valley and see the temple barely visible in the distance, nothing else comes close anymore.

And to think that I used to count the days until I could move away. To the city. To the big life. To more exciting things.

Silly.

I hope and pray that someday when Jon is finished with his schooling, we can come back here and have a cute little house with no sidewalk where the kids run barefoot all summer long, and we can sit and watch a parade with 20 tractors at the end of it with the model and year they were made proudly displayed with the crowd cheering on.

This is the life I want, wish, pray for and dream of. With me, Jon, and Sophie all happy in our little valley.

But for now, we work. We get Jon through school, we find him a job, and then we'll see where life takes us.

Hopefully right here.

Oh Man of My Life...

So, I know that about once a year I write a post about how much I love my husband and how great he is and wonderful and thoughtful and sweet, et cetera, et cetera (I really like spelling that out, et cetera) and while this is all very much true, today I must complain (a little bit). You see, ever since the day we were married and Jon had to get used to wearing his chain (aka: his wedding ring) he has developed a rather annoying and unfortunate habit of taking of his ring and flipping it between his fingers. He holds it upright between his thumb and index finger, and then snaps it down flat so it makes this horribly obnoxious little "snap" sound. He did it so much in the beginning that I've developed a tick whenever something snaps in my ear. What is this tick you ask? My eye will twitch and the hell-beast inside of me comes out for a split second. It's quite frightening, let me assure you.

Aside from my own disdain for this habit, it is also a terrible one to have with a wedding ring. You see, there have been countless (yes, COUNTLESS) times when Jon has been flipping his ring subconciously and has dropped it. Because it's a circle, it always rolls away into some unknown abyss and it can take anywhere from minutes to days to find it again. Some examples of places he's dropped it are in the car, in the grocery store, at school, at work (and if anyone here has ever been in a call center and seen those floors, you'll know that even if you find it you suffer a fate possibly worse than death by having to crawl on the ground looking for it!), at friends/families houses, and (my personal favorite) in the middle of a frozen lake sitting over a small hole in the ice. Now he's gotten lucky each time and has been able to find it. Like I said, sometimes it's taken a few days (like when it was dropped under the drivers seat and ended up under the fabric of the floor), but we've always been able to find it. For 5 years.

Until now.

Midwestern University orientation, June 2, 2011.

His second day of school.

A mere 2 1/2 weeks after our 5 year anniversary, and a mere 2 1/2 months after I had his ring engraved with my heartfelt message of love. (It said, "Catch of a Lifetime" - get it? Because he likes to fish? Yeah, it was cheesy but cute)

Jon was sitting in his orientation, paying very close attention to what was being said, and not so close of attention to his left hand absent mindedly flipping his ring, when the ring fell. And rolled. Several rows away.

Now because it was during his orientation, he couldn't just start clammoring over people to get his ring back, so he thought he would wait until after. Well, after that part of orientation, he couldn't find it. He has checked the lost and found several times, but no one has turned it in. (Sigh)

So, for his birthday, instead of a fun remote controlled toy of some sort, or instead of a fishing trip, or instead of round of golf, or a night on the town, do you know what he will be getting?

Not a new ring, that's for sure! I'm not paying for another ring for him to lose!

Okay, maybe someday, but not this year. :)

Or maybe if he gets a new ring then I get a new ring as well? Like a wedding band to go with the engagement ring??? Hmmm, so many possibilities here...

I think for now I'm just going to get a Sharpie and draw a ring on his finger (while he's sleeping!) what do you think?

 Exaggerated Anger

My Sharpie-Bound Husband

Well, until next time fellow cyber stalkers!

If Bob Vila and Martha Stewart Had a Love Child, it Would Have NOTHING on Me!

Yep, you heard me. I am the fix-it, extreme handywoman, domestic goddess supreme. Okay, maybe not all of those, but I'm freaking proud of myself - you hear me? Proud! I've been working my butt off on this house, and since Jon is in school or studying all the time I've had to do almost all of it by myself! And then considering that I haven't done a lot of this stuff before, that's saying something. Anyway, this is the big unveiling of my house after all the work has been completed! Okay, in truth I'm starting this post with the work not quite finished, but I figured that by the time I get around to uploading all of my pictures and such then I will be finished with everything, so it works out. :) Okay, enough chatter, on to....the unveiling!!!

(Note: Rather than posting a lot of the same pictures that I've already put up, to see my post with all of the "before" pictures go here. Also, these pictures are a bit random, so sorry.)

Entryway / Living Room / Dining Room

Remember that horrible Winnie the Pooh themed room? (sigh) It's so much better now. :) (Don't mind the pillows on the floor - they are there in case Sophie rolls off the bed...which she's done at least twice now...yeah)

Okay so this is a before picture, but this picture was just too cute so I put it up anyway. :) So this is "Before" (also the day we moved in!)

My Fireplace. For the record, when someone puts EXTREME texture on a fireplace using plaster (not mud like a normal texture) it is VERY difficult to work with. So please, if you are ever considering this, please don't do it. It looks much better now, but up close looks a little like a melting Hershey's chocolate bar...Mmmm...

Oh, and eventually (crossing fingers) we're going to try and get a flat screen to put up above the fireplace since it is already wired for TV there as well as surround sound.



Okay so another before picture just to show the sheer wonderfulness that occurs with new countertops.

See what I mean? Wonderful! Oh, and just so you know that back wall is now painted the tan we have everywhere else and the little bit of half wall that pokes up above the counters is red now. And we found one of the cupboards that the previous owners took down (bad idea, there's already no space!) and we moved the one you see there on the top left over to the other side of that window and put the one we found in the garage where that existing one is now. Does that make sense? Hmmm, maybe I'll just take a picture and post it...

There we go! Now you can see it! :)

Now these are "In-Between" pictures, but I wanted to show you the tile that I put in! Yes, you heard me, I did this, and it was not as hard as I thought it would be! (Yes, that is me cutting tile, all by myself, because I'm awesome like that.) 

I had about a 15 min crash course on tiling from Jon and a few tips from our countertop guy (who was originally going to do our floor tile until we realized that we wouldn't have the money for it) who was really nice and let us use his saw for free! Next time I lay tile it will look a little better now that I've had some practice, but for my first time I think it turned out pretty freaking good! :)

This is the other side of the kitchen - I love how he did the backsplash with the granite tiles! That and even though it's a little older, I love the flat top stovetop that they have! So nice for cooking. The only think I don't like is that the oven itself sits right on the ground (no drawer under it or anything) so when I'm cooking stuff and open the door I can actually lay it on the ground, so that's annoying, but it's fine for me. :)

These three pictures are all of the master bedroom (previously it was just a room with particle board for a floor.) Much nicer now, and just the right size in my opinion. :)

This is the view going from the family room (the one with the fireplace) into the living room. I was so excited to FINALLY hang some of my stuff up! I've missed my pictures and signs...

Entryway

This is the spot between the living room and dining room. And in case you're wondering, Sophie likes to sort our junk mail for us, and that is why it is all over the floor. She got mad and put it right back there when I tried to clean it up, so I had to wait until she was in bed...

View going from living room to family room (that wall on the right has since been painted red)

Anyway, this is my new home. And I like it. A lot. :) Now all we need is some couches and we're set!