Lonely :(

So my parents left yesterday morning. I must say that I cried many tears. Its been so nice to have some company these last few weeks. Its nice to have someone to hold Claire so I can go to the bathroom since she hates being put down. Brian left for California on Tuesday so I am all by myself till tomorrow sometime around midnight. But Brian's mom is coming back with him! Yay! She will be staying until the 9th! I am excited :)

I've been trying to be productive while Brian is gone but its more like I am just trying to get through. Time goes slow with a baby who wont let you sit down. Yesterday she only napped for 20 minute intervals so I didn't get a nap. Today however, she has been sleeping for about an hour. Why am I not asleep? Because I figured it would be the same as yesterday. sych.

I'm glad Brian doesn't have too many of these trips. We would be broke. Claire and I went to WalMart yesterday to pass the time and as I was wandering down the rows I came across a project to do. I won't say what it is right now because I want to surprise Brian but I will take a picture when I do it. Also, my living room is pretty much finished. My mom and I decorated and I think it looks cute! Brian hasn't seen the finished product so I will post a picture later.

Bottom line...I'm bored. Blah.

Victoria

6:30 am: Wake up
7:15 am: Leave Sequim
7:50 am: Arrive in Port Angeles
8:10 am: Board the ferry
8:25 am: See bald eagles and seal
8:40 am: See whales
8:50 am: Get seasick
9:10 am: Arrive in Victoria
9:30 am: Get through Customs
9:31 am: Get lost
10:00 am: Nurse while sitting on a toilet seat in museum
10:30 am: Go to Wax Museum
11:30 am: Eat at Old Spagetti factory
1:30 pm: Leave OSF
1:47 pm: Almost get pooped on by seagull
2:00 pm: Walk through China town
3:00 pm: Take a nap in park
6:00 pm: Go back to ferry
6:30 pm: Get seasick
7:15 pm: Land
7:40 pm: Drive back to Sequim

Pretty uneventful. I have no desire to get on that ferry anytime soon.
Before we left. Best place is up on top if you get nauseous

Cute little oneParliament Building

My mom has more pictures of their trip I will post them once I get them.

There was a two week old baby in front of us today at church and I got sad that Claire is getting so big. But she is getting so much fun! She has started this thing when I nurse her that she will stop and pull off and just look at me and laugh. She also has started this little growling thing. I first noticed it while she was nursing but she is starting to do it everywhere.

Food

So my freezer is officially full!
Breaking it down

penne		5
pizza		8
lasagna		6
hot chicken		5
chicken and rice		5
kings chicken		5
swiss chicken		5
greek spagetti		4
meatloaf		4
salisbury steak		8 meals (32)

Grand total: 55 meals

We estimated we spent approximately $193.32 for the food to make these meals. (Probably a little less because we didn't use all the eggs or cheese, stuff like that)

That makes it come to $3.51 a meal!

Whoo hoo! I have a three month supply of food in my house with everything! We are also going to get a 50 gallon water storage bucket for our back porch. Only $25 for that. My ambition is to get a generator soon. That may take us a while though.

Check back for another post today :) Claire is awake

Freezer Meals!

Today was a busy day! Claire got up twice last night :( and then was up at 7. Not much fun since I had to stay up late last night working on my raspberry jam (yum!). When my mom and the boys got here we hung up some stuff on the walls and worked on Claire's room while she took a nap. Then we headed off to Costco! We bought a GINORMOUS amount of food so we could make some freezer meals to put in our new freezer chest. We are making Lasagna, Penne Rigata, Pizza, Meatloaf, Greek Spaghetti, King Ranch Casserole, Wild Rice Casserole, Hot Chicken Casserole, and Salisbury Steak. Sounds like a lot huh? We made the Penne Rigata (5), Meatloaf (4), and Salisbury Steak (32 patties). The rest we will do tomorrow. We estimated that the penne came out to about $2.50 a meal, the meatloaf about $3.50 and the Salisbury steak maybe a little less. Nice. It cost a lot of money altogether but if you break it down by meal then it is not much at all! I am really excited about having stuff to make on busy days or days that I just do not feel like cooking. Whoo hoo!

Last night my mom and I made raspberry jam. (we had picked 12 lbs) We were just starting the second batch when the electricity went out. Brian called on his way home from work and said that it was out at Sawtooth and looked like the whole town was out of power. Who knows why. So we all went to the camper and made tacos and played dominos. Jordan whomped us. He won four games in a row! It was a lot of fun.


Claire before we left and then after we came back about ready to get in the bath :) It kinda looks like she has a mohawk in the first picture but thats just the edge of a magnet on the refrigerator :)
I love her so much! She is so stinkin' cute!!!


This video was this morning before Brian went to work. I can't catch her talking on camera by myself because she gets so fascinated with the camera she wont talk!

What a bargain!

So I have stuff to catch up on but its late and I am tired but Brian thought this was so blog worthy that I just had to tell it :)

Saturday we went to Kitsap Memorial Park where my parents were staying and we all went over to Silverdale to go shopping. We weren't very successful at the mall, or target, or kohls, or tuesday morning. Oh well. My mom and dad watched Claire so we could go out to eat by ourselves for the first time since Claire was born! It was so nice. And where did we go to celebrate this occasion? Why, Red Lobster of course! Where else? lol. Love it, Brian doesn't but he loves me so we go! Thanks mom and dad!

Well we were on the way home when we stopped at the Super Walmart in Paulsbo. We found a tv stand and bought 3 very big bookshelves that were on sale and some stuff for Claire's room. We were looking for cribs when a lady came up to us and told us that her crib had been recalled and they were getting a brand new one for free. Well, her son is now too old for a crib and so they don't need one and they may give it to us! Nice. We exchanged phone numbers and email so hopefully it will work out. They paid $400 for it but she said they probably wouldn't ask for anything. Sweet. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Pretty cool you say? Yes, but we don't know if it will actually happen. Anyway, THEN, we were checking out when this sales associate lady told us that there were changing tables on sale for $2. Wait, you mean $20 at least. Nope, TWO dollars. My mom and I ran back but we couldn't see one. My mom went and found a couple of workers and they went to the back and found on that hadn't been put out. Well then it must be really flimsy. Nope. This is what I paid $2.17 for.

Nice. Better than a yard sale.

We are putting up everything else today and tomorrow so I will put some pictures up. It was a good trip!


Claire asleep.

They are here!

My family is here! They got here on Saturday. Sunday they came with us to church and monday we ran some errands. Today we went down to the "Spit". We were totally unprepared. It was so COLD! We took Claire in her stroller and she was pretty good until we got down to the ocean. It was just too cold and windy for her. It was pretty though.











I have no idea how to format this. Ug. Frustrating.









Anyway, tomorrow we are either picking berries or going to hike in Port Angeles. The raspberries are ready to be picked! Yum! We bought our chest freezer today so we are ready to freeze some berries!

Dr!

Today I drove to Port Angeles and took Claire for her two month checkup. She weighs 10lbs 11 oz and is 22 3/4 inches long. She gains weight a lot faster than she gains length. Well...I guess shes grown 2 inches in two months...not bad. I've been stressing over getting her vaccinated. I believe in vaccinations and I want her to get them its just that she is so little! She is only two months old! I dont think that she should be getting them this early. She doesn't go to day care and is rarely anywhere more crowded than church. Also, its summer. So for the past couple days I've worried about telling the doctor this. I know that many doctors are very...insistent...about the schedule kids are on for vaccination. So the doctor came in and I told him I wanted to wait a month or so and he didn't even blink. He was like okay and didn't say another word about it. Pshaw...all that stress over nothing. He was a very nice old man. Claire was really good until he started checking her ears. Both him and the nurse kept remarking on how she never took her eyes off me. Aww..I luv ma baby.

After the appointment I went by Home Depot and bought Brian a couple of plants for his office (he wanted to get some) and drove by and saw his office for the first time. Pretty cool. Made chicken tacos tonight and I am looking forward to an early bedtime. Claire woke up 3 times last night and I was not feeling good. I woke Brian up to change her diaper and put her back to bed because I had to go find some medicine. Blah. Alrighty, time for bath time!

Strawberries

On Saturday Brian and I went and picked strawberries. We picked 13 lbs! I though that was pretty good considering it was just us and Claire decided to be fussy. We made about 5 containers of freezer jam which is very good. Yum! We froze a bunch too. We want to go back next Saturday to pick some more. We want to have enough frozen to last until next year. Maybe not all strawberries but between them, raspberries, loganberries, blueberries and blackberries we want it to last. Along with jam. That means we will have to buy a stand alone freezer. I think we are going to buy one from Home Depot. The 7.2 cu feet one is about 200.











Today Claire rolled over!! I always do tummy time right after she wakes up in the morning because that is when she is the happiest. Any other time she hates being on her stomach. Anyway, she rolled over and it totally surprised me! She did it like 6 times until one time she did it a little too fast and it surprised her and she started crying. I wish I would have thought to grab my camera. I text Brian at work and called my mom. I know I'm silly but hey, I didn't think it would be happening so soon! She hasn't done it since this morning. We will see about tomorrow. I'm going to have my camera though!

Bryan emailed from Africa for the first time in two weeks. The reason? First time his companion had malaria...second time he had it while on splits with a missionary who had typhoid fever. So he was in the hospital. He emailed me too and said that he now weighs 196 lbs. He has lost 54 lbs since going out there in March. Crazy. Wanna diet? Move to Ghana. I'm proud of him though. He is such a funny kid.

For our activity after family night we went on a walk down a trail that goes to a park. We saw a cop down at the end of the road pulled off by a farm. As we got closer he pulled back onto the road and rolled down his window. He wanted to inform us that they had gotten a call that a homeless man was down there being crazy and dancing around. He said that he couldn't find him. I was like Thanks! We will turn around here then! Crazy homeless guy ruined our walk. Lol.

Heres your daily dose of Claire!

Happy 4th! God bless America :)

Happy Fourth of July! I hope everyone is having a fun, safe holiday thoroughly versed in the hazards of fireworks :) I love our country...even if Obama becomes president, even though we have to bend over backwards for small minority groups, instead of following the majority, even though sometimes it can be seriously messed up...it's still the best country around.

(As I was sitting here typing one handed with Claire she decides to poop through her diaper, pants, and onto my leg...let freedom ring! yuck)

Since Brian didn't have to work today we have spent most of the day cleaning. I feel super productive. I have decided that I am going to make a schedule of cleaning and clean a room everyday and then Saturdays do a once a month cleaning thing. I really want to keep everything clean since it was new and all. That will make checking out easier when we do decide to move.

As I was folding clothes in Claire's room we had the window open because Brian was steaming his work shirts...don't ask. Anyways, I hear the "S" word coming from a little girls mouth. She sounded like she was 2. I hear her mom, laugh, and say, "Don't say "S$%@". Then I hear the little girl, "Don't say "S$%@" and then her mother, and then her. I am not letting Claire outside to play. Ever.

We bought her a little thing so she could lay back and kick something. She loves kicking the ball.

One more day

Tomorrow is Brian's last day of work for the week. Friday is a holiday! Yay! I am so excited. I think we may go pick strawberries this weekend. I may venture into the freezer jam realm. Maybe. The missionaries came over tonight to show us a member missionary video. So you know what that means? My house is clean! I used to make fun of my mom when she would make us clean whenever my grandparents or the missionaries would come over. I thought, Why? They've already seen our house a mess! Now I know why. Brian makes fun of me now but I don't care. I have to have my house clean or at least look clean (we are very good at the speed cleaning) when people come over.

Claire's Blessing

Brian did Claire's baby blessing June 8th at Aspen Grove. We didn't do it at the Sacrament meeting because although we called 3 times and talked to someone that morning they STILL didn't get the message. >:( oh well. We went to a different room after the meeting and blessed her there. It was a BEAUTIFUL blessing. Brian is amazing. I'm so glad I married someone who is worthy to give my child a blessing...anytime. Love him! Anyway, all of my family from my dad's side was there and Brian's parent flew in and his cousin Shannon came. yay! We didn't get many pictures as I wish we would have but Brian's mom sent us the ones they took so I thought I would post a few.