Vacation!

I thought I would get on and update a little. I don't have many pictures. My mom has a MAC and I don't know how to do anything with that. lol.We left Sequim on the 23rd to head up to Seattle to stay the night since our flight left early in the morning. We found the hotel we will ALWAYS stay at from now on. It has a pool which Claire loved. She was so mad when I made her get out since she was shaking. It also actually has a good breakfast which was so nice. And free park and fly.Thursday morning when we got up it was SO foggy. They were saying that flights might be delayed and I was not a happy camper. lol.
Luckily my fear was unfounded and it turned out to be a beautiful morning. The first flight was good, except for the fact that the lady sitting next to me took up half of my seat. And it was our long flight. We went to New Mexico. Then they said that Dallas was snowing and might be delayed. We got out to Dallas fine. When we got to Dallas our flight was delayed 10 minutes. So we get on the plane. Then we SIT for TWO HOURS!! AH! Luckily Claire slept and Brian slept too. I was the only one conscious and in agony. But we made it and made it alive. Claire was so good. She went straight to Jordan when we got to the airport and was not shy at all. She was having such a good time with my parents and brothers. We were all ready to be home.
But, a quick trip was not to be. It had been raining for two days and it was flooded. I was a nervous wreck.
This is looking out the passenger side window. This is the third lane that was totally underwater. You can see the barrier too, sometimes that was underwater.

But we made it. Claire loved Christmas. She unwrapped for a while but got a little overwhelmed and so sat with my mom watching the boys. It was fun.

Since then we have been playing the beattles RockBand and Mario Cart. My parents got a huge popcorn popper so we have been watching movies and eating popcorn. Yesterday was our three year anniversary. My parents watched Claire and we went to see Avatar in 3D and then went to eat at Fuji, a Japanese Hibachi Grill. It was soo yummy! I love vacation.

Christmas Parties

Last Saturday we went to Brian's work Christmas party. We dropped Claire off at the Boy's and Girl's Club that they had rented for all (40) kids and headed to the Mexican restaurant. It was nice to go out and eat without Claire. We had a good time eating and chatting and then when everyone was done we went to the Williams house for dessert and a White Elephant party. That was pretty funny. There were some crazy gifts. I ended up going last after my thing got stolen, and I ended up with a monkey lamp. Yeah, strange. Brian had a weird Santa pillow. They are both at Brian's work where they have some pretty strange things.

One really funny gift was one of Brian's new business cards mounted in a frame. One the back it said "1 of 500". It was funny because we weren't the ones who brought it :)

Tonight was our ward Christmas party. It had a pretty good turnout. Tomorrow is our Relief Society Christmas party. We are donating hygiene bags to the local women's shelter and we made about 30 twin sized quilts. It should be pretty fun. I'm leaving Claire with Brian so it will be even more fun ;)

We are super excited to go to Arkansas in a few days. We are going to Seattle Wednesday night and flying out Thursday morning. Whoo hoo!

Claire is getting so talkative. It is so funny watching her learn. One thing I've had to be careful about is always calling Brian "Daddy" when she is around. I'll yell for "Brian" and the next thing I hear is her yelling "Bian! Bian!". Oh my goodness. She is something else. She also has started really cheesing for the camera when I pull it out. It's pretty funny.

Lastly, I found this today.

And I'm very intrigued. Luckily, I can stream it on netflix and so that is what we will be doing tomorrow. Hopefully it is less than two hours :-/ I might be upset if I miss the last 10 minutes or something. It brings Mr. Darcy to mind, and what could be better than that? :) I think I would like to have the BBC. I'm also intrigued by their Robin Hood show. I LOVED Robin Hood growing up. I may have to netflix that series too!!

(Ah, never mind, it has 2 disks...now I'll have to wait till I get back from Arkansas :( )

Ugh

Wow, it has been a long time since I've posted. I guess I've just been lazy :( Claire is taking a little nap in the chair next to me so I thought it would be a good time to write something (no pics though, I don't know where my camera is)

It's been a rough couple of days at our house. Claire has a stuffed up nose and can only sleep sitting up or she starts choking and wakes up. Well, she wakes up a lot either way but less if she's sitting up. So, Brian has been kicked to the couch and I've been trying to survive night time. I'm tired. Poor little girl is not having a good time either. I really hope it goes away soon. We have a work party tomorrow that I now don't know if I should go to. I don't think I should leave Claire with all those kids. I don't want any of them to catch what she has. I'm bummed though, I was looking forward to it.

Brian is going to the cannery in Bremerton tomorrow. He will be gone all morning and into the afternoon and then the work party so I'll probably be by myself most of the day...yippie. I am so ready to leave for Arkansas. Well, not really ready since I haven't gotten Christmas presents out yet but I CAN NOT WAIT TO LEAVE!!!!

We had a good Thanksgiving. We went over to one of Brian's coworkers house and another family came too. It was really fun. We also watched the BYU/Utah game at our friend's house. Football games are too intense for me sometimes. I just can't watch.

Other than that we have just been living. Nothing too exciting going on. Claire keeps us on our toes. She is so adorable but also so stubborn and strong willed and frustrating sometimes!! Maybe it's just the dreary weather getting to me. I really miss the sun and our walks in the park. I can't wait till summer. Anyway, we're alive and I will try to be a better blogger and get some pictures up.

The best!

I have the best husband ever! Yesterday he watched Claire ALL DAY while I went to Auburn with a friend to do shopping. I don't even like watching Claire all day by myself lol. He is a super dad. I had a lot of fun, got some new clothes and stuff. We also went to a little shop called Hello Cupcake in Tacoma. Oh my gosh...it was SO good. I got a carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a red velvet one with vanilla cream. (I did only eat a couple of bites....I brought them home to share :-P) Definitely have to go back to that one. Yum. Anyway, thanks Brian for letting me get out of town for the day. I love you!

One thing at a time

I read a lot of different blogs. I have midwife blogs, craft blogs, recipe blogs, emergency preparedness blogs. I have a couple of blogs too that are all about simple living. Oh man, I want to get there someday. Maybe I have read too many Little House on the Prairie books but life seems so much better when its all about family and being as self sufficient as possible. It seems like it is just a healthier lifestyle altogether. No, or very little, debt, making foods from scratch, planting a garden, staying away from over commercialism. I want that for us someday. Looking at the big picture gets a little overwhelming but I can start learning and starting out small. A couple of things I have seen that I want to try is making yogurt and then making cheese (from that yogurt, it's a soft cheese). That intrigues me, lol. Brian is all about me doing that since it is a lot cheaper.

We shall see!

18 months (almost)

My baby is 18 months old!!! I can't believe she is getting so big! I took her to the doctor today who said she looks perfect :) She weighs 20.6 lbs. Lol. She is 50% for height and 10% for weight. She is one petite little girl. She also got her MMR shot, which I was kinda nervous about. But she's been on Tylenol so I think she is doing pretty well. Here's some stuff we've been up to lately....

Busting a lip

Cheesing for the camera

LOVES playing with Daddy's ties

Hiding from daddy at bath time

I was brave and we went to a Halloween party and left Claire with a babysitter for the first time. She did great.

Brian and I went as Jack and Jill. Claire had to get in on the action

Claire loved Daddy playing golf on the Wii.

It's been fun :) Always an adventure.

This and that

So it's been awhile but I have an excuse. I got a stomach virus Wednesday night and it's taken me pretty much till today to start feeling good again. Hateful thing. It was bad timing too since I had a relief society thing on Saturday that I was really looking forward to. Anyway, here is what we have been up to lately.

Taking advantage of any sun

Watching too many movies while mommy has been sick. (It is HARD to watch a baby when you are sick...especially when she is climbing all over me while I am throwing up....not cool.)

Playing with balloons
Eating apples
Watching herself dance

I read this on one of my blogs. Go HERE. Pull the picture up and look at it. That is in Provo. It REALLY annoys me. One because it makes it sound like people who have birth plans and doulas and want to go natural are crazy and aren't doing what is safe for the baby. Quite contrary, those people are taking control of their bodies and their births. It is quite in the doctors right to not take those patients and it really is GOOD for women to know what kind of doctor they would be getting into. This doctor's group does not practice evidence based medicine. The doctor they are talking about almost always uses forceps in his delivery. Ug, it just turns my stomach. This is the doctor to go to if you just don't care.

*Rant over*

Happy Birthday to my little brother Ethan! He is such an awesome kid and a great uncle to Claire. They get along so good :) I love you Ethan!

Mwhaha

If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn`t buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn`t eat meat.
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy.
A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a black man or Hispanic are conservative, they see themselves as independently successful.
Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it’s a foreign religion, of course.)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed.
If a liberal slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he's in labor and then sues.

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A liberal will delete it because he's "offended."

Dancing Videos

So I put up some videos of Claire dancing but it went into my blog like two weeks ago....so if you want to see them go HERE. They are super cute.

And about the Nobel prize Obama got? Well, I've already made my sentiments known of facebook, but AHH! I HOPE that he can do something amazing and make peace but he HASN'T DONE IT YET! I would have gained so much respect for him if he had said, Ya know, I'm honored by this but I cannot accept it at this time. I really would have thought that was neat. But no, he is as full of himself as ever. He was nominated 11 days into his presidency. What a joke. The really sad thing to me is, Greg Mortenson was nominated also. This man has spent his life building schools in Afghanistan so the girls could be educated. If the girls were educated violence would go down. If you want to read a very good book, read Three Cups of Tea. Really really good. He deserves the Peace prize...although it doesn't mean much anymore :P

In other news, I made candy corn pizza today! Mozzarella cheese in the middle and then cheddar cheese around that so when it is cut into pizza slices it looks like candy corn! It was cute:) I also bought more beef to can this weekend. Whoo hoo.

Ready!

I am so ready for General Conference tomorrow. I am so excited to hear what the Prophet and the General Authorities have to tell us. I got my house cleaned today and the floors vaccumed and mopped and I'm ready just to relax :)

We've been trying to take advantage of as much sunlight as we can get lately. It's getting dark early and getting chilly which is very sad. Claire and I go walking in the mornings and then Brian takes her on a long walk when he gets home. Usually she come home covered in blackberries that grow wild. I can't pick too many because I'm short but Brian can get some good ones.

Claire has been getting into her hats lately. She is so adorable in them. She tries to get her socks and shoes on too which can be kinda annoying if we are trying to get out the door. She got into some bandaids the other day and wanted me to put one on her cheek. I did and now she has a HUGE red blistery mark on her face the same shape as the band aid :( Wont do that again.

I have stopped nursing her at night. Brian puts her down to bed and then if she wakes up he gets up to pat her on the back and put her back down. She actually sleeps much better (kinda). She still wakes up once a night but she goes down with hardly any fuss. Last night she went to bed at 9:30, woke up at 1:30, and then woke up at 8:45 this morning. Yay! Now if only she would stop waking up! The first night we did it it was really rough. She was up from 3 to 6 and then Brian had to get ready for work so I laid down by her on the floor where Brian made up a little bed. She was OUT and slept for two hours like that. She is such a bugger some times!

Meal 3

BBQ!!

Really easy,

1 qt beef

1/4 t garlic

1 c. ketchup

6 T vinegar

2 T Worcestershire sauce

4 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground mustard

Combine all and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. That's when I added my canned beef so it would get hot. I was going to make rolls but I had fresh bread. You should go to my aunts blog for that recipe. She took a lot of pictures of the process. The only difference is that I put in 1 less cup of wheat and add a cup of oats. I usually put in some flax seed too. We had green beans on the side. (and cantaloupe, but that's not exactly food storage:)

In another note...I'm torn whether or not to get Claire the flu shot. Not the swine flu, just regular flu. She's going to start nursery in November. Her next well baby appointment isn't till November either. Do I wait till then, or call the doctor and get her one, or not worry about it at all? AHH!!

What are you doing? Flu, swine flu, or nothing at all?

Relief Society Conference

There's nothing like a conference to make you feel inadequate, but loved and motivated :)

It was a good conference. Brian was nice enough to watch Claire. We had a nice salad dinner and some cheesecake before. It was really good to visit with other women.

My new motto

Or at least something to make me feel better when I get overwhelmed with my house ;)

----------------------------

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow....

for babies grow up,

we've learned to our sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs,

dust go to sleep,

I'm rocking my baby,

and babies don't keep!!

---Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Sweet and Sour-Meal 2

It's definitely a keeper.

1 pt chicken---I used my canned chicken for the first time. One didn't seal on Monday so I stuck it in the freezer. Very tender and very yummy! Better than when I boil it on the stove :)

2 cups rice

4 cups water

1 can pineapple (reserve juice)

2/3 cup vinegar

1 1/3 cup sugar

4 T cornstarch

4 T soy sauce

1 tsp molassas

1 T dried onion

1 can water chestnuts

1/4 cup dried bell pepper

(I have freeze dried bell pepper. I put 1/4 cup in a bowl with 1/4 cup water and let soak for a while. It seemed to be good)

combine rice and water and cook. Put pineapple juice, vinegar, sugar, cornstarch, soy, molasses together and cook. Cook till thick.

Saute veggies. (I also put in some fresh celery because I had it), add chicken and heat, add pineapple if you want it warm. Serve

I usually put the rice in a 9X13 pan, put the meat mixture on top and then put the sauce on. We dish it from that.

In other news...I'm excited for Bones to be on HULU tomorrow!!!!

Meal 1

I'm going to cook through my 21 meals...just to make sure everything is good before I go buy a bunch of stuff. Today was the easiest one since I had to go VT and I had to can some more chicken. So we had macaroni and cheese! Kids love it and heck, I do too. It's not extremely filling but with bread and peas or green beans I thought it would be a nice easy dinner. (Claire actually eats it *shock*) I may not do it 21 days straight because I need to make up some mixes and I just ordered dehydrated celery, mushrooms, and carrots from Waltons. I am jealous of people who live close to this store. Shipping is a killer!

Playing in the laundry

Someone had a good nap

Playing in the kitchen, waiting for the chicken to be done.

Class 1

Well I went and had a ton of fun! There were only 6 of us in the class. The teacher is deaf but wasn't born deaf. She had meningitis when she was 5. She didn't even learn sign language until she graduated from college! I cant imagine going through high school and college not being able to really communicate except for writing. She was hard to understand at first but then we got used to it and it was better. Still not all the way though. I knew most of the signs we did today but knowing them and being able to quickly do them in a sentence or read what someone else is signing is totally different. We did numbers too. I have to do my phone number for next week :) I'm going to enjoy this~

Signing

I am going to a Signing class tomorrow!! I registered at Peninsula College for a class that they are doing in Sequim. A lady from my ward told me about it and even has the text book that I can borrow. It is Tuesday nights from 6-8. Is it silly that I'm kinda nervous? I hate doing things by myself...I'll let you know how it goes!

(got some chicken canning right now..yay!)

Stuff from Arkansas

These were what I took on the phone in Arkansas

My rainbow cake

Claire in the bath

Jumping with Uncle Ethan

JC Pennys dressing room

Silly with Grandma

Good Weekend

Well, we have reached an end to a very good weekend. It started off on Friday when I decided to make a nice dinner for Brian. I went to the store and got everything. While we were there Claire started SCREAMING! A guy who worked there actually came up to me and gave me a cookie from the bakery to give to her and patted me on the back and said "good luck". Ha. You know your kid is bad when that happens. lol. It turned out very nice.

Aren't you jealous? :)

I've also been working on a new food storage system. (I hear it all now....not food storage again?!? Hey, it's MY blog :) I know my strengths and I am NOT a creative cook. I can't look at my pantry and say, oh, I'll take this and this and this and make that. Uh uh. Not me. So, I came up with 7 breakfasts and 21 full "foodstorage" meals, sides and everything, and figured out how much I would need to have a year supply. So I times every breakfast by 52 and the dinners by 17. I figured out how much I would need to make a loaf of bread a year and also came up with about 9 different desserts to make 6 times a year so we would have a dessert once a week. I figured on making granola every other week and I have a hot chocolate recipe for the winter months. EVERYTHING down to the last teaspoon of salt. I have a little wiggle room in the recipes, such as I could make tostados instead of bean burritos and such. I added in fruit too. So anyway, I put everything down in alphabetical order and so now I know how much I have and how much I need. It looks like a ton, but slow and steady does it. I mean, a YEAR of food is a LOT. But this way I know exactly what I can make and I don't have to stress about that. When I first heard about this system the lady only had 14 dinners. I thought 21 would make it a little more diverse and I have things like chicken pot pie, green chili, lasagna, Navajo tacos, tuna casserole, meat and potatoes, a good variety. Not all pasta, not all Mexican. I think it will be good.

ANYWAY, the point of that is that we have been going around to all the different stores with a list of all the ingredients and pricing them out to see what is cheapest where. It's been a lot of work but I think it will pay off. We did that Saturday. Chicken was $1.88 at Albertsons so I bought about 20 lbs and will be canning it tomorrow. My mother in law made me insanely jealous when she told me today that she got chicken for 99 cents a lb!!! AHH!

Our church switched over to 9 am today. I LOVE IT! We wake up and go and come home and put Claire down for a nap. It is glorious! We had a girl come over for dinner and the missionaries too. I thought it turned out pretty good. Now, Claire is in the bath and I'm ready for everything to calm down :) A good weekend.

Here are some videos to enjoy

Our Dancing Queen

The day of the VMA shenanigans we looked up both Taylor Swifts video and Beyonce's video and found out that Claire really likes "Single Ladies". haha.

More dancing

We went to WalMart and she found a microphone that did Beauty and the Beast and it was SO CUTE!

Claire updates

Claire is so stinking fun lately! She has started waving to everyone we see. She loves dancing to Beauty and the Beast and she is starting to love 101 Dalmations. :) She loves blowing bubbles and playing with sidewalk chalk. She gives the best kisses. She loves it when we count to 10 and say the alphabet. Her favorite songs are Popcorn Popping, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Wheels on the Bus, and Little Bunny Foo-foo. Her vocab is growing by leaps and bounds! She repeats everything we ask her to say. *I* think she is the smartest little girl :) The other day she pointed up in the sky and said moon. I corrected her, saying no, its the sun but she kept saying moon, so I looked up and it was the moon! You could still see it. She knows what is a horse and what is a goat. She points to every part of your face and most parts of the body. Eyebrows are her favorite :) She still loves signing. She loves shoes and carries them all around the house. She also loves jumping. We absolutely love playing with this silly, fun little girl.

Now, if only she would start sleeping through the night *sigh*

French Bread

I found this recipe on Marins Creation...and I just had to pass on the love. It's super easy and tasty. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, just like French Bread should be! I've made it three times and it's been perfect each time :)

Ingredients:

3 c. flour (2-3 more needed later)

2 T. yeast

2 c. warm water

2 T. oil

1 T. Suger

2 t. salt

Combine all in mixer and mix for 1 min.

Add 2-3 cups more flour one at a time until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl.

Knead for 10 minutes (seemed long to me but do it)

Roll half the dough out to a 12x15 rectangle. Roll up longs ways. Slit the top a few times.

Combine 1 egg white and 2 T. cold water, brush on the top of the bread

Let rise till doubled

Bake for 20-25 min. at 375

Makes 2 loaves

I'll never buy french bread again!

Back!

Well Claire and I made it back from our trip yesterday. It was a very long flight. We flew out around 4 pm which is new for us. All of our other flights have been in the morning. Our flight out of Little Rock was a little late and we only had a 30 min layover as it was. But as we stepped off that flight our next one was boarding so all was well. Funny thing about the flights this trip was that they were very misleading. Down to Little Rock I bought a "direct" flight. Who knew that "direct" meant stopping in Albuquerque, then Dallas, then Little Rock! Same on the way back! I was not a happy camper. But Claire was 99.9 percent angel. She fell asleep the last 20 minutes of the flight (of course) and didn't even ake up when I changed her diaper and clothes. Poor girl was exhausted. The really annoying thing on that last flight was the kids I was sitting next to. The girl was in HS and the guy had just graduated and they were making out and groping the WHOLE flight. I mean, puhlease people. uck.

Anyway, my trip was awesome. I saw a bunch of people. My Grandma McGrath was there when I first got there and then the last few days we were in Gulfport Mississippi at my Mama's 87th bday party. My Aunt blogged about it HERE. We hung out and Claire loved my family. The boys loved her too. It was so fun to watch them. My mom has some stuff on her blog HERE, HERE, and HERE. Yes, I know I am lame. I didn't take my camera. I did get some stuff on my phone thought so I will have Brian get it off for me. A great thing about visiting my family is that I can make all the desserts I have wanted to make but not have to eat the whole thing. I made a rainbow cake and a 14 layer cake. Both were very yummy, both very time consuming.

I was sad to leave my family but very excited to see Brian. I missed him tons. He took off half of today and tomorrow. Yay! So now, we are going to have to get back into a routine and find something to do. One thing I'm going to do is get all Julie and Julia on a cookbook. This one

My mom got it for me. It has a bunch of recipes in it. I figured I would cook through the whole book and see what I like. So far we have done pita bread, red beans and rice, and Santa Fe lentils. Gotta use that food storage and put it in our diet so if something happens it wouldn't be a shock.

I promise to be a better blogger :)

This is what happens when..

You garden at someone else's house.

You forget to check on your zucchinis, and of course you had a small one the last time you went and picked the huge one you forgot about. It's only been...a week or two? Look at this sucker.

For a comparison, here is my shoe. I am guessing this is the equivalent of a Shaq sized shoechinni (did you see what I did there?)

What am I going to do with this...hmm....

While you've been out

Update #2

Megan is visiting her family in Arkansas, so I decided to do a little repair. My desktop went out about a year ago, so I bought a refurbished one for $18 online (free shipping) and gutted it and put everything back together. No small task! I was pretty excited, so I made a video at the end. I now present it for your viewing pleasure.

Follow up with Dell

So, this was some time ago, but I wanted to let you know how everything turned out. So my brother directed me to consumerist.com where they will print your horror stories of customer service gone wrong. I emailed them (never heard back, go figure) but I was looking around their site and found the idea of a executive email carpet bomb (EECB apparently). So I investigated and someone had instructions specifically for Dell. Turns out the Dell executives' emails are all firstname.lastname@dell.com. So I went and found a list of Dell executives and picked out the relevant ones and plead my case. The very next morning I had an email from someone at their corporate headquarters wanting to set up a time to talk with me. We chatted, he said he didn't know why my information was correct, and said he was going to issue a $20 rebate on the card I used to pay for the video card. I said fantastic. He asked me if there was anything else. I said nope, and he wished me a good day. It took literally 5 minutes on the phone.

I feel great! It was like a month ago and it still makes me feel good. Ha! They admitted they were wrong and I got my rebate and everything is good in the world. So, I just thought I would update you all. And don't give up! You just need to find a person with authority, that's all it takes.

Dear Government,

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This makes me mad. Please get your no-good stinking face out of my business. I've got better reasons to keep my son intact than you do for cutting. Yes, I know its just a "recommendation" but tell that to pediatricians and others trying to intimidate me into doing something that I don't feel is in the best interest for my child, whether it be circumcising or vaccinations or anything else.
Please, all powerful government, why don't you spend more time getting parents to teach good morals to their kids? Why don't you spend more time promoting the fact that sexual relationships should wait until they are in a loving, committed relationship, or, dare I even say it?...marriage? That it shouldn't be something that you do drunkenly or high or with everyone that crosses your path? That would make me feel better than promoting universal cutting on infants. Have you even seen a circumcision?? Sorry, but I refuse to inflict that pain and irreversible procedure on someone who cannot consent for no medical reason.

Lovingly,
Me

Some Catchup and Food Storage!!

We have had a good end of July/August so far! We did have a couple of unbearably hot days but we survived. Sequim just isn't set up for 90+ weather. But other than that we have been having fun playing outside! We take sometimes multiple trips to the park every day. So fun!

Brian was asked to sub in nursery a couple of times and took Claire in with him. She LOVES nursery and when Brian is not in there she stands outside the gate shaking it wanting to get in. I WISH she could just go now when she wants to so bad. Who knows how she will be at 18 months. Anyway, one time they were in there she was chasing bubbles and fell and hit her eye on the chair.

It got nice and yellow.

Pretty girl in a bow

Is there anything better than a sleeping baby? I think not.

Claire LOVED grandma's IPhone and was sad to see it leave.

We got this chair for her and it is perfect. She can get in and out by herself and loves it.

This is where we keep a lot of our food storage. Everything that is not in boxes. I'm really excited about it. It makes me happy everytime I go in the garage. We are placing a big cannery order for this month too. Almost 200 lbs...whoo hoo!

All my cannery food.

We bought this shelf from Costco for about 80. I love it.

My food I canned. Pickles, pinto beans, black beans, beef and chicken. Love it!

Brian's mom is here with us and we've been having fun! Today we went to Silverdale and ate at Red Lobster (yay) and went to Michaels and Tuesday Mornings and the mall. I got some new jeans at the American Eagle sale (whoo hoo). We went to Poulsbo and explored the Central Market for as long as Claire let us....which actually was not long at all...it's been so nice having her here.

Well, I was going to put up some videos but blogger is taking forever. I'll try again tomorrow.