Spring Update

First big news: the snow piles that have been here since November are melted (mostly)! It is amazing what hearing birds chirping outside can do to your mood when you are ready for winter to be over.

Everything's going great for our family. For those of you who don't know...we are expecting baby #3 in mid-July!!! We had an ultrasound recently and found out that she's a girl! I'm doing well and pregnancy is going great. I feel really good lately and I'm starting to wear maternity clothes. I just started working on a quilt for our baby girl--I think it'll be pretty cute.



Steve's work is great and he's enjoying it; he's been able to be on some panels representing Graywolf a couple evenings recently. His boss also made the announcement that the office is closing at 3 on Fridays all year long, so he gets to come home a little early on Fridays which is great.

Nash is almost finishing his first year of preschool (it's an at-home one with four other kids). He can write the whole alphabet and is really enjoying writing words and coloring lately. He's really creative and has a great eye for art! He has fun with building Legos and recently saved some money to buy a new little fire truck set which he is having a blast with. We went to the MN Children's Museum recently where they have a new Lego exhibit which was super fun for Nash (and for all of us!).

Ava is almost 2! She seems so old lately and is just so cute. Her vocabulary is growing like crazy and she's really good at communicating with us now. She LOVES babies and is enjoying playing with all her babies and her Little People and is really good at entertaining herself. She frequently cracks us up--she is very active and is fun to watch. She is also very into shoes and clothes and has to pick out what she wears or she throws a fit. I had no idea this would start so young!


Both Nash and Ava love when Steve is the "dinosaur" and they run crazily through the house. Their favorite hiding places are behind the matching curtains on either side of our sliding door.

We went to a Vietnamese restaurant last night and they both ate so well--I think our kids do better with Vietnamese than American, which is really cool to us. We moved Ava into Nash's room so they share a room now. It definitely has it's pros and cons, but they are doing pretty well with it.

Steve and I are currently mini-van shopping, so that's fun. We've never bought a vehicle before from anyone other than parents, so it's a new experience. We are excited for a bigger vehicle and I'm excited not to have to bend down to get the kids in carseats anymore. Wish us luck with the search!

So anyways, life is good. Here's a few other pics (at home and from the Como Conservatory--so nice to see green and flowers in the winter; and also at a Valentine's event at our local grocery store).

Happy Halloween!

Trip to the West

We just got back from a trip to Colorado and Utah and had such a great time! It was our first time in Utah in 5 years and it was so great to reconnect with friends and family that are out there.

We started by flying to Colorado and spending time with my parents, two of my brothers and their families, and one of my cousins. We had great food and fun times, including pumpkin carving. The big event was a 15-hour train ride from Denver to Salt Lake City. I have traveled on a lot of trains, but never in America and it was fun to do it here. And so fun to take Nash and Ava on a train!

US trains are nice. I loved our first conductor. He looked and acted like he came straight out of an old movie. The other thing that cracked me up was at the Denver train station. We had so much luggage for our group that we decided to check some bags. Steve and Jon took our bags into this room where they didn't even know there own system for checking bags (maybe they don't do it much?). Then they loaded our bags onto a cart that had wooden wagon wheels! Another thing straight from an old west movie. I wish I would've gotten a picture. We were a group of 14, so we had fun visiting and playing games on the train. The kids had fun looking out the windows. Kati painted Ava's fingernails (a first for Ava), the kids colored and glued art projects, watched a couple Diego episodes on our laptop, enjoyed looking at cows and horses and mountains and tunnels out the window. I think the train went through about 40 tunnels as we crossed the Rockies. The views were spectacular. We took the kids to eat dinner in the dining car and we successfully got the kids to sleep (on blankets on the floor). We arrived in SLC at 11:00pm.

We spent the next couple days enjoying SLC. We stayed at a nice hotel downtown and walked and took TRAX around the close proximity. We toured some of the places on temple square, visited the giant conference center, went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg, and went shopping and eating at the Gateway Mall. We ate the biggest pizza I have ever seen from The Pie in our hotel room, and Steve and I slept to the sound of Distant Ocean Waves (our kids' white noise in the hotel room to help them sleep).

We stayed a few days after the rest of my family left to spend some more time in Utah. It was so fun to connect with friends (why didn't I take pictures when I was with most of them?!). We had a family party at Steve's cousin's house. There was quite a crowd and it was a blast. My kids loved playing Guitar Hero--they looked like they had been doing it for years. I guess it comes from pretending to be a band at home. And Steve's genes.

We ate at some of our favorite Utah restaurants (namely Bombay House and Cafe Rio). And we hiked the Y with our kids! It was really fun; and also really hard to do with a 3 and 1 year old. Ava was in a backpack and slept the whole way up. Nash walked the entire way up! We sat on the giant Y for all of 5 minutes and then the kids got bored (and I got a little nervous someone was going to fall down the mountain) and we carried both kids back down, which was probably and surprisingly harder than going up. It was such a fun family thing to do, though! Nash's word of the week was "yo." It meant yes, no, what, hi, cool...anything and everything. A bit confusing, but really hilarious. He wanted to yell "yo" from the Y, but his silly parents forgot. He remembered about halfway down and almost broke out in tears, so we stood him up on a sign and he got to yell his "yo" for all of Provo to hear. Afterward, with shaky legs, we went to the BYU Creamery for ice cream--also really fun.

It was a great trip. And now back to normal life. It was really nice to get home, but we're loving all our great memories.

Garden Harvest

I can't even tell you what a good feeling it is to have a garden! We put in a 8'X20' plot and have lots of tomatoes and various kinds of peppers. We have a cucumber plant and squash and zucchini and carrots and even a watermelon plant. Oh, and of course basil.

We love going out and picking the vegetables and checking to see if there are any ripe ones. Nash loves the yellow cherry tomatoes and will often go pick some and eat them for a snack while we are outside playing. Ava has seen us pick basil and pull weeds, so she will go over to the garden and start picking every leaf she can reach. My kids are awesome! I probably go check out my garden every single day. I love it! It is so cool to watch something grow that you planted.

I just love being able to go out and pick fresh basil to season my dinner with or a nice juicy tomato and cucumber for salad toppers. I love making zucchini soup and bread and cake, and grilled squash. I feel so domestic--I've canned some peppers and pickles and hot pepper jelly and three batches of salsa.

Yay for gardens!

Summer's Here!

Over Memorial Day, we went to Colorado and visited my sister and her family and ran the Bolder Boulder 10K. It was a blast! We had such a great time with them--my sister is so awesome and I love getting together with her in person. We had a fun time at the race. It was really insane--there were over 50,000 participants! Here are some collages from our Colorado trip:


We also did a local 5K (Spud Run) a couple weeks ago and Nash did his first race--it was a 1/4 mile kids' fun run. I'm not sure if he had fun. He was really excited for it, but I think it was a little out of his comfort zone when it actually was going on.

Also, on June 12, Nash turned 3! He had a ton of fun on his birthday and keeps asking for another one. He is a blast and can do so much.


And here's some cute pics of Nash and Ava. I need to get a new picture of Nash up, because we buzzed his hair! Although I am mostly at fault for the new hair style, I am a little sad about it--because he really did look so cute with his blonde mop. I still think he's cute and handsome; that will never change.


A few other updates are that Nash is potty training! It seemed like it would be so easy at first, but now I'm not so sure. He is doing a great job, but it isn't an over night process for us, unfortunately. Ava is using some words that we can actually kindof understand ("molp" for milk, "bye", and of course "mama" and "dada"). She babbles a ton, but we still can't understand Ava-speak. She can do 5 or 6 baby signs really well, too. Our kids are loving the outdoors. We are so lucky and got a swingset in our backyard for free! Someone was giving away their old one. It is complete with slide, 2 swings, a teeter/totter swing, a climbing wall, rope ladder, and regular ladder. Nash also got a sandbox for his birthday and we put in a 8 ft. x 20 ft. garden, so our backyard really feels like our backyard now and we love to be out there. Ava thinks she can do everything that Nash can, so we frequently find her climbing all the way up the ladder to go down the slide--she is amazing. She is definitely our fearless child.

And one last update is that I am now a vendor at a store that is opening in Anoka this weekend. It is called "Handmade on Main" and is going to sell hand-crafted things. I am selling nursing covers, birthday reminder calendars, decorative candlesticks, soft baby blocks, greeting cards, and probably even more items in the near future. Jon made me awesome tags for my products. I am super excited about this opportunity and hope it goes well. I am going to start a website as well for selling my products. This is a fun side-project to have and I'm enjoying it. I will also be working at the store 4 hours a week, which will be a fun little break.

After this long post it feels funny saying "that's all", but I'm going to do it anyway. That's all!

Updates...Finally! and Family Photos

Well, I am almost completely recovered from my surgery--it has been a good journey. I can do just about anything with my arm now and I can almost fully extend and bend my arm. I just have one more physical therapy session left and should be able to finish getting full extension on my own. It has been so nice to feel "normal" again! It is things like that that really help you appreciate what you have. I am so grateful for a body that allows me to do so many things. And I'm also grateful for wonderful support systems (family and church) that are there to help in times of need.

Here are some other updates/what's going on with our family:

Barb--I started running again! Steve and I are both going to Colorado to run the Bolder Boulder 10K with my sister and her husband. We are really excited about that. I have been learning how to digital scrapbook which has been fun. We got new couches for our living room! This was really exciting because it was the first real items of quality furniture we got (besides our bed) since we have been married.

Steve--enjoying work at Graywolf. He is given more and more responsibility and is a great asset to his company. He started playing drums more regularly and has been jamming with a friend which has been fun for him. He finished off a room with a closet in our basement! So now we have a four-bedroom house. There is a intern for the Minnesota Twins living with us through October, so that is where he is staying.

Nash--my little boy is growing up! He is really into jumping lately and he loves riding his trike and playing on playgrounds. In the past month he has started to play really well by himself (making noises and conversations for his cars, trucks, guys, etc.). It is so fun to watch and listen to and I love it because I have to do less entertaining! He is starting to lose his afternoon nap now, too. He went on a father/son campout with Steve last weekend and had a really good time.

Ava--she's a one-year old! Ava and I had our birthdays on April 21. She started walking at 11 months and now she is a pro. After she started walking, her personality has taken off, too. She's no longer my baby! It's sad, but really fun, too. She loves exploring and going outside and she likes to put things inside of things. She's got a cute laugh; she loves to join in when other people are laughing at something. She does a lot of "talking" in her really cute babbles.

Two weeks ago we had a photographer in our area take family photos for us. She did a great job. We took nice pictures for Nash's one year birthday and wanted to do the same for Ava, which is why there are a ton for her. I am going to include them all for anyone who would like to see them (It's a lot, so brace yourself).

Elbow Surgery

January has been an interesting month for me and my family! On January 5, I fell and broke my elbow. It was around 8am and I thought Steve had just left for work. I was in the laundry room with Nash, and Ava was in the next room over. I heard a loud noise and thought Ava was getting hurt, so I turned to run and slipped on a cardboard box that was flat on the ground. It flew out from under me and I fell frontwards and landed with all my weight on my elbow on the bare concrete floor (of course I was in the only unfinished room in the house). It turns out that Ava was fine and the noise was Steve bringing the carseats inside. Well, I was in a lot of pain, so we went to the doctor. The doctor who saw me looked at the x-rays and said he couldn't really tell, but didn't think it was broken. He put me in a splint (half cast attached with ace bandages). The next day, he called and told me the radiologist looked at it and it was broken and that I should keep it in the splint and see an orthopedic doctor in two weeks.

I took his advice and two weeks later saw an ortho doctor. What I had assumed was a cracked bone turned out quite worse. When I fell, the rounded part of my humerus had broken off and lodged into a different part of my elbow. I was told I needed surgery (and should have had surgery 2 weeks prior). It was frustrating to see the x-ray and have the specialist see the serious break right away. It seemed so obvious and even he wasn't quite sure how it had been missed.

Anyway, I saw an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in arms and he did the surgery on the 22nd. There were other bone chips and scar tissue (b/c of the 2 wk delay) that complicated the surgery, but overall it went well and now I have 2 screws in my elbow and a 4 inch scar. Yesterday I went back in and they removed my cast and fitted me with an arm brace. I have very little movement in my arm and will be going to physical therapy twice a week.

The biggest challenge is that I can't use my left arm, so taking care of a 2 1/2- year old and 9-month old is nearly impossible. I've had a lot of help which is really nice and necessary. So anyway, that's my story (be glad that it takes me forever to type--otherwise you may have heard a longer version!).

Here are some pics:





Of course I had to add some pictures of my fabulous family, too! They have been so adaptive in these tough times. Nash has been my big helper, lately. Ava learned to pull to standing and she has started to cruise. She also can sign "more" and "all done." She loves the scarf my mom made me--I think it looks like a little boa on her, which is so cute. And Steve is the best husband in the world. I know I couldn't get through this without him.