The Anderson Life

Colorado!!

2012-01-25T23:07:00.000-08:00

We did it. We embarked on our first official family of four vacation. I managed to forget only one thing this time. But considering that one thing held all the diapers and wipes meant for the plane ride, I suppose it was still a big deal. Luckily Aaron's sister let us know that we left it in the car and were able to buy some at the airport (of course the tiniest pack of diapers and wipes for $20!!), for which we were very grateful since he indeed pooped on the plane.

Here we all are getting ready for takeoff, Barett so excited for his first flight, I'm sure. Adelyn had been looking forward to flying on a plane all week, but when we started the climb she said she didn't like the plane after all because it was too fast. As we got going a little further she asked if our friends that we were visiting lived in the sky. Love how their little minds work!!

Aaron had some meetings in Colorado, so since our really good friends moved out there in July, we decided to head out with him and rented a little condo together from some good mountain fun. Adelyn and their two boys were peas in a pod the whole weekend, swimming at the pool, playing in the snow, giggling in their room at night, getting married to each other, sharing pack of gum after pack of gum, you name it.

One day we took the kids sledding and they had a blast while the parents had a workout pulling them back up the hill each time, which at 9300 ft is no joke!! Um, yeah, I only did it once...thanks Aaron!

The 9300 feet combined with the dry air also was a serious shock for our noses--I couldn't make it through the night without having to blow it several times and both Adelyn and Aaron had a couple bloddy noses while we were there. TMI? If so sorry, just a tip to take some nasal spray if you're planning a trip to the Rockies anytime soon!

It was a small price to pay for those beautiful blue skies you see that we enjoyed EVERY single day we were there. That is a rareity for we Washingtonians in the winter. Even the day that it snowed all morning managed to have sunny blue skies by the afternoon.

The next day we headed to one of the main parts of the resort...America's largest Zamboni maintained frozen lake.

We took the kids out ice skating on it, something I would not recommend to any parents of a three year old! Their five year old son started getting the hang of it with one of these "trainers", but their 3 year old wasn't having any of it and our three year old got pretty tired of falling pretty fast. Bless her heart, she really did the best she could, but let's be serious, even I fall on ice skates and I'm 31!!

Luckily though, a nice neighborly dad saw our plight and let us use the toboggan they had rented when his daughters tired of it. That was a much bigger hit...once again having the daddies do all the hard work!

At church we met a guy who makes ice castles, so we stopped to check them out on our way out of town.

They loved this little sleigh ice scuplture, though couldn't quite figure out how to sit down on it without sliding off after two seconds.

It was a great trip and so fun to just hang out and visit with old friends. When we got back to Denver we also got to see (and eat at Cafe Rio with!) Aaron's cousin who is married to our friend's brother. A big thanks to the Ponders and the Crisenberrys for being such great hosts and making us so welcome on our stay. If only you could have had a little more snow on the slopes it would have been perfect!

The most ironic part about the whole trip was the most snow we saw was when we flew home into a blizzard...13 inches of snow in one day...one of the five snowiest days on record for us!!! Sadly Aaron still had the camera in Colorado, but here is a lame cell phone shot of our backyard with about 2/3 of the snow that we got.

Who would have thought?

THREE!

2012-01-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

Adelyn's birthday is on New Year's Eve, which makes the holiday season even crazier for us. And thankfully gives us a deadline to get the tree down and get the birthday stuff up. We decided at the very last minute to brave a friend party for her and decided even more last minute to go with a pink cowgirl theme (mostly because I wanted to make chili).

I was really glad that I did...Adelyn woke up to birthday decorations and was so excited. Everytime I have made a birthday cake for someone in the past six months she's been hoping it was for her, so she was ecstatic to have it finally happen. I know our hats may look a little Crocodile Dundee, but hey, it was the best we could do on the fly. Don't be jealous, just go get one for yourself at Wal-Mart for $2.50.

I asked my little brother to take pictures during the party, but I should have been more specific in wanting more posed of all the cute kiddos and less candids of all the chaos. Several dressed in western duds and looked darling. Oh well. We did manage some cute ones of the "cousins" afterward.

We also forgot to sing and blow out the candles, so here she is doing it during our family dinner party. What a special girl Adelyn is, who loves pink and princesses, letters and reading, music and dancing. She entertains me daily and suprises me constantly with her intelligence (ridiculously she often beats me at the Memory game someone gave her).

A big thanks to all of you who helped make her birthday celebration such an enjoyment for her.

New Blog

2012-01-10T20:26:00.000-08:00

Well I came on here to post about Adelyn's three parties for turning three (not my intention, just how it turned out), but something is going on with the picture uploader!! So you will just have to stay in suspense for how it all went down and I'll tell you instead about a new blog I am starting: Live to Last.

I know several of you who follow my blog that share my goals for the new year of losing weight or getting fit or eating healthier or something along those lines. That blog will be a place to share healthy recipes, fitness tips, and overall good ideas for a happier, longer life so that we can all reach our goals together.

So check it out, let me know what you think, and keep coming back because there is only more to come!

Christmas Happenings

2012-01-05T05:24:00.000-08:00

I think it goes without saying that December is a very busy time of year, so I hope all will excuse for my lack of any recent updates.

We started off the month picking out our tree, which was beautiful and just maybe a little too big for the size of our living room, but I loved it still.

Aaron's mom came down for FHE and helped us decorate. Note to self and any interested: when inviting others to help decorate your tree: string the lights first. That part takes just a little more time than the fun it offers in return, especially if you are 3.

Adelyn's preschool put on a little Christmas program and she was VERY excited for it. She only wanted to listen to her CD while in the car and kept talking about singing, so I thought I'd show you the difference between her "practice" time:

And then the actual performance. I'm so glad that we had my family all come to watch!! But for her first time up "on stage" we weren't too concerned, just entertained.

We also had a fun ward Christmas party, complete with Santa.

And a really fun Elder's Quorum party, complete with Ugly Sweaters. That Pink Special you see on the right just so happens to have won the contest that night--a gift certificate to Goodwill!

Aaron's brother came into town and before we managed to get him and almost all of Aaron's and my entire families sick with the worst stomach flu we have seen in a long time (a memorable Christmas for sure), they managed to have a great time at the Seahawks Christmas Eve game (despite the ridiculousness of the loss).

Then of course we had Christmas itself, which apparently we took more videos of than pictures, but I won't bore you with more videos. I loved that we got to go to church Christmas morning and stop right in the middle of opening presents to focus on the birth and life of the Savior.

These pictures got out of order and since I already have wasted too much time trying to arrange and rearrange all the above photos and videos, I will leave them be--anyone else having trouble with the new and "improved" blogspot?!?!

But in addition to all of the special happenings of the Christmas season, December also brought Barett his first taste of real food:

And his first time rolling over. As he is a bit larger than your average kid (20 lbs at his 4 month check-up), it took him a bit longer than the average four months, but he is rolling like a champ now and it's quite entertaining to watch the little chunk move around.

Man I love my kids and my family and am grateful that we had a great holiday season this year and were able to spend so much time together. Now on to the new year and it's resolutions!!!

TIming

2011-12-08T21:25:00.001-08:00

I guess Black Friday afternoon was not such a good time to schedule family pictures after all...

SNOW!!!!!

2011-12-04T18:00:00.001-08:00

The week before Thanksgiving we actually woke up to some snow. Of all days, luckily it was a Saturday, so we headed right out to the giant hill by our house for some serious sledding action.

Those of you who actually live in wintery climates will probably laugh at the amount of snow that excites us and sends us sledding, but we've got to take it where we can get it.

And of course we had to make a snowman--northwestern style with pine cones for eyes and nose. This was Adelyn's first time making a snowman, and to be honest I can't say that I have made that many more myself!

Aaron felt we ought to take the snowman on a ride on the sled so he wouldn't feel left out. And I must say that he looks like he's having a great time. Right?!

I am sure you are all wondering where our new little babe was through all of this...snuggled up and sleeping soundly in the stroller.

Rolling in the Deep

2011-11-12T18:45:00.001-08:00

First of all, I have to tell you that there was something huge that I forgot to tell you about in the last post. Are you surprised?! While we were in Seaside, Adelyn lost her binky and was forced to go to sleep without it for probably the first time in her life. We have tried a few times unsuccessfully to get her to give it up, so this was a good way to give none of us the option to change our minds.

And she did!!!! We had a big celebration with some Blizzards the next day and praised her up and down for being such a big girl.

And when we came home and she found two other binkies in her bed, I was worried she would want to go back. But she said she was a big girl now and asked if she could throw them in the trash. Hallelujah!

Anyway, I had to share the big milestone. The video is not any kind of milestone, but pure entertainment. The past few months Adelyn has gotten really into popular music and here she is singing along to her favorite song.

When do I get my regular brain back?!

2011-11-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, you look at blogs for the pictures more than the stories, but even knowing that about myself I have to share with you some details of our Halloween experience. I think I have lost my mind...we went over to my sister's house to get the girls ready for our church Trunk or Treat and wouldn't you know...I forgot the COSTUMES!! She lives about 20 min away and I turned around to get them about halfway there. So when we arrived to her house 15 min late, I realized I STILL forgot Adelyn's dress. What?! After I already went home to retrieve them?

This of course made us late for the Trunk or Treat. The announcement was to be there at 6:15 to park and it would start at 6:30. Since we were still making it by 6:30, I thought we'd be okay. No. It was OVER! Completely done. What Adelyn has been talking about all month, we missed because of my serious absentmindedness. People were in their cars driving away when we pulled up.

What were these kids doing? Just sprinting from car to car? The few cars that hadn't left yet were all out of candy. This was after Barett had screamed the whole 20 min to my sister's and back. All that for nothing. But they looked so cute so I got over the drama and we just trick or treated at a few houses on my parents' street and our street and Adelyn was still in 7th Heaven.

Here they are: Beauty and the Beast.

I was thinking maybe it was just a really bad idea to go out of town the weekend before Halloween when I should be getting all those things in order, until I remembered the list of things that I forgot for the trip as well! Aaron had some work in Oregon and we thought it would be fun to go with him and do a little adventuring...see how we could handle a trip with a family of four. Well I totally failed the test so it may be awhile before we attempt it again.

I forgot to pack:

my wallet

my phone charger

Adelyn's medicine

extra waters (7.5 hours to get there!)

my iPod (it's touch so its games keeps Adelyn enterained in the car)

my swimsuit (after I made sure Aaron packed his)

Psych DVDs to watch after Adelyn went to bed (okay that one not essential, but still nice!)

Seriously, where is my brain these days?! I thought once those pregnancy hormones left that that forgetfulness would disappear. At least Adelyn found a way to entertain herself on the drive down...I thought this was so precious.

His work was in Coos Bay and this was near there at a State Park and the rocks behind us were COVERED with seals and Sea Lions. We stepped out of the car and all you could hear was them barking (is that what it's called?).

We drove up the 101 on the way back and saw all sorts of the goodness that is the Oregon Coast. It was nice because there was always somewhere pretty to stop that could entertain Aaron and Adelyn while I fed Barett. I can't say the same will be true for our next drive to Idaho! Here we are at The Devil's Churn.

We spent the last night in Seaside because Aaron's brother was in town on a surf trip. This beach is just so pretty! Goonies, anyone?!

Aaron took Adelyn to the aquarium during yet another Barett feeding time and did a little feeding of their own. This is some live Adelyn action for those of you who live far away.

Despite my flightiness and countless hours in the car in a mere four days, we had a great time and managed to make it home in one piece. I love that we live in such a beautiful place where we can just hop in the car and be someplace awesome.

Anyway, aren't they just irresistable?

Seven Weeks Already?!

2011-10-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

When people ask how we have been adjusting to the newborn life, what we've been up to, how we've been feeling etc, my response has a common theme that I think is accurately summed up by the following two pictures:

WE ARE TIRED!!!!

I remembered that newborns wake up around the clock to eat, but I didn't quite remember what it FELT like. It pretty much feels like what a imagine being a zombie feels like. Maybe that's what I should be for halloween!

However it is not without its rewards...would you just look at this little guy??!?! Thought it necessary to share some of his first smiles photo session.

Here is one from Adelyn's first smiles...do they look like siblings or what?!

I'll leave you with this one of him seeming to wave goodbye to the camera. Yes, I know, he's a chunk and a half!! And I thought Adelyn was a big baby. He puts her to shame at over 14 pounds already. Love it love it.

Barett's Blessing

2011-09-13T01:40:00.000-07:00

Aaron's family decided to come Labor Day weekend to meet our latest addition, so we decided to make it a real party and have Barett's blessing while they were here.

Aaron's asked his grandpa to bless Barett, and he made his way here all the way from St. George to give a very tender and thoughtful blessing. We really appreciate his sacrifice and the wonderful spirit he brought with him.

I forced all the family into taking pictures afterward and I thought I'd share so you could see what everyone is looking like these days. Here's all the Andersons that made the trek. Thank you so much for taking the time to do so! I'll post more pics of your visit on facebook so you can have them if you want them.

Then we have the Curlette Clan

And the Barias as well. For those who didn't know, those two families are where Barett gets his name: Baria + Curlette!

And of course we had to take a four generation picture...ya think there's a family resemblance there or what?! Apparently the record for this sort of pic is seven generations living in one family. I'm not thinking we are going to beat that!

Thanks again to all of you who took the time to be there with us on this special day for our family. I feel very fortunate to have such good friends and family relatively close by. Love you guys! I'll leave you with the star of the show actually awake.

Baby Barett's Arrival

2011-08-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that our Thursday attempt at delivery was successful! We arrived at the hospital at 8:30 am, ready to start the induction. I've been hiding away from the camera for the past month, but my MIL said I owed it to Barett to take at least one last belly shot for him. So here it is for those who live far away and get excited by pregnant bellies.

I suppose it isn't the last...Aaron took a pic of me during labor, but there is no way that is going out into the public domain.

For those who have never been induced, I will say that it is not the most exciting process. I was hoping this time would be faster since it was my second baby, but it was about the same as Adelyn...12 hours. And most of those hours were fairly uneventful, as I was dialated to only 5 cm FOREVER. But then things ended with a bang: around 9:30 the pain started getting out of control, at 10 I started pushing, and at 10:10 he was born!

He weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz (just a bit smaller than Adelyn), measured 21 inches, and had a full head of hair!

Anyone interested in more details, feel free to stop by anytime and come meet the little guy. Aaron can tell you his favorite story about the 12-year-old resident who thought the most helpful thing to do when the head was crowning would be to sit and pet it....yeah.

The first day Adelyn came to visit she was pretty freaked out when she saw me sitting in the hospital bed that she climbed up with me, wouldn't leave my side, and decided only to hold the baby when they brought her to him. Here she is the second day, obviously doing much better!

We thought we could never have a baby as easy as Adelyn was, but we are starting to wonder if maybe we got lucky. So far he just eats and sleeps, without needing to suck a binky or be swaddled. We are loving it, but are definitely still getting used to the boy diaper changing challenges. Any tips from you experienced folk??

Anyway, we are doing well thanks to all the help from friends and family.

Baby Eve (Hopefully)

2011-08-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

We thought it was last night...we were scheduled to go in to be induced at 6 o'clock this morning. So we dropped Adelyn off at my parents' and took full advantage of the necessary sleepover by going to dinner and a movie. Then we got home and set up the bassinet, cleaned the kids' room, called to check in with the hospital only to find out that my doctor's office had changed my appt to tomorrow at 8:30 without letting me know about it and nothing could be done to change it because they were already full.

What?!?!?!

Seriously?!?

Of course I bawled forever (I am pregnant, after all) and of course when I called the scheduler at the office today to figure out what had happened she was a bit rude and ensured me that that was indeed what I had requested of her, but that it didn't matter anyway because none of the scheduled inductions got in today anyway: too many ladies going into labor on their own (not fair).

So maybe it was a blessing in disguise because tomorrow I will have priority over all those who didn't get in today and will be trying to reschedule. But hey, now I have the time for one last pre-baby post!!

This past Saturday we realized we hadn't hit up the beach all summer somehow, so we headed out to Westport. You can't really tell from this pic, but the spot we went to was COVERED with surfers. The water didn't look quite as inviting to me.

Our adventurous spirit extended to sticking our feet in the water and running from the big waves when they came. Well, we did try to build a sand castle too, but Adelyn thought it was more fun to knock it over whenever we got two towers (yes, there WAS a little boy next to us knocking over his own sand castle...yes we ARE a bit worried to have a boy of our own!!).

Then we hit up the go-karts, and when I say "we" I mean these two, because apparently you cannot be pregnant and drive in one of these incredibly fast cars on this super huge track. I was baffled!!! First the doctor doesn't wanting me floating the DESCHUTES at .2 miles an hour for my birthday and then no go-karts?! At least I had some cuties to photograph and cheer on.

Instead of dwelling on the lack of baby, today we headed up to Northwest Trek to check out some wildlife. It was a gorgeous, cloudless day...if only Adelyn hadn't been partying it up at grandma's and gotten four hours less sleep than she usually gets!!!

Since I know you can't get enough of her cheeseface, I'll throw in a random one for you:

I was cleaning out the fridge the other morning and she wanted to help so she put her apron on right on top of her jammies, pulled out the Clorox wipes (her favorite), and went right to work. Then she thanked me for letting her help. My pleasure, really.

In other big news, the week before last my brother got home from his mission to Tijuana Mexico!! Somehow I didn't take any pictures during the weekend our whole family was together, so I'll have to work some Ben pics in with the new baby pics in the next post.

Are You Sick of Hearing About Camping Yet??

2011-07-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

If you aren't, please read on. If you are, rest assured that this is probably my last adventure for the season. My doctor told me at my appt this week that they won't let me go past 39 weeks with my blood clotting thing, which leaves only 3 weekends to get ready for this baby's arrival, one of which will be filled with all the festivities of my brother coming home from his mission.

So on that note, we headed to the hills for a final adventure. This time we hit up Leavenworth, a cute little Bavarian Village just on the other side of the Cascade Mountains.

It is quite a popular little tourist town, but it is also surrounded by an overwhelming amount of outdoor adventure and doesn't take long to get away from the crowds. Aaron has decided it is his new favorite place in Washington. Here we are overlooking the valley.

This is a view from the same spot, but in the direction of our campsite. We camped in icicle canyon, about 20 minutes outside of town. A lot of people go there for backpacking and rock climbing, but we just liked it because it was beautiful and peaceful (not to mention the largest campsites we have ever seen!)

We headed up to Fish Lake the next day for some rowboat action. Not the nicest ride we have been on, but at $5/hr rental, I suppose you can't complain. And I really couldn't complain because Aaron wouldn't let me row; I just got to sit back, relax, and watch the birds and the fish.

Then we headed down to Lake Wenatchee State Park ready to play in the water, but it was too cold and windy for us to even stand being on their beach. So Aaron took Adelyn horseback riding instead. She LOVES horses and had a great time, except for having to wear the giant bicycle helmet.

We had a great weekend and look forward to going back again and rafting that Wenatchee River!

More Fun Firsts

2011-07-06T21:15:00.001-07:00

Our first campout with Adelyn went so well that we decided to give round 2 a try just two weeks later at the next sign of good weather. We moved from just camping to giving her a tryout on solo hiking (not being carried).

There were quite a few times that she wanted to give up and ride on someone's shoulders, but we found little games to play along the way. Her two favorite distractions were finding the perfect fallen log to pose on for the camera, and racing Daddy. She is quite the competitive one, let me tell you...at one point she even ran right in front of him and cut him off so he wouldn't pass her!

A couple more weekends after that we were blessed with our first nephew, Ryder Grayson Bertels. He came about three weeks early, so I hope this little baby of ours follows suit! Here he is with his proud little mama.

And of course we had to get a cousin shot! Adelyn wasn't quite sure at first what to do with such a small baby.

While we were in Bellingham, the sun came out and Jake was taking Jadyn for a ride on the jet ski. I was quite surprised that Aaron felt Adelyn would be too sad watching Jadyn go and decided to take her out too. Personally I worried 2.5 was a little young for a first jet ski ride, but they made it back safe and sound, with Adelyn chanting to go faster.

Inspired by even more sunny weather...yes we do live for the summer here in the Pacific Northwest, we decided to head out to Tillicum Village on Blake Island. Aaron has been wanting to do this for a long time, so that was our Father's Day present.

For those who aren't around here, it is an Indian village boasting of its authentic Salmon bake buffet and native dancing and storytelling. For those who ARE around here and who haven't been, you aren't missing out. Maybe our expectations were too high, maybe we waiting too long to go, but we thought it was just OK.

Perhaps the most entertaining part of the day was Adelyn's reaction to the steamed clam appetizer that we were greeted with upon arrival. I was surprised that she wanted to try one and not surprised to realize that it didn't quite make it all the way down. I looked and realized she had it sitting in her cheek like a chipmunk for about 15 minutes! Can you see it in there?!

And the final first that we have for our show and tell today was Adelyn's first visit to Mt. Rainier. Saturday was such a perfect day that while we were out running errands, Aaron got the urge to head to the hills. Those are the kinds of urges that I don't fight one bit, so we packed up a quick picnic and headed up.

As I mentioned it was a gorgeous day...a Saturday on a holiday weekend at that, so we weren't the only ones with this brilliant idea. It was so crowded that the parking lot at Paradise was full. So we just scoped out the campgrounds for future reference, ate our picnic, and hopped on the trail to Carter Falls.

We made the mistake of showing Adelyn the backpack, and after that she wasn't really into the idea of hiking herself. Chasing chipmunks was the only way we could get her down. It was much hotter and steeper than we expected....poor Aaron! And yes, Adelyn dressed herself that day...ode to PINK!!

That's about all we have for now. Hopefully you feel adequately caught up on our recent lives. I even threw in a couple of pictures of my growing belly for those of you who get excited about that sort of thing.

Only six weeks to go!!!!!

First Camping Trip

2011-05-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that I have a very strange and very chronic pregnancy craving: CAMPING. So when my sister invited us to go on a little overnight campout on the way to my other sister's baby shower up in Bellingham, I couldn't resist (despite the fact that we had been away from home for a week and only slept in my own bed one night in between).

We had already bought a bigger tent and a queen air mattress to pamper my pregnant self through the experience, but we still weren't sure how Adelyn would take to the outdoor adventures. Hopefully you can tell from these pictures that she loved EVERY minute of it.

She talked about it nonstop beforehand once we told her we were going and has asked us often when we are going back. Here she is helping with the tent.

Our campsites were just up the hill from the ocean so we spent pretty much the entire afternoon watching the tide roll in and the herons devour the exposed sea life, blowing bubbles, relaxing, and just plain soaking up the sunshine. Just what the doctor ordered!!!

Adelyn was very excited to see the two giant bags of marshmallows after dinner and got a little upset when I put them on a skewer instead of giving them directly to her. I assured her they would taste better once I was finished with them.

Do you think she agreed with me? Yes, that's my leg she slimed.

Sidenote: I put these pants on in the evening, slept in them, wore them all the next morning and didn't notice until we were leaving that I had them on backwards the whole time. Aaaah, that's the great thing about camping...no need to worry about looking good!

No pictures, but the answer to the big question, was yes, she slept fine in a tent. She was so excited to sleep in it I couldn't believe it. And no she didn't wake up at the crack of dawn...it was almost 9 by the time we finally rolled out of bed. She kept talking about how fun it was that we all slept in a tent together.

After packing up camp we headed out to Deception Pass for a quick view. Let me just say that bridge is a whole lot scarier as a mother of a toddler! If you haven't been there, look up a picture of a side view online...yikes!

Jadyn rode with us a little on the side trip and we had too much fun when the random shuffle on the iPod blessed us with this song. Bring back any great memories?

Yes, she is sunburned. I am a bad mother... I also forgot warm clothes for her at night, and of course it was cold, it is still May in the Northwest!

Somehow I didn't get any pictures of the actual shower but we had so much fun with Jake's family. Can't wait for little Ryder to join us in June!

P.S. Anyone who wants to get down on the camping, you let me know. Now that we know Adelyn is a fan too we will be going as much as possible this summer.

Is it Almost June??

2011-05-20T00:29:00.000-07:00

Yep, now that May is over halfway through, I figure I'd better finally post our happenings from April. I know you are dying to know. Aaron celebrated his birthday, pictureless, though I somehow managed to schedule his family party on the same night as Adelyn's first night of swimming lessons. Here they are celebrating together at the pool.

She was so excited that first night that she was kicking and shrieking getting ready to go. Excitement sometimes waned as she found out she had to do some scary things that she didn't really want to do, but she must not have been too traumatized because she still wants to go swimming everytime she sees a pool.

For Aaron's birthday my family went in to get him a Vitamix (yes it will change your life, you should get one too!). Adelyn and I decided to make our own playdough in it one day. Jadyn thought it was pretty awesome...she was convinced if I made the playdough, it must be playdough that she could eat!

For Easter we headed over to the Egg Dash that my sister helps put on every year. She said in the 10 years she has been working there, this was the first Easter Egg Dash that didn't get rained on. I guess there are some advantages to a late Easter....it was soooooooooo beautiful that day!!

Instead of candy, some of the eggs have notes inside telling you to come pick up a prize at the prize table. Adelyn was VERY excited to win some dress up items and had a hard time waiting until we got home to open them. Here she is modeling some of her new accessories. Velma anyone?

Last but not least, certainly one of her favorite pasttimes of any month is doing "tricks" with Daddy. This was a new invention and a big hit with her new Ariel (of course) beach towel.

Belated Birthday

2011-03-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

Our camera finally works again!! We left our charger in Idaho at Christmas, so his parents mailed it to us, only it wasn't ours. So then they sent us the right one, but it still didn't charge the battery. I tried to buy a new battery where I got the camera and they didn't sell it. Thankfully though this is 2011, I ordered one on Amazon, and voila, it WORKS!!

Anyway, detail overload. Suffice it to stay that I will be rejoining the blogging world. I know you are ecstatic. Thought I would share some of the old pictures that were sitting there for months waiting to be posted. Which was Adelyn's SECOND birthday!

Party #1, In Idaho

Aaron's parents gave her her own apron, which she loves to wear to help me cook, and a butterfly bag complete with

Party #2 at home. Aunt Hillary gave her all sorts of dress up stuff that was a big hit. Yes, that is a ridiculous tour of presents in the background.

Aaron snapped this picture of Adelyn that I thought was priceless. The pose totally looks like it could be from some perfume ad, in a strange way.

Another big hit was her Ariel "motorcycle." She still can't reach the pedals but loves scooting around with her feet. She loved toting little Mikaiah around as cargo. :)

Man how I love that cute little girl. She cracks me up every day!! Just today she yelled when my sister referred to her as a baby, "I'm not a baby! I'm a big girl!" We keep telling her that means she needs to use the big girl potty...wish us luck on that one!

Getting Excited

2011-02-20T07:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks everyone for your congratulations!! It's very touching to see the love and support we have from such great friends and family. It also helps me get more excited. I have felt sicker this time around than I did with Adelyn, so when people ask me if we are so excited, sometimes I have to remind myself that I am!! It's terrible I know

We had a surprise ultrasound this week, which DEFINITELY reminded me of my excitement, and made it all a little more real for Aaron. :) I thought I would share one of the pics from that. Sorry it's not that one that makes it look like we are having a BOY...though Aaron did specifially ask for them to print that one so he could share it.

I have also had greater moodiness, and more food cravings with this pregnancy, so a big thank you to Aaron for his patience and support!! Just a few of the random ones: eggs sandwiches (and anything with eggs in general), avocadoes, grapefruit, meat meat and more meat, mashed potatoes, Cheetoes Puffs, and most recently Cinnamon Rolls (I finally gave into this one and have some rising right now!!).

What were some of your cravings?

Papoose #2!!

2011-01-24T20:08:00.000-08:00

That's right! We are expecting an addition to the family on August 20th!! The doctor officially confirmed today what I have been feeling for weeks now. Adelyn and Aaron were there to hear the heartbeat so now they believe it too. :)

A Merry Little Christmas

2011-01-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

We headed to Idaho for this Christmas this year. Aaron's brother had just come home from his mission in North Carolina and was having his homecoming, so we decided to do what Aaron hasn't done in the eight years that he has lived here and make the Christmastime trek through the mountains.

After the 11-hour drive turned into 17, including two hours being completely stopped in an icy canyon, we thought it may be the last Idaho Christmas for awhile too!

But can we deny Adelyn that family bonding she loved so much?? Here she is helping Grandpa clean off the horse from the shed.

Aaron and I got new skis for Christmas, so Adelyn had a whole day of family bonding while Aaron and I hit the slopes behind his parents' house with his two younger brothers. It was a very small resort, so it was perfect for me on my third time skiing. Aaron must have been a little underchallenged though cause he thought he'd try out some of the snowboarding rails and biffed it pretty bad!

Here she is with Aaron's sisters and soon to be brother-in-law trying her hardest to stay awake on Christmas Eve.

Though she was the very last person awake Christmas morning, she woke right up when she found her stocking.

These are some of the items she had to put on right away when she opened them: a handmade hat from grandma, hello kitty socks, and princess pajamas.

She was VERY into presents this year, so much so that she woke up the next day and asked if she could open more. Lucky for her, we still had presents to unwrap at my parents' when we got home.

This is my fave picture from that...note the dolls piled up on my dad's chest. She and Jadyn got the full set of Disney Princesses to "share"... which sharing hasn't been going well so far!

Even luckier for Adelyn's present opening wish, she has her birthday a week after Christmas, so more pics to come soon!!

Ariel Obsessed

2010-12-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

Those of you around here know that Adelyn is just a LITTLE in love with Ariel. She wants everything Ariel that she sees wherever we go, wants to listen to her CD in the car, watch her movie at home...on and on and on...let's just say I was REALLY happy when Beauty and the Beast was released from the Vault to add some balance to my life.

Anyway, last night as I was giving her a bath she said she wanted to sing Ariel's song (of course) and I was amazed that she knew about all the words. Here is the first half for your enjoyment.

If you need more, the second half will be on Facebook.

I Know Halloween was Two Weeks Ago...

2010-11-15T16:47:00.000-08:00

...but of course I didn't realize that the battery on my camera was dead until we Adelyn was all ready and it was time to head to the church for the Trunk or Treat. Here is a close-up of her fairy make-up. Thanks Jenn! We were here second of three make-up appointments that day.

Jadyn had been her first appointment. She decided to be a goddess this year and looked fabulous, I thought!!

Here we are at the Trunk or Treat. Thanks Arielle for taking this for us!

We didn't let Adelyn get a lot of candy, as she is not even two, but boy could she not wait to eat the candy that she got. Can't you just see the sugar seeping through her in this one??

She can't stop moving long enough for the camera to flash, which gives kind of an iridescent glow around her, making her look even more fairy like! Gotta love these girls!!

Variations on a Cheese Face

2010-10-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

We have had a really fun fall so far, despite my protests about summer (the best time of the year, when you live in WA that is) ending. I just had to keep thinking of Sweet Potatoes and PUmpkin Bread and cozy sweaters and boots.

Luckily we were able to have one last little taste of warm weather when we went with Aaron to Lake Chelan for a work event. I thought I could best showcase what we have done in the last month with Adelyn's newest Cheeseface creation. Here it is on the shores of Lake Chelan.

It surfaces again at the pumpkin farm with Jadyn and Olivia. She is not in pain, I promise. She is happy! Doesn't it look like it?

A new Pumpkin Patch. Starting to look a little happier.

Now we just have to worry about Olivia! She looks ticked off! Rachel, I swear we were not torturing her in any way.

Next adventure: the Cider Mill...probably my favorite cheese face of them all. How can you not be happy when you are surrounded by the lovely smells of goats and chickens?? It's crazy how

many times we can go there, spend a mere $2 on feed, and they have fun EVERY time! Gotta love it.

For less cheesy and more pictures of our fall fun, feel free to check facebook. Hope you guys are enjoying fall too. It's hard not too when we have this much sun!

Upcoming Show

2010-09-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

I already sent this out on Facebook, but I thought I would post it here in case some of you aren't in a habit of checking your facebook. Some friends from church have put together a talented group of musicians to perform the album Joseph, A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet. Aaron will be playing the guitar and singing some backup vocals.

The Facebook message has been misleading in that you have to pick a certain date when you make an event. They are performing the same show FOUR weekend nights in October. We know that some of you may be coming from far away, so we understand if you can't make it but I know Aaron would appreciate all who come to check it out.

Personally I think it's going to be awesome, and of course we will be having an awesome after party as well. We will have food and good times at our house after EACH of the four shows, so feel free to stop by any of the nights! Let me know if you have any questions.

Hope to see you there!

Do the Puyallup

2010-09-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Since the last post was all about Aaron & I, this post will be all about Adelyn! It was actually sunny the other day so we decided to take her up to the Puyallup Fair. I told her that we were going to go see some animals and boy was she a broken record the whole way up wanting to see them right away.

Most of you know her bunny is her very favorite item in the world, so of course she spent a long time trying to talk to them.

And cows are Aaron's favorite thing in the world, so he wanted to talk to them and get a picture of her with one for his family. Just kidding of course, but it really is crazy to think that he has probably spent more time in his life with cows than he has with me!!!

Another favorite, the horses. Since we have a horse pasture behind our house, Adelyn wakes up every morning wanting to know if the horsie is out. We were amazed at how big some of the ones at the fair were!!!

In the kids section they had a little petting farm where you could get in with some of the animals. Here she is with a little baby goat.

Those of you on Facebook may have already seen the video of her dancing that I posted yesterday. For those on facebook less often, I thought I would post one here too. Don't worry...it's a different one with a nice little chicken wing move. Love it. Of course I taught her everything she knows!!

Those kids just can't help themselves when the Black Eyed Peas come on!

We had a great time and are glad we went when we did because it was pouring rain today!!!!

Anniversary Time!!

2010-09-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

That's right! We have now been married THREE years. It's crazy. But what's even crazier is my parents just having their 35 year anniversary. Three years seems like nothing , but they have been three awesome years, that's for sure.

We usually like to celebrate with an adventure instead of gifts, but Aaron had scheduled work the day before and the day after our big day, so we had to get a little creative. I decided to go with him to his event in Spokane, so here we are with the Spokane Falls.

Then we came home the very long way, first via the Grand Coulee Dam, one of the largest concrete structures in the world!! With that amount of concrete you could build a highway from Seattle to Miami or a 4 ft wide sidewalk around the equator twice! And they built it in the 1930s. Ridiculous.

Our next stop was Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop, WA, a very cute very little "old western" town. We took a little nature walk that evening and came face to face with a family of deer. It was a very beautiful spot overlooking the Methow Valley.

There are tons and tons of trails that people use to mountain bike or horseback ride in the summer and cross country ski in the winter. So of course we had to take advantage of that!

This was taken shortly before I totally biffed it. This was my first time doing real mountain biking and I was scared out of my mind but ended up having a great time. Coming down, that is. Riding up is probably the most grueling thing I have ever done!

The next two nights I convinced Aaron to camp...for some reason I like camping a lot more than he does. I guess I can thank those Warnick genes for that. Luckily Aaron admitted that he enjoyed it more than he imagined he would.

Here we are with Liberty Bell mountain, an absolutely breathtaking stop on the way to the North Cascades.

We took advantage of the beautiful day and took a hike. On that hike we were very excited to spot a bear...yes it may look more like a black dot we are so far away, but hey, it's a bear in the wild so Aaron was thrilled. Just ask the 20 or so people that he told as we kept hiking.

Here is just one of the gorgeous views along the way. This was one of the prettiest hikes I have ever been on. It is called Maple Pass and I will go back anytime with anyone else who wants to check it out.

Here are the views from the spot we scoped out for lunch. It was hard to decide which view was the best, the mountains were so jagged all around.

This was right after we met some people from none other than Burley Idaho. I swear everywhere we go in the world we meet someone with Burley connections somehow. Crazy!

This is continuing on up the North Cascades to Diablo Lake...the color of the lake was so green and so beautiful. There was a campground right on the lake that I am ready to go to next summer...anyone want to join me you let me know!

Of course we have tons more pics but in order to keep everyone's interest, we will keep it at that. A big thanks to my sisters and my parents for making it possible by taking care of Adelyn while we were gone. You guys are awesome!!

THIRTY!!!!

2010-08-10T21:45:00.001-07:00

Well well well, a lot of you have already seen some pics from the big event floating around on facebook and on other peoples blogs, but for those of you who haven't, I thought I would post a few here as well.

Yes, I turned 30!! Yes, I threw myself a party. But it's not pathetic cause I did it in style...in 80s style of course! 1980 brought not only me into this world, but Pacman into the US. So my sister Jenn made a very appropriate cake for the celebration!

Aaron dressed up as Hulk Hogan and even dyed his mustache for the celebration.

Yes, that is Mr. T in the background...we pity the fools who couldn't come to the party! I told my again amazing sis Jenn how awesome it would be to have a life sized cutout of Mr. T for decor/photo ops and she decided we could just make one.

Our backyard decor with our dolled up guests ready to rock. Pay no attention to the empty picture frames showing of course how behind schedule we were getting everything ready.

Here we have another fine art piece...one of my childhood heroes.

I don't think this picture needs any words.

The last of our "life-sized" cutouts. You can see we had a little trouble fitting our faces, but isn't Jenn awesome to have thought of all this?! Of course, if I had known how many hours we were going to spend coloring, I might have thought twice about the idea.

A big thanks to Sidse too for her artistic help. We have two more pics that we didn't even get to...guess we'll have to save them for the next party.

Here we have the winners of the costume contest and the runners up. I was so amazed at how decked out they got. Don't they look incredible?! You guys are awesome!!

A lot of the folks had already gone home for the night, but here is a group of the girls. The one on the far right is my sis Kathryn, another big help for making the evening a success. It's so nice to have a recreation professional in the fam to make awesome games. Her jeopardy was so much fun...and Dave Coleman's 80s trivia knowledge was very impressive.

Even though we had a lot of hiccups and things didn't go quite as planned, I hope that everyone had a great time. Thanks for helping me have a totally tubular birthday bash! Last but not least, a big thanks to Aaron for coming up with the idea in the first place, letting me go a bit crazy, and patiently putting up with my endless requests that weekend. Love you!

If you haven't seen the rest of the pics on facebook, definitely check them out.

Broken Bones and Cousin Bonding

2010-07-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

I guess I didn't mention it in my last post, but before we went to Florida we actually drove to Idaho. Aaron's parents most graciously volunteered to watch Adelyn so that we could have a little time to ourselves and we gratefully took them up on that. So getting to Floriday actually meant driving 10 hours to Idaho, driving 3 hours to Salt Lake, then taking two 3-hour flights and one hour drive from that Airport to finally make it to the resort. Yikes! Luckily it was awesome.

Less lucky is how many pictures we DON'T have from our Idaho section of the trip. If any of you are listening out there and do have pictures, please send them my way!! We did get some cute ones of Adelyn's first bonding bath with her baby cousin Mikaiah. There wasn't room enough in the bathroom for everyone who wanted to witness the cuteness.

One day we went to Twin Falls to partake of the deliciousness that is Cafe Rio and we decided to take a little detour to Shoshone Falls. With as many times as we have made this trip to visit Aaron's family, it's crazy that was the first time I had ever been there! Seth and Aaron said it was pretty low and unimpressive, but I actually loved it.

What I am definitely lacking is a picture of a 100% miserable Adelyn upon our return from Florida. That's right. She cried and she cried and she cried some more and I was convinced that we had done irreversible emotional damage by leaving her so long. I finally noticed she was complaining the most whenever we picked her up by her underarms (the usual way to pick up a toddler) and wondered if she had hurt herself.

Sure enough, Ainsley said she had fallen not long before we got home and that was definitely when she started getting so grouchy. But they just thought she was tired because it was 4 pm and she hadn't had a nap. So we decided to take her in just to be sure and wouldn't you know, her second broken bone in less than two years (I'm sure her doctor thinks I am negligent!!).

This isn't her ex-ray but just imagine Adelyn's little tiny collarbone split right in two. Poor thing!!

Thankfully she is young and resilient and back to her usual self in two and a half weeks or so. My aging body could use a little of that!!

She is in love with peek-a-boo and kept saying over and over again, "Where Ad-yn go?" She doesn't quite get the don't put bags on your head thing yet.

This past weekend we had the chance for a little more cousin bonding enjoying the beautiful weather out on the Puget Sound.

Despite my occasional ranting, there are definitely times where I LOVE where we live!

Thanks Hillary and Dan for making the trip down! We'll do Super Mario Bros. next time for sure.

More Longing for Sun

2010-07-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, two sun worshipping posts in a row, what can I say?? I have a one track mind on these 60 degree shower-filled days when it's supposed to be summer!!!! Most of you know we went to Florida a couple of weeks ago for Aaron's work so I thought I'd share a few pics and stories.

Truth be told, our mere three days there left me wishing for a little LESS sun. It was sooooooo hot! You walked out the door for two minutes and were covered in sweat. So needless to say, this is where I spent pretty much ALL my time while Aaron was in meetings. It was awesome right there overlooking the ocean. The less awesome part was how sunburned I got....even my legs peeled, which I can't remember happening in all my nearly (way too nearly) 30 years.

The training event was held in the South Seas Resort, which was on the very end of Captiva Island, just off the coast of Ft. Meyers. They had two manatees swimming around right in the marina a couple of the days we were there and this is, believe it or not, the best shot we got of one of them!

Here we are getting ready for the awards banquet. Out of the 9,000 employees in Aaron's company, he was one of 140 selected to attend this talent council...for the last two years he has been number one in his position in the country! Yep, this is me being the proud wife. He works very hard and it was nice to see him get honored for it.

We had to get a closer look at that sunset while we were waiting for the banquet to start.

After the banquet they had a big dance party on the beach with an awesome DJ and a bonfire. Here we are with some of his colleagues that were selected to go...after our run on the dance floor. Aaron was feeling too tired to dance until they played a little butt rock and then he was out there front and center doing his air guitar, missing his mullet wig sadly left back at home.

He put on a good enough show that this lady came up to me and asked, "are you with him?" Then she wanted to give us tickets to the exclusive after party!! So awesome. Then when this other lady asked me if we were married because we looked so good together dancing...like we were having so much fun and belonged together. So random.

Our next day we pretty much played the day away. They gave us a card for money and activities while at the resort, so we went jet skiing in the morning. Of course Aaron dumped us trying to keep up with the tour guide! Oh man I always forget how bad salt water tastes.

Then in the afternoon we went parasailing, something neither of us had ever done before. I was really surprised at how peaceful and calm it was whie we were up there...just like a giant hammock 1500 feet above the water! We saw a little pod of stingrays from above, which I was glad we saw then instead of while getting dumped.

And then the mini vacation was over before we knew it and of course before we were ready. It's already got me daydreaming for that Hawaii trip!!

What Happened in Vegas

2010-06-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

Okay Rachel, you asked, and you shall receive...you have spurred me into action!

Last month I was fortunate enough to be able to take a trip BY MYSELF (the first trip by myself since Adelyn was born) to Las Vegas. One of my best friends ever turned 30 and to celebrate, her husband rented out one of the cabanas at the M resort and one of my other favorite friends and I were able to fly out for the big party.

Here we are, for what we realized was the first time the three of us had been together since 2001!!!

Here is a better look at the pool and hotel.

This was our cabana, complete with a tv, stereo system, fridge...

...private hot tub...

...and a private sunbathing deck, which we rarely left the entire six hours we were there. It's amazing how something so simple can be so fun and so relaxing.

It was seriously the best ladies' weekend ever!! I had so much fun. Wish you guys lived closer!

A big thanks to Erika and Bryce and their hospitality, to Becca for making the trip, and especially to Aaron and Kathryn for taking care of the babe in my absence.

Now if only I could come up with something as cool to celebrate my own impending 30th birthday!

Oh Canada!

2010-06-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

Now that it is June I thought I would finally post our stuff from April and May!!!! No need for my excuses, we'll just get right to it. Many of you know that in addition to regular meetinghouses, our church builds temples throughout the world as a special place of worship. Upon completion, they are open to the public for usually a two week Open House before being dedicated to God.

They recently built one up in Vancouver Canada and we decided at the very last minute to take my sister Michelle up to see it. Not having realized it was the last day in time make a fun weekend out of it eating that delicious Chinese food they have up there, we went up and back in the same day (not something I recommend with a baby).

She was at least distracted for awhile by the curious booties that we had to wear while inside the temple and the beautiful paintings the had of the Savior.

There was such a special spirit there and I was glad that we were able to help Michelle experience that. Here we are altogether in the front, just missing the spire.

Next trip to Canada...Whistler Jan 11!!!!! Please plan on joining us...it will change your life. That is, if they get more snow than we got this year!

Spring is in the Air???

2010-04-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a year of crazy weather, as it always seems to be lately, but we do our best to roll with the punches. Though the following pics are all of Spring Excursions, they were all wet wet days. Nevertheless we had fun!

My sister works for the Parks and Rec department in charge of the Annual Easter Egg Dash, and this year Adelyn was big enough to participate. She didn't really understand what was going on at first (and may have been slightly disoriented by our mad dash from the car to make it to the real Dash before all the eggs were gone), but as she loves carrying around baskets and filling them with random things, she started getting into it pretty quickly.

Then the day got all the more exciting when she spotted the giant "buddy." For those of you who see her regularly, you know she is attached at the hip to her own stuffed bunny, so you can imagine her reaction to seeing such a giant cuddly one!

The next week my grandparents came in to town so that my grandpa and sister could celebrate the birthday that they share 70 years apart. I think it's very sweet that my grandpa will always make the effort for them to celebrate together. I didn't get the actual party, just our adventures the next day. We first went to the Flight Museum which somehow I had never been to in all my years of living here.

Then we went to the Tulip Festival up in Skagit Valley.

We really had a hard time keeping Adelyn from pulling all the flowers out of the ground!!

So pretty!!

I also love my grandpa for springing for the ever enticing smelling Kettle Korn that I am too cheap to buy!! He told me I had to help him finish it if I cared anything about his health. :) I chose to be the caring granddaughter and help of course!

We took cover from the rain at the restaurant where my sister waitresses. Adelyn is very independent already and wants to eat like the big folks. She did not want to eat the pieces of pizza that I cut up for her nicely on her plate...she grabbed a whole piece off the pan and went to town! She is a little nut and I love it!!

Obviously it took a lot out of her!

All Hail the Mighty State

2010-04-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you less versed in state songs, we are talking Texas here. That's right! Home of the Alamo, the Dallas Cowboys, and me, for the first sixteen years of my life! Ever since we got married, Aaron and I have talked about going down to visit all the family I still have down there and last month the stars finally aligned and we made it happen!

What we weren't planning on was Adelyn and I getting sick--definitely not the best way to travel or the best time to be away from home, but we made the best of it. Here is Adelyn sporting her own Texas Longhorns.

Then we found a live one at the Historic Forth Worth Stockyards. Yes, I am much less dressed than they are, but I just needed to soak up the sun, what can I say?!

We went to the Fort Worth Zoo after that and actually caught the Lion roaring back and forth to his little lioness! It was seriously awesome. We tried to catch it on video, but got a nice picture instead.

True to character, Adelyn was not a fan of the birds once they got up close to her. I thought she might feel differently about birds than cats and dogs since she is actually bigger than they are, but I was wrong. Apparently ALL animals should be admired from a distance!

Adelyn had a hard time taking naps in my grandparents' crib, so we would often go on little drives to put her to sleep. Our first day's drive almost put Aaron to sleep too--my old elementary school, middle school, high school, childhood church building, house I was born in, etc. Well the last part was cool because that house is actually a museum now (I know you had no idea I was that important in my previous life!).

Sunday morning though, we drove up to Oklahoma so that Aaron could say that he had been there. We decided while we were there we might as well do something, so we went to Turner Falls, site of many a ward campout in my youth. We learned while there that it stands as Oklahoma's LARGEST waterfall!!! At 77 feet!!! What is Washington's you might wonder. 2584 feet!!

Yes, Texas is not really known for its physical beauty, but for the warmth and friendliness of its people. We definitely experienced that with the tremendous hospitality extended by my grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, and friends. Thanks everyone for helping us have such a good time and for welcoming Adelyn and Aaron into the family. Come visit us up here anytime!

This one is just for Kathryn....maybe you can see it at the Super Bowl next year!!

The Beauty of Math

2010-04-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

My friend forwarded this to me and instead of sifting through my address book to forward it on, I thought I would post it here.

The Beauty of Mathematics

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

*Brilliant, isn't it?*

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1 234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Mind Boggling...

The Twilight Tour

2010-04-06T17:30:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, times have been a bit on the crazy side these days. Since that leaves me clueless as to the best place to start catchup, I'll just start right in the middle with Aaron's family's visit. We of course had a great time with them and hope they did too...despite being tossed around to three different places to rest their head on their six night stay. It was all for the sake of adventure though, so no one can complain!

Our big adventure this time was the Olympic Peninsula, inspiration for the recent cult phenomenon, "Twilight." This is a craze that personally I don't understand...I read the first two books, pulling out my own hair every step of the way. No offense to those who like it, but I guess I was just never that kind of girl. It does make for a good adventure though, so off we went.

Our first stop en route to the famed Forks was Ocean Shores, which is the nearest beach to where we live. I figure it's always good to give those land locked Idahoans a chance to stare off into the never-ending waves.

We turned our trek northward for the Quinault Rain Forest. This is supposedly the world's largest Blue Spruce. Looks pretty big to me!

The Quinault Rain Forest surrounds Lake Quinault, which is really beautiful...

...and a great place to skip rocks...or try to throw them really far and hit the random poles sticking up out of the water.

We stayed the night out at Kalaloch in a very small cabin overlooking the ocean. The smaller the cabin, the better the chance for family bonding, right guys? Just off the beach are the "Kalaloch Rocks" that provided great opportunity for "daring the ocean" as Aaron's dad put it. We would run out to the rocks as the tide went out, then have to wait while it came back in and went back out again to return safely to shore.

Don't be jealous, but it was awesome. (This is the beach just south of La Push, for all you Twilighters out there...you CAN be jealous).

The weather had been on our side on the first day of travels, but the second day we weren't quite so lucky. We had the Hoh Rainforest and the booming metropolis of Forks on the agenda for the morning and didn't let the weather stop us. Considering the rain forest gets about 150 inches a year of rain (compared to Seattle's 40 and Idaho's 7), we knew we had a pretty good chance of getting soaked.

Somehow I didn't get any pictures of Forks itself, but since most of the movies are filmed down in St. Helens Oregon and up in Vancouver Canada, I think the actual town may have been a bit of a letdown for Aaron's sisters. Maybe we'll just have to save those for next trip!

Anyone interested in booking their own Olympia Peninsula tour, call me anytime, I seriously love playing Tour Guide.

Maybe I'll even take a picture of your backside to share with posterity.

Lost

2010-03-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

So it has been exactly a MONTH now since I posted anything. So much for that two posts a month plan. Just thought I would post a quick note so my long distance fans, I mean readers, would know that we are still indeed alive up here, just a little distracted by life to post about it.

We have been in and out of town and are about to head out of town again to go visit the family in Texas!!!!! Aaron's family came into town for Makaiah's baby dedication and we had such a good visit.

In less exciting news of our busy-ness, my sister Jenn was in the hospital, then had to have surgery. My dad was in the hospital, then had to have surgery. Please pray for their "miraculous recovery" as my dad put it. I know the Lord loves us and has a plan for each of us.

Now, can we all promise to take care of ourselves and each other?!?! See you guys in a couple weeks (maybe:).

A New Baby Cousin!

2010-02-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

Hillary & Dan's baby is finally here! Mikaiah Grace Donohoue was born Feb 14th and weighed 8 lbs 9 oz. That is almost as much as Adelyn did, if you can believe that. Poor Hillary--who I am pretty sure is about half my size! She was definitely a trooper and somehow was still smiling when she told us about her trauma...must certainly be all those new mommy endorphins!

Here is Aaron, the proud "blood uncle" as he called it. We have one niece on my side, but as he pointed out, it is definitely different when it is your own little sister having the baby.

We were sad to be down in Sunriver during the birth (those pics to come soon), but glad that we live so close that we could easily go up for a visit. Adelyn wasn't quite sure what to make of such a tiny little baby, but she warmed up to her fast enough. While we were there she tried to pet her a couple of times, kiss her, poke her in the mouth, slap her head, and use her face as support when trying not to trip....so hopefully that's not any indication of future relations between them!

Congratulations though Dan & Hillary! She is certainly a special baby to be born to you...and to be born on Valentine's Day AND the Chinese New Year. We are two for two for Holiday grandbabies, which gives Aaron and I something to shoot for for baby number two.

In closing, I just had to share the most awesome recent picture of baby number one. One night I was picking out the inside of some french-type crusty bread for Adelyn to eat with her noodles, but she kept reaching for the crust instead. So I decided to just give it to her to see what she would do with it.

When I turned back around, this is what I saw. And she sat there just like that gumming that crust until it dissolved in her mouth. Oh she is precious.

I wonder if she got the idea flipping through photo albums....

Made for Walking

2010-02-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

Jay & Susan and clan, this is for you! I know I promised it weeks ago and I dropped the ball. She started taking a few steps here and there around her birthday, but now she is doing the real deal!! This video is from a couple of weeks ago and it is crazy to see how much better she already is at getting around. The last couple of days I haven't seen her crawl at all, which just means I have to be that much faster myself!!!

I know, I know she is getting so big and we can't believe it!!!

ONE!

2010-01-13T13:53:00.001-08:00

December 31, 2008, Adelyn Mei Anderson was born. 8 lbs 14 oz, 20 inches. Here is what she looked like when we brought her home from the hospital:

December 31, 2009 she turned one...not quite sure her current stats since she was too sick for her one-year well visit, but we know she's a cutie! Here she is in her $5 ride at the mall...loving every minute of it.

It's been a busy year for us, but a good year and we are so happy to have her in our family. Those of you who are around here know she has quite a little personality. She is very expressive and lets you know loud and clear what she wants, often times just with her face (I'm sure you can guess what happened to this crown right after the picture was taken).

She has been busy adding vocab (and nodding) to her expressions and can say: dada, momma, bye-bye, hi, water, cracker, banana, cheese, hot, dog, go, outside, up, down, sock, and book (my personal favorite). Reading is by far her favorite pasttime, but I think dancing to the ringtones on my phone is a close second. She loves music so much that she even dances to the songs that we sing for her and has recently added headbanging to her repetoire of moves!

She is still working on the walking thing, but is getting braver and braver and now takes up to five or so steps at a time. Here she is blowing out her candles, well, Jadyn blowing out her candles is more like it!

I made carrot cake cupcakes for Adelyn since that is the Baria family favorite and I figured I should indoctrinate her early on. Sadly, I think she would have been a lot happier with the traditional chocolate, as she didn't even finish one little cupcake!!

She is indeed a big fan of chocolate, but her favorite food is definitely bananas. She isn't digging cow's milk so far and last night we discovered she has a love of tofu, so maybe she IS half Chinese after all! Pretty much she just loves whatever we are eating, and wants to be just like us--she even cried and cried to have her own chopsticks to eat. She is also still working on the teeth though and finally almost has four.

Thanks to all those who helped us celebrate...including those who helped us celebrate from a distance. And thanks to all who have helped us out along the adventures...with advice, babysitting, friendship, support, praising her genius and cuteness...it all contributes to our happy standard of living. :)

It [was] the Holiday Season

2010-01-03T20:18:00.004-08:00

In case anyone is still interested in Christmas news, since I've yet to blog ours, here you go. Obviously we were pretty excited because this was Adelyn's first Christmas and she was actually old enough to enjoy it, unlike what her first Christmas would have been if she had come on her due date last year.

It wasn't the most relaxing Christmas...Aaron's brother flew into town from Utah on Christmas Eve so we came up with a bit of a crazy schedule between families that involved a lot of driving and a lot of fun.

Christmas Eve we had an early dinner with my parents (who were nice enough to accomdate our crazy plan), during which Jenn showcased her yet again triumphant wrapping. This year instead of tags she used our pictures to identify what was for who, and instead of traditional ribbon, red feather boas...what will she come up with next!

Then we headed straight to the airport to get Seth and then headed to spend the night at Aaron's sister Hillary and her husband Dan's new house. We had too many munchies and too many laughs and stayed up too late to even remember it all. With no little kids around, we slept in and opened gifts at our leisure. Here is Adelyn Christmas morning getting ready for the excitement.

Then we had a yummy yummy brunch, more good times, and headed back down to my parents to open gifts and have Christmas dinner and play more games with them. Every year I am always touched by everyone's generosity and kindness. I love my family and I love my in-laws. And in a random side note, I love our church ward too...I coordinated our Adopt-A-Family this year and was seriously amazed...our living room and dining room were filled with gifts that people had gotten for those in need this year.

I love the Christmas season...and know that the "Spirt of Christmas" that people attribute to the immense love and giving that always happens this time of year is because of Christ and the love that He has for each of us (whether others around attribute that to Him or not). I hope as Christians we can work hard for our nation to hold on to that.

When you see a little face like that how can you not feel the love God has for all of us?!?! Love you!

Cousins, Turkeys, and Trees, Oh My!

2009-12-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

We set a record and headed out for our third road trip to Idaho this year in honor of the passing of Aaron's grandma and of course the Thanksgiving holiday. The road trip was very different with an almost toddler than a little baby lump, but thanks to our friends, The Porters and the Baby Einstein division of Disney, we all made it there in one piece!

We thought we would be bored while Aaron's fam was in school, but we had a fun little trip to Idaho Falls one day to visit some friends and some fam there. Little did I know Idaho Falls has a CAFE RIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you Kim for making it possible. Here is her daughter sharing some quesadillas with Adelyn. So cute, and of course so tasty. We also found out they have one in Twin Falls now...yes, trips to Idaho just got that much better! :)

Now here is the babe proudly showing off her Thanksgiving feast. We had such a great day with all of Aaron's Stoker Family. Brooklyn quickly became Adelyn's favorite because she was the one most willing to get up and walk around and around and around the house with her. Adelyn is STILL missing her terribly.

Our last day there we had a fun little adventure with everyone and headed up to the mountains in search of the perfect Christmas tree. We drove an hour and a half to get there and tromped around in the snow (Adelyn stayed in the car with grandpa) to find it.

Can we say it is a far cry from the Washington tree farm experience of driving five minutes from our house, getting out of the car, and being surrounded by perfect trees. The first was definitely a better adventure, but Adelyn LOVED them both.

I'm sure she wondered what the heck we were doing bringing a live tree into our house. She still stares at it in wonder and doesn't really want to touch it. That is a good thing of course....don't need all those ornaments strewn about!

Anyway, hope you had a good Thanksgiving too. If you want a few more pics, I'll post them on facebook for ya!

Maybe we are Reading Rainbow After All!

2009-11-17T17:10:00.000-08:00

This is Adelyn's favorite thing to do lately. For those of you who aren't related, you might find the video dull, but I of course could watch it over and over...and watch the live version of course. Who knew how entertaining flipping pates could be. Yes, the book is upside down. That's why it's awesome!

Butterflies

2009-11-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

Some may think of Michael Jackson, some of Reading Rainbow, but for us this Halloween it turns our thoughts to the little papoose. She was so excited to get invited to her first ever Monster Bash, which gave us an actual reason to dress her up. Wardrobe was kindly provided yet again by Miss Olivia Rosado...a lovely orange and black butterfly...though you can't really see the wings in this pic.

Aaron decided the only thing we could pull together for ourselves that went a long with a butterfly would be to dress up in 70s garb. Yes, Aaron dressed up without his mullet wig, though I'm not sure how it actually happened, as that is usually the central figure of his every disguise.

We also went to the ward Trunk or Treat with cousin Jadyn and afterward had a little photo shoot. Of all the ones we took of the butterfly and the ballerina cat, this one has to be my favorite. Toward the end of the picture taking, Adelyn realized that Jadyn was already feasting on her halloween candy. Not realizing fully what Jadyn was sucking on, she figured it must be tasty and decided to give the other end a try.

We also got an awesome Halloween package from Aaron's parents that helped us celebrate. Thanks you guys!

Tis the Season of Pumpkins

2009-10-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

I am sure we all know that this coming Saturday is Halloween and I am sure we have all been busy gearing up for this holiday season. Traditionally, summer is my favorite time of the year and I absolutely loathe its departure (I do live in the Pacific Northwest after all, can you blame me? I love sunshine!!). However, this year I have strangely been enjoying fall immensely.

That of course is aided by my love for EATING all things pumpkin, kicking that off with some ymmy pancakes. But now that we have a little one, we have been doing a little more with pumpkins than eating them. My sister does a pumpkin painting activity every year, so Adelyn and I joined her for that.

Then we went to a local pumpkin patch, which was a first for all three of us. It was an unseasonably warm and beautiful October Saturday, so we, along with the rest of the town it seemed, took advantage of it.

We finished off the week with some yummy pumpkin cheesecake muffins. I wish I could find the recipe online, but my sister brought it to me from her Rachel Ray Everyday Magazine. I suppose I will have to end it with something from last year's fall that was another pumpkin cheesecake twist. Hope you are all enjoying the season too!

Zipping through the Rainforest

2009-10-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

On our anniversary I posted about our trip to Whistler. In that post, I said that we had gone ziplining and promised more pics, but forgot about it completely until now. It was so fun! We debated beforehand whether or not we were too chicken to try it out (I never was much of a thrill seeker, but now that I am a mom, it's even worse!), but we figured we might as well give it a shot. We were so glad we did because not only did we have a great time, but it was in the most picturesque setting too, in the canyon up above the Whistler Village where there is a beautiful rainforest.

We tried our hardest to capture the beauty on film, but as you saw from my picture of Mt. McKinley last week, our camera is not the fanciest (I refuse to blame it on personal lack of photography prowess). We were going off one of the lines and the guide went backwards and flexed. I thought it was a cool shot of her seemingly suspended in the air, flexing. So I suggested that Aaron go first and try to turn around so he could pose and flex for me to take his picture. Unfortunately...this is what I got.

Thankfully, there was a safety net to our little plan: they were taking pictures for you. Of course they were expensive, but we needed to capture Aaron's poses somehow. If only we had realized!! Then we could have saved the trouble and he could have just posed for them to begin with. You can decide for yourself who caught the better shot:

More posing that I hadn't even seen him do because the camera had shut off right when I didn't want it to.

Kickin it over the creek.

They took some of me too of course, but I wasn't quite as adventurous!

But I did have a moment of bravery toward the end of that line, that thankfully they caught because Aaron hadn't even seen it! Now it is captured eternally for our posterity.

On the last line they taught us how to go upside down and I ALMOST redeemed myself by ALMOST catching Aaron fully inverted. It still looks pretty cool though!

Our advice to would-be zipliners: just go crazy from the beginning because when you get used to it and stop being worried about crashing head first into the pointy rocks below, it is a lot more fun when you aren't holding tightly to the rope!

Happy adventuring!

The Last Frontier

2009-09-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

A lot of you have been asking about our recent trip to Alaska. Unfortunately, I didn't really get too many good pics to share with you. This was due in part to Aaron working most of the time and part to the less than best weather that we had while we were there. Lucky for Adelyn and I the first few days were pretty nice, sadly for Aaron, the day that he actually had free was the rainiest and yuckiest of all. So we probably had more fun than he did, but all in all it was a good trip, and always good to get away on a little adventure. This was the first plane adventure that we had taken with Adelyn and this first pic should show you how much fun she had on the plane ride.

She and I went to the zoo one day and it was a very nice little zoo--with a lot of animals local to really cold regions that we don't see too much down here--polar and brown and black bears, Musk Oxen, Yaks, Snow Leopards, Moose, etc...we had a lot of fun but it was already soooooo cold!! Strangely enough, Adelyn seemed to love the Alpacas the most. We actually ran into a group of Taiwanese people, so that was random and cool.

One thing that was cool was that we could see Denali, Mt. McKinley, from the window of our hotel room. I know it's not the best picture in the world, but we were amazed by how big it still seemed so many hundreds of miles away. I really wanted to go to the park, but it, like most of the rest of Alaska, shuts down mid-September, just in time for us to miss it!

Anchorage is pretty much surrounded by mountains except for the inlet where the ocean comes in, but even on the other side of that you can see mountains. It was beautiful, especially with all the fall colors all around.

The babe liked the flight home a little less than the way there. I suppose you could say that Aaron and I liked it less--she was still having a ball but was so tired and trying so hard not to fall asleep that she just finally crashed. She was sitting on Aaron's lap one minute, and the next minute looked like this.

So there's a short version of our trip. We had a great time, but would recommend to all interested in going to Alaska, do it in the summer!!

She's on the Move!

2009-09-08T22:56:00.000-07:00

Well she's not quite crawling or walking by herself, but she has developed a style all her own for each that we thought we'd share with you far away relatives. She's not quite up to getting on her hands and knees yet, but here is her army scoot!

And this is her true love here. If we put her on her tummy too long she cries and screams as though we were torturing her. But she will walk with Dad until she can't think straight...this is one such time...she was so tired but still wanted to walk! The other day she and Aaron actually walked a lap around the entire backyard. What a cute little nut.

The Best Two Years

2009-09-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

No, it's not the mission that I'm talking about. Of course, my mission wasn't two years, so perhaps you weren't confused, just annoyed by my cheesiness. But if you can't be cheesy on your anniversary, when can you be?!?! Aaron LOVES it when I am cheesy, so I do it just for him. :)

Anyway, two years ago today, we were married in the Seattle Temple. I have had fun looking at everyone else's wedding pics on their blogs on their anniversaries, so I have included ours here as well.

Then here we are celebrating our first anniversary up in the San Juan Islands. Yes, I'm a bit pregnant here. I wonder what percentage of Mormon brides are pregnant on their first anniversary?! Glad to be numbered among them, that's all I can say!

51

And here we are celebrating our second anniversary (this past weekend) getting ready to go Ziplining at Whistler (more fun pics to follow). We had so much fun up there, all made possible by Aaron's aunt and uncle wedding present...thanks Evan and Norene!!

And since two years really isn't long enough for us to look much different, I thought I would scan and include the VERY first picture I could find of us together. Whoever took it for us could obviously tell that we were in love and wanted to catch the moment.

Anyway, I am so grateful for Aaron and all that he has done for me in the past two years of marriage and seven years of friendship. Life would be so dull without him. You are the best hun!

The Little Seahorse

2009-08-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

So I promised more pics of our trip, and here they are, hoping to illustrate just how hot it has been!! We have been spending as much time in the water as possible this summer, also because we discovered Adelyn absolutely loves it. She never wants to get out.

This first one is actually the week before our trip and was Adelyn's very first time swimming. We were pretty close to heat stroke in our record breaking temps, so we just headed to the lake down the street from our house and took a dip to save our sanity.

Then we were on to the Tri-Cities for more hot weather. In looking for ways to keep busy while Aaron was working there, we were lucky enough to have a free wading pool just next door to the hotel. It turns out she likes water where she can't touch, where she can kick her legs, so we headed to the indoor hotel pool afterward.

Then in Utah my cousins were nice enough to invite us up to their ranch to help celebrate my cousin Lauren's return from a mission to Chicago. We had so much fun with all the family and all the boats...until Aaron lost his wedding ring in the moss!!!!

Oh, and Adelyn didn't really have too much fun with the life jacket...something kept getting in the way of zipping it up!!!

In our last stop on the vacation, we did a little more indoor swimming, with Aaron's cousins this time. I love this shot with his cousin Kori, the sweetest little kid ever!! Adelyn absolutely loved her and started grinning and kicking her legs everytime she came into the room. We miss her already.

Now we haven't been swimming once since we've been back, but hopefully we have enough summer left to do it.

P.S. Adelyn's swimsuits were provided courtesy of Rachel and Olivia. Thanks!!!

Animal Lover?

2009-08-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been a busy summer. We just returned from yet another family reunion and had yet another great time. Though we haven't been seeing much of the folks in our new ward, we have been seeing a lot of family and old friends. All in all Adelyn and I were gone two weeks and put almost 3000 miles on the car (her longest trip yet) and she handled it pretty nicely.

Aaron's reunion was centered around the Cassia County Fair & Rodeo, which is apparently a big deal in Burley. No one in his family could believe that I, being from Texas, had never been to a Rodeo so they were all pretty excited for me to go. I will admit that it was a lot of fun and wish I would have gone to one sooner. I didn't get any pics of the actual show, but I just had to share these of Adelyn.

Aaron's mom was really excited to see Adelyn with the animals and truth be told, her reactions were indeed priceless. If you can't see the look on her face, please click on it and zoom in!

But then again...maybe it isn't just the animals that have her concerned after all...

More pics and stories soon, just had to share these first because I got such a kick out of them.

Baria Vacation

2009-07-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

To start things off, I have to share the latest in our attempt to catch the little squirt laughing on film. This one showcases quite a few of her favorite way to try to stifle her laughter when the camera comes out.

We started out our family "vacation" locally because Liz wasn't able to join us adventuring down the Oregon Coast due to work. We had our first family pictures in SIX years (Yikes!) taken, which will hopefully produce good results soon. Then what we thought would be a "lazy" float down the Deschutes River turned into Survivor: Pacific Northwest, with two of the rafts collapsing mid-float. Only Ben & Jadyn managed to float completely unscathed, while Jenn & Michelle had the worst of it, having to swim/walk half the way to the park at the end (unfortunately no cell phones to reach the rescue party).

It was an adventure I am sure NONE of us will forget!

Here we are, having made it safely to Oregon, with the little one having the time of her life!!

One evening we sat and watched a bunch of Seals and Cormorants hang out while the tide brought their food in.

Aren't they so cute??!!

This is on the way heading down to Florence, at Seal Rock...I know, it was a Seal-Filled Vacation. We visited the Sea Lion Caves as well, boy were they smelly!!!

Ben's biggest request for vacation was to go four wheeling at the sand dunes. Since he is leaving on his mission this Tuesday, my mom obliged his desires. Here we are on our sweet rides.

Last but not least, here is the view from the house we rented. It was right on the beach and was so peaceful and beautiful. Just what the doctor ordered--until we were on our way home and hit 90 degree weather in Portland. It's been gross ever since! Idaho, Utah, and central A/C here we come!!

Back to the Cuteness

2009-07-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

So now that I have posted about something other than Adelyn, we're going to get right back to it...that's what we all love anyway right?? Babies!! Aaron's mom did wonder why we hadn't posted anything of her in awhile, so I'd better take care of that.

We'll start things out with a video of Aaron trying to get her to laugh and then I'll share some of my recent faves.

Unfortunately, so far this summer Aaron has had to work quite a few Saturday mornings. But Adelyn was not about to let that affect her time enjoying the sun!

So we had a picnic with Michelle and Jenn (and Cooper of course, though he wasn't cooperating when I wanted them to smile together for the camera).

Aaron was excited to see that she finally fits into her Seahawks clothes, though it looks like the hat may be a bit small!! Hopefully she can still pass for a girl with a Seahawks beanie in the place of her flower bows!!

And last but not least, my sister snapped this at our pre-fourth of July picnic (yes, once the weather starts getting nice up here, I just can't stay away from the picnicking!!). It's so cute that I had to steal it from her.

Looks like it could be a nice little tribute to the late MJ. :) I think I'll post a few more pics on my facebook, so if you are still hungry for more, go ahead and try there!

Nerd Alert

2009-06-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

How about a post about something other than our trips or Adelyn?!?! Many of you know that I majored in Linguistics at BYU. While there I bought this book about the origin of certain words and never really read it. Well I was flipping through it this morning (after putting it the bathroom for some potentially dull moments) and came across "OK." Since I have heard the word OK in every country I have travelled to, I got curious. And just in case you all are curious, I thought I would share the entry.

America's greatest contribution to the English language and indeed to languages all over the world is a joke. Or at least that's how it began. In the summer of 1838 newspaper columnists in Boston thought nothing funnier than to reduce a phrase to its initials (with an explanation in parentheses). To add to the humor, columnists sometimes misspelled the abbreviations. One 1838 example was O.W., meaning "all right," with blatant misspellings of both initial letters. That set the stage for an even more outrageous misspelling in March 1839: O.K. translated as "all correct." The joke was that neither O nor K was correct.

O.K. might have died out if "Old Kinderhook," President Martin Van Buren (born in Kinderhook, New York), hadn't been running for reelection in 1840. "O.K. clubs" supporting him were established throughout the country. Old Kinderhook lost, but O.K. won a permanent place in American English. Until about 1900, however, O.K. remained obscure. But the twentieth century turned out to be an OK century, perhaps encouraged by scholarly President Woodrow Wilson's use of "okeh" on official documents. (He spelled it "okeh" because he mistakenly thought it came from the Choctaw Indian language.)

So there you have it! Then I got online and did a little more research and it turns out that Ok's origin is actually still debated by scholars. Crazy. Could it be America's greatest contribution to worldwide linguistics?? It's certainly a popular one. The Chinese use it (in Chinese) all the time. Have you heard it in other countries where you have been?

Family Reunion

2009-06-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

We just got back this week from a nice week long visit to Idaho for Aaron's family reunion. Even though I joke about there not being much to do in Idaho, we always have such a great time when we go there. We wish they all lived closer...especially now that we have a kid to brave the drive with. Even though it took us two hours longer than usual so she could eat, it was worth it.

I realized though that I didn't take too many pics of reunion festivities, but many of the papoose. I guess no matter where I am I am baby obsessed. It seemed someone was always taking pics, but I think it was Hillary, so you'd have to ask her if you want more! Here are a few pics that I uploaded, but I will post more on Facebook (better join if you haven't yet!!) so those of you who are in them can have them if you want them.

Here is a great one of Aaron with his grandpa at the at the cool reunion place they rented for the weekend. He is definitely one of my favorite of Aaron's relatives and I really appreciate the love and welcome he shows for all of us "in-laws." But everyone in Aaron's family has treated me like family right from the very beginning and always make me feel right at home when we visit.

We didn't take Adelyn's tub with us, so I had to bathe her in the deep sink in the great room. It was amazing the crowd of ladies that swarmed the area with the cameras and their cooing once I started the washing. Can you blame them?!?!

And here he is...one of the highlights of the weekend...the infamous Ned Bowen just happened to show up in Aaron's parents ward while we were there (even though he is in a different ward) and sit right in the middle of the clan. What are the odds???? It sounds like Aaron has great plans for this little photo shoot, so don't worry.

We got back from the reunion and what did Aaron spot in our backyard??? My favorite flowers, in full bloom. Did we plant them?? No. Did we do anything to help them?? No. We weren't even aware of their existence.

That's been a fun thing about this house. Even though the backyard was a jungle when we moved in because the house was vacant for so long, you can tell they put a lot of effort into things when they lived here. New flowers pop up all the time...like these.

Now if we only knew anything about gardening so that we can keep everything alive and beautiful....

Happy Memorial Day

2009-05-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

Hey! This last weekend we actually had perfect weather for the holiday traditionally marking the first of summer. Sometimes in Washington that isn't quite the case--last year we had hail on our Memorial Celebrating!!! This year though it was gorgeous and we took the opportunity to hike up to Lena Lake in the Olympics. Gorgeous!!!

On the way back down Aaron wanted to wander off the trail for a little bit of relaxation next to the flowing stream and mossy rocks. He and the little one were having a nice rest here....until he felt the warmth and knew her diaper had leaked all over him!!!

This last pic I had to throw in for fun. On the way home I looked back at Adelyn and she was just sitting happily in her carseat sucking her foot...so limber!

I hope you guys all had a great Memorial Day too!!!

Rollin with her Homies

2009-05-03T15:26:00.000-07:00

We are happy to report that last Monday, just shy of her 4-month birthday, Adelyn learned how to roll over. We didn't get the very first one on film, but here is the second.

And as a bonus, here is a super cheesy picture that we snapped trying to catch her new favorite trick--sucking on one or two fingers from each hand simultaneously.

Spring Seattle Sunbreaks

2009-04-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

I know that April is supposed to bring showers, especially when you live in the Pacific Northwest, but we have had some great breakthrough days over the past few weeks. This was a couple of Sundays ago and we all just had to go out and lay in the grass. I love the little look on Adelyn's face here with Kathryn...like she's got something up her sleeve.

My grandparents and aunt and uncle were visiting that weekend, so the next day we headed out for an awesome scenic drive to Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Rainier. Good timing for Aaron's birthday! Somehow he always gets sun for it.

Here is St. Helen's.

This week we have had some more good weather, so we had a little picnic down on the sound for FHE. There was an awesome view of Rainier, but we couldn't get a shot with the mountain and with Adelyn smiling at the same time. We did manage to catch a lot of slobber though, if you like those sorts of pics!

This one is a good still shot of her after we filmed the video from my last post.

This is her with mommy in her Easter (blessing) dress. When she gets older, please don't tell her how I deprived her of two separate dresses for her special days!!

Fun Videos

2009-04-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

Since moving into our new house, we haven't been able to find our USB cord for the camera, so posting has been a bit slow. However, today I finally found it at my parents' house so I thought I would share some stuff. This video is from the first time she laughed, but we didn't actually catch the laugh because we were too slow with the camera. We did catch her suspicious look at the camera, which I think is priceless in its own right. She still isn't too trusting of the camera.

This is another, more recent attempt to film her laughing, and yet again we failed. It's still fun to watch though, if you can handle the fact that I filmed it sideways. If I were smart enough on the computer, I could fix that up for you. Any tips?

Baby Blessing

2009-03-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I haven't posted these sooner. I uploaded them right after the blessing and then just left the post in my draft file. So sorry. I waited because we were going to take a picture of the little lady all by herself in her blessing dress (which we forgot to do on the actual day), but since we have still yet to do that, I figured I will go ahead and post these and add that later.

Here we are with the little runt not looking at the camera.

In our church, we like to have the fathers give the babies a name and a blessing shortly after they are born. We had hers on March 15th, in honor of Erika's 29th birthday :) and so that Aaron's family could come over from Idaho for it. We were lucky enough to have all the Anderson crew here for the long weekend, except for Brady who is on a mission in North Carolina. For more pics of their visit, you can ceck out my facebook.

Aaron's aunt and uncle also drove all the way down from Camano Island...in the SNOW at the crack of dawn Sunday morning, so we were glad to have them there as well.

Now here's a shot of the Baria clan, minus Ben and Liz who were away at school. You can see that Jadyn was having a bit of a fit getting her picture taken for some reason (usually her favorite thing), so we're a bit rushed!!

And here is the yummy spread of food at the brunch at our house afterward...and Jenn and Michelle who did such a great job making it look so pretty. You guys are the best!!

We are so grateful to have such a cute little papoose and thank our family for coming and helping us celebrate her birth. Can't believe she is three months already!!!

Adelyn's First Road Trip

2009-03-19T21:47:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Aaron had an event in Portland, so Adelyn and I decided to go along and make an adventure out of it. We had never been to Washington Park that overlooks the city, so here we are in the Japanese Gardens there.

According to the Japanese Ambassador, these are rated the best Japanese Gardens outside of Japan. They were really pretty, but I'm sure would have been even nicer (and more worth the money) if we had gone a little later when things were in bloom.

As you can see, it was a gorgeous day and we were able to catch an awesome glimpse of Mt. Adams. It isn't every day in the Pacific Northwest that the clouds allow that sort of thing, so I thought I'd share it.

Saturday after Aaron finished working we decided to take a little scenic drive to give Adelyn her first look at the Pacific Ocean. Here we are at Cannon Beach, where Goonies was filmed.

We didn't get a picture of the big Haystack--it was freezing cold and Adelyn wasn't enjoying the blustering wind. All in all though, she was a good sport on her first road trip, though I couldn't get a smile out of her, here is the little cutie close up.

Not So Secret Obsessions

2009-03-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

I saw this picture on facebook and of course had to click on it and find out what it was all about. Apparently someone has been kind enough to set up a facebook account for The Chocolate Chip Cookie. I immediately became a fan.

Most of you know that I have a cookie obsession--they are my favorite dessert by a long shot and I find every excuse to bake them. The chocolate chip cookie's page has a link to an article in the New York Times about some tricks to making the perfect cookie. I thought I would share it with all you bakers out there. Have fun experimenting!!

Our New Home

2009-02-18T23:16:00.000-08:00

Some of you have already heard, but some of you haven't, so I thought I would share the good news with everyone...we are officially homeowners!! We have been shopping for awhile, and a LONG time ago back in August we put an offer on a place that we liked in Olympia, WA. Like so many of the homes on the market these days, it was a short sale, which really means it's going to take a long time. But I'm happy to say that our perseverance paid off and we got it!!

Here is a picture of it the snowy day that we had the home inspection.

We looked at a lot of other places, but in those five months of waiting, we never found anything we felt better about. And after five months of waiting, we heard from our realtor on a Friday night that we were okay to move in the next day if we wanted to even though everything wasn't final. So we took the challenge, started packing at 5 pm that day and had our stuff in the garage of the new place by seven pm the next night. Yeah, that was an experience that I hope to never repeat.

My parents were nice enough to let us crash with them while we were waiting for all the paperwork to be finalized. We took advantage of that time to paint the hideously pink walls a more soothing color, and give Adelyn some bonding time with all the relatives. Then we signed the papers on Friday, moved in on Saturday (happy Valentine's!!), and got the word that every last thing is said and done this afternoon.

Now if we could only get all our boxes unpacked...I'll post more pictures and have all you locals over when we finally get settled in.

Six Weeks and Smiles

2009-02-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

To the long distance grandparents, aunts, and uncles, I'm sorry we have slacked in our posting of cute pics. Things have been a little crazy around here the past couple of weeks. I'll post more about the craziness soon, but I wanted to get some pictures up of Adelyn for you. I can't believe she is six weeks old today!! I thought I would help her celebrate by sharing her latest development with you...smiling!!

This is the day I decided she was smiling for real...and not just from gas or drifting off to sleep. It was about two weeks ago when she was about a month old and she was sitting on my lap and would smile everytime I touched her cheek or nose.

This is later that same day when Aaron was playing with her and confirmed my conclusions about her smiles being for REAL.

Here is a week after that...half smiling...half ready to give a knock out punch. She's a tough girl, I tell you what!

Adorable!

We decided we needed more pics of the three of us, so Michelle helped us out on Sunday. It was Adelyn's first time to wear a dress to church and I'm sure she loved it, despite her tights being way too big.

Videos of Adelyn

2009-01-19T20:44:00.000-08:00

Due to popular demand we're putting up a couple videos of Adelyn. Pretty much all we've been doing for the past 2 1/2 weeks is sleeping, feeding, playing with Adelyn...sleeping, feeding...

It's fun though! We hope you like the videos!

This one is one of her just kicking it on Daddy's lap

Daddy does work out's with her every day and her she is preparing for her first push-up!

Baby Pics

2009-01-08T10:01:00.001-08:00

First of all, I have to tell you that Jenn posted some more good pictures on her blog, so you should check those out; I promise more good times with the niece's shots.

We thought it would be fun now that we have shown off pics of our new little baby to post some of our own baby pictures so you could more easily compare. I don't think I really need to tell you which is which. Many people have been saying that Adelyn has my cheeks and I thought this picture would help you see just how big my cheeks really were...don't be jealous!

And here is one of the little precious at five days old for ease of comparison--starting to look less scrunched by that painful trip down the birth canal.

And here she is looking up at mommy.

Searching for Smiles

2009-01-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

First of all, a big thanks to all of your congratulations and support, we really appreciate it. And a big thanks to Aaron for putting up the last post. I have been a little on the haggard side of things these days. People aren't kidding when they say that childbirth is the most painful thing they've experienced--yikes!! But it was definitely worth it. We have really loved having Adelyn around and can't seem to stop staring at her even when she isn't doing anything.

I know I've only been at this motherhood thing a week now, but I think I'm definitely going to like it, despite Adelyn deciding to pee or poop not one but THREE times while I was changing her diaper yesterday!! I guess it's all part of the new mother hazing. Anyway...

When we were back in Burley for Brady's farewell, we had a great time watching old Anderson home videos. We thought now that we were having kids of our own it would be great to record those special moments. Ma and Pa Baria were nice enough to provide the camcorder as a lovely Christmas present--thanks!!! We thought we'd share a video with you.

Adelyn Mei Anderson

2009-01-01T16:38:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!

It finally happened! We had our baby! Little Adelyn Mei Anderson was born on Dec 31at 9:00 a.m. weighing 8 lbs 14 oz and 20 inches. She suprised us by how big she was.

Adelyn is derived from Becca's grandmother Nelda who passed away last year. If you turn Nelda backwards it is "Adlen." Mei is pronounced "may" and is part of Becca's chinese name she got on her mission and means "beautiful" in chinese.

This is Aaron by the way. Becca's busy playing with and feeding our little papoose so I thought I'd jump on here and share some pics and tell my side of the story with ya'll.

So here's how it happened.

December 30th we were two weeks over our due date and the doctors suggested that we get induced. We decided that would be a good thing so we were put on the waiting list that morning. Around 3:00 that afternoon we were able to go to the hospital. Becca didn't have any contractions when we first arrived and was dialated to about a 2 1/2. The doctors gave her some pitocin (I'm not sure how to spell it) to start the contractions and they came after a few hours. I set up a little cot next to her bed so she could squeeze my hand when she was going through the contractions. She did an amazing job working through the labor and around 10:00 p.m. that night they decided to reduce her pitocin levels down to only 1 ml per hour so she could rest. She got a couple hours of sleep before the contractions started on their own. I was half asleep, but kept my hand up by her so she could squeeze my hand and I could help coach her with breathing. She did an amazing job especially since the contractions lasted throughout most of the night.

8:00 a.m. the midwife came in and checked her and her cervix had totally ripened and she was also dialated to a 9 (on a scale of 1-10). They suggested she should just go for it and have the baby without any epidural because it would be faster and better for her and the baby. She decided to do it and I can't say how impressed I was with her on how well she pushed and breathed. I helped the midwives by holding her legs up and also helping comfort her in between contractions. Becca had the baby out within 30 minutes and as I watched the little head come out and heard her cry for the first time I'll admit I had tears in my eyes.

I'm so grateful for all of you who were praying for us and for the support and advice we've received from many of you throughout the pregnancy. Thank you so much. Becca is doing very well and the baby is healthy and happy (as long as she's being fed or has a binky in her mouth!)

So here's the moment you've all been waiting for...(drum roll please!)...pictures of the little papoose!

Adelyn in the car seat

Adelyn sleeping on my chest

Adelyn with Mommie!

Aunt Meghan (Aaron's sister) and the papoose!

Grandma and Grandpa Baria

Grandma C, Aaron's mom

To view more pictures of the little papoose check out her aunt Jenn's blog by clicking here.

Funny Babies

2008-12-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

Since we are still without a child of our own, we have to entertain ourselves by watching others'. My brother is home from college this week for Christmas and the other night showed us how he spends his free time--searching for funny videos on YouTube. Here was my favorite that I just had to share:

Baby Showers, but no Baby!

2008-12-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

It's true, the due date has come, but our little one hasn't. Instead of sitting and being sad, I thought I would take the extra time I have with the baby being on the inside and so easy to take care of to post! Who knows when I'll have the time or energy for posting once she actually comes out.

Anyway, I just wanted to show you the adorable cakes from the baby showers people were so nice to throw. This one below is from my coworkers, who actually created a bassinet for the top made out of ding dongs and twinkies. Isn't it so cute?!?! Who knew it would end up to serve as a great object lesson when we were asked to substitute teach the five year olds in church the next Sunday!!

Then at the Lacey shower, the all amazing and talented Jenn make a "cake" out of diapers and receiving blankets. If you aren't wowed enough just from this picture, please click on it and zoom in to see her impressive handiwork. I really hated taking it apart, but it turned into four whole shoeboxes worth of diapers!! Those are going to be needed (hopefully very soon).

My adorable niece Jadyn was more attracted to the flowers on the cake than the diapers and promptly requested they be used in her hair and proceeded to pose. I just had to share the cuteness!

Thanks to everyone who put so much effort into helping us get ready for the baby. Hopefully we will have some good news for you soon!

Eight Month Belly

2008-11-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

Since it has been over a month since I last showed off the belly, I thought I would document its progress and share it with all of you long distance friends. I tried to keep the same shirt and the same spot for more ease of comparison. We had our latest doctor's appointment on Tuesday and she said everything is looking great and moving along nicely. Only 26 days to go!! Of course I am hoping for less--an early arrival would be nice.

Except of course for the fact that we still haven't done any shopping, despite all the great advice that I got from so many of you. But we officially had our last day working in the temple and I only have two more weeks of work, so hopefully we will now have some time to get everything ready for the arrival of the papoose.

I just wanted to say that I really appreciated all the advice, by the way, even though I haven't been able to thank you individually like I have wanted to. You don't know just how much all of you helped orient me into the baby world. Aaron is impressed by my knowledge on what we need to prepare, and I'm just thankful I have such good friends. You are the best!!!

Good Luck Brady

2008-11-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we made the 10-hour pilgrimage to Aaron's motherland. Yes, at eight months pregnant Aaron and I along with his sister and brother-in-law all packed into the little Mazda 3 for the long journey. They were nice enough to put up with my need for frequent stopping because we had a worthwhile cause: Aaron's youngest brother Brady was giving his farewell speech before taking off for the next two years to serve a mission.

He actually reported to the MTC today to serve in the Raleigh, North Carolina Mission. Here is the Anderson clan right after he was set apart.

Of course it was an emotional time for the family, but we are all really excited for him and know that he will be an excellent missionary. It was really nice to see all of Aaron's relatives and appreciate how supportive they all are of the big events in everyone's lives. My own brother even hitched a ride with a couple of Aaron's cousins down from Ricks to join in the festivities. A big thanks to everyone and our best wishes to Brady in his new adventure!

Calling all Moms

2008-10-13T20:37:00.001-07:00

So some of the ladies at work have been continually asking when I am going to register the little papoose. I haven't done this yet because it feels a little strange, but I am thinking it is getting to be time. If they want to buy her presents, who am I to say differently?! Since I am a bit overwhelmed when I think about what babies need, I thought I would poll some of you ladies for your experienced advice. I would appreciate you sharing your thoughts on what things you couldn't have lived with out in those early days and now, what things you never use, what things your little ones love, etc. You can post a comment or send an email to rebeccabanderson@yahoo.com.

In the Spirit of October

2008-10-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Now that I am so experienced with ultrasounds after having my second one, I understand the comments that people made saying the last ultrasound picture was one of the best they had ever seen. We went in last week for a follow-up and this is the picture that we were left with. If you ask me (and I don't mean this to any offense of our unborn child, only to the ultrasound tech), it is a little bit on the spooky side. Just in case you can't tell what it is, I will post it vertically for you as well.

Amazingly from this picture, Aaron was able to conclude that she does indeed look like me. Hmmmm....not sure what to make of that. We did find out though that she weighs in at 3 lbs, 6 oz, so she will probably be a good sized little baby when she pops out.

While Aaron is working in Spokane, I thought I would host my own photo shoot so I could show you what she's looking like from the outside these days too.

P.S. I don't mind anyone praising me for not waiting a month to post since the last time I posted. :)

Summer Exploring

2008-09-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Once again, it has been awhile since we have posted. I know, I know, you would think that we would learn our lesson at some point, but I guess I am just a slacker at heart. Instead of telling you all of our stories, I figured that I would just post a slideshow and you could read the captions to see all we have been up to the past little while. If any of it sounds especially interesting to you, feel free to drop me a line and ask about it.

Surgery Gone Wrong

2008-09-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

Many of you probably already heard about our little medical trauma last month, but just in case you didn't, I will summarize. Aaron first went in to the doctor because he was concerned about a mole he had on his leg that seemed to be growing. After a biopsy, they couldn't figure out if it was cancerous or not. When they told Aaron that they would have to take another piece out, he told them to go ahead and take it all--he didn't want any of it anyway. We were happy to hear that during surgery they discovered it wasn't the mole that was growing, but there was actually a cyst underneath it that was causing the problem...but definitely not causing cancer.

So we thought we were okay, just a little tortured by the fact that Aaron was not allowed to even so much as go on a walk for exercise. That is...until his wound starting stinking and oozing when we were in Utah for his cousin's wedding...I know, lovely picture. We weren't sure exactly what was going on because it was still covered by the steri strips (and we both don't know anything about that sort of thing). The night we got back from Utah Aaron decided to take a peak and found that the stitches had actually burst and everything was infected. So we went to the ER and they fixed us up (after taking a look at his leg and asking if he had tried to remove the cyst himself), but now his wound just has to heal naturally over the next few MONTHS. They couldn't try to close it up because the tissue was so sensitive.

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of it at its peak of grotesqueness for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing, but here it is starting to heal.

And just in case you wanted a little closer shot of it, we thought we would provide that for you too.

After having something he has grown removed from him, he feels ready to empathize with what I'm getting ready to experience in childbirth.

It's a Girl!

2008-08-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Many of you know already, but we thought we'd share the news online as well. We had an ultrasound about a week ago and found out we'll be having a girl! It was cool watching the ultrasound because she was alive and kicking...literally. We thought she had learned how to kick and punch like that from our excersize videos that we do.

Anyways, here's the profile:

So who do you think she looks like? Aaron or Becca?

Aaron the Entertainer

2008-08-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Our friends Dave & Arielle recently moved back from Colorado/Texas with their cute new baby Grayson. We had them over for dinner the other night, but weren't prepared for what little Grayson had in store for the post-dinner entertainment. This is one small video, but the laughter went on and on for so long that we were all in pain by the end. We thought we'd share it with you.

Old Friends in New Places

2008-07-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

As many as you know, I was back on the road again recently for work. Aaron was a little worried about me making this trip alone while being pregnant, but I couldn't convince him to go with me. So instead I twisted the arm of my good friend Jennie Arrington. We have known each other since we were eight years old, but haven't spent much time together since her family moved from Texas to Florida and mine to Washington. Atthe last minute she was able to go with me to three of the four cities on my latest recruiting trip and I thought I would share some photos of the places we were able to go when I wasn't running around to all my appointments. This first one is of us at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.

This giant Buddha is at a monastery that is located not too far from where I served my last area of my mission in Kaohsiung, but it was just far enough as a missionary to not have taken the trip to see it. This was only one of thousands and thousands of Buddhas we saw that day, but it was definitely the most impressive!

This is still at the monastery, but we were DYING it was so hot!!! I thought it was hot enough being pregnant in Washington, but those 2.5 weeks in Asia really did me in, I tell you what. Jennie and I had to reward ourselves for our forbearance of the unbearable heat with a little ice cream. From that day on out, ice cream was all I wanted.

From Taiwan we went to Hong Kong and actually had the sunniest weather I have ever seen there. For our first day we were able to take the Ferry across to Hong Kong island before I started working and actually got some nice views.

This one is taken from "The Peak" looking down to the Harbor below. The last time I was in Hong Kong, pretty much all we could see from up here were clouds and smog, so Jennie and I were definitely excited.

This was also my first time to go to the Hong Kong temple. I don't know if you can even tell I am in the picture, but I am that tiny little dot in front. We had enough time on our last day to go through a session and meet a friendly old man afterward. He was so chatty, wanted to tell us his whole life story, and then wouldn't you know it, we ran into him the next day at church too! And I ran into my mission president's wife as I was heading into the ladies' room. It's a small world, I tell you what.

So there we have just a few pictures, though Jennie took about 500 I think. If you want to see a few ore you can check out my Facebook (if you are my Facebook friend, of course!!). Hope it's convincing all of you to want to come on my next trip with me!!

Sharing Time

2008-07-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! I know some of you complain that we don't write in here often enough, and it looks like it has been another month!! I figured I ought to come on here though and let everyone know that hasn't already heard or observed my burgeoning size, but I am prengant!! For those of you who haven't heard, I apologize for the impersonal blog, but we just haven't been the best at broadcasting our news. I am 16 weeks along, which gives us a due date of December 16th. In case you are curious, here is an idea of what a 16 week fetus looks like.

I think the worst of my morning sickness has passed and I am starting to feel much better now. Except for the wild hormonal emotional swings that is--thanks Aaron for being so patient with me and such a big help and support!

We are scheduled for our ultrasound on August 1st after I get back from my next trip, so we will be sure to post those pictures and let you know what the sex of the little one is. Hope all is well!

Baria Family Bonding

2008-06-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

So for Memorial Day weekend we Barias have a tradition of taking a little family vacation. Okay, so this is only our third time doing it, but we had to come up with new traditions now that most everyone is out of the house, we no longer have the Aerostar, and no longer drive to Utah all together each summer. This time we headed down to Sunriver, OR for the weekend and had a great time. Not great weather, but a great time.

Here is part of the clan going rafting down the Deschutes. It was actually the perfect weather for hitting the water, but that was right before it started hailing!!

Here is a good action shot of us so that you can tell we were really working hard and truly becoming one with nature.

The next day we took a quick jaunt down to the beautiful Crater Lake. Here are Aaron and I at the top of the lake... before it started hailing.

The last day of the trip we came home via Silver Falls State Park. It's this really beautiful park where you can hike to TEN different water falls! The whole clan hiked to the first one.

Here is a great shot of just the two of us.

The end.

Changing your Name

2008-06-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it would be fun to do:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
2,034
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

http://howmanyofme.com">How many have your name?

It actually tells you the statistics of both of your names too! I thought I would do a little comparison with my maiden name since I was always so proud of its uniqueness:

HowManyOfMe.com

There is
1
person with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Can you believe I went from the ONLY one in the country with my name to one of 2000?!?! And Aaron wondered why changing my name was so much to swallow at first. I know, I know, it's so hard for me to feel like as much of an individual, but I am doing my best!! I went from having the 75677th most popular last name to the 10th most popular. So in reality I should feel pretty cool!! Let's see how cool Aaron is:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
1,145
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Fun Times in Alaska

2008-05-12T21:58:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! So this is my first time on this blog. Hasn't Becca done a great job?! I decided to give her a little break for Mother's Day : ) Anyways, I know you're all dying to hear about our Alaska trip so I'll give you a little run-down and then show some sweet pics of bears and whales and all that cool animal planet stuff. I went up to Juneau, AK last Monday for a convention for work. It was very beautiful (not quite as beautiful as Seattle, but close). I didn't know Juneau was in a rainforest and that the area receives about 150 inches of moisture per year. No more complaining about rain in Seattle! The first couple days were pretty fun. Just worked and ate at local places and chatted with the locals. The coolest part of the first day was going down on the water and seeing a few whales and a beautiful Alaska sunset (I have a picture of it later on in the post)

When Becca arrived we had a lot of fun going around and seeing the sites of Juneau. I think our favorite day was taking the glacier tour to Tracy Arm. The sun was shining and the whales, bears, birds, and mountain goats were out as well. Here are a few pictures:

Becca and I in front of a glacier holding some glacial Ice

In the distance there's a whale spouting...if you squint your eyes hard enough you can see the whale!

Picture of ice calving from the glacier. It makes a huge crashing sound as it falls into the ocean and causes a wake in the icy water.

We saw a few goats, but this one actually posed for us and trimmed up his beard!

Here's the sunset I saw the day before Becca arrived.

This is a video of whales...the boat's a little loud so I apologize...we did see a whale that came right up next to our boat and when I went to take it's picture the battery died. I'm not lying...I promise!

So to sum everything up, Alaska's a beautiful place and full of adventure. We liked the wildlife and the beautiful scenery. However, after a few days we started getting restless and actually decided to come home to good old Washington where it still has ocean water, wildlife, beautiful scenery, civilization, and most importantly our family!

A Quick Florida Getaway

2008-04-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

So I am not smart enough to have my slideshow be a part of my post, so I am doing them separately. Hopefully you will be able to see the pics and the message in the same place!! Anyway, Aaron's company is based in Fort Lauderdale so he invited me to go down with him for some good times. I probably had more good times than he did since he had training to go to, but we had great times together after he was finished. We checked out the Everglades, Miami, and Key West. It was a whirlwind trip, but a lot of fun!!

Happy Birthday Aaron!

2008-04-06T21:21:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! I know it has been awhile since I posted anything--I guess you can tell when I have a lot of down time in the hotel room by myself and when I am at home!! Today is Aaron's 30th birthday, so we thought we would share some pictures of our celebration. His sister Meghann had her birthday on Friday, so we had a fun joint party at their Mom's.

Then tonight we had a few friends over for a little sushi party. We got a kit as a wedding present and thought we would finally put it to use. It turns out we are all naturals and are thinking of opening up our own sushi restaurant. Aaron's birthday celebration continues next Sunday combined this time with my sister, so stay tuned for more birthday pics.

Back in Taiwan

2008-03-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I went back to Taiwan for work last week, this time without Aaron. It's funny that all the other times I have been to Taiwan I never had Aaron with me and it seemed just fine. But this time, now that he had set the precedent, it just didn't seem the same. It was still really good to see old friends though and get to do a little exploring. I had one of our former BCC students take me somewhere I had never been (and didn't even know existed), a hot springs museum, so I thought I'd share a couple photos. Here I am in front of the old pool:

Taiwan has hot springs all over the island, but just north of Taipei is where they were first discovered. When the Japanese came to rule over Taiwan, they built this public bathhouse as a way for all people to be able to bathe in the hot springs water and therefore partake of its healing properties.

If you are really interested in reading the full story, you can go to this site: http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/gogo/goen_33.htm. Fascinating, I assure you. Here is another shot of us outside where they tap the water in from:

American Idol Crazy

2008-02-29T04:27:00.000-08:00

It's true. I am now a weekly watcher. Aaron's family has sucked me right in--it's family bonding time!! But you really should check out the David Archuleta videos and song on the playlist to the right. He's pretty impressive.

A Surprise Belated Valentine's

2008-02-24T05:53:00.000-08:00

I think I said in one of my last posts that we spent our first Valentine's Day as a married couple thousands of miles apart. Terrible, I know. To make up for it, Aaron planned us a surprise retreat to Salish Lodge, Seattle's Resort and Spa upon my return from my marathon trip. For those of you not from the area, it is actually just east of Seattle, sitting atop Snoqualmie Falls. You know we have a thing for waterfalls, so this was the perfect place to take a much needed break from work and just spend some time together. We had fantastic weather and the place was beautiful; I recommend it for all looking for a nice little getaway. The food was amazing, the service excellent, and we had our own wood-burning fireplace in our room. Just be careful when you go up to the spa--if you sit next to the mini-waterfall it just might put you in a near unconcious state and you could almost miss your dinner reservation!!

More About the Middle East

2008-02-22T17:48:00.000-08:00

So even thought that post about Kuwait didn't have the nicest tone to it and everything in that country seemed to be the color of dirt and that all I wanted to do the minute I got there was leave, I would say the Middle East wasn't THAT bad. This tour started out in Dubai, which I had had a lot of anticipation for with all the hype it has been getting lately with their palm islands and seven star hotel and such. I think if I hadn't worked it up so much I would have been fine with it--I should have followed Aaron's advice--keep your expectations low and you'll always be happy! In general UAE was a lot more welcoming than Kuwait. The first day we arrived we had a FABULOUS lunch at the hotel NEXT to the seven star hotel, so we were almost really cool. It was a really nice resort itself--rooms and villas ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 USD per night and a cool canal running through it (we even got to take a little boat ride through it. I snuck onto the private beach and snapped a photo of the seven star hotel shooting out of my head (rooms from 6,000 to 28,000 per night!!).

It was crazy just how much building there is going on in Dubai. Every single road we drove on had something being built. The main street in Dubai had crane after crane after crane. According to the Gulf News, Dubai has about 30,000 or 24% of the world's cranes right now. But for all the progress and development and skyscrapers they have and all that, I would still have to say that I liked Istanbul a LOT more. It was by far my favorite part of the trip. It's quite the opposite of Dubai, an ancient city with buildings hundreds of years old--and no skyscrapers. The people were wonderful, the food delicious, the mosques incredible, the setting beautiful. The only problem was that we had a blizzard for 2.5 days and I was only there for 4. The other I guess being the fact that my shipment of school materials did not arrive until the second day of the education fair. I found this out when I was stranded in Kuwait and was so mad at DHL and couldn't do one single thing about it. I had lined up one of our alumni to come work at the fair the first day since I was still going to be in Bahrain and she showed up there all ready to help out, with no material and no way of contacting me. Bless her heart.

So if you add that to the blizzard, we had a little damper put on attendance at the fair as well as my plans for touristing on my last day there. I was so depressed when I woke up the last morning and it was still snowing--I had been so exciting to see the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and there I was so close and I couldn't even see them. Schools were closed, government offices were closed, and all the taxis and even hotel cars were not driving. So I had no choice but to sit in the hotel room all morning (which did give me a little time to work on the blog though, definitely something you need to travel to Turkey to do). But around 2:00 my luck turned and it stopped snowing. Then the sun and blue skies even came out so I hopped in a taxi and took a quick tour of the city. The Blue Mosque was just as beautiful as I had imagined.

Then I went to the Topkapi Palace across the street and do you know what they have in their museum?!?! The Rod of Moses. How on earth?! They also have the cloak of Muhammed and the turban of Joseph. Having walked in not expecting to see anything, I was a little taken aback at how they could have such artifacts. The Rod of Moses?! But you know what, it did feel really spiritual in there, so who knows. Anyway, all in all it was quite an interesting trip, capped off by my luggage not making it back on the plane with me. It apparently really liked the Amsterdam airport so it had stayed there over night. After all the other lovely new experiences, I thought this was a nice way to end things. Luckily, it came the next day as promised. Let's just say I'm not too excited to get back on the road next Wednesday!!!

For more pics of the trip, check out my myspace (link in the right column, or www.myspace.com/taiwanbecca).

Stranded in Kuwait

2008-02-21T12:33:00.000-08:00

Here is an email that I wrote home to my family while I was in Kuwait that I thought others might also find interesting:

Things here in the Middle East have been a little rockier than on my usual trips. The world is just a TAD bit different over here. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to describe it in my email, but it reached its climax in my experiences today at the Kuwait Airport. Even though I had my paper ticket from in my hand when I went to check in, the man at the counter said he didn't see my name in the system and I had to go talk to the reservation counter. So I proceeded to said counter and he looked it up and told me I didn't have a ticket. I showed him the ticket in my hand and asked wasn't it a ticket?? He said it had been "cancelled" because the agent that arranged the ticket didn't enter some kind of number. He said my ticket was void. He said I needed to go talk to the man at counter #16. So I did, falsely thinking he might offer some kind of hope for my flight. He said that standby was my only option and that I simply needed to sit there and wait for the next two hours we had until the takeoff.

Then I discovered that even though this was supposedly due to error of my travel agent, there were two other people from the fair that this happened to. One of those people happened to be traveling with someone else in his office and their reservations were made by the same people. Interesting. As time grew closer, more and more people (not part of our group) were likewise displaced. So we waited those two hours, only to be told that there was nothing they could do for us. Period. End of story. This was a paid for ticket, completely rejected. They only fly to Bahrain once per day, at 5 o'clock, and the fair was set to start at 5 the next day, so we couldn't wait that long. The three of us tried to get on another airline and the only other airline was flying out at 10 pm, but that was completely booked as well. So we are on the first flight out in the morning and found the last three rooms in a hotel close to the airport. All I can say is that as selfish as it may sound, I'm glad I wasn't the only one in our group that got bumped. At least we have each other in this crazy country!!

I haven't had the best impression of this place, starting with being bumped from our hotel before we even got there!! I know, it's like they don't want us here or something. We had all booked rooms at the Crowne Plaza through the fair organizer. Since the fair was going to be held there, they got us a group rate to all stay there. Again, we had RESERVATIONS. Well, apparently, the crowne prince or somebody special came into town and the needed the rooms. So...our entire group got the boot to the Holiday Inn across town the night before we got here. We had some more drama when we first landed and had to get our visas. What we all thought would be a simple process took two hours in total--longer than it took for us to fly here from Dubai. Once we finally got our visas and went back down and stood in line at immigration, this man came and snatched my passport out of my hand and said, "Not finished, not finished." Then he started snatching other peoples in our group and we were told we all had to leave the line to get one more stamp first at this other desk where there was no one sitting and no one seemed to care or want to help us, they just all kept telling us we weren't finished. Wow. We finally made it through and were welcomed at the hotel by a metal detector and having to put all our luggage through a screener. So inviting.

Back to Blogging

2008-02-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

I have received some comments from folks that maybe I should add a little bit more to this blog of ours. It is pretty obvious that I haven't done anything with it since creating it back in November. Now it is February almost March and I think it's time for us to really get serious. We have been a little distracted by the busy-ness of the holidays, which were a lot of fun and Aaron starting up his own blog. He was inspired by Elder Ballard's talk at BYU-Hawaii encouraging people to start up blogs as a missionary tool. As Aaron is a ward missionary at our new ward in Bellevue, he liked the idea and took the challenge. Even though he has only had it for awhile, there are a lot of interesting posts on there with some interesting comments. If you haven't already, you should check it out at www.graceforgrace.com or by simply following the link on the right. My work has also been pretty busy lately--sending me to the Middle East and Turkey (which I plan on writing an earful about, so stay tuned for stories by far my most interesting trip ever) and then I will be leaving again for Taiwan this week. Too much travel for newylweds, I tell you what!!

Newly-bloggers

2007-11-15T16:17:00.001-08:00

We thought we would jump on the bandwagon and get ourselves a blog so that none of you miss a glorious moment of our newlywed lives. We are closing down our wedding website and figured this would be a great way to fill the void that I am sure all of you will have without the constant wedding updates from us.

This time we just got back from Taiwan and would love for you to browse our photos on Becca's myspace page, the link now conveniently located to the right.