nuts

my family must be big fans of nuts because we have a ton of them and they are all sitting on the counter in plain sight next to the bread box. we have almonds and peanuts and the occasional honey roasted peanut. because we have them out, kate loves to eat them and she'll run over to the counter and say clear as a bell "nuts!" reaching up to where they are. it seriously is one of the clearest words she says!

well the other day she was watching me get ready in the bathroom and when I went to take my prenatal vitamin she pointed at the bottle and said "nuts!" I thought this was pretty funny, but I tried to straighten her out and tell her that it wasn't nuts, it was medicine and we don't eat medicine unless its meant for us. of course this kind of an explanation only got a blank stare. and then she pointed at a medicine bottle of ryan's on the bathroom counter and said "dada's nuts!" I can't get over the funny things she is starting to say!

new sewing machine!!

a little while ago I was heartbroken when I made a user error and broke my sewing/embroidery machine that ryan gave me 2 christmases ago!! so sad! I started looking into new ones and I wanted one a little better than the one I had and I found the one of my dreams!! it was a pretty good deal too because it was refurbished and in really good condition!! ryan now thinks I broke mine on purpose (which isn't true....but I'm not saying I regret it now!!)

now I just need something to embroider!!

I've been given 4 months to live....

in tucson, that is. thats right, ryan has made a decision with schools. and the decision is.....

DRUM ROLL!!

baylor in houston, texas!!

we had totally turned down the thought of baylor a while ago and so we thought we knew we weren't going to be leaving before jan 2009....or maybe even as late as may 2009 depending on the school that we chose....but then I came home from work last week (the day before we had to give baylor an answer) and all of a sudden ryan was saying he wanted to go there. I think some of the reasons are: he thinks its an excellent program and was really excited that he even got in, he's kind of anxious to end his bedside nursing job and begin training for the future, and he's 30...he's not getting any younger!! as you all know, I have been a big columbia fan. although ryan was a little hesitant about how much more money it would be, he was prepared to support me in my lifelong dream of living on the east coast. we did not turn down columbia because we thought it would be scary or impossible to live there, it just didn't work out with our life. I am surprisingly okay with it because I know it is the right decision for our family. (but I did tell ryan I would go to houston willingly, but I'm not sure how long I will get pangs in my heart when I watch the "today" show and see its snowing in manattan or see central park in the movies! sigh) its so interesting, today I taught my Beehives at church and the lesson was about our purpose in life and finding that purpose. how perfectly appropriate. I loved this quote (sorry its so long) from elder groberg because I feel like it describes perfectly how I made this decision:





“In the past I have tried to figure out whether I should go into business or into teaching or into the arts or whatever. As I have begun to proceed along one path, having more or less gathered what facts I could, I have found that if that decision was wrong or was taking me down the wrong path—not necessarily an evil one, but one that was not right for me—without fail, the Lord has always let me know just this emphatically: ‘That is wrong; do not go that way. That is not for you!’



“On the other hand, there may have been two or three ways that I could have gone, any one of which would have been right and would have been in the general area providing the experience and means whereby I could fulfill the mission that the Lord had in mind for me. Because he knows we need the growth, he generally does not point and say, ‘Open that door and go twelve yards in that direction; then turn right and go two miles …’. But if it is wrong, he will let us know—we will feel it for sure. I am positive of that. So rather than saying, ‘I will not move until I have this burning in my heart,’ let us turn it around and say, ‘I will move unless I feel it is wrong; and if it is wrong, then I will not do it.’ By eliminating all of these wrong courses, very quickly you will find yourself going in the direction that you ought to be going, and then you can receive the assurance: ‘Yes, I am going in the right direction. I am doing what my Father in Heaven wants me to do because I am not doing the things he does not want me to do.’ And you can know that for sure. That is part of the growth process and part of accomplishing what our Father in Heaven has in mind for us”





at the very moment I let my stubborn self tell ryan "okay, I will go to baylor" I felt it was right. I am so grateful to know that Heavenly Father is directing me and my family in our lives onto the paths that He would have us be. I can do anything and go anywhere as long as I know that.





so anyways, back to the title of my post. now that we know we're leaving sooner than I was planning to, I find myself driving down the road looking at the tucson cactus and thinking how much I'm going to miss them. or I was at the gym and I started thinking about saying goodbye to it so soon (if you don't know, I get very attached to my gyms). or, most of all, thinking how the heck am I going to leave my mom?!?! who is going to run errands with me?!?! who is going to play with kate when I'm tired?!?! or get kate cake when she sits herself at the table and starts banging on it and saying she wants cake and I'm in the middle of playing a game (yes, that did happen tonight!) I keep looking at things like I need to cherish it and take advantage of it before it all changes. and thats why I feel like I've been given 4 months to live....even though its only 4 months to live in tucson!!

utah!

so we got home tonight from me and kate's weekend trip to utah. it was a really low key trip and we really just hung out and played games and made baby registries for jen. I didn't take any pictures except for this, but thats okay because it documents the reason for the trip...

thats right, those are matching bellies. in case you don't know, jen and I are both pregnant and due may 6th and may 8th. mom wanted to see jen for her birthday and I didn't want to be left out so we had a girl's weekend (+ michael) in utah!!


since we didn't do anything too exciting, I thought I would just list a few things I learned on this trip (or remembered):


- small airplane seat + pregnant kristen + kate as a lap child = no room
- kate is a GOOD airplane toddler
-utah is COLD. cold. cold.

-snow is yucky. crunchy, old, hard, black, melty, icky....
-utah inversion is gross. are we BREATHING that?!?
-I eat way too much when I'm on vacation
-dani and jen are fun
-and I am SO glad to be back in tucson!! beautiful, sunny, clean air, wearing no coat, sixty degree tucson!!

happy valentine's day!

I'm leaving for utah tomorrow and I won't be back until tuesday! hope you all have a wonderful valentine's day!

ME from A to Z

A: Attached or single: attached for 3 1/2 years
B: Best Friend: my mom
C: Cake or Pie: ryan's mom's cherry pie....or cake...mmmm.....
D: Day of Choice: Friday
E: Essential Item: Toilet paper
F: Favorite Color: I've never had a good answer for this....so I'll say pink
G: Gummi Bears or Worms: worms
H: Hometown: I am becoming more and more a tucson girl (did I mention it was 76 degrees today?)
I: Indulgence(s): lucky charms, cookie dough...and that was just today
J: January or July: July
K: Kids: Kate and baby boy
L: Life is incomplete without: Ryan
M: Marriage Date: June 24
N: Number of Siblings: 3. 2 sisters and a brother
O: Oranges or Apples: oranges
P: Phobias or Fears: fridge bugs, real bugs, fish, cavities....
Q: Quote(s): if I had a memory of any kind I would have a favorite quote
R: Reason To Smile: trip to utah this weekend and the balloons downstairs that I bought kate for valentines day and I know she'll love
S: Season: autumn
T: Tag Six: Danielle, Jen (ahem, Michael), Adrian....uh....anyone else that wants to
U: Unknown Fact About Me: I have a shrunken toe
V: Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: carnivore
!W: Worst Habit: eating
X: X-Rays or Ultrasounds: ultrasound
Y: Your Favorite Food: mexican
Z: Zodiac: libra

babies, bottles and runny noses

first of all, congrats to dani, josh and meagan and adrian for being the big winners in my comment contest! I was very impressed! I got the first 3 comments within 30 minutes of my post! I will have your prizes on the way to you....but I do need some addresses. so if meagan and adrian will email me your addresses (or you can send them to me on facebook) that would be great! dani, your prize will come with me when we come to utah NEXT WEEK!! wahoo!

now back to business. my nursery informant tells me that kate is the bottle queen in nursery. they have, like, 15 milk/oj bottles in nursery and she has to have them ALL. when I heard that I thought it was really funny. I bought her 2 for christmas that she seemed to like them in the day she had them, but they got lost somewhere between wenatchee and home and we haven't seen them since. so today while I was at the midwife, grammy took kate to target and got her some bottles along with the little blue baby she has on her lap. kate was instantly feeding her babies bottles all through the store and mom said on the way home she had 2 babies on her lap and she was feeding them both at the same time! all night tonight she has played with her babies. she would put la la on her rocking chair and her blue baby on the small rocking chair and the pink baby will sit up at the coloring table and then she'll come and tell me all about it....and then she would take one and switch places with another and come and tell me all about it.....and it was just too adoreable. needless to say, this is how she went to bed tonight:

kate also has had a runny nose all day long and has been so good about it. this morning she would sneeze and I would say "don't touch it, I'm going to go get a tissue!" and she would be really good at letting me wipe. then when I left, mom said she would sneeze and then mom would tell her to bring her a tissue and she would go get one and bring it to her! the best was that on the way home from target in the car she was asking mom for tissues. way to go with the booger manners kate!

oh how I love her

yesterday we went to the mall to get some pictures taken. man, I love her! and I also got in the mail yesterday a fun package from my friend ami as a prize for being one of the first 3 people to comment on her blog! she told us to pass it along so I decided to do a similar contest (although I don't know if I'll be able to be as cute and creative with what the prize is!) so...happy commenting!

"there's no crying in nursery" and other kate tales

I hope you all enjoyed ryan's first attempt at blogging. he was really proud of himself and he finally realized why I used to wait impatiently for people to comment on each post. (he used to make fun of me for it, but after checking it several times a day he understands what it feels like!)

ryan is now in spokane for his last interview (wahoo!) so I figured it was time to get back to blogging about some of our adventures. here are a few of the most recent

kate tales

"let's go for a hike"




we decided to hike the seven falls trail on saturday morning. it has been a long time since we've been on a hike all together and we were ready to enjoy the nice weather. we only hiked about a mile in but we made it to a river and kate had a lot of fun throwing rocks into it. kate spent some time in the hiking backpack, sitting back and eating cheerios and drinking from her camelback, but she also asked to get down and hike and it was really fun to watch her. (I'm going to post some videos of her here later...I'm tired of waiting for them to download now!)

"there's no baby in your belly, silly!"

on friday I realized it had been a long while since I took a picture of my belly and I had promised myself I would do it more regularly this pregnancy. well, it hasn't happened! so I asked ryan to get the camera out and of course kate saw it, positioned herself in front of it and gave us this:you would think she gets her picture taken every once in a while! then I lined myself up against the wall and started showing ryan my belly. (after looking at these pictures I remembered why I didn't like taking pictures of myself pregnant!)


so then kate positions herself in front of the camera and gives us this:
"baby brother's bed"

I promised dani a long time ago that I would post pictures of our boy bed and I keep forgetting so here it is. (I guess that makes this less of a kate tale and more of a picture book)

**thanks hilary! I guess I forgot to tell my baby bedding adventures with everyone! I was looking online for the perfect boy bedding and it wasn't going very well. I didn't fall in love with anything and everything was really expensive. I wasn't crazy abou the idea of making it again either. then one day I went to target and I found this crib set all in a package on clearance for $60! I was so excited! later my mom was at target and found it clearanced down to $20! WHOA! so she bought it for me and I did the switcheroo and got my money back. what a DEAL!

doesn't it go great with the pink striped walls?

and finally "there's no crying in nursery!!"

remember how I told you that kate was progressively getting worse when it came to nursery? crying earlier and earlier at just the thought of nursery! well today we went to church (I thought she looked extra cute today!) and she sat through sacrament meeting really well, as usual, and as we got to the last song....there was no reaction! so then the meeting was over and I said "kate, where's nursery?" (I always do this on the way there) and she said "where did it go?" and I said "let's go find it" so we started walking there and she said "balls!" and I said "yes, and there are babies there to play with too!" (because I'm usually trying to tell her how much fun it will be as she's crying and begging me with her little eyes to not take her there.) and then we started naming all the fun stuff in nursery. when we got to the door she pointed and I said "there it is!" and we walked in and I put her down and she walked off and never looked back! what a big change from handing a crying, screaming, clinging girl over to the nursery leader! not one tear was shed! hooray for nursery!