>Seriously, I do. It’s been a very long time since I updated my blog. Jeff banged his toe and he’s now only got nine toenails.. he went fishing last weekend and hit his toe on the boat while trying to unstick his foot from a ton of mud. And it resulted in him going to the doctor and having his toenail removed. I’ll be kind and not post pictures.. we haven’t even taken pictures! Um, anyway moving on.
We got a new couch last month after the 4th. I was bored so I decided to go and look at the classifieds to see what there was to see in the way of good deals on scrapbooking stuff. Well, there wasn’t so I decided to go look in the furniture stuff and there was a sectional couch for sale! It was less than a week old, and the people were selling it for $300 instead of the original $900 they paid for it. I guess they were foreclosing or having to do a short sale on their home because they were having to move into an apartment and sell of most of their possessions. Why they didn’t take the couch back to IKEA is beyond me.. they could have returned it with probably very little hassle. I’m not complaining though, I got an awesome sectional for a third of the price. It even still smelled new.
We put it in the same spot that the two love seats were at, but we’re planning to switch the furniture around and have the TV on the opposite wall so we can have the couch at a better angle. It’s a sectional with chaise and instead of having the chaise on the wall, we want that sticking out in the open.We’re also planning on getting another section to have it fit more people.
Anyway, Zoe and Ruthie are doing well. We’ve sort of started Zoe on potty training, but she likes to play in the bathroom, so our effort isn’t as diligent as it could be. She also stuck the seat on her head and got it stuck so… I don’t know how serious she actually is about learning how to use the potty.
Ruthie just hit her 6 month mark this past Saturday, and it’s so sweet! She’s growing so fast, and it’s awesome. She’s got a cute little personality, but if she’s tired she gets MAD. We also finally got her out of our bed and into her crib, which was surprisingly an easy transition. Zoe disliked it and we had many nights of her crying and screaming before she got used to the idea. I think Ruthie likes to roll around in her crib without bumping into people. She will also scoot if she’s in the right mood too. I can’t really call it crawling because she’s not really doing it with the intent of moving from one place to another. We won’t know how big she is until her appointment later on this month. I think it was supposed to be sometime this week, but something happened, and my pediatrician had to go out of town.
Here’s some pictures of the last month or so!
We were able to watch fireworks two days in a row, both on the third and the fourth of July. Anyway, this I think is my favorite picture that was taken this year. My inlaws live up higher in the Salt Lake valley and this is a picture of two different fireworks shows going on at once. I didn’t see this picture until I was going through my pictures on the computer and saw this. I must have captured it at a very precise moment, because it looks like a Supernova or something. I love it.
Then, on July 19th, we went to the COOLEST thing on earth: LLAMA FEST!!! I heard about it in 2004, and I’ve wanted to go every year since then, but we weren’t able to make time to go until this year. It’s so awesome! It’s held down in Spanish Fork which is in the southern part of Utah Valley, past Provo. We didn’t realize how big it actually is until we went.
This is the place that llama fest is held at every year, it’s a Krishna temple that’s in Spanish fork for Hindus. The building is pretty big.. and beautiful. And trust me, you can’t miss it from the road since it sits on top of this hill.
This is a picture of a VERY CUTE little baby llama, also known a cría. I love llamas and this just reinforces my desire to have a llama farm someday.
One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen is llama racing. And if you can’t tell already; if a llama doesn’t want to race; it’s not going to.
And last but not least, here’s a cute picture of the girls playing with Jeff on the couch that was taken sometime in the last month. I love it!
I really need to focus on updating my blog more. Hope you enjoy that update!
>Lots of things are happening this month for our family! First and biggest thing is that Jeff will be traveling away from us for a few days to Chicago toeBayLive! In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a huge convention that eBay does every year for their users. We’re sad that we’re going to be away from each other for a few days, but I’m so pleased at the same time beacuse this shows that Jeff is highly respected for what he does at work, to be asked to represent your department is no small honor! Of course, he’s the only one qualified -in terms of knowledge- in his department to go, but still. And my buying sprees on eBay helped since you have to have a minimum of 25 positive feedback, and we’re around 30 right now. Heehee.However the good news that’s coming from all of this is that my Dad is coming out to visit while Jeff’s gone! I’m so excited to be able to see my dad again, he was able to come last Thanksgiving and be here for Zoe’s birthday, which was great! This will be his first time seeing his other grand-baby Ruthie so we’re all pretty excited about that too. Ruthie’s at the perfect age now where she’s not just a lump on a log anymore, she smiles and babbles and blows raspberries at people.
With that said, here are some new pictures!
Here’s Ruthie eating cereal. You can’t tell but she LOVES eating rice cereal. If I don’t feed her fast enough and she knows there’s more, she starts screeching and grabs at the spoon. She’ll even growl at it a bit too! So cute! Here’s a better view of Zoe’s haircut. The expression on her face is a bit funny looking since she’s not looking right at the camera but it’s still a good view. I think she looks so grown up and pretty with her hair like this. This probably one of my favorite pictures of Ruthie to date. She chews and sucks on her fingers and is quite partial to her right index finger. She fell asleep with her finger in her mouth and I JUST had to take a picture of it!
This is a focal picture on her foot sticking out from her blanket. I the color by first applying grey tone to the picture and then I did a slight purple tint on it and then blurred the edges. I love how this came out and I think I did a good job on the angle, and really capturing her foot as the focal.
I think this really captures Zoe’s resourcefulness and ingenuity. She wanted to ‘play outside’ and since we have a very large balcony we often let her play on it so she can get her outside wiggles out. We do take her to the park and stuff, but as you can tell it was getting dark so we just opened up the patio door so she could play outside. It was a bit chilly; as a result you can see Zoe’s solution to the problem. A pair of shoes -she even managed to get them on the right feet this time- a hat and two mis-matched mittens. It totally cracks me up that she forgot the most important piece of clothing; that is to say PANTS.
With the suggestion of my cousins Linda and Liz, I’ve decided to create a blog. I have one already on another networking website, but while those are personal blogs, I figured “Why not create one for the whole family?” So, here I am creating one for the family! So where to start?
I guess I should start at the beginning. It all started on the first Thursday -or Friday- of November in the year 2002. And as with this, I was on LDSchat because I was introduced to the chatrooms by Linda and Liz. (There’s starting to be a pattern forming here actually) I was a just-turned-seventeen year old embarking on her senior year of High School. And I was bored one night, and frustrated with the immaturity of the boys in the older teen chatroom, and with their immature and inappropriate questions.. won’t go there! So I thought to myself, “Well, I’m in my last year of high school, I could almost be considered a young single adult so I’ll just go over there and see what there’s to see!” And so I did.
There were two guys named “Noot” and “Fibb” being annoying to the general public by using Spanish in the chat room, and since I knew some Spanish, I decided to be funny and join in with my rudimentary Spanish. Eventually, our antics caught the attention a moderator, and we were all booted off. So beacuse of that, we went and chatted on MSN messenger. “Fibb” who I later found out is named Nate in real life got off shortly after that to go to a Young Single Adult dance, and then I sat up for the remainder of the night and chatted with Noot, getting to know each other. Now, I should clarify just to let you know, I had gone into LDSchat around 7pm, maybe around 8pm, EST of course. I had learned that his name was Jeff, and that he had just come home two weeks previously from serving a mission in Honduras for the LDS church for two years. Anyway, by the time we got off the internet, the sun was rising, and at that time of the year it usually came up between 6 and 7 am EST. And as we learned and never having seen again, if you chat long enough on MSN messenger -and probably other messenger services as well- the window stops self scrolling, which at that point you either have to manually scroll down, or you close the chat window and start a new one. It was a fateful night, and here we are, 5 and a half years later, we’re happily married with two daughters. It’s interesting how people meet, and I’m not embarrassed to admit that we met online, however I don’t condone the practice because more often than not, you’ll find some very unsavory characters. I had the fortune to have met an honest guy -saw him on the webcam even though I didn’t have one, plus I had called his home several times and spoke with his parents- and have had a very happy ending. We’re still living our happy ending too!
Anyway, more recently we’ve moved into a new apartment! We’re probably going to be here for a few years only until we’re able to buy a home, which will be when we’ve saved up enough money for a down payment and closing costs. Anyway, I’m happy with our new place; it’s in a great neighborhood, we’re close to my inlaws -roughly 6.3 miles away actually- and we for the first time since we’ve been a couple were able to afford new furnishings and other home goods!
The Living Room!
Here’s our living room when you step inside from the front door. You’ll notice there’s no artwork or pictures on the wall, that’s because this was taken right when we first moved in. There’s still nothing on the walls, but that’ll change once I get recent pictures of Ruthie printed. You can sort of see her in the swing there.
The Spacious Laundry Room
Here’s our laundry room. You can see the door directly across from the front door when you walk in. This door is closed most of the time -for very obvious reasons- but it’s opened for the picture. Since this picture was taken, there has been a plastic shelving added in for my convenience while I’m doing laundry. I find it easier to sort and fold a couple of loads of laundry -I usually do two or three loads a day when I do laundry- away at a time. Saves time and I can sort for them to go to their respective places. This room also serves for the furnace and water heater room as well.
Hi Zoe!
Here’s little Miss Zoe in front of my washer and dryer! I’m so happy about having a Brand New set! They are both Kenmore and we got them from Sears. It’s not a matching set obviously -the dryer that goes with the washing machine looks identical in the front- but it’s okay. We saved money this way.
Ruthie in the swing here!
After leaving the laundry room and walking about 15 feet or so, you’ll come to the kitchen. Here’s our living room from where the kitchen is located. There’s our TV with it’s rabbit ears; we’ve gotten rid of satellite TV after having it for 18 months, since we don’t really watch that much TV, and with the internet and many of the local broadcasting channels having TV on demand, we can easily hook up our laptop to the TV, and wirelessly watch TV shows over the internet to get a good quality picture. We also rent DVDs for Zoe, and then she can watch her favorite shows on the laptop as well. Besides, she’s not really a TV watcher herself, she only likes to have it on for the noise factor; however she will watch it on occasion. And there’s cute little Ruthie in her swing, a place she thoroughly enjoys being as long as she has her blanket. Yes, my two month old daughter has a lovey! Heaven forbid I have to wash it when she poops on it because she’s angry for the 1.5 hours it’s in the washer and dryer. I’m dreading the day that it falls apart and she’ll need another one.
The Tiny Kitchen
Here’s our small kitchen! And Zoe. I dislike how small it is, but that’s the sacrifice we made when picked this place. I do LOVE how we have a dishwasher again! I know most people have dishwashers, and probably take them for granted. I have to tell you, not living with a dishwasher for 18 months was pure misery. I can’t even begin to tell you how beautiful of a luxury they are to have. If you have one, you should take a break from reading this blog, walk over to it, say thank you to it and then come back. My other slight issue with the kitchen after moving in the rest of our stuff is the lack of storage space for our larger pots and pans, and also the lack of counter space for a microwave and toaster that we now have. I have to sort and figure out where things are going to go, but until then, my kitchen is somewhat cluttered. That’s okay though, I’ll get it sorted out soon. And I’m sure you can see the fire extinguisher! That’s a purchase we made ourselves, can’t be too cautious about fire safety! And also I have to pull the knobs off of the front of the stove for the same reason.
Bed Before...... and After!
Here’s our mattress in the packaging, and after we unrolled it! And I’m not kidding, this is a SPRING mattress! It’s got to be the strangest/coolest thing in the world. Zoe tends to stick herself in alot of pictures, and she’s usually pantless -mostly because it’s a hassle to keep her in pants after changing her diaper- but that’s okay. Anyway, you’d think our mattress would be uncomfortable but it’s NOT! It’s arguably the BEST BED I’ve ever slept in. And it wasn’t even that much either! Just to let you know, it’s a KING sized bed, and we only paid about $380 dollars or so for it. We heart IKEA and their unbeatable prices.
Shrek in the Middle
Anyway, here’s the bed after it’s all put together and made! I love the bedspread, it reminds me of Tetris.. and considering Jeff and I love to game, it totally suits us. I need to get new pillows of course, since with a king sized bed, you have to buy king sized bedding and you get king sized pillowcases. And there’s Shrek, Jeff’s cuddling device, it’s easier for him to sleep with his arm around something. I love how the bed takes up the whole room.
Ruthie's Crib
One awesome thing about our new place is that we have two bathrooms, one is located in our bedroom, which is one of the reasons why we took the apartment, it has two bathrooms. Anyway, this picture was taken from the little hallway leading into our bathroom. And there’s Ruthie’s crib! I made the bedding -well bumpers and blanket myself. I’m really blessed with sewing skills, and I’ve used my skills to make bedding for my Sister in Law, and will be making some for my friend Ngaire who’s expecting her and her husband’s first child in November. I can’t wait to get started on it.
That concludes the tour of our new apartment! Hope you enjoyed it. I may post pictures later once we put up pictures and stuff in our living room. I know I missed Zoe’s room but it’s not done yet either in terms of decoration and whatnot.. I would love to get her some posters and put them up in frames.
We put it in the same spot that the two love seats were at, but we’re planning to switch the furniture around and have the TV on the opposite wall so we can have the couch at a better angle. It’s a sectional with chaise and instead of having the chaise on the wall, we want that sticking out in the open. We’re also planning on getting another section to have it fit more people.
We were able to watch fireworks two days in a row, both on the third and the fourth of July. Anyway, this I think is my favorite picture that was taken this year. My inlaws live up higher in the Salt Lake valley and this is a picture of two different fireworks shows going on at once. I didn’t see this picture until I was going through my pictures on the computer and saw this. I must have captured it at a very precise moment, because it looks like a Supernova or something. I love it.
This is a picture of a VERY CUTE little baby llama, also known a cría. I love llamas and this just reinforces my desire to have a llama farm someday.
One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen is llama racing. And if you can’t tell already; if a llama doesn’t want to race; it’s not going to.
And last but not least, here’s a cute picture of the girls playing with Jeff on the couch that was taken sometime in the last month. I love it!
