Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Visit to Grandma Dolly

We had the opportunity to travel to Wenatchee to visit with John's Grandma. I was really surprised at Mariska. She never lets anyone pick her up if she isn't used to them but she went right up to Grandma Dolly and gave her a hug. She also let Grandma pick her up. I was so glad we were able to go since we don't get over there very often.

Add Image We figured it was time for a generational picture and I am really glad we had Anna there to take them.


I know Mariska looks like she is in pain but she loves her cousin Levi and sometimes Cheese ball Face looks like that. I love that they could pass as brother and sister.

The Reason of the Season

Sometimes I feel that I get a little lost in all the commercial aspects of Christmas. This year I tried really hard to remember or Savior and his birth. I did really well until Christmas Day. I had expectations that Mariska would want to open presents and would have fum doing it but it took us hours to get her to open her presents and then we ended up opening the last ones for her. I couldn't believe how I felt about that. I know she is only two, and now I look at it at laugh, but that day I had a hard time with it. I was moody all day and it wasn't until we had Friends and family for dinner that I really started to feel the way I thought I should feel on Christmas Day. Then as I was putting Mariska to bed and we were saying prayers I realized that I didn't really remember my savior on the day that I should remember him the most. Mariska knows who he is and it is such a neat experience to see your child point and say Jesus when ever she sees a picture of him. I don't do this very often but it is important to me. I am truly grateful for my savior. I love him with all my heart and I know I would not be were I am today without him. I look forward to being with him someday and am so glad that he and my Heavenly Father are there to pick me up in my times of struggle and need. I want you to know that I have a testimony of our Savior and his Gospel. I am grateful to family and friends who are there for us and who love us. I love you all and I hope the rest of the holiday season treats you well.

OH Christmas Tree Part 2

To me Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday with Christmas at a very close second. I love the whole holiday season. We wait until after Christmas to decorate and we leave the decorations up until the new year. I was going to leave the tree up until new years but we decided to start potty training. Yesterday Mariska was in her big girl pants and was over by the tree looking at the balls when I heard the faint splashing sound of liquid hitting the floor. I looked and sure enough She had emptied her bladder right next to the tree. I have my village under the tree and some of the "snow" got dropped on. All of our Christmas Decorations were put away last night.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Gingerbread Disaster


Every year John's family gets together before Christmas and the Grand kids build gingerbread houses. This is actually the first year we have done it because Mariska was too little before. I have never built a ginger bread house (at least I don't remember ever doing it.) So here we are TA DA!!!!!!!!!!! My very first attempt at a gingerbread house. I will display this proudly in my kitchen for all to see. I thought I would just blame in on Mariska but she didn't help with the building she just ate the candy. I have no one to blame but myself.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

OH Christmas Tree!

A tradition that my family has is collecting pieces for a Christmas Village. My Grandma on my dad's side started it and all of her kids have one and I decided to start one when I got married. Ever time we go somewhere we look for a piece to add to our village. The other tradition that goes along with this is that the village is displayed under the tree. This is the first year that my village is big enough to go under the tree. I thought long and hard about whether to do this or not because of little two year old hands but I decided that we would give it a try and if it became too big a problem we could move it. It has been up since Thanksgiving weekend and so far so good. Mariska is more interested in the balls on the tree than she is in the village. She likes to look at it and I have only had to tell her twice to not touch.

Spiritual Renewal

I had the opportunity to go and actually do baptisms for the dead yesterday with our youth. I had not planned on doing baptisms but we ran out of girls and they needed one more sister to finish off the batch of names. It has been close to ten years since I have done baptisms and it was so awesome to be a part of it.
Before we could start a brother and sister were there to do one baptism and one confirmation. They were husband and wife and they were doing the work for his mother. The spirit was so strong, you just new that his mom was there. Even now as I am writing I am having a hard time controlling my emotions. It has been a while since we have been to the temple and now I can't wait to go back.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Mariska


Mariska turned two today. She is no longer my little baby. We love her so much. Even though she frustrates me, I am so grateful she is with with me. Here is how our little girl has grown in the last two years. We love you Mariska and are glad you are ours. Happy Birthday!




I was sad when Mariska grew out of this hat.


I love her eyes.







Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Thank you Lore for the idea. We love our little girl and look forward to the many years ahead.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Happy Birthday Mariska

Since Mariska's birthday falls the day after Thanksgiving we had her birthday party with her Friends today. We had a lot of fun. Mariska's favorite movie right now is Shrek so we did a Shrek theme. The kids really seemed to have a good time and it was a lot of fun to chat and catch up with the mom's.
I am a really crummy cake decorator so we improvised and I call the Shrek cakes. The kids really liked them and they were cute.



Our first activity was play dough. Mariska loves to play with the dough and it was fun to see the moms helping the kids create masterpieces.


Mariska was a little hesitant about opening the presents. Her Friend Amy gave her a little baby doll and once we opened that it was all over. She didn't want to have anything to do with the other presents. Kids are really funny.

I loved watching the other kids when Mariska was opening her presents. Anytime she slowed down she got help. Kids at this age are so fun to watch.




Just like last year Mariska was eager to dive into her cake. I love the fact the she tried to slurp the worm that was on her cupcake. We had such a good time with our friends and we are grateful to have the friends we have. We love you all. Happy Birthday Mariska.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

HE IS IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


After waiting for three weeks the letter finally arrived on Tuesday. Almost ninety people applied for the Construction Management program this year and only 36 would get in. The last three weeks have been torture. If John didn't get in then he would have to apply again next year and that means school would have to be put off until January of 2010 because the only classes he needs to take at this point are in the Major.
I was the one to get the mail on Tuesday. John had just left for school and would not be back for over an hour. As soon as I saw the CWU envelope I ran for the phone. Of course John wasn't answering, so I did what any good wife would do, I didn't open the letter. Nope I held it up to the light and since it was only one page it was easy to read. I can't even explain the emotions that ran through me when I read "officially accepted into the major..." I called Holly (john's sister) for help. I didn't have the car and I wanted to surprise John when he came home. She brought over a couple of congrats banners and balloons. she also brought us a bottle of sparkling cider and Riska sized goblets (picture.) I hung the banners in the doorway and hung letter behind them. The first thing John saw when he got home was the banners and the letter. He was a little confused at what I was congratulating him for because the letter was unopened, then I told him what I did. I wish you all could have seen his face. The sheer relief and excitement as he opened the letter. I am so proud of him and all the work he has done to get were he is. We are extremely grateful and feel so blessed. Thank you for your prayers and support. We love you all.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Pumpkin Carving


We were so excited about how this turned out, I had to share. Mariska didn't like the sound of the little saw we used but once we got the seeds out and separated them from the goop she loved to put her hands in them. Kids are funny. We have never carved pumpkins before and we decided to do something fun with this one. Hope you all have a great Halloween. Be safe.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The things kids do and say

So I have been meaning to write some of this stuff down and I figured it would be fun to share. As Mariska is coming up on two her not so little personality is really starting to shine. She has done some really cute and funny things.
We have been teaching Mariska how to sign. I wasn't going to keep doing it but since that is what I am going to be doing at school I figure why stop. She is a pro at signing please (rubbing your hand on your chest in a circle.) She has even started to say please. Gail (John's mom) has a bag of chocolate chips in her office. Mariska every day goes in and says please to grandma who then puts her on the desk and gives her two chocolate chips. Mariska then gives Gail a hug and a kiss. It is really cute. The other day she went in and Gail was working. Mariska tugged on the chair and when Gail turned around to pick her up she asked her "What do you say?" Her hands were under Mariska's armpits so when Mariska went to sign please she couldn't quite reach her chest so in stead she reached out and rubbed Gail's chest and said please. At least she is being polite.
Sunday I was in the bedroom laying down. John was in the living room and Mariska was being really quiet in the kitchen. John asked her what she was doing. She walked into the living room and lifted up her shirt and said "OHHHH" (something we say when we are talking about something pretty.) She had taken a pen to her belly. The funny thing is that it's all my fault. John is going to be Popeye for Halloween and I wanted to see if my eyeliner would work for drawing a tattoo on his arm. Mariska watched this and wanted me to draw on her arm. I know I know, not to smart on my part.
Riska loves her baby dolls and can be found with them all the time. She has started something new though. She likes to throw them on the ground. The first time she did I told her that's not nice. To my surprise she repeated me word for word and it was incredibly clear. The funny part now she throws the dolls on the floor just say afterward "That's not nice."
Holly (John's sister) and her girls were over a couple days ago. they were trying to get Mariska to say there names. Allie who is 14 (I think) asked Mariska to say her name and Mariska insisted on calling her mom. I thought it was funny how insistent Mariska was. Anytime Allie would say, "No I am Allie" Mariska would look at her and say mom.
I have two more funny kid things but it comes from my nephew's and niece's. Joshua (my sister's oldest) would call me up on the phone just to tell my that I was a goober. I would insist that he was the goober and it would go from there. Jimmy (John's brother's oldest) has taken to telling me that I am a Hoot every time I see him. At the last family get together he called Allie a Hulahoot, which to me is super funny. I think the next time I see him i will call him an Uber hoot and see how that goes.
Again Holly and the girls were over and John came down stairs where Livie(8) and Maddie(10 I think) were. As he walked through the door he asked Livie "What's up chicken Butt?"Livie didn't particularly like the name chicken butt so she started to call John "Johnny-thong." The first time she did it I about fell out of my chair I thought it was so funny. John didn't like his name either so they made a truce that they would no longer call each other those names.
Kids You got to love them. If you have any funny kid stories put them down.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Grandparents

Yesterday I was working in the kitchen and Mariska was with me playing and doing her thing. I gave her a bottled water and went back to the bread I was making. As soon as I turned my back she did what I suppose any two year old would do and dumped the entire water bottle on the floor. Since this is not the first time this has happened (you think I would learn) I told Mariska to go to time out. She marched right to the corner and stood there for all of two seconds and then came back out and down the hall. I wanted her to stay there until I got the water cleaned up and I could talk with her about it. I told her again to go to time out and she did the same thing walked there stood in the corner two seconds and started down the hall. I finally got everything cleaned up (while telling her over and over again to go to time out with the same reaction from her) and had my little chat with her about pouring water on the floor. Bet you are wondering were I am going with this. Last night while we sitting at the dinner table Jim (my father-in-law) came and told me that he found the whole water and timeout situation so funny he actually had to walk away from the hall so Mariska (or I for that matter) didn't see him laughing. So I guess my question to you is why is everything so darn funny to our parents when it is not that funny to us? Is it because they have already experienced it and know what it feels like? I have called my mom several times asking her to remind me that we are supposed to love our children no matter what they have done to my wall, or my couch, or my brand new shirt, or my Piano bench. She will ask what Mariska had done and after I tell her what my wonderful daughter did she laughs and laughs. I know that some things I will look back on and think "hey that was funny" even if it is not funny now because it has already started to happen. I know this probably sounds like I am complaining, I'm not. I find it funny myself and am wondering if everyone's parents are like this or is it just mine and my husbands.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Blog Safety

So, I was checking out the new posts of my fellow blogger and my sister-in-law posted something very interesting. A friend of hers has run into troubles with her blog and wrote a post about blog safety. This is an excellent post and worth reading. After reading it I became a Little weary about the information that I had on my blog. I am changing the e-mail and I am also dropping my blog list to protect my family and friends who's blogs I follow. I have set up a new followers list and will be able to view your blogs from my dashboard. We changed the name of our blog so as not to be using our last name. I hope this doesn't sound pushy but it would be a great favor to us if you have our name on your blog rolls to use only our first names. The post was great and made me realize that people you don't know can get onto your blog.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Fun day at the Zoo


We had to take a trip to Seattle at the beginning of September to see Mariska's Orthopedic Surgeon. Mariska has whats called Camptodactyle in her right hand. That is just a fancy word for bent finger. Her pinkie is bent and wont unbend when she stretches out her fingers. We first saw Doctor Parker back in April. She gave us a brace for Mariska to wear every night when she slept. Apparently this is something we will be dealing with until Mariska has finished growing. Doctor Parker said that if we are diligent in using the brace Surgery will not be necessary later on. So our second appointment was on September 2. We got to the hospital late and we were called back even before I had started to fill out the paperwork. The nurse took us to the room and said the doc would be right with us. Literally two seconds later Doctor Parker walked in. She examined Mariska's hands and said that they are stretching out nicely. She no longer has to wear the brace and we do not have to go back until Mariska is about 5. That was it. We were at the hospital for about 7 minutes. I told John I was glad we decided to go to the zoo that day because it would have really stunk if we drove over to Seattle for a 7 minute appointment. Mariska loved the zoo. Point Defiance is so different than Woodland Park. We loved the water exhibits. It took us a total of three hours to walk through the whole zoo and that was with stopping at two presentations and making it to the end of a third. We also let Mariska play on the playground there for a while before we left. I was glad to have Aurie there with us. She made the trip a lot more fun.

School Starts

I figure with one more day of freedom (as much as a mom actually gets) I better get a entry in. I am only going to go 3/4 time this semester meaning I only have two classes. John is taking three. He is working nights and boy are we glad because his schedule is scary. He has a class in the morning at 8:00 and then his next class doesn't start until 12:00 and then his last class starts at 1:00. I was happy we were able to get my classes scheduled around his because daycare is expensive. Mariska started in a toddler bed when Aurie went home. It was rough the first couple nights but now she does really well. We are still working on the falling out of bed issue but I guess that will just take some time. Mariska has started to talk more. Usually we can't understand what it is she is saying but now she actually says words. She surprised me yesterday by saying "fish." The best part about it is the way she puckers her lips to say. One would say she actually looks like a fish.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Labor Day Week





So we picked a weekend that was not going to busy camp wise. The weather according to the computer said it would be nice and as long as we were out of there by Tuesday afternoon we would miss the storm that was supposed to hit Lake Easton. John took the couple days off and we headed out for what was looking like a wonderful get away from everyday life. We arrived at Lake Easton and much to our surprise it started to sprinkle. No big deal we would get the tent set up and then get dinner going. Yeah right. We got the tent set up and it started to pour. We couldn't get a fire to stay long enough for us to fix our dinner. We had planned on having sandwiches for lunches but because of the rain we decided to go ahead and have them for dinner and then have our tin foil dinners for lunch the next day. We retired early because we had nothing else to do with it raining. We woke to what was looking like a beautiful Monday. We had breakfast and then decided to go hiking. Mariska, being the independent person she is, refused to be carried and walked almost the entire couple of miles we hiked. Towards the end she had had enough and she seemed a little cold so I stuffed her into my jacket and walked with her wrapped around my front the last half mile or so back to camp. She went down for a nap and I decided to join her since I tossed and turned most the night. It started to rain again while we were sleeping but nothing to bad. John hung out with Aurie and they had some good conversations. It did rain just enough that when Mariska woke and started to run around and do the usual falling down she was falling down in mud instead of dirt. I took a lot of clothes for two days and I was starting to run out of them. I guess I never realized how dirty kids can get by being out side in the rain. It doesn't help that Mariska is OCD about having her hands clean. Anytime she fell down she wouldn't catch herself with her hands but would catch herself with her elbows or stomach. I am not sure where she got that from. I had a feeling to get dinner going at 4:00 so I did and we ate early it rained off and on for a couple of hours and I had decided that we should just pack up and go home because obviously the storm had decided to show it's head early. As soon as I came to this decision it started to pour. There was no way we would get everything cleaned up in that much rain so we went to bed early again. It rained all night long. Everything was soaked when we got up Tuesday. It had finally stopped raining and I told John that we just needed to go home. I was glad that we had some time on Monday to go hiking but I am sorry ti say this was not one of my favorite camping trips. I was surprised at how well Mariska did apart from constantly being in the mud and eating the leaves off the trees. She stayed away from the camp fire when we had one and she for the most part stayed in our camp cite without being told. She was up set that we had to go home but fortunately I am Mom and what I say goes.



We went to the Fair here in Ellensburg on Thursday and had a really good time. I was actually surprised at how much fun my sister had. I enjoy going but I wasn't too sure about her. She actually stayed with some friends from the ward when John and I came home and then when I went back to walk around that evening Aurie came with me. It was nice to have some sister time and I didn't realize how much I was in need of it. We really enjoyed the animals and had a great time seeing everything else. Hope you are all doing well.

Friday, August 15, 2008







We have officially caught the bug here!!!! I love watching the Olympics. Our TV has never been on as much as it has in the last week. We are huge swim fans and have found that watching Michael Phelps and his journey through this Olympics very exciting. The other sports that we have thoroughly enjoyed watching is Beach Volleyball. I of course really enjoy watching the men play (for obvious reasons). I think that it is a prerequisite for beach volleyball players to be easy on the eyes. They all seem to be fairly good looking. Anyway moving on. I got a little irritated watching the men's gymnastics. The Chinese are really good and our boys really had their work cut out for them but I felt that we were really jipped when it came to our scores. Even the commentators said that they felt the US scores were lower than they should be. I was really excited when Nastia and Shawn took Gold and Silver in the women's all around. I have never seen anyone stick their landings the way Nastia did yesterday. I am really looking forward to seeing the track and field events. I think they started today. Mariska has even enjoyed watching with us. She loved the gymnastics and would laugh hysterically when they did flips and jumps. You can definitely tell how vocal we are when it comes to sports because when ever John and I really get into it we yell and holler at the TV. I was on the phone with my mom during one of Michael Phelps races and all of a sudden Mariska was not quite yelling, but saying loudly "GO, GO, GO!" It was rally cute. I just checked a little while ago China has more gold medals than any other country but the US has 48 medals over all and China has 41. I think when this Olympics ends I will be a little sad. It has been really fun to watch and get excited for the competitors who are representing this wonderful country. GO USA!!!!!!!!!

Monday, July 21, 2008

So, I walked into my kitchen yesterday and this is what I saw. Mariska had taken one of the pillows off the couch and set it very neatly on the floor. She then went on to empty the cupboard of all my canned items. She placed them all neatly on the ground around the pillow and then sat down on the pillow and continued to play with the cans. The other thing she has started to do, that I think is absolutely hilarious, she takes those same cans and puts them in the stroller she has for her baby doll and "gives them a ride" through out the house. I swear we shouldn't even bother buying the kid toys, because as long as I have canned goods and Tupperware she is a happy camper. I haven't been able to get a picture of her with the stroller but I will post it when I do.
Yesterday at church John and Mariska gave the nursery leaders a scare. Other parents had come to get their children and somehow Mariska saw John and sneaked out without the leaders seeing her go to him. I went to get Mariska and poor Sis. Peacock had to tell me she had no idea where Mariska was and how sorry she was. I figured she went with John because I would probably hear her screaming if she was with anyone else. I found John and sure enough she was with him. I told him he needed to make sure the nursery leaders know when he takes her. It was a funny and yet scary experience.
Things are crazy busy here. I am so glad this week is the last week of school. I am looking so forward to sitting down and reading a book that I want to read. Until next time!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

I hope you all had a wonderful Forth of July!!!! We had a busy day but it was a lot of fun. Mariska got to hang out with her cousins and we had Jolie (good friend of mine) along with her mom over for dinner. We were going to go hiking that morning but it rained the whole night before so we decided to skip it. We went to a wonderful breakfast at the ward the morning of the forth. I was asked to lead the music and it was a lot of fun to see Mariska copy her mom. She has started leading whenever music plays anywhere. It is really cute. Friday night was the first night John hasn't had to work so we decided to stay up late watching movies. We watched Jumper and 27 Dresses. We stayed up until 2:00. I am not sure if that was such a good idea now but it was a lot of fun. We got up yesterday morning and took Aurie with us to go shopping in Yakima. I don't think it was as great as she thought it would be. We didn't get home from Yakima until early evening but because of how long the day was it seemed so much later and I will tell you Mariska's bed time could not come soon enough. She was one tired booga. I think we caught a little bit of a bug because stomach aches have been a little problem for us the last couple of days. We came home from church a little early today because Mariska and Aurie were feeling a little under the weather. I laid down on the couch and John went back to bed in the bedroom. I am not sure when Aurie went to bed because she had fallen asleep on the couch, but we all slept for 4 hours. I guess you could say we all needed it. I find incredibly funny that Aurie was in the room with Mariska and John was in our room with a baby monitor and I was on the other side of the house with Riska's bedroom door closed and no baby monitor and I was the only one that woke up to her yelling "Ma, Ma." I guess it is just the mom in me. John rarely wakes up to Mariska in the mornings.
I am looking forward to going to school tomorrow to find out how I did on my Mid-term in geography. I think I did ok but we will see. That's it for now.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

So I look at families with children who are going to school and they make it look so easy. Now I realize that they must have some kind of super power to keep it all together. I don't know if it feels this way because I am taking three ten week classes that have been condenced into 6 weeks or if this is how it is going to be the whole time we are both in school. If I didn't have to sleep I think this would be a whole lot easier.
School is going good so far. I can't believe that I am already at Mid-terms. I have a mid-term on the third and then one at the begining of next week. I have already had a couple tests. I scored the highest in my logic class on our last test. I was so excited because my teacher said that the first test is the hardest. I pulled a 93 out of 100. John was giving me a hard time about it. He said that I just messed it up for everyone else if the teacher grades on a curve. I told him that I honestly didn't care I was just happy for the A.
Not doing so bad in my Geography class. I am a little worried about the final on Thursday but I have been keeping up on the reading and I will start studying tonight. Hopefully this will help me get a good grade. Those two calsses are my favorites. I have a hard time with English because it is so boring. My teacher reminds me of Edna Mode of the "Incredibles." This is the only thing that makes the class worth staying awake for.
Our trip to see mom and dad was a lot of fun. We spent the first part traveling and then the second part taking it easy. We went to the beach while in California. It was so beautiful. I love playing out in the water. Aurie and I had a lot of fun until the last wave took us both down and dragged us across the ocean floor. I hit my face on the ground and scuffed up my elbows and knees from where I hit. I ended up with so much sand in my swimsuit you could fill a sandbox. Mariska wanted nothing to do with the water. I think it is because it was moving and loud. She does fine in the bathtub or pool, so I find that kind of funny. We also went to Utah and visited with family. on our way home we stopped and did a hike at the petrified sand dunes in St. George. Mariska sure got dirty.
Aurielle's gradutaion was the big reason for us going to Vegas this last time. It is weird to think that we are all out of high school. We had a lot of fun spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Wareham when they came down. The day before we left we had our family pictures taken. They turned out really good. I can't wait to get them. If you want to see them you can got to this link;

nffocus.com/frank

I am posting some pictures just for fun. Hope everything finds you all well.