Our Family Update, Part 1

Okay, I know that I have been terrible at keeping up with our blog, but since I went back to work I am doing good to keep up with the laundry. So to get you up to speed we have:

Jensen as Tinker Bell for halloween!

And My Crafty Candy Turkey's

These past couple of months have really flown by for Nate and I. Jensen has been going to Day Care 3 day's a week and loves playing with all the other kids, the other 2 days she gets one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa. She is using her words and is up to about 35 to 40 words. Nate is super busy at school where they are now into the heart of the Basketball season. I have been back to work for about 10 weeks and I love it. I miss being at home with Jensen but its nice to see our medical bills going down. Speaking of medical bills.....

We are so excited to announce that.......It's a Girl!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season!

Umm Pizza! And a BABY!

Well, as you all can see Jensen's new favorite food is PIZZA! We made homemade pizza last Friday night for Uncle Dan and Aunt Meghann.

She likes to eat it in her own way, first she eats off all the cheese and sauce, then she eats the rest from the middle out! It makes for a bit of a mess but what ever keeps my baby happy!

So, I took Jensen with me to my last OB appointment last week and we got to listen to the baby's heartbeat! As soon as Jensen heard it she pointed to my belly and started saying "baby, baby". I swear that girl's to smart for her own good!

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

Well a year has come and gone and our sweet little girl is now officially 1 year old. We decided to wait and have her birthday party a week late since Grandma & Grandpa Tracy were flying out for the special occasion. We had a wonderful Bar-B-Que with tons of food (thanks to everyone's efforts) Chocolate and Fun Fetti Cupcakes with ice cream and a ton of presents. She is definitely one spoiled little girl. And for those of you who haven't heard yet, Nate and I decided to give Jensen the gift that keeps on giving...the right to be a bossy big sister! We are expecting a new little bundle of joy on my birthday, May 7! By the way, check out the new video under the Jensen's Video's bar.

I can't believe she's WALKING

So for about the last month and half Jensen has been walking around everything, tables, couches, walls, pretty much anything that she can support herself against. Then is was walking to and from those objects, you know 3 or 4 brave little steps with one final lunge. Well today she decided to just start walking on her own, 6 steps, then 7, 9, and so on. So here is a little snippet!

Labor Day Weekend

Well, tooth #5 made its appearance last week and the only thing that seemed to put a smile on the little girls face was her very first Popsicle(I'm sure the sugar had nothing to do with it). Honestly, after she was done eating, she took a bath, went right to bed, and slept through the night.We also took Jensen to Lava Hit Springs with Dan & Meghann this past weekend to go swimming. Jensen wasn't sure what to make of all the water at first, but once she sure warmed up to it and had a great time.









I think, however, that she enjoyed the OREO cookie that she got her littler hands on more than swimming!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Okay, I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I've been a busy little bee. More like a chicken with it's head cut off! I had surgery on the 30th to have my stinking gallbladder taken out. Then Nate and I spent 2 wonderful weekends house-sitting for my Aunt & Uncle(we love enjoying the comforts of their home!) I love to cook and all I can say is their kitchen is pretty dang close to my dream kitchen. Aside from our bad luck with cars and having a minor($588)fender bender(that did nothing to our car) the last couple of weeks have been really wonderful as our summer has officially come to an end.


Nate started school on the 18th and was recruited to be the 7th grade girls volleyball coach, along with coaching the high school cross country team. He is only teaching 7th and 8th grade this year and in a couple of months will begin coaching the varsity girls basketball. He has worked with the girls all summer long with practices, tournaments, and even hosting his very own basketball camp for 5th through 9th grade girls.

While Nate started back to school I got in touch with my homemaker side and did some canning. From the left we have plum-applesauce, pineapple-apricot preserves, raspberry-peach jam, applesauce, and raspberry jam. I've already done a couple of batches of strawberry jam, and I'm getting ready to do pickles(dill & sweet) as well as salsa and we'll do freezer corn at the end of September. With all this garden food we should be set for the winter. I guess that's what you get when you have and acre and a half garden. We have sure enjoyed the fruits of other peoples labor(i.e. my Dad and Brother).
Jensen sure has enjoyed the food from the garden as well, though she has yet to master the art of eating corn on the cob!

Need a Drink?

Jensen, like any good ol' farm girl, likes to drink straight from the hose!

Water Baby!

As you can see, after our trip to Dirkes Lake and Jensen getting her first experience in the water (other than the tub, of course) she insisted that she have her very own pool. She is officially a water baby! She especially loves her pool because it came with all sorts of fun toys. I think the turtle and the fishing pool are her favorites. She hasn't quite figured out what the slide is for yet. She has attempted to climb it a couple of times only to slip and fall on her face and chug a mouth full of water. Who would have thought that a $20 pool from Wal-Mart could bring a little girl so much fun and joy!

Road Trip

"And here we have Idaho Winning her way to fame. Silver and gold in the sunlight blaze, and romance lies in her name. Singing, we're singing of you, Ah, proudly too, All our lives thru, we'll go Singing, singing of you, Singing of Idaho"(the chorus to the Idaho state song). Well, since I was going to be cooped up for several days after my surgery, Nate decided to take Jensen and I along on a road trip to the Jerome and Minidoka county fairs. Which I quickly tried to get out of, really, who wants to spend 6 hours riding in a car through the desert. When we were about 40 miles away from Jerome Nate saw the sign for Shoshone Falls and decided that we would stop on our way back. I had been there once but all I could remember was that I was young and went climbing up the steep mountain side (that I distinctly remember someone telling me not to) falling and skinning up both of my legs. As you can see, Jensen was asleep for the first part of our side trip and didn't get to enjoy the beauty of the falls. When we were leaving Shoshone Falls we noticed a sign for Dirkes Lake and since we had already paid the $3 to get into the state park we figured we might as well go see what it was like. Well the water was warm and there were lots of people out enjoying the water so we stripped Jensen down to her onsie and put her in. She wasn't sure about the feel of the sand but the look on her face you can tell she was having a wonderful time.

Hand-Me-Downs!!!

I know that there are those of you who have to have everything new and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! When it comes to me and my clothes, I have to have it new. But when it comes to baby toys there are certain things that you just can't pass up. I priced several "ExerSaucers" and decided that Jensen didn't need a new one and the "hand-me-down" that we received from my brother would be just fine. As you can see Jensen loves it, she just loves playing under it! Boy am I glad I saved that $80!!

TEETHING!!!

Of all the poopy-blowouts and spit ups, its sad to say...I would rather deal with that then a teething baby. She is so miserable, both of her top ones are coming in at the same time and the poor thing just wants to be held. Don't get me wrong its adorable that she wants to cuddle until I set her down to go potty or try to cook dinner, then it's a runny nose, arms flailing, throw myself to the ground(good thing she doesn't have far to go) crying until someone picks her up and then she immediately rubs her face on your shirt smearing snot all over her face and your 3rd clean shirt of the day. She won't eat, has a fever, and insists on crawling around the house in nothing but her diaper. Oh the joys of Motherhood, honestly you know I wouldn't trade for anything in the world...I love the little snot-nose monkey more than anything!

Our Little Girl

Okay so just a little update on what is happening with us this summer. Nate has the wonderful privilege of working for Congressman Simpson as one of his field reps. As you can see we have even recruited Jensen to do some campaigning for us!! I went back to work for Columbia Paint for 4 weeks when I was informed that I was being laid off do to the buy-out by Sherwin Williams. So I am a stay at home mom once again. Which is fine by me! I'd rather be with my little Monkey(because she is crawling and climbing onto everything) anyway! Nate really only has 6 weeks of summer left and then its back to teaching and coaching. He actually never quit coaching. He has been helping with a shooters league(basketball)the past 4 weeks and in 2 weeks he will be running his own basketball camp. Then in August he'll start cross country practice. I am going to be taking 12 credits this fall at ISU and am looking forward to continuing my education that I have put off for the past 10 years. I guess we all have to grow up sometime huh!

So, you've read the intro and you have to be thinking to yourself..."she totally had to use spell checker, because there is no way that she spelled 'grammatical' right!" Well I'll have you know that I did get it right without the spell checker, however, I did spell 'fascinating' wrong(I left out the 'c')!