Whistler

Eric and I went on a ski trip, just the two of us. It was blissful. Not that we don't enjoy being with our children, it's just a good thing to be able to take off once in a while and just focus on each other. Combine that with skiing and you have one heck of a trip! :) We fell in love with Whistler... the drive there was spectacular and the town delightful but it's the skiing that really knocked our socks off. Wow! The snow was incredible and the terrain was amazing. I couldn't stop taking pictures! The huge trees were enchanting with their heavy mantles of snow - especially the ones that had the moss dripping off underneath! The views were breathtaking. It felt incredible to be up in the mountains again. Blackcomb and Whistler are enormous ski resorts - just a massive amount of terrain. Often we would find ourselves completely alone on a run, which was a pretty cool feeling. It snowed lightly the first day and at one point in the day, at the very top of the mountain, the light was so flat you could hardly tell where you were going. That coupled with some mist and you literally felt like you were in the middle of nowhere... alone... with white under, over, and around you - everything looking the same with no definitive edges. It was eerie but pretty cool! In the evenings we would go hot tubbing, go to dinner, hit a movie, whatever we felt like! It was awesome! What a great trip! Meeting Eric for lunch one day (I wimped out skiing... I could barely walk!) We sat outside and ate at the base of the mountain!The views on the drive there. There was a time when you are driving next to the ocean and huge wooded islands are rising up out of the water close to the coast... wow. Thank you so much, Cheryl and Don, for flying out to watch our babies so we could do this trip! Knowing that Gabe and Nyah were with people that love them made our trip that much more relaxing and fun.

Nyah's first birthday!

I cannot believe my little girl is a year old! It feels like yesterday that we were bringing home this sweet little newborn. I was so excited to welcome her into our family, to finally meet and get to know her. This past year has been wonderful as we have witnessed her precious personality unfold. I love how affectionate she is. Her frequent, soft little hugs and kisses melt my heart. I love how spunky and dramatic she is too - she makes me laugh every day! Happy Birthday Nyah Leigh! We have always called Nyah our little bug so I made her a butterfly cake! I also had fun creating a banner for her that has 12 pendants, one for each month of her first year. On each pendant is a picture of her at that age. I love seeing how much she has changed this year! Once I print a birthday picture to finish the banner, I will take pictures of it and post it here! (Thanks for the great idea Brianne!) She likes it!! :) Grandma and Grandpa R. were here for Nyah's b-day - it was so fun to have family here to share this special day! Time for presents! Gabe was so cute with his little sister - he was so excited for her and loved showing her how her new presents worked! Can you see Nyah's tongue sticking out?! I love that face - she is so funny! I love this one too because it captures her with her dainty little pointer finger pushing on the car horn. Haha! She loves to use that finger to push things. Often when she is nursing, her hand will grope around my face until she finds my nose... out comes the pointer finger and starts pushing away!

We all just adore our little Nyah-noodle (another silly nickname)! Happy birthday baby!!

dinner by candlelight

Finally, a guy in the house that appreciates ambiance!! :) Let me explain... Gabe was rummaging through my cupboards while I was making dinner the other day. He came up with some Thanksgiving candlestick holders and red candles which he enthusiastically assembled and placed on the dinner table. All by himself, I might add. (I have to admit at this point that it was really hard for me not to try and persuade him to use different holders, or at least matching candles, but I restrained myself and went with the flow!!) He made sure we lit them and then all during dinner exclaimed how pretty they were and pointed them out to Daddy several times! I thought that last part was extremely funny as Eric has absolutely no notion of ambiance. And ironically we had just had the conversation a few days earlier where I told him how my mom loved to set a beautiful table and how we would usually eat with lit candles at dinner time all growing up. (Having said that, I have to laugh at how funny my dinner table looks that night. The least of which is Gabe's choice of candles... um, nice bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar in the foreground -haha!) Anyway, it was too precious of a moment for me not to record. Gabe is such a cute little boy! I love my little buddy!!

street sledding

I'm not sure I should be calling it "sledding". After all it was only a couple inches of snow over a nice icy street. (Well, nice as long as you're not driving on it!) Eric and Gabe had a perfect spot to finally get some use out of our Utah sleds!
It's so rare that it snows here that we appreciate it so much more! Gabe is delighted when it snows - it's so fun to see his happy excitement - and I have to admit I feel the same way! Boy, do I miss big old nasty Utah blizzards. Seriously, those were so fun to watch out your window and feel warm and toasty in your snug little house. :)

Valentine's

I'm getting these up a bit late but better late than never, I say. We had a fun Valentine's Day this year with pink heart-pancakes for breakfast and a heart shaped pizza for dinner! Of course we all left valentines on the porch for each other too. Gabe had a blast doing it! It was so fun to see his excitement when he would open the door and find one and when he would do his own little doorbell ditching! :) We also got two amazingly fun valentine's packages!! One from each set of grandparents. Gabe was delighted! I love this family of mine so much... it's wonderful having a day dedicated to expressing how much we cherish each other.

too precious

I am just loving watching Nyah's personality unfold... it is like I'm getting a clearer view every day of who this little darling is. She is so playful and sweet - I love how these pictures capture her cute little personality!

Even though it's a little blurry (taken by my phone) I couldn't help but add this last picture... oh my gosh, she is so funny!

Happy Valentine's weekend!

Like my LOVE banner?! I got the idea from my creative sister Melanie. I love it! But then I love everything about this holiday! I know there are haters out there but I'll never understand that. Even if you don't have a "valentine", it's still fun to have a day set aside to celebrate your loved ones. Growing up we would all make valentines for each other and then on Valentine's Day, one by one, we would leave them on the porch and run! I don't know where the door-bell-ditching part came from but it was always a ton of fun... even though you knew your sibling was over behind that bush giggling! Or later, when we were older, coming nonchalantly in the back door while we were oohing and aahing over the gifts on the front doorstep! :) Oh I love those memories. Silly but precious moments. I can't wait to start them with Gabe and Nyah. Aren't my two little love bugs so cute in these pictures?! (I couldn't decide which was better so I put them both up!)and Nyah with her first pony tail! :)

Watch out!

About a week ago Nyah finally discovered she can use her body to propel herself forward! It was very exciting... especially for Eric and I! :) She is taking after her brother in that she doesn't crawl the "right" way. (Remember Gabe's funny scoot? Click here for the funniest home video ever!) Anyway, Nyah doesn't army crawl - it's more of an inch-worm style. So cute!

I know it's dark, sorry. It's light outside and I have all the lights on too! That's Seattle for you. I love how it goes completely black at the end too.... Gabe was playing with his truck that has real headlights and loves to play in the dark!

ever heard of a food co-op?

I hadn't. Just this week my friend introduced me to Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op and I got my first basket (or should I say truckload!) of fresh produce this morning. It is awesome! This picture is from Eric's phone - not the best - but you can see that I got bananas, oranges, apples, mangoes, lettuce, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, and sweet potatoes... I don't know if you can tell but I got a huge pile of each thing and all for only $15!! I am so excited about this I had to blog about it! We are going to be eating fresh this week... and next! :) You should check out the website to see if there is a pickup near you. Seriously cool. Gabe helped me arrange the produce and then was so excited, joined the picture! :)

bedtime

The hour or so before bedtime is always a little crazy (ok, a lot)... what with hungry and tired kids whining at your feet while you're trying to make dinner! I know it's the same in almost all households with children all across the world no doubt. That makes me feel a little better actually! :) Anyway, tonight Gabe was being particularly naughty. First he was throwing toys carelessly against the floorboards and walls. When I asked him to stop he made his way into the kitchen where I was attempting dinner and started bashing his little train in his hand against one of the kitchen chairs. Again, I asked him to stop. This time he bashes it one more time HARD into the table and just looks at me. Oh boy. Anyway, to make a long story short we have time out, I have a few talks with him about being nice, and even give him ideas of things to do, etc. Nothing works. He resorts in the end to yelling at me that he wants to go to time out! I say "ok, go ahead, buddy." He runs away and when he sees I'm not coming, he yells he wants me to put him in time out! Well, at this point I'm struggling to stay patient but at the same moment it hits me that he is obviously needing, and I mean NEEDING, some attention. Not in 5 minutes. Not after dinner. NOW! So I stop what I'm doing and go get him... but instead of time out I take him to the couch and sit down with him in my lap. We hug and talk and giggle a little... until after about 3 minutes he wiggles off my lap and runs off to play. I'm left wondering what on earth took me so long to figure out that all he needed was 3 minutes of my undivided attention! Dinner can wait 3 minutes. Especially when it means peace and happiness in our lives... for the moment anyway! :)

I just wanted to record that "aha" moment for myself. I feel bad about so many things I mess up as a parent, that it feels really good to acknowledge when I get something right. Haha! And I wanted to remember it... for other evenings in the future!

I had another sweet moment tonight, with Nyah this time. I have to say that one of my favorite times of the day with her is when I nurse her before tucking her into bed. It is dark and peaceful in her room. We just cuddle and relax and when she's done, she puts her little chin on my shoulder, one arm up by her face and the other tucked down against me while I burp her. Same position every night. Then we rock in the chair or walk around while that inevitably stubborn bubble makes its way up. At this point she is usually very sleepy and tonight she started rubbing her face against mine - all over my face. (It was hard not to laugh as I got my nose and eyes mashed by her roving little face.) She made her little snuffles and snorts... and tonight gave a spontaneous little grunt/laugh followed by a big sigh and little "pbbfffttt" with her lips. It was so sweet. It really pulled at my heartstrings. I just love how uninhibited babies are, especially with their mamas. When I lowered her into her crib she gave me her obligatory little whimper before settling down quietly with her binki and quilt. It's almost hard to leave at night - I just want to give her one more kiss, one more cuddle, one more stroke on the cheek. Oh how I love that little girl.