Independence Day

Thursday night we headed out with Hal (a friend from Brad's work) to see Glacier National Park in Montana. We arrived at our cabin around 11pm and had a good night's sleep before heading off to explore the park the next day. It was gorgeous. The lake was clear and bright blue and the mountains were so majestic. The place we were staying had a little fireworks display which didn't start until around 11:30 because it stays light so long there. We woke Ella up to see her first fireworks and she enjoyed them. Afterwards she was really hyper and wouldn't go back to sleep. We had her on the floor upstairs and when we went to check on her, she had moved forward about 3 feet so I guess that means she is secretly crawling. When we're watching she'll get up on all fours and rock back and forth and sometimes do a face plant to move forward but usually she just moves backwards which makes her really mad as she gets farther and farther from what she's trying to grab.

Here's some pictures of the trip (most of which were taken by Hal)







And my favorite picture


You can click on any of the pictures and it will take you to flickr where you can see all 100+ pictures.

Random Stuff

I've had a bunch on random thoughts lately that I thought I'd blog while I'm in the mood. First off is an update on the diaper-blowout situation. I didn't exactly conduct a scientific experiment to narrow down the issue (I was more interested in eliminating the situation), but what I did worked. I switched back to Pampers and moved up a size and she's only had two blowouts in the last 6 weeks or so. What I should have done was change one variable at a time so I could identify the culprit because now I'm stuck buying Pampers in a larger size.

My friend Sunny told me a trick that I've passed on to others and they always think it's so cool so I thought I'd post it here. Did you know that you can screw a canning jar onto a regular blender? You can also use old spaghetti sauce jars and other jars you usually just throw away. At this point in the explanation I usually get the same lost look I gave Sunny when she explained it to me so I thought I'd take some pictures to demonstrate.
Step 1

Step 2

Step 3


I do this all the time to make my morning smoothie. I think I'll also use it to make baby food and maybe a margarita or two?

A few years ago I found a recipe for energy bars that I really like. You can put just about anything in them, this is just a good starting point.

2 1/2 c. old fashioned organic quick oats
1/2 c.whole flax seed (I used ground flax meal)
1/4 c. organic dark cocoa powder ( this was hard to find..I used Hersheys dark cocoa)
1/2 c. natural peanut butter
1/2 c. honey
1/2 tsp. spirulina ( I ground up some tablets)
1/2 -1 c. hot water
Mix ingredients & form into patties.Wrap individually and freeze in ziplock bag.

I had an ahh hah moment the other day when I was going to feed Ella. I've been reading "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment" and he talks a lot about how God knows all of our needs and will provide what is best for us even if it means removing something we are attached to. When I laid down to feed Ella she had her pacifier in her mouth and got all excited about eating. Well, she couldn't figure out that her pacifier had to come out in order to eat. She just kept sucking harder and faster. Not wanting to be too mean, I finally took it out of her mouth which made her kind of mad, but once she realized she could eat she was very thankful.

Finally, if you made it through all that, here's a picture from a day at the beach downtown last week. We met Debbie and Nicki and the kids for Debbie's birthday. Happy birthday Debbie!

Ella's first time in the sand!



Thanks Aunt Ann for the cute hat! She wears it all the time.

Summer Fun

Now that summer is here we feel like we live in paradise. Last week Ella and I met our friends Anne and Sunny for a nice walk by the lake in perfect weather.

(that's Sunny's son Samuel in the backpack)


A couple of weeks ago we bought an old boat and on Saturday we took it out on the lake to see if it would float. Our friends Hal and Rob came with us.

Her life jacket makes her look tiny

Best Birthday Ever

I turned 30 on Thursday and had a great day thanks to friends and family. Debbie asked if I could come over for lunch and surprised me with a party! It was a lot of fun hanging out with the ladies from church and all their kids. Thanks Debbie!!! Then Brad took the afternoon off and we drove to Spokane for an afternoon of shopping. It was such a fun day I didn't want to go to bed and have it end. I feel blessed to have had 30 great years with all my friends and family.

The Turtle

This week has been great. We started putting Ella to bed in her room and she's sleeping through the night (meaning I don't have to feed her)! I would have done it sooner, but I was too lazy to walk all the way upstairs if she woke up plus it was nice having her close.

The funniest thing is a couple of nights around 4am she woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep on her own so one of us would go up there and every time we would find her on her back with her arms and legs flailing around like a turtle on it's back. Yes, I'm a bad mom and let her sleep on her stomach, but she's figured out how to roll over to her back and it makes her really mad because she can't roll back. Once we roll her back over she instantly goes back to sleep. We were wondering if we could Velcro her tummy to the sheet to keep her from getting "stuck" on her back.

Her favorite toy right now is a paper towel. She will put it in her mouth and shake her head back and forth like a puppy.

I Heart USA

Ella and I just returned from an actuary conference in Toronto. On the way there we stopped in Minneapolis for the weekend to see our friends Rachel, Brian and Adam. It was a nice, relaxing weekend before continuing our journey on to Toronto. My mom met us in Toronto to watch Ella while I attended the meetings. It was nice to see my mom and be able to hang out with her, but I can't say I fell in love with Toronto. There really wasn't anything interesting to see, the people weren't that friendly and it was kind of expensive. We wanted to make it to Niagra Falls, but ran out of time. On the way home we had a layover in Minneapolis where I realized I left my wallet laying on the seat in the Toronto airport. Yesterday I got ahold of their lost and found and they had it (minus the cash)! I was so happy to not have to go through the hassle of replacing everything. While the trip was good, I was glad to be back in the good ole USA.

Adam is about to be a big brother and I think he's going to do a great job




Here's Ella and I in front of St. Andrew's Cathedral


And my mom and Ella in front of the old courthouse

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

This weekend I planted my first garden! Brad set up the drip system and a friend from church tilled it for me and I planted the seeds (Ok, so I didn't really do that much). I planted radishes, beets (for Ella), potatoes (I think that's a requirement for Idaho residency), green beans, carrots, zucchini, squash and watermelon. It's kind of a lot considering how small the garden is. My strategy was plant as much as possible and hopefully something will grow.



The last couple weeks have been perfect weather although the amount of pollen in the air is amazing! Everything is coated with yellow dust and the mountains are kind of hazy. It's not a pleasant environment for allergies.
Here's a random picture of Ella I snapped while we were hanging out outside last night.