road trip...

I am regressing with these posts back about a week sorry but we have been busy...I have to sometime catch up to where we are today...Our road trip to Oregon was almost perfect. Bay was an angel and we didn't have to stop except for gas and bathroom breaks (for us that is). Bay was such an angel and so content the whole trip! We took our first real break in Hood River Oregon which is only about and hour and a half from our destination. Daddy and Bay in Hood river. The pergola is on a walkway that overlooks the river.We had dinner up by the library on the hill which had a killer view. It was perfect weather and Bay loved being outside and walking around.
We had the best ice cream I have ever had at this place called Mikes. It was to die for. I am not a fan of banana flavored anything but this ice cream was sooo good. We decided to get a flavor that all of us could share and something we thought bay would like so that is how we ended up with banana. I have to say that I was impressed with this place because their place was a "green" establishment. They used hormone free milk and natural flavors in their ice cream and their spoons were made from corn..so they were biodegradable. So cool! This is Bays ice cream face. He does this face whenever anything is really cold.

About 20 mins down the road I realized that I had left my purse in boardman at a gas station. We had to drive back over 100 miles to get it. Luckily a little old lady had turned it in for me and everything was still inside and undisturbed. It gave me a little renewed faith in humanity and that there are people that are genuinely good still in the world. Yikes that could have been bad. Since we had an extra 3 hours on the trip courtesy of me we decided to stay in a hotel in the Dalles. We stopped and looked at 2 places both of which were either way expensive or were full. Let me just say the motel 6 was perfect and a steal of a deal at 12:30 at night. Luckily we got one of the last 2 non-smoking rooms with a king sized bed...the next morning we were off to salem. I will have to report more on the next day of the trip in another post...

fathers day 2009

Father's day was pretty different this year. Jeff and I got to celebrate father's day with his family at Carmela's vineyard. This place is the same place we did mother's day with his family. We got to have brunch and had a tee time to golf but that did not seem to work as this nasty storm rolled in. We actually ended up staying there almost 2 hours longer than anticipated to wait out the storm. We decided not to drive home in the nasty storm. I took a movie because I didn't think anyone would believe how bad it was. I was a dork and forgot to take a picture of the album that I made Jeff for his first year being a father...sorry ! Enjoy the mini movie and the storm pictures...these are all the pictures that we had from that beautiful day! These are the first clouds that were rolling in but as you can see they got much worse. These were the clouds that packed the punch of the nasty thunder and lightening and the rain!

mix of photos

Its been entirely too long since I have posted...sorry. We (Bay and I) are currently in Oregon as our carpet is being ripped up in our house and the installation of the new stuff happens Tuesday. We decided since the carpet out gasses and we don't want to be exposed, and we really don't have a baby friendly place to stay. It all seemed to work out with my parents already driving out for my little nephews blessing over the fourth of July we decided to hitch a ride. A free ride home and a few more days with my parents equals a good solution. I have a million pictures to post so I will do many posts.We have been busy in Oregon doing all kinds of great things as a with my family but those pictures will come later so stay tuned. Here are a few older ones...enjoy!
Whiskers has been sleeping in the washer on the clothes that need to get washed, we have learned to be careful as to not start the washer without checking for the cat.
This is the jogging stroller that my brother and his wife let us borrow...we love it..and so does bay.
Finally this is the newest thing that Bay is doing. He started sticking his tongue out and pulling at it. We see lots of his tongue these days.

The Birthday Boy...

Jeff's birthday was awhile back but here is a run down of what transpired on that special day. Jeff got off shift that morning and I we went for a walk to Rembrandt's an amazing church that was renovated and turned into a neat coffee shop. We shared a scone and got a couple of drinks and just spent about a half hour to an hour just enjoying each others company. Then that afternoon we met up and had an amazing lunch at Tucano's a new Brazilian restaurant in Boise. I had heard good things about their food but nothing could have prepared me for how good it was. Jeff loved it! After dinner we went back and took a family nap and Jeff opened presents from Bay and I. Next we went for another walk together to get ice cream and a movie. At about 7:30 Candace, Chad and Emma came over and we had dessert.
I made a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. We ate cake and watched Slumdog Millionaire. It was so much better than I thought it would be we all really liked it. Jeff said it was the prefect day...I was so glad he had so much fun!

bath time

We couldn't resist posting this picture we thought it was pretty funny.

Walking outside

I know that I already posted one video of him walking but this one is even better. He is too funny. He is really moving around the house these days!

Our first visit to the Emergency Room

Bay made a new friend a day or so ago. Our neighbor has this cool dog named Murphy that is a collie that he got from a ranch in eagle. He is a friendly dog that just kinda hangs outside the house and greets you as you go by. I decided since he was a nice dog to expose bay to another dog since he is obsessed with animals these days(or at least cats). So no harm was done in having the dog give him a little nuzzle and walk around him right? WRONG!

I noticed that Bay had what I thought was a scab on the back of his head yesterday morning. I remember telling my mom about it and how I was surprised that I hadn't noticed it earlier. I wasn't going to pick at it so I just left it alone and figured it was from when he bumped his head on the dresser the other day. The day went on and we were having trouble getting Bay to go to sleep jeff was holding him and rubbing his head and noticed the "scab" (or so I thought it was). He took a look and began freaking out. He said it was a tick. I had never seen a tick and to my knowledge they were small like the size of a pin head...not like this one. After stressing out calling people and looking on the internet we decided to go to the ER.


There we were parents of a one year old in the ER with a huge tick in our kids head. I felt like the biggest looser of a mom for not looking closer at the "scab"
earlier, but Jeff pointed out he hadn't noticed it either which made me feel much better. Luckily the ER was totally dead we were the only patients there. It was nice to be taken right back to an exam room and have it looked at. They did quick vitals and the doctor was with us right away.


The doctor took one look at Bay's head put on some gloves, yanked the tick out (along with like 10 of Bay's hairs)and that was it. It took about 5 seconds and it was over. Bay didn't even flinch. Ahhh relief was finally ours. The nurses gave Bay a cute bear stuffed animal as the doctor talked with us for a min, after which and we were discharged and on our way. It turns out I guess these ugly guys are very common this time of year and super easy to remove, and are not the kind that carry diseases. We are pretty sure it came from Murphy so I guess no more playing with him anymore. Hopefully we don't have to deal with anything like that again...I am just grateful that it was not as big of a deal as we thought it may be. Little Bay is fine and is as good as new, and as his parents we are now just paranoid that we have ticks somewhere hiding on us. Don't even ask how many times i made Jeff check my hair for me(nice thing is he doesn't seem to mind that much)...

walking movie...as requested

I have had lots of request to put more movies of this guy in action Here is a pretty good mini movie of this little guy walking...Enjoy!

a new visitor

The other night as we were moving in there was a few people gathered under the pine tree out front of our house looking up into the tree. I took bay and went outside and look what we saw. Can you see it? Look closely for the mask Yep you guessed it there was a raccoon in the tree. It was the early evening so it was hard to get a decent picture but there it was just hanging out in the tree staring back at us. We think that it had been up there all day and must have been scared by the garbage man or something and was just hanging out until nightfall. We were glad to see that it was gone the next morning. The last thing that we need is to have a rabid raccoon in the neighborhood.

My last day of work

Wednesday last week was my last day with the kids. I found myself almost dreading it because I have no idea what I will do with myself just watching one kid all day. Emma gave me a sense of routine and order and now that is gone. I have to say having the opportunity to watch Emma has made me grow so much closer to her than I imagined. She really is a sweet little girl and I feel blessed to be a part of her life. It was fun to see the kids get to know each other too. When we went back over the weekend Emma got really excited to see Bay and I, and let me tell you that sure makes you feel good. Here are a few pictures of the kiddos...I can't wait for Bay to get to spend more time with Emma this summer getting to know her more..it should be really fun.
I loved watching them get to know each other.
Emma and I, she loves to cuddle.
This is what an afternoon with a toddler looks like, the best part is you clean it up and it looks like this again 5 mins later. Little Emma. I guess she's not that little just younger. She about as big as bay!

Look who's walking...

My sister Mindy was right! About a month or so ago I was talking to my older sister about Bay and how he had taken his first steps but was not all that interested in continuing to walk. Her response was that Bay would wake up one day and it would be as if a light switch had turned on and all of a sudden he would figure it out. Sure enough that is exactly what has happened (even the overnight part!). We noticed it about the beginning of the week but thought it was just a fluke thing but we were wrong. Since Monday he has been walking all over the place. I told Jeff we needed to break out the video camera some more and get more video of him crawling before it is too late because as you can see he is on the move. Yikes!

one of the many reasons why I love being married to a fireman

This article and photos were part of a story posted by a local news station. I cant help but swell with pride when Jeff tells me about stories and calls like this. Aren't fireman great!

There ARE good things happening in the Treasure Valley.

This week, I got an email from Faye Boyd of Nampa. Her daughter got into a car accident recently - while she was rushing around getting ready for her son Jacob's birthday party. The accident ruined the birthday cake she had in the back of her car! Fortunately she was okay. She was actually more upset about the cake being destroyed, than she was about the accident.

Well, when Nampa Firefighters arrived on the scene, they saw how upset she was about this cake... and they decided to do something pretty special. They showed up at her house just in time for Jacob's birthday party WITH a NEW birthday cake!
Nampa Fire Dept to the rescue!

Not only did they bring Jacob a new cake, they passed out fire hats and stickers to the kids - AND they let the kids take pictures in the fire truck. How awesome is that???
Jacob (the birthday boy) in the fire truck

It was a day Jacob (and his mom) will never forget! A big thank you to the firefighters in Nampa at Station 2 ... what a wonderful thing to do.

Bay would make a cute little girl...

The other night when we were at Candace and Chad's House and I was changing Bay's diaper I discovered a pair of Emma's pink bunny slippers. I couldn't resist putting them on him. He thought that they were pretty neat too. His hair is so long and needs a cut so bad that we decided to put it in a pink clip in it. Since he was in a diaper he totally looked like a little girl. It made me think how fun it would be to have a little girl someday. Wouldn't he be a really cute girl? Sorry bay...we couldn't resist.

white kitchen

while my parents were here we decided to paint our kitchen cabinets in the duplex...easy right? Not so much. It ended up being a huge project that made my dad stay up all night to drive back to Oregon to teach his class in the morning. I was sooo worried that they would fall asleep on the way home after working in the heat all day, luckily they made it home safe and this is what came of all that work...
beautiful isn't it? Our kitchen is really light now and we love the cabinets. It turned out so perfect! Now the next project is the Formica and changing that out and getting some more updated counter tops. We have decided that we can live with the 70's green for awhile longer while as we have invested in new carpet which should be here soon.

Until we get the carpet we are playing the waiting game. We don't want to unpack and get to settled in the house since we have to move all the furniture to have the carpet put in in the next few weeks...the fun never ends...

they joys of unpacking

Look at this mess! It probably doesn't look that bad to you but its way worse in person. Luckily while I was working the other night Jeff got some of the stuff semi-organized so it is livable well at least somewhat.
I am so over this unpacking business and we are just getting ready to start the process...I think that I am in for a long haul. I am so annoyed not being able to find stuff. Last night we wanted to finish off some pie that we had leftover from the weekend and we had to use measuring spoons because we cannot locate our silverware nice huh? Let me tell you was really annoying to try and eat with the spoons.

First order of business tonight locate silverware and unpack it. Not that it should matter that much since we have none of the staple foods in our house. Yeah we have nor done any grocery shopping in like 2 weeks almost and we have had no milk for 4 days...pathetic I know.

Fill the boot

On Saturday Jeff's fire department was involved in the annual fill the boot for Jerry"s Kids which raises money to benefit muscular dystrophy research and outreach programs. Jeff volunteered to participate for the morning hours even as we were in the thick of moving. He is just the best let me tell you! They had collected over $14,000 dollars last I heard and that didn't include the 7 bags of change that they still had to count. It felt good to know he was part of such a great cause.
This engine in this picture was the first of its kind in Idaho. Jeff was pretty excited because its a double clutch engine and he had the opportunity to actually drive it and help get it all set up for the fundraiser. He said he was a little nervous driving it and it was very difficult to drive but he was able to do it without any problems.

so long farwell...

Finally, after two days of cleaning and a weeks worth of moving we are officially out of the house and back into our own place. This home will have a special place in our heart as it was the home in which Bay grew from a baby to a toddler. There are so many new things that he learned how to do in this place.

I think the thing that we will miss the most is the space and how light it was as well as having space for when company comes to visit. Oh well I guess that if you want to visit us you will just have to like us enough to get cozy...its not too bad and being in our own home makes a world a difference already.

Things I will not miss: lets see this make take awhile..obnoxious neighbors music at all house (it was so loud at 4 am that it rattled the windows and woke us up), having our house toilet papered, listening to neighbor's pitbulls bark at all hours, owners of dogs yelling profanities at dogs at all hours, people throwing trash in our yard, people breaking our mailbox and throwing trash in it and last but not least people using our sidewalk as the road and driving entirely too fast and not paying attention to where they were driving.

I have to say that it was a nice ride and convenient but Eagle feels like home to us and we cant wait to unpack and settle down and get back to spending time as a family once again, we have missed that!