I am Rosie!

That's right, Rosie the Riveter here. I really feel great! You know how some days it feels like you've gotten absolutely nothing done? You're house is a mess, you haven't showered, you've watched more TV than there are hours in a day, but learned nothing, and not only have your kids eaten chips all day, but they're somehow covered in chocolate as well.

Yesterday was NOT one of those days! (Today isn't so bad either)
We've been in California for about 3 months now and I finally feel comfortable showing off my apartment. This is how we started: And this is how we finish! Ok, not finished. I still have lots to do, but SO much better! Oh, and how do I accumulate piles of stuff when I've only been here 3 months? Whatever. PS: Can you find the baby? She's in both the messy and the clean house. So, we've got (from the top left, read it like a book) the living room, the kitchen, the dining corner, the craft corner (they're the same "room" just opposite corners), then our room, and Maggie's room.
And here's a corner of Maggie's room. One of the places that still need work. Sigh. Oh well.So yesterday was a fantastic day. I will only brag a little. I started by exercising for 45 mins (Thanks again Brian and Ruth for the Kinect!) Showered myself, then bathed Maggie. Planted some lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers in big pots, and parsley, basil and little zinnias in tiny pots. I'm starting a little porch garden. Maggie and I walked to Target to get some apples, where I found a bunch of stuff on clearance. I love clearance! We got home and read books and sang songs, then I did the dishes, swept and mopped the kitchen and vaccumed the rest of the house. By the time Brandon got home from work, we were reading more books. Maggie really likes to read and sing. She would have me talking with her all day if she could. Oh wait! We do.When Brandon got home we went to the park to "slide to the gwound" and "swing wif Mommy." She finally likes to play at a park! Which is nice since we live down the street from a great park.

We watched the Scarlet Pimpernel for FHE and talked about what we need to do to get into a different apartment. There are some in our ward boundaries that are $400 a month cheaper than we're paying now. We snacked on this deliciousness for dessert (no bake cheesecake and strawberries) and had an all around fantastic night.Today we (Maggie and I) got to go to the quilting club in our ward. It was fun to get to know more people and get super awesome free fabric.

Anyway, it has been great. So I am going to try and keep up this motivation and find more things and ways to make my life more accomplished. One of those things will be to get all the pictures together from Neil and Karen's wedding. It's a work in progress, as is the rest of my life. :)

New New New!

I know! So cool! Looks like she's looking at the camera...and spitting.

Life has been pretty busy of late. Brandon now has a job! He works for First Source as a conduit between patients and hospitals, mostly dealing with Medicare and MediCal. It's not the most exciting thing, but he's still in the process of getting enough cases to keep him busy. We are living in Hayward, California and are super happy to be here. We have a pretty nice 2 bedroom apartment that is within walking distance of a Target (YAY!), a Joann Fabrics (which is very important to me), the library (love to read for free), and the most fantastic park ever. For about $6 you can ride the carosel, the small train that goes around the park, visit the bouncy house, go to the petting zoo and ride a pony!! Maggie is still a bit small for most of that, but the playground is great (and that part's free) and it's a half block from our apartment. I am very excited to spend much of the summer there.

Maggie is growing up so fast! Not literally, because she's about 8 months behind, size wise. She's almost 20 months old and still too small for a few 12 month cloths. But she is SO smart! In just the past few days she has started saying words for real, like more than one syllable! She says "bay sa baaaoow" that's baseball, and "caneee" = candy (what we call fruit snacks) She'll just pick a word out of what she hears and say it, usually the one that the most emphasis was put on in the sentance. She loves explatives, if we swore we would be in big trouble, but she'll just sit there and say OH MAAAAAAN! over and over again. It's SO CUTE! Oh! and she can say her name now! Starting like 2 days ago, she switched from calling her self ma ma to maaa geeeeeee.

She is getting all around the house now, into the cupboards (which she could open and bang closed for hours - I usually have to stop her because I get a headache from the constant slamming) pulling DVDs off the shelves, into the bathroom cupboards (luckily not the toilet - yet), turning on and off the Xbox because it makes a ding everytime she touches the button...yea we love that, playing with her toys, which she can differentiate between. She'll ask for specific different things, which I think is incredible! She just cruzes along the walls and chairs and couches and tables exploring everything around her. If you can't tell, I am enchanted by the strides my daughter is taking. She's just so amazing, and the sweetest little girl EVER! Sadly this does not extend to her sleeping habits or very small palate. Luckily I am great at taking naps and the things she does like to eat are at least semi healthy. Milk (like a quarter gallon a day!), apples, chips, pretzels, graham crackers, some cereals, popcorn

and anything sweet or chocolatey. Yes, she is my daughter. In the late evenings she's taken to asking for brownies or ice cream. Curse my sweet tooth, but at least she's getting calories so that she'll grow bigger...Sadly this means I am also getting calories.

I have been working on that though. Not so much the not eating sweets, because I've tried that, and all it does is make me cranky. There are plenty of other good things I can do to be healthy, that won't make be angry at the world for taking away something I love. So we got a Kinect for the Xbox for Christmas and since then I have worked out 3 times a week and since I'm bothering to exercise, it gives me more incentive to eat healthier foods so that my efforts and sweating is not going to waste. I have lost 8 pounds and I have more energy. Which is being combatted by the lack of sleep thanks to Maggie, but I guess it's all equaling out. I am proud of myself, having made it into March while still keeping my new year's resolution to exercise more, though to be truthful, there was about a 2 week break when we were moving and didn't have our stuff set up, but moving is quite a bit of exercise its self. So I feel good.

I am keeping myself busy by trying to start a business at etsy.com. I think the name will be Maggie's Closet, and I'm going to make little girl dresses and skirts and probably skirts for women too (see post of last summer when I made a purple one for myself). I love sewing, we all know that runs in the family - on both sides for me, and I want to make some money to fund my crafting habits. I am also an unofficial wedding planner to Brandon's brother. It was a lot of fun to talk with my future sister-in-law and bouce ideas off each other and help her plan out her reception. I have also taken charge of making the wedding cake. Kendra did mine, so I'm just following in her footsteps and hope mine turns out as well as hers. I am hoping to get some more practice in the month or so before the wedding. I'll be heading up to Washington again about a week before the wedding (April 16th) so that I can help with the set up and preparations. I really love doing this stuff, so all you teeny cousins, when you get married in 10 or 20 years, know that I am here to help with your weddings. (Jason, Garet and Trais I will except your applications within the next few years, I won't make you guys wait).

We have been lucky enough to be recruited here by Brandon's cousin Jon and wife Jenna - who is wonderfully crafty and fantastically spiritual, therefore a great friend (Jenna's step mom is actually Brandon's boss), so we even have some friends here. They have a little 2 year old girl that loves to play with Maggie. Maggie is not a big fan of Katelyn though, I think she knows that when little hands are touching her they are not as gentle and sometimes take her toys from her. She's gotten better the more we are around them though. We've yet to see how she does in nursery...we want to wait until she can walk so she can at least hold her own against all the crazy kids.

Speaking of church, our ward seems great! Today was our second week and we've been very welcomed by everyone. We got to meet with the Bishop last week and got our records trasferred over by the end of the day. There are younger moms in the ward that get together and have play groups at parks, which is good to get Maggie and I out and socializing. The samoan ward in the stake actually meets right after ours, so as we are getting out, they are coming in and Brandon has very much enjoyed being able to speak with Samoans again. We were even luck enough to be assigned talks today on personal revelation(mine) and prayer(Brandon's). He of course managed to finish his fantastic talk in less than an hour (broken up by looking at cars and furniture on craig's list) and I took like 3 days. I'm still not totally satisfied as I got so much information that I think it came out a bit disjointed, but I learned so much that I think it works out.

We're super greatful to be here and excited to start a new chapter in our lives (Being grown ups? A real job? Potential to being in one place for more than a year or so? Weird but fantastically thrilling.)

While waiting

for something, anything! Brandon has been looking for a job for the past four months, and surprise! surprise! - that's a little stressful. With most of the applying processes now taking place online, it means that we have spent a lot of time at home together. While this drove us both a little stir crazy - imagine having all this time together and no money to do anything or go anywhere - it has brought us some precious moments.
First and foremost, Maggie has become attached at the arm? to her Daddy. She asks for him when he's not holding her or right within her reach. She LOVES playing with him. It's seriously so cute, except it makes me very worried for when he goes back to work.
Secondly, we've been able to play games together! This is something my family did all the time and his rarely did, so it's been awesome for me to play games again. I'd never played Cribbage before, and Brandon taught me, and we learned how to play Gin Rummy together thanks to an app Brandon was playing with. I have really enjoyed being able to spend more time with Brandon. I'm grateful to have these little moments of peace in all the stress of being without employment. It makes it kind of an adventure.

Go! Bed!

Maggie now knows when she gets sleepy and she asks to go to bed. Hallelujah! She got a fantastically fuzzy blanket for Christmas from Steve and Kathy and she loves it! When she gets tired she asks for her pacifier (mah pah!) then maybe for some milk (mah nah!-for some reason milk is nah...) then Gah beh! It's so wonderful!!! She's been sleeping in a play pen here, so I go in and set her down, she lays on her side and pulls the blanket up to her chin and falls asleep. I'm so blessed!

Washington Winter

We started our stay in The Federal Way a week before Christmas and have been lucky enough to stay since then. We've been hanging out with lots of family; the in-laws, Steve and Kathy and kids, Grandma Ellen and Grandpa Lowell, Grandma Harvey, Meaghan, Jason, John and Tiffany and kids, Michelle, Neil and Karen, and even with lots of friends. We got to spend a cold but fun afternoon in Seattle. Pike's Place is so full of color it's a great place to just walk around and look at the stuff. One of my favorite things though, was the gum wall. Gross but beautiful.Brandon was able to play a round of Urban Golf at Decatur with Bobby, Danny and Mark.And afterward was Danny and Julene's reception. So beautiful!! She was gorgeous and the deorations were wonderful and the dinner was delicious! It was an all around fun and wonderful night.Brian, Brandon, Mark, Danny, and Bobby. They even called Adrian so he could be included even though he couldn't be there.Steve and Kathy gave us a christmas-y lei and two cuddle soft blankets, one for Maggie (which she sleeps with every night now) and one for Brandon and I which is currently cuddling me now. It's so soft and the perfect size for couch cuddling.

As you can see, the lei is super special consisting of butterflies made from two one dollar bills, mini poinsettias, ribbons and dollar coins! A money necklace-exactly what we need. Grandma and Grandpa were able to stay with us for a few days! We had so much fun with them, getting to know them and they getting to know Maggie. Michelle and Maggie are besties. They had so much fun playing together! Maggie still asks to cuddle Michelle whenever her name is mentioned. We pray for her in her new internship in California. Lucky girl!Not every day can be a good day. Especially hair wise. Curiosity can find you some fun things! Maggie is moving around the house a lot more now. She cruises along all the furniture and even crawls for real sometimes! Head off the floor and everything. Maggie spends a lot of time with her forehead on the floor. In fact, much of her playtime by herself is spent that way, often accompanied by her butt in the air. I don't know why, but I suspect it helps her in some sensory way. Maggie and her new friend Jack. We got to see Mark and Jackie while they came for a visit from Utah! It's interesting to see Maggie around other kids. She doesn't really care. We'll see what happens when we finally decide to put her into nursery. (The fact that she's 5 days from being old enough to go to nursery really weirds me out.) And so you see the exciting life of those in search of a job. We've spent a lot of the last few months getting to know our families better, and them getting to know the fantastic Maggie. I love having Brandon home. He's wonderful to have around all the time, and Maggie loves it too. She is such a Daddy's girl! She says all the time "Kuhgn da da?" - cuddle dada - aka please pick me up and play with me! It's neat to see them play and have so much fun together. And I love having him near by all the time. We even get to go on dates sometimes to the temple or the cheap theater. Grandma loves to babysit. We all have so much fun together! We've not heard much from possible employers, but we pray and continue to look. If you've any knowledge of available jobs for a business major who loves baseball, please let us know!

small epiphanies

While finishing my delicious Special K and reading Alma 42, I was feeling sad for Corianton and wondering if we ever find out if he leaves behind his indecencies. I've a bit better understanding of Adam and Eve, and what's with this whole tree of life stuff? Same one as in Lehi's dream? In some ways I think. Mercy and justice must equal each other out, yes yes. Funny how your mind rambles through these thoughts trying to make sense of the things you're spirit wants you to understand. It moved through to explaining how those that are evil will be punished, those that are righteous will be rewarded. Well, what about those that just...live? Doing nothing bad really, but doing nothing to better themselves.

They are those that will end up in the Telestial kingdom. Just content with the normal, not desiring anything specific or meaningful in their lives.

Well I don't want that! I want to be a goddess and queen. I want my family to be with me forever. I want everything that is promised if I follow the commandments and stay true to the covenants I've made. I don't want to live in monotony with everything being just acceptable. I want extraordinary! There is only one way to get what I want, be become my best potential.

I will do better, I will be better. I can't just be content with the way I am, because I'm not perfect and I need to be. I will work everyday to be better, more perfect, more like my Savior. I will start small, I know that I can't change everything in a week or a year. I know it will take a lifetime, but I look forward to being a better person than I was yesterday.

Fall of 2010

So much delaying leads to even more confusion later, ie: I don't even know where to start.

We moved into my parents house in Mountain Home, ID at the end of September and have been there since. While trying to find things to do there we've discovered:

that dropping rocks at the hot springs is super fun!

I love muddy buddies no matter where I amBrandon can have fun looking for gold (we even found some!), flowers are acutally pretty easy to arrange and I really like being a part of people's weddings, especially when there are so many friends around

I love Maggie so MUCH! (at the temple after Megan's wedding)

Cupboard doors are super fun to bang against the fridge and pots and pans are seriously the best drums ever. So loud!I turned 24! I can't believe it. I remember thinking how cool it would be to get to high school. Look at me now! Graduated college (it's finally official) married with a baby! I am so lucky!

Maggie would really love to spend all day on her head.

Corn mazes and haystacks 3 stories high can be super fun even if it's freezing

It's so neat to be able to pull yourself up table legs and then taste them just for fun.

Carter's makes the best baby costumes (they acutally fit - and it's warm!)Baby carrots in a small bag, labeled SCARROTS with glow-in-the-dark tattoo carrots in costume is possibly the best advertising ploy ever! My little brother and sister wanted to take lunch to school just so they could show everyone their scarrots.Not surprisingly, Maggie really likes sledding. She's going to love roller coasters.And though it may be super difficult, we can get the whole family together at the same time to take a picture. YAY! I love my family!