Post-christmas update

well Christmas went well for our family...many blessings, safe travels and lots of family to catch up with/laugh with/Wii with...you name it! :-)

Grace had a great time playing with her cousins - photos to follow soon - and got the hang of opening presents...so her birthday should be much more interactive this year!



Here's a couple quick videos of what our little goofball has been up to...always keeps things interesting and funny! Enjoy!

a snowy saturday...

we got our first official snow of the season this morning - and it hasn't let up since! we got a small accumulation (couple of inches) and then it turned to the really fine stuff, so now it's just great ambiance for the upcoming holiday.

so what's new and exciting for us...hmmm...well, i got to enjoy my 3 weeks off for the most part. halfway through the break my back acted up and after a visit to the dr. and am MRI, found out I have 4 bulging discs in my back...perfect. so i spent most the week of thanksgiving not moving much and definitely not accomplishing much of anything on the "To Do" list I had for my vacation. so what is happening now, you might ask? well, i'm trying physical therapy (too bad my brother-in-law who is a PT isn't closer!! hint, hint, dustin & liz! *wink*) and the therapist i'm seeing is great and i'm already noticing measured improvements in the pain. still a ways to go, but it gives one hope!

chuck has been busy at the store, hanging christmas lights, keeping up his civic duties on the city council and on the gun club board, and of course - nightly playtime with Gracie!

speaking of that little pip...the past 2-3 weeks have been busy ones for our little girl! she got in trouble at daycare for climbing out of her playpen and into one of the other little girl's to help her do "pretty hair" - which amounted to grace sitting behind the girl and pulling two hndfuls of hair to put in ponytails. she's also enjoying Cougar basketball. she loves to dance to the band, watch Butch and point and cheer "Go Cougs!" to the players. unfortunately for us, her ability to sit still has greatly dimished from last season now that she's more mobile...and vocal! yes, although nearly everyone says she looks just like her daddy, we are sure my genetics are in there somewhere because she never stops talking - or singing - or reading - or giggling.

as mentioned before, she LOVES to dance and so we put together a itunes playlist for her and it's so fun to just watch her go to town! it's a pretty eclectic mix of music, but she busts a move all the same.

now we're gearing up for the holidays -- we're off to Yakima for Christmas Eve to see my family and then continuing on to Elma to see chuck's fam. we're still doing "the great shuffle" when it comes to holidays, but such is life...at least we get to see our family!

Love & Merry Christmas to each of you!

learning to really blog

so believe or not, it's 1:40am and i've been at this since about 8pm...relentless, i know. but we put our web address on our christmas cards and i wanted to be sure that any friends and family that visit, enjoy what they see.
thus i have been trying to figure out how to crack HTML code (something I know many of you understand quite easily, but i've been blessed with fantastic IT-savy people that keep me from having to really learn anything about it) so that i could change the background of our blog and make it a bit more Christmas-sy. as you can see...it may have taken awhile, but I figure it out! wahoo me! (the really tricky thing will be trying to change it back after the holidays!)
so, hope you enjoy - this really is a labor of love!
more pics and videos to come VERY soon since *hopefully* many more people will be checking in now! nighty, night!

Gobble Gobble

well, turkey is around the corner and Gracie has mastered her version of "gobble gobble" with a little butt wiggle - hysterical!

we have offically finished the addition! as soon as I get it picked up a bit, i'm gonna try to do a video tour so you can see how it turned out. since we're on the topic on videos...i have shot some new ones of grace singing, dancing and jsut being silly. hope you enjoy!

i'm currently enjoying some wonderful time off - getting some little projects done here and there, though not nearly as much as I envisioned before the vacation. time does fly...except when you're sitting in an office...

the Cougs won the APPLE CUP -wahoo!!! we got to enjoy a visit and stay with some great friends from college and their kids (that made it official - we are adults and going to games will never be the same again...we've moved to the "when I went to WSU...." statements!). grace did a pretty good job sharing, but as with any little kid, had her moments!

well, enjoy the pics and videos & have a bery happy thanksgiving...we are so thankful for the amazing family and friends we have been blessed with!

catching up

so the month of october continued on its whirlwind pace with me in & out on recruitment trips, deer season (yeah...we both filled out tags), Liz visiting, elk season and halloween festivities and finishing up the addition - YES, it's done! Wahoo!

grace seemed to have another vertical growth spurt but is still skinny-minny as they come...oh what I wouldn't give for her metabolism! she is talkin mroe and more...and seems to have kicked into the terrible-two's a bit early with the oh-so-fun tantrums that accompany. this weekend has been especially fun with the tantrums, a cold she shared with mom (& auntie Liz it sounds like) and a possible tooth. what fun for us, huh??!!

last week Grace got to spend 4 days with grammy Barb while chuck and I went elk hunting with my dad and mark s. it was a fun camping trip (the first time they ever let a girl go) and we saw lots of country (dad and I walked all the way to Oregon)...but no elk. that was pretty disappointing, but the way it goes. maybe next year...

so i alluded to it - yes, the addition is done! chuck's folks came over for a weekend and we worked like crazy while we had their help to hang the doors, get all the trim in (thankfully to match the rest of the house we only had to do floorboard trim) and hang the window treatments. the city of colton did an inspection and gave us an official occupancy permit and the bank did their final sign-off...so we are DONE! while chuck and I still have some little details that we want to wrap up, the big things are done and we can live with the details. it's amazing how cramped we felt in our house before the addition and now that it's done and we've moved some furniture around - how sparce things feel. ahhh...the chance to accumulate more "stuff" :-)

for halloween grace was a lovebug and had fun at the party at daycare. it ended up windy and a bit rainy and since she was already fighting a cold, we opted not to go trick-or-treating, and instead she got to "treat" all the kids who came by - which was by far the biggest group we've had in 4 years, all thanks to them knowing we're grace's parents (and not just the "new" neighbors).

more to come as november takes shape - we're looking forward to having some friends visit and stay for Apple Cup, I have some much needed and anticipated time off, thanksgiving (which is one of my favorites), and what is supposed to be my final trip of the year! phew!

until the next update...

a family trip

i'm sitting, waiting to depart on my final major recruitment trip of the year - yeah! thankfully it's a quick one...although it might seem longer than normal since I was spoiled last week. chuck & grace came with me for the week long sweep in Utah and it was Fantastic! It made the trip, which I've taken 3 other times, totally new, fresh and enjoyable. don't get me wrong...it's one of my favorites, but a week drags on a long time when you're away from family and this time - since I wasn't alone, we took the time to do some sigh-seeing and just hang out as a family. it was great! And yes...we went to a zoo where Grace got to see monkeys!! (talk about a highlight!)

as far as the house addition goes - except for finishing the exterior paint, hanging the room doors and floor trim...it's as good as done! I posted new pictures to check out...plus here's one of the living room. we still haven't really moved furniture in yet - waiting until after the trim is done so we can jsut do it once, but have a few necessities filling the HUGE, Wonderful new space!

grace is talking a lot more now - it's amazing how much she picks up, remembers and can tell us now, although I'm still thankful for the sign language which she always goes to when she's really frusterated or tired. she even cheers "Go Cougs!" although it doesn't seem to be helping the team any. she had an upward growth spurt...but still a skinny-minny. she also recently had her first haircut - bangs - by auntie Michelle who did a fantastic job!

well, time to head to security and on to Nevada to find more future veterinarians!

On the road again...

well, recruitment season is well underway and I had a day and a half at home with the family before I made my way to the airport and another series of colleges. this last though, Grace and Chuck me tme at the airport and I can tell you, there's nothing like seeing your little girl see you, jump down from daddy and come running to hug you! that made the being gone not nearly as hard. now leaving again this AM...whole different story - talk about hard on my heart.

things have been plugging away...the addition only has two major things left and it's finished (wahoo! - or choo-choo if you were to ask Grace)...the siding and the trim. the carpet went in yesterday adn is being finished today and I LOVE IT! the paint is up, for the most part, and soon we'll be moving furniture in! wow!

in the past couple weeks we made a visit to the Colfax fair - grace LOVED the animals, especially the llamas for some reason, and i got all blues on the pictures i entered. we also went and picked the first round of blackberries and grace couldn't eat enough! she was eating them as fast as we could pick them...well until she trip on a vine...as she put it (with a pout) OWEE!

other than that...life as normal, day-to-day.

Well...we are over on the westside for the Seattle Cougar football game - I had to do some recruiting - and now we're getting some family time as well, visiting Chuck's parents and sister (& our niece & nephew). As soon as we arrived I was informed that I needed to update the photos of Grace and house addition because apparently people do check this blog out and I haven't been updating it frequently enough! :-) So...here's an update! I have uploaded new photos in both categories and hopefully everyone will be happy...and hopefully I'll be able to keep up as my travel schedule kicks into high gear next week, along with homework assignments (yup, 2 classes again this semester). I'll do my best as we all know Chuck is not likely to learn and start keeping this up himself anytime soon! ;-)
Enjoy the pics and more soon....

Late summer catch-up

wow...things have been cruising right along as summer has wrapped up before we even knew it. between fighting off colds, cutting teeth, the continuance of our addition...we've been burning the candle at both ends. when we found a free moment or two - we did some yard work...cleaned up addition messes...even got to spend an afternoon down at the river on the island with some friends and 1/3 the town of colton! :-)
gracie-bean has been busy growing, climbing and talking...enjoy the video - she LOVES doing the animal sounds (yes, they are on command for the video, but otherwise she does it on her own when she sees the animals...), NO-NO, mine, bing-bingy (binkey), swim, ou-side...you name it, she'll monkey-it back to you! she also spends time every day "cooking" in her play kitchen (a fabulous find by G/G Kammerzell at a yard sale) and drawing on her aquadoodle (or in the tub...thanks aunt angie!).


fall is already kicking up - was already gone for a week for 1st year orientation camp, i have 2 classes, will be on the road more than i really wanted to be (but such is life), chuck is working on lots of projects around the house and addition, continuing his civic duty on the city council and trying to go shooting or ride the quads when he can. both C & G are going to get to come on one of my trips, which should be fun and a nice change of pace for me...plus i don't know of a more beautiful time of year in UT than fall when the colors are changing!

i will try to post new addition photos the next moment I can upload a few. until next time...

the work continues...

it's been a busy month...holy cow, has a month really gone by - i guess so...

well, since the last posting we went on our annual raft trip with 15 of our friends and family - FANTASTIC time! the weather was perfect (albeit a little cold at night), the water level was high and smooth and the laughter and memories were plentiful! the day we got back I started feeling crummy and it just escalated...unfortuantely it was a very busy week, so no really room for a break to get better - so that meant that it only got worse and then right into a trip to Las Vegas...again no slowing down. All together = walking pneumonia (uggg!) Doing much better now...but still haven't slowed down! :-)

so yes, we got to go to Vegas for a few days while chuck was at the World Furniture Market (Gracie got to hang out with Grandma Carol) and it was amazing to see all that furniture - and there was more than 50% of the whole thing that we didn't see...crazy! they did let me pick a couple pieces that are in "abbie's corner" and we'll see how they sell!

as soon as we got home it was time to get our hands dirty and get all the electrical run in the addition. thanks fully our wonderfully supportive family showed up to help, so with 4-9 people at any given time the wiring went pretty darn fast...90% done in one day! the rest was finished the following morning and now we are waiting on the inspector so we can move to the next step - dry wall and insulation, then carpet & heat system, siding, trim & painting and...viola! if only it was really that easy.
gracie is talking up a storm, still climbing everything she can and cutting 4 new teeth...all in all she's ina great mood about things, but definitely doesn't want mom and dad leaving again for awhile. the past 2 days when we've had to go to work and we say our normal good-byes, she has responded with "no-no daddy" "no-no mommy" - break our hearts, but the happy dance she does when we pick her up makes it all okay in the end!

...until the next update ~~~~

House Addition - things keep truckin!

Well, nothing real new or exciting with Gracie - just thought we'd give an update on the addtion! It's cruising right along...they have all the framing done, will do the trusses on Mon. with roofing on Tues/Wed. Then (thankfully) while we're off on our annual raft trip, they will blow the walk-thru into the exisiting house and finish up what they can until we get back. Then we'll have to get the electrical taken care of.
I realyl can't believe how fast it's progressing - I will admit I have been pretty pessimistic, maybe so I won't get disappointed if things did take longer, but guess it's worked out because it's made things seem even more impressive with how fast it's gone!
Enjoy the pictures - we'll definitely keep them coming!

halfway through summer - already? geez!

things have been busy for us around the 'ole homestead...construction continues & expands making the yard an even bigger mess! I knew there would be a mess when I signed on the dotted line for this endeavor, but in my head the mess would still be neat and tidy and only on one side of the yard - not extended into the ditch, spilling over into the remaining green grass that has since yellowed, even into my flowers. My voice of reason (otherwise known as Chuck) keeps reminding me it will all be worth it in the end...but will the yard possibly come back with the excess concrete, nails and cigarette butts that are out there?

hmmm....what else is new, exciting and keeping us on our toes?? well, we've been hitting the wedding circuit like we did when we were still in college and "everybody" was getting married. turns out not everybody did get married at that time - now it's officially round two! made it to a family wedding, cousin katie, which was nice - especially since we were able to get the 4 cousins (well, 3 really...daniel is still in the unable-to-do-anything self-propelled stage) which was a good time for all them. the cars, the dirt, the horses & mules...not to mention the great weather we had - hot, but great! then it was back to the grind for a week...then another wedding, this time in Pomeroy for some college friends. gracie got to boogie with some other kiddos, flirt with the FarmHouse boys and mom & dad got to catch up with old friends. good times all around!

The Cousins - Caleb, Alexis, Grace

Grace & Lexi - already causing trouble on 4 wheels

Caleb taking care of the girls!

Gracie riding G/G's mule! Giddy Up!

in & amongst all the weddings, house construction, etc. we also managed to make it to the Johnson parade extravaganza and grace got to enjoy a laid-back country 4th of july.

Ready, set cute for the 4th!

Yes, I have "Cindy-Who" hair...thanks mom.

this was hysterical...we were watching "So you think you can dance" (yes, sad I know, but c'mon...summer programming & those kids can freakin' move!) and they were doing hip-hop. grace grabbed the hat, put it on and was doing her version of the popping. i thought i was gonna wet myself i was laughing so hard. ahhh, the influences the media has on children! Biddy - knew you'd enjoy this more than anyone! :-)

This is the rainbow on June 10th...right after it SNOWED!?*&%#
The addition begins! That or we still have the option for putting in a pool.
The footings have been poured.
Our little yard farm-girl!

on the move...

It's been a busy past week for us - I was helping facilitate a leadership conference for 180 veterinarians and at the same time Dad was taking care of the Gracie-bean. We were both worn out when I got home Sunday...but the highlight was Thursday when the two of them were able to come visit me for the evening! Now it's 2 days home and then on the road again...but this time Grace is coming along - and going to hang out with Auntie Liz.
So other updates...we thought Grace was up to trouble before, well we had no idea! She is climbing onto the dining room table, couches, stands on the very top of her toys...even climbed INTO her crib (she snuck into her room and Dad found her and got it all on video!). She has a little to no fear and a high pain tolerance - bad combo for us as the parents! She is also singing and talking a lot more -- mommy, daddy, puppaw (for "puppy/apollo"), bye-bye, hullo, baby and will tell you what a cat, dog and cow all say. She eats like crazy but is still a little runt with endless energy. She loves to "vacuum" with her popper, takes her "Hello Kitty" with her everywhere and has taken to napping in her Boppy on the floor in the living room. She's also doing better with her signing - although we haven't learned any new ones (our fault not hers!) those that we/she knows are very clear.
Hope you enjoy the videos of her dancing - she does it every day for awhile and really loves music - and playing with Apollo!

Summer is finally here!

Well, summer has finally showed itself here in the Palouse...but then went back into hiding. We're hoping it comes back out to play this weekend since we're going up to Uncle Jim's cabin to go 4-wheeling, BBQing and just relax!

Grace has been busy...talking more and just hamming it up in general. She really enjoys talking to family via webcam conversations (gotta love how technology can bridge the miles!) and heads for the great outdoors anytime she can make a break for it!

Just a few photos - I'm sure there will be more after this weekend!

Picture 1 - We went to Boise (via a different friend's wedding in McCall) to visit Guido & Shana and had a great time - Gracie got to be dressed up, we went on a fun walk on the Boise greenbelt, had a nice Cheesecake Factory dinner (Chuck's first time there!) and just enjoyed our time in the nice weather with friends!

Picture 2 - This is what Grace does when we say, "SMILE!" :-)

Picture 3 - ALWAYS riding her bouncy horse - Grace went and got her summer "outside" hat and was a realy cowgirl once she flipped up the brim!

Picture 4 - Look out world...she has a shoe fetish! She's putting on my slippers here, but she is constantly into my shoes on the rack, takes strappy sandals out of my closet and wears them on her arm like a purse (but usually more than one at a time). She currently has about 4-5 pairs of her own and while she's wearing one pair...she's eyeing another!

Spring time!

Well Grace hasn't slowed down much...that is until she got her first major fever this week, then BAMO...she shifted from rabbit-gear down into turtle-gear. Not sure what it was - maybe a bug, maybe a little infection, maybe a tooth (her new game is to NOT let us look in her mouth, so it remains a mystery). It took a couple days, but she recovered and has moved back to high-speed once again.

She is even more adventurous and curious (if you can believe that!) and the warm weather is opening up new worlds for her in the backyard, around the neighborhood on walks with Mom and Dad as well as with the daycare kids. She gets a real kick out of walking on different textures and going after all of Mommy's flowers that are in bloom - how fun it is to pick petals! ;-)

I finished up my semester (phew!) and had 2 short trips to wrap things out while Chuck was asked to serve on the city council (what an upstanding guy!).

Grace is talking more and more -- mama, dada, hu-lo, bu-bye, uh-oh, day-do (we think it's a combo of Apollo and doggie), signing new things -- thank you (sort of), bathtime, drink, more and blows kisses. It's so amazing to watch her study, learn and take everything in. If only we could continue to learn at that same rate our whole lives!

I'm a big girl now!

Gracie is growing fast - so much so, she's up to a big-girl, forward-facing car seat! And boy does she like it...watching the cars and seeing what Mom & Dad see, and seeing us! Plus her new seat is pretty cozy and has a nice recline feature - which she promptly tested out on the drive back from Spokane!