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! :-)