Li'l Sebastian

    I don't know if we really said what we named that kitten we got last month, but just so you can rest easy at night his name is Sebastian.  He continues to be a good kitty.  He's very energetic and playful, and he can jump really high and far.  We think he might have springs in his back paws.  Sebastian needs to know what is going on,  so he follows me around when the children aren't about.  Fortunately he never really gets in the way except when you're going downstairs though.  Enjoy some adorable kitten pictures.  Just what you need for Monday.

House Update #16

   With all the bad weather last week, naturally we are now at least a  week behind.  The largest blow was that our flooring woes continued since the wood was supposed to be delivered last week, and it wasn't.  The wood floor finally made it to our house on Tuesday, and only needs to acclimate for three days.
   We really are winding down.  The carpet for the basement is ordered, and should be getting to the house sometime next week.  Other than that we are just waiting for a few light fixtures and all the hardware (handles, pulls, etc.) to come in.  Let me just say that we are really excited about our master closet.  We're not sure we have enough clothes for it, which really is just fine.  It would just be my dream come true to have plenty of storage in my closet.
   Hopefully soon we will have a concrete date for when the house will be done, but  unless we have more crazy weather we should be in next month.

Our hood vent.

The railing on the deck is now complete with the glass inserts, so now we won't lose children through them.

They have put the tile up on our master bedroom's fireplace.

Our master closet is beginning to take shape.

Shower doors!

This is the tub.

Here's our vanity, and off to the right is a towel warmer.

The media room is coming right along.  You can see they have the back riser complete.

The shower  doors area also in, in the downstairs bathroom.

Our exterior lighting is going up.

A Year of Harper

  It's already been a year with Harper.  We can hardly believe it.  Her birthday was actually on Tuesday, and we saw the doctor yesterday.  We are saving a more formal celebration of her birth until we move though, so we were very low key for her birthday.  My Dad couldn't resist buying her an ice cream cake, so we had that for Harper over at their house in the afternoon, and then later at our home we gave Harper a slice of the excellent carrot cake that Aimee made.  She was actually very dainty with it for a long while.  Maybe she wasn't very hungry.

  The doctor confirmed that Harper is an awesome baby, but we really need to stuff her full of fatty foods since she isn't even eighteen pounds yet and only in between the fifth and tenth percentile for weight.  She is 29 inches tall though, which puts her smack dab in the middle for height percentile.  Her head though is a little big.  She has three teeth in, but two other teeth are making their way out on the top. Harper is almost walking. She isn't quite confident enough to  let go of our fingers yet.  Harper loves to talk. She babbles on and on, and can get quite animated with much gesticulating.  Avery and Harper are mostly the best of friends.  One of their favorite things to do together is take baths, and Avery finds it hilarious when Harper pulls on her hair. 

She got into the chair all by herself.

Avery is helping Harper open her birthday present from Alex and Addison.

Avery threw Harper's birthday present of clothes on top of her.

I couldn't get Harper to stop playing with the monkey, so this what you get.

Eating Aunt Aimee's carrot cake.

It took her a long time to pick it up.

I'm done!

Bye Erik

   This Sunday was Daryl's cousin Erik's missionary farewell. He'll be leaving on February first to go to the MTC in Provo before heading out for his mission in Sacramento.  We were able to hear his talk in church, which was great by the way, and then go to his open house that night.  I took pictures of all the guy cousins that were there, and then forgot my camera at Debbie's.  In case you were wondering why it took me a little longer to get posts up, that's why.  At any rate, have a great mission Erik and see you in two years!

Erik of course.

The guy cousin's Karl, Erik, Kyle, Scott, and Daryl of course.

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This is Erik's mission.

Super Fantastic Sleep Over Extravaganza Fun

  So when all that ice from the previous post came, it weighed downed all the trees that were frozen over causing them to fall or break apart.  When they fell over they unfortunately had the tendency to take out  a ton of power lines on their way down.  It also didn't help that we had a wind storm come into town right after that too.  As a result a lot of people were without power, including my brother and sister-in-law Karl and Aimee.  

   Not wanting to freeze to death in their home and take ridiculously could showers, they came over to our house and stayed.  Their power turned off on Thursday and didn't come back on until late Sunday evening. Outside their apartment complex an entire power line pole had fallen down.  While they were at our house we baked a lot.  Except when I say we I really mean Aimee of course.  Aimee made us banana bread, cinnamon rolls, and carrot cake.  All of which were excellent.  The pictures from down below our Tyler and Avery helping make the carrot cake if I am not mistaken. 

Harper was dying to be a part of the fun.

Lots of Ice

   I haven't seen ice like this since our ice storm back in 2006 when Daryl and I were dating.  We actually have icicles which we never really get here.  There was no new snow, but everything froze over.  When we got up this morning and looked out our window we could easily tell that parts of Algona Pacific were without power since all the houses were dark and the stoplight wasn't working. Fortunately we have power.

Fun in the Snow

  Today was pretty much the first time ever that Avery has played in the snow.  Daryl got elected to go take her out while I stayed in with Harper since she has a little baby cold.  We bundled Avery up in two shirts and two pants, stuck her in rain boots, gloves, hat, and my scarf on her and called it good.  She appeared to really like the snow. 

Avery really liked putting snowballs into our recycle container that we  forgot to bring in last night.

Daryl and Avery made a little snowman.

You can get a good idea about how much snow we got by looking at the electrical boxes behind the snowman.

This is not Normal

  Let's get this straight.  I hate snow.  That's one reason I love living here.  Our distinct lack of snow, but if I really miss it, it's up in the mountains where it belongs.  When the snow decides to come down to us that doesn't make Daryl or me happy.  It's supposed to keep snowing all day.  Lucky us.

Children's Museum in Factoria

    Saturday we met Aimee, Karl, and Tyler at a children's museum in Factoria.  The kids of course had a blast.  Avery especially loved playing in the water they had there.  Harper grabbed onto my finger and one of Aimee's finger and walked around a lot more than she ever had before.  

Despite the little smock Avery has on, she still managed to get soaking wet and need her spare outfit.

Harper and Daryl looking very  dashing.

Aimee helping out Tyler at one of the stations.

Consumer Electronics Show

  Daryl and I got home Friday from Las Vegas.  We were attending the Consumer Electronics Show, and we had a pretty good time seeing giant televisions and robot vacuums.  The number of exhibits were overwhelming.  They were spread throughout the actual Las Vegas Convention Center, The Venetian, and the old Hilton.  We came home with a lot of pens, cords, pamphlets, magazines, and reusable shopping bags.  

  We stayed at the Excalibur which is probably the cheapest nice place to stay on the strip, and since we were there we saw the Tournament of Kings.  Unfortunately they didn't allow pictures so you will have to imagine the show all on your own.  We ate Cornish Game Hen and other things all with our bare hands.  The actual show was cheesy, but now we can check that off our bucket list.  

  One day when I was by myself at the Forum Shops I went past a collectibles store and saw Pete Rose there signing autographs and other memorabilia.  I went in and met him, so now my claim to fame can be meeting Pete Rose, and that I saw a genuine pair of Spock's ears from the movie Star Trek  IV: the Voyage Home.

    Also we got to see my brother Phil, his wife Heather, and their two adorable boys Maddux and Aidan.  They live in St. George not too far away, so it was nice to see them.  On the other hand I realized too late that while we were at CES one of my mission companions, Sister Bowen, was at CES with her husband at the same time.  She lives in Alberta, Canada, so this was a perfect opportunity to see her that we missed.  We both resolved to brag more about what we were doing on Facebook, so we will realize we are at the same place at the same time in the future.  I might have to check all my travel plans with her too from now on.

Maddux and Aidan 

Me and Pete Rose!

All the bags we got at CES

Avery's Primary Art Work

  As I mentioned last week, Avery almost always comes running up to me in the Relief Society room after Church is done to excitedly show me her latest coloring page.  She loves to color a lot.  This week was no exception, but it was even  better than usual with the addition of big googly eyes and beautiful yarn hair.  I thought I would take a picture of it before ruthlessly chucking it into the recycle bin. 

I'm a Sunbeam

   When Relief Society was done last Sunday Avery came running in really eager to show me the page she colored like always, except she was wearing an awesome little sign that said, "I'm a Sunbeam."  She was really proud of it, and we heard that she did great on her first day of primary.  Although she was really excited about her little sign, she didn't want me to take a picture after church.  This is the best shot we got.