Christmas Tree Ornaments

When I was younger, my Grandma Zurcher made each of us grandchildren Christmas tree ornaments. I can remember how excited I was to finally get all of them out of the box to decorate our tree. This tennis player is one of the ornaments that she made for me. Right before Lauren was born, I happened to come across some ornament kits. I was so excited to continue the tradition that my grandma had started. I have now made Lauren one each year that she has been born. On the back of each ornament I stitch in her initials and the year, just like my grandma had done. They are far from perfect, but I hope Lauren enjoys them as much as I did, and do even now.
These are the ornaments I have made for Lauren thus far.

Silly Girl

Lauren enjoys wearing glasses when we travel. When it's cloudy or dark, you can bet she has them on anyway. She can wear them upside down. It's all the same to her.
She's just happy to have the sunglasses, and "Doggie", as he is called. "Doggie" is another story. She sleeps with him, pushes him around in the stroller, talks to him, feeds him, changes his diaper, and kisses him. It's as if he is alive. We better buy a back up dog just in case something happens to this one; otherwise, there won't be a happy Lauren nor a happy Mom and Dad.

The Boise Zoo

Lauren and I spent a week in Boise for Thanksgiving. One of the things we got to do before Jason came down was go to the zoo with Aunt Brenda and some of her friends. I can't say when the last time was that I went to the zoo or how many zoos I've been to. I can't recall if I've ever seen a real lion and giraffe until now. Most likely I have, but Lauren hadn't. So here are a few pictures from our day at the zoo.The lion and giraffe are new to the Boise Zoo. As we were walking around, we heard this really loud noise coming from one of the animals. We weren't even sure what it was, until we got to the lion's cage. I guess that shows you how many times we've heard a real lion roar.

I think the two things that Lauren will remember the most from our trip to the zoo was the lion because she likes lions, and the monkeys because of the smell. The monkeys were inside, so you can only imagine the smell and how stuffy it was. When we went in, Lauren instantly put her hand to her nose and said, "Stinky!" She quickly turned around and headed straight for the door. She is hilarious!

Here's Lauren and Aunt Brenda in a tunnel. Here's my chance to brag about Brenda too. She is amazing! Brenda has lost just over 100 lbs. She has always been beautiful, but look at her now...she is gorgeous! She is an inspiration to me and Jason!! Thanks for inviting Lauren and me to the zoo, Brenda. We had so much fun!

All in a Day's Work

While we work,

she will play (or watch cartoons)...

We have made a lot of progress on our front yard. We've torn out almost everything for the Winter, and will begin from scratch in the Spring. For now, we'll spend more time inside fixing up what we can.

As for Lauren, she loves cartoons. It has given me more freedom to get things done around the house. I need to limit the time she watches T.V., but there is always one thing after the next to get done. Lauren constantly talks about the characters she watches. She'll stand, kneel, or sit right in front of the T.V. She becomes oblivious to the world around her! I love that she's growing up. I know I'll take that back one day, but it is so fun.

Not only does Lauren love cartoons, but it kind of looks like Aunt Stephanie does too...

The Mishap and the Reaction

This video was taken when Lauren was 7-8 months old. It was unplanned I might add.

The other day I showed Lauren this video. She wanted to watch it over and over again. I can't believe how hard she was laughing. This next video is her reaction after watching it about 10 times...

Halloween Butterfly

For Halloween Lauren dressed up as a butterfly. We went trick-or-treating to Uncle Degen's and Aunt Joleen's house.
We could tell that Lauren was having the time of her life being dressed up. She loved the candy even more.

The Wild and Crazy Birthday Party

It was a wild and crazy birthday party! We had a bunch of family over to celebrate Lauren's birthday on Friday night.

All day Friday I was in the kitchen making

these Martha Stewart
"Bug Cupcakes." Let me just say this, I have no desire to make these cupcakes again, at least not for a very long time.

It was a lot of work!

Lauren was unsure about the candles, especially because we were telling her not to touch them and that fire is HOT!

She nearly choked on the gum drop head when she put the whole thing in her mouth.

Here Lauren was getting ticked because the paper wasn't coming off as easily as she would have liked. She takes after her dad...and mom.

Here is a video that sums up how she felt about the candles. Pure uncertainty. Thanks to everyone that came and for all the gifts from our family!

Happy Birthday Lauren!

This was the last relaxing, quiet moment of my life... Then, this little girl came along...

Two years have already gone by. It has been years of great joy, plus, wrinkles and gray hairs. Lauren has always been a good, happy girl. We have been truly blessed. I could brag about her all day. She was born at 5:38 A.M. on the 21st of October. She weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. I will never forget that day. I hope Lauren always knows how much we love her and how grateful we are to have her in our family!

(We'll be having a small party for her on Saturday, so we'll have more pictures then.)

Our House

Here is our house... Here is our house right before my mom, sister Stephanie, and I began the clean up...

Here is our house after the hard work of Jason and those of us I mentioned above...

Needless to say, we are a long ways from being done, but we've started. We love our little house.

Also, I thought I'd include some pictures that Stephanie took while my family was here visiting. We went to the Sacajawea State Park, which is located where the Snake River and Columbia River converge. It has a great little museum about Sacajawea and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Grandma H. picked up leaves as we were walking around the park. So, Lauren had to pick up leaves because grandma was.
Oh, we love this little girl. She is the sweetest girl ever!

I've Been Tagged

I usually don't follow through on tags, but I decided it was probably time. This is my first tag ever. I was tagged by Terri , so here it goes.
7 random and/or weird facts about me:

1. I have never been able to scream. My voice won't go high enough. I guess I sound like a guy would sound if he were to scream. What do I do if I get scared or startled you might ask??? I suppose I just yell. The funny thing is that there have been times when I have practiced with my sisters in a car, and we just end up laughing because of how dorky I sound. No, I won't demonstrate to anyone who is reading this!
2. I have been on ESPN before. It was during the Great Alaska Shootout (basketball tournament). I happened to be in the crowd with a group of friends and the camera man came to us and told us to get ready to yell, wave, or whatever. It was over Thanksgiving, so some of my family were watching the game down in Idaho, and they saw me on ESPN.
3. I had a mullet when I was in elementary school. I had to follow the popular trends of the 80s, right?
4. While attending CEU back in the day, Sheryl Crow (reason for the song playing right now) had a concert at the college. Well, my friend and I were walking by the gym to go eat dinner at the cafeteria. She happened to be sitting on the grass by the sidewalk that we were walking on, and we didn't even say a word!! There must have been something good cooking down at the cafeteria! Just kidding. Now that I think about it, I think we just said hi, but still, it was just the three of us right there, no one else anywhere. What were we thinking? I wonder what she thought, being a popular singer out in the middle of nowhere, to barely get acknowledged.
5. I have a cracked knee cap or something like that. I landed on my knee on the gym floor during a basketball game. The doctor said he thought it was probably cracked on the left side of my left knee cap. Also, that I might have problems with it later on in life. Great! It's getting later in life and still no problems...keep my fingers crossed.
6. I used to go running a lot. I wanted to keep track of all the places I went running, but I failed to write them all down. Some memorable places have been on "The Spit" in Homer, Alaska, in Fort Nelson British Columbia, and Augusta, Montana, and finally, the beaches of Monterey, CA.
7. When I was younger, probably in my early years of elementary school, I had a short white lady (nightmare) that stood above my door at night. For the most part, I can still imagine what she looked like. I was scared to death of her. Thank goodness I haven't seen her since!

There you have it. That took me a long time to think of only 7 random/weird facts about myself. I'm supposed to tag 7 people now. No pressure, but I tag Anne, Mary, Tirzah, Julie, Sharree, Jen, and Megan, unless you've already done a tag like this.

A Busy Month

It has been a month since my last post. I can't believe that much time has gone by, but life has been busy, busy, busy. The day to move into our house finally came. We have been in our house for 9 days now and we're loving it. We've been cleaning nonstop, or I should say, I've been cleaning nonstop! It's starting to feel more like home. Not only have we been busy, but sick as well. We've had many visitors the last two weeks also. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures while they were all here. Jason's mom, dad, and sisters, Brenda and Elaine, came up one weekend. Then, my mom, dad, and sister Stephanie came the next weekend. We love having visitors and hope to have more soon!
The only pictures that were taken both weekends are the ones below of Lauren and Aunt Brenda on the way back from visiting Grandma Savage and the Hebdon's in Mattawa. Lauren is Little Miss Thing with her sunglasses and phone. I will post pictures of our house soon.

The Green Monster

We have a green monster living with us this week. See for yourself...

This is Lauren's new thing--to put any type of clothing over her head and wear it around. She gets a kick out of herself, as do we.

Sold

We're getting a house!! I can't tell you how excited we are. It all happened so fast. We found a repo that is in good shape, and gave an offer. We figured that there probably were a lot of other people giving offers on this house too, so we didn't think we had a chance. Our offer must have been the highest because we got it.
We got a great deal, but we have a lot of work to do to make it feel like home. The yard is a disaster, but that's the part we can hardly wait to work on. We are so excited to have a backyard where Lauren can run around and play. This will be our first house!
We went over to the house today to get our picture by the sold sign. We are looking right into the sun...hence my squinting eyes and Lauren's bowed head.

Playing Basketball

This last week we've spent a lot of time hanging out at the playground playing basketball.
Here comes Lauren and Aidan with their game faces on. It looks like they are ready to take MeDynn and me to the cleaners. They don't stand a chance...with MeDynn's nothing-but-net shots and my dunks (which about killed me-being old and all)...



But, because they are poor losers (joke), they have to go play their own game...

Way to protect the ball Aidan!! Lauren, great defense!

We've been playing "horse" and 1-on-1, while Aidan and Lauren do their own thing. I don't play that often anymore, so it has been fun picking up a ball again. In these pictures, we're playing on a 8 ft. rim...thought I'd clarify-10 ft. rim is regulation.

All right, MeDynn, don't you think it's about time you bought me that ice cream??? (That's trash talk by the way. I don't like trash talking because I always lose when I do.) We made a deal that the person who got beat in "horse" owed the other one ice cream...I'm up 3, but, at this rate we could be doing the best out of 20!! So, I better stop the trash talking now since we have a ways to go.

The music that goes a long with this post is a song that I remember my brothers and sisters listening to when I was really young. Besides the women singing, the only lyrics I knew were: "Basketball is my favorite sport. I like the way they dribble up and down the court." I've never forgotten those lyrics. Have any of you ever heard this song? (It gets rather annoying after a short time.)

Trapper Creek

Third trip to Oakley in a month and a half...why not? Jason has had business meetings in Twin Falls this week, so Lauren and I came along to Oakley.

We've been hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa H. all week. Today we (including Lauren's stuffed animal named Doggie) went up Trapper Creek to see if the choke cherries were ready to be picked, but we didn't quite make it because of a flat tire. It is always fun to make a trip up to the hills around Oakley. Before heading back home, we sat in the shade and had a picnic.

I don't think we'll make it to Oakley again for a while, so it has been a treat to come so often.