We Came, We Ate, We Enjoyed

Oh how I love McCall. My mom invited us up to enjoy their timeshare last week. We headed up Sunday and came back Thursday, enjoying our time with my mom, stepdad Dominic, stepsister Wendy, family friends Danny and Tami, and for part of the time, my Grandma Dean and Ryan. I feel like we spent a lot of our time eating -- and I loved every minute of it! I was just complaining to Loren about how I always feel guilty eating around all these people on diets who are constantly worried about what they're eating -- it was so refreshing to spend time with people who love food as much as I do, and not the "good for you" kind! :) Well some of it was, but there were plenty of sweets to be had. :) Addie enjoyed it too -- she ate like a pig! She was shoveling her face every chance she got. We discovered that she loves blueberries (which we would have never known because Loren and I don't particularly like them) and clementines. But of course upon our return home she has gone back to her picky self. Oh well, hopefully she packed on a little weight while we were there. We enjoyed some walks, the indoor pool, relaxing, shopping, chatting, playing the Wii, and much more. It was Addie's first time at a swimming pool -- she didn't seem overly excited by it, but then she kept wanting to get back in, so I assume she liked it. :) My mom and I even got to go on a horseback ride, and Addie got to ride her second pony. It was great to get out of town and relax, and to spend some relaxed time with family -- not the usual busy hectic get-togethers for holidays and birthdays. It was a rare trip in that I wasn't ready to come home -- usually I'm ready after just a couple days. But it was so comfortable and beautiful. My family has spent summers in McCall my whole life, so it's kind of another home to me anyways. I wasn't ready to leave, but it was nice to see my puppers and spend a night in my own bed.

My New Deck

Check out my beautiful new deck! Ryan did an awesome job. I'm still debating on how to cover the arbor -- 2x2s or lattice. Both are about the same price -- I think the 2x2s would last longer, but the lattice would provide more shade. I'm also debating about some climbing plants -- I think they'd be gorgeous, but I don't want anything that will cause structural damage. Hmm . . .
Addie LOVES the deck! She's constantly banging on the door to go outside now. Oh, and this is her favorite new chair:

Yea, I kind of <3 her.

This is how she was sleeping yesterday morning -- she just looked so awkward I had to take a picture.

Goofy Girl

Addie never ceases to crack me up. :) And she's extra goofy now that her ear is not bothering her.

I did actual pigtails the other day to go visit Grandma Judy, and this is the aftermath later that evening:

Not only was the hair crazy, but so was she! When daddy got home with Uncle Ryan and Cassie, she was the life of the party.

She sure does love her pups. The other night she crawled specifically over to the edge of the bed to sit right next to Lucas. He looks frightened here, but he really doesn't mind.

Then of course she wanted to know what I was doing with the camera.

Silly girl!

Infection Be Gone!

No more ear infection! Yay! I'm SO glad we didn't have to do tubes . . . :)

Family Photos

We got our pics back from Lucinda and I love them! We had a gal (Lucinda) from Twin Falls (she has great prices and is a friend of a group member) come up to take pics of some of the Valley Bum families in late May at the Train Depot. BTW, this was the first time I had actually been to the Depot -- can you believe it? I've driven by there ever since I moved to Boise but have never stopped! Great place for pics! Here they are:

This is probably my fave family pic:

I love the light in this one, but I wish Addie was smiling:

I think she looks like she's fake smiling here:

But daddy can get a real smile!

On the train tracks. I think I might like this one more centered on just us, but it actually works great as desktop wallpaper because all the icons are on the right.

I wish I would have pulled my shirt down here.

I love the B&W.

She pretty much refused to walk. She was done at this point.

Aww, I love pictures! Now I just have to decide which ones to order prints of.

New Toy

Yay look at me blogging from my new toy. Yea I'm totally on the trendy bandwagon. :). I'm waiting for Addie to wake up (she's asleep in the car) so I thought I'd practice typing on this thing. Be ready for lots of lame posts like this. :)

Like a Kid at Christmas

I'm ancy (ps. is 'ansy' not a word? or am I just completely butchering the spelling?) with excitement! I get my new Blackberry today and I can't wait! Also, our pics are back from the photographer, but a friend has the disc (we did a group session, so they all went to one location) and I won't be able to get it until tomorrow or maybe even Monday. I love pictures, and especially after seeing some of the others taken . . . a drive to Caldwell immediately is almost seeming appropriate . . . ;)

Wahooz

The new lame title for Boondocks. Can we still just call it Boondocks? I can't ever remember Wahooz. Anyways, we went on Friday because Loren's work was celebrating the end of Groupwise (BSU has switched to Google instead).

Loren went on the go-carts:

Addie checked out the planters:

We played miniature golf and she wanted nothing to do with the golf club, but did like the golf balls.

Once she got ahold of mine she wouldn't give it back. Then when I finally took it, the darn house ate it and I couldn't play anymore!

We also saw some pretty flowers while golfing.

Here are just a few more pics I wanted to share. Addie loves watching Daddy and Uncle Ryan in the backyard.

But thinks she REALLY needs to be out there with them! (Loren was mowing, so she wasn't allowed out)

Speaking of the backyard, we finally got it "liveable" with sod and have been enjoying it -- but it's so hot back there since the tree fell down, that we really need some shade. Ryan said he would build us an arbor, so I made the mistake of asking him to start that. The deck was a bit unstable so he decided to pull up some of it first, to make sure we had a good base for the arbor. Well half the wood was rotted out, so this is what I have now:

Actually it's a bit different because he moved those bushes to the fenceline, so now we'll have a nice big opening from the deck to the yard.

And this is the other side while the deck was being tore up:

So Ryan tore up the whole deck and is going to build us a new one -- very nice of him! :) And we have the money to do it now, so I don't mind. After the pretty new deck is built, we'll get a pretty new arbor. I'm so excited! :) Now I just have to be patient without my yard for a while . . .

Some Sewing and My Girl

Just wanted to post some pics of my sweet thing . . .

On this day she just had a white t-shirt and jean capris on, but she looked so darn cute! I couldn't help but snap a few shots.

She so knows she shouldn't be eating that.

Cheesy grin for daddy.

I can't help but look at her and think she's the cutest darn thing I've ever seen! Does every mom think that? :)

Apparently she's just like her daddy and loves red beans and rice. Loves it in her hair, down her arms, on her entire face, all over her shirt . . .

Here's just a little video I thought was cute.

The Valley Bums group is still going strong on sewing stash game, so I'm attempting to make a feeble effort. Here's a smock dress I made Addie -- modeled over other clothes.

And her toddler halter. The name just sounds wrong, but it's so darn cute! I threw this on quickly this morning for a modeling pic, but she really wasn't in the mood so I didn't get to "check it out" -- I think it may be too small. May be a gift item instead.

I'm combining my knitting and sewing skills here. I would love it for Addie, but again too small. I actually had made it for a friend, but then found out she had a ton of clothes already, so it will just go in the gift pile.

This is what I gave her instead. Don't ask why the pic is sideways -- that's not how I loaded it. ?? It's actually the second wool soaker I posted about a while ago, just with elastic and the cute little heart on the bum.

And my sad attempt at a kimono. A lot of the gals were making them and I thought they were so cute. But I had to go and make mine out of fleece, which was a pain in the butt. I made specifically for my friend Amy, although I was a bit reluctant to give it to her. I'm hoping to redeem myself with something fabulous for her after the baby arrives. :)

Congrats Kadie!

My friend Kadie had her beautiful baby girl, Emelia Grace, on Sunday, May 31st. She came in at 8 lbs 12 oz with lots of hair. :) I have yet to meet her, but got to see her beautiful pics on MySpace. I'm hoping Addie and I can make a visit sometime this week -- maybe even today. Congrats on your miracle mama!

Pretty Shirt for a Pretty Girl

My Valley Bums is currently in the middle of "stash games" -- where we try to get rid of our constantly-in-piles supplies like yarn and fabric. This time it's a sewing stash game, so we're busting sewing stash. I don't have a lot, but the game is a good motivational tool for me to actually do something, so I have actually been using my sewing machine lately. It's kind of a rocky relationship as I seem to always run into problems, but I have successfully completed a few items. I first tackled the soakers that I put in the last post. Saturday I went to my mom's and used her serger to turn some onesies into shirts (I hate onesies) and make some more wipes, as Addie's are looking rather sad.

These were just plain white, so I added a few embellishments -- just playing around.

And yesterday I made Addie a shirt -- this seems like the first "real" project I've done. I think it came out pretty cute. Now I just need to get my butt in gear to make 2 gifts for 2 soon-to-have-a-newborn mamas!

Pardon her hair. With the AC being out she's kind of a sweaty mess all the time, so the hair's a little wild these days!