Goodbye...

I decided it was time to clean out my closet. I can't stand to wake up in the morning, walk in the closet, and look at a bunch of clothes that don't fit. Since we have plenty of storage space in our house I am able to get them out of my closet, out of sight and out of mind. I have always struggled with my weight and I find it very discouraging to look at clothes that USED to fit and USED to be cute when I wore them. So I just packed them up and put them in boxes in the storage room downstairs. Now this is the current state of my closet. Empty skirt hangers...
And a ton of empty hangers!
Maybe I'll have to go shopping....or maybe I'll have to actually fold my laundry....hehehehe

Thanksgiving!

I got a roaster from my in-laws for my birthday. Seeing how I have borrowed theirs three times in the past two years - I was super excited! It is the best way to cook a turkey because then I can still use my oven to make rolls, roasted carrots, pie, sweet potato souffle, etc.
Kyle was just as excited about my gift as I was! Until he got stuck in the box and couldn't get his legs out from under the flaps...
And since we have the cutest nephew you could ask for - here are some more pics. He had to go to the doctor that day and wasn't feeling well but he is the best baby - and you would have barely noticed he wasn't feeling well AT ALL.

And here is our Thanksgiving table with really bad lighting. I'm too lazy to photshop fix it right now - but you get the idea.
We had homemade grape juice, pretzel salad, yummy homemade rolls (which I am still dreaming about), turkey, mashed potatoes (which weren't that good - I messed them up), stuffing, gravy, roasted carrots, a veggie tray, sweet potato souffle and pie! We ate it all on my grandparents wedding china and silver which they gave to Oliver and I as a wedding gift. My grandma never broke one piece in the 60 years they had it! I have had it for two years and so far all is well. We also laugh about how plate sizes were much smaller back then - but for Thanksgiving it turns out not to be a bad thing because my eyes are always bigger than my stomach.
Our dad flew in late on Thanksgiving day so that we could all celebrate with our Utah families that day and then my sister and her family came over on Friday to eat like champions again for our small little family gathering. It was a lot of fun and a whole lot of work. I didn't know that I was barely pregnant and I sure wasn't sick yet so cooking ALL DAY LONG was actually a lot of fun. Hopefully next year my sister and I will be happy to not be pregnant any longer and have a little more energy to get it all done. YUM!

Putting together nursery furniture....

This weekend Oliver and I drove to all sorts of baby stores to look at crib furniture, changing tables, etc. Who knew that people would really spend $500 on a crib? (No offense intended if that's you - I just am saving my money for a sweet rocker!) So, we price matched and compared and then remembered our Gerber friends who bought their nursery in a box 2 years ago. We went to look at them and there are none set up at the store, but I remember thinking that her's was cute and looked functional. So we decided to buy it, take it home and set it up, and then we still have enough time if we end up not liking it to get something different. Plus, you can't find a crib, changing table and dresser for $200 any other way - so our adventure began. All of these pieces are going to turn into a dresser, changing table and crib.
Here is Oliver setting up the crib. We decided to set it up in the living room where we have the most space. I'm sure those of you with experience realize the error in this judgment. Would have been nice to know that it wasn't going to fit through the doorway and into the nursery.... I called my mom at 9:30 that night to tell her it wouldn't fit through the door and she laughed and said she could have told us that 2 hours ago. So we un-assembled it, moved into the nursery, and re-assembled it. (Notice my empty coke slurpee cup in the background - YUM!)
We then set up the changing table, which actually fits perfectly in the hallway bathroom. It's as if they made that extra space just for a changing table.
Fits right behind the door - pretty cool huh?
We might actually go and get another changing table just to have one in the bathroom as well because I really think that we need the changing table for the bedroom. So for now we intend to keep the set (I forgot to take a picture of the dresser) and put our saved money toward something else.

And don't worry, while walking around Babies R Us this weekend we realized that there is always going to be "something else".

Nothing New

So I was scrolling down my blog today and I realized I have 8 followers. Poor followers! They are probably tired of me waiting to post an update about our not exciting lives. So, here is some catch-up from the end of last year that I haven't been able to get to.

I had a birthday at the end of November and my wonderful husband bought me flowers.

Aren't they purty?

I love the hot chili pepper and the warm yummy fall arrangement.

Almost nothing beats fresh flowers!

Yes, this is she.

My cell phone just vibrated at my work desk so I picked it up -

Me: Hello?
Caller: Is this Heidi Hansen?
Me: Yes, this is she.
Caller: This is Wxxxx Bxxxxxxx, a special investigator with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Silence...dead silence...gulp - um - okay...
My brain and stomach go - WHAT THE HECK DID I DO?

She explains why she's callings, sets an appointment to come to my work tomorrow and meet with me, and everything is totally fine and kosher - but why is my guilt complex the first thing to kick in? I'm really not a bad girl, I don't do horrible things - I'm just quick to assume the worst and feel like I'm being hauled off to federal prison.

I seriously have watched to many episodes of 24 and Criminal Minds and Law & Order - I need to stop watching TV and remember I'm a good girl...really, I promise, I am...

(at least my grammar was correct - I tell you I am a good girl)

Our World is Changing

I'd say this makes it pretty official - however over the last several weeks I have had no doubt everyday that I am pregnant because of all the throw up :) Today it has a heartbeat of 170 bpm which some are thinking it's a girl because of the rate - but we'll have to wait and see...

The addition is said to be arriving August 4th - give or take whenever the little child feels like coming. My aunt pointed out that it is easier to deal with the constant vomitting then it is to deal with a new child - so I'll be glad for 7 more months of fun and change.

Yeah for our new adventure - we are feeling very blessed and excited!

Up On The Rooftop

On the morning of my birthday (Nov 21) it was supposed to be snowing. Oliver has a huge aversion to putting up the Christmas lights on the house when there is snow on the ground. This could have something to do with his falling off the two-story roof of our townhouse two years ago...

When we awoke, we realized that it wasn't snowing yet and we thought that it would probably be the last Saturday without snow for awhile so we anxiously put up our lights.



Oliver worked from up on the roof and I worked from the ladder and we got them up, went to the store to buy more, and finished with hot chocolate in a little over two hours. Since then we have had to unstring and restring one strand that we blew out. But, we love the way they look and if I can remember I will take a picture at night - especially since we now have a ton of beautiful white snow!

A Little Outdated....but Who Cares?

Every year we've been married we have gone to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. I don't know what happened this year - but I just didn't care that much and so we got them from WINCO! Talk about a steal of a deal - we paid $7.29 for 7 pumpkins and our largest one weighed more than 30 lbs!

We carved our pumpkins with neighbors and friends the night before Halloween.
I apparently have a thing for spider webs since this is the second one I've made in three years...
Oliver decided to use the power drill this year and different sized attachments to puncture holes all over his pumpkin.
We are still loving our home and pictures of Christmas decorations and lights will be coming soon!

We Did It Again

We decided that flooding our basement once just wasn't enough. So we started the dishwasher and left our home to head out for family dinner at Oliver's parents. We came home 5 or 6 hours later to a beeping dishwasher and a steady waterfall in the basement. Oliver instantly knew what that sound meant and went running to turn off the water into the house.

Very shortly this little guy became our best friend. After one phone call we had out house swarming with concerned neighbors and friends to help us start mucking out the mess.
The water damage rippled the paint in our wall and ruined the drywall and carpet.
Over the following several days Oliver ripped out drywall and insulation and wet carpet and pad and even enjoyed it a little.
Luckily there is a window right next to the mess and so we just tossed everything out onto the back patio.
And what didn't fit in the garbage can the first week waited for its turn a different week.
It was a mess but luckily the weather was nice and it was even still a little warm.

And if you stay tuned I will take more pics of the remodel job that has been done (we now have canned lighting in our basement!).
Ah, the joys of home ownership.

I Went...You Shouldn't

This past weekend I went to see the opening of New Moon with some of my favorite people in the world. The company was delightful, the conversation was enjoyable, the cramming into two cars was awesome, the late night was even okay....the movie, not so much.

I read the Twilight series after all the books were out and I didn't know anything about them until that point. I think that Stephanie Meyers sets a bad example for teenage LDS girls by her writing. I don't care that people say that her writing has nothing to do with her religion - because I believe that we are commanded to be of good report and praiseworthy in all aspects of our life. I also feel that she is a role model to young women, and though it may not be something she chose, it does come with the territory. I don't feel that writing a book gives you cause to lack morals and teach falsehoods about loving and healthy relationships. I don't care that it's called fiction.

To be honest, I don't really care how you feel about it - this is my blog and I think that her books lack morals, are heavy in obsession and I would hate for girls to think that just because a guy is romantic gives him the right to be dictating, overly protective and controlling. I'm sorry, but male romance doesn't give excuse to treat a woman however you want. I think that Bella's manipulation of the two men is also despicable and I have no desire for these books to be popular when I have teenage children.

Enough of my rant...I don't like the Twilight series and I'm not apologizing.

All that being said - it was so nice to have a girls night out, to visit, to play and to spend quality time with some of the neatest and most inspiring women I know.

Babysitting Our Nephew

We had the pleasure of babysitting our beautiful nephew! He is such an easy kid and does so well while mom and dad are away.

My mom suggested that we turn a laundry basket up-side-down so that he could push it and walk all over our upstairs. It was a hit!

We also taught him to climb up and down the stairs going backwards. He would glance at us to make sure that he was doing it correctly. He could have gone up and down for hours.

Uncle Oliver got a little tired of sitting on the stairs so he took him back to the living room and Kyle enjoyed playing with all the beeping buttons of Catch Phrase.

He started to catch on that he was being distracted and kept pointing to the stairs so that he could go back and climb! What a smart little guy...

In the end tumbling in and out of the laundry basket was just as fun as the stairs!

We learned that it doesn't matter if you don't have any toys - kids don't care and they just aren't that picky. Just don't take away Kyle's pink monkey and blanket and he is happy to play with whatever you've got.

Can't wait to watch you again little guy!

Note to Oliver

If you ever reformat my memory card again without checking to make sure I have downloaded my pictures I will cry - AGAIN. I know how much you hate it when that happens so please don't be helpful by reformatting my memory card.

If you are trying to find something to do to be helpful please ask - I am happy to furnish you with an approved list.

Domestic and Peachy

We are so lucky to live so close to so many smart and loving people. I have always wanted to learn to can and this year Oliver's Aunt Chris had me over and showed me the ropes. The following post outlines my home success where I did every step all by myself! Please come and help next year so that it doesn't take so long and I don't have to talk to myself... :)

First, purchase two boxes of peaches...

Then, set-up everything that you are going to need and get all sorts of different pots of stuff boiling and heating. Get those first peaches in the water to boil so the skins just slide off.

Then skin and pit peaches.

And put them in your jars.

Then take the washcloth and wipe of the rim really well and prep the jar to receive its lid.

And after processing (and 3.5 hours of time) you wind up with 20 qts of peaches and a very clean kitchen! I would say that I was hugely successful because I only had one broken jar (but I had 20 really sticky ones).

Since two boxes of peaches will produce more than 21 qts - go ahead a make a pie...

Yes, I make VERY good peach pie!

And, make another on another day, and some cobbler, and some peach syrup, and eat and eat and eat them plain! YUM!

I love peaches and peach season!

Two Blissful Years

Happy Anniversary to us!

Our weekend plans fell through, and through, and through and we ended up spending a lot of time together just the two of us which was great.

We went to the free opera performance at the Gallivan Center. We saw the baby elephant, snow leopard, giraffe and tiger cubs at the zoo. We hung around at the house. We went to 5 Alls for dinner. Then we spent most of Sunday, our actual anniversary, with Oliver's extended family up Mill Creek Canyon eating yummy fire food and enjoying the spectacular changing leaves.

We decided to do our anniversary gift-free and come one step closer to being debt free instead.

Here's to the best two years and many many more!