Call Me Coach

Recently David has been into basketball.  He has been trying to figure out the best sport for Katelyn to go pro in and he has narrowed it down to basketball. I know. . . he's a little crazy and over the top with his plans for her, but I just go with the flow and let him do his thing and the plans usually settle on their own.  He has never really played basketball except for pick up games and church ball.  He went to the library and checked out books on the fundamentals and has been loving it.  He asks me questions here and there and really tries to figure out the basics of this game that he missed out on.

In this phase of curiosity, he wanted to find out how soon Katelyn would be able to start playing.  I told him not to get his hopes up of our child becoming a star athlete and that he shouldn't be too disappointed if it doesn't work out, but he still looked into it. 

As he was looking into the youth basketball programs he realized two things. . . first that Katelyn has quite a while before she can be on any basketball team, and second, that the local teams need some coaches.  

He mentioned it to me, and it sounded pretty fun!  We dug further into it and volunteered. . . . and ta-da!!!  

We are the official coaches of our very first basketball team.  We are coaching an 8 year old team and we are the Magic!  Not the Orlando Magic, but we'll get there right?  We are a little anxious about all this. . . have any of the boys touched a basketball before. . . where do we start. . . will there be crazy parents that believe their child is the next NBA player (like David) . . . what if nobody shows up for the games. . . what if we lose every game?

This will be a fun adventure.  We have two practices before our first game which means the first game could be a disaster!  

Does anybody have any good plays?  Any fun Magic cheers?  Who's bringing the treats to the first game?  

Wish us luck!  We might need it!

The Dress of all Dresses

It really doesn't get much better than this!  Mom finally decided to give up Katelyn's blessing dress. . . the one that Katelyn "initiated".  Dad convinced me that she secretly framed it down in her craft room and wasn't willing to give it up.  She kept saying she had some "finishing touches". . . likely story!  

Our Christmas package came, and there was no dress.  I thought for sure she would have included it in there, but no. 

She called a couple of days later and she said she had finished the dress and was sending it with a friend and they were going to meet up with me to give me the dress!  I was very very excited!

That weekend, it really did come.  It was even more wonderful and perfect.  Here's a tour of this amazing dress which was skillfully created by my mother.  You can click on any of the pictures to get a bigger look if you'd like.  It really is that cool!

The whole dress. . . top to bottom

The front chest section.

Mom weaved thin little ribbon together and at each intersection she sewed on tiny pearl beads!  The beads kept slipping under the ribbon, so the tacked them down some how.  These beads and ribbon were such a tedious job, and I love them so much!  She also attached a thick ribbon that wraps around and ties in the back.

The slip

All along the bottom layer, the slip, she made these amazing details.  I don't really know what the lines are called, but I like them!   She attached the lace and inserted the ribbon.  The first time Katelyn wore this dress, her toes kept on catching on the ribbon and messing it up.  You can't see them, but there are little pearl beads attaching the backside of the ribbon to the lace.  No more baby toes snagging up the ribbon!   Mom also embroidered the line of bows and attached the tatting.

Her Name

For each girl that gets blessed in this dress, their name will be embroidered on the slip.  Katelyn is lucky to be first!

The Scallops. . . not scalpels :)

The slip is just a little bit longer than the top layer of the dress to show off the details.  The top layer has beautiful scalloped edges.  I called them scalpels one time on accident and it took a little bit to figure out that they aren't scalpels. . . no surgery here :)  Each scallop has a bow at the start of it and they circle the whole dress.

The Back

Here is the back of the dress.  Mom weaved the ribbon again on the back, but we didn't want beads on the back.  She attached big pearl buttons.  The ribbon ties in the back.  

I didn't take a close up picture of the sleeves.  They are perfectly poofy.  They are lined with some shimmery fabric.  They are so tiny. . . which makes them adorable!

Katelyn was the perfect model for this photo shoot!  She loved the dress so much that she wanted to put the whole thing in her mouth.  I was able to capture these sweet pictures before she wrinkled it too much!

I didn't quite know what I wanted for our family's blessing dress, so I mostly just let my mom do what ever she wanted.  I LOVE how it turned out and I can't believe how beautiful it turned out.  My mom is simply amazing and even though she didn't really frame it and hang it up in her craft room, I wouldn't blame her if she did.  This dress is priceless.  I am so lucky she made this for me.  I hope Katelyn loves it as much as I do and that all my daughters have their daughters blessed in it too.  I would love for the slip to be filled with names!  How neat would that be?!  Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom!  I love it!

It's Christmas Again

As we moved so soon after Christmas, all our gifts got packed up.  Now we are unpacking and we are finding our presents and it is sort of fun!  We kind of forgot about some of them and we are delightfully surprised as we find some!  As David unpacks, somehow he finds all the treats. . . thanks Rachel and Grandpa Bob!  We found Mom's package and I am so glad for all the home videos she put on DVD for us!  Now we have no excuse for writing our life story :)
Mom also sent over the finished blessing dress and I am going to get some good detailed pictures of Katelyn with it on and post those later. . . LOVE it!
We got some very nice Christmas cards with lots of love in them!  I'm glad they survived the move.
We got basketballs with our gift card from our secret. . . thanks Brooks and John! I never mentioned how Davids team did in the tournament.  They tried very hard, but just kept on losing.  David did score but I missed it.  He had fun and can't wait to play more, so we got some basketballs, a manly one and a girly one, and we volunteered to coach a youth team if parents don't want to.  Should be fun and I really hope the parents don't all want to coach!
We love the Mela products we got too. . . thanks Nick and Christine. . . and yes, we have missed them.  David has been searching out a lotion since we ran out of Renew, and is very glad he got some, and some gold bars.  He and his sensitive skin are happy again :)  I have been hoping to find a good deal on laundry detergent before we run out, and now I have a lot longer.  Not weird or cheap gifts. . . we love them and will happily use them up!
Katelyn loves her books.  Thanks Chad and family!  I love Corduroy. . . I read that when I was little.  And her first sign language book!  YAY!!  We can't wait to communicate with her through signs until she can talk!

I promise these were not posed. . . this is like her best friend. This bear wasn't a Christmas present, but it is one of the only things that always makes her happy.  She absolutely loves this teddy bear and can play with him forever!  He's perfect!  Thanks Rach!

One of my favorite gifts this year was the book and music, The Forgotten Carols.  We finally unpacked it and can finish reading it at nights as a family!
One of David's favorite gifts was the game Cities and Knights.  This is an addition to the original game Settlers of Catan and it adds some different aspects to the game which we also have enjoyed almost every night too!  Hooray for unpacking!

Our Little Christmas

I wasn't sure what to think of our Christmas this year. With David's new job, he doesn't get paid time off until he's been there for a while, so we had a 3 day weekend of no work.  Those 3 days definitely didn't feel anywhere near the 2-3 weeks I have had all my life until this Christmas.

This was the first time I had ever been away from my parents for Christmas or New Years.  I guess it just isn't fair being a grown up. . . . hmmm.  I felt like we were tainting it with our move, and not having as much time off, and then not being with the rest of my family so I felt I was getting jipped a little or something.  I wasn't as excited for this Christmas as I usually am, but it turned out very well.

We talked about traditions that our families have done and we talked about others we have heard of that we might like to do.  We had so many that we weren't sure which ones to pick.

Our Christmas Eve was very peaceful and we were able to enjoy each other.  We tried very hard not to do any packing or moving stuff.  I made a pumpkin pie for after Christmas dinner and got the sticky buns ready for the next morning.  We played games and read new books with Katelyn.

Christmas morning we slept in  until we just had to get up.  We showered and got ready for the wonderful day.  The sticky buns were as caramel-y as they could be and were delicious.  We opened gifts one at a time with each other.  It is so exciting to sit and wait and watch them open the gifts that we got for each other to see what they think. We loved it all and Katelyn loved the wrapping paper.  She loved to crinkle it and look at all the colors.

We got on skype and had a massive group video call with almost all my family.  We had 2of us from Idaho, 1 Washington, 1 Oregon, 1 Utah, 1 Virginia, 1 Germany, and a very special elder on from Brazil.  It was very chaotic and fun all at the same time.  I am not sure how many conversations we had, but by the time Matt got on, Mom was threatening to mute us and kick us out if we didn't behave :)  I loved hearing from everybody.  Matt sounded wonderful and it was very cute to see and hear him struggle with his English as he is speaking Portuguese so much now that English is tougher.  We let Mom and Dad and those that were home go off and have their own conversation and the rest of us stayed on and chatted for a couple more hours.  Too fun!  We are trying to put together a monthly or so time where we can all chat together since we loved it so much!

I cooked my very own Christmas dinner.  I successfully cooked the turkey, the mashed potatoes were so creamy, the stuffing was delicious, the gravy surprisingly turned out great, and the rolls were amazing too.  Everything hit the spot and wasn't as tricky as I expected.  I expected a disaster and I was ready to order pizza if anything went too bad, but the little Betty Crocker in me pulled it off. . . . and it was all still warm when we ate it.  Heavenly!

 Katelyn enjoyed a Christmas nap in her Christmas pjs.  She woke up and didn't think it was very funny I was taking pictures of her when she is revealing so much.  She didn't seem to mind mooning everyone on skype, so I thought she'd be ok. . . I guess not :)

This Christmas wasn't so bad after all.  We are still one happy family and it doesn't get much better than that.

I did it. . . .sorta!

So back in October I mentioned I was ready to lose the baby weight and be back down to my pre-pregnancy weight by Christmas  and anyone who wanted to join the challenge to lose some extra weight was welcome to join in as well.  I started off and was going pretty good, going jogging two to three times a week and doing some ab workouts to help slim down the "flotation device."  That was all going great until Thanksgiving and some of us ran a 5K race.  I will admit, I didn't do anything exercise wise for all of December.
I enjoyed plenty of Christmas treats and loved them.  They were delicious! In the back of my head I couldn't help but think that I needed to get moving again.  So I signed the two of us up for a basketball tournament.  It was a 3 on 3 tournament, so I felt signing up for this would give me a little more motivation to get going again so I could be a good contributer and not a dead leg of the team.  This didn't work.  It was stinking cold outside, and I put off packing and exercising the entire time.  The tournament came and there was no age limits so there were girls from 12 years old to 50.  I knew I wasn't in shape, and was really hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
The first game was a disaster on my part. There were two 12 year olds, a really good/really tall lady and me. The two little girls didn't look like they could play at all and the tall girl felt bad for how good and tall she was so she took it easy on all the teams and would pass it off every time.  I was so glad we had 4 so that I could relax and breathe every once in a while.  I missed almost all my shots miserably and  we lost our first game.
The second game was different.  I was a whole new player.  I got in a rhythm and was unstoppable.  I loved it!  The first team to 21 won, and since the tall/good girl didn't want to score too much, I took over.  I think I had 10 to 15 points per game after that first game.  I was dead tired after each game, but somehow I survived.  We got to the point where we couldn't lose one more game or we would be done. . . and we just kept on going!  We had games back to back and found ourselves in the championship!  We were tied and the whole game was close.  It came down to a last second basket. . . .by the other team and they won it!  I was a little bummed, but it was such an awesome falling/off balance shot that won the game that I couldn't be too mad since it was so cool.  The winners got gatorade and I really wanted some.  I was so dead and exhausted and it sounded so good.  So we settled for a 2nd place finish.  Not bad at all!
So back to the weight loss thing.  I thought that for sure I didn't lose the weight, but we didn't have a scale, so it was a mystery.  On the 31st, I had a physical for insurance.  I was weighed. . . and I couldn't believe it.  I was 144 pounds!  I did it!!!  I am pretty proud that I did it, but I have plenty of firming up to do. I am not quite sure how the weight got off, but I will take it.  No complaining for me!  I guess that 2nd place finish in the basketball tournament was all I needed.

Off We Go! Farewell Boise...

We are officially moved now.  We were faked out last week when we tried to rent a trailer, but our plug in for the tail lights didn't work.  We called all the willing strong men that volunteered to help out and asked for a rain check.  Their wives all said they would be glad to volunteer their husbands for another day. . . how sweet of them!

We had the electrical part fixed and away we went.  We had a good crew of manly men hauling boxes and then David and his dolly.  He doesn't know why I call it that and he insists it is a "hand truck".  I think it just makes him feel a little better about his masculinity and that he can carry:)  We rented the biggest trailer our car could tow and the guys thought I was crazy.  I had Katelyn on one hip and they asked me to back my "rig" up close to the trailer.  I went and buckled her in and backed our snazzy car up to where they were standing.  

I could tell that they really did think I was a little off thinking I was going to haul a giant trailer with the boat of a grandma car that we have.  I loved it.  Apparently our grandma car can tow a big load, and they were a little impressed with our hitch rating.  (I don't really know what I am talking about, so don't ask any details please)
Katelyn was a trooper during the whole process.  I was able to hand her off for a few days to people in the ward and I would run home and pack and pack as quick as I could, until I had to go back to feed her.  It was so nice to be able to get so much done so fast.
We decided to get rid of our couch, and David was so happy.  It is a little more than heavy, and he did not want to move it.  We tried to sell it cheap, but people kept on saying they could come get it, but never did.

Then we scooted it out the door, and posted it for free to the first person who picked it up, and someone took it!  Hooray!!  I know David really will miss it, but I can't wait to get a new one!  So long to our mismatched couch.

Our new place is much bigger.  It doesn't feel like it since we still have boxes everywhere.  We have another bedroom, and another bathroom, and a washer and dryer!  We have stairs now too which will be interesting as Katelyn starts moving on her own soon.  

Hooray for no more upstairs neighbors with a rowdy dog running around.  Hooray for looking for a new comfy couch.  Hooray for no smoking neighbors.  And hooray for still being close to everything in town.

We love being closer to David's work and cutting down on the commute has been wonderful already!  He doesn't have to leave as early, and gets home a lot sooner.  Very nice!!  

So here's to a fresh start in our new place in this very new year. 

Thanks to everyone that helped in so many ways!

Another Month

Our little girl is growing up!  She hit the 4 month mark last week!  It is still so young, but she is learning so much and changing so much that we almost forget how she used to be.  

She had her second round of immunizations and did so well.  She was laying there staring down her rattle when they poked her.  She looked up at me, and frowned and let out one little wimper.  She got distracted from crying by her rattle and was okay.  Then they gave her the second shot and was a little more mad this time.  She looked like she was trying to figure out what was going on and cried a bit.  The third one came before she was focused on her rattle, and she was so sad :(  She had her down brow and her frown in full force as she cried.  Luckily not screaming, just really sad.  The last one was squirted in her mouth and she loved it and tried to suck out as much as she could get.  She was happy again :)

She is still growing.  She weighed 16 pounds 4 ounces. . . which is in the 93rd percentile.  She is a heavy girl for her age.  She isn't as tall at only 24 inches which is in the 35th percentile.  Her head. . . I don't remember. . . nothing abnormal.  So she is getting thick, but not too tall. . . we love all her squishiness though. . .  LOVE it!  The doctor said she's lookin good!  Still a good eater!
As we were moving we had all the pictures and mirrors off the walls.  Katelyn is really good at sitting on her own and LOVED sitting in front of the mirrors.  She would stare herself down and reach out and touch the mirror.  She probably doesn't realize it is herself yet.  She will reach for the toys in the mirror not realizing it is in her own lap.

 She is a very good sitter.  No rolling over yet.. . . close, but not yet . . which the doctor said might be because "she is on the bigger side" . . . that should help right?  Like a rolly polly?  He must be crazy! :)

 Sometimes it is a little too hard to stay sitting.  She will lean a little bit too far and. . .

 . . .down she goes!  This usually scares her a little bit.  She doesn't hit hard, since she's "on the bigger side of things".  Gotta love being squishy right?

 Ok. . . so she doesn't really love it and wiggles around to her belly and will look around very worriedly for help. . . .

. . . . and gets very sad that I am there, but offering no help. . . just taking pictures of her being so helpless and cute.

 Don't worry. . . She gets LOTS of loving!  We love smooching this squishy little girl and she doesn't seem to mind.  She will let out a couple deep belly chuckles. . . you know the one when someone is tickling you so much you want them to stop, but you love it all at the same time and don't really want them to stop?  That's the one :)
She likes touching, licking, holding, squeezing and contorting things to figure out what they are.  When I smother her with kisses, my hair is all over the place.  She pulls it and moves her fingers through it to see what it is.  So lately my hair has been a little crazier and a little more slobbery, and its not my fault.

 She loves faces too.  Any time she can reach, she will do all of the above to my face.  She puts a hand on each cheek and goes to town.  She gives very nice "kisses". .. . some look like this. . .

 . . .. and I am very glad she doesn't have teeth yet!  Others are a little nicer like this. . .

 Here she is with her hands on my cheeks, giving me her special kisses.  I LOVE them!

 We love this little girl of ours!

She is much more in control of her movements now.  She likes to lay on her back and pull her feet up to play with them.  Instead of her arms flailing around and hitting her toys that hang above her, she reaches and grabs them and examines them now.

She is very curious about things that make noise or that light up.  Things like our cell phone, electronic toys, things that make noise when she scratches them, wrapping paper, noises from our mouths, all sorts of things.  She stares them down and focuses on them to figure them out.
She likes to suck on her fingers.  She rarely finds her thumb.  Usually she finds her other fingers first.

She is very expressive with her face. She stares strangers down and they all try so hard to get a smile out of her, but she rarely gives in.

Her hair is still very thick around the back of her head and thin-ish everywhere else.  She has a lot more hair than a lot of babies though so I should be happy.  She wears headbands a lot as my way of "covering it up" plus she is so stinkin' cute with them on.  Don't worry though. . . I don't do any flowers bigger than her little hands.

She is very vocal.  She likes to talk when I am talking and will stop when I stop and just look at me like she didn't do anything.  She just jabbers away on her won sometimes too.  She has figured out how to do the really high pitched sounds which she likes to use when she gets excited and when she's been left alone for too long.  She has figured out that her tongue helps her make new sounds too.  

She seems to be loving trying to figure out everything that's going on around her.  She is very fun and sometimes we just can't get enough of her.