The Chatty Housewife

Aloha!

2012-05-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

The first morning of our trip we decided to go for a walk and find somewhere yummy to eat breakfast. We weren't disappointed! We ended up walking to the Royal Hawaiian Garden area. It's so pretty! Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from Waikiki beach and it was a very convenient location.

We ate at Il Lupino and we both ended up ordering eggs benedict and when they delivered our food we were blown away!

This is my gluten-free version. Served on potatoes instead of English muffins. This was the best eggs benny I have EVER had.... EVER. It was incredible. The bacon was the thickest I have ever seen and the flavors in this dish were indescribable.

Our breakfast table gave it away that we were tourists, with phones, camera and pamphlets. :)

We ate out on their patio, it was beautiful out! The view of the gardens was so pretty during our meal.

Little Mr. looking all grown up and skipping his nap, hence the binky. :) You'll notice that over the course of our trip he gets addicted to the thing! We only stayed at the hotel twice for a nap during our stay in Waikiki, so he learned to catch zzz's wherever he could instead. It was definitely different than his regular routine. We were very glad to have the binky as a tool on the trip, it was so helpful!

On our walk back to the hotel after breakfast we stopped in at Waikiki Ross, it's huge! I would say it is way over three times as big as our local one here in Bellingham.
(I just looked it up, and the location is 40,000 square feet... that's large!)

We also stopped to shop at a little market place right beside our hotel and I bought some necklaces.

A kind lady at a booth snapped our photo for us.

This is where we parked our rental car, it's a lift parkade. You drove in at ground level, handed the guy your keys and walked away. They did the rest! It was very convenient, located right beside our hotel and way cheaper than hotel parking. They drove the car onto a lift/elevator and then your car was carried up, up and away! It was so strange to see rows and rows of cars all parked on top of each other. Little Mr. loved watching how everything worked.

Our hotel, Aqua Waikiki Wave.

The view from our patio.

Zoomed in.

The view looking the other direction.

The sliding glass door ended up being Little Mr.'s favorite. When we were in the room it's often where he would be! He would stand against the glass and watch the world.

Heading to the beach!

This was Little Mr.'s first time at the beach and he wasn't sure what to think of the sand. :)

He LOVED the beach as long as too much sand wasn't involved. :)

I could put him on the towel and he would stay there in order to not touch sand!

Getting a little more used to it.

Huge hibiscus flowers were blooming everywhere when we were there! They are so beautiful.

Historic Moana Surfrider hotel, which introduced "Hawaiian Hospitality" when it opened in 1901. It is interesting to read the history behind this hotel. It is called the "First Lady" of Waikiki.

Cheesecake Factory for dinner! MMM!

Complimentary bananas for Little Mr. Bananas are his favorite! He cleaned the plate in record speed, I wish we had it on video.

Stroller parking at Cheesecake Factory, there were 15 of them.

Waikiki is home to a huge amount of fancy-schmancy shopping like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Coach, Gucci, Yves saint Laurent, Chanel etc. Of course we had to visit the Ferrari store! Anyone want a canvas belt for over $200?

This stroller was almost $1,000.

Being a stinker!

It gets dark early in Hawaii. Around 7pm if I remember correctly.

Louis Vuitton window display with arrows.

I'm ending the post with a similar shot to the one I started with, just a different time of day. :)

Next up? We hop in the car and drive to the North Shore. Stay tuned!

Little Mr.'s First Airplane Ride

2012-05-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

On the 11th, the three of us flew to Hawaii!!! It was an amazing vacation and such an awesome way to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. The trip was just incredible and I will let the photos do most of the talking. I'm going to try and blog a bunch of the photos over the next several days. I took over 700 of them, but I definitely won't post that many lol!

Goodbye Bellingham! (Yes, Gumby got to go on our trip too and looks very excited about it.)

Little Mr.'s reaction to flying!

Goodbye Sucia Island!

Goodbye San Juans!

(I couldn't pull him away from the window for our self portrait.)

Goodbye snowy mountains.

Hello lunch time!
Little Mr. rode on the plane as a free lap child, but he ended up getting his own seat, which was so nice. The extra space was great and when he was ready to eat we buckled him in like it was a highchair.

Note to self: do not overfeed babies on airplanes unless you want to see the food a second time. LOL

Goodbye land! (See the coast?)

Hello nap time. :)

After his nap. Hello snack time!

.... and silly time!

Then it was time for a tour of the airplane from his favorite flight attendant! She took him up and down the aisles several times, showing him different areas of the airplane and all sorts of buttons and such. Very cool!

A beautiful ocean view dotted with clouds and cloud shadows.

Hello Hawaii!

Hello luggage, glad to see you made it safe and sound. :)

Stay tuned, much more to come.

Coconut Macaroons

2012-05-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is a yummy meringue cookie recipe so I just had to share it! It is super simple and turns out great.

Coconut Macaroons

2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
dash salt
1 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
2/3 cup sugar

1) Beat egg whites, vanilla and salt until soft peaks form.
2) Gradually add sugar, beating until very stiff and glossy.
3) Fold in coconut.
4) Drop by rounded teaspoons, about 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets.
5) Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until set and slightly browned.

In the past I have accidentally added the sugar right at the beginning with the egg whites and they still turned out! In fact, that is what happened with the batch shown in these photos. You can also see that I line my baking sheets with parchment paper instead of greasing them, since I prefer this method.

Watch Me Grow Part 2

2012-05-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

See Part 1 (0-6m) here!

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

12 Months!!!!!

Birthday Morning Gift Opening

2012-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

My sister K came to visit for a week and this was her carry on! :) Lots of birthday presents for Little Mr. from my family back in Regina, SK. We gave them to him as soon as he woke up on his birthday, May 2nd!

He had a lot of fun!

"What's this?"

"Oh, that's what it's for! Nice!"

He got a whole set of wooden hand made tools!

His birthday morning "haul!"

Little Mr. is ONE!

2012-05-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we celebrated our Little Mr. turning one! It is unbelievable to me that I have a one year old! I can't imagine life without him. We are so thankful for him. Thanks for the family shot K! (And a few others in this post are hers as well...)

We threw him a nautical themed birthday party and it was a lot of fun!

I added nautical themed scrapbooking papers to the hutch windows since the rose tea cups and crystal didn't really fit with the theme.

Swedish fish are my favorite!

I added some anchors to Little Mr.'s name banner so it would match the nautical theme, and hung it on the dining room wall above his monthly photos. I posted these "watch me grow" photos from months 1-6 here, and the rest are soon to come. It was so cool to see how much he has changed in one year. He was so tiny and now he is turning into a big boy right before my eyes.

There are 13 photos for 12 months because the first one was taken at 2 weeks, and the rest after that were taken monthly. (Excuse the blurred name on the banner, I edited it out.)

Wrapped napkins complete with "life preservers." I found this idea here, via Pinterest.

We served Bratwurst with all the fixin's as well as fruit, vegetables and dip, chips and home made potato salad. We weren't quite ready to serve lunch yet when I took this photo, the brats were still on the grill.

We had 28 guests, 11 of which were kids! I was thankful the day ended up being sunny, because it was nice to be able to use the back yard.

The birthday boy!

My youngest sister K made these cakes, didn't she do a cute job?! We had two cakes because the smaller one is a gluten-free smash cake for Little Mr. We had a couple of guests at the party that eat gluten free, as well as myself and Little Mr. so it made sense to have two cakes. The banner on the smaller cake looks a little funny because I edited Little Mr.'s name off of it. :)

I loved this smash cake for Little Mr.!

When we were done singing happy birthday, and the "1" candle was blown out with some help from his daddy, I took the decorations off of the smash cake and put it on the tray of the highchair and boy did Little Mr. smile! He knew what to do right away, but was pretty dainty with the first few bites.

The cake had layers of whipped cream and heath bites. The gluten-free version was made using a Betty Crocker gluten free chocolate cake mix and it turned out really yummy.

Two more babies on their way! Don't these mommas look cute?

A few of the gifts. Little Mr. was definitely spoiled on Saturday!

This doggy card "barked" happy birthday. Definitely a hit!

There were some See Kai Run shoes in that box! They are so adorable. His Aunt L has great taste!

Yes, my son is now the proud owner of a BMW. He LOVES this gift from his Uncle L and Aunt P.

Later in the day we gave him our gift. It's the Radio Flyer 4 in 1 trike. It can be used from 9m to 5 years old and you adjust it different ways as the child grows.

When you push the handle at the back, you can easily control the steering of the front wheel, which is so convenient! I don't know how they did it, but the design is so cool.

Happy Birthday Little Mr.!!!!!!!!! We love you!

We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to the party and helped us celebrate Little Mr.'s first birthday, it really meant so much to us!

Happy First Birthday Little Mr.!

2012-05-02T22:06:00.003-07:00

9-12 Month Must Haves

2012-04-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

We tried a couple of sippy cups and Little Mr. couldn't drink out of them. I didn't want to spend another $5 on yet another sippy cup so I bought the Nûby easy grip sippy cup at Target for less than $3. Little Mr. figured out how to drink from it right away and we've been using it for water ever since.

Happy Baby Puffs taste great, are easy for little fingers to pick up and dissolve quickly in the baby's mouth. We love them because they have two flavors that are gluten-free. These ones are strawberry and the other flavor available is sweet potato. We pour some into a little snack container and keep them in the diaper bag at all times. They come in a fun container that makes a great toy once it's empty too.

We love the Fisher Price activity center and it is so entertaining! This silly high-speed, no sound video is from back in February, but we're still getting lots of use out of the toy months later. If you are reading this via an email or blog reader, click over to the site to see the video.

The Kiddopotamus snack mat keeps Little Mr.'s food and hands off of nasty public surfaces. The cup shaped lip keeps food off the ground and it rolls up nice and small for carrying in the diaper bag.

Favorite Five Friday

2012-04-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

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Nursery Tour

2012-04-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

The changes are oh so slowly creeping in, but I am not ready for them. Some day this room will no longer be for a baby, but for a little boy. And then a big boy and an even bigger one. I never did take nursery photos when the room was freshly finished, but it's background to a few action shots here and there so it is somewhat recorded in Little Mr.'s history. Before The Mr. lowered the crib mattress and I changed the bookshelf around and other changes started happening, I thought I had better take some photos of the nursery.

The lamb on the top shelf was mine when I was a baby and plays Jesus Loves Me. John Deere toys courtesy of my dad of course. The blue box under the blue horse holds Little Mr.'s newborn things. Like hospital bracelets, first pacifier, a newborn diaper, cards, the blue and pink striped hat the hospital gave him and other large things that won't fit in his baby book.

On the bottom shelf are three very special blankets. One was given to me as an infant by my late Grandma B. and I think it is special to be able to use this blanket for my own baby. Another was hand made by Little Mr.'s Great Grandma C, and this means so much to us because she suffers with bad arthritis pain. Every stitch is a stitch of love. The third blanket I made myself, and while that doesn't sound too exciting, I really love this blanket because of the story behind it. I loved to make blankets for babies and when others would see me working on a blanket, they would ask me who it was for. During the making of this particular blanket several people asked me who this one was for, and I didn't have any specific plans for it, I just said it was for "whoever has a baby next." Little did I know that it would be my own baby that would be using this precious blanket. I get tears in my eyes just typing this!

The curtains were made from this Target shower curtain. I just cut the top off at the desired height and made a pocket for a rod. I used a bit of the leftover fabric for ties. I still have the rest of the fabric, which was supposed to be made into a pillow and never was and still might be. :)

I loved the shower curtain because of the scribble trees and Mr. Owl and Mr. Squirrel.

Ikea Hemnes dresser made changing table. A wire basket holds wipes and diaper cream.

This is usually somewhat true as to what the contents of the drawers look like, but a little messier. Laundry day had ended so things are a bit tidy in there.

These are color copies of pages from a book that belonged to my Dad when he was little. We framed them and The Mr. hung them in a grid pattern. Number 7 was one of my favorite pages from the book, so I framed that one differently and hung it above the crib, as it is a photo of a bunch of kids headed off to bed. I really should have taken a close up of that frame as well.

Countless hours were spent here in this chair. Countless! We are past that stage now, but Little Mr. and I still sit here and cuddle with a bottle a few times a day. I savor those moments.

The Mr. assembled this crib over a year ago, although it seems like it was just yesterday.

My mom made the beautiful retro quilt. It's just perfect, and includes some fabric we chose together, as well as two fabrics I purchased way before Little Mr. was born, during a wonderful moment visiting some little shops on the day I was given a "Mothers Shower". It was such a fun day and I don't regret the impulse buy that these fabrics were! I drooled over them and decided they had to come home with me.

I made the banner here and you can see a close up of it in that post, but I haven't taken a close up of the finished product yet. I really should have for this post! I have a confession to make though.... and it is that the banner has never lived above the crib. I only just finished sewing it together recently and stuck it up there just for the photo. Little Mr. stands in the crib now and could easily pull the banner down if I left it there! Too bad I waited so long to finish it. Now it is going to have to be hung somewhere else.

Some day this quilt is going to be all loved and faded so I thought it would be nice to take some photos of it. This fabric is called Let's Play.

This Retro Rocket fabric from the quilt has little animals and children flying around space in space suits. I like the little mouse in the bubble. :)

That's all for now! It will be interesting to see what his room looks like a year from now, just before he turns 2. I'm guessing he'll still be in the crib because I will be trying to keep him a baby as long as possible lol.

Snippets

2012-04-23T10:31:00.001-07:00

It's unbelievable to me that in ~~just a couple of weeks~~ a week from this Wednesday (aaaah!! Scary, I had to come edit that!) it is going to be May 2 and it will have been a year since Little Mr. was born! This year has flown by so quickly. It seems like he is learning new things every day and I think he is gearing up for another growth spurt as well. He has been eating a lot and taking long naps. He still loves to crawl around army style, even though he has perfectly good hands and knees. His favorite activity right now is pulling up on anything and everything. He's had a few hard falls though, for example, when he learned that kitchen drawers open when you use them to pull yourself up. Ouch! Thankfully it hasn't happened again and has gotten really tough these days. He's become more independent recently, crawling around the house finding new places to pull up on. He also started furniture walking a bit, which is exciting. He is very happy to be able to explore and when he is excited about something, he talks to me from one of the other rooms so I will come see what he is doing. We are having so much fun being mommy and daddy to this little guy! We thank the Lord for him!

We have a ton of hats for Little Mr. but he's not sure what he thinks of them. I'm hoping he'll get used to them before he really needs them this summer!

People say Little Mr. is "always smiling" so I had to share this photo. A wise mom once told me to capture moments like this and I am glad she shared that tidbit with me! When he is old I will probably love photos like this. Little Mr. was particularly tired at this moment of time and had started crying for a silly reason so I snapped a pic.

The Mr. and I took him to the play place in the mall for the first time. This is a huge baseball.

Such a big boy!

"Fastest Kid in Town" shirt. :) The shoes are hand me downs from cousin Jack and are more than a size too big, but they matched the shirt!

Well hello there little stuffed animal!

A new piece of furniture in the living room for toy and book storage. Just waiting for these baskets to come in stock so four of them can be added and a toy rotation can be started. It will be so nice to get that going because right now all the toys are in one big laundry basket and the toys aren't really "exciting" anymore. If I can hide some of the toys away in baskets I think it will really help.

We kept the exersaucer in the house with hopes it would help him learn to pull up on furniture and it really has helped.

He loves walking behind this walker from Gramma and Grampa B! We don't have to stay close to him anymore when he uses it. This photo was taken quite a while ago.

We had a lovely visit from H and the kids. It was such a nice day!

Not sure about the grass!

A little monkey!

He's often found here. :) Not much to hang on to, but I guess that's why he likes it?

Hello Petra! This is Little Mr.'s favorite thing to do right now—climb up and stand at the window to try and get Petra's attention. She just ignores him and it's pretty funny!

Sweet Sleep

Little Mr. Visits the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

2012-04-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Rows of beautiful, vibrant red tulips against a backdrop of snowy mountains is a neat sight.

An entire field of daffodils in full bloom is stunning. From afar it reminded me of the canola fields of Saskatchewan where I grew up.

Little Mr. and myself.

A family portrait.

When the sun was low the tulips were on fire with light. These are my favorite flower shots of the day because the colors are so bright and you can see the sun shining through the petals of the tulips.

11 months old.

Have you ever seen the tulips at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival? I highly suggest it if you have not!

A Beautiful Saturday

2012-04-17T14:58:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a beautiful day to spend time outside and we decided to visit the Bellingham Farmers Market. It was their second of the season and the busiest one we had ever attended. It was so much fun! Not only was there a ton of beautiful and inspirational things to look at, there were more food vendors to choose from and a lot of fresh local produce as always.

A Hurdy Gurdy player. Definitely an interesting instrument with a sound of it's own. Not something I would listen to at home or in the car, but for the purpose of entertainment at a market, it's definitely entertaining!

The food vendors area. There was a lot of different styles to choose from. Pizza, pasta, salads, BBQ pork, Indian, Ethiopian and gluten-free baking.

Lots of people.

The Mr. ordered smoked pulled pork and various salads.

My favorite booth as always. They still sell the little sheep, but they are neon for the summer. See them all lined up on those little shelves? They are very cute in their bright coats and would be perfect for decorating a nursery or kids room. I just found out they have an etsy shop too!

Bellingham National bank building, completed 1913.

Little Mr. riding in our new stroller. It's the City Mini and we got it for 20% off of the sale price. Yay!

This ornate clock on the corner of the building was 20 minutes late, it's not to be trusted I guess!

Later that evening we took the scenic route home through Birch Bay and I quickly shot these out the window as we were driving by. The sky was beautiful!

Favorite Five Friday...

2012-04-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

....the "it is warm enough today to make me think of the beach" edition. :)

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East Sound, Orcas Island

2012-04-10T09:41:00.004-07:00

On Saturday Sallad, Grace and their two kiddos Bri and Big A came up for a boat ride! We set out from Blaine harbor around mid morning and were rewarded with a beautiful, beautiful sight. The sky was blue and the water was calm. We decided it would be fun to make our way to Orcas Island and follow the long passage up the inner part of the Island, passing Rosario Resort and finally making our way to the tiny seasonal dock that is just a short walk from the village of Eastsound. If you look at this island map and find the huge East Sound inlet in the center of the Island and follow it all the way up, you will see the community of Eastsound.

Couldn't ask for nicer conditions!

Full speed ahead!

Far in the distance you can see a downtown or two of some city in British Columbia.

It was Bri's birthday on Saturday too! She is 4 now, and it seems like it was only yesterday when we all went camping to Stuart Island together for the first time. Look how little she was!

Grace and Big A. I can't believe he is two now! Both of Sallad and Grace's kids are at such fun ages.

Little Mr. took a nap on the way there.

We were still able to use his bouncy seat this time, but he is quickly growing out of it. Look at how his feet hang off the bottom! He used to be so tiny in it! The bouncy seat is such a nice place for him to nap, it's going to be rough when he grows out of it.

The Mr.

A horrible shot because we were moving quickly, but see the seals? They look fuzzy and dry basking there in the sun. We saw two or three groups like this over the course of the day.

Looking toward Eastsound from the dock.

Looking the other direction down East Sound.

Our timing was impeccable since it was Easter weekend and we were surprised with a little fair of sorts! There were bunnies and lambs to pet, a hay ride, egg hunt and lots of people walking around wearing bunny ears. :)

There were a few old cars parked in a row.

Little Mr. loved standing and watching these lambs.

Cheese!

He is standing by himself now as long as he has something to hang on to, and he loves taking steps behind a walker or hanging on to someones fingers.

This little bunny made me think of Thumper! He was such a fun little pet.

There were eggs set out for decorating.

We visited most of the shops in the town and this is the gorgeous view from the bookshop where we bought Bri a Fancy Nancy book for her birthday. There are lots of cute shops in the town, I love it!

Practicing

I bought a wire basket similar to this one at this shop. I had my eye on some fishing floats and reproduction antique boxes as well, but left without them. I also bought Little Mr. a Shleich animal to remember the outing by, a little rabbit! I thought it was fitting since it was Easter and we had seen rabbits that day. It's been fun building our collection of these animals on different outings and trips.

On the way home, we pointed the boat for home and let Little Mr. take over. Okay, maybe not quite. He took a nap as well. :) I have no photos of the trip home because it ended up being a rough trip! Thankfully the rest of the day was so smooth that it made up for it. It is so nice that Spring is here, I've been enjoying the nicer weather SO much!

Ten!

2012-04-06T11:54:00.007-07:00

Flowers from The Mr.

Favorite Five Friday- Spring Nest Edition

2012-04-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

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More 10 Month old Photos

2012-04-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

On Monday Little Mr. turned 11 months old. I thought I would gather up just a few more of his 10 month old photos and post them today since I've been spending so much time posting old October trip photos. Little Mr. is so much fun and he's changing so much these days. I think changing quickly is a baby thing, and I've probably said that over and over as it has been happening all along, but it seems like right now things are changing more than they ever have. He really is growing up and watching him learn so many new things is so incredible.

He gets his own toys out of the basket, sometimes that means everything topples over, including himself!

Sometimes he only wears a shirt because he crawls right out of his pants.

He has accidentally spilled the dog water bowl on himself twice now. Quite surprising and cold!

So sweet. I had just walked over a gravel pathway for 10 minutes so he would fall asleep, and when I caught this glimpse of him, I couldn't resist snapping a photo.

Killing time at Rite-Aid one day while the car was in the shop.

This little bird was on sale for less than $3 so I bought it for him.

When we got back to the dealership, the car wasn't ready yet, so Little Mr. ate dinner.

The best toy ever- an empty baby snacks container. Little Mr. still uses his feet a lot when he is playing!

His Gertie Ball

Monkey toes are my favorite!

He is getting long these days. He wears 12 month pants, which is amazing because he has always been short in the legs and all of a sudden they just grew like crazy and we basically skipped a pant size. He is less than two lbs away from outgrowing the infant car seat. I just can't imagine that he was this small! And that photo isn't even a newborn photo, he was 24 days old.

The last two aren't of Little Mr. but I just had to include them. Look what we saw out our back door the other day- two deer!

Canyonlands National Park etc.

2012-04-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

While staying in Moab, we also visited Canyonlands National Park. There is a lot to see here, but it isn't as spectacular as the arches.

One of the days we were there, The Mr. went on a mountain bike tour that turned out to be quite the workout! This area is famous for mountain biking because of all the sandstone slickrock. It's made up of petrified sand dunes and sea beds complete with fossils and even dinosaur tracks.

One of several dinosaur tracks found in the park. This photo kind of looks like someone was using their imagination when they declared it was a dinosaur track, but in person it really is clear that it is one. The shadows just aren't right in this photo. I've seen quite a few different photos of dinosaur tracks from this area and it's quite interesting to see.

A crazy road. There is lots off off-roading available in this park. You can visit the Needles, cowboy camp (with real artifacts and antique trash in tact), and there are signs of life left behind from many many years ago, like this granary or this one as well as cave wall drawings and pictographs. We didn't have time to do most of these things. There are so many things to see in both Arches National park as well as this one, you could literally spend weeks in this area if you enjoyed history and nature and didn't mind a lot of hiking.

The Mr.

Mesa Arch looks like it's hanging on by a thread. Click that link, it's spectacular at sunset!

See the crack? The arch literally clings to the side of a cliff and has cracks like this on both sides. I wonder how much longer it will be there.

One thing you learn when you visit the interpretive center at Cayonlands, is never to step in a puddle. Why? Because there is a whole little world in each of these puddles and some of these animals have been dried out and hibernating for a long time in order to come back to life when their little basin finally fills with water. You can learn all about it here, they even have some little creatures that look like they belong in the ocean! And shrimp! Some of these little creatures can fly away, but the ones that can't, tolerate almost boiling temperatures in the heat of a desert summer as well as freezing temperatures in the winter and still survive.

See the snails?

It is so weird to see life like this living in a tiny pool of water in the middle of a slab of rock in such a desert-like setting.

Pinnacles

Needles

An example of what some of the walking trails near the roads look like.

A huge crater called Upheaval Dome has scientists guessing as to how it was formed. Read this excerpt taken from here.

"Upheaval Dome is quite a different story. In an area approximately three miles (5km) across, rock layers are dramatically deformed. In the center, the rocks are pushed up into a circular structure called a dome, or an anticline. Surrounding this dome is a downwarp in the rock layers called a syncline. What caused these folds at Upheaval Dome? Geologists do not know for sure, but there are two main theories which are hotly debated."

Upheaval Dome

A lone needle.

Back in Moab there is a tourist area called Hole N' the Rock. There are all sorts of oddities there, like an exotic zoo with totally out of place animals like camels and zebras, all sorts of strange artifacts, collections, buildings, metal sculptures and of course gift shops and ice cream.

However, the main attraction at Hole N' the Rock is that there really is a hole in the rock... and it's a house! The Mr. toured it, and although you aren't allowed to take photographs inside the house I was able to find this one and this one on the net. It's a 5000 square foot home complete with a 65 foot chimney, 14 rooms surrounded by pillars of the original stone and I read there is even a bathtub dug right into the stone!

One of the sculptures I am guessing.

Those seats don't look too comfy!

So strange to see a house dug right into the rock.

Jail complete with potty in the corner.

I'd rather be the boss!

On the way home we saw snow, and it was strange to see it even though it was October. We had just come from warm California and Nevada!

A neat stop on Highway 6 is the Tie Fork Rest Area. The main building here was voted one of the most beautiful buildings in Utah. The rest stop is almost more like a visitors center and pays tribute to the days that this area was booming with coal mines. There is an original piece of the track from 1903 as well as a replica steam engine.

This is the last of the October trip photos! We ended up getting home just in time to hand candy and gospel tracts out to the kids on Halloween.

To view the entire Moab album, click here.

Arches National Park

2012-03-30T07:00:00.002-07:00

(There's no Favorite Five Friday today... playing catch-up instead!)

After the Grand Canyon we visited Moab, Utah. If anyone is looking for a fun place to take their family on vacation, I can't recommend Moab enough. Wow. That is all I have to say! Okay, maybe that's not true. Moab is right smack dab in the middle of a couple of amazing parks and there is so much to see and so many activities to do. There is hiking, biking, sight seeing, interpretive centers, camping, ATV trails, off-roading, fishing, boating, white water rafting, and self led audio driving tours of the parks.

A neat interpretive center, museum and gift shop. This is also where you pick up the (rented) CD for the driving tour. You just pop it into your CD player and it gives you turn by turn driving directions, points out facts along the way and makes sure you see everything you would want to. It tells you when it is most worthwhile to walk to see certain arches or the lengths and difficulty of the walks as well, also whether or not you will be able to see the arch from the car at any point.

The Three Penguins

Park Avenue

It was October so this little stand of trees along a stream was showing off fall colors.

The beginnings of a new arch.

Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock is huge! If you want to see these amazing wonders, definitely visit the park as any of these amazing formations could tumble some day. One of the arches in the park actually fell several years ago, so they know it's bound to happen to more as the elements beat against them. New arches are being formed by the elements to replace the old, but these famous old formations are breathtaking!

See the arches? The park has over 2000 natural sandstone arches. I think this might be Parade Of Elephants.

See the climber?

There she is! We know she's a she because we could hear her crying "Just pull me up!"

See the scrambler?

There he is. That's The Mr.!

There is a man on the top of this pinnacle.

Turret Arch

Turret Arch closer up.

I think this is one of the Windows arches.

A lot of the arches have cracks like this, see the boulders wedged in there?

Double Arch

See the Mr.? Double arch is gigantic and breathtaking.

I think these are pinnacles of The Fiery Furnace. When I am looking at photos taken almost a year and a half ago, it's hard to figure out what I am looking at sometimes! Anyways, The Fiery Furnace is a dangerous place to hike I've heard, and it's suggested you stay out unless you are very familiar/professional, or have a guide or Park Ranger with you.

The original home on the Wolfe Ranch. If you like history or learning new things like I do, click the link!

Not actually petroglyphs, but Uti rock art. Learn about the difference between the two and who drew this here. These are at the Wolfe Ranch.

Delicate Arch is the most recognized of all the arches. It is freestanding. It is on the Utah license plate. It's on a stamp. It's pretty famous! It's also known as "The Chaps" for obvious reasons.

Walking between two fins. The part The Mr. is just entering is slim enough that you need to go sideways a bit to fit though. Very fun!

Walking between the fins leads you to Sand Dune arch. This is a perfect play spot for a family. Perfectly soft and deep sand and nice and cool because it's so shaded.

A beautiful sky is the best ending to a great day!

Nascar!

2012-03-28T07:00:00.001-07:00

Yup! For once there is something for the guys on this blog. :) This actually took place before the Grand Canyon. The Mr. rode in a race car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with The Richard Petty Driving Experience. It was so cool to be right on the sidelines watching him race past at such a crazy speed. I was expecting at the time or else I think I would have gone for a ride too!

You have to climb through the window. After the driver climbs in, they hand him the steering wheel to install- that's how tight it is!

The Mr. is riding in this car.

After.

Our Taurus SHO itching to be on the track herself.

The road in and out of the speedway goes under the race track!

A much slower car we saw a bit later in the trip. :)

The Grand Canyon

2012-03-26T07:00:00.001-07:00

Back in October of 2010 The Mr. and I took a road trip for one month. I blogged about Lincoln City here, San Francisco here and here, Yosemite here and here, Death Valley here, the Hoover Dam here... and that is as far as I got. We made several more stops before making our way home but I never shared about them here.

So why am I bringing this up again? This is why:

I bought these little moccasins at a gift shop at the Grand Canyon! Back when I was fighting nausea and elated over the pregnancy and wondering whether I was expecting "sugar and spice and all things nice" or "snips and snails and puppy dogs tails." I figured the little moccasins would go equally well with a little pair of overalls or a little dress and I wanted them so badly. It was the only thing we bought for the baby on the trip and it is so fun to see Little Mr. wear them now. They are such a fun reminder of the pregnancy.

The photos from our visit to the Grand Canyon have been uploaded for over a year so I might as well share a few of them now!

It is breathtaking!

The Mr.

There is a Snickers bar hanging out of my pocket lol. Hey, if that's what it took to not throw up, that's fine by me!

On our way to the next stop on our trip we passed some neat scenery.

A nasty dust storm!

Our next stop!

The Mr. in four states at once.

To view the entire album, click here.

The Simple Woman's Daybook- Spring Edition

2012-03-23T07:00:00.001-07:00

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... Spring is happening.

I am thinking... that Little Mr. would enjoy some time outside.

I am thankful... for sunshine.

In the kitchen... menu planning should be taking place, but I'm in a rut!

I am wearing... comfy clothes, as always. Working on dressing up more often though.

I am creating... an organized home. Very slowly.

I am going... to donate a lot of stuff sometime soon as a result of decluttering.

I am wondering... if Little Mr. will start pulling up on furniture soon. He looks like he wants to!

I am reading... Conversations with a Barred Owl. Haven't actually started it yet, but it's next in the pile. Still working through reading all the books on my bookshelves.

I am hoping... to visit Starbucks this weekend.

I am looking forward to... Summer!

I am learning.... to keep things simple.

Around the house... things are changing. Baby furniture is being packed away and there are more toys on the floor these days.

I am pondering... how many toys we really need. Little Mr.'s first birthday is coming up soon and I think he'd like nothing but books. ;)

A favorite quote for today... "I walked outside today to find it was just like yesterday, nothing had changed and I loved it just the same." -Unknown. Source

One of my favorite things... is the Chocolove Raspberries 55% chocolate bar.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Well, it's Friday, so there's not much left to the week. Next week I hope to continue organizing the house and switching the decor around for Spring. A new friend is coming over for a visit with her little boy. I'm hoping for a sunny day for a beach visit and hopefully to get together with Little Mr.'s playgroup. He has a snuffly nose so we couldn't make it this week.

A peek into my day... not too much excitement! Just the regular stuff. Friday is my chore free day, which is always nice!

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Adventures in Crawling

2012-03-21T07:29:00.005-07:00

A little documentation to record Little Mr.'s learning-to-crawl process! The last video was taken just yesterday and the difference between it and this first video is funny. It used to take so much effort to get barely anywhere and now he follows me around the house!

February 12

February 23

Yesterday

Favorite Five Friday

2012-03-16T07:00:00.001-07:00

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decor

DIY painted curtains
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food

mini caprese bites
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kids

new favorite book for little boys
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quote

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