The Bailey's

And We're Off

2012-02-18T04:01:00.000-08:00

We left last night from Boise:

and are now sitting in the Denver airport waiting to get to Newark.

Can't believe it is finally here!

Gold Rush Tubing Hill

2012-02-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

We've had plans to go tubing for one of our monthly dates for months now. We had originally planned to go in January but with our serious lack of snow, the mountain wasn't open so we postponed it a few weeks.

We had an absolute blast! We headed up to the mountain way before our tubing time in hopes of seeing Presley in her ski race, but we missed it, because I'm a slow dresser and they started early. We enjoyed a long walk to the lodge for some hot chocolate. Marcel loved the hot chocolate but I found it, ironically, too chocolatey!

We were even able to try out our new waterproof video camera. Granted it wasn't completely under water like it will be when we are in the Bahamas, but it was nice to not have to worry about it getting a little wet from the snow. When we bought the camera, the lady at Walmart told us it was good for video but took horrible pictures, so when these were the first 2 pictures I saw from it, I thought she was right:

It is so nice to have a ride back up the hill :)

I started to get worried about our purchase, but then saw some other pictures that looked good to me, granted I have limited photography knowledge, and was once again pleased with our new little camera. I decided that they were really only bad because the ride isn't very smooth!

Marcel waiting at the top of the hill

waiting at the tow line.

I just have to say that I absolutely love when people offer to take our picture. We are quite professionals at doing it ourselves, and it is always awkward to ask someone, but it is nice to have a picture of more than just our heads :)

together forever :)

In addition to taking pictures, we also recorded some of our trips down the hill. We discovered that I'm not very good at recording (at least while holding onto Marcel's feet while spinning down a hill in a tube!) Here's the best one, even if you have to see me the whole time:

After sledding, we went back to photographing ourselves. There are quite a few good ones, but I think this is my favorite.

I don't usually like/post pictures of just me, but after our pictures, I sat down on a mound of snow and Marcel took quite a few of me. He is so artistic, using the sun to highlight my face. He will be taking all the photos on our cruise!

Speaking of our cruise, we leave in 9 days and couldn't be more excited! I can't wait to be COMPLETELY unplugged from everything, except spending wonderful, quality time with Marcel.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-25T18:57:00.000-08:00

It has been almost 2 months since I've last blogged. Terrible. I can't believe it. Well, instead of coming up with my excuse (or lack there of), here is what has since happened:

Marcel had his second concert at North Star and they improved so much since the first one:

Christmas Eve at church: Marcel ran sound and I served as his assistant, because I didn't want to sit all alone. Here, we are after church in the booth:

And then Pastor Ryan took our picture. I really like it ;)

The next morning, we got up super early (it was so long ago, but I think it was 5am) so that we could have our very own Christmas before going to church.

Yes, our tree is crooked but still perfectly decorated in a not-so-perfect way :)

Our delicious monkey bread for breakfast

Ornaments:

I told Marcel I wanted 2 things: a necklace and a purse

and then I realized how difficult of a task that was. Purse shopping is hard work and I asked Marcel to do it, but he did a fantastic job!

Along the same line, Marcel wanted a wallet.

and he was beyond excited to get Harry Potter 7.2 to finish his collection.

Merry Christmas to us!

After our early morning Christmas, we headed to church. I was supposed to teach Sunday School but last minute they decided to just have the little ones sit in the service with their parents, so we planned some more curriculum. Second service I went to church, got to watch Marcel drum, which I will never tire of, and then off to my mom's for more Christmas, which was wonderful, even if we didn't take a single picture.

We did Christmas with my dad on the 26th when Payton & Presley were back from their dad's. We tried to take pictures but our camera died after Marcel took a picture of my legs and some stuff out of my dad's stocking so no exciting pictures there.

It was a great holiday, even if it took me 2 months to blog about it :) We are loving our chest freezer and will greatly appreciate the luggage and water-proof camcorder once our cruise rolls around!

Christmas Tree

2011-11-29T13:15:00.001-08:00

I had high hopes of putting up our tree before our vacation, but packing always takes more time than I expect, so we did it when we got home.

Marcel isn't a fan of putting up/decorating the tree, but he helped his mom do her tree, and as a way to start our own traditions, he was happy to help this year :)

It has ornaments on it now, but we took the picture to see if I was happy with the lights, which I don't think I am, but I won't fix them now. One day I'll update this post with a picture of our decorated tree, which Lilli is fascinated with. She didn't go near the tree last year, but after just 2 days she's decided she likes the ornaments and presents!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T12:53:00.001-08:00

This year, we headed to Puyallup to spend Thanksgiving with Marcel's family. I wish I could say it was an uneventful trip, but that isn't the case.

Our 8 hour drive took us 12 hours because Snoqualmie Pass was closed for avalanche prevention work. We didn't know that is why it was closed until we were stopped on the freeway amidst a million other cars trying to get somewhere for Thanksgiving. It is absolutely miserable to be on the freeway with your car in the parked position (yet still running just to stay warm) for 2 hours, only to get to go a few miles, before being stopped for another hour, while having to go to the bathroom more than you have ever needed to go. Of course, pretty much the only bathroom where we were knew they were the only gas station and thus limited their bathroom to paying customers only. You better believe those were the best Hot Tamales I've ever had :)

Luckily for us, we had a camera with fully charged batteries, so Marcel took lots of pictures trying out different features on our new camera.

I like this picture because it actually looks like the snow is falling. I didn't think there was that much snow, but I guess I'm not in charge of avalanche prevention, so maybe it really was a lot of snow

Thank goodness our car has a power outlet, because I nearly drained Marcel's computer battery while playing solitaire. We tried using the time for talking, but really ran out of things to talk about ;)

The very next day I went to Old Navy for their save additional 50% off clearance prices and when I got home we had a flat tire. In the rain (because don't forget we were in Washington!), Marcel changed our tire. I'd never learned how to change a tire, but I honestly think I could do it now just from watching him. We drove with our spare tire to Sears, where we bought the tires, only to find out they had a 5 hour wait. It was the day before Thanksgiving and they had 1 guy working, at least that is what Marcel reported to me. We drove sort of aimlessly (well with okay directions from the Sears guy) through Puyallup until we landed upon Les Schwab. Our tire was fixed for a fee all while we enjoyed lunch at McDonald's.

After that, our trip went well. We enjoyed delicious food, even though I don't care much for Thanksgiving or its food, besides my chocolate pudding pie, played plenty of games with Snoh and even more solitaire. Something we didn't do was take a single picture!

I was bound and determined not to go home via that evil pass again even if the weather report was good, because we didn't think we'd run into weather on the way there. That means going through Portland and once I checked with Amy & Kelly about having Saturday morning free to meet up, there was no way my mind was being changed; we were going through Portland.

We had a delicious breakfast with Amy & Kelly and even got to see where Amy lives. It was so nice to be able to spend just an hour or so together and catch up. It is wonderful to remember that even though we may not talk to each other often enough, when we do it is like no time has passed and we're just as close as we ever were. That is something I am thankful for :)

Halloween

2011-11-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

My Halloween celebrations started a few weeks ago with a trip to the pumpkin patch with Lilli and our church's Mommy & Me group (yes, they understand Lilli isn't actually my child!). We got there early and she kept saying "Wanna go pumpkin patch." And every day after when we talked about Halloween it was all about "pumpkin patch"

waiting for our friends

a little boy we went with did this and then Lilli wanted a turn, which was fine except she doesn't like getting her picture taken anymore. She is WAY more interested in seeing the picture after it has been taken

No pictures of the actual pumpkin patch, because the terrain was so bumpy for Lilli's little legs, but it still wore her out

Lilli didn't want to get a pumpkin because they were so dirty, so I just chose one for her and promised her we'd give it a bath when we got home...

Then Marcel and I redeemed our LivingSocial voucher and visited Linder Farms. Before we went to the farm, we went to our favorite place to eat in Oregon, that finally came to Idaho: Chipotle!! It was very bit as delicious as I remember it but I'm very grateful that it is in Boise so it isn't so easy for us to go there :) I think going to Linder Farms will be our October tradition as long as we're in Idaho. We had a great time getting lost in the maze but still finding all the checkpoints. We also visited the petting zoo.

Trying to replicate the photo from last year...

but I like the ghostly lightig of this one better :)

Baby zebra

and the highlight of the visit: the baby kangaroo.

However, Marcel has always asked, mostly serious, if he could have a kangaroo. Naturally, he asked the trainer all sorts of questions and learned we'd only have to travel to right outside of Las Vegas to get one and that if they are raised around people, they are actually very people friendly. Now Marcel is convinced there is no reason for us not to have one :)

We also carved pumpkins but we took pictures with my new camera and I have yet to download the software I need to put the pictures onto the computer.

26 Days of Birthday

2011-10-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

This year I celebrate my golden birthday: turning 26 on the 26th and gave Marcel the challenge to give me 26 gifts. He was forced to get pretty creative, however, because we don't have it in the budget for him to go buy something for each day...
I started the month by keeping track of everything I received, but after a few days I forgot to keep doing it, but to the best of my memory, I was treated to:

Breakfast in bed, Moxie Java, sleeping in, a movie in the theater, Hot Tamales and a note taped to the front door waiting for me when I got home from work, a milk shake, a Snickers bar, plenty of chores being done, a BSU shirt, a beautiful flower arrangement. I know that wasn't 26 things but there really was 26 things...

We celebrated my actual birthday with a trip to Outback. After a month of celebrations, Outback was in our budget thanks to a free dinner coupon and a giftcard :)

We've been terrible about taking pictures lately, but a birthday was the perfect excuse to start taking them again!

Dear Marcel

2011-09-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Marcel,

I hope your first day of school went well today. I've loved the time I have gotten to spend with you as you walk around the classroom trying to decide if everything is just perfect. Those 90+ kids are so lucky to have you as their teacher!

I'm so proud of how hard you have worked to get to this day. It wasn't always a bump-free ride but we made it here together and now you are doing what you've always wanted to do. How many people get to do that?

Thank you for continually putting me ahead of everything else on your over flowing plate. It means the world to me!

Love,
MaryBeth

River, Park, Sleeping & Ice Skating

2011-08-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, I need to blog after every picture worthy happening, instead of having to combine so many things into one super lost post. Here goes nothing!
Marcel got a job and we decided to celebrate. We floated the Boise River, something I hadn't done since high school and something we'd never done together. It was a great afternoon spent together just talking. We also discovered that I'm the worst paddler ever. Well, I can paddle just fine if Marcel tells me what direction to paddle. I can't paddle on my own to keep us from running into trees and rocks.

A few Friday's ago, Marcel and I took Lilli swimming at the pool in my mom's subdivision. It didn't last long before she needed a major diaper changing, so once we were done, we stopped at their little park. She climbed to the top to go down the slide but then never would go down it, but she loved the binoculars and kept saying "I see you".

Lilli isn't really smiling (maybe we had told her it was time to go) but I love this picture!

We took Lilli with us to Marcel's classroom to start getting things set-up. I thought I wouldn't get anything done because she was there and would want too much attention, but she was actually very helpful, so helpful in fact that she barely made it out of the parking lot before falling asleep...

Saturday, August 20th was teacher appreciation day, and Marcel went and was appreciated. A bag full of wonderful classroom supplies!

That same day was also free ice skating day, and you better believe we went. It was free, after all, and that definitely fits in our budget :) Just like when we went roller skating, I really struggled at first, but eventually got the hang of it. Marcel, of course, is like a professional, especially compared to me.

Tomorrow is September 1st and that is the day I officially start counting down the days until my birthday. And this year it is my golden birthday. I think that is cause for a extra big celebration!

Mr. Bailey and other news

2011-08-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

As of about 10:30am this morning, Marcel signed his very first teaching contract!!

The day of Hannah's wedding, her photographer told us the school she worked at had a part-time band teacher position open. She gave us the email address that would get his resume directly into the right hands. His resume went in Saturday, and even without the application they sent back to him to complete being done, he had an interview yesterday morning. Only about 3 hours later, he was offered and accpeted the position.

We're very happy about this position and now that it is just right for Marcel at this time. It serves as yet another reminder that God does have a plan for us. When we felt like we needed to turn down the job he was offered in Boise, it was hard and neither of us understood it, but now all the pieces of our puzzle (at least in regards to Marcel's employment) fit together!

In other news, here is what we've been up to, at least what we have pictures to show for. And yes, some of them are very old!

We met Marcel's mom in Kennewick after having Snoh for 3 weeks. We have always talked about being able to take a drive when we're not in a hurry to get to where we're going or coming home, so on the way home we decided to stop at the viewpoint near Pendelton. It was so beautiful! On a side note, while driving with Snoh, he said, "Hey, we're in the desert. I think I'm going to see the pyramids soon." He wasn't too bummed when we informed him that we weren't going to Egypt!

We saw Harry Potter 7, Part 2 and LOVED it, after Marcel had to tell the people in front of us to stop talking. Really, they were having a full on conversation. We waited until after the movie for our picture, but still Marcel didn't want a flash, so you can't really see either of us. This same day we enjoyed PF Changs & TGI Friday's appetizers with some wonderful coupons!

We went to the Boys & Girls Club night at the Boise Hawks game with free tickets Marcel got at work. It had been a long time since I'd seen a baseball game and we had a great time.

And Miss Lilli has become quite the reader, even wanting to read Marcel's super boring sound tech magazines. Even more, she's become quite the posing queen. I only had her 1 day this week and Marcel and I are both missing her like crazy.

Burkdoll Wedding

2011-08-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

On August 5th, my baby, but grown-up, sister, Hannah, got married. Her and Matt spent a whole week in town and we had a blast:

Monday night, we had a bridal shower, but somehow managed not to take a single picture.

On Tuesday, we went go-carting,

and played mini-golf

and "drove" race cars

Wednesday night, we threw Hannah a Bachelorette party at my mom's house, because her i.d. was lost the night before

(it was found again the last night she was in town)

Sisters!

Could we look any less alike?

Presents

We were kinda sad about not being able to go out, but we had fun nonetheless!

Thursday night, we had a rehearsal and dinner

Bridesmaids

The soon-to-be Mr. & Mrs.

After the rehearsal the girls all stayed at my house for the night so Hannah and Matt didn't see each other before they took pictures. Friday morning started early, with the boys playing golf and the girls decorating. I kept saying how unfair that the boys do fun stuff while the girls work all day, but it worked out, because Hannah was up getting her hair done by the time the boys got back. Mariah, Hannah's second grade teacher and the official photographer was great at capturing Matt's first look at Hannah!

SISTERLY LOVE!

The girls!

Not the official one, but we needed some for facebook right away :)

It was such a beautiful ceremony. I cried as soon as I saw her walking down the aisle, but having to look into Matt's tear filled eyes made it impossible to stop!

The next day, we watched them open all their gifts. Most people were very considerate of their wishes of no gifts because of having a 20+ hour drive back to Kansas, but they still got some great stuff and it almost all fit into their car.

We're so happy for you two!!

Days 13-18

2011-07-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well these would be way more exciting if I was still taking pictures and did them every day like last summer.
Since my last post we have:

Gone swimming in Wende Lady's pool 3 times. We went on Saturday with Wende, on Monday with some of Don's great nieces during the 4th of July party, and we just went today with Wende & Lilli
Went to the car races. Snoh seemed to like them because him and Marcel always picked which car was going to win by the number on the car. I didn't like it because the smell of their brakes made me feel sick and gave me a killer headache
Had a party at Wende Lady's for 4th of July. There were a lot of people, tons of food and just 2 little girls to play with
Spent another day with Marcel at work. He even had a chance to go on the field trip but chose to stay at the club because his group was going to have computer time

Also, after the car races we stopped by my dad's house and Snoh got to borrow the Shrek 3 Wii game. Whenever he has his "electronic" time that game is on the top of his list.

He told me tonight that he's sad to have only 1 more day with Lilli, and that he doesn't want to leave our house because he misses us when he's in Washington.

Oh, and just for memory sake, a few nights ago when getting tucked into bed, Snoh told Marcel that he was going to make a great parent. Talk about warming my heart :)

Days 9-12

2011-07-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have gotten a little bit behind. My excuse goes something like this...

Marcel gets home between 6:30-7pm each night and most of the time Snoh & I have yet to eat dinner, there isn't much time for a lot of fun and games before Snoh's bedtime. Then Marcel and I watch some tv, usually West Wing, which I love but seems to make me very sleepy. On second thought, it may not be the show that put me to sleep, but the actually having 5 minutes to sit nice and still on the couch to relax some.

Tuesday--Snoh went with Brother to work and LOVED it. When he got home, the first thing he told me was "man, I'm poofed." I didn't tell him that I thought it was "pooped"

Wednesday--Snoh & Lilli had a great hour with Wende Lady while I had a doctor appointment. I was planning on taking them by myself but when I found out I might have had to have lab work done, I called in back-up. Plus, they loved her being in charge. I never would have given them candy at 10:30am. That night Snoh & I went to the God & Country Festival, which I had never been to before. Marcel had been there since about 9am helping with all the set-up, sound checks and whatever else has to happen before at least 3 bands can put on a concert. Snoh was excited to go all day, but it didn't really hold his interest much. I wanted to leave early after realizing that but Snoh heard there were going to be fireworks and didn't want to leave. The last band, The Afters, sang part of I've Gotta Feeling, which I'd say is Snoh's favorite song so that made his night. But about 10:30pm he fell asleep and even with 3 or 4 hard attempts at waking him up, he missed the whole fireworks show.

Thursday--Even with being up until 10:30 (and then awake enough to walk to the car which took about 30 minutes) he was still up before 7:30, which shocked me. We went about our normal day, which included him being very upset at me because he couldn't use electronics. We ended up playing soccer & tag in the backyard for a few minutes before I heard the neighbor boys next door. We went to see them and Snoh was beyond excited to have made friends. One of the little boys and Snoh decided that they already knew each other because they went to preschool together. Where do they come up with this stuff? He came home to eat dinner (pancakes, finally!) but I'm not sure his bottom even touched the chair and then played some more!

Friday--Marcel had already promised Snoh this would be the day he could go back to the club, and lucky for me Lilli was out of town so I had an entire kid-free day! I slept in until about 8:30 (oh, how I remember the good ol' days when that was getting up early), enjoyed some tv shows I wanted to watch, took a nap, stayed on the couch all day curled under a blanket, played on the computer a bit, and didn't do a single productive thing. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!

I'll try to be better next week about taking pictures and posting, but again I make no promises :)

Day 8

2011-06-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

Not much out of the ordinary today.

I need to get better about taking our outside time in the morning before it gets too hot. I think it was in the mid 90's today, so 2pm outside time isn't quite as fun. But we did get to enjoy otter pops outside on the blanket (easiest picnic ever!) and play a little bit of soccer. Also, we found a new way to enjoy our sidewalk chalk:

This side of our house is completely shaded, so we drew on the foundation!

Days 5, 6 & 7

2011-06-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

Friday we had a great day. The morning started with some music with Marcel.

Then we headed to Wende Lady's work for a "Safety Day." There wasn't too much on safety, but we did go on a tour of the plant, which was WAY too long for the kids but they suffered through knowing what was coming after lunch. They took a picture of all the kids in their personal protective equipment (PPE); here's my version:

On the dryers

Playing with clean and dirty seeds. Snoh was the only one who wore his hard hat & safety goggles throughout the entire tour.

After the tour we ate lunch and spent some time watching a forklift rodeo before the carnival. We enjoyed the cake walk, but not as much as Lilli!

Snoh was great at donut on a string!

He also got to sit on a forklift...

...and spray a fire hose

Also, we went through the fire truck, got to put out a fire using a real fire extinguisher. Snoh can tell you that you use PASS to remember what to do.

P: Pull the pin

A: Aim

S: Squeeze

S: Sweep

He also got to plant a bean seed, now let's just hope we can keep it alive :)

Saturday, I have no idea what Snoh did. I got out of bed and had breakfast with Snoh & Marcel and then went back to bed and slept all day long! It was wonderful and would have only been better if it wouldn't have been because I am sick.

Sunday, we had a great time at church. Snoh even had to go to Sunday School twice, because I started teaching Sunday School in the preschool classroom today. After we had lunch, I left the boys home and did some grocery shopping. It was so nice to get out of the house all alone :)

Later in the evening we went to our church home group for a BBQ. We ate delicious food, had fun playing croquet, and just hanging out. Snoh did great playing with the girls (no other boys were there until the very end). They jumped on the trampoline, played on the swingset and had a water gun/water balloon fight.

Day 4

2011-06-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

Today, not much after Snoh got up, Lilli came to our house. It has been 9 days of her not being here because they were on vacation in Spain and she was SO excited to see me when I opened the door, but once they were actually in the house and she saw Snoh, Marcel and I meant nothing to her. It was all about Snoh and it stayed that way all day!

We all washed the car this morning, which was long overdue, even before our trip to Washington. It was so nice to do it before Marcel went to work because it was early enough that it wasn't so hot but it still felt good to get a little wet.

While Marcel got all the bowls, soap and towels ready to wash the car, Lilli and Snoh looked for bugs, Lilli's favorite past-time!

They both more than enjoyed the bowls full of soapy water. This will be something we do again even if we aren't washing the car!

After washing the car and eating breakfast, Snoh read Lilli a story, which we did a few more times throughout the day. She LOVED this story and carried the book around with her for a lot of the day.

After Lilli's nap, we packed a lunch and headed to the nearby park. We enjoyed PB&J sandwiches, yogurt and bananas. Snoh & Lilli seemed to enjoy them, as seen below:

Lilli has always loved to swing, but it seemed more fun with Snoh right next to her. Also he taught her to straighten her knees. The timing wasn't always right because they weren't swinging at the same pace, but if his knees were straight so were hers!

This afternoon we had a dance party. They are both great dancers, and I have a video to prove it. They started with much more energetic moves and by the time the camera came out they had settled down quite a bit. It's still cute, fun & entertaining!

Lilli never did get around to taking another nap this afternoon. I put her down at 3pm, which is her normal routine at my house, but she was just talking and talking away and all I could hear was "MaryBeth. Snoh. Where'd he go? Snoh. Where'd he go? MaryBeth." She was too excited to have Snoh with us to sleep!

Day 3

2011-06-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

This morning we went to the theater and watched The Tale of Despereaux. It was part of Regal Theater's Summer movie program. They feature a different G or PG rated movie each Tuesday and Wednesday for $1. It was fun to do something sort of special with Snoh on our last day without Lilli. He seemed to really enjoy it even if there were a few points where he chose to close his eyes. After the movie, though, he told me that he only needed to close 1 eye, because he wasn't all the way scared.

After more just time at home and a dinner of left-overs, we headed to Wende Lady's house to swim. It was finally hot enough to swim :) We had a good time until a family showed up with about 25 people and filled the pool. Also, it also started raining, even though it was still sunny and warm out. Snoh was very sad when we got back home because we didn't get to swim and play at the park, and continually told me that he wasn't tired but it wasn't more than a few minutes after laying in bed that he was fast asleep.

Day 2

2011-06-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today started with a few errands. We went to Walmart and got some healthy food, because our fridge was quite bare after being on vacation. Snoh picked out all the vegetables and I had to pick all the fruit. We even left a bag full of vegetables at the register, but the cashier was so nice to bring it to us at our car (that is another reason to go grocery shopping at 8am!). We headed to Albertson's for some cereal, because of all deals, cereal deals are too hard for MaryBeth to pass up! We went to the bank for obvious reasons, and then headed to the post office. That was the errand Snoh was most excited for. We had to get some stamps so Snoh could mail a special letter. He was very excited to give the postman his letter.
We played some more Trouble, and this time I was so lucky to get 1 of my pegs halfway around the board when Snoh won. I did beat him a few times at tic tac toe, so I feel good about myself again :)

Not much else exciting happened: we watered the plants again, did some weeding, ate dinner with brother and played Super Mario Brothers on the old fashioned nintendo!

The Drive & Day 1

2011-06-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Snoh did great on the drive, even if he asked a few times why the drive was so long and why we weren't taking any shortcuts. When Marcel reclined his seat to take a nap, Snoh said, "I wish I could do that."

He enjoyed playing the video game until the battery died. Oh, and he kept saying "my neck hurts" but didn't believe us when we said a break from the game would help. And the dvd player made the entire trip without a battery, but he never asked for a movie.

I don't know what this was about, I'm guessing the sun was causing glare on the game.

Day 1 at Brother's house was pretty good. We spent most of the day inside so MaryBeth could get the house put back together after vacation. We played Trouble & Connect 4 and Snoh won every single game. I had to take a picture of the game that he won and I had yet to get a single piece out of home. Not a single 6 for me the entire game!

We watered the garden (1 strawberry plant & 1 melon plant that didn't fit in my mom's garden) and picked some weeds. Snoh is a great weed-picker and decided it was just like a video game: we were winning and the weeds were losing.

He ate a whole plate of dinner tonight, only picking the green peppers out of the second and third servings, and even though he had brought the ketchup out of the fridge, he didn't even put it on the spaghetti! Before dinner was finished, he asked to do the dishes. Dishes is the least favorite chore around our house, so we were more than happy to let him help. Plus how could you deny a chance to get this picture:

Class of 2011

2011-06-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

Marcel finally graduated from:

but the wonderful ceremony took place at the Jordan Ballroom on the Boise State University's campus.

Marcel looked pretty pleased while walking into the ceremony. Oh, and I have to add that I was very pleased Marcel walked behind the tallest guy in the ceremony. It helped me get this great picture.

This is the lady (Dr. Moore) who helped to get Marcel and the rest of his class to this special day. She is the director of the Boise campus and was the cohort leader this year. T5 got very lucky!

The speaker was really good. He made a few great points:
"You could spend your whole life making a living, but not making a life"

"E- Example
T-
H- Hope
I- Integrity
C- Christ-like character"
(I am bound and determined to find someone who remembers what the T stood for)

I don't know about Marcel or his classmates, but I was very sad when he told me that Dr. Moore wouldn't be giving out their diplomas, but it worked out wonderfully because she got to "hood" them:

I also missed the photo op that they posed for the professional photographer, but we'll definitely be ordering it!

After the ceremony, it was time for photos!

I told Marcel if nothing else happened, we were getting a picture of us with him in his cap, gown and hood, and a picture of us in our dress clothes. It was a success, only the second one of us didn't make it to the blog!

Marcel's other 2 women through the program!

Sue (left) taught Marcel how to teach music and supervised him through his student teaching, and again Dr. Moore

Marcel, his mom and little brother

Emily and Snoh

Afterwards, we enjoyed delicious cake at the cake reception :)

I let Marcel open his gift from me before we headed to the party. He was SO excited to finally own the complete series of The West Wing. He had been bidding on it on ebay, but little did he know, I was saving all my amazon giftcards I earned through swagbucks to buy it for him.

A few hours after graduation, we had a party for Marcel and I did horrible at taking pictures there, but I did get a picture of the cupcakes we made! Emily & Mellissa helped to roll and tie all the diplomas, which was wonderful because me and my mom had plenty of stuff to cook/prepare.

After being at the party for awhile, Marcel changed and looked like this:

Marcel opened gifts at the party and got some really great stuff!

Lilli was so excited to see us (especially Marcel) on a day we don't normally see her. She kept trying to give his card to Snoh, but finally got it to the right person. She even colored it for him!

All weekend, Snoh asked when we would be going swimming, so after the party wrapped up they all decided the time was right! It was cloudy and everyone who swam were freezing after getting in the water.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, full of celebrating Marcel's hard work and accomplishments.

Now let our focus turn to job searching!

2 Years of Wedded Bliss

2011-05-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Marcel and I spent the day celebrating 2 wonderful years of marriage! The day started perfectly was we both slept until 9am. The rest of the day was spent redeeming coupon after coupon ;) We didn't exchange gifts this year because we had already boughten ourselves a new bedset, which was needed very badly. Plus it fit in with the 2nd year = cotton anniversary. We've followed that tradition both years now and I hope we continue it in the future.

We started at Jared's to get our rings cleaned. What better thing could you do on an anniversary than to add a little sparkle to your ring :)

We then headed to TGI Friday's to redeem a free appetizer coupon. Next on the agenda was clothes shopping for MaryBeth with some money she earned for completing online surveys. 2 pairs of jeans and 1 pair of shorts for $7.00 (the 2 jeans came to a grand total of $1.21!). That's the best type of shopping: when you get new stuff cheaper than you could buy at Goodwill. We went right down the road to Macaroni Grill for our free dessert. We had a coupon emailed to us since it was our anniversary, how sweet of them!

Then we were off to Wahooz! for a round of mini golf that we got BOGO. It wasn't until the 10th hole that I told Marcel I was out to win, which turned out to be a big mistake. I had been beating him until that point, and then he ended up winning.

We headed home to watch 1 of our redbox rentals, The Other Woman, which was a very sad movie. After that we headed to our local TGI Friday's and ordered a basket of fries and redeemed our last coupon of the day for another free dessert. We both highly recommend their new Oreo dessert, but only if you have a coupon because it is a huge rip-off if you have to pay the regular price of $5.59. It wasn't until this stop in our day that Marcel asked if I had taken a before picture of all the coupons we were going to redeem. I LOVE that he is more than happy to have our day revolve around what coupons we have. It was also here that we decided we're going to strive to spend $10 per year of marriage on our anniversary activities each year. We'll see how that goes, but we were under our $20 budget for this year!

We finished the next with another redbox, Unstoppable, which was really good and kept me on the edge of my seat. But as I've posted before I could watch Denzel Washington all day long, as long as I'm cuddled up to my own good looking black man :)

We spent time in bed before drifting off to sleep talking about this upcoming year. The things we hope to accomplish, both individually and together, things we are looking forward to and, in order to keep strengthening our marriage, the areas we think we can be improving on.

All in all, it was a very low-key day, but turned out perfectly for us. After the busyness of Marcel finishing up student teaching, school, etc, it was nice to have one complete day with no distractions or interruptions. We're so lucky to have each other!

5 Years

2011-05-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

Today marks a big day in our house. It has been 5 years since Marcel and I started dating! We've spent the last few days reminiscing our early days, which always makes for good conversation and a few good laughs. This time, I remembered how skeptical people, including us, were of us, about how we were too different to make it work. A long-distance summer "fling" started without much prior friendship that we both planned on ending when school started but neither of us ever got around to it. And look where we are now! It has been a great ride so far and we know that it will just continue to get better and better.

Our dating anniversary is just 8 days before our new, wedding anniversary, which aided me in gathering some of these photos. This also means I'll have another anniversary post in a few days, but I couldn't let the "5 year" mark go without acknowledging it.

2006
(from September--MaryBeth's 21st birhtday--but it is the earliest one I could find on facebook)

2007
Tumwater Falls, WA

2008
Cannon Beach, OR

2009
8 days after being together 3 years!!

2010
Celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary

2011
Happy 5 years to us!!

Marcel,
You are my first and only love and I am so lucky to have you. You make me happier than I could have ever imagined I would be. I love you for always keeping me second in your life, behind nothing but God, even though you get pulled in so many directions by so many different things. I am so grateful to have you support me in everything I do. I love watching you with kids, especially Lilli, because I know that our kids will be the luckiest ones in the world to have you as their dad. I hope you wake up and go to bed each day knowing just how much I love you, and that even if you know, I tell you anyway! Thank you for these wonderful 5 years, and here's to many more filled with more happiness, joy and love than we could ever hope for!

He is Finished

2011-05-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

MARCEL IS FINISHED WITH SCHOOL!!!!

He hasn't graduated yet, but his schoolwork is finished and it is a day we've been looking forward to since we moved here, but especially since January (at least that is my opinion)!

He finally has time to find and apply for as many jobs as he can find. Education isn't the most flourishing field now, but I've been pleasantly surprised to see so many open jobs. Many would require relocating, but we're trusting God to bring us the perfect job and know whole-heartedly that wherever we live it will be in God's plan for us. He truly knows what is best for us, even more than we do. It can be very trying and tiring to live that out and feeling like we're "on pause", but we're praying to continue in our faith in ALL areas of our life!

Marcel and his final project, as presented at the research symposium

Bummed it is so blurry, but either way he/we made it through all 16 months!

Marcel's Birthday

2011-04-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Marcel turned 24. We had agreed to not celebrate birthdays this year to help us save money for our cruise (travel plans have yet to be determined), but I couldn't let it go by without a celebration. I tried, but I really couldn't do it.

He got a new pair of plaid shorts, which are his absolute favorite. We enjoyed dessert at TGI Friday's and saw The Source Code, which was a really good movie.

modeling his new outfit

after a great dessert!!

@ Edward's

HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY!!

Here's to yet another great year...

2 new posts below!

Easter

2011-04-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

We had a great time dying Easter eggs adult style with Emily. We were missing red food coloring which really limited our color options, but we still made some wonderful creations.

This was also the first year that I was the Easter bunny. I'm getting my practice in now so I'll be an expert by the time we have kids. Besides, I'd like to start getting more than just candy in our basket :)

Big kid style

Marcel was too interested in the process to pause for another picture

OUR Easter basket for $1.50!

We both looked so nice for church on Easter, but we managed to make it all day long without getting a picture, so you'll just have to picture Marcel in a nice purple sweater and khaki's and me in a bright pink shirt, jeans & heels!

Our Celebration

2011-04-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 21st, Marcel completed his MAT program! He submitted his work sample and action research. He still has to present his research in GFU's Research Symposium, but that will be a piece of cake after these last few weeks.

We thought this called for a celebration, so we did just that! We went rollerskating. It was so difficult at the beginning and then we both slowly started to get the hang of it. I fell once, which was very painful, but I survived!

Just trying to stay on our feet

I stayed this close to the wall for quite awhile. I wasn't hanging on, but it being close was very comforting.

Marcel was very good on the skates. He was able to do the dances to the songs, some of which even required stomping.

sitting out of the light & glow skate, because we didn't have anything that was glow-in-the-dark

Marcel even participated in the 21+ race (yes, he was 1 of 3). Just for racing, they each got a free pop coupon. The other two beat Marcel by quite a bit but they never crossed the finish line, so he was the winner by default and won another free pop coupon.

We had a great time and it was so nice to do something different on a date day. We're so excited for Marcel to be done with school, but it is going to be an adjustment. In the nearly 5 years we've been together, one (or both) of us have always been in school. We're also excited to see what job God has in store for Marcel as he begins his teaching career!

Pre-Festival Concert

2011-03-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it happened. We had a picture-worthy event, but I failed miserably and left the charged camera battery on the charger at home and still managed to bring along the battery-less camera.

Last night, Marcel conducted a few songs at Skyview High's Pre-Festival Concert. He did fantastic and was happy to have his cohort leader/GFU Boise campus director there to watch, as well as his university supervisor. They were both so proud of him, as was I.

He even recorded the concert to listen for the areas that need more work before they play them again at Festival, hence the Pre-Festival Concert!

I did get major bonus points because the very last song of the night had 3 movements and after the 1st one all the parents started clapping, but I knew that you're not supposed to clap between movements! I can be a music teacher's wife without embarrassing the music teacher :)

Now, here's to hoping that the camera and battery make it to the next picture-worthy event!

Update ;)

2011-03-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

I try really hard to not go a month between posts, but this month just got away from me.

MARYBETH
I spent a long weekend at Emily's house after her knee surgery to help out. To be perfectly honest, when my mom asked me to go with her, I understood that she didn't want to make the drive alone, but I didn't know how I'd be of any actual help. It took just getting her out of the hospital post-surgery for me to realize how good it was for me to be there. And not to compare knee surgeries because I know hers is much worse than the one I had, but I don't remember being in any pain compared to what Emily was experiencing. As of now, she seems to be recovering nicely, well as nice as can be with a bum knee!

I am also glad to have my computer back from the repair shop after getting a virus. I'm also very excited that it didn't corrupt/destroy any of my files. And now it inspired me to actually get "back-up computer" crossed off my to-do list!

MARCEL
Marcel applied to his first real music teaching job. It is in Newberg, OR right by where we used to live. We're keeping our eyes and ears open for jobs anywhere, but getting that first application in is a huge relief! His resume is now perfect and he has a good basic cover letter to tweek for each job. It's just going to get easier from here, assuming the job postings start rolling in. Graduation is only 83 days away, but the really big countdown is April 21st (39 days away) for his action research and work sample to be submitted. After that, I imagine it being a huge downhill ride to graduation (but I'm not 100% positive on that).

BAILEY'S
We've turned in our application to become official members at our church. We've been meaning to do it for awhile now, but the Membership 101 class has never fit into our schedule until now. We're trying to be optimistic about Marcel's job search and realizing that God will have the perfect job for him wherever we are meant to live. We're also trying really hard to juggle such busy schedules. I don't realize how it always get so busy when its just the two of us, but it happens each and every week.

Here's to a picture-worthy event happening soon so I can be a better blogger :)

All-Day Date!

2011-02-18T21:01:00.000-08:00

Marcel isn't even a real teacher yet and I already LOVE the schedule of being a teacher's wife. There are SO many "no school" days!

Last night, around midnight, Marcel suggested a trip to Boise, which for us is very special!

We went to get our rings cleaned, something that was long overdue. Even Marcel has been asking for awhile when we'll go get sparkly rings again. I love how much he cares about showing the world he's taken.
We went to Joann's and ended up not getting anything for me, but did find 2 clearanced ring-bearer pillows for Hannah's wedding. $2.97 is a steal!
We enjoyed delicious drinks at Moxie Java.
We saw No Strings Attached, which we loved. It was a really funny romantic comedy. And Regal's facebook page had a coupon for $2 nachos so that was our lunch date. I can't believe they normally sell them for $6.25!
We spent some time at Guitar Center and Marcel even got some new drum sticks, thanks to some "surprise" money from giving drum lessons.

Then we came home and got ready for an at-home dinner with Megan & Astin, before sending Marcel to the bedroom so we could have girl-time! It was a great day. Can't wait for the next "no school" day!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T11:45:00.000-08:00

Marcel and I decided not to exchange gifts for Valentine's Day and instead save the money for our upcoming cruise. Even if it is June or July when we go, we decided we'd celebrate Valentine's on the beach somewhere and that would be way better than anything we could have done here.

I'm here to admit that I broke the rules, but just slightly! We received a $10 coupon to Old Navy and even though I tried extremely hard to spend it on myself, I just couldn't find anything I wanted/needed, but of course there is always so much for Marcel. After their clearance prices and the coupon, I paid just $0.63 for 2 new sweaters to add to his "teacher wardrobe", besides they weren't specifically for Valentine's Day, but I decided to save them until Valentine's.

Our day looked like this (minus all the boring stuff we did a part from each other, like me being at the dentist and Marcel being at work)

--Dinner at Taco Bell! I know it is so romantic, but we had coupons for free tacos that were expiring so we were able to eat for $2.50 and that is budget friendly.
--Ice cream at Baskin Robbins! I had a buy 1 cone, get 1 cone free coupon and decided that Valentine's Day was the best day to go out for ice cream, especially since we've given up all eating out for above-mentioned cruise fund.
--We then came home and watched Valentine's Day and Salt, which we rented for free thanks to Redbox's free promo codes. We still have Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps to watch today when Marcel gets home from school.

And now to the pictures:

The BEST date ever

I LOVE how giddy I look in this picture. It's like you can see the love I have for Marcel

Thanks to "The Dating Divas" for this idea!

Close-up of Marcel's love note

We spent the weekend leading up to Valentine's Day at home playing a lot of games. Friday night, I went 2-0 in skipbo and 1-1 in Phase 10, which is great considering Marcel almost always wins. Saturday night, we played Racko & Sequence. We went 1-1 in Racko and Marcel beat me so many times in Sequence I didn't keep track, but I did beat him once!! It was a HUGE success in the Bailey house, because we're approaching having been together 5 years and I have NEVER beat him at Sequence.

Playing game has never been more fun!

I got the camera out to take a picture of my winning board, but Marcel messed it up, because he didn't want it to be all over facebook that I finally beat him!

14 Things

2011-02-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks to another friend, I have another Valentine's inspired post:

14 things I love about Marcel!

He has a great relationship with God, and encourages me daily in my walk with God.
He has such a heart to serve.
He longs to see each of his students succeed and becomes so distraught when they aren't reaching their full potential.
He desires nothing more than to provide for us (which is hard, financially speaking, as a student teacher that pays to go to work).
He will be a fantastic father one day.
He works hard at everything he does: student-teaching, school & homework, church....
He'll listen to me whine and complain when I've had a rough day.
He supports me in everything I want to do.
He always seems to help around the house on the very day I need it most.
He puts up with my crying. Seems most real, heart-to-heart conversation, whether happy or sad, brings me to tears and he looks past them.
He gives up his rare Taco Bell visits so we can put that money in our cruise fund.
He always says, "I love you, pretty girl" at just the right time
He knows a side of me no one else does.
He loves me.

14 Days of LOVE

2011-02-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by a friend (thanks Jenny!) to post one thing I love each day until Valentine's Day.

February 14
I love Valentine's Day! I still think it is a pretty silly holiday, because people shouldn't need reminded to treat their loved ones extra special, but it is a good excuse to spoil Marcel! It's nice to have a day where it is okay to be extra lovey-dovey and have a great date night.

February 13
I love flip-flops! Yesterday it ws 61 degrees in Boise and I didn't wear flip-flops, but this morning I woke up and was so excited to have the chance again. It was colder than yesterday but still warm enough that I made it to church in flip-flops. Plus, I went a few days ago and finally redeemed the gift certificate Marcel got me for my birthday for a pedicure, so my toes are so pretty! It just makes me so excited for warmer weather, when I can wear shorts & tank tops with my flip flops.

February 12
I love the present! It seems we talk so much about the future: Marcel's graduation, our cruise, moving (if necessary) for a job, babies, etc... but I absolutely love where we are right now! It's so wonderful to just be the two of us. I wouldn't trade it for anything!

February 11
I love games & movies! This morning, Marcel said, "let's stay home, do nothing except play games and watch movies." It is such an awesome date night, especially since it's budget friendly. It's just about having some dedicated time together!

February 10
I love kids! Today, Lilli and I went to our church's "Mommy & Me" playday. I had never seen Lilli interact with other kids. They were all quite a bit older than her, but that didn't stop her from building blocks and playing balls with them. She even made her very own valentine, which I know her mom will adore! It also reminded me that kids are so honest and really do say the darnest things. A little girl who's parents led our home group for church asked me, "When are you and Marcel going to have your own baby, not Lilli, so you can really be married?" What a loaded question for a 4 year old! And to think she thinks we're just pretend married for now since we're not mom & dad.

February 9
I love Sisters! First, it means I love Emily and Hannah, just wish we didn't all live so far apart. Secondly, I love my church's women's ministry: Sisters. It is always such a great night of great fellowship and support. I always leave the event refreshed and reassured of my many roles as a woman.

February 8
I love being healthy! Today, Marcel is home sick and it reminds me that, in general, we're fairly healthy and I'm so glad for it.

February 7
I love Marcel! It didn't really take 7 days, we just had a great day together today. It is so wonderful to be married to your best friend and have him supporting you every step of the way.

February 6
I love coupons! I'm headed to a friend's house shortly to teach her all things coupon. We have been so blessed with how coupons have allowed us to stretch our budget. But besides the food & toiletries, it also allows us to get cheap movie tickets, clothes and other entertainment.

February 5
I love marriage! I spent time at a wedding show today and it is so consumeristic (is that a word?) A wedding is fun, but over in a day, and what is truly important is the relationship you have with you spouse!

February 4
I love my mobility! I've spent the day with my sister, Emily, who is on crutches and wearing a brace from just below her hip to nearly her ankle after a skiing accident. She's realizing fast how much we take our legs for granted.

February 3
I love being able to pray! As Marcel and I started a marriage class at church last night, I was reminded of the fact that my marriage can only be as strong as my relationship with God, and that comes with spending time in His Word and through a great prayer life.

February 2
I love having a chance to sleep in! It was only until 8:30am, but it was still very enjoyable.

February 1
I love how helpful Lilli has become. She helped me move all of the clothes from the washer to the dryer and then handed me all the clothes from the pile for the next load. Granted, I could probably do it much faster without her help, but she wants to help! And she gets so proud of herself when she's done and we start clapping for a job well done.

Girls Weekend in Portland

2011-02-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

I was able to fly to Portland Thursday night and spend a wonderful night with Allison, Kelly and Kelly's family.

We spent a little time at Pacific University, which was very weird. Like my home away from home that really isn't that for me anymore. It will still always have such a special place in my heart!

Kelly, Allison and I did a lot of walking around stores, to pass the time for Amy to be done with work. Target, Best Buy, Sports Authority, Michael's, Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, which was the most fun! That night we all went to Macaroni Grill and were unhappy to find the calorie counts printed next to each item.

We enjoyed breakfast at Elmers, even with the worst waitress I've probably ever had. We watched Inception and The Social Network. Then Kelly went back to her parent's house for a birthday party and Amy, Allison & I went to Chipotle for dinner. It was delicious, as always, and I ate way TOO much of it, as always.

Sunday, we went to the church we all went to together in college and were blessed to hear Phil Joel (old member of the Newsboys) speak. He was fantastic and spoke the message straight to my heart. We then spent some time cleaning up the house we stayed in (Amy was house-sitting and they agreed to letting us all stay there. It was like a dream house, a house I'd love to have but realize is probably too grand for us!)

Monday, Kelly & I met up with Amy in Portland for lunch before I had to get on a plane.

Intermixed between all those activities, was plenty and plenty of girl talk, which we all so desperately needed and wanted. It was such a simple weekend, but perfect just the same, as each time we get together it is like no time has passed and we pick up right where we left off!

Now to the pictures!

This is the 1 picture I took! We were headed to Chipotle and decided since we were only going to pick it up, we didn't need to change out of pajama's, which we wore pretty much the entire weekend. But the only shoes we all had were dressy ballet flats. We got to Chipotle to find the parking lot very empty, which excited us, but as soon as we got out of the car, so did 5 other car loads of people. I'm sure we got some very interesting looks, but we were gone as fast as we got there!

We did manage to get 1 group shot before we parted ways but it was on another camera and I don't have it yet!

An Afternoon Spent at Petco

2011-01-26T17:19:00.000-08:00

Today, Lilli and I met my mom for lunch at KFC/A&W. I've always wondered if Lilli remembers my mom since there is often so much time between visits, but today it didn't matter. She received such a warm greeting. Lilli enjoyed plenty of french fries, but only after she dipped them in ranch, Wende's iced tea, NOT my lemonade and a chocolate pudding dessert, my mom just had to buy her, since she is in a far-off, very distant, way her grandbaby.

Then we headed to Old Navy to spend a $10 gift card I had and in a very unusual fashion after Lilli was out of the cart, she decided to walk on her own, as opposed to being carried. She made it in front of PetCo and when the automatic door opened, she walked in like she'd done it a million times. She found a cart just her size and began pushing it around. She didn't not appreciate my hand on the silver pole helping to steer her, but I did it anyway because I'm the adult and I didn't want to cause any crashes :)

The first animal we found was a cage full of rats, and I really didn't know if she saw/noticed them, but she definitely saw the ferret in the next cage and didn't like it, which Marcel blamed on the fact that I don't like them. Then we saw a huge display of books, (in the picture above) all of which had pictues of dogs on them, so Lilli began barking at them (She can tell you what a kitty cat, puppy, and cow says; when we read one of her books she moo's at the zebras, which I LOVE; and she's close to knowing monkey & snake even without the pictures from her books). Then we saw a real-life dog and Lilli just froze, got super excited and blew kisses at it; she blows kisses when you say "I Love You" to her. Guess she loved the dog.

She LOVED the fish, and enjoyed talking back to the singing birds. She was also amazed by the turtles that would come up from out of the water, rest on a rock and then swim away. I don't know how she feels about reptiles, because, while I can handle ferrets in a cage, reptiles and I aren't very good friends!

This was the first time around the store and only seconds before she was at the tank. She wasn't afraid!

We had made it around the stores about 3 times, each time stopping by the adoption center and looking at the kitties, but the first 2 times they were all sleeping. On our last visit the 2 in the bottom cages (just at her level!) we awake and sort-of interested in playing. Lilli blew them plenty of kisses, and even gave them a few real kisses (through the cage and never getting all the way to the cage). She waved hi and meowed at them, and stared at them as if in confusion as to why they weren't also meowing.

We had a great time getting out of the house and doing something fun! We'll definitely be going back for more excitement :)

PS: I used my phone to take these pictures so I could send them to Lilli's mom so I apologize for their poor quality. I really need to remember to start using my real camera more often

PPS: I LOVE that I labeled this post "Jobs". I was in fact working during this trip and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful job!

January Updates

2011-01-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

There has been no picture taking this month, thus no real blog posts, so I thought I'd do an update. Not necessarily for all of you, but for me.

MARYBETH

I'm doing great on my "2011 goals". I've found it very beneficial to use Lilli's morning nap as my Bible reading time. I've tried to do it first thing in the morning, but since I'm far from being a morning person, my eyes may read over the words, but I don't really get anything out of it. I've already finished a book this month, The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I had read it before but once again it was so wonderful. Now I just need to get myself to the library or I'm going to seriously fail on that goal.
I still love Miss Lilliana to pieces. She's almost 16 months and is as bright as can be. We struggle most days to find stuff she'll eat, but she'll ask for "cackers" (crackers) all day long, only as long as I put peanut butter on them.
I'm headed to Portland, OR this weekend for a girl's weekend with my roommates (people I tell this to here are so confused because Marcel and I don't have roommates, but I can't get myself to say anything like "college roommates" or "old roommates"; they will always just be my roommates!) They were all going to come visit me here, but in the end we decided it was cheaper and probably more fun for me to just go there. I'll take pictures there and then can have a real blog post when I get back!

MARCEL

He's been working with a new mentor teacher at Skyview High & South Middle. He's enjoying it a lot (at least that's my impression). He and Mr. Garner seem to be working really well together and Steve is full of advice and tips that Marcel is glad to be receiving.
He still volunteers for church's creative arts & worship teams, which is going to pick up A LOT as we're about to start a second church on the northside of Nampa, thus the name: CFC North.

THE BAILEY'S

We're both doing great on our "not-a-diet-just-eating-healthier" goal. We're really working on portion sizes, and having more fruit and vegetables. We're still eating about the same type of dinners, but tweaking them just enough to get more produce in them.
We just enjoyed our January date. It was a stay-at-home date. We made our own pizza roll and watched The Social Network, which we both really enjoyed. We do watch plenty of tv and movies together, but since it was date night, there were no computers on our laps while we watched. It was truly a night to spend together!
We're both counting down the days until Marcel graduates, which is only 130 days away! Doesn't seem that far away when I think about the days, but to say graduation is June 4th, makes it seem like an eternity. We're both beyond excited for no more school! Marcel still has a lot of work to do between now and then, but of course, it will all get done.
February is the month we've been told to start looking for teaching jobs, so that is exactly what we're going to do. This is the area we've been praying about most. We want to follow God's will for us, and feel that a BIG part of that is where we'll end up living. We're not going to be very limited on where we look for jobs. We know we'll find the perfect job where God wants us to be.
After finally receiving Marcel's paycheck for being the Skyview Marching Band Assistant Director, our cruise fund is fully funded! At least as far as we can tell now. We're still living cheaply (I'd like to say frugally but truthfully, cheap is probably more accurate) and adding any extra money we find to it, just to make sure we have enough saved so it is 100% paid for WITH CASH! The best part, however, is that we don't need any of our debt snowball money for the cruise (read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover for more information on the debt snowball) so we are now able to still save a little each month for our cruise, but also resume paying down our debt, which makes me so happy!

Goals for 2011

2011-01-03T23:37:00.000-08:00

I have never really been too keen on resolutions for the new year, but this year I felt really motivated to set some goals for myself, so that is exactly what I did:

DAILY devotional time
Ability to allow God complete control in my life and marriage
Read for pleasure

Realistically, I'm aiming for 1 book per month

Exercise and eat healthier

I don't want to be on a diet, just be a little more aware of what I'm eating :)

Monthly date nights

This will require some creativity as we're not spending any money outside of bills and necessary expenses, but I know we can manage it!

Monthly budget meetings with Marcel to stay 100% focused on what we've been working towards

There is still so much unknown about 2011, which I am kind of enjoying, but I know myself enough to know that sooner than later I'm going to want answers about our future (Marcel's job, where we're living, all sorts of big important things like that). Hence, goals 1 & 2. And the rest are just things either I've wanted to do or we've been meaning to do for awhile and am just now getting around to making it a bigger priority.

Christmas

2010-12-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

This year, our Christmas celebrations began on Christmas Eve. Marcel and I attended church and then headed to my mom's house for our Christmas there. We had delicious appetizers and desserts, which is our normal food when she has us for Christmas Eve. That group of people is getting quite large as just about all of us have spouses/significant others to bring. It was a lovely time together, but we didn't get any pictures.

Marcel and I asked for money for Christmas so we could jump start our cruise fund, but my mom still got us a few presents. I got new slippers, an iTunes gift card and a bathroom scale, which I already love having (especially this morning when it said I've lost a few pounds!). Marcel got a new purple argyle sweater, which he has been dying to have, and blank DVDs. Also, one of the traditions for our stockings is to get lottery tickets and I've never had much luck with them but this year, Marcel and I together won $33, hooray for more cruise money!

We hung out for awhile before heading home for a short night of rest before Christmas. Marcel and I got up at 5:45am, so that we could have our own Christmas before heading to my dad's at 8am. Yes, it was early, but it was so wonderful to have that time together. We continued our tradition of having monkey bread for breakfast and not having stockings. We'll start that one either when I find semi-matching stockings that I like or when we have kids, whichever comes first!

Our tree with presents

Trying on my too small slippers from my mom

Marcel's corn on the cob grilling tool, but the picture is even better because we both wrapped just about all our gifts to each other in either cereal, oatmeal or frozen waffle boxes. We LOVE breakfast at this house :)

Marcel also decided to seal every edge of every box with masking tape so I had to cut them all open

Marcel got me a new wallet (which I desperately needed and asked for constantly) that I love and new slippers

Marcel and his Harry Potter movie collection (Movies 1-6)
I think it was what he was most excited to receive and now we're about to have a HP marathon

2nd married Christmas!

After presents, we headed to my dad's for our 3rd Christmas of the year. We enjoyed another delicious breakfast of egg mcmuffins (are they still called that if they aren't from McDonald's?) and spent quite a bit of time opening gifts. And yet again we were spoiled! Payton & Presley got each of us new pajama pants, while my dad and Cindy got us a new knife block (the only thing we asked for) and a box full of $1 bills!

New hats from Aunt Dede

Payton & Presley each showing off their new iPods, which they LOVED and used all day long, even before they had music on them, bcause they record videos and play the radio.

A fun gift to receive :)

Emily and Matt were very happy to get a blu-ray player and surround sound system but are now asking to take Marcel home with them so he can get it all set up.

So excited to receive a box full of books (including the whole Harry Potter series)

Again, with the excitement for books.
Hope one day my kids will love reading as much as I did at this age (and these 2 do)

We enjoyed a great ham dinner and then hours and hours of playing Wii Sports Resort & Rock Band 3, where I was finally able to move up to medium level on the guitar/bass! We also watched the Top 40 music videos of 2010 according to VH1.

Overall, we had a GREAT Christmas season. It always seems to be over so fast, but it is always so much fun!

Marcel's Program

2010-12-12T09:26:00.000-08:00

Thursday, Marcel had his program. Well, the 3rd graders had their program and Marcel got to direct it. There were 2 performances, which worked out well for me. I took Lilli and met my mom for the first one. Lilli LOVED it. She kept pointing to Marcel and blowing him kisses and since they started late she tried wiggling her way out of my lap to go get him, so we walked around until it was time to start. After each song, Lilli looked at my mom, in such a way to get approval before she could start clapping, but once she started she's a clapping machine.

The next performance was so much better! And I was able to get in a few pictures and recorded all of the songs. I even got to meet Marcel's mentor teacher from George Fox, who was so proud of all his work, but honestly, I think I'm much prouder!

All 4 of the 3rd Grade Classes and their student teacher

So, Marcel told all the kids to always have smiles on their faces because his wife was going to take pictures and they'd be so sad if the pictures had frowny faces in them. We found it ironic, that 1 of the few pictures I got of Marcel had him not smiling.

Welcme speech at the night performance, tux and all!

One song from the performance

In Our Life

2010-12-07T08:45:00.000-08:00

A whole month without blogging. Not typical for me.

We haven't taken any pictures, so that must mean we haven't done anything too exciting, so in summary...

MaryBeth
*Still absolutely loves Miss Lilliana to pieces! She's 14 months old and the things she is picking up on is fascinating. She's officially walking (she's been able to walk for awhile, but it has finally overtaken crawling as the primary mode of transportation). It should also be noted that when I first started watching her, when she was 5 months old, she served as great birth control for me, but those days are long gone! more about this at the bottom of the post!
*Started working at Michael's as a seasonal employee and is already counting down until January 1st, when she is "let go". Even if offered to become a regular employee, that is not happening! It is good for our budget to have this other job, but it is not good for my sanity (and therefore Marcel's) for me to dislike it as much as I do.
*Is just about caught up with scrapbooking for 2010 and is VERY happy about that accomplishment. I haven't printed pictures from our trip to Yellowstone but I think I'll wait until the holidays are over to consolidate orders.
*Has started a countdown to Marcel's graduation and as of today we're only 179 days away!
Marcel
*Is in his last week of student teaching in his elementary school placement. His cooperating teacher has a VERY different teaching philosophy and style from Marcel but he's made it through just fine. Now he's just got to put the big work sample together so he can get licensed, which can't officially happen until after the next round of student-teaching.
*Looking forward to his next placement, which allows him to be in a middle school AND a high school because that's what his cooperating teacher teaches. This is the same teacher he worked with when he was helping with the marching band.
*Still keeps plenty busy volunteering at church on the sound team and the worship team playing drums. He loves it, but I'm selfish and hate having him gone Wednesday nights for practice.

We're both very excited for Christmas. We are still on the hunt for a gift for each of our mothers and Marcel to get my presents, but I'm done and it feels wonderful. Our tree is up and decorated and while I had hopes of hanging more lights in our house, I don't think that will happen. And by working at Michael's I've become jealous about not having decorations for our house but realize it is just stuff and we're only spending money to pay our bills (and finish Christmas shopping); everything else is out of the budget for now, because...

We've decided to go on a cruise in June, after Marcel graduates. We're not entirely sure where we're going, but I'm pulling for Mexico. And it is still very tentative because even though we'd be able to pay for it in CASH (the only way we'll vacation or pay for anything now, thank you Dave Ramsey!), we may need the money for savings if Marcel is unable to find a job or if we need it for moving expenses, which could add up fast if we move to the other side of the country :) And we'd totally be okay with that. Yes, we'd be terribly sad to move away from family but trust that God will move us to where we need to be. So it is still up in the air, but for now it has been great motivation to not spend money and it feels wonderful that I haven't swiped my debit card in a few weeks!

When I put the cruise plans on facebook as just a BIG celebration to being done with school, my sister started a bad thing saying she was hoping for a nephew and then people went crazy telling me how great of a mom I'll be, etc. There is still no Bailey Baby in the picture! Marcel came home from school (his college) one day and had a classmate very upset and just wanting it all to be done because her kids asked her when she'd spend time with them again. It made me realize how happy I am that we've decided to wait at least until Marcel is done with school. We struggle to spend enough time together with his hectic schedule and couldn't imagine adding a baby to the mix. We talk about it like we talked about and planned our wedding before we were even engaged, just knowing it is coming sometime in the future. After June 4th, we'll start praying for God's guidance and know that we'll become a family of 3 (or 4, if my mom gets her wish of me having twins) at just the right time!

My Prayer

2010-11-07T13:27:00.000-08:00

Today Marcel played the drums at church, which means I sit all by myself during worship. I'm used to it now, plus it makes me more grateful for the times we get to enjoy worship together. After the first song, Pastor Ryan called the church elders and leadership team up to the altar to be available for our prayer requests, just like he does every week.

Without missing a beat, the little girl (I guess she was around 10, which is influenced by Marcel thinking she was 12) sitting in front of me, stood up, squeezed her way in front of her mom sitting in her chair, and went to an open couple to ask for prayer. She came back and again took her place to join the congregation in corporate worship.

Worship was wonderful. The sermon was touching as we plan for many upcoming opportunities to serve our community, but witnessing the faith of a young child was simply the most moving part of church today.

I pray that when God allows Marcel and I to be the earthly parents to some of His precious children, we will raise them in such a way that they have a faith in God as strong as I witnessed today.

BSU vs LA Tech

2010-11-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday there was a BSU football game, one that my mom and Don wouldn't be able to go to. Instead of letting their tickets go unused, they allowed Marcel and I to use them. We had a blast.

I was preparing to freeze the whole time but it wasn't actually too bad, thanks to the wonderfully warm jacket my mom let me borrow, because I couldn't go to the game and not wear BSU attire. Marcel did save the day by buying us hot chocolate at half-time, but not until after we watched the marching band.

All bundled up!

The marching band is huge, compared to watching the high school bands

It wasn't until after we took pictures of the marching band that we decided we should probably have some of the actual football game too

Final Score
BSU 49
LA Tech 20

Visit to Victor

2010-11-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

For my birthday, my mom gave me money to take a vacation to visit my sister in Victor, Idaho (very near to Jackson, WY). That same day we decided the best weekend for both of us would be Halloween weekend. It was great until I forgot to request the day off from Michael's and ended up having to work Sunday, making us have to leave at 7am. We still had a GREAT time.

There was snow in the mountains, but thankfully not in Emily's backyard like they had the weekend before

On Friday, Emily and Matt both had to work so Marcel and I drove to Jackson and did the tourist stuff, which included sitting in this huge bear chair!

We also visited the Grand Teton National Park, but instead of paying admission, we simply chose roads around the pay stations. We still enjoyed the beautiful park, but didn't see any animals.

At Granite Canyon Trailhead, the one spot we got out of the car in Grand Teton National Park. It is here that we learned you need to make extra loud noises to prevent bear attacks during mating season, but the sign didn't tell you when mating season was.

Marcel LOVES beenies that keep his ears covered, but we did leave this one at the store

Emily and Matt live on a golf course, since Matt is the superintendent of it. He does all the landscaping and other outside stuff to help the golf course run. After Marcel and I got back from Jackson, we decided to play a few holes. We are far from professionals, but had a lot of fun. By the 3rd (and last) hole we played, I almost got the hang of it.

Marcel even accomplished one of his lifelong dreams: to drive a range picker. Granted we weren't shagging the balls off the driving range, but driving is driving. This is what we used as our golf cart because the golf carts were all parked behind the mowers, and it was simply too cold for golf that required walking!

After a great partial round of golf
(this is the view out their back door!)

We got up early Saturday morning to head to Yellowstone, but our first stop was Mesa Falls, which Emily had yet to see too. It was 114 feet high and 200 feet wide. It was here that we discovered it is always a good idea to carry toilet paper in your car because you can't depend on the public restrooms at nature scenes to be stocked!

I think there are better pictures of us at the falls, but this one is my favorite because you can see Emily & Matt taking their picture at the other outlook.

Don't tell, but we actually took this picture on our way out of the park ;)

Elk...we followed directions and didn't get out of our car to take a picture and to not add to the near accident behind us, Marcel used the side mirror to get this picture. The only other animal we saw was bison/buffalo.

The best part about Old Faithful was that we got there about 30 minutes before the next eruption. It was cool and now we can both say we've been there, but I would have been very disappointed if I had to wait the 90+ minutes between eruptions. We also watched a very cool video about the eruptions, that Emily would be more than happy to explain!

We crossed the contintent many times. After I looked at the map I undertstood why. Who got to decide to make the divide a very crooked line?

We got out of the car at Yellowstone Lake, which was gorgeous. Marcel and I even put our fingers in the water, which was freezing, who would have thought, right? It is also where we took this awesome picture. Good thing for self-timing cameras, because no one else stopped at the lake.

The whole drive through Yellowstone, Marcel was pointing out the scat and after the lake decided that he needed a picture with it. He actually got 3, but this is the only one I'm posting because I don't like the one where he's pretending to lick/eat it. I will say that he was very disappointed that the one we found for our picture wasn't ripe. In fact it was very frozen. Being the photographer, I, however, was very grateful for its condition.

Look at MaryBeth be artistic!

After Yellowstone, we headed back to Jackson, to get a souvenir. We didn't get them our first time through because we were hoping for some from Yellowstone, but their store was super lame. Plus, Emily said we had to get a picture under this arch. We were kinda bummed that even though the Christmas lights were already wrapped around the entire thing, they hadn't been turned on yet.

We also enjoyed seeing a deer on our drive to their house, watching some cable shows, playing Wii and helping Emily get her Pro status back at bowling, watching a scary/suspenseful movie, grocery shopping, touring Victor & Driggs (both tours took about 5 minutes!), listening to the sound checks of 2 bands putting on a concert at the restaurant we ate dinne at, and plain ol' time to catch up, none of which was caught on camera.

Weekend of Major Accomplishments

2010-10-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a very event filled weekend at our house this weekend, and a very successful one at that!

Saturday, Marcel had a marching band competition with Skyview High. I went and enjoyed watching them. They seemed to do well, but I'm far from the person to ask! He was very pleased with their performance but like he always does (and like you'd want any coach to do) he knows exactly what to work on this week before the big district competition this coming weekend. His band earned this:

He was so proud and very grateful for his mentor teacher to tell other directors that he deserved the credit

Sunday was my big race. My first half-marathon! I was a little worried after picking up my packet on Saturday and seeing so many professional looking runners. I told my mom I should have signed up for a casual half-marathon. I was also a little worried about my eating schedule, because each Saturday on my big runs I would get up and eat 1/2 bagel and a banana and 1 hour later start running. It was working out! But today, I got up at 6:45am but didn't have to run until 9am. It worked out just fine, thanks to the semi-delicious gel they were handing out at mile 6! The official clock said my time was 2:28:14, which is about 11:20/mile, which I am more than pleased with. I didn't have to walk, but did stop 4 times to adjust my knee brace which I don't count as stopping. I may have been faster but a cut on my heel I discovered this morning turned into a HUGE blister that even popped on its own. Trying to keep myself from thinking about that was the hardest part of the run. I had a hard time between mile 9 and 10, but after that I was full of adrenaline about being so close to finishing. The weather was PERFECT, sunny but not too warm, with the last 3 miles just about completely in the shade.

Arriving at the race

Marcel took this wonderful picture of me coming out of the bathroom, and as weird as it is, I think it is so funny so I had to include it

Still full of smiles BEFORE the race

2:28:14 later!

Supporters waiting for me at the finish line!

Marcel has been SO supportive these last 3 months. Whenever I have wanted to quit, he was there to remind me how hard I had already worked and how upset I'd be with myself if I truly did quit. It feels SO great to be so deeply encouraged and loved by him!

Marcel's Surprise Date

2010-10-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

In early September, I found a great deal on corn maze tickets (thanks to FabulesslyFrugal.com) and knew I had to get them. They were only good for the first 2 weeks of the season so I sat Marcel down in front of his computer and ultimately his schedule and said, "Find a night where you have 5 hours for a date." I think before my birthday I posted about us but if this wasn't included it should have been. Marcel is at marching band on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights and all day Saturdays for competitions, church on Wednesday, so he spends Mondays at home but I have been working at Famous Footwear on Monday, so we have Sundays after Marcel gets home from church to spend together. Thus, I knew if the date wasn't scheduled before I bought the tickets, they would never get used.

We picked Sunday, October 3rd and that day when we got home from church, I was so excited because I hadn't told Marcel what we were doing and keeping the secret was getting too hard. I got online to get the address and discovered they were closed on Sundays. Good thing we scheduled a "back-up" day!

Date day was last night. We headed to dinner at Harry's Bar & Grill in Meridian. It was fun to try a new place and I loved my club sandwich (except since when do they come with raw onions, or onions in general) and Marcel seemed to like his Reuben. All the way to dinner, Marcel was guessing where we were going, like go-karting, etc, but once we got to the restaurant he admitted that earlier in the day he figured out where we were going. I felt sad it wasn't a surprise when we pulled up to the farm, but I did what I could!

Before heading out to dinner

Tickets in hand and ready to start

We didn't realize that going on a Wednesday night meant being there with just about every youth group from the Boise area. It was crazy! Somehow, though, we made it through the maze without too many kids with us. They sort of just did their own thing.

We made it to the bridge in less than 10 minutes and then shortly after found ourselves at a checkpoint. That's when we realized there was a map we could have used and then hole-punched it at each checkpoint (there were 12!). We made it our mission to find all 5 on the right side of the bridge (the blue in the picture) WITHOUT the map. We just walked aimless until we ended up at all of them.

After 45 minutes or so, in our attempt to find the 5th checkpoint, Marcel said, "You did it. I'm lost." See, once we made it to the bridge Marcel decided that I had to be the one to make all the decisions in which fork in the road we took because I couldn't keep track of where we'd been but with his strong sense of direction he could and if I made the decisions it would take us longer. Last year we went to a haunted maze with some friends from Pacific and I told Marcel that it isn't the same because you sort of just get pushed through the maze. The point of the scary one is not to get lost, but in a normal corn maze you should be lost!

On the bridge. I LOVE this picture. The sun makes us look so beautiful!

On facebook, Ruth said she thinks this one could be in a magazine. That made me happy!

At one of the checkpoints we found!

Happy to be lost TOGETHER

After making it out of the maze we went on a hayride. Marcel wanted to do it first but I was so afraid of not having enough time for the maze so we did it after. There was beautiful lightning along the way! It was also how you got to their pumpkin patch. We're going to go the generic way and probably just get our pumpkins at the grocery store and not do it until it is closer to Halloween, so it feels like fall outside.

Marcel wanted to have the tractor in the background

When we got home I decided it was a great fall activity, but told Marcel, "I haven't had any crunchy leaves yet." I love when the leaves dry up a bit and fall on the ground. Nothing like hearing the crunch of leaves under your shoe. It is the ultimate sign that fall is here and that it is sweater weather, and time to curl up under a blanket with a cup of toasted marshmallow hot chocolate!

25 25 25

2010-09-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty anxious about turning 25. It is such a milestone birthday, and I'm feeling it even more than I did 16, 18 or 21. Plus, Marcel says, "you're practically 50 now!" His reasoning is that 25 rounds to thirty which clearly rounds to 50.

I woke up to Marcel singing me happy birthday with a big glass of orange juice and a pancake! If you don't know Marcel, me getting a pancake is celebration enough. I love pancakes and tell him every time I make them that I could eat them for every meal. But they are not his favorite, either to eat or to make. So we made a deal that if I craved pancakes while I was pregnant he'd have no choice but to make them because that would be what my body needed to help the baby grow. He did say, "I know you are not pregnant, but it is your birthday!

He is VERY accurate in saying that we're not pregnant. No Bailey Baby for us just yet.

We had a great time at church and finally used our free drink coupons to the coffee-shop. I even officially registered for our Sisters group, the new Women's ministry which was so wonderful a few weeks ago when it debuted! We stopped by a Redbox on the way home so that I didn't have to watch football all day, but here we are still watching football, but only because it is the Cowboys which is the team I've grown up watching, because they are my mom's favorite! It even looks like they might hold onto win the game!

After church I got to open my big present that I saw wrapped last night. All I told Marcel I wanted was for him "to go into as many stores as it takes for you to be inspired by something that you know I'll like." Very clear, huh? Well, he majorly succeeded. I got a 3 drawer storage bin for my scrapbooking stuff. He noticed on his own that I had paper just in a pile under my crafting table because I didn't have a big enough drawer for my 12x12 paper. He told me that he almost picked another bin until he realized it wasn't big enough. He knew it was 12x12 paper, how he knew that I'm not sure but he did. I also got 3 new sheets of paper, which are beautiful. He may have just nominated himself to pick out all my new paper! He did say, how come that paper is so expensive. It was 30% off but still some of them were going to be over $1. Do they have magical powers or design the pages by themselves or what? I also got a gift card to go get a manicure and pedicure. I'm thinking I might just get 2 pedicures :)

Marcel spent the afternoon going through his pile of stuff in an attempt to clean up our house and is now doing our huge pile of dishes. We could really use a dishwasher but for now I just try to remember that we have dirty dishes because we had food to eat. Some people don't even have that!

Marcel was so set all morning and afternoon that we had to get our car washed today because it had to be clean when we got to my mom's for dinner at 6pm, which he told me in a half-sleep state. I didn't understand but I went with it. And he told me that we had to get Blizzards even though there would be cake & ice cream at my mom's because we needed something just for us. Off we went in our shiny car to Dairy Queen. I instantly noticed that we knew the lady at the counter ordering food, but made no second thoughts about it. Marcel then MADE me look at the book of cakes you can order and I said, "No I don't want Lightning McQueen, no not Hannah Montana...." then he turned me around and there was Megan, a best friend from high school. I think that is when Marcel spilled the beans that my day was actually the surprise day at Dairy Queen. There were so many wonderful families from our WONDERFUL home group there, with their girls who we love (and are going to babysit soon!), both my mom and dad, my cousin Joey & his family (their youngest and I share a birthday and just turned 1 today), Megan, Astin...just missing my sisters, oh and taking pictures!

After hanging out for a long time that went by super fast, my mom, Marcel & I went to Applebee's and enjoyed a delicious dinner, most of which I brought home. After dinner, Marcel and I watched Amazing Race which premiered tonight. We reminisced about how my birthday is prime for fall show premieres. On my 21st birthday, Gilmore Girls had the season premiere, my 22nd birthday Grey's Anatomy, and now my 25th and Amazing Race. And probably my top 3 shows of all-time. I also got to talk to Amy, who I miss dearly. She is always full of entertaining stories and an hour on the phone goes by so quickly. I love that our friendship is the kind you dream of having, the one where you could go months without talking and still pick up like you just talked yesterday. I'm actually pretty lucky that all my closest friends and I are that way!

I had a great first day as a 25 year old, even though many people told me that 25 wasn't their favorite because it is so much pressure on being a real adult now!

The Last Day

2010-09-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my last day as a 24 year old. I grew quite fond of being 24. It was a great year, but I've said that about all of them for the last 5 years at least! 23 may have been my all-time favorite though. I had a great birthday weekend celebration at the beach with Marcel, then 3 days later we got engaged and a long 9 months later we were married...

Yesterday, I woke up as Marcel was getting ready for a short Saturday class. After a small breakfast, I went on my last long run in my training. I was only going to do 11 miles after last week and failing to do 11, but I ended up doing 12. Just like the time I was only going to do 9 but ended up doing 10, yesterday stopping at 11 left me 1 mile to walk home. While I have been especially cautious of giving myself cool-down time, 1 mile was too far! I wanted to run! I have never wanted to run like I did then, even though I had to get my butt up that MONSTER hill. I spent 2:14:56 running, which I rounded to 2 hours 15 minutes to make it 11:15 miles. Not too shabby for me!

Marcel and I then spent the afternoon with a lovely couple from church, Chad & Ruth. Marcel happened to be their saving grace because he volunteered to start running the sound board as Ruth was just weeks away from having a baby and Chad had no one else on his team. It was a great afternoon spent playing games they had never played before, which didn't stop Ruth from winning big time!

I then went to Famous Footwear for a night of work. When I told my dad I'd take the shift I didn't realize it was the night of a BSU football game. I wouldn't have said no simply to watch the game, but I should have known how dead the store was going to be. Truly, after 6pm (kick-off) we had a small handful of people come in and made a lousy $100. Not worth 2 employees being there. Oh well, a paycheck is a paycheck to me, no matter how slow we were. Plus, it was nice to be in jeans & a BSU t-shirt (not the normal dress code!)

Just Us

2010-09-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

I just finished another post on my running and realized that I have posted about life in awhile, so here goes nothing!

We are BUSY! Well, maybe I should say Marcel is busy. He started school the first week of September and is enjoying his pedagogy class, especially since it is just him and his teacher in class. He also also been spending a lot of time volunteering at Skyview High with the marching band. That is the school for his primary student teaching, come January/February (dates haven't been finalized yet). His mentor teacher and band advisor asked for his help because he is the lone guy to run marching band. Marcel is LOVING it! It is his dream.

It has been so fun for me to hear all the stories he has when he comes home about his future students. Like how they didn't respect him as a teacher the first day until he played all the pieces for them, or how they get angry when he makes them practice the same little piece that everyone trips over, over and over but yet when they finally get to play the whole piece that same tricky piece goes so well and at the next practice they make suggestions of parts they need to go over. I'm so giddy just thinking about how awesome he is as a teacher. All his future students are so lucky to have him!

He is also subbing a fair amount. Not as busy as he was last year, but last year he subbed at the end of the year, so he's understanding. He also has observed at a different high school with his pedagogy teacher and has to get in 3 observation days in his secondary site (the one he does first) before November 1st.

Add in that he also runs sound and plays drums for church which require Wednesday night practices and of course Sunday morning commitments.

On to MaryBeth, the one with hardly anything to talk about...Still running (obviously, as you can see by the blog) and counting down until 10/10 when I can cross the finish lane. Lilli still comes to my house for fun everyday. We have so much fun together. She's still not walking but her first birthday is right around the corner and I'm getting excited for it! I'm still working at Famous Footwear with my dad on Monday nights. Lilli goes home around 5pm and I leave for work around 7:30pm. We usually work until 2am. It makes for a long Tuesday but Lilli is scheduled here so I join in on 10am naptime. It seems to be working quite well and it is a nice little extra money to help our budget.

I'm also looking into getting a part-time job during the holiday season, which means I need to go and get some applications this week. We'll see what comes of that, but I'll have the time to do it more than just 6pm and later, because there are a few weeks around the holidays that I won't have Lilli. Plus it is what I need to do for our family to help get us through this season of Marcel being in school.

Oh, and I'm just 5 days away from being 25 years old!

Redemption

2010-09-21T18:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday I was supposed to run 11 miles. Marcel taught me a cool thing about mapquest (something I wish I would have known about weeks ago) to find me an 11 mile route, because it is a waste of gas for him to drive me 11 miles from home and then back again. I was upset when he said that, but it is true and gas is an expense we can't seem to cut back on, even when we try diligently!

We had spent the day at my mom's so I drove home and got changed and ready to go and headed back to my mom's, where my route started from. Once I got there I realized I had forgot Marcel's watch (he calls it the watch). I went on my way. Oh, I should go back a few hours and say that I hadn't been feeling 100% and had been very sluggish all week. I had NO energy to go out and run 11 miles, but I was supposed to, so I did.

Well, I tried. I got 3 miles down the road and called Marcel to come pick me up. I was hurting. Weird stabbing pains, but not like normal side-aches. I don't know what my problem was. It was disheartening. I felt like a failure. It made me question my ability to succeed in my race.

Sunday, instead of trying again, I did my mom's elliptical. It was a nice change. It still kicked my butt, but gave me a nice break from the running. Plus, I should also mention, that when I sacrificed my time on the 10 mile run to fix my knee brace, it may have come too late because my knee hurt the next day, like try with every fiber of my body not to limp.

Today I am back! I ran my normal 3 mile route, actually my old route because I don't know the last time I did my 3 miles over that route. If I remember back to when I did run it more frequently, I believe it is a little short of 3 miles (I'm thinking 2.8) but either way I'm still so proud of my time: 21 minutes 36 seconds. I'm not trying for a time on 10/10/10 but to see so much improvement in my "sprint" times was the motivation I needed after Saturday!

And just one lesson learned today, more like an observation made:

I am so excited to not have to run with my cell phone and house key on the day of my race

Double Digits

2010-09-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

I remember the days approaching my 10th birthday and my dad continually reminding me that once I turned 10 I'd be in the double digits for the rest of my life. I cleverly responded, "Unless I live to be 100!" But nonetheless being double digits was very exciting and last night I relived that moment.

I ran 10 miles!! I was only scheduled to do 9, since I did 8 last week, but my schedule is a week off because I missed a week early on. I left the house secretly hoping I could get 10 miles out of my body but still knowing that 9 miles would have been a huge accomplishment. My saving grace in being able to get 10 completed was that finishing 9 miles left me just 1 mile from home. I had to get home one way or another and I figured since I was finally in the shade (maybe just a little dark too) it would be faster to just run!

My time was 1:50:03, which is just about exactly 11 minute miles. I still don't care about my time, but will say I would have been faster if it hadn't taken so many adjustments to get my knee brace where it felt comfortable. I kept telling myself, "Stopping to fix your brace isn't going to help your time, but not stopping is going to hurt my chances of finishing on 10/10/10" so I sacrificed my time in order to stay injury-free.

Today marks 4 weeks from my race (2 weeks from turning 25!) and I'm getting more and more excited with each long run I complete. My first 3 mile run to start the training, I ran to my mom's house (door to door is 3 miles!) and it terrified me to think I'd have to get to her house, go back to mine, back to hers and then back to mine and I still wouldn't even be to the distance of a half marathon. Also, the training schedule I've been following never has you run more than 12 miles. At first I was scared by that because how am I supposed to run it in a race if I've never done it in practice? But last night, I was only 3.1 miles short of the official distance and believe that my endorphins and adrenaline would have gotten me through each step if I had just continued!

To continue with some lessons learned during my run like last week

It doesn't matter to me if you live in the country, if your house is directly off the street and you have dogs, you better have a fence or another way to keep them from attacking people who may walk/run by. I have never been more scared of a dog than I was last night. The way the guy chased after his dogs to keep them from me (which didn't work, because they BOTH touched me) made me feel like they were dangerous and may actually attack!
Even if you have a piercing ache in your side within the first half mile, if you keep going, it goes away and you still have the energy to finish.
Within the depths of yourself is something magical and something I can't explain about being able to accomplish your goals!

Picking Up The Pace

2010-09-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

My 8 mile run didn't have a good pace, close to 11:30/mile, so today I decided to pick it up, and boy did I do that!

Today I ran 4 miles in 32:43!

That is 8:11 per mile! I am not hoping to run that pace for 13.1 miles, I am actually just hoping to finish (with a secret goal of 10 minute miles) but now that my short runs are getting faster and faster I feel so optimistic about having it in me to complete 13.1 miles!

Our Reward

2010-09-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

When we had Snoh with us, we went to the zoo and managed to drive right by PF Changs and we got so excited to go there. Then a few days later we went to the Discovery Center and it happened again, only this time we decided that once he went back to Washington we were going to reward ourselves with a date day/night to PF Changs as a reward for surviving the entire 31 day period of being pseudo-parents.

I'm proud to announce that 15 days later, we finally made it on our date! It was a date day to be more specific. We headed to downtown Boise for the wonderful cuisine, only after taking our beautiful, yet dirty, wedding rings in to be cleaned and inspected. We're always disappointed in this Jared shop, but the food was delicious!

After lunch (which is what we decided to call our 3:30pm meal) we headed to my dad's house to watch the BSU & Virginia Tech game. I haven't ever really been a Bronco fan, mainly because I wasn't in high school, since I had no real reason to be, and then they got good while I was in Oregon. And now that we are living in Idaho, near Boise specifically, it seems we have to be part of the Bronco nation. I think we are fitting in quite nicely. Either way, though, the game was wonderful and even though I told Marcel I wanted nothing for my birthday except to not watch football until after my birthday (meaning the games on my birthday could not be watched) I was happy to have watched that game. Now if it could only feel like football season is really upon us. Where did the summer go?

We were pretty lame on the picture department on our actual date, but we did manage to take a few before heading out as a child-less couple!

Married life is treating us so well

the one we took for my sisters who always say "your heads are always touching in your pictures"
I definitely like the first 1 better :)

8 Lessons Learned In 8 Miles

2010-09-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I ran the 8 mile run in my training for my half-marathon and instead of driving myself 4 miles from home and knowing I'd just have to run there and back, I had Marcel just drive with me until we got to 8 miles. It worked pretty well and I was happy with the route, but boy was it long. You don't realize how far things are when you travel by car, but when you have to run it, it takes on a whole new perspective.

I learned many things on my run tonight:

Make sure the person you are going to call in case of emergency has their phone set to ring, not on silent.
Even if it feels like you just did it yesterday, charge your ipod the night before your long run. This is especially true if you have a shuffle and don't have a display for your battery level.
You CAN run without music but it won't be as fun and you'll find yourself dragging.
Hydrating 90 minutes before running isn't enough time to fully empty your bladder pre-run.
A knee brace saves you if you have previous knee problems
If it seems like a hill in a car it is going to be a MOUNTAIN after already running 7 miles.
You do eventually get good at deciding what to wear on a run: shorts, capris or pants and tank top, shirt, or sleeves.
A slower Christian song is far more motivating than any fast, upbeat, pop or country song on your entire playlist. (That's how I got through my entire 7 miles last week, also)

As soon as I got out of the car behind the start line so I would have time to do a warm-up walk, I turned on my ipod to hear "battery low." I could still see Marcel and I know he had his ipod so I called him to trade me. After 2 missed calls, I gave up. I also realized right before getting out of the car that I forgot my knee brace. Not good. As soon as my walk was over and I started to run, I realized how badly I needed to go to the bathroom. Also not good, but my run took me by a local park, so I stopped for a bathroom break, which added a bit of distance to my run. I went from minute 22 to approximately 72 without music, which I'm extremely proud of! My time, however, not so much, until you consider everything that I had going against me on this run. I ran 8 miles (and I'm guessing a little more than .1 mile, that's not much, but it adds up!) in 90:56, which is about 11:22 per mile. I've been averaging about 10 minute miles, but nevertheless, I never walked and I finished, which are the only 2 things I care about for 10/10/10!!! Only 5 weeks away!

My Dork

2010-09-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

My husband is a dork. Don't worry, most of the time he doesn't take offense to me calling him that. After almost 4.5 years, he's more than used to it. Plus, like I tell him everytime I use that term of affection, his being a dork is one of the reasons I love him so much. He keeps me on my toes. I hope I always find fun and laughter from it.

Most recent case in point:

MaryBeth: I am not taking a key, but I have my phone. I'm headed to Indiana.
Marcel: (after I've left the room) Enjoy your flight.
MaryBeth: my what?
Marcel: Your flight.
MaryBeth: what?
Marcel: Your flight. You just said you were going to Indiana.

In all actuality, I was headed to the street named Indiana approximately 2 miles from our house so that I could run 4 miles.

I LOVE MY HUSBAND, ESPECIALLY SINCE HE'S A LITTLE DORKY!!

**I wanted to abbreviate our names like I did for the conversations Snoh & I had, but our initials are too similar. On things in our house it is labeled as MB for MaryBeth and MD for Marcel, because his middle name is Drew, a name we'll be using for one of children if God decides in fact that I could enjoy a little boy!

Back to School

2010-09-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

Marcel left just a few minutes ago for his last first day of class, as a student that is. His program was so generous to give him the month of August off, which sounds lovely, except when you think they only go once a week anyway, so it wasn't too much of a break. I guess the no homework thing is the nice part! He has hated reading on facebook about everyone packing up to head back to school and not being able to do it too. I told him he could if he felt like it but I was staying here :) He reasoned his rearranging not only the living room, but also our bedroom and his corner of the hobby room, by saying "well it's like getting a new place like I've been doing at this time of year for the last years."

He gets to meet his pedagogy teacher tonight. That's the guy (maybe girl, I don't really know) that is going to teach him specifically about teaching music. He is STOKED to finally be in a class more directly focused on what he wants to do, but that doesn't mean he hasn't thoroughly enjoyed all the other general classes.

He only has 2 more months of classes before getting in a classroom to start student teaching. He is in an elementary school from November 1st until whenever the school breaks for Christmas and then in an high school for the spring term.

He's very excited for the schools he was placed in and I'm counting down until June to see him look so handsome in another cap & gown! And for us to be able to spend a Thursday night together. And to know where we are going to live. We're 100% open to searching in all 50 states to find a job, because graduation means student loan payments which can't get paid without a job. A job is very important!

Speaking of that, I'm still in search for a job. A few months ago I was totally sold on trying to find a full-time job and give up Miss Lilli, but now it just about breaks my heart to think about not watching her anymore. I have been very surprised about how much I've enjoyed her baby stage (I knew I could handle watching her, but I've always been a little afraid of babies!), but she is just about to the age I just absolutely love. I can't give up now :) so I am now open to find a part-time job for the evenings. Just something to make up the difference of Marcel not working as of November 1st.

I'm off to do some shopping to help me feel better about being alone for the first time in quite awhile, at least with school being the reason!

Running Update

2010-08-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

This week has been rough when it came to my running. I got a little behind on my weekly runs that allow me to add 1 mile to the "long run" on Saturday each week. I tried both Friday and Saturday mornings to get in the two 4 miles runs I had missed. Each time I made it about a mile before I felt sick, light headed, a side ache like I'd never had before, throbbing knees, and fighting to catch my breath. Each time I got about 2 miles out of my body, but only with some walking.

I was feeling so depressed. Saturday morning on my long walk home after my failed attempt to run I cried to myself thinking I'd just have to give up because if I couldn't do 4 miles there was no way I'd be able to do 13.1 in a short 6 weeks. I text Marcel when I made it home safe that I couldn't run anymore. He sent back "sad day." He was at a church work party and didn't have time to text, but I needed comforted and that wasn't enough.

I told him that I was so depressed and discouraged because I couldn't remember the last goal I had set for myself. In all honestly, it was probably school-related and I've been done for over 2 years, and here I was telling everyone about this goal and now I was going to fail at it. Talk about embarrassment!

Today around 2:30pm Marcel left our house to head back to church for the Worship Night, which I decided to skip for a few reasons, but mainly because I had already pushed my long run from Saturday to Sunday. I slept from the time he left until 5pm, ate something while icing my knees and then started my 7 mile run. Perfectly for me, that church is exactly 7 miles from our house, so I text Marcel that I thought I'd be there just about the time he was getting done and started on my way.

It was a hard run. I did decide to wear my knee brace which probably helped but both my knees still hurt. It was also hard because once I got past my normal route I didn't know the splits I should be making in my time (which I decided is very motivating for me). But I got to church in 71:13. After my 6 mile run last week, I posted on facebook that I was hoping for 7 miles in 70:00, but I'm very proud of my time. I did even have to stop and tie my shoe (I am going to try to always double knot them from now on) and also adjust my knee brace. I'm telling myself that without those 2 stops it would have been 70:00.

Now I can't wait for the big day on 10/10/10 (if I can figure out how to register for it) which is 6 weeks away from today. That also means my 25th birthday is just 4 weeks away!

What Do We Do Now?

2010-08-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Snoh is no longer with us as of about 9:00 this morning. The day is already weird.

The last few days with him here we did nothing exciting, but the house is different. Lilli is still here crawling her little heart out. Marcel is home until school starts and he can start subbing again. It is simply a strange day at our house.

Hoping for a date night on Saturday, but only time will tell if other things don't come up before then.

Day 31 (August 20)

2010-08-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Our morning started off way too early since we kept Snoh up until after 10pm with haircuts last night. But he enjoyed being able to see Brother and Tom this morning.

We had this conversation:
S: You only have 1 mom.
MB: Yes, you are right.
S: It's because you're already a mom, so you only need 1.
MB: I'm not a mom. I don't have any kids.
S: No, but moms take care of kids and you've been taking care of me.
MB: So, is brother a mom?
S: No, he's a dad. Wait, do you drink coffee?
MB: No, I don't like to drink coffee.
S: But real moms drink coffee.
MB: When can I be a real mom then?
S: Well the doctor has to tell you when your tummy is ready for a baby.

Then I had nothing else to say. The conversations you can have with a 5 year amaze me. He's so smart!

When Snoh talked to Mellissa and his mom this morning he was watching a movie which made it hard for him to want to talk but he did tell them that we're making brownies for them (not my idea, but we definitely will now) and that Wende Lady has a pool for them. He always says "call me when you are done with work" but they both told him that they weren't working today. He seemed confused but little did he know that they were already on their way here, a day earlier than he expected!

Brother got off early from work and we were able to go to Wende Lady's house to feed the cats while they are away camping for the weekend and also get an extra mattress for Coco & Mellissa, which Snoh has been very worried about. We got it home and settled into the small bedroom with Snoh, and then he insisted on putting his olive oil in his hair. I told him I didn't know how and that he'd have to wait for brother's help, but next thing I know, he is showing me that he can do it all alone (PICTURES ARE COMING!) When brother told him to rub it all in, he got "angry"and hid in the bathroom (at least it wasn't locked in, see we are making some progress). When I went to tell him that if he's angry he can choose to sit on his bed but we don't hide in the bathroom, Coco & Mellissa arrived. Should have seen his face when he saw them.

He was more than excited to see them and I'm glad I was cooking dinner, because he was on a whirlwind of energy showing them every possible thing he's done inthe last 31 days! It was overwhelming for me and I've been with him those days. They did notice that he's grown and believe he's lost his baby face since being here. We, of course, don't see it, but I guess that's a sign he's ready for kindergarten!

Day 30 (August 19)

2010-08-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

I need to stop blog everyday about Snoh's visit because we're leading very boring lives lately.

We had another boring day at home. We watched 2 movies, because MaryBeth is over trying to limit TV & computer time when we have nothing here for a 5 year old to do and we both get on each other's nerves when he's running around crazy. Next time, I will plan out some more activities before he gets here, or make him bring more than books & movies to our house.

We went to Wende Lady's house for dinner. I ran there (well, most of the way, but at 5:30 it was still at least 95 degrees and I wasn't hydrated and I went way too fast) so before I got there he told Wende, "Let me tell what we're eating for dinner." And he opened the fridge and looked for something when she said "Tacos from the oven," and of course he said, "I'm still looking."

That was just like our conversation about lunch. He wants to pick out all of his meals but I still do it to make sure he's eating somewhat healthy. He had given me his choices for lunch: lucky charms, oatmeal or PB&J sandwich. So I said, Macaroni & cheese, turkey sandwich or spaghetti. Then he said, "Those were NOT the choices MaryBeth." but they were because he chose mac & cheese.

Hoping to see Wende Lady one more time before he goes back to Washington, but time will tell since her & Don are going camping this weekend.

He told Coco tonight what Brother's exit is. "Mom don't forget brother's exit is 3-3-A. See you in 2 days. Good-bye." He still doesn't know she'll be here tomorrow!

Day 29 (August 18)

2010-08-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

Yet another very lazy day at home. Nothing super exciting to report. Oh, except that I found Marcel's missing phone. I had forgotten it was missing, assuming it had made it to work with him, so I started laundry and once the load made it to the dryer it seemed really loud, like a tennis shoe had been in there. After 10 minutes I couldn't take how loud it was so I stopped it and discovered the back case to his phone. My mom instructed me to leave it in the sun to dry out which I did until Coco told me to put it in rice. It was in rice overnight and the phone looked dried out so we tried to turn it on the next morning and Marcel has a DEAD phone. I'm very glad it was just about 15 months into our married life before washing something not approved for washing & drying. Here's to hoping it is another 15 months!

Snoh is getting very excited for his Mom to come stay the night at Brother's house. At dinner, though, he said "I miss my mom, but I don't want to leave Brother's house because I'll miss brother and you too much." Talk about making me want to cry, which I almost did because we've watched him grow up here and soon he's leaving. When I asked him to go get his pajamas on, a few minutes later it seemed really quiet so I went to check on him. He was just sitting on his bed next to the pajamas he picked out (probably the 1st time they've actually matched!) with a big grin on his face. It was as if I had caught him being naughty. No he just said, "I'm smiling because it is almost the star day" which is how I marked on the calendar when she'd be coming...

Day 28 (August 17)

2010-08-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

Can't believe it has been 4 weeks already?

Today, Snoh was very excited for a blueberry poptart, a flavor I only bought to get another reward code from so that I can cash in our sugary-breakfast habit for a free movie ticket!

I made Snoh take a bath and brush his teeth this morning, and even though we've been doing them frequently (brushing teeth yes, morning baths it depends) he was so upset because "mom says we only do it at bedtime." Nothing like a good bribe of getting to put in a fizzy color into the bathwater to get him to do it!

He & brother played Scene-It again and he seemed to do a lot better than when I tried to play with him, but I was trying to sleep. However, even with Marcel's whole-hearted attempts to entertain baby & Snoh I just didn't get in a good nap. Then the kids both took quiet time and I couldn't sleep. Oh well!

We went to Target and got a steal of a deal on some pillows, which we've needed since, oh, probably before we moved here! We even used on of the carts designed for kids to want them but not the parents. I should have taken a picture, because Snoh & Lilli riding next to each other pretty much summed up their time together: they just can't get enough! Then we headed to Taco Bell to get FREE lime-ade sparklers (I think that is what they are called). I recommend the cherry flavor :) Snoh was very concerned that his Taco Bell wouldn't have the new drink, just like how worried he is that his McDonald's won't have the banana strawberry slurpees, which they won't because they have Strawberry Bananan Smoothies.

Snoh LOVED his chicken green bean casserole & salad for dinner. Again, no mention of ketchup! Success for Marcel, who ended up cooking because I did the dishes we got so far behind on. We then played Lighning McQueen War & Crazy Eights. Snoh won the game of war and the first game of Crazy 8's, and MaryBeth won the next game....

Day 27 (August 16)

2010-08-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

Not much to report here.

Marcel wasn't feeling good all day so he spent the day on the couch watching movies, well technically the special features
MaryBeth & Lilli went grocery shopping
Snoh played on the computer
MaryBeth had from 5:15-6:15pm to take a nap before working 8pm-2am at Famous Footwear, but woke up at 5:55 to Snoh playing brother's drums and was unable to go back to sleep
Snoh & brother played Disney Scene It, which is far too hard for Snoh because all the movies are too old for him. They also played Lightning McQueen Crazy Eights & Go Fish.

Day 26 (August 15)

2010-08-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

A great morning at church--Marcel and I were able to FINALLY go together, a first since June 13th. It was wonderful. Snoh, again, had a blast.

After church we headed to my dad's house, which is full of company. Cindy's dad and both of my dad's parents are here visiting, helping with the girls since Cindy is back to teaching and my dad is swamped at work with back to school shopping.

Snoh had a blast chasing Payton & Presley around, well, actually it was more like them chasing him around and doing whatever he wanted them to be doing. We did send the 3 of them to the neighborhood park and he had a blast. He even came home and told us that a girl kissed him (it was one of Payton's friends) and that it made him "almost happy!"

We stayed there until 10:30pm so by the time we got home Snoh was up until about 11pm. Totally worth him having a GREAT time with new friends!

Day 25 (August 14)

2010-08-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed french toast and omelets for breakfast. It was just what I needed after my run this morning. We also enjoyed some nice time at home before heading to Wende Lady's house for swimming. We hadn't been there in a long time!

After swimming, Snoh made brownies for us. They were really good, and not what I needed after running today! We had delicous spaghetti, green beans and garlic bread for dinner.

All day long, Snoh asked to play Family Game Night 2 on the Wii before bed, which is what we've been doing the last few nights but with Wii Sports. Little did we know we'd be at Wende's house until 9pm and still end up playing the game. Hope church isn't too early in the morning :)

50:52

2010-08-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

I realize this post will probably get lost into my blog with the next few days of posting about Snoh's visit, but I need to write it anyway for myself.

This last week my half-marathon training had fallen off the deep-end. I missed my long run on Saturday last week and then didn't run again until Thursday night. I've modified this next's week schedule to catch myself back to where I should be to run 13.1 miles on 10/10/10. And that meant today I had to run 5 miles!

I did it in 50:52!

I got home and updated my facebook status to read this: "‎5 miles in 50:52! Pretty darn proud of that time, especially since that's the farthest I've ever ran in my entire life and that I didn't walk a single step. Although parts of it were hard I never thought about walking, that is what I'm most proud of! 10/10/10 is right around the corner and I'll be ready!!!"

I am super stoked about my time, especially since when I checked it just about every .5 mile, it seemed like I was a lot slower than 5 minute 1/2 miles, but I'm much more proud about not wanting to walk! I could have gone farther too, my body definitely still had gas left, which I never feel like when I run in the morning.

I don't care on 10/10/10 if it takes me 3 hours to finish that 13.1 miles, I will not walk a step! Back to hard-core running for MaryBeth. Now if I could just stop wanting sweets, so I could be losing a little bit of weight :)

Day 24 (August 13)

2010-08-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

Just to note, for future reference, that today is Friday the 13th!

Snoh got lots of computer time this morning, WAY more than I ever give him but brother was in charge and it kept him behaving :) After lunch we went on a field trip to the Discovery Center. We had to drive right past the paddle boats he saw while we were at the zoo and he was VERY disappointed that that was not our field trip. After he got into Discovery Center, though, he had a blast! Today was free admission day (thank you Fred Meyer for a donation so they can have 16 free Friday's) so it waws CROWDED. Way too crowded for me to enjoy. There were little kids running around like crazy! Marcel let out his inner-nerd and saw just about every little thing there was to see, while I mainly made sure Snoh was touching what was allowed to be touched and not touching things that weren't supposed to be touched, oh and I was pushing Lilli around also. I should note that I'm not a good driver: I didn't push racks of clothes well at Banana, and I can't make a stroller go where I want it to. I'm getting better, but I still have lots of improvement to make!

Snoh then had playtime with his toys in his room while we were making dinner: steak, baked potato, and more corn on the cob. And now another night of playing Wii Sports before bed. Have to admit, that I got beat down in Boxing by the 5 year old!

**Again, there are pictures from the Discovery Center but they'll be added later

Day 23 (August 12)

2010-08-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yet another day spent at home and now I'm short on time.

Today, we

Made cupcakes and Snoh did all of it: pouring in all the ingredients, even the eggs (I only had to go shell diving once!), beating it, filling the pan with the cupcake liners, and filling them. I only have 1 muffin pan so the cook time made him lose some interest in it, but he still managed to fill them all again. He has yet to frost any, but I did most of the frosting for us already. They turned out so good. Good thing for a great sale at Albertson's; I think I'll be headed back for more cake mixes!
Watched Monster's Inc which put Brother to sleep
Were happy that Lilli finally took a decent nap. 1 hour is huge for her! Now to work on the timing because her sleeping during our lunch meant both kids weren't at quiet time together
Ate dinner on the patio tonight, which the weather was perfect for!
The boys played a few games on Wii Sports, while MaryBeth went running for the first time in far too long. 10/10/10 isn't that far away, I gotta get my serious face back on if I'm going to be running 13.1 miles that day without dying!

Pictures of cupcake making to come!

Day 22 (August 11)

2010-08-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

Not much excitement here today...

Brother mowed the grass this morning and Snoh had fun for a few minutes following behind him. He was rather upset when brother sent him inside because it had started to rain. He chose to have Trix for breakfast even though we were out of milk.

After MaryBeth and Lilli had lunch they left for a girls-only shopping adventure. Sounds fun, huh? Well, it actually was so nice to get out alone (yes, I did bring Lilli, but since she's strapped in the seat and can't go anywhere it is a lot different than having Snoh with us!). We went to Albertson's, Target, and Walmart. Marcel laughed at me when I was bringing bags in and told him not to look in the Target bag because I started Christmas shopping for him. I didn't mean to, but when you find something you just have to get it. Plus the price was just right, which makes a gift even better on our budget!

I returned to the boys playing Wii and found out that Snoh was trying to have both Spaghettios and Lasagne for lunch and when he was told that wasn't an option he was unhappy. Brother made a compromise and said pick one to start with and when you finish that you can have some of the 2nd kind, so he enjoyed Spaghettios first and still had room for lasagne.

Dinner was homemade hamburger patties, french fries and corn on the cob, which has become Snoh's favorite here. He wouldn't even let us start dinner until we said a prayer, holding hands of course. He prayed for the food, our family and "that my mom will still come on the star day, maybe even the heart day". (On the calendar we're looking at to see when mom is coming I put a star on Friday the 20th, but now it has changed to her coming on the 21st, so I made the first star into a heart and made a new star. I told him that MaryBeth messed up and put a star on the wrong day, but he is still convinced Mom might surprise him and come on the heart day) I nearly put ketchup on my corn on the cob which disgusted me, but that's how he eats his corn and if he's eating it, he's eating it!

Snoh loved church again tonight and was very excited to show us his picture, teach me the new song he learned and tell me that like on Sunday he made new friends. Today we were looking at the pictures I finally uploaded to facebook and he saw that I had taken a picture of his ladybug drawing from Sunday School. He said, "I did that in my 5 year old class." And I told him, yes at Sunday School. He out-smarted me and said, "It's called Sunday and Wednesday school." How could I argue with that?

Day 21 (August 10)

2010-08-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has already been 3 weeks! To think about it it has been both a fast and slow 3 weeks, but either way we are still enjoying having him here and will miss him dearly when he goes home.

Today was Family Day at Zoo Boise, thanks to KTSY, the local Christian station. Admission was reduced, not sure by how much but it made it seem to be in our budget! Snoh loved using some of his own money so that he could go see lots of different animals. I think a zoo is a zoo so there isn't much to write until I add photos and put in the captions, but I was very disappointed not to see an elephant. Snoh made no mention of seeing an elephant so at least he wasn't disappointed. We visited the gift shop and Snoh bought a lion on a stick that has a handle to let you open and close his mouth (picture: a "grabber" to get things off high shelves) and a small drinking cup with a crocodile tail that serves as the handle with his own money. He told the lady at the cash register that his favorite animals were the lions (who were asleep), the tigers (who were also asleep) and the snakes. Thankfully for me, Marcel had been to the zoo this summer with work and was able to warn me about cages with snakes in them. I did, however, watch while Snoh touched a snake that a zoo volunteer had around her wrist. He thought it was cool and as we began to move away from the touchable snake Lilli starting being fussy, so Marcel tried to let her touch it, she didn't think it was cool and pulled her hand away before she could touch it. Smart Girl! Snoh didn't understand why I didn't touch the snake!

Him and brother then watched special features of Transformers 2 while I cleaned up from our day and started getting dinner ready. After dinner, they watched the movie, while I layed in bed and fell asleep around 8pm!

MaryBeth's favorite at an elephant-less zoo

Snoh had just taken his turn petting the bobcat fur. It was so soft

Wallaby Walkthrough
walk freely with the wallaby, all 6 of them actually

Pointing out the zebra

The Zebra!

The penguins
Plus I have about 10 pictures of the water in their tank from Snoh trying to take a picture of it as it swam by

Lunchtime and getting very comfortable!
She had both legs propped up just seconds before this picture

An oatmeal cookie and some pretzels.
Who knew the zoo was so family friendly they allow you to bring in outside food?

The coolest turtle in the zoo!

Getting food to feed the goats
We also tried to pet the sheep but as soon as he tried to touch them they pulled their heads back through the fence, as if to say "no food, no touching"

By this "chair" was one just like it that was the actual size of the male tiger in the exhibit. Snoh wanted to climb on it but the sign we read him clearly said no. He said "but there was a big kid that did" and he was right I saw that kid breaking the rule. Here he is enjoying following the rules!

Seals

He loves Snakes

Lilli loved getting a ride this way compared to being in her stroller, which she actually doesn't mind. She did great spotting all the animals in the cages, but I love this picture because it shows so clearly what our 3 weeks have been like. If Snoh is around her, she has to be watching everything he is doing!

"Brother, after Lilli is back in her stroller, can I have a turn?"

$1 of his hard earned money!

Day 20 (August 9)

2010-08-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

Snoh was very excited to see that Lilli's mom Jen brought us some of her kid movies to borrow. He also is very excited that his brain remembers her name and Tom's name. He even says it like that, "my brain knew her name!"

We enjoyed Bolt this morning and as soon as he turned it off he was ready for another movie. He also immediately asked what day we get to go to church again. I'm so happy to see him enjoying it!

Marcel only worked until about 11am but was super productive and went and got signed up for subbing to start in August so when he got home around 12pm, Snoh was super energetic and I had a free pair of underwear at Victoria's Secret calling my name. Smart brother Marcel decided we'd all head to the mall and then to Settler's Park.

This is an awesome park. It was recommended to me by a friend (thanks Teri!). We didn't tell Snoh about the water fountains so when we were on our way to the bathroom to change him into his swimming suit he said, "we should have brought my swimming suit." He was so excited when we had it for him. He enjoyed the water, making music, climbing very big rocks, a HUGE playground, swings, and some more water fountains before it was time to come home. We had more time to play but the water had gotten turned off for a few minutes, and Lilli decided to be her own fountain through her swim diaper and soak MaryBeth. Not a pretty sight :)

Came home to send brother to the store to make an exchange and buy a vacuum part. Little did Snoh know that the first store wouldn't have the part and they'd have to go to an actual vacuum repair store. They were gone for a long time! Lasagne for dinner, which is the first thing Snoh told me was his favorite, thanks to Wende Lady!

After dinner Marcel decided we needed to finally rearrange our bedroom. We assigned Snoh the job of moving all our pillows and our blanket to the living room and folding the blanket super good. He did do great until he pulled it down the hall to show us! But we moved it back to the living room and set him up with Over the Hedge (thanks Jen!) while we finished. He even loved having our blanket as his pillow!

Having so much fun! At this point Lilli and I were in sight and Lilli found this very amusing

The side MaryBeth told Snoh to go down.
It worked, but would have worked better if Snoh or brother was taller

It is just a little too small for brother

Just her size

Her hat was in her eyes too much on my lap.
This is probably about the time where I magically had a huge wet spot on my shirt :)
Oh and she had fallen asleep on the swing with me but woke up as soon as I stopped

I've had so much fun!

And just because she is so stinkin' cute!
After the park, Lilli and I were sharing grapes, but I just absolutely love how she crosses her legs when she's sitting

Movie time
(don't mind the laundry all over the love seat and the messy couch)

Day 19 (August 8)

2010-08-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Snoh got out of bed, found me in the bathroom and asked, "Where is brother?" to which I told him that brother was already at church. He got very sad and said, "but today we get to try to get a slurpee again." Oh he remembered!

As we were putting on lotion this morning, Snoh was looking at all our movies. This is how our conversation went after that:

Snoh: Why don't you have any kid movies?
MB: Because me and brother are grown-ups.
Snoh: But grown-ups have kids of their own. You should have a baby.
MB: Why should we have a baby?
Snoh: Because you and brother love each other!

I guess if the 5 year thinks we should...just kidding, we're still NOT on the baby train yet!

Church went so good today for him. He was greeted at the door by 2 teachers who were VERY happy to see him. When I got there to pick him up he was sitting with all the other kids waiting for his turn to get picked up and the teacher told me how wonderful he is and how much they enjoy having him in class. He also spent the ENTIRE day singing the songs he learned at Sunday School: Our God is an Awesome God & Everlasting God. He only sung about 1, maybe 2, lines from each but it still warmed my heart to see how much he is getting out of Sunday School in just a short time! Also, he has always come out of Sunday School saying the kids didn't want to be his friend or he couldn't remember who he played with, but as soon as I picked him up he said, "my friend's name was Andrew." He told me that he didn't play with any other kids (boys or girls) because Andrew was "just too friendly" and that they got to play toy cars on a carpet that looked like a road!

We enjoyed a little bit of computer games and then watched Flushed Away, mainly because MaryBeth needed an excuse to lay on the couch! After Brother got home from getting a flat tire fixed, we headed to McDonald's for our smoothies. I'm very glad I decided to stick to what I like and not try the Wild Berry kind, because I had a sip of Marcel's and it was not good.

Brother and Snoh read a few books before Marcel went back to church for a special Sunday night service. Snoh played more in the backyard with his squirt guns. We made pancakes and scrambled eggs together which required a major clean-up but it was worth it, especially since we had gotten so far behind on the cleaning! He also said our prayer. The first night he said "thank you for the food" because we told him we tell Jesus thank you for providing us food. Last night his prayer had a few sentences! It went like this, "Thank you Jesus for our food. Thank you for toys to play with and for being healthy. We pray MaryBeth's friends come back to play. Amen."

I asked who MaryBeth's friends were, and here again is our conversation
Snoh: They are Hannah+Matt (which is said like one long name) and Emily.
MB: Those are my sisters.
Snoh: But they are your friends too. Brother is my brother but we're friends.
MB: You are right they are my friends.
Snoh: When are they coming back?
MB: You might get to see Emily when your mom is here, but Hannah lives very far away.
Snoh: Well, what is her exit? We can find it.

I then told him that if we leave for Hannah's house on Monday we won't get there until Tuesday, and it didn't seem to sink in how long of a car ride that is even though he wasn't a big fan of our 7 hour drive to Idaho!

Snoh told me "the teacher didn't even have to tell me what color to color my ladybug."

Storytime with Brother
I should have waited for 1 minute to take the picture because Marcel only read the first page

Trying to catch up on some much needed cleaning

"Hi Mom, I made this new picture. I'm glad I got to wash brother's car yesterday. I'm so so happy and so so excited to dream about being in the sky. The end."
Snoh just looked at all the new pictures with me and wanted to tell me what to type, hence above. He took this picture by himself and I didn't even have to rotate it for it to face the right way!

Day 18 (August 7)

2010-08-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

After breakfast, we all enjoyed Alvin & the Chipmunks again and he was very excited to show us his dance moves through the entire movie! We then made good on our promise to join him in running through the sprinklers. I'd say he had fun but he still wasn't the most excited about actually getting wet from the sprinklers. We did finally get out the water guns Wende Lady bought for us so long ago (in June!) and had fun getting each other. I didn't like it when Snoh and Marcel were on 1 team. They were too good!

We enjoyed more water time and washed our car in the driveway after that. Snoh said he'd never done it before. We're enjoying having him do so many things for the 1st time at our house. I think that brother had a hard time letting it me a kid-washing at first, because he is such a perfectionist about washing the car but in the end it worked out (and turned out!) really well.

Then we had a trip to Famous Footwear and McDonald's planned. Snoh was very upset that we went to FF first and was upset about having to get shoes for kindergarten because he just wanted a banana strawberry slurpee. We told him if he was good picking out shoes we'd still be able to go to McD's. Well, after him not being good and refusing to put his own shoes back on after many nice requests, Marcel told him No McD's and took him out of the store.

Afterwards, Marcel told me I shouldn't have even paid for the shoes and we'd try again tomorrow, but the managers were expecting me today because I was using my employee number for FF (yes, I have an employee # because I'm technically working for my dad for the back to school season they just haven't gotten busy enough yet) without having my discount card. Snoh cried through getting gas at Costco, the whole ride home and then still after getting home. Most of what he was trying to say, I couldn't follow, but once we got home he asked if the policeman was going to come get him because he had been a bad boy. So sad. He asked for his slurpee a few more times but then he and Marcel went on a trash run to Wende Lady's house and that seemed to make him happy!

We're trying again tomorrow for our slurpees!

He loved the hose and getting to spray the car!

Day 17 (August 6)

2010-08-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

After getting myself, Lilli and Snoh ready we headed on a few errands mainly because Lilli was refusing to nap and she always falls asleep in the car and because the last 2 days of staying at home all day weren't our greatest days.

We started off at Fred Meyer, getting 6 boxes of Band-Aids (Snoh picked out Lightning McQueen & Scooby Doo ones) for just $0.30. My coupons were worth more than the band-aids so I only had to pay part of the tax. SCORE!! Then we went to the Karcher Mall and would have loved to walk around more but I forgot the baby stroller, but we did stop by the pet store. Snoh was very excited to see a guinea pig, just like in G-Force. We also saw kittens and puppies, a rabbit, rats, frogs and lots of fish. The tanks were labeled things like community, semi-aggressive, aggresive and of course he needed an explanation of them each time he recognized the word from the last tank. So I explained many times that the aggressive ones are the mean ones; seems that was just about all they had. We also stopped by Bath & Body Works for a free 2 oz bottle of their new scent: Dark Kiss. Snoh did everything there. He had even helped me print the coupon this morning, get it to my purse safely, carry it through the whole mall, and then hand it to the cashier at BBW. He thought it was so nice that they gave it to us and we didn't have to give them any money :) Then to Albertson's for some cheese & trail mix. Random, yes, but it is what is a GREAT deal this week and that's how I shop now. The trail mix will be awesome for Marcel's lunches once he's back to subbing and has to pack a lunch everyday. Because Snoh was good during all of our stops, he got to pick a movie from the Redbox and he picked Alvin & the Chipmunks 2. He watched it during rest time and did a WONDERFUL job at staying on the couch watching it quietly. Now we want to watch it again in the morning with brother to teach him all the songs.

After rest time, we walked around the subdivision to a nearby yard-sale. It was probably one of the weakest yard-sales I've ever seen but Snoh found a Diego lunchbox to take to kindergarten for just 50 cents. He even asked the lady how much it cost and then gave her one of his dollars and waited for his 2 quarters.

We also ran in the sprinklers in the backyard. When Lilli and I were out there with him he was too shy and ran in any direction he could to avoid getting wet. However, Lilli and I came inside for her to take a nap and when I went to check on him he was standing directly in front of the sprinkler getting very wet. He wants Brother and I to join him tomorrow.

Dinner was a success! He didn't ask to put ketchup on anything :) I made Velvetta Chicken Pasta and like every night, he got sad at me about dinner because he promised he didn't like it, but after he took one bite he ate the whole bowl before he ate his salad (which he even asked me to put green peppers on) or his banana. I was so excited that he ate something the same way the rest of us did! When Brother got home the play wrestled and Snoh hit his head on the corner of our bed frame. He cried, wanted a hug and then said all he needed was a Scooby Doo band-aid! Then the 3 of us all played Wii Bowling, Marcel almost lost to Snoh which made him very sad.

We're excited for the weekend to have brother home with us for a few days!

Standing directly in front of the sprinkler

Getting ready for Wii bowling, sporting Scooby Doo on his face

Day 16 (August 5)

2010-08-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Another calm day spent entirely at home...

It did start off with some excitement though. I decided to put Snoh in the bath this morning, since I'm home anyway and we always fight to have him in bed by 8:30pm. I told him he needed to play until I came to help him get soap to wash his body. Meanwhile I was feeding Lilli. Probably 2 minutes later, he came out to the dining room wrapped in his towel, saying that I let his bath water get too cold and asking for spaghettios for breakfast. When I told him no, he lowered his head, told me he's sad and left. I assumed he went to his room like he always does when he has a feeling (he goes there when he's angry, upset, mad, sad...) but as Marcel was leaving for work and I was trying to throw away Lilli's diaper, I discovered that we had been completely locked out. Snoh was not in there, but he had locked both doors to the bathroom and then closed the doors. Marcel tried to fix it but didn't have time because of work. I tried and was unsuccessful. He told me, "I locked the doors because you were mean." Was it about the spaghettios or the cold water that he chose? Who knows but we spent the entire day with just 1 bathroom. Later in the afternoon, he told me that he does it to mom too and they just call a guy that comes with a key to fix it so I just needed to call the guy.

There was a lot of door slamming today as well when he'd run to his room with a feeling and no matter what I did he continued to slam doors. Brother wasn't very excited about today's report and had a GREAT talk with him about being nice to people and treating their things nicely, etc. It about made me cry listening in on their conversation. Marcel is going to be a GREAT dad one day!

Nothing much more exciting at our house today, except to say that he did get Spaghettios for lunch! Oh, and tonight was leftovers for dinner because I got 10 strikes (we get strikes for kissing when it isn't allowed, and it turns out it isn't allowed to kiss him when Lilli is at our house) and he told me I didn't have to cook dinner! How kind :) He was so upset when the leftover spaghettios wasn't one of his choices for dinner! At least he chose 2 types of fruit and a yogurt to go with his chicken nuggets.

Day 15 (August 4)

2010-08-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

Today was a weird day. MaryBeth turned off her alarm in her sleep so got woken up by Lilli's dad calling me from my front porch. I learned that I NEED MaryBeth time in the morning to be able to deal with anything!

Highlights

Snoh and Lilli having quiet time at the SAME time!
Enjoyed Cars
Made brother a surprise: he cut out things he liked from some newspaper ads
Enchiladas and homemade spanish rice that he ate like me...if I had a bite of spanish rice on my chip, he did too. If it was a bite of enchilada for me, it was for him too
Wednesday church to make up for not going on Sunday

another picture of the 3 of us per Snoh's request

Last night, Snoh asked if he could have one of these like me. I told him he was too little, but then he said, "But Maya has one." Maya had been in my profile picture from a family reunion picture. So I had to change my profile picture to one that had him in it

I wanted to take this picture without being noticed, but was unsuccessful. I just wish that I could lay comfortably when my legs bent like that!

Day 14 (August 3rd)

2010-08-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

I have to start by saying that I have absolutely no idea where the summer has gone. I can't believe it is August already!

Today, was fairly laid back while we were at home. He chose to have left-over alfredo for lunch, as long as he could still put ketchup on it. Lunch was after a super long shopping trip to Albertson's & Walmart. Double coupons always get me into Albertson's and Walmart is where I do my grocery shopping for items I don't have coupons for. Snoh (and Lilli) did so great through both stores, so after we were done with Walmart we crossed over to the non-food side to find some tablets to put into bath water to change it colors. When we FINALLY found them (I don't know where anything is in that store), he said, "I'll just get one. Wait, how about 2?" And because I had printed 3 coupons to get them for FREE, he got 3 packages! I may have to print some more of the coupons and stash them away for a Christmas gift :) Yes I just said I can't believe it is already August, but I'm already starting to think about Christmas. I wish I would have started earlier, but I'll get there! Yesterday, Snoh told me one of his favorite dinners is pizza that you get from the pizza man. I told him that brother and MaryBeth didn't have extra money for the pizza man, but that we could go to the store and buy stuff to make our very own pizza! He was so excited to help me chose what to buy at Walmart for them. He chose pepperoni and pineapple on english muffins. He had a blast making them and has already been asking me if his Walmart will have the right stuff so he can make them at his house. We enjoyed a night of swimming at Wende Lady's house, which we hadn't done in a few days. Snoh was able to dive down to pick up a toy that was past the stairs, which he hadn't done yet. He was so proud of himself. After swimming, MaryBeth ran back to their house. On the run, Snoh & Marcel caught up to me and sang me brother's favorite song (I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas), which would be more accurate to say it is Snoh's favorite song but he always insists that it is brother's. A bath in orange water and off to bed with brother!

Working so hard making our dinner

Since only 3 pepperoni fit on each crust, he would only put 3 pineapple per pizza

This is how I found them after I was done getting ready for swimming. It doesn't look like it but Snoh was really stuck there and fighting with everything he had to get out.

Days 12 & 13 (August 1-2)

2010-08-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 1st

I had planned for us to go to 2nd service at church because last week waking Snoh up to be on time for 1st service was no fun. However, he woke up with plenty of time and instantly asked "is it Sunday so I can go see my friends at church?" I was so happy he was excited to go this week. We get ready, head out the door, get to the car to notice that we don't have a carseat. Marcel has it with him at church. I had to majorly disappoint him and say we'd have to go to church next Sunday to see our friends. We enjoyed Free Willy (I had forgotten how good of a movie that is) and lunch waiting for Marcel to get home. Marcel then took us to Steve's house while he floated the Boise River with work. Snoh was very excited to jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler, but it didn't last long. He noticed Cindy had a separate hose near her and so off the trampoline he went to start watering the grass. Soon, he was also watering the plants, the fence, and MaryBeth! He thoroughly enjoyed putting his thumb over the end of the hose to make it spray everywhere because that made me have no choice to get wet. Next we tried a slip & slide, which he didn't like. He couldn't grasp the concept of running and jumping onto his belly. It was more like: run as fast as he could, get to the edge of the slip & slide, stop, and then fall onto his belly. Needless to say, he quit that activity and was right back to gardening, even getting to feed the plants. He also made cookies, even getting to frost and sprinkle them. He beat MaryBeth at Memory, Trouble & Candy Land. After dinner, which of course required ketchup, he played Super Mario Galaxy until he let MaryBeth have a turn.

at least this plant was big and strong enough to withstand his watering.
It is the poor little ones I think he might have done in!

Monday, August 2nd
We had a pretty calm morning of Snoh being perfectly content just playing with his toys in his room. After lunch, we all headed out to Rite-Aid for some coupon shopping. Lilli slept and Snoh was a great helper until he found his mouthwash except that now the logo has a magnifying glass which made him "need" it. Telling him no, resulted in him sitting down in the aisle saying, "MaryBeth, you're making that choice" and being sad at me. When I told him that Lilli and I were going to pay so we could go home, he instantly got up and helped push the cart towards the registers. We went to McDonald's and each got a Strawberry Banana smoothie with a free coupon I had. He loved his "special drink". We also used my free redbox code for it being the first Monday of the month and rented G-Force. The first redbox only had 3 movies under the genre "Kids" and so he picked G-Force, but when the machine didn't read my card and we had to go to a new redbox (now I appreciate them being directly across the street from each other) there was a HUGE selection of kid movies and I was hoping to have him pick Alvin & the Chipmunks because he sings the songs all day long and I've never seen it but he was already sold on G-Force. He watched it during quiet time. At dinner, we made him try a bite of his fettucini alfredo before putting ketchup on it since he said he'd never had it before. He said it tasted good but still wanted ketchup, so ketchup he got! A little bit of time at Wende Lady's house and then it was time for bed!

He calls it Banana Strawberry Slurpee. Either way he enjoyed it and he's looking forward to taking brother with us next time to use my last 3 free coupons. We both decided we're going to try the other kind

Days 10 & 11 (July 30, 31)

2010-08-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 30
We went to the park for lunch for the first time this week. Unlike all the other kids, Snoh enjoyed the lunch: a "soup" with noodles, ham and pineapple. He also shared his apple and grape juice with Lilli. Wende Lady, Hannah, and Matt met us there and then we were off to the fair. Snoh liked seeing all the animals, but was much more excited for the rides. He was the only one who rode any rides, but that didn't bug him one bit. We headed to Wende Lady's house for dinner and Snoh LOVED making his very own steak kabob until it came time to eat it, because "I don't like barbecued chicken." Also I made him eat the pepper he chose to put on, he didn't like that either. Once there was ketchup on his plate he ate everything! We swam one last time with Hannah & Matt and had a good time playing tag. Then we went home and played a few rounds of Apples to Apples with Snoh before he watched a movie in the other room. The grown-ups played a few more games before it was time for bed.

There are a few pictures of him and the animals but I think he looks the happiest here

I love this picture

The 10 minute swing ride. The attendant had a 1/2 full ride and kept them all waiting until he got every seat filled. Snoh entertained himself by swinging his seat and then pushing off the guy in front of him until we finally got his attention to tell him to stop

I was amazed by all the "big-kid" rides he went one

Saturday, July 31
We had a very low-key day. I don't think Snoh even left the house. I had a lot of catching up to do on coupon clipping, cleaning, budgeting, etc. Marcel was awesome to help dust the whole living room with more detail than I've probably ever given to it combined! He then decided to rearrange our living room which I already like and he had Snoh vacuuming the carpet everytime furniture got moved. The boys enjoyed Garfield: The Movie while I cleaned the bathrooms and then after dinner (BBQ Chicken Legs, to which Snoh again said, "I don't like barbecued chicken") we all enjoyed Buzby before bedtime.

Vacuuming down the hall to help brother

Days 7, 8, 9 (July 27, 28, 29)

2010-07-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

Tuesday (July 27th)

Today was Emily's last day here because she had to go back home for work. We went swimming with Lilli and had a great time. A calm afternoon at Wende Lady's house followed by dinner and our baseball game, during which Snoh entertained himself yet again by being the photographer.

Don't know if Lilli looks happy here, but she LOVES the water

Suntanning like Emily

Just had to add this one, because I have many pictures like this. Either upside down or sideways

Sisters playing ball together. May have been the first time, since we're 4 years apart.

**After getting my new phone and trying to erase all information from my old phone I found a text message I sent to my mom about Snoh from July 27th. This is what it said, "Quote of the day: I don't know if I can beat this guy. He looks tough. He's brown like me!" Also on this day, Snoh got dressed entirely on his own and asked me if his socks were on the right feet. A child after my own heart!

Wednesday (July 28th)

Today we all headed to Steve's house (my dad). Snoh got to play Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii and jump on the trampoline before we went to lunch, where he of course ordered a cheeseburger with ketchup only. When we got back to Steve's he rode on a scooter and even took a few crashes, one of which caused a bleeding scratch on his knee. Each time, though, he did get right back up and straight back to the scooter. Even though he told me that he didn't like sidewalk chalk, he drew Hannah and Matt with it. He even took a few basketball shots before it was time to get home to meet Lilli's mom. Then we went to Wende Lady's house for dinner and yet another baseball game!

Enjoying a quiet morning at home

Hannah drawn by Snoh

Matt drawn by Snoh, notice his white baseball hat

Enjoying a scooter ride

Thursday (July 29)
The morning started with Marcel and Snoh getting haircuts. Marcel combed out Snoh's hair while I cut his. We gave Snoh the choice of who was going to cut it and thankfully for me, he chose Marcel. He did pretty good while the guard was on the clippers, but once it wasn't things turned south. He couldn't sit still, he cried like I've never seen him cry and kept saying "you're hurting me, you're hurting me." It did eventually get finished and then after much convincing he got into the shower with Marcel to get the hair off so he didn't itch. We all went into Boise and had lunch at Panda Express, because Hannah and Matt don't have it in Kansas. Snoh's fortune was about not taking shortcuts in life and he loved it because he talks about shortcuts everytime we're in the car. But once we got in the car to leave and he asked Hannah if she was taking a shortcut to the store and she said yes he would say, "but my page said no shortcuts." So after that we took a "long way shortcut" because that didn't break the fortune! We went to Hobby Lobby and got decorations for Hannah and Matt's wedding (August 5, 2011), which was very fun. Then we went to Other Mothers & Kidz Again and Wende Lady bought Snoh some more "clothes for kindergarten" even though most of them will probably get worn while he's still here. Just Snoh and I went to our baseball game and he did great staying in his seat in the dugout the whole game. The game didn't go very well for us but we still ended up in 3rd place and Snoh got to stay up super late as we went to Red Robin with some of our team afterwards. We got some ice cream for his reward for letting Marcel cut his hair.

Look Mom. I got my hair cut!

Days 4, 5 & 6 (July 24, 25, 26)

2010-07-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday

It was a VERY busy day. We started the morning with breakfast at Wende Lady's house so we'd have energy to spend the day at the waterpark. The waterpark was a big hit. I had been a bit nervous because at the one in Washington, he seemed very fearful of big rides. That was not evident here. He went on everything he was tall enough for. He didn't want to leave even though we got to go to the "radio" afterwards (he was talking about the rodeo). As we were heading to the car he said, "I don't want to leave, you told me that we were staying here all day and they aren't closing yet." He really enjoyed his first rodeo except that we got there an hour early to get decent seats in general admission so there weren't any cowboys yet which we had told him he'd see. We also told him there would be a rodeo clown but he didn't show up until right before bull-riding at the end, so he asked over and over when he was coming. He enjoyed being the photographer and even took a picture of himself! Cotton candy and nachos kept him well behaved.

The black face and a white body provided us a chuckle

The same ride that he got to the top of last year to be told he was too short.

Fun at the rodeo
Nothing like good old cotton candy

Snoh may have a future in photography

a wonderful self-portrait

Snoh waited for the clown the entire time

This was how I found him when I got out of bed Saturday morning. I have since seen crazier positions, but I still like this picture

Sunday

Snoh was very upset about having to go to church, but as soon as he got there he practically ran into his classroom and was then very excited about telling me what he learned: God made the fish and the birds on the 5th day. He's excited to go back next Sunday to learn about the 6th day! Lunch at Wende Lady's was entertaining for the rest of us as Snoh requested ketchup to be put on his corn on the cob. We then went to the pool and was finally able to use his new snorkel set. Hannah and Matt were even able to throw him into the water, which he loved. Then he stayed at home with brother so that all the girls could go with Matt and Hannah for their engagement pictures.

Brothers enjoying awesone snorkel sets from Wende Lady

Snoh had already gotten me down at this point and as you can tell, Emily wasn't far behind

Oreo

Monday

Wende Lady picked us up at 9:45am to meet Hannah, Emily and Katey (Hannah's 3rd bridesmaid) for wedding dress shopping. We went to one store to find it closed. We went to another store to find a rude associate. We went to another store and found THE dress. She looked stunning and is going to make a very gorgeous bride, which we knew before buying the dress. When I told Snoh what we were doing (getting Hannah a princess dress) he said, "Wait, I have a super duper idea. We need to get a dress for Matt too. Not just Hannah." I told him that the boys wear tuxedos and he said, "He doesn't need a princess dress, just a boy dress!" So adorable :) He did great through all of that and then we even made it to the mall for bridesmaid dress shopping. At the 2nd store, we lucked out! 3 dresses in the right sizes and only $35 each. Perfect!!! Wedding is not until August 5, 2011, but now the planning is in full swing. He also got the bonus again today on Wende Lady's money game. He also spent a lot of time playing boxing on the Wii and winning everytime.

NOT the bridesmaid dress, but we liked these too, but they were more than $100 more than the dresses we ended up with

After getting the bonus again

Boxing

Day 3 (July 23)

2010-07-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

We have had yet another busy day. He started this morning by writing a letter to his mom and it is already in the mailbox with the red flag up. We made it to the lunch for park and Snoh was pleased with his pizza pocket, peaches that he chose to share with Lilli, and apple cherry juice. Today there was even a lot of kids that he played with. He was very proud of himself for always following the rules even when his friends were pushing, climbing where it wasn't safe and eating their food on the toys (my rule is that we have to eat all our lunch on the grass!) We played in the backyard for a few minutes but he was more interested in Lilli's book about sign language. Hours later he is still telling us all of the signs he learned.

His letter to mom--he's working on making his letters the right size with dotted paper. He did great doing it until we got to an "A" and an "E" because he knows how to do the big versions, but we needed little ones and he just wasn't having it! Don't mind his dirty mouth, we wrote our letter right after breakfast :)

"Hi Mom I'm having fun. I'm excited for clothes to wear to kingergarten. I eat lunch at the park. I can not wait for you to come to brothers house. Love Snoh"
He also demanded that the to in the last sentence was wrong. He wanted to write it like this: 2

Today was the first day Lilli didn't entirely sleep through lunch so she even got to eat some of her baby food.

While playing in the backyard, we found a worm. It can barely be seen in the picture. At first he was very afraid of it and even hid behind me so it couldn't get him but after a minute he was so excited to be touching it and loved watching it move in different directions when he touched the different ends.

We went shopping with Wende Lady to get Snoh a new snorkel that fits and ended up with some great clearance finds on "clothes for kindergarten". At Wende Lady's house before another baseball game, Snoh found his favorite toy at her house: a slot machine. Every time he has played, he always asks if he is going to get the bonus and today he finally did. The video is from the bonus. He thoroughly enjoyed it and is great at remembering which buttons to push in what order. I took the video with my phone and can still hear the music when I watch it there, but it seems that the audio didn't go through.

We had pizza for dinner at Wende's (I don't know a 5 year old to complain about having pizza for lunch AND dinner) on the patio which was also a big hit. We are meeting brother at the baseball game for more fun!

Day 2 (July 22)

2010-07-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

We had a very busy day. The pictures don't show it because I didn't use my camera much, but believe me we were busy. We went to the park again for lunch, to get gas, to TRY to get a free smoothie sample at McDonalds, to the bank, used some of his field trip money to buy swimming googles, swam with Lilli (baby) and Emily at Wende Lady's pool, rested, ate dinner, and went to another one of the baseball games. Whirlwind day. I should totally be sleeping like he is so I can keep up with him tomorrow.

Snoh is pretty fond of the baby and LOVES to be my big helper
I'm going to try for a better picture in the days to come because here it doesn't look like they play together

Waiting in the front yard for Wende Lady to pick us up for the game

waiting for Wende--taken by Snoh

Taken by Snoh at the baseball game. The other team didn't show up but we still all took a few swings for practice and I gave Snoh my camera for entertainment. There are probably better ones, but I'm not going to go through all 285 of them tonight for this post!

How come things are always funny to a baby until you take out a camera? She was thoroughly enjoying this game and does have a pretty good giggle the first time in the video. She has been sleeping even less than her normal self since Snoh has been here. She has to be a part of everything he's doing.