MLK Day Sporty Style

We really wanted to do something fun for our day together.  We wanted to go skiing, but the resort we wanted to go was getting rain, so we passed on that.   We decided to just hang out near home.

I took Wembley on a run in a nearby park that I have yet to explore.  Briz rode her bike next to me and it was so nice having company.  She talked to me the whole time which was distracting.  We discovered some cool playgrounds along the way.

We then headed over to Nike and played basketball outside for a while, trying to take advantage of the nice weather.  We saw some guys already getting started on beach volleyball.  You know you're in Oregon when . . .

And then we hit the pool.  Wembley loved it.  I was really nervous but I dunked her under for the first time (I put Briz under when she was 4 weeks old).  Wembley is 7  1/2 months but she just struggles with swallowing and choking.  She did gag quite a bit, and then spit up a ton, but she smiled shortly after going under so that was a good sign.  I am way more cautious with her, in particular to things related to swallowing.  Sometimes I can't believe she is 7 months old because I was trying to get Brizzy to swim at this age :)  

We had a blast together as a family.  I love spending time with these goofy people. 

Happy Moments in January

January has been a great month so far.  Other than Wembley teething and being a really big wimp, out football teams losing, and Briz getting sick, I'd say it's been a success.

Nick and I got tickets to go see Demetri Martin.  He is one of our favorite comedians, and we just sort of stumbled upon seeing he was performing at this small comedy club in Portland.  It was a late night for a Wednesday, but well worth it.  Not only was he hilarious but Nick got to sit next to a drag queen.

It has been really sunny and really warm (mid 50's).  I can't complain.  It's been so nice that I started running outside.  Usually it isn' until end of February that I'm wanting to run outside here.  But its been wonderful.

We've been riding bikes, going for walks, playing some b-ball.  Wembley thought she was pretty awesome with the b-ball.

We love our little walks every day when we walk Briz to school.  It's short but nice to get outside and watch big Sister get so excited to jump on the bus.  I love this age.  I don't ever want her to go to first grade!

And of course, bath time always shows us a good time.  Wembley has started doing funny things in the bath.  She wants to sit up like a big kid, so she will do this like sit up stance in her bath chair, until she gets too tired and gives up.

She has been turning sideways and putting her face in the water.  She will just sit there and chat with me for a long time.

I love her scowl.  One of her Ainge traits.

Packers Packers They're Our Guys

So Nick is an avid Packers fan.  Other than the similarities to Oregon's green and yellow, it's a bit random.  He has a long story about when and why it all happened.  But he used to love Favre.  For a while he tried to convince me to add Favre to our baby names list.  Yeah, my thoughts, exactly.  He has turned Briz also into an avid Packers fan.  In particular, an Aaron Rodgers fan. Nick has convinced Brizzy that he and Aaron are best friends.  And whenever Briz is watching the game, she pretty much only cares about finding "Aaron."  They watch a lot of games together.  And whenever Dad is cheering for them, Briz runs and puts on her Packers jersey.

The Packers played the Seahawks for the NFC Championship and it was sort of an amazing chance for Nick to see his team live for fairly cheap (at least in comparison to traveling to Lambo).  So he went by himself.  He got a seat right behind the Seahawks, so he was the only Packers fan in sight.  They were amazing seats, but he did have to endure Seahawks fans yelling in his ear the whole time about 50% of which involved the f word.  This sounds horrible to me, but Nick loved it, particularly since they were up most of the game.  The last 5 minutes of the game was horrible (exciting if you're a seattle fan), and somehow the Pack were defeated.  Nick was a bit depressed driving home, and Briz just kept walking around saying, "I'm so mad!"  But either way, it was a fun season and hopefully next year will be just as exciting.  

I should note that this last week of football in general sucked for our family, with the Ducks getting completely stomped on in the championship game.  It was good though cause I was ready to say goodbye to football for a while after this week.

We've only just begun

Basketball season has started and I have to say I am already feeling a little bit overwhelmed with scheduling.  That is just wrong.  I have a 5 year old.  I probably put her in too many things and now that I have a baby and a big mortgage and I am much more aware of it all.  Nick and I are constantly trying to decide what we have the time, money, and energy for.  And how do you decide?  Do you let the kid pick what they want to do?  Do you decide for them?  Basketball was one thing that Brizzy really wanted to do, so that was an easy one.  But she has been asking to play baseball in the spring but we decided that we are going to postpone that one.   I know, I know, first world problems.  But I really want to give her all of the opportunities in the world.  And once she has tried something and decides she doesn't like it, then I am fine giving it up.  But problem is she seems to like everything she does.   

So basketball has started.  Nick decided that he wanted to coach mostly because she was tired of watching other people do a bad job coaching Brizzy.  They have a team of 9 boys and Briz.  It's good for her.  Every week so far we have told her to be more tough with the boys.  She gets very self conscious around boys and isn't her normal competitive self, so that's really what I want her to work on.  But she is one of the tallest on the team (she is growing like a weed!), and has done pretty well so far.  She plays basketball in our cul de sac ALL of the time.  And all of our old men neighbors are constantly talking about her "game."  Its pretty funny.

Nick does such a great job coaching.  The kids love him and think he's so cool.  And he tells them the word "fundamentals" about a bazillion times during practice.  We are excited for this season, to watch little Briz grow and learn some new things. 

Utah's Bad Luck

We set off for the drive.  And it was actually awesome.  Wembley slept for most of the drive, and Briz did awesome.  I had a system set up where I could move to the back and sit with the girls.  Briz and I worked on her learning flashcards, read together, listened to books on tape, and watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang together.   Nick and I split the driving and it seemed to go by quickly.  We only stopped three times and made it in good time, about 12 hours.

When we got there, we had a Christmas morning with the Cottle side.  We then had german pancakes and headed off to a nearby church where we played volleyball all afternoon and had pizza.  

Pops entertained the kids in the freezing nursery while all of the adults played.

We of course played a lot of games while we were there.  But I got sick Saturday night, and it lasted until the next Saturday.  It was awful, and like I always say, "Utah is bad luck."  I'm determined to not feel like crap the next time I go.  I WILL make it happen.

Wembley was my little sick buddy.  She loves screens so she watched TV with me for a while.

I tried everything: oils, antibiotics, vitamin C, tylenol, mucinex, netty pot, cough drops, water, sleep, steaming my face off, you name it.  Nothing made it go away faster!!!  It was so frustrating.  My upper lip was all red and blistered.  And for a few days I couldn't smell or hear anything.  

We had fun plans that got canceled: going up to the mountain, dinner with friends, etc.  We did see a few movies, and Nick taught Briz to snowboard on the hill by grandma and grandpas.

Briz also had a fun sleepover with her cousins.  Grandma Julie and Pops watched them for a full 24 hours.  They played in the snow and got spoiled with Happy Meals at McDonalds.

We saw where Uncle Landon works which was fun.  And I got Landon sick.  Luckily his didn't last quite as long.  We also saw Uncle Tanner and Aunt Sierra a few times.  We got to meet their cute, hyper pup Saylor, see where they live and play games all New Years Eve.  

We ate at Cafe Rio of course.  It was a bit disappointing because I didn't feel great so it didn't taste quite the same.  Briz was excited to wear her new frozen watch.

We also got to see the Nielsons.  We went to the BYU womens b-ball game and hung out at their house afterwards.  But like always, its never enough time.

Please excuse the 5,000 pictures of Wembley and Millie but I couldn't help it.  They were pretty funny with each other, poking at each other.  Wems was quite envious of Millie's playmat.  While Wembley is definitely more high maintenance than Millie, they are still pretty happy low key babies.  It makes it particularly great when we get together because that's just more time for adult social time.

Briz, as usual, was devastated to leave her Utah family.  She is so loved when she's around them, who would ever want to leave?  Luckily at this age, she loves school, so we finally got her excited about going home because she would get to go back to school.  I bought her these car markers for Christmas to keep herself occupied on the drive.  She was sobbing as we left and decided to deal with her feelings by drawing.  Until we meet again . . . Utah.  

Christmas 2014

This was our first Christmas home and we were pretty excited.  

Christmas Eve was spent getting everything ready for christmas and for our trip to Utah.  

We visited Holland's grave Christmas Eve.  It was the most emotional I've been visiting her in a while.  I was thinking a lot about how much I missed her this Christmas.  It seemed like just being home and having two little girls I was more focused on our family and her absence was really felt.  I think also just having a baby at Christmas reminded me that I never got to have a Christmas with her.  Now, thinking about it, it seems almost silly from an eternal perspective.  But in the moment and with the Holiday season I really felt it.  

Wembley got sick Christmas Eve.  It was so sad.  It was her first time being sick and I was pretty nervous about it.  Right before she went to bed, she vomited.  Her tendency to be dramatic combined with her choking habits made it a scary moment.  But about 30 seconds after she was smiling and giggling.  

This is our living room all decorated Christmas Eve.

Briz slept in until about 7:45 and had already gone downstairs to peak at all of the presents before she came and woke us up.

Brizzy really had three stockings to open: hers, Hollands, and Wembleys.  It took us a LONG time to open presents because we forced her to take her time.

One of Wembley's favorite presents.  A onesie that said: "Ah good sir, I do believe I shat in my pantaloons."  That Santa has a great sense of humor.

Wembley actually enjoyed her stocking much more than I thought she would.  She wanted to play/chew on everything.  She thought the whole thing was really fun.

This picture made all of Nick's family laugh.  Briz looks like a giant elf in this picture.  While she really is growing like a weed, this Christmas tree is just small.  

By that evening, Wembley was feeling much better.  

Papa and Nona came over late morning and watched Briz open up some presents.  We then had a big breakfast.  We quickly headed off to Uncle Mark and Aunt Susie's for some more food and a game of bunco.  We then went home and got ready for the long haul to Utah.