it's been so long...

just realize dear friends: i spend hours a day on this darn computer, slopping the ole mouse around in an attempt to make a little green. the last thing i want to do is wait for another upload. but, after so many requests, how can i refuse our loving fans?

so, due to the distant date of the last posting, let's recap:

christmas 2009




with opah johnson

the ward "family valentines dance" that fred and i (emphasis on i) planned. yes, i made our outfits.



troublemaker likes daddy's ties
at the aquarium
easter



at the tulip festival

funny funny

this evening, whilst i was getting a glass of water, we discovered a very funny funny baby. check 'er out, you can't miss this!

my new favorite pics:

thing 1

thing 2

here are some other pics of my current visit in utah... more coming soon, i'm sure!

halloween sheepie!

so, i thought i was a bit silly taking maddie trick-or-treating, but she ended up having as much fun as i did! she's definitely a double fist-er, and i think she stole every last heart.

more photos for your enjoyment (yes i made her costume):

by popular request: our new apartment!

at last, we're settled enough that i'm not embarrassed beyond reason to show it to you all! we've had so much fun nesting... it's so lovely here. just to give you an idea, i'm sitting out on our back porch, in the evening of a gorgeous sunny day (we went swimming and enjoyed!) watching maddie toddle around and play. it's cool and pleasant, green, trees everywhere, kids out playing... ah, this is the life!

view from the entry - windows windows windows!


from behind the piano


from the back door - check out all the cruising room! maddie's in heaven...


from the seating area

fred in the kitchen

the breakfast nook


our bedroom - check out my hand-made headboard (yes i did that!) really hard to get a good photo of the room; there's a lot of room on either side of the bed, more windows, and room at the foot of the bed where i'm standing as well

our bathroom and walk-in closet! can you believe it, everything fits!

madeleine's room, which we painted princess blue

and the second bathroom & hall closet, right outside her room.

baseball & swinging baby

at the mariner's game, where we of course rooted for the angels! our little clan, plus jason, vangie, and kyler box, dear friends of ours.

earlier that day at the park. next time i'll have to take some shots of how dang pretty it is!

first birthday and baby steps!

madeleine is now a whole year old! can you believe it? though we tried, this was really the only cute photo we got. we were too busy taking videos of her walking! prior to her birthday, the record was 9 steps, but check her out now:

ummm, excuse me, where have you been????

yes, fans, i'm still alive! and to save poor becky from pulling all her pretty hair out, i thought i should AT LAST post. really, i've just been waaay beyond insanely busy, stressed out, and generally overwhelmed. seems to be a talent of mine.

so let's see, what's new since april? read on below to find out!

at last, moving to seattle!

after more than a year of planning, we're finally moving! the official move-in date is august 14th - issaquah, here we come!

at the risk of gushing, let me just say how extremely excited i am. as much as i love utah, we really feel like our family belongs in seattle. thank goodness for that holy ghost guy.

we took a trip a couple of weeks ago to find our new place, and here it is! (oops, i forgot to take photos while we were inside... i'm sure i'll post some anyway after we move in.)


some stats about the new place: it's on the plateau in issaquah, a beautiful area that's mostly private residential (not apartments). the city has nice developments, great city codes, and hoa's that make the area lovely. lots of walking trails, nothing ghetto (can you say west provo?? err, i mean, i like it). still accessible to the i-90 corridor, meaning the commute isn't bad. without traffic, we're only 20 minutes from the city!

our front door

the courtyard out our back door

that's our patio on the bottom there! see all the windows? and the grass? ooo....

there are 12, yes 12, windows - more than our current apt. and our last one combined! 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (yes, a master suite :). if you took our current apartment, drop a bedroom, and add: a bathroom, 250+ square feet, 7 windows and a VIEW of something besides dirty bumpers and a parking lot!, a pantry, cabinets that actually work, a laundry closet, nice flooring, designer paint, a walk-in closet, a kitchen nook for our table, a formal dining area for our piano, a wood-burning fireplace, a patio, a lawn, all in a great floorplan, you'd have our new place. so, basically, it's waaaaay nicer.

a few other photos from the trip, for your enjoyment!

who me? of course that's not my mess...

you can never have too many naked baby bath pictures! gotta have blackmail material, right?


baby and i at snoqualmie falls