I guess its time to childproof the kitchen!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Tall Tall Trees
Are we crazy or what? She is on those rocks pretty much by herself. We must be insane....
A few weeks ago Todd and I went on our first family vacation that didn't involve our extending family. When I say first... I mean our very first since before we were married. This was our "honeymoon" and we were lucky enough to have Kensington with us.
We went to Angel's Camp and stayed in my parents timeshare. I'm normally a planner but I didn't plan any activities for this trip. We were just going to wing it. The first day was kind of a bummer because we couldn't find the lake we were looking for and ended up having a picnic in our car instead. By the time we found a lake it was almost sunset but we hiked around a bit and got some fun pictures. The 2nd day we went to Tall Trees State Park to see the GIANT sequoias. They were AMAZING! I've never seen trees so tall. We decided to do the 5 mile hike instead of the 1 1/2 mile walk so we could really be out in nature. Todd carried Kensington the whole way because no plan meant no baby backpack. The trees were amazing and even though we were both exhausted by the end it was a great hike. The 3rd day we went to Moaning Caverns. Its one of many caves in the area. We climbed down 240 stairs (165ft) into this cave. There were cool rock formations and an underwater stream. They turned out the lights and it was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. 240 stairs down meant 240 stairs back up. My legs hated me. After the cave we went back to the trees to try out the 1 1/2 mile walk. Again Todd carried Kensington. We headed home on Sunday just in time to unpack and get ready for a very busy week. I love vacations and I'm ready for another one!
A Random Survey
So I've been staying home with Kensington full time for 3 1/2 months. I really enjoy being at home with her and watching her change a little every day. I've noticed something though.... I feel like I'm ALWAYS cleaning. I cleaned a lot when I worked because I was only home so much and so a descent portion of my time at home was spent cleaning. I thought this would get better once I was home because I would have more time to clean and therefore could actually finish and not always have something to clean. So are you always cleaning your house or am I just messier than most?
Monday, December 8, 2008
Countdown to Christmas
I LOVE advent calendars. I wish I'd had one as a kid but I don't think I knew what they were until I was in high school. My friend had a really cool homemade one that I liked and so she sent me the directions and I made one too. I finished it just in time to use this year.
Click HERE for directions
Click HERE for directions
Friday, November 28, 2008
1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Indians...
I thought it would be funny to make Kensington an Indian for Thanksgiving. I had planned to make her a little feather headress like the ones I use to make in elementary school. Somehow she ended up with a full blown Indian costume. She was cute and we had a great Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The Cutest Dress Ever and Some Random Pictures
Not much has been going on in our lives but I had some cute pictures that I wanted to share. Life is pretty average for us. Kensington is growing like a weed and says hi to everyone. Our house is still on the market. We've had several people come and look but haven't gotten any offers. I know it will sell at the right time for our family but sometimes its hard to be patient.
I'm sure Andrea will kill me if she sees this but I had to post it anyway
I love ribs. Whenever I go out with my fam that is usually what I order... I guess she takes after me
I got this dress for $1 and I LOVE it... She is so stinkin' cute
Kensington found a new Halloween pacifier
I'm sure Andrea will kill me if she sees this but I had to post it anyway
I love ribs. Whenever I go out with my fam that is usually what I order... I guess she takes after me
Monday, November 10, 2008
An Ode to Alfred
All we wanted were brown leather couches with nailhead trim. This was Todd's dream. I had never dreamed of leather but being newly married I help him chase him dream. We started out with slightly sagging discolored white leather but they were still nice.
I just couldn't spend a ton of money on a set of couches when I was a newlywed. My parents had been married for 30+ years and never owned a new couch. By now I had been convinced of the beauty of leather but I just couldn't swallow the price.
Then there was Craigslist. The greatest garage sale EVER. Early one Saturday morning I started a search. Nailhead. Its easier than leather and much easier than couch. And there they were... these beautiful brown leather couches with nailhead trim. I raced to the phone and off we went to Placerville.
Couches in hand we were ECSTATIC! They were a steal of a deal and in great shape. We had our dream. These couches served us well. They fit in perfectly without decor and they were long enough to sleep on.
Sariah named him Alfred. She came to stay and slept on the couch and was in heaven. It was more comfortable than her bed. She was in love. She wanted to take him home.
Yesterday Alfed and his mate were passed onto a new family. We didn't really want to part with them but we thought we'd see what we could get for them. One less thing to move. Up on Craigslist they went and after an email and a few phone calls they were gone for twice what we had paid for them. Alfred has a new home and were sitting on floor.
I just couldn't spend a ton of money on a set of couches when I was a newlywed. My parents had been married for 30+ years and never owned a new couch. By now I had been convinced of the beauty of leather but I just couldn't swallow the price.
Then there was Craigslist. The greatest garage sale EVER. Early one Saturday morning I started a search. Nailhead. Its easier than leather and much easier than couch. And there they were... these beautiful brown leather couches with nailhead trim. I raced to the phone and off we went to Placerville.
Couches in hand we were ECSTATIC! They were a steal of a deal and in great shape. We had our dream. These couches served us well. They fit in perfectly without decor and they were long enough to sleep on.
Sariah named him Alfred. She came to stay and slept on the couch and was in heaven. It was more comfortable than her bed. She was in love. She wanted to take him home.
Yesterday Alfed and his mate were passed onto a new family. We didn't really want to part with them but we thought we'd see what we could get for them. One less thing to move. Up on Craigslist they went and after an email and a few phone calls they were gone for twice what we had paid for them. Alfred has a new home and were sitting on floor.
I hope he likes his new family!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Helping Daddy
Kensington LOVES to help clean the house. She army crawls on her little tummy and so we affectionately started calling her little swiffer. Todd was cleaning the floors and she just had to help. After she spilled the bucket of water everywhere we strapped a towel around her and let her clean it up. She is such a doll!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
October
We had a very busy October. I was able to take Kensington to a cute little pumpkin patch with the MOPS group. She wasn't that interested in things that were going on but we still had fun. There was a small petting zoo where we fed the animals and we also got to go on a fun little train ride. 
For her 8 monthiversary my Mom was in town and we went to this cupcake shop that my sister-in-law showed me. They have a pinkalicious cupcake that we got just for Kensington. She was able to wear her fairy skirt and we got some fun pictures.
We had a very chill Halloween. My Mom was in town and we just hung out and watched some movies. Earlier in the week Todd had taken Kensington to a trunk or treat so she still got to show off her costume.
Our house if officially on the market. We worked very hard to get it all clean and decluttered so we could get some great pictures for the ad. We've already had some people walk through but haven't heard anything about an offer. Its a little wierd to have people in our house when we're not here but its not so bad. The one nice thing is that I now have to keep my house clean ALL the time. They don't have to give us much notice before they come over to show the house so it always has to be picked up. Its definitely nice to have a clean house every day. I might even try to carry that with us to our next place.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
I Love Utah!!
Growing up that is not something I would have ever said as Utah was one of the places I would never live but then I lived there and I love it. Kensington and I were able to go for a few days to visit my very best friend in the world, Sariah. We were roommates in college and somehow managed to stay friends for the past 8 years. It was conference weekend so it was a bit crazy with a ton of people at her house but we still had lots of fun.
She always inspires me to be crafty since she is the craft queen. I slept in her craft room surrounded by fabric, stamps, ink, paper and a million already done projects. I don't know how she does it.
Kensington and her two teeth
Sariah's husband Jake and the lion head for Warren's costume
Kensington on the airplane all ready to go
Kensington with the Captain and the very helpful flight attendant
She always inspires me to be crafty since she is the craft queen. I slept in her craft room surrounded by fabric, stamps, ink, paper and a million already done projects. I don't know how she does it.
Me and Sariah at Red Robin for Ladies Night
Kensington and her two teeth
Sariah's husband Jake and the lion head for Warren's costume
Kensington on the airplane all ready to go
Kensington with the Captain and the very helpful flight attendant
Cupcake Bites
My friend posted this recipe on her blog and since I'm obsessed with cupcakes I decided to try it out. It was a bit more labor intensive than what I usually do but I think they turned out great. They were a bit sweet but very yummy.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Yes on Proposition 8
I found this great article on a friends blog and thought that I would share it. Living in California this has been a big issue on everyone's mind as I'm sure it has been for people outside the state. I've actually been having a little bit of conflict with the issue. I support traditional marriage and am opposed to same-sex marriage but I don't like the idea of the government coming it and saying what is right and wrong. I'm not too big on government involvement and so I've been conflicted. I don't like that the world has gotten so wicked that moral values don't matter and that the only way to protect some morality is to have the government create a law banning those things that are morally wrong. It would be so much easier if society viewed same-sex marriage as wrong and then we wouldn't have this problem. Hope you find the article as interesting as I did.
By David Blankenhorn
September 19, 2008
I'm a liberal Democrat. And I do not favor same-sex marriage. Do those positions sound contradictory? To me, they fit together.Many seem to believe that marriage is simply a private love relationship between two people. They accept this view, in part, because Americans have increasingly emphasized and come to value the intimate, emotional side of marriage, and in part because almost all opinion leaders today, from journalists to judges, strongly embrace this position. That's certainly the idea that underpinned the California Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage.
But I spent a year studying the history and anthropology of marriage, and I've come to a different conclusion.
Marriage as a human institution is constantly evolving, and many of its features vary across groups and cultures. But there is one constant. In all societies, marriage shapes the rights and obligations of parenthood. Among us humans, the scholars report, marriage is not primarily a license to have sex. Nor is it primarily a license to receive benefits or social recognition. It is primarily a license to have children.
In this sense, marriage is a gift that society bestows on its next generation. Marriage (and only marriage) unites the three core dimensions of parenthood -- biological, social and legal -- into one pro-child form: the married couple. Marriage says to a child: The man and the woman whose sexual union made you will also be there to love and raise you. Marriage says to society as a whole: For every child born, there is a recognized mother and a father, accountable to the child and to each other.
These days, because of the gay marriage debate, one can be sent to bed without supper for saying such things. But until very recently, almost no one denied this core fact about marriage. Summing up the cross-cultural evidence, the anthropologist Helen Fisher in 1992 put it simply: "People wed primarily to reproduce." The philosopher and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, certainly no friend of conventional sexual morality, was only repeating the obvious a few decades earlier when he concluded that "it is through children alone that sexual relations become important to society, and worthy to be taken cognizance of by a legal institution."
Marriage is society's most pro-child institution. In 2002 -- just moments before it became highly unfashionable to say so -- a team of researchers from Child Trends, a nonpartisan research center, reported that "family structure clearly matters for children, and the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage."
All our scholarly instruments seem to agree: For healthy development, what a child needs more than anything else is the mother and father who together made the child, who love the child and love each other.
For these reasons, children have the right, insofar as society can make it possible, to know and to be cared for by the two parents who brought them into this world. The foundational human rights document in the world today regarding children, the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically guarantees children this right. The last time I checked, liberals like me were supposed to be in favor of internationally recognized human rights, particularly concerning children, who are typically society's most voiceless and vulnerable group. Or have I now said something I shouldn't?
Every child being raised by gay or lesbian couples will be denied his birthright to both parents who made him. Every single one. Moreover, losing that right will not be a consequence of something that at least most of us view as tragic, such as a marriage that didn't last, or an unexpected pregnancy where the father-to-be has no intention of sticking around. On the contrary, in the case of same-sex marriage and the children of those unions, it will be explained to everyone, including the children, that something wonderful has happened!
For me, what we are encouraged or permitted to say, or not say, to one another about what our society owes its children is crucially important in the debate over initiatives like California's Proposition 8, which would reinstate marriage's customary man-woman form. Do you think that every child deserves his mother and father, with adoption available for those children whose natural parents cannot care for them? Do you suspect that fathers and mothers are different from one another? Do you imagine that biological ties matter to children? How many parents per child is best? Do you think that "two" is a better answer than one, three, four or whatever? If you do, be careful. In making the case for same-sex marriage, more than a few grown-ups will be quite willing to question your integrity and goodwill. Children, of course, are rarely consulted.
The liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin famously argued that, in many cases, the real conflict we face is not good versus bad but good versus good. Reducing homophobia is good. Protecting the birthright of the child is good. How should we reason together as a society when these two good things conflict?
Here is my reasoning. I reject homophobia and believe in the equal dignity of gay and lesbian love. Because I also believe with all my heart in the right of the child to the mother and father who made her, I believe that we as a society should seek to maintain and to strengthen the only human institution -- marriage -- that is specifically intended to safeguard that right and make it real for our children.
Legalized same-sex marriage almost certainly benefits those same-sex couples who choose to marry, as well as the children being raised in those homes. But changing the meaning of marriage to accommodate homosexual orientation further and perhaps definitively undermines for all of us the very thing -- the gift, the birthright -- that is marriage's most distinctive contribution to human society. That's a change that, in the final analysis, I cannot support.
David Blankenhorn is president of the New York-based Institute for American Values and the author of "The Future of Marriage."
By David Blankenhorn
September 19, 2008
I'm a liberal Democrat. And I do not favor same-sex marriage. Do those positions sound contradictory? To me, they fit together.Many seem to believe that marriage is simply a private love relationship between two people. They accept this view, in part, because Americans have increasingly emphasized and come to value the intimate, emotional side of marriage, and in part because almost all opinion leaders today, from journalists to judges, strongly embrace this position. That's certainly the idea that underpinned the California Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage.
But I spent a year studying the history and anthropology of marriage, and I've come to a different conclusion.
Marriage as a human institution is constantly evolving, and many of its features vary across groups and cultures. But there is one constant. In all societies, marriage shapes the rights and obligations of parenthood. Among us humans, the scholars report, marriage is not primarily a license to have sex. Nor is it primarily a license to receive benefits or social recognition. It is primarily a license to have children.
In this sense, marriage is a gift that society bestows on its next generation. Marriage (and only marriage) unites the three core dimensions of parenthood -- biological, social and legal -- into one pro-child form: the married couple. Marriage says to a child: The man and the woman whose sexual union made you will also be there to love and raise you. Marriage says to society as a whole: For every child born, there is a recognized mother and a father, accountable to the child and to each other.
These days, because of the gay marriage debate, one can be sent to bed without supper for saying such things. But until very recently, almost no one denied this core fact about marriage. Summing up the cross-cultural evidence, the anthropologist Helen Fisher in 1992 put it simply: "People wed primarily to reproduce." The philosopher and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, certainly no friend of conventional sexual morality, was only repeating the obvious a few decades earlier when he concluded that "it is through children alone that sexual relations become important to society, and worthy to be taken cognizance of by a legal institution."
Marriage is society's most pro-child institution. In 2002 -- just moments before it became highly unfashionable to say so -- a team of researchers from Child Trends, a nonpartisan research center, reported that "family structure clearly matters for children, and the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage."
All our scholarly instruments seem to agree: For healthy development, what a child needs more than anything else is the mother and father who together made the child, who love the child and love each other.
For these reasons, children have the right, insofar as society can make it possible, to know and to be cared for by the two parents who brought them into this world. The foundational human rights document in the world today regarding children, the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically guarantees children this right. The last time I checked, liberals like me were supposed to be in favor of internationally recognized human rights, particularly concerning children, who are typically society's most voiceless and vulnerable group. Or have I now said something I shouldn't?
Every child being raised by gay or lesbian couples will be denied his birthright to both parents who made him. Every single one. Moreover, losing that right will not be a consequence of something that at least most of us view as tragic, such as a marriage that didn't last, or an unexpected pregnancy where the father-to-be has no intention of sticking around. On the contrary, in the case of same-sex marriage and the children of those unions, it will be explained to everyone, including the children, that something wonderful has happened!
For me, what we are encouraged or permitted to say, or not say, to one another about what our society owes its children is crucially important in the debate over initiatives like California's Proposition 8, which would reinstate marriage's customary man-woman form. Do you think that every child deserves his mother and father, with adoption available for those children whose natural parents cannot care for them? Do you suspect that fathers and mothers are different from one another? Do you imagine that biological ties matter to children? How many parents per child is best? Do you think that "two" is a better answer than one, three, four or whatever? If you do, be careful. In making the case for same-sex marriage, more than a few grown-ups will be quite willing to question your integrity and goodwill. Children, of course, are rarely consulted.
The liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin famously argued that, in many cases, the real conflict we face is not good versus bad but good versus good. Reducing homophobia is good. Protecting the birthright of the child is good. How should we reason together as a society when these two good things conflict?
Here is my reasoning. I reject homophobia and believe in the equal dignity of gay and lesbian love. Because I also believe with all my heart in the right of the child to the mother and father who made her, I believe that we as a society should seek to maintain and to strengthen the only human institution -- marriage -- that is specifically intended to safeguard that right and make it real for our children.
Legalized same-sex marriage almost certainly benefits those same-sex couples who choose to marry, as well as the children being raised in those homes. But changing the meaning of marriage to accommodate homosexual orientation further and perhaps definitively undermines for all of us the very thing -- the gift, the birthright -- that is marriage's most distinctive contribution to human society. That's a change that, in the final analysis, I cannot support.
David Blankenhorn is president of the New York-based Institute for American Values and the author of "The Future of Marriage."
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
A Little Bit of Random
Penguin Bowling - I bought her this set probably before she was born because I love penguins and I thought it was cool. She loves to play with the penguins but she hasn't quite figured out the bowling part.
She LOVES the nasal aspirator. She has had a runny nose for the past few weeks and I've had to aspirate her nose every morning. She hates it but she's always happy when I'm done and she can play with the aspirator.
She loves Smokey enough to eat him. He is suppose to play Rocky Top but the batteries are dead or its just not working. I had already been to a few football games by the time I was her age.
Counting her coins - all of our change goes in her princess ballerina bank.
Her first trip to Chick-fil-A - I think she has something against superheroes. She is always trying to eat their heads off. she loved her chicken and even got a little juice to go with it.
She LOVES the nasal aspirator. She has had a runny nose for the past few weeks and I've had to aspirate her nose every morning. She hates it but she's always happy when I'm done and she can play with the aspirator.
She loves Smokey enough to eat him. He is suppose to play Rocky Top but the batteries are dead or its just not working. I had already been to a few football games by the time I was her age. 
Counting her coins - all of our change goes in her princess ballerina bank.
Her first trip to Chick-fil-A - I think she has something against superheroes. She is always trying to eat their heads off. she loved her chicken and even got a little juice to go with it.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Big Bath Fun
Kensington is getting a bit too big and but mostly too rambunctious for her baby bathtub so decided to let her play around in the big bathtub for a change. She had a blast crawling around after her little duckies and splashing in the water. She was very upset when I made her get out. I love that she loves the water. It makes bathtime so much easier but it also makes her just a little bit more like me.
Projects! Projects! Projects
Since I've been home I've had a little time to actually work on some projects. I have a ton of stuff to do around the house still but I have taken some time to do fun stuff. Here are a couple of my recent creations.
Kind of random but this is the fruit pizza that I made for my birthday. It turned out so pretty that I just had to take a picture.
This is the cake topper from our wedding. After we got married (2 1/2 yrs ago) I wanted to frame it and I'm just now getting it done. It turned out better than expected and I can't wait to hang it somewhere in my house.
These are some boxes that I painted and decorated for Kensington's room. Her dress is stuffed to the brink with socks and hats and bloomers so I made them a new home. It turns out that I love decoupage and have many other projects in mind.
Kind of random but this is the fruit pizza that I made for my birthday. It turned out so pretty that I just had to take a picture.
This is the cake topper from our wedding. After we got married (2 1/2 yrs ago) I wanted to frame it and I'm just now getting it done. It turned out better than expected and I can't wait to hang it somewhere in my house.
These are some boxes that I painted and decorated for Kensington's room. Her dress is stuffed to the brink with socks and hats and bloomers so I made them a new home. It turns out that I love decoupage and have many other projects in mind.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
A Mad Dash to Idaho
Todd was suppose to go to Idaho last Tuesday to visit his family for a few days. It would have been the first time he went away with the baby and I stayed home. I wanted him to go but I wasn't really looking forward to being home by myself for 4 days. Monday afternoon plans suddenly changed. I quit my job (yeah!) and within three hours we were all together on the road to Idaho.
We visted his sister Jamie and her family, his mom, tons of aunts, uncles and cousins, his Grandma, his sister Erin, his brother Kirk and his dad and step-mom. It was an action packed trip but lots of fun. Kensington did great on the drive. We stopped half-way on both the trip out and the trip back so she didn't get too burnt out in her carseat but she did really well on the long journey. Todd was able to do a police ride along with his Uncle Clair and I got my very first speeding ticket. We had an awesome trip but its really nice to be home.
Unfortunately in our haste to leave I forgot the camera battery charger so we don't have pictures from our trip. I hate doing a post without pictures though so here's one. How cute is my kiddo with her teddy bear?
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Keith Urban Is A Beautiful Man!
So we won tickets to the Keith Urban concert. I was able to find us a place to stay and a babysitter for Kensington so I was pretty excited for the concert. We drove up on Saturday morning and had enough time to check into our B&B before we headed to Konocti. We had general admission bleacher seats so I wanted to get there early for good seats. It was pretty hot but we managed okay. We waited for over an our before the opening act came out. It was Sarah Buxton and she was pretty hilarious. Between Sarah and Keith we were just waiting when someone called me over to them. She asked me if we were a party of two and handed me two FRONT ROW tickets! I was shocked and so excited. We left the bleachers and headed down to our new seats. We were about five feet from the stage and there were a few times where I could have reached out and touched Keith. It was awesome. We were able to get some great photos and videos. It was an amazing concert and we had a great time!
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