Pack it up!

Well, dumb ol' Bank of America credit dispute center finally came through for us!  They sent in the removal notice which will remove their errors and put our credit back up!  We have been trying to call the lady since Friday but nobody could help us. Finally, we got a lady in her building to answer (which is hard because they have centers around the country) and we got it straightened out.  Next step: they fax our lender tomorrow a letter explaining that they are fixing our credit, it gets shared with our builder who will let us move in early, and we close in about a week. WOO!  Please no more issues lol.

Anyway, tomorrow is the end of the month and we don't want to pay another month's rent. Since the builder is letting us move in early, the plan is to pack our stuff into a uhaul tomorrow and live in my parents' spare room until we can move that uhaul to the house.  Oh boy. Paying u-haul daily is cheaper than a month's rent (as long as we aren't putting miles on it).

We have been packing the house up tonight, and it is a pain.  I don't ever want to move again! Sawyer is teething and wouldn't nap so he was getting in the way, too. He would try to help but put the wrong things in the wrong spots and was making it tougher.  We finally got him to sleep and packed up the majority of our stuff...though they say when you think you're almost done, add another 5 hours haha.

Let's hope tomorrow goes well! Moving into a 10x10 room...hopefully not for long.  Thanks mom and dad for letting us stay :)

pics, cake, and packing

Saturday I got to take Christmas pictures for Natalie's family.  Though this time, instead of her fairy daughters, I did the entire family...and her sister's...and her brother's.  It was overwhelming!  It seemed like there was always someone not looking, or smiling, or blinking. It is tough to get that many people in one picture too...I was in the bushes haha! I hope they like them.  She actually paid me for them, too.  It's the first time I've been paid for pictures so pretty exciting after all the practice I've done. (I'm getting paid for that wedding this week too, EEK! :)   We did it at the park again.  My brother found a cool dairy but her niece had to work right after and couldn't drive to Spanaway.

The cousins

That evening we went to my parents to eat leftovers and went to Destiny's ex-coworker's boyfriend's parent's house (got that?) and scored some SWEET deals.  We got a baby swing, boppy bouncer seat, carseat, walker (even though it is Pooh, and Des and I effing hate Pooh), and BRAND NEW crib...all for $60!  They said it was cheaper to sell it for cheap and get rid of it than to ship it across the country to their owner. We have extra space at the house to store it until we have another bebe or Destiny and Erik have one.  My mom has the crib set up at her house so Sawyer can nap in there instead of the pack-n-play. Heck yes!

Sunday was Brea's birthday party.  I can't believe she is one already!  We ate pizza and she made a mess and got too many cute clothes.  Ashley said to get 2 or 3T but I don't believe it.  She was smaller than Sawyer and he can still wear 12 month pants and half his 18 month shirts are still too big!  She is going to have to roll up all of the sleeves I guess haha.  They are definitely cute clothes though. I'd wear half of them!

Sawyer stole B's new toy

She didn't want to eat it so Ashley smashed her hand in it. She wanted the cheeto

We spent Sunday afternoon packing up the downstairs stuff.  Our office had a ton of stuff, it was quite the task!  I am hating Bank of America right now.  We are hoping we will have somewhere to live this Thursday, but the lady isn't calling back.  I am so ticked but Andy's calling back tomorrow.  Everyone said you aren't buying a house unless you have a few crises though. This is a big one. I guess we will just wait...again...

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2011 was a success!

We went to my mom's at noon.  My grandparents, Destiny's parents, and my cousins Josh and Jenny and Josh's wife Ryann (and their kids) were there.  When we got there it was pretty crowded and tired Sawyer was overwhelmed.  We tried to get him to play with Cooper and Avery but he kind of kept to himself and played with grandma.

Josh and Avery

Little Avery is one next month

Jenny and Cooper

Sawyer had his first Krispy Kreme, too.  He ate about half of it, then saw the "nana"s on grandma's microwave and wanted them instead.  At least he's healthy haha!

Josh, Jenny, and Ryann and kids left to eat with their other family.

The Olson clan

Then....we got to eat!  Everything was so good!  My mom even made special gluten free stuff for Destiny and her mom.  It was one of the best dinners, and the turkey was PERFECT.

Crooked

We taught Sawyer how to eat an olive properly.

And we finished off with Andy's homemade pies (blueberry, pumpkin, banana cream, and apple) with real whipped cream I made.  They were amazing!

The night ended with Erik and Des taking off for Walmart (they made it before the chaos) and I got a few things online for cheap.  It was definitely an awesome Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving

It is the time of year to give thanks, and since I will probably be posting pics and whatnot for the actual holiday, I will post what I am thankful for now.

Some things I am thankful for include, but not limited to (grouped in similar topics):

-Marrying my best friend of 4 years
-A great marriage that we get along and don't argue
-A husband that does the cooking and is AWESOME at it
-A perfect little man
-The way Sawyer runs to me and gives me a hug when he first sees me
-The cute way Sawyer says gank-ooo if you hand him something
-The way he throws away his diapers and puts his toys away, saying YAAAAY after, so proud of himself
-Limited tantrums
-Sawyer sleeps as late as we do
-The best parents (and so helpful)
-Family we love hanging out with
-We both have jobs with steady paychecks
-I enjoy going to work and the people I work with
-The benefits and pay both of our jobs offer
-Smartphones...better yet the array of free ones I receive from work
-Our schedules
-Finding a good way to stay in shape
-Teammates that have helped me through tough situations
-Slip on Vans that somehow avoid getting caught by important people at work
-TOMS shoes
-Coca cola classic
-i heart radio
-The Office/Parks&Rec/The New Girl/Storage Wars/Seinfeld/Family Guy
-Stumbleupon.com
-Our new house that we will eventually get to move into
-Seat heaters in the car
-My camera
-Good times with friends
-Vacation

There are many more (obv) but I don't want to make a list too long.  Off to go smell the air now, Andy is making some delicious smelling pies for tomorrow!

Scout

Sawyer got a "My Pal Scout" by Leapfrog last Christmas from my grandma and grandpa.  It also comes in "Violet"

It came with a computer cord, but I never got around to plugging it in.  We loved Scout because you could push his foot and he would play lullabies for the amount of time you chose depending on how many times you pushed his foot (2, 5, or 10 minutes.)  It would put Sawyer to sleep at 6 months with no fuss. He would play songs with his left hand, and say random things with his right ("My favorite food is puppy biscuits! What is yours?"  or "What am I? Quack quack, I'm pretending to be a duck!") As time went on we put Scout in the crib and would wake up to Sawyer pushing the buttons in the morning.

Scout has since run out of batteries twice.  He has been out for at least a month and Andy put some new ones  in last night.  I finally decided to plug him into the computer, too (cue waterworks from Sawyer who was really excited to have his toy back and mean ol' mommy takes it away.) THIS TOY IS AWESOME!

I already loved Scout, but upon plugging him in, I could type in Sawyers name and his name came up from the database with a pronunciation check.  They were right on! I thought I would have to type his name in as "Soy-er" or something.  They must have thousands of names in there.

Next we picked Sawyer's favorites.  They had a TON of choices for each. We picked: Animal (Dog),  Food (Pancakes), and color (Yellow).  Ok, I don't know if that is Sawyers favorite color but it is the one he says the most so I can assume.  They had a big list of songs to choose 5 of which included everything from "Happy and you know it" to "Jingle Bells" to "Happy Birthday" to play when you push the song hand.  They also had a list of Lullabies to pick 5 of to play when you push his foot.

I unplugged him and gave him a try. AWESOME!  "I love you Sawyer"  "My favorite food is Pancakes, is that yours too?" "I need a hug Sawyer" (Beany gave him the cutest hug) He even sings a song that spells out S-A-W-Y-E-R.  I think every kid needs one of those, I am so impressed!  I think it will last awhile because he does counting and spelling and has him do things like clap and jump. Sawyer LOVED it too.  As soon as he said "I love you Sawyer" he smiled so big and pointed to himself.  So cute.  I definitely recommend this toy to anyone with a baby or small toddler!

Decoursey

This morning a girl Katie from my rugby team posted on facebook that her and a guy from the men's team were going hiking in Puyallup. Usually everyone hangs out in Tacoma so I decided to go with them.  They were doing the full Decoursey park hike.

We started up on the hill at the top of Fruitland, right after that 4 way stop on the road that the mall is on.  I had never been that far up (usually we just hang around the bottom and park by the softball fields).  It was so pretty! There were all the fall leaves on the ground, and a few still in the trees.  There were super steep hills, and creeks to jump over (or through on accident) and thick mud.  It was quite fun though!  Definitely not baby friendly though, so no Sawyers allowed.

We ended up at the fish hatchery, and fed them some granola bars to make them jump.

We also found this creepy swamp looking thing

When we got to the bottom, we went to this swamp that bubbles!  I stuck a stick down one of the bubble sand holes and it went in like 3 feet.  We were going to send Cottam in during the summer tied to a rope tied to a tree to see how far he could go in.

We pretty much covered the whole place and went a couple miles.  We walked by Fruitland elementary, the tennis courts, everything haha.  It was a good workout too and good to get out in nature so close to home!  Now it's time for food, Andy's making fried chicken...my favorite :)

Wedding day

Today was a long day.  My long-time friend Ashley got married today. I got to be a bridesmaid!

The day started early.  We had to be at the MOH's house at 6am- YUCK!  It was snowing hard and was sticking.  By the time Andy was up there was no snow (which proves how early it was).  Autumn made us a big breakfast though and we got down to hair.  The usual shenanigans ensued; forgotten shoes, I almost got peed on because I was sitting too close to the toilet at the wrong time, groomsmen dropping out, the usual. We left late (as expected.)

Ashley dancing with her daughter Brea

Shirley temple!  It obviously didn't stay like this (yeah, no makeup= funny looking amy)

Andy dropped Beanus (lol his mom loves that nickname ;] haha) off at Davey's house and met me there for the ceremony and reception.  I DIDN'T TRIP DOWN THE AISLE IN MY GIANT (but on sale) SHOES! Woot. Anyways, I didn't have my camera for much since I had other things to do, but I grabbed it towards the end of the reception.

This obv isn't the reception but I caught Ash getting emotional while getting into her dress

Renee was wet willy-ing him haha

Me and Renee

Ashley Brandon and Brea

Ashley's mom and Brea

Ashley and Jessica

Yes I could have taken the 30 seconds to lighten this pic first but I'm tired. Her PRETTY bouquet

Me and Jenna (she was my MOH)

Renee caught the bouquet and Jamie says "oh shoot" lol

It was a ton of fun and I am whooped.  Congrats Ashley and Brandon! I will probably have more pictures when she posts hers.

Are you what you stand for?

Single Dad Laughing is a blog that has had a few posts that spread across the internet.  He writes about parenting and has had some very moving posts about bullying.  One of my favorites is the "congratulations, you just broke your child," and made me re-evaluate a lot of things and want to be a better parent in the future.  Today I read one of his recent posts "I'm Christian, unless you're gay".  You can read it here.

One thing I have really have issues with is when people judge others or treat them a certain way because of who they are, and for things they can't change.  We all have done it. I have caught myself doing it.  I remember once I was going to go say hello to one of my former managers.  He was there with a big black guy with the big jewelry and I was too nervous to go say hello.  I thought for sure he was a gangster, they worked in South Center, and he dressed like I thought one would.  It was about a month later I had a training with him, and he was nothing like I pictured.  We were pretty much best friends at that week of training quoting family guy and south park... we had so much in common, and he was certainly no gangster.  I felt so bad about myself for judging him, and I told myself from then on I would try not to judge someone from what I thought they were, because who knows who they REALLY are?

Dan's post is about people claiming to follow beliefs based on loving others, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Wicca, etc. all say that you should love each other, and not judge.  Not "love each other, except those with sin, or that believe other than you, and it is your discretion what is covered."  He tells the story of his friend "Jacob" that has lost every single one of his friends (besides Dan) that he has told he was gay. It was painful to read because there are SO many people out there that are unable to come out and be themselves whether it be religion, sexual orientation, or just their interests, because they know others will look down upon them.  I am very close to some people suffering from the same thing, and to a degree myself.  Are they really affecting anyone else with their beliefs?  They are HAPPY. They should be. Everyone has the right to be.  We shouldn't have to censor who we are to please others, and the others should love you for who you are.  It is hard to be close to others that feel like the love from their family/friends is conditional.  The people that are supposed to love them only do so when the person in question is UNHAPPY ("but they are living the RIGHT way"), and that is sad.

So what if someone is gay?  So what if they drink?  So what if they are Muslim?  Is your life any worse because of it?  Is their happiness an issue for you? "If they were straight they would be happier.  If they never drank.  If they joined (or re-joined) my religion....they would know true happiness." No. They wouldn't. They have probably tried that.  In most cases, I am certain they have.  For many I know, it has been the most freeing experience, and happiest of their lives when they came out, or left their religion, or dressed like they wanted even if it meant their entire families disapprove and lost most of their friends. Again, that is sad.  Nobody deserves that.

He made a great point. One that everyone should realize to be a member of society.  Somewhere, someone thinks what you believe is absolutely wrong.  You seek acceptance, as do they. In their "perfect" world, you don't exist.  The thing is, we all do.  We all are here with different minds, but the one thing we all have in common is that we all want to be happy.  People are happy when there is love and acceptance, not judgments  disapproval, and hatred.  He challenges people to go to someone they wouldn't normally and love them.  I challenge people to go to someone they would normally, and love them more.  Even if it is not how you want them to live, realize that they are happy, and you love them, and love creates happiness in you, and everyone ends up in a good place.  Or not. We can all choose who we want to be.  You can continue judging, and hating, and disapproving, and wishing they were different, and you can live to be disappointed day in and day out.  That is up to you, but I know which one I would rather be.

Glad that's over

This weekend was just meh!

Friday was 11/11/11 which I feel I should comment on, but it was pretty uneventful.  We finally got a second forward carseat.  I have been carrying Sawyer around in his baby one this whole time because we only had one. Before anyone attacks me on the weight thing, we were smarty pantses and bought the 35 lbs Graco one so he was still safe in there. (Most baby ones only go to 22lbs).  Best extra money we ever spent because we didn't ever have to buy a convertible one, and it came with the strap on the font so we didnt have to fiddle with the back straps every time or leave it too loose in order to get him in or out.

Saturday I went to the mall with Jenna to get shoes for Ashley's wedding.  I lucked out and found perfect ones like she wanted on the clearance table for $15, woot!  I just have to re-learn how to walk in 4 inch stilettos again since I haven't worn shoes like that since before I was prego.  I don't need to trip down the aisle. Sawyer didn't nap and was a pain in the butt not wanting to be carried, but screamed everywhere because I wouldn't let him run off. Andy spent the day helping Erik and Destiny move.

Not long before we had to go to Ashley and Brandon's bachelorette/bachelor party Andy cut his finger really bad. We didn't even know how to treat it except to super tightly tape and gauze it.  He showered with plastic over it and we dropped Beany off at my parents for his first overnight there. Apparently he didn't want to sleep until pretty late even though he hadn't had a nap at all that day.

***warning, adult content***

We went to Cheers for the party which was pretty fun.  It was the first party I went to that had all the fun decorations aka wiener straws and gummy boobs, etc. It was so funny, and Ashley and Brandon had dares they had to do on her shirt and cross them off when they did them like "stand up and announce something embarrassing about the other person."  The 3 bridesmaids that went had matching shirts "team bride". A downside was that someone Andy didn't want to run into worked there unbeknownst to us. It was a good time with friends though.  Afterwards we went down to Wayne's with Jenna and Greg (her bf) which was the plan but Brandon had too many already so Ashley had to take him home.  It was funny being team bride without the bride there.  It was way crowded.  Plus the aforementioned person ended up there too which was awkward. I don't think I will go there again on a Saturday for fun. I think it will be awhile before the bar hopping happens again. I feel like I'm too old for that (even if I am only 24.) Actually, I feel like I grew out of that by the time I was 21 lol. I guess that's what happens when you go to school/sorority in Vegas.

We all look weird, but it is the only one I have with our shirts

Ashley and Renee

Sunday was just feel crappy day and was spent doing nothing but laying on the couch.

Right now I just want to move.  I have nothing but my clothes packed. I won't have any motivation to start until we get that call that says we can move the next day.  It is hard to get motivation to do things when you have a life...you know, working all day, eating, exercising, errands, spending time with bebe/taking care of him, the things everyone has to do but everyone knows is tiring and makes you want to sit on the couch and watch TV. Glad that weekend is over though.  I think next weekend will be hectic with Ashley's wedding, but I am excited to have the work week finished and HOPEFULLY our new house!

Thank You

Sawyer must know what season it is.  Andy handed him his sippy cup he was reaching for, and he said "Dank-ooo!" I was just stunned and looked at Andy.  I was like "did you hear that?" and he said it again clearer "Dank-yooou!" and drank his cup.  He did it again right before bed too when Andy gave him his cup.

It is so cool to see what he learns when we are away.  I would never think to teach him "thank you" yet, but he must see the other kids at daycare being taught how to say it since they are a bit older.

In another example, lately, he has been saying "hee-hawww" and I thought he was trying to be a donkey (my mom has an animal sounds see and say that I thought must have had a donkey) but I realized when he said it in the real tone he was saying "yee-haw!" and he even said it while jumping in the air. I thought it was so funny. He must have seen it in a movie at daycare or one of the other kids said it.

The other day he was standing by me and made a funny face and said to me "bo-bo."  I asked him, "what?" Again he said, "bo-bo!" He seemed like he was trying to tell me something so I asked Andy if he taught him that word and what it meant.  Then I smelled him. Ohhhhhh. I guess he learned that word too haha!

Lastly, today he was restless so I started singing "The ants go marching" because I know he loves that song at my mom's house.  He wiggled down and started doing the cutest march to the song, lifting his legs up really high.

It is nice getting little surprises here and there. :) Here is no surprise though, he still LOVES the bathtub!

House update for all wondering:  we are STILL waiting on USDA.  They had to shut down their system to re-do some stuff (not really sure the situation) and apparently it backed up all the loans from a 3 day process to one that can be 10+.  As soon as they push us through we can go sign the papers and get the keys the next day.  It sucks to have to wait because it means we are paying another day on our duplex instead of taking advantage of our free time at the house. We have had to push back our closing date twice now, but they say it should be done by the end of next week. Let's hope!

Walking in the leaves

We decided to go for a walk today on the Orting trail.  We took my parents with and ended up walking 5 miles!  It was really cold, but pretty because of all the deciduous trees.  I think I want to park closer to town next time and walk along a more foothills-y trail than by the neighborhoods.  We stopped at the elementary school to play on the toys before walking back.

Here are a few of my favorites from the other day in our front yard.