more noises

I'm fully aware that we're biased, but we think our daughter is adorable. Here's a video to prove it. :)

 

You'd think that with 4 digital cameras in our house, at least one of them would take decent video. Not so. Sorry for the poor quality/background buzzing noise.

photo dump

I figured I could post some photos since we've been bad about updating. I'll put a little blurb about each picture.

 6/20/13 - Elise was about a week shy of 3 months old. I hadn't put her in the Bumbo before, but Brian had and said that she liked it. I just thought she looked cute. :) (And I think it's funny that it looks like the bib is about half as big as her body.)

 7/1/13 - She's started chewing on her hands all the time. This is a pretty typical pose for her.

 7/6/13 - This was her second time in Nauvoo in about as many months (I went with some of Brian's family when she was a month old - this was with my family for the Winder reunion). Cousin J was apparently ok playing on the sheep, but Elise didn't really want anything to do with it.

 7/7/13 - Still in Nauvoo. Grandma (my mom) was holding her so I could get some pictures with her cute headband and matching booties (made by Brian's mom). Unfortunately, she was moving too much to get the booties in the picture. I got a couple with cuter facial expressions, but sadly, they were all blurry.

 7/8/13 - Saying hi to the oxen after the little covered wagon ride. I enjoyed the horse/wagon and carriage rides too, but the oxen and wagon ride was the perfect length of time for little kids. I highly recommend it!

 7/9/13 - Holding hands with cousin J. This was posed, but only because they had done it before (by themselves) and we wanted a picture. J loved Elise!

 7/17/13 - During the summer, our ward does something called Picnic in the Park. The RS puts together a schedule, and whoever wants to can meet at the designated park (different every week) on Wednesday morning. People can bring lunch, the kids play, the moms chat, and everyone has a good time. This one was at the Powell splash pad. Elise had never been swimming, so I wasn't sure how she would react; although she didn't like being sprayed/splashed, she did seem to like being wet. (We actually took her swimming for the first time, at OSU, on Friday 7/26.)

 7/17/13 - I can't remember why, but I needed Brian to watch Elise for a little bit. When I came back, I noticed she wasn't moving and asked if she was asleep (I couldn't tell at first). Brian didn't think so because she had been moving around a minute or two before. Apparently it was just too much fun for one day, and she passed out. (Shout out to Betsy for passing on this activity gym - she LOVES it!)

7/26/13 - Hanging out with Daddy on the banana chairs. Sure, she looks like a boy in this picture, but we still think she's adorable. :)

save me

...from myself. I made cinnamon rolls even though I knew I shouldn't. They may not look that pretty, but they smell incredible. The recipe I use is called "The Cinnabon Rolls." Last time I made them, Brian agreed that they were about as good as Cinnabon's. Yum!

Fortunately, I haven't succumbed to the temptation to eat any yet. That may be because it's 11:30 PM and I'm still extremely full from dinner. We had friends over and made BBQ pulled pork, sweet potato fries, and artichoke dip. Our friends (2 separate families, a total of 4 adults and 3 kids) brought baked beans, homemade macaroni and cheese, and a delicious dessert bread.

For those of you who don't know, Brian "finished" our basement - covered the walls and ceiling and put down carpet - basically so that we could have large groups of people over for dinner/parties. The largest group we've had so far is 14, including ourselves (2 of those were kids, but that's still a big group). Every time Brian suggests that we have people over - which happens every week now - I have this urge to resist because I think of how much work it will be to prepare all the food and everything. We've had potlucks every time, so that takes some of the stress off of us, but we always provide the main part of the meal (thus far, grilled chicken the first two weeks and rice and chicken gravy for Hawaiian haystacks the third week). The funny thing is, once we've actually invited everyone over, I get really excited about cooking and usually end up overdoing it on the food prep (as in, I make more than we originally planned on providing). I suppose that's not a bad thing, it's just funny that I resist even though I know from experience that I'm going to enjoy the cooking and the company.

mini triathlon

before - I decided to just wear my swimsuit under my running clothes

In a moment of speaking-before-thinking, I managed to sign myself up for a mini triathlon. It happened so fast that I didn't even realize what I was doing until it was done. I'm not generally one to back out of things, so I decided I would do my best to train and get ready in the ~6 weeks I had before the race.

As it turns out, I'm incredibly motivated by grades. (Who knew? Ok, let's be honest...we all knew that.) Brian set up a training program for me, which is very similar to this program that we did at BYU while we were dating. In his program, I can get one point for biking 4 miles (stationary bike, since it's too cold for real biking, that's what I have access to at the gym, and that was what we used for the mini tri), one point for running one mile, and one point for swimming 5 laps (the pool is 25 yards for one length, so 5o for a lap). He did specify that I can get fractions of points, as long as I get a minimum of one point per workout. Being nerdy, I decided to keep track of my points in a spreadsheet. :) Brian's "grading scale" requires that I get at least 10 points per week in order to get an A (on average...if I get more in one week and less in another, it still works).

Well, I wanted my A. (He threatened to calculate it into my GPA.) So this is the end of week 6 of training, and I currently have an average of 15 points per week (min = 6.6 - it was a crazy week; max = 20.05). Brian told me I might have to take 202 next quarter because I'm doing so well (apparently this is Training 101). ;)

Anyway, the mini tri was yesterday. There were a total of 9 women competing, and we were divided up into teams so we'd all start at different parts of the race (the gym wasn't really big enough to accommodate everyone in one place at the same time). I did the run first (2 miles), then swam (6 laps in a 20 m pool = 240 m) and biked (7 miles on a random hill program). I didn't place in the top 3 in any of the categories, but I did get 4th place overall. That made me proud, but it was actually my overall time that I was the most excited about. From my workouts at OSU's gym, I had estimated that I'd be able to do it in about an hour, not including transitions (it turned out we didn't count transitions into our times). Well, something must have been different at the race, because my overall time was 41:36! I'm not sure I've ever run 2 miles that fast (17:11), and my bike was about 10 minutes faster than any of my training times (17:20).

some of us after finishing (showing off our numbers, of course)
the woman in the middle (in black) is the one who organized the race

this is the awesome shirt we each got - it says "Mama's Mini Tri: It's Mini, but I Tri-ed! February 11, 2012"

Other notes:
1. The race was geared toward moms who wanted to have something to train for during the winter to stay motivated about working out. Kami (the organizer, who is in our ward) said it was ok that I'm not a mom (I was the only one) because I'm a potential/future mom.

2. When I started training at the beginning of January, I realized that my Speedo was not really modest anymore. Not sure how long it had been that way, but let's just say the material in the bum was getting a little thin...oops. I don't think it was necessarily noticeable while I was wearing it, but I decided it was ok to buy a new suit since I had had that one since Dec. 2003 (and I got it used, so it was even older). I don't have any pictures of me in my new suit, but it looks similar to this one (black and white).

3. It was fun enough that I'm contemplating doing a sprint tri. I'll have to actually find one in Ohio that's on a Saturday, but I think it would be awesome to do it.

4. Now that the tri is over, I'm going to continue training (Brian's program wasn't just for the tri). I just signed up for the Cap City Half Marathon in May, so I'll be focusing more on running now. We also might do the Wasatch Back Ragnar in June if Brian doesn't end up going to Copenhagen.

5. I've been feeling much better/stronger physically, and I've even been able to lose some of the weight that I put on last quarter. I'm not exactly fat, but I'm above what I feel is my ideal weight (where I feel the best), so this was a good motivation to get back in shape, especially now that my knee is feeling better.

photo update

It's time to throw some more pics on here.

(8/5/11) Brian and I went camping at the equestrian site in Alum Creek State Park.

(8/5/11) We found this while exploring. No idea what kind of animal it came from.

(8/29/11) We had a lot of trouble figuring out what to put on the big wall in our living room. Finally, I decided to buy canvases and paint so we could make our own art. :) This was an FHE project.

(8/29/11) Brian's spooky painting.

(8/29/11) My painting. I decided to call it "Window to the Imagination."

(9/14/11) Some friends and I went and picked Honeycrisp apples (aka "Honeycrack apples" according to one friend, haha). I made some yummy applesauce and then used some of it to make apple butter. My first attempt ever, and it turned out to be delicious! (I did can more applesauce later but didn't document it with photos.)

(9/18/11) Another lovely product of the apple bounty. Shhh...I used a store-bought crust. It doesn't look very pretty, but I assure you it tasted wonderful. :)

(10/15/11) A.W. Marion State Park - ward campout. This place was beautiful!

(10/15/11) A.W. Marion State park - ward campout.

(10/28/11) Brian and I decided to check out the Indian mounds at Highbanks Metropark. These aren't the mounds, but I love this picture! It was a beautiful evening and a great hike.

(10/22/11) "I'd like to buy a vowel, Pat." This is how we dressed up for our ward's Trunk or Treat/Chili Cook-off. All the adults thought it was great/hilarious - we even won the award for "Most Original Costumes." (We were trying to compete with our friends, the Carpers, for the "Best Couple" award. They won it with their Scrabble piece costumes, but we were happy with our originality award.) The kids were enthralled by the game but had no idea what Wheel of Fortune actually was (which made me feel old...and sad). Also, remind me never to go blonde.

(10/31/11) We went to a Halloween party but everyone had already seen our Wheel of Fortune costumes, so we had to switch it up. I'm an imaginary friend.

shark attack!

(Note to self: Fingers have lots of nerves; stabbing yourself with a toothpick is painful both at the time and a day later. It was worth the pain though.)

date night

Brian and I went on a date last night. One of his co-workers had recommended Cap City Diner, so we headed down to check it out. It seems to be pretty popular, because we had to wait for a bit (less than 20 minutes, I think). It was absolutely worth the wait! The service was fantastic - I swear they brought our food like 5 minutes after we ordered - and the food was delicious. We even splurged and got some peanut butter pie for dessert. Yum! :)

After dinner, we headed over to campus so Brian could show me some pretty trees. There's an arboretum right on the edge of campus, and we just parked and wandered around for a bit. OSU doesn't seem to have any free places to park, so we ended up paying at a lot right next to the arboretum. Funny story: It was $1.50 to park for an hour (not too bad), and Brian suddenly remembered the song "They Paved Paradise." (It was originally by Joni Mitchell, but he only knows the cover by Counting Crows.)

They took all the trees, and put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot

OK, I'm not sure why that was so funny to us, but it was.

After we got all hot and sweaty from wandering outside (we live in a sauna!), we climbed back in the air-conditioned car and headed to the Park of Roses. Neither of us had been there before, and I'm not sure why it's taken us this long. It was getting dark, but it was still gorgeous. We'll have to go back in the daytime. I told Brian I like the yellow roses, especially the buds that haven't fully bloomed yet. He may have picked a small one for me (shh! don't tell!). I think I'll have to go back and take some pictures for practice with my camera. :)

sewing projects

I got a sewing machine recently, as Brian mentioned previously. It was sort of for our anniversary, but I'd been wanting one for a while. I finally broke down and bought one because I had a few mending projects I needed to do that would have been way too hard/time-consuming to do by hand. I finished those right away when I got the machine, but then I wanted to find some other things to do with it.

I decided a baby blanket would be a good first project since I haven't done much sewing before. My sister-in-law, Kate, is having a baby in June, and even though it'll be her 3rd baby/2nd boy, I figured it would be fun to make a quilt for him. (She didn't know I was doing it until I mailed it to them.) I didn't realize how hard it is to pick coordinating fabric! I ended up finding a cute boy-looking polka dot fabric and then just got solid colors that matched with it. (Yes, I was making everything up as I went along.)











L - I sewed the squares into strips and laid them out
R - after ironing the strips, sewing them together, and ironing again (not completely even/straight, but I did the best I could, and it was my first time)














L - blue color for the backing; light batting since they live in CA; cut the backing slightly bigger than the front so I could fold it over and use that as a binding (this is a picture of it pinned together)
R - the finished quilt, tied with white yarn

I know the pictures don't look a whole lot different from each other, but I wanted to document each step (for future reference). I think it turned out pretty cute. :) I didn't want to post pictures until I was sure they had received the package since it was a surprise - I haven't asked if they got it, but it's been about 2 weeks since I sent it, so I think it's a safe bet.

My next project was to make Brian's man's apron, as he calls it. I guess "apron" is too girly of a word, so he has to specify. ;) I got a heavy black fabric (twill, I believe) and made everything from it, including the ties and adjustable neck strap. He also specifically asked for pockets so he can put spices and stuff in there when he's grilling. I decided the easiest way would be to use my own apron as a pattern (my mom and I made mine using my dad's as a pattern), especially since I really like the style of it. Here's how it turned out (I made Brian pose, and he decided to use BBQ tools as props):

L - striking a manly pose
C - being weird with the grilling tools
R - showing off the pockets (it was hard to see otherwise because it's black on black)

I think my next project is going to be bean bags for the Corn Hole game Brian is making. I also need to add a little fabric to the top of my bathing suit. :) More on those to come.

Cleveland

In mid-April, we met the Wessmans (Brian's sister/family) in Cleveland because the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships were being held there. Mike and Marinda are really into the University of Utah gymnastics, and the team made it to nationals, so it was a good excuse to get together. I love watching gymnastics too, so I was excited to be able to see a meet in person. We went to the semifinals on Friday night, and Utah made it to the finals, so we all went again on Saturday night.

The Wessmans rented a house for the weekend instead of having to get a bunch of hotel rooms which was pretty cool. On Saturday morning, we headed out to Kirtland for a while to see some of the sites. Brian had never taken the temple tour or the tour of the historic sites, and he was almost giddy when he realized we could go inside the Whitney store and some of the other buildings. But enough talking...here are some pictures:

Brian outside the Kirtland temple. It rained a lot that day.

The Newel K. Whitney store in Kirtland. I know pictures are generally more interesting with people in them (at least the ones I take), but I couldn't resist taking this because the light was really cool.

Abby showing me the "pretty leaf" she found at historic Kirtland. I thought it was cute.

Briton at the gymnastics meet. He's such a cute little guy.

Brian and me at the house we stayed at for the weekend.

I'm realizing now that I didn't take any pictures of Mike and Marinda or Hannah. Meh.

bullets

I've got a random collection of news to share, so I'm going to bullet it up. :)

• I got accepted to OSU! I'll be starting school in the fall. I haven't heard about transfer credits yet, but I'm really hoping it won't take longer than a year to finish up. Here's to graduation! And GO BUCKS!!

• We had family come visit about a week ago. Dad came down from MI on Friday night, and Scott/Laura/Laura/Ben got here on Saturday morning (ish for the Pacinis). It was a blast to visit with all of them. I was bummed they couldn't stay longer, but the time we had together was fantastic. Mostly, we just hung out and ate, haha. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time though. I simply adore my family. :D

Brian and Dad playing Boccer Ball. We got it for Christmas, and it was a huge hit with all the boys. We gave 3 separate house tours, and there was a spontaneous game every time. ;)

• Brian bought some electrical conduit a month or two ago so we could make a giant marble run. (Yes, we're nerds!). That lasted for a day or two, and it's been sitting in our basement since then. We used part of one when we were working on emergency preparedness and were filling up jugs of water for storage (we unhooked the washer and used the conduit piece as a hose from the faucet). However, Brian found a great use for them a few days ago. We made a fort over our bed! It's been fun to have a little "secret place" in our room, and it's actually been keeping me a little warmer. What can I say, we're little kids at heart. :)
  

It was surprisingly difficult to get a decent shot of the structure. Sorry for the lame pics. And yes, that is a blanket and a sheet on top for the outside of the tent.

• Our amaryllis finally bloomed! We bought it around Christmas, just for fun. At first, we were afraid that it had died, but then it started growing a couple leaves. Last week, one of the flowers blossomed, and the other opened up a few days ago. I wouldn't go so far as to say that my black thumb is gone, but it's fun to grow things. ;) We want to plant some sort of garden in our little plot out back. It's too bad we don't have more room, because after working at the nursery last summer, I have big ideas for planting stuff. We'll probably at least grow some veggies this summer.

I was practicing taking pictures with our new camera, and I liked this one pretty well.

• I went with my friend Lisa to a couple free Friday classes at Jazzercise in March. It was really fun and a good workout, so we both decided to sign up. I know it sounds kinda dorky, but I love it! You can go to unlimited classes (as a member), and they have a good variety of times that work around my schedule. I've been doing mornings when I work at night, and I'd actually like to try one of the night classes to see how they are, especially since I do work mornings sometimes. The hardest part for me is that I've never taken any dance and they use a lot of dance moves and language, so I don't always know what they're talking about or how to do it. I'm learning though, and I'm pretty sure my muscles appreciate the exercise. :)

• Brian signed up to run the RAGNAR in June, so we'll be heading out to UT then. No solid plans for now, but we'd like to be out there for at least a week. Here's hoping that flights will get cheaper!