Do the Puyallup!

Last weekend, Ryan, Nathan, and I went up to Washington to visit my family. It had been almost 2 years since we had been to their house so we were really excited to go. They live in downtown Puyallup which is such a fun place to be! We didn't get to stay long but we did get to go to the Puyallup Fair while we were there. If you live in that area, you go to the fair every fall, no matter what. The schools even have a fair day so the kids can get out of school to go! I had not been since high school so I was really excited! Since my parents now live downtown, they are only a few blocks away from the fair and they got us free tickets! Ryan and I went on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed walking around together and seeing all the fun exhibits. We didn't go on any rides because it's just not worth the money to us but we did see the giant mama pig and her brand new babies. Is it silly that seeing all those tiny little baby piggies with their mama made me sad that Nathan was not with us? He had fun without us though. He got to go with Nana and Leslie to their primary activity and later did a photo shoot with Nana and Papa. We got our hands stamped and went back to the fair later that day to take Nathan to see the animals. We thought he would love seeing them since he spent the whole weekend trying to get his hands on my parents new dog. Poor Lucy! I think she was terrified of him (he's about her size). It is so nice to be only 4 hours away from my family!

This nice boy let us pet his baby goat. Nathan doesn't look very into it here but he loved it! I am holding his hand because he kept grabbing the poor goat's face and I was afraid it would bite him! So I let him pet it's back instead but unfortunately for the goat, it had nice thick, long hair on it's back that Nathan was able to get a good handful of. The boy and the goat were both very patient with us. Maybe we will try again next year when I don't have to worry about a fistful of goat hair going straight into my baby's mouth!

Ryan took Nathan into the petting zoo were he got to pet more goats. There were baby chicks too but we though it wise to keep his grabby fists away from them. Sorry I cut your face off Ryan! I had to make sure I got enough goat in the picture from the other side of the fence.

Here's our baby model from his photo shoot with Nana and Papa! He looks like he is about to pop out of his clothes!

If you want to hear more about our funding, check out the story on Ryan's blog.

Funding

That's right.

Funding.

We got it.

Going Green (and Yellow)

Well, we've survived Oregon for two weeks now. Things are now starting to feel better for me. It's always hard to move to a new place but I think this has been the hardest move for me by far. First of all, I really didn't realize what a culture shock I was going to get moving here. I didn't grow up in a predominantly LDS area but after living in clean-cut Idaho and Utah for the past 3 years I was surprised to find how "shocked" I was when we got here. Also, this is the very first time that we have ever moved and I haven't had a way to meet people. Of course, we have met a few people in our new ward (I miss the Bountiful 15th SO much!) but I am not working or going to school and I feel a little (A LOT!!!!) stranded. I did join the local stay at home moms group and while I have yet to join them for an activity, I feel better knowing I have options. Ryan has been leaving me the car when he goes to class but I am so bad with directions and I still have no perception of where we are located compared to everything else! I would get so lost! Plus, I hate driving.

We are living in a townhouse duplex in Springfield on a street of other duplexes. We are about 5 miles from school in Eugene so Ryan rides his bike every day. As far as I can tell our neighbor on the other side of the duplex is a single guy. He's pretty quiet but something about him is a little creepy. I have never met him even though I tried twice to bring cookies over. He didn't answer so I finally took that as a sign to eat the cookies myself. On the other side there is a house with it's back to us (we are on the corner) and some loud middle-aged people living there. They like to BBQ with loud music and alcohol. We finally met him the other day and I was amazed by how NICE he is. His name is Jim, a big guy with a t-shirt that says "eat. sleep. hunt." and he smells like beer and cigarettes but he tells us all about how much he likes children and that the days his two children were born were the best of his life and that he felt that God was there with a hand on his shoulder helping to raise his children. He also invited us to come to one of his BBQ's. I'm pretty sure he's going to keep hollering to us to come over every time he leave the house until we accept. Despite his demeanor, he seems to be a genuinely good man.

My mom was able to come down to see us this weekend and it was so nice to see her. She always helps me put life in perspective so I'm feeling a little bit more at home now. But, I'm not kidding myself. I know she just came to see Nathan :)

I plan to take pictures of our new place once it's clean and we have pictures hung and such (so, you know, in about 6 months or so) and then I will post them for your viewing pleasure.

If any of you other stay at home moms have any ideas about how to meet people, let me know!

Five Months Old!

I can't believe Nathan is already five months old! He is so grown up! He is eating all sorts of new foods. There is nothing he doesn't like! He is talking like crazy and so much fun! He has also discovered his feet and how to make noises with his lips. Mostly he just blows spit a lot. He's still working of rolling and scooting. So much fun! We love our little man so much! In other news, we are still getting settled in Oregon and I admit I am having a bit of culture shock after living in Idaho and Utah for the last few years. We'll keep you posted about our new home.

Here's Nathan wearing one of Daddy's old baseball outfits. (The tag says 12 months)

Eating yummy carrots

Most people who see Nathan say he is really serious because he loves to stare at strangers.

But he loves to smile a lot too.

What a grown up boy!

We think he is so cute!

Nathan loves to read books (did I say read books? I meant eat books).

Helping Daddy celebrate his first day as a Grad student!