Sand=happy

My mom and step-dad, Randy, have a little sandbox in the back yard and you can pretty much guess it's a big hit with the kids. Bria had a great time playing in it on Saturday before we headed to Grammy's for an Easter dinner.

I was also able to capture a few cute shots in my mom's beautiful backyard:

She wanted to get in the hot tub so bad, but settled for the sandbox once she spotted it.

Of course I didn't want her to get her beautiful outfit dirty so I kept telling her to be careful. Then I got smart and put her in a tank top and jeans. It was that warm on Saturday, score!

Bria is under that blond mop ;)

We had fun sitting in the sun and playing in the sand while Brian got the tent trailer all ready to haul.

Did I mention all of us siblings are sharing a tent trailer that Randy found and updated? We are pretty excited. We are actually going camping this weekend and testing it out, yes we are crazy for camping in April in Oregon, but hopefully the rain will stop for a few days so we can enjoy ourselves.

And if all else fails I guess we'll huddle up in the tent trailer and watch movies on our portable DVD player :)

But really, please don't rain on us!

We are completely unpacked and organized now. Brian and I spent last Friday night cleaning and organizing the garage and I'm so happy with it. We threw away a lot of stuff and got everything put into it's little place, I really like doing that. We were hoping to fit the tent trailer and Murano in there, and it technically does but I can't squeeze past it to get into the car so I'm parking in the driveway for now.

Yesterday I organized the laundry closet and the upstairs closet which felt great. Today I cleaned up the 3rd bedroom a little bit more. Could I be nesting already? Probably not, I'm just so excited to have all of our stuff in one place and I am anxious to get it all perfectly organized.

We did find out some frustrating news from the apartment place yesterday, they are being a real pain in the butt about this moving out stuff. I don't want to go into details but let's just say it's causing us headaches and money and I even though I hate confrontation I want to go into the office and scream my head off at this lady. So, if you ever move to Portland, please do not rent from Commons at Hawthorn, they seriously suck.

I'm so mature.

Anyway, to end on a good not we should be schedule our big u/s tomorrow, I think it'll be late next week but I'll let you know :) And I wouldn't mind if people wanted to say hi in the comments, it would be fun to know who's reading.

Gimme more candy!

We are going to need to do an intervention with Bria or maybe put her in candyholics anonymous. Alright and maybe I should go with her. This weekend was full of candy, what better way to remember Jesus coming back from the dead? In fact, I think we give kids treat at Christmas and Easter so they associate God with candy and that makes them even happier.

Anywho, we need to go on some kind of cleanse because we are all sugared up.

I have lots of pictures from the weekend, these first two are out of order but I couldn't resist adding them.

Getting her Easter basket from Grammy on Saturday. We thought that would help her get in a better mood since she was tired and cranky.

It did help.

My pretty girl on Easter morning.

Now for some family photos:

We are ALL looking at the camera and smiling!!!! Huge success.

Another success!

One with Grammy :)

Grammy and her granddaughter

Heather, Bria and Grammy

Bria had fun going on an Easter egg hunt, and fortunately the weather cooperated momentarily on Saturday so it could be done outside. Normally in Oregon Easter egg hunts are held indoors due to crappy, rainy, windy, weather. So we were pretty stoked we could do it outside this year. We didn't coordinate very well in terms of eggs because we (us, Heather and Grammy) each had at least 20 eggs for Bria to find so she had to find over 60 eggs and she was still in half tantrum mode.

I decided to open up an egg and let her eat some candy, ya know, thinking it would give her an incentive to find all the eggs she could.

Yeah, I'm such an amateur because that just led to more tantrums. Every egg she picked up she wanted open right then and there.

I learned my lesson.

Since Bria didn't nap she proceeded to conk out before 8 pm and slept until almost 8:30 am, it was awesome. She woke up in a great mood and I was excited because it meant she would be in a good mood for church.

On our way to church.

They had a little Easter egg hunt at church for the kids and Bria really enjoyed it. She didn't throw a fit or try to open any eggs.

She got so excited every time she found an egg.

This little girl was so sweet and put an egg in Bria's basket just to be nice. She also happened to be dressed in this precious little purple dress and matching hat.

After the Easter egg hunt it was time for the Easter breakfast they serve at church.

Bria was such a good eater. She had scrambled eggs, ham, french toast, a muffin and some orange juice.

Then she wanted candy.

And when I didn't give it to her she got sad.

And stuck out her tiny lip.

And my heart melted so I gave her candy. I'm such a hard ass ;)

During the service Bria did really well. There were two little girls that sat behind us and were so nice to her, they gave her stickers and kept her entertained. Bria loved when we sang and liked to clap during and after the song.

Once service was over Bria became a maniac and wanted to get all her wiggles out so she RAN all over the place. I stopped chasing her because I realized it was egging her on. She liked climbing on the stairs and sitting there.

It was a great Easter and I'm thankful she did so well. I cannot believe that next Easter we'll have 2 little kids, so weird!

A sneak peek

I snapped a few pictures of our house the other day. I debated posting them because we still have a little work to do but thought, who cares.

Here is Bria's room. Wait, what is that on the right side?

A big girl bed!

We are currently in transition from a baby room to a toddler room. We purchased a twin bed and mattress and set it up so Bria can get use to it. Her new room will be purple and green with TinkerBell accents. Although, her new obsession with Jessie from Toy Story has me wondering if we should do a cowgirl theme. But we already have TinkerBell stuff so that will have to do :)

I am VERY excited about our walk in closet, plenty of room and we each get our own side, yay!

I didn't take pictures of the whole thing because that would just be crazy ;) But I did want to show you how nice and organized it is, thanks Jen!

And here is our bedroom, it's very spacious and has a cool area that steps down.

We are going to put a desk in the sunken part so Brian can use it when he works from home.

(And yes our curtains are brown and the duvet cover is gray, we are still in the process of redecorating)

Here is the playroom/office that is off the kitchen. Still figuring out how to set this room up.

This is from the living room looking up the stairs. I think my favorite part about the house (besides A/C, wahoo!) is all the natural light. It's so bright, I love it.

From the living room looking into the formal dining room. We don't have 2 tables so this area is the wine room/MJ kennel place (hence the big red square thing).

The living room (and a cute toddler in her pj's)

The nook

The kitchen

I still need to snap a photo of the outside as well as the 3rd bedroom but those will have to wait. I'm still in my pj's so I don't want to go outside and the 3rd bedroom is still a work in progress. We have a queen bed in there now for visitors, but come September we'll turn it into a nursery.

Things are going pretty well. Bria's waking up a little earlier than usual but that might be the new house thing still. She is cracking me up daily with her funny expressions. The other day I was disciplining her and after I was done with my little Mom speech she came over to me and said, "Don't worry Mom, it's not your fault," whilst patting me softly. I took it as her saying, "It's the pregnancy hormones making you so moody Mom, don't worry, Daddy explained it to me."

I am getting so excited for Easter this weekend, probably because Bria is old enough to "look" for eggs and get excited. We are heading down to Corvallis to Grammy's house (Brian's mom) for dinner on Saturday and then church on Sunday. Let's hope Bria does well in church :)

We are all moved!

It feels so incredible to be done with the big move and mostly unpacked. I love having easy access to ALL of our stuff. We had so much help on Saturday and I seriously owe our family and friends a lot, they made moving day so much easier. Jenny came up yesterday and helped me hang stuff and organize and now it feels sooo homey, I love it. I can't believe how fast it all happened, I'm so happy.

Brian and I are in love with this house, there is ample amounts of natural light and so much space. We just feel so good here and are so happy that we moved.

Bria is doing ok. The first night in the house I thought she was getting sick because she felt really warm and then fell asleep in my arms while Brian was hanging up her curtains. She woke up at 10 pm that night in a pool of her own sweat and I felt horrible for her. She woke up a few more times that night and we were all pretty darn tired in the morning. Well, Brian got to sleep in until 10 am because I am a nice wife and realized he had worked his butt off moving all our stuff. Seriously, he did a lot.

Anyway, Bria has done better the last two nights, although her naps are not good. I think it may be teething mixed with something. She keeps saying her mouth hurts, poor thing. I do think she really likes the house though, she has a big play room downstairs and lots of room to run around in, plus her own backyard which she loves. I just think it's still an adjustment for her, to be somewhere new and have a new bedroom. Heck, even I haven't been sleeping well.

I am going to take some pictures today (hopefully) so I can show you all our new casa, I know you are dying to see it ;)

And here are a few pictures, I haven't taken many since we've been so busy.

Bria helping Daddy take the bed apart.

Bria's favorite little room in our new house. It's under the stairs and I've already put blankets, stuffed animals, and her dollhouse in there.

She's very happy here :)

She's got spirit, yes she does!

Obviously Brian and I are big Oregon State fans. We met in college, cheered there together, and graduated from there. College holds some of our best memories. And even though we may not be financial donors right now (one day we'll make a big donation and then they'll name the stadium after us ;) we are prepping our daughter to go there:

O! S! U! Oregon State, fight fight fight!

And just so you know she's been spirited since the beginning:

Can you believe my Bria use to be that little? Well, her legs use to be bigger :) I know you want to eat her chubby legs Aunt LoAnn!

Oh mr. sun, sun, mr. golden sun...

Since the sun doesn't seem to be shining enough for my hair to lighten up, I went and had it done artificially. Actually, I was just well over do for a hair cut and decided to mix things up and get some blond highlights.

Before.

After.

I'm happy with how it turned out, plus it just feels healthier.

This week I am busy packing up the apartment so I thought I would try and throw a bunch of pictures in one post to hold the grandparents over for awhile ;)

I super duper love the following pictures, these two people make me all giddy and happy:

"Here's lookin' at you kid!"

"Is that a booger on my finger?"

"Eat my booger, Mom."

It's unseasonably cold here this month and that makes me sad. I am so ready to go outside and feel warmth, instead of having to wear my winter coat and gloves. So we still try and think of indoor activities to do to keep Bria entertained. I decided to have her help me make some cookies, I've been looking forward to this day for a long time. For some reason I've always thought how fun it would be to make cookies with her. She may still be a little young but we sure had fun, even if the KitchenAid scared her a little.

Stirring the flour

Bria ate cookie dough while I plopped it all on the pan.

Still eating the cookie dough

The cookies turned out especially delicious since Bria put her love (aka saliva) in there ;)

We have had a few sunny days here and there and everyone and their dog goes to the park. Including us. Minus our dog.

It feels so good to see the sun and my skin thanks me, seriously, I am so pasty that I know my skin is missing a little sun exposure.

Grammy gave Bria a bubble machine and she LOVES it. I'm going to have to try and make some bubble solution because she could sit out there for hours and chase bubbles.

We met Lanie and Bristol at the park along with Lanie's cousin and her two girls. They were all in heaven being outside and playing with each other.

I love when little kids hold hands, it's so precious.

This week we are staying busy with fun stuff and with packing. Yesterday was gymnastics class and Bria did so well. She loves the bar, they have a short one for little kids and she'll hang on it and swing her feet up in between her hands, it's very impressive :) She also loves the foam pit and especially loves when I throw her in it. She is getting a lot better at jumping, still does more of a gallop than a two footed jump, but she's getting better each time.

This morning we went to the Zoo with Lanie and Bristol (pictures to come) and had such a good time. Love going there.

Tomorrow Lanie and Bristol are coming over to help us pack and the rest of the week will be more packing :)

I'm looking forward to being done with this whole moving stuff, we plan on being in this house for years and hope it works out that way because I despise moving.

I like when we're all settled and get to have fun, like going out to dinner on Friday nights, I always look forward to that :)

Last Friday was Red Robin. Mmmm, burger.

My two cuties.

Wish us luck packing and moving, we have lots of help from friends and family which is so much appreciated. It makes it ten times easier when you have help.