Nesting and mess making

So! You may have noticed an increase in the posts around here recently about decorating and/or cleaning the house. I was trying to get the house all organized and in shape before we had our baby. I was pretty determined, and even printed off all the baby steps from Fly Lady, and taped them to the back of my bathroom door, totally and completely gearing up for post graduation, pre-baby having, good habit forming boot camp.

See, Mark is naturally a very organized and neat person. And I, on the other hand...am not.

But! I know how much he likes to have things clean, so I really try to make things nice for him so he feels comfortable. So! That was the plan: Make. Good. Habits.

The other focus was on not volunteering myself to do too many things. See, I would also say that I am a creative person, and periodically I need to make something or I will explode. But, when I get into one of those creative moods...somehow (I am not quite sure) the house is destroyed in the process. And every time I am surprised (that's the part Mark thinks is hilarious). I will look around at the aftermath and ask in disbelief "what was I thinking?!" Mark will just laugh, shake his head, and shrug. I am daily surprised at how lucky I am to be married to Mark. When a man can go to sleep with the house looking great, then wake up with the house looking some-what-less-than-great (aka a disaster-her) and take it all in stride...it is pretty remarkable. I sure love my husband.

So! The nesting period of my pregnancy culminated in reorganizing every closet in our house, taking several van loads to good will, washing all of our laundry, cleaning out my closet and shoe collection, and deep cleaning all the rooms in the house. I got up, and for several days, the only thing I wanted to do was organize and clean stuff. I would try to come up with an activity for the afternoon and the best thing I could come up with was, "I know! Let's clean out Mark's sock drawer!"

I thought it was cabin fever from winter and not used to being out of school, but my mom said it seemed like I was "nesting" and I thought, "oh, how funny! Since I am not even near time to have this baby, I wonder what I will be like in a few months!".

It's strange in hind sight how a lot of the time our bodies are smarter than we are, and when we are near to giving birth, these hormones (which I think are responsible for nesting?) kick in, regardless of how far along we are. In hind-site, it is good that I did this whole nesting thing, because after we got back from the hospital, I was in pain and I didn't want to move because it hurt. :-)

Luckily! The house was clean, the laundry was done, the freezer was stocked, and things were ok. We could just take time to be with family and friends, and that was a real blessing.

My First Pregnancy

When I first found out that we were going to have a baby, I was very excited, and very nervous. Obviously, being a parent is not something I had done before, and I didn't know what to expect. So! Like any good engineer, I started doing research. I went to the library and checked out a million books. And then I read and I read and I talked with my mom and my sisters, and it really helped me feel more secure. Being a first time parent is intimidating. To complicate matters, there are so many different takes on what a "good" parent is and does. A lot of the stuff I sifted through, I put back. It didn't sit with what me and mark think about being parents, and what we want for our family and relationship with our kids. My favorite advise came from a book my sister sent me (more on that later!). It was awesome! The book also had really helpful information about the mechanics about being a parent-what to look for when your kid gets sick, what to do when this happens, how to breast feed, how to change a diaper, etc. It also had information on weird things that may happen that are actually normal that you should not worry about (like the black poop babies have when they are first born, for instance. Strange! Good thing someone told me so that I don't think my child's intestines are melting)

Mark was just excited the whole time, and would tell me about how he was going to teach the baby to throw food and tease mommy (which made me feel so much more confident that our kid would turn out normal) ;-) "Remember, you probably shouldn't teach him that licking people is a good way to make friends". Mostly Mark says those things to tease me. I think ;-)

Here are some of my favorite things that happened in this pregnancy:

For starters, I really liked the pregnancy work-out/yoga videos that you can rent from the library or watch on netflix. The variety was really nice, and the workouts helped my back to not be so sore. And! It made me happy! :-) Some of them, at the end of the practice, would have meditation time with the baby, and you would sit there and breath and think about the baby and just spend time with them. I really liked that. It is really easy to just go about life and not remember that there is a little person growing inside of you and take the time to enjoy it.

I completely loved the stretchy pants that my mom sent me in a fabulous pregnancy care package. Pants that don't make me feel fat? Shirts that don't make me look fat? Dark chocolate?Best Gift Ever! Totally wonderful. It was just like a long distance hug :-) My sister and my mom went shopping and got me wonderful clothing. It was so very much appreciated. When you are first getting big, your clothes get tight, and you don't realize how uncomfortable your belly is until you get into something that is made for you. Pregnancy clothes are soo not over rated. They are awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you mom!

As far as food cravings go, I loved crunchy tacos from taco bell. I think that was the only thing that I "craved" with this baby. Once I even asked mark to get me some late at night. Yes, it is true. And he did! :-D He was already out and he was calling me to tell me he was on his way home...so asking him to stop and get me crunchy tacos, while being an odd request, was not way out of line. And they were very yummy. mmmm.

And as far as weird food aversions go, apparently, milk chocolate was a bad idea. Lets just say, I ate some that came in my Christmas stocking, and 5 minutes later it made for a not-so-merry Christmas morning, let me tell you. But! Luckily! Dark chocolate was a-ok. Hallelujah!

My sister also send me a pregnancy care package!! :-D I was extreemly spoiled, I know :-) Her package contained the wonderful baby book I mentioned, an extremely wonderful nightgown, several super cute tops, and other nursing essentials :-) Thanks the Teek! And let me just say, that baby book was incredible. It's called "The Baby Book" and I completely love it. It is written by a pediatrician and his wife (who is a nurse) and they have had 7 children together. It is laid out chronologically by topic and covers parenthood from prenatal to 2 years old. They talk about their personal experience as parents and their combined experiences counseling and working with lots and lots of first time parents over the years. And their takeaway message, in my opinion, is that well informed parents instinctively know how to care for their own kids. They say that there is a lot of advise out there, but that parents should make decisions for themselves and their family after finding out information. They also really encourage communication between the parents, like "here are some facts, here are different opinions, here is our personal opinion, now you should think about it and talk with your spouse and decide what is best for your family". Such a good book! I highly recommend it.

I think my most favorite thing about this pregnancy was feeling the baby move. I remember very well the first time I felt the baby move. I was lying in bed, on my stomach, and all the sudden I felt this twinge down in my guts. And I thought to myself, "huh. That was a a little weird. I don't think I have ever felt something quite lik-" then it dawned on me, I sat up real fast and said, "OH MY GOODNESS.....I THINK.... I JUST FELT THE BABY MOVE!"

Then I proceeded to tell mark-in detail-over and over what happened. Lucky him, eh?:-)

The next time I clearly felt the baby move, I was in bed, and I was sitting crossed legged and folded in half (I like to sit like that when I sleep/when I'm trying to sleep) and all the sudden there was this *pam!* in my guts. And I thought to myself, "Oh my goodness! That must have been the baby! ....oh wait..." then I sit up as I realize, "oh no! I must be squishing you! I'm sorry little baby!"

I am really glad that Mark finally did get to feel him move when we were at the hospital. He was not able to feel him ever, not once, during the whole pregnancy until the night before he was born. We were in the hospital and the little guy was moving like crazy and kicking the monitor, so I called mark over, put his hand on my tummy and waited. And the little guy kicked, and kicked, and kicked for his daddy! It was a wonderful moment. I am so grateful that Mark was able to have that experience.

At the end of the day, it is an amazing and humbling experience to be pregnant. After all the reading and the thinking and the talking, the undeniable fact is there was a little miracle happening inside of me and there was extremely little I could do to influence it. I could eat good, sleep, relax, and exercise, and that was about it. I could love the baby, pray for the baby, and that was about it. And yet there was a little person, growing, inside of me, all by himself. Babies are miracles. Plain and simple. I am so glad that we are able to have experiences like this that help us understand Heavenly Father a little better and appreciate this amazing opportunity we are blessed with.

Visiting my Family

I love to visit with my family. There are so many reasons, most of which I can't put into words. As I get older, I appreciate the time I am able to visit with my family more and more, because it is not something I can do as often as I would like.

I love that my mom takes special care to have enough beds for everyone when they visit, so we can all stay in the same house. I love that when I visit, the goose will sometimes stay over, and when I visit by myself, sometimes she will even stay in the same room with me and we can talk and giggle as we fall asleep! :-D

I love that on one of the early days when we visit, my mom will ask us what we want to eat and we will plan a menu and then go shopping and pack every inch of the fridge and freezer with food. Then for the next few days, we will make delicious meals everyday and stuff ourselves with leftovers. I love, love, love my mom's cooking. I don't even know how she does it. Even when she brings me a piece of bread with butter on it...it is the best bread with butter in the world. No lie.

Come to think of it, in my family, love is spelled "f-o-o-d" (hehehe)

I love going on walks with my mom in the morning as the sun comes up (getting up early is not one of my strong points, but luckily NM time is 2 hours behind IN time). The NM sunshine is something I could drink in everyday and never get tired of it. I love looking at the sandia mountains every time I visit and being amazed. I don't think it will every get over how clear the air is. I love walking up the hill and remembering walking up the same hill coming home from school and playing with the prickly-pear bushes and talking with my friends. I love seeing the house I grew up in. I love how it has changed, and how it hasn't. I remember telling my mom how sad I would be if she ever moved, but as I get older, I realize that moving is a part of life, and I wonder where my parents will end up. :-) (Next door to me in the house I will build for you, right mom?!)

When I visit, I love giving my mom "rubs" - either on her arm or her back, because I like helping her to feel better. She sacrifices all the time, all the time, to do nice things for her family and her friends, and I know how much it hurts her. Helping to relieve a little bit of that pain makes me feel better. I wish we lived closer, if nothing else, just so I could do that for her more often. My mom is such an example to me of strength and love. Her life is defined by the service she gives for others, and her love of the gospel. It is so great to be able to talk to her on the phone so often, but it is so different from being with her and being able to give her hugs and cook with her and talk with her. The older I get, the more I appreciate my mom and the more I realize how much I want to be like her.

I love spending time with my daddy too. I love listening to him talk about religion and politics and history. When you hang out with my dad, your brain grows. See, my dad is an avid book reader (although recently this has shifted to him being an avid books-on-tape listener) and he is an excellent story teller. When he has been reading about something he finds interesting, he likes to share it. If it is quiet for too long around my dad, he will tell you about things, and I love it. I love driving in the car with my dad and finding out what he is learning about. My dad is a true example of life-learning, and I hope to be able to do the same with kids.

I admit, I have strong family bias: If I have heard something from my dad first, it validates whatever source I hear it from second. Be it in school or the gospel. I bet my dad would laugh to know that, but so it is! My favorite example of this (which I may have shared before) is his telling me about how the atom works, and me having no idea what he was talking about (I was probably 10) but being really glad that my daddy was telling me something and knowing it must be cool. Fast forward several years to my senior physics class: my teacher is explaining about electron orbits and the picture my dad drew all those years ago blazes in my mind. THAT'S IT! This is what my dad was telling me about! My dad told me about this! My daddy is BRILLIANT!! Sometimes I think that is why I became an engineer, and why I went into nuclear engineering. I sure love my daddy, and his example is deeply rooted in who I am. I know sometimes my dad thinks that he is boring, but I never, ever want him to stop telling stories. I absolutely love it :-)

I love that when I visit with my family, we sit around, make crafts, watch movies, and talk. I also love when we do projects together working in the yard, or painting a room. Its nice to have something to do to keep your hands busy while you talk. I love listening to my mom tell stories about my grandma and her dad. I love visiting with my grandparents and listen to my grandpa tell stories about when he worked as a health inspector.

When we visit with my grandparents, I love walking through Nan's garden and looking at the changes she and grandpa have made. Their garden is a wonderland :-) I love visiting with nan and going through all the wonderful cook books she has found. Recently, she has been helping my grandpa eat good while on his diet restrictions, and she is a wealth of information on eating natural and healthy. It makes me so happy, because I think that is what I am going to have to eat to keep my guts happy. Ah, the joys of digestive problems. I love that I can call her and ask her advise on something. And I love listening to stories of she and grandpa working at the temple.

Did you know my grandpa studied nuclear engineering? Well, it wasn't called that when he went to school, but that's what he studied :-) I love listening to him tell stories about seeing the first bit of processed americium behind leaded glass, glowing like the end of a cigar butt. Or hearing stories about driving to public hearings and discussing what the safety limit of some exposure should be. It makes my field that much more real to me, and I love it is something I can share with him. I like to show him things that I am working on, and I make a point to bring copies of my research to show him. :-) Maybe he just humors me and feigns interest, but I love talking with him about something we have in common. And, when I learn about something my grandpa has told me about, for some reason that validates what my teachers are telling me. I won't lie: I totally have family bias.

There are a million reasons why I love visiting with my family, and they all revolve around how nice it feels to be with people and just be. My family never makes me feel like I am being judged, or that I am in trouble, they just love me and I love them and that defines our relationship. And when you love people, you help and serve them and want the best for them. I know that different families show love in different ways, and this time of year is great to remember and appreciate your family for what it is, whatever shape or size it comes in.

Evans Family Pictures!

My Mom, also thinking this was a great opportunity for a photo op, arranged for us to take family photos as the Evans family! Each of the kids got a color:

Kiora and her family was blue,

Iwalani and her family was red,

Mark and I were green,

and Mom dad and the goose were purple!

I am sporting a lovely pregnancy shirt I purchased that afternoon-I was so happy that me and Mark could find green shirts that matched. :-) Yay!

We took these pictures by the side of the Rio Grande, and I love that we can see the Sandia Mountains in the background on some of them. My mom took the pictures, and for the group shots, we used the timer. It was some pretty funny times. In fact, trying to get my dad smile for pictures is one of the more hilarious events of the evening.

It was also funny having to time the pictures so that the kids would be clean through the important ones. They really liked playing in the sand.

I love the sister shots :-)

I love the dooth! :-D

And this is one of my particular favorites! Mark was the photographer :-)

The next day, we went down to visit with my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Devin, Trish, Brendon, and Grandma Pauline! We took pictures then too, and since we were already color coordinates, we just wore the same things :-)

I love this close up with Grandma!

And this was just a funny photo. Do you think curly hair runs in my family? Hmmm...

And Brendon (the blonde on the far left)...needs a hair cut. End of story.

Balloon Fiesta!

There may not be colored leaves, there may not be painted bushes...but man does NM know how to have vibrant fall skies.

Fall, in NM, means balloon fiesta.

:-D

We were so happy to get to spend a week with my parents. And! My sister Kiora, her husband, and their kids were able to come so we had a little family reunion of our own! Yay! There is nothing so wonderful as getting together with family.

My mom was able to get tickets for us to go help crew a Wells Fargo balloon from her friend Andrea. I think that is by far the best way to experience the balloon fiesta. You get to:

- wake up super early (ok...that part is not so fun)

- drive down to the field using the alternate, secret, balloon crew entrance that avoids all the traffic

-park really close using the parking permit

-go to the balloon crew tent and eat DELICIOUS, NM food for breakfast in a festive warm tent and drink hot chocolate and chocolate milk (mmmmm).

-walk down with the crew people to the field as the sun comes up

-roll out the balloons

-and the best part! (besides breakfast)...watching in wonder as magic fills the air :-)

Special shapes day is my particular favorite.

You wait your turn as volley after volley of balloons lift off and float away. There are officials dressed up as zebras (really, the clothes people wear are intsense. I saw one lady who was so decked out, she was even wearing zebra stripped contact lenses. It was really freaky to look her in the eyes) who notify people when it is their turn to fill up and lift off. Once the crew head gets the OK to start filling, everything gets super exciting!

A couple of times, I was volunteered to be the person that holds the cords of the mouth open so that they don't burn off when the fire is blowing. It is a pretty intense job, the fire is so hot! But it is really fun to watch the balloon grow. Here is what it looks like from the inside!

And here she is all blown up and beautiful! :-D It is a good day when she gets to lift off. Sometimes when it is too windy, it is not safe to take her up in the air, so we just get to inflate and then deflate right on the field.

Bye-bye and good luck, stage coach-1 :-D We will see you on the other side!

Once your balloon is in the air, you jump in the van and race away to chase it! (hopefully you remembered to go to the bathroom by this point, especially if you drank lots of chocolate milk, because chase crews reeeeeally don't like to stop for potty breaks)

Its fun to listen to the people who know their way around ABQ discuss the best way to chase the balloon. My mom is really good at this since she knows the back roads and how to avoid the high traffic areas. Once you get to where you balloon is going to land, you get out, lay down the tarp, take your shoes off, and take the balloon down.

And, let me tell you. As fun as it is to put up a balloon, taking it down is 10 times funner. Here's why! :-D YOU GET TO ROLL AROUND AND SQUISH OUT ALL THE AIR! :-D They have you find a partner, grab hands, and line up. Then you lay down in a long line at the top of the balloon, and then as one, everyone rolls down the balloon very slowly until you get to the front and all the air is squished out!

Super awesome.

And then, after that, everyone does assembly line hefting to carry the balloon and pack it into the basket, then people jump on top and trod out the air, wine press style. It is a lot of fun.

Then! After the balloon is packed up all safe and sound, you head back to the field for some more delicious food.

*sigh* yes, this truly is the best way to go to the balloon fiesta :-)

Thanks Mom for getting us tickets and setting everything up! It was a blast!

Pfeil Family Photos

Since all of the Pfeil kids were together, Mark's mom took full advantage of the situation: photo op!

Her good friend came over, we spread out sheets, and had a picture session.

Here are some of my favorites!

The whole family!
I love this shot of Mark's parents :-)


Kisses! :-D
Sandy was happy to see Martin too! :-D
And here is us with our little baby in my tummy! I think this is my favorite picture of us :-)

But! I like this one too :-) What can I say, I married a handsome man and it makes it hard to choose a favorite picture.

It was so wonderful to spend time with Mark's family, and I was so glad that Martin was able to make it. We love you guys!

Christmas at the Pfeils

Michael and Lindsey came back to IN for Christmas! :-D And (obviously) they brought Noelle with them :-) And Becky came home from her first semester at college. Aaaaaaand!...MARTIN CAME!! :-D and what made it even better....it was a SURPRISE! :-D He didn't tell anyone except Mark's Mom and Dad who were in on the plan :-)

Apparently everyone guessed before he came (well, except me). He came up to the house and rang the doorbell, and they made Becky answer the door. She was so excited to see him :-) There was a hug-festival for a good half hour or so. And then! All of the Pfeil siblings were there for the holidays :-) Yaaaay!

It was really fun. We spent about a week all together before people had to go their separate ways and return to the real world. We played lots and lots of games, cooked lots and lots of food, and had a wonderful time.

It was also fun to swap pregnancy stories with Lindsey, since we were both pregnant at the same time! (She with their second and me with our first). It was a joy to stand around in the kitchen and talk with her and Becky and Mark's mom about girl things while the boys played games. *sigh* good times.

And Noelle was such a gem. She would let me read to her and carry her around and she called me "T" :-) It was adorable.

Here are some pictures that Lindsey took! (I forgot my camera...no shock there) :-(

The siblings all together again! Becky was tickled for a while before and after this shot. I am amazed it turned out this normal looking ;-) It looks like Mark and Martin are giving her a hug? Don't be fooled...they were restraining her for further tickle torture after the shot.

Here is Grandma Pfeil playing with Noelle! Noelle really liked playing with Grandma, and there were lots and lots of toys that marks mom had amassed for her granddaughter! This picture was taken at Great Grandma Pfeils house (Marks grandma) when we had a post-christmas family reunion with some of Mark's dad's siblings.

Noelle stuck on Grandpa Pfeils work boots. She looooved wearing around people shoes, so we generally stuck them in the utility room to minimize the temptation...I think she looks stinkin cute though :-)

Here is Grandma Pfeil playing the piano with Noelle! Noelle really liked it. Grandma played her primary songs, and would noelle keep saying "more, more" when she stopped :-) I think Mark's mom was in a little slice of heaven :-)

Another thing Noelle liked to do with her grandma pfeil is sit on the chair in their bedroom and have grandma read to her. When she would stop, or sometimes even before it the book was over, Noelle would say "more! more" or "moh! moh!"

Thanks for coming everyone! We were so glad to see you all and hope that we will not have to wait 3 years for the next reunion!

The Kitchen

I love the kitchen. Wonderful things happen there. Food. Warm. Dancing. Mac and Cheese. Music. Dinner. Family. Cookies. Messes.

The kitchen, plain and simple, is a wonderful place to be. :-)

However, there is one thing you should know about our kitchen that I do not like before we go any further:

We have no dish washer.

*moment of silence*

Oh, how I long for the day to once again have a dish washer! It will be 7 years we are married before we get a dish washer (that's ok though. This must be payback for all the years I complained to my mom for how stupid it was to wash hand dishes since "everyone" has a dish washer. Ah, karma).

Anyway! Here are some views of our kitchen/dinning area, courtesy of my cell phone:

I decided to go with a deep blue for the kitchen. Blue and white. In the day time when the sun is out, I will raise the blinds and put down the curtains, it gives off a lot of diffuse light and makes the kitchen seem brighter while still having privacy (people walk around a lot in front of out house and it freaks me out a little to have people looking in the kitchen when I'm home alone).

Mark's Parents gave us this corner cabinet and I put my grandmothers china in it.

I love my grandmothers china. The pussy willow pattern on it reminds me of her. She used to have a floral arrangement or something with pussy willows in it, and I remember running my fingers over them. I cant remember if we were allowed to touch them or not... Well, if we were or we weren't, I did, and I loved them. When I look at these dishes, I think of my grandma Norma.

This is the painting that my mom's friend Elena made and it hangs above our freezer. Elena is from argentina. My mom would teach her english, and she would teach me art. It was super fun to learn drawing from her. She would explain things to me in spanish, and I would do what I thought she said, and we would iterate back and forth. She was an extremely loving and patient mentor and I learned a lot from her (despite, or because of, the language barrier, I can't decide). She had a wonderfully talented eye. When she left to return to Argentina, she gave this to my mom as a keep sake, and when I moved away, my mom was gracious enough to let me have it so I could keep a little of the desert I love with me always. I love, love, love this painting and all the things it represents to me.

I also love this tile that my institute director, Brother Schapp gave to me and mark as a wedding gift. The quote from President Hinkley on it says: "In all of living have much fun and laughter; life is to be enjoyed, not just endure". I keep it on my kitchen counter and it helps me remember what is really important.

I am so grateful for the chance I have to be married with Mark and build a life with him. It is such an adventure. At times I feel so blessed and happy, I think my heart will explode. And all the little things that seem like such a big deal (like, for example, not having a dishwasher) really pale in comparison. Nothing bad that could ever happen to me and mark could ever outweigh the joy that we feel at being companions and trucking through life, side by side.

Wonderful things come from the kitchen, but I think what really makes it such a great place are the people and traditions that fill it. Thanks to all of you who have made the kitchen magical for me :-)

The Feast

After Thanksgiving, Mark's parents let me take their folding tables, their folding chairs, and their turkey roasting pan back to our house in preparation for...THE FEAST! :-D

You see. It all started by the magazine my mom gave me. The food network magazine, Thanksgiving edition. A glorious, wonderful, food network magazine with tried and true thanksgiving favorites. I kept drooling over it and drooling over it, and I talked Mark into letting me invite my research group over to our house for a holiday feast. YAY! :-D Thanks Mark! :-D

We did it after Thanksgiving, but before Christmas break, during the end of finals week. A lot of the group was already gone for the holiday, but we had about 20 people in our home, eating and visiting, and it was a lot of fun!

I learned a lot of things. First, it is good to pick sides that you can make a head of time that only need to be warmed after the turkey comes out, so that things are not so hectic the day of. Second, a turkey can cook in 2.5 hours, and it turns out AMAZING! :-D Third...brinning a turkey = turkey love. Thank you, Alton Brown.

The Menu:

Main dish:

Brinned Turkey and Gravy

Sides:

9 Cheese, roasted garlic, and Bacon Mac and Cheese

Sausage, sour-dough/corn bread stuffing

Cranberry sauce

2 kinds of sweet potatoes (savory and sweet)

green beans

rolls

cauliflower gratin

mashed potatoes

Desserts:

Apple/cranberry/cherry pie

Pumpkin bread pudding

Maple-pumpkin pie

It was a blast to make, and a blast to eat! Just about every recipe we made came from the magazine. Some of them were from Throw-down episodes of Bobby Flay (which I like to watch on hulu when I need a break from homework).

When the guests arrived, we had the tables all set up formal (sporting festive clear plastic ware), and people took their plates and got their food buffet style from the serving table. It was a lot of fun. People ate, and stayed, and visited, and then we packed up a lot of the left overs for people to take with them. We still had a lot of food left over. That is one thing that I need to work on still. Cooking self control. I will let you know how that turns out. ;-)

Thanksgiving with the Pfeils!

The Holidays area wonderful time to spend with family, and we are so blessed to have so many people that live close to use to share it with.

Like the last few years, we spent Thanksgiving with Mark's family, and most of Mark's dad's siblings gathered there. A special treat was having Bob and Rema there with the girls! :-D It was super fun to get to spend more time with them. Aunt Laren, Uncle Ken, and their two boys Trevor and Sam were there also, as well as Blaine and Brenda and their daughter Sara, and Roxanne and baby Justin! Grandma Pfeil also came and brought Rachel. It was a really nice time to get to spend with them. I particularly remember that Uncle Blaine had surgery on his thyroid, and he was probably not going to be able to come, but at the last, he was! Yay! :-) His voice was still scratchy and raspy from the surgery, but he said that it was feeling a lot better and that the procedure had went really well, and for that we are all glad!

In fact, one of my favorite activities that occurred over Thanksgiving (besides the cooking and the eating) was made all that much better because Uncle Blaine was there, and his voice was raspy. :-) He is such a jokester. He thought it would be perfect if we played Mafia and he was "The Voice". Since he sounded so scratchy, it was pretty awesome. I should say that most of the "cousins" played Mafia, I mostly watched. I tried to play a few rounds, but I was pitifully awful at it. Everyone thought it was hilarious after the first round and I was teased mercilessly. In my defense, I told everyone that I am not good at that game and it would be better if I watched, but they insisted that I play. My first round went something like this:

"Teandra, did you kill so-and-so?"

* awkward pause while violently blushing* "uhhhhhhhhh.....no?" *giggle, cover face with hand* "I DON'T KNOW! NEXT QUESTION! NEXT QUESTION!"

*sigh*

After everyone stopped laughing, Emily turned to me and said, "Wow! you really are that awful!"

Yes, its true, I really am that awful at keeping secrets. Its made more difficult by the fact that everyone knows you have a secret since that is the point of the game.

Anyway! We played other games as well, including Swashbuckled, a game that was giving to us by my parents, and which I love playing. And, as per tradition, Trevor and Sam challenged Mark to a game of Risk...and both boys were summarily squashed by my handsome husband. Its pretty funny to watch. Trevor and Sam both say they are going to gang up on Mark, and then inevitably turn on each other, and Mark just mops up and takes over the world. Mark loves playing strategy games over Thanksgiving with his family :-)

Anyway! It was a lovely holiday. We had lots of food, lots of fun, and lots of family!

The front room

I have discovered that I am much more motivated to clean a room if it is decorated than if it is not decorated. I am not sure why this is, but it is a fact. So really, decorating the house is kinda like cleaning the house.... (I'm still trying to sell Mark on this) point

Anyway, after I graduated, I was on a mission: must. decorate. house.

I kept coming up with excuses to start though. To tell the truth, I felt really inadequate and was plagued with doubts: What if it looks bad?What if Mark doesn't like it? Or worse, what if mark doesn't like it but never says anything for 20 years and then it all comes out at a family reunion?!

I blame it on college. I went to school for something decidedly NOT decorating related so I spent most of my time thinking about things like leakage and absorption and criticality. I felt like my creativity had expired or something. I bet my sister The Goose can relate to these sentiments. It's like, you think you used to be really good at making things, but it got squashed out of you by studying all the time and being holed up in a basement lab that has no windows staring at a computer screen building models all day.

The point is, I knew I really wanted things to be nice for Mark when he came home, and I wanted whatever was in our home to be ours and to feel like us.

The furniture we got from family or from friends who were moving after they graduated and got real jobs. The majority of the decorations we have are wedding gifts, or presents from my mom (THANKS MOM!) :-D . I wanted the room to feel more...cohesive. Like it was intended to look this way, and not that it was a moge-poge of possessions we threw together since that's where they fit best. I also wanted to have a place for things to belong, so that I could actually put things away, and not just out-of-the-way.

So, like any good engineer...I did some research. And you know what!? It really helped! There is a lot of advise on the internet on how to get started organizing and decorating your home. It was awesome. For the most part, I stuck to things that resonated with me.

ANYWAY! Back to the front room design challenge. I learned that I needed to set a budget and some goals to make this happen. 1st, budget: try not to spend money. 2nd, goals: we needed a place for mark to take off his shoes, storage spaces for our blankets, throws, church books, hats and gloves, and toys, and we needed to be able to cover the windows to keep the heat in and the cold out.

I decided to limit the colors we used in the room, since there were so many different types of woods in their already, to make it look more cohesive.

Aaaaand! Since I don't have any before pictures really, here is the after!

The cubby holes have the storage space (One of the black baskets is the gloves, the other is the toys, and the empty ones are where the blankets go when they are not on the couch) Behind the fabric covers: one has church books, one has our games, one has family picture albums, and the other some cook books :-)

To make the fabric covers, I took some cardboard, some burlap that I had left over from Trek, and some spray glue. I sprayed the cardboard all over with glue, then stretched the fabric over it and folded the edges back. Viola! A canvas! Then I painted them in all the colors of the room, black, silver, and burgundy. So! I didn't have to buy anything for the fabric covers, yay!

The curtains I made from a sheet I found at goodwill. I washed it, ironed it, cut off a strip from one of the sides to make into tabs, re-hemmed it, then sewed the little tabs into place. The sheet cost about $5.

Mark hung up the curtain rod we got from wall mart, and then we hung the drapes!

Here is a better look at what we have on the coffee table.

The scraps from the curtain I used to make a table runner, and the little rossets that match. The coasters I made by covering coasters I got from Purdue with some fabric (They were given to me for being a speaker for a Women in Engineering outreach seminar..I thought it was quite poetic ;-) )

We found this little sitting thing from goodwill also, and I recovered it with the same fabric I used for the coasters (coincidentally, fabric I had leftover from the computer bag I made for my mom). When I saw it, I thought it would be great in the front room. We take our shoes off when we come into the house, and Mark likes to sit down when he takes his shoes off, so this is his official shoe removing bench :-). It is right by the front door. Eventually, I want to put something beneath it to keep the shoes in, but we are taking baby steps.

Yay! And there you have it! This is our front room, and making it look pretty has dramatically increased my motivation to tidy it up. Its not tidy all the time yet, but I am taking baby steps to get there too.

Fair Oaks Dairy Adventures!

Janene had a wonderful idea...a day trip to the Fair Oaks Dairy! :-D

And believe me, if Janene ever invites you to go on an adventure with her, say yes! It will always turn out wonderfully :-)

She is like Marry Poppins.

This Dairy is pretty fascinating for a lot of reasons. But, the number one reason why I think its fascinating? It's powered...by cow poop.

How amazing is that?!

You see, this is how it works. They have the cows allowed to move around where ever they want in these long stall building. The cows can leave the building, but there is nice shade and sprayers inside the stalls, so I didn't see any cows out in the pasture place. Anyway, while the cows are getting milked big trucks come and fill up the stalls with clean sand a few times a day so the cows have something nice and soft and clean to lay in. Before they put down the fresh sand, a different kind of truck with these big sprayers go through and they spray all the waste from the stalls. The waste goes into this pond that slopes down to the silo, where all the poop is collected.

There is the poop pond! I couldn't get a good picture of the poop tower/silo.

Anyway, inside the poop tower, the poop is collected and bacteria is used to break down the poop and produce (get this)...methane gas! And then the methane gas is used to power the plants! :-D

One cows poop is another cows...well never mind.

And guess what else?! It cuts down on stinky emissions by 90% !! The dairy barely smelled at all.

Wow.

I was totally impressed.

But, I love diaries. We used to have a dairy by our house in Rio Rancho (sadly, now it is a walmart) and when we would drive by I would wave to the cows and say, "There are our cow friends who give us milk!"

*sigh* I love things that come from milk. Its too bad we currently have a love hate relationship :-(

Anyway, I was so happy to go on a tour of this dairy! It totally made my week, and I keep telling my mom and my sister how I need to take them to this dairy. It's awesome.

It is also pretty cool how they milk the cows.

They have this rotary stall set up, and the cows just walk in and get milked. They said that they liked to be milked, and they don't have to make the cows get onto the milker thing (I am inclined to believe it. When your milk comes in, and there is no way to get rid of it...oww).

If you look in the back of this image, you see there are no people back there putting the cows in to be milked, they are just walking in, and then walking out! It was pretty interesting to watch. The cows were just waiting in line, and one would back out of the stall, and then the rotary table would move over, and another cow would walk into the stall, and then the process would repeat! And while the stall table turned, people would clean the teats and then put the milker things on, and then they would get milked most of the way around the table until they got to the next person that would take the milker things off, and put on moisturizer.

The amount of milk the cows give and the amount of steps the cows take every day is monitored by this amazing collar thing they have hanging around their necks. Its like a glorified cow pedometer. This allowed them to look after the cows health, and tell if the cow is sick, or going to give birth soon, and stuff like that. When the cows are going to have a baby, they take them away to a special barn to watch over them better and help them along. It was really cool.

There are also lots of other fun attractions at the Dairy. There are outside attractions for the kids, including a bouncy-jump place called "Dairy-Air" and a giant bottle of milk fitted with rock climbing holds.

It was kind of cold when we got there, so we didn't participate. There was also a little mini-tractor area for little kids to drive around these tiny tractors. I was pretty jealous.

There is a lot of fun things to do inside also, including trivia games about milk, a milk awareness tour, and a 4-D movie about cows. It was definitely geared towards small children, and very fun. When I left, I had been bombarded by so much milk propaganda I was convinced it was the wonder food and I needed to consume some asap. Clever, clever marketing.

and clever cow illustrations...

Here were are in our cool 3-D glasses, getting ready to watch the movie!

And! there is a birthing barn where you get to watch a baby cow be born. (poor mama cow, that giant baby was inside of her, with hooves! I don't even want to imagine what hooves feel like)

It was amazing to see how quickly the baby cow would get up to walk around after it was born.

You can do it little man!

Quite impressive.

There is also a cafe that serves delicious food, and gives cheese samples. Its a good thing that we are poor college kids right now, or I could probably have purchased my weight in cheese, and that would have ended very, very badly.

I. Love. Cheese.

We had lunch (I had an amazing grilled cheese sandwich), and then (yay!) we had ice cream!

Thanks David and Janene for such a wonderful (and tasty) adventure! :-D It was lots and lots of fun! If anyone is on their way to Chicago and would like to make a really fun pit stop, I highly recommend this dairy. Overall, super fun.

And its not every day you get to support an establishment that is powered by cow poop.