A Tale of Two Suby's

We've been coming out from under the rock that rolled over us last month (or should I say, hit us from behind?). Order is slowly beginning to take shape in our lives once more, and best of all, the sun is coming out!










We headed to Cannon Beach for our anniversary last weekend, and Caleb got to see the ocean for the first time. He was fascinated despite the cold, windy weather. He hates being outside in a cold wind, so the fascination was short lived, but we got some good shots, and had a nice walk on the beach.




























He did enjoy playing in his Play'N'Pack. He can now hold himself up in a standing position. My arm is behind him, but I'm not holding on to him at all.



















Since my car got totaled, it became necessary for us to buy a new one. Well, I wanted some kind of Subaru or Toyota, and was leaning strongly toward another Subaru. We found one we liked in our price range, only it turned out to be another Outback! So we are now a two-Outback family. How weird is that? I like the new car, and we have a great mechanic, so it should run for a long time.




















We are also settling into our duplex. We'll be planting a vegetable garden this week, and our flowers look like they are liking their new, sunnier location. I'm excited to see what the roses do this summer. Our tulips are almost blooming, and the sunny weather is going to help a lot. The possibilities in our front yard are endless. Right now, I'm transplanting some daffodils from the back yard that are growing in the future vegetable garden. They'll get more sun, and be a much better alternative to the weeds that are growing there now.

Here's the front of the duplex. It is two stories, has a fenced back yard, and a garage. It's getting closer to housewarming time!




I think that's about all I got for now. Hope you all are well.


Nate

Goodbye Saturn

As some of you already know, I got in a wreck a few weeks ago and the Saturn was totaled. A lady rear ended me and pushed me into the car in front of me, making a nice Saturn sandwich on Kia and Mazda bread. Ironically, the day before, Andrea and I were discussing the ages of our respective vehicles. I knew it was becoming close to the time when one of them would need to be replaced. The next day, the decision was made for us. A little sooner than we thought!























Well, that was not the end of the story. The Subaru had gone into the shop for some body work as well, and we were driving a rental car around town. On top of that, we were starting the process of moving out of our apartment and into a duplex up the street. Then there came the dealing with the chiropractor appointments for me and Caleb (he was in the car with me). It all made for a rather full month!

We are now settling into a nice duplex with a yard and a garage (thanks to the big guns provided by Sean and Jimmie and our downstairs neighbor). We have Andrea's Subaru back and we bought another Subaru Outback! We are now a two-Subaru family. The new one is navy blue and a couple years older than Andrea's.

That has taken the majority of the past month to deal with. This past weekend we went to Skamania Lodge. Andrea had a conference for work and I went along to take care of Caleb. It rained the whole time, so we didn't get out much. Regardless, it was a much needed break. Now we're back home and continuing to unpack and organize (getting closer to the house-warming party!).


Here are some pictures from the hotel. This is Caleb playing with his Bapa.




















Here we are playing with the gift store merchandise.
























Sitting in front of the fire.






















That's about it for now. Take care!

Happy Valentines Day

Watched Fireproof

I cried...



You should too.






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How time flies

I just realized that it has been a month since Nate posted anything on the blog, so I thought I would help out and catch everyone up on us!
Caleb is now 5 months old and has learned to roll over! He still loves to play on his jungle mat, only now he is trying to climb the support bars for it. He is teething and everything goes in his mouth, the car seat strap, the dog leash, he even got Nate's cereal box and was gnawing on it. He does have several teething toys, one in particular, a giraffe named Sophie, is his favorite Yuck! The last couple weeks, he has started to make recognizable sounds like "ba" and "da" and his babble has some inflection to it. It's pretty cool!
Nate was very excited to go back to flute choir on Thursday nights, when not playing or rocking Caleb he also spends time on Facebook.com and looking for a new apartment for us to move to when our lease is up next month.
My resolution for 2009 was to get Caleb to go to bed at what I consider to be a decent hour. I was thinking 9 pm. Which seems reasonable to me, however Caleb thinks 12 - 1 am would be a better time for him. How interesting that I being a sleep tech, would have a child that doesn't really sleep all that much. Fortunately, despite his sleep habits he is a very happy baby. Actually, he is pretty happy considering he has a rash covering his torso that we get to go see the doctor about tomorrow. Nothing serious we think but it won't go away!

Andrea

Snowshoeing With Baby

We spent the day driving through the inundated Portland Metro Area(this picture is just to prove that we did). First stop was Andrea's folk's to pick up her mom. We got her and dropped off Kirby and headed to Barb and Richard's house down in Clackamas (Johnson City). I wish I could have gotten video or even thought of taking pictures. The street her parents were on was buried! It was totally awesome. We plowed through three feet of snow to pull into their driveway. We made it just fine to Clakamas, picked up Susanna and Grace, and then headed off to Clackamas Town Center where we did some Christmas shopping. Again, no pictures.

We had a great time with the Millers, and then headed back home. That evening, we packed Caleb in his carrier, put Kirby's boots on, and put our snowshoes on and went snowshoeing in our own neighborhood! It was great. We had a fun day playing in the snow.







Here's Caleb all snuggled up.





















Snowshoeing in the streets.


























This is a Christmas tree that a neighbor lights every winter. I love it.


























The Saturn has been left out of all our fun. I might drive it tomorrow since the roads are a lot better, and it has fresh snow tires on it.

Catching Up on the Posting

Post #1 Marylin's



I haven't written for a while, but there has certainly been a lot going on (and that's just Caleb!). I think I'll start with our trip to Marylinn's to see her and Rob. It probably looks a lot like this picture that I took a few years ago. It was really good to see them. I hope we get together again soon.












Caleb is going to have more relatives who aren't related to him than anyone I know. Here he is with "Gramma" Marylin.




















Watching the chickens with fascination.




















"Uncle" Rob.

























Post #2: Murray's Send-Off


We had a little party for Murray to send him off to Romania to get married. Call it his bachelor party. It was good to see him excited. I'm excited for him! It's great to be married!












Post #3: Thanksgiving in Yakima



We loaded up the family and headed to my brother's house in Yakima for Thanksgiving. We drove out there the night before and spent the night. It was quite the adventure: We got there and discovered that all the food that he and Kimberlyn had sent down the disposer had clogged in the pipes somewhere and the water had backed up into their bathtub! ew.
The next day, they decided to call a plumber and he took care of it. It ended up costing them a lot less than I expected. My whole family showed up. It was a great time had by all. Kimberlyn did a great job hosting us!





Justin and Berlyn are vegetarians, so it was up to Andrea to cook the turkey. This was the first turkey she's ever cooked. It turned out great!





















Caleb had fun with his Gramma Wallace.





















Grampa Wallace got his time in too.




















This is my Aunt Marion. She got to have some quality time with him.





















That's all for now. I'll post a few more things in the next few days. From the look of things outside, I'll get plenty of opportunity!