Photos

Ryan and I love to hike Badger Mountain year round. This is definitely one of the best times of year, as everything is blooming and pretty. Not always great for the allergies though! The dogs love it too...and are very well behaved. Josh carries his own backpack with water, collapsible bowl, doggy bags and treats. Ryan carries Casey and I get our backpack. McKenzie leads the pack. Casey carries his paci and looks cute. We get stopped a lot, due to our adorable child and beautiful aussies!
There are 2 sides of Badger Mountain, one is shorter but steeper, the second a longer trail that traverses more. I prefer the longer walk! We do the longer less steep side about 5x more often that the shorter steeper side.
McKenzie is such a pretty girl. We continue to be amazed at how great the dogs are with Casey. He is just learning to reach out and grab them. He grabbed the fur between/above Kenzie's eyes and would not let go! She did not move a muscle, just turned her eyes to me and pleaded for me to release her! We are trying to help him to pet the dogs nicely, but the kid has a death grip. The aussies have been very forgiving, and are very gentle. They like to lay their heads next to him, sniff him, and if they can get away with it- lick him! They are pretty gross, they love to try to lick up spit-up....yea, I wouldn't kiss my dogs if I were you....
Obviously Casey was born a Coug. His Mom and Dad are Cougs, his blood runs crimson. I LOVE LOVE this tracksuit. Casey will be visiting Pullman May 9th, for our good friend Chamisa's vet school graduation! I have known Chamisa for about 8 years now...and i am so proud she is going to be a Doctor! Last year, Casey went to WSU in my belly for Casi's graduation, this time he gets to experience it on the outside!
Casey is just now fitting into lots of different WSU outfits. He has a jersey onesie, from his cousin, Kayla that is awesome! I gotta get his picture in that. We finally got a new camera after the broken camera fiasco....can't not have a camera with a baby! New WSU pics soon....

So much going on!

These last few weeks have been total chaos, and it probably won't improve much for the next few weeks. We sold our house and made an offer on another. Yay! No more showing the house on an hours notice! But....then came the home inspection on our current home. How is possible that the shower has been leasking under the house and we had no idea?! So this started a barrage of plumbers and restoration specialists coming over and calls to the realtors and insurances and all sorts of people. We had numerous estimates on the damage and various timeframes and different information....all the while working uop contracts with the people buying the house so they wouldn't walk away. And our realtor didn't think the house we want to buy would appraise for what it is being sold at, so we had been dealing back and forth making stipulations for what ifs...they were only willing to drop the price so much, or they couldn't afford to sell...which would leave us with a sold house and no where to move to.

Ok, who followed that!?

The latest is....the shower, piping, floors and walls all need to be replaced. The insurance is covering everything. The buyers still want the house. We signed a contract that all will be fixed for them. The house we want came in right at the lowest they were willing to go, so we DO have a house to move to.

Yesterday a restoration company came and tore out the shower and flooring in the laundry room and master bathroom, and found tons of mold. Uh oh! I had been telling Ryan the bathroom smelled mildewy, and we threw away the floor rugs, scrubbed the shower, the floors and theshower tracks, but I could still smell it. Oh.....because its everywhere in the floors and walls!!! So they have taken it all out and sealed off the bathroom and laundry room and put some weird fans that make negative air pressure and pull all the air out of the house. They also had to shut off the furnace. So my house is ripped apart and it will take weeks to fix, but we are packing up anyways.

Before the resoration company got here, I asked Ryan if he thought we should get all our stuff out of our bathroom. Oh no, he says, no need. After I go to work, they tell him to grab what he needs, they have to seal it off!! As I look through what Ryan grabbed....I just have to laugh. He grabbed me 8 boxes of tampons (I don't need any.....) but not my toothbrush. He got my chi hair straightener, but no hairbrush or pick or comb. We have Q-tips and toe nail clippers, but not my make up. I have deoderant, but not any hair gel. He grabbed like 3 bottles of sunscreen, but its raining. I guess in his defense, it was sunny over the weekend, and if you have seen my red-headed hubby, he will burn in any amount of sun! Anyways, it cracked me up.

In the middle of all the house chaos, Casey is not feeling well. We took him to the Dr Monday, he has fluid behind both ears, the beginning of ear infection in both ears, especially the right, and has a cough and congestion. He has not been happy. He won't nap unless being held upright, which makes night time crappy. He can barely keep his paci in because he is so stiffy. He coughs and cant catch his breath, giving me a heart attack every time. This last weekend was Ryan's long weekend, 7-7 Friday, Saturday Sunday...so Casey and I mostly watched TV with me holding him. Saturday we did do the SARC Walk a Mile In Her Shoes, where the men walk in high heels. Casey slept in the mai-tai (no idea how to spell....sounds like may-tie?) He got a lot of compliments on the dinosaur mai tai....I will have to post a picture. Sunday we watched the 16 and Pregnant marathon. Shameful.

We have also had a string of bad luck with things breaking. Like the camera. And my breast pump....can't go without when I work full time and Casey only gets breast milk!!

Hopefully, when we close on the houses May 14th and get moved and setled...life will slow down?

Shopping and Dumpster diving

We are packing up the house! This sounded easy, til we started working on it. And I should know this, because i have moved so many times. Between August 2001 moving to Pullman and my house now, I have moved 6 times!! After we move this time (Number 7) hopefully we will not move again for a very very long time! At least 10 years.


Collecting boxes is never easy, and they are so expensive to buy. We decided to do a family "dumpster diving" adventure. Our first cardboard bin had one box. Lame. So we went to another. Jackpot!! Someone had flattened a TON of home depot moving boxes, so Ryan dug them all out! When he couldn't reach some, he moved the Escape closer, stood on it, and got even more. Nice! I wasn't much help, because I got distracted by the shiny newspaper recycle bin....hello coupons! I found albertson doublers right on top. And a bunch more smart source/ red plum inserts. Laugh all you want, but I save hundreds per month by my Krazy Couponing.

After swimming in the cardboard and newspaper bins, we went swimming at the gym. Except when we got there, the outdoor pool where we like to swim (It's outdoor in the summer, but covered the rest of the year...we don't really swim outdoors this time of year) was closed. So we thought the hot tub sounded awesome, but the front desk informed us the daycare is closed on sundays. What?! So instead, we went back to dive for more coupons.

I did get some good deals this weekend!

Walgreen's: 3 8x10 photos from Walgreens and snapfish totally free!

Target: 2 gillette fusion razors....48 cents each (normally $7 each)

Rite Aid: Contact solution, tampax pearl, 2 old spice deodorants and gum...roughly $1.50

Albertsons: Made out like a bandit....but can't remember the exact deals...but 2 gallons Milk, 2 bags of reduced fat cheese, 4 boxes cereal, 4 boxes lean pockets, 2 jumbo bags pampers swaddlers, jumbo pack electrasol dishwasher tabs for $17, and got $3 back to use later, then I got 4 more boxes cereal, 2 more bags cheese, 4 boxes mac and cheese for under $2.

Luckily in the tri-cities, all the stores are clumped together, so I don't waste gas. My Albertsons gas rewards are up to 30 cents per gallon....time to fill the Expedition!

So I added up that the 10 minutes of coupon searching saved me at least $18 just yesterday, and will go much much farther later.

Just some cute pictures:)

Casey never stays put in his crib these days. We wiggles and kicks his way all over the place. He never is facing the same direction either! He is still a good sleeper, we usually get from 8:30pm to 6am, although that ranges from 5-7! Because Casey is moving so much, we took out the bumper in the crib, and his blankets. He usually sleeps in really warm pajamas (which we have been calling his jammie-jams, after watching The Office!) In this picture, we had put him down for a nap, in just a short sleeve onesie and socks, so we swaddled him up in a warm blankie. He was laying on his back the opposite direction when I put him down. I had to get a picture, because this is exactly how I sleep at night! On my side, wrapped and snugged with a fleece blanket! This was the first time we have seen Casey sleeping on his side. Such a sweet guy! After he woke up, Casey and his Mommy and Daddy had fun playing. Casey LOVES his jujmperoo and is getting wild in there! He really likes an audience, and will get mad if you leave him alone. He is quite the ham. If you leave the room, he will get upset after a few minutes, when you come back to talk to him, he starts to laugh and bounce like crazy! Last night, in his exersaucer, we saw that he is really getting good at making the toys work. There is a rolly thing, that when you make it roll, has lots of things inside that move and make noise. Casey was so fascinated, and you could watch him think about it, and purposely roll it and watch. Such a smarty! Later, as I was holding him and making him fly over to "get Daddy", he started rooting and doing his pirhana on Ryan's nose. He was so funny....both of them actually! I really love when the 3 of us play, and Casey is just cracking up. He is such a happy little guy and I love his laugh. I love our little family!

Casey and I went to a wedding a few weeks ago, on the first day of spring. A friend from work got married, and Ryan was working, so I took Casey as my date. He was looking pretty good in his khakis and polo shirt. I was hoping he would sleep through the ceremony, but he woke up right as it was starting. He was really good...just distracting, because he is so stinkin cute with his smiles and giggles....and everyone was checking him out..."Hey everybody....come and see how good I look!"

Easter

Casey and I traveled to the west side for Easter, since Ryan was working. I left Friday morning, checked the pass conditions, bare and wet....no problem! My brother called me about 20 minutes later, to let me know a storm was moving in....and travel in the passes was not advised. We decided to keep going, as I was thinking I could beat the worst of the storm. It was a complete blizzard before I hit Yakima. Casey was great and slept a lot. There was lots of stop and go, and many accidents. We took it slow, and stopped in Ellensburg to gas up, go potty and call Matt for a pass update. We kept going, East bound passes were closed, due to accidents, but we were trucking along at about 25mph. I stopped in North Bend after making it over the pass. I fed Casey and hit Carters at the factory outlet mall. We headed off again, and finally made it to my parents home!! I have seen way worse in the passes, after going to school at WSU, but never with a baby! It was pretty sad to arrive without Tobie. I always bring Tobie with me, to his second home, and it was hard to get there without him. I thought a lot about him on the way over there. I sure miss him a lot.


That night, my parents, brothers and sisters and nephews all gathered for pizza and games! Shauna and Noah brought this crazy hilarious game called Things. We had a good time! It was also fun to see how big all the babies had gotten. Casey is definitely catching up to his cousins, who are 3 months older than him.

On Saturday, my Mom and I went shopping at Target and Ben Franklin. I LOVE talking scrapbooking with my Mom, and shopping for baby clothes and fun stuff. We had to hurry home for the big Easter egg hunt! The neighbor who lives behind my parents has a 5 acre farm, and he invited all his friends and family for an Easter egg hunt. We took all the kids over, Cooper did a great job looking for eggs!

Casey and I collected just a few eggs, so Mommy could have some chocolate....

My Dad is an amazing chef. You are missing out if you have never eaten with my family. He has been a chef in restaurants, owned restaurants, and is a district manager in the restaurant business.....so he knows his food!!! He prepared an Easter fiesta! We had enchiladas, carne asada, guacamole (Dad's is the BEST) and margaritas. We were so stuffed.

My Grandparents also came up for the day, and we did another Easter egg hunt for Cooper outside.

For some reason, putting bunny ears on babies is so entertaining and creates a great photo opp. Getting them to all hold still, look in one direction and smile is simply not possible. We couldn't convince Cooper to join in either. At 2, Coop is pretty independent!

Casey got a fun Easter basket from Gramma and Grandpa, and more goodies from his cousins.

Here are the Moms and babies! These pics will never get old as the babies get bigger. It's so much fun to go through this with my sisters!

Sunday, we (my parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and nephews!!) went to the quarterchute cafe for brunch, before I headed back home. The drive was much less snowy on the way home.

When Ryan got home from work, we celebrated Casey's first Easter as a family! Casey got another Easter basket and goodies. Mom and Dad seemed to have eaten all his candy:)