It's a beautiful day, so....

I truly love the rain. I do, I do. I suppose I am a true Seattleite, because these days of gloom fill me with such joy and contentment that I walk around singing Les Miserables, usually with a hot beverage in hand.

Last weekend was the Women of Faith conference in Phoenix, which I enjoyed more than I was anticipating (most of my reticence was due to Rory- I wasn't sure how she'd do there, but she was a star!). She actually literally was a star- she made it on the jumbotron twice, and was even referenced from stage by one of the speakers! We couldn't go anywhere without her being adored by countless women. Rory's developing just the best little personality ever; she's so laid back and happy, and she's discovered her tongue recently, which is hilarious! A couple of the speakers touched on things I really needed to hear, which I'm still processing.

It's fall. Which means baking season has begun! This is the new favorite in the Thompson-Bowen household. You should make them, because they're awesome; snickerdoodles that don't get crunchy!

Snickerdoodle Blondies
this version of the recipe was found at Dozen Flours- I got it from My Own Sweet Thyme

2 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat until well blended.
4. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
5. In a small bowl, combine the white sugar and cinnamon.
6. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter in the baking pan.
7. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently pressed. Remove from oven and let cool slightly on a wire rack. While still warm, cut into squares with a sharp knife...
8. Share with friends and family. Enjoy! 

What a happy girl!

Unsure about her first car

Cowboy booties!

Family

Waiting for the light rail.

My snuggler

Zonked out at WOF.

After pooping through all her spare outfits, Aurora left WOF clad in diaper, cowboy booties, and hair bow.

On Babies, Beards, and Other Things

It's Sunday night, my husband and housemates are upstairs watching Braveheart, and I'm wiping tears from my face as I fold all of Rory's three month clothes and put them in a box, where they'll stay until (if) another baby girl comes along. One outfit was especially hard to store; it's just a little onesie, but somehow it just is Aurora, and I'll always associate it with her babyhood:

Really, I can't believe how it wrenches my heart to put aside her little clothes and bring out her new size...who said she could grow up so fast? But at the same time, everyday is a new delight, and we're enjoying so much the little human she's becoming. Rory has learned to express herself vocally in ways other than crying; she now "yells" at us when upset and grunts and coos when pleased. She laughs when amused (most precious thing ever!) and "talks" to all her toys. Her personality is starting to shine, and she's an amiable, content, and observant little girl. Tonight will be Rory's first night in her own room (aka her first night not spent in our room, which is surprisingly difficult for me. I give it three hours before I bring her back). I'll post cute nursery (aka office) pictures soon.
I really don't want Rory to stay a baby forever, despite her cute cuddliness, and despite the fact that I cry when she outgrows her clothes, and despite the fact that I wish she would sleep in our room forever (well, for a little while longer anyway). I'm eager eager eager to watch her grow!

This morning Blake and I did a bad/good thing: we skipped church (oh my!) and had a date morning. Normally we have date nights, but there's no great chance for that soon. So, we packed up Babycakes, dropped her off at Nana and G-Pa's place, and went out for an awesome breakfast at Brandy's. Later in the afternoon we went for a hike on Mount Elden, where I got stung by a mean, mean bee! I was thoroughly upset, and I burst into tears and threw my cell phone and water bottle. A significant happening of date morning was the making of the yearly beard contract. Blake and I have very little conflict in our relationship, but there is one issue (regretfully overlooked in premarital counseling) that continues to cause us strife. Now, I am not entirely opposed to facial hair, except on women and handsome men. It makes sense for unfortunate looking men to grow beards, but on my husband, who has such a wonderful, fascinating face, it's truly a travesty. However, Blake disagrees heartily with my sentiments. He is of the belief that the bigger the beard, the better the man (or something like that). He's grow it as long and unruly as possible, and would keep it all year round, if he weren't espoused to me. So, since I feel that because Blake loves me he should be clean shaven, and he feels that because I love him I should embrace the beard, we settle on a compromise: Blake can have a beard (with stipulations) for roughly half the year. Since fall is here and the weather is (supposedly) becoming cool, it was time to draw up this season's contract (no, we don't literally write it down, but we do shake on it). Here are the terms: Blake is permitted to grow his beard starting Monday, October 1st, granted that he shaves everyday up until then. For every day that he does not shave during that period, the beard is delayed a day. The beard must be gone no later than my birthday, March 3rd (though it can be sooner). Finally, it must not exceed a certain length and must be kept trim and neat, with no stray hairs, as to my expectations. Yes, this may seem harsh, but I assure you it is for the good of our union. The following beard (two years ago) would be in breach of contract:

In other news, Blake and I had to make an exceedingly difficult decision last week; we decided to give our doggy Vladimir back to the Arizona Boston Terrier Rescue. When we got Vlad, we signed a contract with the rescue saying that if we ever had to get rid of him, we'd return him to them. We couldn't imagine giving him up, but when Babycakes was born, we anticipated it being an issue. I won't go into all the reasons, but we knew that this would be the best thing for us and him. While I grieved all last weekend (I definitely am one of those people who give human qualities to animals, and considered Vlad to have cognitive and emotive powers that he certainly lacks), I woke up the morning of his departure with a light heart and a real sense of peace. My father in law graciously offered to drive Vladimir to Phoenix to save Blake and I from the awful experience of actually doing the hand off, and when he related it to us, it sounds like it could not have gone better. We'll miss our goofy little buddy, but we know that he'll be put in a wonderful, childless new home. Happy trails, Bucko!

Get your own Boston at www.azbtrescue.org

Finally, tonight marks one week in our new home. We're still basically living out of boxes (funny how there's less of an urgency to unpack than to pack), but we're in! Pictures to come soon...

an alphabetical summary of our trip to seattle

A: airport adjustments- different check-in procedures and security line, dirty looks from passengers at our gate...

B: backpacking- Blake went on his first backpacking trip with my brother-in-law and dad.

C: clam chowder- gotta love pacific northwest seafood!

D: ducky- rory met grandma ducky, my longtime mentor and friend
E: enormous spiders- it's wolf spider season in washington, and we encountered a few saucer-sized ones (the biggest when the boys weren't home to kill it).
F: four generations- took pictures of rory, me, mom, and grammie.

G: grammie & grampie- they came from eastern wa to meet their first great granddaughter
H: home- we spent the trip in the house I grew up in, I walked to my elementary school for probably the thousandths time, and saw lifelong friends...I know how to be comfortable there.
I: intense guy movie night- linds and I let matt and blake pick the movie, and I spent half the evening with my face buried in blake's shoulder.

J: jetson- my bloodhound-lab adorable dog-nephew
K: krispie treats- 3 different varieties, made for a big bbq: strawberry white chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, and gummy bear. oh yeah, and original
L: louis l'amour- instead of reading for class, I enjoyed the first sackett novel.
M: macaroni and cheese- fried, from the cheesecake factory, with a good friend

N: new heights- rory visited the church I grew up in for the first time. 

O: overjoyed- mom and rory upon seeing each other

P: party- we had 40 some people over to see us and meet rory; it was an awesome time!

Q: quicker plane rides- taking care of a baby made the flight fly by (pun intended)
R: rain- 2 days of sun and 3 of glorious seattle rain!
S: snow- the boys got snowed on their last morning in the mountains

T: trout from trap lake- blake caught 5!

U: uncle matt & auntie lindsay- we got to hang out with my sister and her husband quite a bit!

V: verde- spanish for green, which is a prominent color in the emerald city.
W:warehouse shopping- costco: samples and matching shirts with lindsay
X: xanthan gum- found in many beauty products, and I spent an evening doing my toenails and taking a bubble bath.
Y: yards- people have grass in washington. I like it.
Z: zonked out- Vacation made aurora sleepy, and she napped so great!

A "New Year" Starts

Today is the first day of school, and although I'm not teaching, and the one class I'm taking at NAU hardly makes me a student, I'll probably always consider this event the start of the New Year. And how different this New Year is than all the previous ones! Instead of trying to make time to write in between class and grading papers and lesson plans, I have to coax my beautiful little baby to nap (sometimes it takes herculean effort) before I can sit down at the computer. And though Blake and I are involved in many of the same things we were before Rory's arrival, my days look so different! So how do I feel about being a stay at home mom and housewife? Like I finally know what I'm supposed to do with my life! Really, I glory in it. I love being there for my daughter, and I love managing our home to make things easier on my hardworking hubbycakes. We may be poor, but it is unquestionably worth it. Still, I'm realizing that intelligent, adult conversation is a crucial component of my sanity, and intellectual stimulation keeps me from feeling like I'm Aurora's peer instead of her God-appointed caregiver. So, these are my out-of-house involvements for the coming semester:

• MOPS! In entering the scary new world of motherhood, I get to join this elite company, and I am so looking forward to it!
• A book club! I love to read so much, and nursing Rory gives me ample reading time, and it's organized by some really cool women, and I'm pretty excited about it!
• Curves! Yes, I'm going to do it. I've always been a little skeptical of Curves, since the crowd it attracts seems rather, well, old, but I think it will allow me a chance to exercise without the intimidation that I feel at a regular gym, surrounded by real athletes! I don't want to be a supermodel, but I do want to be healthy.
• Grad Class! I'm taking one more class towards my masters at NAU, more than anything just to keep up with my academic Spanish and spend a bit of time in my field. It's just one evening a week, so it shouldn't be too taxing.
• Various political involvements! We're contemplating increasing our involvement with the Flagstaff Tea Party, though we cringe at the Tea Party stereotype. The Flag branch has a few different twists than the national one, and we think it's heading in a positive direction and that there are a lot of  neat opportunities coming up...it's been infiltrated by some awesome libertarian friends of ours, and we're working to convince people that parties are overrated and that individual and states' rights should be universally emphasized. I'm also hoping to help start a food co-op with some other members.
• Bible study! We go to two Bible studies, studying Matthew at the Millers', and young marrieds at the Korns' (which we've decided is more of a fellowship than a Bible study). They're both awesome and challenging and I learn a lot.

A New Year also means New Year's Resolutions, which I always make intentionally vague to allow me to reinterpret them as necessary. This year my focus is on self discipline. I need to have more discipline in just about every area of my life, so expanding on that would take far too long. Basically, I need to be more intentional about my actions, in everything from daily time in the Word to healthier eating and exercise habits to being more committed to staying within our budget. Pray for me if you think of it, and I'll post occasional reflections and updates.

I'll leave you with a recent picture of Rorykins, aka the most amazing baby in the world! I'm completely smitten with her!

Oh, and I made up a joke the other day! Here it is:
Q- What is ghost's favorite food?
A- Ghoulosh!
I feel like I should submit it to a Popsicle company to be printed on the sticks, along with all the eight and nine year olds!

our story.

Under the "pages" link at the right is Blake's and my story: how we met up through our wedding day. If you're bored sometime, check it out! I also have a printed version coming that I published through www.blurb.com if you'd rather not read it off the computer :-)

Summer

Beautiful Rory is nine weeks old today!

Going to a party a couple weeks ago

Playing with Dad at church on Sunday

• She has toe jam. Lots of it. I have no idea why, or if it is normal.
• She likes to sleep in...I assumed that when mama gets up, baby gets up. Apparently she disagrees.
• She has a favorite toy! It's her fun peacock, and she'll grab on to it and bring it to her mouth to suck on! She loves to watch her "friends" that hang above her bouncy seat too.
• I'm very impressed with the sun...it bleaches stained cloth diapers completely white!
• Everyday brings more smiles and new sounds...we have so much fun laughing with her!

What else (other than baby raising) have we been up to lately?

• With the primaries coming up the end of the month, we're re-involving ourselves in local politics, and are contemplating the best means of influence.
• We're packing and moving!
• I've been loving the rainy Seattley days...so beautiful! Perfect for cuddling with husband, baby, and pooch with books or a movie.
• Blake and I had an awesome date night on Saturday: dinner at the Himalayan Grill (lamb korma...mmmm), and home to watch Leap Year, which was an awesome movie...Blake even thought so!
• Speaking of movies, Toy Story III was so good...I'm impressed that they've kept the quality going through the whole trilogy!

For the past 20 years of life, this time of year meant getting ready to go back to school, as a student or a teacher. I still, in fact, consider Aug./Sep. as the start of the year, rather than January. It hasn't really sunk in yet that this is the first fall I am not going back. Well, that's not entirely true since I'm taking one class through NAU towards my masters (but that's just one evening a week so it doesn't seem to count!). While I won't really miss teaching and only sort of miss being a student, it's still very strange that this new stage of my life is starting...summer felt like, well, summer. We'll see what autumn as a housewife feels like.

New Home, New Adventures

After trying off and on for a year to sell our home, we got a large check on Saturday that closes the deal...our home has officially sold! God really did a fabulous work to bring us the perfect buyer, and now we are preparing to say goodbye to the first home we shared together.

Two wonderful years here...so many memories!

It was all decorated when  we drove up after our honeymoon!

The view from our deck was consistently gorgeous.

 

Our first Christmas was spent there...we had no tree so we decorated Apollo!

 

 

 

We smoked our First Thanksgiving turkey on its deck.

It was a humble house with a rich view.

It kept us warm during the winter

Our daughter won't remember her first home, but Vlad will never forge the little black poodle next door.

Thank you, House. Now, on to a new chapter!

"Bead's"

There is a little store near my home called "Bead's". I am confused; as multiple questions arise from its rendering. What exactly do the beads own? And, are they really "beads" at all? In response to the second question, yes, it is a bead shop, as opposed to a shop owned by a person named Bead, which would make more grammatical sense. It does not appear that the beads own anything, which leads me to believe that someone is an overzealous punctuator. And if we're talking beads and not "beads" (said with a mysterious, knowing tone), then the situation is even graver. The misused quotation marks are a bit amusing, but the spare apostrophe is painful. I scowl at it every time I drive by.

Involving another puzzling shop name:
There is a store in Kent, WA, called Seafood Etc. This leads me to wonder, what kind of etc. goes with seafood? Seafood is a category all in itself...what could the etc. be? Seafood and crackers? Seafood and fishing supplies? Seafood and deli meats? Hmmmm...

Mid-July Updates

Note: I'm terrible at formatting this blog, and apologize in advance for any unsightly gaps, indents, etc. I may get the hang of this one day...

Fourth of July FAIL!
I was so looking forward to the two BBQs we were set to attend. Then I got the 24 hour flu bug that was going around. Gatorade and saltines do not make for a nice Independence Day celebration. I feel worse for Blake though, since he gave up his grilled meat to stay home and take care of me. We watched Minority Report and Nacho Libre (my favorite) and I'm pretty sure Blake cooked Spam for dinner...we grilled the next evening to make up for it. One plus to the day: Rory had a stinking cute patriotic outfit!

July also means that Rory was introduced to her first bottle and pacifier...big steps for our baby girl!

 Dedication
We've done some more hiking and had visits from family, and this past Sunday, Aurora was dedicated at church, wearing a gown made for her by her grandma...it was a special day!

Blake and I are reading this book, Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham, which is really impressing on us how there is no substitute for the parental role in a child's spiritual development. Books, conferences, retreats, youth group, and even pastors cannot take the place of parents who prioritize raising "sons and daughters who walk with God." What a huge responsibility- thank God for his grace!


Anniversary!
Two years ago, we never would have imagined that we'd have a child being dedicated the same day we would celebrate our second anniversary...so much has changed! I'm blessed to be married to a man who truly loves me for who I am (cliche, but true). He also loves me for who I'll be one day, and he's excited to be along for the ride! If I were an angle of 32 degrees, Blake would be an angle of 58 degrees, because we complement each other perfectly. He is my favorite person to share a lazy Saturday morning with, my favorite world travel companion, my favorite person to make fun of dumb vanity license plates with, my favorite person to worship with in church, my favorite person to do just about everything with except watch chick flicks and go shopping. Here we are on our first date (August 24th, 2006), our wedding, and our two year anniversary (dinner at Josephine's and an adventure to Bearizona!):

L

Last Exciting News:
I had a recipe published in one of my favorite cooking magazines, Healthy Cooking! I'll post the recipe here one of these days...I submitted it over a year and a half ago and forgot about it, so I was pretty excited when I heard they were going to print it in the August/September issue!
Very Last Exciting News:
Monsoon season has started!!!(!!!!) I love the rain THIS much!!!!

Babycakes and Pondering Thursday

Some happy thoughts for today:

• COLOGNE (Polo Blue in particular)
• Barbecues (one of my favorite things about America)
• Plane tickets purchased for Labor Day weekend in Seattle
• $1.99 Ben and Jerry's ice cream
• Wonderful grandparents (both mine and Aurora's)
• Hymns like The Love of God and Come Thou Fount
• South American World Cup dominance...will it continue?
• Celebrating our independence this weekend (see second bullet).
• Reading: (Family Driven Faith by Voddie Bauchman, The Baby Book by Dr. Sears, Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
• Plastic party cups that come in fun summery colors (sky blue, grass green, bright pink, and yellow!) instead of boring blue and red
• Two fresh pineapples on my counter waiting to be cut up
• A week from Sunday marks two years of awesomeness with my incredible husband...hoping to leave the wee one with the grandparents for the evening, assuming she'll take a bottle by then!

Today's frustrations:

• I'm clumsy. I hate being clumsy. Especially when I drop something, pick it up, and drop it again.
• The monsoons have yet to hit our house.
• Rory appears to be in between diaper sizes...is that possible? Her newborn ones are too tight, but she leaks out of the size ones. She's still too small for her cloth ones too, so I'm in a bit of a conundrum...
• Our water heater is broken.

The good far outweighs the bad, so I'm going to ignore my clumsiness, lack of cool rain and hot showers, and babycakes' awkward-sized hiney and write everything I've done today on my to-do list so I can cross it off! Happy Thursday, everyone!