Wulfgar Saves the Day!

I was having a really bad day today. I got absolutely no sleep last night. Bella has been crying and spitting up ALL day and she refuses to sleep. Her bottom two teeth went back down and are coming back up again. We just found out that thanks to good ole' George W. Bush, there are longer any down payment assistance programs. We were counting on that to help us get a house! Our options for homes just got drastically reduced. :( So, anyway...I was in a terrible mood almost on the brink of tears when I walked into my bedroom and saw this. I immediately started cracking up and I think I can now survive the rest of the day.

Wulfgar snuggled under our duvet

We're going to be homeowners!

Last night at about oh I don't know 10pm...we decided to buy a house. I know it sounds crazy! We sat and talked about it for quite a while and realized that we could be buying a house for the same price that we're paying for rent! In 3-5 years we could turn around and sell it for possibly double. W decided that we would just rent it out when we go to San Francisco. We would like to return here if possible and then hopefully make our way to the east coast once Joe has 5 years experience as a web developer.

Now comes the hard part! I think we looked at a hundred houses today! We found one that we absolutely fell in love with. It was 138k. It was a bank owned short-sale. It was such a cute house. I called the realtor and it had already been sold. I talked to him on the phone for a bit and every house I wsnted to look at already had 2-3 offers! Super frustrating. We're not in a huge hurry, which makes it not as stressful. We're got approved for a loan with a 4.25% interest rate which is awesome! Our house payments will end up being around $860-$900/month depending on the price of the house.

Wish us luck!

Tulip Festival

We went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip festival on Monday and it was so gorgeous! It's in Woodburn off of the Newberg hwy. The festival is 40 acres of tulips of all kinds. It's quite breathtaking. Mt Hood sits in the background surrounded by dozens of diiferent colors. I never knew there were so many different types of tulips. Bella had a good time. She was wide-eyed the entire time. She wanted to touch and at one time taste everything around her. I highly recommend it to anyone who wanta to get out of dodge and not have to go very far. I would suggest going on a weekday. It's 5/car on weekdays and $10/car on weekends. Plus on weekdays there's far less traffic. It's a one lane hwy. the entire way to the farm once you turn off I-5. I imagine a weekend day would be pretty swamped.

family phot-op

I love this picture with Mt. Hood in the background

Bella was quite finished. She was so tired she just pooped out right in Joe's arms

this reminds me of my train rides through Provence. Absolutely stunning.

It's been a while

March Madness!!!

It's been a wihle since I posted anything. To get right down to it, I've just been too lazy. March was a super busy month. We had lots going on. To name a few things:

Twilight came out on DVD. I had a super sweet party at my house. I got to see Wicked with Katie and it was...WICKED! It has become my new Les Mis. Katie's t-shirt looks way better on her than mine does on me! My boobs kind of stretch out Elphaba's face. Bella and I went to the Zoo with Rachel, Daschel and Beckham. Upon arriving we remembered that it was spring break and decided that it was way too stressful trying to get two strollers around a million screaming kids and adults and decided to go to Jerusalem Cafe instead! We went to the beach. It was so gorgeous! It was in the 60's, blue skies and lovely! Bella and I flew to Utah to visit my best friend Jill and go to my mission reunion. It snowed the entire time. I couldn't believe it! We had a good time. Bella did awesome on the plane. On the way home as we were taking off she had a MASSIVE diarrhea blow out! it stunk! It oozed out all over my arms, all over her, it was disgusting. I just threw the clothes away! Let's see what else...Bella has her two bottom teeth. I can't believe it! She's ony five months for crying out loud! She had a couple rough nights with them but all in all it wasn't so bad! She started cereal and solids this month. So far we've tried pears and sweet potatoes. She loved sweet potatoes! Whenver she takes a bite she says: umm ma mummmm and smiles. It's super cute. My grandma flew in from Illinois. I was so glad to see her. She was so excited to see her two newest great granddaughters. We had a really good visit. I'm just sad she lives so far away. We get to see her once a year if we're lucky. There you have it our last month or so in one big nutshell!

Wicked with Katie!
Lincoln City
Bella's Glow Worm.

This thing was my saving grace on the airplane!

The garden Restaurant for Jill's b-day lunch!

We ate fried pickles and they were awesome!

Cole and Bella at Esther Short Park

Cereal!!!!

Chubby bunny!

Bella loves her Papa!
Pure sweetness!

Happy Easter!

Bella and Nana

Calling all twihards!

So, this is probably the nerdiest thing I've ever posted but I don't care! So, this is basicall on giant blogland invite to my house on Saturday. I pre-ordered my copy of Twilight last month and have been impatiently awaiting it's arrival for this Sat.
Sat. night at 8 we're going to watch it and be all goofy and girly and gush over it and it will be awesome. Who doesn't need to curb their Edward fix!? Oh and Rachel, if you're reading this, I saw a preview for Twilight last night and Bella is TOTALLY wearing grey granny panties! Come one and all and it will be a blast. Feel free to invite people, just let me know so I can plan for the numbers! If you need directions just call me! See you there!

Wicked!!!!!!!!

So, I am super STOKED because I got orchestra level tickets to Wicked!I have ben trying to see this show for almost four years! The first time it came to Portland it sold out in 4 days. I got paid the day AFTER it sold out. Last summer Joe and I specifically planned our vacation to Chicago so we could see it there. Well the day we got there the company went on tour!

Last summer I taught an advanced musical theater class and we did some scenes from Wicked. It was such a blast! I found out then that it was coming to Portland. When tickets went on sale we were so poor because I was on maternity leave. I was pretty bummed...but then...da da dah...my mother in law bought me tickets!

For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, it's FABULOUS! The music is so good and the storyline is great! I recommend it to any broadway virgin. So, yeah that is my super randoim post to tribute Wicked

You can check out the music and such:http://www.wickedthemusical.com/page.php#MusicPlayer

This has been such a weird week. At times, it has been really fun and then really stressful and sometimes depressing. I'm exhausted and glad it's almost over.

I'm trying so hard to stay positive about my body but some days I find it virtually impossible. I have 10lbs left to shed. Whoo-hoo. Right?! I'm so frustrated with myself because I want so badly to get back in shape and start running again but I am so TIRED all the time and have very little maotivation. Except on Tuesday nights of course when I'm watching "Biggest Loser" I tried running the other morning but it was so cold my asthma kicked right in.

I went to find some clothes because I am so sick of crying every morning, but itwas so depressing. I know I've hit an all time low when I don't even want to go shopping. HELLO! I'm the girl with over 100 pairs of shoes! I guess I have to interject though...I am wearing a size 4 but want so badly to have my tight little tummy back. I should be excited about that but can't. I feel like I did when I came home from mission with this life preserver around my waist in tow. I guess I can say I'm not as pathetic now as I was then. One night I was so upset about my body I laid on my floor and listened to Coldplay's "Fix You" on repeat until I cried myself to sleep. Pretty sad eh?

I have to say I have an AMAZING husband. We were talking about this very subject last night. He said that I was the sexiest and beautiful I've ever been. He told me to take some of our tax return money and go buy some new clothes. (I haven't really bought new clothes since before my mission)

I'm not trying to throw myself a huge pity party and I know I just need to get off my butt and change what I want changed. I keep all this bottled up inside and somedays it just comes spewing out. I have never been insecure about myself ever in my life. I've always been a total ham. I once won a "shake that @$$" contest at Banana Joe's in Portland (crazy sorority days) I constantly find myself pulling at my shirts, changing outfis at least three times a day. I have even pulled away from Joe because I don't feel attractive enough. How retarded is that?!

I HATE it.

Okay, I'm done mourning now. Sometimes I just need to vent and cry a little bit and I'll be good for a few days.

Let's talk about how this week was good. On monday I came home and Joe bought me my favorite licorice. He always does sweet little things like that. Once when we were dating he went and bought a ton of mambas candy and took out all the rasberry ones (my favorite) so he would have enough to fill a gift bag. He probably spent $20 on Mambas.

My niece Zoe Anne was born this week. She's precious. She has more hair than Bella will have when she's one! I'm so happy for my sister. She's had a really long road to travel and I think things are finally falling into place for her.

Bella is getting cuter and funnier everyday. She laughed out loud this week! I have never heard a sweeter sound. I started crying! I know I'm a nerd.

(this is a link to the video of her laughing) http://www.flickr.com/photos/loganthomas/3334866262/in/set-72157613710933091/

To top off my nerdiness: I finally got to the last level of Zelda!!! It's been over a year of trying to beat that stupid game!