Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th. The Wycherlys were in town this weekend and we had a blast. I'm kicking myself for not keeping my camera with me more.

Our neighborhood had a bike parade with a fire truck escort. After the parade, the firefighters cracked out their hoses and made it rain in the park. The kids had a blast. Maren loves her new hat.

Then we floated the river. We all managed to say in the boats this year. Maren and Carson loved sticking their arms in the water and looking for fishies.

Maren wasn't too sure of fireworks at first. After a few minutes she finally decided to open her eyes so she could see the fireworks that looked like "Belle's dress." She kept her ears plugged.

Camping

A few weekends ago we had a blast camping just past Idaho City with a bunch of friends. Maren was quite the trooper. She loves her "sleeping bed" and her "green tent"

A big thanks to the Taylors for making it all happen.

Catching up...again

Princess Belle meets cowgirl.

Eagle Island with Little T.

Our new favorite hangout. Summer time = Softball. Andy after his sweet GRAND SLAM! What a stud.

The things daddys do to make their girls laugh.

Lagoon

The Bramwell fam got together for a wet and wild camping trip to Lagoon. We had a ball. Maren

LOVED all of it (except the scary pirate ship ride.)

Sleepy baby

I've seen kids fall asleep at the dinner table on America's Funniest Home Videos and I think, "What kind of parents let their child get so sleep deprived?"

I guess I'm one of those parents.

Boy oh BOY!

That's right, it's a BOY! I'm so stinking excited. Andy is ecstatic. Having a boy means that I have to train my eye to search out more than just pink fluffy stuff. It means I'm going to have to deal with a little fire hose when I change diapers. It also means I get to go shopping for new bedding, a few clothes (thanks meg for letting me use yours) and boy toys! Maren still won't have to learn to share.

I'm a bit worried about the activity level of boys. Maren is my little angel who asks me before she gets into anything. During softball games, she never leaves my side. This little baby is already rambunctious and getting into trouble. When I had my ultrasound last week, he had the cord wrapped around his whole body and his leg! I had to go to a specialist today to make sure that he wouldn't have problems as he gets bigger. So I got another ultrasound today and he was completely unwrapped. The doctor compared him to a Mexican cowboy doing lasso tricks. What am I getting into?

Sorry I'm too lazy to scan the pics now. Maybe later.

Just wanna pinch it

Girls Weekend

This weekend, I got together with some of my closest high school girlfriends. We had such a blast. A big thanks to Krista and Dave for the sweet hook ups in Park City.

I love how we've only been together a few times in the past 11 years, but you would never know it. We still talk non-stop, all at the same time, all night long. Naturally, the topics have changed, we talk a lot more about kids, mothering, husbands, and finances, but the bonds are still there. We still know we can count on each other and cry on each other's shoulders. I think Krista won for the most tears shed, not that she has the most drama in her life (Shana, you take that prize), her heart is just closest to her eyes. I think I need to be more sensitive like you.

We went shopping.

Made 135 hair bows.

And stayed up until 4:00 a.m.

You can tell things started getting out of hand as the night wore on!

Krista moved into my ward when we were 5. The rest of the girls I met in 7th grade when they combined the elementary schools. Most of us had girls Gym class together. We had to sit in alphabetical order.....Alynn Beesly, Krista Blackburn, Angie Bramwell, Jana Brown, Shana Brown. I'm not sure how we picked up Tracy Olaveson or Kari Inskeep. But we've all been best buds since.

Thanks girls for always being there through thick and thin. We missed you Jana and Kari!!

Baby #2!

It's true. Baby #2 is on it's way! Due Oct. 24th. We are so super excited. I'm happy that the first trimester is over. I haven't been super sick, but I haven't felt like doing anything until recently.

Maren is sure that she is getting a baby brother. I think she might be right. I've already had two boy dreams and I haven't been nearly as sick with this one as I was with Maren. I'm kind of hoping for a girl. Maren has been so much fun, I think I would be content with all girls. Plus, I think that she would like someone to play dollhouse with her. Andy really wants a boy. No explanation needed.

I apologize to everyone I lied to about being pregnant. I don't know if I just got fat quickly or if it showed on my face, but it seemed as soon as I found out I was expecting, everyone started asking me about it. Because of some complications in the past, I wanted to make sure I was through the first trimester before the whole world found out. But now we are official!

Big girl bed...almost

Maren kept asking me for a big girl bed, like her cousin Brooklyn has.

So I figured it was about time. I was putting it off because I was afraid that it would be the end of nap time, but I finally just took one side off of her crib and it has been great. She was so thrilled. She has done a great job of staying in it during sleepy time. Maren has such a sweet spirit, and for the most part really has a desire to follow the rules. Here are the latest and greatest pictures of her new bed.

The first (and only) time she has fallen out of bed. I piled up some blankets just in case if she did fall. I think they did the trick. I daresay that she doesn't remember it. The terrible thing is that I ran and got my camera before I even made sure that she didn't suffocate. It was one of the most sweatiest heads I've ever seen in my life.

This is Maren one week later. My sister-in-law was wondering what was up will all the safety pins in Maren's P.J.'s. This is what happens when we forget to pin her zipper with one. Yes, she did start off with a diaper. Who knows where it went. Luckily, she is doing an awesome job of potty training and managed to stay dry.

Couponing

I've found a new hobby. Couponing. Today I made some purchases at Albertsons. With no sales or coupons, the total was $18. It rang up for $2!!!!!!! Isn't that amazing? A big thanks to Katie G. for showing me the ropes.

Home Keeping #3

I was meaning on posting my home keeping tips more often, but here are a few I've been thinking about.


Hard floors are my arch rival. Don't get me wrong, I love my wood floors, I just hate cleaning them. And with a two year old, it becomes a frequent chore. I finally deducted my enmity to the ringing out of my mop. I don't like dirty, wet floor hands and I don't like rinsing grimy mop pads out in my kitchen sink- gross. I don't have a utility sink and the bathroom sink is too small.

I've tried the Don Aslett velcro mop, which I love, but I only have one mop pad....the rinsing problem. I got a Shark Steam Mop. It's pretty cool. It is great for getting the dried up, smashed carrots and cereal up. It came with 2 pads so I was able to do half my floor with one and then finish with the other. But it doesn't slide well on my floor, (probably due to the copious amounts of maple syrup and ketchup that find their way down there) so I put off cleaning it because it is too much of workout. So my final solution for my floors: a 24 inch dust mop from Lowes for a 2 minute cleanup of the whole floor, and then the Don Aslett velcro mop with the Microfiber cloths from Costco (in the car dept.) I love those cloths. I can use as many as I want on my floor and then they go straight in the washing machine so I hardly have to touch them.

Problem Solved.

My other tip is to buy a new vacuum filter. I've had my vacuum for about 3 years and never changed it (they're like $20). But technically they should be changed every year. I finally got one and WOW the difference. I can't vacuum my rugs anymore because the suction is so strong now. When I looked in the canister after doing my family room, their was the normal fuzz, bobbi pins and Angie hair, but there was also a ton of this fine dust that made it in there. Who knows how long its been sinking into my carpet? But now it's gone. Yea!

Ladies Craft Night!

Due to several requests, I'm going to host a craft night at my house and teach how to make these hats. I'm not going to post the date and time for fear that some psychopath will show up. So for details, e-mail me. angiewycherly@gmail.com

Exciting!

Bishopric?

Happy late Thankgiving. I would blog about it, but I didn't take any pictures. Rigby was great, Twilight was great. I am the official queen of Guitar Hero...Only when I play on medium. The food, naturally, was awesome. Thanks mom. We were espically grateful for mom and dad's new HEPA filter on their furnace. This was the first time in a long time that we didn't sleep in the RV due to a cat allergy to a cat that my parents refuse to get rid of. It isn't even a nice cat, if you are in bare feet, she will hide behind a corner and jump out and attack your bare tootsies. Anyway, I wasn't going to write about Thanksgiving. I was going to write about the weekend before Thanksgiving.

About 15 min after the BYU vs. Utah game (sniff sniff) we get a phone call for Andy to schedule a meeting with the Stake President the next morning. So we sit up all night contemplating what it could be.

Long story short, Andy got called to be the 2nd councilor in the Bishopric. What? We aren't even 30 yet. But we are greatful for the opportunity. I think it will be good for him. Feel free to sit next to Maren and I during Sacrament Meeting.

McCall

Andy's brother Ben and his wife Elizabeth are in town this week. Yeah! Andy's parents have connections to a cabin up in McCall and invited us all to go. Andy had to work, so Maren and I ditched him and headed for the hills.

I promised Maren snow. We packed all our snow clothes and talked about making snowmen etc. We get there and...no snow. Well, almost no snow. It turns out it was just enough to keep a two year old happy. Maren isn't allowed to hit mommy with anything but pillows. We have now added snow to the list. She loved getting me. We ended up getting a bit of snow during our stay. It was a great way to kick off the holiday festivities.

We only spent one night up there, so we didn't have a lot to do except veg out, watch movies, play the Wii, and eat at My Father's Place twice. Mmmm. So super good.









One of the highlights was Mr. Fox who payed us a visit several times each day. After a fish stick and a piece of french toast, we are now best friends. We also saw a mama deer and 2 little ones right outside the window.









Here is a beautiful picture of the top of Maren's head, Me, Carolyn, Ben and part of Elizabeth's head. She is pretty stealth at keeping out of pics.

Creating

I have been thinking a lot about Elder Uchtdorf's talk during the General Relief Society Brodcast entitled "Happiness, Your Heritage." He talks about creating.

I've been trying to find ways that I can create...cleaning and beautifying our home, creating happy experiences for Maren, finding organization in my life. etc.

This is my new creating that I am so super proud of. I've only croched hot pads before when my mom was trying to teach us. Here is the pattern. And this is a website that has videos of each crocheting stitch. Thanks Joyce G. for helping me read the pattern. I'm so excited how it turned out, and get this...I did it in one day!

The beauty of a budget

After nearly 5 years of marital bliss, my accountant husband has been able to create in me a love for budgeting. I'm not even joking, I love our budget and what it does for us. I admit I fought it tooth and nail at first. For one, I thought it was boring. I hated sitting down and accounting for all that I spent. Most of all, I didn't like the guilt of seeing how much money I spent on dumb little things that I didn't need. It really added up. Andy was persistent. It is in his nature. He wondered how I survived 24 years of life without knowing where my money was going.

Here's what worked:

1. Buying a money management program. Excel is not my friend.

2. Looking at the budget periodically throughout the month. It is a bummer looking at it only at the end of the month just to find out that you overspent on everything. We check ours every Sunday.

3. Give each person some blow money that they can spend on stupid stuff. Now I don't feel dumb buying more nail polish, glitter glue and yarn.

4. Don't cheat. When I overspent in one category, I would want to "steal" money from a different one. Andy would never let me. You have got to be honest. When you rework your budget, you can see what is and isn't working.

The reason why I now love the budget is because it has empowered me. I actually have more money because I am aware of where I am spending it. I don't buy things on a whim, rather, I recognize my priorities and make my purchases wisely. And I don't buy crappy things any more, I buy fewer things, but of better quality.

I felt prompted to write this because of my new purchase yesterday. New dishes!! I love, love, love them and they make me happy. I got my old ones my first year of college. They aren't necessarily ugly, but the green and purple flowers are outdated. I couldn't find any linens that would go with them. So this time I stuck with classic white. Love them!

Thanks to the gift cards I get from my Citibank rewards (I use my credit card for everything humanly possible, but never-ever carry a balance) I got 12 place settings for $24.

R.I.P. Halloween

Happy Halloween. Little Mermaid Maren loved Halloween. She made it to about 5 of our neighbors and then told Andy that she wanted to go back to Maren's house. Her absolute favorite was the trick-or-treaters coming to our house. Every time the doorbell rang, away she went running to open the door.

.

Ariel and her friend Sebastian

Cruising!

Last week we had the amazing opportunity to go on a cruise down the Mexican riviera. Andy and I have never done anything like that before. We had the most wonderful awesome time. A big thanks to Andy's work for taking us. Another big thanks to Mom and Andy's parents for watching Maren. She had a ball.

We started out in L.A. and hopped on the Norwegian Star. As we were passing another ship on the way to ours, Candace noticed that everyone in line for the other ship was male....everyone. They were all really good looking men, shaved and greased. Come to find out they were boarding the Carnival "Pride" ship. I didn't know that such ships existed.

Our boat was great. Norwegian is known for it's restaurants and dining choices. 7 restaurants whenever you want to eat. There was tons of fun food that I wouldn't usually get to eat. Creme Brulle', Sweet and Spicy mushroom soup, rack of lamb, molten chocolate cake, etc. Ice cream is always available. Mmmm. Luckily I only gained 2 pounds- we took the stairs a lot.

Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas. So super hot. We didn't have a long time there, but we had a little time to hit the market and get a taste of the Mexican souvenirs. There are about 10 different items that you can choose from, then you see them over and over again throughout the country. We hopped on a catamaran and went around the rocks for some pics, then headed over to a cove for snorkeling. It was a lot of fun. Some crazy guy was diving to the bottom and grabbed a sea anemone and broke it open. All these little fishies came swarming and ate it out of his hand. At one point he had also caught a blow fish. Pretty cool. The ride back offered free drinks. Everyone got plastered. We enjoyed out Sprites.

Next stop was Mazatlan. We took a city tour where we saw some cliff divers. Pretty impressive. They jumped from 40 feet and only had 7 feet of water to land in among the rocks. We saw a little dancing show, grabbed some souvenirs, and went swimming at the beach and ate dinner at a resort. I love real Mexican food. They had some corn tamales to die for.

Finally we made it to Puerto Vallarta. We chose an excursion to go swimming with the dolphins. It was the highlight of the trip. We were in a group of 10 in a pool with 4 dolphins and 2 trainers. We got to hold them and rub them all over (the dolphins, not the trainers). They felt so cool. They were really sweet animals and I got the impression that they really enjoyed people, kind of like horses. They were all trained to do little tricks. They would smile, clap, sing, jump; everything that the trainers asked them to do. They even gave us a kiss on our cheeks. Then we got to have a belly ride. They rolled over and I grabbed onto their fins belly to belly and they swam me around the pool. So very fun.

Another favorite moment was the chocolate buffet. It was pretty much heaven on earth. Hundreds of chocolate cakes, cookies and treats. They were all too beautiful to eat, well, almost too beautiful.

The whole clan.

If you look closely, you can see Andy's head poking out of the water on the right.

I just had a ball and can't wait to go again....someday. I loved sitting in the sun. Just baking and enjoying the heat. I was pretty serious about sunscreen so I didn't get burned, just a bit more brown and a bit more blonde. I really need to do this every year.

Tagged

I was tagged by Jana to post my 4th picture in my 4th file.

This is Coit Tower in San Francisco. It's not a great picture, but it brings back a lot of memories from our glory days in California. What a wonderful time we had.

The tower reminds me of taking my Nursing boards. I took the exam right at the bottom of the hill on the other side. Pure Stress! I already had my job at Stanford. If I didn't pass, I would have to work as a CNA till I did. I was so terrified that I over studied, so the test didn't seem too bad.

When I finished, I climbed all the steps up the hill to the tower and was able to see the whole city. I remember taking deep breaths and letting all that stress out. I could finally enjoy myself. Then I walked down thorough Chinatown, went shopping at Union Square, and back to the train station to get back to San Jose. It ended up being a pretty great day.

I tag Kari, Shana, and Lori S.