Three years down,,,,

a lot more to go. Today, Travis and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary. It was very nice, my mom took Ayda last night(and had a glimpse at how fun potty training is...thanks mom) Travis and I went to the temple then on a date. We had a nice night and we got to sleep the whole night....with no interruptions from Ayda. This morning we went to breakfast before going to pick Ayda up. I love Travis very much, he is a great husband and a wonderful Papa, we look forward to many more happy years together. Here are some stats from our three years:
1 apartment (Midvale)
2 houses (North Salt Lake, North Plains)
2 states (Utah and Oregon)
1 sweet baby
9 states visited
2 countries visited
too many great memories to count!

Chinese Gardens

The Washington County library has something called a cultural pass, it allows card holders to go to nine different attractions for free. Today, we went to the Chinese Gardens in Portland. We were amazed at how quiet and tranquil it was. Ayda fell asleep on the way there so Travis and I enjoyed the gardens, taking in the peace and quiet. When Ayda woke up she was so pleasant, running from garden to garden (disrupting peoples tranquility I am sure). We took a ton of pictures, the flowers and trees were all so beautiful and smelled so good. There was also a lot of intricate wood carvings. I don't know what our next adventure will be, but I am sure it will be fun.

Nothing Special

It has been awhile since I last posted, we are just plugging along with life. Nothing huge to update people on. We closed on our house last week, I am getting ready to paint (I hope to be done before I go to Hawaii). Ayda is doing really well with potty training. She isn't perfect yet but she has gone several days without any accidents, she has even had a couple of dry nights. We spend our days on walks (mostly to the library), going to the park and getting to spend time with my family. We hope everyone is enjoying summer, we sure are.

underwear

The woes of getting used to underwear...she is always pulling them up, and when you think they can't get any higher, she does this.

Family, fireworks and fun!

We all met for a nice family dinner at Endre's house. Later in the evening (after being asked several times by each child throughout dinner) Matt, Travis and Derek did a nice fireworks show. Filled mostly with things that smoked -- not a lot that made noises because some of the younger kids are scared...we saw Hurley take off running more than once last night. After fireworks all the kids were in a circle going round and round singing Johnny Cash' "ring of fire." (no one knows why they know it...) We played a riveting game of freeze tag and we attempted wheel barrow racing...some were better than others (for the record I was really bad.) It is nice to be so close to so much of my family. Ayda always has a good time when she is with her Gaco and cousins.

Big News!!

For the last several days Ayda has been telling me she needs to go potty, but when she sits on the potty she uses up a lot of toilet paper and never really goes. But today, she said she had to go, and she told me, "no see mama" so walked out of the bathroom and she went pee!!! Yeah Ayda. We made a really big deal out of it and then not to much later she said she had to go potty, Travis put her on the toilet and she had already gone poop in her diaper, but she went more in the toilet. One time she said she had to go and I thought, there is no way, you just went, and she wet in her underwear...so I guess I should listen. I doubt she is ready to fully potty train but we are making progress. She has all the essentials, cute panties (yep the really thick ones) a treat for after she goes and I was thinking about letting her do a sticker chart...If anyone has other helpful hints we will gladly take and try them.

Home Sweet Home

Welcome home! Travis and I drove to Utah on a Monday arrived really early Tuesday morning, packed all day Tuesday (special thanks to Linds for dropping everything to help us!!) Loaded the U-Haul Wednesday, signed closing papers that afternoon and drove the U-Haul back to Oregon. We got into town around 8 on Thursday morning. We unloaded the U-Haul (another special thanks to my mom, sisters, and brothers-in-law for helping). I have almost everything put away, except the garage needs a little work. I don't want to hang pictures downstairs because my first order of business is to paint. As you will see in the pictures we have a very red color throughout the entryway and up the stairs. Then in the living room/dining area is a color that has been described as silly putty, flesh, mauve...whatever you want to call it...it is just plain bad. So, we will be getting some nice neutral colors to put up then I will be able to hang pictures. None of the bedrooms are painted, so I have everything hung upstairs. My favorite part of my room is the closet, notice Travis laying on the floor (that is to show how long it is). We are waiting to get a bed for the guest room, so when people come to visit they don't have to sleep on a couch.

North Plains

I don't know why Travis and I have to live in towns starting with North, but there seems to be a pattern forming. I am still getting a couple last pictures of the house ready so to hold you over here are some pictures of good old North Plains. It is a tiny town just outside of Hillsboro (a little west of Portland). Travis and I took some pictures to give you an idea of where we live. We do have a gas station and a Subway(restaurant not transportation), no grocery stores or shopping of any sort, for that we travel five minutes.