It Moose Be Love: First Half Birthday

It Moose Be Love: First Half Birthday: Sometimes I wonder why I "blog" because I'm so terrible at it. Maybe one of these days I'll get my game on. And then again...

First Half Birthday

Sometimes I wonder why I "blog" because I'm so terrible at it. Maybe one of these days I'll get my game on. And then again, maybe not. Any who, I'll get back into the game with an update on Wavey Lou. She's 6 months old and I'm still reminding myself everyday that she's mine. Oh, and she still gives me baby fever. I still don't have a baby book, I just have a Word document that keeps track of things for now, so here is her 6 month update: 

What?! You’re 6 months old! When?! How?? Why???? (Mom is slightly crying on the inside). But seriously, time goes so fast. Here we are at six months and you have conquered your first Thanksgiving and Christmas. At your doctor appointment this month you were 15 ½ ish pounds and 27 inches long (I rounded, because I can). And, side note, your doctor broke up with us, but that’s another story. You are so close to crawling. I’m betting in the next week or two you will have it figured out. We do the army crawl pretty well at this point. Mom has slacked on teaching you to sit on your own so, uh, we’re working on that. Still a huge fan of bath time and just figured out that splashing water is really fun. It’s the simple things in life.

Current nicknames: Wave, Wavey Lou, Sugar, Sugar Plum, Peach, and Buddy.

You’re little smile is to die for. We just melt like a twist cone on a hot summer day every time we see it. You just have the best personality and you are such a happy baby. You have a really loud screech that is not very easy on the ears sometimes, but also, still adorable. 

We started real food and you love it! You think it is funny to blow food out of your mouth and you also try to suck your thumb between every bite. We don’t let you. Speaking of sucking your thumb, you still do that, a lot. I think it’s adorable. Hopefully we will be able to break you of it before 1^st grade. Stay sweet baby girl. 

Cousin love, Will & Waverly 

Stumped.

So I've been working on this project for a while. And, its been done for a while, but I'm a little slow per usual. I'm married to MountainMan, right? So I have to have outdoorsy, mountainy things in my house, right? Right. Entre, my new end tables! We were driving through the woods on a beautiful Sunday afternoon when I spotted them. There was a part in the trees and the light shown through illuminating them as if it were a sign from above that those stumps were destined to be mine. Ok, the whole fancy light description thing didn't really happen, but it sounded fun. Anyway, I made MountainMan pick up the not-so-light stumps and throw them into the truck to take down the mountain with us. I had to call in help from my trusty father-in-law, but only because I didn't have an electric hand sander and he did. If I had do all sanding by hand it would have probably been 2031 before this post would go up. All in all it was a super easy and super fun project. And I love that I have somewhere to set my glass of wine at then end of the day. Did I ever mention that MountainMan got me 9 bottles of wine for 9 months of pregnancy?! He's a keeper. I digress. Here are some photos of my project! 

 Step 1: Find an awesome stump in the woods and make your husband take it home with you. 

Step 2: Remove bark. This part takes patience, and the right tools. 

Step 3: Call your father-in-law and tell him you will bake him cookies if he will use his nifty little sander to smooth this out for you. (Cookies ALWAYS help projects go faster.)

Step 4: Seal with a base coat. Polyurethanes typically work well.  

Step 5: Stain to the color of your choosing and after stain has dried appropriately seal with a top coat. Emphasis on the word seal. This is to help prevent sap from leaking out of the log later. MountainMan had left over seal for his wooden oars so I just used that. Also, I cut out a circle of thin carpet and nailed it to the bottom as an extra barrier against sap or anything else. (Not pictured.) 

Step 6: Drink wine, and set it on your awesome new end table. 

Step 7: Return MountainMan's stuff to the coffee table since the photo shoot is now over. 

I love this new addition to out living room! I might be into making furniture now. One problem, I am seriously lacking in the tool and shop department. We're working on it. 

Happy almost Tuesday! 

-Emma 

3 Months & Counting

How in the world is she 3 months already?! I just got pregnant yesterday. I know. It doesn't slow down. This is why I have to have another. And another. MountainMan laughs at me because my own baby gives me baby fever. Truth. I'm weird, I know. 

Wavelry, you are just perfect. You are staring to talk to us lots and lots. We discussed the possibility of you Muttin' Bustin' at the county fair when you are older and you LOVED that idea. Who wouldn't want to hang onto a sheep for dear life until falling off? You'll get a trophy and it'll be totally worth it. You are super at sleeping, and girl, KEEP IT UP! You have this adorable, bashful face that I just can't get enough up. Stop growing up so fast. I'm not ready for it. Ok, I am. But slow down a little. 

-Emma 

She's a P E A C H

I had full intentions of writing a post about all the canning we have been doing, specifically peaches the family favorite, when I got SUPER distracted taking pictures of my other little Peach. I couldn't help myself. Waverly is the one who finally said enough is enough. So forget canning (for now), check out this little lady! Also, I confess: I messed with her hair. A lot. There's just so much of it and Waverly and I both like to be a little wild. 

"Hi, Mom!"

"Check out my muscles! Girls have guns too you know."

"A little close don't you think, Mom?" 

Shortly after this shot my almost-daily-photoshoot ended. She's a peach. 

One Month Old {almost one month ago}

She's One Month Old! 

I know, I know. I should have no excuse. This is my first baby so I'm supposed to have all the time in the world. Its the second baby when you throw the towel in and give up on being super on top of all the things fabulous moms do. I'm not even two months in and I'm already behind on good record keeping. I'm a little preoccupied with just soaking her in. I have high aspirations of getting it together here pretty soon. So lets start with Waverly's one month old photo even if her two month old photo will be going up here soon.  :)

Deer and Donuts

The ideas for ways to induce labor seem to be endless. And they all claim to work. Some of them seem worth a try, too. I mean who doesn't want to eat a whole pineapple? That one in particular seemed pretty harmless to me. I ate a lot of pineapple by the time I was 40 weeks pregnant...and still pregnant. I walked and walked and walked some more. I forced my husband to come to a massage therapist's house to try and rub the baby out of me. I bounced on a ball. I went for bumpy car rides. Nothing did the trick. Want to know the secret to inducing labor? Deer and donuts. That's right folks. All you have to do it eat deer for dinner and donuts for dessert. Sounds delightful, right? It was delightful, and apparently that is just what the baby wanted to have before entering the world. 

Whatever it was that made her come we are so happy out little Waverly is finally here. And can't believe she is already one month old! 

Come on, baby!

I have a new friend that I met through MountainMan's work and I was lucky enough to be her model for a maternity photo shoot. I first met her and her husband when we took them out for "customer appreciation". Really, this was just MountainMan and I's excuse to eat a fancy dinner and go to a hockey game with some super cool people. I wish we appreciated his customers more often. We had a fabulous time and we also had a great time a Easter brunch with these fine folks. At brunch I asked Amy if she would be interested in doing some maternity photos for me. Its our first baby and I have a feeling I won't have pictures taken the second time around, so now is the time! Amy took fabulous pictures and I had a great time with her! Here are a few from the shoot. Thank you, Amy!

Check out Amy's blog! denimandplaid.blogspot.com 

Birthday Celebration!

Today is a great day. Its my mom's birthday! Y'all may not be as excited about this as I am but that's OK. She is stinkin' fantastic and I can't imagine life without her. But seriously. I feel so incredibly lucky to have been raised by this amazing woman and to have her close to me now. As I am counting down the weeks to when my own trek into motherhood begins I can only hope and pray that I will be half as good of a mother as she was, and still is. I love you, mama! 

Kid, You'll Move Mountains

Oh, baby! We are getting ready to welcome a little one into the world and we couldn't be more excited about it. I love surprises so I thought, why not be surprised about the gender of my baby? Seems perfectly normal to me. Well, it turns out I'm not so normal. I admit, there have been times I have thought it would be nice to know, but to be honest, I love not knowing. When this little babe arrives it will be double the blessing and surprise. Babies are blessings either way of course, but for us it has been fun to keep it a surprise. 
One of the times it would have been convenient to know the gender is when it came to decorating. While I like the colors green and yellow I didn't want a room full of them. I had a hard time deciding how to decorate and now I can't even remember how I came to the idea that has now developed in the baby's room. I like it though. It was a labor of love and it is still in progress. The decorations may lead you to believe otherwise but no, I am not Native American, nor is my husband. But hey, who doesn't like a little culture and spice in their home?

One more thing...part of the inspiration for the decoration does have some meaning to it. A Bible verse was read to us at our wedding that we did not choose and it has stuck with us. The verse is about a quiver being full, which represents a family full of children. Those who know us know that we both want lots of kids. By "lots" I mean 4 or 5...maybe. Its something that first got us interested in the each other and it was spoke over us at our wedding. I feel so abundantly blessed. I don't have it made yet but I plan to put this verse up in the little one's room... "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver fully of them." Psalm 127: 3-5.

Here are some pictures of what we made for our babe's room. MountainMan helped with construction of the boards and I did the rest.

Handmade mobile. 

Our little one will be the third generation to sleep through this crib. The balls were originally white but I painted them to match the room. 

This was also a painting project...that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Hurry up little one! We want to meet you!! :) 

Bordem + Baking = Delicious Dish

I like to bake. And the good thing, maybe the only good thing, about having a little extra time on your hands is extra time to bake. With all this extra time I probably could have done something a little more ambitious and complicated, but lets be honest, I just really wanted some good 'ol fashioned chocolate chip cookies. Its not like it was a craving or anything. Ok, maybe it was. Just a little. Anyway, I know chocolate chip cookies aren't anything fancy but they are still pretty awesome if you ask me. Annnnd in case you are wondering I happen to be the blue ribbon winner of chocolate chip cookies at the Twin Falls County Fair for three years in a row. (Applause!! "Thank you! Thank you!") It may have been in 1996, but hey, that's when I learned my awesome skills. The recipe I used today is no secret and I must confess it isn't the famous blue ribbon recipe. Its better! Thanks Martha Stewart. *Recipe below. 

Just a little preview to get you hooked. 

The goods: butter and sugar 

A little flava-flave. AKA vanilla 

Mix it good! 

Mmmm look at that! 

I added some chopped walnuts for good measure, and because MountainMan loves them and I'm nuts about him. ;)  

Like my awesome kitchen towel? Me too. 

Ah. Pure perfection. 

This is my newest life motto. 

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Thanksgiving adventures...and then some.

Wooo--eee! It has been a while since I have delightfully wasted time on this silly thing. I'll use the busy holidays as my excuse. Thanksgiving used to be one of my favorite holidays (among most of the other holidays being my favorite, too). It still ranks up there but it has certainly changed. We have decided to make a family Thanksgiving tradition every year. The Mister thinks that this includes celebrating Thanksgiving but really it involves a lot of hunting. I mean, a lot. As in every day from dawn 'til dusk. But don't get me started on that just yet. I am totally OK with this tradition that we have started but I decided I needed to rename it to make myself feel a little better about the reality of the situation. My first idea was to call it "Thanks-hunting" because then its kinda like Scott telling me "Thanks for hunting with me". The second idea I had was "Hunts-giving" because Scott would say that the "hunts give us food for the family". Get it? That is his not-so-sneaky excuse for hunting: it feeds the family. Either way, this "Thanksgiving" trip is really just an excuse to hunt. This year we went with some dear friends of ours that made the trip lots of fun. I think I started to go cross-eyed almost every day looking for deer, and I am convinced that I came much to close to my second encounter with frostbite (dont' ask). OK fine, maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration, but still! It was a bit freezing but I will admit that the snow was absolutely breathtaking. Coming home to a cabin in the woods with a wood stove burning wasn't so bad either. I was not successful this year on filling my tag but I did help MountainMan pack out his deer. He had a perfect shot, but maybe next time he can shoot one that we don't have to drag 250 yards uphill. (I only know it was that far because he told me). Overall, we had a great trip and our tradition is a couple years underway. 

Here are some pictures I snapped along the way... 

This was a somewhat strange little cabin we found while driving along. 

May 2015 be a year of growth, joy, and abundant blessing to you!