Hilarious

January

Zuri is currently obsessed with chap stick and she wouldn't let me put on my apron, so I put it on her

So far this month... It's been eventful? More busy I suppose, but the busy would be directed more towards describing Christians life. We flew back from the west coast on the 4th, got home at 3am the 5th and went right into school life the 6th.

Thanks to Cami it has so far been working with Zuri. I think the little bug had server separation issues when we first got back since she had been constantly around lots of people she was unfamiliar with which meant she would cry like crazy when I'd leave for class... She still does most of the time and it breaks my heart and I leave thinking how lame it is that I couldn't have been wise enough to just take spanish when I was a Freshman like the other kids thought to do in my class.

As a result I'm in two freshman classes with many kids who say things that get on my nerves instantly. Such as "I don't have time for this homework." "What the heck is she talking about? What's the importance of figuring out the size of a room in square feet? I'll never need that crap." or my personal favorite, "I'm so tired, I never get to sleep."

I've almost slapped a few kids on many occasions and say something to the affect of "You have no idea what 'no time' means" and you have absolutely no idea what tired is. I had one girls in my Spanish class the other day say how crazy her sister-in-law was for going to school with a baby and being pregnant..."I don't know what she's thinking." hmm.... oh well, only 5 more months!

On a happier note! Zuri is growing so fast, she's a little babbler and every so often when we're home she'll just holler "DAAADDDDDEEEE" as loud as possible, then go trotting around looking for him. It's pretty cute. The man works so hard and alll the time. He's been gone since 10 this morning and it's now 8:30.. He goes to work at 8:30 every morning, leaves at noon to go to classes then goes back to work tell 5. It's been a very very busy few weeks for him. But I am very grateful he is working for us so I don't have to. It'd be impossible with my weird schedule anyways, but still, I'm glad I can be with Zuri at home much more.

Zuri has learned from Caleb how to give a high five followed by a pound-it, which she does by putting her pointer finger and thumb together it's the girliest pound it I've ever seen, but it cracks me up every time.

The other day we got a box from Mom V. with our many gifts from Christmas we couldn't fit in our bags home. I was watching Josh and Caleb when it came and it was FULL of packing peanuts, the kids went crazy and my house turned into a winter wonderland. Cami came in and said "oh my gosh, did my kids do this to you?" nope, our kids did this and it was very entertaining to watch the destruction.

I am half way done with my dinning room curtains.

I am beginning my senior show in a few weeks...I think I know what I'll be doing. I was assigned to find the top 20 modern printmakers and in the process I have found some beautiful work. I encourage all of you to go look prints up. They aren't nearly as awesome on the computer as they would be in person (like all art), but still the process is fantastic and the work that comes from it is amazing to me. We are working on drypoint in my printmaking class right now and it is really cool how it turns out.

Zuri's hair is almost long enough for pig tails, but until then all I can do is a little topsie tail

The box madness

a little dad time and a little dance time.

I realize this is a whole lot of videos, but I liked all of them enough to share all of them :)

ALSO!

My sister is a chocolate ere for Dove Chocolate and I'm throwing a party Jan. 28th (I haven't sent out invites yet so if you want one let me know, it's delicious chocolate tastin!) There is a sweet Valentines box for sale right now so I thought I'd put a word in for it. If you're interested...Just let me know, you don't have to live here to get one!

-There are 24 chocolates in the box with six different flavors: dark chocolate mousse, passion fruit sorbet, cheesecake, tiramisu, lemon meringue pie, and cinnamon roll.
-It costs $39, that includes shipping
-It ships to the recepient on Valentine's Day
-You can send a personal message in the box (up to 60 characters)
-They are handmade right before they are shipped
-Must be purchased before Jan. 31

As Cami put it, "Basically it is the "sweetest" present for your valentine." :) If you want to participate in the challenge of getting 14 people to order it from you you get a box free ! (yummy!) I can testify of the amazing-ness of Doves, Chris and I got some stuff a few months ago (sea-salted caramels, chocolate covered almonds that were cinnamon dusted, and marshmallow chocolates and they were a-maz-za-zing. I highly recommend them to all!

Catchaphrase

Courtney also took all of these (I'm sorry I have no photos of her....why is that?) This was our New Years event playing Catcha-phrase with my fam and my Papo, he's the biggest trooper wearing the hat and playing the game with us.Papo


Kj

Court Court in Washington

Courtney, my sister-in-law, (once was room-mate) took all of these while we were up in Washington. We went down to Manchester Park, just a few minutes from my parents house. It was fareeeezing, but Zuri didn't even care how numb her fingers were as long as she had her volleyball she was happy.

Ammon, mom, Chans, Kj and pups

Kj and their dog Sally.

Carmel

My first pup, Pippin. He's now mama's, but I still love him. Looks a lot like Kelso, huh?
Chans, mama and Ammon


There you have it!

woodchuck

Hailey has served me well once again. Our last night in Oregon. This is Zuri's new response to "smile" when her picture is taken. We love our little woodchuck.

thee photos

My sources are serving me well with getting me their photos quickly. Thank you Hailey and Courtney and Dad V.

We begin with Zuri's birthday party:

This is the only photo I can find of her wearing her birthday girl crown.

Cousin C.C. touring Zur around

the "eyo?"

New shoes

A quick jump to Seattle. The youngest four sibs. Carmel, me, Ammon and Chanson

Zur getting the swing from Ammon and Carm

Seattle! beautiful photo Court.

The heart coat

Talking to Uncle KJ

ammon and chans

This is how she spends most of her time now. glued to my leg.

I actually was not around for this, but I thought it was pretty funny and explains my brothers perfectly

Those are some for now! Hopefully I'll get some more from my people.

December

We were thinking we'd be wise this break and pack light, so light that we wouldn't take our camera. I know, we don't even know who we are anymore either. We are relying heavily on those smarter people who did take photos this break so those will come later.

But just for the record and before school starts and I forget everything here is what has gone down...that I can remember.

.We survived finals and passed all our classes. One step closer to graduation.

.I realized I really enjoy printmaking, which is a good thing since I don't have a big connection with any other medium.

.We went to Oregon. awesome.

.Zuri got a pretty fantastic winter coat complete with a heart sewn into the back.

.Ate lots of delicious food. Korean BBQ, Vietnamese Fou, and Grandma and Omas cooking. Yum.

.Had a great birthday party for Zuri in both OR and WA. Oregon complete with big party, presents and adventure at Out of this World Pizza. Washington threw in the great baking of Courtney and Carmel cupcakes topped with creative panda bear faces. Very cute. Zuri loved the frosting.

.Christmas was full of fun and Zuri running all over the place with her bigger cousins.

.Zuri learned to climb chairs and how to climb down stairs.

.Zuri has officially gone off formula, all about the whole milk now.

.We discovered Backyardigans is a fantastic kids show. I could sing all about it for you if you like.

.Shopping is still my favorite game.

.I discovered it is really going to bite not living close to Spam.

.We went up north three hours to visit my Hardy clan. They have a beautiful view of Seattle.

.Took a fairy over to Seattle and I realized the North West can get quite frigid.

.I love my court court face and my munchkin siblings...and my not so munchkin siblings.

.My mom, dad, and papo are absolutely fantastic game folk.

.Chris embarked upon a Risk game with the Hardy men that lasted tell 4am. Chanson won.

.Spending New Years in a hot tub, drinking Martinellies straight from the bottle and watching the Space Needle go crazy with fireworks was pretty rad.

.Portland is a really cool city, I hope we live close to here soon.

.True Grit and Easy A are great movies. And Cheesecake factory makes wonderfully rich cakes (yum.)

.Zuri can now blow kisses, fold her arms, sign please, thank you, dada, and wave bye-bye and says hello by putting her hand to her ear and saying "eyo?" can say "love you" in a cute baby voice and "sheep says...Baa" She also sings back when sung to by Christian, it is the cutest thing ever.

.I went canoeing with Chris, his sister, Alicia, and her hubby, Tucker, yesterday....Little did I know I was getting into a much bigger/longer ride then I thought. I pretended to be a grouch (I have bad past associations with boating attributed to my very eventful father) but it was actually very fun this time.

.I got 4 cavities filled..ouch (don't make fun, I have terrible teeth and it's been six years since I've gotten x-rays), but thanks to a wonderful blessing of my brother-in-law being the dentist it saved us an incredible amount of money.

.I love families, they take such good care of us.

So far that's all I can think of. I love the NW, I hope we can get back sooner then it took us last time (two years). Now it's on to another long flight with Zuri (one of the two flights out was absolutely not awesome) and home again to begin another and last one of our semesters at SVU! It will be Christians first time graduating from a school (very exciting) and well, I'm very excited about the next chapter of our long life.

K.