Not what he thought it was!

One of Jared's new skills is his ability to push a chair around the house and get almost anything he wants. This has opened a whole new level of the apartment to him and new items to explore and discover.
The other day, I was tidying up my room when things got eerily quiet. When I went out to the living room, I found that Jared had pushed a chair up to the shelf where we keep some office supplies. He was lying on the floor, applying what he believed to be chapstick. It wasn't chapstick. It was glue stick.
Thank goodness for non-toxic glue!

Big Boy Bed

After one eventful late night when Jared climbed/tumbled out of his crib repeatedly, we decided it was time for a bed. After we got him the pillow he insisted on having (If it is a bed then you need a pillow), things have gone pretty well sleeping-wise.


I like waking up to his knocking on his bedroom door.

Once again!

We're having another baby this fall! Ken and I couldn't be more thrilled! The due date is November 16th. Jared is clueless of course to reality, but loves babies in theory, so that is good. We'll find out the gender in a couple of months.


One of my favorite part of being pregnant is how protective Ken gets. Yes, that means no more cleaning the bathroom for me!

Home improvement

We got these shelves for free when some of our friends moved a couple of years ago. It was nice to have more storage, but it was rusting. And it has continued to rust since we had. I didn't do anything about it because it seemed like too big of a project.
One day, I was at Lowe's and asked one of their (super knowledgeable and super helpful) employees what the project would look like and she pointed me towards the spray paint aisle. Anyway, a couple of cans of Rust-oleum and a couple of hours later (plus drying time). It became this!

I love the black and I feel so hip about the whole thing. Ken and Ruth did all the work while I kept Jared busy, but I feel pretty good about myself too!

Mother's Day

I had a nice Mother's Day this year. Delicious Ken-made breakfast, talks about women at church, chocolate for all the women, congrats for being a mother, Ken-made lunch and dinner and Jared's first teacher-directed Mother's Day gift.
My favorite part was Ken's gift. He gave me this wonderful frame filled with pictures of Jared's first year of life. It was just the most thoughtful and sentimental gift I could've thought of. He did good!

I'm from Wisconsin

Last week I planned a dinner that made me feel creative and hip and all those things I imagine myself to be. What was for dinner? Cheese. Mostly just cheese. Inspired by a friend, we had a cheese tasting dinner! It was awesome!!!!
So when you have a cheese tasting, you are supposed to have different textures and flavors in the cheeses you choose. I chose one hard cheese Manchego (a Spanish sheep cheese), two semi-soft cheeses Smoked Gouda and Pesto Mozzarella (our Dutch and Italian cow cheeses) and one soft cheese Goat (a French variety). It was awesome to try so many new flavors that I really had NEVER experienced before.
To serve with the cheeses, I googled what foods were good pairs to the cheeses I bought and used what I had in the pantry. We had bread, crackers, pickles, pesto, grapes, salsa, honey, apples and chocolate sauce with our meal. For drinks we had lemon water (fancy, right?) and grape juice (I figured this was a fairly good wine substitute).

The spread

The best part of the meal was the creative aspect of it. Just figuring out what went well together and trying combinations that the internet didn't suggest made it the most fun meal I think we've ever had. And I also found out that I liked the non-cow cheeses best! It was a pleasant surprise. I'll definitely have to do more cheese exploring in the near future.

Jared is "patiently" waiting for us to pray so he can get to the cheese! Do you see the subtle scowl?

May Day

My birthday was last week and I had a great time in Park City with family! Thanks to Emily for the delicious food and Joe and Carrie for coming up to visit.
Also, these amazing pictures are from my cousin Lauren.