Recently...

Who knew that working part time at Macy's would be so exhausting?

After working, then taking my days off to take care of Eithan while Collin studies and clean the house, I'm tired.

So please forgive the absence from here.

November 12

Bundling up and playing in the snow.

It didn't stick around for very long, but it was fun while it lasted!

November 13

My favorite past time.

Daddy reading to Eithan.

November 18

Eithan turned 2!

We didn't have a party or anything, because I have one planned for December 1st.

So he blew out some candles on his french toast, and we called it good.

He doesn't really notice yet, right?

November 21

We finally made it to the Radio Flyer Red Wagon Slide

{it was closed when we first arrived here}

Eithan did not ever want to leave.

But who could blame him? It really is an amazing thing.

November 22

Thanksgiving was quiet and uneventful.

We stayed home because I  worked the day before and the day after.

Eithan snacked all day long so he wouldn't eat Thanksgiving Dinner. Go figure, right?

Plus we made chocolate dipped pretzels, he may or may not have eaten lots of those!

All of the food was good, though.

We made all the classics: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing and green beans.

Just writing about it is making me hungry...mmm

November 24

Eithan has started sleeping/napping in his twin bed.

We finally bought a bed rail and put his pack 'n play in the closet.

I'm loving it. Collin's loving it. And Eithan's loving it.

He just sleeps a little better in it.

And I don't worry about him climbing out of bed anymore. 

And that's what's been happening recently.

Fall Family Pictures

Green Bluff

October 19th 2012

We finally made it up to Green Bluff.

It is this conglomeration of farms north of Spokane.

A wonderful idea, really.

There are about 20 farms and they sell their produce and other miscellaneous special items.

We went specifically for the pumpkin patches.

{bonus the patch experience was free!}

The farm that made the biggest impression on us was Siemer's Farm.

We spent a lot of time just wandering through the pumpkin patch.

It spread on for a long way.

So I decided we needed to look at as many pumpkins as possible...

 to make sure we picked the perfect ones!

{Eithan grabbed an apple before we could stop him and bit into it... he munched on it the whole outing.}

In reality, Collin and I were the ones searching for the pumpkins.

Eithan just liked looking around and eating his apple. 

We did stop at a 2 other farms.

One to buy Pumpkin Donuts.

They did not disappoint.

I am craving them as I write this. 

The other to see their 'petting zoo'

It did disappoint, but that's ok!

Eithan loved his donut, and he wanted to wave "Hi" to everyone.

{we tried to get Eithan to put his head in here... but he would have nothing to do with it. [smile] }

All in all, a really fun trip.

We're excited to go back up in December... they sell Christmas trees and have fields of them. 

P.S. We had fun, we enjoyed our trip, we found perfect pumpkins... and then the next day the pumpkins were stolen from our porch and smashed in the lot behind our building. Bummer! At least I took lots of pictures of the fun trip we had!

Cliff Park

Today Eithan and I did our usual...

We went for a drive to find a new park.

This one was not a typical go and play on the toys type of park. 

I was really quite surprised by its 'nature-ness' in the middle of the city.

It was really quite beautiful. 

And Eithan loved just climbing around and being surrounded by trees and birds.

In the center of the park there is a huge rock formation. 

We kept going around it until we found these stairs that led to the top.

It was just a huge grassy area that overlooked the city.

Just a quiet place to go and reflect.

This is the view.

In the very background you can see the city.

And down from the top. 

All the trees and grass... just a quiet spot in the middle of town.

Really quite amazing.

***********

As we were wandering around, Eithan found some quail.

He kept saying 'Ba' over and over... He was so excited.

So I just had to share this silly little video of him trying to get to those quail,

and then getting distracted by red berries on the ground.

Cute Little Somethings

I haven't done a very detailed post in a while. 

So I thought that I would share some "Eithan-isms" that Collin and I are loving lately. 

{1} Whenever we put Eithan to bed he asks for "Pooh", who he then snuggles.

We sing songs, say prayer and then do kisses.

I kiss Eithan on the forehead and he then holds Pooh out for a kiss as well.

If I kiss him numerous times on the forehead every time I come up he holds Pooh out for another kiss.

I cannot leave the room without kissing Pooh, and Eithan will not go to sleep without him.

{2}He is talking, not a whole lot, but he is talking. 

Some favorite words are:

{Bal} = Ball

{Ba} = Bottle

 {sippy cup actually}

{Way} = Away 

{to take something and throw it away}

{Side} = Outside

{Going outside or on the balcony is what he wants}

{Shoe} = Shoe

{So} = Sock

{short o}

{Tee} = TV

{Sad, I know}

{Pay} = Play

{No}= No

{Mor} = More

{Dun} = All Done

{Peez} = Please

{Wha Zat?} = What's That?

{Poo} = Poop

{He then grabs his diaper and is telling us to change it}

{Da Doo} = Thank You

{Da Doo} = Bless You

{We know which it is based on context}

{3} We've made it a mission to visit all the parks in Spokane.

Trying to find the best one, you know?

And Eithan climbs around and goes crazy when we get there, 

but when he goes down a slide we either have to go before or after him or with him. 

It depends on the day. 

And he can be quite particular about which order it is that we go in... and if it isn't quite right.. 

HE LETs US KNOW.

{But we can't seem to resist that adorable face}

Those are just a few of the things that we are loving about him right now.

********

What am I up to you may ask??

I now have a job at Macy's. I pick up shifts when they are available and I am slowly being trained around the whole store. I will probably work in all of the different departments 

before the end of the year.

 And I have to dress "professional" .......  so my wardrobe received a bit of an upgrade.

I am loving it, it isn't quite my style, but I'm getting used to it.

{That didn't make any sense did it?? But at the same time it does?}

I am also trying a whole bunch of new recipes from a cookbook I received as a birthday gift

 {Thank you Brittany!}. So far they are amazing! I'm excited to try many more as the weeks come up.

P.S. I'm trying to decide if I should do another blog with the crafts that I've been doing/building/creating.. what are your thoughts? Is it worth the time and effort to do so? I just don't feel like posting them on here {the family info blog} is worthwhile, but should I post them at all? Let me know your thoughts.

Happy 26th Birthday to Me!

I am one day older and wiser too!

Don't you love how having a birthday makes you think of all the old primary songs?

This was a great couple of days..

I spent time with my parents watching conference.

Had desserts with some new friends.

Started a new job.

Received lots of birthday wishes on Facebook.

And was gifted an amazing gift from my hubby: 4 Ballroom Dancing Lessons!

All in all, a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy 4th Birthday Joshua

September 29th 2012

Fours years ago today, our precious Joshua was born.

These last couple days have been difficult for me. 

So, I thought instead of writing my thoughts, 

I would write the words of those who have comforted me the most.

"We rest assured that all things are controlled and governed by Him whose spirit children we are. He knows all things from the beginning to the end and he provides for each of us the testings and trials which he knows we need."

 - Elder Bruce R McConkie

"The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth."

 - President Joseph Smith

"[Death] is the great reliever. It is a majestic, quiet passing on from this life to another life, a better life, I'm satisfied of that. We go to a place where we will not suffer as we have suffered here, but where we will continue to grow, accumulating knowledge and developing and being useful under the plan of the almighty made possible through the atonement of the Son of God." 

- President Gordon B. Hinckley

 "...all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven." 

- D&C 137:10

 "If we say that early death is a calamity, disaster or a tragedy, would it not be saying that mortality is preferable to earlier entrance into the spirit world and to eventual salvation and exaltation? If mortality be the perfect state, then death would be a frustration, but the Gospel teaches us there is no tragedy in death but only in sin." 

- President Spencer W. Kimball

"The only different between the old and young dying is, one lives longer in heaven and eternal light and glory than the other, and is freed a little sooner from this miserable, wicked world.

 - President Joseph Smith

"Your Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son love you perfectly. They would not require you to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for your personal benefit or for that of those you love."

 - Elder Richard G. Scott

We miss our little guy dearly.

We love him. 

We know that he is in his Heavenly Father's care now. 

He is where he is supposed to be.

Now it's up to us to be who we are supposed to be,

 so that we can live with Him and our son Joshua someday.

Spokane

September 15th 2012 we officially left Moses Lake, WA behind.

{Can I let out a little YAY here??}

We have been settling in over the past week, and the new apartment is almost unpacked.

I think this is the first time I've actually been fully unpacked in over 2 years.

It feels great!

I will post pictures of the new place and the projects we've been working on.

Stay Tuned!

August

You know those months that just seem to go by and then you realize they're gone?

August was the month for our little family.

I'm going to try and re-cap the month, so forgive the long-ish post.

Hopefully it will give all of you more of an idea of what's going on in our lives.

Beginning of August    **********************************************************

At the beginning of August we decided to take some drastic measure to get our apartment rented.

We needed to break our year contract, and we needed to be able to move quickly in case anyone was interested... so we moved pretty much everything into a storage unit and left Collin with the bare essentials. He still needed a place to live and work...but we needed to get the apartment ready for future tenants....

Why??

Because Collin was accepted to Eastern Washington University. Yay!

He is going to start on his Masters on September 26th 2012.

This was all slowly in the works since June, but things have finalized and we're ready to get going!

August 4-10     *****************************************************************

After the febrile seizure experience... Eithan had a rash for about 8-10 days.

It was bothering me, but it wasn't bothering him... so we let it take its course.

And eventually it did go away, and he has his baby soft baby skin back again.

{forgive me for the 'bum' picture... it was the only spot you could see it the best}

August 15- 17     ***************************************************************

The Winks family had a little camping reunion at Farragut State Park.

This is just a little outside of Spokane, WA.

This included a day at Silverwood.

This experience is best described in pictures. Don't you think?

Enjoying a Banana Breakfast before the real breakfast... 

because everything takes longer than we think it should to cook when camping.. smile

Off to go play on the camp playground.

{Daddy/Son pictures are the best, aren't they?}

There was a really cool tire swing there... I want one in our future backyard.

The meal hang-out... Eithan was constantly taking Brody's chair... 

and everyone was always trying to keep the kids 'relatively' clean...

 but we all enjoyed eating the camp food despite all the mishaps and dirt.

This picture truly describes how Eithan felt about being out in the wilderness...

Loved it!

Some Wilderness, Some Dirt, A Stick. 

Set. For. Life.

He took awesome naps while we were out there, despite the noise level.

He usually has to sleep in the utmost quiet available, 

but he slept fine despite loud talking and clanking around. 

Then... OFF to SILVERWOOD!

Eithan really couldn't do much there.

We tried to take him on a kiddie ride, and they had to stop it early to let him off. {opps!}

So, we rode the Carousel and walked about Silverwood to explore, 

but Eithan didn't do anymore rides after the.

{He was even a little 'iffy' about the Carousel}

The Water Park was Eithan's and our favorite of the whole adventure.

He loves water.

He played until he was chattering so hard we had to pull him out and wrestle with him while he was crying because he wanted to get back in the water so badly.

The last thing that we did for the day was take the train that went around Silverwood Park.

It was so much fun to ride the train and see the whole park/wilderness around it.

Eithan was ready to just sit and relax too.

{So were we!}

{priceless}

We all then went home and crashed in our tent!

August 18     ******************************************************************

My family came into town so that one of my nephews could be baptized.

Addison Rose is one of the newest members of our church now!

Yay for Addi!

It was fun to see my brother and his family for a few days.

We don't see them much at all.. so I appreciated being able to spend time with them.

August 20     ******************************************************************

Called into our Realtor company to see if any applications had come in and whether or not the apartment had been rented yet... found out that someone was moving in on the 21st... and that we needed to be out today! Eek!

Fortunately I had moved everything out before and we just had to get Collin packed up and do some light cleaning before we officially moved out of Moses Lake.

August 23     *******************************************************************

Playing in the dirt.

Actually digging up potatoes in Grandpa and Grandma Rose's garden...

 but it kept him occupied so well I just didn't have the heart to stop him! {smile}

August 27     ********************************************************************

Collin is officially done working for the BSA.

Since we were accepted to school and everything was in motion to be moving in September...

it was decided that the end of August would be the end of his being a District Executive.

Sad in some ways and great in others.

We're really excited to get moving on with a different phase in our lives. 

****

Now we've both been applying for jobs trying to get anything before we move up towards school.

We think we've found a place to stay... we'll find out this week.

And then we'll be moving.

Wow... 

and that was our 'fun-filled' August.