Monday, December 14, 2009

House Update




The progress on the house is moving along pretty good. The snow storm didn't help any but oh well, it is December after all. These pictures are a couple weeks old so it's changed even since these pics. We should be getting siding and stone on starting this week - I'm so excited to have that done and see what it will look like. On the interior, they're done w/ wiring, insulation, and some other stuff like that. Hopefully the heater will go in soon and drywall will start. Brad and I have been picking out quite a bit of the interior stuff and for the most part have that done - lots of little things will come up I'm sure though. I'm so glad Brad and I have very similar taste; it makes this part go much smoother. We're still hoping for a completion date of Feb. 2010. Yes, the house is still on the market and I'm going a bit crazy not knowing what's going to happen. You guys know me; I am a PLANNER! Oh well, I'm getting better at going with the flow, esp. after having Mya. If the house sells, then we'll just have to start the building process over and we will not sell that one so hopefully at the latest we'll be out of the apartment and back in a house next fall. Yay!!!!!! Remember, if you have any housing needs, just call Brad, the Realtor.

Merry Christmas!

Mya - 2 months old
(She slept through the whole photo session; we couldn't ever get her to wake up.)


Mya - 14 months
(We could barely get her to sit still (the little holly thing she's holding was the only thing to distract her - she only ate a couple of the fake berries, no worries.)

Can you believe how much she's changed in one year?????

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and since I'm being lazy this year and not sending out christmas cards, I figured I better at least do a christmas post. I actually hate to even admit it but I didn't put up a tree or any christmas decorations either. All of our stuff is in storage across town and I figured since Mya would probably just pull the tree on herself and probably burn down the apartment complex I wouldn't bother. We'll be celebrating christmas eve and christmas day in Hershey and then going to St. Louis the following week to be w/ Brad's family. I'm so excited that we'll get to see all of our family on both sides!!!!!! Can you believe it? It doesn't happen very often, considering how many there are of us and esp. on Brad's side when everyone is so spread out. That will be the best part about this christmas. I am looking forward to being in our new house next christmas.

Mya loves christmas lights and the big inflatables in people's yards of santa, snowmen, reindeer, etc. It's soooooooooooo cute; she pants and kicks her legs and gets so excited. We've been driving around looking at lights a lot and whenever we go to Lowes, Wal-mart, etc. she has to see the inflatables and wants to touch them so badly. I didn't even think she would really notice that stuff yet but she definitely did this year. I'm so excited for christmas morning with her this year since she'll be a bit more interested in presents and stuff than she was last year.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!




Pictures courtesy of our favorite photographer, Stacie Powers.
Visit her website at:
http://www.staciepowersphotography.com/

Things I am thankful for:
  • a loving family (both immediate and extended)
  • the restored gospel of Jesus Christ
  • the knowledge of the plan of salvation and eternal families
  • the cutest little girl
  • good health
  • great friends
  • a flexible, fun job that also pays for me to finish my masters degree
  • that I've always had food to eat & shelter over my head
  • a laptop that is working again
  • education
  • a wonderful husband who also has a flexible job
  • technology (I love that I can keep in touch w/ so many people through facebook, email, and blogs.)
  • my calling in the Young Womens
  • Mya's wonderful baby-sitters (Stacie & Stone)
  • everything I have!!!!
Can you believe I'm actually posting early and not 2 months after Thanksgiving? Hope you all have a wonderful turkey day!

Mya's 1st Birthday Party!!!!

Hmmm. . . . What is this thing my mom is feeding me now? She usually just feeds me boring stuff that is supposedly healthy for me. How do I even go about eating this pink thing?
Well let's see . . . I'll first lift it up and try to take a big chunk out of it.
No, I think I'll set it back down and try something else.
Okay, I just smooshed my face in it and that worked out pretty good. Yummy, this thing called chocolate is delicious. Where was this stuff before? Enough of those fruits and vegetables mom.
Let me get every last lick of this heavenly stuff off my fingers.
Why are you guys still watching? Just leave me alone now and let me eat my cake.
I'm going in for another bite. I can't get enough of this.
Man, this is hard work.
I think I"m going to be sick now.

So like most first-time moms out there I had been thinking about/planning Mya's 1st birthday party in my head since oh she was probably like 6 months old. One of the hardest things I think was to decide on a theme. Finally, I decided to do a butterfly theme (liked the idea of look how our caterpillar has grown into a beautiful butterfly). Once I decided on that it was easy to come up with all of the details. The other hardest thing was to figure out where to have the birthday party (since we're temporarily in a small apt. right now we knew we couldn't squeeze everyone in here). The Oxfords were so kind to let us have the party there; however, all of the kids got sick the weekend of the party so I was back to square 1. Luckily, the Matsons (some lovely family friends), were so gracious to let us invade their house and do the party there. I was a bit stressed w/ the change of location and starting the party late (b/c of the husker game) but later on I realized that the most important thing was that Mya was surrounded by a lot of her family and friends that love her so much. (Luckily we had lots of family in town for the weekend of Mya's birthday - Grandpa & Grandma Hulse & McConnell; Mike, Natalie, & Clay; and Travis & Megan.) We had dinner, opened gifts (I had more fun opening Mya's gifts than she did I think - she was too sidetracked by everything else going on), and had cake. Mya got some adorable toys, hair accessories, clothes, books, etc. (Yes she's spoiled.) I made Mya her own little cake; it was so fun to watch her eat it because she loved it and made the biggest mess - as you can see from the pictures above. I am already excited for her next birthday and am going to remember not to stress about the little things so much (but I think I do have a theme - pumpkins). Anyways, Happy Birthday again to our beautiful butterfly Mya!!!!

What I've learned about being a Mom - in a nut shell!



(Side note - what's up that in 3 out of these 4 pictures I am wearing the same shirt? Oh well, I guess that us mammas know that things like this seem to go by the waysides sometimes.)


This past year has been so incredible. I've learned a ton of new things from my new role as Mommy that I thought I would share just a few.
Being a mom means that (in my words/ramblings anyways):
  • you have the best job ever (well I don't really like calling it a job but that's the closest word I can think of right now)
  • you will look at life in a totally new way (it helps you to regain focus and remember what's truly important)
  • you will love someone in a way that you never have before (instantly you would give your life for this little person)
  • you will be closer to your Father in Heaven
  • you are truly blessed
  • you have had the opportunity to witness a miracle (of pregnancy & birth)
  • your life will never be the same again (in a good way though)
  • you have the most important responsibility
  • your patience will be tested to the max somedays
  • your house will never stay clean again for longer than a couple of hours
  • you learn one day at a time (no matter how many books you read while you were pregnant you just learn as you go)
  • you are tired almost all of the time
  • the days will go by faster
  • you will cry, smile, and laugh a lot more
I love you Mya bear!!!! - hugs and kisses

From helpless to destructor - all in one year



I can't believe that at this time last year Mya was basically unable to do anything for herself and was this little babe that just slept and ate all day. Now look at her, only one year later! She can do so many things all by herself, even including getting into trouble. Brad and I call her the "DESTRUCTOR" because well yes, basically she destroys everything. Case in point. last week on our way to St. Louis Brad tells me that I should give my sunglasses to Mya to play with (apparently he thought she was bored with her other 20 toys). Anyways, I decide well I guess okay maybe it will entertain her for a whole 2 minutes. What do you know though? Not only a minute or two later they were broke. Oh well, still love you to pieces Mya!!

Happy Belated Birthday Mya baby!!!!!!!!!!


(As you can tell from the above 2 pics Mya closes her eyes when the camera flashes; it makes it hard to get pics of those beautiful blue eyes of hers.)
Do you like my new wheels guys?
(wheels courtesy of Grandpa & Grandma Hulse)

So we've already established I'm way behind on blogging. Anyways, I missed a very, vey important event. My baby girl turned 1 on October 7. Can you believe it? I can't; the year went by way too fast in my opinion. However, it was a wonderful year. So here's my first excuse for not blogging on her birthday. I did have the crazy H1N1 the week of her birthday. Therefore, we couldn't go out and do the fun stuff that I wanted to but we did do a few things at home that day for her. Luckily, her birthday party wasn't until the next weekend so I had time to get better for that (a post on her actual b-day party w/ pics will be coming soon). Anyways, Brad went and picked up a few gifts for her because I wanted her to have some presents on her actual birthday and I found some energy to bake a little cake for her too. She loved her presents. She had no desire to eat her cake but did love smooshing (however you spell that) it in b/w her fingers. I was surprised that she didn't like it but she loved her chocolate cake at her real b-day party (as you will easily be able to tell by the pictures coming soon). It boggles my mind when I look how much she's grown and changed this past year and these little babies truly are miracles and the best blessings ever. I am so lucky to be her mommy and well I just think she's the cutest thing ever.

House Update

Here's a couple drawings of the house. We found a plan way back when online and luckily one of Brad's clients he sold a house to awhile back is an architect. He helped us tweak everything and get all of the many drawings and plans done for the city. He was great.
The floor plan - here's the main floor.
Here's a picture of the very beginning of the framing; it's pretty much all framed in now (will post a pic of that soon - well soon in my world is like a month or so I guess, ha ha).


As usual, I am a couple months behind on blogging (I guess I need to get H1N1 again so I have the week off and can do some more blog posts, just kidding that was the worst junk ever). Anyways, here's an update on the progress of our house. It is finally coming along and I am pleased with the recent progress. It's almost all framed and soon they'll be doing roof, siding, etc. Hopefully the nice weather stays around for a little longer so that the exterior stuff can get finished.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Build, Build, Build




The building has begun on our new house. Last week they did the excavating and all that fun stuff. This week the foundation was poured and the plumber will be going to work doing his thing. Then hopefully next week they will start framing. Let's hope all the really bad weather will hold off until our house is framed, sided, and roofed. Brad has been doing an excellent job acting as the general contractor for our house and I'm so proud of him. He's already learned a lot about the building process and we actually are listing the house we're building just to see what happens. If we get the right price we may sell it and then well we'll just build another one I guess. We hope to start building other homes but I guess we'll have to see what happens with the first. So, if anyone wants an awesome house in Lincoln, NE then I guess you know who to call, BRAD THE BUILDER!
Here's just a few pics of the lot.


H1N1 - aka Swine Flu

So this week is a really crummy one for us. On Sunday I started feeling sick and thought it was just allergies. Then in addition to my headache and runny nose I started getting a sore throat, cough, fever, chills, and body aches. I knew it wasn't going to be good. On Monday I woke up (I had been up during the night too) and still felt yucky. I called and made a doctor appointment and in themeantime googled H1N1 symptoms and everything I had was on that list (not a good sign). Anyways, after my doctor visit I found out I really did have H1N1. I don't think I have ever been so sick. It stinks so bad but hopefully this tamiflu and ibuprofen will work miracles and I'll be good to go soon. So Mya, Brad, and I are basically homebound for the week and I will be going stir crazy soon. It's so hard for me to sit still and not do anything but this crazy influenza is driving me to do so. On a positive note though, Brad is taking good care of Mya and I (luckily he can work from home a lot) and I'm still alive. I hope no one gets this crap. Stay healthy and wash those hands!!

Random Pictures from Aug. & Sept. - Part II

We went to a water park in Grand Island w/ the Oxfords. It was a blast. They even got me to go down the "scary" waterslides.

A nice summer day in Aunt Jenny's yard.

A great profile pic of Mya.

Mya and Brad got me this yummy, beautiful edible arrangement for my 26th birthday. I loved it. It was a good birthday but hopefully next year we won't be moving on my birthday.




I took Derek and Mya to the Lincoln Zoo. I'm glad the Oxfords happened to be going that day too b/c it was great to have their help w/ both of the kiddos. It was Mya's 1st time to the zoo.


This year was the last year for the state fair to be in Lincoln so we decided we better go. They did have an excellent little petting zoo and a barn w/ all different kinds of newborn animals. It was so chilly though. We did have our share of fried food too (fried oreos, funnel cake, etc.).


Over Labor Day weekend we went to Branson with the Rensinks and Barreras. Brad's co-worker has a nice condo there that they let us stay in. We went last year too; we had a blast hanging out and all the girls got to play together.










Random Pictures from July & August - Part I

Mya loves taking baths in the big tub and not her little pink one anymore.
Mya's 1st haircut by Grandma Hulse. We're so glad Grandma can cut hair b/c Mya will be needing frequent hair cuts. It's only been a month since this one and she's in need of one again. Good thing Grandma is coming next week.

We met up with Luke & Tonia & their kiddos in Nauvoo. It was so fun. We got to see the pageant and tour the sites there.
Mya's 1st 4th of July - There was an awesome firework show by the river (and there was even rain to go w/ it).


The St. Louis Archway - It was so amazing. We had lots of fun w/ Brad's family here.