Orlando - Day 2

We started out heading straight to Disney's Hollywood Studio. We spent most of the morning there. We had breakfast at a cute dinner with Jo Jo's Circus characters. Again, Chloe just wanted away from the big weird things whenever they came by to say hi. Porter did great and was a lot more curious than Chloe.

Pictures - left to right, top to bottom:

1. Chloe trying to get a way from the lion at breakfast

2. Porter showing his "Buddha belly"

3. This is on the safarri at Animal Kingdom. Chloe looked like this on every ride we took her on

4. Porter trying to get away from the lion at breakfast

5. Laser Family

6. Mickey Mouse in the show "Fantasmic." It was incredible

. Fire, smoke, vidoe projection onto misting water ect... very cool. A definite must see.

7. Very fun ride dubbed "tower of terror." It was our 1st ride at Disney.

8. Cederquist Family

We hurried over to Animal Kingdom for a roller coaster, parade and safari. We had just enough time to get back for Fantasmic in Hollywood Studio. Chloe was totally exhausted by the end of the day. She did get one small nap that day, thanks to Steph

anie - who was amazing the whole trip. We wouldn't have been able to do any of it with out her. She watched the kids while we were on a few rides and essen

tially she planned everything.

Orlando

December was a fun-packed month for us. Between a quick trip to Disney World, Chloe's birthday, and Christmas, we have been kept busy! I guess the best thing is to put up some pictures for you to see:

Day One in Orlando was spent with a birthday breakfast for Chloe with Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. She did NOT like Minnie, which is ironic since her "lovey" or "baby" is a Minnie Mouse who comes everywhere with us. After breakfast, we went to Sea World. COOLEST. KILLER WHALE. SHOW. EVER. Well, it is the only one I've ever seen anyway, and it was definitely worth watching. We were in the "Splash Zone" and luckely Steph is always prepared and had ponchos. Too bad it rained a lot of the day, but it was still pretty amazing to pet manta rays and dolphins.

Paul and Stephanie were wonderfully nice to volunteer to watch Chloe so Kevin and I could make it to the temple while in Orlando. Unfortunately, the last session started at 7:30 we were just a minute too late. The GPS had given us an inaccurate distance and we didn't make it on time. The temple is beautiful. We were disappointed to be turned away, though the spirit on the grounds was strong and still gave us a spiritual boost.

There you have day 1. Check back soon for the rest of the December fun in the sun... er... rain.

I Go A-Walking

She mostly has to be bribed, but she will do a few steps on her own, but crawling is still easier for her.

Dyeing Experience

Dear old person couches: You were ugly gray, and slightly embarrassing. You were worn and torn. You were old when you joined our family, you've been moved 5 times with us since my mom paid $100 at a yard sale for you. You have served us well... Here's to you.

OK, that out of the way, on to the good stuff. Katie Foot gave me the idea of dyeing my couches to give them some new life. Here is the messy process. Housing shouldn't be able to charge, I checked and there are no rules about getting leather dye spots on carport cement. Please excuse their blurry-ness, oh, and the holes in my work clothes.
Now that they are completed, they strut their stuff, kinda like someone who gets a new boob job, they stand out a little better. Thanks Katie, never would have thought I could do something like this. They are definitely reincarnated from ugly, yucky, old to something, well, nicer. Are you holding your breath for the final product? Drum roll please!

And

here

you

are

TA - DA!

My first Vinyl Sign

I've been doing a TON of crafting lately.... my house has suffered and dinner hasn't been too thought out, but hey, Creativity IS Messy. A friend's birthday was yesterday and I decided since they haven't been married long, (a week) that they would appreciate some home decor.

Kevin's sister, Michel, owns a company called Paper Posies, you can check it out at www.paperposies.com. She does scrapbooking/crafting kits. Anyway, she has weekly challenges with prizes and such. This week it was to create a fall/Halloween decor item using items from a kit. This was my take on the challenge.

TuTu Tutorial

Do I have a key board stutter? Naw, its a tutorial of a TUTU! This is my 1st ever tutorial... so if it seems novice, well, it is =) I made this as part of Chloe's Minnie Mouse Halloween cosutme, so I figured it's so easy, why not share? oh, and the pumkin onsie is not part of her costume, just what she happened to be wearing yesterday.

Materials:

• 1-6 yards of Tulle. I used 1 yard of pink and 1/2 yard of white. It all depends on how full you want the tutu, and the size of the child.
• 1 adult headband, the stlye that is like a pony tail elastic. I used the kind that is for sports because it is wider.
• Pair of scissors or roll cutter and mat

1. Figure out how long you want the tutu to hang down on the child. Double it and add 1/4" for thin tulle, 1/2" for thicker tulle. I simply cut mine in half length wise. If you are doing for an older child, you will want to have them longer.
2. Cut into strips to desired thickness. I did approx 2". My white tulle was much heavier, so to do it over, I would have cut the white in thinner strips, but it still turned out great. I used my mat lines and just used my roller. It was fast and easy, probably about 5 min or so. I tried scissors 1st, and that would have taken me forever!

3. Tie pieces one at a time with a knot in the middle around the head band. You can size to a smaller child by folding it the head band over itself an inch or two, and hand sewing it in place. That is what I did for Chloe's tiny waist. Add as many pieces, pushed as close together or as far apart as you'd like to get your desired fullness.

And, you are finished! It's that easy.

All Laughed Out : Anti-Depression Video

enough said.

A Foolish Woman

Who: Me, waiting in line minding my own business

What: 11 Items in my cart

Where: 20 Item or Less Self Checkout: Commissary Case Lot Sale

So, I'm innocently standing in line, my 11 items in my cart.  A woman walks up behind me.  I think to myself,  I wont be rude and interrupt her phone call, but when the next self checkout comes open, I'll wave her around me... she is after all, very pregnant and only has one gallon of milk, while I've got 11 items.  Yes, there are 4 different self checkouts, but that is the polite thing to do.   So, not even two seconds after I think this, she says loudly, to me, more than the person on the other end of her phone call, "You know what I hate?  I hate it when people go to the self check out when they know they have more than 10 items (hello? it's 20 or less) and they just stand there and know I'm behind them with only one thing!"  So, I've decide not to reward bad behavior and I say to my friend Steph, who is already checking out, (loud enough for the rude prego to hear, of course) "Well, I was going to let this lady with one item go ahead of me but since I heard her talking rudely about me on her cell I'm going to just go ahead and she can wait." 

Honestly, that was rude of me, but it is sometimes gratifying to not let someone walk all over oneself.  I suppose I could have let her go 1st.  What would you have done?   

Is There an Etsy Anonymous?

....cause if there is I probably should go to the meetings!  I have become an addict in like 3 days flat, completely dumping Craigslist.  It probably misses my daily visits!  I opened a Etsy.com shop a few days ago.  My shop name is "gonegirly" and I've got a whole 2 things in it so far!  Check them out  (I'm shameless, I know.) 

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31419908

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31389600

The onsies I am selling in a craft fair on Oct 3rd and I thought I would try to sell them to a local aviation supply place - Wings. I talked to the lady who would be in charge of buying, and she wants to take a few in on consignment to see how they do, but yet doesn't want me to sell them anywhere else!  Am I ridiculous to think that is ridiculous? I thought a vendor/creators got paid booocoo bucks to have an exclusive on a product, yet she want to keep it that way without even buying any from me! So, I am going to try the Aviation Museum here on post, they have a lot more "female traffic" than Wings does, and there is a graduation there every week with people from all over the country, well probably world with all the forgin nationals here at flight school.  And since it is something to do, when people come visit, they are usually taken to the museum, not a flight school student supply place.  So... keep your fingers crossed for me!  

Destin, Florida

We went to Destin when my mom came down for a visit.  It was raining most of the day, so we went to the nations largest designer outlets to wait out the rain... yes, of course we got stuff =). Kevin has been asking every day if it's cold out yet so he can wear his new leather jacket, silly boy. That evening was nice though, so we watched the waves come in until it got dark.  Chloe enjoyed the water just as much as grandma did.  More pictures from that weekend to come.  

Gearing up for Craft Fair

Kevin has been nagging, well, encouraging sounds nicer... so he has been encouraging me to sell the stuff I make. So, when Elizabeth Nixon asked me to do a booth with her at the craft fair in Ozark, I said yes and headed off to buy too many $$$ in supplies.

I decided on two things, child/baby Bath Blankets and homemade appliqué onsies. I though being so close to Ft Rucker, that onsies with helicopters in ACU print would be quite a hit... I hope. I am also doing girl ones in pink ACU, and a variety of other things too, such as flowers, hearts, monkeys, trucks and I'm thinking of doing dog tags too. Any ideas on what would be cute? I can really make just about anything. The only problem is that I keep going back and forth on price.... I hope it is just worth while for my time!

Ready, set, go...

She's learning to move forward now. Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen. I guess it's time to start childproofing everything...

Anything for food I guess...

The Announcement Guy

With a great big push from some friends, (and wife's encouraging words) Kevin has decided to try his hand at starting a business. He is now "The Announcement Guy," creating custom picture invitations, announcements, professional photo editing (digital enhancements) and the like. He has been doing my cousin Tana's senior portraits and they look amazing! We had some friends over last week and they were working on their "Save the Date" card for their wedding. So, Kevin spiced it upquite a bit, and a few days later: Email established, portfolio pulling together, water mark made, web page ideas being tossed around, 1 confirmed returning client, 4 potential clients and more to come! We are just sticking our toes in to get a feel for this. Kevin will be going on hold between Primary Flight Training and Black Hawk Training for a few months with only PT to go to, so this should be something to keep him busy and entertained/productive! So, if you know anyone with a new baby, getting married or ? that needs his "services" let us know! His e-mail address is theannouncementguy@gmail.com. And, here is some of his "work"

Family Day

Family Day was in June. It was our 1st time to see Kevin fly. He did awesome. It was so hot out that day, you can tell by how flushed Chloe's cheeks are. This was her 1st time wearing ear plugs too, she didn't even seem to notice they were there.

Baby Sign Language

We have been working on teaching Chloe sign language. She has been doing the bath sign for a while but that has been it so far. Yesterday, I was giving her a breakfast of baby food granola and about half way through her normal amount she clamped her mouth shut and very deliberately did the sign for milk. She refused to take another bit so I asked if she wanted milk and she smiled. How could I then refuse to nurse her? So later, it was nap time and she really (note the serious emphasis) did not want to take it. I usually only nurse her post nap, but she started screaming while doing her sign for milk. I thought this was supposed to be a blessing to understand the baby.... not help them get whatever they want sooner!

Don't Hold Your Breath...

Yes, yes, I know it has been a LONG time since I posted an update... so don't hold your breath while reading this, it's long winded.

In June Chloe and I headed out to Idaho to see Joseph off for his mission to Sacramento and for 2 family reunions. They were amazing... Thanks to all who had a hand in putting them together. The Zimmerman reunion was in a awesome house on Garfield bay with our own private dock, need I say more? I guess I do, since I have more to say. Dad took his boat and tried to kill us all pulling a tube behind. We had great food and good company. Our Dillin reunion took place in the most beautiful area on earth, North-North Idaho, where my cell phone thinks it's Canada. We had some laughs and crazy-good food (i.e. a whole pig cooked over a fire in the ground stuffed with a prime rib and a turkey). And a shout out to my mom and dad for putting up with us and wrangling up a pack 'n' play and everything else amazing you guys did for us.

Would you believe me if I told you this is farmer Bob? J/K. Well he is my grandpa and he is a farmer and his name is Bob. Isn't he so cute in his straw hat and overalls?

It was also really nice to see all of Kevin's North-Idaho family too. I really appreciate the effort each of them made to come and spend some time with the sis-in-law and niece.

We spent 3 weeks total in Idaho. The last week mostly consisted of shopping all day everyday for Joe's mission. Who knew it would be so much work? (and might I add money?) I'm ready to go a while without shopping! Kevin sure missed us though. Before I left I made sure to make extra when cooking and pop it in the freezer. Kevin had a good 4 or 5 meals that would be good for a dinner and a few lunches. All he had to do was put them in the oven. Would you be surprised when I opened the freezer upon returning home and not one had been used? He says he forgot, I wonder if secretly he really doesn't like my cooking...

Chloe was pretty much held for 3 weeks straight and despite that set back, it only took 2 weeks for life to get back to normal here. FINALLY she is back to sleeping through the night and will play alone on the floor longer than 10 seconds at a time. She is rolling all over the place and is wiggling on her tummy forward. She is sitting up well and is making many new sounds. Starting yesterday she has been saying the t and c/k sounds. Her new word sounds like "ticole" and along with dadadadadadada dadadadadadadadadad, she says it every five seconds (can you say mama for crying out loud?). Now don't get the wrong idea here, I'm not one of those mom's who says her 2 month old is saying complex sentences, it just happens to sound like a word, lol. She is however, starting to use sign language, which from everything I've read about it says they will start anywhere from 6-8 months if you're consistent with them. SO she's about average being just over 7 months now. She only is signing bath so far ( I think her other signing like, eat, milk and all done have just been accidents so far) and I think baths about her favorite thing on the planet! In fact, her baths are so much fun, there was even a carrot that insisted on joining her tonight. OK, now i need to breath, and let you breath, maybe I'll post again sometime soon. If anyone actually got this far.....

If you plant a salsa garden, it will grow.

So, I've planted my garden, in swimming pools. I've planted everything I need to make salsa as well as lettuce and carrots. I've got lots growing, prob too much, everything might be a little close together, but it's my first garden, so I'm bound to make some mistakes.

Today I found that my hanging tomato plant has one little baby tomato! So, I had to take a picture of it too. I also have a few peppers growing as well.

Chloe: A Hick with a Mo Hawk

Ok, she's not a hick nor does she have a mo hawk.... I guess you could say it's more like a, well, high and tight. See exhibit 1:

What can you do when you're arms don't even reach to the top of you head? Now the hick part: this is what she wore to church today and Kevin informed me that she was a hick wearing it. Not what she was wearing was hick-ish, but that she infact was a hick herself. All the women at church gushed over her. THEY loved it. I think it's adorable. That's more important I suppose...

On a more serious note, check out something I think is pretty neat that Kevin did:

Rednecks are from Alabama

Since moving to Alabama, we've seen some weird things. Like 10 teenagers in bathing suits on the back of a FLAT BED truck with inner tubes going 60 down the highway.....I think skin and road don't mix well, but I guess that was just how I was raised! But what I spotted yesterday topped them all I think. On our way back from the Atlanta Temple yesterday, (which was really nice) I saw this at a gas station as we were pulling out and I made Stephanie back up so Kevin could get proof to show you all. It had been raining pretty hard, so I feel bad for the guy, his arms were probably pretty sore.

WHAT THE HECK ARE WE HERE FOR ANYWAY???

We got here in September 08 for cryin' out loud.... 7-8 months later: Kevin finally started flight school. What has he been doing you say? Well, first, warrent officer school.... three month wait..... leadership school.... two week wait.... survival/pow school.... one month wait.... and here we are. He started into areo-med this last Wednesday where he learns all about the physiological things of flying, then in about two weeks from now or so he'll actually get to start flying, (actually flying - can you believe it?) trainer helicopter.... drum roll please...... the BELL 206!

An Updateroonie of the Idaho Trip

I'll try not to let this get too long... I know nobody reads them if they are too long! So, as most of you guys know, we took a much needed trip to Idaho. One weekish was spent in Boise with my parents and Skip and Elaine. Both of the "southern sets" of grandparents were excited to meet us at the airport at 11 pm on Tuesday the 7th.

Kurt and Jennies new baby Ivy (1 1/2 weeks old) with Chloe (almost 4 months). It was really nice to meet her. Isn't she beautiful?

Claire and me in the Flowers up above Frank and Sonja's. Claire is sure a chatty Cathy and has really changed a lot in the past year.

And here she is crying. She got REALLY sad when I tried to have her pose alone for a pretty picture... So we only ended up with two crying ones instead of a cutsie pose.

Elaine planned an awesome surprise Luau for Skips 60th. Way to go Elaine. You really pulled it off!

We enjoyed Easter and my parents with Amy and Diana joining us on their way back from a wedding in Logan. Then, we headed over to Skip and Elaine's for Easter dinner two. I swear all we did for the two weeks was EAT!!! 9 pm rolled around and we took off to Moscow. Arriving at 2 am at Michele and Jesse's, completely exhausted, left us to get up at 7:30 to visit with Leo and Cina. Then up to Bonners with a quick stop in Post Falls to see Charlie and the gang.

Check back later for week two in Idaho!

Learning to Laugh

Chloe has been trying valiantly to learn to laugh with us. They are usually "ah-ha" or something similar. I was sitting at the computer doing some e-mails and happened to catch this on my phone. Last night, she was smiling at Keri and burped, causing Keri to chuckle which in turn caused Kevin and me to laugh, then Chloe busted out a full belly laugh. Hopefully, it wasn't a one time thing, since she did not do it at all today. But, here you go.

Richard Simmons Would Be Proud

So, Chloe may kill her Aunt Keri in about 14 years or so, and say something along the lines of "I thought you were born in the 80's, not me..." but we thought the little pants were cute. They are supposed to be newborn size, but we couldn't resist since they match this little onsie. Only thing missing to complete the ensemble would be a head band!

Prophet Said to Plant a Garden...

So that's what we did!

Well, we got our seeds started that are for transplant. I found out that the growing season is so long here most veggies have two growing seasons! I do have to plant them in buckets though, as we live in military housing. I'm doing a "salsa" garden complete with onion, tomato, peppers and cilantro.

Also I'm doing lettuces, cauliflower and carrots, though I've heard it's hard to keep the rabbits and squirrels out of those. And the best part is I used about $15-20 in supplies, and I usually spend about that much in one week in produce!

Our Little Swimmer

Last week, a friend of mine, Stephanie, who's got a 4 month old, convinced me it would be a good idea to take the babies to the pool. SO, Chloe got to wear her cute little swim suit and test out the waters.


She was OK with the water. It wasn't really that warm because it is a pool used mainly for lap swimming, as it is in the gym. But she LOVES the warm water in the shower. She doesn't even mind if it splashes her face. Once we got out, it was pretty cold, so we Keri and I dressed her in the sauna. She loved that, and the two Asian women that were in there thought that "he" was so cute. :) Maybe they were saying she, and we couldn't hear it through the accent because Keri corrected them and it still sounded like they were saying he...

Snow in ALABAMA???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Well, I woke up this morning getting ready for church and happened to peer out the window, and we were getting snow flurries! It hasn't snowed here in over 17 years. Of course, it must be because Keri came her to get away from it for a winter and it decided to follow her. This is Chloe's first snow. I didn't think she'd see any til she was two. Not that she will remember this anyway. The crazy part is that we had 70's yesterday. This is in our back yard. It just flurried for a while, but we had a storm yesterday and everything is still wet, so it just melted.

People at church were crying today, especially ones from Idaho/Utah area because it reminded them so much of home... I just told Kevin if it sticks or the roads get icy I'm not going anywhere because while I can drive in it, no one else here can.

Kevin starts SERE tomorrow. 21 day survival/pow camp. No contact. Which will suck, but it'll be nice to have Keri here while he's gone. Just pray he doesn't get any snow while he's trying his best to evade the enemy out in the Alabama jungle. And as you can see, I cut off like 14 inches of my hair this week. I feel like my head is very light on my shoulders!

Lil' Thumb Sucker Video

Well, Chloe is sure fun, except when she's up all night. :) She is so funny trying to find her thumb, but she's getting better at it all the time. She is smiling alot more too.

Kevin starts SERE next Monday. It is a zero contact w/ the outside world for 3 full weeks. Our neighbor, who is from our unit in Idaho just came back with bruises, but he "couldn't talk about it" or how he got them. He was fit to begin with but still lost 15 lbs...

Chloe Can Talk

Well, not really of course... but she seems to have found her "voice." I got this new baby gym out for her two weeks ago and she became vocal about it. She didn't really hit it with her hand at first, though now she hits the toys like crazy and moves her head from one side to the other instead of just staring to the right. She usually kicks her feet too like she's about to run away. I'll have to post a new video soon. I was surprised to see how different she was just two weeks ago!

Chloe was really cute tonight. Kevin was cutting the video down shorter and she was laying right close on the floor. When she heard herself make noises in the video, she made noises back. She finally found someone who speaks her language! She's also found her hand, including that little thumb that she loves to suck away at. But she tends to try moving her head to her hand and often times she just ends up teasing herself when her hand moves just too far out of reach.

Dirty Chloe, Visitors, Alligators at Panama City Beach, and One Month Old

Whew, the title sums it up: Kevin has been learning all about editing pictures and reading a lot of photography books. Here is one he did yesterday of Chloe and he named it "Dirty Chloe" and it reminds us of some Anne Geddies things a little bit, since it looks like a plant is coming out of her head!

Well, January was really crazy. With a new born and all, we had family galore. I already posted about my parents. But Kevin's mom and little sis AAmy were here for 10 days and we had lots of fun. We took walks and LOTS of pictures. We took a day trip to Panama City to a National Park that sits on the Gulf of Mexico. It was awesome. We even went to alligator lake, but they were all hiding that day. It was not really warm, but we still had fun... AMY (Kevin's sis) EVEN SWAM!


Kevin's dad and Elaine, his great uncle and aunt, and Rachael (my cousin) and her husband along with Diana, Amy and Keri were all here for Chloe's blessing which was really nice. We HAD to go to the aviation museum again, of course. And this is a picture of Skip and Kevin in front of the helicopter that Kevin is here to learn to fly.

Blessing Day

Kevin blessed Chloe at church today. Her dress was homemade and just about everyone had a part in it: me (of course), my mom, Diana, Amy J, Keri, and Chloe's great-great aunt Marylin. I think that will seem special to Chloe.

We definitely had a full house today for dinner, totalling 21, and it was nice to have family here. Reminds me of home when there are 10 different conversations going at once.