XIIR

Last weekend Steve and I went to our first event at the new Town Toyota Center in Wenatchee... perhaps not what we would have chosen for ourselves, but it was our neighbor Steve's birthday, and we wanted to hang out with his family and a few other "Plain" folks. And it also sounded highly entertaining.

We saw...

EXTREME
INTERNATIONAL
ICE
RACING

http://www.xiir.com

Basically they take really fast bikes and 4wheelers, put a ton of studs in the tires, and race around the track while trying not to slide into eachother! It actually looked kind of fun, I would have loved to try it. I rooted for someone nicknamed "hippie" all night -- he popped the best wheelies.



Also interesting was the crowd - people watching was FANTASTIC! We had a great time and are so glad we went.

the latest & greatest

Check out these pics. Can you believe we are this far on the remodel!? As Steve just told his friend on the phone... "anything moves fast when you throw a ton of money at it." True. That construction loan just racks up the dollars... I am not looking forward to it being maxed out, but ah well. This property is a great investment (not that we are ever planning to sell) and the house is going to fit us so well. So anyway, cheers to good progress and the move-in date creeping up. What started as a "move in by Christmas '09" went to "Thanksgiving '09" to "September 09"... and possibly even "Summer '09". But I don't want to get my hopes up too far... so will just keep thinking September and be pleasantly surprised if it's sooner.

Happy Sunday night to all.


Our new roof has 9" of foam insulation in it -- this house is going to stay COOL in summer and WARM in winter... so NICE!


Sheetrock is all IN! Mud/tape starts tomorrow. Oh yeah. Time to start picking out paint colors, light fixtures, outlet covers... the whole shebang.

It's a little messy. All a good mess though of course.

Miller Stoneworks at its finest. This dry stack river rock. You can't see any of the mortar in the joints! It grows a little taller every day.

strange sleep habits

How he fell asleep like this I do not know.  But it sure is cute!  (Don't worry paranoid people; I did move him out of the corner after taking pictures :)

olaf.david.micah.steven.COUSINS!

Olaf David and Micah Steven Saugen.

Spent some time playing together last weekend, and LOVED it!  

I love watching them interact.  

They are super cute, as you can see.

house sitting

I haven't written much this week because we have been HOUSE SITTING! Yay! I have showered multiple times, and cooked a real dinner every night in the real full sized kitchen and it has been just wonderful. If anyone else is going on vacation soon... just let me know! Taking care of the three dogs at this house is no problem since we are used to our two. Although 5 is a lot... so far so good! Olaf loves that it is warm enough inside to crawl around in a onesie and no socks... I love it too. We have already had dinner guests and will be having more tomorrow night.... ahhh, I am so happy. That's what I miss the most about living in a house - we have no room to entertain in the 5th wheel and have folks over to visit and share a meal! So it has been a blessing this week to be able to do that again. However because of that I haven't been taking many pictures because my camera is MIA in all our stuff strewn about this lovely home. But perhaps I can post a video of Oly walking soon. WALKING? you ask? Why yes, he walked about 5 feet today to come see his Mama! (that's like 8 baby steps or so) I guess he's not afraid of falling on this plush carpet :) Now if only he could learn to say Mama or Papa...

I leave you with a shot of our girls having fun in the sun.

9 months and counting

9 months.
22 lb 11oz.
29.5 inches tall
19 inch head (off the chart in case you are wondering)

what has this kid been eating?

happy 9 month birthday kiddo.
i am hoping to get you a house with a real room for your birthday.
maybe your 18 month birthday.
we'll see.

what's in the middle... the white stuff (o-oreo, o-oreo)

Okay this is GROSS. I stumbled across it on another friend's blog. Wow.

lotsoffriedfood

Luckily it was more amusing than a reality check for me (and most people I think. Seriously, who really eats that stuff more than once?) I have to admit... I would TOTALLY try a deep fried Oreo with sprinkles... Just one.

I LOVE oreos. Mostly the Oreo creme. One time in high school my good friends Mariya and Ariyl (who were in home ec. class) had to make a pie, and they chose an Oreo crust. Now this was before the days of premade Oreo crusts. So they took two packages of Oreos, and scraped the cream filling out of ALL OF THEM in order to obtain a cookie crumble. And then they proceeded to give me a container filled with all that white goodness at break. YUM. Well that's what I thought then because I love the cream so much. Looking back it was maybe not so good for me... but when you only weigh 98 lbs you don't worry about it I guess :) And I only made it through about a third before throwing it away... It is a good memory though. Thanks girls.

Let me just leave you with these photos of my husband. Think I should submit it to the website?

olaf, trygve, ingrid... little vikings

This weekend the Sorensens came from Seattle to offer their help and support in our building project. Haakon spent ALL DAY Sunday (AND some of Saturday night) helping Steve sand in the house, while Jenny and I caught up over coffee while wrangling the 3 kiddos in the camper. (no small feat if you consider its size + their energy).

I LOVED watching the cousins interact and play. I see best buddies in the making (hopeful). I hope to soon have the rest of the crew of cousins here to play!


Could there be cuter kids? All three are blue eyed blondies... think they perhaps have some Swedish and Norweigan heritage? I think so.

Thanks Jenny Sue and Haakon for taking your entire weekend to help us out and spend time with us. I had a lovely time chatting with you both and seeing your beautiful kiddos! Glad you made it home safe during the crazy March blizzard.

choosing solitude

Some people think that we are a little bit nutty to want to live so far away from, well, everything. There's only one little grocery store/gas stop, and one hardware store here in Plain. My commute is 45 minutes to Wenatchee in summer and up to 1 1/2 hours in winter if it's snowing. No movies, malls, or restaurants, gyms, bars, daycares, and no Target. Just good people, family and friends, our Church, and our own little piece of solitude.

Last weekend we started walking in our back yard and ended up here.

Worth it? I think so.

oh no pull up the cords!

olaf is crawling... aaaahh, time to babyproof! at least the 5th wheel already has very hard to open drawers and cupboards due to it's being mobile and all. but there is enough other stuff that we need to pick up now to still be a pain... ah well :) exciting moments in our little boy's life! Enjoy this video of our chunk-a-monk as he learns to motor around.

That's grandma Cathi talking in the background to Oly in case you are wondering. I am currently borrowing her internet connection to post this since mine is slower that dial up at home right now (hence the no blog posts in a awhile. I have a few written but no pictures will upload!)

blogger is annoying me

I am trying to post a bunch of pictures with my most recent ramblings... but I can't get blogger to upload the corresponding pictures! I am annoyed! I have been trying since yesterday morning! I am not quite sure how to solve my problem, usually iPhoto and blogger work seamlessly... could be my verizon wireless internet connection, but I don't know why. So for anyone reading I apologize for this bland post about nothing... someday perhaps I'll get the darn pics to load!

The sewing gene skipped me? or was it just hiding...

I have a lot of very talented friends and family.
Oly and I recieved SO many creative gifts from people before he was born - a LOT of sweet handmade blankets and quilts. Here are some of them...

From Cassie Miller... a dino quilt!

From Heather McMaster... a cars and trucks quilt!

From Grandma Cathi... a blue blanky afghan!

From Jenny Sue... a paisley receiving blanket!

From Grammy Sue... a crazy amazing Noah's ark quilt!

They were ALL very inspiring to me - I kept thinking I CAN MAKE THAT TOO. But I don't have sewing machine, and I always tell people that the "sewing/crochet/knitting" gene skipped me in the family, since my mom and sisters are all great seamstresses and I am not. (Though I admit I was always more excited to play outside to learn to sew...).

But recently I have had two good friends who got pregnant with baby girls and I really wanted to do something special for them. So with the help of my mom (and her sewing machine) I made my first quilt for Shannon, which I gave to her in December (sorry no pics of it - I finished it the night before the baby shower). And I JUST completed my second quilt for Leighla! Sent it off in the mail Saturday. I don't think she checks this blog too often, so I am safe posting a picture since she'll get it soon. (Sorry Leighla if I ruin the surprise - but I hope you like it!) Without further ado -- here is my second sewing project ever.


The interesting thing about sewing (and most things in life actually) is that my mind understands how it is supposed to work and understands, but my body has trouble executing the function (a good example is playing pool... I understand angles and the physics... but I really can't hit the cue ball correctly to save my life). I also lose patience easily with things I am not very good at it... So I am hoping that as I continue to sew, I get better at it and can start matching up the squares better :) But regardless, I always enjoy creating something that will hopefully bring joy to someone else, whether a quilt, a meal, a card, or a pot of flowers. So to all those busy moms, wives and friends, here's to finding (making) the time to be creative.

weekend

We were so happy to have Steven home for the weekend! We drank coffee (me and Steve, not Olaf), talked about cast iron woodstoves and pendant lights, ate a home-cooked meal, saw our good friends the Cohens, and went for a walk together with the dogs.

Olaf got some quality daddy time in too. It was fantastic and needed, as always. Apparently after this 7th straight week of work in Tri-Cities, Steve will be home for at least a week, yay! My "honey do" list has begun...