2013

To read past New Year posts, especially last year, click here.

I had titled 2012 "Expanding and Experimenting". It definitely was. As for the expanding, I don't remember why I put that as part of the title. But I would say that our expanding went to expanding our experiences (?) I don't know if that works. However we did have a lot of learning experiences, which ties in with the second half of the title experimenting. Speaking for Scott, he has learned SO much from being called as the scout master and in the Young Men's presidency at our ward. I think he has learned first of all, more about himself. Then he's learned more about the organization of the church and has learned about other people. Towards the beginning of 2012 we had some trials with cutting down our tree, flooding, and buying a car. There were other things in there, like a broken pipe too.  (yes, those all link to the blog posts about them) But enough reminiscing... you can click through 2012 on the blog if you want to rewind. Lets think about 2013.

For the year 2013, we plan/hope/wish....for:

- paying off the rest of our student loans in the spring

- a beautiful baby boy in May

- actually buying our second car (a commuter for Scott)

- filling up our food storage with more canned goods both from the store and our garden

- celebrating 5 ridiculously awesome years of marriage

- celebrating Christmas with my family in Washington

I've been thinking all day about what I was going to title 2013. All of the titles I have made for the upcoming year were really obvious. This upcoming year, not so much. But I did think of something...since we are doubling the size of our original family (2 to 4) it worked.

2013 is titled: Adjusting

It's funny I would use that title for this upcoming year. I think it would fit for all the other years too. But this past year was our experimenting with things, like our garden for example. Well, this year we are only slightly adjusting what we did with our garden because we learned from what we tried last year. The major adjustment will obviously come from having one kid to two. But you know, we roll with the punches. 

Again, we are so grateful for everyone who takes a minute to read/scroll through pictures of our life. Being so far from family has had it's perks but also it's downside. We love where we live and know that this is where we are supposed to be for now. Well, there are only 2 hours left in 2012 on the east coast. I better pop some Martinelli's.

Tis the Season

A small portion of our wood.

These two photos are horrible. The phone that I got in replacement of my old one is terrible. I'm pretty sure it's refurbished because look at how horrible the photos are! These were taken at the mall on their carousal. Addilyn loves LOVES horses.

Our Christmas break has been an interesting one...My mom flew in from Seattle. Which was AWESOME. I hardly did any dishes which to me was my Christmas present. The first part of the week that she came we spent it mostly shopping and running around town. Then Thursday hit us. My mom and Addilyn got the stomach bug. If you saw on Facebook, then you know that it was Addi's first time throwing up. And both throw up sessions were on me. I'm officially officially a mom. They got over the bug, and then I got it on Saturday. We all decided I got it the worse. I lost count on how many times I puked....Then we thought we were fine. Until Scott got it on Christmas. His was extremely short lived though thank goodness.

The night before the flu bug came we got sushi. YUM

When my mom came, she had a connecting flight with about an hour in between landing and departure. Well, that would be fine IF your first flight wasn't 45 minutes late! She had to run through the Chicago airport to get to her connecting flight. Unfortunately her bag did not make it. It did arrive with the next flight and came the next day. When the airline worker was asking about her bag, she asked if there was anything distinct inside of it in case they had issues identifying it. My mom said, "YES! A crab!" My mom packed a frozen crab in her suitcase, which, after 28 hours in the bag, it was still very much frozen!

The night before Christmas we had our big dinner. (By this point I was feeling much better and Scott hadn't started to feel sick yet). We had the missionaries over and had a glorious ham. It truly was the best ham I've ever had and I want to remember that. Oh it was divine.

Christmas Morning

Before Addilyn had gone to bed on Christmas Eve, we had all of the the presents placed strategically behind and underneath the tree. It didn't look like we had anything. So the night before we pulled them all out. Christmas morning Addilyn was mesmerized by the presents. She immediately started peeling paper...

My early Christmas present

Addilyn was really good at opening presents

Playing with her new phone

She loves, LOVES her new keyboard. Also her fairy costume.

Showing off some of her new jammies from Grandpa and Nana

Thursday night, when everyone was through with their sickness, we had Cioppino!!! MMMMMM. It was SO good. You can see the crab that my mom brought in the pics. We had the crab, mussels, clams, scallops (which were pricey but SO stinking good) and cod. Oh it was delish. While we ate our dinner, Addilyn had already eaten hers. So we gave her a peppermint oreo cookie to distract her. It was a very good decision. 

Grandma!

Ok, so the wood pictures...If you can recall back in the spring we had our tree chopped down. Well, we have been slowly chopping it. Scott loves it, it's his work out. Over Christmas break he borrowed a few wedges and a steel hammer thing pictured below. He spent hours and hours out there. During the break he probably chopped close to a chord of wood. The hammer he borrowed broke, as you can see in the picture. He told the guy he borrowed it from he could get the handle welded together. The guy said he didn't believe that Scott broke it. Pictures or he's not a believer. Well, here it is:

I need to post photos, but, we of course had some projects we did around the house regardless of our sickness. We bought shelving for our storage room (including a fancy can rotator for food storage). Scott also put shelving into our laundry closet. Before it had 2 dinky 3 foot shelves. Now it had 3 6' shelves with some baskets and a hanger for a brooms/mops. It has been amazing. Shelving can really change the way you feel about a space. Oh it is glorious.

At the library.

She was the only kid there, aside from Scott.

The librarian loved Addilyn. And Addi loved the puppet rat she had.

One of the nights when we were all better we went to the Tanglewood Park lights. It was so great. Addi sat in my lap as we drove 5-8 miles per hour through the park looking at the lights. She kept saying "ooo!" and "petty!" (pretty) She also 'neighed' at anything resembling a horse. We didn't take pictures, but I did steal these off of google images:

Me trying to do Addi's hair before church. She pulled it out like usual.

My mom left yesterday after church. For what we had to deal with- sickness, rain, and whatever else- we had a good time. As for today, I'm finishing recovering my glider chair that my mom and I picked fabric for. We went to Bonefish Grill to spend a gift card we got. It was sooooo good. Before that we had gone to the mall to spend some more gift card money. I have one more day with Scott off of work and then it's back to the office. It has definitely been nice having him home! Addilyn will surely miss him.

Today at the mall riding her horsey.

Boy, oh boy.

20.5 weeks

We found out 2 weeks ago what we are having, a boy! Scott was sweating at our ultrasound waiting for the tech to finally tell us what we were having. He just about cried when he heard. I'm just glad we don't have to worry about our future kids! They can be what they want to be, no pressure! We're so excited to have one of each. Now it's on for the naming process. Which, just like Addilyn, we won't be saying our chosen name. (Which if it is like Addilyn, it won't be decided until just before) We like not being committed to a name and everyone has an opinion about names too which could taint what we like. So there. :)

Ah pregnancy.

Scott claimed that I was never going to be as attentive with our future pregnancies/children as I was with Addilyn. Well, I'm proving him wrong. I will give it to him that I am not posting a picture once a week as I did with Addilyn. However, I'm still taking the pictures once a week (here is just 3 shots as a taste). I am showing WAY sooner than I was with Addi, which is expected with any pregnancy after you've already stretched with one. Yesterday I realized I couldn't hide the fact that my belly button has popped out. As misleading as this picture is, I'm currently just over 18 weeks.

This pregnancy is continually different from Addi. Not like drastically, but subtle differences that I only notice. For one, I'm carrying higher because I can still fit my larger non-pregnant pants. I'm finally over my icky stage- which is about the same time with Addilyn. My energy has come back for the most part. That's the number one thing Scott has noticed because things are actually getting done around the house again. And tonight for dinner Scott said something to the effect of "I like having you back. Because we eat food again and there's food at our house." This is in contrast to me not making dinner, using our freezer meals that I made in September (which are actually really good), or going out to eat. Because I really really had no desire to make food. I still don't like certain foods- especially cooked green veggies. Like broccoli and spinach. The other night in fact I just cooked some of those frozen Costco pasta things that have spinach and mozzarella in them. I took one bite and thought I was going to hurl. I ate cereal for dinner instead. As for my distaste for dairy, the only thing I can handle is chocolate milk. Which with Addi, that's all I wanted. But now I drink it because it's the only ONLY dairy I'm willing to have.

Next Wednesday at 7:30am we are having our anatomy ultrasound. My mom flies in this Sunday and is staying through Christmas. I've been doing lots of grocery shopping and planning for the next 2 weeks! I'm extremely excited to find out what we are having because now that I have my own sewing machine (last year's Christmas present) I want to sew sew sew! Thanks to pinterest....

Thanksgiving pt. 2

For the record, these were all the families that were at the Thanksgiving: (Hosts) Busby's = Keith, Anika, Kayla, Luke, Darren, Charlotte, Jared; Western's = Eric, Shirley, Olivia, Afton, Eila; Smith's = Scott, me, Addilyn; Smith's = Grandma, Grandpa, Isaac; Busby's (Keith's parents) = John, Gail. All but Keith's parents stayed at the Busby's house.

We made it Pennsylvania Monday afternoon. For FHE Addilyn taught one of her favorite songs, "Do as I'm Doing". It was a hit.

Grandpa and Grandma doing popcorn popping which followed.

I don't remember exactly what days we did what, but on one of them we went into Scranton where they have a steam engine museum. Scott helped the older kids do this ranger thing that was like a scavenger hunt and you had to find the answers to the questions. In the end everyone got a badge.

Charlotte, Afton, Addi

Issac, Keith with Charlotte, Grandma, Luke, Grandpa, me with Eila

 Watching their film presentation of a guy who worked on steam engines when they first came about.

This cute girl

Kayla, Luke, Darren

They had an archeological dig (why at train museum, I don't know) for kids and they spent quite some time playing in it and getting dirty. Addilyn played for a few minutes until she started putting the coal pebbles in her mouth.

Afton

The mail train- Scott and Addi

Afterwards we got pizza....lots of pizza. They said it was the closest thing to New York pizza they could get. It was really good, especially the marinara pizza.

mmm foood

The candy shop- Kayla, Grandma (Gail) Busby, Shirley, and me

As tradition goes, we had a girls day. We went into downtown Tunkhannock and walked around their cute shops. We were gone for many hours while the men stayed home with the kids. It was a really nice break! The candy shop was this cool old school one where you count the candy and pay for each peice or weight.

showing off my loot

Inside one of the many shops- Anika, Gail, Grandma, me, Shirley, Kayla

Outside the candy shop- Gail, Grandma, me, Shirley, Kayla

The chearleaders

This was the first Thanksgiving that I (and most of the other wives) have ever seen turkey bowl. Usually I don't go because it's so stinking cold (don't get me wrong, it was in the 30s still). But man, the kids needed to get out of the house! It was like the house was melting. We had lots of fun watching them play, having the kids run around, and keeping them off the play field!

Oh ya...

We all were impressed by this picture of Eric. Aren't you?

Addilyn was the cutest. She really loved watching and kept trying to play

My little powderpuff

For the record, Scott wants you to know he caught this.

This picture is the proof that he did.

With some brotherly love, Isaac was mad.

And now for Thanksgiving food. There was plenty to go around! And it was all delicious. I must say my favorite part was the gravy. It was Keith's first time making it and it was so so good.

The food...

The pie!

(Afton and Addilyn were putting the tambourine on each other)

That night we did our singing with with kids. We had already done our choir practices as adults, but this one we bring out the musical instruments. It only lasts for one song, but everyone is happy when it's over. Not that we don't love doing it, it's just most of the instruments are banging ones...

I think Addilyn will be a piano player

Issac and Darren

Grandpa Busby with Charlotte

King Tut

That night before the Busby's went back to their hotel, Grandpa Busby was coerced into doing his King Tut. (originally by Steve Martin on SNL)

 The big event was on Friday when we had Kayla's baptism. Their church building is super tiny! After all it s a branch. After the baptism their branch had their annual left overs dinner. It was very convenient to have dinner right after! There were a lot of people who came to the baptism. One of my favorite parts was when all of the cousins got up to sing. I was already planning on being up their to hold Addilyn, but I ended up holding both her and Afton. Talk about weight lifting!

Charlotte, Afton, Addi

Keith, Anika, Kayla

Everybody

the dinner

Overall the week was a success! The cousins all got along and had a blast with each other. On the way home Sunday, the Westerns caravaned with us to our house. We had so much traffic getting home. They stayed at our house Sunday night and Monday morning we played with Cabo and went to Costco. They drove the last 5 hours to their place in Georgia. We very much look forward to another massive party at our house in just a few weeks!