No one beats Isabel in the Cuteness Department!

Isabel is everyone's favorite little girl on the Patubo side! She is now in Kindergarten and decided to share a pop song during Christmas Dinner!

Pink, Pink, Pink!

Ryann and I were roomies our freshman year at San Diego State, and we still love getting together! We probably get to see each other 2x a year with me being in Idaho and her now in Santa Cruz. We decided a photo session was a must after all these years of friendship! My good friend Stephanie Christen took our pictures and it was so fun! Here's her site: photographybystephaniechristen.tumblr.com

Building building

Niko has definitely gotten better with his blocks. When we first got them for him all he would do is dump them out of the bag and walk away. Now look what he can do!


Is that a tall tower or what? The best part is that he'll even clean up after if you help him!

Can You Say Wii?

Can you say Wii? Well Niko can! Johnny taught him to say Wii and he says it very enthusiastically!

The Winter Blues?

This is what I have to look forward to once next summer rolls around! This is getting built a few yards from my apartment! I am so excited, and can't wait to become a water bug again and have Niko become one as well! Doesn't this place look like fun? Already want to fast forward these cold winter days, and roll around to the summer months!

Yummy!

Today I had a busy day at school. I was working on homework, papers, projects, or in class from 7:40 this morning until 5pm. Yuck. So this evening all I wanted to do was make cookies for family & friends. I got these cute tins at dollar tree and filled them with snickerdoodles, peppermint bark, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, oreo fudge, and candy canes! We narrowed down our cookie list to fourteen families, that's a ton of tins, as you can see!



I love baking and cooking, but I hate the work that comes after...dishes. I cannot wait until we have a dishwasher! Until then, look what awaits me tomorrow. Ahh!

Now Take a Bow

Tonight while Niko was playing with his cars on the couch I was making a grocery list and singing Disney tunes. I started singing the song 'That's How you Know' from the movie Enchanted. I sang small parts of it, but belted out the last part of the song. As soon as I finished my awful out of tune note I heard the most wonderful thing, plenty of applause. Niko apparently had been listening to me and gave me some of his biggest claps with an accompanying smile. I laughed so hard and loved Niko's genuine appreciation for my singing!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Johnny yesterday! Whoops, it got too busy yesterday that I didn't have the chance to post on time. Johnny is a whopping 26 years old now! Wow, we're getting old. This was the first birthday since we've been married that he hasn't had school until 10:30 at night. So naturally we had to celebrate in some way. We went and got chinese food at ying yangs one of our recent favorite places to eat. Then I surprised him, by inviting his family and friends over. They were waiting for us in the apartment when we got back and I think Johnny was pretty surprised. Cupcakes and Catch Phrase made for a fun night! Happy Birthday Johnny!

LIttle clumps of Snow

Today I had to take Niko with me on campus because grandma wasn't able to babysit him today during class. I had a girl from one of my classes watch him for the hour block of class today and he was so good for her! What a relief. He was so excited to see all the people and be somewhere he had never been. When I picked him up after class, he was making me laugh so much and smile a lot. While we were s-l-o-w-l-y walking to our car, Niko just had to stop and stomp on a clump of snow on the sidewalk. During that time a lady came up to me and said, "I love to see when moms look like they truly enjoy being mothers and love their children." I don't know what I did exactly, but compliments like that go a long way and makes me feel good especially when I sometimes feel far from the best mommy award.

Our Little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

This is our Christmas tree. It stands about a foot high, is a cute green color and has 2 "real" ornaments on it besides the little decorative balls on it. I love this tree! It has been around since my freshman year of college. When it was up in my dorm room at San Diego State it had cute pink little balls on it and shell ornaments. The pink balls represented Ryann, my roommate who had recently left, and who I missed very much. The shells represented my love for the ocean and those are now gone because I gave one to each of my good friends in San Diego that Christmas. That little tree has done a lot of traveling and is now in Rexburg with my little family. It has 2 ornaments on it. One is our "first christmas" ornament. Every tree has to have one of those on it! The second is an ornament my little 6 year old cousin Isabel made for me last Christmas. I absolutely love the fact she made us the ornament and had to put it on the tree, even though it is about half the size of our tree! I have many more memories with this tree that I'm not going to bore everyone with, but I love what it represents and can't wait to see what other memories are going to tag a long with this tree!

An Important Skill

We taught Niko how to dunk oreos in milk. He caught on fast and loved it!

Never Again!

I will never again every study or do homework in the Hinckley Building again! I thought that sitting on the couches would be a nice comfortable place to get some work done between classes. I was completely wrong. I have never seen and been around so many annoying distractions. First, let's start off with the guy who came and sat next to me on the other end of the couch to take a nap. No worries right? Except that he snores. loud. Oh, well, I can handle that. Next, would be the sweet, nice looking girl sitting on the couch next to mine sitting quietly doing work on her laptop. She was not a distraction until her husband came and sat next to her. They then decided that they must cuddle and kiss every 5 seconds. Honestly?! Please go home if that is what you are planning on doing for the next hour!! Yes, I know you are in love, but please contain yourself. Next, this threw me over the edge, was the dance group that decided they must waltz in the middle of an area of students studying. They moved chairs and are blasting silent night and dancing like 4 feet from my feet. Ugh. Can't believe it! It's like straight from a movie. In this movie, there would be a girl trying really hard to get a lot of work done, muttering to herself "Don't get distracted, focus on your work". Then, all these annoying distractions pop up. I will NEVER study in the Hinckley Building ever again! And yes, I feel much better now.

First Snow!

Snow is finally here. With an absolutely beautiful fall this year, it almost felt like the snow was never going to come! However, it turned into winter overnight, and honestly it is not too bad so far. I walked Freddy Sanchez one morning before Niko got up and before Johnny left for school (woohoo I was out at 7am!) and it was the most peaceful experience ever. It had snowed overnight so there was a layer of fresh snow. Only a few cars were on the roads so it was nice and quiet. The trees looked so beautiful frosted over and it started snowing right when I left the apartment building. I was bundled up nice and warm so I was able to really enjoy the snow.



Niko was too young to really notice the snow last winter but he sure notices it now. He always looks confused when he sees snow falling and doesn't really like touching it (don't blame him). Sledding will be fun when there is a much better layer of snow on the ground. Now is the season to curl up with some hot chocolate and slip under a warm blanket and stay inside!

Niko's New Vocabulary

1. Sorry (so cute)
2. Na-na (his version of Momma)
3. Daddy (it is not dada anymore it's officially Daddy)
4. What?! (surprised to hear that one)
5. Oh no
6. Wow
7. Uh-oh
8. NO
9. Car car (he has to say it twice for some reason?)
10. keys keys (once again repeats iy)
11. Aw-ma (grandma)
12. Chee! (cheese)
13. Stree-Chee (string cheese)
14. Shhh!
15. crackers

Progressing, progressing, progressing....FINALLY!

Well Johnny and I are finally seeing an end to school. I was supposed to be done next semester however I have classes that have overlapping times so I will have to go another extra semester. So we both have two semesters left and are so thrilled! I'll be done the end of July and Johnny the end of December 2011. I cannot wait to have an easier semester. With 18 credits this semester it has been work overload for me. I never have enough hours in the day, to do everything needed-whether it be housework, niko time, homework, tests, oh and did I mention HOMEWORK?!?! Next semester I'll have 12 credits of easier courses and 2 of them are electives that I picked. This will be my first semester actually taking a class that I don't have to take. I've never taken an elective. Both Johnny and I have really nice schedules for next semester and made them work so that we won't need any babysitters.

So, with free time next semester I plan to:

practice piano
knit Niko a scarf
walk the dog in the snow everyday
try and form a mommy n' me group
do the water aerobics class on campus
try a Zumba class
always keep the apartment clean

Let's see if these things actually happen! And yay for progressing to the end for school!
experiment with more cooking

Freddy Sanchez

Many of you know we had little Gizmo an adorable yorkie terrier, but our apartment managers told us we couldn't have pets. So we had to give Gizmo away during the summer :(. However, our managers later told us that they misunderstood the pet policy and we actually COULD have pets, as long as we put a pet deposit down. So, after some consideration and craigslist searching we found ourselves a little mini schnauzer mix in need of a home. He is still a puppy but an older puppy. His name is Freddy Sanchez after the baseball player. Niko is getting used to the hyper dog and we are getting used to having what feels like a second kid in the home. Between him and Niko we are constantly having to keep an eye on one of the two. We do love that Freddy does not bark in our apartment and house training was a cinch! Welcome Freddy Sanchez to our family!

Giants Win the World Series!!

The Giants won the world series, which I am SOOOOO excited about! I have loved following all the games, and I love the team right now and all their unique personalities. Seriously, that team has such character. It is kind of sad to know there won't be anymore Giants games to watch, but I could not be happier with the World Series results! Go Renteria for hitting that 3 run homer you deserve MVP, go Buster for finally getting us some hits, and go Lincecum for being an awesome pitcher this world series! And now, to end the world series on this amazing quote from the after game interviews:
Interviewer: So Lincecum what do you think of the trophy?
Lincecum: It's shiny.

Happy Halloween!

I AM A MOM

I had another "ugh, mom" moment. I read my friend's blog about the cool new stroller she just bought for her baby on the way. I got so jealous and wanted her stroller.
You know you have transitioned to mom mode when you envy someone else's stroller :)

Lucky, Lucky

Well I feel like I have been very lucky lately! Blessed with good friends, good times, and good baseball games!
First, I HAVE to mention how excited I am that the Giants are going on to the World Series. It has been so fun following them this season, and it almost feels like we have a connection with all the players even! We love watching the games on television, especially when they win! I keep trying to figure out how we could possibly incorporate Giants players names into future baby names. I think we will have to settle with naming a dog Buster, after Buster Posey .
My birthday was great! I seriously got spoiled with all my favorite things! We ate at Red Robins, which sports my favorite burgers and endless fries! I got some stuff from Forever 21 from Johnny, which is my absolute favorite clothing store. I have loved wearing all my new clothes. I got a $21 giftcard to Jamba Juice from my mom (how creative) and got a Giant’s Sandoval Panda hat from Nick. Oh yes, and of course the famous Omaha steaks from my dad and a wonderful little note from my favorite Ryann Brown.
Oh and did I mention we’ve been having the absolute best fall weather here?! It has been so great.


Last Saturday our family and Erin Olpin, one of my good friends from highschool, and her friend, went to the Teton Mountains. It was so beautiful we really got to experience the true beauty of fall. With golds, yellows, greens, purples, and reds we saw so much beautiful scenery. We went on a little hike and then drove to a few scenic outlooks. However, the drive was the most beautiful part anyways.

Deliciousness! On a Budget!

This month I wanted to have better planned meals as well as save on groceries. What a great thing this has been so far! I started the month off by writing down 25 possible meals. I decided I would supplement the other days with left overs, grabbing a pizza or eating out. I then wrote down every ingredient I would need that I didn't already have in the fridge. Buying all the ingredients at once has helped to avoid unneeeded grocery trips, which sometimes lead to extra purchases, like "Oh, we need a bag of chips!" or "Bagels sound good right now...so we also need to buy cream cheese". You get the point!

Not only have we been saving $$$, but I have been relaxed because I know exactly what we're having for dinner and I have so much fun deciding what to make. I have also been experimenting with different meals and found out we love chimichangas! I love that everything is so organized and I don't have to be scrambling to make quick spaghetti or hamburgers for the third time in a week! I look forward to cooking everyday now. I tell Johnny right after we finish dinner, what I am going to make the next day.
Only bad thing about this DELICIOUSNESS ON A BUDGET would be the fact that I am always thinking about food, which we all know what that leads to! Oh well, that extra pound or two is it worth it to me! I'll just be careful that it's not an extra pound or two a month!

Giants vs. Atlanta!

I am so excited that the Giants are in the playoffs! I have been able to watch all 3 games on tv so far, and it's been great! They have won 2 of the 3 games and have been playing so well, I definitely think they have a good shot at making it to the world series! I am looking forward to watching the games to come! Go Giants!

Also, it is Pat Burrell's birthday today (he is my favorite as of now, along with Posey & Lincecum) so I have to give a shout out for his birthday! Haha.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I MISS MY LONG LONG HAIR! PLEASE GROW FASTER!!

Cutest Boy Alive?!

So Niko is a whopping 16 months old now! Almost a year and a half, where has time gone?!?! Well he has been keeping me smiling and very busy these days with his new found skills and his developing personality!
Here's what's new!

-He loves loves loves string cheese. It is the first thing he has every morning. He walks to the fridge, opens it up and whines for his cheese.

-He almost sings his ABC's. He carries the tune, and you can pick out the "H I J" and "Q R S" part of the song! What a smartie.

-His 2 new words are "oww" and "uh oh", and sometimes the occassional angry sounding "NO!". He likes to bang things and say "oww" over and over again.

-He has definitely moved on from walking and is trying the running thing out. He falls all the time says a simple "ow" and gets up and tries again.

-Niko has gotten better on the piano keyboard. He knows which buttons make the beats and fusses if the keyboard mysteriously gets unplugged.

-He has become a cuddler, every morning for playhouse disney cartoons.

-He understands my "look" and will generally obey it.

-He is obsessed with the act of me folding blankets. Every morning when I fold blankets he gets excited and throws himself onto them.

-He has been looking through his books more and looking at the pictures. He has also been playing with his big lego blocks more and can actually build small things out of them!

He has become the best little boy possible! I just love the little guy more and more everyday. Niko makes me laugh and smile so much. It may seem like every post is about him, but come on, I am a mom and love that guy so stinkin' much!

A friend we will miss.....

This morning I found out that one of Niko's "elderly friends" passed away last night. Joel Young, 77, was one of Niko's favorite people! He always rode around town in his motor wheel chair and we would run into him everywhere! Whether it was friday night markets, Broulims grocery store or just seeing him on our daily walks. He adored Niko. He would get Niko's attention by saying "Hey small guy! Small guy, oh you wanna fight, you wanna fight?!" He was so funny. He never knew my name, but whenever he needed to talk to me he'd say "HEY LADY!" He made us smile and laugh all the time. Our favorite thing is the Shrek watch he gave to Niko. He rode his motor wheel chair all the way to McDonalds and got a happy meal just so he could get Niko a little toy. We will never forget our friend and will miss seeing him almost everyday.

Luckily, Niko has not lost the watch and we have this to remember him by.

Last Warm Day.....

I predict that today was the last day of summer. It was in the 80's today and I looked at the 10 day forecast and the weather is definitely getting cooler. I doubt it's going to get warm again so Charity and I took advantage of the weather. We biked around mainstreet and looked in some stores, and ended the ride with some shaved ice. Niko loves to ride on the back of my bike so he was our companion on the trip as well. Shaved Ice was the best!

Baby Brother

I have a confession to make. I have a baby brother that I hardly ever talk about! I always ask about Coel when I talk to my Dad and Shan, but I sometimes forget that he is my brother!! Coel is about 19 months old now and 4 months older than Niko. I wish I could see him more, but since he lives in Japan..well...it makes things a little more difficult. Here is a picture of him from a few months ago. I can't wait to see him again, hopefully at Christmas time!

Friends, Family and Fun Places

Niko and I road tripped it out to California! We definitely put a lot of miles on the car going to Folsom, San Francisco, Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz. We had so much visiting friends, family and fun places!

FRIENDS!!!
I got to see a few friends on my trip! I saw my friends Shabnam, Niki, and Ryann.



FAMILY!!!
I loved seeing my mom, it's always so fun to see her. Plus she gave me a little break from Niko, which was nice! I got to spend a WHOLE day to myself baby free so that I could go to a SF Giants game. I was able to go to the game with Nick and a couple of his friends. I had not had so much fun in a very long time! Giants won 3-2, in extra innings.





FUN PLACES!!!
My favorite was of course the beach! I have always loved the ocean so much, so it was really nice to go there and just relax. I tried to show Niko some tide pools, but he's a little young for that. I took him to the aquarium and he really liked that so I'm glad I took him. We also went with Ryann to the boardwalk and rode a few rides. Our trip was packed with so much fun!

Here we are at the aquarium:


A little trip to the beach:


Niko enjoying one of the Boardwalk rides:

Coolest Park

Niko and I are on a trip to California right now, and I just had to share about this amazing park we went to. My friends who are still single and not in the "mom" stage, sorry this post will be totally boring. But, moms and future moms out there check this out! In Folsom, on the outskirts of Empire Ranch there is the most amazing park I have been to! The Promontory Park is very unique looking and very fun. Thanks Beth for introducing us to this park!




Niko practiced walking quite a bit, we're still working on him! (He's been getting better though). He also met and older woman there. Just kidding, he met a cute little 2yr old girl there and they were play buddies it was so cute! What a fun day at the park!

Niko is still working on walking!

The Many Faces of Niko

Niko has been such a funny guy lately, wwith so much personality! He loves to wear his emotions on his sleeve, especially his new found pouty face, which he uses ALL the time!

He used the "pouty face" once we left the merry go round today. As we were walking away, Niko pointed to the merry go round, and gave us the biggest pouty face ever with a little sigh.

Also when he is angry, he gives a "hmmf" if he doesn't get his way, and won't make eye contact. All his emotions aren't negative though, those are just his cute new ones he's been using a lot lately.

He has been more cuddly lately too, and gives great open mouthed drool-y kisses when you ask for one. Love watching him grow up!

Refridgerator Monsters

Before bed I was getting Niko a sippy cup of milk. While I was preparing this for him, I left the fridge open. That was my mistake. I later found him chowing down on an uncooked hot dog. He had climbed into the fridge, got the ziploc baggie off the top shelf, helped himself to a hot dog, and left a car in the fridge a long with a baby medicine dispenser he must have found somewhere. Oh, Niko, my little pig. Takes after me way too much....

First Steps!

Niko finally took his first steps! He is now 14 months old and 5 days. He was so excited because it was a game to him. Here is footage! We are so happy that he has finally decided he wants to walk :) We love our little Niko!

Wedding Weekend!

This past weekend, Niko and I took a quick trip to California for my good friend Lindsey Kubo's wedding. I have known Lindsey since I was 9 years old, and was so excited I got to be a bridesmaid. We had a great, busy weekend and loved seeing old friends! Lindsey has always been the sweetest girl in the world, and David is very lucky to be married to her! Congratulations!

So Rexburg's not too bad....

These past few weeks have been great here with wonderful weather! We have been having so much time hanging out outside in the sun! Niko is getting himself a little tan, and I'm finally turning brown again! Niko's been hanging out in his wading pool, which he loves and just loves the sun! Our family has been going on plenty of walks, bike rides, and going on trips to the park. I was able to go on my first stroller walk with another "mommy" that I met in one of my classes last semester, and Rexburg kept things interesting by turning a beautiful sunny day into a pouring down shower! We had to pull over on our walk and wait for the rain to at least turn into a drizzle. I felt so sorry for Erica's little 1 month old, but he didn't even wake up, thanks to his amazing stroller! Our family also discovered that Smith park (which is easily less than a 10 min walk) has concerts on Thursday nights. We went this thursday and heard a few fun groups. It was hard to keep Niko from crawling over to other people's blankets though and we had a swarm of little kids coming over to us to check out Gizmo. Then, Friday we went to the block party and had ourselves some good bbq hamburgers! Oh, and Friday night entertainment consisted of a huge thunder and lightning number! The whole sky was lit up like a big light show. Who needs fireworks? Rexburg has definitely been proving to me that it's not too bad. While the winter and spring could definitely use some improvements, summer has been so nice! Plus, Rexburg will be starting contruction on a fun outdoor pool/play park in 2 weeks, so next summer we should have a pool to enjoy as well!

New Family Member

We added a new addition to our family. No, not another child! We added Gizmo, a little yorkshire terrier. I found him on craigslist and what a lucky find! He is 7 wks old, weighs 2 pounds, and is the sweetest thing ever. Him and Niko are already little friends. They were chasing each other this morning, and Niko has been very gentle. We love our little puppy!

And the results are in....Success!

I threw my first headband party ever, and it was a success! I got a small group of girls come and check out my headbands and quite a few made special orders for headbands! It's not the sales that I enjoy most, but I absolutely LOVE seeing people get excited about something I made! Oh, and I also love to go about the community and see someone wearing one at the store, or on campus. With the help of friends who encouraged me to do this and helped talk to people to help me advertise I was able to have a great time and definitely want to throw another one in the future!

Having a Bad Day?

If you are having a bad day, or if you ever have "one of those days...sigh" just look at this picture of Niko taken today. I just smile so big and laugh when I see this picture. Hope this makes you smile and have a WONDERFUL day!

Our Friends!

Our friends Nate and Andrea came up to Rexburg and stopped in to say hi. Nate and Johnny grew up together, and him and his wife live in El Paso Texas now. They have a son, Carson, who is just a month older than Niko so we think it's fun that we have kids the same age! However, Carson needs to teach Niko a thing or two because he has been walking since he was about 9 months old, and we're still trying to get Niko to walk! Oh well....

Here are a few pictures of them "playing" together. It was mostly them playing next to each other or trying to take things from each other. The pics aren't that great, but Carson is adorable so I just had to put some pictures of them up!

Opening Gifts!

At first, Niko did not get the concept of opening presents, but after the first gift he caught on really fast. He clapped after every present and had the biggest smile on his face the entire time!

He got all sorts of fun goodies, including some cool buzz lightyear pajamas, stuffed animals, cute summer outfits and Toy Story DVD! What a lucky boy and we could not have been happier with his birthday! We love you so much Niko!!!!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Sorry it has taken me forever to get Niko's birthday up! Niko turned one on May 19th! We had a blast! We did Nintendo/Mario themed decor and had yummy cupcakes and cake! His cupcakes were 1-ups and mushrooms and his cake had a mini wii remote in it!

Niko ate his whole piece of cake and had a stomach ache the next night! We decided that we'll just give him carrots and broccoli for his next birthday :)

Handsome Boy with a Handsome Haircut

Niko got ANOTHER haircut! He was definitely due for one, his hair could almost be put into a little ponytail in the back, it was so long! We went to my personal favorite hair salon, Reflections, and got him an absolutely adorable hair cut. The lady who cut it did such a great job and Niko was so well behaved. He sat perfectly still in my lap and sucked on his lollipop. The only time he ever moved around was to look behind him and smile at the hairstylist. I was very proud of him and so glad we got a great stylist for him! Even little boy hair cuts need to look good!