evan, lindsay, nina and elena

An 11 year old school boy 4000 miles away

2011-08-20T14:31:00.005-06:00

Have you heard about the drought/famine in southern somalia? 29,000 children have died in the last three months. Overflowing refugee camps. Despair. Do we turn a blind eye?

Look at what this 11 year old kid has done since he learned about it:

Ghana schoolboy launches solo famine fundraiser

Andrew has been raising money door to door in Ghana, asking businesses and houses for donations. His dad pledged all $500 of his salary for the month of June. He must get his compassion from his father.

You know when people talk about celebrities they'd like to meet in their lifetime? I've had mine too! The Johnny Depps, the Natalie Portmans. I think I am this kid's number one fan now. I thank Heavenly Father for people like this who remind us what we can accomplish if we JUST ACT. (I'm the first one who needs this lesson, again and again)

Some things Andrew has said:

"There are hungry people in Ghana but our situation is not as desperate as the people of Somalia...This is a moment that mankind can touch lives. There is no point for others to have so much to eat while others have nothing to eat."

Here is a list of accountable nonprofits to donate to, working on this disaster now. Helping is so so simple. A text message? Is that really all it takes?

abc news international: how to help

Rain is not expected until October, as the site says. Can't we all spare something ourselves and ask those around us to give a little too?

can't can't can't can't can't

2011-07-31T15:29:00.005-06:00

just can't believe Elena is ONE today. Augh!!!

Today a year ago, sweet sweet Elena.

She stayed small enough that for the first month we swaddled her in flour sack cloths. Now she's still little but so alive and bright. She came two days early, two days that I know she was meant to spend with us. Now a whole year! So full of love for Elena. I am bursting at the seams.

Wish Evan could've stayed for the rest of her birthday with us. He is on a plane to Ohio for the night for work. Love you Evan!

Mt. Si Hi Five!

2011-06-21T23:43:00.006-06:00

This is a bit delayed, so bare with me. Things have been crazy busy for us. By some stroke of magic or luck or what ever you call it, Lindsay and I still find a way to brave the our doors. Thanks to some absolutely necessary help from our pals, Emily and Joe (and Vaughn, their 2-year-old), we were able to leave the kids behind and climb a mountain. We climbed Mt Si.

click to make it big!

Lindsay and I are trying to climb some mountains these days (more on that with future installments of the blog here). Mt Si was a great choice for us. It's a difficult 4 mile up climb. Then you go back the way you came making it a total of 8 miles. Total elevation gain is 3,150 or 3,700 ft (depending on who you ask). It's one of the local favorites for people who are training for Mt Rainier (one of the most technical Mountaineering summits in the US, and it's right in our back yard!).

Because of our plans for the day, we had very little time to hike the 8 miles. We were a little nervous about the hike since it's supposed to be so difficult. We knew we had to rush so we simply went. We trucked up that thing in well under 2 hours. Once we'd eaten our sandwiches (and shared with an alpine chipmunk), we made the trail pounding decent.

We had a blast. The view from the summit was kind of lame. Lots of fog, but it was cool to feel like our heads were in the clouds!

Here are some photos from the hike..

Our view from the top

Tonight

2011-06-21T23:09:00.005-06:00

We were here:

And here (not in that order, but I put the temple first because it was the most important place we went and we've been wanting to walk around the grounds for a long time with the girls):

Can you seen Elena and her daddy?

Lots of good moments at together at the temple grounds, and picking up Evan at work, and eating dinner out. Evan is going to Chicago for 3 days for a package design conference and we're going to miss him!

One of my favorites tonight - other than Elena dancing on Evan's shoulders, and them both being munchkins, Elena whispering little noises "conversing" with herself in the backseat on the way home, and Nina thanking me for dinner (which I didn't make tonight but I still appreciated her kindness) - was when kexp played beachhouse and Nina said "I love this! I love this new song." haha A happy night, just phone pics.

New home

2011-06-20T22:40:00.007-06:00

It's been three weeks. I think we'd all agree that it's feeling like home. It's where we sleep eat and where Nina throws tantrums. Here is our "you don't feel you're at home till" list, including but not limited to:

We've attended our new ward three (now four) times

Nina adjusted to her new nursery class (but still talks about friends from Kenmore a lot)

I met our postman Willie just today

Nina was rescued by another mom after falling into a pond at our first playgroup last week

Our first friendly treats brought to us by our neighbors

Our first treats we offered to a neighbor were rejected (they were pretty gross looking hahaa)

We finally put up some frames!

Our DVDs are alphabetized

Evan has his bus route down pat

We had our first fruit fly

Our first neighborhood shooting was a few days after we moved in

We've visited all parks including a beach within a 3 mile radius

We've had a guest stay over night (Nice to see you Scott we're glad you came!)

We held a slammin fathers day party with both sides of our family.

From a trip to the beach a couple of saturdays ago:

"You can hold your applause" - I think that's what Elena is saying in the picture above

More dancing!

2011-05-04T11:54:00.007-06:00

Addy is a dancing star. She just turned five. Apparently our family has a lot of gifted dancers! I wish we could have seen this in person, but they live in Colorado.

Addy's third from the left until second 37, when she moves to second from the left. That's Micaela and Ammon laughing in the background. And Ammon asking "what is she doing?"

Can't. stop. laughing aahaaaaa

So you think you can dance

2011-03-23T23:21:00.003-06:00

She doesn't roll yet, but she can DANCE!

The video shows some of her moves. The happiness of this baby girl.... just stay little, Elena, just stay little and perfect and innocent. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for her to start talking like Nina. And running around in little girl underwear all day long. There's something so great about Elena's age (almost 8 months!). It's too good to be true. But it is true.

Also, you can see Grandma Fay in the video. It was on last Tuesday which was two days before she passed away. We were listening to Irish music, getting ready for St Patty's Day.

AND see some pictures from a recent outing to St Edwards Park a couple of weeks back with the Stouts. Fun times!

circle of life

2011-03-19T21:57:00.000-06:00

That is the same guy in all the pictures. As a baby, and then as a man. haha It's pretty wild. I love it.

The photographer took old pictures and re-took them with the same people, composition, lighting, wardrobe, and setting. Why am I posting this picture? I will tell you

I feel like I am being instructed at this time to notice the wonder of the stages of life. Revealing to me again (for which I am soo grateful because it brings me so much peace and joy when I get the privilege) the wonder of God's loving hand. Which is always there even if I don't notice it. And when I do I'm sure I only notice the smallest part of it.

The picture above says this part of it - each of us maintain pieces of our young selves as we grow. There are bits of that baby left in the man in the pictures above. Also, we inherit and carry traits from each other through life. People get old while other new people come. The old and young cross paths, casually pass a high five of traits, and then say goodbye to each other. What if they could visit themselves or each other at different stages of life?

I'm grateful for the assurance that we all will see each other again. Maybe not in the trippy way illustrated by these pictures, but in the next life, definitely.

The majesty of that truth could not have been shown to me in a more beautiful way than in the last six months, as I've watched a deep love and trust grow between my two sweet girls and their even sweeter, ever present great grandma Fay. She had her spot on the couch. She had her spot at the table. Grandma Searle - Fay (Nina's namesake - Nina Fay) had one of the upstairs rooms. She turned ninety just recently. She suffered from diabetes, among other elderly challenges. Nina and Elena were grandma's happiest part of her day, aside from watching sports with my dad. When nothing else could, a little kiss or a hug from Nina or a the cutest bouncing baby smiling would make her smile and laugh.

Grandma Fay passed away last night, two or three minutes after Nina gave her the routine good night kiss. Several times in the day Elena grinned wildly at her even while grandma lay unaware on her bed. They gave her so much love.

In the last week or two, I've heard grandma say repeatedly how grateful she is for the girls. She's thanked me time and again for their loving her. She talked about them constantly when she left the house to go anywhere. I think they were a gift from God to her and vice versa before she finished her life here.

Nina has dealt with absence before in her simple baby girl way. Leaving Rexburg was a big loss for her which she has quickly forgotten a lot of. It's not only the loss that makes me sad, but watching her forget what she's lost. Evan and I carry the memory of it. We bear the burden of trying to make grandma's legacy stick in their lives somehow. It makes me so sad that she won't remember most of this golden time with her great grandma. Even though it was every day of the last six months. Six months being 1/4 of Nina's life at this point, and almost all of Elena's.

Then again, it was just a short 90 years ago that Grandma Fay was born. Maybe her mom felt the same way as she pondered the unknown future of her own daughter and tried to hold onto transient memories and people. Before we know it it'll be someone else's turn to be touched by another person.

Above all, I know we'll all see each other again. And I really do believe that just from these six months, Nina and Elena both carry a part of their great grandma within them. We are each others greatest gifts from God.

I hope I am changed from this experience, and that it helps me to be a better parent. This experience was made possible also by my parents. They took care of Grandma Fay so she could live at home with us. They let us be a part of their home again.

Here to stay!

2011-01-11T00:32:00.004-07:00

It's official, Nina and Elena have cousins in the state of washington! Better yet, right here in the puget sound region. Like 15 minutes away. It is awesome!! (germ sharing excluded, I'm sure we all agree) Cassy and Don just moved here from Boise. Nina LOVES these crazy boys. If I want to brighten her day some more, all I have to do is tell her when the next time is that she'll see Bowen.. whom she calls "Bonen".

Rosalie had planned a morning at Discovery Park this last Saturday, and last minute we shoved Ethan and Spencer in the back rear facing seat of our new car (more on that later hopefully). They seemed to really like it back there, especially cruising up and down hills through magnolia. We found the indoor nature/discovery kids areas at the park which had lots of stuff to play with and learn about. Also found a special needs swing that Nina LOVED as well as a zipline swing. Hadn't ever heard of such a thing before. Definitely going back to play there some more. Then we made it to the beach just as the sun broke through the clouds. Ethan wouldn't let me take any pictures of him!! So I found one from around Thanksgiving that I had to share:

PS I have to give a shout out to our impromptu lunch choice, which we happened to spot driving past it in in ballard while on the way to eat elsewhere (we still love you, Dicks). El Camion. Seattle isn't known for availability of latino food, so this was a really nice surprise. And I had no idea that taco trucks could rise to such heights of gastronomic grandeur. I love the average taco truck, yes I do. But THIS I had never imagined in my wildest dreams. Dreamy atole, rich mole, baby-size (literally not figuratively) burritos, all fresh and quality.

fay one and fay two

2011-01-11T00:00:00.003-07:00

Happy 1/11/11! I'm hoping we make it a special one.

These were taken on 11/11/10. It makes me think - we've been here going on five months now.

I look at pictures of Nina 6 months ago. She's changing so fast. I have to remember - 6 months is more than 1/4 of her life! I forget how fast she's changing because so much around us has changed at a seemingly faster rate, and time sped up during the holidays. As a final touch of randomness, I leave you with a Nina-ism:

"Fast grape!" (She likes to run fast and one day she happened to have a grape in her hand)

Munching feet

2010-12-27T00:17:00.001-07:00

New old and/or random

2010-12-18T16:40:00.003-07:00

one of my favorite things is finding pictures of Nina that I had forgotten about.

Ouuuch ?

A new one of Elena and I!

Weekend in Denver

2010-12-03T09:18:00.010-07:00

I had a nice visit with my friend the scanner again, uploading cross-processed slide film from our recent trip to my sister's place in Colorado. We went for her son Emmett's baby blessing. Here's the result of the film!

There were lots of little munchkins and munchkinning. Aside from Evan not being thtere with us it was a really fun trip!

Edelweiss

2010-12-02T23:41:00.004-07:00

How can I choose a single picture that sums up this day for me? Here are a few pictures, representing the gazllions of instances when she has stolen my heart and imagination. She has changed our lives forever. I can't say what she's grown to mean to us these two years. I'm so grateful for her making it so easy to love her. And for all the people who teach me to do that better.

Let me catch my breath.

Love you Nina!

Penguin

2010-11-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is from one of the times we visited Evan for lunch downtown (the first trip). We had been walking some time, and soon as I parked the stroller on the pier and Nina was out, she ran off to join these other kids running around in circles. Then she insisted on taking pictures with this giant penguin by a souvenir shop.

Halloween

2010-11-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

Made by Rosalie!

A few nights before Halloween I was putting something together for Nina to eat for dinner. I asked her while she sat in her high chair "What would you like to eat?" She thought about it and then said something in a very serious tone that I didn't even know she knew the word for, "Candy". but it was more like "gawnday" hahaaa She trusted me completely with an honest answer. And she expected that's what she would get! It was too much. i didn't even know she could say that. Out of left field.

We picked up a little pumpkin costume for Nina at goodwill a few weeks ago. Good thing, because I never found her size 2 cat costume which she wore last year and was supposed to fit her this year! She had so much fun at our ward's trunk or treat shin dig on Saturday night.

Her first car or two were baffling to her. That these strangers walking around wearing costumes and standing by their cars will drop food in your plastic bucket. After a while she got used to it and strutted around from car to car, watching her pile of candy grow. You can see by this picture of her and her friend Abby how she is taking all this in, costumes and all.

She got really into the pixie stix

AND This wasn't from Halloween, but they're kind of costumey, so i'm tagging them onto this post!

My birsaday

2010-11-16T15:37:00.012-07:00

Ever since my family had a number of exchange students living with us, we've continued a tradition of singing happy birthday japanese-style. "Happy birsaday to you" It does sound a bit.... what's the word... offensive? But as my cousin Rosalie said, "I asked my Japanese friend. That's how they sing it in Japan." i can't argue with that. Not even on my birthday.

This year I got to celebrate my birthday three times, each time with food.

The first celebration was with delicious ethiopian food thanks to the wonderful Kokeb restaurant. They threw a great little party just for us. I got all the wot I could ever want. I embarrassed myself trying to dance ethiopian style. They put a crown and cape on me and fed me baklava with a candle in it.

Kaysi also wore the birthday crown for a bit

The second was more of a Kaysi-Lindsay joint family birthday party. We share our birthday - Nov 7th. It was mostly her party since I'd already had mine! Pictures from that great day:

Nina just wanted to play with and organize the paper plates.

The third celebration was a yummy dinner my mom made this past Sunday. I got to pick anything I wanted. I've been taunted and teased with simple beautiful dishes on that "French Food at Home" cooking show, so she made a few of their recipes. Including chocolate millieux (sp?). mmmm

Museum of Flight & Alki Beach

2010-11-14T23:55:00.007-07:00

We met up with our friends the Bowens at the museum back in September. The whole day was one of my favorites since we moved back.

Awkward spinning shots (do you think these would qualify for awkwardfamilyphotos.com?)

There is nothing like relaxing by the puget sound with loved ones on a warm day. Paradise. Everyone was out enjoying the weather and the beautiful green/blue fresh loveliness.

in-twined

2010-11-14T19:01:00.011-07:00

These pictures are from October, back before dayligth savings.

Not to be a whiner but, I HATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!!! Other than for meeting our (non-existent) early morning agrarian farming lifestyle needs, remind me what purpose daylight savings serves?

Daylight savings means: My girls get up 1-2 hours earlier, extending the length of our day, and it means that if I want any time to myself at all in the day I have to wake up before 7. This means that I have to be in bed before 11 to get enough sleep, so Evan & I will get like maybe one hour alone together every day. Also we can't go to logboom park to wait for evan to arrive on the bus anymore because it's dark at FIVE!!! So those remaining daylight hours fun before bed (which are the hardest hours of the day!!) we have to be indoors. AUGHHH Isn't there someone I can call to complain to about this?

Anyways, from the glory pre-daylight savings days of early fall:

I heart Nina

2010-10-23T14:46:00.005-06:00

We LOVE these pictures that our friend Maddy took this week of Nina. Go to her blog and check them out. Isn't she amazingly talented?

She created the set herself, in their studio apartment in ballard. I was a little worried that NIna would exercise her little baby girl agency and sabotage the photoshoot. But Nina had fun and it worked out great!

Living arrangements, lunch trips

2010-10-23T14:00:00.007-06:00

This picture is from an article in the NY Times called "Making a Home In a Pyramid" DANG click this link it is AMAZING. It's about a family that lives 462 feet above the ground in Smith tower. (note the chihuly installation in their living room)

What a whimsical place to live, in the peak of Smith Tower. According to my grandma, Smith tower was once the tallest building in Seattle, back when she grandma lived here in the 50s. Actually it was the tallest building on the west coast. Now it is shadowed by much taller buildings. My grandma told me this as we passed by it the other day while visiting Evan for lunch.

Evan and I are happily situated in my parent's basement apartment in Kenmore. We lived here right after Nina was born almost two years ago. I never thought we'd be back! Sometimes I wander Craigs list for 'the perfect' apartment/rental home. I never imagined a place like a home on top of a tower!

For now we are here. The girls and I wander upstairs to visit grandma & grandpa, (Nina confidently says "Russ!" these days, my dad's first name) great-grandma Fay and her caretaker Becky, my dad's secretary Julie, and now my cousin Rosalie, every single day. It's nice! Nina tromps around the yard and plays in the swing set I played in when I was younger. We visit Horizon View & Logboom parks, the same parks I played in when I was younger.

We are saving money here and meeting some financial goals. What a great blessing for us. But it won't last forever. Soon we'll be off on our own, maybe in 4 or 5 months down the road. Some neighborhoods we're thinking of finding a place -- Central district/madrona, Phinney Ridge, or West Seattle. Or maybe we can find another pyramid in a tower to live in!

Now for the lunch tales:

In the two months that we've been here I've attempted bringing the girls with me downtown to lunch with Evan three times.

Trip #1: The first time I got towed. Evan hadn't received his first paycheck and we were completely broke. Nina and I's food was in the towed car. Lucky for us, Evan's dad works downtown came and saved. He got us a snack and bus fare to get to the car, Evan, I, two girls, stroller and all. This was all after Nina destroyed a book in a little book shop and I had no money to pay for it. (she dumped water on the ground while I was feeding Elena and then wiped it up with the book) Evan came back the day he was paid and bought it.

Trip #2: The second time we visited Evan for lunch we had a trailer in tow. Downtown. I was heading back to Kenmore from Tacoma and as I passed Seattle I thought "what the heck let's see what parking we can find. If we don't find any, we'll get back on the freeway and go home." We found good parking on 1st ave a few blocks from Evan's work. The exhileration of that triumph wore off when I returned to the car and discovered that I'd left the lights on, that the battery was dead. But within five minutes I had waved a friendly man down who gave the car a jump.

Trip #3: The third time was a breeze! We hooked up for lunch at Uwajimaya after I had picked up Rosalie at the airport. I think I might be exhausting all possible stressful scenarios, and fate is more on our side. Here's crossing my fingers, because I really enjoy being downtown.

Hat model*, sleep pretender**

2010-10-10T14:06:00.006-06:00

*we're growing her bangs out. Poor girl she won't keep clips in

**pretending to sleep with her mouth wide open as usual

Kyle

2010-10-08T16:35:00.013-06:00

Nina and Elena's newest friend -- Nina was born two months after he left on his mission. Elena was born two months before he returned.

Our long lost brother

Faithful missionary from the San Bernadino mission

We're so happy that Kyle is back! We're grateful for his example of service and love and for the effect it's had, and I know will continue to have on our family.

The Ninanater trying on Kyle's hat (a new hobby of hers, hat modeling. More in an upcoming post)

Us meeting him at the airport. Dangit! I just realized Gordie was taking the picture. No gordie in picture :( He was there too!

Remember Kyle's snowboarding apparel company, Epoch that he started with his friends? His good friend Trevor made matching epoch tshirts for the occasion, even one for Nina and one for little Elena!

A picture taken of him in the mission home. Probably contemplating his return to 'normal' life.

Another picture taken of him with one of his companions in ca

Commenting on his newly rediscovered habitat Kyle said, "Washington has never been greener!" That may or may not be true. Western Wa is always pretty green. We can relate to that feeling, being recently moved-backies ourselves. We are also enjoying the fresh smells and rains and the hilly greenery.

Even these dogs were rejoicing to see Kyle again.

We spent the following weekend with the whole family at Grandad MacDonald's house on the family property near Mt Rainier on the Cowlitz River. We spent hte two days listening to General Conference.

Elena's first impression of Kyle.

Haha and her second impression. She said something like, "woo!! gerble gerble googa"

A couple of other random pictures of the girls in recent days:

(last two taken today)

Labor Day with the Stouts

2010-09-22T15:50:00.004-06:00

Sarah and Evan put up with A LOT to hang out with us. Baby pukes (one at night at home, another one on the floor of the maltby cafe. Poor little Elena doesn't just pit up, she heaves until she is empty. Not a pretty sight.), heavy raining, traffic, carrying our kids for us, waiting for us multiple times, etc. They are troopers! We're grateful for friends who take us for what we are. :)

They posted some pictures from our adventures here. We had such a good time!

Here are some of our own pictures. if you click the link above you can see more of the actual hike, which was really beautiful. Lush green and very very very wet.

Nina under the rain shell of her hiking carrier.

Thinking of you,

2010-09-19T13:22:00.000-06:00

there's lightning bolts in my chest (M. Ward anyone?)

I thought that I would always scoff at the irony of having spent nearly 1/4 of my life in rexburg. I truly truly miss it. Crappy winters and a staggering lack of dining options don't dampen the memory of a place where I acquired almost a decade of experiences, sounds, sights, smells, songs, etc etc etc. In Rexburg I went from aimless dorm girl to returned missionary to eager student to married to graduate to mother. As time passed and I changed the town improved as well. There are a few bonus chapters stuck in there - semesters at home, full time mission in provo, and an internship in ethiopia. I can't forget a few other high lights - dating adventures, paying dues at an idaho based trucking company, teaching a one credit class.

Our last month there was possibly one of my favorite months of ever. Family, friends, sunsets, mild warm weather, peace. In that time Evan graduated, we had Elena the following week, and in the next three weeks we enjoyed each others company like we've never had the time to before. I wonder if we'll ever spend a month together like that ever again. It won't be long before Nina won't remember all her little friends from Rexburg, it was soo hard for us to leave that life behind. Her life is going to be (and already is) so different here. It's probably harder on us than it is on her.

We've been back in Kenmore for almost three weeks now. We're sooo excited for Kyle to come home from his mission in two weeks, and finally meet Nina and Elena! Evan is loving his job at Tether. It is pretty much his dream job. Even though I've been at this for a while it now feels completely official that I'm a stay at home mom. Of not just one but two!

Since we came back I've been wanting us to spend a night just brainstorming and writing down both memories and things we learned in Rexburg that aren't likely lessons to learn here in Seattle or to be repeated in our lives again. Things we don't want to forget. All those years in Rexburg amount to a longing to be near to God and to each other. I hope we get a chance to write down some of those ideas - the types of things that ten or fifteen years down the road will fill us with a feeling that we may not have felt in a while - ideas from a simpler time and place in our beginning.

Nina and Soren

2010-09-18T09:48:00.003-06:00

It's undecided whether Nina is betrothed to Soren, Vaughn, Nibs, or Clark. Clark might be too much of a younger man. I might have to talk to Lea about Rion as a possibility. :)

Here are some awesome pictures taken by Melissa of Nina and Soren the last time they played together in Rexburg. Maybe the pictures will help us make that decision.

Check them out!

Elena & Nina's newest cousin

2010-09-17T21:58:00.003-06:00

Welcome to the world Emmett James! We can't wait to meet you!

Congratulations Micaela, Ammon & Addy!

lalala...

2010-08-18T21:13:00.008-06:00

That's how Nina says Elena, and she wiggles her tongue excessively at the end. She LOVES her sister. I try to imagine that while she can't show it (and is just too little and undeveloped at this point) Elena secretly loves Nina back. She is listening and watching Nina and waiting for Nina's encounters. They usually go like this: Nina will be galluping past Elena, who might be in the bassinet, or the swing, or on the couch, or in our arms. Zooming by on a mission to do something else in the house, (like play with her new $1 yard sale kid size chair, or try to fold Elena's swaddling blankets, or any other number of things) Nina will suddenly notice Elena from the corner of her eye. Seconds later her face will be in front of Elena's. She'll say "hi" once or maybe a bunch of times in a row. Then Nina might stroke Elena's head or her cheek or hand. She might give her a bunch of wet, accidental open mouth kisses. Meanwhile Elena is usually asleep but maybe she's just pretending to be asleep, so that she can enjoy these visits for as long as possible while Nina thinks she's a willing subject.

It hasn't been perfectly easy for Nina, these huge changes to her world. She's been tantruming a bit more, but it's never related or directed to her sister. Teresa helped Nina a ton that first week, and then Cassy and Don and the boys came, and Evan has been home every day with us, it's been as smooth a transition as possible for her. Every day she wants to hold her little sister and she's always excited to see her. So far. :)

I'm SOO glad this little girl has a sister.

Welcome Home, Elena (Video)

2010-08-03T20:10:00.006-06:00

Note that Lindsay was under the influence of an epidural while she was talking on the phone here. But wow! Doesn't she look great? You'd never know she was about an hour from delivering a baby! Click here to watch the HD version.

The music is Daniel Johnston's True Love Will Find You in the End.

Meet Elena Noelle MacDonald

2010-08-01T17:17:00.006-06:00

Howdy all! Our newest addition is here and she is super healthy!

We got to the hospital with contractions in full swing at about 2:30; less than 4 hours after being admitted, she arrived! She was born at 6:20 pm on July 31st. Birth weight was 7 lbs 4 ounces.

We struggled to finally choose a name. In fact, it came to overtime! We wrote down Elena Noelle on the birth certificate papers just minutes before leaving the hospital!

Here are a few pictures!

I've been working on a little video montage. Will post soon!

-evan

East coast continued!!!

2010-07-31T13:55:00.000-06:00

This post is an ode to the brooklyn botanical gardens. Not in full summer glory yet, but there were beautiful magnolia and cherry trees in bloom, and other wonders. An ode to all sorts of creations, as we get ready to meet this newest little creation. (please come soooooon!!!!!!)

Cheeseits drizzled with Frank's Red Hot sauce

2010-07-24T13:00:00.000-06:00

Are so good!

She was called a boy twice on Friday. I think I need to do something about that. The Star Wars tshirt probably doesn't help. She IS wearing a skirt though hey!

Balancing a sippy cup on my "ball"

Jonfen and Megan

The ghost of graduation presents

We made this discovery at the alexanders. Lovely Bethany also cooked curry and delicious peach ginger cobbler. Well what can I say we are going to dearly miss these folks.

trip east continued

2010-07-20T17:00:00.000-06:00

Black and white delights

When Nina sees this picture she's going to wish she had been there to play with Penny!

wanna be a baller...

2010-07-18T22:01:00.000-06:00

What I mean by the title is, I have a ball for a stomach. See for yourself.

How I know that this is a fact (other than the photo above):

Three or four times people have said something along these lines to me, jokingly: "I'm glad you remembered to bring the ball" (including one person today! haha)

But here is the real PROOF that my tummy is perfectly spherical like unto a ball:

Two weeks ago I was sitting on a chair near our kitchen table. Emily and Vaughn were over. Emily was holding Vaughn, who was piercing my tummy with his gaze, without blinking, for quite a while. Chuckling, I pointed to my stomach and clarified, "tummy!" in case Vaughn wasn't sure what to make of it. He was quick to correct me without any hesitation and said, "BALL".

Case in point. An 18 month old just doesn't lie, it's impossible.

hahaaaaa It was so funny. He still points at my stomach and since then he's been taught that there's a baby in my tummy, so he now says "baby". It was really funny while it lasted.

Since Nina was 11 days early I figured I'd assign myself an alternative due date to my actual one which is August 1st. So the "nina" due date, as I call it, is next Wednesday, the 21st! BTW isn't it amazing that Nina was due a day after I graduated, and this girl is due a week after Evan's graduation? Who plans these things?

I had another weekly midwife visit. The verdict is I'm a time bomb. I wish I just knew how long the fuse is. She has dropped and is lodged down low and there's only one place for her to go. Considering that I had false contractions on Monday night, painful and steady enough to keep me up for three hours, is maybe a sign that I'll deliver soon. Attempts at self-induction such as water aerobics, touring the BFA exhibits today with my grandma and aunts and uncle, biking, and lots of walking, have all failed. I admit they were all pretty leisurely attempts.

People ask me if it's hard being pregnant right now - mid/late summer in Rexburg. Surprisingly no. We had kind of a heat wave a couple of weeks ago and are about to have another, but our basement apartment has really come in handy. It stays so nice and cool! I count my blessings.

There have been so many fun times these last few weeks. Camping at Heise with Kendra, Joel & Lily and their family Chris and Lindsay. Playing at Egan Lake at the sand dunes was another fun time. It's this lake that is no deeper than a foot - the most amazing natural wading pool that goes on forever and ever. Nina loved it. Here are pictures taken on Sarah Miskin's camera. I'm grateful she captured this memory, of Nina eating mud. (we tried so hard to keep her from doing this, I swear!!) :

Last Saturday Bethany threw a baby shower for Shauna and I. Shauna's due date is exactly a month after mine. I wish I had taken pictures. LOVED hanging out with a lot of the people we're going to miss in Rexburg. It might be one of the last times before we leave. And the 'birthing' mini plastic babies game was short lived but hilarious. They were frozen in ice cubes and the first person to get theirs out or "birth" their baby, won. It was also awesome to have chocolate fondue and other amazing treats to enjoy.

My dad visited recently and we took a tour of Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole for a day with Grandma, Uncle Jerry and Aunt Ann. It was such a gorgeous drive. Kind of unbelievable. Fields of wild daisies and other purple flowers. Striking mountain grandeur. Buffalo crossing the road. At one point while rounding a corner we almost hit two baby moose and their mom who gallumphed down the road away from us. Here are a few beautiful pictures he took during the day:

Yet another great recent event - Evan's BFA show open house - where all the Bachelor of Fine Art students exhibited their final projects. I just felt so much pride for all the work he put into it. The project itself is an interactive website, but the display he created for it is so perfect. When we get some pictures of it taken we'll post them. We can't believe the kindness of a few VERY giving friends who helped Evan with the programming part of his project, soooo generously. It was fun to see Evan get the chance to introduce President and Sister Clark to his project. We had a good time meeting his friend and classmate Joseph's wife and their two kids. I'll never forget when their daughter Audrey stole my shoes and Nina chased after her to get them back. Then Audrey misjudged her placement and hurled her little 22 month self into a door while clutching my shoes. It sounds brutal but it was really, REALLY cute. And so funny.

Back to Evan's BFA, it's just awesome. Please check it out. - The hopefear project.

There we were

2010-07-17T14:32:00.000-06:00

Traveling by foot,

by subway,

We met this blind man after the Yankees game. Seems like he was a local, and his plight was sobering. How do you get around via subway in a city like NY without sight? We helped him get on and then off at his stop (which happened to be ours) and directed him to his transfer subway. I hope he always has people who notice and help him out when he needs it.

by bike,

I think this was the evening we toured Williamsburg by bike. And then ate here. ohhh yum yum

Story time. On one of our last days we had bikes with us on the subway from Brooklyn to Battery Park. (to take the ferry to Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty) When we reached our stop I couldn't get off with my belly and bike in the way, but Evan did, and my phone was dead. NOooo!! I managed to get off at the next stop, get back on the returning subway and I made my way to our intended stop, Battery Park. Meanwhile Evan got back on the subway to the wall street stop and got off. HAHAAA I was so mad at him. He found his way back to the Battery Park stop, but couldn't find where I was at the ferry ticket booth in the park. Two nice strangers let me use their cell phones to call him and direct him. Soon afterward I took pictures of him in the park as a peace offering, to show my forgiveness for abandoning me and to say that I still love him and always will:

And he took one of me. It was sunny and warm.

Here are more pictures from the ferry ride.

Majestic, yes. To say the least.

We didn't actually get off at the statue of liberty, we were in a rush. But we did get off and tour Ellis Island. We LOVED it. There was a short explanatory video. I think I was the only one in there trying not to cry throughout it. Imagining all the people leaving their families and home lands, or arriving and then being split from their families, (or staying with their families) from all different backgrounds. The bewilderment and excitement of arriving at an unknown future. We could have spent a lot more time viewing the exhibits there and learning about the groups of people who passed through Ellis Island.

This day was memorable so I'll continue. After our ferry ride we biked up the west bike trail bordering manhattan island. We turned right at Greenwich Village which we hadn't seen yet, and got a nice little bike tour on the way to Union Square. Found a by-the-pound little bakery full of delicious french pastries.

The east coast took our money

2010-07-15T21:00:00.001-06:00

sigh... I guess they didn't take it. We gave the east coast our money.

While Evan and I make it through our last week and a half as broke college students with a baby and one on the way (I'm due in like two weeks), I thought we could use a comforting reminder of where our money went and one reason why we are so broke - our trip east that we took in April. Maybe it will make daily mac and cheese with hot dogs seem worth it. I finally finished scanning all of the negatives from our trip taken on a 35 mm holga. (btw I actually calculated it!! Scanning them took about 15.75 hours. Over 400 pictures.) After I scanned them I went through and pulled out my favorites to add to the ones that we've already uploaded to Flickr. Some black and white. Some color. Some crazy. I think I'll break it up into a series of posts. If the posts suddenly stop, it may be because I went into labor and had a baby.

First we were in NY, (1 and 3 days respectively). Then we were in Boston for 3 days. Then we were back in NY for 8 days. This first post will just be snippets, some random favorite pictures. Some of these Evan used for his BFA project which is done and which is awesome!! Go evan!! I'm glad the dozens of pictures we took on this trip were useful.

Evan straddling time and space in a karate kid pose. A double exposure from cape cod and from Dave & Jessica's apartment.

Suvi & Logan, yankees game

One day, we're gonna rent a llama

2010-06-21T12:33:00.008-06:00

Above is a phone picture Evan took yesterday morning when he woke up and walked into the living room. It says "I love daddy". Nina and I cut it out from old nat'l geographics and strung it up, and made breakfast for him before he woke up. I love Nina's daddy. I'm so glad he'll be this little baby's daddy too. After church we joined the Alexanders for a father's day feast - hot wings, homemade mac n cheese, and cheesecake. Good excuse to ignore my sugars for a while.

A couple of posts ago I mentioned a trip to Utah we recently made. Here is the tale. Evan had been there already for a BYU-I art travel thinger, and we met up with him after he'd had two days visiting firms and studios all over SLC/Provo.

Usually when we visit utah we're running around like crazy trying to stop at as many stores or food joints that aren't available in Idaho. We also visit as many people as possible- family, friends and mission peeps. In two or three days we often don't get everything done that we had planned. For this trip I made my usual list and we were able to make three of the family/friend visits, including - mission trainer and great friend Sariah and her husband Chris and two beautiful babies, and my cousins Heather & Ross and their their newborn Oliver and older brother Soren. But we didn't make a single shopping errand or eating out stop (les madeleines, El viruleno, and others -- we'll see you next time). And we were glad! Because it meant that we had a lot of time to relax and hang out with Jaqui & Travis and the Iannones.

Jaqui's sister Stephanie graduated high school and we also attended her sister Bella's baptism. They let us crash and become a part of their big family weekend. It was Nina-heaven - a trampoline and great backyard, a pool nearby, a cat, lots of food, lots of people to love her including new her friend Bella. We escaped the rain in SE idaho and had really warm nice weather with barbeques and bocce ball. Evan stepped away from his BFA project and other work and we spent real time together, a few days after our anniversary. It was just a nice break. On our last day Jaqui & Travis used their mad photography skills on us. The picture posted above is a teaser they sent us. We can't wait to see the rest!

I don't know if we'll have a chance to be in utah again before we move. It's kind of weird to think that we won't be living a 3 hour drive from there. Hopefully we can visit soon to see people and to realize our yet unfulfilled dream of hiking in one of the beautiful places there with a rented llama in tow. One day, we're gonna rent a llama

Mesa Falls

2010-06-15T16:00:00.006-06:00

Since the sun and warmth finally melted narnia, I mean Rexburg, it was time to get out and enjoy it a little! This was a big spurt from June 1st to forget to include in the last post! (thanks Kaysi for putting these pictures up on facebook so I could have them too!)

Nina's smile here reminds me of her Grandad.

These first two were at Big Springs by Island Park. This is where this river originates, fresh and perfectly clear right out of the ground. Luckily this drive to big springs didn't include a $725 towing fee. (see a few posts ago if you want to read the tale)

And then at beautiful Mesa Falls:

spurty

2010-06-12T23:08:00.014-06:00

It could be that my brain is on half function (pregnancy) or maybe I'm just lazy (pregnancy). EIther way, the blog has suffered.

We tend to take pictures in spurts, so here are a few spurts:

Taken on April 22:

In addition to altering her clothes, Nina likes to take off her crib sheet during naps or bedtime. I think the way she's wearing this onesie looks kind of like the type of shirt that goes under a sari. you know? just sorta?

Taken later that same day:

From May 15th:

Nina hunting a friendly neighborhood cat.

From May 30th:

May 31st:

Nina's first time on a trampoline, she loved it! Some neighbors, the Backsteins, let us come visit their rabbits, and then jump on the trampoline. They are a great family

From today, June 12th!

This headband is a part of her toy box. She also likes to try to wear it on her waist. She loves smoothies.

Other spurty updates:

Would you believe that I am 32 weeks pregnant already? THIRTY TWO!! Or a mere FIFTY ONE days from the due date, Aug 1st. Or just seven weeks. This pregnancy flew by.

Nina came 11 days early. That was really nice! I hope this little girl comes a little early too, that would be really GREAT! I'll take what I can get.

Nina is charming us beyond... whatever. She is adorable and fun!! t's nice because she had been a bit of a pill for a couple of weeks. Three weeks ago we attempted potty training at 18 months. It went well until the sixth day when a two day fever hit her poor little body. That was the end of getting her to do anything for the time being. After several days she got better and it seemed like her personality was permanently altered. (does that happen to anyone else's kids when they get sick?) ah well. She's changing all the time.

She learned how to say mommy finally!! Evan taught her. She's been saying daddy for months already. MONTHS. Like the majority of her life. I don't think there's anything happier than hearing her little voice say mommy. She's also saying "here you go" "thank you" "Caw caw!" and other useful things.

Some other random things --

+Nina puked on Evan's head today. And on the mailbox, simultaneously. I think she'd been going too crazy riding on Evan's shoulders after eating.

+We found a really cool type face in the bottom of one of the boxes I sorted this week.

+We love hearing Nina laughing to herself alone in her room when she wakes up some times.

+We miss Kaysi.

+We had a fun fun trip down to Utah last weekend. Loved seeing Sariah and Chris' new baby Miriam, Heather & Ross' new baby Oliver, and Travis & Jaqui & her family.

+Nina has selective separation anxiety. She mainly chooses to be upset when we leave her in the nursery at church.

+I'm getting bigger and waddlier and Nina likes to run away from me and make me chase her. Constantly.

+It's nice now that she's got her yeses and no's right, she had been mixing them up. She knows she's saying them right and is very emphatic when she says yes.

+I managed to play walleyball three times, do yoga once, and go swimming once in the last few weeks. We try to walk a lot too. Doing my best to stay active.

+I'm proud of the rexburg farmers market. It may never have the ideal ratio of produce vendors to craft/food vendors that a good farmers market would, but it is doing so much good for this town.

+We love our ward here.

As for Evan, he has the student version of "trunkiness". In other words he's ready to be graduated! (July 23rd!!) He's going full speed on his BFA project, classwork, and work. In two weeks he has a trip to Seattle/Ptown to interview with design firms. He is planning on bringing Nina with him, so I'll have a nice little weekend to myself to rest my very pregnant self, maybe do some packing. Wake up and do whatever I want for a couple of days! Fancy that

I love people!!!

2010-05-04T22:33:00.006-06:00

I was about to go to bed, but then I read this and it's just too good a story to not share!!

Please do yourself and humanity a favor and read this newspaper article! It's about a boy who had a wish granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It is awesome. Our friend Christian shared it in facebook and now it is here gracing our blog.

btw I'm helping Evan go through responses to his hope/fear project, and I'm full of a range of thoughts and emotions. I'll spare you the long version. Just a couple of jewel fear responses that tickled me - lizards everywhere, the kentucky derby, gazelles, and balloons. I have to say, I can respect that these are truly some people's legitimate fears. I certainly have my own 'interesting' fears. Isn't it funny how life shapes us all? Anywho I'm loving reflecting (respectfully) on people's inner-workings, their hopes and fears.

Hello again gestational diabetes, it's been a while

2010-04-27T11:40:00.004-06:00

Yesterday my suspicions were confirmed, I've got it again! It just feels so soon!! Am I already 26 weeks along? I guess so, I'm almost waddling, I'm heartburning, I'm mildly braxton hicks-ing, and I'm starting to toss and turn to find a comfortable position each night. Did I mention my back is hurting a lot? Sorry if i'm whiny, this is my update. And this girl is kicking my sides all the time!! (it's fun)

You're at a higher risk for gestational diabetes each pregnancy as your pancreas gets worked out from having it the time before. This time though, I don't feel quite as beat up about it. It didn't surprise me. I'm just going to deal with it and poke my finger a lot every day. Hopefully I won't be tortured craving lick-a-stix, airheads, donuts, cinnamon rolls, pumpkin pie, and sour patch kids as much as I did last pregnancy. (those of you who know me know that I'm not a sugar-holic, so this is weird for me) Twelve weeks sounds like a long time but I'm sure it will fly by. There will be more to pass the time what with being excited to venture outdoors and enjoy the summer.

I'm SOO excited for this semester. Evan has been rocking the getting ready to find a job process and we're excited to find out where we'll be and what we'll be doing come graduation! The rexburg farmers market is starting this friday. Nina is the best 16 month older in the world. I've got new motivation and ideas for using our letterpress. Old and new friends are in town again! Evan's schedule is way better than it was last semester, I feel. Life just feels good.

We have sooo much to say about our trip. And tons to share from Nina's experience being away from us and now being a family once again. Till then

First four days

2010-04-12T13:26:00.012-06:00

I flew into the newark airport on Thursday and met up with Suvi at Penn Station close to where she had been working that day. I was dazzled by the city and my heart was racing! I couldn't believe the flood of people pouring past me as I rode the escalator up to ground level. What a contrast to rexburg. We made some dinner at her apartment in Brooklyn and then hit up a Hall & Oates tribute concert in Manhattan where Suvi's friend played. Came home and this pregnant lady crashed.

Friday was the day Evan would arrive, but not till 7 pm. So it was just me and Suvi's subway guide book all day while she was at work! Went shopping, learned the subway a bit better, rode her bike down the street in brooklyn, and walked a lot. I love brooklyn! It felt like I'd already seen sooo much - Empire State Building, Grand army station/Brooklyn Library/Prospect Park in brooklyn, brooklyn bridge, a peruvian band in the subway (I was hoping for that somewhere along the trip, to remind me of being home in seattle), and lots of other sights you expect to see in ny. Suvi lives on a great little street with a blooming magnolia tree and brownstone apartments. Met up with Evan at Penn Station and found our bus to Boston. The ride to boston was 4 hours so we got to get a feel for the area passing by. We also made friends with three other people who invited us to play Catch Phrase on their iphone with them! It is SOOOO weird not to have Nina with us. It breaks my heart. I can't say this freedom isn't welcome, but it has a cost. Dave was kind enough to pick us up downtown at 1 in the morning.

Saturday we got to sleep in, hallelujah! That day we got a driving tour of Brandeis University where Dave studies, walked around Harvard and Cambridge, the Harvard Museum of Natural History (awesome). and through the nifty shops around there until we got on the subway to go into the city. Penny was with us and this whole time she's been such a good baby. I wish Nina could play with her. In the city we followed the red freedom trail through from Boston Common to Paul Revere & Samuel Adam's graves, the former's house, this perfect little alleyway used bookstore with awesome old books and prints, a farmers market, Mike's pastry shop, and other stuff. Loved the north part of the city filled with italian influence and old italian men chatting on benches on the sidewalk. On the subway back, this guy playing a guitar in the subway sang Till There Was You, I'd never heard it in spanish. On the way home we had Blue Ribbon BBQ, Evan was in heaven. Best bbq he's had since his mission.

Sunday we went to Dave & Jessica's ward and then went on a drive. We went down the coast past these awesome northeastern homes towards Cape Cod. It was so beautiful out and soo warm and nice! We passed a town on the water that reminded me of Edmonds. We went to Plymouth and plymouth rock! Where MY ancestors landed on the mayflower. Pretty awesome, to go there and see what it must have been like when they reached the new world. The rest of the drive was beautiful and the end of our journey was what we thought was the quintessential east coast sandy beach that you'd just imagine from the movies. I was surprised that the ocean didn't have a stronger smell like it does in Seattle. Maybe that's just the puget sound smell. The sun went down. Driving back a lot of the homes we drove past had a candle lit (electric) in every window.

Today is Monday. Tomorrow we take the bus back to NY for Evan's first NY experience and to finish mine. We LOVE boston. We kept feeling like everything we've seen has been so iconically what you would expect to see in boston/the NE. And we've only seen a fraction of boston. Today we went to the boston aquarium and ran some errands and made sure to get more cannoli at Mike's pastry while we were there again. Ironically, we are visiting during Dave & Jessica's second anniversary which is today! Last year they visited us in Seattle during their first anniversary. Maybe this is a continuation of that tradition. haha Tonight we're splurging and eating where Jessica works - Legal Seafood, listed in that one "Top 1000 things you must do before you die" book. Hopefully I'll taste my first lobster! Then we'll see avatar in 3d at the imax. Hopefully we can make it romantic for our friends' anniversary :)

All we have to document this trip are a 35 mm holga and our eyes and a book to write stuff down in. You can see more pictures we've taken so far here and more to come!

Here are also a couple of screenshots we took of Nina when we skyped with her and my parents yesterday!

She leaned in smooching to give us a kiss!

So far they say she's doing really surprisingly great, aside from bumping her head on the corner of a table today. Great naps, great eating, playing. They walked around Greenlake and she loved seeing all the dogs there. My dad introduced her to the yard crows including rufus. She brings her coat to my dad and insists that they go outside. (she's pretty convincing) Once outside they say she just wants to sit on the brick wall we have lining our driveway where she rearranges bark and rocks and flowers. We've sent her a couple of postcards. Wednesday she'll head down to Tacoma to finish the trip there with the MacDonalds.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T21:51:00.006-06:00

We're back! We had to reconfigure something in our blog. If you scroll down you can see some older posts that I just put up today.

Also, Nina had a few exciting firsts today!!! I'll start with the most important.

Her first Easter celebration! ----She was around for easter last year but this was her first with any participation. We were motivated by general conference to make this a meaningful easter for Nina, but crepes and what I call an easter egg 'scatter' (we didn't hide them, just scattered them on the floor for Soren, Clark, and her to find and open) were the best we could come up with. Maybe when she's a year or two older we'll try to make traditions that include more meaning. We don't want the easter bunny and candy to be the focus on such a sacred holiday.

Her first kiss She and Vaughn puckered up multiple times today. It was momentous. Probably more exciting to us parents than to them.

Throwing She threw her shoe into a basket and missed, and then she was practicing throwing easter candy and stuff. It was the first time I've seen her do anything close to throwing.

I have an easter side note. We had an interesting chat with a friend about Easter. Prior to him converting to the lds church in his late teens, he says that he misunderstood easter. All he knew about easter was a vague recollection that Jesus died on the cross. Essential, yes, but only a fraction of the story. In fact he said that even as a christian, his knowledge about Jesus didn't go much beyond that and the fact that Jesus' life entailed sermons and miracles. He didn't know anything about Christ's atonement in the garden of Gethsemane, or anything about Jesus' resurrection on the third day. Or what those things mean to us personally. That's a lot of the story he was missing. I found that interesting. I thought to myself why that was. It wasn't necessarily any misdeed on his part.

As we were talking I was reminded of one of the things we heard in a conference talk today - that reformers like William Tindale and Martin Luther and many others did so much to bring biblical literacy to the masses. Yet ironically now, hundreds of years later, with the bible being so widely available, there is increasing biblical illiteracy. Less and less christians are reading it or other scripture to learn about Jesus' life and teachings. William Tindale was burned and martyred. Other reformers sacrificed all and their lives so we could have precious scripture available to us. Are we using it and do we value it as much as they did? I hope to keep daily reading of the bible and book of mormon a practice in our home for our kids' sakes as we all try to follow our Savior and understand all He does for us.

Back to the midwives!

2010-03-24T20:30:00.005-06:00

Rexburg medical center,

I wrote you a poem to tell you how I feel about you.

You left us waiting waiting waiting
Hours went by at each appointment, Nina got so tired, and Evan missed his classes
I think it's shady shady shady
I still don't know why that nurse took 45 minutes to fill out Nina's immunization record
Now my trust in you is fading fading fading
Will you ever be courteous to your patients and respect their time?
My faith in rexburg business ethic is ever jading, waxing and waning
With the time I wasted there with you I could have organized boxes of type for our letterpress, made batches of brownies, or played the itsy bitsy spider a million more times with Nina

I've left you for the midwives at Seasons Women's Clinic, where I went for my pregnancy with Nina. They'll have us well taken care of and back at home in under an hour without fail.

Disappointed but happy with the midwives again,
Lindsay

Afterglow

2010-03-20T20:50:00.004-06:00

This awesome so-cal photographer Amelia Lyon apparently has ties in Haiti, and/or she just goes there a lot. She volunteered there after their earthquake hit. Click on the link below and take a second to internalize some of the pictures she took. They're stunning. Coupled with the commentary they are just really moving. One of the images is of triplets born right after the earthquake. Here I am expecting a single baby and I have more medical attention/food/shelter than some dream of ever having. I didn't do anything to qualify for/deserve this standard of living. Why me? This media helped me appreciate what I almost always have the tendency to take for granted. I also feel like man we really ought to create some type of emergency supply for our family.

Click here!

It's a

2010-03-18T21:18:00.007-06:00

GIRL!!!

We saw her yawn! Can you believe it? This is the view from under her chin looking up.

This is one foot of her tiny just under a pound 12 inch body

Shortly after leaving the doctor's office with the news of our new baby girl, I sent out a text message. I wanted it to be suspenseful. So I just sent "It's a !" out. When people were begging for it I was going to follow it up with "it's a girl!" (jk that's a bit dramatic and cruel, and we're really not on begging terms with people) But when I didn't get anywhere near the expected reaction, if any reaction, I realized Evan must have foiled my plan and already informed everyone. haha So much for suspense. That is, except for US! This was exciting!!! Not to mention, it was AWESOME to be in and out of an appointment in under one hour (I switched prego doctors back to the midwives who delivered Nina. The doctor I've been visiting the last 3 months asks for just too much of your time. Our last visit there was 2.5 hours, 90% waiting)

We were at the ultrasound appointment at 9 this morning. As soon as the reader was scanning my tummy and the screen was up, Nina was glued to the screen! Although she couldn't possibly understand what all this meant, it FELT like she did by her reaction. When we told her that's a baby (on the screen) and then to add to her confusion pointed to my stomach, she just got wide eyed and stared more animated than ever at the screen. That made it really fun for us, to have another person there with Evan and I to see how this family is growing.

The nurse took shot after shot to document little fetus essentials. One of the first things we saw was the sole of her foot. Around image 15 we actually saw her yawning, very very very cute! Great measurements, perfect heartbeat. Still by the 20th or so image the nurse hadn't told us what 'she' was - boy or girl. She even said "I THINK I know what this baby is but I don't want to lead you on and upset you if I'm wrong". Upset us?! I told the nurse I'd rather be in on the suspense and later find out she was wrong. Her being wrong wouldn't change who this little baby is, only the timing of when we'd find out. She said she suspected it's a girl. The last two or three images confirmed it.

Thus far into the pregnancy we've only struck on one fateful boy name, which we hope to one day use. This little girl will need her own name. We're at a loss. There's still a lot of time till August 1st though. Maybe it'll dawn on us the way Nina's did - I didn't read it in a book, or a magazine, or from movie credits. I was falling asleep one night about 6 months into the pregnancy and suddenly the image of a little girl entered in my mind and I knew her name was Nina. I think we included it in our girl name voter on this blog. Whether that was (it is now) Nina's name or not we didn't yet know, but when Nina arrived, it fit. Chances are we'll find this girl's name some other way. But she is special. She yawned for us! We couldn't be more excited to watch her grow!!

Meow

2010-03-08T09:57:00.002-07:00

Nina and I spent a while meowing back and forth the other day last week. It's been a daily thing since then. It was the first time she tried it (that I could clearly tell)!! We were looking at a cat postcard we made. After I meowed she looked up at me and tried to form the sound. It wasn't perfect but soooo good! She did it a bunch of times. Then we were reading a book about a rabbit and she meowed at the rabbit. haha I don't know how to explain to her that rabbits don't make noise. She'll figure it out.

That same day I was thinking about what Nina and I could do next with our time. Then I remembered my idea to make postcards together for us to send to her when we're in NY/Boston next month. The idea is that she'll receive one postcard from us for every day that we're gone. So that's 11 postcards. I don't know if she'll automatically remember us when grandma shows it to her but maybe she will! Maybe she'll remember when we made it together, even though her motor skills are lacking and I did most of the work :) The important thing is she was there with me.

Letterpress workshop

2010-03-04T15:33:00.002-07:00

This last weekend was a breath of fresh air and a very welcome change of pace for all of us. We drove down to utah for a letterpress and poster design workshop at the University of Utah in SLC. I wish I had more pieces to show for it. They pushed us to create posters with spontaneity. Try to get a message or agenda to the audience simply and powerfully. Not my forte. My right brain needed a lot of warming up. We used lino blocks, pressure printing, movable type, zinc type, and any other techniques available. It took me way out of my comfort zone and I think it was a creativity milestone for me. The U of U has an incredible letterpress get up – it’s the largest in the country. At least 20 letter presses, all shapes and sizes. Tens of thousands of movable wood and metal type. We were so lucky to play with it all. You can see all the pictures here.

Evan’s cousin Katie was sooooo kind and watched Nina for the whole day. We got a taste of what it will be like to be away from Nina for the ELEVEN days out east while she is with our moms in seattle/tacoma. The day was hard for me in that way. I can only imagine how I’ll feel two or three days into our trip east. By the time we pulled up to Katie’s driveway after the day of letterpress we were both flying out of the car and giddy to see her. She did sooo well for being apart a whole day and acted like we had just been out to the store for a few minutes.

On this trip we got to stay with Katie Spencer and Eva for one night and with Evan’s cousins Jenny and Steve the other night. I really enjoyed getting to know Jenny and Steve better. Evan and I went on walks (doesn’t happen on icy/snowy Rexburg sidewalks – not stroller friendly), we averted a car disaster, went to the mall, and ate Indian at the Bombay house in Provo which brought me back to my mission. Ahhhhhhh What a great weekend. I don't think there are better 15 month old travelers than Nina. Not that I've met at least.

At the workshop we were two of 15 participants, and two awesome teachers including David Wolske. Here is the BYU-I peeps show & tell : *names may be altered for discretion

James

Adam

Serafina

Blake

The place

Making stuff

Clean up action

March made it!

2010-03-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

I don’t know if I can really say how happy it makes me that march is here. There are now like 6 inches of GRASS fringing our giant-mass-of-snow-lawn. I can’t remember the last time I saw grass there. Rexburg’s winters are mind numbingly long (my first summer here saw snow on June 14th), but the summers are free and fun. We’re still under a cold sky of winter grey and surrounded by mounds of snow in every direction but it's melting!!! (at least for the moment)

We enjoyed the bit of sun and visited Evan on campus today:

March means we’re only a month away from a trip to ny and boston! We can’t wait to see Suvi and the Niemans and other friends! We can’t wait to explore new places!!

March 2nd (yesterday) was Nina's 15 month birthday!! She said hi and baby. In a much more lucid and natural way than usual. Talking is right around the corner. She's such a funny kid!! It's fun to talk and reason and kind of relate with her. All the things she's been soaking up the last 15 months are taking form in the way she acts and the things she does. One thing I think is interesting is her love of bags, belts, shoes, scarves, hats, bracelets, etc. Most of you know I'm not the girliest accessorizer, so where did Nina learn it? She finds ways to adorn herself on her own. Like those colored ring tower toys that most kids have - those aren't stackable rings, she discovered that they are actually bracelets. Evan's pencil pouch is a purse that she carries around. She does this all on her own. It's an interesting contrast to her less delicate and dainty tendencies. I sort of butchered her hair a week ago while we were skyping with Evan's mom on her birthday- my first attempt at cutting Nina's bangs to get them out of her eyes.

A couple of pictures Evan's cousin Jenny took this weekend. You can see Nina's new bangs and her cyndi lauper hair do.

March also means I’m in my second trimester, and a month closer to meeting the second kid in this family. (for those of you who don't know yet – yes we’re actually expecting!) A month closer to seeing Nina be an older SISTER! Hahaa I can’t wait. The first trimester is over with its relentless cloud of nausea and fatigue. I feel so much better than I did two or three weeks ago.

This baby is due August 1st, a week after Evan graduates on July 23rd - another looong-awaited event that we are a month closer to. Evan just registered for his last semester of classes yesterday!!

$880+$800+90 days in jail = snowshoeing

2010-02-24T15:23:00.006-07:00

As I was uploading these images I thought how it would be fun to leave it to the reader to decide how they fit together and what was the whole story behind them. Or I thought of making a mad lib style post with captions for each picture with fill in the blanks. It could be like this:

Nina was all dressed and ready for a ____ (adj) day of _____ (verb ending in ing). Her mom ____(past tense verb) on the living floor _____(ing verb) the moment.

Her _____ (adj) eyes sparkled with _____(feeling) catching the light ____(verb) into the basement apartment.

When without a warning, something changed! Nina decided she was not _______ (adj) about leaving to go ______(verb ending in ing) after all. Something about the way her ______(pl noun) fit was _____(verb ing) her. Her little clenched ______(pl noun) stuck to her sides and her once sparkling _____(pl nouns) formed narrow ______(pl noun).

You get the idea. haahaaaa Here are the rest of the pictures we took that day.

And here's what actually happened:

10:30 I (Lindsay) rent two pair snowshoes and 1 pair gaters. (hestitant to spend $26, we usually keep our entertainment budget down to like $10 a month, truly. Unless we're traveling somewhere)

11:00 Nina dons the tights. Then we're on the road for a day of snowshoeing!

11:30 Feeling adventerous we decide en route where we'll trek - Harriman State Park, near Mesa Falls, or Big Springs in Island Park. We choose the latter, Melissa having recommended it the day before.

1:00 We take the turn onto what is called "Big Springs Ave" (I've been to big springs many o summer during family reunions at island park), following the sign pointing down that road saying "to Big Springs". We notice the road is not very well plowed, heavy snow and a beautiful sight. Well, is there another road? Probably not.

1:30 The road conditions suddenly worsen as we descend from the tree shadowed road onto a huge open sunny meadow with snowmobiling tracks on either side of the road. 50 yards into the meadow, and just as Lindsay says "Do you think we might get stuck?" the car locks its own tires up and we slide a few feet into deeper soft snow.

2:00 The towels we found in the trunk are not helping us get unstuck. We bundle Nina up, put on our snowshoes and start hiking to find help. A passing snowmobiler tells us we will probably only get out with a cat. A cat! We find a promising construction site.

2:45 Nice construction workers attempt to pull us out with their trusty bobcat (pictured above). Before they can reach us they too are stuck.

3:30 They are unstuck with the help of a huge tractor from said construction site.

4:30 Evan arrives via snowmobile (thank you nice snowmobiler!) two miles down the road at the gas station to call a better-equipped tow truck. A deputy is the first to inform Evan that we have broken the law, driving on snowmobile-only terrain. He lets us go without the $800 fine and 90 days in jail. Turns out we were supposed to have taken the Big Springs LOOP Road (parallel to the one we took, and fully groomed)

5:00 The towing bobcat (bob cat number two) gets stuck in the meadow before it can pull us out. It pulls itself and then us out. I drive with napping Nina to the tow truck guy's place, read Jane Eyre in the car while Evan and other tow truck guy fills in the hazardous holes left in the meadow.

6:00 Evan arrives to the shop and we are charged $880 with a hasty explanation of services. We only have enough to pay half of the amount. Paul the tow truck man takes our video camera AND digital SLR as collateral (apparently the first wasn't enough) threatening mercilessly to impound us if we make him wait any longer. We drive back. Evan misses his 6:00 class.

It kind of felt like we were led into a trap, ya know? No warning signs or ANY signs marking a snowmobile only road. WELL, it wasn't all doom and gloom. Treking in the snow was fun! We stole a few pictures before our camera was stolen from us. It was a BEAUTIFUL and memorable day. As I'm sure my mom would say "The stupids strike again" (any of you familiar with the kids book series The Stupids ? ongoing family joke). The story has a happier ending. I went back to Paul's on yesterday to pay our debt and collect our belongings. Turns out that other people have complained to the city about Paul's iffy tow trucking business practices, just this weekend as well. He has no competition for like 30 miles. (we did find out that about $300 of our bill was completely unjustified) I fought the amount and he shaved off $180 from the total. So that made the total $700. Luckily our insurance is reimbursing us $500 of it. $226 for a 4 hour snowshoeing trip? To think I had been worried about spending $26!!! We're hoping that since the city of Island Park now knows our story that they'll put up signs marking the road as it should be to warn unknowing and less snow-savvy people.

EvanMADE

2010-02-16T21:16:00.005-07:00

Evan is soooooo busy. It can make life tricky. I'm at home with Nina mostly alone for all the blow-outs, new development changes and curve balls (today she learned what the word scratch means, and I was her test dummy), new teeth, meal after meal after meal, clean-up, bathtimes, her pooping in the bathtub times, story time, etc. Evan's also gone for the amazing moments when you realize she understands and has understood what you've been repeating to her day after day, or when she's dancing (like 10 times a day), or when she practices kissing on you, practices words (thank you, doggy, kaysi), or mimics you doing something that you thought was beyond her. There's barely enough time to catch each other up and I've had to learn to be a better communicator. It can be hard having less flexibility in terms of me-time. He's even on campus all day from 7 AM till 9:30 PM two days a week.

But then I stop and think about all that he DOES with his time. he is really productive. Amazingly productive.

There's a lot that Evan makes in his day to day graphic design work/school routine. Probably enough to fill almost two people's lives with work. (he works so hard) But in addition to that he's also a dad and a husband (and a friend, son, cousin, brother, ward member, etc)

Here's what else he has been making these days besides super creative and talented design:

Dutch babies (i'm eating it as I type!!)

Saturday night, he (and I) made letterpress Valentines (in the mail)

He wrote nice notes on a lot of them for our loved ones.

Awesome impressions of eagles and monkeys.

On Sunday Evan made chicken and dumplings. FROM SCRATCH. (he made the chicken stock and everything. He has a weekend cooking ritual. Mandated by me :)

Nina happy. She smiles and gasps, and laughs every time he walks in the door.

Music time on the couch

Great whale conversation. (one of our favorite newer pastimes hahaa )

Really good strawberry gingerade (his own invention. I crave it)

Time for things like reading the scriptures, praying with us, being a boy scout assistant scout master, temple attendance, monday family night time, being a good guy. The fact that he makes time for all these is nothing short of a miracle and blessing from God.

Me HAPPY. I've been reading Guns Germs and Steel and he lets me go on and on about it. It feels super good to be learning something I'm excited about, and to have someone to share it all with who can be excited about it too. He brought me donuts on Monday. On Valentines Day he shocked me with an anthropologie skirt that I LOVE and I'm pretty sure was beyond our gift budget allotment. He encourages my creativity in ways I never knew I had the capacity for. He does yoga with me in our living room some times. He lets me be a youngest child (fetches me a glass of water almost every night, puts lotion on my feet, lets me whine. I ask for waaay more than I should)

Am I bragging too much? Let me continue...

He's been making his boss soo happy. Evan's been blessed with regular steady freelance (is that an oxy moron?) from Orton Design in Utah. His boss is such a great guy, and communicates so well to Evan. I've compiled some exerpts from his boss' emails:

Jan 29th

hey evan,
just wanted you to know how much i appreciate your efforts the last couple of weeks. it has been such a relief to have you consistent and producing really good work. please take your wife out to a movie this weekend on me. see avitar 3-d if you havent yet. just send me the receipt or add it to your invoice.
thx again,
mark

Jan 27

cool. thanks evan. i think this is a solid direction to put in the mix.
thanks so much.

Jan 22

thx for stepping up your game, evan. you have become an asset.
mo

Jan 18

it looks great, evan. i sent it on to the client.
start on the ads in the morning.
thank you for being dependable and solid. what a great thing.
thx
mo

Jan 15

looks great, evan.
thank you for your work on this.

Jan 14

looks great, evan. right on brand. a couple of little things not even worth mentioning at this time.
thank you so much. i feel very comfortable where its going so far.

The encouragement has continued. I just haven't been stalking his email as much :)

Yes, I sometimes feel alone or that things can be lopsided for me. True, I can't WAIT for him to graduate and move on to a new stage (July!) with a different schedule. I admit I get antsy, feel snow-trapped in a basement in rexburg and can be a control freak. I've been waiting for Evan to remove a rag from the shower for a month now, and I feel irritated at myself that his scattered socks irritate me. But, really - I can't complain about changes and challenges I'm facing with momhood. How could I complain when I'm really not doing this alone? We're happy healthy and making the most of everything in the best way we can. It's not perfect, but in a way it is. It's ours.
I love you Evan

(besides, who wouldn't want to be joined at the hip with this munchkin?)

tender gravity

2010-02-04T19:00:00.001-07:00

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shihab Nye
from The Words Under the Words: Selected Poems

I've had this poem sitting in my blog post drafts for over a month. As I watched this video featuring our prophet Thomas Monson I felt like it was time to share it:

I also highly recommend watching The Namesake. I happened to see this movie soon after I found the above poem. What a duo those two make! I haven't seen the unedited version so I don't know what to say of that. But what a beautiful film! What a virtue that is so needed! - kindness.

Cake and cats

2010-01-14T10:51:00.004-07:00

Nina's first birthday. She is one! (and a month and 12 days!!!!) Whether we were ready for it or not, it was upon us. Nina is growing and changing everyday and we’re running to catch up.

The theme was cake and cats. Nina has been trying to say "kitty" since she was like 8 months old at least. The earliest memory we have of her being excited being belief was when she met her first feline at about 4 months old. Cats seem to be a favorite for her and I wanted this party to be for her as much as a one year old is able to grasp. I made little cat masks for all the kids. Kendra pulled through for me and conjured up a friendly cat AND a pug! The pug, dressed in a spandex cheetah print thing with pink lace, turned out to be much more of a Nina pleaser than the cat, who hid under our bed the whole time. It was fun for some of the older kids to run around playing hide and seek with the cat and the pug.

If you can't tell from the picture, our apartment was pretty full and there was some mayhem. Including me being mask nazi, trying to get a picture of all the kids together with their cat mask on at the same time (note to self: masks are good for older kids) But I think Nina enjoyed swimming in a sea of friends and cake. She seems to do really well in big crowds of people with a lot going on all at once. Her friend Alex was super excited to sing happy birthday to "Nani", Jan said he was practicing all day. Lily helped her finish her huge messy birthday cake. There were snacks and cupcakes for everyone else and Lily insisted on pink cake like Nina's. Nina didn't mind sharing. Evan and I's favorite moment of the party was right after Nina tasted the cake, she slowly lowered her face into it. We'll post the video some time soon.

Nina, wondering what's next. Food?

The blessed cake is in sight.

First taste.

A range of reactions to the cat masks:

Nibs

Soren

Alex

Daphne

Henry and Elijah

Vaughncito

"I made them wear these?"

Blurry evidence that a pug was there

Hiking in the cascades

2010-01-03T16:29:00.003-07:00

This was how we spent one of our last days over christmas break.

marchin' along

Whose woods these are I think I know

Nina found some bark

Sarah & Evan Stout!

we realized Nina needed gloves and we hadn't brought any so she wore these!

She was so tiiirred! In her hiking pack!

Here is how I usually am during Rexburg winters -- I bundle myself and Nina up. Holding my breath (so the cold air doesn't enter my body) I scramble from the front door of our apartment to our car. Plus my body tenses up and basically I avoid outdoors at all costs. Cold=pain. I don't even let Evan open the car door for me because I'd rather he use those few seconds to get in the car and get it started heating up. SOOO Here in Washington I got to breath and move easy. I ran around, I jumped around, and it felt so free and nice, to be outside and be comfortable. And it was green and beautiful! You can see a little snow on the ground, but that was just in one area in the mountains. Mostly, nice and mild weather. aahhh

a nice saunter down internet lane

2009-12-15T21:47:00.006-07:00

In other words, too lazy to finish my work notes or get up and finish stuff done around the house!!

Sometimes I really shouldn't visit people's blogs. I don't mean any offense. Many blogs don't really show the whole picture, just the exciting or relevant parts. There's just too much comparison, greener grass on the other side. If they were more accurate portrayals there would would be more type-os and a realistic ratio of awkward pictures. Fortunately we don't have any of those in our family. (haha) But right now I feel happy to have spent the last hour on facebook and visiting some people's blogs. Some people I DON'T EVEN KNOW. Gasp!

Let me give you a slice of what I found:

I found food

Chocolate orange cheesecake

melting... watering mouth... eat

If scrumptulescent were ever not a real word I wouldn't care, I'd still use it!!!

I also found other treasures on Lizzy House's blog like her new line of fabric, castle peeps.

Serious Pie (seattle restaurant I've never been to) which actually made me excited for pizza fresh out of my brother christian's brick oven that he built this summer and I still have not been able to try!! I can't WAIT!

I found a recipe for mexican hot chocolate on this AMAZING blog that is a new favorite. Maybe we can enjoy this alongside the woodfire pizza and chocolate orange cheesecake when we're at home in a few days.

I found one of my dear missionary companions, Lorena Acevez. This was taken during the missionary days in Utah:

So many memories came flooding back. btw she's not that short. Just kind of short. Truly one of the funnest people you could possibly meet in your lifetime.

There were other fun things too. And some less exciting things.

Now i return to the real world. A nicely tailored slice from Thanksgiving day:

Nina turned one!

2009-12-02T14:44:00.004-07:00

Today!

Wow. Time goes so fast and one whole year has passed since Nina came to live at our house. Nina is super awesome and growing every day. We can't wait to see what comes next!

Here is a video of a recent bike ride we took with Nina!

Riding Bikes with Nina from Evan and Lindsay MacDonald on Vimeo.

Happy birthday Nina!!

love dad.

I love this girl

2009-11-29T00:11:00.004-07:00

Nina and I were saying goodbye to Evan one morning as he left for class. I asked him to grab the camera and take some pictures since I'm usually commander in chief of photography in our family, and me canso.

Nina had a flu last weekend. Luckily it passed and one upside is she has become more cuddly.

Nina's getting better and better at everything! She loves waving goodbye, sometimes with both hands. She'll practice it in her free time. Her dance moves have not suffered either - still very slow and methodical which is amazingly entertaining to watch. Nina loves to clap and has learned to grab my pinkies and make me clap too. She's also started shaking her head a lot (and she'll watch herself do it in the mirror over and over) which I realized finally today she learned from us telling her no don't do something, as I watched her mimic me say no to her. (Duh.) Lately she's been practicing walking with us leading her by her hands. We can't believe she'll already be a YEAR next wednesday!

Thanksgiving post to come. We're building up a huge supply of little phone videos, maybe we'll be able to post some of those too!

Tererai

2009-11-16T14:53:00.001-07:00

My mom emailed me this article so now I'm passing it on:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/opinion/15kristof.html?_r=1&em

Be amazed, be very amazed.

Gratitude

2009-11-11T15:39:00.006-07:00

Last night, I came home from girls night to find our beloved new megalithic letter press in place on its stand and ready to be used! Evan already had a chance to clean off a few pieces of type from the boxes and boxes we've been given, and he made a copy of this for everyone who helped us move the 450 pound beast. It took a lot of time patience and ingenuity. He made brownies and poured sparkling cider to celebrate.

11x14 wood and metal type print on 100lb Mohawk Superfine off white paper

Evan also printed one especially for Victoria Simpson, byu-idaho book arts faculty and fairy godmother, who met us in our wildest dreams and GAVE the letter press to us.

So speaking of gratitude...

Evan and I were asked to share our thoughts on gratitude in church this coming Sunday. Evan's assignment is to speak about "gratitude to God" and mine is "gratitude to others". I should probably be more grateful than I am to speak in front of everyone.

I noticed that two of my cousins are doing a gratitude log for the month of November. I completely believe that gratitude is a muscle, and that gratitude is like a catalyst for joy, so I'm sure by the end of the month Stacey and Misty will be some the happiest people in existence. (and don't they say that if you do something for 21 days straight it becomes a habit/second nature?) Acknowledging a blessing is maybe the first step in it BEING a blessing to you.

Evan and I have been really trying to show more gratitude because the greatest influence genuine gratitude can have is probably in the home, among the people we interact with the most, are closest to, are irritated by the most, and ultimately love the most.

If anyone has a quote, scripture, or thought or reference of some kind on gratitude, I'd love to hear it! I'm going to need some help. I'd be ever so grateful :)

Manicotti

2009-11-09T20:51:00.006-07:00

you know you're in a recession when...
or
you know you're a poor college student when...
or
you know you're thrifty when...
or
you know you're hungry when...

You make and eat pasta from the year 1972

It's kind of funny to think that Christian's vintagey beemer is from the same year as the pasta we ate today for dinner.

1972 - cool year for a bmw, or maybe for wine, but for pasta ?

Before I boiled it I swore it carried the nostalgic smell of my grandma's house which is where we got the pasta from and which smell I love. But pasta doesn't usually have a smell, right? It tasted just fine! So now I know, pasta lasts foreverrrrr

Any other notable 1972 events come to mind?

Daddy-daughter weekend

2009-10-30T13:51:00.007-06:00

Nina and I hopped on a plane to head out to Tacoma to be with my family for the weekend of my Grandmother funeral. Nina was a real trooper on the drive from Rexburg to Boise (about 4–5 hours) and the hour and 15 minute flight.

Here is a little video of Nina doing a little expert-traveler-beek-a-boo action.

Peek-a-boo on a Jet Plane from Evan and Lindsay MacDonald on Vimeo.

On the ride home from the airport, she fell asleep while sucking on her bottle (it was a long day). I snapped this photo on my handy little cellular device.

We really miss Lindsay! Nina is doing okay tho since there is enough activity to keep her sidetracked. More to come from this trip, I'm sure!

Cheers!

Flying solo

2009-10-28T19:01:00.007-06:00

Tomorrow Evan and Nina are leaving me until Sunday! He's going so he can be there for his sweet Grandma Doris's funeral.

I have this picture that I just found while archiving pictures to keep me company until he gets back!

Grandma Doris was such a great lady. How do I know this about her? For starts, take her youngest son, Gordy, my father in law (who happens to be Evan's twin. in many many ways). What an amazing guy! Her daughter Amy (evan and I's aunt) said this about her mother in a lovely email she sent out to the family this week. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this part of her email -- "First, I want to express the great spirit of my mother. I have long thought that she knows far more about the true nature of things, than she has ever voiced. Her abiding spirit is a testament to that. She is humility, simplicity, charity, acceptance, love and faith. I am so grateful that she nurtured and raised me."

Evan and I came across this quote the other day -- "We have reason to have the greatest hope and consolation for our dead; for we have seen them walk worthily in our midst, and seen them sink asleep in the arms of Jesus..." - Joseph Smith Isn't that such beautiful imagery? How inspired. And inspiring.

Kyle who's on his mission and can't make it to the funeral said in his email that one of the first thoughts he had when he found out she had passed away was "she is probably dancing".

I would just say that it must take an incredible person to live from the age of 17 and on with rheumatoid arthritis and NOT have that be your defining characteristic. She is a kind bright and positive person.

My new pool of heroes

2009-10-15T08:38:00.016-06:00

As if there aren't already enough amazing people in my life to look up to! You know when you meet a person or group of people and they just INSPIRE you to be better or make you want to do something good? Two weeks ago I had that experience, deeply. So now I am now a proud member of: WOW - The Worldwide Organization for Women.

WOW is one of the many non-profits in Utah (utah seems to have a disproportionately large amount of international non-profits for how non-metropolis it is comparatively) They have a broad mission to advocate women globally - economically, socially, politically. Which is extremely important in our world of decaying morals and rapidly changing cultures, often leaving women the most disadvantaged of any ( for example, of the world's poor 70% are women, for many reasons). This means that women are the least empowered to raise their families and pave a new future for society through their children. WOW has representation at the UN in NY (ahem, Suvi), and at the UN headquarters in Geneva, and they collaborate with a variety of different NGOs who work in one way or another to empower marginalized women. Sounds pretty vague, but believe me, it's not vague to the hundreds of women whose lives are touched by these organizations.

Suvi invited me to meet up with her at their annual conference at the Weber State campus two weekends ago. It was the weekend after General Conference so I just felt all around inspired and edified. The theme of this year's WOW conference was Women's influence for peace worldwide. I was BLOWN AWAY by the variety of speakers and the simple power of their messages. I wish that everyone I know could hear what those ladies had to say.

Please go here and listen a little bit to one of my heroes from the conference who is doing brilliantly courageous things in Somalia. I can't tell you how much hearing Asha Haji Elmi speak in person, touched my heart. This BBC report is a bit outdated but is still relevant :

New Video Blog!

2009-09-27T15:03:00.002-06:00

Okay, folks!

I have this fancy new cellular device that happens to take great photos and pretty dern good video. We have a ton of videos to upload that were sort of spur the moment captures of Nina and other good stuff.

The video blog is actually its own blog, so check it out! I just added the following video to that blog and more will come soon.

babies

2009-09-23T20:31:00.002-06:00

For you Nina followers out there. And Daphne fans too!

Check it out

Kirsten is such a good blogger. And such a good mom! And babysitter! Daphne is one lucky chick. And nic too (not a chick, just lucky)

Lately Nina has been:

crawling
cruising
forming sounds that include more of an 'r' sound as of today
saying banana - it started today too, I think!
saying mama and dada - i think! (it's really hard to be sure)
growing wild hair and what I think is a widows peak. One of the hairs nearly reaches her eye
looking at me just to smile at me
smiling hugely when i blow my nose
going on walks to campus to visit Evan with me while we still can before winter
holding onto you like a monkey when you pick her up
learning to cuddle, which is new
responding when i say no (like to eating grass or other nonedibles)
going to sleep so fast and easy
SO CUTE AND SQUISHY

Our last day of summer...

2009-09-22T11:22:00.007-06:00

Was Wednesday the 9th, the day before Evan started his fall semester. We went hiking in the tetons. (happy fall officially, btw the way! Love fall!! Wish it lasted longer here). We realized something we should have realized long ago - the drive to the tetons from here is SHORTER than the drive from Kenmore to Tacoma, which we used to do at least weekly!! So why haven't we been coming here more, we ask ourselves. This is a beautiful place:

We began with a two or three mile attention span. But we just kept going! The hike included a one mile ascent called Devil's Staircase that led vertically until we reached a hanging valley. SO beautiful.

I went ahead while Evan was packing Nina in and hid, surprise shot.

Nina ended up sleeping for about an hour in her hiking 'chariot' so it worked out great with her naps. I kept thinking of the Emperor's New Groove - the chariot thing that the dude carried the wild lady in. And the way he'd prance around with ease. That was like carrying Nina in this pack, such a crazy sweet little baby lady.

Crystal clear, ice cold water. And amazing baby abs.

Once she tasted this pear she wouldn't give it back!

Were there ever cuter feet in all the land?

2009-09-14T15:09:00.002-06:00

Of everything amazing we saw the day we went to yellowstone, these feet were my favorite sight all day.

Years ago, Grandpa and Grandma Johnson bought a time share condo type thing in Island Park to start a family reunion the second week of every August. Some of my earliest memories are at the family reunion at Island Park. Like when I ran straight into the sliding glass door (i must have been 4 years old), and doing snipe hunts, rafting down the river, and seeing amazing lightning storms, and of course the family tradition of playing dirty dog (a canasta card game). Since we now live only about 40 minutes from there in Rexburg, we're able to go up for the weekend and then whatever other days we can dodge work we'll go up for special events. This year included a trip to Yellowstone, an amazing canoe ride, rope swinging into a freezing cold river, foosball, and lots of food and card games.

Here we showcase our adventures in Yellowstone, Evan and Nina's first trip ever! It was 'free fee' day so we didn't have to pay! What made it even more exciting was that President Obama and his family were all there that day visiting! My cousins aren't his biggest fans (to say the least) and there were 3 miles of cars backed up at Old Faithful to see him (I think people were less interested in the geyser than in him) when we arrived, so we opted to see buffalo and other sites instead. It was a fun trip! Even when I got pulled over for speeding without my license. The cop tricked me into thinking I'd get a ticket and then graciously let me go without one, I was so grateful.

How easy it would be pre national parks and warning signs, to be the guy wandering upon this nice little pond who hadn’t been told that it is hot enough to melt your skin and cook you. Yellowstone is dotted with tons and tons of these hot spring pools, most boiling and steaming and obviously hot. This is one of the less conspicuously HOT lakes. Burning hot! This is kind of like nina the other day who crawled straight over to the oven while a cheesecake was baking inside, and rested her sweet wee little hands on the door. Luckily she was protected by the oven’s door but she wouldn’t have known the difference if the door had been open! She doesn’t know what hot is yet for heavens sakes! For some reason this idea blew me away.

Listen closely. Dr Seuss would have a heyday with this. It was so amazing!!!!! It looks deceivingly normal, like the site of a mud fight. Tis not so. This is a… oh confounded, we don’t know! We mostly just know that mud FLOPS out of a certain spot near the middle of the action, flailing through the air like a wobbly pancake, and splats. The mindboggling part about it is that this thing goes and goes and goes and it never stops, not day or night, or any time. So this is not any ordinary mud hole. This is an ever-changing crusty hill of once (and still) boiling mud.

Next attraction - his sister mud hole – this was also amazing but the previous one held us in a trance for much longer. This one SERIOUSLY looked like white/gray paint, boiling. Right on the ground in front of our eyes. Mother nature. She is amazing.

Another cool thing.

Another Dr. Seuss moment (there were a lot). This one was manmade. Your eyes are not deceiving you. This is actually a school bus with not just a fence and back patio, but also an entire Volkswagen BUS welded onto its top for greater travelling comfort. And then painted orange and blue. Evan and I were proud to see Washington license plates.

What would yellowstone be without a huge meadow full of hundreds of living and breathing buffalo? It was a sight. Here's a couple of them.

I'm glad that we made it to yellowstone! A wish granted. Last summer, a few days before our anniversary Evan hinted at our surprise anniversary plans with a stone painted yellow (clever no?). I was pregnant and ill and it ended up snowing on June 2nd, the day we planned to go. So now we finally made it! And better yet, Nina was there with us this time.

The latest and greatest

2009-08-28T13:43:00.004-06:00

Birthday Bouldering at Badger Creek with My Baby

2009-08-26T21:31:00.008-06:00

Hi!

My sweet baby boy (Evan) turned 26. The MacDonald family holiday season of Being The Same Age For 3 Months (Aug - Nov) begins again! For the holiday we both have shirts that say 26 (that we made) and we plan to wear them, A LOT. If anyone can think of other festive things we can do to celebrate a random made-up holiday season, we're game, we want to make this legit. What is a holiday but something someone once made up? (apart from the sacred holidays) We can have our own holiday too!

To surprise Evan and make the day special for him we went bouldering when our friend Joel got off work at 5. The sun played games with the scenery and everything turned different shades of late summer beautiful. We climbed and played and laughed with the tetons right behind us.

I'd really like to spend time editing pictures to make our adventure look as grandiose as it did in person but lately my 'free' time has been spent doing paperwork for my job. Besides I'd prefer being out there it in person - climbing or hiking or whatever - over editing my mediocre pictures of something so beautiful. Some pictures from Evan's birthday are here.

Such a beautiful view... for taking a leak

Good friend Joel Nielson had been there before and went with us.

waking up in the morning. Then I made Evan crepes.

While Mommy was away

2009-08-04T14:10:00.006-06:00

Nina and Daddy Singing on Vimeo.

Nina got a little fussy so I grabbed the guitar. She started singing along instantly! So I grabbed my new camera phone thingy and caught a little of it on tape.

the Books

2009-07-20T13:40:00.004-06:00

Hey guys, isn't this cool? Evan made it! Read about it here.

He's doing a lot, seeing a lot, and having a great time. I'm so happy for him. (yes, I admit it though - I'd rather be there with him than here in Rexburg) It's been a great opportunity for him.

And we get to see him on Saturday!!!

We left our heart in San Francisco

2009-07-15T17:23:00.007-06:00

A recap of the past couple of weeks: Evan got the chance to attend free art workshops at the Academy of Art University of SF. Check out his blogjournal. We all drove together two Thursdays ago, driving from sunset to sunrise and spent four glorious days with the Niemans and Jessica's family in Clayton. We've been wanting to take a trip to SF anyways so this last minute decision was an exciting one. We had such a good time! Evan has the pictures that we took. Hopefully he'll have time to post them sometime soon.

We ran around Berkeley, the city and the piers, saw bridges and seals, a fireworks show accompanied by an all american school band, got to see Penelope Nieman receive her baby blessing, had ethiopian food, had ramen in a ramen shop for the first time ever, and just enjoyed blissfully nice california weather. I would have loved to see the MOMA and other museums but Nina and I had to brave the back to rexburg. We got back Tuesday morning, showered, and met Bethany Smith at the Hart building, we got to see devotional with her and Jonathan and then hang out! It doesn't feel like it's been a year since I saw her last. Sad we only had a few hours to hang out but I was so grateful! The next day, Nina and I left again for Boise to spend the next 4 crazy days with my 3 nephews while Cassy & Don went on a trip. It was quite a whirlwind. Evan is now staying with Devon Perona's gracious family and he's been really enjoying his workshops.

Now we are back at home in Rexburg, as of Sunday night. It's just me and Nina until we go to Seattle on the 23rd where Evan will meet up with us. After being alone with 4 kids, being with just one is more manageable than I thought it'd be on my own. Still, we need Evan. We miss him a lot.

These are for Evan from Nina (or anyone else interested):

This was Nina on Sunday night when we got back from Boise. I still can't believe how well she traveled the whole last week and a half!

Nina's wondering where Daddy is

Apparently it was something I said? haha

These last ones were all across the street at porter park. That's a carousel in the background, next to the spray park. Nina loves to sit and watch the carousel when it's open and running.

iChat date

2009-07-12T22:26:00.006-06:00

fun for the whole family!

2009-07-12T22:25:00.005-06:00

we are connecting on the inter-web.

Unfortunately Nina is already asleep after today's long drive from Boise to Rexburg, her fourth long drive in the last week and a half. So Evan will have to wait till tomorrow to see her too. She did a superb job every and every time - Rexburg to SF, SF to Rexburg, Rexburg to Boise, Boise to Rexburg. Even when the Shilo Inn tried to sabotage my overnight stay and I only slept two hours there!!!! Sheeesh!!

Now Evan and I are using AIM through ichat and having a good time making faces with one another. It is a lot of fun. Now I am laughing a lot. Well it's good. It's hard to be apart and it's really nice to see each other again.

2009-07-11T17:02:00.007-06:00

This weekend I became a single mom of at first one, then four children. Luckily single mom-dom was temporary. My appreciation for single moms is off the roof.

HOW DO THEY DO IT.

HOW DO THEY DO IT!?

I didn't have a single break (even after they went to bed) until the third day when I got a raging migraine in the middle of the day and was rescued by a very very kind woman from my sister's ward. She herded the four munchkins over to her house while I took a nap. I don't think single moms ever have breaks. So props to a friend & old roomate of mine Cassie's mom was a single mom with 13 kids. (unbeleivable. HEROIC.)

I'd been planning this adventure for months and so when Evan got busy and went to San Francisco I decided to keep my plans. I figured, "four days by myself with these kids isn't that big a deal, but the break for my sister is" so I'm really glad I got to do it. They kicked my butt but I love my three nephews.

I just ask myself: WHY didn't I think to do this type of thing for Cassy before Nina was born? I guess I didn't see the opportunity because I hadn't experienced the challenges of parenting myself. I wish I had thought of doing this sooner, I'm sure it would have been a huge help to Cassy & Don in the past, and I could have spent time with the boys. Hindsight is 20/20 right?

This experience was timely for me. 7 months on the parenting train myself, 3 weeks into a job mentoring young children, I can't think of better experience than this to put into practice the flood of parenting information I've been discovering lately. And it's so importnat, because it will ultimately be the most important thing I will do in my lifetime, shaping the future of another person's life. Two weeks ago I started reading books like "1-2-3 Magic" and the Baby Whisperer's Toddler book, and here I am with my own case study to put what I've been learning in practice. Heavenly Father couldn't be cleverer. I didn't even see this life curriculum coming, even after I had been praying to be prepared to be a good mom for Nina. Needless to say, I've got a LOOONG way to go to really learn these things, but I feel like it's POSSIBLE.

I leave you with a question to ponder from five year old Spencer:

"What time do bees have dinner?"

daddy, father, pa, papi, papa, vater, abba, abo, padre, pere, dad

2009-06-21T13:59:00.013-06:00

The media of this post is mostly directed to my Dad, but I want to let all of my dads in my life know how much I love and appreciate them. Fathers are so important. I have so much to thank my own father for. He has so much faith and integrity. My love for him is always growing. I also have so much gratitude for the father who raised my husband. Evan is the newest father in my life - Nina's father. I also love and miss my mom and dad's late fathers a lot. I've enjoyed getting to know Evan's grandfathers as well. It goes on and on. So many fathers. So much goodness. My heart is so full.

My dad has always been there for me, even at times when I didn't know I needed him. Here is proof of this fact:

This is a picture of my dad as a 19 year old student at BYU in 1965. Handsome huh? And killer glasses! haha How his picture wound up in SE Idaho and into my path could be considered a small but to me, significant miracle. Three weeks ago I decided to stop in DI (deseret industries for those who aren't familiar, it's a thrift store). I found a funny sweater for Nina as I did my usual thrift shop scavenging. On my way out when I decided to turn around and check out the book section. While looking through old LDS and other religious books and whatnot, a big artsy looking book caught my eye. I picked it up and soon realized it was an old BYU year book. Cool! Didn't think much of it other than "fun old hairdos and yearbook designs". I was amazed to see that President Monson, President Hinckley, President Hunter, President Benson, President Kimball, President Lee, AND President J F Smith all served on the board of trustees at BYU in 1965. (Talk about a dream team of inspired leadership for the youth of zion) I thought about that year and with my heart racing it dawned on me, "maybe my mom or dad is in here!". No sooner had I turned a few pages in the freshmen section than I read James Russell Johnson and there he was, on this page:

There you have it. I couldn't get a hold of my dad on the phone, so I decided to save this little story as an electronic father's day shout out. I love you dad!

Dad, I thought you'd enjoy this golf picture :)

This one's for Gordie, Evan's dad, who studied civil engineering at BYU years later.

jewels of retro hairdos. Some aren't too different from hairdos here in Idaho now.

Some prophetic wisdom to chew on about fatherhood-

"Of all the titles that God, the creator of the universe embodies, He asks that we call Him father."

Sunday afternoon

2009-06-18T20:12:00.004-06:00

rexburg, intermountain west garden of eden haha this picture is deceiving

we took a nice walk together and used a roll on our holga. Lately it's been rainy - sunny - rainy - sunny and I LOVE it, it just feels so refreshing to me. It makes me want to play soccer, I'm itching to play outside all the time.

I've started a part time job as a PSR (psycho social rehab). I hesitated to work after Nina was born, I really was happy to be able to be home with her all the time. This job sort of fell into place and it feels right. Plus it's a pretty nice deal - I pick my own hours which is so great, it pays well, and I'm learning a LOT about child development. Today I met with my first little friend and it was pretty fun. This line of work can get really heavy - skill-training troubled kids - but so far so good.

Yeah for tubers

2009-06-14T21:52:00.006-06:00

An award-winning yam grower in Tonga.

I did not know they could grow this big! I am in awe!

The three of us had yams with our dinner and aside for being grateful for food to eat we really enjoyed the yam, and decided that we need to make them a staple of our diet. Well if that's not a non-sequitur.

Now that I finally realize how simple it is to post videos from vimeo, here's this one from the good ole days:

Nina meets Kittens from Lindsay MacDonald on Vimeo.

the rest of the last post

2009-06-05T18:39:00.001-06:00

Nina had a great six month birthday. A package arrived with a sweet card and goodies for her. She (we are) is thrilled!

Today Nina was immunized again, the poor little one. I used to think that when moms talked about their kids getting immunized, they were talking about like a once a year thing. Nope, so far this is her fourth time. Man. She's so tough though. I have to close my eyes while I hold her legs still (i'm pretty needle phobic) and all she does is squeal for about 5 seconds. i don't know if there's anything cuter than the matching band-aids on her little thighs.

I'm realizing that this girl does not have a cap on cuteness. I thought the two/three month age was the cutest yet. I was soo wrong. The law of diminishing marginal utility does not seem to apply to babies cuteness. She's more adorable every day. Who am I kidding doesn't every mom think their baby is beautiful? I almost can't handle it. I hope she doesn't mind me squeezing the dickens out of her and smothering her. (have you ever noticed that the word smother includes the word mother? Interesting to note) I wish our family were all here to hold her every day.

She is 27 inches long and 17 lb 8 oz. I'll have to look at the growth charts and report on what that means. Alls I know is I'm getting more tired earlier in the day. I probably need to start working out to keep up. Maybe it's time to get my own yoga video, I used Jessica's a few times and loved it.

We visited Shauna David & newly arrived Clark in the hospital last week shaunaanddavid.blogspot.com

a few days before that we met Penelope Nieman at the hospital dernieman.blogspot.com Lots of new ones!

Here are some pictures from our weekend trip to Utah for Katie's wedding. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding. BY THE WAY, is it possible to NOT take tons of pictures on the grounds of Temple Square? Has anyone reading this ever attempted to not take pictures on temple square grounds? It's an impossibility! Much thanks to Heather Ross & Soren for putting us up. It was so great to see them. I wish we'd taken pictures of Soren & Nina.

Nina and I stayed the night and hung out with Grandma Johnson on the way to Utah. We had a lot of fun! I am always so impressed with her beautiful home. It's one of my favorite places in the world.

Grandad went on a walk with Nina after the sealing

photo intercepted by Nick

All of us whining nina-style

Amazing

2009-06-04T19:28:00.005-06:00

Today I found two grains of rice in Nina's belly button.

I really just wanted to prove to myself that I can make a small blog post.

Too Yeers

2009-06-02T09:36:00.004-06:00

I met Lindsay about three years ago, in the summer of ‘06. It’s weird to say that because it seems like a long time and a short time at the same time.

I can’t tell you how great this woman is. She is such a doer. I’ve watched her face so many challenges that were completely foreign to her and then conquer with such ease. More important to note, however, is how humble she is as she does so much good.

In her goodie bag of accomplishments, we find her internship to Ethiopia, she is an incredible cook (doubly impressive when you learn how new she is to the art), a Mission among the Spanish speaking people of Utah Valley, an ever expanding ability with some really great crafty stuff (have you seen her stamps? awesome), being the wonderful and supportive wife of an art student/perfectionist (that’s me!) and and so much more. Still of all the changes I’ve seen Lindsay pass through, the most impressive is her motherness (is that a word?).

Nina is super blessed. And I am blessed to get to watch this really great parent. Before Nina was born, Lindsay would sometimes express her fear that she wouldn’t be a good mother. I never doubted her ability, but I also had no idea how great she would be at it. Seriously.. she is a good mom... GOOD! She keeps on taking on new challenges and becoming more and more dynamic and amazing. I am so lucky to be able to witness her grace from day to day.

I am sometimes a little less expressive that I ought to be, and I know that I don’t thank her enough for being such an amazing friend. Lindsay really does know me more than anyone. And she really is my best friend. I married up for sure.

Today is our two-year anniversary. Two years!! That,s as long as my mission. Up until now, my mission was the best two years of my life. Now this past 2 takes the cake. the best part? Unlike a mission, which ends, this will never end. I love Lindsay so much. Happy anniversary lindsay!

Oh yeah.. Nina is 6 months today! (big day, I know)

What we didn't know was physically possible

2009-05-24T23:03:00.005-06:00

Just picture Nina sitting happily in her bumbo chair yesterday evening. (notice those arms sticking straight out? That's what she's like in her chair the whole time she's eating hahaaa it's so cute)

Now imagine the contents of her diaper spilling out the left leg opening like very slowly flowing lava.

Meanwhile we were eating a fine dinner at Emily & Joe's table. Us the Davises and the Niemans. I think Nina's lack of propriety may have changed Vaughn's mind about going steady with Nina later in life. haha jk He was asleep. So I dashed to the paper towels and got back in time before the gook reached the table. Safe! Trying to avoid contact we picked her up, chair and all, and moved her into their shower. I think she was a little bewildered, poor sweetie. We had a heck of a time cleaning her up. I love the Davis' handheld shower spray unit thingy. It was perfect. Then I cleaned the shower and the bumbo for them. Earlier today our friends had told us about this happening to them on a road trip while they were in the middle of nowhere in Oregon. I'm sure they didn't have access to a shower spray unit thingy. We were lucky!

I LOVE how Nina has been wrapping her arms around my neck when I pick her up and hold her. She'll burrow her head into my neck. She did this to Aunt Ann the other day when we met them and Jesse & Karen for lunch. Sometimes that's just convenient because she's teething and she wants to gnaw on my collarbone! It doesn't hurt and I don't mind it at all. She does have a pretty hard clamp with her jaws lately though, and her hands can grip like a sticky anaconda onto my hair. I love how she smiles at us without holding back her excitement. I love hearing a squeal or laugh from her room telling me she just woke up from a nap and going in to see her grinning for no reason at all other than being awake and wanting to see us. Nina is teaching us what Janine Hogan from my parent's ward in Kenmore says about babies - Babies don't wait for a reason to love people. They don't love you because of something you did. They just love you because you're you, just the way you are. They just love you completely. They love the same way God loves us. The scriptures tell us to be like children. I think this is what God meant by this.

I want to do that better. I've been praying to be able to develop that type of pure unrestrained love for people regardless of circumstance.

Some of Nina's current favorites:

Going to the park and sitting on a blanket

Drinking fountains

Holding Nibs' or Vaughn's hands

The swings at Porter Park

The little stuffed rabbit

Sitting in her bumbo with us in the kitchen

Drinking from a glass. hahahaa it's so funny. Her tongue will either be beneath the rim or above it. She gets so excited to drink from a glass and make noises into it. Fun acoustics.

Reaching her arms out for my face and the bringing her head in. She'll slobber all over my face trying to chew on my cheeks or my chin. She'll be making noises that sometimes I can feel vibrating against my skin and if I dare to open my eyes all I see is her enormous face smashed against mine and gums and huge blue eyes.

Trying to eat books

our last week back home

2009-04-29T09:00:00.002-06:00

We really feel like we have two homes. Now we're in Rexburg, home #2... or #1? whatev Dave & Jessica came and helped us leave Seattle with a bang. I already had some of the packing done and Evan had caught up on some freelance work, so we could focus on just having fun!! They came Thursday night or early Friday morning, whichever you prefer. A couple of days into the trip Jessica, 9 months pregnant, said, "You know I was thinking, what if I had gone into labor in the middle of the night while driving through Montana?" Yes, that could have happened! Luckily it didn't happen, but we are still excited and waiting to meet little Penelope Nieman. Man Jessica is an amazing pregnant lady! She never slowed us down, which we would have been fine with, especially with a little one of our own in tow. We saw the sights. Then they left Monday afternoon ready to hit the road with a belly full of Dicks burgers & fries (aside from other occupants in Jessica's belly). Here are some of the sights we saw. This is a long entry, but I couldn't cut any out -- it was just so much fun, and I'm really impressed with these pictures.

DAY ONE

beautiful Deception Pass

that's dave on the beach below the pass

ferry ride back from Whidbey Island

The Crab Pot with Nina Christian & Sarah

DAY TWO

los Nieman and fish at Pike Place

Nina tired by the end of the market

can you believe Evan took this close up? flowers in a bouquet

at the conservatory at Volunteer Park, capital hill

awww

I spaced Jaq's stunning photos (above) from the rest, they deserve a place of their own :)

Nina & Aunt Jaqui, the Honey Hole (for any seattle-goers, it's on capital hill on pike, BEST sandwich shop)

Evan took this one too, in the conservatory
What does a pregnant lady want at the space needle? a chocolate covered frozen banana

DAY THREE - easter breakfast at my parent's, church, nacho easter dinner & Bryce's birthday dinner at the MacDonalds.

So we really packed it in, not to mention a trip to the outlets at Marysville, an Imax at the science center (albatroz and sea lions have never been so interesting to me, really!) a Colonies show (Evan Nina & I opted out cuz it had been a long day), and visiting Dave's old high school friend Amber. It was Jessica's first time in Seattle and yes, it rained. There are a couple of videos that hopefully I'll get around to posting too. We're so glad that we could also hang out with Sarah & Evan & the Shumates again before we left.

Last but not least, my favorite picture of the weekend, from the conservatory:

Nina rolled yesterday!

2009-04-27T11:12:00.006-06:00

Joe saw it happen. We were around the corner in the kitchen. She was on her play mat that Cassy gave her. I was so proud of her!!! So we took a lot of pictures of her on her belly. She also learned last week how to grab things andd play with them while on her belly:

Perfect brightness of hope

2009-04-19T22:16:00.003-06:00

Evan and I both really were moved by this talk given by Elder Holland at General Conference a couple of weeks ago. This is an exerpt from that talk. It was just in time for Easter but is important all year long. I hope that it touches your heart the way it did ours.

so happy!

2009-03-31T12:03:00.006-06:00

Can you believe this cheesy grin? It happens, a lot. Usually it's hard to catch in a picture though.

I originally wanted to honor Evan and his new website in this post, but now I think it is sort of a mush of a lot of things. BUT his website is so great! That's why Nina is so happy I think :) Plus I think "evanmade" is just so creative. Plus he had the ingenuity to hire a programmer in Mexico and they worked together to produce the website. Plus here it is. Voila. evanmade.com

We are really excited -- since he posted the website he's been contacted by and has set up four new freelance jobs.

Nina was such a great travel buddy to Kalispell this weekend, there and back 9 hours each way. We were there for three days for Grandpa Searle's funeral. The funeral was so beautiful. Now Grandma Searle is living with my parents in Kenmore!

AND more pictures of la Nina

Nina Laughed!

2009-03-24T11:49:00.002-06:00

Nina's First Laugh from Lindsay MacDonald on Vimeo.

We happened to catch the tail end of her adorable laughing session. I keep trying to get her to play peek-a-boo. This time she totally got into it! More to come, I am sure.

wu baxay

2009-03-19T13:15:00.006-06:00

This week Evan and I learned a lot about parenting with a trip to the ER for Nina. She took a dangerous fall so we took her in to get checked out. I saw the fall out of the corner of my eye and it continues to replay through my mind. Luckily, everything is fine. Let me just say right here and now that God lives and loves Nina. It's a MIRACLE that nothing happened, she doesn't have a single bruise on her little body. Quote from one of the pediatricians at children's hospital - "babies are bouncy". That may be true but she is lucky and I think there are angels that helped her land just right.

Another difficult thing this week is that my Grandpa Searle is in the twilight of his life. After a serious surgery last Friday, he is slipping away from us, he could go any day or any minute. Christian and my Mom went to Kalispell got to go spend time with him in the hospital and we're hoping to go early next week. Our dear dear grandpa we love him so much and are so grateful for the legacy he's left for us. We're stoked for Grandma Searle to move in with us sometime soon. Then we'll have a couple of weeks with her before we leave for Rexburg.

Despite the heaviness of this week, we've had last's week fun to reminisce on. Friday we met up with Sarah & Evan and their friends Brandi and Ryan in Kirkland. We hit up Easy Street records downtown, the Old Spaghetti Factory, and then watched a movie at our place. We are already missing people here even though we haven't left yet!!

The next day, Saturday, I woke up earlier than I have since before Nina was born (minus nightly feedings) and we hit the road for Vancouver BC. I won't tell you how early that was, you probably won't be impressed haha :) IT WAS SO FUN I'd been dying to show Evan the city since we've before we were married, almost 3 years! It rained all day which was great because that's characteristic and we wanted the real thing. We visited the UBC campus including an art exhibit there, had crepes and european shopping on Robson street, perused the crafty shops of Granville Island and another art school, located right on the 1 square mile island, and got lucky with the best greek food imaginable. We didn't even GET to Stanley Park, or the Vancouver Museum of Art, or the Capilano Bridge, or the Hindu shops on Main St. Basically we're hoping to go back, but glad to be here in another fun area here in Kenmore. Nina did a really great job traveling. I did miss our play time at home, just her and me.

Doily framed whimsy on display at Emily Carr school of art on Granville Island

At Simpatico, the greek place on 4th Ave.

So Emily Carr offers sewing classes every Saturday for anyone who wants to come! They have a sewing corner set up in a of their student display area. Each month they rotate through the same 4 classes but I think you can repeat them to get skills. It's pretty neato. I wish BYU-I had something like that!

A student made piece made up of scraps of cloth

* thank you Photoshop Elements for making photo editing easy to learn

Swimming video

2009-03-18T09:29:00.004-06:00

This correlates with two posts ago, we're finally putting it up!

Nina at the Pool from Lindsay MacDonald on Vimeo.

oh man

2009-03-10T23:53:00.003-06:00

I did not know that dogs can sleepwalk/run like this!

Signs of spring

2009-03-06T12:13:00.003-07:00

Spring is coming! We can't believe how much snow landed in the Puget Sound area this winter, but... a couple of inches here and there really isn't much after experiencing Rexburg last winter. Really, it's just been green of course and some days have been so warm and beautiful. And things are starting to bloom like...

crocuses and

pussy willows and

babies!!

We went swimming with Nina yesterday for the second time and it was so much fun! She loves it! We've discovered that she's incredibly buoyant. You actually have to hold her in the water otherwise she'll float up and bob around. Evan is teaching her to have her head under water and she's pretty good at it for a couple of seconds. Mountlake Terrace has a nice little pool right up the road from here. 3-4 pm is "happy hour" for kids. Last time we went she didn't have a swimsuit so we just carried her around in a swim diaper and cover. It was adorable. And this little 4 year old girl followed Nina around everywhere in the pool. This time Nina is sporting her new swimsuit from Teresa.

eye swear...

2009-02-23T16:45:00.004-07:00

I stole this photo of Nina from Jaqui's facebook :) How could I resist? It's from Saturday. They came up to the netherland of kenmore (it's kinda far from Tacoma) to hang out. We went to the university district and ate Pho, had fun, took photos, and other f sounding alliterations. buFFalo exchange. driving Fast. Free parking. Anyways. We love the Shumates.

Nina is now:

2.5 months old
14.2 lbs.
24.5 inches long

!!!

which puts her in the 93rd percentile in weight, and 90th in height. She's the size of an average 4 1/2 month old. Yesterday at Teresa's birthday party Teresa said that I feed Nina cream. Which explains why Nina's poo smells like butter to me. (She churns cream into butter) Too much information? sorry....

three weeks ago!

2009-02-08T11:20:00.005-07:00

Three weeks ago was awesome. This weekend was also awesome. Also last week was awesome. POSSIBLY secondary to the awesomeness of three weeks ago, so I'll start there. And it was when Nina got her baby blessing so I really want to share that experience. Grandma and Grandpa Searle came in by train from Kalispell for the blessing. Surrounded by her 2 grandpas, 4 great grandpas, Christian, and the bishop, Evan gave Nina her blessing on Jan 18th. It was at the Macdonald's ward in Tacoma. It was a beautiful sunny day (did we mention that we didn't see the sun the first like TWELVE days we were here?). Grandma and Grandpa Searle were out in the car waiting to drive to the building when Evan carried Nina out to meet them. I was inside running around getting ready, which is probably a good thing because if I had been there when Grandma Fay met Nina Fay I think I would have started bawling. I love these two little ladies so much. After the blessing, Jaqui took some pictures of us afterwards, which are posted on her photography blog, thanks Jaqs!! Check them out there to see more of us from that day. (the last three of Nina are actually from this last weekend)

Everything about it all was just amazingly joyful. Being a parent adds dimensions to your life that you never knew existed. To see a life unfold before your eyes and be invited to participate, it's incredible. The blessing Nina received gave us perspective on who this beautiful little person is and who Heavenly Father is helping her to become. One of the things that stuck out to me the most is that she was blessed with the ability to love everyone around her. I don't know if there's any greater spiritual gift that a person can cultivate than love.

I loved spending time with my grandparents. After the blessing we had a scrumptulescent feast at the machouse for Nina, and for Grandma Searle (88) and Grandma Knudsen's (65) birthdays. Monday, we went to the Oshkosh outlet in Woodinville where Grandma Searle picked out some stuff for Nina. Grandma also gave us a book with stories and photos and charts of her and grandpa's families. She spent hours getting it ready to give to me. I'm planning on scanning it all in and making a disc to store so we have a hard copy. We spent a few hours turning the pages, story after story. I doubt I'll be able to remember it all but I heard that Janet has been writing a lot of those stories down. I never knew that my grandma still refers to her late father as daddy.

Friday we spent the night at the falls and the MacD grandparents met Nina for the first time. The next morning we went snowboarding at White Pass. It was icy so I was scared to death to try carving since it was the first time I've been since I took lessons at Targhee 6 years ago. Kenia crashed into me as I crashed into the ice at one point. LOts of gnarly bruises. Teresa and Kristy watched Nina (zonked out the WHOLE time!) and kept us fueled. We owe them a big thank you. It was the most fresh air and exercise I've gotten since before I was pregnant I think. Booya I loved it. I think it may have also been the first time I've spent an entire day with Bryce and that is a marvel and a wonder. (minus Honduras) Did you know that Bryce records a new update each week on his 'voice mail diaries'? It's pretty rad. I've also been enjoying Kenia's stories from Honduras. When she first came here in August she was a quiet little bird. Now she talks all the time and when I'm around, usually I'm the one she talks with since I can speak spanish with her. Her english is getting better but it's still a struggle. Speaking a new unfamiliar language all day every day is exhausting. Not to mention all the new cultural things and new food she's still adjusting to. It takes a long time. Throw all that in with being a teenager. She is really doing an amazingly.

Meeting Grandma MacDonald for the first time! Look closely at Nina...

Nina's first peace sign. She's got high hopes for the world she's now a part of.

With uncle Bryce

At the falls, after Grammy gave her a bath.

Well there are more pictures of stuff but they are on other people's cameras. So I'll try to get some of the photos on here soon. Loves

Banana

2009-01-29T12:22:00.003-07:00

We found an old black & white photo booth at Third Place Books. I don't think Nina was as thrilled about it as we were haha!

Micaela and Addy, and then Cassy Ethan Spencer & Bowen are all coming out to meet Nina in the next few weeks! We can't wait!! I've heard that 2 yr old Addy has resorted to calling her "banana" after failed attempts at saying Nina. I think I like it! We've heard people saying "nine-a" for Nina (i'm not a fan). We like to call her Ninichka, or Nina boggins, or Nee nee, or Ninners. Or just Nina, which I love.

She's growing soo fast. She's about 13 pounds! Same size or bigger than her 3 month old contemporaries. She's 8 weeks now, and two weeks ago we bagged her newborn clothes and she fit perfectly into the 3 month size!! She received a TON of clothes from her baby shower in August and then hand me downs from cousins. It's been a huge blessing to have an insta-baby wardrobe, and so far we've only bought things for her for fun. She actually has so many clothes, and rarely spits up at all (although Monday she started drooling a little), so she might not need to change clothes all day and there are some things she never got around to wearing. That'll probably start to change around the 9th month or beyond, so we've started picking stuff up here and there. It's been a blast wardrobing another person other than myself! You know that little high you get when you find something you really like and bring it home? (I guess that's just the shopoholic in me) It's like that buying clothes for Nina too! I've been trying to think of other creative ways to girlify her, because.. no offense to anyone, I'm just not into the stretchy headband/giant flower head pieces. I just don't feel it. So I'm looking into getting creative with felt and little pins or other things like that. Also, craigs list is pretty rad here, and thanks to the multitude of one-child families, we're picking up killer deals on practically brand-new things like a Baby Bjorn, hiking baby carriers, and now we're finally looking for a crib. Maybe we'll find a good deal on a jogging stroller.

Other good news - Evan's new MacBook Pro arrived today! It's the new 15 inch model with a black border. He's out grown the other one. So I inherit his old one which is still good enough for the types of things I use a computer for, and he gets a new one. We're figuring out what to do with my old iBook.

So a month ago she slept at night with no trouble from about 10 till 7 am. We were elated. Then her schedule drifted back to being awake and fussy from 10 till 3 or later (like last night). It's getting old! If anyone has any advice, please. We've been told different things. Some say to just love them and follow their own schedule until the third month, and then we can try to change it with her. Others say two months is a good time to let her cry alone until she falls asleep. I don't want to make her suffer if it's too early for it to even work. Any ideas?

Some pictures I've been wanting to share:

From week four, here at our apartment in Kenmore

Probably around the third week - we love setting her up in her car seat so that her waffle blanket forms sort of a hat over her head.

In all her chunky glory perched on our couch. I think this was the 6th or 7th week.

post Christmas cheer

2009-01-26T15:12:00.009-07:00

evidence that we've sent Kyle's 'christmas' package off to him. We are such slackers! One of the main reasons we waited so long is because I wanted to carve him a stamp - he asked for one - and I couldn't think of how it should be. Last year I made him an epoch stamp and I guess that one doesn't apply too much these days :) The other day I finally got the speedball out and made it! This is how it turned out. It should show less yellow and more green, I guess I over exposed the photo. We also sent him some missionary-worthy music, bulk candy from winco, a bike tire inner tube, and a leftover disposable camera from our wedding with instructions to fill it up with mission memories!! It sounds like he's doing really well. Through his letters you can really see him getting into the work of preaching the gospel. Sunday we were playing games with the MacDonalds and we missed him a lot. But there's really no place better that he could be. (weird to think that Nina will be TWO by the time he gets back!)

New ones!

2009-01-21T12:52:00.017-07:00

My technology learning curve has about the same slope as kansas - it's flat. haha

That said, I'm proud of myself for learning how to convert raw images into jpgs so I can post them on here for everyone to see! It took me a while to muster the courage to learn how ... or maybe I was just lazy. I've also been organizing all the pictures into folders so we can save them in discs to store them in a safe place. (I learned that lesson the hard way after our new external hard drive corrupted 80% of my pictures from Ethiopia... unretreivable!!!) So here are some pictures, hand converted by yours truly. Reminiscing on Christmas and all of the great times we've had since Nina arrived!! We love her so much.

LOVED our charlie brown christmas tree

amazing t-shirts for Nina a la Bethany!

Another Christmas event -- Joe Jr. OR Vaughn Edward Davis was born on December 24th! Isn't he adorable? We are missing them while we're away from Rexburg. He looks like his daddy. haha If Nina and JB Stout don't work out, maybe she'll go for this handsome younger man :) haha

there's a lot more to come!! Just need to post them :)

traveling back in time to last week

2009-01-05T10:59:00.006-07:00

Nina's week four picture. I couldn't believe that I captured one of her elusive smiles! Don't be deceived, it's probably a gas smile, crazy huh? But we think we've been seeing more real smiles!! I CAN'T believe how much different she looks from her week one picture. loves

Week three and lions

2008-12-24T16:49:00.004-07:00

Things just keep getting better! Nina is doing so good, and getting more and more interesting. We feel like we are getting to know her a little more.

Things I Love

2008-12-19T20:41:00.005-07:00

There are six of them. (good thing there was a cap bc I kept thinking of more and more)

This is a first for me - obeying a tag. Thanks Jaqui for patiently tagging me. In no particular order...

Warm glowing light - like when dusk light filters into the living room and everything is glowing. Light is an ongoing interest for me.

Evan's front shoulder part - where I can rest my head comfortably and securely to watch a movie, or just lie around

Nina's noises - there are no words for this. There's a wide range of these noises - grunting, cooing, squeaking, breathing, panting, sneezing, etc. They are all beyond adorable and I wish I could freeze them in space & time. It's not just the noise itself, it's the whole package - noises that precede the noise, the timing, her beautiful little self making the noise, etc. I don't ever want to forget her little noises. A few days ago (she must have been like 8 days old or so) possibly the same day she started to take notice of things around her and look around a lot, I noticed that she was making steady calm noises that sounded like she could be trying to have a conversation with me. I joined in and I've been trying to have more of these conversations with her ever since.

Finding the right words - there's something sooo satisfying to me about to accurately express myself on the spot. The simplest way the better. Finding a suitable description for a feeling or idea. When I find the right way to describe something to someone so I can bring it to life for them - i love that. Part of why I love these times is because so often I suffer from what my mom likes to call a 'noun deficiency' - I just lack the words!! And not just nouns - adjectives, pronouns, whatever. Sometimes I'm better at writing an idea than trying to say it. Also sometimes I just don't think about sharing something with someone until later, after the opportunity passed. So when I am able to express something it's magic.

Certain riffs - on the guitar. There are certain points in a song, usually when the tune changes abruptly with a new riff on the guitar, but it's not abrupt - it's dynamic and it flows and transitions so well. Like -- Enlow song "Come in" at the 18 & 48 second mark...like Midlake's "They cannot let it expand" I love the euphoric feeling you get when you hear that, especially when the right words go with it.

The bitter with the sweet - About a month ago I realized that most (if not all) desserts that I love have sweet and non-sweet combined. There has to be a contrast to the sweet, otherwise ughhh it's just too sweet for me. I love dark chocolate. Things that are just plain sweet, like vanilla cake or ice cream, or milky ways (too sweet!), or banana cream pie (sweet with sweet!) -- are just too plain sweet. I like some sour mixed in, or cinnamon, or some tart fruit, or molasses. I love cookie dough ice cream with raspberries, willy wonka candy (lots of sour), hot chocolate with mint, Teresa's ice cream/crispy cake with fruit topping, cinnamon rolls, blackberry pie, i LOVE gingersnaps, german pancakes with powdered sugar & lemon juice. I can think of two exceptions to the sweet/bitter thing - i love rice crispy treats and sugar cookies.

--- AND two bonuses! haha

Blankets - I want to have a house FILLED with blankets. Not lying around everywhere, ya know, but in chests and blanket racks and throws on couches, etc. Nice clean soft blankets - different weights and fabrics. I love the weight of a comfy blanket when you're watching a movie, or having a good conversation, or if it's a rainy crappy day.

Early/mid 90s R&B - I'm experiencing a revival. It started with a craving and I realized that this whole time I had been in denial - there really is something about this music that i love - Lauren Hill, TLC, salt n peppa, etc. (I'd already come to terms with a fondness for Erykah Badu long ago) I must say though, you gotta be careful with lyrical content with this genre.

Hunting Trees

2008-12-16T22:08:00.004-07:00

Emily and Joe Davis and I went out to look for Christmas trees the yesterday. It was a quite the adventure. I think the journey was greater than the destination. Hopefully the start of a new tradition, except the whole Nina and Lindsay staying home part (frowns).

This was taken near Island Park, Idaho. I'll add some more video when we trim the tree. Merry Christmas!!