It's feelin' HOT HOT HOT!

So scratch all my previous complaints about the cloudy/milder/cool Washington weather. I now LONG for that weather. I am sitting in my living room with Malone by my side, 2 feet away from a fan, oh and did I mention that it is 80 degrees in my living room. I don't even want to know how hot it is upstairs in my bedroom.

Now, I know many of you are thinking, "But you lived in 100 degree Oklahoma weather" and that is true but there is one crucial difference, air conditioning! It makes a tremendous amount of difference not only in temperature, but also in attitude, energy level and general enjoyment of life. I am pro air conditioning

So as we are melting in the heat...literally, we thought we would take some pictures thanks to Mac's Photo Booth. I thought they were pretty funny and I thought you would too.

This was earlier when we were still feeling pretty good...not 2 feet from the fan quite yet. Look especially at Malone's funny faces.










And then here we are in 80 degrees...oh, now 81 degrees...melting. See our hair blowing from the fan?








And then we were pretty tired from all the action.


There you have it. Lets hope for some cooler weather soon. I think Malone and I could use some rain. Don't I sound like a real Washingtonian? :)

Attention All Readers: Pictures of the new house will be posted soon! I know I have built a heap of anticipation in your hearts. But now, I am taking on my motherly role and trying to teach you a little bit of patience. :) Cameron is on a little trip and accidentally took the camera along (a collective "Boo!" is in order). However, Malone and I are having a great time, playing with one another, reading, taking walks and just enjoying our time together. Since last week, she has become a rolling master, no longer safe on the couch, bed or anything she can roll off of. This is exciting because it is a pretty big sign of her growing like she should, however, it means that she is well on her way to becoming mobile and no longer "safe". But we are excited about her new skills and try to work on her sitting up and crawling skills. So far, she is getting the hang of crawling backwards, however, forwards is still a bit frustrating to her no matter what I dangle in front of her.

OK, so since I don't have anything exciting to report on I thought I would tell you some random things about Malolo and I.

1. Sometimes when people ask me how old I am, I instinctively want to say 22. Why, I don't know...maybe because it as a big year? I don't know.

2. Malone's favorite toy right now is her brightly colored KEYS. They are the magic keys that will soothe aching gums, provide entertainment and unlock the door to sleepy- time in the car.

3. I just discovered that I don't like to watch Dr. Phil. Somewhere, Cameron is rejoicing.

4. I don't think Malone has a very developed olfactory system. Why? Sometimes in the morning when she wakes up and is all googly, we like to play. She never seems to flinch at my morning breathe. Either she's a really good actor or can't smell very well.

5. Cameron always accuses me of being a fake coffee drinker. He says that I drink Starbucks just because its cool, because I never finish my drink. In all reality, I love my tall- upside- down Caramel Macchiato. I just can't guzzle it down like him. And, its almost like a snack to me, not so much a thirst quencher. Sometimes, I get busy and forget about it (if we're at home) or sometimes, I just get full.

6. I have a secret (I guess not so much anymore) theory that there's a lot of people in Colorado who pretend to like outdoorsy stuff because they live in Colorado. My friend Sarabeth always makes fun of me for this theory. However, this is the first time I might admit to being wrong in my theory. I like Washington. Washington is outdoorsy. I miss outdoorsy stuff. I'm excited to take Malone to the mountains.

7. I have childhood memories that no one in my family remembers.

8. Yes and Lolo loves her daddy.




There you go folks. Hope life is going well for you. It is for us :)

Washington is the best!

Can I just tell you how much I'm enjoying Washington?! So far, the weather has been not the greatest with mostly cloudy/55-60 degree days with the exception of a few marvelous sunny days. Although locals say this is really unusual for the summer and I'm going to take them at their word. Sorry its been a while since my last post. We have been busy little bees. PS: I've been working on this post since last Wednesday, but only now have a chance to post it...don't worry I made the appropriate updates. OK, let me tell you what we've been up to.

First, we've made numerous trips to Seattle for the furniture superstore, IKEA. Anyone ever been there? I think it is retail marketing at its best. First of all, its ginormous, probably the size of two Super Walmarts. You walk in and the whole front of the store is set up in a maze of different rooms of a house....kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, offices, etc. Within each section they have decorated rooms. For instance, in the living room section they have a bunch of living rooms all decorated and set up. Then you look at each room, write down what item you want and where to get it and at the end of the maze is a warehouse with all the items in boxes ready for you to pick up. Pretty genius, eh? We bought a ton of Malone's furniture for really reasonable prices and we are putting it all together as we speak. Oh yes, part of the reason they can have such great prices is because you put it all together. Its been fun. Imagine me with power-tools! Here's a picture of the IKEA showroom.

Here's Malone, Cameron and her new IKEA highchair (only $25 and pretty sturdy!)

Then, we went downtown Seattle to the famous Pikes Place Market (been there twice already). Its the place where they throw the fish. Side note, anyone remember Real World Seattle where Steven slapped Irene as she drove off? For some reason I always remember that when I think of Pikes Place. Anyways, Pikes Place is this big farmer's market type of place with lots of fresh produce stands, fish stands, butcher shops, spice shops, fresh flowers everywhere and tons of little food carts, oh yeah, and the original Starbucks. It is awesome! If anyone wants to come and visit we will be sure to take you there. I bought some shrimp/prawns that were the biggest I've ever seen. Here's just a shell.

We had them the other night with Asparagus Risotto....So yummy! We bought some specialty sausages including some homemade South African Boerewors, our national sausage. Malone didn't think it was nearly as exciting, as she was fast asleep in her stroller the whole time.

Then we drove around downtown Seattle for a little. It is the most beautiful downtown I've ever seen. Its like Manhattan with lots of trees and much more hilly (I told Cameron to remind me never to drive my standard-shift Toyota in this hilly place). Here's a street performer hula-hooping, while playing harmonica, while playing guitar behind his back. Impressive.
Friday all of our belongings got delivered! Its amazing how I had forgotten how much stuff we have. Highlight- We actually slept in our own bed the last few nights. It was the first time in 4 months! We were excited!!!! Again, I'll post some more pictures once we get a bit more settled and there isn't boxes EVERYWHERE. Here's a picture of Michaelangelo painting our livingroom.

A few more random thoughts/things to tell you:

- I made some sweet potatoes tonight for Malone-- she loved them. No more bananas for now. The doc didn't like the fruit before veggie thing and her digestive track also didn't like it. Hence, veggies for now. Here's some pics.
- Love the house!
- Its Malone's 5 month birthday today. And to celebrate, she rolled over for the first, second, third and fourth time. She's a genuine rolling machine (back to front which is the hardest). She's pretty much awesome!
- Love the house!
- We're still trying to find a church. For the past 2 Sundays we visited a church called Soma Communities. It was really neat- meets downtown and is comprised of almost all young families. Interesting thing, their pastor/"elder" preaches a little but then they do discussion with the whole church. We were a bit nervous about the discussion because you always seem to have the one guy/gal who goes on and on about nothing relevant or makes really stupid remarks. But the congregation seemed to be really insightful, grounded and intelligent so it worked out well. I think we're still going to visit a few more churches, but found this one interesting.
- Love the house!
- Cameron got into the spirit of Washington coffee by buying a 5lb bag of Pikes Place Roast from Starbucks. Its huge!!!
-Malone is turning into the most beautiful little girl, see?
Its official that we have fallen in love with Washington....well, maybe not love, but we're definitely dating.

Home, Sweet Home

It is true, we have finally made it to Tacoma and in one piece I might add. We arrived Friday night, tired, hungry (worse for some named Malone than others) but excited to see our new house that Cameron picked out for us. I am pleased to say that we are all very satisfied with the choice of house and Cameron therefore gets a great, big, golden star! But before I tell you about the house and our recent and oh-so-exciting endeavors, let me catch you up on our road trip.

We left Altus....a while ago. It feels like so many worlds ago that I can't even remember when it was. We were in quite a hurry to get out of there for many reasons but mostly because Cameron still had to check out of Vance AFB in Enid and we were hoping to get out of Oklahoma before the weekend as to not spend extra time there when we could be on the way to Washington. We got checked out of Altus, then back to Enid for a few days then we hit the road to Colorado. As we left Oklahoma, we looked in the rear-view mirror and said, "Good Riddens!" Now, to all our Oklahoma friends, we love you and have loved spending time with you. So please don't let our dislike of 90 degree summers, mosquitoes, tornadoes, having nothing to do on a Saturdays, be any reflection of our love and appreciation for you!

Back to beautiful Colorado! We truly enjoyed our time in Colorado Springs. We stayed with my super hotty sister, Lydia and brother-in-law Joel and just enjoyed their hospitality. Malone of course bonded once again with Lydia (she came and stayed with us when I had M) and fell in love with uncle Joel right away. We also got to spend some time with many of our friends....shout out to all my Colorado Springs readers!!!!....and went to our old church on Sunday where we dedicated Malone. Pictures to come of this great and spur-of-the-moment event when Sarabeth gets back from gallivanting around the world with her camera. We were sad to leave Colorado but Monday afternoon made our trek to Wyoming with a pit stop in Ft. Collins to see Cameron's Aunt Marge. Its always good to be in Wyoming and see all of the people that Cameron loves so much and that now has grown to be quite special to me as well. Malone was introduced to the Laramie crowd and won them over with her wit, charm and good looks, not to mention a few party tricks here and there. She sat on the swing with Grandma Claire in the backyard and loved to play with Grandpa Jay's face. Overall, just a enjoyable time with family and friends. And then it was time to leave all those who showered Malone with attention and back to just the three of us. I was hoping Malone wouldn't be too disappointed.

I must say that I was very surprised how easily Malone handled all the new people and let just about anyone hold her. A few times I could tell she was getting a bit overwhelmed but those moments were few and far between. She was a trooper and if we were a Daddy Warbucks kind of family we would shower her with gifts because of how good she was.

We drove the first day 600 miles from Laramie, WY to Twin Falls, ID, leaving at 5:30am and driving until about 6pm. It was long and tiring but good to make huge progress. Malone slept quite a bit and had a few melt downs but nothing too serious. The next day we made it all the way to Tacoma a distance of about another 600 miles. Malone slept for most of the morning and then a good chunk in the afternoon, but I knew life could not be so kind as to have her sleep the whole way and my streak of good luck was about to end. And boy, did it! As we were about 2 hours away from Tacoma, it started raining and Malone woke up with a vengeance. As we were crossing a mountain pass in the POURING rain I had a baby screaming in the back seat. Then we got lost...oh and Malone was still SCREAAAAMING. And then we finally arrived at home and Malone was still crying. It was really sad and by then I was ready to cry as well. BUT, we made it safe and sound!

So that was our journey through 8 states, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and finally Washington. I think Malone is the most well traveled baby ever! So here we are in OUR home. We are currently sleeping on an air mattress because our furniture won't get delivered until Friday, but that's ok because we are home. We've been painting (and by we I mean, mostly Cameron has been painting), putting up curtains, buying a few things here and there and mostly just getting organized. We love our new home and can't wait to further explore this great state. By the way, the weather is terrible right now. I'm a bit frightened for things to come...its been about 55 degrees and cloudy or raining every day since we've gotten here. They say it is very uncommon for this time of year, but I think I'm seeing what winter will be like and I'm not sure I can handle the sun-less-ness. Luckily our house is some nice bright colors to liven it up a bit.

OK, its time for bed, but you can go to sleep knowing that I will post some pictures once we get our furniture. Also tomorrow, I'll tell you all about our IKEA adventure and the famous Pikes Place Market today. Sleep well friends!