Just a couple pictures

The other morning, Carver pointed to the camera, meaning he wanted me to take a picture. These were the only ones that were relatively good. He's such a little ham!

Seattle Aquarium

My mom was in town last weekend and we took us on the ferry to Seattle to spend the day at the aquarium. Carver had a blast seeing all the fishies! The only downside to the day was that Carver didn't get a nap until 4:30pm on the ferry ride back to Bremerton. He was one tired boy but he didn't want to miss anything! :)



Could he get any cuter?



He loved the baby salmon!



How big are the fish? SOOOO big!

He was so tired but he had a blast!

Can it be spring?

Carver has had to be outside every day. He expects that when he wakes up from his nap, daddy will be home and they an go play outside. It's a sad, sad world in the Garland household when daddy is not home by then.

This day, Carver wouldn't come back inside, not the first time, so we let him play on the deck (Chris was home - it was a Saturday, I think). He was perfectly content just playing in the cold. This kid is just like his dad and has to be outside as much as possible.

'Cooking'




I have no idea why he's wearing Chris' hat but it's pretty dang cute!

One step forward, two steps back

I finally got to the point where I was able to wear my contacts again. For some reason, right after we got married, it hurt to wear my contacts. Then I got pregnant and had Carver and didn't want the hassle. It was just easier to put my glasses on. Anyways, about a month ago I decided to try my contacts on and they didn't hurt! So,to be safe, I only wore them every other day to give my eyes a break.

Well now since I have allergies, and that makes my eyes itch and weep, I can't wear my contacts. It feel like all that build up of actually wearing my contacts was for nothing. I just hope that I won't slide back into just wearing my glasses all the time.

Ok, enough rambling from me. It's a beautiful day and mom is here. We're going to take the ferry to Seattle and go to the Aquarium. I can't wait to see Carver's face! :)

Japan

Seeing the pictures of the devastation in Japan brings me back to when I was there in 2000. Ellensburg has a sister-city that has an exchange program with the city. Every year 20 13-14yr olds would come for 10 days along with 5 teachers/government officials. My family got involved and hosted 2 girls every year. I was the second group to return the exchange and I went with 5 other girls and two adults. We stayed with students that had stayed with us so we got to meet their families. It was great to see our friends again and tour the country.

While I was clearing out Carver's closet last Wednesday (the earthquake/tsunami was friday), I found my scrapbook with all my pictures I took in Japan. It was great to take the trip down memory lane with Carver but now when I look at the pictures I took, I just feel sad and sick to my stomach.

Thankfully, Tamamura is northwest of Tokyo so it is on the China side. This means that the tsunami didn't effect them. I talked to a couple of the girls that I am still in contact with and they and their families are safe. Later today, while Carver naps, I may try to find some of the other girls and boys that we hosted but we'll see how I feel.

Ok, enough rambling. I have a couple pictures to post but that'll have to wait as well. Carver's decided to 'cook breakfast' which means that all my pots and pans are in the living room. Should be interesting. :)

Allergies

Chris and I have come to the conclusion that we are allergic to our house. Especially when it's raining because we have two persistent leaks that won't go away! We even put a tarp up on the roof to try to help until it dries out and Chris can get up on the roof again to search for the source. The funny thing is that I never had allergies before Chris bought our house.

Anyways, I'm positive it's the house because we're at my mom's right now and I feel fine! Chris, most likely, has a cold so he's still dealing with sinus problems. I just know that as soon as we get home it'll probably start up again.

As far as building goes, we're in the process of talking to banks and trying to get pre-approved for an in-course building loan. We want to make sure that we can get the loan before we start the permitting process. It's days like these where I just want our house to be done!

A Day of Spoiling!

Today has been an amazing day!

#1: Chris let me sleep in while he got Carver's breakfast and they watched a Mickey.

#2: Chris suggested soup, salad and bread sticks at Olive Garden. Um YES PLEASE!!!

#3: After lunch we walked the mall and got a coffee. Yum!

#4: I had a small gift for my cousin so we stopped in to see her at her work. Ummm, she works at Hello, Cupcake!!! I couldn't go in there and not get some delicious cupcakes to take home. :)

#5: Then we came home, got Carver down for a very late nap and I sat on the couch watching tv, eating a cupcake (Irish cream latte to be exact!) and catching up on my blog reading. Heavenly!

That's it so far. Time to figure out something for dinner.
Happy Saturday!

We've taken the FIRST step!!!

We've been talking about building a house on our property for the last 6 years. AND...

We met with a designer on Wednesday!!!!! We presented a couple plans that we liked and talked about what changes we wanted/didn't want and he drew up an estimate for us to DESIGN OUR HOUSE!!!!!! He just came back with our estimate yesterday afternoon and we're still figuring out how we want to pay for it but we're moving forward on our dream!

We're not really telling a lot of people because it's overwhelming that we're actually doing this. But I had to tell someone. :)