October is Slipping Away

Between traveling for work twice in the past 2 weeks, the regular work pace of midterms (we have to submit midterm grades for all our students, so lots of grading to be done!), and preparing for baby, life has been a bit of a blur lately.

 I am SO HAPPY to be home this weekend, I can't even tell you. Tonight we had a couple over for dinner who are going to dog sit Enid when we come to Spokane for baby boy's birth. They are both graduate students in our program, and are very mature dog lovers, so we're happy to have them be on dog duty! Tomorrow we're looking forward to attending the last farmer's market of the season :(  So sad, but I do suppose it's time. I need to stock up on apples, and HONEY!  Tomorrow afternoon I'm hosting my ladies' book club at our house. It's the first time I've hosted a book club at our new house, so I'm excited to show it off a bit. Then tomorrow night I've demanded that Jeff cook me a steak for dinner. I don't know why, I just have a hankering.  Sunday will probably be more low key, and if I can avoid getting out of PJs until noon, I will be a happy camper.

So here's a few random pics of life as of late...sort of a random mish mash of stuff.

 

So when I flew to Louisville, Kentucky for work last week, I had a 3 + hour layover in Minneapolis. Thankfully, my best friend from childhood lives there and we don't get to see each other too often. She picked me up and took me to this great park (Minehaha Falls) where we ate some lunch, enjoyed the view, and let her son, Oskar, run around the playground. It was awesome to see Oskar again as I haven't seen him in over a year!!!

Here's Oskar and my friend Michele. He's 4 years old and super duper tall for his age. He's quite a character and spent most of the time telling me all about Iron Man. Quite an imagination on that one.

 

I took very very pictures in Louisville, but here's a totally silly one of me and my good friend Cheryl. We went to grad school together, and we were both at the same conference. This was after a super tasty meal together where the check came w/ homemade cotton candy! Weird. She was trying to get me to eat some. I wouldn't. I have a weird aversion to cotton candy. I think it's because I once got sick on it as a kid and I just can't bring myself to eat it anymore. Ew. 

 

My Grandma Myrtle is 93 years old and is sharp as a tack. She also loves to crochet and knit, and sent us this big box this week of blankets and bibs. Each one had a note on it of what she intended each one for. The white one is for baby boy. The pink and grey one is for me. And the brown/grey/yellow one is for Jeff. So cute. 

 

I thought it was hilarious that Jeff's blanket from Gram totally matched the outfit he was wearing. He had on a yellow teeshirt and a brown dress shirt. A perfect match! I made him pose with his blankie :)

 

And finally, this is a totally silly picture of me at work today. I had to give an hour webinar for the textbook company I write for. The webinar was for English teachers across the country who are interested in using my book (co-authored with Cheryl, from the cotton candy photo above, and our friend Jenny who lives in San Diego). It was a strange experience, as I showed a slideshow online and talked a lot, but there was no video. So, at one point, I just took a picture and posted it online soe people could see what I looked like. Silly.

It's been a long week and I'm off to bed! Gotta get my zzzzs in before baby boy arrives. Though, I'm so looking forward to sleepless nights. For real....it's been such a long haul that a crying baby in the middle of the night sounds like a blessing.  

Early October Life

My current foggy view from the Seattle airport. SO FOGGY here. It's kind of freaky. There is a pileup of little boys (and one awesome little girl) standing at this window oogling the planes.

So, hi! Time is moving so fast! And, we're trying to pack as much stuff in before baby comes so we can really just hunker down and take good care of (and enjoy!) him. I've been traveling a lot for work. In fact, I'm writing this from the Seattle airport as I'm on my way to the WSU-Vancouver campus (flying to Portland) to give a workshop for two-year college instructors. The workshop is 2 hours long and I'm totally nervous about it. I guess I just want these instructors to feel like I'm not wasting their time! I've done a lot of planning for it, so I hope it goes well.  Then, next week I head to Louisville, KY for a conference. That one is a little more play than work. :)  I'm going to stay w/ my good friend Cheryl who I went to grad school with. Should be fun. It's rare I travel this often for work (usually 2-3 times/year) but it's kind of all piled up in early fall, which is GOOD as I'm getting it done.

Other than teaching stuff and my wacky travel schedule (which always makes Jeff's life a little hectic as well) we haven't been up to much other than some nesting. Here's some pics!

 

Enid is weird. She demanded to get into Jeff's lap during breakfast, and then just stood there like a statue. What did she want? Toast? we don't know. 

 

This photo gives me giggles. Jeff looks surly about buying carrots at the farmer's market. It's nearing the end of the season at the Farmer's Market. Lots of root vegetables and apples. Sweet delicious apples. (and suddenly I'm bummed I didn't bring any with me as I'm sitting here waiting for a flight and totally hungry. A honeycrisp would really hit the spot right now).

 

Kristin bakes macaroons! Our friends Keri and Andy came over for dinner. Jeff made a ton of Indian food (I was soooo full) and I made cookies. (aside: my neck looks really weird here)

 

Macaroons!!! So good. I sent Keri and Andy home with a bunch for their boys. Then I was mad I did, because I wanted them for myself. Sigh. 

Looking forward to meeting Miley next week and catching up! 

September Life

Wow, it has been a crazy few weeks. School, travel, and general life I guess... Here's a snapshot of life in the past few weeks. I went to Virginia Tech where I gave a talk and a workshop. I had never been there before. It kind of felt like Pullman, but a little bigger with more trees. Oh, and humidity. OH MY the humidity. Totally nasty.

 

Here's a flyer for my talk. Lookin' all professional. Heh. 

 

Their campus is really pretty. This is the building I presented in. 

 

This was the flight home. The Great Salt Lake is SO WEIRD. It always looks like it's partially frozen or something (those white areas near the shore) but it's just salt. So strange. I was only in Salt Lake once, and never actually visited the lake itself. I'd like to go because i just can't quite imagine what it's like. 

Meanwhile, back in Pullman.....

 

Enid has a long tongue and missed me, sort of. She always loses her mind for like 10 minutes when I get home from a trip, and then is like "meh, whatever." She's a funny dog. 

 

This is Jeff eating a hamburger at the Moscow Farmer's Market on Saturday. We had a great leisurely day on Saturday. We poked around the market, bought some veggies, at some hamburgers, drank some coffee, and then we headed back to Pullman where we got ready for the WSU football game. 

 

Us looking cute at the game. WSU won. They may never win again all season, so at least we got to see that. Ha.  The speaker system behind us here was SO LOUD. I swear my ears were ringing when we got home. 

This was the marching band at halftime with the sun setting behind the stadium. The Palouse is purdy.

 

That's been our life the past few weeks! Work, play, hamburgers, and so on :) 

 

 

Huckleberries!

So I'm kind of obsessed with berries generally, and berry picking is kind of the best thing ever. I grew up picking wild blueberries in the summer with my family, so I guess it's in my blood. Our friends Micheal and Diane took me huckleberry picking yesterday, and it was super awesome. We went into the Hoodoo Mountains (that's a silly name) in Idaho. Michael has a truck, so we went on these wacky backroads through beautiful forests and mountains. It was quite a trek, but worth it. It's a little late in the season for berries, but got up high enough that there were still some.

 

The terrain. It was steep! I kept kind of slipping and actually hurt my arm grabbing onto a treebranch so I wouldn't tumble down the hillside. Berry picking is dangerous, apparently. 

 

I am so so happy in a berry patch. So happy. I can't wait to take baby boy out to a berry patch!

 

The fruits of my labor. I made some little pies out of them!

 

Drool. I love baking, though don't do it much because I don't like having baked goods around the house as I will just eat them. But, 4 little huckleberry pies? I'm ok with that.

It was amazing seeing you Friday night. We truly feel blessed to have you in your lives. You are awesome human beings, and we can't wait to be parents. And, we promise to still love baby boy with all our hearts if he hates berry picking :) 

 

 

The Nephews

Jeff's sister and brother-in-law are visiting his family in New Jersey right now, and our nephews have been enjoying the Atlantic Ocean and the fun activities on the boardwalk. I thought these pics were kind of adorable....  they'll be baby boy's cousins! Cool.

 

That's Baxter on the left, Sawyer on the right. Baxter looks so serious! He cracks me up. 

 

Here they are again being goofballs. Sawyer turns 6 in September, and Bax is 3. Sawyer is all boy. He just got bit by a snake (!!!) a few weeks ago because he found one in the woods and picked it up and was playing with it. Thankfully it was just a garter snake, but still. Jeez. Baxter is much more quiet and serious. They're both adorable. 

First Day of School

Today was the first official day of school for WSU students. It was nice to be back in the classroom again. I miss students, they're a lot of fun. Though it was sort of a shock to be around humans all day, they're loud. Ha.

Yesterday for breakfast I made my family's traditional Finnish pancake, "pannukakku" (sounds like "bunna kah koo"). I love it. It's basically eggs and milk and flour. It's a huge comfort food for me. I have recipes handed down from my great grandma. Jeff's family also has a recipe, but it's a little different (though still quite good). I show my family loyalty and use mine :)

Pannukakku w/ strawberries and raspberries from the farmer's market (and syrup). yum!

 

I walked to and from school today. It takes about 35 minutes each way and it's really hilly. My calves are actually kind of sore from it. Is that pathetic?  Views from my walk....

 

 The walk in, passing some cool sunflowers in our neighborhood

The walk home, campus looking all nice and campus-like. 

Jeff teaches his first classes tomorrow. He's really nervous but I know he'll do great. Students always really like him and he's good at what he does. But, given it's a new job, he's understandably a bit nervous. 

Off to bed!

 

Pancakes! Bacon! Chubby Childhood Kristin!

 We started our day off proper today:

 

Omg, that's a lot of bacon fat. I love making breakfast. It's my thing.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of throw-back Thursday, here's a hilarious picture of me and my brother when we were feral children. 

 

Ok, back to working on my course prep....

 

Back to Work. Eek!

It's been two pretty full days of being back to work. And I've eaten too many muffins (free muffins seem to be at all of my events this week). And, I'm really lazy now. Sugar crash? Probably. But how you can you pass up a chocolate chip muffin? Madness.

Today I got to meet all our new graduate students. It's a lot of fun meeting new students, hearing where they're from, what their goals are, and figuring out how I can best help them out. I really do love teaching, it's the best part of my job for sure. After that, I spent all afternoon in a meeting. That is the least favorite part of my job. Other than the chocolate chip muffin.

We are about to head over to the neighbors for dinner. We've only sort of met them so it'll be good to get to know them. Unless they're jerks, then I guess it won't be good at all. Ha. They seem nice.

No fun pictures today. Booo. I will take a few more over the next few days as life won't be as busy! The first few days back are always a little hectic.

Rugs, Grilling, Pools: The Mundane Pieces of our Life

We had a great time hanging out with you both on Friday night. We joked that maybe we should just adopt everyone! It really was awesome getting to know you better.

We got home around 11:30 Friday night and crashed out. Yesterday we did our usual Saturday errands. We spend a few hours at the Farmer's Market in Moscow. We always bump into friends and their kids there, so usually spend a lot of time just chatting and catching up with folks. Then we went and got some tacos for lunch. Big day! Ha.

Poor Enid had a vet visit yesterday for her yearly vaccines. She was zonked out last night, it's kind of cute and sad. Then she was up a few times during the night with diarrhea, poor thing. It was like practice for having a baby up at all hours!

A few pics of our past few days:

My mom got me a rug for my birthday! I'm really happy with how it looks in the hallway. It makes the hallway a party. Ok, not really a party. It's just a hallway. But, I do quite like it.

 

Enid also quite likes the rug and keeps sleeping on it. This is her "why are you bothering me, I'm sleeping on this sweet rug" face. 

 

We have been grilling SO MUCH at the new house. I think this was Thursday night. Jeff hiding from the rain grilling some chicken. Yum. 

 

I've been swimming laps at the outdoor pool a bit. Yesterday I went for an hour. It felt good. But the air actually felt a bit chilly when I got out. I had to come home and sit in the hot tub. Have I mentioned how much I love my hottub? Love!

We technically start work again tomorrow. Boooooo. Oh well, summer sadly can't last forever.

PUMPKINS!

Some of my friends and I started this silly little pumpkin patch down at the community garden. We had delusions of grandeur, and it turns out thus far this summer we've just struggled to keep the darn things watered. Today, my friend Linda and I decided we needed to get that garden in order! So, we went down this morning and had a huge weeding party. The before and after is pretty impressive. And, it seems like we're going to at least have a few pumpkins. I hope to carve one. 

Gardening is something I really enjoy doing, and I look forward to hauling a baby around my garden patches. I can just picture him chilling out and enjoying the sights and sounds and smells while I wrestle with a thicket of weeds :)

 

BEFORE! (seriously, you can't even tell the difference between the pumpkin plants and the weeds)

 

AFTER! (omg! pumpkin plants!)

 

Isn't it the cutest?! We have 7 of them growing.

 

I was sweaty and tired and look like a crazy person here. But Linda (behind me) looks hard at work. 

Summer Pics

I just cleaned some pics off my phone (I'm horrible at doing that...left to my own devices I have like 1000+ photos on my phone). I found a few I thought I'd share. Kind of random :)

My mom came to visit this summer and help us move. This was the day we went to the U-Pick Flower garden and picked a bunch of bouquets. She's cute :)

It was my birthday on Sunday. I went to the outdoor pool and swam some lazy laps, then I came home and we ate hotdogs and played scrabble on the deck. Like old people.

I'll try to get a brighter picture than this one! But this is the baby's room. I'm not all that into gendered colors (pink/blue) but this room was already blue, so there you go :)   We are crib shopping right now. The crib will go where that grey dresser is, and the grey dresser will become the changing table. It's a great room and right next door to ours.

I'm sitting at the dining room table and this is the view from here. Jeff is working on his laptop trying to get his courses prepared for fall. I really like our new living room. I'm looking forward to it being chilly enough to put the fireplace going!

A few weeks ago, Jeff and I walked down to the park to watch Mary Poppins. The Pullman Parks & Rec puts on kid-friendly movies every Friday night in the summer, and Jeff had never seen Mary Poppins so we went down. We only made it an hour in though and then got too cold and came home. We should've brought a blanket! Next time.

Ok, that's it for random photos for the day :)

Wednesday, Cloudy, Rainy, Lazy

We only have 10 days (!!!) until WSU starts up again. I realize what a crazy luxury it is to have summers off, but wow, it's really hard to go back. I am teaching two classes in the fall, along with a bunch of administrative work. Jeff is teaching three. It's a new job for Jeff, so he's nervous and excited. Meanwhile, we're trying to enjoy these final days of summer, even though today doesn't feel much like summer at all. It's chilly, rainy, cloudy, and almost fall like. After days of 100 degrees though, I think I'm ok with this.  At least for now.

Today we both slept in a bit, Jeff walked the dog around the neighborhood, I did some work email, and then we both went to the gym. I'm trying to get back into better shape as I've been so busy this summer I never really worked out as much as I like to. Today I swam quite a bit and feel pretty good about it, but now I'm STARVING. We're home for the afternoon, just taking it easy. We'll probably both work on some course prep, make some dinner, watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (we are on season 5), and then we're invited to our friend's Keri and Andy's house later this evening to catch up. They just got back from visiting family in New York so we want to hear how their trip went. 

Oh, and hey, here's a picture of me finishing the Sandpoint Longbridge Swim a few weekends ago. It is a 1.76 mile swim. I finished, but not as fast as I would've liked (see the part about not being in shape right now). Still, top 1/2 of my age group so that's ok. See how tired I look? But so happy? That was about right.

Anyhow, I thought I'd start up this blog to just give you a glimpse into what our daily lives look like, what we're up to, etc. I'll also get more pics of our house, our neighborhood, etc. I thought maybe it would help you envision our lives a bit more. Maybe it'll be helpful? Maybe not? Worth a shot :)