2009

I've never cared much about celebrating New Year's, but I do like to take a chance to reflect on the past year and set some goals for the new one. Here is my 2009 at a glance:

• New (to us) car
• Making new friends
  
• Spencer turned one
• Two trips to the ER and LOTS of other doctor's visits
• Going to St. Johns for Lindsey's graduation
• Rasmussen reunion in Oregon
• Spencer breaking his leg
  
• Going to st. Johns again for Kate & Zac's wedding
• Running my first half marathon in 3.5 years
• Alan starting the NW Running League
• Lots of trips to the beach
• The frustration of making offers on short-sale homes then waiting and waiting and waiting
  
• Getting a front-row seat to watch Spencer learn and grow

Here's to being SO grateful that we're all currently well and healthy, that we have a nice apartment to live in, and that we have testimonies of the Restored Gospel. And, here's to the start of a bright, new year with endless possibilities and adventures!

Our Christmas

This was our first year spending Christmas as just our little family. While it was a little lonely and we really missed our extended families, it actually turned out quite nice. As we were thinking about our different Christmas traditions and which ones we wanted to incorporate into our own family, I realized that most of my favorite traditions have to do with food. It's just not Christmas without my Mom's sweet rolls.




After seeing me wear an apron for about three days straight, Spencer decided he wanted to try it out. What a cute little baker!




We visited the Santa Land Memorial Room at Macy's in downtown Portland on Christmas Eve. For you non-Oregonians, Meier and Frank used to create a Santa Land at their downtown store every December. It was this huge room on the top floor filled with displays of trains, moving elves and reindeer and a monorail train mounted to the ceiling for little kids to ride. When Macy's bought out Meier and Frank in 2005, they discontinued Santa Land but decided to do a "memorial room" this year. It was pretty lame compared to the real one, but Spencer still loved it.

This is Spencer in one of the monorail cars now sitting on the floor.



His favorite part was the train display. He got really excited every time the train came through the tunnel.



We spent the rest of our Christmas Eve at our friend's parent's house. They made a delicious middle-eastern type meal in honor of the wise-men and then we played Catch Phrase (my all-time favorite college game!) They were so kind and generous to share their Christmas Eve with us.

Christmas morning was great because we got to sleep in until 7:30! Santa brought Spencer this windy train track and a couple of little trains. We didn't have that many presents to open, but it took FOREVER to open them all because Spencer couldn't put down his new toys. He was in heaven!



Santa brought Alan a running hat and some deodorant. Hmmm.




Spencer's very favorite gifts were the matchbox trucks from Aunt Dani and Uncle Scott. He carries them everywhere he goes and plays with them for hours. Thanks guys! Spencer got so many nice gifts from aunts and grandparents. I couldn't take pictures of them all, but thank you so much to everyone.




After we finally got through all of the presents, Alan and I tried out our new running gear (thanks Mom and Dad!) on a short run. Amazingly, it was sunny all day yesterday. Spencer fell asleep for 10 minutes in the stroller and then wouldn't take his nap later. Grrr. Good thing he had so many presents to keep him happy all day.




I spent most of the rest of the day making our Christmas dinner. I've decided that a dinner like this is just too much work for three people more than once a year. It was a traditional turkey dinner.




Grandma and Grandpa LeFevre gave Spencer some new bath toys and he had a great time with them in the tub last night. A hoop with balls and whistling hippos - what more could a little boy want?!




I guess the real reason this Christmas was nice was because it was so simple. We didn't have the stress of traveling or the excitement of seeing family members we miss so much. That made it easier for me to focus on the Savior this year. What a truly miraculous and loving gift His birth was! The sweet feelings of the Spirit are so much better than any present under the tree. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

It's Begining to Look a lot Like...

...someone is ready for some new toys. The old ones just aren't as interesting as cooking utensils anymore. Good thing there's already a large pile of presents for Spencer under our tree!

Our Tree

In spite of the fact that there are Christmas Tree farms where you can cut your own tree around almost every corner here, we chose the easy option and bought our tree from a high school band fund-raiser (Alan's uncle is the band director). They had beautiful trees for only $25 and we found a great one. Here is my buff husband hauling the tree to our car.




Spencer had a great time racing around the tennis courts where the tree sale was held. The poor kid doesn't get to run around outside much anymore because of the cold.



It took us several days to get the tree up and decorated. And, Spencer re-decorates it every day. You can't really tell from the picture, but most of the ornaments are on the top half of the tree. Just the soft, unbreakable ones are on the bottom. Here is my little cuttie waving to Grandma and Grandpa LeFevre.

Notice that the tree is kind of in the middle of our living room. We originally had it in the corner by the fire place, but when our power went out for 5 hours on coldest morning on record for the DECADE, we had to move the tree so we could build a fire. It was 9 degrees here and I realize that's nothing compared to where some of you are, but our apartment is VERY drafty and it felt really cold to us. Thank heavens for a nice neighbor who gave us some logs to burn at 6:30 am! It has stayed that cold all week and I have to admit, that I'd prefer the rain and warmer temps to this. Sad.

Bed Head

He finally has enough hair for it to get messy!

Thanksgiving

We got to spend Thanksgiving weekend at Alan's parent's beach house in Lincoln City. It's just far away enough to feel like we were on vacation without having to travel far. We had some fabulous weather and some not-so-fabulous weather. Alan watched lots of football and basketball, Spencer played with matchbox cars and climbed up and down the stairs, and I read. (Check out Princess Academy by Shannon Hale if you haven't yet. I loved it!) Alan and I got to go on a couple of runs together. We did a 10k in the pouring rain on Thanksgiving morning. Even though we got soaked, that was probably my favorite part of the whole weekend. My sister-in-law, Alicia, was also nice enough to go see New Moon with me. Maybe I'm shallow, but I quite liked it. Sure there were cheesy parts, but it's still really good story.



We had a close scrape with disaster when I nearly burned down the clubhouse by leaving my marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes in the oven a little too long. After the marshmallows were burned to ash and the flames were out, I was able to scrape off the sticky, black mess, put new marshmallows on, and broil them again. I thought the sweet potatoes still tasted great, but I'm sort of the laughing stalk of the family now. :)

Spencer was coming down with an ear infection on Thanksgiving day and was too grouchy to eat dinner with the rest of us (with the exception of Great Grandma's famous strawberry jello!). This is what he did instead. Thankfully, Spencer's doctor was willing to call in a prescription for us, so we didn't have to go home early. Infant's Motrin has been our best friend since Spencer turned 1 and started getting ear infections.




Alan continued continued his reign as family ping-pong champion.




Football and snacks. What a life! I'm glad Alan has someone else to watch sports with now, so I don't feel quite as bad when I don't.




Olives have got to be one of the best kid toys ever.




Reading stories with Grandma and snuggling with the teddy bears on this cute built-in bed.



Alan will probably mock me for this, but it was a really lovely Thanksgiving. Thanks Darwin and Debbie!

Just Goofin' Around

Wearing Daddy's shirt.




Cool dude!








Spencer only took a pacifer a few times when he was a newborn. He discovered this one the other day and thought it was wonderful. Luckily, he wasn't hooked and this was a one-time deal.

Delayed Laughter

The other night, I attempted to make a pasta casserole for dinner. It was an easy recipe I had made before, so I threw it together quickly while feeding Spencer a snack and doing the actions to "Popcorn Popping" to keep him happy. I didn't read every word of the instructions until I took the casserole out of the oven and noticed the pasta wasn't cooked. Upon re-reading the recipe, I found instructions to cook the pasta before adding to the casserole not once, but twice! Twice! I was spitting mad for the wasted food, money and time. Wonderful Alan dug around in the casserole and found the noodles that miraculously got cooked anyway and ate almost the entire dish by himself! He says he liked it, but I think he was just trying to make me feel better. It's pretty funny to me now, but it took a couple of days before I could laugh about it.

I taught a Relief Society lesson on Elder Wirthlin's last Conference talk "Come What May and Love It" on this very subject last fall. I actually thought about his talk while I was so angry, but didn't have any success applying the principles he taught at the moment. At least I thought about it though, right?

p.s. We wound up having plain pasta with store-bought sauce for dinner. :)

Good practice

Alan directed his first official 5k on Saturday. He decided to offer a free race as a way to advertise the running league and get some practice as a race director. About 150 runners/walkers came out. Amazingly enough, the race was rain free! (A down-pour started an hour after the race finished and continued the rest of the day - making it one of the rainiest Nov 7th's on record for Portland. Yuck!) It was pretty cold and windy and those of us doing registration had a hard time keeping our papers from flying away. Next time, we'll use clip-boards. Alan and I learned a lot and have a list of things to do differently in January when the league officially starts, but everything went quite smoothly and Alan is pleased. He has received lots of positive comments and a few new running league registrations from runners.

Thanks so much to Alan's great parents and two sisters who got up REALLY early on a Saturday to help!


Here's the registration table - where I stayed most of the time. It was hard to flip through stacks of race bibs with frozen fingers.






We didn't get any great pictures of Alan, but he did an awesome job organizing and directing. I don't get to see him plan and take charge of big groups like this very often, so I'm always impressed when I do.






And they're off! The winner finished in just over 16 minutes, and he wasn't even planning on running the race until about 10 minutes before it started! He had come to the race to sell gloves from his running store, but decided to run to keep warm. Check out that sunrise!

Happy Halloween...or not

I had no intention of taking Spencer trick-or-treating this year, but we had a Ward party on Friday night so I wanted to dress him up for that. I found a cute, little tiger costume at a yard sale for $4 and thought it would be perfect. Oh, the naivete of a first-time parent! We wound up forcing Spencer into his costume, quickly taking two pictures of a very sad tiger, and then taking the costume off. Maybe next year we'll just get him an orange shirt.



Regardless of the trauma that occurred before the party, we actually had a pretty good time. Spencer enjoyed the bean-bag toss and fish pond at the carnival, but mostly he loved running around throwing a little ball he found.

The best part was that my chili won first place in the chili cook-off! A couple of days before the party, Alan asked me if I even knew how to make chili. Ha! Here's my lovely award - I think I'll frame it and hang it in my kitchen as proof that I really do know how to cook. :)




Here is the recipe if you're interested. (I got it out of the St. Johns' cookbook for any of my fellow Redskins.)

White Chili

Sharon Raban

1 lb. chicken breast, cut into bite-size cubes
1 med. onion
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. oil
2 (15.5 oz.) cans Great Northern Beans
(I cooked dry beans in a crock pot and put 4 cups in)
1 c. chicken broth
2 (4 0z.) cans diced green chili
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. whipping cream
1 bag tortilla chips (optional)


In a large saucepan, saute chicken, onion and garlic in oil until chicken is not pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Serve with tortilla chips.

NW Running League

Some of you know that my amazing husband loves to come up with ideas for businesses he can start. Some of them have been a little crazy - making tarps to cover flat-bed semi-trucks, bowling alleys, and miniature golf courses to name a few. I have to admit that his latest idea sounded pretty crazy to me at first, but I have been proven wrong.

Being the running fanatic that he is and after starting a ping-pong league at work, Alan came up with the idea of creating a running league. As a member of the league, you can earn points toward cash prizes in a variety of ways. It promotes local 5Ks (3.1 miles) that are held on Saturdays and just getting to know other runners in the Portland area. Alan can explain it a lot better than I can, so check out his website: www.nwrunningleague.com.

Alan is directing a kind-of preview race on November 7th. He's gotten a much bigger response than he expected and has 150 people registered so far! We just have to hope that the rain doesn't scare them all away.

The league currently has 16 members. It doesn't officially start until January so Alan's hoping for quite a few more by then. Pass the word on to any friends you have in the Portland area. This is a great way to get in shape, increase your motivation, and meet new people.




I love this guy and I'm sorry I ever doubted you honey!

18-month stats

Spencer had his 18-month checkup yesterday. Here are his current stats:

Weight :: 24.3 lb :: 28th percentile

Length :: 33.5 in :: 83rd percentile

He's one tall, skinny kid!




This is what we did for our Family Home Evening activity last night. (Sorry it's so dark. We really need more light in our apartment.) You'd never know that Spencer spent most of the day crying every time I had to do something besides play with him. Doctor's appointment days are always rough because it's a 45-minute drive there and back Spencer usually falls asleep for a few minutes at some point. Then he won't take his regular nap. I hope we don't have to go back for awhile.

Leaves

A friend invited me to go back to the same park I wrote about in my last post with her to take some pictures of our kids in the leaves. Her 5-year-old and 6-month-old cooperated nicely, but Spencer - not so much. He turned his back to me every time tried to get a picture of his face. Grrr. I didn't get any shots of him smiling and only a few of him facing the general direction of the camera. He did have a fun time walking in the leaves, running on the trails and throwing acorns in the pond though. And, the leaves sure were gorgeous! We're going to try to go back on Sunday for some family pictures, but we'll have to cross our fingers that it's not raining.




Running back and forth on the bridge that crosses the pond.


I have a thing for ponds.



In other news, Spencer turned 18-months-old on Tuesday. He is definitely acting more like a toddler than a baby now. He had his first full-fledged tantrum yesterday when I brought him in from outside before he wanted to come. I think I need to work on developing more patience. Babies are demanding, but I'm afraid a toddler is going to be a whole different ball-game.

On the bright side, it is still so much fun to watch him learn and grow. He consistently says four words now: "this," "yes," "no," and "up." One of his favorite things to do is to help put his toys away! (I'm hoping this stage lasts for a loooong time!) He also loves trucks, buses, balls, stories and running around outside. I think we'll have to get rain coats so we can continue to play outside this winter. Our apartment is feeling small. I love my little Spenny-boy and I can't believe how grown-up he's getting!

Autumn Afternoons

It's a little ironic how much I love autumn considering how much I DO NOT love winter. Autumn is my favorite time of year to run. I love the crispness in the air and the sound of leaves crunching under my feet. I love the trees that are half green and half red, orange or yellow. And, I love the flocks of geese heading south.

Saturday was a typical barely-warm, blustery autumn day so we decided to visit a local park before the rainy season hit. This is my favorite park in Hillsboro. It has trails winding around and between four or five little ponds. It's in the middle of the city, but is surrounded by trees and green space so you don't realize it.



Spencer liked watching the geese and ducks, but wouldn't get down on the ground with them. Those geese are almost as big as he is. I discovered that geese stick out their tongues and hiss at you when they feel threatened. It's a little disturbing.






The cutest almost 18-month-old ever!






Spencer thinks it's hilarious to "run" away from us whenever we ask him to come now. It's not so fun when I need to change his diaper or put his shoes on, but it's a great game for a park trail.

I'm glad we went when we did. It's been a lot colder the past couple of days and the rain starts tomorrow. :(

Conference at the Beach

Alan's parents invited us to spend the weekend and watch General Conference with them at their house in Lincoln City last weekend. It was kind of stressful getting everything done and ready to go at home, but we had a great time once we got there. It's always nice just to get away for a day or two. I have to admit though, that it's getting harder and harder to really listen to Conference with Spencer around. I probably need to read or listen to half of the talks again. Thank heavens for lds.org!

We took a walk on the beach in between sessions and Spencer loved walking on the squishy sand. He's been to the beach quite a few times, but this was his first time being able to walk on his own. I've been trying to get some updated black and white shots for my wall, so here are a couple of my attempts.












Thanks for inviting us and for all of the great food Darwin and Debbie! We had a great time.

Chicken Dance

Dancing is one of Spencer's new favorite things to do. (Can you tell he's my son?!) He's not quite steady enough on his feet yet to really get his whole body into it, but Alan and I love how he flaps his little wings. As you can tell from the video, he has the 2-second attention span of a 17-month-old. He does this little dance for a few seconds every time he hears a tune.

Spencer has just about completely recovered from his broken leg. His limp is gone and he can do all of the essential skills a kid his age should be able to do. He's a little behind because he was off his feet for 6 weeks, but Alan and I have both been impressed with the progress he's made since the cast came off. I took him in for a physical therapy evaluation last week. The therapist said everything looked great and there was no need for therapy. Yay! We're so relieved and blessed that this has turned out so well.

Create

Our Relief Society Presidency used this video of Elder Uchtdorf in Church a few weeks ago. I was touched by his talk during the last General Relief Society Meeting. I thought this video was a great example of someone putting Elder Uchtdorf's words to action and wanted to share it with all of you.

No more mullet

Alan makes me cut his hair and I hate it. I have no idea what I'm doing even though I've been doing it for 6.5 years now. Last week however, I discovered that cutting the super fine hair of a squirmy little boy is even worse. Spencer was in danger of growing a mullet so I had to bite the bullet and give him his first haircut. It was a lot faster than cutting Alan's because I really only had the cut around the edges. Spencer's hair now looks much better, but I didn't do a great job by any stretch of the imagination. I'd be happy to hear any tips you other moms have!


Before:




During: (I was smiling because I messed up, not because I was enjoying myself.)




After: (I'm glad you can't see all of the lines and edges very well in this picture.)

Astoria

We decided to try to escape the rain in Portland and headed to a little town on the coast called Astoria for Labor Day. Alan had only been there once in high school and I had never been, so we decided to check it out. Lucky for us, it was sunny (but not warm) on the coast.

Astoria is famous for being the place where Lewis and Clark ended their expedition across the country. (I thought of you and your research paper while we were there, Mandy!) This column, The Astoria Column, is a monument to Lewis and Clark.




This is the view from the top - 149 steps up. The bridge in the background is the longest of its kind and is 4.1 miles long! Astoria is where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean.




This is a waterfall Lewis and Clark wrote about in their journals. Spencer thinks it's fun to wear sunglasses now. Those are mine.



Spencer's favorite part of the day was throwing pebbles in a little pool of water. He was totally fascinated by the splash. It turned out to be a fun, relaxing day. Now, back to normal life...