Everyone Poops, Part 2

I should've posted this movie clip with the book posting. It compliments the book quite well. Silly baby. 

There was an old lady who lived in a shoe

Well, we sure don't live in a shoe. That's a blessing. So, by request of some people...here are pictures of our apartment, in a not so clean state.

The Bathroom. Enough said.

Richard and the love of his life, in our livingroom. It's a nice livingroom.

Our bedroom...in its natural state.

Our kitchen. It may look kinda messy, but it isn't.  Those counters are clean...minus the papers that are on the side. It's my goal to make that counter always clean, and not to be the collection spot of all our mail, papers, etc. We'll see how that goes.  
And finally, the last of our boxes that are occupying our dining room space.  Not that we really facilitate the dining room space, because we don't have any chairs for our table.  Only boxes--so maybe its good that they are there. As soon as they get smashed, I just take them down to the recycle bin, and get a new one. 

On a different note, I got a library card yesterday.  It was very nice to get out of the apartment again. I always enjoy those moments. The only thing is, I didn't know what book to check out. I want to read "Kite Runner" or "Twilight", but both were all checked out. Does anyone have any suggestions??

Richard also got out of class "early" today.  His teacher gave the students an assignment to follow this map around downtown and observe the different art structures that the teacher highlighted.  Initially, Richard was planning on walking around with some students from his class, but instead of following the map, most of the students made their way straight to the parking garage instead.  Dedicated students, huh? So, Richard called me-and Michael & I made our way to downtown.  We spent about an hour walking around. It was fantastic. I love being downtown!

Seriously, Everybody Does It

We spent part of our Sunday at Brock and Layla's house down in 'da ghetto' watching conference and visiting.  Brock made some yummy pizza for everyone, and Layla treated us with the chips and salsa and chocolate. It couldn't have been better. :)  I took a tour around their house (it didn't take very long) and found a book sitting atop their toilet.  

Don't judge a book by its cover-it is quite the hilarious book.  

Hungry Anyone?

When Michael gets hungry, he'll vigorously starts sucking on his hand.  As his hands flail, they'll touch his cheek and he'll turn his head to catch it.

On a different note, we had a dozen apples in our fridge that we needed to put to use. Richard and I don't eat apples straight up very often, so I wanted to try to find some creative ways to put our apples to use.  I found a couple recipes, and the master chef came out of me. Haha, no, not really.  

The first recipe I tried was Bistro Apple Pizza.  It had a garlic oil base and spinach, topped off with cheeses and apples. I added some pineapple on my side of the pizza as well.  Ironically, we really liked the pizza, except for the apple part of it.  

The second item on the menu for the week was Apple Chicken Curry.  It was a very basic recipe with peppers, onions, curry, and rice.  Overall, it was probably my least favorite of the dinners, but mostly because there were too many apples in it.

The last recipe I tried was the one I was the most excited about: Apple, Potato, and Cheddar Soup.  To start, you saute a potato, some celery, and peeled apples together, and then simmer them in chicken broth for 45 minutes.  Then you are supposed to put this mixture into a blender to puree it.  This part turned out to be a disaster for our poor kitchen.  You see it in the movies all the time, where a character turns on a blender, the lid pops off, and the food goes flying right out of it.  Well, that happened to us. 

Anyway-after the cleanup, I took what we had left and added some heavy cream and the cheese, and walah! A soup!  It was actually pretty good--but needed something else--it was kind of tasteless at times.  Saltine crackers to dip in it would've been good.  

Well, that's the end of my experimenting.  I guess I'll just stick to using the rest of the apples in an apple pie--something I know tastes good.  

To Great-Grandma's House We Go

We made a trip up over the weekend to visit Richard's Grandma Hart/Michael's Great-Grandma. Richard asked her, "So how does it feel to be a great-grandma?" In which she responded, "I don't know. This is the closest I've ever been to being one before!"

We had a nice visit, a yummy dinner, and also took some time to look through some photo albums and see Richard when he was a baby. We had some good laughs at pictures of him as he was growing up. It seems in every family photo, he was making a silly face of some sort.

I finally caught it on camera

The Little Boy Smiles

A 63 Dollar Bus Ride

It's almost impossible to park somewhere in downtown Seattle without having to pay for your spot. Richard decided to take the much smarter transportation alternative since he'll be going there everyday--he bought a bus pass! This morning, he had to go to the new student orientation, so he collected his wallet, keys, and new pass-gave us a kiss goodbye and headed out the door.
The bus pulled up, Richard hopped on, holding his monthly bus pass in his hand, trying to find where to swipe it. Right in front of him was a box with a little slit in it, a perfect fit for his pass. So he put his pass up to it, only to have the card sucked right out of his fingers and deposited into the box where all the cash goes.
All the bus driver said was, "Um, no, that wasn't right."

It's been a long time since Richard's been on a bus-and Swedish busses must operate differently too. We can only hope on Monday, that the bus station will have saved his card, awaiting the call from the goofy guy who didn't know what he was doing.  Otherwise, I hope this bus ride was all that my husband had dreamed of, because I sure don't know of anyone else who would pay $63 for a twenty minute bus ride to downtown.  

Growing Up!

I'm on a roll. I just keep thinking of things I want to add to the blog! :)
Remember the pictures I first added of Michael? Well look at how he measures up now! These pics were taken when he was three weeks old. Although he's still little, he isn't SO little anymore.


I just put this picture in because I like the people in it.


And finally, I will add a small story of Richard. I'll title it, "Chair-less in Seattle"
Once upon a time, we left our kitchen/desk chair in Utah, finding ourselves without one here (except for our lovely orange rocking chairs!) However, Richard didn't want to use the orange chairs at the desk for some reason-so he looked for an alternative.

The End

Cousins Galore

Announcing the arrival of Michelle and Hiram's new baby girl. Because of lack of name, (at least I haven't heard any yet) we shall refer to her as Baby Briggs. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it now? I am sure she is a little cutie. I can't wait to see her. After years of putting it on my Christmas list, I finally have a niece!

We have added 6 new people to the Gillespie family in the last 2 years. Crazy, eh? Here are a few of the pictures of Adam and Michael we took when Adam came down for a visit.

Adam is such a bouncy, smiley baby.

Baby Michael is doing, what we like to call, his Superman pose

A New Toy

I (and Michael) were surprised with a gift from the Mahelona's when we arrived to our new apartment. It is a musical jungle baby swing. I was especially excited because it was the exact swing I had been looking at since I found out I was pregnant!

It was the first thing I set up. I don't think Michael is used to so many senses being stimulated at once, with the swinging, the music, and all the bright colors--the first time I set him in the seat, he wouldn't stop flailing his arms and legs. He seems to like it just fine, now, especially staring at the colorful Toucan that swings above him. Hmm, I wonder if that has something to do with me eating Froot Loops the day before his birth.

Baby Blessing

We decided to bless Michael at home, the Sunday before Richard left to Seattle. We dressed Michael in the blessing outfit that Uncle Willie wore-my mom made it. He was a stud. It was a special day.

Seattle-Here we are!

Our apartment is nice and spacious. Richard did a good job. We are so thankful for everyone who has helped us get moved here and in, apartment searching, driving, packing, and then unpacking, babysitting, and filling our cupboards. We're glad to be here.
I'll post some pictures of our apartment soon.