And so life goes on... (UPDATED)

Well, it has been about a week and a half since Kristin last wrote anything on the blog... and I just find myself way too busy to blog most days... but tonight I have a moment.

Last night, after a frustrating time trying to find a home that we can 1) afford, and 2)enjoy for the price Kristin stumbled upon a site from Orem Utah, Prudential Real Estate. She found homes for under 200k, brand new with 3 bed, 2.5 bath with and UNFINISHED Basement (5 Bed, 3.5 bath potential). These homes are also on 1/2 ACRE lot. One problem is that these homes are in the middle of nowhere, no not Vernal, which some consider the middle of nowhere, but we are on the edge of the middle of nowhere. Does that make sense, didn't think so. Well, the Ashley Valley, which is part of the Uintah Basin in which we live, covers the city of Vernal and the suburbs of Naples and Maeser. Maeser is N, W and NW of Vernal. Naples is S, E and SE of Vernal. Confused? Anyway, all the way south into Naples we discovered a new subdivision that is the brain child of Prudential out of Orem. So far, it is just a plan. Well, it will become a reality, slowly, as people begin to sign contracts to build.

Now, the main question is: Would you want a new home, bigger (3 levels) and 1/2 acre for cheaper than a 50 year old home on .25 acres? How about more bedrooms and bathrooms for your buck. Thought so, and we did too! So Kristin and I did the unthinkable and cleared out our checking account for ernest money to put down. We have Lot #17, by choice, in the High Meadows Estates subdivision in Naples Utah. Lot #17 iS the LAST lot on the left as you come in from town on 5000 South APPROACHING 1125 EAST. Anyway, Kristin is super excited, I am taking it in stride. We are impulsive little you know whats, but we had to jump on it.

Look up the lot on Google Earth. Here are the coordinants: (WE CHOSE A DIFFERENT LOT BECAUSE OF THE LOCATION AND WHAT IS ACROSS THE STREET (EMPTY FIELD IS BETTER THAN ANYTHING))

NEW COORDINANTS:
40°22'57.06"N - Lattitude
109°30'19.24"W - Longitude

We may put up the house plans sometime, but it looks like the house may be finished sometime in August.

Stairs, Hair, Chugging, Elmer Fudd, Ponytail, and House

For some of our veteran visitors you will remember the classic Elmer Fudd laugh that originated in early December for about a week. Well just the other day it resurfaced to our great amusement.

You know that sound you make after taking a big chug of cold soda on a hot afternoon? Kind of like a gasp combined with an "ahhhhhhhhh..." Well Ryanna's already got it down and found it incredibly hilarious, as did I.

#1: note Ryanna tossing her lunch on the floor. On this particular day she would only eat Saltines. #2: I swear she tells me the carrot is "yucky" when I ask her to taste it. #3. A colony of stray cats hang out at our dumpster every day. In the morning I set Ryanna in front of the window to watch the "Diddies" but once it is nice out I just open the door and set her highchair there so she can watch the kitties or neighbor kids playing. She does say something like "Diddie" whenever she sees the kitties. What a smart little girl.

Ryanna is usually denied access to the stairs but a few days ago I thought I should start letting her experiment and learn. Well it didn't take much. She climbed 5 stairs within a few minutes of trying. Now about once a day I'll let her climb all the way to the top with me guarding from behind. She's also really into holding our hands and walking from the kitchen to the living room and back. She's growing up!!!

4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 1800 sq ft, 2 car garage, 1/3 acre, built 2007
We're making an offer tomarrow $50,000 below the asking price but on good authority that the seller is motivated and wants to work with us...we'll see if it all comes together. The best part about this home is the large windows and the view. If we get into a house sometime this year we'd love to have visitors!!!

Got a haircut. I like it. I'm still figuring out how to actually do it but yeah...I needed a change.

Pebbles hair!!!!!!! I love all the cute clothes and hair dos on little girls, especially MY girl!

She stands against everything now. Her wobbly legs are getting stronger everyday!

Add the chapstick to the list of things to keep out of Ryanna's sight. If she sees it she grabs it as sneakily as possible and then sucks on it. I take it from her and brace myself for Hurricane Ryanna. hehe

Tagged for the first time

Rules:
A. Post The Rules
B. Answer the Questions about yourself
C. After posting, tag 5 people by going to their blog and leaving a comment.

1. What were you doing 10 years ago??
I was 14 and a Freshman at good ol' TFHS, high school of champions...or something. It would have been around Volleyball season(if you ever need a good story about small town politics just ask me), as well as in pep band for boys basketball. I played clarinet like an angel. ;) Then add in FCCLA, student government, church stuff, BPA, game nights and family time too. I was a busy gal.

2. 5 Things on my To-Do List Today...
- Finish meth article and archive article
- Laundry
- Keep Ryanna content, once an easy task but lately she has been quite the temper toddler
- Exercise (this is usually on my to do list but usually doesn't get done)
- Take Ryanna for a walk if the weather is nice
- Look online at local homes for sale
- Go to Pirates of Penzance tonight on a real date with my husband - cwazy

3. What snacks I enjoy...
Can't think of anything I don't enjoy.

4. What would I do if I were to suddenly be a Billionaire?
Buy a home in Vernal, build a cabin in Montana, buy a condo in Cincinnatti, buy us Reds season tickets, go on all the church history tours, take all my family and friends on a cruise, but FIRST do all the responsible things like setting up savings, college funds, investing, tithing, that kind of stuff.

5. 3 Bad Habits...
Having just ONE more of anything yummy, ignoring my dishes, procrastinating my articles...to name a few.

6. 5 Places I've lived...
Three Forks, Montana, Provo(dorms, Glenhood, Ghetto night club, Married apartments 1,2,3,4), Vernal

7. 5 Jobs I've had...
Pizza artist at Stageline Pizza, Ace Hardware customer service, Laborer/Fork Lift Operator at Luzenac, slave at the Freedom Company, office assistant/tech writer for BYU OIT

8. 5 Things People Don't Know About Me (some people will probably know these things)
- I cut my hair on Thursday and it is really short and I cannot get it into a ponytail. I'll post a picture later.
- I bite my nails
- I was bit by a dog at age twelve and still have a fear of dogs...so why did I marry a dog lover????
- I love to watch makeover shows and wish someone would nominate me for What Not To Wear
- I do not have a green thumb, I look at a plant and it wilts.

I tag Stephanie, Natalie, Melanie, Heidi, and Aderyn

the most wasted of all days is one without laughter - ee cummings

Laughter comes easy in the Baldwin home. Example: Ryanna has discovered the most amazing place for her fingers to hang out...in her nose of course. Not picking, just sitting there. And if we try to stop her she frantically jabs both pointer fingers at her face... we try not to laugh but her determination alone makes us giggle.

Brian tickles Ryanna, throws her in the air, is a live horsey ride for her, and loves to tease me (in good taste of course). My favorite tease is when an exercise commercial comes on TV; the camera zooms in on the hot blonde instructor and in a voice dripping with shock and amazement he exclaims, "HEY when did you record that? I didn't know you were on TV!" I usually respond, "You know, in my spare time."

Day to day life is not perfect. Lately we've been stressed and had a few trials but we have our faith, our family, our friends, and most importantly we have each other.

Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before. -William Butler Yeats

I found the following on the Beckman family website and it cracked me up. If you haven't had a laugh today this should do it!

—

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. [Who receives and sorts through these?] These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year’s [when was that?] winners…

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.

10. [Ickiness warning!] McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth. [This would seem to imply that the “list” is fairly dated. Do today’s high school students even know who Nancy Kerrigan is?]

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Do you ever...

...get in ruts where you wonder why and how the world turns. Now, don't get me mistaken for a suicidal teen, like the one Bro. Taylor thought I was 14 years ago. I am not the slightest bit like that.

My rut includes busier than normal days at work, rude or otherwise abrasive people at work, stuff that doesn't go right at work, learning all that I need to know about work, and people calling up and saying, "F*** ***, you F****** A******. It has happened this last week, and the part that bugs me the most is that someone doesn't like me, or even worse, hates me. But whats bad about me is that these experiences and hard days make for hard times at home. I am a grump and completely wasted. Not physically, but mentally. I have a tendancy to be a people pleaser (at work) mixed with a somewhat self-first attitude (at home) and the experiences that I have mentioned leave those who care about me feeling that I don't care about them.

Now I am not always a people pleaser, I do plenty to bug people who's opinion I don't necessarily care for. But one troubling thing I have found is that those are the opinions I should care about, not the listener of my radio station, not the person at work I deal with once a year. I care about what complete strangers think instead of what my wife, family or church folks think.

There are also a few different meanings of "what they think." Believe it or not, EXCEPT IN SPORTS, I am not a glory seeker. I DO NOT want people to treat me like a celebrity or think I am the most wonderful person in the world. I just want to be accepted. I just want people to say, "yeah, he's a good guy, nice too." I want to be heard. Thats it. The most frustrating thing about my personality is that I love to talk when I get going. You wouldn't think it if you saw me at church or if we met for the first time. I have to warm up to it, and then I can't shut up. I get frustrated when I realize that people don't listen, don't care about what I have to say. As a radio guy I keep it professional, but as a person I just want to explode.

I am a mystery. Not only to loved ones, but to myself.

...figuring out life...
-Brian

Our happenings

I tend to let pictures, videos, and news accumulate knowing I want to share them on the blog. Naturally, I put it off until I realize the post will be gigantic and I'd better do it soon or something will be sacrificed - heavens no! So I'll share a brief update and then overwhelm you with our latest pics and videos, the good stuff. ;)

We've been talking about buying a house now that the market is headed in the right direction. The goal has been to get the car paid off and then apply for a loan this summer. I like to look online for what's out there. This was never a problem before because even if I saw something I liked I knew it just wasn't time yet to even think about it. Well now that I can see the time approaching it has become harder to casually browse the real estate websites because when I see something I like, a little devil plants the idea in my brain that we should go look at it. A week ago I saw a house for sale on a half acre in the area of Brian's office. I'm not one of those "fixer-upper" type people or an "old authentic house" person but for some reason this house is haunting my dreams. We went and looked at it and in a lot of ways it is exactly what I want combined with aspects that are what Brian wants. The price is possibly in our range but only if they are willing to make deductions for new shingles and siding...big expenses I know but the real estate agent hinted that they would probably consider it. For now we are sorting out all the positives, negatives, etc. Tomarrow we are going to the bank for a good faith estimate. We're also asking one of our friends (Josh Graham) to go check out the property with us. He is a real estate guru and will be able to point out things we are ignorant of...aka whether or not we are nuts or have something feasible in front of us. Soooooo....we might have big news later, probably not though, but maybe (but probably not, I have to tell myself to stay objective at this point). PS - I purchased 2 do-it-yourself meth test kits to test the house if we decide we are serious enough to make an offer. I'm not messing with that junk!

That leads me to my other latest. Last week my first meth article was in the paper. It is a 5 article series so if you want to check it out go to http://www.vernal.com/. Should be on the home page. Feel free to leave comments since no one has so far and it doesn't make me look very cool. ;) Another uncool thing about my supposed "series" is the editor forgot to include article #2 in this week's paper...and he forgot to include the expressions article I killed myself to get in on time as well as my weekly archive article. How could he forget you ask? Well he didn't check his junkmail which apparantly my emails are sent directly to...I'm a little miffed considering I've been emailing him my articles since last October. It could be the internet's fault I guess. Anyway, NEXT week there should be a whole bunch from me. I'm embarrassed though because it makes me look like a flake. Why didn't anyone call me when they didn't have the articles they knew I was submitting...deep breath, count down from ten,okay I'm letting go of my anger. :)

One more terribly annoying fact in our household: I am disciplined about dental hygiene. It's just a fact. Brian is less diligent than I, another fact. We both went to the dentist and I have 3 cavities while he has none. I promise he eats as much sugar as I do. It is a plain and simple injustice in my life.

RYANNA'S HAPPENINGS

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"By the time Dad gets home in the afternoon he is a little exausted and ready to chill out for a bit. I happily comply cause my Daddy deserves it!"
"First of all this outfit is so stinkin' cute on me! Second of all I can't get this engine to start!"
"Pretty in pink and in my Sunday best."
Here we are in SLC at the Olive Garden. We met the Meakins and Butlers for dinner. Ryanna had had quite enough at this point. Earlier that day Ryanna had an allergy appointment. It all went well other than the traumatic experience of drawing her blood. We decided to spend the weekend on the Wasatch Front for a little fun...unfortunately, Ryanna was less enthusiastic about our vacation plans.

We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel. Brian found a good deal on travelocity or priceline...I don't remember. Anyway, noone seemed to mind the adorable baby crawling around the fancy lobby. :)
We decided to take TRAX downtown to do some shopping and to get lunch. Ryanna was SOOO tired that immediately after this picture Brian turned her around and she fell asleep on him.
We visited the Adams in Provo. Ryanna enjoyed the high energy of her cousins and also enjoyed the many toys. I couldn't manuever the kids into nicely posed pictures...this was the best I could do.
I now believe that being a dog lover is genetic. Ryanna loves dogs, can point them out in her books, and during our visit to see Brian's dog Shelly she even said "puppy"! I'm now outnumbered....
Look back at pictures of Ryanna last summer and you'll be amazed at how much hair she has now. Blonde hair and blue eyes - what a beauty!

When it comes to fine motor and language skills, Ryanna has been on top of her game. Large motor skills (like crawling, standing, walking, etc) Ryanna has been on her own timetable. Ryanna would get up on her hands and knees from the time she was 8 months old but would get back on her belly before trying to crawl. At her 1 year appointment the pediatrician said Ryanna seems to have loose joints, nothing to worry about but something that would make it more difficult to have the stability to crawl, stand up, etc. Whether that is true or if Ryanna just wanted to take her time she figured out crawling about 3 weeks ago and has been going strong ever since. She also pulls herself up against the couch or in her crib though she isn't into walking. Here is our video of tempting Ryanna with our keys. Once she gets them make sure you note her little touchdown dance (as Brian called it). :)