Building the Deck

We got our backyard deck built over this memorial day weekend! It came out awesome, I'm loving it! Here's a picture review of all the work:

On Friday at lunch time the concrete came...4 wheelbarrels full:

Ben and I worked together Friday afternoon getting the concrete in the holes, and setting the base piers for the corner posts to go in later:

It is an exact science making sure they're all not only in the correct spot, but also at the right hight, and level!

Last view of our pre-deck backyard:

Andi watching us from her high chair with her new outside toys:

Playing on the redwood boards:

Eric Garris stayed with us for the weekend, and was a tremendous help getting it all done! While the concrete was setting Friday evening he and Ben went to Cheyenne to buy the rest of the redwood lumber for the decking, and on Saturday they worked together ALL day long.

The beginning is there!:

Measure twice, cut once! :)

Andi and I were there pretty much to make sure the men stayed fed and hydrated well enough to get their work done, but on Saturday afternoon Andi got sick and threw up, and was just feeling miserable. Because the weather wasn't all that fantastic outside anyway, I sat her in her highchair in recliner position by the window so she could rest and watch her daddy and Eric work. It was a pretty nice spot...

The progress by Sunday morning...the 'skeleton' is up! :

Sunday morning Ben and Eric went to church (I had to stay home with sick Andi), and after church Tom and Marilyn came over, and we had a delicious lunch of home made fried chicken, cole slaw, corn on the cob and bread. The three of us:

After food, it was time to get to work again! (fltr: Eric, Tom, Ben)

While the men worked, us ladies did our share of visiting and stitting in the sun! In shorts and a Tshirt enjoying the beautiful day! We brought out the playpen for Andi to sit in (thistles and dog poo in the grass), but she didn't last very long in there.

Soon she was back playing on the boards:

Our cutie in her pink shorts:

Practising her walking:

By Sunday afternoon Ben and Tom noticed that we were starting to run low on screws, so I went to town to buy some more... we needed about 20 lbs more of screws ... I went to ACE hardware, but they were almost out of stock. I ended up buying their last 2 lbs. I then went by Bloedorn and Probuild, but since it was a holiday weekend and a Sunday, they were both closed. Since we needed screws to continue the work, our only option then was to drive all the way to Cheyenne to get more. I wasn't too happy about this, since it was SUCH a beautiful day out, but alas, Marilyn, Andi and I packed up the car and headed out. On the way towards the highway though we drove by Probuild again, and I noticed the owner of the store out in front marking his parking lot. The store was still closed, but I figured it was worth asking, so we pulled over and I asked the nice man if he maybe had some screws for us to buy so we didn't have to drive all the way to Cheyenne. And he said yes! And, he had plenty of screws in stock! Yay! Praise!

On Sunday evening some more of the crew came out to help .... fltr: Eric, Tom W., Travis, Ben, and they finished putting up all the decking:

The progress by Monday morning: the decking is done, now "all" that's left is building 2 benches, and the 2 stairs!

Hauling in more redwood:

Andi enjoying the deck, the men in the background working on the bench.

Working on the other bench: Tom, Travis and Ben

By Monday afternoon she was all done! Isn't it a beauty!?!

Sideview with another set of stairs and a bench:

Of course we had to break in the new deck right away, so we had a little bbq!

Tom and Marilyn:

A few friends were there also, the Linds and the Watsons:

Jo and Sarah playing with a few blocks:

Having some burgers and hotdogs with friends...I think we'll have to do this a lot more this summer!

Eating some food on the bench:

Thanks everyone who helped us build it! I love my new outdoor living room!

Moving on ...

For one, from a not so user(kid)friendly back yard to a fun one! We are finally all set to build a deck, and are so excited about it! We have been wanting to do this ever since we moved in (what is a Bryan/Mooiweer family house without an outdoor living room?), and especially since having Andi, a nice deck for her to play on would be very nice. Last weekend we went to Cheyenne to buy the first bits of lumber for it, of course to be inspected by miss Andi:

Telling us all about how we should go about building this deck....

Moving on ....

I have written a post before about how Andi has a favorite drawer in almost every room of the house that she likes to empty out all the time. Of course there is also one in our bedroom. It is almost a daily routine that she goes in there and does her thing....see pictures. Though I was not quite sure about posting these pictures showing the contents of this drawer on the world wide web for whomever to see (since Andi of course picked as her favorite drawer my underwear drawer), I thought to myself "well, what's the big deal...everyone knows what underwear looks like, nothing to be embarrassed about :) " ... they were too cute :)

Riddle me this though: as soon as she gets her hands on a pair of my underwear she immediately puts it on her head, and parades around with it endlessly like it is the prettiest, most fashionable piece of headwear yet, but, when we are out in the sun and she has to wear an actual hat, as soon as she realizes it is there, she hates having it on, and will fight me for it taking it off!

Notice one pair around her neck, and one pair on her head:

Two pairs around her neck, 1 on her head :)

On a different note, this has been quite our week: Andi and I have both been battling a pretty stout cold, and on top of that Andi got mastitis! Her little nipple and surrounding area were red and inflamed, and she had almost a pea sized lump in there as well. I thought this was something *fun* reserved just for nursing moms, but apparently even little baby girls can get this. Pretty amazing to know that everything in her anatomy is already there! She is on the mend now though, and feeling better.

Also moving on, on a bittersweet note: Andi is almost weaned. I think it will only be a matter of days now and she will be done nursing. We had been down to two nursings a day for a while now, that she and I still really enjoyed. It was always my intention to keep nursing her for as long as she wanted to (within a certain limit of course). I had heard from others that at some point their kids started to wean themselves and figured that would be a good option for us too. That however never seemed to be the case with Andi, as she has always been a fantastic nurser, just loving every minute of it, snuggling up. So, I was starting to wonder if this whole weaning thing was something I had to be more active about by actually cutting her off?...I mean you have to stop at some point...but what point? ... but I didn't really feel like cutting her off! We were doing just fine :) But, I guess a praise to me: starting this week, all of a sudden she is taking control herself I guess, and showing FAR less interest in nursing, and things are coming to an end quickly. We nurse once a day now, but really I think that is more for my sake than hers. :) Again, bittersweet. I think it is so fun that she is getting older, moving on and developing (she is SO close to walking!), but those moments with just the two of us will definitely be cherished.

Snap Happy

I've been a little picture snap happy lately, and here is the result :)

The guys before leaving on their road trip to Minneapolis to help move the Winegars:

A little bird flew into our window, and Andi and I had fun watching it recover out on the concrete...first I thought it was about to keel over, leaning on one leg, but after about 10 minutes it flew away :)

Climbing the stairs with daddy:

A couple of days in a row Andi wasn't very keen on taking a morning nap. After not being able to run for 2 weeks with shin splints, then bad weather, after 2 days of very short treadmill runs due to no naps, on the 3rd day I was *ITCHING* for a nice sweaty run, so I finally just decided to give the TV a try...parked Andi in front of it. Sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do :) First run watching Dora the Explorer :)

On Friday we went swimming with Lori and Jaime....Love the pool!

And...sleep, sweet sleep:

The weekend.

Friday afternoon after work we and the Ennists headed up to Guernsey and stayed with Debbie's parents (John and Kathy) for a night because the guys wanted to install a hitch (that John had) in the back of their pickups. I guess this is the place to install a hitch, because not only is John an excellent mechanic, but apparently he also has a shop many men dream of, with a tool for every job. Of course while the men worked, us ladies and kids did our own thing, and at mealtimes all of us were treated to absolute feasts prepared by Kathy.
I can see why Debbie loved growing up here, because the place is absolutely gorgeous: rolling hills of green, fields of wheat and fields of prairie with cows, small canyons in between, all with snowcapped mountains in the background. Of course it is still in Wyoming and it was quite windy, but that is beside the point.
Saturday morning Debbie's grandpa took us ladies and kids all in his pickup to go feed their cows. Quite the little search hunt to find all 67 cows to feed on such a large chunk of land! It was a beautiful drive. Andi didn't like the ride that much, since it was bumpy and during her naptime, but as soon as we would spot a cow coming up over a hill, she'd start smiling and pointing her little finger in excitement! It really was fun to see all those cute little baby cows walking alongside their mommas!

Andi sitting on the back of the pickup next to Debbie, pointing her little finger at the cows, with Debbie's grandpa feeding the cows in the background.

Cutie.

Little miss tongue and I

Debbie feeding the cows. Moo...

On the ride back home to Laramie, Tyler wanted to ride in the pickup with us. After a little while though we noticed things sure got quiet on the back seat:

One more random picture from the weekend...the little ruffle butt playing in the kitchen drawers:

Leaving the mess a mess.

I firmly believe that during spring time in Wyoming, when a surprisingly beautiful, sunny, calm day appears in between days of (forecasted) wind and snowstorms, it is perfectly OK to leave the house mess a mess, and head outside to the park to play! So that's what we did today :)

Princess in her ride:

Playing with sticks:

On the swing!

Some tongue action:


Wohee!!

(videos here)

Because really, who likes being stuck inside?

(taken last week..cold and windy! And yes, my windows are covered in Sage slobber)

Springtime update

Ahh, spring is in the air, and Ben's weekend of stress (OCS and the PE exam) is behind us, so time for a blog update!
We have been enjoying several gorgeous spring days outside already. Andi loves to be outside, and always starts squealing when we have to go back indoors. We take walks with the stroller, go to the park and sit in the swing, or take her sheep bike or walker out on the driveway and sidewalk in front of our house so she can explore on her own...yay rocks and sticks!

Sunday: who has time to eat lunch (bib around her neck) when there are rocks and sticks to play with!


Monday afternoon: Playing outside with Sage


The girls watch as daddy washes the truck.


I tried to capture some of the fun on video here, but I'm always a little too late :)

Of course it is still spring time in Laramie, so days of sunshine and warmth come in between days of snow, wind and cold, so we still play inside a lot too. Andi still races around the living room in her walker, loves to empty out every drawer she can get to, and is now very good at pulling herself up, and is starting to take steps along furniture and climb the stairs. She also loves music and dancing, and as soon as any type of rythmic tune comes on the tv or radio she starts bopping to it. Last week though I cought her sitting on her knees, with her hands behind her head in her neck, twirling her little hips to the music...though it looked too cute, that sort of dancing seemed a little inappropriate for her age :) (of course you never have a camera on hand when such things happen!)
Some more pictures of this week -
Playing in the tub:


She loves to dip down and eat soap bubbles.

One of her favorite drawers....so much fun all those poker chips, napkins, and mom's chocolate making tins!

I have also gone on a couple of (shorter distance) stroller runs with Andi again, and I'm so glad she enjoys those! I {heart} running outside, and hopefully some day she will run right beside me :) Once a week, usually saturday morning when Ben can stay home to watch Andi I go on a long(er) run all by myself...glorious! I guess I overdid it a little bit this week though, as I'm currently sitting here with a bag of ice on my shin because of shin splints...darn shin splints...even just walking hurts. Guess I'll be taking a few days off :(

Easter 2010

For Easter this year we decided to get away the three of us, and we spent the weekend in a small cabin along the Poudre River in Colorado. Ben and I had spent Easter in that area before, and that year we had a great time in the sunshine along the river, so I was hoping the same for this year, envisioning Andi playing with the rocks by the riverside. Well, so much for living in this part of the country and being in the mountains, because instead we got hammered with wind and snow. I guess we truly got our money's worth out of that cabin, because we spent a lot of time inside it :) We did have a great time though, and I think Andi thought it was the greatest, being in a small space, playing with mom and dad ALL day! We ate lots of yummy food, and just relaxed. The temperature wasn't too cold, so we did go out for a little bit, exploring the area around the cabin. We had been itching to try out this new backpack that we got from good friends the Mortensons after Andi was born, and it rocks! I love it! Can't wait to take Andi out in it on a real hike this summer!

Our cabin:

The happy family. Andi's not too impressed having to smile into the wind :)

By the river.

Awesome backpack!

The cabin we stayed in was a 1 bedroom, so Andi 'slept' in the room with us. Night times didn't go too well as it always takes quite a while before Andi gets used to a new sleeping environment, so by morning time, Ben and I both exhausted, Andi came in bed with us, snuggled lots and finally fell asleep = smiles on our faces.

Easter morning we celebrated Jesus' resurrection together and had a glorious breakfast. After that we hoped to get out for at least one hike that weekend, but instead we got pummeled with lots of snow, and while it felt like we had packed our entire house for just that one weekend, we hadn't actually packed the snowsuits and snowshoes, so we just drove home. I guess Andi was tired from all that not-sleeping, and she took the best nap in the car:

With dolly.

Look at that face :)

Just to throw in some Andi updates: It's been so fun lately as she just loves to cuddle! She'll gently rest her head on your shoulder when you hold her, and will completely melt your heart when she also pats your shoulder, giving a true hug :) Her girly side is coming out as she will also do this with her dolly...she will pick her up, and hug her and pat her back!

She's getting better and better at pushing herself up to a stand, and with help can pull herself up, and is getting eager to learn to walk along furniture.

Sometimes though a little too much personality is coming through and she can get quite upset over not having her way, especially when sweets are involved :) I guess she can't help it with a mom whose babybook is full of things like "Wiesje likes her sweets, and would love to start the day off with a breakfast of lollipops and licorice." Oy.

See also new short videos of Andi here