"Hylie Workin'!"

We continue to put a ton of TLC into our home.  Geoff has been crazy busy trying to transform our landscaping.

We knew we wanted to get rid of the large, evergreen bushes that covered up half our house, but weren't sure how we were going to tackle such a task.  Geoff took a saw to those puppies and cut them down to the root.  Once he was done with that, we knew we made the right decision to get rid of them, but now how to attack those roots!

Hylie loved being outside and being in on the action.  Whenever she would pick up some "grass" (which is what she called the cut branches) to carry it to the back, she kept proudly saying, "Hylie workin'!"

The missionaries from our ward approached us and said they were asked to complete 5 hours of service to members of the ward each week and wanted to know if we had any projects they could help with.  Oh, did we!

The elders came over one Saturday morning and two hours later Elder Sami, Elder Griffin, and Geoff conquered the roots!  I couldn't believe it!  Now to get going with the new landscaping!

Doesn't it open up the front of our home?  We're loving the change! Thanks Geoff and the missionaries for all you do!

Trip to Denver - May 2014

Ever since we moved to Chicago, Geoff and I have talked about taking a trip back to Denver.  When my dear friend, Meranda, called to tell me she was going to have to go through hip surgery again, I knew I wanted to be there to help her with recovery.

I don't know how much 'help' I was, but it was so wonderful to be with Mer, her family, and other friends for the few days Hylie and I were there.  I was also grateful Hylie got to meet so many sweet friends I miss terribly!

Jan Montgomery, Chris Atencio, Michelle Assaad, Me and Hylie.  These guys were the BEST team-mates EVER when I worked at Walnut Hills Elementary.  The years we were together were truly the best teaching years of my career.

Meranda Peterson, Karen Norris, Diana Moore, and Me.  These gals are the best, most adventurous friends I could ever ask for.  So many memories were made with this clan!

The trip was enjoyable and incident-free until the last night when Hylie didn't sleep at all...I wish I was exaggerating, but truly, we were up all. night. long.  I don't know what the deal was, but she just cried and cried and cried.  I didn't want her disturbing the entire house, so I picked her up and tried to tend to her needs.  She caught on quick that mom didn't want her to cry and that I was willing to do anything to keep her quiet, so the requests started coming in: grapes, milk, show, music, coloring, books, baby doll, toys.  I was not amused.  Every time I put her down, ten minutes later the screaming would start again.  Finally at 3:30 AM, I put her in the car and just started driving.  An hour later she FINALLY fell asleep.  I didn't dare move her from her car-seat until about 5:30.  She slept until about 7:30.  I was so exhausted and I think the lack of sleep brought on some severe nausea.  I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through the flight home.  Thankfully, a sweet brother who served in the Single's Ward Bishopric when I attended came to give me a blessing and I was able to get some medication through my Chicago doctor which enabled me to get through the flight.

I'm still not sure what prompted Hylie's crazy behavior, but I sure hope it never happens again!

Despite that last night, it was such a delight to be back in Denver.  I was always surrounded by the most supportive friends and had some of the best experiences of my life there.  Denver will always hold a piece of my heart.  I'm also grateful that Mer continues to get stronger and stronger and is making huge strides in her recovery!

Easter - April 2014

I'm loving that Hylie's a little older and more aware of what's going on and we were able to involve her more in some Easter festivities.

Our community hosts an Easter Egg hunt, so I decided to walk on down to the park and check it out...along with hundreds of other families!

Hylie enjoyed being outside, meeting the Easter Bunny, seeing a frog (they had a tree frog promoting a new community pool), and watching all the other kids run around.  We took part in the Easter egg hunt and walked away with an impressive total of ONE egg!  Poor thing. (She didn't seem to mind, thank goodness!) Plus, the goodie inside was a hard caramel that Hylie couldn't even eat.  Oh well.  It was all about the experience, right?

She just couldn't get her eyes off her one, prized egg!

She kept asking to see the "Froggie", but when we would approach him, she would turn and run away.  Then when we were a safe distance, she would ask to see him again!

We had our own little Easter egg hunt for her at home where she successfully found all the eggs and it didn't take long for her to figure out how to open those puppies to get to the goods inside.  The following week she made us giggle every time we gave her an egg so she could actually eat her spoils because the minute she would see the egg coming her way, she would put on her cheesy grin and giddily say, "TREEEEEEAT!"

The Easter Bunny was good to Hylie.  She got her own little Adirondack Chair and Princess Ariel and Prince Eric figurines for her Little People Castle.  It's funny watching her try to sit down in her Hylie-sized chair.  She walks up to the chair and when she's about a foot away, turns around and walks backwards towards it.  When she thinks she's close enough, she starts to sit down...but unfortunately she's missed quite a few times.  Hopefully she'll get the hang of it before summer's over!

We enjoyed a beautiful Easter Day service at our church where I was able to conduct the choir.  The choir sang an arrangement of "Behold, the Great Redeemer Die!" which really touched me and helped me reflect on the great sacrifice our Savior made for us so we can return to our Father in Heaven.  I am grateful for our Savior, that He overcame death and enabled us to overcome our sin.  I know He lives and because of Him, we too can live again.

Back to the Blog

Okay, I really don't know what happened.  Life has been chugging along just as normal as ever, but for whatever reason I totally dropped the ball on this blog thing!  I love blogging about our adventures and I love reading other people's blogs--so I don't know how or why I let this get away from me...but hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things.  Now you have to humor me and allow me to catch up on a few things that have happened since, umm, March.

Let's start with Easter...

Baby Talk

Yes, we are thrilled to announce that Baby Woodhouse #2 is due to join our family at the beginning of December.  I'm only 10 1/2 weeks along, but I'm almost as big as I was when I was half-way there with Hylie!  We went to the Doctors on Monday and were happy to see the baby is coming along, healthy and strong!

Couple "Photo Booth" Shoot

I don't know why, but ever since I was 10 or 11, I have always wanted to experience a "photo booth".  You know, the contraptions you climb into through the curtain door, it takes four black and white snap shots of you, and VOILA!  You have this little four inch strip of silly faces and happy memories.  Yet, I never seemed to see a photo booth other than in the movies.  I remember when I was living in Florida and Mom came to visit, we were going somewhere where I suspected there was a high chance we would run into a photo booth, so I pretty much announced to Mom, if we see one--we are experiencing it!  But alas, that photo booth was no where to be found.

I told Geoff that if I can't experience one in real life, I'm going to make up the experience for me!  He is such a good sport and sat on the floor with me as I ran back and forth setting our camera's timer and telling him, "Okay, this time make a funny face" or "This one will just be a regular smile shot".

If I'm going to be 100% honest right now, I don't know that the "Photo Booth" was the important factor here.  No, I think it was more wanting to be with someone who cares about me and I care about them, and that we were capturing a silly moment together.  Now I finally have my fun "Photo Booth" shots...but what's even more important is that I have the man in my life who makes these pics absolutely priceless.

Spring Wreath

Ah, the hope the first day of spring brings.

And the excuse to finally put together the wreath you've had the supplies for several months now!  I'm loving how it turned out!