This is us in 10 days...

That's right. Christmas plaid shirts and sunglasses.
Sunny SoCal, here we come!!
Family, friends, Disneyland and a wedding! Really? Could it get any better?!

Meanwhile, Ethan is battling a double ear infection and a nasty accompanying cough. But he's on amoxicillin and the left ear is a pretty minor infection according to the doctor (who, by the way, was very impressed with Ethan's alphabet knowledge and vocab. {yay!} Always good to hear that.) Hopefully it's all cleared up in time for Christmas and our roadtrip.

Bon Voyage, Elder Collura

Salvatore Sebastiano Collura

aka: Tore-Bore, Uncle Tory, Elder Collura

Where do I begin?
Tory is like the little brother I never had. He even towers over me (as "little" brothers tend to do) at about 6'1" and can be relentless with his teasing and jokes. At the same time, though, he would do just about anything to help our family out. In fact, it was "Uncle Tory to the Rescue!" a few weeks before he left for his mission when Ethan had locked himself in the bathroom. I hadn't started to panic... yet. But I'd tried taking the doorknob off and using a gift card to slide past the lock and neither had worked (the doorknob screws were in an awkward location). So, short of kicking the door in, I called up Tory since Sean was out of town. He was over in a heartbeat, complete with tools.

PS: This is what we found once we got the door open. Ethan had had way too much fun being unsupervised in the bathroom!

Tory has been a great friend to our family over the years. Often, long after Ethan had gone to bed, Sean, Tory and I would talk late into the night and I really enjoyed those chats. It also became pretty standard once Sean and I inherited our piano for Tory and Sean to have "jam sessions" with Tory on the keys and Sean belting out some musical number. It was great. Front row seats to my own personal concert.

Tory's last Sunday before leaving for his mission.

And we got to be part of Tory's whole pre-mission preparations. Having no brother of my own, it was very special to be with him as he received his mission call, received his endowments in the Portland temple, was set-apart as an Elder and said his farewells at the airport.
We will miss him dearly, but know he is much needed in the mission field and that is where he should be. The people of Paraguay are lucky to have him!!
As we said our "goodbyes" and "see ya laters" at the airport there was quite a group gathered for his departure - all his family and a few friends. At one point some random lady even made the comment to his mom that he must be a very important person to have such a crowd see him on his way. Well, we sure think so!

10 looooong years

That's how long I've been at my current job.
Hard to believe, huh?!
Let's see... 10 years working here, divided by 27 years old = over 1/3 of my life working for the same company!

And I've come along way. I started out as just a clerical assistant in the office doing small jobs - filing, data entry, etc. It wasn't long before I was trained on processing warranties - a task I have now been doing the majority of the past 9+ years. At one point, I even worked behind the service counter as a service writer dealing with customers. I actually liked that quite a bit, but it's a tough job to do as a woman. Especially a young woman - I think I was barely 20 when I first started. Customers (especially males) would literally look past me as they asked if there was someone who could help them. I learn quickly and even though I couldn't help them with the mechanical side of things, I knew the unit models very well. Especially Yamaha bikes since I'd been around those my whole life. [Quick background story: my grandparents Toftdahl owned their own business - a Yamaha motorcycle/ATV dealership and my dad was the general manager. They sold the business back in 1999 and my dad and I went to work for the new owners.] I had to bite my tongue when one customer thought he was doing me a favor by spelling both "Yamaha" and "Banshee". Duh! Like, this is totally my first day! (said while smacking gum... I should've smacked him!) And another guy (upset customer) had the nerve to tell me, "I know you can't do anything because you're at the bottom of the totem pole..." Jerk.

But, eventually I moved back into the accounting office with much more additional responsibilities. I was still just considered a clerical assistant. We had an office manager and I think both an A/R and A/P person. I still remember the first A/P account I balanced. It was for Suzuki parts and it was a mess. The payment for it was past due and the office manager just gave me all the paperwork she had on it and asked if I could try and match their statement to what we showed due in the system. So I did. I was able to match up everything and then point out all the discrepancies. We cleaned up that account and got them paid. I didn't know at the time I was doing the A/P person's job. I didn't even really realize I was doing accounting. But the next thing I knew, the office manager was asking if I'd be willing to take a pay raise and take over Payables entirely. I said yes, within a short while the other lady was let go and the rest is history.

I've been doing accounting, both A/P and some A/R, for over 5 years now with just on the job training. In college I was working on a criminal justice degree and general science bachelor's. I have not taken a single accounting class. I helped create and define this position and now have even been asked to be part of the hiring process. Not bad.

I think hitting my 10-year mark is kind of a good way to end things, even though I'll still be working there part-time. I am more than ready to be a part-time or more stay at home mom! Linda gave me quite the compliment the other day as we discussed me no longer being full-time and moving to Washington. She said, "It will be the end of an era."

A Small First

This morning Ethan had a small, but fun first. We were rushing to get out the door, as always, and I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom. I told Ethan to hurry and go get his boots. He ran off and I honestly didn't expect him to even bring his boots back for me to put on him. Imagine my pleasant surprise when he comes back with the boots on! Granted, they were on the wrong feet, but that just made it even cuter. :)

Our Next 5 Weeks....

* This week: Sean's last week of work with Willamette ESD, my busiest week of the month at work, last 5th ward Enrichment meeting, more packing.

* Next week: Sean training at Washington School for the Blind all week, last 5th ward Christmas dinner, lots more packing.

* Week of Christmas: Sean off, finish house packing (fingers crossed), pack for California, CHRISTMAS!, leave for California.

* Last week of December: CALIFORNIA!!, Disneyland, lots of fun family time, Alysha's wedding.

* First week of January: Sean officially working in Washington, moving that weekend (hopefully).

Deep breaths. Must. Remain. Calm.
I have naturally thin hair, so I can't afford to pull any out!

Our goal is to have most of the house packed and our bags packed for SoCal by Christmas Eve. I made a lot of progress this weekend but there is still so much to do! I got most of the dishes packed up. We're now eating off of paper plates and I left a stack of bowls and some glasses out. Of course, we have lots of holiday baking to do, so I can't pack up any of that stuff just yet. Which is another thing I want to try and work into our busy schedule - holiday baking is a must! :)

How 'bout them DUCKS?!

We don't watch much sports in our house (really nice to have a hubby that likes watching Grey's or Ugly Betty as much as I do!) but you can bet that on a Saturday during college football season the Oregon Duck game is on our TV screen! They're about the only football team that we really follow and root for. Last night was the big rival game between the University of Oregon Ducks [cheers and applause] and the Oregon State Beavers [booing and tomato throwing - just kidding!]. This year it was on home turf, so the famous Autzen crowd didn't disappoint as they cheered on the Ducks. We stayed in for the night (once I got home from work, picking up Ethan and a quick trip to the grocery store), donned our Oregon apparel and had our friends Tim, Danae and their little boy, Sam over for the big game! Now, don't get me wrong. We're not seriously anti-Beaver fans. We root for OSU whenever they play any other team (we always root for an Oregon team over another state) but when it comes to the civil war game, we bleed yellow and green!!

GO DUCKS!!

Final score: UO - 37, OSU - 33
Which makes Oregon the Pac-10 Champions and ROSE BOWL bound!! Woot, woot!
[A bit of trivia for the non-Oregonian readers of our blog: Do you know the history of The Duck mascot and why we're the only collegiate team that has an official agreement with Disney for use of the Donald Duck character? Click here to read all the info.]

Ethan's Christmas Lingo - defined

Christmas Milk = Egg Nog













Christmas House = 1. Any house with Christmas lights. 2. The inside of our house, since it's decorated for Christmas. 3. Our wooden advent calendar (which has a fun treat in it every day).







Sockings = Stockings













Christmas Boy = Ethan when he wears his red Christmas jammies [I apologize for the poor quality phone pic.]










and my personal favorite...

Snow Flowers = Snowflakes

Granite Countertops or a Garage?

So we went rental shopping in Vancouver Friday afternoon... We looked at four different places. Two townhouses, 1 small duplex and 1 bigger duplex. We decided the small duplex was out because there was no garage, the washer/dryer was in the kitchen (not even hidden by closet doors!) and it was just too small! [Not too mention that I could not stand the landlord. One can only stand hearing "Duuuude." in a conversation so many times.] The bigger duplex was ok... just not quite what we were looking for and had a HUGE side yard we'd have to take care of and we don't have a lawnmower. So it was between the two townhouses - both 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bathrooms with a garage and roughly the same rent.

We talked it over most of the way home, well, after a side trip to eat dinner at Five Guys! Yum, yum those were some good burgers!! I wish someone (ahem, Christine) would've warned me to get the "little cheeseburger". I made the mistake of ordering just a plain cheeseburger and it was huge! How was I supposed to know their standard burger is a double?! It was good, even though I didn't get close to finishing it. And two thumbs up on the fries. :) Anyway, we pretty much had it decided between the two places.

Then, last night we're looking some more online and stumble upon another place worth looking into. Much, much newer. Two bedroom, 2 full bathrooms, fireplace, washer/dryer hook-ups and nice kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, but no garage. This unit is also part of a nice complex with a clubhouse, pool and jacuzzi, playground, fitness room, etc.
So... side by side comparisons

Townhouse
- 2 bed
- 1.5 bath
- washer/dryer hook-ups
- garage
- older kitchen
- no fireplace
- garbage paid
- no special amenities

Flat
- 2 bed
- 2 bath
- washer/dryer hook-ups
- NO garage
- modern kitchen
- fireplace
- not sure if any utilities paid
- pool/jacuzzi + clubhouse + fitness room + playground

Rent is the same. Square footage is about the same - both are bigger than our current place. But, does an older place with a garage outweigh a newer place with some nice amenities but no garage? Can we live without a garage? Really, the only thing that is in our garage now is our food storage and then everything else that's stored out there is already in big rubbermaid boxes.

What to do, what to do... Thoughts??

Change of Plans... What's New?

Ok.
Remember that last post?
No, not the one about Ethan sleeping with his bum in my face.
The one just before that.
Where I said we were moving.
In less than 30 days.
[Go ahead and scroll down to check.]
Yeah, that one.
Well......
Change of plans.
We're still moving.
Just a little farther north.

Sean got a new job!!!!

Yep, another one.
And I have to brag a little here. My awesome hubby interviewed for a job in Vancouver, WA. That's right. Not even in the same state. And he was one of 20 candidates. :) And a week ago Tuesday we learned he was one of the final two... And last Friday they offered him the job. Yahoo!!

So Salem is out.
Portland/Vancouver area is in.
Time to rental hunt. Again.
But at least the packing is already under way!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, here's the plan...
We'll stay in our current place an extra month or so (the landlord was actually pretty happy to hear that since they still haven't even rented the other half of our unit) and through Christmas. Side note: This will actually be our first Christmas morning in this house. We've been here for four Christmases, but two were spent in SoCal and the other year we stayed the night at my parents' house. This year, though, we are having our own Christmas morning before heading over to my family's. Then we'll be back in SoCal for post-Christmas festivities and Alysha's wedding and then we'll [hopefully] move the week after we get back.

So, basically the next 6 weeks are going to be CRAZY!
But we're super excited about what this new job and move mean for our family.
1. I'll only have to work part-time! This is huge. I have worked or been in school and working full-time since I graduated. This means WAY more time home with our little boy!! [And as several church members, a co-worker and some family have pointed out - more time for another addition to our family... hint, hint - nudge, nudge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get it. Keep your shirt on. Patience is a virtue, etc. etc.!]
2. Sean will have a 10-minute or less commute to work for the first time in our marriage. I know, what a concept, right? Living and working in the same town!
3. A brand-new city and state to explore!
4. Closer to PDX airport. Hint, hint - nudge, nudge to our out-of-state family!
5. Closer to the Portland Temple.

This should be our last change of plans for a while... We're ready for a little more stability!

Toddler Sleep Issues... Help!!

Ethan has developed a bad habit. It started with him just climbing into our bed occasionally at 5 or 6am. Then it became 2 or 3am, but Sean would take him back to bed. Then, on the nights that Sean wasn't home I'd let him just stay in our bed (after that initial 2am wake-up call) since there was extra space. Now, it seems, we have a "family" bed and a toddler bed that is just used for naps.
ARGH!!
I want my bed back! With no little body in the middle sleeping diagonally and his elbow, foot or bum in my face.

I really don't want to have to start sleep training again. It's so frustrating, because he's still a good sleeper, he just prefers to be snuggled in between mom and dad right now.

We've tried some "tough love" with letting him sorta cry it out. We've tried sugary-sweet nice with extra stories and back rubs. We've tried a brighter night light and brought in the CD player to give him some "sleepy music". Last night we had the most success of keeping him in his room. Sean and I did almost a good cop-bad cop. I got Ethan his night light and sleepy music and extra hugs, etc. Sean stood guard at the door to halt all attempts at escaping into our room and bed. It took a while, but Ethan FINALLY fell asleep sometime close to 11pm - 2 hours after we'd first said family prayer. Oh, and he fell asleep on the floor. Nice.

Ok all you moms, aunts, grandmas, etc. of toddlers... any advice?? I know consistency will be key. [Which means not letting him sleep all night in our bed when Sean is gone!] But does anyone have any good tricks?

Tell Me I'm Not Crazy

Ok.
Well, maybe I am. Crazy, that is. But that means Sean is too!
Anyway.
It is official.
Our 30 day notice is in.
Has been in.
We are moving.
In less than 30 days.
Gone.
As in no longer a Springfield resident.
In less than 30 days.
For the first time in my life.

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Ok.
I'm done now.
Just know that we are busy.
Packing.
Trying to find a new place.
What?
I didn't mention that?
Well, yeah.
We don't actually have a new place yet.
But we plan on it.
Our application is in.
It's approved.
We just haven't signed any paperwork on it.
And the previous tenants won't be out until December 1st.
We're moving on the 5th.

Wish me luck!
And pray that I keep my sanity.

PS: Have you seen my latest posts?? Yeah. I'm catching up. Check out Halloween and the October Recap below. And don't be shy... they could use some comment love. I could use some comment love. Don't worry - I'll reciprocate, it just takes time with my limited computer access these days. Ok. Thanks. Bye.

October Recap

Ay-yi-yi these last few months have been so stressful and busy! I mean, look at the date - it's already more than half-way through the November and I'm just now getting to my monthly post. But, never fear! The October Recap is here!

* Date-night-movie-of-the-month (because we actaully got one!): FAME

I've never seen the stage version so I don't have anything to compare to, but here's my honest critique: It was hard to follow. They had this main group of characters that they seemed to focus on, and yet throughout the whole movie you never really got attached to any of them. And they'd spend 15-20 minutes on a couple different scenes and next thing you know, it flashes on the screen that it's already YEAR TWO. Gosh, wish my high school years flew by that quickly. I was pretty disappointed. But the dance/musical numbers were all good!

* Temple Trip w/ Tory: On the 17th (my parents' birthday) we got to go with Tory to the temple for the first time. Sean was his escort and his cousin, uncle, me and my mom were also there. Lizzy, Tory's mom and Tory's grandma waited for us and helped watch a very cranky and over-tired Ethan. It was really nice for Sean and I to get to go to the Temple again and especially to be with Tory.
* Random Ethan pictures:

I love this one of Ethan "fixing" his truck. Sean was a good daddy and sat with Ethan to let him play with his tools. :)

Oh the joys of 1pm church. I was finishing getting ready and this was how I found Ethan when I walked into the living room. Church and nap-times just never seem to work out!

Ethan and mommy. :)

That's about it. Pretty short recap this month - all the major events were already covered!

PS: Really looking forward to this month's Date-Night-Movie-Of-The-Month. No, it's not New Moon, though Sean actually wants to see it too. Nope, we're heading to Sandra Bullock's new movie "The Blind Side" this weekend. Yes! Bring on the tissues, it looks like a tear-jerker.

Medeival Times

Ok, we're almost done catching up with October's main events... I promise. Well, actually, errr... I still have the October recap to do. But THEN I'll be done with October.
[I hope.]

So, what's our last major October event to discuss? I mean, I've led up to it pretty well, don't you think? Deterings [apple] orchard... Lone Pine Farms pumpkin patch... pumpkin carving... and finally... HALLOWEEN!!

This year, as you'll recall from my Labor Day weekend post, I bought Ethan's costume very early (as in, I bought it Labor Day weekend). I missed out on what I wanted last year, so when I saw it again this year and it was the right size I snatched it up! Behold, I give you the most freakin' adorable DRAGON you have ever seen! [Of course, he went back and forth between calling himself a dragon and a dinosaur.]

And what's a dragon without...

... A Damsel in Distress as it's captor (and believe me, this little dragon has stolen my heart)!

And, of course, a damsel in distress can't be saved without...
...Her Knight in Shining Armor!! Thanks to my friend Danae for making Sean's smock-thing totally last minute. I just added the ribbon and fleur de lise decorations to complete the look. Danae's husband, Tim, also loaned Sean the pants and boots. Not too bad, huh?

Friday night (after work, picking Ethan up and Sean driving home from McMinnville) we rushed to finish getting our costumes together and made it for the last bit of our church's Trunk-or-Treat party.

Tim, Danae and Sam - Tiger w/ his zoo keepers.

Family pic.

Ethan checking out his loot.

By then, since we were "all dressed up with nowhere to go" we went over to my parents for pictures.

Saturday (the big day) I baked up a batch of homemade chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing. I gotta say, my Dad kinda insulted me by thinking I had made them from a box mix! Unfortunately, after further taste testing, I had to agree with him. Don't know what it was about that recipe, but it definitely had a cake mix taste to it.

My mom.

She wanted a picture with her girls all dressed as witches... Christine had already left for a party though, so it's just Lizzy and I.

Anyway, we got Ethan dressed in his costume again and took him across the street where the fire station was handing out treats and glow necklaces to trick-or-treaters. Then we attempted to stop by some ward members' houses (people we didn't see at the Trunk-or-Treat) but only ONE of the six houses we tried had lights on. Bummer. So we headed over to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Ken's for a quick Halloween visit and to give them some treats. We finally ended up at my parents again for a late dinner and to talk about the...
TOTALLY AWESOME OREGON WIN OVER USC!!! Wahoo!! What a great game!! :)

Pumpkins: From Patch to Porch

Warning: This post has a LOT of pictures. That's what you get once I finally have access to all the pictures I've taken over the last couple months! Oh well, I'm sure the grandparents will like it! :)

So, after our adventure at Deterings the previous weekend, the 2nd Saturday of October we headed out to Lone Pine Farms for pumpkins, cow train rides and beautiful fall weather! What a gorgeous Fall day - sunny, but with a slight chill in the air to let you know this most definitely was not still summer. We set out fairly early again and made our first stop to visit and feed the goats and the sheep. I think this is one of Ethan's favorite parts!

They're always ready for a snack.

Then it was on to the pumpkin patch.

Got mine!

After carefully selecting this year's soon-to-be jack-o-lanterns, we took our gourds to be weighed and Ethan decided to hitch a ride in the wheelbarrow. In the meantime, we saw... a helicopter of all things! Apparently they were doing 10-15 minute rides in the area (for a hefty price that is).

Next it was on to the Cow Train, where Ethan seemed pretty excited, but was a little hesitant once the ATV took off... especially because he was riding by himself. No tears though!

After paying for our pumpkins, along with some farm fresh apples and cucumbers, we treated ourselves to some ice cream cones. Ethan enjoyed a little from both of us!

And before we could go, we just had to stop by the playground. Ethan just made a constant loop - up the ladder, down the slide and repeat.

Two weeks later....
We finally carved our pumpkins. [A temple trip and a round of colds kept us occupied the other weekends.]

Ethan was a good pumpkin guts scooper!

Ethan keeps looking at this picture and saying, "We don't eat pumpkin cheese!"

Hard at work...

A clean slate, just waiting to be carved into jack-o-lantern awesomeness!

Ta-da!! This was my creation.

Sean's creepy, big-eyed alien pumpkin. Ethan loved it.

Ethan's very happy little pumpkin!

Pre-candles lit.

Spooky, huh?