Sunday, July 31, 2011

Buffet

Kensie experienced her first buffet last month at the Mandalay Bay buffet. It was one of the first times we gave Kensie a plate with lots of grown-up food and let her dig in. Her favorite thing to eat were the dinner rolls.We went with Niel's brother Jens and his girlfriend Katie visiting from Alaska. They flew in the night before we headed to the family reunion together to have a fun night in Vegas.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Zumba

I grew up dancing but I never thought of it as my workout because it was so much fun! I hardly noticed breaking a sweat because I got caught up in the movement and beat.

Since I've become an 'adult' (hah!) I've had a hard time finding a workout I enjoy and stick with. I've tried running but hate it. The elliptical is booooring. And I'm not the best swimmer. The point is, I hadn't been able to find any type of workout that I enjoyed as much as dancing.

A month or so ago I got a membership to the YMCA gym. Babysitting was included and they had lots of classes, so I was sold. After attending Zumba a few times I was in love. I finally found my new favorite cardio workout! I would describe it as hip-hop/latin dancing non-stop for an hour. Great music, dancing, and bootie shaking. It feels like a party except you are sweating and getting a great workout. If you haven't tried it, you should.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Entertainment Center Re-do

One thing that drove me nuts about Las Vegas homes are the entertainment center 'niches' inconveniently built-in to the majority of the family rooms. The previous owners of our home had a built-in entertainment center and took it with them. Leaving us with this lovely niche to fill. I searched for months for an entertainment center that would fit. I really wanted a white one but unfortunately there aren't many white entertainment centers on the market. The only one I found that would fit was online and almost $2,000. No Thanks.

First we purchased and returned a black entertainment center from RC Willey. (Remember this post?) A month or so later we finally settled on this black console pictured below (Please take note that 'settling' is never a good idea when it comes to big furniture purchases.)
We had it delivered and...no surprise...I didn't like it. It was too much black for our living room, especially since we have a black couch. Not to mention the TV looked ridiculous on it.

So... I kept my options open. One of our good friends has the same floor plan as us. The previous owners of their home left their built-in entertainment center that our friends conveniently didn't want. It would fit perfectly in our 'niche'! After some serious persuading and convincing, Niel agreed to the project. They were getting rid of it anyways so we got it for FREE!!!

Unfortunately this thing was A LOT bigger than it appeared. They had to remove the top part of the entertainment center to get it through the door and into the truck. It took three men and lots of sweating to get it into our garage.

This is the beast after two weeks of sanding it down.
Then we primed, painted, and switched out the knobs.

And here she is...

I love it! The room looks so much better!
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I don't like the black screens so I'm trying to decide what to do with those. I also need to put some decor in the arches. Any ideas? Maybe I will post an after, after picture. But for now, here she is.

Wondering where the black entertainment center went? It's in Niel's work out room with our old TV on it. That thing is going on Craigslist. Don't tell Niel.

Monday, July 25, 2011

10 Months

Kensie said her first words this month! Her first word was Dad! ("Da Da")
She also says "Uh Uh" for Uh-oh. Whenever she drops something she says, "Uh Uh"

My favorite thing she started doing this month is giving us hugs and pats. She gives us several pats on the back whenever we pick her up. I love it.

Her mischievous look.
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She loves standing up holding onto things and prefers it over sitting.

Kensie didn't show any interest in stuffed animals until this past month. She developed an attachment to a stuffed puppy her Grandma Schurig gave her. She gives it hugs and kisses and pats it on the back. It's adorable.
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She loves reading and likes to turn the pages (usually faster than I can read). Her favorite book right now is the Farm Animal book. She always turns to the page with the dog and laughs when I say, "Woof Woof".

Kensie has always had a little bit of red in her hair but it is coming in more red as she gets older. We are really curious to see what color her hair will be.Photobucket
She does the cutest pageant wave. She keeps her arm still and twists her wrist back and forth. Everyone at the grocery store receives a friendly wave from Kensie.

No crawling still. She wiggles and scoots around a little bit but not too much. She loves walking with our help and we won't be surprised if she skips crawling.

Still just has two teeth.
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She prefers to feed herself.
She sleeps 7:30 p.m.-6:00 a.m. and takes two good naps.
She started throwing tantrums.
Things she doesn't like (this is usually when the tantrums come into play): Getting her clothes and diaper changed, getting her face wiped off after meals, and getting put into her stroller.
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When I walk into her room after naps, she has the bumper pulled down and is peeking over watching for me to come get her.

Kensie keeps getting more fun.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Circus

The circus was in town...so we went.

Some people found it odd we went to the circus without kids (Gregg and Mollie came too). But it was awesome. Fireworks, tigers, elephants, stilts, trapeze, and even a human cannon ball who was lit on fire. Afterwards we went to Sonic and died laughing when the guy taking our order asked us if we wanted some cheese sticks to go with our smoothie. Maybe you had to be there. Either way, it was a fun date night.
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Friday, July 15, 2011

Father's Day

Niel asked for a basketball hoop for the pool for Father's Day.

I pulled through.

This beast was delivered Saturday afternoon before Father's Day. It was surprisingly a lot harder to put together than one would think. But we figured it out...eventually.
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This is not your average pool hoop. It's NBA standard size...or something like that. But I suppose he deserved it. I mean, he is a pretty awesome dad.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Sunfire Grill

We tried the Sunfire Grill at Crescent Bar for the first time while in Washington. Kensie and I went with my parents, the Grigg Family, and Camille and Bryan.
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You might recognize the young lady in the middle, Holly Starr. She is a singer and songwriter of Christian music. She is Camille's little sister. Little did I know she would grow up and get all famous on me:) Check her out here and purchase her music on itunes!
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Camille and I spent the afternoon together before dinner getting pedicures and manicures. I also got to see her awesome classroom where she teaches grade school in Ephrata.

That concludes my trip to Washington. Some things not pictured were shopping in Spokane, getting dental work done by my brother (sad!), lunch at the grainery, relaxing, and eating lots of yummy food. It was a great girls trip!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Kensie Meets Payten

While in Washington, Kensie met her new friend Payten. Payten's mom, Kellie is one of my long-time best friends from childhood. Our babies girls are three months apart. Who would have ever thought?!

All of us girls (including my mom) went to Wenatchee for lunch at the Wok About Grill and then did some shopping. The next day Kellie and I spent hours making bows and headbands for our girls. Kensie was so intrigued by Payten. She kept pulling her legs and grabbing her face. I would move Kensie away from Payten and she would wiggle right back. Payten seemed to hardly notice she was being pestered.

We also went to the Dru Gimlin 3 on 3 basketball tournament and showed off our babies. It was fun to see some people I hadn't seen since high school.
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We attempted a photo with the four of us. This is the best we got. Miss Kensie was being so squirmy.
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It was so fun to spend time with Kellie and our baby girls! I only wished we lived closer!