Baby Willis' Room

We had a lot of fun putting together this room for our baby boy. Well, I guess I can't speak for Greg, he probably wanted to kill me a few times ;) It was especially fun to include some items of special significance to our little family. Here are some of the details:

(Excuse the crazy spacing - Blogger was being highly uncooperative)

We wrapped styrofoam balls with yarn for the mobile.

The blank canvas above the crib will be used to document baby's growing footprints over time.

My Mom and I made the crib sheet from twin sheets I found.

I made the crib "skirt."

I made the cover for the pillow on the rocking chair.

The green bags hanging on the dresser are for cloth diapering - call me crazy if you must ;)

The dresser once belonged to my great-grandparents. Greg painted it and the drawer pulls.

I gifted Greg the "typestaches" poster for his birthday last year.

When we are 100% sure on baby's name, the small frame in the upper right will be replaced with a green canvas with his first and middle names on it in white.

The ribbons are mine from various races (running) over the years.

The pirate poster is from one of Greg's favorite bands- he's had it for years.

I bought the wooden "W" and painted it orange (for Willis :)

Greg made the stencil from a photo of me from our wedding.

We bought the map poster at a concert we went to this fall.

The frame with the blue paper is a placeholder - I will replace the strip of paper with baby's hospital bracelet.

I've collected bottlecaps for a number of years now - it was good to finally have a use for some of them.

I gave Greg the bicycle letterpress print as a gift a few years ago.

You can barely see the tiny red heart I placed on the map of Ogden to note where our house is.

The medals are (left to right): Mine from the State Games of America 1999 (soccer), my finisher medal from the 2007 Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay, and Greg's finisher medal from the 2011 Boise Half Ironman.

The cardboard painting was done by my great-grandfather - he was a little eccentric ;)

The piggy bank was a sweet gift from my Grandma. I collect piggy banks and she thoughtfully bought baby his first one.

coming soon

After almost three years of going without, we're finally breaking down and getting the internet at our house. This is a big deal people. Now, instead of pretending to fold laundry while watching DVDs of The Office/30 Rock/Big Bang Theory, I will spend my time feeding my blog reading addiction. Or maybe, this here "blog" might see some more action.

In other news, I've signed up to participate in this self-inflicted insanity. So, if you don't want to see my face everyday from February 1st - March 2nd, I would suggest losing my blog address...

of late

Been wondering what we've been up to? I thought so.

Greg is killing it at work and school. Here's the latest review of a microsite he created for a marketing campaign at work.

As for me, I've been pouring on the charm with the nursery crowd. Remember the boy who asked his mom to let him wear cologne to church for me? He graduated to Sunbeams two weeks ago but he almost had me in tears when he came running up to me after Sacrament Meeting yesterday. In other news, the Pinewood Derby is this month. Vroom!

And we got new curtains for our living room.* Life's good.



*We're tackling the decorating one room at a time. The living room is coming together nicely. Come check it out!

boo

I had some fun with a little spooky decorating this week.

The piano is coming in handy and even adds to the look with its 'covers' off.

kimball

Our 1969* Kimball piano made it safely home last night. No pictures yet; our camera batteries were dead. The previous owner had started to strip the finish for an update so we have a big project ahead of us. It needs to be tuned but is still playable and has one key that sticks. Overall, not too shabby.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing it last night although I need to snag more of my old piano books from Mom's stash :)

Thanks Greg, Dad, Bob, and Mom for your help getting my baby home.



*This is my best estimate with the research I've done so far.

What's in the coffee table?

We (somewhat) recently purchased this coffee table:

Part of our attraction to it was that we could display things in it. So, what's in the coffee table right now?

Old spraypaint cans.

We plan on switching things up every now and then (we already know we want to do Christmas ornaments come the holiday season). Any ideas for cool display items?

Chalkboard? Talk about old school.

We found this awesome chalkboard at Down East Outfitters (pictured here in our kitchen with a little love from Greg's mad art skills). We can't decide what to hang next to it...

Bitesize Update(s)

• Leigh (Greg's oldest brother) and his wife Jamie had their baby girl (Quincy) Saturday (08.16). She's beautiful. I'm convinced the only reason she cried when I held her was because she needed a good burp :)

• We love the Olympics. But, Bela Karolyi is right-it was a "rip off" in the individual vault competition and the Chinese gymnasts are certainly not 16. As he said, "They are using half-people."

• I'm still on the hunt for a new job. I had a good interview yesterday (08.18) but the job's a bit far away. There's potential for what seems to be the best situation so far--I should hear the verdict by the end of the week.

• We love pasta salad.

• Greg's team - "Liechtenstein" - won the company Olympics at the Bank of Utah picnic Saturday (08.16). Pictures soon to come of Greg competing in such events as synchronized swimming (giggle) and sculling. He also brought home a $50 gas card from the drawing, which we promptly used. They haven't chosen the winner of the flag contest yet but someone dared to say (to our faces I might add) that Greg's masterpiece won't win. Bah!

• We love fresh vegetables from our very own little garden.

• I got stung by a bee the night of the opening ceremonies (08.08.08) and had a crazy allergic reaction. Sorry, there's no pictures but I assure you it was disgusting. The swelling didn't go away until Tuesday/Wednesday (4-5 days later). I literally couldn't fit in regular shoes come time for church that Sunday. Lovely.

• We love the show Heroes. We had never seen it until last week and now we're hooked.

• Greg is helping paint a mural for the exterior of a South Ogden preschool. Check out the progress if you're in the neighborhood (40th and Washington)! We'll post pictures soon.

• We love going for a good run right at sunset.

• Some of our basement walls are merely painted concrete which makes for a cool delight on these hot summer days. We're thinking that won't be the case come winter but we have a wood burning stove we're eager to heat up.

Any takers?

We inherited this swingset with our house but won't be having much use for it for a while. Anyone want to buy it off us?

A Willis Summer (Part II)

Summer highlights continued...

MAY

Once back to reality, we (here meaning Greg and our Willis dad) removed (chopped, pulled, dragged) some nasty bushes that donned the front and back of our house. You can see one still standing on the right side of the front yard.

Good work Greg! I'll just stand here and take pictures :)

JUNE

Then we got a wild idea to catch some tadpoles at the Weber River Parkway in Riverdale. First, you need a net. A wire hanger and old nylon should do!

Greg and Christie making the contraption.

Our nephew Ethan (Willis) showing off the finished product.

We also like to go for walks at the Parkway. Sometimes Greg loses his shoe in the mucky pond :)

Other times he finds a yucky hat.

Then there was rockclimbing with friends from work (Wendy's first time ever).

Greg is near the top.

I was a natural (according to Greg's boss) and I loved it.

The first Triathlon of the season: Cache Valley (06.21)

Swim...

Bike...

Run...

And that's how it's done. Greg set a PR at this race--10 minutes faster than his best time last year. Awesome!

To be continued again...

Jade

Last week, Greg's #2 main babe (Jada Pinkett Willis aka Jade) went to kitty heaven.

(Jade's 1st time at our new house.)

Greg adopted her from his good friend Scott Renberg and, if you recall this post, he loved her only slightly less than me.

(Wendy & Jade)

She got in some kind of accident (no one knows for sure what happened) that resulted in her tail getting pretty messed up (for lack of better words). The real problem was that the break was really close to her hips and it started to affect her walking ability. The sores that resulted were getting really bad as well. She couldn't even lift her tail.

We didn't get a chance to say goodbye as she has been living at Ma & Pa Willis' as of late (long story short-she scratched up our new bed and I was ticked) and we didn't find out she had been "sent to kitty heaven" until after the fact.

(Jade causing mischief...)

The cute part of the whole story is that Greg was reading "Answers to Gospel Questions" by President Joseph Fielding Smith last night and he reminded me that Jade will be raised in the resurrection and we can take care of her then. How cute is he?

Cervelo P2C

Here it is!

As you can see, we picked up the new bike right after work (07.17) and Greg couldn't wait to take it for a spin. (Sidenote: I adore this photo. It's the wallpaper on my Zune.)

Our favorite neighbor boy (the one who used to carry his dog in a bucket for those of you that are familiar) came to check out the new ride. He went for a little ride down the street with Greg.

Our friend told us that he thinks the tires look "flat" and that it (the bike) can't be "real" because it's too "skinny".

Adoration...

Safe and sound inside our house.

Greg ended up doing pretty well for getting in an accident, eh?