Cave Falls

Some of our good friends Mikel and Megan are leaving for 3 months to do an internship. I think Richie and I are going to be kind of lost without them, but the bright side is that in 3 months they will be back! As one last hoorah for Summer and hanging out, we took a day trip to Cave Falls. They know all the cool places to go around here. We had never tried Cave Falls before (on your way to Mesa Falls) so they picked us up in the Westie, had a lunch packed for us and we enjoyed some beautiful scenery! The actual cave at Cave Falls is now caved in...but still, very pretty. Here are some pictures.

I love me some spaghetti sauce

It's true, we're expecting #2!!

FAQ's
*How are you feeling?- Pretty good! This pregnancy has been harder than Miles' so far, but I'm still pretty lucky relatively speaking.

*How far along are you? - About 9 weeks.

*When are you due? - March 20th

*Are you hoping for a boy or girl? - Honestly, a girl. Of course we'll be happy either way, but I've got a gut feeling it's a girl and it would be nice to at least have 1 of each.

Any other questions? Feel free to ask. We're extremely excited, but at this point March seems like an eternity away. Maybe that's a good thing because I'm plenty nervous too. How do you handle 2??? Especially when #1 is a jealous, busy boy? We'll make it happen I'm sure.

18 months

Miles will actually be 19 months in a week or so, but he had his 18 month check up today.
Stats:
weight:77th percentile
height: 97th percentile
head circumference: 98th percentile
All around a pretty big kid. :)

There has been a semi-lack of posting on my part, and that's mostly because there hasn't been really too much to blog about. I guess I could tell you that I threw out all my herbs and flower plants because somehow caterpillars overtook them and ate them to death! I took them all outside to get rid of them because they were pooping on my windowsills!! AHHHH! But then I noticed about 5 of them on the wall or in the tablecloth that had started their cocoons! I'm going to try and transfer them into jars. But see, that's not really post worthy. :)

Rocking Chair

I finally took before and after pictures, as well as pictures of the process throughout! I'm not an expert on painting furniture, I just kind of wing it, but I'll tell you what I did in case you want to do something likewise.
First my sister helped me sand it down with sandpaper and our disc sander. Then we wiped it down with wet cloths, let it dry and then primed it with some extra white paint we had lying around. After the 1 coat dried, I painted it with the blue paint I bought to paint the chair. I had to do 2 coats of the blue to get a nice even texture. Then I rubbed some stain on it. Not everywhere, just here and there to give it more dimension. After the stain dried, it sat in the office area for a few days while I tried to get enough motivation to finish it. This step is very important. :) Then I used sand paper and the disc sander to rough it up a bit. I think I roughed it up more than I originally planned, but it was like a drug, I just kept sanding. Then I sprayed a light coat of sealer over the whole chair and let it dry! All done! It really looks old school now. I love it!

Crosbys in Idaho

My sister Jenn was driving from Missouri to take her two eldest and their friends to EFY up here at BYU-Idaho. So my mom, my sister Adrienne and her kids decided to make the trek up here also to make it a real vacation for us all. I feel so special that family came to visit us! Not the other way around. Wow! We loved having everyone here so much and I'm still on family jet-lag, if you will, missing everyone I mean. We tried to pack as much as we could into the time we had. And since we all know I'm no good at lining pictures up with captions, I'll just let you figure it out. While they were here we went to the splash park, went to our new favorite place in Eastern Idaho- warm slough. A bend near Henry's Fork in the Snake River. It's perfect for wading, swimming, roasting mallows and hot dogs. We also ate at the famous Big Jud's, fed the bread fish, showed off Mesa Falls, watched Pride and Prejudice (just the girls), showed off my family at church, played games, stayed up late etc. You know, the usual Crosby stuff. :) Once the major part of the crew left for SG to entertain the rest of the family down there (whom we dearly missed) Jenn and I got some good one on one time, which was so fun. She's one cool chica and the best dish washer I know. Thanks again Jenn! She even was brave enough to help me start a project I've been putting off FOREVER. We got a hand-me-down rocker from some friends and I hated the way it looked. Function was great, but it needed some sprucing up. Pictures to follow. Of course we didn't see Tay and Tuck as much as we would have liked, but they had a blast at EFY from what I hear and it sounds like miss Tay is planning on coming to school here in one year after she graduates. Richie and I will still be here and we're SO excited to have her close by!!! As always, it's nice to get back to your routine, but it already seems like forever ago that I saw everyone and I'm ready for another get together. Who's in???
Don't forget to scroll down at the end of this post. There's another one. Surprise!

Cutie Pie Miles

We're all waiting on pins and needles for the arrival of Makenna and Ian's baby! The other day Dad Garner called and our first question was is the baby here yet? He replied no. So I said, why are you calling??? (teasing of course) To which he retorted, well why aren't there any more pictures of Miles on your blog? Good question grandpa. Here's a few to keep you satisfied until sweet baby James gets here. What a cute kid we've got. :)







In this video he's playing with some new, super soft, stuffed animals that he just got. When the movie starts, he's in the middle of counting "1, 2, 1, 2," because he thought I was going to take a picture. Of course he didn't perform as well once the camera was on, but if you listen closely, he'll tell you what a crocodile says, which he learned from Peter Pan. :)

Ahh Summer

Check out our growing garden!! We picked our first batch of peas the other night and MAN did they taste good. I don't know how much produce we'll get to put up, but just to have it to munch on is fantastic.



He was totally terrified of the carousel.




Miles is LOVING the splash park lately

Extreme Corner Makeover

I'm not a big fan of Ty Pennington, he's super annoying in my opinion. However, every time I watch "Extreme Home Makeover" I still end up crying. We have a little entry way in our apartment and ever since we've moved in, it's been a work in progress. I'm still not completely satisfied, but it's so much better than it was. We used to park our stroller and high chair there and that was it. Later on, we found this table at the DI, rearranged some knick-knacks and spruced up the corner a little bit.



Later on I painted the table and Richie helped me paint the entry way. I found a bowl at wal mart for $2 and once again rearranged some knick-knacks. Corner take 2. So much better.



But it was still pretty bare for such a relatively large space. I know bikes like this and silhouettes are pretty trendy right now. But I just can't help it...I like them! So I found the bike printable for free online, did a tiny bit of research on how to make the silhouettes (actually very easy, even for someone who has literally NEVER used photoshop), found 3 matching frames at DI and 1 bigger one for the bike and did some painting, and hung those paper puffs. Remember the wreath I made? I had lots of book pages left over, so I utilized them this way. The little hangers in between are things I found at antique shops before I got married. They were just in a box and I had forgotten all about them! So, it's still not exactly what I was picturing in my mind, but on a tight budget and no picture to go off, I'm pretty pleased. For now anyway.




"I guess there's just one thing left to say. Welcome home Garner family, welcome home."

South Carolina!

I'll try not to make this post too long since I need to save some juicy details for my diary ;) but Miles and I just got back from SC the other day and it was such a great experience.
I traveled with my cousin-in-law and her little boy who is about the same age. They drove me to SLC and we did all the plane traveling together. Her bro-in-law also came with us on the plane rides back and was a complete life saver! Miles traveled about as good as you could expect a wiggly 1.5 year old who has to sit on your crammed lap for 5 hours to do. Does that paint an adequate picture? He actually did better than I thought he would thanks to Mr. Benadryl. I was always surprised at bumping into such kind-hearted people. We had plenty of strangers stop to help us with our bags etc etc. We even ran into the head of audio visual for the church and I think he saved my sanity on the ride home. He forfeited sitting next to his wife to sit next to me and talk to me. He would adjust my seat, fix my head set, pick up something if Miles threw it etc etc. Just totally changed my night.
All traveling aside, the trip was fantastic. I got to stay one night at G&G Garner's home and it was just full of love and memories and southern charm, complete with screened in porch. We spent the majority of the reunion in Ashville North Carolina where we stayed at a ski resort lodge place which was absolutely beautiful, the accommodations and scenery. We went on a small hike on the Appalachian trail which runs from Georgia to Maine and did a little rafting on the French Broad River. But my favorite parts of reunions are just sitting around and talking. I got to know many family members much better, meeting some for the first time. It's such a treat to be a part of a family which reminds me so much of my own. I have no problem feeling comfortable or asking for help. Everyone was willing to help me!! I couldn't have done it without everyone else's help. Heck, I wouldn't have even gone if it wasn't for them!
The south is fantastic. I've never been to that part of the country and it's beautiful. I never did get over how many trees there are and how green it is. It's just what a pictured; people saying "ya'll" and country style homes with gardens, humidity and bugs, and more ethnicity than I usually see in a year! :) I definitely did NOT get enough pictures, but here are a few. Miles is in almost all of them, go figure. I guess I'm one proud mamma! This is the longest amount of time Richie and I have ever been away from each other, not counting our engagement, so that was super hard for me. Someone tried to make us feel better by saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder, to which Richie replied, "Whoever said that is crazy. Absence stinks!" Semi-true, but man was I happy to see his beautiful face at the airport.

Wish Me Luck!

This trip has snuck (if that's a word) up on me so quickly! But today Miles and I are hitchin a ride with family to SLC, and then tomorrow it's off to South Carolina! In preparation for the trip, I made these in hopes to keep Miles occupied. We'll see how that goes. I thought they turned out cute anyway. I found the idea for finger puppets on "The idea room" blog that I have a link to on the side.



We also celebrated Richie's birthday this weekend! The big 2-5! I wanted to do something special since he took me to SG for my birthday. But I guess there's no way to top that. Nothing I planned seemed to go accordingly, but I think he still had a fun weekend. It started off poorly when I went to take him his birthday lunch and realized I had a flat tire. We had to replace it with a new one. Ouch! On the up-side, I learned how to change a tire! We celebrated by having a hot dog roast, playing frisbee golf, and feeding the fish with the Christensen's, going on a bike ride, indulging in some divine sushi from the grill thanks to Richie's work, lots of LOST watching and I got him a drill. He's gotta start his manly tool collection some time right? He thinks I have ulterior (sp?) motives, and I may. Just because I want him to build us furniture doesn't mean I wouldn't have gotten him a drill someday. :)