Vacation in Arizona!

We just got back from a week vacation to Arizona.  It was crazy to think we moved away just under 1year ago.  We LOVED the warm weather, and visiting with family and friends.  The point of the vacation was to put our house up in Mesa for sale because the renters lease was up.  Just because we are selling it does not mean we won't be moving back to AZ in a couple years, just not to that house.  It's easier for us to sell it now while the market is going up then deal with fixing up after renters and finding renters each year.  We were so blessed to have great renters that didn't give us any problems and had minimal work to do to get the house up for sale.  If any of you know anyone looking it's 3bed 2 bath 833 S. 33rd Place Mesa, AZ 85204. 

Brady LOVED meeting all of his family...again!  He easily wrapped them all around his finger with his smiles, noises, and laughing.  He loved playing out in the rocks and dirt (something we haven't done in NE because it's too cold), and took some time to adjust to the grass.  Brady was introduced to oranges and they are his new favorite.  We brought some back with us and if he sees us eating it, he will scream till he gets his and  gobble it down.  Will worked on the house, and in our spare time we visited with family and friends and went shopping to stores we missed.  Here some some of my favorite pictures from AZ.

Doesn't show in the picture but he loved crawling inside/outside the whole time.  I LOVE his hair in this one

Grandpa was one of his favorites

Pure joy!  First experience on a real bike outside.  Thanks Aunt Camilla!

Ready for a morning walk... this is the one and only time he wore a jacket

Playing with his friend in the gravel

Driving Grandpas Jeep

Playing with cousins

Fun with more cousins

Just hanging around outside.

1 Year Old!

It's hard to believe this little guy turned one last week!  It continues to amaze me how fast he learns and grows.  At a year mark he is able to :
*self feed with his hands almost anything
*drink from a sippy cup (thanks to his friends teaching him)
*down to one bottle before bed time, which will be gone after our vacation
*Walks holding on to one hand, and has taken a couple steps on his own
*Crawling is still his favorite
*He does really well just standing and playing with toys not holding on to anything
* LOVE his stuffed monkeys (any of them) and sequels in his high pitched voice while smothering them in hugs, before he tackles them.
*Enjoys the warm days when we can go for a walk, or open the door to let the sun in and he watched the neighbor kids
*Turned into a big boy who is very determined when he knows what he wants... unfortunately this means welcome temper tantrums and becoming very clingy
*Loves wrestling with daddy and watching mom cook. 

Sorry no messy picture, daddy had the camera and only got the start of it.

11 Months!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone!  My little boy will be one year in a a month!  CRAZY!  He is still growing fast and learning lots.  This month has been fun because, although he is still not walking, he listens and watches you while you try to get him to say words.  He really only says "ma" and "da" now, but makes LOTS of noises and talks to himself a lot.  Lately he LOVES stuffed animals, especially monkeys.  He will squeal when you give him one, and talk to it in a high pitched voice.  It's really funny!  Accomplishments this past month:

*Daddy taught him how to click his tongue
*One day he just started flipping his tongue over (can't get a picture though)
*He got the concept of "playing the drums"
*Loves to clap
*we went to the air museum, and he LOVED the HUGE fans!  He has always liked looking at fans/lights but the ones there, he looked at the whole time!
*He got some fun toys for Christmas and loves playing with them
*Went to the zoo, his favorite is still the aquarium.
*For months now he will pull the kitchen chairs around the room, but this month he started  crawling under them and then pushing them.
*Lately he will look at books and talk to himself while he reads them

Things on our side of the river... Work is about the same for Will, I work most saturdays for 3-4hrs.  We are going to come visit in Feb. to put our Mesa house up for sale.  No this does not mean we are not moving back, it means 1. our home here is larger then that one so if/when we move back it will be to a larger home. 2.the market is up 3. it's hard to find renters when we are states away.

surprisingly, we aren't frozen to the ground here.  We haven't accomplished much on the house because most of the stuff involves working in the freezing garage to make things, or yard work, and we don't feel like freezing our buns off!  Maybe in the spring... if that will ever come :)

at the zoo looking at the fish

He likes to steal daddys hat

best picture I could get of him playing the drums

New favorite past time

New Christmas toys!  Yay!

Merry Christmas!

At the Air museum

same

he had to play with these for 10min before he would let us take him away

Pictures a month old

He loves to go to his room and pull ALL the books down

comes up and walks with my two legs, it's nice for
when I have to make dinner, he just comes with me.

two bottom teeth!

10 Months!

Brady just keeps on going.  He doesn't walk on his own yet, but just started taking shaky steps holding on with only one hand.  He loves to pull himself up between my legs and walk just holding on to my legs.  He has gotten pretty good with it so I can manage to make dinner entertaining him that way without having to hold him.  We went to go visit Santa with a free photo at BassPro Shop, he didn't cry, but didn't smile either.  We went to the mall to play in the kids play place with a friend and he LOVED it!  I forgot my camera :(  His favorite thing was climbing inside a log.  He would just chat/yell to himself and crawl around in it.  The bigger kids would start to go in then see him, talk to him and wave, then leave.  He was the king of that log for a good 15min.  Brady still loves to smile at everyone when we go anywhere, but if he is tired he will smile, but if you act like you are going to take him from me he freaks out!  Only when he is tired though... we are still working on his sleeping.  Oh, he also started to read books.  Before he would just pull them all off the bookshelf then crawl away.  Now, he will go in there and I hear him just talking, and he is looking through a book.  Sometimes he has a hard time opening them so he starts yelling at it to open up... but it doesn't work.  We love our little boy!

Things are going good on the Merrill side.  Will says work is still work, and he hasn't frozen yet from him 10min walk each morning in below freezing temps so he can get free parking.  It's snowed a couple of times, so we got the joy of shoveling our driveway once... It's flurrying now, which is my favorite!  Other then being cold, we are enjoying life!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays!  This year, Will was kind enough to let me invite the family, plus 2 other families over for Thanksgiving (sorry, I didn't take any pictures!) 

We started off the morning preparing our yummy turkey, then Will was a sport to watch Brady while I ran a 10K in the FREEZING Cold.... Yes, our toes were numbed and burning BEFORE the race even started!  We were lucky enough to park pretty close to the start line, so we just sat in the car waiting for the last ten min.  I ran it with a friend from church, she was AMAZING!  Since it being so cold here... I have been terrible with running and training for the 10K.. excusses such as, It's too cold to run with Brady outside (hasn't gotten above 40 for like 2 weeks), after he goes to bed, it's too cold (like under 32)... totally legit reasons from an Arizona girl right?  Needless to say, I defiantly felt the affects of not training well during the whole race and even today some... but yesterday NOT ABLE to MOVE WITHOUT PAIN!!  HURT SO BAD!   But thanks to Lily, we finished it with running most of the way. 

After heading home and taking a boiling water shower to warm up, Thanksgiving preparations were almost done!  Will and I cooked our FIRST turkey!  Not only that, but it was the secret Merrill Goosock turkey, which turned out AMAZING!!!  We managed to fit 17people over for dinner.  All the food was AMAZING!  Brady loved my sisters rolls.  In fact, while eating leftovers today for lunch, he managed to pull the table cloth, tip over a full cup of milk all over just to reach a roll... I should have taken more from my sister :)  After eating, the kids had fun playing in our partially finished basement and we played games and chatted.  It was VERY noisy, but lots of fun! We went to bed VERY early last night.

I am so thankful for Wills job where is is able to support us so I can stay at home, only needing to work occasionally.  I am gratful that we were sent to Omaha, where I do some some family and friends instead of another state where we knew no one.  I am especially grateful for all the new friends I have met, and of course for Brady and Will.

Brady is now 9months.  No walking yet... which could be good and bad :)  He has managed to have his two bottom teeth break through the gums.  He still crawls everywhere.  We are continuolusly working on his naps... he either doesn't want to take one, or plays for over an hour before falling asleep for 30min... needless to say, this means he has gotten more grumpy and needing a lot more attention :(  It is something we have been working on for months.   Maybe by the time we have another child we will figure it out :)

Kitchen- lots of pictures

Yay!  Our kitchen is mostly finished!  Well, the cabinets are finished.  We still have some trim to paint, curtains up, some baseboards left, and decorating, so don't judge me :)

Before:

North

East

South

West

During:
The overall process was simple, it just took A LOT OF TIME.  Do I like it?  about 90%.  I love the clear hard coat on the outside, and the degrees er to save lots of sanding.  The bond coat (middle coat) says you only need to do two, and then they (Rustoleum) has an option glaze.  We didn't want to do the glaze, and since we didn't we needed a 3rd bondcoat.  To save paint we only did it on the outside.  On some of the cabinets, after putting on the final clear coat, some yellowish stuff came through... but since it did that in random spots on about 1/3 cabinets, we felt it was ok, and didn't re-do it all over.

After:  Please excuse the messy counter tops.

North

East

South

West