Trip To California

We got to go to California for 5 days the end of November - what a treat! We had a wonderful time! The weather was beautiful (up to 75 degrees), we got to spend the entire time with family, we got spoiled by Uncle Jim and Aunt Claudia, and we made tons of memories!

Andrew got to re-meet and Tanner got to meet, their 2nd cousin, Cole. The boys got along splendidly. It was great to see my cousin, Jessie and her husband Jason, and Aunt Lisa! We spent Thanksgiving and the day after just hanging out together. The boys loved the walks through the orange orchard in the garden cart. Great times! We also got to spend a few hours with my biological father, Mike, and I met my cutest little half-sister, Cassandra. Cassandra and the boys played together the entire visit and it was nice to see Mike and introduce him to my little family. Mike says I look just like Mom - I think I've heard that before! :)

We spent most of our time here, at Uncle Jim and Aunt Claudia's beautiful home in Oroville. Andrew loved the one on one time he got to spend with "Unca Jim" and "Aunt Cwadia." We were able to do some sight-seeing, eat what Jesse considers the "best Chinese food ever," celebrate Thanksgiving, and welcome in the Christmas season with caroling around Aunt Claudia's grand piano. We laughed, we visited, we made some wonderful memories! Thanks for everything!

Puddle Splashing

Here is a picture of what was once two muddy little boys who really enjoyed puddle jumping! Now they're two clean little boys who want to go puddle jumping again soon.

Tanner's little rubber boots were a bit challenging for him to walk in. I tried to hold his hand to avoid the inevitable, but alas, little Mr. Independent fell down right in the middle of the mud puddle, not just once, but over and over again. He loved it!
I told Andrew that after he ate all his dinner we'd bundle up, put on our rubber boots, and go play in the puddles. He ate his dinner in record time! He found the biggest puddle in the yard and didn't stray from it, except to get rocks to throw in it. He and Tanner giggled and giggled until Tanner got too cold and we had to come in for a nice, warm bath. Even though I hadn't put on my play clothes, two little boys made sure I got plenty of oversplash. That'll teach me!

The Zoo Family

This year for Halloween, the boys and I dressed up like zoo animals and Jesse was the zoo keeper. We thought we were pretty clever. :) Most days I do feel like I'm part of a zoo with two very energetic little boys!

Andrew was the cutest giraffe I've ever seen. He loved his costume and he enjoyed the Halloween festivities. We went trunk-or-treating at the church, then to a few homes in the neighborhood near the church. He was a little shy, but told everyone thank-you went he left their door. Now, a few days after Halloween, when he wants me to let him pick a piece of candy from his bag, he asks for a "trick-or-treat." When we drove around while he was wearing his costume, Andrew was very worried about sitting on his giraffe's tail. I looked back from my seat up front to see him trying, with both hands, to get his tail out from underneath him. It was quite hilarious.


Tanner was the cutest little lion, especially with his eye-liner whiskers. He loved wearing his costume, too. And he loved Andrew's costume. We had to get a few items from Walmart before we started our evening's festivities and the boys were in their costumes, riding in the back of the cart. Jesse and I turned our backs for just a moment to look at something and Andrew started carrying on something awful. We turned to see that Tanner had grabbed a hold of his horns and wouldn't let go. Basically, Tanner had Andrew in a headlock of sorts. It was so funny! He was our cute, FEROCIOUS little lion. He loved trick-or-treating, too. The first two pieces of candy he was given, he quickly figured out how to get open, so for the rest of the evening, he just got to go from house to house and NOT get any more candy. He enjoyed that just as much and we didn't have to try to regulate how much candy he tried to eat.

This is the only picture that we got of all the zoo animals. You may not be able to see my ears, but I was a black panther. Our zoo keeper was taking the picture, so unfortuately, we don't have one of him, too.

Jesse's Taser Ride

Don't mess with the police, or this could be you! This video was taken at Jesse's taser instructor recertification training. No, being tased wasn't a requirement - he volunteered! Crazy guy! This is now his fourth time being tased. When I asked him if it was finally out of his system (PLEASE), his reply was, "Well, for at least two years." (Two years will be the next recert.)

Perfect "Punkins"

Growing up, our family tradition was to visit a "real" pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. Often it was at night, by full moonlight, and we'd have hot chocolate or hot cider together after we'd found our perfect pumpkins. Well, this is the first year that we've been able to kind of carry that tradition on. Thanks to Charlie, we found out about a real pumpkin patch in Spokane. Since we were there for Jesse's work training, we took the boys to Green Bluff Farms. Even though it was by bright sunlight (a 60 degree autumn day), and Mom was the only one who wanted hot cider (yea, try caramel, fresh pressed cider with whip cream and nutmeg on top - delish!), it still felt like it did when we were kids.

Tanner sure had fun walking around the pumpkin patch. He kept getting tangled up in the vines as he was walking, but he didn't seem to mind. He'd just pick himself back up when he'd fall.

Andrew had a blast picking up "punkins." I just love how he says "PUNKINS!" Between him and Daddy, we ended up with six pumpkins, when we started off thinking we only needed two. Here's Andrew with his first pumpkin. From there he kept finding "cute baby ones, Mommy, Daddy" so of course we couldn't resist. Then Daddy found a perfect pumpkin, just like they're supposed to be. Then there was Tanner's... so you see how it went. Mommy and her two precious little boys. The farm had these cute little wagons that we got to pull the boys and our stuff around in. The boys loved it!

The whole family! (Thanks to Mom Diana's cool tripod she gave Jesse for Christmas and a pumpkin, we were able to capture this shot.) After we got finished picking out our pumpkins, we went to another portion of the farm and picked apples. Yummy! I decided we have to go back here EVERY year (especially after I drank my carmel apple cider)! The boys didn't argue.

Tanner on the Move

Tanner can move! I thought he could get around before, when crawling was his thing. Well, in just the three short weeks since he took his tentative first steps, he's gone from wobbly to practically running. He's an all-terrain kid, too - gravel, toys, grass, it doesn't matter, he can get over it or through it.
He's sure looking cute (and he knows it) in his birthday outfit from Grandpa Skip and Grandma Elaine!

Opps!

Okay, so these are so not the pictures that I thought I was uploading, but since we have satellite internet and these took like 15 minutes to upload, they're staying on!!!!!!!!!!!

Up first we have here a picture of our happy Tanner. This is how he always wakes up in the morning - happy, happy, happy! We sure love this little guy!
Up next we have our helpful Andrew. He's such a sweet, polite, helpful little guy. One of his favorite "chores" is to take out the trash - and we never even have to ask him to. In fact, we've found more than one only one-third- of- the -way full trash bag flung on the garage floor after Andrew has taken it upon himself to empty the garbage. He also likes to put away silverware, fold towels, and pick up toys. Yea! I hope he always so cheerfully helps around the house! We sure love our little boy!

Tanner's 1st Birthday

We can hardly believe that our little Tanner is one already. We have sure enjoyed the past year, watching him learn, grow, and just keep getting cuter and cuter! On his actual birthday, we celebrated in small ways, but his actual party was a few day later when many members of the family were able to attend. Mom and Amy joined us from Bonners Ferry; Keri from Moscow; Charlie, Adrianna, Jimmy, Shania, and Chris from Post Falls; Dad and Elaine from Boise; and Kevin, Amy, and Baby Girl from Middleton. We missed Melissa, and Jesse's parents, all currently in Alaska. We also had an impromptu baby shower for Kevin and Amy as they found out just two days previous that they had four days to get packed before they had to leave for Alabama for Kev's officer training and flight school (they thought they had until November). So, here are a few pics of Tanner's big day. He's such a precious little boy!

Tanner took his first steps the eve of his first birthday. The next day, he was still wobbly, but by the end of the day, he was taking about 4-5 steps before he tumbled to the floor. It's so cute to watch him learning how to walk!
Here's our little birthday boy with his birthday crown. It was really tricky getting this picture because he did not like the idea of having the crown on his head. You can't see the arms holding his in the picture and I plopped the hat on just milliseconds before snapping this shot and it came off immediately after it! It was actually quite commical! The little birthday boy got a happy birthday balloon, which he played with ALL day. Andrew also got a balloon, crown, and gift for his un-birthday. (We figured he's too young to understand why brother gets a birthday and he doesn't.) If I would have known two, one dollar, helium balloons would keep two little boys busy all day, I would have definately bought them sooner!
Tanner caught onto the idea of eating his birthday cake right away. At first he enjoyed some of the frosting, but soon discovered if he dug his hand way down, he'd get some delicious cake as well. Oh, he had more sugar in those few bites than he's had his whole life!
Amongst other things, Tanner got a Tonka dump truck for his birthday. For the guests of the party, we made a dump truck cake in the bed of the truck, consisting of chocolate fudge cake pieces, chocolate pudding, and oreo cookie crumbs. It was the best "dirt" we've ever eaten (well, not that we've ever actually eaten dirt)!

The House

We commited the ultimate sin by moving into our house unfinished. Unfortunately, by the time we moved in, we were so burned out, we had a brand new baby, and we have all kinds of other excuses for not working on the house, that there were lots of little things unfinished. This summer, though, Jesse has had renewed energy and in the past several weeks, many things on the house to-do list have been completed including the following:




The house is finally painted! After deliberating for, literally, months, we finally decided on the following color scheme: Thistle grey (almost a tan) for the body, nilla vanilla (white) for the trim, and beetroot (deep merlot-color) for accenting (the peak above the garage and the front door). It turned out just like we'd hoped. To top it all off, for Michele's birthday this year, Mom and Art made a porch swing. It is the perfect touch to the "coming-soon" front entry. As I type this, the front patio and walkway are being formed up for concrete to be poured this next week. Yea!




The breakfast bar is finally grouted! We ran out of grout when we grouted the rest of the kitchen tile, so we've been using the bar ungrouted. Well, by the time we got around to doing it, Jesse didn't like his tile job anymore. So, one night Michele got home from a church meeting to find the kitchen all up in a mess and the tile removed from the bar. Within short order, Jesse had re-tiled, adding the cream tiles and creating a masterpiece! It looks great. I got lucky to marry such a talented guy!

Okay, now here is another masterpiece! Our walk-in closet is to die for! All four walls are covered in shelves, shoe racks, clothes rods, and lots of storage. Designed and built by the MAN himself, this is truly a "Michele is spoiled for life" closet. I won't ever be able to use a "normal" closet again. Just look at my shoe rack, would you? Okay, so it's a lot of shoe rack, but I have a lot of shoes, so I need a lot of shoerack. *Smiles*

Our master bathroom was something we spent a lot of time designing. We wanted our master suite to be a sanctuary and it is! This week we got the tub and shower grouted and it's great to have another fully functioning bathroom!

Our Own Redneckedness

On our family walk a few nights ago, we discovered we have a little redneck in us. Since the double jogging/biking stroller had a flat tire, we had to try to fit both boys in the regular stroller. Jesse had a good little spot for Andrew to ride - and, wa-lah, a new double stroller was created (redneck style).

ALASKA!

We just got home from our two week vacation to Alaska. We had such an enjoyable time! We spent time visiting with family, playing games, eating good food, playing on the beach, deep-sea halibut fishing, king salmon fishing, and just enjoying beautiful Alaska. We made lots of great memories and look forward to going back again in two years.

Tanner just loved playing on the beach. He sat on the sand and rocks and enjoyed his time on the beach very thoroughly - tasting rocks, running his feet all through the sand, listening to the waves wash on the shore.




Here Andrew is wearing Grandpa Applehans' fishing hat. Andrew loved the time spent on the beach & by the river. This picture was taken on the Kenai River as we were trying to catch some fish. Andrew tried fishing with Mommy's & Daddy's poles, but throwing rocks in the river was much more rewarding.

Below is a picture of us enjoying a little family time on the beach in Homer, Alaska, located on the Kenai Peninsula.

The Applehans Clan: Jesse, Michele, Andrew, & Tanner with Jesse's parents, Carol and Allan.

Hopefully we'll have some more pictures to post soon of our trip (pictures taken on cameras other than ours): Halibut fishing with Dad A, Jesse, Michele, Mom, Keri, and Amy and King Salmon fishing with Dad A, Jesse, and Michele with Michele's 30lb. king salmon catch!).

Mr. Photogenic

Whenever the camera comes out, Tanner is ALL SMILES! Actually, he's pretty much all smiles all the time. He's such a happy baby! Really though, he does love to have his picture taken.

Silly-Billy Andrew

Andrew is so silly! Here he's posing for a picture after putting a yellow swimmer-thing on his head for a hat. He's always doing somthing silly or cute!

First Picture

I'm learning how to do all this fancy blogging, so this will be the trial run with a picture. :) We thought we'd share our new barstools with you. We had them custom made since we have a tall bar. I don't know if the picture does them much justice, but we love them and think they look great!

We're On Board!

Kevin and Amy suggested this as a good way for us to all keep in touch. So, we're trying to get it all set up. 1-2-3 Testing!