*Our new house

Here are some pictures of *our new house. Its on 6 acres and has a pond. Its a cool log house - 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.












*just kidding. We just really like to go look at houses and we are looking for something with a bit of land - at least 5 acres. But we are not ready to buy a house here yet. But if we were...this one would definintely be considered! Its SO beautiful! :)

"Wok Pox"

The weather has been so nice here FINALLY! and Malo's been....off work....for a couple weeks now. So we've been hiking everyday and exploring Spokane - and I'm finding it to be quite beautiful, actually. Nothing like Colorado and still can't quite compare, but its really nice. Anyway, Aspen is LOVING hiking. She says "walk, walk, walk" so she can be down walking. She just talks the whole time and is SO funny to be around. She stops to explore all the pine cones (and can now say pine cone so clearly even strangers can understand her) and tree branches and her absolute favorite are the rocks. I showed her how to put a rock in her pocket and she though that was the COOLEST thing! So she stuffed as many rocks in her little pockets as she could...and with each one said "wok pox" which I assume means, "rock in my pocket." So cute. She also says "wawa" EVERY time we get in view of the river. She is at such a fun age....asking questions...her favorite "what's this?" So fun. :) Here are all the rocks she put in her little pockets:

And then just a couple from our ventures:








And Mia is just as content as can be being carried around in the Jeep carrier by daddy. She just smiles and babbles and loves being outside. She is turning out to be a pretty serious little girl. She focuses on something and its hard to break her concentration. She is a complete sweetheart.



We went up to Malo's parents' house one day and helped them trim limbs off some of the trees. Aspen loved it and sawed down a branch all by herself and even carried it to the limb pile. Good job!



How are we so lucky?!?! The two best girls in the world. :)

Potty time? No!!!!!

A week or so ago, Aspen took off her diaper and came to me in the kitchen saying "potty." So of course I thought she went potty on the floor somewhere, when I asked her if she did she said, "NO!! potty." Me: "you need to go potty?" Aspen, "ess" (yes). So we went in and sat her on the potty and she peed on it! That's crazy. I figured it was just a fluke. Then last night, she took her diaper off, said "potty" and we went in and she sat on the potty and pooped! Woah. Slow down,kiddo. Mommy's not ready for potty-training yet. How do I stop this?!?! Cuz...uh, this morning, same thing. NO!!!! But isn't she cute in this picture? Its from our hike on Saturday. Now that that snow is melted (mostly) around here, its actually pretty. :)

9 month old Mia

Mia turned 9 months old on the 25th. She had her well baby check on the 26th and I was SO hoping she'd be up to 15 pounds, but alas, she was not. 14 lbs, 13 oz. Come on Mia!! You couldn't have put on 3 more ounces?!?! Sheesh! And she is 25.5 inches tall. So she's growing....still tiny, but growing. Ok...so she's really NOT tiny - she's got rolls galore and is chunky - just tiny for her age. But she is well-proportioned. Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of her favorite things at 9 months old.

FOOD! Mia loves her food. She really likes peas and cheese. And....most recently, she prefers to feed herself or to have Aspen feed her. She will eat more if Aspen feeds her than she will if mommy or daddy feed her. She likes to eat whatever we are eating at meals and doesn't care too much for her baby food - especially at dinnertime. :) She likes her some food! ;-)



She likes to drool and make us think she is going to sprout some teeth, but then they never do poke through! :)


She REALLY likes going on hikes, to the park and hanging out with the family outside. :)






She LOVES to cruise along the furniture, her toy box, anything she can. She likes to push around her little walking toy. She is so happy to be mobile and wants to be wherever the action is.








She also finds great joy in emptying things - the canned food out of the cupboard, the books off the bookshelf, toys from the toybox, moss from the plants, dishes from the dishwasher. You know, anything she can find.





Mia is a sweetheart and we love her so much. She loves to be playing side by side with Aspen. She loves to laugh and "talk" to Aspen. She loves when Daddy plays with her and crinkles her nose when his beard touches her face. She is somewhat of a mama's girl - she doesn't like me to be out of her sight and has a tendency to cry if she can't see me. But she usually just crawls after me, so its no big deal. She is an awesome little girl and we are so incredibly happy that she is in our family.