New Place, New Things

I've become a semi-pro at relocating. In five years of marriage, I'm now on my fifth address - and every move has been out-of-state. I'm always anxious to get the chore of unpacking finished so that I can get on with the fun stuff: arranging the furniture, hanging pictures on the wall, and purchasing new items to fill the voids that didn't exist in our last place.

I'm really enjoying the new things we got this time around, so much so that I've been tinkering with the idea of taking their pictures and giving you all a semi-tour of the place. If that intrigues you, by all means, continue on.

First we have the drapes in the dining room. Let me preface this with the fact that I have NEVER liked drapes. I don't like most window coverings. But we were losing heat like a mother and needed to fix that. And I actually like these ones, although I think this first picture (maybe I shouldn't kick off my post with this picture???) is a little white-trash with the BBQ and the other miscellaneous still-not-unpacked items on the patio. Oh well.
Here they are closed. The photo really doesn't do them justice.
Here's a close-up so you can see the pattern. I love the shimmer and the way it pulls my color scheme together, balancing things out with our dominant red couch.
Next new thing is actually a holiday decoration I made last week with some friends. It's a Christmas wreath, made with a wire hanger, ornaments, and hot glue. The idea came from here.
I just don't know how to finish off the top. See the hanger? I don't really want to top it with a huge bow, or cover up a large portion with thick ribbon. Any ideas? Right now it's hanging on the front door with the hanger showing right there, totally screaming that I'm ghetto to our new neighbors.

Next, we've finally got a living room that's big enough for more seating than just our couch. We scanned Craigslist one night and found these treasures for a steal of a deal.
They were floor models in a house on the market, so not even really used! Todd laughs every time he thinks about how my jaw dropped when I saw them in person. I was in love! We picked them up in the Penske. How sweet is that?
Big step - we finally got ourselves a dresser that is not free/made of plywood/falling apart/handed down for generations. We've been holding off on this for ages, thinking someday we'll get a bedroom set. We finally decided to just go for it anyway. And we are loving it. The top drawers are the perfect size for our underwear and socks! We've got it right next to the closet and sink so getting dressed in the morning has become a seamless routine.
Ah. I'm excited to talk about this one. Todd had this real, dried puffer fish that he was ready to throw, but that I think is way too cool. He also had a bucket chock full of sand dollars, and it was a crying shame that no one could see them. Behold, the finished product.
For the grand finale of tonight's tour, check out this quilt my mom made. She and I designed it together, and had a party picking out all the material at the quilting store. My dear mom has been busting her tail to do all the work. Hopefully, she'll feel like it was worth it if she knows I've got it hanging in my living room. It is gorgeous!
Phew. That's all my new stuff. I'm loving them. Who's up for a visit so you can see how they merge with the old, creating what I like to call home.

Hazel's First Birthday and Other Random Happenings of the Past Week

Hazel's first birthday was last Tuesday, December 1st. We did celebrate, I promise. We had a picnic at the park next door and played on the swings and slide. And we ordered Chinese food for dinner so Hazel could have rice for her birthday dinner. (She loves rice.) We helped her open her presents in the living room, surrounded by boxes. And she got to sleep in her crib for the first time in days.

Ooh, new books. She immediately plopped down in Daddy's lap to read.

The whole week was spent unpacking, but once everything was out and there was a little counter space in the kitchen, I made cupcakes for her.

Todd ate one before I took the picture.

The frosting and the candle freaked her out, but the next day she figured out as long as Mama ate the white stuff for her, the cupcakes were pretty darn good! She helped me eat them all week long.
Hazel's probably pretty sad that we're just about done unpacking now. She has been having a blast climbing in and out and on top of all the boxes.

Now that the boxes are gone, she's had to find other places to explore. She found this corner cupboard in the kitchen and will play in it for loooong stretches of time.
Just this morning, she discovered another cupboard that isn't quite her size. She got stuck and had to be rescued, but not before I snatched this picture!
And I'd like to say she's just started to get interested in helping me cook, but honestly, I've just barely started to cook again myself. She probably would have wanted to help me months ago. (No reason to make a big meal without a man to eat it.) But at any rate, it's her new thing. She wants to help stir and measure. It's really adorable. Maybe it's time to get her a play kitchen?

And the Best Travel Baby Award goes to...

Hazel D. Bonner!

We moved out to California this weekend. All of our belongings got put in a 22-foot Penske and we towed our car behind that. Todd drove, I sat in the middle, doling out treats left and right, and Hazel got the window seat. All told, it took us about 15 hours of driving time, plus stops. We stayed in Nevada Saturday night to split up the drive.

Hazel's always been a great traveler, but we didn't know how she'd do for such a long stretch, especially sitting right next to me. I'm pleased to announce that she rocked. She fussed a little bit here and there, but truly we think she spent maybe 30 minutes combined crying on the entire drive. When it was time for her nap, I hung a blanket across from the dashboard to the seatback so she couldn't see us, and she slept. She was pleasant company almost the entire time.

We've been in the Bay Area for just shy of 24 hours now, and we are pleased to announce that we have found ideal housing. It is expensive and it is only a two-bedroom, but we feel at peace about it. It's in a very quiet and safe part of town, we face a huge park with tons of grass, slides, and swings, the rooms are spacious, and we're returning to the same ward (for church) that we were in when we lived here before. We're very happy with it.

Ooh Ooh, Aah Aah

Last week we spent a few days at Todd's sister Laura's house. One morning the adults were talking in the kitchen, and kids were all playing in the adjacent playroom. A bit into it, Laura's three kids all left the playroom, but I could still hear Hazel clinking around with blocks so I let her be. But a minute later, I realized it was rather silent, and I peeked in to make sure my kiddo was okay.

Imagine my surprise when this is what I found:
I was floored. She only figured out how to climb up on the couch the day before. That fridge comes up to my waist!

After I pulled her off, I watched her head straight over to get back on so I could figure out how she got did it. She used the oven handles as footholds and gripped the gas stove tops to pull herself onto the oven. That's as far as I let her go second time around, but now I wish I had held off. I would have loved to see her shimmy herself up to the highest level.

What a monkey!

Five Years

Yesterday Todd and I celebrated our five year anniversary. It was much better than last year, when I was 38 1/2 weeks pregnant and alone.

Our trip to Italy in March was our big celebration, so we kept it low-key. Todd's mom watched Hazel and we went and got pedicures. No, Todd did not know that's what I had planned. All I told him was that we were doing something he'd never done before and that he desperately needed. (People, his feet were like sandpaper!) He was surprisingly cool about it. But I mean, how much can you really complain when someone is exfoliating and massaging your feet?

We also went out to lunch and spent an hour at Home Depot, so there was enough manliness in the day. ;)

Bonner Reunion Tour 2009

I'm still having a hard time peeling my eyes off of Todd long enough to blog.

However, we took a sweet trip the first week of November, and I'd be remiss if I did not record it. We left Hazel with my parents for a week and flew out to Washington DC. We stayed with our friends the Lundells. It was great to spend time with these friends we haven't seen since we graduated college.

We started off our first day in DC by spending several hours in the Holocaust Museum. It was sad, and informative, and sobering. Then we grabbed lunch and ate it in front of the White House. While we sat there, a couple of motorcades drove past. Police shoved the crowds out of the area we'd been sitting at, and we like to pretend we caught a picture of Barack.

Check out the guard standing on the roof.

Okay, see the guy standing closest to us in the middle in the suit? Then there's the lamppost to the left of him. We "think" the guy to the left of the post is Obama.

We made a quick stop at the National Archives building to look at the Declaration of Independence. We were planning to just run in and out to say we had seen it, so I wasn't expecting how it made me feel. The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights are all displayed in a beautiful rotunda. When I got up to the Declaration, I was overcome with a feeling that I was looking at something sacred. I felt God's presence, and I thanked Him for the blessings of a free country.
We spent the rest of the day walking past all of the monuments. I was most excited to see the Lincoln Memorial
but I think my favorite actually ended up being the Franklin Delano Roosevelt one. Its walls had a ton of interesting quotes carved on them that he gave during the depression and WWII. Here's just one that I especially appreciated:

" We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization."

Washington MonumentJefferson Memorial

The next day we went to the International Spy Museum (my choice) and the Air and Space Museum (Todd's chocie). The spy museum was chock full of espianoge artifacts. Two that I remember especially amusing me are a lipstick pistol and a knife set you hide up your rectum. It also had a lot of interactive displays. You had to memorize a cover identity before going in. There was a pretend air duct you could crawl through and eavesdrop on people. It was super cool.
The Air and Space Museum was interesting, too. My favorite part of that was looking at the pictures taken with the Hubble Telescope. I hadn't looked at any of those since high school at least. Again, I was overcome with God's Spirit, as I looked at what He has created, and thought about how small I am, and how magnificent He is, and how much I know He loves me.
Our third day there, we paid a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. I always like going to military cemeteries. It makes me proud of our country, thankful to our veterans, and grateful to have my husband at my side.
I planned our trip up to this point. Todd took over from here and kept everything a big fat secret. He started planning it back in September and has been dangling his "mystery destinations" out like a delicious carrot right in front of my face ever since. For days before we left, he carried around a sleek black folder filled with maps, confirmations, and other miscellaneous data and would flaunt it all in front of me, knowing I love a good secret.

I figured out the first "mystery destination" pretty quickly by reading the road signs as we drove. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We spent the night at a B&B right on the battlefield. The next morning, we had a sweet personal tour. The tour guide drove our car and took us all over the battlefield, describing the events of the three days. He also showed us several interesting monuments. It was excellent. He was able to make it interesting and informative for the both of us, even though I haven't thought much about Gettysburg since junior high, and Todd's read several books on it and already knew all the basics.
From there, we stopped at the Hershey factory on our way to our destination in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania. Todd found a very romantic place to stay - the Dockside B&B - on a lake, with gorgeous views out every window. I fell in love with Pennsylvania, with its beautiful cornfields and hills. We had a nice Italian dinner and spent the night relaxing in comfort and luxury.

One of our several breathtaking views from our room.

The next day, we drove to New York City for the crowning event of Todd's surprise. We went to NYC two years ago to celebrate our anniversary and to fulfill one of my lifetime goals - to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Our trip was awesome, but the Broadway stagehands went on strike the very day we were going to see Phantom, and we had to go home without that experience. Well, Todd bought us excellent seats at the Majestic Theater to right that wrong, and it was awesome. It was thrilling to see and to hear, and to live that experience.
Sunday we went to church and then spent the afternoon at the beach. I collected rocks and Todd searched for the gold coin that was "calling out to him." And Monday we flew home and reunited with our much-missed child.

Hazel's Halloween Highlights

Helping to carve the pumpkins. She loved how the pumpkin pulp felt under her bare feet!
Dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with Daddy. He knows all the moves! (And he would have been mortified if I'd whipped out the camera during that priceless moment - but I wanted to video it so bad!)

Trick-or-treating. Aunt Kaye was super thoughtful and had a special bag of little apples for Hazel - her favorite treat!

Hazel's a ladybug, I'm a butterfly, and Todd's a bug catcher.

Playing with the cousins who came over to have pumpkin soup for dinner. (Todd decided to make a dinner party instead of a jack-o-lantern.) Hazel adores these girls (as well as her long-lost cousins in Cedar City!).

Aleah, Kayla, and Shaylee

It was a delightful Halloween. Todd and I are excited to be entering the "holidays with kids" stage. It makes the traditions a lot more fun and meaningful.

Morning Lovey

This morning Hazel fell in love with a tube of toothpaste and a pen. When Todd put her in the high chair for breakfast, she had one in each hand. There was food on the tray in front of her. Todd says she looked at the toothpaste tube, looked at the pen, then leaned forward and started licking the food off of the tray like a cat. Not even food could make her let go!

You Guys Deserve an Update

I just never want to be away from my man for even a second, so it's like I've dropped off the face of the planet. But I am here! And we are doing GREAT!

Two and a half weeks ago, Todd and I had our romantic rendezvous in Tacoma, Washington. He had to do debriefing work on Saturday and didn't know what time he would get done, so we planned to meet at the hotel. I got there several hours before he did. After calling friends, playing Sudoku, reading my book, and trying unsuccessfully to take a nap, I decided to wander through the hotel. The place we stayed at was full of glass art, and there was a different artist's work on display on each of the 25 or so floors. Anyway, I was ten floors down when Todd called me on my cell phone to tell me he was there. People, I RAN up ten flights of stairs (I even fell and scraped my shin) and when I got to our room, I was completely out of breath as I flung myself into Todd's arms. We cried and hugged and kissed and stared at each other's faces and kissed a lot more. It would have made a great movie scene (well, not the falling part, but the rest was very romantic).

I flew home on Tuesday, did laundry in a frenzy, and repacked. Wednesday Hazel and I flew out to Sacramento, and Thursday morning Todd and his unit came in. Most of Todd's family came up to Sacramento, too, so we spent the next few days hanging out with all of them. But the best part for me was seeing Todd and Hazel together. Hazel was a little shy for the first day or two, but we had Todd feed her all her bottles and they became best buddies in no time. Todd calls himself "the money man" when she comes at him for food. Less than 48 hours later, she was already treating him like her dad, hugging his knees, snuggling him, and going to him for comfort and especially for roughhousing! They are doing great together.
Afterward, we drove to Mountain View and stayed with a friend while we did apartment shopping. Nobody was interested when we said we were looking for something available after Thanksgiving. Everyone is selling NOW. So, we canned the project, and will house-hunt again when we move out for reals. Something about the $1600+ a month rent made paying for an extra six weeks seem less than appealing.

Now we're back in Utah and we've started packing up the place. Next week Todd and I are going on a trip to Washington D.C. and several "mystery destinations" that Todd is keeping secret from me. Hazel's going to stay with my parents while we're gone. When we get back, we'll have a few more weeks here, and then we're planning to move back to the Bay Area just after Thanksgiving.

Yesterday, Todd was laying on the couch while Hazel played with some toys. I came over and snuggled up with him. Hazel looked over at us and immediately abandoned what she was doing, walked over to the couch, and crawled up to snuggle with us. A family snuggle! It was the cutest thing of all time. She never snuggled with just me on the couch, but now that she sees me and Todd doing that, she wants to do it, too. I loved that. I love that we're a trio. I'm so grateful Todd's home safe and that we've got this beautiful child and it's just so nice to be all together finally.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Aah. We're all together again. Todd's back safe from Afghanistan and playing like a madman with Hazel. We've been busy the last couple of weeks, with lots of traveling and apartment hunting. I just wanted to send out a quick note while I had a minute to let everyone know our family is happily, thankfully, reunited at last.

Big News

Todd sent me an email 12 hours ago saying he'd be flying out of Afghanistan sometime in the next 12 hours. Hooray! He'll be in transit for a while, but should be back in the States in a few days.

I am so relieved.

I'll see him Saturday night. We're rendezvousing for the weekend at his post-mobilization site. We found out he'd have a couple days leave and suddenly couldn't stand the thought of waiting five more days to see each other. (Hazel will see him in a week and a half, when he returns to California.) I'm ecstatic. There's no point in even trying to express myself in words.

My heart feels like it's going to blow up with happiness.

The only part that makes me sad is that Hazel is already doing this:

We had both really hoped Todd would be able to teach her how to walk. He's already missed so much. I didn't encourage it, didn't practice with her or anything, tried to hold her off, but it was no use. The kid is a mover. (Guess who that comes from?)

But hey, maybe she'll run into her daddy's aching arms, huh?

For Daddy

We're Almost There, Guys

Ow, owwww!!!

I couldn't stop wolf-howling at Hazel. She just took SEVEN steps in a row!!!

Iconic September

Hazel found the jackpot: apples from the neighbor's tree. They are the perfect size for her squishy little hands. It is surreal watching her take bites out of an apple. It makes her seem like a little kid instead of a baby.

I couldn't resist grabbing the camera. The moment just screamed "September!" The plaid, the leaves, the apple... Aah.

I love Hazel's winter hat.

Is it so wrong to feel vanity through your child's wardrobe?
I bundled Hazel up for our morning walk and couldn't stop thinking the paparazzi should snap a photo of her adorableness as we strolled through the entire neighborhood. Never you mind that I was still in my pajamas, with frazzled bedtime hair. My kid is a looker! Plus, don't you just want to smooch those huge, soft cheeks?!

A Week of Firsts

This week Hazel had her first hair-do:

I'm not sure if I love it.

And she also took her first step. She was walking from ottoman to couch, holding on to the furniture. Left hand on ottoman, right hand reaching out to the couch. Arm span not quite long enough to breach the distance. Left hand lets go, one foot lifts, she takes a step forward. Balance. Then she kind of fell into the couch as she tried to take the second step to get there. She did it twice in a row. That's my girl!

I really thought mac & cheese would be a hit.

Nope. Of the five or six noodles that actually made it into Hazel's mouth at dinner, only about two did not immediately come squirting back out, accompanied by a wrinkled nose and a "phleh." Mostly she just had a fun time playing with gravity.

Oh, brother...

Todd is growing a post-mobe 'stache. "All the guys are doing it." Please.

Vote on the sidebar to let us know how long you think Todd will keep it.