Little Helper

Aliyah is at the prime age right now where helping out Mommy and Daddy seems like a fantastic thing, and I am going to milk this phase for all it's worth. This is great for two big reasons. One, it keeps her occupied and prevents mischief, and two, it's awesome having a little helper for chores! Just this past Saturday we went outside on our front stone area and cleaned away all the leaves. I swept and she held the dust pan and dumped them in a bucket. I wasn't sure she would be much help, but it was the perfect job for her and I actually found myself thinking it made the job a little bit easier and a lot more fun to have her by my side.

Today, after she spent about twenty minutes jumping from the ottoman to the couch, I decided to put her to work again by helping Daddy install our built-in cabinet handles. She was really interested in what Sebastian was doing and wanted to know the whole process. She was also very intent on giving him the right tools for the job.

This weekend I finally got around to painting the living room a gray-toned blue. Up until I finished painting this room, I was feeling a little overwhelmed at all I still wanted to do with the new place, especially after a whirlwind few months of big renovations and then moving. (Have I mentioned I really, really, really, really, really dislike moving?)  But seeing the transformation of a new coat of paint is good motivation and I'm ready to keep going. My next goal is to paint the dining area a very, very light color. Right now I have two deeper hues in the kitchen and the living room, so I think I need to tone it down a bit and bring in a more subtle color.

I just realized that the below photo as our cat post right front and center. Looks like it might be time for a new one. This view of the living room shows just a hint of the built-in bookshelves/entertainment center/fireplace that we had designed in place of the old brick fireplace.

Other than giving Aliyah mini-chores, stickers are my other go-to activity for her. Stickers have helped make many plane rides bearable for this girl, and are also a good way to get her to actually calm down for a bit when needed. I usually find big 700 count packs of stickers at the dollar store, which are perfect because I'm able to let her loose and not have to worry about wasting any. She was excited to see some farm stickers since she immediately associated them with Grandpa Peters.

This girl continues to make us laugh often. She was a dancing machine today in church, and in the past few days she has figured out that if she can't get our attention by calling out Daddy or Mommy, saying Bastian and "Marna" will no doubt turn heads. She keeps us on our toes, that is for sure!

Health Kick & Green Goodness

I'm on another one of my health kicks. The ones where I work out feverishly and try to eat extremely well for about two weeks and then I just sort of fizzle out. Some days I'm all for excersising and then other days I think about having to make an effort every week of my life to maintain a certain physique and I wonder if it's really worth it. Also, I love dessert. And sweets. Especially cake. Oh, and my Mom's baking. I'm pretty sure her baking is the reason for the sweet tooth of her children and grandchildren.

But, like I said, for now, I'm on a health kick. And this time I have more at stake because I'm in on a bet with the CEO of my company, my manager and one of their friends. We each have a certain weight goal to get to before our all-company trip to Cabo San Lucas at the end of August, and whomever doesn't make their goal weight has to be the butler to the other three for the day. If there's one thing I know about myself, it's that I'm competitive. I may not always come in first, but when there's a competition on the line I excel more than if I were to just do it myself.

Lately I've been using the juicer that we received as a wedding gift as a way to get an abundance of fruits and veggies so that I'm filled up on nutritious food rather than bad. What I love is that it is so easy to use. Just wash and throw the items in. The juicer does the rest. For me, the best part about juicing is that I can pretty much use any selection of veggies that I have on hand, add some sweet fruits like grapes or an apple and it will taste absolutely delicious. Sebastian goes a little more hard-core and will sometimes make an all-veggie juice and those are harder for me to drink then the sweeter ones I make.

I've also noticed that when I juice about an hour or half hour before I run during my lunch hour, my runs are much easier. The burst of wholesome produce must be good for my endurance and energy.

Here's what I threw into the juicer today. Incredibly delicious, sweet and simply healthy.

When I first started juicing, the colors of the drinks would throw me off. I thought that something this hue would surely not taste good at all, but I was wrong. I've learned to never judge a juice by its color.

Weekend Getaway

Sebastian and I decided to take a weekend trip with Aliyah up to Northern Arizona. Making the decision to do this on Wednesday afternoon, we quickly found that almost all of the area's cabins were booked solid--many until mid-July. We finally lucked out and were able to book a nice little cabin nearby Strawberry, Arizona.

My hope was to see some scenic landscapes on our trip and going North did not disappoint. Some of the views on the drive there are absolutely stunning. Perhaps the most beautiful part was our hike to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. It was gorgeous. It's incredible to think that such a lush forest of trees and plants is only two hours away from the heat of Scottsdale.

We stayed at a place called The Cabins on Strawberry Hill, which had individual cabins on the property, along with grills, a small playground and some additional outdoor activities. Our cabin was quaint with a small little porch out front and just enough rustic charm to feel like we were getting away from the hustle of everyday life, but not completely away from it all. (Germany was playing a big soccer match, which Sebastian had to watch and there was wi-fi, which allowed me to check Pinterest, facebook and Instragram, so you can see how we couldn't quite "rough-it" too much.) We took in an evening concert in Payson, and also found a spot in the same city where the food was so delicious and the service so nice that we went there twice.

Aliyah had a great time and did pretty well on the hike with a mix of walking some parts herself and then being carried for some parts. She still loves to be outside, as well as with Mom and Dad. I think her favorite part may have been when she realized she was "helping" me pack up the car to go home on Sunday morning. We took a lot of trips back and forth to the truk (trunk) to make sure everything was in its place.

Next spots on our Arizona travel list are Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Taking trips like that make me realize just how much beauty there is in nature that I'm unaware of. A thought that is very much inspiring to me.

At The Library

One of my fondest memories from growing up were the trips my Mom and I would take to the library. I still remember how she would let me pick out as many books as I wanted.  Often times my stack of picture books, and later on, chapter books would be massive. (Anyone remember The Babysitters Club? I couldn't get enough of that series.) My Mom never told me to put any books back. It seemed too good to be true. To be able to have as many books as I wanted was unbelievable to me, and I'm sure that's probably one of the reasons that made library trips so special.

As I got older, even into my early twenties, my Mom and I would sometimes go over to the children's section and pick out one or two picture books to take home and read. Two grown women reading together as a mother and daughter. We carried that tradition onto the next generation when I went back home to Minnesota with Aliyah.

Last week, after hearing some good things about a library nearby Aliyah's daycare in Scottsdale, I decided to take her and see if it was what I was looking for, and it was. Soon after I researched other nearby libraries and we went to another one about a mile away from our house. Basically, I've come to the conclusion that the Scottsdale library system is ah-ma-zing. They have so many toddler and kids classes, a huge selection of new books and movies for both children and adults, great play areas and even free tickets to local attractions. Last Saturday Sebastian took Aliyah to a Daddy and Me class where they read two books and sang songs as a group and he said she loved it.

She and I had some time to ourselves since Sebastian was working late, so we stopped by this evening. It's so much fun to watch her enjoy her time there. She has no hesitation trying to figure out how things work.

She especially loves to play with these abacus-type toys. I keep thinking I should buy her one since I see them often in stores, but then I realize that the moment I buy one for her is probably when she'll decide she's over them. Besides, if she doesn't have one at home, it just makes it that more exciting when she gets to play with one at the library, right?



She discovered a cute, wooden turtle that she fell in love with so much that she offered him some of her cheerios. When she figured out that the turtle wasn't going to eat it, she gave up and just ate the cheerio instead.

So many neat little learning opportunities in the children's play section. 

They even had a little coloring station. Complete with fresh crayons and a roll of paper. I'll admit, I was pretty excited about this area. I took the opportunity to draw Aliyah some balloons and work on colors with her. 

Last stop was the audio station. She looks pretty concerned here, but in reality it was more fascination since it was the first time she has ever worn headphones. Unsure at first, she realized it was pretty neat once I put a headset on and we listened together.

Can't wait to make many more memories with her throughout the years at the library! And I'm even more excited to be able to have her show "Bamma" the library next time my Mom and Dad are out in Arizona.

What We're Up To...

I know...it's been awhile hasn't it? So let's play a little catch up.

• Our biggest family milestone is that we finally moved into our new house at the end of April. We are loving it! Sebastian worked extremely hard to get all of the major updates completed, but we still moved in with a lot of little things unfinished. I've been holding off on debuting the house, but I'm learning very quickly that the house will only continue to evolve. I need to just post in-progress photos or I may never post any. So house photos to come soon.

Sebastian putting together and installing our cabinets.

• Aliyah and I went to Minnesota over the Memorial Day weekend. It was a superb trip, like always. Aliyah and her cousins, Grace and Faith, are so cute together. They usually are very shy around one another for a little bit, then suddenly just pick up and start giggling and playing together. Every time we'd go somewhere, Aliyah would exclaim, "Fifi!?" And towards the end of the trip she became completely smitten with her Aunt Emily and was even asking for her on the way to the airport. Aliyah also enjoyed lots of cuddles from Grandma and Grandpa Peters, whom she affectionately called, "Bama" (we got a big kick out of that one), and Papa since those were her versions of Grandma and Grandpa. It was good to see my family again. Every time I visit, I always leave with the wish that we could live closer, but I am also very, very grateful that I'm lucky enough to be able to visit so often, and to have them make trips to visit us as well.

• I also ran a 10k with Ashley Allerson while we were in Minnesota. It was a pretty challenging course at some points, but I did better than I expected. My brother, Nick, decided the night before that he would like some brother/sister bonding time and registered for his first race ever. I was sure I could beat my 31 year old sibling, but being the super athlete that he is, he beat me by a couple of minutes. The race overall was a lot of fun and I'm so glad Ashley got me motivated to sign up and run it. It was Ashley's first longer race and she was outstanding. 

Nick told me that he wanted to run the first mile together and then I could go ahead. So I did. Then at mile 5 he shows up right beside me, barely missing a breath. I finally admitted defeat and told him it was okay if he ran ahead of me. In the end, he beat me. Because he is amazing.

• Arizona is starting to heat up! I'm pretty sure from here on until September, the weather looks something like this: 100+, 100+, 100+.... It's hot, but there's no humidity and we're finding ways to stay cool.
• I experienced my first Arizona thunderstorm. It was awesome! Until I saw that we were in a severe thunderstorm warning and realized I had forgotten all of my Minnesota weather survival skills since thunder was nearly non-existent when we lived in California. Wind was blowing, thunder was cracking, our french doors were flying open and I was overreacting, wondering how Aliyah would be doing since she was at daycare. I picked her up shortly after the storm passed and the entire car ride home she excitedly babbled about "raining" and "windy.

And lastly, let me leave you with a video of Aliyah's current obsession: being a super hero. The blanket she is wearing is her favorite thing. It has to be with us almost all the time, and it used as multiple things. In this instance, it makes a perfect cape for saving the world. Sebastian also makes a good partner in crime. :)