potty 'training'

my son is in the midst of potty training! it's so amazing though i haven't really done any training at all per se [does renting potty dvds and books for him count?]- i've tried here and there, talking about it and letting him go naked with no success. but lo and behold a couple weeks ago i was running out of diaps and thought what the hey let's try this again. and he started going on there perfectly! we've yet to get some poo in there and he is still wearing diapers at nap and bedtime. that's the next step. but we can go out and about with no accidents he's great at holding it, or using his potty in a different place. i am in AWE of him i think i'm more impressed with this than when he started walking. so proud of him. of course the one time he poos in his underwear, i was in indiana with colin and my friend beth got to deal with it. he also pooed in his diaper during nap and stuck his hand in there and got it on his hands! i find this hilarious. he has NEVER done anything like that...saving the fun stuff for beth i guess. i also love that my child is a cautious clean kid- no he did not wipe his hands on a stuffed animal or go digging for more. he immediately started crying and saying 'wash hands, wash hands!' she went up there and he was just holding his hands out, not touching anything. awesome. so that's the next step, poo in the potty! this is probably gross for anyone who is not a parent.
couple more cute cali pictures

saylor's first visit to a beach- manhattan beach

out to dinner, saylor was perfect which is doubly impressive as his sleep was so screwed up. we let him have his paci the whole trip. i love how he's totally posing in this picture!

i love this picture. nimma took this of us on abbott kinney road outside of our friend's-friend's store urban paper boutique.


watching my friend julie's son kelton the other day... and that's my monstrous son on the right. holy crap-cow.

loves his yogurt

everyone's talking about MJ

last thursday the 18th house of heroes did a quick interview with radiou while at the alive festival....the dj jared french asked them how they got permission to use the beatles songs for their EP. well, as you may know, michael jackson owns the publishing rights to most beatles songs. so house of heroes said 'oh, we killed michael jackson'... !!!!!! and jared french said 'you heard it right here. house of heroes killed michael jackson!' AAAAAH the irony the horrible irony. [upon remembering this yesterday they called radiou and asked to have that part removed from the interview...]

i am seriously quite frightened by what he actually looked like these past 5-10 years. i'd like to remember him with this nice skin color

a must see!!

can't wait to see this! let us not be ignorant... let us be smarter, healthier, safer.... yum!

koebele wedding

heather got married! one of my best friends, so close to my heart. she's so amazing and god finally gave her her beloved. their story is pretty amazing, though i don't feel like writing it all out, it is beautiful. and we've been waiting so long for nick! we love him and are so glad they are now one....
it was surely one of my favorite weddings. her best friends handed her flowers as she walked down the aisle to make up her bouquet. sweet idea though we were all crying so much it was funny. so it was literally all of us crying and laughing at the same time as we handed her flowers. it was a perfect evening..the weather was great and it was fun spending time with friends. the other highlight for me was i burnt my head with a sparkler. i have no idea how it happened, though we had wooden sparklers and apparently they can break easier than metal ones... our friend angie also burnt her head! but i felt a few sparks fly in my head and i spazzed out and kept trying to smack it out, feeling like my head was on fire.... and then a huge chunk of hair flew out. and yes, i have a bald spot now. and with me and angie....it was smelling like burnt hair everywhere. it was hilarious! i was laughing pretty hard but it hurt so bad i started crying too.. two times in one night of laughing/crying simataneously... so it felt like knife scraping my head for a few days and i've got a good size battle wound bald spot...random pictures as again i never seem to take pictures anymore... so i just have to steal people's....i was excited about my dress- i got it at a vintage store here in westerville called cinda lou... so it was a straight up vintage 70's dress, fun.



one of my favorite families, showing only two of the 10 grandchildren. love the harts!

our favorite twins

jen's daughter bella putting makeup on me...i look funny and i think this is the face i make when i put makeup on myself. haha

i love these because i don't think they realized i had the sunglasses on in the first picture...then they decided to be stupid in the second one but i didn't catch that....


beautiful cake by lindsey rike, beautiful topper by christen nelson...yum!!

heather and nick koebele

books

books i'm into...
Taking Charge of Your Fertiliy

a must read for every woman! why aren't doctors telling us this information!?! this book was a total 'aha moment' for me. easy to read, i couldn't put it down. BUY it!

Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About

just getting into it, kinda interesting, i think it's worth reading. this guy is super passionate, and for good reason.

what i'm looking forward to reading
Sacred Marriage

on the cover it says 'what if god designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?' love it! have had some friends recommend this. and ok, i checked it out from the library and had to return it before i could read it. because ok, yes i read tori spelling's mommywood first... so now i have it on reserve again and i will read it this time!!

lazy homebody

i'm an extrovert that prefers to be home! if something's going on i want to be a part of it, but at the same time i'm longing for my bed. and i really prefer smaller groups, although there's definitely times where a big party is in order. i feel like i still have one foot hanging out in the not-yet-parents group. we are fortunate to have grandparents that take saylor often, and friends that welcome saylor anytime we need to bring him... but there are times and there are people who are definitely more free and i think it's only natural to look at them a little wistfully. our cali trip worked out reeeeally well but of course it would have been easier without a toddler in tow. and of course i recalled all too fondly those days without the responsibility of a child. it so much mirrors a relationship with Christ though. i honestly don't have much responsibility. i don't work a typical job, i don't have a bunch of commitments to people... i'm actually feeling the weight of commitment as we've started this new small group. i almost want to resist but i know responsibility, commitment, hard work- this brings about good character and builds faith. and i'm due for some of this. my nature is to be lazy. i don't have the drive that some people do, honestly. and while i know the lord works in all things- so my hangout lunch with a friend can have an impact in the kingdom, my snuggling with saylor is building him up... i know god isn't gonna let me off the hook so easily! i think we are always called to dig deeper, DO more...things that are out of our 'comfort zone' absolutely yes! ... all these thoughts and you know what- having children- while again is great, has given me an 'out'. a way to easily turn down commitments, keep us out of small group, even keep us from going to church every week. so. i'm ready to do and learn some more, lord. actually i'm scared to say that and kinda want to retract it.... but i'll keep giving it to him, and in the meantime here we are wanting baby number 2. pregnancy/newborn stages... they definitely take you out of the loop socially. my prayer is lord, use me more, beyond my home and my friends- i want to serve you.

californianess

we had such a great time! it's hard to sum it up, but i'll try to recap a bit, mostly for my own sake. we made some great memories. we arrived wednesday morning-saylor was perfect on the flights out there. [a guy behind us asked 'is he always this happy? and a flight attendent said he was the cutest thing she'd ever seen and gave us cookies] though i feel like we had 'external' attack- i swear this is what often happens when my emotions and relationships are doing well, and the enemy wants to mess around with me. colin and i had a great first year of marriage relationship wise- we were so happy- but we were constantly under attack- sickness, car broken into, car accident, blahblah. so on this trip- i had bought a tent for saylor to sleep in that didn't arrive in time, the portable dvd player i brought wasn't working properly, colin got really sick as soon as we got there, i got a nasty cut on my leg and a bad sunburn, the airport lost my stroller on the way home... but seriously all that and i was still having the best time. you just have to go with the flow and choose to have fun anyway sometimes. we got to see so many great friends and make some new ones as well. saylor was SO excited to see colin-ran up to him and wouldn't let go. wed and thurs we hung out in san jose. friday we got to meet noemi's family, and then we spent the weekend at chris and angie's, some close friends of ours that recently moved out there. our friend nimma was with us for the weekend as well... saturday was a hangout day, we walked around and went to venice beach [where i was 2 seconds from my cousin but we didn't connect in time to get together. bummer!]. here are a couple pictures from the marina beach we also went to- saylor is playing with javin-little boy of friends of chris and angie. he is SO cute! his parents own a couple stores that are pretty sweet-julia roberts and reese witherspoon are frequent customers [so much name dropping can be done! i'm trying to refrain]





sidenote-i actually wore my contacts the whole trip, i swear. except for when this picture was taken. haha. grr i hate glasses. and contacts! saturday night saylor was baby-sat by angie's friend frederique so we could all go to one of their shows. frederique is this little french woman, best accent ever! and saylor loved her. got to see jen, jen, dustin and nate at the show and that was nice.
sunday was spirit west coast where we got to see some more friends and hang out.
food/restaurants i enjoyed- pomodoro- SO good and great prices!, pinkberry [frozen yogurt], in-n-out [had to get it], french market cafe- a perfect place.
random sayings that made me laugh hysterically and won't be funny to anyone else, but i wanted to write them down so i don't forget---
tim: katie, am i in your top 20 friends? name all your friends, go! katie: ok, katie, michelle, aj.... all of us: laugh and what? you're friends with yourself??
chris calling pomodoro for directions: hi is this the uh... restaurant? ... he then carried on trying to explain himself as he couldn't remember the name of the restaurant we were going to, it was hilarious..
me, caught off guard by a small rat looking dog:oh! he's...cute.. cool california dog owne: thanks... walks away and turns back,sheepish: we didn't know he was going to be this small! --that made me laugh forever. someone embarrassed of their dog! and i picture him and his wife or whatever, they get the dog and their like.. ooh. he's so small. um...... haha!
and then katie saying i have a unique [read:big!] nose and then saying someone once told her: girl, you have got the smallest nose i have ever seen!... haha! who would SAY that to someone!? hilarious.
saylor was whiny on one of the flights home, he was SO exhausted and i was at the end of my rope with him too.... he fell asleep on the way home from the airport and then slept from 6pm-10am. 16 hours!!!! haha! then a 3 hour nap. then slept until 9:30 today as well, after going to bed at 7. he's very happy to be home and in his own bed....as am i!!