White knuckles

If you could see close enough you would see Hudson's white knuckles of fear as he digs his fingernails into Keith. Though he was a bit terrified of the water, he did enjoy playing in the beach tent and sand.

Minnesota, eh.

Last weekend we took our maiden voyage with Hudson in tow. We had no idea what to expect traveling with a 6 month old but we were presently surprised. We had an awesome time with Keith's friends from college and enjoyed seeing the Crebar family. Here are some snapshots from our trip. Hudson experienced his first plane flight, first trio to The Mall of America, first snow (sort of), first tie and first wedding. Quite a big weekend!

Life through a father's lens

One thing I love about my husband is his sense of humor and ability to entertain himself with random things.  Given some spare time and a camera the following craziness ensues....

Boy is he thankful to have such a willing subject to shoot now!

Tis the Season

In less than a week I will be heading back to work part time so I figure I should get a quick holiday recap posted before I have to focus on figuring out the routine of work, daycare, and life in general.  It has been an amazing 5 months off (1 before Hudson was born and 4 after) but some good things must come to an end.  Thankfully we found a daycare that we love and they are doing a stellar job taking care of Hudson and getting him to tolerate taking a bottle.
This year we were able to visit my parents for ten days before Christmas which was an amazing treat.  Some highlights: seeing our nephew Tyler perform in the Winter Choral program, spending time with my grandma on the ranch, Keith riding quads with my dad to feed the cows, seeing tons of family and friends, seeing Keith's family on our drive back home, and celebrating our first Christmas with Hudson.  Here are some snapshots from the trip.  We got an awesome new lens from Keith's parents for our camera so we had fun (mostly Keith, our main photographer) playing with it.  The downside of learning a new lens is that many of our photos are a bit blurry as we are still adjusting to shooting with a prime lens.

Annual get together with some of my favorite people and their little people:

Hudson and Santa (who was conveniently at my parents house when we arrived at 9pm after a long day in the car)

I can't get enough of this little guy and all his special smiles and smirks. 

Great Grandpa Chaix and Hudson on grandpa's 95 birthday! 

Me (Hudson snoozing in a pack on front of me) and my wonderful sister Lyndsey.

Hudson and his handsome dad on Christmas with his first stocking and his Christmas PJs.  So cute. 

Precious.

A boy and a giraffe

In an attempt to documents our sweet Hudson's growth we take a photo of him each month (thanks Lara for the convenient stickers).  We include Sophie the Giraffe for scale since we are always at different distances and angles.  It has been fun so far in even just a few months to see how much he has changed and grown.  Our little almost 4 month old is barely fitting into his 3-6 month onesie anymore.  I love that his legs are starting to chunk up!

Project: dresser

I am finally getting around to posting a photo of our DIY project for Hudson's room.  We bought an old dresser off Craig's list, sanded it down, and applied several of coats of turquoise paint.  Since we didn't know if we were having a girl or boy we had to have a color that would work either way and I love how it turned out!  If we had a girl I was going to use antique glass knobs and pulls but think its a bit too fem for our little guy so we used some existing hardware we have for now until I find something permanent.  Anyway, here is a picture of the transformation from the yellow odd stain to totally turquoise.

Quick Pics

I have very little time these days with the arrival of Hudson but wanted to get out some pictures to hold people over until I can write and share more.  Gosh this kid is cute (yes, I am very biased!)

The journey to Hudson Keith Erselius

Lester Gregersen

1916 – 2011

This world’s loss is heaven’s gain.  Lester Gregersen was an amazing man, father, grandfather, husband, and friend to many.  Through his 65 years of marriage to my grandma and raising their 5 kids he was able to pass along a piece of himself to each of us.  He loved traditions and family gatherings.  He loved being outdoors and taking care of his cattle ranch.  He loved to laugh, dance, and hum a tune. He was a man with no conceivable enemies and an immediate friend of everyone he met.  He had the kindest, blue eyes that sparkled with life and felt like a hug.  He took on life with a spring in his step and a whistling tune on his lips.

I can only hope to live a life as full as he and to carry on some of his character in who I am and who I raise my children to be.

 One great memory I have from my elementary school days was spending a morning picking blackberries with my grandfather. During late summer his calloused hands were always stained purple from picking berries that my grandma would turn into wonderful jam.  He knew all the best places around his ranch and had perfected his methods. You see, the best berries often grow on the top of the 8 foot or taller bushes. Not a problem at all for this seasoned veteran. He had figured out that backing his old ranch truck right into the bush and throwing a 2x4 plank off the side and into the perfect berry-picking spot brought home the best harvest. So, as he taught us, with my old coffee can tied around my waist with bailing wire, a glove on my left hand to pick up the branches, jeans and a long sleeve shirt to protect from the thorns, and a heart swollen with excitement for time with grandpa, he sets me out on my plank to get pickin'. With my can about halfway full I make the overconfident mistake of any kid around 10 years old and reach a little too far, losing my balance off my walking plank and falling flat on my back into the middle of the mammoth sized blackberry bush. Tied down by all the thorns now attached to my clothes I call out for help. Grandpa finally hears me from his own berry-pickin' plank and realizes he can't see me. He scurries over to find me stuck in the middle of the bush and laughs abundantly while asking me, "Well now why d'ya go about doing that?" A few minutes later he had freed me from the claws of the blackberries and set me up picking down on the ground. No more plank walking for me. It is his laughter in his speech and the time he was always willing to share that I will keep with me. How you could tell he loved each and every one of us and truly wanted to be spending his time with us. His life was full and rich and wonderful because he filled it with people and shared part of his heart with each of us.

I figure a little piece of my heart will always have the "Sunday blues" now that he is gone. It’s a term in my family to coin Grandpas sadness on Sundays after the family had been around for the weekend and now everyone had gone home. No one wanted to be the last to leave because those blue, sad eyes would break your heart every time. He cherished his family so much and saying goodbye, even if only for a few weeks, was such sorrow. I know it was his time to go and I know he is in a much better place now.  He is waiting for us to someday join him and until then a corner of my heart will have the Sunday Blues, for it has lost a man who has made a great impression on my life.

Little portable pies

I found a recipe reading Bon Appetit magazine while at the doctor's office this week and decided to give it a try.  I have recently realized I always want to make something new when taking dessert to someones house or having people over but that can be quite a risky maneuver if I haven't tested it out first.  So, with all my spare time on my hands while I await the arrival of Baby Erselius I decided to give Cherry Hand Pies a trial run.  I must say they turned out great and were super easy.  They didn't take long at all and were easy to make (even with my limited ability to concentrate these days).  I added some orange zest to balance out the sweetness, used frozen cherries since I just couldn't muster up buying and pitting fresh cherries, and I used the tart dried cherries from Trader Joe's since I had them on hand and thought they would again balance out some of the overly sweet cherriness.  Overall I am a big fan.  I made 8 total and froze 4 of them just before the baking step.  Not sure how they the frozen ones will turn out.  If you are looking for a fun, easy dessert I would recommend this one!

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/07/cherry-hand-pies

37 Weeks!

Week 34

Hard to believe we only have several weeks left until our little one arrives.  Boy oh boy do we have a lot to do still. 

Here are some prego highlights:
Weeks: 34 (35 on Thursday if anyone wants more specifics)
My belly is outgrowing many of my maternity clothes.
Total weight gain is 26 lbs so far (and counting)
Days left of work: 8

Things I look forward to post pregnancy:
Sleeping on my back and stomach
Zippers and buttons on my pants (instead of elastic that makes them slide down)
Sushi and the occasional glass of wine
Being able to bend over, lean forward, and sit normal

Things I am thankful for:
An amazing husband who takes care of me and cooks me amazing meals
Awesome friends, family, and coworkers who showered us with love and gifts to help us get our life with baby started.
A fairly easy, without complications pregnancy (I have a ton of friends who have had it tough so I appreciate the process I have had)

What did you appreciate post pregnancy or if you're pregnant, what are you looking forward to?

29 weeks!

It is hard to believe Baby Erselius will be here in just about 10 weeks! 
The 3rd trimester fatigue is setting in and I am getting more and more uncomfortable.  A day in the life of a pregnant lady I guess. 

So far, about 45 people (many of them strangers) have predicted we are having a boy and two have predicted we will have a girl.  Time will tell. 

GORILLA BLOGGING

Chanda has NO idea i am going to post this. I have been given quite a hard time about not reading the blog but I subscribe to the philosophy that if you share a bed with someone you should not have to read their blog.

So last weekend we took a trip to Auburn to visit family and celebrate our nephews twenty second birthday. It just seems like last week he was twenty one*. We also got to meet Dane Chanda's cousins second child who came into the world with a full head of blond hair.

One of the great joys I have had as an uncle has been watching my four year old niece grow up. On this trip she was infatuated with Chanda and her pregnant stomach. When she would see someone with Chanda she would say "Look at that big 'ol belly... touch it". Quite cute.

We also got to go to her Tee Ball game. A few things to note. No one keeps score. Everyone gets to hit. sitting on the grass is acceptable. One size fits all for hats is a misnomer.

After the game we returned home to watch the Preakness Stakes. My horse came in second. We then went to our nephews baseball game, in which he pitched. A few things to note. They do keep score and if one team leads by 10 in the 5th, they call it. Well, the our team got 9 runs in the first inning and the other team went through four pitchers in the same inning. Needless to say we won in the 5th. Go Justus!

To put a fine cap on the day we ended with a song and dance performance by our nephew Tyler (FYI we have 6 nieces and nephews). Tyler is a killer singer not to be confused with The Killers singer. The show is an annual production called Putting on the Ritz. I have to admit, it was my first time at a Broadwayesque show and i was pretty impressed. As it was the last night they pulled a few pranks which added to my enjoyment. One in particular involving two mascots** got my goose. Tyler, any man that can rock a Morning Coat and sing about the Virtuous Fantine is alright with me.

So that plus 16 hours in the Prius about sums it up. Peace out bloggers and bloggettes.


*It's because he was
**You can see they have red eyes. And according to Twilight this means they eat humans...

A Windy Camping Adventure

This month Keith and I finally made good on our promise to go camping, pre-baby.  We knew we needed to go before the baby was born so it wasn't so overwhelming of a task once the tiny human is here.  Both of us love camping and want to make sure its part of our lives and the raising of our kids.  

We received some camping gear for Christmas and got a killer deal on our tent and stuff on Craig's List so we were anxious to try out it all out.  We had scheduled to go with our dear friends Esther and Ian the month before but I came down with bronchitis and it was raining so we had to cancel (boo).  But this month we had a free weekend so on a whim we packed up and headed to Leo Carrillo (on the coast just north of Malibu).

Highlights:
Awesome time camping with my husband.
Quick access to the beach from our campground.
Good food.
I was surprisingly comfortable sleeping on the ground at 5 months pregnant.
Awesome REI tent.
Upgraded our spot when we arrived from "worst" site to one that was really great!

In the middle of the night Friday, 30+ mph winds picked up and tried from every angle to pull our sturdy tent out of its stakes.  Unlike most of the other tents in the campground, the now highly recommended REI tent stood its ground and didn't fall, break, or end in demolition.  Success!  Saturday was still very windy which made cooking on our stove a bit tricky but Saturday night was not as wild so we were able to get a little bit more shut eye.  We can't wait to go again!

Sort of windy!

Our awesome camp site and the highly recommended tent from REI (its so tall Keith can stand up inside!)

Keith having fun with the camera at night.