caution... it's a poop story.

read at your own risk :)

today nic and i experienced perhaps our worst/funniest moment in parenting.
we were galavanting around gateway in SLC when we noticed daph smelled not-so-fresh. we could only find a 1 person (locking) bathroom and of course, not a changing table in sight. So, nic came in with me and we decided to change daphne in her stroller.

we are awesome.

so, worst diaper ever. like 3x worse than any nasty diaper thus far.
halfway through changing her, i lift her up to wipe some more and drop the diaper (FACE down) first on the stroller (thankfully the plastic part) then on the ground (changed rotations in the air thank goodness so we didn't have to haz-mat the floor.

well, we did have to clean up inches of poop off of our stroller.
it was horrible. but, it was also hillarious.
nic and i were laughing sooooo hard.

i think at times like that you can only laugh.
or else you'd cry.
then puke.
then cry somemore.

which one?

Nic's Grandma Jane is super sweet. She watches daphne weekly so we can go to school. She drives all the way up to Rexburg- rain, shine or snow and last week she even brought us soup for lunch too! She really wants us to enter Daphne into the local newspaper's cute baby contest (they choose the cutest baby born each month during 2009) Nic's cousin Missy entered her baby Jacoby last year and he won! She even filled out the entry form for us, paid the entry fee and addressed the self-addressed envelopes we needed to send in with it. We just don't know which picture to enter! Please vote on your favorite on the sidebar ----------------> We're leaving for UT on Friday morning (then to denver on Saturday!!!) so the voting ends thursday night. Please vote! :)

#1 headband model

#2 sideways tongue

#3 little bear

#4 little smirk

Old Nana.

I have a Nana. She is a wonderful lady and I love her. Daphne is named after her. Her name is Kathryn and so Daphne Ryn is a tribute to my sweet Nana. My mom is Nana to her grandkids, so when my oldest nephew Sid was little and met our Nana he started calling her Old Nana. It may seem like a mean term but it's not and she loves it :)

Nana gave Daphne this little bathrobe and so I thought I would share some pictures with her. I think it's so cute that she (at 81) frequents our blog. Oh, and daph is pretty cute too!





here she is literally RUNNING away from me. arghh :)



we've been seeing this face a lot in the past 2 days. Daphne started Sunday with 2 teeth and now has FIVE! she's actually dealing with it pretty well thankfully.

Sugar Bites

My mother-in-law Janell defies your better judgment to never trust a skinny chef. She is both a great cook and super tiny :) Nic and I encouraged her after her latest round of delicious homemade candy to open her own Etsy shop. And she did! So here it is... now introducing yet another pedersen/bingham family run etsy shop (we're taking the place over)

sugarbites

walnut caramels, rocky road fudge, black licorice caramels, peppermint kiss fudge, fleur de sel caramels (my FAVORITE!)

all come in lovely packaging, ready to be sent as gifts or just to make yourself feel good when you open the package (not that the fudge won't make you feel good, because it will)


so go ahead... support your local etsy shop!
*nic took all the lovely photos for her shop.

i want one!

so if you're looking for a christmas gift for nic.kirsten.daphne... here you go!
:)

I-house

ramblings & wanderings

just stumbled upon a delightful blog:

sayyestohoboken

wow. so stylish and cute.

check it.
(wow.. this is my 3rd post of the day. what is wrong with me? i have a house to unpack and bachelors degree to finish... not to mention the darling daughter (though she's in bed) and the dashing husband who wants to watch always sunny with me... )

tortilla soup a la kirsten

i made up a recipe!
a vegetarian recipe at that!
normally, i follow recipes- especially while baking. but, my tortilla soup has really been evolving this winter and it's one of my favorite things to make/eat so i make it often.
i thought i'd share. don't be scared by the list of ingredients- just use what you have on hand and it will all work out :)

ingredients:
1 box (or 3-4 cans) chicken or vegetable stock (veggie if you really want this vegetarian :)
1/2 med white/yellow onion
2 stalks of celery
1 red bell pepper
2 med yukon gold, red or regular IDAHO potatoes, chopped small
1 can black beans (drained, rinsed)
1 can white navy beans or pretty much any other kind of beans you like
1/2 can diced green chilies
3 large spoonfuls of your favorite salsa
1/2 small can hominy (in the hispanic food section)
1/2 can sweet corn
1/2 can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes (or regular, but if you've got to buy them- buy these)
1/2 packet of taco seasoning
olive oil

method:
in a large soup pot coat bottom of pan with olive oil.
add in diced onions, celery, red peppers and potatoes. (all same size) add salt to help the onions sweat.
cook over medium heat, stirring often till potatoes are softened (about 20 min)
add in stock and all other ingredients. i usually add the corn last so it doesn't get super soft.
taste to make sure you don't need more taco seasoning or s/p.

serves 4 (or lunch the next day, that's what we always do)

top with tortilla chips and cheese.
YuM!

chef's (haha) notes:
i have found a very easy way to make this- since most ingredients are 1/2 of the can, i put all the other halves into a ziplock bag (together) and freeze it. i even top the canned ingredients with the spoonfuls of salsa so if i don't have that on hand next time i make it, you won't have to worry.

this is so easy and tasty- hope you enjoy! (and post your additions!)

our little 11.month.old

happy 11 months daphne ryn!
@ 11 months daphne enjoys:

walking EVERYWHERE! sometimes running (if we're chasing her)

standing up to walk in the middle of the room, nice quad strength :)

pointing and saying "oh"

eating! she is such a good eater lately, but she really hates peas.

reading. she loves to flip through her books and entertains herself with that in her crib when we need a break from chasing her

saying momma and dadda

she also says some random words but not consistently: all done, kitty ect.

she's a great sleeper. at least 12 hours a night... sometimes 14. (don't hate us)

she is so happy and we really, really love her.

next month she'll be O N E. I can't believe it. it makes me want to puke. she's not really a baby anymore but honestly she is getting more fun everyday so i can't complain.

box full of daph

this is the box (complete with 50 cards) i created for my graphic design class. my subject was daphne and i listed 50 reasons why i love her. we have spent ALLLL week working on art projects (so our new house is still completely destroyed. we've had no time to unpack and we've made lots of messes) i'm pretty happy with the way my box turned out. i hope its something daphne can always treasure (once she's old enough to not eat it)

walking machine!

daphne is just going crazy walking everywhere. it's pretty freaking cute.

sleepover

this week while we moved daphne had her first sleepover. she spent the day time on monday and tuesday with grandma webster (the only person who she will crawl up on their lap and take a nap with- we're pretty jealous) and then she spent monday night with grammy (nic's momma) when janell came to drop her off (and help us move- thank you binghams!) she surprised us with this ADORABLE new outfit for daphne. actually, it's even better than a new outfit because she can wear it everyday! (and she will!) this might just make the 10 degree weather bearable...
thanks grammy!!

I've really missed blogging.
I couldn't post all week because of the giveaway, but i felt like all the sudden i had lots of things to say. so, i'll catch up.
first with this really cute picture of daphne in an outfit the long girls gave her for her baby shower. i LOVE it! the little boots are still too big but the skirt (not pictured, but she wears it often!) and the sweater (which she wears almost daily) fit her perfect and are some of my favorite clothes she has at the moment. so, thanks girls, i love it!



Yes, it's true. We're moving. On Tuesday to be exact.
I know at least Heather is wondering why... so i'll tell you :)

nic and i have always talked about living in a really small house and living really simply, not having many possessions, not having a bunch of extra space (or ANY extra space!) and just having what we need and nothing more. basically, we want to live like we're in a small san francisco apartment, even while we're not. right now we live in a 1,100 SF 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath house and its really more house than we want. plus, we figured it out and if we moved now we'll save about $3,000 for the next year that we live in Rexburg. At first I was TOTALLY opposed to moving. moving is a pain. but, its actually been a very cleansing process for us and we've kind of enjoyed it thus far. we have gotten rid of SO much stuff that we don't need. it feels so good. i think so many of us get in the trap that having a lot of possessions makes us feel secure. like: look at all this stuff i have.... ok, maybe i'm the only one who thinks like that. but, most of the stuff i didn't like, i didn't use and i didn't need. now, its gone. off to a new home (or where it belongs in some cases, the trash) and I'm feeling very liberated.

We're moving to an apartment that we really love. It is a 1 bedroom + den (daphne gets the den :) its almost as big as her current bedroom- all its missing is the closet. and we have a nice patio and a grassy area for daphne to play in in the summer. it is close (just a walk through the parking lot!) to our friends the hansens and close to the van wagoners too. it is new and clean and comes with internet and cable included, a great gym (with adjoining baby room, so awesome) so we're set. OH, and i can't believe i almost forgot this... A DISHWASHER! I've only had one during our summers in CA selling pest control, so i'm pretty excited about that.

We're kind of sad to leave this apartment but this will be a really good thing for us. Here are some pictures of our current (for the next 2 days) place -- though they were taken about a year ago, when daphne was born.

uhhh... this picture makes me shutter. we had SO much snow last winter. but, we'll miss you carport.


hahah i just had to throw this one in. (i had no other pics of the hallway) this was the
night before daphne was born. here i am in all my 40 week glory. i only gained 28 pounds, i promise, it just wasn't a pretty 28 :(

and the winner is:

TALMAGE VAN WAGONER!

nic's band mate and very good friend who wrote:

you know I love the trees and the snowflakes and the bird but I told you that in real life. haha just thought I'd post also HI!

apparently random.org really liked the bit about "real life"

last comment was the random number picked! crazy.
well, thanks for entering everyone and since they all ranked pretty even (wood grain being the favorite) i've put them all up for sale in our etsy shop. go to evapaul and buy some! (please)

Holiday cards!!

So, we're friends, right? Or maybe, you're someone we don't know at all- but either way you've probably had to endure endless posts Daphne so really, you deserve a treat. if you're not aware- nic and i run a graphic design business. we sell [mostly] wedding invitations on etsy and we've been happily making our living that way for the past two years. here is OUR SHOP. if you need invites, hit us up :) in order to branch out a teeny-tiny bit we've come up with some holiday cards. I haven't posted them to etsy yet so i'm looking for your opinion. Please leave a comment saying which one is your favorite from now till NOVEMBER 21 @ midnight. A winner will be chosen through random.com and they will win a set of 10 (with 100% recycled grocery-bag envelopes) -- a $15 value :) Go ahead.... comment!!(and make sure its not anonymous!)


Holiday cards will be sold in sets of 10 for $15. Each card will include a grocery bag brown envelope so your card won't get lost in the mailbox with 50 other red or white envelopes :) there will also be large volume discounts so if you're sending out a lot of holiday cards, don't get scared. if you would like your cards customized (like: "love, the binghams") the price will be $20 for 10 cards. we're going to do stuff like rounded corners and lined envelopes as options too to make your holiday cards more unique. so many, many options- i bet your mind is pretty much blown. just email us @ evapaul.dp@gmail.com for all the details.

WAITTTTT

don't buy your christmas cards just yet!
evapaul will be posting a few Christmas card options that you're sure to love even more than the generic ones at the store :) so, be patient, i'll get them up soon!

10 months + 1 week

hi. i'm wearing my 80's sweatshirt today (yesterday)
it's a little tight- but it still looks good.
have a rad day.
love, daphne.

little daphne is 10 months old

my post failed and it's 11:40 in the PM. to make matters worse i'll be up @ 6 to go to school- so i'm not going to rewrite all i did about our girl in her 10month old glory.
so, here's the gist.


daph started taking a few steps @ 9 months and is now loving to walk (about 6 steps at a time) she is getting pretty adventurous but so far gets too excited to concentrate on walking more than 6 steps- so she'll just sit down and clap for herself instead. i'll have to post a video- its pretty funny.

she is copying tons of words when we say them- momma, dadda, papa and occasionally some random stuff like football, thank you, all done ect will come out of her mouth and totally catch us off guard

she is awesome and we can't get enough of her!
she finally has a little hair!!! we even made a little mohawk for her this morning.

halloween 2009

Ok, it's true- daph didn't really love the attention or all the halloween hype- but we did! it was really fun to dress her up and everyone thought she was cute enough to eat. (you do want to eat cute things, right?)

she was a lobster in a pot (i tried to persuade nic to wear a chef's hat with me, he said no)
Our first stop was the Bingham's house (nic's parents)
have you ever seen such young, attractive grandparents? seriously- they look like they could be daph's parents.

our little langosta is quite the walker- more on that in her 10 month post.

then we stopped by at the Andersen's (nic's mom's parents)


and lastly to see Grandma Webster. (nic's dad's mom- and she watches daphne nearly every week so it was nice for her to see a familiar face :)

probably one of my favorite nic/daphne pictures of all time. nic is so freaking hot and daphne is so excited to be with her dad- she totally adores him.