Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Beans!

I really wanted to get out a Christmas card this year but, alas, it was not meant to be.  We just moved to a new apartment in a new town and I just haven't found the time with unpacking and getting all settled.  I hope this counts!  If I had sent a Christmas letter, this would have been it:

Merry Christmas!

This year has been a big year for our family.  Our family has gone through a lot of changes.  First of all, we welcomed a new member to our family in April, Elsy Ann!  She has been a great blessing and has brought a fun and new dynamic to our home.  She came in at a whopping 10lbs 14 oz but has since leveled out.  She still has the chubbiest cheeks that are great for kisses.  She has developed from a helpless newborn to a little rollie pollie.  She loves to roll around the apartment and put everything she touches in her mouth.  She has begun to learn new sounds and loves to stick out her tongue.  She is such a mellow baby and we feel very blessed.  We have learned so much in the past 7 months having her in our family.  We couldn't be happier to be parents.  

Logan has had a big year this year as well.  He graduated from Brigham Young University - Idaho with a Bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis in advertising and video production.  He was able to direct a short film for his senior project, Yarrow's Boy.  If you haven't seen it you should!  He did an amazing job with an outstanding crew.  After graduation and a few months of searching Logan was able to land a job as an Art Director for a company called Construx located in Bellevue, WA.  Construx is a software development company that hired Logan to help start up their eLearning program.  He has been working for them for 2 weeks now and loves it.  As a wife I am so happy to have Logan come home from work and tell me he had a great day (all I was praying for was a job Logan would enjoy everyday and that's just what he got!).  Logan is a hard worker and a good dad.  He loves to play with Elsy when he comes home and is better at making her laugh than I am.

This year I wrapped up working for a wedding dress shop and became a stay at home mom.  I never realized my dream job would be so hard!  I love it though.  Being a mother comes a lot more naturally than I realized it would but there are still many things that leave me stumped.  I am grateful for a mother who was a good example and for the help that I get while on my knees.

We recently moved to Redmond, WA.  We love it here and are getting to know our new ward.  We are so grateful for people who are willing to serve and reach out to us and help us feel welcome.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season.  We have been truly blessed this year.  We are especially grateful for the Savior at this time of year.  We look to him for an example as we go through changes in our lives.  As we remember his birth we also remember his death and the Atonement, which was the ultimate gift that any of us could receive.  

Merry Christmas from The Beans

My Little Ghost

Alright so my last post told how I really don't like "scary" Halloween but don't mind "cute" Halloween.  I had been going back and forth on what Elsy should be for Halloween and finally decided on the cute but simple ghost that many have seen on Pinterest.

Isn't she just a little darling?  I thought I would show you how I made this so you could make one if you wanted to!

Materials

Tulle (I used some leftover tule from my sisters wedding, probably about 2 yards or so)

Scissors

Elastic

White onsie

Black scrap fabric

Needle

Black thread

First, take your little gal and wrap the elastic around her waist.  Cut your elastic about an inch longer than that.  Then overlap your elastic about an inch and sew a straight line (you can kind of see mine in the pic above, it's sloppy but nobody will see it... I even used cream elastic and nobody knew he difference.)

Next, cut the tulle into strips about 25" long and 2-3" wide (I eyeballed it).  I cut about 60 of these strips.

Lastly you tie the tulle around the elastic. To do his, fold your strip in half.  Hold the tulle on the inside of the elastic ring.  Place your fingers in the crease of the tulle you folded in half and pull the two ends up through where your fingers are.  Gee I hope that made sence.  It's like pulling the tulle through a loop with the elastic on the inside of the loop.

My little helper... She didn't really like the way it felt I think.

Do that over and over again until you have your tutu!  (Or as my dad called it, a fourfour because Elsy is so fat.) :)

I dug a white onsie out of Elsy's drawer (can you tell because of how wrinkley it is?) and cut out black eyes and a mouth from some scrap fabric we had laying around.  I just lightly stitched it on with black tread and a needle so I could easily unpick it later and reuse the onsie.

Walaa! You have your tutu and a onsie to make a cute little costume!

The Fear Factor

Well, Halloween is just around the corner.  Yikes!  I really do hate Halloween.  I don't mind the cute pumpkins, scarecrows, and little kid costumes.  What I do mind is the gruesome, gory, gnarlyness of it all.  Yuck.  Why have a holiday to celebrate our fears?  

I used to not mind getting scared...for fun that is. I loved reading Nancy Drew in elementary school. We used to make up murder mysteries with my cousins and try to solve them.  It seems my cousins and I were always trying to one up eachother on scary stories at sleepovers (the Fernandez' were always the most horrific with Bloody Mary living in their downstairs bathroom and bats in the backyard). We even made up a character, The China Man, who was the scariest thing on all of our lists.  All these things were scary, but we knew none of them were real and therefore we still always had a good laugh.

Then I started to grow up and develop real fears....ones that don't seem to go away (rational or irrational).  For example, I'm terrified of heights.  I'm scared of deep water too (is it silly for me to be afraid of heights in the water?).  Then The TV show River Monsters taught me that depth isn't the only thing to fear in water.  I'm scared of my loved ones dying or becoming terminally ill.  I'm scared of of getting fat and I'm also afraid my dad was right when he said getting Gentle Glide dental floss is best when I just bought 55 yards of wax. 

Today I was reminded of another fear.  I went out to the mail and found this!

What the picture doesn't show are how hairy those spindly legs are!

Source

I think it is safe to say I am paranoid of spiders. When I was in elementary school I woke up to a black widow on my pillow next to my nose and I had to go cross eyed to figure out it was a spider, that is how close it was!  And I found a black widow in my bed a second time a few years later.  Needless to say I checked my bed for spiders until I graduated... okay okay... maybe I still check my bed sometimes still... and my towel. :P  I remember hearing when I was little that if you were bit by a black widow a red line of poison would slowly make its way to your heart and once it reached your heart you would die.  Yikes.

Oh, fear.  How I hate you.

This year I have learned a little something about fear, though.  I had two instances where I felt so overpowered by fear that I was in a panic.  One was the first night we brought home Elsy.  I was absolutely terrified she would suffocate or choke in her sleep.  Another was at the Oregon Coast when we were crabbing.  We went out a tad to far in our little boat.  The tide was strong, the waves were large, and I was petrified we would capsize.  I lay in bed that night so scared of what might have happened.  I kept seeing my dad, brother, and husband drown.  Both times I have been so grateful for my level headed husband who taught me a few  important lessons...

First of all, don't dwell on the things that might happen.  God sent us her to the earth to feel joy and happiness not fear and misery.  If you start thinking about that things that could go wrong you will end up with a long, long list of things that most likely will not happen.  Second, the only power fear has is the power you give it.  If you become a source of light, darkness has nowhere to go but away.  I think sometimes we let fear become that poisonous red line that is slowly creeping toward our heart.  If we let it overwhelm us, our bodies can literally be shut down and we can become handicapped by our fears.  Logan made a short film about overcoming our fears that I really appreciated.  You can find that video here.

Fear is a real thing and it is something everyone feels.  I still struggle with it...especially since we have found two black widows in our house in the last two days!  So until all the black widows in the world die and all the kids that dress up like zombies on Halloween choose to dress up as Disney princesses/princes instead I will do my best to focus on the positive things in life.  And as Ron Weasley suggests, follow the butterflies...instead of the spiders.

Sister Volmer

My little sister Lenise is leaving on her mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints this Wednesday.  Logan and I are leaving for Seattle today so we won't be there to send her off at the airport.  She will be serving for 18 months in the Provo, Utah mission where she will be sharing the message of the Savior's redeeming love with as many people as possible.  I am so grateful for her wonderful example and her willingness to serve the Lord.  You are wonderful Lenise and we will miss your beautiful singing in the kitchen, your piano music, your screams as Carl tries to kiss you, seeing you reading on the couch in the late hours of night, and your contagious laugh! I had fun going with her to Grandma Aerobics and Elsy loved it when Lenise babysat.  I think she will miss sitting in the kitchen and watching Lenise sing to her.  I caught it on film yesterday and although Elsy didn't sing along (she usually yells in tandom to Lenise's notes) I think we will enjoy the memory. (To bad I wasn't quick enough to catch Carl dancing ballet in the background with his shirt off!)

Good luck Lenise!  We all love you and will miss you terribly, but we couldn't be prouder. 

Apples To Apples, Dust To Dust

It is coming.  The day we have been dreading, and yet anticipating with pride.  Lenise, my dear sister, is leaving for her mission in 5 days.  And so, in her honor, we had a family day!  There was no school for the school kiddos so this morning all the girls went to what we call "Grandma Aerobics". (My grandma has been going to an aerobics class done by a lady in our stake for 20 years and the participants aren't as young as they once used to be - including a 91 year old!  Lenise and I have been going with Grandma for a few weeks now and since it was Lenise's last day all of us went. I WISH I had a picture of that!)

Afterwards we went apple picking!

My dad's buddy let us glean all the apples we wanted from his orchards!

It was "bushels" of fun.

And Leisha let me borrow her baby backpack she got from Aunt Becky.

It was a fun outing that ended in going to the country mercantile to sample food.  Who needs to pay for lunch when you can fill up on sample chips and salsa, truffles, jams, carmel popcorn, apple cider, and the like?  As we drove away Logan asked, "Have we ever actually bought something there?" 

Dear Lenise, we shall miss you!

The Dessert Competition

This week my dad declared the requirement of a splendid dessert in exchange for a Christmas gift in December.  No dessert, no gifts.  After trying to bribe him with a previously bought Costco pumpkin pie and being rejected I decided to get down to business.

I made a cheesecake for Logan on Father's Day in 2012.  It wasn't very great and took all day but I knew my dad likes cheesecake so I simply found a new recipe.  It involved a pound and a half of cream cheese and another pound of sour cream and still took all day but it was worth it.  THIS cheesecake was a success!  It wasn't very pretty but it was extremely tasty!! (I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the whole thing because I came into the kitchen and found all the edges peeled off and already eaten while it was supposed to be cooling. Ugh)

The recipe can be found here.

I made my own berry sauce by heating up a bunch of blackberries from the yard and adding a lot of sugar and some lime juice (we didn't have lemon so I thought lime possibly could do the same thing?).  Anyway, it tasted divine.  I would invite you all to come over and have some... but it's all gone. :P

Sick

Today we are all sick. Elsy and I woke up with runny noses two days ago which slowly developed into low fevers and terrible colds.  Logan woke up this morning with the same.  We have been taking turns taking naps and watching Elsy.  Luckily she doesn't have it as bad as us because she still wants to play...snotty nose and all.  I am grateful for my sisters being so helpful in watching her while all I want to do is lay in bed, even if we probably acquired this plague from them in the first place!

I am telling myself everyday that tomorrow I will wake up better.  I'm bound to be right one of these days! Until then we will continue to take our various cold remedies, sleep, and let Elsy stay in her cute pajamas all day. 

Welcome!

Welcome to the Bean family blog spot! 

In the back of my mind I have wanted to get this thing up and running and I finally wrangled my husband Logan into helping me out.  I am quite backward when it comes to these types of things so I am grateful for his help and support in getting this all going.

We are a little family.  Logan and I, Kayla, have been married for a little over two years and have a little girl named Elsy.  She is coming up on 5 months old and we are so happy to have her in our family.  This picture is a little old, Elsy was only 4 weeks, but its the only family photo we have as of right now. :)