Paradise Valley

This house was Tim's grandparents house, Gussy's great-great-grandparents. It is still in the family, Jeannette owns it now, and we spent father's Day / Gussy's birthday out in Paradise Valley. Its a tiny town- probably less than 150 folks live there now.
The Paradise Valley Cemetery. A very beautiful and serene place. You can see for miles in all directions. Some of the old headstones are wooden, and you see many Basque names.

More Vacation Pictures

Four generations of the Ugaldeas: Great Granny Jeanette, Grandpa Tim, Matt and Gus.


Hinkey Summit: Elevation, 7850 feet. Views: gorgeous. Toddler: cranky. Picture: turned out pretty good. Uncle Ben and Aunt Holli on the left.

I am TWO!!

Gus played with a litter of kittens out at Auntie Sandra's house, among many other animals. Between Auntie Linda and Auntie Sandra, there are goats, chickens, a bunny, a horse, dogs, cats, and a brand new litter of kittens. Cousin Lilly is in FFA (or is it FHA?) and she was nice enough to let Gus handle the animals she looks after. Carting the kittens around the garden was so much fun for him. This little one was very patient.

Ugaldea clan from all over the western states: Top row L-R: Aunt Holli and Uncle Ben, Uncle Tom. Middle Row: Matt (Daddy), Cousin Katie, Great-Granny 'Nette, Grammy Kath holding Freddie-the-dog. Bottom Row: Shay (Mom) and Gus, Cousin Dan, and Grandpa Tim, furry friend Stan.

Strike a pose, Mom!

Well Folks, we are back from vacation. We had a very nice trip to Northern Nevada. It went by so fast- 5 day trips will do that, I guess. Gus celebrated his 2nd Birthday while we were there, it fell on Father's Day this year (the 17th). I will be posting lots of pictures from the trip over the next couple of days. I have a very slow and clunky dial-up connection, so it takes a while for me to upload pictures.

Cookies at Grandma's

Its easy to work up a powerful appetite after playing in the wading pool all day. Gus sampled various cookies and cakes at Grandma's house two weekends ago.

Gus and Dad

We went to the Circus on Friday evening, and I didn't get any good pictures. I know, what a travesty, but the lighting was really bad and the whole thing was a bit overwhelming. Gus looks like he's thinking "Thank goodness we are outta that scary tent, Dad!" in this photo. A friend from the newspaper took this and sent it to me. The favorite part of the circus was the popcorn and a clown that pulled a bunny out of a hat. Flying trapeze stunt men and tigers, nah, Mom, I'll take more popcorn please.

Memorial Day Fun

On Memorial Day Monday, we went to Memorial State Park (here in Oroville). Gus got some sand and sun time. It was a gorgeous day.

Little Annacora Ike and her parents, Ryan and Brooke, came for a nice visit this weekend. From Edmonds to Oroville, I think it was quite the cultural shift for them. Here is little Cora on a blanket, making cute little smiles at Mom. She is a real charmer- giving us all lots of smiles and open mouthed "hollywood" kisses. Gus was very gentle with her, but a little jealous of the attention she recieved. I told him to hang on- in about 2-3 years they'll be chasing eachother around and both causing equal mischief.

"Yeah, that baby is cute, but this water is so much fun, grown-ups!" says Gus.

Just Like Dad

Here is Gus, laying just like Dad with his legs crossed. Also just like Dad are Gussy's ears. He has to have tubes put in tomorrow morning. We are headed to Wenatchee in a few hours, the ear-nose-throat specialist is down there. The surgery is first thing tomorrow. Matt had the same thing as a child.

Choo-Choo

Here is Gus playing with his favorite things in the whole wide world: Thomas the train and his loyal tanks: Percy, Henry, and Elizabeth. Aunt Molly took this pic while we were camping at Blue Lake two weekends ago.

at Blue Lake

"Airplane!"

I have a handy helper in the vegetable garden. Everything was well watered last night, thanks to Gus.

The first picture shows him looking at one of his favorite things; an airplane was flying above us. We don't get many airplanes above our house, but when we do, Gus points them out.

In the Garden

Gus helped me do some planting last night. It was a beautiful evening.

Fishing Season

Gus tested out his Sponge Bob Square Pants rod with Dad on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day, no fish were actually caught, but lots of fun was had. "fish!" says Gus. He held his rod in the car seat on the ride home. Didn't want to give it up.

I did the tiling in the kitchen on Saturday, and Matt and Gus went to the dump and later to a friends house. With the guys out of my hair I was able to get the project done in about 3 hours. Then I did the grouting last night. I think the grout will dry a slight shade lighter, but I really like how it turned out. Tiling is kinda fun once you get in the groove. Now we need to put up the new range hood.

Compound Words

Gus is really expanding his vocab lately. This morning we were hustling around the house, and I pulled some ground beef out of the freezer. I told him that we are having hamburgers for dinner tonight. Gus said "haaam booger". Then on our drive to day care he said "booger" over and over again. When we got there I had to explain our menu for the evening, and he wasn't just going on and on about boogers.

His other new word is schoolbus. But he calls it a "cool bus". I love that so much. We will be driving, and he will spot one on the road and say "cool bus!" with so much enthusiasm.

The lawn mowers have come out in full force in our neighborhood. He tries to say lawnmower, it comes out like "non mwer".

He is also saying the names of his friends: Leo, Arthur, and Cora (he will get to meet in May). He says "leelo, Artuur, and Coruh". Kaycee is still "gurl" for some reason.

This talking stuff is so much fun.

Breakin' Bread

Gus, Jake, and Kaycee. Eating hot dogs, green beans, mac and cheese.

Floored

We got the floors in over the past few days. It was hard work, but it looks so nice. Matt still has to put the trim boards back up, and trim around certain areas, but the bulk of the work is done.

Gus got a big boy potty chair. He puts the seat on his face and walks around saying "Moon!" Goofy, goofy, kid. (don't worry- it hasn't actually been used yet)

The first blossoms of spring

Egg hunting

Gus enjoyed the Oroville egg hunt on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day in O-town, in this pic you can see Lake Osoyoos.

Gus practiced his manners and offered Grammy Kath an egg. He proudly found 5 of his own in the 0-3 age area. There was some tough competition out there, namely a few girls that couldn't have been a day younger than 4, but for the most part he held is own. And the easter bunny left a few nice things for him.

His new vocab for the holiday includes: "hop" (what bunnies do), "bunn" (for bunny), "treat" (yes, a few jellybeans were had), and of course "eck" (egg) which he has been saying for a while but really broke it in this past weekend. He talks more and more now and really is starting to make sense to us. Only a few words are cutely confused. He calls a beer "beard" but also points to daddy's face and clearly says "beard". I can see how these two items are closely related and easily confused. That is why we don't call my almost nightly glass of vino "Mommy's medicine" because the potential for embarrassment down the road is too great.

Well I need to find and toss the easter grass that has made its way all over the house. Take care.

Shay

Easter, More Remodel

Grandpa Tim and Matt got the countertops in, and the new sink, faucet and drains installed this weekend. It took all day Saturday, but we were able to squeeze in some Easter egg hunting. Gus' favorite item this weekend was the collection of easter stickers he stuck and unstuck in various places.

Now we just have the tiling, floors, and lights to do.

Have a nice week!

Shay

Feeding the Ducks

Here we are fighting hunger in our own backyard. Charity starts at home, people. Gus is so humane; he always tests the bread to make sure its decent before tossing it to the ducks. In fact, sometimes he thinks the bread is too good for the ducks and decides to have a mid day snack.

Too cool for school, The Remodel

Randomly, Gus will pop on Dad's sunglasses and walk around with a little toddler attitude, like "look at how cool I am !".

In this snapshot of the kitchen, I am trying to show off our new cabinet job, and the new wall color.

Matt and I have been remodeling the kitchen, as many of you are well aware of. We are about 1/3 done with the project. We've painted the walls a new color- kind of a wet cement color with a touch of brown in it. And we sanded our old cabinets (they were a dark ugly fake mahogany color) and painted them white and given them brushed nickle hardware. The cabinets took 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of white. It was really time consuming, given we have a lot of cabinets in our kitchen.

Next step is the installation of new countertops (a faux marble in a black/grey color), the new sink- cast iron skink with a white finish, and new faucet, new dishwasher. Luckily my dad is pretty handy and he is going to help this weekend when my folks visit. We are crossing our fingers that the countertops will get here in time- we have started calling that home improvement store the "Home Don't-Know."

The final step will be the new floor- a wood laminate like Pergo, and the color will match the natural wood trim we have- sort of a warm mid-tone "brazillian cherry" to be exact.

Oh, and a few new light fixtures.

Sorry to go on and on.... I really pleased with the colors I have chosen so far, and Matt has proved to be really handy. We had to buy all new hinges for the cabinets and he hung them very well, with little help from me.

Have a good week!

Shay