Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

So here it is. Our Christmas tree in all its glory. If you are like me you probably thinking to yourself, "Hmmmm that Christmas tree looks a little underfed. A little sparse" It is my personal belief that if you can see the wall behind the Christmas tree, that means it is more twig than tree. However this tree represents much blood, sweat and tears. This year we had a true tree cutting experience. Let me tell you our story.

After chatting with a few Klamath Falls locals we discovered that most people get their Christmas tree from the woods. Not a a little farm where they give you a saw and help you load up your tree, but the full blown woods. Bryce really liked this idea. I preferred the idea of the farms with the complimentary hot cocoa and candy canes. However, I relented and decided to let Bryce have his woodsman adventure one year. Bryce got a permit, map, saw, rope and planned his attack. We decided to find our tree on a road called "Dead Indian Road." The name alone should have tipped us off to what kind of experience we would have...

After a good 45 minutes in the car we still had no luck finding a tree. Quin was screaming in the back seat to "walk in the snow" while Bryce and I strained to find any tree that resembled the Christmas tree shape that we knew and loved. At last we found a one. However it was a little thinner than I would have liked.

Bryce began sawing down the tree and after getting it down and dragging it back over a hug pile of snow we had to get it on our car. This is when we discovered that this tree was covered in razor sharp death needles. I grabbed the tip of the tree to help Bryce load it onto the roof of our car only to scream and pull my hand away, expecting to see blood. Although I wasn't bleeding, I was shocked at how much those thousands of tiny needles hurt. After several attempts to get the tree on the roof of our car we finally succeeded (thanks to a pair of snowgloves and a lot of blood and sweat on Bryce's behalf). He tied the tree to our roof and we started the drive back home.

The tree almost blew off of the car. 3 times. I wanted to abandon the tree on the side of the road at this point. I was afraid it would fly off our car and hit someone behind us. However Bryce was determined. After resecuring the tree a half dozen times we finally made it home.

An hour later the tree was up and Bryce and I fearfully looked at our tree. Now we had to decorate it. But we were afraid. Afraid of the needles. By then Bryce's hands and arms were covered with thousands of angry red dots. When I asked Bryce it he was having fun with his Man-Tree-Trip he grumbled "yes". We decorated the tree amid yelps of pain whenever we grabbed a branch to firmly.

It was an adventure. What do I believe is the greatest advantage of our wild Christmas tree? For the first year Quin isn't grabbing the tree and yanking the ornaments off. He is afraid to touch it.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, How lovely are your branches....

Family Picture Time

Because all of my family was together for Thanksgiving my mom took advantage of the occasion and we had some family pictures taken...

Here is the Donaldson crew. And no... my sister and I did not plan on our hair being symmetrical in this picture, it is just a holiday miracle that it did.

The Doty bunch (it was near impossible to get a picture with Quin smiling and looking at the camera so we settled with just looking in the right direction)

And a smiley Quin picture to prove that he is a happy child despite the fact that out of 120 pictures he smiled in about 2. Toddlers Sheesh!

Time to Pull Out the Boxes...

....we are having a baby boy!

Some Very Late Halloween Pics

Here is a quick summary of what we were up to last month...

Pumpkin carving. Quin was a little more interested in pumpkin drawing.

A trip to a pumpkin patch in Medford. We took a little walk on their cornmaze trail...

...rode on the tractor...

...and took a few pictures around their pumpkins and hay bales.

Our big Halloween celebration was in downtown Klamath a week before the 31st. Quin dressed up like a dinosaur and we went trick-or-treating to all the shops and we went on a train ride around downtown.

It was a sweet day!

My Favorite Compliment

Hearing that you look like Taylor Swift is probably the best compliment you can receive when you are 17 weeks pregnant. At this point in my pregnancy, I usually feel like a big blob but every once in a while I have a kind soul come up to me and tell me I look like Taylor Swift and I feel cute and skinny again.

Since moving to Klamath I have been told on a weekly basis that I look like Taylor Swift. I think they have more country fans here. I have been told at Walmart, the library, Safeway, Fred Meyer, church, walking on the street, at the park, in a playgroup, that I look like Taylor Swift. I then make a mental note to put these people on my "People I like in Klamath Falls" list. Let me give you a few more details of some of my Taylor Swift look-alike experiences....

1. The library. I am walking out of storytime with Quin on my hip. A normal looking, late-20ish male is walking by. He stops in his tracks directly in front of me and takes of his sun glasses.

"Taylor Swift?" he asks

I stare at him an raise my eyebrows...here we go

"You look just like Taylor Swift!" he says

"Thanks. That is a great compliment!" I reply

"Are you Taylor Swift?" he asks

"No" I say

The guy turns around and shouts at some guy in a car. "Joey....come look at her. She looks like Taylor Swift."

Joey gets out of the car and shouts back "She sure does."

At this point I am starting to think that these guys are either a little crazy or just don't see that well so I say "It's the hair" and make my move to walk away

"Wait..." says dude #1 "Can I have a hug?"

I give a quick side hug and shuffle away.

2. When I first started going to our ward in Klamath Falls I noticed that all of the pre-teen girls would giggle when I walked by. They would turn to each other and whisper in hushed voices. "What is going on?" I wondered. Why are all these girls laughing at me? At my first enrichment I learned the answer. A mom of these pre-teens told me that all of the girls in the ward call me Taylor Swift. I am a pre-teen idol look-alike

3. There are only a handful of people in this world who have seen me dance. I mean full-blown-into-the-music, dancing. Of this small group of people about half of them have told me that I dance like Taylor Swift in the "You belong with me" music video. In case any of you are wondering, that is the one where she is in her PJs, dorky glasses, and looks pretty nerdy while shaking her bon-bon. Apparently we have similar moves.

As my tummy gets bigger I am sure the "Taylor Swift" comments will decrease and I will be left to remember the good old days when people said I looked like Taylor Swift. It is a compliment to remember. Maybe I should take the advise of my last "Taylor Swift" run in an move to Hollywood and try to be in "one of those look alike shows." Just a thought.

A Visit to Dr. Doty

Today Quin had his first visit to the dentist. You would think that since the dentist was his dad things would have gone quite smoothly. However we quickly discovered that Quin wanted nothing in his mouth....especially the creepy purple gloves that dad was wearing. Sigh. I guess this exam will be finished at home!

My Singing has come full Circle

20 Years Ago:

I thought I was a great singer. What song did I sing best you might ask? "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. It brought a tear to my own eye when I sang it. That was until one fateful day when I sang for my uncle...

"Do you want to hear me sing?" I asked my uncle

"Sure," he replied

So I sang. I did everything a good singer is supposed to do. I started of soft and slowly got louder until I belted out the last few lines of the song. I was impressed with my abilities, but I quickly found that my uncle was not. He laughed. For a long time.

That was the day I learned I wasn't a good singer

2 Weeks Ag0:

I was listening to Disney music while I did the dishes. On came "Part of your World." Instinctively I began singing along....what can I say. Old habits die hard. As I held on to the last note of the song (for a little longer than necessary), I was surprised to hear applause. I looked up from the soap dishes to see Quin clapping his hands. Then he said "Yay Mama!"

I have come full circle. Quin thinks I am an awesome singer. I love this toddler.

The Haunting Season has Arrived!

Halloween has officially arrived in our home. When Conference weekend arrives, out come all of the Doty family Halloween decorations. In a rare moment I was able to snap a picture of Quin in his glasses all decked out in his holiday gear.

Nuts: An Addiction

Quin is addicted to Costco trail mix. Here are some factoids about his new favorite food:

1. He asks me about 50 times a day for "nuts".

2. He eats everything but the raisins.

3. These little beauties are the key to getting a 2 year old to sit through sacrament meeting.

4. He eats the M&Ms first

5. Then the almonds

6. Then the cashews

7. Then the peanuts

8. He feeds the raisins to Bryce

9. I find these things everywhere...especially his car seat

10. I am considering by stock in Costco Trail mix

2 Cute

During all the moving madness Quin celebrated his second birthday. While the festivities of the day mainly included cleaning walls, painting and unpacking boxes, it was still a wonderful day. It was special because we had both sets of Grandparents there to celebrate this special day with pizza, cupcakes and Mickey Mouse dinnerware.

My favorite thing about this toddler is all of the brilliant things he can say! Today in the car Bryce was trying to get Quin to call him "The Boss". After several prompts, Bryce asked Quin "Is daddy the Boss?" Quin yelled out "No, Mama Boss!"

I love this two year old.

Mockingjay Review- WARNING Spoilers!!!

Bryce and Quin left yesterday to go camping overnight at Detriot Lake. I stayed home because #1 I am not a camper and #2 Because that would mean I would have Tuesday, August 24th all to myself. What is the significance of 8/24/2010 you might ask? The release of Mockingjay. The third installment of the Hunger Games series which I have been waited for many months to read. So I picked up the book at 10am sharp as Borders opened and have spent the last 6 and half hours reading it. I am finished. Here is what I think...

I am happy that I got closure. I was worried that I would be left hanging, but everything is wrapped up nicely. However there was one very disappointing aspect of this book. Peeta...my hero, my man, my #2 or #3 favorite fictional male character of all time was hardly in the stinking book!!! It reminded me a lot of when I read New Moon and Edward was in all of like 10 pages of the book. So it is not as bad as that, but, he really has no interaction with Katniss until like halfway through the book and when he is back he is crazy! I understand the points that Suzanne Collins was trying to make about war but I closed this book feeling sad because at the end of this book everyone spends the rest of their life suffering from post tramatic stress disorder trying to find some semblance of happiness in their lives. Break my heart!!!

Hunger Game and Catching Fire were awesome because they had the whole love triangle thing stringing you along. This final book was more about wrapping up the story of the Capital and the districts. Sure there was a little Peeta/Gale bait thrown in there every once and a while to keep you going, but overall, it just wasn't enough. Honestly I wish that Suzanne would have made the Epilogue of the book 200 pages. Then I would be happy. Very happy.

A Love/Hate Relationship

Bryce and I bought a house. Crazy? I know. We bought a home in an area we really don't know much about but we got a great deal....and thus begins the love/hate relationship.

I LOVE that we got such a great house for the price. Here is a blurry picture of our new home. Our camera got sand in it from when someone went jumping in sand dunes (see my previous post)

However this leads to a HATE. This house was in foreclosure when we bought it. Little did Bryce and I know how many more hoops we would have to jump through to finally close the house. We ended up finally getting into our home more that 2 weeks after we were supposed to. For me this meant spending a week in a hotel waiting every day for a phone call saying we could sign papers and Quin could drive down with his grandparents to meet up with us again. I was awful being away from Quin so long and being told everyday for a week that "only one more thing had to be done before we could move in."

I LOVE the neighborhood we are in and I LOVE all the yard space we have. However I HATE the windstorms we have experienced since moving to Klamath. Already we have lost power twice and this morning I woke up to this:

This is the tree in the front of our house halfway destroyed...just in time to crush our new lawn.

I LOVE the layout of our home and the extra space that we have...more pictures of the inside will be coming soon hopefully. However I HATE that we have already discovered a plumbing leak. The day after we moved in we noticed the carpet in the master bedroom had a big wet spot. Luckily the Dad's were both at our house getting things fixed up and they were able to cut into the wall and discover a leak in our shower valve. Now this is the lovely view from our bed.

My next project in my new home will be learning to patch a wall....Love? or Hate? I will keep you posted.

The Top Ten Highlights of our Alaskan Cruise

1. Hanging out with these cool cats. My cousins are very talented people. Here is Liz demonstrating the art of the napkin puppet.

2. Eating at the restaurant on top of the Space Needle. Who knew you could get a 360 degree view of Seattle while eating a Hazelnut Crusted Chicken Sandwich? Yum!

3. Winning a dozen roses the first day on the cruise. Being a raffle winner made me feel special. Usually I am the person never wins anything!

4. The fearsome foursome. Quin received a lot of attention from these 3 boys. They taught him lovely things like laughing after someone burps and throwing your food. Super.

4. Kyle, Kenzie and Bryce got in touch with their feminine sides in Juneau.

5. I got some down time to take a few naps.

6. Scarfdancing in the smallest (and coldest) desert in the world. Quin enjoyed my interpretation of "Wind in the Sandy Desert of Canada".

7. Getting dresses up for dinner. One thing I didn't anticipate was that dining would take about 2 hours. This is a challenging length of time for a toddler. Luckily our waiter and waitress were awesome and knew just how to handle the situation. They supplied Quin with an endless supply of chocolate milk and grapes.

9. Strolling through Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C. After this the girls had High Tea at the Empress Hotel and went shopping. We had so much fun that we actually almost missed the ship back!

10. I loved hanging out with the Donaldson gang! It was so fun getting to talk to each of these individuals over the course of a week.

The Dynamic Dentist Dr. Doty

He did it! After 4 long years Bryce has graduated from OHSU's School of Dentistry! June 18th was the graduation ceremony and a wonderful day. In fact the sun came out to shine on the hard-working graduates. Below are pictures with some of his good friends he made over the last four years. Congratulations Doctors!Jake and Bryce...I think they both were a little teary for this one! Cute!
Nick, Tyler, Tim, Paul, Bryce and Tom.

Quin's First Haircut

Nothing major....we just tamed the "wild man" look. What a stud!

I was nearly electrocuted by a mouse

There are many reasons why I am excited to to move out of our house. We have plumbing, electrical and heating issues among a few. However the worst issue by far is the mouse issue.

Everyone thinks living in the country is quaint and peaceful. Not true. It just means that you have lots of little neighbors who stop by all the time without permission. Little neighbors with whiskers. And beady eyes. And tails.

I have been battling in a war for the past 4 years with the rodent neighbors. And 3 days ago, they almost won....

I was minding my own business making some snickerdoodles with Quin. I pull out my hand mixer and plug it in. I move next to the sink and begin mixing. Suddenly I hear a buzzing sound and then a loud pop. I scream. Quin cries. My hand mixer is smoking. Quickly, I unplug the explosive devise and notice that my sink looks like a exploded land mine.

Then I turn to my hand mixer. "What could have caused such a deadly chemical reaction in my kitchen?" I ponder. My scientific mind begins listing all the ingredients in my snickerdoodles...the cinnamon? the cream of tartar? What could it be?

Then I notice this...and I feel like Sherlock Holmes...

Do you see it? Notice the little bite marks along the cord exposing the copper wires inside! But who would have done such a thing? Who would have exposed the copper wires allowing them to rub with the metal on my wet sink allowing a deadly chemical reaction to occur?

There was only one culprit who could have came up with such an evil plot. Only one culprit who seeks vengeance and wants me dead. Or should I say...one species? The mice. The cord nibbling mice.

You may have lost the battle mice. But you will win the war. I'm moving.

A Drumroll Please....

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Boys and Girls,

It is official.

We will be spending the next two years here...

In Klamath Falls, Oregon!

It is a small town of about 20,000 (according to Wikipedia) and has a Walmart, Ross, Borders, movie theater, children's museum, quaint downtown, Albertsons, Safeway and this awesome hotel...

We stayed here when we flew down a about a week ago for an interview. The managers and employees at the dental clinic were smart people. They knew how to win a girl over. They forever won my loyalty by sending me to the spa for a pedicure while Bryce interviewed. It was lovely.

While this may not be the location I pictured myself being in right after dental school, I do feel good about it. After lots of prayers and pondering we are happy with are decision and are looking forward to our future in K-falls!

I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner...

While making a standard trip to the grocery store our little family stumbled upon Shotbun...the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile! Luckily there was a cameraman standing by the glorious vehicle to take a picture for us. It was a fulfillment of a life-long dream for me and was further fuel to Quin's truck/car fetish. He was in awe at the hot dog truck.

Who knew a trip to the grocery store could be a dream come true?

Goodbye Crossed Eyes!

Before: Happy cross-eyed Quin
After: Drugged up straight/red eyed Quin

It's official. Quin is back to his usual self. Jumping. Destroying. Laughing. Eating. We are so happy and releaved that not only is he feeling well but his surgery was a success! We had an appointment with Dr. Bock today and he was so excited with Quin's results that he did a little jig in the check-up room. He told us that for the first time Quin does not have one eye dominating the other. This is a big deal considering the fact that we have been seeing Dr. Bock every week for many months!

His eyes are still red on the inside corners and he hates getting his eye drops four times a day, but his eyes look better everyday. Now we have to focus on getting him to wear the glasses...

Maybe I will pull out those arm braces again....they might come in handy.....

Surgery Update

Good news! All went well with the surgery and Quin is home recovering. We checked into the hospital at 6:00am today and Quin's eyes were operated on from about 7:30-9:00am. We were all relieved when our surgeon came in an said that everything went well with the procedure and that the nurse would be bringing him to us shortly. A few minutes after this, a couple of frazzled nurses came into the waiting area asking for the parents of Quin Doty. We went out of the waiting area to find our poor little Quin with his eyes swollen shut, his arms in removable casts so he couldn't touch his eyes and his scratchy little voice yelling "Eyes...Eyes". The nurses told us that he was very mad (clearly!) and we went to yet another waiting room and calmed him down by feeding him 4 Popsicles.

Overall it has been a rough day for everyone, but Quin seems to be coming back to his old self 12 hours later. He is walking around and can see out of his eyes, although they are both very red with several broken blood vessels. We were able to remove the casts a few hours ago because he has been leaving his eyes alone.

Thanks for all of your calls, emails, texts, and prayers. We are grateful that everything went so well!

Interpreting my Toddler: Quinish to English Dictionary

Above I have a picture of Quin eating a peep. Why you might ask? I have posted these pictures not because we recently had Easter but because the peep represents the differences between the English language and the toddler language (hereafter referred to as Quinish). Let me explain

To you a peep is a soft and tastey spring treat. To Quin "peep" means "I just filled my diaper". In essence it is the phrase "pee pee" condensed into a more easily pronounced, monosyllable word. Peep. A subtle hint that a diaper change is needed. However when Quin is directly asked "Do you need a diaper change?" he will stop what he is doing, pause for 3 seconds and firmly reply "No". He doesn't like having his diaper changed. He just wants you to know what he has been working on. Peep.

Let me provide a few other translations of Quinish to English:

Guck = Truck, this is probably the most popular word used in the Quinish language

Bup = cup

Peessss = please and/or juice

Peesss oo = thank you

Ashes, Ashes = a command to sing "Ring around the Rosie"

Beep, Beep, Beep = a command to sing "The Wheels on the Bus"

Dyce = Bryce or dada

Out = lets go on a car ride ASAP

Soos = shoes

No = direct translation of No

Ello? = cell phone

Hopefully these translations have provided some insights into the vast and complex language of Quinish.

Top 5 Reality TV Moments over the Past Week

Bryce this post is for you because I know you will be checking my blog frequently. Since I am not home to force you to watch all of my reality TV shows I will fill you in on my favorite moments of the passed week...
1. AMERICAN IDOL: Lee sings "Hey Jude" and during the climax of the song a man in a kilt playing bagpipes walks down a grand staircase with a beam of light shining down on him. It was hilarious. However, what was even more hilarious was when Simon asked him why he included the bagpipes and Lee responded "why not?". Love it.
2. LITTLE PEOPLE BIG WORLD: I am proud of Zach Roloff for making his brother Jeremy leave the Red Light district in Amsterdam. He felt uncomfortable and that he shouldn't be there and wasn't afraid to share that with the world. Good job Zach.
3. SURVIVOR: Hallelujah, Colby is back in the game. I have to say that I have been majorly disappointed in my long lost cousin this season. He hasn't been acting like a hero....he has been acting like a bum. That is until last Thursday. Finally, the old, hunky, challenge winning Colbster is back.
4. AMAZING RACE: Sunday was the most Intense and triumphant episode of the Amazing Race ever. The Cowboys are adorable. I almost cried when they almost got eliminated last week. Too my everlasting joy they were able to get back in first place this week. Yee-Haw!
5. CELEBRITY APPRENTICE: Two words....Harry Potter. I was disgusted with the gross inaccuracies made on the men's team RockSolid. Do your research dudes. The sorting hat puts you in houses, not classes. And it is the Whomping Willow, for petes sake. However the fact that they did a salute to Harry deserved a spot on my list.

Now that I am finished with my top 5 I realize I probably watch way too much reality TV. I think I need TiVo. It will save me time.

Quin Updates

A lot has been going on with Quin lately. He now...

folds his arms for prayers

makes really good truck noises (far better than my sound effects)

goes down the "big slide" at Memorial Park

sings along to "Ring-around-the-Rosie"

brushes his own hair (even though it is hard to tell)

Another big event for Quin will be his eye surgery on May 5. We have been seeing our opthamologist weekly and have found that patching has not fixed his eye alignment. After lot of thought and prayer we have decided to undergo stabismus surgery in hopes that he will begin using both eyes. He has an 85% chance that this will lead to binocular vision and thus improve his depth perception and sight. This little boy is a trooper, and although we are nervous we are also hopeful that this will help Quin in the future.