Welcome to our Blog!!

Well I guess it's about time we got on board and started a blog! I have been so busy trying to keep memories saved in journals or scrapbooks that haven't thought much of blogging. However, now that we are far from many of our family and friends, I thought I'd start journaling here so we can share the ride with all of you! To start out, I thought of 25 totally random facts you might not know about our family. Here goes a little Wolfley trivia...

1. We LOVE hiking!! One of our favorite activities lately has been to explore all the beautiful hikes of Oregon. We got a book of the 100 best hikes in Oregon and we’re hoping to try them all while we’re here. So far we’ve loved every one!

2. Makenna LOVES books! We go to the library every other week and pick out 10 books. We usually read all of them the first day, but she could still spend hours in her room flipping through them!

3. Both Kenna & Sage are the world’s best eaters! They will eat anything and everything. Kenna thinks broccoli and green beans are treats and Sage seems to be following right along in her sister’s footsteps!

4. I love to cook. It’s been kind of a newfound hobby, but luckily I have very open and un-picky (if that’s a word!) taste-testers!

5. Nate’s favorite activity is waterskiing. He is amazing on anything behind the boat, but the slalom is his favorite. Not to mention he looks dang good doing it! :)

6. Both Nate & I absolutely love McCall Idaho! Our dream vacation is a private cabin on the lake with our own dock, a boat and the breath-taking view. We’ve already done it twice…but I don’t think it could ever get old!

7. Despite our best efforts, Kenna is turning out to be quite a girly-girl. She loves to clean and play pretend, and HATES to get dirty. She is also terrified of bugs, spiders, flies, you name it (not that I can blame her!). Guess we’re going to have to do lots of camping to cure that one!

8. We are dog lovers! Our first dog was a Siberian Husky named Champ. He was the world’s best (although very naughty) dog. I’m sure Nate would have a different story to tell because he was very much “my dog”. I miss him terribly, but I’m sure we’ll get another one somewhere down the road.

9. I absolutely love working as a nurse! How many people can say that about their jobs? I’m loving being home with my girls, but sometimes I miss the hospital. I love the people (especially pediatrics), the needles (big surprise for me!), the stress, medications, the terminology, 12-hours on my feet, the blood and guts…everything!

10. Nate and I both hate spending money. I am a sucker for bargain shopping, I love Kid-to-Kid, and yes, a good portion of my clothes are from High School! :)

11. Makenna is the world’s best 2-year old singer! She will sit in her high-chair, car seat, bed…anywhere and just sing song after song after song!! It provides great entertainment and it is just so darn cute hearing her versions of the words she doesn’t know. What a doll!

12. Nate and I have only lived in 3 homes in our 5 years of marriage. We rented an apartment in Bountiful for the first 5 months, then bought our first house in Layton, where we stayed for 3 ½ years. We bought our second home in Oregon almost a year ago and have loved every minute in it!

13. Nate just finished his first year of Law School at the University of Oregon and will be doing an externship with a Child Advocacy Judge in Portland during the summer part-time. The other part-time job he’ll have will be at home with two BUSY girls while Mom works as an educator at a clinic in the beautiful RiverBend Hospital! I can’t wait to start my new job!

14. Nate and I love to play games. We are big card buffs (but unfortunately there’s not many games to play with 2 people). Luckily for the happiness of our marriage :) we each have games we dominate in. Nate will always and no matter what, win Rumikub, Boggle and Remote Possibilities, while I have my claim to fame in Gin, Scrabble and Nerts. We frequently find ourselves staying up way too late playing games, but we love it!

15. We love the TV series 24. We used to stay up all night watching episode after episode (can you ever just watch one?!). Then kids came along and put an end to that…they don’t let you sleep in the next day till noon! :) Needless to say, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

16. I love to clean! Nate teases me that it is my favorite hobby, but in all honesty, I spend a good part of my spare time doing it. I just don’t think there is anything quite like a clean house with all the windows open so it’s bright and fresh. What can I say, I’m easily pleased!

17. Nate and I love the rain! (Guess Oregon is the right place for us!) When I was younger I used to dream that when I got married I would have a tent permanently set up in my backyard so that whenever it rained I could sleep outside and listen to it. Well Nate and I gave it a try…until our dog Champ tore a big hole in the side of our tent to get the popcorn we left in there. Like I said, he was mostly a good dog! After that we did keep our tent set up…in our guest bedroom. :) And I still love to listen to the rain!

18. The first piece of furniture Nate and I bought was Kenna’s crib. Yes EVERYTHING else is hand-me-down. How blessed are we?! We have a fully furnished house, and while it doesn’t all match perfectly, it was FREE and we are SO grateful for it. It’s amazing what a little paint and stain can do! Thanks to our many furniture donors…you are greatly appreciated!

19. Two of our favorite places to eat in Utah are Café Rio and Jason’s Deli…and unfortunately they have become our constant cravings as they are NON-EXISTENT in Oregon. Lame! Well I guess that just gives us something to look forward to on visits. (just kidding family…we LOVE to visit!) :)

20. We love the Jazz!! While I have learned a heck of a lot about football since getting married, I still can’t claim to be a true fan. But Jazz basketball? Definitely a fan!! Nothing can get my heart racing quite like Jazz playoffs. And luckily I married an equally dedicated fan…otherwise we might be in trouble!

21. We love to watch movies! Netflix has become a recent hobby of ours and living out of state has given us many a free night to watch movies! Our favorites? Tough to pick, but probably for Nate: Gladiator, Brooke: Pearl Harbor, Runaway Jury or the Count of Monte Cristo (I’ve never been very good at making decisions!), Makenna: Tarzan for sure, she can almost sing the songs as well as Phil Collins, Sage: Makenna. :)

22. Neither of our girls has ever been to the doctor for anything except well-checks. I’m a little nervous that I just jinxed us, but so far we’ve been pretty dang lucky. Yay for healthy girls!!

23. Nate’s favorite band: AFI. Mine: Rascal Flatts. Yes they are pretty much polar opposites but we humor each other. Luckily we have a bunch we both love and can compromise on…Cold Play, Josh Groban and of course Styx! Gotta love music!

24. We live in Eugene and don’t own any tie-dye. That’s almost a sin. Luckily Nate does have two U of O hats otherwise we might literally get kicked out. This city is crazy about their Ducks! They’re growing on us, but I think the Utes still have our hearts! (Good thing or we might be disowned by a certain family!) :)

25. We miss our family and friends in Utah, but we are loving our adventure in Oregon. Nate and I both feel that there’s nothing like moving out of state or away from family to truly build stronger family relationships. It’s amazing how much closer you become when you have to rely only on each other. Not only that, but I think it takes distancing yourself from family to truly feel independent and like your own family unit. And it’s been fun! We have made so many wonderful friends and have spent so much more time together as a family than we ever have. While we look forward to being close to family again someday, we are sure enjoying the road back there!

Well there you go! Now you might know a little more about us than you ever cared to, but what the heck, we might as well share the whole ride! Now there's just one last thing I have to add before I officially start this blog. I want to say how grateful I am for so many amazing friends and family members who have helped our little family along the journey. We are loving life and feel incredibly blessed to have what we have and know who we know! Heavenly Father has definitely been watching out for us and we are so grateful. So with that said - Welcome to our Blog!! You are officially invited to stay tuned, it may be a wild ride :) ...

*Disclaimer*

In case anyone actually reads back this far in our blog someday, I need to clarify the next 4 months of postings! :)  I started our blog on May 24th with the plan of one day turning our blogs into family scrapbooks.  However, when I got around to making our book for 2010, I didn't want only half of the year in it, so I back-dated blogs for January-May!  That is why the "Welcome to our blog" is not at the beginning of our blog - although it was the start. Anyway, just a little FYI in case you're wondering. :)