Christmas Card!

We cut down on the number of Christmas cards that we actually mailed this year. So if you didn't get one, trust me, it's not because we don't like you, it's because we are way too cheap to spend 43 cents times the number of friends we have. I guess we're just way too popular. So here is the free electronic version. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

2010 has been good to the Fishers; as we hope it has for you!

We started out the year with a list of projects to do.

Little by little we worked each Saturday to make our new home our own,

We replaced windows, painted the exterior, and our first garden has grown.

Nolan has changed a lot in a year, his biggest triumph was learning to walk,

Now at 18 months old he’s running, and climbing, and starting to talk.

Dirt, bugs, trucks, and blocks; a typical boy; everything must be tossed.

His parents love him in nursery now, if only he’d stay there and not be cross.

Angie started up her own dance class in April, not knowing quite what she was in for,

Teaching Junior Cloggers is a lot of fun, though life is much busier than before.

In 9 months the business has grown from 1 location to 2, from 8 students to 24,

And from zero Crockpot recipes per week, to sometimes three or more!

Kirk still enjoys the chemistry lab helping students not blow up and to get an education.

Though we’re now a two-car family, he still rides his bike to and from the train station.

Learning what they don’t teach in school: hunting & building are his courses of late.

If that wasn’t enough,, Kirk was called as Scout Master and it’s certainly filled his plate.

Though the year has flown by and some days are a little hazy,

One thing has remained the same, we are still crazy.

So hello from Hillsboro and our little slice of Heaven.

Have a great New Year and we’ll see you again in 2011.

- Kirk Angie & Nolan Fisher

Utah Trip!

k. We took an awesome trip to Utah the last week of August. It was a very much needed vacation. Let's just say, it was the first trip we've taken since we moved from Utah 2 years ago! We were ready for a break. And I was ready for a road trip. This may be one of my more boring posts, but hey, at least I posted! And the pictures are no where near professional quality, but I've never claimed to be a professional photographer. Although I am slightly jealous of people who aren't pros and can still make their pictures look amazingly good.

This first picture was taken through a glarey windshield and features our garage door opener. But look at that adorable grin!

Nolan really wanted to drive.

He was a good driver.

Amazing Sunrise....right in our eyes! (I'll take credit for this picture :)

We left at 3:30 am in hopes that Nolan would sleep for most of the way.

He did. And so did I.

We saw a lot of friends we hadn't seen in two years, but as I sort through these pictures, I'm realizing that we have almost NO pictures of the PEOPLE we saw. Or us. Most of our pictures are of Nolan. In fact, we have a lot of pictures of Nolan in people's living rooms, but few of the actual people. So, in honor of the people we saw - here's a picture of Nolan in their living room.

David and Jen Forsyth's living room. They were Kirk's friends in North SLC. And our kids had a BLAST in this tent thing! Though the picture doesn't quite capture the joy of the moment. (Why am I even posting this picture then? Posterity's sake)

A cute picture of Nolan taken in Cory and Ashley Mountineer's living room - where Nolan indecently took his first steps. Of course as soon as I pulled the camera out for documentation, he stopped.

Hey, a real picture of someone! This is Kirk and his former BYU chemistry teacher/friend.

Kris and Lindsay Costello's living room. Nolan and Addy are going to get married. There's no need to let height issues get in the way.

Joseph Nuttall. The one and only common friend that Kirk and I had before Kirk and I met. And now he lives in Logan.

The NIELSON's bathroom!! Bishop Neilson was the bishop of the singles ward that Kirk and I met in. We consider him a great friend even though he's a generation above us. The Nielson's let us stay with them for the week we were in Utah. Hence the bathroom picture.

Nolan posing on the Nielson Rock. Kirk helped to move this rock 2 years ago to the place where in now rests - in the Nielson's front yard. Not sure why, but it's still slightly sentimental.

I love this shirt. And this smile.

Kirk and Tom Neilson (in the living room).

The Olers! They were also influential during our courtship. And Sister Oler makes amazing peach smoothies. Mmmm.

(this may be the only picture I'm in. awake.)

I love this picture.

Lecture Preppers: Chemistry LP Reunion. Sarah, Nate, Anna, Kirk, Sam.

Living Rooms/People/Places Not Pictured (for one dumb reason or another):

Aaron and Becky Hamilton - did we really not take any pictures??

Dave and Angela Williams - I miss the dirty store. And peach cobbler!

Brianne Williams - cuz we found your car keys in your parents yard.

Corey Garr - thanks. Kirk really needs more friends like you.

Jenet Jacobs - now we want grapes in our backyard.

My clogging teachers - thanks for letting me sit in on your classes.

Church History Museum - I'm still obsessed with church history, and a little deprived of it.

Zupa's - cuz you'll always hold a place in my heart, next to Wilson's Diamonds

Shades Store - I'm so glad you were have a liquidation sale just for me!

Swing Dancing - miss it. love it. but not much has changed.

WALKING

Nolan learned to walk while on our trip (right at 15 months). He was so close before we left....and then we shoved him in a car :) He still learned nonetheless. Here it is captured in stages - Day by Day.

Day 1: Car

(no picture - really, he wasn't walking in the car!)

Day 2 or trip: Walking with help.

Day 3: Walking more confidently with help.

Day 4: Standing alone.

Day 5: Running.

Yes, he skipped walking all together and went straight to running.

Adorable video of our cute toddler toddling around.

Just so you know...

...Yes, I HAVE fallen off the face of the earth.

My blog doesn't even remember who I am. The cool background up and left. All witty, creative writing fled long ago. And I'm wearing sweat pants.

What happened? Life happened. Things are good. And very, very busy. But don't wait on the edge of your seat for me to blog about it. Lame. I know.

Major updates? Nolan's walking. Clogging has taken over my life. No, I'm not pregnant.

FYI, I have written several posts in my head (pictures, cool fonts and everything) They just never made it to the keyboard. Hopefully they will within the next decade :)

I feel like I should post something....

....but the baby just woke up. Darn!

More Clogging

In case anyone was curious, here are the final versions of our clogging performance last week. You'll notice I am only posting two of the three dance we did, because I majorly goofed up on one of them. Big time. Let's just say, bowing to the back of the stage instead of to the front gets quite a laugh from the audience! I'm choosing to erase that part of my life history.

Anyway, all the same. Enjoy!

Aside from a curious one year old boy and the ever increasing home improvement projects with the hubby, my life pretty much revolves around clogging right now.

Since I've become an excellent blog neglecter, let me catch you up to snuff:

I've started teaching clogging classes for kids called JUNIOR CLOGGERS. That's right, I am a PAID teacher! I get paid to teach something that I love doing! I guess that mean's I'm a professional now, since it's my "profession." Although I feel no where close to being an expert.

It all started about 3 months ago (yes, I'm going to tell a story now, grab the popcorn) with the intention of having three beginning classes for elementary school aged children. I had a lot of third graders sign up and no one else. There were, however, several kids interested in an intermediate class. Being the push-over for more money that I am, I agreed to teach one beginning class and one intermediate class for a total of 9 students. I really wish I could say that clogging is the new craze in Hillsboro Oregon the waiting list makes my head spin, but that would be lying. Instead, people have gone out of town for the summer and the number of students has dropped to 5 and a half. I say half because one of the girls only comes half of the time....or less. I also had to drop two extra beginning classes that were supposed to start up this week.

Nevertheless (who am I, Moroni?), it's a lot of fun and the kids are loving it. As for the future of Junior Cloggers, there are several promises for registration in the fall. And I still envision that some day, clogging will be in such high demand that I will need to put a limit on the number of students per class. Until then, I'll keep on choreographing.

Here are pics of my kids at their first recital:

Beginners

Intermediates

Clogging Practice - (for Quatama Clogger eyes)

Here are the videos from today's practice. I know I'm noticing things that I need to work on. Hopefully the videos will help you too. Overall, I think things will go really well on Thursday. Good practice!

Some things I think we can focus on are windows, spacing, arms and of course SMILING! (that's my last plug for smiling. I swear. until Thursday of course:)

Walk Away


Mama Mia

Single Ladies

Nolan's Favorite Things

I can't believe my little guy is almost a year old! Time has flown by, yet, it's been so neat to watch him learn new things everyday. Since he's been mobile the last few months he wants to explore everything, soaking it all up like a wet sponge. Here are just a few of Nolan's favorite things:

Being outside. Particularly dirt.

Drawers. Especially Daddy's drawer full of shirts.

How fun to pull everything out and throw it on the floor!

Tearing up the Sunday Comics before I Mommy gets a chance to read them.

Banging on mirrors.

The cupboard full of Tupperware! How else would Mommy get dinner made!?!

Making messes while eating.

That's my little guy! I'm so proud of him and his destructive tendencies. It really helps things stay neat and organized in my house! I think I'll be okay if he's not walking by the time he's two or three years old. But at the rate he's moving, that's doesn't look very promising.

Ball-gowns and Birthdays

A few weeks ago Kirk and I attended a Masquerade Ball fill with dancing and good food! I was really hoping that know one would be able to tell who I was with a mask on, but alas, no one was fooled. We sure had a lot of fun dancing. It had been awhile!

Hard to kiss with a mask on!

Kirk put his wedding tux to use for the fourth time since we got married.

And people were impressed by my $2 garage sale ball-gown purchase (alterations required).

A couple weeks ago was my Golden Birthday. Not really too different from other birthdays except that I got to say, "Hey! I'm turning 26 on the 26th. Isn't that cool?"

Kirk surprised me in the morning with a treasure hunt that lasted throughout most of the day. It ended with the Bluetooth headset I've been wanting. Now Nolan can't pull the cord out of my ear when I'm on he phone. Ha! I feel like I've out-smarted an 11 month old!

And Red Robin for dinner (one of my all-time fav restaurants).

And the best part, my burger was free! Yay for Red Robin eClub!

They also give you a good-size Sundae for free!

But you have to wear the donkey-ear balloons. I was okay with that.

Good times!

Don't Judge Too Quickly

I thought these commercials were hilarious! Have to share.

My baby knows sign language!

Here's how he says:

• "Please change my diaper": Turns beet red and makes a straining expression, then smiles.
• "I'd like something to eat, please": Crams fist in mouth and sucks wildly.
• "I'm tired": Makes a series of weeping gestures before closing eyes and lolling head backward.
• "Please pass me that thing up there that I can't reach": Points and grunts, then continues pointing and opens mouth into screaming position.
• "No thank you. I think I've had enough": Throws food or object to floor with exaggerated grin.

Nolan the Techie

Why do babies love electronics so much? Better question: Why do they make electronics with all the flashy lights and red buttons?

Nolan's favorite items are the TV remotes (all three of them), the blue light on the computer hard drive, and cell phones. We decided to give Nolan his own gadget with the hope that he would stop playing with the spendy stuff. So Kirk gave Nolan his old laptop. This thing no longer works, and only had one flashing light bulb on it. He loves it!

Here's the funny part: while Nolan was slapping away one day, the laptop suddenly turns on and starts working again! We have no idea how he did it! But now it works!

Kids. They get smarter younger and younger these days.

The Cute Couple

Although the star of this blog is clearly the overly-photographed first child, let's not forget the creators of that cutie: The Parents! I think we deserve some credit here. At least some pictures.

These are from our stake Valentine's dance. I think they're the only pictures we've had taken of just us since Nolan was born.

Nine Months Old!

Nolan is now 9 months old (hard to tell exactly when that is though because there's no Feb 29th). Anyway, 9 months old seems like a big milestone. He's officially been OUTSIDE of my belly longer than he's been INSIDE. And I'll be the first to say that the second 9 months goes much MUCH faster than the first 9 months. He's growing up way too fast. But dang he's a cutie.

This is his new cheesy grin. It cracks me up!

Spontaneous Beach Trip!

Last week was rough (actually, by the time I'm getting around to posting this it's actually 2 weeks ago), anyway it was rough because Nolan had two more teeth coming in for a total of 8 teeth! Don't most other babies only have like 4 teeth at 8 months?? Anyway, Kirk and I had some real rough nights of interrupted sleep due to an inconsolable child who only wanted to play blocks at 3am. I'm NOT in favor of random middle-of-the-night play sessions.

Anyway, by Wednesday morning I was spent and not looking forward to a whole day head of me with a cranky baby. I was cranky too. On top of that it was an unusually gorgeous day and I really wanted to get out an enjoy it and not be stuck in the house. So Kirk said he'd go into work late and that we would all take a trip to the BEACH!

It was so spontaneously fun! Kirk's not one to miss work either, which goes to show how much of a needed trip this was. It also the first time we'd all been to the beach together since we moved to Oregon a year and a half ago.

With an hour and half drive both ways we only had about 45 mins at the actual beach, but it was worth every minute :) Plus Nolan slept in the car the whole way there and only screamed half of the way home.

Daddy and Nolan had a lot fun exploring new things like broken sand dollars and big water! Nolan wasn't too sure what to think - but he loves being outside.

This was our sad attempt at a self-portrait family picture (is that what you'd call it?). I love Nolan's face.

Much better to have someone else take the picture. (Nevermind the lady's bum in the background).

I'm SO excited for summertime and more beach trips and for Nolan to be able to run around until all his energy is spent and for me to yell at him to not run off too far and then for him to cry because he's so tired and has sand in his eye and the water is too cold......and I think that sentence was WAY to long!

Happy (early) President's Day!

Yay! I finally got Nolan's 6 month pictures taken at 7 1/2 months! It was so worth all that hassle though (and I don't mean Hasslehoff). Look how cute he is: