Hodgepodge

I haven't been too good about keeping up with pictures and what we've been doing since summer started. :( Sorry about that, but I will say its because summer has kicked off with a busy start and thats part of the reason I'm behind (the other part is that I'm just lazy).

This first picture of Maddie is from the Young Women's fundraising breakfast, I thought it was too cute not to share!


This next one of Sam is from his run in with the concrete steps at the daycare. Hey, atleast it wasn't on my watch right! It actually looked worse in person, I don't think this looks very bad, but man his face was messed up for awhile! haha


These last three pictures are from our hike up to Battlecreek falls, you may remember us trying to do this hike last year and failing, but we did it this year without Dave and made it, although I thought I was going to die (but not from any animal, just from the hike itself). :)


Carla carrying Sam (although I did almost make it the whole way carrying him myself.)


Britin and Maddie, awww buddies!


So, those are some of the things we've been up to for the summer, I'm sure once these thunderstorms start to wear off and we get some nicer weather there will be lots more trips to the pool and the zoo and wherever else we want to go! Yay for crazy busy summers! :)

Cousin Love

My sister and her family stopped here on their way up to Washington and back, and we loved having them! Bethany and Isabel just love eachother so much and have so much fun together! My sister made these sweet dresses for my girls and Isabel which they loved, but we wanted to take pictures of Isabel in her dress while Kristie made my girls'. I have more of just Isabel but I LOVED these pictures of my girls with their cousin! Aren't cousins the best?!

Fun Pics

So I finally finished Maddie's skirt (hopefully you can see it in the pictures) and stayed up until after 3am to finish Bethany's, but alas, my sewing machine was not cooperating. So I wasted all that non-sleep for nothing. Boo hoo. Thank goodness my sister made Bethany a super cute dress last week or I'd have been so depressed. Shanna and I (and her cousin Megan) went out to the salt flats this morning. I've been wanting to go for a long time, but they're sort of far (about 1 1/2 hours) and I didn't really want to go by myself. So Shanna came up with the awesome idea of going all together and having a super fun photo shoot (say that five times fast!). The only hitch in the plan is that it's been raining in the evenings, we thought the flats would stay dry, but they weren't. So we couldn't drive out far onto the flats like we wanted to, but we still made things work so that was good.

I wanted a really specific look for these shots, just really vivid bright colors. Here's what I got:












Here's just a couple extra with their friends:





Fun, fun, fun! Hopefully we'll go back in the next month or so when its all dried out and white and sparkly, I'm so excited!

Sneak Peek

Okay, you asked for a peek at what I'm making, so you know me, I deliver! Of course I don't deliver the finished product, because then I'd actually have to finish it, but here's a peek of someone else's finished product! Okay I was going to have a picture of it, but blogger's being dumb. So here's a link instead. Exciting yes?

Doing Something Crafty!

I haven't posted lately because I've been busy. Mostly just busy changing Sam's constant poopy diapers, but also busy working on a project! I'm so excited about this project I can hardly contain myself! In fact, now that Sam's asleep, I'm going to go work on it RIGHT NOW!

But here's a hint to what it is: RUFFLES!

Oh how I love ruffles for little girls! Wowee it's gonna be awesome, I know you can't wait to find out what I'm doing right?!

Soon enough, I promise!

Lots of Stuff to Do

Well, my preschool class officially graduated today! It was so fun to have the parents come watch their kids sing to them and to present them with certificates and a slideshow. Sometimes preschool is really hard, but for the most part its really rewarding! I have to thank Laina for helping me put the slideshows' together, you are such a lifesaver (and timesaver too)! :)

Thinking back to graduation last year, this year feels so different! Last year graduation was the last day I worked and had summer off, and that next day I went into labor with Sam! None of that going on this year, no driving out of the parking lot feeling like yelling "FREEEEEDOM!!" But this year is good in its own way.

I'm also REALLY looking forward to my sister and her family visiting this weekend, it's always too long since I see them, so this will be fantastic! Hopefully they can get here in time to see Bethany's end of school year performance/dance thing/Field day. :)

Now all I have to do is get some energy and get stuff done! I KNOW I can do it, just gonna take a quick nap first...

The Life of a One Year Old

A photo journey in the life of a one year old:












Pretty much: wander around, find sticks, put stuff in your mouth, get sleepy, take a nap. Oh, and look anywhere BUT the camera!

Now, on to the cake part:





Sam loved the cupcakes, he demolished about three of them, it was great fun to watch! Happy Birthday boy!

Bubby!

I was going to post an update today with pictures and a funny story, but then I thought, "Self! Hello?! It's Sam's BIRTHDAY today! You need to post about him!"

Okay, so I will. :)

Today my first boy, my third child, turns ONE! I am shocked how fast the time has gone; I know everyone says that, but thats because everyone is right, it goes by incredibly fast! I was thinking I would make one of those lists for their age of things about him, but it would be a very short list. (Only ONE thing because that's how old he is, DUH guys!) So instead I'll just tell you a little about one year old Sam.

~Sam is very cuddly. He loves to hug, he loves to snuggle, he gives very big slobbery kisses. He's very lovey like that.

~Sam is a boy through and through. He smells bad, he poops more, he gets into things more, he eats all the time and it doesn't matter what it is (even if it isn't edible...). And he can look up at me with his big blue eyes and I melt.

~Sam loves his dad a LOT. He loves dad's ties and whenever he sees dad he wants him to hold him, it's very sweet.

~Sam has an old soul. There's just something about the look in his eyes that seems like he just knows more than a baby his age should.

~Sam's very mellow. He goes with the flow, and it doesn't bother him to change plans or miss a nap or whatever, he just falls asleep when he feels like it. Sure he throws fits, he's not perfect for goodness sake, but for being a baby he's just very mellow. :)

I could go on and on about my boy, but I want to go take some pictures of him so you can see for youselves how cute this kid is! I also want to say that after having two girls (and being one myself) I could not imagine how amazing having a boy is! I adore him, I am infatuated with him, I could squeeze the heck out of him! He's such a blessing to our family! (I'll be back later to share the pictures.)
~

Random As Always!

I haven't had much of anything exciting to update you on, we've been busy sure, but that doesn't always equal exciting! We went to three BBQ's last week, the weather was so nice! (Maybe a little windy, but still it was SUNNY!) This week is supposed to be even better, I hope it just keeps improving, wouldn't that be awesome?! We're having a Super Saturday this weekend (on Sam's birthday) that I'm teaching a hair bow/flower class, too fun! I'm also gearing up for preschool graduation, I need to finish assessments (whoever thought that was a good idea?!) and do a slideshow to give to all the parents. Busy, busy. But soon enough, school will be out and it will be full blown SUMMER! Yippee! Bethany has an end of school dance thing that I will definitely be posting pictures of when that happens. I also have a bunch of pictures I need to add from the last couple weeks, I'm sure I'll get to them SOMEDAY!

Happy Mother's Day

(My Mom and Bethany, Washington 2006)

When I was a little girl my mom and I were walking hand in hand, all of a sudden she squeezed my hand three times. I looked up at her and asked her what that meant. She answered me that it meant I. Love. You. *squeeze. squeeze. squeeze.* I love you. So simple. And for years, I will still squeeze my mom's hand three times.

Love you Mom.

Sitting on Pins and Needles

Wow. Did I have a day yesterday. To keep this light and from myself crying some more, I may joke around a bit. Don't think me a horrible mom, it's just how I cope. Also, if you don't like to hear about poop, or pain in sensitive areas, I encourage you to move on.

So yesterday about an hour after I got home from work, Sam started screaming. Right after he screamed he pooped, so I figured he was constipated and that was what was hurting him. I proceeded to torture him for a few hours, until I discovered something. Something horrible. (No really, it was horrible!) As I was wiping (sorry for the detail/graphicness/icky!), I felt something hard at the bottom of his rectum. I thought at first that must have been the poop he couldn't pass, but then I saw it. Oooooh, it's so hard to say...I saw a needle stuck there. Yeah there, in his rectum. I'm not going to say I handled it well, because my kids, my mom and dad, my sister, anyone around could tell you I didn't handle it well. I was a little hysterical. Which was great since Bethany handles things so well (she was a little hysterical too). I quickly called my mom, because she's Sooooo close by and could help, and she said to either just take him to the hospital or call my doctor's office. I called the office and they said they would suggest the hospital, because even if they could remove it themselves, they didn't have the equipment to check for any INTERNAL DAMAGE. I'm feeling great at this point, obviously. So I quickly dropped my kids off at Carla's (you are my go-to person woman, thank you a million times over!) and headed up to the hospital. After a couple x-rays and a lot of screaming, they did the "removal". David was the lucky person to hold Sam's legs down. My kids hold their breath and pass out when they cry really hard, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that none of my kids have ever held their breath that long. Anyway, everything came out just fine, hardly any bleeding and no bleeding since, which is a really good thing! And right after everything was done, Sam was laughing and smiling and being happy. Which he hadn't been all afternoon, so I felt so much better.

*UPDATE*: Sorry I was unclear, didn't mean to leave ya all hanging. He swallowed it. Most definitely. If you want more detail than you need to know, it was a little corroded/rusted from the acids in his stomach. I have no idea HOW he could've swallowed a pin, but he did and it went all the way through him only to get stuck at the very end. And if you need anymore of a visual to help you understand what it looked like, come on over, I'll draw you a diagram or something. (I'm sure no one will be coming over, am I right?)

And now, for the pun of the day!

From my dad: "Kind of had you sitting on pins and needles with worry!" tee hee!

And some other memorable puns:

~Brings on a whole new meaning to "bummer".

~He's as sharp as a pin that boy!

~I love it when I can stick it to him like that!

~What a pain in the rear!

~Hope you didn't have to sit on that one for very long!

~Couldn't needle his way out of that one huh?!


So there ya go, if you can think of any more puns, I'll stick ya in the eye! hahaha

Another Crazy Weekend!

I'm sick. Thats what I get for making fun of the swine flu. Darn it all. But even with a cold, a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do! I had another busy weekend, but even being busy it was a lot of fun! I'm going to download the pictures soooooon, promise! Every year the Stake does a Priest and Laurel Overnighter, this is the third year I've gone, and every year has been really awesome! They always have great speakers, fun games and a lot of laughing! We got to stay in "cabins" this year instead of the lodge. The lodge is like a hotel totally, set up just like any hotel, but the cabins were fantastic! There were like a real house, there was a living room, a kitchen, tons of rooms, it was so cool! The girls and me got our own room and had a blast laughing and being silly until 1:30 am. I'm getting too old to do that, actually I'm not, I was probably just too sick to do that! There's also a cool rec room, there's ping pong tables, pool tables, fooz-ball, air hockey, all kinds of fun games! I rocked the pool table--so much fun! We also played putt-putt golf, and all kinds of get-to-know-you games. They had a movie playing, they really go all out every year! I enjoy the kids in our ward so much, getting to know them and mess around with them is so great. I feel so blessed to have the calling I do!

We're going Kosher!

This last weekend was a little crazy, but a lot of fun! I really want to post about Patti's party, but even though I brought my camera, I was too busy having a great time to take pictures! I know other people did, come on Patti, let's see them! (Unless I look stupid--which I know I do--leave those out.)

So until then, here's a funny story for you!

David and I were talking this morning while we were getting ready for work and Maddie was sitting there listening. David was saying something about bacon, and then he said, "Except we can't have bacon anymore because of the swine flu. So I guess we'll have to go kosher!" I replied with a nice, "heh. heh."

A little while later when we were getting ready to go, Maddie asked Dave if she was going with him. He told her no, he was going to work and she was going to the daycare. She was all, "No! You said we were going somewhere else earlier!" It took him a minute to figure it out, but she wanted to go kosher. REALLY bad! She's asked me a few times today already, I may have told her daddy was lying to finally make her stop. Even though she said "Nuh-huh. Daddy was NOT lying!"

Tee hee! Thought it was cute!

TidBits

I really don't have much to blog about, just a lot of little tidbits.

First off, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I think I often feel overwhelmed, and this is another one of those weeks. Just on top of the regular things, like my job and church meetings, I had a staff meeting at work last night, made a huge four layer cake, a birthday party earlier today, making cookies for a wedding tonight, a Primary activity in the morning and so on and so forth.

BUT, one thing that is making me feel a little more calm is I finally found a "perfume" I really REALLY like. It's from Bath & Body Works, and every time I take a whiff of it, I just feel....aaahhhhhhh. It smells so nice!

Maddie had an accident the other day. She was outside playing (where she also got SUNBURNED! Could that kid be any more fair skinned?!), and couldn't get the door open in time. And BETHANY wouldn't come help her! Yes, I'm totally blaming Bethany for that accident.

Sam ate his own poop the other day. I know I love him, but I just can't seem to get close to him anymore. He's disgusted me. The story is, he LOVES to play in the trash can, I try to keep him away from it, but he's faster than you'd think and that particular day he'd found one of his dirty diapers, opened it, and...well, you know the rest. Oh the nastiness of it all!

Bethany is so happy to be back at school, except for yesterday when SOMEBODY (I think it must've been Dave...) was supposed to pick her up after school and FORGOT her! What a horrible parent that is! Okay, okay, it was me. On Tuesdays' and Thursdays' I work in the office at work, and go pick Bethany up when it's that time. But yesterday I was waist deep in organizing a closet and totally lost track of time. I was so caught up in my good work, chatting with another co-worker, and all of a sudden--it hit. BETHANY! She had to wait in the school's office for half an hour. I felt horrible! But to make myself feel a little better, there's only ONE month left of school and it's the first time it's happened, thats a pretty good record. Right? Right...

And thats about all the tidbits I have for you! How was your week?

Pictures, pictures

Okay, I got my stupid slow computer to finally take the pictures. Because it took forever to get them on the computer I'm going to post a couple from Easter too. So there, and there's nothing you can do to stop me! Mwaa hahaha ha! Okay then, here goes:

This first one, Sam had got ahold of Bethany's soup and was going to town. We was completely happy, and not at all bothered with soup in his eye. :)


These next pictures are the Easter egg hunt at Jim & Kay's. Here's Leanne's little boy Ethan--too funny!

And Leanne's little girl Chelsea!

Sam hunting for some eggs.

Look Ma! I found one!


Okay, these next pictures are from my lamp project. The first picture is what the shade looked like before. See, it's just tan and has kind of a faux leather look--blah!


And the little lamp turned into THIS: I LOVE IT!

And the corner lamp got a bold damask pattern and some feathers! Whoo!

The other two lamps will get this toile material (the colors really do match, the pictures don't show it very well), and maybe some beads or something!

Here's a closer shot of the material on the little lamp. (I'm going to use the extra material from this and the damask and make a little tableclothe for the side table, and maybe some extra pillows or something, I'm debating.)

So what do you think? Pretty fun huh?

Spring Breaking Up is Hard to Do

I'm still here. I think I'm okay, I think I survived. What did I survive?

SPRING BREAK!

It was a different Spring Break this year, because the weather was TERRIBLE. Rain the first half of the week, SNOW the second. So we were pretty much stuck inside the whole week. Dumb. It got a little kooky, I have to say! But I also got a crafting itch that I totally scratched! If that didn't make sense, I did a craft project! I took pictures, but I haven't downloaded them yet (you haven't heard that before have you?!), I promise I will hopefully maybe even today!

But to let you in on my project, I decided I wanted to re-do my lamp shades. They're just a tan color and very boring! So I went and bought some super cute fabric and recovered them, I've got two of the four done already, and I have to say they are freakin adorable! I'm very excited about finishing the other's up too! Promise I'll get the pictures up soon!

So, how was your Spring Break?

Easter Goodness

I hope you all had a great Easter like I did! Sacrament meeting was beautiful and wonderful and I cried a lot, it was good though!
I made us all match Sunday clothes so we could take some pictures of us, the kids weren't being too cooperative though, so this is the best we got! (Besides the fact that there really isn't a "pretty" place to take pictures at our house.)

I haven't downloaded the pictures from the Easter egg hunt yet, but we had a TON of fun at Jim & Kay's eating great food, throwing plastic eggs on the roof and kicking them when the came down, joking around, eating dessert and just enjoying the company! We love them so much!

So how was your Easter?

(Oh! And yesterday was my Mom's birthday too, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!)

Blogging for Dummies

Okay, I'm being a lazy blogger today, but boy oh boy! You get to see us LIVE! Whoooey! I know you're excited because its been so long since you've seen my crazy eyes, and my ridiculously loud voice! Wheeee!

This first video is of Sam walking around and then you can hear his adorable little conversation with me. I love this kid! AND, lucky lucky, you get to see him wave bye bye! So cute! (Oh, before you start, turn the sound to LOW, my voice is shockingly loud--it pierces to the inner eardrum and bursts it. Ask my dad, he knows.)

This next video is maybe a tad embarrassing, but since when have I let that stop me? I decided I would do a video blog, and show you some of the stuff we've been doing--IN THE FLESH! Or atleast, through the computer, on the video, and not reading it. You get the picture.



Hope you enjoyed it because it took some seriously doodawing to get these stupid videos to work (and help from my awesome friend!), oh and sorry for blaring you ears right out of your head. Its a gift, I know.

My Deep Ponderings on Conference

I'm sure there will be a hundred and one posts about Conference in the next day or two, but here's one more! Yay!
Of course I had my favorite talks and one's I really needed to hear but I don't want to talk about that right now. I want to talk about ME, just kidding!
I was pondering yesterday morning about why we have two days of Conference, and four hours of spiritual feasting those two days. It seems like a lot to me (granted, I'm not complaining, I was just curious as why they chose to do it that way), why did they decide that every six months we would gather together on Saturday morning and afternoon, and then again the next day? Well, I don't know all the specific reasons, but the main thing I came up with is: because we need it! (wow, I'm so deep aren't I?) Can I just say, EVERY Conference I come away with this feeling of hope and re-commitment. DUH! In a world that pulls us every which way, where its hard to always see exactly what we should do, where it can get a little depressing, we NEED to hear those messages of hope and love and telling us exactly what we need to do. Its amazing! I love that I can listen to one message and feel like I KNOW the Church is true, I KNOW what they're saying is TRUE! It all makes sense! I may struggle and feel guilty that I'm not better, but I know its true and I can be better! What a great weekend its been...I love this church!

April Fool's!

My favorite April Fool's Joke EVER:

When Bethany was just a little baby, April Fool's came around. She was only a few months old, so still had pretty unpredictable bowel movements. Are you getting a little scared that I went right into poop? Oh yes, this story definitely has to do with poop! All the best stories have poop in them! Or do they? Well, this one does...

So, we went to the store and bought a jar of Nutella. Have you ever seen it? Its a hazelnut/chocolate (the consistency of say peanut butter-ish) spread, delicious really, but we weren't using it to put on toast--oh no we weren't! I made David do it, because I just can't keep my face straight in these sort of situations, no poker face whatsoever.

We were at David's parents' house for...well, because we lived there thats why. He went in the other room to "get a diaper", and while he was in there he spread some of the Nutella on the clean diaper. Can you see where this is going?

He put Bethany on the floor where his parents weren't paying attention, and switched out the diapers. All of a sudden he started making a fuss, "OH MAN! This diaper is horrible! She totally had a blow-out!!" and then "*SNIFF* WOW, this diaper totally smells like chocolate!! Weird!" and finally "Hmmmm, I wonder if it...tastes...like...choco..." LICK! He stuck the diaper to his mouth, and licked up some of the Nutella! hehehehehehe!

You should have heard the commotion!! David's mom screaming, his dad I think just put his hand over his face and laughed (I think he knew something was up, yes?), I stayed off to the side laughing the whole time--it was HILARIOUS! (Ma, Pa, do you remember it?) hahaha

And to this day we have never played another April Fool's joke, because how can you top that?! Can you top it?