La Vita Bella

Hello there!

2011-12-11T21:24:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted. Time has been flying by. Life is going well, just busy.

I'll talk about Alex first. He's now 13 months. I love this stage of life for him. He's starting to get out of the baby stage. He's really starting to understand things around him. The last month or so, he has started LOVING books. I'm so glad. I was a little worried, because he wasn't showing too much interest in them. Anna at his age loved books and they were very instrumental in her vocabulary and her enunciation of words. Currently, his favorite book is a animal board book. He carries it around with him and I've caught him many times just sitting on the carpet looking through the pages. It's so cute.

A few weeks ago, his shoes were on the carpet. He went over to them and started to step on one. He was trying to put it on! You could just see the wheels turning in his head. Another time, he got some cookbooks off a shelf. I told him no. Then a minute later, he picked one up and was trying to put it back on the shelf! It was so cute. This morning, I was taking the sheets off our bed to wash them. I put our extra pillows on the floor, on the side of our bed when we are sleeping. He picked up a small one and was trying to put it on the bed! He's just so smart, I love it. He knew that's where it needed to go.

He is also getting so good at understanding what I'm saying. I can tell him to put his shoes away in the shoe basket by the door, and he'll do it! I'll tell him to give me a kiss and he will. It's just so fun to see him develop.

He loves boxes and knows to just plop himself down in one. Dan loves to push the kids around in boxes we get from diapers or Costco. So he sees a box and thinks that's what he needs to do. He's also into climbing things. He loves to climb up on Anna's bed and is so proud of himself when he does.

Here he climbed up on Dan's work box. He also fell off this one time, so I promptly put it away!

This activity table was by our TV stand and Alex started climbing it and got on the TV stand. I moved the table to the middle of the family room, so he wouldn't climb on it. Well, that plan failed. He REALLY wanted to climb it. I was curious how far he would go, so I let him climb it.

And he made it to standing on top!

Here is a step stool we have in our bathroom. Alex loves to climb it. I had moved it to our bedroom while I was cleaning and turned it over, so he wouldn't climb it. He thought it was a chair and plopped himself down in it.

He's getting so big and is cute as ever!

Anna is doing well. Her vocabulary gets better and better each day. She still says funny things and is cute as ever. Our biggest accomplishment with her lately has been potty training! It really has been a roller coaster of a ride, with LOTS of ups and downs, but I think we've finally arrived. Peeing accidents only happened the first few days. However, poopoo incidents were many. She kept pooping in her underwear and it was nasty! However, this last week, she finally seems to be able to go on the potty, poo or pee, when she needs to. And it's about time! There were many times where she would seriously hold her pee for seven hours! It was amazing. She would be so uncomfortable and obviously need to go pee, but WOULD not. It really was a power struggle in her case. We just had to not push it and wait for her to come to us and tell us she needed to go. She has also gone on the potty at the gym and at church, as well as Logan's house. We're making progress here, people! :)

My precious little Anna outside, while we're raking leaves.

Alex's First Birthday!

2011-11-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my little Alex is one! I can't believe a year ago, I had a little newborn, was sleep deprived and adjusting to two kids.

Well, we celebrated his party on Saturday. I've been looking forward to making his cake for a while. I decided on the pattern a few months ago. Here is the inspiration:

There were a few cake images I found, that helped me solidify the design. Thank goodness for the internet!

So here is Alex's cake!

This took me a long time to make, about three and a half hours. For most of it, I was watching three kids, so that may have hindered my time. But it was just time consuming, not very difficult.

I made the shapes a few days before, which was fine for the diamonds and circles, but not so much for the stripes. I had to make new ones for the white and blue because they would crack and break when I tried to bend them. Luckily, the yellow ones were fine.

I did have a problem when I started the second layer of the diamonds. They diamonds were not all the same, so some of the corners wouldn't match up. Plus, I was losing surface area with the curve of the cake, so they didn't match up because of that as well. I was just going to go with one row of diamonds, but Dan convinced me to just cut each diamond a little smaller and see if that would work. I'm glad he did and I'm glad I listened to him, because it really made the cake look better that way.

I was excited to a make a two tier cake. There were a few places where the base yellow fondant didn't quite work like I wanted it to, but those are just minor things.

I originally was going to put these letters on popsicle sticks and stick them on the top layer of the cake, but after three hours I was kind of done with the cake. I realized it was going to be really crowded on top and they weren't long enough to put on the bottom layer and stick out on top of the top layer (make sense?), so I just stuck them on the cupcakes.

In case you couldn't tell, the colors were yellow, white and blue. I did an initial themed party, with "A." I got the idea here, from the Martha Stewart website.

Party favors!

I made some popcorn and melted white chocolate and coated the popcorn with it and added mini M&M's. It was so good! And of course, I forgot to hand them out. Figures.

Water bottle labels.

Cute little name sign.

Thank goodness I have a cricut machine, otherwise I probably wouldn't have made all these decorations.

Hanging A's.

Dan was kind enough to hang these for me, while I was getting other stuff ready.

I started making the decor a few weeks before, in the evenings. Just doing a little at a time.

Our little family!

Alex getting ready to blow out his candle.

He was a little hesitant at first, not quite sure what I had put in front of him.

I ended up cutting a chunk of the cake off, and cutting it into little pieces.

Then he really dug into it.

Dirty cake hands!!!

Alex playing with some of his new toys.

Overall it was a fun party and I was very pleased with how the cake and decorations turned out. I think Alex had fun, even though he didn't know what was going on. He got some fun toys that he really likes (and Anna, I should add).

I'm off the hook until Dan's birthday. I told him to start thinking about what he wants and I'll make him a fun fondant cake!

A Halloween Miracle!

2011-11-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

We decided to get very festive this year for Halloween. At the beginning of October, we started talking about what the kids should be for Halloween. Dan had already decided to be a sith, from Star Wars. Supposedly, his entire Art Department at school was going to dress in a Star Wars theme for a Halloween party of one of the teacher's house (turned out he was the only one to show up and the guy hosting it didn't even dress up). We decided Anna should be a bumblebee. Then, Dan suggested that Alex be one too. After a few days, I decided I would dress up as one too.

Me and my swarm of bees.

It's not easy getting a three year old and an almost one year old to look simultaneously at the camera.

It was fun to plan out their costumes and make them. I made our skirts from black and yellow tulle, and ribbon. Dan's mom gave Anna a similar skirt for Christmas a few years ago. I used that as my model and just copied the idea for our costume. They were pretty easy to make. Just cut tulle into 5-6 inch strips, about 24 inches long for her and I can't remember how long I made mine. Tie them around a band of elastic that will fit around the waist. Add ribbon every 4-5 strips and there you go!

I made the antenna head band from elastic, felt and fuzzy pom poms. I wanted to do yellow, but I had these leftover from when she was a lady bug two years ago.

I sewed strips of yellow felt on this black shirt. It has a logo on it, but I made sure the stripe covered it. The wings I found at the 99 cent store and they actually have a little bee on the back of it. I made the purse from felt as well. Overall, this was a very inexpensive costume. The shirt, leggings and shoes were given to me. The tulle was on sale for like 74 cents a yard, the wings were a dollar, and the felt was 25 cents a sheet. The ribbon was $2.

Alex's outfit on the other hand, wasn't as cheap. I actually splurged a bit and paid $10. I got it at a big consignment sale they have here, twice a year. I originally had sewn black stripes on a onesie and was just going to have him wear black pants. But this was so cute, I couldn't pass it up. I'm glad i did, because otherwise, his outfit would have been kind of lame, compared to ours.

He wasn't a big fan of the hat, but doesn't he look so cute in it?!

I don't normally dress up, but I'm glad I did this year. It was fun.

My outfit was easy to put together as well. I just had to pay for the tulle, ribbon, and wings.

Here is Dan's outfit. He made this cloak himself, without a pattern. It turned out pretty well! I won't say how much he spent on his. It was more than all of ours combined. I told him next year, no more cloaks! He made one two years ago. He needs to branch out. Lol.

His co-worker, the one who threw the Halloween party, had these light sabers. He let him borrow them. They're pretty cool. At our ward party, a few teenagers came up to Dan and asked if they could give him a hug, because his costume was so awesome. Haha.

We got to take Anna trick-0r-treating for the first time this year. I really enjoyed it. It was so cute to see her say trick or treat and get excited about her candy. We just went around the street behind ours. As soon as we came inside, she sat down and checked out her loot. We put Alex in the stroller and luckily, he was fine with that.

So I wanted to tell about the title of this, A Halloween Miracle!

So our ward party was on Saturday. I need to give a little background info first. I mentioned that I got him black pants at the consignment sale. Well, there was actually two pants pinned together. I only needed one pair, but for the price of one, I could get two, so I got both of them. Friday, before we went to Dan's co-worker's party, I went to the local consignment sale and got Alex black socks. They also had Halloween costumes on sale for $2. I briefly looked at them and saw some bee costumes. So Saturday, a half hour before the ward party, I go out to the car to get our costumes that I had left there from Friday's party. I had changed Alex into his sleeper before we left, so we could easily put him in bed, and put his costume in the diaper bag. Well, I quickly realize I left the diaper bag at Dan's co-worker's house, along with his costume.

I'm pretty bummed, that Alex won't be able to dress up and we won't all match. I tell Dan this and he suggests to go the consignment store and see if they have a bee costume for Alex. I had totally forgotten about that! I had 15 minutes before they closed, so I hurried over there and lo and behold, I find a cute bee costume that is just Alex's size! I get home and remember that his black pants were left at the other house. Then, I remember that I had bought TWO pairs of black pants. Whew!

So it all worked out, we had fun at the party, we all looked cute and it was a Halloween miracle! My main reason for sharing this, is really to show just how kind Heavenly Father was to me. When I think about how there was a costume just his size and that I had been led to buy two pairs of black pants, it's just worked too perfectly. It's amazing to me how He was able to micromanage the little details, so Alex could have his bee costume and we could all match. It's obviously not the end of the world if he didn't have one, I would have lived and gotten over it, but He knew it would make me happy. He knew it was important to me and He foresaw something I had no way of predicting. It really made me happy that He helped me out so much. There have been a few other things recently that have really helped me see Heavenly Father's hand in my life and His kindness and mercy to me. Elder Bednar gave a talk a few years ago about the tender mercies of the Lord. I'm so thankful for those and thankful for the little and big blessings I receive from Him.

Two Little Pumpkins in a Patch...

2011-10-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. It's funny how here it's October, but it was seriously in the 90's. It was so hot. It was cool when we left and by the time we got there, it was so warm. I was going to bring some shorts for Alex, because I was afraid he would get hot, but Dan convinced me not to, so I didn't. I should have though!

We took a lot of pictures, but there weren't a lot of food ones. Anna would not look at the camera. She just wanted to look at the pumpkins and anything but the camera. Alex, well he's 11 months, so you can't really expect much there. Lol.

Me and my little pumpkins.

Sweet little Alex.

He didn't really want to be here.

My other pumpkin, Anna.

When we got the the pumpkin patch, Dan pointed out the deformed pumpkins and gourds and called them crazy pumpkins. She LOVED them and wanted to keep finding them and looking at them.

This is Alex's first time wearing shoes outside. They were given to me, so they don't quite fit the best. It was so hot, so I rolled up his pants. He looks extremely dorky, but I wanted him to be comfortable.

We all took a train ride together, for $12. Completely overpriced, but Anna loves trains, so we did it.

Not my best angle. My arms look huge. Gotta work on my triceps. :)

They had this haystack pyramid and Anna loved climbing up it. She then spied some "crazy" pumpkins a ways away and wanted to go see them.

Lots of pumpkins.

Anna in the little hay maze.

They had this kind of trail through a ton of sunflowers with different scenarios and Halloween stuff. Here is a Cat in the Hat one. Anna loves Cat in the Hat, so we took a picture.

We tried to get a cute one of them together, but this is the best we got.

Anna with the baby pumpkins.

Alex had fun holding this pumpkin.

She didn't really want to look through this, but I made her.

A cute little baby!

Once again, refusing to look at the camera, but she still looks cute.

Me and my precious little Anna.

A budding artist?

2011-10-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

Last summer, when I was in Utah, I got Anna a drawing toy from DI. I think I paid $1 for it. Well, she loved it. She would draw on it all the time. Since it was used, the piece that slides across and erases the board broke a few times. Dan was able to glue it back together, but eventually he couldn't fix it anymore. I broke down and bought her a new one. Probably one of the few times I've actually bought her something new. But it was worth it to me because she seriously uses it all the time and really loves it.

Last week she wrote her name. The missionaries came over for dinner and while we were waiting for dinner to cook, Dan asked Anna to write her name and she did. It was the first time and she did it!

Pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

This one is a mountain.

A person

This one has a hat.

I can't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure this is a picture of Logan, and his mom and dad.

This one is a picture of an alien spaceship! There's a show she was watching, called Kipper. It's about a dog and his adventures. In one of them, some aliens come and this is what the spaceship looks like. A circle with three legs coming out from it.

Here's another shot. I had to add this one because I was able to capture a facial expression that she does a lot, that is so very Anna. :)

Then, later she drew the aliens. In the show they look like pigs with long snout like noses.

It's pretty good. She's so smart to be able to take something that she sees and then draw it.

This was a year ago. It's some flowers.

Not quite sure what this is supposed to be, but it looks cool!

I'm pretty sure this is her.

It will be interesting to see how her drawing develops as she gets older and if it will be a real talent.

Bathroom Redo Part 1

2011-10-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well, our bathroom redoing has begun. We got our counters redone, new light fixture, new faucet and new knobs for the vanity, as well a paint job for the vanity. It would be nice if we were all done, but we're just beginning!

Here is the bathroom when we first moved in, 3 years ago.

(please excuse the post baby body. Haha)

We have a really old, ugly light fixture, old faucet with the plastic handles, oak cabinets, and the hardware is brass with plastic beige in the middle (classy!).

Here, you can see the counter a little better. It's a faux marble kind of thing going on. It had a crack on the side of the sink basin and is kind of a cream color.

After!

Muuuuuuch better!

Here is the painted vanity.

I'm not going to lie, this isn't the best paint job. I normally just do one coat of paint, but decided to do two. I must have used too much paint the second time round, because it just didn't look as good afterwards. It's not horrible, but it could have been better.

But the important thing is that it still looks nice and is better than the oak cabinets.

I decided to go with brushed nickel for the hardware. I got these knobs for 74 cents each at Lowes!

The handles were a little more. I think they were $2.38 or something like that for each one.

These hinges, I ended up buying some brushed nickel spray paint and just sprayed them. I didn't feel like taking them off and putting new ones on and the door not being able to hang right. It probably wouldn't have been a big deal, but I didn't feel like chancing it.

Another view of the hardware.

Here you can see the new light fixture a little better.

We had our counters glazed over, a nice white color. It was kind of a little ordeal. We got both bathroom counters done. They were a few spots that needed to be redone. The guy came and fixed them and ended up messing up our master bathroom counter even more. So another guy came and fixed it, but there were still a few mistakes. At that point, I was tired of them not being able to do it right the first time. So I told them not to come and fix it, but if we could get a discount. They gave us 25% off! Which saved us about $50. That was nice.

We decided to have them glazed over, rather than replacing them. We figured that would be the cheaper option. In the end, we paid about $70 per counter. Not too shabby.

The best part of all this is we didn't have to spend that much money. What I mean by this, is we had $100 in Lowes gift cards that we earned via MyPoints (LOVE MyPoints! Let me know if you want an invite!). Then, I had been saving money that I got from babysitting, as well as selling a few things on Craigslist. I think we paid about $15-20 for all this, out of our normal money. I got that soap dispenser at Goodwill for $2 or $3. I don't remember exactly.

I got big plans for our bathroom and it's going to look AWESOME when we're all done. If we ever finish it, that is. Haha. It's just been slooooow going over here. The main thing holding us up now is the walls. They need to be retextured and we don't really want to pay someone to do it, but we don't really know how to do it. We want to try, it's just a matter of figuring it all out. So once that is done, I'm going to paint the top half a really light blue, the bottom half white and add board and batten. I already made the shower curtain and bought a bathmat and hand towels. I have some wall decor all ready. We are also going to frame the mirror. That will make it look so much better. We have the trim for that already from a previous project.

Anyway, I'm really excited to beautify our bathrooms and make them look nice!

Double A update!

2011-10-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time again for a little Anna and Alex update!

Alex first.

He's now 11 months!

He's full out walking now and has been for a few weeks. He's been taking steps since he was 9 months old, but just finally ditched the crawling to devote himself to full time walker status.

He LOVES our garbage and recycling containers and is constantly pulling things out of them, though usually just the recycling.

He likes to pull Anna's hair and bite our toes.

He likes to growl-at church, the grocery store, etc.

He loves to see Anna in the morning and always smiles and is happy to see her.

He likes to wave and it's so cute!

He loves the aquaphor container and is constantly trying to get his little hands in it.

He likes music and almost instantly starts bouncing his little legs when he hears music.

He is REALLY good at imitating us. We'll move our arms a certain way or make a certain sound and he'll do the same.

He is a wiggle worm and it is always a struggle to change his diaper, lotion him after a bath, put his clothes on, etc.

He loves Anna's room and if we don't close the door, will go in and play with her toys.

He likes to strum his lips and then will try and strum our lips with his little fingers.

He has discovered kitchen cabinets and drawers and loves getting into them.

He nurses 4 times a day and loves finger foods! (I'll be weaning him in the next few weeks).

Here are some random pictures.

Dan thought it would be funny to fit him in his backpack. Who needs a baby carrier? :)

Alex loves to play with daddy and I think daddy likes to play with him too!

He has the sweetest little smile.

I can't believe he's getting so big!

We normally bathe him in the bathtub, but when we had our counters redone, we couldn't go in the bathroom, so he got a bath in the sink! He loves baths and would seriously crawl/fall in the bathtub if we didn't stop him.

This lamp is just a big hit with the kids. Anna would always grab it too when she was little.

Here is Anna, when she was maybe 9 months old. She just got done grabbing the lamp.

Anna is just her cute little self. Her conversational skills are getting better and better. One cute thing she says is laster time and yester time. Instead of last time or yesterday. It's really cute. She still has her little peculiarities. Like she HAS to open our security and front door. She gets REALLY mad if we do it. She has to touch the van door first, before I can open it. She has to put the waffle or bread in the microwave and will get mad if I do it.

She can be nice to Alex, but honestly she basically takes his toys, pushes him down and puts her blanket over his head-a lot-like, all day long. It can get really annoying. I try and be patient about it, but since it's a nonstop thing, I'm not always the most patient about it.

I let her watch a TV show when Alex naps and she knows it and is always very excited to do so.

She says All day a lot. For example, Alex will be eating pasta and she'll say, Alex likes to eat pasta...all day!

Here is a little craft project we did. We made her a hat. I know it's ugly, but she liked it!

She takes her blocks and makes a camera out of it and then takes our picture.

Dan made one too!

Here is an outfit I got at the thrift store for $1.60 !

Old Navy jeans and a Disney Pooh shirt. Score!

I'm so blessed to have such sweet little babies. And to have a wonderful husband and father who loves his little babies too!

He even shares his breakfast with them!

Oatmeal for everyone. :)

Anna's new picture wall

2011-09-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago, I blogged about how I finally got up some cute pictures of Anna. Well, after a while, the placement of the pictures was really bugging me. I thought it would look good, with all the pictures above the bookcase. However, I realized that they just looked crowded and all squished together. But I didn't feel like moving them, because it was a big hassle. Two of them have two hanging hooks, rather than one, so you really have to measure and make sure you know where you're putting your nails, otherwise it would be crooked.

Before

Well, I finally got around to it and switched them to another wall. I first made paper cut outs of the frames, so I could see where I should put them. This really helped me with nailing and deciding what looked good. I wanted to put some vinyl up with a cute phrase. One finally came to me yesterday, Pretty in Pink. So I cut it out last night and put it up this morning. I kind of wanted to make the word Pink, the color pink. But since the walls are pink, it would look kind of funny.

After

I think it looks so much better on this wall, spread out. I'm considering cutting out brown flowers and putting one on either side of the white frame. We'll see...

These frames were originally on the other wall. They too, look much better over here. I found a cute idea for some painted frames that had polka dots and a harlequin patter on it. Here is the link. I may do that to these frames.

Now, I just need to find something to put on top of the bookcase.

The New Grocery Shopping Plan

2011-09-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

So, I was inspired by my friend Kirsten's blog post, about how they got out of debt, thanks to Dave Ramsey's advice. I actually ordered the book and am anxiously awaiting. It better be here tomorrow, because it's been over a week since I ordered it. Anyway, we're really good with saving money, but lately haven't been so good with our outgoing expenses. We only have a mortgage and a car loan. We've decided we want to pay off our car loan as fast as we can. Well, it's actually been our goal since the beginning, but we've yet to really implement it. :)

One area that seems to be problematic lately, has been food. So this month, I've have been EXTREMELY careful with how much we're spending on food. I decided that all we could spend is $300. Theoretically, I wanted to spend $100 at Costco, then $50 a week. The Costco trip covers a lot of the substance to our meals, that will last all month. At Costco we bought a large bag of chicken breasts, 5 lbs of hamburger, cheddar cheese, string cheese, mozzarella cheese, organic strawberry jam, and pure maple syrup. Dan did the Costco trip and bought some beef jerky and a few other things, so our total was actually $137. When it comes to food, there are some things worth paying more money for. We buy the pure maple syrup and it's around $12. Yes, it's expensive, but we use syrup a lot and it's not worth it to me to buy the fake stuff that is basically just high fructose corn syrup. The organic jam comes in a really large jar and is about $6. And it's SO good.

It would have been easy to say, oh well, we'll still just spend $50 each week. But I'm sticking to my guns and that left us with $163. But I had actually already made some grocery purchases at the beginning of the month, before I made this decision. So basically that left us with $28 a week for food. Basically, we just buy produce and dairy. We have food storage of pasta, flour, etc.

So I'm proud to say that we've been able to do it! It's been a little hard and I really had to be careful about what I bought. It was helpful that my phone has a calculator on it, so I could keep track of how much I was spending (until I dropped it halfway through my shopping trip today and the battery fell out!) as I put each item in my cart. Doing it that way really kept me in check and made me think about what I really needed. I also really shopped the sales. I normally do so anyways, but this month I've been better about it. Luckily, Vallarta (grocery store) has some amazing sales on produce, so that's been very helpful.

What probably made this whole goal really feasible, was we made a menu for the whole month. We normally do a weekly menu, but Dan wanted to do a monthly menu, so we did. Planning out the whole month was actually a good thing, because we could incorporate the beef and chicken we bought (sometimes the chicken stays in the freezer for a long time) and have a good look at what meals we wanted for the month. Then, each week I went shopping, I just looked at what was on the menu for the week and wrote down what I needed for each meal, which usually wasn't a lot, then added produce and dairy items.

Because we over spent early on, it's been a "necessity only items" each week. My goals for next month is to stock up on food storage items. We've gotten really low on our canned goods. What I'd like to do next month is again, $100 at Costco for bulk/staple items, then $50 each week. Since I've realized that we can actually live on about $30 a week, I'd like to buy food storage items every week. For now it would be canned goods, pasta, crackers, oil, etc. Stuff that I usually have stocked up and don't buy on a weekly basis.

What I've learned so far, is:
A. I really like this whole minimum amount of money to spend on food each week.
B. It gives me a guideline and honestly, it makes me feel more in control of the money I spend.
C. It's a great way to make sure you're not putting money in one place, when it could be going to another place. i.e. car loan.
D. With the money amount I've chosen for our food, I haven't starved and still eat well!

Are there any tips that you use for grocery shopping to save money and not over spend? Heaven knows it's so easy to grab this item and that item and before you know it, you've spent more than you mean to! Any methods that you use? I'd love to hear them!

Some useful information

2011-09-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

One of the blogs I follow how some helpful uses for toothpaste. Here is the link. One of them is cleaning jewelry with non-gel toothpaste. I tried it and it works! Like a charm! I cleaned my wedding ring, which hasn't been cleaned in years and I noticed a difference. I was given a really nice silver bracelet for my college graduation. I was supposed to keep it in an air tight bag, but didn't and it got really tarnished. It was also too big for me, so I never wore it. Lately, I've been wanting to resize it and clean it, but didn't have anything to clean it with. I used the toothpaste on it and now it's sparkly clean! Dan helped me resize it and now I have a nice, new bracelet to wear.

Before.

Notice the black on the middle links.

I had started cleaning part of it at this point.

Never would have guessed that it was ever dirty!

The other helpful info I wanted to share was about calcium. Yes, I'm still on my calcium kick. Lol. I wanted to know exactly how much calcium I was getting from the foods I was eating. Well, if you look at a food label, the calcium content is given in a percentage amount. This was kind of confusing to me because the amount you need is given in milligrams. For example, adults need 1,000 mg of calcium every day (nursing/pregnant women need more, around 1200-1500). I looked at my yogurt container and it tells me I'm getting 20% of calcium if I eat it all. But that doesn't really tell me much. I wanted to know how much I was getting.

Well, it's actually really easy to figure out. I did some online research and all you have to do is add a zero to the percent given on a food label and that is how many milligrams of calcium is in the container/per serving. So my yogurt is 20% calcium, that means I'm getting 200 mg of calcium from that yogurt. Do that to all your foods and you got it figure out. Easy, peasy.

I just wish we were taught this at a younger age. Who knew it was so easy to figure out?

Well, I hope this information has been helpful. :)

Easy and cute fabric flowers!

2011-09-02T10:04:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite sewing blogs, Make It and Love It, made the cutest little fabric flowers. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted to make them. Here is the link to the tutorial.

Aren't these so cute?

They are made out of cotton. I had some pants that I was going to get rid of, so I decided to use them for material.

Here are the pants.

And here is the new flower.

Woo-hoo for repurposing!

I made another one out of the leftover material from Anna's dress I made for her.

This one turned out much better, because the cotton was thinner and not as heavy as the white material, so it's a little more fluffy and fuller.

I think they're so cute and they were really easy!

All you do is cut out a bunch of circles, scrunch each one and sew them on in layers around a felt circle. Just click on the tutorial link. It's really easy.

I sewed barrett clips on the back, so I can put them in Anna's hair. I was thinking of making a headband and putting on one there. I need to make more, so hopefully I'll get around to that.

Anna's hair isn't fixed here, I just kind of put the flower on for demonstration purposes.

These would look cute in an adults hair as well, or pinned on a shirt or whatever. Lots of possibilities! :)

Homemade Ravioli!

2011-08-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

A few months after Dan and I got married, my mom gave us a pasta maker that she didn't want anymore. So, for years we talked about making homemade pasta. We FINALLY got around to using it on Sunday. We've been wanting to make ravioli for awhile. We got a pasta cutter/roller thing recently, to help make ravioli. It was surprisingly easy and not difficult at all.

I had a recipe book that I got from the library a few years ago for like a dollar. I made the dough, which is basically flour, eggs, salt and a tiny bit of water. I divided it in half, then we rolled it through the pasta maker. You roll it through, then shorten the slot the pasta goes through each time, so eventually the pasta gets thinner and thinner.

Dan rolling that pasta!

We enlisted Anna to help.

Nothing like good 'ol child labor to get the job done!

She actually did pretty good once she got the hang of it.

Once you get the pasta to the right thickness, you lay it out. We cut our pasta in half. One is the bottom, the other half is the top. Put your filling on the pasta in small spoonfuls. We made a ricotta spinach filling.

Then, you take a cooking brush and brush water on the edges and in between the pasta.

If you look closely, you can see squares around each filling circle. That's where the water is.

Then, you cover the bottom with the top layer and press around it. The water makes the top layer bind with the bottom. You'll have to press well and get out air bubbles. This is probably the trickiest part, but still isn't hard at all.

Bust out your pasta roller and cut in between the mounds to make your ravioli squares.

We made ours kind of big. Next time, I want to make them a little smaller.

A nice, homemade ravioli square!

Anna saw me take a picture of pasta in Dan's hand, so she grabbed some pasta and wanted me to take a picture of her hand. :)

Boil them for about 8 minutes, top with homemade red sauce, a little basil from the garden for garnish and presto, homemade ravioli!

And the best part is, it actually tasted good too! Haha. I was a little worried about how it would turn out, but they were really good. We're looking forward to trying different fillings.

Mmm, buono!!!

C is for Calcium!

2011-08-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

Recently my grandma has taken a turn for the worse. Her health has been declining over the last few years. A week ago, she had a mini seizure. She was taken to the hospital, was okay, and went home a few days later. Then, she was going down the two steps in her garage, holding the hand rail and my grandpa's arm and somehow slipped or something and fell. She ended up breaking her femur, a broken fibula above the knee, a broken fibula below the knee and two bones broken on each of her ankles. She had surgery to put her leg back together, but her bones are just like mush on the inside. The Dr. barely had to drill, then he just pushed the screws through. It will take about 8 weeks to heal, during which she'll be in a wheelchair or bed. She'll probably have to stay in a wheelchair for now on, since the Dr. said she would for sure fall again because she is so weak, has arthritis in her other knee and her bones are so soft.

I feel so bad for my grandma. I'm so sorry she has to be in pain and go through this ordeal. I'm so thankful she's okay, but honestly I don't know how much longer she'll be around. I feel bad for my grandpa as well. They've been married for 60 years. She'll have to be in therapy for 8 weeks, so he'll be living at home alone. I'm sure that will be very hard on him.

This whole story leads me to my main point.

CALCIUM!!!

Ever heard of it? Haha.

Women in general are more susceptible to bone problems. Having babies, breastfeeding and I guess just our anatomy leads to more bone problems. This is precisely one of the main reasons I lift weights and take a calcium supplement every day. I DO NOT want to be frail and weak when I get older. I want to be a spry, old lady who can keep up with the young bucks! Lol. :)

In reality, it's stupid not to take care of yourself when you're young (and even when you're older). So many problems are preventable and avoidable, if we just take certain steps and precautions.

Lifting weights helps maintain your bone density, and keeps your bones healthy and strong. When you're pregnant and breastfeeding, all priority goes to the baby. All the nutrients your body supplies go to the baby first and you get what's left over. If your body isn't receiving enough calcium, it takes it out of your bones and tough luck for you! However, this takes years and years for it to show up on your body and for you to realize there is a problem. By then, it's too late to change!

I take a calcium supplement and a multi-vitamin every morning after I eat breakfast. I like to take them with food to help with their absorption. When I first started nursing Alex, I started noticing that I was losing more hair than normal. I thought it was odd and realized I hadn't been taking a multi-vitamin or my calcium. I finished my prenatal vitamins when he was born and hadn't taken anything after. As soon as I started taking them, that problem went away. I can tell a difference when I take them. My nails grow faster, my hair is healthier, etc.

Getting calcium naturally is better than a supplement, but I like to take the supplement for extra measure, especially since I'm nursing right now.

I think how things could be different for my grandma if she had been more aware of her health when she was younger and taken preventative steps. I know there are some things that you can't prevent or completely avoid, but there are still things you can do to make it better. Also, she is very lucky to have my mom and my uncle and aunt around to care for her and get the help and treatment she needs. Who knows who will be around when you're older? Being able to take care of yourself and not have to depend on others is also really important. Keeping yourself in good health is one of the best ways to do this!

I really want to encourage everyone who is reading this to be aware of how much calcium you're getting, especially women! And to encourage everyone to take time to lift weights and do strength training exercises that will strengthen your bones!

It doesn't matter if you're 15 or 50. Starting something now is better than doing nothing at all. I think about different contestants I've seen on The Biggest Loser and how older people have completely changed their overweight body to be lean and fit.

If you're not sure how to start, do some research online, join a gym, or you can ask me. I am by no means an expert, I still have much more to learn myself, but it is something I enjoy and do regularly.

It's a normal occurrence to hear about older people falling and breaking a bone or a hip, I just hope it's not me when I get older! I'm going to do all I can now, to prepare for my old age. I want to enjoy my life, not just endure it. :)

From shirt to skirt

2011-08-14T15:19:00.001-07:00

I've decided I really want to get into repurposing clothes. I did my first project the other day. My friend gave me a some clothes and there was a shirt that was too big for Anna and by the time it would fit her, it probably wouldn't be in style anymore, so I decided to alter it a little.

Here is the before. A cute little shirt.

I cut the top off, right above the dark pink line.

It's actually kind of stretchy around the middle, so it made the perfect waist for a skirt.

I pinned down the extra material that was above the dark pink stretchy part and sewed it down.

And now Anna has a cute little skirt!

The nice part, is that the hem is already made on the bottom, so all I had to do was the waist.

Anna wasn't being the most cooperative model (being three and all), so these are the best shots I got.

It's a little long on her, and the waist is a little loose, so hopefully it will fit her next spring/summer.

I have a lot of clothes that I've gotten at garage sales and some that have been given me that have a stain or whatever, that I want to make into other clothes.

I found a really cute blog that has some cute tutorials with repurposed clothing.

This dress is made from white cotton material, a yellow shirt cut into strips and ribbon!

This dress is made from an old t-shirt.

I'd really like to make stuff like this from the clothing I have. Some day... :)

Sibling Love

2011-08-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

I've found that I really enjoy going back and reading old blog posts. It's so easy to forget the little things that Anna did or said, or things that happened. I love how a blog can be a journal as well.

So with that said, I want to share a bit about Anna and Alex.

It's funny how their relationship has transformed. When he was first born, it was a little hard on Anna. I think she felt a little ignored. As he got older, she would get mad if he looked at her toy. Then it changed to him touching a toy and she would get mad. He used to pull her hair and she would get really mad. Then for a while, she wanted him to pull her hair and thought it was funny. Now, that he's more solid and mobile, he's become her little doll, almost. She kind of push him down, to make him lay down. Or try and roll him over. I've caught her holding his hand or wrist, trying to make him push a button on a toy.

Lately, he's become more of a playmate for her, which is really cute to watch. She'll put her blanket over him and try and play with him. She'll want me to put him in the hall and make him crawl with her. This can be problematic, when he doesn't feel like crawling. Anna gets really mad. She'll try and do other things with him. We'll get out the toy tunnel we have and they'll crawl in it together.

Of course, she'll still grab toys out of his hands, try and push him out of the way, get mad when he has one of her toys, not want him to come in her room because he chews on her books, etc. But overall, their relationship has really grown.

The last few weeks have been kind of odd. Anna has changed into this little please/thank you princess. It's really kind of weird, but I love it. She's started to saying thank you for EVERYTHING. She'll tell me, "thank you for saying yes, that I could eat this bread." or "Thank you for getting me some milk." It's really cute, but I have no idea where she got it from. Maybe nursery? Or maybe she's just realizing that when she's nice and polite, she'll get her way more??? She's starting to say thank you for all the little things I do for her.

She's also starting to ask me if it's okay to do certain things. The weirdest one was, when I got her a glass of milk with a straw. After a minute, she asked me, "can I just drink it out of the cup?" Like she really needs my permission to do that! It was really funny.

I've been letting Anna watch a TV show when Alex naps. I try not to have the TV on when he's awake. As soon as I come out from putting Alex down, she wants to watch Pingu. It's this penguin claymation show, that's actually pretty cute. They don't use words, just kind of gibberish, but you're still able to understand what's going on. She's started to sing along with the songs and the little sounds the penguin makes. She has also started learning how to use the Wii-mote and turn the show on herslef. I still help her and every time she says, "thank you for helping me." She'll even hum along with the sounds the Wii makes as it's loading Netflix.

Alex is developing so much lately. He understands so much. The other night, I undressed him, and he started crawling away from me, which he usually does. I told him, come here so I can change your diaper. He looks at me for a second, then crawls out the door into the hallway. I started crawling after him and started laughing, which must have been loud, because he made a loud squeal and starts taking off really fast down the hallway! It was like he knew it was a game and I was chasing him. It was so cute. This repeated about two more times that night.

Today in church, he learned how to wave! It was amazing. A little girl, two rows back started waving to him, and he started moving his hand in a waving motion back at her. He did this a few more times at church with different people. Then did it with my mom and dan's parents on Skype. He's so smart! Did I mention that he just turned 9 months? :)

We've started him on finger foods and he loves it. He could probably eat all day. He gets so anxious and antsy when he knows he's about to get food or if I'm holding food while holding him. He'll try and get it from me.

He's such a squirmy little guy. When it comes to changing his diaper, it's gotten so bad, that I usually have to put his diaper on him when he's on all fours, or standing up. I can't get him to stay on his back. I've had to wipe his little poopy bum while he's on all fours.

Here he is, after he had escaped from me, during a diaper and clothing change.

Love that little bum!

Anna decided one day to get ALL her books out of her bookshelf.

Alex trying to play the piano.

Anna and Alex now bath together and he LOVES it. He can't get enough of the water.

What's not to love about this little cutie?

A new dress for Anna

2011-08-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to make Anna a dress. I've never made any kind of clothing before, other than scrunchies and I don't think that counts. So I was a little nervous, but then again, it's for a little girl, not me, so if it didn't turn out perfectly, it would still be okay.

I found a really cute little dress tutorial online at www.made-by-rae.com. The original is for an infant, but a reader did one for a 3T size. It was just a pattern you print out, then tape together and trace onto the material. This pattern has the top lined, which I really like, because it makes it seem more put together.

The pattern pieces cut out.

Ta-da!

Anna's new dress!

The top has long flaps that you tie together in knots, to hold it in place.

Here is the bottom of the dress. I had to sew the seam as close as I could to the edge. It wasn't too hard, because it lined up with the needle foot, so I could tell where I needed to be at all times.

This was the most frustrating part of the dress. The brown piece in between the top and bottom. The pattern calls for piping. Well, I didn't have any and thought I could get away with kind of making my own, but I couldn't. Plus, the instructions were not very clear with this step. I ended up calling my mom and skyping with her to try and figure it out. I ended up just sewing this brown piece of bias tape on the top and then sewing the skirt on after.

My mom told me to sew as close to the edge as possible. I thought I was close enough, but obviously wasn't. I sewed this before I did the hem on the bottom and should have done it like that. Oh well.

Sadly this is the best picture I could get of her in it.

The other ones were much worse.

It's actually a little big on her. It looks like it fits in the picture, but the top is just too big. I took it in a little, from the original pattern. But she would barely let me try it on her, without causing a big fuss, so I had to kind of guess. Soooo, hopefully it will fit her next summer. You can tell the ties are too loopy and big on her shoulders.

But overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out, especially for my first project. It wasn't really difficult, just took some time, especially since I could really only work on it in the evening, after the kids went to bed. I have a question for you all though, does it scream homemade??? You know how some clothes, you can tell a mile away, it was homemade? I've been staring at it too long to be able to really tell. Go ahead, be honest, be brutally honest! Okay, well maybe not brutally, but I am interested in what you think. I won't be offended if you think it does, or a little or a lot. :)

I am looking forward to trying some other sewing projects. I found an easy tutorial for some skirts, that I want to try.

My Birthday!

2011-07-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

My birthday was last week. I can't believe I'm 29! Where did the time go? Lol. I better enjoy this last year of my twenties. It's funny how it seemed like my 20's would never end. A lot happened in that almost decade of my life-mission, marriage, graduated college, motherhood, home ownership, etc. It's probably the most action packed decade of my life.

My birthday was pretty fun. The morning was a little rough. Alex ended up breaking a lamp, that had a glass bowl like shade. It really freaked me out. Dan and I were both in the kitchen, getting breakfast ready, when all of a sudden, we hear the crashing of glass. We run into the family room and see the lamp fallen down, with a TON of glass everywhere. LUCKILY, the kids were fine. We put them in Anna's room while we cleaned up. I was starving as I was vacuuming up the glass.

There was glass everywhere! Tiny little pieces that were hard to see.

So after that event, we hung out while Alex napped. He took a late nap, so it kind of threw off our schedule. I got free tickets to a water park in Palmdale. We went there and invited my friend Kim and her kids, since we had an extra ticket and her kids got in for free. Her husband came too. We didn't get there till later, like 2 pm, so we were only there for about 2 hours. They had what's called a lazy river that you can walk in or get an inner tube. It was fun and the kids loved it. I held Alex and he kept splashing. We got an inner tube for Anna and put her on it and she loved it as well. The only downside, is we just kept walking around and later that day,

I was exhausted! I told Dan that the lazy river wasn't so lazy, it wiped me out.

We came home, got cleaned up, then my friend Kristin came over with Logan and they watched the kids while we went to Red Robin. I usually go there on my birthday because I get a free meal. We then came back home and had cake! I usually have a cherry chocolate cake, a recipe I got from my mother-in-law.

A little too excited to blow out the candles. :)

My little family!

The kids were so tired at this point. They needed to go to bed.

Overall, it was a fun birthday. My birthday present from Dan didn't get here till Monday, but it's such a fun gift! Dan got me three books-two cupcake ones and a cake one. They really are a perfect gift and I'm so glad he thought of them. He always teases me about cupcakes and beadboard. He says that's all I talk about. In reality, there was a short period of time that I talked about cupcakes because I went to a cupcake store in town, ONE time and got some good cupcakes. The bead board thing is more constant, but I just throw it out there as decorating ideas.

Here are the books.

My favorite one is the Hello, Cupcake! Everyone should really check it out. It has the CUTEST cupcake ideas. And the best part is all the decorations are made from candy, so it's easy to create. And she tells you how to do each part. I'm really excited to try some of the ideas. Here are some of them.

Love the bunny feet one!

I am so going to make these at xmas time!

Anna has been loving this one penguin show lately, so I think it would be cute to make these for her.

Movie night anyone?

I just looked on Amazon and this book is only $9. There is also another one called, What's New, Cupcake? It has a lot of cute ideas as well. I'll have to get that one too.

The other cupcake book has some really good recipes that I'm excited to try out.

The cake book is good too. It shows you how to make some cakes and how to make flowers and other fondant stuff. There is a castle cake in there, that is actually really simple to make. I may try and make Anna one next year.

Bedroom wall sconces!

2011-07-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

We went to Bed Bath and Beyond last week and I got a great deal-these awesome wall sconces, for only $6!!! They were on clearance for $7.50 and I had a 20% off coupon. I really lucked out because I saw them up on the display wall, but there weren't any boxes left. I asked an employee, and they were all gone, so I asked if I could take the display ones and he said yes.

They are just what I'm looking for. The funny thing is, I've been wanting to put something on the wall, above the lamps for a while, but haven't been sure what exactly. I was thinking of some shelves, or picture frames or something like that. The other day, I thought some flowy, metal of some type would look cool. Then, the next day I went to BB&B and lo and behold, there they were! I know it sounds silly and trite, but I consider this one of those nice, tender mercies of the Lord. He knew this would make me happy and helped me find it. I originally wasn't going to look in that area of the store and only did so, as an after thought.

I love how it pulls the room together.

Let's do a little before photo.

This was taken a little over 2 years ago, shortly after we got the bed.

After...

Love the change!

The left wall is kind of bugging me now, so I need to decide what to do there. And I'm in the middle of changing some other pictures on the right, that you currently can't see.

We went to some garage sales yesterday and got some good deals. We got Anna 18 books for only $9! They're in really good condition too. It's also amazing how cheap you can get clothes at garage sales. I got a really cute skirt for $1.

Here are some clothes that I'm going to repurpose and make some clothes for Anna. One blog I follow, www.makeit-loveit.com, is always repurposing clothes and I think it's time I try.

I got the skirt for 50 cents and the dress for a $1. I already took the stitching out of the skirt portion of the dress. I'm planning on making a dress for Anna out of it. Hopefully, I'll get that done soon and Anna can wear a "new" dress. We'll see what I can make with the other skirt.

Speaking of dresses, I love this dress on Anna. It looks so cute with the leggings. I got this at the local consignment store for a few dollars. The camera battery died before I could get one of her looking at me.

Anna loves to paint! She's our budding little artist. :)

Italian Kitchen Progress

2011-07-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months, I've been slowly working on updating things in my kitchen. I have an Italian themed kitchen, that I LOVE, but it's still, after 2 years, a work in progress (as is much of my house). The biggest update, is painting another wall red!

Here is a before.

And the After!

I actually painted the larger wall on the side red last summer, I just never blogged about it. I originally wanted the wall with the window red and mentioned it to Dan when we were first painting our kitchen. He didn't like that idea, so I didn't do it. Then a few months ago, I mentioned it to him again, and he said, "yeah, that's a good idea, I think that will look nice." Men...anyway, I had red curtains at the time and didn't think I would change the wall color. The fabric store that I love so much, went out of business and I found some olive green material for like 1.50 a yard. So this update was cheap because I already had the paint from before and just spent a few dollars on making curtains.

Here is the larger wall I painted last summer.

It's hard to get a good view of it, but now that the smaller wall is red, it really pulls together the larger wall and makes it all more cohesive.

The sign above the curtain says, Good Food Good Friends. I love how it contrasts so well against the red. It's been in a few different places in the kitchen, but it was always behind a beige wall, and never looked that good.

The next update is the curtains by the sink. I don't have a good picture of them, but you can kind of see them in the left in this picture. I originally made them from one large curtain panel, but they were always a little too short and just never looked good. Frankly, they always bothered me.

I found this material at that fabric store, a few months ago, for cheap. I don't remember exactly how much I paid. I think it was like $5-6.

I made little curtain tie things, that wrap around them. I sewed some snaps on them, so they're easy to put on and take off when I open and close the curtains.

I made this sign, I think a year or so ago. It was just paper put in a frame, with the wood signs held up with putty stuff. AFter a while the paper was getting dirty, had a few water stains on it and just wasn't looking so great. It was in need of a little redo.

The after.

I found some olive green spray paint and used leftover bead board from Anna's bookcase.

The lighting is dim here, so the color is a little off.

This is probably one of my favorite projects.

I bought this at Goodwill a long time ago for a dollar or two.

It sat around for a long time because I didn't really have anywhere to put it and I had a lot of glass items already. I was looking online at some stuff and I saw a project where a lady spray painted some bottles. That's where I decided to the same with this bottle and another one.

Don't they look cool?

You would never know they are just spray painted glass.

I'm thinking of cutting out some vinyl words, like oil and wine, or something like that, to put on them.

I got this fruit stand at a garage sale a couple of years ago. It was originally yellow, I painted it red. I'm kind of getting tired of red, so I decided to paint it.

Now it's green!

Much better.

I made this sign over a year ago and still love it. I think it will stay here and I have plans to make a sign that says, Buon Appetito and put it above the window by the sink.

Slowly, yet surely, my kitchen is getting to where I want it to be. There are still a few more small projects I have in mind that I hope to get around to.

A is for Alex!

2011-07-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

So once again things have been a little crazy. Life just doesn't slow down sometimes. I'm still playing catch up on the blog here.

I do want to update on Alex a bit. He just turned 8 months! Time is really flying by with him. He's just such a little cutie, I love him so much.

He is now, for the most part, a very happy and sweet baby. When he was first born, he was so fussy, would get cranky easily, etc. Now, he has a smile that will melt your heart and a much sweeter and milder temperament.

He started crawling a month ago and it was slow and deliberate. Now, it's like turbo speed. It's the cutest thing if I start going away from him and he starts following me, I turn around and he's just crawling towards me with a smile on his face.

He's really starting to understand more. I'll point to a toy and tell him to go get it, and he will. He's starting to really understand what we're saying. He's learning the layout of the house. He was in our bedroom, by our bathroom and he heard Anna crying in the other bathroom. He started crawling out of our bedroom, down the hall and went into the hallway bathroom to see Anna.

I bought some food puffs for him and he LOVES them. I'll put some on his tray and leave the container on the table. He'll finish his puffs, then start whimpering and leaning forward, trying to get the container of puffs. Which leads me to talk about his pincer grasp. It's getting really good. He can pick up his puffs. He'll drop some in his high chair, and then look down in between his legs and try and pick them up. He loves to pick stuff off the carpet and tile. I don't even need to vacuum anymore! Lol. Actually, I have to sweep more and be careful of what's on the floor, because he will put it in his mouth.

His body coordination is getting better and he's less clumsy. There have been a lot of time sin the past few weeks that he has balanced all by himself for a few seconds. He has also started taking steps, when holding on to the couch or ottoman. I really wouldn't be surprised if he starts walking in the next month or so.

I really am just so thankful for this little guy. He's so sweet and cute and smart. I can't believe in just 4 months he'll be a year old!

So, now for the bad news. I feel so horrible about this:

Dan's best friend got married a few weeks ago in Newport Beach. While we were in the temple, some girls watched the kids. I'm assuming they just walked around the grounds and that Alex was out in the sun the whole time. Then, we were out in the sun for pictures for an hour. I tried to keep Alex in the shade, but there wasn't a lot and it was kind of hard. So after a few hours, I realized he was sun burnt. It wasn't until the next day that I realized just how long he had been out in the sun for. The next day, he got a huge blister on his nose. Then, as the day progressed, he got more and more blisters on his arms and head. I seriously felt SO bad, that I had been a negligent parent and not kept better care of my baby. I know it was an accident and these things happen, but still. Luckily, he healed quickly and was actually still a pretty good baby for how bad his burn was. Now, I've learned my lesson and will be much better about putting sun block on him and being aware of the sun.

However, due to him being sunburnt, he wanted me more, and there were times when I was busy getting stuff ready for Anna's birthday party and couldn't be with him. So he started saying, mama! It was really cute and cool to see how fast he learned that. Usually babies learn dada first, but not this little guy. He actually first said it in Utah. He hasn't said it much since then, but at least I know he can say it!

Boxes are always a good source of fun.

Peas anyone?

Me and my little baby.

I'm such a lucky mom!

Anna's 3rd birthday party!

2011-06-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that June has been CRAAAAAZY! We've been so busy, I feel like I've barely been able to think or breathe! Dan had a week off, in which we put in sod in our backyard and watched Logan a lot. Then, Dan subbed for 3 days for summer school and the next day we left for Bear Lake, UT. Then, after 4 days of being there, we went to Dan's parents house in Utah and spent a week there. We came home, had 2 days, then had a fun filled day for Dan's best friend's wedding in Newport Beach. Dan's family came for that and spent a few days with us, during which we had Anna's 3rd birthday party. They left this morning. It's been fun being with family and friends, but it's time for a break! :)

So I'll start blogging about Anna's party and then play catch up with the previous happenings.

A few months ago, I saved a picture of a rainbow cake that I thought was cute. Anna saw it on the computer, so I showed it to her and she liked it. I asked her if she wanted that for her birthday and she said yes. So the beginnings of a rainbow themed party began.

Her last two birthdays have been kind of stressful on me, so I wanted a simple party this year. I really thought I was simplifying things, but in the end, things weren't so simple. I decided on a rainbow cake, cupcake toppers, party favors and rainbow food. I really just wanted a cute party for Anna. It all seemed pretty simple, but the problem was that we were so busy the few weeks prior to her party, that there was still a lot of stuff that had to be done the day or two before and the day of. So, it all went well, but hopefully next year, it won't be so busy and stressful for me.

I posted most of these pics on Facebook, so they be repeats for those who saw them!

Here is her rainbow cake!

I thought it turned out pretty cute. I made it out of fondant. I'm really becoming a fan of fondant. It isn't that hard to make and it just makes the cake look good, much better than I could do with frosting. I'm horrible with frosting, so fondant is my friend. :)

To make the rainbow, I just printed out a picture of one that had lines separating each color, cut out each arc, rolled out each fondant color and cut out the arc in each color and stuck them together.

Cutting into all that hard work! Good thing we have pictures to remember it by.

A rainbow surprise inside!

This was probably the most annoying part of making this cake. I made up the batter, divided it into five bowls and dyed each one a different color. Then, I got out my cake pan. And realized I only had one, when I thought I had two. I went to ask some neighbors if they had any I could borrow, but no luck. So, it took me over an hour to cook this cake. Each color took 10 minutes. Then I had to wait for each one to cool before I could get it out to put the next color in. It was very long...

Here are the cupcake toppers.

I printed out the rainbows and cut out the circles with my cricut machine.

I found this idea online and thought it was so cute, rainbow fruit kabobs!

The food.

I kept this simple. In the past, we've done a bbq with hamburgers and stuff, but that's a lot of work. So this year it was sandwiches, fruit, veggies, chips and juice!

Anna and Logan!

I love how he just happened to wear a matching colored shirt.

I found her shirt at Target a few months ago on clearance for like $2!

Dan also made her rainbow necklace out of ceramic beads. He's so talented.

Anna playing with her friends at her party.

Me and my little Anna.

The family.

Anna blowing out her candles.

When I was making the cake the day before, she was by me, singing happy birthday to herself. She even said, "...dear Anna..." It was so cute.

Anna with her cupcake.

The funny thing is, she didn't even eat her cupcake or the rainbow cake.

For some reason, at birthday parties, she won't eat the cupcake.

Opening gifts.

I loved how many people wrapped the gifts in rainbow colors.

She loved ALL her gifts.

Dan got her Hungry Hungry Hippos. The kids started playing it and all she wanted to do was stick a ball in the lizard's mouth!

Alex decided he wanted to join in the fun too!

Overall, it was a very fun party and turned out well. I really couldn't have done it without Dan's family helping out. They were so good to watch Alex for me as I worked on stuff. As well as helping out blow up balloons, put streamers up, etc. I hope that next year will go well and I won't plan too much and make things simple, yet still cute. :)

Active Lil' Alex

2011-06-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

My little Alex is crawling! He's been so close for so long and finally started doing it probably a week and a half ago. He's developing so fast. It's like one day he started crawling and then the next day, he decided to start pulling himself up everywhere. It's amazing how fast it happens. He's fast at it too!

He pulls himself up on the ottoman we have. Anna likes to pull the cushion off it a lot, so he'll pull himself up on just the bottom part or with the cushion on it. He'll pull himself up by the TV stand (which makes me so nervous), on Anna's little learning table, her toy zebra, her bookshelf, the rocking chair in his room, the footstool to the rocking chair, etc. Anything he can get his little hands on, he'll pull himself up. He's still really clumsy, so he's constantly falling over.

Being a boy though, he's already much tougher than Anna was. He's usually fine, but every once in a while he'll cry. I, of course, feel bad. I was trying to figure out why he was crying more than Anna at this stage and realized that with her, we barely had any toys out and were able to watch her more closely. With Alex, we have Anna's toys out, so he wants to grab them, when they're too big for him and it's harder to give him 100% of our attention. I think also, because he's so big, that he'll be okay, because it seems like he's fine, then out of nowhere he'll fall down.

You can tell that he loves pulling himself up. He often gets a happy or satisfied look on his face. It's really cute. He's just such an active little guy. He constantly has to be doing something, holding something, reaching for something, grabbing something, etc. He's already getting restless during church. I can only imagine how it's going to be when he can walk!

Anna has had problems with Alex and sharing toys. She has also been pushing him a lot. We've been trying to discipline her and teach her about consequences for her actions. It's been hard. The last few days have been better. She's never been very good about sharing and since she's bigger than Alex, she can just take toys away. There are times when I actually can't wait for him to get bigger and he can start defending himself! :) All in due time...

Standing by the ottoman.

I'll often put toys on the ottoman, and he'll just stand there and play with them.

What a cute little crawler!

He doesn't do this much now that he's crawling, but for the longest time, he would bend over and rest his head upside down on the carpet. It was so cute, he loved it.

Standing by the ottoman again.

Starting to pull himself up!

Me and my sweet little Alex.

(looks like I need a haircut...)

Me and my little babies. They're growing too fast!

New Grass!

2011-06-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

So, we got some new grass in our backyard! It was kind of a spur of the moment decision. We've been wanting to put grass in the backyard for a while, we just hadn't agreed on where and when. Last week, I was outside and I just got so sick of looking at dirt in our backyard. Dan had wanted to put grass on the left side of our patio, but I didn't agree at first. I was looking at the backyard again and decided it would look nice out there. So, I did some price checking and found the cheapest sod at a local nursery. We were able to borrow my friend Kristin's truck and as luck would have it, the missionaries were able to come and help us out. We were just expecting two, but four showed up! It's funny how everything just kind of fell into place. I'm very thankful for the help that we received. It went so smoothly, it was awesome. Kristin was kind enough to bring her truck over, then watch the kids for us while we went and got the sod.

Before.

Ugly, nasty old dirt! Which just happens to make up the majority of our backyard.

The one downside to living in the desert is all the dirt!

Aaahh, nice, green grass!

So much better!

I now feel like we have an actual backyard. I've never liked our backyard, because it has always felt kind of trashy and not very put together. It's still a long ways from where I would like it, but this grass sure makes it look better!

Now, we just have to hope it survives the summer. Ideally, we should have put it in a few months ago, but we just weren't really thinking about it at that time. And we didn't feel like waiting till the fall, so it just kind of happened now. We don't have a sprinkler system out back, so we have to water it ourselves. We'd like to put more in. We'll see how this sod holds up and most likely will put more in, during the fall.

Some updates

2011-05-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

So things have been going pretty well. Dan will be done with work after next week, then it's summer break!!! June will be busy. We're going to Utah and Idaho for a couple of weeks. My siblings and mom are all meeting in Bear Lake for a little reunion. We haven't all been together for 4 years! It's time for us to all get together. We rented this really nice, big house and are excited to hang out! Then after that, Dan's best friend is getting married in Newport. Dan's parents and brother are coming out to visit and then we'll have Anna's birthday party, while they are here.

I'm really hoping to have a productive summer and get some things done around here that need to be done. Most of all, I am really hoping that we can remodel our bathrooms. At least ours. We'll see how things go. I won't be pregnant this summer, like last summer, so I can do more things and won't feel held back as much. And of course, we need to have fun and go to the beach and the pool. :)

We bought a composter for the garden. Dan put it together inside, since it was cold outside. Anna kept calling it a house. Then there were side panels that came off, where Dan's legs are sticking through. She started calling that a doggie door. It was so cute. She was inside the whole time Dan was getting it put together.

Anna and my cute husband.

Alex has discovered the toy pile! He was in the middle of the family room and managed to scoot over to this corner and start playing with some toys.

Is this not the most adorable picture of Alex? I was folding laundry and Anna started playing with the laundry basket and putting her toys in it. Dan thought it would be fun to put Alex in it.

And this is what happened...

Don't worry, Dan was beside him the whole time.

Alex has discovered a new toy as well. Anna's new thing is to take the cushion off the ottoman and play with it. So Alex found out that the tag is fun to chew on.

I can't think of a title...

2011-05-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Haven't updated the blog for a few weeks, so it's time to get caught up!

Let's start with this. Fun with a Costco box! Not just for your groceries, also a great napping container. :) Anna loves boxes, so it was no surprise that she got comfy right away in this one.

Why not have some family fun? Dan had fun pushing them around for a while. Not the greatest picture, but it was the only one where everyone was looking.

A little update on Alex. He is now 6 months old and he knows it! His six month stats are 19 lbs 8 oz, and 28 1/2 inches tall. It's amazing how in a month's time, babies can develop so much. He's gone from kind of rolling around and mildly tolerating tummy time, to rolling everywhere, getting up on all fours, doing little baby push-ups, constantly being on his tummy (thus spitting up more. I thought we were done with that), reaching and grabbing for things. This little guy is a mover! Any day he is going to start crawling and our world will never be the same. :) I also have to wrestle him to change his diaper. He does NOT want to be on his back. He rolls over and wants to grab things. I have to put lotion on him every day, because he has eczema. It's hard to do, since he won't be still. I'm getting pretty good at putting his diaper and or/pants on with him on his tummy or knees. It definitely takes some skills.

I love these pictures. This is right before bath time for them. I put Alex down in the hallway and Anna just had to go over and join him. He's doing his little baby push-ups.

Holding his head up so high!

My cute little diaper babies (hopefully, Anna will be potty trained soon).

Another exciting 6 month mark is Alex starting solids!

Waiting patiently for his rice cereal.

Taking a yummy bite...

And, not quite sure what he thinks about it. Anna never liked rice cereal, and either does Alex. I could barely get him to eat any. I tried it for about 4 days, then moved on to carrots.

Me, feeding my cute little boy.

He still won't eat a lot, but we moved on to some peaches and he likes those a little more. Last night, I was able to get him to eat everything that I put in a little container for him. Anna definitely caught on to solids faster than Alex, but I'm sure he'll catch up. Slowly, yet surely...

Better late than never

2011-05-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

This has been a work in progress, these pictures here. We took them when Anna turned two. She'll be three in two months. Oops...

So it took me forever to get them in frames. Basically because I wasn't sure where I wanted to hang them up. At first I was going to hang them up in the hallways, but wasn't a hundred percent sure. We rearranged her room when we put the bookcase in there and I decided that above the bookcase is where I should put the pictures. So I finally painted some frames and hung them up.

The top left and bottom right frames are from Goodwill. I paid 99 cents for one and 1.99 for the other. I just painted them white. The other two I already had. I primed one and painted it pink. It was originally black. The princess word and crowns, I cut out with my cricut.

If I could do it over again, I would have spaced the frames further apart. I thought having them close together would look better, but I think I was wrong. If you look closely, the brown one is a little crooked, but I don't feel like putting another hole in the wall, trying to fix it. Maybe later. :)

Here is Anna with two bunnies that my mom sent us for Easter. These caused a lot of grief initially. When my mom sent them, the box just said Anna. We opened it and there was a bunny. So I told Anna, this is for you! Then, there was another one in the box and I said, oh you got two bunnies Anna! Then, I remember I now had TWO kids and one was probably for him. I called my mom to double check and one for was each. So then I had to tell Anna one was for her and one was for Alex. But the damage had already been done. I told her to pick one and she started crying. I finally just told her which one was hers. But she didn't want Alex to have the other one and kept trying to get it from him. We had to go to Target, so I got her in the car with her still upset and crying. While we were at Target, she would stand up in the cart, look at Alex with his bunny and try and take it from him. :) It was kind of funny. As soon as we got home, I put Alex and his car seat down and she went and grabbed the bunny. She eventually accepted that he got one and she got one, but she still likes to play with his.

Oh this little girl...

Gluten, baby!

2011-05-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

A month or so ago, Dan was reading about gluten flour. You add it to breads to make it rise more. Since we make a lot of whole wheat bread, we decided to get some and see what it would do to our bread. We got it at Winco, in the bulk section. As far as flour goes, it's more expensive than normal flour, but you only need one tablespoon per cup of whole wheat flour, so it goes a long way. I think it's around $3 a pound.

Well, we started using it and we LOVE it! It really does help the bread rise more and it isn't so dense. Here is some bread I made, with all whole wheat flour. Normally, the top of the bread would barely be over the edge of the pan.

Here, you can see just how much it's risen past the top of the pan.

It's great, and we love it. We've been adding it to our pizza dough, bagels and other bread stuff that we make. It does make the dough tougher, so you have to knead it more and add a little more water. The bread is lighter and not quite so heavy. The bagels I made were great too. I make them with half white, half wheat flour and they were so nice and fluffy.

Also, we got some more food storage. A lot more wheat and some white beans. I was reading that white beans can be used in place of butter and oils, so I want to try that out and see how it works.

I really lucked out with the buckets. I always get my food storage buckets at local bakeries. I just call them up and see if they have any with lids. Normally, they say, there is one or two I can have. Well, we had to go down to the Bishop's Storehouse in Sylmar two weeks ago. I kept forgetting to get buckets and the day of, I finally made the calls to get buckets. I went to Ralphs and Albertson's and scored 7 buckets! It was just enough for everything we got. I'm counting my blessings with that one! I just wash the buckets with a little bit of soap and bleach water and let them air dry. I finally got some oxygen absorbers. I started our food storage two years ago, but never got them. They're only ten cents a piece at the storehouse. I had to buy a 100, but I'll be using them all eventually.

My new goal with food storage is to build up our 3 month supply. It was originally really good, but over time we've been using it and haven't been replacing it as we should have. I need to start working on that.

I found this website a while ago, http://www.thecanorganizer.com/pantry.html

They sell can organizers, but they're made out of cardboard, so they're cheaper, but still sturdy. I'm thinking of getting some. They sell four for $16. It says shipping to CA is $8.70, but if you order more, it's cheaper, I believe. If anyone is interested in getting some, we could split shipping. Check out the site and let me know.

I've made a lot of posts today, so keep scrolling to read more! :)

A Visit and the Park

2011-05-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

Dan's sister, Sarah, was able to come visit us for a day last week, on her way to Australia. She hadn't met Alex yet, just seen him on Skype.

Aunt Sarah and Alex.

While she was here, we went to the park.

Alex had his first time in the swing.

I love this one. His little mouth is so cute.

He looks happy here, but for the most part, he was pretty emotionless as he sat in the swing. When we first pushed the swing, very softly, his face was so funny and startled, as he obviously wasn't expecting his seat to move. It was pretty funny.

Anna and Alex on the swings together.

Anna and Daddy at the park.

Even though Sarah's visit was short, Anna had a ton of fun with her. She was so nice to sit and play with Anna. Anna loved it. After Sarah, left, she kept asking where she was. After spending a day with her, she started calling her grandma. It was pretty funny. We're so glad she was able to visit us.

A little update on Alex. He is rolling around all over the place and able to move a ton. Here in this picture, I had originally placed him by the small green carpet and a few minutes later, this is where he ended up. He goes on his tummy all the time now and pushes his arms up. I bet he's going to start crawling in the next month or so. I don't know if I'm quite ready for that, but oh well. :) Just this morning, I was playing the piano and he was about 6 feet away from me. I played for a minute, turned around and he was about 3 feet from me. I played a bit more, then turned to see him and he was right next to the piano bench. It was pretty funny, every time I turned around, he had moved. Kind of like, red light, green light.

Here is a picture that Anna drew. She is getting better and better with her drawings.

Is it too late for Easter?

2011-04-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

So I know Easter was a week ago, but here are some pictures of an Easter egg hunt we did for Anna. She LOVED it. We meant to do it the Saturday before Easter and ran out of time, same thing the day of Easter. We finally got it done on Monday. Better late than never. :)

Here is Anna with her ginormous basket. It's actually a sewing basket my mom bought me when I was in high school and did cross-stitching. Let's just say we were being resourceful.

She was so cute finding the eggs. She would see one and say, "oh, there's an egg." Her tone of voice was so precious.

She was pretty good at finding most of them. Every once in a while we would give her a hint.

Anna and her Easter eggs.

I first had filled the eggs with probably 5 pieces of candy. After I let her have an egg before the hunt, I realized that was too much candy for her and later put only one or two pieces in them. So then every morning, she would want some eggs. I finally would give her one or two with candy and them some empty ones. That way, she thought she was getting a lot. You gotta be tricky sometimes with these kids, otherwise she'll end up with a ton of cavities.

She finished all the candy yesterday, so I put the eggs away. This morning, she ran into the kitchen to get her eggs, only to find them gone. Needless to say, she was very upset they were all gone. Poor kid.

A new pillowcase for Anna

2011-04-17T18:03:00.000-07:00

Anna's room is still a work in progress. By the time I actually finish everything I want to, we'll either will need to move by then, or Alex will be in her room and we'll have to re-do the decor!

Well, Anna finally started using a pillow on her bed. When she first started using the toddler bed, I didn't give her a pillow, because I thought I would get a smaller one. Well, about a month ago, I decided to use a normal size one. It took her a little while, but she finally started using it and now likes it. It had a purple/bluish pillowcase on it and I decided she should probably have one to match her room.

So I dug out the material that I used on her blanket, plus other scraps of brown and pink material I had and basically just kind of threw this pillowcase together. I didn't follow a pattern, I just kind of made one up. I would have liked for it to be a little different, but since I used what I had, this is the best I could do.

The striped material is actually four pieces sewn together. If you enlarge the picture, you can see one seam, that's pretty obvious, but I think I did well on matching the stripes up.

I only had a little bit of the brown and pink polka dotted material, so the sides are a little short.

I made it into a slipcover style. I messed up on the back and sewed one part on the wrong way. At this point, I just wanted to get it done, and since it was going to be on the back and wouldn't be showing, I didn't feel like redoing it. Also, because I didn't use a pattern, it took me longer than it should have and I had to redo stuff, take out seams, etc, because I wasn't thinking ahead.

But I got it done! I think it looks pretty cute and now she has a matching pillowcase for her bed!

Of course, looking at the back now, I realize that maybe I should have done the polka dots for the front, I think that would have looked cuter. Hmmm...

Also, does anyone local want these shoes? I posted this on Facebook, but I don't know if some of you saw it. They're size 7, I only wore them once for my sister's wedding. They have about a 4 inch heel. They're very cute, but my feet don't do well in heels, so I'm not going to wear them. I would like to give them to someone rather than Goodwill. Let me know if you want them!

(There is another new post after this one about Alex.)

A is for Alex

2011-04-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

So much to update on Alex it seems. The best news? He is finally sleeping through the night!!! After 2 months of waking up 3-5 times (I can only remember 2 times where he slept through the night during that time), he is now sleeping like a baby should! The trick? Let him cry!

I guess I should explain a little more. When he first started waking up, after a few nights of that, we got frustrated and just tried letting him cry for a while. He was only 3 months and I thought he was too young to just let him cry, but we were both tired of it. Needless to say, it didn't work. So then, I would just get him. We also didn't want him to cry for too long, because we didn't want him to wake up Anna. For some reason, ever since Christmas, she decided not to stay in her bed and would wake up in the middle of the night and sleep by the door, on the floor, where we had the baby gate. So, if Alex was loud, it would for sure wake her up and she would sleep on the floor.

Well, after 2 months of no sleep, I finally started getting fed up with it all and asking Dan for help. Well, one night last week, Alex woke up after a half hour. I fed him, he fell asleep, and woke up a half hour later. Dan suggested to just let him cry. We gave him 10 minutes, then Dan went and rocked him to sleep. An hour later, he woke up again. We gave him 10 minutes and he fell asleep after 5 minutes! So that night, he woke up 3 times, and I just let him cry for a few minutes and he fell back asleep. That went on a for a few nights and now he pretty much just sleeps through the night. Hallelujah! Who knew it would be such a simple solution?

He is also starting to take longer naps and the last few days has started taking 2 naps a day. Yesterday, he took a 3 hour nap! He hasn't done that since he was a month old. This morning he took a 2 1/2 hour nap. It's just such a relief now. For months, I would be lucky if he took 2 half hour naps, plus he was up all night, so I never really got a break. I'm crossing my fingers, that this new routine will stick!

Alex is developing well. He loves to reach for anything he can get his little hands on. And because he's so big, I have to be careful. He could seriously fall out of my arms, when he exerts all his weight to try and reach for something. He is good at twisting and squirming in my arms. Today we were playing the piano and he was able to put his feet up on the keys. He loves to laugh when I tickle him. He is really starting to smile at other people. He's into bouncing lately. I'll be holding him and stand him up and he just bounces his little legs. He also likes to extend his arms out and just move them up and down and hit whatever he can. I can only imagine the havoc he will cause when he can crawl and walk. :)

So, Alex outgrew his bouncer seat. I got out this walker thing. He doesn't really like it, which is too bad, because it would be so convenient for me, but oh well. He'll usually tolerate it for a few minutes, then he's done.

Just to show the difference in size between him and Anna, here are some pictures.

Anna, 6 months.

Feet, several inches off the ground.

Doesn't she look so cute and dainty?

Alex, 5 months.

Feet already touching the ground.

Yes, he is wearing a santa hat. I bought this for him when he was a newborn and he never really wore it.

I found it the other day and put it on him.

Amazing, isn't it? I think he's almost 20 lbs!!! Anna was barely 20 lbs at one year! He's just a big boy.

But such a cute little boy...

He isn't very happy here, he didn't want to be in his walker.

Anna and Alex in their santa hats.

Singing time with Anna and Alex.

Not as easy at it looks, playing the piano with a baby. :)

Daddy with Anna and Alex.

We watched Logan the other day and they decided to try on some hats. This picture makes me laugh.

I also came in to her room and found her lying on her bed with a blanket on her, and Logan was feeding her a toy bottle. These silly little kids....

From Drab to Fab...A New Bookcase!

2011-03-27T20:13:00.001-07:00

I have to explain the title of this post. Whenever I talk about repurposing furniture or other stuff, or show Dan something I saw on a blog, etc. He usually makes some joke and says, from drab to fab! in a mocking, cheesy tone of voice. So, kind of as a joke, I decided to make that my title. Hahaha, I know, I'm just soooo funny.

Anyhoo, back to my post. A while ago, I mentioned that I found a bookcase on the curb. It was actually on my way visiting teaching (blessings from doing VT? I think so!). I stopped and tried to put it in the back of our van, but it wouldn't fit. I went back after Dan got home and it was still there and this time I didn't have the kids with me, and was able to fit it in. That was just about two months ago. I'm been DYING to get it done and finally, after what feels like an eternity, it.is.finished!

I forgot to get a good before picture. This is while I'm priming it.

Before

It was just plain old boring wood. The top of it was actually warped and someone had tried to pull it off. So we (by we, I mean Dan) had to take the top off and replace it with a new board.

I didn't bother sanding it down. It had a light finish on it, and I just primed right over it.

And here is the new and improved bookcase!

In addition to adding a new board on top, we (ahem, Dan) added trim around the top and replaced the backing with bead board.

It seems so simple when I type it out-prime it, paint it, put trim and bead board on and done! But this project really just seemed to drag on. My biggest mistake was not using white primer. I know, you're shaking your head in disbelief at my stupidity. When we went to Lowe's to get spray primer, they were out of white, so we got grey. But then a whole month went by before I even got around to priming it, so I could have just gotten white. But once you have two kids, the less trips you make to the store, the easier your life is, so I figured grey would be okay. I was planning on doing a few coats of paint anyways, and I figured the gray would be covered up. My plan would have worked beautifully, if it weren't for the darn corners and crevices. I used a small roller brush and it wouldn't get the corners, so I had to use a brush, but it just was taking forever to be covered up. It didn't help that I was doing this outside and it was cold, so that seemed to affect the paint.

I originally wanted bead board as the backing, but kept going back and forth if I REALLY wanted it and if I would be okay without it. I finally decided I wanted it, after I had painted the rest of it. But getting the bead board was a hassle in and of itself. I went to the gym and then Dan called me and told me Alex was asleep, so if I wanted to get bead board, now was my chance. I went to Lowe's, got an 8'x4' piece and had them cut the size I needed. I was left with a 5' piece to take home. I thought it would fit in the van, but it wouldn't. So I had to go back in the store and have them cut off 12 inches and then go back out to the car again, pushing the extremely large and bulky cart they have for wood. It finally all fit and I was off, all they while thanking the heavens above that Alex was still asleep and that Dan didn't have to try and deal with a hungry baby while I was gone.

Dan's Spring Break was last week and I painted it over a couple of days.

A shot of it in different lighting.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It's obviously not perfect, but I think it cleaned up pretty nicely.

Cost of Materials:

Paint: already had

Trim: already had

Primer: $5 (two cans, didn't use all of the second)

Bead board: $7 (portion of what I used)

Cost: $12 (give or take)

Not too shabby for a "free" bookcase.

We're still deciding where in Anna's room is the best place for it. We may have to move some things around. I think we'll end up putting a lot of her toys from the family room in it.

Pride and Prejudice...

2011-03-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

So, I don't know if this will come as a surprise to anyone. Maybe some of you. I finally read, for the first time, Pride and Prejudice. Gasp! I feel a little behind the times. I remember my best friend, Sarah, reading it in junior high. At the time, I wasn't familiar with the story and honestly, it seemed kind of boring to me. I kept that first impression with me for many years.

Then, for Christmas, my brother bought us a Kindle and we got the book for free. I finally decided to start reading it. It only took me, oh, about 3 months to read it! Mostly, because the only time I can read is after the kids go to bed and for a long time, Alex wouldn't fall asleep until 9:30/10:00-ish and honestly, after that, I would get ready for bed. He finally started going to bed earlier and I would spend about 15-20 minutes a night for a few nights a week reading it.

At first, I just thought it was okay, but about halfway through it got more interesting and I really started to get sucked in. To the point, where I would look forward to having some time to myself and be able to read it. One night, it was getting late, but I didn't want to stop reading (I was at the climax!), so I flossed and brushed my teeth while reading it (things you can only do with an e-reader), and as I washed my contacts. Dan came in while I was doing this and said, "Well, someone doesn't want to put her book down!" :)

So, now I can say, along with a million other girls, that I have finally read Pride and Prejudice and I enjoyed it, and overcame my previous inhibitions about it. Am I one of the love-crazed girls? No. Do I think Mr. Darcy is the best thing since sliced bread? Not necessarily. But it was enjoyable.

As I was reading it, I wanted to watch the movie (the new one), which I had seen a couple of times, but it had been a few years. I remember I liked the movie when I first saw it. However, after having read the book and then watching the movie, the movie kind of bugs me. There is so much left out. The plot feels rushed and there are so many small details from the book, but the actors say them so fast, or they're so obscure, that if you hadn't read the books, you miss them completely. So, I'm not really a fan of the movie anymore. I'm kind of curious about the 6 hour version, but at this point in my life, dedicating 6 hours to watching a movie just ain't happening.

So, what are your thoughts on Pride and Prejudice? Love it? Hate it? Don't care?

Has anyone seen the 6 hour version?

A new seat cover!

2011-03-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

I bought this little booster seat thing for Anna last summer. I got it off of craigslist for $10 (surprise, surprise). However, the blue polka dot cover for it was pretty ugly. It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but it is. It's old, faded and seriously looked like its prime was in 1985. I've been wanting to recover it for a while and finally got around to doing it. Even though it took me over a week to do it, when normally it should have taken 2 days, 3 at the most. This is what happens when you have two kids, instead of one! :)

I forgot to take a good before picture of it, but believe me, it was pretty ugly. Here is the new cover!

I originally was going to take the seam out between the bottom piece and the top piece, but it was sewn inside and I couldn't get it apart easily, so I took the lazier route and just sewed over the old cover. I took off the original border/edge part. I don't know the real name for it. The border that is now brown.

What I ended up doing was laying the old cover over the new material and just tracing the sizes I needed. I decided to sew it in two pieces, the top and the bottom. I added 1/2 an inch to what I traced, just to make sure I had cut it large enough. I did this for the front and the back. I then sewed the back top piece over the original. Then sewed the bottom piece on. Since I had two pieces, I needed to sew them together, where they met up. I ended up hand sewing them together, since the angle was difficult to get on the sewing machine.

Here is a picture of what I'm talking about.

I just folded each piece over the other and hand stitched them together. This is where the bottom of the top piece and top of the bottom piece meet together. (make sense?)

I had to make holes for where the straps go. All I did was cut slits in the material, then hand stitched the sides to the original slits. It doesn't look very nice, but I figured no one would really be able to see it, since the straps would be there. I wanted to sew a brown border around it, but I didn't want to make it too small, so the straps wouldn't fit in there. It was kind of a tight fit with the original cover and I didn't want to mess it up.

After I sewed the front and back pieces, I attached the back top cover that goes over the back of the chair. I added a green border to that piece, so that it would have a little variety. I then pinned and sewed the brown border around the whole thing. That was the most difficult part because sometimes, depending on the way I had pinned it, it wouldn't sew through the front and back, so I would have to re-do a lot of parts.

The finished product!

In hindsight, I wished I had chosen blue material, so it would match the seat better. I actually found some cute light blue material, but didn't get it because I figured it would get dirty really easily. I didn't see any other blue material that I really liked. I was trying to go for a more gender neutral pattern, so Alex can use it when he gets bigger.

Life With Little Miss Anna Banana

2011-02-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

I uploaded some pictures to our computer, then started scrolling through and realized I had some good ones I wanted to share. Anna is such a little character and really such a little monkey. Here are some funny ones of her.

We got home from the grocery store and they gave us paper bags (since parts of the county have now banned plastic bags). I was in the kitchen putting stuff away when I looked in the family room and this is what I saw!

Then, she ripped the bag and wanted me to tape it up. I didn't because I knew she would just keep ripping it.

We had the missionaries over for dinner recently and I made cio'bar, which is like a really thick hot chocolate. Anna loved it, can't you tell?!

A few weeks ago, poor little Anna was so tired, she fell asleep in her chair, still holding her spoon. She hasn't done this since she was like 14 months!

Lately, Anna has a new game. Put your legs up on the wall.

We had a brief stint at potty training again. She sat on the potty for at least 10 minutes, just reading. It was really very cute to see her do this.

A new love of Anna's is the laundry basket. Since our washer and dryer are out in the garage, many times I put the basket near the door, before I can actually get a minute to go out there and start the laundry. Anna sees this as an opportunity to play. She loves to bring her toys in too.

(Her hair is pretty crazy here! She looks pretty funny.)

I really didn't want Anna to play in this laundry basket, since it's so tall, but she insisted and I got tired of her asking, so I just let her. Well, she discovered it was fun to tip herself out of it. Then, she would want me to put her and the basket back up. After a couple times of this, I put an end to her shenanigans. :)

And last, but not least is Anna's favorite past time...SINGING TIME!

Anna has really developed a love for singing. She loves to sing and is always singing songs she knows. We sit down at the piano together, and I play the right hand, while she plays where my left hand would play and we sing songs from the Children's Hymnbook. After a song is finished, she immediately says, sing another one! We usually do this for about 20 minutes. I'm very impressed with her memory for a 2 1/2 year old. Here are some of the songs she knows all/most of the words and melody to:

I am a Child of God

I have A Family Here on Earth

Popcorn Popping

I'm so Glad When Daddy Comes Home

I Love to See the Temple

Book of Mormon Stories

I am Like a Star Shining Brightly

In the Leafy Treetops

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

Once There Was a Snowman

There are more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. She kind of knows the song, Pioneer Children Sang, but she gets caught on the walking part and that's all she sings-Pioneer children walked and walked and walked. Repeat. It's kind of funny.

I hope as she gets older, she keeps this love and I can teach her how to play the piano. It's so adorable to hear her sing. Hopefully, when she gets to Primary, she'll already know all the songs! :)

(I obviously didn't do my hair this day, so just excuse the unkept mess)

Anna and Alex

2011-02-24T12:18:00.000-08:00

Alex will be 4 months next week! Where does the time go? The last week has been pretty hard, because he decided suddenly he doesn't want to sleep through the night anymore. One night, he woke up 6 times! The last few days have been much better and last night, he only woke up once and it was at 4:30 am, so I got a nice solid chunk of sleep.

He's just such a sweet baby. I really do love him so much. He's getting so good at tummy time. And he is SO close to being able to roll over. He'll turn his head up, and get on his side and all he needs is just a little more and he could roll over. For a little while, Dan would push him to roll over. Then, a few times, without us seeing it, Anna would roll him over! I would turn around and see him on his tummy. I asked Anna if she did it and she said, yes! So now, when I leave the room to wash my hands or something, I make sure to tell her not to roll him over. Who knows what will happen! :)

My sweet little babies!

Anna absolutely loves to do tummy time with Alex. Many times, I'll lay him down on a blanket and she immediately comes over and wants to do tummy time.

He's so big!

Anna was so nice to share her blanket with Alex.

Dan and Alex.

Alex also laughed for the first time last night. Dan was taking off his onesie to bathe him and he started laughing. So Dan tried tickling him a little more and we got a few more laughs. I can't wait till it's a more regularly occurring activity!

Anna is just smart as ever! We went to story time at the library for the first time yesterday. We got there and sat down and she looks at the wall. There were four large dinosaurs and she says, there's a triceratops! Dan loved dinosaurs as a kid and has made sure to instill the love in Anna, as well. She has two stuffed dinosaurs and one of them is a triceratops. I just love how she can recognize things she learns at home in a different setting. The lady who did story time was very impressed with her. We went to the older, 3-5 year old one, and she's only 2 1/2, but she stayed still the whole time and listened well.

Her other favorite thing is when she sees stop signs, she says, octagon! She has a Sesame Street book where Big Bird and Cookie Monster try and find shapes and Ernie has a stop sign. So now it's octagon!

She has also started to add a "y" to a lot of words. When Alex wakes up, she says, "Alex is a awakey!" She does it to other words, I just can't think of other examples at the moment. It's really cute and funny though.

I know it's still a ways away, but I was just thinking about how sad I'll be when she has to go to school! She's such a little sweetie.

It's a Love Story...

2011-02-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

In honor of Valentines Day, I thought I would write about how Dan and I got together. I don't know if I've done this before, so if it's a repeat, sorry!

Dan and I first met in June of 2005. I had recently returned from my mission in Italy and had just arrived back in Utah. I had just moved into a new apartment. A few days after moving in, I came home and there were some people in my kitchen for dinner group. He was one of them. I chatted for a minute with them. I remember Dan saying something, but honestly that was it. He on the other hand, thought I was really cute and thought he said something dumb and had totally blown it with me. He actually started dating another girl for a while and I never really saw him much. Fast forward to January of 2006. Dan had broken up with that girl a few months before. One night, after ward prayer, I started talking to him and his friend Rich. Dan mentioned that he was taking an Italian class that semester. I offered to help him if he ever needed it. This was totally innocent. At this time, I wasn't really interested in him. I thought he was nice, but that was it.

Dan on the other hand, was already scheming. He told me that he was deciding between taking Italian and French. Italian worked better with his schedule and then he told me he thought, "Plus, Rachel is really hot, so I could ask her for help." Ha!

So Dan started coming over often to my apartment on the pretense of needing help. When, in reality, he didn't need help at all. He's so sneaky! I on the other hand, didn't suspect a thing. This went on for the entire semester, 4 months. At then end of the semester, my roommates and I decided to go out to dinner to celebrate. Dan came over, a little before we were going to go, and was going to ask me to dinner as a thank you for helping him with Italian. Well, he never got the chance, since we were already going out to eat. He ended up coming with us and I noticed he made sure to sit next to me.

Then, the next weekend, we ended up making tacos for cinco de mayo and watching a movie. This was a kind of hang out date, that wasn't really meant to be a date. Then, a few days later, Dan asked me out. He told me there was supposed to be wind on Friday and we could make dinner and fly some kites. Turns out there was only supposed to be like 6 mph winds, but he didn't specify how much wind! Once again, trying to be tricky.

So that was our first official date. It was fun and we came back to my apartment and watched a movie. We ended up holding hands and cuddling. The next day we hung out a bit, but I had plans for that night. Then Sunday came and I just wasn't sure about my feelings for Dan. I decided that I didn't want to date him and that we should just be friends. Everything happened kind of fast and I just hadn't really thought of him in a dating way, quite yet. I saw him at church, but then didn't see him till that evening, right before ward prayer. However, when he came to my apartment, he looked so cute and there wasn't really time to tell him. Then, I'm not quite sure what happened, but during ward prayer I changed my mind and decided to give him a chance. I think we started holding hands and I decided I liked it and that maybe we could have fun dating.

So, then we started dating. We dated the whole summer. We both just worked the summer and as soon as we got home in the evening, we hung out together. So we spent a lot of time together. As I got to know Dan better, I realized what a good guy he is. He was so kind and sweet. He really showed me a lot of love. He really just swept me off my feet. :)

We decided to get married after 3 1/2 months of dating. At the time, it didn't seem fast at all. In hindsight, it was pretty fast. Something kind of interesting, is after only about 3 weeks of dating, we went to Salt Lake to see the Joseph Smith movie. During the movie, Dan got the very distinct impression that he was going to marry me. He didn't tell me this until we were engaged, which was probably a good idea. :)

So, here we are, 4 1/2 years later. We have two beautiful children, a house, Dan has a good job. We are very blessed. I love Dan so much!

It's a Hard Knock Life...

2011-02-04T13:33:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, a few brief moments have found their way into my life. Alex is asleep and Anna is in her room for quiet time. Lately, these moments have been few and far between. I wish I could blog more, but honestly, I rarely gets moments where I can just sit down at the computer and not be interrupted.

I can't believe it's February already! Alex is 3 months today. He's so big! He is in the 3/6 month clothing and actually fits into some just 6 month clothing. He's extremely long and has the cutest little chubby arms and legs. He loves to smile and coo back at you when you start smiling and talking to him. He's getting much better at tummy time and can hold his head up pretty high, even though tummy time doesn't last long because he starts getting mad. I love my little boy so much.

However, can I just say that he is an extremely FUSSY baby! There are so many times where we just have to walk around with him for him to be happy. The second we sit down, he starts crying. If I stop to take a drink of water while I'm holding him, he gets fussy. If things are not exactly to his liking, he gets fussy. Sometimes it's just a little fussing, while other times it's the all out screaming and he actually has tears in his eyes because he's so upset.

There is still the car seat issue as well. He still doesn't like it and will cry all the time in the car. This is extremely hard on me because I honestly feel like I can't go anywhere, or would rather just stay home, rather than deal with a fussy, crying baby out in public. It's really hard when you feel like the only times you can leave the house are to go grocery shopping and to the gym. And taking him anywhere else feels more like a chore, rather than just running an errand. The few times I have taken him out, I have to be in constant motion in order for him to be happy.

Also, because he's so big and heavy, carrying him around, especially in his car seat, is really hard on me. I have tons of knots in my back and neck and right now, my neck feels more like a rock. So, hence another reason, not to want to go places with him.

I love my little guy, but I really hope that things get better soon! As for the bottle, well that just didn't work out. He wouldn't take it. We kept trying and trying. I did buy another bottle the other day, that's supposed to be more like nursing, in its design. We're going to try it out soon and hopefully it will work!

I didn't mean for this to be a Debbie Downer blog post. Ha! I do love being a mother, but going from one to two, has been a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. And I didn't expect to get such a fussy baby. Maybe this means, he'll be more mellow when he gets older??? Maybe? Hopefully? :)

Alex doing tummy time!

Alex in his cute little church outfit.

Anna on the other hand is doing so well. She hasn't really been taking naps during quiet time, but it doesn't affect her like it used to. She's still happy whether she gets one or not. And actually, we almost don't want her to take one, because then when we put her down at night, she falls asleep right away, rather than it taking a while.

She's been really cute lately. She's starting to say sorry for things that she does. If she hurts me and I tell her, "Ow, that really hurt mommy." She then says, "Sorry, mommy." And gives me a kiss. She's also been asking me if I'm okay. If I'm doing something and I hurt myself, or there's a loud sound, etc. She asks, "You okay, mommy?" It's really so cute.

She also learned the song, Do as I'm Doing, in nursery. So for over a week now, she'll do something with her hands and say, "Please, do this I'm doing." And want me to imitate her. It's really cute.

She also has been going up to Alex and saying stuff that I say to him, in the tone of voice that I use. Things like, you're so cute, you're such a big boy, did you have a good nap?, etc. It's really cute to see.

She still isn't potty trained. I asked her the other day, while she was sitting on her potty, if she wanted to start using it. I then asked her if she wanted to wear underwear or diapers. Her response? Diapers! Hmmm...not quite what I wanted to hear, but whatever. I'm sure she'll be ready soon.

Last Friday, as I was doing my visiting teaching, I drove by some free stuff on the sidewalk. There was a bookshelf there. Dan and I had just been talking about getting one for Anna and all her books. So I stopped to put it in our van and it wouldn't fit. I was able to go back later without the kids and get it in there. It's real wood, so that's a plus. I'm going to paint it white and try and put bead board where the backing is. Hopefully, I'll be able to do this soon. I've had it for a week and haven't even touched it.

I meant to post these pictures earlier. Back at the end of December when we got some snow, Anna and Dan made a snowman.

Anna looking so cute in her pikachu hat. She loves it. Anytime we're going outside and it's cold, she says, I need my pikachu hat! I then have to run back inside and get it for her.

Perspective is Everything!

2011-01-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share this funny little thing with you. I first read this on my mission and it seriously cracked me up. I remember I couldn't stop laughing. One of the sisters I was sharing an apartment with had it. I don't know if I was just really in need of some laughs at the time, but I've never forgotten about this. A couple of years later, I was telling my roommate Shara about it and she said that she had a copy of it and emailed it to me. I just remembered it the other day, so I thought I would share it. Enjoy!

Perspective is everything!

I did not provoke the fight so I feel no remorse for what I was forced to do. We were arguing, and seeing that I was right and he was wrong, he decided to fight to cover for his stupidity. He swung as me first, but being in top of condition, I was able to act quickly and block the punch neatly with my head. Where upon, I jumped to the ground, knocking him down on top of me. Then I placed my ear in his mouth and poked his finger several times with me eyes. His teeth hurt so much from the strength of my ear that he became irate and tried to kick me, but I cleverly blocked the onslaught with my ribs and face. I scrambled to my feet and ran to my car in hopes that I would get away and save this man from my deadly hands. Before I could start the car he pulled me from the still open door… That was the last straw… I lost all control. There would be no mercy. Taking him in my death grip, I pounded him in the knee with my stomach, then hit him two or three times hard in the fist with my teeth. He had had it! I could tell, after that, he didn't even try to pick me up off the ground. He was too chicken.

Christmas!

2011-01-16T15:39:00.001-08:00

I know I'm a little behind, but let's talk about Christmas! So, I feel like a horrible parent, but I only took one picture of Anna on Christmas. We did however, film her opening her gifts. Christmas was fun, especially because Anna understood more of what was going on. The morning of Christmas I went to get her from her room and the first thing she said was, "I'm so excited to open presents!" It was so cute. She tore right into her presents and loved them all. My brother was kind enough to buy all his nieces and nephews presents. I've been wanting to get Anna a table and chairs for a while, but just haven't yet, so I let her uncle get her one! She loves it and was so excited to color on it. I made sure to get a gender neutral table, so when Alex gets bigger, he can use it too. I also got Anna her own backpack, so she'll stop stealing Logan's. :)

Anna on Christmas morning with some of her gifts!

I got Anna a really cute Christmas dress last year on clearance at target for like $9! This picture doesn't do justice to how cute she really looked. Unfortunately, her hair looks pretty bad. She loved wearing it. I had a santa suit for Alex, but never got any pictures. :(

I really wanted to make Christmas cookies with Anna and finally got around to it AFTER Christmas. I had made Halloween cookies with Anna a few months ago, so the whole time she kept saying how she wanted to make Halloween cookies. I had to keep telling her they were Christmas cookies, not Halloween. We also got to wear out matching aprons my mom made for us a while ago.

Anna had so much fun pressing the cutters into the dough.

She also discovered how good cookie dough is. I gave her a little bite and she kept wanting more and more.

Dan's parents and brother and sister came out for Alex's baby blessing a few days after Christmas. We left his parents' gifts under the tree and all Anna wanted to do was open them. We had to tell her she had to wait, but she could help open them when they came.

Here she is helping grandpa open his gift.

And helping Grandma open hers, while she holds Alex.

Her Aunt Becky got her this little Pikachu hat. It looks so cute on her!

Grandma and Grandpa got her a little train set, that she love so much!

We made gingerbread houses when everyone was here. I had Anna on my lap and all she wanted to do was eat the candy (surprise, surprise).

We had fun with them while they were here and were glad they could make it out to see us!

Free printable kids art!

2011-01-14T14:01:00.000-08:00

I just saw this on my friend's facebook status. There is this cool website offering some freebies today. I can get the Noah's Ark file folder games and Build a Church for FREE! You can too! Go to http://greenjellowithcarrots.com for more details about how you can get this too.

I can't wait to print these for Anna. Maybe now she'll be quiet during Sacrament meeting! :)

A New Resolution!

2011-01-09T14:12:00.000-08:00

I've never been one to make New Year's Resolutions and I've never felt bad about it at all. However, while I was working out at the gym last week, the TV's were out of service due to the snow, and I had some time to just think. And I thought of one that I wanted to work on. You ready for it? Not to get mad at my husband! Now, before you start laughing, let me explain a little.

Lately, I'm a little ashamed to admit, it seems that we've been more upset with each other than normal. I love Dan with all my heart. He is a wonderful husband, an excellent father and overall a wonderful man. I couldn't ask for a better person to be my eternal companion. As we all know though, we're human, we make mistakes. We say things we don't mean, we get impatient, frustrated, etc. Things don't always go our ways, our kids get cranky and that can make life more hectic, etc. We've all been there.

I think the problem with us was going through the transition of having two kids now. Plus, Anna wasn't napping anymore, and would get so incredibly cranky. Alex would be crying and our nerves would be shot and unfortunately, we would take it out on each other. Of course, later we would apologize and get on with our lives, but there's always that part of you that wishes it had never happened. And it just seemed to be happening more and more frequently.

So, as I was working out, I decided that would be my resolution-be more patient and not get mad at Dan. Later that day, I told him about it and asked him for his help. I told him I didn't like that we were getting so mad and frustrated with each other lately, and that I had made this resolution and would he like to do it with me. He agreed and I love what he said next, "Let's not make it a New Year's Resolution, but rather just a resolution." This is so much better because it's more of a permanent change, rather than something to work on for a few months and then forget about.

That was on Wednesday and it's really amazing the change that took place after that. There were plenty of times to get mad at each other, but since I had mentally decided not to get mad, it was like it wasn't even an option for me anymore. It's kind of hard to explain, but I just felt more patient and changed how I would normally act in a situation. I felt happier towards Dan as well. I felt like I was joking more with him and being happier around him, which in turn, had a positive effect on him. I asked him a few days after we made this decision if he noticed a change in me and he said yes. I asked him if he felt better too and he said yes.

Now, I do not have a perfect marriage and I'm not trying to say I do and that suddenly the skies are always sunny, birds are always chirping and life is just bliss. However, our relationship is better and I know it will continue to be better as we keep with our resolution and make a concentrated effort to get along better and not get mad at each other. This in turn, will make our home a happier place.

Dan and I on our honeymoon.

We took a cruise to Mexico

Progress Report

2010-12-23T19:29:00.001-08:00

A little update about Alex. He is now 7 weeks old and is so cute! He is such a big baby. I look at him and can't believe how big he is! He seriously looks like a 3 month old. At his one month appointment, he weighed 12 lbs 10 oz. He gained 4 lbs in a month!!! The battery on our scale needs to be replaced, so I don't know how much he weighs now, but I would guess it's probably 14 lbs, if not more. He's just la little chunk!

He started to smile a week or so ago. It's still sporadic, but so adorable! I love it. He also coos all the time and it's so sweet. I just love my little boy. The best news is he slept through the night last night! Let's hope this is his new pattern. For the past couple of weeks he's only been waking up once a night. So I actually feel like a normal person, don't have to take naps during the day and feel back in the swing of things. It's been nice.

One of my biggest regrets with Anna was her not being able to take a bottle of pumped milk. I tried too late with her and I spent a year being attached to her. I swore with the next baby, it would be different. When Alex was 2 weeks old, we gave him a bottle of pumped milk and he took it no problem. Then, I don't know what happened, but suddenly 3 weeks went by, then 4, and I realized he hadn't had a bottle in a while. We tried and he wouldn't really take it. I could have kicked myself for not being more diligent with that. So today, Dan gave him some pumped milk in a bottle and he didn't really like it, but he ended up eating it all! Woo-hoo! So my goal is to pump every day (even though I hate doing it) and give him a bottle every day, so he gets used to it. The past week we've had some stressful times when I've fed him, then left to run some errands. He apparently was still hungry and would cry. Poor Dan would try and get him back to sleep, comfort him, etc to no avail and would finally have to call me to get my booty home asap. So needless to say, we need to get him used to a bottle NOW.

He also is doing better in his car seat. Before, the instant we put him in it, he would cry. Then we get in the car and unless we're in motion, he would cry. Needless to say, stoplights were my nemesis. There have now been times when I've left him in his car seat and he was okay for like 5 minutes or so. A miracle! :)

We just love our little guy so much!

O Christmas Tree!

2010-12-09T11:43:00.001-08:00

It's an exciting time of year! Time to put up the Christmas tree! This is the first time in our almost 4 years of marriage that we'll be having Christmas at our house and hence our very first Christmas tree!

Our very first Christmas together, we were engaged. The Christmas after that we went to Italy. Then the two Christmases after that, we've gone to Utah. Since Alex is so little, we decided to stay home this year. The thought of driving 10+ hours in a car with a 2 month old, who hates his car seat, doesn't sound very appealing. Then, having to stop and nurse, etc. It's just easier to stay home.

I'm actually kind of glad that we'll be home this year. As much fun as it is to go somewhere and be with family, I'm looking forward to being in our own home and starting our own family traditions and kind of doing our own family thing. It will be kind of weird not to have family around on Christmas Day and stuff, but Dan's family is coming out a few days later. We'll have our family fun then.

So the first order of business is to put up the tree. We put it up on Saturday and kept telling Anna that we were going to put up the tree, put lights on it, then add ornaments. It was kind of a busy morning, but we finally got around to putting it up. We have a fake tree this year. This is the first time I've had a fake tree. Growing up we always had a real tree. However, last year in Utah, we found one on clearance after Christmas. We figured after a few years, we would save money in the long run. I used to be opposed to fake trees, but now I'm fine. I really like ours.

Dan and Anna opening the box with the tree.

We got the first part of it set up. This was actually really boring for Anna, because she couldn't really help. And it didn't look like a tree, so it wasn't anything exciting yet.

Last year, I bought a whole bunch of ball ornaments on clearance and at the thrift store. We had a lot to put up. Here, the tree is decorated, mostly. Anna found a little flower in the Christmas decorations and wanted to put it in her hair.

Anna was so cute when we started putting the balls on. She realized she couldn't actually hang the hooks very well, so she just handed the balls to us. Then she figured out how to open the boxes with them and kept saying, "I'm going to open this for you, okay?" And then kept handing us the balls at an exuberant rate. :)

Here is our finished tree!

We still need to add a star. I'm working on it, folks. :)

It's always so hard to take a picture of a tree and make it look good. They always look so much better in real life. The whole decoration is kind of haphazard. I had the balls and the candle sticks (that my mom made a few years ago), and a few days later added the poinsettias. I like it overall, but I think it would be different if I actually had a plan from the beginning. :)

I did make a Christmas tree skirt. I was thinking of buying fabric, when I remembered I still had a lot left from our duvet cover. I used that and it actually doesn't look too bad and is kind of Christmasy. We have some ornament balls that have swirls on them as well, so it all matches. I need to sew a border on it, but that might just have to wait till next year. This was a simple project, but took me forever to actually get it done. Every time I started, I'd have to stop and do something with one of my sweet, cute, children. :)

It will be a lot of fun to see Anna on Christmas morning when there are presents under the tree and she'll get to open them. We're trying to teach her about Jesus and that he's the reason for Christmas. I think she kind of gets it. I think our next family activity will be making Christmas cookies!

Autumn pictures and other things...

2010-12-05T10:51:00.000-08:00

Ever since moving into our house, we like to do an Autumn photoshoot with the leaves. This year Anna has truly appreciated the leaves. The first year, she was only 4 months and didn't know what was going on. Last year, she didn't understand how fun they are, but this year she LOVES them!

Dan raked all the leaves around her.

Let's just relax here for a minute.

Where did Anna go?

So cute with just her little face poking out.

We have a new addition this year-Alex!

It's hard to get a good one of him. :)

We tried to get one of both our kids and they all turned out awful! It was kind of funny. This is the best one of the lot.

Here are some more pictures of stuff that's been happening around these parts.

I changed Anna's diaper and lately she's been funny about putting her pants on herself. So I just left her in her room and let her do her own thing. Well, she comes out a minute late and says, "I put on my pants!" I look at her and say good job and am very proud of her. Until I look a little closer and realize they were on backwards and not pulled up all the way! It made me laugh.

Anna loves her little drawing toy. She plays with it constantly. Well, one day I see she drew something that actually looks like something. So I ask her what it is and she says flowers! I wasn't sure if it was a fluke or not, but the next day I'm sitting next to her and I see her draw them herself. She's only 2 and drawing flowers already! Do I have a genius daughter or what? :)

Anna loves being a big sister. She loves her little brother Alex. She always wants to give him kisses or hugs, or hold him, etc. The other morning, I went to get her and the first thing she said was, "I want to see baby Alex!"

My two silly little kids.

Anna also LOVES coloring. She can't get enough of it. She goes through coloring books in no time. Her Grandma Phelan sent us a package and some coloring books for Anna. She wasted no time in grabbing them and starting to color them. When my mom was here, she bought her a ton of coloring books to give to her for Christmas.

So, overall things have been going pretty well. Dan had a week off for Thanksgiving and that was so nice. I got to sleep in a lot and catch up on my sleep. For Thanksgiving, it was just us. I didn't take any pictures (oops). We smoked our turkey and it was so good! I made homemade pumpkin pie. I bought a pumpkin at the store for 45 cents, on clearance after Halloween. I cleaned the pumpkin out, cut it up, and baked it to soften it. Then scraped the stuff out and put it in the food processor and made pumpkin puree. I used that for the pie and it turned out so good. It was delicious! After dinner we watched the Muppets Christmas Carol. WE thought Anna would like it, but after a while she lost interest and we had to keep getting her to try and watch it.

Baby Alex!

2010-11-15T15:48:00.001-08:00

I figure I should write about the birth of my second child, Alex! He was due the 28th. That day came and went. I had a doctor's appointment that day and the doctor asked if I wanted to set up an appointment to get induced the following week. I declined because I figured I would have him in the next few days. Well, the next few days came and went and still no baby. At this point, I decided to take up walking in hopes of helping him come out. The first day I took Anna and walked 20 minutes. It wore me out! I camehome and just had to sit the rest of the morning because standing for too long just makes my legs so tired. The next day I did a half hour by myself and the only result was no baby and a tired me. The day after that was Sunday and I didn't walk. Then Monday I did a 45 minute walk with the same results. Tuesday we went to the park. Dan played with Anna and I walked for 40 minutes. The next day the same thing.

On Monday, I realized that maybe I should make an appointment to get induced. Wednesday I went in and they did a stress test, which I passed. I made an appointment for Thursday to get induced. Here, you get put on a waiting list and when a bed opens up at the hospital, they call you and you come in. So I didn't know what time they would call on Thursday, but I was 4th on the list, so I figured it wouldn't be too early. Well, at 8 am they called! We hurried and got ready and dropped Anna off at Logan's house.

We got to the hospital. It took a while to get everything set up in the room. They didn't start the pitocin until almost noon. I was having contractions before, but it was just in my stomach and I didn't feel any pain. So then we waited...and waited...and waited. It took a long time for the pitocin to take effect. The really annoying part is you can't eat when you're getting induced. They told me to eat light that day, so I didn't eat much for breakfast. So needless to say, I was starving the whole day! I actually snuck some crackers in, that Dan had with him. I just couldn't take it. I was SO hungry.

After like 4-5 hours of nothing, I was really starting to doubt my decision to get induced. Dan was worried about it in general, but I felt fine about it. Whenever I prayed about it, I felt peace and so that's why I went ahead with it. But when it didn't seem to be working, I was getting worried about having to have a c-section and all that. Around 5 or so, I finally started getting contractions that hurt. They kept getting more intense, so I requested an epidural. When I came in to the hospital at 9 am, I was dilated to 4 cm. After all this time, I was only at a 7. Around 8 pm, my water finally broke. At this point, despite the epidural, I could REALLY feel the contractions. The nurse told me to start pushing a little during contractions to help me get more dilated. I slowly got up to a 10 and the contractions were killing me. I would hold Dan's hand during them. Afterwards, he told me how much his hand hurt each time. Oops. :)

I finally got to the point where I needed to start pushing. I kind of wanted to up the dosage on the epidural, but the nurse pretty much convinced me not too, so that I could be able to push. In hindsight, I should have because I'm not going to lie, it was the most pain I've ever been in. The worst was when he was almost out, but still in there and in between contractions when I wasn't pushing, it was still killing me. But I made it through and out he came after 30-45 min. of pushing! Alex was a big boy. He weighed 8 lbs 12 oz!!! The first thing the doctor said when he came out, was, "That's a big baby." Anna was 8 lbs 2 oz, so I guess in general I have big babies. But that extra week really helped Alex gain a little more.

It's now 1 1/2 weeks after and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm nursing and this little guy is a champion nurser. After he got all cleaned up and we held him, I started to nurse him and he latched on right away! I was so surprised. With Anna, the first time didn't really work. He just loves to eat. I hope he doesn't get huge really fast. I don't know if my back can take carrying around a huge baby.

I've gone to the gym twice now and it felt great. I was able to a lot more sit-ups than I thought I would be able to. So I'm going to get my my six pack back soon! :) Also, I'm pleased to say that I can fit into all my old jeans now! I didn't think it would happen this fast. Sure some of them are a little tight, but I can button them! :) My shirts are another matter. One down side to nursing is that you get bigger and things are just tighter. And a lot of them are not compatible with nursing. Oh well, a small price to pay in the long run.

Me and my little guy at the hospital.

Sweet little Alex.

Not exactly the best picture, but it's so hard to get a good one of a newborn. I should also mention that this little guy has red hair! Just like his sister. I was really, really hoping for a redhead and am so glad I got another one!

Rome Italy Temple

2010-10-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

A rare thing has occurred. Anna is down for a nap and Dan is gone for a while, and I haven't had a baby yet, so I have time to myself on a Saturday afternoon! So why not catch up on my blog!

I wanted to blog about the temple in Rome. I served my mission there from the fall of 2003 to the spring of 2005. I love Italy, I absolutely LOVE it! I feel so privileged that I was able to serve my mission there. I learned a lot about myself, the gospel and the Italians. They are such a loving and open people. While I was there, there was talk of a temple and how we were close, but it didn't seem like it would happen for a while.

In the October 2008 general conference, President Monson announced that there would be a temple built in Rome! As soon as I heard that, tears came to my eyes. What a blessing for the Italian people! They currently have to travel to Switzerland to attend the temple. And of all the countries that go to the Switzerland temple, the Italians are the most frequent visitors. For some of these members who live in Southern Italy, it's like a 2 day trip. Members who live on the island of Sardegna, have to take a ferry to the mainland, which is a 16 hour trip. They they travel a day or two to get to Switzerland. There's a lot of sacrifice involved for them to go to the temple. Now to think that they will have one in their own country is so awesome and wonderful! There are so many faithful saints in Italy.

The church has actually had the land for a temple for a long time. When I arrived in Italy, we were taken to the site, which is an old farm land, complete with an olive grove. We were able to walk around and imagine the day when Italy would have a temple! And now it's here.

The groundbreaking for the temple was today. President Monson flew to Italy to preside over it. Here is a video of what the temple will look like. There will also be a stake center, a visitor's center and an arrival center (a place to stay, for those coming long distances). It just makes me so happy that I was able to play a small part in helping to get a temple in Italy. Italy, of all places! I watched this video this morning and just started crying. :)