8 hours too late and $23 later.

So each month, I have to go to the pharmacy to pick up my birth control. I can only get one at a time, because that's all my insurance will cover for the month. So I kept forgetting to get more, till finally the day that I needed to take it (I take it right before bed), I go and get it. I come home and am sitting at the computer while I open the pharmacy bag. I guess I got distracted with the computer, because I put it behind the keyboard, so Anna wouldn't be able to reach it. My memory gets a little fuzzy here, but I faintly recall her somehow getting it and me telling her that's my birth control. I guess I was distracted because I didn't take it from her. Well, that night before going to bed, I look for it and I can't find it. I then remember she had it. So Dan and I start scouring the house looking for it. We look in all the little places that she likes to put stuff-the garbage, the recycling, under the couch, in the bookshelf, the kitchen drawers, etc. We can't find it anywhere. So, we go to bed. I look again in the morning and still cannot find it. It's 10:30 am by now, so I decide to call the pharmacy to get more. I now have to pay out of pocket, which is $30. In the end, I really lost $23, since I only pay $7 each month for it.

Then, at 6:30 pm, Anna is playing and all of a sudden she is holding my birth control. She has a little Leap Frog Learning table and it has a little hole/pocket thing with a flip lid. She doesn't play with it much anymore and it's kind of in the corner of the living room. It turns out, she put it in there. We looked under the table, but completely forgot about the little pocket there. It was kind of annoying, because we lost that money. I think I would have felt better had we found it like a week later or something, as opposed to only 8 hours later. Oh well, it was my fault, so I can only blame myself.

It was in here the whole time!

On a much happier note, we have been blessed a lot lately. It turns out that Dan is teaching six classes this year instead of five. He doesn't get a prep period. This also means that he gets an increase of 1/6 his salary. It's a pretty nice chunk of money each month. We feel so blessed to be able to have this. It's only for this year, but who knows, maybe it will happen next year. The district had to lay off people, but there are so many students, that rather than hire a new teacher, they just have teachers teach 6 classes instead of five.

We'll be saving the majority of the money. I would like to save for a down payment on a car. The car we have now runs fine, but it is pretty old. It's a '91. However, it was Dan's grandma's before she passed away and she kept it in really good condition and didn't drive it much. When we got it 2 years ago, it had less than 100,000 miles on it. We just barely hit the 100,000 mile mark a month ago. It also has great AC and heat. I figure we'll need a mini van, especially if we're going to have more than 2 kids (which we're planning on). We're very, very grateful for this blessing.

Maybe something like this would be nice.

Anna's new wall decor

So after almost a year of living in our house, I've finally gotten Anna's room pretty much decorated. There are still more things I need to do, but at least now there are actually wall hangings. :)

These frames were wood and I painted them (I posted about these a few months ago. $1 each from Michaels). On the white one, I put on brown vinyl flowers. I was going to put a word on it, but decided not to, since I'll be putting a word on the wall. I don't know yet what word it will be, but it will be cute. :) I'm going to put centers on the bigger flowers as well.

This one is a little out of focus, our camera is weird sometimes and some angles it won't do automatic focus, so you have to do it yourself. I think they look really cute. I used material from Anna's blanket and put it in place of a picture.

Here are some shelves I painted. I'm not particularly crazy about these shelves, but I bought them and it's too late to take them back, so oh well. I'm thinking of painting the smaller one brown, to give some contrast.

This little photo easel, is from IKEA. I've had it since high school and never really used it. Same with the frame. I thought it would look cute in Anna's room. In fact the lamp in Anna's room is from IKEA too. I've had that since high school, all through college and now in my first home.

Here's a shot of all the new stuff together. I still need a white tall stand up lamp (or smaller one to put on the dresser) to replace the hanging one, since it doesn't go at all with anything. I'm on the lookout for that. I still feel like the top of her dresser is kind of blah. I'll see if I can make it look more cute. I'm also thinking of making curtains, we'll see if I can find some cute material.

I was at Toys R Us today and got these little stacking cups for Anna. She LOVES them. She just sat on the floor and played with them for a half hour. I tried to show her how to stack them, but I think that's a little too advanced for her right now. She's just having fun putting them in one another.

I have also been working on Anna's quilt. I'm hoping to get it done by this week. I did a lot on it this morning during her morning nap and was planning on doing more during her afternoon nap, but lately she hasn't been wanting to take an afternoon nap, even though it's obvious she's tired. I guess I'll have to wait till she goes to bed.

Longest Night Ever

So last night, we put Anna to bed, only to have her wake up an hour later. Poor little thing, she had a runny nose, cough, gas and just was not a happy little camper. I tried and tried to get her to fall back asleep to no avail. Finally, I brought her out to the living room and Dan and I finished the movie we were watching (The Incredibles, which I had never seen. It's such a good movie).

Basically, for the entire night, till 7 am this morning, she kept waking up. I would get her to sleep for about 10-20 minutes, then she would wake up again. I would have to get her back to sleep. We rotated from her crib, to our bed, then the couch, back to our bed, etc. I found that she just wanted to be held. So on the couch and our bed, I just had to lay her on me and she would fall asleep. Then kind of roll off of me, be fine for a bit, then wake up crying. Her gas was hurting her, but we had run out of gas medicine. It was a very, very long night. Dan wasn't able to sleep too well either due to her crying and me coming in and out of bed. Finally, at 7 am, I woke up Dan and had him take her, while I got 2.5 hours of consecutive sleep. She was still sick, so I went to sacrament meeting, while Dan stayed home. Then, he went the last hour to teach Young Mens, while I stayed home with Anna.

I just felt so bad for her, she was so miserable and tired. She had a few happy spurts today, but mostly just wanted to be held. Luckily, she hasn't made a peep since we put her down tonight, and I'm REALLY hoping it stays that way, because I'm tired. She's usually such a happy baby, so it's no fun to see her so miserable.

I just had to put a happy picture of her up. She was so cute in her little swimsuit.

I heart vinyl.

I love vinyl! It is so cool. I love that my cricut expressions machine cuts it. It really makes cutting vinyl so cheap. I bought this brown vinyl for Anna's room forever ago, but was waiting for my b-day, so I could get the cartridge with a cute font that I liked. The other cartridge I had, the fonts were rather plain. So, I finally got around to cutting it and putting it up. I think it looks so cute and it's so easy to do! The best part is how cheap it is, compared to what you find in a crafts store. The "Anna" and "sweet" cost me $6. The Anna is pretty big font. This would easily cost me $20. I've seen sayings anywhere from $20-$40. I bought the vinyl at Joann's. It comes in 2 sheets of 12x24. It's normally $10, but I use a %40 off coupon and I got it for $6. I love coupons!

I'm going to add a flower on each side, to make it look not so boring.

I still need to re-do the "t." I had some issues with my machine and made a mistake. :)

If any of my CA friends want to put up vinyl, you're more than welcome to come over and I'll cut it for you on my machine. The cartridges I have include fonts and images. Just let me know. :)

Summer Fun!

This summer has FLOWN by! The last few weeks have been especially busy for us. We went to Utah for a week, then were home for a few days, then left again for Washington to visit my family and friends. And now Dan has to go back to work on Wednesday :(. Even though there is still the whole month of August, it feels like the summer is already over because he has to start work again. I'm just thankful he gets a 2 month break!

There is so much to catch up on, where do I start? Utah was a lot of fun. I always love going there because I get to see old roommates, mission companions, and family. This trip was even better because Anna is weaned and I could leave her for longer amounts of time without worrying if she was okay or hungry. Dan and I got to do a session in the Provo temple. We haven't done a session since before Anna was born. The few times we've been able to go before we've always done sealings, since they're shorter. I love the temple, it was so nice to be there with Dan and get a reminder about perspective and life. Anna had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Phelan and all her aunts and uncles.

Anna with Grandpa-he was running down the hallway, carrying her. She loved it.

We got back from Utah and were home for a few days, then off to WA! It's been a long time since I've been home, about 4 years. It was a lot of fun. There were people hadn't seen in SO long-people from church and high school. It was kind of odd to be in a small town again. My mom and I took a walk at 9:00 pm down a street and the whole time I was thinking, I could never feel safe doing this back in CA. :) The best part of being home was attending my best friend's wedding. They got married in the Seattle temple and it was such a beautiful ceremony. I was so happy for her. Seeing her with her husband in their temple clothes, being sealed for time and eternity was so cool. I was blinking back tears the whole time. I wished Dan could have been with me, but he was watching Anna.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Anna stuffing her face with watermelon, while sitting in a high chair that was at LEAST 40 years old. We went to visit my great aunt and she said she had had this forever.

Where's Anna??? Our little camoflauge baby, playing with the flowers.

Anna LOVES rocks-big or small. This is in my mom's backyard. She had so much fun going outside and just playing with the rocks.

This one is actually at home, just scootin' around with Daddy.

I LOVE this picture. This is at the Seattle temple and I think she looks so cute.

At the beach with Grandma.

She was so funny. She has a green been in her mouth. I took the picture below and then right after, she did this. Silly baby.

She just loved green beans from the garden!

Hiding in Grandma's garden.

Me and my best friend, Sarah.

It's been a good summer, very busy and we got a lot of working and playing done. Now, it's back to the grind. :)

Anna's 1st Birthday Party!

Anna turned one on Friday! How does the time fly by so quickly??? I can't believe my baby is already one. She had such a good b-day party. Her grandma, grandpa, and aunts and uncles (Dan's family), all came out from Utah for the celebration. We had some other friends over as well. We had a bbq, then a pinata for the kids, followed by cake and presents. She was in such a GOOD mood the whole time. She napped really well that day, so she was so happy the whole time. We had bought some sidewalk chalk and there were 4 other kids at the party, and they all loves playing with it. Naturally, Anna wanted to be with them. It was so cute, she kept following around these other little girls and just wanted to be around them. She finally caught on to how to use the sidewalk chalk.

Loving the chalk!

I think this is my new favorite picture of her. Absolutely adorable!

Me, helping Anna with the pinata. She started laughing every time I hit it with the stick.

Anna's new hat!

Singing happy birthday to Anna while I bring out the cake.

I made her, her own little cake. At first she just kind of poked it. I put some frosting in her mouth and once she realized it was good, she dug right in.

She was loving it!

Presents! This other little girl, Sadie, wanted to open presents too. We had to keep giving her empty bags to play with. :)

I love it already, Mom!

Overall, it was a fun party. I was a little stressed out earlier trying to make her cake. I made one, and the frosting was a little too thin and the whole thing just looked awful. It looked like Anna made it, no joke. So I ended up making another one and it looked much better.

We had fun with Dan's family. They all adore Anna and she was loving the attention she gets from them.

On another note, Anna is now weaned, so that meant that today was my first fast Sunday in almost 2 years! Plus, I got a sore throat yesterday, so needless to say, it was a hard fast Sunday. But, in a way, it was nice to be able to fast again.

My new kitchen find

Here is my new decoration find for the kitchen. I think they're really cute. AND I got them for really cheap. I bought them at Kohls. I was sent a $10 gift card in the mail, so I went there to see if I could find anything. They were having a sale on home decor items, 55% off! These were originally $10.99, $4.99 with the sale. I bought three, used my free $10 and ended up paying $4.61 or basically $1.50 each. Not a bad deal if I say so myself.

For some reason, in this picture, the last one's background turned out almost a light gray instead of a dark purple color.

I liked them to begin with, but now that they're up, I like them even more. I think they're perfect for my Italian themed kitchen. The only down side, is the background color is similar to the color of the kitchen walls. I would eventually like to either put them in a darker frame, or add some kind of background to them, to give some contrast, so we'll see what I can find for them.

These next few pictures are sad, but cute at the same time. The last few days we've been trying to get our backyard cleaned up, and she's been playing in the dirt a lot. So, last night, she was on the patio and ventured onto the dirt for a bit. She had a runny nose, then wiped her face with dirt and it stuck to the snot and this is what we got. She started crying because we wouldn't let her go near the garden. It was close to her bed time as well, so she was tired. We thought she looked so funny with all the dirt on her.

Poor little thing.