worst habit

i have a lot of bad habits but one of them is probably my focus. some things can really irritate me, like dishes in a sink and until they are done, I cannot focus on anything. it can get pretty bad and I have a horrible listening problem...."What??" is probably my key phrase. i don't do it on purpose though, I just can't hear anything...ever.


we took C to Knotts SCARY farm a few weeks ago. She hated it, all the people screaming really freaked her out. sorry kiddo.

A picture of me last year and now and how have I changed since then

December 2009:
9 months pregnant
now have an 11 month old
C is now number one priority
my perspective relies on her needs
i enjoy the small things now - first smile, laugh, roll over, sit up, kisses, clapping, "hi", "dada", floor to sitting, standing, crawling, waving, and now we are working on blowing kisses.
my life has completely changed and i love the adventure.

A photo of somewhere I've been to.

ghana.
2006, finishing up my masters.
it was a wild ride and the people are fantastic. They are Full of Life and it gave me a different perspective on everything.
Hoping one day I can go back to that beautiful country.
and my favorite picture was of this little girl in a private school we saw. no roof, just a few benches but that girl had some sass and I loved her for it.

Challenge 17: A photo of something that means a lot to me

i had to think for awhile about this one. I was trying to think of something material or tangible. Here it is:

TIME

time is so precious and I always feel like it is slipping through my fingers. Life is going so fast and I just want it to slow down.
I'm trying to enjoy every moment I can with family and I think my favorite TIME was in Hawaii.
because TIME was never a constriction, it was on my side....and yes the week went by fast, but when we were there it was awesome all the TIME we spent together. It was just enjoying every aspect and I didn't feel a clock ticking in my ear or hear an alarm clock going off.

I like when TIME is on my side.

Challenge 16: What is in my purse

we all know that the purse is no longer an option. my last purse was the diaper bag and I'm still running around with it. Johnny did a great job, I wanted a simple bag that was not a backpack. I can't sport the backpack, i look like even more of a hunch back walking around.

so we have diapers
lotion
random snacks
bib
extra outfit
antibac
wipes
binky
books
little people - the zebra and the pig are her favorites
and usually some sort of lip gloss

oh, and that silly thing they call the iphone, plus a pair of glasses in case im driving. exciting stuff....most boring post of my life. next one please.

Something I crave

I love pretty much anything that has sugar. But i love a great red velvet cupcake With Cream Cheese (always about cheese people). everyone once and awhile johnny or johnny's brother would pick me up red velvet cupcake from sprinkles if they were in Newport.

i haven't had one in a long time, and it is a bit far for a cupcake that is overpriced. sigh. but i'm hearing there is a great cupcake place in orange.....makes for an adventure. we will have to see....

A photo of something that makes me Happy

Ugh, I'm so behind, but I got the sickness again. this time it was the cold.

these are two photos that make me very happy. the one I have framed in my bedroom, it was the first time I saw Carly. I think giving birth is probably one of the if not the coolest thing I have ever experienced. You have all these emotions in such a small time frame and seeing Carly for the first time was just a very joyous occasion. Seeing Johnny so excited and proud was an added bonus. It reminds me what is important, family and God's plan.

December Madness!!!!!

Okay, I'm a little behind in my posting, but it has been crazy and December is here and it is full of events ALL the time. We are all a little sleep deprived over here but still loving life.


So, I'm going to condense a few things in one post, not cheating, I'm being efficient for both me and any readers.
A photo and description of what's in my makeup bag? the only thing I truly love is TRAX eyeshadow from MAC. It makes me feel like a whole new me when I put it on and the Bobbi Brown pink quartz bronzer.

- A photograph of the town I live in. I live in a great town and I love it.

- A TV show I'm currently addicted to - Burn Notice. it is amazing. it is the only action/comedy to watch on tv these days.

- Something I don't leave the house without - My Nalgene Water Bottle. It is my bestie right now and has been since Carly has been born.

Now on to bigger & better things. Carly has a TOOTH! woohoo! i guess. we have been blaming a lot of things of teething but no tooth would ever show up. Well, it made its debut last week and its a cutie.


This is Carly's new favorite mode of transportation. The Wise Walker, my mom has saved this and it is the best thing ever in the house. It is mostly tile downstairs and she is cruising. Her favorite thing is to take off one sock and carry it around, i'm not sure why, but she only likes to have one sock on.

an item I last purchased

This has been a long time coming. We have been talking about this beauty for a year.
It is here.
It breathes life into the carpet again.
Can you hear my favorite things playing again? yes, i can.
welcome home baby.

A recipe

German Pancakes
6 Eggs
1 Cup of Flour
1 Cup of Milk
1/4 tsp of Salt
4 Tbsp Butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine eggs, milk, flour, salt in a bowl. Beat until fluffy and smooth. Put two tablespoons of butter in each of two pie pans. Put tins in the oven as it preheats to melt the butter (watch it, it will burn fast). Pour half o the batter in each pie tin. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 mins (we do 16).
I serve with lemon/lime wedges and powdered sugar.
Johnny likes his with honey.

A Song to Match my Mood & Why

well, if I really posted on Thursday, which was so fun yet extremely busy it would be:
My Favorite Things from the Sound of Music.
Why - for some reason, when i was little The Sound of Music was always on during Thanksgiving.
Holidays are some of my favorite things. I was so glad to spend time with family.
We are so grateful for many of our favorite things but especially Family and good health.

photo of an animal i would like to keep as a pet

I always thought an elephant would be a cool animal to have around. All i know is that when I saw my first elephant in the wild it was pretty amazing. They are graceful and enormous creatures up close.

A photo of myself 2 years ago

johnny's bday (december). living in california for 6 months, still have that sweater and I still consider it new. hahaha.

20 of My Favorite Things

1. My FAMILY Pictures - thank you Kelsey Crowder for taking our awesome family photos. Carly was in a very serious mood and Kels's little one was barfing yet she got great shots of us. Thank you thank you.



2. Lightening storms - I remember watching them in New Mexico every summer growing up and my Dad and I would sit on the back of the pick up truck in the garage and watch them
3. California perfect days - perfect temperature most of the time and it amazes me constantly that I can just go running or for a walk.
4. Holidays - I love love the holidays and happiness it brings with fun, family, and good memories
5. Trampolines - hoping one day I'll have a yard that will hold one...sigh
6. History - I love History and esp American History, love to read all about it and watch shows on it
7. Pajama Pants - i can't imagine my life w/out pj bottoms and the sad part is that I wore them to school, which looking back was totally wrong and ridiculous but whatever.
8. Gerber Daisies - love them and Poppys too. They always can bring a smile to my face, pretty much any flower can do that.
9. Conference - when i was little i thought how amazing that i get to not go to church and play Barbies all day long (and i had to play them in front of the tv during conference - my mom always made us watch it), but I always look forward to it now. Not because of Barbies.....
10. Old Photos - I love to look at old photos of people, my family and friends. Brings so many fun memories back
11. Maps - I love to know where I'm going, what is around and how far is it from stuff. Love google maps and I could spend way more time on it than anything. I'm not sure how we got anywhere before Google Maps.
12. Books - even though I haven't had much time these days to read them, I still love them and when I got my first job at 11, I spent all my money on books. I loved those Fear Street ones, creepy huh.
13. Burn Notice - the only show that me and Johnny have in common and I love it. I hate watching it because I don't want it to end and we love it.
14. Music - I love most top 40 but I am eagerly listening to Christmas music BEFORE Thanksgiving. Yes, i'm a rule breaker.
15. Watching Christmas Vacation with my Dad - trust me you would put this on your list if you watched it with him too.
16. Fall - I love love fall and everything it brings....and even though we don't have the best falls in California, it is here you just have to look for it.
17. Dogs - I love dogs and I love little Bentley. She never leaves my side on a bad day and even though she wants to play ball 24/7, she is a cool little mutt. thanks for staying with me on Thursday little pup.
18. Families
19. and chocolate filled panda cookies (i was trying so hard not to include food in my favorite things but they are delicious.

Day 3: A photograph of my Best Friend

i can't just pick one photo. That is like eating just one cookie. not happening.
3 photos.

of course i had to put my favorite photo of my Sister. i love this one because she is always going 100 miles an hour in every direction. this was taken at the San Antonio Temple after Katelyn's baptism. she has always and will always be a best friend.


this is my favorite photo of johnny because he looks so beach comfy. this is down at Oceanside with our friends. He surfed, he is always happy when he gets to surf and we just spent time relaxing and enjoying our time with good people.


i have this framed on my work desk. it reminds me to work hard so we can play hard which i did during my maternity leave. here, carly is 3 months and her and her Dad are enjoying the Ocean. somehow in that moment it seems like we are the only ones on the Beach from that picture but it was packed. But still with life as it is, we always need to step aside and enjoy those peaceful happy moments.

Day 2: A photo of myself and a description of how my day was

okay, I'm already behind folks. Luckily, my baby is up early so we are playing and typing on the computer.
The photo is when I was in Ghana in 2006. That is a photo project I'm still working on.

Day = Lazy much needed Day

5:30am - Johnny gets up for surfing, pouring rain but he still is going
5:45 - Baby gets up, feed and go downstairs
7:00 -Feed Baby
8:00 -Baby goes baby down to bed
9:00 - shower
10:30 -Costco, real quick, hundreds of people and I will never go there again on a Saturday
11:00 -run back to the house, let the dog out and head down to Lake Forest
12:15 - meet up with some old friends for sushi in lake forest, feed baby & feed baby. not sure how smart this was since my stomach stills hurts from thursday. must be working those abs while vomiting!
2:15 - head back to Brea
3:00 let Dog out, lay Baby down and fall asleep
5:00 - wake up, feed baby, play with Toys
6:00 - johnny leaves for his boy time
6:30 - head to panera with Mich for a good salad, feed Baby
8:00 -back to Mich's house
8:30 - return, feed baby, get her ready for bed and to sleep she goes
10:00 - johnny returns, talk back to bed we go

pretty lazy huh. yeah, much needed day.

Day 1: 15 Facts about me

1. I love breakfast (of course my first thing would be food because its late and i'm already waiting for my next meal)
2. I love a good run
3. I'm addicted to my iphone secretly but don't tell Johnny, I tell him it is a piece of junk (that's u At&T -losers)
4. I love reality tv....bravo
5. i have an addictive personality, currently I love these chocolate filled pandas from singapore. they are so yummy and costco sells them now.
6. exceptionally small behind, genetic defect
7. dorky (thanks Johnny)
8. i'm very direction oriented
9. i love Bentleys...even small 5lb ones
10. i love laying in the sun and reading a good mag
11. I love cheese..any kind..the stinkier the better
12. I love pajama bottoms and I work in them a lot
13. I get a high off cleaning
11. I love holding my baby...anytime...any day
12. i married my best friend & my better half

Challenge: 30 day posts, say what?

okay so Kelsey has inspired me and I am horrible at blogging and worse at writing down anything! I had so much fun reading her challenge. And I think printing out the Blog is such a great idea to document what we use to call Journals!
Memories are in my head, never written down so I'm going to do this. and you should do it too.

Here is the challenge:
- 15 facts about me.
- A photo of myself and a description of how my day was.
- My favorite photograph of my best friend.
- 20 of my favourite things
- A photo of myself two years ago.
- A photo of an animal I'd love to keep as a pet.
- A song to match my mood, and why.
- A recipe
- A photo of the item I last purchased.
- A photo and description of what's in my makeup bag?
- A photograph of the town I live in.
- A TV show I'm currently addicted to.
- Something I don't leave the house without.
- A photo of something that makes me happy.
- Something I crave a lot.
- What's in my purse?
- A photo of something that means a lot to me.
- A photo of somewhere I've been to.
- A picture of me last year and now and how have I changed since then?
- My worst habit
- 5 of my biggest pet peeves
- My celebrity crush.
- Something I could never get tired of doing.
- My favourite book
- A photo that makes me happy
- A photo that makes me angry/sad
- My dream house
- An art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc) that means something to me.
- A song that makes me cry (or nearly)
- A photograph of myself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

good luck e.

Birthday Parties

we took C to a her buddy's birthday bash. It was so fun to see how much fun birthdays are going to be. and i realized just how fast these past few months have gone.
C had her first swing ride, slide ride, and even a red vine. She loved it all but Johnny decided the swing should go a little higher and I thought she was going to die. She clamped up and held her breath, poor thing. I guess she is a little like me.....
we had a fun filled Saturday with great friends and good family time.

O'Halloween!

Well, Halloween was official this year. We had a great time trunk o treating! All the Grandmas and Grandpas we so nice to give C some Candy.
All she got was a sucker for about 2 mins.....then we took it away. until next year....

utah..and she crawled

haha, i did it. the pictures are in order. all is well.

well, carly and i decided to do a quick trip to utah before winter came because i don't go to utah from november to april. sorry, it is too cold. i'm bummed i didn't get to see more of my aunts and uncles, i was literally there 2 full days. we came in on wednesday and left on saturday. thanks to Cammers for being my car pool buddy. I completely understand why people drive at night with kids. i get it. they sleep and it is amazing.


we did get to stay with Aunt Margaret on the way up. it was so fun to see her house (she has lived there for years) and it is just outside Cedar. we were able to get some rest before we hit the orange barrel madness the next day. We were really grateful for the sleep and it was fun to see them.

Wednesday afternoon, we saw Granny and went to robintinos. yes, always have to get my little cenetta. it was so fun to see her and i'm glad carly gets to see her so often.

Then we saw Kara, Chad, and Miss Say Say. her and carly are 4 weeks apart and they are besties. i'm still in mourning that they have left California but very excited they live in utah where i often visit. it was so fun to see these babies interact and play off each other. we love them and their rad house. keep the red wallpaper or frame a piece of it Please!

and Carly got to meet her cousin Matthew. We had a great time visiting with my Brother.

and Carly Crawled. We stayed with my Sarah and had the best visit and just good down time. Sarah got to witness her first real crawl and i told Sarah, "no, she doesn't crawl."
yep she did and we got it on film for Johnny. i felt bad he missed it, he was practicing with her all the week before.

now, i'm quickly learning there is no more set the baby down and change the laundry, nope. its over folks. my posh life is done.
she has now found new freedom and now i don't have to hear all the stories of people not crawling.

by the way, i walked first. maybe that is why i can't remember to post my pictures backwards.

standing up...a whole new world.

for some reason, i really have a hard time remembering these pictures post backwards. i really even thought about it this time.

September was crazy. we came back from vacation, sent Jordan on a mission and Jim got married off, obviously, those are the pictures below that I can't remember to post last! i keep waiting for my mind to return, nope, not going too.

Carly's new favorite thing is to stand up on anything and everything. I really started to panic because everyone asks, "is she crawling?". no, she doesn't care to and then they tell me she HAS to crawl or her right brain won't connect to her left brain. really? don't i have enough to worry about besides her getting into EVERYTHING? please, no more stories about grown men going to back to crawl. i can't handle the panic attacks.

but she has found a new Independence with standing up. Thank you Johnny for teaching her and she has quickly learned not to let go!

Whirlwind

I always forget that my pictures post backwards. so we are going back in time...with the most recent adventures.


Jordan checked into the MTC officially on Wednesday, we will miss him. He's going to be a great missionary.

and we finally took a vacation
hawaii was amazing, we did everything we could in 8 days with a baby. i honestly feel like i can't even remember what we did because we did so much. the best part was just not working and being with my family. now that we have taken a vacation, i'm already starting to plan our next one, who is up for Bora Bora???!! i have to aim high, i mean hawaii was our first real vacation!


so i came home feeling pretty depressed. leaving hawaii, taking the red eye, saying goodbye to jordan (happy tears!), work, getting the baby back on a schedule, running and feeling the jiggle jiggle, no more treats because of jiggle jiggle.....

and then carly learned to clap today. i came unglued with perfection and happiness in a single moment with her just clapping.
life is good. Thanks carly for making my day.

good stage

i really do miss the newborn/cuddly stage...BUT i love the sitting - not-crawling stage.
C really loves being independent and sitting up. and i love that she is so happy to do so.

we also had a fun visit from her cousins, we played hard, made cinnamon rolls, had a sleep over, went shopping, and just hung out. had a blast.

going vintage

carly in my pink dress

me in the same dress with the coat

she still looks like her dad

love you carly girl