I have fallen off the face of the blogging earth

And with good reason to.

I am a bit (ok, somewhat) overwhelmed with my new responsibility of Primary president. 

Yep, somehow my bishopric was tricked into thinking that an eight month pregnant, shift-worker's wife was the perfect canidate for the job.

And let me tell you, I am actually really excited about it.....minus the fact that I might have to kiss some of my spare time (what's that?) goodbye. 

I have been in the primary presidency for the last 7ish months and have LOVED it! 

I am just thinking all those baby projects that are half started may never be finished.  My baby won't care if her quilt doesn't get done 'til she's one, right? 

And my husband won't care if the corner shelf, he so lovingly painted for me, doesn't get antiqued for the next month or two.  Right?  I mean, who needs the use of their recently organized garage anyway?  Especially when you live in Arizona.  :)

All kidding aside, I am thrilled to still be in the primary and I am super excited about the ladies I get to work with. 

AND, this pregnant lady is DETERMINED to still cross a few things off her to-do list...with the help of her ever-supportive husband, of course.

Goin' to church in style

Once I found the little bag for Alayna's "Crispers", I told her we could decorate it.  Just days before finding her little bag, I came across a tutorial to make a ruffle bag. 

And because every girl likes ruffles, we decided to make said ruffle bag.  Only, a miniature one in her case.

Layna picked the fabric.  And I did the creating.

Turned out pretty darn cute, huh?

In fact, I thought it turned out so cute, that I made a mom-size version for me. 

I have to admit, I like hers better, but alas, not all my church "stuff" would fit in her bag.  So I'm stickin' with mine.

29 Weeks

Only 11 more weeks to go!  Yikes.  It sounds a little scary when I put it that way.  (Maybe I'll just stick to saying 29 weeks.)

Here I am.  

As you can tell, baby is growing.  Although, I am somewhat proud to say that I actually measured a little (ok, a tiny) bit smaller than the 28 that I was supposed to, (I don't think that I have ever measured small) but nothing to be concerned about.

Baby girl continues to be doing great.  If I remember correctly, I think her heart rate was 138 at the last appointment (which seems to be typical for her).  She has quite a bit slower heart rate compared to Alayna and her temperament also seems to be more mellow (minus the fact that every doctor that has listened to her comments on how much of a mover she is, but let's disregard that for now).  Let's take her calm temperament as a sign that maybe she will be an easier baby than Alayna.  (Fingers crossed.)  As most of my family recalls, Alayna was NOT the easiest baby.  In fact, she was quite hard.  So, here's to hoping that this baby's calm temperament continues on.  (Although, I am comforted in the fact that I survived a HARD baby once.  I can do it again.)

I still feel really good.  In fact, when people ask me how I am doing, I kind of feel silly because I don't have much to report.  I always just say I am feelin' good.  I have the typical aches and pains here and there, but nothing to really complain about.  I am starting to notice I am a bit more uncomfortable at times, but who wouldn't with a belly my size. :) 

Layna felt the baby kick for the first time tonight and to be honest, I think it freaked her out a little.  But once we explained to her that was how the baby was saying hi to her, she was pretty excited.   We talked about how the baby is going to live with us at our house and we asked her if she was excited about that.  She enthusiastically said, "Yes!"  (Guess we'll see how she really does when the time comes.)

As for names, we are getting somewhat closer.  And by that I mean we have 3 possibilities, but we still are looking.  Rest assured, we are working as hard as we can to make sure this little girl's name isn't "baby" or "Grantalina" as my Dad calls her (considering his name is Grant after all).

Layna didn't want to be left out of the picture taking, so here we are.

Be on the lookout for upcoming crafting posts.  I am getting in the crafting mood. 

Craft #1.  Baby quilt.

Hello Pinterest

Where have you been all my life?

So, I have caught the pinterest bug. 

I have to admit that I somewhat purposefully waited to try it out.  Yeah, I am rebellious like that.  Sometimes when something is big, I like to hold off before I jump on the bandwagon.  (It took a long time for me to sign up for facebook...and even then I am not a big facebook-er.  Gasp.)

I will confess that it is quite genius.  Why couldn't I come up with an idea like Pinterest?

I have a disclaimer though.  While I really like that I have one place that I can stash my ideas, I haven't been completely sucked in.  Some people have claimed that they waste so much time on Pinterest, but really I haven't found that to be the case.  (I see how you could though.) 

*Thanks for all the comments,  ideas and encouragement for getting my recipes organized.  Rest assured, my recipes will get organized....one way or another. :)

7 Years

7 years of being married to the most amazing man.

{Sigh.}

I truly love this man with all my heart.

And as the card my parents sent us said:


"A lifetime of love with the love of your life.
 It doesn't get much better than that."


Seriously, it doesn't get much better than that....except for the fact that I get to spend eternity with the love of my life!   What more can a girl ask for?

Crispers

Sometimes, as a parent, there are moments that melt your heart.  And you think, "Maybe I am doing something right." 

The other night, we had one of those moments.

With all the excitement and busy-ness of the holidays, Alayna's bedtime routine has been a little off.  She has fallen asleep in the car more than once over the past few days, and couple of the other nights, she has been so exhausted that we are doing good to just get her in her jammies. 

Anyway, the other night Dan was woken up to Alayna poking his arm at 4 in the morning.  He looked at the clock and said, "What's the matter?"  To which, Alayna responded, "Crispers, my crispers."  By now I had woken up and was trying to figure out what was not going on.  Dan said, "Your slippers?"  (Alayna got some new slippers for Christmas.)  She quickly responded, "No!" and grabbed Dan's hand and led him to her room where she kept saying the same thing, "Crispers!" all while searching around her room.

Dan was at a loss for what she wanted.  And after a couple minutes, Alayna just started bawling.  She was beside herself about something and, Dan just couldn't understand what she was saying.  Over and over again he tried to figure it out, but to no avail.  Finally after a few minutes of crying, she settled down and went back to sleep.

Dan came back into our room and told me all that happened and we went back to bed. 

The next morning at breakfast, I asked Alayna why she came into our room the night before and why she was crying.  She told me she started crying because we "Borgot crispers".  I said, "You forgot your slippers?"   

"No!" she said, "Crispers!" 

And then it dawned on me.  SCRIPTURES! 

"Scriptures?  We forgot to read our scriptures?"

"YEAH!"  she exclaimed.

Bless her heart.  We forgot to read scriptures the night before and she came to tell us.  When we didn't know what she was talking about, she went to show Dan, but searched and couldn't find them in her room. (They were left in our room from the previous day.)  And that's when she started crying....

Boy, did we feel bad.  But completely proud at the same time.  What a sweet little girl we have that just wants to do what is right and read her "Crispers".  :)

I'm not "Twenty-sick" anymore

I'm another year older.  And as Alayna would say, I am not "Twenty-sick" anymore. 

{Sigh.}

I am going to miss her telling me that I am "Twenty-sick".  Because seriously, is that not just cute?!?  But I guess Twenty-seben will have to do.

I had an extremely relaxing day spent with my two favorite people, who might I add, SPOILED me. 

I had my very own present opener who pampered me because I only had to open two of my presents/cards.  The rest of the time, I got to sit, relax and watch my present opener do all the work.

I was in charge of the sharp knife when we needed to open a box, though. 

This present in particular was quite the surprise: A Bosch mixer from my sweet husband.

This box was the reason why my present opener was shirking on her duties.  Once, she saw the size of it, she realized she could take lay down and relax instead.

She even wanted a little privacy and asked for us to close the box.

Me with all my loot. Boy, did I get spoiled!  Can you tell there was a theme for most of my gifts?  I am not sure what my family is trying to say about my cooking, but I have a feeling that I will be spending some time in the kitchen trying out my new gifts.  :)

Christmas Day

Christmas day was of course filled with fun at our house. 

Alayna woke us up bright and early at 6 a.m.

We asked her if she remembered who came to our house last night (since she fell asleep in the car looking at Christmas lights the night before).  It took a little prompting, but she remembered Santa came.  We grabbed the video camera/camera and headed into the family room to see what Santa brought.  She quickly ran to her gifts and grabbed her Purplicious book and exclaimed, "My purple book!" while giving it a hug.  (Side note: After reading Pinkalicous almost nightly, she would turn the book over and tell Dan that she wanted the "purple book".)

And I think Santa pretty much won her over from then on out.  I later asked her if she liked Santa and she said she did and then added, "He comes when I am asleep."  I still don't think she would like him if he were to come during the day, but at night is fine with her.

It took several minutes for her to even notice the "bigger" gift that Santa left her (a highchair for her doll).  She was just so content with her "Purple book" and the other smaller gifts Santa brought.

Opening presents.

Holding up her Wyoming t-shirt from Grandma and Grandpa L.

Playing with her train set from Mommy and Daddy.

The doll highchair.  Santa (and Mrs. Claus) spent a few hours in their workshop making it.

We think it turned out pretty great.

Watching her movie from Santa.  The old version of The Parent Trap.  I think it's safe to say, she was quite into it.

Alayna set up a tea party for her baby with her new tea set from Grandma and Grandpa L.

Later we played one of her new games: Candyland.

I had to add this picture.  This is such a typical "cheese" picture.

A picture of Daddy's presents.

And because I know you were all dying to know what Alayna bought Dan....a play tool set.  Right up his alley.  He loved it. 

I somehow missed getting my picture taken by my loot.  But here it is anyway.

And Alayna with all her presents.  She just had to hold up her nail polish.

I think it is safe to say we were all spoiled and it was a great day!

Sugar cookie man

Grandma L. surprised us and sent a Christmas treat: a huge Gingerbread man cookie kit. 

It was the perfect thing to pass the time.  Layna loved making her sugar cookie man.

Sitting next to the finished product:

A pic of the sugar cookie man himself.  She decorated him all her self.  I only helped when I was told to.

And another picture just for good measure.

Can you believe how old my little girl is looking in these pictures?!?  I can't.

So much for my mother's intuition

And here is where I am admitting I was wrong.  Dead wrong. 

Remember how I mentioned earlier that Dan and I were thinking opposites when it came to the gender of our baby?

Well, we did indeed find out what we are having.  But let me explain a little before I reveal what our baby is.

First. I just knew Alayna was a girl.  I somehow knew long before I even was pregnant with her that I would have a girl first.  And Dan and I were on the same page when it came to her.  I will never forget what the ultrasound tech said to me when we were about ready to find out her gender.

"So what do you think you are having?  What is your Mother's intuition?" 
And I said, "Well, I don't know if I would call it Mother's intuition, but..." 
And then she jokingly said, "Well, we'll call it Mother's intuition if you are right....and an educated guess if you are wrong. " 
Once she confirmed that we were indeed right.  She said, "See, Mother's intuition."

Well, I have to admit, I prided myself on that little fact.  The fact I had Mother's intuition when it came to my baby.  So this time around I figured the same thing.

For the last little while I was just really feeling like I knew what we were having.  In fact, I was 99.9% sure.  But Dan seemed to think differently.  And being, that we could not persuade each other to change our mind, we decided to place a friendly bet where the winner won....... a foot rub.  I mean, go big or go home, right?  Well, a foot rub was sounding pretty fantastic to me.  Not to mention the winner had bragging rights and I was ready for those bragging rights of me and my Motherly intuition.

So the day came and all I could think about was how right I was and how wrong Dan was.  Seriously.  I was SURE I was right.

So when the tech asked if we wanted to find out and we assured her that we did, she mumbled (and I mean mumbled).

"It looks like it's a GIRL."

I had to immediately say, "GIRL? Did you say GIRL?!?" 

(Obviously, I was thinking that we were having a baby of the boy kind.)

She checked again and said, "OH YEAH.  It's a GIRL!"  As she proceeded to show us.  I then turned to Dan and exclaimed, "Well, you were right!"

I think I was in shock the rest of the day.  I mean, I REALLY thought it was a boy.  The heart rate was lower, I was less sick, our boys name list is pretty well set, and I just really was thinking it was a boy for some reason.  (I even had a blog post title ready for announcing the gender--Now that's pretty certain.)

But Dan was right.  (He later told me he was ready for me to win the bet.  Not because he thought it was a boy, but because I just seemed so certain.)  He won the foot rub, which I have yet to give, and the bragging rights.  But because he is a better person than me, he hasn't even given me a hard time about it.  Not once.  Bless his heart.

And now I need to say that we are THRILLED!  Girl or boy it doesn't matter.  I know it may seem like I was hoping for a boy, but really we both were routing for a healthy baby.  And she looks perfect. 

We are both so stinkin' excited for Alayna to have a little sister.  And Dan is beside himself with joy knowing that he gets another Daddy's little girl.  And he loves the fact that we are already equipped for another girl.

So, there you have it.  A GIRL!  

You can imagine my thoughts lately have been about names, bows, frilly dresses, pink, babies, and attitude.  Because you know there's going to be lots of that in years to come.  :)

*And wish us luck in the naming category because our girls name list is in SAD shape.*

A little of this and a little of that

Hello.  Remember me?  The person who is doing a terrible job of posting on her blog?

Well, here I am, attempting to fill you in on a little of what we have been up to lately.

So, I have this amazingly talented husband (who might I add, is quite handsome...) that completely surprised me with this gift:

when Alayna and I came home from our trip to Laramie. Yep. He made it. Awesome, I know.  Don't you LOVE it?!.  I have been wanting a corner shelf for our den and it is perfect. 

I am having one minor dilemma though...deciding what color to paint it.  Dan and I don't agree on this at all.  He claims men like the look of natural wood, so he wants me to stain it.  And I on the other hand, have this itch to paint everything.  I don't know what it is.  I just want to slap a nice coat of paint on it and maybe antique it a little.  I am thinking white.  What do you think?  Black?  Gray?  Really, what do you think?

Now onto the next tidbit.  Fall.  Can I just confess to you that I absolutely LOVE Fall?  I do.  I LOVE it.  I have to admit, I wasn't always this way.  In fact, I might have dreaded it a little.  But I have since repented and it really is one of my favorite seasons.  It took me moving to a few new places to really appreciate this season because, well, let's face it....in Laramie, WY, Fall lasts about a month.  Maybe a little longer.  I just didn't have time to really enjoy it.  Now, I live at the complete opposite end of the spectrum and Fall (I hear) can be a long season, it just takes a LONG time to get here.  And I am getting antsy.  Enough with the 102 degree weather already.  Where is the crispness in the air?  So in order to nudge the season along a little, I decided to go ahead and decorate.  (As you saw in the previous picture.)

Oh, and I might as well admit, I have a bit of an obsession with pumpkins, or puh-kins as Alayna calls them.  LOVE them. 

Now, the next tidbit.  I have been having an inner battle lately.  About what, you might ask?  Well, preschool.  Preschool is causing my inner battle.  Alayna will turn 3 in less than a month and with the start of a new school year, we had the opportunity to do a preschool co-op with some other moms in our community.  And I decided NOT to do it this year.  Am I terrible?  I have gone back and forth and back and forth again.  But Alayna would have been the youngest one and with her still having three years 'til Kindergarten I just didn't want her to be burned out of school before she even went.  If I started her now, then she would go the next couple of years and after having taught Kindergarten, I know she will be fine if we wait. She really is young.   Plus, this mommy wants to spend a little more time with her Layna.  But still, I know she would have loved it.  So we are living it up by having our own fun letter games and as many play dates as our friends will allow to provide her with all the social-ness she craves. 

Excuse #1 for my absence.  Classes.  I have been taking online classes to renew my teaching certificate.  I have to do this every 5 years.  Can you believe that in May it will be 5 years since I graduated college?!  Me neither.  Sheesh. 

So, I am enrolled in 4 classes that are rather interesting, but admittedly, I will be glad when they are over. 

Excuse #2. Sharing time.  I am in the primary presidency which means I have to teach Sharing time every few weeks.  I absolutely LOVE it!  Oh, how I miss teaching Kindergarten...but this is a perfect filler.  I really look forward to it each time.

And that, really is the end of my excuses.  Pretty pathetic, huh?

And while I am filling you in, I might as well tell you a little about the other two people that live with me.

Layna is busy as ever.  She is getting excited for her "Happy Birthday".  Especially after having gone to her very first birthday party (other than family)....which I will save all the details for another post. 

And have I mentioned that she is COMPLETELY potty trained?!  Like at nights as well as days.  And she has been for a few months now.  I just decided I was tired of buying pull-ups so I stopped and she really was AWESOME!  Only one accident to date.   She seriously made it so easy.

And....she doesn't know it yet, but she will be getting a "I'm all potty trained" present.  Because, well, that really is a big deal.

Now, Dan.  What can I say?  He has been busy providing for our family and gearing up for his upcoming seven off where we may take a small, much needed, family trip. 

And there you have it.  A little of this and a little of that.

So, a month ago...

Alayna and I went on this fun trip to Wyoming.

Yeah, remember that one? 


Well, I am just now, getting on top of things and posting the proof of how much fun we had.


Although, I do procrastinate, I would like to mainly blame my camera for my tardiness.  I don't know what the deal was, but basically it was a miracle that I even got these pics off the camera and on the computer.


So, here we go.  Proof (in pictures).


Our flight was at some crazy early time, like 6:30am so Dan, Alayna and I drove to Phoenix the night before and stayed at a motel.  The motel was nothing to rave about, but the pool was nice.  The water was seriously warmer than bath water.   Layna LOVED it.

Even the early wake-up time could not keep Alayna from being CRAZY happy to see Jordy, Sarah and Grandpa when they picked us up at the airport.

I told my parent's there was one thing that I HAD to do while we were visiting.  And that was go to Martin's Cove and visit my grandparents who are on a mission there.  I figure, we were only a couple hours away, how could I not go visit?


And it was wonderful.


They had some super cute miniature handcarts that were the perfect size for Alayna.  But miss independent would have nothing to do with them.  Go figure.  If I want her to pose for a picture with the tiny handcart, then of course she doesn't.  What can I say?  She's almost three and has a mind of her own!


But Sarah looks cute!

Alayna had to go potty and this is what we got to ride in.  It pays to know the important people.  :)

And a picture of the whole gang (minus mom, who's taking the picture).

And one with mom, to show that she actually was there.

Lots of our trip was spent outside...because how can you not be outside when it is less than 100 degrees? 


Sarah and I took the kids to the splash pad one day.  The water was a bit cold for Alayna's taste (I know, spoiled Arizona girl) so she spent most of her time laying on her towel hanging out with Easton.

Although she did brave playing in the water a few times.

She saw the other kids putting their foot over the water and thought this was the best way to go about it.  I guess sliding her foot across didn't cross her mind.

And I think little miss Kendree was about the bravest of them all. Sarah was running through the water many times with her. 

Like I said, we were outside a ton. This day, Jordan was trying to convince Layna to run through the sprinkler with him, but she wasn't havin' it.  The water was just plain cold.

 Instead, she spent most of her time on the swings.

 Jordan was her buddy.  She was always wanting his attention and he was pretty awesome at playing with her. Here they are watching a movie on the "little TV".

 One day, Alayna and I drove over to Kimball, Nebraska to visit Karissa, Craig, cousin Connor, and Grandma S. 

Again, the swimsuit was worn.  This time she was better at getting wet.  Connor obviously didn't have any problem getting wet. 

 Look at his cute little hat.  :)

 She had to play a little catch with Connor, Uncle Craig, and Grandma.

 Look!  A picture where Alayna is clothed in something other than her swimsuit.  :)  She convinced grandpa to play with her out in the sand box.

Whew!  It's safe to say fun was had by all.  We loved the company and the weather. 

And we loved the company so much, we talked them into coming to visit us in our neck of the woods (this weekend!) even though the weather is not going to be as nice to them.