Mannuscripts

Thanksgiving 2011

2012-01-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

We're going to be playing a little bit of catch-up here for the next little while. We spent Thanksgiving Day (which was also coincidentally my birthday) at my parents' house in Brigham City. This was also the day that little A-boots started walking for realsies.

M had a grand time playing with Uncle Tommy, as usual. Tom also took some family photos for us, which I was planning to use for a Christmas card. . . but that didn't happen, so here you go!

Maybe I never sent out cards because this one was the best we could get!

We had some family from my dad's side over for the feast, which included this awesome Black Forest cake made by my aunt and cousins:

It was so good! You can see the mini apple pies and some of the other great desserts we had in the background. We had a great Thanksgiving, much more relaxing than last year when A was only ten days old.

A's First Birthday

2011-12-10T08:35:00.001-08:00

We had a great time on A's first birthday last month! She has been growing up so fast lately. We did a Winnie the Pooh theme, with a beehive cake and honey and yogurt snacks.

M was a great helper with the present unwrapping, even though she was a little sick that night. A got some really fun presents and couldn't keep her hands off the maracas from Uncle T.

This picture cracks me up. Chris and A are both making great faces.

That's our happy girl!

She looks a little terrified of the candle, but I guess that is a good thing.

Love that face!

A has been walking since Thanksgiving; what a great birthday present for me. She is also getting really good at going down the stairs, so I don't have to worry quite as much about her. We still haven't taken the gate at the stairs down, though. She kind of says "hi" to us and will say "huh?" if you say her name. It's really cute, and definitely something she has picked up from M. Happy Birthday A!

Lots of Fun on Halloween

2011-11-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

We had a great Halloween this year! M thought it was kinda yucky scooping out the pumpkins. She was Dora the Explorer and A was Piglet. We got to visit Dad at work for a lunchtime party on Halloween, then went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood that night. We have way too much candy!

End of Summer

2011-09-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

Breakfast with M

I couldn't resist getting this Halloween shirt for A

M in her "back-to-school" outfit. She put it all together herself.

We have these little frogs in our yard quite often. Chris caught this one and we convinced M to hold it for a few minutes.

Luckily, Daddy has enough room on his lap for both girls.

Lagoon Day 2011

2011-09-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

Things couldn't have been more different this year at Lagoon Day! M loved all the rides, even the dragon roller coaster and the egg drop. Last year she cried on the boats, so it's amazing what difference a year can make with little kids. We met up with our neighbors for the afternoon, so M had a ride buddy. We went swimming for a little bit when we first got there, and then A sat in her stroller for most of the day and was happy. It was a great day!

9 Month Stats

2011-08-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

Poor little A has fallen victim to the dreaded second-child syndrome. I don't blog nearly as much about her as I did M. I do try to take pictures of her from time to time, even though most of them don't make it to the blog. A had her 9 month check-up today, so I thought it's better late than never to start posting her stats.

Height: 28" (75%)
Weight: 18# 7 oz. (almost 50%)

She's doing great on the growth charts, but not quite as tall as M. The doctor did say that usually height tapers off around now, and A is still going strong, so she might be tall like M.

Other things A is doing at 9 months:

Crawling like crazy!
Pulling herself up to stand and falling back down a lot.
Walking while holding onto things.
Saying "Dada" and "Mama".
Teething with her first teeth. We hope to see them soon!
Eating more and more new foods every day.
Sleeping really well.
Putting everything in her mouth.
Loving to play with big sis M.
Loving peek-a-boo.
Clapping her hands.

Milk Buddies

2011-07-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

Now that A is holding her own bottle (Woohoo!), the gals can enjoy a milk break together from time to time. A is also starting to crawl around a little bit, which means we are much better housekeepers again. She is also enjoying some baby finger foods, even though she doesn't have any teeth yet.

M is getting very good at talking and enjoys repeating what other people say. She loves to swim, ride her trike, and play with A. She is having a hard time with the baby gate up on the stairs, since she can't get to the play room by herself anymore.

We are enjoying the summer, even though we haven't taken any big trips. We are working on building a pergola above the back patio, which will finally give us some shade back there. I have been working on lots of other projects inside the house, most of which I blog about on my craft blog. Chris has been enjoying his free time since he graduated from grad school. Our garden is doing pretty well for the first year. We hope to get some big pumpkins, watermelons, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and garlic. We have already been enjoying the Romaine lettuce for weeks.

4th of July

2011-07-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

We had a fun 4th this year! M loved the fireworks and even let us give her sparklers to hold this time. She still asks if we are doing more fireworks, so I am glad that we still have the 24th. M was in the Hooper Parade with our ward's Primary, sort of unexpectedly. We were there to watch the parade, and as our Primary's float went by, they told M to join them, so away she went. I helped her catch up, and we put her on the float on someone's lap for the rest of the parade while I walked behind. She still got some candy before hopping on the float, so she was a happy girl.

Sisters

2011-07-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to compare some baby photos of M and A at about the same ages, in the same outfit. These pictures were all taken in M's room.

I think they look a lot alike as babies. It will be fun to see how they look as they get older.

Cute Cousins

2011-06-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

While Kathy and the kids were in town for the family reunion, we took some pictures of the girls' matching dresses from Grandma, plus O in his tie. It was hard to get four kids this little all sitting still and looking at the same time, but we got some good ones regardless. These are some of my favorites.

Brintopia 2011

2011-06-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm making a blogging comeback! I've been putting a lot of time and energy into my posts over on my craft blog lately, but I want to keep this one up too. I guess it has really only been a month since our Brintopia Family Reunion, but it feels like a lot longer. We had a pirate theme and a lot of fun! Tom, Kathy + kids, and us + kids kicked off the festivities with a dinner at Pirate Island in Orem. Tom also gave us a sweet tour of the new BYU Broadcasting building.

Next, we got some serious pool time in! It was little A's first swim.

We had a scavenger hunt to find our pirate treasure (t-shirts) and lots of fun and games.

Brintopia, Brintopia, May you forever be, Brintopia, Brintopia, the only place for me!

Easter 2011

2011-05-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

First off, I found this video that really belongs with the last post. This is M talking on her phone:

Easter was a lot of fun this year. M is starting to get the concept of holidays a little bit. She gets a little bit more excited with each new holiday. For Easter, she was very excited about the "Easser Bunny", even if she didn't really get what was going on. We went to the Hooper Easter egg hunt, which was great. Our city does such a wonderful job with activities throughout the year.

M had some awesome finds and ended up with a bunch of candy, a big frosted sugar cookie, and she also found an egg with a piece of paper saying she'd won an Easter basket. It was pretty deluxe, with a stuffed unicorn, princess wand and crown, sidewalk chalk, and a few more little goodies. She also got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny. We didn't get a photo with them, but we did get this video, which is even better, in my opinion.

We also had a good time on Easter Sunday. I got the girls dressed up in their matching dresses. These are the best of the photos I took that day.

And that's it! We also had Easter dinner at our house and had a lot of fun with grandparents from both sides and Uncle Tommy.

Brownie Bandit and One Cute Baby

2011-04-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

M "helped" me make some brownies the other day. She licked the spoon and gave herself a wonderful musketeer mustache.

Then she got an important phone call on her cell phone and didn't have time to pose for the camera anymore.

She cracks me up. In other news, A is growing up too fast!

She is such a happy girl, just like M. She holds toys and tries to sit up, which makes her much more fun for M.

We also got a double jogging stroller a couple of weeks ago, which has been great! It works great as a normal stroller and a jogger if I want to take the girls for a spin around the neighborhood. I can't wait until it gets warmer!

Treehouse Museum

2011-04-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

We went to the Treehouse Museum last month when Spencer and Cynthia were in town. It was so much fun. M and cousin K were able to do some great bonding, and the babies were happy enough just hanging out.

Playing dress-up in the German house.

The next Madam President!

Arr, mateys! I don't even know where she found this pirate hat.

The doctors are in!

And here are some videos of random places around the museum.

A's Laugh

2011-03-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

Chris got A laughing really well for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I was so glad to get this video of it.

Santa Car

2011-03-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

M loves her Cozy Coupe that she got for Christmas, which she has since dubbed "Santa Car". She was having a hard time getting her bag of puppies and scriptures in with her the other day, so I had to wedge it in on top of her before she was happy. There's not a lot of storage for things like that in there.

I don't know if she calls it "Santa" because we told her that Santa brought it to her or because it is red like Santa. Either way, it's hilarious. She always manages to leave it right in front of the garage door or right in the middle of the kitchen triangle (stove, sink, fridge).

Santa Car's license plate says "CZY COUP", which I like to think stands for Crazy Coupe instead of Cozy Coupe. Santa's future remains to be seen, whether he ends up staying inside in the basement or going outside in the summer. Once he goes outside, there's no coming back.

A has started to really motate lately. She rolled from her tummy to back this week and also started laughing. Chris is the only one who can really get her giggling so far, but she always has a smile for everyone.

She is such a little cutie and a joy to have in our family.

I have some videos of A's laugh and M being silly, but I haven't gotten them off the camera yet, so that will be our next post.

Portraits

2011-02-23T13:44:00.000-08:00

I took some portraits of the kiddos last week. I think they turned out pretty well, and I am trying to decide if I can afford to get some of these made into canvases.

Favorites?

More of M's Birthday

2011-02-20T15:12:00.000-08:00

For M's birthday, we went and picked Chris up from work for lunch at Burger King. We picked BK because it was the only restaurant we could find near Chris's office that has an indoor playground. M loved the crown, playground, chicken nuggets, fries, and chocolate milk. I think it was a lot of fun for her just watching the other kids running around. As we were leaving, M was wearing her sunglasses and crown like in the picture above, and a lady told us we were bringing Hollywood. It was pretty perfect.

We tried to keep the presents to a minimum this year, while we still can, so we got M one big present and one small present. Her big present was this trike:

Incidentally, she loves it. I was able to get a really good deal on it at Christmastime, but only if I bought the pink one. Since we now have two girls, I figured it would be worth it. M's small present was an accessory to the dollhouse she got for Christmas:

Now her dollhouse has a mom, dad, baby, and sister, just like our family! I thought that was too great to pass up. She has been able to use her trike a couple of times already with the nice weather we had last week.

We blessed A last Sunday and had a little family party for M at the same time since it was only three days after her birthday. I made an owl cake for her and some chocolate cupcakes.

Don't mind the watermarks. . . I featured the cake and cupcakes on my craft blog this last week. Here are some more pictures from the party:

We had so much fun celebrating M's birthday with family and friends!

Happy Birthday M!

2011-02-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday, M! When you start things off with a cupcake, you know it's gonna be a great day.

Play-doh Party

2011-01-24T14:49:00.000-08:00

M got a fun Play-doh set from her cousin for Christmas, and ever since we pulled it out, she can't get enough! It took us a while to figure out that she says "play-doh" as "me-oh", but once we did she asks for it all the time. It's so fun to see her getting seriously into her playtime lately.

Another Snow Day

2011-01-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

Uncle Tommy came up one Saturday, and we had a little impromptu snow day! It was a really nice day, and we had so much fun.

Just A Bunch of Pictures

2011-01-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd share a bunch of recent pictures, from Christmas and beyond.

Matching snowman jammies.

M giving A "pats".

M the giraffe mechanic.

The results of M's first self-inflicted haircut, performed right before church and with the hair-cutting scissors.

A after bathtime. Can't believe she's almost two months old!

M had a hard time waking up after a nap and fell asleep on the couch.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year! M gets so much more fun with every passing holiday. This year, we made Christmas sugar cookies at Gma and Gpa Brinton's with Clark, Kjerstin, and Tom.

She helped me roll out the dough and cut out the cookies. We got matching aprons from Grandma and got to put them to good use.

She was such a good little helper. I was glad we could do something fun together, because it seems like she doesn't get as much attention for just fun things lately.

M soon realized that the dough was pretty tasty. Chris caught her red-handed in this picture!

We spent Christmas Eve with the Mann's doing a gift exchange, dinner, and a program. M was the angel in the nativity scene, and A was the baby Jesus. Chris was the narrator, and I dressed up like a shepherd.

Christmas morning was just us at home. M made a pretty good haul this year. Her big gifts were a Cozy Coupe, a pink rocking horse, and a dollhouse.

She thought it was pretty great to get to have candy for breakfast! We found this great table and chairs at IKEA a few months ago and got it as a joint gift for the girls, even though A won't be able to use it for a while. We put it in M's room, and she loves it!

Merry Christmas! After we opened all of our gifts, we went up to my parents' house and had some more fun there. We have had a ton of parties and lots of fun the last couple of weeks! I am going to need a few days just to recover from all the fun.

I got a pocket camcorder with some of my birthday money, so for the first time, here are a few videos!

My Five Seconds of Fame

2010-12-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

We went shopping at the Gateway today, and as we were heading to the parking garage, we got interviewed by a KSL reporter.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Neither of us really knew what the story was about. The reporter gave us a two- or three-sentence synopsis before he wanted our opinions. While I don't really care about the story, it was fun to have my five seconds of fame!

Snow Bunny

2010-12-13T14:37:00.000-08:00

We took M out in the snow a couple of weeks ago to give her snow gear a test run. It was a workout to get it all on! Her gloves weren't great(not waterproof at all), but the boots, pants, and coat work well. She wasn't quite sure what to do in the snow, and she mostly just stood around and watched the other kids. Eventually, she worked on moving snow from the yard to the patio, and Chris towed her around on a saucer. Now we just need it to snow some more so we can play again.

2010-11-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

We did a little photoshoot of our new addition last week. The bow is from Chris's sister Jenny.

Sisters

2010-11-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures of the girls this week. M is getting really good at smiling for me now:

And here's little A:

Here's a picture of M in the same outfit and about the same age:

M likes to hold her sister, bring her toys, and give her pats and kisses. A is doing really well sleeping and eating. Our neighbors have been great to us, and we have been eating like kings this whole week.

Baby Amelia Jane

2010-11-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome, baby Amelia Jane!

8 pounds, 6 ounces

20.5 inches

We're all doing great and enjoying our new girl!

Cowgirl

2010-11-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, one of our friends had a cowboy birthday party. M was invited to come see the animals, have some lunch, and hang out with the birthday boy's little sister. She wore the bandanna and made us take turns wearing her hat.

There was a petting zoo with a sheep, goat, and rabbit.

They also had two ponies giving rides up and down the street!

Chris walked along with M. She was really good and didn't try to get off. The party was such a fun idea, and we had a great time!

Fall Fun

2010-11-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to Gardner's Village this year to see the witches with Gma Diane. It was much less crowded than last year, when there must have been some kind of school holiday we didn't know about. M really enjoyed looking at the witches and ducks this year, although she wanted to go swimming in the pond with the ducks and was a little disappointed when that didn't pan out. We also ate lunch at Archibald's, and M got a new stuffed friend, Owly. She's holding Owly in the picture.

M was a dalmatian puppy this year for Halloween.

She wasn't too pleased when we tried to get her to turn for a side view.

These are the pumpkins we carved this year. I did the "Welcome" and the Jack Skellington ones, and Chris did the mummy in the middle. We still have three other pumpkins that we are considering carving with Thanksgiving themes.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

For FHE this week, we took a trip to a pumpkin patch out in Hooper to find our perfect pumpkins for the year. It was $5 an armload, so we ended up with six pretty good-sized pumpkins for $10, thanks to Chris's capable hands.

It was pretty fun to wander around and choose pumpkins, but there was also a horde of mosquitoes that kept our trip reasonably short. Luckily, M had long sleeves so she didn't get any bad bites.

Nursery

2010-10-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

We've been hard at work on the new baby's nursery! It's not 100% done yet, but it is really close. This is the view from the door:

These are a couple of the canvases I made for the other wall. There are four altogether.

This is the quilt that my mom made. It looks so good in there and matches perfectly!

The color of the walls is a little bit brighter in real life, but it was really hard to photograph.

We just have a couple more things to do in there, but I have stopped worrying about getting it all done in time.

Just a Few Pictures

2010-09-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

This is how Chris found us when he came home from work last week. M snuck in some doodling while we were watching something on TV. Whenever M wants to watch something (usually Wallace & Gromit), she brings me the remote and says, "Show?"

For two days in a row, I went into her room in the morning to find M sleeping like this under her blankets. She hasn't done it since.

Good Morning!

Just Like Mom and Dad

2010-09-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

I caught M doing some homework the other day, just like Daddy. She put on the headphones he usually wears to watch lectures and started scrolling with the mouse. It was really cute!

She has also gotten into wearing our shoes all over the place. I think she's better with heels than I am.

It is also really cute, but very loud when the heel part slaps down on the wood floor.

We(read: Chris) finished painting the nursery yesterday! I will post pictures when I get some good ones taken.

Happy Birthday, Chris!

2010-09-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Chris had a birthday yesterday. We went to Ruby River for dinner, then came home for dessert with my parents and Jon and Crystal. I made him cheesecake with ganache on top. It was yummy!

My dad used the propane torch that I got Chris to light the candles. Happy 28th, Chris!

Here are some pictures I took of M today. She had just woken up from her nap, so she was a little bit out of it.

August Updates

2010-08-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy August so far! Now that the month is halfway over, and Chris is done wiping all our computer's drives, I thought I should get back to blogging. It's been a month of firsts for M. She turned 18 months on the 10th, so she has been going to Nursery at church. She still has a hard time with that, but we're working on it.

I finally decided it was time to cut M's hair for the first time, since she has started trying to push it out of her face when it's not in a ponytail. We gave her some bangs and evened out the back.

I thought this picture was great because of the accidental thumbs-up.

We took M to Lagoon for the first time for Chris's work party. Last year, she was just a little thing, so we left her with my parents. I thought she would be into the rides this year, but she actually had a couple of meltdowns. The rides that we could do with her were okay, but the Baby Boats and Bulgy the Whale were both no-go's.

Chris put M in the boat, and things were great for a few minutes.

Once the boat started moving, M started screaming, and the lady running the ride stopped it for us after a lap and let M off. Things weren't all bad, though. M rode the merry-go-round with us and the Kontiki boat with Chris.

We took M on her first camping trip with Chris's family this last weekend. The weather was really nice, and we had a lot of fun. M woke up really cranky from her nap, but she did great that night! We even woke up before she did in the morning.

We've had so much fun this month! Thanks to everyone who was a part of it.

New Kicks

2010-07-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to get a pair of Van's slip-ons for M, like so:

Considering that they run about $30, I could never justify the cost, at least not while M is growing like a weed. While I was out and about a while ago, I ran across some plain white generic brand slip-ons at Hancock Fabrics. They were on sale for $7.50, so I took on the project to decorate them for M. Here's how they started:

And here's the finished deal!

I did all the drawing and coloring with my pink and purple Micron pens, and my mom brought her bedazzling kit and set the jewels. I am really happy with how they turned out! The shoes are still a little bit too big on M, so she will be able to wear them for a while.

Hobos and Chum

2010-07-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

This is Chris. Audrey is much better at this, and will tell you that if you ask her. Portland left me with two impressions - Hobos and Chum. I was very excited to see all the hobos living under bridges, sweeping the sidewalks in front of their habitat, and doing other hobo activities. The Chum part stems from my experience going deep sea fishing. I along with 12 of the 14 others on the boat decided to personally "chum" the waters. I think since we were catching fish, the ocean decided to take our lunch and some of our breakfast. We all did catch some fish, mainly sea bass. I think by the end though, everyone was ready to go home. We were also able to go to the; Portland zoo, Rose and Japanese gardens, and Zoom studio. Anyway, Portland was great and it was good to see Clark and Kjerstin and hang out with Audrey's parents and Grandma.

This is Audrey and M on the Coast by Depoe Bay

This is M at the Japanese Gardens in Portland. She loved the koi.

We also went to the zoo and saw a ton of cool animals.

Audrey's parents as well as some of M's favorite people.

4th of July

2010-07-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th this year! We went to the Hooper parade, set up the pool in the backyard, had pizza, bbq, fireworks, and smores. M got to stay up for our little fireworks show, which she really enjoyed.

Cousins

2010-06-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Before Kathy and Tyler left on their cross-country trek to North Carolina, we got all the cousins together for a photo. If you look closely, you can also see almost everyone else that was there in the mirror. We are already missing having these guys around, but we are excited for Tyler to do the MBA program at Duke. Plus, now we have one more great place to take a trip and one more good reason to go!

It's a Girl! Again!

2010-06-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's another girl! We got to see her again on the ultrasound today. My doctor said that she still reserves the right to be wrong, so they will confirm or change the gender in four weeks at my targeted ultrasound. I am 19 weeks tomorrow, and due November 18th, at least for now. It seemed like the baby was measuring a little bigger, but I don't know if it will be enough to change the due date. Things are going pretty well overall. I didn't get as sick this time, and I'm feeling mostly normal now.

We are excited to have two little sisters running around the house soon, plus we already have everything we need. Now I can just focus on getting things that I want!

I haven't decided on a nursery theme yet, but I am going to be thinking about it and looking around for ideas. I'll also be looking for some fun girly projects, so let me know if you have any good ones.

Pool Party Baby

2010-06-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

I took M to the public pool for the first time last Friday. (She has been swimming lots in my parents' SwimSpa.) We went with a bunch of our friends and had a great time! M is a real water baby, and I can't wait to take her again with Chris. We even went down the big twisty slide a couple of times. By the end of the day, you could tell that M thought she was a big kid that knew how to swim, because she was fearless. Next time, we will bring more floaty toys, and I will also remember to put sunscreen on the tops of my feet!

Downstairs Bathroom

2010-06-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

Chris and Jon finished the downstairs bathroom today! The only thing we have left is to get the glass door installed.

We are very excited to have this project complete! Since we planted the yard two weeks ago, our big projects are finally finished, and we can enjoy a relaxing summer. Chris will still have a class for school, but we should be able to handle that with what we've had on the schedule lately.

Fun Pictures

2010-06-02T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun pictures we have taken recently.

I think they pretty much speak for themselves.

Kitchen Art

2010-05-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

I posted about the new art I made for the kitchen dining area over on my other blog:

And since I don't want to post all of it again, here is just the main photo. Click on the graphic above to see the rest.

15 Months In-Depth

2010-05-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

We had M's official 15 month check-up yesterday, so in keeping with tradition, I thought I would share her stats, along with some recent photos.

Weight: 25 lbs. 12 oz. (90%)
Height: 33 in. (>95%)
Head Circumference: 18.25 in. (50%)

Her height is the average for a 23-month-old, but it follows the curve (or should I say it flies above the curve) based on her growth over time. Actually, her overall growth is right on track, so that was good.

I finally got M a new toy: a grocery basket with plastic food. Once she figured out the food wasn't real, she started playing with it really well. Every once in a while I have to tell her to take it out of her mouth, but that is pretty normal with just about everything for this girl.

We love you, M! Thanks for always making us smile.

15 Months and Some Updates

2010-05-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy at our house lately. I finally got my craft room all organized and ready for use (yay!). Chris has been trying to work on the yard, but between the wild spring weather, a week-long business trip last week, and another one coming up next week, things haven't progressed as far as we would have liked. I'm hoping he can at least till out the weeds before he has to go again. We are really so close that I can't believe we aren't done yet. I am lucky to have Jon, Crystal, and the kids in the basement, so I don't have to worry when Chris is gone on his trips, and I don't get quite so lonely.

I have a project for the kitchen wall in the works, plus drapes in the back of my mind. So that's in the works. We haven't done any more painting since the kitchen, and I am thinking we won't be doing any more for another bit.

M is busy being as cute as ever. She is 15 months old today! Things are starting to get really fun playing with her. She cracks up at the slightest provocation, which is hilarious in itself. She is where the loud, delayed laughter is coming from during Sacrament Meeting talks and other church meetings. Her pointing skills are getting much better and helping her communicate a little bit with us. She is very good at waving "hi" and "bye", and she can very distinctly say "hi!". I add the exclamation point, because she sounds very excited every time she says it. She reaches out her arms for people to hold her, even if we are already holding her, and sometimes to complete strangers. By the end of church, you can bet that she has been held by at least five different people. M's hair is long enough to do full-on pigtails and get just about every strand of hair in there. Whether it stays that way is a different story. She loves to eat strawberries, oranges, tomatoes, pickles, and lemons. Yes, lemons. We gave her a slice out of a drink when we went out to eat the other day, thinking we were playing a funny trick on her. Turns out the trick was on us, and she gobbled it down without so much as a pucker. It was the most unexpected thing that could have happened!

We sure love our little girl and enjoy every day with her.

Just Hanging Out

2010-04-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

We have been hard at work on the yard lately. We got another load of dirt to fill in the beds and the edges of the yard:

The weather hasn't been too cooperative lately, so that has taken a bit longer than it should have. The good news is that it is almost gone. The sprinklers are all hooked up, minus the control panel, and the heads all need adjusting. We are really close to being able to plant our grass though, because Chris is such a hard worker! He's finished all his homework for the semester, but still has two tests.

M loves being outside. She is very cautious of changes in terrain, but she has warmed up to concrete, dirt, and grass.

I was walking on Chris's back last night, and M thought she would help by sitting on his head. She thought it was quite comfy!

M's Bestie

2010-04-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

Meet Puppy. M's favorite toy of all time, Puppy has been there since the beginning. She was "born" the same day as M when Grandma Diane bought her at the hospital gift shop. Since discovering that M can't sleep without Puppy, or at least not without waking up every hour, a twin Puppy was purchased. Just in case of emergency, or wash day.

The best part about Puppy is her floppy, chewable ears. If you ever chance a meeting, Puppy's ears are most likely wet, so avoid that area.

M and Puppy are pretty inseparable these days, especially since Binky disappeared a couple of months ago. Here are some more photos of M and Puppy from the past:

Yeah, these two go way back.

Tired Girl

2010-04-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Poor little M was so tired at lunch the other day, and today she fell asleep in my arms after she fell and bonked her head. She was sick all last week with the nighttime tummy bug, so I guess she is just trying to recover. We didn't let her have any milk over the holiday weekend, and I think she is doing much better.

Other things M is getting good at, besides being sick, are:

Walking and running
Saying "no" by shaking her head and actually talking, but the talking sounds more like "na"
Waving and saying "hi"
Finding her nose, mouth, and occasionally eyes
Feeding food to other people
Opening drawers and cupboards
Climbing the stairs and (kind of) going back down
Responding to simple commands, like "come here" and "let's go"
Finding things I have taken away from her
Saying "Daddy" and "Audrey"

Yes, she calls me Audrey instead of Mom. We're working on that one. She knows that I am Audrey and Mommy, but there are so many other kids around that call me Audrey, so I think it is very confusing to her why I want to be called Mommy instead of Audrey. I try to refer to Chris as "daddy," so she has that one down. We are looking forward to all the fun, new things she will learn next!

M's Spring Dress

2010-03-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

M sported her new spring dress (made for her by G-ma Diane) to church last Sunday, along with the matching clip that I made for her. I posted a tutorial on how I made the clip over on my other blog if you want to learn all my secrets.

In other news: The basement bathroom is nearing completion, just in time for us to be starting back up on the yard. We can hardly contain our excitement.

Painting Projects

2010-03-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of my recent painting projects. I did the wall in the great room chocolate brown and the kitchen walls mossy green. The pictures of the brown aren't quite as accurate as the green. The brown is a little bit darker in real life.

Spaghetti Night

2010-02-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

We let M eat her spaghetti all by herself the other night.

She loved it!

Luckily, it was also bath night.

Happy Birthday M!

2010-02-13T17:17:00.001-08:00

M's Favorite Face

2010-01-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd share with you M's favorite face of all time.

She makes this face when she is sad, happy, doesn't want to eat anymore, you name it.

I never get tired of it!

11 Months

2010-01-13T20:58:00.001-08:00

M turned 11 months last Sunday. I thought I'd take some photos. She thought otherwise.
I felt like a paparazzo chasing her around trying to catch a smile.

She was too busy being herself to pay much attention to me.

I must have taken nearly a hundred photos and ended up with these for you.

Enjoy! We sure do. Love you, M!

A New Project

2010-01-12T16:49:00.001-08:00

I have had this idea for a messenger bag for a really long time, and I finally made it today! Some of the pillow covers I originally made ended up slightly flawed in the corners, making them unusable for pillows. I didn't know what to do with them right at first, but I held onto them and came up with this.

It's hard to see in the photo, but I stitched the fabric onto the bag with fuchsia embroidery floss. With the red-orange fabric, the fuchsia is actually a bit toned down.

So glad to see this project turn out! I listed it in my Etsy shop.

Christmas Festivities

2010-01-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

We had a some great Christmas parties and get-togethers with family this year. It was M's first Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve with Chris's family.

M got really into the sing-along. She bounced up and down to the beat and smiled the whole time.
We did a little bit of Christmas morning at home. M got some sweet toys, but she really loved the shiny bows on the packages the most. I also made her a new baby quilt.

Later on Christmas morning, we went up to my family's for the rest of the day.
Here's Grandpa with both of the babies, M and O.
Tom and Clark headed up the Christmas songs.
Once again, M loved the music.
Thanks for all the fun this year, everyone!

We really needed the break.

Long Awaited. . . Update and Finger Pics!

2009-12-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, ok, I know it's been a while since our last post. Sorry! I thought I'd start things off right with some pictures of M. Look how long her hair is getting! She is a master crawler now, so we really have to be on our toes with what we leave lying around. She can pull up onto her knees, but we have only found her standing up in her crib once so far. It has been a crazy time around here. We started working on our basement the day after Thanksgiving. Now we are to the point of hanging sheetrock! We have three up on the ceiling, but Chris is going to take a break for a couple of weeks to get finished with school for the semester. I have had two boutiques, and I have another one today. Luckily, it's my last one before the holidays. Whew! Here's what else we've been up to. This is my latest craft project:I hung them above the stairs right under our family picture, with a lot of help from Chris. He's a lot taller than me. As many of you may know, Chris had a tiny incident with the siding and a shop knife. . . resulting in five stitches and a surgery next week! Here are the pictures we took of the stitches. There were photos taken of the actual wound, but I don't have them at the moment. In fact, I haven't even seen them, and to be honest I'm not sure I want to! So, drumroll please:

The same night that Chris cut himself, there was a ring around the moon (called a "moondog," or so I'm told). After Chris and Jon got back from the hospital, he thought it was so neat that he took a picture. I'm glad he did, cause I was in bed by that time!Once again, I hope you enjoyed our recent photos. We are hoping to have the basement completely finished by the end of the year. After finishing the framing, electrical, plumbing, and ducting all in a week, it seems a lot more possible! I'm hoping to get all my Christmas stuff up (thanks for the decor donation, Mom!) soon and take some pictures.

9 Month Stats

2009-11-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

Here are M's 9 Month Stats!

Height: 30 in. (95+%)
Weight: 21 lbs. 10 oz. (90%)
Head circumference: 17 in. (25%)

Also, I read this article in the October Ensign a while ago(look at the bottom for the Blogging Safety Tips), and I have decided to be a safer blogger by just using our baby's initial (M) instead of her whole name. I have considered changing our blog to private, and I may still do that in the future, but for now I will keep it easy to access for everyone.

Lately

2009-11-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to go to the BYU Battle of the Bands last Friday night, thanks to Chris having so much homework that he couldn't come(sad) but could stay home with M(yay!). I took a few pictures of my brother Tom's band, Atl Atl, performing. They did such a great job even though they couldn't hear themselves in the monitors! It was really fun to go and see them play and see some friends. I have gotten to see them play at Peach Days and Weber State's Battle (where they got 2nd place based on three judges doing the scoring). Since they are pretty recent to the Provo scene, they didn't place at BYU's show, which was an audience vote. But if you live in the Orem/Provo area, you can see them tomorrow nightat the Battle of the Bands at Muse Music.
Here's Tom playing the old Fender and singing.
Go Atl Atl!

And for the second part of this post, I will revert back to what I know: M. Here are some pictures from the last month or so that never got posted.

M has a shape sorting turtle that comes apart, and the shell fits perfectly on her head. Sometimes we put it on her head to tease her and see if she can get it off, but the other day I found that she had somehow gotten it on her head by herself. It was quite hilarious.
These next photos are the most recent of M. I can't believe how long her hair is getting! It's starting to look like an Anime character.
Lastly, here's M showing off her two bottom teeth! We thought she had more coming in, but we were finally able to wrestle her down last night, and we couldn't see or feel any more. She has her nine month checkup tomorrow, so we will see how she's doing on her growth charts.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T08:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween everyone! We had such a great time with all the festivities. As you can tell, we dressed M up as a giraffe this year. Chris grew out his beard(before is above) and shaved it like Victor on the Wolverine movie(after is below). He didn't get to it until Saturday night, but I think it still counts. I just put my Tigger ears headband on that I got from Disneyland forever ago. I know, pretty lame, but the costume just didn't happen for me this year. We didn't have any costume parties to attend, so maybe next year.

Here is a rare photo of M in her natural habitat. . .
We also hosted my mom's birthday party last Tuesday. It was a lot of fun! We had some great food, friends, and fun. Photos are thanks to Tom and Shauna taking turns with the camera throughout the night.

Here's A and her graham cracker haunted house.
This is the house that Mom and I worked on together.
Here is Shauna's lovely piece.
And here we have Tom's creepy hobbit-hole.

We had a rootin-tootin' rootbeer wrangler on hand!

I ordered M&M's with personalized birthday messages printed on them.
Tombstone cake! Perfect for Halloween and 50th birthdays.

We also had cardboard tombstones upon which to write birthday wishes:
Thanks to everyone for coming to the party and helping with the food/decorations! We had such a wonderful time and are so happy to have a place to hold these kinds of things.

Gardner's Village

2009-10-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we took a visit with G-ma Diane to Gardner's Village to see the witch displays and eat at Archibald's. Kath, A, and O came up from Orem and met us there. We had a lot of fun seeing all the cool displays and enjoying the festive spirit. There were pumpkins and hay bales everywhere! We think it may have been a school break for the kids in the area, because there were TONS of people there. It was stroller city. M had her first cookie, a Honey Boy, and ate it all by herself (after I broke it into pieces for her).

The caramel apples were so good, and they cut them up in a really neat way so we could all have some without getting it all over our faces. I may or may not always serve caramel apples like that from now on.

Recent developments with M: It is so exciting to see her feeding herself. As of now, she can eat little puffs, cheerios, and graham crackers by herself. We are introducing more and more solid foods to her. Next I am going to try her on green beans, bananas, and dried fruit cubes. Molly is also trying to master getting onto her knees. She can scoot and roll around on the floor pretty well now, and she loves to stand. Pretty soon she will be all over the house!

Master Bedroom

2009-10-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

I painted the master bedroom last week while Chris was on his business trip. I got some accent pillows and a gray comforter for the bed. I also got some gray curtains, which Chris helped me hang up yesterday.

Other things on my list: I am still thinking about painting the bed and nightstands black and getting a long, low dresser that I can paint black or is already black. I want a big mirror to hang above said dresser once I find it, and some wrought iron decor to hang on the walls.

So far just painting and putting up curtains makes such a difference! It's a lot more relaxing and cozy in our room.

Baby-Skydiving

2009-10-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

We took M baby-skydiving yesterday! She had such a good time.

Caramel Corn Recipe

2009-09-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Here's the recipe we used for our caramel corn. We got it from Cooks.com. We followed it loosely, changing a bit at the end. I wrote down what we did. It turned out very well.

Microwave Caramel Corn

16 c. popped popcorn (we did two batches in our air popper and didn't measure)
1/2 c. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Microwave butter, salt, brown sugar and syrup in uncovered bowl for 3 minutes. Stir. Microwave another 3 minutes. Stir in baking soda.

Use one large brown grocery bag. Spray with Pam. Add popcorn and caramel mix. Microwave for approximately 2 1/2 minutes, stopping to shake bag every 30 seconds. After removing from microwave, spread on two cookie sheets to cool.

. . . . . .

Enjoy! I am working on painting and decorating our bedroom this week. If all goes well, pictures will be coming shortly.

Caramel Corn and a Cutie Pie

2009-09-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

We love autumn around here! M has a bunch of new long-sleeved onesies that are red, brown, and orange. On the first official day of fall, I got her all dressed in her "back to school" outfit and took pictures. I know, right? Just wait until she is actually old enough to go to school.

I can't get over her face! Every day she is such a cutie.
She has also started to clap when she is really happy. It is so cute to see her doing it on purpose.
Grandma and Grandpa B gave her this sweet lantern for Halloween. She loves to hold it and stare at the light so much that it is already out of batteries.
We also made caramel popcorn for FHE this week. I was going to put this up earlier and tell everybody to stop by for a snack. . . but we already ate it all. You can still stop by though. We will make a fresh batch, just for you.

I realized the other day that this really is my favorite season. I went to Walmart to get some curtains for our bedroom(next week's decor project), and somehow I ended up getting a bunch of Halloween stuff. I got a big candy bowl, not because we don't already have a big bowl, but that we don't already have a purple Halloween candy bowl. I also got orange cups, ghost napkins and plates, and autumn leaves cupcake liners. Am I having a Halloween party? Not that I know of. But it was almost as much fun buying it as actually having a party. Weird. My love of the season makes me do some crazy stuff. Maybe we will end up having that party. If so, you're invited. Happy Autumn!

Blog Revisted

2009-09-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted a clever and uncookie-cutter-ish name for our blog. I have never been able to come up with one. Until now. It may not seem like it's anything special, but I finally feel like maybe I can live with this name without changing it again. Maybe.

Also, Blogger is fighting me tooth and nail with the layout and fine details, so this may be a work in progress for as long as it takes me to figure out how to get the transparency on the header to work and the background to be the right size (even though it is exactly the same size as the last one). So, please, pardon my virtual dust.

Edit: I finally got it to work! Hope you like our new look for autumn.

M's Room

2009-09-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

I finally took pictures of M's room (with just a few of M scattered throughout. . . okay, a lot of M). I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! It turned out as well or better than I hoped. Here is the photo I used for inspiration (you may remember from my October 18, 2008 post):
And here is M's room before:

Now onto the main event! Welcome to M's room.

Happenings

2009-09-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

Ok, I promise I will get pictures of M's room up soon. . . but for now I have some other pictures of recent happenings and get-togethers. First, Chris and I had our second anniversary. We went to the Mandarin Garden in Logan where we had our first date. I made us a decorative sign out of scrapbook paper and ribbon.
Next, my dad's birthday. We went to Rooster's in Ogden and had some cupcakes outside afterward.

Next, Chris had his 27th birthday yesterday. We went to the Timbermine Steakhouse and had some presents, cake, and ice cream at home.

I made a happy birthday banner out of scrapbook paper, ribbon, and printed letters. It turned out great!
I also made the cake. It is supposed to be a robot, but it kind of looks like a monster. Anyway, it's saying "27"(imagine it in a robotic voice).We have had so much stuff going on lately! Besides all this stuff, Chris got called as a ward missionary, so he can still wrangle M during church. In a couple of weeks, we have Peach Days. I just have to keep telling myself that it will happen no matter what, so I can't get too worked up about it. In October, we have the ward Primary Program, so I am trying to get these kids to learn the songs as well as they can in the next couple of months. They are doing okay, though. I think it will be great. We are still working on getting the yard in. We have dug about half of our trench lines, maybe a little more. Soon we will be able to get the sprinklers in, put down top soil, and plant our seed. We will be so glad to have that done!

Lastly, I made some Rhode's Rolls for Sunday dinner, and I was super disappointed with how flat they were. In fact, so disappointed that I had to take a picture.

Another Giveaway of a Different Sort

2009-08-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

So, as you may remember, I enter to win almost every day on Giveaway Today. Well, I am so excited to say that I won again! Except this time the prize is much more exciting, awesome, and expensive! Drumroll. . .

I won a free photography session and $125 print credit with Melissa Davis. I have been wanting to get our family pictures done for so long, and now that Molly is sitting on her own, it is the perfect time. Also, Chris's friend Thomas and his family had their photos done with her (I didn't realize until I saw them on her website) and I remember loving their photos at their house. I am so excited! I literally jumped for joy when I found out.

Whew! What an exciting morning.

P.S. Photos of M's finished room to come! (Well, nearly finished, but all the big stuff is there. Is a room ever really finished for an interior designer?)

Earring Giveaway and Peach Days Preview

2009-08-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

My sister Kathy is doing an earring giveaway on her blog, Azurerocket, in preparation for our Peach Days booth! Click on the picture or link to visit and tell her which earrings you like the best to win a pair of your own. There are a ton to choose from, so you will be sure to find something you love. Also, look for us at Peach Days (September 11th and 12th) in Brigham City just south of City Hall! Tom will be playing on Main Street on Friday night (the 11th) at 7:30 with his band, Atl Atl, so you can also watch their show. We are all busy getting ready and are excited to be involved with this year's events.

Staycation

2009-08-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

{sorry about all the weird sizing. . . sometimes I swear blogger has a mind of its own}

We had a bit of an extended weekend and decided to have ourselves a staycation. Because, ya know, it's all the rage these days. Here's the breakdown of events:

On Friday we went to Lagoon because it's what fun is, and because it was free for us to go with Chris's company. We dropped M off for a playdate with Grandma and Grandpa M. We rode all the rides and got headaches. We partied hard!

On Saturday, I went to volunteer at my boutique, Mindy Mae's, to get 3% taken off the commission. The show wasn't as well-attended as usual, but I sold enough to pay for the booth spot, so that was good. Chris was able to finish up the homework for his summer class.

Sunday was a good day. It was my second week as chorister, and I tried a new song-learning game involving my cat Beanie Babies. I learned a lot about how the kids react to certain elements of games. I decided I can't throw anything without things getting out of hand. After church we grilled some beef ribs and relaxed.

For lunch on Monday, we went to an old favorite, Robintino's. We went to M's six month appointment after that. Here are the stats:
Height: 27.5 in (officially off the charts)
Weight: 18# 4 oz. (95%)
Head circumference: 16.5 in (30%)
She is right around where she has been since she was born, so that was great to hear. The doctor also said that her lower gums are starting to look swollen, so maybe she will be getting her first tooth soon. We also stopped at Target to get her first sippy cups too! M has really perfected the roll from back to front, and now she sleeps on her side. Anyway, back to Monday: After the appointment, we went home and let M have a nap. For FHE, we went up to my parents' house for hobo dinners and smores. It was a lot of fun!

Today we went to Pineview Reservior for a barbeque lunch and a walk along the beach. The weather was perfect and we had a great time. M doesn't like getting sunscreen rubbed into her face, but she seemed to like the Snugli backpack carrier we got for her.

Chris has to go back to work tomorrow, but we were glad he could take some time off for a little bit of fun.

New Calling

2009-07-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

I got a new calling on Sunday. I am the Primary Chorister. I've never really done anything like that, and it's my first calling in Primary. I sat in on the meetings on Sunday, and I realized that I am going to have quite the experience with this calling. There are 150 kids in our primary, and those are the active ones! There were at least fifteen Sunbeams. Luckily the Primary program for Sacrament Meeting isn't until October, but I have a lot of brushing up to do on my songs!

Chris still doesn't know what he will be doing in the ward. Right now he is the M Caretaker. :)

Long Overdue. . . House Pics

2009-07-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a virtual tour of our new house for those of you who are interested. I'll try to make it easy to understand what's what. In this first picture, you can see the front door, the hallway to the bedrooms, and the stairs to the basement.
This is the hallway to the bedrooms. Going from left to right, you have the master bedroom, then the bathroom, the linen closet at the end of the hall, M's room, and the craft room.
Here is the door to the master bedroom. . .. . . and the bedroom with the doorway to the bathroom.Here's the master shower and tub.
And here's the vanity (with two sinks!). You can see the door to the bathroom in the mirror and the closet on the very right-hand side.Here's a better view of the closet.
This is M's room. We still want to paint and decorate it more, hopefully by the end of the summer, or at least while M is still a baby!
This is the craft room. It's not quite put together yet, but if I waited until it was, this post would never happen.
Here's the other bathroom. We're going for a jungle theme.
These are the stairs down to the basement. This view is right as you walk in the front door.
Here's the family room area of the main great room.
This view is looking from the hallway from the garage door. You can see the family room, dining area, and kitchen island.Here's the kitchen. Ignore all the dishes. . .
This is the dining area and door to the backyard.
This is the hallway to the garage, a coat closet, the laundry room, and part of the kitchen.Well, I hope you had a good time taking a look around the house. There are still lots of things we want to do, but we are taking it one day at a time. We are getting started working on the front yard this weekend, Chris is right in the middle of summer school, and I am busy getting my business into full operation, so things have been pretty crazy around here. M is getting really good with her hands and jabbering away. She's already growing out of her 3-6 month clothes and some of her 6-9 month onesies! Pretty soon we are going to have to start buying her clothes, since most of the ones I got for showers were 0-6 month sized. I am excited for that! We have been so lucky that we have hardly had to buy anything for her. Every day she gets more aware of her surroundings. We love our little girl and are so excited to have her with us.

Why We Won't Be Getting a Truck

2009-06-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

Who needs a truck when you have a rusty blue hatchback Tercel EZ?

Finally!

2009-06-25T14:26:00.001-07:00

At M's four-month checkup, the doctor said she looked ready for solid food. She was holding her head up really well and chewing on her hands. We started solids a few days after her appointment, and we ended up with this result:

Not good.

Well, yesterday we finally got some of this:
Yay! M likes her cereal! I think it just took her some time to get used to the spoon. It sure is nice to feed a happy baby over a crying one. I am excited to start trying different kinds of foods. I feel like I am finally getting to see some of M's personality. It is so much fun!

Winner Winner!

2009-06-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

I heard about this blog and started entering to win fun prizes, because you don't have to buy anything or other gimmicky stuff to enter. You can enter every single weekday! A lot of the prizes are really expensive, and they are always something nice. Most of the time you just put your name, pick out your favorite item, or say why you love summer. After only a few days of entering every day, I won a cute onesie for M! :) What a great way to wake up. Here's a link to the site with what I won (I chose the style called Macie):

Little Lovie

Four Month Check-up

2009-06-15T11:28:00.001-07:00

Here are M's four-month stats:

Height: 25.5 in (>95%)

Weight: 15 lbs. 4 oz. (90%)

Head circumference: 15.75 in (25%)

Coming Soon. . .

2009-06-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the new house! We are still working hard to get everything all set up. We are just about there, though. It still feels like we are staying at someone else's place, but it's great! We really enjoy having our own place, and Chris is excited to be putting the yard in this summer.

Welcome Home Elder B!

2009-05-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

Tom is home from his mission to Wisconsin! Last Saturday night we met up at the park for pizza after the plane touched down. Tom got to meet M, O, and Kjerstin for the first time, and Chris for the second.

All it took was seeing this face:

. . . to know that Tom hasn't changed much. Here are some more pics of the festivities and attendees:

The picnic was nice because they had all the tents set up for the Memorial Day breakfast the next Monday, so we could use all the tables. It was so much fun, and we are glad to have Tom home again!

Let's Play a Game. . .

2009-05-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

What do these five places have in common??? There are two right answers. . .

OUR APARTMENT (sorry, no pic)

Any ideas? Okay, here it is:

They are all located between our house and the greater Salt Lake area, and

(this one's my favorite)

they are all places where we have been asked for money by random people. Sad part? We almost always cave. We'd like to think that if we really needed money that strangers would help us out. Not that we would probably ever ask people for money, even if we did need it. I think it really comes down to the fact that we hate confrontation.

What do you do when people ask you for money??

Home Sweet Home

2009-05-19T09:05:00.001-07:00

We finally have some pictures of our new house! We are getting so excited to move in. Hopefully our loan will close by the end of the month, but it has been taking longer than expected because of new FHA rules and whatnot. Here's the front:
We will have to put the yard in by ourselves, but luckily Chris is up to the task. This is the kitchen and hallway to the laundry room(!!!) and garage(!!!):Here is the family room looking from the kitchen:
And here is a view of the back from the other street. (We are on a corner lot.)Like I said, we are SUPER ready to get moved in, so don't be surprised if we are calling you in the next couple of weeks. . .

New Tricks

2009-05-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

M's up to her old tricks (mostly just being dang cute), and she's added a couple of new ones lately.

First trick: Sitting in the Bumbo! She doesn't have the best control yet, but it's coming along.
Second trick: Eating her hands, mostly just the left one.

Spring

2009-04-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is what we think about the nice spring weather.
Pretty sweet.

Temple Square Visit

2009-04-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Last week we decided to visit Temple Square, because ever since we have lived ten minutes away, we haven't once been there together just to walk around. We packed a picnic dinner and took a leisurely stroll around the grounds.

There weren't many other people, which was nice. The flowers are gorgeous right now!
M slept through the entire experience.
This is the best picture of me, even though I am right in the middle of eating my sandwich. Notice the ham in the lower left corner.
After we got done, we walked back to the car that we had parked behind the Conference Center. As we were loading up, we got asked to use our cell phone by a French girl. Once she got on the phone, she really flew through her conversation in French! It was pretty interesting to listen, though I have no idea what she said.
I think having a baby makes you ten times more approachable.

Congratulations Chris!

2009-04-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

Yay! Chris was accepted to the University of Idaho's Graduate program for Mechanical Engineering! It is an online program, so he can do most of the work from home, besides tests. Here's to hoping that the next two years go as quickly as the last two! ;)

Audzipan Design Featured on Crazi Beautiful Women

2009-04-09T07:11:00.001-07:00

Hi all! Audzipan Design is being featured this week on Crazi Beautiful Women! Click on the button above to visit. Leave a comment, and you will be entered to win one of my decorating blocks and a set of magnets!

Photoshop

2009-04-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

I tried out a few Photoshop tutorials last night for fun. Here are the before/afters. The last one was just me messing around with new brushes. It was lots of fun! I can't believe how much I have forgotten about Photoshop, but it was fun to learn it again!

STTN!

2009-04-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yay! No fooling, M slept through the night last night (not to rub it in to those less fortunate than us, aka Spencer and Cynthia)! Even if this isn't a trend, it was a great spring break for me. She started smiling a couple of weeks ago and gets better at it every day. She also started doing a little bit of baby chattering, too. It's way cute. I'm one of "those" parents, too, cause if you see me I will show you a video of it on my phone. :) Here's another picture of M sleeping on Chris.
And here's M after bathtime in her cute flower towel:

Easter Pics and Going Walking

2009-03-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Last week we took some Easter pictures with the stuffed bunny we made for M at Build-A-Bear and the Easter basket from M's Grandma Diane. They turned out cute, but we are probably still going to take her somewhere for portraits.

Here is Chris with M in her fleece bear outfit that we got for her to come home from the hospital in. She finally fits into it, so we put her in the stroller for a walk in the warmer weather.

We went walking at least four times last week, because we knew the warm weather wouldn't last. It was lots of fun, and we are glad that spring is here!

M's A Month Old

2009-03-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

Today M turned a month old! Here are some pictures we have taken of her over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, she got a bad case of baby acne yesterday, as you can see in the first couple of photos. The pictures are actually in reverse chronological order, so she gets younger as you go. ;)

Cousin O's Blessing

2009-03-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from cousin O's blessing last Sunday. Enjoy!

M asleep on Chris's lap:
Group photo:
M has already mastered the "Thriller" dance at three weeks old:
Our little family:

When It Rains It Pours

2009-02-28T10:05:00.000-08:00

It's funny what happens when you suddenly become undeniably busy. Like, for instance, when you have a newborn. For my entire pregnancy, I was constantly looking for something to do. Last May, I applied for a grundle of professional jobs since I had just graduated. Nothing really worked out, so I just worked on my Etsy shop. Not too seriously, though. I had limited success on Etsy for something that was supposed to be my only thing going on, but I will admit that I was sick 50% of the time and didn't really feel motivated the other half. I kept expecting us to move or something, but so far that hasn't happened either.

Fast forward to February. Specifically days after February 10th. All within two weeks, I was bombarded with opportunities that would have given me stuff to do out my ears before M was born. Two separate companies that I applied to last May tried to hire me. I told both of them I would have to work from home. Needless to say I haven't heard back.

As for my Etsy shop, it has been neglected for a while. Don't worry, though, because it has been getting all sorts of unwarranted attention as well. Looks like all I had to do was leave it alone. During those two magical weeks, I was contacted about doing a TV interview with ABC4, attending the Beehive Bazaar in Provo as a seller, having my shop featured on Crazi Beautiful Women, and also becoming an expert blogger on the subject of handmade for the same website.

Hopefully all the things for my Etsy shop work out. I did decide that the Beehive Bazaar is too much too soon, but maybe I will do it later this year. I am excited to start blogging for CBW, and the TV guy said he would get back to me later because he has time to develop the story. We will see about that. . .

All this attention may be going to my head, but it is also pretty motivating to put more time into my shop. I have been working on a new product that I should be able to post within the next week or so. It just needs some fine-tuning.

As exciting as all this has been (I mean, who doesn't want to feel appreciated?!), I have to ask myself why none of this stuff could have happened when I had nothing to do.

Oh well, I'll take it.

One Week Old

2009-02-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

M turned one week old today, so we took some pictures in one of her cute outfits to celebrate. I can't believe it has already been that long since she was born!

More Baby Pics

2009-02-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

For those who are interested, we have posted some more pictures of M. We came home from the hospital today and are happy to be home.

Baby M

2009-02-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

M is officially born. She was born at 12:32 p.m. and weighs in at 8 lbs. 8 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. Everyone is healthy and happy.

My Latest Project

2009-02-02T09:12:00.001-08:00

So since I have had some time on my hands for a while, I thought I would make some stenciled baby shirts. They turned out really well because the designs are just big enough to cover the onesies nicely.

Lookin Fine in '09

2009-01-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

Well, once again it is a new year. We found ourselves ringing in the new year with a can of Ginger Ale and the Discovery Channel. We did our own countdown and went to bed shortly thereafter. Yay! Happy New Year! The new year is pretty much the same as the old one, come to find out. We are still living in our little apartment and still waiting for our baby girl to grace us with her presence. Maybe she knows that we have yet to pick a name. . . Not that we really want her to come early, but it seems like it should be about time since the due date became the next big thing for us after Christmas was over.

In other news, Chris and I have become adept online shoppers. I ordered a Nikon D40, so maybe soon I will have some cool pics to post, but it's not here yet. Chris has been collectable-ing on eBay. He's managed to score some pretty cool original animation art of He-man and some original sketches of various Simpsons characters, namely Willie, Dr. Nick, and Snake. Yeah. We're cool. It's okay if you are jealous.

Chris recently started a Biggest-Loser-esque competition at his work, known among them as TRIM (Temporary Reduction of Initial Mass). Yep. They are engineers, what can I say? Actually, the competition lasts for a year, so it isn't exactly temporary. They had their first weigh-in this last week. Unfortunately, Chris may have to get his bones shaved to win, but we're not above that. After all, it IS a competition. The good news is that if they go by percentage weight lost, he may only have to drop 5 or 10 pounds to win! He's planning on starting on that in about 11 months.

The Church Ball season has begun! Sadly, the winning streak has not. But Chris has scored his obligatory basket for the season, so now there's no pressure to perform. Now he can just run back and forth and get in the way, with an occasional steal here and there. I have a good time going and "watching" the action, depending on whether or not there are other wives there to talk to. It's a good time.

This year looks like it will be a good one! We have started getting all the baby stuff together, and we (almost) feel like we are ready. Here's to all the fun this year will bring!

Lookin Fine in '09!

Movie Night

2009-01-02T11:36:00.000-08:00

This last Tuesday we had a pizza and movie night with Kathy, Tyler, Clark, and Kjerstin. We watched an edited movie I got Chris for Christmas, "Wanted". We had lots of fun! Chris got me some fondant and fondant decorating tools to add to my cake decorating collection, so I thought I would try it out for the first time. I made a weird-shaped stripey cake. It was a lot of fun, and it turned out better than I had hoped for a first try. I didn't have enough fondant in any one color to cover the whole thing, so that is where the stripes came in. It tasted pretty good too, but the actual cake part was a Betty Crocker mix, so that didn't have much to do with me.

Here's Uncle Clarky feeding little baby Ollie. Ollie just turned a month old this week. He is so cute!
This is the beard that Chris grew over the holidays. It's not too long, but longer than he usually lets it get.