Sydney got a sock monkey made from a couple pairs of fuzzy socks I found. Luckily she didn't notice that I hadn't finished the ears. Tommy surprized Haley and me with a sock monkey for dogs, where you put an empty water bottle inside to make fun noises and texture when they play with it. I enjoyed it almost as much as Haley!...
Tommy and I are spending 2 weeks with my family in Thousand Oaks, CA and are enjoying a warm Christmas with every single sibling and grandkid! Seven kids, seven grandkids, and four spouses make a very full house! Tommy and I are sleeping in the garage, a couple are on couches, and some were even camping out in a tent in the backyard!...
My camera's back from the shop (finally!) so Sydney's back in action as my #1 model. she can't actually sit up by herself yet, but with the help of her wombat friend, she can make it for a few seconds ...
Between waking up from the baby and having to let the dog out to pee, I'm up several times a night. But I get some nice, quiet moments during these times that make it worth it. ...
We got a tree tag this year to cut down our very own tree! With the help of Malinda and James and their truck, we went up to Heber and found lots of beautiful trees up in the snowy mountains. We found the perfect one! hauling it back to the car Sydney wanted to take home this little one Once we got back,...
Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great day up in Draper with Tommy's brother, Matt, and his family. I decided to try to make my first pie ever after getting a great apple pie recipe from my friend, Stacey. With the help of my little sis, Valerie (who's a much better baker than I am), the pie turned out to be a success. But...
Another birthday has come and gone...24, can you believe it?! And, as always, I was spoiled. Mary Rose made me one of her special cakes with sprinkles. She's going to open up a dessert shop one of these days! Then we had some family come over and Malinda and James showed us how to make their gourmet pizzas! the BEST pizza dough recipe...
We've decided to settle down in Utah for the next while (5 years or so), since it feels right with Tommy's job and having family and friends around. So we put our twin home in Springville on the market and have started looking for a house a little further North (American Fork, Cedar Hills, Lehi, etc.). Tommy now works in Pleasant Grove, and...
Okay, another gooey blog post: I just LOVE hanging out with my little Sydney! We do the silliest and simplest things together (singing made-up songs, exploring new things in the house, reading stories, talking with silly voices with her stuffed animals), but it's so fun. I feel like she understands what's going on, and has a budding sense of humor. She laughs and...
I'm so bad with tummy time, so today I tried to do better. And then, all of a sudden, Sydney rolls onto her back! I wonder how long she's been able to do that and I just haven't been giving her enough chances! I'm having a hard time being excited and proud because I'm too full of guilt! And can I just say,...
Tommy and I are just a couple of kids. We have this dream of someday having this secret room in our house that's the "story room" with tons of stuffed animals, books, and storybook murals on the walls. So we've started our collection ever since we got married, but still no story room to put them in. So in the meantime, Sydney has...
I can understand now why motherhood is so fulfilling. We get to experience the discovery of life again through our little ones' eyes! As cheesy as it sounds, it really is so true! It's my favorite thing to show Sydney new things and watch her as she takes a few minutes absorbing this new, exciting world. Even simple things like leaves on a...
Do you ever have those days where your kid is extremely fussy and clingy for no apparent reason? Where they won't let you leave them for a second, so you have to do everything one-handed? I finally got desperate, with my aching arms and back and a huge pile of laundry, so I had to get creative. Luckily, I was able to distract her long...
We woke up this morning to find the first snowfall of the season. I'm always surprised how early it comes every year. Goodbye fall, leaves, color, outdoors.....Okay, I'm supposed to be more optimistic since Tommy's giving me a hard time about not embracing all of Utah's seasons (meaning the cold, snowy winter). So I've been using lots of positive words about the weather to...
I always hope and expect for a big, exciting Halloween each year. I picture a big party with a cool haunted house, creative halloween finger foods, scary movies...the whole shebang. But every year it ends up pretty low-key. Even after making all the homemade costumes, we still didn't end up doing anything! We didn't even carve pumpkins! But we still had fun, since...
My sister, Malinda, is an amazingly crafty woman. Whether it's painting, sewing, or making paper mache, she can visualize something, then throw it together brilliantly. So we decided to make halloween costumes for our little ones, and they turned out great! Of course, she ended up doing almost all the work, but I'm still so proud of myself. Hopefully this will jumpstart my...
