Seriously adorable shirts

My awesome friend Marisa is so very talented. Not only is she an incredible singer (and I've probably only heard her sing like once but it was that amazing) but she is very artistic as well. So when I saw on her blog that she made some Disney shirts for her nieces and nephews I told her I HAD to have some for my daughters and nieces.

I am stealing her pictures from her blog because stupidly I did not get a picture of them all together before I gave them away.

Sassy Tink went to Diva (of course!) and Nemo went to Lil' Sis.

Classic Pooh went to my adorable niece, Ruby, and the other Tink went to my other niece Elle.

She drew them and shipped them so quickly and I was so so impressed with her work. I can't even draw like that on paper let alone on a T-shirt.

Thanks again Marisa!! You are the best.

Más

Thanks to Heather we now have some updated family photos. Here are some favs.

"DisneyLand: happiest place on earth"

That saying could not be more true for this girl. The in-laws treated us to Disneyland over Thanksgiving week and Diva was beside herself with excitement. The above picture was taken during the parade where she experienced princess overload. It was amusing to see and put a smile on everyone's faces. Notice her outfit? All.day.long Diva harassed me about getting a princess dress. A dress that alone cost $70. Seriously the girl would never let up. We tried distracting her with big lollipops and cute hats but they were not good enough. So after I said no about 10 times she finally sighed and exclaimed, "OKAY, I'll ask Nee Nee!" And the dress, crown, wand and shoes (not pictured) materialized not too long afterward. She is spoiled but very loved.



Believe it or not this picture was taken about 10 minutes BEFORE the princess dress/parade picture. It was about 6 pm and she was tuckered out and still dress-less. So determined Nee Nee pushed her way through the wall-to-wall crowds all the way up to the Bippity Bop Boutique with the still sleeping Diva. When they arrived Nee Nee said, "Honey, wake up we're at the princess dress store." She might as well have poked her with a hot stick, she was out of that stroller so fast. She lived in that dress for the next week.

This is a shot of "The Leash." YES, I leash my children in an amusement park with over a million people hustling about. Although Lil' Sis' HATED it. Know why? Because she wants to RUN. Hence "The Leash."

And just plain cuteness.

Disneyland can be tiresome and overwhelming as an adult especially carting around young children but it is really amazing to experience things through their eyes. It makes the crowds and lines and the heat (85 degrees end of November!) all worth it.

Anybody home?

I'm totally on a blogging drought. Any ideas? I need some. What do you want to see from us?

Please take note of what she is wearing. It's mid-November and about 60 degrees outside yet she insists on dressing like it's July. Sure I could tell her to change but have you tried reasoning with a 3.5 year old? Impossible.

It's hard to get many pictures of this girl because she is incapable of holding still. She is go go go all day long talking to her imaginary friends, twirling around like a fairy, dancing like a princess, scolding her pretend children, riding her scooter, terrorizing her sister and telling Mommy what she is supposed to be doing at every moment.

Today I let her play with the camera and here is her best shot: (Oh my gosh that sounds like Tyra...*shudder*)

I mean hey, she got me in focus.

I appreciate her silliness and like to participate in her "let's crawl around acting like doggies" adventures. But if I'm being honest she can really wear me out sometimes. Okay most of the time. I may or may not have shooed her away to play with her daddy outside so I could post this. I guess that screams hypocrisy. Or maybe irony?

However she is my Diva. She is smart, beautiful, adorable, incredibly imaginative, hilarious and downright dramatic. She says things like, "Okay...whatever Mommy." or "You are making things worse Mommy." or "You are making me crazy!" (gee I wonder where she picks up these phrases)
She also sings. A lot. She flutters around the house belting out "I am a child of God" and in Sacrament meeting her voice can be heard in every pew. At least that is what I have been told.

Sometimes the drama and craziness in my house are overwhelming and I find myself wondering how life would be if I had boys but it's only for a moment. I wouldn't trade my moody munchkins for anything.

Appendix-less

He's super excited.

Hubby had a weird uncomfortable pain in his upper abdomen for about 4 days. Honestly in the beginning I thought it was gas pain but when day 4 rolled around we knew something was up. He had no fever or vomiting or any other symptoms so we never suspected appendicitis. Lo and behold after a CT scan they discovered his appendix to be very inflamed. He was scheduled for surgery a few hours later and the surgeon said that if had waited another day it would have burst. Glad we got that checked out.

Enjoying his first meal of solid foods in 24 hours. Yummy hospital food.

I'll be doing a lot of this during his recovery time.

Overall this little experience has opened my eyes a bit. I'm grateful that neither myself nor my kids or my husband has an illness that requires them to be in a hospital most of the time. I'm grateful we have health insurance. I'm grateful Hubby only had 3 days of work this week and didn't have to use 5 sick days. I'm grateful for family being close by to help watch my girls. I'm grateful this was just a minor surgery and nothing more severe. I'm grateful for modern medicine. I'm grateful this didn't happen over Thanksgiving because we're going to Disneyland and I really want to go. I'm grateful for friends who offer to help, even a friend who just broke her pelvis last week. Seriously. She's nuts.

So now Hubby gets to join the club and attend secret parties and ceremonies with appendix-less people. You know, just like the club with people who have no tonsils.

Just thinkin....

-I saw a commercial from Volvo that showed Edward Cullen driving well..duh...a Volvo. The website at the end was, www.whatdrivesedward.com....or something like that. I sat there and said, "Really? Seriously?" Who is going to buy a Volvo just because a fictional, over dramatic, vegetarian, stone cold, sometimes annoying VAMPIRE drives one in a book? And while we're on the subject, Robert Pattinson is extremely unattractive thus making my Twilight movie experience that much more excruciating. I will include the rest of the saga into that statement. I won't be seeing New Moon in the theater and might not even rent it when it comes out. *GASP*
However I'm going to name drop right here and say that Jacob Black (aka Taylor Lautner, Sharkboy) used to work out at the same gym the Hubby and myself attend. His family lives in our city. I used to see him all the time when he was like 90 lbs soaking wet. So every time I see him on trailers for New Moon I giggle because all I see is a little baby faced boy trying to pump some iron in a sleeveless tank top.
Don't be jealous.

Out of house and home

You wouldn't know it by the looks of her but this kid can eat.

"Mommy!! I am out of food! What are you doing taking my picture...get me more food!!"

She's a peanut. At 19 months she's barely over 20lbs and only 31" tall. Still...she can eat.
This morning she downed two bowls (not baby bowls) of regular cheerios, a banana and half of my bowl of oatmeal.

At the gym daycare she guzzled a cup of chocolate milk, some kid's entire baggy of goldfish and the pretzels I brought her. Once we were home she ate a bowl of applesauce and two bowls of plain yogurt with honey. It is not even 12 pm. If you ask her if she's hungry she immediately says, "Yeah!" Her highchair is her throne.

In the zone. Don't even think about bothering her.

Finishing up her second bowl of yogurt. I think she's finally full.

The downside to this is that what goes in, must come out. And out it comes....probably 10 times a day.

No joke. (Don't you worry, I'm not going to post of picture of that.)

Best costume

Blurry but you get the idea.

Somethin' ain't right here...

30 things

Hubby is 20......er...30 today and in honor of that here are 30 things I love about him:



1. He surfs
2. He snowboards
3. He skateboards
4. He has piercing blue eyes and has thankfully passed those on to my girls
5. He knows how to make me laugh....a lot.
6. He loves my cooking
7. He eats my cookies after I demand that he does, so that I won't eat all of them myself
8. He has a better body now than he did when he was 24 (And he was pretty hot back then too)
9. He can keep up with my Dad on 20-30 mile runs.
10. He loves playing and acting silly with his girls and they adore him.
11. He is a positive person by nature but is constantly reading books on how to be even more positive.
12. He is a kid at heart.
13. He usually lets me win arguments (the few that we have)
14. He comes from an awesome family
15. He has a firm testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
16. He can fluently speak European (much prettier and more fluid than Brazilian) Portuguese and some weird dialect of West Africa.
17. Sometimes I think my parents like him more than they like me.
18. He is amazing in his calling at church as the Venture Leader for the 16-18 year old boys. I'm sure he will be there for a long time as the boys love him so much.
19. He never, ever ever leaves the toilet seat up.
20. He can juggle....knives.
21. He's good at almost everything he does (which can almost be annoying sometimes)
22. He only goes to the gym once the girls are in bed so that I can have peace and quiet.
23. He's very outdoorsy which helps our family be more outdoorsy and my girls love it. (So do I!)
24. I can talk to him about anything and everything and he listens very well.
25. I can rely on him to give myself or our kids Priesthood blessings and that brings me great comfort.
26. He is always willing to help other people, even if it's inconvenient.
27. He introduced me to sushi which has become my all time favorite food.
28. He doesn't play video games.
29. He has made me feel like the most attractive woman on the planet almost every day of our 5 -year marriage (plus the year that we dated.)
30. He is sealed to me for eternity.

Camping

Mommy of the year

This one. Sigh. So cute right? Why would anyone want to make her cry?


Well I did.

Clipping her fingernails last night turned into a blood bath. I all but clipped off the tip of her pointer finger. I felt absolutely terrible. Awful. What kind of mommy am I?

Not only that but this little girl has been harboring some fungal or bacterial infection in her middle finger of the same hand.

See?

Look at me...hiding the damage I did to her other finger.


It's been there for TWO MONTHS. I know it's paronychia. I've been to the pediatrician who didn't seem all that concerned. A full course of antibiotics did absolutely nothing for it which makes me suspect that it's fungal and not bacterial. But c'mon....two months?!! It looks so painful.

Poor girl.

A few more..

We hiked Havasupai this last weekend. It's an oasis that is part of the Grand Canyon. It's incredible. It is 11 miles from the top of the canyon to the nearest waterfall. Absolutely 100% worth every step.

I don't dare take credit for these photos with the exception of the last one. Let's just say I coveted my Father in-law's wide angle lens during this whole trip.

Sneak Peek

Took a bike ride...

....with some adorable cargo.

Tiny Dancer

In Memoriam

10:45 pm and I am desperately trying to get Diva to go to sleep. I go sit by her on her bed and watch her play with her paper fairies. (I print out about 3 fairies a day for her on www.pixiehollow.com and she flies them around until they are forgotten or trampled.)

Anyway soon she sheepishly asks if she can sleep on the ground in our bedroom. I sigh, and agree simply because I want to go to bed!

She asks, "Can I bring my fairies?"

Me, "Sure."

Diva, "But not the dead one."

Me, "What?! The dead one?"

Diva, "Yeah, she died...see?"

She runs over to the bathroom and grabs a fairy off the counter that apparently suffered a slow, painful death drowning in the tiny puddles of water by the sink; ink smeared across her face forming a grotesque shadow of her former self.

R.I.P Emily Nightfluff

Three words

I hate teething.

Station Fire

If you don't presently reside in California here's a little taste of what's happening at the moment:




All that smoke drifting on the left of the screen is settling right over our valley. It's lovely.

Many prayers are with the families who have lost their homes and with the firefighters working 'round the clock to protect more families from the same tragedy.

Life Lessons

What I have learned after having children:

• That labor and delivery is rarely, if ever, what it looks like on T.V.
• That pregnancy can be exciting, nauseating, exhausting and wonderful all at the same time
• That the smell of a newborn is the most intoxicating perfume known to mankind
• That you can blink your eyes and your baby is no longer a baby
• That you will wipe things down 187,00 times in one day and the blasted table is STILL sticky
• That seeing your husband interact with your children makes him infinitely more attractive
• That the sounds of whining are bad enough to make you wish you were deaf....or dead.
• That binkies and sippy cups disappear into some kind of abyss never to return
• That if, by some miracle, you DO find a rogue sippy cup then THROW IT OUT, it has probably grown appendages
• That being covered in spit up, vomit, poop and urine no longer phase you but a spider running across the ground sends you screaming for your husband
• Diaper genies, changing tables, wipes warmers and shoes for newborns are a colossal waste of money
• That terrible-twos ain't got nothin' on Three
• That toddlers and preschoolers are mini dictators
• That a 3 year-old can manipulate impressively well
• That you will never get tired of kisses from your children no matter how slobbery and slimy they are
• That instead of getting annoyed by others' screaming children in a store or an airplane, all you are truly thinking is, "That poor, poor mother."
• *That trying to do laundry or get on the computer or eat a sandwich or take a shower or go to the bathroom or lie down for two seconds or talk on the phone or read a book or watch a show or eat a sandwich or take a shower or go to the bathroom while your kids are awake is... IMPOSSIBLE
• You WILL use your hand as a kleenex on more than one occasion
• Leftover crusts of sandwich=lunch for mommy
• Going grocery shopping ALONE is like a mini vacation
• Unexpected snuggles make everything better even if you have had an awful day
• That you will feel like supermom if you read your child more than three books...in a ROW
• That hearing your preschooler saying a prayer and giving thanks for trivial things will warm your heart and make you realize that you too should be grateful for "trivial" things
• That motherhood is, at times, incredibly difficult but the rewards are never-ending
• That the thought of something happening to your child will cause you to hyperventilate
  
• That you will love your children so much more than you could have ever imagined

Staycation

Spent three days...three childless days alone with this man.

Saw two movies. Went out to eat every night.

Felt like we were dating again. Held is hand. He opened doors.

Worked out together, went to the pool together.

Bliss!

I highly recommend it. Just with your own man (or woman).

Cinco

Five years ago today I was walking out of the temple. I had just gotten sealed for time and all eternity to the most amazing man I had ever met.

My friend decided one day that I go should go on a date with this guy. I barely knew him. His sister was friends with my sister but that was the jist of what I knew of him.

It was a triple date. He was so polite. I thought it was strange. He opened doors for me. I thought, "Guys actually DO this?" He also teased me about wanting a lemon in my water at Chili's (he now asks for one too whenever we go out to eat!) I kept thinking that he was too nice. Where's the edge?

After the date he asked for my number. I gave it to him thinking he probably wouldn't call. He called two days later. He left a message. I was unsure about calling him back but my friend harassed me until I did. He didn't answer but as soon as I finished leaving him a message he called back. He asked me out again. Our next date was surfing. He taught me out to stand up on the board. I got up one time out of the 8 times I tried. He was so patient.

We continued to date on the weekends. Four months into our relationship he asked me if I wanted to go with him to Ethiopia. Uh...yeah. Sure? Why not? So we went, with his parents and about 25 other people. It was there that I knew I was going to marry him.

Helping his mom in the medical tent.

On an 8 passenger plane back to Addis Ababa. That would be Ethiopian Diet Coke we are drinking. Thirty minutes after this picture was taken, I barfed. So romantic.

Our whole group. Us in the middle. Gee whiz we look so young.


After that trip we both went back to school in Utah where we continued to "court" for another 6 months until he decided he was ready to commit. :)

We were engaged.


And married three months later.


Had two beautiful daughters.



And still remain best friends.


He is an incredible listener and communicator. He is hilarious and witty. His sense of humor is in fact what made me fall in love with him. He is an amazing father and a hard worker. He can strike up genuine conversations with strangers off the street. He makes you feel like you are the only person in the room when you are talking to him. He makes new friends easily but never forgets the ones he has always had.

And...

He changes diapers. Poopy ones.

I love you honey! Our marriage is not perfect and we are not perfect people but I know that you are perfect for *me.*