Facebook Update!!

June 3rd: Happy 6 months old to my little blondie ivy! She's got her first tooth and she's getting ready to crawl. It feels like yesterday that she was born!

 

June 1st: I cannot believe I actually made it through a trip to Walmart without seeing someone I know! Good thing! It was a gray tshirt on gray shorts day with no makeup...

May 31st: Wow...this 7 hour road trip with ivy is great...only a half hour more of screaming and thank goodness for that because I just might have to commit myself. On a side note, Joe peed in a cup.

May 28th: I'm always pleasantly surprised when i shop at the DressBARN considering the name of the store makes me think I'm hearing cows mooing and smelling dung. Isn't the stitching on these capris fabulous?

 

May 27th: World's most disgusting event. Ethan's grossest act ever. He dropped his gum near a gas station urinal and I'll let you guess what happened next...

May 24th: I was so proud of myself for not eating the krispy Kreme last night that I 'rewarded' myself with one this morning...what gives?!?

May 19th: Am I so redneck for seeing Tupperware and thinking 'makeshift swimming pool' ?

 

May 17th: I'm debating on whether or not to go outside and kick the person who kept turning on and off their trimmer and woke up my baby!!! Ahhhh!

May 7th: Me: "Ethan come down from there, the sign says NO CLIMBING." Ethan: "Signs don't talk!"

May 7th: Ethan spilled applesauce all over the carpet, but rather than freak out, I just yell for the built in dustbuster: "Barbie!" She sure keeps the carpets clean! Now I just need to teach her to scoop her own poop!

 

May 1st: It's beautiful days like today at 78 degrees in the shade that help me survive those boiling summer days to come. Love u az!

 

April 30th: U can't force creativity! But in my line of work sometimes u have to. Maybe a good night's sleep will do the trick.(with the occasional interruptions from my 5 month old...)

April 21st: This is it! So glad Ethan appreciates MJ's beats as much as his mommy.

 

Where are we now?

Well the last few weeks have been a tad crazy and stressful. I got one of those fun cold-sores that only surface when I don't wear SPF lip-gloss, or I'm stressed! And I never forget the lip-gloss anymore.

1. I hosted a baby shower at my house for my great and partner Becky. More fun than stressful!

2. I sang a solo at a Relief Society, which didn't use to freak me out, but now it does! My confidence must have went out the window when the children came!

3. I am working on updating my website, and simultaneously launching a new boutique which comes SO many other stresses I can't even begin!

4. I've had an influx of custom website designs which come with deadlines to be met.

5. One of the most crazy of all is making sure that the loves of my lives all get their needed attention throughout each day. I love that genuine alone time I can steal with each one of my children and my spouse and I'll drop just about anything to get it.

What have I done to unwind? Put the kids to bed at 5 and 7, then WORK, then watch MY SHOWS! For some reason I am now going to list the shows I have been watching and on which days:

Monday: Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood - They're marriage is on the rocks right now because of dean's motorcycle racing so they are working on reconnecting again.

Tuesday: Glee - I'm so obssessed with the lead singers on that show that I Youtube them constantly!

Wednesday: America's Next Top Model - Season Finale last night was fabulous watching them stomp to the death on the Runway!! Love the hair and makeup! I secretly think I would be a very fierce runway model.

Reel Talk - I LOVE hearing movie critics review the movies coming to theatres. I still see the movies regardless of what they say, but I can't help but wonder what they think...

Thursday: Vampire Diaries - Elayna can't choose between Stephen and Damon (I think she should choose Damon) But there's a twist at the season Finale tonight where Catherine comes back pretending to be Elayna and kisses DAMON and then cuts off John's finger with the ring on it. VERY excited for next season!

Friday: Ghost Whisperer: Every week is a new thrill and chill!

Saturday: Dr. Who on BBC - This is a fabulous sci fi thriller comedy that is quickly becoming one of my favs. The Dr flies around in a phone booth to crazy worlds saving them from freaky things!! Very cool!

And everyday I still watch Oprah who I hear has had lower ratings than Judge Judy lately! I find it funny! I know her political and life view differ than mine but I watch it anyway and sometimes I learn stuff and have "Oh!" moments...

Shows I don't watch anymore because they're over rated: American Idol, Dancing With the Stars...

(Wow! Reading that list through over again makes me realize how nerdy I am!)

Okay so the newest with the kiddoes:

Ethan has preschool Graduation coming up next Thursday and he has a special part in the program. He gets to recite "little Miss Muffett" so we've been practicing several times a day and he's learned it! His imagination grows bigger everyday I just love to asking him questions to probe him to say something interesting!

Ivy is doing so many new things: rolling over both ways, holding her own bottle, and pulling up into crawl position where she smiles and wrinkles up her nose because she just so proud! She is such a peanut!

Joe is so awesome! He's my hubby so I feel proud to say that! He works so hard! Lately he's been making sure we do family scriptures every morning which I think is fabulous! Love him!

This little piggy (tail)

Ivy had her first piggy tail the other day thanks to Jacque Ferguson. :) I was afraid to do it. She sure looked like a little peanut!

Last weekend the fam went to dinner and a movie. What a funny night it was. It really was one of the funnest nights I've had in a long time. :)

End of March Update

My Fabulous little lady would rather be in her bumbo than lay down anymore. She can hold her head up high and scans the room for Barbie who she'll just stare at forever!!

I thought this ruffle bum onesie deserved a post in itself. It's so darling and it just makes me want to squeeze my little sweetie!

Angie's boy Preston turned 9 years old! We had a great party at Falcon Field with him. He loves all things aviation right now so most of his gifts were things that fly! He is such a special nephew. Ethan shared the tire swing with a girl. I love this last photo of Aimee and Heath. He has such beautiful brown eyes!

Smiles

Ivy laughed for the first time today. Ethan ran around the corner of the couch shaking a mighty bean and Barbie was following after him. I'm not quite sure what did it, or if it was a combination of it all, but Ivy just giggled for a few seconds. I was ecstatic! We kept trying to recreate the moment again for her, but I guess the moment will just have to be spontaneous!


After I put Ivy down for the night, Ethan and I flew airplanes around the house and jumped over pillows as we ran. Ethan laughs so hard when Barbie chases us and jumps up. Love my kids!

The Ladies who Lunch

For years I've wanted to host a Legends Ball of sorts where all of the ladies who I grew up admiring and learning from would come and we would treat them like queens and tell them how much they changed our lifes and really thank them for being so fantastic. Well I hope to still do that one day, but as it would be a HUGE undertaking I was happy to see that Sidney Madsen decided to throw and mommy daughter luncheon to honor all of the mommies and daughters from the '6th ward' as I call it. The name has since changed. Here are some of the photos:

It was such a fun time. We had yummy food and everyone who was present got the opportunity to talk about their current station in life and also share a memory they had from the ward. Finally, I had my chance to thank Sister Poulsen for being such an amazing influence in my life as she was my leader most of childhood. The memories were hilarious and there was so much laughter. So I know it's never too late for me to plan the Legends Ball, so that will have to wait, and for now, this made me happy knowing I could reconnect with my childhood heroes and friends.

I snapped this photo of my old house while I was driving home from the luncheon. It's massive and there's so many memories for me inside that house! The balcony was so fun to have sleepovers on! The front yard was so fun to hide in. And millions more...

He's catching on quick...

Me: "Hey Ethan, let's clean up our toys..."

Ethan: "Why, is someone coming over?"

'nuff said.

Lazer tag

We got some friends together last weekend to have dinner and play lazer tag! We met at the Salty seniorita which the atmosphere was like drift wood meets glam, very cool. The food was so-so. But the conversation was great.

Then we went over the stratum to play lazer tag. We played two crazy games. I realized how out of shape I am as I was sweating and sore by the end. It's good fun though, they pumped loud music in there and the glow of the black lights are everywhere. You can't help but feel hyper and totally 'cool' running around shooting people with your phazer. I love that word "phazer". We all agreed that we'll have to go back very soon!

Stealing Time

Lately I feel like I'm trying to steal time to do everything.

But at the same time, at the end of a day of doing everything,

I can't remember what I did...

1. take care of the children
2. work
3. clean
4. cook
5. Sleep
6. Have a social life
7. worship
8. spend quality time with hubby

Those are all things that need to get done at some point in the day.

I wish I could just stop time, just for a minute so I could take it all in, really be in the moment. I want to look at my as it is now and just be..................

I see the elderly at church and know that I'll be there soon. All they can do is talk about the past because that's all they have, and that's what I'm living right now, the life they wish they could go back to. It's a funny paradigm.

Ivy's Blessing day

We had a wonderful day when all of the family came to visit for Ivy's baby blessing. Church was at 9am so we were especially grateful to see everyone so early! Ivy's dress was absolutely fabulous. I wish they had it in my size! She was the bell of the ball and Daddy's blessing was so sweet!

After church we all came to our house for subs and mom's famous bowtie salad. Oh yah and yummy lofthouse cookies too! The family talked and laughed and the kids played and played.

After all the fun had ended, Ivy was zonked out. She needed some beauty sleep.

Home Sweet Home

Well, being a new mommy again, I stay at home a lot more that I used to! It's just more difficult to get out of the house! So we find fun things to do around the house like play with Ethan's big legos! He loves to stack and stack over again, so we decided to use ALL of his blocks and build a castle. It was lots o' fun! And then of course the giant robot lived in the castle. Ethan keeps me on my toes all day long, but is a big helper too. Thank goodness for naps.

Ivy gets to play dress up at her mommy's request. I am living vicariously through her when it comes to pink and tutus because when I was little I could never get enough of that stuff! Anything sparkly or girly always caught my eye! She'll be blessed this Sunday. I can't wait to take photos of her in her blessing dress, it's fabulous!

Joe told me he's ready to get started on his master degree next year so we're gearing up for that!

I'm an Etsy Freak Lately, I love all things boutique on there. Also, we've seen AVATAR twice now, and I'm definately wanting to see it again before it leaves theatres. I LOVE that movie. I got the soundtrack to it and listen to it when I do my graphic design. It makes me happy! I tell Joe I wish he and I could travel to a bioluminescent world and be mated in front of the spirit tree... was that TMI? Well this is MY journal!

My kiddies / The newest...

Aren't they cute?

So the newest with Ivy: She's such a good sleeper! A couple of nights this week, she 's only woken up 1 time to feed. She got sick again a couple of weeks ago and couldn't breathe, but now that she's breathing better, she's such a happier baby. She smiles so much and loves to squeek and squak about everything. She loves to crawl up things when you push up her little feetsies, she'll make a little grunting noise and rocket forward. You gotta gaurd your noise or she'll bonk right into you! She's got such a strong neck.

The newest with Ethan: This boy is hilarious! The other day Joe said, "Ethan, did you make any new friends at the playplace?" Ethan said, "No, Heavenly Father made them." He's been asking us who made everything, and most of the time it's Heavenly Father who makes things so he just assumed Heavenly Father made the friends. :) He also loves to remind us to turn off the water when we brush our teeth. :) He's adjusting well to Ivy. He loves to call her a "little fella" for some reason. And he loves it when she "talks" to us. He tells her silly stories and sings her songs when she cries. He LOVES family night. That is so precious to me because I know he values the time we spend together. He's my little buddy.

The newest with Joe: we are planning a Valentines Day getaway, one night stay at a hotel somewhere. Not on Valentines Day because Grandma will be busy, but sometime around then. We are both chomping at the bit to get some alone time and relax. He LOVES his calling with the young men. He goes to game night every week from 9pm to sometimes midnight where he hangs with the boys.

Newest with me: Design to the 3rd power. I guess I feel the need to make up for lost time when I was pregnant, but I'm a graphic making fool. I forgot how much I love it! I love to lay Ivy on my lap and talk with her and smile with her. I love to give her baths. I love to cuddle with Ethan on the couch, and I love to sit at the breakfast table and plan out my day with him. Joe and I put Ethan in the movie daycare and brought Ivy with is to see Sherlock Holmes. It was a good time, and it was nice to spend time with my hubby. :)

Welcome Ivy

We are so excited to welcome baby ivy into our family. She's an angel. Ethan loves her so much already and wants to touch and kiss her any chance he gets! There's more details to come, but here are some photos to start. She's such a big girl! These pictures look like she's already one month old, but she's only 4 days old in these photos!