Sunday Best Aftermath

Once we got home from church today, I was cleaning out my church bag and heard the kids upstairs. I went to go change clothes, walked into my room and saw both kids under the covers with heads on pillows in the bed. Once they saw me, they both said, "Nite Nite" and hid under the covers giggling at each other. I had to grab the camera and snap a few. Sometimes these kids really crack me up!!

Sunday Best

I love taking pictures of my kids once I get them ready for church - so cute!! Briana loves to wear dresses and she only wears them on Sunday so she is all excited. She is also so good about posing for pictures now and it makes picture taking so much easier when I get cooperation. Brandon on the other hand is not so easy. I have to bribe him with his favorite TV show and suckers to stand still for one minute. Then there is his crazy hair. It only stays in place for about an hour once I style it because he is all boy and it doesn't take him long to somehow get all the gel and hair spray to stop doing its work anymore. I had lots of time this morning to get myself and them ready for church since Craig is in Seattle so we are skipping sacrament meeting today. I didn't want to deal with them by myself so I took the easy way out...get to church and head straight to nursery - yes!!

Let's play outside...in our dirt backyard

Sadly with summer here, we don't have a backyard yet to enjoy. I know it has been hard on the kids because they want to go out and play but with having cement work, sprinklers installed, etc., I can't let them in the backyard since usually there is equipment out there from continuous work getting done. Finally we have a break for a couple days so yesterday we played for a little while in the backyard hanging out on the patio riding bikes and making a mess in the dirt. The worst thing is all the flags in the dirt marking the sprinklers. I felt like a broken record telling Brandon to not pull out the flags. I got so tired of walking behind him putting all the flags back that I had enough and we headed back into the house. I'll be so ready to have grass since my floor is never clean with dirt prints showing up every time someone goes outside. I just hope that when we are finally ready to get grass, it won't be to late with the hot temperatures!!

My babies no more

I'm starting to freak out a little realizing that my children are growing up and there is nothing I can do about it. Last night I got Craig to agree that we don't need a changing pad (it sat on top of the dresser in Brandon's room) anymore for the kids because they are too big. I haven't used it in over 6 months but Craig still did because he didn't want to bend over when changing their clothes, diapers, or pajamas. Especially now with Briana potty trained, there is just no need for it. Then today after I put the kids down for naps, I took their highchairs and put them in the basement for good. I really should have gotten rid of them weeks ago because both kids can climb in them. I watched Briana almost fall over because she lost her balance trying to climb in her chair and then there is Brandon who tries to climb out too but gets stuck and yells "HELP" until someone comes over and grabs him. He has even fallen out of the highchair before too so it is time for them to go. Once I came back upstairs, I saw this empty void in the nook area where the highchairs were and I felt sad. I guess all that is left is to get Brandon potty trained and switch them to big kid beds. As much as I'm excited to get some of these items out of my house, it makes me realize that they aren't my little babies anymore.

Princess Room

I finally got Briana's room done. I've actually had it done for like 3 weeks now but was waiting on a custom vinyl order from The Vinyl Boutique store in Bountiful. When we were done painting it, she walked in and said, "wow, chica has pink room". She calls herself "chica" which is her nickname she got when we picked her up in Guatemala. Anyway, you'll notice from the pictures that her ceiling is angled pretty low on the walls and it is because her room is over the 3rd car garage. Her room is huge and you could easily fit 3 kids in there so you'll see that it is very simple and open. I had a pottery barn curtain my friend Amy gave me that I used in our Indiana house. She only had one window so it was perfect. Her room now has two windows and I didn't know what to do. I ended up cutting the curtain down the middle so I could hang one in each window. It turned out pretty good and you'd never know that it was only one panel curtain to begin with. I had a brown wood hope chest looking thing that I painted white and put "Princess" on it. The blue blanket in front of it is a HUGE quilt we bought while in Guatemala for Briana. I love it and it is so heavy and full of vivid colors hand sown by the lady we bought it from. I also bought a lamp and a couple flowerly decorations for her dresser and shelf. Even though there are a couple themes going on in her room (disney princesses and flowers), it turned out beautiful and all that really matters is that she loves it!!

Nothing To Do

Today has been a great day so far. I decided this morning that today would be a good day to take the kids to the zoo and then meet Craig for lunch. The kids get so excited when I tell them it is "Zoo Day" and can't wait to get into the car and go. The weather was perfect and all the animals were out and on display today. Then we picked up Craig and headed to Macaroni Grill. I hadn't eaten there in over a year, loved it, and ate way too much. It also helped that we had gift cards so I ordered whatever I wanted without looking at the prices. Once I get home, I put the kids down for naps and see the sprinkler guy starting on our backyard so I go chat with him for a minute. I'm so excited to see some process happening in our backyard and can't wait until we have grass!! Back inside, I put away the lunch leftovers, clean out my backpack from the zoo, and then can't think of what to do next. I was suddenly bored. It was a weird feeling not having anything to do. Please don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not complaining about this. It is just that this feeling doesn't happen very often. Of course, we all know that there is always something to do around the house but nothing that I have to do at the moment. Laundry is done, house is clean (cleaning day is tomorrow anyway), no mail to go through, no dishes, and no cooking needed since our fridge is full of leftovers for tonight. I don't even have a book to read since I just returned the last book I checked out from the library yesterday and didn't check out anything else. I usually have some project that I'm working on around the house but at the moment I don't have any. In the last month I painted my daughter's room, (I'll post about this tomorrow) and my kitchen, and organized all my digital photos and downloaded them to Snapfish.com for safe keeping. I should be enjoying this time alone with kids napping and no responsibilities but instead I feel like I need to do something. I think because I'm not a lazy person by nature that I always need something on my mental TO DO list to keep me moving. I guess I'll just pop in a video and drink my soda I brought home from Macaroni Grill, shut down my brain, and chill on the couch until I think of something around this house that needs to be done.

New Kitchen

With Craig's new job and compensation schedule, we'll probably be in this house for at least a few years so I decided to make some changes. Our whole house is painted the same color (even the ceiling) and I am tired of looking at it especially in the kitchen. All my floor mats and dish towels are a reddish/orange color that I've used since my Indiana house. In that house, I painted the kitchen a color called Bold Terra Cotta from Home Depot and it turned out awesome so I went ahead and got the same color to do this kitchen. I basically painted the whole kitchen in one day last week while Craig was in Phoenix. Luckily for me, the kids took 3 hour naps that day and then I finished the rest when they went to sleep that night. Once it was all done, it was darker than I had rememberd but this kitchen doesn't get as much natural light. My Indiana kitchen had tons of light and a 17 foot vaulted ceiling so of course the paint is going to appear lighter. It does give the kitchen a rich and warm feeling (or so my friend said who came over to check it out). I think it looks great and I'm happy with how it turned out. I told Craig about it so he wouldn't freak out and he is happy with it as well. Good thing too since I'm not about to re-paint it!!

Before shots:

After shots:

Indiana Jones Movie

Craig and I had our wedding anniversary last Tuesday, the 27th, but he was headed for Phoenix that day so we decided to celebrate our anniversary on Saturday. We got a babysitter and had Chili's for lunch and saw the new Indiana Jones movie for a matinee. I grew up watching the Indiana Jones movies as a kid because my dad was a huge fan. I remember my dad taking my sister and I to see the 1st movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, in the theater when I was 8 years old. My dad and mom saw the movie beforehand so my dad knew what parts of the movie were not appropriate for us to see. I remember near the end of the movie when the ark was being opened and Indy told Marion to close her eyes, my dad turned to my sister and I and told us to do the same thing. Of course though I peeked and saw a man's face being melted off!! I freaked out and that memory haunted me for years. When I watch the movie now, I have to laugh at myself at how much that scene scared me. Anyway, even though the newest Indiana Jones movie didn't get the greatest reception, it wasn't going to keep me from seeing it and overall I thought it was pretty good. It was like a combination of other movies I've seen in the past few years like The Mummy, National Treasure, and maybe even some X-Files. Of course there are scenes that were a little out there to believe but it had all the elements that you'd want to see in an Indiana Jones movie. It was definitely better than the 2nd Indy movie - that's for sure!!

Love Affair with Food

With Craig out of town this week, I find myself eating constantly. I think with him around I just didn't eat as much and tried to watch my sweets intake. That now has completely gone out the window and all I crave is sweets. Ice Cream and candy have become my secret love affair while Craig is away. Just this morning after the kids played at the park, we stopped at Albertsons because I needed milk. Of course I walk by the ice cream aisle and I see that Dreyer's Ice Cream is only $2.88. You can't even get a DQ blizzard for that price (my justification). I grab a gallon and the milk and get out before I head down the candy aisle. Then I see a Taco Time and decided to get some take-out for me and the kids. I'd never had Taco Time before and thought it was time to try it. I order 2 pinto bean burritos (looks more like a taquito with a crunch shell) for the kids and I get a 1/2 lb. soft taco. The total came to $6.20 for only 3 items. I thought that was kinda pricey but too late now since I was at the drive-thru window to pay. We get home and I'm getting lunch ready. The burritos were bigger than I thought and could have only ordered 1 for both kids. We sit down to eat and I take a bite of my taco and that was the last bite for me. I didn't care for it at all!! I ended up eating the rest of the burritos once the kids were done and will save the taco for Craig. Oh well. I tried some place new and know that I have no need to go back. At least I know that Taco Bell will never let me down.

Finally it is naptime and time for my date with a big bowl of Dreyer's cookie dough ice cream!!

Big Smiles

Last week Briana got into my closet and pulled out a hat to wear. Even though it was way too big, she was so cute so I had to snap a few pictures.

Then today Brandon has been bugging me to death so I pulled out the camera and snapped a few of him trying to grab the camera out of my hands and laughing the whole time.

Whooping Cough Scare

I get a phone call last night from our primary president at church telling me that a child from another ward that meets in our same building has whooping cough and was at church on Sunday. This means that the sick child was probably hacking on everything in the nursery room an hour before my children went in there. They were calling all the nursery children's parents and letting them know of the situation. I guess all the children from the other ward that were in the nursery room with the sick child are all going to get antibiotics to make sure it doesn't spread. I didn't know anything about whooping cough so I spend last night on the internet looking it up. From what I found, it is pretty contagious especially with children and hard to diagnose since most doctors pass it off as a cold or respiratory infection. I don't think I'll have to worry too much about Briana since she has the immune system of a giant but I'm going to watch Brandon since he is always the child to get sick first with stuff.

2nd Round with Briana

Okay...so this whole potty training thing is freaking me out. I really don't want to deal with it, honestly, that is what my problem is with it. Of all the milestones kids go through, this is the one I've been dreading the most. I tried with Briana back in February and she was trained for a week and then completely regressed back to diapers and stopped telling me when she pooped and everything. Well the last couple weeks when I get her out of bed in the morning, I'll ask her if she wants to sit on the potty. Every time she would say NO and I'm thinking, "Am I ever going to be done with this?" Brandon has shown some interest but all he wants to do is sit there, grab toliet paper, and open his legs up to watch it drop into the toliet. I guess I should be happy that at least he'll sit on the thing, naked even. Well this morning she said YES when I asked her the potty question and then right after she was done, she went to her dresser to grab her My Little Pony panties that I've had in there since the last time I tried potty training. She put on the panties herself and was so excited to wear them. At least I planned on being home the next couple days without much to do so we can try this again. Wish me luck - hopefully this time around it will stick!!

Stripping at Night

Brandon has to be the easiest kid to put to sleep at night. After we say our family prayers, he walks into his room, turns off his light and then stands on the railing of his crib waiting to be put into bed. Once he lays down, we walk out and call it done. This last week though when I go to get him in the morning, he is naked except his diaper (thank goodness he isn't taking that off too) with his pajamas discarded in the corner of his crib. I don't know if he is taking them off when he wakes up in the morning or during the night so Tuesday night Craig checked on him before we went to bed. Sure enough, he is laying there naked with his pajamas stuffed underneath him. So last night I put him in a different pair of pajamas and checked on him before I headed to bed since Craig wasn't home yet from a work meeting. His pajamas were on but I think I'll continue to check on him the next couple nights just to make sure he doesn't start stripping at night again.

Young Women In Excellence Night

The last couple of weeks have been very busy because my Mia Maid class at church was in charge of YWIE on Wednesday night. This is a once a year event so it was a pretty big deal. We (me and the other leader, Kathy) had meetings with the girls 2 to 3 times a week planning this event and I'm so glad that it is over. The program started at 7pm so we got to the church at 5:30 thinking we'd have plenty of time. By 6:45pm we are running around the church trying to everything done and I'm feeling like a wet rag. My hair was flat, I had to wipe off all my makeup (what little I had on) because of all the sweat, and I had pit stains under my arms. Ugh! I just felt gross!! Then I had to sit on the stand in the chapel because I was part of the program giving the closing comments. Okay...so here I am typing away whining about this activity but I'm actually really glad for these opportunities to grow personally and spiritually through these experiences and I'm eternally grateful to be in the Young Women's program. I work with some great women who I have grown to love and have developed great relationships with. The girls in my class are so fun and willing to take on huge projects like this to put in the time and effort to make them great. Overall, it turned out so good and we got a ton of compliments about what a great job we did. I'm so proud of all the hard work that the girls put into it - especially the refreshments which turned out awesome!!

K.C., Ashleigh, and Alexis

(The Mia Maid class - Janice not pictured)

We frosted and decorated all the cookies the night before the activity (all 100 of them!!)

We had two tables at each end for cookies. They were a huge hit and tasted so good!!

My Special Day

Today is my birthday - 35 freaking years old!! At least I don't feel like a 35 year old woman and hopefully don't look like one either. I guess I'm at that age now that when asked my age, my reply will be "29". Today has been great though so far. Took the kids to the zoo this morning and then meet Craig at his office downtown to go to lunch at Chuck-A-Rama. Okay, I know what you're thinking...Craig is being a cheap bastard again, but no, actually I chose that place. It just sounded good to me. I don't have to worry too much if the kids get alittle rowdy and I couldn't decide what type of food I was in the mood for so it was nice to have a huge variety to choose from. The only bad thing is that I ate way too much and will be hurting for a good couple hours. Maybe i'll just skip dinner tonight and eat dessert but only for today...because today is my birthday!!

Funny and not so funny things kids say

Today I was babysitting my neighbor's kids and her son Dylan and my two kids were at the kitchen table having a snack. The boys decided to start drumming on the table with their hands and it was getting pretty loud. The next thing I hear is Briana saying in a demanding voice "Quiet boys". I started to laugh and then added, "You tell 'em Briana." This is just one of many funny things that come out of my daughter's mouth these days. She is learning so much and everyday she surprises me with something new. They really are so fun at this age if only I could take away the tantrums...hmmm.

Another thing that both my kids are saying these days is "I don't want to" but when it comes out of their mouths it sounds like "I don't wanted to". With both of them saying this, I hear it about 50 times a day. I welcome the day when they stop using this statement and it can't happen soon enough.

Hair Bows

My cousin Alicia was in town from Louisiana and brought me a bunch of hair bows for Briana. She started making these for her 2 year old daughter and the ribbon is shaped to make a butterfly - so cute. I had this skirt for Briana that matched one of the hair bows perfectly so I had to take some pictures before we headed out the door to church yesterday.

Being a Mormon in Utah

I have been a member of the LDS church my whole life but have never lived in Utah until now. Since moving here a year ago I have noticed differences of being Mormon in Utah and being Mormon in other parts of the country. I love the fact that most of my ward lives on my street which makes it easy for getting babysitters, doing visiting teaching, and catching rides from others to YW activities, church meetings, etc. Because there are so many members that live in the state of Utah, there are things pertaining to the church that you wouldn't see or hear anywhere else. Craig and I got talking about this subject a couple months ago and since then I've been writing down these differences that make us say, "Only in Utah". Look to the right to check out my list.

Snow in May

On Monday we had like 80 degree, t-shirt and sandal wearing weather and I look out into my backyard today and see snow. From day to day I don't know what clothes to put on the kids because the weather lately has been crazy. We keep getting teased with warm weather for a day or two and then it gets cold again that you can't even take the kids to the park or anything. I'm getting to the point that I'd welcome 100 degree temps right now and just be done with winter weather.

Mother and Daughter

I was heading to a church meeting Thursday night and the kids were bathed and dressed for bed. I had the camera out for some reason and told Craig to take a picture of Briana and me. I think it turned out pretty good so here it is.