Today in Memmottville

The Mom's Day

2011-10-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

Every now and then Mom's need a day off- probably more often than we actually get. But one day one of my friends decided we really needed one and organized a trip. We all hopped on some sort of ATV and we were off. It waas such a NICE day. No "MOM!", no changing diapers, just fresh air and great company. It was much needed for all of us and we all vowed to do it every year!!!!

We went to the Escondida Ranch that is owned by some friends in our ward. They have a huge damn up there and a zip line that we went on, it was so fun.

I was admittedly a little nrevous and was proud of myself for doing it. I even went twice.

We are tough stuff!

Shauna and I - looking really good after the dusty trip up to the ranch.

Some yummy watermelon.

Good times! See ya next year!

A Sunday morning mud puddle

2011-10-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

Greg came in one Sunday morning and told everybody to get their boots on and come out to the puddle. A rather large puddle. I thought we would just see the puddle, but no, I wound up doing baths all over again. It was all right, they were so excited.
At first they just jumped...

Then they decided to dip...

And they were totally drenched by the time they were done.

Here's to Sunday morning mud puddles.

Mowing the Lawn

2011-10-02T15:50:00.000-07:00

Alan learned how to mow the lawn a few weeks ago. He was pretty proud of himself. His lines were a little crazy, but he did pretty good. Our yard is huge so I am sure he won't be so excited in a few years when it is all his job. Good job Alan!

Ward Campout

2011-09-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

We went on a ward campout the first week in August. It was beatiful and we had a great time!
Here is the last picture I took of the kids as we were hiking out of the waterfall that we went to see. It is a bad shot, oh well.
Parrot Falls, the waterfall that we all hiked to. It was beautiful, loud and cold.

Alan, Greg, Anna (Greg's Sister that was visiting from Utah), Rebekah, Me, and Lydia.

Lydia and Greg checking things out.

Greg and Molly.

This was the first truck that tried to cross the river to get to Parrot Falls. It got stuck right after I took this picture and had to back up to get out. Kind of scary with a ton of kids in the back. The next truck made it across and didn't get stuck.

Molly's Plant.

It doesn't get any better than dirt.

She is a dirt magnet.

The Rope swing.

Lydia ws tired after the hike to parrot falls.

Alan on the rope swing.

He had lost a tooth a few days before the campout- first one!

Shooting the bb-gun.

Pyromaniac.

Primary kids listening to scripture stories.

This little stream turned into the perfect play spot for all the kids to swim, but not deep enough for parents to worry about. It was fun.

The little stream turned into a big stream after in poured rain for about 4 hours the first night. People had to get up int he middle of the night and move thier tents cause they were being washed away by the water. It was a mess, luckily we were on higher ground and My Main Man is an expert camper and we were dry as could be.

Aland and Lydia.

This was when we first got there, it had strarted to rain and Greg got to work trying to keep us dry. He was clearing rocks to set up the tent.

Anna being a tent holder - she was good at it. =)

Greg up in the tree getting the tarp secured. I forgot to take a picture of the final set-up, but it was huge and involved lots of big tarps. And we were oh so dry.

Sweet Lou- she fell on this rock right after I took this picture and got a huge scrape/bump on her nose and forehead.

We had a nice time and are ready to go again next year!

Last pics of AZ in July

2011-09-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

We alwaya have to go to the splash pad in the summer.

My parents neighbors were also very kind and let us use their pool- and we did, almost every day. It was great. Scary story though- Molly and Alan are not great swimmers. The water is cold in Mexico and we don't go swimming as often as I would like. This summer Alan really got the hang of it, but Molly can not swim by herself at all. She does do pretty good in this lifejacket that she has on in this bottom picture. So I always leavae it on her. Well, she wantedto get out of the pool and play, so I took it off of her and she was playing on the deck while I was practicing swimming with Alan. It had been a few minutes and all of a sudden I felt this death grip on my arm, I looked down and I will never forget what I saw. There was Molly- vertical in the water with her head under the water and her eyes as big as saucers looking up at me. She had gotten back in the pool, fallen off the step then kicked all the way out to the middle of the pool to me, right about to the spot where she is in the pool. The scary thing was that she didn't make a sound, I never heard her at all. It scared us both to death and the life jacket didn't come off again- ever. I know better and it was a scary experience. She cried for a while after we got out and I was glad she was ok.

Marx and Molly on the diving board, she was too scared though and didn't go off.

Alan really did well after we got him some goggles, he could swim the entire length of the pool by the end of the summer.

They were pretty proud of their tower.
Molly enjoying some watermelon in her underwear.

Making a marble tower.
While in AZ, Lydia figured out how to climb onto a chair, and then the table. Great!
We love Nana and Papa!

Phoenix Childern's Museum

2011-09-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

As always the pictures are all in reverse. One of these days I will get it right.

One day while we were in AZ (in July) we went to the Phoenix Children's Museum. It was AMAZING!! We wanted to go somewhere with all the kids, that was inside and for all ages. We had 1 year- 10 years and they all loved it. It was a bit pricey- but well worth it. We stayed for about 5 hours and totally could have stayed longer, but we (the adults =)) were tired!

Here are all the kids and Nana at the end of the day in the Children's Museum.

Here is Ethan pushing the cart to return all the food to the shelves in the little grocery store that was in the museum.

Molly putting her groceries on the belt.

Avery, Deacon, and Molly gathering groceries.

Making her pizza in the pizzeria.

There was a little kitchen, complete with a fridge, sink and little stoves .

Here she is taking her pizza out of the brick oven.

This was the kitchen room, like 5 little play kitchens were set up in here- so fun! That stuff on the top in the middle was all silverware welded together, it was really cool. Lots of eye candy everwhere.

This was a fan at the top and it knocked off little owls that were stuck to velcro on the side. You had to turn a crank and the owls went up and then flew out at you when they got knocked off by the fan.

There were all these giant shoes for the kids to wear.

This was really cool, it was thousands of pool noodles hanging from a rope tied to the cieling.

Sand table.

This was a giant castle that they painted a different color every day. Molly LOVED it! She stood there the longest and painted, I had to drag her away from it to go eat.

This was a little track with a bunch of bikes you could ride. This was a little bike wash that they could ride through.

This room was filled with things you could build with. You could make forts or tents and things.

Lou just chillin.

Another mini scarf blower.

This had a nuch of washers that you could lift up and let slide down a pole. It made a really loud noise- Lydia loved it.

Marx and Alan at the tubes.

This was a thing that was blowing air and you had to try and balance a ball in the air.

This was a bunch of tubes on the wall, you stuck scarves in a hole and then a vacuum took them and sucked the through all the tubes and shot them out the top. Alan could have stayed here for hours.

More parts of the jungle gym.

More Jungle Gym...it just kept going.

this entire three story wall was covered in CD's. They were all hanging and reflected the light, it was so pretty.

This was what you saw when you first walked in. It was this HUGE three story jungle gym. It was SO cool! Pictures do not even do it justice. It was ginormous!

Part of the Jungle Gym. The people that did this plave were very creative!

Hi Nana! Hi Molly!
In the Jungle Gym, second story up.
Molly in the bathub.
Hi Maddox!

There was this giant bathtub attached to the jungle gym.
The whole thing was covered in this wire, making it impossible to fall out of .

They even had a place for toddlers to play.

We had a wonderful time at the Museum! I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a great time! Thanks for taking us all Nana! We love spending time with you when we get to go to AZ!

Random

2011-09-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pics that didn't really fit in another post.
Molly is such a streaker. Forever running around in underwear. Here she fell asleep right at the dinner table. We partied hard!!!
Hey cute boy- nice hat!

Enjoying a puzzle.

Making pancakes with Nana.

Jody's Group Home

2011-09-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

One night while we were in AZ we went to my Aunt Jody's home. She lives in a group home in Phoenix and we try to go visit when we can. We ordered pizza and took ice cream sandwiches. It is always an adventure with all the little ladies that live there.

This lady was enthralled with Lydia, but obviously the feeling wasn't mutual.
Eating pizza.

This is my Aunt Jody. I loved her hairdo this visit. She says she is growing it out. =)

This sweet lady had a dolly that Lydia WAS enthralled with.

Check out her ponytail. My Mom made a really sweet book with lots of pictures of Jody in it that tells her life story. Here Jody is looking at it.

Here is where I would insert the picture of us playing Candy Land, but it is on a disc that I would have to get up to get and I am too lazy at the present moment. It was the funnest game of candy land I think I have ever played. A 10 year old, a 6 year old and some mentally retarded women in their 50's- doesn't get much better than that.

Insert group picture that is also on the disc.

Alan's 7th Birthday

2011-09-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great birthday party for Alan. It has been really hot still so we decided to do a water party. We had a giant slip-n-slide, sprinklers galore, the zip line (under the sprinklers) and lots of water balloons (I actually had filled up about 60 and they all popped in the sun- note to self, don't leave water balloons in the sun!!!). I was a little nervous after passing out 26 invitations about how many kids would actually show up, but we only had 19 come, and they were all so nice so it turned out great. We invited Alan's entire class which we have never done before, and I actually enjoyed getting to know some kids in his class and their parents. It was nice to put a name to a face of some of the kids that Alan talks about all the time.

The whole group- all 19 of them!
Singing Happy Birthday!

My friend helped me make this hamburger cake. It was so cute and the kids loved it! I used fruit roll ups for the lettuce, ketchup and mustard.

Happy Birthday Mister big 7 year old! Love your cheesy grin!

His CARS pinata.

Greg did a treasure hunt, he even buried the treasure this year. Here they are digging it up.

Out of nowhere it started raining and they all hid under this table, even though they were already wet- silly kids!

Greg the zip-line man~

The clouds when it started to rain, they came out of nowhere!

Greg was the zip-line man, he stood there for a good hour helping the kids get on their. He is awesome at birthday parties!!! Well, he is awesome all the time, but especially nice to have around with 19 7 year olds.

I made a gazillion triangls for banners and hung them all over the place, it looked cute. Greg is entertainment, I am decorations. =)
the line for the zip-line.
Giant slip-n-slide. I put baby soap all over it to make it more slippery.
The sprinkler was hung between two trees across the whole yard. Having a huge birthday party like this is nice when you have a HUGE yard like we do.

Water balloon central. They could have gone through tons of them but they went through them faster than I could fill them.
Stuffing the pinata.

AZ in July

2011-08-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from AZ. We had a Birthday party for Michelle and Rowan.

Lydia and Rowan playing with all of Nana's pots. Playing or breaking - I am not sure.

Papa and Marx.

Finding Waldo.

Cucumbers

2011-08-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

The first cucumbers from the garden!

July 4, 2011

2011-08-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

We had a nice barbeque with friends from our ward for the fourth of July. There was lots of good food, good talk, and even some fireworks.

This is a blurry pic, but I love all the kids gathered around trying to get a sparkler.

Train

2011-08-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Alan made a really big train one night using almost every piece of track that we have, he even included the farm in there, and some train eating dinosaurs.

Spanish Award

2011-08-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

Alan got an award at the end of school from his Spanish teacher. He did very well at speaking Spanish the whole school year and the English teacher even had to remind him to speak English in English class. Here he is with his Spanish teach, Mrs. Grajeda. She was a GREAT first grade teacher.

Swimming

2011-08-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

I have a teeny tiny little pool that is perfect for Lou to play in. The best part is I can put her in there without a diaper and see those darling little dinner roll buns of hers.

All I can say is Yummy!!!!

Basketball

2011-08-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

There is a strong Dublan tradition of basketball. They do a tournament every year in the stake, primary, youth, men and women. I am a REALLY REALLY bad player, but I go and play and support the team. The coach puts me in when the good players are ready to die. I make a better cheerleader than a player. The kids go and have fun too. Here are all the girls. Sorry, bad shot.

.

Prayers

2011-08-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

Lydia learning how to fold her arms...so cute.

And just being a big mess...not so cute.

Hamburgers

2011-08-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

We also cooked hamburgers while family was in town. I love to do this in the summer, but hate the horrible flies that we always have to deal with. It was so fun to have some of Greg's family in town, PLEASE come and visit anytime. Or even more here- anyone anyone! Cricket...cricket.

The evening ended with a bad picture of a soccer game.

Cruising around

2011-08-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

We went to get paletas while Sarah, Fred and Cordell were all here in June. I took some random shots around town while we were out.
This is the park in the center of town, bright colors as always.
Fred and Sarah, the cute newlywed couple! We love when they come to visit.

Choosing a flavor!

More bright colors...

This is basically what all the little stores look like in our tiny little town.

Random Pepsi sign, it should be Coca Cola- that stuff is like water where, in Mexico. It is every
where, no wonder everybody has rotten teeth.

goofing around in the blue Burb.

Hey chunka-

Zip Line

2011-08-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

Greg put up a great zip line in the back yard, and has since put up an even bigger one but I haven't taken pictures of that one yet. The kids love to play on it.

Another do-

2011-08-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

I really liked this hair do' on Molly, I did it just for church, but it would be pretty for a wedding.

I just did a whole bunch of pulled through ponies, put it in a pony, then did ringlets and bobbypinned them all around. It looked really pretty.

Pickin' Cherries

2011-08-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

We had a great crop of cherries this year (off of our one tree in the yard). We got about 10 quarts off of one tree, which may not seem like much, but cherries are small so that is a lot o cherries. It was fun to pick them all one night and everybody got their fill.
Especially Lydia....That bit black thing is just a big net Greg had put over the tree, if it wasn't for that all the birds would have eaten them.
This Man picked most of them- as always.
Yummy!
Helping Eachother pick.
See them all, the whole tree looked like that.
Sorry- I couldn't resist! This girl is so skinny.

They were really good cherries, and we enjoyed them cold out of the fridge for the next few weeks.

The playground

2011-08-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

We always have to go visit the playground when we go to Nana and Papa's house!

AZ in May

2011-08-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

We got to go to AZ in May for a weekend visit. We took a pinata, and some Mexican candy for all the kids to try. Some liked it, some did not. We had a fun time, even though the time flew by way too fast!

yum!

roasting a mallo!

getting all the candy!

Nice hat bud!

Attempting to get a picture with all the kids in front of the pinata.

Getting it all set up!

The streamers- that didn't work so good!

The girls got aprons and a little broom.

We brought sling shots for all the boys, they were seeing who could shoot the furthest.

Hi JACK!

Maddox is a little big for his wheels =)

Blowing bubbles in the cooler.

Molly and Jack in the jungle =)

Silly Boys- Alan, Marx and Will

Minutes before we started eating Dad wripped his toenail off. It was pretty gross. Mom took him to th

This was the pile of tree limbs that Greg and Alan cut off from all the trees. Alan was very proud of himself for getting a pile that big.

The big expanding ball.

ros

Chocolate

2011-08-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

This is how you get a 13 month old to come to big hairy papa....Chocolate.

Behold the M&M....

Bite it in half...

Present it to the- scared to death of that guy- 13 month old...

and SUCCESS!!!! Works every time to get her to warm up to him a little faster.

Crazy Cat

2011-08-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

This cat falls asleep in the WIERDEST positions! Probably because my kids exhaust him by pushing him around in a stroller all the time, and yes, he stays in the stroller.

And I found this the other night, when I went in to go to bed. Alan is in there somewhere too, but I can't see him in this picture. Oh yeah, he was on the floor right there in front of the bed on all of the throw pillows.

Molly's First Haircut

2011-08-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

So I really like Molly's hair. I love doing it, I love playing with it, I love her hair! She has a ton of it, it is thick, it is long and it has been that way since day one. So, since day one I have never ever touched it with scissors. In her 4 1/2 years of life, she had never ever had a haircut. But it was getting kind of nasty. The ends were all different lengths and it was starting to look kind of bad. So I bit the bullet and before I gave myself too much time to think about it I took her over to my MIL and told her to give her a trim. It made me super nervous. I was probably more nervous about it than Molly was. But it needed to be done, and we kept all the hair in a plastic baggie, cause after all that stuff on the end was newborn baby hair.
Before:

She was still all smiles, didn't have a clue what was going on. I had explained it to her and said it wouldn't hurt, but she still didn't really understand what was about to happen.

I love this picture. My MIL was getting her haircut stuff out and you can see Molly's facial expressions start to change. She is getting a little nervous now.

The first snip! Molly was about to cry at this point.

Then she figured out that it didn't hurt and calmed down a bit.

Looking at the end result. She had to take a lot off to get it all even, and it took a bit getting used to, but I was glad it was done. Sort of.

This is a terrible picture, but you can see Molly's grow back in the front from when the fan fell on her head last July. It is such a pain to deal with and now it just hangs in her face if I don't put that certain section up. I am not a fan of bangs though, so I don't want to cut the other side. We will just deal with it for another, oh, year before it will go behind her ear again.

A Sunday Evening

2011-08-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

A quiet Sunday Evening this particular Sunday in May consisted of popcorn, a liquado (smoothie) and the trampoline. I also remember that this was one of the first times we let Saffron out of the house and he was FREAKING out! It was really funny to watch the kids run around the yard and try and get him back in the house. He eventually did get back in. It was a nice quiet night.

Easter Dresses

2011-08-07T16:24:00.000-07:00

I looked everywhere (online) for Easter Dresses this year. EVERYWHERE. And I didn't like any that were under $100. So....I bought a pattern on Etsy, some fabulous fabric by Amy Butler and went to town. I loved the finished product.
They are even good for jumping on the trampoline!

I made the little pants cause they were 1- really cute 2- covered up panties and diapers 3- really cute.

Gotta have something to go in all that hair!

Now Lydia- we just gotta have something to cover all that lack of hair!

Big honkin' bow in the back.

I had so much making these dresses and it really gave me more confidence to move forward and try other things.

Easter Day

2011-08-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

I took 87 pictures to get one half decent one. Love those kiddos!

How to Train your Dragon.

Finding his basket, he had already looked in there like 5 times and never saw it.
She got a bunny potato head.

The hunt is on!!!

We had a nice Easter

Easter Eggs and the Easter Picnic

2011-07-31T18:01:00.000-07:00

We had fun at Easter time dying eggs and an easter egg hunt at the Easter Picnic.

Alan and AJ in the three- legged race.

The best picture of all three of them at the Easter Picnic. Nice, they were NOT in the mood for pictures.

Hair and Pretending

2011-07-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

Molly and Maylee pretending they are prego- silly girls.

I would really like to make a book of all the hairdo's I do on Molly so I can remember them all, but I am bad at taking pictures of them. Here is one from way back in Feb.

Aunt Rebekah's Birthday

2011-06-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

We went on another little picnic for Aunt Rebekah's 11th birthday. It was a nice day and we all had a good time.

Ok, these are all backwards, and I am too lazy to reverse them all.

The pinata.

Aunt Stephanie made a scavengar hunt for a pinata at the end!

Looking for clues...

She REALLY enjoyed the cake!

No, he wasn't peeing, it was a leak in the pipe. =)

The kitty bed

2011-06-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

Random picture of Lydia- she is grabbing stuff off of tables and trying to reach high- she is so tall.

Molly loves to make beds for Saffron, and he usually is appreciative and takes a little nap in them. Lydia is always trying to lay on him, so she was trying to take a nap too.

Field Day 2011

2011-06-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

He won the bean-bag race, balancing a bean bag on your head.

I think this kids name is Oscar.

Alan had Field Day at school on April 14, 2011. It was a fun day of races! He learned a few good lessons on winning and losing and hopefully had a good time! I don't have a lot of pics, but took mostly video, so here are a few.

The two-wheeler

2011-06-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

Molly learned how to ride a two wheeler finally- She is really, really, no- really short, so it was a while before she could reach the petals, but she got it pretty easy and only fell a few times, with minor tears. She loves to ride now!

Mechy's and the Michoacana

2011-06-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

April 8, 2011

While my SIL and her kids were here we made a trip to Mechy's- a little local burrito joint- and to the Michoacana. Mexico has the BEST popsicles in the world. Not that I have really tasted any worldwide popsicles, but they are pretty tasty! We sure had fun while they were visiting and we miss them so much! Too bad they live almost to the Canadian border and we don't see them much!

Lydia is ONE!

2011-06-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

The evolution of a Birthday cake is funny to me. When Alan turned one he had a no sugar applesauce carrot cake, Molly had a cake mix cake with some pink frosting slapped on there. Lydia, the poor third child got some pieces of the regular cake I made for everyone cut and shaped into a #1- nice. I am not much for birthday cakes as you can see. I fear I will not improve in the years to come either and I am not forking out the dough for a big elaborately dedcorated cake. So we go from super nutritious to giving the one year old some slices of chocolate cake complete with nuts in it!! oops- cautious Daddy did dig those out of there before she ate it though. He is a better parent than I am- oh well! I made the cake at least!

Happy Birthday Lou! We love you little butterball!

Got Milk?

2011-06-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Molly is addicted to Sippy Cups...it is convenient, yet very annoying sometimes when she throws a fit cause I give her a regular cup. I just thought this was a sweet picture of my girls both with thier milk in the morning...they both want a sippy of milk!

2011-06-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

April 7, 2011

This was a crazy outfit Molly put together one day- zebra leggings, socks, shorts, 2 shirts, swimsuit (on backwards) and a coat. Nice combo little lady! She loves to change her clothes constantly and I finally put everything up high in the closet. She has since figured out how to get to those and I am going to have to go even higher. I just get really tired of washing 5 outfits a day from her. She is ready for the runway!

March

2011-06-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

March 19, 2011

We went for a little picnic down by a pond on a farm with some friends, and Stephanie, Maylee and Johannah while they were in here in March.

an afternoon at the park

2011-05-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

My SIL Stephanie was here for an extended visit with two of her three kids. It was so much fun to have them around and now that they are gone we miss them so much!! This was one afternoon where we went to the park!
Johannah- sweet baby- it was so windy that day!

Maylee on the slide!

Alan going the wrong way!

Molly having a ball!

A day at Joy School

2011-05-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

I love doing Joy School. I have a hard time sitting down and actually interacting with my kids so this forces me to. I love getting to know the other kids and we have fun with all the activities. I happen to have this exact same day when I did Joy School with Alan so I knew it was going to be a fun one. With camera in hand we headed outside to make some bubbles!

Bubble fun~

Who doesn't love to play with goop!

Their is a skylight in this room, so the lighting is so wierd, but they had fun with their shaving cream and food coloring.

TannerOlivia

Molly blowing bubbles~

We always end the day with a jump on the trampoline!

Papa and Nana visit in Feb.

2011-05-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

We all love it when Nana and Papa come to visit. It is no small feat to visit Mexico. They have to leave on Fri. afternoon, then drive to Deming, stay in a hotal. Get up and drive the other few hours across the border, park their car and leave it at a place. Then transfer all their stuff into our piece of junk van and go the last half an hour to our house. They then sleep in my kids little twin beds and experience our boring lives for the next few days. Then on the way out they get to deal with stupid army checkpoints that can delay them up to an hour. And then they hope their is no line at the border. See- what fun we are to visit!
Lydia was SCARED to death of my Dad. The last morning they were her she finally let him get within three feet of her. To eat a shreck shake - see she loves them!
Nana helped Molly put together her little lion.

Some crazy outift Molly had on that weekend. Nice!

Valentine's Day

2011-05-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

V-Day was low key with some simple little gifts. Greg and I went out to dinner with some friends, but of course no pictures.

Shrek shake

2011-05-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Lydia loves a shrek shake (frozen banana, water, spinach). We have these most every morning and she gets so excited when she sees it! It is hilarious!

Boogies!

2011-05-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

This is gross, but this was Lydia one morning while we were all sick. Nasty.

That's better!

Yo-yo's

2011-05-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

Nana sent us some goodies and inside one of the boxes was some yo-yo's. The fabric kind. I made some uber cute bows out of them. Thanks Nana!
They also made for some fun playing!

Greg's hair skills

2011-05-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

December was a ROUGH month for us. We all got sick at one point or another. Greg hurt his back and was flat on the floor for weeks. I got mastitis and all the kids had colds. Alan even missed like 10 days of school. Not fun. At one point when Greg was feeling half way good he braided all of Molly's hair. He started and then after a while realized what he had gotten himself into. Molly has more hair than I have ever seen on a child her age. It is long, thick and lots of it. It took him hours but he braided all of her hair.

This is what it looked like when we took it out- which also takes a long time. It sure was pretty though!

I counted and there were 26 braids. So if I ever don't do her hair Greg can do dredlocks on her!

Saffron

2011-05-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

So we got a cat for Christmas. It has been so fun.

Molly on Christmas morning with baby kitty Saffron.

We were a little worried about what to do with it. I grew up with cats in the house, like, forever. But Greg grew up with cats outside. The difference is a city cat and a farm cat. My cats were clean, groomed, spaid, nutered. Clean inside cats. His cats were dirty, mouse catching, flea biting farm cats. So we weren't sure what we were going to do with this little kitten. We let it out a few times on the days following Christmas and it always ran back to my in-laws across the street (where we got it). So I quit letting it outside and pretty soon it was just an inside cat.

He loves to cuddle with Alan.

We named it Saffron. I had a big orange cat growing up named Saffron and so this orange cat was also named Saffron. So creative. Saffron is a very sweet kitty. He has got a good little motor and purrs like a champ. He sleeps on Alan's bed and is very patient with all three kids, even when Lydia grabs his tail. Which is often.

The torture started quickly- this was Christmas morning.

He had never bitten them, but was scratching them and the furniture bad. So it was off to the vet. He got nutured and declawed on the same day and was in rough shape for a few days after, but was back to his happy kitty self soon. Now the furniture has been saved as well as my kids hands. He is also now scared to death to go outside and freaks out if you try to take him outside. He is a sweet little kitty and we are glad we got him. (unlike the dog that we also got at Christmas and only lasted three months before we gave him away- chewed everything up so bad!)

Here he is sleeping in folded laundry.

I went in one night and he was asleep on Alan's head!

I found this picture, he was licking a bowl. I let him do this once and have regretted it. He climbs on the table and it is so annoying!! I have smacked him hard a few times but he still gets up there every blue moon, little stinker.

This was after he had his surgery. Lydia always tries to lay on him.

Molly made a bed for him to sleep on.
Curled up in Lydia's crib- naughty cat. He hasn't done that again.

Cuddling with Papa.

Climbing with Molly.

He is a fun kitty to have around and the kids have really enjoyed him. I do too, except the climbing on the table part!

Popcorn popping!

2011-03-23T10:39:00.001-07:00

I LOVE this time of year, it only lasts for a few weeks, but there is eye candy everywhere! I took advantage and took some pics of Lydia- she is almost one that fat little baby!

So- some tid bits about Lydia at age one. She LOVES to sleep. She is a thumb sucker and all you have to do is put her in her crib, and she rolls over pops her thumb in her mouth and she is out. If she cries, she is usually not ready for a nap yet. She is also a great eater. She ate two pancakes for breakfast this morning. She will usually eat whatever you put in front of her, a favorite is green beans. She has been taking a few steps here and there for about 6 weeks, but in just the past few days has really taken off. She is walking all over the place. It is so cute to watch babies as they try to balance themselves as they are just learning to walk.

She loves the cat and says "ooo! ooo!" when it comes around. She is also not nursing anymore and loves her goat milk in a sippy cup! She also loves to dance. When you put on some music she starts to bounce up and down, it is so funny! A nickname that has started to stick is Lou Lou. It went from Lydia Lou down to Lou Lou. She will even turn her head to you when you say it to get her attention. We love this little girl so much!

Sorry this is so picture heavy! She is just so cute!

First day of Primary

2011-01-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

This was Molly on her first day of Sunbeams...I happened to have to substitute that day too. It was hilarious. She would NOT stay in her seat and was up and around all over the place. There were only three sunbeams and the teacher was having a hard time keeping them corralled. I just smiled...she'll get it eventually.

random

2011-01-31T10:22:00.000-08:00

some random shots from May....I am getting this blog published into a book so I am just making sure I have everything on here and it is off to get done TODAY!

First time in the Bumbo...neck got tired fast...that is a big head to hold up.
Alan and Molly playing in the kitchen set. This was made by my Grandpa Larson and my Dad when I was a kid and now my kids get to play with it. They love it!

Molly in the sink part....goofball. I am sure I never did that.

Hello babyface!

This was from early May.

Blessing Day

2011-01-31T09:46:00.000-08:00

Lydia was blessed in June 2010. We were blessed to be able to have Greg's brother Fred, sister Juleen and BIL Tom, and my parents here for the blessing. I wrote down a few notes from the blessing, then promptly tossed them when I was cleaning out my church bag. Grrr...I didn't really remember anything from the blessing cause I had it written down, but now no paper. Anyway, it was a nice blessing. These pictures are all out of order, but it was a nice weekend, with lots of food and family.

Lydia in her swing that Nana and Papa brought down...yeah!
the quilt that Nana made. Fat cheeks!

The other totally amazing quilt she made.....oh to be so talented.

The whole family...

Best out of 6 shots.

Tom and Juleen

Nana and Molly

Nana and the girls...Nana made their adorable dresses and I think Lydia wore it three times before growing out of it.

Juleen and Molly

this is the ONLY family picture we have of all 5 of us since Lydia was born....even to this day. Pathetic. That is however being resolved tomorrow...finally!

Nana and Papa!

Tio Frederico and Lydia. He is so cute with her, always holding her.

Playing Scrabble.

Cooking some grub.

Meeting the baby, this was the first time my parents had seen her.

Juleen and Lydia.

Fred and Moll's being silly.

Alan's Hurnea's

2011-01-31T09:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, that is plural, as in two hurnea's for Alan in 2010. I noticed the first one in Nov., but it would kind of come out and then receed so we weren't sure about it and then in May. he picked up a steel pipe and it totally popped out. So it was off to the hospital we went.

Here he is before the surgery, not so sure what is going on. Greg had been in AZ getting a greenhouse and it had been a total mess. He had to work all night to take the greenhouse down, then he slept in the car for two hours and drove home as fast as he could to make it to the surgery. He barely missed Alan going in, so I was trying to explain to Alan what was going on, Greg is just better at distracting kids and explaining things on their level so I was really wishing he would have been there before the surgery, but he did the best he could.

Greg was there when Alan woke up, and that was far better than having him there before the surgery. Alan was hysterical. It is not fun to see your child go through something like that. He was just crying and crying and trying to grab at the incision. I had Lydia, so I was really glad Greg was there to hold Alan down. He cried for a good hour before we could get him calmed down, luckily there was a Scooby-Doo marathon on T.V. that saved the day.

This was when he finally calmed down enough to actually talk. They put these funny little things on his feet, not sure why.

Chunkeroo's was an angel as always.

Watching Scooby-Doo.

Hospital Food. Mexican Hospital Food. Enough said.

Well, he had another surgery in august, but I cannot for the life of me find those pictures. So this will have to do.

The big 4!

2011-01-30T18:51:00.000-08:00

Molly turned 4 on Jan. 17th, but I was sick for like the umpteenth time this winter so I was in no mood for a party on that day. Luckily my kids are little enough to not really connect the date to the day so I lucked out and no one mentioned that it was her b-day on the 17th. We skipped right on over to a few days later and had a party later in the week. I wanted to do something simple and inside but was coming up short in the creative department, until one night at about 2 a.m. while nursing Lydia I thought of a pajama pancake party. So we had the kiddos over for pancakes in the morning and they all wore their jammies.

Molly helping make the pancakes...apple blender pancakes with apple syrup that I could eat with a spoon, or better yet just chug from a glass.

Waiting for her freinds, beyond excited. And after a jammie change...silly girl. Silly big 4 year old girl!!!!!

I think they ate a total of about one pancake put together.

Then we made bracelets with pipe cleaners and beads. They loved it.

This was great. I cut out hearts from construction paper and gave them faomy stickers to put on the paper. I thought they might have a hard time taking the paper off the back, but they loved it. They were absolutly silent right here, it was amazing.

Here is the cereal birthday "cake" that I made. It had jello, butter, karo syrup and fruit loops in it. It was a huge flop. The kids took one bite and said, "Let's go PLAY!" and ran off.

We also had some friends and family over for dinner that night and she had a real cake.

Happy Birthday Dolly! We love you!

Candy Making

2011-01-30T18:36:00.000-08:00

My Grandma Tuttle is a wonderful candy maker. I have many fond memories of making and eating her wonderful sweets. My Mother in Law also makes some delectable treats that we have enjoyed through the years. I have wanted to make some for years, and this year I just got down to business and DID it. Quit dreaming, just do. It helped that I had some great friends to help and motivate. =)

Molly enjoyed the spoils too.
Divinity...I was bad and didn't get very many pics. This is the only one of the divinity, we added nuts and ground up candy canes....yummy!

Pecan logs...turned out very good. I was proud of myself for doing these. They are kind of hard and it REALLY helped to have three paople making them. One for dipping the nougat in the caremel and one for getting the pecans on the log, then one for wrapping in wax paper.

So I never took a picture of the glitter trees I made, this one isn't great, but these trees were really fun to do. Styrofoam is cheap in Mexico...so is glitter. Also, I want to remember this for next year, if you look in the window I made a snowman out of pumpkins... he was very cute. But I got ancy after Christmas and threw him away before I took a picture. I can't stand Christmas decorations much past the 27th, so he got tossed.

Jennifer was doing double duty on the penoche. That stuff was GOOD! But I didn't get a pic of it.

It was so fun to do this, and I will definetly do it again next year!

Countdown to Christmas

2011-01-07T14:47:00.000-08:00

This is the second year I have done this and it went, well, not so good. I have all the little stockings that I hang on the wall. Every night the kids got to see what activity there was to do in the stocking and unwrap a Christmas book. Well, it went pretty well for about a week, then Alan got sick, then Greg got sick, then Molly got sick, then Lydia, then me, then Greg again....you can see the cycle. SO...I had planned, I had written all the activities out on a calendar, I had bought ALL the supplies I thought I would need, I had made sure any activities for the month (school prgorams, ward parties, etc.) were accounted for. And it still all fell apart. I think we maybe did half of the activities I planned for. With sickness and life getting in the way it just didn't work out the way I had planned. I thought I had done really easy activities, but I guess I need to simplify even more next year. The activities we did do were fun though, and I will continue to try this Christmas countdown.

This is the Fisher Price Nativity Set I got this year, I really liked it cause they could play with it and not break it! This was how Alan set it up one day. So cute how everybody is facing Baby Jesus.

Candy cane reindeer's!

Made M&M cookies and took them to friends.
Made Handprint wreaths, I LOVE how these turned out.

Watched the Polar Express and had Hot Chocolate- just FYI- Mexican hot cocoa is NASTY! But they still drank it.
Those are the stockings in the background, this night they colored a picture, see I tried to keep it simple!
Opened the Nativity set, LOVE it!

They decorated the tree the first night, notice how they are all on the bottom of the tree.
There are like 5 decrations on one branch.

He actually made this little train at a friend's party, but I had it planned for one of the activities. Maybe next year cause it was really cute.
This was a popsicle stick tree, but he LOADED it with pom pom's so you can't even see the tree part. Molly got too distracted and never finished hers.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-01-07T12:18:00.000-08:00

This year we had a quiet Thanksgiving with some of Greg's family. Fred and Sarah (now engaged- yeah!, Greg's parents and our little family.
These pics are all backward...but here is our Thanksgiving. We decorated Gingerbread houses that night.
Here is Molly with the finished house.

The decorating crew.

Lets load this up with some candy!
Sarah and Molly- Sarah was SO patient!

mmm.....I love this boy!

This cutie pie was cruising around in her walker, she loves tha tthing

Rebekah, Alan and Fred working on their house.
molly and Lydia in thier super cute dresses that I made. Too bad it is a horrible picture and you can't even see the dresses.

Uncle Fred and Molly dolly.

The Happy couple!
The brothers...Greg hurt his back a few days before Thanksgiving. He barely got up to eat and then was back on the floor. Poor guy!

Random pics from Nov.

2011-01-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

Alan was in a little program at school. They had speaking parts and sang a song and did a dance. It was pretty cute. He loves to do stuff like this.
Here he is, horrible picture.

His whole class.

Taking a snooze with Daddy.
Hauling the chunk around.
Bad picture of the cutest dresses on the cutest girls.

Halloween 2010

2011-01-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2010:
Alan:whatever superhero he felt like being.
Molly: Dorothy
Lydia: The cutest dang chick I've ever seen =)

He wanted to be Spider man at the school party, here he is in the school parade.

Oct. and Nov.

2011-01-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

I was busy in Oct. We had a Super Saturday that I was in charge of and it was a lot of work, but so worth it. We all had a good time. So here are mixed up pictures of Lydia, Molly, and the Super Saturday that took up all my time. =)
These are actually from Nov.

Nana and Papa's visit

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

My parents came to visit in Sept. We hardly have any pics though!

Bottling pears, with the help of my Mom we finished in no time.

They brought a great new dollhouse!

Playing Concentration.

Thanks for coming, we always love it!

6th Birthday Party

2011-01-02T19:31:00.000-08:00

It was a fun filled party. We painted pinata capes, did alka-seltzer rockets, had a treasure hunt, hit the pinata and had cupcakes. I was tuckered out. All the pictures are out of order, but here they are.

All sugared up at the end of the party, on the teeter- totter.

All the finished capes.

Wanna cupcake?

Spiderman pinata.

Love this pic of all the drying capes.

Looking for the next clue in a treasure hunt.

The rockets.

Painting the capes, of course it had to be the only windy day we had had in months.

Alan's 6th Birthday

2011-01-02T19:19:00.000-08:00

Can not believe this boy is 6! I did something different this year and did a donut cake in the morning, it was kind of fun. Forgot to get a picture of the cake, but here is his donut he chose.

He got a cowboy hat and a truck.

I LOVE this picture. Such a sweet boy. This was the first year I attempted to decorate a cake semi- fancy. When I asked him if he wanted a piece, he said "No, I want a donut" Made me glad I spent all that time on a pretty cake. Love those silly kiddos.

Yummy baby...

2011-01-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

for the mosquitos that is. Poor thing, she got ATTACKED during nap time.

Sept. 1, 2010

Joy School

2011-01-02T19:04:00.000-08:00

We started Joy School (a little Mom-run preschool) for Molly in September. It has been so fun. I really enjoy doing it, I love having the kids in my home, I love it when Molly gets out of the house, I love the adorable things that they say to eachother, I love their sweet little eager spirits. It really is so much fun to do. I did it with Alan and I am glad to be able to do it with Molly too. Here are pictures from the very first day.

fi

She would NOT look at me, there was too much fun stuff going on over there! But this is the sweet little joy school house that is part of the program.
The tribe...Top...Owen Hawkins (um....can we say hair, if he were a girl I would be all over that mop, it is adorable and I often find myself playing with it) Olivia Jones, such a smart little lady, plays very well with Owen, often calling him Hon. Tanner on the bottom left, he is our youngest of the bunch and sometimes has a hard time staying at Joy School, but we love him when he stays! And then Molly Dolly.
My fat little helper.

Seriously, can they be any cuter!!!

WE LOVE JOY SCHOOL!!!

Ultimate frisbee

2011-01-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

August 27, 2010
A friend of ours planned an ultimate frisbee game, in the irrigation. It was a wet muddy mess and we all had a good time. I even got tackled pretty good once and had a bad bruise for a few weeks. Also, a few pics of Molly in the chilly water.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T14:14:00.000-08:00

These are all in reverse order of the morning, but nonetheless here they are. Best one is of Lydia down at the bottom. She is grabbing Santa's cookie. Merry Christmas!

I think I'll have some of Santa's milk please.

The best out of like 40 pictures.

Lydia Lou in August

2010-12-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Aug. 27, 2010

She LOVES bathtime. Those fat little legs just kick! kick! kick!

50 free cards from Shutterfly

2010-11-18T14:09:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to blog about the wonderful and FREE offer that Shutterfly is doing with Bloggers. Just share about their wonderful products that they offer and you can recieve 50 free Christmas Cards. I have often done a Christmas letter and a family picture for Christmas, but I have never done a printed card like this. I am very excited to see the finished product. There are so many quality designs to choose from, but I chose this one: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/ho-ho-ho-christmas-5x7-folded-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93496.
Mainly because I have three kids and my dear, darling, wonderful husband is being a beast about family pictures this year. So it will just be three pictures of the kids. You can see all the wonderful choices here:
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards
They also have great choices on their photo books, which I LOVE and they are so easy to put together. That makes a wonderful grandparent gift, especially for those that are far away. There are also a wide variety of other great gift options to choose from. Thank you Shutterfly for such a great free offer! I will be ordering plenty more in the future.

Yes, Mom I have been practicing my seams =)

2010-10-07T19:20:00.001-07:00

The Chunks is 6 months old today. Lovely, sweet angel baby, I am pleased to be your Mom.

Love how her big old belly sticks out here. And those cankles!

She is sitting up so well, her knees are all red from the beginnings of a crawl, she eats and eats and then eats some more, she wants to laugh but it just isn't quite there yet, the smiles are all around though.

The other day I was lamenting to my Mom that I see all these cute things on the internet and I get a bit depressed cause I want to be able to whip a little dress up just like that. I get frusterated cause the fabric store here is a big fat joke. As in BIG FAT and they carry 5 colors of cotton fabric and that is it. I think they only believe in polyester. She patiently told me to take baby steps, to practice. I WANT to whip up the little dress, but am I ABLE to whip up the little dress, that is the question. So far in my sewing career I have only made one dress and I had someone there to hold my hand the entire time. I have never made a button hole and the one zipper I have put in was, well, a first timer zipper. So I got out some scraps that I stole from my Mom and practiced. She told me to practice sewing straight seams, these skirts had A LOT of seams. I went slow, I ironed everything like a good little sewer. I didn't have a pattern, those still scare me, so I just made it up as I went along and I didn't have a scrap of fabric left over at the end.

It's got a nice sway factor. She was beyond excited to finally put it on.

I googled for an applique pattern and liked the little birdie. The flower I just made up. Wonder Under is my friend.

I think she likes it.

The ric rac was an oops purchase...long story, but big ric rac like that is hard to find. I have 40 yards of it now though. =)

I am learning, slowly but surely. I am going to do a pillowcae dress next, those look simple.

I also did this little shirt for Molly. What is it? Greg said a malt, a MALT? What?

Zig- Zagging all those little pieces was fun. =( Patience, go SLOW and don't let a three year old sit on your lap.

In other creative boring news that probably my Mom will only care about since she worries about my sanity sometimes are these pumpkins. My neighbor and I got together and with a chop saw and some old wood we had us a grand old time.

I made the scarecrows a few years ago. I love Halloween, but not scary, evil Halloween. I guess I should say I love Fall.

She made the witch, isn't she adorable! I should have take a side view, her nose sticks out aout three inches and her hair is an old mop.

Happy Fall!

Alan's first day of First Grade

2010-10-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

my poor little neglected blog. I was inspired by a friend lately that has such a nice updated blog, it doesn't take that long I told myself, just do it! Once a week! You can do it! So this is where we left off...Alan't first day of First Grade.
Age: 5 almost 6
School: Escuela Manuel Dublan
Teachers: Spanish Mrs. Grajeda, English: Mrs. Jurado

Pics are outof order, but I did pretty good until this point when I said "Bye, buddy" My voice totally cracked and I almost broke down, I had to bolt out the door before we had some emberrasing tears going on. He is there in the corner.

Hanging up his bag.

Oh my sweet little boy is so big. It was a good day, we were ready in plenty of time so I didn't feel rushed. He was so totally excited, but trying to hold it all in. I had gotten out a nice shirt and he was like no way, I want to wear this shirt. So our first day of first grade shot he is wearing a .75 cent clearance shirt with a giant sub sandwich on it. Nice. Such a totally cheesy picture. And blurry too...I want a nice camera someday...soon.

See there, I did it and it didn't hurt at all...now just hit Publish Post....

Last pics from July

2010-10-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

Nursing her baby, I love it when kids do this. So sweet. She always sticks her belly out and says...I am having a baby!

Helping make bread in a swimsuit.

Going for a ride!

Both taking a nap! YES!

I love this picture...Lydia watching, Molly helping, Alan putting away. Good kiddos.

The thumb sucker

2010-10-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

This little girl loves her thumb! I tried so hard to get her to take a pacifier, but she loves that thumb!

A Night Out

2010-10-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to see some of the sights of where we live. It is nothing too exciting, believe me. It is interesting to see others surroundings though...so here goes.

We went to the Michoacana and then to the park. It is the best version of Dairy Queen that Mexico has to offer (well, at least in my tiny town. There ARE Dairy Queens in MX, just not here) They have all different flavors of ice cream, drinks and palletas (popsicles). Except they are not just your regular flavors, it is more like mango, guayavas, lime, cantaloupe, watermelon. The drinks are horchata (a rice cinnamon drink), melon, lime, watermelon. They are all really pretty good, but the ice cream is nothing to write home about. Ben and Jerry are still the Kings on that one. Mexico desserts for that matter are not all that great, very dry, dense and not very sweet. Although I have had some Flan that was pretty yummy.

Here they are choosing something.

This is the park across the street. There are about three of these in town, they are filled with benches and trees. Many an old man sit and visit. Notice the old cars. That is the thing that surprises me the most when I go to the States. The Cars. Everybody in the States has such nice cars.
This was across the other street, those are a few little clothing stores. ALL the stores are painted the most hideous bright colors. It was a Friday night, lots of people out and about walking.
Eating the goods.
Check out the bug. These are a few stores with apartments on the top. Very common.
Some dang good burritos come out of this little shop.

A corn stand outside the Michoacana. I have never had one, but I have heard they are good. These stands scare me to death...I have never eaten at one.

A typical house in the little town. Bright house, all fenced in, no yard.

Speaking of nice vehicles. LOL. This is the ride we took that night, Greg's truck. It is a prize. Insert HEAVY sarcasm. Another small town thing...riding in the back of a truck. Although lately, that has been scaring me to death.

The park. This one is pretty nice, but only cause it is only about a year old. Give it a few years and it will be all dilapitated and run down like everything else.
A storm was moving in and I noticed this yard work truck in the neighborhood. I almost never see this, although I see them daily in the states. They were cutting the postage stamp size yard of the house there.

Another bright, fenced in house. This is a really nice car for around here.

It was the rainy season, ALL of the roads get really bad here when it rains. Huge puddles, with mystery holes lurking beneath them. I have done damage to my car twice by driving through these. Bad idea. Notice the sewer cover there, yeah, they just put them in the dirt road.

Going up the slide.

Very bright little ramada thing. Did I mention BRIGHT! and random stray dog...those poor things are everywhere.

This was the bathrooms. I was actually really surprised they even had bathrooms. There are never public bathrooms in places here. And if they are, you don't want to use them. You also usually have to pay for toilet paper. The toilet seat was missing, but it flushed and there was running water to wash hands...without soap.

Big girl!

It was a fun night, we had to leave cause the storm let loose. Hope you enjoyed the pics of our corner of the world.

Sleepy

2010-10-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Happy...

Happy...

Not so sure...

I wanna nap...

Sleepy...

Lydia's Vintage Room

2010-10-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

I wish I would have taken more pictures of houses we have lived in. It is kind of fun to go back and look. This is Lydia's room, it is the first time that I have had the baby's room done before the baby arrived. The room was green before hand and it took me three coats of pink to cover it up, all while being about 7 months prego. Fun times. I love this room. It is very simple, calm, baby, and sweet. It was also probably the cheapest room in my house that I decorated after we moved in. The paint was probably the most expensive thing.

I bought the curtains at a yard sale before I even knew if I was having a boy or girl. They were brand new, lined and only $25.00 for all 4 panels. If you have ever bought curtains you know how cheap that is. I knew I could make them work either way.

This is the face of the sweet little baby scale on her dresser. This belonged to Greg's Aunt Frances and I think it is adorable. If you notice on the bottom it says not for sale or trade. Kind of funny. It is off by about 1 1/2 lbs., but I have used it.
These little prints are actually old cards that I bought at a yardsale years ago, but never could figure out what to do with. I think they are sweet. I hated how I hung up those frames though and have since redone the grouping. The frames were from the $ store and I spray painted them.

I made the tissue balls, so easy and so cheap.

I printed out the letters then, traced them onto scrapbook paper, cut them out and modge podged them onto the wall. That is probably against some rule, but it worked.
The little table and rocker were given to me by my Mom. The table has been a few different colors through the years. I am grateful for the rocker, it is so comfy.

This old bassinet holds all her blankets. It was also Greg's Aunts'.

This is my favorite thing in the room and holds the most sentimental value for me. The quilt blocks were made by my Great Grandma (My Dad's Grandma Tuttle) in the 50's I think (Mom?). The quilt was pieced by my Mom and then my Grandma Tuttle quilted it. It is so precious.

This quilt was made by my Mom for Lydia. It matches the room perfectly and ties the whole room together. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this quilt!

I bought the bumper pad at Ross for $10, you can't tell, but it is velour and super soft. The crib dust ruffle was $4 at Target.

Maybe this might give you an idea on how to take all that old stuff lying around and use it which was basically all that I did.

I really like this baby...no really...A LOT!

2010-10-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Lydia was about three months old in these pictures. She is by far the fattest baby we have had. She is always happy and a very easy baby. She sleeps for huge amounts of time, 12-14 hours at night and 2-3 hour naps twice a day. It is so fun to have a nice, fat, easy baby. We are so grateful she is a part of our family.

Ward Campout

2010-10-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

July 17, 2010
The ward campout was a lot of fun. It POURED rain, but thanks to my awesome husband who had put up a ton of tarps we were dry as a bone. We had a great time!!

This was on the way home, that river behind Alan was the road! There was a ton of water and quite a few people got stuck.
That big blue beast of a Suburban was what we drove up there. That thing is a monster. Greg was getting a tow rope for the truck stuck in front of us.
The fam, Lydia was asleep...not sure why Greg had his hat on like that.
Alan and his rocks.
Playing horseshoes.
Playing in the swing.

Happy Camper =) The only picture I have of her...oops.

We love this squishy baby!

2010-10-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Chunks, chunkaroos, fat tub of lard, Lydia Lou, Roses, Chunkers, Lydi...just to name a few.

The Bumbo

2010-10-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure the Bumbo seat is the best baby invention ever. I use that thing all the time. It is lightweight, portable, convenient, cheap and it works! Lydia loves it cause she can be up where we are and see what is going on. She also takes a little nap in it from time to time.

Molly's BIG owie!

2010-10-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

On July 7th, 2010 Greg was messing with some stuff on top of the hutch and knocked down a really heavy fan that I had sitting up there. Molly's head was the unlucky recipient of the fan as it tumbled to the floor. It immediately started to bleed a lot and Greg quickly rushed her to the bathroom. I do not handle blood well and thought I was going to faint. I told Alan to run and get our neighbor to hold Lydia, but she wound up helping Greg and I held the baby cause I really thought I was going to fall over. I was doing pretty good until he said that we had to shave Molly's head in order to get a bandaid on the cut. I was devastated cause it was right on the front of her head and I knew it would be bad growing back, but what else were we supposed to do. Greg and Jennifer (our neighbor) did a good job doctoring Molly up and today you can't even tell where the cut was, besides the lovely clump of hair that is now growing back.

She really did good throughout the whole ordeal and didn't cry too much. I think I was more traumatized than she was. I just know that hair is going to be a big pain in a few months.

Here she is about a week later.

Alan and Lydia

2010-09-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

Alan loves his little sister!