Introducing Lexie and a general update.

Lexie is finally here. I know you all know that but you haven't seen many pictures of her yet because her mom is a slacker. But here she is!

Will is doing really well with her, except for the fact that he has had a runny nose and woke up this morning with a fever and he always wants to "touch/smooch her face". So Lex has had a constant companion the last couple of days, but I am pretty sure that he is loving every moment of it. Lexie's first two nights were really long, woke up about every hour wanting to eat, but last night she actually would sleep for a couple of hours in between feedings which was really nice. So far today all she has done is sleep, literally, I have to wake her up to feed her. I gave her her first sponge bath, which she loved. She just sat there and looked around, never cried.

Oh and I am glad to announce, she does not have Flinstone hands and feet like her brother! She has girly hands and feet!

William

Will is quite the character. The other day while we were at grandmas house he came inside to tell me "mom, there is a crocodile on the floor". After a few minutes I started to understand. He told me to come outside to see the crocodile. I followed him outback and sure enough on the sidewalk there was a lizard that looks just like his little toy crocodile. I told him it was a lizard and he said "oh, it's a lizard" then he went inside to tell grandma to come outside to see the lizard.

Also, last sunday at Anna's farewell, her friend Whitley sang a special musical number and as soon as she started singing Will immediately stopped playing and just sat and watched her. He said to his cousin "drew, look" drew said "oh, you see Whitley" and will replied with "yeah, she's SO pretty". It was so cute I couldn't help but chuckle. Then all day long anytime someone would say pretty or beautiful, he would say "Whitley's beautiful".

Our house

Our house should be done in a couple of weeks. I went yesterday and was shocked to find all of our cabinets in, our base boards on, all our shelves in the closets on, our garage doors on, lots on lights in, our rock all done on the front of our house, and they were just finishing our rock fireplace inside. I am so excited to finally get moved in and settled. I am ready for a little more room and for a backyard for Will!

Kelsey's Favorite Things

Has everyone received their Favorite Things package yet?

If not, I'm sure you'll be getting it soon.

I got mine!

I loved hearing about Kelsey's Favorite Things, and I'm pretty sure I can add them to my list now!

So, without further ado - here is what came in my package ...

From Kelsey: My Favorite Things consists mostly of treats! I always have a Symphony Bar in my freezer, the chocolate granola bars are my favorite. These are the only fruit snacks Lex and I will eat. The Charleston Chews are fantastic frozen. These binkys are the only ones Will would use. This is my favorite baby body wash and baby lotion. I can't shower without a shower sponge. I always carry a container of wipes in my car. Will only eats if I make it a game, so we love the sandwich cutter. My last favorite thing is a soft ball! You will soon find that you can only have soft balls for your little man! I hope you enjoy!

Thanks Kelsey for giving me a few of your favorite things!

Ghouly Cupcakes

I found this fun idea for ghost cupcakes and I'm going to make them for preschool...they look super easy and the kids will go CRAZY over them! I'm in the Halloween spirit lately, can you tell? Check them out here. make chocolate cupcakes. Put sucker in the middle. Cut rolled white fondant (from Michael's) into four inch circles (use cookie cutter). Drape over sucker. Draw two small eyes...fantastic!!

Short post. Kenny and I are headed to Elton John concert tonight...will let you know how it goes!

Love you all!

PS...since I cannot comment, I will start emailing you my comments, its the best I can do!

Happiest Place On Earth

Today I am in what is considered to be the happiest place on earth. Although I know it's going to be fantastic, it got me thinking about what really is the happiest place on earth? If you google it, you'll find results similar to this World Map of Happiness or, the 2006 and 2009 list side to side on Wikipedia. Interesting to note that the USA doesn't rank very high on these lists.

In the USA San Luis Obispo, CA and Boulder, CO are among the few that have been named the happiest. To find out where your city ranks visit USA Today.

I've been thinking about it over the last few days and I think for me it's simple --- my happiest places always include happy memories and family. I'd say that most of the places I've lived are among my happiest places. I'd include on that list several places in Utah, Arizona, Washington DC, and Moscow. Sometimes I smell or see something that takes right to one of those places...and it makes me feel at home.

I want to know, what are your happy places?

I ran across this go cart idea in a past family fun and thought it was such a great idea! Has supply list and step by step instructions. Cost should be under $100 in supplies and kids could build by themselves (with a little help from dads or grandpa). I was thinking about giving the supplies to my boy.s for Christmas! Think of the fun if each family built one and we had races?

Meg's favorite things

Meagan gave me some really great things!!!!

• Zija-Feel good tea for morning and night(its even organic-love it)
• See's Little Pops butterscotch candies-my girls and Kelsey have helped me enjoy this yummy treat.
• Its a 10 miracle leave-in product-Mego swears by this and i cant wait to try it on my girls. Maybe it will help with the crying associated with hair combing. Funny thing they always say "Mom we don't know why people pay you to do their hair, you never do what we want."I love them!!
• This really cute watch(black of course). The first thing Kelsey said was "I want that." I guess she decided I can wear it a couple of times before she steals it:)
  

Thank you Meg for all of the great things!!Love you:)

Turning Me Into a Housewife!

Although it feels like this adventure started yesterday... we are already past the 4 month mark.  It seems like some girls start sharpening their housewife skills long before their time comes... I was not one of those girls. My skills are coming... slowly. It's a good thing I have all of you to help bring me up to speed! Your advice came in handy today while Michael and I did some serious deep cleaning around the house. My parents are coming into town tomorrow so we needed things to be looking spic-n-span. Luckily, I had plenty of helpful tips from our blog. I was able to use...

Courtney's great tip for having clean, crisp sheets on the bed (put the sheets on the bed right out of the washing machine, it makes the room smell so good)

Lacey's great dishwasher tip

Meagan's great tip using vinegar to clean the microwave (the spills wipe right off)

Question for Courtney... What do you do with the pillowcases? Do you put them on the pillows wet? Thanks everyone for all the great tips :) I hope you all have a great weekend! 

Random ...

I am feeling sad that I am not going to be at Tuacahn tonight with y'all. I have seen the Little Mermaid, and I am positive you are all going to love it! It's nice being home after about 10 days of being away, and Linley kept asking when we were going to go to Linley's house - so I guess it was time we came home. Linley has been in heaven playing with all of her new toys. She definitely has kept herself entertained. She loved playing with some of her cousins on Sunday though - and loved blowing out candles at Grandma's house.

I've just about dug myself out of a giant pile of laundry, but I haven't gathered enough motivation to clean the house - and there's a lot of toilet scrubbing, dusting, and weed pulling that needs to be happening. I haven't had a lot of motivation, and I seem to always make time for some web surfing (something I'm going to start limiting in my life) but I've been getting really excited for the holidays in our new house. I've been gathering lots of decorating ideas on my Pinterest - and I can't wait to get going!

 Sitting in a Tree

Funkyshique

I'm also in nesting mode. I'm ready to have my house kind of "put together" before this baby boy arrives. I took some chairs from my parent's house that I'm going to paint and reupholster, and I have a few modern art projects I'd like to get started. Today I organized toys, and added tags to the tubby boxes in the playroom - and there's a lot more organizing I could get done. I've also been pinning some home projects on my Pinterest.

I really enjoy reading all of your posts - keep 'em coming! Oh, and how is the Favorite Things Swap going?

Halloween Wreaths...

Do you know that I have never owned my own wreath? Pathetic, I know, but Kenny is anti-decorations, and it's just easier not to fight with him about it. Anyway, I have always wanted to get into having something fun to decorate my front door. Well, this is the year!

This morning after preschool, Mandi showed me all of her fun Halloween decorations, and I told her I had to have her cute wreath. So here's what I did: I went out and bought all of the stuff to make these cute Halloween wreaths (complete with black tuille, colorful spiders and fun Halloween ribbon) for all sisters who will be in St. George this week (Wednesday-Thursday). All you have to do is show up and put it together (don't thank me, thank mom for paying for it)! I hope you likey...

Fall TV

I always think it's fun when September comes around and TV series kick back into gear.

My favorite evening shows are Parenthood, Greys, and of course Modern Family. I'm also looking forward New Girl, looks like it could be pretty funny.

I don't see a lot of daytime TV, but I have recently discovered the Nate Berkus Show. He is new to me and I'm a fan. He has all kinds of great decorating ideas --- so fun to watch. Just wish I could put those into action at my house!

Thank goodness for TiVo! What shows are you looking forward to? And if you are looking ideas or for a fall preview visit here.

Sacrament quiet books

A while ago I downloaded quiet books that I have loved and used with my kids, as baptism gifts and for sacrament mtg. I thought it would be great info or my post today, but when I looked on the website I discovered that they are no longer available to download from the website. Luckily, I have them already in my Costco account ready to print. If any of you are interested, check them out. Below is a link to the articles of faith downloads. . I also have saved on Costco a great Living Christ book that I used as Christmas gifts last year!

http://www.SimplyFreshDesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/articles-of-faith-8x10-web.jpg

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

General Update

Cooking: Well our menu has now expanded from 3 to 5 meals. We're very excited about it, but...we are really getting sick of spaghetti and fajitas. If any of you have any great recipes, send them our way. We're in dire need of them!

Entertainment: We get a redbox movie just about every night of the week. If any of you need a great movie suggestion, don't hesitate to ask. We've also become fans of the diamondbacks (Arizona's professional baseball team). Once we found out their field was covered and air conditioned we became instant fans! There is nothing like escaping the Arizona heat to watch a baseball game in 72 degree weather. Due to the fact that Michael has finally been accepted into the law school married LDS group, we've been able to make quite a few good friends. The wives are getting good at ignoring the husbands boring law talk.

Sex: You will all be happy to know that your gifts from my naughty nighty shower have been put to great use :) thanks for all the advice, it has come in handy. Moving on...

Church: Michael is the 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum Presidency. It keeps him pretty busy. I wish I had more to tell about it but it's a pretty boring calling. I teach the 11 year olds in primary. Our primary is really small so I only have two boys in my class. If any of you mothers know how to keep a child's attention for more than 30 seconds please let me know.

Michael: You may all be surprised that he is actually the one that cooks around here. He really enjoys experimenting and it usually ends up being pretty delicious, which I hate admitting. His second year of law school is going well so far. He really likes his classes and seems to be less stressed than last year. I've come to learn that Michael really enjoys his toilet time. I swear he sits on there for at least 20 minutes and just plays solitaire. So frustrating! In fact, he is sitting in front of me now on his phone...I'll bet you anything he is playing solitaire.

Me: I started training for my new job this week. Two more weeks to go! I'm so excited to finally be working in my field. I feel like I'm back in school though, lots of assignments and tests. There is so much to learn so I'm just trying to absorb as much info as possible. I'm learning about a bunch of new products so I'll be able to post about those in the future. I'm finally becoming familiar with the Phoenix area. The driving, the restaurants, the weather, the shopping. It's nice to be able to get into my car and not have to plug an address into my GPS.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

St. George Rodeo

Last year's Rodeo.

I thought today I would be posting about a new addition to our family, but instead, no contractions, no signs of labor, nothing. So, I will post about something else instead.

Tonight is the Rodeo. My sweet husband goes every year at 7:30 a.m. the first morning to wait in line to buy "good seats". He hopes every year that someone has died and he will get seats at the top of the sun bowl. (pretty sad that he hopes someone has died with those tickets but he does). This year he bought tickets right below the Bowler family, he thinks they have some of the best seats (don't worry, he doesn't hope that anyone in the Bowler family will die though, we like all of them too much). So it is almost 6, we have to be there before 7 because our nieces and nephews are singing in the rodeo at 7 and we still don't have boots for Will. We have everything else, but somehow we don't have boots. It was my job to round up some boots today but instead of that or doing anything I needed to do, I went to the fabric store (where I did not find anything that I was looking for), went to Krista's to find hand me down boots (which we could not find), did not go to the grocery store or get a much needed pedicure but made cookies with Krista. I told Lex about no boots and he is insisting that we go buy some for him. Which rightly so, he will wear them daily once he has ones that fit again. So wish us luck! We have an hour to get boots, get to the rodeo, with a 2 year old and a 8 1/2 month pregnant lady. Good thing we love the rodeo so much! Hope you all have a fun Thursday night, and hope that I go into labor soon!

These are a few of my {Favorite Things} ...

Okay girls. Are you ready? How would you feel about having a little {Favorite Things} swap? Bloggers have been doing swaps like this for years, and I thought it'd be fun to have one ourselves. Here's how it works ...

Choose at least {three} objects ... (I'm sure no one would mind if you sent more) ... that are some of your favorites!

Maybe it's something you've made, maybe it's your favorite book, or your favorite lotion or lip gloss. Be creative, and most importantly have fun with it! I think this is a fun way to get to know each other a little better.

Once you have your objects, you'll send them to whoever you've been assigned to.

Once you've received you're package - you'll post about what you got.

Michelle : Nikki

Krista : Kelsey

Meagan : Michelle

Lacey : Meagan

Courtney : Lacey

Kelsey : Courtney

Nikki : Krista

Mom Michelle, do you want to be in on the fun? Let me know and I can revise the list.

Here are the dates ...

All packages must be postmarked before October 1st. That should give Kelsey enough time before baby girl arrives.

Posting ... with pictures ... can begin anytime after October 1st.

Preschool & Kindergarten

Well ladies, I have one thing on the brain lately...school! Breckon is going to Kindergarten each day, and Sadie and I do preschool at Smarty Pants twice a week, so I feel like I am immersed in learning! Here are some things I want to share:

Did you know that you can determine your childs developmental level by their artwork? Incredible, I know. For example, a child who scribbles and pretends to be writing things (grocery lists, etc) are entering an important stage of development that leads to reading & writing. Scribbling is to writing what babbling is to talking. Encourage young children to scribble all they want! Fun fact: when your child starts drawing a baseline in their pictures (line under a house, grass or dirt under a flower, ocean under a fish) they are developmentally ready to read!

A fun game I learned from Mandi to do with young children and teach them their numbers: Label plastic cups, 2-10. Get a pack of playing cards, get rid of face cards, and pass them out among all players. Each player takes a turn drawing a card from their pile and placing it in the cup with the matching number. So simple, and easy, but so much fun for kids!

I found these fun exercise alphabet cards. Print them and play with your kids, they'll love it! There's nothing better than learning the alphabets and their sounds while getting some exercise.

Breckon is beginning to learn sight words. We have been playing games to practice, and writing on the sliding glass door with white board markers. He loves writing them somewhere other than at the table with a pencil and paper. Here are his sight words if any of you want to join: a, the, and, of, you, to, is, in. Some of these are tough because he can't sound them out, so we are really working on memorization!

I hope some of you willl try some of these things and let me know what you think!!

On My Mind...

1. 2012 Election

Did anyone watch the republican debate tonight? I know it's early and a little exhausting to start following closely now, but amid the blame game there is actually a lot to learn. Watching or reading about the debate is a great way to learn more about important issues. It's also a great way to figure out where you stand on certain items. The news always dissects everything that is said (helping us find out what was true and what was false) and they usually pick the "winner." It's probably in our best interest to do a little of our own homework, you never know who you can trust:-).

2. Eat This Not That
Every once and a while I like to pull out my "Eat This Not That" book. I don't get into the restaurant suggestions much anymore, I like the general information in the beginning of the book. It includes a list of the 8 foods we should eat everyday and if you are interested the list is: SPINICH, YOGURT, TOMATOES, CARROTS, BLUEBERRIES, BLACK BEANS, WALNUTS, and OATS. The book dives into details about each one, good substitutes, and even ideas on how to fit it in your daily meals.

3. Child ID Kits
We were at the Davis County Fair a few weeks ago and were given two Child ID Kits for the kids. The kit includes a inkless fingerprint kit, laminated wallet card, and a DNA collection envelope. I can remember having one of these cards when I was little (I got it with my grandma at a local bank). I think it's a great idea to have in case of an emergency. If you are interested in learning more visit this website: http://www.childidprogram.com/.

4. Garden
We've been loving the vegetables that we've been able to grow this year. I think the best time is behind us...but we still have tomatoes by the dozens. I picked a big bowl of cherry tomatoes the other day and decided to make a roasted tomato soup. We all loved it! Find the recipe here and fyi we substituted milk for the heavy cream.

5. Bench
We had a little bench built in the corner of our kitchen. It's almost finished, just needs to be painted and pillowed. I'm so excited! I'll post pictures when it's all done...

Happy Monday!

I had the intention of posting tonight a video of bracken, Michael and William playing football. They played hard for a long time, and watching kept us all thoroughly entertained! Unfortunately, I didn't get the video uploaded and am now home.

I have been thinking a lot about 9/11 theses past few days. We had an assembly at school, I have watched the news and church broadcasts today, and have remembered my personal experience of that terrible day. I will never forget Meagan calling to tell me about the first plane as I was driving to work, not being able to get in touch with Lacey who was living 30 minutes away from NYC, and watching in horror the continued tragedies of that day with a school full of jr high students. With such uncertainty in the world, I am so very grateful for the certainty of the gospel! Below is a link to a BYU Devotional given ten years ago right after the attacks.

http://speeches-files.byu.edu/download.php/Bateman_Merrill_2001_11.pdf?type=1&fname=Bateman_Merrill_2001_11.pdf

Friendly game of Football

All We Need Is LOVE

Today I had the opportunity to attend the funeral of my good friends father.The underling theme was Love. At the end of our lives all that really matters is how we loved others and how we allowed others to love us. I truly believe that we must first love ourselves then we can love family, friends, and most importantly Christ.Someone said that Sean's dad Terry believed that love was something real, something that you could actually touch.I agree!


" If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
Mother Teresa

Wedding Pics

Michael and I have been going through wedding pictures this week trying to pick out favorites for our wedding album. There are so many cute ones of all your little kiddos that I had to post them so you guys could see and enjoy them like us! I hope everyone is doing well :)

I couldn't leave this one out

Camo front and center...gotta love it :)