Happy Anniversary!!!

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)

I am never without it (anywhere I go, you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)

I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)

I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

And it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you.

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

-E.E. Cummings

I am truly blessed to have you in my life. I look forward to many, many, many more years together!

Happy Anniversary!

I love you, my darling!

XOXO

{Holiday Eating Tips}

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrot sticks on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrot sticks, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare. You can't find it any other time of year, but now. Drink it up! Who cares that it has 10, 000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat step #3.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello!?!?!?!
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO what a ride!'

Happy Birthday Paige!!!

I can not for the life of me believe that it has been one whole year (More than a year now. I am slow at posting.) since my sweet, beautiful baby girl came into our family. 

We threw her a little party at our house to celebrate.  I attempted to make a special cake for Paige. {After I frosted the cake, I pulled the parchment paper out from under the sides of the cake and it started to split. At first it was just a little tear. I was able to "hide" it. Cleaned up the kitchen and threw away the frosting. In the morning, the tear was all the way across the cake. I wanted to cry. Good thing Paige is only 1. She'll never know that I ruinded her cake. Anyways, I thought I would explain this giant crack in the cake.}

Happy Birthday!!!

I have to say that when Paige woke up from her nap and saw the decoration in the dining area, her face lit up like a birthday candle. She was SO STINKING EXCITED! It was beyond cute. I wished in that moment that I would have had my camera to capture her beautiful little smile.

We stuck with the owl theme and made these cute little owl crafts.

Does she look dazed and confused to you?

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

You would cry too if they all sung to you...completely off key!

Much better now that I've had my cake and ice cream!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! We are beyond thrilled to have you in our lives!

Happy Birthday

I am so lucky I get to be the mother of this precious little angel. I am grateful that she made it to our family safely and that she is the little fighter she is. I probably wouldn't know what I had missed out on then, but knowing what I know now, I would have been devestated had things gone differently! I know that the Lord has a special plan for her.

These last four years have gone by so quickly. I don't want my baby girl to grow up, but at the same time, I am so dang excited to see the little lady that she turns out to be.

As I sit here writing this post, Addison came in and I told her what I was doing. The following things are what she wanted me to say about her.

She is helpful, pretty, nice, beautiful, loves her family and knows that her family loves her, I give her nice things, she gives me nice things, she has the best manners. She says " yes please" and "no thank you".

(Then she wanted to type on the post. She did sign it with her name below.)

rtyuiop[bvfgbnhgdsdfgasffghhhtytujyujygjhgtyhjuhuertfruwcrjygjvhhhfnbghrvfnfcdfsdfgvnh

addison

A little funny about Addison. The other day while we were all driving in the car, she asked her dad and I why we didn't name her Princess. Randy answered her honestly and said "We thought about it." (Which is the truth. Randy wouldn't commit to a name for her before she was born, so I threatened him that I was just going to name her Princess Merryweather and that he would just have to deal with it.) Addison then informed her dad and I that we were to call her Princess at home and out in public we could call her Addi/Addison. She said that Princesses were special and she didn't want people to know that she was a Princess or they would take her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFUL GIRL!!!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

9 Months

My little angel is 9 months already. I say this everytime, but time sure does fly by! I can't believe how big this little girl is getting. It feels like only a month ago I went into the hospital to have her, not 9 months.

Paige can now sit up unattended. She is still working on her balance and doesn't quite know how to get out of the sitting position without falling backwards and hitting her noggin on the floor. She HATES the grass, but loves to be outside. Paige loves her sister and wants to do whatever Addison is doing. Okay, she really just wants to put whatever Addison is doing in her mouth. She is kind of a Mama's girl (I'm not complaining). Paige has 5 teeth. She is scooting around like crazy (she's fast). I swear she is going to bypass crawling on her hands and knees and go straight to walking. She loves to stand up. She doesn't want to miss anything. She likes to be apart of the action. If I can't see Paige, all I have to do is walk into Addison's room and will usually find her eating her sister's shoes. She is in love with her Daddy (who isn't?). She loves food. She also loves spitting said food at her mom. She is starting to climb up things, er people. I swear she thinks she is conquering her own Mt. Everest everytime she climbs up me all in an effort to try and get at my glasses or hair. She loves bath time and being naked. She cries and cries when I try and put clothes on her. Paige is still a wonderful sleeper. I'm selfish and hope that she continues to be a good sleeper!

Right now she is at the stage where she can't decide what she wants. Up, down, in, out, on, off, food, no food, to be held, to scoot. We've had a lot of tears this week because she doesn't know what she wants.

For the most part though, she is a pretty content baby. She is just happy to be here. And I am beyond happy to have her here. She is a wonderful baby! And a wonderful addition to our family!

Weight: 17 Pounds 3 Ounces = 25th Percentile

Length: 28 Inches = 50th Percentile

People Of Walmart

My mother showed me this video today and I couldn't stop laughing! I think they must have filmed some of this at the Vernal Walmart. I swear I had seen some of those people there.

I hope you all laugh as much and as hard as I did!

ENJOY!!!

Random Thoughts

• Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong

• I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

• Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You'd take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we know how to fix the problem? There was no Internet or message boards or FAQs. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

• There is a great need for sarcasm font.

• Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize that I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

• I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

• Was learning cursive really necessary?

• LOL has gone from meaning "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

• I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

• Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart" all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

• How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

• I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent an aggressive driver from cutting in front. Stay strong brothers!

• Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

• Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

• I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

• I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

• Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that they always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

• Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier and sluttier every year?

• Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I suddenly get so incredibly nervous? I know my name. I know where I'm from. This shouldn't be a problem....

• You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

• Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

• There is no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little to far.

• I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word or Pages and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

• When I meet a new person, I'm terrified of mentioning something they haven't told me but that I have learned from some light Internet stalking.

• I like all the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle. Then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

• Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

• I wonder if cops ever get annoyed at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

• Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what to do with it.

Lucky Duck

We are so lucky to live where we do. As I was making lunch, I looked out my back window and saw these little fellers having what looks like a lesson in our backyard. These ducks actually live on the other side of the fence, but the kept sneaking back over into our yard when they thought I wasn't looking. They would hurry and run back to their own yard when they saw me standing at the sliding glass door. Who needs Baby Animal Days when you have this and much more living just beyond the fence?

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter this year. The Easter bunny was tricky tricky and came to our house while we were all taking naps. (The Easter bunny must know that we have 9 AM church.)

Addison woke up from her little nap on the couch and right away spotted some gifts that were left for both her and her sister. We are so lucky! This year, the Easter bunny brought our family the movie 'Tangled'. We have watched it so many times. (I secretly think Randy loves this movie!) The girls also got mini pillow pets, outdoor toys & bubbles and of course, Addison got spoiled with anything and everything Disney Princess. I think the Easter bunny spoiled two very special girls this year!

(My attempt to take the girls photos. Not very successful, I think)

FINALLY

We have lived in our house for nearly two years now and I FINALLY got around to getting our entrance way cubby filled. I have to say that I am in love with this space now. I can't stop staring at it as I walk down my hallway.

Eventually we will get the rest of our house filled. But what's the rush? We still have 28 years left on our mortgage!

A special shout out to my sister in law Shirley for helping me pick out these fantastic items! Thank you for all of your help!

Happy Girl

Oh how I would loved to have had this happy little girl today. Her second tooth is finally making it's appearance (for good, I hope) and she was incredibly needy today. I don't think it helped that I had a headache from H.E. double hocky sticks and Addison has strep. None of us were on our game today.

However, Paige was an incredibly happy girl the other day. Her daddy pulled her jumperoo out of storage and put it together for her. This little girl lights up everytime she gets in it. (Today was no exception, except that it was short lived. LOL)

Addi told me today that she wishes she were zero again and could play in the jumperoo too. Poor little girl just has to watch the fun from the sidelines. Though she does get pretty jumpy when I tickle her!☺

His Sacred Name

"In our hour of deepest sorrow, we can recieve profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: 'He is not here; for He is risen.'"

"As one of His special witnesses on earth today, this glorious Easter Sunday, I declare that this is true, in His sacred name - even the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior - amen."

-President Thomas S. Monson

Sad Story Of The Easter Egg

Addison came home from school yesterday with an egg that she dyed at school with her name and stickers on it. She just thought this egg was the neatest thing ever. She even named her it "Eggbert". She carried Eggbert with her all afternoon long. She did not want to put her egg in the fridge. I warned her that if she didn't put her Eggbert in the fridge at bedtime, it was going to get very stinky. We finally found a special spot in the fridge to put her egg. (I am not convinced that she didn't get up and check on Eggbert during the night!) This morning, first thing she did was go to the fridge and make sure the her egg was still okay.

While I was in my bedroom folding laundry and feeding Paige (multi-tasking at it's best!), Addison came running in with giant alligator tears. After I finally got her to calm down just a little bit did I realize that Eggbert had been cracked. Oh the trauma and drama!

After a little bit, Addison was completely over Eggbert. She thought it was more fun to continue squishing the egg than crying over the egg. Though she was surprised to find that inside the egg it was white and not yellow. She thought eggs come out of the shells yellow. (We must eat a lot of scrambled eggs at our house for her to think that!) We had to tear the whole egg apart so that Addison could find the yellow yolk.

For those of you who know me, it took everything I had inside of me to not make her throw that egg away instead of making a mess. I had to keep telling myself "it's just a floor, it's just a floor."

I love how my 3 year olds mind works. She holds simple little treasure in high esteem. I need to be more like that. I think I learn much more from Addison than she does from me! I just love her and her little inquisitive brain to pieces!!!

*If this post doesn't make any sense, it is because I am typing it up at quarter after midnight. My brain doesn't work well after 9 o'clock!

7 Months

7 MONTHS!!! 7 MONTHS!!! 7 MONTHS!!!

We have had this tiny bundle of pure joy for more than half a year! Holy kamoly time really does fly!

At 7 months, this little one has already cut her first tooth and is on the verge of a 2nd popping through. She really likes to squawk! (I thought they didn't start the pterodactyl scream until at least 12 months?!?!) One of these days we will get her to sit up on her own. Right now, we have to sit with her and she will lean into your hand or whatever it holding her up. Paige is a really relaxed, chill baby. She is still a great sleeper and likes to be on a schedule. In the last month, I have started bathing Paige with Addison and I believe that is both girls favorite time of day. Paige likes to eat (understatement)! We started foods with meat this last week and she is going to town on them. I really hope that she isn't as nearly a picky eater as her sister is.

Addison still loves her little sister to death! She will call Paige her "sister sist". I laugh each and every time. It is almost like she knows that she is a cancerous growth that she won't be able to get rid of very easily! :) I love her saying it so much that I have caught myself calling Paige that a few times as well.

Paige loves Addison as well...at least from a distance.

We have been trying to work on staying in our own "bubbles". Addi likes to get in Paige's face. She doesn't do it to be mean to her sister. She just truly loves Paige!

Randy and I truly love Paige as well!

Next thing you know I am going to be planning her first birthday party and bawling my eyes out that my baby is no longer a baby!

I think I may stop feeding my kids, just so they won't continue to grow! :)

Thanks Briar for the photos! They turned out great...as usual!

Beautiful Girl

This is my attempt at a photo shoot.

Addison said this face looked "too mad". She wanted a do-over.

This is her do-over

Do-over or mad face, I think she is perfect!

1st Haircut

I love, love, love Addison's hair. I think she has possibly the most gorgeous hair I have ever seen. But she also has those crazy snarly Carly's that come and visit the ends of her hair.

So, the time had come for mom to let her little girl get her hair cut. Surprisingly, Addison was quite okay with her hair getting cut. Her Aunt Nancy did a wonderful job both cutting her hair and making Addison (and her mom) feel at ease. I thought Addi would fight, cry and just make the whole experience miserable but she didn't. She sat there like a big girl and only asked Aunt Nancy a million times if she was almost done! :) I however, did cry. Just a little. My little girl is getting so grown up. It makes me tear up now just thinking about it. I am okay with my kids growing up, I just wish they wouldn't do it so darn fast!

Watergate Revisited

I have the pleasure of taking my kids to work with me (when I go, hehe). Sometimes, Addison can entertain herself and other times, we (Papa or Grandma or myself) have to find things to keep her entertained. This day was particularly hard for me. I had a serious headache and didn't really want to do anything other than lay my head down. Addison was all up in everybody's business. So to try and keep her busy (and not yell at her), I gave her my shredding to do. She did such a good job, that I thought she might have read up on Watergate to learn exactly how to shred documents properly.

Snotty Little Girl

(This is not a post I would normally do, but I am trying to document everything for the girls as a sort of journal. If you have a slight stomach, this is probably not the post you want to read/look at.)

This little one has been so congested lately. She has woken up in the mornings with a face that only a mother could love.

The other morning, she literally woke up with a bugger uni brow. I didn't think to take a picture of it until I was half way done washing it off her face. This morning, was not as bad as it has been, but I sure do feel bad for the girl!

(She is going to hate me in about 13-14 years for these photos. Yay blackmail!)

Paige has a tooth popping through. (I didn't even know she was cutting a tooth)

That might explain some of the congestion and snottiness.

Roll Over

All I had to do apparently was blog about her lack of rolling over. The very next day, Paige decided to show us that she really can roll over both ways, but that she just hasn't wanted to.

I have to admit that it kind of makes me sad that Randy gets the kids to hit all of their milestones. I am here with them all day, every day. But they always seem to do them for their daddy. Anyway, I am still proud of the young one and her latest accomplishment.

This is how she looked at me while I was trying to shoot video of her rolling over in both directions. I love the hand under the chin. Looks like she is posing for her latest photo shoot.

It took 10 minutes of filming for me to finally get Paige rolling over both ways.

(But don't worry, I finally figured out how to edit videos, so you only have to watch about 45 seconds.)

Enjoy!