I love my child most when...

....she's cute and sleeping. :)







(Emily loves books. And she likes to read one before her nap. Sometimes she ends up like this.)

Don't get the wrong impression. I love my child very much when she is awake too, but there is just something about a child asleep that remind you how sweet and innocent they are. When she's throwing a tantrum, it's harder to remember this.

You know you agree with me. :)

Dressing Herself

The other day I asked Emily to go and get some shoes and pants on....she already had a shirt.

This is what she came up with:

Turquoise pants
Sandals (from last summer...way too small!)
And my personal favorite, a pink glove on her right hand



Show us your glove, Emily!


It doubles as a puppet..


She's a keeper. (I did change her outfit though before we left the house.)

Mysterious Disapperance of the Chocolate Bunny

Emily discovered her chocolate bunny before Easter....(our fault, I know) but this is how I found out about it:

First, I discovered this empty box:

Of course, I assumed Emily was noshing away on it somewhere, but I couldn't find her anywhere! I walked around the house calling her name but couldn't find her (and you know she wasn't answering when I called..) I took me a good 3 minutes to find her. My house is not that big.. she was just hiding.


And then I found her... under her coloring table... quietly devouring this chocolate bunny....


....and pretty proud of herself....



Guilty as charged.


The chocolate bunny will go back in it's box until Easter. It will go in her basket half eaten. She can finish it on Sunday.

Along with the rest of the treats that the Easter Bunny might bring...

Magic Blankets

These blankets are magical blankets...read on...

I have only ever made one receiving blanket before... and that was under the direct instruction and help of my sis-in-law Ashlee. But, I was determined to make SIX blankets... I made two of three different fabrics. They are all mostly gender unbiased, except for maybe the turtles.

Did I made them for my baby, you ask? No.



Did I make them for a friend's baby, maybe? No.



Did I make them for a ward humanitarian project, perhaps? No.



Did I make them so I could just learn how to do it better? No.



Did I make them for my sister's baby? No.



I made them so we could go here:



As part of Disney's "Give a Day, Get a Day" promotion this year, all I had to do was make 3 blankets for each person in my family (over the age of 6) that would like a free day to Disneyland or Disneyworld and take said blankets to the local Volunteer center in my county. (There were a few forms to fill out online previous, but overall it was a very simple and painless process.)

I have in my hand TWO tickets to Disneyland for Scott and myself. We are planning on going a couple of days before Emily turns three so that she too is still free.

What I have learned from this experience:

--Disneyland is going to be AWESOME! We are planning on in August, so "baby boy" will be about 2 months old, but Emily will be almost three and she will LOVE it.

--Making receiving blankets is tricky because flannel moves when you try to sew it.

--I felt very selfish that the only reason I was making these blankets was to get a free day to Disneyland for my family.

--Cute girl fabric is easier to find than cute boy fabric. But I tried to find a fabric that would work either way.

--I don't want this to be the end of my "giving back." I actually would really like to start something in Cedar City (or wherever we end up) that is something that helps give a hand up to new mothers who can't afford all the blankets, onesies, etc. that they might need. (Something along the lines of Newborns in Need.)

--I feel very grateful that I have things that I need for my coming baby and had TONS of stuff for Emily when she was born.

--I wish that I could maybe one day see a baby using one of the blankets that I made. That would make my life.

--I felt kind of selfish and bratty turning in the blankets to the volunteer center and asking her when she thought my tickets would arrive. (I was just curious!)

--The lady at the center told me the blankets were cute, but seemed otherwise indifferent to the fact that I was donating something... I spent alot of time on them. I was hoping she would at least say thanks. (Is that bad?)

--It's really easy to donate your time and energy toward something so simple. Why does Disneyland have to be my motivation to do it again?

It doesn't. And it won't.

Thanks, Disney.

Our House...

I have been meaning to blog about this since we finally got our bathrooms done, but I wanted to show you all just how far our little house has come since we first purchased it in 2006.

Each room has a "Then" and "Now" photo or two... some of them are pretty crazy!

MASTER BEDROOM--
Then:


Now:





BEDROOM--
Then:


Now:




BEDROOM--
Then:


Now:




HALL BATHROOM--
Then:


Now:




MASTER BATHROOM--
Then:


Now:




LIVING ROOM:
Then:


Now:






FAMILY ROOM (Basement):
Then:



Now:








KITCHEN:
Then:


Now:






DINING ROOM:
Then:


Now:




FRONT OF HOUSE:
Then:


Now:




BACKYARD:
Then:


Now:


It's been a long process, and there are still some minor things that we are fixing up, but we have definitely UPDATED this house to say the least. :) It's been a post 3 1/2 years in the making!!