what a fun few months...

So sorry it's been forever since we've had anything new to read about. Our little one is now mobile and that happened around the age of 10 months. I thought she might not ever crawl with all that delicious chunk that seemed to slow her down. But she is loving it. I thought the crawling stage would be difficult, but while I do have to chase her much more, I love crawling all over the place with her and having my own personal little buddy that follows me everywhere (no more privacy on the pot folks!). I call her my little "woodchuck". I realize all kids put things in there mouths, but she seems to want to grind down all the wooden furniture in the house as well as everything else.
This furniture is of course hers, but there is evidence of her little animal habit everywhere. Sometimes she tries to take on a whole table.But there are some redeeming habits. I have to say that my reading to her since she was tiny has paid off and she officially loves to not only be read to but to read to herself. She even makes little voice inflections and laughs as if she's reading something funny. It's totally adorable. Anything goes too. It doesn't matter if it's a a real book or in this case, my planner. She just loves to read. Yea!!! She can now stand on her own and loves to find odd things in the house to play with like the springy door stopper. Being a mom is wonderful and challenging. I think the most difficult part is the lack of social freedom and interaction. I think most stay-at-home moms can relate to that. The second for me has been getting my body back to a place where I like it again. Let's just say I gained a little too much chunkage and it's been hard to sluff that last 20 pounds off. But I have been training for a half marathon and things are coming along. I'll be sure to post some victorious race finishing pictures after the event. In the meantime I will be training and running after my little woodchuck to get in the extra calorie burn. Peace!Just had to show the love. Man I love her!

Fall Favorites and Halloween!

I LOVE the Fall! Let me repeat that....LOVE...Fall. Truly it is my favorite season for so many reasons. I love the crisp air and the beautiful colors. I love that it's the one time of year when the weather doesn't make me feel like a over-heating or freezing crazy kook. Yes kook. My body loves the temperature of Fall. Which brings me to a truly deep and introspective point. Clothes. I love Fall clothing. I love the colors and the jackets and mmm mmm goodness. This is of course the first fall for my sweet baby girl. So I dressed her in the cutest Fall outfit I could find. Another part of Fall that I love is the dressing up for Halloween. Joe and I picked out our little girl's costume way in advance. Holy moly that's an adorable butterfly. Wildlife in action.But we came up with our combo only days before. We decided to be pop icons from the late 80's and early 90's. Joe was of course Michael Jackson and I was Mariah Carey (a little less obvious). But if you look at her photos from that era she often wore black shirts with black suit jackets. It was a lot of fun. They played "Thriller" at our ward party and Joe being the great dancer that he is busted out a totally authentic M.J. move that won the watchers over. Even the bishop was impressed. Awe yes...I have a total babe for a husband and he not only 'thinks he can dance'...he CAN! It was a great night and even baby girl got her groove on... we had a blast.

Just one more thing...

Sorry but I had to share one more absolutely sweet thing about my husband. Joe is quite the poet even though most of y'all wouldn't know it. Today was just a regular good day and he managed to make it an amazing one by sending a little original poetry via text message. I hope he doesn't mind my posting it. Man I am one lucky and blessed woman! Here it is. Oh and just a heads up about the "king cobra" part, our friend is a sound technician and is currently recording a CD for a band called "The King Cobras," so he let us listen to a little of their "stunning" music. It was quite amusing in a not-on-purpose way...you get the drift. Hence, the "king cobra" part.

I had a dream that you were the one
shockingly attractive as the king cobra's stun
I didn't want to wake to lose the dreamy image
with my waking self I had a scrimmage
My eyes opened wide as I lost the fight
and I saw you laying to my right
I can't describe the relief that in my body shot through
You are my everything
I love you

I love you too babe!!!

more birthdays and baby girl!

I decided to go back to the day when it was fun to make candy bar messages for your boyfriends and friends, and make a candy message for my hubby on his birthday. I love making a big deal out of birthdays more than any other holiday. Birthdays are #1 in my book. So I planned a special day for my honey and it started out with the candy bar poster...>

We then went to the mini golf course where we have an on going competition between the two of us of who has the better short game. I have nothing when it comes to actual golf but I can hold my own on the mini golf course. Well, he won. He deserved to being that it was his birthday. Here's a shot of us both in our serious moment

Good form! It's hard to look hot playing mini golf...but he pulls it off nicely!

We ended the day by eating out at Goodwood. It was delicious and so was the time with my love!

Our little girl is getting big!!! She is growing up so fast and can already say "DADDA." In fact the other day we were lying in bed and she turned to Joe and said, "Hi Dad." What?!! I'm serious. It was crystal clear. She is more fun and so stinking adorable. She loves toys that present a challenge. For instance this rubber ducky that is hard to hold on to. What a cutie!!!She mostly loves to just sit and play. We are trying to get her to crawl, but she's just not that interested in it. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, but hasn't gotten the motion yet. I'm ok with that though. Once she starts crawling, it's a whole different ball game.

My birthday and "Twilight"

My birthday is in July and my hubby made it extra special this year. It was going to be the first time we went out on a date and left our baby girl since she was born. Needless to say, we were very excited. Joe made little hints like "I paid to have someone sing to you" and "We're going to be lifted in the air." It all sounded so glorious and...expensive. So, knowing that we are not big spenders and that my hubby is quite the creative type, my mind flurried with wonder and expectation. As we drove up Provo canyon, I realized that we were likely headed toward Sundance. My perpetual guesses were comfirmed when I hit the right one. We were going on the ski lift! Yea! This was exciting. So what about the singing part? Was there a local yodeller at the top ready to serenade me? Well, the ride itself was romantic (it had been a while since we had this much alone time in the day). When we got to the top, we went on a little hike. My honey stopped a little ways down the trail and recited a beautiful poem in the middle of nature which he had composed earlier. Here is the poem.


18 months married and sealed,
Time has flown since I had you reeled.
A beautiful baby and more to go,
Life full of blessings reaped and to sow
I love you like crazy and its growing more,
We've still much to do we've just opened the door.
I love celebrating you, my jewel,
Your birthday rocks, and you rule!


So cute. I know. He then pulled out a card that had and little handle that you spin to make music play. I received my birthday serenade from some rockin' little critters on a card. The part in the poem that says "your birthday rocks, and you rule," was preliminary to the message in the card. THEN, he gave me my gift. "Twilight". Hmmm, most husbands wish their wives would never have set eyes on this popular novel that has taken the female species to obsessive measures. But... my honey is one of a kind. I of course have read the entire series now and had a perfectly good deflection to any opposition my husband gave me about my inability to stop reading it. He started it. I love him so much. We finished off the night with greasy cheese burgers and fries that we snuck into the movie "Iron Man". Awe, the romance. I couldn't have asked for a better and sweeter birthday. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he started by coming home with a beautiful vase of flowers. Perfect.

On the blog saddle!

Thanks to the constant pressure and growing need to keep up with technology...we've decided to join the blog world. Yea! I'm not sure where to begin. We have been happily married for about eighteen months. We had plans to wait for about a year before we would start our family, but as most of us know, God has plans that often contradict our own most of the time. So about six months after we made together...forever, we discovered the beautiful news of our new little forever that was coming to us. We decided on the name early on and my hubby knew it was a girl almost from the very beginning. So there wasn't much debate about names. Our baby girl was born on March 6, 2008. It was 26 hours of labor and an eternity of love that got her here and welcomed her. Ever since she was born she has shown amazing alertness. She loves books, listening to mommy and daddy sing, rolling over (she's been attempting to roll over since two month old), being held by her cousins and just about everything else. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful, bright, and cheerful baby. She is a constant source of joy and entertainment for Joe and I. At about three and a half months she won 2nd place in the freedom festival baby contest.

It was so much fun. Of course as her mother, I have to say that she was robbed out of first. She gets more active and more fun every day. It's amazing how I've spent every day with her since she's been born, and she has just grown and developed right before my eyes. She is definitely the apple of her daddy's eye. We love to kis her on both sides of her cheeks and call it a baby sandwich. The fact that she is as chubba as she is adorable makes this activity extra fun. It's a funny world we live in where cottage cheese legs, bumb dimples, and double chins turn from being a completely adorable when you're a baby to being less than desirable as an adult. The skinny is that we love being parents, we love eachother even more now that we are parents, and the love just keeps on growing! Next I'll write about the romantic birthday my hubby took me on...stay tuned.