One Year Later.....

We had a great trip to Vernal at the end of last week.  We went because it has been a year since my sister died and well you know......  Anyway we left Thursday night, my mom rode with us an it was a good drive we had good weather and great conversation.  We stayed in the Marriott in Vernal instead of staying with relatives so that we could go swimming and all stay in the same place.  It was a lot of fun.   Friday we started at the cemetery and it was good to go back and remember all the good times that we had with Trisha.   I can't believe how much I miss her.

Playroom Organized and other stuff

We actually got our playroom organized the same week that we bought these shelves (a month ago), but it has taken me this long to get a picture of them taken and ready to upload here. It has been really nice having a spot for everything and everything in its place.  Now the kids can find what they want to play with and can easily put it away once they are finished playing,  no more tornado aftermath upstairs!!!
We have been super crazy at our house this last month, and I don't see it slowing down. Spring is going to bring baseball for Ashton and lots of being outside.   Hopefully this weekend we are going to build two new spots for our garden and I am going to spend a lot of time prepping and getting things ready to plant in a few weeks.  We are also tentatively planning a trip to Moab to more fully enjoy the warmer weather and being able to see Jake more.
 I finished my 29 days of giving challenge and it was a good experience. It has helped me look for more ways to give each day and realize that even small things make a big difference sometimes.  Overall I am really glad that I did it.  Now if I could just tackle the stack of books I have calling my name....

Where has time gone?

Getting ready for a nap with her "baba and bee".


I can't believe that Abbie is 22 months old today. She is making the transition from baby to little girl and its sad for this mom to watch. Even though she is coming into one of my favorite ages, tantrums included (most of the time), the thought that my baby is growing up is sad. She is talking really well, she can say almost anything, understanding her is a little more tricky, but more and more she is becoming a little girl. She is even hinting at wanting to have a go at potty training.

There were two in the bed...

I found these pictures on my camera, when I downloaded the pictures of my flowers for valentines day and remembered that I had forgotten to post about Abbie's big move. About 3 weeks ago, right as Lexie was going off track, we decided to move Abbie out of her crib and into Lexie's bed with her. Now why might you ask, would I move a 21 month old out of a crib that she wasn't trying to climb out of yet into a bed with her sister. Simple, my sanity. Abbie has never been the best sleeper ever. Once long, long ago (like when she was 4-9 months old) she slept through the night like a champ. Then she got RSV and was so very sick. Once she got over her RSV she had gotten used to getting up in the middle of the night and there was no breaking her of it. So one very exhausted mom decided that it was best that mom got sleep too, so whenever Abbie woke up in the middle of the night she would come to bed with me for the rest of the night. So you see she has gotten really used to sleeping with someone and a year later we were still doing the same thing, wake up at 2 or 3 and get to go to mom's bed for the rest of the night. Well I had had enough. But I couldn't just let her cry it out, I would have done that a long time ago if I could, but she has learned a very nasty trick, it is called crying until she throws up. She does it regularly, I think every nursery worked in our ward has been thrown up on by Abbie. Thanks sweetie. Anyway back to the story, my solution give her somebody else to sleep with. Lexie. The first week or so was pretty bad, she knew she could just get back up and did so many times instead of taking a nap, but I think now we are finally going to have peaceful nights. And the girls really love sharing a bed. For safety sake we took Lexie's bed down off its stilts and they are sleeping on the floor, but it working and they love it. And mom can finally sleep through the night :)

Do you hear that??

No, I don't hear anything.... exactly it is quiet. I am so glad that I had the courage to cancel our satellite. The kids don't even miss it, they are playing more and vegging out less. Its not like we never watch TV now, but it is planned out and something that we really want to watch, instead of just whatever is on. I'm loving the new tone our house has now, I wish I would have done it sooner.

Valentine's Day

Jake and I had a wonderful Valentines weekend. He got me 2 dozen roses, they are beautiful, I love them. Yesterday, we took the kids to grandpa to be babysat while we went to dinner at Market Street, then to Ikea for so much needed storage shelves for the playroom. It was wonderful to finally get an evening with just Jake, no kids, that doesn't happen nearly as much as it should anymore, the food was great it was crab fest!! It was even fun to go shopping especially since we didn't have the kids and we could talk and think and not be worried about what the kids were doing. Now once we get the playroom all organized I will take some pictures and let you see what we bought.

To See Your World Change, You Have to DO Something to Change Your World

About a month ago, maybe more, I saw a post on my Aunt Barbara's blog about a book called "29 Gifts, How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life." After reading her post, I decided to get the book and see what it was all about. Although the author's views differ somewhat from mine, in a lot of areas, the idea of giving to change your life was intriguing. I have decided to do my own 29 day challenge. You are supposed to journal/blog about your gifts each day, but I won't bore you with the details. I will keep you posted on how it is going though. If you are interested you can check out her site 29gifts.org The book is a pretty good read too.

Unplugged

Last night I did it, I called and cancelled our Directv. Do my kids know any other life than one with 100's of channels to choose from and a plethora of shows recorded on our DVR to be watched over and over again whenever they want. NO. Have they even cared this morning, no not really. After some careful consideration we realized that we could get 2 movies from redbox every night for the entire month and still not come very close to what we were spending on satellite TV. It was also really becoming a crutch to me. "Here sit here and watch a show, while I get something done" I have said that more times than I want to admit. So here we embark on a journey of no satellite television, its not like they wont be able to watch TV cause we will still have all the local channels with our trusty digital tuner. I'm really hopeful that we become a family that spends way less time in front of the tube and more time outside, reading, being creative, and doing other things that don't involve the television. I will let you know how we adapt to this major change for our family.

Piggy Tails

FINALLY!!! Abbie's hair is long enough to do something with other than just putting gel in to make the curls last longer. She sat and watched TV while I played with her hair last weekend and I got these two tiny pig tails in her hair. Hope her hair will finally start growing long, and stay so curly.

Note to self....

DO NOT CUT YOUR OWN KIDS HAIR!!! Especially when you have a very talented hairdresser in the family, that is always willing to cut yours or your kids hair. This is the after picture, AFTER Maren had saved my disaster.
I saved him the future humiliation of taking a before picture that would have eventually surfaced in some sort of remember when video. There are many things that I am good at, or so I am told. But cutting hair is definitely NOT one of those things. It is one thing I would be better off leaving to a profession who knows what they are doing. It would be different if this were the first time that Maren had had to save Ashton from a "mommy cut" but hopefully it will be the last. Thanks a million Maren (especially for not laughing to my face at how bad his hair looked.)