Holiday Decorations

Snow! Snow is one of my favorite holiday decorations. I have gone without it for many years living in Seattle but Utah has welcomed me back with a nice little dumping of the always festive white stuff. Beautiful! (As you can see the house needed all the help it could get since we haven't hung any Christmas lights or donned our front yard with any blow up Santa Clauses.)

A Willow Tree Nativity. I have wanted to start collecting this nativity for a long time and thanks to my WONDERFUL sister in law, Angie, I have gotten my start. She gave me this portion of the collection as a birthday/house warming present and I love it. Thanks again Ang. I set it up in our entertainment center and the recessed lighting shines down on baby Jesus perfectly.
This picture was given to me last Christmas by my great friend Kelly Lee who WILL be a famous photographer someday. She had taken some pictures of Ayva for me right after she was born and used one of them to make this perfect holiday decoration. The words on the bottom of the picture say "A bright star shone, a babe was born, God's love was known." I will always cherish this gift. Every year as I unwrap it and find a special place to display it I will be reminded of the real reason we celebrate Christmas, Jesus Christ was born. Thank you Kelly.

Take a deep breath...

Isabella finally started preschool today. In anticipation for this big event I have spent the past 2 days getting her excited about going in hopes that would decrease my chances of having to deal with her clinging to my leg and begging me not to leave her. She has always done well with going to other peoples homes in the past but she has always known someone that was there. And recently she has gone through a phase of shyness and insecurity about making new friends. In fact our first couple of Sundays in our new ward she refused to go into nursery and instead chose to sit in boring 'ol Sunday school with Peter and I. (It's not boring to me of course. Just saying that it would be boring to a 3 year old.) But today when I dropped her off she surprised me. She walked right up to her new teacher, took her hand, looked at me and said "bye mom". Just like that. No crying, no hiding behind my leg, none of it. She was so brave. I on the other hand returned to the car and had to take a deep breath so I wouldn't break out into tears. She is growing up and needing me a tiny bit less everyday. I am grateful for the time I have with her know 'cause she is a very special little kid.

Random stuff

Since it has been a few weeks since I last posted something I have a bunch of random things I want to share. First let me follow up with Bella's room and the paint saga. We finally were able to get the right color and another free Saturday to repaint her room. It looks great, now it just needs to be decorated. I am attempting to make a cushion for the bench by her window. It is turning out to be a pricier endeavor than I first anticipated. After visiting a couple different fabric stores I finally found a (special order) fabric that would work and of course it was $30 a yard and I figure I need about 2 yards. Then you add the foam cushion and cording into the equation and the cushion has become too expensive for a little girls room. Luckily I found the fabric at Joann's and I used a 50% off coupon to get it and also my dear friend Lauren sent me a gift certificate to Joann's for my birthday. Thanks Lauren!! And I know she will be so proud to read this and find out I am sewing again. She was a very patient teacher. So it will be a few weeks before I get it done but I will definitely post it for your viewing pleasure.

So one of the perks of living way out in West Jordan, UT is that we are just a few blocks from the Utah Olympic Oval, The Fastest Ice on Earth. It is a huge ice skating venue that also hosts a 442 meter indoor running track, indoor soccer leagues, drop-in hockey and a plethora of other great activities. So last night about 9pm I decided I wanted to go for a run. (Frankly I was motivated to do so after watching The Biggest Loser. Man those trainers are tough!!) Since it was about 6 degrees outside I decided to head over to the Oval and try out their indoor running track. I had such a great run. I ran on the same track that Olympic athletes had warmed up on. Apolo Anton Ohno, Casey FitzRandolph, Joey Cheek, Derek Parra, they had all graced this running track on their way to Olympic glory. It was very inspiring for me. I love my family and wouldn't change my life for anothers but if after this life I got a chance to come back and have another, it would be as an Olympic athlete. I am not even sure I know what sport it would be in or that it matters. I just am in awe of the "athlete". The determination and devotion and the satisfaction that must come from being one of the best in the world. Well it might be to late for me but I can always live vicariously through my kids right?!

All geared up. Here are some shots of the girls that I took yesterday as we ventured out to play in the snow. Ayva had a pretty difficult time getting around with all her gear on. She kept face planting it right into the snow and then wasn't able to stand herself back up again. Fun to watch!! Bella is hard core. She might just have what it takes to be an Olympic athlete. Either she has a disorder that keeps her from feeling cold (it was only 26 degrees out) or she just won't admit it because she is afraid I will make her go back inside. She had a blast jumping in snow piles and making snow angels. She was very disappointed though by the inability to get the snow to stick together so we could make a snowman. It was very dry and fluffy snow. Maybe next time.

Well, I think that is all I have for now. Thanks for checking in.

You've got to be kidding me...

So after living in apartments with white walls pretty much my my whole life (minus the time we were in Peter's sisters wonderful house), I am ready for some color. Unfortunately it turns out I don't know how to pick the right color. Bella's room was our big project today. I wanted it to be the same color as it was when we were in Emily and Todd's house. It was this great soft green that went really well with soft pink accents. But instead the color I picked turned out to be more of a fluorescent green that makes the whole room glow like some sort of radioactive waste. Ugh!!! Any suggestions on how to fix this? Do I need to prime and start all over with another color or can I put another color on over this one to soften it and tone it down a bit? Painting sure isn't as fun as I imagined it to be.

Performance Anxiety

Now that I have started this blog and sent it out into the world for all of you to view I feel a lot of pressure to post new and exciting events from our lives. However, I am finding that our lives just aren't as exciting as I had imagined. So just to keep you interested and coming back I am putting up some cute pictures I took of the girls today. (well I took the one of Bella and Bella took the one of Ayva) Bella is going through a bride phase. She likes to pretend she is getting married. Her pretend weddings appear to be a lot of fun because she is always winning lots of fun stuff at them. And Ayva, well she is just dang cute. A little bit of a troublemaker though. Today she climbed up to the table and grabbed Bella's half full cup of milk , held it up in the air and shook it. Needless to say she got a bit of a milk shower. I missed getting a picture of that for the blog because she started crying over the spilled milk. (hahaha) So Bella got a picture of her later on showing off her belly. They really are worth all the hard work. I feel very blessed to be able to stay home with them and participate in their experience.

Only in Utah

As I was driving out of my neighborhood this morning on my way to the grocery store I spotted this little sign on the side of the road. Now that I am a "blogger" I had to drive back home and get my camera so I could share it with all of you. Only in Utah...

Fall time fun

I have spent the last 3 days raking leaves in our backyard. I really enjoy it while the weather is so nice and the girls have both enjoyed playing in the piles I quickly create. The backyard is the best part of this house. I love that it is totally enclosed so I can send the girls out to play and not worry about them running out into the street. Bella has already gotten into digging up worms and treating them like pets. They will learn to dig a little bit deeper.

Introduction

So the story picks up with the young family making it's way west to the dryer, dustier Salt Lake valley in search of fame and fortune and free babysitting. They settle into a modest 2200 sq. ft home in West Jordan where they are minutes from great shopping, fine dining and an airstrip. (incase we ever get a plane that will be handy)
The man works hard at his new job with Utah Cancer Specialists. He has his own desk, perscription writing priveleges and currently his own panel of 3 patients. He's finally bringing home the bacon.
The woman works even harder. (hey, it's my blog) She labors day and night for their two beautiful daughters, Bella and Ayva. Despite the older ones latest "big girl" decision to forget she was ever potty trained the mother keeps her cool and uses the opportunity to teach the child how to clean up a big poopy mess. Ya gotta love 'um! The younger one is learning new things as well. She says lots of new words like mama (she's been saying dada since she was born), ball, cookie, and thank you.
Stay tuned to be a part of this families life expereinces. Hopefully they will be full of humor, love and learning.