Tamber's Life

Ivy's Sweet Shop Birthday

2011-12-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows Ivy, knows that she loves candy. So when I asked about a theme for her upcoming 4th birthday, it was no surprise to me that she asked for a "candy party". So we went with a candy/sweet shop theme and made all her dreams come true!

I had fun creating this little window display with window crayons, to welcome family as they arrived.

I borrowed the tissue-paper pom-poms from my sister-in-law, and I think they definitely completed the candy party look.

We had to make a special trip to a real candy shop beforehand, for inspiration and to purchase the giant lollipops and candy wands.

Mark had this great idea to do a write up in chalk. Love it.

And my oh-so-talented, jewelry-making sister-in-law (the same one who made the tissue-paper pom-poms), Katie, helped us make gumball necklaces for all the children.

Mark drilled holes in the gumballs before the party, then Katie strung ribbon through them, tying knots on either side of each gumball. Super adorable, but oh-so-sticky! (Especially when the sugar addicts started licking them!)

While the necklaces were being made, the kids decorated paper sacks that they later filled with candy to take home. We had a "candy cane" cake (also Ivy's idea) with ice cream and had a lovely time visiting with family and celebrating Ivy's birth. And the very best part of the whole event was that Ivy was on cloud 9 the entire time! Making this great memory for her was so worth it. Happy Birthday Ivy Jo.

Gifts that last . . . longer anyway

2011-11-23T08:37:00.001-07:00

I read a statistic a while back stating that 99 percent of manufactured goods end up in the landfill. Ninety-nine percent! Now when I walk down the isles of our local box store I just imagine everything heaped up in a landfill and it's pretty sad. I wish I didn't contribute to such a travesty but as a materialistic American I just can't seem to get away from it; consuming goods is completely ingrained into my brain. However I am committed to doing better. I have determined to give gifts that last . . . and I'm not talking about plastic or Styrofoam that promises to never decompose in the landfill. I'm talking about meaningful, useful gifts that will get many, many years of use before they are ever considered being tossed. So no more plastic toys. There I said it. And I'm sticking to it! So what options does that leave me with when giving to children? I guess things like books, clothing, wooden toys are far more likely to be appreciated and not thrown out. More ideas would be greatly appreciated. But with my children in mind, here are a few things I'd like to get for them.

Oliver got excited just seeing a picture of this puppet. I think he'd be in love if it talk to him and tickled his tummy.

I think both my girls would get a kick out of this cube-bot toy, but their daddy would probably love it best of all.

Millie can leave a water bottle on her desk at school to sip throughout the day (what a great idea). One of these 12 oz. kanteens would be perfect for the job!

Ivy would totally love doing this puzzle (with some help). I'm trying to talk Mark into making one for her.

And this next item doesn't look that impressive but my girls would both experience countless hours of enjoyment. They LOVE straws and are always sad when they get too nasty for me and I chuck them in the trash. These glass straws come with a brush to clean them out and a life-time guarantee. They're not supposed to break but if they do, the company replaces them. Plus since they're glass they never release toxins and are 100% dishwasher safe. I think it is a must-have for us.

Unfortunately all of these things are more expensive than your regular run-of-the-mill, over-packaged plastic toys. But I keep telling myself that I'd rather pay more for a few high-quality items than pay any dollar amount for garbage.

Just for fun!

2011-11-16T14:27:00.001-07:00

So with Christmas and my birthday just around the corner (. . . and Ivy's birthday . . . and Mark's birthday!). I am totally in consumer mode. And since I know I won't be purchasing the majority of the things on my shopping wish-list, I thought I'd post them here for all of you to enjoy. So even if I don't get the satisfaction of buying and owning them at least I'll get to pretend I did (sort of the feeling I get from "pinning" things to Pinterest but for a different audience). Since my b-day is first on the list of events, I'll start with me:
So, I have this fetish for pretty dishes, don't know why, but I do. And at the moment I am pining away for these mugs and bowls from West Elm.

Cute right? If I . . . I mean Mark, were to actually buy them for me I'm not sure if I'd go with a mix (as shown) or stick with one style. If I could only choose one I'd have to go with the yellow, but I think a mix is best. They're 20% off right now, with free shipping . . . so tempting!

I also want these bowls from Anthropologie.

I'm kind of hoping my mom will get them for me for Christmas to go with these bowls she gave me last year. What do you say mom? Pleeeeaaase.

Also if Santa is reading this, I'd love to find a new eyelash curler in my stocking along with some new mascara and non-toxic nailpolish. Thanks!

That's enough of what I want. My next post will be about my wish-list for Ivy.

What Grandma Nora Knew All Along

2011-11-12T21:47:00.002-07:00

My paternal grandmother, Nora Rust Mickelson, passed away last week on November 3, just over a month shy of her 100th birthday. She was an amazing woman: honest, true, chaste, benevolent, hard-working and strictly obedient to the commandments of the Lord.
At her age one might think that her death was only to be expected, however I think it still came as a bit of a surprise to many of us who knew her. In fact, the family was busily planning a big celebration for her upcoming birthday. I suppose the reason her passing came as such a surprise is because of Nora's virtually unheard of good health! For the most part she was still active and vibrant until the day she died; even joking with the ER doctor that she felt so great she could beat him in a foot race.
I used to love to brag about my 90-year-old grandmother who still raised chickens, tended to a large vegetable garden, and diligently went to the temple several times a week. Oh, how I admired her! So of course I was flattered at her funeral when my uncle said in his talk that when it came to healthy living, Nora considered me her only disciple. To that I must say, "Oh Grandma! You're too sweet! But you entirely underestimate your influence . . . and your posterity." For I know that many of her descendants are actively seeking to follow her example of healthy living!
I can only assume my dear grandma thought of me because I had the privilege of staying with her in her home for several weeks last summer where she and I had the opportunity to talk at length on the topic of health. She was thrilled to learn that I don't use a microwave oven (ever!) and that I was planning to (and later did) have a home birth.
I know those things don't make me unique but as I have received a few inquires since the funeral I'll try to briefly explain some of my other ideas.
The subject of being "healthy" has always interested me, however for years I was only motivated by vanity. I wanted to be beautiful and I wanted to be thin! So as fashion magazines had the greatest number of beautiful thin people on their pages, I mistakenly believed that they were somehow experts on how to achieve such an appearance. So I followed their advice: I slathered on the sunscreen, I dieted, I counted calories, I ate Special K cereal with skimmed milk for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I did sit-ups and ran mile after mile on a treadmill - and yet I continued to be chubby, unhealthy and of course unhappy. Eventually I surrendered to the idea that I was probably never going to achieve my goal and gave up even trying. Years passed and by fate or by chance I was led to some amazing people who opened my eyes to what true health is really about. This has set me on a journey of discovery. And the more I discover the more I stand in awe at how much wisdom Grandma Nora had all along!
As a child I remember being instructed by grandma to go outside and get some vitamin from the sun and I thought to myself, "Vitamins are the Flintstones in a bottle . . . what is grandma talking about?" Then as a preteen I went to visit her whilst wearing some of my sister, Alexis' perfume. But after asking grandma to smell me, she quoted a verse from Isaiah about how in the last days the daughters of Zion would stink! I took another whiff of my scented wrist and couldn't figure out what she was talking about. And as a newly married adult, every summer she continued to ask Mark and me if we had planted a garden. To which I always wished I could answer yes, but only twice had the opportunity to do so.
As it turns out grandma was right about everything! The sun is amazing! It doesn't actually give you vitamins but after exposure to its rays, the body produces a steroid hormone called Vitamin D. And as it turns out, for every person who dies from skin cancer, 100 people die from a Vitamin D deficiency-related disease!
As for perfume, I no longer wear it. After learning what sort of dangerous chemicals are used to constitute the word "fragrance" on a label's list of ingredients and the devastating effects they can have on the human body, I find myself shying away from all things smelly. Now I truly think they stink.
And although I always agreed with grandma on the garden thing, I now have an increased appreciation for it. It's become apparent to me that the food supply in America is very polluted, not only literally but also morally. And when food is grown for the sole purpose of being sold at a profit, the food's integrity and nutritional value is undoubtedly compromised. Consequently we are all suffering a myriad of maladies. If we are what we eat it stands to reason that low-quality food equates with low-quality health and vice verse. Grandma's health was a prime example of this scenario. She raised her own cows, chickens and vegetable garden along with many fruit trees. Giving her control over how the majority of her food was produced, resulting in a safe and nutritionally dense diet -- contributing greatly to her good health (in addition to her devout committment to following the Word of Wisdom of course).
My diet is nowhere as pure as my grandmother's but I hope that someday it will be. And I'm glad to say that I am no longer motivated by vanity. I simply wish to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible so that I can continue to serve others and serve the Lord without becoming a burden on others (or at least have the peace of mind that I did my best to avoid becoming so). For now I am taking one step at a time to change my lifestyle to be more like Nora's - free of toxins, full of sunlight and high-quality, honest food. And when it comes to finding an expert on health and happiness, we would all be wise to skip what conventional media has to say and instead, remember what we've been told by Grandma Nora.

Don't Tell Her It's Cute

2011-08-29T21:36:00.000-06:00

We let Ivy's hair grow out for far too long. So when I couldn't stand it any longer I pulled out the scissors.

Here are the "before" shots:

And the "after" shots:

I think it turned out pretty well (considering I have NO idea what I'm doing). It turned out a little shorter than I planned so I was feeling terrible for a few hours, but now I'm over it. Now Ivy is complaining that she doesn't want to go out in public because everyone will say how cute her hair is! (And who wants that?!)

'Cuz We're Cousins

2011-08-29T12:38:00.000-06:00

Oliver is one lucky kid! He has two boy cousins born within months of him.

Mandie, Colter, Oliver, and Me

My sister Mandie had her first baby back in June. And my sister-in-law Katie had her son back in May. (Oliver was born in March.) And I love that their names all end in "er". Oliver, Porter, Colter, so fun!

Me, Oliver, Porter, Katie

Remember this picture of me and Katie? I wish I had one with me and Mandie, but neither of us were up to much traveling during our pregnancies and we were never together for a picture. :(

Rock Star Birthday

2011-08-22T09:17:00.000-06:00

I can hardly believe it, but my Millie is six years old (and has been for a month . . . I'm just a little behind on blogging about our summer). And to celebrate we had family over for a rock star birthday party. The invites (above) were supposed to resemble concert tickets (oh, how I wish I had photoshop . . . and knew how to use it).

The only children invited (two cousins) got sick right before the party! So the only guests were Millie's grandma and grandpa . . . but luckily she didn't mind. There was lots of dancing and singing.

And Mark cut out these wooden "electric" guitars before the party and put them together at the party. The tops are paint sticks from the hardware store with rubber bands strung through grooves Mark cut at the top and bottom. Then everyone decorated their own and gave them names! Millie named her guitar "Rose", Ivy named hers "Islafina" (pronounced: eye-la-FEE-nah) and Millie's grandma named hers "Bob" (after Bob Dylan I think). Then we rocked out and sang karaoke.

Of course we had cake and ice cream and opened presents.

Millie didn't even mind that there were only two gifts since one included MAKE-UP! All her birthday dreams came true in that moment. Later we went out for dinner at the conclusion of which Millie told her daddy "This was my best birthday every!" Super cute.

A few days later she received a gift from my mom. Lip gloss, press on nails and accessories and a hair clip. She looked every bit the glamour queen.

Right after the party Mark's mom took Millie to the craft store to pick out a pattern and fabric for her gift (Millie's idea). The completed project is absolutely adorable (dress and matching purse). Sorry I don't have a better picture. I'll have to get one.

Happy Birthday Millie!

Bear Lake Summer 2011

2011-08-17T17:12:00.000-06:00

The End.

I love cloth!

2011-06-27T18:41:00.000-06:00

Who knew diapering could be fun? Yes, I know I'm crazy but I love knowing that my choice creates less of an environmental burden than disposable diapering and saves us loads of money (between $1,000 and $2,000!!!). They really are not as difficult or icky as some might imagine. There's no pinning, no soaking and no need to shake anything out in the toilet. I also love this make-shift clothesline Mark put together for me. The sun truly is the best disinfectant! The diapers come off the line spotless and completely non-toxic (no chlorine bleach for my family thank you). Using the clothesline reminds me of my Grandma Nora and makes me look to simpler times when people weren't too busy to appreciate the little things in life.

Oh, and did I mention how cute the diaper covers are? And the cute onesie and burp cloth were a gift from Mark's talented sister Julia. I love the elephant.

I don't know what's come over me but I am just enjoying motherhood so much more these days. I guess I am finally starting to grasp how precious this time is with my children and that doing what's best for them is truly worth any amount of extra effort on my part.

Which is why we are also practicing natural infant hygiene (frequently referred to as elimination communication or ECing). I am just in awe of how intelligent little babies are! Even if our culture tells us otherwise.

I look horrible here (right after a workout) but this picture just reminds me how special it feels to share this experience with my baby. I only wish I would have started earlier . . . like six years earlier!

Mommy's Charms

2011-06-23T21:11:00.000-06:00

The Wheels on the Bus

2011-06-21T10:30:00.000-06:00

Millie and Ivy have been begging to ride on a train of late, but they settled for an LTD bus ride instead.

We caught the bus Saturday morning and rode out to Rockhill Creamery in Richmond. It was a long ride, but we all enjoyed the experience.

Luckily it was a nice sunny morning at the bus station.

On the bus Ivy couldn't believe there weren't any seat belts! And it was quite a long, bumpy ride. And yes, we did sing a verse or two of "The Wheels on the Bus".

We missed our stop in Richmond and ended up walking back from the next one, but no one complained (amazingly enough). Once there, we took a little tour of the farm and Millie fell in love with this Brown Swiss calf. She wanted to name him or her "Goldie". She also fell in love with two small dogs there, but they kept their distance from her loving attention.

Ivy on the other hand, was less than thrilled about all the animals and wanted her daddy to protect her.

And Oliver napped through all the excitement.

For lunch we headed to the farmstand for bread (from Crumb Brothers) and cheese from the creamery. Then we caught the bus back to Logan. And after a break at home we rallied for a visit to Summerfest for dinner and dessert (Forbidden Fruit caramel apples. Yum!). The perfect ending to a great Saturday.

Meet Cocoa

2011-06-04T21:09:00.006-06:00

My children don't have security blankets, instead they have security bear rugs (weird, right?) Anyway, Millie received "Smoochie" as a baby gift and she loved it so much that we got . . .

"Snowflake" for Ivy, who she later re-named "Snow Snow"

And now Oliver has his very own "Cocoa".

Cocoa's a bit bigger than his predecessors but at least that way it's a very manly security bear rug.

Baby Blessing

2011-04-06T18:56:00.003-06:00

We blessed Oliver in church the Sunday before General Conference. I specifically charged my camera battery for the occasion and then promptly forgot it the next day. So all my pictures are from my mom. Thanks mom! It was a nice day. Mark gave a nice blessing and we enjoyed seeing everyone. The worst part (other than the lack of camera) was that I had a bad headache for most of the day. Blah. Most of my family made it up Saturday night. One of my sisters told the girls she would come do their hair and paint their nails for church. My family spent the night at a motel and the next morning Ivy and Millie woke up very early asking for Aunt Ariel and Deanna ad nauseam. (They seriously asked every 10 minutes!) Once my family finally made it over to our place there wasn't enough time for hair styling but the girls did get their nails painted.

Oliver had a good day. Here he is fresh from his sponge bath, still shiny from the coconut oil I put on his face.

Here's a better look at his blessing outfit that I picked up on clearance at the BabyGap in Las Vegas back in January. It's a good thing we didn't wait until May to bless him or else I would have had to find something else for him to wear in a bigger size!

I wish I had more pictures of those who came and the food etc. but I don't, so that's all.

Home Birth

2011-03-10T19:31:00.003-07:00

I understand that home birth is a controversial topic. As Americans we have the widely held belief that childbirth is extremely dangerous and that medical doctors are the only ones qualified to deliver babies. Beliefs doctors hold and are all too happy to have us believe (their livelihoods depend upon it).
"The obstetric tale goes like this: Birth is a risky business. Up to the early 1900's, many women and babies died in childbirth. Then doctors took over maternity care from ill-trained and ignorant midwives, and childbirth moved into the hospital. As a result, maternal and infant death rates plummeted, and today almost everybody lives healthily and happily ever after thanks to the skills of obstetricians and the superior resources available in hospitals.
The only problem with this story is it isn't true.
First, death rates did not decline as birth began to move into the hospital and under the control of physicians. They rose. In the 1920s in the United States, middle-class women began having babies in hospitals with physician attendants. By the mid-1920s, half of urban births took place there, and by 1939, half of all women and three-quarters of urban women, gave birth in hospitals. In 1915, prior to the major changeover, 60 mothers died per 10,000 births. Despite the shift, the 1932 U.S. maternal mortality rate reached 63 deaths per 10,000 births, and in cities, where hospitalization for birth was more common, it stood at 74 deaths per 10,000 births, substantially worse than the overall rate. Meanwhile, between 1915 and 1929, as the shift in birth site and attendant occurred, infant deaths from birth injuries increased by 40 to 50 percent.
Maternal mortality in the United States did not begin to fall until the late 1930s . . . Many factors contributed to reducing maternal deaths, including better living conditions and nutrition, child spacing, and the development of blood transfusions, but moving birth into the hospital and under doctor control was not one of them.
In fact, several studies suggest that the doctor takeover and institutionalization of birth actually retarded improvements in mortality rates." - Excerpt from "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth"
And these are just a few of the statistic. We live in a country where women spend more time researching what kind of a camera to buy, than they do researching where and how to give birth. So after two heavily medicated hospital births I finally got around to doing my research and was compelled to do things differently, for my safety and that of my baby. And in the event of a legitimate emergency I willingly would have went to the hospital. That's what hospitals are for: medical emergencies. Birth however is a natural process, not a medical emergency! Sure you hear home birth horror stories, but I have heard far more hospital horror stories and they are usually caused by some hospital intervention meant to prevent something horrific -- very ironic. And yes, true emergencies do occasionally occur, but far less often than you'd think and sadly most of them could be prevented with the right know-how. Knowledge that is being lost because medical doctors don't learn the information in medical school.
So call me crazy, but until you've actually read the facts you're likely to fall victim to the plethora of misinformation out there as I did (twice!).
Knowledge is power so do your homework. And don't assume that just because "everybody is doing it" makes it your best option. And try not to judge others (as I used to) until you have ALL the FACTS.

A few resources to start with:
Watch: "The Business of Being Born" (I've heard you can view it for free on Netflix.)
Read: "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" by Henci Goer
"Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" by Ina May Gaskin

The play-by-play

2011-03-07T21:56:00.019-07:00

I can hardly believe my little Oliver will be a week old tomorrow. He is the sweetest little baby and I am enjoying every minute with him. Anyway, I promised more details on the birth so here is the play-by-play:

Last Tuesday morning I woke up with some stronger-than-your-usual-Braxton-Hicks-contractions. But I didn't think much of them until I had a bought of diarrhea (a sign of impending labor) so I started washing the dishes and cleaning up. I even told my girls that maybe they'd meet their brother in the next day or two. I don't know why I told them that, because at the moment I really didn't think he would come so soon. I wasn't due for 12 more days. Then around 10:30 a.m. I lost my mucus plug and got a little giddy at the idea of having my baby soon, since when I lost it with my first pregnancy I went into labor the next day. So I called Mark and I called my mom just to give them a heads up that things might start happening in the next day or so. At 11:30 a.m. I met with my midwife, Chris, and told her about losing my plug, but she didn't seem too impressed since she'd seen women lose it as early as 6 weeks before delivery. She did, however, check her schedule for the next day to see how many appointments she would have to cancel in the event that I did go into labor. I kept telling myself that it might not happen right away, but I still wanted to be prepared in case it did. So after leaving my appointment I took Millie and Ivy to the grocery store and stocked up on some food. Then I went home and did laundry and some more cleaning. My mom was sure I was going to go into labor and wanted to come up, but I kept putting her off because I didn't want her to make such a long trip for a false alarm. After assuring her I was not in labor, I started noticing some mild contractions and decided to ask Chris to come and check me for dilation. She came around 5 p.m. and said I was around 1.5 or 2 cm. but still really "thick" and that the baby's head was not well applied. But since I never dilate much (if any) in advance, I still couldn't rule out the possibility that I was in early labor. Chris suggested I write down the contractions and see if there was any regularity to them. Meanwhile, she would be across the valley with a laboring woman in Hyde Park.

So during dinner (eggplant parmigiana cook by my sweet husband and of which he informs me I ate quite a lot) I had Mark keep track of contractions, which were not regular but were getting increasingly more painful during the meal. When I told Mark that they were starting to hurt he half-jokingly said, "You're going to scream." After that my memory goes a little fuzzy. I was indeed in labor! At some point (mom's phone says 7:23 p.m.) I called my mom and told her to start driving and had my in-laws come and take the girls. Then I had Mark get to work on getting the birthing pool ready. But I was hesitant to call Chris because I knew she was busy. When I finally decided to call her around 7:30 p.m. her student/assistant, Robyn, answered the phone and told me that the baby there was being born at the moment and that Chris would have to call me back. When she did call back it was between contractions and I was super pleasant. So when I told her that my contractions were 1.5 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute, I don't know if she really believed me. But when Mark called her back 8 minutes later (at 8:15 p.m.) to report that my water had just broken, that got her attention. At which point she asked Mark if he was ready to catch. He laughed and said, "I have my glove ready."

OK, so some of you might be freaking out by this point in the story, but just so you know, neither Mark nor I were the least bit worried. The empty house felt very peaceful and Mark even said that he had always kind of imagined it as being just the two of us. And I was just focusing on staying . . . well . . . focused.

At the beginning of each contraction I would mentally ask myself, "Is it OK that I'm having this?" I would reassure myself that it was with a, "Yes" and then let my body go limp so the contraction could do its job. Then I would engage in a number of soothing activities including counting and visualizing quick progression. I could literally feel when I dilated (it felt like tingles or pin pricks on the cervix). Although the contractions were intense I knew that the "pain" was doing something good and was not actually injuring me so there was no reason to be afraid.

I think it's funny to note that between contractions I was busy trimming my toe and fingernails in the likely event that it would be a long time before I was able to get around to it after the baby was born. I even insisted on taking a shower so I could shave. Perhaps that was more of the nesting instinct kicking in to make sure I was ready when baby arrived. Haha.

At any rate the pool finally got full enough for me to get in. It was pretty hot (since we had anticipated it losing heat as it sat there but I needed it sooner than expected!) but it still felt good and helped with the contractions. I labored in there for 10 minutes at which point the baby's head started to crown. After that contraction it was the strangest thing to reach down and be surprised to feel the top of my baby's head. While we waited for the next contraction we heard Chris pull up in the driveway and were relieved she let herself in the house. We really would have been fine delivering without her (and knew she was on her way) but I was glad she made it in time. And 5 minutes later our little Oliver was born. Mark caught him as he came out and lifted him out of the water then handed him to Chris as I moved from kneeling to sitting. Then Chris handed my baby to me and instructed me to rub his back and talk to him to get him to breathe. I said, "Hi Honey. We made it!" Moments later he let out the saddest cry and Chris called for the time of birth; 8:37 p.m. Mark dimmed the lights as I continued to sit and fall in love with my baby. Mark called to share the good news with our parents and with Millie and Ivy who had only been gone long enough to watch one movie at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I stayed in the water and waited for the umbilical cord to stop pulsing while Chris worked to cool me down with a cold wet towel, since I was turning red from the heat of the water. When the pulse stopped Chris clamped the cord and Mark cut it. Then Mark held Oliver as Chris helped me out of the pool, dried me off and got me into bed. Then in just a short time we had Oliver nursing which was the greatest thing since both my girls had a very difficult time with that in the beginning, but Oliver has been so good.
I felt a little rushed through the whole experience since it went so fast (only 3 hours of noticeable labor). But it was an amazing experience that I will cherish forever. And there was no screaming, swearing, or crying; just a lot of moaning and some grunting. All my preparations paid off and I had my very first conscious, fearless, drugless delivery. And it's all on tape if you don't believe me. :)

He's Here!

2011-03-03T20:19:00.003-07:00

Oliver Mark Weston joined our family Tuesday night, March 1 weighing 8 lbs. 14 oz. and measuring 21.5 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing well. More on the birth to come.

Huge

2011-02-15T19:30:00.004-07:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. I guess I've just been too busy growing a belly to do much else. Now I'm finally down to the last 4 weeks or so and I hope it goes by quickly. Doing a 5-point turn just to roll over in bed, is getting pretty old.

I am positive that I am bigger in person.

It's been fun to have a friend who understands how uncomfortable I am. My sister-in-law is also expecting her first son (after two girls) 6 weeks after I'm due. Hopefully our boys don't get into too much trouble together.

It's a . . .

2010-10-25T15:52:00.004-06:00

Baby! In case you haven't heard: we're expecting baby No. 3 at the Weston residence and today I had my 20-week ultrasound. Everything looked great, so I'm very happy about that.

Here's a great shot of the gender. Check the next photo if you're still confused.

:) Mark and I couldn't be more excited (or more surprised!).

And he's already flexing his muscles, explaining why I've been able to feel him since 12 weeks. I'm not looking forward to the 3rd trimester when his kicks and punches will actually hurt!

Miss Sanpete County

2010-08-17T19:43:00.004-06:00

(from left to right: me, my sisters Ariel, Deanna, Alexis, and Mandie)

I'm so excited for my sister Ariel. She was crowned Miss Sanpete over the weekend and will compete in Miss Utah next year!
Because of the way things worked out, both she and my sister Deanna competed at the same time. (Ariel won Miss Manti in 2009 and had to finish her year of service before competing in Miss Sanpete, however Deanna competed for Miss Manti earlier this year and won first attendant so she didn't have to wait a year before going to Miss Sanpete). Anyway out of the eleven girls Deanna was one of the six who didn't make it to the royalty (even though I think she did an awesome job!) She was a good sport about it though and plans to do Miss Manti again next year. Go D! And as for Ariel, I wish her the best of luck this coming year.

And just as a side note, I was also "Miss Sanpete" once upon a time (in 2001) so it's fun to share that with Ariel. I would include a picture from my younger days, but they are all in storage at the moment. So we'll just have to go without.

Regret

2010-07-28T15:17:00.002-06:00

I should be posting about our new home, or our adventures in Manti but I feel like this instead:
It took ages to grow out Millie's hair (after she took scissors to it). But then she started begging me to cut it short every time I gave Ivy a trim. So one night I gave in and chopped it off.

I've regretted it ever since.

Sneak Peek

2010-06-15T21:39:00.003-06:00

We have to be out of our house this Saturday. It came so fast! I'm frantically trying to pack everything up by myself while playing single mom to two needy girls and it's not much fun. I know it will all be over soon enough. And Mark, bless his heart, is working himself to death trying to get our rental home finished. It won't be ready by this weekend, but we don't want to be homeless any longer than we have to be, so work he must. Here's a sneak peek at where we will be living for the next year or so . . . more pictures to come.

I was so excited when I saw the home had peonies! The girls and I brought some home as soon as they bloomed.

And these wild poppies just started growing behind our (current) home this year. Poppies and peonies are my favorite flowers, so I had to include this shot.
It may be while before I'm able to post again, but I'll do my best.

Face Paint and Piccadillies

2010-06-04T16:46:00.009-06:00

I took the girls down to Manti over Memorial Day Weekend. We go every year for the Scandinavian Festival. Mark usually joins us, but this year he was too busy fixing up a rental home so we have somewhere to live in a few weeks.

Millie and Ivy were so excited to collect candy at the parade (or at least Millie was). My sister Deanna was on the Miss Manti float. Millie told me that when she grows up she wants to be "First Attendent" and be in a parade. It was so cute.

And here's the famous "First Attendant" after the parade chowing down on Sanpete barbecue turkey and piccadillies -- so good!

Vikings are also a favorite at the festival. Here Marie (a foreign exchange student from Germany who has lived with my family for the past 5 months) poses with one.

My mom took Millie to get her face painted at one of the booths.

She was on cloud nine. Thanks mom.

Sunday morning we took a trip to the Manti Cemetery. Millie was so excited to see where her great-grandfather is buried.

We also visited my friend Emily's grave. It's such a pretty headstone with her signature on one side and her photo on the other. The visit brought back sad memories but it was nice to have my daughters there with me.

My Awesome Sisters

2010-06-03T22:11:00.004-06:00

Last month I spent a weekend in Manti. My sister Mandie graduated from Utah State University through its extension program in Ephraim.

Here's the graduate with her husband Danny. Way to go Mando.

Then the next night I went to see my sister Deanna (right) compete in the Miss Manti Pageant and my sister Ariel (left) give up her crown (she was last year's winner).

Deanna was awesome and won first attendant. Now she and Ariel will compete together in Miss Sanpete this fall.

And here's the ritual sibling group shot.

"Please Take Note: Always Bring a Tote." - Fancy Nancy

2010-05-24T15:58:00.004-06:00

Yes, I know Earth Day month is long since gone but I was too busy with my last week of teaching preschool and getting the house up for sale, to blog. But as most all of us are frequent visitors of the supermarket, this topic extends past the month of April.

These are my grocery bags and I absolutely love them! Not only do they keep hundreds (if not thousands) of plastic bags out of the landfill (and out of my pantry) but they are also far more effective at getting my groceries from the grocery cart to the trunk of my car and from the trunk to my kitchen counter top, in fewer trips, and with greater ease and comfort . . . love them!

I also went one step further and purchased my own produce bags as I have started buying more and more produce in an effort to feed my family healthier meals. However a word of caution when buying produce: USDA Certified Organic is always better for the environment and your health than non-organic, but not always realistic when it comes to the pocketbook. In this case I refer to the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean Fifteen” lists. (Click here to download your own list.) Pesticides were recently link to ADHD in the news, but I have no doubt they contribute to a plethora of maladies and are best to be avoided. And sure Organic foods are more expensive than non-organic but look at it this way: For every dollar you save when buying non-organic (and processed foods for that matter) you will pay later in medical care and sick-leave. So invest the money in good food and save yourself the trouble and the heartache of poor health.

Why Green?
For many people I think the concept of “Going Green” appears to be a fad, or a trend. And I must admit that I purchased my canvas grocery totes (years ago), after watching an environmentally- conscious episode of Oprah, but it has always been an interest of mine. As a girl I remember wishing my hometown would start a recycling program. All these years later that has yet to happen and it breaks my heart because “Going Green” is not about being trendy, but about being responsible consumers of this planet! And it is my belief that the Earth, in some way we cannot fully comprehend, feels pain (Moses 7:48). And while I know my efforts will make little difference and the Earth will most likely fall into ruin before the second coming of the Savior, I don’t want to be found guilty of it on judgment day. So whether it’s trend or conscience that motivates us, we’d all do well to observe the words of Fancy Nancy and remember that “Every day is Earth Day.”

For Sale

2010-05-11T21:00:00.004-06:00

Our house is officially up for sale. The sign has been up for an entire day now and we've already had two calls on it. Woohoo! We'll see if anything comes of either. In the meantime feel free to browse the awesome house pictures my friend Jenny took for us and pass along the following blog address to anyone who may be looking for a home in the Logan/Cache Valley area: www.westonhome-riverheights.blogspot.com.

And in case you're wondering; we won't be moving far. Mark's father owns another lot in our ward where we plan to build next. Wish us luck.

"The Green Book"

2010-04-09T12:01:00.009-06:00

I recently picked up "The Green Book" from Kohl's. It was $5 and touted a "New York Times Bestseller" label. I'm always looking for more ways to live an environmentally-friendly life, so I thought I'd give it a read.

The book is full of small things the average American can do to have less of a negative impact on the planet. It's a bit redundant from chapter to chapter, but I guess that way the reader can pick and choose which topics to read about and apply it elsewhere if they feel so inclined. I especially enjoyed the letters from celebrities at the beginning of each chapter. And while I didn't agree with everything the book suggests (cooking exclusively in your microwave for a year may use less energy than using a conventional oven but it could be detrimental to your health and frequently substituting beef with soy may cut back on the water used to raise cattle but unfermented soy is both extremely estrogenic and most often a dangerous Roundup ready GMO) I still found a lot of ways I can improve at becoming "green".

A few of my efforts now include: trying to use less water by turning off the faucet while I scrub my hands then turning it back on with my wrist to rinse (of course this isn't possible on all faucets), I no longer let my car idol when I pick up Millie from preschool, and I now unplug the surge protectors in the office and theater room every night before going to bed (even if something is turned off it still uses energy if it is plugged in and it all adds up to an enormous amount of wasted resources).

But the biggest thing I took away from this book was a heightened awareness of everything I waste. Paper, plastic, food, water, energy, money . . . waste, waste, waste. We need so little in this life to be happy. And all this STUFF we think "adds" to our life, often times merely makes life more complicated. And while I'm still inherently greedy and selfish, I am trying to be better and that's all I (or any of us) can do.

"Green" Eggs

2010-04-01T10:14:00.006-06:00

In honor of "Earth Day" month (yes, it is still April even if we have a fresh foot of snow here in Cache Valley) I am going to try to post about ways in which I am trying to "go green" and why.

We have recently started buying our eggs from a local farmer who raises "happy" free-range chickens. My grandma Nora always had chickens, so it has been really fun to expose my girls to a great part of my childhood. Millie and Ivy love our trips out to the farm and we usually end up spending half an hour (or longer) out there.

Now if you're wondering how this is considered going "green" all you need to do is watch Food, Inc. and you will understand how much better a sustainable farm is for the environment in comparison with the disgusting conditions factory-farmed chickens are raised. (Please at least watch the Food, Inc. trailer it's really good.) And not only is my decision better for the environment but it is also better for my health and that of my family's. Organic free-range eggs are higher in vitamins, lower in cholesterol and never contaminated with salmonella. Salmonella-contaminated eggs come from sick chickens, and sick chickens come from factories. And when it comes to "going green" it is always better to buy locally! Oh, and please don't be fooled by the eggs in the grocery store that read "Free-range" or "Cage-free"; they are not any "greener" than the white eggs!

Another highlight of our trips is the dog! Millie loves Quincy (Protector of the Chickens). His owner, Barbie, has been teaching Millie how to be a dog trainer. However Ivy was jealous there weren't any doggie treats for her!

Anyway, I get warm fuzzies when I do my part to "go green". Not only am I doing my part to teach my children but we're making great memories while doing it.

Trying to Simplify

2010-03-10T12:56:00.006-07:00

My life has been a little stressful lately. And when I'm stressed I get cold sores. The holidays were the worst and in the month of December alone, I had more cold sores than I'd had in the previous 5 years combine! (I've only had one this month, so I guess I should be happy about that.) And on top of the cold sores I have a new ailment that shows up at the first sign of stress: intense upper back pain. It's awful. So now that I'm in the Primary presidency and after having two miscarriages I'm doing my best to scale back and reduce unnecessary stress wherever I can. I came across this list the other day (I did not write it myself!) and thought some of you might benefit from it as well. My lack of blogging helps with numbers 3, 4, 27, and 32. Enjoy and simplify :)

Turn off your cell phone.
Process email only twice a day.
Go to bed early.
Get rid of (or at least reduce) commitments that you do out of obligation.
Create a weekly meal plan.
Automate your finances.
Purge as much unneeded clutter as possible.
Keep your paper shredder on top of your recycling bin.
Add items you want to a wish list as you think of them.
Get a label maker or write labels out by hand.
Set your clothes out for the next day the night before.
Make your lunch for the next day the night before.
Make time to catch up with an old friend.
Just say no.
Ask for experiences not things for your birthday and Christmas this year.
Tell the truth.
Keep your list of addresses and phone numbers up to date.
Consolidate debt.
Create an organizing system that works for you.
Keep a bag for garbage in your car.
Carry a notebook and pen with you where ever you go.
Unsubscribe from emails, newsletters or RSS feeds that don’t provide value anymore.
Apologize immediately when you realize you’ve done wrong.
Enjoy the present moment as much as you can.
Take time to really see the little things in life.
Reduce the amount of TV you watch.
Get outside.
Create morning, daytime, and evening routines.
Ask for help.
Do things at home as much as possible (eat, date nights, entertain etc.).
Don’t get caught up in other people’s drama.
Let go of the self-imposed need to be perfect.
Focus on a simple, but healthy, eating plan.
Share responsibilities.
Reduce your wardrobe to a few versatile items.
Be positive.
Start a gratitude journal.
Finish old tasks before taking on new ones.
For every new item that enters your home set two free.
Want what you have not what you don’t.
Revisit what you carry with you in your purse or wallet.
Focus on one thing at a time.
Store new garbage bags at the bottom of your garbage can.

List taken from Zen Family Habits.

He's Done it Again

2010-02-10T14:07:00.002-07:00

I got an early Valentine's present from Mark this week: A new desk for our home office! (Which of course, he built himself.)
I didn't take a "before" picture of the office, but believe me when I say it was hideous. I am now enjoying computer-time just that much more. Thanks Mark.

. . . the darnedest things

2010-01-26T13:52:00.003-07:00

Last night during family prayers, Millie prayed, ". . . and please bless me to always be beautiful." I tried not to laugh at her vanity, but I couldn't help it!

And here's Ivy with another funny:

The 4-year-olds' Circus

2010-01-22T18:11:00.003-07:00

We just finished hosting another week of preschool at our house. Where we learned all about the circus.
Complete with a big top tent over the table.
On the last day the kids got to pretend to be in a circus. I had these pictures taped around the room and at each station they got to perform a different circus "act": jumping through a "flaming" hula-hoop, walking a tightrope of tape, juggling scarves, making human letters (below), and tying balloons. It was great fun. And feel free to comment on my remarkable Crayola coloring skills. (My hand ached when I was finished!) And if you likey, visit freecoloring.org.
And although I did not come up with many of the ideas on my own, I'm still very proud of myself for successfully replicating them. Now I only have 3 more turns to go.
Below is a video of the juggling act. It doesn't take much to entertain six 4-year-olds.

2010-01-22T17:40:00.002-07:00

It was my mother-in-law's birthday on Wednesday and we partied in the snow. Well, everyone but me who didn't bring snow boots. So I played photographer from the sidelines and experimented with my camera's black and white setting. (That's Mark lying in the snow, by the way.)
After the snowman was (painstakingly) built by Trent. We all went inside to warm up with treats and karaoke.
Millie's Uncle Trent treated her to her very first snowball fight. It was pretty funny watching her wait her turn to take a hit. Enjoy!

Homecoming

2010-01-22T16:41:00.005-07:00

Three cheers for me! I have reached my 100th post! But this post isn't about me, so I'll move on.
Mark's youngest brother, Trent, returned from serving in the Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh mission last week. And we all went to the airport to welcome him home.
We got there pretty early and the kids were getting a little restless by time Elder Weston finally appeared on the escalator. Luckily Mark's a good sport.
The posters were Barbara's idea and she supplied all the grandchildren with poster boards. I hope Trent appreciates all the effort that went into those things :)
Afterward we all drove to Brigham City and had dinner at Maddox. After the meal Trent posed with all his nieces and nephews (minus Cooper who lives in Georgia) for a picture. Ivy was only six weeks old when he left. It's crazy how fast two years can pass.

Christmas Stuff

2009-12-28T18:07:00.006-07:00

We spent Christmas in Manti this year.
On Christmas Eve we gathered at my 98-year-old Grandma Nora's house where the manger scene is reenacted each year. Millie was an angel and Ivy thought she was a shepherd. She was enamored with the baby Jesus doll (not pictured).
Before we left for Manti. Mark had an early Christmas present for the girls: A toy kitchen of his making. They loved it and started playing with it right away.
In Manti my sister Ariel gave the them aprons to make them professional chefs (Mark and I also got aprons!).
My mom also gave this "talking" baby doll to Ivy. She mothered that doll for hours! It was perfect.
On Saturday afternoon my mom took us all to "Princess and the Frog". It was Millie and Ivy's first time in a movie theater. Millie was in heaven. She was giggling and screaming and even dancing. It was great! Thanks mom. Millie will remember that for life.
And Millie's cute hair was courtesy of her lovely Aunt Ariel.

Ivy's 2

2009-12-10T22:25:00.003-07:00

It's hard for me to believe, but my baby is two years old!

Thankful for Turkey

2009-11-27T13:29:00.004-07:00

Wow! I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone already!
We had a nice time at Mark's parent's house. There were 16 of us in all and we ate at two big tables in their great room. I'm so glad we have special days like Thanksgiving, or else we'd probably never all get together at the same time.
The food was delicious. And now I wish I would have taken a picture of it. Mark ate three plates full! And I was full after one (but still helped myself to a second serving of turkey and mashed potatoes :)
I don't think I've ever seen Ivy eat so much! Maybe if we had Thanksgiving every day, she would finally gain some weight!
And one last interesting tidbit about our Thanksgiving: Seven people came wearing purple! Not at all planned, so that made it fun.

P.S. Don't mind the huge cold sore on my bottom lip!

Ivy's Before and After

2009-11-07T15:47:00.004-07:00

Before picture courtesy of Millie.
New "do" courtesy of mom.

Scruffy Hubby

2009-11-07T15:33:00.002-07:00

Mark had a little extra facial hair prior to Halloween in preparation for the holiday. Any respectable Captain Hook must have a mustache right?
However he ended up looking a little less like a pirate and a bit more like a man born south of the border! Good times.
But the look didn't last long. He shaved as soon as the party was over.

Goodbye Dial-up (again!)

2009-11-07T14:46:00.003-07:00

In case you haven't heard the good news: Mark and I have upgraded! Yes, it's true: we penny-pinchers will once again be forking out 20 more bucks a months to have DSL. (However Mark did insist we drop our land line to off-set the cost, and use our cell phones exclusively -- blah.) So in honor of the blessed occasion I have uploaded a video. You heard me right, a video (entirely impossible to upload with dial-up!) of my oh-so-sassy Millie (dressed as Indian princess Tiger Lily) and her preschool class in their very first Halloween parade. Enjoy!

P is for Pumpkin

2009-10-12T16:24:00.003-06:00

I survived my week as "teacher." But it seriously wiped me out! I learned a lot though, so hopefully it's easier next time around, which (fortunately) won't be until January. (One of the mother's is expecting twins in the spring and so she took my November week and I am teaching her week in March). I don't have pictures of the actual preschool class, as I was too stressed out to think of that. But the kids all had a good time learning about leaves and the letter L (on Tuesday), squirrels and the number zero (on Wednesday), and pumpkins and the letter P (on Thursday).
On pumpkin day, I used a pumpkin as a punch bowl at snack time. That night I had Mark carve it for our front porch. Millie has loving named our jack-o'-lantern Linda. So if you're in town, make sure to drive by our house between the hours of 7 and 10 p.m. to see Linda in action.

Zuri and the Zebras

2009-10-12T15:11:00.003-06:00

This one's for you mom, (because the zoo makes for a really boring post since everyone has already been there a gazillion times).
So it only took Mark and I four years to take Millie to the zoo (bad parents, yes, I know.) But making the trip felt much more worthwhile with two kids!
The baby elephant, Zuri, was super cute! Even if I didn't get a great picture of her. When I was a kid I remember getting to ride on an elephant at Hogle Zoo, now you're lucky if you get a good view of one (oh, how things have changed!) Also, I was disappointed that the zoo no longer has lions or hippos! What happened?
One fun story from the trip: Toward the end of our tour Mark and I wanted to take the girls on the train but for some reason thought you needed cash to get your tickets and we only had a credit card (I'm sure they would have taken it, but at the moment we were convinced otherwise). Then as we were about to leave, Millie remembers that she didn't get to see the zebras (because they weren't there when we passed by the first time.) So we headed all the way back to the zebras and the greatest thing happened on our way there. This man stopped us and asked if we wanted his train and carousel tickets! He and his family had to leave and didn't have time to use the tickets. That totally made our day!
And to make the trip complete, we ate dinner at a restaurant afterward. We stopped at Pepperbelly's in Kaysville. (I love that place, and wish they still had one in Ephraim so we could eat there when we go down for visits.) The restaurant was celebrating its birthday and handed out free birthday cake (before dinner even arrived) so of course that's all the girls wanted to eat. Ivy especially enjoyed the cake and must have thought it was her birthday.

Singing the Pre-K Blues

2009-09-21T20:56:00.005-06:00

Millie is now in her fourth week of preschool. She is doing pretty well, but we've had our ups and downs:
The mothers each take turns teaching for a week (3 days actually for 2 hours per day) so class is taught in a different house each week. On the second day of the second week Millie started crying and didn't want to go anymore. From what I could gather, the father in that home, works from home and made an appearance from time-to-time and that was NOT OK with Millie. (Don't get me wrong, they are a great family, Millie's just very particular about things."
She made it through that week but when it came time to switch houses again, she was not excited and the night before class I could hear her singing in bed: "I don't want to go to preschool. I want to be 3 years old. I wish I never had a birthday." It broke my heart! Luckily, the next house was a much better experience for her. I just hope she's over it in five weeks when it's time to go back to house No. 2.
I am the last teacher on the rotation so I have yet to teach, and I must say I am a little nervous about teaching six 4-year-olds!

Our Tomatoes Have Cancer

2009-09-05T10:48:00.002-06:00

Our tomato plants have produced a number of odd-looking fruit but this one has got to be the strangest!

Read Now - Time Sensitive Post!

2009-09-03T13:22:00.003-06:00

Summer is quickly coming to an end and my stint as an actress will soon be through. And in case some of you didn't know: I play Juliet's nurse in the American West Heritage Center's Wild West Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet - A Musical Comedy. And if any of you have any desire to see it, you better act fast!
Tonight is "friends and family, pay-what-you-can night." And tomorrow night is the last night open to the public. (We have one more private performance next weekend.) So if you want to see the show for cheap, show up tonight (Thursday, Sept. 3) with $5 or so and enjoy. (Show starts at 7 p.m.) Or if you want to pay the big bucks and get the chuck-wagon dinner tomorrow night, call the Heritage Center for reservations (435) 245-6050.
4025 S. Hwy 89, Wellsville. Hope to see y'all there!

Melanie

2009-09-02T11:17:00.005-06:00

It took six years for my German sister Melanie to make it back to the United States for a visit, but it was well worth the wait! It was so good to see her and we had so much fun together! So I guess not much has changed since she came to live with my family for 10 months back in 2002 as a foreign exchange student.
I have a ton of pictures from her stay and had a hard time deciding which to post. So here are just a few of the highlights:
Pickup trucks are not common in Europe so Melanie was dieing to take Mark's for a test drive. I hopes it lived up to her expectations.
We went to Manti to visit my family and enjoyed an afternoon at the swimming pool.
Then my family came to Logan to hang out and watch me in the play, and visit Minnetonka Cave (near Bear Lake).
The night before Melanie's return flight, we ate at Café Sabor. It was so sad knowing she would be leaving in the morning.
After Mark and I dropped her off at the airport, we went to breakfast and then to a store where Mark had to pick up a bathtub for work. By that time it was time for Melanie's departure. I watch several planes take off and most likely saw her plane (although I'll never know). I hope it won't take another 6 years before I see her again. Maybe it's time for me to make another trip to Europe!

Project: Guest Room

2009-08-31T11:57:00.009-06:00

A while back I mentioned that Mark missed the Mickelson family reunion in order to work on a project. That day he built the closet pictured above and over the next 2.5 weeks he made a guest room and bathroom out of the empty wall frames that stood in our unfinished basement.
I forgot to upload the "before" picture but I'm sure you all know what an unfinished basement looks like. Mark worked like crazy to get it done in time for our special house guest (whom I will blog more about in my next post). His labors included: electrical and plumbing work; hanging sheetrock, baseboard, casing, taping, mudding, caulking and painting the walls; sealing the cement floor; installing the vanity, mirror, lights, tub-surround and a bunch of other things I'm sure I've forgotten. Thanks-a-million honey!
Of course Mark did all the real work, but I felt like I had a million and one decisions to make, and kept busy (repeatedly) visiting stores all over town to make them, so it was work for me as well :)
P.S. We expect more visitors now. Hint, hint.

News

2009-08-08T14:52:00.002-06:00

I'm so excited and had to share the news with all of you: At 3 days shy of 20 months old, Ivy has finally cut her very first tooth!!! Hooray! Even Mark and Millie are excited and we're now discussing plans to celebrate this momentous event.

More Wedding Photos

2009-08-07T21:33:00.002-06:00

My mom took a bunch of great shots at the wedding that I snagged off her Facebook page. Above is Millie with her cousin Xander who is one month older than her.

My mom feels so bad that she didn't get a picture of all 5 of her daughters together at the wedding but 3 out of 5 isn't too shabby.
Left to right: Millie, my neice Ellie, my brother Max, nephews Kurin and Xander.
Ivy and Mark had a great time sitting back (eating) and watching all the action.
And here's another windy family shot at the temple.

Mandie's Married

2009-08-06T11:12:00.004-06:00

My little sister Mandie got married on Tuesday. She is now Mandie Valenzuela! She and her husband Danny are a perfect match and we are so happy to have him as part of our family!

Millie was the flower girl and here she is passing off the bouquet to the bride after the ceremony.
The Manti Temple grounds were so beautiful, and this would have made a great family picture if it weren't for the wind and Millie's uncooperative attitude. (I was holding her hands because she kept covering her face!)
Millie was a much better sport when it came to modeling with her aunts Ariel and Deanna, and uncle Max.
Mark and I were also married in the Manti temple, so it holds a special place in our hearts as well.

Over the Weekend . . .

2009-07-29T16:54:00.003-06:00

I have nearly recovered from our long weekend in Manti. I took the girls down for the Mickelson family reunion and my little sister's bridal shower. Mark stayed home to work on a project for me (more on that in weeks to come). And making that long trip without his help, was a lot of work! Especially since my 4-year-old acted like a "ba-lunatic" the entire time!
The reunion was fun. We swam at the Manti pool in the morning and had lunch at the park. Ivy was worn out from the pool and slept through lunch.
Aren't kids cute when they sleep? (Especially this one below.) No fighting, whining, or complaining . . . it's amazing!
We slept at my grandma Nora's house. I got a picture with both the girls, but Ivy was hysterical and no one looked very happy.
I only managed to take one picture during the bridal shower and it wasn't a very good one. I was tired and just wanted to sit back and watch Ivy walk. Yes, you heard right: Ivy is finally walking (and has even started talking)!!! Now, we're just waiting for her first tooth!

Beach Bums

2009-07-14T22:00:00.005-06:00

We took our annual trip to Bear Lake over the weekend. And had a wonderful time at the beach. It was overcast and the water was choppy, but the kids loved it. Millie and her cousins Lia and Nora were great entertainment for all the adults lounging under the canopy. I loved how Millie and Nora mounted the paddles and went horseback riding. They also made a few trips to "Macey's" as they ventured out into the water. Millie wasn't crazy about the sand though. At one point she came over to me and stuck her bum (pictured above) in my face and said, "Get it off." Funny girl.
The best part was that she is finally old enough that she could play in the water without mom or dad holding her hand. And Ivy . . . well she was content to just lounge with the adults.
Both the girls were worn out by the end of the day and fell asleep on the car ride home. Unfortunately Millie's new booster seat doesn't provide a comfortable headrest! Poor girl.
And here she is Sunday morning complaining about her sunburn. I completely felt her pain, as I also got burned. Millie was better by Monday but I'm still suffering! More proof that Millie was blessed with her daddy's skin!

Thoughts from the Trek

2009-06-30T12:56:00.005-06:00

My favorite part of the trek was preparing for it. I loved attending all the trek firesides and learning more about the pioneers. From all the stories, the thing that impressed me most was that the pioneers were real people that had the same feelings as we do today. They may have spoken and dressed differently but they still feared others’ opinions of them, they still placed a high value on their worldly possessions and comforts, yet they were willing to face persecution, poverty and even death in order to follow the Savior, Jesus Christ.

In preparing for the trek a story in The Book of Mormon stood out to me. In an attempt to call the people of Zarahemla to repentance, the prophet Alma asks “. . . you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?” (Alma 5:6) The same can be asked of us about the pioneers. We are asked to remember their sacrifices so as to keep us humble and encourage us to repent and come unto to Christ.

Alma 5:7 “Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them.
8 “And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay they were not.
9 “And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.”

The Lord did great things for our pioneer ancestors and continues to do great things for us.

While on the trek, we hiked to the entrance of Martin’s Cove where we left our handcarts and ate a snack before trekking in. While we ate, trek organizers passed out envelopes to each family containing name tags with names of real pioneers along with their story. We wore the names as we went through the cove. After returning we ate lunch, then loaded up our handcarts and moved on to our next destination, the Sweet Water River Crossing Monument. As we were walking, I turned around to find that Mark and Ivy were gone. I couldn’t see them anywhere. Another woman with my handcart explained that one of the organizers had taken Mark and Ivy because the pioneers they represented had died on their journey to Zion. I was heartbroken! They were taken without warning, and although I knew they were not really gone, I missed them and my heart ached for those pioneers who lost their loved ones – often without warning – to that terrible thing called death. A friend of mine also lost her husband and was left to carry their daughter alone. We sat next to each other during the devotional and cried as we felt each other’s pain, for we knew we had experienced the tiniest taste of what the pioneers experienced. After the devotional we pressed on, but as I looked back in the distance I could see all of those who had been taken, following along behind the last handcart and I imagined the spirits of those deceased pioneers silently walking alongside as their families pressed on, anxious for their welfare and supporting them in their trials.

We were soon reunited with our lost family members as we prepared to cross the Sweet Water River. But later the men were once again taken from us, this time to the U.S. Military to serve in the Mormon Battalion. As I explained to Millie that her father had been called to war, my heart went out, not only to the pioneers, but to all those families who are parted from a loved one to military service – never knowing the outcome of their absence. A trial I hope I will never really have to face.

So with Ivy on my back and Millie crying in the handcart for me to hold her, I helped push our cart up the amazingly steep and sandy hill known as the women’s pull. We were the last cart and observed that speed was our friend in keeping the cart moving forward. We raced up the hill, but slowed quickly as our feet and carts sunk in the sand. To our amazement the women from the first handcarts, knowing our plight from experience, dropped their own carts and in the true spirit of the Relief Society, ran down the hill to help ease our burden, pushing until our cart finally reached the top. The men watched silently in appreciation of the women in their lives – some crying or holding back tears. Emotions were high from the intensity of the experience, and I too wanted to cry. Mark put Ivy on his own back once more and stroked my arm and back as we listened to the medley of “As Sisters In Zion / We Are As the Armies of Helaman” play. I felt as though he had gained a new appreciation for me, and I had gained a new appreciation for the women of my ward. We must learn from the experiences of others and helped those who come after us. And even when we feel all alone, the Savior is always there to help us.

I’m so thankful for the opportunity this experience gave me to gain these insights. The pioneers are not so different from us. We are all brothers and sisters and children of God. We all have our challenges – we aren’t asked to give up everything like the early saints, we’re only asked to hold true to our baptismal and temple covenants and endure to the end and I know that if we do this we will be blessed with Eternal Life. Remembering the pioneers will help us do that. This is my testimony.

For Some Must Push and Some Must Pull

2009-06-26T15:32:00.003-06:00

We survived the trek! It was no picnic, but we made the most of it, and I'm glad we went.
The first night was the worst with two bawling babies. Mark had to get out of the tent with Ivy at 2 a.m. to get her to stop crying, meanwhile I'm sure she woke up half the campground. The next two nights we gave the girls Benedryl (for their mosquito bites of course) and put Ivy in a snow suit so she wouldn't get cold, and we all slept much, much better. Oh, and I wasn't entirely joking about the mosquito bites. I took inventory of how many bites Millie brought home . . . a whopping 49 bites! Poor thing! I'm sure I have a good 30 or so. Mark and Ivy must have the same blood, the mosquitoes bit them but they didn't react with an itchy breakout. I am so very very jealous.
Moving on, here we are in our ultra-attractive pioneer attire, complete with sunglasses and running shoes.
At first Millie enjoyed riding in the handcart, but it got old and she insisted that I carry her, well that wasn't going to fly. I told her she could walk or ride in the cart, but all she could say was, "Hold me, hold me." So . . . I held her hand as she walked for a mile, crying the entire time, "Hold me, hold me." Such a mean mom, I know. She was much happier after we met up with grandma and grandpa (Mark's parent's came as organizers, so they drove from place to place) and ate some snacks. No handcarts are taken into Martin's Cove so we all took turns occasionally carrying Millie. (I just wasn't going to carry her when a handcart was an option!)
At one point during that longest day of hiking (7+ miles), all the men were called to fight with the Mormon Battalion and the women were left to pull/push the handcarts up this amazingly steep and sandy hill called the women's pull. So I had Ivy on my back and Millie crying in the handcart as I helped push the cart up the hill. It was pretty intense. (You can see all the men walking up the hill behind me.)
Luckily, Mark carried Ivy for most of the trip. We were so blessed to get this backpack from a friend in our ward the day before we left. We had planned to use an old school one we inherited some years ago, but this one was much nicer. Complete with canopy and detachable backpack. Unfortunately I now associate the backpack with a certain rodent. . . . As I pulled my jacket out of it one morning a little mouse came out along with it! So gross. I'm told I jumped 5 feet off the ground. We had left the backpack outside our tent overnight and the zipper must have been left slightly open. It still gives me nightmares.
All-in-all, Ivy won the happy camper award. She took many-a-nap in that backpack. It was really hot and I think it just wiped her out. What a trooper, can't say the same about Millie, but she had her good girl "moments."
We are all glad to be home, and are eternally grateful to the pioneers who made our many blessings possible.

Trekies

2009-06-20T14:56:00.002-06:00

We're heading to Wyoming on Monday to visit Martin's Cove and the like with our ward. We will be there for four days. I am excited for the experience even though I know I will be crying every time they tell a pioneer story. The only thing I am not looking forward to is the "tenting" as Millie calls it. I don't especially enjoy sleeping in a tent, but I'd rather sleep in a tent than NOT sleep. I'm afraid the girls will keep me up all night. Only time will tell. And no matter how bad it gets I know it will be no where near as bad as our ancestors had it!
Anyway, I am very proud of myself for sewing! I made 95% of Millie's dress (I needed a little help) and 100% of the apron. My kind mother-in-law made the pantaloons and bonnet.
We have to pack our things in buckets, so for family home evening we decorated them with random stuff I could find (I'm not a scrapbooker so our options were very limited), but it was fun.
And this photo has nothing to do with the trek but I just loved Ivy's messy face. Look at those pink lips!
And Millie has learned how to take a self portrait . . . sort of.

Breaking the Bank

2009-06-16T15:01:00.004-06:00

. . . the piggy bank that is. After only 6 months of collecting, Ivy smashed her piggy bank to bits (regardless of the fact that it had an easy-to-remove plug under its belly). I guess she really wanted to go shopping!
Actually I'm the one to blame. I let her play with it on the ground while I took a shower and later moved it up on a chair to get it out of the way. She eventually found and knocked it off onto the tile floor. Sorry Barbara, it was such a cute piggy too. Unfortunately it's not the first fragile item to shatter on that floor!
Sweet Ivy. I just love this knit hat my mom sent to her.
After I took pictures of the broken piggy (that was totally staged btw, I misplaced my camera the day it broke and couldn't take a picture right away) Millie took advantage of the camera in the bathroom and started snapping away. Here are some of my favorite shots of the bath tub:

Feel'n' the Love

2009-05-29T15:46:00.002-06:00

Nothing says "I love you" like a bouquet of flowers, and this week I got two!
A friend from the ward came over with her daughter to deliver these peonies from their flower garden on Wednesday evening (and I love peonies!)
Then this bouquet was delivered to my door Thursday morning. They're a thank you gift from a city councilwoman for helping with Miss River Heights back in March.
Seeing them around the house makes me so happy, and I sure do feel loved!

Manti High

2009-05-25T13:52:00.005-06:00

Friday we went down to Manti for my sister Ariel's high school graduation. It was so fun to go back to my old school and see people I haven't seen in years. I particularly enjoyed singing the school song at the end of the ceremony.

Here I am with 3 of my 4 sisters. Left to right: Alexis (29), Ariel (18), Me (25) and Deanna (15).
The next morning we headed to Ephraim for the Scandinavian Festival. Here we all are at the parade. Left to right: Shantara, Danny, Mark's ear, Mandie, Brandon, Lincoln, Mason, Nora, Alexis, Jan. My mom was escorting Ariel and the Miss Manti Royalty (the fun job that comes with having a daughter as Miss Manti) and Deanna was on the Miss Independent float (good thing she is the first attendant and not the queen or my mom would have been in big trouble!) And my brother Chris and his kids were promoting his motor-cross track.
You know this crew. That's my new stroller. I love that it has reclining seats and a rain cover. Here Ivy is snoozing away out of the rain.
My favorite part of the festival is all the great food. We always eat BBQ turkey with piccadillies for lunch and follow it up with a multitude of treats. I love this shot of Millie and her stick of cotton candy bigger than her head! We helped her out a little bit, but she truly ate the vast majority of it.

5 years!

2009-05-14T08:53:00.006-06:00

I know this post is a few days late, but the mouse to our computer stopped working and as it is impossible to do ANYTHING on your computer without a mouse I haven’t been able to blog until now. The old mouse was 5 years old and I know that because Mark and I bought this computer right after we got married and last weekend we celebrated our 5-year anniversary!
To celebrate we left the girls with Mark’s parents and took off to Park City. We stayed at this nice bed and breakfast called the Washington School Inn. We were the only guests there Friday and the inn-keeper went home for the night, so we had the entire building to ourselves. It was nice but a little bit creepy. Luckily our bed was ultra-comfy with a feather bed and super soft sheets . . . I slept really well and the best part was that I didn’t have to worry about waking up in the night to a crying child :)
We spent Saturday shopping at the outlet stores – Mark’s anniversary gift to me. My gift to him was a cast iron pan. Mark loves anything that says, “We live in the 1800's.” He loved it so much that he used it while making Mother’s Day breakfast for me!
Sausage and eggs along with maple walnut french toast from the bed and breakfast’s website. It was super good but way too filling. I only managed to eat one slice before calling it quits. But don’t worry, it made for great left overs! And as if breakfast wasn’t enough, Mark ordered a double jogging stroller for me so I can take the girls out walking. It’s still in transit but should be here Tuesday . . . can’t wait!
Oh and here is a picture of me and my sweet girls on Mother's Day (as if you didn’t know who we are!). I sure love being a mother!

Biking Season

2009-04-29T14:52:00.004-06:00

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog of late. So here are the highlights:
I cut nearly all the daffodils to make two beautiful bouquets, which I then forgot to take pictures of. The tulips are now in bloom, I'll have to remember to photograph them. Ivy has learned the baby sign for "flower/s" (sniffing) and never tires of looking at them through the sliding glass door.
Mark spent a day working in the neighbor's yard. (Putting in a swell for the water . . . or something like that.) And after visiting him, Millie came home to get her shovel so she could help him. Too cute.
We revisited Crumb Brother's for more scrumptious pastries.

And with the start of spring comes the start of another biking season. This year Mark has recruited Ivy to be his biker babe.

Vital Information: Please read

2009-04-24T15:42:00.012-06:00

I’ve been planning to do this post for several weeks now, but today’s deadly outbreak of the swine flu in Mexico has finally motivated me to get around to it. (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Click here.)
A world-wide epidemic (known as a pandemic) is coming. It may not be this strain of the swine flu (but it very well could be.) Most health officials agree: it’s not a question of “if” a pandemic occurs, it’s “when.” Because history repeats itself, we can be certain it is definitely coming.
No one knows when it will occur or how severe it will be. It will be like a hurricane in category. It may be mild (category I) to severe (category V). We just don't know. The specific disease that will cause it is also unknown.
So, will you all please do me a favor? Click here and view a video from the BYU-Idaho Safety Office's website. Although the film focuses on the Avian Influenza (or bird flu), the information is relevant for an outbreak of any kind. It is very informative and may very well save your life some day!
Stay healthy everyone!

Losing My Mind

2009-04-20T20:16:00.004-06:00

I did something so dumb today that has convinced me that I am seriously losing my mind! Read on.
So as most of you know: I enjoy shopping . . . particularly online. And occasionally I'm unsure of my size, so I order multiples so I can try them on and decide which to keep and which to return. (You all do that right?)
Well, a couple of weeks ago I purchased a skirt in two sizes (basic black A-line -- nothing special, but I needed one). Neither fit perfectly but this morning I finally decided which to send back and took it to the UPS Store. Then I ran a few other errands and took the girls to visit their grandma. So it wasn't until much later (3:45 p.m.) that I noticed the return slip still sitting by the computer. I had boxed up the skirt without it and now Banana Republic would get its skirt back and have no idea whose account to credit the money!!!! So I was flipping out a bit and trying to decide what to do. After I calmed down a little, I made a call to the UPS Store to see if it had been shipped out yet. Lucky for me, it hadn't! So the guy said I could come in and search for it, but I only had one hour before it would be shipped out so I had to hurry. I took the girls to my sister-in-law (thanks Katie) since I didn't want them to hinder the search, and I was off. I was really worried that I would be searching through UPS trucks loaded with packages but fortunately it wasn't like that. All the packages from the day were loaded on two dollies in a hallway. I found my box with little difficulty and got the slip put in; but whoa what a close call! Seriously people, losing my mind.

Spring Time

2009-04-13T11:53:00.003-06:00

Mmm, I love Spring time -- when the sun comes out and revives everything it touches. It's the perfect time to celebrate Easter and remember Christ's Resurrection and our own opportunities for rebirth. It's just wonderful!
That said, let me tell you about our wonderful Easter weekend: Saturday morning the girls discovered gifts from a special visitor. Ivy got a baby swing and Millie got summer clothes - skirts mostly, as that's all she wears these days. Then at noon we went to Mark's grandma's house for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Here's Millie (in one of her new skirts) impatiently waiting for the hunt to begin!
Millie also got an Easter dress Saturday morning and was excited to wear it to church on Sunday. So excited in fact, that she was wearing it when she came and woke me up at 6:45 the next morning. "I'm ready for church," she announced. Unfortunately church begins at 1 p.m. She was so distraught when I made her take it off to eat breakfast and take a bath! Poor girl. She did eventually get to wear it and here she is with Ivy who is wearing Millie's very first Easter dress. I hope she doesn't mind getting hand-me-downs, because I'm afraid that's just the life of daughter No. 2.
I wanted to get a family picture before church but we couldn't figure out how to set my camera to do a timed shot and then we ran out of time. So Mark took this one after church when the sun was bit too bright for pictures but perfect for spending time outside.
P.S. As you can see, my daffodils survived. Hooray!

Miss Manti

2009-04-06T14:52:00.004-06:00

This weekend we listened to general conference in the car as we drove to Manti. My sister Ariel competed in the Miss Manti Scholarship Pageant Saturday night. Millie and I went while Mark stayed with Ivy (who was in bed for the night). I'm really glad we went because Ariel won!!!
The competition included interview, swimsuit, talent, and evening wear/modeling. The first two were done beforehand, then everyone comes for the final two. After Ariel's interview the woman who escorts the contestants in and out (and hears all the interviews) told Ariel that she was the "rock star of interview!" (She was number 8 of 10, so the woman had heard seven interviews before Ariel's.) And my mom said she looked awesome during the swimsuit competition. Millie and I made it for the talent and modeling. Ariel sang "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" (a jazzy 40's number) and her sultry voice stole the show!
Here's a picture of the newly-crowned queen in her evening gown. My Grandma Nora is always so proud of her granddaughters when they do well! Congratulations Ariel!

Extreme Makeover

2009-03-30T13:58:00.002-06:00

One man, one week, one very big project!

This past week I put Mark to work building cabinets, bookcases and a new mantle for our fire place. He worked like a maniac! Pulling all-nighters and skipping meals to get it done. His boss (a.k.a. his dad) was out of town for the week so it was the perfect time to do it, and then I gave him a Friday-night deadline, because I was hosting a jewelry party. Luckily Mark works well under pressure, and it turned out beautifully!
Things did get pretty messy around here for a while, but it was so worth it! Now I just need to pick out knobs for the drawers and doors, and get busy filling them!
Thanks Mark, you're amazing!

Sunshine

2009-03-23T13:29:00.003-06:00

I'm not even going to mention how bummed I am that it has been snowing all day. Instead I am going to tell about my wonderful sunny weekend!
Saturday morning Mark and I took the girls to breakfast at Crumb Brothers Bakery (291 S. 300 West in Logan). Mmm, the pastries there are superb! And I love the atmosphere--very European. Unfortunately credit and debit cards are not accepted there so make sure you bring cash or check or you'll be making an unexpected return trip home to get it (like Mark). I'll have to remember my camera next time we go; and we will definitely be going again!
Mark spent the rest of the day working on a little remodel project (that I should be posting about sometime next week) and the girls and I took a walk around town and then played in the backyard. I knew the snow was coming so I took a picture of my daffodils and tulips in case they never look like this again!

Now that's a wrap.

2009-03-12T11:04:00.002-06:00

Ivy is following in the footsteps of her big sister . . . she loves dress ups! Each day she can be found with something new around her neck. Like this:
and this:
and this:

Millie Habla Español.

2009-03-01T21:24:00.006-07:00

As some of you may remember, I studied Spanish in school and always really enjoyed it. So much so, that I am trying to teach it to Millie.
I got this great children's picture book, "First Hundred Words in Spanish" and corresponding DVD from Usborne Books last summer and have enjoyed teaching her the vocabulary.
At first she could only recognize the words. I would say them in Spanish and she would tell me the English translation. (And I thought that was pretty neat.) But this week she has started to recall! I say a word in English and she tells me what it is in Spanish! Words like airplane - avión, doll - muñeca, teddy bear - osito. I was jumping up and down clapping; I was so excited. I'd guess she can recall around a dozen words and recognize even more.
It's neat because it has come so easily. We don't read the book everyday or anything, just casually whenever she shows interest or when she asks to watch the DVD. I'm sure any 3 year old could do it, but I'm still a super proud mama.

Fabulous Five Fun

2009-02-27T19:39:00.002-07:00

OK! So here's how this works...the first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. My choice. Made especially for her. Of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

1 I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2 What I create will be just for you.

3 It will be done sometime this year (hopefully sooner than later).

4 You have no clue what it will be. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure. ;-)

5 I reserve the right to do something extremely strange (but I'm not that creative).

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your own blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog.The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did, will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift from me!! Hurry fast, this is a limited time offer.

Oh! And be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!!

PB & Ivy

2009-02-25T19:07:00.005-07:00

I don't know why, but Ivy loves to rub peanut butter in her eyes! I'm unsure how she did it this time. But today I gave her a bite of my sandwich and although I never saw peanut butter on her hands, after rubbing her eyes the lids began to swell.
It happened once before and a little Benadryl cleared it right up, but not this time. After I gave her the medicine I laid her down for a nap and she woke up looking like this:
Poor baby. She's fine when she just eats the stuff, but once it's in/on her eyes . . . it's scary.
Millie also broke out in a rash the first time she ate peanut butter and then I wouldn't let her eat if for 6 months. I wonder if it's just a skin allergy.

Girls' Night Out

2009-02-23T15:02:00.003-07:00

Some girls from my ward went out to dinner and a movie Friday night. Margie (far left) is expecting her third baby girl this week and organized the get-together. We ate at Café Sabor then went to "Confessions of a Shopoholic." It was loads of fun. Thanks Margie!

And I can't write a post without including a picture of one of my girls: So here's Millie trying on my heels before church yesterday.

Case in Point

2009-02-18T20:18:00.004-07:00

Yesterday I got a letter from Mark's brother Trent who is serving a mission in Pennsylvania. I had just sent him Ivy's Kiddie Kandid pictures and he mentioned that he has yet to see a picture of her smiling! So I figured that's probably the case for most of you. So above is proof that she does, on occasion, smile. She's a happy kid, just not a super smiley one. She's much more serious than Millie ever was. Below is her usual serious (or seriously tired) face.
A couple of weeks ago she learned to use her pointer finger and has been pointing non-stop. Not only does she point at things but she also enjoys exploring things with the finger. Here she is exploring the texture of the chair. Funny girl.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

2009-02-16T21:16:00.004-07:00

Since you're all dying to know what we Westons did to celebrate Valentine's Day . . . I thought I'd share a few pictures. OK, so no one has even asked me about it, but it was a reason to post, so here 'tis:
Mark stayed home from work and was so sweet and went to the grocery store early in the morning to get chocolate milks for the girls and flowers and candy for me. Then he came home and made my favorite breakfast -- Nun's Puffs. And I know I'm horrible because I didn't appreciate it at the time! I had gone to bed late and Ivy woke up just as Mark was walking out the door to go shopping. And as I prefer sleep to a yummy breakfast any day, I was a little put out. Now if he had taken Ivy to the store with him and let me sleep, then I would have been on cloud nine! Picky, picky I know, but I am a monster without a good night's sleep! Sorry Mark!
Luckily my mood improved before our dinner date. We had reservations at The Iron Gate Grill and it was so good. Afterward we went to Hollywood Video and rented the romantic comedy "The Holiday" and came home and watched it on the projector screen. Yes I know it's not a new release, but it has taken me this long to rent it.
The above picture was taken right before our date. I made fun of Mark for the placement of his hand! But my hand looks pretty dumb too. I just wanted to show off my ring because Mark purposed to me with it 5 years ago on Valentine's Day :)
Mark's parent's had a little Valentine's party on Thursday. It was really fun. I love any reason to have a party! And Millie and Ivy thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

On the Wall

2009-02-10T19:34:00.005-07:00

So after being in our house for 10 months, we finally got around to decorated the nursery (for our 14-month-old newborn!). Better late than never right? The shelf (above) has been sitting on Ivy's bedroom floor since we moved in, but it was quite heavy and didn't have a good set up on the back so it made it complicated to hang . . . so finally we just put two big screws through it into a stud. It probably ruined the shelf, but I guess it's better to ruin it and get some use out of it, than to never use it at all. And while we were busy putting holes in the wall, we pinned up a quilt. Not the cutest thing ever but, art is expensive!
Here's the rest of her tiny room in case you are interested. The dresser is a big eyesore. I wish she had a cute little white (or cream) one to match the crib and changing table. And that is a closet door in case you were thinking that made for an awkward entrance. The entry door is just left of the changing table.
The bumper set matches the quilt and the bear on the shelf. I got them when I was pregnant with Millie. It was my college graduation gift to myself. Glad we had another girl!
Oh, and just as a side note: I don't know how many of you remember Smoochie, Millie's pink teddy bear (that she still sleeps with), but above is Ivy's bear Snowflake and she is becoming equally attached. It's so cute to see her face light up when I give it to her and she snuggles it. Ivy also likes Smoochie and I am so impressed that Millie will share it with her. I love it when she shares anything with her sister, but especially her favorite comfort item.

Not a Piece of Cake!

2009-02-06T13:58:00.008-07:00

"Seriously Mom. How hard can it be?"

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I cannot make cupcakes! Yesterday the Valentine Fairy (my sweet mother-in-law) left one of her many Valentine-y gifts on the doorstep -- Valentine cupcake papers. So Millie and I went to work making cupcakes. I make cakes from scratch all of the time (OK not all of the time but at least several times a year for birthdays) and they turn out just fine but unfortunately the few times I've tried to make cupcakes they turn out like this:

What a mess! Perhaps the next time I attempt to make cupcakes, I'll go buy a mix; something Mark and I never use since it's cheaper and somewhat healthier to make goods from scratch. However this experience wasn't a total waste. I learned that my little gravy ladle is excellent for pouring cake batter into cupcake papers.

High School Tag

2009-02-01T21:07:00.008-07:00

This really tested me. It was really hard to remember some of this stuff. I must be getting old!

1. Did you date someone in high school? Yes, I always thought I needed a boyfriend . . . how dumb!
2. What kind of car did you drive? A Geo Metro and my parents' ancient min-van my sophomore year and a Hundai Elantra my junior and senior year.
3. Did you pass your driver's license test the first time? Yes! I took driver's ed during the summer so I had lots of time to study.
4. Were you a party animal? Not really. I always wanted to be doing something fun, but usually "parties" were pretty boring.
5. Were you considered a flirt? Probably.
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Orchestra for a year or two and choir for three years.
7. Were you a nerd? I always did my homework, and got pretty good grades. (I think I graduated with a 3.8 or 3.9 GPA)
8. Were you on any varsity teams? Nope. I am so not an athlete.
9. Did you ever get suspended or expelled? Nope. I got caught the one and only time I sloughed a class (during which time I was in the library working on College Algebra homework!) and cried and cried when I had to tell my mom.
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Connie Good was awesome, Lauri Canales was the best math teacher in the world and Greg Dettinger was so nice to me.
12. Where did you sit at lunch? The cafeteria. I remember I was always starving by lunch time. I wish I would have eaten better at breakfast and brought something healthy to snack on mid-day.
13. School mascot: Templar
14. School colors: Red, Black and White
15. Did you go to homecoming and who with? I only went once -- my junior year. I went with this guy I was dating from Salt Lake, it was really dumb. Aside from this, my junior prom was the only other boys'-choice dance I got asked to. Man, I must have been such a looser!
16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? I really think I would. I would do everything so differently now. I would be so much happier. But hindsight is always 20/20 right?
17. What do you remember most about graduation? Shopping for an outfit that would never be seen under that white gown.
18. Where did you go on Senior Skip Day? Lagoon, but I seriously can't remember if I went! Did I?
19. Were you in any clubs? National Honor Society (but I only remember meeting 2 or 3 times)
20. Have you gained weight since then? Yes, I gained the "freshman 20" in college but I'm glad to report that I've lost it now -- plus some :)
21. Who was your prom date? Buck Barney, and being the self-absorbed snot that I was, I was very disappointed. Mostly I was just so mad at Chris Canales for telling people that he was going to ask me, because then none of my guy friends would even consider asking me. But I guess they had plenty of other opportunities to take me to dances and never did, so chances are they wouldn't have asked me anyway. Now I see I was so lucky Buck asked me or I probably wouldn't have went at all! The greatest thing was that my best friend Maria Bergane was in my group (she really didn't care for her date either and we both cried when we were asked). The Prom is just so over-rated; our expectations were way too high.
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Yes. I'm looking forward to it.
23. Did you have a job while in high school? Several (not all at once). Malt Shop, Clean Flicks, Sanpete Messenger Newspaper . . . I think there was another, but I can't remember.
24. Worst class? Chemistry, I totally did not understand the teacher's "teaching methods." It was a horrible fit and I had to drop out. It's too bad too, because I usually did well in science classes.
25.Favorite class? Seminary, Physiology, Speech and Drama, Choir, English, Spanish!

Now I tag anyone who thought this was fun to read. (OK, I'll give you permission to do it even if you didn't enjoy reading mine. Yours will probably be more interesting :)

Baby Legs

2009-01-28T13:20:00.006-07:00

Now that Ivy is finally crawling, I busted out a pair of babylegs to protect her little knees. She's been doing an army crawl since before Christmas but she's only been using her hands and knees for the past couple of weeks! Now she is all over the place. I need to get the stairways gated off.
Her legs look awkward in this one -- she is so flexible!
Ivy is learning a lot of baby signs. Here she is panting for "dog." It's so fun that she's found her tongue.
Millie has decided it is pretty cool to have a sister and she always wants to "play" with Ivy. She hates when it's time for Ivy's nap; she tells me, "Ivy's not tired. She wants to play with me."
Another person Millie absolutely adores playing with is her cousin Nora. This morning they were both butterfly fairies. During this time Millie would not let Nora wear the dress up shoes because they have Sleeping Beauty on them and therefore can only be worn with the Sleeping Beauty dress (Millie's rule not mine). Then somehow that led to an argument about weather Sleeping Beauty had a castle or not. Millie insisted she did and Nora insisted she didn't. In my efforts to distract them I suggested they watch the movie. A few minutes later I heard Millie tell Nora, "See she has a castle." And Nora replies in her adorable voice, "Oh, I ditn't know she hat one." It was really cute.

Valentine Tag

2009-01-24T20:20:00.008-07:00

Answer the following questions about your sweetheart…

(FYI: The following answers have all been verified with Mark.)

*What is your husband’s name? Mark Asael Weston

*How long have you been married? 5 years this May

*How long did you date? 7 months (and I thought it was too long)

*How old is he? 29

*Who eats more sweets? We both have a sweet tooth, but he usually eats triple the amount I consume!

*Who said I love you first? I did . . . under the mistletoe on his birthday (Dec. 20). I knew he would appreciate having the pressure taken off him to say it first. So it was my birthday gift to him.

*Who is taller? Mark (by two inches). I consider him on the short side, but a Google search confirmed that he is in fact average height for an American man. (I am above average for an American woman.)

*Who can sing best? me

*Who is smarter? I'm book smart, he's street smart.

*Who does laundry? I do, but I make Mark wash his work clothes . . . they're gross.

*Who pays bills? We once made an agreement that I wouldn't complain about how much he works, if he wouldn't complain about how much I spend . . . but then he put me in charge of paying the bills . . . that took a lot of the joy out of the agreement!

*Who sleeps on the right hand side? Is this a trick question? It's kind of like the stage right, stage left thing . . . it depends on how you're looking at it (in or out of the bed).

*Who mows the lawn? Mark loves to mow the lawn. (For more on this topic read my "Reel Mower" post).

*Who cooks dinner? Me. Mark loves to make sweets and breakfast items, but I am the real cook :)

*Who drives? I hate driving on the freeway, Mark doesn't enjoy it either, but I make him do it anyway.

*Who is first to admit they are wrong? Me. Mark is pretty stubborn.

*Who kissed who first? It was mutual.

*Who asked who out first? He did. We went to a USU hockey game. That night he told me he'd call me . . . a month later I finally called him -- glad I did! He says he got sick and then didn't know what he'd talk to me about, so he just didn't call.

*Who wears the pants? He's the head of the house, but I'm the neck :) (From "My B.F.G. Wedding" -- Wouldn't that be a cute movie to watch for V-day!)

I tag everyone with a VALENTINE :)

VOTING RESULTS

Thanks for all your votes! The results are as follows:
Millie #1 - 1 vote, #2 - 4 votes, #3 - 2 votes, #4 - 4 votes.
Ivy #1 - 9 votes, #3 - 1 vote.

Since there was a tie with Millie's #2 and #4 I let Mark decide. He chose #4. There are a lot of beautiful babies out there, so I don't expect anything to come of this, but it's still fun to enter. Thanks again for playing :)

Beautiful Babies

2009-01-21T15:07:00.005-07:00

I need your help! I got an email about the Live! with Regis and Kelly Beautiful Baby Search (for children 6 months to 4 years). This is Millie's last chance to enter as she will soon no longer be a "baby." I want to enter Ivy as well, but she is very difficult in front of the camera so let me know what you think of the shots :)

OK, so here's what you do: You pick your favorite picture of Millie and your favorite for Ivy and tell me which ones you vote for in a comment (I would have done one of those fancy polls but I didn't even want to attempt it on dial-up). Happy voting.

Millie #1
Millie #2
Millie #3
Millie #4
Ivy #1
Ivy #2
Ivy #3

Say Cheese . . . Please!

2009-01-12T20:43:00.002-07:00

Doesn't Ivy look sweet in black?!
Well now I need to complain about something: Not only does our printer no longer print, as of tonight it no longer scans either! But wait don't I have a digital camera? Yes. So why would I want to use the scanner? Because I finally got around to getting Ivy's one-year portraits taken! And I was so excited to scan and post them, but since that wasn't an option, I did what any desperate blogger would do: I took pictures of the portraits with my digital camera (It was actually Mark's genius idea). I am just glad that the scanner stopped working after I got my digital camera!

So they're not the greatest images (a picture of a picture) but you get the idea. We went to Kiddie Kandids in the mall. Ivy was pretty good for the sitting -- when I say good I mean she didn't cry, but she absolutely refused to smile. She had the darling photographer nearly standing on her head for laughs but Ivy's lips wouldn't budge. She just stared at her like she was a lunatic. Ivy did however like the teddy bear the photographer used. Once she got a hold of it she starting hugging and patting it, I wished I had a video camera for that part.

Millie really didn't want her picture taken and even told the clerk at American Eagle so beforehand. But daddy told her that was too bad because then she wouldn't get the ice cream he was planning to get for her afterward. That changed her mind in a hurry and she was super good for the pictures. I really wanted one of the girls together. After this one was taken Mark took Millie for that ice cream. Her face was covered in chocolate when I met up with them later.
Again the teddy bear was necessary to placate this girl. I know you can't see her well (especially with the glare from my camera's flash) but I think she looks so sweet and I love those baby hands.

Play Time

2009-01-06T15:32:00.004-07:00

For several days following Christmas, our main floor was cluttered with more toys than I or my girls knew what to do with! I am happy to report that all the toys have finally made it up the stairs, but it was fun while it lasted. Ivy enjoyed getting all glammed-out in Millie's clip-ons. What a little lady!
Mark's parents gave us all beach towels for Christmas. We are always in need of more come summer, but Millie couldn't wait that long to get them out. She donned her swimming suit and we had a little beach party by the fire place. The blue towel was the pool and then she'd dry off on her My Little Pony towel and of course she insisted that I go swimming too, although I didn't put on my suit. When I cleaned up that night I deliberately hid the towels in the linen closet, but alas she found them and we started all over again :)
Oh, look at those baby cheeks! How could I refuse 1,000 winter beach parties from that sweetie?!

A Wink and a Smile

2009-01-04T21:07:00.004-07:00

Wow. I finally feel like I am "recovering" from the holidays. I enjoyed every minute of them, but now it's kind of nice to get back to normal life. Anyway, for some reason I am unable to type text above the first picture. But it's a photo of the Weston grandchildren -- 6 of the 7 anyway, Jaden must have escaped during all the fun :) I just love how Ivy is trying to escape the torture and Millie is off in her own little world.

Below are pictures from Christmas day. Ivy got the cutest little Old McDonald tractor and trailer from Mark's parents. It sings, makes animal sounds and drives. Ivy loves loading up the trailer with anything and everything she can find and then sending it on its way. It was also a hit with Millie who seems to spend more time playing with Ivy's new toys than her own.
Ivy looks so funny in this picture! I love the preppy cardigan look.
Santa brought Millie her Ariel doll and I got her a wig since I know how much she loves to wear them.
I was hoping for a wink and a smile but instead got this wig and a scowl! Beware the wrath of the red-head.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T12:51:00.004-07:00

I hope you all had a nice Christmas. We had a very nice time with Mark's family. We partied at his grandma's house on Christmas Eve and went to his parents' house for breakfast on Christmas morning. It was all very nice but I did miss my family. Too bad my parents live 3.5 hours away and we can't spend time with both families on the same day!
Anyway here are some pictures of Mark's family from last Sunday when Mark and I had them all over for dinner to enjoy my new table from Mark.

Mark's brother Jared and his wife Katie (their two daughters were upstairs playing with Millie):
His sister Julia with her husband Ryan and son Cooper:
His brother Brad with wife Diane, son Jaden and daughter Elyse:
And my fabulous table that extends to comfortably seat 10 (but we could squeeze 12!). He spent about 50 hours building it and gave it to me as a late-birthday, early Christmas present. I absolutely love it. Thanks Mark! Now he plans to make chairs to match, but I think that will take another 50 hours. Maybe next Christmas :)

Holiday Treats

2008-12-24T13:30:00.005-07:00

Wow, I am so behind on blogging! We have just been so busy with Christmas stuff and I'm going to have even more things to blog about tomorrow with Christmas and all. I guess I should just be grateful that I have been out doing blog-worthy things, instead of having time to blog and nothing to blog about.
So instead of telling you all about our schedule, I'll just tell you about all the yummy things we made for our neighbors: Gingerbread men, candy-cane cookies, chocolate pistachio Christmas Tree cutouts, and two kinds of fudge (five minute fudge - the only cut corner). Anyway, I made everything but the candy-cane cookies (Mark made those) and we did it all in two days (I like treats to be fresh!). Anyway, I seriously wanted to give a plate to everyone I know, but I limited it to our immediate neighbors and to Mark's home teaching families (I gave my visiting teaching sisters treats earlier in the month). So even if you didn't get to taste these treats I hope you enjoy them and know that I wanted to share. Loves to you all and a very merry Christmas.

¡Mi Arbolito!

2008-12-17T08:54:00.005-07:00

¡Mi árbolito! ¡Mi árbolito!

Qué bello y brillante.

In high school my Spanish class learned Christmas songs and went caroling to the Spanish-speaking community. It was a lot of fun and I still remember the words to some of the songs. Mi árbolito translates to my little tree, sung to the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree." I sing it whenever I see my (not-so-little) Christmas tree. The (artificial) tree is so tall in fact that there is only one place for it in our house: the two-story tall entry way!
Another problem with having such a large tree is the need for lots of ornaments! I so wish I would have bought more of those over-sized red and orange balls our first Christmas, but now I just have to make the most of them. I put them all on the front of the tree and let Millie decorate the backside with all the other random ornaments we have collected. This year I did splurge and added these to the front of the tree.

Sometimes I miss the smell of a real tree, but I don't miss the messy needles, the endless fight to make it stand up straight, the watering, or the lighting. So, pretty much I love our artificial tree. Even if it's too tall to put in front of a window :)

Ivy's 1!

2008-12-14T14:22:00.007-07:00

We celebrated Ivy's first birthday this past week. It's hard to believe that an entire year has gone by since I gave birth to her and found out I had another daughter. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the party.
The woman in the black and white photo on the table is my great-grandmother Josephine Weaver -- Ivy Josephine's namesake. The framed photo was Ivy's birthday gift from my mother.
Ivy got this headband from her Aunt Katie and the stuffed kitty from her sister Millie.

I love my little Ivy girl. I'm so glad that she's part of our family. Thanks to all those who helped make her birthday special.

Ba humbug

2008-12-12T18:53:00.004-07:00

So since I got a digital camera you all thought I'd be blogging a lot more often right? Wrong! I have lots of great picture that I've tried to post, but a bad combination of slow Internet and large digital files has made blogging painstakingly slow -- to the point that I just gave up for a little while. But have no fear; I will return.
We downgraded to dial-up (gasp!) a few weeks ago to save a little money. It was Mark's idea of course and I don't know how he ever got me to agree. Anyway, it doesn't take much longer to upload a scanned photo, but the digital files are quite a bit larger and I haven't had the time to figure out how to shrink them. So if any of you have the answer that would be wonderful.
I also have this great video of Millie to post -- which I'm sure is impossible to upload on dial-up -- but luckily my sister helped me out with her DSL.
Anyway, I'll do my best to get things up and running again.

2008-12-07T15:38:00.006-07:00

Saturday night was our ward's Christmas party. At the very end there was a special visitor :) I was glad I had my digital camera handy.

Millie asked Santa for an Ariel doll, which she will be getting ;) Seeing things through Millie's eyes has really made Christmas fun again. Here is some great footage of Millie and her friend Hailey as Santa enters the room. Enjoy :)

Out to Lunch

2008-12-05T13:13:00.004-07:00

I have been blogging for more than a year now and I've decided it's pretty cool. I've learned a lot of new computer skills, my family and friends stay in-the-know, and I have a great online scrapbook/journal! But one of the best things about my blog is that it has put me in touch with long lost friends! I absolutely love it when people find my blog and leave me a comment so I can find their blog. Then we get chatting and catch up on each others' lives. It's beautiful! Anyway, this very thing happened with a couple of girls I grew up with, who both happened to be going home for Thanksgiving, so we decided to meet up for lunch. It was so much fun.

Aren't they beautiful.
Anyway, I really noticed that conversation has changed since high school. From school, dances and ballgames to weddings, husbands, and babies. I guess in 10 years the conversation will go back to the school, dances and ballgames of our teenagers! And 10 years after that it will be the weddings, husbands, pregnancy and babies of our children! Now I feel old and it hasn't even happened yet :)

Marcee and Katie it was so fun to hang out with you! Let's do it again soon. And I hope more long lost friends will find my blog and say 'hi.'

Picture This!

2008-12-04T12:45:00.006-07:00

While we were in Manti for Thanksgiving my mom had a mini-birthday party for everyone with a winter birthday. She gave me my very first digital camera! It's a purple (that's important) Kodak EasyShare M893 IS (I don't know what any of that means, but I thought some of you might). Millie wasn't very excited as you can see, but I sure was.
Yesterday was my real birthday. I have officially been alive for a quarter of a century! We went to lunch at the Iron Gate Grill with Mark's parents. Do any of you remember that I wanted to eat there last year for my birthday but it was closed because it was Monday??? Anyway, the food was really good and I had such a nice time.

Later I blew out candles, put Ivy to bed and left Millie with Aunt Mandie while Mark and I went to a movie (Twilight). It's been a long time since we've gone to a movie. Mark said it felt weird not to have kids with us. Thanks Mandie.

After the movie Mark and I ate birthday cake and ice cream in bed :) Don't tell Millie; she isn't allowed to eat food outside the kitchen. Happy Birthday to Me!

Thanksgiving Mayhem

2008-12-01T10:10:00.004-07:00

Only read this if you are really bored. It is from a super long email I wrote to my sister-in-law.

Mark and I went to Manti for Thanksgiving this year. Ivy got a fever Wednesday night as soon as we got to Manti. And was only worse by Friday so I took her into an IHC clinic in Ephraim. My mom came with me since Mark was helping my brother pour cement. Millie stayed at my parent's house and played (that was nice!) Anyway, we waited forever at the clinic and then when we finally saw the doctor she seemed to be more interested in Ivy's small size than her fever! Anyhow she thought it looked like another ear infection and prescribed more antibiotics. And since I didn't have my insurance information I ended up paying $20 for the prescription! But what do you do when your child is sick? Say 'No, I won't pay for it'? Anyway, now the meds have given her a rash and suppressed her already non-existent appetite. And she is still pretty lethargic and sleeps a ton. Poor baby. I hope she's feeling better for her birthday next week.

Other than all that, we had a good Thanksgiving. The food was delicious and surprisingly Millie stayed at the table long enough to eat some of it :) During dinner I invited my family to celebrate Thanksgiving at my house in two years (I didn't want to do it on Barbara's year because I like going to her house). They all agreed to come. That will be fun to get out all my flatware and extend my new table (which is only 3-coats of lacquer away from being finished). Now if I only had 12 matching plates, napkins and place mats!

On Friday after taking Ivy to the doctor I went to lunch with a couple of girls from high school (girls who found my blog and wanted to meet up). I left Millie and Ivy with my mom and just enjoyed myself.

We drove home on Saturday morning, but had to backtrack after Mark realized he'd left Ivy's $20-bottle of medicine in my Grandma Nora's fridge. Then we stopped and had lunch at Roy's pizza in Ephraim before heading out again.

We got home around 3:30 p.m. and headed over to Mark's parent's house for a second round of Turkey dinner. That was fun and yum!

Sunday morning, Mark stayed home from church with Ivy, because she was too sick to go. I had to speak in Sacrament Meeting so I was glad that Barbara could sit with Millie. I only had a week to prepare my talk, but since it was a busy week I didn't spend much time on it. I chose to talk about Elder Perry's conference talk about simplifying your life. It went well and I was glad the other speakers chose different talks to talk on.

Bath Time

2008-11-14T12:25:00.005-07:00

Ivy is still small enough to bathe in the baby tub, but that's not much fun for her, so I've let her graduate to the regular tub so she can play. Millie joins her occasionally and they play so cute together.

Millie looks pretty funny, but I just loved Ivy's expression.

A "Reel" Lawnmower

2008-11-08T13:55:00.008-07:00

We received our utilities bill from the City this week. And our water overages (yikes!) reminded me to blog about Mark's nifty lawnmower.
Mark loves to take care of the yard . . . or the grass anyway (that's all we have at the moment). I'm sure eventually we'll fill the planter areas and garden spot with something more than dirt. He put in the sprinkler system last fall and put down sod at the beginning of the summer. Mark purchased this lawnmower shortly thereafter (I think it was his Father's Day "gift" to himself). Anyway, it's an environmentally friendly Brill 38 Push Reel Mower -- meaning it has no motor. It's cheaper, lighter and quieter (much quieter) than a regular mower and it also saves money because it doesn't use gasoline nor need its blades sharpened as often. Also it keeps the grass healthier because it cuts differently. Brill is a German company and is known as "the Mercedes of reel lawnmowers." True it may take a little more elbow grease than your average lawnmower, but it's a million times easier to use than the hunk-of-junk mower I grew up pushing. Cutting the grass would be easier now, but I'm glad Mark loves it so much I'll never have to! Mark has gotten tons of compliments on his well-groomed grass, one woman in particular said that our grass looked better than her carpet :) I hope those compliments will buoy him up when he's writing out that check to the City.

A Fairytale Halloween

2008-11-05T13:46:00.006-07:00

Princess Millie:
And the dragon who guards her castle:

Joined by the Prince and a wicked fairy:

A close up of the characters:

And a change of costumes for the princess (at the Pumpkin walk):

Yellow Bucket

2008-11-03T10:25:00.004-07:00

My sister-in-law Katie is so talented! She makes the prettiest jewelry ever. I own at least a dozen pairs of her earrings (don't tell Mark that). Anyway, I noticed today that she named a pair of earrings after me on her website. You should all check them out at www.yellowbucket.etsy.com but I warn you, you'll be tempted to buy everything you see :) Talk about great Christmas presents! Enjoy!

Scare hair

2008-11-01T15:32:00.003-06:00

OK, so I know I should be blogging about Halloween, but that film is far from being developed so we'll just have to wait on that. Instead I thought I'd post about some scare hair! Miss Ivy always has some crazy thing going on with her hair. I love that she has hair, but sometimes I think it would be a lot easier to get out the door with a bald baby. When your baby doesn't have hair you can just throw on a headband and you're out the door, but hair is a whole other story.
No scare hair here. I just love this picture of Ivy; she looks so grown up. I took it while she was looking at her sister. And since I shared 5 things about Millie I wanted to do the same for Ivy.

1. She is a such a good baby! After Millie I'm sure any baby would seem easy, but Ivy really is such an easy-going kid, but watch out . . .

2. She does have a mean streak. There are a few things that Ivy won't tolerate, one of them is my being on the computer. I have to blog while she is napping :)

3. She is learning baby sign language but only uses it in dire circumstances, i.e. when I gave her to her Aunt Katie and she wanted me, she did the sign for "father" but I know she meant me. She can also wave "bye-bye" but only does that one for daddy.

4. She's a smiley baby but rarely laughs. I guess that goes along with her even-kill attitude. It takes a lot to upset her but it also takes a lot to impress her (unlike her sister who has always laughed a lot but gets upset easily too).

5. Ivy will be 11 months old on the 11th. I can't believe she is nearly a year old!

Tag: Millie's it!

2008-10-29T13:20:00.010-06:00

Five things you may not know about Millie:

1. Millie has two sides to her. She's either ultra-sweet and ultra-happy or quite the opposite . . . a demon of sorts :) Most people only know one side or the other. It's funny when people who have only known Mr. Hyde, finally meet Dr. Jekyll and comment in amazement, "Millie was so nice today!"

2. Millie is obsessed with being a princess. And lucky me -- I get to play the prince all day, at least until daddy gets home.

3. She's a fashionista. I'm not allowed to help her pick out her clothes. She's also picky about whether or not I can do her hair.

4. One of her legs is longer than the other (by a few centimeters). I only noticed because she has had unexplained knee pain for a year now. So our best theory is the mismatched length.

5. She's a mama's girl. Ever since she was a teeny-tiny baby Millie has preferred her mommy to anyone else. She's getting better now, but I am so thankful that Ivy loves her daddy; it sure makes my life a lot easier!

"Millie" now tags: Jaden, Marcus, Ellanie, Grace, and Paige.

Birthday bed

2008-10-27T14:50:00.005-06:00

I'm finally getting around to blogging about Millie's "birthday bed."Mark built me a bed for Christmas last year and Millie named it the "Christmas bed" (and no it's not a sleigh bed). So when he built this bed for her birthday in July we named it after the occasion. You probably can't see it very well, but it's a pretty intricate bed, modeled after the Pottery Barn's Tristan Platform bed. They don't sell a twin size, but since Millie's was "custom made" that wasn't a problem :)
We had the bed against the wall at first and I think Millie fell out a few times but now she doesn't have a problem. The platform is a great step stool to help her get in and out and it's the perfect height for her to kneel and pray (knees on platform, arms on mattress).
Just as a side note: The green color of Millie's walls is much prettier in person!

Hives

2008-10-26T14:58:00.009-06:00

After having a low grade fever off-and-on for a few days, Ivy woke up looking like this (several weeks ago): Note the swelling in the face as well!
The poor thing had broken out in hives! I promptly took her to the pediatrician who said the fever was caused by a double ear infection and that the hives were likely an allergic reaction to the infection. (I didn't even know that was possible.) I felt so bad that I didn't take her in sooner, but I used to take Millie in for every fever and it was usually nothing! Although she had a fever Ivy was still a pretty pleasant kid, so I thought she was OK. Even with the hives itching terribly, she never complained. She is such a good baby. Luckily a little Benadryl and a round of antibiotics cleared everything up. Now she is doing great.

Dress ups

2008-10-22T20:53:00.008-06:00

I loved playing dress ups as a child . . . I still do actually. Whether for myself or my girls, I love any occasion that calls for ribbons and curls.

My sister-in-law Katie Weston, celebrated her birthday last week. This is the second year that she has held a tea party in her honor. I love it! And what's a tea party without hats? Katie inherited these vintage numbers from her grandmother. So fun.
Back row L to R: My mother-in-law Barbara, sisters-in-law Katie and Diane Weston, and Elyse.
Front row: me and Ivy.

Millie went to a friend's birthday party a few weeks back. I thought she looked so cute (ignore the weird smile). And I just love those gold sandals.

This was a Sunday afternoon in our backyard. I thought Millie and I looked like twinners, so I wanted to get our picture together. She was trying to put her hand on her hip like me, but didn't quite make it. LOL. Millie is such a sweetheart. (You can't tell in this picture, but my shirt is purple and one of my favorites.)

Oh, this is totally unrelated but I wanted to share a funny thing Millie said this morning. I had put my hair in a ponytail and Millie was asking me about it, and then told me, "You look so stylish." It sounded so stink'n' cute coming from a 3-year-old!

Seven Random Things

2008-10-15T15:21:00.004-06:00

My sweet cousin Heather just tagged me to tell seven random things about myself. So here it goes:
1. I love to shop. For the house, for me, for my girls, for my husband, for anyone I can possibly think of who needs a gift . . . yeah it can get a little out-of-hand some times.
2. I studied Spanish for 5 years and now rarely find opportunities to use it. Isn't that sad. And not only did I study it, but I was pretty good too. I got good grades and compliments from my Mexican-born profesora! I think I really would have enjoyed a foreign exchange to Spain, or serving a Spanish-speaking mission.
3. I am a chocolate lover!
4. Two of my best friends live on the other side of the globe. Maria Bergane from Norway and I met in high school when she was a foreign exchange student. And Melanie Rauscher from Germany, lived with my family during her senior year of high school and my freshman year at Snow College. I wish I could go visit them all the time. It's just so expensive. But in reality we're only a phone call (or an email) away :) I also have several other wonderful friends from around the globe.
5. After giving birth to Millie I lost 30 pounds in addition to my pregnancy weight. I was happy but it was sad that I couldn't wear a lot of clothes that I loved.
6. I am a paranoid driver. I always think other drivers are cussing me because of the stupid things I do (i.e. not turning when I obviously had enough time). So I'm always saying "sorry" and Millie asks me, "Why you say sorry?" She thinks I'm crazy too.
7. I am a quality-time girl. If you don't know what I'm talking about you have to read "The Five Love Languages," by Gary Chapman. It's genius! Anyway, I basically feel loved when people hang out with me, or make an effort to spend time with me.
Love you all. And now I guess I tag 7 people. I tag Hayley, Katie M., Marcee, Joni, Traci, Diane and Julia.