It's the Little Things

...that make me happy.
I never look forward to filling up my tank with gas. On this particular morning I had tons of errands to run and getting gas was the first thing I needed to do but the least thing I wanted to do. When I got in my car I was pleasantly surprised to find a full tank of gas. Eric's the man and sure knows how to please his woman!

Neighbors

We never really had neighbors that we knew or liked until we moved to where we're living now...where we only have 2 sets of neighbors. People have come and gone, but we've always really liked the people we live with and try to get together at least a few times a month for game night, ice cream outings, or movie nights. Chelsey and McKay are hilarious and we're always cracking up a storm with them. Our favorite thing to do: people watch and make fun of the way Chelsey talks with her hands.

Kimmie and Andrew are newbies to the compound...welcome!

The gap between Claire and Leila is finally closing and they're pretty good little playmates. Eric's trying to figure out who weighs more...and I think Claire's the winner. Leila's 6 months older than Claire, but they weigh the same and are about the same height. Dunno how that works but Claire is one solid baby. Pretty soon there'll be 3 baby girls at the compound, Kimmie's due in December. 

13-14 months.

Dear Leila,
I'm starting to realize how much you've changed over the past two months, you've seemed to turn from a baby to a kid overnight. Your little body seems a bit more elongated, and there is less baby chub. But your cheeks and thighs are still as nom-able as ever, you have the cutest bum, and your belly sticks out proudly. Your face is changing as well and you're hair is getting longer, but mostly in the back. Putting your hair in pigtails is the only thing I can do to hide the outrageous party that's going on in the back of your head. You sure can pull off rockin' the mullet.

BUSINESS IN THE FRONT, PARTY IN THE BACK. Taken right after bath time.

Here are a few little things about you at this age that I never want to forget.

-You are very curious and love to stare at people you don't know. But once you warm up to them you can be very sweet and give smooches when you're in the mood or feel that you have the time (you're a very busy girl).

-Like I said, you're very busy. If you're not yelling to get out of our arms, your high chair, or car seat after a couple minutes we may think something is wrong with you. You always want to be moving and are constantly cruising around the house crossing things off your to do list  (unrolling toilet paper rolls, dumping everything out of cupboards and bookshelves and throwing them behind you, turning on and off buttons from the entertainment center - you have a very rigorous schedule).

-Once you pull the tupperware out of the cupboard, you love to push it around and slide it across the kitchen floor...your version of skating.

-You've learned a new word. You love to point and say "dat" (what's that?). You say "boo" like it's "hi", every time you see me or someone else you say, "boo". It's cracks me up. You still love to jabber "dada dada" and you also say "Mmmmmammmma", especially when you're tired or sad.

-Your favorite foods this month are:
Velveeta Mac n' Cheese
turkey slices
grapes
string cheese
bananas
homemade banana bread
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
jello
applesauce
yogurt
fresh corn

Breakfast is always the same, 7-9 ounces of milk, 6oz of yogurt or oatmeal, fresh fruit, and maybe some dry cereal. Lunch consists of some of the items above, and for dinner you always eat whatever we're having.

Sometimes you don't even want to eat your favorite foods. Babycenter says that kids start to get picky and want to eat less around this age and it's normal and I shouldn't try to force feed you. It's true, you've become a very picky eater and definitely know what you like and don't like. Sometimes I'll put an assortment of things on your tray, and you'll only pick what you like, or feel like eating, and throw the rest on the floor (vegetables mostly). You can just tell me you don't like it, no need to waste food and throw it, child. I feel like I'm running out of ideas of what to feed you. I hope you'll come around to loving veggies. Their sooo good.

-Whenever we visit Grandma's we can't keep you away from those stairs. You can go up and down on your own (just mastered going down last weekend). Once you make it to the top, down you go again...and up again. it's very tiring and I could definitively live in a home without stairs.

-You're down to one nap a day, and for the past few weeks you've only been napping for 1 1/2 hours! That's not nearly enough time for me to get anything done. Please don't grow out of nap time soon, I NEED that "me" time. "Me" time usually includes getting office work done, cleaning house, and/or showering.

-Now that Fall has arrived, bedtime is back to 8pm. In the summer it was anytime between 8:30-10:30pm, we just kept so busy it was hard to get home at a decent time. You usually wake up between 7:30-8:30am. This saying still applies: early to bed, late to rise. I sometimes forget that.

-You respond immediately with the following set of questions:
how old are you? you hold up your left pointer finger
who's so big? you lift both hands high above your head
where's your nose? you point to your nose or mouth with your left hand
can you blow kisses? you put your whole hand to your mouth
can you wave? you wave bye bye...if I ask you to wave to someone, you usually wave after they've left the room
can you clap? eagerly clap your little hands together
can you fold your arms? when we're ready to say prayer she knows how to folds her arms, but only wants to do it about half the time.

-We crack up when you throw your hands in the air and slam your little body on the bed or floor.

-Not walking yet...but you will be soon. You can walk with us while we hold one hand and you walk along the walls and furniture all the time. I'm mostly excited about you walking so your knees and the tops of your feet stop getting black.

-Your favorite things to play with are:
tupperware
coasters
building blocks (we stack them up and you like to knock them down).

-You've started giving me your first real hugs. You throw your warm, little arms around my neck and hold tightly. Makes me so happy.

I could go on and on, but basically you make us proud and really happy everyday. Daddy and I love you Leilita. Stay happy and sweet forever.

Love,

Mom

Testing

Blogger finally has an app for the iPhone. So far it seems pretty rad, I can upload pics and add a new post straight from my phone. I'm testing out with some pics we took at the park the other day.

$50 Bet

The BET:
If Leila starts walking by September 19th, Eric gets $50. If she doesn't then the $50 are mine!



The Story:
On August 19th Eric said, "Leila's gonna be walking in no time, I give her a month." We all know our little girl is stubborn and moves at her own pace so I said, "HA! Yeah right, not that I doubt my daughter's ability to walk but I know her well enough to know that she's just not quite there yet, almost, but not quite." So we bet on it and placed $50 bucks on the table. Believe me, I wanted to lose this bet.

Leila's come a long way since August 19th. Before she mastered crawling, she used to love to not only walk, but march as we held her hands. Since she's learned to crawl, she has no desire to walk with us and instead bends her knees and falls to the floor.

Because of our bet, we've been working with her to learn to walk. About 2 weeks ago she started walking along with us while holding only one hand. Holding one hand, she can walk from our bedroom to her room no problem and the other day we walked into Target together. It was the cutest thing, she's still really wobbly and looses her balance but she's getting there. I give her one more month.

Bet's over and the $50 belong to me.

Berry Pickin'

Ever been raspberry picking? This was my first time and it was lots of fun...but picking raspberries was different than I thought it would be. For some reason I thought it was going to be more of a leisurely activity. I imagined me in this big sun hat, sipping on some lemonade, and just enjoying my afternoon while gathering up some raspberries...without breaking a sweat.

Don't ask me why I thought that since we all know working in the field is hard work! How naive of me to think it was going to be easy. Only an hour or so of picking was mostly just tiring than hard, but doing that all day everyday would be. All that bending down in the heat had me sweating like crazy and Eric and I combined only picked 2 pounds. I wouldn't last a day in the fields. I admire the people who work in the field so much more now that I've done it for one whole hour.

I learned that raspberries like shade and all the good ones are on the bottom, so you have to get down and dirty to get the yummy ones. But watch out for those nasty creepy crawlers:

Love Leila's face.

Guthrie and Violet.

We took home enough raspberries to make 5 batches of jam. Mmm, it came out so good I'm not buying store bought jam again. Thanks to Laura for introducing us to this hidden gem.

Good Job Apple

...a phone made out of glass? Thumbs up!

In my small circle of friends, there are 2 other phones that look just like mine. It's barley past hump day, what else can we break this week?

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

...Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious

If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious 

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

As part of my birthday gift, last night Eric took me to see Mary Poppins. The show was absolutely amazing and we had the best seats in the house! We were on the balcony in the first row and were able to see the orchestra below, I've never had this great of a view so this was a real treat.

I was expecting a stage version of the film and though the show wasn't much like the movie at all, I was pleasantly surprised and loved it. I enjoyed the new songs, characters, and performances. Are most Broadway shows like this, in that they aren't exactly like the book/movie? It wasn't as different as night and day but I was really confused in the beginning and thought to myself, "wait, that didn't happen, where did this scene come from?" I understand they need to change things around for theater, especially since the movie had animated parts, but once I told myself not to compare it to the movie it was much more enjoyable...it was even spectacular!

Marry Poppins was "perfect in every way" and the actress who played her looked and sounded like Julie Andrews. I mean hair and make up could only do so much, she was great. If I had the right hair and make up could I look like Mary Poppins? Hmm... Halloween costume this year maybe? Eric would make a great Bert.

Speaking of Bert, he too was perfect and had the accent right on. I just wish the kids weren't as annoying and bratty because they were sweet and innocent in the movie, okay only slightly mischievous.  

Side note: this plastic/rubber pole art combobulaiton is right next to Capital Theater. Before the show began we played in the "pole jungle"...as I like to call it. Random, but pretty cool. It seems Salt Lake is upping their game in the art world.

The dancing, effects, backdrops, and performances were all impeccable. The "big numbers" were sensational and better than I'd imagined them to be. Mary Poppins flying through the air and the chimney sweep performance were by far the highlights for us.

We left Marry Poppins humming the tunes and I woke up singing to Supercalifrailistickexpialidocious! Is it in your head now?

This was an unforgettable experience and the perfect 25th birthday gift. Thanks babe, you rock and I had the best time...we always have a blast together and that's why you're my best friend and my lover! I can't wait to take Leila to the theater when she's older so she can enjoy it too. Thanks grandma and grandpa for playing with the princess while we had some "us" time. 

Strike Two

Eric and I rarely fight and when we do it's usually only about these 3 things:
1. What's for dinner
2. Who has control of the remote (we're always throwing it back and forth because neither one of us want to decide what to watch...sometimes)
3. Who broke my glasses when we were dating

Yup, when we were dating Eric broke my glasses. I set them on the floor so they were "out of the way". Next thing you know I hear a crunch and he hands me my broken glasses! Eric has the nerve to blame me since I set them there. Don't think so babe, since he physically broke them it's his fault. He doesn't even have a case.

Sunday was strike 2. We were wrestling on the bed (it was legit, with punches and nails) and I set my glasses on the edge of the bed so they wouldn't get hurt. Well, Eric decides to throw me on the other side of the bed, causing me to land right on my glasses. Again, he physically threw me on glasses so it's his fault. Right?

Who's at fault here?

9/11

Today is a day of remembrance for our nation as we give tribute to the men and women that died on this horrible day.

Here are the stats:
Times of impact: 8:46am and 9:02am
Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes.
Time they took to fall: 12 seconds
2,819 dead from 115 different nations.
343 Firemen, 37 Port Authority Officers, 23 NYPD, 9 EMT/Paramedics and 3 NYS Court Officers.

*note: this was floating around Facebook so I don't know how accurate it is. I tried to google it but couldn't find any info...we'll just say it's accurate to get an idea of what this day was like.

I can't believe it's already been 10 years... sometimes I still can't believe this happened.

I was a sophomore in high school and was up early getting ready for seminary. I had an old discolored TV in my room that only got 3 channels but I liked to watch the news in the morning while I got ready for school. As I was doing my hair, I saw the news play a clip of an airplane crashing into the side of a tall building. I didn't quite understand the magnitude or severity of what was going on until later that day.

Shortly after seminary started, one of the kids' mothers popped her head in and yelled, "another plane has crashed into the twin towers". That was the end of the lesson and we had a little discussion in seminary about what we thought was going on. Was it intentional? Terrorist threat? What on earth was going on in the other side of the country?

The talk continued at school and I remember my principal announcing over the intercom for all of us to watch the news. For the rest of the day, in every single class, we were glued to the TV. My teachers were trying to explain what was going on and assured us that we were safe. Since I only lived 25 minutes from San Francisco, there was lots of talk about the possibility of something going down in the big city...everyone was on alert and taking every precaution possible. Luckily, nothing ever did happen.

We were all scared and unsure as to what was going on New York and at the Pentagon, everything looked so chaotic in the news and we said many prayers for the people of New York. As I was sitting in my History class, I remember thinking how the textbooks would explain 9/11. How did it start? How would this day end? Why did this happen? I knew all those questions would be answered. Then, in college I saw textbook after textbook talking about 9/11. Now I know the story (though, I don't know how I feel about Loose Change).

Since this day, I've watched many documentaries and videos about 9/11 and though it's depressing to watch, I just feel so proud to be an American. Everyone was so united. I wasn't directly affected by that day but my heart goes out to all the brave men and women who lost their lives and to all those who lost loved ones.

I heard the 9/11 "Heaven" remix on the radio earlier this week and couldn't help from getting emotional.




God Bless America.

Can't Think of a Good Title

It's Saturday and my day to work in the office. Eric and Leila went up to see Grandma and Grandpa so I have the house to myself. It's been a normal busy Saturday in the world of storage but during my "lunch break" (in between customers and office duties) I decided to watch one of the thirty episodes of Oprah I have saved on my DVR. I rarely have time to watch "my shows" during the day but I save Oprah for rare occasions like today. I always gain a valuable lesson when I watch Oprah so I don't dare delete them especially since she's gone for good. Today's episode was called "The Worst Day of Their Lives and the Miraculous Twist of Fate".

This episode was about a woman who was rear ended by a semi on the freeway. The unthinkable happened and possibly everyone's worst nightmare (at least my own) became a reality for this family. Her three children were sitting in the backseat of the minivan (two girls and one boy ages 2, 4, 6) and were all killed in the accident. The mom survived the accident and she thinks she survived as not to leave her husband alone because she knew he wouldn't have been able to bear it if she'd passed too.

I cried more than once listening to the woman and her husband tell their story. I just couldn't imagine the pain and heartache they experienced in losing all three of their children at the same time. No one should ever have to experience such a tragedy. I had no idea what the "miraculous twist of fate" part could be, there's no way there could be a happy ending to this story.

But there was, and the miracle was this: almost one year after the accident they gave birth to THREE babies! Wanna know the crazy part? They were two girls and one boy! This couple knew they wanted to continue having kids and got pregnant 3 months after the accident with the help of invitro...leading them to have triplets! What are the odds? Seriously. God's hand must have been apart of this miracle.

I don't necessarily believe that everything happens for a reason, especially the bad things. But this miracle says to me that maybe this wasn't Heavenly Father's plan for this family, so maybe he blessed them with more children, not to take the place of the other children but to bring this family joy again. This was a happier ending than I ever could have dreamed up.

Sometimes it's just easier to think that everything happens for a reason, but we were sent on this earth to exercise our agency. The Lord may prompt us to make a choice or not to, but the choices we make may have a positive or negative affect on those around us. In this case, the truck drivers failure to slow down caused this family to lose their children. Was this meant to be? We'll never know. But I'm sure this couple has learned a lot experiencing this trail together. Nie Nie says that she wouldn't be the person and mother she is now had she not experienced her trial. And if Bethany Hamilton had not had her arm bitten off by a shark (we just watched Soul Surfer), she said she wouldn't of had the chance to tell people about her story and her faith. I really liked that she saw the positive in her trial. Good movie, highly recommend it.

Anyway, I don't know why I just went on this rant but continuing on...I was sitting alone watching this episode and missed my family. Eric texted me and said he was coming home, I was so excited and just wanted to give Eric and Leila a hug. I told him to drive safe and drive for those around him too (I'm a huge worrier, what can I say). He asked me what I'd been watching. He knows me too well.

What I learned from this episode is that time doesn't heal all wounds, it's what you do with that time that does. Oprah said you have to face things straight on in order to move on.

As this couple was sharing their story, they were showing tons of videos and pictures of the kids. I was thinking that it's a good thing they had so many pictures and videos to share. What if they hadn't taken a picture or taken videos of their kids doing "normal" things they maybe didn't think was important. They would have only memories to share and it would have made for a really boring Oprah episode with no photos/videos of the kids.

Right before I sat down to watch this episode, I was going to start a blog post about my week but was too lazy and decided what I had to share wasn't important...we just went here, did this, and did that. Nothing inspiring or exciting for others to read. But I'm blogging for me and my kid(s) and I'm going to want to remember the little things Leila and I did together, I'm sure she will too. What if it was the last picture, the last video? This episode inspired me to continue blogging about the little moments that we share even when I get lazy.

So here's what I was too lazy to blog about...via an Instagram mashup.

Billy and Iris invited us over for my birthday dinner. It was complete with pizza, the best brownies ever, and a beautiful dream catcher necklace (I always had one above my bed growing up). I'm happy to report that after living here a short time (since the end of June), Billy, Iris, and Samuel are loving life in Utah. Billy and Iris both have jobs and Samuel has lots of friends and is loving his school. Iris worked at a public elementary school in California and now works at Samuel's school. She said the education is like night and day. At Samuel's school the teachers are better (more respectful to the kids), food is better (organic), after programs are cooler (offer instrument classes, etc), and everyone is friendlier. Granted, this is going from public to charter but it's reassuring to have Iris tell me how much better she feels the school system is in Utah. She's so much happier with the education Samuel is receiving and said only the wealthier kids could afford better schools in California, but not here. Eric and I have both been leaning towards putting Leila in a charter school but luckily we don't need to make that decision for another 4 years or so.

Running up the Provo Canyon has been routine for us this summer. Eric runs up there almost every morning, we try to go together as a family once a week, and Leila and I go a couple times a week. Leila is my good little running buddy and my goal is to run a 5k or 10k by the end of the year. I can run 4 miles without too long of a break so we'll see how far I can push myself. Leila and I love company and Laura and Violet joined us this week. On the trail we came across two fluffy looking caterpillars. We saved their lives by moving them to the side of the trail as not to get crushed by bikers, runners, and rollerbladers. The girls didn't seem to know what to think of the tiny fluffy thing.

Why is Leila in her diaper again? Well, we were starving after our run and I had a birthday coupon from Tucano's in my wallet. It was calling our name so after very satisfied bellies, we let the girls play in the little water park. Violet was having a ball, drinking the water and sitting on the spouts. Leila was a little hesitant at first but then dove right in. It's totally her personality too, it usually takes her a minute to warm up to things, once she gets the hang of it she's all about it.

Rachel and I had a playdate at Thanksgiving Point's Children's Garden. It's a fun little place and they have little activities for the kids along the way. Leila couldn't quite keep up with Max since they're 10 months apart but she still got her hands dirty and had her first taste of sand. Max is so sweet with Leila and plays so softly with her.

I swear Leila's been in her diaper so much this Summer because it happened again on this day. They have a little water play area for the kids...no swimsuit = diaper time again (need to just keep one in my bag). Eric was looking at the blog at work one day and his friend saw the picture of Leila in her diaper playing the in the puddle with Bella and Jadie. He said, "life be tough in the streets, huh?". My child does look a little homely but we do with what we've got and what kind of mother would I be if I deprived her of any chance she had to play in the water? I spared the diaper pictures.

That's been my week in a nutshell. It's been a great one and we're so blessed to be healthy, happy, and have such wonderful friends and family to share our life with.

Last Supper

For the big 2-5 Erin, Cristina, and I planned a night out for mocktails (gives you all the fun of a cocktail without the bite...only in Provo, of course) without the little ones. Eric and I haven't been on a group date since pre-Leila and it was much needed; we let loose and laughed all night long. We didn't have a worry in the world because we had no babies to entertain and keep happy - actually that's a lie, we were all sad because we knew Erin and James were moving to Vegas. So this dinner was also in their honor.

I stole this quote from Erin's blog. I love what she said and it made me feel all warm inside; I don't want to forget it:

"It was Cynthia's birthday so we got together (without babies) at Spark, had mocktails (hahaha) and just enjoyed each others company. I finally hit gold with friends that I feel SO comfortable around, and our babies are all the same age (and girls). All the girls are from the Bay Area too, and our personalities just mesh together so well. Unfortunately, now we're gone, but at least I helped Cristina and Cynthia find one another and they can continue to live it up together. I pray every night these two will visit sometime. :) Nothing beats taking pictures acting like you're teenagers."


Erin and Cristina have been best friends since high school...I think if I would have grown up in Pleasanton, CA we would have been like the 3 musketeers. When I met Erin about a year ago, she and I hit it off almost right away and included me into her circle of friends (Cristina). At the beginning of the year, the three of us had a play date since our girls were the same age. We talked for hours and the girls played together so well, I instantly loved Erin and Cristina and we vowed to get together every week (we tried as often as possible).

It's not too often that you'll find someone you instantly click with that's in almost the exact situation as you, and two at that (all from the Bay Area with one kid that's the same age as yours...and a girl). They were so sweet to include me even though they had been besties for years and knew each other so well. I never felt left out and even our husbands hit it off. So of course, I wanted to celebrate my birthday with these two amazing ladies and their awesome husbands, they made my night perfect. I'm glad it happened when it did because it was our last night together.

Here's a blog post a la Cynthia with too many pictures.

Twiners.

Cheers to my 25th year on this planet and to moving on in life!

Gotta have my mint ice cream cake from the one and only, Baskin Robins! A yearly tradition since I was a youngster.

Enjoying some good music...Provo always has outdoor summer concerts going on.

Still kids at heart... here are the teenage pics Erin was talking about.

I miss you Erin...but am so grateful for our friendship and though we've only known each other for a short time, I know we'll remain life-long friends...and thanks for introducing me to Cristina. Don't get sad because we're gonna hang out all the time, but you're 26th birthday will be off the hook. See you in November!

This was the perfect ending to the perfect day.