66/365

Love the sound of rain.
Makes me want to cuddle up by the window and read a book.
The rain quickly turned to snow.
Leila was loving it.

65/365

I found the recipe for Gurus' Cilantro Lime Pesto Pasta...it's one of my favorite things on the menu.

It turned out divine and tasted exactly the same.

I need to make some substitutions because when Eric entered the ingredients into My Fitness Pal, the calories were through the roof...that's why it's so good.

Taking Leila to church has become a challenge. It interferes with her nap and she is fussy half the time so we live in the halls. It can be so easy to bail after sacrament but if we get into the habit of leaving early because Leila is fussy I know we can easily become inactive. It's important that we stay all 3 hours so at least one of us can be spiritually uplifted.

We had stake conference today and Eric let me enjoy it. He took Leila out when she got fussy. I took notes for the both of us. I really needed it. Here are some things that stuck out to me:
- Thank God forever that you may be tested. Your increase in faith in Jesus Christ will not come without a trial to your faith.
- When we make Jesus Christ the center of our life, we'll get through all the things we are faced with.
- Contrary winds will continue to come, but know that He will see us through.
- The minute you take your lives off Jesus, you sink.
One last thing, Brother Holeman said, "every time I read the scriptures I feel the spirit". I will always remember this when reading my scriptures.
Looking forward to general conference next month.

64/365

We met up with Eric's cousin and his girlfriend for some grub.

They made us choose the place...our go to place is Guru's.

Those boys facial expressions were intentional for the photo...I guess the surprised look runs in the family.

We had some good laughs and ended the night with a game of Ticket to Ride. 

Eric won...but Sarah came in by a close second.

Oh, and we put Leila in a highchair for the first time at a restaurant. Of course, we got the one with the broken belt so she weeble-wobbled a bit. It was nice to let her have some independence. 

63/365

             

Friday night our good friends invited us over for dinner. We celebrated that they moved back into their condo after renovating it. Laura made a gourmet meal and I'm still drooling over the stuffed mushrooms. We swaddled Leila up and let her sleep on their bed. As long as she's swaddled and has her special music, she can fall asleep anywhere (eventually). We stayed up for hours just talking while our babies slept. We left well past midnight...its been a while since we've hung out with friends and chatted until the wee hours of the night. It was much needed. 

Eric loves wrestling with dogs. Their boxer, Martha, was all about the attention and we think she even had a little crush on him. We've talked about getting a dog when we buy a home. We were so close to buying a puggle a few years ago. We pulled up to the parking lot of the pet store and were ready to get out and buy ourselves a new companion...but then reality hit and we decided it wasn't the right timing. So we headed over to Ikea and bought ourselves a bedroom set instead. I'd say that was a wiser purchase.  I love the idea of having a dog but I'm such a germaphobe and I can't get past the shedding. I feel like I need to wash my hands every time I pet a dog. I'm sure I'll feel differently when it's MY dog. I'm so shy around pets because we never had cats or dogs growing up...my dad didn't like them because they shed, can ruin your furniture, and didn't want to have to worry about them when we went on vacation. We had pets, just not the traditional kind. We housed ducks, rabbits, fish, and birds. That's it. 

We love driving around neighborhoods looking for homes we'd love to live in (and sometimes think what we can do to give it better curb appeal - we're HGTV addicts!). A couple weeks ago we were driving though Sugarhouse. It's our dream to live there, we love the unique homes, quaint cafe's, boutiques, and the parks. We love that it's a walking neighborhood. Almost everyone has a dog in Sugarhouse. If we live in Sugarhouse we'd need a dog to fit in. I asked Eric if he still wanted a dog and he said, "Meh, yes and no". Well, I think Martha may have changed his mind. If we ever get a dog, which I think we will now, we'd want a Vizsla!

62/365

I love it when Leila wakes up for the day in the morning. 

She always wakes up with a huge smile on her face. She is perfectly content just chillin' in her crib, talking to herself, until I come get her. Sometimes she'll wake up crying from a nap. 

But it never fails...every morning she wakes up with a smile and is always happy to see me. Makes my morning.

This isn't the best picture.

"Mom, unless it's plastic I don't want to eat it".

That's gotta be what Leila's thinking everyday when I feed her. We tried fruit this week. Um...don't think she cared for it too much. She gave me the same disgusted look she gives me when we feed her veggies. Wasn't a big fan of fresh bananas, apples with apricots, or applesauce.

We also tried yobaby banana yogurt...no dice. Mum Mum's...not having that either.

I don't understand how she can put EVERYTHING in her mouth and gnaw on it for hours (toys, tissue, books, binky, anything and everything), but if its food or has any sort of taste, she'll spit it right out.

That's banana yogurt she's spitting out...and I must say it's delicious!

I think we have one picky girl on our hands. I shouldn't be surprised. Eric and I BOTH were picky eaters (but eventually grew out of it). As a youngster (elementary age), I was so picky I didn't eat my mom's delicious home cooked meals. Many nights I'd resort to having cereal for dinner. The memory is so clear, the whole family would be gathered around the table eating whatever delicious meal my mother prepared and I'd be eating my cold bowl of cereal. Lame, right? I hope Leila isn't as picky as I was as a kid.

Now on to Eric.

Whenever his parents would go out for Chinese, they'd have to stop and buy him McNuggets or KFC. He would eat his fast food at the restaurant...how embarrassing! I guess you do what you gotta do to get your children to eat. 

Leila, we are going to introduce you to many different types of food early, Thai, Japanese, Indian, etc. so I hope you're ready for it!

And since we've started solids her poops are foul! Oh my goodness, she has the stinkiest bum on the planet. I miss the days when I would confuse her poops for buttered popcorn. When I was nursing, I could throw those poopy diapers in the garbage and the smell wouldn't be a problem at all. Now, the diaper genie is a MUST.

61/365

GNO!

I look forward to my girl's night out with these lovely ladies. GNO's uplift my spirit and renew my senses. It's nice to go away for a couple hours, leave the house and Leila with the hubs knowing that everything will be ok when I return. Whenever we meet up at a restaurant, we are always laughing louder than anyone else in the room and stay way longer than we should.

Tonight we went to the Provo Temple. It was a fabulous idea and I absolutely loved it. I feel like this experience strengthened our friendship even more. To satisfy our sweet tooth we headed over to Sammy's to have some much needed girl talk. Sammy's is famous for their delicious pie shakes...banana cream  pie...mmm! 

We all realized something, that the friendships you make in college last forever. Emily and Rachel were my college roomies. We spent so much time together and they really did become my second family. I experienced a lot of firsts with these girls. I didn't know when I first moved in that we would all become such amazing friends. Love them! 

Everyone deserves a girl's night out, even if it's just once a month.

60/365

WELCOME TO MARCH!

There was a touch of Spring in the air today...and we loved it!

We sat on our front yard and soaked in the rays.

No need to keep those toesies warm, off came the socks and shoes.