Sweetest Gifts...

I woke up this morning with a heart full of gratitude for the many blessings in my life.  Two of my biggest blessings come in the form of two small children - I look at them every day and wonder at the sweet gift that each of their individual personalities bring to my life.

Tea for Two!

Miss A has a beautiful soul.  She is sweet and considerate.  She definitely has inherited the Mommy-gene, and she takes care of her baby brother so lovingly!  I love when I walk through the living room and find Mr. B surrounded with toys she has brought him to play with.  Or when I see her bring him a blanket because he is "cold".  Every time he goes down for a nap or it is bed time, Miss A insists on coming in and closing his closet doors, turning on his fan, turning out the light, hugging and kissing him and closing the door.  As we are leaving, she always says, "Goodnight sweet boy! We love you!"

Mr. B. has quite the personality...and he's only 7 months old!  He LOVES to be held and entertained.  He is so social, and he absolutely adores Miss A!  Whenever she is in the room, his eyes follow her everywhere.  He loves to imitate her sounds, and they get into screeching contests regularly.  She is able to get the best belly laughs from him - he is so entertained by her antics.  I have never seen a more ticklish baby!  He is ticklish everywhere and he chuckles when tickled - it is adorable!  Mr. B gets angry if left alone - he is perfectly happy as longs as someone is nearby or if he is being held.  He loves to touch our faces and he gives the best hugs and open-mouthed slobbery kisses.  I can't wait to see more of his little personality develop.

I have decided to adopt a greater attitude of gratitude in 2013...and these are definitely two amazing little people that I am extremely grateful for!

Forever is a long time!

I know...I know, it's been FOREVER!!!  I have been posting most of our updates for the past two years on Face Book, but I really wanted to begin online journaling again.  A lot has happened since my last post...it can be summed up in one photo though...

Yes, that's little Miss A...and her new baby brother, Mr. B!  It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun!  Miss A just turned 3 this month, and Mr. B is now officially 7 months old!  I promise to begin posting more often, especially since my personal journal efforts have also suffered.  Happy New Year - 2013 is going to be AMAZING!

Christmas 2010

Sage Snowflakes Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

FREE CHRISTMAS CARDS!!!!!!
Does anybody else LOVE Christmas cards? And, while the e-mail versions are good, appropriate, and cost effective, I still love getting actual cards, in my hand, to read and to hang up. I have a ton of Christmas stamps left over from last year since we decided to hold off until Miss A was born and just send out announcements instead(which we should have gotten from Shutterfly too!)...so I can send mine out this year without a budget crunch!

And so, in the realm of cost...I found this GREAT deal!

50 Free Christmas Cards to Bloggers from Shutterfly.

Anybody else love Shutterfly? I do! :) I haven't perused the options yet, but I will soon and then, come Christmas, you'll be seeing great Christmas cards from yours truly!


I haven't actually used Shutterfly before for my Christmas Cards. Usually I get them printed at JC Penney when we do our yearly family photo shoot...but believe you me, I've always wanted to. So cute. So simple. So many choices and variations that mine is bound to be unique--(not to mention it's MY own pictures)!


You can check out their options HERE!


In the past, and currently, I use Shutterfly for books and photo collages. We made a book of Miss A's first few months earlier this year. It's totally cute! Ask me about it sometime - I would love to show it to you! I think I'll have to make one of their desk calendars in the future - ADORABLE!

Yes, I know that I sound like an infomercial...but check out how you can get this same deal by clicking HERE.

Go BYU!
Miss A loves supporting Daddy's team!

Summer Synopsis:

A summer in pictures - since we have been so busy... :-)

Miss A has been up to so much this summer - it started out with learning how to sit up in May/June. So much fun!

We also re-built the bay window in May - this is the before picture - from a couple of years ago(it looked a lot better then) - then Hurricane Ike came...and showed us all the rotten wood that had been painted over. You could literally stick a screwdriver through most of the bay window trim.

Here is the bay window after the re-build with hardi-board and treated lumber...and the first coat of paint.

This is the completed bay window...so much better!

We spent the 4th of July with Laura's family - watching the fireworks over the bay from her parents' front yard.

Miss A loves riding on Daddy's shoulders(and licking his hair!).



Miss A also loved her swimming lessons! We did a parent and tot class for two weeks in July and it was confirmed...Miss A is definitely a water baby! Brian even got to do a couple of the lessons with her on his days off...AWESOME Daddy/daughter bonding time.

Miss A is not only sitting up by July, but she scoots forward too.

She also enjoys rolling around the house...she started out at her boppy in the background of the photo.

We got the opportunity to visit some dear friends in Oregon at the end of July. Their daughter was getting baptized. Brian's mom was able to meet us there as well - we had a blast! Due to a whole bunch of crazy events, we ended up spending the night in a hotel in Denver...so Miss A got to have her very first bath in a big bathtub...she was in Heaven!

This is the view from our room - our friends live on the side of a mountain...so beautiful!

We visited historic Taylorsville and took a trolley ride.


Miss A got to try a bunch of new foods while we were there...can you tell she likes spinach?


We visited Lithia Park too - and got the chance to go wading in the stream.


Miss A. loved swinging for the very first time!

Let's just say that the cold water was not a deterrent - Miss A. LOVED wading!

...as you can tell!


August was marked with several milestones - pulling up...cruising around the sofas and her toys...

Trips to the splash park with new friends...


And...learning how to crawl at the end of August!

In between all this, we managed to work, play and do some more projects around the house. No wonder we're exhausted! What a great summer!

Rice Cereal, Applesauce and Watermelon...Oh My!

Trying food for the first time!