My baby is growing up.

We took these pictures this morning at my parent's house. I've wanted to make a post about Londyn since her birthday. I can't believe how fast Londyn is growing up. I just wanted to jot down a few things about her. She is in a really fun stage right now!
She is the easiest baby that we've gotten so far. My first two were colicky babies (that is an understatement!)
She doesn't cry unless she is tired or hungry (I'm REALLY lucky).
She absolutely loves otter pops. If she sees one, she will attack whoever has it until she gets a taste!
Her favorite food is diced cooked carrots. She loves them!
She LOVES her binky.
She hates being poopy.
She hates taking most medicine...she spits it all over me.
She is a big time daddy's girl. She follows Dan all over the house. If he goes into another room and closes the door, she gets sad. She calls for him every morning, "Da Da!"
She LOVES to knock over the garbage can in the office and dump out all the papers.
She loves stuffed animals. She hugs them over and over.
She unpacks my diaper bag and my drawers on a daily basis.
She is just barely getting her first two teeth (one on bottom and one on top).
When she gets tired, she gets clumsy and lays on the ground.
She loves anything with buttons...hence why my phone ended up in the tub last week. (It dried out and is fine by the way).
She doesn't like to ride in the car, and very rarely does she sleep in her car seat...darn it!
She can suck from a straw.
She loves to cuddle (I love this!)
Her hair is growing LIKE MAD!!! It's so fun.
She won't leave a headband on for very long. :(

Note to Londyn:
I love you honey. I'm so proud to be your mom. Happy first birthday. I can't believe it was a year ago that I had you. It seriously seems like a few weeks ago. I was pretty mad at your dad for going duck hunting that morning while I was in labor with you. :) I guess he'll never live that down! The nurses in the hospital couldn't believe how fast and easy my labor was with you. They kept saying, "Don't sneeze, or she'll come out before the doctor gets here!" I think I pushed two or three times and you were here. I was so happy to see you. Your brother and sister just adore you. Thank you for being in our family. I love you more than you know. I hope I say it enough.

TWILIGHT!

I had an absolute blast going to Twilight on opening night at midnight!. Yes, I was "ONE OF THOSE." In fact, I went over to the theater at 5:30 (just to check on the status) and the line was forming already. I couldn't believe it. So, I came home to make sure the kids were ok with Daddy and then went to stand in line. Well, I guess I sat in line (with my camp chair and all!) The line went outside pretty early on, and I didn't want to be in the cold, and I wanted everyone who was coming with us to get a good seat. SO...I waited in line for nearly 6 hours. What the....I know....it was actually REALLY fun.


We brought games, treats, and wore our AWESOME t-shirts. I laughed hard and I LOVED the movie.


Some of the girls that were in line got a little CRAZY and started butting. I was laughing at the craziness that I saw. One girl (look at the picture below, she is the one with the pink pants at the bottom left of the picture) started FREAKING out about people saving spots so she butt to almost the front of the line, and as you can imagine people behind her got REALLY mad. I tried to stay out of it, but the people-watching entertainment was PRICELESS!

As for the movie...I really did love it. I wasn't one of those people that got mad at the changes. In fact, I expected them. I honestly LOVED every minute of it. I thought the scenery was beautiful and oh my gosh, Bella's Lullaby was so beautiful. I added the song on a playlist so everyone could hear it. The first song is the one I'm talking about from the movie. The second one is from the soundtrack. I like it too, but I like the movie one better. I really like piano music because my mom plays the piano and I just LOVED it. So, you can make fun of me if you want...but I'm totally going to see it AGAIN!!!

Being a Mom.

My friend Kelly had this on her blog, and I liked it so much that I stole it. Being a mom is the most challenging thing I've ever done, but I know that it's the most important thing for me to be doing. I definitely struggle keeping the kids under control sometimes, but I love them each individually and unconditionally.

Here are a few funny things I have learned lately:

#1 It is NOT worth it to get lettuce on a Taco...Connelly will NOT eat it and I will end up picking every tiny shred out of the middle. I will never forget to tell them "no lettuce" again.

#2 Paper plates cannot run out around here again. I ran out for about a week, and it took me two hours to catch up with the dishes.

#3 Triaminic stains...bad.

#4 Laughing gas is AWESOME for a 5 year old at the dentist. (She only had one cavity, but she is HORRIFIED OF SHOTS!).

#6 The flu mist is SWEEEEET...no pain, but all the benefits (Again...due to Oaklyn's shot terror).

#7 Connelly thinks that long-haired polygamists are actually Rapunzel visiting Wal-Mart.

#8 Oaklyn is reading the "first book" of twilight???? (She actually just carries it around). Then she asked me, "Have you read the second book, the third book, and the fourth book? When I said yes, she said "Way to go, Mom."

My baby is ONE!!!

Ok, so this cake is the CUTEST cake I have ever seen. My sister in law Jessica made it for Londyn. Oh my gosh, I just loved it. It was so dang cute. I hope that the pictures can really do it justice because it was so cute and furry! Great job Jess.


Londyn was so funny with her cute little cake, it took her a few minutes to dig in, but after she tasted the frosting, she started loving it.

My parents came down to Cedar to celebrate my niece Addie's birthday along with Londyn's birthday. It was so fun to get together with family and celebrate. Jess made Addie a Cinderella cake too because Addie just loves Cinderella.


Jess's cake website can be found here.

Twilight BUNKO!

Ok, I can't even begin to tell you how much fun we had tonight. I got to be in charge of our first BUNKO night, and it was an absolute blast. I'm kind of bummed because in all the hustle and bustle, I didn't take ANY pictures of the decor. So...bear with me, I'll just explain it!

I really went ALL OUT...and I mean that literally. It was so much fun for me.

First, I made t-shirts for all the members of the group.






I served Fettuccine Alfredo...and created Bella Italia...the place where Edward and Bella have their first real date in Port Angeles. I created a menu and everything! (Thank you Kallie for the great recipe...it was a HUGE hit.


I served RED punch...and we drank blood...kind of. Lol.

Since the movie is coming out the next week, our prizes were based on the movie.

1st prize: 2 movie tickets, some movie candy, a cute black hat, and a twilight bag.

2nd prize: A cute black purse, 1 movie ticket, and some movie candy

3rd prize: A copy of the Twilight book, 1 movie ticket, and some movie candy

Travelers: Some movie candy

I tried to keep the prizes all black, red, and white...to keep the color of the book. I also made some cool window signs for the door that said "Welcome to Forks" and had a picture of the book cover....I can't believe I didn't take pictures of this...maybe one of the other girls did!

Ok, you all probably think I'm a total freak, but I had so much fun. We are all going to the movie at MIDNIGHT on Thursday. Anyone is invited!!!

OH...........and I WON..........for the FIRST TIME!!!!! So, I got my SWEEEEEEEET first prize. I was pretty excited to say the least! Thanks girls for the FUN!

Thankful

So, lately I have especially been thinking about all I have to be thankful for. So, this may be a totally boring post, but I needed to sit down and write a few things that I've been thinking a lot about lately.

#1 A husband that is working so hard. Dan works a lot, and I can't begin to write down how grateful I am for his work ethic. He does such a fantastic job. He is very professional in the office, and I have to admit, he is WAY better at the management stuff than I was up in Cedar. He is efficient, learned everything fast, and is the smartest person I have ever seen when it comes to fixing stuff. Way to go honey. Thank you for working so hard for us.

#2 The chance to stay at home. Ok, to those that know me well, you probably NEVER thought I would say that I am grateful to be staying at home with the kids. I can honestly say that staying home with the kids has been the BEST thing in the world. I definitely am not the best at it sometimes, but I really try hard. I know that this is the place for me to be, and even though I get a little bit frustrated sometimes, I really appreciate being at home. I think our family life has improved because of this decision.

#3 The Spirit. I have had some really special spiritual experiences over the last 6 months, and I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am to have that guidance. I got to go with the sister missionaries yesterday and had the opportunity to hear them teach a discussion about the plan of salvation. The spirit was so strong, and my testimony has grown because of the experience. The missionaries were so sweet, and it felt great to be able to help them.

#4 Good friends. I have met some LIFE LONG friends here. I know I'm cheesy, but I really can't begin to tell you how much I love living here. From the very beginning, I felt a fellowship that I HAVE NEVER FELT before. I felt at home. Our neighbors have really been AWESOME. We have so much fun hanging out with them all. I do miss some of my friends from Cedar City too, and I will always keep in touch with them, but I am so glad to be here. You know who you are, and if any of you move soon, I will honestly have a nervous breakdown. You have gotten to know me so quickly. I love laughing with you all. Thank you for all the fun memories so far!

#5 A great family. My husband and I both have great families. My neighbor noticed the other day that I call my mother-in-law "Mom." I do, I call her Mom. I call her Mom because I consider her my second Mom. My parents are such great people too, and I am so lucky to have such great in-laws. Every single holiday, we get surprise cards in the mail for the kids to open, and they just LOVE getting mail. It is so fun to see their faces light up when people come to visit. We have had so much fun with all the visitors so far. It's pretty fun living down here, because people come visit more!! YAY...keep it comin'!

I know 5 isn't a very long list, but these 5 things have occupied my mind a lot lately, so I needed to write them down.

The rest....DA DA DA DAAAAA

Here is a picture of all the pumpkins outside the house! :) Dan did a good job lining them up for me.

Every year Dan does a FLAMING pumpkin. It never ceases to amaze me how many people think it's an accident, and they come to tell me that we have a pumpkin on fire. lol...I just say, "Yeah, I know."

Here are the kids along with Dan in his NACHO LIBRE costume. What a hit! Connelly was a little ornery, so we didn't get an individual picture of him, and he wouldn't wear his mask. O'well.

Here are the remaining pumpkins. Overall we carved 49 pumpkins, but we did multiple patterns on a lot of them, so we did a lot more carvings than just 49. I have to say, the Mater and Lightning McQueen pumpkin that Dan's brother Mike did is my favorite. AWESOME!!

Only 364 days until Halloween next year!

And more.

DISCLAIMER: Yes, we know we look totally crazy, but we enjoy this, so please don't judge us! Also, we have NOT carved all of these pumpkins alone. Our neighbors have helped us, and multiple family members also helped carve some. PLUS-we actually aren't done carving yet, but I figured it would be easier to post the ones that we have done so that it isn't as hard to post them all at once. Hopefully you can click on the pictures so that you can see them bigger.

We have had so much fun staying up late with our neighbors. I seriously have laughed harder lately than I have in a long time! Our neighbors are so fun.

I thought it would be fun to make cupcakes again this year. If you can't tell, I LOVE THIS HOLIDAY!!!

This is my cute table centerpiece for my table. Dan actually gave me the idea, and I thought it turned out so cute!

Halloween Party!

Tonight was our Halloween pumpkin carving party. We had a blast having friends and family over to carve pumpkins. Here is the invitation that I made. We are steadily getting ready to put out our pumpkins tomorrow night. We have had so much fun staying up late carving. (Note: thank you to those of you who have been helping us carve). We really appreciate everyone being so nice about the pumpkins. We just love to make pumpkin carving fun for everyone.

Halloween part 2

First of all, several people have asked me how I made my window patterns. I blew up regular pumpkin patterns with a projector, I traced the patterns onto black poster board, cut out the pattern with an exacto knife, and then put yellow tissue paper behind them. If you would like more detailed information, leave me a comment, and I'll be glad to explain a little better. :)


FYI-my husband is a property manager, so that is why our front door has a sign that says "private residence" on it!

I thought this spider was AWESOME!

Here is my first carving of the year. If you can't tell it's Optimus Prime. I spent a lot of time on it, so don't look too close at all the mistakes! Stay tuned for pumpkins galore. If you don't believe me, I'll just give you a little history...we carve about 45-50 pumpkins every year. We are what we call PUMPKIN FREAKS. We will put all the pumpkins out on our driveway the night of Halloween (and sometimes the night after too). If you are in the neighborhood on Halloween, please come by, we carve ALL sorts of patterns to please almost everyone.

Halloween part 1

Over the past several years, my love for Halloween has grown and grown. I have to admit, I think it all began when my roommate in college, Katie, painted her toenails black and orange. Her love for the holiday planted a seed that has grown and grown ever since! We have had a fun time decorating the outside of our house for the festivities. These are our windows! The only bad thing is that the stencils block out all the sunlight during the day...I feel like I'm living in a cave...lol. I think they turned out GREAT! My hubby is always so nice to help me with my projects.



Stay tuned for more pictures.

"Medicine Juice"

Ok, I know this is pretty weird, but Dan has taught our kids that his Eggnog and Sprite concoction is called "Medicine Juice." The kids LOVE IT. Dan is obsessed with Eggnog and he was totally thrilled to find out that stores start carrying it earlier and earlier every year. Random post, but I think it's pretty funny how excited the kids get every year for daddy to make them their first glass of "medicine juice." I'm not much of an eggnog fan. It is just too thick for me to handle. :)

I'm ALICE!

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I know I'm a total geek, but I honestly can't wait for the Twilight movie to come out!!! I plan to go at midnight the night it comes out!!!

Disneyland!!!! Beware of picture overload!

Oh my gosh...I feel like I just ran a marathon! We just got back a few hours ago, and I have so much to write about. So, please, don't read this extremely long post if you don't want to! To those of you who know us well, Halloween is our favorite holiday. It was so fun to see Disneyland all fancied up for the occasion. It was great! My ankle didn't hold up so well though. I'm afraid it pooped out about half way through. (Thank goodness for ibuprofen!)

First of all, we took Londyn to my sister in law, and that was REALLY hard to leave her. But, we left her home so that the other two could have our non-stop attention. So, even though I MISSED HER TERRIBLY, we went without her. It was good because Dan and I got to take turns riding with each of the two kids.

Oaklyn and Connelly have been saving their pennies (literally) for months and months. We took them to "cash-in" their Disneyland jar and they got to take their money with them to buy souvenirs. Turns out they had $112.00. I was so surprised that they had that much! (Thank you to grandmas and grandpas who send money for birthdays and such...because that is where the money went automatically). By the way, feel free to click on the pictures, for a bigger, better look!

I can't even describe how much fun we had. The kids were in 7th Heaven. I think the best part of the entire trip was to see Oaklyn with the princesses. She dressed up in her princess dresses for two of the days, and she even wanted to wear make-up. Cinderella was so cute with her. The rest were great too, but Cinderella talked to her for awhile, and Oaklyn was just beaming!


Connelly was terrified of the characters at first. I'm not sure why. He loved them from afar, but as soon as one would come near him, he would FREAK out. After a couple of days, he warmed up, and we were able to get a few pictures of him with some of the characters. It was really cute, while Oaklyn was talking to the princesses, he was hiding from them. Mulan kept flirting with him...and he just kept smiling. He's pretty shy!


We stayed at the Crown Plaza resort just down the street from Disneyland, and it was SO nice. We loved it. Our room was extremely clean and nice, and the beds were SOOOO comfortable. The kids slept so good (mostly from exhaustion!) I had to take some pictures of them, because Oaklyn sleeping with her Minnie doll was just CRACKIN' me up! They fell asleep so fast each night, it was amazing!

Overall, I had the best vacation I have ever been on. The kids were pretty whine-free. And they both did pretty good on most of the rides. The tower of terror in California Adventure scared Connelly a little, but I got a little scared myself! The only thing that could have made the trip better would have been to have Londyn there with us, but I'm afraid that would have created problems of its own.

We went to the Blue Bayou restaurant with the recommendation from a friend. Holy cow, the Monte Cristo sandwich was DELICIOUS. If you know Dan, he's what I call a food connoisseur. He also had some delicious shish kabobs (spell?) at the Bengal BBQ. I will NEVER go to Disneyland again without that sandwich! :)

Oaklyn's favorite ride was the Matterhorn, and Connelly LOVED the Buzz Lightyear ride.


We managed to take a break from the parks and take the kids to the beach for the first time. They LOVED IT. Oaklyn just kept saying, "Oh Mom, can we come to the beach AGAIN?" We spent a few hours playing around in the sand.


I'm glad to be home, but honestly, I CAN'T WAIT to go back again. The look on their faces was worth every penny. They are at the perfect age where they think everything is real. They were completely STAR STRUCK by all of the characters. It makes me smile to even think about it. I can definitely say that spending four days in the park was perfect. We had just enough time to ride mostly every ride and then re-ride the ones that the kids loved. California Adventure was definitely Connelly's favorite with the parade with Buzz, Mr. Incredible, Lightning McQueen, Woody...etc. We had a great time. Now, I just need to catch up on the laundry!!!

I am so excited!

This space once contained a Disneyland countdown!