The Dreams that you Dare to Dream Really do Come True!

Welcome Baby Emmitt

2012-02-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

Emmitt was a week late and weighed 9 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long!!!

This big boy was born on his Grandpa B. (my Dads) birthday and his Great-Grandpa's (Clint's side) birthday!

It was also the same day my sister got home from her mission! Busy day!

Emmitt and Grandma B.

Emmitt with Grandma N.

Emmitt and Dad! So cute! Clint loves his little boy!

Precious!

Big sister!!!

When Alyssa heard that her little brother was born she got herself all ready, flower, coat, boots and all and patiently waited for her Grandma N. to get ready. She was SO excited!!! Love my Alyssa!

Our family!

As Alyssa says "we are a 4 family now." :)

My kids!!!

It was such a wonderful day!!! I love my baby boy!

Read my pregnancy blog for more details of the delivery!!! :)

another one?

2012-02-05T23:54:00.000-08:00

I was truly spoiled! I got three baby showers for this pregnancy!!! I didn't expect such kindness. I'm so grateful for it though since I didn't have any baby stuff, let alone baby boy stuff. So it was very needed!!!

My sisters planned this one. Thanks girls!!!

Look at the yummy food!!!

and notice the cute decor...

We played a few games too. :)

And I got great gifts for baby!!!

Thanks everyone for the support!!!

In Utah

2012-02-05T23:16:00.000-08:00

We left for Utah the day after Christmas.

We were able to make it to a few holiday parties with each our families.

Here are my Grandparents at our Christmas party.

Alyssa just loves my Grandma.

My aunts and uncles...

We stayed a week with Clint's sister. Over a week with my parents while Clint went back to Cali to work. And then the rest of the time we stayed at Clint's parents. All so that I could have the baby in Utah. :)

Heather and Curtis invited Alyssa and I to go to a free craft day at Home Depot. It was really cool. We built a house piggy bank and Alyssa got to paint it.

Fun, fun!

There really wasn't much snow there. It did snow a few times and one time it actually stuck for a while. Alyssa was super excited to play in it.

snow angel

Girls night.

I didn't get a lot of pictures this time.

We had lots of fun while we were there. Got to spend time with family and friends going to dinner, movies and hanging out. Of course Alyssa had to do "home study" work that we got from the school since she was missing school and I went to my appointments. Though it was loads of fun and a good distraction for the last part of my pregnancy. :)

It's Christmas Day!!! 2011

2012-01-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is so much fun!

Before church Alyssa got to see some of her presents.

We ate a crock-pot breakfast that was SO delicious and headed to church.

We just had Sacrament meeting (which was so nice:)

then got to come home and open presents!

We looked inside our stockings too!

Love these boots!!!

How cute!

She asked Santa for this car and she got it!!! :)

Her Christmas dress. She got to wear it to church...with a jacket of course.

And some fam x-mas photos...

We had a really great Christmas!

Alyssa said she liked everything she got!!! Which is SO nice to hear!!!

The best part was partying with each other!

The Night Before Christmas

2012-01-17T15:24:00.000-08:00

Clint and Alyssa enjoying our holiday food.

Some of our treats...

Opening PJ's

We each opened a present this time.

Clint wearing the present Alyssa gave him- a headlight.

And Alyssa made him the thing she is holding.

This was the first time we gave gifts to Jesus for his birthday.

Growing up my family would do that every year on Christmas eve and I felt like it was time for us to carry on the tradition. We each thought of a behavior or habit we wanted to improve....something Jesus would be proud of and wrote it down and put it in the present. The plan is next Christmas eve we will open it and see how well we did.

Cookies, Egg Nog and a picture for Santa

Now off to bed.

X-mas Crafts and Decor

2012-01-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

I had fun decorating the fireplace this Christmas!

I was inspired by a pin on Pinterest and this is my version of the decor...

I just LOVE it!!! Seriously, I'm in love with it...makes me happy. :D

Alyssa drew this cute Santa just by looking at one I did.

She did way better than mine. See mine....

Of course she didn't make hers into a Christmas countdown like I did. (Yes, I got this from Pinterest).

We had so much fun this year doing all kinds of Christmas crafts!

Alyssa did such a good job.

Alyssa glanced at a pic of a Santa hat on Pinterest and did this afterward and she did it WAY better than the one on Pinterest. I love it! It reminds me of the Grinch hat...same style.

Alyssa busy at work.

Look how cute!

I mostly did this one. Alyssa colored it though.

I thought it would be appropriate to do a craft about Jesus.

Our tree!

Preg pic

2012-01-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

About 36 weeks along in the pregnancy in this picture.

I am actually 39 weeks right now though.

Silly girl.

She came into my room one day looking like this...

She is hilarious!!! Haha!

And Clint showing love. :)

Christmas Party at the Church

2012-01-11T00:38:00.000-08:00

It was a fabulous party!

Christmas Pageant

It was very well done!!! Performed by the youth and primary in our ward (and a few others cause we have a small primary, etc). Alyssa refused to participate. I didn't want to force her but I warned her she would regret it and sure enough as soon as it started she said to me "Mom, I changed my mind I want to be in it." Sorry, hun too late. Maybe she will learn from this.

Yummy food. I made egg nog for the event.

Gorgeous decor! Love it!

Even Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up!!!

She sat there forever!!!

She told Santa she was going to give him some egg nog when he visited our house.

It was a really great party with really great people!

Christmas celebrations at School

2012-01-11T00:22:00.000-08:00

Alyssa's class recited a reindeer poem and sang

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

It was very cute!

For some reason it won't let me post the video :(

so here is a blurry picture instead.

Can you spot her?

Class party!
I got to help out! It was fun to be involved!

My main assignment was to make and bring the goodie bags for each kid. That was fun. And then I helped out with the activities at the party.

Teacher gift...

I really wanted Alyssa's teacher to know we appreciate her.

So, we got her the hot chocolate and Alyssa made her the card and she wrote inside it too. Her teacher loved it! Alyssa even got a thank you card in the mail from her teacher. How nice! :D

Dancing Qween

2011-12-31T18:33:00.000-08:00

Alyssa had her dance recital the beginning of this month.

Look how cute she is! I love her costume!

This time she took a ballet/tap class. She really wanted to take a tap class!

They only did one dance and it wasn't really either dance style. I was kind of bummed about it, especially since I spent all that money on the tap shoes. It was still a cute dance.

Splish Splash

It was a small class. Just 3 girls!

Alyssa is the one on the left side.

Clint got her flowers after the recital.

She loved them!

She did such a good job!

We love her!

Baby Shower!!!

2011-12-31T17:39:00.000-08:00

Some of my friends from church threw me a baby shower.

When they offered I was so grateful that they would want to do that for me and baby boy!

Here is the awesome table of food. Very delicious!

Look at the cool owls...homemade by Melanie.

Alyssa next to the gift table.

A little something for the guests to take home...it was filled up with pretzels dipped in white chocolate.

Eating...

This was so cool and unique.

They had the guests each paint part of a mural/painting they are going to give me to hang in the baby's room. Isn't that cool?!!

More painting...

I will have to post a picture of the final product once I can. :)

The wonderful guests...

These three ladies are the ones that wanted to throw me the shower.

Breanne, Lorilee and Melanie.

The gifts.

They also each guessed with some yarn how big my belly is...that was fun. :D

They did a great job planning and carrying out the baby shower!

I felt VERY special!!!!

Such great people!

And I'm very grateful for all the baby gifts we got!

What a wonderful time! :D

Thanksgiving Week

2011-12-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

Alyssa got to see Santa at the mall!

Clint had a meeting in Provo. I went to the Provo mall and posted it on Facebook to see if any friends or fam in the area could meet me there.

My cousin Celeste and her son were able to come!!!

It was fun to catch up!!!

Afterward, Clint, Alyssa and I meet Heidi, Brian fam at Cocolitos....I'm really bummed I didn't get pictures. :(

Thanksgiving!

My cousin Jess and I are both pregnant (about a month apart...of course it's obvious I'm due first:)...look how cute we are! Though it's blurry...hopefully Jess or Christy will email me the better pictures. ;)

Some of the fam...I took these at the end so most people had already left.

Looking at Black Friday ads...

Fun, fun!

Dinner with the friends at Wingers.

Sticky fingers!

We had a great time in Utah!

Baby Shower- Nelson side

2011-12-18T19:01:00.000-08:00

The Nelson side planned a last minute baby shower for me while I was in Utah for Thanksgiving.

Since it was last minute and a holiday weekend not everyone could come. But I'm thankful for who made it. :)

Here is the yummy food table.

I look a bit silly in this pic... but only cause I was excited about the booty socks!

It was very fun and I'm so grateful they did this for me and baby boy, and for all the wonderful gifts they got for him! :D

Primary Birthday

2011-12-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

In our primary the birthday kid gets to stand with there head in a cupcake while we sing to them.

Here is Alyssa

How cute! Even I had to do that on my birthday! :D

Breaking Dawn

2011-12-18T18:41:00.000-08:00

I went to the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn with my friend Breanne.

Luckily, we didn't have to stand in line for hours like I was afraid...we got to wait in the theater most the time until midnight.

It was fun! We got to chat!

The movie was pretty good...some cheesy stuff, some good parts, some FREAKY parts!!!!!! And the very, very end was cool! :)

I was so worried that I was going to be too tired to drive home safely after the movie. Cause what was I thinking??? I'm about 7 months pregnant and I'm going to a late movie...of course I'm going to be exhausted. But I survived! I was tired but it wasn't to bad and I made it home! :)

Thanks Breanne for going with me to the movie!!!

Happy Birthday to Alyssa!

2011-12-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

My tired looking birthday girl. I woke her up with a present; bubble bath!

And I surprised her with balloons...I sneaked in while she was sleeping and put these up.

And these...the middle balloon I wrote on the wrong way so it has to be lifted up to see it. It says "Alyssa."

Birthday breakfast...I made "flower" - eggs with a red pepper around it.

Then off to school with a birthday treat to share with her class.

Decorating pumpkin cookies to give to her dance teacher and classmates.

time for dance...

We took her to a fun little place that night. She got to play games.

And ride on rides.

We got pizza there and it was surprisingly REALLY yummy!

buddies...

Cake time! She requested this cake...

It is an apple cake, with caramel sauce and homemade whip cream.

We were all surprised we liked it...I got the recipe from my friend...we tried it first at a church event.

Presents...

from her Grandma N. She loves it!

The birthday girl

Being silly...

We love our girl!

My Baby is Six!

2011-12-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

I decided I had to do a post of Alyssa throughout the years!

Newborn Alyssa!!!

About 6 months...cute!

One year old

Two year old

Three years

Four years

Five years

and SIX years!!!!

She is a very clever girl and she has a mind of her own. If I don't say something just right she will correct me! It gets annoying. :) She already thinks she knows almost everything and if she doesn't know it she will ask her Dad...because "he knows everything." :D

Speaking of her Dad, Clint and Alyssa are so cute together! They tease each other (which also can get annoying cause it causes Alyssa to scream) and they have fun playing hide and seek, Wii games and racing. They race to see who can get ready the fastest, eat the fastest and so on.

She takes FOREVER getting ready for school, but she loves school!!! She told me once that she wanted to live at the school and that Clint and I could live there with her. And she loves her friends! She still is a very loving girl and gives everyone hugs.

Alyssa is an artist! She loves coloring and making things. She is learning how to read and quizzes Clint and I all the time with the sounds the letters make. She likes to sing around the house and at night in bed. She also does and says silly things to make us laugh.

Her other favorite things right now include: Tangled the movie and Wii game, princesses, Barbies, the colors red and white and gold, she likes all fruit except bananas, clothes, flowers and roses, pizza and hamburgers, broccoli, celery with peanut butter, chalk and her baby brother that's on the way.

Alyssa is a lovely little girl and we love her so much!!!

Tangled/Princess Party

2011-12-01T17:04:00.000-08:00

Alyssa is turning Six!

We planned her party the weekend before her actual birthday since her day was during the week. This is her second friend birthday party. I was looking forward to this for a long time!

Alyssa wanted a tangled party. I did some google research for Tangled birthday ideas and the parties I found were AMAZING! Here is my Natalie "ugly" version. :D ha ha!

I really am proud of my work! :)

Ok, this was the best pic I got of the long "hair."

See the castle? Rapunzel's braided hair is coming out of the top tower and is draped over the TV and fireplace and hanging off the edge. It was a lot of work braiding that and it isn't even perfect! None the less, I LOVE IT!!!!!

The girls are coloring Tangled pictures.

The upside down balloons are my version of the lanterns from the movie. Fun, fun!

Cake and goodie bag table...notice the little braid hanging on the side.

I think I'm so creative. ;)

And this was the center piece on one of the tables. Love!

After coloring we ate pizza! I went for easy instead of making it a Tangled or princess meal.

Decorating crowns!

P.S. I had Tangled playing in the background.

Finished result...

Pin the crown on Rapunzel!

Relay race!

The race included: braiding Rapunzel's hair (what you see in the pic), keeping "Pascal" on the "frying pan" while walking across the room, and walking with a book on the head or learning to walk like a princess. I think the kids enjoyed it.

AND a PINATA!!!!

One more game- tug of war with Rapunzel's hair!

Pulling hard!

Holding on for dear life!

Very fun!

Cake time!

I decorated the cake. Simple yet does the job. I love how the hair turned out!

Time for presents!

Some of the kids faces look messed up, oh well.

Alyssa loved her party and that her friends could come! She got great gifts and we are so grateful! It was a lot of fun (and stressful) for me! I'm so happy that we could do this!!!

Cake Decorating Class

2011-11-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

My friend Melanie taught a cake decorating class at the beg of the month.

She has her own cake business called Melanie's Cakes.

Here she is showing us (mainly me) how to fill a pastry bag. :)

After she showed us how to frost...then the decorating began.

Here I am trying it out on my cake.

Alyssa helped me out a some. She gave me all kinds of ideas and I even let her do some of the fancy work.

The masterpiece!

Ha ha! There are a ton of mistakes and I totally overdecorated...mostly so I could practice the different things she taught us.

I'm still so proud of it though.

The whole group minus the 2 kids.

My friend Breanne (on the right) did an awesome job with her cake!

It was a fun class and I learned a lot.

Find her page on Facebook here.

Ward Trunk or Treat and HALLOWEEN NIGHT

2011-11-13T23:01:00.001-08:00

Ward Trunk or Treat and Halloween Party

Donut eating

Kids showing off there costumes in a parade.

"trunk or treat!"

This year I entered my white chicken chili into the chili contest.

I didn't win. But, I got quite a few people complimenting it and asking for the recipe!!! The winner was a sweet chili; in fact a lot of the chili's there were sweet. Mine definitely was NOT sweet in anyway and that is how we like it. :)

I guess all the judges like the sweet kind. ;)

Do you see the light above Alyssa? She came straight from heaven! :D

Clint says he dressed as a werewolf but there wasn't a full moon. Ha ha.

Halloween Night

A devil and an angel

Showing our true colors...

I was pretty proud of our costumes. And I got my horns and staff thing for free with the purchase of Alyssa's costume and the feather scarf I got from the dollar store. CHEAP!!!

Ready to go...

trick or treating!!!

We got a lot more trick or treaters this year!

So serious!

Alyssa and some of her loot.

What a fun holiday!

School Costume Parade and Festival

2011-11-13T23:01:00.000-08:00

It was really fun to go watch Alyssa in the costume parade!

My angel waiting with her classmates.

The parade! She is flying. :D

Class Halloween party after.

Alyssa and her teacher.

Oops...someone pulled the fire alarm and they all had to do the fire drill.

Harvest Festival

As soon as we got to the festival some boys in her class came over and very excitedly said "Hi Alyssa!" I can't believe it's already starting. ;)

It was cute though.

Games...

And they had a little haunted house too.

Fun, fun!

Carving Big O' Pumpkin

2011-11-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

I haven't carved a pumpkin in YEARS!!!

Didn't have the desire UNTIL I got this big pumpkin and I thought it would be fun! We made it into a family activity.

Alyssa's first experience with pulling out the insides.

Ha ha ha!

Here I go...

...

...and done!

Me with big pumpkin and big belly.

We went with a simple design.

No need to overdo it. ;)

How cute!

And it glows!!!

I'm glad we went for it! It was fun! I might be into carving pumpkins again!

Practice

2011-11-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

This is some (well most, we have a small group) of our Primary during our program practice/pizza party.

Alyssa is on the end on the right side.

Being silly.

It's been fun being in the Primary presidency and hanging out with these kinds and the other leaders! It's been almost a year since I got the calling.

We had a great program!

Home-cooking in my New Home

2011-11-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

In the last year we went from living in hotels, to an 2-bed apartment and

now THIS...

I am so grateful that we were able to move into this house!!!!

I'm counting my blessings.

With this house I now have:

-3rd bedroom which will be the baby's room / guest room when needed.

-laundry room!!!!! Hallelujah!!! My life just got 100% easier!

-GARAGE!!! No more carrying groceries from the car past the laundromat, the pool, other apartments and up the stairs.

-backyard!!!!! Privacy! Alyssa can play in the small fenced backyard.

-TWO bathrooms!!!! One is a master bath!!!! You know that is good for this pregnant momma.

-No one is living underneath us!!!! Can stomp around now ;D haha!

It's great!

Backyard pics...

Look how cool this is...

Our kitchen! Behind the sink wall is the family room and front door.

Back door...look at that fancy artwork. ;)

I wonder if I will get productive and peel it off someday?

Now that I can eat again I've been having fun making all kinds of food and treats. I've taken pictures of a few of them...because I get really proud of myself. :b

Here is a pumpkin pudding I made with homemade whip cream.

Potato and Ham Soup.

OK, I've been wanting to make homemade bread for a while now but we left our bread maker in Utah. Luckily, we went to a garage sale and bought the same bread maker for $1. Wow!

So now I can make this...

It was really good!

Clint asked me if I would make Indian Naan bread to go with the Indian food he was making. I decided to take the challenge and I made them...it was delicious and of course went well with dinner!!!

I really enjoy trying out new recipes and making good food and desserts!

I remember a few years ago I used to dislike making dinner (not desserts) and now sure I don't feel like making it sometimes but I do enjoy it now. :) I think what helped me change my attitude was when we lived with family a couple years ago for 9 months; seeing what good food they made and yeah I helped out with preparing stuff but I mostly got a good long break from making the main course. So the break and seeing their family dinners did help inspire me! Now it's one of my favorite hobbies!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

2011-10-30T23:47:00.000-07:00

I am now 26 years old! I don't even believe it! haha!

I had fun spending the morning with Clint while he worked and then he took me to lunch at Texas Roadhouse, it was SO much better than we remembered.

The night before my birthday Alyssa said she didn't want to go to school because she wanted to spend the day with me for my birthday. We told her if she went to school then we might check her out early and go do something fun. We ended up checking her out of school just 20-30 minutes before school was out and when she came to the office she started crying because she didn't want to leave school...that's how much she loves it. :) We laughed and told her school was almost out anyway. She got over it. :)

We went to the pumpkin patch!

Haha! Perfect witch face!

Very cute!

I got a huge pumpkin (pics below) and Alyssa got two small pumpkins for FREE! And she does it again! I wish I knew her secret! :)

When we got home Clint couldn't wait any longer and gave me a present.

I love it! I'm so excited to use all the spices!

Darling picture of my cute fam...

Here is the lovely, huge pumpkin I got.

Very exciting!

We got dinner and I had coupons to a corn maze so we went!

Alyssa gave me this lovely necklace holder (love it) and some chocolates.

And Clint made me that cheese cake! Isn't that sweet?!

A couple of days before my birthday he says

"do you want me to make you a cake or something for your birthday?"

I was pleasantly surprised and told him that I would love cheese cake since I was craving it! It was good!

I had a very good birthday!
And it was so much fun celebrating it with my wonderful hubby and sweet daughter! I love them so much!!!!

Field Trip and Friend Drama

2011-10-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

Classic school picture! :)

Cute...but could do without the glasses so low on the nose. :D

Class picture.

We really like Alyssa's teacher! I like how calm and nice she is! Which is a nice change for Alyssa...since she is so used to my not so calm behavior at times. :b

I do have to say some kids can be so bratty! Alyssa has made many friends but there are two who she is constantly talking about and who I would coin as her best friends. However, they (one more than the other) are constantly telling her they are not going to be her friend anymore...then the next day come back and say they can be friends again. Yesterday one girl said she wouldn't be friends with Alyssa ever again. Alyssa gets so heartbroken every time! Alyssa isn't a mean girl. Sure she sometimes harasses others with her love (hugs, hand holding and such) and it can get out of hand, which is why we've been encouraging her to cool it a bit. And it seems as though she has.

What is a parent suppose to do when this keeps happening to their child??? Note: this will be long winded.

-First, I asked her if she has ever said to kids that she wouldn't be friends with them anymore. She said "No, I would never." So that's good.

-I tell her it's OK to feel bad about it. I want her to express and feel her emotions instead of bury them, it's much healthier.

-I also asked her if she ever gets sick of playing with her friends and if she ever feels like she needs a break from them. Again, she said no. Which surprised me because I think that it's a very human feeling and common. I know from experience ;). I'm sure she'll experience it sooner or later. So I tried to explain to her that maybe her friends were feeling like that and instead of saying they just needed a break (or alone time) they said they couldn't be friends anymore and maybe they do think that's what that feeling means.

-I also explored the idea that because Alyssa is so good at playing by herself, it's makes her a good friend to others because she is a good friend to herself. Maybe these girls aren't good friends with themselves (at least during these moments of rejection) therefore it makes it hard for them to want to be friends with Alyssa or other kids. So, in other words it's NOT Alyssa's fault they don't want to be friends with her!!!

-I also remind her that she doesn't need these girls to be her friend in order to be happy and feel good about herself. She can go play by herself and she can go play with the other girls she's friends with and even make new friends. Note: Alyssa thinks she can buy their friendship and everyday brings them drawings she's made them and then is even more devastated if they still reject her. I've tried explaining that if you have to buy their friendship then they aren't true friends.

-Clint told her to tell them that "OK, we don't have to be friends to play together." Something like that. :)

-I remind her that that is what these girls do...they can't help it. They reject and then they come back and accept again. So they most likely will want to be friends again. But if they don't come back, you don't need them to like you in order for you to be happy.

-And I've probably given mixed messages because part of me thinks she should ditch them for good...because of how flimsy they treat the friendship. But another part of me thinks she should have the attitude of "OK, no problem...if you change your mind I'll be over here having a good time with my other friends." :)

I try to put it all in terms she'll understand. ;)

If you couldn't tell I have a ton of thoughts and issues with this . I've gone through my own share of feeling rejection from friends, etc. It's hard to see my daughter go through similar things...it's brings back so much emotion for me.

I know she will be OK and get through it. She is a smart, happy, fun, loving girl. And she doesn't let it get her down for long. She will feel bad about it right after school for a couple of minutes then she goes on happily with her day!

OK, enough of that.

Alyssa's first field trip and I chaperoned!!!

Haha! Look at her face! It's her I'm concentrating on what's going on face.

I was in charge of watching these two girls...

enough parents volunteered that we each had to watch only 2 or 3 kids.

I was really hesitant about chaperoning because I get so tired. But, on the other hand I had an opportunity to be involved in a fun school activity with my daughter and her class and I just couldn't pass it up. I'm so glad I didn't. :)

We went to a farm! The kids got to plant broccoli...

They got a treat at the bakery. They got to feed the fish...

I don't know if you can see in this picture how colorful, big and beautiful these fish are!!!

They learned about the rain cycle and made bracelets with beads that represent each part.

They also got to pick a pumpkin to take home!!!

Her class...

We ate lunch there, played on the playground and then back to school.

Too bad I didn't get a pic with me and Alyssa together. Oh well. She said she was happy I went on the field trip with her...and so am I. :D

Remember to check out my pregnancy blog I just updated!!!

this and that from the past few weeks

2011-10-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

Alyssa wouldn't let me get her hair cut for the longest time. I think she was trying to grow it as long as Rapunzel's hair. Her long hair was not fun to brush!

Anyways, her Aunt Kaylie (who had really long hair) cut her hair and when Alyssa saw it she decided it was time to get her hair done too! Thank goodness!

Alyssa made the necklace, crown, bracelet and ring that she is modeling all with paper, tape, scissors and crayons...all of her favorite things!

After school she will sit for hours at the table making all kinds of things.

It's her favorite thing ever!

Did you notice the eye patch???

The eye Doc said she needed to wear one 4 hours everyday!

She wore it for a month, we went back, only a little improvement. So another 6 weeks of it and then we go back to see if there is anymore improvement with that eyes vision (crossing fingers). At first she did not like wearing it...now sometimes she will leave it on just a little bit longer than the recommended 4 hours a day. :)

Some of her artwork...

this one is of her and her friend from school.

She makes tons of pictures, paper puppets, etc. and gives them to her friends at school everyday! She will be known as the friend that colors.

And I don't have to worry AS MUCH about what to do with all her drawings and artwork... though she still makes a ton for Mom and Dad. So, we keep them for a while then I have her go through them and throw them away. The ones we love we take pictures of!!! Great idea! She seems to be OK with that arrangement. :)

Alyssa's first Birthday party invite from a school friend!

Only Alyssa and another girl from school were there. We felt pretty special.

They had the party at a Zoo and they made treats for the monkeys and got to pet snakes, turtles and a rabbit! Very fun!

I'm 24 weeks in this picture!

I love feeling him move around in there.

It's getting harder and harder to bend over and I finally starting to buy maternity clothes. So glad cause they are more comfortable!

Can't wait for baby boy to come!

For conference weekend this is some of what we feasted on.

It was a great weekend. Loved hearing the talks!

I also made a fruit dip. :D

On Sat our little town was having a city wide yard sale and after conference we decided to venture out and use this as a good way to meet our neighbors and maybe score a few good deals. It was great...found a few items and we meet about 5 of our neighbors. Which made me feel good cause we can't meet them at church since this isn't Utah. ;)

Grandma B. gave Alyssa this huge donut maker kit and we finally used it!

She had fun decorating it! It was a cool activity. Thanks Mom!

We are very excited for the Holidays coming up!

I love fall time and Halloween! Last year it didn't feel like fall came at all...

I was sad. This year (so far) it's been more Autumn like and I'm loving it!!!

Since we moved into a wonderful house I've really wanted to make it my home with decor and such. I've also been in the buying mood! We went to the dollar store and I went wild!!! Not something I usually do (even at cheap places!)...we got a bunch of decent quality kitchen stuff and I found a bunch of fun and decent quality Halloween decorations!!!! SO MUCH FUN!!!! After I put in up in the house I realized it's still not enough so I need to go get more cheap decor...hahaha! :D

So next time your in a spendy mood and know your budget can't allow it head to the dollar store and look for cute stuff you can go wild on!!! Cause even if you do get a ton of junk it won't cost you much and you can always throw it away...it's worth it for the thrill...at least every once in a while. :)

haha, hehe, haha, hehe!

Birthday Boy!

2011-09-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! There are pictures of Clint on his birthday?! No way!

Clint doesn't love pictures/cameras so I usually DON'T take his picture on his birthday and count it as a birthday present.

Not this year!

I wanted to be a little selfish and take some pics of him on his day and he gracious let me. How sweet. :)

He actually thought this picture turned out cool looking.

It sure did. And it wasn't because I have skill at making it look like people are on fire in pictures. :D Haha! Don't you just love his expression?!

I made the "Cavity Maker" cake for his birthday. I got the recipe from my sis-in-law Jen. Clint LOVES this cake! It is really good! Basically, you make a chocolate cake but before you do you add more chocolate- c. chips, c. pudding. I also made cream cheese frosting and Clint will pile gobs of it on top of his piece of cake. He's a cutie!

Oh, I like this picture Alyssa took of us!

To bad the lighting isn't great.

I think he had a good birthday. He says he did.

I sure love that man!!!!

The results are in...

2011-08-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

It's a boy!!!

I knew it!!!

Alyssa was disappointed for a little while but I think she is ok with a little brother now. She loved going to the ultrasound and seeing the baby!

Clint is very excited and I'm really happy.

And everything looks good with the baby and myself. I'm so grateful!

School Girl

2011-08-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

You mean I already have a kid in school!!! NO way!

Alyssa is in Kindergarten!!!!

She started two weeks ago on Aug. 15th.

Here she is all ready to go with her (of course) princess backpack.

I had to get a pic (even if it is a goofy one) of me with my

daughter on her first day of school.

In her classroom...

At her table. She was SO excited!!!

In line with her fellow classmates.

It turns out that she made friends with these two girls that very day. How cute!

And don't forget the lunch!

We have full day Kindergarten at our district so that means

Alyssa gets to eat lunch at school. WOW!

Alyssa loves, and I mean LOVES going to school!!!

She has so much fun with her new friends and she likes her teacher!!!

I am so happy for her! She has been ready for school for a while now and so far it's proving to be a VERY good thing for her. YEAH!!!

Lunch Bag

2011-08-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

Not only was Alyssa excited for school but so was I.

And I am all nerdy and get very excited about making her lunches.

I even resorted to taking pictures of some of them.

I don't know why it thrills me so. :D

I even taunt Clint with my simple creations and make him look at them and tell him to admire them. haha! I crack myself up. hehe!

Here are some of her lunches...

Ham & cheese sandwich, mandarin oranges, cookies and a water bottle.

Ham & cheese wrap, olives, grapes, fruit snacks and water.

Chicken salad pita, grapes, fruit snacks and apple juice.

I had my worries about sending her with a pita sandwich (of course it was leftovers from dinner;) and yes it came back in mostly a messy clump (I thought that might happen so I gave her a fork) I probably won't be sending that again...but I'm still very proud of my little lunch creation.

Today she got a hot lunch at school though which she of course loved. I'm trying to give her variety. I mostly want to send her with a homemade lunch, that way I can control what she eats. ;) I will sometimes give her cookies or some juice to add the occasional excitement but overall I want them to be kind of healthy lunches. ;)

It's been so nice having this kind of structure again. I've been having fun making breakfast like, eggs or pancakes and sometimes cereal ;D in the morning before school. Of course I'm SO grateful when Friday rolls around and we can take it easy again! Overall, the whole family is benefiting greatly from Alyssa being in school. :D

Going to The Zoo

2011-08-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

I had been wanting to take Alyssa to see animals at the Zoo and we finally were able too. We went the week before school started (tried to get in a few last min summer fun).

It was a small Zoo close to us...

but, we are convinced it had the most interesting inhabitants we've seen at a Zoo yet.

I loved these birds! Scarlet Ibis are so bright and beautiful!

It's not the best pic.

The Baboons were my favorite!!!

There were two of them and they were so interactive and kept making noises and moving around. Very fun to watch!

They had a Mountain Lion and it was sleeping. I really wanted to see some more cool action since we had just left the Baboons so I used my magical powers and got it to (in it's sleep) put it's paw up like it was stretching or saying "hi" (prefer the latter) and then it rolled over! Probably sounds silly but it was so cool and I felt very special it would do that JUST FOR ME! hehe!

Even the turtles in the pond were very active and fun to watch, weird I know!

The most excited were the Lorikeets!!!

If you paid $1 you could feed the birds some nectar.

We got it so Alyssa could have the experience but she was too afraid,

so Clint took over.

And boy did they LOVE him!

They started pecking at him all over! haha!

Aren't they pretty birds?!!!! Oh and they are VERY loud!

I wasn't holding any nectar but about 3 different birds also landed on my back or my purse and it freaked me out! I tried to shoo one away and it bite me...it kind of hurt...a little. :) I felt like the birds were attacking!!! After I realized they probably could tell I had snacks in my purse! haha! It was scary and exciting all at once!

Clint said their pecking started to tickle! Here he is laughing at it all!

Way cool experience! If we get anymore visitors from Utah we would love to take you there!

The Zoo was surrounded by cool parks, gardens and a little amusement park.

So, Clint and Alyssa rode a few rides!

It was a really fun activity and I'm so glad we got to go!

After we ate dinner at Red Robin and it was SO yummy and satisfying!

I love food! So happy I CAN eat again! :)

what a surprise...

2011-08-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

For some reason sometime in June Clint started to mention a trip to Utah, which surprised me because we both agreed at one point that we probably wouldn't make it to Utah until fall/winter for the holidays.

I kept telling him not to get my hopes up for nothing. My summer so far had consisted of well you know...sickness and boredom...so the thought of spending time with family even if just sitting around and talking sounded SO appealing!!!

We talked about going for the 4th of July but found out Clint's siblings that live out of state (there are 3 besides us) were all planning to visit at the end of July, so we decided that was the time to go!

Alyssa and her cousin Sofi swimming at aunt Kaylie's pool.

Clint's parents took us to the Alpine Slide place to ride the ski lift.

I had never been there before. We didn't go down the slides this time but Alyssa sure wanted too. Next time.

I have to admit I'm still a bit afraid of heights and so I was a bit on edge...so nervous Alyssa, Sofi or my things would fall out. Luckily, nothing did!

On the way back down Alyssa and Sofi started saying "hi" to the other passengers on the lift. They even started saying "hello" in Spanish, Hawaiian and Chinese. It was cute! Some people loved it and some seemed kind of surprised. One time after Alyssa said hello in Spanish and the people had passed she yelled out "we're really not Spanish!!!" Everyone thought it was pretty funny.

Clint and Grandpa N. had to ride in a separate one cause of lack of room. Here is Clint giving a look and Grandpa yelling something.

The view back down. Clint's parents took us to dinner at a fancy German restaurant in Park City...by fancy I mean expensive! Of course Clint's Dad generously paid for us all. But the real kicker is the tip...he had paid a 30% tip (which is already a great tip) and Clint's mom was confused thinking it wasn't a big enough tip so he added a $100 bill...making the tip 100% of the bill!!!! We were all shocked and kind of dismayed! But it makes a great story, eh? haha! I bet that waiter sure was happy!

My long time friend Savanna was able to come visit me while I was in town.

It was great catching up!

Sister/Mom party sleepover!

We ate at Marie Calendars and it was good! Then spent the rest of the night

at the Ramada in S. Salt Lake.

We had a blast!

The pool was open pretty late and we took advantage of that!

The next day we went to Joann's and got lunch.

It was great spending time with my fam!

I went to lunch with Melanie, Alicia, Jen (all out of towners), Cynthia and our kids to a Mexican restaurant (loved by the family) that is going out of business.

The two in front, Alicia and Melanie are prego also! So fun!

And another one of Clint's sisters just had a baby.

So much fun!!!

We spent over a week in Utah (though Clint went back to Cali to work for 4 of those days). We got to go to family gatherings, reunions, spent time with friends...but mostly we just hung out and it was so wonderful! I wasn't happy about leaving. :( It was just to much fun!

I love our families and friends!!! Living in another state sure makes me even more grateful for them!

This was one of the views we saw on the way home...

time to brag...he...he...he

2011-08-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

I am so very proud of myself. Why? I made beef stroganoff for dinner last night!!!! Why is this amazing? Well, considering I haven't made a dinner with this much prep, cook time, spices etc. since the week I found out I was prego (I'm four months along now!) I'd say it's something to celebrate!!! I didn't cook like this for so long cause cooking meat made me hurl or want to at least. We were in Utah a couple weeks ago and I was able to try real and good food again and it was marvelous! When we got back I started craving beef stroganoff really bad and got really sick of not having good food around the house so yesterday I got daring and made it! It was soo good and my family LOVED it!!!

I used Paula Deen's recipe and it's super easy. And it helps that Clint knows how to pick good steak! And right now beef is so good for me! Chicken and pork sometimes make me sick. Beef = good! :) I adjusted it a little and used dried onions instead of a real one and not very much. Still got to be careful with the spices. I also have some leftovers that will last me a couple days, YES!!!

Also, before we left for Utah I had been tired, sick and super bored so I entertained myself with reading. I read six books in 3 weeks! For me that is super fast because I usually have things I do in between my reading sessions therefore making it take longer to get through a book. Well, yes I still have to take care of Alyssa but she is five years old and does most the basics on her own now. And since Clint took over the chores for a while cause I was feeling so yucky and out of it (so grateful! He is so great! Oh, and it's ok if you call me lazy, it's true:) I got to spend a ton more time reading and it was very nice! Check out my Goodreads bar to the right to see what I read and what I rated them. If you don't have an account there you really should get one! It is so fun to rate and review books and see what your friends have read! Go right now, sign up, become my friend and actually read and update on it!!!!

Also, don't forget to read my pregnancy blog and make comments! And feel free to make comments here too! Since, I live out of state away from friends and family sometimes I turn to blogging to connect and it feels so great when people say "hey" to me here! Makes me feel like I still have friends ;) Thanks! I love you all!

Swimming, swimming, swimming!

2011-08-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

Alyssa took swimming lessons for 2 weeks.

Her first day she got stage freight and it took her forever to get in the water and join the kids. I was surprised, she usually loves getting in the water...maybe a class setting threw her off. One of the teachers was so nice though and stayed with Alyssa until she was ready to get in. Yes, we bribed her with ice cream. It worked. ;)

Here she is in action...

Diving board time!!! Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

Those things scare me! So, I was pretty nervous for Alyssa.

Did she do it??? Watch and see...

I don't know why it skips there...how annoying.

Anyway, SHE DID IT!!!! She said she was scared but she did it anyway.

I'm such a proud Mommy! She then proceeded to jump off about 3 more times!!! WOW! SO NOT like her Momma...someday, someday.

Here she is practicing in our pool....

UNDERWATER! Pretty good! She is a underwater freak! Going under non-stop at our pool and during lessons. Even her teacher told her she needed to cool it and "take a breath." I was so glad she said something, I was getting worried she would drown or something, there were a lot of kids in her class and it's hard to keep track of them all. Of course I was watching her too from the benches.

She still has a ton to learn but I think this class was a good thing. Now she is familiar with the techniques and next time she will be even better!

Alyssa has glasses!!!

2011-08-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

Alyssa's eyes go cross-eyed when she focuses on things... though it's more obvious with her left eye. The eye doc said that one eye is near sighted and one is far sighted. So, he suggested we try glassed for a while to see if it will correct her eyes. If it doesn't work then she will have to wear an eye patch to strengthen her eyes.

Doesn't she look cute?!

She picked her glasses herself and was very adamant about it. She wouldn't even hardly look at the suggestions we had...she already knew what she liked. You can't tell in the pic but they are pinkish/red glasses. I figured that she is more likely to wear them if she likes them...so she got her way even though they are a little big. :)

We go back to the doc on Tuesday so he can check if there is any improvement. I hope so...cause she starts school in a week!!!!

I love this land...

2011-08-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Fourth Of July
We didn't do much for the holiday this year. Probably cause all the family stuff we are used to going to were to far away. :( And I still had bad morning sickness.

We got sparklers and treats and went to a small park to play around. And there were a couple fireworks in the neighborhood we got to see from the park.

Isn't she just so cute?! YES!

And don't you just love her patriotic red outfit?!

Another cute, patriotic pic. :)

She got that flag for free from a local fruit stand owner.

She was very happy about that.

And the best family photo ever! haha!

We are very grateful for our freedoms and for the people who help make it possible for us to enjoy them!

Good Behavior

2011-08-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

A few months back, I decided to start a sticker chart for Alyssa. We also sat her down and told her her little chores she has to do everyday. I felt like it was about time we actually came up with this kind of structure for her to really learn responsibility. Of course we would have her clean-up and such before, I just felt like we needed to make it more concrete.

The Chart

When she does extra chores she gets stickers and when she is obedient all day (meaning no time-outs) she gets another sticker.

When her chart is full of stickers she gets a reward.

I just got a bunch of cheap yet cool toys and crafts from a dollar store for her to pick from when she fills a chart.

Sometimes, I would give her those cheap toys/crafts for fun but I started feeling like I was spoiling her (with cheap things, I know. haha!!) and with this chart she actually earns those things for good behavior. I like it and she likes it! Now I can "spoil" her without really "spoiling" her. :) hehe!

Finally, fam came to visit us for a few days!!!

2011-07-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

We were so excited when Clint's sis Kaylie and her hubby Dustin came to visit us last month! Not only are they cool but they are the first family to come stay with us for a few days! And we've been out here 10 months! ;)

The four of us played in our pool while Clint was at work.

Oh my gosh, I've never seen Alyssa have such a fun time in the pool!

Kaylie and Dustin were so much fun! And they helped her not be as afraid of the water. It's weird cause for a little girl that loves swimming pools so much Alyssa doesn't do much in them cause she's afraid. haha! I was planning on putting her in swimming lessons but I wasn't sure and now that she is more daring I think it's a good time!

One of the days we made it out to the beach...but it

was too cold to really play in the water. :(

It was still fun though!

After the beach we ate Sushi and I was able to eat a lot, yes!

While they were here it really distracted me from the morning sickness...I only threw up once while they were here! Oh, and one failed attempt! haha!

Alyssa and her new parents! ;)

She loves them!

Thanks Dustin and Kaylie for coming to spend time with us!

P.S. Don't forget to check out my pregnancy blog! http://momsjob.wordpress.com/

I talk about how my teeth prevented us from getting prego and how I currently feel regarding morning sickness.

I'm a Silly Girl

2011-06-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

I'm so silly that I created a blog just so I can complain about and show my excitement for my pregnancy.

It's called Mom's Job...mostly because all the other names I wanted were taken and I thought this was still pretty good.

I don't know why I need a whole new blog for my pregnancy. I just know that I need one! :)

I will still update on my pregnancy here but I will really get into detail on this new blog.

Here check it out http://momsjob.wordpress.com/

And if your a Mom I want YOU to contribute to the blog too!

I'm serious! Please share!!!

Telling Alyssa the News

2011-06-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

It took her a minute but then she showed her excitement.

Try to ignore my silly voice.

It's true, I'm pregnant!

We told her to keep it a secret cause I was six weeks at the time but of course she went and told her church teachers. Haha! Oh well.

It's hard to believe I'm really pregnant. I mean if it weren't for missing my periods, 3 positive pregnancy tests and the morning sickness I wouldn't believe it. Haha! It seems so surreal. I haven't had my first appointment yet (they wouldn't see me until I was nine weeks...it's set up for this Thursday) and so I get nervous that I'm going go and something will be wrong or I won't really be prego. I'm very paranoid. I'm trying to have faith though.

I'm trying to survive. I throw up a ton and even the thought of most food makes me sick. I've lost 12 lbs in 3 weeks as a result. I CANNOT wait until food is good again!!!! Even drinking water can make me sick. It has to be ice cold (so I freeze it) and even then I can't overdo it. I was REALLY hoping I wouldn't be as sick this time. Well, there is still hope that it won't last as long this time. Last time it lasted up until my 5 month.

Anyways, we are still excited!!! Can't wait to add to our family! Alyssa sure is ready for a sibling. :)

We're the Best of Friends

2011-06-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

Alyssa's Spring Dance Recital.

She just HAD to pick her own pose.

First dance: We're the Best of Friends

She is 2nd to the right in pic and video.

Here it is...

Second dance: We go Together

She is 2nd to the left.

Notice her grumpy face expression...she was upset cause

she didn't get to stand in the spot she wanted. I thought it was pretty funny!

Alyssa and some of her class mates dancing

around during the dance rehearsal.

After the recital.

Alyssa holding the flower Clint got her for performing.

It's kind of funny cause when Clint gave her the flower she was upset he didn't get her two flowers. So, he told her he could take it back and she decided that one flower was enough. Talk about spoiled! Oh well. Haha!

I'm so happy Alyssa loves to dance! She did wonderful! And she had fun playing backstage before and after she danced too! :)

So proud of her!

Visiting From Utah

2011-06-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

Janae and Andy were in town visiting his brother a couple weeks ago and we were able to meet up with them at the Half Moon bay beach.

Clint dug Alyssa into a hole.

She didn't like it very much.

She is standing in there.

We had lots of fun chatting,

playing around

and taking fun pictures.

Love this one of Janae! :)

Cute!

Alyssa had fun using this drift wood as a shovel

and had to get a pic with it.

Oh, how special.

We took a silly one too...but it's on Janae's camera, hopefully I get a copy.

It was fun meeting up with them! They rock!

Tooth Fairy Time

2011-05-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

Soon after we got back from Utah

Alyssa lost her first tooth!

It was pretty exciting!

With the money she got from the Tooth fairy we went to the Dollar store and Alyssa picked of all things a toy TOOL set!!!! I was very surprised my princess girl would pick that...but she liked it. Haha!

I can't believe how big this girl is getting!

Oh, and she went to her first dentist appointment and she didn't have any cavities! I wish I were that lucky!

Adventures in Utah part 1

2011-05-11T23:48:00.000-07:00

We headed for Utah last month for Clint's lil sisters wedding.

Since we hadn't been to Utah in 5 months we made it into a longer trip. Staying over a week. We arrived late Friday night after driving all day long! I got to help drive this time (since there wasn't any snow on the roads unlike last time) and I enjoyed it.

P.S. I was going to scrap the pictures but I was just too lazy. So here they are all long and drawn out...just the way I like it. ;)

Saturday

We stayed the whole time with Clint's family. So, we were able to help out a little with wedding stuff. Which I loved! I got to help edit photos and order them last minute (cause her order didn't make it in time).

The wedding!

Do you see the dress that Alyssa is wearing? Well, I made it! My first sewing project and it turned out pretty good. I'm a little unsure about the fabric I picked, but I wanted Alyssa to like it and she LOVES IT! And it's a bit short but it's still decent enough. I had a really good sewing teacher, thanks Karen! It was actually supposed to be her Easter dress but she really wanted to wear it to the wedding and I decided to let her.

The happy couple!

Kaylie and Dustin.

Bridesmaids holding up the groom. How silly!

The girl on the left and the two in the middle are my awesome sisters-in-law and the girl hiding behind the grooms head is Clint's cute niece.

Kaylie and Alyssa! They have a special relationship (when Alyssa isn't being bratty and ignoring everybody) cause when Alyssa was younger Kaylie was her main babysitter! So cute!

Sunday
It was fun joining Clint's fam at Church. Five kids (and there families) out of the 15 kids in Clint's family were there, so it was very neat.

We celebrated Easter with Clint's fam the Sunday before Easter because Alicia (pictured below) had to go and move out of state the next day! :(

Every year they do an awesome Easter egg hunt and here is part of it to give you an idea how amazing it is!

The craziness before the kids get to hunt!

Very exciting!

Each grand kid under 18 gets like 4 toys, 3 treats and one egg with money in it!

Then we had a yummy dinner and celebrated upcoming birthdays!

Since we had been in Utah for almost two whole days and I hadn't seen my family yet after dinner with Clint's fam we headed to my parents house and all my siblings were there!

All the grand kids (except one niece that waited until right after I left Utah to be born...how rude:) Oh, and one uncle.

All the girls! (except unborn one)

Alyssa holding Arianna.

She had so much fun holding the tiny, cute little baby.

Alyssa wants a little sister so bad and I think she pictures her little sister looking like Arianna does.

Cute!

Monday

Mostly just hung out with Clint's fam, helped Alicia pack a little and said goodbye to her and her lil family. We also went to dinner with Stew, Kenna and Darci. Love Kenna! She made a big effort to spend time with me while I was in town. What a good friend!

Tuesday

I meet up with two of my fav cousins! We haven't gotten together like this in forever!!! We meet at the mall and tried to shop but we were to busy talking!

Then we headed to dinner at Iggy's.

Jessica and Janae!

As kids we would have so much fun together!

I love them dearly! :)

We had so much fun catching up! And we plan to do this every time I come into town. I'm holding ya to it girls!!!! ;)

I also got to have a Sister's and Mom party later.

We went to Asian Buffet...but since I already ate with my cousins I just was there for the company! It was very fun! I love my sista's (and there babies!:) and my Mommy so much!

Wednesday

We meet Kevin, McKenna and Darci (see I told ya she made an effort to hang with me!) for lunch at Wingers.

I can't believe Kevin smiled for the picture!

Cute!

Later we went to my sister's house and we had dinner with her family. She made a delicious homemade BBQ sauce...which we all loved!!! I got to go to Zumba with her and Clint got to play basketball with my bro in-law. Very fun! Thanks Hi'd (short for Heidi:).

Thursday

I hung at my parents house.

This is so cute...Grandpa and Alyssa bonded while playing the Wii.

And this is adorable...

Alyssa and her uncle (yes, uncle...only a year or two older than her, I forget. That's what we get for being Mormons:)

Anyways, they are doing Wii YOGA! They are so serious about it too!

Haha! I love it!

Adventures in Utah part 2

2011-05-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

Clint has had this guitar for awhile and hasn't used it much. Well, he got to spend time with his nephew and he taught Clint a song. Clint was pretty excited! It was fun to hear him play it.

Friday

McKenna and I (with our daughters) got to go shopping and afterward we meet up with my family at the...

South Jordan Library, except it isn't a library anymore. It's a museum! I have a lot of fond memories at that library. One of my favorites places! It was fun taking my daughter to my old hang out even though it's a lot different now. :)

There is cool history info, old furniture and this cool play area...

Milking the cow!

Wearing bonnets!

The grocery store was a hit!

Cool replica of a house built into a hill.

My Cinderella in her carriage. How cool is that!!!!

The museum guide guy rocked it...it was like a ride!

Fun buggy!

Alyssa got to play games with her Grandma before bed. They had so much fun!!!

Somehow Lani and I talked Clint into playing a game and the three of us ended up playing late into the night. Very fun!

We are so grateful for the meals and shelter Clint's parents provided for us!

Saturday

We had lunch with the Helferich's, the Nielsen's and Kevin.

The cute little girls!

The guys NOT wanting there picture taken.

They got lucky the sun was there to glare at me too.

The cute older girls! ;)

Afterwards, most of us went to the aquarium in Sandy.

These are so cool...

I've always had a fascination with these birds! Then a couple months ago Alyssa and I watched March of The Penguins and now I'm convinced they are the coolest, most interesting creatures! It was fun to see them at the aquarium!

the Helferich's

After this we got to have dinner with one of Clint's sisters and her family. It was so fun!

Easter Sunday

The stash...

tasting the goods

Ate breakfast with Clint's fam and then we said our goodbyes to them and headed to church with my family.

Arianna with me on her blessing day.

Alyssa told me to take a picture of her "being a wedding girl"

cause "this is what they look like..." and then she proceeded to pucker her lips and the like. haha!

After church we had lunch with my whole family. It was cool because I got to hear both my parents teach there classes! Very cool. Todd, Adri, Arianna and I made a quick commercial just for fun. And then we were off to California. I wish I would have gotten a picture when I drove off though cause my whole fam was out there waving us off. It was awesome and I got emotional. I was really upset about leaving this time. I miss family, friends and even Utah. :(
I still love it here in Cali though. :)

Biz Trip to Oregon

2011-04-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Such a pretty state! We really like the feel of it there...sort of a warm and fuzzy feeling. :) This was last month.

Alyssa had to go to the bathroom really, really bad and there wasn't any bathrooms around at the time. It got so bad that we pulled the car over and told her we weren't leaving until she went to the bathroom outside. She was so terrified. She was running back and forth, in circles, and crying hysterically like I've never seen before (and I've seen crazy from her before). I couldn't help but laugh. FINALLY, after several minutes of this...and I mean several...she decided she was ready and relieved herself. It was quite the relief for all of us. But, really it can be a scary thing for a girl to do and it takes skill so you don't make a mess.
Now when we drive she asks if she can pee on the side of the road. We've created a monster! This whole experience really makes me want to invest in a Go Girl it makes it possible for girls to pee standing up without a mess!!! Also, a good idea for a 72 hour kit! ;)

After that hilarious unpleasant experience with the outside bathroom we stopped at a bakery and got donuts and went to this amazing beach.

And we happened upon this stinky corpse...looks like a seal.

It was a very pretty place. The waves were really big though. Kind of freaked me out.

Impromptu photoshoot

2011-04-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

On the way to Oregon Clint had a pick-up at a Vet college near the Sacramento area. There was a barn with cool stuff and so we decided to make it fun and do a photo shoot.

Leaving the place...

I know, we are kind of silly.

Vegas Biz Trip

2011-04-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

We went down to Vegas last month. Almost a week after I got my wisdom teeth removed. Clint had work down there (of course). We drove a big Ryder truck and I was very nervous that the bumps would give me dry socket or make it harder to heal...I think it did (not the dry socket) cause I did hurt more after that. It was a long drive, 9 hours!
We there for about 4 nights. The last two nights we found a fun casino to stay in close to Hoover Dam. We ate at the buffet twice, it was cheaper and better than the buffet we went too just off the strip. My mouth would barely open though (still healing) so I had to cut the food small and slide it through the little opening...it hurt. Luckily, I brought the pain meds!

The casino also had a dollar theater! We saw Just Go With It...it was very funny! One of my favorite comedies right now! The old guy that was working there gave Alyssa FREE POPCORN for being pretty. Honestly, I didn't know if I should feel flattered or freaked out about it. He talked to her after the movie too. I'm not to paranoid about things like that it just seemed a bit weird this time. Oh well.

There was a trail by the hotel with cool rocks. We had fun walking it...

I decided to be adventurous and climb up part of the rock. I look silly in the pic though.

Alyssa had fun picking flowers. She looks really freaky/evil in this picture so I thought it was be funny to post. haha!

Here is a better picture of her. Funky hair though. :D

Alyssa being bossy!

Overlooking the lake.

It was a really fun business trip! I'm so grateful we get to do these little trips often!

What ever happened to predictability?

2011-04-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

Do you remember this amazing show?
It's Full House..."Duh!"
It was my favorite has a child.

Yes, I had a crush on Uncle Jesse.

On our next trip to San Francisco we found the Full House house...and here it is!!!!

The door is no longer red. "How Rude!"

Another view of the house...the middle one.

"You Got It, Dude."

Another famous view/houses from Full House...I used to think that the house they "lived" in was one of these, nope the house they actually used (above) was a couple blocks away.

Myself and Alyssa in front of the houses.

Alyssa even got to play at the park across the street. I believe it's the same park that's in the intro for the show.

Full house was such a great cheesy show!!!! :)

Here is a clip of some of the fun moments from the show.

Doesn't it just want to make you cry??? Well, I almost did. Haha!

Ah, the good old days!

We had a fun time. Besides looking at Full House history we got to eat at a Indian place that had a belly dancer. The belly dancer tried to talk to Alyssa and Alyssa was so embarrassed; she looked so stricken it was funny! Not like Alyssa at all.

We ate dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. It was good. It's actually based on the movie:
Forrest Gump!

They even quizzed us about the movie and Clint knew every answer even though he hasn't seen the movie all the way through. He is just that good at tests and quizzes!

There's my hot man!

Quite the experience, two famous show flashbacks all in one day! :)

All About Alyssa

2011-03-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

Alyssa at dance class. Such a little sassy cutie!

She the one wearing a white top.

We were shopping at The Gap and I look over and find Alyssa being a mannequin!!!! I don't know where she comes up with these things! She is seriously a rockstar! She stood there for at least 5 minutes! She got lots of attention...lots of people passing the store had to stop and look at this cute little girl frozen in the window.

If you can't tell this is serious business and notice how happy she is to do it.

Haha! Gotta love this girl! Kind of reminds me of when I was a mannequin....remember this post?

She also had to be a mannequin with the other mannequins in the store.
She is such a hoot!

We Are Number One!

2011-03-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

Our Primary had an activity last month called Nephi's Challenge.
It was fun...we split the kids into groups and learned about how to use a compass, tie a knot, put up a tent, etc. while we read scriptures.

I know it wasn't a competition but my group got done first!!!! We are #1. :D

After we ended with a hot dog lunch. This is supposedly our last activity cause apparently the church stopped doing them and we just learned about it. Haha! Is it sad that I'm relieved? I wasn't looking forward to planning four a year! :)

By the way, do you like Alyssa's pose in the picture? The 2nd counselor in the Bishopric was amazed with her silly posing abilities...more amazed that she called those crazy arm freezes poses. Haha! That's MY girl. :)

Got Damage?

2011-03-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

I'm recovering from 2 of my wisdom teeth being pulled. I still have two wisdom teeth left in my mouth. I have a high risk of nerve damage and they didn't want to risk it, so they just took out the two. Which means that most likely I will have to go back and do this whole thing again in a few months. :(

Nerve damage causes numbness in part(s) of the lower jaw and it if last longer than a year than it's permanent. If it's not permanent it can take a couple days, weeks or months to heal. I'm trying to stay positive cause my the right part of my lower lip and the chin under it has been numb since Saturday. I know it's not the worst thing that could happen to me but can you imagine how annoying it would be to live with that for the rest of your life? Especially that first two years. The first year there's getting used to the numbness and the weird sensations and then there is dealing with the fear of it staying forever. The second year having to deal with the fact that you have to live with numbness for the rest of your life! Again, I know it's not the worst thing that could happen but I still would rather NOT have that.

When I was waiting for the surgeon to come in and put me under I was shaking I was so nervous. I don't think I was even that nervous when I gave birth! I also almost cried a few times. Luckily, I know how to use breathing and good thoughts to calm me down. Then the strangest thing happened next; they came in talked to me a little, put a thing in my mouth and the next thing I know I'm being woken up and I'm outside in a wheelchair!!! I can't stop thinking how amazing THAT IS! I don't even remember falling asleep!!!!

The nurse lady waiting with me said I didn't like them touching my mouth and I tried to stop them. Really?! I must be pretty amazing to have done that and not remember anything. :D I stumbled to the car with Clint and the nurse lady's help. I got in the car and I began the tear fest. I was so worked up about the whole thing that I needed to let it out and so I bawled.

Besides the whole numbness (nerve damage) threatening me I do seem to be recovering well. I'm not to swollen, the bleeding stopped fast and I don't feel a lot of pain. I do feel sick off and on, it's hard to open my mouth and I have my worries but Clint has been a great help and Alyssa is so sweetly concerned about me. After we got home from the oral surgeon Alyssa looked me up and down and said "Mom, some part's of your body are still pretty. Like your stomach and legs." I asked "but not my face?" and She looks and says "Well, it's pretty here." and motioned across her forehead to represent mine. At least my forehead is still pretty. I laughed so hard...well as hard as I could with a recently worked on and swollen face! :)

Now I get to look forward to doing this all over again in a few months...that is IF the current nerve damage heals this time around and I have some hope that it will.

P.S. Does anybody (Mom? Ann O? anybody?) know of anything that helps heal nerve damage?