Just a Quick One.....

I know it's been a while since my last post and I have a lot I need to get up here, but since we don't actually pay for our internet (we just pick up wireless from the park by our house and that internet won't let you upload images because it's stupid) I thought I would just write a little update and post pics later.
My little bear is officially 1! Her birthday was so much fun and it was so nice to have all of Kevin's family here. She is so spoiled! She got a ton of gifts! So many cute clothes and toys. It was also nice because Kevin's Grandma Tatom was here so Claire got to see her Great Grandma. Kevin and I also ran a 5k with his mom on Halloween which was fun. The whole last mile was totally uphill which killed me the next few days but it was still a fun thing that we were able to do together. After her birthday, I realized I needed to write down some of the things she is doing right about now so I can remember......
She walks (and runs) everywhere
she says teddy, momma, dadda, hi, bye, night night, no, socks, papa, kiska, baba, ball (all of this is pretty clear but also babbled baby talk)
she frowns at you almost immediately when you tell her no
she LOVES when her dad comes home from work
she walks straight to her room on her own after prayers when it's time for bed
she has finally picked and become attached to a blanket
she is drinking whole milk!!!!
She has the funniest and cutest little personality and it comes out more and more each day. I can't believe how much she adds to my life. Sometimes I watch her walk around and I can't believe how big she is. I remember when we brought her home from the hospital. It didn't seem that long ago! The more she does on her own I get so excited but then I also realize how much more she isn't my little baby anymore. Which brings me to my next subject.....
Kevin and I have been talking about when is the best time for me to get pregnant again. Don't worry I'm not pregnant now, but we just can't decide when the next time is right. We want to make sure they aren't too far apart but at the same time, we just put a lot on our plate with buying this house and a mortgage and all the bills that come with it, Kevin's life insurance, and we just aren't sure if we are ready for TWO kids yet? Any of you mom's with more than one kid.....did you plan it just perfectly or did it just happen? Do you ever feel ready of is it just like with the first one-If I wait and wait until we feel ready we'll probably never feel ready huh? Well, yeah, so that's what we are thinking about right about now.
Anyway, the holidays are getting really close and I am so excited to see my family! Todd and his wife just welcomed their beautiful little girl Melanie on November 10! She is so cute and I can't wait to meet her. Noah and Ava are so excited to see Claire and I know she is going to have a blast running around with them, now that she can keep up! The holidays are my favorite time of year. The smells and feelings and just spending time with family are the best things ever. And hot chocolate every day!!!!! I know this was a random post but I'll get some more pics up soon and it will all make a little more sense. Until next time,
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

Nail Polish Disaster :(

Having Claire walking is such a catch 22. It is awesome because she can do so much for herself and she is so much more independent and I don't have to go get her and carry her everywhere. But then it sucks because she gets into so much more. A great example would be the pictures below. I left her in my room for 5 minutes to go get her outfit for the day and I came back to this. She had opened my cabinet and pulled out my red nail polish, broken the bottle and trailed it all over the place. When I first came around the corner my heart stopped because I thought it was blood but then I realized it was nail polish and my heart really only lifted a tiny bit. I immediately grabbed her and stuck her the tub so I could get to work on the carpet. That was a good idea but also caused more for me to clean because the polish was still wet so she got it all over the tub too.

This is what it looked like after about 45 min of work. Not much better than when I first found it.

The red tub monster.

Quarantined in the bathroom until my sister in law brought me some nail polish remover to clean her off.

She is a lively one, and she sure keeps me on my toes.....but I wouldn't trade her for anything :)

Just Call Me Crafty!

So as some of you may know, my mother-in-law gave me a sewing machine for Christmas when Kevin and I had been married for about a year. Well as awesome as that was, I have failed to get it out and use it even once since then. Well here we are, 2 years later and I have finally gotten it out and put it to some good use. And surprise, surprise! I am actually not too bad at sewing! I guess I was paying attention when my mom used to make me watch her sew things. Below are some of the projects that I have completed so far, and I have a feeling there will be lots more to come!
We bought a new bed set for our guest room and I saw this cool painting thing on some other blog so I decided to try it. You just buy some painting canvas and trace a pattern on wax paper. Then cover the wax paper with painters tape, cut out the pattern, stick it to the canvas and paint. Voila!

This is the bed set we bought. I think the paintings I did will match pretty good! Oh and as far as the pillows, I made the two smaller solid green ones, and the small one in front with the flower on it.


I made all 3 pillows for our couches.

And I made this shirt for Claire with the left over fabric from the guest pillows. So all in all I made 6 throw pillows and a shirt for about 50 bucks. Not bad right?

Catching Up

At the beginning of the month I went to Provo to visit my sister Vicki for a few days. She and I and our kids then drove to Colorado to visit my parents for Labor day. It was really fun because my little sister and my brother and his wife met us there so we could all be together. The only people missing were Kevin and Vicki's husband Mike, they both had to work. Anyway, it was really fun just to hang out with them all week. We went to this park in Pueblo that has little kid theme park rides, Claire loved the carosel. We went out to eat a few times-oh and my dad gave my mom a new wedding ring for their 30 year anniversary that is blinging!!-and played a lot of games. We also got to see some of my aunts and uncles who have never met Claire, and my grandparents who haven't seen her since her blessing, so it was nice. Here are just some of my favorite pics from the trip. Claire really started to take some good steps at my parents and has since moved onto full blown walking, I'll have to take some pictures/video of that too and get those posted. She is so cute how she waddles around the house.

Also, now that I am home some nice new things took place at my house while I was gone: my sweet husband got our shutters in and had them installed, they look great I'll have to put a picture up, he got our garage all painted and finished up, and he did that thing to the garage floor where they paint it and throw the spots all over then glaze it, not sure what that's called, and his brother just bought a house and so the guy that has been living with us will move out by the end of the week!!! I am so happy about all this stuff. Having our guest room free again means I can actually have some family visit again.

Also, my friend Mandi is super talented and has a business making hair bows, leg warmers, tutus and other cute little things for little girls. Yesterday she had a photo shoot with a bunch of little girls we know so they could model her Halloween costumes for her website. Claire got to go and be the Ladybug. She was sooo cute. She actually behaved a lot better than I thought she would :) I was sure that she would be climbing all over the place and pulling off her wings and tutu, but she was really good and the pictures turned out really cute. These are just some of the ones I took with my own camera. There was a professional there who took way better ones, but long story short, Claire was super cute, the rest of the costumes were all super cute, and she sells them for a great deal. So if you have a little girl and you don't have a costume yet, get in touch with me and I'll point you to her website.

Great Times With Great Friends in Oceanside!!!

This last weekend we drove down to Oceanside, California to visit our friends, Andee and Steve Ott. They are staying down there for the summer managing some apartments. Well we had a blast with them! They are great friends, and we always have good times with them. It was perfect because our babies are the exact same age and so they would sleep at the same time and play at the same time. We spent a lot of time at the beach and a lot of time riding bikes with the babies strapped to Kevin and Steve. Claire loved that part. Every time we would start to strap her in she would wiggle and make little squeaky noises.These two had so much fun together! Every morning they would just smile so big when they woke up and saw each other!
Andee and I both have a backround in gymnastics, so we started doing some on the beach. It was pretty cool because we both learned that we could still do back flips post babies. I'm not as good a photog as Andee though, so we only have shots of me doing one. She rocked like 3 of them though!

Both of us doing back handsprings

The wonderful husbands and our darling babies

All in all the weekend was so fun! The only bad part was that on the way home, my jetta broke down in some little cali town and we had to get a tow back to Vegas, where we had to spend some bucks to get it fixed. Otherwise, we loved every minute and can't wait to go back once we get another break from work-and they want us back :)

What Did I Do Before You??

My Dear Claire,
What did I do before you? I can't even remember what my life was like before I had you. You are the best thing in my life. Every day that I spend with you is so fun. You are the light of my life. I love when I look at you how you smile so big at me. I love that when I am making any kind of food in the kitchen or doing my hair you stand right next to me and hug my legs. I love how you kiss me when I am just holding you, for no reason at all. I love how smart you are, that you clap when you're happy and that you raise your arms above your head when we ask how big you are. You are growing up so fast. Each day I notice more and more that you are turning into a little girl and not my little baby anymore. You are constantly babbling and chattering to yourself. You are so kind and friendly. You wave at everyone. You smile at everyone. You are my favorite thing in the whole world. You are never far from my mind and I am always thinking of ways to make your life better. I love you more than you will ever know.

FUN FUN FUN

Watching Baby Einstein

My BFF

So tonight after I hung up the phone with my sister Vicki after talking to her probably 8 times today, I started to think about how much I love her and appreciate the relationship that I have with her. She truly is my best friend. She and I talk on the phone probably 1-2 hours every day. We think we are the two funniest people alive, and have more fun making each other laugh than probably anyone else we know. We have countless inside jokes with one another. I can tell her anything and the same goes for her. I look up to her and respect her. I know that she is there for me whenever I need someone to talk to. No one understands our crap talking but us. I know that no matter how many times her stupid phone hangs up on me she will always call me back. She always returns my texts. She motivates me to be a better person. I value her opinion. She really is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her. So, thanks Vicki....I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

Some good times....