A few pictures to catch up with...

This is the closest thing we got to a Halloween costume this year. This is my "Disgruntled" Batman, as my friend Natalie named him. He would not wear his costume...refused to actually. So I decided it didn't need to be a battle we were going to fight.

This is from the haunted Heber Creeper ride we went on. He loved it. It was a lot of fun.
I took Blake to the zoo yesterday with some friends from our neighborhood. It was so much fun and I almost wanted to bring home the baby elephant. She is so cute with her big ears. These are all Blake's little friends from the neighborhood.

Blake and Golden

A lot of little boys: Ethan, Camden, Blake, Golden

It was a good day!!

Halloween...

Every Tuesday...Blake goes to my nieces house while I go to work.  He loves to spend the day with them.  They have pet rats, dogs, and a turtle and he thinks it is so much fun.  Last Tuesday when I went to pick him up  my 10 year old niece, Callie, said she would give me a pedicure.  She wasn't kidding...She has this whole kit that basically gave me a professional pedicure.  I let her pick the colors and she did a great job.  Very seasonal...Here are a few blurry pics...The smudge on my big toe is the second smudge.  I just had her fix the first one two hours ago and my two year old already stepped on it.

Family Rules...

I found this idea off another blog....and I loved it.  I think there are things in life that are just good rules to live by.  You could custom this to fit what you feel is important.  I just used a piece of blank canvas, modge podge ( a lot of it), different scrapbook paper and letters to create this list.  I think it turned out great and now we have a daily reminder of those things that are important.  I think everyone should have a list posted like this...

Ghost Cookies...

Blake and I made these ghost cookies today...Although Blake is pretty much a disaster when it comes to really helping with projects like this.  He preferred to eat the white chocolate with his hands instead of dipping the cookies into it.  I thought these were so cute and easy.  I copied the idea from my cousin who I think got it from Martha Stewart.  I'm definitely not creative enough to come up with something like this.  All it is is Nutter Butters dipped in melted white chocolate chips and then a mini chocolate chip used for the eyes.  You all should try them.  And don't they look so cute wrapped up?

The perfect pumpkin...

How do you pick the perfect pumpkin?  There are so many options.  Tall and skinny, short and fat.  Some have a flat back and some are perfectly round.  Some are orange...somegreen...and some white.  Sometimes you find them in the last week of September and sometimes not until the 30th of October.  There is no wrong or right, but it should fit you.  This is not a task I take lightly.  Somehow, I've fallen into this trap where I really believe that the pumpkin I choose will represent a little piece of who I am.  Like it has a small part of me in it. I know this is a weird thought process but I can't help it.  So this year...we went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point.  It is a pumpkin patch with all sorts of things to do with kids.  There are slides and scary creatures. There are a few corn mazes and a big jumping pillow.  It is so much fun.  As we are walking into Cornbelly's...I saw it.  It was like it called to me.  There at the front was my pumpkin and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. Those of you that know my husband you know that of course he would not consider buying it for fear that the total on the "receipt" would be to high so I had to walk right past it on the way out.  Of course that just meant that Blake and I went back this morning and picked it up.  This year the winner was a white fairly proportioned pumpkin with a few tan/orange bumpy things on it.  Apparently I was the only person it called to because it was still there in its same spot. And now it is happily resting on my front porch....Here it is.  The tiny pumpkin was Blake's pick.  He could of had any pick of the whole pumpkin patch...and this was it.  A little anti-climatic for him, but fun for me.  I love them!

It's time....

It is time to start blogging again.  I've been on a seven month break and am feeling like it might be time to start up again.  We'll see how far I get.

I have a TWO year old!!

I can't believe that Blake is TWO!  He is so much fun and has so much to say about everything. He has learned so many words and trys so hard to talk to us.  We are so grateful to have him in our lives and couldn't picture life without him.  This is my Blake Gratitude list.

-I am grateful that Blake is TWO instead of a newborn.

-I am grateful that Blake still needs an eye rub when he needs to be comforted.  If you have ever had the opportunity to experience one of Blake's eyerubs than you would be grateful to.  

-I am grateful that Blake and I share this conversation about 30 times a day...over and over.

-Blake: "Mommy?"

-Me: "What?"

-Blake: "What?"

-I am grateful that Blake likes to be outside.  He would be all day if I would let him.

-I am grateful that Blake says his prayers...or tries.

-I am grateful that Blake likes the babysitters we get for him.

-I am grateful for Blake's bright blue eyes.

-I am grateful that Blake loves his Daddy.

-I am grateful for Blake's orange Keens.  Aren't I a little bit shallow.

-I am grateful that I get to be Blake's mom.

-I am grateful so grateful for Blake and all that makes him him.  There are so many more small things that we get to experience daily. 

March 22, 2007

A day in the life of Blake EVERYDAY!

My mom gave Blake a train set for his birthday.  He loves it.  He wouldn't take a nap today unless he could sleep with his train.  

Color...

Don't you love the color of this page??  Have a good night!!

Jeff

I was sitting here last night after Blake had finally gone to bed and the TV was not on,  It was nice and quite.  Jeff came and sat down and we started to talk.  I love these times.  It is so nice to be able to reconnect and to catch up on each other's days.  So my post today is a gratitude list for for Jeff.....

-I am grateful for Jeff's sense of humor...he has a gift that can make every and any situation humorous.

-I am grateful for Jeff's relationship with Blake.  He loves him so much, everything about him.  And the feeling is mutual.  Blake talks about Daddy all day long.  Daddy, comes up in his mumble of a conversation constantly through out the day.  He runs to the the door every night when he hears "Daddy's" truck in the driveway.

-I am grateful for Jeff's relationship with his family.  

-I am grateful for the way Jeff honors his Priesthood

-I am grateful for the way Jeff takes care of our cars....he really likes them clean.

-I am grateful that Jeff keeps a journal on our life and he really takes it serious.

-I am grateful for Jeff's ```` with my family

-I am grateful that Jeff collects my receipts and balances the books...then I don't have to.

-I am grateful that Jeff supports me with my job.

-I am grateful that Jeff is willing to get his MBA.

- I am grateful that Jeff cleans the house with me....

-I am grateful that Jeff listens outside the door of Relief Society when I have to teach.

-Okay, and lets be honest, I am grateful that Jeff writes my Relief Society lessons.

There are so many more and so much that he does for our family.  I am lucky to have him.

My two boys...

Just a few pictures for today....Isn't he handsome?  Notice the rockstar...

This was Blake's outfit of choice on Monday.  He took a nap in his onsie and when he woke up he would not leave me alone until I put his boots on him...He wore that the rest of the day!!

Bored

So I have been the worst blogger ever.  Maybe it is because I don't want to have to account for my New Years Resolutions yet....I have been eating to many Graham Crackers to lose my 10 pounds yet.  Bet luck next month I guess.  Things have been pretty busy.  Jeff started his MBA program last week and seems to think that I too, am earning my MBA.  We been spending a lot of time getting that all figured out.  I just wanted to post these pictures quickly.  We had a little extra time on our hands this week at work...and look what came of it...Great editing done by our physicist at work...funny isn't it?  You should see some of the others.  Have a good night...

Happy Happy New Years....

So here it is.  I've been thinking about my New Years Resolutions and I've decided to go ahead and post them.  Maybe it makes me more accountable if I make them public.  Jeff is out having a "poker night" with his old high school friends.  So it has left me with a quite house, because Blake is in bed.  What a perfect time to reflect on the past year and the New year that is starting.  

-To start living the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.  It is time.  We have talked and talked about it but now it is time to put it to action.  

-To run a 5K or maybe a few.  I know that isn't very far but for someone who doesn't really love to run, it is a lot.  That is another resolution I just thought of....I'm going to "embrace" running.  I may even learn to like it.

-Food Storage.  Food Storage.  Food Storage.  I don't even have a follow up for this.  It just needs to happen.

- To continue the gratitude list.  I feel like this is so important.  We need to always have a song of gratitude in our hearts.  It is like the basis for everything.

-I feel like every year I make the New Year's resolution to lose weight and here it is again.  I have about 10-15 more pounds to get to my goal weight.  Wish me luck.

-Yoga.  Not much to this one...I just want to continue going at least twice a week and preferably 3 times a week.  I love it.  It feels so good to me and my soul :)!!

So I'm sure I'll think of more but we'll just start with these.  Have you been thinking of your goals?  

Tarali's Tidbits...

So I know that I have sort-of slacked the last little while on my blog.  Truth be told, my friends at work who convinced me to start a blog, also convinced me to get on facebook.  So my time has been spent on facebook contacting old friends.  It is so fun.  I feel like I'm so young again finding all these people.  So I'm trying to not be to much of an internet junkie and facebook has been getting all of my attention.  I was spending some time tonight catching up friends blogs and I noticed the my cute friend Tarali had updated her blog.  Tarali spent a little bit of time this year doing humanitarian work in Zambia.  I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this but I was so touched to the core by her most recent post.  Tarali has such a way with words.  It would be worth your time to read it because I am certainly not going to try to repeat it.  It needs to come from her.  Give it a try.  Her link is over there to the right.  

We had a great Christmas!!  We went to dinner on Christmas Eve because who really wants to cook on Christmas Eve?  Then we headed up to Heber for a few days.  Blake was pretty excited about his new toys on Christmas morning.  He wasn't really into opening the presents, more so just playing with them.  On Christmas day we got two feet of snow up in Heber which was so fun.  I haven't seen that much snow in a really long time.  We went to my Uncle's Cabin in Heber on Christmas day, in the afternoon, and we didn't really think we could make it back.  It was a lot of fun.  I have some pictures I'll put on soon.  I hope everyone had a good day.  

So I'm feeling quite Christmasy tonight...although, I'm not really sure why.  We haven't really done anything much exciting, that's why I haven't posted in a few days.  And we still haven't really done anything exciting.  We did hire a babysitter on Friday night, but not until 9.  The mall was open until 11 which was nice.  So we put Blake to bed and finished up our Christmas shopping.  Then on Saturday, we had a hard time keeping Blake out of the snow.  He loves it and wants to be in it all the time.  This means there are BIG temper tantrums when we have to come it.  So, we mainly played in the snow on Saturday...Here are a few pictures of Blake's snow clothes.  He really likes to wear his boots.  He always gets them out of his closet and brings them to me saying, " Boo...Boo.."
Jeff thinks his hat looks like a pom pom...but it keeps his ears warm...

Like Father...Like Son...

I took Blake to the Doctor on Monday because he has had a pretty bad cough for a few weeks.  It turns out they suspect he has asthma.  Just like his Dad....So they put him on breathing treatments and steroids and an antibiotic.  Here is a picture of my drugged up baby taking a breathing treatment.  He does great with them as long as Elmo is close by to help.  Preferably on his feet.  He is such a champ!!Isn't he cute?  They make the mask look like a fish and he looks at it and says, "ishy...ishy...".  I just love him.  

Christmas at our house..

We needed a stocking holder for Blake's stocking this year so Jeff went and found this lovely skull that he purchased for Blake's room to use in place of a stocking holder.  He felt, due to economic conservation mode, why buy one?  This works perfect.  So this is what Christmas looks like at our house....Nice huh?

Early Christmas

I ordered these elmo slippers for part of Blake's Christmas this year.  I didn't really think he was of the age that we needed to hide his presents so I just put them in a closet.  Within half of a day, he had opened the closet and found them.  He came carrying them out saying, "Elmo...Elmo...Elmo..." over and over.  So now the challenge is getting him to take them off at all.  We have to try to convince him to not sleep in them at night.  He loves them.  

Christmas Card

In the 8 and 1/2 years Jeff and I have been married, we have never sent out a Christmas card. So since I started blogging, I thought I could post a Christmas card and count that....since all those that read this are the ones that I would be sending cards to.  I'm new at these collages so some of the pictures didn't fit quite right but you get the picture.  2008 has been a good year.  It has been full with trips to Ft. Collins and Montana, lots of trips to the park, swimming with cousins, and just trying to keep up with Blake.  We also started Nursery this year.  That's what the last picture is on the bottom.  They made some pioneer coats out of paper bags.   He like it for about three minutes then it started to get in his way.   We love him so much and are so grateful to have him.  He bring us so much happiness everyday (well, almost everyday).

It makes me so happy to have reconnected with old friends and to stay in touch with new friends....Merry Christmas everyone!!!  

More Gratitude

So here we are again on Sunday afternoon with nothing to do and nothing to really post about.  Jeff gave the lesson in Elder's Quorum today at church.  Since he wrote my lesson for last month he decided to just recycle.  I see a trend coming on and I don't mind it at all.  Because as it stands...I don't have to ever write a lesson.  SO anyways, as Jeff was practicing his lesson, it got me thinking about Gratitude again.  So here is Gratitude #4.  I hope you aren't bored...

-I am grateful for the Little People by Fisher Price.  You know, my Mom sent Blake a Nativity Scene by Fisher Price Little People.  It is so great because it keeps him from playing with the other Nativity Scenes I have up.

-I am grateful for the way Blake says "AMEN", but it sounds more like "AMA."  He says it everytime he hears it at church.  

-I am grateful for Target....it is probably the best store ever.

-I am grateful for the Christmas light show at the Patterson's house in our neighborhood.  It has already provided  so much entertainment during the first week of December.  It is so great.

-I am grateful for the nice things that my yoga teacher has to say every Saturday.  This Saturday, she left us with two nice things to think about.  The first was "Be Love."  In all situations in life, "Be Love."  The second was something along the lines of open yourself up to allow blessings and joy come to your in your life.  You deserve it....Isn't she the best?

SO anyways...sorry if your bored with the gratitude list.  I just really feel like it is so important....Have a good Sunday.