MY FABULOUS WEEK. . .

Okay so Monday was a stinker, but Tuesday through Friday was fabulous!! My birthday was Tuesday and my (birth) Mom came down for a couple days to celebrate and hang out with me, Nick & her beautiful granddaughter Lucy. Oh, I have to tell you what Nick got me for my birthday – I love it!! He gave me a gift card to the spa “downtown”…I am so excited to go use it!! I think I decided on a facial and a massage. I’ve only had one facial ever from my good friend Candy when she owned her spa in CDA. If I ever get to SLC she said I could get one at the school she opened – (she’s amazing!) I also got shopping money from my Mom & Sister…Yeah!!

Tuesday morning Lucy had her very first swim lesson without Nick or I in the water with her. She’s had two sessions of swimming before, but we’ve always been in the water with her. We have been trying to prep her for this for at least two weeks. She knew that we would NOT be getting in the water with her, but I don’t think she really, really got it until we walking out of the dressing room and she was the only one in her swimsuit. I had told her teacher that if she had a hard time (I was anticipating it) that we would leave the room so she could learn that she can do this without us. I babysit for the director of the Aquatic Center and we have semi-private lessons with just Lucy and her 2 friends that I tend to. We also got the best of the best when it comes to swim instructors so I felt very good about doing this. So I plopped her in the water to her instructor and rushed out to the foyer. I could still see her and hear her screams of terror. She actually started to relax as the lesson went on which was nice to see. By “relax” I mean she stopped screaming, but still held onto the side bar for life. The instructor would do laps with one child at a time and each time it was Lucy’s turn to do a lap she’s freak out for a second and then get over it. She did very well kicking, floating, and going under water did not even phase her. Later in the day I asked her:

“Did you have fun in swim class this morning?”
“yeah!”
“What did you do?”
“I held onto the bar and I cry”

We started laughing SO hard!! Poor girl! Since then we’ve talked about it a lot more prepping her for next Tuesday. I know each week will get easier.

Tuesday evening we had our Visiting Teaching Dinner. We all went so Nick could watch kids in the nursery, and my Mom came with me to dinner. It went so well! My visiting teaching coordinator and enrichment committee did a fab-u-lous job!! We just had bread bowls that we bought with budget and then we had sisters sign up to bring soup and desserts. We had 16 types of soups there! I made this recipe I altered it just a little bit by adding celery & a can of corn…Yummm! And it was almost too easy to make! Love that!!

Wednesday was just great! We woke up and got dressed and headed up to Spokane (1-1/2 hours away) We went to Target, what a treat!! Went to the mall, and then REI. I got some new jeans at the mall with my birthday money. I found a pair of DNKY or DKNY (whatever!) that fit me great and were a size smaller then I anticipated so that was a very nice birthday surprise!!

Thursday morning was Lucy’s first Dance Class. This went much better then the swim class! It only took her a couple minutes to warm up to the teacher and fall in love with her. She is going to Sears Dance Academy down on Grand and we found out that her dance teacher is LDS too. It is a lot more affordable then I had thought it would be, which is also fabulous. The swim teacher and the dance teacher are brother & sister – love that small town living!!

After dance class we planted all of the bulbs I had bought for the backyard. I had 70 tulip and daffodil bulbs. They are going to be so pretty! I’m so excited for spring! We have a retaining wall that we built flower bed into. I hope we’re still living here so we can see them all come up! Nick finished planting all of the grass in the backyard so all we have to do now is just keep it watered. Our backyard was a disaster when we moved here two years ago and now it is finally a 2 tier thing of beauty! I love it! Once the grass comes in I’ll have to add before and after pictures!

Friday morning is when my Mom was going to head back up to B.C. so we went to breakfast first. Yummm! We went to the European place just down the street. It was so yummy! After that it was time for goodbyes!

THEN…Friday night our friends the Yancey’s called to see if we wanted to go to the fair. It was funny how once again the small town thing amazes me…we’d see someone we know and finish a conversation, turn around and there was someone else we knew! It was so crazy, but so fun! It was fun watching Lucy & Claire have fun. Bekie & I bought the girls tickets for the rides and they rode all of the rides that they could (because of size) which I think was only 4 or 5. So, so cute! I’m so glad we FINALLY took our camera somewhere!This last week has been just fabulous - here is to many more :)

My sweet, sweet sickie-poo little Lucy

Last night Lucy woke us up at about 3am. It’s rare that she wakes up at night anymore, and we should learn our lesson. Generally when she does wake up there is a reason, we take care of it, and she wants back in bed. Last night she wasn’t calling for us, she was kind of moaning really loud. Nick & I still were waking from a deep slumber and neither of us wanted to get out of bed. Eventually Nick got up see what was wrong. When he went in there he asked her what was wrong. She said it was her mouth? So he turned the night light on and started calling for me to come help. I didn’t know what was wrong yet, but grabbed a hand towel and ran in after him. She was throwing up. She had been saving it in her mouth so it didn’t get everywhere. We kept trying to show her how to spit it out into a bowl. She was the sweetest thing in the whole world – you could tell that she was just tired. We’d think it was all over and then it’d start up again. We were up with her until 5:30am when we finally all crashed. She didn’t have a temp, the Hershey squirts, and she wasn’t cranky so we think it was just something she ate.

I had a super, super busy day today with one little girl coming over at 8:45 (that I watch full time), another little girl at 10am, the Enrichment committee was coming over at 11am to finish stuff up for our VT dinner tomorrow, and then at noon I had a friends daughter coming over for a couple hours, and then the little boy I watch comes at noon too. So I really thought at 5:30am that I should call everyone and just cancel everything, but it’s so much to cancel, and if it’s just a sour tummy from too much homemade salsa I didn’t want to over react. So we all woke up at 8am and got ready for our day.

Lucy was in a great mood so we really thought it was all over! Yay!! WRONG! Just after 11am when I had two girls and the committee was showing up (with their kids) Lucy threw up ALL over Nick, herself and a blanket! Oh my gosh! So I threw her in the tub, and my fabulous husband took over. Got her all cleaned up, everyone was playing, Nick was reading books to all the kids and Blah….all over Nick, Lucy & another blanket!!

I thought today was going to be my day to get all my laundry done…instead I’ve done three loads of bedding and clothes from the last 10 hours while my laundry basket sits full still in our room.

Right now Nick & Lucy are asleep on the living room floor. Two kids are in my room, and one is asleep in Lucy’s room (on clean bedding, of coarse).

She still has not had any other symptoms so we’re really hoping it is just a sour tummy. If her temp would raise even just one degree I'd send everyone home - but it's completely normal! Please, please, please let it just be a sour tummy. I did try to tell each parent though what was going on so they were given all the facts. I just really hope no one else gets sick, I would just feel SO bad!

She has been such a trooper and I hope it ends soon –

This is not a picture from today - just a cute picture of her sleeping...

ANOTHER post...

I know, I know...I don't post forever, some of you probably forgot I existed then BOOM 3 in one day! I guess you're just lucky! I just have to tell you all that I seriously have the cutest daughter of all time! I know you think that I'm just being silly, but I'm not! I swear! Some of the cute things she has done lately include...

1. It was midsummer when I finally bought her some flip flops (they were on clearance for $1.75 so I caved). Not that I'm anti-flip flop, just anti new shoes when she already has too many! She was wearing them in the car when one fell to the floor and she said "Oh NO!!! My FLOP!!!" As a Mom, I think that's adorable. She is still consistently naming one Flip and one Flop. And don't you dare call them "shoes" they are "flip flops!"

2. When we were in Tri-Cities we went to the Mall after a big breakfast at ihop. I asked her if she wanted to go to the Mall? She got really excited...she thought I said "Ball" as in Cinderella...she wanted to go the Ball and dance with her Daddy. Imagine how disappointed she was when it was just a building of stores. She did get a balloon though.

3. She really truly believes she is a Princess. Her friend Claire believes that she is Belle, Lucy is not that precise in her beliefs. But one day she was ordering me around and I said "Lucy, you are not a princess, you need to get up and get blah, blah yourself" It was as though I had whipped her! She teared up "I am a princess Mommy!" She really needs siblings to order around instead of Nick & I!!

4. This is the part that makes me believe I seriously have the best daughter...last night we went for a walk and to fly Nick's RC plane and on way home she got upset that it was time to go home and had a little fit. We calmly told her that she would need to go to timeout when she got home (doesn't happen too often), she walked in the door and walked right up to the wall and put her nose to it! I asked if I should set the timer "yes please" Uhm?? Nick & I just stared at each other in disbelief!

I just hope she stays this cute forever!

I guess it's all about me this week...

REI is having their final mark down clearance here! You have to take a look! We have an REI card, because we are so outdoorsy!! (sarcasm!) We want to be, and we think about it, but well, maybe one day.

I did find these awesome shoes for $22.83. I love them! I was nervous to buy shoes online, but they fit good. Happy new shoes for me!! My other pair had a hole and they were seriously wearing out - makes me feel good, like I actually exercise or something!! Now, go look at REI!!

Finally...

We finally got some new bedding! We have been using my sisters old comforter and shams for the past year because we just couldn't find something we both loved that was in our price range. My girlfriend Bekie is very talented at sewing (even though she says she's not), and I've thought of asking her for help making some, but I couldn't even find fabric that I loved and would leave the fabric store determined to stick it out until I found something perfect.

My favorite bedding I found was at Pottery Barn,

the Serafina Floral Duvet, but I wanted a quilt instead of a duvet cover. Oh, and it was totally out of our budget once we bought all of the shams!! I told him that for my anniversary/birthday gift I just wanted new bedding. We looked together and found some options we both liked and then he surprised me - I love it!! It's dark brown and we have apple green & white stripe sheets so it looks really crisp and sharp in our room! Here is the stock picture of the bedding that he got me! I LOVE it!! Good job Babe!!!

Happy FOURTH Anniversary!

It was our fourth anniversary yesterday - I can't believe it! Here are just a couple pics of the magical day. I could post a ton, I have so many favorites from that day! Thank you to all of our family and friends who have supported us in our marriage! I do have to say that the day we got married was probably the most humbling experience I've ever had! I can't believe how many people came to show their love and support. Our wedding day was PERFECT - seriously! Nothing went wrong and we were surrounded by love the entire day!

These are two from our honeymoon...We went to Puerto Rico, it was incredible! It ended up being a pretty funny story! We had gotten airplane tickets as a gift from one of my dear friends. The thing is we had to go standby...no big deal right? Uhm...just a side note...if you ever fly standby - fly on Wednesdays, not on the weekends! Most of our honeymoon was spent in airports, even spending the night in one of them where I saw a big fat cockroach run just inches from me! We ended up sleeping in the food court area on a bench because all of the hotels in the area were booked. I think that was in Florida, oh, and our bags had continued on without us so we didn't have anything there! Oh man! I could go on and on about our honeymoon and the funny stories! I'm dying to go back again one day though - it truly was just amazing once we got there! I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to travel.

10 Days
6 different hotels
7 airplane rides
= 1 perfect honeymoon! It has been a great 4 years. Being married to Nick has been a joy,
and our little family is the best thing that could have ever happened to me!
Happy Anniversary Honey! I love you more then words!!

Family Pics

Last Sunday before church we snapped a couple pictures...I think they turned out pretty good considering Nick was taking a picture of all of us - Not bad Honey!!