My Newest Love...

On Thursday Don and I installed a new light fixture in our living room, and we love it! It took us an amazing only 3 hours which may sound insanely long, but it is our first light on our own, and we had to take it apart before we could put it back together (totally lame frustrating and confusing). It is a fan and a chandelier so my cute witty husband came up with the name FANDELIER! I love it. Well here are some pics of our fandelier....

Isn't it cute? Don keeps saying it completes the room... I keep thinking well not yet, like paint and bookshelves and chairs and a plant and and and... We are getting closer though.

Cute Conner

Well, I realized it had been a while since I had put pictures of Conner on, and we got some good ones. So enjoy. Plus last night Conner had rice cereal for the first time. He was not quite sure what to do with it, but we think he liked it.

Oh the joys!

Well, I am just sitting here waiting for Conner to go to sleep and realized how disgusting I must look so I thought I would share one of those oh the joys moments. Let me start with I have worn 4 shirts today (probably none of which looked good, and after having worn them just a little while did not smell good either!). We went to the Dr.'s for Conner's 4 months and he got 3 shots (not so fun). All of his previous shots didn't really bother him, but he has had a fever and just a not so happy baby 'tude (completely understandable). For the fever and general pain the doc told me to use infant tylenol, well infant tylenol makes cute little Conner puke! So I have changed a few times, and I have puke down my back, and tylenol in my hair...oh the joys. I have chocolate pudding on my arm from Leigha and fhe treat that has kind of plastered itself to my arm hairs. And I have been sick and have been good to cough into my arm, and my elbow creases have taken a mucus beating. So, look good? NO!!! Too tired to shower? Yes!!! Oh lucky Don gets to sleep next to me... he'll have an oh the joy moments too.

I feel strongly about this...

Hey everyone! I found this really cool thing that I just wanted to share with all you moms, it’s called ICE Stamp (in case of emergency). A little background first. In March we are going to Disneyland (yay!) and I was getting a bit worried because Leigha is notorious for running off, (especially when she is excited) so I was looking for something for those just in case moments. Well as I was looking I found this Ice Stamp website, it is awesome! It’s a stamp that has your contact phone number on it, but it keeps your identity safe. It just says mom or dad and then your phone number.
As I was looking I really thought this was the best solution. I looked at those bracelets that have contact information and thought they were pretty cool, but Leigha can get them off way too easy (and if she were abducted it could just be cut off, and not used as an identifier). This uses FDA approved ink, and you only need one for your whole family.
I keep mine in my mommy kit in my purse, it is really small and portable, and I can use it wherever I go. My sister, Juli also has one that she uses for her boys (5&7) at their hockey practices. She is also a shopaholic and it comes in handy when she is out running errands too…all the time (if you know what I mean). She also uses it for birthday parties and play dates so they can call her if they need to without the hassle of looking for her number. It is way handy! (hahaha because you put it on their hand)
It really can make any stressful situation a lot easier. I had a friend tell me of a time where she lost her 3 year old daughter in a Wal-Mart, it was horrifying. They take you to the front of the store, and you are not allowed to look for you own child. With an ice stamp you could at least know that you had done something to aid in the search.
We put the stamp on Leigha’s outer fore arm so it is easy to see and thankfully we have not had to use it yet, but for the cost it is totally worth it (and we can use the same one with Conner).
Also, just as a side note it is runned and operated by members of the church, which I think is cool to support. Well, I thought this was neat so I thought I would share it with you all. Here is the website (below), and if you are willing I think this idea deserves to be shared with all the moms we know to keep our kids safe. If you would like to order in person, or want to know more they will be at the safe kids fair in Salt Lake Feb. 27&28, I am going to go and support them. They are really quick at filling orders, so if you need it soon you can get it within 2 weeks. I encourage you too look into it because who knows, if your kids are like mine, you just might need it (or atleast the added peace of mind)! Love you all!
Love Always,
Sarah
www.icestamp.com
Please let all you mommy friends know about this too! thanks!

Scripture Time

The primary in our ward this year has challenged the kids to read the Book of Mormon, so we have been trying to do it with Leigha. It has been an interesting blessing and challenge, but I am proud to say that we are doing it. Everyday at 11 is scripture time. Today we read 1 Nephi 16 & 17 (94 verses, but we made it through). When we are done with a chapter Leigha gets to color a square or two, etc. on her Book of Mormon Chart that we keep on the fridge. Today was funny because we read about the Liahona, and sometimes I really don't think she is listening or paying attention but something is getting through. When I read about the Liahona, she said "I'm not a hona, I'm just Leigha!" I thought that was so funny, and it was a great time to tell her what a Liahona is, and that it is not a Leigha-hona. Funny girl.

Before and Afters

Last night Anna and I did a craft night, but not just a craft night a dollar store craft night. We each made a topiary, little magnetic frames, and I made a large frame. We had a lot of fun, and it was great to just hang out and visit. Hopefully craft night will become a monthly event. Next month she is going to teach me embroidery stuff, I'm excited. Here are some pics.

This first one is the topiary, the little bead ball, foam, and rocks are from the dollar store, sometimes you can find some cute containers there too, but these ones are from other places. Mine is from Micheal's, and it ended up being about $1.50, the twigs are from a tree in my back yard, and the spray paint an ribbons are from leftovers of other projects, so all in all this project was about 4 bucks, with extra materials left over, and it only takes about 10 minutes to make.

Before:

After:

This next one is a really ugly like corked inside frame I found at Honks Dollar Store. The frame part was super cute, so we just changed the inside. The materials for this were simple the frame, scrapbook paper, modge podge and ribbon. It took about 20 minutes, but now that I know what I am doing it will not take as long. The cost for this was about $2.50 when all was said and done, not bad.

Before:

After:

We had a great night, and we got some super cute things done. It's always fun to think out of the box and save money, especially when it comes to decorating.

Lots of Fun

Our little family has had a lot of fun this past little while. I guess it started last Thursday when we had a dinner party with friends. It was great to get together and spend some time with more than just our kids, even though we were probably acting like kids. We had pizza and salad and some Oreo pie, it was kinda a potluck thing and it turned out really well.

After, Leigha headed to bed, or rather floor. When we went in to turn off her light she was asleep on the floor surrounded by toys, almost as if she had done a toy angel. We took some pictures and then Don put her and her pillow into bed, she mumbled "I want that one", and then some other super random stuff. When we went in, in the morning, she was in the exact same spot and position that we had found her in the night before, silly girl!

Friday we ran errands and took pictures of the kids. They are so cute!

Then later Friday we headed down to Provo for the weekend, and we had a great time. Don introduced his family Ticket to Ride, and they really enjoyed it. It is always fun to try new games.

While they played on Saturday my mom mom and I went up to South Jordan and met Kara for a mothering convention. Although a lot of the classes did not apply to my mom, she enjoyed holding Conner. The convention was great. I felt really uplifted and was impressed to make some changes, some were suggestions, and some were my own (actually impressions from the Spirit). I have been doing that this week, and it has been a lot of fun. I am finding the joy in mothering again, and my house is clean. Those things rarely go hand in hand, either I'm a good mom, or I have a clean house (or neither), but this week it was both. I have felt great and we have had a lot of fun.

Saturday night, we played games and visited, it was a lot of fun! It is so good to see family and get to talk to them in person rather than just on the phone.

On Sunday we went and saw my Grandma in the hospital, it was really good to see her. She is one of my hero's, she was so up beat and positive, wheat a great example to me. And then we ventured back up to Logan in the snow, it took a long time!

Then all this week we have just played. Tuesday Conner got the flu, so we took him to the doctor, and he is a chunk! He measured in at 16 and 1/2 pounds. That is one pound less than Leigha was at one year! It will be amazing to see what the next 9 months bring. He started coughing for the first time Tuesday night and it was so cute because it was a new sensation for him, so after he would cough, he would smile.

Thursday Don went and played basketball with the wars, and last night I had a girls crafty night with Anna (next post). It has been a great week.

Out, Out on the Ranch, Where the Kids and the Elk Roam.

This weekend the Hill family came up again, and once again we had a blast! Friday night we were up late playing games, and hanging out, it was great. Saturday morning we went out to Hardware Ranch. It was so cool, we learned a lot and had a lot of fun. We got to ride on a sleigh behind some huge Clydesdale's, and it was so nice and warm out side. The museum was so cool too. Here are some fun pictures:

Here is Leigha with antlers coming out of her head. I knew sometimes she acted like she had horns! (except horns and antlers are very different, very different! in deed)

I think Don is a little afraid of the taxidermied elk, but not Leigha.

Don as the elk whisperer....Ewww! Stinky Elk Breath!

When I said I wanted a Bob, I didn't mean a bobcat! Oww!

They had a wingspan measurer. My family as birds: Conner- Grey Flicker, Leigha- Mallard Duck, Don- Turkey Vulture. We didn't think to check me typical mommy stuff.

Here we are on the sleigh, it was so fun to be outside and to ride.

Isn't Leigha cute? She had a lot of fun. We were behind 2 huge Clydesdale's names Nikki and Molly and Leigha would say, "Go Nikki, Go Molly!" When they took off it would jerk us all, it was great. We got to pet them after the ride, and they were HUGE!!! (too bad I'm a bit allergic to horses)

Here are some of the elk. There were a ton, and I had better pictures, I just didn't put them on, sorry :(

We had Conner so bundled up so that he would stay warm. He was so good, he slept the whole time. Which is starting to be very unlike him. He was wearing 2 different kinds of coats!

After Hardware Ranch we went to lunch at Old McDonalds (as Leigha calls it).

We really did have a great time, and we are so glad we took the opportunity to go, especially with such great friends! We would recommend it to anyone! I have also decided that I am a bit of a cow. They really run the show, but they let the Bull think they are the best! If I am a cow my bull is the best!