Elodie has an announcement to make!! Drumroll please!!

We are so excited for her! Shortly after this video was taken Elodie went into the bathroom all by herself, sat down on the potty and went peepee again! She came out of the bathroom holding her panties and told Chris she needed a sticker because she had gone peepee in the potty! He didn't believe her until he saw the evidence in the toilet! We are very excited for our big girl!

Inspired Scrapping

Friday's Challenge for Inspired Scrapping. Go check it out and see how it inspires you! P.S- it's also a fabulous cd! I got it for Chris for Father's day. We are always stealing it out of each other's car.

Potty Training Update- Because I know you are all dying to know!!

So guess who peepee'd in the potty today! ELODIE! All morning she wore panties and didn't have an accident..she didn't go in the toilet either. I knew she was holding it and by 11am I was in panic mode that any minute she was going to have an accident. Christopher got home from his interview shortly before 11 and so we ganged up on Elodie and took some drastic measures. No toys, no tv, no barbies...nothing until she went peepee in the potty! So we stuck her in the living on her little toilet, gave her some root beer (I know, bad mother, but I'm desperate! I'm thinking I would have given her a coke if she would have asked for it!) 2 hours later! YES 2 HOURS!!! She finally let some dribbles out..and I'm not exaggerating! DRIBBLES!!! It was funny too because I left Chris and Elodie in the living room while I started working on my cakes for tomorrow and Chris decided to close his eyes for a few minutes while he waited for Elodie to do her business. Of course when no one is looking is when she decides to relax enough to go peepee in the potty!

We of course made the hugest deal about the dime size amount of pee in her toilet! But hey, pee is pee, I'll take what I can get! She get her princess shoes and FINALLY we were able to go out and get some lunch! She wore her princess shoes to Cafe Rio and we talked the whole way about how great it was that she peepeed in the potty! Nect motivation is the Barbie set, then we will move on to a Princess Dress. Heck, I'll buy her whatever she wants just to get the girl out of diapers!

We definitely needed that little bit of success to keep up going! I was really starting to get discouraged! And the crazy thing is I could tell how hard she had to concentrate to get the little bit out that she did..is that normal? Of course when we got home from Cafe Rio her diaper was soaked! Baby steps!

Dance Videos

I don't expect anyone to want to watch all of these- and there's actually 4 of these, I just can't get photobucket to download the last one- I'm just trying to get in all the pictures and video taken in June before the month is over.

All of these videos are of Elodie's last day in dance class on Monday, June 25th. I was in hog heaven because the teacher left the door open for all the parents and since I'm the only one that brings her camera every week, I got the door all to my self! All the other mom's just watched through the one sided mirror. LOVELY! Every scrapbookers dream come true!

Anyway, techincally this was Elodie's last day of dance with these girls. I was able to get her into the second session of dance. Originally I was going to sign her up for both sessions but when I called to sign her up, the second session was full and there was only one spot available in the first session. I took what I could get! But when we were in dance class on Monday, I asked the receptionist if anyone had dropped out and she told me someone had! Lucky day! I signed up Elodie immediately! It's the same class just 2 weeks after this one ends. She loves it so much, I knew she would be disappointed if we didn't get to do it for the rest of the summer. So she will have the same teacher, just different girls in the class. ENJOY!

Job Interview

Christopher has been talking about doing another intern this fall before he graduates. He is wanting to get as much experience as he possibly can to help him make a better decision as to where he wants to work. He knows he wants to do Structural Engineering since that is what he has been doing this whole time he has been with the Schneider's and he really does like it, just wants to do it with a larger firm. So he sent out his resume and got a response from Paragon, a Structural Engineering firm based in Phoenix (ugh!). In fact they are in the same building as C&B, the civil engineering firm chris did an intern with in the spring.

So, Chris' interview is this morning. With as much experience he has with structural engineering (3 years) and his GPA I have no doubt that they would be crazy not to hire him! But, Chris was still a little nervous this morning when he left. I know he really wants to get out of the Schneider's. As much as we love them and as much as they have done for us, Christopher still isn't getting the training he deserves. He needs to be working on bigger projects and getting exposed to all that's available. And with as well as he has done his school, he has every right to expect that from any firm he works for!

I am also hoping that if he gets this job with Paragon that he likes it more than C&B...since C&B was land development, Christopher didn't really know what to expect going in to it. If anything working for C&B for that short time made Chris realize how much he enjoys Structural Engineering and that's what he wants to do long term. If he does like Paragon we are hoping this will give us a little stability as to where we need to move after he graduates. I think that has been the hardest for Chris in his degree. He has SO many options and opportunities! He could go to so many different firms without even leaving Phoenix. But with all those options comes a bunch of stress! Which one is best, where is the best area, will he like the people he works with...and the list goes on. In a perfect world we would know all of this before we had to make the decision!

So, we said a prayer this morning that all will go well and the rest isn't in our hands! Good luck Chris! Anyone would be crazy not to want you working for them!! We love you!

If it could happen, it would happen to me!

Yes, I burned myself yet AGAIN! I'ma magnet to hot objects..when I worked at the GAP and did all the window displays and dressed all the manequins I had to use a steamer on all the clothes..well, everytime I used that steamer I came home with a burn! It never failed! I definitely cleaned out the first aid kit at the GAP plenty of times...I don't know if it's because I'm a lefty living in a right handed world but I've always just been a magnet for burns!

Well today was no exception. I've got a wedding cake due this weekend (a post all it's own) and I was planning ahead and baking my cakes this afternoon (I only had to bake 6 cakes this time so naturally I thought I could whip those out in no time-and I did...until) and I went to pull one of the cakes out of the oven...I don't really know how it happened as it happened really fast but the pan started to slip out of my oven mit and my natural reaction was to grab the pan with my other hand that didn't have an oven mit on it....well, the rest is history. Instead of grabbing the pan, the pan landing in my forearm and burnt the junk out of my arm! We think it might be 2nd degree burns! So naturally, it HURT! I was more annoyed that I had burned myself right when Elodie went down for nap! Now I had to nurse my arm instead of do what I wanted to while she was sleeping (like, I don't know-SCRAPBOOK!). So I spent most of Elodie's nap in front of a fan with a bunch of neosporin on my arm! I have to give myself some bonus points because I was still able to do all my ironing and clean my kitchen!

When Christopher came home he about died when he saw what I had done! I was planning on going to work but with the way my arm was feeling there was no way! Christopher lovingly (wink,wink!) cleaned my arm and put some medicine on it, then wrapped it up for the night! It definitely made for an interesting night..now I just hope it doesn't leave a scar!

New Baby to Celebrate!!

Congratulations to Chris' little sister Kasey who just had baby number 3 yesterday at around 5pm! A little girl they name Jaci Katherine, 6 pounds 1 ounce.....tiny girl! Mommy and baby are doing great and are expected to come home later this evening! Hopefully I'll get some pictures soon to share! We will be going up in a couple of weeks for Pioneer Day so we are excited to see the new addition!

New Recipe you will DEFINITELY want to try!

I found this recipe in one of my Sunday papers a while back...The recipe was one of the finalist for the Pillsbury Bake Off....I figured if it made it that far then it had to be good..I was right! The recipe was also a huge hit at our last cooking group where we did pizza and popcorn and I shared it with the girls that came....let me know if and when you try it out...

Chicken Pizza Primavera:

1 can refrigerated pizza crust
Cooking Spray
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
Ranch dressing (used as sauce)
1 package refrigerated marinated chicken strips (like Tyson)..I've also just marinaded and grilled my own chicken breast on my barbeque and that's turned out great too...
1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper (more if you like- I don't usually measure. I just chop up half of a pepper
1/3 cup chopped red onions (same as above)
1/2 cup fresh spinach leaves (same as above-more or less if you like it)
1 tsp. pizza seasoning
Pizza style shredded cheese

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease pan and spread your dough out. Lightly spray dough and bake for 5 minutes....BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERBAKE- if you do your pizza will come out super crispy because you are going to stick it back in the over once you put your toppings on!

2. After first bake, pour ranch dressing over crust and spread evenly (again, as much or as little as you like). Top with chopped chicken, red bell peppers, red oinions, and spinach. Sprinkle cheese on top along with pizza seasoning.

3. Bake again for 7-9 minutes or until all your cheese is melted and the crust is browning.....I like a softer crust so I don't leave it in too long. You will definitely want to watch it closely!

This recipe is so good and healthy! We love it here at my house! Last night I wanted to make it but didn't have a pizza crust in my fridge. I did have tortilla shells so I improvized. I took my tortilla shells, sprinkled them with my cheese and put them in my oven to melt....once the cheese was starting to melt I took them out, added my chicken, red peppers, red onions, and spinach. Popped it back into the oven to let the cheese finish melting and all my ingredients warm up..tops 5 minutes on 350. Once it was all melted together I took it out and drizzled with my ranch dressing. It looked so pretty and was almost better than the pizza! Try it that way too! Would also be great as a salad!! ENJOY!

This is what we like to call BAIT!!!

And I'm not ashamed to admit that I am bribing my child to go potty. AND, I don't feel guilty because I found it at Kohl's last night for $6!!! It's original price was $38!! I totally scored and would have bought it anyway and stashed it for a birthday...it's a sign she's meant to potty train now! The Barbie set has worked so far with the exception of her actually doing something on the potty...she's atleast excited to go sit on the potty...now we just have to get her to understand the difference between just sitting on the potty and actually doing something on the potty! Is it just by accident that they actually go on the potty? Do I force her to sit on the potty even if she is crying to get off? I'm convinced she is holding it! Sigh....day 2....pray for me! wink! wink!

Yes, more scrapbooking layouts!

This is the last sketch for Pagemaps
june sketches! I had so much fun with all of them and was really motivated to get some scrapbooking done...then again, it doesn't take much motivation to scrapbook! Check out their website to get your scrappin' mojo going!

Potty Training Part 2...dum,dum,dum!!!!

So we are attempting the potty training again...I'm just so tired of Elodie telling me when she needs a diaper change, whether or not I will need the wipes, being able to go get her own diapers for me, and waking up each morning with a dry diaper. It's time! A couple of weeks ago we bought Elodie some really fance princess shoes...I hung them from the doorframe in our family room so Elodie can see them all the time. I remind her daily that as soon as she goes potty that she will get her shoes. We have gone as far as telling her she can get a new princess dress, and the other night we told her she couldn't go to Disneyland unless she is using the potty. She agrees whole heartedly in the moment, but when it comes down to doing the deed she is stubborn as ever! This time around I'm taking a slower pace, only working on Elodie in the mornings...I'm thinking we will gradually get to where we are doing it for the whole day..right now I just don't want to overwhelm her too much....I mean, when the girl is struggling to want to even put her panties back on after she sits on the potty...it's a clue that we need to take things slow! I keep reminding her that babies wear diapers and she immediately responds with "No! Elodie wears diapers!"...Needless to say there has beena ton of bribing and praising this morning..we are in hour 3 with no accidents....Pray for me!

New Calling..

I got a new calling in our ward last week. I'm the new Activities Chair..woman.....I'm excited...I've always liked the idea of contributing to our wards unity and this definitely fits into this....I sat down with the Bishop this afternoon and we discussed some ideas for a "Back to School" type bash...

Off to compile a list for my committee.


P.S- Reading "The Lovely Bones"....can't put it down. Would make an excellant movie..not appropriate for Church Book Club (but then again, what is these days?) but definitely recommended. We are reading it for our non church related book club. Which by the way is going fabulously....we met last week at AppleBee's for our Book Club meeting..had a great girls night out and enjoyed some book chat..We decided that we are going to start meeting at a resteraunt each month instead of someone's house....this means NO KIDS! Woo Hoo!

Do I really need a title for these?

While Christopher was golfing today and Elodie was napping I took advantage of a quiet Saturday afternoon and did some scrapping...got through 2 more of my pagemaps sketches for the Memories2you message board....I've got one sketch left to complete. Woo Hoo for me!



P.S- The picture of these layouts doesn't do any justice to the actual picture..it's ashame you can't see it in real life!

Barbie's Makeover

When my mom came up to visit a few months ago she brought with her a box of Barbie's that my PawPaw had found in a house my Uncle Richard bought...PawPaw felt that Elodie needed them! So my mom cleaned them (I made sure of this before Elodie started playing with them) and Elodie fell deeply in love! It's not a shocker...I was huge in to Barbie's forever..had the hugest trunk of Barbies and played with them all the time until I was like in 5th grade..yes, I can admit that now that I'm a grown up mature adult! Wink! Wink! I spent hours dressing and playing house with my Barbies..I can remember taking books off my bookshelves to make a house for my Barbies..it was a detailed event that left my room a mess but made for hours of fun!
Anyway, Elodie, madly in love with Barbies.....So while my mom was here she and Elodie spent lots of time playing with Barbies..sadly, some of the clothes that came with the Barbies were less than modest. One of the dress had a tear right in the front so everytime Elodie would hold the Barbie her boob would hang out! Nice huh? She would always come up to me and ask me to fix her dress! Enough is enough when your 2 year old can tell that something isn't right with Barbie's dress!
So today while Chris has been golfing with the Schneiders Elodie and I made a trip to Target for some new, MODEST clothes for Barbie! Sadly, we only found 2 outfits that came with capris and shortsleeve shirts..everything else was mini skirts and strapless dresses! Seriously, what are we teaching our daughters! I'm not physco about modesty! Elodie wears sleevless dresses and I don't mind tank tops on her but I certainly don't want her dressing her barbies in clothes that barely cover their bottoms or bellies! There is a line people!
Anyway, it just left me feeling a little sad about our society and their standards for our daughters..it's scary to see girls nowadays out with their mothers in hardly anything...I saw a girl the other day, about 12, in a bikini at walmart!! No shorts, no shirt, just a swimsuit on! With her mother! Seriously, is it too time consuming to buy a cover up! It's like people have an exuse to wear next to nothing simple because we live in Arizona....and everyone else just has to suffer through it!
I think my parents did a great job in teaching me the importance of modesty. I was allowed to wear sleeveless and my shorts didn't have to come to my knees, and I even owned a tankini (you know the tank top suit with the shorts bottoms) in high school! I think they are more modest than a one piece! Judge me all you want but I think my parents gave me boundaries on what was appropriate and what wasn't without forcing me to wear something I didn't feel good in..I do think there is a fine line and you have to do what's best for your kids but it worked for me and I hope it will work for Elodie...I certainly won't let her set her own standards but I'm hoping to guide her gently without being a dictator....it's a little early seeing as my daughter is on 2 but it's happening already...I put an undershirt underneath her shirts because I hate for her diaper to hang out..I put tank tops underneath her dresses that have spaghetti straps, she wears dresses with sleeves to church...atleast I hope I am preparing her for learning what is appropriate and what isn't..and in the process learn to respect and love her body and want to keep it clean and modest...I've got a long road ahead of me if we the world bases it's standards off what Barbie wears! UGH! The end!

Scrappin' Mojo!

I am on the hugest roll!!!

Baby Shower Cake

Finally getting around to uploading the pictures from my baby shower cake last weekend. Christopher's little spring cleaning with the computer has thrown me off a bit.

Here it is in all it's glory. I love,love,LOVE the way it turned out! I was just sad I couldn't attend the shower to see Jenessa's reaction! (And because this is a huge deal for Jenessa and her hubby as they had to use invetro to get pregnant. Everyone is just thrilled for them!) It never fails, we are always headed out of town on the weekends a cake is due! Jenessa emailed me today and told me that it was fabulous and I think I might have gotten a wedding cake out of this one too..Jenessa's cousin..we shall see if the bride to be gives me a call.

UPDATE!

Scroll down a ways...I FINALLY added the slide show from Elodie's swim lessons! They all turned out so cute! Thanks again to my wonderful husband who took off work to come and take pictures for me! He's the best!

My Heavenly Father loves me...

So why do I doubt it sometimes!?!

You know how sometimes when you get to the end of your rope and FINALLY decide to get on your knees and hand it over to the Lord? Well, that was today for me...and when I finally decided I couldn't do it alone, said a prayer, and turned my troubles over to Him, my Heavenly Father immediately blessed me and fixed my troubles! LITERALLY! Leaves me shaking my head wondering why I waited so long to let my Heavenly Father bless our little family!

No need to go in to details..I just wanted to jot this down so next time I will be reminded of my Heavenly Father's love for me.

Inspired Scrapping

Another layout for Inspired Scrapping. Check out the website and see how it inspires you!

Great News!!!

Christopher got his test results from his big EIT (Engineer In Training) test he took about 8 weeks ago! Guess What?!?! HE PASSED! Not really a shocker to me but it's nice to see it on paper! The relief has come and we can move on to bigger and better things...Like whether Chris will intern at a larger firm this fall..will he stay with the Schneiders...will we stay in Arizona!! Lot's of decisions to be made as graduation fast approaches!

Congrats Chris! Smartie pants! I knew you could do it! Love you!

Catch Up!

So Christopher decided to clean out our computer to help it move along faster...it's about 6 years old and he sais this is his last attempt before he breaks down and buys a new computer..I didn't see a thing wrong with the computer before he started tinkering with it..now it's got some programs missing that I need in order to download any of my pictures. I have like 4 post in draft simply because I can't add the pictures yet. UGH! I called him just a minute ago to see why I couldn't edit any of my pictures and he said "oh yeah!" "I guess I will work on that tonight!" So hopefully he gets it running tonight and I can post all my pictures from the last couple of days..I've got some serious catching up to do! I hate playing catch up!

We had a great weekend in Snowflake. We went up Saturday morning and got back Sunday day...Chris' grandma Brewer turned 90 on Thursday of last week so there was a big party for her..we enjoyed hanging out with family....of course I have pictures but their in limbo for now.

I have a cake picture to post..I did the baby shower cake for my friend Jenessa who is having twins. The cake turned out so cute...again, pictures later.

We had dance class this morning...I took a bunch more pictures and video...last class is next week.....I'm thinking about putting Elodie in another dance class this summer but most of them about like 3 days a week for 2 weeks. UGH! I kinda like the once a week for 7 weeks! We will see..I know she really likes dance class....

Met Chris for lunch....

And now I'm home with a sleeping baby and laundry to do from the weekend. I love going out of town but hate coming home to play catch up...seems to be the theme of my day! Hold tight for pictures!

Happy Father's Day!

It was a bummer that we were traveling home from Snowflake on Father's Day..and we got a flat tire on one of our new back tires on the way home! Just our luck right?! What's the chances that a nail hits a tire exactly the right way to puncture through it..in our case..it's highly likely! You just have to laugh about it now...I told Chris it was just one more thing to add to our adventures with the car. Thankfully, the tire is still under warranty and Christopher is just going to bring it to Wal-Mart on his way to work tomorrow and pick a new one up on his way home....ANYWAY!

A huge shout out to Christopher on his special day. He thinks most holidays are hokey but I love any reason to buy a gift and let someone know I love them! I guess that should be everyday..except for the buying gifts part...that's probably not possible on our budget!

I love being married to Chris..I love that he and I have a family together! He is an awesome dad and I know how much he loves Elodie. We are blessed to have him..especially when we have a flat tire! ;)

Tonight we are going to our friends Mace and Melissa's house for dinner..along with our friends Audrey and Derek it should make for a fun night. We are all making our husbands favorite desserts. Christopher wanted me to make my dad's famous banana pudding....his wish is my command today! I love you hun!

Also, want to send some love to my dad and Chris dad! They are wonderful men and they have set a great example for both of us! We are blessed!

Inspired Scrapping

A layout for Inspired Srapping's Friday Challenge!

Thursday Fun...

We found this great little pool for kids in our area. Actually, Chris pointed it out to me and I passed it on to my friends..so THANKS HUN! It's awesome...we went today with all the kiddos...it's perfect for all little kids....the water gets deeper but takes forever so for the most part Elodie could walk around the pool all by herself. It has a great little slide for kids, a water foutain and buckets that spill water on you. Of course I didn't bring my camera but we are all planning on getting summer passes and going a ton so I will have to catch some shots another day. It's a great place for adults too..all us girls just layed in the water and chatted while we watched our kids. Definitely our favorite new place to spend out summer days!

Happy Summer!

Swim Lessons...

And the winner for father/husband of the year award goes to...

CHRISTOPHER!!!! {Crowd Cheers}

So I've been bugging Christopher about coming up to swim lessons and taking pictures and video of me and Elodie in the pool. Reluctantly, since tomorrow is the last day of swim lessons and Christopher has an Engineering Conference to go to, he came up this morning. Took his "lunch break" at 9am and took a bunch of pictures and video of Elodie. I know it's his least favorite thing to do (and when I mean LEAST FAVORITE- I'm not exaggerating!)..especially since I can be a little particular about the pictures I want....but he came through for me.

So, today I want to give a shout out to my hubby. Who does things for me that he sometimes doesn't want to do....and grins and bears it through all the picture taking! He's a champ and in the end, secretly, I know he is grateful I take so many pictures! He is my favorite and my best! Love you Chris!

Pictures to come..our computer is acting a little funny so I have to wait till Chris gets home to download anymore pictures...I think the computer is acting up because there are too many pictures on it! Go figure!

Inspired Scrapping

Another layout for Inspired Scrapping

And if you caught it- it's suppose to be 2006 not 2007....oops! I'm not perfect!

My new favorite layout

I've been tagged...

It's going around again..here are 7 weird things about me....

7. I love Clorox wipes....I have them everywhere...they even make trial size ones I keep in my car. When I get around to a 72 hour kit, clorox wipes will be on the list.

6. I'm a water snob...I don't drink anything other than Sparkletts and Dasani. It's sad but I can't stand tap water....

5. I wipe down my bathroom everyday...I use to do it every other day but now it's gotten to be everyday...probably because I always have clorox wipes in my hand..might as well clean the bathroom right? ;)

4. I hate tomatoes...always have, always will..but I do like spaghetti sauce, salsa, and pizza sauce. Go figure....

3. If I see a hair on the floor, I have to pick it up and bring it to the trash. And if I run my fingers through my hair and pull some out...I have to stop what I'm doing and throw it away....or I'll just hold on to it until I get up...

2. I use Elodie's baby lotion...love it

1. I love list...I have a little notebook just for list..and I'll put something on my list that I've already done just to check it off...weird, I know! But in 10 years Elodie will love to know this about me!

I tag Tania, Lara, and Ashley...Have fun!

Sunday Afternoon...

Random facts about Elodie...

1. She woke up this morning with a DRY diaper...I immediately took her in the bathroom and put her on the toilet..she sat there for a few minutes then decided she was done..I bribed, I begged, I encouraged..."I'm done mommy!" Nothing! UGH!

2. She found the Nickelodeon channel this morning....it's all tivo's fault...she was happily watching Charlie and Lola while I was in the shower and when it was over, tivo wanted to record something on Nick....that's how it happened..I got out of the shower and Elodie was happily watching Dora..ugh....I guess I couldn't keep it from her forever...she is almost 3.

3. She ate a whole hot pocket all by herself for lunch..HOLY COW!

4. On the way to the post office this afternoon Elodie asked me where we were going. I told her we were going to mail a letter to her Aunt Manda (Chris' older sister Amanda-tomorrow is her birthday so we were sending a card) Elodie then said, "oh, is it the letter B mommy?" LOL!!! I thought that was so funny..and she was completely serious!

5. Today she is all about my keys..wanting to hold them, help me unlock the car door, the front door..it's sweet but I'm trying not to encourage it....I keep having flash backs of her locking us out of our house 2 weekends ago!

Inspired Scrapping...

With the help from Inspired Scrapping I did a little scrappin today while Elodie has been asleep..and she is still asleep so now I'm blogging about it! It's been a while since I have sat down to scrap...it's been a great afternoon!




These next two layouts were inspired by sketches from PageMaps If you haven't checked out this website...GO! It's great for inspiration! I love the way these 2 layouts came out of my mom and Elodie....







As always, click the images to see a bigger version

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Click here to find out what kind of scrapbooking paper you are.....

so when I copy and paste a website into my entry it doesn't let me link to it...it just sits there like something I've typed myself...any suggestions on what's wrong? It did it in an earlier post when I tried to link to my friend lara's scrappin' blog....help me anyone....and why can't I hyperlink.....I guess these are questions I could ask my husband but he isn't in the blogging world....;)

Thanks for your help Lara!! It worked!

You know you have a child when....

You drive all the way to work (which is more like 7 minutes) listening to a Strawberry Shortcake cd....and your singing along with the music....and you don't realize you don't have your 2 and a half year old in the car until you pull into the parking lot and turn off the car...{sigh}...that was me last night....happily singing "Strawba-ba-ba-ba-berry, extrada-da-da-nary....it's STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE!" Pulled into the parking lot, looked around, and realized I could have been listening to Maroon 5 the whole time! {Sigh}It's sad! Even when I am alone I don't even realize it! ;)

2 Quick Things

1. Swim lessons went really well this morning..Elodie got right in the water this morning. She was smiling and laughing the whole time. I even dunked her twice and she did pretty good. When it was time to get out she told me she was swimming and didn't want to leave. I'm happy that she is really liking it.....glad that it is everyday for 2 weeks. We will have to go to the pool a bunch this summer to keep her excited about the pool.

2. Went to the library with Melissa and Audrey and their bunch. They both swear by the dvd's you can check out from the library....neither have had any problems with them..me on the other hand..I need to just stick to renting them from Hollywood Video....we borrowed "The Lakehouse" from Audrey a couple of weeks ago and couldn't get it to work on our dvd player..it kept skipping like crazy. When I called Audrey to see if she had had the same problem, she told me it worked fine for her. Today, Elodie wanted Cinderella from the library...she is watching it now and already it has all of sudden started over for no reason...weird....I guess I'm not meant to save money by checking dvd's out from the library.

Weekend Update

Friday was playgroup, I blogged about that on Friday but here is another picture to enjoy...
This is of Elodie and her littly buddy Isaac..they are exactly one year apart, Elodie being the older one....

After playgroup, Christopher came home and we decided to venture out and try Cafe Rio for lunch. I had never been before but I had heard my cousin Tania and her friend Ashley rave about the place. Since we have a few here in Arizona, I thought it would be fun to check it out. I called Tania for tips on what to get and she steered us in the right direction..we both got salads and they were awesome! Definitely on our favorite list! Thanks for the suggestions Tania! We are excited to go back and try the burritoes too! Unfortunately, there is no picture of our salad..I thought that would be a little mean!
After lunch we headed home so I could start on my cake for Sarah's shower the next day. We spent the rest of the evening at home hanging out as a family. I was up until about 1am finishing the cake and getting the other food ready for the shower. Thankfully, it was 5 of us hosting this shower so we were able to spread out the to do list!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to go help a friend clean her house out. My friend Melissa and I headed over around 9am and I stayed for an hour cleaning the fridge out, wiping out closets, and window sills....all the fun stuff. I hurried home to clean up and load the car up to head over to Sarah's for the shower. We were planning on getting there an hour early to set up but because of the cleaning I was a little late..I wasn't planning on bringing Elodie with me but then she asked if she could go with me to see Mrs. Sarah's baby and it made my heart smile...I couldn't turn her down. And besides, the girls have to stick together and it was a great chance to dress her up! She looked so cute..don't you think?
...everything for the shower went great. We had enough food, the cake turned out cute....
it's suppose to be a baby sleeping underneath a tent but I didn't really like the tent...everyone else thought it was so cute but you know how you are your own worse critic..yeah, that's me. And Christopher is a close second when it comes to my cakes....that's the downside to marrying an engineer. I stayed at Sarah's from 10:30 to a little after 2pm..long afternoon! Sarah scored a bunch of stuff and I know she had a great time! This is a picture of all of us who hosted the shower..with the exception of one of Sarah's sister in laws who had to leave early. Sarah's the prego one! ;) She and I were visiting teaching companions for 2 years while they lived in our ward. We hit it off instantly..both scrapbookers and we even took our cake classes together. When they moved out, they bought a house in the subdivision where our house was being built. We were excited to have them as our neighbors but then plans changed for our family and we ended up backing out of the house. Bummer!
Before I left for the shower Chris asked me to take a picture of the house..we hadn't been out there since it had been completed so it was kinda exciting to see the finished product. It made me really sad to see the house..I didn't think it would as it's been since November since we backed out. It was still sad to see something that was suppose to be ours...another family is living there now and if they were peaking out the window they were probably wondering why in the heck I was taking a picture of their house.....closure my friends! ;) It just goes to show that we can plan for things but it doesn't always work out in the end. I know it was the best decision to not buy our house but it's still sad to know it could of been us moving into that house....and all the things on the inside are things we picked out for our family..oh well, it's not the end for us.....we won't be renters forever!
Saturday night we met up with our friends Mace and Melissa for dinner at Barro's.....love that place! We have pretty much converted all of our friends to Barro's..it's simply the best! After Barro's we went and got snowcones at this place called Bahama Bucks...so good! All the snowcones came with these cute little umbrellas..they were a hit with the kids and Elodie just thought she looked so pretty with one in her hair! And of course she did!
We had a great time with Mace and Melissa and the kids always have a great time together too!
Sunday was a whole lot of church and relaxing..since it was fast sunday, Christopher had to stay later than usual to count tithing. He wasn't home until almost 3:30pm so it gave us a great opportunity to fast! We enjoyed the rest of the evening at home gearing up for a new week!
Don't these 2 look so relaxed!?! It was a great weekend!

As for today, we started swim lessons this morning..everyday for 2 weeks. Elodie was a little hesitant but a few minutes into the class she was enjoying herself. No pictures since I have to get in the water with her..I'm hoping Christopher will come one day to take some cute shots for me.....he just rolled his eyes when I told him that but I know he will do it for me!

Sneak Peek

Here is a little clip of Elodie's dance class this morning..I wish I would have gotten more footage but by the time I started filming, the song was already over....next Monday I promise!




P.S- You know your a scrapper when you think it's weird that no other mother brings her camera each week to dance class....at all for that matter! Doesn't anyone else find that strange? I will seriously be able to make a mini album out of all the pictures I've taken of Elodie!

Guest Designer

My friend Lara started a scrapbooking blog called InspiredScrapping and she asked me to be the guest designer for June! I've never been on a design team before so I'm excited to get my feet wet and hopefully inspire other people!

Go check it out, be inspired, and look for upcoming layouts by yours truely!

Disneyland here we come!

We have officially set our Disneyland trip for December 17th through the 21st! Christopher graduates on the 13th, our anniversary is on the 15th and we will head out super early Monday morning. We are very excited. I am calling the Disneyland travel agents tomorrow to get all the info needed to place our deposit and reserve our hotel stay! Disneyland here we come!

one man's welcome mat...

is another birds nest! That's right! We have this door mat outside our front door. We've had it forever and I've been meaning to get a new one..just hasn't ever been on the brain anytime I've been out. Well, recently we have noticed that my door mat is starting to disappear. I mean, I know we have had the thing forever but still....then one morning after Christopher went running, he came home to see 2 birds sitting at our door mat picking at it. They were unthreading the mat and bring pieces up to make a birds nest! It all made sense now! Just recently I went out and bought a cute American welcome mat for the summer...but when I replaced the old with the new, I couldn't bare to get rid of the old one knowing that the birds were making a home out of it. So for the past couple of days, both mats have been sitting outside my door. It's a happy thought knowing that I'm helping my neighbor birds build their nest..but eventually, it will need to be thrown away! ;)

Playgroup

Our ward's playgroup meets every friday...mostly we just meet at the park and let the kids enjoy the swings and slides but as summer is upon us, we have decided to incorporate more water activites. The nice thing about living in the heat is there are so many outdoor water parks,pools, splash pads..you name it, you can find it..and alot of them are free. This place we took the kids today was called Desert Breeze. It's a huge park with this cute little spray pad area. 4 animals squirt water out of their mouths and the ground has fountains that spray water out as well..it's alot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it!
Elodie wasn't so sure, which was weird because Monday she was all over our kiddie pool and sprinkler we set up for our barbeque. There were alot of other kids there and I think it made her worried...this pic I got of her sais it all! She never really warmed up to the sprinklers but we all still had a great time!