SUCCESS!

Last week, on studio 5, I was introduced to my new dream wall decor. Old wood window frames! I was so excited, but unfortunately, they are a trendy item. DI had none. KSL had them, but not close to Logan. If you find them, they will probably be 30$ plus. Just as I was giving up hope for my window frame, a girl at an antique store gave me the tip of a lifetime: try calling a window installation company, they may be willing to salvage one fore you. So, I started calling. And calling. And after a while, I got a call back. Someone had some in their scrap pile I could come pick for FREE!! Holy cow, best day ever. So I went and scooped up all that weren't broken. I found another at another store, four all together for 15 dollars! I was pretty excited, but that is not the best part. Here is the best part: CONSIGNMENT STORE. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I sold the extra windows. Total expense for my dream decor: negative 10 dollars. SCORE. No, I don't have a picture, but they look like this:
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heh. Sometimes I try to be funny

How is it done?

So, I want to become part of the "blog mom" world. I want to share my ideas and stories with other moms. But the problem is, HOW? Some ladies with craft blogs have sponsors and people advertising on their blog. I want to do that! I want to sell my ideas and my crafts and creations. I want to make people laugh and have a place where moms can swap funny kid stories and advice. But how? I have 9 followers! Anyone have any ideas?

Selling some stuff...

Robert spent his Saturday, not sledding like he wanted, but helping me rearrange the furniture. What a guy! He really DOES love me :)

Part of the reason we wanted to rearrange (and by WE I mean I) was so that Edgar had fewer cords to play with. He thinks its about time to crawl. As we all know, it is a headache to try to contain cords. Zip ties and strings only help temporarily, but end up as loopy tangles. Plus, little hands and mouths can still get to them. SO, I invented a new solution(I think I am a genius). Necessity, my mom told me, is the mother of invention. It is simply a wide strip of fabric long enough to reach from, in my case, from the plug to the printer. Then you cram a zipper(or buttons, or ties) and zip the tube of fabric around all those ugly tangled cords and HIDE AWAY YOUR PROBLEMS!! g'won, do it! Or, heck, maybe I'll start selling them! Want one? 6Bucks, since you're my friends. I'll also make ya pacifier straps, burp rags, baby hair bows, reversible headbands, brooches, even personalized pendants to wear on necklaces if ya want em. Once I find my camera, I'll put up pictures. Interested? Let me know. I want to try baby boy ties too...hmm

strive to thrive!

Okay. New Year post.

First, I want to just review my last year. At this time last year I was a newly morning-sick mom. For a while I wondered what I was thinking when I thought I could handle this. Work was so hard. Eating was so hard. Staying healthy was impossible. My goal was to stay alive until my baby was born.

But luckily, that was just the beginning. As the months went on I felt better. Work was fun again(love and miss my kids!). It was so fun to watch and feel my little miracle grow and develop. I learned so much and I gained a certain respect for women and gained a testimony of how much our Heavenly Father respects us. I can't believe he has trusted me to raise this perfect miracle. He was born into our stewardship at the end of July. He is the best baby and having him has truly changed my life.

This past year has been the happiest that I remember. I feel good. I feel more energetic. I have learned new things and I feel better about myself. I don't know if I feel so much better because I am confident that this is what Heavenly Father wants me to be doing, or maybe because I accomplished something amazing that I didn't know if I would make it through. Maybe being pregnant and having a baby balanced my out-of-whack chemicals. I don't know why, and I really don't care. More than once since Edgar has been born I have just cried because I am so grateful to feel alive. To feel Joy in every day. I am closer to my husband and more in tune with my Heavenly Father

But here's the thing. I know how depression is. I know that I still have it. And I am scared out of my mind that I will fall back to where I was. SO, that brings me to my new goals.

1) practice letting worries go. I don't have to be perfect by this time next year, I just want to be better. I am going to calmly(with Robert's help if need be) figure out how important my worries are, whatever they end up being. If it is not something that I will remember in two weeks, I will try to let it go. In this way I will be less concerned with what may happen and be able to live in the moment and notice better the great things that are going on in my life.

2) I will strive to come closer to my husband. This isn't a goal that will end with the year. But I will communicate better. I will tell him when something bothers me or just remind him of something he forgot instead of waiting until he can read my mind. If I am upset I will tell him why instead of pretending nothing is wrong so that I can stop worrying about it. I will ask for his help instead of being angry that he can't see that I need help. I will write him more love notes.

3)I will come closer to my Heavenly Father. Robert and I have a goal to go to the temple on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. We just chose a day so we could write it on the calender and be reminded. We didn't want to do it at the end of the month in case something came up and we had to try another day. I will also be better at reading my scriptures, and saying my personal prayers in the morning. I will say my prayers while I am feeding Edgar first thing in the morning. I won't fall back asleep and there will be few distractions.

4) I will live after the manner of happiness. For me, I am doing great at that right now. But to make sure I stay happy I am going to keep doing things. I will keep learning and creating, since that brings me joy. I will be silly with my husband, my sisters, my son, my dog, or anyone else who will do it with me. I will sing and maybe even skip. I will blog, take pictures, cook, and give gifts. I will serve my family. AND, I will get a new journal. I will start over and get back into the habit. Every day, I will record something that brought me joy that day and will list something I did to keep these goals as a part of my life.

With the old year, I burned my worries. I burned my depression. I burned my sense of laziness and un-accomplishment. These are the things I stuffed my dummy with this year, and my husband helped by pouring on the gasoline. I love my life, and it feels so good.

2 years...

For our Second anniversary this year, Robert took me on a way fun "stay"cation. After all, who can afford to fly these days? We dropped the baby off at Grandma's(ouch) and went to Salt Lake City for the weekend. We had such a nice, relaxing time. We went to the zoo, which was awesome! It was cold, but we were dressed for it so we were fine. There was about 2 other people in the whole zoo, so we mostly got the whole place to ourselves. The best part was getting kisses from a giraffe. SO cool! They are like giant cows, basically.

We also went and saw "tangled," saw the lights on Temple Square, and ate at Rodizio. I really felt guilty about all the money we spent, but only for a second. We stayed at the Anniversary Inn, once we got there. We spent about a half hour looking for it, detouring down one way streets, and retracing our steps. When we finally got there we realized we had been there ten minutes earlier, just on the other side of the building. DERP. Driving often turns into one of these adventures for us.

We had so much fun. I love that after two years we are still good friends with things to talk about and laugh about. I am so grateful that my mom was willing to take care of my baby AND the dog so that we could go spend that time together. I'm grateful to have a husband who will blow his whole Christmas Bonus in one night, just because its fun. I'm glad he isn't a miserly scrooge about money, and that he doesn't worry about it like I do. I cain't help lovin dat man o' mine!

PS, WAY too lazy to locate the camera AND the cord to upload pictures... just close your eyes and imagine a giraffe sucking water out of my hand

Since Edgar was born, I haven't been very good about writing in journals. This post is mostly for myself, just things I want to remember. It's gonna be long...so, don't read it if you don't want to.

We went to my Grandparent's in Idaho for Thanksgiving. The first night was horrible! Edgar had been in the car all day(it took a long time to get there because of the post-blizzard icy roads). He was out of his routine and we stayed up late. Everyone wanted to have a turn holding and changing and rocking and feeding, so his bedtime routine went to pot in a hurry. He did go to sleep while being held, so I thought it would be fine. But he was up again in two hours and it took an hour to get him back to sleep .Then again three or so hours after that he woke up again and he ended up waking up for good around 6. The next night I was a little more ornery about putting him to bed myself. Instead of going down without a fuss, he cried for 45 minutes before finally falling asleep. Then we put him in the closet next door instead of right in our room, so he wouldn't wake me up with all his grunts and snores. Grandpa was disgusted. "Do you know what she done? She sleeps the DOG in her own room and puts her baby in a closet." Sorry Grandpa, but it needed to be done. Both of us slept much better.

On Friday right after Thanksgiving we had a 50th anniversary party for Grandma and Pa. It was a 50's party and we all had cat eye glasses and poodle skirts. The boys rolled up their pant legs and slicked back their hair. There was a photographer and everything. Uncle Lew, grandpa's brother, even came for a while. He was a little jealous, grandpa thought. "I got all these kids, and grands, and great-grands. All he has is one daughter and one grand-daughter." I agree with Grandpa. He has a great posterity. The fact that they are all faithful, returned missionaries, married in the temple, etc. is a great legacy to him and Grandma. It is a great feeling to know that he is proud of us.

My mom and her siblings and their families used to draw names for gifts for eachother. A few years ago they decided they didn't really need anything and decided to buy gifts for a needy family in my grandparent's ward instead. We have done that for a few years and it has been fun to *try* and drop it off. But my grandparent's ward split and there wasn't really that need in their ward any more. In my head, that's all there was to it. "I guess we are just doing a party this year and not giving gifts to anyone." But, unbeknown to us, my Aunt had an idea of who we could serve. All the college-aged kids were sent to chill somewhere while the aunts worked on something sneaky. We didn't have any clue. When we came out there was a huge pile covered in blankets. My aunt said "So, we were stumped about who to serve this year, none of us knew of any needy families. Then it hit us "all these kids are in college, having new babies, trying to live on their own, etc. Our OWN families are needy! So, here! The threw back the blankets and there was a huge pile of...everything. Diapers, wipes, cans of food, toothpaste, soap, lotion, shampoo, detergent, flour, sugar. Right there in front of me was a pile of paper towels. I grabbed one roll. I haven't bought paper towels or kleenex the whole time I have been married. Some of us needed things more than others. Many of us cried. I knew my one cousin had been looking for a job and stressing for months, and another couldnt' get enough hours. None of us wanted to take anything until the others had taken what they needed. I was so happy with the roll of paper towels that I didn't take anything else. Finally my angel aunts started divvying everything up. Someone cried about socks with no holes. Diapers. Candy. We all thought we were doing okay, but when we saw that pile we realized that we had been scrimping and going without a lot. Paper towels are a luxury; we buy toilet paper instead. We make do with holey socks. We don't buy juice cause that's extra. We do without chapstick and gum and lotion. Tiny little things we didn't even remember anymore. Someone handed me a can of "pam" and I lost it. I had forgotten about pan spray! I just cried. All of us felt like little kids, we wanted to take our new treasures to bed with us. Juice, socks, paper towels, cooking spray. Not even things we would have asked for. It was the best, most thoughtful Christmas present I think I have ever received.

On Sunday, Dec 5, Edgar started blowing raspberries. Apparently this is the first stepping stone to speech. A week before that he found his feet and started being able to reach for things he wanted. Yesterday, on the tenth, he rolled over onto his tummy. It was a great discovery and he loves doing it now. The other day while he was flailing about, the dog sat by him at started getting hit in the face. It was the best day of Gus' little life. Edgar was playing!

I am the luckiest lady on earth. I have the best husband and the cutest son. We have what we need, and even things we want. Even this mutt dog brings joy to my life. I am SO happy. And for those of you who have known me my whole life, you know that is saying something. I don't remember being so happy or feeling so good ever before. I Am so grateful for this life I have.

Funny Dog that is in my life

Gus, the goofy looking weirdo, is becoming a great dog. I worried about him for a while, but no dog is exactly how you want it when you get it. I am really starting to enjoy him. He thinks he is just another person in our family. This post is some funny stories just about him.

Gus is pretty sure Edgar is HIS baby, not to mention his best friend. He likes to check on Edgar before we go to bed, and first thing in the morning. He always sits by me while I feed or change Edgar, and even hangs over the side of the tub during bath time. But most of all, Gus wants to play with him! He doesn't understand why his baby won't play and gets VERY excited if Edgar ever gets a hold of his fur. The other day Gus brought over what used to be a stuffed animal. He set it in Edgar's lap hoping that it would get thrown. No. Edgar saw it, grabbed it, and of course it went right in his mouth. Nasty! I'm pretty sure Gus' thought process went something like this "Hey Edgar, wanna play? Here, throw it. No no no, hey! You can't chew on that! It's mine. You're not playing right, just give it back." He looked very alarmed that Edgar would steal his toy for keeps. Today Gus brought over the same toy and set it on Edgar and they played tug of war for about three seconds. Gus was ecstatic, and proceeded to bring every toy and set it on Edgar's face.

Gus HATES the snow. I don't blame him, really. If I had to go outside to pee in snow that was to my belly I would hate it too. He hates when it is crusty on top so he thinks he can walk on it, but falls through. He really is pathetic about the whole thing. When we tell him to go potty he rushes excitedly out the door, then remembers that there is winter out there. He looks over his shoulder as if to ask "can I just go here on the steps?" No Gus, go potty. Slump. Sulk. shuffle disappointedly into the snow. He finds it very invigorating, though, and always comes back in hyper.

When we first got Gus he shed really bad. So we figured we would try to shave him. He didn't mind at all. Until we got to his ears, then it was game over. So the dumb animal was shaved almost naked and had a furry head. He looked like a pansy lion. Then he got sunburned when we went to Bear Lake.

Gus is TERRIBLE at making his bed. Our other dog was great. He'd tuck himself in completely in a beautiful nest with a layer of blanket over him. Gus tries really hard, and ends up with...well, a blanket on the floor. He works on it the whole time we are brushing our teeth and getting ready for bed, then when Robert goes in Gus looks at him like "um, I can't get it. could you help me please?" And of course Robert does, because how could you not help such a pathetic helpless animal?

Gus hates the bath. Unless you are in it. He sticks his head in the shower sometimes and drinks the water. And if you are in the bath all he wants to do is drink out of the tub.

Gus requires cuddles. If anyone else is getting them, he wants them. If you have a blanket, he wants under it. If you are curled on the couch, he is in your knee pit. Today I was laying on the couch and Robert sat on the edge of it to lean down and kiss me goodbye. Gus, who was at my feet on the blanket, saw that I was getting lovins and he was not. He proceeded to army crawl up my legs, then cram himself between me and Robert and started licking Robert's face.

Gus knows that we don't give him food off the table, so he doesn't beg. But he also knows that sometimes, when we are done eating, people food magically appears in his bowl. Sometimes he will start pushing his bowl around the floor hoping it will make food appear. If we put dog food in there, then he gets very dissapointed.

These are some funny Gus pics (at the top). I love the one of all of them sleeping on the couch, because you can see the weird hairs that grow out of Gus' lips. The other two are of him in the cradle with Edgar, and one of him in Faline's dress( his chihuahua-in-law)