Fun in Wisconsin

My mom and I visited Jeanne and her cute family in Wisconsin. The three of us had a blast together- chasing the three kiddos around and eating yummy food and going on mom's long walks in the 90 degree, 85% humidity weather! By the end of each day we were all so exhausted that we got a little crazy...

Our last night we had a sleepover in the front room- so fun!

Kaitlyn and Lyla had fun- they played together by touching each other's faces so we had to be careful to protect eyes from being poked... They looked so cute in their matchinig yellow outfits.

Jackson loved getting all of us in his train. He would yell "all aboard", stamp our tickets, and then drive the train. Such a cute energetic boy!

Lyla's started pulling her feet to her mouth to suck on her shoes or feet.

She recently started sitting by herself! She loves to sit and play with her toys- especially balls. She's such a fun happy baby and we have so much fun together. Such a darling, mischievous little face!!

"No matter our talents...we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before."

Since I'm not the most talented person when it comes to making pretty things, I have to celebrate any time something actually works out. I've been wanting to put up valances on the windows by the kitchen sink so I decided to be brave and to make them myself. I made Paul ok the fabric cuz I was too scared to choose it alone. I found a picture online that I liked and after making a few changes of my own- this is what I came up with:

Not the best pictures but you get the idea. I'm sure it's a surprise to all that I picked brown and pink fabric :) I know these really aren't very difficult to make, but now it feels more like home when I'm in the kitchen and I love the reminder that I can "create something of beauty" as President Uchtdorf taught us.

It's time for a long break from decisions and stress...

We officially live in Idaho now! We're almost all settled in (pictures will come eventually) and we've enjoyed two weeks in our new home. When I stop to think about all that has gone on in our lives lately it all seems like such a blur. In a year and four months Paul and I got married, had Lyla, took maternity leave, Paul did 2 internships then finished 3 semesters of school and graduated, we decided to move to Idaho Falls, I stopped working, we bought a house, and Paul started working full time. I don't want to make another decision for months- no wonder I'm always stressed and on edge!! Anyway, life is going well and we're excited for summer- if the weather ever decides to warm up! Here's the outside of our house on moving day. Don't mind my red eyes in these pictures- it was extremely hard to say goodbye to my family and to watch them drive away.

Little cutie

My good friend Brittany took some darling pictures of Lyla. Here are our favorites:

She's become such a fun, happy girl and I love being with her so much!!

March Madness

Like most, my bracket suffered miserably after the unexpected loss of Kansas...but luckily, 3 of my four brackets are currently still in the running for first place! I've been able to watch quite a few of the games so far, and there have been some really great games that went right down to the line. I realized the other day how much I really enjoy sports (a shocker- I know). But it made me really hope that at least one of my kids can enjoy sports the way I do. Amazingly enough, it seems my prayers have already been answered. Lyla was having a rough day, so I was trying to find some way to distract her. In a last ditch attempt I set her on a pillow facing the tv. Get a load of this picture!



When I went to take a picture of her from the front she gave me this "don't interrupt me" look. "I'm watching the game Dad! Stop distracting me!" Too cute!



Usually when we put her down for "tummy time" she barely makes it 3 minutes before she drops her head to the ground and starts crying. This time she went over ten minutes just watching the game! There may be hope for her yet :-)

Spit-up queen!

Ok, I need some suggestions. Lyla is officially the queen of spitting up and I need ideas on how to deal with the mess. I guess it's because she has reflux that after each feeding she spits up so much that I wonder how she's getting enough to be growing as fast as she is. It's not unusual to completely drench two burp cloths in 2 minutes. Yesterday I was going to a cooking class with my mom so I made the mistake of wearing nice clothes. I successfully finished feeding and burping Lyla and thought I was out of the danger zone because I was about to get her in her carseat and there hadn't been an incident yet. Suddenly it all came up...drenching her cute new outfit that I had been protecting, completely soaking my pants down to my knee, and covering the nursing pad cover that I had washed and put back on 20 minutes earlier. Most days I feel that I'm a walking burp cloth, and I'm sure people wonder about the smell that surrounds me.

Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions for us? I've thought about wearing around plastic rain shields all of the time...

Lyla does make up for all of the spit-up in being cute. We were trying on her dress for an upcoming family picture and we couldn't resist some pictures of her darling yellow bow and silver slippers.

We're Homeowners!!!

This past weekend, Tiffany and I drove up to Idaho Falls to close on our brand new home! We took up Tiff's parent's van and trailer so that we could make the move some what easier, and it was so fun to see the house all finished. It was a fun and exciting process as we were able to choose the carpet, tile floors, cabinets, countertops, and fixtures. So, now it really feels like OUR place :-) Here are a bunch of pictures so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

Here's a closer look at the kitchen

This is the overall kitchen

This is what you would see if you walk through the entryway and look to your right

This is the Master Bath

This is the Master Bedroom

This is what the bathrooms look like

This is a view of the living room from the kitchen

And finally, the outside view