GNO, flamingo & curtains

A girl's night out was in order this last weekend for a number of things - first, Mandy, Lore & I all have summer birthdays and second, Lore is leaving this weekend for their summer internship in Washington. We will definitely miss her!! But I'm thinking that they'll probably "freeze" and be tired of living with family by the end of the summer, so she'll be running back here in September, for sure! (Lore, pretty please can you leave your community pool key for Mandy and I? We'll check your mail and make sure your house stays in one piece!) For girl's night, we went to "Sauce" for dinner and then shopped and went to Golden Spoon for dessert. Thanks hubbies for watching the kiddos!

Last weekend was also a little birthday party for Lore's son, Dalan, and she made cute tutu's for the girls and ninja masks for the boys. Here's a few pictures from the party:

At the party, Rachel found this pink flamingo and she would NOT let go of it. We even went swimming and I told her that she couldn't bring flamingo in the pool - it would have to stay on the side. So she decided to sit on the side of the pool for 30 minutes or so just holding the flamingo rather than getting in and swimming. It was SO funny especially since I can hardly keep that girl out of water! Thankfully, Lore said we could have the flamingo and Rachel has brought it everywhere we've gone this week. Here she is with her new "item of the week":

I love this picture of Rachel and Macie! Especially since it has taken Macie quite sometime to get used to Rachel's endless hugs and now kisses! Rachel and I have lots of conversations about which of her friends like hugs, to hold hands, etc. because some just don't like them, but they're warming up to her. This week, she has also started just saying out of the blue, "I yuss (love) you, mommy!" and then she'll come give me a hug. (She does the same thing to dad - what a sweetheart!)

I also completed sewing the curtains for the kitchen / family room area. There are 5 windows and so it was a lot of work for a beginning sewer like myself, but I really love the fabric and are pleased with how they turned out! Our house is really starting to feel more like a home - especially with the newly added backyard patio furniture set and BBQ that we got for our birthdays this summer.

Rachel Turns 2!

Invitation:

Pooh Bear Cake (made by Brandon!):

Rachel holding her cake - how cool is that?

Hey, it was my birthday too!

My attempt at a cake = cupcakes with grass-like frosting and toothpick characters (so Brandon's definitely looked cooler, but mine got eaten.)

The Family - happy birthday, girls!

The birthday girl, so happy she got a Pooh Bear Cake:

Rachel turned 2 and I turned 27 on June 17th!! It really is fun to share a birthday with my little girl. We had a super fun swim party with close friends/family to celebrate! We had pizza, opened presents and ate cake - the NBA finals game was even on in the background for the hubbies. (Thanks to the Perkinson's for letting us use Clubhouse Villlage!)

The only noteworthy story is probably the background on the cake. I do not think cakes are/should be a big deal in my household - probably because I stink at it (whatever happened to a 9x13 cake with frosting, sprinkles and candles?) and I also don't think I should feel like I have to go take cake decorating classes to make a cake for my 2 year old. Plus, I don't have any desire to do this, so why do I feel so much pressure/anxiety about having an amazing cake for my child's birthday party? Anyhow, luckily Brandon has the cake-decorating gene and skill (his side of the family makes amazing cakes!) and he volunteered to put something together.

Rachel talked about the Pooh Bear cake dad was going to make her for at least a week before and she was so excited. And I was thrilled that I didn't have to worry about making one. Well, the day before the party, Brandon got really busy at work and thought he wouldn't have time to make a cake for Rachel. No big deal since my mom was there, we just threw together some cupcakes with little toothpick Pooh Bear & Friends characters and thought that would be good. When Rachel woke up on her birthday morning, we showed her the cupcakes and she seemed to like them. Then she wanted to talk to dad on the phone (like every morning) and she reminded him that he was going to make her a Pooh Bear cake. Oops! Brandon had planned on getting off early that day anyway, so he stopped at the store and got all the ingredients he'd need for the masterpiece and threw it together in just a couple hours - he even had time to spare before the party. He absolutely MADE HER DAY with the Pooh Bear cake and he even let her hold it (which if you know Rachel well then you know that holding things are very important to her).

Pooh Bear cake is made out of rice krispy treats, which he molded into the bear shape. Then he covered it with fondant that he made himself! I'm still impressed! Even though it turned out great, I'm still thinking that I'll look to hire someone to make her a birthday cake next year (unless Brandon wants to take off work again) or I'll come to my senses and make a simpler cake and call it good.

Picture collage descriptions:

1. Giving Pooh Bear kisses

2. The Birthday girls!

3. Holding Pooh Bear cake made of rice crispies and fondant

4. The cake boss himself

5. Blowing out the candle

6. New sunglasses - cool dude! Friends - Macie, Lezlee & Rex

7. Jett, Rex, Dalan, Cole and Rachel all playing with Nana

8. The Smart's - Lore, Dalan & Macie (sorry I didn't get Dustin in the picture)

9. Yours truly - happy 27th birthday to me!

10. Clubhouse Village Pool - all to ourselves - so nice!

11. Cooper Perkinson

12. Cole Perkinson and Quince Crittendon (rest of Critt family not pictured)

13. The only picture I had with Kasey in it!

14. Motorcycle rides for the older boys with Papa after the party

15. Papa playing with Rachel

16. The Johnson's - Jett, Asher, Ryan & Mandy (Rex not pictured)

If you're still reading this, then you must really love my little family so you'd care to know more about Rachel on her 2nd birthday.

- When you ask her how old she is, she usually says 6 or 7, but I think she's finally accepted the fact that she's 2 now.

- She is done with her binky and sleeps in a big girl bed!

- Loves to talk - from the moment she wakes up until she goes to sleep

- She's not even close to potty trained yet - I'm not going to attempt that until she's ready

- Can sing her ABC's

- Counts to 10 and ends with "ready or not, here I come"

- Knows her colors

- Still a big dancer

- Loves to sing just in the past 2 months or so and she sings completely off tune, but I still think it's the cutest thing ever. (Happy Birthday; Twinkle, twinkle little star; Old MacDonald; Baa Baa Black Sheep; I am a Child of God; Once there was a Snowman & Mr. Golden Sun are just some of her favorites)

- She really is a great eater and her favorite is mac & cheese and scrambled eggs

- She was a great sleeper up until the loss of the binky and move to the big girl bed, so we're still working out some kinks with that

- Loves to read books together but she has to hold a book and she flips through it's pages while you read a different one to her

- Only likes to wear her green croc shoes, so she wears them everyday except Sunday - to church I make her wear white sandals and she says they hurt

- She is BUSY and she still runs amazingly fast! What a sweetheart - we just love her to pieces!

24 Weeks - Baby Boy

I'm 24 weeks now and got to see our little guy in a second ultrasound today and everything looks great. Rachel did really well at the appointment and she loves to talk about Baby Andrew (Drew) - at least that's what we're calling him for now. She knows he's coming in October and when he comes out she wants to hold him for 5 minutes. She also reminds me DAILY that she's going to be a big sister.

20 week ultrasound

24 week ultrasound

And then there's me. Disclaimer - he's measuring big, but that is no excuse for my giant state of being already. This picture is what I like to call a "good angle" meaning that I look smaller than I actually am. :) Since this is my blog, I can do stuff like that (however, I did not photoshop the picture, promise). I'm just waiting for someone with no tact to say something like "so you due any day?" and I'll get to say, "nope, not 'til October". Awkward. I am claiming that since it's my second pregnancy, I'm much larger ... either that or I'm in denial. But I swear I don't even feel like I'm "living it up" or going crazy. Oh well.

Just for the record, I haven't been too big on cravings with either pregnancy. And I haven't really experienced morning sickness (don't throw daggers at me!). And both have been VERY similar pregnancies other than the fact that I am much bigger with this one. But if I had to list some cravings this pregnancy, then I'd say that hot dogs and turkey lunch meat (ironic since these are hot topic food items while pregnant) have sounded good - also peach ring candies and Chik-fil-A ice cream. With Rachel it was bagels with cream cheese, chips and oreo shakes. And I just looked it up - I gained 40 pounds with Rachel, and that's not on the small side. So I guess I'm doomed. Good thing they're worth it!

24 weeks preggers

Living up to the nickname I got at Aon when I was pregnant with Rachel ... just call me "Mother Whale" :) (background story - all print jobs had a cover sheet and it labeled them with the first initial + last name = whale)

Nana & Papa Visit Mesa

We were so excited to have Nana & Papa (my parents) stay with us for a week during one of the hottest times of the year (they must really love us!). They were here over mine and Rachel's birthday, so we did lots of celebrating. We also celebrated my dad's 50th birthday which is just 3 days after ours. (Happy Birthday, Dad!)

Rachel wanted to take Nana & Papa to Chuck E. Cheese's the first night they got it. She absolutely loves life-size characters and she loves running around the arcade - fortunately, at this age, she doesn't really care if you put in a token or not. Then we went to a great authentic Mexican restaurant, Mango's in downtown Mesa.

We also went to Sea Life Aquarium at Arizona Mills Mall and Rachel enjoyed exploring/running through the aquarium. The cutest part was in a tunnel where fish are swimming all around you, so naturally she laid down on the floor to get a good look of the view beneath us (probably made her feel like she was really swimming with the fish).

Nana & Papa were so sweet to Rachel and she loved having them around. She started asking more questions this week and she asked my dad hundreds of times, "Papa, whatcha doing, papa?" Let's just say they had zero privacy or quiet while she was awake and they were great sports about it. One morning, Rachel woke up at 5-something a.m. (yikes!) and my mom woke up and sent me back to bed and took Rachel for a walk, then to the park and the grocery store. It was so nice!

They also were troopers about the heat (consistently above 100 degrees everyday); although mom did give me money for utilities so that we could keep the temperature cooler in the house while they stayed here. We are accustomed to 78-80 degrees inside, but my parents aren't so we turned down the temperature while they stayed here. Now the only problem is adjusting back to 80 degrees - it took me a couple days to get used to it.

While they were here we completed lots of little projects around the house and mom helped me pick out some fabric for curtains in our family room / kitchen area, so I am measuring/ironing/sewing this week so that I can get them done. We also threw a big 2nd birthday swimming party for Rachel last Thursday and had such a fun time!

Oh yeah, you have to check out their "ride". Papa drove his motorcycle down here and met my mom, who flew, but they drove back to Utah together on the bike. Pretty cool grandparents, right?!

It was such a fun trip! Come back lots!

Happy Father's Day!

Not sure how this ties into Father's Day ... but how can I resist posting this?

I know, I know. I'm one lucky gal!!

And what's that you say? You don't play with photoshop elements as a couple on Saturday afternoons? Oh, that's weird. We totally do. :)

He sure is a great daddy and we're so lucky to have him! (I'll spare you the mushy stuff and write all that to him in a card.)

New Pool and New Do

Here's some random pictures from this month. We got a kiddie pool for the backyard, which Rachel loves! And Rachel also got a haircut - we wanted a shorter hairdo for summertime and it turned out very cute (courtesy of Mandy).

Big Girl Bed

After using the pack n' play in Las Vegas and deciding it was too small Rachel, we decided that it seemed like a good time to switch to a big girl bed (especially since we'll be traveling more in July & August). If you didn't know already, Brandon is making Rachel a daybed (he loves woodworking and when it's done it will look something like this). For now, we have a twin mattress on the floor, which makes me feel better anyway until she gets used to it.

I thought it would be pretty dramatic/traumatic, but so far so good. She really loves it and has been using it for about 2 weeks. We told her that anytime she was ready to wake up, she should yell, "MOM, DAD!" rather than get out of bed. That was pretty much the only rule - stay in bed - and she does that most of the time (every once in awhile, she'll come out on her own after nap if she can hear that someone is nearby). We have kept to the same routine - reading books and then singing some songs and then saying night-night. Really, no crazy stories (an occasionally strange sleeping position, but that's to be expected.) Oh yeah, and the upgrade meant moving her into another room too, since the nursery will stay in the same room, so we're in the process of decorating it for her.

My little baby is getting so big!

Las Vegas

For Memorial Day weekend, we met Brandon's parents in Las Vegas (half way point between Orem & Phoenix) for a quick visit. We celebrated Rachel's birthday (technically, we celebrated mine too) and had a great time on the town! I have to admit, I was unprepared for what Vegas would be like for a 2 year old which lead to some giant tantrums (Rachel wanting to walk through the casino by herself & being tempted by all sorts of toys/candy shops lead to tantrums sprawled out on the dirty floor = lovely). We finally figured out that the casinos were not worth walking through and our best day was when we took Rachel swimming at the pool and then to a park with a splashpad. Duh? right. She also wasn't as excited by the lights/flare that Vegas had to offer, but we weren't there to see the lights - we were there to see Grandma & Grandpy and we had so much fun spending time with them! They spoiled us rotten (as usual!) and it was SO nice to spend our 3 day weekend with family.

Bellagio Gardens

Carousel at Circus Circus

Dinner @ Rainforest Cafe (they even sung to her and brought her a candle to blow out)

Dinner with Nancy & Val with her new panda bear

Funny story I don't want to forget - you know how Donny & Marie (Osmond) have their show in Vegas now? And you can imagine the large billboards of them all over the place. Well, Rachel was convinced that they were daddy & mommy. So funny - a total resemblance, right?!

Now I Know My ABCs

Whitney's Mom has always taken a great deal of pride in the fact that Whitney was able to sing the ABCs at her second birthday party. Not to be outdone by her mother, Rachel has really pulled through with less than a week to spare. Notably, she couldn't even get close a few days ago, but one morning she woke up and it just clicked. Now, here she is for your viewing pleasure!

- Brandon

Cinnamon Rolls

Thank you for the input on cinnamon rolls! I got lots of yummy recipes and have made two batches so far. Making homemade cinnamon rolls was a personal quest of mine and I had the perfect opportunity to make them this weekend for a youth camp leader (ycl) meeting we had on Saturday. It was pretty time consuming, but I think the end product was well worth it.

My first batch was "exploratory" - I had never done it before, so I made some mistakes. The recipe I used was from Melissa Holmstead (friend in Chicago) and it has buttermilk in it. She's makes amazing rolls and makes all her bread fresh - so yummy! In my batch, I didn't roll out the dough thin enough and I didn't put near enough butter/cinnamon/sugar to create more gooey-yummy-ness. But they were still delicious and I ate way too many.

My second batch came from Mel's Kitchen (Click HERE for link). My friend here in Mesa, Christina Olsen, provided the link for me and this recipe calls for vanilla pudding. They made about 3 dozen large rolls and turned out to be amazing! I think it's also noteworthy to say how much time it takes from start to finish - about 3 hours to make (a lot of down time while letting them rise) and to cook them. These were a little more gooey than roll-like, and I think it's definitely worth giving them a try (you may want to half the recipe)!

Maybe next time I'll try Pioneer Women's recipe (minus the maple frosting) and I think it's a great idea to make them and deliver them to neighbors at Christmastime.

Cinnamon roll success! Sorry, no pictures - we ate them all! I'm sure the scale could prove it!

p.s. Melanie, the Michael Bolton CD is yours!! Please send me your address and when you're moving, etc.

Spending Fast Recap

I'm happy with my spending fast and also glad it's over! Mostly, it was an experiment to help reduce my grocery budget and I felt like it was a personal success. Here's some other tidbits about the month:

- It was nice to clean out my pantry - some of the things in there I was thinking, "did I actually buy this?"

- Helped me with meal planning and I was more aware of the total on all those grocery receipts

- Gained a lot of weight this month. Yeah, I know I'm pregnant, but I really popped this month and I felt like it was because my choices were less healthy. Isn't it the worst that the healthy stuff is more expensive it seems?

- Thought I could do without candy. Nope. Managed to fit it in the budget. But it was certainly limited. Also thought I could do without string cheese. Nope, didn't succeed on that either. I steered clear of juice though, which is something that we (mostly Brandon) go through so quickly in our house.

- Spent a lot of time thinking about gift-giving family "policies" because May had a lot of birthdays. I felt like doing handmade gifts for everyone, but why punish the May birthdays just because I'm doing a spending fast?! I feel like they expect me to spend the amount they're going to spend on me. So I stuck with our normal budget, but I got to thinking that we spend a LOT of money on gifts. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being generous - I just figure that a gift should be more about thought and effort and less about the amount spent. And my solution is that I am proposing a new gift-giving "policy/budget" for next year where the focus will be more on the kids and less on the adults. Also, if I am not required to spend a certain amount, then I can shop the sales and hopefully I can make it more thoughtful and not just about spending a certain amount.

- I realized I go through a lot of ziploc bags, but they make me happy because it means less tupperware dishes and I can throw a half cut up tomato in there and actually see it the next time I open the fridge (colored tupperware was not a smart idea for me because if I can't see it, then I won't likely come back to it).

- Went over on my cell phone minutes. I guess less shopping meant more time to call and chat with family and friends. But there was also a lot to talk about this month!

- Found activities with Rachel that were free - we got a lot of library, park and pool time this month (nice to have friends with community pools - just one of the benefits of living in the desert). And I did better at not buying things for her at the store as a reward/bribe for being good. It's hard to help a toddler understand why they can't get something at every store when they are watching us fill up the cart with items to buy.

- The only eating out spending happened at Little Caesar's (sometimes it's just too hot to cook and heat up the house) and it's our favorite $5 pizza. And we also went to Wendy's to celebrate the last day of Rachel's binky right after she gave it away.

Swimming

If I could describe the month of May, I would say SWIMMING (and to think that summer has just started)! I think I've swam more this month than we did the entire summer last year in Utah. Rachel is a fish and isn't scared of the water at all. This caused me some serious stress at the beginning, but now I trust her to get around in the pool by herself (with me watching/standing nearby) as long as she's wearing her life jacket and it has made it much more enjoyable for me. She likes to jump in and go under water, but we are working on closing our mouth and not drinking all the pool water - seriously, kids are so gross. :)

We started swimming lessons today, which will last for 2 weeks. It's mostly just for fun at this age! My own goal for the lessons is to improve her swallowing-water habit and get her to be a better bubble blower. I also think we'll change out the life jacket for just arm floaties for when we're hanging out at the pool with friends.

Hard to imagine, but I might get mistaken for a WHALE in the pool by the end of summer. Can you say, "maternity swimsuit, please!"?

Camping in Payson

A couple weekends ago we packed up and headed to Payson, AZ (northeast of Mesa) to go camping with some friends. It was nice to escape the hot temperatures and be in the outdoors - Rachel loved getting so dirty and enjoyed way to many treats and not enough sleep!

I was given about 5 minutes warning that we were going camping without any bathrooms - yikes - I was a bit hesitant but then sucked it up and it wasn't that bad at all. (And yes, this pregnancy has meant a LOT more trips to the bathroom so I had my fair share of peeing in the woods.)

We were there with 3 other couples and Rachel had 5 friends to play with - all of which are boys, except for one - Lez (picture below) and they had so much fun together despite their age difference.

Sleeping went pretty good - except that Rachel was the last one asleep and the first one awake (we're in a bit of a sleeping funk since the binky has been gone - although she has never asked for her binky, she just says, "the babies need the binkies"). We brought her pack n' play but she really wanted to sleep with us on our air mattress, so we agreed and she slept fine, but Brandon and I were a bit restless with her so close.

We really had a ton of fun and such good food - we decided we definitely need to do it more often!

Disclaimer - this picture was taken right before we left (we're filthy!) : Kasey, Whitney, Rachael & me
The boys: Danny, Spencer, Brian & Brandon