Funny Mia Comment

Last night after dinner Mia was trying to engage Lance in a game of "Tag" or "Duck Duck Goose" (I can't remember which) and she kept saying something to him like "Okay Dad now you need to get up and skip" and when he finally responded and said "Okay here I go" she said, "Thank you for Listening and Obeying Daddy!"

Gobble Gobble

A couple of weeks ago Maddi really started to babble using "word-like" sounds and on this day all day she was working on something that sounded like "Gobble Gobble". It was the funniest thing and she really did it ALL day long and hasn't done it since so I'm glad we got it on camera.

Maddi's "Shake"

I was telling Jilly (my sister) the other day about how Maddi dances/gets mad and its the same move for both. Anyway...here it is! Note she doesn't really get into it until about the 50 second mark.

I LOVE my Bank!

I have to say that I just love my Bank. I have used the same bank since I was in high school (BECU) which is a credit union and I think originally only open to employees of Boeing but now is open to pretty much anyone and anyway, despite the fact that I haven't lived in Seattle since high school which means I don't actually have access to a branch and I've had to do everything online or through the mail I have never switched because I always hear people complain about problems they've had with one bank or another and about all the charges they get for things I could never dream of being charged for and on and on and I have never had those problems so I've just assumed that I have a really good bank and why switch!
Well over and over again this assumption has been confirmed and today was one of those days. So I dropped Mia off at friends house for a little play date (thank you Rachael), put Maddi down for a nap and got on the computer to check my email and bank account before I decided what else I wanted to do with this bit of free time when I discovered something AWFUL in my checking account.
Last week I decided to set up Bill Payment in my checking account which I've been meaning to do for a long time because I've heard that it makes things so much easier and I pay almost all my bills online anyway. Around the same time that I was doing this I also received something in the mail from my Bank advertising a better interest rate on savings/ checking accounts when you sign up for e statements, and I thought "hey why not!" and did this also. Everything was very easy to change and I was excited to "Go PaperLess"
So back to this morning....when I looked in my account I saw that in a checking account I never use there was about 200 dollars worth of insufficient funds charges from the various companies I pay bills to (and this is not even including the actual cost OF the bills). Well I was freaking out! I guess between signing up for the estatement thing and setting up the Bill Payment around the same time, an account I never use got listed as the primary account which is where all my bills were being paid from. I was so frustrated thinking that I had set this up to make my life easier and as a result I'm spending my "free time" trying to undo all the damage not to mention the fact that I do NOT have the money to pay 200 dollars worth of insufficient funds charges.
Well I called my bank expressed my frustrations and within 15 minutes EVERYTHING was resolved. They were SO nice on the phone, didn't make me feel like and idiot for not realizing the goof before now, and just took care of everything which included reversing ALL of the insufficient funds charges, switching the accounts around on my bill payment, and giving me the number to call Check Free and make sure things were resolved on their end (which by the way Check Free ALSO handled everything great and things were fixed on their end in a matter of minutes).
So despite the fact that I didn't get to spend my "free time" the way I had planned I'm just feeling relieved, breathing easy now and counting my blessings that I have such an AWESOME Bank!

Happy 3rd Birthday Mia

Mia at 1 Year

Mia at 2 years

Mia at 3 years!

We will have Mia's Birthday Party this Saturday but let her open one present on her actual birthday which was from Grandma Tresa and the PERFECT present for Mia. A princess hair/makeup set with all PLASTIC (this why Mommy likes this present) makeup. And I have to say for anyone who has seen me blow dry my hair she has the form down exactly!

Sleepy Sundays

Our Sundays tend to be pretty crazy between before-church meetings, and last-minute lesson preparation, but to top it all off we now have 1:00 church, which means the 2 hour naps my girls take like clockwork every day from 1-3 (along with probably the rest of our ward), are non existent on Sunday. And they handle it all surprisingly well, but this is usually the scenario when we arrive home around 4:30 or 5pm! The only dilemma we're faced with then is "To Nap or NOT to Nap!"

Bows Bows Bows

Went a little overboard on this one! I put this on Maddi's tiny little head and realized that she ACTUALLY looked like a present so we changed it into a clip for Mia. :)....Much better!



For Crop Night (one of our enrichment groups at church that I help plan) last month we did "Bow Making" and my friend Becca was kind enough to do a demo on "Easy Bows". At the last minute her whole family got sick and we weren't sure if she'd be able to make it so I had to do a little crash course and practice a few to make sure I'd be able to teach everyone. Well all worked out and Becca made it but as a result I got to make some really fun bows. The ones in the bottom picture are not ALL mine. They are a combination of mine and Becca's. She has REALLY cute ones. :) But they all looked so cute on display I had to take a picture. So Fun!

My Favorite Time of Day

These days we probably get about 1 or 2 hours at the most all together as a family so we just cherish those couple hours before bedtime. After dinner and baths we usually just sit on the floor and play for the entire last hour. My favorite thing is to watch the girls play (or on this particular night, cuddle) with Lance because they just eat it up!

Tribute to Lance ;)

What you can't see in this picture is both girls clammering at our feet trying to get INTO the picture so we decided...oh well I guess they do play SOME part in last five years. ;) Mia is so funny...anytime she sees Lance and I hugging she always runs up and says "Family Hug" because somehow to her it just isn't right unless she's right in the middle! I'm sure that comes as a shock to those of you who know her. haha :)



From our Earlier days...pre-Mia!
Fun Hand-made chocolates Lance brought home from a little chocolate shop in town. My favorites were the key-lime and the carmel apples (aren't they cute) it was the shape of an apple and just FILLED with carmel. So Yummy!


Lance and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this past Saturday! I really can't believe it's been that long already, but I guess they say "time flies when you're having fun" and if there was one word to describe these last 5 years for me Fun would be it. I think we've probably never worked so hard in all our life between school, work, having kids, and more school :), but I've also never experienced so much Joy. I've been working on expressing my gratitude for the blessings I've been given in my life and more importantly expressing that gratitude to the people in my life who bless it and Lance would be one of the people in my life who does the MOST to bless it. From working his 12 hour days so that I can be at home with the girls, to coming home after the 12 hour days and just diving in doing whatever he can to ease my burden a little whether it be starting/finishing dinner, just playing with the girls so I can cook in peace, or doing baths and getting the girls in bed. I'm so grateful for the way he is my number one support in anything I'm involved in whether that support entails cutting out lots and lots of hot pink flowers for a Church activity, admiring the latest scrapbook page I've done, supporting me in trying to get to the gym at the end of the day and getting excited for me when I've reached a new goal, not complaining about the fact that we are eating beans for the fourth day in a row as I attempt to introduce better ways of eating, or really just resisting the urge to roll his eyes (which I'm sure he feels like doing sometimes) every time I excitedly tell him about the newest "idea" I've read about in a book/talked to one my sisters about that's going to improve our lives in one way or another, or getting up for the third time in a row (in one night) to clean throw up off of Mia and then cuddling with her for a minute before he leaves the room just to make sure she's okay before going back to sleep. I'm also so grateful for the way he brings fun into my life by calming me down when I get a little too high-strung and convincing me to just take a break and relax when my "to-do-list" is starting to take over my life! :) So thank you Lance for a wonderful 5 years...and many more to come! I love you.

Latest Dance Moves

Don't know where she comes up with this stuff!

My Photo Shoot

The Scrapbooking magazine I get had some tips for taking pictures with your digital camera and they suggested using a car sun shade to help reflect light and I didn't have that but I did have FOIL so I thought I'd try it out and these are my results! Nothing too spectacular but I do have to say that I think my "subject" is pretty cute. :)

The way they Sleep

I rarely go into my kids room while they are sleeping but when I do I love to see how they are sleeping. I think its especially cute once they can really move around because they end up in the funniest positions.

Helping Out

One of Mia's favorite things to is to push her little chair up to the counter and help me "cook dinner". I was laughing because as she was cooking this chicken because she was stirring it around just like I do and trying to break up the chunks into smaller pieces. It's amazing to see how much she pays attention to EVERY thing I do!

Messy Eater

Maddi throughly enjoys eating as I'm sure you can tell, but some days I wonder why I even dress her at all because she just DESTROYS anything she is wearing when it's time to eat. This day in particular was quite productive. She had it in her hair all the way down to her feet!

I've been Tagged!

So Dani tagged me and even though I've done one of these before this one's a little different so here you go!

10 years ago I was...

Well let's see, I guess that would have made me a Junior in highschool which means I was probably just ending my basketball season, and getting ready for Summer. Is that bad that I can't remember anything significant? Oh wait... I think I was getting ready to get my driver's license (I was a little late on that one). Tiff can you remember anything more?!

5 Things on my to-do list today . . .Since it's sunday night I'll do my to do list for monday.
1. Go Grocery Shopping
2. Call Gymboree about a Tax Document
3. Do an agenda for Crop Night Meeting
4. Get a Newspaper Subscription
5. Run 51/2 Miles! I was a slacker last week (really the last 2 weeks and was supposed to hit this mark about 2-3 weeks ago!)

Things I would do if I became a billionaire . . .
That's a really hard question, but here are SOME things I would do.
I would move somewhere central and within driving distance to ALL our family or convince them all to move to ME (possibly by buying them all houses :)) I would start a charter school and hire my sister Jen to help run it or do whatever she'd be willing to do. :) I would completely design my own house which would have a HUGE indoor pool (for Lance) and a Gym (for both of us) and a room completely dedicated to Scrapbooking. I would buy every great book I've ever wanted. I would get a degree in photography and have my own dark room to develop my own pictures. But ya know...for me the problem isn't so much lack of money but lack of TIME. If I had a billion hours in the day my list could go on and on! I tell Lance every night I just wish I didn't have to sleep so I could have more TIME! :)

3 of my bad habits . . .
1. I bite my nails (I have to second that one Dani I think it's genetic, Lance and I both do it and Mia has already started in!)
2. I feel guilty really easily
3. I have trouble just sitting still and relaxing (especially if I'm in my own house)

5 Places I've lived . . .
1. Seattle, WA
2. San Antonio, TX
3. Rexburg, ID
4. West Lafayette, IN
I've moved a couple of time within these cities but I guess I've only really lived 4 places!

5Jobs I've had . . .
1. Paper Route
2. Telelmarketer
3. Waitress
4. Quality Control at World Savings
5. Sales Associate at Gymboree

Things most people don't know about me . . .
1. I love to play basketball
2. I like to sing
3. I have the worst luck with getting tickets! I have only been pulled over 3 times and EVERY time I've gotten a ticket. I even cried once (not on purpose) and STILL got a ticket so I don't understand how all these people just get warnings. :)

Now I tag 4 people who are supposed to fill out this questionnaire on their own blogs and they in turn tag 4 people of their choice and this vicious cycle just keeps going and going: I tag Jennifer Jarrett, Brittanie Darrington, Lindsay Russell, Tiffani Larson