Saturday

Friday

In the morning, Sammy's friends Fox and McKenzie came over to play, which Sammy absolutely LOVED!!! He loves watching other kids play with his toys.....the only problem is after watching them play and have fun with HIS toys, he wants them back!
Here we all are spinning around to the music of my clock. It was so cute!!
Fox and Sammy were a little more unsteady, but they thought it was fun to dance to the music
And, if you asked us what we did for our date night this weekend, we would tell you about our awesomely unique date of.........chopping wood. Yeah. Remember that huge pile of logs we had delivered last Saturday? Well, below is a picture of what all that looks like chopped and piled along the front of our garage. While Sammy took a late nap, Robert split the wood and I stacked it. Believe it or not, it was great getting a chance to work side-by-side and talking without being interrupted!
This stack is just about as tall as me and is two layers deep!!! I don't think we will be running out of wood again anytime soon! Thankfully, our wood-splitting experience did not end with a smashed finger and a trip to the hospital (Robert's last experience with splitting wood, only using a hydraulic log-splitter - OUCH!)

Thursday

You Know It's Time When....

You know it's time to trim your one-year-old's fingernails when he wakes up looking like this:
It's a little harder to tell on the pictures, but Sammy woke up this morning with scratches on both sides of his face and around his eye, all done during the night in his sleep! Just makes you wonder what he was dreaming about....

Tuesday

Another Project

So my project for today was making binky holders for both Sam and the new little one.
Most turned out pretty cute and it was fun to sit down and do something cutesy-crafty for an hour and be done.
And of course I can't post without adding a few of the latest Sammy pictures. This kid is so adorable and photogenic, I cannot believe it!
His latest misdeeds include discovering the TV remotes and that the TV has buttons on the front, and emptying things such as trash cans, laundry baskets, and toy boxes. He is also learning to communicate better by pointing to the things he wants in addition to yelling, hopefully we can get him to quit with the yelling part!
Here I was trying to capture him playing with his new ball that he absolutely loves, but instead got him halfway falling down! He is so adorable, though! Whenever I pull out the camera nowadays, he starts laughing and runs away!

Monday

Choppin' Wood

Here is a video of my hot hubby choppin the big load of wood we ordered on Saturday. We have a furnace that guzzles propane like crazy, so we have been trying to decrease our usage by lighting a fire in the mornings to heat up the house from 55 degrees to around 68 and then the furnace keeps it at 68 for the rest of the day. It has been working pretty well, besides the fact that we have been struggling to find enough dry firewood. So, we decided to bite the bullet and pay $150 for a "cord" of wood from a company that will hopefully last us the rest of the winter. Thankfully the company delivered the wood, it is really good, dry, wonderful-smelling pine, it burns hot, and it splits easily - all of which are issues we have been dealing with recently.

Sammy

Sammy often tried to drink from the wrong side of the cup, making getting his juice quite difficult!
Yesterday I was letting Sammy play by himself in the living room while I was in the office working on some things when I realized that it was a little too quiet, so I went to check on him and found him like this
The poor little guy had worn himself out running around and such and had simply laid down and fallen asleep! Too cute!
And here are some pictures showing Sam's new favorite food: spaghetti

Friday

Skousen Update

Sammy during one of his fits that are beginning to increase, dang it all! He has also begun making what we call the pouty face and being a sour apple at random times and to random people
But he is still our little guy and we love him! He now has three teeth on the bottom and four teeth on the top. I think he has two more coming in on the bottom, but they are taking their grand ol' time getting here!

Today a friend and I went over to a girl's house in our ward and we spent two hours making hair bows for our little girls. I cannot tell you how much fun it was to play with ribbon and sparkley gems and talk to adults!!
And yesterday when I got home from my book group, I wanted to do something fun for me, so I set to work on making the latest project posted on Make It & Love It - a bag made from tea towels. It ended up taking me all afternoon and in to the evening to finish, but it was a fun project and who couldn't use another purse/bag?
As for Robert, things are going well at work - no major mishaps on his end. He is also taking a night class at BYU-I two days a week to help him prep to take the GMAT again. We are crossing our fingers that it helps enough to be worth the $400!

Monday

Valentine's Day

My reversible "Hooter Hider" (or nursing apron for those of you who are more conservative) I made myself and am extremely proud of!! Making it reversible made this project quite a bit more tricky, but it allows me to be able to use one cover for both genders!
This is probably by far the most complicated project I have attempted thusfar with my sewing machine! This is what I spent most of Valentine's Day finishing. Other than that, we just stayed home and vegged because all of us were sick with the flu (no fun). I made Mexican Delight for dinner and Robert made strawberry cheesecake for dessert (you'll see below why), but that was pretty much the extent of our celebrating the day of love. Pretty sad, huh? One of my friends did a post about how she and her husband met, dated, got engaged, etc for Valentine's Day and I thought it was really sweet, so here is my go at it:

Met: my best friend and I would go country dancing on wednesday nights at BYU-Idaho to have some "fun time" and one week, a guy asked her to go out afterwards for ice cream. Needless to say, she was excited and I was for her and I asked her to see if he had a friend that I could go with. Robert was his roommate and had also been looking for a girl to ask out after country dancing, but was unable to find a suitable date, so I went with him.

Dated: no, we did not hit it right off from that date because I spent the whole time listening to him freak out about the last girl he danced with and how she had "marriage" written in her eyes, etc, etc, etc. (it didn't help when she and her friends showed up at the ice cream place we were at, either!) But, after a few more "get together" dates, thanks to my friend and his roommate, we got to know each other better and after about three or four dates after the initial meeting, we were inseperable. We dated from about the beginning of November until February when we got engaged and were married the following August. (I know, long engagement!!) One thing I didn't know until after we were married was that at one point, Robert really was going to break up with me. He was talking about it with his roommates and decided that things just weren't right, but when it came time to tell me, he changed his mind! Boy, am I glad!

First Kiss: ok, this is a funny story! This is before we were really "dating" each other, too! There was a formal dance at the school and a group of my nursing friends wanted me to join in with them. I was kind of wishy-washy about it, but it sounded like fun, so I thought "Ok, only if my dress fits and Robert can go" The dress was fine and Robert was available, even though it was the night before. So we went with my nursing friends, but they ditched us alot throughout the night at the dance, but that didn't faze us at all, we had a great time talking and dancing. Afterwards, I was dropping him off at his apartment and was standing on the step above him with my arms around his neck to hug him goodbye and pulled back to look at him and the next thing I know, he had kissed me and ran up the steps and into his apartment, leaving me on the steps! What impressed me the most, though, was that his kiss was not a peck or a hard "get everything I can outta this", it was just right.
Engagement: nothing real unique other than the fact that it was longer than most and we were seperated for about 6 weeks of it during the summer when he went home to work and earn us money and I had to stay to finish my last nursing rotation. Hardest time of my life! Robert proposed on Valentine's Day three years ago in the hydroplonic greenhouse at BYU-Idaho. I had made him a yummy dinner of Mexican Delight (a family tradition) and he had made homemade strawberry cheesecake for dessert. My roommates were being really inconsiderate, though, so we decided to go for a walk. We ended up going to his sister's apartment and getting her car because it was so cold and he took me to see the hydroplonic tomatoes he was working with (basically growing tomatoes in water instead of in soil). He says it was the only place he could think of that was warm and open. When we were in there, we were talking, hugging, you know and then he thought I felt his pocket for the ring (which I deny to this day) and so that pretty much gave the whole thing away, so he got down on one knee and asked me if I would do something special for him.... if I would be his wife for eternity?! I thought (and still do think) it was one of the most original ways I have heard of to ask someone.
Status Now: we have been married for 2 1/2 years, have traveled to some amazing places, both completed our bachelor's degrees, have 1 and 7/9 kids and are still just as happy as ever! I would say that as of right now, the thing I love most about my husband is his drive. He is so full of life and ambition and some days it is thinking of him that keeps me going, I love that he drives himself, but others as well!

Wednesday

Giveaway

On the side of my blog is a button for a blog called "Make It and Love It". My friend referred me to this blog because there were instructions on how to make a reversible nursing apron (I'm so excited to make one!) So as I got to looking, there are tons of make-it-yourself projects listed and they are all pretty simple with great directions and step-by-step pictures, so feel free to check it out! Also, the gal who does this blog is having a giveaway right now! Listed on the post is how to enter and she is giving away a tie and shoes for a little boy, about 12 mo old that are so adorable, so go check it out quick because the giveaway closes on Monday! Have a great day, everyone!

Tuesday

Latest Project

So this is my latest sewing project I have been working on - a bag to hold all those Walmart bags I keep as trash can liners. I'm thinking of keeping this one for myself since it has the most mistakes, being the first attempt, and because it turned out so huge. If any of my friends or family would like me to make them one, just let me know!
The directions I was using said to use one piece of ribbon, but the lady at JoAnn's cut it too short, so I decided to just do two straps that you could tie and have the bag hang as low or as high as you like.
A close up of the fabric used for this project. I can do more in this print or in another style, I just chose this fabric because it was bright and fun, but also because this type of fabric has a little give, allowing it to stretch just a little bit more if you like to keep lots of bags like me!

Friday

Keeping Up

Here is an update of how Sammy is doing on his walking. As you can see, he's managing to keep up! :) He is also really starting to jabber to himself, it's so cute! Enjoy!

Bath Time

Thought these were some fun pictures of Sammy in the tub
He rarely takes a bath in the tub because he prefers to shower with Daddy and Mommy loves it because then she doesn't have to get down on her knees!
He thought the faucet was the coolest thing ever, although he couldn't figure out just how it worked...
Playing with the strainer I usually have over the drain when I shower, but exchange for a plug when he's taking a bathy

Sunday

An Update

So, it's been a while since my last post and I had a few pictures I could share, so here they are. Things have been good. We went and saw the Dr. last week and Mommy and baby are looking great. Daddy took us to see the new baby cows at the barn yesterday and Sammy loved the huge cows, although he was a little scared at first (I know, I should've taken pictures, but oh well). And, this week Sammy and I made friends with a family with two kids, a girl who is four and a boy who is 18 months and we are planning to get together weekly for the kids to play and so the Mommy's can have "play time", too! Sammy has really enjoyed learning to play with other kids, even if they are older than him.
Cuddling with his doggy on the floor. He was lying down, but the minute I bring out the camera, he wants to play with it, thus the half-way decent picture!

The other day, Sammy was playing with Robert's old phone and had stuck it in his mouth and was walking around with it hanging out, it was so cute! But, of course when I get the camera, he stops doing it! Oh well!
So last night I looked out the back doors and saw this HUGE icicle hanging from off the roof. The funny thing is that this isn't off a corner or anything where water would normally drain and create a huge icicle! It is nearly touching the ground! Brrrr!