Baby Beanies

My cousin, Jodi made these beanies for the girls.  Aren't they adorable?!  I can't wait to see them wear them!  Thanks Jodi!

If you're interested, check out sisclydes on etsy.

Baby Showers & Diaper Cakes

So many people that I know are prego!  There are 5 of us here that are all due in April!  And 4 of us are having girls. Two of them had baby showers this past week so I made them diaper cakes.  I enjoy making them- they are fun!

I made this diaper cake for my friend, Christy whose baby shower was last Thursday.

I made this diaper cake for my friend, Taryn whose baby shower was this past Saturday.

I love baby showers!  Mine is March 10th.  Can't wait!

Learning & Growing

I had a really humbling experience early last week and it was really hard but worthwhile.  I learned a valuable lesson and needed forgiveness from someone.  It really opened my eyes to how my actions affect other people.  Needless to say, it was a rough couple days and out of a bad situation, great things actually happened.  It's like that negative thing turned into a positive and I had promptings that I probably would not have had if that incident had not occurred.  I could thoroughly see the hand of the Lord in it and it was really a testimony building experience. 

From that experience, I felt prompted to send a few people certain messages and later I found out that they needed to hear those things and on the flipside, I had angels taking care of me as well.  Not only did one friend check on me and bring me chocolates, another person dropped off the cutest box of homemade fortune cookies (made of scrapbook paper folded up like fortune cookies with Hershey kisses in the box as well) and another unknown angel doorbell ditched this cute little rose plant to me:

Coincidence?  I think NOT.  I know these people were inspired.  I needed their sweet gifts badly to let me know that I was being thought of and that I am loved.  Just a reminder that Heavenly Father loves us, wants us to be happy, and is watching over us with tender care.  I'm grateful for earthly angels who act on promptings that they receive. 

It's experiences like this one that help me learn and grow.  I'm grateful for the people around me who love me, flaws and all.  I'm grateful to my friend for her forgiveness.  I truly feel like my eyes were opened and I awoke from whatever melancholy state of mind that I had been in.  I feel more positive, I feel humbled, I feel a new sense of purpose, I feel ready to serve others around me even more.  I want to be a better person.  Perhaps the greatest lesson is that we need to all forgive each other...we all have flaws and we need to not be so critical of others because we don't know what they're going through.  I'm so grateful for the gospel that teaches us forgiveness and for prayer that gives us the comfort we need so badly in those dark moments. 

I feel blessed.

A Brown Surprise

I heard  Blakeley take off her diaper and this is what I found.  Ha ha.  Parenting definitely gives you a sense of humor.  At least it wasn't a lot of soft poo because she then proceeded to climb on the couch with her bare butt.  Thank goodness for anitbacterial wipes & carpet cleaner!

Kids are hilarious.

Blakeley's Big Girl Toothbrush

I've been brushing Blakeley's teeth with the little finger toothbrush for awhile now and lately she has not been diggin it.  The other day she saw Tyson brushing his teeth with his big boy toothbrush and she started pretending to brush her teeth with her finger.  Chuckle.

So a lightbulb went off in my head...maybe she would be more interested in teeth brushing time again if I got her a big girl toothbrush!  And she loves it!  See for yourself...

She didn't want to stop.  My baby is growing up! 

Nesting, Nesting, Nesting...

I've been deep cleaning & organizing for a couple months now & it's slowly coming along.  I'm turning what is now the guest room into Blakeley's new bigger girl room & the office will be a combined guest room/office.  I got the office all cleaned pretty much spotless so we can move our queen size guest bed in there.  I just wish that room had a closet!  It would be seriously amazing if it did.  Now I just need to figure out how to cover the doors that are see through glass in an inexpensive way.  (I really don't want to spend any money on that!)

After Tyson puts up the bed frame in the office, we can move the mattresses & bedding in there & then Blakeley's new room will be pretty much empty.  I already started painting it but I need to finish.  I ordered her dresser today which I'm really excited about.  Here's the dresser:

I figured this was a good option since it's a little bigger & there are 6 drawers in case the girls ever share a room in the future (which they probably will.)  If we have another baby while in this house, they will start sharing and the new baby will adopt the smaller nursery room. 

At least I feel like my house is pretty organized.  Except the garage.  That's another story but at least there's room to park a car & walk in there!

Anyways, this is what I've been up to this week...hibernating in the house to stay out of the freezing cold with this crazy weather!

Snow in San Antonio...What?!

This past week has been some interesting weather.  Last Sunday was 80 degrees, sunny, & gorgeous followed by the coldest weather I've been in since visiting Utah last year!  It was like 35 degrees on Wednesday and a whopping 25 degrees Thursday & today.  Talk about some schizophrenic weather.  Last night it snowed! The above picture was of our driveway this morning.

The freeways were closed, schools were closed, some businesses were closed.  I was thinking it was weird that they close the freeways just because of some snow but after hearing that there were about 75 accidents this morning because of the snow, now I understand.  There probably would have been more if the freeways were open. 

Tyson had a couple of employees whose cars slid & hit something too.  One of them got their truck stuck on a barrier on a bridge and when he called 911, he was told that they didn't know when anyone would be able to help him so he left his truck there and walked the 3 1/2 hours home...crazy, right?!  Another one hit a curb...

I'm not a big fan of cold weather & after hearing those crazy stories, I figured it was safest to just hibernate indoors so Blakeley & I have been hanging out at home a lot this week. 

I'm just glad it's not normally this cold!

XOXOXO

Happy Valentine's Month!

The following is on our February Relief Society newsletter & I thought it was interesting!

We often see the acronym XOXO at the end of a written letter, e-mail, or text message as a quick way to express love.  Generally the "X" represents a kiss and the "O" represents a hug, but how did these letters come to mean these things?

The origin of the X comes from medieval tradition which allowed those who could not write to sign a document with a X. The signer would then place a kiss on the X as a seal of honesty or truth.  Some also believe the X stands as a symbol of the cross and Christ.  The origin of the O is generally unknown, but it is thought to represent the shape of a person's arms as they embrace another person. 

However, there is also much debate over which letter stand for which action.  Some people believe that the X represents the way that the arms cross in a hug and that the O represents the shape of a mouth for a kiss.  Whichever meaning you choose for the XOXO symbol, the message is still the same, and it's as powerful as ever. 

~LDS Living Jan/Feb 2011