4.26.15

This kid was the brightness in my week! Don't get me wrong. She definitely has her moments, but I couldn't imagine life without her. She found this cupcake just before dinner Monday night. Monday was the worst. I chose my battles and this was one of them. Yes, she ate a cupcake before dinner and I just didn't fight it. You're only 2 once, right? ;)

"Have some?!"

When grandpa comes to visit he often gets you your favorite things. For S one thing this meant was blueberries. They are one of those things that she has enjoyed for a week. I actually called my dad one day to thank him for how much easier he made my life. Thanks, Dad! You saved the day more than once, in more ways than you know :)

"blueberry!"

We enjoyed a lot of time this week outside. Four days this week we did a minimum of 3 miles each day. S is great in the stroller. She has done even better getting in (because often she wants to walk) if I tell her she can have marshmallows. We were fortunate to be able to go with friends a few days, and one day we met friends at the park. It was SO nice! 

park day with friends

About a month ago when I bought wedding dresses for all the nieces I earned money back at Gymboree. I got to cash it in this week. When S saw it she had to wear it. She was actually wearing it when Brett got home from work one evening. She was excited to show Brett when he got home.

"Like it! Like it!"

One morning was harder than normal around here. On the way back from our walk I found this forget-me-not. We often find them along our walking path, but they also come in bunches. I felt like this one was just placed there for me because it was there growing all alone.

Brett called on his way home from work Friday night. He said we definitely needed a date. There are a few foods I haven't been able to eat recently, so naturally I wanted them even more :) We opted to go out for Indian food. I love how S loves to each a wide variety of foods with us!

"Have some! Like it!"

We got some good rain toward the end of this week. S's church teachers were both moving out this week. We wanted to show them how much we appreciated them. She and I took a picture she made, along with a note, and a jar of homemade jam. We were lucky to avoid most of the rain. 

I love to get pictures of her in everyday moments. She loves German Pancakes. When I got her up one morning I asked her if she wanted some, and she was SO excited. She brought her chair to the counter to help me make them, and then also loved watching them "grow" in the oven. 

"Cooking! Cooking!"

From my days of teaching preschool, I have a massive bucket of "left over" crayons. One day while coloring she burried her hand in the bucket, and suddenly starts asking, "Mom, hand go? Hand go?" This time she wanted me to help her hide her hand in the bucket. What a cutie pie!

4.19.15

Last week I found a great deal on shoes on Amazon. S is in love with these...as am I. I love little feet in cute little shoes. She has insisted on wearing  these several days this week. 

When Brett came home one evening he wanted to do something fun before dinner. He tossed some jalapeno poppers in the oven. We were surprised that S was such a fan. She took huge bites out of the peppers. Such a cutie pie! 

We had this crazy storm roll in Tuesday night. It started with a very muddy rain. Thankfully the rain got a bit cleaner and the windows were essentially cleaned. Within a few hours it had changed into snow. It stopped at our house during the night, but we got about 6 inches the next day, as it didn't really stop snowing from 8:30-5 at least. Brett and S had a great time out in the snow together. 

muddy rain

fun with dad in the snow

I really enjoy cereal for breakfast, but not the milk left in the bowl after. S has kind of learned that over the past while and now she asks to drink moms milk at breakfast. 

I haven't felt well a good portion of this week, and have spent more time on the couch than not. Scarlett has done really well through it all. She was coloring one day when all of a sudden I hear, "Mom...carpet. Colors on it." It's not a great picture, but you can kind of see. Scarlett colored on the carpet with yellow and blue. It wasn't malicious at all. I asked her how we could fix it, and her response was, "Vacuum it!" I told her we needed to clean it, and she immediately went and grabbed a towel to help.

Nana made breakfast for us on Friday. S decided what mom got to use to eat that morning. For the record, I'm just not a fan of kids plastic forks....and Scarlett is beginning to have the same opinion. Usually at meals she asks for a silver one like mom and dad.

While playing at Nana and Papa's house S went downstairs to the play room to color. On one of her many trips upstairs I hear her say, "Mom! face...green on it!" Sure enough she had green marker on her face. It's washable...thank you Nana! No reaction from mom other than "Can I take your picture?" I love her and all the things she is discovering.

 Grandma and grandpa came to visit this week. They recently returned from a fun trip to North Carolina and Cape Hatteras. While there they got a pretty cool kite. Grandpa brought it down to play with, with S. She was a huge fan, and just loved spending time outside with him!

I had to take a picture of this cutie before church today. Hew cute new blue sandals go with it perfectly. I love the cute new things that you can find for spring. This has to be one of my favorites, especially with the bright yellow :)

4.12.15

I'm behind. Only by two weeks, but it feels like much longer. I started debating if it was worth it going back to do last week. As far as I can remember, I haven't missed a week since S was born...and some were WAY busier than this, so I have no excuse! Here we go. I'll admit that I had to go through my camera log to see what happened two weeks ago. Thankfully it was a week full of pictures!

We started that Sunday with General Conference. We picked up some markers for S that were washable and made her a station on the piano bench covered with butcher paper to be able to have fun coloring while we listened. Overall it proved fairly successful. She is somewhat obsessed with tracing her hands right now...so you can imagine the mess that became with markers. We have had the "tradition" of getting fun treats to share while we watch conference. It's been fine up to this point with Brett and I, but I thought that she might OD on sugar. We told her (and monitored) one at a time, BUT she chose to swallow gummy bears whole to be able to have another one :)

coloring station

She has really loved this dressup. She has gotten it out multiple times asking for help to put it on. She is now to the point that she'll put it on and walk/run around the house saying "Super S". She brings so much happiness!

We celebrated this day from 9 years ago. It's hard to believe that it's already been that long. Brett was released from being the bishop in our ward about a month ago. He had been bishop for over 1/2 of our marriage at this point. We always remember what a cold day that was. We had over 8 inches of snow that day. I remember that day, and thinking how crazy it was that it was snowing. However, since then I am finding it wasn't so crazy. I feel like we have had snow on our anniversary at least half of the time since then. Thankfully this year was much different and we enjoyed the sunshine :)

Lately I have felt like I have gotten in a rut with the things that I cook for dinner. I subscribed to a few cooking magazines recently, and we've all appreciated them! This dinner, in particular, we loved. Each new meal I made Brett raved about. He has been so grateful that I have made the efforts to make the new, yummy meals. This was a tarragon chicken with veggies. We also did a really yummy pasta with tomatoes and spinach, Cuban pork and black bean stew, and a different kind of taco with a red cabbage slaw. It's been nice to feel things getting a bit back to normal :)

S was looking through recipe books with me one day and saw a kid with ice cream on his face. Brett called on his way home and Scarlett kept telling him, "Dad, face...ice cream on it!" We decided to go for a little outing together that night. She was SO glad...and no, she did not even eat 1/2 of that. But that was the smallest size they did so we went with it :)

enjoying ice cream at the fun ice cream shop at Thanksgiving Point

We still haven't finished putting our half bath back together. We need to caulk, wood fill, and paint. In the mean time S is enjoying playing with the toilet paper holder :)

We were super lucky that grandma had a field trip down to our neck of the woods. Her 5th grade class came down to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point. We were able to hang out with her most of the time that she was there. We left before she did because S was just done...but we were able to enjoy a lot of things with her before that happened. One of her favorite things that I didn't get a picture of was the huge fish pond that is part of the children's garden there. 

dress ups

being a vet

building blocks with grandma

a teeter-totter :)

Making music outside :)

This kid discovered how to do selfies this week by herself. She kept pushing the button and giggling each time it took a picture! 

She is such a good helper in the kitchen. If Brett or I am making anything she will pull a chair over, climb up on it, and start saying, "Help you! Help you!" She stirred the red cabbage slaw, then pulled out measuring cups and started dishing it up. Yes, it took longer. Yes, it made more of a mess. Yes, I easily could've done it all on my own, but it was all worth it. Do you see how happy it makes her to be a helper?! She brings such light and joy and life!

Our apples tree hasn't produced any apples for the past couple of years. Brett and I were ecstatic to see these blossoms..and there are lots more. Fingers crossed that the late spring snow doesn't ruin everything that has already blossomed...including our nectarine and pear trees :) 

I had an appointment in Pleasant Grove this week, then stopped in Orem to do errands. I can't be that those to Ben and not stop to see him. The store was fairly quiet while we were there, but he had a customer or phone call here or there. S loves Ben, and loves being able to stop by to see him. He is so good with her. If I ever tell her that is where we're going when we get in the car the whole way there I will hear, "Ben...work...Mom! Ben, work!"

We had our anniversary on Monday. We spent time together as a family that evening. We decided to go our Friday night and have a "real date". I'm pretty sure this hasn't happened in the past year...it's been a crazy one, We went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill (thanks to a gift card) and to see Insurgent (also thanks to a gift card). So, we only ended up paying a little here or there and for the baby-sitter. We are lucky to live in an area with such great youth. There is always someone great we can get to watch S while we go out (when that happens) :)

Saturday Brett had chosen to redeem his Christmas gift from me. It was a first flight lesson. We didn't go with him because S had had a rough night and was still sleeping when he needed to leave. He took lots of pictures, but they're on his phone. I'll have to add them later :)

Easter Week

I had big hopes for things this week, but they just didn't pan out. I really wanted to do things each day to teach Scarlett about the real meaning of Easter...but it just didn't happen. Maybe I should start now so I am ready for next year :)

I picked up this "dress up" up for S last week at a warehouse sale that "Little Adventures DressUps" did. It was only $2 :) She LOVES it.  We went for a walk on family night and she insisted on wearing her dress ups. Someone saw her from their deck and called out to us about how cute she looked in her super hero costume.

We are really lucky to live in such a great neighborhood. For the past 10 years there has been a neighborhood Easter egg hunt that one family puts together. You fill as many eggs as you want hidden in your yard, write "Prize last name" on as many eggs as you want your kids to get prizes for that will be distributed to other neighbors so you kids can go get prizes from them as well. S hasn't been old enough to appreciate it until now. The eggs are all hidden in your yard on Friday night. 

S had a rough night Friday night, so doing an Easter Egg hunt on Saturday morning took a bit longer to get to than we had hoped...but it was SO worth it. She loved finding all of the eggs. We had a lot of fun with her too :) Warning: there are lots of photos of this morning...if you're not interested you may want to skip to the bottom.

I'm not sure it this one.... 

or this is my favorite! I love all her crazy expressions.

Mom and Dad both still in jammies while Scarlett hunts for eggs :)

General Conference with a 2 year old. These markers were well worth it. There were a few times I would say "Ssshhhhh" and she would say it right back to me. It made me smile. She can be such an independent little soul. 

It was my sister, Jessica's, birthday this week...Saturday actually. Cami was down from Idaho to see the other side of the family, and Heather and my mom were gone on vacation. We took advatage of it being a birthday to get together for lunch between sessions of Conference on Saturday. I don't see Cami nearly enough since she moved. Thank goodness for facetime. It's been a saving grace for Scarlett to see her cousins too! Don't you love Jessica's crown? Her boys made it for her...along with a bunch of birthday games. "Mom, isn't this your best birthday ever?!" She has some really sweet boys! 

Lunch at Zaxby's

Thank heavens for a great mother in law who allegedly had the egg dying kit in her cupboard. We didn't get to dying them until Sunday evening, but that didn't bother this kid at all. She seriously is such sunshine to our lives. She is such my little buddy. I honestly couldn't imagine life without this kid. She was an answer to years and years of fasting and praying. We are truly blessed!