Sorry Busy week

Life is busy and Libby was sick on Thursday and all she wanted was for mom to hold her.  so I did not get to blog then Friday was spent running errands.  so here is a single picture I took today of Libby getting ready to help dad in the yard.  she really is funny. 

I sure do love her Most of the time.  there are those random moments when you wonder why God would punish you with a two year old.  Then they look at you and say "I love you Mom, Your my best friend". and your heart melts.

She really is my special little girl!!

Graduation, Anniversary,

Our Home study went well. We still like each other (Marshall and I). We live close to things that kids might like. We have sufficient space to house another child (all our crap, who knows where it will go). And we have the necessary fire extinguisher that is required, so all you good parents better have one too because I have to have one. When all is said and done I am glad I don’t have to worry for another year.



Friday we took off and left our daughter with family so we could enjoy a weekend away for our anniversary, oh wait we spent it at graduation silly me. We had a wonderful plan and it was thwarted by stupid traffic. We dropped Libby off 20 min later than planned and then we got stuck. Or plan was to go to the cheesecake factory for dinner. They need call ahead seating. So when the wait would be 1 ½ hours we opted for Texas road House and let me tell you FABULOUS!!! We got the royal treatment. I was stuffed before my plate had arrived. Then we were headed to a Brigham City hotel (to be closer to USU for my brother’s graduation ceremony). It was a pile but cheap. We were glad that we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive up there instead we got in late and got up at the usual time. To make our story even more exciting we stayed at the same hotel as my family who would be going to the graduation with us. (Anniversary, trip, awkwardness).



Saturday we spent the day at Joe and Lance’s Graduation ceremony. Marshall did regret that he didn’t walk, because none of his family will get to see him make that big achievement. I am proud of him. Afterwards when we were taking pictures Joe was nice and let Marshall Put on his cap and gown and we took pictures. We cheated a bit but does anyone really care how I got his graduation pictures.



It was nice to be able to be with all my family minus the grandkids (glad that we didn’t have to deal with ornery and noisy kids all day). What a great time. It is always nice to spend time with people you love and respect. I have fun seeing how everyone has grown and developed and that we all get along is really nice.



Mother’s day came and went and I have no really strong emotions about it and I am glad it is over.



I love when Bunco comes around. Once a month, I get to enjoy time with some wonderful women, and play a game and eat really great food. I don’t often take time for just me but this is always a must. I like having people my age and some that have the same struggles as I do. I love being able to talk and work through children’s issues with people who have been there and done that. Thanks to the wonderful women at Bunco.



Our Actual Anniversary. We have officially made it 6 years. Some days it seems like forever then others it seems like yesterday. Marshall surprised me with dinner and movie out on the town. We ate at my favorite restaurant brick oven and we went to a movie something borrowed. We laughed and talked and enjoyed our night out. I love Marshall more today than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow. I am grateful for the time we have together and for all he does for me. He truly is drives me each day to be a better person.



Then there is the news about Bountiful baskets. I have been working hard and bugging a ton of people to try and open up a distributing site here in Spanish fork. Well as of Tuesday I have permission to use ALA a school near my home. I am very excited and glad to have that out of the way now come the hard part. Starting Saturday may 21 we will be open and ready to go. I am a bit nervous and a bit excited. So if you want to know more (Marshall says your crazy and don’t get me started) let me know.

dont forget to check out my recipe page.  PS pictures are to come.  I am requesting them from the family since they remembered their cameras and I forgot.

Bountiful baskets

Just a make my day thought.

On Monday after my day had been shot.  the people who run the facebook page posted a link to my bountiful baskets blog.  In 1 hour I had 1000 views and 20 new followers.  I do post once a week either Saturday, Sunday or Monday after I got my basket.

I am now up over 2100 views and I just wanted to let you all know how happy that made me.  the cool part was that from all those views our adoption site had more hits from people off my food blog. YEAH!!!

that's all

My week

I have had the week from heck. I knew coming into the week that it might become difficult, had I known how bad I might not have gotten up some days this past week.

Friday- My counter top arrived. YEAH!!!! They look wonderful and I absolutely love them. I can’t believe that we waited this long. Marshall surprised me on Easter Sunday and told me that it was a happy mother’s day/ anniversary/ Easter gift. I hope I get a card or something on mother’s day too (hint, hint). Because they use smelly glue and it has to sit for 24 hours we had a go out to eat 24 hours. We had lunch picnic style in the living room with Libby and she loved that. And she got to have a sleep over with Haley. She was really excited about it. And we learned that Libby is a big sleep talker. Now I know why I can’t sleep listening to the monitor.



My beautiful Princess with her dress, crown,
shoes, braclets and Your Majesty curtsy!
Memorable



Wed had a nice dinner out at the Art City Trolley. We love their salads they are to die for. And then of to play games with Marshalls boss. What a nice experience for us. It gave us the push we needed to make our new goals. I am glad that we did that. Other than it was a late night getting home (2am) I am not a late night person. Then add to that, we were needed in bountiful the next morning to help my brother and his wife move. UGH

But it was nice to see the family. And I was glad for the ride with Marshall (I slept the way up and we got to talk the way back).

Once we got back we had to put the kitchen back together. Easy, Simple, Fast, NO WAY. Not only did the installers scratch my wall they pinched the hose between the top of the base cabinet and the granite. And we couldn’t move the hose to pull the dishwasher out, oh and the hose was leaking a bit too. So 6 hours later. We took Marshalls parents to dinner for taking their entire Saturday away for our project.

Thanks to my parents on Sunday we called it a "relax away from family day". Marshall had to do the final for his class and Libby enjoyed the family time we got to have.

On Monday I made the calls. Fence problems and the countertop install problems. The fence people want to talk with Marshall and I think he doesn’t want to deal with them (non confrontational). The countertop guys, they came back to see the problem, and broke my cabinet door. I don’t know what to say other than don’t expect a referral from us. I don’t even want them to come back so I did not bother to call and complain.

On Tuesday Libby was invited to her first birthday party. Thanks Tyler. She had so much fun playing at the park. Some teenagers went to the swing set she had been playing on and she had no problem going over there and asking them to help her swing after she told them they were her swings first. But pizza cupcakes and fruit were a big birthday hit. She got a gift bag to take home and loved the little eatable necklace and Dora towel that she got.

We have been Relaxing (right) since the party and have been preparing for our annual home study from our case worker. So I decided to take a min and update my blogs before she gets here this afternoon.

So that’s my week glad it is almost over.

OHHH I forgot the best part.

We ate corn on the cob it was fantastic!!! Like mother like daughter!

 I sat and watched the Royal Wedding. AHHH I love a fairytale story. And loved watching and seeing all the wonderful wedding stuff. It was wonderful.  If you like to talk amazing call me no one other than my mom and sister have said they watched it.

PS.  Dont forget to look at my recipe page

Easter and stuff

First off. Marshall and I had a nice long weekend together. He had Friday off and then took Monday off too. I always enjoy time that we get to spend as a family.

Bountiful baskets has been am ongoing blessing in my life and I am glad at how much money I save buy using it each week. Although some weeks it makes for a long Saturday morning.

We had the opportunity to spend Saturday evening with my family for Easter. Both my brothers come down to my moms and we had a really nice turkey dinner. Thanks mom for all your hard work in putting together the Easter hunt and the wonderful dinner.

On Sunday we had a very full day.

We had nursery which can be a handful on holidays, then off to our friends baby blessing, then to the Hooper's for the Easter egg hunt.

Denise had a nice ham dinner and Marshall who is not a big ham person liked the ham a lot. Thanks Denise for your hard work in putting it all together.

I know that last week I forgot to mention our “broken closet” the shelf where Marshall’s clothes are at pulled out of the wall. On Thursday night Marshall fixed it or so he thought. Well he tried to put his clothes back on the new rod he put in and it broke again. So he was not a happy camper and I just laughed (humor fixes all bad situations). Well he went down stairs to get the electric drill and called me it was like 9pm so Libby was asleep. And this is what we found.

Yes the salt and pepper shakers in Marshall’s shoes. In the past we have found apples, her shoes, money, and toys. But I still don’t know how she got her hands on the salt and pepper.

Well Libby got a nice Easter dress, shoes, bows, a book, some chalk, and a water and sand play table for Easter. I stayed way under budget. So that made me happy. She really did make it a lot of fun. We had an Easter hunt at home for her to get her gifts before church. She had a ton of fun and kept telling us “come on dad I know where we going.” It is fun to see her excited and happy. She did fairly well for little sleep. And when we woke her up on Sunday morning and from nap she told us both time “go away I sleeping”.

For more Easter pictures check out the adoption blog.

And don’t forget my recipe page to get a new recipe this week.

 

I had a very productive week

Friday I did yard work. I enjoy helping in the yard during not hot weather. So this past weekend proved to be just right. I prund the green bushes and tried to make them sort of square. I also pruned 5 rose bushes. My grabage can was full at the end of the day from marshall mowing the lawn and me pruning the plants. I am supposed to let everyone know that the can was completely empy before we started no one trash bag and it was a good thing we could not fit anything else in the garbage.

On Saturday we went and saw the Hale center theaters production of “Hairspray”. Marshall is always a good sport and pretends that he had a nice time just to make me happy. But this was very good and I was glad that I got to see it. It is always nice to go on a date with your spouse it helps to make your relationship better.

On Monday I helped my mom in her art class she is working on an awesome project (I will post a picture of it tomorrow). She needed and extra set of hands and I needed a Libby break, thanks Haley for the help.

Tuesday was the best day for me. I got a lot done. I organized my laundry shelf because it was driving me nuts. I made room on the shelf for the laundry basket and everything else that is supposed to be there.

all the jeans and pants that I mended

After that I pulled out my sewing machine and mended all the pants but 2 that I needed to. I had 3 Capri’s that I turned into shorts and Marshall had 3 pants that needed mending. It felt so nice to accomplish a task. I have not done something that big in a while.

Then that evening We had a girls night out at the taste of homes cooking school.

If you go to www.heraldextra.com, scroll down to the middle of the page and you will see "Local News Videos". Off to the right side, you will see video stories. Click on "Taste of Home" for the 2:40 minutes of video in which they quote us a bunch!

My Grandma Cindy Lou, Mom Cynthia, Aunt Rebecca, Sister in law Lindsay, and Myself. We have been going for several years. It was so much fun to have that time away. I love learning new tips and tricks to make meal time much easier. And we always hope to win prizes. Ohh well, better luck next time.

On Wednesday Libby and I had play group. I am working on getting her to play with other children. She is a watcher like her dad. She spent the majority of the time standing close to me or far from the other children. But when one of the moms brought in her 3 month old baby, Libby found herself a new mom with accessories i.e. baby, bottle, and burp rag. When this mom got up to leave Libby said “I go home with you” it was a fight to keep her with me.

Today has just been a relaxing day at home. I have not done much other than laundry. I did go through all of Libby’s clothes and pull the one that no longer fit out. I also went through the hand me downs and found I only need a few items to make her wardrobe complete. YEAH I saved money. I do need to hem the bottom of all the Capri’s she has little short legs. So that will be next week’s project.

Marshall took libby for a bike ride and they had a blast she looks so cute with her sunglasses on.

"I take care of Haley" Says Libby

My week should officially be over. I decided today I am staring my weekend tomorrow. Funny thing is that statement means nothing when you are a stay at home mom. OOOHHHH well.

We had a very busy week.

Last weekend we had dinner with 2 sets of friends. It was so nice to get together meet new people and have great food. As well as be able to clean the house top to bottom.

I can say that I have had 0 motivations to deep clean my house. I have a wonderful schedule that I made for myself, but I don’t follow it. So only the have to clean stuff gets taken care of. But because we had friends over it gave Marshall and I a very good reason to clean and clean well. We also rearranged a room or two. I am always glad for his help. An extra pair of cleaning hands makes the difference. Also I was again banned from using the vacuum when I accidentally sucked the bathroom shower curtain into the hose and then dropped the vacuum on my foot in surprise. The nice thing about cleaning day was that Libby helped clean the entire house she didn’t play with any on the toys but she helped put everything away. It was really a nice thing to see that she is growing up.

Well the rest of my week was spent at my mom’s house. My dad won top salesman for his company and they sent them to an award presentation in California and so I took care of Haley, TEEHEE. I was there to make sure Ian made it to and from practice and to be the adult making important decisions like what to eat for dinner.

Libby was very excited to be able to see Ian and Haley everyday. I forgot what a big job it is to be somewhere dressed, prepped, and already fed for the day and have a 2 year old functioning. But we managed to stay functioning and Libby loved being with Haley. I hope Haley loved being with Libby.

We were able to make it to the temple this week. I am really glad we did. It is always nice to find the time to have spiritual moments. Try to make time before the month is through to make it to the temple you really do benefit from going.

So some of the funny things that were said this week.

As we drove past the cow pastures home Libby says “ eewwee mom the cows have a poopy diaper”

Libby got a book bag from the Springville library and it was about snakes she absolutely loved this book bag. They had fabric snakes that Haley tied together and she played “jumping rope”. And it entertained her for hours.

As we walked to church she says “We need to find 3 blues clues mom” and we couldn’t keep walking until we had pointed to the invisible blues clues. It was pretty funny to watch her.

“Mom this chocolate milk is yucky” and then sniffs it and continues to down the cup until it’s all gone. Silly Libby.

She has spent the week coloring with Haley and has brought home some wonderful pictures for dad. I have to see her imagination going. She got Haley to play the piano. She ran around a bag in the living room singing and dancing and would ask Haley to play the piano “PLEASE”.

I am glad that I have my sewing machine back I have several projects that I have wanted to work on and couldn’t but it is better now and I am glad to have it back.

I promise that I do try to do Libby's hair every day.  She would rather have it in her face and down then in a ponytail.  So not my child.

I have done really well this week when I spend time with Libby I am making it more quality time and I am focusing more of my undivided attention to her. I have noticed that it makes her act really sweet. I love seeing her happy and it has been a really good learning experience for me.

Check out my recipes page for my Russian chicken recipe. Also check out on Mondays my bountiful baskets meal plan page.