The Little Rascals

I found this video in the $5 bin the other day and just HAD to grab it.

I mean really....

Dear Darla,

I hate your stinkin' guts

you make me vomit

you are scuuum between my toes

Love, Alfa Alfa

Ha! Classic!

oooh oooh or....

I don't miss him at all...except...his voice.  When he sings he makes me melt like a Popsicle of the fourf of July. 

Ahhh-haaa I can't get enough.

I have such fond memories of sitting on my grandma's lap eating raw cabbage and drinking classic coca cola while she tickled my back as we watched the move over and over again together. Oh, how I miss that crazy lady!! The movie is quite close to my heart and I'm absolutely tickled the monkeys love it as much as I do.

What a find!

From the mouth of Ali...

Daddy has work-time

Mommy has photoshoot-time

Sissy has school-time

I have right here (pointing to our home) school-time

Canyon has....Canyon has...Canyon has crabby time!

From the mouth of Emma...

"So, do you have a restaurant in your body and that's how you make milk for Canyon?"

Just call him Gus-Gus

I do.

You know.... as in the chubby little mouse from Cinderelli? Little Canyon man spent a few rough days eating like a big little piggie and yelling and screaming at anyone who dared to bother him. Totally worth it though because he emerged with this...

A Gus-Gus belly. I'm quite enamored. Look how round and ooooh SQUISHY. I could eat it for dinner.

I'm quite excited for his next growth spurt. I'm hoping for a third chin. Nom Nom Nom.

Me thinks I'll have to pre-apologize to the neighbors, though, if it's anything like this last one. He was a bit loud.

Oh and did you notice, he has started smiling?!

Oh my heart. It simply can't take the cuteness.

A Must See

I cried. Inspiring stories like this one always do that to me.

"If you want to do it...all you have to do is do it"

Sunshine

You are my SUNSHINE

My only SUNSHINE

You make me happy, when skies are gray

You'll never know dear,

How much I love you

Please don't take my SUNSHINE away.

Happy Birthday to the happiest little girl I know. You are such a bright spot in my life. You have a gift of being able to make those around you smile and laugh no matter the situation. I love you more than life.

Love, mama

A Picture Post

The County Fair....

One Month

Still doesn't sleep at nights. An hour straight without waking up is almost unheard of for him.

Rolls over, unintentionally, several times a day (from tummy to back). Boy-oh-boy does it make him mad. He loves his tummy time.

Calms to the sound of my voice.

Starting to outgrow newborn diapers and some of his newborn clothes.

My baby. My sweet baby.

This Week's Randoms

The new pretzel M&Ms...YUM. Love the sweet and salty combo.

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I love birthdays. They give me a reason to make cakes. My sister came to spend the night on her birthday so Ali and I made her this little diddy. I put Ali in charge of unwrapping the whole package of mini Reese's peanut butter cups without eating them. She kept saying, "I doing SO good. I not eating any of them! I a GOOD helper! I not eating any of them". I praised her and told her I couldn't do this job without her while I kept frosting. After about 5 minutes I happened to look up and noticed her process. Unwrap. Lick. Place candy in the to-use-for-decorating-bowl. Nice. The kicker is that night, Crystal, let Ali help her blow out the candles but warned her not to, "spit on the cake". Heh heh, little did she know.

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Football season is here! Yay! We bought 2 season tickets this year. Dave, of course, goes to every game and takes one of us girls as his date. This first game he took Emma. Unfortunately, the season ticket holder who has a seat next to ours is, errrrrr, quite large. So large in fact that Emma had to sit on Dave's lap the whole time. Are you kidding me?! That one seat that was used to house his left butt-cheek cost us a small fortune. Grrrr. Things will have to change though because I'm quite sure Canyon man and I won't fit on Dave's lap for the UofU vs. BYU game.

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I have designated Mondays as...Cookie Mondays. Every day when Emma gets home from school we have snack and talk about the girls' day. On Mondays she comes home to a big plate of nice warm cookies. We eat and then I freeze the rest for her school lunches for the week. I now love Mondays.

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We recently scored one of these babies for a whole $25. I'm stoked. As soon as Canyon is a little (or a lot) bigger we can enjoy long family bike rides again.

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My so called, maternity leave ends next week. I'm wishing I would have taken another month off. I love photography buuuut I'm not quite ready to leave my baby.

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I have noticed lately that during an intense part of a workout, be it a steep hill, sprint, etc. my mind reverts back to the same frame it used to get me through the long, hard contractions I had during labor with Canyon. "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. Push through, push though, push through. Breath, breath, breath. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this". It's funny, I laughed when I realized what I was doing, but it seems to work well.

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I've had this book for over a week now and am only, like, an 1/8th of the way into it. I finished both of the first two books in a day and a half. I just can't seem to get into this one, though. Maybe it's because I only have the chance to read it in 5 min. increments. I bet that's it. I still have high hopes for the book.

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I don't think there is anything that smells better than my sweet baby's little neck. Mmmm I nibble on it all day. Especially because he is prone to tossing his head back and letting out sad little coos all day. We call them his sad stories. Seriously.... Cutest. Thing. Ever.

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One week of school down! I think we are all starting to get used to it. Emma comes home so happy! I always ask her about something that made her happy and something that made her sad during the day. She always has 10+ happy things and never any sad ones. She did have a small meltdown Thursday night, though. I think the full-day part of Kindergarten finally caught up with her. A good nights sleep and a promise of a weekend full of snuggling mom and playing with Ali helped. Speaking of Ali, she too is getting used to the whole school thing. She has her own lunch box and own backpack and walks with Emma to the bus stop sporting both every morning. And then she comes home and follows me around calling me teacher. We have our own morning of "school", nap time and then Emma is home. Not too bad.

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The other day I had to grab a few things from the grocery store and took the three monkeys with me. The girls picked out one of those ostentatiously BIG carts. You know what I'm talking about. Huge. Noisy. Blue. As I looked at the cart chuck-full of children with some small groceries squeezed in the spare spaces in between them it struck me how much I LOVE being a mom. Oh, how that cart full of children made me happy. Life is good. So good.

Another Birth Story

My whole pregnancy Ali was convinced she too had a baby in her tummy. Emma had done the exact same thing when I was pregnant with Ali and when I had Ali, that was the end of it. I guess I kind of expected for the same outcome with Ali and her "baby".

But nope...about a week after I had Canyon, Ali came to me in tears, literally big-fat-crocodile tears and asked, "You take me to doctor to get my baby out?" And then she burst out bawling, "It just won't come!!"

It hit me right about then that the poor kid seriously believed she had a baby in her tummy just like I had. And...she didn't believe me when I kindly tryed to explain that didn't have a baby in there. Dave, the genious, came up with a plan and ran to the store for a cheap doll. When he got home we told Ali that Daddy and I were going to help her have her baby at home. She was skeptical, thinking only a doctor was qualified for such things and all until Emma grabbed her hand and took over the show. Apparently Emma was as good as any ol' doctor in her book.

Emma layed a towel on the floor, instructed Ali to lay down on her back and then proceeded to hold Ali's legs and told her to "push lots". Huh, what?! I. was. FLOORED. Where in the world did she learn so much about childbirth for goodness sakes?! As far as I know she was nestled cozily in bed at grandpas house when I was squeezing Canyon out. Anyway, I let Emma coach, Dave take pictures and I plopped the undressed doll on Ali's tummy. Her look in the picture says it all...

She was euphoric....and then she asked when the other baby in her tummy was going to come out. With some smooth talking we convinced her that WAS the baby from her belly. She promptly named him, "Tanyon" dressed him in pretty pink clothes and fed him milk from her tummy. She's been a good little mommy and "Tanyon" goes almost everywhere with us in his own little "SeatCar".

On Food

I've mentioned before that Dave and I pretty much have completely different tastes in food. He likes the tried and true comfort dishes with lots of meat...lasagna, spaghetti, tacos, ect. I, on the other hand, like to try new recipes, lighter dishes, fresher dishes, dishes with lots of flavor. Lately, a miracle has happened in our house...Dave is converting. Haha, don't get me wrong the comfort dishes are still his favorite but he has actually been trying and ummm ENJOYING some new creations. We owe this new miracle to...dun-nuh-nuh-nuh...Bountiful Baskets! Oh how I love it. This summer I have been planning my weekly menu around the produce we get every Saturday morning. It has been so much fun! I get to try out new recipes weekly. For example, some of the recipes I've made this week

Panzanella (YUM-O!!)

Mango-Orange Smoothies

Turkey and Wild Rice Stuffed Peppers (one of my absolute FAVORITE new recipes)

Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Frittatas with Feta cheese (Frittatas are now a staple in our house)

Red Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

Making dinner is now something I look forward to. So, not only has Bountiful Baskets saved us money on our food budget and helped us eat healthier (all of the above dishes are under 200 calories per serving, low in fat and packed with nutrients) but it has also eased the food tension in my marriage. Sweet, I tell you, just sweet.

By the way, I have every intention of starting to post some of my favorite recipes. Heh, we'll see how that pans out ;)

First day of Kindergarten

So I've maybe, kinda', sorta' been wishing this day would never come. A bit dramatic? Haha, perhaps, but I mean...Kindergarten...first day of real school...my baby. As sad as it made me it was a lot harder on the little bed-headed, pajama clad two-year-old.

As soon as Emma left Ali curled up in a ball and layed on the living room floor sucking her thumb.

"Ali, what's wrong, honey?"

"I sad my sissy not here."

and then a bit later she came wandering over with her large, sad, puppy dog eyes and whimpered,

"you my new best friend because sissy left me."

Poor girl had only Canyon and I to play ponies with and apparently we didn't do it right. Nor do we sing the right songs to her while she went potty. In short, we were a bad substitute for her favorite person. And when Emma walked in the door later Ali dashed to her with a big hug and kiss and said, "I missed you SOOOO much". Priceless.

The sad part is Emma was only gone for a whole 2 1/2 hours today. Next week she will be gone for almost 8 hours a day. I haven't broken it to Ali yet.

Well, now that you know how Ali and I fared you are probably wondering about Emma.

Dave was with her the whole time (it was a cross between first day of school and a back-to-school night, weird, I know) and he assured me she rocked it. I knew she would. Emma loved her first day so much she has been talking about it non-stop since she got home. She is SO ready for school. She loves learning and meeting new friends so it's just her thing. Dangit.

A little boy and his bow

I'm so sorry, little dude.

But...you do have two older sisters.

Two older sisters who don't want you to feel left out.

I, for one, think it's kind of pretty.

Shhh. Don't tell your father.

Bright Eyes

Go ahead...smooch on your screen. I won't tell ;)

Just Random

Kindergarten. Oh, how it scares me. Emma starts in less than a week. I'm most nervous about how she will fare on the bus and in the lunchroom. My baby. I'm also nervous about how Ali will survive without her all day. And how I will survive without her. Last night Emma sensed my mood and drew us all a very detailed picture of our little family (down to little Howie) all standing under a rainbow together so we can look at it when she is at school and not miss her as much.

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Dave was holding Canyon on his chest yesterday and made the comment that Canyon is now SO big and there is no way he would be able to fit in his tummy. Haha, I know, I gave Dave a double take after that random comment. Anyway, I had to laugh at Canyon's dr. apt later that day when he weighed in just over 7 lbs and was 19 1/2 inches long. Yup, completely impossible to carry a baby that big in your tummy ;).

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The other night I was snuggling Ali in her bed and was telling her how happy I am that she belongs to our family. She looked up at me and in all seriousness asked, "Where you get me at? You buy me from the Oreo store (aka WalMart)?". Apparently WalMart does sell everything...even children. Who knew? Not to worry, we had a long talk on where she really came from and then Ali ended the conversation by saying, "...and I'll go back and live with Heavenly Father if I don't wear my seatbelt." I should probably stop threatening her with death every time she takes her seatbelt off.


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Thanks to bountiful baskets and some awesome neighbors we have zucchini and carrots coming out of our ears. I experimented a little bit and baked up a whole bunch of Jumbo, whole-grain zucchini carrot muffins. I love them. Plus, they freeze well. Score.

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I am a firm believer in exercise during pregnancy. I didn't exercise regularly when I was pregnant with Emma and Ali. I wish I would have. I was too nervous about miscarrying because it takes us so long to get pregnant. I know that's silly because my doctor always assured me exercise wouldn't cause miscarriage but I just couldn't shake the fear....until this last pregnancy. Exercise during pregnancy has many benefits. One of them...regaining your pre-pregnancy body faster. And wow! Do I ever attest to that. This recovery has been AMAZING. Honestly, some mild post cramping is all I really had to deal with. No soreness. Nothing. The day before I went in to have Canyon I was at the gym working out and only a week later I was running and biking again. I was actually feeling good enough to start back up again when Canyon was only a couple of days old but decided to let my body rest just a bit longer. I'm also losing the baby weight a lot faster than I have before. It's been three weeks and I'm down 30 lbs. A miracle for me. So yes, firm believer and supporter of exercise during pregnancy.

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I have SO many books I'm longing to read. I keep thinking I can get some reading time in while nursing or when I'm up all night with Canyon but for some reason it never happens. Hmmm. I'm starting to wonder if I'll even get this month's pick from my book club read.

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I am so baby hungry. Haha, I know that sounds odd considering I just had one. Every little milestone Canyon has reached in his short three weeks has been bittersweet. I have LOVED watching him grow and become more alert and take on his own little look, but oh, it hurts a bit to realize this is the last time I get to enjoy each phase. Let's just say I've been doing a lot more holding and snuggling knowing he is our last.

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Ali's new role as "big sister!" has brought out a side of her we have never seen before. She has shocked us all by how loving and nurturing she has become. She is always kissing and hugging on Canyon, folding his clothes and blankets, bringing him her special toys and blankets, and really just taking meticulous care of him. In fact, she turned down dessert the other night in order to give Canyon a bottle. WHAT?!?! Yeah, we were all shocked.

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At Costco the other day I was introduced to yogurt creamies. Oh, sweet heaven. I wind down with one nightly and hardly feel guilty about it considering they have the same amount of calories as a banana.

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I'll end with a recent question Emma asked...."Mom, if Canyon is sooooo tiny then why was your tummy SO BIG?!". Haha, that kid.