Trip to Wyoming

I know, we are totally world travelers! First Arizona, now Wyoming....maybe next time we'll pick somewhere a little more exotic! We went for my cousin's baptism. It was so fun to see their house and spend time with them since they live so far away! And despite popular belief, the drive through that part of Wyoming was absolutely gorgeous!

During the trip we almost hit a deer! Yes, a deer! It was the scariest/funniest thing in the whole world! We were already at my Uncle's house, but I had forgotten a few things so we had to run into town to go to Walmart. On the drive, I see a deer running towards our car! I couldn't even make a peep to let Sean know. I finally could make a noise and screamed so loud at the same time Sean saw it, yelled like I've never heard him yell before, slammed on the brakes, and had to swerve out of the way! The stupid deer actually slowed down when it got to our car! We missed by inches. As I'm typint this, I'm tearing up because I'm laughing so hard! Brett was in the back seat and didn't have his seatbelt on so he flew in to the front seat and squealed like a little girl, I've never heard Sean yell like that before, and my voice was hoarse! I'm not even kidding you, it was the funniest thing that has ever happened to me!

After we went to WalMart Sean thought he smelled something funny. Then the power steering stopped working, so he popped the hood, but the fluid was totally normal...so we decided to just drive back to my uncle's and have him look at it. Right as we pulled on to the road a really strange noise started! So Sean pulled over again, popped the hood again, and one of the belts was totally off and the thingy that held it there was shattered! (I know, I'm a genius when it comes to cars!) Super long story short: On Sunday morning my dad headed to Wyoming with my car to pick us up. The van is up there and my uncle is going to sell it. (we fixed the part, but didn't want it to break down again on the way home). So we had to bid farewell to the Vanna White! Sad sad day. NOT! This trip was very interesting! We had a lot of fun, and hope that next time we can stay longer and that no cars die!

Brett and Mara asleep on the Primary room floor inbetween church and the baptism
Sean and the babe both asleep on the drive up. It was so cute, they both had the same facial expression.
This is Mara's first cousin once removed. So he's my first cousin. They are polar opposites! It's the funniest thing!
I took a couple of farewell shots of Vanna White. We will miss you!
Can I just say that with all the driving we've been doing she has been such a good girl!
Okay, so this is the funniest story. I gave both of them one end of the toy. Mara is an only child, and Gavin is the youngest of five boys. Mara was totally content to play with her end, but Gavin being the youngest of 5 boys thought it meant major competition, and the tug-o-war began! Mara just kept looking up at me like, "what is going on mom!" In the end Gavin won because Mara doesn't yet understand the competition! It was too cute!

New Toy!

We got Mara an exersaucer! She loves it! I thought it would take her a while to get used to it, but as soon as we sat her in it she started squealing and spinning around in the chair. We need to thank Grandma Miller for buying it for her. I really wanted Mara to have one of these (mostly because I thought if I were a kid, it looked like it would be tons of fun!) but as I searched the internet the cost was out of control! $120 for a new one! Are you kidding me? Of course, I could always go buy a used one...but call me stupid, I just don't think I'd want her playing with something that some kid I didn't know had used. It would be totally different if I knew where it came from. Anyways, so I went on ebay and found a brand-new-in-the-box exersaucer for $39.00!!!! Shipping was $19, so it ended up only costing $61.35! How awesome is that?!?!

Thanks Kim!

My aunt Kim was here from Arizona last week and took a few pictures of my tootsie roll! These are the first three that she sent me, but I think there will be more to follow!

I need your help!

(I know this is an old photo, but I couldn't find any other ones of her crying.)

I'm having a huge dilema right now. Any input or advice would be very much appreciated! Mara has always been the most amazing little sleeper! I could not have asked for a better baby when it came to sleeping! She has recently started waking up every two hours. Not because she's hungry (I know this because when I make her a bottle she doesn't eat it), not because she's poopy, not because she's too hot..too cold, etc. She just wants to play! So at her four month well check on July 23rd I asked the Dr. about it. She told me that it's just become a habit, and that we have to break it. (P.S. I absoluely did not like this lady. She is my doctor's nurse practitioner and we had to see her. She would not listen to me, and acted like every question I had was upserd! Is that even how you spell it?) Anyways, she told me that we just need to let her cry it out. Don't pick her up, just keep trying to soothe her from the side. To go in at longer intervals, i.e. wait 5 minutes, then 10, then 15...and so on. Well, we've done it for two nights now, and I'm not dealing with it well. I sit and cry the whole time too! I just feel so terrible! What if she has problems later in life because I didn't help her when she was little? Sean thinks that is absolutely ridiculous. I know it probably is too, but in the middle of the night I just can't help it! But I know that she isn't getting the sleep she needs because she's so darn tired during the day since she has started this whole wake up every two hours thing. So I'm just wondering if any of you have gone through the same thing and what you did about it! Let me know!!

Steel Days Parade!

Her shirt was like 12 sizes too big so I pulled out the old softball trick with the ribbons on the sleeves, and then the 80's trick with a rubber band around the bottom! She was stylin'!
This is how she was through the whole parade. Totally passed out! As we would drive down the street I could hear people saying, "ah....how sweet!" It was pretty funny!

All of us on the float. The boys were so funny! They kept waving at people and being super cute! It was fun to watch!
After we were done (we were at the beginning of the parade) we went and sat with our families. Marcie held her in the shade for a while because it was so darn hot!
We wetted the rag in the cooler water and put in on her head and she loved it!

Soakin' wet and chillin' with daddy! After Sean got up, he looked like he'd peed his pants cause she'd left a huge wet spot on him!
Even though it was a million degrees she was super happy! I just love her!

Good Music!

So I was sitting on the couch bored and decided I would see what Brittani had done with the blog lately and decided that we needed some more music. I put on the Weezer and Flobots muic. I decided I should post this so people wouldn't wonder why Brittani was putting dude music on our blog. P.S. I love Brittani!

I'm so grateful...

I'm kind of having a "bad" day, so I thought, "what could I do to change that?" So I've decided to make a post about just a few things that I'm grateful for. There's nothing like counting blessings to make you snap out of a funk!

I'm grateful for Sean. He does so much for me. He works hard so that our little family will be ok and so I can stay home to take care of our babe.

I'm grateful for my daughter. Sometimes things are really hard, sometimes I wonder if I will be a good enough mom, but I know in my heart she was meant to come to us. She always makes me want to be a better person.

I'm grateful for my family. I'm so glad that I can live close to both. I have no idea how Sean and I would make it without all of you!

I'm grateful for my "little job". Teaching piano gives me something to do, gives us some extra money, and gives me the opportunity to acquire better teaching skills. I'm always looking for new ways to teach a subject, and new ways to be more organized.

I'm grateful for my talents. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father gave me so many gifts that I can bless other peoples lives with.

I'm grateful for the Gospel. It gives my life so much more meaning.

I'm grateful for my extended family. Because of them I'm blessed with so many wonderful memories.

I'm grateful for good health. I never realized how much I took that for granted until I had a rough pregnancy.

I'm grateful for the summertime. I love all seasons, fall is probably my favorite, but I'm grateful for the summer because I get to spend more time outside doing some of the things that I love.

I'm grateful for the tough times I have gone through because they've made me the person I am today.

I'm grateful for good music. There is nothing like a good song to lift your spirits!

I'm grateful for the opportunites I get to design things. Whether it's helping design a bedroom, a scrapbook page, a card, a kitchen, or even making a cake. I just love letting my brain explore so many endless options!

I'm grateful for swimming pools. Silly, I know, but I just love swimming!

I'm grateful for good friends, that always know the right thing to do to make my day!

I'm grateful for rain. I love the smell. I love the feel. I love the look. I just love it.

I'm grateful for so many many many things. Just writing these few has already made me in a better mood! I need to do these kinds of things more often so I can make sure I keep things in perspective!

Super long Update

I figure the best way to do this is to just lable the pictures as I go. So I'll put the captions under the picture. Enjoy!

This was the first time we curled Mara's hair. Why we curled it, I still don't know...since her hair is naturally curly. It was fun though! She loves looking at herself in the mirror and talking to herself, so she was definately occupied at my mom's vanity!
This was Mara's first experience with rice cereal! Can I just tell you what a kick in the pants that was? She was just slurrping it up and was only getting mad because it wasn't coming fast enough! What an oink!
This was her pose while she waited for some more of the good stuff!
This next group of pictures is of our trip to Arizona. She did so good, and was such a happy girl! This picture was taken in the guest bedroom we stayed in at my Uncle Kurt's house. We had so much fun seeing them! Thanks for letting us come!
On her first horse ride with her great grandpa! She didn't really know what to think, but she didn't complain at all.
We pulled over to change her little bum at a look-out point on the beautiful drive (can I just tell you, that the drive from here to Prescott Arizona is so gorgeous!) we decided to give her a little break from her carseat and let her chill in the front seat. She was SO silly about it too.
On the trip I found her love of water bottles. She would just stare at mine as I drank so I handed her an empty one and she went to town chewing on it!
She was such a good girl and slept a lot!

This was at home this morning, I just thought it was cute so I'd throw it in!
This is Mara "talking" to me. She hardly ever stops making noises. It's the cutest sound you've ever heard!
Mara in her goofy hat.
This was Mara after the baby contest. She doesn't have any clothes on because she decided to have her first blow-out ever all over herself and her mom! It was tons of fun! Sean wanted to hold up his trophy and get a picture with "it". He was one pround dad that his little girl won! He was texting everyone he knew! Ok, so I did too....but still, there's something so cute about watching a daddy with his little girl!
This is another one with him and his trophy, but I just zeroed in on her face cause it was so cute! I forgot my camera so I didn't get pictures of the actual event, or her with her cousins...I was bummed. But we will for sure take pictures at the parade tomorrow!

THE END

Tag, I'm it! Yeehaw!

Three Joys: 1. My baby girl 2. My husband 3. Family in general

Three Fears: 1. heights for sure! 2. Baby getting sick again 3. never owning our own home...

Three Goals: 1. lose weight 2. be a good mommy 3. keep our house clean all the time

Three Current Obsessions: 1. college 2. discovery health channel 3. Reading

Three Random Facts: 1. I love cooking 2. I'm always thinking of new things to do as far as home decor goes...no matter who's home I'm in, I'm thinking of a way to arrange their furniture...paint colors...etc. I'm just weird like that. 3. I have the sexiest husband ever!

Three people to tag: 1. Lana 2. Victoria 3. Stacie

Bath time!

Don't her eyes just crack you up?! She kills me! We just had to take a picture because she just looked so darn confused! We thought it was too cute.

Mara's First 4th of July

We went to the Provo Parade at the butt crack of dawn. I was so surprsied because when Mara gets hot, she gets super ornery, but she was SO good! We got great seats in the shade so I think that really helped! Anyways, here are a few pictures of the day.

The boys did NOT like holding her. We really wanted a picture with them together though!

This is what we had to end up doing to get a picture of the three of them together! Don't they all looked thrilled?I thought this was just a cute picture. It's the look she always gives Sean. She must love him or something...?

These are her favorite toys. It's so cute! She just chomps away at them!
Mara and her favorite uncle Brett!
She was very entraced by the noises of the parade.
Another attempt at a picture of them together...

Ear Piercing Day!

This was the best picture I could get of her ears. Yes, we got them pierced. I think it's so darn cute! We (meaning Brett, my mom, and myself) went to the mall last Friday to do it. My mom was not into the idea, but she was willing to tag along. We get to the store and there is only one girl working, which means she'll have to pierce each ear seperately. The store front is glass so anyone walking by can see us. You would not even believe the looks I got as I was sitting on the chair holding my childs head to my chest as she was screaming! You would think people had never seen a baby get their ears pierced before! Wait, they probably haven't... Brett held her arms down while I held her head to my chest and my mom hid in the far corner of the store because she couldn't stand to watch it. What a wuss! Now, I've heard Mara scream. I mean really scream. She definately has a good set of lungs, listening to her scream during her immunizations, listening to her scream as the resperatory therapist stuck a tube down her nose...etc. This was NOTHING compared to any of those occasions. It was worse, much much MUCH worse. I actually ended up feeling a little bad about it. For how hard she screamed she sure got over it very quickly. She only cried for like five minutes. From the way she was screaming I was sure she was going to punish me for it all day long, but she didn't. Five minutes later she was smiling at me and talking up a storm!

She is so much more fun now. Of course I absolutely loved her when she was a little newborn, but this stage is just so fun. She smiles constantly, plays with toys, puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, and has started to giggle. I love seeing her little personality develop. She is already quite the diva. I told Sean that we can't wait too long to have another one because she will for sure be quite the stink butt if we wait too long! Spoiled as she is... Ah, I love her!

Piece of cake...?

I made this cake for Brooke's Bridal Shower. I was pretty proud of my creation, it definately wasn't perfect but it was my first try at something like it so I felt like it was a success. We go to leave for the shower, Brooke picks up the cake and starts walking across the kitchen...and what do you think happened? Yes, the cake tumbled to it's untimely death on the kitchen floor. The picture above was taken after the fall. We put it back together pretty good, but it was terribly lopsided and quite squished looking. At least it wasn't a total loss...? It was my first experience coloring that much fondant blue and brown. My arms were sore for a couple of days from kneading it! Anyways, I wish it hadn't fallen to it's death, but at least we were able to make it look somewhat presentable. Thanks Brooke! JK, I sure love ya!

Mother's Day

Sean got us concert tickets for Mother's Day. So last night my mom watched the babe, and Sean and I went out! I was so bummed that I forgot my camera. We had a lot of fun. It was the Josh Gracin, Collin Raye, and Joe Nicholes concert at UVU. It was fun to go on a real date for once! We leave Mara with my mom a lot, but it's always just to run to the store real quick or something. Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks to Sean for taking me, and thanks to my mom for watching our little tootsie roll! Love ya guys!