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!