Our Anniversary

Things have been so incredibly busy around here that I haven't even told you about all the fun stuff we've been up to. Despite all the craziness I felt that I needed to stop and mention that today is our 3rd anniversary! Time really does fly and I could never imagined that we'd have two beautiful children already! I am so happy to be married to Ian. He is such a good helper with the kids and the housework as well as being my emotional rock. It's not hard to imagine eternity with him because that's what I hope for everyday. Whenever he goes off to work or school I remind myself that someday I won't have to share him with those things. Ian and I chose to be married in the Lord's House so that we could be together forever. I know that if we keep the covenants we've made Heavenly Father will grant us that blessing.

Thank you Ian for taking care of me in every way. I am so looking forward to the new adventures we'll be having over the next few years together. I'm grateful to know that no matter what happens you'll always be there for me. I love you.

PS-Among the craziness a few pieces of news: 1. Ian was accepted to the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and we're in the process of deciding which school we're going to now that we have all acceptances. 2. I reupholstered my couches 3. Holly turned 1.

Posts to come soon!

I shot the sheriff...

...but I did not shoot the deputy. Okay, really, I shot a tree stump. Okay, really really, I tried to shoot a tree stump.

Before I continue...Amy here is the Cristina post you were looking for in your comment!

Our friends/neighbors invited us to go shooting. I'd never even heard a real gun before so I gotta say, I was pretty nervous to hold and even shoot one. When I did hear one, I screamed. I knew it would be loud but I was surprised how loud! Once I got my hands on it though and started to shoot I realized that if you have respect for guns and the damage they can do and treat them properly, they can be way fun! Thanks again Nikki and Cody for taking us along, and Julie for babysitting!

Ian had done some shooting before so he was better at actually hitting things then me.

I really wanted to look cool in these pictures. I did not want to look like I was freezing my butt off like I actually was. Why? I don't really know. I think looking cold reminds me that I'm still a winter wuss from Florida. I've lived here 4 years! You'd think I'd get used to it! But, no.

Ian and I both tried the bigger gun, but it was so heavy I looked even less cool with it because I had a hard time holding it up. And as you can see in this picture and the next video that I gave up trying to look cool because I was FREEZING!

Cody said we had to shoot all the rounds fast just to get it out of our systems. I'm glad we did. I'm sure I didn't hit anything worth anything, but it was fun!

So lessons learned:

1. I need a lot more practice before a gun in my hands would actually be a threat even to the broad side of a barn.
2. When you shoot a gun sideways, you can't hit anything. Sorry Mr. Gangster, I now know your secret that you're a terrible shot. You still look tough though.
3. Guns can be for recreation, but no matter what you're using it for it demands respect.

Besides the shooting though Ian was accepted to another school this week--The University of Sussex also in England. Now we have options! We're waiting on one more school before we make the final choice, so stay tuned.

We're Moving to the UK!

Yes, you read the title correctly. Read it again if you think it will help. Our family is moving to the United Kingdom next year!
So here's the whole story. Ian was planning to apply to Graudate school at a bunch of different schools in the US. On the list were The University of Texas, BYU, Boise State, and others. We had such a hard time deciding which one was the favorite. One thing we did know is for any of those schools Ian would have to take the GRE. So we bought a book and Ian got to studying.
He took a few practice exams and was doing so well on them. I was pretty proud. I knew he'd be a shoe in for whatever school he applied to if he could only do that well on his actual exam.
He took the test. It didn't go very well which is why in my previous post I didn't even mention his score. That was really hard for us. We prayed SO hard that he would do well on his test and get the score he needed to get into a good school. At the time, it didn't feel like our prayers had been answered at all.
In the next couple days Ian started fall semester. Still we were pretty bummed about the test results and tried to think of a plan. Just after Ian got out of class he said he may have figured it out and we'd talk about it when he got home.
He arrived and I was seriously curious. Then he said "why don't we apply to school abroad?" Immediately I turned him down. I thought he was crazy and there was no way we could afford it. Plus we have two small children and that would be quite the adjustment especially since Atley will be starting school towards his anticipated graduation date. I could not have imagined it working out, but my insightful husband suggested we look into it and then see where we get.
I looked into it. Turns out a masters degree is only 1 year (here's they're typically 2 at least), the US government still issues loans to US citizens who are studying in the UK, and there are no application fees so it was a free try. But, the real kicker for us was THEY DON'T LOOK AT THE GRE!!! We had so many struggles with that silly test. Personally I think it's a terrible way to estimate academic potential, especially after all the tricks he learned about in the study book.
Anyway, my heart was softened and we decided to apply. The other great thing about schools over there is that they respond to your application usually within a month so we'd have plenty of time to get ready to go. So these last few weeks we've been waiting and watching for that special e-mail that says they need Ian at their school and today......it came!

Yes, our first acceptance letter came today from the University of Sheffield in England!

I gotta say, it's a beautiful place!

We aren't sure that we're going to this school in particular because we're still waiting to hear back from the others and to see what kind of scholarships we can find, but now that we have at least one option to choose from, we know that we're moving for sure.
We'll be in Rexburg until our lease expires next summer, but school doesn't start until September or October.
We've still got a lot of things to figure out before we actually move, but this experience has taught me so much about the Lord's love. He taught us little by little that this was the path he wanted us to take and even when we felt like he wasn't answering our prayers, he continued guiding us so we could feel of his love. I know our prayers were answered. Heavenly Father has a plan for everyone and if we look to him to guide us, we can have the experiences we need to become to best people we can be. I will always remember this experience as a time where I followed what the Lord wanted and was guided to something I never thought would happen.
Now we'll just have to make the choice between which school. I'm positive we'll be looking to the Lord for help on that one too! :)

Holly Walks!

Yep, my little girl is a walking MACHINE! She's been taking a few steps here and there for about a month now, but just a few days ago she figured out that she could really go the distance. I was gently reminded this morning that it's way past time for a video post of it. Wanna see the video? Of course you do!

Cute, huh?

He's 2!

My little boy is 2 years old! Can you even believe it? We had a little party. I made a cake. Here are some pictures!

Atley is on a dinosaur kick. He loves dinosaurs and now every animal seems to say "rawr!" I wanted to make him a dinosaur cake so badly. I only say that because it makes more sense that this was the second cake I had to make in order for that to happen. It was very emotional for me, but I completed the dinosaur cake for my little boy! Victory for Mom! Here is the tutorial I used to make it. If you think my cake is awesome, don't look at hers. It'll just make me feel bad. But, then again, after the first cake crumbled I was lucky I got to make the cake I wanted to anyway.

I also made a personal sized cake for Atley so he didn't slobber all over the cake everyone was going to eat when he was trying to blow out his candles.

The following is a sideshow of some pictures of Atley from birth until now. Please enjoy. I hope it brings tears to your eyes like it does to me!

I was just commenting to Ian the other day on how much anxiety came to me with Atley's birthday. I know I can be a Mom to a baby. The quality is yet to be determined, but he hasn't died so that's good enough evidence for now. But the older Atley gets the more growth I have to go through too. I have to relearn how to play. I have to learn how to convince him that brushing his teeth is necessary if he wants to keep them. I have to learn how to share the love of Heavenly Father with him.
I love this challenge! One thing I learned at BYU-Idaho is that if you want to be successful in life in whatever capacity that you choose to pursue, you have to become a lifetime learner. Since graduation, I have found that this is more true as a Mom then I would've ever suspected. I am so glad to have Atley in my life. He is so special. I am grateful to Heavenly Father for trusting me with one of his precious children to watch over and teach. I guess we'll just have to keep growing together because I gotta say, I'm very attached!

Halloween

My kids had a great time this year with Halloween. Their costumes were adorable and how can anyone resist giving candy to a kid like that?

Atley dressed up as a Ghost and had a great time in his costume--at least the first time I made him wear it. We went to our ward party on Tuesday before Halloween. He thought it was great to be a ghost but we didn't bring home any candy.

Then Friday came and we wanted to take him Trick-or-Treating at Ian's work. Well he DID NOT want to wear that costume. I don't think I've ever seen him throw a fit like that one. Of course I was frustrated because I was excited about the Trick-or-Treating. I knew he would love it, but he was being so difficult. Needless to say, I got my way. I'm the Mom. Duh!

And he loved it, like I knew he would. Now he asks me for candy all the time! Silly Atley.

We also went to a Halloween party that our friend Kayleen put together for the kids. It was GREAT! We enjoyed a ghost hunt, a pinata, and some tasty treats.

Our little Holly was a puppy for Halloween. She was so good while I put the make up on I decided to only do it one day. Thanks again to Kayleen for helping me with her ears! She was really good at crawling around and picking up candy. She had trouble letting go of the candy and she didn't get to eat any (at least beyond a taste), but I think she had a great time. And, it's like it said before, I think it was mostly for me anyway, so she was a good sport.

We had a very enjoyable Halloween but it sort of came and went for our family. I think we were more focused on November 1st. (Psst...that's Atley's birthday!)

This one is kind of personal.

A year ago I was really struggling with something. I was 7 months pregnant with Holly and really didn't know how that would turn out. I was seeing a specialist every couple of weeks for ultrasounds. They didn't know what was wrong other than she was small and we still didn't know why. At this point I was given a steroid shot because the doctor was pretty sure she would be born premature. I gotta say, I was terrified. The thought that my baby could come at any time combined with the possibility losing her was one of the most difficult things for me to handle so far in my life. I warned you that it was personal.

I went home that evening after considering everything that the doctors had to say and talked with Ian. I felt pretty strong up until this point but in a moment of weakness I broke down. I cried and cried to my husband about what would happen if we lost our baby. My over active imagination took over as I imagined her funeral. My sweet husband was willing and able to give me a priesthood blessing in which he reminded me to remember the atonement of the Savior. The next morning I spent time in my scriptures studying all about the atonement. I wanted to know everything there was toknow so that Heavenly Father could help me through this hard time.

Later that evening, exactly year ago today, I got a call from my at Mom asking me what was wrong with my friend Andre. We had been trying to get ahold of each other for about a week and kept missing each others phone calls so it had been a few days since we talked. I told her I didn't know what she was talking about and she said people were posting all kinds of messages on his Facebook about "rest in peace" and such. I quickly informed her it was probably nothing and that she was overreacting. Denial! As soon as I hung up with her I called my friend. He didn't answer. No big deal. We'd been missing each other all week. He'll call me back.

As soon as I got home I looked into what my Mom was talking about. Sure enough I found in the news that my friend had passed away earlier that afternoon in a car accident. If you had asked me what my reaction would be hypothetically I'm sure I would have told you initially disbelief followed by extreme grief. Instead, thanks to the tender mercies of a loving Heavenly Father, my thoughts fell on the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I know the situation with my daughter was the Lord preparing me for this experience and I felt that in two very real ways. One is the one I've already described in knowing that because of the sacrifice of the Savior my friend would live again and I knew that I would see him again. The second was that my grief was turned into compassion. I had a small window into what it would be like to lose my baby and felt great empathy for my friend's family--especially his Mother. I feel that when I see my beautiful little girl who is now almost 1 year old.

To Mrs. Reyna:
You and your family have been a part of my life since the 4th grade. I always knew you were a blessing to me, but in this past year you have taught me so much more than I ever anticipated. The love that you have for your children is a model to me as a mother. The strength and faith that you have shown is a model to me as a child of God. I know you are still grieving, but please know that I will always remember you and your family for what you haven shown me during this experience. I know Andre loved you. I know he still loves you. He would be pleased to know of all you are doing in his memory.

To Andre:
I miss you my friend. Though I know I tried many times I could never express what a blessing you were and still are in my life. I could not have asked for a better friend. You made it easy for me to follow the unusual standards that I set for myself. You even encouraged me. We were able to have so much good, clean, fun together. I could always tell you anything. Remember that time my Mom got in a car accident and you drove me to the hospital and stayed with us? Remember that huge pirate pinata you sent me after I moved to Rexburg? Remember when you insisted on throwing me a birthday party? Remember how I would come buy a pack of gum at Publix so I could talk to my favorite checker? I have so many memories like that written in my journals. You even had input on helping me name my kids! My daughter Holly is the best reminder I have of you. She is so special to me because of that and I hope someday you two will meet. To my kids you will always be Tio Andre, just like you wanted. Thank you for everything.

No creative title this time!

When I come up against a post of how cute my kids are, I have a hard time writing a cute title. What should it say? My kids rock? Cute babies? Those are just a couple of examples of how bad I am at it! Also, nothing really seems to do it justice. It's like have the most moist, delicious cake and not being able to make a frosting to accompany it. A cake like that would be ruined with bad frosting! Oh well! We'll just have to live without a title.

Now for the cuteness!

My kids like to play together. I like being able to watch them at the same time. This was the perfect photo opportunity! Atley let Holly actually get in his tent!

This is the picture I was trying to get. Holly kept licking Ian's hand while he was trying to study. He didn't love it, but he was patient enough to let her do it while I tried to catch a picture. It only took me about 4 tries!

Every time I snapped a photo she stopped licking in the nick of time. I think her face tells me she was doing it on purpose.

Atley really likes to take toys with him to bed. A lot of toys. I heard him playing instead of sleeping one night and went in to find this madness. On his bed he had a piano, 4 stuffed animals, a car, 2 unmatched slippers, his puppy, the night light cover, his sippy cup, his toothbrush, his hairbrush, and the usual blanket and pillow. Woah, kid! Also, when I put him to bed anything that is in the near vicinity he wants me to kiss--seriously anything! The other day he wanted me to kiss his sticker! So imagine the fun I had this night.

Holly learned to wave and she is a real beauty queen. I just love it when she waves to me!

Also, the blue sidewalk chalk tastes the best. Just F.Y.I.

Rexburg is full of suprises!

Whenever I think Rexburg is predictable something always surprises me. Like the other day, when there was the noisiest unplanned unannounced parade right outside my front door. Or how I was expecting to join in the annual spud race and it was canceled until NEXT YEAR when I won't live in Rexburg. Yeah. Well, sometimes the surprises are nice. We found a new park we love!

It has ducks!

Alright, I might have already known the park was there. And maybe Ian and I had our first date there, but that doesn't mean we go there all the time! Besides, this time we decided to go further into the park than we did on that date. So I guess instead of saying we discovered a new park, I could say we discovered hidden parts of the park. Yeah. That still sounds exciting, right? They have frisbee golf, a picnic area, and as already mentioned, ducks! Atley just wanted to throw rocks at the ducks. I guess we'll have to teach him about being kind to all of God's creatures. We're still working on being nice to Holly though. I see that as kind of a priority.

We decided to go back to the more familiar part of the park (for the ducks sake) and so we could find some rocks for Atley to throw. He quickly ran out of little pebbles so Mommy came to the rescue!

How was the water, you ask? COLD! I almost chickened out, but then I decided it was a small sacrifice that I could make for Atley and (as long as there were pictures) he would remember how much his Mommy loves him. Wanna see a video? No making fun of my rolled up pants!

Apparently I'm a trendsetter too because those kids showed up and wanted to get in the water too. Then they realized how cold it was and changed their minds. Smart kids!

Hm...now where was Holly throughout all this? Well...

She was learning to walk with DADDY!

Okay, so she can't walk on her own, but she loves to hold onto our fingers and walk, walk, walk, all day! She's really short though as you know from our previous post, so it is a little hard on the back. I came over to dry out and watch my little girl become a big person, but I decided to sit down. You'll see in the video, Holly wanted to sit down too. Lazy fraidy girl!

She's still working on the walking and the courage. I think she'll get there soon. For now I'm okay that she just crawls. She's really great at it. Now I just need to attach swiffers to her knees and get some extra cleaning done!

Ian took the GRE

Many of you probably know that already. He's been working on his applications to get into Graduate School for a couple months now. So far, so good. We've had some very positive responses from his teachers when he asks for recommendations. He explains to them his plans and there is a lot of nodding that goes on. They've all given some additional encouraging words or advice on top of that. But, from my point of view, who wouldn't have at least one letter full of nice things to say about Ian. I could right at least 100 letters like that without even breaking a sweat. What can I say? He's so good to me!

Well, we went with Ian to Pocatello where he took the GRE. We waited outside. It seemed like a really long wait. Want to know what we did? First we went to a park. That didn't last too long because I had dirty diapers to take care of.

Then I found this little oasis on the ISU campus!

We went into the student union looking for a bathroom and when I opened the door I saw a little lobby before the bathroom. I thought, 'Good idea!' It's was a lot like a Mother's Lounge you might find in an LDS church building. It had a changing table, place to make a bottle for Holly, power outlets so Atley could watch a movie, and a little desk with chairs so we could eat lunch. In a nutshell, it was the perfect place for us. Here's what Holly thought of it.

Maybe she was supposed to be a twin and God was just being merciful to me. Sorry Holly twin. I wasn't ready for 3 children under 18 months. You can join our family later as a little sister.

After we got tired of being cooped up indoors we decided to take a walk and check out the ISU campus. It was VERY different from BYU-I. In my mind after living in Rexburg for 4 years the only people that smoke are people that are old because they've been smoking all their lives and it's way too hard to quit. Everyone knows it will kill you these days so young people don't smoke anymore, right? WRONG! There were cigarette butts and smoking people EVERYWHERE! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but at least 10 smokers and 2 cigarette butts per smoker littere the ground. Atley picked one up and said "rock?" Of course the ew-no-gross-put-that-down-it's-not-a-rock response wasn't enough so I had to touch it. Yuck. But the grass was pretty at least!

He found other things to throw, too. Nice, normal things--like sticks!

As I mentioned before, ISU was very different from BYU-Idaho. The way people dressed and talked was even different. It didn't bother me. It's not like I think wearing shorts is a sin. It's just different. It did remind me thought that BYU-Idaho is a special place. I was so blessed to be able to study in a place without some of the small distractions like cigarette butts can pull my attention from studying and my family. Moving away from here will be an adjustment. I can already see that. I think I'll miss Rexburg.

I might be a tad behind...

BUT it runs in the family. Holly is now 9 months old; boy time flies! We took her to the doctor a week ago and I'm just now making the post (hence the behind comment). When I say it runs in the family I'm referring to her measurements. Holly only weighs 13.44 lbs and is 25in falling in the 1st percentile for weight and the 4th for height--and that's when you compare her with other preemies! She has almost gained 10 pounds since she was born. Believe it or not she is still wearing 3-6 month clothes. A 9 month old that acts her age and looks half it! If only we were all so blessed! I'm turning 23 this month and I had someone ask me if I was 28 the other day...oi!

Don't believe me that she looks that young? Here's a conversation I had with someone at church.

{Holly is sitting up on the floor and crawling around. She's making noise and doing all the things a typical 9 month old would do}

Girl: Your baby is so beautiful.
Me: Thank you!
Girl: What is she; 6 months old??
Me: {politely} Haha. No she's actually 9.
Girl: Oh...how much did she weigh when she was born?
Me: 3lbs 10 oz.
Girl: Oh, was she a....
Me: ...preemie? Yes.
Girl: Oh.

And of course, I've told this story to just about everyone I know when they ask about Holly. I don't mind that Holly is small. I like to say she's travel size! She's been described by someone else as petite which I prefer because it reminds me it's just the way she is and that I'm not doing anything wrong. But since Atley was small, she was premature, and I love her so much, I don't mind. I just wish she could pass some of that up to me! 28? Really?

Other than that our sweet little girl is getting along just as she should be. She is a crawling machine, she has an adorable laugh, she can pull herself up to standing (which is the weirdest because she is so short) and she LOVES to play with Atley. It makes me happy to know that when I leave them in a room together to play there is generally more laughing than crying.

Oh yeah! Holly is a great snuggler too. Just ask her Grandmas.

In case you were wondering our trip to the Cabin was AMAZING! I think it was everything we were hoping it would be and now all we can think to do it plan another one! Alas, school starts in a week so we will practice patience for now. Besides, next time (if all goes according to plan) there will be a zip line! Sweet! More pictures and (if you're lucky) a video to come!

As for the rest of our family I'm working on keeping the house straight, Ian is STILL studying for the GRE which he takes on Tuesday, and Atley is frustrating and adorable all at once. C'est la vie! What can one expect from and almost-two-year-old. I say frustrating because he is realizing that he doesn't have to do everything I say and adorable because he seems to copy everything I say.

Example: The other day I was trying to coerce him to the changing pad so I could change his diaper. He ran to his room--frustration ensues. He came running back out with his bear in arms, lays the bear down on the pad and says "hold still!" I'm giggling as I write about it! I guess we must say that to him from time to time. My frustration quickly changed to pure joy as I handed him a wipe and watched him try to change Bear's diaper. So cute!

He loves Signing Time! and Brother Bear both of which are teaching him many new words in 3 different languages. He doesn't sign much, but when I sign to him he knows what I mean. I'm thinking that will come in handy in church. French is turning out to be a similar experience. Sometimes he repeats what we say and he definitely understands us. I'm thinking that will come in handy when we live in France ;-) Here are some other great things Atley says:

Padres, Go Cougars!, Football, Skunk, Going Home, A la table, On s'en va, Time Out Corner, Père Celeste, Touchdown, I love you, I need help, More lait, Waterfall, Rocks, Holly crying, Off the table, Shut the door.

As an added note, while I'm writing this post the kids are in bed (the only way to blog!) so I went in to check on them. This is what I found...Atley decided to have a camp-in! I think we may have an Eagle Scout in the making!

This morning I woke up at 6 A.M.

That is rare. I don't like to wake up early unlike my handsome counterpart, but today I had a mission. I was determined to arrive at Albertson's when it opened this morning!

So by way of background information, I've been couponing. My sister has been doing it for over a year and has finally convinced me to try it. Yesterday in the newspaper I received coupons that double the value of manufacturer coupons. I got some a couple weeks ago, but when I went to get the things I wanted they were SOLD OUT! Yes, I was upset and determined not to let that happen again. So determined in fact, that I couldn't dream about anything last night except redeeming my coupons and getting some great deals! So you wanna know how it turned out right? Was it worth it? Judge for yourself.

This is what I came home with. It includes:

18 canned veggies

2 boxes of Bisquick
2 bottles of Prego sauce
Fritos
Dip
String Cheese
2 packages of cookies
4 packages of pens
2 packages of boxed juice

So how much did I pay for all of this? These groceries are worth $77.47 but I only paid $14.76! How cool is that? The best part of all of this is I was given a survey and told I would get $4 off my next purchase if I did so, of course, I did. Adding that to my savings, I only paid $10.76! It's really a thrill to realize that I saved all that money. Of course, we must take into account that there are some of those things that I would not have purchased if I didn't get them for free. I figure that instead of saving $60 I probably saved about $30 when I compare it with my normal spending habits. But the numbers above are a lot more impressive, right?

The jury is still out for me. I haven't decided weather the stress, waking up at 6 in the morning, and keeping track of a million coupons is worth it for our family. I have saved quite a bit of money so far, so we'll see how things turn out as we continue our coupon experiment.

Did you know?

Summer actually lasts from June to September!

I think they taught me something about that in elementary school, so why in college are they trying to retrain my brain? I'm actually starting to believe that summer is only 7 weeks long!
Maybe it's better that way. We're cramming all of our summer fun into the 7 weeks Ian is off from school and we're enjoying every minute of it. That could explain why our blog posts are so few and far between ;) You may have noticed our preview in the previous post. Ian made it! Cool, huh? We're working on having the best summer ever so we can make a super cool video to share. Aren't we just sweet?
In the meantime, here's some more answers to the question "did you know?"

1. Holly is a model.
(photo courtesy of Twin Creeks Photography)

Yup. It's true. A pretty good one at that too. She's featured on an Etsy shop! If you've never seen Etsy before you should check it out. People from all over post their handmade items for sale! It's like a giant craft fair online! Probably my dream come true. Click here to check out more photos of Holly modeling for MillysCrochet.

2. Holly crawls.

She started crawling for real about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks ago and boy does she get around. She loves to follow me around the house but often whines when she finds she can't keep up. She can also go from crawling to sitting up and sometimes she even stands! It's weird to watch her move so much since she's still so small! In a couple weeks she'll be 9 months already. Can you believe it?

3. My kids love the carousel.

Whenever we go to the park and see the carousel Atley says "yee-haw!" He loves to ride the horses, especially the big ones. It makes Holly happy too, but I think she prefers to sit with Aunt Darien and watch it go around and around.

4. Ian is taking the GRE September 7th!

He's the most confused about when Summer actually is because even though he isn't in school he still has to study. What a rip off! He's working really hard on learning all he can about the test before he has to take it. This has made me really excited because it's the start of his Graduate School applications! Where is he going to apply? Good question. We're not exactly sure yet! We're still looking into our best options on that. But so far each school that we've looked into it seems that we'll have an answer of where we've been accepted by the end of March 2011! That means we could be moving as soon as April! Wow! Also, Ian just applied for Graduation and he'll be walking in December! Also (this is where I brag) he got STRAIGHT A's last semester! What a champ. I'm so proud!

5. We get to visit the Cabin!

It's all Ian can talk about. Our family and some of our friends are heading up to the family cabin to enjoy the mountains for a few days. It's as close as we'll get to a vacation this year since everything is so busy and funds are so low. Honestly though, what more could we ask for. We have a lot of fun activities planned and are really looking forward to spending time with our friends.

Get all your summer fun in now too. Don't wait until the last minute. If you don't I'm sure you'll be jealous of ours. We don't want that, do we?

We're on Vacation

Okay, so maybe it's more like a staycation--at least for now. Ian finished the Spring semester and also registered for his very LAST SEMESTER! Hooray!

Anyway, check out the good things coming to a blogpost near you...

Project

So my sister shared this catchy little rhyme with me and it's been on my mind a lot latley. It could be because it's really catchy or maybe because it really applies to me.

Use it up, wear it out, do with it, or do without!

Weather or not a person is affluent, I think it's a great maxim to live by. If more people followed it, then there would be a lot less waste in our world, and thereby a lot less want. So, here's is my first project in line with this way of thinking. I have a few more ideas in mind, but those are a little further off. If/when they are accomplished I'll be sure to share them too.

This little beauty is called a tag blanket. Have you ever noticed how interested in tags babies are? I never did...until my little Holly came along. I had seen these before but never really felt like I would need or want one. Well, Holly loves to play with tags, so this was the perfect gift for her! Would you like to see what I used to make it?

These pieces of fabric were just laying around my house begging to be made over into something new. I'm pretty sure the ribbon came from a gift I was given a while back. The best part? Even with my limited sewing experience the makeover was a success! Wanna know what I learned from the project?

1. The lady on the craft blog wasn't lying when she said this fabric might be hard to work with because it stretches.
   
2. A first try is just that...a try! Nobody should expect it to be perfect, so neither should I! Also, it shouldn't keep someone from trying again.
   
3. Just because something isn't perfect doesn't mean it isn't good.

That last lesson was taught to me by Holly. Wanna see what she thought of her gift? Of course you do! She's too adorable to say no!

Also, I wanted to give an update on Ian's watercolor project. It's FINSIHED! So, I was pretty impressed. Here is is in all it's watercolor glory!

And for added fun, here's a video of Holly laughing! I was just hitting the couch coushions. It sounds kind of scary and loud, but her laughter tells us otherwise!

Singing Time!

As many of you know, Atley started going to nursery at church almost 2 months ago. Getting him started wasn't terribly hard. He missed his Mommy and Daddy a little, but now we've got him to the stage where he goes and stays, but he is still really shy.

That being said, the following video has three purposes:

1. To show the world that when Atley is inside our home he isn't as shy as he is outside our home.
2. To show his teachers in nursery that he is learning from them.
3. Because it is so darn cute! We took it today and I put in on my priority to do list for the blog. Nothing better than fresh, hot from the camera, Atley videos! Okay, maybe Holly videos are up there too!
   

A couple more notes, just so we cover all our bases. Atley is sick. He's had a fever today so it's really a miracle that he was playing with me at all. Also, that's why he's in a diaper (that is for you Maria!) Lastly, I recommend that you watch the video at least twice. The first time, watch Atley and I play (that's the purpose of this post after all.) The second time, check out the bottom left hand corner and you'll see a cute little face pop in and out!

Summer Fun!

Summer is here! It's official and even the Rexburg weather knows it! So, of course, we spent today doing very summery things.

First we went to story time at the Library. It's something I remember doing as a child and loving. Today's stories were all about construction because our library is working on an addition to the building. We sang songs about construction and even made our own construction hats. They looked less like construction hats and more like Napoleon or Peter Pan hats (depending on how you wore them). Atley wasn't much for the hat and he was a little concerned about the stamp on his hand, but he did get a bon bon (candy) at the end, so he was happy.

Next, after story time, we were off to the park for lunch. Rexburg has a pretty cool program where they give kids 1-18 free lunch. Atley doesn't always like what they're serving and often times it is the wrong temperature (hot foods are mostly too cold), but it's a great way for me to try new foods with him. Plus, who doesn't love a picnic in the park? Today he had a PB&J sandwich, chips, and milk. The lunch also included some carrots, celery, an orange, and a cookie, all of which he wasn't interested in.

Now is the really fun part of our day. We spent time playing in the splash park. It was probably the most fun for me because Atley was so happy (even when he was shivering) and because we took pictures!

Holly was our little Queen today. She pretty much just sat in the shade drinking a bottle. But, whatever makes her happy is OK with me!

So adorable!

At first, Atley was skeptical of the water. He wanted to play, I'm sure of that. I think he just wanted to be sure he had permission or something.

He began to warm up by playing in the puddles.

Then he got brave enough to touch it!

Then a little too brave--he and the water learned a little respect for each other (see video below).

Then he found a water spout that was just his size. Once the boundaries were established, they got along famously!

Atley sure loves the water. Ian and I have always called him a water baby. Holly on the other hand hates to even get in the bath. We're hoping she grows out of it so when she's a little bigger they can play together.

That's our summer day. We're excited for a lot more to follow! I hope you're all out making the most of the beautiful weather!

Art, Sitting, and Brotherly Love!

Ian and I were able to enjoy a date this week. We went up to the school and Ian taught me what he's been learning in his art class--WATERCOLOR! You remember in elementary school when they gave you the little watercolor palette and you went to town with those wiry bristled brushes that didn't do much in the way of art? Well, this was kind of similar, except the brushes were higher quality and my teacher seemed to have a lot more knowledge of watercolor than my elementary school art teacher (and much better looking, too!) Anyway, here are the pictures!

Ian was taking the pictures this time. I think he wanted proof that I can do art (with guidance of course!)

My beach scene (in case you couldn't tell).

This is what Ian is working on for class. It's a very detailed photo with A LOT of flowers!

Our setup.

This picture is a pastel drawing that Ian did earlier for class. Lots of shadows. Cool, huh?

In other news, Holly is learning to sit! She's come quite far in the past couple of days--enough to share for sure!

Atley and Holly really love each other. I know I've said that before, but it's always surprising to me how much Atley wants to be involved in what Holly is learning. Here's a couple videos to show you what I mean.


Atley loves to make Holly laugh and this was a pretty good example during Family Home Evening this week.
Also, what blog post about a baby is complete without a video of something adults find so cute in babies and super weird with Adults? Babies are so good at being cute...and weird. Don't try this at home!