Cousins

I watched Sophia yesterday for Annelise since she has not been feeling well. Sophia and Mia always seem to have a good time together (even if Sophia gets a little annoyed with a tag along sometime which doesn't bother Mia one bit lol). There is one cupboard I'll let Mia play in in the kitchen, which has all her food jars in it. I walked in to find that Mia had shown Sophia her secret stash of food. Luckily this is the kind of food they can't get into and make a really big mess.

Since Annelise does hair, Sophia has started to love playing with hair. The other day I was sitting on the ground and she came over and started combing my hair and running her fingers through it to see if my hair was straight on both sides. Yesterday, she found a flashlight and was running it over Mia's head like she was giving her a buzz cut and it's not hard to imagine Mia with one since she already looks that way! :)

These two will be quite the pair of trouble makers at family get-togethers along with on addition to their group in April when Sara has her baby girl! It will be so fun to see how they all get along as they grow older!

To add to the many faces of Mia.

Sophia would walk up to Mia, crouch down and laugh in her face, which would make Mia laugh too.

Sophia is also really good about giving Mia kisses. Mia would sometimes even give her one back, but with her mouth fully open and tongue out as usual.

This razor cut by Sophia...

Both of them had to test out the taste of the jars.

I'm No Julia Child

I recently joined a book group, which I am really excited about since I have always wanted to be part of one! Anyway, the book we are is "Eat Cake" by Jeanne Ray. I'm only about 100 pages into the book, but am loving every minute of it. She gives cake a whole new light in not only making it, but eating it too...no guilt intended! For the main character baking cakes is her comfort and way to release some stress. My point...reading this book has really been making me want to bake a cake! So after a long day with a sick and crying baby I thought to myself, "I'm going to bake a cake and all will be well with the world!"

The result...

Granted, this was the picture after the cake fell on the floor, almost hitting my baby and my failed attempt at chocolate ganache. My next thought...."I hate baking cakes!" after swearing to Eric that I will never make birthday cakes for my children. Ok, so this is not my finest blogging moment but I will admit the process of actually preparing the cake was soothing in my kitchen with some good music. I guess I thought just reading this book about amazing cakes would all the sudden make me an expert...not so!!! However, the cake itself was quite good from taking a few bites before dumping it into the garbage. So for now on I will stick to reading about cakes rather then baking them.

And a many thanks to my supportive husband who goes along with my ideas I get on a whim and silently sits through my rants after projects or ideas go awry and giving me a break from our sad baby. I sure love you!!

This is how Eric entertained Mia, by building her a fort in the living room to crawl through. I believe this is one of the most important roles of fathers...to really play with their kids! (Even if that means destroying the living room lol.)

More Project Dreaming and Doing

One thing that I have been trying to do this year is to complete all the things I have bought for projects. I have been really good so far of doing the little things here and there, especially in Mia's room. I have yet to do any of my sewing projects yet, which is what I have the most stuff for. Better plan a sewing day!

Speaking of projects, I've been helping a friend make some things for her apartment, which has been a lot of fun, but it's been making me want to do a few more things to mine. Although, I'm really trying to wait to do anything decoration wise just in case we move at the end of the semester. Anyway, I built same crate shelves for my friend with my Grandpa's nail gun and it's really making me want to get one! I thought I would be satisfied with a drill, but things seem sooooo much easier with a nail gun. (Also maybe because I'm not all that great at using a drill yet either.) So here is another future project I hope to do someday when I get more space, tools and possible a house. (This is the part where Eric rolls his eyes lol)

I love this headboard and the instructions for making it look pretty simple. And nothing is more inviting to me  then a cozy patchwork quilt of the bedspread! I'm really debating this time of buying a patchwork quilt when I do this. I have made a full size quilt before and it's a LOT of sewing squares together and ironing! Really easy, but very time consuming!

As for projects in the works right now. I am planning a baby shower for my sister, Sara! I'm really excited about this and thinks it's all going to come together really well. We are doing a vintage carnival theme. Here is a collage to give you an idea. We even found some great vintage finds at DI the other day that are going to work perfect for the party and then in Sara's baby nursery where she is continuing the theme. If you're in Ely March, 3rd you don't want to miss this party!!

Also as I mentioned earlier I've been helping my friend with things for her apartment. Basically the company has been the best part...she hardly needed the help since she is really creative herself, but I was glad help out! Here is a college I put together for inspiration we used for the nursery for her baby girl. There's a picture of the crate shelves which I duplicated and were really easy!

Is it obvious that I'm a little in love with vintage right now with the pastel colors or coral. yellow and turquoise? Yeah...I thought so :)

Run Hanna Run!

I'm keeping these posts rolling so stay with me!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my new years resolutions was to run a 5k and possibly a 10k. I've had a slow start to "training" (those weak moments with M&M cookies and paradise and failing to exercise 2 out of the 5 days this week I normally do) but to make me get into gear I have set a date to run my 5k! It's the...

Purple Day 5K Run for Epilepsy on March 24th

Ashly is still proving to be a great friends and has agreed to run it with me as she is training for a half marathon in April. We are both two girls that have always HATED maybe even despised running, so I figured if Ashly can come to stand running enough to do a half marathon I can most definitely do a 5k!

Here's my inspiration for this week to keep me on track

Good luck to the rest of you with fitness New Year resolutions!! Hope you're sticking with it!

Another Weekend at Grandma's

Eric and I decided since we hadn't seen my family for a while we would go home to Ely last weekend. I wasn't all that excited for the traveling, but Mia did really well both going to Ely and coming back so that made me VERY happy!

It was another fun and relaxing visit home. My parents had Mia sleep in the room next to them again and got up with her in the mornings so we could sleep in a little bit, which we were much appreciative of! Thanks Mom and Dad! Mia had fun showing Grandpa and Grandma her new trick (crawling, waving, clapping, etc) and exploring a place other then our small apartment, even if it did include a number of bumps and falls.

I always have a good time spending time and visiting with my mom and Eric enjoyed a mountain bike ride with Dad and Seth. We also got to see my Grandpa and Grandma Robertson who live in Ely and my Grandpa even helped me with a few projects I had that involved his nail gun!

As usual, I wasn't very good at pulling out my camera and when I did it was just to take pictures for Mia, but they're pictures nonetheless right?

Now she can crawl away from me when I pull out my camera. lol

Mia clapping! It is so cute when she is in the middle of playing and then will sit up all straight and start clapping intently.

We set Mia on this little rocking chair that my mom has and she loved it! She was making some of the silliest faces. Oh silly Mia! 

I also finally got around to taking a few pictures of Seth for my mom. I posted the rest on my photography blog.

Mia's Book of Love

Lately I've been searching for things that I can do with/for Mia that will help her continue to develop new skills and things that are age appropriate. I read that at around 8 months (or earlier) they start remembering faces, especially those that are not their parents and that books with pictures of family members are a great way to help them remember everyone. So I decided to give it a try!

I had an unused photo album laying around that worked perfect for this little project. I also got lucky in having a pretty good picture of all of the family. I made all of pages on the computer and just printed it out and slipped each page into the slots of the album. Then with some mod podge and paper I revamped the front and back of the album to be "Mia's Book of Love".

Turns out she loves it!! She smiles when she sees each family member and tries to touch their faces! This was a quick and easy project that is a lot of fun for Mia.

Here are a few pages from the book. (Ok so maybe I'm putting words into Mia's mouth with this book, but I sure hope she loves her family!)

A New Semester

I have many different things to update everyone on or at least post about, but for once I thought that I would give each update it's own post so I don't end up with a endless novel like usual and that way you can choose for yourself what you care to be updated on...you are welcome!

First thing is first and that is a new and yet another semester for both Eric and I. Unfortunately for Eric I ended up with the easier semester once again. I am going part time again this semester and came to find out that neither of my classes have tests or finals! Who knew there were such classes and why hadn't I found them earlier?!! Needless to say, it's going to be a good semester, especially because one of my classes is being on a research team for Flourishing Families, a longitudinal study involving families from the Seattle and Provo area. What I get to do is watch the clips from interviews between family members and code them for behaviors shown between each person. I did my first coding assignment last week and was a little intimidated of all the different behaviors I have to know and code for but I am excited to learn more! It's also interesting to see how other families interact towards each other, especially between parent and child. 

As for Eric, he is taking 18 credits plus another 6 credits online to finish up before graduation in April. I told him before the semester started that it was nice seeing him during the holidays and I'll see ya at the end of April! lol. Between school, his job, swimming in the mornings and interviewing and searching for a job after graduation I'm lucky to get his full attention for an hour each day! He still manages to be a great dad and husband and do everything I need him to do, plus sometimes pick up my slack...the conclusion...he deserves a nice vacation at the end of all this! (Sadly,when does all the craziness of being busy end and with limited resources aka. money and a baby it will have to be a delayed vacation, but well deserved all the same!)

Mia is only 9 months old and of course not in school, but she enjoys learning new things everyday without the formal setting of a classroom and professor. She now has two top teeth as well as her bottom two, is getting even better at crawling, sitting from standing, is now eating a lot more regular foods, furniture walks and even walks really well with a walker she can hold on to and push along. She is always jabbering, squealing, screaming and smiling/laughing and we just can't get enough of her!!

My favorite kind of gift baskets!! Haha, when I was doing my hair in the bathroom one day Eric knocked on the door and I opened it to Mia sitting in her toy basket. Apparently she really wanted to get in there and was so proud of herself when she got in! I am cracking up even now at her silly faces in these pictures! Plus they are great for showing off her two top teeth!

Stay tuned for more updates and pictures!!

Being an Intentional Family

Family Studies is my major so it wouldn't be appropriate to not have at least one post about the family...so here it is!

As I've been pondering on the new year and things I want to work on individually and as a family, I feel like the list keeps getting bigger and bigger and was getting a little overwhelming. See why I don't normally do this!! So  I had to take a step back and think of what was really important to me and what was stopping me from doing that. The result was family and the problem TV, computer, phone, kindle, etc! I can be one of the biggest offenders of wasting time and feel like I am starting to become a person that always is looking for ideas and thinks to do and never doing it!! That's also the case when it comes to doing things as a family. We forget to enjoy the simple things before all these electronics and rarely do anything unless we go out and do something which is sometimes even rarer. For me, enough is enough...it's a new year and I'm doing something about this!

So to get to the point of telling you my "not so great" discovery of myself is to basically encourage myself and maybe others with this problem to be more intentional when it comes to spending time with our husband and children. We all know from experience that it's easy to say "Let's spend more time together!" but until we actually plan a time to do it and DO it, it will never happen. If you want to have better communication and grow closer as a family maybe sitting and watching TV isn't the best activity. Intentionally plan family dinners at the table and encourage conversation, plan weekly family game nights or evening walks, learn together as a family through weekly FHE, have family counsels, and try and find free events around your area to go to with your family. Living in Provo I have become aware of all the festivals or events going on around the area that are great for families and most often free which I wasn't use to having growing up in a small town. I'm probably preaching to the choir, because this is basically for me but my main challenge is to  stop wasting time on distractions that aren't important and starting DOING!

This brings me to my last point. We are lucky enough to have a really good baby who is great at entertaining herself. This sometimes gives me the excuse to do other things, but I've also come to the realization that it's important to sometimes give our children attention even when they don't need it. To play with our children and do things that enable them to learn and grow. Read to them, sing to and with them, and talk to them! This is also important because it teaches our children that they don't have to through a fit to always get our attention either. Not that I was never doing any of this before, but I especially want to start doing more of this now that Mia is developing her motor skills and is learning new things daily. In fact for those of you interested, I came across this blog Click.Play.Love that has great activities for babies 12-18 months that are free and easy to make with things around the house!

I hope that we all can strive to become more intentional in our families and make a resolution to spend more time together, regardless of our busy schedules and also spend less time on those things that don't matter as much (yes, that includes facebook and pintrest!!).

Ringing in the New Year

We also spend New Years in Vernal with Eric's family, which actually was my first. Ever New Years since we've been married we've ended up spending it with my family for one reason or another so this was a fun change. Unlike my family who eats a lot of food and sits around waiting for the new year to come Eric's family had an actual new years party complete with yummy food, games, laughter and fun! I even got a kiss at midnight :)

Mia of course did not stay up for the festivities, but the rest of us had a good time playing Just Dance on the kinect (which everyone was a good sport and tried a dance at least once), the game of things (on of mine and Eric's personal favorites to play with friends), uno and nertz. Keeping busy playing made the new year come a lot fast as well!

Now for my confession; first probably to biggest to readers...I did not take any pictures! Sorry! For my next, this was my first year that I actually really took some time to ponder over the past year and made some resolutions for the new year ahead. Looking back Eric and I had an amazing year, especially when Mia came into the picture! We have really grown and learned a lot since becoming parents and it has actually brought us even closer in the process. We definitely feel very blessed through all of the ups and downs of this last year and once again thank everyone who helped in the process. We wouldn't be where we are today without amazing family and friends.

To get to the new year, it's going to be another big year for us (at least I hope)! Eric is graduating from BYU in April and we hope to have a job by then and be out in the real world. Basically I'm just looking forward to seeing my husband a little more without him have to do homework in the evenings. I unfortunately do not think I'll be done with school before this year ends, but I'll be a lot closer. In fact I'm shooting for next April so fingers crossed! Eric and I both made resolutions to be healthier, including jumping on the band wagon with everyone else in the U.S. of exercising and getting back into shape. For me I don't really have a weight loss goal. The main thing for me is feeling good and having the energy I need to get me through the day. Plus exercising is my "me" time. Speaking of exercising, I made a resolution to run a 5k and 10k this year. For those of you who know me you know I HATE running, but I really want something to work towards and it would be a great acknowledgement for me.

Anyway, before this post becomes a novel of just words I hope everyone had a great new year and are just as excited for the new year as we are or at least me!!

Christmas with the Caldwells

Before I can get to my New Years post, the documentation of our Christmas must be done!

We spend this Christmas with Eric's family in Vernal Utah. For those of you who don't know, Eric grew up with his Grandparents and they are also raising Eric's little brother William who is 7 years old. Because of that Eric's family is a lot smaller then mine, but that is why I love it! We always have a great time when we go to Vernal to visit Will and Eric's Grandparent and I feel like I can actually have a relaxing vacation without competing for bedrooms, a huge house of people and the drama of a bigger family. (Don't get me wrong I love my family to pieces and would never wish to trade them for any other family but, smaller and quieter settings are always a nice opposite.) Anyway, we were both excited for the trip to enjoy the holidays with family and to relax from school and work. I think Mia was also excited for the change of scenery and to get spoiled by Grandpa and Grandma!

The first night we got there we started right into the holiday traditions and decorated a gingerbread house. Between Eric's Grandpa, Will, Eric and I, we made quite the gingerbread house!

This tree was my little contribution to the gingerbread house along with helping put up the main structure of the house.

The final product...even though Will continued to add things to it clear into the next day. Let's just say it was completely decorated out!

We just relaxed the couple days we had before Christmas and helped Eric's Grandma wrap presents, cook and played with our new xbox kinect. Christmas Eve Eric's aunt and uncle who live just down the street came over for dinner with their two daughters and the oldest daughter's boyfriend. Eric's dad was also able to make it for Christmas this year which was really nice because he had never met Mia until now. As with every holiday we ate yummy food but WAY too much and played games. Before bed we all got new pajamas to wear to bed, even Mia with the cutest little slippers!

Christmas morning, Will was up way before everyone else, but was held off from getting us up until Mia woke up around 7am. The living room was filled with presents and lots of new toys for Will which I wasn't use to see as everyone in my family is all grown up so that was a lot of fun!  Mia was just as surprised as I was and wasn't quite sure about all the stuff in the living room. She was kind in a daze the whole time with all there was to look at.

Mia with her new toy from Grandpa and Grandma Caldwell...she loves it! Please note her cute slippers!

Eric is always good a spoiling me for Christmas and birthdays and got me my much wanted Kindle Fire! 

We all drew names for Christmas presents and I got Will this year. I got him a Cars 2 lego set although I had a lot of competition with all the other toys he got so I hope he like it.

Eric's Grandma gets their Christmas tree flocked every year. It was a beautiful white Christmas tree to make up for the lack of a white Christmas.

After opening presents we got ready for church  10:30 and had a big lunch afterwards and played the new games everyone got. It was a great Christmas and Mia's first!!!

As for other activities we did throughout the break we went swimming at the rec-center, went to the new Sherlock Holmes Movies, visited a Dinosaur quarry, Eric and I did a session at the Vernal temple, we attended a funeral for Eric's grandma's brother who passed away during the break (we were happy to be there to be a support for his Grandma!), played with our new Christmas gifts, tried out some of the local Vernal restaurants, and visited with family.  

She had some toy boats that she would not let go of even when Eric was tossing her into the air. Needless to say she wasn't even phased that she was being thrown into the air.

One of my favorite things about Mia right now are her kisses...yes they are super slobbery with mouth open and tongue out but it is just so cute that she will intentionally give people kisses. She's such a little sweet pea!

My two favorite people in the world!!

This was on the ride over to the dinosaur quarry. Will was making her laugh really hard.

Mia had quite a time of her own, making huge strides in her development. While we were in Vernal she learned to crawl normally and all over, got better at pulling herself up on things and sitting down from standing up, had another tooth come in, and even got to try some new foods we experimented with by giving her little tastes of what we were eating for meals. She was her usual happy self and loved playing with Grandpa and Grandma and Will. He was constantly making her laugh.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year because we sure did!!