Summer Updates

If I were to give you all of our summer happenings from the beginning you would be here all day or just quit reading after the 10th paragraph so I'll kept it kind of brief. Plus hopefully some of you follow me at my other blog to stay a little more updated.

Basically this summer has been busy and fun from May to now. It seemed like we were gone visiting family and had family visiting all throughout May and June. Then in July we had Sara, Collin and Addie staying with us for 2 weeks. We had a blast having them here by the way!

Some people would say that's got to be crazy and sometimes it is, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I just love my family and all the commotion and have been glad we've got to see everyone at one point or another this summer. Also my best friend from high school came home from her mission at the end of April and moved to Provo so I've got to spend a lot of time with her. I've missed her and Sara SO much!

For updates on the girls; Mia is talking just as much as ever and even though she still has a little sass sometimes she's quite often my sweet, little helper. She LOVES to help me with just about anything I'm doing. I've also started to notice how friendly and not shy she is unlike me. Often times when we go to the park or someplace she'll just go find some kid around her age and start playing with them and by the end everyone around is her friend. She'd always rather be playing off with some little friend then me or Eric.

 Livy is pretty social too but more from a distance or if I'm holding her. She'll give just about anyone a cheesy smile but when they go to lift her up she freaks out. Plus she loves following all Mia and her friends around acting like she's part of the group. Livy is still not walking. She's making small strides to getting there but still highly prefers crawling. I guess I can't complain.

Oh and I can't forget the biggest update which is our new dog. For those of you who know me, you know I never wanted a pet. It was a battle Eric and I were constantly facing since we got married. One day I let it slip out to Eric that even though I still didn't personally want a dog it wouldn't be that bad having one as I always made it out to be. Since every time before that moment I refused to even slightly consider it, this statement seemed to light the spark and low and behold about 2 months later we came home with a 7 week old Beagle. We named her Missy. Even now I wouldn't call myself a dog lover, but having a dog has certainly changed my perspective on pets. Mia loves Missy and it's helped her get outside and active a lot more this summer by herself.

Life has been very good to our little family. We're still loving our neighborhood and our house. It's been fun to see all the pretty flowers blooming around our yard all spring and summer and to watch our garden grow. This year was definitely a learning year for that but it looks like we will get a little food from it. 

 

Happy summer!

Our Camping Easter Weekend

We'll pretend that it hasn't been months since my last post and that Easter wasn't more then a week ago. I've been behind in SO many areas of my life right now that I figure I need to start somewhere and just take it day by day. Luckily this blog post made it on today's list or maybe it's that my kids only seem to be satisfied to play if I'm sitting here and not moving around the house.

Anyway about Easter, as tradition has it we went out to Vernal to celebrate the weekend and be with Eric's family. This year his grandma rented us a trailer and along with their own trailer we went camping near the spot that we usually have our Easter egg hunt. We hadn't been camping since Mia was 4 months old, so I was at least grateful we were trailer camping and not tent camping in April and with 2 kids. Besides some light sprinkles of rain and Eric and the girls having super bad allergies, it was good camping weather and we had a fun time.

We pretty much didn't see Mia the two days we were on the mountain as she was highly entertained playing in the sand and dirt with William. Livy wasn't as happy since she wasn't able to be fully mobile and explore all the places Mia was going. Such as life when you refuse to learn to walk.

For some reason I didn't even think to get a picture of Mia finding all the Easter eggs. Another example of how my mind is failing me! Mia loved it though!

We went back to Eric's grandparent's house Saturday and went to church with his family on Sunday. His grandma got the girl's these adorable matching dresses. If only it was easy to get a picture of them both looking at the camera and smiling. Oh well!

House Tour: Part 1

I've got a lot to catch everyone up on as of late! We are still loving where we live and I feel like we are fitting right in with the neighborhood and ward. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I go watch the Bachelor each week with a bunch of women from the ward. Even though I haven't been a steady follower of the Bachelor it's fun to have a girls night and get to know everyone. I've also started playing volleyball each week (I'm terrible!) and am part of a preschool group for Mia. We're also still loving the house even though there is still nothing on the walls and it's generally a mess. It's all a work in progress!

Per request I thought I'd give you a little tour of the main and top floor of our house :) Here we go:

Walking into the house you'll see the living room to the left. Right now it's pretty bare.

If you look head on from the front door you'll see a little nook by the stairs that now houses our new piano! A belated wedding present from Eric's grandma who promised us a piano once we bought a house!

Here's the view looking back to the front door and a closet.

Up the stairs are all our bedrooms and a bathroom for the girls.

Once up the stairs the first door on the left is the girl's bathroom. Pretty much I have a rug and shower curtain up right now. Eventually I'd like to make it a little more "cutsie" for the girls. As of now, Mia prides herself in having her very own potty.

The next door on the left is to our master bedroom. Nothing huge, but Eric and I both never really cared how big our room was. This is the ONLY room that has something officially up on the walls.

Connected to our room is a bathroom. Eventually this room will get an update and by eventually I mean pretty far down the line!

Across the hall are the girl's rooms. Here is Livy's.

...and Mia's. 

I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going to put those bookshelves that were in Mia's old room. I'm thinking I might cut them in half and put some above Mia's toy box and then the other's in Livy's room. I'd also like to repaint all the bedrooms at some point too. (I sure hope Eric's not reading this and all my plans lol.)

When you come back down the stairs you can see the dining room and kitchen that are just off the living room. If you go pass the kitchen there is a door to the backyard, a door to the garage and then a door that leads to our laundry room and then a pantry. It's like playing a game of "Which door?!"

Stay tuned for the rest of the house!

Oh and this week over on my other blog I'm going to be posting before and after pictures of our guest bathroom! It was fun to do our very first "big" project. Fun in that I like the results. The painting and everything else to get the results...not so fun. 

I'm also doing a giveaway of a free Pfister faucet (Kitchen, bathroom, shower head) for up to $300 to go along with the post! So definitely make sure to check it out!

Updates on the Miss's

These girls just keep growing and learning so much it's hard for me to stay caught up!

Mia: Sometimes I forget that Mia is just 2 years old as she is becoming so grown up and independent. There are times when I try to help her and she will hold her hand out and say "It's Mia's turn!". Mia still loves helping with her baby sister. She sings her songs while I'm putting Livy down for a nap, likes to hold her bottle, and making Livy laugh while playing with her. She even gets a little motherly when Livy gets cranky and Mia will come running in and say, "I'm coming baby, it's ok! Here I come!" in her best motherly voice.

Some of Mia's favorites right now:

- Disney's Frozen. We listen the soundtrack more times a day than I can count and Mia already knows all the words to the songs. Also whenever she see's a snowman she calls it "Olaf".

-Dressing up in her princess dress. More times than not Mia is in her one and only princess dress. It's starting to get in pretty bad shape! She loves to dance and spin while wearing the dress.

-Preschool. Since moving I joined a group of mother's who take turns doing preschool for the kids twice a week for 2 hours. One of the first things Mia asks when she wakes up in the mornings is if she gets to go to preschool.

-Playing games. We've started a little collection of games that Mia can play and at least once a day we end up playing Candyland, Pretty Princess, Memory and/or Fruit Bingo.

-Sledding. We've gone sledding quite a few times already and Mia just loves the thrill of it! She often will go down all by herself and even try sitting in different positions.

Funny things Mia has said:

- Mia: I'm leaving!

Me: "Where are you going to go?"

Mia: "To Livy's bed."

Me: "Why are you going there?"

Mia: "To save the queen. That's my goal."

- After Mia gets done singing a song she starts nodding her head and says "Good job Mia, good job!"

- Mia still doesn't quite know the words to the Pocahontas song "Savages". She always sings, "Sandwiches, sandwiches, barely even human."

Livy: Her personality is showing through more and more. I can already tell that she is going to be just as loud as Mia and still have the sass too. However, Livy is still always smiling and laughing. Even when she is fast asleep and I'm lying her in her crib for bed she has a little smile on her face.

The biggest development with Livy is that her two bottom, front teeth popped through the other week. I'm sure going to miss that toothless smile!

Livy is still not crawling, but I'm in no rush for that to start. She's pretty good at getting around from rolling all over and she has gotten really good at maneuvering her walker. 

Lastly, Livy loves watching other people, especially kids. She still smiles the biggest when seeing Mia or when they play.

Also if you haven't check out the blog that I'm doing with Sara makes sure to check it out! I'm in the process of updating our guest bathroom that I will be posting about over there later this month!