Meeting new friends

Last night Native New Yorker was giving free wings to everyone who purchased a drink. So, being the frugal people we are, we could not pass up a great deal like that. Our friend Jermaine and his two daughters Ava and Paige joined us. It was crazy busy! It took forever to get our food, but hey-- at least we got a good deal right?

Try the spicy honey mustard wings. They are scrumptious.
The honey barbeque were pretty good too.

They didn't have a baby changing station in the men's bathroom. Isn't that a little sexist? Some dads like to help out with their babies! I mean, what if Dustin had been a single dad? Is he just supposed to change her on the sink?

Maybe we'll sue.

This is Ava (left) and Paige (right). They are the most beautiful little girls! They absolutely loved Kate.




I think Kate liked them too!

She must be my daughter...

I think that one of the most fun things about having a baby is seeing how much they look like you.

While Kate and I were napping the other day, Dustin took some snapshots of us.
(I really hate this picture of me, but I'll post it because it's funny)




We make the exact same face when we sleep!




I was playing pattycake with Kate's feet the other day when I realized this:



She has my exact feet! Even down to the shape of the pinky toe!

Isn't it crazy how genetics work?

Kate Update

Kate is 3 months old today! I can't believe it!

She is the most beautiful little girl and we love having her in our lives. She loves to wiggle around and make loud noises. She has discovered her hands and will reach out and grab things sometimes. Her eyes are still that beautiful shade of blue, so maybe they'll stay that way! She weighs about 13.5 lbs (according to the wii fit) and is now fitting into her 3-6 month clothes. She will giggle every once in awhile, but we have yet to hear a full blown laugh.

She loves to smile, and sit and play with mommy and daddy.


She also loves to sleep! I don't know how I was so lucky, but I was blessed with a good sleeper! She has set her own bedtime of around 8 or 9 o'clock, and she won't wake up until about 5 o'clock to eat. Then she'll go right back to sleep and sleep until about 9 or 10. I know, it's flippin crazy! But I'm not complaining! She is awake and playing most of the day, but will take about two naps. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Sometimes more, but those two are the standard everyday naps.



She is a beautiful healthy baby girl! We love her so much!!

No One Mourns the WICKED!

Last Thursday my mom, Bethany and I went to see WICKED!

I really really love to go to shows, so whenever the big ones come the Gammage Auditorium, I figure out some way to go. This time we got tickets through Dustin's work. A YEAR AGO. Yeah, I've been waiting to see this for a full year! It was completely worth it!

Dustin really deserves a pat on the back for watching Kate while I went to this. She wouldn't take a bottle, and was crying and hungry the whole time I was gone. Poor thing! Plus he also watched Bethany's two kids for about 2 hours until Jaron could get there. So sorry babe! But THANK YOU!


I had read the novel by Gregory Maguire before seeing the play. Let's just say the play was a much CLEANER and HAPPIER version of the story that I read. I absolutely LOVED the play. It was so amazing.

We even had understudies in both of the main roles. I can't imagine how it could have been any better. Those girls were unbelievably talented!

So last night I did something crazy...

I colored my hair dark. Really dark. I have never had my hair this dark before.

Let me know what you think.
Be honest.

If needed, I can have my friend Kendra put some highlights in. Right Kendra?

A Beautiful Dance

Last night on So You Think You Can Dance, Melissa and Ade danced the most beautiful dance I have ever seen.

It's a story about a woman who has breast cancer. It made me cry last night, and I'm tearing up again rewatching it.




Enjoy!

It's blog-tastic!

I love to blog. I blog a lot. It's very fun for me to sit down with my laptop and tell you all stories about my life. My blog is my hobby, my journal, and now it's been made into a book!

A couple of months ago I happened upon a little site called blurb.com. Blurb offers software that enables you to create books. Photography books, regular books, and blog books. I was very excited because before that moment, I had been saving my blogs in word documents, dreading the day that I had to print them out. The software lets you design your cover, and lets you design your pages any way you want with various layouts and backgrounds. Very cool.

I made a "test" book of all my entries from last year. It's really plain and simple, but it's nice to have it in print.

Then I decided to create another book with all the posts from the first half of this year. I was much more creative with this one, and I'm very pleased on how it all turned out!












You can also order multiple prints of your book. So if you're an excellent writer and you know that people would buy copies of your book, you can actually set a price for other people to purchase it at. *hint, hint Alicia*

So I just thought I would share that information with all of you. A lot of you probably already knew about it (I know Kim and Elaine do), but I just think it's something you should know.

oh- and shell out the bucks for the hardcover. It looks way better than the softcover.

--I also had a ton of fun with the fonts from kevinandamanda.com/fonts. Once you download the fonts on your computer you can use them in any program, including the blurb software.

My brothers- Super Scouts!

These are my brothers Jared and Alex.

Aren't they cute?

Jared and Alex are both such amazing young men. I'm so impressed by them all the time. Currently I'm most impressed by their accomplishments in scouting. Jared is only 15 and Alex is only 13. They have earned a TON of merit badges (I really should know how many, but I don't), and have most recently been inducted into the Order of the Arrow. I don't know much about scouting, but this is a BIG DEAL. Here's some information about it that I got off of the BSA website.

Scouts are elected to the Order by their fellow unit members, following approval by the Scoutmaster or Varsity team Coach. To become a member, a youth must be a registered member of a Boy Scout troop or Varsity Scout team and hold First Class rank. The youth must have experienced fifteen days and nights of Boy Scout camping during the two-year period prior to the election. The fifteen days and nights must include one, but no more than one, long-term camp consisting of six consecutive days and five nights of resident camping, approved and under the auspices and standards of the Boy Scouts of America. The balance of the camping must be overnight, weekend, or other short-term camps.

The induction ceremony, called the Ordeal, is the first step toward full membership. During the experience, candidates maintain silence, receive small amounts of food, work on camp improvement projects, and are required to sleep alone, apart from other campers. The entire experience is designed to teach significant values.

Pretty impressive right?

That's my dad on the right. He's the Scout Master for Troup 7706. 6 of these 10 boys selected for Order of the Arrow are in his troup.


A couple weeks back, the scouts went for a week long camp out at Geronimo. During which the Order of the Arrow thing happened, but also this happened to my brother Alex.

It's a tradition to take a rock from the bottom of this pool,

and place it on the dam. While Alex was moving what has been described to me as a 50 lb boulder, he accidentally dropped it on his toe. He was really tough through all the pain, and Jared ran 3 miles to go get medical help.

They wrapped his foot in a shirt

and carried him back to camp.

My dad said he was so impressed by all of the scouts that day and how they all came together to help in a time of need.

Okay so now the real purpose of this post. I just have to brag a little. My brothers, only 15 and 13, are

EAGLE SCOUTS!

That's right! That's so amazing to me. Their court of honor will be on August 2nd. I'm so proud of the both of them for accomplishing such an amazing task at such a young age.

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!! I LOVE YOU!

I love Saturdays

Now that I'm a stay at home mom, I love to get out of the house on Saturdays. I feel a little bad, because I know Dustin wants to relax, but I need to go somewhere! Yesterday we went to lunch at Rubios. I had my standard fiesta salad, and Dustin had his usual bean and cheese burrito. We got some things we needed at Target, and then we hit up Hobby Lobby. After that we went to the Superstion Springs Mall. They have the cutest new store there! It's called Romy. They have so many cute dresses! I can't wear dresses right now, since I'm nursing, but I did get two cute tops. Everything there is affordable and really cute.

Then we went to the dollar theater they have there and saw Angels and Demons. Kate was fussy, and I had to keep getting up and taking her to the back of the theater, but it was worth it. The movie was really good. The book the movie is based off of, is actually my favorite out of all of Dan Brown's novels. I think they did a good job with bringing the story to life, even if they did change it up a bit. Next time we bring Kate to a movie, we'll plan to sit in the back of the theater.
After the movie, Kate was making cute faces while sitting in her stroller and I captured a few of them.
For dinner I went to one of my favorite wesbsites- allrecipes.com. We had some browning bananas and I wanted to use them. I found a delicious recipe for banana pancakes with a peanut butter syrup! The pancakes was just a standard pancake recipes with 2 mashed bananas added to it. The syrup was made with 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup peanut butter. Bring to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Simple. So delicious! It is a really strong flavor, so don't use too much.

When we were at Hobby Lobby I purchased some things I wanted for a craft. I wanted to make these cute hair bows! They were really fun and easy to make. Kate was a good sport and helped me model them.




Man I have a cute daughter!!

In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms

I don't know about the rest of you, but I was given a lot of grief when I decided to be a stay-at-home mom. It's something that I've always wanted to be, so I chose a career that would be incredibly flexible if, and when I ever chose to work when I had children. I went to beauty school, graduated, received my license and went to work. I worked all while I was pregnant, and everyone client would ask me, "Are you going to return to work after the baby?" I knew in my heart the answer would be no, but to avoid the debate I would simply say "I haven't decided yet." The time got nearer, I got bigger, and I started to tell my clients I would not be returning. Some were supportive, some were not. It was the same with my co-workers. Some were supportive, some were not. Needless to say, when I quit my job I felt guilty.

Guilty for what? Wanting to raise my baby? Ridiculous.

I think that in today's society, there is too much negative said about being "just a mom".

I cannot say enough good things about this book! It's by the same author that wrote my favorite marriage book of all time The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands. Dr. Laura is such a straightforward say-it-like-it-is woman. I just love reading her stuff. This book made me feel completely justified in my decision, and made me realize that I'm doing the most important thing in the world: being a mommy.

And you know what? I LOVE being a mommy! I love being a mommy, and I love all the duties that come with being a mommy. I love taking care of Kate. I love to make her smile, and console her when she cries. I love taking care of our apartment, and having dinner ready when Dustin comes home.

Do I still love doing hair? YES!! Of course I do. In fact, if you need your hair done, please call me and we'll work something out!

Do you know what I love more? This:

Not this:

This:

Not this:This:

Not this:

THIS!

I absolutely loved this book and all the advice given. Read it! It'll definitely always be on my bookshelf to remind me why I do what I do. I love it!

I love my family. I love my daughter and my husband. I'm so grateful for him, and that we support each other. I'm grateful that he goes to work and supports our family. Thanks a million babe!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go cuddle with Kate!

My 100 Favorite Things

The reason I haven't blogged in awhile is because I wanted to do something special for my 100th post. I've been racking my brain trying to think of something creative to do, but haven't come up with much. I decided to make a list of my 100 favorite things. Hopefully I'll be able to list one hundred, I have a problem with just thinking of 10!

favorite TV Shows:
1. LOST
2. Friends
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. LOST
6. The Office
7. Saturday Night Live
8. 30 Rock
9. LOST
10. Rules of Engagment

favorite places to eat:
11. Olive Garden
12. Macaroni Grille
13. Some Burros
14. Arriba Mexican Grill
15. Chipotle
16. Rubios
17. Wendy's
18. Subway
19. Filibertos
20. Chili's

favorite things about life:
21. sunsets
22. family
23. the Gospel
24. being a mom
25. freedom
26. food
27. shopping
28. music
29. being married
30. laughter

favorite books:
31. Harry Potter series
32. The Once and Future King
33. Jane Eyre
34. The Count of Monte Cristo
35. Angels and Demons
36. Gone With the Wind
37. Alice in Wonderland
38. The Phantom of the Opera
39. Dan Brown's Books
40. Dr. Seuss Books!

favorite things about Kate:
41. she sleeps through the night!
42. her eyes
43. her nose
44. her lips
45. she's just so dang cute!
46. the way she smiles while being fed
47. the way she gazes at me
48. the way she plays with daddy
49. the way she tries to mimic our faces
50. the way it feels when she falls asleep in my arms

favorite things about Dustin:
51. he's funny
52. he loves me
53. we love all the same tv shows and we quote them all the time
54. we make each other laugh
55. he's a great daddy
56. his eyes
57. he kisses me goodbye every morning
58. he still opens the car door for me
59. good in bed
60. the way it feels when he wraps his long arms around me

favorite things about arizona:
61. sunny
62. winter
63. sunsets

favorite geeky things:
64. my obsession with LOST
65. killer bunnies
66. zelda
67. ufo hunters
68. pretty much anything on the discovery channel
69. trivia games
70. learning-- I wish I was in school

favorite things about being married:
71. sharing everyday with my best friend
72. laughing at stupid things
73. finishing each others quotes
74. raising our daughter
75. being silly
76. falling asleep watching tv
77. going on dates
78. we still hold hands and cuddle

favorite movies
79. Beauty and the Beast
80. Baby Mama
81. The Devil Wears Prada
82. Finding Neverland
83. Harry Potter 6 (I'm going to see it tomorrow, I'm sure it'll be my favorite)
84. Furious Jumanji (that one's for you andy!)
85. Night at the Museum

favorite color:
86. yellow
87. red (it depends what mood I'm in)

favorite hobbies:
88. blogging
89. making blogs into books (blurb.com-- it's awesome)
90. scrapbooking
91. singing really loud in the car all by myself

favorite places:
92. Disneyland!
93. home (here in gilbert)
94. home (northern arizona)
95. San Diego

soon-to-be favorites:
96. Wicked!
97. Oahu. The Island.
98. a house

favorite things of ALL TIME:
99. being a WIFE
100. being a MOTHER

Whew! There you go. 100 of my favorite things. It was hard to think of that many things, but it really opened up my eyes to how truly blessed I am and how extremely grateful I am for everything that I have. I think that sometimes I get too hung up on things that I don't have, but then I just need to smack myself in the face for being selfish. This was that smack in the face. My heart is so full of gratitude for the things that I do have. The things that matter. My awesome husband and my beautiful daughter. I cannot imagine my life without them. I love them so much! Life is WONDERFUL!

Independence Day!

We went up to the White Mountains for the Fourth of July. We had so much fun. The weather is so nice up there! It's such a nice break from the valley heat. I didn't take many pictures this weekend, which is so unlike me. The only picture I took was this one:
We went bowling on Friday with Sherice, Scott and Lacie, and I did SO good! I usually bowl around an 85 or less with lots of gutter balls. But this time the bowling alley gave me velcro shoes, and I think they were my lucky token. The first game I tied with Dustin with a 125. Which basically means that I beat him, because I'm never good at bowling. The second game I got a 139! I got strikes and spares, it was madness! Will I continue to be good at bowling? Probably not. But we'll always remember my day of glory. Thanks velcro shoes.

Saturday morning we went to the parade in Showlow. It was fun, but kind of stressful for me since I had forgotten the sunscreen for Kate. I had to shade her with my nursing cover, and she was not very happy. Then I had to feed her while we were there. I did my best to not flash anyone, but Kate was being very wiggly so I'm not sure how successful I was. Hopefully all eyes were on the parade and not on the frazzled mother with a crying baby. Afterwards we ate lunch at Licanos while the parade traffic died down.

Later that afternoon we took a trip to Snowflake. Dustin and his family went golfing, while I visited my family and did my mother's hair. After that, we had a barbeque in Pinetop and watched the fireworks in Showlow. It was a very fun Independence Day. We had a blast!

Sunday morning was Jaylee's blessing in Snowflake. I wish I had taken a picture of her because she looked so cute in her little dress and crochet hat. But I was a camera-loser this weekend. The blessing was beautiful. I was a little teary-eyed until Dustin came back laughing. I guess Jaylee decided to roll and Dustin had to catch her mid-blessing! I would never have known if they hadn't told us, because Jaron never even paused while giving her the blessing! We had lunch with Bethany's family afterward, and then went back to my family's house for second lunch.

We spent the rest of the day there napping and playing spoons with my siblings. We love these opportunities we have to go home and visit family. It's always so much fun. We're always sad to leave, but very grateful to be back home.

Two Month Checkup

Kate had her 2 month checkup this morning. She is in the 75-90% for height and weight and the 50-75% for head circumference. She's a pretty healthy baby!

Height: 23 5/8 inches
Weight: 12 lbs 6 oz
Head Circumference: 15.5 inches

She did really good at the doctors appointment this morning. She cried loudly when she got her shots, but only for a short while. The nurse was good at giving them quickly, so she didn't have to suffer too much. She's glad to be home now, and she's resting.

I love America!

I don't know how many of you saw this, but it's so good. I thought it would be appropriate to post since it's Independence Day this weekend! I'm so excited. We are traveling home, and I'm so happy since it's been about four years since I've seen fourth of july fireworks. We are so blessed to live in such a great country. Let's not forget who gave us this promised land!

The bad that comes with the good

Thanks to a combination of counting calories, Wii Fit, and breastfeeding I have lost a total of

47 pounds!

That's just three pounds away from what I weighed before I got pregnant! Woo-hoo!

So why the H-E-double-hockey-sticks does nothing fit?

If I weigh (almost) the same then my old clothes should fit right? Well, they don't. Not even close. I'm still wearing my maternity jeans because I don't want to buy pant sizes that are almost double what they were before. I found myself buying skirts marked XL. Not cool. Not cool at all.

I haven't had a problem adjusting to mommy life. I absolutely love it. I've never been happier in my life than I am right now. What I am having a problem with, however; is adjusting to this new body. I hate that I have saggy boobs, but I'm okay with that. I was expecting that. I wasn't expecting my new belly.

When I was pregnant, I was HUGE. I carried out front, and I was all baby. People asked me if I was having twins all the time. So, as a result of that, I'm left with horrible stretchmarks from my navel to my knees, and a very flabby belly. This is why nothing fits.

I just have to know-- does this ever go away?
What did you do to get it to go away?
Is there a miracle cream to help me with these stretch marks?

Obviously, whatever condition I may be in now, it was all worth it because I have this.
But please. Help me feel sexy again!