10 months old!

My baby girl is 10 months old today! Where does the time go? I can't believe that in 2 months she's going to be a year old! That thought makes me feel a little sad, so I try not to think about it.

Kate has developed quite the personality lately! She hates sitting still, and just wants to explore the world. Church is now very interesting/exhausting now. She won't sit on our laps, so we put her down. When she's down she tries to make a break for it. She's fascinated by all the kids in our ward, and is usually trying to go play with them. Then we pick her up and she cries until we give her snacks.


She's reached some new milestones as well!

Kate:

can stand all by herself!
has taken a step or two (when she works up the courage)
is getting 2 teeth!

(they are hard to see, but she's getting her two bottom teeth)

can say "mama, dada, and hey!"
eats 2 baby food meals a day, and snacks all day long
is still nursing, although I am trying to introduce a sippy cup. It's not going well!
loves playing peek-a-bo
dives off furniture
calls people on mommy and daddy's cell phones
loves playing with her cousins
loves story time with daddy

The past couple days Kate has started doing the funniest thing! She finds a baby wipe or a dryer sheet, and she "cleans" things! This kept her entertained for about an hour today!

Cleaning the stairs

Cleaning her stroller
Cleaning the ottoman
She also loves cleaning the entertainment center, the walls, all the furniture, and her toys!

I love you Kate! You make everyday an adventure!

These are my confessions...

1. I love to sing. An incurable case of horrible stage fright has always kept me from sharing my talent. Yes, I used to perform in high school, but I don’t feel I ever performed well. I always sang about a fraction of what I really could, and it was all because I was too durned scared! Today (in the privacy of my car or home) I love to turn on my music and sing my heart out! I sing as loud as I can, and as best I can. I love it. My favorite lately is the Glee soundtracks. There’s nothing more fun than trying to sing those Rachel Berry solos! Singing also makes cleaning more fun. Mary Poppins and Gisele were right about that.

2. The celebrities on my “list” would have to be: Johnny Depp, Jon Krasinski, Mark Sailing (Puck on Glee), Matthew Fox, Heath Ledger (may he rest in peace), Taylor Lautner (what? I can be a cougar right?). How many can you have on your list? 5? Dangit. Maybe Taylor won’t make the cut.

Wow. They all have really similar looks don't they? I guess I just like scruffy dark haired guys!

3. I always feared becoming a mom. Numerous heartaches over children in high school are partly to blame. My family did foster care, and I loved each of those children SO MUCH. Saying goodbye to them was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. So lets just say that that didn’t make me look forward to having my own. I would also have to blame the media. Is there a show on television (a current one?) that shows a mom actually loving her job? Moms are usually portrayed as stressed out nagging wives, and a second class citizen to single women and working moms. I was so surprised to find that when I did have a baby, there is nothing more than I love than being a mom!! I have no desire to do anything else. I love my life as a wife and mother, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

4. I live outside the law. Meaning, I watch movies online. For free. Also, I once accidentally stole eggs and a spool of thread.

5. I am completely obsessed with the television show LOST. I consider myself a die hard “Lostie”. I’m always on Lost fansites reading recaps and theories about the show. We own all the current seasons, and I have watched them through twice. If Dustin would let me buy a Dharma jumpsuit, I would. I would wear it around my house. See? I’m a complete geek. You didn’t know that about me did you?

6. I would love to meet Kristin Chenoweth. She just seems like a nice genuine person. Plus- Pushing Daisies was one of my favorite shows, and I'm still mad that they canceled it!

7. I hate BYU. My brother goes to school there, and it makes it so I only get to see him about twice a year! I HATE IT!

8. I love to craft and create things, but I hate scrapbooking. I need to make myself like it again.

9. I consider myself a relatively boring person. I mean, I’ve never done anything spontaneous and crazy. I want to travel and be adventurous, but never have. If you see Dustin, tell him to take me to someplace tropical okay?

10. No one tagged me to do this, but I thought it would be fun.

Per Grandma's request...

Here are some pictures of Kate I took in the last couple of days.

She always tries to get to me by walking through this gap between the couch and chair. She doesn't really fit...

This is her scrunchie face.

And here she is crying in "time out". She doesn't understand the concept at all, so I don't make her stay there, but this is where I put her every time she gets into the water, or pulls out my pots from the cupboards, or goes digging in the trash can. Sometimes, like this time, she knows she's in trouble, and I think it's adorable. I love this girl!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Another boring home project post...

I had been wanting to make curtains for my house for a long time. I finally had a sewing machine, I made those cute pillows...surely I was ready to make curtains right? Well, I guess I overestimated my abilities a little.

I went to Joanns a couple days ago, and found some fabric for a good price. I find the tutorial I wanted to use, and I go to work. I realized one major problem right away. I wanted to make gathered curtains, but I didn't buy enough fabric. I'm new to sewing, and so I totally estimated what I needed, and I was way off. Anyway, so I had to make do with what I had.

I think they turned out...okay. They are cute, but they don't really fit the window, and my measurements got mixed up somewhere along the way, because one panel is about 3 inches longer than the other. See the strategically placed vase? I'm trying to hide it, but it's still noticeable. I'll fix it, but for now I'm leaving them where they are at.

I also finally cleaned and organized our throw-everything room. It finally sort of looks like Dustin's "man cave". We still have to paint it and hang the rest of his posters, but I'm just so excited it's clean!
I also finally got around to decorating the guest bathroom. I still need to paint the walls blue, and when they are, I think everything is going to tie together really nicely.

Here is Kate modeling the rugs for you.

And here are some repurposed decorations. I had this old frame and basket lying around, so I painted them, and I think they turned out cute. I was also going to paint the cabinet that they are resting on, but I did some research online, and I think they might be antiques! They were given to us when we were married by Dustin's parents, and we've always used them for storage, never thinking that they might be worth something. Has anyone ever heard of White Clad ice boxes? That's what they are. I can't tell if they are original or a reproduction. Where's antiques roadshow when you need it? Well, even if they were, they wouldn't be worth much because they are not in great condition, but it still is enough to stop me from painting them!

Anyway, I'll stop boring ya'll with my home projects now. Until next time...

Kate's favorite place to play

Aside from her daily entrance into our entertainment center, Kate is ALWAYS playing in the kitchen!

She is fascinated by the water cooler. She loves to pull on the handles and make the water come out! This results in a wet baby and pools of water on my kitchen floor. Yes, the hot water spout is baby proofed, but I think I'm still going to turn it off. Just in case.


She loves to play with the fridge. She can see her reflection in the door, and she finds this very funny.

A couple of days ago, my friend Nicole gave us her old table. Right now it's outdated and 70's looking, but I'm going to sand it down and paint it black, and it'll be beautiful. Anyway, Kate loves the table! She loves to play under it, and crawl through the chair legs.


She has also figured out how to open my cabinets! I was hoping this day wouldn't come! Now, I need to move all my glassware and chemicals, because she loves to pull everything out of the cabinets!haha. I love this one. It says, "I'm in trouble now, aren't I mom?"

She's such a handful! But I love her!

Valentines Weekend

This past weekend was so much fun! My in-laws came to visit for the long weekend! It started of as a girls day of shopping. Kate and Jaylee held hands while their mommys shopped.

Then later that night we left the kids with their daddies, and us girls went out to see Mary Poppins!

This show was amazing. I loved it! The plot was very different than the movie, but it was still one of the most entertaining shows I've ever seen. I felt like a little kid again, and I had to stop myself from singing along! I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of all of us together. Oh well.

On Sunday after everybody had gone to church we had dinner at Sherice's house. We ate yummy steaks, and my mother-in-law even brought her chocolate fountain.

Monday was President's Day and sadly Dustin had to work, but when he came home- he came home bearing gifts! He gave Kate this enormous frog. Since it was the 15th, he got it for 50% off. I think we may have to postpone Valentines Day every year! haha.

He gave me an iTunes gift card, and a Target gift card to spend on anything I want! Yay! He outdid me this year, all we gave him were these cookies and cards with coupons for free hugs.


Monday night we were able to go on a date. We ate at Arriba Mexican Grill (my favorite), did some shopping at Target (I still don't know what I want to spend my gift card on), and then got shaved ice at Bahama Bucks.

It was a very fun weekend, and a great Valentines Day! I love you so much Dustin. I'm so grateful that you asked me to marry you 6 years ago. I love spending every day with you, and I pray I never have to spend one without you. You are an amazing husband...



...and an amazing father. We both love you so much!

Randomness

Okay, so I know I haven't blogged in awhile. I know it's only been about a week and a half, but for me that's a long time! I keep on misplacing my camera, or the camera cord, but mainly--I haven't thought of anything interesting to say!

Today I re-found my camera after losing it again this morning and I looked at the pictures I had taken. They were random, so this post will be all over the place. I'm okay with that. Are you?

We've been struggling a little with money lately, so my home improvement projects will be on hiatus for awhile, but I did finally get around to making these pillows! Aren't they adorable?


Kate has all OVER the place lately! She's just so quick and adventurous--you must keep an eye on her at all times! If you don't put the gate up at the bottom of the stairs

She'll be half way up them before you know it! (Or all the way...)

If you don't close the door to the pantry

she'll be in it!

If you don't like childrens' songs
too bad! Kate keeps the music going on this walker 24/7! She hates being IN the walker, but loves standing ON it.

If you don't hold her in Walmart

she'll be in the stuffed animals!

Just kidding. Dustin put her there.


And finally... here's a picture with me in it!
Awww. I love this little girl!