Sunday was sort of our "Easter Sunday" for us. We'll be on vacation next week, and the week after that is conference so...we made sure to take pictures of Kate this sunday.




After we bought our couches on Saturday, we went to walk around the San Tan mall. Kate loved playing in the baby playground and made lots of new friends.


And finally, here is a video of how well Kate is walking now.

It's about time!

On Wednesday morning, I checked our bank account and cried. It was already at $0.00 and we don't get paid again until the 26th. It's been this way for a couple of months. Ever since we bought the house we've really been struggling to make our paychecks stretch. I've been questioning our decision to buy the house lately. It felt so right at the time, and everything just fell into place so I thought it was the right thing to do. But for a long time I've been feeling uncertain about it. Why would we be blessed with a house if we couldn't afford to pay the bills? When we decided to look for a house I looked over our budget, and I really thought we would be okay. But things just kept happening, and to make a long story short--we're in way more debt than we want and have barely enough money to eat.

On Friday morning I checked our account and cried again. This time they were tears of joy. Our tax return came!!! We have been waiting for this for 7 weeks. Since we bought the house last year, we had to mail in proof that we bought it which meant sending in a paper return and those take WAY longer to process. I wasn't expecting it until the middle of April, so the fact that it came so soon was an answer to many many prayers. We are so excited to finally pay off our car, pay off a big chunk of our credit card, and to have money in savings again. And- we'll be able to go to San Diego with the family next week, a trip I thought we weren't going to be able to take! A burden has been lifted and we are so grateful. Although it doesn't entirely fix our problems, it gives us a huge boost in the right direction!

Money problems aside, we promised that a little of the money would go to ourselves. We decided to FINALLY get a new couch. We've had the same couch for almost six years now. Although it's comfy, it's ugly. It's old. I think it's the first couch my in-laws got when they were married. We bought a cover for it a year ago, which masks it a bit, but Kate really likes to pull it off any chance she can get! A new couch was always on our "someday" list, and now we can finally cross something off. So here it is, the first brand new thing we've ever purchased:


We went to Mor furniture. It was the grand opening for the store, so they already had some pretty good deals going. They gave us an even better deal because we were able to pay it in full, and they threw in free delivery as well. Which, is really nice because we live out in Egypt. The cheapo in me wanted to shop around to make sure we were really getting the best deal, but Dustin was like "I want this one, it's a good deal and we deserve it". So I agreed and we bought it. It won't be here for a couple of weeks since it wasn't in stock, but we are sooooooo excited!

I know, I know...

All I do is post pictures of this little girl.

But I can't help it.

She's just so durned cute!
Don't even try to tell me otherwise...

I'll know you're lying.
As for what's been going on lately...

we're not too exciting around here. Kate has been sick with a cold and ear infection lately, so that's been fun. She has been getting really good at walking, and is walking everywhere! She's been doing much better in the weaning department. I mainly only nurse her to sleep at night, in the morning, and occasionally once during the day. She loves to play peek-a-boo and hide and go seek. She has also started to find everything funny, and laughs A LOT. So cute. She has a determined personality, and we love her!

Dustin is still doing well at his job at US Airways. He's also been getting his name out there via twitter, and is getting some freelance work as well. If you haven't noticed already- there is a button on my sidebar titled "Dustin's Illustration Blog". Take a look at it. He's very good. And if you need some design work done, or know of anyone who does- please send some work our way!

I'm still loving being a stay-at-home-mom! I can't believe how fast time flies by. I'm having a lot of fun learning how to sew, and have a lot of projects I want to start working on. I've always loved taking pictures, and lately I've been obsessed with learning new techniques in photoshop. If you know of any simple ones, let me know! We have an old version of photoshop, and it's not compatible with actions or anything like that, so everything I do is step by step. I also am curious to know what type of cameras ya'll have. I've really been eyeing the Canon Rebel Xsi, but I'd like to know my other options!

We found out last week that another niece is on her way!! Sherice is going to have a baby girl, and I'm SO excited about it! That's one grandson and THREE granddaughters for the Watson's. Poor little Maddock is about to be very outnumbered. Congratulations Sherice! I'm so happy for you!

We are loving our house and loving life out here in Queen Creek. Well, I am anyway...Dustin hates the commute. Our new ward is awesome. It's seriously the best ward I've ever been in, and I love it. Dustin and I got called to very similar callings. He's a home teaching supervisor, and I'm a visiting teaching supervisor. So far it's been a much easier calling than I thought!

We are going to San Diego next week and we couldn't be more excited about it! It's going to be a fun filled week of the Zoo, Wild Animal Park and Sea World! I'm sure I'll have about a bagillion pictures to post after the trip so that's something to look forward too.

Anyway-- I think that's all that's going on right now!

Playing at the Park

Last Saturday we were bored and in need of some free entertainment, so we took advantage of the beautiful valley weather, and took Kate to the park! We introduced her to the slides

and swings, but she in the end she had the most fun walking and playing with daddy on the basketball court.

I love living in Arizona. the weather here is beautiful!

My baby is...

WALKING!!

And here's some videos to prove it.






In the first one, I guess Daddy didn't give her the cheerios fast enough, or maybe our cheering scared her. In the second one, she just takes off, and totally exceeded my expectations of how far she could walk! After I was done praising her, I then cried like a little girl. I don't like that my baby is growing up! haha.

She only likes to walk to us when we are bribing her with food. She still uses crawling as her main mode of transportation, but will occasionally take a few steps on her own. I'm grateful for this though, because when she finally does figure out that she can walk on her own...it's going to be CRAZY!

p.s. I can't wait to get a new couch.

Sunday morning craft

I was bored on Sunday morning. Our church doesn't start until 2:00. My baby was napping, and my husband was watching sports, so I set off looking for a craft to do. I rummaged through my very messy closet and came across this. A khaki pencil skirt that I had busted the zipper on a long time ago. I always kept it, because I thought I would get around to fixing it. I never did, so on that morning I decided to re-purpose it. I turned it into...



A very cute purse!
It was actually very simple, and I did it without a tutorial or a pattern or anything! Not too bad for a newbie. What I did was this:

I determined how big I wanted the bag and I cut off the length. Then I cut the zipper out of the skirt. I made the new seams by sewing the right sides together. Then with the remaining fabric I made the purse strap. I figured out how long I wanted it to be, then cut. Then I figured out how thick I wanted it to be, and cut the fabric about 2 times wider. Then I folded it in half and ironed it. Then I folded in the raw edges to meet it in the middle and ironed it (did that make sense?) then I just straight stitched with my machine to hold it all together and give it a polished look. Then I sewed a snap in so I would be able to close it. Then I took a fake flower I had and safety pinned it onto the bag. I'm not so fond of this flower, but I plan on making a lot of different ones to go with it.

Wow. I'm not so good at explaining myself.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun with it, and although it's not the best made bag, I'm pretty darn proud of it.

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!