Where do I turn in my time sheet?

Who needs a handy-man when you have the internet?! I've read a few of the articles that talk about the 6-figure salary a woman in the home would earn should she actually be paid for all her many services; and I smile when I read them. I'd love the cash, sure, but I'll take sticky kisses and a few sets of little arms wrapped around my neck any day in return for the things I do each day.

This weekend I tried my hand at several new "skills." I mentioned my clogged drains in a previous post and ladies, it was time to strap on the rubber gloves and get to work. I refused to call a plumber this time, without at least giving it my best effort first. Long story short, and omitting the icky details -I fixed them both! I also tried my hand at new levels of home pest control, learned what to do about the "growth" on our palm tree, and scrubbed the "pond scum" out of the borrowed kiddie pool. Yuck! I repaired the holes in my wall from the towel hook and did research on feeding my baby "real/fresh" food as opposed to all pre-packaged stuff (this weeks' menu: avocados and bananas. Next week: home cooked oatmeal)I am feeling so empowered after accomplishing so many new things (and saving a bundle on service-man fees while I was at it)! This is my attempt to be more economical, more resourceful, more educated, live healthier and be more independent. I LOVE the resource that the internet is and have discovered the secret to my own personal super-powers...gloves! Rather than a cape like many traditional super-heroes wear, when I put on my gloves, I feel I can tackle just about anything! So next time you don't know what to give a mother as a gift...think about a clean, new pair of gloves. :)

P.S. My actual gloves are boring and yellow. Who new they came in such stylish patterns?!

Jenn's Wedding!

First off, I must Congratulate my dear husband for passing the Utah Bar! Wahoo! All that time away from you was not all for not! We are so proud of all your hard work! Now we have another window of opportunity available to us should our course ever move in that direction. Way to go babe! We love you! :)

Next, what a wonderful week we had in Utah! It was just the relief we were needing. We had a great time with the grandmas, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends -you all know who you are - and especially with Jenn. What a treat to be there with her at such an exciting time. It was an absolute privilege to attend the temple with her, enjoy a girls day and late night chatting, and be part of her wedding day. It was a perfect day (and week) for us. My girls got to be flower girls at Jenn's ring ceremony and did a wonderful job. They felt like princesses and loved getting all dressed up for the party. They practiced walking "down the aisle" all week. Lexi was SO excited about dropping the flowers for Jenn to walk over and Aubrey was so funny...she ran out halfway down the aisle and spent the rest of the ceremony picking the petals back up to refill her basket. :) I'm so glad Adam encouraged me to make their dresses. It turned out to be a positive experience. Lexi danced the night away with her little buddy Jude and we all enjoyed a slice of the cake amongst other wedding goodies. Thanks for a wonderful time Jenn and Ryan and for making it possible for our whole family to be part of your special day. You mean so much to us all! Congrats again to you both!










Me and the baby!



It is always so much fun to get together with friends while we are in town. We love the Horsleys! (Congrats again on the new house!)

One of THOSE weeks...or months rather!

So the month of September has been a blur of stress and exhaustion. Adam has been preparing for a trial and we see him in our dreams mostly (he's usually only home between 11pm and 7am). For that reason, my friend Jenn's wedding couldn't be coming up at a better time as it will allow us the chance to "escape" and get the relief we so desperately seek right now. The past few weeks have included, but not been limited to, the following "disasters:"
*We were without A/C on the main floor of our home for three days
*My car wouldn't start for four days
*My blow dryer is only working half of the time
*the towel-hook was unfortunately unable to hold Lexi's weight when she swung from the towel that clung to it...now there are three substantial holes where the hook used to be.
*That one slat in the blinds over the sliding door fell on me just about every day...and sometimes twice. (I don't think I can re-attach it too many more times).
*Two of the drains in my house are now beyond the help of drano and who has money for a plumber?!
*A few other personal struggles and some nursing issues
*And the straw that nearly broke the camel's back was when my photos wouldn't upload when I tried to post a my blog last week. That was truly devastating; fortunately, only temporarily.

Adam has taught me over the years that things like this are neither some form of punishment nor a string of bad luck, they are simply "life." Stuff happens and we deal with it. That perspective helps me muttle through, even though it's hard sometimes. And there was another side of the rainbow here...
*My neighbor brought over a huge bag full of clothes from her grand-daughter for Alexis!
*Another neighbor gave us their old bike that was exactly Aubrey's size (now we just need some training wheels)
*My camera and memory card are fine (pictures still intact)...I just need a new "adapter" (thanks Mindy!)
*The A/C is fixed and my towels found a new place to hang (although I still have a hole in my wall)
*The EQ Pres. sells car parts and found us a great deal on a new battery...which Adam changed by himself! Way to go Adam! He has a huge fan club full of girls over here. :)
*An indulgent moment with a piece of my favorite chocolate (thanks Amber!)
*And somehow the nursing situation has seemingly resolved itself just in time for our long road trip to Utah.

I think we might just make it through folks, thanks again to so many of you! Hope you are all doing well and hanging on (with both hands when you need to).

I've included a few pictures of the happiest blessing in our lives...Aliie, who is 5 months old! She, more than anyone else, can chase the clouds away and make us smile! Thank you Allie for being such a treasure to our family!

Muffin Tin Madness

Some of you may have heard and even tried the new trend of "muffin tin lunches." Type the term into a search on the internet and you'll see endless amounts of blogs about them and pictures of ideas of what to fill them with. Kind of a fun way to switch things up every now and again. Our spin on this idea was to have breakfast in a muffin tin. It was delicious and the girls loved it! So give it a try sometime. :)

Our next venture was an idea that popped into my head as I've been searching for ways to play with/teach my girls that are stimulating to two ages. Aubrey has been needing help with her colors so our "skittle factory game" was invented. Aubrey's job was to sort all the colors of skittles and say the name of each skittle as she did so. Alexis was involved by counting the skittles after Aubrey sorted and named their colors. Lexi is already a great counter, so to make it more or a challenge, I taught her to count by fives by filling each muffin spot with five skittles each and then she made a graph to show which color we had the most of...ours was orange. It was fun and tasty! What other ideas do my friends in the blogger world have for me now that we've eaten all of our skittles?