A few things in our life

Life is full of a lot of things. Happy things, sad things, things that we don't really notice too much, things that come and go. Let me tell you about a few random things in our life that I've found bring me some kind of simple happiness. First is our friend Barry. He lives in the tree in the field right outside our window. He flies around at night and that is when we hear him hoot. It's nice laying in bed at night knowing he's there, probably thinking about us too. :) Maybe someday we'll find out what kind of owl he is.

We also have a friend Eugene we wave to as we come to and go from our apartment. He holds a "new homes" sign at the 3 way stop about a quarter of a mile away from where we live. Some days, or day after day around noon he's there in his yellow shirt waving his sign and waving his hand at us as we pass by. We actually don't know his real name and therefor named him Eugene so we had something to call him. Maybe someday if he continues to stand on the side of the street waving his sign we'll find out his real name.

I have a beautiful pot of orange lilies on my balcony. Sunday was Mother's day and our little family drove into California from our spur of the moment trip to Utah. When we walked into our apartment there on our counter was a beautiful pot of orange lilies and a card. They were a Mother's Day gift from Tammy and Galen, my in-laws. They're the best. Now I have a gorgeous splash of beauty and color on our balcony and I see it every time I look out our sliding glass doors. I'd been wanting flowers out there for a long time. Sometimes I think even the smallest acts are inspired. Those flowers make me happy every time I look at them.


I have a wall in our apartment that I love. It's a small wall, but it's a nice wall. We bought a new T.V. last month and because of that I decided to do a little re-decorating. It was simple. A little table we painted red, a white vase from our wedding and a new painting. Now every time I look at that wall it makes me happy. A simple thing.

April showers bring May flowers

May has begun and with that brings a sense of excitement for the warmth of summer and the fun that comes along with it. It's a little late in the year but we are going to plant our little garden at the community garden tonight when Taylor gets home from work. I've never had a garden of my own and I cannot wait to start one. We're going to plant Corn, Squash, Tomatoes and also some flowers. This morning I took Mercedes down to the garden in the Moby Wrap and started weeding and doing some planting prep. It's been a long time since I've worked in any kind of garden and I forgot how messy it can be! After a bit I realized I should have waited to take a shower until after we were done. At least I waited to bathe Mercedes, as she got a little dirt on her clothes also. Guilty momma. :) She seemed happy though, asleep on my chest while I raked through the dirt with my little hand rake. I love that Moby Wrap. I just can't wait to have our own home-grown food. I'm also going to attempt to grow green onions, basil and cilantro here in our apartment, as we apparently missed the herb season outdoors. I'm super excited! I hope they grow...

Mmmmmm

There are a lot of things that I am passionate about in life, but there is just something about CHOCOLATE. I wish I could describe the way I feel when I hear the word. "CHOCOLATE." I suddenly picture creamy milk chocolate ribbons of joy and delicious truffles of See's happiness. Say the word and my mouth salivates as I melt like a pot of fondu. I will even begin to smell freshly baked chocolate cake. Yes I try to be pretty healthy when I can, and try to motivate myself with phrases like, "Chocolate never tastes as good as skinny feels." But if you look to the wall just behind where that quote is written on our chalk board, you will see three scrumtuous chocolate paintings hanging above our kitchen table. A bit contradicting? Maybe, but I can never forget how wonderful and utterly heavenly Chocolate is. Looking at those paintings are like wraping myself in a warm blanket. You might be thinking, "She must have watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one too many times growing up..." This may be, but that still doesn't change the fact the chocolate is CHOCOLATE. Yes, it is true that buns and thighs may increase in size if one is not paying attention to the vat of Extreme Moosetracks icecream they are consuming. But a delicious brownie, cupcake, chocolate cookie or two does this girl's soul a lot of good. :)

Two months old!?

Yes you heard me correctly. Our sweet little baby is 2 MONTHS OLD today. Although it does seem like she's been with us much much longer, I still can't believe it. She's a very happy baby and always seems like she's just dying to talk to us. She's always cracking us up with her funny little facial expressions whether she knows she's making them or not. We love her more than words can describe! Happy 2 month birthday Mercedes!

It fits!!!

Well I adjusted Mercedes' blessing dress and it fits her! She will be blessed in it this sunday the 11th of April in our ward at 1. Here are some pictures I took when I tried it on her after fixing it.

Blessing dress woe's

So a couple of months ago before Mercedes was born I made her blessing dress. Knowing I was doing something risky I attempted to make it from scratch (no pattern) just trying to be creative but it actually turned out quite lovely! Well, a few weeks after Mercedes was born I tried it on her and unfortunately the neck was much too small and so the dress wouldn't work as it is now. We are now 6 days away from her blessing day and I haven't done anything about it yet! I've just pulled the dress off the hanger and I'm going to see if there's anything I can do to change the dress so that it will fit properly. The next problem I might face, however, is the fact that the whole dress might be too small since it's been about a month since I last tried it on her. So what am I going to do? I'm going to see if it still fits Mercedes, and if it does I will try to fix the neck. If that won't work, I'll just have to make another one I guess, or buy one. Probably make one. *Sigh* Next time I'll make sure it at least fits the infant human body correctly. Wish me luck!

Good deals and bad deals

Last night Mercedes and I had a girls night with my mother-in-law Tammy and sister-in-law Hannah. We went to the mall, got dinner and then found the most fantastic deals at Downeast Basics. With it being 6 weeks since I gave birth, my body is in that really weird in-between stage where my maternity clothes are getting too big but my other regular clothes are just a little snug. I've been frustrated with shirts especially. Well at Downeast Basics I bought 5 shirts, 1 undershirt, 1 skirt and 1 dress all for a total of $31.00! I was so so pleased!! You know, I love saving money and often times have a hard time spending it but sometimes you just have to go shopping and when it's a successful trip it sure feels great!

On a different note, last Wednesday when Taylor left for work he came back inside a couple of minutes later and said "Our car got broken into." I said, "WHAT!?" and he said "Yeah the passenger window is bashed in..." He then said that the only things that were missing from the car were some computer memory things (I obviously don't speak technology). Then while he was sitting on the couch talking to our insurance he suddenly went white and realized he'd left his school backpack inside the car the night before. His backpack consisted of a couple of expensive textbooks, half a semester of homework, priceless notes and... his wallet. We quickly pulled up our accounts online and the people took all our money! We were freaking out and calling Chase trying to get the cards closed and talk to the fraud department. They somehow figured out the pin number and reaked havoc on our accounts. To make a long story short, we got the window fixed that day, we have spent a lot of time on the phone with the bank and with insurance and the police. Luckily the Fraud department will refund us the money but as far as the police are concerned they haven't given us any news. Seriously, what is the world coming to?? I just don't get it.

So I absolutely love being a mom. It's what I always wanted to be when I "grew up" and it's even better than I imagined. Mercedes brings so much joy and happiness (and laughs) to our home and it's just great.

Well I think that's it for night but I'll try and post again soon, hopefully with some more pictures. :) Bye!