RIP snowball!!!!!

So there I was......on my way to Visiting teaching, Gracy and I were on our last stop and this handsome fellow decided to jump in front of my tires! No this is not the actual feline that leaped to his death....but he did resemble this cat quit a bit, but he weighed about 10 more pounds!!! That is why I had to stop ...... I feared for the life of my car. I noticed the poor little guy laying there and noticed he had a collar! it read.... "snowball"...... oh, now I feel bad. He was some ones pet. I had to do the walk of shame to the house I hit him in front of and give the bad news. Luckily he had no idea who snowball belonged to. Im thinkin' hes in a better place now. signora snowball.

ewww!!!

I put Gracy in the tub tonight right before bed and I usually sit on the computer because i can see her from there.... well a few minutes later she comes running out in the buff very concerned.......

Me: Gracy....what are you doing?
Gracy: um mom...ewww pee in derrrr!

We all have memories of being in the tub and someone pees or ...... does the unmentionable thing and we all jump out screaming!!!! I just cant wait till someday she has a sibling to share the fun tub memories with.

Gold star! and movies.

We went out to SLC for Danny's company Christmas party last weekend. My mom and dad were gracious enough as always to take Gracy overnight for us. The company set us up in a really nice Marriott over night. It was a nice break. We went to this Japanese stake house that a fun atmosphere. Danny's boss started talking about the years progress and such and mentioned Danny specifically and talked about the leaps and bounds he has made the six months he has been with Winn Marion. Let me tell you....I was one proud Wife :) How cool is that. Im so proud of him. The down side of the trip was that I got the FLU AGAIN! last time we went out of town I was throwing up.....so of course I get it again. I really think I said a prayer 3 times ......."PLEASE dont let me puke in front of Danny's boss" and I was really dreading the smell of Japanese food! but a miracle happened and I was able to appear normal for 3 hours and order some rice hahahha. Some one even asked if I was a vegan! Bahaha, I made Danny promise not to tell everyone I was sick. It was all worth it though to hear Danny get the gold star for the night. Gracy and I are some really lucky girls to have a hard working guy in our life. We love him.

We also got to see 2 movies the next day.....I know we are die hard theater nerds.....plus I wasnt in my usual shopping mood from the day before...so .......for a few reviews.

Harry Potter.

Was amazing! They definatley keep getting darker but thats not a suprise if you read the books. They had a weird dream with harry and hermine kissing and it was not for kids. I love the new characters they brought in. The book was way more in depth with a few scenes, like when hermine killed that big snake in severis 's house. It seemed more of an epic explosion battle, and had more death eaters stalking them. But thats the only scene I expected more out of. It still blows my mind a single mom sat down and wrote these books. Wow!

The Tourist.

It was a good sit down movie. I am as everyone else a big Depp and Jolie fan so I of course went in expecting crazy characters and mind bending story line, and it just simply was....simple. The acting was good but everything was predictable and I yawned alot. But did enjoy it. Those big acters just make you have a big expectations. Danny and I laughed that it was alot of watching jolie's character strut about Venice in fancy clothes......so true. But again....I did enjoy watching it. And to be honest it was kindof refreshing watching Depp play a regular guy.

What a woman.....

A Mother is a person seeing there are only 4 pieces of pie for 5 people, promptly announces that she never really cared for pie!~ Tenneva Jordan.
This describes my mother. I don't know how many times she went without so we could have everything.

December 3rd was my mom's birthday.... This woman is in so many ways my hero. I adore her. She has made me who I am today. She is so beautiful....physically, mentally and emotionally. Something I remember the most are those nights I was sick as a little girl. I remember laying there sick with a fever and just loving the touch of her cool hands on my forehead. I love how everything was homemade and delicious, especially hand ground cinnamon wheat bread. How our house was ALWAYS clean and tidy and again....something delicious filling the house with an aroma the neighbors could smell. I remember her helping me put together my bug collection in 4th grade, she hunted the bugs with me, so we could find bugs the other kids wouldn't have in theirs. all of the things that meant the most to us kids was her #1 agenda, and the best part is...now that I am all grown up, its still the same. I can call my mom and tell her Gracy's latest adventure and she is just oooing and awwing with me. I cant help but realize the mother that made my own mother great....Grandma laura was also one of those divine individuals in my life that I have to thank, I love the person she raised my mother to be and Through these wonderful women I hope to maybe even be half as amazing as them and raise my own little girl with the privileges that I had growing up. Its so weird to transition from being your parents child.....to Mrs. Bingham and being a mom myself. I still cant believe Im a mom. It blows my mind at times. I LOVE IT, but...The best thing about having her 10 minutes away .... I can drop in and she babies me like she did when I was 5. She warms me up some leftovers and lets me escape from the web of reality. I think everyone should have a place like that. I love you mom and I am so proud and thankful of the example youve set for me.

Way to Rock the 50's like a champ, Happy birthday mom. !!!!

OH Gracy......

So last night my mom called and asked to speak to Gracy:

My mom (Nana) : Cici you ready for nana to come pick you up?
Gracy: YEAAAAHHHH!
Nana: can you get your shoes on and your coat on?
Gracy: Shoes! Coat! OOOOKKKKKAAAAYYYYY!
Nana: K ill be over soon.
Gracy: Fun mom, cici have fun with Nana, papa and shoes!

So I got ready for my volleyball games and Gracy proceeded to put her shoes on and her coat...seriously by herself cuz nana told her to.

After my games I came in the door and Danny said Gracy was waiting for me in bed to tuck her in.

Me: hey sissy, what did you do today with Nana and papa?
Gracy: Mommuh, so fun,
Me: you had so much fun?
Gracy: yes yes -- did! (she was so excited she couldnt even speak)
Gracy: cedeees (mercedese cousin) Marsha (aunt) puhCorn ....Movies. FUN! Donalds (mcDonalds) so Fun. k...Nigh nigh, kiss, Bye uve you!


I had to document this ... she actually was able to tell me what she had been doing....in the order it happened. How amazing is that for a 2 year old to do. And not only that have a perfectly reasonable conversation on the phone with my mom. Then she was shoowing me out the door so she could sleep, I was really trying to contain my giggles the entire time. I LOVE this little girl. How did I get so lucky.

Camera???

So ...... Danny has given me the YUP sure.....buy a new one. Im so excited. I just don't know where to start. these are my requirements, So I don't have to have the TOP NOTCH professional photographer camera but I want one that I can take some cool artsy photos and family pictures with and I need a good one for our Europe trip in May. I like the way this camera looks...don't have a clue about its picture taking abilities....so yes.....please help me.

Thanksgiving and Holly days fun

Thanksgiving was with the Gardner family this year. It was really fun. the food was UHH_MAzE-Ing......the company was great, but we sure missed the Binghams and the Grady's:) We even got my dad and Danny to play some scattagories with us that night and we watched ELF, and of course chomped on turkey leftovers all night. Isnt my little girl starting to look like a "BIG" girl??? she is such a little peach. Danny and I are loving her new fases. What a little character.

Holly Days gets funner every year, the best thing is..everything is FREE! Yes we got a picture with the camel. I think it may be worthy of our Christmas card photo. Bahahah.....maybe if we were dressed up as the 3 wise men. Gracy got up there and then turned around after she realized she was entering the mouth of an alligator, it was a little cruel of us. wish I could have gotten a shot of her face.

She LOVED the horsey rides :) check out that poor churro she has a death grip on.

The lady that took our picture cut out Sis!!! Rude.

OH yes we did......tackled black friday..... ok.... not really we went shopping around 1:00 friday afternoon lol. but still got some serious deals. if i had photo shop I would put my oldest sis Tiff in the picture.....its never the same with out her. Miss you teeefeeey.

Thought I wold throw in some things I love right now:

1. Gracy's new vocabulary:Top 3= Yuhhlicous, Oh my Darsh, UHHmazin,

2.My hair is Growing like a weed!

3.Dannys mountain man look is GONE

4.new christmas tree decor.

5.christmas shopping is DONE (except for Gracy's)

6.The Ensign magazine

7. new mac shadow at merle

8. family time

9.Danny's job

10. Danny has been planning our Spain Vacation !!! im beginning to think it really will happen and its not just a dream.

Music post kick....

.....I go from Dredg to Pink to The band perry.....sheesh....I guess I just like it all :)

Love this song.

This has got to be one of Pinks best songs. I love it. Doesnt it make you want to be a musician!!!

Dredge weekend

Smiling faces...proof of a good concert. The staker girls know how to have fun ! Although with the good time, Danny was with me and that means some kind of heroic deed takes place. We were all standing there....jammin out.... and some guy and his girlfriend come and booty bump me out of the way and took my spot....well ....lets just say he moved in a hurry after having a few words with Danny. No not swear words just "Danny words" so I felt pretty safe with my own bouncer the entire night :) gotta love him. This was my first time eating at the Market Street Grill in downtown SL, best halibut Ive EVER had, we also ordered oysters (ewwww) because I think of slippery slimy stinky sea food, but they were baked with halindas sauce and spinach! Seriously i don't know if my taste buds are maturing or they were just good. so GO THERE and try it 5 stars from me. That morning Sadie and Jared took us to this little Waffle house place by liberty park. I almost died in my chair from the shock of goodness. If you go order the Cinnamon ones, oh and don't leave without buying fries either, even if its 8:00 in the morning, its worth it. I give this place 10 stars. We were pretty successful with our christmas shopping but I talked danny into getting a hair cut and its HORRIBLE he looks even more weird than with the homeless look :( good thing he's a guy and could care less.

Garfield would be proud!

I just had to document my first standing successful 4 layer spinach lasagna I made for dinner. Ive attempted in the past and the layers usually slide all over the place and it just doesn't look like it should. No this is not an actual photo of my lasagna but it did stand nicely like this one does. I have this thing about taking pictures of my own food. It NEVER looks good. But this time I nailed a good meal for my family. I guess its true "if at first you don't succeed .... try try again"

Dredg Ode To The Sun

Takin' a Breatherrrrrr.

This weekend has been anticipated for quit sometime :) its been a while since Ive had some one on one time with that Mountain man I live with :) (hence the Beard and shaggy hair) We are going to a CONCERT! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bingham this wouldn't be happening, they are spending the weekend with Miss Gracy, She loves her gummuh and gumpuh :) Dredge sounds a little on the wild side but they are GOOD. Seriously talented musicians. Plus this cd was what we always listened to while Danny and I were dating. We are meeting all of our friends in SLake and hopefully eating some yummy ethnic food. We will see. We better not take a free weekend for granted.......We will also be Christmas shopping!!! Hopefully I can cover some serious ground Saturday morning. I still cant decide what to get my two year old for Christmas....I have a few ideas but nothing I'm DEAD SET on .... anyone have any ideas???

ps. Excited to see Harry Potter..... yes proud participant of the "Nerd herd"

Oh I want one..........

Wouldn't this be so fun to haul my little tator- tot around in? I Thought they were such a cool invention. Put in on the wish list right?

keep on keepin on.......

Yes I am a re-poster...found this on some random blog. I LOVE IT! live life the way its meant to be lived :)

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered
forgive them anyway

If you re kind
People may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives:
be kind anyway

if you are successful
you will win some false friends and some true enemies,
succeed anyway

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you,
be honest and frank anyway

what you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight,
build anyway

if you find serenity and happiness
they may be jealous,
be happy anyway

the good you do today
people will often forget tomorrow
do good anyway

give the world the best you have
and it may never be enough
give the best you got anyway

You see in the final analysis
it is between you and god
it was never between you and them anyway.

Ward Halloween Party

We had our ward Halloween party and we threw together some costumes.....actually we got gracy's little costume from my sister in law adree about.... two years ago, and gracy is finally big enough to wear it. Isnt she the cutest little butterfly? (she thinks its a dragon costume) shhhhh. My costume was.... yes homemade....I got the dress from my moms old dress ups, it was my Grandma Morrison's old dress from the 50's ..I think she would be happy its getting put to use, We had to take the hem out though, my legs are slightly longer than my petite granny's :) Any way, everyone thought I was a dead pioneer or something, It was my attempt of "Wednesday Adams" . Notice, Danny is not in the pictures.....BECAUSE....HE wouldnt dress up. I had a PERFECT Nacho Libre costume all ready to roll and NOPE, wase a party pooper. oh well.

Look at my cute baby!!!!!!!!!!

She was mad I didnt put the lipstick on her LIPS ,

another beautiful saturday.....

Sometimes after a rough week, were everything just never really came together, and you just barely make it to the weekend... Then you have those moments that make all the hard work worth it. We got to have Danny home all Saturday today (we haven't seen him all week). We slept in ..... had french toast this morning and then just enjoyed each other. Danny and I just couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces while we watched Gracy fall in love with fall. She just Thought sitting down in the pile of leaves was the greatest thing in the world. She sat and looked at every leaf. Her eyes couldn't have gotten any bigger while seeing the leaves fall off the trees. It was certainly worth that week of craziness for that few moments of seeing my baby discover something as simple as a pile of leaves. Life is just amazing. Oh how I love my little family.

Little Nacho was more cautious of the leaf shenanigans, but Frankie snuggled right up to Gracy.

Danny and the Nino's

I had to throw this one in .... Frankie is HUGE.....everything about him is HUGE, and hes only going to get even BIGGER and we are broke because he eats like an elephant.....and you know what they say .......if it eats like one .....it poops like one. Danny is on pooper-scooper duty for the REST of his life. But I am starting to like frank more and more now. I believe he is going to be a good dog. (just to clarify though, Nacho is till my favorite.)

Fall Fun

Last weekend some of the Bingham Bunch came to Neola to visit and we took all the kids to the corn maze in Bluebell. Its always a party when the Binghams all get together. Danny, Gracy and I ended up sleeping over and we all watched "How to train you Dragon" Gracy's new favorite show. to her its....."gaaagon" peeeese!!!! She just adores all of her cousins. She copycats everything the little girls do. Dont ya just love family???? Thanks to Adree for the Pictures, I left my camera on the couch. I'm pretty convinced we need to get some goats. Gracy's favorite thing. She kept making goat sounds back at them.

Of course I couldn't leave out the Crazy Gardner's !!!! My sister and Brother decided to come out and visit the same weekend. So I spent Sat night with them. We made peanut butter witch fingers and some really nasty homemade root beer.....note:do not try and substitute Ginger Ale for club soda....its sick. Anyway, Danny couldn't handle the partying so he took gracy home and the rest of us Gardner's stayed up till about 2AM watching movies and being dorks. Its my favorite ! I better give my ol' man (dad) and ol' lady (mom) a shout out for finding their inner youth and staying up late with us.

aren't we attractive? We cant figure out why Danny never wants to stay and party with us..........

Meet my child........Lucifer.....

No this is not Gracy's 5 o'clock Shadow....... its another destruction of my eye shadow. :( and I cant even find the container it was in, so I have a half used (crumbled) eye shadow floating around my house!!!!seriously she is so smart and devious that she HIDES THE EVIDENCE! I have to document these because I know that later I will laugh, but they just keep happening more and more AND MORE. And I have learned to not leave little Gracy our of my sight but it was honestly 2 minutes.....Im not sure if my house will get destroyed first or my NERVES!

WE're BAcK!!!!

Wow We made the 16 hour drive to and from Kansas City Missouri in one piece!!! Gracy did a great job being patient and sitting in her car seat for so long. I am so proud of her. I swear she gets smarter everyday. What a trooper she is. Well this is the star of the show.....Litte RYDER JACKSON GRADY, isnt he such a little stud! I just fell in love with him. I feel so lucky we were able to go and spend time with him.
the little peace sighn beanie and preppy cardigan melt me....Oh I LOVE HIM>

This is the proud mommy of Ryder....my beautiful sister Tiffany, She seriously had a baby a few days before this picture and looks like she has never been pregnant in her life. We went for pedicures this day and it was SOOO nice, The spa we went to "Serindipidy" was seriously so cool. it was just a treat to be there. we had citrus water and candles and got to try out their brand new fall line of polish. !!!

I LOVED all the little boy clothes we dressed Ryder in, He looks like he is ready to go to work lol. He is such a good little baby.

Gracy did really well with a new little teeny in the house. She was so soft and wanted to hold him all the time. We even got her to give kisses to Ryder, it was so sweet. I think she will be a great big sister someday.

sorry I forgot to flip this.....but yeah , this is my dad, trying to act cool. he drove the entire time to and from missouri. it was pretty fun traveling just me, sis and muh daddio.

This is the most exciting thing we saw .......BLAH ......... we really had to get creative on our road trip games. . . . . like "guess that accent" and "would you rather" were some big hits.

This is Gracy at 6:00 AM at the start of our trip. I laugh so hard at her in the morning, she is trying so hard to be awake.....just not sure what the heck is going on......she has no idea whats ahead of her.

This is one of my favorite parts of the trip. My parents and I took the two little girls (Gracy and Bailey) to chucky cheeses !!! They were in HEAVEN! I think I had just as much fun as they did.

This is the night we arrived at tiff and ry's house at like 10:30 pm.....from a long drive gracy got to wake up to her cousin bailey that had been waiting up for her !!! you can only imagine how much fun they had all week. what little goof balls they are.

more of chucky cheeses

This picture is my FAVORITE.....the little mini carasel was their favorite. it just shows the little glitter in their eyes of excitement.

Me and my sweet little Bailey. Every time she sees me she says....Hi NICK!

Ryan was so funny with the girls, They loved playing.

Their faces show a little terror, but I think they rode this ride like 3 times.

OH how they love their Na Na and Pa Pa ! so many cuddles on the Luv Sac.

Well, The ride home was a little tougher than the ride to. We made it though and Gracy and I were sooo glad to see Danny, he waited up for us and I even got a little smooch after not seeing each other for 2 WEEKS! I am so excited to start volleyball and start working again! Thats right I am now an official makeup artist! wahoo. I am sooo grateful for the Grady's letting us come and invade that special first week to meet the little man :) We love you guys and cant wait to see you again!!! Thanks for everything! LOVE YA!

to sum it up.....

sometimes life just gets so busy......but with the busy comes the best time of our life!!! My sister had her baby today!!!! 7 IBs 12 1/2 oz still NO NAME for this little fella, but thats ok, im sure the name will come. Tiff is doing great and so is baby :) Now that he is here its time for our 14 hour trek across the states to meet him. Im actually getting excited for a little road trip with my dad and Gracy. Its always nice to have a little Daddy daughter time , so with all of this driving we have officially put potty training on hold:) On another Note Danny has been working his little tail off ( this is nothing new) he has been in Dallas since Monday meeting with the big dogs. He is brilliant as a business man, I am so proud of him and the leaps and bounds he has made for his company. However all of this success means Gracy and I are really missing him lately, miss my Danny Boy! Oh and a while back I posted about a new puppy, "Frank" well , he is HUGE now and seriously can blue 42 me over, he did kill 3 large grasshoppers and place them at my feet yesterday, Im happy he knows who is the Pack Leader in the family. I guess he can stay. Also we will be traveling during Conferance!!! I always get more out of things when im driving and listening, Im excited... that pretty much sums it up,

ITS POTTY TIME!!!

Gracy officially pooped in the toilet 3 times today (note: Saturday 9/25/2010) This was all her idea! She just said .. "Dad POOP, POOP, POOP". So we just put her on the toilet and left her there like we always do no big deal.....sure enough there was a special treasure waiting to be flushed !!! lol. she was so cute, clapping her hands and even talked to Grandma Bingham on the phone about it :) I dont think she is ready to pee but ......we'll take number 2 any day lol. (never thought i would be saying that) I just hope it's not a fluke, I hope she continues to be the master of the potty! Best case scenario.....potty trained in a week before the 16 hour road trip to Missouri .!!! Please pray for us.....I am worried we start some hard core potty time and then ruin it or interrupt the process with this week long vacation !!! Any who.....we got some pretty rad Minnie mouse pannies at the store today that were a BIG hit! Danny and I are pretty proud parents today !

By the way....... I dont normally try to dress my child like a thug from the hood.....she insists on dressing herself lately .... mostly just accessorising, im glad she has some of her mommy in her :)