{new heights and holiday fun}

Grey has discovered he can climb onto things to get to what he wants. He kept sneaking over to this corner of the kitchen to snatch a handful of marshmallows.

He never seizes to entertain us.

Underwear head.

His funny face.

I love this little guy!

Is everyone enjoying their holiday season? We've mostly kept indoors, but did managed to go to the Gateway mall one night. It was very cold, but the big tree in the center of the mall was fun to watch as it blinked to synchronized music.

We have also...

made a gingerbread house and ate lots of candy in the process...

and danced to Christmas music...

and made homemade eggnog and eggnog mustaches...

and read Christmas stories...

and watched lots of Christmas cartoons...

and now after living in our home a year, I am ready to tackle the main bathroom. With a little bit of paint and crossed fingers to find what I need super cheap, I hope to get this room finished:)

our cozy Christmas home

Welcome to our home!

The first Christmas after I had Hunter, I made homemade ornaments. I covered our first initials in paper and framed pictures of us.

This year I took plastic ornaments and covered them with vintage paper.
My house has a tree theme this year, but not purposely. It all started with a fun craft day with two of my favorite people! And then it took off from there:) Thanks Cami for the idea!
Our Christmas elf. Jon and his mom made this when Jon was a teenager. His name is Horndalf- Hunter named him. He calls him Horndalf the horny head. I hope they forget that is his name by next year.
More trees!!!
and some vintage ornaments surrounding the smaller tree that Jon's mom gave me.
Pine tree pictures from an old nature encyclopedia.
A little cup of whipped cream; just missing the hot cocoa!
Old skates and the pail o' snowballs.
Merry Christmas!!!

one and a half

Today is the day that Grey turns eighteen months old. sigh.

That means:

*it's time for nursery!!!!!!!!!!:)

*he is learning and saying a new word each week

*he is learning to hit his older sister just because he likes to hear her scream

*he is also learning to "air" hit because just maybe his arms will reach across the dining table to hit his older sister:)

*he loves the words "no, no"

*he is learning animal sounds. He can say moo, and laughs pretty hard when he hears others oink like a pig.

*he is practicing walking "really fast" back and forth throughout the house

*he now has his 4 molars in, so hopefully he'll have a break from teething for a while

*he is learning the art of fake crying

*he melts my heart when I peak into his room and see him playing quietly in his crib after his nap, or...

*he makes us laugh when he gets something taken away from him and blabbers something to us that sounds like he is really, really mad

*that even though I have loved this age from birth to eighteen months, I am really looking forward to the next eighteen months to see what my little buddy becomes!

Love you Day bud!!

Good Friends

One of the great things about getting married is you get to become friends with your spouses old friends.

Jon met Jake in Junior High almost 20 years ago. I love listening to Jon reminisce about the good old days fishing with Jake at Mayor's pond or the Bear River; and of coarse, their was a lot of talking about girls!

Little did they know they would marry two cute, smart, and might I add, fabulous girls that grew up only a couple of blocks away from each other:)

The first time I met Jake and Heather was in there cute little basement apartment in Brigham City. I remember I was so nervous because I knew if Jake didn't approve, Jon just couldn't marry me:) I thought they were such a cute couple {and still are!} Then when Abbey was born, I thought Heather was such an good mommy and was grateful for the advice she gave me, because I was expecting our first baby! Might I also add that Abbey is the most polite child I have ever met and Ryan is probably one of the cutest boys in the world!

It was so much fun to have Jake and Heather and their adorable kids over for dinner last Sunday! We of coarse had to have James and Janese and their cute little kids over, too, since it just wouldn't be complete without the trio!

{I bet these guys didn't realize back in Junior High that they would have their 9 kids sitting on our couch one day for a photo:)}

Soup

I love soup this time of year. Maybe it's the amazing smell that lingers through my house while it simmers, or the warm feeling it give me when a steamy spoonful goes into my mouth as I look out the window at newly fallen snow. {sorry, that was a little cheesy}.

I never think to make soup for dinner any other time of the year, but I think tonight I will have to change that.

I have found a new love, okay, my sister found it first:) It's {our best bites}. Ever heard of it? Well, if you haven't, prepare to enter cooking heaven.

For the recipe of this amazing Chicken and Dumpling soup, go here. Definitely go with the fauxtisserie chicken. It was so easy to throw together in the crockpot!

my home

Last post, I said I was grateful when I had a clean home, but today, I am grateful I even have a home:) Especially with the snow falling outside right now.

We moved into our home exactly one year ago, 2 weeks ago. It is perfect for our little family right now. Who knows if we'll outgrow it one day:)

the family room

This is our family room and it is where our family lives the most part of the day. It is where we read, watch cartoon, play games, have Family Home Evening, play monster, and where Jon and I snuggle up with a bag of Oreos and watch a movie after the kids go to bed.

Soon after we moved in, we set to work fixing up our family room the way we wanted it.

We sold our two brown couches and opted for one large white one and two matching chairs. I was really hesitant to have light furniture for the room we spend a lot of time in as a family, but I have to say I really have loved them and the cleanup hasn't been that bad, if you don't mind cleaning them on a daily basis:)

"Gasp!" you might say, "is that your Christmas tree?"

"Why yes, yes it is!"

That lil' lady in the corner is Gayle. She was given to me by my mother in law. Gayle was once an old dress form, but one day long ago she was transformed into a beautiful... anyway, she was transformed...by me... with the help of an old vintage magazine and a whole bunch of mod podge. If you ever need to cut your obsession with mod podge, just make one of these and you will despise the stuff for the rest of your life, or until you find another fun project to make!

p.s. Don't think I am super creative. I stole that idea from my ultra creative sister in law, Beckie:)

the kitchen

We found this table on KSL ads for a steal. Jon fixed it up real nice and then we bought the chairs from Target. It sure is nice to sit all of us comfortably around the table.

{Bring on Thanksgiving dinner!}

Jon built this desk in the kitchen. It is probably the most used place in our house, besides the toilet. I love it!

Hunter and Grey's room

The boys share a room. I know Grey loves sharing a room with Hunter. I hear him giggling in there at night pretty often and sometimes Jaina will sneak in there, too, but I know Hunter has a hard time when Grey cries before going to bed. I feel pretty bad. That's when we'll send him to our bed until Grey falls asleep. It works pretty good, until Jaina sneaks in there, too.

To say I love antiques is an understatement. I know my sister in law, Cami, suffers from the same "illness":) Her house is pretty much the cutest house I've ever seen!

So... for the boys room, I've been collecting little antique cars and books, lanterns and airplanes. It has been pretty fun!

Jaina's room

Jaina's room is a little on the sad side. All her furniture fits on one side of the wall, the other half of her room is completely bare. I think she needs a sister to share it with:)

Jaina loves hiding little treasures in her bird houses. Today she pulled out toilet paper from one of them.

the laundry/craft room

This room has great potential, but I suffer from a disorder called,

"I don't like to waste money, so I will only buy the things I need when I know exactly how I want my room to look",

but even still I don't stick to that. I found inspiration from Heather Bailey's craft room. One day... one day.

We love where we live! We have great neighbors and one of the nicest wards around, I think! I love that we don't live in the big city, but it only takes me a couple minutes to get to Smith's, 8 minutes to get to Walmart and about 15 minutes to the nearest mall and Nielsen's custard. What else could a girl want?

a clean home

I am grateful for a clean home... and you could probably guess that it isn't very clean right now, in fact, dishes are scattered across the kitchen table, counter tops and the floor. Plus there is a big pee stain that was never cleaned up from this afternoon. So that is why I am grateful when the house is clean.

My definition of "clean" has changed a lot since I started having kids. It use to mean uncluttered, spotless, not a crumb on the floor; now I can stand a few crumbs her and there and I actually really do like having toys flung all over the place. It makes my house feel like a home, okay it really doesn't because it totally stresses me out, but it does remind me that I have my sweet little children to love and take care of.

I am grateful when Jon helps me clean without me asking. It is very rare, but still I am very grateful. When we were first married, I came home from work one night and noticed he had scrubbed the tub. I started to cry happy tears and then later on, I realized that maybe the tub was probably getting a little too dingy and he was just too nice to tell me to clean up the green slime growing in it.

I love it when Hunter will do anything I ask him to do if he knows he'll get to play computer games. One day, he cleaned up the whole toy room, made his bed, and picked up his books in under 10 minutes. And he did a pretty good job at it too!

I am grateful my sister introduced me to this book. Cleaning Plain and Simple. It has been a HUGE help from giving me simple tips to keeping my home clutter free, to simple home remedies to clean the hard water stains off myshower door. I. love. it.

What are some simple tips you have for keeping a "cleaner" home?

gratitude journal: day 4

Day Bud (gotta love the way Jaina talks)

There are times in my life when I have been "blessed" with challenges. I would have to say that the birth of my third child qualifies under this. Not to say that Grey is not a blessing, because he is.

Most everyone says having three kids is the hardest to handle and then every kid after that is a breeze. My challenge I face today is having patience and learning sacrifice with having three young children and reminding myself that raising a family is the most important thing I will do in my life.

Having Grey has blessed me more than anything. It has taught me that I don't have complete control over my life. That Heavenly Father knows what he is doing and that he truly cares about me and wants more than anything for me to have joy while I am here on this earth and there is nothing more joyful that having my 3 beautiful children! I am grateful for the love I have for them that I know is only minute compared to the love Heavenly Father has for me.

Why am I grateful for Grey? Grey is the cherry on top of my sunday. He completes our family. I love all my children so much, but the first time I lay Grey close to my chest and smelled his wonderful baby scent, I knew I had been blessed more than I deserved.

I am grateful to be woken up each morning by him yelling out his crib "dad? dad?" and then to peek into his room and see him beam from ear to ear. I love listening to his little jibber jabber throughout the day and I am grateful when I pick him up, he nestles his little head into my shoulder. I love that he pushes his little toy cars in Jaina's stroller and whenever we go for drives he never fails to bring to our attention the "doggies" (horses) in the pasture that we pass each time we go to the store.

I am grateful for his beautiful, kind eyes that are the color of the sea. I love his squishy lips and his shy little smile!. I love to watch him run away from Hunter in his diaper and realize that he is growing stronger each day. I am grateful that when Jon comes home from work, Grey is the one that drops what he is doing and runs full speed for him. I am grateful that having Grey is teaching me to have patience and to set my priorities straight. I am grateful that I was chosen to be his mommy!

gratitude journal: day 3

Jee-Jee Luigi (as I like to call her)

A little over three and one-half years ago, we had boughten our first home and I was expecting our second child. Immediately I set to work painting our soon to be little girl's room. It had to be pink and it had to be perfect. I took gentle care in placing all of her tiny clothes into her dresser and all of the adorable decorations I had collected throughout the pregnancy and when I thought I got her room just so, I would change it again and again, and would smile every time I would walk by and look into the empty nursery.

I was excited, but nervous at the same time about how I was going to love another child as much as I loved Hunter. Then the day came that we rushed to the delivery room and two hours later, I was holding my beautiful, chubby, soft and perfect baby girl. I knew then that a mother's love doesn't divide, it multiplies with each child that is born.

Why am I grateful for Jaina? She is my sunshine! She is the life and excitement of our home. I am grateful for her energy and for her willingness to just be happy. I am grateful that she wants to choose the right and help others. I am grateful she always asks me if she can help me cook dinner and that she loves going shopping with me. I am grateful that she likes to help me change Grey's diapers and that she and Hunter are good buddies. She does anything to make him happy from getting a toy he wants from upstairs to being his "Batman's" ever faithful side kick, Robin, for Halloween. However, that changed when she found out that she really does like princesses after all.

I am grateful that she shouts "yay!" when she is excited! I am grateful for her cute little speech impediment and that she just talks and talks like she knows exactly how to pronounce words. I am grateful she has things in life that she is passionate about , namely her doggies. I am grateful that most every night I can tell her the same made up story about a doggy that is hiding in the bushes at the park and she takes him home and gives him a bath, wraps him in a blankie and then feeds him bottle and rocks him to sleep. She'll then smile her beautiful smile and go right to sleep with one of her many stuffed doggies tucked under her arm.
I am grateful for her striking eyes that when caught in sunlight, sparkle like diamonds. Jon and I have had many talks about what color her eyes really are. They aren't really blue, and they aren't quite green. Jon says they are golden eyes, so that's what Jaina says, "I have doughdin eyes." I am grateful I have a daughter and hopefully one day a really good friend who will come to me with her excitements and sorrows. I am grateful for my Jaina.