Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean

Ah, the smell of a clean house. I'm enjoying that right now. Keeping my house clean is one of my biggest sources of stress. I can't stand things being dirty. This is probably the biggest reason I hate public places. Dirty = Germs. Since my Ty guy came along 5 months ago, keeping the house clean has been even harder. It lead to even more stress. I was exhausted, Josh was busy and tired, and my house was on the edge of being dirty...dun, dun, dun. I know this sounds absurd to some people, but this one problem that needed to be remedied.

Growing up we always had a cleaning lady come to our home once a week. I didn't mind being the cleaning lady for my family for a while, but the task has simply overcome my capabilities right now. So, I currently enjoy 3700 sq. feet of absolute cleanliness at my own expense, and someone else's hard work. I highly recommend my cleaning people to anyone else who might be interested. They deep cleaned my home so well the first time, that now they just come to keep it up in shape. We're talking scrubbing baseboards, ceiling fans, pot shelves, windows and shutters, etc. All of the big things that I don't have the time to get to now are taken care of. Having a clean house it right up there at the top of my priority list, and is now one less stress for me. I can keep it picked up with a basic surface clean on my own, but now my deep cleaning is done and I can enjoy some moments of sanity. Hallelujah!

So Far This Year

There were several things I wanted to blog about but never had any time. Go figure, right? I decided to compile a list to catch up:

1. This one actually happened at the very end of last year, but that's ok. My youngest sister Miranda was sealed to our family on December 30th. It was such a wonderful, emotional experience for my family. Miranda's adoption process was a very long road, and finally after 14 years it was completed.

Miranda is the second on the left.

2. We spent most of January sick. Ear infections, bronchitis, RSV, sore throats, you name it. Between all 4 of us, someone had it. It was highly stressful.


3. Macie started dance classes. It is by far the cutest thing I've ever seen. I spent the first class observing through the window with a big smile on my face. Macie is in a class with 3-4 year olds, but as the youngest you would never know. She participates, listens to her instructor, and has an absolute ball! I could go on and on about all the cute things they do in class, but that is probably only exciting for me. Her recital is in June and I can't wait!

Macie and her friend, Harper. They are great friends and after dance they get to play together for a couple hours each week.

4. Macie bid a fond farewell to her pacifier. Some of you may be shocked that she actually still had one, but it's true. I convinced her to say bye and throw it away, and she actually did! We went to the store and I let her pick out a new toy. I was so worried we would have endless crying and tantrums because of the pacifier, but she was pretty good. She did ask about it several times for a good couple of weeks, but if we changed the subject she would only shed a few tears.

5. One of my college roommates came to town for a visit with her new husband. They got married 2 weeks after Ty was born so I wasn't able to go to the wedding. It was great to finally meet him. We had a fun weekend hanging out and reminiscing about the good old days at BYU. When you live with the same girls for 4 years there are lots of great memories. We missed Laurel W. who lives in NYC though.

Laurel, Me, Lindsay

Macie had a great time with her new buddies and all the attention they gave her.

6. My little Ty is growing so fast. I started giving him some brown rice cereal and he loves it. The picture below is from his first taste. At 5 months old I can already see such a huge difference between boys and girls. Ty is super strong and can already sit up on his own for a little while before toppling over. He is very smiley and I can't get enough of his laughter. He loves Macie so much. She can make him smile and laugh faster than anybody. He even thinks it's funny when she's mauling him...definitely a boy thing. I'm sure he will be giving me a run for my money when he becomes mobile.

7. Since Macie is old enough to understand holidays now, I think it's fun to do something festive to get excited about it. For Valentine's Day my sister Mel came over with Sadie Roses to make strawberry cupcakes. They were delicious!

The girls decorated a letter for my brother Ben who is doing ARMY officer training in Alabama. We missed cousin Bella so Macie mailed her a valentine too.

We got Macie a princess card and heart cupcake for Valentine's Day. She was very excited the whole day. Josh and I went out to dinner that night at the JW Marriott and had a nice time. I love my 3 valentines!

8. One last thing to add: I've gone back to my old friend bleach, as you can see in the picture above. It's been a while, but I really like it and prefer it over darker color. As an added bonus my life is like way more fun now, like totally.

Watch Out American Idol

Macie loves to sing primary songs. "Book of Mormon Stories" is one of my personal favorites to watch her perform. She always starts by telling me to get my book out...it's so cute.