Presley turns 2!!!

Seriously where has the time gone?!

I am so not good at this blogging thing! But I am going to keep trying to get better, I promise!

Well a lot has happened since I last posted anything. But the biggest news would be that we now have a 2 year old in our home!! YEP, Presley turned 2 today! We had a birthday party for our little girl yesterday that was so much fun!

Presley and Daddy after a fun filled party

The birthday girl ready to party!

Stole all the suckers from the pinata

Since she has the perfect summertime birthday we always make a good party out of her birthday with a BBQ and all for our family and close friends across the street from us. The last 2 weeks leading up to her birthday have been extremely busy for me as I love to make all sorts of stuff myself from the party decorations down to her cake!

Birthday banner

Presley and her Olivia cake

We did an Olivia the pig theme and it turned out perfect! I was able to find all the party supplies at birthday express. I ordered her party dress from this cute etsy shop. (Which I must add was perfect in every way!) and I made the matching bow! And I made her super cute birthday banner (thanks to my fantastic cricut machine!)

And there's the cake! Man oh man cake making is so much fun, but SOOO much work! I don't know how cake makers can do this stuff day in and day out, I mean sure its so fun and rewarding when the product is all finished. But the work and HOURS it takes to get there are exhausting! I did a 2 tier square cake with white cake and a chocolate ganache center and covered in marshmallow fondant. And for Olivia I molded rice krispy treats and covered it in fondant as well. I was so happy with the finished look!!!!

Olivia the pig cake

Jeremy was in charge of the grill and made some great burgers and hot dogs, we had plenty of good food!

We also had a pull string pinata for the kids to do. And it only took 2 pulls and it opened, so unfortunately only Presley and her friend Cohen got a chance to pull the strings :( But of course the kids were all super excited to get their own stash of candy!

Presley and her cousin Kasen

Presley with mom and all her birthday loot

And then of course we had presents! And boy did Presley make out good! She has plenty of summer toys to keep her more than busy! I think that she along with all the other littler kids were super excited about the slide that Grandma B got for her, Presley was a bit impatient and would "help" push the kids down the slide so she could have her turn! (this is where I insert her "mean" nickname of "Helga"!)

What more could this adorable little girl have asked for for her birthday?! she had good food, fun, family and friends , (and presents galore!) It doesn't get any better than having the ones you love and care about around to let you know how much you mean to them, we are blessed to have such loving and caring family that surround us in  our daily lives!

I still cant believe that Presley is already 2 yrs old! Time really does fly after having kids! I am loving every minute of being a mom and cant wait until we have another one!

Presley is growing by leaps and bounds everyday! she does and says so many new things everyday!

Presley's stats:

• Diapers: Size 4 , but has taken an interest in the potty and likes to sit on it before we put a fresh diaper on (I also made her some super absorbent training pants we are going to try soon) <--- Presley had to try them on for size after I finished making them. She understands when she has gone potty in her diaper and will tell you she "stinky" and pinch her nose:)
• Clothes: She is a little thing so she can still fit into a lot of 18 month clothes. I bought 24 month shorts for her and they a a bit big in the waist and I bought 2T shirts so they will last a good amount of time. She also wears a size 5 shoe, but true to both grandmas chooses not to wear them most of the time.
• Likes: She LOVES Olivia the Pig (a bit obvious, I know) "No White" (we watch Snow White AT LEAST once a day, both at home and grandmas), Presley could spend all day out in the sunshine if we let her too! We bought her a swing for the backyard and that's all she ever wants to do!
• Words: her vocabulary is pretty good, everyday she says a new word, most of which are easy to understand, there are a few that we cant make out, but you can tell she definitely knows what she is saying. She loves to say "I love you", "hey! come back here!", and can say all of the dogs names from our home and both grandmas houses.
• Food: This is a tricky one, she is super picky! one night she may devour mac and cheese and the next day not want anything to do with it. She loves Milk, Mexican food, and fish (like her mom). likes "nacks" (goldfish, fruit snacks) and likes apple juice. She not much of a sweets eater which is fine by me!

So there is her birthday bash and a quick update on how she is doing.

Her birthday is actually today, which this year happens to be fathers day as well! We spent the morning outside letting her play in the sun with her slide, pool, and toys and she had a blast. Jeremy is such an amazing dad to Presley!, it just warms my heart to see the two of them together, I love the sweet moments they have when neither of them realize that I am watching them. I couldn't ask for a better husband or father of my sweet sweet girl!

Blah...

Life is pretty good lately, but I am just feeling so blah all the time.
Maybe I am in some sort of funk?

The beginning of February I received the dreaded call... Jury Duty! :(
I kept telling myself that they would not need me. So called that Friday to see if I was to appear on Monday morning, sure enough I was.
I went down and sat in this teeny tiny room filled with about 25ish people. I felt like a sardine. They had us fill out a sheet about ourselves and then had us each a video that i assume wad supposed to get us "excited" to fulfill our civic duties. As we went down into the courtroom I kept silently hoping that they would dismiss me and I could just go to work for the day instead of losing out on my wages. Sure enough I was the first name called tone on the jury after a bunch of group questions. Lunch was on the nice gentlemen juror next to me which was super nice of him. We finished up our deliberations and were excused by just after 3. So now I am off the hook for at least 2 years!
It was a very interesting experience, but I am glad that it only lasted the afternoon.

In other exciting news P has finally decided to say mommy! She has known how to say daddy I have tried to get her to say mom since before she even ever said daddy. It just melts my heart to hear her say mommy.
I took her out in the snow for the first time last Sunday since here in Utah we haven't really had any snow this winter. I got her all bundled up in her snow suit and boots [picture A Christmas Story].



She would not walk on the snow unless I held her hand, wouldn't touch or pickup the snow unless I picked it up first. After 15 minutes she was more than done and wanted to go back in the house. And that was that!

I have also been working on hats here and there, since Christmas is over I haven't really had a lot of orders coming in so it has allowed me to organize all the yarn and patterns and I have made up some cute ones just to see what they actually look like. I made P a beret style hat the other day, and I must say she looks sooo cute in it! I am hoping that I will continue to get orders coming in throughout the summer. I have started sewing, I went out and bought myself a nice sewing machine and have been whipping up some super cute headbands. and I am hoping that those will do well through the spring and summer! I love being able to spread my love for handmade things to others and being able to make a bit of side money never hurts right?!?

I was contacted by a women yesterday through etsy that was inquiring about me donating one of my breast cancer hats to help raise money for research, you can bet that I jumped on that as quick as I could!
I have had 2 people in my life be diagnosed with this horrible disease, My grandmas sister unfortunately lost her battle to breast cancer a few years back, but she fought a valiant fight!
And my Mother-in-law is a survivor of breast cancer!
So this is something that I have a passion for as I see how hard it is not only on the person dealing with it but for the families as well. So in the next few days I am not only going to be making one hat to send out to this lady, but I am going to send 2 or 3 (per J's request) anything to help a wonderful cause!

So there is a quick update of our lives, until next time!

Getting even craftier

Alright so I must admit I have this disgusting new addiction to Pinterest as mentioned in my previous post. I have pinned a lot of things and spend all together way to much time on this site, it has come at the cost of me having all these "great ideas" for the home. I recently made some blocks with out last name and the year we were married. I had J cut the 2x4 for me into my desired sizes and then painted them black. I added scrapbook paper to them, then used my cricut machine and made my letters using vinyl. Super fun! I am pretty happy with the finished look, I think I just need to sand the edges a bit to give them a distressed look.

2nd project thanks to pinterest is this for valentines day. I can put this one here since J is not the blogging or reading type and so I know he wont see this. I loved this idea and have already started working on my list, it sure is hard to come up with 52 things to put in this. I mean I love J more everyday, but to come up with 52 is a bit of a task to say the least. I am also going to be taking a picture frame and inside there will be a sheet of pretty paper with lettering that will say "I love you because..." and then you use a dry erase marker and write a reason on it. I love it!!!

I am really into making homemade items lately, if only I had more time on my hands to do more! I love that you can personalize it more. Now i just need to figure out what to do for Presley for this valentines day. Sadly enough it lands on a Tuesday and that is my night to close at work so we will have to do our own thing on another night. That's all for this post.

{notice that I posted a lot sooner than usual? GO ME!!!}

2012 here we come!

Ok ok I know I have been a little.... well..... lazy when it comes to this whole blogging thing! I know some of you may just check this out here and there to catch the newest pics of Presley (hey and if the hubby and I make it in a shot too) I havent posted on here since September so I am sure that alot has happened and for sure Presley has done some pretty cool and fun stuff in that time.

For Halloween we decided to go with a costume that suits her natural red hair so we picked out Raggedy Ann. She sure looked cute. Thanks to my mom for taking her pictures for us! We carved a pumpkin with her this year too, this is a tradition that I would like to keep with until our kids get too old ;) 

Christmas seemed like it came and went this year. Presley made out pretty well with Santa Claus and all. Santa brought her her very own kitchen set equipped with all the cooking utinsels and food a little girl could ever want (which makes our living room and constant tornado effect of food strung everywhere!) She got new clothes and lots of new toys sure to keep her very busy for a long time coming.

As for J and I...

J is loving his job that he switched to back in may, he seems so much more happy, although I am not a fan of or use to having him work overtime, but the extrra money is helpful to say the least!

I have been keeping very busy the last few months theres no doubt about that! I have been doing really well with my little side business. Now that Christmas is over I have slowed way down which leaves me feeling super unproductive, but has allowed me to take a few moments to get some things done around the house as well as being able to hang out with Presley a bit more which is a win in my book! I have found a new obsession with this website. And Jeremy thinks I am going to re-do the whole house bacuse of this! (ok in my book, just need the cash flow to do it!)

I am not the resolution making type but I have a few things that I want to work on....

1. Being a better General Manager (hopefully I will be able to work more from home!) I need to be more on top of my paperwork and getting it taken care of on time.

2. Taking more pictures of us as a family. (I seem to never be in the pictures) :(

3. TRYING to blog alot more (its a fun way to chronicle our daily lives)

4. and most important! Be THE BEST mom and wife that I can be!

so here is to a wonderful 2012 to everyone!

Utah State Fair

  Jeremy and I started going to the fair a few years back, I had volunteered to work a few hours by standing by the Great Clips race car. And Jeremy was nice enough to stand there with me, afterwards we were able to enjoy the fair. We hadnt gone the last 2 years. So we decided to go this year to take Presley to see the animals and of course we had to indulge in ultimate fair food! Strawberry funnel cake and fresh lemonade! yes please!!!

Presley seemed to have alot of fun. We took her into so the pigs, cows, sheep, goats, birds, and rabbits . They had an Emu there they were trying to name too. Jeremy tried to get her to pet a few of the animals and she would give a very cautious pet follwe by a quick pull back of the hand a very persistant "no" head shake. After each pet we made sure to purell her hands, those animal are very dirty!

 They also a a sealion show with 3 sealions. They had them do all sorts of tricks, balancing balls on thier noses and doing handstands on one flipper. they even made a conga line! I think that Jeremy and I enjoyed it more than Presley, she was to busy watching all the other babies and kids around her! We also went and checked out the butter sculpture of the year, this year they did a tribute to prince charles and kate. So silly!
   The fair is always an interesting adventure! you could hang out there all day and just people watch! All in all we had a great family night out. So long summer days! (I am not ready for that dang W word, but I will gladly take a nice long fall!)

its been some time

Well I guess that I really have been slacking when it comes to this blogging thing! I  haven't blogged since July. Our lives are not all that exciting and I just don't think that I am that creative as a writer like others but I try my best =)

Presley is developing such an amazing personality! Here is a list of some of the new things that she is doing and some of her favorite things.

Books- I have always been an avid reader, Jeremy, not so much. But Presley LOVES her books. I try and pick up books for her all the time, we keep them in a tote that grandma made for her. She just loves to go pick them out one by one and bring them to you to look at (and sometimes read to her) she gets your attention by growling at you. I take it that in Presley-nese this means "read to me please!" This is then followed by her taking the book out of your hands and chucking it across the room, next!

Outside- Presley loves to be outside. I try to take her for a walk at least once a week, we go a good distance and she talks, yells and simply kicks back and enjoys the scenery. I love it when I look down and she has both feet up on top of the tray part. She must be comfy that way.

Talking- She sure has lots to say these days. The most popular word is daddy, she even calls me daddy. I have tried to no avail to get her to say mommy and she just insists daddy is the word for all! She does say baby, and thank you And endless amounts of gibberish, case in point the other night I was making dinner. I look down to see what she is doing and she is talking up a storm with my birth control pill case like it is a phone! I love this little girl ♥

Laughing- She has developed quite the laugh the last little while. It is deep and growly like, almost evil. My friend was watching her the other day and said that she couldn't get her to laugh normal. I told her that the laugh she uses is her normal laugh!

lunch/dinner time have been hard around here. She is so particular about what she will eat! She still very much prefers her food not so chunky so we are still using her baby processor. And this kid will NOT have anything to do with milk! cow or pumped! so I am still having to breast feed morning and night. I thought for awhile that I would never want to give it up but I am SO done with it now! We have an appointment with her pedi middle of this month and this is like #1 on my questions list!
 She is a great sleeper, She still takes 2 naps a day. But I think this may be coming to an end soon. I am not sure at what age they go down just once a day, yet another question on the list.

   As for myself I have found a new and exciting way to make some extra money for us. I love to knit and crochet and have taken a new interest in hair accessories. So I decided to open an etsy shop click here I have done pretty well so far. I have also been contacted by a few local photographers who have purchased some of my hats for props. You should check them out here, here, and here. The first one is my moms business, she does great work, if you ever need a photographer I would use her! (I'm not partial/ biased or anything :P)  I love that I am able to share my talent with people and its something that I can do at home while I chill with Presley so it doesn't take time away from her.

here is one of my crochet works on my beautiful Presley!

   Jeremy has been busy getting parts ordered for his truck since her drove it to work one day and a few guys he works with  didn't bother to have him move the truck before they started painting, resulting in white over spray all over it! So my work has become the hub for truck parts....ugh are we done receiving parts anytime soon?!?! :)

  As a family we are doing really great! My sister had her beautiful baby girl Burkleigh a few weeks ago, everything went perfect and mom and baby are doing great, After going to the hospital to see her on my way to GNO, when I got home I told Jeremy "You know how usually if you hold a baby it makes you want another?.... Well not me!" I am perfectly happy with Presley for now. Our good friends just barely had their baby about 5 days ago so we went to the hospital on Sunday and saw them, then on Monday we went over and we held her, when we got home I asked Jeremy if it made him want another one and his reply was just as mine was. "Presley is good for now" We both want more kids, but we feel like things are just perfect how they are right now =)

So there is an update for ya, I hope to get better with my writing skills so I can blog more. Hope that everyone enjoys the last official summer holiday weekend! ( I won't, I have to work)

Blessed

Today I am feeling very blessed. I was at work today and cutting a girls hair, she had another lady waiting in the waiting room for her holding a little baby boy, for some reason I kept watching her out of the corner of my eye, a little while later I realized that this woman was deaf. It hit me right then that as this sweet baby was babbling that this lady could not hear the wonderful sounds of a babies laugh of even cry for that matter. It seems like there are so many people that take the everyday things for granted. I hear people all the time tell their children to be quiet so they can finish talking or whatever and wonder would they miss that sound if it was suddenly taken away from them??
   I am going to try my hardest to be the best parent that I can be, after all I had a wonderful teacher growing up! I happened to keep some old school notes to friends and going back and reading them I sure made my life sound bad sometimes, but now looking back and trying to remember what was so awful, you know what??? NOTHING comes to mind. I had a wonderful childhood! I
  I never want to say to anyone that MY CHILD will NEVER act/say/do that because there are no guarantees with this parenting duty I have taken, there is no handbook or "parenting for dummies" book. So we are left to figure it out one day at a time. I just hope that Presley always feels the love that we have for her. I also am so blessed to be living in the day that we are.
 Case in point: Presley has her 1 yr shots which included her first MMR shot, they told us to watch for a fever since it was a live vaccination, so for the next few days we watched and nothing... PHEW! Well today I received a call at work from mom telling me that Presley just threw-up her lunch and was running a high fever so I bolted out of work and made an appointment and took her in. Turns out that she is just having some side effects of the MMR. So they gave her some Motrin to help the fever.... Wholly cow, worst experience ever!!! The nurse had me cradle her and she started to give it to her, first off she wouldn't open her mouth for it, she was able to get some in her mouth and Presley would not swallow it, she gave her more and she started to gag on it and then tried to throw it up, her tummy was making weird sounds along with her throat and it freaked me out!!! I guess that the nurse figured that she had got enough down her after all that (seriously it was about a 10 min ordeal) so now we have the joy of giving her medicine for the next few days to keep the fever low and just need to be on the lookout for any developing rash. I am so glad that we have the convenience of modern medicine because heaven knows that I would be a nervous wreck if I had to live back in the day without all the technology and modern conveniences that we are blessed with.