Cassie Wernli

Girls' hair- 2 buns with a ribbon

2012-02-04T20:39:00.001-07:00

I have good news. I've started a little girls' hair menu at the side of my blog. So if you want to look up all the hairstyles at the sidebar, you can.

Anywho, today is an easy hairdo, but an oh-so-cute hairdo. I just love ribbons in little girls' hair!

First, spray generously with spray gel, and put one side into a low ponytail- This is the key- Low, and by the ear. It will help keep the ribbon in place later.

Then put the other ponytail in place. Make sure they are on the same level. And I didn't realize how un-centered her part was until I was halfway done. And I was too lazy to change it. :)

Next, twist up one ponytail until it starts twisting on itself...

Twist it around and hold it in place with your finger.

Get another elastic and hold that hair in place.

Voila.

Do the same on the other side.

You're pretty much done!

So cute! But it's even cuter with a ribbon! Most of the ribbons I own actually came from gift bags and such and I just kept the ribbon to use in my hair and my girls' hair.

This is where the Low bun by the ear helps. You will tie the ribbon in place on her head, or use some of those elastic headbands that you can buy...

But by having the bun so close to the ear, it will help keep the ribbon/headband in place all day.

Enjoy! Hope this helps.

Just randomness

2012-01-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to take more pictures lately. I try to tell myself that the girls don't have to do anything special for me to take pictures. But like I said earlier, it's hard to take pictures if your camera isn't that great. Oh well. So, here's some pics...

Lex and Lane. Most of the time they are great to each other. Unless one of them doesn't get enough sleep. Then all bets are off. Lexi and Lanie sleep in the same room, which can be mildly entertaining at times. Lexi's on the top bunk and Lanie on the bottom, and because of that, Lexi make Lanie into her little minion every once in a while. If there's something in the room that Lexi wants, she'll tell Lanie to get it.

So every once in a while from the living room, we'll hear: "Lanie, get that Barbie. No, not that one. The other one. No, keep going. No, by the dresser. No by the dresser Lanie. Come on Lanie, get the barbie!" It's pretty funny. And the whole time Lanie is like, "This one? This one? Oh, this one? Where is it?"

Lexi asks to hold Rett about a billion times a day. And as I was going to take a picture of it, Lanie saw that camera out and of course hammed it up for me.

My sweet Lanie. Just wanted to take a picture of her and she obliged. My girls love smiling for the camera.

Again, Lex holding Rett. Nowadays, she is actually holding him all by herself, while standing. With me right there of course. She feels like such a big girl.

Lanie has gotten a lot more independent in her playing lately. Just in the past few days, she is playing with the Polly Pockets and having them talk to each other. Up until now she's always kind of watched what Lexi does and just copied it. Now she's doing it all on her own.

Rett loves smiling. Honestly. If you give him an ounce of attention, he'll start smiling and giggling. He loves smiling at Lexi too. But he gets so distracted by the camera that it's hard to get a good shot. Here's one attempt.

I love this outfit, and I actually got him to kind of smile for the camera. So cute!

Hair ideas- Basic French Braid

2012-01-20T15:25:00.002-07:00

I've decided what I want for my birthday this year. A new camera. Mine is 5 years old. I'm pretty sure my phone camera is better than my regular camera. Maybe come April we'll have better pictures. For now, these will have to do. :)

Anywho, today we have 2 hairstyles in one post! The basic french braid, AND braid into two ponies. Here's what the french braid will look like...

And then what the braid/2 ponies will look like...

I wanted Lane's hair to be up, but when I do that, the front tends to fall out unless I put a small ponytail or braid in the front. So, here's the french braid.

Start with the right tools, spray liberally, and use your comb to get a section of hair on the top.

This section will be the basis for your braid, so choose the amount of section in the front that you want. Split into 3, and then start the braid.

Take a section in the front, take the hair until it meets the braid, and add it into a piece.

Smooth out the hair before you continue the braid.

Then take the next section on the other side. The key to a good french braid is threefold- 1)take even sections throughout the braid, 2) place your HANDS where you want the braid to go- hand placement is very important, 3) keep your part on the opposite side as straight as you can.

Smooth out the hair before you continue.

Continue the french braid until you are at a place that you want to stop. See the part on the left and how it's relatively straight? That's what I meant earlier.

For this hairstyle, I wanted to continue the braid to be able to put in in a ponytail. You can either do that, or just put a ponytail where you stopped the french braid. Either works fine.

A cute french braid in the front of her face. You can stop there, OR...

Keep going with 2 ponies. Lanie's hair was down the day before and I hadn't washed it, so I wanted to put it up. Use spray gel to help you get a good part for two ponies.

Get the ponytail all ready to go before you put the braid in. I usually do that at the last minute.

You can either do a high pigtail or you can keep it low and flip the hair up like so. It's easier to keep the ponytail low or else you might mess up the braid.

Repeat on the other side. Make sure that you keep the two ponytails on the same level.

Here they are side by side.

Then I used the straitener to give the hair some curl to cuten it up a little.

All done!

Girls' Hair- 4 Ponytails

2012-01-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

Another hair post! Yeah! I'm starting to realize how hard it is to do hair AND take pictures at the same time. Hmmm. We might have to think of a different solution...

So, today, we are doing 4 little fancy ponytails. Here is what it will look like...

Sorry, she was very cranky that morning, so the pic isn't great. But you get the jist. I like finding hairdos that will get my girls' hair out of their face, but that I can still leave most of their hair down. So, this is a cute solution.

First, you need the right tools. Start by spraying generously and making a little part with your comb and create a little ponytail at the front of the head.

That's a really bad pic. Just put a rubberband in that little pony tail.

Repeat.

Repeat again. Until you have 4 ponytails. The key to this hairstyle is that there needs to be room on the scalp for 4 ponies until you hit the cowlick on the back of the head. AND your ponies have to be all the same size and the parts for the ponies have to line up.

Still repeating...

Okay, I've got 4 ponies.

Then I use the same technique as the waterfall ponytail, but upside down. You see, you create a part in the middle of the little ponytail...

And then you pull the ponytail over the TOP, not down below.

Push it through the top...

Pull it all the way out...

And tighten. Repeat for the rest of them. This way it lays flat to the head, and doesn't stick up like the waterfall ponytail.

Tada!

This keeps it out of her face, but it's still pretty cute. A variation on this would be to do just one bigger ponytail, and pull it through the top for just one fancy pony. That works too. I do it ALL the time.

Couldn't resist this messy-face photo! :)

Hair Ideas- Waterfall Pigtails

2012-01-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

So, I have a lot of people-- okay, maybe like 2 people-- ask me for hair tips and advice for doing girls' hair, so I thought I would try and put one hairdo a week on my blog and see if it helps any of you guys.

I'm no expert- trust me. And most of the time I just try to duplicate what I see on other little girls. But I wanted to start with my favorite little girl hairstyle- the Waterfall pigtails. Let's start with the essentials... the products.

I just can't do my girls' hair without them. Garnier Fructis Curl Shaping Spray Gel- it's a hairspray that stays moldable and it's easy to wash out, a comb with a point on the end, and non-stick elastics. I get mine from walmart, and they come conveniently color coded.

Okay, step one for these pigtails- make regular pigtails. :) Spray the part in the hair generously with the spray gel, then use the comb to make a good part.

Make the first pigtail. Remember to spray generously with the gel. Trust me, it helps.
Next, do the second pigtail. You're gonna want to make sure that they line up on the same level.
Once you have the pigtails in place, get your comb out and make a split in the middle of the pigtail.
Spread the ponytail out enough to pull the ponytail under the band.
Use the comb to help pull all the hair out.
Split the hair in half and tighten the ponytail.

Repeat on the other side. Note that my kid is watching tv. That's the only way I can get her to sit still. :)

Then I use the straitener to give the hair the perfect curled bounce, and she's done!

I love this style because it's cute, but also because the ponytail lays flat to her head and it won't hurt her when she takes a nap.

Welp, hopefully that all made sense and it helps!

Christmas '11

2012-01-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Georgia was so fun for Christmas! In my typical style, here are some highlights of the trip, along with a few pictures. As usual I didn't take the camera out much, so there are just a few pics.

1. Brandon took the girls on one flight while I took the baby on another. Long story short, it was a lot cheaper that way. Brandon said the girls were fine, and I think cuz Brandon and I prayed hard enough, the baby was great- on the way there. Not as great on the way back, but still pretty good.

2. Brandon is He-Man when it comes to security checkpoint lines. He can heft and lift all our hud onto the belt and I got the kids all through. I really don't know how I would do it without him.

Santa lives in our ward. Pretty cool, huh? The girls got to go over and tell him what they wanted.

3. Brandon's parents really know how to host people in their house. They turned a part of their basement into a perfect suite for our little family. It was perfect the whole time there.

4. Lexi and her cousin Jada are best friends. I wish they lived closer together. They hung out the whole time there.

5. My kids are cute. They were very appreciative of their gifts, and loved them all.

My cute girls in their antlers.

Cute Rett in his pj's and antlers.

My girls and Jada in their cute new Christmas pj's.

6. Lexi likes to open all her presents before she wants to play with any of them. It's like she wants to take inventory before she gets anything out. Lanie couldn't have cared less I think. She would have been happy with one present.

Lexi with her stocking.

7. It is actually possible to stall 4 little girls until after church to open their presents. We hung up a curtain to block the presents, and told them that we had to go to church first. They actually did, without any fights. That is amazing in and of itself. And yes, we then came home and got back in our pj's.

Lanie opening presents.

Lexi with one of her favorite gifts, a Trunkie

8. I thought this picture was hilarious, but it needs an explanation. Brandon tricked me and surprised me with a new phone for Christmas. But he wanted me to choose which phone I wanted, so he got an iPhone and a Galaxy so I could play with both, pick a favorite, and then we would return one. This was my face when I opened the gift. I guess that's my confused/happy face? I don't know, but I thought it was too funny not to post.

FYI- I went with the iPhone. It was SO much easier to navigate, and all my stuff on my iPad transfers to my iPhone. It was too convenient to pass up. And yes, I was nursing in the picture. Rett wouldn't wait. :)

My reaction after his explanation...

10. The Wernli's are so fun, and funny. My father-in-law cooks the most phenomenal meat, and my new sisters-in-law are awesome. They are so good with my kids and all so willing to help. We all had such a blast together.

Rett and I tuckered out after opening presents.

All in all, it was so much fun, and I'm SO glad we spent the money to fly there.

Thanksgiving '11

2011-12-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving in AZ this year was a total blast. Because Brandon had to go on a business trip the Monday after Thanksgiving, we stayed in AZ and had him fly out from there so I could stay with family while he was gone. So we ended up staying 10 days! Here are the highlights--

1. Rett is not a car baby. He hates his carseat. It pains me to admit this, because life is so much easier when the baby likes the carseat. But it is what it is. On the 10-hour car drive, he was in his carseat maybe 3 hours. Don't judge. :)

2. The girls were fabulous in the car-- Lanie was better than Lexi even. That was a total surprise. The girls have transitioned fabulously to having a little sibling. They are so patient if I have to help the baby, and they just wait until I can help them. This was a good thing since I was dealing with him in the car so much.

3. Lexi and Lanie need a backyard. Period. They had so much fun playing outside. My sister (in the pictures) bought a bounce house slide thing, and Lanie got so excited every time she woke up and it was still there. She'd say, "Side, Side! It's working!" So cute.

4. AZ in November is fabulous. My favorite conversation--

(Dave) "The weatherman says it's supposed to be rainy and cold tomorrow."

(Rebecca) "Yes, but when is the weatherman right?"

D: "Well, he said that today would be sunny and 75 degrees."

R: "Yes, but it's sunny and 75 degrees everyday."

HA! So true!

5. The turkey trot will forever be fun. Even if my sister has to practically drag me at her pace. Here are some pics of the big day.

Bec and I after the race. I had a baby 6 weeks prior, and she had ACL knee surgery also 6 weeks prior, so we weren't expecting to be fast or anything. It's a 10K, and we finished in 1:02. About a 10-minute mile. Not bad, considering we aren't runners by any stretch of the imagination. NOTE: My number was 1984- the year I was born! Random, huh? I thought that was stinking cool. The family group shot. One of these days, we'll start getting more and more people. :) The littles did the family fun run.
Before the race, with my niece Kinsey. She did NOT want to be there, so I gave my most exciting smile for her. :)

6. My family is big. There was one point where we were at the gym and the instructor asked who was hosting a family dinner. Bec raised her hand, and the instructor asked how many people, and Bec answered, "60". Just Mom, siblings, and kids too. Crazy...

7. The "Proffitt Family Survivor Games" was awesome this year. Really fun to compete as families, even when most of us are competition-obsessed crazies.

8. Lanie will actually sleep on someone's lap. She's never slept on mine of course, but Joy was enjoying a good snuggle. She skipped her nap for Thanksgiving, and was exhausted by 5.

9. I have plenty of nieces and nephews who are ready and willing to hold my baby. That was pretty fun. Now if only we can convince him that he doesn't need Mommy all the time...

10. Ned's Crazy Sub will always be a destination, even though there are WAY better sub places. We went to Firehouse Subs, which were delish, and Ned's just can't compare. But it brings back some nostalgia for me, so we always go. Thanks, sisters of mine, for humoring me and coming with. :)

11. Brandon is still allergic to Arizona. I don't know exactly what it is, but he was wheezing the whole time. And Rett broke out too. Weird...

12. My sis-in-law is amazingly talented. Margaret not only took my family pictures, but also made my Christmas card this year. And they are amazing. AND they cooked us an amazing dinner in Tucson.

13. We need to live closer to family. It's just too much fun. And so much easier when Brandon is out of town. Lexi had a blast with all her cousins, and Lanie enjoyed tagging along.

The end. :) I as usual forgot to pull out my camera 98% of the time.

Rett with Elmo

2011-12-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

We got this toy with Lexi, and we kind of love it. It's great for newborns, but it's also great for when they're older. Rett had his first experience and started smiling at Elmo. :)

Lanie's talk

2011-12-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

As Lexi was practicing her talk, Lanie wanted to join in on the fun. This is her version. :)

Lexi's primary talk

2011-12-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of Lexi's primary talk she gave on Sunday. Of course, this video is from when we practiced on Saturday. She was fabulous!!! She got up without any help, and she talk loud and clear without a microphone. I'm so proud of my little girl!

Rett smiling

2011-12-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

Smiling babies are possibly the cutest things in the entire world. Of course, with this baby I'm a little biased. :) And Rett seems to always be ready and willing to smile. Just give him a little attention and he'll smile his head off!

Lexi's Birthday

2011-12-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to get updated on some videos from my camera, so there might be a slew of them tonight. :) This one is the girls at Lexi's party singing along to Tangled. Pretty cute!

The girls meeting Rett

2011-12-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a vid of the girls meeting Rett. Two months late, oh well. That's my amazing sister in law Valentina, in case you were wondering who the beautiful girl was. :)

What's going on here?!

2011-12-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well, more than a month has gone by. I haven't had my computer, so that's kind of an excuse for my unbloggingness.

A VERY long story short, when they were fixing my computer, Best Buy lost all my data on my computer. And no, I didn't back it up because Best Buy PROMISED me that they weren't going to TOUCH my hard drive. Yes, I'm still frustrated about it. The incredibly good news is that I just replaced my netbook with this laptop in August, and all my data until August is on my netbook. That still leaves me without 4 months' worth of pictures and videos, but I'll take that any day over 7 years' worth. So, best buy transferred my netbook's data for me.

In lieu of me not having any new photos to post yet, I chose 7 photos- one for each year I could have lost- to post here. You see, I have text updates, but no new photos, and because no post is good without pictures, here goes...

2005. Brandon looks like he's 12. :) Love you, babe!

Halloween was fun this year. I need to get the pics from my mother-in-law to post soon. We did a Tangled theme this year, with the girls each as Rapunzel, Brandon as Flynn Rider, and me as Gothel. Brandon's was my favorite costume. Lanie kept looking for me all night, and couldn't find me because I had a black wig on and I was unrecognizable. The girls had a blast trunk or treating at the church.

Linda, my mother-in-law, was indispensable to me when I had the baby. My mom and sister came the first week, and they were also indispensable while they were here. Thank you! But my mother-in-law stayed for more than 3 weeks, and I literally had to figure out how to do everything again once she was gone. Thank you, Linda! You really are the best. I hope I'm half the mother-in-law you are. :)

2006. Cute little Lexi.

We went to Park City with Brandon's family and had a blast. Brandon's mom, dad, sister, grandma, and some cousins came and it was so fun. We took the girls in the pool and hot tub, went shopping a little, found a blessing outfit for the baby, ate a lot of good food, watched Lion King about a million times, and just hung out.

2007. Lexi as a kitty for Halloween. So cute!

We just had a week after Linda left before we went to Arizona. In that week, we had a visit from Brandon's brother Jason, and I thought I would cry I was so stressed. I shouldn't have been, but it was the first day I tried to cook dinner, get the house clean, and keep all the kids happy all by myself, and I cooked the grossest soup for poor Jason. Oh well. Maybe next time.

2008. I was prego with Lanie, and I remember Lex was really cranky for this photo shoot.

We had a ton of fun in AZ, and I think I will detail that in a different post. We stayed 10 days, and it still didn't feel long enough. :)

2009. Cute little Lane.

The girls have been so awesome with the baby. They have had no resentment whatsoever with the baby. I am so lucky. Even Lanie has been so good with him. Whenever they notice him, they just say, "awwww, Baby Rett!" Both Lex and Lane run to get me something when I need it. There have been a few times when I've had to hold the baby while putting Lanie down for her nap, and I was really worried she'd pitch a fit. Naptime for her is a time where we read stories and pay attention only to her, and I thought she'd be upset. Not at all! She sat on the floor instead of on my lap for stories, and happily went in her bed without cuddle time. She's awesome. I really have had it very easy when it comes to jealousy from my kids.

2010. My little mama's girl. She's so sweet.

I've quickly learned that Rett is a little homebody. He is not good in the car, doesn't like being out, and does so much better when we stay home. DARN! That does not work with my lifestyle. :) How am I supposed to take him to the gym every day??? We'll have to work him in slowly...

2011. I think Rett looks like Lexi, with a different chin. Lex has my chin, whereas Rett is all Brandon. :)

Rett... isn't he cute?

2011-11-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

Things are going great with our sweet Rett. He's a cutie. He actually slept 6 hours last night. In a row. I'm not expecting him to do that every night, but it sure was nice. :) Too bad we went out last night and I wasn't sleeping too...

Anywho, my awesome mother-in-law took some pics and here are some of my favorites:

He has some really funny faces he makes.

He's still a little jaundice, but that's okay.
You gotta love baby feet...
These next ones are all pretty funny. It's hard getting 3 kids to take a good pic.
Gotta love Lanie's smile. I think I was bribing her at this point to smile.
This one's not bad...
Rett loves having his mouth open. He does this a lot. :)
Again with the mouth! It's hilarious.
Awww. Love this one.
I think this one's the best with all 3.
This one cracks me up. Cross-eyed with his tongue out. Little jokester...
He's so cute!
Love those eyes!
That mouth. Seriously, in most of his pictures his mouth is wide open.
This one is so sweet. Lexi is awesome with Rett.

All about LEXI!

2011-10-24T17:32:00.000-06:00

My sweet Lexi. She wants to hold the baby all the time, and she's very good at it. She is such a responsible little girl, I have to constantly remind myself that she's only 5 years old.

She's such a little sweetie.

Lexi finally got a birthday party! I don't believe in parties, I know, I'm a party pooper. I never thought she was old enough to actually enjoy a party. But for her 5th birthday, she was ready. And she had a blast! We had all her friends for a Rapunzel party. We started out with some coloring...

And then my picture taking got a little spotty... Then we had magic tricks by her dad. And frankly, we could have had Brandon doing magic the whole time and they would have been happy. They loved it.

After magic tricks, we played "find pascal," where they got a prize if they found pascal. Then we played "Pin the tail on Maximus," also pretty dang fun. After those 2 activities, we had Lexi open her presents (probably the funnest part for her), and blow out the candles on a small cake. We had a small cake because we had the kids make their own ice cream sundaes instead of eat cake. That was a hit as well. Then we put on the movie and watched Tangled. The girls loved it, the boys not as much, so we turned it off after about 40 minutes, and we had a pinata outside. The kids loved beating up the pinata, and LOVED getting the candy.

Then I went upstairs to feed the baby. The party winded down, and I went back to help clean up afterward. Lexi had a blast, and that was my whole goal anyway. She'll probably have to wait until her 8th birthday for another party, so I hope she had enough fun to last 3 years. :)

Introducing...

2011-10-15T17:18:00.000-06:00

Everett James Wernli, 7lbs 3oz, 20 in, born 10-11-11 at 2:50am

Isn't he adorable? :)

My doc induced me just like I wanted. Are you ready for the birth story? I know you are all curious... :) If not, scroll down to the bottom.

My doctor wouldn't induce me unless he knew the lungs were fully developed. So, Monday morning, at exactly 38 weeks, I was scheduled for an amniocentesis. We did the amnio, and then it's a waiting game to hear back from the lab. Around 1, I was getting antsy to find out the results, so I called the lab, and they said they faxed the results a few hours before. So, I physically went down to my doctor's office to ask about the results. Because I'm pushy like that. They looked up the fax, found that the lungs WERE fully developed, yay, so they called the hospital to get me on the induction list. They said hopefully they will get me in by 5pm that day.

Waiting to be induced is a nightmare. I just stayed at home and walked around not really being able to do anything because all I wanted to do was go to the hospital. At 3:30, the hospital called and said if I didn't come right then, I probably wouldn't make it in that night. So I left right then. :)

I made it to the hospital around 4, got checked in etc., and waited for them to hook me up to the pitocin. Brandon was with the girls waiting for his brother and sis-in-law to come to babysit, and to tell you the truth, I was missing him. I called him and asked if there was any way to find someone in the complex to watch the girls for a while so he could be with me. He said that Brittany just so happened to offer assistance, and that he'll take the girls to her place so he could come. Thank you so much Brittany! It was weird being at the hospital without him, even though I wasn't much in labor yet.

Anyway, they hooked me up to the pitocin around 5pm, and then it's a waiting game until things start happening. I started at 2 1/2 cm. 2 1/2 hours later, I was at a 3. 2 1/2 hours later, so 10pm, I was still at a 3. Dude, that's 5 hours and 1/2 a cm! And I was in a LOT of pain. At this point, I had an epiphany. The exact same thing happened with Lanie! I almost think that my body won't really progress until I get the epidural. I think the epidural helps my body to relax. I didn't go anywhere with Lane until I had the epidural, and then it went really fast. So, I decided to stop suffering and get the epidural.

I love that epidural, btw. Then I started progressing about 1 cm per hour. I hit a 6 around 2:15am. But once I hit a 6, it took me 15 minutes to get to a 10. The nurse came in around 2:30 because the baby's heartrate would get pretty low each contraction. She changed my position to see if that would help, and it didn't. She decided to check me and was pretty surprised to see I was fully dilated and ready to go. As soon as I got into birthing position the baby's heartrate went right back to healthy. They decided to not let me push until my doctor got there (Lanie only took 3 pushes, so they didn't want to risk it). My doc got there around 2:40 and they got everything ready. I don't know if this happens to other women, but I get a serious case of the chills when it's time to push. I can't stop shaking for some reason. So I had them pack on the warm blankets. It happened with my other two as well, so I kind of expected it. In two contractions and about 5 pushes, our little Everett was born!

My doc, who had been a little hesitant to induce me at 38 weeks because he didn't really want to do an amnio, admitted I was right about inducing that early because it was a pretty tight fit for getting him out and had he been any bigger, it would have been a much harder delivery. That made me feel better because I had felt like I was being high maintenance and pushy about inducing early, but hearing that it helped things really made me happy. The delivery was as smooth as can be.

Welp, that's it for the delivery. Here's what we've been up to since...

Poor little guy has jaundice. Most Proffitt (my family) babies have a slight issue with jaundice where we have to go to the hospital several times to get the bilirubin levels tested. I had to with both my girls as well. Some needed lights. But usually the levels go down steadily and after a few days it's a non-issue. Not with poor Everett. His levels have only increased, and they had us get some lights at home to have on him non-stop. The picture above is how we hoped he would sleep last night. That's the bili bed, and he hated it. He only lasted about 45 minutes before we decided to stop torturing him. Good thing they also gave us the contraption below...

It's a little wand thing that fits on his back so he can be mobile, can be held, and can be snuggled. So, that's what he has on him 24/7. We're really hoping that it helps his levels. He gets them checked tomorrow morning, and if it doesn't go down, they might have to admit him to the hospital. We hope and pray that doesn't happen!

We are loving our little Rett. He's a sweety, and a really good baby.

Dinner time

2011-10-09T22:08:00.000-06:00

Anyone else feel like dinner time is a battle? After 2 minutes your kids are done and want to leave the table. So, we try and invent ways to keep them at the table with us. Here was our, well, Brandon's latest ploy.

Aquarium and Penguin

2011-10-09T22:05:00.001-06:00

Lanie loved the penguins

Aquarium

2011-10-09T22:01:00.000-06:00

Love these girls!

The Last Hurrah

2011-10-09T16:44:00.000-06:00

Since I'm hoping to be induced tomorrow (Eek), we tried to make Saturday as fun as possible before we're holed up with a newborn for a while. :)

We had free aquarium tickets, so we started the day with the aquarium in Sandy. The girls had a BLAST. I will post a video later. FYI- the sting rays at that aquarium are incredibly friendly, and the girls got some serious petting action from those sting rays. They would literally swim right up to you and pop their head out of the water for you to pet.

I actually took a camera, and this is what happens when Brandon is posed in a pic with the girls. Exaggeration.

I had to get in a pic too... and Lanie was kinda done with the picture taking thing. She wanted to look at fishies...

Then Lexi took the camera and took a pic of Brandon...

We shared a caramel apple, and then we came home. During naps I went and got my hair done. Yes, I am vain and I wanted my hair all nice and pretty for when the rest of my body will be not-so-pretty. I also got a pedicure on Friday. Ladies, you understand. When your privates are out there for all the world to see, you want at least your toes in the stirrups to be nice.

I got home from my hair appt, and then we got a sitter for the night and went to dinner and the BYU football game. It was so much fun, and it's so nice to have a night to myself with my husband. Man, I love that guy.

Now, I feel completely ready for Monday. And I'm so excited to see my boy!

In other completely random news, I have found my favorite pet and it's our turtle. I totally love our turtle. Weird, I know. I think he likes me too. When the girls are asleep at night he'll wander around until he finds me and then stays close. It's kinda cute. Anyway, this is how the turtle sleeps, and I think it's hilarious. He has one leg straight behind, and one leg out to the side. He's sleeping in this picture, and yes, he just sleeps in the middle of the floor.

The benefits of having a sewing machine

2011-09-28T21:22:00.000-06:00

Gosh, I've had a lot of sewing projects lately. I think most of it stems from the fact that we have to pay $6000 of our baby bills up front before insurance will pay for any of it- yes, our insurance stinks. We thought it would be $3000, but recently got surprised by the double expense of it. So, I've been trying to 'boyify' our baby stuff myself instead of buying things. So, here's what I've been up to...

We needed boy curtains for the baby room that weren't hot pink. So I bought brown ones, and hemmed them because they were too long. Easy peasy, I know, but there's a point to this...

I have these basket things that go under our bassinet that have pink cloth liners. I used the extra material from the curtains I hemmed and made brown cloth liners.

Then the bassinet needed boy ribbon instead of pink, so here's the finished product. I just bought the ribbon, and then the baskets are on the bottom. Total cost: 3.75

I also think the bassinet it a bit uncomfy with just a teeny tiny pad to go inside, so I made an additional pad. It looks like a body pillow a bit, but it fits perfectly in the bassinet under the original vinyl pad. Cost: $6.00 Joanne's was having a sale...

A few months ago I got a new laptop because my cute little netbook broke. My netbook fit in my purse, my laptop does not. So, I needed something to carry my laptop in. It's essentially a purse, but it fits my laptop perfectly. Total cost: $5.00

I'm a big time swaddler mom, and all my babies have been winter babies. With the girls, I got a hand-me-down travel swaddler where there were little feeties in the blanket so you can buckle the baby into the carseat while still being swaddled. I LOVED it with my girls, but it's pink. I searched all over the internet for a boy swaddler, and this was the best I found. But, I didn't like that the bottom went all the way to the baby's waist. Who wants to spend the time shimmying a baby in up to the waist? So I just seam-ripped the sides and made it a flap instead.

Also, I'm a silky mom. My girls love their little comforts, and I wanted a silky for my boy. BUT, I learned with my girls that I want two identical ones, so I can wash one and the baby can still have another, and I didn't want them huge. I didn't want them teeny tiny either, like the little ones they sell at the stores. So, I made them. A) It was cheaper, and B) They are the perfect size. I know they look exactly like something you'd buy at the store (not quite original), but they are custom fit and cheaper. And yes, I put a tag on the bottom right. I couldn't help myself. My girls love the tags on their silkies. I think the total cost on this one, for two blankets, because of the soft baby fabric on top, was $20. Not great, but that darn baby fabric is expensive!

Tomorrow, if I remember, I'll take pics of just a couple of things I did in the girls' room. :)

Preschool and such

2011-09-18T14:13:00.000-06:00

Okay, back into the blogging world. I feel like my life is filled with organizing and re-situating for the new baby. And there's always piles. Everywhere. One of these days I will get everything washed, organized, and put away. I've had some fun sewing projects and whatnot, and eventually I'll take the time to take pics and show them off.

Lexi had her first day of preschool last week. She's been begging me to go back to preschool all summer, so it was fun for her to have it again. I think she's having a blast just like last year. We took a pic of the big day of course, though it felt a little like deja vu.

This is the last skirt I made, and it might be my favorite. Lexi really likes plain old ponytails lately, so at least the headband spices it up a little bit.

This is the uncropped pic, because Lanie is so cute all dressed up in her princess clothes. And she just HAD to be in the picture too.

Nana and Grandpa came into town again, and they took Lexi to get a manicure with her Aunt Lindsay. An actual manicure. Lexi was SO stinking happy, and they were so cute!

She even got little flowers on the thumbs.

I told myself I'd be really good about having picture evidence of this pregnancy, but again I failed miserably. I will be 35 weeks tomorrow, so let's just say I'm 35 weeks here. I know, I look ridiculous. I mean that in the nicest way, don't get me wrong! The big tummy just looks awkward. Last pregnancy one of my sisters said it looks like a massive tumor because the rest of me stays pretty normal, and also last pregnancy my hubbie said it looks like the end of a bullet. I think the bullet is the best description.

I'm starting to get uncomfortable, and for the first time in my life, I am feeling slight heartburn. Never had that with the girls. My tummy feels tight ALL THE TIME. I'm really hoping my doc will induce at 38 weeks. Don't get me wrong- I'm not trying to complain. I have some really easy pregnancies, and I know that. But I'm not used to being restricted in my movement and in my activities. I don't like it. :) If I have to bend over and pick up another toy, so help me... :)

When I get around to it, I will post pics of the girls' new bunk bed, the baby's room, and some little sewing projects I've been doing.

Dumb ticket...

2011-09-14T01:08:00.000-06:00

I got a ticket last Friday. I ran through a stop sign. BUT there were extenuating circumstances!

Here's what I need. I will tell all my readers, all 2 of you, the story, and you need to tell me if I can fight the ticket. Okay, here we go.

I was taking the girls to preschool, and it's a road that has a few stop signs. I religiously stop at these stop signs. Anyway, I had just stopped at a stop sign, and I continued driving, and I see a little boy on the sidewalk that must've fallen off of his bike. The boy was crying, and I looked to see how hurt he might be. I considered stopping and seeing if he's okay, but a van behind me pulled over and helped him, so I continue driving... only to see I'm right at another stop sign.

I have two options- screech to a stop, or glide through. To make it more interesting, let's put a COP at the intersection.

I don't want to screech to a stop because I have kids in the car and I don't want to scare them. It would have been a pretty big screech, and I didn't want them to be scared. So, I looked at the intersection and saw that the SUV at the intersection saw me and that he wasn't moving. I KNEW without a doubt that he wasn't going to move, and that we definitely wouldn't collide, so instead of screeching I glided through the intersection and immediately pulled over, before the cop could get his lights on, because I knew he would pull me over. AND the guy was kind of a jerk.

So, that's the story. I saw a little boy who was injured on the sidewalk, and I forgot about the stop sign. Technically, I did run a stop sign, but I think it's an exception.

What do you think? Should I try and fight it? I risk not being able to go to traffic school. PLEASE help me. I'm so indecisive...

Wedding pics

2011-09-04T14:10:00.000-06:00

One of the benefits of having your mother-in-law taking candids at a family friend's wedding? You get a lot of pictures of your family too. :)

The girls were having lots of fun playing outside the temple.

They danced a lot...

Then they needed Daddy to dance with them too...

Love Tyler's face in this one. So suave... And yes, his wife is that gorgeous in person too...

Waiting for the happy couple to come out...

I don't know how to smile in a picture all by myself. This is usually what happens. And I need to stop slouching...

This was our best attempt at a family photo. Man, I should post all the other pictures. They were kinda hilarious to look at. This was the best one.

So stinkin' cute, I know. Lanie's big into hugs and kisses lately.

Skirts

2011-09-04T13:50:00.000-06:00

Gosh, I got so lazy with skirts this year, I made the easy one at the beginning of the summer, but the rest have just been waiting under my bed to be made.

I thought I could at least make them for Lexi's beginning of her preschool, so I pumped them out this week.

This first should have pockets added on, but I got lazy. Find the tutorial here. I was slightly intimidated, but it was pretty easy.

I made this next one by just tweeking the previous pattern. I just evened out the panels instead of making two little panels and a wide one in the middle.

I have a third skirt I made, but I haven't taken a picture yet. Both girls have one of each, and I also made little headbands to go with them. Those were stinking easy. I'll have to take a picture of them too. The girls actually really like them, and I love how they turned out. And now Lexi has some new preschool clothes for next week. :)

TV's and Turtles

2011-09-04T13:39:00.000-06:00

Our TV has kind of been the Wernli family joke for a while now. It's little and old, and you have to squint to see it from the couch. Our kids would always park their chairs right up to it to watch movies. We inherited it from Brandon's roommate and never found a reason to replace it. :)

Brandon's dad finally had enough and bought a new one for us. Thank you!

The old one. Yes, it has a built-in VCR!! A revolution of its time!

The new one. Lanie keeps saying "Big TV" all the time now. She's pretty amazed... :)

In other news, we got a turtle. Yes, we are the crazy animal people. And that's okay by us. I'm sure we'll add lots more when we have a house with a yard.

A girl in the ward said her co-worker was getting rid of it, and that it's relatively low maintenance, so we said we'd take it. He's really easy, and we let him roam around all the time. He's already 20 years old, and he'll probably live another 80. He'll probably go to Lexi after we die. :) The girls love him!

Pool Time and Weddings

2011-09-04T13:33:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been... an eternity since I've posted. Sorry about that. My summer has been so relaxing and fun, that I haven't really wanted to post anything.

Anywho, we were lucky enough to be visited by Brandon's parents and little sister a couple weeks ago. And I didn't take any pictures. Yikes. Fortunately, other people did. We went to a pre-wedding pool party, and Lexi and Lanie loved the diving board. They jumped off, with tubes, without tubes, etc. Lanie is officially a swimmer. She now knows how to breathe and swim from side to side. I don't trust her at all, so I'm always close by, but she does really well.

A long-time friend of Brandon's family got married, so we had fun after the temple ceremony and at the luncheon. I have a lot more pics to post, but I need to upload them. I will try to do that today. :) I recycled the girls' dresses from Uncle Jason's wedding earlier in the year...

It was such a fun week. Up next, Our new TV...

Cali, the finale

2011-08-14T21:00:00.000-06:00

It was bound to happen. In all the time we've been married; heck, even before that with all my road trips to AZ from college, I never had any problems with the car. Ever. Always smooth sailing. So, it had to happen eventually.
We got a flat tire. On our way back, in Cedar City. Frankly, it was the luckiest situation we could have hoped for. If you've ever taken the drive from St. George to Pleasant Grove, you will know that after Cedar City is a whole lot of nothing. If the tire would've blown 60 miles after Cedar, we wouldn't have had cell reception, etc., and it would've been a nightmare. We were right smack dab in the middle of a city. We got so lucky.

As it was, we called our insurance roadside assistance, thank you all-state, and thank you Cassie for getting the 'gold' protection plan, they said they'd be 1/2 hour, and we started at getting the spare tire on. A) I didn't even know we had a spare tire. I just assumed we did, and I had Brandon look it up in the manual. We did, and we had a jack. B) Brandon is not a handyman. We would have figured it out eventually, but it would have taken a while. It took about 20 minutes, we were getting there, but luckily "Dave" showed up and helped us with our spare.

Nice guy. Seriously. He helped us get it on, then told us that right off the exit we were at was a station that might be able to help us with our tire. It was 6:20pm. Everyone closes at 6pm. BUT, this one guy right off this exit usually stays until 7 just in case. SO LUCKY. We followed him there on the spare, probably less than a mile, he talked to the guy, (they must be friends or something), and he left. Dave, you're the best.

The guy at the tire place said our tire was beyond repair, but that he probably had a used one we could have. He found one, put it on, charged us $39 for the tire, and we were on our way again. The whole ordeal took about an hour.

I was counting our lucky stars the whole time. It could've been so much worse. The girls were good, it wasn't hot, it had just stopped raining, etc. So lucky.

The girls stayed occupied with a really nice stray cat at the tire place. They were loving it.

Good thing we started out so early on the way back. The tire was just worn. That's why it blew. I take such stinking good care of our cars. A few months ago when I got the snow tires off and the regular tires on, the guy said we would need to get new ones, but that they would probably last til November when our registration is up. So, I wasn't even paying attention to our tires and just knew we'd get new ones in November.

My bad. Now I'm going in to get them all checked and switched out if needed. Anyway, long story short, we got a WHOLE lot of help on this one. The church is true, people. :)

Cali part 14

2011-08-13T21:00:00.000-06:00

Lex and Lane play all day together when we're at home. But at the beach, Lex would go off with her cousins, and Lane would usually stick to Brandon and I. This was one of the few times that they played together.

My kids don't sleep in the car. Little stinkers. They are GREAT sleepers at home, in their own beds, but they don't sleep in the car. Especially Lanie. Again, this is my 3-hour-nap girl. We left at 4am Monday to get to California and still have time to play a little at the beach. Do you think Lanie slept? Nope. She would take about a 20-30 minute nap sometime in the 11 hours. But that's it. She had to be pretty wasted to finally crash. Lexi wanted me to document her sleeping once.

My sweet little girl. Lexi is getting to be such a good trooper in the car.

Cali part 13

2011-08-12T21:00:00.000-06:00

Another hole. This one was pretty awesome. In the end it was like a jacuzzi and the water would come in a fill it for all the kiddos. Granted, it was a freezing jacuzzi, but the kids loved it.
In this hole he got some help from a couple of my nieces that he calls his girlfriends.

On another note, I said earlier that Lanie was a stinker when it came to letting other people in my family hold/talk to her. My bro-in-law Dave, who I think is a sucker for little girls, eventually bribed, I mean, convinced her to cuddle with him. They were pretty good buddies toward the end of the week. :)

Cali part 12

2011-08-11T21:22:00.000-06:00

Another great part about Cali- Cousins burying you in the sand.

Was it Kindyl that did all these mermaids? I can't remember. But these girls loved being little mermaids.

Cali part 11

2011-08-10T21:19:00.000-06:00

The only pics of me. Yes, I was there. I'm usually behind the camera, because we all know that if it were up to our husbands, NO pictures would be taken.

Doing what I do best- reading on the beach. The best activity in all the world. This is what my heaven looks like.

Book 1 was Enna Burning. I can't help it. I love those Shannon Hale books, and particularly that series.
Book 2 is pictured here- The Wednesday Wars. LOVED it. Newbery award winner. I may or may not have cried in a few parts.
Book 3 is a sequel called Belong to Me, and I'm about 20 pages from finishing it. The first book is called Love Walked In, and I loved it too.

Do you know the BEST part about being at the beach while pregnant? You can lay on your stomach! Just hollow out a place in the sand for your tummy, and you're set. It was SO nice. AND, that hole works nicely for your big butt while laying on your back. I don't know about you, but my booty gets pretty large while prego. :)

Cali part 10

2011-08-09T22:13:00.000-06:00

Like I said before, Brandon dug a lot of holes in Cali. But whenever there was some sport going on, he'd join in. He loves sports. LOVES. Problem is, my family is lazy on the beach. We read. A lot. Most of us. And we go in the water. But only occasionally, since it's freezing. I tried to get an action shot of him getting in on some frizbee, but this is all I got.

He was playing with my nephew Chandler and his dad. Chandler is the oldest of my nephews/nieces. He's 19 and turns his mission papers in next month. I am SO curious/excited to see where he ends up going.

Cali part 9

2011-08-08T22:06:00.000-06:00

We've been working with Lanie on her paci. I'm not one of those moms that takes away the paci at the age of 2. I feel like it's not harming them too much to have a paci. So, both with Lexi and now with Lane, I restrict it to just bedtime and the car around 2 and a few months and then officially take it away when they're close to 3. Then the 'paci fairy' comes and gives them a toy for their old pacis. It's perfect.

At the beach, all that goes out the window. :) When she wanted to chill out for a while, she'd go and get her paci and silky and just walk around and observe. Or sit and cuddle with me. But because she was getting way less sleep than usual, I would relent and let her have her comforts. It was pretty cute, too.

Cali part 8

2011-08-07T21:58:00.000-06:00

Another tradition-

Every year we have one night where all the adults go out to dinner. We actually put on make up, do hair, dress up at least a little, and go out to eat.

I remember being 12,13,14,15 etc. years old and stuck watching all the kids so the adults could go out to Claimjumper. I also remember being 18 and relishing in the fact that I could finally go to the 'adult' dinner. Now, those kids that I was stuck watching, watch MY kids so we can go to dinner. Now we do Outback instead of Claimjumper because it's close to the campsite, but it's still tons of fun to get out and eat together.

I don't think we ever take a group picture when we go out. This year I forced us to. We are missing 4 siblings still, but there were 7 of us with my mom and her new hubbie. See if you can pick out which are my actual Proffitt siblings and which are the spouses. :)

I'll give you a hint- my twin sister is one of the dark-haired girls. :) The other is an in-law. One of the best in-laws ever, but an in-law nonetheless. :)

beach video

2011-08-07T20:20:00.000-06:00

A little background-

One of Brandon's coworkers gave him a gift as kind of a 'thank you' for all his work this past conference. The gift was a flip camera. Which I quickly confiscated and started taking tons of videos. This thing is awesome because it's so... clear. And the colors are so bright. Needless to say, I took lots of videos at the beach. I thought I'd pick one that I thought was cutest. Here is Lanie playing frisbee with her dad...

Cali part 7

2011-08-06T21:46:00.000-06:00

Brandon has a thing for digging holes. I asked him why on earth he likes digging big holes at the beach, and he just said, "It's what I do, babe. You like to read, and I like digging holes."

Okay then. So anyway, The first day, he dug this super deep hole, and a tunnel connecting it to another hole. The kids had a blast playing in that thing. Unfortunately, the lifeguards came right as we were leaving and told us that it was too unsafe, and we had to tear it down. They said some kid died when a tunnel collapsed, and they don't let people do it anymore.

Then most of the other days he would build a sort of pool near the water that all the little kids could play in. The kids loved it.

We forgot our football, and I think he would've enjoyed that more than digging holes. Oh well. Maybe next year... :)

Cali part 6

2011-08-05T21:32:00.000-06:00

Lexi's cousin Maranda was always really good about playing with with Lex and Lane.

This is always a fun trick that little kids like to play- put the boogie board in a little bit of water, stand on it, and see if the next wave will unstick it from the sand and glide a little bit. It's like surfing for toddlers.

I know- you're wondering about the goggles, right? At home in the pool, Lanie wears her goggles whenever she's in the pool. so, in her 2-year-old logic, she also needed her goggles when she went down to the water at the beach. It was pretty funny to see her playing in 2 or 3 inches of water wearing goggles. So cute.

Cali part 5

2011-08-04T21:21:00.000-06:00

I thought these pictures were so cute. These are the 4 girls that were born the same year. Lexi would usually alternate between playing with one of them or with her older cousins. But this day, all 4 played together in the water and sand.

I didn't get a picture of her boy cousins her age also including her. They would come and ask her if she wanted to look at sand crabs. And although I have a sneaky suspicion that she couldn't care less about the sand crabs, she would go every time and look because I think she thought it was cool to be included.

Cali part 4

2011-08-03T21:13:00.000-06:00

Lexi

Lexi had a total blast with all her cousins. I wouldn't see her all day. She'd come back when she was hungry, and then she would go back and play with her cousins.

She also loved to go on walks to the pier. If anyone was going to walk to the pier, she would ask me if she could go with them. Don't get me wrong- she played in the sand and water all day too, but she also loved the walks.

One of the great things about the walks to the pier is that there was an ice cream shop that she would get little treats at.

But funny enough, she was just as happy going and NOT getting a treat. She just loved acting like a big kid and going with her older cousins. She is getting to be such a big girl. I love her to death.

Cali part 3

2011-08-02T21:00:00.000-06:00

I am a spoiled, spoiled mommy. Every day at home, Lanie takes a 3 hour nap. Every day. She's happy about it, too. She loves her nap. It's like her safe haven. She gladly goes to bed every day.

At the beach, it's extremely difficult to get her to nap. She's used to a crib. Not a sandy soft pad. The first day, I tried walking with her, laying down with her... nothing. But, as soon as she sat down with Daddy, she fell right to sleep.

It became a daily routine. After that first day, she would find me to get her clean and in clothes, and then she'd walk up to daddy with her paci/silky, say, "Cuddle Daddy," and fall right to sleep.

So cute. Not so fun for Brandon, I'm sure, but it was nice to have her sleep.

Cali part 2

2011-08-01T20:46:00.000-06:00

Lanie.

Lanie had so much fun this year. She was a little punk and wouldn't let most of her cousins play with her, but she still had a blast. She had a little routine- We'd get to the beach around 10, she'd play and have a ball in the sand/water til around 12:30, then she'd want to get in her real clothes and a real diaper. She'd walk up to her dad all clean, take a nap for about an hour, then wake up and want to play some more. She'd play for an hour til about 2 or 3, want to get back in her swimsuit so she could play in the water, and she'd play and play til we left around 4:30. And she ate a lot of snacks along the way.

She's making a goofy face here, but still so cute. Behind her is my beautiful niece Dani.

California '11 part 1

2011-07-31T20:35:00.000-06:00

I've decided that instead of doing one long, huge, detailed description of my California trip, I will break it into parts. One a day, hopefully. That way no one will get bored reading it, and it will provide lots of posts. :)

Quick background: Every year, for probably the last 35 years, long before I was born, my parents have taken my family to the beach. Sometimes for 1 week, sometimes for 2 weeks, sometimes for 3. My parents grew up in Escondido, so they grew up on the beach, and they instilled that into their kids. Now, once a year we go to San Diego to hang out at the beach for a week.

Really. Just the beach. ALL day. Every day. And we love it. All of us. Spouses have to get used to it. But they all do, and now, with all of us kids grown up, with kids of our own, it's even more fun.

Is there anything cuter than a dad with his kid walking to the water? Lanie loved the water. LOVED it.

See Lanie with her goggles? I'll tell more about that later.

Can you just smell the organization??

2011-07-20T20:50:00.000-06:00

It's funny, Brandon and I are always talking about the fact that I lOVE organizing, but I'm not a great cleaner. He thinks it's weird because they should be one in the same. But for some reason it's not that way with me. Oh well. I'm working on my cleaning habits, one by one, and I promise I'm getting better. :)

Anywho, welcome to my recent project. I have 12 boxes of girls' clothes. Yup, 12. They are pictured below. I've been running out of space and boxes for quite some time now, AND the boxes aren't sturdy enough, AND I feel like they were too small, therefore requiring more boxes and more space, AND I'm not having a girl next so they will be in storage for a while until one of the 'Proffitts' have a girl (hint hint Margs, haha), etc. So... I decided to fix things.

Walmart is having a sale on their storage totes ($4.88 for the 18-gal beauties you will see below. GO GET SOME), so I picked up 14. Some for my girl clothes, some for Christmas decorations, etc. I WILL find a purpose for all of them, believe me.

Okay, so here's the before... You will see some are beat up from being in storage and they didn't hold up well.

After. Yes, I have an entire storage bin for little girl shoes. Funny though, I don't have any socks. They don't store well. One always gets lost...

Aren't they beautiful? These are perfectly sturdy and weather proof, and they work so much better. One bin for each age group, and I have room for everything now.

AND, I'm recycling the 2 sturdier boxes for Boy clothes. I already have a box for 0-3 month boy clothes, thanks to Michelle W. for giving me clothes. I also took out the plain white onesies for 0-3 and 3-6 months I had for girls. I'm a onesie kinda mom, so I know I'll be using those.

I feel like I'm ready for a boy now. I love organizing!

Vegas, Baby!

2011-07-17T19:49:00.000-06:00

In case you didn't know, Brandon works for Cisco. His whole job revolves around registration for one conference, every summer. That means two things- he gets SUPER busy around May/June, and he goes to the conference for that week. This year it was in Vegas. Next year it's in San Diego. Woo Hoo! You better believe I'm going to that next year.

Anyway, depending on how old my kids are and how easy I think it will be, I will take the kids along and hang out in Vegas in his usually awesome hotel room for the week. You have to keep one thing in mind- Brandon works 16-18 hour days while he's on location, so he's basically useless as far as helping me with the kids. So, it's like vacationing by myself with the kids. I get to see him at night, but the girls barely even know he's there. They're asleep when he leaves, and they're asleep when he gets back.

Back to the good stuff. So, Brandon left Thursday for Vegas, we left Friday afternoon. We drove the 5 1/2 hours or so and ended up at THEHotel at Mandalay Bay. The room was amazing, as usual. It was about 750 square feet, with huge bathroom (that's where Lanie slept, in the packnplay), and a separate living room (that's where Lexi slept).

Here's what we did, in a nutshell, with just a few pics. I forgot my camera most of the time, AGAIN. My schedule consists of two time-tables. Before naps and after naps. You better believe we went back to the hotel room for naps every day. Let me preface this by saying... I don't like Vegas. At least the strip, anyway. It's icky. And hot. And terrible for kids. The end.

Saturday-
Morning- Grocery shopping. I brought a cooler for food, so I didn't have the kids eat out for every meal. And there are no microwaves, so I had to be... creative. It worked out alright. I ended up buying canned dinners, etc. because those could be heated up in hot water in the sink.

Pool- Now here's my beef with the pool. Mandalay Bay has this awesome wave pool/beach area that I was telling Lexi about an entire week before we got there. WHEN we got there, they had a rule that no one below 48" was allowed in that pool. Seriously? They said it was a safety hazard.

Dear Mandalay Bay,
That rule is absolutely ridiculous. If you have ever had kids, you will realize that this is the safest pool for them. Descending water, descending depth.
Whatever.
-Cassie

So, we went into the regular pools. Fun, but a little Dumb.

Afternoon- The 'castle,' as the girls so affectionately call it. Excalibur. They had an arcade in the basement that they had fun in.Sunday-
Morning- Church. Always fun to go to a different ward.
Afternoon- Temple. It's about a 35 minute drive, and the girls had a lot of fun. They were in a particularly 'posy' mood, so here are a few pictures.

This one cracks me up, because they were all smily, and then right before I took the shot, Lanie saw an airplane. She got a bit distracted... P.S. Can you see me in the reflection? :)

Monday-
Morning- Pool. That was an almost daily occurance.
Afternoon- The M&M store. That was pretty close to our hotel, and the girls had a blast. The store shows a free 10 minute 3D movie every 30 minutes or so, and the girls LOVED that.

Tuesday-
Morning- Gym. There's a Gold's Gym about 20 minutes outside of the strip, and it was air-conditioned and free. So we went there a couple times. The girls liked it because the Daycare only had 4 kids, and they're used to 50 at the one in Utah.
Afternoon- The free lion show at the MGM Grand. They loved this one too. The rest of these pics are taken with my Blackberry, so they're not great...

Wednesday-
Morning- Pool
Afternoon- Shark aquarium at Mandalay Bay. This is the only event I paid for that whole week, and only because the girls were free. :)Here's a pic in front of the crocodile...

Thursday-
Morning- Gym
Afternoon- Pool. Brandon's conference was done that afternoon, so he came out to the pool too. The girls had a blast with Daddy. This was the only time the whole week that Brandon left the inside of the hotel. Sad, huh? :(

THE BEST PART OF THE WEEK- Brandon got done every night around 8 or 8:30, so each night we would go out to dinner together. The girls went down around 7, and they were sound asleep by then, so we would call one cell phone, keep it in the room, and take the other cell with us. It's our 'cell monitor' system. We kept to the restaurants in our hotel, so we were close by. Call us bad parents, but it gave us the opportunity to be together, and it gave the kids an opportunity to sleep.

Anyway, it was like having a date with my hubbie EVERY NIGHT! Do you know how often he has church business in the evenings when we're at home? We had 7 nights, uninterrupted conversation during dinner! It was fabulous. It helped me remember how much I love my husband. Gosh, we were cracking up laughing half the time. We had so much fun, and ate some awesome food. If you are ever in Vegas, you HAVE to try Border Grill at Mandalay Bay. SO GOOD. Honestly. It was my favorite part by far.

Anyway, that was our week. Fun, but I'm always tired when we get back.

4th of July

2011-07-06T23:57:00.000-06:00

We had a blast on Monday. We started off with a morning at the pool, though it was overcast. The girls loved the pool as usual, but I didn't bring the camera. Just picture the videos I've already posted...

Anyway, after naps, we did some nail painting with the girls...
And could you get any cuter? Lanie was being a stinker about getting her to smile for the camera, so Brandon was making her laugh, and then I called her name. This picture was then born. I just might have to frame it. She's just about the cutest 2 year old ever!
Then Lane FINALLY started smiling on her own...
My two cuties!
Lexi was so excited to see the fireworks that night. We had so much fun with real and kind-of family at the fireworks. Of course it started raining, but we had our huge beach umbrella in the car, so we put it to good use. :) This pic cracks me up... all the faces are hilarious. Namely Brandon's...

They love Uncle Tyler!

My sweetie. Lexi was being such a good girl, and I am so enjoying her personality and age.

Of course there's a funny face picture. Gotta put that in there. :)

The girls didn't love the noise, but loved the fireworks. It was a late night, but a good night. Thank you, everyone, for hanging out with us!

One word- fearless.

2011-07-04T16:15:00.000-06:00

One day at the pool, Lanie was doing so well kicking and getting around with her floaties on that I decided to see how she would do without the floaties. Bad idea. She's a monster now. She LOVES swimming! As soon as either Brandon or I am in the pool, she wants those floaties off and she wants to SWIM!

These videos were taken a few days ago, and even in those few days she has gotten much better at the whole swimming thing.

There are 2 videos, only about 30 seconds long, but I couldn't decide between the two because they are so cute. You will see how excited and happy she is to be swimming like a big girl.

Lexi's 'incident'

2011-07-04T16:06:00.000-06:00

Last week we had a BBQ at our complex. All was well until Lexi skinned her knee. It didn't even bleed.

Oh my goodness, you would think the world had ended based off of her reaction. She started freaking out, so I took her and Lanie home to get her cleaned off.

That made her even more upset. I wanted to put a band-aid on it because, seriously, she was limping around like she had a broken leg. I figured the band-aid would protect it and she wouldn't be so traumatized. Here's the video I took after I put the band-aid on. I really hope she never gets seriously injured...

It's about a minute and a half long.

Dad's Day

2011-06-20T21:52:00.000-06:00

Father's Day isn't exactly the best day of relaxation for Brandon. He still has the same amount of meetings as usual. I tried my best to make it a good day for him.

These pics were taken after the girls sang him, "I'm so Glad When Daddy Comes Home." They kind of attack him at the end of the song when it says, "A great big kiss."

Then they just get curious...

Strawberry Days

2011-06-20T21:26:00.000-06:00

We love Strawberry Days around here. We don't do the rodeo. It starts way too late for the girls. But we love going to the carnival! Oh my goodness, the girls had a blast. Here are some pictures.

Waiting for the merry go round...

Also waiting... Isn't she just the cutest 2 year old ever?!

I couldn't get a picture with all three of them looking at the camera. Believe me. I tried. Needless to say, they were loving it!

Ferris Wheel. Also a favorite... Lanie's in there too. Try and find her foot...

Another ride. Funniest thing- the two girls in the front? They are the daughters of a guy who grew up with Brandon. Small world, huh? This guy walked up to us and said to Brandon, "You're from New York, right?" And he and Brandon were in the same stake growing up. He now lives in Orem with his wife and 3 girls.

The train ride. By this time, Lanie had kind of called it quits. We left soon after.

The best part of Strawberry Days? Strawberries and cream. So good!

It was a really fun night! Funny thing was, the girls didn't like the carnival food, which is just weird to me. They did however like cotton candy. Lanie was skeptical at first, it does look funny, but once she saw that Lexi was eating it, she tried it and loved it.

Snake!

2011-06-11T22:12:00.001-06:00

Sorry, these few posts are videos. But none of them are long! And they're pretty fun.

Anywho, Brandon found a snake at the garden with Lexi, and they brought it home for the day. How did I feel about this? I LOVED IT! I kind of love snakes. Brandon and I both know that as soon as we have a house, we will have a pet snake. Yes, we are THAT kind of people. :)

I think if Lexi didn't have the parents she has, she'd probably be terrified. But because we both love them, she's not afraid. And Lanie, well, Lanie is Lanie. Not scared of anything. She kept saying, "Snake! SSSSSSS!"

I promise that all extremities were washed after handling the snake. He was kind of stinky, and germy.

THE POOL!!!

2011-06-11T22:08:00.000-06:00

My kids LOVE the pool. We go at least 4 times a week. And they are both doing great with the swimming! I promise these videos are really short.

This 1st vid is of Lexi swimming. She treads water more than anything else, but she's doing great at swimming without me even in the pool with her.

Here's Lanie. She's still fearless as usual, but she's figured out how to kick her feet and actually GO somewhere.

Tball '11

2011-06-11T22:05:00.000-06:00

If you are ever bored on a Tuesday or Thursday night, come with us to Tball. It is so stinking entertaining! 4 years old are so funny. Lexi is doing great. Here she is hitting the ball during her first game. Sorry the angle isn't great!

Brandon's wedding dance

2011-06-05T19:49:00.001-06:00

The groomsmen did this dance with the bridesmaids, and Brandon is included. Please watch it. It's pretty awesome. Brandon is the second one to dance in. He does a wicked robot. :)

I also have to add that he had about 30 minutes to learn it since he wasn't there the night before. I think he did great! It was really fun to watch.

Tyler's wedding

2011-06-05T19:28:00.000-06:00

So, two weeks ago was Brandon's brother Jason's wedding in Seattle. This weekend was Tyler's wedding in Florida.

We looked up plane tickets and they were just ridiculously priced.

Dear airlines,
Lower your stinking prices.
Love, Me

Since we didn't want to play close to $2000 to fly the whole family out, we left our kids with our fabulous friends the Jensens. P.S. The Jensens are looking to adopt, so if you know anyone wanting to place with the perfect couple, go here. They were so nice to watch our kids from Friday night to Sunday afternoon so we could make the quick trip to see Tyler get married.

We took a red-eye Friday night, not fun, to get into Orlando by Saturday morning. We went to the condos, which were perfect, to shower and get ready for the temple. Brandon and his dad gave Tyler a blessing, excellent idea I thought, and they went to the temple. We waited for a few other people and left soon afterward.

The Orlando temple is absolutely gorgeous. It was such a spiritual experience. And it's always fun to witness a sealing when you've been sealed yourself. It helps you to remember that special day of your own.

After, we took some pictures at the temple. I actually remembered my camera, so I took a few myself...

Tyler and Valentina. I know, I know. The most gorgeous couple ever. My brothers-in-law have the most beautiful wives on the planet. It's EXTREMELY intimidating. I thought it would be bad enough with just Kim, but now there's also Caitlin and Valentina to make me look homely in all the pictures. :)

Brandon giving a classic goofy face.

The wedding party. I thought it was cute that all four brothers had each other as best man at all the weddings.

Blurry, but I still thought it was cute. This was their couple dance at the reception. They were SO cute to watch throughout the day. So in love, and you could just see it in their eyes.

We got a rental car for the weekend, because we knew we had semi-inconvenient flight times, and we didn't want people to worry about getting us to the airport. We got a super good deal (LOVE priceline). When we went to pick it up, they were out of 'economy' cars, so we got to ride around in this beauty. Brand spanking new. It was pretty fun, I have to say. Though I didn't feel attractive enough to be in it. :) I was willing to rub my pregnant belly all over the interior to make it a little less cool, but decided against it. :)

This was taken the morning we headed back for Utah, and we were both pretty exhausted. He looks a little tired.

It was such a fun, quick weekend! We had fun with Brandon's family, and we laughed our heads off as usual. Lindsay, please wait a while til you get married. We need a break. :)

Again, thank you so much for watching our kids, Ryan and Kristen. We owe you BIG TIME.

Up next, Brandon had to do a group dance at the wedding, and I took a video. You're welcome, America.

Boy oh Boy

2011-06-02T20:19:00.000-06:00

We had the ultrasound on Tuesday, and we're seeing blue! Yup, we're finally getting a boy. I'm so excited, but a little freaked out at the same time. And do you know how much pink stuff we have? Carseat, crib bedding, blankets, clothes of course, shoes, socks... we're all pink around here! Brandon and I were talking, and he was all, "Do we really need to replace all the girl stuff?" And I said, "Do you really want your son to sleep in a pink crib with pink birds and lavender grass?" And he said, "Good point." The good news is that I love sales! I can search for all the deals I want.

With the first two babies I wanted boys. I cried when I found out they were girls. And that sounds so odd to me because I love my girls. But I am SOOOO excited to have a boy. Brandon is so excited to have a boy. Lexi, on the other hand, won't talk about it. She was pretty upset. She really wanted a baby sister. When she found out at the ultrasound, she just sat there quietly and refused to talk to us about it. It was pretty funny.

Anywho, here comes the obligatory pictures...

This was when I was pregnant with Lanie, 3ish years ago. I was 20 weeks. Yikes about the pic. Should've had Brandon do more than one...

This is present day. I am 19 1/2 weeks prego here. I think I look bigger, but I feel bigger so it's not terribly shocking. The nurse was all mean about me measuring a week later than I should. I told her it was the same with my first baby and second baby too. She didn't believe me that I have big babies. Stupid nurses...

Guess I HAVE to smile every once in a while...

This proves my belly button is already sticking out. Problem is that the pic isn't that great. But I promise my belly button is poking out. And I'm only 19 1/2 weeks. Oh well.

And.... I got my hair cut! Lots. I totally love it. It feels so much lighter and healthier, and perfect for summer. It's been a while since it's been this short. Not that it's even short. Short for me though.

Huh. My arm looks fat in this last one. Oh well. And the Christus looks pretty shiny in the background.

Happy Thursday!

A couple graduation songs

2011-05-30T14:56:00.001-06:00

I think the class did 12 or 13 songs total, but these two were my favorite:

Lexi's graduation!

2011-05-30T14:55:00.000-06:00

Lexi graduated from preschoo. Boy was it cute. There are 16 kids in her class, and it was so fun to see her singing and performing with all of them. She had another year of preschool with Miss Melva, because her bday is in October, so she'll have more fun next year too.

Here's Miss Melva. I love her preschool! And Lexi loves it too.

This is Lexi, Mason, and Emily. We all live in the same condo complex, so they are good friends. Who's that hottie in the background?? :)

Next come a couple videos...

Jason's wedding

2011-05-30T14:48:00.000-06:00

Wow, I've got some catching up to do. We went to Seattle for Jason's wedding, then had Lexi's graduation, then we're going to Florida for Tyler's wedding. So, let's get this going.

Last week, we drove up to Seattle for Jason's wedding. It was a long drive, but the girls were so awesome, so it wasn't too hard. 13 hours later, we arrived in Issaquah, WA at Brandon's Grandma's house. We hung out that night, and the rest of the family arrived at 1am or so.

On friday, we went to Pike Street market. It was fun, as always. Here are some pics from the ride, market, etc. Did I mention I forgot my camera for this entire Seattle trip? Yeah. I'm awesome. So, these are all my sis-in-law Lindsay's pictures.

Cute Lanie in the car.

Lexi Lou in the car too...

Linds and Lex in the car on the way to the market.

Us waiting somewhere at the market... there were lots of us going, and we all arrived at different times, so we all needed to meet up with each other. For some reason, I don't know if it was the walking and standing a lot, but I got really dizzy at one point and had to sit and eat for a while. It was incredibly annoying. Brandon saved the day and bought me a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich. Dude, that was a goooood sandwich. That whole dizzy fainting thing tends to happen at random times during my pregnancies. But it was still tons of fun.
Lanie loved this little water fall- problem was, she wanted to swim in it. Little crazy girl...

Lexi. She was such a GOOD GIRL on this whole trip! So well behaved, and listened great. Brandon and I took Lanie home for a nap plus he had a conference call with his boss, so we left early, about 12:15. AND I wasn't feeling too well with the whole dizziness thing. Lexi stayed with Nana and hung out with the rest of the 'big kids.' She had a blast.
Lexi snuggling with Jason, the groom-to-be. Again, I think she felt so grown-up staying with all the adults.
Waiting to eat fish and chips. Good thing Lexi inherited her love of seafood from her dad...

Yikes. We look tired. But it's the only photo with just the two of us. So here it is. We also look WHITE. Warm weather needs to come to
Utah NOW.

Cute little Lanie at the rehearsal dinner Friday night. I brought coloring books and the iPad. Saved my life. Lanie just colored and watched movies the whole time. It went until way past the girls' bedtimes, so they just sat and watched movies. It was awesome.

The big day! It was seriously the busiest day ever, and I'm not even the bride! I'm sure Jason and Caitlin were exhausted. It was pretty packed with activities and pictures, and the girls were pretty tuckered out by the end.

The bride and groom, Jason and Caitlin, walking out of the temple...

Loved this picture. Lanie was so cranky at this point (it was her naptime), and the only way to keep her happy was for her to be on Daddy's shoulders.

The Wernli brothers and sister, carrying the bride. It's tradition...

Siblings and spouses...

The whole Wernli fam. Poor Lane. She gave us a run for our money.

I had the most embarrassing moment that day, at least I thought so. Good thing I hid it pretty well. So, after the sealing ceremony, I had to go to the bathroom, and in the temple bathroom, I pulled down my skirt and since it was so flowy, it got in the toilet! So gross! I hurried and went potty, and when I got out of the bathroom, I told Brandon what happened, and that he HAD to walk in front of me because my skirt was all wet! The huge good news is that I had packed an extra skirt in the car just in case my flowy one didn't quite match the colors. So I hurried to the car and got my other skirt on. Oh gosh, I was so embarrassed. But so lucky I had the other skirt.

Anyway, The girls had a blast at the reception that night. Scratch that- they didn't have fun until the dancing began. Oh boy, they were hilarious! I hope the adults didn't mind the two toddlers taking up the dance floor! Lexi was spinning like a ballerina, and Lanie was doing break dance moves! I wish I had pictures. It was awesome. We stayed until about 11pm, and finally headed back. The girls were exhausted the next day.

All in all, such a fun trip! Sunday was such a blast just hanging out with Brandon's family. I am so lucky to have such great in-laws!

Lexi's ballet recital

2011-05-13T22:45:00.000-06:00

This video is only about a minute and 20 seconds. You might need to blow it up full screen to really see Lex. She's the second from the right in the beginning.

Her group was called the 'emerald fairies.' She was so cute!

P.S. Sorry the video is so bad. My good video recorder wasn't working. AND we were sitting behind the TALLEST grandparents in the WORLD.

Lazy days and ballet recitals

2011-05-13T22:17:00.000-06:00

On Thursdays, I tend to skip the gym and stay home with the girls. There's usually only one reason- singing time. My girls love singing time, and it's a little too hard for me to go to the gym and get back in time to shower and get ready before it starts at 11. So, I usually use it as an excuse to stay home and have a lazy morning.

The girls are so funny when we don't have anywhere to go first thing in the morning. Lanie keeps bringing me her shoes saying 'go, go,' and this particular morning Lexi wanted to play Fashion Solitaire next to Daddy who was studying scriptures. (Yes, Brandon studies scriptures on his computer. It helps him to write while he studies. And the resourses online are AWESOME.)

I thought it was cute. :)

This week was kind of crazy. Lexi had her first ballet recital. But this isn't just any ballet recital. This is the ballet recital on drugs. The studio does an end-of-year recital that includes all levels and classes. Lexi had a whole week of rehearsals, and they gave me a whole list of things Lexi needed to have done for dress reahearsals and performances.

First, the bun. Lexi's hair is pretty short, and she needed it in a bun on the top of her head. Let's just says I used a LOT of MEGA hold gel. And mini bobby pins.

Then, there's the make up. On a four year old. She needed base, powder, brown and white eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, blush, and lipstick. The whole shebang. She was SOOO patient and was so excited to wear makeup. I have to say, she has really long eyelashes that look pretty awesome with mascara on. You can't really see in the pictures, but oh well.

The recital/concert started at 7:30. That's already 1/2 hour past Lexi's bedtime. I prepped her and told her she might feel really tired, but to try and do her best. She did great! I will post a video after this post. Here's our photo after her concert. Of course we had to give her a rose... And she only wears her costume on stage. They take it off right after.

It was already 9pm, but she was so happy about her rose and recital that we took her to ice cream. Boy, was she excited. Her dream come true. She chose some ice cream and we talked and ate.
Mid-bite...

It was so cute. Though I still think it was a bit ridiculous to have all these guidelines and makeup rules for a 4 year old, it was really fun to see her first little dance recital.

Her bun did pretty well, if I do say so myself. Here's how it looked at the end of the night... They also made her wear a hair net.

Overall, it was a really fun night. Tyler, Brandon's brother was so nice to come over and watch Lanie so we didn't have to worry about her during the concert.

All this being said, I think I'm going to take her out of ballet next year. Next year's focus I think will be music. I'm gonna teach her piano. I figure I take each year and give her another option, and by the time she's 8 maybe she'll know what she wants to do. :) This summer she's also doing T-ball. And dance is EXPENSIVE. And ballet dancers are WAY too skinny. There was this one girl that performed, and I whispered to Brandon, "That is EXACTLY what I DON'T want Lexi to look like. Or to feel pressured to look like." The end. I'm off my soapbox. :)

Of course, I won't stop her if dance is REALLY what she wants to do when she's 8. I just won't LOVE her choice. Apparently I use CAPS a lot...

SORRY IF YOU THINK I'M YELLING. :)

Burned peanuts smell like cigarettes

2011-05-09T14:34:00.000-06:00

I'm recording this story for posterity's sake, and because it's kind of hilarious. You can skip it and scroll down if you want a good pregnancy tip...

Brandon bought some raw peanuts for us to boil on Mother's Day because he knows I love them, and it would be a good mother's day snack for the both of us.

The plan was to start the water boiling before church, come back and check on them, and then they'd be ready to eat after church. Peanuts take 3-4 hours to boil, in case you didn't know. So, by the end of church, Brandon realized he completely forgot about the peanuts and didn't get home to check on them and add more water.

I get home to fire alarms going off, and the house FILLED with smoke. Thank heavens there was no fire at least. I forced the girls to stay on the porch while I covered my face and tried to get in the house and open windows. Holy moley. There was a LOT of smoke. I opened all the windows, turned on all the fans, turned OFF the stove, with the charred peanuts, and waited for the smoke to at least thin so that our house was liveable.

Those poor peanuts. All the water had evaporated and the peanuts just got killed in the heat. And almost killed our house with it.

Well, the rest of the day was spent trying to get the smell out of our house. Fans, febreze, candles, spray, etc. You name it, we did it. The smoke had permeated every inch of our house, including our closet with all our clothes. We discovered something else- once the smell died down to at least not choking us, it smelled like cigarettes. Great.

I went to stake choir practice, where I apologized to everyone that I smelled like cigarettes, and that all the music folders smelled too. I tried changing my clothes, but since our closet smelled just as bad as the rest of the house, all my clothes smelled terrible too.

Do you know how embarrassing it is to be a pregnant woman that smells like smoke? I feel like someone will call the police on me at any moment. I almost felt unworthy working out at the gym this morning. I was imagining people turning away from me in disgust. It didn't happen of course, but I felt like telling everyone I came in contact with that it wasn't me, it was my house. You think I'm exaggerating? Ask anyone who's come over to our house yesterday and today. They will confirm that our house smells like a 90-year-old smoker's house. And that THEY smell like it too from being in our house 5 minutes.

It is all very funny, I guess. We will probably be working on this smell for the next week or two. Good thing the weather's nice and we can open our windows. Oh wait. IT'S 45 DEGREES AND RAINING.

On to other news, I wanted to share my favorite pregnancy hand-me-down of all time:

The Bella Band.

It's meant to go over your unbuttoned jeans or to provide more length to your shirts. I love it! My sister gave me a black one and a white one after her last pregnancy, and I use them all the time. They make me feel held-in a little more. They are made out of spandex, I believe, so they are nice and tight, but they stretch to your body and belly. They stay in place a lot better than just long tank tops. I tend to only use them in my second trimester, when I'm not huge yet and I'm still trying to fit in all my regular clothes. They are pricier than the generic brand, but they are worth it, in my opinion. Go here if you're interested. The link gives the price at 26 bucks.

Garden!

2011-05-07T20:29:00.000-06:00

This, my friends, is what I worked on all afternoon.

My garden worksheet.

Planning what we're planting, how many, and when. Ahh, you can just smell the organization.

My husband rolled his eyes a little, but he'll appreciate it once we start working.

If you're wondering what the leaf-looking things are, they're footprints. Those are our walking paths. I never claimed to be an artist...

Yeah for gardening!

15 weeks, 4 days

2011-05-06T15:45:00.000-06:00

I've been really bugged lately about how quickly my tummy is growing. It's funny how vain we can be... I think I complain to my husband every night. It usually goes like this:

C: I hate how big my tummy is already.
B: But, you're pregnant.
C: But, I'm only 15 weeks.
B: But, you're pregnant. Of all times to worry about how your stomach looks, this is not the time.
C: But I've been pregnant before, and I feel like it's different this time. My tummy is getting too big too fast.
B: But you're pregnant. There's a baby in there.
C: You mean a tadpole. Tadpoles don't take up that much space.

Guys just don't get it. :)

Anyway, I decided to to do a random photo shoot to make myself feel better. It kind of worked. I decided I'm not going to worry about it anymore. At least until tomorrow night. :)

My funny faces are endless.

Trying to look contemplative. It looks more like I'm looking at something on the floor. But I guess that's what I'm doing.

Everything looks better in black and white. :)

Do an impromtpu photo shoot today! It will make you feel better!

New blog

2011-05-04T21:28:00.000-06:00

I started up another blog, because I don't have enough to do already... haha. If you're in the Pleasant Grove area, I'd love for you to look at it... Thanks!

http://goodgossipinthegrove.blogspot.com

-Cassie

Lexi and Laney's talk show

2011-04-30T11:38:00.000-06:00

I love it when my kids get along and are having fun together. And don't worry about the water. They're little bath tablets that change the color. :)

Horrible Hair Day

2011-04-30T11:37:00.000-06:00

It was "Horrible Hair Day" at Lexi's preschool, so we had to do something fun...

In my opinion, horrible would have been just not doing her hair at all. But we had to have some fun with it. She loved it, but as soon as she got home she wanted me to fix it. She said she didn't want to look horrible anymore. :)

Ladies retreat '11

2011-04-23T15:55:00.001-06:00

Toward the beginning of April, we had a ladies retreat. This, I highly recommend to any lady. It was the perfect weekend getaway. We had so much fun! I went to a mom's retreat a couple years ago with my good friend Megan, and we learned so much from it that we wanted to host one the next year. We did that last year, and though it was fun, it was a bit overpacked with classes and not long enough. So this year, we made it two days, and loosened the schedule. I was SO sad that Meg couldn't end up coming, but it was still really fun.

I admit, I don't like planning events. I hate it, actually. I'd much rather attend an event. BUT, this group of girls is just too great, that I felt like they deserved a weekend getaway.

Here are just a few pictures that captured our weekend, in no particular order...

A group of us went up early and hiked a couple trails at Zion's National Park. Beautiful, but it was kinda cold.
The next morning, we toured Brigham Young's winter home in St. George. It's fun to have a professional photographer come along. You get amazing pictures.
Here's my friend, Brittany. She's gorgeous, talented, and just about the nicest girl on the planet. I told Brandon that she would make a MUCH better Bishop's wife than I do.
I like these few pictures because of the awesome wallpaper. We called this house the House of Good Intentions. It was a very...interesting house to stay in. We had a mouse, backed up plumbing, a half-working grill, and awesome wallpaper. I tried to find a place that will sleep all 16 of us. This was the only thing I could find that was within our budget. Oh well, it made for really good memories. :)
Kristen giving her facial class. She was a last-minute addition for the classes, and she was great!
She also was nice enough to model for the photography class. She's beautiful, isn't she?
This is Jen. We talked one night, a group of us, about how completely gorgeous she is. I hope she's okay with that. We were talking behind her back, but they were only good words, so we didn't consider it gossiping. :)
Rachel teaching her gardening class. She will be the only reason we all have successful gardens this year. :)
Marta helping us all crochet. She got sick after the first night, and went home. Poor girl.
Rachel, 7 months prego, holding the only baby that came this year. He's 6 weeks old, and we all had so much fun holding him. I love this pic.
Here's all of us before we all went home. We seriously, well at least I did, had so much fun!
Erica giving her massage tips class. She gives massages, at your house, if you're interested. :)
All of us looking at our class sheets.
This is my favorite photo ever. This completely captures the essence of Janae. I also realized (well, I knew this before), that Janae is the most likeable person ever. Everyone loves her. You just can't NOT like her. She's due in a couple weeks, with her 4th baby. You are seriously lucky if you are born to her family. All the kids LOVE her.

I had so much fun. I'm so glad that I planned this. And thank you Rachel. You were a huge help in the planning process. Because of her, we were never hungry. We had delicious food and treats. She's the gourmet chef around here.

I'm not planning it next year, just so you all know. :) But THANK YOU for the gift card. You are all too nice. Let's do it again, okay? :)

Camping

2011-04-23T14:12:00.000-06:00

These posts are so out of order. Oh well. Brandon and I have been wanting to take the girls camping for a long time. Thanks to our combined birthday presents this year, we had all we needed. And Brandon had this last week off work. So, we went to Southern Utah for warmer weather and camping. We got packed, which included so many things it's ridiculous, and headed out on Wednesday. We were only going until Friday. We started out with a fatality:

I'm officially an idiot. In coming down to get in the car, I put my iPad and computer down on the hood to get the keys. We loaded the girls, got in the car and went to get gas. In turning out of our complex, we hear a tumbling sound and we look back, and you guessed it. The iPad and computer fell off of that hood and we ran over the iPad. Ouch. I was so frustrated with myself I just cried. How could I be so dumb? At least it's just the screen. The iPad itself is fine. AND my laptop is fine. That would have been devastating because my life is on that computer.
Laney in the car. She got so impatient after about 2 1/2 hours in the car.
Lexi is an angel in the car. So patient and good.

We got to the campground, and the manager was a bit pessimistic.

M: Do you have any 4-wheelers?
B: No, sir.
M: Did you know this is a 4-wheeler park?
B: Nope.
M: Well, you'll be hearing them all day until quiet hours.
B: Okay.
M: Do you have any pets?
B: No.
M: Good, because they're not allowed.
B: Okay.
M: It gets really windy around here.
B: Okay.
M: When it gets like that, you have to make sure everything is tied down or it will blow away. I mean everything.
B: Okay, will do. :)
This was Laney's sleeping spot. Best idea ever. Quiet, dark with towels on the windows, perfect.
Lexi's spot in the tent. She was also very good about her little area. I didn't get a picture of our part of the tent, or the outside of the tent. I'll paint you a picture- Dry, barren, desert. No trees, no shade, and red dirt everywhere. That was one of the bad parts of the trip. This trip was awesome, but it had some really annoying parts too. Let's continue...

That night, was frustrating. It was HOWLING wind on the tent for about an hour at 12:30. You just couldn't sleep through it, though Lexi did somehow. The tent was SO noisy in the wind. And it was FREEZING. I got up at about 3:30 to check on Laney in the car. I was so worried she'd get hypothermia. She won't sleep with blankets, so I was worried. I did what I could and went back to bed. At 4:30, Brandon got up and checked on Laney cuz he was worried too. We seriously thought we'd wake up to a dead child. I'm not kidding. And we're not terribly paranoid, usually. He put three blankets on her to see if she would be okay. We finally made it through the night, and Laney had thrown all three blankets out of her crib, the stinker. At least she was alive. Lexi said when she woke up, "That was a long night, Mom." We made her wake up a few times and get better situated in her sleeping bag.

The next morning, we had some fun. We ate breakfast, cereal, Brandon took the girls on a walk, and then we got ready to play at the lake. We had a lot of fun at the lake.
This water was FRIGID. It was like walking in ice water. I firmly believe that kids don't have fully developed nervous systems til they're 12. They played and had a blast. The parents, on the other hand, stayed in clothes on the beach. We enjoyed some lunch...

And played some more. The girls played for another hour in the sand together. It was so cute.

And what trip to the 'beach' would be complete without a dribble castle? :)

I sunblocked the kids, but I didn't think Brandon and I would need it. We were in the shade most of the time. I was in the sun for about an hour. I got a little burnt...

This was taken when we got back at home, and yes, that's my baby bump. Ridiculous. It wasn't terribly painful though. Brandon got burned a little on his arms and his face, which was odd because we wasn't in the sun at all.

After naps, on Thursday, we were all feeling a little sunsick since there was no shade except for our beach umbrella, so we took the girls on a drive in the air-conditioned car to Hurricane, which was close by. We looked at some houses around there just to look, and we found a park with shady trees for them to play at. We got some ice cream on the way back to the campsite, and then we had hotdogs for dinner. We did s'mores, got in pj's, bundled Laney up in lots of warm clothes, and went to bed.

That night, holy moley. The wind was out of control. It was windy all night, and the tent was SO LOUD. No matter of tying things down and using guylines would fix it. Brandon and I were up all night because of that darn wind. It was miserable. First thing in the morning, I think out of frustration, we got our things together and just left.

Sand Hollow State Park- don't camp there if you have a tent. The end. Only campers will be enjoyable.

So, like I said, fun, but it had some really annoying parts. I'm sure that you're not reading this anymore, but we hope to take the girls camping, in the woods, in AF canyon, in the summer. We think that will be a lot more fun.

Best part- not showering or doing my makeup for 2 days. :)

Lexi's primary talk

2011-04-23T14:00:00.000-06:00

I feel like Lexi gives talks a lot in our ward. Is that true, or am I imagining things? Anyway, as usual, when Lexi is assigned the talk in primary, I get all OCD and I make her memorize and practice it at the church. Here's the video I took when we practiced on Saturday:

Sadly, my OCD is rubbing off on her. Did you see the part where she straightens her little pile? Classic. BUT, here's the big news: When she gave her talk in church, she did it ALL BY HERSELF! She didn't even make me stand by her. She's so big and brave! Good job, Lexi! We love you!

Burfdays

2011-04-23T13:58:00.000-06:00

Sorry, this post is pretty picture-less. Sorry bout that. I'm such a lazy picture taker. Anyway...

Brandon's birthday is April 10, and mine is the 18. It gives us a pretty full week for birthday celebrations. The problem is, I wasn't really feeling the whole birthday thing this year. I don't know why, but 27 didn't seem like an exciting number. This is a problem because it means I didn't really get into Brandon's birthday either. I know, wife of the year. AND, his birthday landed on a Sunday. Somebody please tell me how on earth you celebrate a bishop's birthday on a Sunday?! AND, I had been gone all weekend at a Ladie's retreat- more on that later. So again, wife of the year.

Our Sunday looked like this: Brandon leaves at 7:30, later than usual, and essentially stays at church all day til about 4:30. I was going to bring him lunch and celebrate at the church a little, but he found time to come home and scarf some food down. So there goes my one surprise I was planning. Then, he invites some old friends over for dinner, which was super fun, but we couldn't really celebrate as a family. THEN, I have stake choir practice, which I'm the director of, at 7. I didn't get home til 8, then I had a million phone calls to make. Brandon's birthday was a bust. I made it up to him I hope. We went out on a surprise date the next night and had lots of fun at Tucano's.

By the way, the benefit of having two birthdays in the same month- two free birthday dinners at Tucano's. We're going there again for my birthday dinner tonight. Holla!

For his birthday present, I told him I combined his and my birthday and got a bunch of camping stuff so we could go camping with the girls the next week. Which we did, and it will be the next post.

ANYWAY, for my birthday, I told Brandon I really didn't want or expect anything, which was totally and completely true. I had a monster headache, and I just wanted to relax. My grandma was visiting us for a day from AZ, and we were talking about how good boiled peanuts are.

Side note- the two best things about having a southern grandma are 1)Grits and 2)boiled peanuts. SOOOO good.

Brandon went to the store and bought some roasted peanuts for us to boil. Roasted peanuts aren't as good as raw peanuts to boil, but they were still pretty good. Such a nice birthday present!

Then he got Lexi to hide some eggs around the house with little notes inside about what Lexi loved about me. So cute. He made up one, and she made up the rest. Try and guess which one is from Brandon:

1) Thank you for reading me stories at night
2) We are grateful for a wonderful Mommy who loves us.
3) Thank you for teaching me how to read (for the record, she reads 3-letter words. That's it.)
4) Thank you for making me feel better when I feel sad.
5) Thank you for always helping me clean my room. (I'm an enabler, I guess)
6) Thank you so being SO hot!
7) We are grateful for the best dinners ever- we love granola bars too.(This one's funny because she hates eating what I cook)
8) I love it when you give me surprises. (Shocking)
9) We love your wonderful smile.
10) I love that you gave me the game Fashion Solitaire (Lexi's addicted)
11)We love your hugs- you give the best hugs
12) Thank you for playing with me and taking me to the dino museum.

So nice. That night, I felt a little better so I went shopping. I got a book for me, one for Lex, and one for Lane. Brandon has a million books at home that he wants to read first, so I didn't get one for him. I told you, wife of the year. Then I went to Old Navy where I got 9 articles of clothing, for me and Brandon, for $63. It's always nice to get a deal. Including some shirts I can wear during my 'fat' period. You know what I'm talking about. Where you just feel fat until you're about 5 months along? Yeah.

It was a lovely birthday. Thanks hub, for making me feel special!

"Part of Your World"

2011-04-16T17:40:00.000-06:00

Sometimes we have to get creative to get the girls to stay at the dinner table for longer than 5 minutes. Here's what Brandon came up with a couple days ago. And yes, Laney is also trying to sing...

Numero Tres

2011-04-16T17:09:00.000-06:00

I have been a blog absent these days, but at least I have an excuse...

That's right. I'm prego with baby number 3. Here's the only problem. This pregnancy is WAY harder than my other 2. Whoa boy. Let's see how my symptoms add up: 1) These headaches are driving me crazy. I had mild headaches with the girls, but none, I mean NONE, this bad. They're incapacitating. My poor girls have to entertain themselves most days, and don't even talk about how messy my house is. And poor Brandon has to pick up the slack. He so good about cleaning, making dinner, and keeping the girls entertained while I lay in bed. Ugh. I never get nauseous. Never have. But these darn headaches are going to be the death of me. 2) There is nothing better than cold and dark. Do you know how weird that is to someone who loves warm and bright? Just when my car gets warm in the morning and my body gets comfortable, I get a headache. And showers make me miserable. SHOWERS. The best part of anyone's day. I have to rest my head on the cold wall while my body gets warm in the water. Again, WEIRD. The good news- my bedroom is always cold and dark. Ahhhh, just thinking about it makes me want to go lay down... 3) I have to eat every 2 hours. I mean, HAVE TO. You think that sounds fun, right? The problem is I have to bring food with me wherever I go. And only certain things sound good at certain times. Funny though- Funyuns are always yummy. Not exactly the most healthy food on the planet. 4) Do you know how pregnant I look? I look 5 months pregnant and I'm only 12 1/2 weeks. I asked the doctor to check for twins- nope. Just one baby in there making me look huge. I'll try to post a pic, but frankly that doesn't sound very fun right now. 5) Soda sounds disgusting to me. I love soda. I guess that's pretty unhealthy. But it helped with headaches with the other pregnancies. I'm trying Excedrin (aspirin free, don't worry), but it's hit and miss as far as helping. 6) What I realized is that every time I needed to have my energy reserves and no headaches, I had the help I needed. I really think the Lord was helping me out big time. If I had a responsibility for my calling, I had the energy. If I had something I needed to do for the community (like singing time), I had help. It was pretty crazy. In a good way of course. 7) I seem to be sighing and touching my head a lot. I feel like the sighing helps relieve the pressure in my head. And rubbing my head, well, doesn't help, but for some reason I do it too. :) 8) I'm so excited to be pregnant, don't get me wrong. I think the reason why it's so annoying to me is because I had easy pregnancies the first two times. If I'm not having a boy, I'm going to be mad. :)

This is Brandon's idea of coloring with the girls during conference.

For Brandon's (and my) birthday, this was dropped off to us on our door. It's kind of an inside joke, but it's our family made out of rice krispies Mr. Potato heads. I thought they were stinking adorable, and really yummy. :) Be prepared for some make-up posts in the near future...

Lee Taylor Photography

2011-03-16T14:23:00.000-06:00

Remember this post about our family pictures last year? Mandi had her baby (who is beautiful, btw) and she's taking pictures again!

Love this sun photo...

This pic isn't so good with the people (the girls weren't cooperating) but the background is breathtaking.

Ahhh, sunset...

Anyway, she's doing a giveaway! You will love her. She's so laid back. It makes taking photos so easy and you get awesome pictures out of it. Click here for the entry details...

randomness and other nonsense

2011-03-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

Gosh, I've been such a total slacker. blogging has fallen by the wayside. Here we go with the catch-up...

Brandon went out of town last week for work, which usually means I plan a whole bunch of things with the girls to keep them entertained and happy while Daddy's gone. Some things happened, some things didn't. But I took 1 or 2 pictures along the way...

This has nothing to do with anything. Laney's just a cutie.

I made these a while back and I just found the picture again. They sure were delish. Mmmm...

Okay. So Saturday morning Brandon left, and we went to Old Navy. In case you're not my facebook friend, here's what happened a couple weeks ago- I washed and dried Lexi and Laney's darks with a tube of nail polish. Awesome. So, most of their clothes were completely ruined. By some miracle, it was mostly shirts ruined and not pants, which in my opinion, shirts are much easier to replace. So, I took count of about 3 shirts apiece for the girls that I would just HAVE to replace, so to Old Navy we went.

On a complete tangent, a few days ago I was going through our storage unit and happened upon a garbage bag FULL of Lexi's old clothes from when she was 2 that I had totally forgotten about. They all fit Laney perfectly. So that was such a blessing after most of Laney's clothes were ruined. A definite answer to prayer...

After Old Navy we went to the dollar store and finally got Lex and Lane hula hoops. Lexi's been BEGGING for a hula hoop for months, but they've always been out of stock. Well, her dream finally came true. Now if only she knew how to use it...

After naps on Saturday we headed to 'Old Macdonalds' (that's what Lexi calls it) for some dinner. The girls played so well, and then I put them to bed.

Sunday was church as usual, and after dinner, I made no-bake cookies with the girls. They had a blast. Laney didn't want to take a picture, though... Pictured is one of Lexi new shirts. She's into rainbows...

Monday, we had movie night. We rented Despicable Me, a new favorite of the girls, and Lexi's friend Rylie came over and watched with us. They had a ball.

Let's see... Tuesday was a playdate, if I recall. That night we played pretty pretty princess.

Wednesday, Lexi had dance class, and our good friend Jim offered to bring us dinner that night. Since I wouldn't be home because of the dance class, I told him to just leave the dinner at our house. I'm such a gracious host. :( But really, it couldn't be changed. When we got home, not only had he given us dinner, he also bought us a new dvd/vcr player! I remember casually mentioning to him once at dinner I think that our video part of our vcr/dvd player was broken, so he decided to replace it. It was so nice of him. He also gave us some videos to watch. So, that evening we watched Hercules and the girls LOVED it.

Thursday- I don't remember. I think we were gonna try to make it to the dinosaur museum, but it just didn't happen.

Friday- Daddy got home, HALLELUJAH, and we went to a ward dance party that was FANTASTIC. Best ward activity to date. Not only did they have dessert-type things, but they had pretzels, goldfish, animal crackers, etc. Perfect for the kiddies to snack on all night. The girls loved it, and it was fun to dance the night away. I have some videos on my phone that are so cute of Laney dancing, but I haven't figured out how to upload them yet. They are worth the wait, trust me.

Anyway, that was our week last week. Pretty fun, but pretty exhausting. It's so good to have Brandon back. Things just aren't the same without him. Loved you and missed you, babe!

Pics

2011-02-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

The last 4 pictures didn't work in the last post, so I am reposting them here... :)

Lanie's B-day and Velentine's Day

2011-02-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

Lanie loved her birthday. Her favorite gift was this weebles bus from Nana. She's pantsless because she got chocolate ice cream cake on them and they were pretty dirty.
Her cake. It looks kind of like Oso's arms are on fire. But it was yummy!

Then, it was like some kind of timer went off and Lanie finally started letting me do her hair. On her birthday she actually let me do a french braid.
And of course Valentine's Day was a total blast...

Here's Lexi. She LOVED getting all her valentines at preschool.

Lanie loved how Lexi shared her candy with her. :)

Brandon's brother Tyler babysat for us so we could go on a date. It was so nice to just enjoy an evening with my husband. We went to TGI Friday's, where we went on our first date. We're kinda sad that the one in Provo is no longer there, but the one in Sandy was good enough.

We had appetizers. They have dang good appetizers. And we just had to make goofy faces...

Georgia

2011-02-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, our trip to Georgia was a total blast! I will tell you about it in the shortest form I can, since there was so much we had fun doing...

The things I learned on our recent trip:

1) The iPad is the best invention EVER.

Dear iPad,

Thank you for being invented. I love you. You made the airplane trips so easy. Your 10-hour battery life saved our lives. We didn't have to worry about a DVD player losing battery for the 5 1/2 hours on the planes (we had a connector flight) and Laney just watched movies the whole time. And Lexi watched movies and played other games. I actually got to READ. MY BOOK. For TWO HOURS. And though my girls didn't fall asleep at all, I'm sure that if you had an app for that, they would have. I love you. A lot.
Love, Cassie

2) Lanie's new best friend is Grandpa. Whenever she saw him she's run right over and hug and cuddle him.

3) My sis-in-law Lindsay is cute. And funny. But I already knew that. :) And she's a seriously busy teenager!

4) Lanie is allergic to cashews. THAT was fun. Poor girl. However, she is not allergic to any other nut that I know of. AND it wasn't that terrible of a reaction. She didn't need to go to the hospital or anything...

5) The Georgia aquarium is AWESOME. The girls had such a blast there. Here are a few photos... I think I only took 8 photos the whole week.

Here's the best pic I could get of the 3 of them. Lexi's cousin Kalle was staying with her Nana and Grandpa, so she got to hang out with us. Kalle's mom is having TWINS and is on bedrest, so Nana and Grandpa are watching Kalle for the next few weeks.

Here's Lanie enjoying one of the kiddie tunnels. This place was seriously kid-friendly.

Brandon had to put Lanie on time-out and this is where he decided to put her. I thought it was pretty funny and I exploited her misfortune.

6) Chick-fil-et is really yummy. I haven't eaten there in a while...

7) People still think I'm 7 years younger than I am. Allow me to reminisce... When I was 19, someone thought I was 12. True story. Then, when we were on the plane home to Utah last week, this woman behind me asked my age. I told her I was 26, and she said her friend couldn't believe I was older than 19, but I had two kids. Back when I was 19 it was insulting. Now it's kinda flattering. I guess.

8) Prayer works. It's the only way we got Lanie to sleep on the last plane flight. And it's not fun to travel and 1am with kids.

9) My girls sure love their grandparents. Lexi keeps asking me when we can go back.

10) Traveling with a 4 year old is so easy. She was so responsible and good. We told her she'd have to be understanding and good because Lanie might be a disaster. And she was. She was so accomodating and nice about everything on the flights.

The end. It was so much fun and I can't wait to go back. We love you Nana and Grandpa! (and lindsay of course)

Martin Luther King, Jr.

2011-01-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

Lexi learned a song about MLK at her preschool, and then proceeded to sing it at the top of her lungs, over and over again for a good half hour during her 'quiet time.' It might have even been longer than a half hour. She apparently really liked the song. I recorded it for your enjoyment. It's only about 40 seconds long...

Lexi's haircut

2011-01-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

Lexi never lets me cut her hair. Only when it's just a trim. But on Wednesday she decided to cut it herself during her quiet time. Oh joy. At least it wasn't an inch away from her scalp. You can see it here a little. there are other pieces that were an inch shorter or so.

Here's another pic. You can see it in front. So, we went to get it fixed...

Here's her hair now. To be honest, I don't like it very much. I always wanted to try this haircut on her, but she never let me. Now that she has it, I don't know... She looks like a foster child. Her hair is too thin to get any kind of volume out of it, and it doesn't compliment her face very well. Maybe I just need to get used to it. AND I can't do all the fun hairdos I used to do either. I tell her it's beautiful of course... and she's grounded from the scissors til she's 5. :)

Lexi LOVES it. Her best friend Rylee has this haircut, so now she can match with her friend. So if you see her, tell her it's adorable. Then I won't have to lie as much when she asks me. :) Does that make me a terrible mother? To hate her haircut? She's still a cutie...

Prom and other things

2011-01-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

Our beehives in our ward hosted an 'adult prom' and invited some couples from the ward to attend. It's pretty fun to get dressed every now and again, ya know? I just had to find a dress. I ended up taking out my homecoming dress from high school. I thought there was a big rip in the back, but when I looked at it, it was totally fixable. So I fixed it up and wore it. Brandon still had his tux from the wedding, so we wore it and we had a ton of fun. It's just different getting ready while your date is watching. :)
Lexi wanted in on the action. And we would have taken better pictures, but it's a tad awkward when your babysitter is the one taking them. :)

Laney's room was getting absolutely awful, so I just HAD to clean it. Before and afters. Not pictured- a clothing pile 3 feet by 3 feet of clothes the girls had grown out of and I hadn't put away. Ugh. I don't know where else to put clothes. Storage, closets, etc.

These are out of this world. I feel it was my duty to share this recipe with you. :) Find it here.

Lexi's primary talk

2011-01-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

Lexi gave a talk today, and like the last time, I took her to the church on Saturday to practice it. She's a very shy girl and when she gets up in front of people, she gets very quiet and nervous. So we go and practice so she's comfortable. A)It helps to live so dang close to the church and B)It helps to have a key. This wasn't her best attempt, but her little personality was so cute that I thought I'd share. Little kids have so much fun talking into a microphone... The subject of the talk is "The Scriptures are the Word of God."

Christmas '10

2011-01-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

I would have posted about Christmas last Sunday- Sundays tend to be my 'blog posting' days because Brandon's gone all day. But last week he got home early from his meetings and I wanted to spend my time with my hubbie instead. Anywho, the Xmas post one week later...

Here are the girls on Christmas Eve with the new kitty. She's a sweetie. She lets them hold her and cuddle her all the time.

I told Lexi that she couldn't come out of her room until we came and got her. And she actually obeyed and let me go in and do her hair before we came out and opened presents. Here are the girls with their stocking loot and new little couches.
Let me explain this present a little- When we bought our van, the people we bought it from had this power wheels barbie car in their garage, and Lexi fell in love with it. They said that the batteries needed to be replaced but other than that it would work, and they were just going to take it to DI anyway. So they gave it to us instead. :) We fixed the batteries and gave it to Lex for Christmas. Man, does she love it. I just wish it weren't so freaking cold outside when she wants to ride it. So anyway, that's why it looks old and sun-bleached. Cuz it is old and sun-bleached...
One of Lanie's favorite toys- this little kitty that meows and purrs. She carries it everywhere now. Coincidentally, it looks exactly like our new kitty, though they were purchased weeks apart from each other.
Lanie's other favorite toy- Special Agent Oso stuff. When she opened it she kept saying "Oso! Oso!"
Lexi's big Santa gift- a new Leapster. She loves it. Santa waited two hours at a Black Friday Walmart Sale just to get it for her. He sure is nice...

Brandon got me a deep-fryer for Christmas, which we've been having a blast with. I love it! I'm sure my waistline won't like it so much- oh well. So, we had a relatively unconventional Christmas Dinner...

French fries instead of Mashed potatoes. And they were dang good. To the left are sweet potato fries which were surprisingly good too. This pic was taken halfway through the meal when we'd eaten most of them.

Dinner was also kinda funny because 1) We didn't have ham. We had steak. Why not, right? It was delish too. and 2)I just kinda made all my dinner faves. A relish tray, with deviled eggs pickles, and olives...
Orange rolls, of course. These are all of our's favorite part of the meal. I have to make a ton just so we have leftovers. The girls eat at least 2 or 3 apiece at dinner. And the french fries and steak made up the rest of the meal. It was so good, but definitely not traditional. I didn't even have a salad.

Brandon also got a breadmaker for me. It not only mixes the dough, but bakes it all too. It's awesome! I just pour the ingredients in and push a button. We have homemade bread all the time now.

Lexi also got Pretty Pretty Princess for Christmas, so we all played a game after dinner. Brandon was a good sport about the jewelry. Haha! I took this picture, and he said, "This isn't going on the blog, is it?" Sorry, babe. He's trying to look contemplative...

It's Lexi favorite game. She gets to wear jewelry and a crown. What girl wouldn't love it? I won, and then Lexi got second place.

This is what I wake up to now. Lexi cuddles with the kitty every morning. Lexi named the cat- Liana. If you've seen Barbie and the Diamond Castle as many times as we have, you would recognize the name. And now that the kitty finally learned how to use the litter box, I like her too. Before, I was cleaning up poop left and right and was regretting the decision. But she's a cutie and we love her.

Merry Christmas!

This n That

2010-12-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It seems when things are just chugging along, there's not much to post about. Let me try to drum up some events in our lives...

1) Since I had to condescend to get a minivan, I at least got myself a personalized plate. :) It makes me happy. :) And yes, I'm an idiot and put the stickers on the wrong sides. To my defense, they are both 11's.

2) Laney is starting to talk, finally. She has a new word just about every day. Shoes, bow, Hi, No, yes, I go, etc.

3) I'm thinking about changing Laney's spelling on her name. I like Delanie better. I just don't know if I want to go through all the hoops to legally change it.

4) Christmas has been so fun this year! Lexi loves changing the countdown every day, and she tells me all about the Nativity. Lexi has been so good and hasn't touched the presents under the tree once, and Laney couldn't care less about them. And Lexi is so excited for Christmas and Santa to come.

5) Lexi has a new best friend. Her name is Rylie and she lives right next door(as in we share a wall with her family). She and Rylie just play all day long and just switch from house to house throughout the day. It's pretty cute. She's turning into a big girl!

6) Our kids really had fun picking out a Christmas tree for this year. Yes, we're one of those weirdos that have a real tree. We love it though. And the girls had a blast. And we finally got a star for the top of the tree. :)

7) We're one of the few that are not looking forward to 11am church. We have 9am now, and it's my favorite. Oh well. What time church do you like?

8) I love my hubbie. He's a stud. In every way.

9) We got another kitty. We're the crazy cat people now. :) We pick her up today. I'll post pictures when I can. She's a total sweetie and we're excited to play with her. She is so mellow! You've never seen a cat like this. She just sat there and let Laney hold and pet her. LANEY. You know, that crazy almost 2-yr-old who freaks out and loves animals? And she was free. The shelter is running a special thru December, so it was a win/win. :)

10) A few people have asked me if minivans can actually have spoilers. Yes, they can. It is pictured below. It's just at the top instead of toward the bottom. Funny, huh?

11) My incredibly talented sister-in-law created three different Xmas cards for us this year, and I couldn't decide. I loved all of them! So Brandon decided for me. We picked the middle one. Which do you like?
Merry Christmas!!

"Small butt Cassie"

2010-11-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

For some reason I like pics where the family is walking away. I have one from last year on my wall right now. It's kinda my thing. I just like it- it's cute, especially with little kids. So naturally I asked Mandi to take a couple for this year. Well, if you didn't know, I have a... well, a ghetto booty. I've accepted the fact that I have a pretty black butt for such a white person. Some things help... darker pants, heels... none of which I'm wearing in this pic.

Anyway, Mandi showed me a few pictures, and I emailed back that though my butt looks pretty huge in a few pictures, they turned out great.

She emailed this photo back to me and said she hoped this helped. Haha! Then she titled it 'small butt Cassie.' Classic. I think I'll put this on my wall this year... :)

It's probably the only time I'll see myself with a small booty...

Annual family pics

2010-11-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

Because I'm such a terrible photographer, I tend to get family pictures taken every year, just so my poor kids have nice pictures when they're older. I'm thinking of their wedding videos, ya know? So, here are some of my faves of this year.

Mandi Taylor is an excellent photographer by the way, and I'm so lucky to be her friend. She's due to have a baby, like, tomorrow, but if you want to wait a couple months, I'm sure she'd be glad to take your picture.

No, it's not the same place we took it last year. Just some of the pics look kinda the same. The locale for this year was incredible.

So pretty! Right at sunset, at Utah lake... and the weather was better than perfect for a November evening.

This was one of my faves... the colors- wow.

My girls... aren't they cute? Laney was awful for pictures, Lexi was a pro, but we actually got some good photos!

You'll have to stay tuned til Christmas to see which one I liked best- it will be on the Christmas card!

Weddings and cars

2010-11-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

There's the happy couple! Last weekend my mom got married to a wonderful man named Ron. My dad passed away about 5 years ago, and we are really happy Mom found someone to spend the rest of her life with. It was really fun to go down to AZ and have my WHOLE family together. That hasn't happened in, um, years. Here are just a few pictures. I'm terrible at taking pictures...

Here are all my mom's grandkids. Try and find Lexi and Laney... Laney was, well, terrible for all the pictures. She cried and cried and turned her head away. What do you expect? It was her naptime, and she's pretty serious about her sleep. AND she's 21 months. Kids aren't good at pictures until they're at least 4.
A close-up of Mom and Ron in Ron's family pictures. Ron has 5 kids, and Mom has 11. Thus making 16 kids, and about a bajillion grandkids. I don't have pictures of the whole family because I had to be in them, but when I get some I will post them. It was a LOT of people.
The cupcakes, oh the cupcakes. They were so good. My sister is awesome- she made all of them. If you're in Arizona, call her up. Brandon kept saying, "Cas, you have to get this recipe!"
This is our new van. After looking and looking and looking, we finally found one we could call our own! I always said I would never own a minivan, but they are pretty awesome. They are perfect for small kids, and they're way cheaper than SUV's. It got better gas mileage than our mazda on our drive to AZ.

It has all the conveniences I wanted- power sliding doors, dvd player, leather and bucket seats, and one glorious thing I didn't have on my list...

Seat warmers! It is fabulous, I have to say.

If you are going to go on a road trip, you have to get a minivan. It was SO much easier to drive 10 hours with some space in the car! The girls loved watching movies and playing games etc. And we didn't feel completely cramped. Get this- so, I forgot that I packed my mp3 player in my suitcase, so I just climbed in the back and got it out! It was awesome.

Halloween '10

2010-10-31T15:19:00.000-06:00

3 posts in one day... I'm so impressed with myself! So here we go with Halloween...

By far my favorite Halloween so far. Lexi and Laney were Minnie Mouse. Do you see Laney's little Minnie Mouse clip? Isn't it adorable? Brandon's mom made it out of a bowtie. I thought it was genius. She wouldn't have kept the ears on anyway, so this was the perfect solution.

Here's Lexi. She was so excited for her costume and for her dad's...

Brandon was such a good sport to dress up as Mickey. Again, Brandon's mom sent puffy hands and the ears, and I made the shorts and shoes. The shorts were pretty easy, and there's a tail in the back too. And I just hot-glued yellow cloth to some slippers that Brandon never wears. Turned out pretty fun!

Lexi wanted me to be Daisy Duck. Brandon had to match Lexi, not me. :) I had some pretty sweet purple shoes too, which I made with cloth and hot glue again, and the bow is the same, hot glued to a headband. The poor beak looked awful, but I couldn't find one at the stores, so I had to make one.

The trunk or treat had to be held inside because it was freezing and raining, but the girls had a total blast. Scratch that. Lexi had a blast and Laney whined and cried the whole time. But it was still a total blast, and we just might have to have family-themed costumes from now on. :)

Lexi's birthday cake

2010-10-31T14:54:00.000-06:00

Here's Lexi blowing out her Barbie cake. I think we're going to have to make a Coldstone Ice Cream cake tradition for birthdays around here. It was delicious!

Lexi's Birthday!

2010-10-31T14:53:00.000-06:00

I was supposed to post this on Monday, but I had costumes to finish, and you know...

So, Lexi had an awesome birthday on Monday! She started by going to preschool and celebrating there. After that we met up with Megan and Andrew at the dinosaur museum, and they brought lunch and cupcakes for everyone! It was so nice, and it's always so fun at the dino museum.

Here she is before preschool...

After the dino museum, we came home, Lexi took a nap, and then of course it was time for presents! Below is a collage. I told her to pose for the camera after every present, and she was a champ. She got lots of books, because she's kind of obsessed with books. Like mother like daughter... she also got a princess castle bed thingy for her barbie, a Dora bathtime castle, pinkalicious stuff from Nana, tons of Dora stuff from Nani, a game from Gramma... let's just say she had a good birthday.

Then we had a barbie cake. I will post the video after this... And of course the picture of Laney smiling for the camera, as always. :)

All in all, it was a super fun day. Lexi was so happy to be the special birthday girl all day long, and we had a blast together.

Cougs and Jacques

2010-10-14T18:37:00.000-06:00

Because of Brandon's awesome old boss (not old as in old, old as in previous, huh Jim?) :) we got some great tickets to the BYU game on Saturday. And guess what? They actually won!! That was a bonus. You can't really see Laney's or Brandon's face, but I loved this pic because it shows what we were doing so well- eating and eating and eating. :) Laney's fave was popcorn, and Lexi's was pizza. I loved the pretzel with cheese and Brandon is weird and likes the peanuts in the shells.

Lexi was covering her ears because of the noise, and I told her that putting her hood on would help. She actually believed me and had her hood on the whole game. That's good parenting right there. :) And why do all kids do this smile?? And she has pizza face.

By the way, this is the first game we've gone to this year, and Lexi is at an age where she wants to know what's going on. Holy bagillion questions! So, I tried to explain to her in 4 year old terms so she could understand:

"Mom, why are you screaming?"
"Because we just got a touchdown."
"What's a touchdown?"
"It's when we get points."
"Oh. Mom, why do we want points?"
"Because we want to beat the guys in the red helmets."
"Oh. Mom, are the guys in the red helmets bad guys?" (She's thinking like the wicked stepmother)
"No, they're not bad, we just want to beat them."
"Mom, why are you cheering now?"
"Because we just got the ball up the field more."
"Mom, why are you screaming now?"
"Because we just got the ball from the red helmets, and they can't move up the field anymore."

And on and on and on. Geez. But I'm glad she's showing an interest in football. That will get her far in this family. :)

It was really hard getting a good picture. Oh well.

It was oh so fun, and Laney also did well. Til halftime. We left in the 3rd quarter. The girls were tired. But seriously, football games are the best!

And sadly, we said goodbye to Jacques this week. That's my car, if you didn't know. We haven't been driving it since we didn't want to spend the money to fix it and re-register it, but Brandon needed a car and I had the other car, so he drove it, and the timing belt snapped off on the I-15. Goo. We were gonna trade it in at the end of the year for a new car, but that wasn't possible now. If you don't speak guy, like me, a mechanic friend explained it to me. If you break the timing belt, you've basically killed your engine, or at least they have to take the engine apart to fix it, and our car's not worth the fix. We were going to sell it to a junkyard for about $250, but we put in on KSL first and sold it as a good 'parts' car. We put the price up at a hopeful $350, not thinking we could get that much, and we got like 20 emails in 3 hours. All these mechanics wanted it cuz it's a V-6. So, we sold it to a mechanic for $350 in like an hour and a half. Poor Jacques. We'll miss you! Be good to your new owners! If you want an incredibly long read on my car's and my history together, go here.

This and that, plus an easy dinner

2010-10-07T14:13:00.000-06:00

So, my life must not be very exciting lately, cuz I can't think of much to blog about. So, let me try and make this as interesting as possible...

1. Lexi loves preschool. Her new favorite thing is tracing letters. I kept her totally occupied during General Conference by giving her words to trace. Laney on the other hand was a psychopath and went a little crazy during conference. We finally reverted to putting Special Agent Oso on the laptop for her to watch. Don't judge.

2. Laney is finally starting to show an interest in talking. But still not much. Only I ever know what she's saying, but it's a start. The funny thing is that even though she doesn't talk, she can pretty much tell you exactly what she wants. She's a good communicator, just in other ways.

3. I'm not pregnant. And I was kinda hoping I would be by now. I hate it when I can't control everything. :)

4. Laney is CRANKY lately. I don't know if it's because she was sick just a few days ago and she's still getting over it, or if it's just a phase. But dude. It's getting old. But she's still super cute, right? So I guess we'll forgive her. And she takes 3-hour naps. And she sleeps at least 13 hours at night. Okay, maybe I have no right to complain...

5. It's really hard to want to cook dinner when you went an entire week with every meal provided for you. So we're taking some baby steps and making easy stuff. This meal was introduced to me by Megan, who most of you know and love as well. DON'T knock it til you try it, that's all I have to say.

Grilled Cheese and Apple Sandwiches
(Seriously, so good!)

Ingredients:
Cinnamon raisin bread
Apples of your choice
Cheddar cheese

First off, I'm a huge fan of traditional grilled cheese sandwiches- white bread, cheap Kraft american cheese. With tomato soup. Yummy. So when Megan first made me try these, I wasn't extremely excited. But these are really yummy! And a good take on a traditional meal.

Put cheese and thinly sliced apples in the sandwich. Grill it up like you normally would. We usually use the George Foreman. It's super easy that way. AND because I'm lazy, I just spray the outsides with Pam instead of buttering them. Your choice. And they don't need any kind of dip. They're yummy as is.
Enjoy!

CRUISE!!

2010-09-26T21:19:00.000-06:00

Ugh, Blogger's not working with me, I can't get my cursor above this picture, so we'll start down here. The above picture was on our 1am flight, so that's why we look so tired. But it was the beginning of our trip, so we were so excited! We went on a Caribbean cruise last week, and here I am to tell you all about it! There are exactly 30 pictures in this post, so here we go...

We had the 1am flight, then another flight, then we were in Miami! So we were very tired during the whole getting-on-the-ship process. I only managed a couple pictures that day. These are at dinner. The first of many amazing eating experiences...
This is kind of a gross picture, but I had some awesome ribs and I forgot to take a picture before I ate it all. So yummy...
I gave Brandon a new anniversary/wedding ring. I've had the idea for a few years now. His original ring was getting pretty scratched up, and it wasn't very much money in the first place, so I wanted to replace it. I had it inscribed too. He was very surprised. :) And he loved it. Yeah!
The first official day of the cruise was traveling on the boat, so we laid out and ate a lot. We also tried the gym, which we continued throughout the week. Aren't you proud? We needed something to counteract all the food. By the way, it's really weird running on a treadmill on a rocky boat. Gravity is with you, then it's against you. Repeat for the next 45 minutes. But I like a challenge. :) First book of the cruise: Mockingjay. Pretty good, but I was a little disappointed in the ending. One of the cool parts of the cruise- unlimited french fries with ice cream. Yum...
And while I was gorging myself with french fries, Brandon was eating a pear. Don't worry- he had plenty of frozen yogurt all week too. And he's wearing his new ring, if you want to check it out.
That night was the 'elegant' dinner. We pretty much dressed in church clothes. Brandon striking a pose...
Then me. Check out my awesome shoes! Those were a last-minute addition. I borrowed them from my mother-in-law. They were kinda hard to walk in though-the boat was pretty wobbly.
Wednesday- Grand Turk Island. It was pretty perfect. The only problem is that Brandon can only stand being in the sun for about 30 minutes. So everywhere we went we had to find one chair in the shade for him, and one chair in the sun for me. It was beautiful though.
By this time my chair was shaded, but I guess that's okay. :) Again, it was perfect. Lying around reading books. Book 2: My Name is Asher Lev. I read it in college and wanted to re-read it. Loved it all over again.
We got some cocktails that day- non-alcoholic of course. The waitress thought we were crazy...
Mmmm... pina colada...
Sandy toes. I don't know what it is, but sandy toes make me happy.
Then we played football on the beach for a while, went swimming, and got back on the boat. We forced someone to take our picture first...
Thursday- Half Moon Cay Island. I'm not kidding you, if I could create the ideal paradise, this would be it. You have no idea. It is perfect. The lens was blurry but I still liked the photo...
Lens now clear, but we didn't really want to pose anymore...
The sand was like powder, the water perfect (but it needed waves). We rented some snorkels and swam for a long time, read a lot, hung out, ate some BBQ for lunch, read some more, and got back on the boat at 5ish. I honestly wanted everyone to bribe the captain to stay an extra day.
This is what was going through my head: "Let's see. If we get a wireless air card for Brandon's computer, and a satellite phone, and rented some kind of shack, we could live here. That's totally doable. We'll just pick up the girls and come back."
I really didn't want to leave. I was dragging my feet back to the boat. Hubs looked really good too. It was honestly heaven on earth.
Friday: Nassau, Bahamas. We were a little spoiled from Half Moon Cay, so we rented a scooter to find a good beach and explore the island. My goodness, when we got that scooter, you would think that they gave Brandon a bar of gold. He had so much fun driving that scooter around. Every once in a while he'd turn to me and say, "This is awesome!" He probably felt really in-control. I was on the back navigating. But it was really weird driving on the left side of the road. Brandon adjusted pretty quickly though.
We went to 7 different beaches, and none of them were very good. We just had paradise the day before, so it was hard to go back to just normal. This one was called 'Jaws Beach,' hence the scared faces.
It wasn't terribly pretty, so we left.
Then we found a cave. With bats. It was pretty fun.

There was a hot dog stand by the cave, so Brandon got a hot dog, and I got...A Coke! Oh man, it tasted good. On the boat, they wanted to you pay a million dollars and your left leg for soda. K, maybe not the leg, but the million dollars. So I went without Coke all week. The stand had them for a good price, so I indulged. I didn't have much time to read my book this day. By the way, Book 3: Foreign Influence. Entertaining and suspenseful, but not my favorite.
Definitely written by a republican, so that was nice. :)
We gave the scooter back and went window shopping. If you know Brandon you know that he was chewing his arms off one by one while shopping he hates it so much, so we didn't do it very long. Then we went back to the boat. We stopped and took a picture by the Disney cruise boat. Not our boat, but we were talking just the day before about taking the girls on a Disney cruise. If you look close, you can see Donald hanging outside...
We got ready for dinner for the very last night, and took some pictures in the booth. Not the best pictures, but oh well.

We were trying to look sexy. Yeah, I know. Give us a break...

These were our dinner partners the whole week. It was slightly awkward the first day having dinner with strangers, but it was fine the rest of the week. Brandon can make anyone laugh. They're from New Jersey. They've been married a year or so.

We're relatively boring when it came to nighttime entertainment. We went to a 'PG comedy show' one night, but apparently the comedian thought that meant 'not funny comedy show,' cuz he wasn't very good. We did some trivia game shows other nights, watched Karaoke one night (that was hilarious, by the way), and started to watch the big finale show. That was a mistake. It pretty much consisted of naked Vegas showgirls dancing around the stage. So we left that and just walked around a bit. Pretty fun for us, but probably boring for most people. Anyway, the next morning we headed out to the airport.

We were pretty sad to leave. But we were excited to go see our babies again! And I have to say a big, huge, monstrous THANK YOU to my Mother-in-law Linda for watching the kids so we could go. It was SO fun having you over. I only wish you could have stayed longer. Thank you!
Next time I probably won't do Carnival. Maybe Royal Caribbean. Carnival was okay for a first cruise, but a different cruise line I think would be more fun. I only got through 3 books, which was slightly surprising. I thought I could do 4. But I was enjoying the company of my hubby, you know? :) Anyway, it was a blast. Next time I'd also like to go with friends. So what do you say? In 5 years we'll all go. Let's plan on it. :)

Swimming

2010-09-17T16:47:00.000-06:00

These are from the beginning of the summer, so Lexi is actually a lot better at swimming by now. She can swim and breathe, and swim and breathe. I'll probably have to re-teach her next summer, but she's doing really well. And Laney, well, she's fearless. She loves jumping in, and gets mad when her face DOESN'T get in the water. And don't worry- these videos are only a few second long. :)

Dresses and cuddles

2010-09-14T21:27:00.000-06:00

So, the blue dress was too small for Lex, and too big for Lane. Oh well. It should fit Laney perfectly next summer. Anyway...

I had fun at DI finding a couple other shirts to make into dresses. I only have time this week to make one dress, the other will have to wait til after we get back from the cruise. Yes, I said CRUISE!!!

So this is the shirt I did this week. First of all, what man in their right mind would wear this? Red and white? You'd look like a candy cane...

But it turned into a pretty cute dress. One thing that bugs me a little- the red band is a little too low. I didn't want to cover one of the buttons, so I put it a couple inches lower than I wanted to. Oh well. It sits on her hips, so it's not too bad. I kinda like it. :) And the picture doesn't do it justice. It's pretty cute in real life. Total cost: $3.50

And Laney of course wanted her picture taken too. She's such a ham. Look at those baby blues...

And this just warmed my heart. Laney was having one of those days, being a cranky pants, and I walked into the living room and saw her cuddling with Lexi. So cute. Lexi was rubbing her back, talking all sweet to her. I swear, Lexi is a better mom than I am. She was born to be a responsible little girl.

Preschool, cake, and dresses

2010-09-10T22:43:00.000-06:00

Lexi started preschool on Wednesday. She was very excited, but pretty shy. I have to admit I got a little teary when I dropped her off, but she did really well. And every day she asks to go to preschool. Yeah! She loves it! That is such a stress relief.

This beauty is the best cake in the world. Seriously. Best. Cake. Ever. You have to try the recipe. But I prefer strawberries on top instead of cherries. Find it here.

This dress is made from Brandon's old shirt. Cool, huh? Find the tutorial here. Here was the only problem- hubby is too skinny for Lexi's measurements. So I had to add strips of fabric to the sides, so it's not as cute as it could be. And I think it will still be too little for her. We'll see when she wakes up tomorrow. :) I'm going to DI and getting some XL shirts to make dresses out of, cuz seriously, the possibilities are endless here!

It fits!

2010-08-26T16:22:00.000-06:00

My wedding dress has been lost for 5 years. I couldn't fit it in the car to take it back to Utah after my wedding, so my sister kept it for me in AZ until I could get it back. Very nice of her, I might add. A year or so later when I asked her if I could take it back to Utah, she said she gave it to my mom to store. My mom was on a mission at the time in Germany, so I emailed her and she said she doesn't remember getting it from my sister. It kinda felt like a wild goose chase. So I asked all my sisters (6 of em) to check their closets and see if they could find it. It's not like it's a small object, you know? It has to be somewhere. No one could find it. A year or so later, my mom gets back from said mission, and looks all over for it. ALL OVER. My poor mom probably checked all her storage 100 times in summer heat in AZ and couldn't find it. I'm sure she felt terrible, I felt terrible, and I gave up. Enter sad face here. I loved that dress...

Fast forward to, what? Three weeks ago, maybe? My sister said she found it!!! With her wedding dress. It had fallen to the bottom of the bag and she didn't know it was in there. My mom came to visit and go to Education week, and she brought it with her. So, of course I had to get it out and try it on...

Sorry, they're not very good pics. I not very photogenic in the first place, and it had been a long day. Anywho...

It fits!!! (Picture wicked stepmother of Cinderella saying this. I do.)

Note: There's supposed to be a full slip skirt on underneath to fill out the bottom. I didn't have one.
Laney freaked out when I had that dress on. I don't know, maybe she thought there was a glitch in space and time, and by me having a wedding dress on, it would mean she didn't exist yet. So to try and help, we dressed the girls up in their white outfits and took a couple photos.

Those outfits are adorable. They might have to wear them in our next professional photo shoot.

This photo cracks me up. It was chaos trying to get pictures taken. But, all in all, it was fun.

Now you must all go get your wedding gowns and take a picture. Go. Now. I promise, it's fun. :)

Sponge curlers and ballet

2010-08-26T16:07:00.000-06:00

Lexi let me put sponge curlers in her hair one night, and she actually kept them in the whole night long. When she woke up she told me that she made sure her curlers stayed in. She really wanted to look like a princess with beautiful hair. It turned out super cute! I hope she'll let me do it again, because her hair was adorable. Her hair is usually 4 inches past her shoulder, but with curly hair, it looked much shorter. Anyway...

Lex had her first day of ballet class yesterday. She was so excited! However, I had to wake her up from her nap to go, so she held on to her silky until we got to the class.

It was so cute. My goodness, all those little teeny girls, running around on their tiptoes, trying to hold onto the bar, dancing around with parasols, so cute...

And yes, I do have another child, that loves to pose for the camera. She's still stinkin cute too.

Up next, I put my wedding dress on... details in the next post.

My August Project

2010-08-10T15:07:00.000-06:00

K, so, our table was a $10 purchase from DI about 3 1/2 years ago, and the chairs we got from my grandma. I can't believe I went this long without doing anything with them! I swore to myself I wouldn't purchase a dining set until I had a significant enough house to use it in, so I decided to just paint the ones I have....

Before:

How yucky are those chairs? My grandma kept them so clean for so many years, and in just 3 years, those white cushions were not so white anymore... And they simply don't match the table at all.

After:

At least they look like they go together now. And they match the rest of our house decorations. What do you think? I think it turned out pretty cute! And we don't dread people coming over for dinner anymore...