Been a while!

We've been having a lot of fun the past couple of weeks.

We drove to Utah for my best friend's wedding. About 2 hours into the drive I realized that I forgot to pick up my dress at the tailor's shop where they were adding sleeves.
Thanks to my amazing friend Tamma, I was able to get it in time for the wedding. And still have time to fix the sleeves.
They were a LITTLE weird!
I should have taken a before picture and I know I'll have some better pictures of me actually in the dress eventually, but this is what I have from after the wedding.

We had a lot of fun in Utah, even though it was a short trip. Even though we were there for a week, it's still hard to squeeze everyone and everything in.

Here are some pictures!

Chapter 1. Driving and Random Provo.

The CRAZY storm we drove through outside of Moab. This was before we hit it... the clouds and lightning were really cool! And the pouring rain was equivilent to a good Texas storm, which we haven't seen in awhile.

This absolutely cracked me up. I had to drop a breadmaker off to a friend at the Provo Library (got some great looks from people there!) and when I came out after the rain storm, I saw this car. A rather unfortunate parking spot if you ask me.

It should also be noted that the gutter is really deep there- that was a LOT of water.
Luckily for the driver, when I picked Jon up and drove by it 20 minutes later, all of the water had drained off of the street.

Chapter 2. Leatherby's.

Alex had his first taste of Leatherby's ice cream... at 11 in the morning. Nothing like a good dose of ice cream before lunch! We got him "playdough" because he wanted pink and then blue ice cream. Perfect... playdough ice cream fits both of those requirements!

This is his cold face. It makes us laugh every time he does it.

and this is my face (enjoying my Traci's peanut butter cup sundae. YUM!)

Jon's comment after he took that picture was that it was one of the more unflattering pictures of me. Perfect for posting on the blog!
It's not like me and unflattering pictures are a new thing.

How cute is he?

Chapter 2. The Haircut.

We took Alex to Cookie Cutters to get a haircut. A real haircut. The only haircuts he has had have been buzz cuts. Because that is all that his mama can do in the time he gives me to do it.

He absolutely refused to wear the cape, but he let this girl put her hand on his head and held still and didn't give much of a second thought to the clippers she was using. I guess when you have a sucker and are watching Cars in a cool place, you really don't care that much.

I don't have a final picture, so you'll have to see the haircut in the next photos. We ended up having to finish the sucker early since it had hair on it. His face was also covered in hair since he kept touching it and his hands were sticky magnets for hair.

Chapter 3. Playing with MaNa and PaDa's.

I LOVE this picture... it just needs to be photoshopped (with all of the spare time I have)...

Here's the boy jumping on the trampoline at Grandma's house. Gotta love that eyebrow! (I so can't do that... it's all Jon).

a love for Grandma

Playing with Grandpa

and tickling Grandpa

Going for a ride on Grandpa's tractor

he thought scooping the rocks was pretty cool

After the scooping he was done... He wanted to get down and play in the rocks and dirt. So Grandpa drove the tractor back to the garage and we walked through the field back to the garage.


There were a lot of deer around in my parent's neighborhood. We saw some almost every day. When my mom first showed Alex some deer in the backyard, Alex stated that Grandma's backyard was "Damma's Zoo".

Here are 3 deer under the trampoline.

My parent's had a neighborhood breakfast that my dad helped plan. They had a bounce house there that, I think, got moved to my parent's house after the event. Aubrey, Alex, Austin, and Grandma all had a great time playing in it. There were tears from Alex when it had to be taken down.

Chapter 4. Wedding.

Here are a couple more of me after the wedding.
We didn't have a camera at the wedding, so these were taken when I got home so that I could get a belly shot and get some pictures of me in my "matron of honor" dress.
Oh and I am almost 32 weeks.

So that was our trip!
For fun, we brought my parents back with us since we drove. They stayed for a week and we had a lot of fun with them! They flew back to Utah on Tuesday which made Alex very sad. He was in the car crying, "wait! Damma! Don't weave me!" Tears all around (as usual). We're just glad that they have an excuse to come back in about 6 weeks.

30 weeks and my ironing board installed!

Here we have my 30 week belly picture for your viewing entertainment/enjoyment… whatever it may be.

And Jon got my new “built-in” (we just mounted it to the wall) ironing board up yesterday. It’s FABULOUS!

And in other FABULOUS laundry news, we scored a 4.0 cu. ft. front load steam washer at Sears for $140. It was their floor model. We actually went in to get an Electrolux one that they had for $240 on their outlet site, which they didn’t have. But the wonderful sales person directed us toward the even better deal. AWESOME.
It’s blue and oh so pretty. Pictures will come later once we get the dryer (at the outlet down in San Antonio tomorrow) and pedestals (found those for a sweet price on ebay) and get it all set up.

I’m super excited that I’ll have a sanitize setting on my washer as it will help immensely with washing cloth diapers. Yay for amazing deals on things!

Success!

I am so excited! Today, I decided to give Alex some chocolate milk so that he's actually drink some milk for once and he actually drank it!!!
And requested more when he woke up from his nap.

I'm so happy that he's actually drinking milk! That hasn't happened since we switched him off of soy milk quite a few months ago.
Yay for milk!

The Latest Addition to the Crafty Room

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those wondering what that is, it is a built in ironing board!!!

Sorry about the weird pictures… it got set down upside down, so the last 2 photos are  turned upside down to give you a better idea about what it was.

My favorite thing about this ironing board is that it didn’t cost me over a hundred dollars or $300 dollars or whatever (I used to sell these and they were a LOT of $$$). This beauty cost me a whopping $35 dollars!

My love for craigs list is once again proclaimed!

I’d like to think that we were meant to be since it was listed clear back at the beginning of August and no one had snatched it up! I guess there isn’t much of a market for built in ironing board on the CL. I won’t complain… it worked out for me really well.

Many thanks to my awesome husband who drove clear out of his way to get it.
I figured that if he was willing to go that far for a scooba he should be willing to go that far for me. It’s just too bad I hadn’t found the listing before last weekend… he could have picked them both up at the same time. Love you honey!!!

One of those weird but cool things

One of my friends mentioned this on their blog a while ago and I've been thinking it would be handy ever since.
I'm specifically thinking about our LONG road trip to Utah and back that we will be taking in September and me in my 3rd trimester no room in my bladder pregnant state.

The more I think about it, the more I want it. OH! And since I'll be having a girl, how nice that she'll be able to "water the tires" just like her brother and we won't have to necessarily hunt down potty's or find bushes while I hold her up and try to avoid getting pee on her or me (can you tell I've been on a few long drives/camping trips when I was growing up?)

Hmm... I think I'll be getting one of these this week. How convenient that REI is next door to Joann's!

More sewing cuteness

I just posted some cute pictures of the 3 kids aprons I just finished sewing over on my business/crafty blog (Boo and Lou’s). Go check them out!

We’re getting inventory ready for the Country Carousel Boutique that is held at Provo High during BYU Education Week. If you happen to be going to Education Week, stop by the boutique and check out our booth and our adorable aprons.

The kid’s aprons I am making directly coordinate with(or match) the adult aprons I made when my mom was here.
We’ll also be doing more boutiques in September and November, but if you want an apron – don’t buy one at the boutiques! Just contact me through our website/blog or right here on my blog. Friends and family get a discount of course. :)

Sweet Sounds

Who knew that hearing ice made by your icemaker dropping into the bin could be such a happy sound?

The motor on our ice maker went out in May or June. The part we needed was $100 and that was just kind of crappy to have to spend that money, so we decided to make our ice the "old fashioned" way - in trays. But we weren't very good at consistently remembering to empty the ice trays and we use a lot of ice, so it wasn't a very happy time.

So we put more effort into looking for the needed part and found one on ebay for $40 instead of $100. SCORE!

The part came on Friday and Jon got it all put in on Saturday and every time we hear the ice drop into the bin, we can't help but be pleased that we have working ice maker and that we don't have to remember to empty and refill the ice trays anymore.

Everyone should have an auto ice maker. I don't know how people survive without them!

Irony

Alex isn't night potty trained yet.
As of almost 2 weeks ago, he was still waking up wet pretty much every morning. And we ran out of pull ups and I just don't feel like washing 3 diapers every 3 days.
So we went to the store for some diapers.
Figuring that it would be a while before Alex was even ready to keep a diaper dry all night, we got a BOX of diapers. I was excited that the box would get us through a couple of months.

So he's been wearing said diapers for the past couple of weeks. And wouldn't you know... he's woken up dry pretty much every morning from the first day we put one of the diapers on him.

Apparently, he just needed a change from the pull-ups and cloth diapers to figure out that he could stay dry all night.

And now we are the lucky owners of a nearly full box of size 5 diapers.

Nuffing

As in, "What are you doing Alex?"
"Nuffing".

Yesterday we got into the car after church and Jon asked Alex what he did in nursery and Alex said, "Oh nuffing. Jus payed an tuluhd (colored) an ate snacks."

I think my daily recounts to Jon are rubbing off on Alex because most days I tell Jon that we did nothing much - just x, y, z.

Favorite Blueberry Muffin Recipe

I found this recipe a while ago and it was SO delicious when we made it, so I'm highly recommending it to all of you.
I'm about to make up a double batch so that we can eat them all week long and just thought I would share the wonderfulness!

0 for 2

Alex is 0 for 2 on the dog tackles.
We got home from church today and our neighbor's playful dog was outside and excited to see Alex.
It wasn't a huge tackle like the last time, it was more the dog pushing against alex and knocking him over. Oh wait, maybe there was a bit of a jumping up on Alex and that's what knocked him over.
Good times.

We have a gender nailed down!

and another face shot (see our previous 3D shots here)

We are so excited! I think even more excited that we're not left wondering anymore. I'm going to have to put myself on a clothing budget... I've always said that it's better for me to have boys because there is SO much cute girl stuff that I would want to buy!

A new frequent request from Alex

"I wan oo get out yo sew-een woom mama"

Can you tell where I've been spending a lot of time?

I made a kid's sized apron today from a new pattern and it took longer than I wanted it to. Mostly because it was a new pattern. But also because it had some crappy processes.
So I'm going to adapt my tricks from my adult pattern (that I modified from the original) and apply them to this pattern and hopefully be able to get these things made a little quicker.

If you want to see the apron, it's over on my sewing business blog, Boo and Lou's.

The Belly at 23.5 weeks

I feel big. I can't believe I have 4 more months of growing to go.

(that's my new belly support band thanks to mamabargains! I don't really need it currently, but I'm thinking it's going to be great to have. It's really comfy!)

CUTE printable lists!

I just saw these posted on How About Orange and LOVE them. She has the links to the designer's printables on her blog.

And while we're on the subject of cute printable that Jessica Jones of How About Orange has posted on her website, don't overlook these printable self-mailing fill in the blank invites. I'm actually using these to invite guests to my BFF's bridal shower. PERFECT.

Babies and belly buttons

Alex has been really into feeling the baby lately. He says, "I wan to feew yo baybe!" It's not coincidental that this always happens about 15 minutes into nap time when I'm laying down with him (he won't take naps these days unless I lay by him to make sure he gets into the sleeping mode).

While he is feeling the baby he gets excited and always says, "I fink ee's tuming! And ee's going tum out ight heeaw (belly button)".

I wrap up the conversation with simply saying, "nope... the baby's not coming out for a long time- until after your birthday. He (she) has to grow bigger in mama's belly."
I don't even want to go to the belly button discussion with my 2 yr. old who doesn't really care anyway. Maybe next year. :)

Food exposure works!

Well at least sometimes for us!

We first started having squash and zucchini back in May. We would put one of each on Alex's plate. The first time he ate a very very small nibble from each. The next time he took an actual bite.
Now it's July and the kid can't get enough of the stuff.
He had been eating just the few we would give him, but when grandpa and grandma were here, he actually started taking them from everyone's plate once his were gone. He ate some of grandma's and then started eying all of the plates to see who had more.

We had a repeat tonight where he ate at least as much squash and zucchini as I did. I'm not going to complain one bit that he's happy to eat veggies!

This method has worked well for several things. He gobbled up his mixed veggies the other night and didn't leave the green beans on his plate as he usually does. He used to just eat the peas and now he eats ALL of them!
He now also eats baby carrots, although we have to make sure he takes nibbles because he doesn't like having too much in his mouth. He'll even eat them without ranch now!
Oh and string cheese! All when grandma was here and eating string cheese she'd ask him if he wanted some. She got many "no thanks'". I actually got him to eat most of a string cheese the other day!
And he actually decided to try my bagel with cream cheese the other morning after asking him many other times if he'd like some. He only took a nibble, but he said "mmm!", so I imagine he'll continue trying it and one day it will be added to a list of foods he likes.

I have definitely had to learn not to stress about food. I used to stress a lot when he was younger and we had some battles. Man, those were not fun nights. I had to learn to just let it go.
Now we give him a little bit of new things and let him know that he has to try at least one bite. If we give him food that he usually will eat and he's just not into eating it (distracted or whatnot), he doesn't get any other snack before bed and can continue to eat his dinner if he's hungry.
Oh, we also give things fun names. The zucchini and squash started out as green lights and yellow lights. :)

Feeding kids is always fun and I'm hoping mine will only be as picky as I make him (due to my own pickiness and having control and choice over what meals are made).

Where did that come from?

Jon and I often hear Alex say things and wonder where he picked them up. Tonight's phrase that had us cracking up was, "let's get this dinner started!"

How I get Alex to do things

It's quite simple really.
Reverse psychology.
And I don't have to get all fancy with it either. All I usually have to say is, "Oh! I want to _______" (clean up, take a nap, eat some dinner, etc.) and he immediately changes his tune.

I use this method multiple times every day and it still works. If only it could be that easy to get your kid to do what you want forever.

Tales of Mana and Pada's Visit

As Carrie noted previously, Mana and Pada C came to visit us last week! We had a wonderful time doing all sorts of fun things and having them around to take care of Alex and harass/help Carrie get her apron quota to adequate levels made yours truly exceedingly joyful.

First off, Alex was extremely surprised when they first showed up last Thursday bearing an awesome Cars(tm) beach chair with speakers. I caught it on film and will upload at a later date so stayed tuned.

Next, we enjoyed some excellent homemade ice cream Monday night.



We spotted the bats at a nearby bridge one early evening on one of what seemed like daily trips to the fabric store.



There also happened to be a red-tailed hawk demonstrating its ability at survival of the fittest by repeatedly swooping in for tasty bat treats from its perch on a nearby light pole. Random post-graduate biologist was monitoring said hawk and provided Pada with greater hawkish insights and binoculars for better hawking views.

We enjoyed a trip to a local splash park on Friday. The artisty part of me caught this shot of Alex.



Pada enjoyed the hole-in-a-bucket method of entertaining Alex.



On the way home we enjoyed some delicious chocolate and vanilla Frosties.



When we arrived home we found an amphibian gift waiting in our lawn. Alex used Pada's flashlight to illuminate our new comrade with a close introduction to artificial lighting.



I'll skip the tearful ending and end on a lighter note. Fist, enjoy this great photo of Pada, Carrie and Mana! Thanks for visiting and we'll see you in September!



For the grand finale I present Alex's fake smile. He really is a chip off the old block.

Blog Housekeeping Notes

Jon here. I know I don't post much as my delectable wife handles much of the bloggerific work around these parts. However, I'd like to highlight a couple blog housekeeping items:

1. We don't support viewing this blog in Internet Explorer. If something doesn't work right or look right its probably because you're using a browser that doesn't conform to any web standard known outside of the overlords in Redmond.

2. We now own joncarrie.net so if you'd like a handy way of reaching our little nook on the interwebs just type that into a superior web browser and enjoy!

Coupon Commotion at Joann's

So, can anyone tell me WHY they give you a whole sheet of 40% off coupons, but you can only use "1 per customer" (read: separate transactions)? Annoying.
(can you tell I'm going fabric shopping today?)

All good things must come to an end

Which is always very sad.

After a particularly "fun" (for him at least) Saturday at the new "beach" at our "lake", a dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs, and LOTS of fun with Grandma and Grandpa, Alex declared in the most pathetically sad voice, "I want more Saturdays".

Don't we all.

Today's sad line came when it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to return to Utah. "I doen wan you go ooo-tah. I wan you stay here".
I even have pictures of the sad event.

not a straight on picture of the sad lip, but it's there! Aww...

Grandma cried almost as much as Alex. :)

Hmm... I just realized that I have a lot of pictures and stories from our recent adventures. Maybe I'll put Jon up to that task seeing as I need to spend more time sewing.



We had a WONDERFUL time with Grandma and Grandpa and LOVED having them here with us for a week and a half. We loved every second of your time here and are already counting down to our next visit. Not only that, but wishing and hoping that someday in the coming few years we'll be able to be closer. Jon, that Colorado job isn't looking so bad...

Just a little reminder

It's just right over there on the left of the page under PRIVACY.

I want to share fun things with people - just not to masses of unknown people.
I enjoy that people like to read my blog, but would appreciate an introduction and a how you found me email or comment if I don't know you. I like to know who my audience is. :)
Also, I do everything I can to keep our last name off of the internet, so please do not include our last name in your blog link list.

Alex Gems

Yesterday Jon was outside mowing the lawn and Alex looked outside and said, "our grass just looks really perfect!"

Jon and Alex were playing with some blocks and making houses for some little froggies. Then Jon made a boat for the froggies out of a half moon shaped block and an arch and triangle on top of it. Jon declared it a boat and Alex got really excited and said, "It's a house boat!"

Alex doesn't like taking naps/going to bed. Grandma and Grandpa are here visiting and he was playing up the not going to bed by crying and saying he needed a snack etc. This is normal.
On Thursday night he sadly stated, "I need more fun!"

We were saying that Alex lives in Texas and Grandpa and Grandma live in Utah and we asked Alex where Grandpa lives and he said, "Grandpa lives in Wal Mart!"

On Saturday morning he woke up and one of the first things he said was, "where we going today? " I guess it was a good thing we were actually planning on going to Hobby Lobby and dinner that night. :)

Life is Good

You try spending all day here (you should see it during the day and run your toes through the super soft sand) and see how you feel about life.

We're sunburned but oh so happy.
What a great vacation.

(photo credit to psanchodog on flickr. He has some amazing images)