The Sutherlands

Friday the 13th

2012-01-26T17:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday the 13th! (2 weeks ago!) I went to a fancy Friday the 13th dinner party a couple of years ago & since we were going to be with Vic's sister this year I couldn't wait to recreate it! Of course it wasn't so fancy & didn't have a band, but it was still fun :)

We laughed in superstitious' face by breaking all the rules. Black is the color of death here and white is the Chinese color of death so I did everything in black & white w/ touches of red for gore! That little white lantern had a light in it so it glowed without the flash on it. We entered the room on the "13th" floor. (We were supposed to walk under a ladder too, but my sister-in-law was panicking a little with the open umbrellas so I didn't add that touch!) Then a broken mirror and "spilled salt" around the centerpiece.

I had that umbrella hanging from the light & another by the entrance.

Friday the 13th (by Christian belief/tales) is unlucky is because Judas was the 13th guest at the Last Supper & he betrayed Christ (making #13 unlucky). Friday is unlucky as this was the day Christ was crucified. Add them together for one unlucky day!!

That little piece of rolled up paper on every person's plate had a superstition on it. Here are the tidbits:

*Step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back

(a crack is the entrance to the grave)

*Break a mirror and you’ll have 7 years bad luck!

Why 7 years?.. You just broke the soul of whoever’s reflection was in the mirror and it takes 7 years for the body to fully rejuvenate. Don’t want to wait 7 years? Make sure the mirror can’t see any reflection by grinding it up & burying it in the moonlight!

*Walk under a ladder & you’ll have bad luck

(a triangle represents life & when you walk through a triangle you are awakening the spirits that live in it… even the evil ones that won’t be happy with being disturbed)

*Spill some salt, you’ll have bad luck

toss it over your left shoulder into evil’s eye lurking by

(Salt has always been considered a valuable substance capable of purifying and warding off evil spirits and evil spirits wait over the left shoulder)

*Release a sneeze & you’ll release your soul

call out “bless you” to keep it safe!

*Feel a shiver?

Someone is walking over your future grave!

*An open umbrella in a house brings bad luck

The sun god will be very upset with you for offending it as you only need an umbrella to protect you from true sunlight

*If a black cat crosses your path you’ll have bad luck!

Black cats were believed to be witches that had been burned or helpers to witches, either way being a very evil animal

There are still TWO more Friday the 13ths this year so have some fun with them! :)

FREE GIVEAWAY!!

2012-01-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Remember these little beauties that I got in the mail? Well, I am too greedy to give them away, but the maker of these lovelies is giving loads of goodies away for FREE!

Now you don't even have to know my wonderful sister-in-law to get her free bows!! She just started an etsy shop and is giving away ALL of the pretty bows, hats, and purses away THIS Saturday!

You can win all this fun lime green & pink stuff (my personal favorite as they were my wedding colors!)

Or you could win all of this black & pink stuff!

Add caption

And the best part... you have a

VERY GOOD CHANCE TO WIN

as she is just starting out and doesn't have very many fans yet! :)

Click HERE to see how to get as many entries as possible in! ..and check out her etsy shop HERE

Happy New Year!

2012-01-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!!!

How could we not bring in the new year on a good note with these 2 cheesers?!?

We planned on these two being in bed by midnight, but they must have known there was a midnight party coming because here they are at midnight happy as can be!

We went to Olive Garden on New Year's Eve. Tommy was so cute drumming those 2 bread sticks and as soon as I pulled the camera out he dropped them & shoved his hand by his mouth... when has he ever been camera shy?!

Whitney got a lot of compliments on her party dress. It has lots of fun sequence all over it that you can't see in this picture.

We didn't know anyone yet so we went to Faith Community Church and they had free swimming, sports, movies, a game room, and board games so we jumped in on game of Ticket to Ride with a couple people & another family that moved here only a few days after we did!

Vic was too busy with KMart during Christmas so we did our gingerbread houses really late! I was so impressed with Tommy as I put the house together w/ the snow and he put the rest of the stickers on. It looked really good a few minutes before this and he started adding and taking away in a destructive way so I hurried and snapped a picture!

We really got our money's worth out of this gingerbread house. Here it is a few days later with the stickers rearranged a bit... and yes that is a train stuck in the side of the house!

I snuck up on him a bit later and found him rearranging again.

The close up of his art work. He is such a BOY!

Here is the final day of his house. I thought it was cute he made it into a train house (I guess he was pretty determined to make that train get in there somehow!) After this it was a tunnel, but it wasn't very sturdy so that didn't last long & Whitney kept trying to eat the leftover pieces so it finally made it to the trash!

We tried making a real gingerbread house and as you can see that didn't go over too well. Now I see why people just hot glue the house together. The frosting didn't do much & it drooped all over.... and Tommy wasn't as helpful with this house because all he wanted to do was eat it!

We had a train show come through Indianapolis and Tommy is obsessed with trains so we just had to drive down there. Here he is with wooden trains. I love wooden trains. It is wonderful to see all that talent & detail that is put into them.

They had a million Thomas the Train tracks & trains for the kids to play with. Tommy was in heaven.

When we got home we got his out that we thought he was too young for and he LOVED it for day. Then Whitney showed too much interest so he hid it and 2 weeks later we still can't find it!

Tommy's favorite part was this underground train that made noises and had buttons for him to push and pick which train was going to come out of the tunnel. He didn't take his paw off the pad for at least 20 minutes. I had no idea he was so obsessed with tunnels until we came here.

Another one of Tommy's favorite exhibits. I made tunnels out of his mega blocks after this and he loves that!

I couldn't have a post without Whitney!! Here is her last picture before she got her hair cut! She was having a ball in her jumper this day and we got some pretty cute video of her.

Time to hide the pens

2012-01-11T11:43:00.001-07:00

Um... guess it's time to have to start hiding the pens! He's also been very interested in my markers this week so I should have known this was coming.

A Holly Jolly Christmas!

2011-12-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We are far from family so I wasn't expecting a lot out of Christmas this year, but this bunch had a blast together! It was a very fun day & when it was time for bed I was so sad that it had to be over.

Here is Whitney & I ready to take treats to our new neighbors. Whitney had so many fun Christmas outfits to wear this year so she was a cute little elf all month long.

On Christmas Eve an elf left our Christmas pajamas on the doorstep and Tommy was really cute trying to look out in the yard to try to see the elf.

I've been talking to Tommy about how we need to go see Santa and tell him that he wants a car for Christmas. We lucked out on Christmas Eve and one of the light shows we went to see had a Santa there. I hopped out of the car to get a picture with him and Tommy went bazirk telling Santa that he wanted a "choo-choo" for Christmas. It was probably one of the cutest things he's done this year, haha! Here you can see him shouting "choo-choo!":

All the light shows/displays we went to were just people's houses that love going crazy on decorating. It was fun to see that people are so nice to give up their house for a month for the community!

Here is Tommy's favorite lights he wanted to keep seeing over & over.

I'm sure if Whitney could speak this would be her favorite so we got our picture by the princess castle.

We were really surprised to see how much Whitney LOVED the lights! We drove around this park really slowly with the kids in our laps and she kept trying to pull herself out the window to see the lights. (Don't worry they went straight back to their car seats when we left!)

Both of the kids were so hopped up with excitement after we let them open one present (besides their pj's) so Tommy was up until 11:30 and Whitney up until midnight! ...Vic's been working a million hours so he didn't make it as you can see.

Tommy's main gift from Santa: Shake & Go track. We didn't realize how fun this thing was until Santa had it set up in our front room! --Don't worry Tommy got lots of trains from Santa in his stocking too, but we didn't get all the way through his stocking for a good hour or so as Tommy wanted to play with everything before he would look at something else.

Sleepy girl and still smiling! She loved her baby dolls & especially that light up ball she is holding although unfortunately we already can't find it. Tommy couldn't stand her having it & us not letting him take it away from her so I have a strong feeling he may have hid it so no one could have it!

They were the cutest little helpers for us going through our stockings.

I meant to make a balloon pit for Tommy's birthday and it was a little too close to when we moved in so I made one for him for Christmas morning. He LOVES it! Whitney loves watching him play in it & holding balloons, but cries if I ever put her in there.

Here are my 2 cute little Santa babies... pretty much impossible to get a decent picture of them together!

Whitney's spoils

Tommy's spoils

...according to Vic "the best Christmas present ever" (an IPOD touch)

He was like a little kid with this thing and played with it ALL day long!

My spoils. Vic made me put the vacuum in the picture since I went out and bought it a week ago. He felt horrible that he'd only bought me the mirror armoire & I bought him the "best gift ever", but really I have been wanting one of those ever since my sister got one years ago so I was very happy w/ my Christmas :)

I have never had any desire to have to cook my own Christmas dinner, but I didn't have a choice this year so here is my very first Christmas ham. I was nervous to make one since I haven't before, but Vic said it was the best he's ever had... I couldn't decide if it really was or he was just so happy with his Ipod that he said it was, haha! I liked it and will definitely be using the recipe again!

It literally took us the entire day just to open gifts, play with them, and make dinner so we'll be doing our Christmas games & gingerbread houses in a few days when Vic has another day off!

Tickled Pink

2011-12-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else get excited to check the mailbox? It's weird, but I told Vic early in our marriage not to get the mail because I love opening it. 99% of the time it is just bills, but the thrill of getting an invitation, announcement, or thank you card makes up for all the days you don't get one! Today I checked my mailbox and found the BEST surprise yet... these lovely beauties!!! I seriously gasped with excitement because I was so TICKLED PINK to get new bows.

My sister-in-law makes them for her girls and made some for Whitney. I have had "make Whitney a Christmas bow" on my to-do list for 2 weeks now & of course I haven't gotten around to it so I was especially happy to get those 2 Christmas ones in the top left corner! (and she makes them way better anyway)

THANK YOU BECKY!!!!

Single Mom Thanksgiving

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

When I first got this picture back from our photographer I was sad because I loved it & Vic wasn't in it (because he'd gone back to grab our bags). However, I LOVE it just how it is because this is how it was for 6 months from June 1 to Dec 1.

Me and my two kiddos against the world.

Vic Started his training in Chicago at the first of June & came home every other weekend until he moved to Indiana at the beginning of November when he stayed there for a month straight. Needless to say I was STRESSED! It is so hard to get the simplest tasks like grocery shopping done when I already had a kid in each arm, a diaper bag, & a heavy car seat. Then because I was up and going all day I was too tired to exercise & turned to quick comfort foods to deal with the loneliness of it all.. and in turn being out of shape stressed me out more! It was such a weird thing to have 2 of my favorite people with me all the time and still be lonely! I'm not trying to share a pity story, but celebrate that the rough journey of "single working mom" is behind me! I now have SO much compassion for single moms... if they seem on top of it or not, it's not fun. So if you know any single moms then don't offer to babysit, INSIST on it & spoil them with love & friendship!
On to Thanksgiving.... My Dad went out of town for Christmas so I had time to join his extended family for Thanksgiving this year. Here is my Grandma Hill and I. She is the one of those sweet Grandmas that you know always love you & will give you the warmest greeting if you show up on her doorstep. LOVE that about her :)

More of our Thanksgiving crew.

One of my cousins made these adorable name tags for every place setting. It was a gorgeous festive table.

Tommy making the charming mess he usually does at dinner!

We did Thanksgiving with my mom a few days later since she is flexible on what day we do it. Here we are preparing dinner.

Katie & Whitney wearing matching outfits. I LOVED Whitney's cute little outfit this day :) I was happily surprised that my little sis has grown into the best helper. It was like having Vic around to help. It sure made my holiday weekend a lot more fun!

My sister's new husband, Brennon is not a kid person, but he fell into Whitney's spell & now loves her to death... who couldn't with that constant cute smile?!?

My busy "helpers" getting Thanksgiving dinner ready.

I'll sure miss being around family for Christmas!!!

However, I'll be very happy to be with my husband for the next holiday :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Tommy!

2011-12-14T13:19:00.002-07:00

Tommy turned 2 yesterday. I have been talking to him about his birthday for a week now & I wasn't sure if he understood, but I'm pretty sure he did as he woke up extra early & for the first time hopped out of his crib by himself. Here he is with his Lightning McQueen presents & cake.

He was extremely happy about his cake! I had to hide it most of the day for him to stay out of it because every time I moved it he'd push a stool over so he could gaze/poke at it. I made it & once again hated every minute of it. It's funny how I love most decorating things, just not things with frosting!

I took Tommy to playgroup in the morning hoping he'd make a friend for his birthday party, but nobody showed up! (and we just moved to Indiana exactly one week ago so we don't know anyone) So, when Vic got home we took him to ChuckEcheese. I was hoping it'd be crawling with kids to play with, but I guess no one goes there on weekdays! He still had fun riding this carousel over and over. His face was dead serious the entire time & then when it was over he'd beg for another coin!

He really liked this cute little boat that moved all around & had animals that hopped up if you pushed their button. I was really surprised how cheap all these little rides were. We had him go on them all over & over & we still have extra coins left over.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner & he got to ride on the saddle. He wasn't so sure about everyone checking him out!

He would never smile with the hat on so I got him in action with his new horses at bedtime.

Whitney didn't mind the hat at all, but she was busy snacking the whole time to smile!

Tommy & his cake.

He would blow from so far away until the candles finally blew out. I think we had to relight the candles & sing him Happy Birthday at LEAST 30 times. It was hilarious that he loved that part so much & would clap & laugh every time like it was the first time so we kept on doing it... ONLY cuz it was his birthday! :)

I love that kids wear their emotions on their sleeves. His face was pure bliss when he saw this present from Grandma. He hasn't eaten, gone to bed, or taken a bath without these little trains since he opened them yesterday!

Another pure delight picture :)

Afterwards he was very busy playing with them & couldn't be bothered to look at the camera!

Tommy & his presents: he was very thrilled with them all!

Tommy at 2: He is extremely obsessed with cars & watching the "Cars" movies over & over. LOVES "Thomas the Train" toys, but only likes "Chugington" cartoons. Runs all over the house pushing one of his large trains/bike things on a daily basis. Loves elephants (I think because he loves to make the sound & do his arm as the trunk roaring up). Loves horses. Loves running from A to B over and over until his playmate is too worn out. He is continually hoping Whitney is older than she is & tries to get her to wrestle, play ring around the rosies, etc. If she ever cries he pats her on the back & tries to shove a bottle in her mouth. Is an emotional roller coaster: he is usually running around wild and laughing 80% of the time & the other 20% is spent throwing a fit/crying--- not usually a happy medium in there! He is still my good sleeper... taking long naps & sleeping all night. He loves to imitate down to the slightest detail. (If I'm sitting there with a leg crossed & hand on my chin he works hard to do the same). He loves helping vacuum, sweep, change the laundry, and especially LOVES to cook. It's actually hard for me to cook because he insists on being the only one stirring, putting the ingredients in, etc. He is not afraid of anything and I can actually see the adrenaline rush he gets before he dives off of something. He does all sort of weird rolls & somersaults trying to do cartwheels and jumps, and is advanced in climbing, but he still doesn't talk a lot. I always know exactly what he wants so he had no need to talk more, but I am trying every day to get him to say more. He says a lot of words, just never linked together. I think that sums up this adorable wild little 2 year old!

New Mexico Vacation

2011-11-18T00:19:00.009-07:00

I DREAMED OF THIS...

I got so EXCITED to see this

...and I even saw a GLIMPSE of this every morning when we came out of breakfast each morning, but paid it no mind because I knew we were going to see it UP CLOSE the last day of our vacation during MASS ASCENTION....
and then..... it RAINED all night long the night before we left so even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky when we went down to the Balloon Fiesta Launch park all we saw was ONE lone balloon in the sky. It was like showing up for a concert & the band got sick & didn't play... or showing up for a rocket to launch & the astronaunt ate something bad for breakfast & didn't launch... wouldn't you sit there thinking they have to make it up to you anyway cuz you flew thousands of miles to see it & they wouldn't want to disappoint a paying crowd.... NOPE, nobody seemed to mind that it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY & NO beautiful BALLOONS in the air!!!!

...pathetically I was SO dissapointed & just couldn't get over it so we took a balloon ride to make up for it.

...Well in the museum anyway! :) An actually ride was $600 so we passed this time around!
I just had to get a picture of me & a balloon so this one in the museum will have to do.

One of the days we went to Albuquerque's botanical gardens/zoo/aquarium package & we were not disappointed. The place was amazing! Every corner we turned was picture worthy. (Lucky Vic!) I wish I could've gotten married in some romantic place like this:

My gorgeous boys.

I thought these cactus were really cool so I had to share.

The aquarium was small, but every tank was just CHUCK FULL of fish!

..and they had an amazing variety of fun things like this cute sea turtle that loved getting attention through the glass.

By the time we got to the zoo it was POURING rain. We knew we probably won't go back so we trooped through the zoo anyway & it was pretty cool because all of the big cats & bears were out being active.

AND we had the zoo all to ourselves!!! Haha, no other troopers out there crazy as us. I'm surprised the workers didn't kick us out so they could go home.

We decided to ride the tram to the top of the mountain that overlooks the city & eat at the restaurant at the top. It was really good expensive food paid for by Vic's company so we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience! At the top of the mountain it was WINDY so check out my LION hair-do :)

Now trying to go with the wind for the beautiful wind blown model look, haha!

Our first FAMILY airplane trip together! (we'd flown seperate before, but this way was much better!)

LOL, I can't even type about this next picture without laughing. I held up the camera & told Tommy to say cheese & this is literally the first time he said cheese for the camera. The flight attendant was laughing like crazy cuz she could see his face & Vic & I couldn't. He was being really cute so I figured I'd get a good one, but instead found a bunch of SUPER cheeses like this one!!

This kid cracks me up DAILY. He is hilarious & one of the things I love most about him is that he is already his mama's boy... he does something he thinks is funny & then throws his head back laughing at himself cuz he thinks he's so funny. Lucky Vic gets 2 of the funniest people in the world living in his house! :) :)

P.S. This funny girl won't be so funny tomorrow after 5 hours of sleep, but 2am seems to be the only time I have to get on the internet & read & do updates!!

Halloween Weekend

2011-11-04T15:39:00.002-06:00

What could be cuter than a laughing monkey?!?

maybe a monkey eating a banana?!

Actually.... 3 monkeys is cutest of all!!! (Vic doesn't need a costume to be a monkey, tee hee :)

We drove to Seattle to visit my brother's family for Halloween weekend. It was really beautiful this time of year. It was funny to see Tommy & his 2 cousins at every door overwhelming the homeowner by squeezing into their door frame!

We had so much fun watching Tommy trick or treat for the first time. He was so happy that he would be walking down the street & every time he looked down at his bucket he'd start laughing right out loud... cutest thing ever. Every day I've let him pick out one treat out of the bucket after dinner and he gets so excited he does the happy dance.

I loved the houses where people made a little extra effort to make it fun for the kids, but I especially loved this house as they went all out!
Here is Kiersten, Kara, & Tommy making some spooky faces in front of the scary house!
Earlier in the weekend we wen to a Halloween party. Here is our family picture there. Tommy was actually supposed to be a cop & we were to jail birds, but his costume didn't fit!!
He had a ball at the party w/ cake pops, his own mini waterbottle, & treats, but his favorite part was the bounce house. He couldn't leave the thing alone!
One of the days we did some major crafting in the kitchen! We made a ginger halloween house, suckers, and treats. Here is the madness! (my sister-in-law, the brain behind all the fun crafts)

Tommy helped by taste testing all the treats as we went. :)

Here is a picture of our finished mini cakes:

Here is a picture of some of the clever treats we made:

and then we had a lovely Halloween tea party to eat all of our work! Girls are fun that way. Can't wait for Whitney to get older & get excited about making place cards, decorating, etc. You can sure bet I'll train her good!!! :)

We can't wait!

2011-10-21T00:29:00.004-06:00

Hey Vic, just wanted to let you know that we can't wait to welcome you home!!! :) I was thinking that I took pictures in the last couple of weeks, but the only exciting thing we've been doing is going on lots of walks so here we are!

This one is a repeat of the other one, but Whitney just looks so cute in it so I had to post it!

...and for anyone else out there who might possibly still be reading my blog (besides my uplifting, faithful Shanshan reader of course!)... here is Whitney's first ponytail! Her hair is getting out of control these days so I figures I better cut it or start pulling it up!

September Update

2011-10-08T15:48:00.007-06:00

September was SUNNY and gorgeous here in Twin Falls. After living here it has become my favorite month of the year! We started it off with a fun package from "2 proud grandparents". Tommy really loved it so it gets me excited for Christmas this year with him :)

Our peach tree made a million peaches this year and Vic is crazy gung-ho about food storage so we all learned to do our first "canning"/jaring project. Tommy loves to cook so he was in heaven.
Whitney has started to reach for everything and somehow wound up with this apple, yum.

She was even desperate enough to gnaw on this beet stem...

...so we decided to start her on rice cereal. She gave us quite the mean look when we tried to feed her & then gagged it all out. We gave up on that idea & tried again this week & she took it slightly better. Nothing like her brother that gobbled it all up at only 4 1/2 months!

Had to squeeze in one LAST pool party with the neighborhood kids.

Celebrated my birthday with my college buddies Heidi & Heather in Island Park

28 candles!

Tommy loved having little buddies around to chase around.

Vic was so excited to go fishing for his FIRST time ever that he didn't care that it was pouring freezing cold rain. He stayed out there until he caught a fish. Tommy was pretty excited to touch it when he brought it into the cabin to show us.... just a TINY little guy, haha!

The next day was a beautiful day so Tommy joined him. He pretty much just stuck his pole in the water & waved it around :)

Whitney is starting to grab at everything & be much more alert so Tommy is in hog heaven having a friend around all of the time. Every morning if he doesn't see her he searches the house for her.

They both think it is pretty great to lay in Whitney's crib and watch the mobile. I felt bad taking it away from Tommy because it has a projector for when they get older & he still really loves it so he plays in there often.

They are super cute when they have fun watching a movie & cuddling together.

Tommy always is too rough with Whitney & the tough little girl thinks it is fun!

Vic also started going back to Chicago again for more training, but this time to do paperwork at corporate. He wasn't real thrilled with that part, but he lucked out and met a bunch of district managers that all loved him and offered him jobs in Albuquerque, New Mexico; St.Louis, Missouri; or Lafayette, Indiana. They all paid about the same, but it was WAY cheaper to buy a house in Indiana so..... LAFAYETTE, INDIANA HERE WE COME!

House for SALE!

2011-09-24T12:30:00.004-06:00

As of this morning our house is officially on the market! We still have no idea of where we might be moving to, but we know the time is getting close enough that we need to start trying to sell our house so we'll be prepared to move when Vic gets an offer for a promotion :) It has been super stressful trying to make sure every room looks just perfect so I'm excited to have that done & out of the way so I can worry about the fun stuff of life! (an update to come soon)

For more information & pictures click HERE

August Update

2011-09-02T10:11:00.007-06:00

I finally have time to put a few things on here of what we've been so busy doing! We went with my brother's family up to the cabin & went on a little mini hike. Tommy looked so cute & tiny running down the trail.
Our destination: Kara, Ben, Evie

I LOVE this picture of 2 babies having a fruit picnic :)

Tommy usually loves the water & rides, but he just wanted to hang out on the dock.

Vic got done with training a little early & raced to join us for the last day & had to squeeze his annual waterskiing in. This is him trying to kick off one ski, he only likes it that way. I wish I had a picture of Ben, Katie, & I. We had a great time trying to kill each other on the tube the day before! I don't think the 3 of us have ever been out on the lake together so it was fun feeling like a kid again :)

Mom insisted we play in her half flat bouncy house & we told her it wasn't safe & we wouldn't let our kids play in it unless she crawled through it... we should have known how determined & stubborn she is & that she would find a way to SQUEEZE through it!

...so here is our kids happily playing in it.

We finally made it up to Roaring Springs in Boise & Tommy loved the kiddy park area. It was the perfect day because the fair was going on & some schools have already started so it wasn't busy at all & we saw some friends there that watched our kids while Vic & I got to run around & go on the big rides together :)

Whitney was so cute in her ladybug swimsuit & matching ladybug headband! Also, I LOVE this picture because my arms look really skinny when actually they are not!

Since Vic was finally home we finally lit off our 4th of July fireworks (at the END of August).

Probably still wouldn't have remembered to do them except these 2 cute little rascals found them & couldn't wait to light them off.

Here is Tommy with his little buddy Carter. It is the first & only name Tommy has said for the last 6 months! (besides mama & dada) I had a kiddie water party with 3 of my friends & it was fun to have so many little kids running around our yard. Tommy was so sad when he was too tired to finish playing. When he woke up from his nap he ran straight out there to continue playing & cried when he realized all his friends were gone. :*(

The next day we did another water party & I took this picture because Whitney & Vic's swimsuits matched, but then I forgot to get it in the picture and Whitney looks cute so I'm posting it anyway!

Here is Vic with all of his nieces & nephews going crazy on our new water slide our friend sold/gave us. We will have tons of fun to come, but it totally trashes the yard so we will have to be selective as to how often we use it!

AND HERE IS THE MOST EXCITING NEWS: This little monkey is already SITTING UP! I was really trying to keep her immobile for as long as possible, but now she is already beating Tommy on her little milestones so I am worried! My house will be complete chaos before I know it.

Tommy is so funny lately I can hardly ever get a picture of Whitney without him. Every time he sees me taking a picture of Whitney he races into the picture! Here he is knocking her over because he's trying to get close enough. Poor girl will be SO strong after Tommy constantly beating on her. He can hardly wait for her to get moving. He is constantly playing with her & wants her everywhere he is, but he is a bit rough by sitting on her, etc.

Quick update!

2011-08-20T15:13:00.003-06:00

Where have I been for the last month??... Hanging out with this bunch! This is the first time in years that all of my siblings have been together, it was a LOT of fun :)

Pictured above: Vic(husband), Tommy, me, Lisa, Jason(brother), Ben(brother), Becky, Evie, Brennon, Katie(sister), Front Row: Kara, (Dad), Whitney, Lana, Kiersten

I also have been driving myself crazy trying to be as helpful as possible with my little sister's wedding that was last weekend. Then I spent all this week organizing & editing them all in my tiny windows of spare time! Check them out on my phot blog: http://nancysrookiepictures.blogspot.com/ :)
I'll have to back post later when I get time!!

Chicago Trip Part 1

2011-08-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

I never really got the "I heart NY" shirts until I went to Chicago & now I would love to proudly wear a t-shirt that says "I heart Chicago!" We went for a full 2 weeks and it was WONDERFUL! The city is so clean, architecturally interesting, & has tons of free fun stuff to do. I now understand how boring Idaho must seem to all of the Californians that move here! Since we had a full 2 weeks we spent the first couple of days just recouping from life & getting lots of rest in. The first day we were there I was in the bathroom happily plucking away & thinking how great it is to have time to do my nails, etc. when I realized Tommy sounded a little too happy in the other room. I took my time walking in there only to find him happily dunking my phone up & down in a glass of water!... Ya, not a complete vacation as I swear I can never take my eye off that kid, but oh well it forced me to concentrate on my family the entire time instead of texting anyone else!
Vic had already been out there a couple of weeks before us for work & he was really excited to show us the fireflies as they are EVERYWHERE at night. His workmates made fun of him for being so excited to see them. One guy even bought him a fake one in a jar to remember him with. :) They are totally romantic & cute as long as you don't get too close. When we got really close to them I just had this sudden feeling of bugs all over me cuz I realized just how many bugs are always out, but us westerners can't usually see them!

The second day I joined the local LDS playgroup & they are serious about their playgroups... they like to go all day! I totally wish we had enough fun stuff to do around here that we could too! This week we went to dolphin cove smim park. Tommy loved the little kid area.

I was worried he'd just push past the other kids as he's never waited in line before, but it was super cute as I didn't even show him- he just followed the other kids & got right in line with them.. my little baby is growing up too fast!

Also, I kept looking at this big yellow slide wondering if the lifeguard would let me take Tommy down it as I knew he'd love a little bigger slide and I was helping Whitney for a second & next thing I knew Tommy had raced up the ramp to go down this slide all by himself! Really he's too big! I still had to stand at the bottom to coax him down it as it was kinda scarry for him, but none of the other moms & kids minded as they all thought he was the cutest thing ever cuz he was so small & doing it by himself over & over.

Continue on down to Part 2!

Chicago Trip Part 2

2011-08-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

I thought the camping exhibit was super cute, especially this tiny little canoe.

They had a really fun digging site with rubber dirt.

Tommy was in love with these big trucks. Every time he goes anywhere with big tonka trucks he LOVES playing with them, but we are mean parents & have yet to buy him one!

It's funny how some things that people say in passing stick in your mind forever. My brother was talking about his kids a year ago & saying how disgusting & animal like they are because they climb, pee, & poo on anything & eat like savages. It is funny because I can hear his words resonating through my head all the time when I see scenes like below. These kids were going nuts crawling & jumping all over this car. Tommy didn't know what to think of all of the "animals" at the zoo! (It was a zoo this night cuz it is their only free night of the week!)

We tried our hardest to see as many exhibits as we could, but the museum was too big & was really busy. Tommy had a ball though & that's what matters :)

NAVY PIER

Afterwards we walked out to the Navy Pier. It was such a fun place & would probably be one of my favorite date night places to go if we ever lived there. The sunset was beautiful....

....The carnival rides were totally fun and good carnival food is always a treat! (I go crazy over funnel cake w/ strawberries & cool whip!)

I was glad Whitney met the height requirement so we could all go on the ferris wheel together :)

We were glad we bought the package deal cuz Tommy wanted to go on this carousel over & over. It was his first time. Also, since we had extras I went on the swings that fly out and around. It made me feel like a kid again & giggle with excitement. Me & this other guy were laughing cuz he was 30 & I'm 27 & everyone else was probably 10 and under! I really felt old when I got off & couldn't even walk straight. It's funny that age does that to you! I can't even imagine how bad it'll be when I really am old. (Even if I say I feel old I still say if you are in your 20's & 30's then you are in the prime of your life!)

I'm sure I drove Vic crazy with how many pictures I took of the skyline, but it really is beautiful when you are there with all the big tall buildings! It's so hard to capture the beauty on camera.

The next day we went to a game place thinking Tommy would love more little kiddie rides & here is his reaction to the teacups:

...made us decide in a hurry to only do stuff that we thought was fun for the rest of our trip! He was done with the gameplace pretty quick, but Whitney could sit in this car so of course he had to do it if she did. It is crazy how early the sibling rivalry thing begins!

LOTS MORE TO COME later this week!!!!

Part 3 Chicago: Aquarium & Zoo

2011-08-04T04:00:00.001-06:00

We went to the Shedd Aquarium & Field Museum downtown in the same day. The aquarium had a pretty impressive dolphin tank, but overall not worth the $70 to get in!
I was sad Tommy fell asleep for the dolphin show. Also, right after this picture Whitney blew out all over her back & totally ruined this outfit so Vic missed the last part where the dolphins danced & then had to go buy her a $20 tie dye onsie that she'll never where again! At least we were in happy go lucky vacation mode so it wasn't as frustrating as it probably would have been otherwise :)

They also had some REALLY CUTE penguins at the aquarium, check them out!

Here's my little penguin playing inside the penguin cave. They had a lot of really cool exhibits for the kids to play on... just WAY too many kids! I read online that it is much less packed on the weekdays, but we went on a Saturday.

Tommy was pretty timid by this penguin like he thought it was real... it was pretty cute :)

I always love the bright colored backgrounds for the smaller bright fish & jelly fish. It looks face it is so pretty!

Lately Tommy has been sticking his fingers in his mouth when he is nervous & he wasn't too happy to be seeing these giant whale sharks.

The aquarium also had a 4D Dora the explorer movie we went to. I went to one is Disneyworld that was pretty cool, but this one was even fancier. The chairs vibrated & leaned back & had fans & water for the person behind you to get sprayed & air blown on so everyone in the theatre got the full experience. Plus they had bubbles & snow fall from the ceiling. Tommy LOVED it & wasn't ready to leave when the movie was over!

By the time we got done with the aquarium & lunch we only had 3 hours in the Field Museum & saw maybe an 1/8 of the exhibits! This is by far the biggest museum that I've been to; it was really nice.

I usually think most museums are kind of boring, but this one really brought history to life & was really interesting.

I was a bit dissappointed not to see a wooly mammoth, but this guy was pretty cool.

Read on to PART 4! (I know the pictures are never ending... I took 500 total!)

Chicago Part 4: Millenium Park

2011-08-04T03:00:00.000-06:00

Here is "the bean" as the locals call it... I laugh because Vic & I were walking through Grant Park which is HUGE & long and Vic was tired from walking & the humid heat so he just wanted to turn around, but I was determined to find "the bean"! I never explained to him what it was & that there was a whole nice park there so he was a little frustrated that I'd want to keep walking to find a bean. After we finally found it he thanked me over & over that we didn't turn around as we had a lot of fun there. :) Here he is in front of the big metal bean sculpture:
When you stand underneath it you can't tell what you are looking at, it is a crazy optical illusion.

They had these giant screens that would randomly make a smily face & shoot water all over the kids. The kids would go crazy when it shot out & we loved cooling off in the water.

Everywhere we looked there was pretty sculptures or art. Here is a pretty monument.

Tommy was crawling around & happened to twist around & look at me & it looked like he posed for a picture!

This was in grant park on the way to the bean, but I love seeing the same picture & skyline during the day...

and then at night! This park was totally romantic. I bet a lot of people get engaged here.

I felt like I was in a movie when we were out in this beautiful park and Chicago's symphony was playing such relaxing nice music.

They have a giant pavillion with chairs & then lawn with speakers over top the whole park. It is crazy how many people can come enjoy free music... SOO fun!

Okay.... just 2 more parts to go so please check back again in a couple of days to share in the fun!!! :)

Chicago Part 5: Toddler Paradise!

2011-08-03T22:26:00.000-06:00

It's funny how much fun cheesy rides are when you have a 1 year old that LOVES them! We did 4 days dedicated to places Tommy would love.... not exactly what we normally would have picked, but I guess this is our life for the next 20 years: doing what makes our kids happy! :) Tommy went on his first ride. Just like the carousel he had a dead serious face & then didn't want to get off when it was over!

He really wanted to climb where the big kids went, but couldn't by himself so here I am trying to squeeze in there!

Tommy is in love with slides so we thought he'd think these were pretty great...

...but he much preferred these tiny ones like we have in our own backyard!

Him liking baby slides & scooting across bridges because he's too afraid to walk is what makes me smile at night. I often feel like he is progressing so fast & growing up, but when he does these babylike things I love it!

This is what made Vic & I decide to stop trying to spoil Tommy with kiddy outings & just go do the things that we had fun doing!!! (He's riding his first slow spinning tea cup ride)... still not sure why he didn't like it!

I am in love with the splash pads they have over there. They are everywhere & free. Tommy loved them & it was nice to not have to keep a constant eye on him like when we go swimming.

I hated to waist a day on vacation going miniature golfing, but the only mini golfing we have here is SUPER ghetto so it was fun to go to a nice place.

Tommy just hacks at his balls. It is pretty cute :)

Here is Tommy on his first big water slide...

...if you zoom in on the picture you'll see that he wasn't too happy about it!!!

We still had lots of fun doing the "toddler" stuff though!

Read on to my last & final Part 6 :)

Chicago Part 6: Zoo

2011-08-03T20:38:00.005-06:00

Here is the FINAL post for our fantabulous trip to Chicago!!! We went to their main zoo & it was SUPER nice! Tommy's favorite animal was the dolphins dancing. It was really fun w/ loud music & tons of dolphins lined up to do one thing right after the next. They said they wanted a bigger show this year because it was their 50th year of doing it.
My favorite animal to see was the gorillas. I don't think I've ever seen one in real life & I knew they were big, but they still surprised me with how big & muscular they were when I was right in front of them.

Victor's favorite was OF COURSE the monkeys. He is so obsessed with monkeys & would get a pet one if I'd let him!!! Here he is pretty excited to enter into the South American jungle.

It was really huge with tons of trees & waterfalls. These monkeys are WAY spoiled compared to monkeys in other zoos! I have never seen such monstrous exhibits like these.

It was fun to see so many of them too.

Here is the asian exhibit as you walk in. I just couldn't get over how lush they make it all for all to enjoy.

I don't remember what this part was supposed to be, but it was right before the zoo closed & it had been a SUPER hot humid day so most people were gone & we had this area all to ourselves. I suddenly understood how if we didn't book it out of there that we might get lost/locked in the zoo for the night!

Since it was late we pretty much had the polar bear to ourself too & he was putting on quite the show for us :)

And finally to cool off we took off Tommy's shirt & let him run around in the splashpad. His face was shear joy the entire time. I wish we'd only found it sooner during the hottest part of the day! Overall, we really enjoyed this zoo. :) :) :)

4th of July

2011-07-09T21:34:00.004-06:00

This post is a little out of order, but I wanted to post one of my favorite holidays! I love dressing silly & all RED, WHITE, & BLUE! I always feel so much pride being able to live in the land of the FREE. I've always loved this holiday, but I love it even more ever since I lived out of the country & realized just how great our country is! Here is our family decked out for the 4th :)

I didn't plan on being in IF for the 4th, but they celebrate it so well & since we don't have a parade I thought we should go for Tommy's sake. He was really into it & didn't want to look away from all of the excitement.
One of my favorite things is making festive food so here is what I created for this year. My sister Katie helped me put it all together for her fiance's family BBQ.

I saw a picture of this on someone's blog & didn't know what they did for the star part cuz it was at a weird angle so I made up my own... blueberries on fruit pizza & then did star shaped fruit pizza for the other platter... Vic's favorite.

Here is my adorable little firecracker. It was fun making her booties, headband, & bracelet for this special occassion!

My 2 kiddos... Tommy just stares at the camera and refuses to smile at it these days no matter what sort of jumping jack, crazy tongue face Vic makes!

Summers are for barbacues!

2011-07-09T21:04:00.005-06:00

We went to the neighbors BBQ last night and I put Whitney in this outfit for the first time & I was just tickled pink with it! Every day I am just amazed at what a little dolly she is & so fun to dress up :)
Last weekend we went to my Grandma's birthday BBQ on my dad's side. I've never been that close to them so it was really fun to get to know my cousin-in-laws a lot better. I have some really fun relatives! I wish I lived closer to get to hang out with them all more often. Here is Whitney with her Grandpa (my dad!). They look so sweet together.

Tommy loved getting spoiled & having Grandpa push him around in this car. If these things were only 5 bucks then I'd run out and get one asap. They are the smartest invention to have a long handle like that!

Here is Tommy with his first pinata. He liked it a lot better when they gave him a baseball bat to use. He is a natural baseball fan (possible infuenced by his daddy!)

Once the pinata was broken Tommy got a sucker & didn't care about the rest of the candy... he was interested in the toys though & happy to have some new bath toys :)

I helped my sister make stuff for her wedding & it was nice because Tommy was entertained by my mom's cat Yoshi. Poor thing got chased all around the house by him. I have allergies to most animals so he is never around them & thinks they are SO fascinating!

We got some free stickers in the mail so I gave them to Tommy & it is the first time he showed interest in them. He loved putting them EVERYWHERE! His favorite place to put them was Dad's hair. I should have taken a picture of the 2 of them together!

We went to our friend's house today to "swim" and Tommy was in love with their slide! He had so much fun until he was beyond exhaustion. He fell asleep before we even got him in his crib. He jumped down the stairs part & acted like it was a slide. I thought he'd cry, but he loved it.

...just look at that little daredevil's face. He gets such an adrenaline rush when he does scary things. It is so funny that they learn stuff like that so early!

Needless to say our summer has been so much FUN!

Swimming Pool Time!

2011-06-28T20:19:00.006-06:00

Here is another extra post for poor Vic who is missing the kiddos like crazy:
I don't know why I haven't done it before now, but I decided to finally put our pool up for the summer. I can already tell it was a great investment with many hours of entertainment ahead! I blew it up while Tommy was napping & let him get in it while I was filling it up. He thought it was the greatest thing ever! As soon as I put him in it he started throwing himself all over in it & is so NOT afraid to put his head under the water. Whenever he fell all the way in he'd come up laughing :)

I don't know what goes through a kids mind, but he thought it was so much fun to fill one side with all of his outdoor toys.

After getting over the joy of having all his toys in there he decided they all needed a ride down the slide. He of course didn't want to go down the slide himself.

Why is it that kids sitting around eating bad food is so much cuter than adults?!?

Tommy loved when Anna got there with her kids. Hank made Tommy laugh & laugh! ...and once he saw the other kids laughing down the slide then he suddenly thought it was great fun too.

Time for otter-pop break number 2! (We were out there for 3 hours before the 2nd break!)

I had to snap a picture when all of these cute little babies clustered together :)

Tommy was sad to see his friends leave & was whimpering in excess so I put him in his pajamas & he kept trying to take them off because he didn't want to go to bed so I took him outside to calm him down & before I could catch him he ran & jumped in the pool fully dressed! So I let him play for another 1/2 hour (at 8:00 at night!) and finally told him that we really did have to go in & I took off his sopping clothes. He didn't like that so he went running into the yard & pouted like this for a good 5 minutes. I just had to run inside & grab the camera again for one more shot! ....haha! It was so funny to see a naked baby sitting in the middle of my lawn :)

A pleasant day at last!

2011-06-25T21:50:00.009-06:00

Vic has been gone for 2 weeks now & is still going to be gone for another week so you can imagine that it STRESSES me out to no end to be a single working mom! I am too tired to do anything & poor Tommy is such a Daddy's boy & has been missing his dad like crazy so today was a nice change :)
Today I did my new favorite hike again. I loved doing it once a year the last couple of years & this year I decided to buy a season pass so I didn't have the excuse of not wanting to pay. I just love that the whole way up you can look over & see THIS amazing view of Shoshone Falls! (I wish Vic was in my view today too!) While this hike has a great view, it is really STEEP! I was so happy to finally con a friend into going with me today. She has babies almost the exact same months apart as I do so we were quite the site hauling 4 babies up the hill.
Don't really love this picture of me or Tommy, but I love how pretty the river is down in the canyon. I wish our city would pay to put a walk around it like Boise & Idaho Falls has. (We just have a mile path along the edge of the canyon that makes me totally nervous to have Tommy by as it has no gate seperating the path from the edge!

Since Vic is gone I wanted to fill him in on the details of our day....

Tommy loved this little playhouse at my friend's house... I think we should definitely get one some day... sooner than too much later :)

This is Tommy's new BEST friend Ava! I have never seen him play longer with any kid without getting upset or bored. He was so in love with Miss Ava that he didn't cry for lunch so I finally just fed him at 3! ...and normally he takes a nap around noon, but he was so excited to play with Ava that he never even whimpered. When I got home at 5:30 I set him in his bed & his eyes drooped shut before I could even put the crib rail up!

He was (of course) too scarred to go down the tube slide so he was tickled pink every time Ava went down it. He would get all happy & clap for her!

Tommy kept looking at the bunny in the cage so we decided to get the bunny out to pet & Tommy didn't really care to touch it. He just wanted to sit by Ava...

...and crawl & run circles around her while she held it.

Every time Tommy goes to his cousin's house he is too afraid to jump on the trampoline & I am constantly trying to show him how fun it is to bounce so I was tickled pink to see him finally conquer his fear of it. He bounced away with Ava on there & laughed the whole time!

He was NONSTOP smiles with anything he did with her. They'd run into her room & bounce on the bed together, sit in matching mini chairs & read books at the same time, etc. Ava is only 5 months older so they are pretty much on the same wave length of what activites they like to do & Tommy would just copy everything she did & follow her everywhere. Even when he decided to check out the toy room Ava didn't want to, but she stayed in there anyway to be next to Tommy. It made me so happy to see him this happy & content!

...and I can't forget Miss Whitney! Here she is laying on the grass next to Addie. I always have the longest babies! Addie is 4 months older & Whitney has already caught up to her and if you didn't notice in the pictures Tommy is bigger than Ava too!

Overflowing with LOVE!

2011-06-16T17:52:00.006-06:00

Haha! I just swiped this off of Holly's blog. I just thought it was too cute not to share with others! Especially because I have been OVERFLOWING with love for my cute little family lately! I mean look at them... aren't they just SO cute! The water is really high at Shosone Falls this year so there was a ton of people everywhere. The water is just chugging over the sides and you can't even see the bottom because there is so much mist in the air! Even right now I just want to squish that silly boy's cheeks! He has been cracking us up lately because when he runs those chubby cheeks bounce all over, especially when he is pouting about something!

I have been thinking Tommy is so big lately because he is big for his age & because he is way bigger than Whitney, but when we took him to the park this week he looked so tiny next to the big kids, especially when they were calling him a baby. He was funny on the bridge. It must have been scarry to him because he would only crawl on it. I love this picture because it makes him look like a baby which oddly makes me happy. It's nice to think of him as a baby instead of the wild toddler that he is quickly growing into!

...and the other thing that I am CONSTANTLY wanting to squish is Whitney! She is just nonstop looking like the cutest little dolly ever! I couldn't decide which of these two pictures is cuter so I am posting them both!

Whitney's Blessing Day

2011-06-09T15:27:00.005-06:00

Here is my little angel on her blessing day! She was really good & Vic gave a sweet blessing. She didn't want to be awake or asleep so here she is making a funny face!
Me & my baby girl.

Whitney & her Daddy Vic.

I meant to get a big group picture of everyone that came to the party, but it seemed like everyone was always scrattered since we did it in our backyard. The weather was perfect and even a little on the warm side which is a miracle for Idaho in the spring!

I am still just LOVING all of that wild hair!

I thought she looked like a little dolly when I took her to a funeral yesterday so I just had to steal another picture :)

You know the best part about this little DOLLY?!? I love dressing her up & all three of these outfits & accessories were 100% FREE by either hand-me-downs, coupons, gifts, or old stuff laying around the house!

1st smile

2011-06-01T14:07:00.005-06:00

I just couldn't wait to add this picture onto another post so here is Miss Whitney's adorable smile! She has been very consistant for about a week, but I just thought to pull out the camera this morning so here is her 1st smile caught on camera:

...and yes, she has a bad case of bedhead!

I can hardly believe this little munchkin is 6 weeks old already!! Time flies too fast with 2 kids.

Mr. Copycat

2011-05-23T14:44:00.006-06:00

Tommy's latest thing is copying everything Vic or I do. This kid cracks me up all day long, but some things are just WAY funnier than others. My favorite this week was when he saw I diaper I just changed on Whitney & he picked it up and ran off with it. I chased after him & he hurried & threw it down the stairs. At first I wanted to tell him "no!", but then I realized he was just being "helpful"! Haha, I don't trust the diaper genie so whenever one of the kids are poopy & I don't want to haul them all downstairs to throw out a stinky diaper I throw it to the landing in the middle of our stairs so that it doesn't stink up the upstairs, but it is in the way so I don't forget to grab it on my way down. Anyway, funny how they are always watching & ready to copy whatever we do! The pictures below cracked me up so I just HAD to share! Here he is copying Vic/Daddy if you can't tell!
The title of this picture is:

"Excuse me while I text my people."

...make a few phone calls...
...and then do the booty dance because I just realized that mom & dad are laughing at me & I love to put on a show!

...and then later he decided to be like mommy so while I was trying to plant he came & pushed me out of the way so he could dig his own flower holes!

This one doesn't show anything,but Vic took it & I like the angle & pose :)

Whitney's Newborn Pictures

2011-05-21T18:42:00.000-06:00

Here is my dear sweet Whitney's announcement. I wish I was organized enough to send them to everyone, but just the grandparents & aunts got them so here it is for everyone else! I was scarred to mess up her newborn pictures since you can't redo them later, but I think they all turned out pretty good & I saved myself lots of $$$! I put the rest of them on my photo blog: clickHERE to see them all :)

UPDATES!

2011-05-13T19:58:00.006-06:00

Okay, I haven't posted on here for awhile so I thought I'd do 4 posts at once so be prepared to read, read, read!!!
I thought I'd start off with a few random shots around the house. Here is the sight that we see several times a day at our house. Tommy LOVES his baby sister & every time it gets quiet we know to run & see where Whitney is because Tommy is probably trying to give her loves, pick her up, or kiss her... which is usually smashing her & waking her up!

We have gotten lots of loving gifts for Miss Whitney. Tommy was tickled pink whenever someone gave us a gift for him too or a gift that will be for both of them. Here he is right after opening a book from my Aunt.

I thought I would only dress my girl in all pink all of the time, but after seeing her in this adorable sleep sack my sister-in-law Becky made us & another brown outfit, I've decided that BROWN of all colors is my favorite on her!!

Vic was of course the best husband on Mother's Day. I woke up to him giving me a massage, breakfast in bed, and when I came down to the kitchen this is what was waiting for me:

My card sang a song when you opened it and Tommy thought that was the greatest thing ever. Makes me want to find a singing book! Here he is so happily dancing to the song on top of his "stage" ...aka.. my new outdoor patio swing!

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-13T18:42:00.011-06:00

HAPPY late EASTER!!! Easter is one of my favorite holidays for several reasons: Christ's sacrifice, spring & everything coming to life, gorgeous little girls dressed up like princesses, candy, chocolate covered rice crispy eggs, egg dying, family gatherings, egg hunts, and presents!
Here is my little Whitney dressed up. I LOVED all of the sweet ruffles on her dress, bloomers, & socks. I never thought I'd be one for so many ruffles, but they are so SWEET on a newborn :) Vic thinks she is making some weird pose, but it's all I got so here you go!
Look at Kara on the right, being a normal kid decorating her boiled egg. Now see what my son does:

He poked his little finger in as far as he could get it on 3 eggs in a row!!!

Then tore them up into shreds!!!

Tommy had a little practice with opening the eggs & finding treats so when he saw all of the eggs out in the yard he ran out there before we said go for all of the kids.

He was so distressed when we pulled him back so that we could get a picture of him & his cousins together! (Hence his happy smiling cousins & his mad little face) I have to add that these girls had absolutely gorgeous Easter dresses, but we had to celebrate a week late so that is why they are wearing jeans!

Since this was their 3rd hunt they were professional egg grabbers!

Here is Tommy & Evie finding their eggs in the "baby eggs" half of the yard. (I put freeze dried yogurt things & puffs in their eggs)

Here is Tommy & his egg bucket. He didn't want to put any eggs in there because he wanted to eat whatever was inside as soon as he found it!

I kept trying to put eggs in his basket & he would carry it for about 30 seconds before dumping it out & trying to open all of the eggs! Here is Tommy meeting his first set of golf clubs....

Who would have thought it would be his favorite gift! We bought these for $5 and a mini baby slide for $100 and what do you think he spends all of his time with?!?.... the $5 clubs of course!
He loves to hit anything around with his new clubs. He has quite the hacking swing, it is hilarious :)

Here is Evie (9 months old) trying to pick up a yogurt that dropped out of her egg. It took quite a bit of effort & eating some grass along with it to finally get it in her mouth!

Tommy was about this same age when he fell in love with suckers (he stole them from our Halloween bowl) so I thought Evie was ready for her first one. Here she is sticking the stick in her mouth....

...but she figured it out what to do with it pretty quick-sucking through the wrapper and all... and I was right-she loved it. (even though her mom & dad probably didn't love it as much!)
The Easter Bunny hid my basket on top of the patio so I made him, I mean Vic, get it down for me!!

Tommy finding one of his presents... my family goes pretty crazy on Easter & it's almost like Christmas!!

I thought Grandpa Miller would be proud to see that all of his grandkids knew exactly what to do with a tool set! ...even Tommy that had never held a screwdriver before!

Sutherland Easter

2011-05-13T18:35:00.003-06:00

I thought I better add our Sutherland Easter on here too. You wouldn't think by my blog that we do much with them, but it's just that we see them so often that I never think to take my camera along to take pictures. Aunt Jessica (my sister-in-law) did an egg hunt for the kids & some of the eggs had puzzle pieces in them. Here they are putting the puzzle together. It was a picture of Christ & a kid on his lap. Vic & I both thought that it was a really cute idea we may take in the future :)

Afterwards, Vic did his own hunt with only a few eggs with a "grand prize" remote control robot thing or princess chess of bedroom decorations. Here is all of the kids lined up ready to go on the search.

It is always mass chaos with these kids so I just love pictures of them running all over the place. I also love that the 14-17 year olds ran around with just as much excitement & enthusiasm as the 5 year olds!

Here is a better picture of some of the younger ones:

Vic hid the egg that said grand prize a little too well so we had to give them a hint as to where it was so it was mass chaos of frantic looking in one spot at the end!

One look at these pictures & it gives you a good idea of the madness that always surrounds Sutherland get togethers... another reason I never get any pictures! He comes from a family of 8 kids that mostly live around here & my Whitney is the 26th grandkid... with plenty more still to come! (not from us, but other siblings :)

9 Months prego & swimming!

2011-05-13T18:19:00.006-06:00

Here is a post I should have posted one month ago!:

I have been going a bit stir crazy lately & have been wanting to take Tommy swimming so we went up to 1000 springs. The drive was a bit long to the middle of nowhere, but it was really fun & we'll do it again :) Here is my friend Cara & our cute little swimmers:
I love this boys long lashes!

On the way home we stopped to see the alligators. They were very unimpressive lumps in the grass that you could barely see. Vic was quite dissapointed that he remembered it being so much cooler. It wasn't a complete waste of time though cuz I got this cute picture of him in this giant hand! (althought this is his cry/smile)

Normally I would get mad at Tommy for touching the computer as he is always trying to push buttons & be so helpful, but I don't even know how to open up this drawing program myself so I laughed when I came in the room to see this scene & had to run & get my camera before I pulled him away!

Baby Whitney is here!

2011-04-20T11:45:00.007-06:00

Whitney Vanessa Sutherland

4.18.11

8lbs 6oz, 21in

Here we are right after she was born :)

Vic, of course, is once again the proudest, happiest daddy out there.

Tommy meeting Whitney. He was so funny- right when he crawled up into my lap he stuck his face across from hers with the biggest, silliest grin on his face.

Look at that proud brother!!

After looking, he thought he needed to give her a kiss & a hug. As you can see from the picture, he wasn't that worried about upsetting or smashing her :)

After all of his playfulness, he snuggled up next to her & decided he needed to study her face. It's hard to believe these two are siblings with their opposite hair colors!

Whitney & Grandma VanSickle (my mom)... luckily here for 3 days to help out with Tommy!

Whitney and Grandpa & Grandma Miller (my dad/stepmom)

Whitney, Uncle Darren, & Grandma & pa Sutherland (Vic's parents)

And now... THE LABOR STORY!

I'd have to say I was quite miserable going 5 days over, but it may have been very worth it as this labor was 100 times easier than the last! The last one was 23 hours, draining, & awful with an awful doctor I'd never met, & a grumpy nurse. This time...

Monday:

9:30am: I went in for doctor appt w/ my regular doctor & he said the hospital was open to induce me if I wanted to so of course I jumped all over that! Scrambled home to pack, get Tommy to a friend's, eat, & get back to the hospital by 12 to check in.

1:00pm: Doctor broke my water & told me that I was already at a 4 so I could get epidural right away. I was shocked cuz I remember how many hours of pain I had to go through last time before I could have the epidural. I was sorely tempted to do it right away, but I wanted to get this thing done with as soon as possible so I opted to walk until I felt I couldn't handle it any more.

4:00pm: I was doing just fine with only mild discomfort & suddenly within 5 minutes they got way harder & my eyes teared up on a contraction & just the memory of how painful it was last time made me panic & call for the epidural! Luckily, since it was during the day, the anesthesiologist was in house & came right up to give it to me. I was sitting pretty by 4:30. Prettyish I should say. Last time I had a spot it didn't work on the right side & this time both legs were totally numb, but right down the middle wasn't all the way numb! It made it much easier though & all I had to do was light breathing through each contraction.

6:00pm: My doctor had gotten off work & came to check on me before he went home & it was a good thing he did because I was already at a 9 1/2! He went & got dressed down, gathered up the needed staff, & by that time I was fully ready to push. I still pushed her out in 4 minutes just like last time, but this time I could feel it-- making it way harder to want to push! I hate that I could feel it, but glad to have the experience of knowing what it feels like to have a little HUMAN come out of me! Total time was just under 6 hours which was AMAZING. I can't believe how different having a baby can be! I can now understand why women can do it more than twice :) AND... even though epidurals never seem to work perfectly... thank goodness for that modern miracle!!

Naming this little girl was a challenge! Little Miss Whitney came out & I seriously would not believe she was mine if I hadn't seen her come out of me! When we went to the hospital we had the name Whitney Vanessa picked out because I thought this baby was going to look just like Tommy, but girly. So when I saw this little girl I had no idea what to call her! I kept going back & forth between names & really just felt weird naming a little girl that I was still having a hard time believing was mine! Finally I just decided that the name Whitney is cute & she is cute so they match :) I still am not sold on the name for her, but I'm sure it will grow on all of us. I picked out Whitney so Vic got to pick out Vanessa.

24 hours later & I'm really starting to feel the awful pain of healing and the rocky road to recovery, but it is all so worth it when I look at Whitney's sweet little face. She is so tiny and lovable & I can't wait to spend the next 6 weeks 100% at home with her :)

Here is one more shot of this little cutie with her sweet little feet poking out- you can't really see the blanket that well in this picture, but Vic's mom made her another one of her amazing blankets. We are so lucky she has such talent!

Tommy's Update

2011-04-17T19:32:00.002-06:00

My little Whitney is refusing to come out (she is now 4 days late) & I haven't said much about Tommy lately so I thought I'd share this adorable kid of mine. He is now 16 months and constantly moving. I'm sure everyone thinks their kid has way too much energy, but Tommy really does! I have strangers constantly comment on how busy he is. Him always moving makes it easy for him to entertain himself while I get stuff done at least! My brother called him Tommy Tornado when we went to visit there & it has sort of stuck to him because we realized that is exactly what he is! If you see him coming, then watch out! It's not in a bad way, as he is the happiest, smiliest little guy... just a daredevil that is always testing his boundaries & getting bruises all over him :) He finally learned to dance & now does it all day long & loves it when I sing to him. (probably the only person that wants to hear that noise!) He is a 100% Daddy's boy. When Vic is around he doesn't want to go to anyone else. I love watching the two of them play together- it is nonstop giggles from Tommy which makes me laugh every time. He knows he can get what he wants without talking so he prefers to pull us to whatever he wants & point, but he signs & says "more" consistantly. Other words are: duck, bubbles, mama, dada, no, Carter, baa (for sheep), & grrr (for anything fuzzy), where'd it go, and Vic swears he said baseball today. I have a hard time believing that one! His favorite game is hide and seek whether it be him hiding behind the curtain, me sticking a blanket over my head, or hiding something & trying to find it. He is obsessed with any form of the game!

Summed up... a CUTE face that is impossible not to LOVE!!!

Where is baby?!

2011-04-13T17:25:00.001-06:00

I am 40 weeks today!!! So why am I still posting? ...because I am one of those unlucky girls that get to go over EVERY time! I hate knowing people that had due dates after me & they are already holding their sweet little baby. It's so not fair!! I went to the doctor today & I've started to dilate, but doesn't want to induce me for another week. I can't imagine having to go an entire week longer. yuck. I am officially ready for the baby to come now! I finished my last day of work, did all of my errands, did all of the laundry, & cleaned the house. Now I have nothing to do, but sit & wait!! This is not the most flattering picture, but it is the only profile picture I took this pregnancy. It is a week ago at 39 weeks. I have been busy doing lots of little projects that always seem to take longer than they should! We loved this little moses basket for Tommy & used it a ton as a travel bed everywhere we went. I didn't want to spend another $50 so I decided to recover it to make it girly. Many times I thought it wasn't worth the money, but I'd already bought the fabric so I kept telling myself I had to finish! I'm happy with the results & can't wait to see a precious girl in it!

Then I figured I'd finally get around to finishing Tommy's letters. I painted these circles & put them up before he was born, but I never got around to ordering the vinyl lettering for it so here is the final project after a year!

...and now I can finally post a picture of his finished nursery. (Still no finished room for the little girl to come, maybe next year!)

I love when I see tiny little flowers on headbands for newborns so I decided to make a few of those too. Here is Tommy as my poor model :)

I made MORE bows! haha, I'm obsessed now. It is so much fun to make them! I thought these were fun because you can pick any outfit, go to the fabric store, find a bolt of fabric that matches, & only buy an inch or two for 30cents. Click HERE for the tutorial.

I was so in love with these bows that I made a bunch more & have been enjoying wearing them in my own hair!

Baby Girl on the Way!

2011-03-27T15:56:00.009-06:00

I had a bow making party with a few of my closest friends to celebrate a baby girl on the way. I called it a "BLING OUT BABY" party & tried to have lots of bling around (besides all of the bows we made!) Here is a picture of our lunch table. It was fun to walk in the room & be blasted by pink. Can't wait to do that to a girl's room one day! Little closer view:

Yummy pink candies.. also did mini tissue poms. I was going to use them as napkin rings, but then I liked the flowers better.

Blinged out everything I could... vases, pots, placetags, & even the silverwear

I added some bling to her pacifiers. Hopefully it helps Tommy know it isn't his!

My gorgeous friends :) Shelly, Brittany, Wendy, Erin, me, Anna

And after lunch we made LOTS of bows! Check out all my new bows. I made them with baby in mind, but I'm sure I'll be wearing my fair share of them too!

My favorite were the most time consuming of course... check out the post below to see a tutorial on how to make those :)

Silk & tulle bow Tutorial

2011-03-27T15:39:00.004-06:00

I just learned how to make this gorgeous hair bow & thought I'd share :) First cut 3 circles of silk each slightly bigger than the other. Then cut 6 slits almost to the center to create 6 petals. Then shape the petals by cutting the corners off each petal. It'll look kind of square & definitely doesn't need to be symmetric. Now cut 6 strips of tulle a bit longer than the length of the silk circles & tie 3 of them together like below: Then burn the edges of all of the silk flowers to look like this:

Now Layer them biggest silk, tulle, middle silk, tulle, & smallest silk. You can either hot glue or sew them into place. I just used hot glue. Then trim the tulle down to just longer than the silk & burn just the tips.

Add some pearls in the middle & you are done! I can't wait to make a bunch more colors! Here are the few I've done so far: (the purple one is just round circles layered on top of each other with tulle & silk)

St. Patrick's Day Treat

2011-03-08T16:50:00.005-07:00

I was reading Holly's blog & saw THIS post and was inspired to make my own St. Patrick's Day treat for a few lucky friends & the girls I visit teach. (I changed the words a little for the girls I visit teach.) Below is a picture of my 'pot of gold' Hershey nuggets & Rolos bag & what I wrote on the inside. It's fun to make friends smile with little treats like this so by sharing I hope it inspires you to make a fun little treat for someone out there :)

Snow at Last!

2011-02-26T23:43:00.005-07:00

I kept wanting to blog on here, but I was trying to wait until Tommy & I were both finally healthy. I can't believe how long it took, but I can now say that we've both been healthy for an entire TWO days! Life is so much more positive when you can see straight! The best part about it is that we finally got snow! We haven't seen snow since Thanksgiving so I was pretty excited. We went down by the canyon to tube on the hill & look how pretty the walls were:

It was the perfect sunny day to go sledding.

Tommy was pretty tickled pink. He was so happy to be outside & I think he really loved sliding down the hill. He usually cries when his feet touch the snow, but today he insisted walking up the hill by himself and stared down at his feet the whole way. It was pretty stinkin' cute to see him waddeling up the hill... we had him bundled up in 4 pairs of pants, new bulky big shoes, & 2 hats (since we lost his!)

Later we went miniature golfing with our friends, the Heiders. I couldn't believe it was the first time that they'd taken their kids age 2 1/2 & 5! They absolutely loved it & Dillon, their 2 1/2 year old cried when we left because he wanted to keep going. Tommy was happy just to carry the glow in the dark balls around. Hopefully he loves it when he gets older too.

My cute golfers.

I really meant to get my first profile prego picture today, but forgot as we seemed to have been rushed the entire day. I can't believe I'm 33 1/2 weeks along without a picture yet! As for an update: We still haven't agreed on a name yet. I have, however, bought her lots of hats & bows :) I have now surpassed how much I weighed when I went into labor with Tommy so that is pretty depressing, especially cuz it's already hard to bend over & get around. I feel like a "fat man in a little coat" waddling around everywhere I go! I have also found that this pregnancy is way more of an emotional roller coaster than the last. I get down so easy, I guess it is all that extra girl hormone inside me! 6 1/2 more weeks... I'm getting close to counting it on one hand, that is the good part :)

SICK of sick!

2011-02-05T20:38:00.001-07:00

I know this isn't a very uplifting post, but seriously... do you ever just get so SICK of all of the bugs flying around during the winter! Tommy & I were sick for 3 weeks at the end of November/beginning of December & then we got home from vacation & got another cold for 2 weeks. Tommy is now over his cold & back to his happy self, although his sleeping schedule is very messed up.
AND why I'm writing this is because... I am STILL sick! Well, I'm no longer the contagious yucky cold sick, but I have my first sinus infection. It is awful. It is so weird to walk into a room & know I should be smelling dinner, but don't & I can't taste a thing. I am always having to check Tommy's bum just in case he pooped cuz I have no clue cuz I can't smell! ...can't hardly hear anyone or myself, I'm always popping the Tylenol to relieve the pressure in my head....AND as another bonus I can't sleep at night because when I lay flat the pressure builds in my head. I am wishing we had a recliner so I could sleep on that. Oh yes, and add to that the misery of being 7 months awkward pregnant too!
Haha! This is such a venting post :) I just have to say I am so tired of going through a kleenex box a day, hoping for Tommy to take an extra long nap, but most of all that I keep wishing for each day to pass quickly with hope for relief in the next day. BEING SICK IS NOT LIVING, it is SURVIVING! and therefore.... I am SICK of being SICK!
So, please thank the Lord for your health tonight & enjoy that workout, playing with your kids, finishing up your projects, cleaning, etc. because all those things mean that you are healthy & well & have the energy to get off the couch!

January Vacation

2011-01-21T21:54:00.001-07:00

Vic had to use or lose his vacation by the end of the month so we took off to see my brothers! Here is a little recap of our getaway.
Day 1: Driving-yuck! Although I can't complain too much because Tommy was an unexpected angel the entire way there & back!

Day 2: Portland & Vancouver
My oldest brother, Jason, lives in Portland so we spent the day visiting him and seeing a little bit of Portland. I haven't spent time with him in about 2 years. It is so nice that, with family, it doesn't matter how much time you've spent apart, you start off where you left off as if you hadn't been apart :) Here is Vic, Tommy, & I by the downtown waterfront.

I couldn't believe how green the grass was in the middle of winter! Jason & I below:
Jason got married 3 months ago so we went down to meet his sweet new wife, Lisa, at her work. This cute little playground for kids about 3 & under only was outside her work. It looks like painted cement, but all the stuff is soft. Tommy had a grand time running around.

In the evening we drove up to Vancouver to see my Aunt Jill & her daughter Sara. I haven't been to her house for at least 10 years! It was fun to run down memory lane in her yard. She is a game lover like us so we ate pizza and played games with her. It was a lot of fun & made me have one more reason I wish I lived closer to the area! After her house we drove to my other brother Ben's house.

Day 3: Seattle/Tacoma

AfterWe went to visit my other older brother, Ben, after Jason. His daughter is turning 5 in a week so they did her party while we were there. It was a Hawaiian luau at the pool. Becky made this amazing cake with Kara buried in the sand! It was so stinkin' cute. Plus we had LOTS of yummy finger food goodies. The funny thing is the kids were having too much fun playing with the dress up stuff to sit down and actually eat at the super cute decorated table!

Here is Vic, Tommy, & I in our luau outfits :) Not so flattering when I'm 6 months prego, but still fun to dress up Hawaiian!

I was trying to get a picture of Tommy in his Hawaiian hat & he decided he needed to kiss Dad at that moment which wa so cute cuz I've never caught his kisses on camera!

This was Tommy's first time swimming in a pool. I thought for sure he'd be so excited since he loves bathtime, but he was a little overwhelmed at first. I think part of it was that the pool was so cold. I don't know why pools always keep it so cold!

He had a blast after he got used to it. He loves splashing in water & especially seeing my reaction when he gets me wet :)

All of this party time landed on Vic's birthday!... so we had to do a little celebrating for him on his actual birthday. He wanted to see a comedy show so we went to COMEDY UNDERGROUND in Seattle and saw a traveling comedian, Mike Winfield. He was clean & hilarious so if you get the chance then you have to go see him! I love when laughter brings tears to my eyes :)

Day 4 Relax/ Vic Birthday Party!

We had more time on Sunday to celebrate Vic's birthday so the girls helped me set up the decorations, make his banana cream pie, and make a few games. They had a blast & in Kiersten's words made the room "oh so beautiful". I don't know whose idea it was, but one of Vic's gifts was wrapped in toilet paper & Kara thought it was hilarious to give him a "poopy gift". :) My sweetie is now 31!

Day 5: Zoo & Aquarium

Tommy was okay at the zoo, but when it came to the aquarium he had a hay day. He ran around gibbering & pointing his finger at everything. It was really cute.

I liked the seahorse area best. It was all so bright and colorful that it almost looked fake!

Here is a close up of some of the bigger seahorses. It doesn't look real-- right?!

Just a cute picture of cousins checking out the fish together.

Tommy by the shark tank. He liked them, but he didn't like the walruses. I guess they were a little too big & close for him. I, myself couldn't believe how huge the walruses were.
Happy boy at the end of the aquarium part.
Here is Tommy's first slide ride all by himself. His coat made him go really fast & it's a little big of a slide for him so he wasn't real happy about it! He did love going down with his dad though.

Day 6: Princess Party!

We went shopping and out to eat during the day & for some reason it exhausted me so I took a two hour nap when we got home. ....which made me sad cuz I wanted to do a full princess party with a picture shoot, fancy hair, and make a princess cupcake kit that I bought for Kara, but I was so tired and I didn't want to let Kara cuz she'd been talking about it for a few days so I did a quick version of my other party. We dressed up like princesses, had a tea party, stamped cards, and made a pixel craft. Kids are so easy to please so the girls still had a great time.

Day 7: Drive Home

I think that late night game playing and early wake ups with Tommy wore me out every day. I really wanted to do a full photo shoot with all of the kids and individually, but every day I was too tired! I was still determined to get a picture so right before I left I threw up a background and took a few pictures. Kara was gone to school so I couldn't get her in the picture, but I attempted to get this picture:

This isn't even an actual picture, but a collage I put together! See the chaos below to see why I couldn't get a real picture, haha! (and some super cute pictures of my sweet little nieces)

Super quick photoshoot!

2011-01-21T21:38:00.011-07:00

Here is the photoshoot I told about above. I'll start with Ben's oldest; she is 5 now so she was a breeze to get a bunch of cute smiles out of :)

KARA

His next is 3 in a few months. She tried so hard to give me her cheese & looked away from the camera on most shots!
...but I hit the jackpot with this one. I think she looks absolutely adorable!

Kiersten

And his 3rd girl just turned 6 months. I LOVE her blue eyes!

EVIE

And here is the mass chaos of me attempting to get a cute cousin picture.

Tommy usually loves babies, but he didn't want Evie touching him!

Then he kept running away...
Then Evie decided she needed to crawl away....

Kiersten decided she needed a snack!....

...and got a dirty face....

SOOOOooo....

I just collaged them all together. I didn't get one of them smiling at the camera so here is the best of each one all put together! hahaha!

A Very Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T16:14:00.012-07:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS! This year was especially fun with Tommy being old enough to participate! (...and not being in pain from delivery & nursing 24/7!)

We saw LOTS of Vic's family for Christmas. We did Christmas Eve at Vic's brother's house. We had the elf deliver our Christmas pajamas there this year. Here is Tommy cute as ever in his new jammies :)
Here is a little glimpse of how crammed & crazy it is with the Sutherlands. I always feel like I'm stepping on someone the entire time I'm there! This is 1/2 the kids dressed up to act out the nativity scene while his brother reads it from the scriptures.
Here is Christmas Morning. Tommy checking out his stocking. He instantly grapped the big toy sticking out, but it took some more coaching for him to check out the rest! I thought he'd be pretty excited I gave him a sucker cuz he loves them & I never let him have them, but Vic's stalking had oranges & peanuts in it & he went crazy over them! He grabbed an orange & ate right through the peel then did the same with a peanut!

My cute boys dressed up for PRESENT TIME!

Tommy has a unique way to open his gifts. I'll walk you through the

STEPS TO OPEN A PRESENT:

1. Jump & Climb all over it

2. Tear off the smallest pieces, peek inside, & try to play with it before all the wrapping is off! ...and then continue pulling off pieces little by little.

3- CRY because you are so impatient that Dad can't get the toy unattached from the box fast enough. (make sure to cry with EVERY gift for the same reason!)

4- DIVE into boxes no matter what there size is (even if your face is the only thing that fits!)5-EAT the packaging

6- Make a MESS of yourself

7- Find the garbage & try to make a mess.

and finally... PLAY with new toys!!! :)

And here is our happy little camper with most of his presents. He is CONSTANTLY moving these days so its hard to get a picture that he isn't in action!

...and then we went over to Vic's parents house for lunch and played games that made us laugh the ENTIRE day/evening!

...and games that made 3 grown brothers hold hands, so cute :)

I hope that all who read this had just as MERRY of a Christmas too!

We love all of you faithful readers and grateful for your friendship & comments. We've had a fun year sharing all our pictures and stories with you :)

Love, The Sutherlands

Cookie Monster Birthday Party

2010-12-15T18:51:00.005-07:00

Tommy Turned 1!!! ... so of course I had to make a big deal of his FIRST birthday! :)

The theme was "Cookie Monster" so here is the invite I sent out:

Here is the background/treat table that I made. It was fun to create, but everything I did took a lot longer than I thought it would, haha! Those tissue poms were a beast at first, but fun & easy once I got it down. I thought they made it feel really festive.

The decorations going counterclockwise:

**The balloons chandelier in the middle of streamers was so super simple, but had a big effect... I'll definitely be doing that again!

**The cookie monster hat was very time consuming so I only made one for Tommy & then put the fuzzies on the other hats. I'm so glad I didn't take the time cuz the little babies didn't want to wear them anyway!

**The silverwear wraps were fun to create. The tiny cookie on them is cookie crisp cereal

**The cups were made by googly eyes+ 1/2 a cookie glued on. They were so stinkin' cute & I thought it was funny cuz everyone at the party threw away their plates, napkins, etc., but no one threw away their cups... maybe they just thought they were too cute to throw away?!

** You'll really have to zoom to see the lollipops, but I made a really cute label for each of them.

** Then there is the birthday boy's chair

** Bubbles on the treat table were just to give to all the kids as they left since that is one of Tommy's favorite*The Food: We just had a bunch of subs from subway, fruit & cheese platter, & chips for dinner to make that part easy, but then I had to make these adorable treats (left to right):

**Cookie Monster Ice cream cake. It had ice cream sandwiches around the outside, oreo crust, & layers of white & blue ice cream that were cookie dough & mint.

**I got my entire idea for the party from the cupcake with the cookie coming out of the mouth. I thought it would be so fun, but I think he looked kind of gross, haha! I much preferred the simpler ones, plus they were way easier to make!

I wanted to give something to all of the adults as a favor so each family got a baby jar full of candy. The twist of course is that it had facts about Tommy on the label :)You'll probably have to click on the picture to read all the fun info :)

CAKE TIME!

Okay, well maybe not. Tommy hated everyone singing to him & started crying! I really thought it would be fun to do a cookie monster party because they whole point of a 1st birthday is to have the ceremonial 1st cake eating & I thought it would be so much fun to have blue & brown all over his cute little face. WELL, he licked the frosting & was done with it! We finally game him some blue jello and that mixed with the frosting made a little bit of a mess. Here he is after about 5-10 minutes.

GAME TIME: I had everyone watch a 5 minute slide show of Tommy's 1st year in order and then had them play this game. They had to put all of Tommy's cute little smiles in order from month 0-12. Most did pretty awful, including Vic, but Jimmy, a friend's husband only mixed 2 up! Then Katie, my sister did 2nd best, followed by his babysitter.

PRESENT TIME! I thought I was so clever making a simple blue bag/wrapping paper into a cookie monster face!

He really just wanted to jump all over the boxes, but I didn't want to bore his crowd so I felt bad forcing him to open them & rush from one present to the next! It will be fun on Christmas to take our time a little more :)

It distressed him that all the little kids wanted to take away all of his new toys so I thought it was time to roll out our main gift to him... a bounce house! He LOVED it! Here Jayda is falling on him, but he just thought everything about this was hilarious & fun :)

Here he is with all of his presents (trying to run out of the picture!) We're missing his big cookie monster & bounce house, plus it's hard to see some books, but for the most part here they all are. He came out pretty good & really balanced between useful & fun stuff.

Here is all of the CUTE PARTY KIDS! It was pretty much impossible to get them all in the picture & looking so this is the closest I got!

A picture of most everyone before it was all a giant mess later!! It was hard to decide who to invite cuz I didn't want it to be so big I didn't have time to play with Tommy at his own party nor did I want big kids running him over, but I thought it turned out perfect :) :) :)

Tommy's Birthday Part 2!

2010-12-15T18:32:00.006-07:00

Tommy's party was on Saturday, but his actual birthday was on Monday. I felt like I needed to still do something for him on his actual big day & we had lots of leftovers so we threw an impromtu party with a few of our friends.
We didn't get a picture of him crying at the party, but when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him... he cried again so this time I got a picture, haha!

Waiting for their ice cream to be served:

TOMMY'S FAVORITE PART!

The few days before the party I started putting up decorations & Tommy was dying to tear them down so I thought it would be fun to let him help me clean up. He was in heaven when he realized I was trying to tell him that now it is okay!

After he pulled down the balloon chandelier he was so tickled pink that he went running back & forth with them bouncing around.

Look for that hidden GIANT smile behind the streamers! My happy ONE year old :) This year has been a blast. Tommy has the funnest-happy little charming personality that has just made my life SO much more blessed :)

Thanksgiving Feast

2010-11-30T14:48:00.007-07:00

TURKEY DAY!!!

We started the day nice & early by first moving out of our hotel Vic's been living in for 2 1/2 months & then going to Idaho Fall's Feed the Hungry run. It was 1 degree! Here is me, Katie, & Nele (our Belgian friend that just moved back :( ) before the race.
And here we are about 6 minutes into... freezing our face off & trying to figure out how to cover up more! I was hoping to get the giant snow drifts & ice covered path in the picture, but this is what you get when you take the picture yourself! haha!
And here is our group, all smiles after the race & some hot chocolate. Everyone did a 5K, but Evan our step brother did his first 10K and Mark, our step-dad did the 1 mile walk with the turkey... You gotta love the turkey runner! haha!
In a circle from the turkey is: me, Katie, stepdad, Amber(stepsis), Nele(friend), Evan(stepbro), & Mom
After the race & Tommy's nap we went to my Dad's house for Thanksgiving lunch/feast. Vic was tickled pink cuz Lana made his banana cream pie that he thinks he needs every holiday. After dinner Tommy entertained them with his drum skills & scooter skills :)

Then we went back to Mom's for Thanksgiving dinner/feast #2! Here is the table all decked out before dinner.

And here is a close up of our cutel little turkeys at everyone's setting:

Katie invented her own pie this year, s'more. It was super rich & tasked just like one, but with the layer of chocolate we had a hard time digging into it! Vic took a picture of us both trying to break it up!

We were all supposed to do a pie so I did a carmel apple cream one that was SUPER delicious. It tasted like you were eating a carmel apple! It was a new recipe I saw in a magazine & will definitely make again. Katie's smore pie,.... and mom's.... um Cheesecake factory pie! haha. We told her we only wanted a picture of the homemade pies, but she wanted to be included in the picture. This way we'll remember she didn't make pumpkin pie like she was supposed to! haha! Not really, I just like to tease her cuz everyone thought someone else was doing the pumpkin pie so we didn't end up eating one this year. :)

It was a super busy day, but so fun.... topped off with a wintry 3 1/2 hour drive home on the bad roads cuz Vic had to work at 5am for Black Friday! ....which I always love that day cuz I got all my shopping done & most of it wrapped :) I can't wait to finish getting all the Christmas stuff out tomorrow.

I love SNOW!

2010-11-20T14:45:00.007-07:00

I LOVE snow! Vic and I always have to go out & play in the first snowfall, but this year it was an added bonus to get Tommy out of the house & introduce him to snow :)

We haven't bought any sleds yet so we pulled out our water tube & pulled him around in that. He thought it was pretty fun & the faster Vic went the more he smiled so Vic started spinning him in circles from the rope until Tommy went flying & rolling out. Then he wasn't so happy about being pulled around! haha! I was video recording everything & stopped right before the spill. Boo, why do I have to miss those moments on camera?!

When Vic got bored with that he decided to make a giant snowman right out our kitchen window so we'll have a big guy to stare at us while we eat. Here he is:

Vic thought he was so cute he wanted to build one for the neighbors to see so we went up front to put one by our front door. Here is Tommy. He was so happy to be crawling up & down the front pathway!

Well, after Vic got one built he wanted to build a whole family of snowmen so here we all are by our snowman. Click on the family picture so you can see that mine is holding a little adorable baby girl snowman! This was such a fun day, probably made even more fun cuz Vic is finally home for a few days!!!

Another BABY!

2010-11-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

My dear brother finally knows & I'm starting to show-- so now I can let the world know....

we are having a baby GIRL!!!

We are so excited! It has been so hard to hold it in. We didn't want to tell people until we knew that our dear baby had a heart beat so we had to wait for Vic to get insurance & now I'm far enough along that we found out she is healthy & a girl at the same time. It was an exciting day for us! I am especially excited that I finally get to go crazy on girl glam stuff :) Vic thinks I'll break the bank, but I'll just have to learn how to make stuff on my own! The big day is:

April 14, 2011

Halloween

2010-10-31T11:13:00.007-06:00

Here is our CUTE little bumblebee! I love kid Halloween costumes. It was so fun having him wear it the last couple of days, I hate to have to put it away & never see it on him again. I took this side picture so you could see the wings.

Here he is standing up (with help!) This is how he prefers to walk everywhere right now. He took his first steps last week & now gets really excited whenever he takes a few steps by himself :)

Cute little shy smile

I helped my good friends kids make these cupcakes for their Halloween party.

...and I spent a couple days helping her decorate her garage. Here is Vic & Tommy at the party. It was really fun with a spook alley, pumpkin carving, & lots of yummy food.

Here they are again a little earlier before it got dark.

This is the next day at the ward party. Vic is a killer doctor if you can't tell what he is supposed to be!!

Here is Tommy and I on our front porch. I wanted it to be fun for the trick or treaters this year. Tommy LOVED answering the door. He tried to crawl away with every kid that came to the door & whenever I lowered my treat plate for the kids to pick their bubbles, teeth, spiders, etc. Tommy would grab some for him too!

Here is the porch without the flash (looks a little spookier!) Plus if you can see, there was a little strobe light right by me & every time a kid walked up spooky sounds would come out. Tommy loved that too, but it did scare one little 3 year old so I felt bad for that! Holidays are so much more fun with kids! I can't wait for next year that Tommy will actually be able to run around!

Oh ya, I have to tell a quick story about the 2 year old chicken that made my night. I asked her what she wanted & she silently stuck out her bag so I put some bubbles in it. I wasn't expecting her to talk & she then stared at me & said "bubbles" clear as day so I gave her another one. Then she said "spider"- gave her that, then "candy" SO she got all three & came out good. HAHA! If only every kid was that stinkin' cute!

10 month pictures!

2010-10-14T23:36:00.005-06:00

Well, I bought this cute little outfit for Tommy's 9 month pictures & I fully planned on taking him into the studio, but now I don't know. I just love the ones we got of him tonight. It was sort of rushed & done in only 15 minutes, but they turned out pretty stinkin' cute. I had a hard time trying to decide which ones to put on here. Grandmas & Aunties let me know which one you want me to send you.
This one turned out so fun & bright :)
I know I'm biased, but ...CUTE right?!

This little guy is the happiest baby ever & I wanted to capture that :)

This one isn't as posy, but I thought it was cute to capture him enjoying himself in the grass.

He had a lot of fun waving this leaf around, it was one of those I more needed a video of.

He didn't really smile in this one, but I love how he's almost standing on his own & that I didn't have to change a thing about coloring or brightness, just came out perfect. Wish I got more of those!

This one was really dark & I had to lighten it a lot so it's poor quality, but I love his expression.

Life Update

2010-09-22T21:19:00.006-06:00

This summer has flown by way too fast. I felt it was stressful having Vic looking for a job & then taking off every time I wasn't working so I am WELL ready for a change of pace & we are going to get one because..... Vic got a job! I am so excited because I have now officially moved to working only 2 days a week. It feels weird since I've only ever worked full time. Today was my first workday off while Vic was working. It wasn't the glorious relaxation I envisioned as Vic kept up perfectly with the launry, garbage, & cooking, but as for the toilet scrubbing, bathtubs, mopping, dusting, window washing, drawer organizing, etc... well that is what I did on my first day off & I feel more exhausted than when I was working! HA, funny how life is always greener on the other side! No, I'm sure it will be great, but I just HAD to get caught up & feel like my house is perfectly clean how I like it.... and I will sleep better knowing I have nothing to clean tomorrow :) The only tough part now is that Vic was hired as Kmart's assistant manager, but they want him to train in Idaho Falls for THREE months. So, it will be hectic trying to work here two days (not in a row) and drive back & forth 2 1/2 hours a couple of times a week, plus live out of a hotel room. We'll see how it goes, but as much as I'll miss Vic, I also don't want to stress Tommy & I out trying to be together. Choices, choices! We'll just keep taking life week at a time & see where it leads us!
I can't have a post without a picture so here is the latest of Tommy:

I want to post pictures the fun stuff we've been up to, but mainly we've been sweating over THIS dreadful project. Last week was my bday so we headed up to Boise to hang out with our good friends, the Hiatts.

I went shopping with Jess half the day until our feet dropped off, then had a free meal at Red Robin. Afterwards we let Tommy crawl around on the grass, but he thought their flower gardens looked more exciting. It's cute how strangers all adore a naught baby!

4 Year Anniversary

2010-08-04T20:47:00.014-06:00

Vic and I have been married 4 years now! Our first year of marriage was so special so it is crazy to realize that every year has just gotten better and better! Our trip was actually a couple of weeks ago before my Grandpa passed, but I still wanted to make sure and share our joy! Vic planned a trip to Costa Rica, but with him having no job... Boise sounded like a good replacement. He did great booking the hotel and planning the trip by himself.

Here we are by the Boise river. I wish upon wish that we had something like that here in Twin!

This picture we took at sunset so it's a little dark, but I still really like it.

Vic started the trip off with the BEST dinner we've had in a LONG time. We went to Tucanos

I'd say this is a must experience for everyone. My only regret is that I didn't starve all day for it! Plus I fell in LOVE with the Filet Mignon, I've never even been a fan before this trip, and then I saw this post on their site saying it is only for a limited time.... WAH :(

I've been dying to go the beach so leave it to Vic to find me a beach in Idaho! We went to Sandy Beach by Lucky Point. It was a cute manmade beach with a giant fountain in the middle of the lake. Tommy loved experimenting with the feel of the sand between his fingers.

Both times Vic has planned a trip, he's booked the "Themed Suites" Last time he picked Egypt & Romeo & Juliet, this year..... Romeo & Juliet! Haha, at least it was a different place so it was still a different fun experience, especially trying to sneak our baby in :)

We also went to Roaring Springs Water Park. Tommy loved having his own little fountain to play with.

This ride was by far the best, it made me scream EVERY time!

This is Vic going on it, but let's take a close up look of this picture....
This

the

BEST

part

about

the

ride!

...

....

HAHAHHAHAHAHA! Look at that absolute look of terror!

The next day we went to Boise's botanical garden. It was great to try out our new BOB outback stroller. (Totally worth the money). Plus I got to practice taking flower shots with my camera which is always a plus for me :)

I couldn't resist a phot shot of Tommy.

That concluded our little anniversary getaway :)

Then started one of the longest weeks of my life. It was very stressful, but my Grandpa's funeral was very uplifting and everything a funeral should be, remembering what a great guy he was.

We couldn't resist a matchy matchy family picture.

Me, Katie, Ben, and Mom

We saw a lot of family in one week cuz as they say you only see some people at weddings and funerals and well, we had both in one week. (Thank goodness on opposite sides of the family.)

Here is Vic's neice Tausha & her bridemaids outside the temple. She was so beautifully in love :)

And to save the best for last... I got to meet my newest neice, Evie. SO precious and tiny :)

Oh ya, and one more thing if you are still reading!!!

Tommy started waving yesterday, cutest thing in the world.

He grins and gets so excited every time :)

Dear Grandpa

2010-07-27T02:20:00.010-06:00

Dear Grandpa,
I MISS you.

1925-2010

It's only been 48 hours since your death and I miss you already. My mind is filled with thoughts of why I love you so much and how you've formed my life. I can't stop shedding tears in your memory & that is why I am up at 2 am when I am exhausted & desperately need some sleep. I figure if I write you a letter & straighten out my thoughts then maybe it'll help give me some closure.

You know my own Dad hurt me dearly in my youth so you were there for me. You are the father-figure that I looked up to. You made sure I knew how important it was to always get the most education I could, get straight A's and that it wasn't good enough until I strived to be the best I could be and then as a sweet reward you would slip me $20-$100 for my reward. It was always a surprise and it made me feel special because I knew you didn't always do it for my brothers & sisters as you did for me, especially when I was in college. Every girl wants to be "Daddy's little girl" and since I wasn't my Dad's, I was yours.

I knew I was because you always told me how proud you were of me. Every time I came to visit I was always welcomed with a smile & a hug. Even when you got old & it was hard for you to stand up, you still always insisted on standing up & giving me a hug, even when you got so old I had to help pull you up. Every time I visited you, you never missed the opportunity to tell me how beautiful you thought I was and that I was making the perfect decisions in life. I loved that you were so proud of my biggest decision, Vic, we both agreed that he was the best thing that ever happened to me & I couldn't have done better than finding such a "fine" man. Thank you for always letting me know that you approved of who I was & what I was doing, that probably means the most to me.

We were the only two early birds in the family and that left a lot of time for us to talk alone before the rest of the family was up. I'm going to miss those talks. You always loved to tell me the stories of your life and now I desperately wish I would have been taking notes so I'll never forget your adventures, your hopes, your memories, the things you wished you could have changed, and your love for life. You were so proud of your accomplishments in this life & I hope that at the end of my life I will be able to feel the same. Life is good, enjoy it, live it to the fullest, that is what you taught me.

You had a passion for working in the garden and I'll never forget the summer I spent working with you. You taught me to work and to love it and be proud of my accomplishments at the end of the day. Luckily, I learned a thing or two from you so that I can work on making my garden just as beautiful. Again, I wish I would have been taking notes all of these years. I never did because I loved being able to just ask you.

The more I think about your personality, the more I realize where I got mine from. I took the good... and the bad from you! The only bad being that I somehow absorbed being stubborn and telling how it is, no white lies for us! haha :) But truthfully, the good.... You had class. I truly admire that about you & I hope that one day I'll be as classy as you. You loved your clothes & I remember you telling me one time that you took the time to count all of your shirts and you had 360 someodd shirts on hangers! Ha! I can only wish that someday I'll have that many shirts, shoes, & suits that I love. One day I'll hopefully have it together enough to always come to the breakfast table dressed without a hair out of place. I always loved that about you.

I love that we had silly similarities: like that we were both dental hygienists in our youth, that we loved the same colors, we loved admiring beautiful people, furniture, yards, and houses. We both love to dress up fancy & go out. We tend to be perfectionists and liked to spend hours organizing our stuff. We both love having company over and being tickled pink that our guests had a good time, even if we didn't because we were too busy running to the store or worrying what to do to make sure everyone else had a good time. You've given me so many books to pass on your passion of reading, hey I've watched enough golf with you that I can even see how such a boring sport could be interesting to watch. I don't mind watching westerns either. You were my perfect pal no matter what we watched or talked about.

Thank you for all of the financial advice you gave me. Vic is always asking me where I learned to be thrifty & good with money and I am just now realizing it is from you and your many "father talks" that you gave me. This has helped me already more than you know. Thank you for passing on your love of hiking and the outdoors. There is nothing more refreshing and replenishing to life than the natural outdoors God gave us.

So many memories & thoughts are running through my mind as I write this letter, but most of all I can't stop thinking about how proud of me you were. It hurts to know that one of my biggest fans are gone. I always feel inadequate, but you knew how to make me feel good enough. I'm going to miss your encouragement & love, but most of all I'm going to miss your smile.... and no, I'm still not wearing fake eyelashes.

Dearest Grandpa, you told me more than once that you wished you wouldn't have left the mormon church when you were a teenager. I wish so badly that you would have come back in this life, but I pray that in the next life you have accepted the truth and that I'll be able to live with you again... and make you dinner, your favorite :)

I hope your memory never fades. With your passing, it has made me realize that I need to get on the ball & start living more like one of my biggest heroes, you. If I wasn't up at 3:30am writing this I'd even get up early & go walking in your honor. I'll start exercising like you soon, I promise. I want to be like you in a million ways so please take that as life's greatest accomplishment. You did good Grandpa & I will always be proud to call you mine.I love you.

Love, your Fancy Nancy

Island Park

2010-07-18T09:58:00.011-06:00

We are so lucky that my parents have such a gorgeous cabin on the lake to go to; it is the perfect vacation getaway. This year was the double the fun since we didn't go on the water while I was prego last year. Here is a picture of Tommy's first jetski ride!

I was surprised that Tommy was okay with the cold lake water, he wanted to walk pretty deep in it.

This little tube is a mommy/baby double tube & was an afterthought on the way there, but Tommy sure loved it.

And one with Dad in the lake

Tommy & my mom hanging out in the kitchen.

...and my mom wanted evidence that she attempted to get up on waterskis! She did do great ont he tube though :)

I love this cute smile, I wish it showed his little tooth popping through.

Tommy loves to stand, here he is living life on the edge (literally!)

On the way to Island Park we stopped to have lunch with Heather, my college buddy, and here is Tommy with her adorable 2 kids. They loved Tommy, I love how kids love babies.

My niece went through the temple for the first time yesterday & while we were waiting for her to come out I snapped a picture of the flowers along the side of the temple. They are so bright & beautiful, I wished my flowers looked this good!

4th of July

2010-07-05T18:22:00.004-06:00

Here's a little snap shot of our 4th of July. Of course I had to make fun treats & decorations! I just think it makes the party that much more fun. Last year we did a bouncy house party, but I think this one topped that. We had water relay games, water gladiator games, & pool fun plus lots of good food. Then to end the night we had some HUGE fireworks. The kids went nuts & my biggest compliments were the ones that were whispered to each other & I overheard: my niece's fiance saying that my spread shoud be in Homemakers magazine & the kids saying in excitement that we have the coolest, funnest house ever :)

I thought it would be fun to make fruit kabobs, but I didn't think they would turn out this cute & fun. They were so easy, but gorgeous & festive.

This picture is up above too,but it's so cute I had to make it bigger. Tommy & his cousin sporting their 4th of July outfits. This is Tommy's second outfit as I forgot I bought a different one! We lit off a couple of sparklers the night before & Tommy loved it, but when we did it on the 4th he was absolutely terrified of them so we had to take him in. Hopefully he learns his mama's love of fireworks.

Here is the last half of the water relay. I knew it'd be fun, but the kids just had a hayday with it :)

Tommy's 6 month update

2010-06-27T19:13:00.011-06:00

I keep meaning to update & just haven't because life has been a little cRaZy to say the least! Let me just drop the bomb first.... Vic lost his job :( So if you hear of any manager jobs open, let us know! The plus side is that I still have a job to pay the bills :) and onto what this post is supposed to be about!..
Tommy is adorable as ever... and crawling! I tried forever to upload a movie on here, but pictures will just have to do :) I took these today & I should have done them a couple of weeks ago because it is so hard to catch him before he decides to crawl off again! Plus he's always waving his arms all over the place so I get a lot of blurry arms & crazy faces. I got tons of good ones though cuz this little guy is just HAPPY as can be!

Here is Vic's favorite 3:

A few cute close ups of his silly happy smile

And my personal favorite:

One of him going a little crazy!

Last, but not least, TOMMY IS CRAWLING!!!!

Happy Days & Hidden Smiles

2010-05-14T12:07:00.006-06:00

Yesterday was one of those days when you go to bed & just smile. It felt hard to even ask Heavenly Father for any help last night because I was just so overwhelmed with gratitude and filled with thanks for our many blessings.

The day started off good because my patient told me he was going to be 10 minutes late so I went to work 10 minutes late plus Vic took Tommy to the sitter so I got to sleep in an extra 30 minutes! I woke up to Tommy smiling away with his Daddy. At work I started reading the ensign while I pump & today was conference addresses and of course they uplifted me and made me want to aspire to be a better person.

Then I got a long lunch & so did Vic since he is on jury duty this week, we sat outside, soaked up the sun, & relaxed. I loved being the mommy/wife serving on Vic as he layed back on the blanket and exclaimed "This is the LIFE!"

Even at work the pace was light & everyone was happy because there was only 1 doctor there today & a lot less work :) haha, lazy us! As I was leaving work I spotted an old couple hobbling down the sidewalk & they were holding hands. CUTEST thing ever. It made me smile. It reminded me that the night before we were at the restaurant & Vic & I were play fighting over who got to hold Tommy (an ongoing battle!) ...and I looked up in time to see a middle aged couple sneaking a smile at us... which made me smile again because I wonder how often strangers make us smile & how often we get to put a smile on stranger's faces too.

Vic got off of jury duty early so once again I didn't have to pick up Tommy from daycare & I came home happy from having a good day at work & this video is what I came home to. Tommy was just hysterically laughing for a LONG time!

Then we went and played baseball which I love doing just because it is a slow paced sport that lets you soak up the good weather. Plus it's always fun chatting up my lady friends :)

I ended my perfect day by going to the gym at 9:30pm. I knew I should really just go to bed, but my triathlon is getting close & I hate to miss a workout. I have been struggling with doing the full workout, but last night it was a good feeling because I can feel my mind getting stronger & not giving in when I get tired. I proudly completed the entire workout & at a higher pace than I normally do. Another reason to pat myself on the back and smile :)

I hope as you read this you can think of 10 easy things that make you smile because hidden smiles to yourself is the best feeling ever!

4 month pictures

2010-05-07T16:07:00.004-06:00

Okay, well more like 4 1/2 month pictures, but I am finally taking the time to play around with what my computer can do & I think these photo collages are so much fun!

This is my favorite picture of the day :)

Month update (warning it's long!)

2010-04-23T15:52:00.012-06:00

I feel like my head has been absolutely spinning the last month. Life just hasn't thrown me a bone! Last month for Relief Society I organized a baby drive for the hospital. We all got together & learned how to make these adorable booties (plus another 2 baskets full!) I also made some for my sister-in-law's upcoming baby & some in bigger sizes for Tommy. They are so simple, quick, & cute. We made them to be given to every baby born in the Twin falls Hospital.

Then we had people sign up to bring stuff to donate. Each basket had at least 3 outfits, socks, pacifiers, wipes, diapers, & a receiving blanket. I guess because I am a perfectionist, it took me forever to get them all wrapped up cute in the baskets. I wanted to make sure each basket had the same amount of cute outfits, etc. Anyway, I could hardly walk through my kitchen for 2 weeks! These baskets are supposed to go the moms that come through the hospital and have absolutely nothing. I dropped them off & I guess the selfish side of me was hoping for a thank you card from the hospital, but hopefully the families that recieve them will love them :)
Then we drove down to SLC to visit my grandma. I love this lady more than any other. I look up to her in a million ways. What I love most about her is her ability to host & make everyone feel welcome & spoil them with love, games, & treats. Also, I think it is great that she respects mine & other religions so much when she doesn't go to church herself. It shows a lot of maturity & love for others when you can show admiration for the different beliefs & not point out the "bad" or why you don't believe. Here she is with little Tommy. I think they look alike :)

The next weekend my mom came here & then for Easter we drove to Seattle to visit my brother & his adorable family. Here is a picture of us getting ready to eat Easter dinner. It was of course yummy. I don't remember having twice baked potatoes before, but I loved them.

A bit blurry, but here is my egg from the egg dying. My brother was afraid we'd have too many eggs so he only let the girls dye 1 dozen.... so I only did two, one of which got covered in stickers by the girls :)

These flowers helped bring the Easter spirit. I love fresh flowers. I really should invest in buying them more often to have around the house. I always hope that Vic would just give them to me all the time, but after 4 years of marriage I guess I'm figuring that isn't about to happen!

Our family right before the big hunt!

Here is a sweet picture of Kara & Tommy in their Easter outfits. My brother's girls always have the most adorable dresses, hats, shoes, & matching gloves! Tommy's cute sweater came with blue pants, but looking back I guess I should have paired it with khaki pants to be snazzier.

Here are the girls doing their hunt.

Here is Tommy checking out his goods. He was very interested in his basket & the bunny sticking out the top. Also, he loves his new rattles the Easter bunny brought :)

It is always a big mess emptying out all of the eggs & baskets, but SO much fun!

...a cute picture of Tommy with his Uncle Ben & Aunt Becky (6 months prego with another girl!).

I didn't take specific 4 month pictures of Tommy, but I happened to take this right around it. I love his personalized towel that our neighbor made for him.

Vic in business in Idaho Falls so we got to have a super short visit over there & cram in as many visits as we could!!! I started with lunch with my high school girly friends & their kids. Can you believe there are so many kids piled around us. We are getting OLD! ... but I must say I think all my girls are aging BEAUTIFULLY :)

Tommy got a new hat while waiting for Vic doing a business meeting in Pocatello. Isn't it cute?!

After lunch my mom made dinner for us & my step-sister's family. She has twin boys only 4 months older than Tommy. Here are the 3 of them smiling up at Vic. Her boys are rolling all over the place so I had to be quick to try to get this picture of them!

Next we visited my grandma Hill's house & my dad & step-mom met us over there for a quick hello. My dad LOVES grandkids, it's cute.

Then we raced home to see Vic's brother that hasn't been home for 2 years from the Navy. Here is my handsome boys on the way out the door. I love "little man" clothes for babies!

...and a final snapshot of us by the door. Tommy will stare at the camera almost every time, but if someone isn't behind it he won't smile. It's fun to see his wide eyes caught on camera though.

After all of this, working full time, doing spring clean up around the house & yard, & training for the triathlon next month, I am exhausted! Tommy goes to bed at 7pm every night & on Monday I just fell asleep with him & didn't wake up until 7am the next day! I wouldn't trade it though. Traveling, being with my sweet boys, playing games with family, & working out is the life for me :)

3 Months

2010-03-14T16:10:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that Tommy is already 3 months old! At his last doctor visit he landed int the 95% for length & 90% for weight. He is growing like crazy. He is now wearing his 6 month clothes! I took him to get 3 month pictures & really hated the photographers & only ended up ordering 2 pictures just to be polite. Then I thought to myself that I can take just as good if not better pictures of Tommy so here is my attempt! (By the way, my husband is in love with baseball if you didn't already know)

Vic's mom made this blanket & we absolutely love it and get lots of compliments on it.

I love these blue eyes.

Tommy can't sit up yet so everytime he laughs he throws out his hands & falls over so it's a chore to try to get him at the perfect moment!

Triathlon Time Again!

2010-03-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, Vic was the only one I could get to do the tri with me last year, but my stepsister, mom, & friend all came to watch & it inspired them to do it with us this year! SO.... what are you waiting for... join us this year! The early registration is due by March 15 (saved us $20 each). Here is the INFO for it. I am trying to follow THIS schedule, and HERE is where we talk about our daily workouts! Last year I ate the same, but did the workouts (and even missed quite a few of them)... and LOST 10 POUNDS... so if that isn't inspiration enough, what is?! haha! Well, I know I'm going to love it and I know you'd love it too, but even if you don't do it with me, I at least hope it inspires you to sign up for a local 5K and get healthy :)

A day of smiles

2010-02-20T22:05:00.001-07:00

Funny how when you have a kid, suddenly your blog is all about them!! I can't help it. Babies are the most adorable things on earth, and in my eyes, especially Tommy! We spend so much time smiling at each other & today was no exception! Here he is just after waking up this morning (his happiest time of day). My sister-in-law Becky made this adorable little sleep sack for him.

And here is his usual smile, a big huge open mouth silent laugh. Funny how we get so excited about a smile! :)

Bathtime is non-stop kicking his legs like crazy. I can't decide if he thinks it is fun to splash or if he likes the squeeky noise his feet make against the foam. I feel like I need to put a towel down there so he won't bruise his heels. He loves the feel of water running over him. Every time I take a bowl of water & pour it over him he smiles in delight.

My mom bought him this cute little monkey outfit & here he is with the matching toy. I keep trying to make him hold this little blanket monkey & a fuzzy lion rattle, but he doesn't have any interest in either yet! ...mainly just trying to suck his fingers. I pull them out every time I see it & replace it with the binky, but sometimes he'll spit that right out & shove his fingers back in. Aaah! I don't want him to be like me & suck his fingers into adulthood! (okay, an exageration, but I did suck them a long time!)

A breath of fresh air

2010-02-20T13:04:00.004-07:00

What do I love more than skittles, food, & clothes?..... ADORABLE visitors! Heather came to see me last week & it was so much fun. I've never dared to take Tommy outside yet, but Heather wanted to go on a walk since this side of the state is so much warmer so we did our first outing & it felt so good to get outside. Makes me realize what cabin fever I have! We live right by the temple so we walked up to it. Here she is with her 2 cute kids.

Here's a picture I snapped... the clouds make it look fake!

I had Carter pose in front of some rocks & this is his "cheese" face :)

Elli is exactly one year older than Tommy. Look how big he is compared to her!!!

Here is carter snuggled up safely under my giant prego coat. Who knew I'd get so much use out of buying an extra huge coat :)

...and here is an upclose of him in his carrier.

AND I'm sure mom will be so happy to see that Tommy's Christmas gift is well liked.... even by a 3 year old boy :)

Romantic Dinner

2010-02-05T13:19:00.004-07:00

I am the relief society enrichment leader & for this month I hosted a "romantic dinner" & explained all of the elements that need to be there to host a super romantic dinner for our husbands. Then we all went around & shared something our husbands have done to be romantic. I was so impressed with everyone's spouses! It was a lot of great stories & laughs, plus I must say my dinner turned out pretty good too :) Here is a candid shot of everyone in my oh so romantic lighting:

And here is my dessert. Mine was a little sloppy looking cuz I didn't care what mine looked like.

And here is the entire crowd. It really worked pretty good in my living room!

Blessing & Baby Pictures

2010-02-02T18:59:00.015-07:00

Tommy was blessed on Sunday. Here he is in his little church outfit. The tie is a little big, but it was better than the baby one that made him look like "fat man in a little tie!"

Here is half the crew that came to support him.
Trish made this cute french bread loaf. She is so creative & cute!

AND NOW... TOMMY'S BABY PICTURES!!!

Smile

2010-01-22T18:14:00.004-07:00

Tommy's new thing is SMILING! It is so much fun :) Vic likes to pretend to eat his hand so here is Tommy pulling his hand away. Tommy is probably the only one that will ever smile when I start singing to him!

1st outings & birthday

2010-01-17T21:48:00.009-07:00

I can't believe it has been a month since little Tommy arrived! I swear I could still spend all day just staring at him & how adorable he is. I started work this week & I hate it. I don't mind working at all, but I hate being away from my sweet baby & worrying about if he is getting as much love as if I was taking care of him. Thankfully my mom was here for the 1st week. Here he is at one month practicing his tummy time. He hates it!

I never got a picture posted of our nursery so I thought I'd finally get around to it!! Our friend's dad made the crib & my dad made the changing table & circles on the wall. Then I sewed the curtains to match the set I bought.

My little sister, Katie, is on the ISU Bengal dance team & they went to nationals this week so we drove over to see their performance before they went. Here is Tommy in his cute little ISU shirt Katie bought for him.

Tommy's 2nd outing was for Vic's birthday party. He loves Sizzler so he drug his entire family in. It was a fun night of food & games.

A Very Merry Christmas

2009-12-27T17:31:00.003-07:00

We stayed home for Christmas again & I love having our own little Christmas. It's so nice to not have to haul our presents all over :) We stayed in Twin on Christmas & then got to go to SLC the day after. I'll have to post pictures of that later since I broke my camera cord. :( We were running behind for Christmas lunch so Vic only let us take one family picture & luckily it ended up turning out pretty good!

I don't have many pictures of Tommy & us, but I sure love this one with Vic. Both look so charming in their red sweaters :)

Then I decided to set up my own little photo shoot with Tommy for his 1st Christmas.

He's so good at having his eyes wide open!

And here he is in his "1st Christmas" stocking. He barely fit in there with his wide little chest.

He wouldn't hold up his head very good, but he looked so handsome & grown up in this cute white shirt.

I hope you all had a MERRY Christmas!! Love ya!

Tommy is here!!!

2009-12-15T22:41:00.010-07:00

Payton Tommy Sutherland

December 13, 2009

8 pounds 3 oz

21.5 inches long

22 1/2 hour labor of love!

Above is the 1st sight I had of Tommy. They didn't give him to me until 10 minutes after he was born, but he was sure cute with eyes wide open! Below is when he's almost a day old right before we left the hospital. He loves sucking on his lower lip or fist.
I never did get a picture of just the two of us in the hospital! So this is our 1st one together. He's a day old. Notice how huge his hands are. I can't get over how long his fingers & toes are!! The first thing his baby doctor commented on was the "skis" he had on as feet! Hopefully that means he'll be a tall basketball player :)

Here is a picture I took of him tonight. This is how he looks most of the time. He is always so peaceful & sleeping. So far he's a great baby :)

My Dad & Lana were his first visitors. They were life savers & brought Vic & I dinner too. I was starving after not eating & being away for so long!

I was so glad that Katie was able to come with them too :) (my little sis)

Up next was Vic's parents. We didn't get a picture in the hospital, but they brought us dinner the next day at our house. We were supposed to stay another night in the hospital, but I insisted they let us go. I hate hospitals & couldn't wait to get home!!!

Vic's brother Roger & Jessica in the hospital. It was fun to see Roger so excited to meet little Tommy. He seemed just as excited as Vic did!

Then he brought his little girls by today to come say hi.
And now for my storyy....

After nine months of being pregnant I woke up on Saturday morning with what looked like my first little red stretch mark. That's when I decided I better have this baby today. I walked on my elliptical for an hour. Then when Victor got home I went and shoveled the whole neighborhoods sidewalks for two and half hours, then came home and took a bath and an hour later went into labor!

5pm Saturday night I started having contractions
9pm They started getting strong enough to have to breath through them
11pm I started crying through them
1am I thought I was going to die & needed an epidural ASAP
3am They finally got around to checking me to see what I was dilated to. I'd gone from nothing a few days earlier to a 4. I was pretty upset that the dang nurse took her sweet time while I was ready to pass out.
4am The anesthesiologist finally got there & relief came at 4:30
6:30am I'd been in labor for 13 1/2 hours so they broke my water to get me going faster
8:30am I dilated to an 8
10:30am I dilated to a 9 & the doctor told me I'd be ready to push in 30 minutes to an hour.
12:30pm I got the shakes & started vomiting tons & tons of water. The doctor really didn't care that I wanted to get the show on the road :(
2:30pm The doctor finally decided that I'd waited long enough at a 9 and my epidural was wearing off & I was dying so he gave me one drop of pitocin. (He wouldn't give any more because I only have 1 kidney)
3:30pm: I finally felt like I had to push & popped him out in 4 little pushes in 4 minutes!!!

So yes, we made it through safely, but boy was it WAY too long & THANK HEAVEN for EPIDURALS!!! The only bad part is that I pushed him out a little too fast & have a million stitches. I can't get up or down without help, but Vic of course is an amazing help. He has to leave tomorrow to take a final in Pocatello & my sweet Sis is driving over to take care of me while he's gone. Thank goodness!!!!

Pregnancy update

2009-12-07T15:12:00.003-07:00

Okay, well.... not much happening! The Doc was going to induce me last Friday, but since my body wasn't doing anything he decided to wait. I don't mind waiting, it just seems SO much longer after I was counting on the 4th. Today they did a baby stress test & the baby looks good & my body seems to be handling it fine so no inducing, just waiting & seeing. He thinks the baby will come on Friday or Saturday. I sure hope so!!! Hopefully by then I'll be over my MONTH long cold too! Oh yes & for the gritty details (don't read if you don't want to know).... I'm effaced 80% & dilated to a 1.