snow days

 

snow snow go away

come again another day

(like next year)

we're done with winter indoor days

we're ready for spring

the groundhog didn't see his shadow

so I guess spring will come early

hopefully tomorrow

 

Summer Time

We are loving summer time!!

We just got back from camping at Strawberry

{no pictures from that}

Last week we walked the Bridal Veil Falls trail

and here are a few shots from that

They planted fish in the bottom now and you can feed them

Cute Jersey Girl

Sliding at Vivian Park

(end of the trail)

And lately Stella loves to vacuum

So I let her get the hard places.

Entertaining Stella

Lately, Stella is highly entertained with:

stickers

and sitting in her baby stroller

Give Your Kids an Extra Hug Today

While vacationing this past week, we received one of the worst phone calls ever.

We found out that Andrew's little 6 year old cousin, Sierra

had been tragically killed.

You may have been following her story with the local news.

If not you can read more about it here.

This has been a really sad, hard week.

Everyday I cry over it and I pray for Andrew's uncle, aunt and cousins.

We weren't able to attend the funeral because we were out of town.

So I got these pictures from ksl.com

When life and our trials seem to hard to bear,

I'm so glad that I can lean on my testimony.

Andrew and I cannot believe how impossible it would be

for someone to deal with this if they didn't have the knowledge

that families can be together forever and that this little girl is in a better place.

Or how difficult it would be to ever find peace

without the Holy Ghost to comfort you.

I'm grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ

and for the chance our family has to be reunited with Sierra one day.

Wild Child

Stella is a crazy child

I keep saying lately that she is naughty

Can a one year old be naughty?

Yes.

I wish I could capture all the things she does on camera

cause she is very funny.

Somethings I've missed a photo of lately....



While in the bathroom stall at Red Mango

I'm washing my hands only to look over and see

Stella has her ENTIRE arm submerged in the toilet.

yes

In the cafe at Red Mango Stella decides

to remove the "Wet Floor" sign

(which is larger than her)

and carry it around the restaurant

then manage to wack baby Jane with it.

nice

If you ever come to my house and find

tampons or pads lying in a weird place

You can thank Stella for it.

She knows where I keep them in the bathroom

and daily she drags them out and hides them around the house

Usually it is a like a trail of feminine products

But other times they show up in CRAZY places.

embarassing

Stella is really naughty at church

It is a painful 3 hours for us each week

She has a favorite electrical socket at church

Every week she seems to find it

and tries to stick her fingers in it

All kids do this, but for Stella it is a game of fun.

No joke, on average she makes it to the socket 7 times a week

When we come to get her

she laughs really loud and runs

You're probably thinking

why can't they controll their child???

I'm wondering the same thing

SHE DOESN'T STAY STILL

She will find a way out of any row or aisle we sit on

and if she can't she will scream bloody murder til you let her out

So in order to keep her quiet

sometimes we have to let her out just a bit

But then she just inches farther and farther

until a door opens and then she makes a run for it.

Could nursery come soon enough?

Last week she bolted to the back of the cultural hall

and climbed up the stacked chairs like a ladder.

It's amazing we haven't had more injuries.

~L~O~V~E~

Some things that Stella LOVES right now...

SHOES

Stella loves to play with shoes.

In this pic she has her dad's shoe (in the back)

and her shoe (in her hands).

Sometimes she'll try to take your shoes right off your feet.

The other day she went into my closet and got my flip flop

She came out holding it and I looked just in time

to see her lick it

top to bottom
yummmy

BALLS

We might have a soccer player on our hands

Stella loves to play with all balls

but she really loves to kick them lately

She's a pretty good dribbler

---a tear is shedding

from both Andrew's and my eye

because soccer is NOT our favorite sport to watch--

GARDENING

or should I say dirt

She loves to play in the dirt and get messy

And surprisingly she loves to wear her sunglasses

she looks too cute in them

WHEN DADDY COMES HOME

Stella loves when daddy come homes to play with her

they are great buddies

and Stella has Andrew wrapped around her finger

MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE

finally

Stella will watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for a bit each day

She would never watch Baby Einsteins

so this is the first time I can get a couple moments of relief each day

FRUIT

Stella stopped eating baby food a while ago

She is a big girl and thinks she can eat anything anyone else can

In fact, yesterday we were eating Mother's Day dinner

and she was dying for a pork rib

Andrew finally gave in an let her suck on one

She loved it!!

But by far her favorite food is fruit

We had some pears the other day

and when she would spot them on the counter she HAD to have them

This night she got the whole pear

and was loving every bite

Then when we tried to take it away

she would tuck it under her arm like a football

and run away

(She likes to run away now when we try to take something

from her that she wants to keep)

Oh my little Stella!!!

Such a huge personality

wrapped up in a tiny package

She finds a way to make me laugh

(and want to pull my hair out)

everyday

Mohawk

Could she BE any cooler?

Times Flies

Our little stinker is 10 months old now!!

She is on the go

ALL the time

Seriously...changing her diaper/clothes is a challenge

She will not hold still for 5 seconds

All of this activity helps to explain

 why she still only weighs 17 lbs 0 oz

But despite being a lightweight

she is a great eater

(just a little messy)

Every night right after dinner

she runs to the bathroom yelling

bath.

Stella loves to splash in the tub

and to lay on her tummy.

We call it "swimming". 

She is a fish.

She has also started

sticking her face down into the water.

Brave little girly.



She says a lot of other words:

mama and mom

dada and daddy

ball

baby

baba

Brooke

Papa

Gama

And the other day she said Lindsay (but I missed it)

When we ask her

"What does a cow say?"

she responds with

moo

Last night, I got her out of the tub

and when I was trying to get a diaper on her

she  ran away naked

So I said "wit woo" and she responded with

hubba

I laughed. Hard.

Another new word is cheese

I get her to say it when I'm taking a picture

Like so...

She loves getting into mischief

And she loves to play

She still HATES her car seat

We will probably be upgrading

to the forward facing carseat real soon

for that reason.

Oh my goodness, I LOVE this little girl!!!

I could go on all night.

But we'll save it for another post.

So Glad I Get to Be a Stay-at-Home Mommy

Learning to be a stay at home mom was a BIG change for me

I am NOT a home-body.

In fact, I go quite crazy staying at home

But I LOVE LOVE LOVE being with this girl all day everyday

She's the best!

Seeing her learn and grow makes me SO happy ;)

My Little Laundry Helper

Camera Shy

Here is some proof of Stella's camera shyness.

I tried so hard to get a smile. 

Okay, enough trying for today.

New Tricks

This past month

Stella's been busy learning

all sorts of new fun tricks.

She discovered her toes

and boy do they taste good!

Apparently they also make a good nap buddy.

 Four weeks ago Stella learned to roll over.

I put her down for tummy time

and then she just whipped right over

 A couple hours later that day

she learned to go from her back to tummy too.

She's a pro.

 Stella has loved to stand since she was SO young.

I'd tell you how old, but you'd just think I was lying.

I definitely won't be surprised if she is an early walker.

 Everything goes straight into her mouth.

We keep thinking she might be teething

but so far no sign of teeth.

Just lots of drool and chewing on stuff.



Smile!!

I need to upload some more pics to my computer

but in the mean time,

I'll share this little gem with you.

Stella is a happy baby

but when we pull the camera out

she never wants to smile.

This was the first time we could catch a smile on camera

and ironically, she is sitting in her LEAST favorite place.

This Week

 Stella feeling sleepy and cuddling with Mom.

Daddy's wrapped around her little finger.

 Pretty in Purple

And a shot of my stitches :)

Stay tuned...

Stella's newborn pictures are up next!

Couponing & Building Our Food Storage

I’ve always been into using coupons, discount codes, shopping the clearance section, etc. I like budgeting and I try hard to spend less that we make, save for rainy days, have no debt. For years, Andrew and I have talked about improving our food storage. “Food storage” to me (at least at this point) is like the everyday things we eat and use. Not things like wheat...because that's way to overwhelming.  Besides still living in our condo and not having much room to store things, I’ve always been so overwhelmed with where do I start?

I finally decided to start with baby items because it’s fun to buy anything for the baby right now and I also came across and UNREAL deal how to get formula to next to nothing…..literally.

So after researching a bunch of stuff, I’ve become somewhat of a crazy coupon lady. (Like the ladies on Extreme Couponing on TLC are a 10 and I’m a 3). But I can’t believe how much money we waste on things! It’s a process and I’m still learning more but I’m proud to say that our baby storage freaking rocks and our personal food storage is off to a good start with no budget increases for us.

These are some of my favorite baby deals:

Similac Formula: Spent under $70—Retail Value of $475+

Diapers and Wipes: Yeah, there is a lot.  There's much more than you see in this pic. I get diapers anywhere from 25-75% off.

This is a little look at some of our stash.  I've also started getting a bunch of free formula from Enfamil and Good Start.  So if you use either of those brands....let me know.  I may have a gift for you.  Otherwise, I'm going to be taking a trip to the women's shelter to donate some formula.

Preparing my Lesson

I recently got called to be a Relief Society teacher.

I had this calling once before--in a singles ward.

I guess I need more practice.

The best thing about being a teacher

is that it forces YOU to study.

Happy! Happy! Happy!

HAPPILY watched the Biggest Loser tonight---confession I got all teary eyed for like the 4th week in a row. haha This is the first season I have watched the whole thing. I usually just tune in for the finale, but I actually am off school by 7 on Tuesdays and Andrew isn't home yet, so it's been my little weekly thing and I've loved it!! I can't wait for the finale. I don't want to say who I want to win, because it might jinks it.

HAPPY that school is out for a few days. Have tons of homework, but I'm gonna just pretend I don't, at least for the first couple days of the break.

And lastly, so HAPPY that we have a new nephew. Since Mindy doesn't have a blog I'll go ahead and brag for her. We went and saw little Zander in the hospital (side note--I hate the new 2 persons only rule at the hospital). You forget how tiny newborn babies are. Lindsay's baby is only 6 months and I've already forgotten how tiny they are when they are first born.

Zander is super cute and we're so happy for Mindy and Brian!!

Zander Mark Peterson

check out all that hair

too cute


proud parents

happy, happy, happy grandparents!!!

Zander makes for 20 grandkids now-- Whoa that's quite a family tree.

Congrats Mindy and Brian!!