The Lyman Lowdown

Charles Dickens

2012-02-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today would be the brilliant Charles Dickens' 200th birthday. I'm really wishing I were in England right now to see all the exhibits and events. Dickens is my favorite author. He was quite the literary superstar when he was alive, and I'm sure I would have traveled far to attend one of his book signings. Years ago, I went to his home in London which is now a fabulous museum. The first book I ever read of his was "Great Expectations," but it wasn't until I read it a second time in my college Victorian Literature class that I really grew to appreciate Dickens' writing. His style and plots and characters are so brilliant and memorable. I feel like the world would be different without his works. Who has never said, "Please, sir, I want some more" or "Bah, humbug!"? I love Google's tribute to him today.

So Happy Birthday, Charles! Now I'm off to read "David Copperfield."

A Little More January

2012-02-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

This has been the mildest winter I can remember. I'm not complaining, though, because I'm a summer girl. But I will probably cry when it snows in June! And against my inclinations, I am praying for moisture... Anyway.

Daniel went to Idaho with some of his siblings to attend a cousin's wedding. They had a great time, even though Daniel felt picked on with regards to his wardrobe.

This is a typical Bentley look.

The kids played outside quite a bit, sometimes without coats...

...sometimes with full snow gear.

We consume A LOT of applesauce at our house. It's a favorite.

We're not sure how she got up on this perch. She spends hours in her room playing, and her make-believe skills her fantastic.

Mini sleepover.

New favorite hairdo - "Princess Jasmine Hair"

Blanket forts

We went to a Chinese New Year Party at a friends' home. They cooked authentic Asian food, showed pictures from their travels, and let the kids play with this dragon head. It was so fun!

New Year, New Goals

2012-01-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

I was so happy for 2011 to end - it was not my favorite year. I experienced a lot of personal challenges with Daniel being gone so much for school, learning to be a mom to two toddlers, having to work more than I wanted to, experiencing financial strain for the first time, lacking motivation to exercise or eat well, and feeling a general sense of lack of control. I know my struggles were entirely my own fault. I had a poor attitude. Unfortunately, it took me until about November to figure that out. At that time, I went to the temple for the first time in months and received the empowerment I needed to change my outlook and to increase my faith and trust. Since that time, I have had to exercise that faith constantly and choose to have a positive attitude and things have gradually improved as a result. I'm no Pollyanna, so some days I really have to force myself. But I already feel a big difference in myself.

I was anxious to begin a new year. I decided to take the whole month of January to decide what main goals I wanted to set. I didn't do very well with my goals for last year.

Date my husband. We aren't very good at going on regular dates. We both have so many demands on our time that I feel like it's really important for us to take time out with each other to keep our relationship strong. Ideally, I would like to have a weekly date with him. We'll have to figure out exactly how to put this into action, but here is my outline for four dates a month:

Temple date
Dinner date
Free date
Family outing

Be Positive. I must choose every day to be happy and positive about whatever circumstance I find myself/my family in. There is always good to be found. I have started keeping a list of things I am thankful for as well as a list of ways I see the Lord's hand in our daily lives.
Take Control. Since I know I'm responsible for the things I do, I might as well make sure I'm doing what I really want to/should do. No more passivity. No more regret. There are four main areas:

Health. I can always eat better. I have a major sweet tooth. I'm positive that my lack of energy and feeling yucky is often due to this. I have also began a regular exercise routine again. My brother, the exercise/health nut, told me that even just 20 minutes a day will make a difference. Well, I'm pretty sure I have 20 minutes a day to devote to my health.
Emotions. This sort of goes along with being positive, but really it's about my children. They are both very demanding and very independent. Emersen likes to do her own thing, and Bentley likes to destroy everything. I need to be more patient and understanding and try harder to not raise my voice.
Friends. I have recently felt a greater need for friends that live close by in the same situation. Daniel is gone a lot because of school. I am at home with my children all day every day. I need girlfriends to talk to, and my kids need friends to play with. So I need to just put myself out there and make some. (Daniel is helping me with this since I'm not as outgoing as I used to be.)
Time. This is a big one for me. I have been trying to figure this out for a year. I've tried a couple different schedules and continue to tweak it. I decided to only work two days a week instead of three. I started getting up earlier. I also need to make daily priorities and set limits. I need to spend more time with my children and doing school with Emersen. I also need to work in some personal time.

So any advice for me? That looks like a lot all written out, but I feel like it's pretty simple to remember: Date my husband and TAKE CONTROL. I feel like this will be a great year, and I hope I can accomplish some of these things.

Daniel Hits 29

2012-01-30T20:35:00.001-07:00

Daniel turned 29 last weekend! Emersen helped me pick out a present for him and wrap them, so she was really excited about his birthday. All week she kept asking if it was daddy's birthday yet and pointing out his presents to him. It was nice that his birthday was on a Saturday so that he could be home with us. All he wanted to do was relax. We did get to go out on a dinner date the night before. We went to the New Yorker again because we had more gift certificates, so our $100 meal was free. We actually took a picture this time.

Daniel's parents also sent him some birthday money a couple weeks earlier, so Daniel treated our family to dinner out twice in those two weeks. We went to Wendy's first and then to Taco Time. The kids loved it. And we loved not having to clean up after them!

On Daniel's birthday, we had his most favorite Tortellini and Meatball Soup.

Then Emersen and her friend Jack helped me put candles on his cheesecake. Bentley wanted in on the fun as well. They helped blow them out too.

It was fun to celebrate! There are so many things I love about Daniel, but mostly I love that he's mine. Happy Birthday, my love!

Bentley at 18 Months

2012-01-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, actually this is about Bentley at 19 months since we were a month late getting his well-child exam scheduled. As I suspected, this boy had a growth spurt! He also had an energy spurt, an attitude spurt, and a vocab spurt. He is most definitely NOT a baby anymore.

He weighs 23 lbs. He went from 2% to 16%! I'm not too surprised knowing the amount of food he consumes. He is also 33 inches tall (from 30% to 60%). Our doctor was very surprised by his growth. Our little guy is averaging out.
He still wears size 12-18 months, but the pants are too short for him now. He loves wearing shoes and/or socks.
He is ALWAYS hungry. He is constantly pulling me over to the fridge or the cupboard requesting food.
He is still pretty easygoing and happy in general. His tantrums aren't yet as bad as Emersen's were at his age. Thank goodness for that! He does hit when he is mad though. And he has the heartiest laugh. He is really goofy and loves to play around and tease.

He is also always on the move. No wonder he eats so much! He mostly just runs; he only walks when he's tired, not really paying attention, or sad. He also likes to walk up and down the stairs, unless he's in a hurry.
He has fuzzy blond hair that likes to stick up around the crown. I have to keep it cut short.
He started going to nursery in December. He loves it, though I'm told he doesn't sing as much as Emersen did.
He has recently started to give kisses. He says, "mmm," as he moves into your face. It's really more of a nuzzle though since he doesn't pucker his lips. He's also very flirtatious with other people.
He has super chubby feet.
He hasn't had an ear infection since his last checkup. Woohoo!

He says the normal beginning words, but will also try to imitate what we tell him to say. New words include thank you, nnnnno, more, uh-uh, hi, um, night-night, bye-bye. He now jabbers a lot. He loves to pretend to talk on the phone. He also comes to me, looks at me earnestly, and says something I can't understand. I pretend to understand and say, "Yep, okay." Then he runs away satisfied. He also likes to sing a little, saying, "Do do do do do." He likes to make animal sounds, especially rooster, ducks, roars, and cats.
He is daring and is always on the edge of things and often getting hurt. He can climb onto everything including the barstools.
He loves to dance when he hears music and loves to jump.
Being outside makes him extremely happy and will calm him down instantly when throwing a tantrum. His favorite place is the sandbox and the forbidden garden tool box. He doesn't like having his hands dirty though.

He LOVES his big sister, loves to play with her and her things, and is very protective of her. He will get mad at anyone hurting her. Their favorite game is chasing each other around the kitchen island. Sometimes he just runs around it without her too.
He is a daddy's boy and gets so excited when daddy comes home.
He only takes one afternoon nap now, and is still a breeze to put to bed. He likes to snuggle.
He hides things. He rips pages out of books. He takes things apart. He stands on everything. He pretty much destroys anything he can. We call him "Monster." He also likes to take time to figure things out. He's very curious.
He is working on getting his last tooth (besides his 2-yr molars).
His favorite movie is "Tarzan." He is definitely more into tv/movies than he used to be. And he loves his Winnie the Pooh blanket.

I quite often find myself just staring at and watching him. He is so perfect and sweet and handsome. Our house might be more intact without him, but we know our family wouldn't be.

A Winter Wedding: Photo Overload

2012-01-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

My younger brother Jarom married a sweet girl in December. BreAnne is from Orem and teaches high school in Nephi. I think they met and started dating last May. Once they decided to get married, they went for it and planned a quick wedding. Sounds familiar . . . We love having Bre in the family. She fits in, tolerates our quirks, complements Jarom, and is adored by Emersen. Even before they were engaged, Emersen always asked about "Jarom and Bre" together. She even had pretend phone conversations with her. I'm lucky to have another great sister-in-law.

They were married in the Draper Temple mid-December. It was a beautiful sunny day but very very cold. Lunch at Thanksgiving Point followed where they showed a video, gave speeches, and cut the cake. Daniel kindly offered to watch all the kids at our house while the rest of us went to the luncheon. So sweet of him.

They had an open house in Oak City the beginning of January. My mom scoured the internet and pinterest for months gathering decoration ideas. Annie and I helped a little, but she really did most of the work and planning. It turned out really nice. She received a lot of compliments on the decorations. Refreshments included donuts, hot chocolate, and cider. Isn't that a fun idea! Daniel and I tried to take some photos of the event, but the lighting was so bad and our camera knowledge so little that most of them didn't turn out very good. Oh well.

I like this picture of Bre and her mom.

Jarom and our parents

Bentley enjoying the donuts.

Telling secrets

Daniel and Aunt Lisa

Bentley was totally flirting with the serving girls. He climbed up between them and smiled at them and laughed and did it all over again.

Emersen found some new friends too (Bre's cousins).

These boys found someone's iPhone to play with.

Emersen was concerned that Bre wasn't wearing her shoes, so she helped her put them back on. Haha.

The painted skates were my only contribution to the decor.

My grandparents made the trip up from Enterprise, so we took the rare opportunity of getting a picture with them.

So happy together!

The Lymans Go to Washington

2012-01-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

I finally blogged about our trip to Washington, D.C., clear back in October. There were so many pictures that I made it into five separate posts. I post-dated all of them, so if you're interested, here are the links:

The Lymans Go to Washington: Introduction

The Lymans Go to Washington: The Main Stuff

The Lymans Go to Washington: The Monuments

The Lymans Go to Washington: The Museums

The Lymans go to Washington: Mount Vernon

And because I like posts with pictures, here's the fabulous Jimmy Stewart in his should-have-been-award-winning role as Mr. Smith.

Show and Tell

2012-01-16T17:13:00.000-07:00

Some of these have been done for a while and some have been in the works for a while...

Jewelry Dish

A year ago, I saw this Pottery Barn jewelry dish online with only the best Mr. Darcy quote. I would have bought it then and there if it wasn't already sold out. What!? So I immediately planned to make one of my own. I couldn't figure out how to make it look exactly the same, but I like how my version turned out. I used my mom's cricut design program to arrange all the text, which was a pain in the rear end. Then I cut a stencil out of vinyl and placed it on a $1.50 plastic salad plate from Target, which was also a pain in the rear end. Then I sprayed the plate with white primer, then black, then red for the word "love." Then after drying, I peeled off all the vinyl with tweezers, which was another pain in the rear end (lots of small pieces). Then I gave the whole thing a coat of a finishing spray. Et voila! A perfectly Pride & Prejudiced dish. That I will NEVER attempt again. But I like it so much I couldn't stop looking at it for two days.

PB version:

Vinyl-ized:

My version:

Knife Block Makeover

I've seen this done many times on blogs and pinterest. My knife block was a blah blond color. In a jiffy, I sanded, sprayed it black, distressed the edges, sprayed a protectant coat, and then cut an "L" out of vinyl on my mom's cricut for the front. I love it lots. Even Daniel likes it. And that's saying a lot.

Shoe Bag

I made this easy star drawstring bag for Emersen to carry her ballet shoes back and forth to dance class. I lined it with coordinating fabric, all of which I already had in my stash. It's the perfect way to keep her shoes from getting lost in the jumble.

Clock Makeover

This clock came from my in-laws' DI pile. It was pretty boring, so I just put green scrapbook paper behind the glass which prettied it up a bit. Easy! It hangs in our bathroom now. You can't see the pattern on the paper very well in this picture, but it's pretty subtle anyway.

Entryway

Daniel has been wanting a no-shoes house for a long time. I was never too fond of the idea until recently when I really started thinking about all the stuff that gets tracked in with our shoes. Yuck! Don't think about it. We decided we needed a bench and place to store shoes if we were going to do it. Daniel wanted to build something, so I gave him some inspiration pictures, and then he went for it, adding his own unique, modern design. He used wood from his stash, so it was all free! He banned me from painting or staining it. He liked the wood grain showing through. Good job, Daniel!

We also needed a sign asking people to take off their shoes. Again, we raided Daniel's wood stash and he cut a board to size for me. My dad used his router to make a fancier edge. Then I painted it, distressed the edges, and used antiquing medium to add some age and character. I got this vinyl quote for $5 at the Oak City Days boutique a couple summers ago. It all turned out just as I envisioned. I found the black metal scroll key hanger at DI for $1.

Now we have a nice addition to the entryway which isn't as boring as . . . having nothing there, I guess! Please remove your shoes!

Emersen's New Ear

2012-01-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

In November, Emersen had plastic surgery to correct the torn tissue on her ear lobe after the horse incident last April. Sorry for the reminder...

Before:

Then:

After:

I think it's amazing what those doctors can do. We were all so pleased with the result of the surgery. When the accident happened, I really thought that she would always be missing a part of her earlobe. She still has a nice scar, but I'm sure over time it will fade and decrease significantly.

So here's a report on the surgery. The night before, I took Emersen to a pre-op prep class. The surgery was scheduled at the Primary Children's Riverton Outpatient Center. I think the class was very helpful. It made her familiar with the facility and got her excited about coming back the next day. They also gave her a hospital doll, mask and cap, and slushie. I probably benefitted the most from the class. This was my first ever experience with surgery, and I really had no clue what would be involved. I was comforted in knowing that children were their specialty and that they would take really good care of Emersen.

We were instructed to check into the hospital at 6:50 a.m. She was the second scheduled surgery of the day. I was so glad since she wasn't allowed to eat or drink after midnight. We just woke her up, gave her a blessing, and put her in the car so she didn't even have a chance to get hungry. We took Bentley to a friend's house who watched him most of the day for us so that we didn't have to worry about him too. I feel indebted to her forever for that service.

Emersen recognized the hospital as we drove into the parking lot. She was excited to be there. We checked in, got bracelets, and then Emersen got to play with toys while waiting to be called back. She was the only one there at the time. When she saw my bracelet, which was one of the those cheap pink paper ones, she wanted a pink bracelet too. The nurse was happy to oblige and said they didn't get that request very often. So Emersen had a bracelet on each arm.

They took us to an exam room where a nurse took her vitals and reviewed things with us. Emersen loved putting on her "hospital pjs" and yellow "hospital socks." I thought she looked pretty cute in those pjs too. She was so good and cooperative the whole time.

They then took us to another waiting room where she played with more toys and watched cartoons. The anesthesiologist, surgeon, and nurse all came to talk to us. Emersen picked bubble gum scented anesthesia. The doctor said he had been thinking all the evening before about how he was going to fix her ear and that it would probably be very tedious. He said it would probably take about 30 minutes. The nurse was great and talked to Emersen and said she would be with her the whole time.

When they were ready for her, Emersen wanted to take her "baby book" (American Girls doll magazine) with her and chose to ride to the operating room in this little car. She had no problem saying goodbye to us and going with the doctors. We said, "Okay, we'll see you later. Have fun." She hardly looked back at us to say, "Okay, bye, we'll see you later." I later asked the nurse how she did, and she said Emersen was just fine with everything. They looked at her baby book while getting the anesthesia and everything set up. She had no anxiety. We were told over and over all day how adorable she is.

We headed back out to the main waiting room. Daniel had been up all night working on school stuff, so he quickly fell asleep.

The surgery took longer than planned; it was at least an hour before we were called back. We first met with the surgeon. He said everything went really well and he was pleased with the result. He actually took both of us back to the recovery room immediately so that he could show us what they did to her ear. Usually they don't let parents back until the child is awake from the anesthesia. And there's a good reason. Emersen looked pretty lifeless lying there on that bed with blood all over her ear and hair. The doctor showed us that he cut out the triangular scar tissue and took some tissue from the back of her ear to fill in the gap and pulled it all together to lengthen and smooth out the bottom curve of the earlobe. Despite the stitches and blood, it did look really good. I was amazed. Her ear was dusky and bruised and swollen. The doctor said not to send her home until he looked at her ear to make sure the circulation was returning.

We went back to the waiting room to get our bags. Daniel decided to go home and sleep since Emersen was doing fine and there wasn't much point to both of us being there. Emersen did ask where he was though, so she probably would have liked to see him. I went back to the recovery room, and Emersen had just woken up. She was sitting up, and the nurse was removing some tubes and things and making her more comfortable. She said, "Hi mommy." I helped her lie back down and held her hand and talked to her. She was still trying to wake up. After a few minutes, I started feeling like I was going to pass out. I quickly found a chair and put my head down. The nurse said not to feel bad because they lose parents all the time. She offered to get me a drink and crackers as soon as we went to the post-op room, which wasn't too much longer.

Once we were taken to a post-op room, they gave Emersen an orange slushie, which she loved, and eventually a bunch of crackers when her appetite started picking up. She handled everything really well; no complaints, crying, or getting sick. She was totally pampered and probably didn't want to leave. I had to take it easy and stay in my seat most of the time. I didn't think I would be the one almost passing out. I think it had a lot to do with the smell of the blood, because every time I looked at her ear I would feel sick again.

Emersen watched "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" the whole time and barely noticed anything else. She wouldn't look at me for a single picture. Haha. Even when the doctor was examining her ear, she didn't take her eyes off the tv or respond to him. She got to pick out a little stuffed animal, and she chose the "rhino-oceros." She was also given a new sippy cup, a book of stickers, and a slinky.

We were given the okay to leave at about 11:30 a.m. We put her pjs back on, and a nurse pulled her out to our car in a wagon. She was doing really well, and we had such a great experience. I would recommend that facility and staff to anyone. When we got home, I turned on a movie for her so that she would sit and relax and hopefully take a nap. She didn't want to sit still for long. I felt like I was telling her all afternoon and evening to calm down and sit still and take it easy. Oh well. Three-year-olds know best! At least she was feeling better, I guess. The doctor told us to not let her sleep on her ear so that the blood flow wouldn't be minimized. Yeah, right. We did put a bandage on when she slept so that she didn't get blood all over, but that was only needed for a few days.

The surgery didn't seem to set her back or slow her down at all, other than being more cranky than usual. At church two days later, she wasn't really herself either. She told me she was "having a hard time," so she sat with me in primary instead of going to nursery. She also didn't like taking her pain medicine, so I let her pick what color medicine she wanted and then put a drop of food coloring in it. That seemed to make it okay. Here she is playing with her hospital stuff.

We gave her a bath the next day but put a shower cap over her ear to keep it dry. She didn't want to smile.

I don't know how many stitches she had, but the doctor took them out in two stages. She didn't really like that part but did okay. They were such small stitches that he had to pull them a little in order to snip them. Some of them hurt. Here is her ear a few days after surgery once we got most of the dried blood cleaned off. The back of her ear looks pretty funky, but at least it's the back.

And here it is after the stitches were removed.

She kept telling us that she went to the doctor and he took her stitches out and made her ear all better. She's also happy to show anyone her ear and tell them about it. No trauma here. I'm so glad it wasn't a scary experience for any of us. We are supposed to massage Vitamin E oil into her earlobe every day. It's weird how tough the skin is right now with all that scar tissue. It doesn't feel like a regular earlobe. Emersen always wants to put oil on my ear before she will let me put it on hers. It's a deal.

Recap of 2011

2012-01-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

January

Daniel's project "Sway'd" won the Fluid Adagio Competition - Mexican Riviera Cruise with the Lymans - Daniel turned 28 - Daniel's school trip to Chicago

February

Bentley started crawling - Daniel began an internship designing a website at the U - "The Foreigner" at the Orem Hale Center Theater

March

Trip to Chicago - Began potty training Emersen - Girl Scout cookies - Setup new photo organizing system with Picasa - Bought "Tangled"

April

Emersen's ear accident with the horse - Daniel's mission reunion - The Royal Wedding - Easter in Venice (Utah) - Joined Pinterest

May

Daniel graduated from the U with his bachelors degree - Ward service day - Bees game with the Lymans - Threw a baby shower for Annie - Memorial Day in Oak City - Mat, K'Lyn, and Joseph's mission farewells - Quit teaching piano lessons - "Sway'd" is built downtown

June

Bentley turned 1, started walking, and chipped his two front teeth - Daniel's family left on their missions - Father's Day - Daniel got a job at AJC architects - Bentley began getting a monthly ear infection - Cherry Hill

July

Visited the Children's Museum at the Church History Museum for Pioneer Day - Staheli Family Reunion in Enterprise - Fourth of July in Delta - Attended both 10-year high school reunions - Finished decorating Emersen's room

August

Trip to Beaver Creek, Colorado - Ward pool party - Celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary - Oak City Days - Living room mini makeover - Emersen was invited to her first birthday party - Daniel started his masters program at the U

September

Finally kicked Bentley's ear infections - General Relief Society broadcast with President Uchtdorf's memorable forget-me-not talk - Emersen turned 3 - Made a play kitchen for Emersen - Went to the State Fair - Labor day picnic - Emersen started a dance class - Went to the first Utah football game of the season - UDLA annual meeting - Trip to Idaho for Daniel's Grandpa's 80th birthday party - Went to the zoo - "Anything Goes" at Centerpoint Theater

October

Trip to Washington DC - Clogged drain in utility room and flooding - Daniel's school trip to Italy - Spent time in Oak City - Paid for a babysitter for the first time - Master bedroom makeover including new paint - Bought new camera - Halloween in Kaysville

November

Riki turned 29 - Thanksgiving in Bountiful and Oak City - Emersen's ear plastic surgery - First snow - Started going to Library storytime - Daniel built the "Crockett Rock Gallery"

December

Jarom got married and we got a new sister-in-law - Pedicures with Holly - Emersen's first dance recitals - Christmas in Oak City - "A Christmas Carol" at the Orem Hale Theater - Ward, friend, and family Christmas parties - Riki sick for three weeks and colds all around - Daniel finished his first masters program semester

Favorite movies of the year:

"Pirates of the Caribbean 4," "Morning Glory," "The King's Speech," "Downton Abbey,"

"Rio," and "X-Men: First Class"

Favorite reads:

"The Help" and "Emma"

Contagious

2012-01-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

I never ever ever get sick of watching this.

Welcome, January!

2012-01-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

I have never decorated for January before, but this year I decided to give it a shot. On a dime. This is what I came up with.

First, these are my mom's ice skates. I painted them turquoise for a decoration for my brother's wedding reception, and then I stole them and took them home to add to my decor. Love them! I already had this white frame. I filled it with a subway art printable from this site. The blue lantern is usually part of my summer outdoor decor and it was the right color. The clock was kind of a silly craft. It was previously a wooden Christmas mitten wreath. I didn't really like it anymore, so I had Daniel pry the wooden mittens off to use for another project. I kept the circle background part thinking it might come in handy sometime. Turns out it did! I just glued blue scrapbook paper onto the circle, inking the edges for a distressed look. The clock face is just a printout I glued in the center, but I can't find the site where I got it. It says, "Happy New Year." (Everything free so far!)

I found this little plate at TJ Maxx in their Christmas clearance for $1.50. The bird was red, but I knew I could paint it blue. And I did! Unfortunately, you can't see the silver/gray tree very well from this angle. I should have taken the picture before putting it on the shelf.

I stuck these glittery snowflakes in some white sand I poured into a glass vase to make them stand up. I bought the snowflakes at JoAnn's after-Christmas clearance sale last year. I think they were $.25 each. I already had the vase and sand.

For final touches, I sprayed some pinecones white and gray and added a little glitter spray. I bought the silver garland at Target's Christmas clearance sale for $1.00. Total cost of my shelf decor: $4.00 plus tax!

I also decorated my dining room table with a blue tablecloth I bought a while back on clearance at Target. I don't usually keep a tablecloth on, but I love the additional color. The tray, mirror, and lantern were already part of my stash. Actually, the lantern used to be black. I think I got it at Ikea. I bought the clock at Taipan a few months ago. I painted some more pinecones in bright colors to put inside the lantern.

Not bad, eh? I love all the colors during a dreary January. It's just perfect.

December Activities

2012-01-04T22:19:00.000-07:00

I was sick with a cold, then sinus infection, then stomach bug from Thanksgiving until a week before Christmas, so we didn't do many of the things I had planned for the holiday season. I probably should have gone to a doctor and got medicine to knock it out quickly, but I'm kind of stubborn like that. However, looking back, it wasn't worth 3 weeks of sickness. We had so much going on with Daniel's finals, Emersen's dance recitals, parties, my brother's wedding, and preparing for Christmas that I just had to give up some things. Last year I wrapped all of our Christmas books and we opened a new one every night. This year I never got around to wrapping them so we only read a few of them throughout the month. I tried to keep up our countdown activities. I prepared the calendar, but some days we just didn't quite get there. We didn't see the lights at temple square, drive around looking at other Christmas lights, or make gingerbread houses. By the time I was feeling better, I didn't want to worry about squeezing everything into one week and stressing out about it. There's always next year.

Here are some highlights:

Lots of mischief from this little guy. He is becoming quite the independent soul at 18 months old. Can I also say, yay for nursery!

We put together some packages for our Grandma and Grandpa Lyman and Uncle Joseph who are serving missions right now. Emersen helped me make these cute reindeer cards (got the idea from Pinterest). We used Bentley's thumbprint too. I sometimes feel bad that I don't include Bentley in things like this, but he would probably just be more work than play.

She also colored some pictures for them. This one was for Uncle Joseph. I wasn't too happy that she decided to add these lovely "stickers" to her picture! But it was all part of a rough day with the kids anyway, so I cried and laughed about it at the same time. Then I managed to carefully peel all of the stamps off without too much damage.

We made these ornaments with pom-poms. This was probably her favorite project. She even had to hang the wreath on the tree in her bedroom.

And finally, we included in our package these little candy bars turned snowmen. I got the idea and printable from this site.

Our yummy snowman pizza smothered in olives thanks to Miss E.

Sponge curlers. She took them out sometime during the night and decided she never wanted to sleep with them in her hair again. Ever!

Bentley discovered just how comfy this chair is and climbed up to read a book. (Ladder and level in the background because I'm stenciling his wall! It's going to be fabulous if I ever finish!)

Emersen got to bring a stuffed animal to her last dance class of the month. Then they also gave her a teddy bear. She loves dance so much and especially loves her dance friends. They are so fun to watch.

Bentley got a new haircut while watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. It completely enthralls him for some reason.

I found this little necklace kit in the Target dollar bin. I gave it to Emersen and showed her the picture of the finished necklace to make. She started stringing the beads without any rhyme or reason. Part way through, she stopped and picked up the picture. She examined it closely and then took all the beads off the string and started over, making it look EXACTLY like the picture on the kit. I was impressed. When she was almost finished, she picked up the string the wrong way and all the beads fell off. She had to start over but this time she enlisted my help to do one side while she did the other. She told me exactly what color beads to use. I love watching her figure things out.

We made some Christmas sugar cookies to take to our friends. She is always very anxious to help whenever I am baking.

We had a tea party with her little dolls. Their names are Grandma, Mommy, Emersen, Sloan, Sofie, and Daddy. Daddy got home from work and brought his blue recliner to join the girls. She plays for hours in her room by herself. I love sneaking a peek and listening to her imagination at work.

We made paper snowflakes again like last year. She did a little better job cutting with the scissors this time. She got frustrated after her first one though and didn't want to do anymore by herself.

She found these Barbie playing cards that I had in the closet and loves to do all sorts of things with them. I find them all over the place.

With this being the driest December in history, it was easy to play outside.

Let's not forget the Lyman family Christmas party. The best part was skyping with Grandma and Grandpa Lyman. They are on a mission in Oakland, California. I'm sure they miss the rambunctious family gatherings. We sure missed them!

They sent some really fun presents from Chinatown. Parasols and fans, wooden lizards, rice krispie treats, scarves, karate headbands, Ghirardelli chocolates, and a fabulous pop-up book of A Christmas Carol.

We don't see Daniel's family as much as we used to. (It used to be every Sunday!) So we enjoyed visiting and playing. We also did a little program with talents and a gift exchange.

Emersen wanted to sing "I Am A Child of God" for the program, but she got really shy and held her hands in front of her face like this through the whole song. It was pretty sweet.

Now it's on to a new year!

More Fun in Oak City

2012-01-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

We were in Oak City from December 23 through January 1. Daniel had to go back to SLC for a few days of work in between though. We always enjoy the slow pace in Oak City and the comfort of my parents' home. We were there for a long time, though, and the kids were ready to return home by the end of our stay.

Funny story: The last day of our trip, Sunday, Emersen was very anxious to go home to "Mommy's house." She protested when we turned the corner to my parents' house after church. We explained that we had to change our clothes, pack our bags, eat dinner, and then we could go home. A little later, Daniel was saying the blessing on the food. When he paused in the middle, Emersen interjected, "Thank you we can go home to mommy's house." Daniel finished the prayer with all of us trying to suppress our giggles. She's honest!

But we had many fun moments during our stay:

We played with "Annie's Baby Gordon Oakley," as Emersen calls him. She's so sweet with him.

Bentley found this hat of Grandpa's and wore it off and on all week. Can you say adorable?

Grandma helped Emersen make cookies with her new apron and cookie cutters. I love this picture. Some of my fondest memories from growing up are making cookies with my grandmothers.

We watched A LOT of movies. I introduced Emersen to Enchanted, and after seeing it a couple times, she was singing the songs. "That's how you know . . . "

We played games and did puzzles and read books galore.

Bentley spent one evening dressed like this. We decided he looked like a little longshoreman, or dock worker.

I managed to catch this typical glare of his when he's deciding if he's going to disobey you.

My aunt gave me this awesome 1000-piece puzzle of London from the "Hometown Collection." I love it. I traveled to London with my aunt a while ago so we have these shared memories of it. It only took us a couple days to complete.

The kids love my mom's Christmas village, especially this skating rink that magnetically moves the skaters around in circles. They played with it like a doll set, and surprisingly my mom didn't get too stressed out about it. It sure was nice of her because they LOVED it.

Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for letting us invade! We all love you!

Our Christmas

2011-12-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

We spent Christmas in Oak City again this year. I think my parents were glad to have us so they weren't all by themselves. It was a wonderful time. We kept things pretty simple with regards to presents since we're on a tight budget and the kids don't really need a ton of toys anyway. And I liked it that way. I didn't feel like we got carried away trying to fulfill all their wishes, but we were still able to give meaningful gifts. I still felt like we were overloaded with gifts and goodies, even if most of them only cost a dollar. I felt that we were very blessed, and keeping things simple, I was able to more fully enjoy the season and to remember Christ's birth and life.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the town Christmas program where they portrayed the nativity scene and sang songs. At the end, Santa visited and the kids got to sit on his lap. Emersen is always excited to see him but shy when he's actually talking to her.

Eagerly waiting...

Bentley had no problem with Santa.

My sister's baby Oakley didn't know what to think at first. His expression makes me laugh!

Showing off Bentley's wounds. He pulled a Wii remote down on his eye the night before, giving him a little black eye and cut. And right before the town program, he fell out of my parent's car and nearly face planted in the gravel except that my dad caught the hood of his coat just in time. His forehead was scraped and bruised pretty good.

Before going to bed, we read the nativity story again and The Night Before Christmas. After the kids went to bed, we adults watched We're No Angels, one of our favorite holiday movies. My dad describes it as "straight-faced slapstick," which I think is a perfect description. It's a hoot.

On Christmas morning, we didn't have church until 11:00, so we had enough time to open presents and eat breakfast without being rushed. Bentley was the first to wake up at about 7:15. Daniel woke up Emersen and told her that Santa came. "Oh yeah?" was her response. "He came down the chimney?" We waited on the stairs until Grandpa got out of the shower. She wasn't quite awake yet for this picture.

The kids were pretty calm when they walked into the living room and saw the tree and presents. They just looked at everything rather matter-of-factly. We had to give them some encouragement.

Emersen really liked her doll bed and asked me to go upstairs and get her baby. She then promptly put the baby to bed while she opened more gifts. (I found this unfinished, wood bed at DI for $3! It was perfect. I didn't paint it yet, but I made the mattress and bedding with materials I already had. I think it turned out pretty cute.)

Bentley didn't really care about his tunnel (in the background of this picture). He still has only crawled through it a couple times. The first thing he opened was a set of magnetic letters and that kept him entertained for a long time. He didn't care about opening anything else for a while.

Emersen was a sweet and wonderful helper. She liked handing out presents and seeing what other people got. This feather boa came from grandma, "like Fancy Nancy!" She kept all her gifts in a pile once they were opened. She was very particular about everyone's piles. She didn't seem to mind that she didn't get what she asked Santa for. She seemed happy with her "pile."

I really enjoyed the peaceful morning. There was no rush and frenzy to open the gifts but we were able to linger and absorb the happiness of the day.

This was the best picture I could get of the two of them all dressed up for church. They didn't want to stand by each other.

Daniel got this little coat for Emersen from someone at work. It went perfectly with her Christmas dress. I love her face when she's trying not to smile. Impossible.

We spent the rest of the day playing with toys and visiting. Emersen didn't like Bentley sitting on her baby's bed.

I enjoyed a good snuggle with my little guy.

And we enjoyed visiting with Great-Grandma too. These are rare moments.

I promise Daniel was there too. He was actually the one behind the camera most of the day for a change. I should have taken a picture of him. It was another wonderful Christmas day!

Our Home for the Holidays

2011-12-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

The kids had fun helping us decorate for Christmas. I put aside my OCD and let Emersen decorate the small trees by the front door all by herself. I love what she came up with.

Bentley was mostly interested in the ladder.

We kept things a little more simple this year. Since rearranging, we didn't have a good place for the village or nativities. But we got the main things up. Notice my striped curtains? I was asked a few times if I keep them up all year. They aren't seasonal, but they do look great framing the tree.

I have never been very happy with my shelf decor, but this year actually wasn't bad!

All that work made me tired too!

Singing

2011-12-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

Here is Emersen's latest version of "I Am a Child of God."

She also loves singing Christmas songs. She has some funny lines:

"Oh what fun tissue ride" (Jingle Bells)

"You better not watch out, you better not cry" (Santa Claus is Coming to Town)

"Deck the holly . . . fa wa wa wa wa" (Deck the Halls)

"Giddyup, giddyup, letsa go look at the snow" (Sleigh Ride)

She also loves the "Asleep, asleep" part of "Away in a Manger."

On Stage

2011-12-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

Emersen had her very first dance performances this month. Early in the month, she danced at the Festival of Trees. Daniel couldn't make it because he had class, so my friend Holly went with me to help with the other little munchkin. Emersen's hair doesn't hold curl from an iron, so I tried putting sponge curlers in her hair. It definitely worked, but I have to figure out how to make it not so crazy. She was pretty cute.

Emersen was so excited to wear her pink dress and dance. All the way in, she kept saying, "Let's go dance! Let's go dance!" She could hardly stand still while I tried to put on her ballet shoes and hairbow.

She was fabulous on stage. Didn't get shy or scared at all. She just danced and smiled. It was SO much fun to watch her. I think I was grinning the whole time too. Afterwards, we walked around to see the trees and gingerbread houses. Emersen kept saying that everything was her "favorite." Both kids were pretty tired by the end of the night.

Her Christmas recital was a week later at Taylorsville High School. Grandma and Grandpa Staheli were able to come watch her this time. Again, she did a great job. She knew the dance so well and smiled big. If you can't tell, she is the one on the far left at the beginning of this video.

The dance company gave all the kids medals afterwards. We are so proud of our little dancer!

Merry Christmas to All!

2011-12-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Family Pictures 2011

2011-12-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

My dad took these pictures for us with our camera in their backyard. It was a quick photo shoot, but I think the kids' personalities really showed, especially in the last one. (And I forgot to crop them.)

November News

2011-12-16T17:09:00.000-07:00

One of Bentley's favorite things to do is wear shoes, doesn't matter whose shoes they are. He is always bringing me his shoes and socks to put on for him.

Emersen came home from her grandparents' house with this new "thinking" face.

Bentley is a climber. He tries to get on top of everything. He discovered how to maneuver chairs to climb up and get what he wants. He also figured out how to climb up onto the barstools. Now nothing is safe. He also now prefers to walk up and down the stairs instead of crawling. Unless he's in a hurry.

We bought a new umbrella and Emersen played with it for days. She even takes it to nap with. She likes to pretend she's Mary Poppins, one of her current favorite movies.

These kids often play together really well. She tease each other, chase each other, make up games together, and feed off each other's silliness. They are really fun to watch.

Emersen still thoroughly enjoys her dance class and always talks about the other girls in her class. Her favorite dance move is the "ballerina march."

Bentley boy is quite the joyful little guy.

Emersen loves her dolls and stuffed animals and takes very good care of them. Her puppy was sick this day.

At the city library story time, she made this cute turkey necklace out of pipe cleaners and a bead. I love watching her at story time because she is so interested and involved. Much different from when I would take her last spring. She's growing up.

With daddy busy with final projects, the kids and I rented "Winnie the Pooh" and had a movie night with popcorn. Emersen loves that Pooh Bear loves honey because she does too!

One day Emersen came into the kitchen wearing these sunglasses and tapping a stick in front of her like she was blind. I'm not sure where she learned that.

We had my cousin Monica's family over for family night. The kids play great together; I don't know why we don't do it more often.

Emersen wanted me to take a picture of her with all her jewelry on.

29

2011-12-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

I turned 29 in November, and it was actually a bit melancholy. It probably had nothing to do with the birthday and just with my feelings at the time. I knew it wasn't going to be anything exciting since Daniel was so busy with school and work and actually had a night class. I woke up to Daniel and the kids telling me "happy birthday," and I received a couple cards and a little package and nice email from my in-laws. And that was it. I kept telling Emersen all day that it was my birthday, and she would say, "Oh yeah?" I guess I wanted someone to know. I kept waiting for Daniel or my parents to call. Finally that evening, there was a knock on my door. It was my new visiting teacher stopping by to wish me a happy birthday. When I opened the door, she immediately gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek and wished me a happy birthday. I almost cried. She also gave me a little bag of chocolate covered cinnamon bears, which are one of my favorite treats. I was so grateful for her thoughtfulness. She is hispanic and shows affection so readily. It was just what I needed that day. My parents did call me later that night as well.

A few days later, I was talking to my mom about my feelings that day. You don't think as a grown woman that I would feel the need for attention on my birthday. But I guess it is nice to know that someone is thinking about you. Maybe it was silly to feel that way, but I'm just being honest. And maybe I should have baked myself a birthday cake.Two weeks later, Daniel and I were finally able to go on a date. We had a gift card to The New Yorker, so we dressed up fancy and enjoyed the luxurious $100 meal. Free for us. And I ate my entire slice of cheesecake guilt-free.

Turning 29 kind of made me feel old. I heard someone say once that 29 felt like a fake age because that's what people say when they don't want to admit how old they are. I thought that was funny. But here I am. Here's hoping it's a good one!

First Snowfall

2011-12-14T17:08:00.000-07:00

November said hello with a nice little snow storm. The kids were ecstatic to play in it. We weren't quite prepared with snow gear yet, so they got cold pretty fast. Of course, they didn't mind and had a blast!

Thanksgiving (Better Late Than Never)

2011-12-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

On Thanksgiving Day, we joined my mom's family in Bountiful for dinner. My entire immediate family was together, which was really fun. We also had my Grandma, several of my mom's siblings, and some cousins. I really enjoy visiting with my extended family even though it doesn't happen as often as I would like. We spent the whole afternoon and early evening at my Uncle Jon and Aunt Chris' home. The food was wonderful, the company enjoyable, and blessings evident.

We drove to Oak City that night and spent the remainder of the weekend there. We enjoyed the vacation immensely. My parents are in the process of updating their kitchen/dining area, so the guys helped them install a new sliding glass door. Look at these studs.

While that was going on, we gals placed vinyl quotes on tiles for our homes. Thanks for the project, Mom!

We also enjoyed lovely weather, so the kids were able to play outside some.

My nieces and nephews were super adorable, and they all had fun playing together for the most part. My sister's baby, Oakley, is 4 months old and nearly as big as Bentley (17 months old)! We had to take a comparison photo.

Throughout the month of November, we made a "gratitude chain." At least once a day, we wrote on a slip of paper one of our blessings and made a chain. It was a nice reminder of how blessed we are. I don't know why sometimes it's hard to remember that. I truly believe that "a thankful heart is a happy heart."

Sick of This

2011-12-12T12:26:00.001-07:00

I've been sick for two weeks, since getting back from our Thanksgiving trip. I think I have a sinus infection. So for the past two weeks, I have only done what I absolutely must. Other than that, I've passed the days resting, popping tylenol, watching every Jane Austen movie I own, and trying to keep up with the kids. Almost nothing else. Except cleaning the house.

Bentley is really active and into everything. He runs from room to room, climbs everywhere, has figured out how to push a chair over to the counter to get what he wants, and is basically just destructive. I feel like I just follow him around, cleaning up the debris. Emersen has been pretty good except that she keeps having potty accidents lately. Daniel is SO CLOSE to being done with the semester. Thank goodness. And the Kiera Knightley version of "Pride and Prejudice" is highly insufficient. I don't know if I can ever watch it again. My mistake was watching it immediately following the BBC version. Oh, Colin Firth, you delight me in my miserable, sickly state!

Well, now that there are only two weeks until Christmas, I've decided to hop off the couch and kick it into gear, whether I feel like it or not. I'm determined to enjoy this season even if I have to go through three more boxes of Kleenex. I'm pretty much done with my shopping, but it's all sitting in a pile and I have some projects yet to finish. I have insurance stuff to attend to, primary schedules to update, Christmas parties to attend, a wedding outfit to find, children and husband to feed, holiday movies to watch, photos to upload, blog to update, tot school activities to prepare, and games to play. We'll see how far I get . . .

Bentley

2011-11-22T23:11:00.001-07:00

Way back in July, I borrowed my SIL's camera with awesome portrait lens to take some one-year-old pictures of Bentley. He was teething badly at the time, so his hands were in his mouth for half the pictures. However, thanks to Daniel, we got some great smiles out of him. These were taken in our backyard. I finally got around to working a little photoshop magic on some of them, and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I cannot pick even just a few favorites; I love so many. So here's a bunch. Click here if you want to see more (unedited ones included). Enjoy my darling little boy!

Life These Days

2011-11-16T22:47:00.001-07:00

Emersen is having surgery to repair her ear this Friday, and I'm a little nervous about her going under. I just keep telling myself that she'll appreciate it when she's a teenager. I'm taking her to a pre-operative prep class tomorrow so that she'll be familiar with what will happen since I don't know if we can be with her the whole time. Hopefully, she'll come out of it just fine and will heal without any problems. I need to remember to take more pictures of her ear before she goes in.
I love my new blog design. It's simple and gray. I'm slightly obsessed with gray.
We have been listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies on and off since November started. I don't want to get burned out, so it's not every day. My favorite is the Michael Buble Pandora station, but I also can't live without my Carpenters Christmas collections. The kids love the holiday movies, and I've already pulled a you-have-to-be-good-and-do-what-your-mom-says-if-you-want-Santa-to-bring-you-presents. Emersen totally gets it.
I haven't worked out regularly since September, and, miraculously, I don't really care and my clothes still fit fine. But I just decided that I should start again because I know it will boost my mood and energy, two things I could really use right now.
I just noticed that our property taxes, car and home insurance payments, car repairs and tires, E's ear surgery cost, and buying Christmas presents are all due within the same two months right now. We should probably never let that happen again. Here's hoping it all gets worked out! I guess we'll see how much faith we have! (Daniel is probably going to hate that I just revealed that.)
On the brighter side, I have been awesome at sticking to my budget lately.
My younger brother is getting married in December, and I am so grateful for Pinterest right now. My mom has recruited my sister and me to help with the open house decorations. There's so much great inspiration on the web! Oh, and I really like my soon-to-be sister-in-law. I'm looking forward to getting to know her better.
I went with my friend Holly to get a pedicure and lunch last weekend. We had been trying to schedule it for months. Sitting there for an hour and a half (yes, an hour and a half!) doing absolutely nothing but listening to soothing music, being pampered, and visiting with one of my closest friends was just what I needed. I went bold and choose dark brown paint with a gold fleck effect over the top. It's so dark it almost looks black, but I actually love it. I only wish I wasn't always wearing slippers or socks right now. The other fantastic thing was that she had gift certificates, so it was free! I appreciate my friends more and more, since Daniel is so busy right now. I often wish I had someone other than my kids to talk to on these long days when Daniel is gone day and night.
Bentley has cut a few molars over the past couple of weeks and has more teeth coming. It's been a great time for all! He's actually been sleeping better and much happier this past week, so I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts. He's due for another cold any time now.
I went to the temple last night for the first time in months. I have never had such a hard time getting things arranged to be able to go! And yet, I have not felt so much peace in the last few months either. I definitely needed to be there. I love leaving the temple feeling more empowered to do what I need to. It's such a blessing.
I'm easing up on my project list so that I can get some other things in order and spend more time with the kids. We're all a little stressed out right now with daddy not being home much, so I'm trying to find different ways to break up the days. BUT, I'm excited about the projects I have completed and can't wait to share. Someday...

This is Halloween!

2011-11-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Emersen was so excited to go trick-or-treating that she actually began the night before. We went to our neighbor's house to collect our mail that they held for us while we were on vacation. When they answered the door, Emersen said, "Trick or treat!" We had to tell her not yet. Hahaha. Halloween morning we ate homemade mini donuts and hot chocolate for breakfast. This was not my favorite recipe, so I'm still on the lookout.

Since Daniel's parents were gone this year, we went to his sister Marie's house in Kaysville for the evening festivities. It ended up being the perfect location for small trick-or-treaters. It's a newly built community with just one street, so up and down one time was enough for our little ones. Most of Daniel's other siblings came too. We ate yummy chili and breadsticks, got our Halloween costumes on, and took some pictures before heading out. (This was our first day with the new camera, so some pictures are better than others since we didn't know what we were doing yet. Still don't really.)

This was my second year dressing up since being married. Trying to get my groove back :).

Sleeping Beauty and Tigger. Thank goodness for hand-me-downs that fit! Saved me so much thought with October being such a busy month. How precious are these shots!? I love the different expressions in each photo.

Can you tell they're not very happy with each other right now? Funny!

She won, of course.

All the cousins and adults. Emersen was waiting so patiently when all she wanted to do was get going.

This was really the only picture we took of Daniel. He dressed up as a "world traveler," which he has been lately. (No dressing up necessary.) Emersen ran the whole time, as you can see. I could NOT get a still shot of her...

...Until she fell while running down a driveway. She face-planted and scraped her forehead and nose. After that, she was a lot more reserved and even spent some time in the wagon.

Bentley didn't care about anything but riding in the car and climbing the stairs.

When we returned to the house, Emersen was very protective of her candy. These pictures make me laugh. Renz was moving in on her stash and she wasn't having it!

The next day, she emptied her cat bag and organized her loot. Just like her mommy used to do. She's a mini me.

We had a great time and especially enjoyed great weather for a change! It was much more pleasant than braving the torrential rain of last year. Now Emersen occasionally asks if tomorrow is Halloween. These kids always make me smile.

Another Trip to OC

2011-11-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

While Daniel was in Italy, the kids and I spent some more quality time in the not-quite-as-cool-as-Italy town of Oak City with my parents. The weather was lovely most of the time, so we played outside every day.

Of course, we can't go to Oak City without one or both of the kids getting sick. (What's in the air down there?) Emersen was getting over a cold at the start of the trip, and Bentley caught it from her at the end. Their Grandpa is always so willing to take care of them in the middle of the night. We think Bentley quickly became a Grandpa's boy because of this. Emersen has lately been telling me that she's sick (when she's not) and that she needs Grandpa to make her feel better and then she'll be happy. Bentley was so worn out and not feeling well that he fell asleep in the swing.

I went to Oak City with intentions to complete a bunch of projects and other to-dos, but not much really got done. I did, however, fix up this name plate that has hung next to my parents' front door for as long as I can remember. It was originally painted white with green and red paint around the edges and "Staheli's" stenciled onto the front. It was so weather worn that you could hardly see any name at all. We should have taken a before picture. So I sanded it all down, repainted it white, distressed the edges, created some vinyl words on my mom's cricut machine, and put it all together with some polyurethane for protection. I like how it turned out. Mucho improvo!

I always appreciate my parents letting us crash when Daniel isn't around or is too busy with finals to be home much. I feel like such an amateur mom during those times, so it's nice to have some help with the kids and someone to talk to. And let's face it, who doesn't love their mother's home-cooked meals?

Italy Snapshots

2011-11-14T21:53:00.001-07:00

At the beginning of October, Daniel went to Italy for about ten days with his architecture class for a "field trip." They were in Milan and Turin. Besides being incredibly jealous since I've never been to Italy before, I was glad that he had the opportunity. He had a great time, though we were glad to hear that he missed us enough to come home a little earlier than planned. Believe me, I was ready! He took tons of pictures, but who knows when he'll find time to post about them. These few pictures were taken by one of his classmates, Jonathan Hickerson. (I hope he doesn't mind.) I stole them from Daniel's facebook page. But that's all I got for now!

October: A Full Month

2011-11-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

It's half way through November, and I've finally uploaded all of my pictures from October. Last month was one of the busiest months I can ever remember having; so many things going on. And we were literally only home for two weeks of it! I'm slowly catching up on the main events, but here are the tidbits:

Neighbor Halloween party. Emersen had a blast once her friends arrived, and Bentley found the perfect little spot to sit and people watch.

Making messes. But when is this NOT happening?

Our last rose of the summer. Just gorgeous.

Lunch with a fabulous high school friend, Casie, and her son Brigam. (I stole your pictures, as you can see. Thanks!) The kids were playing like they've been best friends forever and of course refused to eat their meals after too many french fries. It was a great time to catch up.

Watching football games.

Emersen's new prized possession: her "baby book," the American Girl doll magazine. It doesn't leave her side, day and night, and has been taped back together multiple times. She will be glad to tell you which ones are her favorite: all of them. And she's even learning their names. I should have given it to her for Christmas!

Halloween decorations.

And a new camera! We have such cute models, even when they're unhappy!

Crockett Rock Gallery

2011-11-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

I suppose I should post about this one... A few months back I received an email from this lady that had seen the Sway'd project downtown and was very interested in meeting with me to see if I was interested in a "similar" project. We eventually arranged for me to meet her at her house up Emigration Canyon to discuss the project. At this point, I still didn't really have any idea what a "similar" project meant.

I think this was my first trip up that canyon - very beautiful! Her home is also very nice and is located on a very gently sloping site.

Upon arrival, she, Jeanne, came out with her two dogs and took me to the lot west of her house where her neighbor is building a house to explain the project. When the neighbors excavated for the house, they removed around 120 large boulders.

Jeanne explained to me that she had asked her neighbor if she could have the rocks and that she wanted me to create a design that utilized the rocks on her property to create some landscape art. She specifically said that we weren't creating landscaping, but art. I was given a copy of the site plan and pretty much set loose. I walked around the site, took a bunch of photos and wrote down some ideas before leaving.

During the next few days I formulated an idea but I wanted to go back to the site one more time to clarify a few items. After that second visit I asked my friend Liz Yonashiro to come onto the project with me to help solidify the design and create some sketches. This is what we came up with:

Jeanne liked the sketches and idea that she requested the original drawings. Her husband thought it might be fun to frame them so that when people came over to talk about the project, they could show them the original sketches.

The idea was to "lay out the boulders in a sort of sweeping pattern that draws itself from the rear/side of the home to the front and continues around the lower part of the mound in the front yard before making its way around to the top. In effect, creating a long sweep that almost folds back on itself. Maintaining this overall layout, the individual boulders could be placed in certain "groups" to create individual art pieces - creating a sort of sculpture gallery. In effect, the installation is a bunch of art pieces that are part of a large site gesture."

We formulated ideas for 15 different "groups" based off the characteristics of the rocks and the site features. Jeanne hired a contractor with an excavator to move the stones. Here are some images of the construction:

The excavator sure made it seem easy to move the massive boulders!

The construction (machine time) was just under 8 total hours to move the nearly 100 different stones into place. Jeanne absolutely loved the final product! Here is a good image of the new front yard:

And here are some other images, though, I can't wait for the Google Maps image to be updated...

Keep Calm and Be Thankful

2011-11-01T18:32:00.002-06:00

This is exactly what I needed to see today. It's been one of those days...

The Lymans Go to Washington: Mount Vernon

2011-10-31T14:51:00.000-06:00

Our side trip to Alexandria and Mount Vernon was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. Our last day, we rented a car and drove down. Alexandria was so quaint, colonial, and perfect. I could probably live there. It was so beautiful, and Daniel probably got sick of me saying that. This is my new dream house.

On the drive to Alexandria. There are so many trees on the eastern coast. Not exactly what this Utah desert girl is used to! I'm used to being able to see for miles when I'm driving on the highway.

Mount Vernon was George Washington's home. We were told that he thought it was the most perfect situation for a house in the whole country. It was quite beautiful. It would have been more beautiful (and more worth the money) if it wasn't pouring rain and 25 degrees while we were there. It was SO cold. And I was wishing I had brought a pair of boots. We made the tour of the estate pretty quickly. It looked like it could be such a fun visit if the weather was nice, almost like the pioneer village in Salt Lake City. Oh well. At least we got to see it, right?

This was the vegetable garden. There was also a flower garden on the other side.

The mansion. It was added onto twice, on either side. The most interesting thing to me was learning that Washington's dear friend was the Marquis de Lafayette. He apparently often visited Mount Vernon. He gave to Washington the key to the Bastille, telling him it was a symbol of freedom. The actual key! The key was Washington's most prized possession. He had it framed in a shadow box and hung in the entryway so that all of his visitors could see it. I had to stare at it for a while. We couldn't take any pictures inside the house.

View from the back of the house across the Potomac.

Here are the tombs of George and Martha Washington.

I took this picture for my dad. They have this painting hanging in their living room. I don't know if this is an original or not. Every time Emersen sees this picture, she recognizes it from their house.

After our truncated Mount Vernon tour, we met up with Daniel's cousins Rich and Aileen for lunch at a little restaurant overlooking the Potomac. They live in the area. We then attempted a walk around Old Town Alexandria, but that lasted for about five minutes. We decided to take a driving tour instead with the heater on.

We did find a little bakery and stopped in for hot chocolate and pumpkin pie. It was delish! I kept thinking how fun Halloween would be in a town like this.

The George Washington Masonic Temple.

I've always heard how beautiful Virginia is, and now I've been there! Granted, I know there is MUCH more of Virginia to see. But I got a taste. And I love it.

The Lymans Go to Washington: The Museums

2011-10-31T12:51:00.000-06:00

I've always heard how wonderful (and free!) the museums in Washington, D.C. are. There were so many to choose from and not enough time. We would have liked to see the Natural History Museum but just didn't quite make it to that one. Here are some highlights from the ones we did visit:

I pretty much dragged Daniel to the Folger Shakespeare Library because I'm a Shakespeare fanatic, but it wasn't really worth it. It was about a block behind the Capitol, so we grabbed some lunch and hot chocolate and headed over. There was a little Victorian garden with statues from different Shakespeare plays. Not much to do. We did get a glimpse of the theater inside though. I would have liked to see a play there.

We walked along "The Mall" to get to the Smithsonian museums. It was actually a beautiful day to start out.

Our first hit was the Air and Space Museum. We could have spent all day there; so much to see and learn. I'm not even going to go into detail. You'll just have to visit yourself. It really was incredible, especially since all of these air/space crafts were real!

I took this picture for my in-laws since they're cruise aficionados. I bet they wish cruises still cost $50.

I found the exhibit on early plane travel and the beginning of flight attendants really interesting. Being able to afford a plane ticket was a big deal back then and it seemed a lot more comfortable too.)

I read almost every word of the Amelia Earhart exhibit. I find her story intriguing.

Daniel in front of the Wright Brothers' plane.

We didn't spend as much time in the space exhibits because we had already spent so much time on the other side.

The Smithsonian Castle in the distance. We didn't go inside of it.

Walking along the street and the Washington Monument in the distance. It looks closer than it really is.

One of my favorites was this National Museum of American History. I really like pop culture. Again, there was way too much to see and do to go into any detail.

I liked this exhibit with First Ladies' Dresses. It was fun to see the different styles and sizes. Mrs. Lincoln was teensy and Martha Washington was so short!

This statute of George Washington was originally meant to go in the crypt of The Capitol, but the people protested that it looked like he was just getting out of a bath. Haha.

This was for Emersen.

Of course, we had to find Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz." They didn't look very comfortable to wear.

This transportation exhibit was really fun to walk through and see how transportation methods have changed over time.

Julia Child's kitchen was also fabulous. We couldn't stop watching these video clips from her cooking show. She's hilarious! We especially enjoyed her show on making omelets in 9 seconds. "You could have an omelet party!"

Do you like Daniel's beard?

A sunset shot of The Capitol was quite gorgeous.

The networking reception for the DRI event was at the Newseum, the museum of the news. Another incredible, information overload venue. DRI rented out the entire museum, hired a great cover band, and catered food and drinks all night. It was quite the party. Unfortunately, we were a little underdressed and I felt it for a while. I'm usually one to overdress, but we had been out sightseeing immediately before, and I genuinely thought it was going to be a casual event. I was wrong. (We don't go to many evening parties back home.) But it was okay. We weren't the only ones. Believe me, I was looking for others. :)

I don't remember what exhibit this was a part of, but this photo of Colin Firth looks a lot like a painting to me. And speaking of photos, the last exhibit we saw was the Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographs, many of which were heart-wrenching. Let's just say it was the wrong way to end the night.

This is part of the Berlin Wall and an actual guard tower. They also had a piece of the wall you could touch.

View from the top floor of the Newseum.

The exhibit on 9-11 was incredible. They hung the front pages from September 12 of newspapers all across the country. This was one of the tv antennas that fell from the top of one of the twin towers. (I think.)

This exhibit had newspapers (cover pages) from pretty much every major event of every year since the beginning of written articles (back to the year 1526, as you can see in the below photograph).

Daniel went to see a few things while I was in meetings. He went inside the place where they make money, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing maybe? Not sure what it's called.

There was even more to see and do than we had time for. Guess we'll just have to go back!

The Lymans Go to Washington: The Monuments

2011-10-31T11:50:00.000-06:00

We joined a "Monuments by Moonlight" tour and sat on the top of the bus. Luckily, this was the warmest evening we spent there. Our tour guide was great, and it was nice to be bussed around after a long day of walking.

The Capitol

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial (bad picture)

World War II Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

A couple days later, we saw the monuments by daylight. We didn't see the Korean War Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, or the new Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.

This World War II Memorial was pretty neat. It was so big we couldn't even get the whole thing in the same camera view without crossing the street. We found Daniel's Grandpa Asael Lyman in the military directory.

This part was astounding. There is one star for every 100 soldiers that died in the war. "Here we mark the price of freedom" indeed.

The Vietnam Memorial was also incredible with walls and walls of names.

I think we were a little late in the season to experience the wonderful fall foliage, but this site did have a lot of lovely trees.

The Lincoln Memorial was magnificent. So large! Standing in front of Abraham Lincoln's statue almost felt sacred.

This is a memorial to 9-11, three jet streams representing the three planes that were hijacked.

View from the back of the Lincoln Memorial

Iwo Jima Memorial

Arlington Cemetery was beautiful. We didn't spend much time there, but it was amazing to see hill after hill of these tombstones. They never ended.

We barely missed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

A beautiful amphitheater in the cemetery.

The trees here were very beautiful as well.

Lots to think about at these sites.

The Lymans Go to Washington: The Main Stuff

2011-10-31T11:00:00.000-06:00

Our very first stop was the U.S. Capitol, of course. It was a lovely day and the building was beautiful.

We took a tour of the inside. This is the crypt. I don't think it's really used as one. Interesting fact: the center of the crypt is the very center of the city. There were also statues around the outside, but our tour guide didn't take us around to look at them.

The old Supreme Court Chamber.

The rotunda was incredible. I could have spent an hour or more in there looking at all the details.

This painting looks like sculpture. It goes clear around the circumference of the rotunda and tells the history of America, beginning with Christopher Columbus and ending with the Wright Brothers' first flight.

These figures on the top ceiling appear lifesize from below. I can't remember how big they really are. George Washington is seated in the center.

The large paintings around the lower part of the room were all really beautiful as well. We especially liked the one of George Washington handing his power over to the people, refusing to be king.

This is the room (can't remember if it has a name) where the early leaders of the country had their desks. Now it is used for state dinners and such.

The other side of the Capitol.

View from the Capitol down The Mall with the Washington Monument in the distance.

Flags outside of Union Station.

We also went inside the Library of Congress, but we couldn't take pictures of the most interesting things. There was an exhibit with Thomas Jefferson's library which was huge and neat. He had books on every subject. There was also an exhibit with different maps and globes through the ages. I wish we could have taken pictures in the main research library, but we could only peek in. Around the upper circumference of the room were statues of leaders in every different aspect of study: Shakespeare, Plato, Socrates, Newton, etc. It was a very ornate building.

This is Ford's Theater, where President Lincoln was assassinated, and the house across the street where he was taken afterwards. As you can see, there were hoards of students there so we didn't even think about going inside.

We went inside the National Archives, where we saw the "Declaration of Independence" and "The Constitution." It was neat to see the actual documents; they were so aged and faded. Of course, we couldn't help but think about the movie "National Treasure." :)

Daniel and I saw the White House separately. We didn't go on a tour. Just looked.

Daniel also went to the Washington National Cathedral on his own. It was closed to visitors because of a recent earthquake, so he was disappointed that he couldn't go inside. I can't report anything on it except that it looks a lot like Oxford to me.

The Lymans Go to Washington: Introduction

2011-10-31T10:21:00.000-06:00

The last week of October, Daniel and I went to Washington, D.C., for one of my business meetings. He went once when he was really young, but this was my first time. Actually, it was my first time being on the east coast other than PEI, one night in Florida, and airports. D.C. wasn't quite what I expected. Everything was . . . larger. We arrived late Tuesday night and took a taxi to our hotel, the Marriott Wardman Park. We had a little problem checking into the hotel because of credit card limits and such, but we worked it out, embarrassing as that was! My work paid for everything but Daniel's flight and, obviously, sightseeing expenses. Perks of the job!

Our hotel was really large. Part of it was restored, and part was new. Our room was in the restored section, which was actually quite beautiful. We had to walk through a long hallway to access the old part of the hotel.

We had about three days total of sightseeing, and the other two I was in meetings. Daniel did a little venturing out by himself while I was busy. This was the DRI Annual Meeting, which is held every October. This was my first time attending, mainly because I didn't know there was any reason for me to. My meetings were mostly very productive and helpful for my job responsibilities. I also got reacquainted with people from other states that I have met before. It's really nice to see familiar faces across the country. Our region went out to dinner one night at a delicious Italian restaurant near the hotel. It was nice getting to know my co-workers a little more. I also sat by the wife of the Mid-Region Director and had a great time chatting with her. They are from Nebraska. I learned about their hometown, talked about kids, shared pictures of kids, and got to talk about the LDS church a little. (Thanks to Mitt Romney for making people curious about Mormons.) Unfortunately, I didn't find out until the last 5 minutes that she was an interior designer. We could have had even more to talk about! We really had a great time.

One of the blockbuster speakers was President Bill Clinton. His speech was interesting for the most part. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to politics or world issues, so some of it was lost on me.

Daniel and I hit all the major highlights of D.C. tourism. We also rented a car and drove down to Alexandria and Mount Vernon, Virginia, and then back up to see the Washington, D.C., temple. We were following the GPS on Daniel's iPhone and it led us right up through the middle of a national forest in the middle of the city to get to the temple. So many times I was sure we were going the wrong way and it was getting dark. But we eventually found the temple. It seemed so huge and fortress-like. We just looked from the car because of the weather.

The weather was worse than predicted. Maybe the humidity made it colder? It rained most days, sometimes poured, and was really cold (20s-30s). We also walked until our feet hurt. Everything looks so much closer on a map than it really is. But we had a great time. I loved finally getting to see all of those things; I've always really enjoyed learning about American history. We flew home early Sunday morning. Thanks to my parents, once again, for watching the kids.

Emersen's Art

2011-10-12T18:28:00.000-06:00

Emersen loves drawing our family. No one taught her to draw like this; she came up with it all on her own. And those are not whiskers, they're fingers. What do you think? Priceless.

More September

2011-10-10T22:46:00.000-06:00

The insignificant but nonetheless fun moments of the month...

As part of my living room mini makeover, I sold my old rug on KSL, so we lived with blankets on the floor for a week or so. It was actually kind of fun and much easier to clean :)

We then got a new rug, and the kids promptly broke it in. Yes, my house does look like this at times. And no, I did not clean it up before going to bed that night.

Emersen was anxious to help her dad with his yard work, so she got out her tool set and got to work.

Heeheehee. (Not staged.)

While mom went to a board meeting downtown, Daniel took the kids to The Gateway to play in the water and get lunch. He's probably the coolest dad ever for letting her take a ride on this horse.

The messy face pics are endless, aren't they. I have been hesitating to give this boy anything too messy to eat by himself, and he hasn't had a chance to try his hand at utensils yet. But this spaghetti night, I gave in.

Licking the beaters.

Bentley had his monthly cold, but that meant I got lots of cuddle time with these two.

New fall clothes and dressing up like mommy. "I'm going to the store now," she tells me.

Bentley is really beginning to love books. He always brings them to me to read to him. His favorite is "Itsy Bitsy Spider." It has lots of animals in it, and he loves trying to imitate their sounds.

Taking advantage of the lingering warm weather. These kids love playing outside.

Remember September

2011-10-07T22:41:00.000-06:00

Lots of fun was had in September...

We went to Rexburg, Idaho, for Daniel's Grandpa Ted's 80th birthday party. We arrived late Friday night after a long drive in the rain and unsettled children. When we arrived at the hotel, Emersen was so excited to be sleeping at a hotel that she willingly jumped into bed. Saturday was easygoing just visiting with family. I met some of Daniel's cousins for the very first time. We drove back home that evening. The kids slept most of the way after getting worn out with all the play.

We made a quick trip up to Logan for my sister's baby blessing. Little Oakley is a cutie! Emersen loves "Annie's baby Oakley," as she always refers to him. I just wish we could see him more often. Annie's ward is a married student ward with no primary or organized nursery. Emersen was pretty good to sit through all of the classes with us, but she had to hit up the toys in the nursery room halfway through sacrament meeting. We put shoes on Bentley for the very first time since he began walking months ago. I was surprised he didn't fall more than he did with those church clunkers on. They looked great though!

We met some cousins at Hogle Zoo on a beautiful morning. This was the only time we went all summer! Emersen couldn't wait to get there and didn't want to leave. Her favorites were the elephants, giraffes, squirrel, and the "Rio birds." She still talks about going to the zoo and all the animals she saw. She loved following the boys around and doing everything they did. She also liked carrying the map and referring to it when she was ready to see something else. Bentley just chilled in the stroller the whole time, but I got him out at the end when we played in the kids' area, which he loved.

Emersen has been fascinated with temples for a while now. After going to a mission homecoming in Bountiful one Sunday, she asked to go see the temple. So we stopped and wandered around the Bountiful Temple. She often talks about wanting to go to the temple and wear a white dress.

Just Thinking

2011-10-05T17:48:00.002-06:00

Daniel and I just finished reading "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins. I read this book in a college class and loved it. I finally talked Daniel into reading it, but he didn't love it. I guess it's just not his genre. I decided that I can't ever discuss a book that I like with him again. It was funny because he would give his opinion about a character or something and I would totally disagree and it would frustrate me. Haha! Well, I still liked it. And so did my sister. I read "Emma" just before that which I loved, even though I've seen several movie versions many times. Today, I read the first chapter of "The Help" and already really like it.
About a month ago, Daniel and I saw the play "Anything Goes." The tap dancing made me really miss performing in musicals and dancing. It seems like a whole lifetime since I was involved in that stuff. During intermission, Daniel said to me, "You could do that, so why don't you?" I don't know. Maybe I'll look into another tap dance class, NOT community taught. I don't think I could devote enough time to actually being in a play though, at least not right now.
I think I have only exercised 2 times in the past 2 weeks. Daniel has been going into work early lately, and I hate having to make appointments at the gym because I have to do it a week in advance for a morning appointment! I don't like exercising at home because the kids think I am playing games with them. And I have been having fun working on projects instead. Okay, maybe I'm just lazy.
I got locked out of the house for the first time. Good and locked out. I put the kids down for naps, closed and locked all the windows and doors to turn on the air conditioning, and then went into the garage to spray paint something. What I had forgotten was that earlier that morning, I had locked the door leading from the house to the garage because Emersen kept trying to go out. Once locked, it still opens from the inside so I was able to go into the garage without noticing it was locked. I was pretty mad at myself for doing that. When I was completely frustrated, I walked over to my neighbor's house. He happened to be sitting on his front porch, home from work early. I told him what happened, that my kids were inside, and asked to borrow his phone to call Daniel. I was emotional, which I'm sure made him feel really bad for me. Daniel decided to just come home from school since he had the only other key. I sat and visited with my neighbors until he got home. The kids were still soundly napping when we got back into the house. We promptly hid a spare key outside.
The main drain from our house got clogged last week. We had flooding in our utility room, but luckily we discovered it before any damage was done. Daniel was up most of the night vacuuming water and trying to figure out what was wrong. He ended up calling a rooter guy who un-clogged it for us. $125 lesson learned: Don't flush baby wipes!
I finally had to actually pay a babysitter for the first time. Twice in the last month. We've always been lucky enough to have family or friends available. It's my new least favorite thing: getting a babysitter. I always put it off until the last minute. Geez. I wish we could figure out a date night rotation with some friends or something. That would make things easier.
Since Daniel started school with night classes, I lost all motivation to make dinner. Poor guy. I'm sure he wishes he married someone who actually likes to cook. I do manage to plan a meal for the few nights that he is home. Most of the time, anyway.
Daniel is going to Italy for a school field trip for ten days. So I'm going to hang out in Oak City while he's gone. I don't want to talk about it. I'm jealous. Unfortunately, I can't stay the whole time because of E's dance class and work responsibilities. But don't worry, I have plenty of projects to keep me busy. It might be a whole new house when he gets back. Okay, probably not.
The kids have started fighting with each other a little. Bentley likes to mess up Emersen's piles or whatever she is playing with, and then she yells at him. It's lovely. Bentley is also transitioning to one nap, which makes both of us grumpy for half the day. I will be so glad when this stage has passed.
The annual conference I put together for work was a couple weeks ago and went off without a hitch. I thus took all of last week off and didn't even read any emails relating to work. When I got reconnected, I learned that the Board has been planning another smaller seminar that is set for a week from now. Dang it. I was ready to enjoy the smaller workload that October usually offers.
On the brighter side, I've been doing lots of projects around the house including painted curtains, new pillow covers, new duvet cover, kid stuff, and rearranging. I haven't taken pictures of anything yet though. I'm also in purge mode. I don't know what got into me, but I don't want anything in my house that isn't useful or that I don't love. I want to simplify. I've discovered that I can sell things (most things anyway) to fund my projects and get things I do love. I have been refinishing a coffee table that Daniel found by a dumpster, but I sort of got stuck. I need some more inspiration before I can finish it.

General Conference

2011-10-03T16:26:00.001-06:00

This is how he watched it:

And this is how we wasted time between sessions:

Really, though, I loved every bit of it. Not only was it fun having my family here, but there were so many talks that inspired me to do better and do more. I often find myself just putting around when it comes to the gospel, not really making a lot of progress or doing as much as I should. Thank goodness we have conference very six months to get me re-focused.

Some of my favorite moments included:

~President Monson's "Hello!" I loved his story about earning $5 and then fearing it was lost in the wash. He said, "If you don't have a relationship like that with your Heavenly Father, get one." (paraphrasing) He seemed so happy and silly, and I loved it.

~Elder Carl B. Cook's story about feeling burdened and meeting the prophet in the elevator. He told Elder Cook, "It's better to look up."

~Elder Bednar's call to the young people to use their technology skills to further the family history work. He said that we are being prepared to do this work, and that we can ALL do family history. It's not just an interesting church-sponsored program; it is essential to our salvation and the salvation of those we do the work for.

~President Eyring's tender re-telling of giving a commencement address and doing his duty by being a special witness of Christ.

There were other talks that I really enjoyed. I'm looking forward to reading them again.

Bentley at 15 Months

2011-09-27T22:35:00.083-06:00

Bentley hit his 15 month mark this month. Some of my notes:

He weighs 19 lbs. 13 oz. (2%) and is 30.5 inches tall (30%). He has been at 2% since he was 6 months old. With being sick and active, he hasn't gained much weight lately.
At his appointment, he was sick again with a sore throat and fever. With his record, he was on the edge of an ear infection, but I started him on echinacea as soon as he got sick and we avoided the inevitable! So no ear tubes for little buddy yet! (He has already had 4 ear infections this year.) I think this will be our challenge with him, at least for a little while.
He doesn't speak very much yet. His few, mostly unintelligible words include: mama, yeah, yep, thank you, uh-oh, hello. It's a big change from his blabber-mouth sister. He does understand a lot thought. He will violently nod or shake his head as a response; he points to everything; and he follows some directions.
He is becoming a climber. He likes to climb anything possible - onto E's bed, the hearth, into the tub, chairs. He also likes to sit on things. He runs all over the place and thus gets lots of bumps and bruises.
He is crazy about playing outside, especially in the sandbox. He runs when he hears the screen door open and throws a tantrum when he has to come in. He also likes to play with cars, making his own "vroom" sounds. He tries to sing too.
He has thick, stick straight, fine, light blond hair that won't lay down along the crown when it gets too long. Not even daddy's product helps. He has had many haircuts, which definitely are not his favorite thing.
He is beginning to throw tantrums when he doesn't get his way. He falls on the floor and cries, or throws himself back if you're carrying him. Oh boy!
He loves to dance with Emersen and any time he hears groovy music. No matter what he's doing, he will bounce up and down, stomp his feet, and turn in circles with a huge grin. He actually loves to do anything Emersen is doing, and they often play together really well. He does, however, mess up the things she is organizing/building, and she gets mad at him. I have had to start teaching him to stay away from her stuff, etc.
He is almost always happy and easygoing, mellow and content. Has been from birth. He is also getting really silly and likes to play games and tease.
Like his sister, he has experienced no separation anxiety or stranger fear. He waves bye from the top of the stairs when we leave.
He sleeps 11-12 hours at night, and takes 1-2 naps. He prefers a morning nap to an afternoon one. And he is starting to fight going to bed. He has always been such an angel about it before!
He also loves playing with his dad. Who doesn't? Anytime one of us is on the floor, he considers it an invitation for fun. He and Emersen get so excited when they hear daddy coming through the door at the end of the day. They run to the stairs and wait with open arms and big smiles for him.
He likes to hide things in bags, drawers, cupboards, etc. He also likes to empty all of those things.
He likes to look at books. It is so cute when he brings a book to me and turns around to sit on my lap to read to him. I love it.
He is starting to enjoy and react to movies like his sister. He has never really cared about what was on tv up until now, and still doesn't really. But he will now sit and watch and actually laugh at things.
He is a pickier eater than Emersen ever was. But he LOVES his milk. In fact, we have to try hard NOT to give it to him when he is standing by the fridge asking for it. His favorite foods right now are bananas and graham crackers.
He still only has 6 teeth. This is a pretty good picture of his two chipped front teeth.

He is a complete joy and irresistibly snuggly and incredibly adorable. We love him to pieces!

Forget-Me-Nots

2011-09-25T22:43:00.013-06:00

Like probably everyone else on the planet, I loved President Uchtdorf's talk at the General Relief Society Broadcast. It was perfect. On my drive to the stake center, I was really hoping he was going to talk because he always says just the right things in just the right way.

(Images from Pin Worthy and A Feathered Nest.)

A Yard Update

2011-09-22T22:15:00.007-06:00

When we moved in 3 years ago, this whole side of the house was just grass.

Look at it now! First, the garden boxes were added, and then the trampoline was put in the ground as well as some plants.

We debated between a flagstone pathway around the tramp and leading to the rest of the back yard (which would be super cute) or just grass (which would need an amended sprinkler system). By default and lack of funding, we decided on grass. It has taken at least a year to fill back in and still has a little more to go. The good thing is that the kids don't track dirt onto the trampoline, which tends to get dirtier since it is ground level.

I love those bluebeard shrubs that have really taken off. What you can barely see are two little boxwood shrubs that were completely dwarfed this summer. The poor things have been transplanted in different places. I think I've decided there's no good place for them in our yard. Anyone want them?

We've enjoyed a lot of wonderful veggies from our garden again this summer. We've had the usual lettuce, spinach, peas, herbs, tomatoes. New this year, we grew raspberries, strawberries, and pumpkins. We've steamed carrots and green beans so many times. Emersen eats all of the cherry tomatoes before they ever make it into the house. I've made zucchini bread, soup, pizza, and more. And I've eaten a cucumber almost every day these past couple weeks.

Emersen definitely enjoyed the corn, although we never get very much of it.

And I can't wait to pick these babies to carve or adorn the front porch.

The rest of the yard, however, is another story. It seems to always be one step forward and two steps back . . .

More of Emersen

2011-09-21T14:33:00.006-06:00

Emersen had her 3-year doctor checkup this week. She decided to average out after 3 years of being small. She weighs 29.25 lbs (35%) and is 37 inches tall (49%). She is healthy, happy, and smart. She was really cute answering all of the doctor's questions and just sat and drew different shapes while the doc listened to her insides. She was great the whole time and didn't have to get any shots. Yay! I already wrote a lot about her a month ago. Here's a little more:

Her Rapunzel barbie is her new best friend. She goes everywhere with Emersen and sleeps in her bed. She likes to comb her hair and sing the "Healing Incantation."
Her new favorite movie is "Rio." She likes to sing the songs and dance along with the club scene. "I wanna party, I wanna Samba..."
She loves baby carrots with ranch every day and asks for pancakes every morning (but doesn't always get them).
She likes to draw her family. I love that the arms are often above the mouth; they look like whiskers.

She will often go in her room, shut the door, and just play by herself. I think she doesn't like Bentley messing up her toys or taking things that she wants.
And, at other times, they play really well together. She likes to push him on the swing or on the little scooter cars outside. I love to see this going on.

She talks non-stop and has discovered the words, "Why?" and "Fine!" Sometimes in the car, we try to get her to play the quiet game. Never works. I recently ran across a video of her when she was 15 months old just blabbering away. I guess some things never change.
Some of my favorite phrases right now: "You think so, mommy?" "Guess we're all done now" "I wake up this morning days" "Red means stop; green means go!"
When she cries, we cheer her up by telling her that her eyes and nose are red and her face is wet. She dries her face and says, "Look, my face is all clean now."
She cannot wait to go to school. The bus stops in front of our neighbors, and every morning she tells me, "I need to get my shoes and ride the school bus with all my kids today." Too bad she has 3 more years before she'll get to ride. So I do "school" with her at home. I have found a lot of great stuff online. The first packet I prepared for her was a breeze, so I've had to adapt a little. She loves tracing letters and doing the different activities. She especially loves her little desk and Crayola Dry Erase Activity Center. It's perfect.

I was dancing silly for the kids trying to entertain them while preparing dinner. I said, "Is mom being stupid?" Emersen said, "That's not nice, mommy. Just be stupendous. That means great." (Thank you, Fancy Nancy.)
I often talk to her about something I'm trying to figure out. She pays attention to what I'm saying and always expresses her agreement. It makes me laugh. She's also a great helper.
She often gives me hugs and tells me she loves me. I layed down on the couch the other day and told her I was going to take a nap. She wanted to climb up and lay by me too. I told her no. Then she said, "But, Mommy, I love you." Well, okay then. I let her get up. How could I resist?

Turning 3

2011-09-20T20:07:00.000-06:00

I can't believe this little miss is 3 now! Where does the time go? We actually pretended her birthday was a couple days earlier so that Daniel could participate. (On her real birthday he would have been gone from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.) And my parents were in town too, so we had more to party with. It was probably the most fun birthday we've had in this house yet!

We prepared her over the week before telling her that her birthday was coming. This year, she knew what we were talking about. In fact, Sunday night, we told her that after she went to bed and woke up it would be her birthday. And she was actually more than willing to go right to bed!

Beginning at about 10 p.m. that night, I started decorating her cake. We had been to Logan and back that day for my sister's baby blessing, so I didn't have time before. Any time I asked E what she wanted for her birthday or what kind of cake she wanted or whatever, she just started naming princesses. So I made her a Rapunzel cake because I had already bought a Rapunzel barbie doll to give her. Making the skirt of the dress took a lot of patch work, but it worked out okay. I didn't have the energy to worry about perfection. I finished the cake and cleaning up at about 12:30 a.m. My dad stayed up with me until just before 11:00 to make sure my frosting-squeezing arm wasn't going to fall off.

She might be a little sloppy and amateurish, but at least Emersen knew who she was. When she saw the cake, she said, "It's Rapunzel!" and climbed up to look closer. Later, she told me, "I'm going to go look at Rapunzel again," and she would sit on the counter by her just admiring her cake. She almost couldn't wait until evening to dig in.

After she went to bed Sunday night, we filled her bedroom with balloons for her to wake up to. She thought that was fun, but Bentley really thought it was fun and would just walk around and around kicking all of the balloons and laughing.

Emersen is always asking to eat pancakes, so we decided to have a feast for breakfast. We had pancakes, eggs, bacon, and strawberries. It was delish!

After eating, we lured Emersen downstairs to find her main birthday present. It felt like Christmas - waking up late, big breakfast, staying in pajamas, and playing with presents. It was wonderful. Daniel and I made this play kitchen out of a cabinet that my brother- and sister-in-law gave us. Emersen is always carrying around her toy dishes, setting them out tea-party style, and pretending to make cupcakes and such. I had been planning on making a kitchen for her all summer, but we didn't actually get around to it until a week before her birthday! I absolutely love how it turned out (you can bet I'll be blogging about this little project later). I set it up with play dishes and food that I got at Kid to Kid and Ikea, along with her own princess dishes and table. My mom kept telling me, "You'll be picking up dishes for days." Yep. (I just noticed the curtains over the window fell down in this pic. Oops.)

When Emersen saw the kitchen, she got a big grin and said, "It's my birthday present!" She started playing right away. Bentley was just as excited about the new toys. But Emersen didn't necessarily want to share yet. She kept saying over and over, "It's my birthday!" and couldn't stop grinning. It was the best.

Daniel had to leave mid-morning for school, but Grandma and Grandpa treated the rest of us to a day at the State Fair. It was gorgeous weather and super fun. We watched the sea lion show...

test-drove wiggly bikes...

fed goats...

ate pizza and gyros...

and took a pony ride. She wasn't sure about this at first (even though she LOVES horses), but once she saw other kids riding, she was game.

When we all got home that night, we ate dinner and had birthday cake. Emersen sang the "Happy Birthday" song along with us. She's been practicing a lot lately. Daniel accidentally put trick candles on the cake, so Emersen had to keep blowing them out.

Grandma made her a little temple pictures flip book and her "first reading book," which included simple sentences and pictures of Emersen and our family. She has read it every day since. She seemed to love every single gift she received.

She was such a sweetheart and it was such a perfect day. I can't believe she is so grown up already! Life just gets better and better. And blog posts don't get much longer than that!

My Mess

2011-09-09T22:14:00.039-06:00

This is one of the reasons I feel out-of-control lately: my overflowing project table/box/corner/room.

I'd like to get this area under control so that my home feels more organized once again. Many of these things were stashed in different locations, but I pulled everything out of my closets and other rooms and gathered them all together so that I could actually see what I needed to do. Since taking the above picture, I have also thrown out the box because I still couldn't see what I had. I decided if everything was out in the open, I would be more motivated to take care of it. I also nixed some projects and re-donated items that I didn't feel like doing anymore.

Many of these projects were initiated or dreamed-up years ago when we first moved into our house, but you know how it is . . . something (or someone) new always comes up. Some are small projects, like kid activities, mending or refashioning clothing, simple paint jobs, pillow covers. Others are more time-consuming like a picnic blanket, duvet cover, entry signage, play kitchen, stenciled rug. Now can you see why it takes me a YEAR to "finish" a room!? I've got to get to work.

So here we go. Game on.

A No-Labor Day

2011-09-07T22:04:00.000-06:00

We had a low-key Labor Day this year. Often in the past we have gone to Fish Lake with my family, but we've already been doing a lot of traveling and have a lot coming up, so we decided to stick around home. We went for a picnic lunch at the Veterans Memorial Park near our home. It was great weather, not too hot. Emersen headed straight for the playground when we arrived. She yelled, "Hi, kids!" when she got near. I honestly can't believe how friendly and outgoing that little girl is. She LOVES playing with other kids, no matter if she knows them or not. However, they are rarely as friendly back to her. (I can see myself crying over it if it continues into grade school, her wanting to play with them and them not acknowledging her.) She talks to everyone and anyone with no qualms. She definitely doesn't take after her mother. After talking to someone, she often turns to me and says, "I talked to her," proud of herself. It's pretty darn cute.

Anyway...we had a nice little picnic. Bentley just wanted to eat the cookies though. He wouldn't stop. As soon as one was finished, he would reach for another and stuff it in his mouth. I soon had to move them away.

Daniel is always such a great dad to humor his children.

Hope your Labor Day was relaxing too!

She's A Dancer

2011-09-06T22:03:00.065-06:00

Yes, she is! Emersen has been mad about dancing for a long time now. When I ask her what is her favorite thing, she always says "dancing and singing." She's got some pretty funky moves too. Someday I'll get around to uploading some videos. So we decided to enroll her in a dance class. She doesn't turn 3 until mid-September, but they let her in anyway. Ever since we mentioned the idea to her, she has been really excited to "go to dance class, like Sloan" (her friend). She asks about it every day. I let her pick out her outfit, and I can't believe how cute she looks in a leotard! My mom put me in ballet when I was 3, and Emersen reminds me of some of the pictures I've seen of myself.

As soon as we walked in the door to the studio, she said hi to the other girls and said, "We going to dance class!" She was so excited. She actually had a substitute teacher her first class. And there were four other girls in the class. One of the girls was running around in circles, so Emersen decided to join her. The teacher was trying to take role and kept asking the girls to stop running. I told Emersen to stop and pay attention, but then I decided I was probably being an annoying parent, so I left and decided to just let the teacher do her thing. Parents are only allowed to watch on the last class of each month, but she let me in to take a quick picture. I'll have to take more in a couple weeks.

I did peek through the door a few times and watch through the mirror. Emersen seemed to be doing just fine. I did hear through the door the teacher telling Emersen to "just worry about [her]self." That made me laugh because I could only imagine that Emersen was trying to tell someone else to stand on their "x."

When they were finished, I asked the teacher how Emersen did. She said that E wanted to repeat everything she said and didn't always stay with the class, but that she did fine for her first class as a 3-year-old. Emersen didn't get a piece of candy like some of the other girls because of that, and afterwards one of the mothers told me that her regular teacher doesn't give out candy and seems much more gentle with the girls. I wasn't concerned about her not getting candy though.

This is the first class of any kind that I have ever signed her up for. It made me feel really grown up as a mom for some reason! She kept telling me how much fun dance class was and showed me what they learned. They learned stretches, splits, toe touches, wolf ears (?), bar exercises, and chasse. She always talks about it. I think she'll really enjoy it. I can't wait to watch her for an entire class.

Football Season Begins

2011-09-05T21:51:00.005-06:00

College football is one of the best things about Fall. Daniel and I try to go to one home game a year. Daniel actually got a great deal on tickets this time for faculty and staff (because of his internship with the U). So we went to the home opener. The Utes have joined the Pac 12, so it will be interesting to see them play new teams. As I mentioned before, this whole Fall thing sort of snuck up on me, so I didn't know much about this year's team before the game.

We dropped the kids off with some neighbors and then rode Trax up to the stadium. Don't worry, the kids were still all decked out in their red gear. (Sorry, mom and dad.) Everywhere Emersen went that day, she told people that she had her "U" shirt on and would point to the "U."

The first quarter of the game was exciting, but the rest was just okay. We had a great time just being there anyway.

My favorite part - kick-off!

Now that's showing some team spirit! (If only I had a good camera.)

Go Utes!

Back to School

2011-09-03T19:04:00.001-06:00

Two weeks down...

Daniel started two masters programs this semester: Architecture and Real Estate Development. He doesn't do anything half way, does he? For some reason, the start of school really snuck up on us this time. I didn't have much time to gear myself up for a little more single parenting, so we just jumped right in. He is also trying to work part-time to get his internship hours in. He has afternoon classes three days a week, night classes Tuesday through Thursday, works and does school projects the rest of the time, and hopefully can enjoy us on the weekends. He'll be one busy man. As usual. He also is going on a field trip to Italy for 10 days in October with one of his classes. In addition, we've talked about the possibility of doing an internship next summer out-of-state, or if Daniel gets his way, out of the country. I'm up for an adventure as long as it isn't permanent. We'll see what the next 2 years brings.

Bentley was sick with a cold and his 3rd ear infection of the summer for that first week that Daniel was gone. Great way to start out, huh? With a lot of prayer and pretense at having patience, we actually survived the week pretty well. I just didn't plan much and didn't worry about getting much done. I realized how glad I am that I quit teaching piano lessons because that has really lessened my stress levels and I can just focus on my kids.

(He got stuck in this bumbo and just sat there for a while because he couldn't get out. He wasn't fussing, so I didn't help him. He looks a little forlorn, not feeling well and all.)

The second week, however, seemed a lot busier. I had something on my agenda every day. When I started having kids, I decided that I was NOT going to overbook myself. So I only allow one thing per day on my calendar, with few exceptions. That may not sound "busy" to anyone else, but it's as busy as I want to be.

Monday: I did my usual cleaning routine. My parents also came up that day to help me solve some car issues. I don't know what we'd do without our parents' knowledge of such things! It was a pleasant change to have company.

Tuesday: Some friends and I had a play date at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. It was "Two Buck Tuesdays," so it was CROWDED. Not very pleasant at all. And Emersen wasn't really that into it anyway. She just wanted to play the computer games. Bentley was still trying to get better, so he was content to sit in the stroller most of the time. And it was naptime too - bad timing. E had a few meltdowns when it came time to move on. I also had a primary presidency meeting that night.

Wednesday: We ran errands. We particularly had to buy a dance outfit for Emersen. This was actually one of the more pleasant shopping trips with the kids. It was fun trying on ballet shoes with Emersen, although she preferred the tap shoes. Everywhere we went, she told people that she was going to a dance class and needed dance clothes. Of course, she had to wear her dance stuff once we got home, but she was good to take it off to eat lunch so it wouldn't get dirty.

Thursday: I had a board meeting downtown for work, as well as a lot of other work responsibilities throughout the week (getting ready for our annual conference). I took the kids and switched cars with Daniel so that he could watch them for me during his lunch break. He took them to The Gateway to play in the water and eat lunch. That night, we dropped them off at a neighbor's house and went to the first home Utah football game.

Friday: Emersen had her first dance class. She was super excited until just before we were ready to go and then she didn't want to go anymore because she had found something new to play with. What!?! But she was excited when we got there and loved it. More on that subject later.

Thank goodness not every week will be like that. But then again, maybe it will. This coming week I'm focusing on planning a birthday. I'll soon have a 3-year-old. Yikes!

August . . . and Cherry Hill

2011-08-30T23:13:00.078-06:00

Not much exciting stuff happened in August that I haven't blogged about already. It was a busy month for us with our trip to Colorado, ward activities, Daniel starting school again, my work meetings, going to Oak City, sick kids, and making some changes in our house. We basically just tried to enjoy the summer that was left, and each other.

Grandpa gave Emersen some sparklers while we were gone to Colorado.

Bentley has discovered just how much he loves to be outside. Anytime he hears the sliding door open, he "runs" over. He and Emersen will play for hours in the sandbox. I'm glad we have such a kid-friendly yard.

(He really does love it, but he had just fallen over when I took this pic. And I think his sad face is so cute!)

B is also turning into a climber. Yikes! He also likes to sit on things.

We went to the ward pool party and the kids had a great time, even though they froze once they got out. B's teeth were chattering in this picture. Early in the evening, he was wading in the shallow end when he lost his balance and tipped over. He couldn't quite get himself turned over to stand back up and the lifeguard jumped in after him. I was impressed how fast he got there, and slightly embarrassed that he had to. I really wasn't very far away and was watching B the whole time, so I got there at the same time as the lifeguard. Of course he was just fine. But I'm really glad to know that he was paying attention to my kids! Things can happen so quick.

Daniel also threw together an Elders Quorum BBQ. It was fun to visit more with the other families in a non-church setting. E had a great time playing with the other kids, and B just wandered around. I kept losing track of him. Bentley loved the food and couldn't get enough chicken and watermelon. When I wasn't watching, he would stick a whole chunk of steak in his mouth and I had to keep pulling it out. He loves to eat. So why is he still so skinny?!?

Since Daniel's parents left on their mission, we don't see his siblings as much. So we planned a Sunday dinner to celebrate Dad's birthday and just to get together. Everyone was able to make it! The kids love playing with their cousins, and we're glad that they can be so close to them.

Daniel's mom gave us all season passes to Cherry Hill, and we definitely took advantage. We went a lot in the beginning, but then our Fridays got busy and the outings tapered off. The kids seem to be little fish and love being in the water. Here are some pictures from throughout the summer. Emersen's favorite is the lazy river. She just hangs onto her tube and kicks around by herself. Thanks, Mom, for the treat!