Happy Birthday Chelsea

My little girl turned 2 last Friday. We had TONS of family in town to celebrate. We went on the Hayride at the Pumpkin Farm and fed donkeys and cows. Then over to Gramma Daines' house for soup, salad, and cake

the "soft" wrapped presents apparently meant pillows for Chels

not sure about the hayride yet

feeding the cows

uncle love

trying on her new clothes

What to say about my daughter. She is super adorable. She has so much personality. She is spunky, stubborn, goofy, independent, smart, etc. Sometime I want to rip my hair out because she is throwing such a fit or will not cooperate. But all that fire and gumption comes from somewhere and I'm pretty sure that most everyone can guess where she got it.

She sleeps great. She goes down around 8:30pm and wakes up around 9am. She still naps for 2 hours in the later afternoon. She has all her teeth but her 2 year molars. She wears 24month/2T clothes and size 7 shoe. Not sure what her exact weight and height stats are but she's about 28 lbs. and 32 inches.

We love her so much!

The Good, the Bad, and sometimes the Ugly

I have been absent from the blogging world for far too long. I miss it. I frequently think of the words I would write in a post or the pictures that need to be uploaded and then I do nothing about it. I have discovered the culprit. And the name of this post is directed at it.

My smart phone.

I love my Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. I really do. And I HATE it. It has made my life easier and my time more easily wasted. With apps like ______ (fill in the blank) w/ friends, Facebook, Zillow, and Instagram--I find myself spending too much time away from my responsibilities. It is great to be able to check my email in a second and have everything "in the palm of my hand".  I could go on with my love/hate relationship...but I will leave it for now.

Because I have access to so much on my phone, I RARELY get on a computer any more. Over the past 3 months I have probably sat down at my computer a grand total of 10 times. Most of them being for a very specific purpose and then I get off. Thus the reason my blog has suffered. I suppose I can't say it would be impossible for me to blog from my phone but I won't. It's too difficult for me to sit there and type it out on my phone keyboard. So I would like to thank my smart phone for my absence from the blogging world. Hopefully I can now remedy to situation. So to do so, I will give a quick update, a few highlights and some photos.

We enjoyed summer, and really continue to enjoy it since we don't have school age kids yet. Every day is summer here. We went to San Antonio in July and my sweet husband surprised me with a getaway for our 5 year anniversary. In August we spent almost 3 weeks in Spokane, Washington with my in-laws. We spent a great amount of time on the lake, playing on the tubes, sand, and with cousins.

We are anxious for cooler weather, the holidays, time with friends, and the arrival of our 3rd child in February. I am 16 weeks along and will soon find out if its a boy or girl. Carson is sure that it is a brother so we regularly try to help him understand that it just might be a girl.

We are happy, healthy, and content. I'll close with photos.

The BEST little 3 year old...

Can I Just post the pics and be done!? I think YES today.

Chels had on a pair of yellow Mr. Potato Head glasses and carson joined in. Too bad his sister wouldn't let me get a good pic of them together.

Stoked after riding his first roller coaster @ Sea World

Don't they look happy to be on a ride?! Yeah, Looked pretty boring to me too!

"Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam!"

He got a cut just under his nose and insisted on a band-aid...that was the night before! I could not believe he kept it on all night! Plus he looked so goofy, I needed a photo

I love him more and more every single moment! He is such a cool, cute, loving, adventurous little man!

My Toddler Girl

It is true, she is no longer a baby. It makes me want to cry. She is so independent about some things its a little scary. Note the pool sequence....

My Chels is a happy thing. She loves to laugh and makes me laugh at her laughing---ah hem, let me clarify. I am pleasantly surprised at what she finds to be funny and I can't help but laugh at what she finds humorous.

This was sent to me by my dad when he was watching them for a week in  April. Made me smile to know that they are my happy goofy kids...even when I'm not there.

She loves to accessorize with random things. You can't see it all, but in the above picture she has a regular outfit on, then a rash guard, swim bottoms, swim diaper, one rain boot and a rubber band bracelet. We consider this to be a normal outfit for her lately.

She will be officially 20 months old on June 12th. That is how old Carson was when she was born! That thought is CRAZY! Both kids are definitely ready for a new baby to come to our house. Carson asks regularly when (he) is coming. Chelsea has become VERY interested in caring for her baby doll. Pushing the doll in a stroller, wrapping it up in a blanket, and smothering it with kisses. Hopefully sooner then later we will have a baby in our house again, but until then, my little Chelsea GOO will just have to keep being my baby--so she better stop growing up!

Women's Conference 2012

Loved everything about this trip!

-Conference
-Girl Time
-No kids :-)
-Family Time
-Games
-NEWBORN!! (my little nephew Holden)
-babies
-best friends

Borrowed material

My friend Chantal wrote this on her blog and I wanted to remember it so I am posting it on mine. Thanks CHAN!

"Our Mortal Memory...or Lack there Of"


Do you know why it is so scary that our kids grow up so fast? Its because we forget... we forget the sound of their little giggles and the jibber jabber they carry on so constantly. We forget how they tuck their head down, scrunch their shoulders up and lean when they are trying their best to run. We forget how they point their toes so dainty like and spin circles why dancing like princesses. How they were in complete awe the first time they spotted an airplane out of the sky and have since been scanning the sky for flying creatures. We forget how big they honestly think they are when in our eyes they are so tiny. And how it feels to snuggle  and rock them to sleep or when they crawl in bed next to you in the middle of the night. We forget how it breaks their hearts when we tell them that something they did might make Jesus feel sad. And how squishy their little baby fingers are. We forget the joy they find in simple things like running or jumping or singing. We forget the words to all the millions of songs they make up as they sing all day long. And how they scraped their nose up after tripping over a rock because they would NEVER drop all the flowers they had been picking while hiking. Or how they cry for each other when they know the other is upset or hurt. We forget the way they tease when they are so little you would never believe they are already that clever. We forget how helpful they are and how funny, how sweet and how grumpy, how giving, how innocent, how loving, how easily frightened and how dependent. And even though we write these things down and take pictures... we will never REALLY truly remember them exactly how it was. I sincerely hope that God gives all those memories back to me when I reach the other side.

It is Time...

Time to blog again!

Wow, how time flies when you're living life. We really don't have much to report. A few things here and there but whatever it is that we do with our time...it sure keeps us busy!

I'm not at my home computer so pictures will have to come later. But maybe a little timeline will do.

March 3-13
         David and I went to Argentina. The kids stayed with my in-laws. The trip was filled with lots of hiccups. It was good though. Definitely an adventure for the books. (more details to come with the pics)

End of March
         Lots of swimming, A visit with our cousins, a lot of new recipes tried (thanks to pinterest), and some crazy storms.

April
        General Conference. My family came for a nice 24 hour visit. I'll take what I can get but it definitely was NOT long enough.

         Easter. It was a quiet weekend. Just David, me and the kids. They loved the egg hunts!

See...not a lot to report. My Chelsea is growing up WAY too fast! I am constantly amazed at what she is able to do by herself. She uses so many words together and is very good at communicating. Sometimes it is loud and annoying...but hmmm, she is her mother's daughter--Stubborn & insistent. Now, her insatiable curiousity is a little more hard for me to place. She has begun to pass it on to her brother too. Needless to say, I have two very busy toddlers to keep track of. Speaking of.....


......til next time.

11? about ME

Okay Chan, I will be happy to humor you. Plus, I thought your questions were interesting.

1. Were you named after someone and if so whom? Malerie Elizabeth...My middle name is my dad's grandmother's middle name. I only knew her as a baby.
2. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? Are we using the term 'friends' loosely? I guess when I think of friends its like how close-knit my friendships were in highschool. I don't seem to find a lot of those in my adult years. But Anyway, yes I believe I would be friends with me. It would depend a little on what type of person I was. As long as I loved to talk, talk, laugh, watch movies, not shop, talk, and laugh some more...then yes, I would be my friend.
3. What is the first thing you notice about people?The way they talk and their expressions while doing so. If people are animated and interesting when they interact then I'm interested. If they're dull, quiet, or never move their face into any new expressions then I wonder what sadness or lack of excitement they've experienced to lead to such boringness. I also really like to look at shoes...not sure why.
4. Who do you miss at the moment? Can I change this to what?...I miss seeing and living close to all of my high school friends. They have kids I've never met. We are all experiencing the joys of motherhood and I would love to experience and share it with them. Maybe that's still a who.
5. Mountain hideaway or beach house? Mountain hideaway--Especially since this is an all seasons answer. I would prefer winter though.
6. What is the farthest you have been from home? South Korea. I say this because it really felt farther away then when I went to Australia since I was only 14 went I went. So I was missing my mommy. When I went to Australia I was married and went with my Hubby.
7. City or country?Country. I like the city but if its one or the other then always country. Its bigger to roam free and its quieter.
8. Would you bungee jump? Nope. Sounds like a cop-out... but I have kids. They need a mommy.
9. Favorite sport to watch? If I have to....BYU football. I enjoy it but I always think of what better things I can be doing during that 3-4 hour time period. Plus its a pain for me to try and engage in it when I've got my kids in and out and all around.
10. Favorite school teacher and why? Amy Smithson. Algebra II, 10th grade. I actually understood her. And she is quite funny.
11. What do you want to do when you retire? Retire? RETIRE? from what? I'm a stay-at-home mom. I will never retire. ANd I don't really think I want to :) But when my kids are grown and out of the house I want to go on a mission with my husband and I want to be crafty. I want a room where I can just create things without little hands trying to help. Its fine for now...I enjoy it a little, but I look forward to a time where I can just go and do with out planning and failing.

I don't really have time to make up my own version right now. But if anyone wants to continue this along....

 RULES

*You must post the rules

*Answer the 11 questions that the tagger posted for you; then create 11 questions for those you are tagging.

*Tag 11 people and link them in your post

*Let them know you have tagged them

Still here...Just distracted

I've been MIA--at least when it comes to my blog. We've been busy potty training, keeping up with David's 2nd year at school, and trying to keep the house somewhat clean! I've done a few here and there in the past few months but its been pretty poor...and i don't think I've had any picture for awhile. SO.... Pictures is what you'll get.

Carson's 3rd Birthday 

Opening very carefully --This is how he approaches most things

My silly, but super adorable kids

On our cruise in December

Body surfing on the very top of the ship

Flow Rider surfing