Austin's 1st Birthday!

So, we survived Austin's 1st birthday. It actually was a very laid back event. Grandma N. came to visit and help celebrate. That made Austin and Paige's day, that's for sure!! I still can't believe that Austin is 1 already! This year has gone by WAY too quickly for my liking. Oh well. That's just how it goes, I guess! Anyway, here are some pictures and videos of the big event. As you can see, Austin is developing quite the personality!! :0)

These first 4 pictures were taken a couple days before the B-day. Paige wanted to make Austin a card and this is the final product. Austin absolutely LOVED it and got very angry when we tried to take it away from him.

Austin's loot! Yeah....some boy toys!!!!Austin's construction cake. I saw the idea on the Kraft website. Very easy and quite cute. I realized after I made the cake that I didn't have anything to write the #1 with, so Oreo cookies became the next option. Oh well! (Also, for all you farmers out there, yes...I know that a combine harvester isn't a construction truck, but it's the only thing I had!) :0)
Cheesing it for the camera. Can you tell he liked his birthday cupcake?!?

You have to have the birthday song, right?!?

Sorry this is so long, but Austin was so funny opening up his presents, that I had to include one of the videos we took. Enjoy!

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday felt like Spring. The sun was shining and I was so excited to see these little beauties on our tree outside.

Today, Winter has shown it's mean, ol' face again. It's been snowing all morning and is still at it. (I'm sure all of you Ohioans are laughing at me right now!! It's definitely NOT a blizzard, but still!) :0) Just one question....When's it gonna end?!?

More Paige-isms

Yesterday, Paige, Austin, and I were playing with some toy animals. Paige put the sheep on the giraffe's back. (She's so silly!) I laughed and asked if the giraffe was giving the sheep a piggy-back ride. She looked at me as if I said something stupid and said, "No, Mommy, he's giving a giraffe-back ride!" Oops, my bad!!

Then today Paige was putting Lucky, her little stuffed dalmation puppy, and Lamb to bed in the family room. She had them laying on a pillow and wrapped up in one of her blankets. She had a stack of books next to them and she was reading to them. She had all of the lights turned off because they had to go to sleep. I asked her to turn the lights on so she could get dressed and she said, "But, Mom, they're scared of the light...the lights need to be off!" Isn't it usually the other way around?!? :0)

I love the imagination and quickness of Paige. She keeps us on our toes constantly and is such a joy to have in our house, even when she thinks she's the boss and refuses to take naps except maybe once a week!! (Yeah, I'm sad about this one!!)

Help!

OK, all you blog-stalkers out there!! :0) I'm trying to find someone who has the sheet music for a song called "The Woman I Was Before" from the Women of Destiny Vol. 2 CD. It's written by Doug Walker and Sherry Marks Walker. I'm supposed to be singing it for our Relief Society Birthday Celebration, but we are having a difficult time finding the music for it. One of the counselors in the presidency was told that it's out of print now, so.... If any of you have a copy or know where to get a copy, PLEASE let me know!! Happy searching! :0)

Paige tells it like it is?!?

So, Brian was home during his lunch hour and we were just talking in the living room. Paige was telling Daddy everything that she did this morning. She told him that she used her crayons to draw on her "Leprechaun hat". Then she said, "Mommy, your so big and strong, you can open my crayon box for me" (it's a tupperware container that she has a hard time opening up sometimes). "What about Daddy?" I asked her. Instantly, she said, "Daddy's not strong...he's just big." Needless to say, Brian and I had good, hard laugh after this comment!! Gotta love what comes out of a 3-year old's mouth!

My Sweet Birthday Boy!!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

His birthday is not until Saturday, but I couldn't help but post this a couple days early!! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!!

OK, I'm a slacker

I was on the phone with one of my friends this morning and she mentioned that she really didn't know what I've been up to because I haven't updated my blog for a while. Oops!! I AM a slacker!! Sorry.

Let's see, we just got back from a weekend in Utah which was very fun because we were able to get Paige and Austin together with their cousins. The weather was great on Friday and Saturday morning, but slowly got colder and colder through Sunday. We enjoyed it while it latest, though. Here are a couple videos from our time there.

OK, here's the video I MEANT to post the first time. Oops! (Thanks, Bekah, for tipping me off about it!) :0)

We've also been celebrating Austin's 1st Birthday, even though his birthday isn't until Saturday. He's already a pro with the "Birthday Cupcake" and has already gotten a bit of practice with opening presents. Here's a few pictures from his birthday activities.

Here's Austin's very first cupcake. "Look, Ma, no hands!!"

G'ma and G'pa A. came over and gave Austin his birthday presents a little early. He LOVES his car books and his animals. Thank you, G'ma and G'pa!!!

We had a little party last Monday with a couple other boys Austin's age. (They are all just a month apart.) It was so much fun. I loved the little cupcakes with their initials. Here's a video of part of the birthday song. I was a little late in getting the camera ready! ;0)

Some extra info

When I posted about our Valentine's Day project, I forgot to let you all know where I got the idea. I wish I could take credit for it, but, alas, I'm not that creative! (I'm good at copying other people's creations!) ;0) The website is called "A Little Hut" and is found here. So many cute ideas!!

Also, a few people have asked where I got Paige's Ballerina book. It's an Usbourne book. You can get it from any Usbourne book consultant (my mom is one). My sister is actually hosting an e-show in the next few weeks, so if you want to see what other books there are, let me know and I'll send you a link to the e-show. They are amazing books and my kids LOVE them!

I think that's all on that front. Austin had a big day today with a couple firsts. He went down the stairs by himself for the first time today. He's been going up forever, but he's always been too chicken to go down. He's finally jumped that hurdle! Yeah!! He also tried to say "peek-a-boo". It was so cute. It came out more like "a-ga-oo", but I knew what he was saying, especially because he was playing peek-a-boo with his bedroom door! :0) He also stood by himself for a couple minutes. Seriously, he's been the biggest chicken when it comes to standing or walking, so this is huge!! ;0) He will walk if he's holding onto one of our hands, but no solo attempts. I'll keep you posted!

I hope you're having a great week!! Tomorrow's FRIDAY, yeah!!

Some random pics and videos

Paige's new dance steps. (Don't you love her outfit?)

Taking Baby for a ride on her Barbie bike
Tamale dinner videos

Fun in the...

SNOW!!

I was surprised how much Austin liked the snow. That is, until he realized how frustrating it was to crawl and not go anywhere because his snow suit was so big and slippery. Oh well. Next year, Austin, next year!! :0)

Once there was a snowman...

Paige wanted to build a snowman so badly, that Brian decided to help her out. The bad thing was the snow was so powdery that Paige and Brian had to add water to it. That's what Paige is doing in the picture below. Taking a bucket of water to Daddy so the snowman won't crumble to pieces!

Paige giving her snow buddy a hug.
It snowed quite a bit the next day and Paige was a little worried that her snowman wouldn't be able to see, but all was well. Too bad we had a minor heat wave soon after and her snowman melted. You should have seen her sad face whenever she looked outside and saw it drooping a little more each day!

Valentine's Day 2008

Here's Paige's Valentine's Day project. It's made out of a cardboard egg carton. Paige painted each of the egg carton cups and I glued them on the background papers. She did such a great job and was very proud of the finished product, as you can see! :0)
Here are the V-day gifts for Paige, Brian and Austin. Paige and Austin absolutely LOVE their books. Paige's book shows her how to do dances, such as "The Sugarplum Fairy dance", a Clogging dance, a dance from "Swan Lake" and a few others. It came with a CD of the music from several ballets. She loves, loves, loves it!! Austin has really gotten into his books lately and loves his "Find the Teddy" book. Brian's present was a candy bouquet and each candy bar had a little "love note" on it. It's cheesy, I know, but very cute, right?!? :0) I think my favorite one was "My heart plays 'Twix' on me whenever you smile!" :0) There are others that I don't think are quite appropriate to post on here, but Brian sure liked them! :0)

I hope all of you had a great Valentine's Day. Oh yeah. Brian's present to me was....

Yes, that's right, Jim Brickman's "An Evening of Romance" concert!! It was such a fun date! He is such an amazing pianist. Thank you, Brian, for enduring the jokes your friends made about going to his concert and taking me. :0) I love you!!

Oops!

One of my friends pointed out that I spelled my husband's name wrong. Brain instead of Brian. Oops! I really do know how to spell his name, I promise! :0) He is a brain, though, because he's so darn smart! Thanks, Gwen, for pointing it out!! :0)

A little something about my sweet hubby

A couple pictures of my one and only. I absolutely LOVE this picture of him with Paige. Such a sweet daddy, isn't he?!?

What is his name? Brain Patrick

How long have you been married? 6 ½ years

How long did you date? We worked together the summer of 2000 and then dated for 6 months after that. It took him all summer to actually hold a true conversation with me! (Just kidding, but not by much!) :0) We were engaged for 4 months and sealed for time and all eternity in the Bountiful Temple on August 16th, 2001.

Who said I love you first? Brian

Who is taller? Brian

Who can sing better? We both sing a little, but I have to say that I really love Brian's voice. He's very good at singing parts. I've finally been able to get him to sing in the Ward Choir, but only because I'm the director! :0)

Who is smarter? I'd have to say Brian. He just amazes me.

Who does the laundry? Me

Who pays the bills? Me. I have to agree with Laurie and Heather...thank goodness for online bill pay! I even pay our rent online. So nice!!

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Brian. He has to deal with the alarm in the morning, but I have to deal with Paige coming into our bed in the morning because I'm closest to the door.

Who mows the lawn? Brian and sometimes our sweet neighbor who just does it to be nice! Seriously, we are very lucky with the neighbors we have. To return the favor, Brian shovels the snow in his driveway.

Who cooks dinner? Me! Unless putting a frozen pizza in the oven counts as making dinner. Brian's very good at that! :0)

Who drives? Brian. I don't mind one bit!

Who is more stubborn? I think we're pretty even with this one. We can see this quality in our children also. Makes life interesting, that's for sure! :0)

Who kissed who first? Brian kissed me first, but he teases me that I wanted it more.

Who asked who out first? Brian asked me out. I was working with Intramural Volleyball as a supervisor and he was working as a lifeguard in the RB on BYU's campus. He saw me in the hall and asked me. Very romantic, I know. :0)

Who proposed? Brian. He put my engagment ring on my finger while I was asleep. I woke up a little confused and then full realization came and all I could say was, "Yes, yes, yes". Even before he asked me formally! :0)

Who has more siblings? Brian. He has 4 brothers and a sister. I have 3 brothers and a sister.

Who wears the pants? Depends on the issue at hand!

I love you, Brian, with all my heart! Thank you for all you do for the kids and me!

*** I tag Tammy A., Gwen A., and Brittany B.

Crazy 8's

OK, Tammy. I have to apologize for taking so long in answering your tag. This is a fun one, too, but life just seems to get in the way (especially when you have a sick baby). Austin is finally feeling better so here it goes! :0)

~Eight things I'm passionate about
1. My husband (more about him in a future post!) :0)
2. My two beautiful children
3. The Gospel of Jesus Christ
4. Playing the piano
5. Reading
6. Volleyball
7. Card making
8. Almost any other craft, especially paper crafts

~Eight things I want to do before I die
1. Go to Germany
2. Vacation in Hawaii (Can you tell I need a vacation?!?) :0)
3. Visit all of the Church History sites (Winter Quarters, Kirtland and Nauvoo are already checked off the list
4. Go on a cruise...that's right, I've never been on one. How sad is that!
5. Learn the correct way to lead a choir (I do the best I can right now with my ward choir, but I know I'm just winging it the entire time!)
6. Learn how to play the violin
7. Learn how to play the guitar
8. See all of my children sealed to their sweetheart in the temple

~Eight things I say often
1. Please make good choices!
2. I love you!
3. Oh my goodness
4. Be nice to Austin
5. Hey, bud!
6. Hurry home
7. It's clean up time
8. What do you want for dinner?

~Eight books I have read recently
1. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
2. The Prelude to Glory series by Ron Carter (I'm on book 7 of 9)
3. The Elm Creek Quilts books by Jennifer Chiaverini
4. Sleeping Beauty
5. Little Mermaid
6. Pocahantas
7. Beauty and the Beast
8. 101 Dalmations (#4-8 have been about 1000 times in the last month. They rotate for each naptime and bedtime....exciting, I know)

~Eight songs I could listen to over and over
1. Any song by Jack Johnson
2. Any song by Jim Brickman (Brian's taking me to his concert for Valentine's Day, by the way!!)
3. The Prayer by Josh Groban and Charlotte Church
4. Bedtime Girl by Ralph Covert
5. Can't Stop Now by Keane
6. The Les Miserables Soundtrack
7. You're Beautiful by James Blunt
8. Two Points of Honesty by Guster

~Eight things I have learned this past year
1. Never have a baby and then 3 months later have your husband graduate from professional school and move across the country. It all worked out, but was VERY hectic!
2. How much I like living in a small town again.
3. Having 2 kids isn't as hard as I thought it would be (most of the time, anyway) :0)
4. It is wonderful to finally have an income and not have to live off of savings and school loans!!!
5. That I love my family more than anything!
6. I have the most dedicated husband who does an amazing job being a father and is also an amazing optometrist!
7. It is so nice living closer to family after living in Ohio for 4 years
8. We can all be guided by the Holy Ghost to make the best choices in our lives if we just listen!

~Eight lucky friends who get to do the "Crazy 8's"!!
1. Alecia R.
2. Laurie G.
3. Kiki C.
4. Kara H.
5. Kristy G.
6. Nancie M.
7. Tricia P.
8. Emily A.

Have fun!!

Paige and Austin's favorite pasttimes

Here's Paige's latest dance. Seriously, she has the MOVES! She definitely doesn't get it from me...maybe Brian has some secret dancing talent that passed on to Paige! :0)

Every day, all day!! It's either this cupboard or the cookie sheet drawer. At least he's kind enough to hand them to me, right? ;0)

A tribute to President Gordon B. Hinckley

I've been sent this link a couple times and I thought it was great.

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/200/5127/

I know I am a better person because I have tried to follow President Hinckley's teachings and counsel. President Hinckley will definitely be missed, but I am so happy for him and his sweet wife!

I'm back!

I've actually been back for a week, but I'm just now getting to posting again. It's been a little crazy since I've been home. I had to clean my house from top to bottom to get ready for my Usborne book party that my mom so wonderfully put on for me and during that time, my children came down with some pretty bad colds. Now, since they can't seem to keep their hands, mouths and slober away from me, I, too, am sick. Not fun, but that just comes with having kids, right?!?

Anyway, I had the most wonderful time visiting friends in Ohio. It was so good to see almost everyone and realize that it's not my home anymore. That was a great feeling, by the way, to know that we finally feel settled where we are now. I was a major slacker with pictures while I was there, but I did manage to take a few. What I'm most proud of, though, is that I was able to get most of the kids from Paige's playgroup to say Hi to Paige through video. Paige LOVES watching them and remembering the fun times she had with them. She seriously has such a good memory. Once she saw the videos, she would tell me something like, "Mom, remember when I played with ____ (fill in the blank with either Sammy, Zachy, or Emalyn) yesterday in my white house?" The white house was our condo in Ohio and yesterday means anytime in the past...it could be years or months ago or actually yesterday. We need to work on the time concept, I know! ;0) A wonderful thank you to all my friends out there, especially Laurie who let me stay with her most of the time I was out there, who made the visit so fun. Seriously, we really need to do it again!!

These first two pictures are from the amazing COSI in downtown Columbus. Austin LOVED it, especially the cloth stacking toy, as you can see. Peek-a-boo is one of his favorite games, if you couldn't tell that from these pictures already! He was such a good boy throughout the entire trip. He slept on the plane (the entire flight home, I might add), was very flexible with going so many different places with me and even missing a few naps. He was a trooper, that's for sure!
Here's Austin and his new buddy, Grace. It's so fun, because Grace's big brother, Sammy, was one of Paige's best buddies out in Ohio...by far...and Austin and Grace hit it off right away, also. Austin would go over to Gracie every time he saw her on the floor and give her slobbery kisses on top of her head...seriously, EVERY TIME! Grace didn't like it much at all, but Austin sure enjoyed it. A true boy, that's for sure! :0)
Here's my wonderful friend, Krissy, and her daughter, Kate, with us at a wonderful little ice cream shop. Krissy gave me the idea to make a little girls' trip out to Ohio and I am so glad that it all worked out!! It was so wonderful to see her again!!! Thanks, Krissy, for everything! For all of you in Ohio, if you haven't gone to Jeni's Ice Cream yet...GO!!! It was so yummy and they have some of the strangest yet most delicious ice cream combos. I think my favorite one was the Chocolate with cayenne pepper (I can't remember what they called it). It was sweet, but had a nice little kick at the end! :0)

I'm in OHIO!!!

In case you've been wondering why I haven't posted anything for awhile,  it's because I've been in the great state of Ohio!  It's been so much fun seeing so many of my "long-lost" friends.  Their poor husbands, though, probably think that they don't have wives the past couple days since we've been having "Girl's Night Out" every night since we've been here.  Well, I'll post more once I get home.  I have a few pictures to put on, also, but that will have to wait!!

Oh, I forgot...one more thing!

Yes, there is something else that happened Saturday and I forgot to mention it. On the way home, Paige finally fell asleep about 15 minutes from our house. She stayed asleep while I got Austin and all of our bags out of the car. I carefully undid her buckles in her car seat, gently lifted her out, and got a big whif of urine. Yes, she had peed in her seat. Yummy!!!!

Who....me?!?

When I posted this picture this summer, several people commented on the "look" on Paige's face. I have always interpreted this face as being very mischievious and guess what...that's exactly what our little girl is!!!

Here's our story for the day. It all began while eating breakfast. The kids were eating their cereal and I thought I'd jump in the shower real quick while they were happily occupied. It was a very short shower so I didn't think anything would happen. But alas, after I was dressed I went into the kitchen to find the milk jug on the table. (Not a problem usually, but I knew I had put it in the fridge before my shower.) I became very suspicious once I saw Paige's face. I told her that she needed Mom to help her with the milk next time and as I was putting the milk back into the fridge I noticed something moving in the jug. Lo and behold, there were tons of Cheerios in there, but that wasn't what I felt moving. It was a spoon. Paige thought that it would be a good idea to mix in a few Cheerios in the milk with the spoon, but realized that she couldn't get the spoon back out. So that resulted in just under 1/2 gallon of milk wasted. Great.

As soon as I got myself and the kids ready, we left to go visit my sister, brother-in-law, niece and brother. Once we got there, we fed the kids lunch and I put Austin down for his nap. One child down, one more to go. Since my niece was also taking a nap, I decided that it would be safer and more convenient to put Paige and Austin in the same room...Austin in the pack'n'play, Paige in my sister and BIL's bed. After storytime, Paige laid right down, no problem and I thought "Wow, this is going to be much easier than I thought!" I went downstairs to visit with everyone and make a necklace with my sister. After about 20 minutes I thought I heard something upstairs so I went to check up on Paige. I walked into the room and found Paige rubbing almost an entire bottle of lotion into Austin's head. She did manage to rub a little in her own hair, but most of it was on Austin. Austin was awake of course (maybe managed to sleep 30 minutes...maybe). Paige instantly went to timeout while I took Austin downstairs to clean off his head/hair and my wonderful sister took on the task of cleaning off Paige. I should have taken a picture, I know, but I was too angry at the time to do it. After all of this, I knew there wasn't a chance of Austin sleeping again for awhile, so I kept him downstairs and once again went upstairs to try to get Paige to take a nap. (I normally wouldn't worry about it, but I knew she was so tired because she had major bags under her eyes which is her obvious sign of being exhausted!) Once again, she laid down with her doggy and lamb and looked like she was going to fall asleep. I went back downstairs and began working on my necklace again. About 10 minutes later I heard a little someone coming down the stairs and I called up to her to just come down because I knew she wasn't going to sleep. As we were getting ready to leave, I went upstairs to make sure we didn't leave anything and guess what I found this time? Paige had gotten into a drawer and found a certain type of "stash" that I'm sure most married couples have next to their bed and spread it all over the bed...the pillows, sheets, comforter, etc. It was awful. I instantly called down to my sister to show her the evidence. She took it a lot better than I thought! :0) Luckily it was already "wash day" at their house and she put the load of bedding in before we left. So, I don't know if our little "angel" is just curious or purposefully looking for things to do to drive my crazy...I just hope she doesn't have another day like today!!!

Cute Background templates!!

One of my friends had this site on her blog and I absolutely LOVE the backgrounds. Check them out for yourself at http://cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com/.

She can go down by herself!!

By the end of our day at the sledding hill, Paige would go down it by herself!! Such a big girl! I was in the car with Austin, but Brian said that she just laughed the whole way down.

More fun in the snow!

Here are some more pictures of Paige and Daddy sledding down the hill. She had so much fun, even when Daddy sprayed snow in her face on the 1st run. When I went down with her right after that she told me not to spray snow in her face like Daddy did. Very funny!