Weekend Highlights

What a great weekend. We had so much fun spending a lot of time outside and all of our time together. Nothing is more enjoyable than having fun with family and friends. Friday night Matt and I watched "I Am Legend" and "27 Dresses." This wouldn't seem like that big of a deal but we haven't seen a movie in months. The rest of the weekend included mowing the lawn, setting up bunk beds, a BBQ with friends, and lots of game nights. Monday we went to Hawaiian Falls Water Park for a neighbor's birthday. We came home, rested, and then went to Joe T Garcia's with the Mathis Family. We've had such a wonderful time together and I am sad that Matt had to go back to work this morning.

Matt and I were hesitant to open the bunk beds since they were so inexpensive but they are actually really nice. They are super durable and sturdy. To be honest, I like the look of them more than the 90% of what we had previously looked at. The only bunk beds I really liked more wouldn't have fit comfortably in Sienna's room and cost over $1200. I'm just excited to finish the girls' room now!!! Thanks Matt for spending the afternoon putting these together.

Sienna helping set up her new beds. She loved playing with the stud finder because she could make it beep and light up.

The final product. She thought it was so neat laying on her new bed. It'll be awhile before we have her sleeping in it but I think she'll like it.

This is the bedding that we are going to put on the top bunk when we get another mattress. We got the bottom mattress for free and haven't taken the time to buy the second.

Scary, I know but this is us at Hawaiian Falls. We went with some friends for their son's birthday. It was so much fun and Sienna loved it.

Sienna relaxing on Matt in the wave pool.

Enjoying some waves.

Taking a break to get some "appa dew."

Mouth full of crackers reaching to get more cheese. Sienna was so good and had a blast at the water park. We spent most of the time in the wave pool or lazy river since she can't go on the rides. She thought it was so fun to splash. We would take turns having her sit on our laps in the tube while the other would splash and tease her. Sienna was getting so frustrated that she couldn't reach both handles on the tube at the same time. She would grab one and then reach for the other. She also thought it was so fun to push mommy away from the tube. I would grab onto the handles and the would push me under the water. We were shocked at how daring Sienna was and how much she loved having water splashed or dumped on her from the different toys. She would even stand at the end of the wave pool and let the waves knock her over without getting upset.

Playing with Audrey last night after dinner.

What Disney Princess Are You?

I copied this from Kiera. I am always curious to see what these quizzes say about me. I'll have a better post coming tomorrow of our wonderful weekend with lots of pictures. Good night.


You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Phil and Ted's

This morning Sienna and I went out for a walk and we ran into our friends Kaytie, Brooklyn, and Davin. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the walk but Kaytie had the neatest double stroller I have ever seen. The brand is Phil and Ted's. I highly recommend looking it up. It is a jogging stroller that you can use as a single or double stroller but it stores the kids one on top of the other instead of side by side. It is easy to maneuver and would fit down any aisle. Check out the link, scroll down and see all of the different ways you can use this stroller. You can put the infant laying down with the toddler sitting above or when they are both older you can have them both sitting up. Brooklyn and Davin were both enjoying Kaytie's jog and had lots of room and looked so comfortable. It was so cute and nifty. I have never seen anything like this but now I know what I need to start budgeting for. The only thing left is choosing a color.

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http://www.babybungalow.com/phandtee3foi13.html

A Dream for the Back Burner

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go tour Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Dallas while Matt watched Sienna at work. This is something that I have been interested in for awhile and applied for the school on a whim. I received a call to come down and take a tour. To my surprise, the school offers classes from 7pm-midnight. It is a 15 month program and it would give me an associates degree as well as a diplome from Le Cordon Bleu. I was hesitant to go because I knew that this is the cream of the crop and would be very expensive. There are other culinary schools around but this is internationally known and is the best of the best. It was such a neat experience. The school has 10 commercial sized kitchens. It looked like 1o miniature Kitchen Stadiums from Iron Chef. I was completely blown away and got super excited learning more about the school. Unfortunately, expensive is an understatement. After tuition, uniforms (yep, the chef's coats, pants, hats, steel toed shoes and whatever they call that thing around their neck), and the tool kit, the school cost $36,300. I am not about to spend 40k on a hobby of mine. If I was single and didn't have a family to raise then I would probably consider something like this. It is a love of mine and I am constantly watching the Food Network with Matt. I am not a good cook/chef but I have always wanted to learn and improve. Matt *my husband that hates debt more than I do* is insanely supportive and wants me to do this in a year or two. I'm sorry, there's no way. Matt's education didn't cost anywhere near that much and he is going to be the one supporting our family. He told me that it was only money and we could pay it off later on. What a sweetheart. I love how supportive Matt is and that he wants me to follow a dream of mine. Maybe sometime in the future I will do something like this when the kids are grown up and I can open my own bakery or work as a top chef somewhere and work to pay off the debt. For now, I am more than happy living my number one dream that I have had my whole life... being married to my best friend and stay home with my kids. The career specialist kept telling me that I needed to do something for myself, what is important to me. I finally told him that being home with my family is what is important to me. He was very impressed and respected that. He did still try to convince me that I could do both -which I could if I wanted to take out another loan. He didn't understand why I didn't want to use financial aid and pay it off later. I had a great time at the school and had a constant grin from ear to ear the entire time, but for now, I will take some cake decorating classes and enjoy making messes in my own kitchen with my kids!

While I was at the school, I kept thinking of my little brother. This would be an awesome career for Kirk. He has always loved the kitchen and enjoyed cooking. I think he would do an exceptional job as a head chef running his own restaurant. It is something that comes a lot more natural for him and I remember him wanting to do this when he was younger. I was so excited to come home and call him to tell him all about it. He seemed interested but he could just be flattering his big sis. He still has 2 years left in the Marine Corps but it is something he could do when his contract is up. I love my little brother and think it would be awesome for him to move to Texas with us. Now, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Nothing to Lose but Everything to Gain

Here is a quick update on the post I did earlier. I made a cake tonight for fun and it is huge. I'll probably try sunflowers again sometime without rushing but overall, I am satisfied. It is a chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse filling and buttercream icing. I rushed decorating it quite a bit but I'm sure the guys at work will love a free gigantic cake even if it is a little sloppy. I'm having a lot of fun doing this and I finally signed up to take some cake decorating classes.

This is from the cake pan that Matt's family got me for my birthday. Seriously enormous!

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Also, Sienna did amazing today with the whole potty training thing (read below). I didn't change one messy diaper today, she went in the toilet every time!!!

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I am such a proud mommy right now. Sienna has not ceased to amuse me lately with how smart she is. She has been talking more and more every day. I was writing down all of the words that she currently knows and not counting animal noises, it was over 40 words. One of her favorite words lately has been potty. She says it all of the time but recently started saying, "potty-tinky" (stinky) when she has messed her diaper or when she sees one of us using the bathroom. Just for fun, I bought her a seat of her own to put over the regular toilet. Last night, Matt and I caught her squatting and trying to go potty so I had her follow me into the bathroom and put her on her seat. She went poop in the toilet!! Yes, that was mostly because we caught her in the act but I was still very happy because she thought it was the neatest thing ever. To make things even better, after her bath this morning she was running around saying, "potty." It is one of her favorite words right now so I didn't think much of it but I figured what the heck and put her on the potty. She did it again! After pooping in the potty, she reached for the toilet paper and said, "all un." I tried to get her to stay up there because I knew she wasn't quite finished but she insisted on getting down. We flushed the toilet, washed her hands, and put her diaper back on. A few minutes later I asked her if she wanted to go night night and take a nap. She looked at me and said, "potty" again. I thought to myself that she is too young to pull this on me already... you know, pretending to have to go potty to get out of naps. Then I realized she loves naps and maybe she really has to go again. Before I knew it, she was running to the second bathroom where her special potty is and started knocking on the door saying, "potty, potty, potty." Yep, you got it, I put her on the toilet and she finished what she had previously started. She is pooping in the toilet before she is even strong enough to flush the toilet. The girl isn't even 14 months yet.

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Don't think I am crazy. I don't expect her to be potty trained any time soon but seriously, what do we have to lose by trying? Matt and I don't have any expectations and we are just taking this one day at a time. I'm sure it will take quite a bit longer before Sienna can tell us when she needs to pee in the potty or when she is wet, but what a great start. Go Sienna! We're so proud of you.

Nobody was more proud than Sienna herself. She thought it was so cool sitting on the toilet. I'm just glad she didn't fall in.

Something else that Sienna loves right now is coloring. She wants to color at least 2-3 times a day. This picture kills me because of how she is holding the crayon. I have absolutely love spending every minute with her and as happy as I am to have another baby, I am going to miss the quality one on one time we have together. Sienna is going to be a great big sister though and am very determined to still have my special time with Sienna. Does anyone have advice on how to make things easier for Sienna when the new baby comes?

First Ice Cream Cone

Sienna and I have been having a lot of fun together while Matt has been in Cancun. We wish we could talk to him, but we'll see him tomorrow. Today, Sienna and I went to the park so she could enjoy her very first ice cream cone. She has had plenty of ice cream in the past, just not in a cone. It was a lot of fun watching her try to figure things out.

She didn't know exactly what it was at first.

It didn't take her long to dig in but it did take her awhile to grasp the concept of licking the ice cream.

YUMMY

She really started to enjoy herself.

Sienna was yelling, "no, no, no" to the ice cream melting. It was hilarious. That's just what happens to ice cream when it is hotter than 90 degrees outside.

Sharing her cone with mommy.

She finally got it!

This was the funnest two dollars I have spent in a long time.

We had to come home and clean up. Sienna has taken so many baths this weekend.

She loves playing with her sponge letters.

Love ya grandma!

This was a Mother's Day surprise from Matt and Sienna.

He got me a beautiful silver bracelet and silver earrings from James Avery. What a sweetheart! He made me open it Wednesday night since he won't be home until later tomorrow. I love them.

More Please

What a fun few days we've had. We haven't done much but it has been nice. Monday night a few girls kidnapped Kiera for her birthday and we went to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate her birthday. What an interesting night to say the least. It's always nice to have a girls' night out.

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Matt and I have started getting things ready for Sadie to join our family. I can't believe that there are only about 2 months left. I feel like I have a ton to do before she comes. I am very proud of myself though. I wanted to buy bunk beds for the girls. We're planning on having Sienna sleep on the bottom bunk until Sadie needs a bed and then we'll separate the bunks or put Sienna on top if she is ready. The reason I am proud of myself is that I bought some bunk beds for under 200$ when the ones I really wanted were $1300. I also decided that I didn't need to spend hundreds of dollars at Pottery Barn on bedding for the girls. Instead of $70 dollars for a duvet (which I would need 2 of and they don't even include the stupid comforters) plus however much it would cost for the sheets, etc... I bought 2 of those beds in a bag for the girls that were $60 each at Target. They came with a comforter. sheets, pillowcase, and a sham. No, I don't think they are as cute as what I wanted from Pottery Barn but they are still cute. Sorry to ramble on about prices but I am happy that I saved close to $1500 just by swallowing some pride. Matt wouldn't have allowed me to spend that kind of money on sheets anyway but still, I didn't ask and that is a bonus!

Speaking of bunk beds, they just arrived at the door. We'll have pictures as soon as they are set up. That'll probably have to wait until next week because Matt is going to Cancun for his annual work retreat tomorrow. I hate being home alone but I am really excited for him, it should be a ton of fun.

Sienna and Matt playing the other night.

They had a daddy-daughter day in while I went out with my friends for Kiera's birthday. Really, they both just went to bed.

She is getting SO big.

Sienna and I went to get an oil change on our van today. I bought her some skittles but I guess it wasn't enough. After they were all gone she went and was playing with the machine. She actually got a few more to come out. It was pretty funny.

"More Please!"

Past Few Weeks

ere are a few pictures from our ward party last night and then a bunch from our trip to Utah. The Scout fundraiser was awesome last night. They earned $3500 dollars in just a couple hours. They had a spaghetti dinner and an auction. I was embarrassed to make cookies for an auction because I didn't think that desserts would get much attention... I was wrong. They had some cakes and pies that went for over $60. My chocolate chip cookies sold for $35. It was crazy but we had so much fun. This was a great idea. Everything was donated for the dinner, then you had to pay to eat it, and there were tons of services and fun items auctioned off. I love our ward, they know how to have fun.

Sienna and Jacob at the dinner. He is so good with kids and Sienna loves him.

Sienna and Owen. They are about 2 weeks apart. They were both all over the place last night just having a great time.

Sienna had to go find Audrey too. They have been good little buddies lately. Sienna kept yelling, "aw-eee" - So cute!

Sienna with her beautiful aunts, Dana and Adri.

Stealing Adri's ice.

Do you think he has enough ribs? My mom even had an extra long platter for him.

Swimming in Moab. Sienna loved the pool but she was so tired that soon after getting in the water, she fell asleep on my shoulder. My camera died so we didn't get a picture of that.

Sienna going down a huge slide at Kangaroo Zoo. My niece Kate loved going down the slides and was fearless but Sienna wasn't as happy with us for making her go by herself. She didn't cry but she was making the funniest high pitched squealing noises.

My handsome little brother that just got back from Iraq and met up with us in Moab. I wish I had more pictures of Kirk and Mariette (a friend that went with us) but like I said, my batteries died.

Sienna with Kate and Ella in the background. All in matching PJs from grandma. We had a late Easter egg hunt with all the cousins.

Katie-Kate eating a war head.

Adri and Sienna.

Eating at Red Lobster.

Adri waiting for her prom date. Isn't she one of the most gorgeous girls of all time??? I can't believe she is graduating this month. Now she just needs to move to Texas for school and work at TWG. That way she can see her nieces all the time!! (I'm just trying to get Matt's mom to freak out... she isn't moving to Texas.)

Playing the piano for grandpa.

Yes, these pictures were super random. I am sad that I don't have more from Utah of Sienna with her people. She became very attached to both sets of grandparents and all of her cousins/aunts/uncles and all the pets too. Thanks everyone for a great trip. I wish we were coming back a lot sooner than we are. Hopefully, we'll see most of you when the new baby comes. Just over 2 months!!