Looking for some alligators...

A post of our alligator camping trip to come...once everything (and everyone) is cleaned up a bit!

My baby sister is....21!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Dani!

We love you so much and we miss the days when we lived in the same house and Kate had Aunt Dani to follow you around and hang out with you as you did your hair and makeup. You have always been fun (even when you didn't like hanging out with us) and always been loved (even when you give us your famous dirty looks) and we just love you!!
We were so excited to be with you when you got married! Everything was beautiful and perfect. You have made me proud to be your big sister and have been such a great example to Kate.
We love you and we can't wait to see you!

Goodbye Conan

I know I'm a little late, but I just watched the last episode of Conan that I had DVRed. I haven't always regularly watched Conan, but I have always thought he was hilarious when I did. He is my favorite and I might have had a semi crush on him at one part of my life.
When it comes to my New York love and dreams of being there, a lot of what I love and imagine comes from tv and movies. Conan is part of that New York love. There was a lot I wasn't able to do on my short New York trip last December, and one of those things was seeing Conan...although I was hoping to have him walk past me on the street Michael Scott style. Only hopefully I would recognize him.
I knew that Jay Leno was leaving the Tonight show and I knew that Conan was taking over, but I had no idea that meant he was leaving New York until just a few weeks ago.
I am sad.

Lazy Mama Sunday afternoon

Yesterday I came home from our freezing Primary room at church to a freezing house (because it was only 60 degrees outside) and I could barely stand to eat lunch before I cuddled on the couch with a huge blanket. Of course, this led to me falling asleep and the next thing I know, Kate wakes me up with a project her and Daddy had made:


She wouldn't let me get a picture of her actually wearing it, but its a bag to wear over her head. I don't know if its because Ryan didn't like the hairdo we did today or what! But she thought it was quite hilarious. Its funny to me to see the things Daddy and Kate do together when Mommy is napping!

*pinch*pinch*pinch*

(thats what I do to bums that are this cute!)

Yesterday I went to the Old Navy sale and got Sawyer some new pajamas. These ones are size 12-18 months...big, but not very! And I thought they made him look like such a BIG boy! The reason I got a bum picture is because he isn't happy unless he is standing or crawling and that makes it hard to get a picture!

case in point:
(he would rather be crawling!)

So proud!!

Today I took Kate to the doctor and guess what he had us do!!

Draw 3 vials of blood from this little girl!

And how did she react?

She sat on my lap...she held her tiny little arm up on the armrest...and she sat quietly and watched as the put the rubber band on her arm, stuck her with a needle, and pulled out 3 vials of blood!!!

The phlebotomist was in shock. I was in shock (as my eyes welled with tears of pride). And she was just excited to have a bandaid!

Afterwards I got her a "Mommy's so proud of you" happy meal. As we were waiting for it she said, "You'll have to help me eat it because I don't have an arm."

Then Sawyer was baby babbling next to her in the car, she asked what he was saying, and in a small baby voice I said, "My sister is such a big girl!" and she said, "yeah, he is so proud of me." (She probably heard me say that about a million times after she was done!)

I am so proud of my big girl!

Contest Winners!!

The handmade contest came and went in no time at all! Thanks for playing!
Here are the winners:

Jen
Jenne
Jen *
Ami
Angela *

If you didn't win, don't feel bad! Its probably just because your name isn't Jen. Or doesn't start with an A.

*Jen and Angela, I need your addresses. I have an address for you, Angela, but I'm not sure its current.

Don't forget, I only promised it would be done sometime this year!!

Photography...

As you may have heard (ha!), I am trying to get better at photography. I'm basically obsessed right now. You also may have heard that I am in a weight loss contest for some big $$$ and my number one prize I have in mind to spend my winnings on is this photography workshop called Picture Life Workshop. Its taught by some amazing photographers Holly and Amanda. (Seriously, check out their blogs...I drool over their pictures regularly!) I've been DYING to go to a workshop ever since my SIL Hilary went right as I was basically in labor with Sawyer and I felt like I totally missed out. Then I moved to Houston and they had one in Mesa just months after and I was so bummed to have missed it! Ever since then I have been determined to find a way to get to one! I'm still trying to work everything out...trying to decide between Dallas or see if I can make it to Arizona...and I saw today on Holly's blog that they're going to give away a free workshop! All I have to do is tell everyone about it here...so much easier than starving myself on this diet!! So I'm totally in. I'm planning on going basically no matter what. I want to take better pictures of my kids in real life. I wouldn't mind taking pictures of other people's kids...I JUST WANT TO BE A PHOTOGRAPHER!!
Anyone want to come with me?!?

Valentine's Day 2009 recap

Here are a few of the highlights of Valentine's Day this year:

pink milk

pink milk mustache

pink heart shaped pancakes

yummy

Valentine from Mommy and Daddy

happy pancake makers

heart hair-do

Valentine's socks from Grammie

Valentine's happiness

After our breakfast fun, Daddy went to school and studied and while we spent the afternoon cleaning up the house. Then Daddy and Mommy were able to have their first date since leaving Tucson, thanks to the Young Women of the ward doing a little fundraising. All day long I pumped Kate up to go to a "valentine's party" at the church with her friends while Mommy and Daddy had a date. She got really into it and I thought she would go no problem...there was a little crying in the beginning, but with the promise of a treat we were able to leave and have a nice date while she did a craft and watched movies and did all sorts of fun things. When we came back to pick them up at about 7:15, we were tempted to leave them the full evening (until 9) because they were doing so well! (We probably should have...darn!)

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's day too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My big boy

Sawyer is starting to do several things that have made me stop and think what a big boy he is becoming!

Sawyer has started:

"real" crawling...as opposed to the army crawling he has been doing for a while

pulling up to standing in his crib so I come in to see his smiling face (along with everything else in the house)

eating all sorts of fun foods at the table and liking them

getting his top front teeth

**and I almost forgot the most important one!!**
he sleeps through the night!!

I'm kind of in denial that he can actually be big enough to do all these things, but I think its really fun too! I love to see him watch Kate and then try and imitate her. For some reason I thought that was more with just sisters or brothers, but this little brother sure looks up to his big sister....and bugs his big sister as much as a little pest of a baby brother should!

Just for fun...

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be a joke book, autographed picture of myself, handmade bag, or a little invention of my own! I may create you a blog header or paint something for you with my food. (That would be scary). I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

Valentine's Party!

f
Today for playgroup we had a Valentine's party with so many oh so yummy goodies. Now that we are home, I'm patting myself on the back for eating only 3 conversation hearts...and Kate is laying on my bed with a tummy ache! It was sure fun! I think Kate would have really enjoyed passing out her flower valentines to all her friends....if she wasn't so busy scarfing down the valentines being given to her!

Its the new 30....

a

.
Happy (milestone) Birthday to my MOM!!

Thanks for letting me call you every single day.
Thanks for being my best friend.
Thanks for teaching me how to cook and clean...although Ryan thinks I need more cleaning lessons from you.
Thanks for being the best Grammie ever and loving my kids so much.
Thanks for letting me live with you and make a mess of your house for so long.
Thanks for helping me move to Houston. I was so scared...I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help.
Thanks for being there for the birth of my babies.
Thanks for being my errand running buddy...I miss it!

Thanks for being the best mom ever!
I love you and I miss you!

a few I forgot...

Kate: "Jesus and Abinadi made me feel better."

Kate: "No."
Me: "What did you say to Mama?"
Kate: "Nothing...I just said 'ha ha!'"

Loving blueberry pancakes

I'm kind of a crazy mom in that I didn't let Sawyer have any table foods until he was 9 months old. Thats what I was told with Kate and I obeyed. Now Sawyer is 9 months old and he has mixed reactions when it comes to table food. As opposed to his asparagus/mushroom/broccoli/everything eating sister, so far he has gagged and shuddered when bananas and peaches have hit his lips. But he does love some things (like cheese), and this morning it was blueberry pancakes.

Kate and Daddy make breakfast every Saturday morning and now Sawyer finally gets in on the action!

Sawyer at 9 months old

Today I was at the Picture People for 2 1/2 hours...I have never had to wait that long. It was a little ridiculous. And I planned it thinking I would be able to get home and have Sawyer take a nap...instead we tried to get pictures taken right at his nap time. Needless to say, he was a little grumpy. Luckily we got some good ones before the melt down!

poor Kate!

this is the face of a girl who is tired of having her mom practice photography with her as the subject.

yesterday...

This is what we were doing yesterday!!

Do I miss the snow and cold?!? the answer is NO!

(do I wish I hadn't tried manual WB on my camera in "shadow" mode for these pictures...the answer is YES!)

Sawyer's 9 month stats

Weight: 19 lbs 13 oz - 50%
Height: 29 1/2" - 75%
Head: 18 1/4 - 75%

The Dr was impressed with how much his weight has increased from his last visit! I guess thats what happens when you actually feed your baby!

Having a big sister...

What do you do for Family Home Evening when you have a big sister?

Play Pretty Pretty Princess, of course! (even when its your birthday!)

and if you didn't see the slideshow of Dani's pictures, she posted some on her blog. I especially love this one of Sawyer! What a stud!

frustrated...

I have been frustrated by the lack of sharpness in my photos as I'm trying to get better at this and I was reading online here and he said that he had a lens exactly like mine and then bought a different one and he was amazed at the difference in sharpness. So now I'm even more frustrated. It took me a million years and 2 million "please hold still Kate's" to even get these. The rest are not good.

Does anyone have any tips for me that doesn't involve $999 on amazon.com?!?

(the pictures above: 1/30ss, f5.6, 100ISO)

Sawyer is 9 months old!

Sawyer's 9 month favorites:

pulling himself up to standing
army crawling to get around
eating puffs
talking to himself when he's playing alone on the floor
clapping
giving 5s
being naked
tylenol (for his upper teeth coming in!)
when his daddy comes home
smiling
drinking 8 oz bottles
squirming, reaching and grabbing things
mommy's earrings
pulling mommy's hair...especially the really tender ones along her neck! ouch!
when his mommy stops trying to take pictures of him!

We love you Sawyer!