It's that time...again!

Well, one more week til Grandma and Grandpa Dansie come home! We couldn't be more excited! Thanks for all your advice on stranger danger, we are crossing our fingers that she won't act up when she meets G&G. I left Breah with a sitter twice this week and we are both still alive! I left her with my visiting teacher on Monday for 2 hours, and then it took me an hour to calm her down, but it went much better Wed. My friend Ashlee was AWESOME with her. I left her for two hours again so I could get some painting done and then called to see how she was doing. When she didn't answer, of course I panicked and ran over to make sure everything is ok (ok, so maybe our separations are pretty tramatic for me too) and they weren't there! Turns out they were having so much fun they went to the mall! She was pretty sad when I finally went to get her (3 whole hours!) but she was tired and hungry so we'll blame it on that! She even gave Breah a pedicure, we'll definetely have to use her again!

Anyway, tomorrow is the big move, and hopefully our last move for a long time! Breah is looking forward to planting herself for longer than 4 months this time, and I'm just realizing that the bigger she gets the harder it is to move! She's been such a big helper through it all! Now that she's mastered crawling she has decided that she prefers to be standing. Yesterday I was packing up her books and she was taking them out of the box almost as fast as I could put them in. Look what a big girl she is (yes, I had to take it from every angle):

(Also notice all the tissues in the background...that is Breah's absolutely favorite thing to play with, right up there with the cell phone and the remote, and following close behind those...a hanger. So why do we have so many toys? I ask myself the same question daily.)

Well, as soon as I get the computer packed up we will be just about done packing. Brandon is coming home after lunch (he's been working 12 hour days this week) so we can get our house clean enough to move into, and then get this house cleaned. Our carpet didn't come in in time, so we are mostly just moving everything into the garage until we can get it laid--which means no computer so if you don't hear from us for a while you know why! And, I know you all want to see our new house, but I'm not taking any pictures til it looks presentable, so you are just going to ahve to wait!

One last thing, I'm sure you are all just dying to see my homework from this week--night shots! I cheated though, these were taken at 3:00 yesterday afternoon in my garage. Last night was the last night of my class so I'm on my own from here! Thanks for looking!

Help Wanted

As many of you may know, my sweet Breah and I are very attached. While I love every minute of our time together, our time apart is not nearly so tramatic for me as it is for her. However, we are coming to a point that we (as in Brandon and I) are realizing how nice it would be if we could have an hour or two to ourselves to perhaps get something done at the house, or go see a movie (in a month or two). I've always loved babies, and it used to make me sad when they wouldn't come to me, and I swore my kids wouldn't be like that. I suppose that was my first mistake--never say never. But lets face it, my kid IS like that. I'm glad she likes me so much and all, but I don't want her to miss out on all the fun that everyone else could offer her if only she would let them! So this is my cry for help...does anyone have any advice on overcoming severe stranger danger/separation anxiety in an 8 month old? We kind of need a crash course on this so your prompt responses would be much appreciated!

Another Tag

**Oops! I realized that I forgot to change a couple of the answers before posting this! Sorry Annie, it's fixed now!**
ABC's "getting to know you" TAG. Complete the ABC's of you. Then, each player tags 3 people and posts their names, goes to their blogs and leaves a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
A- Attached or single: Been happily attached for over 4 years now (married for 3 1/2 of that).
B- Best Friend: Definetely my sweet hubby Brandon. My mom is pretty high up there too.
C-Cake or Pie: I would saw mostly cake--Grandma's oatmeal cake, once you've tried it you can't live without it! I never used to like pie much but as my taste buds are maturing it's starting to grow on me (The new tradition in my family is to have more pies than people at Thanksgiving, so I started eating it and decided it's not so bad)
D-Day: Saturday. Yes, that's the day we spend doing chores, but Brandon gets to be home all day long, so if I need to get away I can, and thats the day we usually get to go out and play as a family
E- Essential Item: Used to be I couldn't go anywhere without kleenex and chapstick, but I've recently been freed of that need, so I don't know--a camera is always nice to have!
F- Favorite Color: favorites...I hate picking favorites, especially when there are so many to chose from. I think my all time favorites would be greens
Gummy Bears or Worms: worms, they are more fun to eat. Besides, there is no song about eating bears.
H-Home town: Vernal, UT
I- Indulgences: Desserts--chocolate, cookies, ice cream, you name it, and I indulge way too much.
J- January or July?: Normally I would have to say July, but after this year I have a feeling I will be leaning more towards January
K-Kids: Just one, Breah, and she's the cutest, sweetest baby ever!
L-Life is incomplete without: Family
M- Marriage Date: November 20, 2004
N- Number of Siblings: 2 sisters & 2 brothers
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples all the way. Oranges are too much work. However, I would take orange juice over apple juice any day.
P- Phobias or Fears: Mice. And being under water when i'm not in control--which is why if you've ever tried to dunk me I probably attempted to hurt you.
Q- Quote: hmm, I'll have to think about that one...
R- Reason To Smile: I have a great family, a great life, life is good,
S- Season: I like them all at first and all for different reasons (once again, can't pick favorites) but I get tired of winter and summer after awhile, probably due to the extreme temperatures, so I guess spring and fall would be my favorites.
T- Tag Three: I tag Tawny, Rachel, and Ashley
U- Unknown fact about me: I can't touch my toes. Actually, I think most of you know that...I guess I have no secrets
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: When you put it that way I feel guilty, but not enought to give up meat.
W- Worst Habit: I have a lot of bad habbits, but I think one of the most frustrating is losing things, especially my keys
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds are way more exciting than a boring old x-ray
Y-Your favorite food: Depends on the day, my mood, and who's cookin!
Z- Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius. I had to look that up, I almost put Scorpio, they both start with S though, so I was close!

If someone had asked me two years ago if I would ever miss school, I probably would have laughed in their face. After all, I had been a full time student for 17 years and I was good and ready for something new and different. But after a two year vacation, I have decided it would be good to take a class or two and get the old brain out of hibernation. Now don't get all crazy on me, I'm just taking a photography class, not calculus or anything like that. For Mother's Day, Brandon and Breah signed me up for Basic Photography. Ever since we talked about moving down here I've been talking about taking one, so I think he got the hint! I have taken a basic class before, but it's been a long time since I've done anything, so I wanted a bit of a refresher and then I'm going to take a more advanced class in the fall. I'm super excited! So our "homework" this week (homework I actually enjoyed and didn't put off til the very last minute!) was to stand in one place and take 5 different pictures without zooming. So of course I headed to the temple (In my last class the temple was forbidden because it's "overphotographed" and he wanted to encourage creativity, but I'm carless, it's hotter than heck, and I have Breah to work around, so I had to pick something close). Monday I used my old Nikon with some old black and white film and played around with the appeture and F-stops and all that, but I can't get the film developed in time for my class, so today we set out again with the digital. I can't figure out how to change the settings on it yet but I was able to shoot a few and thought I'd share. The pics below are some i took just for fun. I'm obsessed with Breah's toes, but she rarely holds them still long enough to get a good picture. My favorites are the ones of her trying to grab the camera while I'm trying to get her toes. The grass was wet, so she really wasn't all that happy about being plopped down in it so this was all I got of her. Anyway, I know many of you are great photographers so any tips or advice are welcome.

Homeowners At Last!

It's official, we are once again the proud owners of our very own home! We were actually debt free for a matter of hours after FINALLY closing the deal on the sale of our Fillmore house, and then last Wednesday we closed on a house here! It's the house we offered on before moving down here and were lucky to get ours sold just in the nick of time to be able to buy this one before someone else did. It's a free standing "condo" that was built in 1998, so it's not new but it's not nearly as old as our last one, so we are excited about that. We took possession of the house on Monday and have been busy trying to get everything all painted and ready to go before we move in the end of the month. Things got a little complicated though when Breah woke up sick Monday morning and continued to be sick all week long. The poor thing threw up all day Monday, and diarea the rest of the week. She didn't eat much all week, and when she did it would go straight through her so I was doing everything I could to keep her hydrated. She would just lay there and snuggle with me all morning, then about noon she would perk up a little bit, but she wasn't herself, she'd just lay on the floor and play. It was so sad, but also a little bit frustrating because I couldn't get anything done. Yesterday she finally started acting like she was getting better but still had no appetite, but at 6:00 this morning, she was bright eyed and bushy tailed with quite a healthy appetite! Yay! Our Breah is back! The down side of that is 1) no more cuddles, and 2) she is into EVERYTHING! I can't turn my head for a second! I left her on the floor for just a minute to help Brandon carry in the tile saw and came back to her tipping the paint can over with paint all over her! I guess it's time to put that pack-n-play to good use, I just hate the idea of putting my sweet baby in a cage, but as time goes on the house is getting to be more and more of a hazard for little ones!

Breah helping me pick my paint on Monday. This was earlier in the day before she lost all strength, it was all downhill from here

The poor sicky girl in outfit 4 of 5 monday morning--I was able get a little bit done during naps when I wasn't holding her

She finally starting playing by herself a little bit on Thursday and was being so good that I didn't notice how tired she was until she crashed on that disgusting carpet. I quickly moved her to a blanket and she slept peacefully for 2 1/2 hours! Hooray! The last picture is of Breah tonight, amidst quite a disaster as Brandon and I were busy laying tile and painting. (I forgot to mention what a handy husband I have!) She had just about had it by this point but was pretty amused by banging on the paint can (and don't worry, the stick was dry). It's times like this we REALLY wish we had family close by--to either take Breah off our hands or help with the big projects, or both.

DIY Disease

I have a disease, but because it's relatively painless and rarely life threatening, there is not much research being done to find a cure. What is known, however, is that it is often hereditary, as is the case with me. My mom and my aunts suffer from it too. You see, I'm the kind of person that loves going to craft fairs and expos, but I come out empty handed with a to-do list that could easily take a lifetime to complete. I see tons of super cute ideas that I would love to see in my own home, but not being able to justify paying out the nose for something that I could do myself. So then I set out to recreate it the best I can. Now I know some of you have the false impression that I'm a pretty crafty person, but the truth of the matter is that I'm not really that great at figuring things out on my own unless I have a sample that I can take apart and examine, or have someone there to direct me. Another problem I have with this disease is that 90% of what I set out to do, I never finish. But alas, the purpose of this post: I have finished not one, but TWO, projects! The first I saw on the internet. This guy takes old beat up dressers and refinishes them for kids rooms. Well, I thought they looked like fun, so I set out looking for wrapping paper to decopodge on Breah's old dresser. I finally found some that matched her room perfectly, painted the old dresser, and whala! I must admit, I'm pretty pleased with the result. Then, at the What Women Want Expo last month, I saw these cute "Taggies" and knew that Breah needed one. Tags are just about her favorite thing, but once again, I wasn't going to pay $45 dollars for a little blanket! So I began the hunt for cute minky fabric and ribbons to match and I discovered that maybe $45 wasn't so steep after all! The brown and pink polka dot fabric I fell in love with was $19 a yard! But I found some bargain ribbons at Hobby Lobby (my new favorite store--too bad there's not one down here!) and eventually found some super soft clearance fabrics at Joanns and the other day after Breah went to bed I pinned all the ribbons in place, the next day while cooking dinner I sewed it up, and now that's one less thing on my to-do list! It's far from perfect, but at least it's done! I've decided I need to stop being so obsessive compulsive about things and just get it done, so I'm going to try and look past the not so straigh seems adn uneven ribbons and let Breah enjoy it while she's still interested in it!

Breah's Army Crawl!

Breah is finally getting the hang of this whole forward motion thing. She's been taking little forward lunges for a week or so, and then on Thursday she would lunge forward after things as I moved them across the room (I know, I'm mean). Then Sunday when I got out of the shower Brandon came in and said Breah was crawling! I hear she got going pretty good, but when I got out to see she had kind of lost interest. But we did manage to get some video of her army crawl! I can't believe she's getting so big!

The Recovery

Well, it's been 4 days since the big dig, and I'm happy to say I'm alive! (this is about as close to smiling as I can get right now, but it looks 100 times better than the picture I have of the day after!) As Brandon mentioned, the surgery seemed to go alright, though we won't know for a while yet just how successful it was. I have seen some improvement over the last few days though. My speech is getting clearer with each day and the bleeding is slowing, but i'm still awfully congested. I'm just confident that once I can get recovered that it will all be worth it! I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the prayers and well wishes, and for Mary for bringing the whole family dinner, and especially to my mom and her crew for taking such good care of me and Breah. I don't know what we would have done without you guys! Brinlee and the twins were such good baby sitters and were so patient with Breah as she adjusted to life without mom at her side every waking moment. I think it's been hard on both of us, but definetly for the best! I was a little nervous about being alone with her today, but she has been such an angel I really can't complain! I just can't wait til I can gobble her up again, I miss those squishy cheeks! And of course, I can't forget Brandon! He's been a super help too and will continue to look after me now that Mom's gone! I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who is willing to change diapers, put Breah to bed, do the dishes, make dinner, and wait on me every minute he's home! We are lucky girls, Breah and I, and would be lost without you Brandon! Thanks for everything!
Ok, enough of that! We did manage to have some fun this week too! When my surgery was postponed til thursday that gave us a couple days to play with the kids, so Wednesday we went shopping and then to the city pool. Breah didn't love it as much as she did last time, but I did sneak away for a few trips down the waterslide with Brin while Breah growled at Grandma. She just wanted to make sure everyone knew who's in control around here, and believe me, she left no one doubting (it did get better after a while though)! Thursday we ended up going to the splash park and to Blue Bunny, which by the way is not near as much fun when food is forbidden, before I went in for surgery. Then Saturday Brandon took everyone up to Snow Canyon while I rested. Breah loves the back pack, so I think we're going to have to get one for ourselves! It was even comfy enough for a nap, and she didn't miss me the whole time they were off playing! It was so nice to have my family here to take care of Breah so that I could just rest and not worry about taking care of her, and it was such a blessing that she decided to be such a good sleeper and even take the soy formula! That was a relief since in the past she has adamently refused it! And with all this lounging around, I got to do a little catching up with all the cute new movies out! Thanks Mom for making the trek down here. I hope you had as much fun as we did and that you will come back often! Maybe next time we won't make you work so hard! And anyone else who needs a vacation, come on down! Especially if you feel like painting! Our house in Fillmore is officially sold and we are closing on one here the end of the week, so I'd be happy to put you to work painting!