My Craft Show Projects!

Am completely willing to sell any or all of this prior to a craft show.  Also if you want to make a special order for Christmas I am taking orders now! :)  The two at the top that are my favorites run at $10.50 because of all the work.  The rest are $8.50.  Happy looking! :)

The Heat is On!

My new favorite toy, Thanks Laura!

 After a few weeks of not being able to walk due to extreme hip and pelvic pain, I am back!  Went to my regular OB visit yesterday and Dr. Leavitt took one look at me and

Tapioca with Daddy

could tell that my hips were off.  They were more than two inches off!  By the time he set them I could not believe the relief that I felt.  I honestly felt proud that I didn't cry right there in the office. However, I have decided that veggies are gonna be my best friend for the next three months because I gained seven pounds in one month!  There is just no way that I am gonna look like I did at the end of my first pregnancy. :) As for our little girl, she is doing great!  I actually measured about two weeks past where I should be.  Big belly!  I guess it could be that I haven't been very active the last little while due to the pain.  Her heartbeat was strong and as always it was so much fun to hear it!

Kitty rocking is fun...for one of us.

Toys in the nursery rule!

At Ashley's reception

      Since the last time I wrote we have had a few adventures.  We went down to Logan for our nieces wedding.  It was so hot!  I couldn't believe how acclimatized I am to Eastern Idaho.  I almost immediately started having Braxton-Hicks contractions and they didn't end until late in the evening.  Ashley looked amazing and I totally loved that she chose pink and white as her colors.  It was a beautiful reception.  Justin enjoyed the nursery toys and gave Daddy a chance to actually sit down while they were there.  We stayed in Tremonton at the Sandman motel.  It seemed like they have done a really nice job with the remodel until we attempted to sleep.  The bed was horrible.  Every time one of us would turn over it was so noisy that it would wake up Justin.  UGGH!  We won't be staying there again any time soon.
     After much contemplation, I finallydecided to spend Justin's birthday gift card from his Grandpa Meek.  We bought him a trike.  I think we will most likely get years of fun out of this rather than a few months.  That was the goal; to choose something that wouldn't just be a short term summer fix for this year.  Justin loves it!  Thanks Grandpa!

First Camping Experience

The Thomas family camping trip was planned for August 4th through the 7th.  We decided that we would give it a try with our dear little Justin as we love to go on this annual camping trip.  Nathan had Friday off and so we decided we would be up in Island Park by early afternoon and then come home late Saturday evening as my brother Kris was blessing his new daughter, Eva, on the 7th.  After deciding that we didn't want to cook before we left home, we made the choice to go ahead and eat in Rexburg on our way through.  We ate at McDonalds and it was so very busy!  Justin would hardly eat a thing because there was too much happening around us.  Driving the Mesa Falls byway to get there, we had a wonderful drive up and Justin was such a wonderful kiddo in the truck (I think he likes the truck because he can see more from the center of the back seat than he can in the car).  After our arrival and a few short chats with family, we chose to set everything up very first thing.  Justin was such a great kid while we set up the tent.  He just stayed right in our little camp site and wandered around watching Dad and I set up our tent.  In the afternoon we went down to the main camp to socialize where there is a volleyball court with sand.  Justin had more fun in that sand than I think he has ever had anywhere.  He loved playing with his cousins and really loves to watch everything that Jonathan Beck does.  He also really warmed up to Courtney and Ayla.  They all had fun watching Justin run and throw sand.  He was a very dirty boy but it was soooo worth the fun he had. 

     It rained quite a bit the first night but Justin seemed to go right to sleep once Nate and I both "pretended" to be asleep ourselves.  After he was truly out, Nate sat up and covered him with a think blanket.  Justin did really well until in the middle of the night his pregnant Mommy had to get up and visit the potty!  Then his little head popped up and I think he was pretty cold the remainder of the night.  But in the morning his spirits were high and he was as they say a happy little camper! LOL!
     On Saturday we drove into West Yellowstone and went to the car show.  Then enjoyed a really yummy Pizza lunch with Melissa and Mark's family.  After driving back to camp, which Justin fell asleep doing, we began to clean up our camp area.  We were hoping to clean up the best we could and then go for a float trip down the Buffalo after Justin woke up from his nap.  We got to the fisherman's dock all ready to float, got into our boat, which Justin seemed to love, and it started to lightening and rain.  When we had floated to our campsite we got out.  Poor little Justin didn't have much of a first float trip.  Perhaps next year we will have to get one of the Nanas to babysit our new bundle of joy and go up for a day trip!  We went back to camp, changed our clothes, and then took the tent down in the rain!  After which, we went down to the main camp and Justin insisted on playing in the cold wet rain.  He loved it!  He kept trying to close the doors on the storage trailer.  We had a great drive home in the beating rain and hail (but hey, Justin slept through it!).  Overall the trip was fun and I think Justin has some great new experiences added to his repertoire.

Growing Strong

 The pool pics were taken about two weeks ago, but they were on my cell and it took me a while to get them ready to go.  Justin absolutely loves playing and simply being outside.  He is especially a fan of water and playing in the hose, in fact I can weed my entire garden if I simply turn the hose on for him to play in.  He won't run away or head down the street like he does when he isn't playing in the water.  However he was very nervous at first to go out in just his swim shorts.  He kept looking at me like I was crazy and definitely was concerned that he didn't have a shirt on.  He also really hates to have sunscreen put on.  He gasps and then begins to fuss when I spray his fair skin.  He did end up with a bit of a sunburn last week as I missed a stripe across he lower back; it was right where his diaper rubs and it made me really sad.
     Last week Justin also had his very first experience with swimming.  We met my Sister-in-law Melissa and her three kiddos up at Heise Hot Springs.  It was wonderful.  At first my sweet little boy was a little bit on the nervous side, with all that water, but he was in a little boat that let his legs dangle in the water.  He soon got over his anxiety and really loved splashing and playing with his cousin Jonathan.

 Each evening I talk on the phone with my Mom.  These next two pictures are of Justin fresh from the bath and holding the phone 'talking' (babbling) a mile a minute to my Mom.  We turn her on speaker phone and let him go to town talking to her.  I just had to have these pictures of him actually sitting down in Nathan's lap to enjoy his talk with Nana.
     My sweet little boys new favorite word is "Oops".  It seriously gives me a good laugh when he purposefully throws something on the floor and then says "Oops".  Nathan and I have both had fits of the giggles at the silly moments in which he chooses to try out this new word.  I love that he is talking more and more all the time.  He is a seriously verbal little fella which means I will very soon be able to have someone to talk with during the days! :)
     And the last anecdote about our Justin this week is that he is a super climber.  He not only is getting up on the couch, but this morning he decided that he wanted to get to the metal star I have hanging on the wall, so he climbed up on the back of the couch with just about gave me a heart attack!  He also has decided that empty Diet Pepsi cans pulled out of the trash can are a blast to make music with.  LOL!   Have a great week!

Summer Fun!

Nate is working swings this week and so I feel that I have the chance to work on my blog!  (Boy it is different without him here in the evening!).  Here I am once again with so much to say.  I have got to get better at blogging!  So, I am just going to go by pictures.  The first few are from Justin's first experience with Easter Egg hunting.  He seemed to really enjoy it and loved having cousin Natalie help him out.  There are so many to add this time that I am going to use the small versions, and I am hoping that works for everyone. 

     I am really missing my cousin, Matt, who is on a mission, because he took some really wonderful family pictures of us last summer.  I simply cannot afford to have a professional photographer take an outside shoot of us, but if anyone knows of someone who can do them for around $50 bucks please let me know.  I would really love some new ones on my walls.  My Justin is getting so big and he is in to everything!  Donalee assures me that he is just "busy" and that he is a completely normal little boy. He also is a climber and has decided that if he wants to get onto the back of my very tall couches he can.  This pic is of him getting into the remotes on our basement couch.

As you can see he makes his own path.  He is quite funny when he is attempting to do something and it doesn't happen how he wants it to.  He will have a little fit and start to scream.  Nathan and I both get a really good laugh.  I try not to "rescue" these situations, but sometimes I really want to help him out.  I know it will be better if he figures out a solution on his own.  He lights up our life and provides so much entertainment.  Oh yes!  Justin being busy has been even more of a challenge the last couple of months since I found out on April 4th that I am expecting again.

Basket Fun!

Reading with Uncle Eric.

Sporting my handyman jammies!

We really have been enjoying our summer.  I have had the chance to garden this year which I love because watching things grow really makes me happy.  My strawberries are overflowing and I have been picking about three cups a day for the past week.  We have been eating our fill and I still have some to clean up and make jam out of.  We have even found time to go to the zoo.  Justin really enjoyed it as he was able to make a whole bunch of new furry/feathery friends.

     Nathan's job out to the site has been really wonderful because he enjoys having every other Friday off.  That means we have more time to work on our yard and spend time together as a family.  His hours have also been really nice as I haven't been too terrible active during this first trimester of my pregnancy.  I have been "debilitatingly tired".  But Justin is a really good boy and is an awesome sleeper.  Which is a huge blessing when you don't feel good!

 For the Fourth of July we got together with my brother Kris and his family.  We attempted to get all of my brothers together, but the others were sadly already busy.  We missed them greatly.  We decided that my brother Kris is definitely the one to light off the fireworks because he does a great job and puts on silly sideshows as he does the show.  It reminded me of the days when he was working at scout camp and would be very silly when he would come home to do laundry and get supplies.  I have always loved that side of Kris and I think my son gets a pretty big kick out of it too!
   On the day of the Fourth we went down to the greenbelt and enjoyed a wonderful lunch from BJ's Bayou.  We wandered to our hearts delight and then headed just a little further west out to Reed's Dairy for some killer ice-cream.  We did the tiny bit of shopping that we needed to do (Poo supplies for our house!) and then headed home for our afternoon layabout.  After our naps we had a wonderful supper of sandwiches, chips, and fruit.  It was hot outside, I surely wasn't in the mood to cook!  Then as the sun began to fall we headed out to Menan for the fireworks.  We stopped at my Mom's house on the way through to say "Hi" and then picked up my Mother-in-law and took her with us.  At the park we met up with my Sister-in-law and had the opportunity to sit and talk with her.  The show was glorious and the crowd was minimal.  I love Menan and am so very thankful that we are able to go there for the Fourth.  I appreciate being able to beat the crowds and still enjoy an excellent show.

Where Does The Time Go?

 Here is our favorite little man playing with Daddy.  If you notice, Nathan is under the blanket.  It was very fun to watch as Justin desperately attempted to uncover a snuggled up Daddy.   He is growing to fast and eating me out of house and home.  He can eat an entire container of "Easy Mac" and three chicken nuggets in one sitting!  He loves veggies and goldfish.  This week I bought him some Teddy Grams, but haven't given him any as of yet.  He is in between his 12 and 18 month clothes and fits into very few things!  He has a very long torso, but his legs are still pretty short.  I know that my brother Jeremy has the same issue...!

 One morning I woke up as usual to a little voice jabbering over the monitor, and slowly pulled myself out of my dream-state into reality.  I did the usual routine of going to the potty and then making him a bottle prior to going into his room.  You must understand that if he sees me and I don't have food right away he will let me know how upset he is.   So here is the situation, I walk in to a baby who is sleeping with what we call "snuggle blanky" over his face!  I was nervous at first that he might have hurt himself, or that he was suffocating.  Once I realize that he was fine, I began to laugh.  Then I went and got the camera!  Gotta love the sprawled out arms and legs too!  He sleeps just like his Dad!

And the last antic for the week is that while I was gone to Utah, Nathan discovered that our little man really adores sausage!  So on the tray in front of him, you see that he has some blueberry pancake and most of the sausage is gone!  I love that he has so much of his daddy in him (love of meat).  I am so blessed to have such fun boys in my life.  Between the two of them they really keep me on my toes.
     On a final note about myself, I am two weeks away from the end of my diet challenge.  It has been such a joy to learn about how to better take care of myself.  I am about 2 lbs. away from my goal for the 8 weeks and I know that I can beat that!  I don't think that most of the habits that I have formed during this time are going to change.  I feel so much better both physically and emotionally.  Taking care of yourself physically really can make a difference in ever aspect of your life!

Off, Off, and Away!

 First of all, my apologies for the stinky quality of my pictures this week.  Not sure what is up with my camera!  So I was out of here for the weekend and had a total blast with Natalie!  We started out a little later than we had originally wanted, due to the fact that Natalie is doing three jobs that should have three different people doing them!  She is a champ. So we began our journey to the south with a stop for lunch at 5th Street Bagelry in Poky.  I used to eat there almost daily when I was going to school and driving down each day.  Natalie had never experienced the finery of the super soft bagel smothered in high quality meats and cheeses with fresh veggies before.  She is now in love and promised me than one of these times when she has a lab down there, she will stop and hook me up with a few! :)
     When we arrived in Sandy, we went to our ghetto hotel (of which I now swear I am never reserving the hotel again)!  We then decided to make our first stop in our shop-extravoganza at Tai Pan Trading.  After spending at least two hours, we came away with some wonderful finds: Natalie a picture of the Helsinki Temple, and as for myself I got the large basket you see above and many other finds.  Then we made the decision to head off to dinner.  We called and made reservations at the Rodizio Grill in the Trolley Square mall.  It was really tasty and a whole new experience as the waiters bring around skewers of meat and they cut you some of each to try.  They just keep on coming until you turn this little thing over from green to red.  I really enjoyed the experience and my favorite thing was their Parmesan encrusted tomatoes, I would go again just for those!  After filling up we made the choice to head back to the hotel for a soak in the hot-tub and swim in the pool before getting some sleep.
     Saturday morning we got up and went strait to IKEA.  It was very easy for me to spend way more than I should have in that store!  We were there long enough that we decided to go ahead and have lunch there as well.  I had the stuffed Salmon with steamed veggies.  Everything was amazingly tasty and I convinced Natalie to split a piece of chocolate cake with me.  After lunch, we headed to the South Towne Center, which is a mall.  We bought a few things then found a salon and got our hair cut.  I really loved this, but my stylist was a talker and it took forever.  She told us we needed to head up to the Fashion Place Mall which has recently been remodeled.  They had a Carter's store where I bought some pants for my little man, and then Natalie and I both bought some Jeans as well.  And can I just say that the manager in Vanity at this mall was so amazing!  Natalie and I both decided that we would have bought the whole store if she would have told us to.  She was a great sales-woman!
      After that we went to dinner at Spaghetti Mama's in Sandy, and it was great food!  The service on the other hand really stunk!  We began our trek north and went to the Layton Hills Mall where we bought some unmentionables that both Nat and I really needed.  We headed home with a full car, and very happy hearts.  It was a wonderful trip home as we always have great conversations and enjoy our time together.  Natalie is more of sister to me than a cousin.  She truly is a blessing in my life and I love her very much!
     When I got home at around 2 in the morning my house was quiet and I could tell that Nate had tended it well.  He really gave me the best birthday present ever.  Now I feel recharged and ready to enjoy my days as a mom again.  Justin did really well and he is a happy little dude!  As you can see in the picture above, he is very mischievous and got into Mommy's bra drawer. He was carrying around that black one and then when I came in and caught him, he attempted to put it back in the drawer.  My only question is, what will he do next?  He is such a joy to have in our lives!  I smile each day thinking of the things that he has done!

My Birthday

I must apologize for my inability to follow my own resolution the last few weeks.  After Justin's birthday it seems that things just kept getting busier and busier!  The photo that you see to the right is my new finished wall in our basement, it is in our family room.  We have purchased a couch and it should be here sometime this week, they had to order it so that the chaise lounge would be where we wanted it.  It is a sectional and almost the same color as our upstairs furniture, which may sound funny but I really love how the upstairs furniture hides baby and Mommy marks!  I am really proud of the wall and thought those of you who don't live in town would love to see it.  The picture to your left now, shows you my sweet little boy with his present from his Great-Aunt Sue.  He still is carrying it around!  Out of all his wonderful birthday gifts he really loves the bus that Nana Thomas gave him, and the phone that Nana Meek gave him.  He is growing so fast and seems insistent on eating me right out of house and home!  I am glad that he is now on cows milk because it can help me balance my grocery budget!

     Nathan is working swings this week, which means he goes to work at about 1:00 pm and returns home at about 1:00 am.  So, that is why I actually have time to work on the blog tonight!  As you see in this pic, Justin confiscated my package from Aunt Sue as soon as I got it out of the mail box!  He insisted on carrying it around until I finally took it away from him so that I could give him his bottle before his nap.  He seems to be getting along really well at daycare each day and all of the girls in the tree house seem to sincerely be in love with his quirky personality.  He definitely is mischievous and gets into everything that catches is little gray eyes.

Nathan bought a new truck last night and seems to be very excited about it.  It is a White 99 Chevy.  I am actually willing to be seen in this one! :)  And it runs fairly quiet and doesn't have that horrible dead animal/exhaust smell in the cab.  Imagine that- Nate bought a truck that doesn't seem to belong at the junk yard for parts.

    Justin had his first chance to wander outside on Saturday as the weather here was so beautiful.  Don't worry it was just in our driveway as I got the paper and the mail and inspected the damage the snow has done to our poor lawn.  He giggled and laughed the whole time he was walking around as he thought he was getting away with something!  I was laughing as I was watching him do it.  Well, that is it for this week.  Tune in again next week and see what that little bugger is up to! :)
    Oh!  And on another note, I have lost more than 11 inches over my body in the last 4 weeks and almost 20 lbs. since January!  Yay me, GO ME!

Justin's First Birthday!

     This week has been a whirlwind of activity!  I seriously don't think that I have been this busy since I was student teaching!  Monday I did all of my normal activities, i.e.: took care of my son, went to the gym, worked on my weight, etc.  but I also worked on cleaning up my craft room (dining room) and began going through my closet.  Tuesday I did all of the same plus found my self cleaning out Justin's closet (which took a while considering I still had craft stuff and some of his non-fitting clothes filling the bottom) so that I could put a bookshelf in there for all of the books that have been taking over his room!
On Wednesday I continued working on my dining room plus I cleaned out my fridge and babysat my very gorgeous neices, Abi and Leah, in the evening.  It was such a blast to have them here!  I sincerely love getting to spend time with kiddos who love to be rough housed with, Leah went crazy over the fact that I was tickling and playing with Justin and wanted some attention too!   I also picked up pictures from Sam's club so that I could finally finish the white frames, which I have been collecting for years to put on our newly painted walls in the basement. Then Thursday was really crazy as my carpet was put in. 

      After the carpet was in I really wanted to put up all of the frames I just finished, so I designed my green wall in the basement.  Nate was amazingly helpful as he has the know-how when it comes to putting holes in his new walls. : )  Friday I made cupcakes and then Natalie came over in the evening so that we could decorate them together; it was so much fun!  Saturday I spent most of the day, after going to yoga, cleaning my house so that it would be good to go for the party.  Justin's party turned out awesome!
       We started with pizza and salad for the grandmas.  Then as everyone in our wonderful family started to show up we had tons of fun showing off our newly finished basement.  The enjoyment of having my family there to celebrate little Justin's first birthday was truly a blessing and I am so glad that they could all live so close and be able to enjoy the occasion with us.  We enjoyed those fun monkey cupcakes and then opened a plethora of presents provided by the guests.  I think Justin now officially has more toys than his father has tools.  I cannot believe that he has grown so fast and this past year has been the hardest and yet the most wonderful of my life.  I love you, Justin.  I am so glad that you are a part of our family.  Daddy and I enjoy your antics, giggles, and dancing everyday.