Cutey Baby Boy

Remember this cute picture?

Well, there were several more from that day that we took and I'd like to share them with you now.

While similar to the very first one on this post, I like this one too. I don't care if they're almost the exact same picture, they're completely different in this momma's eyes.

Oh yeah, and if you're wondering who made this adorable hat, check out her shop on Etsy called Cotton Corner.

January has flown by!

Is it just me, or has January passed in a blink of an eye!?

A couple weeks ago I was cleaning the kitchen and was deep in thought.  I usually am when I'm cleaning, it helps distract from the disgustingness I guess. :)  I was feeling very deeply the need for change in my life.  I have been feeling lately some self esteem issues in regards to the job I'm doing at being a wife and mother.  Brent always lifts me up and lets me know how much he's grateful to be married to me. The feelings I was having were coming from myself not him, just fyi. Anyway, I just have felt like I'm not living up to the wife and mother I always wanted to be.  There have been several conference talks from the past few years that have left me feeling like I need to use the internet less (facebook and blogs). So whenever I'd here those talks I'd resolve to do that, and then never follow through.  Well anyway, as I was cleaning the kitchen I felt strongly, SO strongly, that if I stopped getting on facebook and blogs every day it would be a healthy thing for me.

So that's what I did.  And I actually did it this time.  I resolved to only go on facebook and read other people's blogs once a week (on Saturdays).  The whole week I was so proud of myself.  It was so nice to not be running to my computer for escape every time I felt lonely or bored from being couped up in the house.  The best thing of all is, I resolved to do something, and I'm actually doing it.  That feels good.

Funny thing was, Saturday rolled around, and I didn't even feel like looking at Facebook. I did feel like reading all my friends blogs though, I do still enjoy that. :)

Chico got sick last weekend, he had a fever for 5 days straight, then he got pink eye on top of that.  Poor kid.   Chico has been SO grumpy so I hadn't had time to take care of myself.  Chico is improving but I'm afraid we spoiled him while he was sick and let him watch movies most of the time he was sick.  We watched The Incredibles probably AT LEAST 20 times over the last week.  It's a good thing it's a good show, or else it would have been thrown out the window by now. :) Now he STILL wants to watch tv as much as we were letting him which is leading to temper tantrums galore.  Awesome. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that Nelmo and I don't get it next! And if we do, let's hope it's when Brent is home for the weekend and can take care of us. :)

Before Chico got sick I had time to do a couple fun craft projects (all thanks to my decision to spend less time on the computer).  I mod podged a box to keep his toys in, it turned out so cute that I almost didn't let him have it for his toys! I would have kept it for myself, but I didn't really have any use for it, and he did, so there ya go.

Then the other thing I did was spend a lot of time making this beauty.

I saw a tutorial for a wreath on a blog using this technique for the roses, but I wanted to do it like this instead. How you do it is, you cut cardstock into circles and then make spirals out of those circles, then roll up the spiral and hot glue it together on the bottom, then stick it on the ball. I guess I could just give you the link to the tutorial... here.  I WAY underestimated how much time it would take.  I would not recommend this craft project unless you are way bored in the evenings and want something to do while you're watching tv or a movie.  It probably took me about 10 hours to complete and it uses A LOT of paper.  Luckily my mom let me have the supplies for free from her house so this project cost me whatever the Styrofoam ball cost and I already had the metal can thingy at my house. :)

It really does make for a cute Valentine decoration though and made it so I was able to decorate our front room for Valentines! Woot!

Other than the sickness, things have been great:  The sky has been blue. We have been able to have a few different friends over to our house since we have a front room now. We bought stands for backdrops and backdrop paper. I've been doing a 7 day menu which is awesome for dinner time. We're following "The Envelope System" (Dave Ramsey). I have printed some cute things for the frames on our walls. I am working on two cute craft projects for the boys' room, I can't wait to finish them! I also have some decorating ideas for curtains and wall hangings for our bathroom.  Wish me luck on those, I'm not the best seamstress! It may take a few months to finish those ones, lol. Nelmo is going to be 4 months next week, I pulled out the next size clothes for him out of storage because he's outgrowing everything and the clothes I pulled out were clothes that Chico fit in up until he was about ONE! Crazy!

I was really tired at the end of the day one night and I sat down and exclaimed, "I'm pooped!". Then Chico smiled and asked, "Mommy fart?"
Sure do love that kid!

Sledding on New Year's Eve!

I need to post this picture first because it is the awesomest sledding picture ever! Brent is hardcore when it comes to pushing people down the sledding hill.

Hanging out with family is the absolute best.  We're glad we got to go sledding with Brent's sister's family, they're so much fun!

I was nervous as I saw this scene coming down the hill. Luckily Chico stayed on the sled. :)

Nelmo even got to get in on the fun.

And this picture just is so dang cute. He's so teeny out there. After Chico and I went down, he refused to come back up with me.

A new Christmas Tradition.... Hiking!

Brent was way excited to institute our new tradition of hiking on Christmas. We went hiking up by the Bountiful Temple. We didn't go too far due to lack of brains on both of our parts. We both forgot to change into our good shoes before we left. It was icy on the trail and we worried about slipping so we hiked until it got a bit too icy and then we turned around. It was a good little hike though. I'm excited about this becoming a tradition too. We're hoping snow shoes might eventually become part of the tradition. :)

A very nice view there at the end of the hike. :)

This now concludes our Christmas posting. Coming up next... sledding!

Christmas Morning at my parent's house

After we had finished opening presents at our house we hopped in the car and went over to my parent's house.  My mom bargain shopped all year long and got awesome presents for all of us! Thanks Mom! Here are just a few of the fun pics Brent took throughout the morning:

Nelmo getting all gussied up in his Santa outfit:

 

Grandpa is so cute.  

So is Chico.
 

So how does this thing work anyway?  

Dad is demonstrating to Charlie how that thing isn't supposed to work:  

Mom was way excited about receiving a helicopter. I think she picked it out herself.:)  

one of my beautiful sisters

 

My bro showing his kids over webcam one of his presents. They didn't get to be with him this Christmas, they were with their mom.  

Nelmo's favorite present.
I think he liked it. :) 

Chico had to try on every new thing he got, it was adorable. He looked especially adorable in his new hat and "sums" (gloves are called thumbs or "sums" in our household).

And Christmas morning just isn't complete without capturing an awesome picture of my dad being silly. I was worried I wouldn't get one this year, but Dad didn't disappoint me and I pulled off this beauty:

Christmas Morning at our house

3 months old

I interrupt this Christmas posting to bring you an adorable picture we took of our cute 3 month old baby.

Christmas Eve

We had planned on doing a candlelight dinner on Christmas Eve this year and then going up to Brent's dad's house for a party.  The day got busy, we had a photo shoot that morning, we had to clean the house, Brent's sister came by, and we just had lots of stuff going on.  By the time I got the Ham, Wheat Bread, and Rye Bread all baked I had completely forgotten that we were going to set out candles and a table cloth etc.  Oh well!  It was yummy food and fun to have a Swedish meal (even though we forgot to make rice pudding)!

So after the meal we went up to Brent's dad's and he spoiled everyone with presents and yummy food to snack on. Brent possibly annoyed everyone there with taking lots of pictures with off camera flashes set up in the room. You'll probably notice he did that on Christmas Eve-Eve too. It makes for really nice pictures I think.  Do you agree?

After I put Nelmo on her lap she said, "I thought I was supposed to sit on Santa's lap, not the other way around!" So cute. :) Santa enjoyed sitting on lots of people's laps.. or in their arms. He's not picky. :)

We sure love our families!