Friday Letters

Yesterday while feeding the ducks we ran into Cailey who snapped this picture for me.

Dear Weather,

Thank you for having beautiful days this week. Tuesday and Wednesday were not so good, but Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and today have been beautiful. It gives me hope that spring is coming.

Love,

A mom who is tired of trying to entertain her crazy little boy inside

Dear Teething Fairy,

Please stop being so mean to my little boy. He can be such an awful little monster and he wakes up far too early when you are around. We are both tired and your presence makes being 32 weeks pregnant that much harder. You don't seem to be so mean to other kids. Just saying.

Love,

A mom who hates when her little boy is teething

Speaking of sleep...

Dear Daylight Saving Time,

I am seriously afraid of you. Please don't mess up my little boy's sleep schedule too much. He already hasn't been sleeping long enough because he is getting some new teeth. I know Benjamin Franklin meant well when he came up with the idea to have you, but I'm not a fan.

Love,

Someone who thinks life would be better without you

Dear Buzz,

We are coming to see you skate around this afternoon with Woody, Rex, and all your Toy Story 3 friends. I think Corbyn is going to be one happy boy when he sees you.

Love,

A long-time lover of Disney on Ice

Dear Corbyn,

Thank you for being so good yesterday when we went to get my driver's license renewed. I was worried it would be the most awful experience of my life, but you were a perfect angel. Everyone thought you were so cute while you went around trying out every chair in the room. I'm so lucky to have you as my little boy even when you are teething.

Love,

Your mom

Dear Peyton,

Thank you for being such a good little mover. I hope you aren't growing too big in there. I am trying so very hard not to eat too much sugar, but it's kind of hard when it's your birthday week and you get lots of coupons for free treats. I can't wait to meet you in less than 2 months when you come. And I promise I'll love you even if you are 10 pounds like your big brother.

Love,

Your mom

Dear Rog,

Thank you for working so hard for our family. I know it's exhausting trying to work and study for the GMAT and be in the EQ Presidency and take care of your family. I'll be happy when May 25th rolls around and you can be done with the GMAT, but until then I promise I'll try my best to make life easier for you.

Love,

Your wife

Day of Errands

Saturday was Rog's last Saturday GMAT class. And today is his last Wednesday GMAT class. Woot! (Of course he'll be studying like crazy until he takes it on May 25th, but at least now we can plan his GMAT time rather than having it scheduled for us.)

It was also a day of errands. In the morning while Rog was at his class, Corby and I went to check out the new Wood Connection store in American Fork and then exchanged a shirt I bought in the wrong size at Kohl's.

I had a coupon for a free kid's meal at McDonald's, so we stopped there for lunch. After eating, Corbyn went to check out the PlayPlace. He couldn't get past a certain point, so of course he came to get me to help. I'm sure you can imagine the rest. It actually wasn't that bad, but I know I looked pretty ridiculous to everyone watching.

Later in the day we ventured all the way down to Payson to go to the Case Lot sale at the Payson Market. I had been waiting for one because I was completely out of the supply I bought last August. Macey's didn't seem to be doing one, so when I got the ad for Payson Market's sale, I jumped on it! We are now restocked and it feels so good!

And if that wasn't enough, the errands don't end there. After dinner we headed to the mall to pick out some earrings for my birthday. Then we went to Michael's for a few bow-making supplies (more on this later) and finally after we put Corbyn to bed, I ended the day at Walmart.

AiYiYi! My dad says life is a series of purchases and I couldn't agree more! With a new baby coming, it seems all we do is run errands.

Jared's Birthday

Now that Jared's birthday has come and gone, I can show you what I made him. I think it is pretty cool if I do say so myself!

It's a Birthday in a Can. I got the idea from the Mother's Day tins they did on Our Best Bites last year.

In it I put some balloons, candy, confetti, a cupcake, and candles - everything you need to celebrate a birthday!

Happy birthday Elder Jar!

Taylor's Homecoming

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. Every time I have a spare minute I've been working on Peyton's quilt, so I can take it in to be machine quilted. Here it is all cut out and ready to be sewn together.

Since I took this picture I have finished sewing the top row of blocks. It takes about 10 minutes to sew a block and I have 36 blocks left. So I have about 6 more hours to go. Then I have to sew all the blocks together... Obviously I need more spare minutes, but it is coming together.

Anyway, last week my cousin, Taylor, came home from serving his mission in Guatemala. He gave his homecoming talk on Sunday, so my parents came up on Saturday to be there for that. On Saturday night they watched Corbyn, so we could go to the temple. He was kind of having an off day - so he pretty much cried for the first half hour we were gone. Luckily after his bath he cheered up for them.

We did sealings and I rented a dress because I wasn't sure mine would fit anymore.

During Taylor's homecoming a miracle occurred - Corbyn sat and colored for a good half hour of the meeting. Then he just played quietly for the rest of the meeting. That is HUGE for Corbyn - especially the coloring part. Since then he has loved coloring! WOOT!

Here are my cute boys at the luncheon after.

For the rest of the day, we hung out at my grandma's house. We kicked off the celebration of my birthday with dinner and a few presents. A huge thank you to my grandma and my Aunt Tracy for all the work they put into that! It seemed a little too early to start celebrating, but it was fun nonetheless.

And just because, here is a bonus picture. I have been waiting for a long time to get this picture. Corbyn almost always goes to bed with his Buzz, but usually by the time we check on him, Buzz has been thrown across the crib or on the floor. So when I found him like this I immediately ran to get my camera. So precious!

President's Day

We went down to St. George for President's Day weekend. Corbyn picked up a cold while we were there and then gave it to me just in time to come back to reality. We had a few rough days (where Corby watched WAY more Toy Story and Mickey Mouse than I care to admit), but we're mostly all better now.

While we were down there we:

*Played Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries.

*Fed the ducks (or tried to feed the ducks). They rejected the cereal we were trying to feed them for the most part.

*Used my Kohl's cash (from buying my KitchenAid mixer) to buy Corbyn's entire spring/summer wardrobe and some stuff for Peyton as well.

*Went shopping for fabric for Peyton's quilt. Corbyn got stuck while exploring. (Grandma Lori took a picture before he really started to freak out!)

*Enjoyed missing a storm up north.

*Ate out a few times. Once at Village Inn (I ordered their multigrain pancakes because I was trying to be good and I learned that they are so so good - I'll probably order them from now on!) and once at Chili's. We let Corbyn watch YouTube videos on my phone to keep him from trying to climb out of the high chair.

*Went on a date to see the Vow. I loved it, Rog tolerated it. :)

*Celebrated Mardi Gras by making beignets. The kitchen was pretty cold, so they didn't rise enough, but they were still pretty good.

*Made this delicious soup for Sunday dinner.

*Watched Corbyn explore. (We stayed at my grandma's house down there because Corbyn seems to have developed an allergy to Cuddles.) His favorites were the magnet board...

And the phone in the office.

*Golfed. Well, Rog and my dad did.

*Hung out with David Archuleta. (My mom won a cardboard cutout of him. LOL.)

*Visited Roger's 2nd Mission President and grandparents.

*Enjoyed warm walks.

It was a great trip even if we had to get sick at the end!

20 Months

The Corb at 20 months:

*Knows pretty much all of his body parts and will point to them if you ask where they are.

*Knows a ton of animals and will point to them in his books.

*Loves riding escalators. If we ride one, he won't let us just go up or down, we have to go up, down, up, down, up, and down over and over until we drag him away.

*Got one new tooth this month. Now he has 12 - 6 on top and 6 on the bottom.

*Gets so so so frustrated with the vacuum. If we ever try to vacuum while he is around, he insists on playing with it, but it makes him so mad that he can't make it do what he wants. So now we have to do all our vacuuming while he is asleep at night or when he's not around.

*Is totally and completely obsessed with all things Buzz and Toy Story. He says Buzz all day long which means he wants to watch Buzz (or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is an acceptable alternative). Or he also says it when he sees anything Toy Story. For awhile he was also saying Woody, but for the most part he just says Buzz. He sleeps with his Buzz and Woody figurines and carries them around everywhere. When we lost the original ones we got at Disneyland, we had to replace them. I'm trying to get him more into coloring, so I found these free coloring pages - it kind of worked, but for the most part he just loves looking at them and saying Buzz over and over!

*I really have a hard time getting him to drink enough. It seems to help a little if I rotate his cups - sippy, straw, tupperware cups with lids, and if I'm feeling brave I let him drink out of my cup. But I still feel like he doesn't get enough liquid in him!

*Is fascinated with lights. He likes it when I turn them off and on when he points to them.

*Likes playing with bubbles.

*Can twist open lids and zip/unzip zippers.

*Has a few apps on my phone that he really likes.

*Swings in the big boy swing.

*Pretty much all his pants are floods on him now. But they'll just have to do until spring when he can start wearing shorts because I'm not buying more!

*Says Buzz, up, duck, bubbles, pop, baby, and bus. Roger insists he says help me, but I'm not so convinced because it sounds a lot like mommy to me. And sometimes it sounds like he asks questions like where's that, what's that, or where'd it go?

*If he's hungry, he'll just climb up and help himself to his snacks.

*Is really good at his matching animal fridge toy.

*Has very strong opinions about what books we should read. If he doesn't want to read the book you are reading at the moment, he'll close it on you and insist on another one.

*Likes building towers with his blocks. (Excuse the naked picture... Every time we would pull out the camera he would decide he was done. We finally got a few after bath time one night.)

*Claps when you say "clap your hands" or sing "If you're happy and you know it..."

*Loves watching slideshows of pictures of himself (in iPhoto).

*Likes to have his washcloth on his back and pretend he is a turtle in the bath.

February Decorations

Valentine's Day is a fun one to decorate for. My table is pretty much exactly the same as last year except I added a little bear and changed the ribbon on the heart in HOME.

Peyton's nursery is going to be decorated with owls, so I guess I have owls on the brain. Printable here. Kohl's had some really cute decorations that I couldn't resist. This owl...

This cupcake...

And this kitchen towel (that I got for free).

I found this paper at Wood Connection and copied an idea someone else had (that I saw on Facebook) to make LOVE blocks. I love that the paper incorporates more than just the regular red and pink.

And my shadow box. I only have March left and then I'll be done. It's probably a good thing because who knows how much crafting I'll be doing when Peyton comes. Probably not a whole lot at least for a few months while I adjust to having more than one child!

Day of Love

Our celebration of Valentine's Day was pretty low key this year - mostly just a regular Tuesday. Our big date was a spontaneous trip to Walmart to get a few things we needed. (Best time to go to Walmart ever. It was EMPTY!) And after we put Corbyn to bed, Rog studied for the GMAT while I watched You've Got Mail and folded laundry. But I did have some fun with our menu.

For breakfast, heart-shaped Mexican Eggs.

And monkey bread (because it is delicious and Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity to have dessert for breakfast).

For dinner we had one of our favorite meals. It is easy as can be, yet it looks and tastes pretty dang fancy. CrockPot roast and carrots (someday I'll have to share this recipe with you) with mashed potatoes made in my new Kitchenaid mixer. My mom found an incredible deal (final price $152.80 including tax and shipping) that I couldn't pass up, so I decided to finally get one for myself. It's a birthday present, but it arrived the day before Valentine's Day and I couldn't wait to open it until March 5th!

And for dessert we had strawberry and chocolate nachos with heart-shaped cinnamon chips.

We don't do huge elaborate gifts for Valentine's Day, but I whipped up a little surprise for Rog while Corbyn was napping - made 100% with things I already had. Idea via Pinterest. It's a little message board (in our bathroom because I had paper that matched our colors in there) where we can leave each other fun notes about why we love each other.

Rog got me some daisies and earrings a few days before Valentine's Day and left a card for me in the mailbox to find when we got the mail on Valentine's Day.

And finally, a few days before Valentine's Day I made this delicious popcorn to give out to a few friends. It really does taste just like chocolate covered cinnamon bears from the BYU Bookstore!

I hope everyone had a very happy day of love spent with the ones you love!