just so you know...

... the $3 bottle drying rack from Babys'R'Us and some bottles are the best toys ever.

                                 

 

     

           

(ignore the boys' jammy face)

whattaweek.

We've been some sickies this week. Morgan was patient zero in our house- he seemed to be pretty sick for a couple days last week. It's sooo great how he can verbalize everything so well now. He can say "I feel sick". I want to talk about all the great things he says now but that would just take forever! But I'll say that he can totally talk now. Complete sentences  All the time. You can have a legitimate conversation with the boy and it's the funnest!
Anyways, then Josh was sick, then me, then Jaclyn, then Pearl. It's that nasty stomach flu. Ugh, I hate hate hate it. So there's been a lot of just chillin', cuddling, and crying. But I think we're pretty much out of it now.

It was such a bummer too, because Josh and I had this super awesome (and rare) date weekend planned this last weekend. Friday night was sushi and a movie, Saturday night was a couples church thing that had dinner, an improv group, silent auction, and dancing. Two nights in a row without the kiddies is kind of unprecedented. So we were like, suuuper excited. Then when it came time we still weren't 100% feeling good... but we went to both of those things anyway!... probs not a good idea? But we just did sushi and no movie, then only stayed for dinner at the other thing. Oooooh how I've missed sushi. I think it had been a YEAR since we've had it! How wild is that? Needless to say I was excited. It did not disappoint. Not one bit. Mmmm.
And we really wanted to make it to that church thing because it seemed like fun aaaand we already paid for it... It was a fundraiser for the youth. It felt wrong to have the money go to waste! The dinner was delish. But our favorite was looking at the silent auction stuff. It made me love where we live even more. It was all stuff people donated and included things like raw honey, farm fresh eggs every week for 3 months, a beehive, crane service, and my favorite- a newborn pig! Yay for living in farmland. But for real, I love it. It Josh and I had more monies, we totally would have made good on some of that awesomeness.
It was the best being out with my man. I'm the luckiest woman on earth. That Joshua.... I just love him so much. And I really appreciate his manly beard-growing abilities of late.

We havent had a picture together in forevs so I made him take one with me. Photo cred to Jaclyn. Taking pictures isn't really his favorite thing in the world. This is how he rebelled:

The joke is on him, I think they're cute.

love/hate relationship

I just want to put out there that I have this crazy love/hate relationship with blogging.

I do it because I want to keep family and friends who I don't see or talk to enough informed, and also because I sincerely enjoy it. It's fun to write down what's going on in my life, and thoughts I have. Just to put them in words. Definitely an outlet of sorts. Since I enjoy it so much I've kinda been wondering if I should do more with it. Not that I'm good at it or anything, or that I would ever have a lot, or even like, 30, followers. But I just feel like there are so many things as a blogger I DON'T want to be. I don't want to be the dime a dozen mommy blog. But like I mentioned before, I think part of my aversion to this scene is living in Utah. Because I perfectly fit the mold of those way typical mommy blogs... I DO like to get a little crafty sometimes, I DO love to bake, and I DO like to cook, and I AM obsessed with my kids and looove to talk about them and parenting in general. So it's like I AM all those things that are in the blogs I'm sick of. I just don't want to be in a mold.
And I don't ever want to seem like my life is perfectly put together- like so many blogs do. You bet I'm a dang happy woman and I feel blessed beyond comprehension, but my life sure isn't perfectly polished. No sir.

I think if I wanted to be more into the blogging thing I need to maybe find something I'm passionate about, and that I can make my own. I mean, it's my family for sure- my kids are totally my calling in life. But I think I could have a specific focus in the future. Like... homeschooling. I'm really excited about that.

For now it will remain mostly family happenings, with some of my perspectives on life now and again.

Anyways, I just wanted to express my blogging identity crises. What do you other peeps out there think?

P.S. I probably sound super judgmental about mommy bloggers. I do appreciate the merit of sharing ideas and advice in parenting, "DIY"ing, cooking,  and all that good stuff. I've learned some great stuff from you guys. 

Obligatory Birthday Post.

Morgie's birthday was a total blast. Mostly because he is the funnest/smartest/cutest/greatest boy alive...  but also because of all the great family and friends who came to support and celebrate.

The boy is obsessed with cars. I don't think I can begin to effectively explain how obsessed he is. You're just going to have to trust me on this one. So naturally, he love love loves the movie "Cars". If I wanted him to be excited about a birthday party this theme was a must. But I did wonder how the heck not to make it kinda lame and uber commercialized. Luckily, there were free printables and ideas all over the place (the place = pinterest. Duh.)
I made the boy this shirt- I love how excited he got when I showed it to him. He grabbed it and put it on his head and was saying "put it on!".

 

I think I like how the little favors I made turned out. They are some red, yellow, and green play dough- think traffic lights. Homemade play dough is the best. Morgan loves the stuff. THIS recipe is super great. I used baby food containers to put the three little balls of play dough in.

The tags for the food were really fun, even though only people who have seen the movie cars wouldn't really get all of them... oh well.
We had "dipsticks" (litt'l smokies), "Fillmore's garden" (fruit and veggies), a "fueling station" (punch, water), "spare tires" (chocolate doughnuts), and "Mater's taters" (potato chips). I totally failed getting pictures of most of the labels, but whatevs. Then the cake- I kept that super simple.

 

Josh drew a snazzy car on some posterboard and we played a little "pin the license plate on the car". I'm glad people humored me! It was a lot of fun. Who doesn't like watching other people look foolish?

Probs should have taken a picture with all the

                                         license plates on it.

It was such a fun group of friends. Morgan is one lucky guy to have such great people in his life. I like that there were a lot of kids around his age, give or take a year or so. My friends' littles are so cute and so fun! Even Pearly found a buddy. 

He had such a good time. People are way to good to us. 

 

 

 

I even got to have my parents here from Washington which made it infinitely more awesome, and exponentially easier on me, because they always know just what to do to help out. You gotta love people like that. They are just as good, loving, and supportive as they come. I'm a lucky girl and Morgan is a MEGA lucky boy to have grandparents like that.

Let me end by saying I love this boy like CRAZY. I'm in total awe of him every single day.

Hey

I did a little guest post on my friend Erika's bloggity blog. Click HERE to check it out if you want. 

In Utah, but not of Utah

Ok, I'm about to get real here.

Because basically, life has been getting real. Josh and I have recently come to terms with the fact that we will be in Utah for a good long while.

He loves his job, and it really is a great one. It's a wonderful thing to have a job that utilizes his skills and also his passion. It's fun because it's a job that I'm connected with too, and have a special place in my heart for. He works at a therapeutic boarding school for boys. He's been there since the school opened almost 2 years ago. I used to work at the girls school, which has been around for a lot longer. But his love for the job helped him to excel at it and now he's the Residential Director there and we couldn't be more happy. He loves those boys like his own and I feel so strongly this is SUCH a great job for him. So, needless to say, it's something worth sticking around for.

In realizing his love for the line of work and also his skill in communicating and relationshop building, he changed his major a couple months ago.. he's now in family studies and plans on being a therapist or something of the like. And since he works full time now, he's only going to school part-time. So along with that and changing his major, school is going to take a few more years. But Josh loves his classes now and that is soooo terrific. Utah is kind of a mecca for the therapeutic school scene, a scene that Josh's career might continue with, so yeah.. we'll most likely be here for some years to come.

So it seems like a long journey, but you know what? I feel like we're doing it right. Right for us. I'm glad Josh isn't scared to do what he truly wants to do- that's a trait I fiercely admire about him. His fearlessness. I've definitely never met anyone who has this trait and applies it to life in such a positive way.

I know I'm talking about that man of mine a lot, but it's pretty much the main "why" of us still being here, and our plans to remain here.

I have some mixed feelings and emotions about calling Utah home, and the likely possibility of raising our children here.
I DO love it out here in the smaller town we live in. The Provo/Orem area is sure not my favorite, and moving out of there was the best decision ever ever ever. I enjoyed my BYU days a ton, and Provo was great for that, but the traffic and general overpopulation of that small area made me feel claustrophobic. Plus, our apartment was straight up gross so that didn't really help.
Now we have a great apartment, and to tell you the truth I totally want to live out in the farmland boonies now. I love it. A girl can breath.
The area we're in now is gorgeous. Beautiful farmland and breathtaking mountains.

So there are a lot of positives about the place. Other biggies include some really great friends and cool places to go close by- outdoorsy, touristy, and churchy.

But if you know me, you know that I love Washington- Josh and I grew up there and always planned on going back and raising our kids there.
The main thing we miss about Washington is the people. (So not really a thing at all...). We have family and friends there who we love so, so dearly.

So I'm still somewhat grasping the concept of being a Utahan but it's seeming a little bit more real every day.

I DO have some fears and concerns though. And I think they are so legitimate, so hear me out.
Though I do apologize if they seem offensive or like I'm stereotyping. Cause I kind of am.

Here goes.

A.) I feel a little weird about the fact that I have a blog, am a young mom, and live in Utah. Like, I want to say "ew" to that. Not that I'm all about blogging or anything. But I feel like there is most definitely a Utah mom blogger scene- chevron and bubble necklaces mandatory.
I DO know those who break the mold here, and she (not to mention any names... cough, Erika, cough) is, in a word, awesome.

B.) What if Pearl walks in the room one day and her hair is all teased in the back, sporting the dreaded "Utah bump"? And has the make-up packed on? What if I someday think that looks good?! You wouldn't let me think that, right?

C.) What if I turn into one of the make your own clothes (ok I actually think that's kinda cool), no make-up, mega mom-hair, rural Utah types?
(this is probably the one I fear most... because I want to live in the boonies, learn how to can food and all that good crap, get into food storage, and also, I want to homeschool. Surprise. That's for a different post a different day.)

D.) What if my kids grow up to be kind of... weird? That's my biggest fear and yet I don't know what exactly I mean by weird. I think this is the one that I should dismiss the quickest though, because they have me and Josh, and we're super awesome... Plus, I've met some WAY legit people that have grown up around these parts. Seriously, when I say legit, I mean legit. I have met people that do have the Utah weirdness that I can't explain, but I've also met many who don't. I just want my kids to be able to find the legit, chill friends.

I think overall my fears are a little petty. What do you think?

Utah is a really wonderful state full of really wonderful people. I guess I'm just working on finding my place...

picture of the day

Juuuuust kidding, 8 pictures of the day!

I know, I'm getting annoying with the picture thing. Oh well. Embrace it?

It's been a shame it's so deathly cold outside lately. I havent gotten to take pictures with my new camera outside at aaaaall. Well there was a super quick snapshot of the family for a (late) Christmas card but that's it. And a basement apartment obviously doesn't have the lighting to do pictures justice. But today I noticed some soft sunlight through the window so I gave it a shot.
They turned out nice.
I hope you like my schnoz.