TREVON

This picture really isn't the best quality, sorry! My sweet little brother designated me to be one of Trevon's visitors in the NICU (there can only be four designated visitors in the NICU in addition to the mom and dad). My mom and I went up last night and were able to see him for the first time. He was sleeping, so I didn't want to take a picture with the flash on, thus the poor quality. He's dropped to under four pounds, but is now off the ventilator and his oxygen has been reduced, so he's being quite the little trooper. He's so stinkin' cute and hopefully will be in the NICU for just a couple more weeks. We sure love this little guy and I'm so grateful for the technology we have in this day and age.

AIN'T HE THE BEST???

I came home this afternoon from running errands and stopping by the hospital to find this little surprise waiting for me on our dresser:

I love lilies and ADORE stargazers! I am seriously so blessed to have the BEST husband in the world. When asked what the occasion was, he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Ahhhh, how I love that man!

I'M AN AUNTIE AGAIN!

Just a quick congrats to my little brother and his wife. They welcomed another beautiful baby boy into their family this morning. The little guy is tiny....only 4 lbs. 2 oz. and will be in the NICU for a while, but both mommy and baby are doing good. My poor sis-in-law has been in the hospital on bed rest for the past couple of weeks (her water broke), so I know she's ready to go home. Hopefully the little guy will be following soon. Congrats Seth & Mist!

SATURDAY FUN PART 2

While the bubs was off playing in the snow (see previous post) I was getting some baby gifts done. My sis-in-law is due the first part of March, but about a week and a half ago her water ruptured. So, the poor thing is stuck in the hospital for the next three weeks on complete bed rest so they can monitor mommy and baby. Since the little guy is most likely coming sooner than originally anticipated, I thought I better get his gifts done! Oh, and Mist, if you happen to see this post before I give these to you, surprise! :)

I found these block letters at one of my favorite scrapbooking stores. Seriously, if you're ever in Bountiful, check out Heartland Paper Co. They have some of the most adorable things ever. If I only had the money......anywhoo, I found the letters there and thought they were so stinkin' cute. What I wouldn't give to be able to cut my own wood like this! A little paint, some cute paper and ribbon, mod podge (seriously, what did we do before mod podge?) and there you go. Super easy but super cute (at least I think so!)


I found this material the other day while browsing (you should see how much material I have sitting in my craft room right now. I think I have a problem. You should have seen the bubs face when I kept bringing in the bags!) I loved the bright colors and the nursery is being done in a safari theme. The actual room is done in tans and greens, but I couldn't resist. I also had some red material that matched perfectly. I know, I know.....red isn't SUPER manly, but at least it's different than blue! I finally finished tying it tonight and really liked how it turned out. Although it takes a lot longer, I think the thinner ties are so much cuter than the chunkier ones. Especially for baby blankets.

No, this isn't part of the baby's gift, just something I finished a little while ago and thought I'd post. It was supposed to be for a Christmas gift, but once I FINALLY finished it, I had to keep it for myself. Really, can you blame me?? I also was able to clean my house and do a little shopping while the bubs was gone. Hmmm...maybe he needs to go play more often?

SATURDAY FUN

The bubs and my little bro. went boarding today. We've been having storms this past week, so there was plenty of new powder to play on. Bubs has been boarding for a while, but this is my little brothers first season. He's been having a blast learning, though!

The bubs and my little bro.

My studly little brother



I think this one is the money shot, don't you?

Some of the group that went with them today.....looks like they had a good time! I also had a great day....I didn't board, but I did craft. I'll post pics of my finished products soon.

FLASH BACK FRIDAY

The bub's mom sent us this picture a while ago. I think it's adorable, but of course, I think my bubs is adorable (well, most of the time!) Anyway, this is a picture of the bubs, his sister Kiersten and his maternal grandmother. I love this picture! I also love Grandma's purse, she's pretty stylin'.

VALENTINE'S DAY GIFT.....HINT, HINT GALS!

I think I must be in a lovey mood....I just changed my blog background to more of a Valentiney (I know, not really a word) one and I'm blogging about a Valentine's Day gift. Side note here, people.....I HATE Valentine's day. I personally think it's one of the dumbest holidays ever. But that's okay, I'm here to help you out. Anyway, while happily pursuing my favorite crafting and misc. blogs, I happened to look at Love Actually. I don't know if you've ever looked at this blog, but it's fabulous (it's under my fav's if you'd like to do a little blog stalking of your own!) She has some pretty awesome ideas on not only dating and romance, but dating and romance on a budget! What's not to love?? Anywhoo.....one of her ideas for a Christmas gift was to enroll your significant other in a date of the month club. Basically you get all sorts of creative and come up with twelve dates to do through the year. You then scrapbook, download, etc. a page that has Jan, Feb. March (you get the idea, right?) The lucky man then gets to decide what month he wants for the different activities. After making his selections, you get the list back and take care of the rest. I did this for the bubs and he LOVED it, really, I promise. He pretty much sat down the next day and wrote down what he wanted to do for each month. So, here's a copy of my dates....just warning you, for some reason (probably because I was tired) they're kind of blurry. They're also, well, kind of, well, just read them, you'll understand!





Good luck on yours! And remember, they don't have to be anything big and extravagant. Just something for a nice date out (or in, wink, wink!) for you and your hunny. In fact, on three of mine (April, August & Oct) they were dates already planned in advance! We're seeing the Lion King in August (ahh, I love Broadway productions!) every October we go to see Thriller and we're going to see Muse in April (ahhhh! I'm soooo excited for that one!) How perfect is that?? Oh, and if you want help with ideas, let me know. I had a blast creating mine!

COMMITMENT & MARRIAGE COUNSELING

New Year's resolutions, what's yours? I was telling the bubs the other day I didn't think I was going to make any. I have great intentions, but they seem to go to the wayside pretty quickly. As I was reading different blogs and their resolutions, I came across one I really liked. This blogger had a reader leave a comment about how she doesn't make resolutions. She actually picks a world and focuses in on it for the year. I loved that idea! As I was thinking about what word I could apply this year, several things came to mind. The one that really stood out? Commitment. So, for 2010 I am going to focus in on being more committed whether it's at home, work, church, etc. I had a friend do this a little while ago. Her word was simplify. I don't think I'm quite there yet...maybe I can commit to simplifying next year?? Anyway, as I was thinking about what commitment really means, it reminded me of the marriage counseling session the bubs I went to before Christmas. There have been several people I'm very close to announce recently they were either getting a divorce or going through a separation. When a particularly good friend told me she and her husband had separated, it totally freaked me out. At my work we contract out with a company that does employee assistance....things like counseling, financial help, help with weight loss, etc. As this assistance is free, I thought why not take advantage of it and meet with a marriage counselor? On the advice of a couple of friends, we chose to meet with Rich. Love him. When we first sat down, he asked us why we were there. I told him my reasoning first and then he looked at the bubs. Bubs just simply looked at him and gave him an analogy I loved...."When you buy a new car, it runs great. You know you don't have to worry about it breaking down. You do, however, have to worry about maintaining the car. Regular oil changes, a new battery...the little things you do to make sure that later down the road the car doesn't have major problems or even completely die on you." Rich's eyes lit up....I later found out he LOVES it when couples come in for preventative marriage counseling. He also told me that I was a walking statistic just waiting to happen (umm....okay?) My parents and grandparents on both sides are divorced, so it lowered my chances of staying married significantly (did you know in Utah the divorce rate is over 60%? Yeah, me neither). It was really interesting to hear Rich talk about marriage, but especially about marriage in the church (he's also LDS). All in all, it was a great session. As I later told the bubs, we have a pretty good marriage. Sure, there are stresses and sometimes we can't help but fight. But, overall I think we're pretty good. The counseling can only make it better, at least I think. So, we made another appointment (hey, it's free, why not?) Anyway, one significant point Rich made during the session that leads me back to my original topic and resolutions, was commitment. He asked us why we thought our great-grandparents and past generations stayed together. It wasn't because they particularly liked each other some of the time, it was because they were COMMITTED to each other. Yes, they lived in a different world than we do now, but they had that strong commitment and saw it through until the end. I haven't seen that type of commitment much in my life. The one couple who strongly stands out in my mind are the bubs grandparents on his mom's side (that's who's in the picture above....aren't they cute?) They were together through thick and thin and truly loved each other. Not only were they committed to each other, they were happy together, which is rare. Towards the end of his grandfather's life, they had to put him in a care center because it go to be too much for his grandma. I'm sure it killed her to have him not only gone, but not able to serve him and take care of him anymore. But, she made the regular trips to see him and show him not only her commitment to him, but also her love. This couple is my inspiration of how I want the bubs and I to be. I want our grandchildren to be able to come to our home and see how much grandma and grandpa love each other. I want them to be able to see what a committed, happy marriage is like.

So here's my question to you.....what's your resolution or your word? Also, how do YOU keep your marriage alive and happy?

GLUTTONY AT IT'S FINEST!

I was making dinner tonight and went to the pantry to pull out the needed ingredients. Every time I open the door I'm greeted with this sight.....

(Don't mind the mess....I REALLY need to clean out and organize the pantry!)

Throughout December whenever we'd get treats, I'd throw them in the pantry to get them out of the way. This is what happens when you get WAAAYYY more than you can possibly eat, or even want to! I didn't take a picture of the other side of the pantry....it's stocked with leftover cookie packets from the neighbor/friend/co-worker gifts. Between home and work, I'm pretty much candied out for a while!

I also had to stock up on these:

I just recently found a very cute blog that had a VERY cute idea that I'm going to do for Christmas next year (for both the parentals and the siblings). It will take me the majority of the year to get these done, so I'll be starting them in the next couple of months. I'm way excited and hope they turn out as cute as I envsion them being!

CHRISTMAS DAY

For some reason these are the only pictures we got of Christmas day. How sad! Usually we take tons of pictures of opening presents. Oh well, guess there's always next year. We had a really nice Christmas which started off at my little brothers house. He and his wife were awesome and invited us over for breakfast (thanks guys! It was sooo good!)


After that, it was back to our house to open presents and then head to the grandparents. Overall it was a really nice, relaxing Christmas. Usually we run around like crazy from house to house. This year we just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. Hope everyone else had a great day as well!