This is my cousin's sweet little girl.  Her and Paisley were excited to meet each other.



So last weekend I had the opportunity to go up to Provo to my cousin's wedding.  This is super significant because my cousin Brianna is on my Dad's side and they all live in Dallas, TX so I don't get to see them very often.  It's also significant because my Grandma Clark came and I haven't gotten to see her since I was pregnant and I really wanted her to meet Paisley and to get some pictures of her with Paisley.

This is the part where I get to whine for a minute.  Sometimes I wish that I had a professional photographer to follow me around and take my picture.  It would just be nice not to have to worry about it.  I made the super obvious mistake of waiting until the end of the night to take pictures...so we're all sweaty and Paisley is DONE.  Oh well.  At least we got something.  It was such a fast trip and I wish so much that I would have had more time to see and talk to everyone.  I feel like I saw each person just long enough to say hello, find out where they were in school/job and move on to the next. 

 Jon had to work since it was on a Friday so Christina came up with me and I was so glad for her help!  Paisley was a handful most of the trip-she missed naps both days and it took her another 2 days of being back home to get back on track. She's usually really good but she had a rough time keeping it together there at the end.  I have NO idea how single moms do it!!  I am so grateful for my husband and for Christina's help on the trip! 

I'm just glad I got to go.  I love my sweet Grandma and it was so fun seeing my sisters, brother and parents too!

{recipes}: pumpkin enchiladas

Ok, so I've tried to make it a goal to try new recipes and with bountiful baskets it has been SUPER easy to do that since I never know what I'm getting until I get it!  I found this recipe and it is SO easy and super good!  I am also trying to post the recipes that I'm finding and share!  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 leftover rotisserie chicken, skin removed, meat shredded
• 6 scallions, thinly sliced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 jalapeno chile, quartered (remove ribs and seeds for less heat, if desired)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 8 corn tortillas (6-inch)
• 1 1/2 cups grated sharp white cheddar cheese (6 ounces)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine chicken and scallions. Season generously with salt and pepper; set aside.
2. In a blender, puree pumpkin, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, 2 1/2 cups water, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until smooth (hold top firmly as blender will be quite full). Pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of an 8-inch square (or other shallow 2-quart) baking dish.
3. Lay tortillas on work surface; mound chicken mixture on half of each tortilla, dividing evenly. Roll up tortillas; place, seam side down, in baking dish.
4. Pour remaining sauce on top; sprinkle with cheese. Place dish on a baking sheet; bake until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

I used a rotissiere chicken from harmons for the meat, but I'm thinking that shredded chicken of any kind would work awesome.  I also used dried onions and garlic since I was in a hurry and they blended up super easy with the jalepeno.  I was really worried that the jalepeno would make it too spicy so I omitted the chili powder and they turned out very, very mild.  And I loved the corn tortillas, but I think flour would be super good too!!  This is a fun dinner for fall!  Thank you Martha!



{birthday}: 2!

Paisley turned 2 last week and we had a cute little birthday party for her on Monday night as our FHE.  We had yummy cupcakes and cake and she got some of the funnest presents!!  I think she loved every minute of it :)

{cooking}: my favorite things

I love to cook-and I especially love that I've got the time to do it (ideally).  Back when it was work and school, or even just work it was super hard to have a desire to cook-even though I do love it.  Now that I've been home I've really grown to love it-so I thought I would share a couple of my favorite things!!

• Bountiful Baskets:  If you haven't signed up for this YOU NEED TO!!  I love getting fresh fruit and veggies every weekend and it practically plans my meals for me!!  If I get potatoes we have Shepard's pie.  If I get tomatoes, we have bruschetta...cooking couldn't be easier then having some of those decisions made for you!
• Pesto:  Costco's pesto is SOO good and only $7 for the HUGE jar.  I love keeping it in the back of my fridge to toss up with some chicken, pasta and veggies.  It makes a super fast last minute meal fresh and easy!  It is also SOO good smothered on fish and then sprinkled with crushed Ritz and baked.
• Red Bell Pepper:  I have grown to love these because they are so sweet after you saute them!
• Cottage Cheese:  This is my new favorite breakfast.  I've really tried super hard to eat protein with every meal and this is perfect with fruit!
• Whole Wheat Flour:  in chocolate chip cookies.  Just half though-it makes a much heartier cookie and I get compliments every time I do it!!
• Whole Wheat Pasta: speaking of whole wheat-I love doing half and half with pasta too.  It makes a heartier meal and I feel like it brings out the good flavor in both.
• Homemade tortillas: are a cinch to make.  I had no idea they were so easy or I would have started making them from scratch a long time ago.  I already was in love with the ones you buy raw and make-but making up the dough and rolling them out is SUPER easy and SOO delicious!
• Frozen Chicken Breast/Frozen Fish Fillets:  I always keep in my freezer!  They thaw in 15 minutes in warm water and are super easy to just throw in the oven or in a skillet and eat with some veggies. 
• Good Knives:  are worth asking for for Christmas.  I promise.  Jon got me a set 2 years ago and I love them-it makes it so much easier to want to cook knowing I won't be sawing away at veggies-the knives falling apart in my hands.  He found a set for pretty cheap on Amazon and I love them!

This last week I made the most delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup...I know it's not really soup weather here right now but this was SOO good!  Of course it's a pioneer woman recipe and you can find it here, I can't recommend it enough!!  Happy Cooking :)

{nostalgia}: peaches

I blog today of home and peaches. 
Growing up we would come to St. George, UT every Labor Day for our Annual Gubler Reunion. This was a particularly exciting trip for my siblings and I because we were never allowed to have sleep-overs growing up, so the opportunity to stay up all night and party with our cousins was overwhelmingly exciting. We would load up in the van and take the SUPER long drive from IF to StG, gradually getting hotter and hotter as we went. We would often stop in Salt Lake and visit cousins who would then join us on the continuing drive down south. Usually on that stop we would also pick up a box of peaches.

Some years we picked up 2 boxes of peaches, but usually it was just the one.

The reunion was always so much fun. Friday night the adults would leave all of us and go out for a fancy adult dinner. I always looked forward to getting old enough to go to that. Unfortunately, I never got to that point (I'm on the younger end of the cousins). We would gorge ourselves on pizza and stay up all night playing video games and watching movies. Saturday morning was always the service project and adult meeting. We would clean up my Grandparents house, yard, garage, orchard and the like. I always found at least one lizard to chase after! After that we'd eat, play softball, kickball or get into a huge water fight. And that night we would do skits and eat fried chicken. This was also significant because this was the one time a year that I got to eat fried chicken!! SOOO good. We would try and play Saturday night too, but usually we ended up going to bed-knowing that there would be another long drive in the morning. Our favorite card game was Rook-something I remember my parents staying up all night playing with my grandparents...and playing blind Rook with my Great-Uncle Merl was the best! He would let us set the points up to infinity.

Sunday morning we would pack up the van, with our peaches and head home. I think the peaches hold a lot of significance in the story because they were our souvenir from StG. We would eat them one by one and then the box would be gone-and summer with it. We loved eating them cut up with a little sugar and nutmeg and milk poured over the top. It was sad to see them go-knowing that the empty box meant school and homework and fall.

This last week bountiful baskets had Utah peaches. I also had the opportunity to go out and photograph a reunion at my grandparents house. My Aunt's mother bought their house when they passed away and so it was a lot of my cousins (and their cousins) celebrating in the same house, around the same time of year and going there overwhelmed me with nostalgia.

I can't believe its the last month of summer! Let's go play and make it count!

{love}: zumba

I love zumba.  I don't know if I can really express how much I love it.  Dance is home to me.  I grew up doing ballet-lots and lots of ballet and I hadn't been able to replace that void for the longest time...until I found zumba.  And it was a VOID-a hole in my heart.  Once you've grown to love something so much...having it taken away was really hard on me.  I recently had a conversation with a friend who was a rock-climber he was talking about how climbing uses every single muscle-so much so that you have to push everything else out of your mind and just focus on what you're doing.  The same goes for dance.  It requires focus and discipline...and it becomes a meditation of another kind.  I love it.  I am growing to love my instructors more and more as I get to know them and I am so grateful to have found this amazing outlet in my life!  If you haven't found something that lights you up inside don't ever stop looking!!  It's out there for you...and it may just be zumba!!  Love it...love all of it!  xoxo

{update}: the flow

I feel like I need to blog.  When I go too long I feel like I must be missing something.  And I really do look at this as my journal, and that's probably why I worry.

Life is busy.  As usual.  We went up to Salt Lake last weekend to relax and visit Jon's best friend from high school-Curtis.  It was a lot of fun.  They have a cute little girl, and his sis that we stayed with also has a cute little girl and so we had 3 sweet little girls running around and having a great time all weekend.  Oh!  And the weather was SOO nice!  Somehow, I didn't take a single picture.  Ooops. 

While in Salt Lake I also had the opportunity to meet Jessa's new little baby boy and take his picture.  I just love to snuggle newborns.  And they smell SOO good.  Mmmmm.

I'm trying desperately to catch up on editing.  It's happening slowly but surely.

I've recently become an herbal tea drinker.  I've always enjoyed it every now and again, but lately I have a few cups a day.  It really helps my throat and nose (which, as usual are all upset from allergies).  I've found a "throat coat" and an echinacea kind that is delicious steeped together.  And it's a great way to get my daily dose of local honey.

Paisley has been doing much, much better.  I think maybe she was just going through some painful teething because she's really mellowed out again.  She loves to hug me and give me kisses-and I love to hug her and give her kisses too!  She is 100% fearless at the pool, and will jump into the deep end before I can get there to catch her!  She is getting more and more grown up every day.  She now knows how to climb onto the chairs at the table and insists on sitting there, she likes to use big girl cups, and she's really grown more accustomed to her big girl bed.  Realizing that she's going to be 2 next month is still really crazy to me-it seems like she's always been here, but at the same time like she was born yesterday. 

Everyone around me is having babies.  Which leads to continual discussions about diapering, breast-feeding and the like.  It's so strange to me that I nursed for the whole year, which wasn't that long ago, but seems like forever ago...and I do miss it.  I like snuggling little babies.

And last, but not least-I'm totally going to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn tonight.  And my dear sweet husband is coming with me.  The best part?  We're totally going on a scooter date-which we haven't done in a really long time and I'm super excited.  I'll try and be naughty and snap a picture to post!

{natural disasters}: our trip to the lake

Last Saturday we took a trip up to Yankee Meadows.  Oddly enough, a good portion of folks I've talked to that grew up here don't even know where this is.  (It's off the Parowan exit up the canyon on the way to Brianhead if you're wondering).  Anyway-we thought it would be fun to go up and get out of the heat for a day.  Unfortunately, the weather has been really stormy and after coming out of the movie late Friday night to a raging thunderstorm (Transformers was awesome, btw) we debated going Saturday.  Saturday morning I woke up exhausted (we stayed up WAY too late Friday night), but decided a nice relaxing trip to the lake might be a good thing, even if we get some rain.
**Side note:  Paisley has been throwing some EPIC tantrums lately.  I am now realizing it has more to do with her teeth killing her than her disposition, but regardless Friday I made the mistake of going to Target with her toward the beginning of her nap time and she screamed the ENTIRE hour I was there-with a full blown wrestling match at the cash register.  Wrestling a wiggly, screaming 25 lb weight has really begun to develop my arm muscles and I think I could actually hurt someone if I punched them!! Oh, and I tell this side note because I actually woke up sore from the wrestling-both emotionally and physically.

Back to the story.  Saturday morning we threw everything together and left with Chad and Sarah to drive up to Cedar.  Paisley chose not to sleep, even though we left at nap time and she usually sleeps in the car.  We stopped at the Cedar City Wal-mart to top off our supplies and Paisley decided to again throw an epic tantrum.  It was bad.  I took her out to wait for everyone else to check out and again had to spend a good 10 minutes wrestling with her, screaming at the top of her lungs.  (I didn't think to just get the car keys)  It was quite a scene.  After that we stopped at Pastry Pub (LOVE!!!) and were on our way up the canyon.  At this point, Paisley finally passed out from what could only be exhaustion.  I was so grateful because she really is such a good kid as long as she gets her naps.  5 minutes later, she woke up.  argh. 
We made it up the canyon, to Yankee and parked, realizing that we needed to prioritize what we needed from the car to hike around to the other side of the lake.  Luckily I took an extra diaper and hoodies and dressed Paisley in warmer clothes (it was around 60 F, so not TOO terribly cold.  We grabbed the fishing stuff and hiked around to the other side.  Just as we had set up our benches, finished our lunches and started fishing, Paisley went ahead and fell in the lake.  She was fine-but she drenched all of her clothes!!  So we dried her off and I wrapped her up in her blanket and she looked like she was going to go to sleep!!  nope.  Then it started to downpour.  Luckily I had our thick denim blanket so we huddled under there until it stopped, Paisley screaming and thrashing a good portion of the time.  Then the rain stopped and Paisley wanted to run around.  Not wanting her to soak the one clean diaper I had put on her (if she happened to fall back in), I took it off and just let her run free.  (this is when the above pic was taken).  Luckily too when the rain would stop, the sun would come out and it would warm up quite rapidly.  We fished and sat for a bit, and then Paisley fell in the lake again.  She actually fell in the moment after I took the picture. 
*Second Side note:  This last week Jon finally acquired the phone of his dreams.  He loves it.  It is brand new and shiny.  It is expensive-and while it is insured, it will still be expensive to replace.
Jon jumped in to save our child from drowning, once again.  And took his phone into the lake with him.  You can imagine that his mood was not so great for the rest of the day.  In my defense-I was taking a picture...and I had the camera around my neck (which is worth more than the phone) and I rescued her the first time.  We actually are thinking maybe we should have just left her to flounder a bit longer because she did not learn her lesson...

Rinsed off and clean from her second dip in the lake, we diapered her up, wrapped her in my hoodie and began our trek back to the car to start dinner.  The rest of the day kind of went on like the beginning:

• The wood was super wet and it took a long time to get a sufficient fire started.
• Paisley would not take her second nap-we put her in the car, we laid her out on the blanket, we tried and tried and tried to no avail.  Extreme fussing and general grumpiness resulted.
• The boys left us to go exploring further up the canyon (they took the car) and I had nightmares of them not coming back...just the thoughts were terrifying.
• I burned the tin-foil dinners because I really thought I knew what I was doing...ug.
• It down poured again before the boys had come back and everything got soaked...including us.
• My cobbler was described as baked frosting with syrup on top.

*Third Side note:  Cobblers are meant to be made with canned fruit, not fruit pie filling.  So if you use pie filling, it can cause your cobbler to be WAY too sweet.  Also, cobblers are meant to be made with a plain cake mix like yellow or white.  Not with a vanilla cake mix, which also results in WAY too sweet.  If you use both pie filling and 2 boxes of vanilla cake mix your cobbler will probably be described as "baked frosting with syrup on top."

After dinner Jon and Chad hiked a bit up the lake to fish some before we left and Sarah and I cleaned up what we could.  We decided to wander over and get the boys after and at this point my arms were so tired from holding Paisley I made her walk.  This was the end.  She screamed the entire time around the lake...but kept following me because I was walking away from her.  And yes, I am a terrible mother-I know, believe me, I know.  Fortunately by the time we reached Jon she was so worn out that I picked her up and she instantly fell asleep in my arms.  Wonderful.  We went back and enjoyed the sunset over the lake for a minute, the boys choking down my delicious cobbler. 

And we slept the whole way home.

{holidays}: the 4th

Our 4th of July was so fun!  We spent it with the Coopers and a bunch of their neighborhood.  We blocked off the streets so the kids could run free and it was so much fun!

Paisley had a good time with all the cute boys.

I love taking pictures of all the yummy food.

I love chocolate ice cream and ridiculous blue eyeshadow...

Paisley could not get enough lemonade.  She completely covered herself in food, sno cone, lemonade and popsicle so by the time it was getting dark we ran in and hosed her down and switched her to jammies.

She LOVED the sparklers!

Some neighbors nearby were lighting off aerial fireworks and she thought the were so awesome!  They put on quite a show.

We lit off some of our own...luckily everyone kept their eyebrows.

{growing pains}: potty training+update

I'm in the thick of potty training and it's horrible!!  I know, I know, she is young.  I've read in more than one book that 22 months is a good time to start, and I really think she's capable BUT if things don't start going a little smoother here in the near future we may just keep her in diapers til kindergarten.  They aren't that expensive...I feel that the counseling that I'm going to need to be ok after this will be more expensive.  The method I am most specifically following is the 3 day potty training.  I agree with it's philosophy, and like I said, I really think Paisley is capable.  I'm just wondering if we took on too much too soon.
About a month ago I decided that I would start potty training this week.  I scheduled it on my calendar.  I read and re-read the book.  I stopped buying diapers and switched to pull-ups (to get the pulling up of the the panties idea).  I stopped buying pull-ups so that I could phase them out.  We went and bought panties and a cute potty.  I put off having my carpets cleaned.  Monday night we switched Paisley's crib into a big girl bed.  I think this may have been a mistake.  You see, she wakes up at 7 and confined to a crib, plays until I come get her around 8:30 (and by 8:30, I really mean 9:30).  Well, take away the crib and leave the door open so she can let us know if she needs to go potty and I have a sweet toddler slapping me awake at 7 AM!!  Tuesday, after a night of crying (I don't think she initially liked her big girl bed) I put her in panties and we began the potty training.  Now, the method that I'm using reccommends giving lots and lots of fluids for lots and lots of practice and wearing panties so that they can get used to that.  And soak lots of panties.  And do lots of laundry.  Fast forward to today.  I've done A LOT of laundry.  Everything in my house has either been thrown into the toilet, or peed on.  And I do mean everything.  Did I mention we had apartment inspections this week?  That was neat.  Oh, and naps?  Yep, no more naps.  No longer confined to a crib she sees no need for naps-instead she pees on everything in her room (that she has dumped out of her drawers) and does all of this silently to trick me into believing that she's sleeping!!!  My child, oddly enough, is a lot like her mother and starts to go a little stir crazy after staying the in the living room for 3 days straight with her Mommy chasing her saying "Tell mama if you need to go potty!" every 5 seconds.  Because of that stir craziness, she has chosen to figure out exactly where her boundaries are...slamming doors, whining and generally harassing me as much as possible...all the while me asking her if she needs to go pee. 
I actually laid on the floor outside her room so I could peek under the door to see if she stayed in bed for her nap.  I fell like this is not why I went to college. 
Her redeeming quality?  She's dang cute.  And she just learned how to say "please?" and then says "thank you."  Oh yes, she's just terrible.  I had reached the end of my rapidly fraying rope this morning and she curled up on my lap and instantly fell asleep.  And then peed on me.  And then on my couch that I laid her on...
And if I understand this correctly...I have to go through this with every child I have?  Because if that's the case, I may really just have the one...

*Update:  I quit.  I did.  And I'm actually ok with it.  I woke up this morning with some new found clarity and I think I'm just going to wait a bit.  I really appreciate all of the encouragement-I was in a bad place.  I think switching beds and potty training all at the same time is too much to try and do with no sleep (she's still figuring out to stay in bed and not roll out onto the floor in her sleep).  So I'm going to give it some time.  I think getting adjusted to a bed and also growing up just a little bit more will really help.  She doesn't quit understand the idea of a reward system and I think when she does this will be a peice of cake.  So we'll see...

{discombobulated}: a list

Weird feelings.  Lately when I blog it's like I just need to empty out all the things rattling around in there.  I don't know.  And by rattling around in there, I do mean my brain...

Today it's relief society.  Do your visiting teaching.  And after you're done, report it.  Please.  For the sake of all of your sweet sisters that work like crazy people...  it's a good thing to do.  I promise.  It took getting this calling to realize just how awesome this system can be if it's done.

Babies.  I could talk all day about babies.  I just did that Dr. Seuss shower and it was way too much fun.  I love the idea, love the theme, love Ember.  Pictures will follow.

Health.  I need some.  If you have any immune system boosting remedies, please let me know.  Regardless of the large sums of money I paid the nice doctors-they have yet to find something wrong with me that would cause all of the sickness...and yes, I was sick once again this last week.  This time it was a weird stomach flu that left me unable to keep food inside of me.  And no, not pregnant.

Miracles exist.  If you want to hear the story, ask me.  And if you ever want miracles to occur in your life, ask for them.  You can you know.

Dreams are weird.  Alecia, I'm in the same weird funk you are over some of my dreams lately and I totally know where you're at with the haunting...

I love my husband.  I feel like marriage ebbs and flows like the tide and lately it has been flowing.  I love the happy times-the easy happy times.  Sometimes the happiness requires work and sometimes it's just there.

Someday, like Wednesday, my house will be clean.  It will.  I look forward to this day...if I can just stay healthy enough to accomplish it!!

Paisley.  Mmmmm I just love to breathe her in I love her so.  She is my love and my favorite and is still growing way WAY too fast!!  Potty training to be coming soon!!!

And zumba.  do it.  and then go do your visiting teaching. 

{Sneak Peak}: St. George Photographer

Some sneak peaks of my latest projects...Brian & Audrey's wedding, Sarah & Chad's wedding and Ozzy's baptism.  So much fun!

{projects}: finally getting somewhere...

This was actually done a little while ago, but it's been so nice having all of her toys in one place-accessible in our living room!  I had this all set up in her closet in her room but after seeing my friend Kim put it all together in her nook downstairs I just had to do the same!

I've been on a bit of a crazy kick-I organized all of my closets.  Oddly enough, it seems easiest to just do it all at the same time, so I did...for the most part.  I finally moved a bunch of crap out of my laundry room closet, I finally hung up all of my jewelry and organized my linen closet, and I went through and cleaned out my bedroom closet-which made room to store all of our extra winter clothes and coats so now I have more room in my coat closet!  Yay!!  In case you were wondering, closets are hard to take pictures of-or I would probably have pictures of all of them...

I just finished this awesome quilt!!  I could have never done it without the help of my friend Morgan!!  We teamed up and finally got all of my sewing projects finshed-in one day!!!  I am in love with how this turned out!!  And SHHH-don't tell Ember!!  She never checks anything online so I know she won't see this, but you can't tell her I made one!!

My continual project-who wanted her picture taken while I was taking pictures of all my other projects.

And finally-my favorite-I finished a double sided pirate carseat cover and pirate nursing cover, complete with washcloth corners (for milky faces and added weight)  Jessa-they'll be there soon!!

I have no idea what my doctor gave me a shot of when I went in last week-but it was good stuff.  I'm still waiting to hear back about my CT scan and blood work, but I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER!!  I hope that I'm at the end of a long string of illness, and hopefully I just continue to feel better!

{some fun}: dr. seuss

I just have to show these off because I just love how they turned out!!  I'm doing a baby shower for my good friend Ember and she is doing the cutest Dr. Seuss theme with their baby nursery and I love it!!

{update}: my brain

Today, I empty out my brain:

• Ellen is the funniest female comic.  ever.  I have finally figured out why-she doesn't rag on men the entire time, she doesn't complain about girl issues...I've come to my own conclusions as to why she may be different-but I love her!!
• I also love Bill Cosby.  so much.  Really, the reason for all the comic love-my very good friend Will showed me a pandora station that is all PG rated comics.  I LOVE it!!
• I love zumba.  If you want to find happiness in life, you will find it in zumba.
• If you would like to quickly remove your nail polish, Mr. Clean magic erasers work for that too.  Yes, they are going to save the world.
• Coupons.  new love.  I haven't gone completely crazy yet, BUT I saved $15 on my bill just from snipping a few, and I really can't complain about that...
• Bountiful Baskets.  If you haven't done it, do it!!
• Spring Cleaning.  It NEEDS to happen.  If I can just get myself better, it's GOING to happen.  And I know, it's like summer and not spring anymore, but I spent all of my spring sick, and I vow not to spend my summer sick and this cleaning is going to HAPPEN!!!
• i love lists.
• almost as much as I love lamp.
• It doesn't seem to matter how old I get, how much life experience I gain, things that people say and do still surprise me.  Particularly the decisions of those that are close to me. 
• I think, when I finally catch up on all my editing, I am going to start and etsy shop...I have some ideas!!!  And I'm excited about them...
• Laundry may be the end of me....and I only have one kid!!  And we're hippies in this house (in that we wear some things a couple of times before we wash...not underwear, but like pants and stuff).  It seems that just as I finish getting everything washed, hung, folded, etc it is time to start all over again.  Never-ending...
• I think I'm about ready to start potty-training.  And before you put your hand up, laugh at me, or sarcastically tell me good luck...I think she's getting close to ready.  She likes to do things on her own.  About 6 times out of 10 she tells me when shes wet or stinky AND she's really starting to communicate better.  I know it's possible, but I'm waiting just a little longer until I'm feeling better and she can take her pants on and off...

A couple of happening in our life:

Audrey, my old roommate got married!!  Her wedding was gorgeous and so much fun!

Chad and Sarah finally got married...and it was beautiful.

My sweet husband got to try his had at a little bit of videography.  Doesn't he look hott with a camera?

We went camping and could not keep Paisley out of the water for anything!!  She loved it!

Jon caught this big guy...

This rotten, rotten squirrel stood outside my window chirping for 45 minutes the other day!!!  I finally lost it and went out to chase it away, to no avail.  He would not leave!  So I grabbed Jamie, who should no longer be referred to as a cat, and she ran away, meowing for the door.  Finally, I talked to Jon and he explained the only way to get rid of a squirrel is to shoot it.  So I grabbed my camera and shot away...and he did finally leave!!

And lastly, Jessa.  Who, if you did not happen to notice, is quite pregnant!  She is going to be such a good Mama, and I am so excited for her and Chris!  They are naming their little boy Colt and have been working hard on a pirate themed nursery that is so awesome and cute at the same time!

Amongst all of this, I am still sick and I cannot seem to get better.  I've been on the brink of a meltdown all week (as anyone that has talked to me at all can attest, sorry guys!) and I finally had a come apart yesterday.  My sweet husband has been taking care of me.  I'm not quite sick enough to HAVE to be in bed, but I'm definitely sick enough to be miserable.  Tomorrow I go to the doctor again, and hopefully we can figure some things out.  Ug.