Happy Anniversary!!

Happy anniversary to my sweet husband! It's been the best 4 years of my life!



Tonight Scott and I went to Tucanos for dinner and then to the play,"The Miracle Worker." We had a lot of fun together, and thank you to Grandma Julia for watching Hannah for us! Tomorrow we're off to CA!

Graduation

Yesterday I finally walked for graduation! My parents are in town as well as my mother-in-law for the occasion. I really didn't want to walk at first because I already received my diploma in the mail a couple of months ago. However, I am really glad that I decided to do it. It was a once in a life time opportunity and I really enjoyed it. I am so thankful to our parents and my sister, Hollie and her family, for coming to support me. Here are a few pictures of the event:This is kind of a scary picture of me but I thought it was cool because you can see all of the graduates behind me.

The fam

My family. Please don't mind the shadow on my face.

More of The Fam

Today we went to a luncheon for a friend that graduated yesterday, too. Our friends are from Hawaii, so this was one of the best luncheons that I have ever been to. I wish that I were from Hawaii. They seem to go all out with parties. Our friend is the second one from the right, who just graduated from law school. These guys were awesome at singing and playing their guitars. The food at this luncheon was also awesome....salad, chow mein, shrimp scampi, pork, chicken, beef, sushi, rolls, yum yum YUM!

Hannah and me at the party.

Late this afternoon we went to a carnival at the Provo Towne Center mall with Scott's mom. She wanted to take Hannah on some of the rides. Unfortunately, the merry-go-round was the only thing that she could go on. She seemed to like it at first but was done with it after going round and round a few times. Scott and I were also fortunate enough to go on a ride together. It was painful because I was smashing him the whole time, but we loved it! I can't believe how expensive carnival tickets are now. One dollar and fifty cents for one ticket, and most rides take 3 tickets. I remember when carnival rides were twenty five cents per ticket. Sad day how expensive everything is.

Tonight we went to a BBQ at my Aunt Jo's house. Again, delicious food. I have eaten SO much this weekend. That's one thing I love about having family in town, but then I feel really gross afterwards. Anyway, Hannah and I will be heading to CA on Thursday with my mother-in-law, and we are so excited. I will try to blog while I'm there, but if I don't, it will be sometime after May 13th until the next time I blog.

New Things

On Monday, I tried putting Hannah down for an early nap because she woke up really early that morning. She still had her PJs on when I put her down for her nap. She wasn't falling asleep, so about 15 minutes later I came in her room to get her and saw her like this:




Oh NO! She has learned how to take off her clothes. She's not too fond of clothes at the moment, and I have a feeling that I'm going to have a naked daughter a lot. She gets angry when I try to dress the baby doll that we got her for Easter. As soon as I dress it, she takes its clothes off again. Let's hope that this isn't a trend that lasts into her teenage years:):)

She also learned how to go down the slide by herself. She's a pretty cautious person, so this was a big step for her. I love watching her learn new things. She is extremely fun to play with now because she likes to tickle and tackle us and pretend like she is a lion. I just love this age (minus the tantrums)!

Click To Play

Finally!

Well I finally took some pictures of Hannah in her Easter dress today. This first picture says it all. She was being rotten for me, so I didn't get too many good ones out of the 150 that I took. Here are a few, though. I think she is such a beautiful little girl (Doesn't everyone think their child is beautiful?); these pictures don't do her justice.

Our Week!

I have not been in the mood to blog lately. There are some weeks when I feel like I have a lot to write about and other weeks when I feel like nothing is coming to my mind. I have stopped writing in my journal since Scott and I started this blog, so I figure that one day I will print out all of my writings in this blog and use it as a journal. So, if my blogs often sound like a journal, I apologize, but I think it will be fun to one day read back on the things I have written.

So, this past week has been a good one, but nothing too exciting has happened. On Saturday night, I went to see 27 Dresses in the dollar theater with my friend Wendi (who I will miss when she leaves). I thought it was a really cute movie and would recommend it if you like love stories. Oh, and another movie that Scott and I rented recently was Dan In Real Life. We rented it because we love Steve Carell but were surprised at how good the movie was. It's very clean, funny, and romantic. Anyway, so there are two movies I would recommend.

On Sunday I was planning on finally taking pictures of Hannah in her Easter/Spring dress because the weather was gorgeous, but Hannah fell on the kitchen floor and got a black eye. It's still bruised, and I feel terrible when she gets hurt. So, my plan is to take these pictures on Saturday. Let's hope that Hannah doesn't receive anymore owies and that it doesn't rain. Anyway, so Sunday night we had friends over for dinner and I made lasagna. I've only made this twice in my life and because I used my mom's delicious recipe, I think that it turned out great! I usually only have homemade lasagna once a year during Christmas, so this was a real treat.

And finally, Scott finished his last class yesterday and now only has finals to worry about. I can't believe how fast this semester has gone. In just about a week, our parents will be here and I will be walking for graduation. I am so excited to see you all......and then, Hannah and I will be off to California for a week and a half to visit. I am very excited!!!

I See Some Life!

Look at this picture closely (please don't look at my face too closely; that's a really bad angle for my nose). If you look to the left of Hannah's head you will see a tiny yellow flower on that disgustingly ugly bush. This bush was about 12 feet high a couple of weeks ago and was about half way into the sidewalk. It was huge. We chopped it, so today it looks like that. However, I was so happy to see a little bitty flower growing from it. Spring has come later this year than normal and it is still pretty cold here (usually mid 40s). This little flower gives me hope that spring might actually be here soon, and I believe that next week it is supposed to get up to 70 degrees. Hip Hip Hooray and a big Whoopdi Whoop!!!! I am jealous of you Californians whose flowers sprung 2 months ago. Oh well, our time will come soon!

Motherhood: The Best Job On Earth

I don't have much to blog about; My life is really monotonous. Tonight, as I was trying to cook pork chops, make a broccoli salad, and bake some corn muffins for dinner while having Hannah pull on my legs, asking me to hold her and tripping over the numerous pots and pans and cans that lay on the floor because my daughter loves to pull things out of their place, I thought about what I would blog about today. Being a stay at home mother has been the most challenging career that I have had so far in my life. I feel like I do almost the same thing everyday. I clean up the same messes, cook dinner, do the dishes several times, fold laundry, tell Hannah to stop playing with the DVD players, printers, and to keep her hands out of the toilet, and in the midst of it, try to keep her happy. This has been especially hard these last few months, as she has been so dependent on me and wants to follow me everywhere I go. She is a good girl for most of the day, but she's also very good at throwing tantrums or whining if she doesn't get her way. On top of that, mothering has been especially challenging for me because I am so concerned with doing everything perfectly. I don't want to spoil her, yet I don't want to take the fun out of everything either. I've heard of too many studies (especially being a Sociology major) that say if you do this, your child will turn out good or bad, like letting your child watch TV. One study tells me that Baby Einstein is good for a baby's development, while another study tells me that letting children watch TV before the age of 2 is related with ADD and ADHD. Therefore, I am no longer allowing Hannah to watch much TV (only once or twice a week), which means I have to be more creative. I feel like I am trying too hard to be the perfect mother, when all I really need is to realize that every child is different, and I should base my mothering style on what my child's needs are.

This all may sound like I am complaining about being a stay at home mother, but that is not the point of this blog. I would not change being a mother for the world. After listening to M. Russell Ballard's talk on Sunday, I realized just how important being a mother truly is (This was one of the best talks that I have ever heard). I love staying at home with Hannah. It is challenging, but I am so glad that I haven't missed a moment of her growing up. I might have to go back to work in the fall so that Scott can focus on his studies, and it will break my little heart, but I have been so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to be there for Hannah, and cook dinner for my family, and clean up the same messes everyday. Things really could not be any better than they are right now (well, maybe if Scott was no longer in school and we lived in a house). Being a mother has truly made me grateful for my own mother. I don't know how she was able to raise 5 children and still have her patience (she says that she's not a patient person but I don't remember her losing her patience often with me). I often lose mine with one child. Being a mother is the greatest gift that God could give to us. I am so blessed to be a woman!

Anyway, I don't really know why I blogged about this. I have just been losing my patience often with Hannah and have since realized how blessed that I am to have her in my life, so thank you for letting me share.

Another Fun Tag!!!

I just got tagged again today (man, I am so popular....ha ha...j/k), and I figured that since I was already planning on blogging tonight that I would do this tag as well. The point is to show your favorites with pictures only, so here it goes.

Color:
Holiday:
Animal:
Food:
Vacation Spot:

Worst Habit:
Job:
Dessert:
Hobby:

Me:
Well, I've never tagged anyone before because I figured that if anyone wanted to do it that they could just consider themselves tagged. That hasn't worked, so now I am tagging a whole load of you who have not yet been tagged (that I know of). Kerrie, Jen, Hollie, Mom, Jill, Kate, Esther, Angela M, Angela H, Teresa, Amber, and Leslie, you are all tagged. If you don't do this tag, you will have bad luck for 46 years, grow 5 horns, all but your two front teeth will fall out, and you will burn in the fiery depths of tagging "H" (Don't you just love it when you get a forward saying that if you don't pass it on, something bad will happen to you? I must admit that I do think for just a moment, 'Will I actually grow horns if I don't forward this to 9 people?' Then just to see if I actually will grow horns, I'll refuse to forward it on). So, good luck and have fun!!!!

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Welcome Back!!

Well, it's back!! Since the writer's strike, I have been without my favorite show and it was devastating to me. In one week from tonight, The Office will be back on for a short time!! The Office has been the best show that I have ever seen. I even like it better than I used to like Full House as a child (and I pretty much watched that all the time). We have all of the seasons of The Office, and it is the only show that I could watch over and over without getting bored.....and I even find it funnier every time I watch it. We have had many people borrow our DVDs and everyone who has, has loved it! However, there are people who find it too crude, which I can understand. It can be crude, which I don't appreciate, but unfortunately I justify it by saying that there are so many other TV shows that are much worse out there. So, here's to you, cast of The Office.....Welcome Back!!!

You probably won't want to watch this unless you are a big fan, which I believe are only a few of you.