being the best.

I think women in general are always our own worst critic. I think I have gotten a lot harder on myself since staying home. On those especially hard days, I tend to look at other woman who appear to do it all...and then I sink lower in to sadness.

{these two sleeping together, that bum makes me smile.}

I try to do it all, but for some reason or other...I come up a little short. When I go to bed at night my mind always thinks I should just stay up a little longer to clean, but sleep always wins. Everything miraculously is always there when I wake up.

{ picnics as a family with gas station food. :) }

Paul reminds me the kids are happy, he is happy, and that I need to just get over these high expectations I have set. I feel like I am being judged if things aren't perfect, because helllo Evonne what have you done all day long.

Lately I have thought a lot about the memories I am making for my kids. Will the kids remember that our house was never perfect, will they care? Will my kids remember when I have meltdowns about how messy their rooms are? Will my kids remember that instead of playing with them I was always watching from the kitchen as I cleaned?

{teaching my kids to roll down a hill}

My days are quickly passing, and I want to change. I want the best me to be remembered, and I want to make the best memories for my kids. We recently had a lesson in church about a talk that was given by President Uchtdorf in this past October conference called Of Regrets and Resolutions. This lesson came on a Sunday after I had an especially dark couple of days. If you have a spare moment, I think it is pretty awesome. My favorite little part was "leave the past behind and move forward with clean hands, a pure heart, and a determination to do better and especially to become better."

{our juicy baby, getting so big...and so fast!}

I can't change my past, but I can and will change the future.

No regrets.

the good, the bad, the ugly.

We have spent weeks with the sickies bouncing from one kid to the next. When I think we are in the clear, Devin randomly wakes up with a stye.

{this is the stye on the mend.}

One night was particularly rough with Sabrina...I literally didn't sleep all night. I think the last time I pulled an all-nighter I was in High school. It wasn't near as fun as I remember it being.

I jokingly put a status update on my Facebook about needing chocolate and Coke stat, and you would never believe what happened...

{I have gotten really good at rocking two babies!}

I heard a knock on my door not much later and my neighbor {and friend} brought over chocolate milk and donuts for my entire family. A Coke and candy bar for good measure too. Even though I was joking, I was thankful...and you better believe we ate it all.

{sick buddies}

Another friend that day drove from American Fork {also read A REALLY LONG DRIVE} to bring me doTERRA oils to help heal my kids. I have never been a believer, but I have been changed. I think their diffuser is heaven sent. Savannah usually takes a good month to get over a cough, and it is horrible at night...that diffuser helps soooo much. If you have never tried doTERRA, give it a whirl. So many of my friends have different oils they use for headaches, coughs, etc. I am excited to get on this bandwagon.

I do not love having sick babies, but I learned so much this time around. I have good people in my life. I need to be more thoughtful. doTERRA rocks my world, and totally works. AND no matter how bad it is, we always survive. :)

thanksgiving 2012

I love a holiday that I put no expectations on.

Thanksgiving 2012 was that for me.

I told Paul the night before that I wasn't getting ready, I was going be taking naps, I was going to do lots of sitting around, and eating. I accomplished all of it, and although I was a little grumpy...it was a total success. I get tend to get grumpy when I don't get fresh air on my face. I should have planned a walk or something, but by the time the grumpiness had sunk in...it was too late.

I spent the morning in the kitchen cooking, and snacking. My biggest helper in the kitchen is always Devin. He loves cooking, or maybe all the eating. Either way, I love it.

The kids played, and didn't get ready either. They made messes, and I didn't get all bent out of shape about them cleaning the toys up right away.

By the time the meal was even done, everyone was ready for a nap. At about Noon, I woke up Savannah and Paul woke up Devin to eat. Only one of them was happy to eat, and it wasn't Devin. So 2 minutes of whining we sent him back to bed, and we didn't see him for another two hours. He definitely got the memo that Thanksgiving is for naps.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving this year, besides the obvious pumpkin pie...was Paul's prayer before we ate. He said something he was thankful for about each of us, I couldn't help but get a little choked up when he said what he was thankful for about Sabrina. He said he was thankful she tried so hard to stay in Mommy's stomach so that she could be a part of our family. Gosh, she is such a little miracle. What a whirlwind of a year we have had.

Savannah complained of a stomach ache a couple of times, but honestly I didn't put much thought in to it...she tends to be a little dramatic. {Don't tell her I said that.} She had taken a couple of baths, and was still a little off. After the babies were asleep, I heard Paul in the bathroom with her...she had finally thrown up.

Awesome ending to Thanksgiving eh? Although all the turkey must of helped Sabrina sleep, because she slept for a good 6 hours straight...which has never happened.

Paul also decided he was going to a late movie, and hit up some Black Friday sales after. Black Friday was way too chaotic for him, and we decided it wasn't worth the discount...we will be paying full price when the lines aren't ridiculous!

Hope your Thanksgiving was filled with pumpkin pie, and awesome! Oh, and I may have gotten in the Christmas spirit and put my Christmas tree last night too.

update on the fall bucket list.

I think this will be the first time I will be this successful in a bucket list. We only have 2 things left to do...turkey apples and pumpkin patch {that one clearly isn't going to happen, I can't say I didn't try though!}. The bucket list was simple enough to not stress me out, and fun enough the kids wanted to keep checking things off.

I was worried about completing the play in a leaf pile, because we don't have many. One day when Savannah was at school I made a pathetic little pile for Devin, and he loved it. Total success.

I definitely had to up my game to make Savannah have fun. I raked our neighbors entire leaf stash into our yard for her. Phew, it took some work....even the LDS missionaries stopped to ask if they could help me. :) After all the transferring of leaves from yard to yard, the pile was still pathetic. I told Savannah that was as good as it was gonna be, and she was a happy little camper.

I surprised the kids one day with a tea party to cross another one of the things off {hot cocoa on a chilly night}. We even had little cookies, Savannah pulled out the fun hats, and those two played nicely for a good 30 minutes.

I hope that Rachel makes a few more of these simple bucket lists, because it added something fun to our Fall season. {hint, hint Rachel}.

Just in case you missed some of our other things we did on the bucket list...

Make a thankful tree.
Go on a nature walk.
Carve pumpkins.
Trick or treat.
Witches at Gardner Village.

Kim Orlandini Photography

I think most of our Thanksgiving cards have made it through snail mail, and it is safe that I won't be spoiling anything by sharing some of our family pictures that our friend Kim Orlandini Photography took. :)

What I love most is that they aren't just pictures for me, they have a story behind each one of them. That makes them all the more special. 

First off, we started the shoot with Bina having a large accident!! The sequence of pictures makes me laugh.

Devin was a little shy. If he looked at the camera, he wouldn't smile. When all of us weren't looking {and trying} to make him smile, Devin decided to perform. Of course.

It has been a long time since Paul and I had pictures, just the two of us. Is it bad say that I love these more than any of the other pictures? Paul is serious, and I am not. So, I'll admit it was a little hard for me to take this picture...but it is my favorite.

But then we have the next picture that is so me, I am positive something inappropriate was said. :)

Ever since Paul and I were dating we have had this unique way of holding hands. I don't know how it started, but it is the only way we hold hands 14 years later. I love that Kim got this on film.

Of course my kids are all adorable, and I can see their different personalities in the pictures. The oldest loving to pose, the middle putting on the charm until he knows it safe to be crazy, and the baby being content in Mommy's arms.

I can't wait until the next time we have family pictures done, even if Paul only says once a year. :)

Thank you Kim...I love every single one!

treat.

When I got the email to spread the word about Treat, I jumped on it.

Heeellllo, easy snail mail for all!

Never heard of Treat? I hadn't either.

Treat is Shutterfly’s exciting new greeting card brand that makes it easy for people to create and send one-of-a-kind greeting cards. Treat cards are perfect for holidays, birthdays, congrats, thank yous and every occasion in between. It’s crazy fun. It’s super easy. And it’s totally personal.

Wanna try Treat for FREE?

Today and tomorrow {November 19th & 20th} you can send ONE card for FREEEEEEE with this code TREATBLOGR.

Make someone smile. Tell someone that you love them. Wish someone a Happy birthday, or that you are thankful for them...only fitting for this week.

I know it makes us happy when we hear from one of our Operation Snail Mail recipients that whatever we sent made them smile.

Take the time to do it...it will make you feel awesome. I promise you this. They don't have to know it was free, it was the thought behind it. I would love to hear who you are going to send one too. :)

Disclosure: I was compensated with a code to send some free cards to the people I love. The love of snail mail, and things that make it fun and different is ours.

pinypon party + review

When I got the box to host this party, I had never heard of Pinypon. Clearly Savannah watches enough TV, because she was on the up and up with all of the different products Pinypon has. I guess that is all that matters that my kid thinks Pinypon is cool.

We got a bunch of different Pinypon figurines, a couple of caravans {one to keep, one to raffle}, and a couple of Nenuco baby dolls {one to keep, one to raffle}.

The party pack came with a bunch of fun ideas for our party, and made it super fun. We decided to make a tea party theme. It was fun to pull out the tea set to make it extra fancy. We made hot apple cider, and had cheese and crackers...of course! The highlight of the party was definitely mixing up all the parts of the figurines and we had a fashion show, complete with a runway.

The things that we loved about Pinypon...

It was nice that they have boy figurines, because Devin and his little friends could be included...and can't be made fun of for playing with girl toys. :)

It is another toy that my kids use their imaginations, and can play together with the same toy.

They loved that you are suppose to add real water to the pool on the caravan, and that the hose actually sprays the water too.

I am a big fan of the figurines.

The things that I didn't love so much...

After not much use, the stickers are already coming off. When you encourage water to be used with a toy, and it isn't all water friendly...it is bound to ruin the toy.

Although they are priced reasonable, I would prefer to pay a little more and have something last a little longer. I tripped over the caravan, and it broke. :( 

Overall I can definitely see more fashion shows in our future. :) I think the party was a success, and we had lots of smiles.

Disclosure: Thank you MommyParties and Pinypon for letting us host this fun party. Our raffle winners were happy too! All opinions are honest.

American Crafts Warehouse Sale 2012

The sale I look forward to every year is here people!!  So excited to see that they added a location close to my house...which could be dangerous for my wallet.

I will be at the Jordan Landing location tomorrow fo sho, and you should be too!

a first for the kiddies.

Savannah is 8 years old, and has never made a proper snowman... that she can remember. I swear I made one when she was like 2 or something. Anyways, it was about time Mother Nature dumped some good stuff that not only stayed around long enough to make one, but also the perfect snowman snow. :) If you have lived in a place like Utah, you know what I am talking about...the snow has to be the perfect combo of heavy and fluffy.

After I shoveled our walks and driveway, I could just tell this snow was going to be amazing for snowman building. Oh, I was totally right. Our snowman came together like buttah.

Devin wasn't in to getting his hands cold, so he mostly just stomped around...and then cried when he got too cold. Savannah stayed outside long after we had all gone inside to get warm.

Now I can be good until next year on the snowman building. :)

thankful season.

Most years in our house Thanksgiving has been completely overlooked. I have even been known to put up our Christmas tree before Halloween. For whatever I wanted this year to be different.

I think sending out Thanksgiving cards this year, instead of Christmas really put me in the thankful spirit. It started our month off on the right foot. I may have found something I really want to make a permanent tradition.

We sat down with our Thanksgiving cards, and on every envelope put a thankful note on it. It was funny to hear Devin tell us what he was thankful for...movies, Batman, Bina Sell, and his Daddy. :) Savannah said things like teachers, friends, toys, and family. Paul added he was thankful for his TV, and I put a bunch of random stuff like my cell phone. We even decided to add a few for Sabrina, because we all know she loves milk, diapers, and bath time. After we had randomly put all these thankful notes on the envelopes, I loved seeing who was going to get each one. Some of the thankful notes matched perfectly with the person getting it.

The other thing I really wanted to do this year was make a big thankful tree with the leaves having all the things we were thankful for on them. Even though I really wanted to do it, the month was already slipping away. I was excited when I found some cute little pre-made trees and leaves at Target...done and done. We came right home and assembled them, and have them on display. We talked more about how lucky we are, and how many things that we really can be thankful for...Daddy having a good job, Mommy getting to stay home, our house, cars, clothes, church, and on and on.

Most years we have gone to a restaurant to eat Thankgiving dinner, but this year I am proud to say that I have already purchased my turkey. I am totally doing this Thankgiving right...and cooking.

I am glad that I decided to celebrate this Thankgiving properly, and am excited to have this become something we do every year. I guess the tree will be going up the day after Thankgiving from now on.

halloween 2012

I forgot to post about Halloween...hello, we have to talk about one of our favorite holidays of the year.

I kept thinking about how Halloween 2011 we had just found out that we were going to be adding another baby, and this year I was pushing a double stroller around trick or treating...crazy stuff.

Savannah isn't able to dress up for Halloween at school, but between her Girl Scout Halloween party, and Halloween night...I think she wasn't disappointed.

For Savannah's Girl Scout Halloween party she decided to use her witch costume from last year. Last minute she tells me that she wants her face painted. I google easy ideas for witch face painting...uh, I shouldn't try making a living from face painting. Good thing she was meant to look scary, because my painting was that indeed. Since Devin wants to do everything his older sister does, we painted his face too. AND we did purple hair for both. :)

For Halloween we already talked about what Savannah was, and I thought she was a beautiful blonde Snow White. I did give myself a little pat on the back that I pulled off that hair do for her...without even trying.

We found a super cheap bird costume for Devin, and he was totally content to flap his wings from door to door collecting candy. We told him he was from the movie Rio, and he totally bought the idea. I am sure next year he will care what he dresses up as.

Bina had this adorable little costume to wear, but she threw up one too many times on it. :( So, I tied some ribbons on Devin's old dragon costume to make it look girly, and we went on our trick or treating way. She fell asleep quickly, and that dragon costume was plenty warm for her to be comfy in.

It is funny to have a 2 year old that is just starting to get the excitement of Halloween, and an 8 year old that is on the down slide. We came home, combined all the candy, and have had one too many candy bars.

I am writing it down now, I will dress up next year. I may even get really crazy and do a family theme of costumes. I always love seeing when the parents are dressed up trick or treating with their kids.

savannah gets baptized.

I was joking with Savannah the Saturday night after she was baptized, I wondered what she was going to remember most about her big day...

My suggestions...

Was it being baptized twice, because you didn't want your feet under the water the first time?

Was it Devin saying Amen repeatedly during your confirmation?

Was it Bina farting super loud during testimonies?

Was it the car accident we got in afterwards?

Or when they asked Mommy to say a few words, and I totally lost it?

*** 

It was an eventful day, and one that I hope she has a lot of really good memories from. We tried to make it extra special, and Paul and I both said what an awesome experience this was for all of us.

Her and I had a special scripture study session the night before, and we opened up some gifts from all of us. I know Savannah felt so loved, and that is all that matters.

I was thankful for a friend that was there to take care of the babies so that I could go see Savannah come out of the water, and help her get changed. She was teary, and happy.

There is something really awesome about watching your husband baptize your child. It definitely gave me warm fuzzies.

I kept telling Paul I just couldn't believe that our child is old enough, it left me feeling a little old.

That Saturday night I took her to the gas station for treats, and she was so excited to announce to everyone that she had been baptized! I wish that I wasn't so shy about talking about my religion, I have much to learn from my girl. I am seeing her little person changing right before my eyes, and I can see such a bright future for her. I am definitely proud of her, and the example she is to all of us. So glad that we have her in our little family.

PS Her answer to what she was always going to remember about her baptism day was when I was crying and bearing my testimony. Aaah, love that girl.

Natural History Museum of Utah + Giveaway

Just a little warning...I may have not taken any pictures with my nice camera, and so you have to endure Instagram photos for this post.

 

Devin and I were invited to a fun blogger tour of the Natural History Museum of Utah. We had never been to the new Museum, and were excited for a fun date. I have to say on a scale of 1 to awesome...it was heavy on the awesome. Within the first few minutes, I was feeling disappointed I didn't let Savannah get out of school to come.

I was worried Devin might get bored, and that there wouldn't be enough hands on stuff for him...boy was I wrong. His favorite area of the museum was definitely the "Our Backyard" area. It is geared for his age group, and is stocked with everything that a little boy {or girl} can have fun with.

When our sweet tour guide talked about all the different events they offer, I perked right up when she mentioned Family Sleepovers. How fun would that be to sleep inside the Natural History Museum among the big dinosaurs!? I think Savannah and I just might have a date night planned in March! :)

 

Other fun events you will find at the Natural History Museum...

• Bug Brigade: A chance to handle live bugs and learn about their behavior and ecological roles. It is the second and fourth Saturday from 2 to 4pm.
• Science Movie Night: Free film screening, and a fun discussion afterwards. It is the second Tuesday of each month.
• Utah’s Animals: Children are introduced to local animals and ecosystems {see above picture}. It is the first and third Saturday of every month from 2 to 3pm.
• Birthday Parties: Science themed parties, and they do all the work...sounds fabulous, right?

Have you been to the Natural History Museum of Utah since they opened the new one? Why didn't anyone tell me I was missing out on such a fabulous place!?

Want to go to the Museum? You are in luck, they are giving away a family 4 pack to one of my awesome readers! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway will end next Wednesday, November 14th. Reader will be contacted via email.

Disclosure: NHMU let us tour the museum for free, but my opinion is mine. Preeesh.