Quick Catch-Up for June

I've had little time to make updates on my blog, so I'm going to write a quick blurb to catch up.  We did a LOT of things in June.

Lagoon Day
Del Sol had its annual Lagoon Day on June 2nd.  We had lunch with Brad's co-workers and executives, and Brad won two small prizes in the raffle: a Harry Potter DVD and a floating lounger for the swimming pool.  Only Lizzy and David were with us this time, so we went on some toddler-friendly rides that we thought Lizzy would enjoy, like the Odyssey ride, Merry-Go-Round, and the train.

Brad's Birthday
We had a very small celebration for Brad's birthday on June 3rd.  We were so busy with unpacking and organizing the house that weekend that we planned nothing special to do for Brad's birthday.  Loralee came to the rescue and invited us over to her house for dinner and cake.  Thank you, Loralee!

Lizzy's Birthday
Lizzy turned 3 years old on June 9th. We took her out for lunch at Carl's Jr., and we bought her a Cinderella dress, a purple ball, and a princess dinner set at Walmart, then we went to Sam's Club and bought a cake.  We sang happy birthday to her and had her blow out her candles, then we took her to the park to play.

Marian's Pool Party and BBQ
Marian had her annual summer pool party on June 16th.  We enjoyed being with family and keeping cool in the pool.  We sang happy birthday to Lizzy and she got to blow out candles on a second cake.  I forgot to bring my camera that day, but Natalie was nice enough to take a video with her cellphone.  Lizzy was very excited to have her extended family sing happy birthday to her.  She had been waiting for that all week.

Father's Day/ 6th Wedding Anniversary
Father's Day and our wedding anniversary fell on the same day this year.  The kids made Brad some cute gifts and we all wished Brad a happy Father's Day by bringing him breakfast in bed.  We visited Brad's dad after church and brought him a homemade banana cream pie. 

Brad and I celebrated our wedding anniversary at home this year.  We drank Martinelli's cider and enjoyed reminiscing our courtship days and honeymoon.  I love my husband!

California Vacation 
We drove to St. George on June 21st and stayed the night at a Best Western hotel.  We enjoyed playing in the water fountains on Main Street and swimming in the pool at the hotel.  The next day we finished the drive to Long Beach.  We celebrated Lizzy's and Eric's birthday on June 23rd, which meant that Lizzy had a third birthday cake and was sung to again for the third time.  Three birthday cakes for the three-year-old-- what a lucky girl!  We saw Anissa on Monday and enjoyed spending time with her.  We went to the Signal Hill park, the Dollar Bookstore, the Cerritos Library, Heritage Park, and Rachel's condo.  Susie got married to Chris in the Los Angeles Temple on June 26th.  It was a beautiful ceremony.  We took family pictures outside the temple before heading over to the Olive Garden in Cerritos for a family dinner.  I loved being with my family!

The Highlight of My Day: June 2012

Something good happens each day. Here's what happened in June 2012:

Fri 6/1/12: Today was our mega move-in day. I spent most of the day packing things and getting things ready. It was crazily busy, but fun and exciting as well. We had lots of people help us, which moved things along very quickly. I'm very grateful for that.

Sat 6/2/12: I woke up to the brilliant sight of early morning light coming through our new bedroom window. The pink and purple clouds were gorgeous. I love my new house!

Sun 6/3/12: Today was Brad's birthday! Loralee invited us for dinner and made Brad a yummy red velvet cake.

Mon 6/4/12: We had our first Family Home Evening in our new house. Brad gave a dedicatory prayer, blessing our house.

Tue 6/5/12: Lizzy and I headed to the library by ourselves tonight. It was nice spending the one-on-one time together. When we got back to the house, we met up with the rest of the family and stood in the street wearing our eclipse eye-glasses. We saw the planet Venus, about the size of a small dot, in front of the sun. It was pretty cool seeing that, especially considering it won't happen again for another 105 years!

Wed 6/6/12: I'm having waaay too much fun setting up and designing my kitchen! I love making it look pretty.

Thu 6/7/12: David kept saying "Ma-Ma" today in his little baby voice. It was very cute and sweet.

Fri 6/8/12: I told Lizzy that her birthday is tomorrow. She was so excited about that piece of news. All day long she kept saying, "My birthday is coming! My birthday! Thank you, Mommy!"

Sat 6/9/12: Lizzy-girl turned 3 years old! We did little things to celebrate her birthday throughout the day. She loved being sung to with candles and cake, but she was more interested in blowing out the candles than actually eating the cake. She took off running the moment the candles blew out. I guess there's a lot to do when you're three!

Sun 6/10/12: I enjoyed having extended family visit our home tonight. It's nice living so close to the Bruce Clan and Marilyn & James.

Mon 6/11/12: Brad hooked up the dryer tonight. The washer and dryer make the utility room look like a miniature space station with all of the fancy lights glowing in the dark. It looks very sci-fi.

Tue 6/12/12: Scott has been accepted into Entheos Academy. Hopefully Emma will, too. We're excited about that, because that means they'll be attending school with their cousins.

Wed 6/13/12: Little David has become my little floor puppy. Sounds kind of weird, I know. He loves scooting around the floor on his belly. I throw treats on the floor and he picks them up and eats them. My mom would have a cow if she found out! I like it because it keeps David entertained for a long time, and I like that it's helping his pincer grasp develop.

Thu 6/14/12: Baby David's eye infection cleared up this morning on it's own so I did not need to take him to the doctor. He looks like my healthy little baby again. Yay!

Fri 6/15/12: Scott and Emma came home after their first week away. They seemed happy to be back. Lizzy, of course, loved that they were home again.

Sat 6/16/12: We went to the Harman's for Marian's annual pool party. It was fun visiting with family and celebrating Lizzy's birthday again. She really enjoyed having her relatives sing to her. She had been waiting for that all week.

Sun 6/17/12: Today we celebrated a very laid-back Father's Day combined with Brad's and my six-year wedding anniversary. We went to church, got some chores done around the house, laughed at Lizzy using the "dingle-hopper"at dinnertime, ate homemade pie at Grandpa North's house, and Brad and I spent time alone together, drinking Martinelli's cider and reminiscing our courting days and honeymoon. I love my husband.

Mon 6/18/12: Brad, Lizzy, and I visited our new neighbors tonight. It's nice getting to know them better.

Tue 6/19/12: The girls and I enjoyed attending a Mad Hatter Activity at our new ward house. We ate cupcakes, had some yummy salads, and Emma and I made flower hair pins.

Wed 6/20/12: Did some girly shopping tonight. I love Kohl's.

Thu 6/21/12: We arrived in St. George shortly after 3:00 pm. We enjoyed playing in the fountain on Main Street and swimming at the hotel. Lizzy became very confident wearing floaties on her arms in the pool. She was swimming by herself by the end of the night.

Fri 6/22/12: We arrived in Long Beach just in time for dinner! I love being back in my "homeland" and visiting with my family. Mom made us salad and hot dogs. I love being with my sisters again!

Sat 6/23/12: We had Lizzy's and Eric's combined birthday party tonight. I enjoyed listening to the smart adult conversations. My sister, Rachel, was definitely the highlight of my night. She says and does the most hilarious things sometimes. I haven't laughed that hard at a social gathering in a long time!

Sun 6/24/12: I made pizza casserole for my extended family tonight. It tasted really good with Chris' homemade fruit salad. Mmmm, I love food!

Mon 6/25/12: Today was our fun day! We went to Signal Hill, the Dollar Book Store, the Cerritos Library, Heritage Park, and Rachel's condo. Anissa joined us, too. I loved seeing Anissa again!

Tue 6/26/12: Susie and Chris were married for time and all eternity in the Los Angeles Temple. I loved being inside the temple with them, everyone dressed in white, and listening to the sealer. It was a beautiful ceremony. I enjoyed getting our pictures taken and going to Olive Garden, too.

Wed 6/27/12: We headed back to St. George today. My favorite part of the day was eating dinner at Kneaders and going swimming at the hotel.

Thu 6/28/12: We watched "Brave" today in Cedar City. We LOVED it! It was Lizzy's (and David's) first movie in the theater. Lizzy enjoyed it far more than David.

Fri 6/29/12: Alone time with my husband tonight was definitely the highlight of my day. It was great winding down after our crazy week.

Sat 6/30/12: Brad got the entertainment center up! YAY! I like how our house is turning more into a home as the days progress.

New House

We moved into the new house on June 1st.  The week prior to the move was definitely one of the craziest weeks of my life.  I am very grateful for my super-organized husband, who is so good at planning things out, staying on task, and asking others for help.  He is wonderful.  It was nice having the elders quorum from our old ward and new ward help us move the heavy items, and I'm very grateful for extended family members for being there to help take care of the children, pack and unpack various items, and for being house guides while the trailer was unloading.

New roof.

The weeks following the move have been stressful, but good.  We had to buy a new roof immediately, which was a bit of a shock for us, since we did not put that in our budget.  We found out that our dishwasher was not operable, our sprinkler system did not work, our range-hood fan wouldn't turn on, and our swamp cooler was bad.  Brad fixed the swamp cooler a couple of days ago.  Now we have cool air!  YAY!  We bought a temporary sprinkler to use until we want to spend time figuring out what's wrong with the sprinkler system.

Organizing the kitchen.

We haven't had time to fix the range-hood and dishwasher yet, but I am not in a big hurry for that.  Surprisingly, I have enjoyed washing all of the dishes by hand.  Brad has offered to do the dishes for me, but I find that I have become very possessive of my new space now that I finally have my own kitchen.  It's MY kitchen, and I want to make sure everything gets done MY way, including the dishes.  Even the other day when I asked Emma to help me do the dishes, I ended up washing most of them all over again when she wasn't looking, because she did not wash them thoroughly enough for my taste.  Crazy?  Yes, I believe I am.  I am acting exactly like my mother!

Weeding the flowerbed.

I got started on the new yard the first week we moved in.  I cannot stand the way it looks with all the weeds and dead grass everywhere.  I also do not like the overall lack of greenery.  Our yard is in desperate need of trees and shrubbery.  I have never been much of a gardener, but I do appreciate the hard work people put into having a nice yard, especially my mother.  Now that I have my own house, I find myself trying to look at things through my mother's perspective.  She would NEVER allow a yard to go bad.  I need to follow example and make her happy with my yard when she comes to visit.  That means I have a lot of work to do.  First things first-- I do not have the time or the means to transform the yard overnight, so I have to do things bit by bit.  I began watering the lawn every day.  I've been focusing on the front lawn, mainly because it's such an eyesore, but I've been watering the backyard, too.  I dug up all the weeds in the front flower beds, and I plan on planting some flowers and plants when I have some money.  I hope the grass grows back and becomes green again.

New roof and weedless flowerbed.

While there are some things about that house that have not gone as planned, there are some things that I absolutely LOVE about the house.  Here are a few:

I LOVE having my own private bathroom connected to our master bedroom.  It's so nice walking into our own space and not seeing dried toothpaste clinging to the towels and rubber duckies all over the floor.  Plus, it's kind of fun not having to get dressed or wear a robe every time we have to use the loo.

I also LOVE the overall size and appearance of my bedroom.  It's so pretty and spacious.  There is so much natural lighting in my room that walls seem to glow every morning when the sun rises.  Plus, our closet size has doubled now, giving us more storage than we had previously.  It's lovely!

I LOVE the color of the walls and the lighting in my new house.  The paint-job was done in such a way that the light bounces off and gives us a tremendous amount of natural light during the day.  There are windows in every room, even in the basement and garage.  It's very cheerful and inviting.

I LOVE the ceiling fans!  All of the upstairs bedrooms and kitchen have ceiling fans.  It's so nice going to bed at night and feeling the cool air brush down on me as I sleep.

I LOVE my pantry.  I can store a lot of things in there.

I LOVE having the two-car garage and large driveway.  It's so nice not having birds poop on our vehicles from parking under trees!

I LOVE having my own space.  It's so nice looking at my house and realizing that it's mine.  I look forward to decorating it the way I want it, and changing things as we go along.  Now I seem to have endless days ahead of unpacking, reorganizing, and fixing things along the way.  It's stressful, but it's a good kind of stress.  We finally have our own home!

Happy Birthday, Lizzy!

My little girl turned three-years-old on June 9th!

If I were to describe Lizzy in three words I would say she's confident, imaginative, and energetic.  Lizzy never stops moving!  Or at least, that's the impression I get when I'm with her all day.  Lizzy loves to play outside, climb things, jump off things, run, jump, and twirl.  She is not afraid to test her abilities and try new things.  She loves discovering what she is capable of doing.  She has a great imagination.  She loves to dress-up and play-act different situations.

Little Quirks:

• Lizzy has entered into a princess phase.  She loves wearing dresses and looking pretty, like Belle and Ariel.  I bought her a Cinderella dress for her birthday.
• Lizzy loves to twirl her hair on the left side of her head when she sucks her thumb.  Sometimes she twirls so much it gets tangled and matted.
• Lizzy is still very obsessed with shoes.  Shoes end up all over our house when Lizzy gets in my closet.  She wears them everywhere.
• Lizzy loves to sit in the driver's seat of our vehicles and pretend she's driving away.  She often checks to see if the doors are locked so she can sneak in when we're not looking.
• Lizzy is very independent.  She likes doing things on her own.  She likes to get dressed, wash her hair, brush her teeth, and buckle herself in her car seat with very little help from adults.
• Lizzy is the only person in our family who calls me "Mommy."  I'm "Mama" to everyone else.  She learned to say "Mommy" in nursery at church.
• Lizzy is obsessed with owies and band-aids.  She's thinks it's the coolest thing in the world to wear a band-aid. 
• Lizzy does NOT like flies.  Flies make her scream.  She will let me know if there's a fly in the house so I can capture it and take it away.

Favorite Activities:
Playing outside, visiting cousins, going to the park, watching movies, and playing dress-up.

Favorite Movies:  The Little Mermaid (a new favorite one), My Neighbor Totoro, Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast,  Shrek, Shrek 2, all the Toy Story movies, Tangled, Bolt, Up, Kung Fu Panda, The Incredibles Finding Nemo, Spirit, Kiki's Delivery Service, and WALL-E.

Favorite TV Shows:
Curious George, The Cat in the Hat, The Simpsons

Favorite Foods:
Broccoli, pepperoni pizza, shrimp, alfredo pasta, spaghetti, graham crackers, Lucky Charms, dill pickles, and cheddar cheese.

Favorite Desserts:
Ice cream, Oreos, candy, and frosting off of cakes (if you can count frosting as a dessert).


Vocabulary:  Lizzy speaks in full sentences most of the time now. She has a very large vocabulary for her age, and she loves to talk. She still struggles with getting her meaning across at times, but she's getting better at it.  Some of my favorite Lizzy pronunciations are: 
"Mommy... ye-holp."  Which means, "Mommy, help me."
"Ska-ma!"  That is her way of saying,  "Scott and Emma."
She says "skippers" instead of "scriptures," "o-gert" instead of "yogurt," "mair-laid" instead of "mermaid," and "flush" instead of "flashlight."

Music:

Lizzy loves it when I sing to her at night.  Right now her favorite bedtime song list is:

• All the Pretty Little Horses
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider
• How Much is that Kitty in the Window?
• How Much is that Doggie in the Window?
• Kitty-Cat Man

Mommy Moments
I love watching Lizzy mimic me.  Sometimes she looks and sounds just like me.

I sometimes call Lizzy my "little mother."  She always wants to make sure I am okay and that I do not have owies, so that I will not have to go to the hospital again.  She'll ask me, "Mommy, is you okay?  Do you have owies?"  If she thinks I'm okay, she'll say, "I think is all better."

Lizzy brings so much joy into my life.  I love it when she wraps her arms around my neck and says, "I love you, Mommy."  I love it when she realizes I'm home from an errand and screams out, "Mommy!" when she sees me.  She makes me feel as if I am the most wonderful person in the world.

Something good happens each day. Here's what happened in May 2012:

Tue 5/1/12: I finished "Master of Heathcrest Hall" today. I could not put it down from the middle section on. It was a great book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wed 5/2/12: I was lazy today and spent a couple of hours watching episodes of "Dancing with the Stars" online. I'm rooting for Katherine and Mark to win.

Thu 5/3/12: I took Lizzy and David to the West Jordan City Park after dropping Emma off at school. Lizzy had a wonderful time exploring the western-themed playground equipment.

Fri 5/4/12: Star Wars Day! May the Fourth Be With You! Brad and I had a lot of fun quoting lines from the movies. He did all the Han Solo lines and I did Princess Leia. It was the first year we really got into it. We're such geeks!

Sat 5/5/12: My highlight of the day was definitely my husband. Yes, I am happy. I married a wonderful guy.

Sun 5/6/12: Bruce and Loralee's family came over tonight with homemade banana cream pie. I love banana cream pie.

Mon 5/7/12: Tonight we made our annual mother's day cards for Scott's and Emma's grandmothers, and my mother. It's one of our family traditions that has held strong for the last five years.

Tue 5/8/12: We went to the doctor for David's 6-month appointment (although he's already 7 months). He weighed only 14 pounds! My little guy really is a little guy. He's healthy, though, and very social. The doctor and nurses thought he was adorable.

Wed 5/9/12: Lizzy, David, and I took our new double stroller for a walk to the postbox today, so we could mail our mother's day cards. Lizzy loves the stroller. David had mixed reactions. He's still not feeling well from his shots yesterday. It was nice getting out of the house and exercising. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Hooray for Vitamin D!

Thu 5/10/12: I took the little ones to the Jordan River Parkway this morning after dropping Emma off at school. We walked for about an hour. It was so pretty there.

Fri 5/11/12: My husband gave me the bestest back rub tonight while we were watching "The Social Network." My husband is my favoritest person.

Sat 5/12/12: Bradley and I did some cleaning today (mostly Brad, cause he's super wonderful), and now my bedroom looks lovely for Mother's Day.

Sun 5/13/12: I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my husband and two babies. Brad always goes out of his way to make sure I feel loved and appreciated, but I like the extra attention on Mother's Day. It was also nice going to church and sitting next to Marilyn and James. Lizzy came out of nursery with an adorable potted plant for me. It made my heart happy!

Mon 5/14/12: We had homemade chili for dinner tonight, then we had FHE afterward. We talked to Scott about Patriarchal Blessings. He should be getting his soon. For dessert we had yummy blueberry angel food cake.

Tue 5/15/12: Brad and I watched the season finale of "Once Upon A Time" tonight. It was good! Looking forward to the next season.

Wed 5/16/12: I love magic erasers! Why haven't I tried using them before?

Thu 5/17/12: Walked along the Jordan River Parkway again this morning. Lizzy loved it, David napped. Papa mopped the floor tonight. Really, how many men mop the kitchen floor without being asked? He's my Mr. Wonderful!

Fri 5/18/12: I am amazed by how the simplest recipes make my kids so happy. They absolutely love macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. I think they would eat it every night if they had the option. I think I would be sick.

Sat 5/19/12: David sat in the highchair for the first time today! He's getting big. Our family went to an activity this evening held by our soon-to-be ward. It was nice meeting new people and putting names to faces. The kids loved spending time with their cousins.

Sun 5/20/12: We watched the angular solar eclipse at Bruce and Loralee's house tonight. It was Emma's idea. Scott made a pinhole viewer, and Sister Bellon gave us some eclipse glasses to use. Turned out great!

Mon 5/21/12: We talked about moving into our new house tonight in Family Home Evening. Scott and Emma are excited.

Tue 5/22/12: Little David can sit on his own for over 5 minutes now. He's getting to be such a big boy! He's also been sticking his knees up under his body, getting ready to crawl, and he may have a tooth coming through.

Wed 5/23/12: Brad is so organized. He asked me to make maps of the rooms in our new house, so that the movers will know where to put furniture. I've been having fun making diagrams all afternoon and evening. I didn't want to stop tonight.

Thu 5/24/12: Papers were signed away!

Fri 5/25/12: And today we are officially home owners!

Sat 5/26/12: We splurged today and bought our brand new appliances from RC Willey. Our washer and dryer are top-notch appliances. They were the best rated on consumers.com.

Sun 5/27/12: We moved some things to our new house bit by bit today. Scott has packed more than any of us, and he looked like he was the most excited to decorate his new bedroom.

Mon 5/28/12: We spent Memorial Day shopping for home essentials. We got a new full-size bed for Scott, and lots of laundry baskets and wastebaskets.

Tue 5/29/12: We went to the library tonight, then headed back to the new house to drop off boxes and bags. Progress is being made slowly but surely.

Wed 5/30/12: I enjoyed shopping for home essentials at Walmart and spending a small fortune on things we need. I'm glad I finally get to decorate my own house.

Thu 5/31/12: Little D is crawling! Well, almost crawling. He scoots on his belly pretty consistently now. This morning he chased the cat (going about an inch a minute), and ended up at the foot of the stairs, about to tumble down.  I had been watching, though, and came to the rescue.