Visit to "Gamma's"

Sunday afternoon we all drove out to my parents' house to meet Adam and his soon-to-be fiancee. It was such a nice relaxing visit--we played games, watched movies, ate good homemade food, and Bree "swam" in her little wading pool. Unfortunately I didn't take any other photos, so I don't have a picture of Adam and Heather. But I love her--she is awesome! Very cute, sweet, and most importantly: normal. I felt totally comfortable with her, and am very excited to have her as a sister-in-law come December.

Bree spent a lot of time entertaining all of us. Ex: she and Adam had a pillow fight, and when Bree got hit by a pillow, she fell backwards and hit her head a little on the ottoman. So after that, when she got hit by a pillow, she would pause, look around for a safe spot on the floor, and then fall. We all were laughing so hard, and her antics just got more and more melodramatic.

Cute bonus anecdote: this morning at the breakfast table she had her little plastic horse. Well, first she said "owie horsie ear" in reference to the bite marks that she herself had previously made in the horse's ear. Then she said "rock baby" and proceeded to sing "Rock-a-Bye Baby" as she rocked the horse back and forth: "Rock baby...treetot...wind bwow...cradle..." the she laid her horse on the table and said "ni-night horsie." Gotta love her!

Mason's Milestones

At the beginning of the month Mason surprised us with his smiles, and this past week he started rolling from front to back, and is consistently sleeping in 5 to 7 hour stretches at night! Halleluia!

Goodbye ugly green house!

When people ask for directions to my house, I say: "We're the ugly green house on the corner of 2nd and Maple." Well, that description is shortly going to change, and I can't fully express my excitement! Last week when Chad and I were in 'town' (i.e. Pheonix) we went to the dentist and THEN we went to Home Depot. Home Depot is like a candy store and I the kid. Chad, however, basically detests the place because, to him, it only represents work. To me it is the land of thrilling possibilities.
Well, we bought some new siding, wood, paint, and other supplies to facilitate our home's exterior transformation. And yesterday we started working on it! I was a little bummed when I could only get a couple hours out of Chad yesterday. But today I had my mom come to watch the kids so the both of us could completely devote ourselves to the project. So this morning Chad tore off the water damaged siding 'skirt' at the bottom, and the old knotty trim. Then he opened up the chimney facade, or as Chad called it: the can of worms. We discovered some severe old termite and water damage. It was briefly discouraging. But, luckily, my husband is amazingly handy, and he just tore out the old, and framed in the new, and by the end of the day we had gotten a lot accomplished. Granted, it looks worse than when we started, but when I look at our little construction site, the vision in my mind is beautiful!

Chad thinks I'm crazy to actually enjoy this home improvement process. But I do. I love knowing that I'm accomplishing it myself. I loved working side-by-side with my husband today. I love finishing a project for a fraction of the cost of hiring it out. And I love having a beautiful place for my family and I to call home.

I guess pretty soon I'll get to say, "We're the cute grey house on the corner with the white trim and the beautiful garden out front!" (well, one step at a time!)

Say 'hello' to...

Globe First Ward's newest (and greenest) Relief Society President! I became official today, and I'm sure I won't shake the 'deer in the headlights' look for a while. I am overwhelmed and humbled, and the two things that are preventing me from running for the hills are: A) I know that the Lord knows I can do this, and B) I have an amazing presidency to help me. I am so excited to help the sisters in my ward, and I know I have my work cut out for me.

As I have transitioned through stages in my life, I have anticipated achieving that 'grown-up' feeling. I thought when I got married that I would feel grown-up. Um, no. Then when we bought a house, surely that was a qualification for being grown-up. Well, mostly I just felt like we were two kids playing house. So when I had kids of my own and I still didn't feel grown-up, (not like those other women who seemed so seasoned and experienced) I began to wonder if I would feel like a little girl pretending to know what I'm doing forever! Well, maybe being the Relief Society President (a calling that I thought had some kind of minimum age limit that I hadn't reached yet) will force me to grow up.

Or maybe not. Maybe I'll always feel like a little girl inside. And maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Day-to-Day

So, it's been over a week since my last post...with what can I attempt to captivate you this week? Not much.

1. We've been doing group Family Home Evenings with some friends lately, which is great, since Chad and I just felt silly teaching eachother lessons that the babies can't grasp. So we get together to have dinner, share a message, play games, and our kids run around the house together.

2. Bree officially turned two, and Mason is 2 months old now. He actually smiles every once in a while, which is the highlight of my day when it happens!

3. I had an interview with the Bishop...new calling TBA...

4. General Conference was awesome! Especially Sunday afternoon. I love high-speed internet; I never have to feel left out for not having Sattelite TV anymore! Saturday night during the Priesthood session the 'wives' had a little potluck party, which resulted in food poisoning among many of the participants.

5. Chad and I went to the dentist--no cavities, yay!

6. Lemon Bars and Rocky Road Brownies at cookie days.

7. Went to Rubio's Mexican Grill Tuesday, and with all the cute tropical birds/fish/tiki hut decorations, you would have thought Bree was in an amusement park she was so tickled! Just one of those fun little toddler moments.

So there's our week in review. Nothing big. Some good, some not so good. But that's our life!