Easters

For those of you that live in Pasco and attend my parents ward, or for any of you who saw me, my mom, Tara and Rachel on Sunday at Church, let me just say- No, we did not all plan to wear the exact same shade of green on Easter. Pinky Promise. It just happened that we all came out of our respective dwelling places wearing dresses/skirts that all matched. It's gotta be a sisters/mother thing.

Easter was awesome. The Easter Bunny visited us and gave us all wonderful little gifts in the form of Despicable Me, a new white dress shirt and tie and some dark chocolate for Dallin, some onesies, socks, tights and a new book (You Are Special- best book ever) for Claire and some new white shorts, a pumice stone/special cream for my horribly cracked heels and earrings to match my dress that I wore Sunday. We love that Easter Bunny. Thankfully he didn't bring to us what he brought Nate and Staci- a new babe due in November. We're just not quite ready for another one yet. :)

I made the CUTEST Easter baskets for us this year and of course, took no pictures. They're still at my mom and dad's house too, so I guess I just get to tell ya about em. They were plain wicker baskets that I nabbed from Goodwill for a couple bucks and then I made liners for them out of the cutest John Deere fabric (yellow, green and tan for Dallin and pink and green for Claire and I). I was so happy with the way they turned out. And I didn't have to use Easter grass either! We hate that stuff.

So, here are the pictures from the day. Dallin had changed out of his suit from Church before I was able to catch him. He doesn't normally wear a blue, short sleeved shirt and jeans to church. :)







Ummm... Don't you just wanna eat that little girls cheeks?? We pretty much do everyday. It's awesome. She's been a little grumpy lately since she is cutting teeth (ouch!) and has the runny nose and clingy-ness (yup, just made that word up) that goes along with it. Our best friends are naps and ibuprofen these days. Thank goodness for pain killers! I'll post some more cute pictures that I have taken as of late in another post.

Oh yes, one last thing-

She's 17 lbs 4 oz (80%)
27.5 ins long (92%) riddle me that folks. riddle me that.
42.5 cm head circ (55%)

I was looking at my baby calendar the other day and I didn't hit 15 lbs til I was 9 months. Seriously?? And I was only like 24 or 25 inches too! I was a tiny little thing. Then I was walking at 10.5 months. Can you imagine a roughly 16 to 17 lb baby that was probably only 25 or 26 inches tall walking?? Yeah, neither can I. :) Just some fun stats for the day!

Hope your Easter was filled with thoughts of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ, the beautiful gift of the atonement and His resurrection. We're so grateful for His life, example and the ultimate sacrifice in our behalf.

Oh. Hello Again.

Yup. We're still here. Alive and well too! Well, I think we're well. That's debatable with the 6 Month Old. 6 Months! Can you believe it?! Me neither. She was just born yesterday, right?? It seems that way.

Anyhow. As is the norm for us, we've been back and forth between Washington and here multiple times. I don't know if there will ever be a time where I won't feel like a bit of a vagabond. I'm not complaining though! I mean, really, who wants to stay in the same place all the time? Obviously we don't. :) So, while they wee babe is still wee, we're traveling as much as we're allowed.

I have this theory that my baby is allergic to oats. Awesome, right?? I started feeding her mixed rice/oatmeal with fruit when she was about 5 months while I was at my parents house and she LOVED it. Just tanked it down. I was so happy she caught on to the whole cereal thing so quickly. She really is practically perfect in every way. And I'm not biased! So she was doing great with the cereal at my mom and dad's, but then we came back down to Oregon and she hated it. Refused to eat it. So, I just did Oatmeal. I figured she would be ok with that. And she liked it for about 2 days, and then refused to eat that too. I was at a loss. So, I just gave up, thinking that I would try it again in a few weeks. So, true to my word, I tried oatmeal again, but this time, I didn't try to spoon feed, but I tried it in a bottle. Worked like a breeze. She was, once again, tanking the cereal, which caused much joy amongst Dallin and I. (We were going through a canister of formula in about a week! A week people! Talk about breakin the bank!) We noticed that Claire was starting to get really fussy a little after we started her on Oatmeal. She is normally the most chill, laid back baby ever and she rarely ever cries. Her pain tolerance is really high too. She's just a stinkin good kid! We've been so lucky. So, to have her be fussy was just foreign to us. We (read: I) was getting really frustrated because I couldn't figure out what was wrong and I knew that something was wrong. She just doesn't cry for no reason. Then, we headed to Ellensburg and I noticed she was developing eczema on her little tummy. She had never gotten eczema before when we've come to Washington, just a little drier skin than normal due to the change in humidity, but I just wrote it off as lack of humidity. Anyway, things were just going from bad to worse and she wasn't having regular bowel movements, even though I was giving her prunes and pears in her cereal! I was so mystified and was just praying that I would be inspired as to what could be the matter with my baby. Well, Saturday night, it hit me. I was looking at her eczema and I thought, "I wonder what mom puts on her eczema when she breaks out." See, my mom has started noticing the past year or so, that whenever she eats oats or wheat, she breaks out in eczema and gets bad headaches and stomach aches. She thinks she might have Celiac Disease, but she hasn't been tested for it. It's an auto immune disease as well, which, auto immune diseases run in my family. So it all started piecing together for me. Claire started breaking out with eczema when I had her regularly eating oatmeal, she was always crying and fussing like something hurt and rubbing her eyes like maybe her head hurt and her poor little tummy always seemed to be in turmoil. So, I stopped with the oatmeal and she has been my happy, pleasant baby once more. Hallelujah! She has her 6 Month check up tomorrow and I am going to share my concerns with my doctor to see what he thinks about her maybe having a food allergy. I really hope she doesn't, just for her sake, but if she does, at least I will know for sure that's what all the fuss has been about (pun definitely intended).

So, that's been the main focus of our lives the past week or so. Just trying to figure out how to make my little girl happy once more! I have videos I need to post and pictures I need to take and post, and I promise they will be on here soon! Oh, and let me show you the awesome before and after pictures of Claire's Laundry Hamper and my cake plate that I made.





Yay for cute things that can be made for really cheap. :) That cake plate cost me next to nothing. I think I paid 50 cents for the candle holder and 75 cents for the plate (Both at Goodwill). Then I bought some super glue and I already had the spray paint! Voila! Cheap, cute and easy peasy. It adds a little something to my small Easter display:)

I've Got a Fever and the Only Cure is More...

Crafting.

That's right.

Crafting.

I have been bit (that sounds wrong for some reason. Bited? :) Ok, no. But really, I think I am using the correct grammar, it just sounds wrong to me.) by the crafting bug. And it's a subtle little bug. It bites ya and then 4 hours later you are wondering how you managed to whip out so many fantastic things in so little time... gulp. Or not. Ok, I dunno if I spent THAT much time yesterday, but it was probably kinda close. I taught myself how to make those super cute and trendy rosettes and now I am smitten. They might end up all over my house within the next few days. Dallin's gonna kill me. Or the rosettes. Hopefully the rosettes.

Anyhow!

My living room is pretty blah. We have a black entertainment center, tan couches, tan recliner, black frames on the wall, black and white picture of the temple... do you see a theme here?? Finally, last summer, I got fed up with my monochromatic world and bought some fun bright red pillows from IKEA (Favorite store) and felt like that could tide me over. Well, the red just hasn't been cutting it for me lately. So I found some super cute fabric at Joann's, bought me some pillow forms and went to work creating some accent pillows for our couches. Yippee! The fabric has these awesome red berries on it that are the same color of red as the IKEA pillows too, which is just wonderful. So, without further ado, here they are, in all their glory.

Before
My sad love seat with only red pillows.


After!
Doesn't it just add that much needed punch of color?? Love it

Here's a close up of the rosettes I made to kinda spice things up a little. :)

These were about the easiest things to make and they turned out so cute. I'm in love! Next up, Claire's laundry basket... It's almost done. Just a few finishing touches. Oh, and I am also going to show you some super cute cake plates I am in the process of making. They are easy peasy and inexpensive. Can't wait!

Filling My Cup

This weekend was wonderful. Holy cow. General Conference was different for me this go 'round. I don't really know why. Maybe because I was trying to prepare for it? Maybe because I'm now a mother and I try to glean as much counsel and advice from our General Authorities and Auxiliary leaders as I possibly can so I can improve myself? Perhaps because of all the recent events- Tsunami/earthquakes in Japan, civil unrest in Egypt and Libya, and all other signs of the times. Whatever the reason, at the end of the first session on Sunday, I thought, "What?? There's only one more session left?? I'm not ready for this conference to be over!" It hit me that I am thirsting and hungering for the Gospel. That made me so happy. I have just been craving the peace and joy the Gospel brings into my life. When the second session ended, I felt that my cup had been filled, but I so look forward to when those talks are published in the May Ensign. Thank goodness for General Conference.

While watching the second session of conference, my sister-in-law Ashley and I made some hair things. It was so fun. I love to do it. It is seriously therapeutic for me. This might sound weird, but sometimes I concentrate better when my hands are doing something. I dunno why... probably my being slightly (read: VERY) A.D.D. Here are my creations. Some are for me, some are for Claire. I've contemplated selling them on Etsy, but I dunno if I will. I need opinions. Be honest. Just not too brutal. My confidence is fragile, keep that in mind. :)

I had to show off some of the ribbon I used for the clips too because I thought it was too cute. I love Joann's...

After Conference was over, we went to Marcus and Ashley's and had dinner, which was delicious. Grilled Chicken, Baked Beans and fruit salad, for all interested parties. Then we went to the Capitol Mall to take pictures of the beautiful trees in bloom right now. (I think it's called a mall... you know, the lawn area in front of the Capitol building... not a shopping mall. :)) It was a little chilly, but it was so pretty! Here are some of the pictures we got.

This is my new favorite picture by the way.
(Not a skirt. A Blanket. Just in case you wondered...)

Isn't it GORGEOUS?!

All in all, this was a very fulfilling weekend. I love it when I feel fulfilled. (Say that 5 times fast!) I am so incredibly blessed. Oooh, and I just finished a project for Dallin's birthday and it is on its way here. I'll share it with you once it comes. (He reads the blog. Wouldn't wanna spoil the surprise, now would we?!) And yes, I realize I am a little late on the whole birthday thing. I'll fill ya in on all the details as to why it took so long. Kind of labor intensive, but SOOO worth it. (Especially when I see the look on his face! I'll be sure to record it. We want this in the books. :))