4 months already!!!!!

Well Miss Bradeigh is just full of personality-especially in the morning. She rolls herself all over the place, gives us an occasional giggle-(but really makes us work for it :)) She is happy as can be unless she's in her car seat after 7:00 pm. That is her getting ready for bed time-which is great if we are home but no so great if we are still out and about... As cliche as it is to say-I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW FAST SHE IS GROWING. I have to admit I postponed tummy time as long as possible-but it didn't matter she learned to roll and scoot despite my efforts in stunting her progress. I remember when Hannah and Noah were babies-I'd hear women talking about trying to sabotage their babies progress-pushing them down when they began to walk. I thought they were crazy- first of all why would you try and sabotage your baby's development-second of all it's so exciting to watch them learn and grow-not to mention personally gratifying. Well now I find myself pulling Bradeigh up to a sitting position watching her balance exclaiming "good job baby" only to push her over and think, wait not yet. All I can is that I'm so so grateful I get to stay home and not miss a minute.

An American Mind

I'm decluttering again. I have this big black filing cabinet that we have been toting (hauling)around for the past 10 years full of stuff we never look at. So today I decided to tackle the project. In doing so I have come across a lot of neat odds and ends. In many ways it's a history of things I felt were important-things I thought I may need to reference to in the future-things I would want if libraries and the Internet were no longer available. Basically if I had to flee to a cave but had time to bring along this filing cabinet and had to teach elementary school science and art and almost every church auxiliary program- I would be prepared. Well, after ten years I'm ready to part with the contents in this filing cabinet. (Did I mention I have a decades worth of warranties too). YIKES! On to my great find...I have a chapter on women from the book Theodore Roosevelt: An American Mind. The chapter ends with this statement:

"The woman's task is not easy-no task worth doing is easy-but in doing it, and when she has done it, there shall come to her the highest and holiest joy known to mankind;and having done it, she shall have the reward prophesied in Scripture; for her husband and her children, yes, and all people who realize that her work lies at the foundation of all national happiness and greatness, shall rise up and call her blessed."

Did I Mention...

BRADEIGH LAUGHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was like the sound of angels descending upon or home. Really!

I was tickling and kissing her and just being goofy, and she gave out the sweetest little laugh you can imagine.

I threw my arms up and yelled out SHE LAUGHED SHE LAUGHED!!!!! She got startled and hasn't laughed since...

Fave pics of the week

Having fun with Lightroom...

Ruby having fun catching the water...

Hannah giving Malea the blanket and burp cloths she made.


A little foster baby I took pictures of. Hopefully she will be with her adoptive parents permanently after this week.

Little Lucy SO SWEET!!!

I have a million cute shots of this baby. SHE IS SO ADORABLE!!

CRAZY Fun or just plain CRAZY?

What do pretty tutus, hallucinations, Marble's, a whirlwind trip to Utah, Bird's, a dog named Ruby,newborn smiles, 16 hour car rides, He-Man and rattle snake rabbit sausage sandwiches have in common. Answer: Our week!



Our whole week has been pretty full. Full in a great wonderful crazy way. Malea had a beautiful baby girl Lucy last Tuesday, so we drove to Cali to see the new addition and steal James and Sadie away for some Arizona fun. But I'm getting way ahead of myself.



The Marbles came to visit(I have ZERO pictures)! It was wonderful to see them. It helped to lessen the blow of not going to Utah this summer. We had a great time and only wish we could have had them longer.



Jared went on an overnight trip to Utah for work. (They flew)



That night I was startled out of sleep by the sound of air conditioner blowing up. The motor was so loud it was making our entire house vibrate. I turned the air off and the sound went away. The next day everything was fine. Crazy!



I had three photo shoots. I'm getting lots of use out of the tutu's!



We are dog sitting for our neighbors. Ruby is really very easy to get along with-and she loves water. LOVES IT! Bailey,(our dog) doesn't even mind the company.



We drove out to LA Friday night and spent Saturday with the Bird's. It was great to visit. I just really wish we could have spent longer catching up and enjoying some of our favorite LA sites. While we were there Jared and Morris went downtown to a sausage deli of sorts. They had Rattle Snake Rabbit Sausage- Chicken and Veal- and one or two other "different" types of sausage sandwiches. Little Lucy is adorable-I'm so grateful we were able to make the trip. It has been so fun having James and Sadie here with us.



Jared is awesome-he did ALL the driving. We had fun catching up on the week and musing over our future. I really love long car rides with Jared. We also had fun listening to hours and hours of He-Man episodes. They are hilarious!



Well-here's to a week that really couldn't have been busier. Somehow I feel great satisfaction in that.

Baby Couture

I had fun today. SO MUCH FUN!!!

I used Bradeighs crib for a mini studio-the natural light that comes from the window worked great. The tule was a whole new sensory experience for her. It was hard to keep it out of her mouth. :)

I love the tutu's!(came today) I love my new camera lens! I love my new ADOBE LIGHTROOM program!(both came a few days ago). I was silly with anticipation everyday-watching out the window for the mail carrier. I would track the packages online-(don't you love how you can do that now).

Hannah had her last sewing camp class today-it was fun-but happy it came to an end. Let me clarify-I am happy it came to an end. (Hannah is reading over my shoulder...)

Time to feed baby and go to the library.

Summer Odds and Ends

Good Bye Aspers... We will miss you! This song is dedicated to you sniff sniff. Tucson will just not be the same without you.

Ed Hardy who?

Bradeigh being cute and content

Let's work on that diving shall we...

So this is what we have been up to this summer, and a few bits of what I have learned.

Parks and Rec swim team. Best twenty dollars I have ever spent. Morning and evening swim practice, which gives me an hour in the morning to walk the track and bleachers at the high school while the kids swim.

Lot's of reading: Our new library is awesome. The kids have been getting prizes for hours read. I have learned old Hardy Boy books are great-the new Hardy Boy series not so great...

I've been taking lots of pictures and meeting some pretty fun people in the process. These lovely ladies taught me who Ed Hardy was- Well that's not entirely true they all wore Ed Hardy shirts and when I got home I googled him. Ed Hardy is or was a tattoo artist who's tattoo art is being used by some middle aged french designer Christian something or other who in my opinion is a nut case. Thank you wikipedia.

Sewing camp hosted at our house (taught by someone else) What I have learned...A Bernette is not even close to a Bernina machine even though Bernina manufactures it. Sewing machines are temperamental, frustrating to trouble shoot, and not worth the money spent on them, unless you have a daughter like mine that has been enamored with sewing since she was three and insisted on watching the PBS sewing shows Saturday morning. (Yes, she would rather watch sewing than cartoons any day-much to Noah's despair.) She has turned an unusable table cloth that was my grandmothers into very cute tea towels, extra material from her Hawaiian dress (now used as a cover up) that GG made her into a satchel that holds her goggles, sunscreen and American Girl Mysteries that she likes to take along to swim meets. Next week she makes PJ pants. I'm pretty proud of her. We went shopping the other nights and passed all these cute Juicy Couture baby suits which spurred a conversation of what kind of bathing suit Hannah wants. I asked her where she saw it at and she said it was just something in her head she wishes someone would make. We laughed about how she should create her own girls swim line and name it Hannah Banana,(how do I copyright that name). You should have seen her eyes light up. Anyone know how to start a clothing line?

Music lessons are pricey but having our children fill our home with hymns and holiday music is priceless. Hannah and Noah are working on the Star Spangled Banner. Gets me a little vaklempt.

Our stake boundaries have changed-we are now in West Stake.

A ton of families are moving out of our ward...sniff sniff including my good friend Errica. I will miss them so much.