My little boyfriend

My little brother came into town for the weekend right before I left.  I got to see all of my siblings this trip.  It was a pleasant surprise!  

 Ryder buddy....I miss your guts!!! I love your little boy voice, and the way you eyes light up when we talk.  I love you!  Please tell the big man upstairs that I want one exactly like you.  Or your parents could come and live here and I could be your babysitter.  

I had the best weekend ever with these littles.  I got to hold a hold tiny little Hazel.  We went to the castle park and throughly enjoyed ourselves and then we went out for ice cream.  I accidentally ordered the bigger cone instead of the little ones.  The kids didn't complain.  If you could only see Phillip's eyes widen as I handed his kids their cones. Lol.  It was priceless.  My bad.  

 We had breakfast together and went to church together.  Audrey surprised me by going to her class without knowing anyone.  I was happy because I got to go to class with my Mom and hear my grandma give the lesson.  Who can say that they've had that experience.  It truly was amazing.  My grandmother is pretty amazing.  She touched my heart and taught by the spirit.  Her words were exactly what I needed to her.  I'd like to think she prepared it for me.  :)

 After church I got to take picture of this little beauty.  She was so easy to take pictures of, probably because she's just so pretty.  

 The little one is Audrey's age.  They started to actually play with each other.  I think a cousin friendship is blossoming and I love it!  I also love these photos.  She makes me laugh.  

We did it AGAIN!

We did it again!  We had another cook off.  If y'all haven't already started this tradition you should start now.  I look forward to the rivalry, banter, and endless amazingly delicious food. We should start a restaurant. I think we made ourselves sick.  Next time we'll have to invite more judges. We found ourselves desperate in the end to find people to put in their vote.  This time we were small in number, but we still had a really good time.  I think the jury is still out on the verdict, but I guess that depends on who you ask.  

I don't know what kind of weird softening tool I accidentally used on this picture.  It looks like a glamour shot from the 90's.  We're lookin good Mom!

 Kimberly, I bet you didn't think you would see this one on here.  LOL.  This face haunts my nightmares.  I think you have been practicing.  

Sisters

I love it when Audrey gets to spend time with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  I almost feel like I'm inviting her to get to know this other side of me.  I want her to love them the way that I do.  I want her to know how much they mean to me.  Being far away makes it hard.  This trip she started to let her guard down and enjoy my family.  I breathed a sigh of relief and maybe shed a few tears because it made me so happy.  She referred to several of her cousins as her sisters and I suppose they're the closest thing she has to a sister so it's only right. I thought it was sweet of her to think of them that way.

 My sister Michelle is pretty awesome at furniture.  She was showing me her skills while she was in town for the baby blessing.  She just started her own company  (http://www.mjhooks.com/) selling these gorgeous knobs.  I'm just a little jealous of her awesomness!  I wish I had of snapped a shot of the finished product.  It was beautiful.  

 Aunt Karalee and Uncle Benje have the fun house.  They often have movies running or wii games going.  The nieces and nephews can't get enough of them.  As you can tell Audrey feels the same way.  She asked me just today.  Can we go to Aunt Karalee's house and watch a movie.  Be ready for the next trip Karalee.  I think you have a little buddy!

Baby Blessing

I was so lucky, while in town for Grant's wedding my sister came into town to have her baby blessed at church.  I've only had the pleasure of seeing little Ashton, so being able to hold him was priceless.  I might be bias but my family makes beautiful babies.  I was telling my sister that I'm going to miss being away from my family and all the little babies and toddlers.  Audrey's getting so big and I'm starting to miss the littleness.  Don't get me wrong...three year olds are pretty awesome too.  Especially because they say the sweetest and the most hilarious things but I do miss me some baby lovin.  

I loved being there for a special event.  I don't get to to have that very often.  Baby Ashton you are beautiful!  Welcome to this great big world. 

I had to steal this picture from my sister....I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the baby on his special day.  I'm a loser  PC: Lisa Mcknight

Post Marriage

I was asked to sing for the luncheon.  The only word that comes to mind is, FEAR!  Why does it plague me so.  I wish I could sing the way I do at home in front of my piano.  Oddly it went way better than most of my performances.  I actually kind of enjoyed it.  I sang, "Fly Me to the Moon".  

I actually think it's getting better. Hallelujah!  I'll have to update on that later. 

Back to the wedding festivities.  Audrey has been looking forward to this day for I don't know how long.  I told her she could wear her princess dress and dance and she was all over that.  She couldn't have been happier.  At the reception she danced until she couldn't dance anymore, at one point she even started conducting them.  I smile just thinking about it.  The guys playing Jazz in the band kept smiling and talking about her.  They were amazing, and she has enough of a refined taste in music to know a good thing when she hears it.  I'd like to think that I taught her well :).  I've never seen her more in her element.  I think she might be a musician.  

Marriage

Something about weddings makes me feel old.  It was only 8 years ago for me, but it feels like it's longer, probably because I've know Paul for 16 years now.  Wow!  Saying it out loud makes it feel like a huge number.  Weddings also make me really happy.  One, because I love taking pictures and who doesn't want to take a few shots at a wedding.  Yes please!  Pick me!  Two, it reminds of that particularly fabulous day 8 years ago.  I love him now even more than I did then.  He's the Ying to my Yang....lol. Love you Babe!

We gave away Grant today.  He was the last of my brothers.  I don't even consider him a brother-in-law because we're that close.  I watched him grow up, I've been there through the dating years for sisterly counsel, and I was there at his wedding.  I feel like I deserve the title of sister. 

I found myself tearing up after the ceremony.  I looked over as we were walking out a Paul had tears in his eyes too. Cute! Happy tears.  

It was a beautiful (unseasonably warm for Utah) March Day!  I think the pictures pretty much say it all.  Look at all those smiles!

Liebster Award and a little bit extra...

So this month has been pretty eventful to say the least.  I wish I could tell you that we went to some hopping vacation spot and had an eventful time, but this was quite opposite.  

I don't know how it happened but Audrey ended up with the worse sickness known to me in my Mothering experience so far.  I had oral surgery on a Friday and the day after that Audrey started puking. She puked until there was nothing left.  And then in the middle of the night while I'm trying to comfort her she's screaming out that she wants milk and applesauce because she's so hungry and between her screams she's dry heaving because there's nothing left.  She couldn't stop and at some point she said, "Mommy, I don't want to puke anymore".  I wished I could take it from her.   This is by no means a plug for essential oils, but she did not stop puking back to back until I rubbed her tummy and her feet down in Digestzen.  I'm sure that mingled with my endless prayers are what finally allowed us to get a couple hours of sleep. That wasn't the end by any means but it got much better after that. Paul had to leave on a business trip Sunday evening.  I was left alone to manage the beast alone. It hung around for several days.  Thankfully Paul and I never got it. Apparently it's going around.  Be prepared!

On a good note.  We've had a great week so far.  We spent some much needed time with our Texas family yesterday and I was surprised to find that I've been nominated for a 

Liebster Award.  A big shout out to Ellie (http://tottoxxx.blogspot.com/)!  Thank you for nominating me.

I would be nominating 11 other bloggers, because that's kind the rule with this thing but I'll be honest and say that I'm not a huge blog reader.  So I'm going to nominate a few that I love to read.  The rules are below.  

The Rules:

♥ Thank and link back to the person(s) who nominated you

♥ Answer their 11 questions the nominee asked

♥ Nominate bloggers with less than 200 followers

♥ Make a list of 11 different questions for your nominees to answer

♥ Notify the bloggers you chose for the award

 1) What's your favorite film?

It's so hard to choose one. It depends on context. 

When I was a little girl I loved to watch the old Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.  I loved "Ever After", The most Recent "Pride and Prejudice", and "Princess Bride".  I love all the comic book movies like Batman, Thor, and Captain America.  I also really liked all the Lord of the Rings movies.  Like I said...too many.  I could go on and on and on.   

2) If you could be someone else for a day would you?
I would have to say no.  I guess I'm just used to being me, and being someone else sounds a little awkward to me.   

3) If you could change something about you that's like, to have a mermaid tail, and not my ugly ears, what would it be?
I guess it depends.  Do I have to make a trade?  I would like to change my eye.  Last year I injured it and it's never been quite the same.  Instead I would love to have pain free mornings and twenty twenty, or maybe eagle vision. Lol.

4)If you had an album what would you name it? 
Life, because that's what inspires me.

5)If you could change your name,what would you change it too?

Helga Gertrude Watson. No.  I probably wouldn't. I think my parents did a pretty good job, although I did always want a a middle name.

6)What makes you smile?
My Daughter, my Husband, a sunny day, seeing Gods hand in my life

7)Where do you want to go in the world?

I would love to go to Italy and Spain. 

8)If you could relive one day in your life what would it be?
Can I choose two?  My wedding day, and the day I had Audrey.  When I think of true happiness, I think of those two days.  Of course there have been many more since then, but those are at the top.  

9) What is your favorite season?
It depends on where I'm living I guess.  I've always been a huge fan of summer, but since moving here I'm more of a Fall person. 

10) Favorite type of hat?
I have a thing for fedora hats, although I don't own one.  

11) Why did you start your blog?

I remember sitting in my Mom's room as a teenager reading her journals.  I couldn't get enough.  It was real experience through my Mothers eyes which is priceless.  I want to give that to Audrey, and I want it for myself.  I think it's good to reflect on past experience, especially the hard times and realize that everything has turned out okay and that we've grown to be better people.  

My Nominations Are:

http://laughmommy.blogspot.com/

http://melissamichiale.blogspot.com/

http://nicki-tyler.blogspot.com/


My Questions for my Nominees are:

What inspires you?

What brings you the most joy?

What is something you have always wanted to do but haven't?

What is your favorite thing to do with family or friends?

What is your favorite dessert?

What is the most spontaneous thing you have ever done?

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go an why?

What is your favorite flower?

Favorite childhood memory?

What do you do to recover from a long hard day?

Why did you start your blog?