Our Little Family

We were lucky enough to have a friend take some family pictures of us. They are all so amazing, but these are some of my favorites.

Daddy trying to make things better.

I LOVE this one! It TOTALLY reminds me of a fairytale. :)

I especially love the ones she caught of us in the moment.

Thank you soooo much Rachel! You're amazing. Also a special thanks to Nicole and Jeremy for letting us take pictures at your house.

Thanksgiving

So, I have let this blog get away from me yet again. Maybe I'll be better about it next year. Maybe that will be a new years resolution since I do consider this like a journal.

Thanksgiving was pretty relaxing, but felt a little off this year. My dad hasn't been in the greatest health lately. He's kinda falling apart. It started with him tearing something in his shoulder at work and needing surgery for that. While he was on workman's comp healing, he tore something in one of his knees that he's already had surgery on in the past. He has degenerative arthritis, so any little thing can set his knees off. While he was healing from that knee surgery, he messed up his good knee and had to have another surgery two days before Thanksgiving. He's still healing, so I imagine Christmas will feel off as well.

So, I want to join with everyone else and list some things I'm thankful for this year. I am thankful for the time we were able to spend with family. I'm especially thankful that we live so close to our families right now. I didn't always want to be that close, but it's really different once you have kid. Rory LOVES our moms and I'm glad our families get to spend so much time with her. I'm thankful for the fun date nights Landon and I have been able to have and I'm thankful I have a husband who still wants to 'date' me. :) I'm soooo thankful for Landon. I love being able to live with my best friend. He is such a great husband and father. I am thankful he has been able to put up with me and my highs and lows. He has so much patience. I'm thankful for my beautiful little girl. Rory is pretty much my favorite person. I love our dance parties. She never fails to make me smile, even when she's being a bratt. I hope everyone had a great November!

Our Little Monster!!!

Halloween!!! So, I know this is crazy late. I really don't know how everyone gets so much done with little kids. Rory's new favorite thing is to bug me on the computer. Even when I'm not on it I'll catch her in the office moving the mouse around and banging on the keyboard. She's such a little (cute) monster these days. Which brings me back to HALLOWEEN! This is by far my favorite time of the year. I am one of those nerds that continued trick or treating all through high school. It's even more fun now that I have someone to dress up and take tick or treating - and I get to eat all (well most) of her candy. I'm also super lucky to have such a talented mother in law who is willing to make whatever costume we ask her to make. Last year Rory was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. This year, we decided to make it a little more challenging and requested Elmo. It turned out AMAZING! Everyone thought we bought it.

She also made Rory this cute Halloween countdown that had a fun treat in each pocket.

I can't believe she kept the hood on as much as she did. She only took it off when she was tired or showing off.

She got to be Elmo a few times. Fortunately, we have friends who throw a Halloween birthday party for their son. Rory had so much fun running around the Sherman's yard and jumping on their trampoline. My in-laws decided to have a little Halloween party on the 30th. It was just Landon's siblings and their kids. The kids all played games and won a ton of candy - or candy that hadn't been eaten by me, Jill, or Landon yet. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of the cousins' costumes. For Halloween, we took Rory down to Benson to trick or treat at all the grandmas and grandpas' houses. She was soooo good, and soooo hopped up on candy. Great grandparents are the worst candy pushers. Rory had a bit of a candy hangover the next day. She tried to escape a couple of times from my Nana and Tata Mendoza's house. She was fascinated with all the trick or treaters that kept coming and going at their door.

'Trick or Treat!'

I made Rory a little diva candy bag. It has a sparkly owl that's kinda had to see.

Landon and I had a blast dressing up - as usual. My cousins always throws a HUGE Halloween party. They really go all out with decorations, food, haunted rooms... I'm so thankful Landon get's as excited as I do about dressing up for it. The first year I took him (when we were just dating) he went as Slash from Guns 'n Roses. I knew he was the man for me after that night. His costume was PERFECT! My entire family fell in love with him because of that costume. So we plan and talk about costumes for about nine months before the party each year. This year, we went as Evil Knievil and Kat Von D.

Us...

Evil Knieval and Kat Von D. See the difference?

This is my favorite of Landon. I wish I had gotten a picture of him riding a quad at the birthday party we went to ealier that day. He looked so funny with his cape flying behind him. It reminded me of Hot Rod. Cooooool Beans.

I had a lot of fun dressing up as Kat Von D. Landon thinks my costume was too easy because I'm already pale with dark hair, like wearing red lipstick, and have tattoos. I admit it wasn't too much of a stretch for me, but I had fun with my stars and neck tattoos. The fake sleaves were a little itchy.

Last, I had to post this pic of my cousin and brother. My cousin is 16 and too cool to dress up these days, but my brother's costume was hilarious. My brother is very particular about what he wears, so it was just too much to see him let loose as Officer Dangle from Reno 911.

I hope everyone had a super fun Halloween. I'm already thinking about Rory's costume for next year! Hopefully she'll still let me pick it. :)

Ice, Ice, Baby!

Last weekend Rory and I went to Disney on Ice with my mom and Nana. It was crazy fun!! Rory was soooo good. She went back and forth between mine and my mom's lap. She pointed, laughed, and clapped the entire time. It was ridiculously cute and almost made me cry. She walked almost the entire way from the parking lot and back holding our hands and pointing at the kids wearing costumes. I know it meant a lot to my Nana. She loves going to stuff like this, but all of her grandkids are grown up now. Luckily she's got a super cute great grandchild to share experiences like this with. It really was an awesome day. Rory and I look forward to doing it again!

Me, Rory, and my Nana waiting for the show.

Patty, Pudge, and Tee.

These our my little chatterbox's favorite words lately. She's really stuck on 'Pudge' in particular right now. Pudge is the name of my parents dog and Rory likes to call anything that barks this name. She says it ALL DAY LONG! If she gets close to a window - "Pudge!" If we go out side - "Pudge!" If she see's my parents - "Pudge!" This should be super cute and funny. I should be happy with her growing vocabulary, but somehow each new word makes me kinda sad. Not sad because I'm losing my baby. Sad in the sense that she doesn't EVER say 'mama.' :( She know's the name of my parent's dog (and the name for every other dog), but she doesn't know mine. Although I'm sad, I still want to celebrate all the fun new toddler things Rory's up to.

Let's go back to her talking. She can say patty, clap, and mark her hands playing patty cake. Every time she sees or hears the cat she can bounce, clap, and yell "TEE!! TEE!!" - this is how she says kitty. Cute, I know. She loves that cat sooooo much and is very good about being soft and nice when petting 'Tee.' Her first word was 'daddy' or 'da-ee.' She would yell it out the back door when Landon would go check on his garden. She only says it occasionally now. She also LOVES the word 'hello' or 'h-o.' She pretends to talk on the phone or anything she can hold up to her ear (I once saw her talk into a sock) and says 'h-o' in this funny, deap, serious voice. I've see her chase birds yelling 'bird.' She does say 'Oshi' alot when talking to me. I think this may be the name she has picked for me. This should also be cute, but it doesn't always sound like just 'Oshi.'

She's very expressive when she talks and likes to use her hands.

Rory loves to run around and sneak up on 'da-ee' with me. She even crouches into a sneaking position with me. She is getting speedier with her walking, but this leads to hard falls and lots of fat lips. I feel like her lip is always swollen and bruised. I was sure she knocked out her two front teeth a couple weeks ago. Thank goodness they're fine. She's also doing a lot of climbing. No big falls from that yet, but I know they're coming.

Last week we been spent a lot of time dancing around - it's less embarrassing with Landon gone. It was a big dance party for the two of us. She has so many different, funny moves. Her new fav is spinning in circles. I know they say TV is bad for your kids, but this is a move she picked up from 'Imagination Movers.'

Dress up is also a favorite around the house. Rory loves to get into laundry or her dresser and attempt to put clothes on. I caught her walking around with her bathing suit hanging down from her neck last week. She also likes to carry a purse with her toys around. Last week I was wearing a flower clip in my hair and she continuously tried grabbing at it. I finally put it in her hair and she just smiled and left it. This NEVER happens anymore. She hates her hair being messed with and pulls out barrets and pony tails. She snaps herself in the face with headbands. But that day, she left this flower clip in and liked it. Since then I put one in my hair when getting her ready and then move it to her hair when she's dressed. She does a pretty good job of leaving it in (most of the time). I'm going to take it as a compliment and think of it as she wants to be like me. This helps make up for my name being 'Oshi.'

You can see the shirt she's wearing on her arm.

She's getting so playful and is such a little copycat! I love it! She's getting pretty good at doing 'Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed.' She pats her head at the bumping head part and waves her finger at the 'no more monkey's jumping on the bed' part. She surprises me everyday with something new and cute. Landon got to come home to her new trick of saying 'boo' when playing peak a boo.

Rory is so attached to my mom. They're best friends. LOL.

Rory is now 14 months and such a toddler. She's even looking like a little girl. She has such an amazing and outgoing personality. She's not afraid to go up to strangers and make them smile with one of her many cool tricks. I really am so thankful to have this spunky little person in my life. I'm so in love with her and amazed at what a blessing she is.

Projects and Babies!

I haven't been get many substitute teaching calls since school started in Benson. It's starting to pic up a bit with sports and flu season, but I've still had a lot of time on my hands. This has led to me taking on some new hobbies and continuing with those I've already enjoyed. I've never been one for sewing or anything like that, but there are a lot of cute things I want for Rory and am not willing to pay lots of money for. So, the sewing machine has been pulled out of the closet.

I thought these little ear hats are crazy cute. They're so easy to make. I've also made one in camo to see what it would look like. I love it. I think I'll do a camo with pink stitching for Rory.

My little model and her 'bear' hat.

My cousin just had a baby on the 7th. I've been super excited to have someone close to Rory's age for her to grow up with. These are some of the projects I made for little Paige.

I heard her room is decorated with lady bugs and stuff, so I made her a lady bug tutu!

Here's a close up of the matching bow.

This 'bear' cap was so tiny. I wasn't sure if it would fit, but it was perfect.

Some of my non-slip barrets using my favorite ribbon and a little bling.

I also made a diva 'P'. It was so pink and sparkly. And every baby girl needs a giant flower headband with some bling.

I also wanted to try out making stacking blocks, but only got the big one done. Paige came a few days earlier than expected, so I still have to finish this project.

I've been thinking about making some stuff for boutiques that are held around this season. I feel like my head is all over the place wanting to try new things, so it's been really hard to focus on just a few things. Any suggestions on what I should focus on or what you would want to buy at a boutique would be greatly appreciated. I really want to try out a framed barret holder and some gift card holder ornaments. I'll post pics when I get them done.

Snowflake

Landon's brother moved to Snowflake at the end of summer. We went to visit him and his family Labor day weekend. The drive was horrendous. Rory was crying half the time and we had to listen to "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz over and over and over again. I swear I've heard that song over a million times now. For some weird reason it calms her down. Always has. I even remember singing it to her in the hospital - maybe that's why. I'm not sure. Anyways, she did not enjoy being in the car that long. We packed a lunch and stopped at the civic center in Historic Globe to eat. We stayed for a while to let Rory stretch out some and play. She stalked and yelled at other kids and then came the swing. I didn't think we were going to get her out of it. She loves to swing and feel the breeze. She was definitely not exited about getting back in the car.

When we finally got to their house, we were greeted by their three year old Peyton. "Hi, I'm Peyton" and "Do you have any kids?" or "Do you have any other kids?" made me realize we don't see these kids enough. They were soooo excited to have us visiting. Landon and I changed quickly and left for the Temple. Jill and Cameron were kind enough to watch Rory for us. Thanks guys! Landon had just been to the Omaha temple the month before. He said it's almost identical to the Snowflake temple. It was definitely the smallest one I've been to and was COMPLETELY packed. They even had to bring out some folding chairs. It seemed like it took forever and I was super tired, but I'm happy we were able to go.

Rory did not want to sleep that night. She cried and cried and so did I until Landon took her for a 2:00 am drive. He really is the BEST! The next morning we were greeted by some yummy french toast. After breakfast, we headed to a desert race that Landon wanted to see. Apparently this was the 'real' reason we made the trek to Snowflake that weekend. We got there towards the end of the class he wanted to watch. I felt really bad that we didn't get to see more.

Before it started raining on us at the race. She's such a daddy's girl.

When we had to retreat to the car. It was fun getting to wear sweaters.

After we left the race, Landon drove around for a couple hours while Rory and I napped. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Cameron and Jill and Jill's parents who were also visiting. It was a nice relaxing day. We stayed up late talking and sharing funny stories with Cameron and Jill. Rory didn't sleep again that night and we decided to cancel any near future road trips/vacations with Rory. We left the next morning and gave Rory some Ibuprofen beforehand. I guess kids get sore riding in a car for long periods of time. It makes sense. I was pretty sore myself. The drive home was much more pleasant. Rory caught up on sleep most of the way home. It was a pretty fun weekend and I'm thankful for the time we were able to spend with Jill and Cameron. Thanks again for letting us crash!

Catching Up

It has been forever since the last blog. Time has completely gotten away from me. I would really like to keep this updated, so I'm going back in time a little to catch up. I wrote about Rory's birthday party, but completely forgot to write about her actual birthday. My in laws were in Utah the weekend of the 23rd, so the party got bumped a week. It actually worked out for us because it rained like crazy on her birthday. We got all dressed and ready to hit the town, but had to wait out the weather for a couple hours. After it stopped raining, we figured the temperature was nice enough to take a stroll around the zoo. Unfortunately the batteries in both my camera and phone were dead, so I don't have any pics. :( It was crazy fun. We got to see the anteater pretty close up. Rory's face was priceless. She looked so puzzled. She didn't really care to notice many animals after that until we ended at my favorite, the tiger. The big 'kitty' was pacing back and forth against the glass. We pushed Rory right up to it and her head followed the tiger's pacing. She was mesmerized and still looked a bit puzzled at first. After a while she started to scream (with joy) and point at the glass. I'm pretty sure the tiger was her favorite too. The zoo was perfect! Neither of us had been there for years and it's the perfect size for small children.

After the zoo, we went pinata shopping. I'm pretty sure party stores don't care if they ever sell a pinata or not. They keep them on the very top of the shelves without any visible pricing and nobody around to help. After we were done at Party City, we went to Fuddruckers. Rory had her first burger/slider. She only wanted to eat the bun. That girl loves her carbs! lol. I thought about having them sing Happy Birthday to her, but everyone around us was there for a birthday too. I decided to give their vocal cords and break and just buy Rory a sundae. We all shared it despite Rory wanting it all to herself. It was a perfect little day. I'm am forever greatful to have Rory in my life and can't wait to see what this next year brings!

Happy Birthday Rory!!!

You only have your first child's first birthday once, so I may have gone a little overboard. Luckily I did stay on budget - for the most part. I made her invitations. Photo bucket has a pretty cool online editing program that's free. I had them printed at Costco for .39 cents a piece. I thought they came out pretty darn cute. Guests were asked to BYOT or Bring Your Own Topping for sundaes because it was an ice cream themed party. Our kitchen island was covered in every kind of topping possible. It was a lot of fun making sundaes to eat with the cake; however, we now have a lifetime supply of ice cream toppings because no one took them home.

I saw a sign like this on Etsy for $20. So, I pulled out my paints and created something similar.

My mother in law loves quilting and has been working on a birthday table runner. I thought it went well on the party table.

Rory got her very own cupcake to destroy. Again, I saw some super cute custom candles on Etsy and decided to try to do it myself. I just bought one of those plain number candles and gave it a face lift with paint and pink sparkle glue.

My very talented mother in law made the cakes. We had a banana nut, chocolate, and white cake. She's been working with fondant lately, and I was so excited to see what she came up with for the party.

The kids played pin the cherry on the sundae. They had soooo much fun. My mother in law and nieces created the sundae to match Rory's shirt on the invitations. I also got a pull string pinata so that Rory could be involved. It was okay, but a little dangerous. The kid who pull 'the' string almost had his head taken off when the pinata hook broke. I also rented a jumping castle that we didn't get any pics of. It was a purple and pink castle and fit perfectly in the back yard. There were a ton of little ones, so it saved my house from total destruction. Luckily they set it up a few hours before the party and we got to play in it with Rory before anyone got here. She had a lot of fun wrestling with the two of us in it.

We sang happy birthday to Rory!

She wasn't too sure what to do with her cupcake at first.

But, she figured it out.

Finally, Daddy helped her open presents! Thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated one year of Rory with us!!! We really appreciated it.

Rory Faye

I took some quick pics of Rory to make her birthday invitations. I can't believe she's already going to be one on Saturday. Crazy. Any who, I just wanted to share some of the cute ones.

This one is totally my Favorite. She has such a cheese ball smile!

We love this girl like crazy.