darin. jessie. nora.

birthday boy.

2012-02-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

My guy turns 29 today. He said he's already going through his midlife crisis. Only has one year left in his 20's. We always joke about how you know you're old when all the players on the Jazz are younger than you. I personally, just think he gets better looking with age.

I'm not sure how I got so lucky to get to call this dimple faced boy mine.

By no means is our life perfect, but we have been truly blessed in a lot of ways.

Too many to list here.

I'm just grateful to have married such a hard-working, determined man.

He's truly everything I'm not.

He's grounded, I'm flighty. He's calm in stressful times, where I'm totally anxiety ridden. Sometimes I wonder how we are even able to get along because of what opposites we are, but somehow it just works.

I've learned throughout our almost 6 years of marriage that I'm not as an affectionate person as I thought I was. Maybe it's time, or maybe it's my personality. It's something I'm continually working on. All I know, is I don't want a day to go by where he doesn't feel my love and appreciation for him.

I joked with him the other night that I didn't know how I'd be able to live with him for another 30 years. The truth is, I'm grateful for every day with him. I know our life is just beginning together. I can't wait to grow our family more, to see how their lives form, to grow old together.

Tonight we're dropping Nora off at my sister's and heading to Park City. Good food, time together and snowboarding. Can't wait to spend a day together with just the two of us.

I love you.

I love you way more than I tell you or show you.

And I don't expect you to know how much because I promise I'm going to make it more apparant every day.

Being someone's first love may be great,

but to be their last is beyond perfect. ♥

Highlights

2011-12-29T22:14:00.000-08:00

Some of the things I don't want to forget about Christmas this year.

How excited Nora got every time she saw Santa Claus.

I thought she'd be too young still to understand it but she really embraced him and was never scared around him.

The reaction from Grandma Graham when she opened the Grandchildren's gift to them.

Was so touching that something so small could mean so much to them.

It was very, very humbling.

I look forward to each Christmas when we can get a shot with them. They're such wonderful people and I want to be sure we have photographs to look back on.

Nora's first train ride on Trax.

She was so excited to ride on the choo choo and sat like a big girl on her seat most the time.

Seeing the lights in Temple Square. Nora wasn't too fond.

I don't blame her.

Just the sheer excitement over things we would do. Frost a cookie, open a present, find the Elf each morning.

Having a kid really helps bring the magic back to Christmas.

After a jam packed exhausting Christmas Eve day, just being able to sit down with Darin and talk. Setting up everything just so and being so excited to see her face the next morning.

How she would open a present, take a quick look and then hold up a finger and say "One more!".

She had the unwrapping down pat.

The moment we opened her new pink shoes she had to have her jammies off so she could try them out.

Same with the dress my Grandma got her.

The joy of the mess.

Will try better next year to let the mess linger a little longer.

It really is kind of a beautiful sight.

As much as I wanted to get the mess cleaned up and the Christmas put away, I was a little bit depressed boxing it all up. Nora couldn't understand why we were putting the Christmas tree away and where her Elf went. We did so many fun things each day revolving around Christmas, and now we've got nothin'. :)

It could at least snow. It is Winter after all.

One of my favorite parts about the Season is the Christmas Break that Darin gets off of work. From Christmas Eve to the day after New Years. We get to sit around the house together, watch movies, complete projects and just be together as a family. It's refreshing.

Excited for the New Year and all the possibilities it brings.

Christmas Stuff

2011-12-15T11:58:00.000-08:00

We had the elf come to our house for the first time this year. We've just been calling him Elf because I felt bad naming him, and Nora doesn't understand that concept yet. She loves finding him each morning and calls him Sneaky Elf.

He brought her a new Christmas dress to wear for all our special occasions. I literally have to hide it because she wants to wear it every single day.

She adores Santa and was so excited to see him at our ward Christmas party. She waited patiently in her seat and watched him visit all the other kids until he got to us. I wasn't sure if she'd love him as much in real life but she did. Darin said he could tell she was nervous because her little heart was beating so fast.

But she took her candy cane and even sat on his lap for a picture.

I can't believe how fast December has gone. Christmas is only a week and a half away. I can't wait to see her sweet little face on Christmas morning.

What ways do you help your young children understand the true meaning of Christmas? How do you incorporate Christ into your Holidays?

Not much to say.....

2011-12-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share these pictures from the first snow we had back on November 5. It was the first time Nora had seen snow since last year which I'm sure she didn't remember. It's so fun seeing the wonder in your child's eyes as they discover something new. As soon as she saw it she yelled "COAT ON". She just had to go outide and discover it for herself.

Then she touched it.

We weren't outside for long after that.

Mom, I'm cold and a little bored. Can we head inside now?

OH "TWO"DLES!

2011-12-04T12:21:00.000-08:00

I truly never thought I'd do a character themed birthday party. Then your kid falls in love with something and you truly don't care if it's cheesy. You just want to do what makes them happy!

(I used this balloon banner tutorial. It was a little time consuming but pretty easy to do.)

And she did love it. We just did immediate family this year. She really doesn't do that great in huge crowds so I wanted to make it intimate for her so she could play and enjoy herself.

I saw a picture for these hats online and just figured out how to make them myself. Even though none of the kids would really wear them they were one of my favorite parts of the party.

And isn't the cake fabulous? It tasted delicious too. Thanks Angie!

She's been getting along and playing so cute with her cousins on both side of our family. She's extremely lucky to have such good friends.

Oh and where do I even begin in explaning how much I love this sweet little thing? She's such a ball of energy. Such a girly girl already. She loves dress ups, dancing, princesses and just about any other thing that sweet little girls usually love.

And she's just so stinking smart. Sometimes she says things and I just can't believe I have this little child that can say these things. Asking questions, singing songs, saying excuse me every time she burps. :)

She's definitely a sass though. No doubt about that. She's not shy to share her discomfort and she does it often. It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to, right?

I love you my sweet 21 pound peanut!

Muffin Tin Advent Calendars

2011-11-22T15:13:00.000-08:00

I don't have much time for crafting anymore but I really, really love making these so I carved out some time to do it this year. I can't wait to pull mine out and use it with Nora. I'm planning on filling each spot with a small treat, a scripture, or a coupon to do something fun (like visit Santa, or build a gingerbread house). I think every kid loves a countdown to Christmas. I remember loving even the cheap ones you buy from the grocery store.

I have two of this style available for purchase.

I have the supplies to make one more of this style.

They are $25 and include the muffin tin. Great for yourself or for a family gift exchange. Send me a comment if you're interested.

halloween weekend

2011-11-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

I know if I don't post these now, it will be Thanksgiving and I'll be wondering if it's too late to post Halloween pictures.

I had so much fun teaching Nora about Halloween this year. She loved ghosts and monsters and especially loved getting her trick-or-treat bucket and learning the meaning behind it. It makes me sad how long we build up for the holiday weekend and how quickly it's over.

We started Friday off by going to Omniture's annual Halloween bash. It never disappoints and Nora was IN. HEAVEN. They had buckets of candy in each department and no matter how many times we only told her one, she would frantically grab handfuls like it was the last time she'd ever see candy in her life.

Then we went and had pizza at Darin's parents and did some more pumpkin carving. It's actually the first time in a long time that I've actually enjoyed the pumpkin carving while I was doing it. Loved spending time with all the family.

On Halloween morning I made a spooky breakfast for my favorite ladies. I wanted to get Nora with a full meal before she indulged in more sugar than she ever has. Another tradition I'd like to keep up in years to come.

Would have liked to get a better picture of the spooky pancake ghosts I made. But it was hard to man the camera, all the food, and serve Nora her food before she had a complete meltdown. I promise all the rest of the ghosts were much cuter than this one. But you get the idea.

Then it was time to get on her costume and go visit all the grandparents. She finally gets to put all she learned about trick-or-treat to use.

She loved going with her cousin Olivia but had a hard time getting down the concept at first. For the first few houses she'd say trick-or-treat and then walk on in to the strangers house. She figured if we were going there then she must know the people.

Getting excited for Nora's birthday and teaching her about the rest of the upcoming Holidays.

cornbelly's ouchie

2011-11-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

I purchased the cornbelly's groupon this year with the full intention of going at least twice. Of course we only ended up making it there once with everything else we had going on. We sure had fun though.

Love these ladies.

Nora's loved the air tramps and would yell "BOUNCE, BOUNCE" while she jumped on it.

But her favorite part definitely had to be the princess dress up stage. She's a girl after my own heart. Dresses, pink and dancing around. True girl through and through. Silly little things like this melt my heart. I love when she's so full of joy over something.

The day didn't end great though. Sweet Olivia fell and hit her head on the metal wagon and had to get three stitches. At least we got to enjoy a lot of things before she got hurt. Poor girl.

new tradition

2011-11-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had my family over for a pumpkin carving party. We had delicious chili, spooky apps, and yummy treats with fresh mulled cider.

Fall was so beautiful this year. We were even able to carve our pumpkins outside. Nora loved "stirring up" the seeds and getting her little paws on any carving knives that she could. Little stinker.

This is definitely going to have to be an annual thing.

Adore my family.

choices.

2011-10-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else have THE. HARDEST. TIME making decisions on things that should not be that difficult? Please say I'm not the only one. I must have looked at about every single costume website at least 100 times each before I bought this costume from Gymboree.

Cute, right? Absolutely adorable.......but then I got to thinking. and thinking is never a good thing for me to do. I just know with how girly Nora is that she's going to want to be something frilly and cute for the rest of her life. I wanted to shove her into a big puffy costume. So I went to Pottery Barn Kids to check out the costumes they had on sale. I must have been in that store for at least an hour. ay yi yi. I seriously drive myself nuts. I was trying to decide between the pony one that fit, and a cute monster costume that was too big. After trying each one on about 12 times, I put the pony costume on her for the last time and asked her what a horse says. "NEIGH!" And it sealed the deal for me.

Excited for the fun things we have planned for this weekend.

Hope everyone has a spooky and FUN Halloween!

Now I've got to plan her birthday party. Oy, I think I've already spent hours looking at things online.

how.

2011-10-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

how does your baby magically grow up in the blink of an eye?

she's grown up so much since we went to the pumpkin patch last year. she's such a little girl now.

i love fall. warm drinks, yummy treats, cooler days. it's definitely my favorite time of year. i love experiencing it all with nora.

she loves spooky ghosts and monsters (as long as they aren't too scary) and she already has trick-or-treat down.

love getting pictures of the 3 of us together since we rarely do.

excited for halloween and the rest of the holidays coming up!

popcorns.

2011-10-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

On Conference Sunday we decided to take a drive up Butterfield Canyon during the last couple talks. When they were over, we found a place to pull over and took a little hike.

We just walked along the dirt path looking for some Fall branches we could take home. I noticed an acorn on the ground and picked it up to give to Nora.

She was so excited about her "popcorns". No matter how many times I would tell her it was an acorn, she just kept saying "more popcorns!".

It was nice to get out into the Fall air and search for flowers, sticks and leaves.

I was talking with a close friend about how I'm a little bit nervous for winter to come. It's hard to be inside all the time and find enough activities to keep them occupied. The alternative is turning on the TV. We all know how easy it is to pop in a movie or turn on Sprout. I'm sure Nora is an average TV watcher but I still feel guilty on a daily basis. This is where my close friend brought me some perspective.

Nora is extremely smart, she loves to be outside and she can play independantly most days. As much as she loves watching a princess movie, she also adores playing with dollies and reading books and coloring.

Why stress about something so small? Why do we, as mothers, constantly burden ourselves with guilt over how we are raising our children?

As long as we're doing our best, teaching our children daily, and being loving and kind, I really don't think an hour or two (or five, somedays) of TV is going to suddenly stunt their brain growth.

It sounds silly, but I feel grateful to have found Pinterest. I have come across so many wonderful (and cheap) ideas for Nora that she has absolutely loved. I'll have to do a post exclusively on Pinterest things I've found to give others plenty of ideas for the winter.

I wasn't planning on going off on such a tangent, but hey, that's how I roll here on the old blog. At least I finally posted, right?

LA LA LA

2011-07-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a really really messed up week.

Seven days of torture, seven days of bitter.

Nora's got the hand, foot, mouth disease.

She's usually sweet but this week I want to quit her.

LA LA LA, oh well, LA LA LA, it doesn't matter.

In all seriousness though this has probably been close to one of the worse weeks of my life. Nora started out with a fever on Monday which I attributed to teething because she was getting another molar. But the next morning I noticed a pretty large sore on her tongue, and it's been nothing but tears and tantrums since then.

I wouldn't pray this on my worst enemy. My sweet girl is so miserable. She cries for 5-6 hours out of the day. It's gotten to the point where I just sit down with her and cry too. One morning I started bawling, and she stopped crying, looked at me, then started screaming Mommy, Mom, Mama. As if to say, "Don't cry Mommy." It was heartbreaking.

She won't eat or drink much of anything because it hurts her too bad. It gets you worried about dehydration and the sweet girl sure doesn't have the weight to lose, that's for sure. It's been emotionally and physically exhausting. I've been frustrated because I haven't been able to get anything done. After I put her to bed one night I took my August issue of Ensign into a bubble bath to relax for a bit. The first presidency message could not have come at a better time. President Monson says,

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.

Just rewriting this brings tears to my eyes. Nora wants comfort but gets so upset that she starts hitting me and throwing all out tantrums. In a huff of pure frustration I put her down and leave the room to try and get something done. She's my sweet child, she's in pain and she's upset and yet I find it more important to get those dishes done or that laundry folded rather than sticking by her side and letting her know I'm there for her.

The Love at Home message is such a great reminder of how I should be treating my family members. I'm so grateful for the gospel. That Nora will be able to grow up in a loving home, something that seems to be lacking more and more these days. I pray that this sickness can leave our home soon so that I might be able to play with my happy girl again.

I was sitting with her on the couch the other day and I started singing I Am A Child of God to her. She completely surprised me and started singing the song with me almost word for word. It was such a special moment in a week of mostly frustration and tears. She is a beautiful special child of God and I'm thankful for her, even if she's slapping and screaming at me.

new favorite snack

2011-07-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Watermelon Feta Basil Salad

Mmmmm such a delicious refreshing snack for the summer.

I could eat a whole watermelon in one sitting and used to do so often when I was a kid. I wasn't sure about the combination in this recipe but thought I'd give it a try. The sweetness of the watermelon, the saltiness of the feta, and the basil, mmm the basil just makes it taste so fresh and summery. Pure bliss. Ate it yesterday, ate it today, and will probably eat it at least 100 more times before watermelons go out of season.

*Picture via http://www.justanothermomday.blogspot.com/

stronger

2011-07-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

Do you ever look at your pictures and think, "Nobody is going to care about the parade we went to or the fireworks we saw." "Nobody's going to care that we had a friend over for play time." And so the vicious cycle begins. Never blogging, never journaling, constantly getting asked when I'm going to update. I'm tired of feeling the guilt. I want to blog because it makes me feel good, because maybe someday I'll actually print it out into a book for my children to read.

I resolve to only blog when I feel like it.

Some of my favorites from the 4th of July.

I forgot my camera the morning of the 4th. I was super ticked I didn't get proof of my 5k run. I ran in this same race when I was pregnant with Nora. Actually I shouldn't even say I ran it because I walked it and almost died. I think it was the only day of my entire pregnancy that I got sick. I kid you not when I say that I came into second to last place. OF EVERYONE. It was pathetic.

But this year, this year I've been training. This year I've become a runner. Something I never thought I would do. And I came in at 31:45. I know it's not the super greatest time. But I was proud. Really, really proud. I ran the whole time except for 5 seconds of it.

I always wondered how anyone could enjoy running. I would always say, "I can't run, I have asthma." When honestly I think I was just so out of shape. I probably have a tinge of asthma but it's nothing that I haven't been able to slowly work up to and start gaining a resistence toward it.

Now I crave it. I think about the next time I might be able to go running again. To feel my feet on the pavement, erase my thoughts, listen to some good tunes. It makes me feel strong. And I can't wait to run my next race. Can't wait to see if I can get a better time.

And so my obsession begins.

Nora loved the fireworks. She loved playing with cousins and friends. She has the best cousins on both sides of our families. Sweet girls that love to play with Nora and cute Logan that tries to wrestle her. I love my nieces, and nephew.

Holidays make me love having a kid even more. You get to enjoy everything as if you were a kid again. It makes me excited for Fall and the holidays. I'm not rushing summer though......that's for sure.

BFF's.....or are they?

2011-06-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

Oh Olivia, we have so much fun playing together.

We're going to be best friends forever.

We'll always share everything well, and we'll never get into fights.

Wait, Olivia, this is my car. Do you mind if I hop on?

Thanks, you're my best friend forever.

Or not.

Just because...

2011-06-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

Just because she has 5 teeth now (all in a matter of a month) she all of a sudden feels like she can down an ear of corn.

I should have figured as much. She's been gumming steak since she was 10 months.

Sexy Baby

2011-06-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Nora loves putting on all the shoes that are laying around the house. So when Grandma Shelly was over she was very excited to try out the high heels. Heaven knows I don't wear them anymore.

Pretty sure the high heels are as big as Nora's entire legs.

Looks like we might have a budding fashionista on our hands.

We started telling her that she was sexy and whistling at her. She got a little embarrassed and started covering her face with her hands. Maybe she doesn't like the limelight after all.

Love Is Spoken Here

2011-05-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those moments with your kids where you wish you could freeze time, or grab the video camera and force them to do what they just did one more time? Nora literally melted my heart tonight.

We were in the tub and she was sitting in my lap facing away from me. I was singing her songs. Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, I Am a Child of God. I started singing Love Is Spoken Here, when she turned around, cupped my face in her sweet little hands and gave me the most beautiful smile I've ever seen.

She doesn't ever do this kind of thing so it's hard to even relay how much it means to me.

I hope she does feel that love is spoken in our home. I hope it's a place she feels safe and protected, loved and cherished. Because there isn't anything more important to me as a Mother than that.

Last Easter Post and the Evolution of the Ornery One

2011-04-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

I had everything set up perfectly. Hidden just well enough that she'd have to look, but would be able to find it easily. And the baby, oh the baby. I've been so excited to give Nora this baby for weeks. She adores playing with the babies in nursery and I knew right away that would be the perfect Easter gift.

So we went into her room and woke her up early from her nap so we'd have time to celebrate as a family before heading to Grandmas......

Not a great idea. This girl needs her rest, and prodding and pushing her to a hidden basket just set her off. Nora's upset, Mommy's crushed. It's just not a great scenario.

We end up going and pulling the basket out to calm her from her catastrophic meltdown.

Alright, this stuff is pretty cool, maybe I'll stop crying.

Mmmmm, treats. Treats will definitely help me stop crying. It's not like I haven't eaten my weight in treats over the weekend.

Books, I love books, almost as much as I love treats. But not quite.

What's in here? Any more treats in here?

And mom scores! She finally realizes the baby and pretty much hasn't put it down since.

Isn't it so funny how it seems like little girls are born with the innate ability to mother? She'll hold her baby, and say "Baby, here's your baba" "Wanna drink baby?" "Here's kinky (binki) baby"

As long as she doesn't carry her real baby by the foot upside down, I think she'll make an amazing Mommy one day.

Easily my favorite picture.....

2011-04-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

from Easter weekend.

I adore this little girl's smile and laugh.

After the city egg hunt she fugured out that eggs usually hold treats! She was so excited to find lots of eggs laying in the grass at Grandma's house.

So excited that she didn't even mind eating the spilled ones out of the grass.

Do you ever look at a picture of yourself and wonder when you started looking so run down? Ugh.

I think Nora ate more candy Easter weekend than she has in her whole life combined.

We're still recovering from the sugar high.

Everything's more fun.....

2011-04-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

I remember before I had Nora the thought of going to a city egg hunt or anything similar was nauseating. I mean, the massive amounts of people, the millions of snotty nosed kids shoving to get some lame toy or treat. I'm kidding...kind of.

I knew there had to be something special about them or why would so many people brave their way through the crowds?

I figured it out.

It's nothing to do with the event itself. I could buy Nora a bag of treats and let her eat them all by herself without having to fight a 3 year old for it. I could take her to the dollar store and let her choose 10 things that she'll probably play with for longer than that stuffed frog she found. No, none of those things are what makes the event worth going to.

It's the look on my sweet daughter's face when she sees that plastic egg laying in the grass. It's the humor I find in her when she picks up an egg with one hand, a treat with the other, and realizes with anxiety that she doesn't have any more hands. It's how cute she is when I tell her to put her items in the basket so she can pick up more, and instead she attempts to grab something I've already put in there.

All these things bring me such joy that I would do them every day. Having a kid brings out the kid in you. It makes every holiday, every event, so much more exciting. It makes you remember why, as a kid, you anticipated all these things for so long.

Her excitement makes me giddy.

And, how awesome is this homey g hat we scored? We ended up giving it to cousin Logan, but I couldn't resist a picture.

eggcellent.

2011-04-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

Coloring eggs with Darin's family is always fun. It's a contest to see who can come up with the most creative and funniest eggs.

And then when we're done we search (and I mean search) for all the eggs around the house. We've done this since before any of us had kids. I mean, who doesn't love an egg hunt, young or old?

Evil bunny, nice bunny.

Even Adolf Hitler made an appearance.

But no doubt that the kids are always the stars of the show.

Roll around much?

2011-04-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

She finally has enough hair that it can be messy after a night's sleep.

Really messy.

I've never seen this girl's hair have so much volume.

There's no way she could be any sweeter.

Take me to your leader.

2011-03-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

I love taking baths and showers with Nora. I've done it since she was little. It's just our time together, time where she happens to sit in one spot for more than 30 seconds. Now that she's down to only a morning bottle I don't get a lot of snuggle time. It makes me sad. I hope it's something she'll grow in to as she gets older. I want more hugs and loves.

Silly girl loves the scrublets from my face wash. Half the time she sucks on them like binkis. She makes a pretty cute alien, right?

Oh and in case anyone was wondering, it's never a good idea to "clean up" your lady parts where your baby might be watching. They never forget and love to mimic.

Even a capped razor is a little disconcerting.

Proud Mama

2011-02-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

Remind you of anything?

I'm proud as a peacock to be this little girl's mama.

How we spend our Friday nights.

2011-02-27T16:16:00.000-08:00

blues.

2011-02-25T14:56:00.000-08:00

Alright, maybe now that my blog isn't so ugly I might actually want to spend time here.

Winter was fun for awhile. For like a month. Back in December. It's just not fun anymore.

It pretty much sucks and has me thinking bad about every aspect of my life.

My business, my blog, my life. Seriously, sometimes I just think, wow I'm a huge loser. And then I have to remind myself what an important thing it is I'm doing. I'm sure Heavenly Father doesn't think anything is more important than raising our babies. Stupid winter, it's what it does to me.

There was this one day, we were literally so bored, I gave Nora this pan of rice and just let her play in it.

Uh, what was I thinking?

I think I'm still vacuuming up rice to this day.

But she loved it. And it kept her mind and body occupied for a little bit.

One day I found Nora under the stairs in her play area like this. She fit perfectly in the little table pouch and played there for quite some time.

We have done some fun things too. Nora loves going to the aquarium and seeing all the "ish".

Yes, my 15 month old still fits in her Bjorn. I'm so glad I invested the money in one of these. Such a life saver.

Nora's 15 month stats for anyone that cares:

Weight. 17lbs8oz - Still in the first percentile but at least she hasn't fallen off the charts.

Height. 30.5in - Fifty third percentile in height. She's a model if yanno what I mean.

Head. 45.5cm - Thirty ninth percentile. She has to have somewhere to put her big brain.

She really is so smart. She says close to 50 words now. She loves animals and crackers. And animal crackers. She still has barely enough hair to put in a ponytail, but it's as fine as spun gold and I adore it. I'm not sure I could ever have another baby because there wouldn't be enough love to go around.

Pineapple Head

2011-02-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Mom, I can't find my pineapple. Do you know where it went?

Oh, weird, how did it get up there?

Is anyone....

2011-01-14T15:03:00.000-08:00

Is anyone still thinking about Christmas?

I know it seems like it's been ages since jolly old Saint Nick was in town, but I feel like I must post some Christmas pictures to feel complete. Because, yanno, there isn't a million other things I could, and probably should, be doing.

Nora prepping to make her debut as a Nativity Angel.

Darin's sweet sweet Grandparents. I always feel like it's such a pain to try and gather people up for pictures at family parties. But I know when they've passed I'm going to cherish this picture so much.

Can't make it through the day without a little pick me up. (Seriously, I cannot even imagine the massive amounts of energy this girl would have if she drank one of these.) (I may have nightmares about it tonight.)

Can you even believe how insanely cute this Santa Clause is that paid us a visit at our annual Christmas Eve party? Nora didn't even cry when he held her. She's such a friendly little tyke.

Christmas morning. I was surprised how into it Nora was this year. I wasn't expecting too much out of her, but she really loved opening all her presents and had many squeals of delight.

Then we headed to Darins parents house. Doesn't she look like a true to life angel in her little white outfit?

Now, here's where it gets good. Nora is still a 2 nap a dayer. 10 and 2. Same every day. So considering it was around 11 by this point, I was just counting down to the Melt Down.

In 3-2-1......

(Marshmallow, from Daddy's Marshmallow shooting gun he was gifted.)

Why am I such a bad mother? Instead of comforting my obviously exhausted child, I just sit and snap pictures instead. I'm feeling guilty.

These were the only pictures I got on New Year's Eve. But they sum up the night well. Games, games, and more games.

I'm not sure how this year could get any better than last year. I enjoy every minute I get to spend with Nora (well most every minute). She's getting so smart and funny. When I say cow, she says moo. When I say duck, she says quack. When I say kittie, she says meow. When I say fetch, she does it.

Just kidding on that last one, but truely this girl brings me more happiness than I know what to do with. Now, can we get some Summer around here? I'm extremely tired of the cold already.

Up and running....

2011-01-05T14:18:00.000-08:00

Check out my new photography website and blog!

http://www.jessieobergphotography.com/

Never a post without a picture!

Do you want to hold the baby?

2010-12-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

We asked Nora if she wanted to hold the baby, and she sat down excitedly in her chair. Should I mention that the baby (my niece) is 7 months younger than Nora and just about weighs the same amount. But Nora was excited so we let her have a go.

But then Nora got tired of holding the baby and wanted a turn of her own to be held. So she took a seat.

Silly peanut.

Now these next series of pictures are the EXACT reason why I'm not putting any presents under the tree until Christmas eve. It seemed awfully quiet so I peeked behind the couch where Nora had taken a present she found. She's such a sneak.

What, Mom? Isn't this for me?

Daddy's been gone for work so I was trying to think of fun things we could do for girls night. I thought I'd build a fort. Nora seemed to dig it. For five minutes anyway.

Then she needed a rest.

Nora has started saying quite a few things. When I'm looking for her binki I'll say "Biiiinnkkiii, where are you?" Now Nora walks around with me looking saying, "Kiinnkkii, uuuuuu aaaaaa uuuuuu?"

She says cute, cheese, shoes, Hi Diesel and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo that I haven't quite deciphered yet. She loves Baby Signing Time and signs a lot of the things when I sing the songs.

At almost 13 months she still doesn't have a single tooth. The girls been gumming her steak for months.

So excited for Christmas! Only 10 days away. I've loved having lots of time to enjoy the holidays this year. Hope your Christmas is wonderful!

Muffin Pan Advent Calendar

2010-12-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

So excited to finally have this project done! I searched the internet for homemade advent calendars and this one was BY FAR my favorite. It only took me a couple days to put together and really turned out cute! All you need is a 24 count mini muffin pan, a roll of extra strength magnet, and all your shiny scrapbooking supplies! A little creativity doesn't hurt either.

You can put treats, scripture verses, money, whatever fun little things your children might love in the cubbies. No more lame Wal Mart advent calendars anymore!

I can't wait for the many memories and traditions we'll create with this throughout the years to come.

As far as this lady lady is concerned, I just can't keep up with her. By the time I've picked up all her messes in one room, she's gone and terrorized the next! She's so stinkin fast.

We're already enjoying the holidays so much. We went and visited Santa at South Towne Mall yesterday. Nora was a tad irritated that we had to wait in the line for so dang long, but she wasn't even scared of the jolly old man. Going to the festival of trees tonight. Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend!

To My One Year Old

2010-11-29T10:17:00.000-08:00

I can't express the joy you bring to me every day sweet Nora.

When I was pregnant with you I had no idea the amount of love I would feel for you in just a short year.

Each and every day I look at you and wonder if you could be any more beautiful or special to me.

You're so smart and independent. You've been walking for a month and a half. You adore Elmo and Baby Signing Time. You sign "Drink" and "All Done". You give Mommy kisses by coming at me with open mouth and tongue out. I love your sloppy kisses and try to get at least one a day. Sometimes you amaze me by trying to plug cords into outlets or picking up phones to talk on them.

You still don't have a single tooth and we wonder if you'll have to gum things your entire life. It doesn't seem to slow you down though. You love eating everything from fruits and veggies to steak and chicken. That's why I thought you'd go nuts over your birthday cake. But I guess my little girl is too dainty. You took a few bites and that was enough for you.

But don't let that fool anyone. This girl loves her ice cream and throws a complete tantrum when it's gone. But I can't get you to drink juice. You love your water and I'm fine by that.

You still have two naps a day and you've been sleeping through the night for awhile. (9-8)

You love your crib and won't sleep many other places.

You love to play with other kids, and especially love stealing whatever toy they have.

You're quite the hoarder. You love sticking toys and snacks in little hidden spots.

I love finding small toys in random places. In the pantry, hiding in a shoe, in the bathroom drawer.

You're so perfect to me and I couldn't love and adore you more.

The Party

We're grateful for friends and family who love Nora. Thanks for making her birthday special.

Seniorita Norita

2010-11-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun time in Costa Rica! The trip started off rough. We forgot Nora's plane ticket in my sister's car who dropped us off and barely made our flight, we lost my cell phone on the way and we had a few other things go wrong. But it all turned out ok and we had a great time! I won't bore you with all the details but I want to share a few of my favorite pictures.

The scenery was all to die for. So many brightly colored farms off the mountain roads.

Nora almost fell out of her high chair once during the trip. I caught her by the bum of her swimsuit. So terrifying.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the streets. I loved all the little shacks. This gives you a general idea though. You can see the stray dogs in the bottom left of the picture. They ran around everywhere.

Zip Lining was amazing. Our last cable was over 2200 feet long! The view was like nothing I've seen before.

Of course I got some flower shots. So so many beautiful plants and flowers.

Our backyard at our first hotel.

Probably my most favorite part of the trip. We were driving to our second hotel and crossed over a bridge over a huge river. Darin said there was a crocodile. And I said it was a log. Some logs right? 16 MASSIVE logs. Probably 13 feet long.

Nora loved the beach. And eating the sand.

We went to a beach that was in Manuel Antonio State Park. The monkeys were so used to people there that they'd just come up to your towel. They even tried to steal some of our friends stuff and when we tried to get it back they bared their teeth at us. Little thieves. We saw a ton of other monkeys in the wild that weren't used to humans too.

And my little monkey. She was such an angel on the trip. I didn't even have to drug her on the plane. I'll never say she's naughty again. She was a complete dream.

My little world traveling baby.

Nora's 1 year post, coming soon!

I totally suck.

2010-11-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

I completely and totally suck at this blogging thing. Between facebook, editing, keeping up my photography blog, being a monther, and all the other million things around the house personal blogging just seems to fall to the wayside.

I won't apologize. I can't promise that it's not going to be another month before I blog again but at least I'm willing to accept it. Sometimes I wonder who I blog for anyway. I'm never going to get a blog book printed out. Every day that goes by I just get more and more stressed out about it. I need to learn to let go. I'm sure nobody cares about our lives as much as I think they might.

Halloweenie!

It's so totally awesome with a baby. We did so many fun things and a few not so fun things.

We started off our Halloween weekend by going to Darins works annual Halloween bash. Nora loved seeing all the people dressed up. She absolutely adores Elmo. We watch Elmo movies at least 2 times a day. But by the look of her face you'd think she never saw Elmo in her life.

My niece, Alyssa, who's definitely more devil than angel. The above two pictures are also the ONLY pictures I got of Darin in any part of his costume. I'm upset I didn't make that more of a priority.

We were a traveling circus in case you couldn't tell. Daddy was a clown, Mommy was the ringmaster, and baby was a pink performing circus elephant.

Later that night we attended our ward's trunk or treat and then went to Grandmas house to carve pumpkins. Nora did a good job of getting really messy.

Wasn't Saturday night awful? I felt so bad for all the kids that were freezing their tooshies off outside. We attempted to go trick or treating but ran back to the house after 2 houses. We had my sisters family over and we ate good food and just hung out.

And then Nora had a taste of a sucker. I haven't given her hardly any candy so it was a real treat. She couldn't get enough.

Then a spent all night Saturday puking my guts out. Gosh dang flu.

Nora threw up Sunday morning and we laid around the house the rest of the day.

Not so fun.

What was your favorite Halloween activity?

Hi.

2010-10-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

I suppose it's about time for a new post. We've spent the last four days spending time with my Grandma. She was staying at our house while my Aunt Pam (who she lives with) was on vacation. Since my Grandpa died two years ago she hasn't quite been able to keep it all together. Living by herself was out of the question because she kept forgetting to take her pills and she couldn't figure out how to pump her own gas or pay the bills.

It breaks my heart because when I lost my Grandpa, I kind of lost my Grandma too. She's just not quite the same person she used to be. I still absolutely love and adore her obviously, but I miss the talkative person she used to be.

I'm glad we were able to spend some time with her. She absolutely adored being with Nora and Nora loved having a 24/7 floor friend to play with.

She helped me clean the house, doing all the things I hate doing. Dusting the TV stand (she spent a full hour on this) and dusting the kitchen table and chairs (another hour). I don't think they'd ever looked so clean.

Some of the things she says now just crack me up. She pulled out her wallet and asked me to check and see if she had enough money to buy us lunch and dinner today. I opened it up and pulled out a wad about an inch thick. 100 dollar bill, a few 50's, several 20's and who even knows how many 10's 5's and 1's.

I think there's enough there Grandma.

Fair Fun

2010-09-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

I love going to the fair every year. The food, the feeling of Fall starting and of course the people watching really make for a good time. Nora loved watching the sea lion show and seeing all the animals. I loved taking random pictures of vegetables, animal behinds, and Nora.

Did everyone know..

2010-09-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

that we had a baby boy? Isn't he cute? He's already sporting the boxer briefs.

Just kiddin. This baby is WAY too pretty to be a boy.

My sister brought over a build-a-bear Elmo that was wearing these undies and I thought they looked like they would fit Nora perfectly.

They're a little snug but I think they really accentuate her "package".

My skinny little sweetheart. I couldn't love her more.

Finding A Way

2010-09-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

My TV isn't big enough. I must get closer to Elmo. How can I get closer? AHA, the basket. Perfect.

Look at this Dad, do you see this? This is so awesome.

Hey, where'd they go? All this climbing for nothing. Dang it.

Nora, as always.

2010-08-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Where has the Summer gone?

I feel like it's slipping out of my grasp. A part of me can't wait for Fall because I LOVE Fall. But I don't want to wish any more of the Summer away. So I'm going to go to the pool and spend time outside as much as possible.

That way, when it's freezing cold outside I can look back and know that I took full advantage.

I can't believe how big my baby is getting. She turns 9 MONTHS today. I can't even believe it. I'm going to be planning her first birthday before I know it.

She's a crawling and standing fool. If she's awake, she's constantly on the go. It's hard to keep up with her. My bet is that she'll be walking in the next month or so. The first time she did the bear crawl we thought it was the most hilarious thing. But now she does it all the time.

This is my new favorite thing. Nora isn't really a cuddler so it melts my heart when she cuddles with her blankies. I feel bad though. If any of you came to my baby shower you would remember the MASSIVE amounts of blankets that my Mom made Nora. But when Nora was a baby she loved to be swaddled TIGHT. So I went and bought these jersey knit fabrics because they were kind of stretchy and great for swaddling. I didn't even finish the edges. They're basically still just pieces of fabrics. But now Nora won't take any other blankie. Hopefully when she gets older she'll love all of Grandma's blankets.

She's getting to the stage where she freaks out if I leave the room. So this morning I was trying to get some laundry done. I plopped her into the laundry basket, looped her bed sheet through the handles and pulled her around the house while collecting all the laundry. She thought it was pretty funny.

As far as life besides Nora, it's good.

Random thoughts.

I decided I need to hire a stylist. I have the hardest time buying and putting outfits together. My closet is littered with grey t shirts. I'm so boring and I hate it. Anyone want to take me shopping? (You pay.)

I'm stressed about scrapbooking. It somehow seems to constantly get pushed to the back burner and I don't want to get too behind on it.

Sometimes I love cooking and sometimes I hate it. I'm going through a phase of hating it and we're eating out way too much. Anybody have any great recipe blogs or sites they just love? I need some easy new meals to add to the rotation.

COSTA RICA later this year!!! WOOT WOOT!

Bring on the Disasters

2010-08-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

Nora has been sitting up pretty consistently for about 2 months. But it wasn't until a couple weeks ago that she REALLY started getting good. She could fall on her back, roll to her stomach, and sit up, all in a matter of 1.5 seconds. One night after replacing Nora's binki, Darin came back into the room and said, "When I went in Nora's room she was sitting up in her crib. It was a little bit creepy." I couldn't believe it. Then one morning I went to get her out of her crib and she was sitting up! It scared the living daylights out of me. I'm not used to seeing a little head poking up. The next time it happened I grabbed my camera and snapped some pics.

We promptly lowered the crib mattress.

Shortly after she really started getting close to crawling. She would get around in one way or another. And then it happened. She became a crawling maniac. She uses one knee on the floor and pushes off with the other foot. She looks like a little chimp. It's the cutest thing.

Now the sitting up and the crawling presents two major problems.

First, her new favorite game is to sit up in her crib and cry when we leave. The second I lay her down for naps she sits up. It's a little frustrating. One day I laid her down and she was doing her usual crying. I decided I was just going to let her cry and see what happened. Well about ten minutes later it was quiet so I had to sneak in. I didn't think in a million years she would have been able to get her binki back in and lay herself down. Well she must have gotten so tired she just fell asleep sitting up. So funny.

The second problem is a given when crawling begins. Oh the messes they make.

I can't believe how much she's learning. I love this age. She's so much fun. And here's a few more just because she's so sweet. I don't get very many of her sleeping because she usually only sleeps in her crib.

All caught up on blogging! Feels good!

More Nora

2010-08-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

A trip to visit Grandpa Jeff in Paragonah and attend my Great Grandmas funeral.

First ride on a four wheeler.

I thought Nora would be scared of my Dad with his facial hair, but she took to him and loved pulling on his beard.

Playing with cousins. She looks like such a little chipmunk in these.

Impromptu Photo Shoots

2010-08-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I got such a cute baby, but man on man, SHE'S CUTE!

Getting Caught Up

2010-08-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

I hate being so behind on my blogging. Here's my speed posting.

Makayla's Birthday Party.

First taste of whip cream and chocolate.

First carousel ride.

First encounter with a dragon.

{ Young Love }

2010-07-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

We're in so much trouble.

She's already got multiple boys chasing after her.

At least all of her boyfriends are pretty stinkin cute themselves.

She likes kissing the boys better than going down the slide with her Mommy.

She's growing up too fast.

Thanksgiving Pointe and a Few More Questions

2010-07-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun walking around Thanksgiving Pointe.

We saw lots of cute animals.

Played around a lot.

And just had a good time getting out into the sunshine.

Alyssa rode the ponies a few times and when she got off she was pretty upset so we asked her what was wrong. She said she thought the horses looked sad and she didn't think she liked doing that.

I'm sure she's right.

I wanted Nora to ride a pony but she was already zonked out by that point.

While we were there we also checked out the gift shop and found this AMAZING baby cowgirl hat. My mom and I could NOT stop laughing it was so funny. The pictures don't do it justice but I seriouly don't think I've seen anything more hick and more cute in my whole life.

Thanks to all those that responded on my last post. I have a few other questions though before I decide if I want to tame the monster.

A - Were any of your kids binki suckers while you were sleep training them? If they were, how did you go about it? I know Ferbers book says you can give them their binki at the start of the night but if it falls out you don't give it to them again the rest of the night. Is this how you did it? Or did you give it to them each time you went into them? I'm not sure how I want to go about this.

2 - Were any of your kids stubborn as the dickens? Because I've let Nora cry for 20 minutes straight before with no signs of her letting up anytime soon. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stand it. I NEED MORAL SUPPORT.

Kidding. I'm just not sure what's best and I'm not sure if she'll eventually just grow out of it on her own. I appreciate any advice. I can always google things but I like advice from friends better!

Summer Fun and Sleepless Nights

2010-07-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how much fun we've been having this Summer already. I'm so so grateful I get to stay home with Nora and do fun things with her everyday. I'm truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband who supports that decision.

We hit the pool up at least once a week and despite slathering her up with SPF 50 she's kind of getting a little baby tan going on. She's always loved her baths and the pool is no exception. I'm so happy she enjoys getting in the water.

I can't wait to share more of the fun things we've been doing.

On a less fun note, I'm still having such a hard time getting Nora to sleep consistently through the night. I'm considering trying the Ferber progressive wait method (cry it out method). I'm just not sure I'd be able to do it. My daughter is such a stubborn little thing, she'll cry for 25 minutes straight with no sign of giving up. I'm curious to know if anyone else has used this method and if it worked. I know I've instilled some bad habits in her like rushing in the second she makes a peep but I just can't bear to hear her cry. I mean nobody loves to hear the baby cry, right?

Lady Liberty

2010-07-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well, not quite, but she sure was cute in stars and stripes.

Nora didn't mind the fireworks at all. She was interested in watching them for a few minutes while she drank her bottle, but then proceeded to play with the beads the rest the time.

We also enjoyed going to the Riverton Rodeo like we do every year. Everything is so much more fun with a kid because you get to act like a kid again.

I remember thinking when I first had Nora that the 4th of July was going to be so fun and that she was going to be such a big girl by then. I wasn't wrong. She's growing before my eyes every day and getting cuter by the second. I know it's late but I'm so grateful for all those that serve our country (including my little brother) and am so lucky that I get to live here and enjoy freedom everyday!

Pretty Girl

2010-07-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to go to Darin's cousins wedding at Red Butte Gardens. I knew there would perfect picture taking opportunities. Congratulations to Jessie on her wedding!

Children

2010-07-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

You have no idea how much you're going to love a child until you're holding her in your arms. It's difficult to even explain. It makes me so sad to think of the people that go their whole lives choosing not to have children. They bring so much joy and happiness. I'm so happy for my sister and for the sweet addition she has brought into our family. Welcome Olivia!

Tea, Tea, Tea for Two

2010-06-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

One pretty teapot ready for some tea.

Two little cups, one for you and me.

Three tasty treats, just enough to share.

Shaped like a circle, triangle and square!

This little girl is just getting to be too much fun! I never wanted her to get bigger, I loved her as a tiny little newborn. But this age is SO MUCH more fun than the newborn stage. She sits up, she plays with toys, she smiles constantly.

I love her.

Even if I do get the stupidest songs stuck in my head all day long.

Father's Day

2010-06-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

We didn't do anything too out of the ordinary on this day. Nora gave her Daddy a few small presents, we went to church, and went to Darin's parents like we do on most Sundays. But this day was special. The first Father's Day that Darin got to celebrate as a Dad.

I'm sure when I got pregnant he had no idea how much he was going to love this little girl. And I had no idea what an amazing Father he was going to be. He loves her more than words can explain at times.

And how did I get so incredibly lucky to marry such an amazing man? I mean, I knew when I married him that I had really lucked out, but he just gets better and better as the years pass.

Some days I just kick myself, for not being the wife I sometimes wish I was. For not showing him exactly how much I love and adore him every day.

If there's one thing I learned growing up, it was not to judge people. To look for the best in everybody, even the strangers we don't know. Sometimes, I get on Darins case for this. I wish he could learn to love his neighbor a little more.

Bur recently I had a conversation with a dear friend. We talked about how it's so easy to be accepting of others, even people we've never met in our lives, but somehow find it incredibly easy to criticize and tear apart those that mean the most to us.

Does Darin sometimes do things that bother me? Of course. Do I bug him on occasion? I'm sure. But I try each and every day to not let silly things anger me so quickly. Because he's my husband, my eternal partner, my best friend, and I think that it's worth the extra effort.

Thank you, Darin, for being all I ever dreamed of. For loving me and Nora so fully. For supporting us. And for being so incredibly good lucking. I love you, I love you, I love you!

June - Picture Overload

2010-06-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, where has June gone? I can't believe the 4th of July is only a few weeks away. I remember thinking when I first had Nora that she was going to be such a big girl by the time the 4th of July rolled around. I wasn't kidding. We've had a fun month. Here's a recap.

We had a baby shower for my sister. She's getting ready to pop any day now. I'm so excited that Nora is going to have a girl cousin that's so close in age to her. I know her and Olivia are going to be bestest buds.

I went to an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G mentorship session with one of my favorite photographers. I learned so, so, so much from her and it was worth every penny. I'm loving where my photography is taking me. Over the years I would have conversations with people about just wanting to do something that I really loved. I know people go their whole lives not finding that thing, but I found it. I can't explain how happy it makes me to capture these moments in people's lives that they want to cherish forever. It's an amazing feeling. Getting all my business licenses and tax stuff was a total pain in the butt but I just about have all of that taken care of.

Darin had a business trip to Seattle. I swear this guy is just going to travel the world without me. It's depressing.

He had a good time though and while he was away I went and visited my bestie, Heidi, in Logan. These were the only pictures I took the whole time but honestly these girls are the cutest things around anyway.

We really didn't do much but it was so nice to be able to just relax and watch somebody else fold their laundry and know that I didn't have to fold my own.

In an effort to get Olivia to come out of my sisters belly we walked around the zoo for a few hours.

It was Nora's first trip and I think she really enjoyed it.

She looked at a few of the animals but mostly just watched all the people around us. She just loves being outside.

Oh, and did everyone know Ostrichs' legs bent this way? Creepy.

We've also had friends over to play. This is one of Nora's many boyfriends, Boston. He's just two days younger than her. They love playing together. It's been fun to have friends that have a baby the exact same age as ours so that we can compare milestones.

More posts to come, but I think this is enough for now!

Camping with the fam...

2010-06-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

Finally getting around to posting pictures from Memorial Day. We went camping down at Goblin Valley and had a lot of fun. Camping is very different with a baby, but a whole other kind of fun.

Funny story from the trip:

We got a new car a couple months ago and I'm still trying to get used to the alarm on it. I'm constantly pressing the panic button on accident. It's all sorts of fun and scares the bageezees out of me every time.

So one of the mornings I get Nora and I get up. It's pretty early still, most everyone in our camp is awake but still laying in bed. There's a camp not too far away that's pretty quiet still too. I wasn't sure where Darin was because he got out of bed before me. I went to get Diesel out of the car (that's where we had him sleep) and COMPLETELY forgot about the car alarm once again.

It starts blaring and I'm running around with Nora frantically not sure what to do because Darin has the keys and I've no idea where he is.

All of the sudden I see Darin running down the mountain holding up his pants with one hand and the remote in the other trying to get the thing to shut off. He had most his parts covered but his little behind was shining in the morning sun and it's lucky everyone was still in bed.

How's that for a wake up call?

Nora was a trooper and was even able to manage the 8 mile hike that we did. I, on the other hand, wanted to die for a week straight afterwards.

It was great getting out of the house and into the great outdoors!

Cutest Baby in the World

2010-05-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I know I'm totally biased but I just think she's the most beautiful baby in the whole world.

Half a year has gone by already.

I honestly can't believe how drastically my life has changed in just six months. I mean, I wouldn't go so far to say that I used to be selfish, but I definitely knew how to take care of myself. I would frequently take long soaks in the tub with a magazine, never having to worry about when Darin would bring Nora in crying. I could relax on the couch for hours playing stupid computer games or watching movies without straining my ears for the baby monitor.

I could go shopping without toting 50 pounds of baby items. I mean you all know that running quickly into the store no longer exists after a child. And don't even get me started about going to the movies. How I yearn to watch a movie on the big screen, drink a Coke out of my movie mug, and stuff my face with popcorn. I wish I would have went to a hundred more movies before I had Nora.

But my life is so much more complete with her in it. I'm amazed how she learns and grows every day. She still loves Baby Einstein and watches it almost every day (I use the TV as a babysitter already). I love watching her smile when the caterpillar comes up on the screen.

I started feeding her solids a few weeks ago. She loves sweet potatoes the best so far and hates avocados. She's had pears and bananas and carrots and is really a pretty good eater. However, you wouldn't be able to tell by her weight still. She's in the first percentile still weighing in at a whopping 12 pounds 3 ounces. She's in the 43% for height and 53% for head circumference. She's just a skinny little peanut with a big noggin.

She can almost sit up by herself. She does it for 10-15 seconds before toppling over.

She grabs anything that is put in front of her face, and most things enter her mouth. Which usually consists of her whole hand.

She sleeps pretty well now. I put her in her crib wide awake and she goes to sleep by herself which is great, except for when I'm not at home. Read: church is a nightmare when it's nap time. She wakes up a few times a night for her binki but since I stopped feeding her at night she's been sleeping much better.

But most importantly she's a pretty happy baby (which she didn't used to be) and that makes me happy. Being a mother is so fulfulling. I didn't grow up wanting to be a mother and I definitely never thought I'd be a stay at home mom. Now I wouldn't change it for anything. I'm so grateful for Darin and that he supports us so I can because there's nowhere else in the world I'd rather be.

Not even at a movie.

I love May.....

2010-05-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

I love May. We celebrated our 4th anniversary this past weekend along with Mother's Day.

I can't believe we've been married 4 years. In some ways it seems like the time has flown by and in other ways, it feels like Darin has been in my life for as long as I can remember. I honestly don't know where I would be without him. People say that all the time. I know it's sort of cliche, but truly, I probably wouldn't have been on the best path had he not entered my life. He's such an amazing husband, father, friend. Even when I think he isn't listening to me, he is.

Case in point.

I've been wanting to do a mentorship with one of my favorite photographers for SO LONG. But it just wasn't in the budget and there were so many other things I needed for my business that I hadn't really given it a thought recently. I only mentioned it to him a couple times, but obviously he was listening, because this is what he got me for our anniversary/mother's day. He never disappoints. I'm so excited for it and can't wait for all the things I'm going to learn.

We enjoyed lunch at the park, the beatiful weather, and each other's company.

Last year I got my first Mother's day gift in our ward. A CD or something if I remember right. I was pregnant at the time and couldn't even begin to anticipate what being a mother was going to be like. This year I got a chocolate bar at church, and don't get me wrong, I really liked the chocolate bar, but obviously there's no better gift than just getting to spend every day with my little girl. She brings me more joy than I could ever imagine.

Her and Diesel are best friends already. (Even though the look here signifies that she's absolutely terrified, I promise she wasn't.)

She is OBSESSED with her toes now.

Grab the toes.

Examine the toes.

Insert the toes.

Did I mention she's REALLY good at inserting the toes? She is.

These pictures make me laugh. Darin is a REALLY good Dad, but sometimes he's a little engrosed in his sports or whatever show he's currently occupied with. Sometimes he ignores Nora. And Nora doesn't like to be ignored. So she starts whining and I remind him, "You need to entertain her". I look over to see him haphazardly piling her toys on top of her without really even paying attention. I brought it to his attention and we laughed and then had to snap these funny pictures.

She didn't think it was funny.

I started feeding Nora fresh pears with her cereal. I simmered some pears to soften them up then pureed them and she LOVES it.

This is our life.

Confessions and Such

2010-04-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

Don't feel bad that your kid might not be as cute as mine. We can't all be blessed with beautiful children.

I'm kidding.

I'm sure your kid is cute too.

(cough, cough)

Nora has a new favorite toy. It's called a wrapper. She loves it. It entertained her for half an hour last night.

I hate to admit this but Nora fell off the couch yesterday.

I'm a bad mother.

I knew it was going to happen eventually so don't ask me why I kept sitting her up there. I tell you this, not so that someone can report me to child protection services, but so that if there's anyone out there that feels like the worst parent alive you know you're not alone. I cried for half an hour straight. She cried for a few minutes, and luckily she was fine. I will never leave her on the couch alone again.

Obviously I like talking about happier things but parenting isn't always rainbows and butterful kisses and sometimes it feels good to hear the stupid mistakes other parents have made.

Right? Bueller?

I'm making another quilt. It's beautiful. I can't wait for it to be done.

Bad weather, can you please go away now? Don't you think you've been hanging around long enough? I had to cancel two senior sessions I was insanely excited for. And that makes me angry.

5 months

2010-04-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Does anybody know the things that can happen in 5 months?

In 5 months your baby can learn to roll over. She can learn to start loving her cereal. She can finally slow down on the drooling. Only one bib a day as opposed to three.

In 5 months she can sleep in her own crib. In fact it's pretty much the only place she will sleep. You can lay her down wide awake and she'll drift off to sleep. She's a really good girl.

In 5 months she still doesn't sleep through the night, but the improvement is night and day since she was born. In 5 months when you get her out of her crib she'll smile that smile.

In 5 months she wants to sit up but can't quite get the hang of it. It's baby crunches around here.

In 5 months she still dislikes tummy time. Probably because I don't let her practice too often.

In 5 months she'll already be developing a friendship with the family dog. She'll stare at him any chance she gets. In 5 months I think he's learned to love her too.

In 5 months she's learned to love her Daddy so much. It melts my heart to see them interact. Their relationship makes me love that man even more than I already did.

In 5 months your child might weigh 11 pounds like mine. But maybe not.

In 5 months she'll learn to snuggle. She's always been so alert since she was born, and would never lay her head on my shoulder like most babies do. She does this now. And I only pray she'll never stop.

In 5 months you'll wonder what happened to your heart. Then you'll realize your child has it and you'll be just fine with never getting it back.

In 5 months writing a post about your 5 month child might make you cry.

I did.

Night on the Town

2010-04-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

For Valentine's day we decided we would just get some Jazz tickets and enjoy a night out with just the two of us. It was fun going to the last season game, and they did a special Larry Miller tribute during half time.

It was nice getting out of the house and doing something with Darin. Dinner and a jazz game couldn't have been better.

The Jazz let us down. They got SLAUGHTERED. But it was still a great time sitting on 9th row center court.

Everyone knows I like to see Kyle up close and personal.

Everytime we go out without Nora, I kind of can't wait to get home and see her. It's amazing how much I can miss her after just a few hours.

Easter Traditions

2010-04-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

My family didn't have a lot of traditions growing up. I mean, we ALWAYS got together for Christmas Eve at my grandma's house, but other than that we kind of just winged things as they came. It's been fun since I get married, sharing in all of the Oberg traditions. Every year I look forward to Easter at Darin's parents. We color eggs prior to Easter (even before there were any kids in the family) and then Easter morning we do an egg/basket hunt, followed by a delicious brunch.

It's fun. All of us grown adults run frantically around the house and yard trying to be the first to find all our eggs. It usually ends in all of us whining and Darin's Mom helping us find the last remaining eggs. It makes me feel like a kid again. I love it. And now that we have kids in the family (Mollee 3, Nora 4 months, and Logan 2 months) it's even more fun. Mollee helped the adults find their eggs after she found all her own.

I love traditions. It gives you something to look forward to every year.

Nora's new favorite thing to do is lift her head up off the ground like she's doing a crunch. She wants to sit up so bad but just doesn't quite have the coordination yet. She also just found her toes. She loves grabbing and playing with them.

One more picture from our Easter shoot. I love my little bunny

Hoppy Easter

2010-04-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful day!

Yes, it's another...

2010-03-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

post about Nora. Do you ever expect anything else at this point? A lot has gone on since the last time I posted. We went to her 4 month appointment a week ago. She weighs 10 lbs 3 oz and is 24.25 inches long. She's only in the first percentile for weight. And the fifty second for height. She's so tiny. The doctor said he wasn't concerned because she's gained two pounds since her last appointment, she's just thin.

She HATED the shots and screamed for a good five minutes. It broke my heart. Luckily there was something there to mend the seams. I caught her laughing for the third time on video. I can honestly say I don't think I've felt that kind of joy before. It is the sweetest thing. See for yourself.

I love her.

We also fed her cereal for the first time. She opened up just fine to get the food inside but it didn't stay in there long. I haven't been too persistent in it because she doesn't seem all that interested yet.

I was reading on a friends blog about how her little baby boy is 10 months and she can't believe how fast the time has gone by. It literally made me sad to think that someday (soon) Nora is going to be 10 months. I mean, it really is so fun watching her do and learn new things, but I just want her to stay my tiny baby forever.

(I would totally recommend the Baby Bjorn for anyone that likes to get things accomplished with a baby. Nora would recommend it to. She thinks it's comfy.)

I got my business license and tax ID and everything for my photography business. There's no turning back now. I'm so excited about it. I've learned so much over the winter and can't wait to start applying all of it to my pictures.

Darin has been doing such a good job on the basement. We just had it sheetrocked and just have all the finish work left. New studio, here I come!

I'm glad Summer is getting closer. I can't wait to do all the Summery things with Nora.

We're busy around here and life couldn't be better.

That's all.

A wish and what I ended up with.

2010-03-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

Darin came home two Tuesdays ago and said that he had to go to Australia for work. He said he really wanted me to go but didn't know what we would do with Nora. There was no way I was going anywhere without her, so we tried to find a place that could expedite her passport (why do babies need passports anyway? do they think she's going to go bomb the country?) and we found a place but they had to have the itinerary. Well we weren't too keen on spending $1,200 on a plane ticket without knowing FOR SURE that we would get her passport. So I cried and boobed about how bad I needed a vacation and how my life wasn't fair yadda yadda.

So I decided to g to Vegas. I know it's not a conventional place to take a 4 month old but it was a close place with sun and my mom lives there. So we packed up the car and got ready to drive down with Grandma. The drive was nothing short of a nightmare. Nora HATES the car. There were lots and lots of tears involved.

What would normally be a 5 and a half hour drive took closer to 7 and a half. There were a few stops involved.

Darin got us a room at the MGM so we would have a pool to hang out at. We had a nice view of Hooters and the airport.

I sure got a lot of comments on Nora from people in the hotel. One guy even went as far to say that she was the cutest baby he'd seen since he'd been there. I kind of wanted to say that it was probably the only baby he'd seen since he'd been there. But she is adorable, so I couldn't deny the remark.

(Can't count on my Mom to take a decent picture with my camera. I need a point and shoot)

(My new favorite picture)

It was so fun dressing her in all her little summer clothes.

But obviously the main attraction of the trip was the fun in the sun. And man was it HOT! 80 degrees and perfect temp water. I was in total Heaven. And Nora liked it too.

She lounged around in the sun.

Took dips in the pool with Mom.

And then pretty much got all tuckered out.

I've got to say she was probably the cutest girl at the pool in her swimsuit. Hands down.

But at the end of the day we were excited to come home and see Darin. Nora missed her Daddy and I missed my man. Sometimes there's nothing better than lounging on the couch over the weekend.

The trip got me even more excited for Summer than I already was. It was a nice getaway. I can't say it was too relaxing, because nothing is that relaxing anymore. But it was a nice change of pace. Thanks for hanging with us Mom.

Love and Stuff

2010-03-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

We spent the last couple of nights celebrating the love of my cousin to her great fiance, Sterling. They had a fun rehearsal dinner with delicious food. Their wedding last night was beautiful. They're so in love..in fact it's a little bit nauseating. But, it does make me think of Darin.

It makes me think how much I'm in love with Darin and how far we've come since we got married almost 4 years ago. I'm so happy with the life we've created. We're healthy and happy. We have a beautiful daughter that makes my life complete every single day.

On a less serious note, I've been shopping. And I'm definitely not the only one around here dreaming of Summer. I can't get Nora to take off her swimsuit.

And when she's not running around the house in her swimsuit she's playing with her toys.

In fact, she plays so hard that she falls asleep mid grab.

I've been busy crafting stuff in my down time.

We've got some fun stuff going on next week. See ya back here then!

Sleepy Silly Girl

2010-03-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how much Nora's demeanor has changed in the last week or so. She's gone from whiny and fussy to laid back and happy. It's amazing the transformation. She hardly cries anymore and is so smiley all the time. She's learning to entertain herself with toys and it's so exciting seeing her learning new things.

But the funniest thing she's been doing lately is her sleeping habits. She used to only be able to fall asleep in one certain position, and that's if I was holding her with her right arm looped up under my arm and her other arm resting on my chest. It's the ONLY way she would fall asleep. She was never the baby that would fall asleep on your shoulder or laying on your chest.

But she's finally starting to fall asleep in other positions. This last weekend Darin was doing some chores around the house while holding her and he looked down and she was zonked. It was the first time she had EVER done this. We laughed and laughed.

Since then she's started doing it a lot. Silly sleepy girl.

I'm loving all the blue skies as of late.

It was so nice today. I have the worst SPRING FEVER. Winter, please go away, SOON!

Some things I've been doing...

2010-03-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

When I get a spare moment, which is a little more often nowadays, I work on crafts. I finished this cute little decoration for Nora's room and it only took me about an hour.

I also finished these two cute little onesie dresses. One for my niece and one for Nora. I love how they turned out. I mean, as long as I don't look too close at the stitching or anything..

Doesn't she look so sweet? I know she's still small but isn't she kind of starting to look like a little girl?

I also totally revamped my photography blog. It took two days but I love how it turned out.

I did a newborn session for my friend, Jessica.

She was just the cutest little thing. So sleepy.

Check out more of the pictures at my photography blog.

But of course the majority of my time is still spent on this sweet thing. It's finally getting to where I can put her down for 30 minutes and she can entertain herself. It's so nice. My arms are starting to become my own again.

Yanno how when you're sleep deprived everything becomes funny? I was putting on her onesie the other morning and I was having a hard time getting it over her big noggin. I couldn't help but snap a pic, and I seriously sat there and laughed by myself for a good ten minutes. She finally smiled but I'm sure she was probably thinking "Can you stop laughing and put my clothes on?".

Gosh, I love her.

My Peanut

2010-02-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

Nora turned three months on Saturday. I can't believe my little peanut is three months already. She's finally outgrown most of her newborn clothes. It all fits in the body but is too short in the arms and legs. She's such a tall little skinny thing. It makes me sad to bag those clothes up and put them away. It's just the first indicator that she's growing up. I'm just lucky she was tiny for so long.

Sleep isn't going great. She likes to wake up every few hours. And instead of waiting for her to cry, I just take her out because I know she's not going to go back to sleep. And I'm not going to go back to sleep until she's sleeping. I'm sure I'm making it worse. A part of me wants to move her into her room, because I'm thinking I'd disturb her less and vice versa, but I hate that idea too. Every time I mention it to Darin, he says, "Maybe this weekend" I think he's been saying that for the last 3 weekends. Man, he loves that little girl. Those of you that had your little one in your room with you, when did you finally make the move? One side of me wants to start developing good habits now, the other part of me could care less about habits. I hate to move her across the house, but a woman's got to get some sleep! There have been some nights where she's gone 6 1/2 hours, but I swear it's like the good nights make the bad nights that much harder.

She found her hands the last couple weeks. We love watching her discover new things. She looks like a little chipmunk eating an acorn.

Sometimes they taste good.

Sometimes, apparently, not so much.

She's growing and she's learning, but she's still just our little peanut.

Her Smile

2010-02-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

She's been smiling for awhile now but I haven't been able to catch it on my real camera...until tonight.

She loves smiling at her Daddy when he gets home from work. It seriously melts my heart.

Tonight she was looking at me like she loved me so much. It was one of the best feelings. I can tell she recognizes me now. She can find me across the room. She's a Mommy's girl...for now.

But she's got Daddy wrapped around her finger already. I heard him tell her tonight that he would get her anything she wanted.

I love that her personality is starting to shine through.

But don't be fooled...it's not all smiles and sunshine around here.

Sometimes things are downright crappy. (Pun intended).

This worried me. There was so much, and it was dark green, but we're back to good old mustard yellow now. You know you've become a Mommy when you get excited over yellow poops.

We've been watching lots of Olympics over here. For some reason, I don't feel as guilty sitting on the couch all night to watch Olympics like I do when it's reality TV shows.

Darin really loves watching figure skating. :)