The Marvelous Month of May

May is a fun month for me because it's both my Birthday and Mother's Day. I was lucky enough to have them on seperate days this year! I'm officially in my late 20s! :) I still feel young though and I'm in the best shape of my life. So no complaints here.

My first Mother's Day gift this year was that both Sofie and I slept in!! Then, she was so cute that as soon as she woke up, she found her old car seat, grabbed a book, blanket and bear and snuggled right in. So darling. Derek made breakfast and took care of Sofie for the rest of the day. The Elder's quorum at church blessed each lady with a DOZEN cookies!!

Also, no complaints about the amazing Costco chocolate cake. It doesn't get more chocolatey than that. Pretty sure we have a new tradition for Mother's Day...what's better than chocolate for this mom?

After a great day of birthday wishes and people spoiling me with wonderful and perfectly chosen gifts, Derek took me out to Sushi. I could die. It was sooooooooooooo good!! I am usually too poor and have to make my own cheap sushi. Restaurant sushi is a million times better! This ENTIRE plate was full of sushi and we ate every last bit. I would have eaten even more if I hadn't eaten an entire cow at 5 Guys earlier in the day! (Also amazing was the fact that after eating cookies, cake, sweet rolls, cupcakes, 5 Guys burger and fries, more chocolate, and a ton of sushi, ALL weekend and most of the week, I only gained 1 pound. Probably a record low for the Birthday/Mother's Day binge.)

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful gifts and words! I have so many people who love and support me!

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Yesterday, between rain showers, we enjoyed the most wonderful weather! We got to really take in the Spring in it's fulness. We should have known, however, that today would be miserable. This is how we keep busy in the sunshine:

Sofie is learning to "budge" on the trampoline. (I'm assuming she means bounce) Look at how much air she's getting these days!

Discovering Roly-Poly bugs, or as Derek calls them, Pill bugs.

Pruning the apple and peach trees with G-pa.

Watch out for the monkey!

(ps, there would have been a picture of me as well, but nobody taught Derek that it's rude to take pictures of his wife's backside from the widest angle possible...)




Then of course, it didn't last, so today we had to be creative to keep little Sofie distracted. So, I pulled out a metal bowl (great for a noisy fun effect) and a bag of dried black-eyed peas (the most visually stimulating) and a few other things like tupperware, spoons, and cupcake pans. She's been going at it for a least half an hour. Doesn't even know I'm in the room!

Who knew it could so much fun to make a mess!

Good thing I own a broom :)

In Sickness and Health

Resting with Daddy after a tough fit of hysterical crying. :(

Turns out she had both ears infected as well as a nasty cough, nasal congestion and teeth trying to come through. Poor thing.

She sure loves her Daddy, even enough to share her string cheese with him!

A week later, she's feeling much better (although still not napping very well). This Sunday I finally got to show her off in her Easter Dress. (She was too sick last week.) I went all out and even whipped out the curling iron.

I felt guilty using hairspray on a 19 month old, but it was sure DARLING!!

Easter Wonderfulness

Between Conference Sessions we managed to rush around and enjoy Easter parties as well. Such a wonderful time to remember Christ's sacrifice for us.

Blowing bubbles with Sierra at the Porcaro party. She ate more bubbles than she blew.

Sweet Easter Babe.

Egg hunting.

The spoils. Not a big fan of black licorice jelly beans!

Easter Basket! (still a little young for most candy, so she mostly got stuff)

My two little Bunnies! (She was leaning over 'cuz I stood right in front of the tv...silly couch potato)

Cousins in town for the week! They're so darling together. I had to put up 3 pictures.

Music and babies. Warms the soul.

I could just kiss 'em!

(unforunately, they both have snotty noses and coughs this week!)

Visit to St. George

The last week of March, we made a trip to St. George for Kristy's baby shower. It was soooo great to have sunshine and short sleeve weather for a few days. Unfortunately, we came home to snow. :( Here's a few pictures of how the weekend went for Sofie. I don't usually get pics of me or Derek!

The dress I made for Kristy's baby-to-be (from a pillowcase)

Sofie loving the sandbox until sundown.

Uncle Mike giving scooter rides.

Weeding with Papa.

Sofie's Easter get-up. I decided since it was Conference over Easter, that she could wear it a week early.

Rockstar Princess.

In-Law Appreciation Day

Is there such a thing as In-Law Appreciation Day? If not, it should be today. These are the wonderful quilts/blankets that were given to Sofie by Grandma B. I helped pick out the first two of course, but she did a good job of picking out the third one!

The darling Farm Animal blanket that Sofie loves to play with more than cuddle with.

I tied this one :)

The cute outfit also given by Grandma B.

So delighted! This squeal even came with clenched fists!! Softest blanket in the world.

Thanks so much!!

"More, Peez?"

This morning as I dressed Sofie for the day she was distracted by all her pretty bows. So, I put one in her hair. She continued to insist on "more?" (which is a word and a sign that she's got down pat) After 5 bows I decided that would be enough for now :) So darling!

A little fancy for breakfast, but she was pretty pleased with herself!

A doppleganger to be proud of!

Not a darling picture of Sofie, but Bon Jovi was the first thing that came to my mind when I got her out of her crib this morning!! A good laugh!

Yay! I Did Something Crafty!

And it WORKED!!

A darling little dress for Sofie

(made out of.....drumroll.....an old pillowcase!!)

link here

Detail from the bottom of the pillowcase/dress

My messy little model (nearly impossible to get a shot). She loves it!
I made it big enough for her to grow into this summer.

Merry Christmas Happy Birthday to me!!

Some of you may know that I have a tendency to hang on to money and gift cards that I get at birthday times and Christmas. I just so rarely get to spend money on "whatever" that I have to make sure it's a really good purchase. Make it absolutely worth it. So, today I received in the mail one of those absolutely worth it purchases! I had cash from my last birthday (9 mos ago) and a JC Penney gift card from 2 Christmases ago (thank you Ronica!!), and used some thriftiness of online discount codes, and a good find. And got this for free!! I'M SOOOOO THRILLED! Derek and I have never had a real bedspread, not to mention a matching skirt and shams!

Here's the whole getup. We got the spread, skirt and 2 shams. (picture courtesy jcp.com)

Here's one of the shams, my camera doesn't do the sage any justice. It looks blue in this pic. I'm just so happy that I finally have a bedspread that will match all my random Chinese junk!

And.....drumroll please......I have been given the OK to buy a new mattress! Yay!! Mine is a NIGHTMARE! New bedspread+newmattress=best Valentine's ever!