These are the Moments

I just had to punch in a quick post this morning before I start the day. Marin this morning was just so sweet. I had brought her back to bed and fed her and sat her up on my belly so she could look at daddy putting his tie on for work, because she loooooves daddy, he always gets BIG smiles. Anyway, she looks at Kris, looks back at me, and lays down and puts her head on my chest to snuggle! So sweet! Marin NEVER does this, she wants to see the world, ALL the time, and it was so darling this morning, it just melted my heart. Those are the kinds of moments every mama hopes for I guess :)

Not much on the agenda for today. Put some oil in my car, get some soy milk for baby and clean the upstairs. it is really in sad shape.

The Relief Society president called me yesterday and asked me to teach a segment of the upcoming enrichment meeting. The theme is "forgotten traditions of our grandmothers" or something like that. Well, anyway, she ased me if I would teach a class on how to make your own baby food! So cool! I'm really excited about it actually, and have been thinking about some information to include. I'll keep you all posted though. Making your own baby food is SOOOOO easy, it makes me wonder why more people don't do it. I'm not sure if people think that the baby food aisle is THE ONLY place to get food for your baby or if they think the baby food companies add in special miracle-baby-GRO nutrients or what. Not that jarred food is bad, but it can get pricey! I'll post a special blog on making your own baby food :)

I think I may have found a new favorite store. Home Goods. Kris and I wandered in there the other week after our date, and they had some wonderful cook-top dutch ovens on sale for NOTHING! I reeeeeally wanted one, but it was still not something we could affors right at the moment, so we left it. Well last night, we wandered back, and had all been snatched up! I was sad, but, I did notive they had a few peices of my dream cookware, ALL-CLAD. It was sooo much cheaper than the stuff at Williams-Sonoma, and once again, I was tempted, but, for another day . . . .


Picture Time!

Marin's cute new sippy cups.
Marin figuring out her cute new sippy cup.

Story time!

Ahhhh, her exploration has reached new heights! With careful supervision of course.

For those of you who have never had homemde fresh bread, it is something out of fairy tales. I am telling you, SOOOOO good! I made this last night and paired it with some jam I made the day before, a strawberry-pineapple-apple jam. Just DE-licious!

Have a fabulous weekend, I'm off to work tomorrow and Saturday :)

Memorial Day Bust

Ahhhh, the best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry. I should already know this having a 9 month old, but alas. . . . I suppose I have much to learn yet. Kris and I planned to go up to St. George today, but we ended up going sooner than we thought, driving up last night. It's only an hour and a half away, so we found a dirt cheap hotel room (those are ALWAYS fun!) and settled down for the night, or so we thought. Marin went down at 9:00 and Kris and I followed suite at 9:30. I guess I'm glad we went to bed as early as we did, because Marin was up and fit to be tied at midnight. No amount of tummy rubbing or nursing or head rubs could soothe her. we even took her in the bath tub with no luck. So we all stayed awake and watched Seasame Street until 3 am when she finally dozed off. Then it was up again at 6:30, once again, in a crying rage. Ugh. I initially thought maybe her belly was hurting from the milk she drank that night, but she continued like this all. . .morning. . . long! Of course I dosed her up with tylenol and pried her mouth open to feel for the ever suspicious teething lumps. I didn't feel anything this morning, but I thought I saw some little lumps tonight on her bottom gums, so some fresh new teeth may very well be erupting their way into more sleepless nights for a flashy new smile for baby :)

But, I guess the trip wasn't totally lost. We got to go to Denny's for breakfast. We didn't go climbing, we didn't go for a hike, we didn't even get to go to the park, but we sure as heck got to go to Denny's for breakfast! Marin is such a big girl and can pretty much eat what we eat (no, not burgers and fries, dad!), this morning she had grits, banana, grapes and apple juice. Not bad!

Marin is really growing up, and getting up too! She is pulling herself up on everything now, the cooler, the dishwasher, the fouton, the drawers (when she doesn't shut them on her fingers :( ), the dog, anything. She also just started to cruise! Walking along the side of the fouton, chasing the ever elusive and troublesome remote control (mean mama!). Such a big girl :) Her balance though is something to be desired, although it's getting better everyday, she has a big goose egg on her precious little noggin from a cooler-and-slippery-kitchen-floor-incident. We have been working on the stairs too, and I think she's got it down! I put a toy a few steps up and she grunts and pushes and bends and flexes her little body up the stairs to get her toy and big round of applause and kisses from mommy. And next on her list, we found a bottle alternative. I think maybe this past weekend, we have determined that although she can do sippy cups, she's not really a big fan, so we switched to straws, and she LOVES them. Kris bought some waaaay cute straw sippy cups, so I'll have to take some pics.

Enough about Marin! (Just kidding, I love writing about her as much as you all love to read about her). But seriously, Saturday was LOVELY :) I was called off from work (BUT, put on standby, so I had to stick close to home in case they called me in). We took this opportunity to run a bunch of much needed errands. I, got some new specs! Yeah, I was in DESPERATE need of new frames for my glasses (essentially, one arm was totally off and they were a shameful display of crooked nerdiness on my face). I love my new frames, which I still need to take of picture of, they make me look super smart! We also rearranged the guest bedroom, to make room for an MBA student. Kris's first class is tomorrow, but he has an assignment already, so he needs a quiet place to study. It's a bit of a tight squeze, but the room didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would.

Ok, I am in desperate need of sleep, I have a full day of baby watching ahead of me tomorrow, so off to bed!

Marin, totally zonked as we shipped out of St.George today, after her long, unsleepless night. Stinker.


A VERRRY sleepy girl waiting for breakfast at Denny's.

A 2 AM shot of the trouble maker in our hotel room.

Last week when Marin wasn't eating. Mommy gave up and dumped her food on the tray so she could do it herself.

Marin helping mommy in the kitchen! My little chef :)

Standing up at her play table, she likes to open and close the little lid on the side, that's her favorite.

Happy Girl!

Have a great one guys!

Textbook Baby

Phew! What a busy week! My goodness, and it's not over yet, but almost :) Here's a quick recap. . .

Monday: Poor miss monkey had a fever all day long. She had been a bit fussy during the night and I didn't pay much attention, but that morning I went to get her and she had barfed all over herself! Poor thing! And it was A LOT! So all day we were checking fevers and giving tylenol and cleaning up messy diapers and taking naps. All while I was getting stuff ready for my meeting at 7. My butt hurt that night after sitting on the fouton all day. My meeting went well though. I think now that we're getting down to the nitty gritty of what we are really supposed to be doing, it's getting a bit more fun, if policy review can EVER sound fun (I SWEAR that must be an oxymoron!) Anyway, 2 hours later, meeting. . . DONE!

Tuesday: We spent the day finishing recouperating from fever monday. But in the meantime, we went to Costco (my NEW favorite wholesale store by the way) and bought some much needed freezer and pantry items, and a few veggies too. I used the coupons they sent out in the mail, and saved 30 bucks! I am indeed a coupon clipper now, who would have thought that my planner would be littered with tiny pieces of paper that fall out in my purse and get lost. I seem to remember my mother having a rather large coupon collection when I was growing up. . . .

Oh and Kris had to be at the employment center from 7-9pm, such a great guy, he is really doing a great job with this calling. Such a trooper! (ok, that was cheesy)

Wednesday: Baby and I headed off to the distrubution center to pick up some much needed apparal (the temple is across town, so it's a bit of a drive). Then we went to Wal-Mart to pick up some things, except when I gt there, I couldn't remember what I needed! So I came home with a bunch of other stuff before I finally remembered what I had forgot! Then is was off to YW at 7, they were making some stuff for camp:)

Today: Marin had her 9 month check up today! Hooray! I can't believe she is 9 months old! Such a big girl. I asked the doctor about her commando crawl and if that was normal, and he said as long as she is on the move, that's considered crawling :) I also had a bunch of questions about weaning her and what to do and he was able to make me feel a bit better. Marin weighed in at 17 pounds! I was curious as to why she didn't weigh as much as I thought she would, I guess the doc was saying she is starting to fulfill her genetic profile. Babies start to slow down at about this time, because if they didn't, we would all be 8 feet tall and weigh 700 pounds! He said she was textbook, so that's always what a mama wants to hear :)

After that we ran home and ate a quick lunch before we headed over to meet my friend Heidi. She took us to her in-laws house to go swimming. Marin had so much fun! She just loves to splash in the water :) Poor thing was EXHAUSTED tonight. She didn't get her afternoon nap and had only been catnapping, so she was more than ready for her nice warm bed, where she slumbers now :) And, Kris is back at the employment center tonight, poor guy is exhausted!

Tomorrow and Saturday is work. Kris has Monday off, and we were hoping to get out of dodge for a night. As much as we would like to get up to Salt Lake, we don't have enough time to make a 17 hour round trip in 36 hours :( Hopefully soon though, we miss our family up there! So, in lieu of Salt Lake, we are hoping to get up to St. George on Sunday night, spend the night and go climbing early in the morning. It has been a WHILE since I've been on the rocks, so we'll see how that goes.

Miss Marin in he third outfit after an accident on Monday. Isn't she still the sweetest thing?!


Mommy just LOOOOVES that little face.

Happy girl on Sunday night!

Have a great one!

Na Na Na Na. . . Na Na Na Na. . . . .

Marin's latest sound is the chorus from a vintage 1960's song. Nananannaaaanannnaaaa. This morning she was pretty vocal. Kris has noticed that Marin has been jabbering a lot more lately, which is cute, but it certainly does get loud around here! I guess she is gearing up for some big words!

I have been wondering and wondering what the deal is with Marin and her commando crawl. I can't figure out if that is just her way of crawling or if she isn't getting it. I have read quite a few articles online that say every baby crawls differently, and as long as your baby is on the move and getting places, everything is right on track. I guess I should have not been so concerned, Marin is a lot like her mama, and does things the way she wants to do them, in her own gosh darn time :) Such a sweet girl, she is everywhere! I keep pulling random things out of her mouth, I don't know where she finds this stuff!

We all went over to our friends house for dinner tonight. Ryan and Becca have a 3 year old little girl and a 10 month old little boy, and they are so fun to be with. Becca loves to cook too, so it's really fun to chat with her about the different things she tries in the kitchen. We had pork chops with apples, yummy zucchini, mashed potatos and rolls with homemade strawberry jam, yum! After dinner we took a quick walk down the street, I think it was more to tire out her 3 year old before she went to bed, but it was nice to socialize. We were chatting about how hard it is to coincide schedules, but hopefully we can do it again soon!

Ok, I have a policy meeting tomorrow night and I have a bunch of suff to prepare, so have a great one guys!

I figured I could squeeze in a quick post while my little monkey is napping. Today has been a pretty good day, even though Marin was up at 4am for a snack, I think it was because it got cold in her room, the AC is definately on in our house nowadays. Marin took a nice long nap this morning and it was enough time for me to do my pilates, get ready and start putting away clean clothes in the bedroom. Today has been mostly cleaning, I have one of my Young Women coming over tonight at 4:30 to watch Marin. Kris and I have pretty booked schedules next week, and tonight is the only night we can squeeze in a date! We'll just be going to dinner, as this is the first time I've left Marin with a non-adult (!!!! RELAX SAMANTHA!). I'm actually ok with it. Marin is a big girl, and Alyssa, my YW is a very mature 13 year old. Heck, I started babysitting when I was just barely 13, although, I did have a lot of experience watching two rambunctious rugrats at that time already :) I think maybe Kris and I will head to Sammy's woodfired pizza, they have the BEST pizza there, it is just delicious. Last time I went, I had their chicken barbeque pizza, which was actually the inspiration for the pizza I made at my family's Christmastime pizza throwdown (2nd place ain't too bad!).

Kris told me last night that everything is set for school to start! Paperwork is done and processed, and he'll be starting in 2 weeks. 2 weeks! Ack! So, this will be our "hard" general schedule for the next 18 months, give to take a few things:

Monday: S: Policy meeting 7-9pm, if not then FHE!
Tuesday: K: Class a 6pm-10pm after getting off work at 5.
Wednesday: S: YW 7-8:30pm
K: Meetings for ward employment issues at 7pm
Thursday: K: Employment Center (calling stuff) 7-9pm
Friday and Saturday: S: work 7a-8:30p (blech!)
Sunday: K: possible morning meeting for calling
S: possible afternoon meeting for YW

This is just what's on the HARD calendar, not to mention fitting in legwork for my work meetings, running a house (you ALL know what that means), taking care of baby and dog, temple visits, Dr's visits, trips to the library, trips to the gym, and fr Kris, doing extra homework, making phone calls for his other calling, getting up at 6am to bike with the dog. Are we there yet?!


Marin enjoying her bath, and I hear her now squeeling in her crib, so off I go!

Prayer and Scriptures

I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to load a video for you all, to no avail. It is the cutest video of Marin eating spaghetti. She LOVES spaghetti! She gets it from both sides, the Lyman family is known for their love of spaghetti, as is the Owens family. I myself am not the biggest fan of spaghetti, but I will say that when I was pregnant, I ate more spaghetti than I think I ever had before, so Marin liked it from the start, the little spaghetti head. Anyway, the video shows Marin with a piece of spaghetti hanging out of her mouth, and then. . . slurp! She sucks it right in, just the cutest. She has really been enjoying what mommy and daddy eat for dinner and wants to sample it all :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful mother's day! Kris made me a heart shaped pancake, some scrambled eggs and some fresh fruit for breakfast, such a sweet man :) I love my hunny. It was a good day with my family :)

In light of . . . I guess, a need to be a better couple and individuals, Kris and I are bumping up our prayer and scripture reading. I have found, speaking for myself, that being a mom has been one of the most exhausting jobs EVER! It has made me better in so many ways, but I think it has also brought to the surface a lot of my inadequacies. Being so consumed in the care of an infant and a home, I tend to spend so much time focusing on the important things, that I have been neglecting the essential things, among other things unfortunately. And I can certainly feel it too, I know I am not as patient as I should be, or forgiving. Well, enough of that, there are a lot of things that I need to start paying attention to, and one of them is myself. Beginning with the inside and what counts, and then maybe getting a foxy new hair-do (LONG overdue!) or a massage!

Kris starts school in a few weeks, and I can't believe it's coming up so soon! I know Kris is reeeeally excited, and I guess I am too, but it's hard for me to be so pumped up about knowing I'll be spending LESS time with my husband. Having the job at University of Phoenix and being able to go to school is such a blessing. I knew right when Kris first started interviewing that this job would be a really good thing, and help him to accomplish his goals. So, school is the next step in that process, and that is a very good thing.

Picture Time!


We took Marin to the "Butterfly Park" the other day, and it has a great little water section for the kids. Marin had lots of fun, and although she didn't get to directly in the water, she had fun grabbing at the spouts :)

I love this shot :) She's trying to catch the water.

Sitting in the grass with mommy and puppy!

Hanging out with daddy!

Smile for the camera!

Ah-HA! I got a new apron as a gift for mothers day from Kris's step-mom Sallie. She was so sweet and actually MADE it herself! Well, it is very multi-colored and I just LOVE it! She also made one for Marin too, and I need to still get a picture of her in it. Mamma is going to teach her all the tricks of the trade! Anyway, I just LOVE the apron :)

Have a great one!

(1 of 2) From the Birthday Girl. . .

Ahhhh the big 25 has arrived. That's right, I have turned a quarter century old! I NEVER thought that day would come. When you're younger, you think that the future is sooooo FAR away, that getting married and having babies only happens to you when you are an adult, and then all of the sudden. . . BAM! Some guy comes along and sweeps you off your feet and off to a far away magical city and then you celebrate an anniversary and grow a belly and have a baby and then. . . 25. I thought that 25 only happened to people who were grown up, and I don't remember growing up, I don't remember when that happened! But alas, it has come and gone, and I suppose I am working my way to 26 now <8^0 That is just crazy to me.

The birthday however was a very good one, well the celebration was. My birthday was the 30th, a Thursday, and since I work Friday's, the best bet was going out Wednesday night, so out we went, sans child :) Our friends watched Marin for us (including feeding and bathing!) and we went to a French restaurant called Marche Bacchus. It was just a few miles away actually, and located on a lake, so we ate next to the water (and waterfall!) and listened to live jazz, just lovely. we had a cheese sampler and mussels to start, soooo good! With fresh bread and the most yummy balsamic vinegar. For dinner, I had the duck confit and Kris had the lobster pot pie, both were really yummy, and for dessert, we both had carmel bread pudding. I can't tell you how nice it was to be alone with my husband, just talking and hearing the waterfall and the saxaphone, ah just soo nice :)

Thursday was a tiny celebration at home, Kris brought home a little cake and some flowers and had a few little gifts for me, he is such a sweet husband. He got me an immersion blender (for when I make leek soup or tomato soup), a kitchen scale (for measuring chocolate or other stuff when I bake), a splatter guard (to put on the sautee pan when I do meat), and some tiny spatulas (nothing says 'I love you' like a spatula!). Of course he can never go wrong getting me some kind of gadget for my kitchen, I guess it's kind of like a guy getting tools for his toolbox :)

Pictures!

This is actually MY birthday present to ME! A new purse! It has been sooooo long since I have bought a new purse for myself, and it was between this one, or a light blue one, Marin picked this one though, so now I have a snazzy new yellow/gold purse!

Our table with bread and dipping goodies.

The waiter was nice to take a pic for us.

The little waterfall to my left as I was sitting at the table.

The view from our table.

Happy Birthday girl!

Next post to arrive soon, so stay posted!