*sPrInG*

What has been going on this month- 

Colby had a brief and work-filled spring break.

I finished my winter term with okay grades (only get a two week break- boo).

Drex James Moody was born- his mom and him had a rough go for a little while, but thankfully, they are both on the uphill swing. He is sooooo cute and I can't wait to meet him!

The weather has been very enticing.

Dates with friends have been tempting.

Walks with our pooch have been  a hoot.

Playing at the church pavilion provides for lots of exploring.

The chicks, bunnies, ducks, and turkey's are in at Cal Ranch and IFA and we make frequent visits to both places to check these cute little critters out.

The phone dump includes: rosy cheeks from playing outside- mom and Charlie getting stacked with toys- a future dog dentist on our hands?- cheese- watching mom leave for work out the front door- cuddle with mom- morning movie time- no blanket? that's okay we'll use a wipe- Great-Grandma Joyce and Aunt Deb came to visit and brought a duck it's her new favorite stuffed animal.

Because it has been so long since an update: funky sleeping- cuddle with Grandma Nikki- I went to a med/surg conference at IMC and these were the ladies that I went with (and Kall's daughter)- kisses for mom- bloodshot eyes- cuddle with Charlie- giving Diamond, the horse, a kiss- yummy food, another funky sleeping position.

Funny facts about our almost two year old:

She calls chocolate milk 'bunny' cause there is a bunny on the Nesquik container.

Whenever she spills something she says 'honey' cause that is what we have always said to her when she spills. 

She mimics everything we say including fart, burp, boobies, ect. We need to be more careful. 

She loves to cover her toys, Charlie, and anything else with a blanket. She uses wipes to wrap up the remotes. 

She loves her friends Layne, Tayte, and Lainey and asks for them all the time. She also asks about Ady who is my cousin Aaron's little girl who she has only played with once. Then there is Brody- the first thing she asked when walking into Russ and Nikki's house this last time was "where's Brody?" 

And she won't say Dylan or Shayda but she will say Mae (which is Shayda's middle name).

She loves to color.

The two shapes she can identify and say are heart and circle.

She knows where a lot of body parts are including shoulder, elbow, knees, toes, fingers, eyes, nose, ears, eyebrow, chin, teeth, tongue, belly, heart, and more.

She still loves all animals and can name a whole slew of them. 

She loves to say she is pretty and points to and says princess when she sees a princess. 

She gives THE BEST kisses. She will grab my face and kiss my nose, then cheeks, then forehead, then lips. I love it. 

She is so good when we ask her if she wants to have family prayer, she runs to the couch to bow her head. Then when we are done with the prayer, she says a resounding 'AMEN!'

She is really good at taking her dirty clothes into her room to put in her hamper. She makes sure she gets every last thing into it including the socks.

She will wipe up her 'honey's' all the while saying 'honey, honey.'

She will put her toys in the toy box and her kitchen stuff back in her pretend fridge.

She doesn't like it when her place at the table is dirty and she'll say 'cucky.'
She says 'happle' for apple and 'hallow' for pillow- she must really like how H's come out of her mouth!
We are converting her to one nap THIS week- I have been saying I think she is ready for one nap for months now but I have really enjoyed the two- but I REALLY think that the time has come.
She has been obsessed with the 'potty' lately- we have set her on it but she doesn't do anything- she just gets off and wants to flush the toilet! I am soooo not ready to start potty training- diapers are so convenient- expensive but convenient. 

We love our little munchkin and love to watch her learn new things every day!

February Love

Last week we enjoyed some sun!

My three favorites!

We baked some heart shaped cookies for my Daddy Daughter Date activity with my Activity Day's girls

She has learned how to lick the beater well.......I my self am a pro!

We baked some miniature ones to share with her friends that came over on Valentines day- I didn't have any red food coloring so they were yellow hearts!

This little munchkin has become a little bit of a mama's girl....can't say that I'm hating it. It's kinda nice to be the one that she wants for once.

Colby and I got to go to dinner for Valentines this year without her!! Ha ha- we took her over to my cousin Rick's house and his boys watched her while Rick, Amber (his wife that I work & carpool with), Colby, and I enjoyed some good ole Ninja!! YYYYUUUUUMMMM

This is what usually happens while I'm trying to cook dinner....actually...this is a mild mess compared to the damage this little tornado can do!

She loves to point and say "NO"........she doesn't exactly enunciate the 's' for snow. But I love hearing her say it! (FYI- she was only out in the cold for a minute before I hustled her back in the house to get warm.) 

After lots and lots of begging, we put on a coat and headed back to see the snow!

Regardless of having a coat on the bug was already in motion and the next morning she woke up feeling crummy. She spent the entire day on the couch with Charlie.....she even fell asleep.....which she doesn't do unless she is in her crib!

She is now feeling better but still has a runny nose and cough- I hate it when kiddos are sick!

This is how we do it...........

A few weeks ago I went through my pantry- it was getting a little scary in there! I was super sad because I found sooooo much food that had expired. So I took notice and decided to donate some of the food that I know we wouldn't get through before it would expire. Needless to say, that food is still in my trunk awaiting the day I take a minute to drop it off at the Care and Share. 

                                            (Food to Donate)                                                  (Food that Expired :-(...)   

The last weekend in January I met up with some of my favorite women. My mom, aunts, cousins, and cousin-in-laws. We have made the resolution to get together at least once a year-----we had a BLAST!!!! Its amazing the things you can learn and the connections that can be made in just a couple days. We simply kicked Misha's kids and hubby out of their house and took over every nook and cranny of her house! We played games and ate good food and shopped every consignment shop in St. George. I left anxious for the next time! I was so mad at myself that I forgot my camera! So I snapped a couple pics with my phone but they don't have everyone in them- grrrrr! Amber (cousin-in-law), Monica (cousin), and Dianne (Aunt), were all there at some point as well!

(Left to right: Aunt Suz, Aunt Jody, Misha, and Cicelie...cousins)

(Left to right: Leah...cousin-in-law, Tricia...cousin, Mom, and me)

Then this last weekend, I ventured to the other end of the state for a conference called Time Out for Women in Layton with my in-laws. There were so many inspiring, funny, and uplifting words that were spoken and some great music to go along. We all felt so good afterwords. 

(Right to left: Chelise, Crystal, Karlee, and Nikki) 

On the first day of the conference, I kept seeing a girl that I just knew had to be my old friend from high school rodeo. So I "facebooked" her to ask so that I didn't go running up to some stranger looking like an idiot! It was, in fact, Jandie and coincidentally at the Saturday session, she was sitting right in front of me! It was sooooo good to see her--- (it's been almost 7 years!) I can't believe its almost been that long since I graduated high school!

Isn't she gorgeous....... Look at those eyes!

I came back to reality to this little nudist.....well....half nudist. She decided that she needed her diaper and pants to be low-riding.

Why do we buy toys for kids.....boxes provide hours of entertainment, my phone is fun to take funny pics with, Charlie makes for fun, and a binky is a girl's best friend.

CHHHEEEEESSEE!!!

Monday Quicky

Because of my commitments (explained in previous post), I have been TRYING to spend less time on the internet.....blogging included. However, because I do feel that it is important to document my family...here we are again!

I also haven't been getting out my big camera very much lately! The weather, even though it is relatively mild this winter, hasn't been inspiring me. You can only get so many 'shots' in the living room and kitchen! But I always have my phone on me and I am soooo grateful it has a camera. It is my little point-and-shoot that I take EVERYWHERE so I'm not missing too many moments. If you follow my instagram feed you see many of these.......they aren't as good of quality but they are good enough for who its for!

Millie has a friend, Layne, that gets to come over every Tuesday while his mom goes to school in St. George. They have soooo much fun playing and running around! Heck, he even blow dries her hair! Ha ha!

Charlie hasn't been neglected either in the photo department! She is still our little snuggle bug and the two of them are best friends......my opinion....every kid should have a dog!

Our little girl is getting so big! She has a pretty convincing ROAR whenever she sees a lion, tiger, bear, or dinosaur. She knows a lot of animals and their sounds including monkey, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, dog, cat, deer (even though they don't really make much sound), cow, and there are more...just can't think of them! She is converting down to just one nap a day now- somedays we still do the two but I think she is ready for the one! We can tell when she wants to watch the Lion King or her Your Baby Can Read videos cause she will either say 'iyon' (lion) or 'bubby' (baby). Her pronunciation of daddy, Charlie, and doggy tend to sound the same at times but usually we can tell what she is saying. We have REALLY been working on her saying please and thank you. She kinda squints her nose in a cute little way when she says 'pee' (please) and she has only signed thank you- she learned that one at day care. She will tell us when she has to go poop or when she has----its really not so cute in the middle of sacrament meeting when she shouts it over and over again! Ha ha..... we love to peek in the room while she is in nursery to watch her playing....she is just sooooo darn cute! We love her sooooo much! I hope she will always know that!

Love life.....

Colby is studying to take the GRE next week! I know he'll do great but he is pretty nervous and hopes he only has to take it once! I do too- him being stressed makes me stressed! My term has been a kicker so far- my Adv. Patho class that I was kinda excited for to learn more has turned out to not be very great! They are grading more on APA format than content and the lectures suck! So I'll be glad when this term is over in 6 weeks....but then I only have 1 1/2 weeks off before the next term cause the U of Cincinnati is switching to semesters next fall so they are CRAMMING the classes and terms in! NO fun----only 15 months left till I'm done- yes I am counting down already!

Commitment

I have seen many around the blogosphere choose one word to represent this year. So I have chosen oNe word to represent MY year.......commitment. People tend to make New Years resolutions and drop them by the end of January. Why??? Because they don't make their goals attainable. They go from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds and get burned out before they are even 1/4 of the way there. I have believed that making goals doable instead of outrageous for.....um.....ever.....I mean I'm not gonna say I don't like to aim high....because I like to......but for me, I have to take things one step at a time. I was listening to Studio 5 in the background while puttering around the house one day and heard this segment. It basically talks about how you should make your improvements 5% at a time so you don't overwhelm yourself. So this year I am going to put 5% more effort into my commitments. I don't know EXACTLY how much 5% is in each area.....but basically.....I'm just going to try harder. I'm going to put more effort into my roles at home. I want to put effort into being a better wife and mother and homemaker. I want to put more effort in my relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior. I want to put more effort into my roles at work....be a better nurse. I want to put more effort into my schooling (cause I have been slacking in that department immensely!) So what things am I going to do to take these subtle steps???

RELIGION

I'm going to pray more. I know thats not some MIRACULOUS and LIFE ALTERING change but I feel that in time my relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior will grow.

WIFE

Show Colby that I love him more by doing the little things.....

actually putting makeup on.....hugs.....kisses.....ect.....

MOTHER

Be present with our time together....me just being in the room while she is playing isn't making the best effort. I need to be down on the floor playing with her. Coloring......putting puzzles together....reading....ect.....

NURSE

Be more patient oriented instead of task oriented....again... its not life altering- but hopefully its doable!

SCHOOL

I'm going to pay more attention to detail. I find that I loose points in my work for stupid little details. If I would take the TIME to pay attention to those details, maybe then I would improve my grades.

So there we have it.....new year....new goals....commitment....now on to a funner person!!!

First bubble bath.....she didn't know what to think at first!

Then she got the hang of things....

New favorite past-time (thanks to nursery) is COLORING!!! She had always wanted to eat the crayons before but she is learning what they are used for....every once in a while I catch her trying to gnaw on one!

Hayden got this cute horse beannie from grandma and grandpa Moody and she loves putting it on herself, us, and the dog.

The best seat in the house....sitting on her horse, watching the 'i-yon' or in other words The Lion King...

 

Christmas!!!!

The Holidays are always busy for us! We ping-pong back and forth between family activities cause- heaven forbid we miss anything!! We want to catch it all!! So Christmas Eve evening starts with a visit from Santa. He is always so nice to stop in the town of Hinckley amidst his travels that night....

Sister did not want a thing to do with him!!

We then venture into Grandma Joyce's for the annual Christmas Eve Moody get-together! Good food- good company.

(Shayda Mae and Dylan- loving siblings)

Dylan thinks Grandpa Rick is awesome- which he is! 

We then ventured back out to Hinckley to spend the night and wait for Santa to come....

Boxes are so much funner than the actual presents!

After a TON of good food and fun....we headed back to Cedar- Santa knew that the little Cobalt wouldn't be able to hold what Hayden wanted for Christmas; so he left it in Cedar at our house.

She loves her little kitchen.....she is quite the little homemaker!

We love Christmas and the traditions that it brings....we are so very grateful for our Savior and for the sacrifices he has made for us. We love the opportunity to celebrate his birth and cannot wait for the years to come!

Happy happy New Years everyone!!