ya know... DIY

I'm a DIY kinda gal.  I make my own wall-hangings, cut my boys' hair, try to make homemade food as much as possible... I'm all about doing stuff on my own and it saves a buck along the way... so NATURALLY, it only seems LOGICAL for me to pierce my own daughter's ears!  Right?  My sister provided the gun, I went and grabbed some earrings, and we just did it.  Random huh?  They might be slightly, and I mean slightly crooked, but I think they are super cute!  It really is not as hard as it sounds and I highly recommend just doing it at home!  ($10 too!)  I mean, how much training do those Claire's teenagers get anyway?!

This is right after so her right ear is a little red.  It's fine now!

Another DIY I have been doing lately is highlighting my hair.  Again, not as hard as it sounds and I can do it just how I like it.  Well... I decided to get it done professionally this time.  I went to a new girl, and somehow there was a miscommunication on what color I wanted and so I got...

PLATINUM!  Sorry for the lame pic.  Holy cow it was a shocker at first.  I'm going to try to get used to it, otherwise I might need to DIY some lowlights!

Switchfoot- in the flesh!

Remember this post devoted entirely to my favorite band Switchfoot?  Well... on my way to San Diego I had a layover in Utah.  I went to sit down and who was sitting next to me?  Jon Foreman from Switchfoot!  My parents were meeting me there so I decided to wait till they got there cause I had it all planned out how I was going to have them take a pic for me!  They got there a couple minutes later, and my mom and I went to talk to him!  He was THE nicest guy ever.  We small talked for a couple minutes which I wasn't expecting.  I think he really appreciated that I had been a fan since I was 14 and that I've been to a lot of their concerts.  We took a picture together...

So then after that we were buds!  haha, no but he said hi to me another time and then said bye to me at the end!  It was awesome!  (I sound like a teenager!)  His other band-mates were also on board, but they all sat in different areas which I thought was strange.  It was so awesome to see them in person though and deserved it's own post!

Grandma

My sweet Grandma Pike died a couple weeks ago.  I'm going to miss her so much.  She has lived a long life and I'm sure she's so happy now.  I can't wait until I get to see her again.  She was the sweetest, funniest, happiest woman, and has been such a great example to me of the kind of woman I want to be.  

I wrote some things down that touched me at her funeral, so I wanted to write them here since this is my journal these days...

-grandma said, "Keep the commandments, and you'll be happy."  What a simple yet true statement.

-All she cared about was to see her kids happy

-My Aunt read the scripture on charity in 1st Corinthians and it was amazing to be able to say that my grandma was all of those things.  That is what I aspire to be some day.

-My grandma's advice to her daughter was to serve others every day.  Make time in your schedule to serve.

-My grandmother LOVED: dark sees chocolate, handsome men, and soap operas!

My sister took this picture when I was able to visit grandma this summer.  This was the last time I saw her.

 The day of her funeral was the hottest ever recorded in LA: 113 degrees!

 Sistas!

cousins!

It was a sad day and a joyous one.  We were able to celebrate a beautiful life and be together as extended family.  I will remember forever the spirit I felt when I sang "I am a Child of God," "I Often go Walking," and "Families can be Together Forever" with my cousins.  It was one of those testimony-building moments when you know without a doubt that the church is true.  I knew in that moment.  I am SOOOO thankful that I will be able to be with my family forever and that I am able to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.  I will be with you again grandma!  I love you!

Dixon Apples

We went to Dixon apple farms this year, and holy cow, those apples are YUMMY!  They grow "champagne apples," and they are the yummiest I've ever had... crunchy, sweet, and a little tart.  Now I know why people wait for hours in line to get em!  (luckily we went early and only waited 45 min!)

Potty training

I started potty training Jace this week.  There are 2 things I have been waiting for before I potty trained him...

1. He would actually sit on a big potty (in case we didn't have a potty chair around)

2. We ran out of our massive diaper supply

Well this week, both of those things happened, so I gave it a go.  I cannot believe how well he is doing!  He is highly motivated by the sticker chart/candy thing.  He goes every time I put him on the potty!  I'm so happy!!

This is his new smile he gives me, with his head to the side, haha

I don't know why I think this is so cute but I do!

Ok so Makenna may kill me for this one day...  She has had a really hard time keeping dry at night.  I think it is because she sleeps pretty soundly, but it still has worried me a little!  Well, we have told her for the last year that we would take her to chuck e. cheese if she went dry for 7 days.  She has not done it all year...  Finally she did it!  We are so proud of her!  I'm hoping this is the end...  PLEASE! Please!  She has now gone 13 days.  Hopefully she keeps it up!

Scott has been teaching Jace his basketball stance... not bad huh?!

Makenna turned 5!

On Makenna’s birthday we invited the Burns over for dinner/dessert.  We had spaghetti and breadsticks since that is her favorite!  She loved having all her cousins over, and she had the biggest smile on her face all day.

For Makenna, turning 5 is something she has been looking forward to for a long time!  When she turned 5 she expected to:

-Become an angel (this is what she kept telling me, I had nothing to do with it)

-Never pee at night again (we’ll get to that later)

Those are two big goals!  So far she has lived up to both.  :)  We’ll see how long that lasts!  I love that she really tries so hard to be a good girl.  Sometimes she acts so much more grown up than she is!

Here are some really cute things about her:

She is a walking advertisement; when she sees things at the store or around the house that she’s seen in a commercial, she will tell me about it:

“it’s not clean unless it’s oxyclean”

“swiffer works better than a mop”

“Electrosol is the diamond standard”

etc. etc. etc.

Those advertisers are definitely working on her!

She is an excellent listener/memorizer.  There are a few books we have that she can recite from start to finish.  They are not short books either.  Long ones with lots of words.  It’s crazy.  Scott and I always look at each other like “what in the world?!”

Makenna is loved by many… boys that is.  She always gets along so well with boys, and they love her for it.  I know of at least 3 boys that have little crushes on her.  :)  She loves them too.  The other day she says "I like _____ just as much as I like _____."  Then she thought for a minute... " I just don't know which one I'm going to marry!"  I definitely had a good laugh after that one!

She always wakes up with a smile on her face.  I don't think I have ever seen Makenna upset in the morning!  If only I could always wake up that way!

Makenna LOOOOVes to talk.  She will talk your ear off... even if she doesn't know you... It's cute, but can be very tiring at the same time!

She always takes time to smell the roses!  No, but seriously, she always stops to smell flowers.  She loves flowers and gardening.  She takes very good care of "her" garden that's in the backyard.  She has a green thumb!

She loves to wear makeup.  She puts her eye shadow on all the time and actually puts it on very well!  Sometimes we'll go somewhere and I realize that she's wearing it... awkward... no I do not let my 5 year old wear makeup people...

Makenna loves making friends.  Whenever we go to the park, she says, "I'm going to go make a new friend!" She's so friendly, she'll just walk up to anyone and become their best friend!  I love that about her, because I have never been that way!

There are so many many things I love about her.  She really is such a special little girl, and I'm so glad I get to be her mommy!

Flower Party!

the spread

The first thing we did was play freeze dance.  I thought the girls would like it more than they did... :)  At least Makenna liked it!  So I can't decide if Makenna looks totally ADHD in this video, or if she's dang cute!  She cracks me up for sure!

Then we painted these flower pots that I stuck a pen flower into when they were finished.  I also glued some moss around that classy Styrofoam.

They all LOOOVED that.  It was definitely the hit of the party.

This is what I get when I ask a bunch of 5 year-olds to say cheese :)
-eating cupcakes-

Limbo!  The girls got a kick out of it!

Love this pic

Love this one too!

Red rover red rover send Megan right over!!

Red rover red rover send everyone right over!!

hahaha

opening gifts

her reactions are so sweet!

thank you for coming!

Her flower party was a success!  It was the first time we've invited just girls, and holy cow was it chill.  Maybe it's just the age, but I liked it!  (We love her boy friends too, but she has a lot of them- too many kiddos for me!!)  It was a fun time!

First day of Pre-school

running late to preschool on the first day= not the best first day of school pictures!  (Poor Makenna has the most sensitive eyes!)

We are both SO excited about pre-school this year.  We are doing it with some really great moms in the ward again.  Makenna is loving it so far.  Jace hates leaving Makenna there, but I think he secretly loves the mommy attention he gets!  

If Makenna looks huge next to those other kids, it's because they are the youngest ones in her class.  Let's just face it though, she's probably going to be the biggest girl in her class for a few years at least, since she will be the oldest, and is tall for her age!  

Scott- he's the man

So I have to give a shout out to my husband.  He deserves to be blogged about too!  We just found out he was one of the top 2 salesmen in the whole west this year!  I'm so proud of him.  He works soooo hard.  He gets up every day at 5:15AM, goes to seminary, then doesn't come home till 5:30 from work.  Sometimes, these days, he has also been doing some painting on the side after work.  He still manages to be a fantastic father and husband.  I'm lucky to have such an amazing man for a husband!  Love you nerd!

I'm a fan

summer time!

This summer was SOOOOO much fun.  Makenna and Jace are at such fun ages now so we had all kinds of fun this summer.  A typical week consisted of:

Monday: Explora/Library/pool (one of the 3)

Tuesday: Free movie day/ park day

Wednesday: Free movie day/ Balloon museum story time

Thursday: Pool

Friday: Pool

If it sounds like I'm super mom I'm really not... it's all for selfish reasons!  You see, at the beginning of the summer I found that we were all much happier if we got out of the house.  The kids didn't fight, the house stayed clean, and we all had much more fun.  I think we were home all day maybe 3 days the whole summer.  Yeah, that's how I roll.

We also really enjoyed our family evening walks/bike rides/scooter rides, and especially enjoyed the sunsets.  They really are AMAZING here in Albuquerque.  This one below was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.  Good thing they don't go away in the winter.  :)

If I sound pathetic about summer going away, it's because I am!  Every year I go through this.  It's like a part of me is dying!  Don't get me wrong, there are definitely things I love about the rest of the year, but I'm an outside kind of gal which is not so fun when it's freezing outside.

Just so I feel a little better I will make a list of things I like about the cold!

Balloon Fiesta

Snuggling

Using the fireplace

hot cocoa

Wearing jeans again

Snow/snowboarding

Using my car as a refrigerator when I have to go to multiple stores(!)

The holidays

check back soon, I have a few posts to update!