It's the most magical day of the year...

We hurried home from St. George today hoping to get some Christmas trees up tonight. Ever since our over-eager neighbors started decorating, Sawyer has been absolutley aching to decorate for Christmas. But I very firmly believe that Thanksgiving deserves it's own day in the sun, unhindered by tinsel or lights. Last year I bought Sawyer her own pink flocked pre-lit tree on post-Christmas clearance at Michael's, and since then have been collecting the most gaudy glitter & sequin covered ornaments I could find. It is freaking DARLING. Goes perfectly in her room. Watching her decorate it while singing the few lines of the few Christmas songs she knows over & over was seriously the highlight of my month.


When we got downstairs, Matt already had our new pre-lit tree up & ready for be-dazzelment. Which begs the question, "why on earth didn't we buy a pre-lit tree years & frustrating years ago?"
As we watched Elf (such an instant classic, that one, genious!) & decorated, I instituted a new rule; you have to dance whilst decorating the tree, at least during the fantastic songs on the fantastic movie. Sawyer seemed to approve if the new rule & was constantly wiggling her little butt as she put 90% of our decorations at the 4" or below level. And guess what?I'm not fixing it. I love it. I love having a four year old. I can't imagine a more magical age during Christmas. I'm so excited to share this wonderful time with her. Merry Christmas everyone! I hope yours is as magical as ours is shaping up to be.


- Posted from my iPhone

rejected new moon screenplay

http://www.ericdsnider.com/snide/my-rejected-new-moon-screenplay/

You want to go to there. You will not be disappointed. (but may spend the next two hours reading other stuff this guy has written, laughing so hard you pee yourself like an excitable puppy, as I may or may not have done.)


- Posted from my iPhone

My (other, more fuzzy) baby

This is our girl! I'm so excited to meet her & have her join our family on Christmas day. They've been calling her Big Twin because she's a twin & the bigger of the two. Obviously we need to think of a better name for this sweet little squishy darling. Matt wants to let Sawyer name her, but I think we might need to have some back-ups suggestions ready in case she wants to name her LooHoo or Princess Jasmine or something 4 year-oldy. Suggestions?


She looks like a little lamb here, huh?
- Posted from my iPhone

There's all this gratitude going around today

I'm still in bed. I'm checking email, blogstalking, and listening to Paramore (at a low volume so no one suspects I'm awake.)
All this without having set my feet upon the ground.
I can hear my husband & daughter in the other room giggling together. A husband who puts up with my shit with grace, patience & love and mentally, financially, emotionally & sometimes even physically supports me like nobodys business.
I am also loving the hilarious conversation Matt is having with his (awesome) brother, Ryan who has graciously invited us to share their St. George condo week for the holiday. I am 90% sure that I can feel my baby squirming around inside of me as I lay here. Our home is full of more love & security than I ever thought possible. And also some very cute new furniture thanks to our fortuitous flooding incident earlier this year.

(and I'm not even kidding, Matt just brought me breakfast in bed. Pancakes & eggs & maple syrup. Fo' real yo.)

I have friends that I would literally lie down in traffic for. Some of them are even family, the ones who aren't, still are.

My daughter tells me at random intervals that she loves me & that I look "piddy". And as soon as I post this, I'm going to read a book that was brought about through countless faithful sacrifices, a book that never fails to enrich my life & bring me closer to my Heavenly Father & my Savior, without whom this wonderful life of mine would be completely pointless.

I'm seriously so blessed.



- Posted from my iPhone

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

After what seems like months of debate and agonizing over allergies & the heartbreak of losing Charlie, we've decided to go for it! We're getting one of these standard poodle puppies! She's about 4 months old, white, already housebroken and beautiful. We haven't actually met yet, she's in Pocatello, but they've agreed to keep her for us until Christmas eve! I'm really excited, all of us have missed having a dog so damn bad. There's just nothing else like it.

It's getting a lot less cute around here

- Posted from my iPhone

This is probably the proudest I have ever been. Yet.

Sawyer usually loves her ballet class. Lately she's been a smidge moody, and I can't figure it out. Today grandma & grandpa Miller came to watch, and I don't know if that set her off or what, but a few minutes into it she wasn't having it anymore. She just kinda broke down. Her cute teacher tried to get her to buck up, but she swore she had a tummy ache. We talked & talked it out, and I told her that if she was really not feeling well, that we needed to go home & have a nap, but if she was ok to finish her class, we could go meet Annabell, this poodle we're testing out. Anyway, she finally decided that she'd go back in, just for the storytime. But she stayed in there for the whole time! She changed her whole attitude! That is powerful! I still need to learn to do that!





I love seeing her grow & learn. It's the single most rad thing in my life to be her mom.


- Posted from my iPhone

I'm so glad my baby is home

Every night after dinner I do the dishes and Matt puts Sawyer to bed. This is due to a combination of factors;
A) by the time dinner is done, so am I. D.U.N. Dun. I have one kid. She is awesome. The fact that I am done at this time is mearly a testament to how impatient & selfish I currently am.
B) dishes are my thing. This is a self-imposed slavery thing. I am too anal retentive about how dishes get loaded and rinsed to ever allow anyone else to do this simple task. If they don't get done right the first time, there are only two things that will happen- they will need to be done again, or I will end up picking crusty food particles from my dishes, neither of these options are in any way acceptable to me. So I do the dishes.
C) Matt is forty-hundred times better than me at putting our squirrely little child to bed. I cannot tell you how many times I've asked him to tell me his secret, but I cannot get her to sleep as fast as he does no matter what.
Typically after these tasks are done, we watch a little tv. Its for sure the way Matt likes to decompress, but he usually only lasts two and a half minutes before this happens:


Bless his heart. (This is why most of our nooky is morning nooky.) I'm so grateful for a husband who: never complains, acts like I'm the hottest woman to ever have walked the earth, encourages me to follow my kooky dreams weather they be random vacations with Sawyer while he stays home to work, going to culinary school (one day...), putting up hot pink damask wallpaper in a bathroom (coming soon), having a second kitchen in the basement, getting my 4 year degree in 3 years, going to New Orleans to see 311day, sacrificing his day at the D-day beaches so that I could see the prehistoric cave paintings in central France,... What was I talking about?....
Oh and he's hot too. I love his fashion sense & the way he smells. One of the first times we hung out, we were walking through ZCMI and went into Mr. Mac. I couldn't get over how he was stroking all the nice suits, talking about Super 100s wool, and tailoring, and what button to leave open on a jacket. It was quite a change from my Neanderthal of an ex-husband.
I love how he is always strong when I am weak. Always hopeful when I can't see the silver lining. He is the most consistent, dependable, supportive person I've ever met. He is thankfully lacking in the manly "must-fix-it" tendancy, he lets me vent & sympathizes, but knows that most of the time that's all I needed. And he is ridiculously creative. You would not believe some of the birthday cards I've gotten, the family nights I've participated in, or the way he proposed. He's just the best. And I'm glad he's home.

- Posted from my iPhone

I have a headache.

Matt has been in St. George since Tuesday. We are missing him allhahahahot this time. Due to poor communication on my part, I had previously committed to watching my friend Kierstin's kids Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, so it just turned into a guys golf trip instead. So I've been a mom of four this week, plus the turdy little quarantined dog, so technically five. I tell you what, there's a reason that typically people only have one child at a time, jumping from one to four is no joke. Plus, when they're perfectionist Swedish supermodel Kierstin's kids, you spend the entire time feeling 100% incompetent. I'm sure all kids do this, but I got a leeeettle sick of hearing "that's not how my mom does it..." or "you're doing it wrong". Kierst, please don't be offended, I'm not bagging on your kids, they were awesome, it is just a testament to how much they like you.
But it got me thinking about how interesting it is that we (not meaning Kierstin & I, meaning people who read this & fit my description.) all have basically the same choices in life, in this little suburban Utah life. Even with all the similarities that our race, religion, age, sex, geographic location, upbringing, etc etc etc; even with all that being largely the same, how people can live such different lives, make such different choices about how they use their time, spend their money, etc. I have a new appreciation for my own bed, my own systems of organization, my own neighborhood, my own toilet even. And a HUGE appreciation for what was once my dog. I am making a Thanksgiving resolution to shift my focus from what I want to buy, accomplish, do or pay off and just focus on the little details of my life that make it mine. Especially this kid of mine. I'm cherishing every moment that she's got left of being my only child. I feel almost grateful for the miscarriages, it's been so wonderful to have a bit more time with just her than I planned in my best laid plans. I hope we've built a strong, solid foundation of trust & respect & love, one that we can fall back on when she hates me or needs me or when life kicks her down a flight of concrete stairs. As Kierstin, Swedish supermommy herself once said, "I don't want to be their friend, my kids will have a million friends in their lifetime, I just want to be the best mom for them." I may be botching that quote, don't quote me, but that's how I remember it. I wish was all eloquent like my friend Ashley. Read this beautiful tear-jerker on motherhood. I love Ashley.
Today Sawyer & I had a "girl day". That's what we call it when we go on a special little outing of some sort just by ourselves. I try super hard to not be on the phone & to just listen to her & just do whatever the heck she wants. (on a side-note: it's amazing how on days like that we have zero discipline problems. It makes me think that perhaps I am the problem. huh.) Anyway today we rode the "bus-train" (ie the FrontRunner) down to the Gateway, did a bit of shopping, visited the Planetarium, saw a cool bug movie in IMAX, shopped a bit more, did the bookstore thing, dinner at Costa Vida, and even pedicures! It was very, very fun! We are both pretty pooped though. Tomorrow we are having a stay at home day. Let's just say that I still have serving dishes soaking in my sink from Sawyer's primo birthday party on Monday. ewww. I will post about that later though because my eyes hurt & they are taking it out on my frontal lobe. Goodnight.

Good times, good times

This is my kid sliding down the same stairs that I used to slide down as a kid. She loves her cousins Josh & Sara. And I love being a mom.


- Posted from my iPhone

This is my friend Kirsten

I love her face. For obvious reasons. I could go into the many reasons I love the rest of her, but that post would be longer than the last one, and only interesting to about two people on the planet.








Thanks for talking to me at the bus stop. I love you.

I made it!!

Second trimester here we come! I have a smidge more energy and am a wee bit less ravenous. My pooch is pooching quite nicely, so it would appear that all is well. If these pictures gross you out, sorry. I want a visual reference for my next pregnancy, so deal.


- Posted from my iPhone

Happy Halloweekend!

Wow, this has been quite a week! We had our ward Halloween party, where Sawyer was a beautiful Princess Jasmine


the Laws' awesome pumpkin carving party where we carved these beauts


And Sawyer did her sassiest modeling ever (she made me take about 852 pictures of her)


then dinner at G-Dawg's, (where I did a cake consult with my nephew Brock & his fiancé and I'm super excited about their awesome cake!!!). On Thursday Sawyer had her preschool Halloween party where she decided that she would now like to wear last years ballet recital costume and be a garden fairy. Unfortunatley I didn't think to get a picture of her and the little stinker refuses to put it back on so I can.
Wednesday we forgot to dress up for ballet because we were in Bountiful babysitting at Parry's, but it was there that she spied her next costume: Bat Girl. So later that day was Ricky's birthday party and she HAD to go as Bat Girl. I told her she could be whatever she wanted, but I wasn't buying anything else, so she'd have to figure it out from her dressup box. Here is what she came up with:


Well, I did the mask & bat logo, but I seriuosly think this chic is so super creative. She even had a bag clip (see that blue thing in her hand?) that she called her "super-computer". I think that the Scooby Doo obsession has caught up with us. Friday was Performax's party which she was finally old enough to attend. We worked on the Bat Girl costume a bit and came up with this which, despite my poor sewing skills, she LOVED.


P.S. I would like to express (yet again) how much love I have for my gym. The daycare alone is a.maze.ing! They did a little parade theough the gym after their party, trick-or-treating at each spot.


The trainer desk.



Mikaela pounding a pixie stix. (evidence that Kierstin's kids DO eat candy)
Friday night brought my favorite party of the year: The Ryan "Mr. Pugs" Davis Adults Only Halloween Karaoke Invitational.
At least that's what it should be called. And although Matt (WWF Wrestler) and Dave (Dwight Schrute) put up quite a fight,



I think the winner (as always) is Eric Wheeler. He totally missed his calling, shoulda been a rock star (click on the picture to see video proof)


We left the party at eleven because we had to drive down to St. George for our Thriller at Touachan tradition. Let it be known that my husband posesses a super-human lack of any need for sleep. Thursday was my sister-in-laws brothers funeral in Las Vegas. (the very definition of a tragedy please see this..... article & keep them in your prayers.)
So Matt had just barely gotten back from that at 3am on Friday morning, then turned around & drove to St. George Friday night. Then he had a 7am tee time Saturday morning. I'm telling you, he's nuts.
Thriller was awesome as always, Sawyer didn't hide under the blanket as much as last year & really loved the whole thing. Our friend Bonnie played Lorena Bobbit and we were laughing our heads off once we realized that the most "off-color" portion of the show was my Relief Society teacher. She's awesome!


Wow, is this post really long or is it just me?
On Sunday Matt took Sawyer to this super cool park while I napped. (I'm awful. I know this. He should be the one napping.)





She's gorgeous, huh? I can't believe she turns four next week. So fun.