Really Good Day

It's been a good day for our household today.

1. Kylie hardly screamed at all today. And slept until 11:30am (you can hate me about that one.)

2. A furniture store in Logan called me today to remind me that I have a credit at their store that is several years old. They were going through old billing and found it. I need to use it in the next two months or it will be gone.

3. Jared drew out a elk tag for a BIG BULL somewhere near Panguitch, Utah. He was shocked to get it with the amount of points he has. He usually puts in for antelope. He's super, super excited. He will get to go for the all the hunts to try to get his tag (bow, muzzleloader, and rifle).

4. I had a small company do a bid for me to do some landscaping in the back yard and the bid came back UNDER what I thought it would be by quite a bit. The backyard looks like death warmed over at the moment. The bid included having a bobcat remove and haul the old sod away, spread 3-6" of new topsoil down in the backyard and side yard, form flowerbeds, install new sprinkler system and benderboard. Basically everything but plant materials, flagstone and sod (we'll take care of those). I'm not sure we'll be able to afford to put the plant materials in until next year and I want to do that myself. Anyway the bid came in less than I was expecting and they seem like they will do a good job! Better yet they have a break inbetween some of their projects so they will probably be able to start in two weeks or so. That means there is a chance I might be able to get in a garden this year!!! I thouht for sure they'd be scheduled out until June or July. Super excited about that.

Screams of Happiness

Well it was bound to happen eventually. Kylie has found her inner scream. An ear piercing, drive you nuts, all out scream. Screams of happiness, not sadness. I think it's because she likes to listen to her own voice. And apparently to do that babbling just doesn't cut it any more. It has to be a full out put-the-ear-plugs-in scream. All somehow learned within the week.

I spent many hours today in the sun (with sunblock on) weeding the front yard, planting some daylillies my mom gave me and dragging soil from the backyard compost pile to the side yard. I'm very tired now, but I got a lot done. Jared is really good about always mowing the lawn and fertilizing it. Anything to do with the lawn he's all game for. But the flowerbeds are soley my territory. While I was weeding and contemplating life I thought about how if something ever happened to me I hope some of my friends would help Jared out once in awhile and help weed the flowerbeds. I had visions of mounds of morning glory forming a canopy over my shrubs and plants. Anyway, back to the reason I decided to mention that I spent the day weeding my front yard. My eyeballs feel like they are sunburned. I'm sure that isn't the exact term, but they feel just like when you cut onions and the fumes cause your eyes to burn. Not enough to make you cry (like onions do) but just enough that they are irritated. I guess I should have worn my visor.

Yummmm.... Real Food

A few days ago I decided to break out the applesause. It was deemed acceptable but she expressed more interest in wanting to hold the spoon than anything. She still has a pretty strong thrust reflex so it's taking forever to get food past that darn tongue. It's almost like she knows that she's supposed to be eating but moving her mouth like she's sucking on a bottle isn't cutting it. Looks like I'll have to break out the veggies before she learns that applesauce and peaches are tastier than carrots and squash. Today I tried to give her some more but only got mixed results. After giving me a few strange looks about what I was shoving in her mouth she ate half a meal's worth of rice cereal/applesauce mix. But that only lasted for so long because she realized that she was missing out her bottle. It's fun to watch her eat now, she gets SOOOOOO excited when she sees her bottle. Though I will admit I'm not sure I like this whole transition to eating solid foods... it takes much longer to feed her. She'll gulp down the contents of her bottle in no time flat now. I can't believe she's almost six months already! I loooooooove being her mom! It's the absolute best.

Overnighter

We had a pretty fun weekend. I went up with the young women in our ward for an overnighter at a cabin at Sundance resort. The floors of this cabin were out of brazilian cherry! This cabin was fancier than most peoples homes. It was so much fun. How nice would it be to have something like that for the extended family to use? I'm very jealous. But then again it will be a long time before I have half a million or a million to spend on a cabin up in the woods hah! I can dream right? The girls had been doing well reading their scriptures and praying everyday so our treat to them was this trip. The leaders gave the girls manicures and we played games and just had fun spending time together and hanging out.

I swear I've been so busy this past week, but I look back and I don't know what I've even done. A week ago my BIL came over with his brother and we tore out most of the chain link fence in our back yard. So we are 90% chain link free! I can't wait for it to all be gone. I'm trying to get bids for work to be done on the backyard. It's in pretty sad shape at the moment.

Last week Kylie has started to sit up. She's got a pretty good center of gravity now! I still have to make sure she's surrounded by blankets when she does because she's tipsy. But she's getting the hang of it. It's so fun to watch her master new things. She's rolling around like crazy now. I'll put her on the floor and I'll turn around and she'll have rolled her way across the room. She's got pretty good motor skills, I don't think the crawling will be too far away. I feel so blessed to have her in my life.

My Own Cabbage Patch Doll

So yesterday I was playing around on the computer and decided that I wanted to see what Kylie will look like with some hair. I laughed so hard with my results of giving her some pig tails that I thought I'd share it with my blogging friends. Look at those cheeks... I love it! Maybe I'm really stretching it but I think she looks like a cute little cabbage patch doll. I don't remember playing with a lot of dolls when I was little but I do remember that I loved my cabbage patch doll. I still remember that her name was Erna Gena and she had short blond nubby hair. Jared thinks they look like dread locks.

Beautiful Baby

Cooking Isn't So Bad

Can I just tell you it's FABULOUS being able to stay home with Kylie?!? I guess after spending four years driving up to Park City every day I'm really enjoying not having to commute and now I get to spend my time at home. I love it. I'm looking forward for the weather to get a bit warmer so I can get outside soon.

I was able to go up to the office on Wednesday and had lunch at Chubbies with my JJC friends in Park City. Yum. "Chubbies" is an inexpensive Mexican restaurant (real name: El Chubasco) that is five minutes from old town. Somewhere along the line our office gave that place it's pet name and it's been called Chubbies ever since. I really love their enchiladas. Up until I left for Michigan I was a very devoted customer. Let's just say that I'd frequent that place at least once a week, often two and probably ordered the same exact item for over a year. Two chicken enchiladas and a drink. Same item, every time. I'm absolutely a creature of habit when it comes to dining out. Yum.

What has been kind of cool is now that I don't have a two hour commute every day I actually don't mind cooking. I wouldn't say I love it, but I don't detest it like I used to. And I can even enjoy it on occasion. But then again when either Jared or I make dinner it will usually last for several days with the two of us. I haven't tried baking much though. The cookies I tried two weeks ago were a disaster. They were supposedly supposed to be a homemade version of the girl scout "Somoa" coookies. They didn't taste like those AT ALL. And I can tell you that because I've scarfed two boxes of the real thing down this week since it's that time of year when the girls are peddling those yummy cookies at Smiths. Those are the best cookies ever.

At Jared's last checkup they said his triglycerides were too high so we've been trying to buy items with low saturated fat. We've reformed our ways and have overhauled our shopping habits over the past few months. Much more fresh veggies, fruits and cooking things from scratchand not from a box (within reason). Jared's been cooking a lot also and has been perfecting his chicken & shrimp curry recipe. He's made his curry at least once a week since I've been home and we keep finding ways to improve it. And he makes a pretty mean burrito filling that he learned from the family we stayed with in Michigan.