Saturday, December 29, 2012

Flipper

Well we went house hunting again today. And we might have struck gold! After seeing a couple houses that we weren't quite thrilled with, we found another house that had been flipped. The man finished about a month ago and so we'd be the first in there since the remodel and it's beautiful! 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and in a perfect location. :) We are hoping to put an offer down on Monday or Tuesday, so stay tuned!

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas Festivites

These few weeks we've stayed SO busy! Between my doctor appointment, Alysha's doctor appointment, Loren getting the flu twice, Alysha and me both getting the flu while Loren was out of town, and all of us having head colds, it's a miracle we're alive! :)
2 weeks ago I made the decision to quit my job. I'd been talking about it since before Thanksgiving and the moment finally presented itself. I felt bad at first. I didn't want to see myself as a quitter. After all I'd only been at this job since August, but I really felt like it was the right thing to do. And now I'm even more confident that it's definitely the right thing to do! I love being home with Alysha again where I can teach her what I want her to know and not have all the outside influences teaching her naughty behaviors. And I feel like I can take better care of our house, our nutrition (or lack of...), and myself much better when I work in the home. I feel like I'm a happier wife for Loren and a better mommy to our babies. So now on to January, where I learn how to clean again! ;)
We made the decision a few months ago to stay home for Christmas this year. And I was really looking forward to making our own traditions and just enjoying it the 3 of us! We went Christmas shopping a few weeks ago, drove around and saw Christmas light displays, decorated a Gingerbread Train, and baked cookies for Santa. We did spend Christmas Eve with some friends. Eating pizza, opening jammies, and watching Arthur Christmas. Alysha is having SO much fun with other kids now! I love being able to go over to houses and she can just play without TOO much supervision. Preparations for Christmas were really fun too. She helped me decorate the tree while Loren was out of town for a week, she helped with the baking, and she handed me tape while I wrapped. :). She also LOVED all the Christmas songs and movies that we get to enjoy just this time of year. Christmas morning was pretty smooth...She didn't get a lot of good sleep the night before so she was a bit grouchy. Once all the presents were opened up we put her back down for a nap. And then the rest of the day was fairly pleasant. :) She's really fun to watch with her new baby doll from our secret santa and with her Little People house. Loren did a great job of shopping for me too. He got me some new clothes that I can wear with my rapidly expanding belly. I love that he always tries to make sure I'm comfortable. He's really considerate while I'm just hormonally imbalanced.
It turned out to be a blessing that we hadn't planned to go anywhere this year because Saturday morning our car wouldn't start. A pulley that we'd been putting off getting fixed for months finally bit the dust and the car couldn't hold a charge so we weren't going anywhere. We planned on just settling into our house until Wednesday after the holidays were over, but a friend of our called to check on plans for Christmas Eve, and Loren told her about our van and asked if they wouldn't mind picking us up for dinner instead of us driving over there, and she mentioned that her brother was a mechanic and he was working that day and gave us his number. So lucky us, he had the van fixed by Monday afternoon for much less that it would have cost us other places. What a Christmas miracle! We're discovering the hardships of having only 1 car, but it's still cheaper than having a car payment on a 2nd car each month. :) Loren and I both agree that we'd rather wait until we can pay for a car outright, rather than having to take out a loan.
Speaking of loans, our house search starts again next week. We would really like to move out of the apartment before the baby comes and we're starting to run out of time! 13 weeks and counting!! :D

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Welp

Well we lost the house. The bank accepted a different offer, so we are back in the search again. Which I'm a little bit mixed about. I felt pretty sad when we first found out, but now I'm ok. As I think I said before, I didn't feel comfortable with the area of town that the house was in. And it didn't have a garage, or grass...And this kinda gives us another chance to step back and look at where we're at again. We're comfortable here, but we'd like to move for sure. This gives Loren another chance to apply in Utah again and see what we might be able to get.
In other news Aly is growing great. She's expanding her vocabulary like a crazy person. She talks constantly and she's started repeating the words of songs in the car, which is super cute. But it's making me a little bit more aware of what I'm watching on tv while she's awake, or the music I'm blasting in the car. (She loves Tonight, Tonight by Hot Chelle Rae btw) She's also taken to playing with her doll a lot more too. It's fantastic! I'm so glad she's getting more into creative play and not just getting into my stuff anymore. She's going to be a good big sister. And I'm so excited for Christmas. She'll love it! She loves Santa. But she'll love him even more when she see what he brings her this year. :)
The baby girl is also growing fabulously! She moves around just as much as her sister does. I'm very excited for her to get here in just 16 short weeks!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Babies!!

So my good friends had a baby girl on Sunday and that got me even more excited for our own event on Monday! We got to have our 20 week ultrasound Monday afternoon. It was such a good feeling to see the baby squirming around up on the screen. I just feel so blessed every time I feel it move around. I'm so grateful for this baby. And we got to find out that our prayers had been answered and we're having another girl!! It may seem like a silly thing to pray about, but we really wanted a sister for Aly. We're so excited to see our two girls growing and playing together. I'm so excited to get out the baby clothes again and start getting their room set up. But I'm holding off til February. Promise. :)

Now on to Thanksgiving. Heaven help me to make it to Friday without saying something snotty to my in-laws. Everyone's been driving me crazy lately. EVERYONE. And I know my in-laws would take it personally.

Friday, November 2, 2012

A Home

I haven't had an opportunity to blog in a while. I feel like life is moving so fast!
So the pregnancy is going really good. I feel a bit different than I remember feeling last time, so I wonder if maybe it's a boy? But my sister-in-law pointed out to me that lots of things are different this time too. I'm under a LOT less stress than last time so it could just be my body reacting a little bit better to being invaded. :) We find out in 2 weeks the gender and I can't wait! I'm excited to be able to talk more seriously about some names, and plan our next year a little bit more.
Today we met with our realtor and signed a house offer. TALK ABOUT SCARY! Loren and I are real adults now ;). It's a short sale so we might have to wait up to 3 months to hear back, but we're really hopeful. Every time we walk through the house, we leave feeling more like we want to live there. There's another offer out there for it, but we're really hoping we can look more attractive than them. Always accepting prayers in our behalf!
We really feel so blessed right now tho. Loren got a raise yesterday and we are just so grateful that we both have good jobs right now. And that the baby's doing good. Aly's potty training is going ok. She's going about half the time in the potty. But she holds it most of the day. Then she goes while she's sleeping after lunch or at night. She has an iron bladder. But stickers and candy are helping us convince her to go in the potty. And she does like to wear panties.
Goodness I'm so tired all the time. I can't even think if there's anything else worth reporting on right now! Did this post even make sense? I think it was just a scattered bunch of thoughts :). Happy Friday!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Ch Ch Changes

So many changes in our home!
1: Loren and I are expecting again!!! We've had two ultrasounds checking on everything and I've made it to 13 1/2 weeks! We're VERY excited! Our new little one makes an appearance at the end of March 2013.
2: Aly is now in a BIG GIRL BED! She started climbing out of her crib last week, so we had her sleeping on a mattress on the floor to see how she'd do. She is pretty good about staying there. Naps are a little bit harder since it's not dark outside, but she's learning. Yesterday we set up her "new" big girl bed! She had a great night in it last night. It's pretty much on the ground, so when she fell out of it at some point last night she just reached up and grabbed her pillow and blanket and slept on the floor instead. It was really cute :).
3: We started potty training today. She has been sitting on the potty for a few weeks now whenever we can catch her at the right moment, but I'm sitting her on there every 15 minutes tonight so she can get what's supposed to happen. I'm not expecting this to go quickly, but hopefully she'll catch on pretty fast.
4: Loren and I are officially house-hunting :). We have been around to see about 6 houses so far and we think we might have found the one. We're still just a little hesitant. It's scary! So we're going to look around a little bit more and decide for sure.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Welcome to my busy life!

Tomorrow is the first day off I've had in a while. My weekends are so busy now that I'm working full-time again. I love feeling busy again. I'm really enjoying putting together my own lesson plans everyday. I like that I'm teaching four year olds because I can expect them to sit in their chairs and work on a worksheet and they actually can do it! They are actually teaching me a lot too. I've gotten a lot more patient and I've become a better morning person. That was a forced lesson ;). Alysha loves going everyday. She has made lots of friends! Today she actually threw a fit having to leave :). She's learning a lot. Like how to stick up for herself. How to get along with other kids. How to actually sit down and eat a meal. :) And today she pointed out some "A"s on signs. I was so proud :). She's also getting much better at counting. She still counts, 3, 2, 3, Go! But still...it's progress :D. She's really the best.

Happy September

This is the classic I love my husband post :)

We celebrated our anniversary last week and I just am amazed at how much I still love him. :) With there being so many people around us having problems, I just can't imagine my life without Loren. I love how he's always supportive of my crazy ideas. I love how he works so hard for our family, to help us get ahead in our life. I love what a great father he is to our baby(s). ;) I love that I can count on him to pick up after my short-comings. We make a great team. These past years have been the best of my life. Can't wait for the years to come!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Happenings in the Honeycutt home

Ooops. Another month went by. Seems to be happening a lot lately. We haven't been super busy tho. I'm looking forward to the cooler temperatures coming in the fall! Despite the heat we've been really trying to get out of the house at least once a day. Aly goes pretty crazy with me for 12 hours if we don't. Sometimes all we do is walk to the mailbox and back, but it gets the job done. She's getting so smart! She repeats all the words we say and can run, jump, dance, twirl, almost do a sommersault, shout, whisper, sing. She still uses a little bit of sign language, and any song with actions is a major hit. She recently inherited a play kitchen from a family in our ward that was giving it to DI, but stopped at our house first. She loves it! She brings me plates with tomatoes and fish on them all day. All the play food and she picks tomatoes and fish?? She also thinks "washing the dishes" in her sink is very fun. Next step, loading the dishwasher. She's grown out of most of her 18 month clothes and into her 2T clothes, except pants cuz she's so skinny! Probably cuz she only eats dinner, usually. Oh and lunch isn't too big of a fight somedays. It's just a small meal. She loves to dress herself, but it's usually a pair of pants, and a dress, and a shirt, and a coat, and a tutu....and why won't Mommy put on another dress?? She loves to color and drink from a straw. She is getting good at helping put on her seatbelt in the car. She is pretty good about getting anything I ask her to find, shoes, diapers, Mommy's cell phone...etc. But sometimes she gets distracted. Whenever we leave the house, she grabs everything in the living room she can possibly carry and tries to bring it with us. Hence our car is usually a mess. Also apparently we only do our hair right before we leave the house because as soon as I finish with her hair she runs to the door and grabs her shoes while yelling "bye bye!!" But she's very good at sitting still while I do her ponytails or play with the curling iron. Veggietales on Youtube helps too. She's getting pretty good at throwing a ball, but she's much better at fetching it. She gives everyone high fives/knuckles/elbows (in that order) everywhere we go. And yesterday at the grocery store everyone we passed got a "HI!!" "BYE!!" And of course yesterday much have been old person shopping day cuz they were all grandmas/grandpas and they all said it back. She also makes this really loud shrieking noise, just cuz it's fun, and all the other kids in the store think it's fun too. So all the while I'm pushing the cart, she's making this noise, other kids start making this noise, and all the other moms go "SHHH" and look at me like I'm the weird one. At least she's not crying!! :) All in all our days are pretty full of fun, and a few time-outs too.
New with me is my job! I will be teaching preschool at a daycare starting next Wednesday. I'm a little nervous about commanding all those 4 year olds attention, but I think I can handle it. I've found some great blogs that have tons of theme ideas with crafts and songs and all sorts of shenanigans. So I'll be teaching in the morning, then "baby-sitting" in the afternoon til their moms come. Aly gets to come with me, but she'll be in a different room. I think it will be good for her too. She'll be doing a mini pre-school and get more experience with kids her own age. And we're looking forward to potty-training starting in January!
Loren has been keeping busy with his two jobs and then any computer work on the side that comes his way. He works hard for our family, but we sure do miss him! Weekends are savored time.
Speaking of, last weekend we decided to be spontaneous and finally take that Yellowstone trip we'd been pushing back all summer. We loaded up Friday afternoon and went. It was raining so hard by the time we got to Island Park. We were hydro-planing and you couldn't see in front of the car. But I didn't think it was safe to pull over either, so we just kept going! Loren even recorded a final video of us, just in case. ;) By the time we reached our campsite in the middle of the park it had slowed to a trickle and within 10 minutes the rain had stopped. We got a little fire going, pitched the tent, ate some much NEEDED food, and went to bed. Alysha had a rough night as she had a cold. She coughed ALL NIGHT LONG. So Loren and I didn't get much sleep either. But we woke in the morning excited about what we could see that day. We headed first to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was a great hike down to the lower falls. So pretty! But the hike back up was pretty awful. It was all steep switchbacks. One lady passed me and said to her husband, "Maybe we shouldn't keep going. Nobody going up looks very happy." By the time we got back up, Aly just stood there dazing in the middle of the trail. It was pretty hilarious. Loren had to walk back and pick her up and carry her the rest of the way to the car. Then we went to the Artist's Paintpots. I love all the bubbly mud. I think it's so cool! And it was so crazy on Saturday that we almost got splattered with it! Then we stopped a Beryl Spring for a few minutes and headed to Old Faithful. I must have forgotten how long it takes in between eruptions because I didn't think we had to wait very long. 1 1/2 hours later I was kinda perturbed, but it went off eventually and was pretty sweet :). Loren hadn't seen it before and Aly got a good nap in the stroller so it was good. We got ice cream and it was 4 in the afternoon and I was starting to feel the effects of (not really) sleeping on the ground all night. So decided we'd save the other 3 things we wanted to see until the next visit which will probably be in a couple weeks and we headed for home. Over all Aly was really good in the car for so long. And it was a great mini vacation for us! And much needed alone time with Loren/Daddy.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Sewing

Photo: My project for the day :)
I made Aly a dress today :) I bought this fabric a while ago and have just been searching for a good pattern. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out :)

Here is the pattern I based the dress on. But I added a ruffle on the bottom and I did my straps a little differently. My next project is a watermelon pillow so I can learn to machine applique :)

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Tuesday Positivity

Today I woke up and told myself that I didn't have another choice. I HAD to be happy today. And I had a great day! I think I'll try it again tomorrow....

Monday, June 11, 2012

A Monday

I had a rough day today. I just feel sad. But there's nothing that ZUMBA can't fix!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

The Sad One

I should be posting about our WONDERFUL trip to DC, but that's not what's on my mind today so I'm not yet. :)

So I went to the doctor while I was in DC. My health insurance doesn't cover doctors in Idaho (silly I know) so I went to one in VA just because there were a few things I was worried about. The number one thing I was worried about was my hair loss. For the past few years I keep finding bald spots on my head.(The first time) I'm completely bald there for a few months then it starts to grow back. It's so annoying! Everytime I go to my dr here he prescribed amoxycicilan (sp) but I feel like there's more that needs to be done there. I hate just taking pills cuz he doesn't know what else it could be. So turns out I have an autoimmune disease called Alopecia Areata. Basically my body sees my hair as a virus and gets rid of it. Then it passes and the hair grows back. It's not anything that I can fix or cure and I might lose all my hair in time, but for now it's just an annoyance.
The other thing on my mind should have been a wonderful announcement. 3 weeks ago Loren and I found out we were pregnant again! Yay! We'd been "not trying not to have a baby" for about 5 months and we were SO excited at the prospect of being parents again. We got Aly a "big sister" shirt and had her wear it off the plane when we went to visit my parents and announced to them! I got all my blood work done where I could get it done for free. When we got back to Utah we told Loren's brother and sister-in-law the great news! Then told my aunt later that night too :). But Sunday morning I miscarried. It makes me numb to even think about it. We were even more excited than the last time. because this time we were actually trying to get pregnant. It's heartbreaking. I always heard about people miscarrying multiple times. A friend of mine miscarried 7 times! But I always thought, "oh, that doesn't happen in my family. We all have healthy, good pregnancies. I won't have a problem with this." And who knows. Maybe this is better; maybe something was wrong; or maybe something would have been bad down the road; maybe it would have been a really hard year; guess I'll never know. I just keep thinking, "What if this is it? What if Aly's meant to be an only child?" I guess she'll be one spoiled child. :) I love her so much and I'm so glad to have her in my life.

Maybe my next post will be happier and about our vacation? I'll try to get to it soon.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The Right Things

Isn't it amazing that even when things are going bad as long as you keep "keeping on" things will work out. Even though I've lost my job, I still will receive paychecks until the middle of July, so that gives me lots of time to find another job. Even though Loren missed registration and nobody bothered to tell him, he was able to email the professors and he got accepted into 3 classes. We have the prospects of a house to live in also. Hopefully we'll hear back from the lady soon. And even my problems with all my "systems" have started to fix themselves...except the whole losing hair thing, I don't get that. We just have to keep attending our church meetings and reading scriptures with Aly and having family prayer every night. And Loren got to attend the temple on Saturday and that brings such strength into our family. I'm going next Wednesday :).

Friday, May 18, 2012

Life was getting too easy

Well Loren and I started to get comfortable with life again so it changed apparently. Everything was going good. We both had stable jobs and the prospect of a second one for him. We are in a play together. I am going through the temple in a week and a half. We've got a great vacation planned. Loren got accepted into Weber's Online Education Degree Program. Aly's healthy and mostly happy. It was too fun.

Today I found out that the facility I work in is being shut down by the state. It's so hard for me to deal with! That place has kinda been my home for a long time. I've always relied on it being there. Those people are so much my family and I feel horrible for them. For my co-workers that completely support their families on that salary and are now losing health insurance, some of them 3 months before they have babies. For the residents that have called that place home for 15 years! And now they have to be uprooted and get used to new workers, new rooms, new friends, this late in their lives. None of it is fair for anyone. Loren thought it might look better in the morning, but it doesn't.
And Loren discovered that although he got accepted into school, none of the classes he needs are offered until at least the Fall. It's just still more waiting.
My body doesn't know what it's supposed to do either. I have to go see a doctor pretty soon, cuz my hair falls out, I can't lose weight, and my body can't remember how a girl is supposed to work ;). I just feel lonely.

But today IS a new day. I'm going into work to eat lunch with my co-workers and say good-bye to some of them. I work the next two days and then Monday I go fill out my paperwork for severance.
We have a great vacation planned and I'm looking forward to getting out of town for a while and just not think about any of it. And when I get back I'm hitting the pavement. If you hear of anything, let me know.....

Thursday, April 19, 2012

A Toddler

Aly and I have been having so much fun! It's so much fun that she's getting older and wants to do things with me :). We've been cooking, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk, reading books, and today we spent a great morning at the zoo. It's great to have a shopping partner. She "awe"s at all the right times. She's got a great sense of style and loves to be dressed up, even if it doesn't last very long. Blocks are always a good way to spend an afternoon, and even doing laundry can be more fun with help. I love having a little girl. :D

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Exciting Things to Come!

Loren and I have been planning to take a trip out to my parent's house and we finally have bought our tickets and finalized our plans! We're so excited to get out of Idaho for a week in May! I'm already starting to have anxiety about flying with Aly again (in the form of nightmares of never finding my gate) but I think it'll go smoother than last time since Loren will be with me :). I'm so excited to show him all the things I got to see last year and experience some new things with him! And I haven't seen my dad and siblings in over a year! It'll be great for them to see Alysha in person and see all the fun new things she's doing.
Aly can now say many words! She says "please" "food" "more" and "all done" in sign language. She says "ball" "thank you" "hi" "bye" "cookie" "daddy" "mama" "baby" "peekaboo" "wow" "purple" "yum" and she knows almost all her letter sounds (Thanks LeapFrog). It's so fun to see her figure out a new way to communicate the way she's feeling. Loren and I have to be extra careful now cuz she repeats everything we say! Yesterday she decided "flower" was the word of the day. She loves to play patty-cake and peekaboo and she loves to sing the wheels on the bus. We're trying to sing the alphabet song, but she's not really picking that one up. Not as many fun actions probably. She has a butterfly book that she loves to read that has all the colors and she'll gladly point the purple one, blue one, and yellow one out. She RUNS! It's pretty funny actually cuz she uses her left arm to propel herself forward. She likes to color and paint with water (Thanks Granny!) She loves to jump! Loren got a kids trampoline for free over the weekend and we set it up in her room (for now, it's a little big....) and now jumping is even more fun! She loves to swing and go down the slide at the park. She's definitely a climber. Sometimes I find her in very strange places. She has never tried to climb out of her crib, but I keep finding that she's climbed into it! She loves to watch Little Einsteins. Which is totally fine with me. I love that they bring in real art and classical music into their episodes. She loves when they pat their legs. She now can tell us whenever she wants her diaper changed. She also knows that she needs to take my hands and pull them along if I'm not doing what she wants. All day she take my hand and leads me to the kitchen and points. She can also go get anything I need. Every time I tell her to get her shoes on, she goes and gets 2 shoes for me. They usually don't match... but progress! :) She's so much. I love being able to be home with her while Loren works for our family.
There is ONE exciting thing to come that's not. I don't mind writing this cuz I think I have like 3 people reading this....It's pretty heart breaking that it's taking so long, but I'm sure there's a good reason. All in good time I suppose. And 1 thing it's teaching me is patience. And it makes me that much more grateful for Alysha. So for right now I'm just enjoying her!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

A Tiny Update

I was really going to try harder to blog this year..... so far it's not working out according to plan :)

We've been having such a good year! Aly is getting smart. She can tell us what she wants without using any words! I'm not always rights at guessing, but she's usually pretty patient. (Read: screams until I get it right) She's really into books right now. At home. When we try to go to storytime at the library she gets very frustrated that there's other kids there and she's not allowed to turn the pages herself. She's been sick for a couple weeks. Started out as a cold, but I think it's maybe a little more now. Hopefully we can get her better soon! Maybe if the weather would stop yo-yoing. She's also getting very good at helping us get her dressed and otherwise. She LOVES to play dress-up. Including all mommy's jewelry. She's pretty good at her animals sounds and her letter sounds (Thanks Leapfrog and Aunt Marlene!). She loves to be outside and going down the slide. She likes to help push the cart at the store. Especially if we're not going fast enough for her. I still want to get rid of the binkie, but dad hasn't seen the light yet, so she's still using it. Which I suppose is good at church.
I've been working a lot and trying to get better too. I also got the cold :(. I have to sing tomorrow night at our relief society dinner and on Friday night for an audition, so I've been trying to get my voice back to where I know it can be. It's a lot of work, since I haven't really been singing the past year or so. But my cords seem to remember a little bit so it's coming :). Loren and I decided that we'd take our tax return and (after spending a little bit of it on a Wii) use it as a down payment for a house! So this week we're starting to house hunt a bit too. I think Thursday we're going to take a list and drive around a little bit after work and drive past a few houses. We're SO ready to be out of our apartment. It'll be nice to be in our own place. It's a pretty big step tho, cuz we've been tossing around the idea of moving back to Utah over the past year, but I think we've decided that we're going to plant in Idaho for a bit. For Valentine's this year Loren got me a parakeet! It's been fun to see Alysha interact with it and I love hearing the little tweets too :). In a new house, maybe I can talk Loren into getting a kitten ;) Wish me luck!

Monday, January 23, 2012

She works hard for her money

So after much thought and deliberation, Beth and Loren decided that Beth should go back to work. :)

I wasn't upset by this at all. I really enjoy working. I enjoy being a CNA. I enjoy making a difference in people's lives. So back I went to Idaho Falls Care and Rehab. We decided that I should work just Saturdays and Sundays while Loren's home to take care of Aly. It's a little tough to give up my weekends, and to give up all that time I used to spend with Loren, but the extra money coming in will be worth it. It's only temporary, maybe a year, so that we can get on top of things and get some money finally saved up.

I started this last Saturday and worked 6 to 6. LONG DAY. By the time I got home, my legs, feet, and hips hurt. I spent the rest of the night on a heating pad! But working my 2-10 shift on Sunday was a lot better.

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Years

This year we were crazy and decided it would be a good idea to go to Pocatello for New Year's Eve. It was super fun to see our friends that recently moved there. And we got to meet Loren's brother's new girlfriend, but trying to get up 4 hours after falling asleep to go to church was not a great plan!
2011 was a good year. We got to take many trips to see family, including my trip to DC and our camping week with my Grandparents. We were able to attend Loren's sister's wedding. Aly learned to crawl, walk, talk, clap, wave, and some animal noises. She's so darling. She's the most special thing in our lives. Loren and I are so blessed to have her. I love our little family. :)
Goals for the year including eating healthier, being happier, and keeping the house cleaner. I need to lose weight, but that's not as important to me and simply eating better and helping my family eat better. Adding more veggies into our diet, etc. I just want to be happier with myself, to feel more content.

Christmas Review

So like I said we went to Herriman to visit family for Christmas. It was SO relaxing! We spent Friday evening at Temple Square in SLC. Alysha loved all the lights! And I loved showing her all around one of my favorite places. It was FREEZING, but so worth walking the 4 blocks to get there. :)
Saturday was spent with most of Loren's siblings. It was a crazy house. There were children EVERYWHERE!! Alysha had a great time. She loved following the big kids around. She must have learned something from them all cuz she's been into a lot more things since! She's gotten a lot more rowdy and bold!
Loren's brother's house is up on a mountain. There were deer all over! It was so fun to stand on the back porch and feed them old apples. There were 3 bucks that wandered around and a few times we caught them fighting with each other.
Christmas eve was great. We opened our Christmas pjs and read some scriptures from the Book of Mormon about when Christ was born. Alysha was so overstimulated from the day that she had a mini melt-down and needed a bath and bedtime a little bit early :). Loren spent the evening bonding with his brothers :). They watched a man movie and I went to bed. haha
While we were sleeping, Santa Claus *magically* filled the living room with presents. I mean filled. There was 13 of us sleeping there so naturally there was a lot of presents. :)
Loren spoiled me thoroughly. He is so amazing and always makes me feel so special. This year he got me all sorts of things to help me feel prettier. I've been struggling with that a lot lately. He got me a new dress and shoes, earrings, a gift certificate for a new set of nails, and a great new body pillow! It was so fun to watch Alysha discover all her toys. She's still discovering them now a week later :). She got some blocks, paints, books, a keyboard, and some other little things. Another great part of the day was that it was 50 degrees! We barbequed fish and steaks for dinner! What a great day!
Monday we woke up and found that Santa had come again. Loren and I woke up to find an electric keyboard under the tree for us from his brother and sister-in-law. I was so happy I cried! I couldn't believe that they'd gotten that for us! It meant so much to me to be able to have a small piano in our home. We decided that since I'd never been to IKEA we'd make a trip over and wander around there. Wow that's a fantastic store!! It's a very good thing we don't have one in Idaho Falls. I'd be addicted!!! I found many things in there that I wanted :)
Tuesday we left to go home and got to meet up with another sister of Loren's in IF for ice cream. It's good to see family around the holidays.