things i learned today.

1. sick babies are really really really no fun and super cranky.
2. i ♥ charlie and lola. i put serena down for a nap and instead of working on the millions of things i needed to do {or watching tv made for adults}, i watched charlie and lola. it's adorable. the illustrations are so fun.
3. sometimes you really do have to sleep when your baby does. and that's why i went to bed at 8pm last night. i haven't done that since i was pregnant!
4. nasal aspirators really gross me out... but they get the job done.
5. cooking dinner every night is hard. and that's why i ended the cook's challenge with takeout. sorry to disappoint, fellow chefs.
6. you actually do get used to pushing a shopping cart around the store with a giant carseat totally obstructing your view. and then it feels weird when the carseat isn't there.
♥
this sums up the general mood around our house today:

i'll admit. i was counting down the seconds until bedtime. now we can finally start preparing for our family vacation which begins tomorrow! we're crossing all fingers that serena will be over her cold very soon.

today.

sean lost his wallet.
i searched every craft store for these. {found 4 out of the needed 5.}
serena coughed.
i coughed.
mom bought lunch.
we shopped for a sewing machine {my christmas present}.
serena and i rolled around on the floor.
she laughed at my funny voices.
sean brought home cookies from paradise bakery.
serena stripped down to her diaper to eat some sweet potatoes.
i made dinner.
sean went to the jazz game.
serena went to bed at 8:00.
i was ready for bed at 7:30.
watched vampire diaries and knitted.
and now i think i'll crawl into bed.

ten honest things.

01. i kind of have a shopping problem. i've had to be a lot {A LOT} better now that i have a child and i work a fraction of the hours i used to. but seriously i looooove to shop. sometimes i see something and convince myself that i absolutely need it. and if i have the will power to not buy it on the spot, i'll wonder what the heck i was thinking when i get home. sean loves this about me :)

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02. i really really hate pecans. pecan pie is the most disgusting food ever created. and it looks just as disgusting as it tastes. and while i'm at it: german chocolate cake. looks like barf. sooooo gross. there are very few foods that i don't like and these two go at the top of the list.
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03. i am not a very organized person. we have a junk drawer. everyone has one, right? we also have a junk cupboard. and a junk room upstairs. and my room tends to be a pile of junk 5 days of the week. i do keep my house tidy most of the time, but the junk is hidden :)
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04. serena and i like to watch concerts on kbyu in the morning. yesterday was some tchaikovsky and rachmaninoff. it was lovely.
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05. i like to eat candy before bed.
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06. i have really bad teeth {i wonder why???}. i went to the dentist yesterday and it was not pretty. they scheduled me back for a two hour appointment to fix things up.
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07. i get teary-eyed a lot. does that ever change after you've had a baby? because i don't remember being this way before serena came along. i almost cried yesterday walking through costco because they had all of the christmas trees set up.
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08. i am afraid of getting a massage. lack of clothing + stranger touching me = yikes, no thanks.
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09. i have really enjoyed tasting all of serena's baby food. the banana strawberry apple medley is particularly delicious. the garden veggies one is not so good.
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10. i kind of like and can't stand this blog at the same time. i think it all began when alicia started reading it and would text me randomly about weird things she says. and i would agree. love her sister's blog, though. {even if she kept her placentas, alicia.}

halloween sweetie.

she loves her mummy.

{and her new high chair.}

this is halloween.

oh hi. have you missed my daily blogging? i have too. but you know how life gets. not to mention i hate blogging without pictures and my little camera that i used to carry around with me at all times is dying. i think i'll have a funeral for it when it finally dies. that's how much i love the thing.

anywho.

last night we carved some pumpkins. mine is a tribute to my love of blogging ;) sean's was supposed to look like the joker.... i don't know what happened there.

remember last year's pumpkins?

i was 11 weeks pregnant and finally announcing it to everyone. now i have a nearly 6 month old daughter! what the?! as much as i thought pregnancy was long and slow and the first weeks after she was born would never end... TIME FLIES!

other halloween matters of business:

♥ don't get too excited about seeing pictures of serena's halloween costume. she's not really dressing up as anything because a. 99% of all costumes for kiddies her age are 100% polyester and b. i'm cheap and i'll save the costumes for next year when she can walk around and maybe even trick-or-treat. {i just freaked out a little thinking about having a child who can walk and go trick-or-treating.}

♥ if you have a little girl of coloring book/paper doll age {or you are a coloring book/paper doll girl at heart} you should check out this adorable halloween paper doll set. i printed two. one for me now. one for serena later.

♥ on thursday sean and i went to see curtains at hale centre theatre. it was so so so good. hilarious. i highly recommend it. and thanks to heather & russ for babysitting. i'm pretty sure this was our first official date since serena was born. how sad is that? it was so nice.

♥ i'm very disappointed that i didn't get around to this project because i love it. maybe next year.

enjoy your halloween!

new fancies.

check it out.

loves.

♥ slumdog millionaire. {we watched it on clearplay} amazing.

♥ raking leaves in my parents' yard.

♥ watching sean rake leaves for the first time in his life.

♥ serena's new mukluks.

♥ purple glitter nail polish.

♥ new season of sytycd.

♥ hubert horatio bartle bobton-trent. {the illustrations are awesome.}

♥ pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

♥ a new shelf for my crazy yarn collection. still in the box, but i'm looking forward to setting it up!

♥ crunchy fall leaves everywhere.

♥ listening to christmas music in my car. {i am so not one of those people usually, but it was the only un-scratched cd in my car!!}

♥ pumpkins with long curly stems. like cinderella's carriage.

♥ 1:00 pm on sundays.

the concert.

well if you weren't there, you really missed out! all of the music was soooo good! much better than i expected {no offense, seth!}. it was so much fun and we didn't even mind the cold weather. i highly recommend looking up the artists. {linked from their pictures.}

thanks for putting it together, seth! i loved it!

don't forget!

Come join Nauvoo University for a SPECTACULAR evening concert on October 24th, 2009 at Woodland Park 200 E 300 N in Farmington, Utah. The show starts @ 7pm.

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With folk, bluegrass and acoustic performances by:

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The Pretty Darns,

LDS Generations,

& Ben Oman

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Stay after the show to meet with the performers and to purchase their music. All ticket proceeds will go directly to Nauvoo University, which opened this Fall. THE SHOW IS FREE! Dress for the weather... it might be chilly!

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sean's brother, seth, is organizing the event and we're very excited to attend. click here for more info about Nauvoo University

scary hill.

we bundled up the babe and went to scary hill last night for paul's birthday. it was fun, but not really very scary. serena looked adorable in her hat from grandma :) i have found that mini golfing is not very competitive when a baby is on your arm. i cheated a lot. and skipped a few holes. and nobody cared one bit.

on getting used to being busy.

for a few weeks there i kept thinking, "man i can't wait until everything slows down!".

i have come to a conclusion.

it's not going to slow down.

life is busy. for everyone. and it will only get more busy with more kids and different church callings and hobbies and work and play and holidays and choir etc etc etc etc.

i have been thinking about my friend. {some of you will know who i'm talking about!} stay at home mommy with 2 kids. runs. scrapbooks. plays sports. excels in her church calling {basically wrote an amazing primary program from scratch}. makes dinner every night, and has them planned like a month in advance. very involved in neighborhood watch. does her visiting teaching every month. decorates her house beautifully {and on a dime, i might add}. keeps said house clean. reads. goes to a book club. sings in a choir. always looks gorgeous and put together. i could go on and on.

and sometimes i think HOW DOES SHE DO IT?? how can she make herself get up and run in the morning? who has the time/energy to cook dinner every night? how can she possibly keep her house clean with everything she has going on??

i'm sure you all know someone like this... or maybe this sounds like you! well, it's inspiring! if she can do it, maybe i can do it, too! i know it's possible to be a mother and keep it all together, because i've seen others do it.

on days when my daughter is cranky, my house is a disaster, i haven't showered, my inbox is full, my eyes are sleepy, and i just want to go into my room, close the door and take a nice long nap..... on days like this, it's nice to know that lots and lots of mommies out there have been {and ARE in} my shoes. and if they can do it all, so can i!

this lover baby makes me smile. i feel so lucky to have such a cuddler.

anyway. just mommy blogging. :)

lucky girl.

how lucky is serena? grandma made a nursery at her house. now serena has not one, but TWO rooms all to herself {for now, anyway}!

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i like it. it's yellowy and it makes me feel comfy.

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and we put that crib up with no help from any man. {even with ikea's terrible picture-only instructions.} go us!

:)

this made me laugh and laugh and laugh! she fell asleep on sean and this was the result.

p.s. aren't those cheeks just outrageously scrumptious?

i think i need to do this in serena's room. love it.

post.

this is a very random post. lately i feel like i have nothing to blog about. i'll try to be better. i don't want to disappoint my lovely readers, do i? :) well first things first: i made a delicious apple bread today {recipe here}. isn't fall the best??? i've been loving the changing colors and the weather and the apples. especially the green apples. they are the prettiest.

i took a picture of this the other day because Air is the only nickname i've ever had. and i can probably count on 2 hands the number of people who call me that. i have decided that i am really really not a nickname kind of person. i hardly EVER call people by a nickname. even my closest friends. maybe it's because i'm secretly upset that i never had a good one. there's not much you can do with ariel.

i promised some pictures from chuck e cheese and i'm finally getting around to it today. here is my child on tv. she was a good sport about it :)

and here she is with grandpa. she was a little worn out from chuck e cheese. there's a lot going on there and i think she was a little over-stimulated by the end!

let's see. what other random pictures can i come up with? ah. here we go.

this is one of my latest projects. a baby blanket. can't decide if i will keep or give it. considering all of the time it has taken, i'll probably keep it :) oh and coming soon are some new headbands for the cooler seasons. plum, dusty purple, sage green, chocolate brown, etc. i'll put them in the shop as soon as my model can do a photoshoot with me!

and that's all of the photos i can find. in other news:

1. ikea makes a surprisingly good greek salad.

2. i ♥ community {minus the chevy chase. he bugs}.

3. my bedroom is a total disaster. to the point where it will be such a huge task to clean it that i keep putting it off and i'm tempted to sleep in the guest bedroom.

enjoy your thursday!

oh my.

today was possibly the funniest day ever. we had a "cabin" weekend with some friends which included some delicious papa murphy's pizza, monster house, sleeping at our own houses, a great big breakfast AND:

segways/jazzies/golf cart at the thanksgiving point gardens. my face hurts from laughing so hard. basically we zoomed around and acted like teenagers for two hours. i really can't remember the last time i laughed like that! we had a total blast. oh and the gardens were beautiful. i highly recommend going to the gardens. but be warned that the jazzies are not nearly as fast as the carts or segways {and there are only 2 segways. and the season ends on october 31st}.

i am so glad our cabin weekend was relocated :)