Never a Dull Moment

I have to smile as I think about my day today; parts of it good, parts of it not so good.

Layla was really sweet and fun today. She mastered going up the stairs and went up our entire flight of stairs all by herself, twice! (I was right behind her just in case, of course.)

We also had one not-so-good experience: Layla made a bee-line for Harvey's cat food. I thought I had caught her in time and quickly put up the baby gate. About 20 minutes later, I saw her eating something- cat food. Her breath reeked of cat food. It grossed me out so I brushed her teeth. Shortly after, I noticed some cat throw up at the end of the hall ... and a chunk of it was clearly missing. Yes, my kid ate cat throw up. Absolutely disgusting, I know. But it builds immunity, right? Actually, it totally grossed me out once I had realized what happened, so I washed her hands, made her eat two cookies, and drink some milk. Luckily, she's been fine the rest of the day and Harvey hasn't thrown up any more.

Here's cat-food-breath-girl at play group today

At nap time Layla's teeth were really bothering her and she was crying and chomping on her fingers. Plus she had some crazy hiccups. It's very rare when I can't get her to stop crying, so I knew she didn't feel good. I had the thought pop into my head to sing to her. I started singing the first thing that came to mind: Rock-a-bye Baby. She continued to cry and another thought entered my head, "sing a church song." So I started singing, "I Love To See The Temple" and before I had finished the first verse Layla stopped crying, quite abruptly, actually. I sang her a few primary songs as well as "Joseph Smith's First Prayer."

It made me cry. Sometimes I feel so far away from Heavenly Father, from spiritual things. Not that I do anything majorly wrong, I just get distracted. Busy, you know? Sometimes I forget what the purpose of life is really about. I cried because I know that God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph. And that means that the Gospel is true. And I'm not crazy for believing it. In fact, it makes me happy and brings me an incredible amount of peace. And I pray every day that Layla will come to know that it's true too. That' she'll find the same happiness and peace from the Gospel that I have found.

And I cried because I realized that while I may feel far away from God at times, I still have the influence of the Holy Ghost in my life- especially when it comes to my role as a mother. I am so thankful for that guidance because I have no idea what I'm doing ... like when I accidentally let my kid eat cat throw up ... so I'm thankful for the guidance and comfort of the Holy Ghost. I just need to stop and listen more often!

What's sweeter than a sleeping baby, especially one who sleeps with her butt in the air?

A Big Change

I went from driving this

to this

and we are incredibly happy about it!

Mitch is "a car guy" so he wanted me to get something "cool" and this is what we ended up with. Mitch wanted to get a bright yellow or red one- he likes flashy cars- but I don't so we settled on grey. I'm glad we found something we both agree on. Mitch is super pleased with it. He was so excited the night before we bought it that he couldn't sleep! I love it too.

Sure, I went from 37 mpg to 18 mpg, but who's counting? I don't drive that far and the extra room, heated leather seats, AWD, and sunroof make it all worth it.

I told Mitch, "I bet when Jordan hears I drive a Hummer he'll laugh and say he can't picture me driving a Hummer."

Sure enough, when I told Jordan he laughed and said, "I can't picture you driving a Hummer; that's pretty kick @s$." It made me giggle. Apparently I don't look like the type of person who would drive a Hummer ...

But watch out world, I just might run you over.

With this little one in the back seat.

(Isn't she adorable in her Easter dress with her little lamb? This is how she gives him hugs. She will no longer go to sleep unless she has her lamb to cuddle with. It's also the first thing she wants right when she wakes up. So sweet.)

Layla loves the Hummer too; she can actually see out the windows! Thanks, Mitch, for being so particular about cars and making sure I got a nice one. I love it!

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter with family. My mom still has us do a treasure hunt to find our Easter candy. It's awesome. We were also able to attend the temple over Easter weekend, which was nice. I love going to church on Easter and reflecting on the meaning of the Resurrection. I love our Savior. Happy Easter!

Watch this video to the end; it's really neat. Perspective changes everything.

One

Things have been crazy busy at our house lately! Mitch has been out of town for work, Layla and I tagged along with him to Cali, Layla turned one, we got the new carpet, we're planning a quick trip to Cali for my uncle's wedding, and today we're buying a new car.

So beware, this is a long post.

Our little bug turned one. I still can't believe it. She's 19.5 pounds (25th percentile) and 30.5 inches long (95th percentile). We had a zebra striped and pink birthday party with the fam. I had lots of fun making the decor. Layla was spoiled rotten by her fan club. She is so loved.

She also did a cake smash photo shoot, which was hilarious and so cute. (Thanks again, Amy, the pics are so so so cute! You did a great job!) Sorry for the picture overload, but there were so many cute ones, I couldn't decide!

My dad made her this toy box for her birthday. I think he should make them and sale them. He did an awesome job.

Layla is so sweet. I don't know what we did to get such a happy, sweet baby. She cruises quite a bit now and is trying to stand up from sitting. She can bark like a dog and whinny like a horse when you ask her what the dog/horse says (if she's in the right mood, I should add). She only says one real word, "kitty", only it sounds more like "eedee!" Sometimes she'll say, "uh oh," but usually it's "ah!". Very rarely does she add the "oh" on the end. Other than that she just babbles- a lot. I'm not breastfeeding her anymore. Strictly whole milk from a sippy cup. She seems fine with it and drinks so much milk! She's been averaging half a gallon in two days! I can't figure out how it even fits in her tiny tummy. Not to mention all the table food she eats. I cuddle with her while she drinks from her cup since I miss that part of breastfeeding. She knows the word "cookie" so now we have to spell it out loud or else she'll expect one. She can point to your nose and mouth if you ask. She's also obsessed with this book, 10 Little Ladybugs. I have it memorized and we read it at least 5 times a day. No lie.

What else? We spent a week with Mitch in Huntington Beach, Cali. So Layla took her first plane ride on her first birthday. She cried towards the end of the flight until she finally fell asleep. (But she did great on the flight home.)

It was during this trip that Layla officially became a Daddy's girl. It's to the point where if he's holding her and tries to give her to me, she'll cry. It makes me feel bad, but I guess I was her favorite person in the whole world for the first year of her life, so it's only fair that Mitch has a turn. Plus, most girls are daddy's girls, right? I do love seeing her and Mitch together though, it's adorable. Mitch is such a great dad!

Our hotel was amazing. We just crossed this bridge from our hotel to get to the beach.

We took Layla swimming, down the waterslide, and to the ocean. Can I just say that I love Cali, the ocean, and the sun? I told Mitch that I would move to Cali in a heartbeat and live in a smaller, crappier house just to be near the beach. I love it that much.

Anyways, we also met up with my uncle and his fiancée and went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was pretty cool. They had sharks and we got to touch a stingray. Although, I've decided that I want to see a great white shark in real life. Someday. It was great to see Kent and Laura ... they announced to us that they'll be getting married in a few weeks on the beach in Malibu! We're so excited for them and are now planning our trip to Cali for their wedding.

Thanks, Mitch, for letting us tag along. We had such a fun time! (Even though I had to call poison control for the first time since Layla ate some of my deodorant. She was okay though.)

We've been car shopping lately. We narrowed our search down to Hummer H3s. Last night we test drove another Hummer H3, loved it, and we're picking it up tonight! I am so, so, so excited! I'll post pics later.

Good Riddnace

We finally said goodbye to our green and Berber carpet. I could not be happier. After a long weekend of moving furniture, pulling up old carpet, and cleaning, the new carpet is finally in and it looks great. We got the same carpet in the entire house. I love it. And we finally got rid of the 1980s vertical blinds in the living room and updated with some curtains.

The pictures don't do it justice.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped us: Kevin, Kathy, my mom and dad, my grandma, Dave, Brock, and our neighbor, Matt. We couldn't have done it without your help. Mitch has been insanely busy at work and had to work through the weekend, only to come home and deal with the carpet. He was so tired from working so hard. But it all worked out and it looks awesome! And now I've become obsessed with vacuuming. I actually got a blister from vacuuming so much. Yeah, I need a life. But hey, nothing's better than vacuuming new carpet with a Dyson!

Belly Laugh

Do you ever laugh so hard you cry? I do. I love laughing like that. It doesn't happen as often as it should. A good, old, belly laugh. Every once in a while, I get Layla to belly laugh. Today I just managed to catch the tail-end of the belly laughing episode on camera.

So Big!

Layla learned where your nose is and she'll point to it if you ask her, "Where's my nose?" For some reason, she can't figure out how to point to her own nose when I tell her to. We're still working on that one.

She also learned to raise both her arms really high in the air when you say, "So big!" Sometimes I'll look over at her and she'll randomly have both her arms raised, waiting for me to say, "So big!" at which point she gets a huge grin on her face.

And here's a random pic of me, my Grandma Miles, and Layla. We went to visit my grandma a few weeks ago and we snapped this pic. I just love how Layla is waving to the camera. She's such a little cheeseball.