do you see what i see?

can you believe it? i made a tutu! i really did it. is it the prettiest tutu you've ever seen? no but it's for my little dancer, special from her mom. now all i need is a leotard to connect it to and then TA DA another decoration for her ballet room! i know, who would have thought six months ago that i could actually sew something. sometimes i even surprise myself.

what i learned @ 26

i feel like i've learned a lot of valuable lessons in the past year. it always seems that when i turn another year older i tend to look back and see what the past year was like, what i learned and who i became because of it so here is my list.

1.i am so much better @ being pregnant then having a baby and no sleep with another child begging for my attention.

2.no matter what i do, no matter how much i work my butt off i can not work my butt off. why does it seem that no matter my body screams, "i need a makeover!" beginning at the top of my legs and ending at the top of my hips where the love handles stop.

3.i listen to old boring music. lately i find myself not changing all of ian's easy listening music when it comes on the ipod and i'm in the car without him. i don't like the songs but i listen anyway (& the worst is when i catch myself singing along, it creeps me out). i have been trying to notice and change the music now that i realized i don't.

4.i really don't think that forney is as small of a town as i did when we first arrived. this is either really scary or i was really bratty before. you be the judge.

5.i really don't need/like drama. i really like my quite very routine very mundane lifestyle.

6.sometimes i drive myself crazy with not having a perfectly clean house 24/7. i know that there is stuff that needs to be done and i'm in a constant battle with myself trying to decide rather i should just take a second to relax or get up and make it right. i'm totally one of those mom's who will let her kid watch 10 hours of t.v. if it means i can have the house the way i want it. i just end up going to bed feeling guilty because i have a clean house but that i'm not a mom who can just let it go and play play play. (except the day that sarah m. shows up at my door with absolutely no warning from my main man, then of course it's a disaster then!)


7.i really don't like mean people they get under my skin. some of you may be wondering why then i married who i married; it's because i think this. ian's not mean i he's just very honest which is a good thing, it just may come out in a not so nice way. i hate when i see people be mean i hate when i'm accidentally mean i just hate it! i hate when others feel bad because i have and sometimes do feel bad and it STINKS!

8.maybe i'm crafty after all. yeah crafty but not always feeling very creative though so i'll keep working on it.

9.i have amazing friends, i love love love my friends talk about a lucky girl!

10.i love love love my family. it's been YEARS since we've been together as a complete family brothers, sisters, in laws and kids. i though have had the chance to see everyone in the not to recent past and i think they're all so fun to have around.

11.i have a lot to learn about the gospel and i feel tired just thinking about it.

12.i never want to move again. i hate packing and even more then that i hate closing on property. moving is long and expensive and overwhelming; to much for a little girl like me.

13.no matter how rough my day has been with my girls all i have to do is glimpse at them at night while they're asleep and it's all worth it.

14.ian and i can produce a small child. a small blond child, THAT IS JUST CRAZY!

15.i'm strong and with emotional and spiritually challenging situations (peyton) with the a little prayer i can feel just fine.

16.i can feel contractions all through labor and survive!

17.i really don't like running. can you believe it? it's true but for some reason i'm obsessed with a morning run and can't give it up.

18.i think that peanut butter blizzards make the world go 'round! i think they're my favorite treat.

18.i don't want to do last year all over again, so goodbye 26 and hello 27!

who would've thunk?

(keri and spencer this post is for you!)
so i finally talked riley into letting me curl her hair. she has been so hesitant but once she saw the final product she was amazed! she kept going back into the bathroom every 2 minutes to look at herself in the mirror she had a huge smile on her face ALL DAY!!!

i had a big smile on my face all day too but for a different reason. why you ask not because she was obsessed with looking in the mirror, not because she couldn't wipe that smile off of her face but because she looks just like Pam from the office with her hair curled. don't you think?

ian's day off

one reason i love ian's new job is because he actually gets to take time off. i love days off. i love that ian has all of the holidays off too! i mean ALL of them, like one a month. every holiday or sick day that ian has had have all been the same. wake up with the girls throw them into bed with us and turn on,"dismee" for them to watch while they're watching we scoot as close to the edge of the bed as we can without falling off. at about 7:45 riley complains that she's hungry and has to go to the bathroom, and peyton has been very close to falling off the bed at least 8 times.

it is at this point that normally ian gets out of bed with the girls gets breakfast and puts them back in front of the t.v. so he can try to sleep on the couch a little longer. at about 8:20 i get out of bed and come out to join the family. i usually feel so refreshed from being able to sleep in so long! (by the way i really don't remember when 8:20 became sleeping in but somewhere along the line it did and it kind of creeps me out.) we all bum around in our p.j.'s until peyton goes down for her first nap at 9:30 and then ian gets riley dressed while i get ready then he has his turn.

after peyton wakes up at 11:30 we still sit around eat lunch put riley down for her nap by 12:30 and then play with pate. at 2:00 peyton is ready to go down for a nap and at 2:45 ri wakes up. so by 3:30 we are ready to go, go where? um i don't know maybe to the next small town over. maybe to wal-mart, or if it's a really special day all the way to target! (that is a 15 minute drive you know). while we are out we eat a crappy burger for dinner and get the girls into bed late.

at the end of the day when we come back down the stairs from putting the girls down i think,'that was really dumb. why did we waste a whole day doing what i do everyday? why didn't i at least do something by myself? i should have gotten a pedicure, we should of gone for a walk, we should have planned something fun. oh well where's the ice cream?'

so after like 10 of those days so far this year we said enough is enough! we are doing something fun dang it! we are getting up and we are making some memories, so we did. we had so much fun, and at the end of the day i didn't even need ice cream! well i didn't need it like i said but i still ate it anyway.

so what did you do you want to know, we went to the dallas arboretum! it's way better then tanksgiving point. it's a huge garden area with cafes along the way. there are fountains, even one for kids to play in, and most importantly lots and lots of shade. i had been telling ian for a while that i wanted to go and he really didn't seem very interested. once we got to the arboretum he had the camera going full force and even talked about how nice and peaceful it was. we got there and had a picnic to start and then did our little tour. there were bushes that looked like horses, butterflies, and even carriages! we ran out of time to see everything but we were sure to end with riley and peyton playing in the water. we were pooped by the end but it was worth it! i think we may have even started a new tradition of taking advantage of days off from now on. here are some of the things we saw that day.