challenge: day 1

 Today was a great day and I have so much to be thankful for. First and foremost for my husband, of course, for giving me a day to myself to just relax and do whatever my little heart desired.

Second, here was a small blessing; a lady almost backed into my car today because she wasn't paying attention, and I barely got out of the way in time by scooting as far forward as I could. Something really small and inconsequential, but I was so thankful that she didn't hit my car, because who wants that headache?

Also today, I am thankful for pajamas. I bought these new jammies for Evie today and I almost died because she was so cute in them. So. Cute.

One last thing. A tender mercy from today; Evie only woke up once at 5am, and then slept until 7:30. In case you didn't know, this is a big deal. Good job, Eves. You made mom a very happy girl.

blog challenge

Lately I have been feeling a little lost and off course, so as a way of trying to get myself feeling a bit better, I've decided to undergo a blog challenge. It's fairly simple really. I am going to look for one specific thing each day that I am thankful for or some little blessing/miracle that happens, and then blog about it. I'm going to try and do this everyday so I can start having an attitude of gratitude. I find when you're grateful and humble, you're much happier. So, I am going to look for heavenly father's hand in my daily life, and then tell you about it. Wish me luck! 

The picture isn't relevant, but is she cute or what?

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stake conference

We had our stake conference yesterday, which is usually pretty great, but this one was made exceptional by one Russell M. Nelson presiding over the meeting. I was so excited to see him and get a good seat that I made us leave a full two hours before we needed to. Lucky I did too, because that house was packed to capacity. We were only four rows away from that amazing apostle and I was thrilled. Over joyed. That is the closest I have ever been to a general authority. The spirit and the love you can feel coming from that man was astounding. He was all smiles and kind words. At the beginning of his talk he had all the children stand where they were and sing the hymn, "I am a child of god". It was breathtaking. He then went on the instruct us on how to raise our children in the gospel and how to be better parents. What an amazing talk, and at a time I needed it the most. That is an experience I am sure I will never forget.

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flu-take two

Well, evie and I have the stomach flu. Again. My poor baby girl. It really is the worst for her because she has no idea what is going on and she's just so miserable. I started feeling less than stellar this morning after breakfast, and its just been getting worse since then. Evie and I had to tough it out all day, though, until Dan got home this evening. So far, he hasn't been sick and its my fervent hope that he doesn't. He's been taking care of us both all evening while also trying to keep his distance and make sure I'm quarantined, poor guy. Hopefully this passes soon because being sick really is the pits.

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Easter

We sort of forgot about Easter since it was the day after Evie's birthday, but we tried. Evie wore a new dress that her Grandma Nelson bought her, and later that evening we dyed some easter eggs and then ate them for dinner. We did manage to remember to get Evie an Easter basket, so that was pretty good. She really liked those plastic eggs. Cute girl. Happy Easter!

twelve months/ Evelyn's first birthday

 Evelyn turned 1 on April 7th! Her birthday really snuck up on me. Maybe I was in denial or something because I just cannot believe that she is so old. How did she get so big so fast? How does that happen? Her birthday was a lot of fun. We had a lot of really great friends over, had some food, chatted a lot, played, and opened presents. It was great, and I think Evie really had fun with all those kids running around. She loves, loves older kids and just follows them around the whole time.

 See those chompers on top?

I had so many little helpers! In about 5 minutes, I was surrounded by presents.

Evie eventually got tired of opening presents and played on the floor

So, 12 months. This month Evelyn has actually changed a lot. She...

• has actually started using her little walker and loves it
• waves and claps all the time
• Can climb up the stairs. Oy
• has gotten extremely picky about what she eats. 
• will sometimes blow kisses
• gives a lot of hugs. Like, all the time and it's totally random
• throws tantrums like you wouldn't believe. She actually grabs me and bites me now when she's mad. I'm sorry, is she 1 or 15?
• actually enjoys being outside
• doesn't fight me on nap time anymore
• loves to destroy anything that is in order. Blocks, DVDs, pillows, whatever. Destructor baby
• will let pretty much anyone hold her now and has become super social
• doesn't care at all if we leave her with a babysitter anymore as long as they will play with her
•  is seriously so funny. She does things on purpose now just to make us laugh.
• has four new teeth on top, and they all came in at the same time. Seriously...
• still loves bath time and still hates diaper changes and getting dressed. 

I cannot believe she's a year old. It blows my mind just to think about it. What a great year it has been, too! I'm so glad I have this blog and that I have kept track of her changes so that I can look back on this, years from now, and remember her the way she used to be. Happy birthday, baby girl. I love you more than you will ever know.

Utah

 Dan and I finally made it up to Utah last week. It was so much fun! We just wished we could have stayed longer. Dan hasn't seen his family in a really long time, so he was ecstatic. We got there on Monday and as far as I can remember, we didn't really do anything. Dan got to go fly fishing with his dad on Tuesday, so Diane, me, and Evie had a girls day. We went shopping, and then later that night, all the girls went and saw the Hunger Games together. Fun fun. On Wednesday, Dan and I ventured down to SLC and had lunch with my grandparents, my aunt Jana, and my awesome cousin Jessica. Let's see, Thursday, Dan and I got to go to the temple in the morning and then after that, we had a birthday party for Evelyn, Sarah, and Ariel. Evie had her first chocolate cupcake, and she was not shy. Devoured that sucker. That was the first time all four little girl cousins were in the same place at the same time. It was pretty dang cute. On Friday morning, we took Evie to the Bean Museum because Dan really wanted to take her. Nostalgia and all that. I think after that, Dan spent the rest of the day with the boys playing games. Saturday afternoon, Dan and I got to go to a session of conference! It was so amazing! That was something I have always wanted to be able to do, and Dan made it happen. Just another reason why I love him. Being in the same building as the prophet was unbelievable and I loved every moment of it. Saturday night everyone played root beer pong while I packed and went to bed. All in all, it was a pretty amazing trip, I just wish we could have stayed longer.

Evie getting reacquainted with her cousin Jori

Evelyn and Evie, second cousins!

this is the closest I got to them looking at me and smiling. Not great.

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Race!

 Evie loved playing the piano.

Playing with grandpa and Elena

provo temple

went to the temple! yay us!

all for baby girls born in the same years. And their moms. Me and Evie, Ariel and Jori, Sarah and Miriam, Chantale and Elena

 Evelyn had an early birthday celebration while we were there. She devoured that cupcake

 At the bean Museum. Dan was really excited to take her

Got to go to a session of conference!! First time for me!!

Root beer pong on the last night we were there

I have no clue who won because I went to bed. I had to get up at 4am, I mean, come on.