3 X 12//March 2011

March 2011.

Wow did March FLY by for anyone else? Also, not such a fan of it coming in like a lion! But have been LOVING today going out like a lamb! Don't you just love the white trash shot of us in the Jeep all blown out! I love it! Nothing like waiting for the last day, oh and Chuck was going to join us for the picture but was being too bad trying to chase the bubbles we were blowing. We'll catch him next month!

I think March is pretty much the best month ever because it's my national holiday month. Wow, I'm getting up there in the years...right? Ahhh!

We had a lot to to this month. My nephew TJ got baptized. It's kind of crazy to think that Steve and I met 8 years ago a few days before his birthday in Feb. I guess TJ will always be a good timeline for us to keep track of that. It was Grandpa Beardshall's birthday, my birthday, St. Patricks day, Rob's birthday, we went skiing, we painted our nails, took some naps, painted some pictures, DANCED, listed to music, blew some bubbles and are practicing riding our bikes around here even more the last few days because of the nice weather! Whew!!!! Oh and I cut my bangs again too to top it all off. Wow it's weird how such a small change can make such a huge difference. I like them a ton but am looking forward to when they get a bit longer and I can do the swoopy thing. Wow, I just got side tracked there.

I really think March has been a great time for me to be here in the now. I'm not sure if I'm quite making sense, but I am just so happy every day to get to be, do, hear, say, enjoy the things I get to.

Katy is CRAZY fun. She is really becoming such a funny person. Her personality is really starting to come to. The other day I don't even know what I was doing and she turned to me laughing and said "Mom, you a crazy woman!" Yeah...that is exactly what I'm talking about. She is always yelling "this is so exciting" even when we are just vacuuming the front room. She finds such joy in little every day things. And just like the first presidency message says this month, you can pretty much find whatever it is you're looking for, Katy is helping me to find joy in the little things...like putting the soap in with the laundry.

Some things that make me laugh this month:

• She is so INTO hide and seek. But don't try to count and have her hide...she needs to count. EVERY time. That's her favorite, she is a counter. On a good day she can make it to 20....skipping about 13-17. We usually try to sneak a game in before bed.
• Another thing she finds so entertaining this month is our "donkey rides" to bed. I remembered when I was little my sisters and I would take turns "riding" on each others back while we "climbed" the mountain (stairs). I of course thought this was so funny when I remembered it, and had to try it. Sure enough she laughs her head off when I make my donkey wining all the way up the stairs!
• Every once and a while she'll tell us that she doesn't like kisses. Whatever Katy, you are not going to pull the "too cool" card on us yet. I am starting to think it has something to do with Steve's kissy monster! I think that one is pretty self explanatory!
• She still tells me every day that her favorite color is pink, but purple has been making a pretty strong pull to be number one around here.
• She is still SUPER into anything princess. Especially Tangled!!! She tells me every day that she is a princess. I started asking her, "Well what does that make me?" We have since determined that I am the Queen, Steve is the King and Chuck is the Royal Dog. I'm not quite sure what that means..but I think Chuck would be ok with the title.
• Still no poop on the potty. But she's been trying more...so I guess that is a step in the right direction :)

Today we had so much fun blowing bubbles.....

Washing cars, and riding bikes.....

What am I going to do with this hair? I think it's time to start practicing french braids? We will have to go have a lesson with Aunt Katie!

Looking for the good...

I am in love with the First Presidency Message from President Uchtdorf this month!

"Have you ever noticed that people can usually find whatever they are looking for? Look hard enough, and you can discover both good and bad in almost anyone and anything."

How true is that. I truly believe that I try to see the good in all things, but reading this message really hit home how lucky I really am. I was thinking how we were not planning on staying in our home for more than five years...as it was a starter home...and how we have lost so much on it because of the economy. It's looking more and more like we will be here for quite a bit longer than we had anticipated. But in the same regard....we live in an AWESOME neighborhood and have GREAT neighbors. We love everything about being here, except that we were not expecting to still be here :). Because we have no control over the economy and how it will all play out we are happy to know we live in a nice, safe area. What's not to like about that?

And what's not to like about mis-matched bedding? Hey, another reason I love o'clock church!!! Actually I am totally being sarcastic here, but we were fortunate enough for Katy to take a nap before church this particular day, Steve was still actually sleeping! Don't worry all my bedding matches when my bed is made. Steve refuses to sleep under anything but the blanket I made him a few years ago. And you've got to love that Katy and Chuck are sharing a pillow! What do you do....just look for the good! I LOVE my family!

Party like a rock star!

You know that you party like a rock star when you pretty much pass out while taking a "nap"!

Some days I think she's growing out of her naps (gasp!!!), but other days I know that she totally needs one because, well, you can just tell.

We've been calling them rests or quiet time lately, because I think that's important for all of us to go ahead and have some quiet time...but when I find her like this I know this is a day she needed one of those naps! I guess mom knows best!

Boy that does not look very comfortable....

And that bed is SO comfortable. It was mine and before that my great grandma's. Yup, they don't make them like that anymore...I guess Katy doesn't think so!

I am so ITCHING for the nice weather to finally make an appearance. We've been trying to keep ourselves busy in the meantime inside. I love how she sticks her tong out when she is concentrating!

A day in the life.....

Here are some more day in the life photos courtesy of Steve's iPhone in no particular order....

1) Katy knows how to use an iPhone/iPad/iPod or anything else electronic for that matter better than me....and yet finds pooping on the potty scary??? I don't get it.

2) Katy is always wanting to play dress up...but in particular finds shoes very fascinating (especially Steve's because they are extra big on her).

3) Chuck got his learners permit last week and has been doing pretty good. No fender benders yet....I can't wait until I can stop driving him all over town!

4) We find ourselves at Cabelas a lot. Steve bought his gun there, so they gave us a TON of tokens for there shooting gallery up-stairs. Let's just say it took us a few weeks of family nights to use them all.

Katy HAD to try on the pink cowgirl hat. She picked one out for me too....as you can see it didn't fit. On a side note I have an extremely HUGE head. I remember when I was 7 years old and I totally wanted a cowboy hat (my sister Britney was taking riding lessons at the time and I was in love with the whole idea). I was kindly directed to the mens section by a sales associate at Allied (remember that store!) when my head was "like an orange on a toothpick"! I guess things haven't changed much!

5) Cabelas again....checking out the camping stuff. Katy keeps talking about how we are going to take the top off the Jeep and go sleep in a tent. CANT wait for the weather to get better!

6) I love that the temple is 2 miles away! No reason not to go....Steve took this in the waiting room while he was waiting for me a few weeks ago.

7) Katy picked up Steve's glasses first thing when we picked her up from skiing. This girl is in LOVE with sunglasses!

8) Seriously with the Cableas again!!!! Ha....we are secretly white trash. Shhhhh! Don't tell anyone! Hey maybe we can go "camping" in the parking lot for our first camping outing?

9) More skiing fun. Enjoying our packed lunch. I love we got a drink to share that was like 5 bucks! The lady next to me ordered a sandwich, side salad and a vitamin water...her total? $32.00!!!! Ha

10) Katy got to go with Steve to "school" for one of his presentations for work to preschoolers. She was on cloud nine and couldn't figure out why we didn't have a back pack full of books for her to take. She cant wait to go to school!

11) Katy picked out her outfit all by herself today. Pink B-Ball shorts, pink tangled shirt, pink princess jacket and her tickles (flip flops)....too bad those were not pink too!

12) Lastly Katy is always a big help setting the table for Sunday dinner at Roger and Joanne's. This night she was putting the potatoes on the plates!

Also my friend Suzie is doing a give away on her blog. Check it out.....HERE

3 Years Ago

3 years ago today I was working at the University of Utah hospital. I was informed that my SIL Robyn was having her baby. How convenient! Because Hayden didn't make an appearance until later that afternoon I went to visit them on my way home. I remember holding him thinking how cool it is that people get to have babies.....but felt a bit sick to my stomach when I heard Robyn recall her horrendous ordeal getting him here.

Aside from getting several epidurals (that didn't work by the way), she had to have a c-section in the end and pretty much felt everything! Remember how I don't even have my ears pierced? Well you can imagine that I was wincing at the mere fact that she had to have SEVERAL epidurals and that thought of them sewing her up too, it was a bit much to say the least! Did I mention that she had several epidurals! ?!

I went home that night and informed Steve that I had a sinking feeling that I was prego! Mind you, we had been trying for a few months. Actually that is a pretty funny story in and of itself. We always joked that we were on a 5 year plan for kids, we'd have kids when we were married for 5 years. I remember waking up one morning at the first of Jan and telling Steve that I felt that I was good to have kids anytime he was ready. He thought a minute and then told me that he thought he may need a few more months. I really thought nothing of it and said that was fine by me. Well he came to me the very next day and said "let's do it". I guess he was ready too because he was pretty excited when he told me! Ha....so that was the plan.

Please don't get me wrong when I say I had a sinking feeling that I was pregnant because we were over the moon when we found out that we were having a baby.....but it was not the best day to hear that news. I mean really.....Robyn had a horrible experience! I was not scared to have a child, but I was scared to HAVE a child...physically! I walked down the stairs with that positive pregnancy test and was pretty much at a loss for words. I was so happy but felt SO scared at the same time! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN, may your birthday always be a reminder of when I found out I was having Katy....and I am happy to report that I had a much better experience :) We had Katy one month shy of being married 5 years, my epidural took and I hardly felt a thing.

We had a pretty great week/weekend. Steve left Wednesday afternoon for a boys weekend in Vegas with some of his work buddies. Katy and I made the most of the time. Here are some of the things we did....

For St. Patricks day we had scrambled eggs with cheese, and potatoes. Steve is not a big fan of breakfast foods so I thought I'd take advantage of that. I had a hard time with the fact that they were green, even though they tasted great! Katy loved them.

We even died our apple juice. Katy loved the gold coins more though. I think I picked these up a while ago in the dollar bins at Target.

Katy and I spend at least a half hour every night reading books. Friday night I told her to get some books out while I did something. When I came back she had a HUGE pile of books on her bed. We usually only read 3 or 4 so we had to put some back!

Just part of the pile!!!!!

Steve was planning on coming home on Saturday some time. They ended up coming home later than I expected about 9:30. Before we went to bed Katy and I painted her nails pink. She loves to paint her nails. She's always good about sitting still but had an itch on her forehead and had to get it. She got nail polish everywhere! I didn't think it was a big deal to get it off with nail polish remover, except I was all out! I had to use my bottle a few months ago when she dumped a thing of purple nail polish all over my bedroom carpet! I had to wait until Steve got home and we had to hit up the Walmart to get some!

We played "cars" with her diaper box. Yes she is still in diapers. She will go pee anytime you ask her to but she never asks to go herself. And she refuses to go "poop on the potty". And to be honest I don't really want to force her to go. I guess she'll go when she is ready. You can believe that I will push the issue more in May when she is 2 and a half!

Don't worry we got the nail polish off before church...and she had beautiful nails too. I guess a girls got to work for her beauty sometimes!

Oh and if you can even believe it Katy and I went to Tangled again in the dollar theater....her 4th time! I am seriously buying that this month. I am going to keep it by the TV and tell her if she wants to watch it she needs to go poop! Hey, a little encouraging never hurt anyone! :)

Party Time, EXCELLENT!

If there is one thing you need to know about Team Beardshall....it's that your birthday is your very own personal national holiday! That's right! I celebrated mine on Sunday. I still think birthdays are fun but am feeling that I am getting up there in years (I kid, I kid)....only because Steve's internal age clock keeps telling him that he is turning 23 again. And after hearing that for the past 6 years it kind of hit me that I am 28 this year. Not that I really am old but that I feel old compared to 23....like Steve always says.

I always wonder if I'm going to wake up one day, look in the mirror and not recognize how old I've gotten. Do you ever wonder that? Because we see ourselves every day....I can't imagine that we'll be able to tell if we are really getting older. I imagine that it will just happen.

I was working at the University of Utah hospital a few years ago. When I was in the bathroom there I noticed that I had some grey hairs. It was a kind of weird thought, to have grey hair. I remember calling my mom and telling her this information. My Grandpa Christopherson didn't grey for years...I still remember him having pretty dark hair. So I have good genes on that side. My mom quickly informed me that they must be blond hairs I found because she didn't start greying until "I was at least 30!" Something about talking to your mom puts things into perspective for ya...but I was pretty convinced that she was trying to make me feel better about the whole grey hair thing. Last I checked I have fairly dark brown hair! So alas I exited the bathroom and had my co workers confirm that I, in fact, had grey hair! (I like to think that my crazy school/work schedule and stress of an internship contributed to that, thank you very much!) For my birthday that year my friend Adriana picked me out the perfect birthday card and had all my co workers sign it. I still have it, but will have to find it to tell you exactly what it said. I can tell you that it was a tribute to my grey hair...and it had a grey colored cat on the front!

I had a great weekend....we went skiing, got to hang out with my family at TJ's baptism on Saturday during the day, went out to dinner with Roger Joanne RaNae and Ken on Satruday night, and got to hang out and see the rest of Steve's family on Sunday night for a big family dinner.

Also Steve is AMAZING and is letting me get family pictures this year when we are in California with the incredible TARA WHITNEY!!!! I am seriously counting down the days. I think I have a girl crush on her :), and I could spend hours looking at her work. This is an extra special present because Steve is not usually the biggest fan of getting his pictures in the first place...so that will act as an added bonus!

And after the ski instructor commented on my "vintage" skis on Friday and called me ma'am...I guess I am getting older. I feel happy. I feel unsure. I feel random. I feel scared. We'll have to see if any more of my "blond" hairs make an appearance this year. I just like to think that they will help add to my own "vintage" feel! Until my next national holiday!

Celebrate!

I'm kind of embarrassed to say it but Steve and I celebrated our 7th anniversary back in December. I have been meaning to post about it for a while now but I couldn't find "the perfect" picture of us together. I still don't think I have the perfect picture but think it's far over due to post about celebrating our anniversary....because we just did!

I guess that is what happens when you decide to get married during winter break from school about a week before Christmas....things get CRAZY that time of year and it makes it harder to celebrate how it should be celebrated. I know that my sister Britney is gasping now because she is all about celebrating things on the day that they happened (something I love about her!).

Don't get me wrong we know how to celebrate around here but decided to play it a bit more low key this year with everything going on and opted to go skiing. We did go to dinner and a movie the weekend of our anniversary, and I will say that has defiantly struck a cord to get out and go on more dates (which we've done a lot since then). I can't remember a time before we had Katy that we went on a date, just the two of us. I guess we just really enjoy Katy's company, because she is a blast. But I am grateful for that date in reminding me that we need to make the time to get out and do some more of that as a couple.

Well like I said, we celebrated 7 years in December and we went skiing last Friday! Ha....better late than never. And I will say that it added to my birthday weekend celebration (more on that later). But about the skiing.....Steve is not too shabby on those skis I tell ya. He pretty much had a season pass for as long as he could remember, until we got married! I guess, in a way, skiing to celebrate was an homage to his old skiing days, because they are long gone!!!! We laugh because when we were going to school at the U we didn't really have time to go skiing because we were in school. And now that we are graduated we cant go because we don't get those killer school deals and cant afford it! But Steve was in heaven, he was lovin' it!

About my skiing. I had a season pass from 9-12th grade because I worked up at snowbird. Did I use it? Not once. LAME!!! No one I knew went skiing and I obviously had no idea what I was doing so I never went. I know people that travel here every year to partake in the greatest snow on earth are cursing me now! I went one time in high school. Other than that Steve has been my only ski instructor. I haven't been a million times either so I am not a pro by any means. I can get down the hill relatively unscathed, although there were some 6 year olds that were making me look bad! Another thing that is note worthy are my skis. I guess I need to take a picture of them and post it because you will probably have a good laugh too, but they were the TOPIC of conversation while we were on the lifts. You know the old pointy ones? Those are mine! One of the ski instructors said, "Ma'am, I had a pair of those skis when they first came out...that brings me back." First, I consider these skis "vintage"....isn't that all the rage now? And second it must have been my birthday weekend to be called ma'am....I guess I am old now? I felt that way a bit, thanks a lot! I'm pretty sure we made a trade with Jon and Michelle for them back in the day. They work. They get me down the hill. They are "vintage". What's not to like?

Mom was off work on Friday so she watched Katy for us, and we SO appreciate it!

Seven years? It doesn't really feel like it's been that long to be honest.

I met Steve through a mutual friend in February of 2003, before I went to Hawaii for school for the summer. I feel in love with Steve when I was gone. (In fact, I wanted to shout it from the escalator as I was going to claim my baggage at the airport, but totally wussed out!) It was kind of a unique way to get to really know someone, through phone calls and emails. I'd say that ever since that day I knew I loved Steve, my life has only gotten better. I am still as much in love with Steve today as the day I said yes. Getting married has been the most rip roaring, fly by the seat of your pants, rootin' tootin' good time I could have imagined it would be. I appreciate the person I have become being a wife, and more so the mother I've become.

Hopefully the lack of a season pass has been worth it for Steve too, because I'd trade one for him any day of the week! Here's to our 8th year....let's see where it takes us! And for crying out loud let's go skiing for our anniversary this year, in DECEMBER!

Grandma Ida

Grandma Ida. What can I say about Grandma Ida? She is pretty amazing. Back in 2000 my grandpa passed away from Lou Gehrig's Disease. I remember how frustrating it was for her to have to go through all of that with my grandpa. It seems like it was years before he was even diagnosed. He passed away shortly after.

Grandma Ida did remarry later, and unfortunately her husband Arch recently passed away unexpectedly. I can only imagine how hard it would be to loose my grandpa, but it would also be very hard to loose Arch.

On of the things I want to remember about my grandma is how active she has always been. Ever since I can remember she'd go walking every morning. And before it was even "cool" to recycle she'd take her bag with her and collect aluminum cans. I think over all the years she's been doing that she has made over a thousand dollars? Something crazy like that!

She's always been a very involved grandparent. I always LOVED looking forward to sleepovers with her because we would have so much fun. We'd get to play with all her things. I remember her having a bocce ball set....we didn't even know how to play....but we'd roll those balls down the patio stairs in her backyard. And she had a doll house that was to dye for! But of all my memories grandma Ida my favorite has to be the way she reads books. We could listen to her for hours reading books. Actually Katy could listen to me for hours reading books so maybe I got some of my good story telling abilities from her! At least I'd like to think so.

Katy and I decided to go visit her after we went to the safety fair a few weeks ago. We had a great time. We even got to read some books!

Katy was very tired from all the running around we'd been doing up to that point, but she enjoyed every minute of my grandmothers book reading....

I LOVE this picture. Does this not put a picture to the kind of reader she is? Very expressive! Katy is eating it all up!

Grandma Ida works her magic again! We can't wait to read books again soon!

Quilt-a-rific!!!

I am lucky that I have a pretty good excuse to be crafty sometimes. Britney signed us up for a machine quilting class the end of last year. Darn, I cant remember her name but she was great. I would go as far as saying that my SIL Heidi actually got me into quilting....she may not know that. I always loved all the CUTE quilts she seemed to whip up all the time. I remember she made her son a "reading quilt" when he was very young. I am not sure if I'm describing it very well...but I thought that was a very cleaver idea. I of course asked her to come along for the ride....since it was up in Brigham City with Britney.

Well if you will remember with me, Heidi had a bit of a spill last October and we were not sure where she would be in her recovery. She was hesitant to sign up. Luckily there was a spot in the class still and she ended up coming anyway (and is I guess pretty much fully recovered!).

We had a blast! We learned a lot of techniques for machine quilting. There are patterns you can use or you can go it freehand. Pretty much all you need is a darning foot for your sewing machine. And MAN do I wish I would have had one of these on the last quilt I finished!!!! It's so weird to have free reign to go anywhere you want to go and not be limited by a presser foot! Really go get one and see what you come up with. I still have a lot of practicing to do but I am glad I had the exposure to that. Cant wait to see what I come up with!

Totally fun, and kind of scary....I am writing the rules now!

Heidi found out she may have a good excuse to get a new machine. She got a really great machine quilting frame for Christmas and found out that her machine wont work with it! Oh darn :)

Strike a pose there's nothing to it! Britney is posing with the quilting gloves we got to try. Britney actually made me some that I am excited to try!!!! (thanks for the pictures Brit..I totally forgot my camera!)

I will leave you with my last sewing project...the one I wish I knew all this stuff for! I got the chance to make a quilt for my cousins shower. I was also able to make a diaper case and some burp clothes too, with my scraps. I love a good excuse to have something to sew! This is a variation on the quilt I made Katy....it's amazing how different something can look depending on what materials you choose to use!

Happy quilting! Another good excuse to CREATE!

3 X 12//February 2011

February 2011.

If we're being honest here I decided to take this project on the last day of February. It was a crazy day and we had a Jazz game scheduled for that evening. I was so tempted to take my camera with us to the game, but for some reason I remember reading somewhere that they are not allowed? Maybe I'm making that up but I didn't want to lug that thing all the way down there, just to have to turn around and take it back to the car. Also I am kind of paranoid when it comes to my camera....I didn't want to leave it in the car downtown. Especially my awesome tin can. You could probably pick the lock of my car with a bobby pin if you really wanted to!

We opted to take a family photo with the iPhone this month.

More about the Jazz game? Well every year for Christmas I put Jazz tickets in Steve's stocking....whoops, I mean Santa puts them there (only if he's a good boy of course!). I opted to get tickets to the Celtics game because I thought it would be more exciting. This was before Sloan decided to retire out of no where and we traded DWill (which I think was a smart move on the Jazz part in the long run). Also I have to go with the nose bleed tickets because they are cheaper. I think I would have forked out a bit more dough if I would have realized that we were pretty much surrounded by Celtics fans!!!! How annoying! We also decided to take Katy to the game.....which she LOVED! My favorite part was how the Celtic fans in front of us were swearing up a storm and also flipping off the camera for all the pictures they were taking. I guess we'll know if Katy starts flipping us off where she learned it! Thanks!

I had to laugh when Katy was clapping no matter what side just scored...she would clap for the Jazz then for the Celtics. She was in love and kept yelling GO JAZZ all night. It was awesome! I'm also happy to report, even though my Jazz shirt is totally not the right colors anymore Milsap is still going strong. Glad I picked a great player to support along the way....Boozer and DWill aren't here any more are they! Boo ya!

Well the Jazz didn't win but we did much better than I was first expecting. They did great. I think we are on the mend. And I had an absolute BLAST with my family. I love that we are kind of random sometimes, and decided to take Katy to the game because she had a BLAST too, and she got to eat popcorns (love how she says it with and "s" on the end) her favorite!

Go Jazz!

What else did we do this month? Katy and I went to the children's museum, and the zoo. We got to go to the kids safety fair and get a helmet for her. We visited Great Grandma Ida and read books. I went to my machine quilting class. Steve and I got to go shooting. What a great month...cant wait to see what March has in store for us!

3 X 12//January 2011

January 2011.

I find inspiration in a lot of things. I love a lot of things. I love new things. I love new ideas.

I am going to take on a personal project that a very inspirational photographer took on herself last year. Tara Whitney is that photographer I am talking about. Check her out because I love her work and her personal philosophy....perfectly imperfect. Last year she started a project she called six people twelve times, where she took or had taken a family picture every month for the whole year. Of course I am just taking on the challenge so I am not up to speed. Katy had to help me for the month of January because we don't have a picture of the three of us.

I honestly cant remember what we did in January. Oh and I love this picture that we drew above. Do you like how Chucks head is HUGE! Ha, I started drawing him and realized that I couldn't really draw us all in proportion so he just ended up with a huge head. It made Katy laugh. I guess January was cold, hence the snowflakes.

January was a month of starting fresh, starting new. I decided to take on a personal word or mantra for the year. I was having a hard time narrowing it down to just one word. So I came up with two. Do you want to know what they are? Well folks I will tell you, in no particular order....

Word one: COURAGE. What a strong word. I decided that I say that I am sorry a lot. I don't really give myself credit, when it's due sometime. I guess I sell myself short sometimes. I guess I am afraid sometimes to fail. You get what I'm getting at? Also on a side note when I went through my Substance Abuse Treatment Training with the Social Work department at the U we did a class all day on a Saturday. It was group work, so we had our own group. We were split up and we were all involved in a group. I found when it was my turn to go (and we were digging up some pretty deep stuff here) and I was crying....it was made known to me, by the teacher, that I was smiling as I was crying. He told me that it was okay to be sad sometimes...especially when we have good reason. I guess where I'm going with this is that sometimes I am just afraid. I am afraid to be sad, I am afraid to fail, I am afraid that people wont like me.....just afraid. Courage is a word that is so liberating to me because it will help me live my life in a way that I can just be. I am who I am, so let's embrace that. We will see what COURAGE shows to me this year.

Word two: CREATE. I like to think that this world could use a lot more of this. I remember when I was little I was always making things. I would make clothes for all my animals. I would make paper crafts. I would make costumes. Whatever. I guess I would like that opportunity to make more time to create. Draw a random stick figure picture of my family. Sew more. Craft more.

I also want to say that the month of January was a good time for me to reflect on the fact that I have an amazing family. We are not perfect by any means....but we are perfectly imperfect. Do you find truth in that statement? I do. Katy is learning and growing so much every day. Today she was convinced that she didn't need to go to bed because we needed to do jumping jacks! Chuck makes me laugh my head off when he freaks out because he wants to come with us, wherever we are going. Steve is incredible. I love him more today that I did when I first knew I loved him. I love that we are probably annoying to people because we talk all the time when we are not together. I love that my house is messy now because Katy and I were in fact doing jumping jacks and dancing before bed. Everything in it's place. Love!

Yes January was a great month and a great start to a new year!

Hello 2011.

Put some WINDEX on it!

Yes I realize that this lovely photo is totally backwards (thanks to my photobooth), but so is the fact that Katy has been watching too much of My Big Fat Greek Wedding!

Ok, let me start over. We had run out of electronic wipes to clean my computer....Steve is kind of a freak about electronics so I need to keep mine clean. Well I was using some windex sprayed on a towel to clean it off. For some reason I didn't think to put it away and went to empty the dish washer. Well you can imagine how horrified I was when I looked over and Katy was spraying my computer. "I cleaning mom!" She was so proud of herself. I just about cried when I saw that because she was not really spraying the screen it was just dripping profusely onto my keyboard! I quickly wiped it off and thought to grab my can of compressed air I had recently used on my sewing machine. It seemed fine....the track pad was working. I decided to leave it out to dry.

Well when I got home I tried to log into my email and was not happy to find when I typed amy that I got amerty! The Y key was wacked and was typing erty instead. Steve said that it was probably going to be a big expense to fix. He kept reminding me that he was going to be able to give me crap because I give him crap all the time.

What about? Well when Steve decided to sell the iMac to buy a new iPad I was okay with that because he said he'd share his Macbook Pro with me. He had this thing all of two months when he left it on the roof of his car and drove off! He realized what he had done and drove back (all in a matter of 5 minutes), it was GONE! We were notified by AT&T that our data plan was almost used....and we didn't have the iPad! I can only imagine that someone saw it happen and picked it up, LUCKY son of a gun! To make a long story short Steve opted to replace it with a new Airbook (the cheaper route....NOT), but quickly realized he missed his iPad and got one of those too, for Christmas! Hey not fair that you can work tons of overtime to pay for all of that! Do I get overtime for extra laundry and the dishes?

Steve gave me the Macbook Pro with the agreement that I would be super "anal" in cleaning the thing with his special electronic wipes all the time!

Ha Ha...kind of a funny story, not really but kind of. We took it down to the gateway and they determined that since we had purchased it less than a year ago and they could not confirm the water damage (they seriously have things in your computer that will change colors if they come in contact with water so they can tell if you are lying when you say "it just stopped working"), they would replace the keyboard for free. I guess in a way we are lucky that it was Windex and not water and that I used my compressed air, because nothing got shorted out! Oh and that saved me 755.00! And Steve cant give me a hard time because my mistake didn't cost us anything. I guess I am a lucky son of a gun too!

So my friend Jena reminded me today when the dad on Greek Wedding put's windex on everything and said that Katy must have been watching this too much! I agree! Moral of the Story.....don't think because your kids are sweet and innocent they wont use that Windex every now and then! I cant wait to get it back because I have some cute pics to post. I am thinking that we will be reunited sometime by weeks end!