December (Finally!)

I can finally post pictures again! We had a really fun December month. We did some light seeing at temple square with my family and the zoo lights with just us. Maybear was so miserable at temple square but she did really well at the zoo. We got free tickets through my mom's work but I think I would pay to see them. Maybear's favorite part was looking at some of the birds they had out.
I turned 22 in December. That sounds so old to me! My parents took us to dinner the night before. Zach decorated the house for me. He made a flower on the wall out of streamers. I think it's pretty awesome. He may have a future in the streamer decorating career don't you think? I bought my own birthday present which Zach wasn't to happy about but...oh well. It's a Charles Dickens library. I love Dickens I'm so excited! My sister-in-law Katherine threw me a surprise "party" that weekend with some yummy pudding cake stuff.


We celebrated our 3rd anniversary in December as well. Three years already can you believe it? We went out to dinner while Maybear played at grandma's house. I forgot how relaxing it can be to go out to dinner! Funny story. Zach kept telling me not to go anywhere until the delivery man came because he was expecting something. Well I thought to myself the UPS guy doesn't come until the afternoon and even if I'm not here they can just take it to the office. So I went to the store came back to find a note from Flower Patch saying they tried to deliver some flowers but no one was here. I felt like such an idiot. They came back later with some beautiful pink roses. What a sweet husband.

My mom gave us her old countdown calender. You get to put an ornament on the tree everyday. Maybear loved it! She couldn't' quite get the ornaments on by herself but she knew how to pull them out of the calender and knew right where they were supposed to go. Some days she got upset because we only let her do one.

Christmas Eve we spent with Zach's brothers and his Dad. Zach played nerf guns with our nephews all night. I didn't think he was ever going to let us go home he was having so much fun. Here is my favorite picture from the battle.

We had a really nice Christmas day. We woke up and opened presents. This is the first year we've actually done presents at our house and I was so excited! I wasn't sure whether Maybear would understand she was getting new toys but she totally did. She was so excited every time she opened a present. Story time. We gave Maybear a doll and she is so precious with it. It makes a crying noise and a laughing noise. When it cries she'll feed it it's bottle and she'll rock it back and forth in her arms. Melts my heart...of course then she gets sick of it and throws it head first into something,but it's cute when she likes it.

Before breakfast we went to my parents and opened presents with them. Wow were were spoiled! We went to breakfast at IHOP with my Dad's family. Maybear went down for a nap while Zach and I put all her new toys together. Unfortunately, mama didn't do a very good job at stocking up on batteries. Luckily grandma saved the day. When Maybear woke up we went to see Zach's dad. Usually we go over there for dinner but it was nice to not have so many people there because Zach actually got some one on one time with his Dad.

In the evening we headed back to my parents for dinner and some Monopoly on the Wii. I got really mad at losing. I'm such a poor sport!

A Decade

So I've seen this on a couple or blogs and I think it's cool. So I'm copying and writing about the last decade.

2000: I was in sixth grade and such a tom boy and such an ugly duckling. I loved writing. I remember I was the only girl who didn't want twins for the sugar baby assignment and I got them. Also playing shoe wars at recess was the highlight of my day. This entails taking your shoes half of and kicking them at whoever you can hit. My best friend April moved about a street away this year and for some reason we never saw each other again. Weird.

2001: Started middle school. Yikes! I joined choir and realized I loved to sing. Ms. Swain was our teacher and she was awesome. I can't remember if it was this year or the next year but in gym we were playing basketball and two of us tripped. The other girl was inccredibly large (and I'm pretty pettit) and she landed on me. I bruised a rib. I was terrified of that girl all through the rest of middle school and high school.

2002: Had a huge crush on Beau Haskell. Lame. Wow I was lame. I think I knew I was lame even then. I quit choir because we got a teacher who was terrible...and a landslide of sweat and fat...yuck.

2003: Took a tennis class loved it! Continued to play until my senior year. This was the first year I think I realized the church was true and I was glad to be a member of it. Got rid of some bad friends and made some really good friends. Went to EFY and seminary this year loved both. This was the first year I actually read the Book of Mormon through. I was on the middle school basketball team and the high school track team. In our last b-ball game I hurt a ligament in my knee (again by being landed on) and couldn't finish the track season. But it was kind of good being injured because I met Eric who I doted on all through high school. We're still friends...I think so anyway, you know the facebook type. First year on the tennis team. Ha! I sucked, but I had so much fun!

2004: I ran for student government this year and won. I realized I was a loser because I couldn't stand the people that were "popular." I tried out for choir half way through the year and made it in. Went on tour to California. Realized I love the beach more than anything. I had the worst teacher for seminary this year...I was glad when it was over. Went on my first real date. It was awful the guy was terribly inappropriate and I asked him to take me home. Played tennis did much better. Also, I met Candace Crown. I was pretty much her shadow for the rest of high school. Awesome girl. I got my first job at Subway.

2005: Realized I loved musical theater. It pretty much consumed my life for the next two years. This year a seminary teacher said something that really bothered me and I decided I wasn't really sure about the church. The lameness and doubt faded out by the end of the year. I broke my back by falling about 20 feet from a tree like a week before school started. I was on bed rest for 3 weeks and lost my varsity spot on the tennis team and almost a lead in the school play. It was this year I realized how amazing my mom is. I mean she's always been amazing but I didn't REALLY realize it until this year.

2006: I had the best seminary teacher this year. Also, I was in madrigals and it shaped my personality and life so much. Graduated. Met Zach, I hated him for about a week and then realized he was the love of my life. We got engaged in July on a beach (he's so sweet) and we were married in December. I took my first college classes and loved them (I miss school!).

2007: We moved to the swamp apartment. Continued going to school. I got a job at American Crafts and made some really great friends. We were sealed in the temple at the end of the year. Which was so fantastic. My testimony and my reliance on the Savior shot up like a rocket this year.

2008: Maybear was born and life REALLY began. She is such a blessing. I love being a mom. I don't think anything else that happened this year is of any consequence put up against that.

2009: What a whirlwind of growth and learning! Staying at home is really more work than it seems like. I really worked to develop my "domestic" talents. Unfortunately they don't come naturally as I know they do for most of you reading this!

2010: I'm looking forward to watching Maybear grow. Hopefully (cross your fingers) getting into a house. If not at least moving. Zach going to school (mostly I just want him to be done). I plan to be a little less self-centered (okay maybe I need to be a lot less self-centered). I'm excited to see where the road takes us this decade!

Maybear Update

I have a million things that happened in December to post about but I can't get to my pictures grr. Anyway, in the mean time Maybear has been doing so many funny things. It's sad she's not really a baby anymore but toddlers sure are entertaining.

She has started wanting to put on make-up. She loves getting her toe nails painted and she gets really upset when I don't let her use my make-up brushes in the morning. It cracks me up. She'll also brush her hair (that she doesn't have), and wait for you to tell her "pretty".

We did a FHE the other night about being a child of God. I had a picture of a bunch of kids and asked, "Is this a child of God? Is this a child of God?" for each kid. I left the picture out on the couch and the next morning she was pointing to each of the kids saying, "isshish, isshish, isshish..."

She loves to put on scarves and necklaces...unless mama wants her to wear them of course.

I keep a chair in the kitchen to reach the high shelves. The other day I left her snacks on the counter. She pushed the chair over to the counter and started climbing up it to get the snacks.

At the store she always holds my debit card and when we get to the card machine she tries to put it in the slider...obviously mommy goes shopping too much.

When Goob barks she barks back at him and tells him to "shh".

She has a shopping cart and she'll push it to the tree take all the ornaments off that she can reach and stick them in her shopping cart.

When I'm cooking dinner I give her a pot and a spoon and she'll sit there and stir. Then she'll "eat" whatever she cooked.

If I lay down on the ground she'll immediately stop what she's doing and come over and tackle me. No resting in this house.

She loves to dance. If anything even remotely sounds like music she'll start grooving.

She has started saying a lot of words. She says, dada, goob (that's the dogs name), good girl, fish, shoe, no no no no, and she'll buzz like a bee. She doesn't say mama though what a stinker.

She is just getting in her last 1 year molar. Teething is terrible. I'm throwing a "done teething" party as soon as she gets all her teeth in. The main activity at the party will be SLEEPING!

Despite my house looking like a tornado ran through it after I cleaned it five minutes ago, and the tantrums that are becoming more frequent, I love this age. It's so much fun to watch her figure out all the little puzzles she meets from day to day. It amazes me how smart she is and what she picks up on.