How to be Busy and Accomplish... ???

So here's my life lately. Some mornings I get up and do preschool stuff or start cleaning up the 2 weeks worth of mess that accumulated, while Lucy's napping. I tend to make the mistake of leaving little Miss Gracie to play by herself. She usually does pretty good to sit and do puzzles or look at books, but I guess that ship has sailed. She now goes by the name Miss Mascara. Yes. One of these choice mornings (Andy's birthday when I was trying to clean the house) I found Gracie covered in my mascara and my lip gloss covered in fur. Poor kitties got makeovers as well I'm afraid. She certainly thought she looked beautiful. It's still amazing to me how I can be so boiling mad and have such a hard time keeping myself from laughing hysterically at the same time. My make-up bag was obviously discovered and still find smudges of it all over my house.





Lucy is a little angel baby still and is now starting to enjoy rice cereal, when I think of it. I'm certainly having a hard time adjusting from only having to give her a bottle (that takes about 10 minutes) to having to actually feed her mushy, messy food (that take about 50 minutes). But it's sure cute to watch her suck it up like it's a bottle.





My big project, as of late, has been getting my backyard flower beds in. Why do we do this to ourselves I wonder. Yes they look pretty but only about $500 bucks, 100 hours of hard labor, and many years later. I just hope my plants don't all up and die after the mild hail storm we had about 5 minutes ago. I think I jumped the gun.
I'm looking forward to the day that this picture of Gracie gardening will actually be what it looks like. Her favorite thing about going outside is going inside. She's always asking me to go outside so that she can go in and out for hours. I think we need a swing set or something.
But as for the flower beds... they look much better than dirt and weeds but it baffles me that I still need more stuff for back there! AND I haven't even hardly touched the front yet this year! It's a crazy world when you have to pay money for plants to put in place of plants that grew for free and are for sure going to survive (because they were so difficult to get out in the first place). Maybe it's vanity or maybe it's therapy or maybe it's just cause that's what you're supposed to do.





For all my complaining though, I have to say I am so blessed. I love these people so much. They are my every joy and my every thought and my every pain and my everything. I truly hope I live up to their every need and that I can set an example for them that they will want to follow and that they will be able to rely on; as I do on my wonderful parents'. Parenthood is the greatest. And being parented was sure great too. I hope my kids will think so one day. Thanks mom and dad!
Thanks my darling one in a million family!

Happy, Happy Birthday Little Andy Pie!

We love you 33 year old, old Andy! Hope that you always know that! We all sure are lucky to have you in our lives... Here's a few of the highlights from the Andy Show:

Tagged Again

My cute cousin Alyson ABC tagged me so here goes:

A.ATTACHED OR SINGLE?
Attached to Hoops Palmero
B.BEST FRIEND?
Andy, Gracie and Lucy
C.CAKE OR PIE?
I like the cake
D. DAY OF CHOICE?
Monday. It's Andy's day off (sort of) and mine too, and Gracie's and Lucy's.
E. ESSENTIAL ITEMS?
A treat after meals and blankets
F. FAVORITE COLORS?
Yellow and pink
G. GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS?
Love them both
H. HOMETOWN?
Salt Lake City, UT
I. INDULGENCE?
Buying dumb unecessary things.
JANUARY OR JULY?
Who would honestly pick January? (Sorry if you would pick January)
K. KIDS?
Two baby girl friends
L. LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT?
Having fun, family, friends and knowing why we're here.
M. MARRIAGE DATE?
May 9, 2001
N. NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS?
2 sisters, 1 brother
O. ORANGES OR APPLES?
Apples cut in rings or clementines
P. PHOBIAS OR FEARS?
Having to sleep alone if Andy's out of town, the dark and sharks
Q. QUOTE?
"If you can't say something nice then don't say nothing at all" (that's all I could come up with at the moment)
R. REASONS TO SMILE?
When Gracie's being her crazy happy self, when Lucy talks and laughs, when Andy says some sarcastic remark, when people are laughing funny.
S. SUPERMAN OR WONDER WOMAN?
SUPERMAN! I don't know Wonder Woman. But I think I'm more of a Batman fan myself.
T. TAG 5 PEOPLE-
people I chose to tag down below
U. UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME?
I'm supposed to wear glasses, but don't so if I'm on the road at night, don't drive!
V. VEGETABLES?
Artichokes, Asparagus and Broccoli (all fully cooked in water)
W. WORST HABIT?
My laid back-ness about the house being a mess (if nobody's coming over)
X XRAY OR ULTRASOUND?
Ultrasound.
Y. YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
Treats and sub sandwiches
Z. ZODIAC SIGN?
Libra

5 PEOPLE YOU'RE GOING TO TAG? Hollie (come on Hollie!), Brandi L., Renee H., Kim E., Allison H.

Good Food, Good Company, Good Talks - You Can't Go Wrong with Conference in Utah!

By the way, hope you all had a good Conference weekend! Our's was great. I love watching conference cuddled up on a couch under a blanket with snacks and toys to entertain the kids! It doesn't get much better than that for me. I don't have to get all fancy and I don't have to get my kids all fancy (for the whole five minutes that it lasts) and I don't have to worry about my kids screaming or being too loud. I can just sit and relax while they run or roll to their heart's content. It's bliss. And the icing on the cake, as far as that goes, was that we got spend the Sunday sessions with 4 of some of the dearest people on the planet - Grandma Brenda, Grandpa Rob, Uncle Adam and Great Grandma Dickey. And extra lucky for me - No cooking! Grandma Brenda is a gourmet chef, so we were livin' the high life! Gracie has talked about her visit every day this week. We sure had a great time. Thanks so much Dickey family!

P.S. Gracie climbed up that tree all by herself!

Not really. But it took some talent to be placed in it and sit there.

Family Home Evening

So we had a family night on love at home and being nice. Little Miss Gracie Jo has been hitting Lucy whenever she cries so I thought it would be appropriate. It was fun and I drew this funky picture for us to color and I was feeling like I got the message through. Ya. Right. Next day Lucy was crying and I ask Gracie, "Did you hit her?". "Uh-huh". "Go in your time out". "Okay". She didn't even bat an eye. How do I get the message through to a two year old that you don't hit? She honestly is the sweetest little girl I know, and yet at times is a little sassafrass! I love her like crazy and I sure hope she turns out alright and that I'm doing okay at raising her! Sometimes I dunno! Her and Lucy are my biggest joys and I want the absolute best for them. So I'm game for any advice on ending this losing battle I have going on here!

Oprah Who?

All day I was thinking in the back of my mind, "I'm gonna watch Oprah today. I'm so excited. I'm gonna watch it. Today's the day, I just know it." I think this subconciously every day because I just love her. But come on! 4 pm? I just can't get it done! I would just T-Vo (how do you spell it?), but then I'd end up having a million pile up that I'd never get to. Like my Suze Orman Shows that I keep deleting cause I don't have the time. (she's coming off the T-Vo, sorry Suze) I vote for an Oprah station that shows her new show every couple hours and then her best shows on the inbetween hours. I have never been an avid watcher and have only seen probably 10 of her shows total, but I love it every time I watch. (Except when she does nasty why I'm a lesbian ones. Sorry lesbians. I don't wanna know.) But Oprah, if you ever see this... though you're not yet T-Vo worthy (I'm very particular) I thoroughly enjoy your show. Keep it up. And maybe one of these days I'll look at the clock to see what time it is before it's 8 pm!