Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Nursing blanket clips

I see clips to make any blanket into a nursing cover, they range anywhere in cost from $5 to $30. I started thinking about how nice it would be to have them but I didn't want to spend the money on it. I looked for clips to make my own, but I didn't really find anything. Until I found a set of sheet straps at the grocery store. I paid about $4 for a set of 4. Sure they don't have some ultra cute fabric covering them, but it works. Since there are 4 in a pack I have extras to keep in the diaper bag, the car, my house... I could always cover it if I really wanted the cute fabric.



Twins- 6 months!

Its crazy that our girls are now 6 months old. They are rolling around, pushing themselves up, getting ready to crawl any day now. They are too cute. They still look really identical. But we don't know if they are identical. It drives my mom crazy that when people ask I don't just say "they are identical".  Instead I answer "we think they are identical." If they ask anything else then they get the explanation. 

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Birthday ARIZONA!!! 100 YEARS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOST FAVORITE STATE!!!
100 YEARS OF BEING AN AWESOME STATE OF THE UNION TO LIVE IN!
100 YEARS OF BEING ARIZONA TOUGH!
by the way have I ever mentioned I'm a 5th generation born ARIZONIAN? 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Goldfield Train Outing

On the way out to Goldfield, we stopped at a museum park, walked around and took some photos of toddlers. 
 the toddlers had a ton of fun running around, 
 playing on the stagecoach,  wagons,
 pretending they are in jail.
 When we got to Goldfield, Sara and her children met us. We bought the tickets to ride the train and had a half hour to burn before the next train ride.
 The train rides extremely SLOW around the old western town. It takes about 20 minutes. 
 I almost think my son was more entertained by watching the train rather than riding the train.
 The toddlers loved it. They were so happy to be there.
That evening all my son would talk was "the train". The next morning he begged me to go back to see the train, but it was time to go home not take another outing to the train.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

NammaNamma

 My sister and mom gave the girls apple slices to nam on. While Rose got the concept of namming, Nellie sucked on it as though it was a pacifier. Considering that neither of them have any teeth yet they did really well with their apple slices.

My Uncle Dave passed away Jan 25.
The funeral was that weekend. I hadn't planed on us going back up to my parents again so quickly but it was what was needed.
My uncle was a man who loved serving people. He loved to see others in good health and smiling. 
He was a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He never served a mission himself, but he was one of the best examples of a member missionary I've ever known. He loved to share what brought him joy in his life with EVERYONE he could.
 There were lots of family in town that came to remember and be my uncle. Here is my Aunt Tammy and my Uncle Jim hold my twins.
Here is my Aunt LeeAnn with the girls. 
 The last photo is my Aunt LeeAnne and Uncle Richard. It was good seeing all the family and spending time in Mesa. Now it is really going to be a bit of time before we go back up to Mesa.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Jeanne came to dinner

My friend Jeanne and her son came over for dinner.
I made cilantro chicken served on brown rice.
Our boys enjoyed playing and we enjoyed having adult conversation.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

the Count Down

My husband is coming home. 
Not forever yet, but for r&r. 
We made a chain to count us down to seeing daddy again. 

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Matching Swimsuits for Matching girls

I found these matching swimsuits, almost more leotards than swimsuit.
They were so cute we had to do a photo shoot with the twins.
two darling girls
They actually rolled and around and smiled and cooed. All while its in the middle of winter.
the size on these suits are 12 months- yet they fit my almost 6 months old right now.
I guess I'm going to need to purchase a new swimsuit for actual swim season.
I doubt these suits will still fit come May.

bubble Bath

Jan 21
"I have a beard- just like daddy"
Al has discovered the fun of playing with the bubble during bath time. He had fun making beards for himself and showing me that he can be just like daddy. Cute stuff.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Talking to Daddy

With daddy deployed we only have Skyping.
Everyday we look forward to his call. We 
gather around the computer to talk to him.
WE LOVE YOU!!

Getting Organized

I've been all about organizing. It all started with putting the Christmas stuff away and trying to get it to fit and be organized. I then started organizing some things in my closet. From there I wanted to organize my cupboards. I have been frustrated with our cupboards. thave ey are narrow width, narrow depth, and very tall with only three shelves. I end up with a TON of unused space. Over the 3 years we've lived in this house I have slowly been trying to *cheap* solutions to my unused space.
First I have been collecting the containers of the Costco brand Kirtland Signature Chocolate Covered Raisins and Almonds. They are all so useful. I pulled them all out. The flour container is from the Costco brand Kirtland Signature Animal Crackers. I put in the smaller containers: long grain rice, lentils, cracked wheat berries, and whole flax. I have a goal to use more whole, unprocessed grains. I figure if they are handier I'll be more likely to use them.
My husband wants to save jars for various uses, but in the mean time they are taking up a TON of space and leaving a TON of unused space. I cut out hard cardboard to create a second shelf. All of these use to take up two shelves and a half. Yeah I have shelf space again.

I did the same with these awesome 60's glasses. They use to take up a bunch of space in the back of this shelf. These cups are just awesome but not for everyday use. To store them I used the cardboard to stack the smaller cups on top of the larger cups.
Spice cupboard. This is metal stack-able shelves.
I had multiple boxes of fiber bars. I decided to combine them all into one box. Cut a whole in the bottom side, taped the side closed.

I had a bunch of boxes of Jello and pudding. I took the long heavy cardboard boxes (granola bar and fruit snack boxes from Costco). I organized in the box according to type and flavor. 
Cut up this box as a tea bag dispenser. I've had the boxes in there. One box for each type and it was a mess.
Would you be interested in how I made it.
I used the gallon ziploc bag box. Four types fit across, and the height is the same as a tea box.
FIRST:
measure out the four sections, and cut lips out for each section.
SECOND:
cut out the back side on three sides and tape up the ziploc punch out door. 
THIRD:
Measure out cardboard for the inside dividers. Make them the same height and depth of the box. You'll need three of them.
FORTH:
Tape, I used packing tape, the board standing up on your divider markers inside the box. 
FIFTH:
Place tea bag packages inside box in the dividers. Close the box, tape the top on the punch out lip. It will be just enough to hold it closed so that it can stand up without falling out the back.
SIXTH:
Place labels on front above each cut out lip so that you don't have to pull out a bag to know which flavor is which row.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

5 months

My girls are getting so big.
They are now 5 months old.

Friday, February 3, 2012

4 1/2 months

2 Jan 2012
4 1/2 months
Look how big the twins are getting.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Christmas Day 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS, even if it is late.
Christmas morning we went to church at 8:30am. Then we came home and opened a few presents.
We took a break while my brothers' went to their ward.
 The girls were so adorable in their plaid taffeta Christmas dresses.
Happy birthday Uncle Rex. As the norm we had a birthday/ holiday gathering for Rex and for Grandmother Dorothy.
 My parents had a full house. Lots of family and many more friends.  Rex is such a popular kid and every year his Christmas Night Birthday party is very well attended.


Merry Christmas

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Christmas Eve

 We tried to act out the Christmas Pageant. We thought the children were old enough to do it simply. It didn't last long. Their attention span lasted about 3 verses.