Just Because

Lately, when I take a picture of Zoie, she makes this face and says "cheese"

I don't have many pictures of Zoie and I.

Here is one we took a couple weeks ago.

You can't even tell I am 6 1/2 months pregnant :)

This is girl is my world and I can't wait to have two little girls.

Staying STRONG in the STORMS of Life

I thought a lot about this post and what it should be about. Which is why it is a day late. It wasn't until late last night during my scripture study in Alma 50, that I knew what this post needed to be about. I learned a little about what it takes for me to have or better yet, allow the Lord and his power to help me through my challenges and trials. So please bare with me as I try to put my thoughts into words for you to understand.

"Thus Moroni, with his armies, which did increase daily because of the assurance of protection which his works did bring forth unto them, did seek to cut off the strength and the power of the Lamanites from off the lands of their possessions, that they should have no power upon the lands of their possession." (Alma 50:12)

This verse taught me that when I am following the Lord's will and keeping his commandments I feel His assurance, peace, and protection over me. Isn't that a great thought to know. As long as I am doing my best and my heart has the right intentions, I know the Lord is going to be with me and do all that he can for me.

Not only is that great, check this out:

"And those who were faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord were delivered at all times..." (Alma 50:22)

Plain and simple as that! It is very important to be faithful. It is through my faithfulness that the Lord will be able to help me accomplish and overcome ALL my challenges and trials that Satan places on my path. No wonder FAITH is the first principle of the gospel. Everything revolves, acts, and depends upon our faith in the Lord. It is our faith in Jesus Christ that Satan tries to destroy.

I know it can be hard sometimes to have that unwavering faith in the Lord when something bad or difficult is happening in your life, but as you continue to do your best to strengthen that faith and stay STRONG you will be delivered from your STORMS at all times.

"Daddy...Daddy..."

Last night Zoie woke up in the middle of the night. She didn't cry or anything, just woke up and started saying "daddy...daddy...daddy...daddy" over and over again, until he came in to see her.

Daddy: "What's the matter?"
Zoie: makes a noise and reaches her arms up towards him
Daddy: "Do you want to cuddle?"
Zoie: "Cu-lle."

They cuddled for a bit and then went back to sleep. It was really cute and made Ryan feel really special. She loves her daddy!!!

This morning she wanted to be just like daddy. They sat at the table together eating cereal. Zoie was eating hers without milk and when daddy was done, he poured his milk in Zoie's bowl and she got excited. Ryan told her, "just like daddy." She responds, "ju li daddy." She loves her daddy!!!

I love these two. They make me so happy and bring so much meaning to my life.

(old pictures, but she didn't want to take a picture this morning)

Binky Free

When Zoie was born, Binky's were my best friend, my life saver, so to speak. A week after she was born, we went grocery shopping at Walmart and she just started to cry. She was fed, had a clean diaper, didn't want to be held or cuddle or anything. So we went to the baby section, opened up a pack of Binky's stuck one in her mouth and the response was silence. AMAZING!!!! I didn't have to have my freak out mom moments, because I didn't know what to do to calm my crying baby anymore. Ever since then, we all have loved them.

We decided that once she started to ask for her Binky's it would be time to get rid of them and with a new baby coming in a couple months. We figured if she could do that then she understood why she was using it and needed to learn on her own how to fall asleep and comfort herself without one.

We prolonged this process for long time. It was so nice for me to give her Binky to her, stick her in bed and she goes right to sleep. I could relax, get things done, and when she woke up she was as happy as can be. It was a good system. I didn't want to mess with it, especially out in public. Ryan and I decided to start at the beginning of this month. I was so nervous. I heard a mom saying she just finished weaning her son of his Binky's and it took them 3 weeks. THREE WEEKS!!! I didn't know if I could handle three weeks.

All in all it took Zoie a day in a half to be Binky free. It was great. The first day was rough, she only had a 30 minute nap, compared to her 2-3 hour nap. The next day she was back into her routine. Here is what I did. I found all of her Binky's and hid them. I took one of them and clipped the end off a bit. Every time she would ask for her Binky I would give that one to her. She didn't like it all and kept saying "oh no! oh no! oh no!" and ended up throwing it on the ground. She quickly understood what was going on and decided to make due without. Mission Accomplished!!! She continues to sleep her 2-3 hour nap everyday and wakes up as happy as can be. I love my little girlie.

We have been Binky free for 2 1/2 weeks.

Strawberries!

I have been craving strawberries like it is nobody's business. This last month we have always had 4 cartons full of strawberries in the fridge. It's the most amazing thing ever! :) This baby, Zoie, and I are definitely full of Vitamin C.

Zoie has learned many new words this last month and one of them is "strawberries." Lately when she wakes up from her nap and wants a snack she'll run to the fridge and say strawberries. She loves them. She has also been in the no shirt phase, and only the skirt phase. It's really frustrating, sometimes, but it's kind of cute.

I'm so glad that Zoie loves to eat fruit. I can't believe she is 19 months. She is so friendly and the most independent little girl I know. She is a very good helper around the house and I'm so excited to have another little girl in the house. I think Zoie will absolutely love her and be very helpful.

I sat on the pillows one time during a project and

ever since then she has to sit on a pillow too. :)

Movie Fort

Today has been a gloomy, rainy day. Zoie and I have spent most of the day watching Disney movies; Little Mermaid, The Aristocats, The Lion King, and The Emperors New Groove.

She wanted to go outside and play a lot today and I told her it was all rainy and yucky and we couldn't. So to make it up to her we bulit a fort. She loves it and has been watching her shows and eating her snacks in it.

I just used three of our kitchen table chairs, a sheet and two blankets. Nothing fancy, just simple enough to make her life more interesting and fun. I'm glad she is enjoying it and is spending a lot of time in there, I can now get the kitchen clean before Ryan comes home from work without distractions :)

Gauzey Swaddle Blankets

This summer is going to be one eventful summer for both sides of my family. My sister is expecting her first child, a boy in June and I am expecting nine days later with our second little girl. Not only on my side but also my sister-in-law is expecting their fourth sweet girl in August. A lot of new little ones will be joining our families this year. It's so exciting.

I wanted to make something for each new little baby. I LOVE pinterest and most of my projects, ideas, meals, etc all come from that site. It's amazing :) Anyway I found this tutorial on how to make simple swaddle blankets. I decided that this would be the perfect gift for them and for my new little girl.

The past couple weeks have been rainy, so I haven't been able to work much on my dresser (bummer!). Being couped up inside a lot, I order some fabric from one of my favorite fabric sites fabric.com and bought some fun, pretty color gauzey fabrics. They all finally arrived the beginning of this week. I buckled down and started sewing!! Zoie even helped me pin some of the edges over, she enjoyed it a lot. Still have to finish mine, but made sure to get theirs done first. What do you think? Simple, right?!

These are for my Sister Shelby's little boy

These are for my Sister-in-law Sarah's little girl

Up-cycled Dresser: Cleaning

The story. We need more clothing space in the girls room, especially with little girl # 2 coming soon. Ryan and I have been talking about getting a cheap bookshelf from the store and putting baskets on the shelves to make a dresser for the girls room. A good idea, right?!  Well, the beginning of this month, a friend of mine posted on facebook, she saw a dresser and a BIG mirror (my next project, keep your eye out for that post) in someones garbage that could be up-cycled. When I saw that post, I immediately jumped in the car and drove over to see if I liked it and if it would serve it's purpose. Guess What!!! It did, I was so excited to have found a dresser.

Now remember I am all alone. I put the broken pieces in the backseat of the car and started to slowly move the dresser over to the trunk, by myself. I had no idea how I, a six month pregnant women, was going to lift this heavy dresser up into the trunk of my car. I was so nervous. I didn't want to leave and come back and it be gone.

Lo and behold, I turned around and guess who comes walking by? The LDS Missionaries!! :) I was so grateful, I yelled "Hey Missionaries, can I ask a favor of you." They were more than willing to come help me out. The Lord really does know when you need help. It was amazing. So that's the little story of how I came across this nasty, old, broken dresser.

Day 1 -- started with me wiping down everything and cleaning it all out. It was so gross. I ended up taking the drawers out and the bottoms that the drawers rested on. It took a while and I probably spent more time cleaning it than I should have, but I didn't want any grossness left in that dresser for my girls.

Here is the list of things that I need to do to make this dresser beautified!!!

• wipe down
• clean out
• putty the indention's and handle holes
• prime the wood (dresser itself and drawers)
• reattach 3 drawers
• drill new holes for knobs
• get wood to fill the bottoms of the drawers
• fix back of dresser
• sand it down
• secure the foots of the dresser
• paint
• find a cute, girly stencil
• blow up the stencil
• find a projector
• trace stencil onto dresser
• paint stencil
• spray with poly to seal the paint
• place in girls room

Our Family Forever

I finally finished a project!!!! It has been in working progress for a few months now. I'm so glad to finally have it done and hang it up in our living room. This project was inspired from Lil Luna Blog. I liked it so much, I wanted to create one in my home and I thought it had a wonderful saying.

I bought an old cupboard for $1. Then I spray painted it black, had a friend print up the saying on vinyl for me. Then I had to find the little squares, which took me forever to find. I mod-podge some scrapbook paper to them to match the colors in our living room. And when all is said and done. This lovely piece is created. I am so excited it turned out great

What do you think? You going to make one? :) Oh be in tuned for my next post. I am up-cycling a dresser I found in someones garbage for the girls room and have just started day 1. I'm so stoked.

Happy Easter

Finally, I've gotten around to showing you our wonderful Easter. The day before Easter, our town had a Easter egg hunt for the kids. We showed up as they were counting down, and by the time Zoie was able to find an egg they were just about all gone. She did get a few and didn't mind so much. Her favorite part was the Easter Bunny. She followed him around everywhere. She couldn't get enough of him. It was so cute. Here are some pictures the bunny and hunt. Oh, she was also in the News Gazette with the Easter Bunny. Since she has been born, she has been in the paper three times. I'm so proud!! :)

The Easter Bunny came to our house Easter morning and had left a basket for Zoie, Mommy and Daddy (shared). It was great and Zoie loved all the candy and little gifts she received. I also made her Easter dress, it was a little to big for her, but she loved it and kept saying, "pretty" and "cute".

Zoie's Easter Basket

Zoie in all her new necklaces (she absolutely loves)

and our Easter basket



Staying STRONG in the STORMS of Life

Saturday our stake had a Stake Relief Society Conference. It was amazing. The theme was Doctrince and Covenants 4:2 : "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."

What a great theme. During the conference there were four class offered, each focusing on different ways we as women can serve God. These classes were based from the scripture just quoted, Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength. I learned many things and had many prayers answered from this confernece.

I wanted to share with you all one important lesson I learned that may be of some help to you in your hectic, busy lives. This is coming from the class, "Serve the Lord with all your HEART."

"And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworhty creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

"And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of god, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true." (Mosiah 4: 11-12).

Our heart is an organ that never stops pumping blood to our body to keep us alive and healthy. It is a symbol of love and joy we feel daily in our lives. Take a moment and think of the importance of the heart in our life. Everything, in a manner of speaking, comes from the heart. If our heart were to stop working we would die. Right? The same thing applies if we were to stop growing in the gospel and serving the Lord, then our spirituality, our gospel knowledge and our testimony would stop and essentially die.

The verses found in Mosiah 4 help us stay strong spiritually and remember why we are here and our purpose. Let me break it down for you. I have bolded all the phrases that I find really important in this verse above. I'll do my best to put it as plain and simple as I can.

If you have

• come to the knowledge of God
• known of his goodness
• tasted of his love
• received a remission of your sins (baptism)

Then you have

• felt great joy in your heart

Now this Joy comes from

• remembering God's GREATNESS and your NOTHINGNESS

Which is discovered and understood by

• praying daily

All these things brings about

• Joy, Forgiveness, Remembrance of God, Spiritual Growth, and most of all Hope

Mosiah 4: 11-12 has become one my favorite scriptures and something to live by daily. I know that as I come to truly apply this verse of scripture into my life daily, I will be better prepared to serve the Lord, my family and others. I will be able to accomplish all my storms with more strength, faith, and power. I'll be to resist Satan and come out conqueror.

3rd Trimester

I am so excited to finally be in my 3rd Trimester! Although, it hasn't seem like I've been pregnant that long. Zoie seemed like forever, this one, not so much. But, I thank Zoie for that one, she keeps me pretty busy and my mind occupied not to think much about it.

I am 28 weeks along now. I'm feeling great. I ran a 5k this past weekend and she did just fine, except for pushing down on my uterus the whole run, making have to go the bathroom! :) She is a very calm, quiet, mellow girl. She doesn't move a lot like Zoie did and thankfully, she is never in my ribs (here's hoping she stays that way).

I have been wanting to eat Cheese Burgers all the time. Occasionally, we will go out so I can get my fix. My Mexican phase has passed, but every now and  then I want some Mexican. Not as much as a nice, big juicy cheese burger. hehe.... oh the joys of pregnancy -- LOVE IT!

We still have a bunch of things to do and get ready before she arrives. One of the biggest things, is picking a name. We still haven't decided on one yet, and may not until she is born. It is really hard for us this time around.

We are so excited to meet her and are anxiously awaiting July.

Desserts with Daddy

The weather has been really nice lately, hot even and we needed something to cool us off after being outside a while playing. So when Ryan came home from work he made a fruit sorbet with his ice cream maker. He was so so excited to use it.

Of course, Zoie couldn't let daddy do it all by himself. She walked right over to him by the counter reached her arms out and said "pease." :) How could you say no to that? So he picked her up and let her push the buttons on the blender. Well, I guess I should say, "try to push the buttons." She wasn't very strong enough to do it on her own. But she loved being up there with daddy making some yummy food.

The sorbet turned out great and it was a great moment for them. I love them!!

Staying STRONG in the STORMS of Life

Wanted to recap what an amazing General Conference we had last weekend. The spirit was so strong and many of my questions were answered or clarified. I encourage you all to listen and read the conference talks and find answers to your questions. Having questions in mind, will help you learn to stay STRONG in the STORMS of your life. In case you don't have a lot of time on your hands, here is a link that summarizes some of the highlights throughout the sessions of conference.

Conference Highlights