Here & Now

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about December. Sometimes I find myself just wanting to get this blog caught up, make sure everything is in order, month by month, moment by moment. But I decided that tonight, instead of writing about December, I would write about now. Because I am LOVING right now! December will come, and it will come soon, but it requires a lot of time set aside for reminiscing on baby's first Christmas, our move, and many other exciting things that decided to cram themselves in our busy month. So for now, I will write about now!

 I love pictures. I really started taking pictures in high school when my parents bought me my first digital camera. I would take pictures of just about anything and everything. I carried my camera with me everywhere. I love the feeling I get when I look through a slew of photos and it's almost like re-living that moment all over again. Like you can feel just how you did when you were in that moment. I especially like looking at old photos. Photos that have been tucked away into a folder that you forgot all about, and then one day while trying to find the photos of "that one place we went" you stumble upon it. And suddenly you can remember it like it happened just yesterday. Oh goodness.... I get that way a lot when looking at pictures of Tiuke from when he was just a few weeks old and I feel this crazy happiness remembering how cute and small he was, and then I get just the tiniest pit in the bottom of my stomach thinking about how quickly he has already grown. I found a picture like this today...

Oh he is such a sweet little baby. And seeing all those old photos just reminds me how quickly he grows up and how fast time passes, so I should get it together and keep up on this blog thing, since this is the closest thing I'm keeping to a journal at the time! (I promised myself I'd keep a journal, and I will start one soon... I promise, I even bought one... I just need to start getting in the habit of writing in it!)

This week has been so fun! I decided that I really wanted to make a point to check out some local antique and thrift stores. Especially now that I have a house with lots of empty walls and empty space, I need to find things to fill all that emptiness up, and what better place to start then antique stores?? I called up Nancy, my step mom on Thursday, and told her she needed to squeeze in some time that afternoon to come check out a couple stores in her area with me. It wasn't very hard to convince her since I had the baby with me!! The first place we hit was Home Again. I've driven past it a million times but never stopped to check it out. If you're in the area... GO THERE!! It is such a neat store! They have lots of neat furniture and home decor and you can definitely find some great deals!

I have been looking for desks lately so I have somewhere for my computer and printer, and a place to get Tiuke's scrapbook started, finally! I also need a good workspace for my couponing! But let me tell you, finding an inexpensive desk is not as easy as I thought it would be, until I came here! I debated between an actual desk, and an awesome puke-green table... I went with Pukey!!

I walked away with this sweet little number for just $110! It's hard to tell the color in this picture... and although it is quite a delicious color, I'm thinking I may need to make it even pukier, so that just might be a fun project for next week!

I was grateful for the thrift stores, because not only did I get some nice time with Nancy, it also forced some daddy-daughter time! I don't have a truck, so I had to wait until Saturday, when my dad and his truck were available to pick up the table. Dad met me up at the thrift store, and instead of just grabbing the table and bolting out the door, we did a little walking around the shop and looking, laughing, just enjoying each other's company, while he held baby on his hip, and occassionally encouraged him to join in on the conversation!

After bringing the table back to my house, I offered to buy dad lunch for the help, (it was really just a good excuse to get some extra time with him before he headed back home!

We went to Tokyo Grill for a little Chinese, and in case you can't already tell... baby loves rice!!

Dad decided he wanted to stop by Deseret Industries, which is just across the street, to see if he could find any good books that he may not already have. (This seemed impossible, considering I'm pretty sure he's got just about every book ever written, but he managed to find a couple he did not already own!) And I, well, I was not expecting to find anything, but sitting on top of the book shelf, hiding from the little hands that would certainly try to play with it had it been down where they could reach, was this sweet little guy...

(The truck, not the baby!) I had to get a shot with Tiuke next to it so I could show just how big his sweet new Tonka truck is! I'm so glad I found this, and I practically stole it, considering it was only $12! I love me some bargain shopping!

After some D.I. shopping with dad, he had to head home to get some home repairs & organizing done, but I was on a roll and couldn't stop there... so I loaded the baby back in the car and we took a cruise downtown to a cute little shope called Retro Rose. We walked in to a garden of bright yellow dishware, wall hangings, vintage woven hats and knick knacks. The store is awesome! Everything upstairs is sorted by color, and then when you follow the cowboy-boot-lined staircase down to the basement are more house decorations and a CLOSET! Vintage shoes, tops, purses, dresses and of course, fur coats! And that is where I picked up my new favorite closet item...

So, after a long day of sifting through thrift store treasures we made our way back home. But not for long! Although if it were up to Tiuke, we would have stayed home and he wouldn't have had to be strapped back into his car seat, that is not what happened! It was his cousin Nala's 2nd birthday at Chuck E. Cheese, and we were not going to miss a Chuck E. Cheese extravaganza!

She was much more excited than the expression in this photo!

Nala giving Tiuke kisses!

Oh, and speaking of kisses. I think Tiuke is slowly starting to figure out what kisses are. But when he's willing enough to "give a kiss" he just kind of opens his mouth and then will occassionally stick out his tongue. Little man will be banned from girls til he's 30 if he's not careful!!!

I think the "open mouthed kiss" kind of freaked Nala out... she walked away shortly following this photo!

And there were just a few moments that I was able to capture while a few of Duke's nieces and nephews took a quick "breather" in between playing games. (I'm pretty sure the adults were having just as much fun as the kids!)

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This is another thing I am absolutely loving right now. I've been playing my Adele 21 cd on repeat lately and it's been giving me the urge to dance, so luckily my baby loves it too and lets me do this...

Oh, and please excuse that all of my pictures are still on the floor and not yet on the walls, my plan is to rearrange my bedroom 500 times before I get it just how I want it and start putting holes in the walls!

And now it's time for me to get my little buddy and go play with his new Tonka Truck! It snowed today, so we'll be hanging out inside where it's nice and cozy, but enjoy the weather... no matter where you are!

Oh, and I couldn't leave out this little number... have a great day!!

November

I've got Jay Leno on in the background. Not because I'm watching, just because I need a little background noise in order to focus. His voice actually annoys me... sorry Jay. So I have it only turned up to the "2" notch on the tv. I can't believe it's January and I'm just now writing about November. Why do I do this? I can't remember November. I can't even remember most of yesterday! So, I guess a more appropriate title would be "Thanksgiving", considering that's just about the only thing I remember about November.

October seemed to creep up on us, and in a flash it was gone. It seemed as though Halloween came, and the next morning we woke up to Thanksgiving. Suddenly I was running around to every grocery store within a 2 mile radius of my house (which is LITERALLY 4 different stores) getting everything I would need for 4 pumpkin pies, an apple pie and about 30 rolls. I wouldn't normally need to go to 4 grocery stores for these items, but I guess in the frantic commotion of the holiday, and hoping to get everything done right, and done just in time, I kept forgetting "that one other ingredient". Needless to say, as it was the night before Thanksgiving at about 10 o'clock at night, with my honey home for the holiday, I was not going to spend the entire evening baking. So I decided to scratch the apple pie, (there would be other pies, like grandmas always delicious Pecan Pie), and just do the 4 pumpkin. (One was to stay at our house, of course!) Then I would just get up the next morning and get the rolls made, so they would be nice and warm for dinner.

Could someone please explain to me why I wasn't aware that it takes 3 1/2 hours to make rolls?? Anybody?? It was 2 hours until we were supposed to leave, and I had gotten myself showered, hair done, and makeup started. I figured it would be a good time to go downstairs and get the rolls started so they could cook while I finished getting myself and the baby ready for the big day. I walked down to the freezer, pulled out my very large bag of frozen rolls, and read the directions. Allow 3 1/2 hours for rolls to rise and bake. WHAT???

So, after a lot of contemplating, (ok, not a lot. About 2 minutes), I decided to scratch that idea. The grocery stores were open until about 4 that day, so we would just make a last minute pit stop to pick up some bagged, already-made rolls. This hurt. My grandmother is the cook of the century. Everything she makes is homemade. She's the epitomy of "that grandmother with the spotless house, emaculate yard, and hot meal in the oven AT ALL TIMES". I knew this would be a disappointment. I don't know how she does it. I am a mother to one baby and 2 teenagers, and I can't find enough time in the day to get the kitchen clean and a single load of laundry done. Let alone raise 6 kids and a husband, and keep a spotless house, with virtually no dirty laundry to be found ANYWHERE, and still have a deliciously cooked homemade-from-scratch meal on the table every night. I know I'm getting a bit off subject, but you can see how I would be disappointed not to be bringing hot, fresh, oven cooked rolls over. I had one job, bring a couple pies and some rolls, and I couldn't even accomplish that. Now I was starting to understand why people say the holidays are so stressful!

But we made it there. Bagged rolls and all. And no one complained!

Grandma's table is always set so cute. It just wouldn't be grandma's without some "table flare" as I like to call it! I think that's where I get my love of decorating tables. Weird, I know!

There weren't many of us there this year. Which was kind of nice. I remember growing up, and coming to my grandparents' house to see all of my cousins. You could hear little feet running across the kitchen tiles and screams of laughter as the younger kids would chase each other around the house. (Then, without fail, would always be followed by one of the aunts yelling "out of the kitchen!") Us "older kids" would hang out on the living room floor playing with grandma & grandpa's old Tinker Toys while we waited for all the finishing touches to be done with the tables and food. And waiting to hear grandma yell for grandpa to come cut the turkey. This meant it was time to rush to the kitchen to guard your place in line. But not this year. This year there was just about a dozen of us. It was nice to have a more intimate dinner where we could all hear each other talking. Still, there wasn't enough room for everyone at the dining room table, so mom, John and Josh & Janessa sat at the small, what we usually call "the kids table"! Mom just HAD to take Tiuke with her! He was spoiled, of course, and got to eat the majority of mom's mashed potatoes, yams, and got his first taste of stuffing. Then his second taste, and third, and so on!!

You can see Aunt Debbie's candied yams way down the line. I don't know what she does to those things, but they are, without fail, the best thing on the table every year. Pretty sure I shamefully had 3 servings!!

I love his "Oh no, grandma... they caught us" look!

After dinner we headed for the living room where everyone sat and laughed, and played with the baby. We got caught up on the latest adventures in everyone's lives, and just got to enjoy each other's company. And baby was happy!!

You see him holding uncle Josh's thumb?! Yep, they're pals!

Oh I can't EVER pass up an opportunity to get pictures of him with his great grandparents! They're just so great with him!

It was such a nice Thanksgiving. I'm really starting to get sentimental about holidays and traditions. Even more than I was before having a baby. I realize now how important my traditions were growing up, and I just hope to be able to pass on some of those, and make even more new ones for my little ones. But at the end of the day, family is what makes the holidays the holidays, and I'm so thankful to have my family. And I must say, I am so blessed to have such a kind and wonderful man by my side. His being gone makes each day a challenge, but when he gets to come home for the holidays, it makes it even that much sweeter!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

Uncle Chris let him "borrow" his cool watch!