Beautiful St. George

This year we got to spend Christmas with my family in Hurricane, UT. If it weren't for the crazy hot temperatures in the summer there, I'd move in a heartbeat. The views are amazing and not something you ever see in Salt Lake. My parents just moved to a new house far from town. The above picture is their front yard. It's absolutely breathtaking.

Did everyone have a fabulous Christmas? We sure did. I'll blog about it later in the week. I'm sad this trip is officially over. At approximately 4am we'll hit the road back to SLC. Miley really can't handle the car for too long so for our sake and hers we always leave super early so she'll sleep most of the way. 'til next time!

I believe that the magic of Christmas is so important. I remember feeling all the excitement of Christmas when I was little, but as I grew up and understood more the magic of it all diminished little by little. I'm so excited now to have a daughter and see that amazement in her eyes. I love this time of year and am so glad it's going to become more and more special with having our own children.

I love this picture of Daisy. I've been practicing with my camera to get those nice circle lights in the background and achieved it with this photo. I had to keep asking Daisy if she wanted a treat so she would raise her ears up like that. The dog just doesn't photograph well unless her ears are raised. This portrays her personality perfectly.

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you all have a great holiday season. Miley and I have been sick with a nasty cough and I hope we recover soon or we'll miss out on Christmas with my family in St. George.

Not much has been going on with us so I apologize for the lack of posting. I'll make a new years resolution to post more....but you know how those go haha :)

I'm thinking about going private. So, if you'd like to continue following my blog, please leave your e-mail in the comments. I will probably switch over at the start of the new year. Can anyone else believe 2010 is just around the corner?! Crazy!!

Meeting the Pioneer Woman

Don't you just love it when you browse other blogs and eventually come across a really good one and begin to stalk it? This is how I came across the Pioneer Woman. Her blog quickly became a favorite and I logged on everyday just to check it. Ree was recently in town for her new cookbook signing and I'm so glad I went.

Ree has such a charm! Her personality is so fun. Here she is speaking to everyone before the book signing.

The wait was long and cold! I waited several good hours before I was able to get inside. I felt so badly for the people after me that still had 3-4 hours to wait. It was definately worth it. I was able to get a babysitter for Miley so I could enjoy the evening without chasing after her everywhere, but I do regret just a little bit not taking her. Ree loved all the babies that came and gave them so much attention. I definately wanted to be one of the people she might have remembered after the book signing, but I was so shy when I got up there, I could barely say anything at all to her...so much for being remembered. Where was Miley when I needed her? haha!

I had never been to a book signing before so this was a treat for sure and although Ree doesn't consider herself famous, I sure do. Meeting her was better than meeting Miley Cyrus (I told Dale that...and no, I have never met Miley Cyrus).

I definately recommend the cookbook. It's absolutely fantastic. And if you are among the 1% that has never heard of this fabulous blog, I suggest you check it out!

www.thepioneerwoman.com

See you when you come to town next time Ree! Maybe that visit I'll be remembered. Maybe that visit I can be the pregnant lady that went into labor during the book signing (you can read about that here http://thepioneerwoman.com/confessions/page/2/...that would be cool! But I know we're best friends already, you just don't know it yet ;)

Today I thought I'd share with you some pictures I took in our yard. Although fall is not my favorite season, it sure is pretty. I'm glad I got these pictures because only a few days later, most of the leaves had fallen of the trees.

Do any of you follow the Pioneer Woman's blog? http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

I'm truly amazed by this woman! I often times wish I was a cowgirl who lived on a ranch in the middle of nowhere herding cattle and cooking all day. She is a fabulous cook and I have made many of her recipes. She has recently published a cookbook and I am sooo excited to get it. She is currently on a book tour and will be here in Salt Lake tomorrow!! What a great opportunity to meet her and have her sign your book. Here are the details if you are interested, I know I'll be there!

Salt Lake City

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

7:00 pm

The King's English Bookshop

1511 S 1500 E

Salt Lake City, UT 84105

Hope to see you there!

Okay, first of all, I have no idea why these pictures are grainy. They look fine if you click on it to view it bigger. I sure hope they don't print that way. Anyone know why it's doing that?

I'm probably one of the worst bloggers...but can you blame me when almost everyone is using facebook these days? It's easier to post pictures and thoughts there rather than here and I'm pretty sure everyone who looks at my blog is also on facebook. So I'm just wasting my time... :) haha.

Here's our update!

Dale passed his huge interview! We were so happy and it was the best birthday present. Now we're waiting yet again to hear the next piece of information. Hopefully sooner than later Dale will be off to Georgia for training and we move out!! YAY!

I wanted Miley to look cute for witches night at Gardner Village so I made her a tutu and the bows in her hair. She looked pretty cute! She loved the witches. These pictures were all taken today and as you can see she seems to be a happy little girl. When we got home she started feeling cranky and we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Here I am at 10:30 pm...she just barely fell asleep after crying all night. I think she has the flu (knock on wood). We spent the day at a relatives house friday and one of the kids was sick...I didn't know about it so needless to say I'm pretty upset. Poor thing, she feels awful. Dale gave her a blessing and with a good rock in the rocking chair she finally fell asleep. Hopefully this week wont be too miserable.

I haven't posted anything for a long time so I thought I'd catch up tonight. I've been pretty busy with the Etsy shop I recently opened and have had fun learning how to make bows. (If you are willing, I would love it if you gave me a shout out on your blogs or twitter or facebook, or whatever. I'm trying to get my name out there and it's harder than I thought. Rather than making an income from this project, I want to first earn back all the money I've spent on supplies.)Now if only Miley wasn't a little stinker and kept them in her hair all day. Miley is getting to be such a big girl. She amazes me everyday. She is such a smarty too. Thanks to us, and her grandparents and aunts she has learned so many words! She is 16 1/2 months old now and here are some of her most recent words:


Ice
Hi
Cracker
Grandpa
Grandma
Scarecrow
Thank You-it's so cute when she says thank you. I taught her this one and now everytime someone gives her something she is polite and says "thank you".


...and many many more. She is really pretty good at repeating words I tell her to say.
She also has some great fine motor skills. She knows the buckles on her carseat and in shopping carts and loves to buckle herself in. She knows that the cord from the lamp goes in to the wall socket and that the phone charger plugs into the phone and that one end of the cord plugs into the laptop. This is what she would rather do than play with her toys.
She is definately keeping me busy. She can sometimes be so difficult but she never stops to amaze me and I of course love her more than anything.


Miley's hair has finally gotten long enough to do ponytails. This picture was the first day I did them for her. Her image in the mirror made me realize just how big she is getting. So cute!!

On another note...Dale is in the process of applying for a government job. The process has been so hard and long and he just has a few more things he has to pass before we find out if he has been accepted. We are really hoping and praying everything works out because this job will mean we can finally move out! I'm so ready to start trying to add another addition to our family but I just know we can't do that until we are on our own. So, be thinking about us and wish us luck!