Halloween Porch Pictures 2011

I love these pictures.  

They are the first of many Halloween Porch Pictures!

I loved squeezing this chunky butterfly!

Eva's triple scoop ice cream cone costume was made by her amazing Auntie Marie.

The night turned out perfect.  It was the last warm night of the year.

One of my good days.

I feel like it has been a while but it has only been a week and I am sick of looking at my horrid Halloween pictures too so here is a new post.
I actually have a lot of pictures to post of October but today I am just going to talk about today.  I liked today.
I have been having a craving for shrimp since I have been planning my company Christmas party.  All I have been able to think about the last couple days is boiled shrimp with cocktail sauce.
If you want some good shrimp, or seafood for that matter, in Utah you go to Market Street where they fly in fresh seafood daily.  The really great thing about Market Street is you can avoid paying $30 a plate and go to their deli so that's what I did.  I bought a pound of wild caught shrimp and gobbled them up.

I actually didn't finish the whole pound, don't worry.
But...
...I washed it down with this.

Yes that is the Medio Litro.  It was wonderful.

While eating and drinking and being merry this was my perfect view:

She did not get a bite.

I also got my hair done today.  It has been six and a half months since I got my hair done.  It was needed badly and since I must do my own self portraits you get this fuzzy, horribly colored picture of my hair.

It actually looks good in real life.  It is nice and rich with some hints of light.  And of course I can't get my hair done without buying some new beach spray to try.  Paul Mitchell has some new beach spray.  I will let you know what I think.  I lover beach hair.  If you are on Pinterest I have some pretty beach hair pinned.

I finished up my day with a visit from a good friend and her kids and Eva ran around squealing with delight.  It was a good day and that I am thankful for.

Happy November!

Pictures of Miss Scarlett.

Don't forget! October is Month of Fun!

Month of Fun is here!  What are you doing with yourself?

We started off our month with a trip to Yellowstone!
Yellowstone holds a special place in my heart. I went there annually growing up so I was excited to take the girls.  It is sort of my nature Disneyland and it seems just as expensive.  Everything in the park is way overpriced.  A meal for me and my girls is around $16.  Next time I will bring a cooler of food.  But let's get on to the pictures.

 Scarlett at Yellowstone Lake.

 Eva with her grandparents.

Eva sticking her head out the sun roof.  

On the side roads she did this and had so much fun.

My favorite geyser Young Hopeful.

It just tries so hard.

All the sights and smells of Yellowstone take me back to my childhood and remind me of my grandparents.

My grandparents are photographers and went to Yellowstone at least 10 times a year with their trailer in tow.  There were a couple times they were even attacked my some elk.  

I was there during the Yellowstone fire of '88 and remember the way the sun looked through the smoke.  We happened to be there on 8/8/88.

One of my favorite things has always been the boiling mud pots.  I just think they are so cool.

We went a few times during the winter on snowmobiles until they stopped letting that happen but Yellowstone in the winter might be the best way to see the park.  

On this last trip we went over Bear Tooth Highway.  It was amazing and gorgeous.  It is a wonder how they built it back in the '30's.  

 Here is Bear Tooth Highway.  Apparently you are not a true biker (motorcycle) unless you have driven this.

Here is the credit to the picture and the list of roads you need to ride if you ride motorcycles.  

Bear Tooth is #1.

Here is a picture of the Bear Tooth.  

Credit goes to the name in th corner but I couldn't find anything on that.

My sweet girls.

Have you been up to the mountains to see the fall leaves?

If you don't have mountains sorry about that.  They are gorgeous!

The going gets tougher and my kids are cute.

I have to see a specialist for my eye.  It is not getting better but getting worse.
I can't really function in any sort of light and I can't drive.
You know that saying "When it rains it pours."?
Well, that is my life right now.
I'm wondering when the bend will be.
Where is that darn bend so I can go around it and see the break in the clouds and a rainbow?
I fear it is weeks or even months away.

On a side note:
Eva talks in her sleep.  Last night she said "Cow poop Momma."  And I said back, "Just don't step in it." and she said, "OK".
I love that I can talk to her and she will talk back in her sleep.


Eva uses the word darn and I love it.  She will say, "That darn dog." or "That darn wall." or whatever she is darning.


Eva loves to sing and learn the words to songs.  I will have to try to post some.  It is so great.


Eva yells at the wind and hates her hair to blow.  She will point her finger at the wind and say,"No wind" or "Stop it wind" or of course "That darn wind Momma."


Scarlett is finally getting her bottom teeth but they are coming really slowly.  She is babbling and putting everything in her mouth that she possibly can.  She loves to eat regular food and has weened herself from nursing.  I am very sad about that by the way.  Only 9 months!


Scarlett literally has to be the happiest baby in the world.  The only time she really cries is when she is hungry or  wants to be snuggled.  She has the softest skin and is so squishy so snuggling her is absolutely no problem at all.  Feel free to stop by and snuggle her anytime.  I would love it.

Love to you.

Scarlett is frustrated.

Scarlett is so frustrated lately with her position in life.

She is trying so hard to crawl and she is so close and she cries out in frustration when she just can't get it right.  

Plus it is a lot of work to try to crawl and she gets tired.

Scarlett also would rather eat food like the rest of us rather than drink her silly bottle or nurse.  

Everything just seems way more exciting then what Scarlett can do.

She wants to run around with her sister and 

play with her cousins and she hates being left out.

It is sad to see her little lower lip curl under 

when she gets her feelings hurt.

And I say, welcome to the club Scarlett, 

we are all frustrated with our position in life.  

Right now you want to be big 

but when you get big you will want to be little again.

You've got to enjoy what you have when you have it.

I am going to try to teach my girls this but 

I think this is something that is learned not taught.

Oh how I love this girl!

I love your position in life right now, Scarlett!

Don't get big!

"I miss my babies."

3 of my mom's babies and some guy.

This is 1979 and I am the screaming child in the front.  

My baby sister is not born yet.  

My mom taught me a great lesson without even realizing she taught it to me.
All through my life I can remember my mom saying, "I miss my babies!"
She had four kids all each less than two years apart and she would have had more if she could have.

(Here is a picture of me and my siblings.  It's not really of my mom's "babies" but it is the only one I have of just us together at a young age.  I especially wanted to add this because check out my capris with tights and red jelly shoes.  My older sister is sporting that look too and may I say it is quite a look.  I do not remember this at all!  Was this an in thing or was I a trend setter?  Were we in the middle of a Shakespeare play?  I don't know.  But that haircut sure was a good one.  I must really pour everything I can into my Shakespearean roles.  I will have to find a picture where you can really see how good it looks.)

Anyways back to my mom.  I have asked her often if it was hard and why she had us all so close together.  I have never once heard her complain about it.  She always speaks about those times so fondly.  She absolutely loved it.  The way she talks about it it makes me feel a bit guilty we grew up on her.

The thing I have taken from this is to enjoy my time with my little kids.  When both my kids are screaming and crying I always think to myself, "One day I will miss this.  One day I will wish I had screaming kids in my house rather than none."  And I usually smile and the screaming isn't so bad.

I have found that motherhood is a series of goodbyes.  Every new stage Eva or Scarlett enter I have to say goodbye to the person they were before and I miss them terribly.  I miss them as new born babies, I miss Eva crawling up to my legs and pulling on my pants (so excited for Scarlett to do this!), I miss when Eva learned to walk and didn't want any help.  I hate that they grow so fast yet so subtly that I don't realize they have grown until I turn around and Eva is saying full sentences and Scarlett is holding her own bottle and putting it in and out of her mouth.

The only thing I hate about motherhood is that it has to end.
I know that it doesn't "technically" end but it does sort of end and your kids have to leave you and like people better then you and think your are uncool and embarrassing.

Right now Eva will snuggle me and say, "I love you so much." and my heart melts and I blink away tears and try to memorize the sound of her voice.

These are my girls today.  I am trying to remember these sweet little girls just as they are now because they will be gone soon.

This is what I saw first thing this morning.  

I made her stay right there so I could get her picture.  I love those brown eyes. 

This is Scarlett in the sling ready to go water plants with me.  

I was surprised and happy how well this picture turned out.

I am grateful for my normal.

I posted a link to this blog the other day.  If you checked it out you may have found out that sweet little baby Ruby passed away.  If anyone who reads this lives near Rancho Santa Margarita or Lake Forest, CA you are invited to show your support for Ruby's family.
Ruby was born a few weeks after Scarlett in December.
A post that Ruby's mom wrote about just wanting a normal day really helped me.
The past two days I have just stayed at home with my girls and cleaned and watched movies and watered my plants.  Her post made me realize how wonderful normal days are.  Often times we are counting the days until some day in the future and we forget to enjoy each day that we have and each moment in each day.  I think something I will work on my whole life is to be present in every moment I live and be grateful for it.
These last couple days have been really nice.
Scarlett has been working on crawling and she is so close.  I think by next week she will have it down.
Eva loves to sing and can almost sing the whole Ariel song.  I will have to post it.

Apparently I have no pictures of my girls together because these were all I could find.  I will have to remedy that.

I shall call you squishy and you shall be mine.

Look at these sweet cheeks....

and eyes and nose and lips.


Scarlett is so chunky.  She is way chunkier than Eva was.  The best thing about her chunkiness is that she is really squishy and soft.  I love it.

Don't you just want to squish her???

Freak out spectacular!

I have taken Eva and Scarlett to San Clemente for the weekend.
Eva freaked out on the plane.
She has been on a plane 10 times before this.  It is not new for her.
I was not prepared for the freak out.  I was also holding Scarlett so I could not hold Eva which I know would have totally diffused the situation.
Eva screamed and cried for 25 minutes and would not sit in her seat.
Not only was I completely embarrassed I had no idea what to do about it.

At home Eva has her fits in her room and comes out when she is done so on the plane I had had enough and shut down and ignored her.  I told her when she was ready I would talk to her.  This did not work and realize it was probably not the best way to deal with it but again I was totally unprepared and felt helpless.

The only things I am proud about is that I refused to bribe her.  I want her to behave because it is the right thing to do not because she is going to get a reward and I did not use the bink.  Phew.  It was tough.

It took me a good 3 hours to get over it and not be mad.  Eva was over it as soon as she was off the plane.

Of course I texted my sister to ask her how I should have handled it.
I got some good advice and feel more prepared for the future.
Although I am going to take the Love and Logic parenting class because let's be honest, I don't know how to be a parent.  It's all new to me.

I did not recognize this little angel at all today and it was scary.

p.s.
Scarlett was perfect.

Don't panic, don't panic!!!

That's what I have to keep telling myself because I am still training for that marathon in October.
Well, attempting to train.
I am the worlds biggest procrastinator and since I have a natural ability to run I tend to procrastinate it. I really can't though because I want to do really well.
I am slowly getting better at it.
I take my girls in the stroller and they both love it.  I was going to go on my own last night but Eva really wanted to go and started to cry when I first told her no.  It wasn't the tantrum cry but it was the devastated, hurt feelings cry so I ended up taking them both.  Eva fell asleep and Scarlett babbled the whole time and would look up at me and smile.  I'm glad they came.  It takes me longer but it is more fun.
Here is what we look like when we run:

This picture was taken when the weather was a bit cooler.  

Just so you don't think I bundle Scarlett in 80 degree weather.

And, by the way, Eva is off the bink!!!!!

Yay!  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and we did it cold turkey!

p.s.

Has anyone seen the movie or play Noises Off?  It is one of my favorite movies but a lot of people don't get it or can't keep up with it because it is fast moving and lots of little bits of humor or they just don't find it funny.  Anyways, that's where the title comes from.  Do you like John Ritter, Michael Caine, Carol Burnett?  Do you want to see Christopher Reeve doing comedy (because he is good)?  Then see Noises Off and let me know what you think.

Part 1 of the long awaited Disney World photos. Seriously.

Cinderella's castle.

The gorgeous cake.  This was a really good wedding cake too.

Eva holds her hands like this when she is feeling a little shy.

I love it.

Scarlett was there but slept through most of it.  Here she is in her fancy dress.

The next few are Eva in her Cinderella dress.  I realize it is not perfect but it was a feat for me.

This is the second dress I have ever made so now you can try to be impressed.

This is the end of the night and it was really hot so her dress got wrinkly.

I brought a change of clothes for her because I knew it would be hot but she would not take it off.

The shadows are horrible in this picture but I love it.

Great news! I got a new camera!

Have you missed seeing my sweet babies?????

Then here you go!

More pictures to come.  I still need to post Eva's Cinderella dress I made.  I am just learning as I go so feel free to give me some pointers.  I know there are a lot of people out there who know how to take good pictures.