summer plans

This summer is going to be out of this world crazy busy. The next six weeks are already booked with something every single Saturday. I'm so excited about it but it's going to be a lot of driving and  a lot of gas and money. We have a lot of fun things planned this summer too and I can't wait.

1. My sister is having a baby boy in August and I'm so excited for them.  I seriously can't wait to finally, officially be an aunt. I've waited for this moment for so long and it's finally here. I'm also excited for Havyn to have a cousin on my side to play with. We are having her baby shower in May, so I have been planning the big event.

2. My baby sister is getting graduating high school in May and she is getting married in June. I know, crazy, right? But we are so excited and we couldn't be happier for them.

3. In June we have a reunion to go to on my mom's side of the family and last year it was a blast and I can't wait to go this year.

4. Hopefully we will be planning a family trip somewhere, we just haven't decided when, since we are so busy the next few months.

5. I'm excited to take Havyn to the zoo and see all the animals. I'm also excited to get Havyn a little swimming pool and let her play in it.

6. Hopefully by the end of summer, the majority of our yard will be done.

that darn cat

3 weeks ago, we were on our way home from Richfield. During the weekend, it was discussed that we would stop and pick up a cat from Ruston's brothers house to take home and hopefully get rid of our mice. We stopped and they had a few choices, one that was a lost cat that the neighbor was feeding and one of their cats that they wanted to get rid of. After feeling guilty that their crazy cat neighbor might mad, we ended up taking one of their family cats. He was a gorgeous Siamese with white paws and a darker coat. He was super friendly and didn't seem scared to be in a new home. We kept him in the garage over night and and he seemed to be fine. The next morning I went out to pull some weeds and let the cat out with me. It walked around the house, while I kept a good eye on him. The next thing I knew he was missing. I searched and searched everywhere and could not find him. I felt awful that I lost the cat and we hadn't even had him 24 hours. I made Ruston call Jess and tell her we lost the cat and we couldn't find him. They decided to come up to our house and help us look for him. I felt most bad for our nephew, it had been his cat and he really wanted to find him and take him back home. We decided if we found him that we would just take him back, since obviously he didn't like our home. Well, that week went by and my sister-in-law made numerous trips up her, putting up fliers, searching the neighborhood and knocking on peoples doors, to see if they had seen this cat anywhere. I posted it on our neighborhood FB page and we had lots of people looking for this cat. Our neighbor behind us said that he had been feeding this cat and so we had him try and catch it but no luck and it turned out that it was another Siamese cat but it looked a lot different from the one we were searching for. Another week went by and we had people posting here and there on the FB page and people calling us telling us they had seen him, when in reality it was that other cat. We kind of all gave up, saying that he was gone and he wasn't coming back. I felt super bad and Jess felt even worse for giving the family pet away. It was really sad and all I wanted was to return that cat to our nephew.

Last weekend we were on our way to Richfield and as soon as I got service, I received a notification saying that someone had found the missing cat on the posters. We called the number to our neighbors and they described the cat to us and sent us a picture of what it looked like. I couldn't believe it, but it was the cat we were looking for. We kindly asked them if they could keep it in their garage until the next day and we would come and get it. I called Jess and told her that we found the cat. It was such a relief telling her that. She immediately started to cry, she had felt so bad and she was so happy that they would have their cat back. She told me how their little boy had prayed every single night for the cat to found and she prayed with him. It's amazing what the power of prayer will do and it was for a little boy who just wanted his cat home. How could you not make that happen? I know deep down in my heart that Heavenly Father was listening to our nephew and his mom and all of our prayers to find this cat.  We gave Jess the number to the family who had the cat and they went up the next day and picked him up. I'm so happy and so grateful to all of our neighbors who helped us find this cat.

diy: chalkboard canisters

A while back I had been searching for some new canisters for my kitchen. I came upon these Threshold Target canisters.

I immediately fell in love. I wanted them really bad. Any holiday that came up I hinted to Ruston to get me these. He finally caved, so we drove to our nearest Target to get them. We got there and they only had 1 in stock out of all three. I was totally bummed. I didn't want to order them online, cause I didn't really want to spend the extra $$$ on shipping. I decided that they really weren't worth it and it wasn't meant to be. They were pretty small, so they really weren't worth ordering online. But they were so cute and I still love them.

I was doing some early spring cleaning and I was going through some of these big glass storage jars that I had storing just random stuff.

I thought I would just add chalkboard labels to these and make my own version of those pretty Threshold jars. They just won't be white with colored lids. I had two of them already, 1 large and 1 medium size. I knew that they sold them at Walmart (also available at Target), so I went and picked up another medium size. I wanted my jars big enough to store my flour, sugar and oats. I also wanted to be able to be able to reach in with a measuring cup to measure out what I needed when I baked or cooked. These jars are so awesome and so versatile that your limits are endless with these and they are reasonably priced ($10 for large, $8 for medium and $5 for small) so you can load up on as many as you like. I actually have a small one of these too but it's too small for what I want to use it for so I just add snacks and granola bars and store it in my pantry. It's also small for the chalkboard labels that I used.

You'll need:
3 Canisters, 1 Large, 2 Medium, found at Walmart or Target.
Martha Stewart Labels 6 pack, Flourish, 3 3/4 x 5 3/16, found at Staples
Chalk

Clean you jars in soapy water and dry them with a towel. Make sure that they are super dry and lay them on a towel on their sides, so that when you place the label, they don't roll from side to side.

I just eyed the center of the jar and placed the label with the center first and smoothed to the outer edges, so that there was less room for bubbles. If there was a bubble I just pushed it to the outer edge until it was smooth. Then comes the fun part of writing on them.  The labels hold really well and I have not had any problem with them peeling off. They were super easy and I love how they turned out. They make my counter look so fresh and clean.

Also when you get tired of the label, they just peel right off with no residue.

I have seen these jars used in so many ways, my favorites are how they are used here, here, and here.

The possibilities are endless. 

it's the little things

The last few days have been kind of rough around here. Havyn has been teething, they are taking their sweet time and she is been pretty tough but I think she has had it and so have I.  The weather has been super crappy so we have been cooped up inside and all I want to do is walk down to the park and let Havyn swing, since it's her favorite. My house is a disaster and I just want one day to myself so I can deep clean and have it clean for more than 5 minutes. Yeah it's been rough!

But in the midst of it all, yesterday morning was the sweetest. It made my whole day.  I wish that I could have hit the rewind button and played in over and over all day. I woke up to go and get Havyn her morning bottle, as I went into her room, she was just standing there, smiling and was the happiest little girl. I picked her up and she laid thee biggest, wettest, most slobbery, open-mouth kiss on my lips. I knew that she really loved me in that moment. She has been so awesome to give kisses when we say, "give me kisses," she lays them right on your lips without hesitation. Sometimes they are sweet kisses with her lips closed together and sometimes they are like the ones described above. Either way we love her kisses and she is handing them out left and right. I won't lie, yesterday morning I kind of woke up not the happiest. But when she kissed me, it turned my whole day around. It's amazing how kids know just what you need, right where you need it. Most of the time they are the littlest things. Lately I have been trying to capture every moment of Havyn, because she is just growing up way too fast and I don't want to miss anything. Everything she does is just the cutest and I love everything she does. It's the little things that matter the most in our day to day lives. It's time spent with our families,  time spent doing something we love, time spent serving others... it's the little things.

I love my little goober so much, she is the most sweetest little girl on the planet and probably the most cheesiest too by the photo below.  I thank my Heavenly Father every single day that he gave me my sweet little lady. She makes life complete and so much more worth it.

update

Let's not face the fact that it's been over a month since my last post and my last post still needs to be updated (Havyn turning one). Also let's not face the fact that my child is in her swing watching cartoons, just so I can write a small update. I know, mother of the year award goes to me... JK! The last few months have been crazy INSANELY busy. Like, how is March almost over? Anyway, we have been so busy, I don't even know where to start this little update.

School has been crazy. Especially this class I'm in right now, I HATE it with a passion and it's just one of those stupid "generals" I have to get through and the next one I will probably hate even more cause it's the second part to the class I'm in now. June 30 can't come fast enough. School pretty much consumes my life where Havyn doesn't. So therefore I have ZERO time.

My family has had a lot of events come up, my baby sister is engaged... it's so crazy but I'm super happy for them. My sister Steph is going to be having a baby boy in August and I'm seriously so excited for officially be an aunt (on my side). I can't wait for them and I just know they are going to be awesome parents and have the cutest little boy ever. Havyn is excited to, because she will finally have someone to play with on my side besides my little brother. haha.

This last Sunday,  Ruston and I got the opportunity to speak in church, it wasn't intimidating at all for a ward that has 2 primary's, about 3 nursery's, 2 elders quorums, and really big relief society. Yeah, our ward is ginormous, so big that we weren't able to change to an early time when the new year began, cause we have to occupy every room there is (1 'o clock church is the pits). Our ward is splitting really soon, thank goodness, so I asked myself, why couldn't they have waited to ask us then, but it went really well and we're both so happy it's done. Ruston's parents were so great to come up and watch Havyn while we spoke.

Well, that's all for now, hopefully I can finish Havyn's birthday post, SOON, and a few other things we've been up to. But for now, I will leave you with this cute face to look at.

She is growing up and I want it to stop. haha

havyn is one

 My baby is one! It's hard to believe that one year ago, you came into our lives. You changed our lives forever. It suddenly had more meaning and we knew right when we met you, what love really was. I have never loved anyone the way I have loved you. We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father that he blessed us with you. You have the sweetest personality. You always know how to make a bad day be a good one by that perfect little smile. You are our little diva and you've definitely learned how to get what you want. Before I was pregnant, you were only a wish and a dream and now that you are here, you are our little girl and the greatest blessing I have ever been blessed with. Words can't express how great you made this year be. It was the best year of my life and I know that there are only more of those "best years" to come.
You are growing up day by day and you are learning so much, you are so smart and bright. Around your birthday you decided you wanted to walk along the furniture, so you pulled yourself up and you did. You are so amazing and you figure things out on your own and in your own time and we like that. You can say, mama, dada, ducky, W'isit? (where is it?) Woo'isit? (who is it?), stinky. You can sign more. You are learning so much everyday and it amazes me the knowledge you retain. You love, love, love books. I get a laugh watching you "read" your books. You turn the pages and bust out your fake laugh in between the pages. Your favorite thing to do is crawl to your room and pull all of your board books out of your basket and sit and look through all of them. You also like to chew on them too. You are crawling everywhere and getting into everything. Sometimes I wonder how you get stuck under the bar stools and how you get into my cupboards, but you do and it is my joy to clean up after you. I love all of your cracker crumb fingerprints on my stove and every other appliance that is in arms reach. I hate washing them away and sometimes leave them there, just so that they remind me of what an amazing little girl I have in my life. You love music and have learned to bounce your little body to the beat. You love to watch "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." You love to play with your toys and you can entertain yourself for hours. You've learned to get on your knees in your high chair and every time you do you give me a heart attack. You still are in size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothing although here very soon we'll have to put those away and get you 9-12 month clothing. You are finally getting some teeth and they are not being very nice. You love to each apple sauce, crackers, puffs, yogurt and we finally started you on cows milk. You love when daddy comes home and you just light up when you see him. You are our silly, happy, sweet, get what you want girl. WE LOVE YOU so much and we can't imagine our lives with out our little lady.

12 month stats are:
weight: 17 lbs. 13 oz. -5%
height: 28.2 in. -25%
head circumference: 44.2 cm -25%

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We celebrated Havyn's birthday a little early so that we could celebrate with some of our family. We had just a small party for the sweet little lady. We invited my grandparents, my family and Ruston's mom and dad. My dad was super sick that weekend and I felt awful, he couldn't celebrate with us. He built Havyn this awesome toy box and didn't even get to see her open it. My sister and I stayed up all night the night before making the cake and the smash cake, along with the banner. We had a lot of fun making every thing and it turned out super cute. She got lots of clothes and some fun toys.  When it was time to smash the cake, she really didn't know what to do. I put her hand in it and after that it was history. She probably would have eaten the whole thing if I would have let her, but she polished off a good portion of it.