Merry Christmas!

Take one

Take one from Laura R on Vimeo.

Take Two

Take Two from Laura R on Vimeo.

Take Three

Take Three from Laura R on Vimeo.

And the Winner!

Take four from Laura R on Vimeo.

I really like corn quesadillas

So good.

Oh, and guess what...
















CHARLES GOT THE INTERNSHIP!!!!!!

yep, YOU READ IT RIGHT. He received an offer from Price Waterhouse Copper to intern in the LA office starting January 10th. So we are moving to California! Hooray!

Charles told me when I picked him up from school on Monday. I burst into tears (of JOY) and couldn't stop screaming/laughing and crying. Let me tell you I was a funny sight when we went to Walmart...

I am so grateful that we have this opportunity and know that this is a blessing from the Lord. We couldn't have asked for anything better for Christmas!

And

SOLD!

In less than 24 hrs too I might add.

Let me tell you we are counting our many blessings around here!

Need an apartment in Idaho??

http://wehavesunshine.blogspot.com/

I am grateful

for Temples and the sealing power, knowing there is life after death.

Miss and love you Stephen!

Happy Sunday!

Scare you?

Today, after talking to Charles on the phone I noticed that Ella had gotten really quiet. She had been playing in the living room so I figured she had gone to my bedroom and was getting into something she shouldn't. I looked in my room but no Ella, I looked in her room, no Ella. I checked every room. The bathroom, all of the closets. I couldn't find her. The whole time I am calling her name over and over. I began to seriously be concerned. Had she gotten outside? She just figured out how to open round doorknobs. How far could she have gone in five minutes?!?! I frantically searched each room again calling her loudly. I noticed a portion of her blanket peeking out from behind all of my skirts in the back of the closet. I realized that I hadn't checked there because it is hard to get back into the closet and she has never done it before. I pulled the skirts away and there she was facing the wall hiding from me. When I pulled her out and hugged her she looked up into my face, smiled and said. "Scare you?"

Gobble Gobble Gobble

Charles and I were supposed to fly to Washington this year to be with my friend Jess and family for Thanksgiving. I got really sick the day before we were supposed to leave and we ended up not being able to go. I am almost 100% better, still really tired all of the time. It was such a disappointment not to go to see them but our tickets are still good so we will go in a few months! Since I was feeling a lot better on Monday we traveled to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with my family. It was a good thing we left when we did. It was a treacherous drive and the next day all of the roads from Idaho to Utah were closed because of the blizzard. We have had a lovely time seeing family and playing games. Yesterday we were able to see Elizabeth, Hugh and Emily. It was so fun to spend Thanksgiving evening with them. I really am so grateful for a wonderful family, immediate family and all of my in-laws. They are all such amazing people!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so grateful for friends and family, for God and for all of the blessings He gives me daily.

Hope you all have a beautiful day!

She is growing up way to fast.

No she didn't drive, but she did figure out how to put the key in the ignition. on the first try...

However,

Ella went pee pee in the potty for the first time today! I haven't really been pushing this whole potty training thing. Actually I wasn't planning on training her for a while because I'm not really ready. Ella however has other plans. She has been obsessed with the potty, sitting on it, flushing it, cleaning it etc. Today however instead of just getting on and pulling all of the toilet paper off the roll she got down to business and wha lah! She seemed a bit surprised that he pee could make noise in the toilet. When I tried to put a diaper back on her she was NOT happy. I tried to explain calmly to an on the verge of a tantrum child how mommy wasn’t buying training pants on Sunday and that she couldn’t walk around half naked because it is freezing cold and she might pee on the floor. In the end she wore her diaper but no pants. Sometimes I just am grateful for what I get and turn up the heater. :)

That aside.

Hooray for big girl Ella!

(Just a side note, never in my wildest before pregnancy and child rearing life dreams did I ever think I would post something like that. To much information???)

And he's off!

Charles is officially in Stamford! It has been a little bit of a crazy trip (I am sure he will fill you in on all of the lovely details later;) but hopefully things will go smoothly for the interview tomorrow.
We'll keep ya'll posted!

Bacon Grease Cont.

I thought I better finish up with that story. I had just dumped a cup of bacon grease into the garbage. While I was busy Ella used the ice cream scoop to transfer the grease form the garbage to the couch, slathering all up and down the side and the back cushion.

Lovely.

I used my kitchen degreaser "lysol" and sprayed the couch. Then I used a cloth to get it off. The couch smelled for a bit but it doesn't really even have a spot or stain now. We have microfiber couches, I am not sure I would really recommend this for everyone. The question now is how to get the pen she drew all over the other couch with off...

The cutest fairy you ever did see

Happy Halloween ya'll!

What do you do

when your daughter wipes bacon grease all over the couch?

Thoughts on life

Life is but a quick moment in the expanse of eternity. This idea has been with me constantly these last few days. In the past few months two people who I have had the pleasure of knowing passed away. In July a guy I knew form a class passed away just a few short weeks after the birth of his first child. The most recent was a girl we know from a ward we were in a few months ago. She was five months pregnant with her first child and died in a car accident on the way home from school. Now, I did not know either of these people as close intimate friends but we talked and share a few memories. I grieve for their spouses and their families. I am sad for the child that was lost and for the child who lost her father. How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who has provided a way for families to be together forever.
One concept which has been brought to the fore front of my mind is that of finding joy in my day to day life. Much too often I take for granted the kiss I receive when I wake up in the morning next to my loving husband. All too much I don’t appreciate the sound of little feet running over to ask me to kiss me goodnight. Little chubby hands which cup my face, a smiling daughter who looks at me, and when our eyes meet hers shine with joy. Little moments of the day when we spend time together as a family making dinner or just talking, always seem so usual. I have been brought to a stark realization that these things are blessings that I could someday not have. These past few days though I have grieved Angela’s death I have also woken up to life all around me. When Stephen died it wasn’t sudden. We knew for weeks that it was coming. I had a chance to say goodbye. To say my last I love you and to give my last kiss. It was hard and terrible but I had some closure. That does not always happen. I keep asking myself what people will remember about me if I were to die suddenly. What will Ella remember of her mother? I have decided to take more time to enjoy life, the everyday things. When Ella want to read a book at an inconvenient time, I am a lot more likely to sit down and actually do it. I am still living life and getting things done but instead of feeling the hum drum I am more grateful to be here to do it.
My mom sent me this quote by Marjorie Pay Hinckley,
"One of the ablest women in this country, now the wife of a university president, was brought up in poverty. She recalls an occasion when, as a girl, she complained of her hardships to her mother. "see here," said the mother. " I have given you life. That is probably all I will ever be able to give you. Now you stop complaining and do something with it."

"Each of us has some things we could complain about, but what good would it do? Complaining seldom changes anything."
I am striving to live life with less complaints and more joy. I am working to make the most of what I have and stop worrying about what I don’t. I’m working to be more open and to smile at people I pass by. Who cares what strangers think about me? I am going to be happy and enjoy things, maybe it will catch on and they will to. Life is too short to sit and complain. I hope that I can keep this new perspective. I am grateful for my family, for my life and my health. I am grateful for the plan of happiness that God has created so that we may live in Heaven again. What a wonderful country we live in that we are able to enjoy such beautiful lives!

And so it begins.

Snow is in the forecast for Saturday.

Time to break out the hot chocolate!

So,

Isn't Fall so beautiful?

I have not been very good at blogging. I do have many excuses. One being that I did not have a camera for awhile. The camera now works so here goes...
Jacob came up to Idaho for awhile. Ella loved to wake him up every morning. I think that she would wait in bed planing how to get him. She was sad when he left and kept asking for him for a few mornings. He even tried to teach her to skateboard while he was here.

I have been trying to find good activities to do with Ella. Now that I am home all of the time I get bored. Our library caries backpacks and big file boxes on different subjects which we can check out. I checked out the one on ducks. We read lots of books about them and played duck games. Then we went to the duck pond and fed the ducks. It was a lot of fun!



Since my parents moved to Salt lake I have seen them at least twice a month. It is so nice! This last trip my mom and I canned apples. So fun! I am going to post about that on my food blog.

I had better take advantage of being so close to family, we may not be so close next semester. Since Charles hasn't blogged about it yet I thought I would spill the beans. He was contacted by a Pricewaterhouse Coopers for a phone interview. The recruiter never ended up calling, instead he e-mailed Charles telling him some more specifics about the job and asked if he was still interested. YES we are definitely still interested (does anyone ever turn down the big four????) So he is now going to be flown out to Stamford , CT for an interview in person in November! Wow, so exciting! Even though we don't know what will come of it, we are still VERY excited to get this far. Don't worry. We will keep y'all posted.

Daddy, Daughter

This is their time. It happens almost every day. Charles is doing his homework when Ella walks in, hands him a book and then climbs in his lap. So cute!

Housing Update

Well, The managers seem to be on my side and think that the people are overreacting. I made her some zucchini bread as a peace offering and went away for a week to give her a break. (actually I went away because my brother just got back from BRAZIL!! So exciting!) We now are very careful to step lightly and I tiptoe a lot. I refuse to stop Ella from playing loudly because hey, that's what childhood is all about and we live here as well. I don't know if it is making any difference but the managers pretty much said that they are not going to do anything else and the neighbors will just have to get over it. Hopefully the zucchini bread soothed their tired ears and they are happier. Who knows,maybe we can be friends not enemies.

Ahh, apartment life.

You have to love it.

What would you do?

We have had our neighbors come upstairs to complain about noise twice since they moved in seven days ago. They say that we walk like giants with heavy heel two movement. Actually it is just the wife who comes up to complain. I have tried to be quieter and to keep Ella quiet but there is only so much that we can do. Tonight they came while we were sitting down at dinner and said that it had just been really noisy. The only walking that we had done was when Charles went to get something out of the oven. I guess I feel that they may be overreacting a bit, but I also feel bad for being so annoying. Anyways, I am pretty sure that they have called the managers about it because I just checked my messages and they want to meet with me. The ironic thing is that we have always lived upstairs in our apartments and nobody has ever complained about us before. And if you know us you know that we have lived in A LOT of different places. So, do we all tiptoe or just carry on with life and tell them they need to get over it?

Imagination

This girl has it. She is always making up new games. Today she was "using" my blender (minus the blade of course) and pretending to pour in fruits and veggies while making a grinding noise! So cute! She also like to feed her babies and make sucking noises when they are taking a bottle. She has also been known to use sippy cups as guns and make shooting sounds as the milk sprays out. (Not really sure where she learned that one...)

Photo by Judy. Isn't she an amazing photographer! I love it when she takes pictures for us!

Funny Girl

Wedding

Congratulations Hugh and Emily! What a beautiful couple. Emily was stunning with her happy smile and gorgeous dress! We loved seeing them and the rest of the family. Here are some moments from the day.

Graduated

Finally! I actually have a certificate telling me how smart I am. Just kidding. If there is one thing that I have learned in college it is that there are so many things I do not know or understand. I am happy to be done and had a wonderful graduation celebration! I would post pictures but I am recuperating from a week babysitting my 4 little cousins along with Ella. Three of them are under the age of two and in diapers. Whew, it was hard work but lots of fun. I will post the pictures at some point in the future.

Sewing projects

Here is some catch up on what I have been sewing of late.


I love the skirt! It has godets in it. (I think that it how it is spelled, pronounced go day.) Anyways it is a lot of fun to spin around in. Now I just need Charles to take me out dancing!
The pants have welt pockets which are supposed to be hard to make but truthfully were not all that bad. I think that I had more trouble with the skirt than the pants. I used a Burda pattern for the skirt and it was a BAD experience. I don't know that I will buy another Burda pattern. ever. The godet insert pattern piece was much to big for the panel piece. I had to pretty much remake the pattern pieces. I may as well have made my own pattern. the directions were pretty confusing as well. I used a Vogue pattern for my pants. Vogue patterns are more expensive but wont it. They have more detailed instructions and are easier to follow.

Lately we have been doing a project every two weeks. I am working on a knit hoodie at the moment. Next up is my very first quilt.
9did I mention there are only three weeks left in the semester!) SO exciting! I have to say, it is soooo nice to have machine here at home! If I didn't have it here I would live in the sewing lab and we would only eat boxed mac and cheese for dinner. (oh wait, lately we have been doing that anyways...)
I am a bit nervous about picking out fabric for the quilt. My teacher gave me a lot of good advice hopefully it helps. Wish me luck!

Child Prodigy

Well, Maybe not but her hair is crazy enough to put her up there with Mozart and Einstein.



Lately we have had frequent visits from the green fingered monster. This little monster can be very cute and cuddly but then without your knowledge will swipe all of your avocados and poke holes in them with her thumbs. Finding the little monster is easy enough. Follow the trail of avocado smears, it will lead you right to her fingertips!

To all you Dad's

Happy Fathers Day!

Ella had a special gift for Charles this morning...

Her new kissy fish face! Funny Ella.

Charles is such a great Dad! He is patient and so good with Ella. I am so glad he is my husband!

Happy fathers day to my dad as well. What a great guy! He always taught me to work hard and have fun while I'm at it. My dad has always been a great example of Christlike love, he is always happy and willing to serve. There are many people who have been helped by my father. He is still a great Dad and now also an awesome grandpa! I love you Dad!

Today

Was BEAUTIFUL!

Thank you Idaho.

Problem

It is almost mid June and we have yet to hit 80 degrees. Actually If I were to go outside right now I would probably wear a jacket. 60's and rain.
Yuck.
The problem is that in Idaho we only get warm weather from June through maybe the end of August. But even at the end of August it can start to cool down. That means there are only two and a half months of possibly warm weather left. And the forecast for the week is RAIN.

!!!!!!!!!

Do you get my drift?

I think it is time to go on vacation.

On the upside, the aquifer is replenishing itself quite nicely and tomorrow it is supposed to be SUNNY and 70 degrees! At this point I take what I can get. I think we will go to the water park.

Words

Last weekend we had Elizabeth here visiting. It was a lot of fun, sadly my camera was dead the whole time and I have no pictures.

We hope that she will come back to visit soon!

I made this plaid shirt for Charles. Pretty sweet huh?

Ella is starting to say a lot of different words. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure!

So what does it all mean?

Pj Problems

Ella has learned to take off her pj's. this is how we have found her lately. So funny!



I choose not to post the one where she had taken them completely off so she doesn't hate me for that later. :) Good thing the weather is getting warmer!

Family Reunion

Last weekend the Pettit side of the family got together in Salt Lake for some mid semester shenanigans. The girls in our family haven't been together all at once for awhile. Lets just say, PARTY!!!