Family

This summer has been especially fun because we have been able to spend so much time with family. It started when the girls and I traveled to Las Vegas to visit my sister Karrie and her family. We had so much fun and it made me wish we lived closer! Lizette instantly felt at home with Karrie and I couldn't help but think that even though we don't get to see them as often as we would like, my girls really sense that family connection. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to snap a single photo while we were there! We were so busy that I completely forgot. I guess we'll have to go back again soon!

Since we've returned, it seems it's been non stop cousin fun for Lizette. Between her Widman and Rigby cousins, she is never without something fun to do. We love it!

Here are a few pics from a recent trip to our neighborhood pool with David, Katelyn and Nick. They had a blast that day!

The fun meter went up a couple of weeks ago when Hilary and her kids came to town. It was soooo much fun to have them visit and Lizette is still talking about it. Her favorite saying now (and mine too) is "You get what you get and don't throw a fit!" Hilary's kids would say that at mealtime and I think that is a wonderful motto. Especially given the picky eaters I live with! :) Lizette loved being able to spend time with Madelyn, Marcus and Brian...and Aunt Hilary too. I think we are going to have to make a trip to Yuma soon!

The big kids had a sleepover at Thayne and Angel's house one night, so the little kids got to have their own sleepover at our house. Here are Lizette, Brian and Hampton watching a movie that they got to pick for their very own slumber party. They had a blast and it was so cute to watch them together. Lizette made sure that each of the boys was assigned a doll to be in charge of for the evening. They were good sports. :)

On the last day of Hilary's visit, we were able to have a family gathering at Thayne and Angel's house. They have an awesome pool in their neighborhood that they pretty much have to themselves a lot of the time. We all gathered there for the afternoon and it was great.

Here is my sweet Lexi loving her little water toy. She loves kicking and splashing in the water which makes our trips to the pool so much fun.

Madelyn playing motorboat (more like speedboat!) with Lexi. Lexi loved it.

Hampton...cute as always!

Shepard showing off his stylin' new goggles.

Marcus...future GQ model!

Brian taking a break from fearlessly jumping into the deep end all afternoon. This kid is fun to watch in the water. He's only three and swims like a fish!

I think this is Phieffer, but it might be Trulie?? Whoever it is appears to be done for the day!

And here is Lizette keeping watch over her favorite spot at the pool...the stairs. With Aunt Hilary's help, we did manage to pull her away for a little bit of swimming later on.

Well, we're off this week to visit Aunt Abby in Utah. More fun with family which we all love!

Great Old Navy Coupon

Anyone who is around me very much and ever takes notices of my clothing choices, knows that I layer pretty much everything. I love the long tanks and undershirts to wear under other t-shirts, etc. I think they add a little something extra to an outfit, but more importantly they cover up my little "pooch" oh so nicely. You can bunch them up a bit and who knows there's a little glob of fat hiding under there? :)

So, in case you haven't seen this yet, there is a great coupon to be able to get Old Navy camis for only $2 this weekend! Yippee! On my way tonight.

Here is the link:
http://oldnavy.gap.com/Asset_Archive/ONWeb/content/0002/028/860/$2camis_coupon.jpg

I guess you'll just have to cut and paste it into your browser because I still haven't learned how to insert workable links yet!

The cute things kids say...

Lizette has been taking turns saying the prayer at meal times and before bed for quite a while now. It's so cute to hear her sweet little voice praying. Recently, she has caught onto the idea that she can pray for whatever she would like to without our help. It's so fun to listen to what she comes up with. Here are a few items on her list of things to pray for:

Strawberry Shortcake and Mr. Man (both dolls of hers)

That the food will taste good and we can eat it all gone
(This is important to pray for in our house since both she and Jeff are quite picky!...and I get upset when they don't eat the food I prepare)

That Grandpa could feel better

That we can drive safely (even when we aren't planning on driving anywhere)

That our toenails could be so pretty

She also prays for Jesus and Heavenly Father, and I think they probably appreciate the sentiment.

The thing that makes my heart smile the most is how naturally praying comes to small children. We can learn so much from the faith that they have.

"That's Going on the Blog!"

It's funny...Now that I've been blogging for a while, I find myself responding to the funny things that Jeff does by saying "That's going on the blog!" I thought I would take a moment to follow through on my threat.

Example #1: Jeff is the owner of an Ipad. Not an Ipod or an Ipod touch. An Ipad.

Being the gadget aficionado that he is, he loves it. He waited for months and months for it to come out. He set aside money for it in advance. He told me months ahead of time that this was a purchase that he was going to have to make. I think he would have sold our car to get it if he would have had to. And watching him use this newest treasure is something to behold.

You would think that someone who goes out and buys an Ipad may not be the most frugal person in the world and not very worried about spending money. Well, this is not the case with Jeff. Jeff will spend hundreds for an Ipad and absolutely freak out about the high cost of gas, the electric bill being $10 more than the previous month, or having to spend more than $12 when we go out to eat. I won't say he's cheap when it comes to these things. :) Just frugal.

His frugality came into play when he needed a stand to put his Ipad on in the car so that he could use the GPS app. Instead of paying anywhere from $30-$100 for a stand, he decided to make one himself. He rigged up some PVC pipe, part of a trailer hitch, a clipboard and some rubber strapping he found at Lowe's to create a stand that would fit in the cupholders of the car. Well, the concept was great, and I thought very creative, but in the end the stand didn't work. He ended up buying one on Ebay and grumbled about having to spend money for something like this. So funny. The thing that really made me laugh was that here he has this completely sleek, nice looking Ipad and he was going to put it on top of this:

I love this guy.


Example #2: I often watch Food Network or HGTV in the evenings before going to bed. I really don't care what show is on either of these channels. I am pretty much interested in all of them. So, Jeff gets suckered into watching many of these shows with me. Or at least, he'll play on his Ipad while sitting next to me as I watch them.

The other night "Cupcake Wars" was on Food Network. It's not my favorite show on there, but I'll watch it occasionally. Jeff was sitting next to me and somehow became very interested in the show. I was going to turn it off and go to bed and he said "We can't go to bed now! We have to see who wins!"

I said "You do realize you are a total girl for getting into this show, right?" He said "Don't tell anyone!" I said "That's going on the blog!" Hee Hee.

And there you go...

Jeff's going to have to create his own blog, so he can share all of my secrets. :)

Motherhood

Given some of my feelings of inadequacy lately, I really appreciated hearing the following clip. I hope it will bring encouragement to you as well.

Happy Times

Since I had my little rant session on here yesterday, I thought I would start today off on a happy note. :)

Here are some cute pictures taken recently:

We've been walking over to our neighborhood pool almost every weekday recently. The girls love the water and it has been so fun. Lizette still doesn't believe that her floaties will actually keep her up in the water. It's fun to watch her test them out. After the initial shock of the water being cold, Lexi has a ton of fun floating around in her baby floater. Couldn't ask for a better way to spend the summer than swimming with my girls!



They love their dad. And they are pretty lucky. He's a great one.


And finally, some cute shots I caught of Lexi this morning. I can't believe she is 9 months old now. What a little sweetie.


And after all of my worry after our doctor's appointment yesterday, Lexi takes off crawling (or at least scooting in style) this morning! That figures. If her appointment would have been today, the doctor may have had one less thing to scold me about. :)

Inadequacy

It's Wednesday at 3:30. I just dropped Lizette off for a sleepover and Lexi is down for a nap. So, it's a good time to blog.

The problem is, I'm so completely annoyed right now that I feel like my head is going to explode. Probably not the best moment for me to be blogging to the world. But, here I am. I want this to be included in my blog posts because it seems to be such a dominant part of almost every day of my life.

Subject: Feeling inadequate.

I'm in tears right now as I write this. No joke.

I just returned from Lexi's 9 month check up. The doctor was very concerned that she is not waving good-bye yet, crawling or standing up to things. She was quite shocked in fact. She told me to work with her on these things more.

I know the doctor is just doing her job. She needs to make sure our kids are on track.

I could react in a calm manner and think to myself, "I'm sure she will do those things soon. Lizette was a late crawler and walker. I'm sure she's fine..."

Instead, I choose to think that I must be a terrible mother. I don't work with her enough. I'm lazy. I must spend too much time doing other things instead of focusing on my children. I have no clue what I'm doing. Did I mention I'm a terrible mother?

Why do I do this to myself? Maybe I do need to spend more time with her on these things. Yes, I know I could always do better. However, I also think that I am too hard on myself and I am so tired of being this way. Can't I just love my kids and do the best I can and be good enough? I guess not or I wouldn't be feeling this way, huh?

The thing is, if we just lived in a bubble I would think my kids were doing just great. My problem is whenever I have an experience like at the doctor today or talk to someone who says their kids are doing this or that, and I realize that my kids might be "behind" in some area, I start to worry. I automatically think that I'm doing something wrong. I either think that I don't teach them well enough or I don't spend enough time with them. In some way I must be flawed.

Today I'm feeling really annoyed at myself for feeling this way.

So what if they don't do every little developmental thing on time? Maybe Lexi doesn't crawl, but she has the sweetest smile in the world. She doesn't stand up to things, but she wakes up happy every morning just jabbering until we come get her out of bed.

She's healthy and happy. Isn't that what counts the most?

By the way, she does say "mama" and "dada", she's very attentive and observant and she scooted on her tummy for the first time today.

Anyway, I am so tired of feeling like a bad mom about this kind of stuff. Maybe I am not the best mom in the world, but I've only had 3-1/2 years of experience at it. I mean, give me a break.

And you know what? My kids are great just the way they are. They are perfect to me and I love every single little thing about both of them. And you know what else? They love me too even if I'm not a perfect mom. That's a beautiful thing.

Ranting complete.

Foam, Fun and the Fourth of July

We drove to Soda Springs last week to spend some time with mom and dad Rigby over the 4th of July weekend. Jeff's handyman skills were put to work on an awesome kitchen project that Jeff's mom hatched. She has the best ideas for making a space work as well as decorating to perfection. She came up with plans for him to install a breakfast bar, desk area and pass through from the kitchen to the dining room. Jeff, his dad, and brother, Micah, all worked on it and it turned out awesome. The kitchen looks more spacious and it's way more functional too. Woo hoo!

This is the only picture I came away with of the project underway. Jeff is on the other side of the pass through. The breakfast bar went directly under the window to the left.

Since we were there over the 4th of July weekend, there were many festivities underway. One of which was a huge foam extravaganza for kids. What is this you ask? Well, the local firemen show up to the park with their hoses spraying a concoction of foam all over the place. It blankets the ground like snow and the kids (big and small) can run, splash, slide and get as crazy as they want to with it. Jeff took Lizette and Micah took his boys. Looks like fun!

Micah getting wet right along with his boys.

They couldn't decide if this was exactly their idea of fun.

Lizette: "You want me to do what? Run around in foam and get wet? Seriously?" :)

Jeff: "Come on! It will be fun, I promise"

She was finally convinced.

Of course, a trip to grandma and grandpa's house would not be complete without making cookies and having lots of fun reading and playing with grandma.

Lizette was especially shy during our visit and it took her a while to warm up to grandpa this time. I didn't manage to get any pictures snapped of the two of them this time, but I'm including one from their last visit to Boise so we can remember how much she loves snuggling with grandpa too!