Halloween/Sadie's Birthday

I think my phone just got shut off. Did I forget to pay my bill? I feel like I'm 19 again. So Monday was Halloween. Duh. We were planning on take Grace down to Jeff's parents to trick or treat with some cousins, but they weren't able to come, so we decided to stay home. I made a super awesome dinner, (that has nothing to do with Halloween), we got a bunch of candy to hand out to trick or treater's, and watched a movie. We only got two trick or treater's, so I took one for the team and ate all our candy myself. Me and Jeff didn't dress up, because we couldn't think of anything good enough to be. Maybe next year. We dressed up Grace and Sadie though. Grace was Fairy Stinkerbell and Sadie was a baseball player. She looked like a boy, but who cares.

Halloween was also Sadie's birthday, so we sang to her and gave her presents. I know, I hate myself for being one of those people. Don't talk to me about it.

She loved her presents so much she wanted them all in her mouth at once. Grace got a little jealous, but she handled it okay.

Now I'm ready to decorate for Christmas. I already have my Tuscan Christmas candle melter going.





Grantsville and stuff

Today I was reading a blog, and out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the blogs they follow, and the last thing they posted was titled "Things I love about myself." At first I thought they were so awesome, and then I was a little pissed that I didn't think of that first, and then I realized that it didn't say "Things I love about myself", it said "Things I believe about myself". So guess what that means. I did think of it myself. Right now I can't really think of that many things I love about myself, but when I do, that will be my next post.

So we live in Grantsville now. Today I had to pull all the way off the road to let a massive tractor pass by. That is what it's like living in the country. Our first night here I walked outside, and some guy across the street started yelling. Like I thought he was going to kill someone. Like Sadie got scared and ran in the house, and so did I. Now I don't like to go out at night. Mostly because we don't have any street lights, so I can't see if someone is sneaking up to kidnap me. There are some weird things that I've noticed about this town. I don't know if they're really appropriate to discuss on a public blog. Like if I get called to the relief society I don't want anybody reading it and getting offended. But if I get called to nursery then I don't care, I'll tell you.

Grace is crawling all over the place now, and she's also standing up a little bit. She'll pull herself up in her crib or on the side of the bathtub. She's so strong. I have to disinfect the floor several times a day. We tried feeding her her first food. The day after we moved here we were all hanging out on our bed, because it was the only clean space in the house, and we decided to mash up a banana and have her try it. I put some on her lips, and she made a weird face, and then she threw up all over. We decided to wait a little while, and then try again. Tonight at dinner we let her suck on some asparagus, and that's as far as we've gotten so far.

This is kind of a random picture, but we found the top of our wedding cake in the freezer when we moved. We were supposed to eat it on our anniversary, but we forgot all about it. We're just not good at things like that.

My mom found these old pants that I wore when I was a baby. I love them on Grace.

When a dog loves a baby

I just ran to the store to get Jeff some Tums, and when I got back there were poopy diapers shredded all over the floor, and we were missing an entire loaf of bread. Is anybody else's dog this awful or is it just mine?

Sorry for the blogging dry spell I've had. I've been packing and getting ready to move, so naturally, I have nothing nice to say. I do have some news since the last time that I posted. Wanna hear it? Does anyone even read this blog? I keep seeing regular people with like 1,000 followers. How does this happen? I need to find out.

Ok so first item of business. My sister and her family moved to Oregon. Ryan got to transfer from where he has been working for the Red Cross here to their Salem, OR location. Apparently he blew all the other applicants out of the water. He's awesome. I'm excited for them. But sad for me. Natalie started Kindergarten, and I wish I could see her walking to school with her little backpack on. I hope Sarah takes some pictures for us. They'll  be closer to our Grandma and Grandpa which makes me happy too. They'll love being able to see each other all the time.

We're moving to Grantsville at the end of the week. Where is Grantsville? It's a town right next to Tooele, about a half an hour west of Salt Lake City. We bought a house built by Kessler Hatch aka Jeff's brother. He builds a mean house. And by mean I mean nice. We'll finally have our own yard for Sadie's pooping pleasure, and more space, so that will be nice. Our house has finally gotten to the level of mess where you can't clean, you just have to move. I love organizing and decorating, so I'm actually really really excited.

Grace is moving around so much now. She still isn't crawling forward, but she goes backward, sideways, and in a circle. I just had to buy her a playpen, because in the past few days she has fallen off our bed, bumped her head on lots of walls, and had all her toys taken away by Sadie. She has a rough life. I can already tell how stubborn she's going to be. If she sees something she wants she will stop at nothing to get it. Right now, in her playpen, she has my car keys, a plastic cup, and a paper plate. All things she could not bare to live without.  

We've all been sick all weekend, so conference couldn't have come at a better time. I love listening to the talks, and having that feeling of wanting to be better. I'm so happy to be a member of the LDS church.This was one of my favorite talks. Now I'm going to go blow my nose twenty times.

And as always, for your looking pleasure...

Your Infinite Worth

Your Infinite Worth

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:

“I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different. .. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not!  But as one adviser to teenage girls said: ‘You can’t live your life worrying that the world is staring at you. When you let people’s opinions make you self-conscious you give away your power. … The key to feeling confident is to always listen to your inner self—the real you.’  And in the kingdom of God, the real you is ‘more precious than rubies.’  Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good.  I mention adult women because, sisters, you are our greatest examples and resource for these young women.  …In too many cases too much is being done to the human body to meet just such a fictional (to say nothing of superficial) standard. As one Hollywood actress is reported to have said recently: ‘We’ve become obsessed with beauty and the fountain of youth. … I’m really saddened by the way women mutilate themselves in search of that.’

“In terms of preoccupation with self and a fixation on the physical, this is more than social insanity; it is spiritually destructive, and it accounts for much of the unhappiness women, including young women, face in the modern world. And if adults are preoccupied with appearance—tucking and nipping and implanting and remodeling everything that can be remodeled—those pressures and anxieties will certainly seep through to children.  At some point the problem becomes what the Book of Mormon called ‘vain imaginations.’ … Yet at the end of the day there would still be those ‘in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers’ as Lehi saw, because however much one tries in the world of glamour and fashion, it will never be glamorous enough.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, from his talk entitled “To Young Women”. Italics and bold added for emphasis.)

Life at the Kessler's

I've been so busy, I don't have much time to blog, so here's a quick photo update.

Watching Dad play softball

Baby/Puppy love

Grace's Grandma came to visit. We love her!

This was the only picture I got of our ward service day before my camera died. We cleaned up weeds around the river at our park, and did some yard work for a couple older member's of the ward. Then we met back at the church for sloppy joes. So good! It felt good to work hard and do some service.

 Grace has started standing up in her bassinet. She's getting so big. Pics of sitting in the shopping cart like a big girl, and riding in a swing to come.

Modeling some etsy merch.

Getting ready to go watch Daddy play softball

That pretty much sums up our last couple weeks. I just started an etsy shop, so go here and take a look!

Everywhere like such as

Remember this?

My daughter is reading.

I haven't seen Grace crawl yet, but I put her on a blanket on the floor, and now she's across the room. What happened? Is this normal? I always hear people say that their kids are growing up too fast, but I think Grace is growing at just the right speed. We have fun watching her learn new things, and get bigger. The only thing I regret is that I don't get anything on video, and I don't write down her progress in a journal near enough. I can't say the same for Sadie. Sometimes I think she's getting dumber. Remember that blanket I had Grace laying on? Guess who's laying on it now.

I ended up taking Sadie to the vet yesterday because she's been crying a ton, and recently started howling. They deduced that she's just being dramatic, and is fine. While she was there they also checked up on a heart murmur that they had found when she was younger. They said that heart murmurs are common in dogs, and usually go away as they grow up, but apparently Sadie's is getting worse. The vet said they'd have to do an echocardiogram to tell for sure how bad it is, and how long she will live. We're not going to do the echocardiogram, so we'll just wait and see how she does. We love her, and will be so sad to lose her, but I have hope that she'll live a long naughty life.

Anyway, the point of this post is really just to show you the pictures I took of Grace reading her books yesterday. I think she's so cute!

See...this is what I'm talking about.

Our little girl is growing up

So Sadie started her period this week. Never having owned a dog before, I don't know what you're normally supposed to do about that. I won't go into details, but once again, I'm so happy to be moving and leaving the carpet behind. And also, remember Jeff's old gf Katie that put diapers on her little chiuaua when she was on her period? So gross. Ex girlfriends are so dumb.

We're officially moving to Washington. But not for a year or so. Jeff has to pass the CPA first, and that will take at least a year. In the meantime we're just going to find a place to rent. Our contract here is up at the end of the month, and I couldn't be more excited. Apartments and Sadie do not mix. Also, annoying maintenance men and Jeff's temper do not mix.

Jeff has been playing on an old man softball league. He has games every Monday, and it's super fun to go watch him. He's the hottest guy out there, duh. And he's the best on his team, so I get to brag and say, "That's my husband." every time he does something cool.

 Grace is sitting up (mostly unassisted) now. She's getting so big. She'll be five months next week. She loves screaming and will do it for a half an hour straight. She is no longer sleeping till 10:00, and wakes up closer to 7:30 now. That's okay with me. I love the morning, and she's always so happy when she wakes up. She's not quite as clingy as she used to be. She still prefers mom and dad, but she'll let other people hold her for a few minutes without sticking out her pouty lip and crying.

Well that's all I have for now. Oh! Me and Sarah are having a yard sale at her house this Friday, so come by and see us. I'm not selling anything good, but I'm using the secret, so I plan on making a hundred dollars, and then taking myself shopping. Wish me luck. Or just come buy something.

Stop ruining my alone time Jeffrey

A few days ago we (I) made a rule that each of us (I) get a half an hour of alone time every day. Since Grace we never get a chance to just sit and read a magazine or scriptures or paint our toenails all by ourselves. Jeff hates my alone time. Last night I was reading my Better Homes and Gardens's magazine in the bathtub, and it wasn't 10 minutes before he came in with Grace to see what I was doing. They sat on the toilet reading over my shoulder for the rest of alone time. Hardest part of having kids- You will never be alone again. Best part of having kids- They're cute, duh!

I LOVE Better Homes and Gardens! I have learned so much about decorating and gardening and a little bit about drug facts. It makes me want to plant a garden so bad! I think we've waited too long for a vegetable garden this year, but I am going to start an herb garden soon. My dream is to use all fresh food, and never have to shop at the grocery store again. We can grow all our own vegetables, and get meat, eggs, and milk from a farm. Maybe eventually we can even have our own farm. With a field where I'll teach yoga.

Old post I forgot to post.

I forgot to say Happy 4th of July. Happy 4th of July. We had tons of fun. Jeff finally got some time off of work. Three and a half whole days! Oh yeah! Hold the phone. Our good friends Owen and Ashley got married on Friday. Congratulations Owen and Ashley! So Friday we had a whole day of wedding celebrations. That night we went to see Water For Elephants, which was much better than the book. Who cares how many times I cried. Why would you even want to know that? Then on Saturday we went back to dog poop lake to take Jeff's new raft for a spin. That was pretty fun, but I had some heart attacks along the way, what with Sadie jumping out of the raft in the middle of the lake, and getting attacked by a million killer mosquitoes. Don't ever go there. Sunday we went to church, and took lots of naps. Then that night we went to sleep over at my sister's house in Provo, so we could walk to the parade in the morning. Jeff's first parade that he can remember! He was not disappointed. Because I warned him that parades are not fun at all. I don't even know why they keep having them really. But of course we're going to go back next year. Duh! It's the 4th of July! Then we went to Payson Lakes to swim and eat and raft. It was super fun. Oh yeah! Hold the phone. Doug and Erika are ENGAGED! Yay! Some of us (me) wondered if Doug would ever find someone to put up with his shinanigans. He did well with Erika. We like her, and we don't like very many people.

Was I raised in a barn? I wish.

Sadie killed a baby bird today. She brought it to me in the bath. She's been depressed ever since.

After like a million days we finally caught a mouse! Yay!! Our neighbors downstairs discovered that they have them too, and they put out inhumane traps, and have already caught two, so...it's not a competition. But it kind of is. We let ours go. Back in the cupboard.

Jeff is sick today. Like really sick. Which means I got to take a special Sunday trip to Harmons to get popcicles. Booya!

No big deal

We have mice in our kitchen! I've always wondered how our kitchen floor stays so clean. I'm so grossed out and fascinated at the same time. Last night while I was hiding in the dark and waiting for them to come out I heard all kinds of nibbling and scurrying. I really want to catch one. But not kill it. Mouse traps are so sad. Jeff told me that you can get traps that catch them without killing him, but then what will we do with them? I think we're just going to pretend we never even found out about them.

So Precious.

Family Pics

We got some family pictures taken a few weeks ago. I wasn't going to post them, but I can't really do anything with them till we move, and it's such a waste for them to sit around not being looked at.

For Sheri