My Little Piggy Girl

Layla loves her pink little piggy. I will often hear her make her best pig snort, followed by an, "awwwww", while she's supposed to be asleep at night or as the first thing I hear over the monitor in the morning. So sweet. Thanks Erin for making her such a cute companion!

Birdies

I really wish I could capture all the awe and wonder of simple things, the way that my Layla does. It would make the world so much sweeter.

Today we were driving to the store and I hear Layla in the backseat saying, "teet, teet!!" "WOW, Teet teet!" (it's her way of saying tweet)

What I first assume is random silliness, suddenly transforms into something real. I look out the window and see a bunch of birds flying together. "Tanner" I say, "Look how excited she is to see the birds!" Layla was seriously rocking back and forth with enthusiasm (sadly, we don't get out much these days). 

Tonight, after I put Layla down to sleep, I wandered into the office to check out the blogging world. Suddenly I hear a faint, "Teet teet. hehehe, teet teet."

It was seriously the cutest thing.

Victim of the Mullet

The Mullet Girl, in all her glory! Seriously, what do I do about it?? I should probably trim the ends, but I am NO good at cutting girls hair! If you knew me in the 8th grade, then you know that's a true statement.

Another shot of the mullet, although this time we threw in a little hygiene lesson for all you babies out there. This is how you suck the boogers out, although it must be IN your nose AND don't get it too close to your mouth!!

And these last two are just proof that Layla really does wear real clothes and I do her hair/mullet into whatever up-do she'll allow of me. She's so stinkin cute however her hair is! I love this picture, because I told her to find a spot to take a picture and she climbed the stairs to this particular step. 

And she is a bottle girl. She LOVES milk and gets a little over excited when I say the word "bottle". Well, I'm glad she likes milk! I've heard way too many stories from mom's who say their kids hate it. 

Don't you just LOVE her eyes?!

Where's Layla?

Where's Layla?

Can you spot her?? This was such a good hiding place!!

Peek-A-Boo!!

Princess Layla

Once Upon a Time... There was a little girl named Layla. She was a lively, happy girl who loved everyone and even had a special place in her heart for all the "ish ish" (fishies) and "kee kee's" (kitties). She liked to spend her days decorating her palace with all of her blocks, making sure to place them in the most creative of places (like in the toilet and in my shoe). Princess Layla is on a very flexible diet consisting of anything from bananas (hopefully not smashed into the carpet) to that random cracker/cookie/cheerio that she strategically hid for a later snack. Sneaky sneaky. The princess is very concerned about hygiene and makes sure to put in her royal request for a "bah!" (bath) every chance she gets. Her standard for clean is quite high. So high, that she has taken up sweeping as a new hobby. And if you're lucky, you can catch one of her daily dance performances, which mainly occur while listening to rap. We do not question her preferences. (No, I don't LET her listen to rap. But if she hears even a second of it while we're changing stations. She'll bust out a booty shake or two). Our Princess sure is a kind little soul, who will reward your good service with a snuggle and slobbery kiss at the end of the day. Although.... if you cross her, you will have to deal with her alter-ego, Layla the Wicked Witch of the Rex!!! And she'll pinch your leg and throw a crayon at your face. 

(This was taken on Day 2 of our drive home from WA. I just put her hat on and she senses another long day in the car, hence the frustration exploding out of her head)

Goals for the New Year!

1. Learn how to sew AMAZING things. (okay, maybe I should just settle for sewing ANYTHING at this point)

2. Teach my daughter ABC's and 123's.

3. Embrace my calling fully and use all of my talents to reach out to those in need in my new ward.

4. Finish Layla's baby book and be proud of it.

5. Get back to my walk 30 mins everyday routine, that I USED to love.

6. Get ready physically, emotionally, and in every other aspect to think about having another baby.

7. Turn some of my "casual" friendships into "close" friendships. I need some close friends. (Wanna help me do that?? :)

8. Eat more colorful foods. Naturally colorful... Lucky Charms and fruit snacks don't count.

9. Read at least 2 books a month. (let me know if you find something good!)

10. Play, Play, and more playing with my girl.

Poof!

Yeah, these past few weeks... ehh, more like months. I've been a slacker when it comes to blogging. What can I say, Winter sucks! Okay well that's really NO excuse at all. Well, not a good one anyway. It's true though, I really dislike winter. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas and all the festivities surrounding it... except for the cold stuff. I've tried to love snow, but I just don't. I know that the majority of this hate for snow has arisen from my move from regular, moist, Washington, to freeze your tush off, slip and break your neck Rexburg, Idaho. (There were a LOT of commas in that sentence!) Who knows if this dislike will ever fade away. I'm kind of hoping it will, especially since I have at least 2 more years here and Layla and Tanner are quite fond of it. I don't really want to be titled the "Bum" mom who doesn't leave her nice and warm home for fear that she'll get snow on her pants, that'll eventually melt into a big wet mess. I'll suck it up someday, but right now I like to use the excuse that I don't have any snow clothes and with a numb foot, I'd practically be committing suicide by trying to play outside.

On a brighter note... We've adjusted just fine to the new semester. Tanner definitely will be keeping busy with his class load and little job. I'm loving staying home with Layla and planning fun games and activities inside to occupy our time while the snow hogs all the fun outside. I'm slowing self teaching myself how to sew. I have this feeling that I'm going to be making up all these weird terms and have crazy names for things and then when someone talks to me about sewing, I'll sound like a complete nut! Oh well, whatever helps me learn. I'm still looking for a local class or something for fun, so if you know of anything, please let me know! 

Layla these days is a real hoot! I am so incredibly in LOVE with her and her personality. She's so SPICY! I know that is a weird descriptive word, but lately that fits her to a T! She's soaking up everything I'm teaching her and practically begs for more. She's starting to really repeat what I say, which is SO fun, yet dangerous at the same time! She loves blowing "buh-boos" (bubbles) and asks for them constantly. She knows where all the best snack are in the pantry and will occasionally be found pushing her little desk thingy to the food, hoping to reach the goods. She's really into Princesses (thanks to her Grandma's this Christmas) and loves her babies. She thinks it's SOO funny when I take her babies clothes off to take a bath! She'll immediately chuckle once or twice, then seriously crouch down and begin to point to and help me name all of her body parts! I found her today putting one of her huge diapers on her baby. So funny. She finally has begun to address me as "Mom" or "Momma", which is pretty monumental for me, because it has been "Dad, Dad, Dad...." up until this point. I've always been her favorite... (just to clarify :) But I think she didn't feel that she HAD to say my name, because I was always around, and ready to cater to her every whim. Joking. 

Well... this post is getting really long and boring now... but I've got to say that it has felt quite nice to type instead of write. I LOVE journaling and I think it's one of my greatest forms of therapy. I think I was trying to convince myself for a while that blogging wouldn't give me the same beneficial feeling as does writing out a couple pages each day. Well I have to say that I was wrong!! Well, it's not the same, but it's definitely in the same category of "feel good" and "release of energy". So hopefully, now that I've once again regained some blogging excitement, there will be more posts in the near future. So long for now, faithful blog reader.

P.S. I get to go to Disneyland in February!!

P.P.S. I've gained 7lbs through the holidays. Shame shame.

(not really sure why I added that. Maybe it's because I've felt guilty and now my conscience feels clean!)