Joie and Blossom

So the other day my friend Whitney came over to hang out for an afternoon and she brought her adorable doggy Blossom.  As many of you may know Joie loves dogs, but she was a little too excited to play with Blossom.  This was Joie and Blossom after they had been playing for about an hour.  The squealing was much more intense about 30 minutes prior to this video.  Don't worry, Blossom wasn't hurt, I think she was having as much fun as Joie was. 

Family Vacation!

Well sorry that we have been MIA the past couple of weeks.  We were out of town having WAY too much fun to blog.

We started the trip off by staying just one night in Las Vegas with my parents and my brother Ben and sister Tali.  They were they on a house hunting trip because they are moving there next month and we are SO excited!  Joie is OBSESSED with Aunt Tali and would copy everything she did for hours...it was too cute!

We went from Las Vegas to my grandparents house on the colorado river.  It is right on the border of California and Arizona and it was SO hot but the water was cool and refreshing and AMAZING.

Andrew left from the river to go back to Provo because he had school and work so I went back to my grandparent other house in Irvine.  We had such a blast.  My grandparents have 6 turtles and 2 dogs so Joie was in heaven and my cousin Ashley is living with my grandparents this summer and she is one of my best friends so we had SO much fun!!

We had so much fun in Irvine...Joie was so excited to ride the Carousel, she basically begged me.  So we got on and as soon as I tried to put her on the horse she freaked out.

So we just rode on the little bench instead...she still thought it was pretty fun.

Joie was quite terrified of the turtles for the first few days but she warmed up to them and asked to play with them pretty much all the time for the last few days we were there.

Joie was having a lot of fun playing with Grandpa and the dogs Sophie and Tyson.  Every time she found herself in the kitchen without supervision she would go to the pantry and get doggy treats so she could hand feed the dogs...it was pretty cute and sneaky!

We had a very fun trip but we are VERY excited to be home!!

Meet my friend Sarah!

Alright guys listen up, I have a friend named Sarah and she is BEYOND talented! She can literally take any piece of clothing and alter it to be ADORABLE!  She is auditioning for "Oprah's search for the next TV star" and you guys have to check HER out!  Watch her video and vote for her because she is so amazing!  Make sure you watch her video before you vote because you seriously wont be disappointed!

Ahhh...Summertime!

Oh how I love summertime.  We have just been having so much fun enjoying the warmth!  For some reason during the summer I just spend more time thinking about all of my many blessings.  I'm so grateful for all the beauty of the earth; how the sun feels on my skin, how the beautiful green grass feels between my toes, and even how beautiful the chirping birds sound at 5 in the morning.  I love to just sit at the park and watch all of the beautiful children play (including my own of course) and see how carefree and happy they are.  No offense to all you winter lovers out there, but I'm pretty sure you never see children that happy during the cold months!

Enjoying some time with daddy!

Fun day at the splash park!

Cheetos

Cheetos happen to be Grandma Nancy's favorite snack.  They are found in her house at all times (as many of you know).  Obviously she has passed this on to her grandchildren.

This is Joie and her cousin Summer. Last weekend we were at a basketball tournament for most of a saturday and of course cheetos were there as a snack.  We realized Joie and Summer had stopped playing and were being very quite.  We turned around and found that they had each found a bag of cheetos and had found a quite place to enjoy them for about a half an hour.  Grandma was so proud!

Pictures with my baby

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this, but I feel like since I have had Joie I am always the one behind the camera and I have only been in a handful of pictures in the past couple of years.  Now, this doesn't really bother me because I don't really enjoy being in pictures that much, but it did make me sad that I have almost no pictures of me with my baby girl.  So over my birthday this weekend I made Andrew take a few pictures of me and my Joie.  I may be the least photogenic person on earth and these pictures make me cringe but every mommy needs pictures with her babies!


We all went to Dippidee, my favorite cupcake place, for my birthday.  It was so fun and Yummy

Bubbles and sacrifices

I have been feeling a little under the weather all week so this afternoon Joie and I went out to run some errands.  I had a list of things I needed and a small list of things I would like if I came across a good deal.  We spend a couple hours out and about and Joie was getting a little antsy but she was still being a good girl.  Our last stop before we went home was TJ Max.  I normally don't shop much at TJ but once in a while they will have a cute pair of shoes for a good price or cute home decor...its just very hit or miss.  I had found some new sheets there that I really liked and I decided to get them because 1. they were a really high thread count and felt amazing and 2. they were a really good deal.  I put them in the cart and continued to browse a bit.  We walked by the toy section and I saw a cute little spill proof bubble container and I picked it up to look at it and see how much it was.  As soon as I picked it up Joie went crazy yelling "BUBBLES BUBBLES".  The Bubbles were only 5 dollars (quite a bit less than my sheets might I add) but I'm still on a budget and really didn't want to buy both.  As I stood there watching my daughter clutch to those bubbles like she had just struck gold I knew I couldn't say no.  So, grudgingly, I put back my sheets, paid for the bubbles, and left.  At first I was regretting my decision because Joie cried the entire way home.  She wanted to blow bubbles in the car and I would not allow that.  We arrived at home, I brought everything from the car into the house, and finally sat down and opened Joie's bubbles for her.  As I sat there and watched my daughter on cloud nine because of a little 5 dollar bucket of bubbles I knew that watching her smile like that would bring me more happiness than any sheets...or anything else I could buy for that matter.  Sometimes motherhood is really hard and really trying but its small moments like these that I realize that every sacrifice I make to make my daughter happier or to give her a better life ends up making me happier as well. Sometimes its something small like letting her buy what she wants instead of me buying what I want, but sometimes its something bigger like sacrificing having a career so I can raise her.  Whatever the sacrifice, big or small, if it will bring a smile to that girls face and make her giggle than it was completely worth it.