Ice Cream

So we've had a bit of a busy/stressful couple of weeks to say the least. Between Dean and I's new callings, working on buying a house, volleyball season starting, and preparing for a new baby we've been a little overwhelmed. So I saw ice cream was on sale yesterday at the grocery store and thought..."Ice cream always makes everything better, right!?" Sooo I picked up a couple flavors. Tanner seemed to enjoy it more than any of us! Here's a couple pictures to prove it...

I guess I learned my lesson to pay a little more attention to him next time! ;)

Two Year Olds

I found pictures of all of us on our 2nd Birthdays. I thought it was interesting to see us all side-by-side. Usually I think Tanner's the spittin' image of me, but this makes me think he's a good mix. At least his blond hair comes from Dad!

Flowers

So I saw a tutorial for these the other day and decided to try them out. I just picked up a couple cheap polyester shirts from the Salvation Army and now I have a bunch of roses and poppies to dress up any outfit! It really is easy and cheap! You can put them on your shirt or in your hair as a clip or a head band. Super cute!

Black Roses

Some Poppies and a pregnant belly ;)

A White Rose Hair Clip

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

Today is this beautiful lady's birthday...
I'm lucky enough to call her Mom. I couldn't have asked for a better mother, confidant, and friend. She's always there for me when I need her and constantly concerned for all of us. She'd do just about anything to make sure we're all happy. She's the best example of faith and strength and I hope someday to be more like her.

She's also the best Grandma a kid could ask for, and loves her grand-kids like crazy! And they sure love her too!

Despite being far away we're thinking about you today! Hope you get a chance to celebrate and know how much we love you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM and GRANDMA!

Plate Tray

So I've seen these all over the place and have been meaning to try my hand at some. I figured Tanner's birthday was a good excuse to hurry and get them done. They worked perfect for his cupcakes. I just picked up a couple plates (a green one and a glass one) at the dollar store and a bowl and candle holder to match for the stands. SUPER CHEAP! I used E600 craft glue to put them together. And wallah! Two cake stands/trays for about 5 bucks. I must confess I had Dean do the gluing because...
A) it has warnings about fumes, etc. and he's paranoid about letting me be around that kind of stuff right now when I'm pregnant
and
B) I was busy getting everything else done for Tanner's b-day at the time, but it's not hard so you can totally do it yourself!

If you make them neutral or to match your kitchen you can keep them out with fruit on them, or just pull them out for special occasions.

Green plate (everything in my house is green!) with an upside-down bowl for the stand

Glass plate with a glass candle holder stand

Worked great for Tanner's birthday cupcakes!

He's TWO!

It's official, Tanner is now a big two-year old. We celebrated for days and he had one GREAT birthday this year. First of all Dean's grandparents were leaving town on Wednesday so we started Tuesday night with the birthday celebrations so they would be here. Then on a whim my Dad and little brother Jake decided to drive out here to visit/help Dean with all the snow removal insanity so they got here in time to help celebrate as well. Tanner's going to think that everyday is his birthday before this is all over! He made a big haul and got a "Clipo" set, a bunch of train stuff to add to his train set, a Snowman/Santa Movie (which he's already watched twice!) and a gingerbread cookie decorating set, a notepad and some rainbow pens, a bunch of new books, some bubble bath, glow sticks, the movie "UP", and last but not least and new bicycle! In fact, after opening his presents we debated even giving him the bike because he had more than enough already! He's one lucky boy to have so many people who love him. Thanks everyone! We celebrated with a monkey theme. He had a monkey cake, and a monkey birthday shirt, monkey cupcake toppers, and a monkey birthday door. He's our little monkey! He's growing up WAY too fast, but he sure is a smart, fun, handsome little dude and we're so glad he's part of our family. Happy Birthday Tanner! We love you! And here's the promised pictures (especially for his Grandma Hilton who's pretty jealous to have missed all of this especially when Grandpa and Jake were here!)...

Tanner on the 7ft mountain of snow outside our house. He and I played in the snow while Dad, Grandpa and Uncle Jake were gone shoveling on his birthday. This kid is a snow addict. He LOVES it!

Uncle Jake and Grandpa with Tanner and his new bicycle

Dad and Tanner with his bike

Celebrating with Grandma Nelson and Great Grandma Furin

And Pap Pap, Grandpa Nelson and Janna

The Monkey Cake

Birthday cake and ice cream with Grandpa Hilton and Uncle Jake

Mom, Tanner and his monkey cake

Opening presents

Dad, Tanner and the birthday door

Mom and Tanner and the birthday door

Opening Grandma and Grandpa Hilton's present (mostly for Grandma Hilton to see)

Birthday Cake

The Bicycle

My Birthday

So my birthday was Saturday and it turned out to be a little different than I expected. Friday night at about 8:30pm the power went out (which also means no water) due to the massive snow storm. We all camped out in the living room for the night to stay warm. Tanner thought it was the coolest thing ever. Luckily the power came on about 12 hours later on Saturday morning. We ended up with a full 2 feet of snow and there was even a state of emergency declared in the area where Dean was supposed to do snow removal. After trying twice to get to the apartments (they had asked that only emergency vehicles be on the roads) he finally made it and spent a good 6 hours with his Dad AND the help of a couple of tenants until after dark shoveling and didn't even get HALF done. They saw trees down on power lines with flames on them and closed roads all over the place. They were even given some vodka and grape juice from a well intentioned neighbor. Ha! Luckily they had the good sense not to drink it. Anyway, it was an adventure for them, but a bit of a bummer of a birthday for me. At about 8pm Tanner and I decided to go ahead and have a bowl of cereal for dinner cause it didn't look like any birthday dinner was coming my way. Don't worry though, Dean did his best to make me feel special and I'm so grateful for his willingness to work so hard to take care of us. It will definitely be a birthday I'll remember forever. Oh and Dean ended up shoveling for 12 more hours on Sunday and had to miss Church (although we only had partial Church anyway...they dismissed early so everyone could go help people with the snow) because of all the stinking snow!

FINALLY getting to celebrate a bit (notice Tanner's in pj's...it was WAY past bedtime)

Dean made me a delicious Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake which was almost ruined when the power went out while it was baking, but miraculously it turned out fine. DELICIOUS! Thanks babe!

My "Wonder Woman" B-day card. Ha! If you look close it's my face on there...Dean's the best!

I got a 12X12 super fancy paper cutter! Just what I wanted! And of course Tanner was nice enough to help me open it!

Winter Wonderland

I don't know that these photos actually do it justice but we woke up to 19 inches of snow this morning and it's STILL COMING DOWN! We were without power all night but luckily we have a wood burning stove so by camping out in the living room we were able to stay warm. Tanner thought it was the best thing ever. He was bouncing off the walls, running around with a flashlight, jumping up and down on his mattress on the living room floor! It's also the week that Dean's taking over snow removal responsibilities for a guy in our ward who does that for a living. Ha! Just our luck. Maybe it's just mother nature's birthday gift to me. Next year I'll let her keep it!

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at what's coming up at our house...

Someone's SUPER excited about his "Monkey Birthday" coming up. Last night Dean had to go to Round Table and I asked Tanner what we should do while Dad was gone and he said, "Monkey Birthday!" Ha! Wait a few days buddy!

Still Getting Bigger...

Just a quick belly update!

My Laundry Helper

Well I thought today I needed to post something positive about Tanner because man he's been a handful lately! The "two's" are coming on in full force! BUT he's also a very nice, helpful boy when he wants to be. One thing he's mastered is the laundry. It's his favorite thing to help with and he seriously is a BIG help. He wants to push the baskets all by himself (even though they weigh as much as he does!) and he puts the clothes into the washer and dryer for me. He even knows what buttons to push to start them both. I snapped a few pictures the other day when he was helping out...

Ok so technically he's not doing laundry in this one, but it was the same day and he's cute!