Lovin My Life As A Mommy And Wife

Happy Valentines Day

2012-02-14T12:25:00.001-08:00

From this little cheese ball -

Double Trouble

2012-02-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

(click to enlarge)

slacker

2012-01-23T10:36:00.000-08:00

obviously ive been slacking on the blog when im usually really good at keeping it updated.

Toms in school full swing and is going to start coaching freshman baseball - basically we'll never see him.

Dulany is getting over the chicken pox... after having the hand foot mouth virus... awesome. Its been ridiculous.

and then theres me. who's dreading all this rain.

LUCKILY - Bonnie, Jason, Adam and Niccole are in town!! so hopefully ill have more to update you all on soon.

for your viewing pleasure i made D take a picture so this isnt such a boring post -

Snow Day!

2012-01-15T12:33:00.000-08:00

more like hour - but thats ok. a few hours of snow on the ground is better than nothing.

Luckily we went out early and got to play before it melted.

Christmas Recap

2011-12-30T12:10:00.001-08:00

this year for Christmas (eve) we had our own little family dinner (as in with tom's parents and siblings) instead of ALL the cousins/uncles/aunts/grandma and grandpa (since grandma is still recovering from back surgery). We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, veggie/cracker trays and i made these AMAZING bacon wrapped green beans. They were a big hit at thanksgiving and christmas dinner so now i think that will be the side dish im assigned to make for the rest of my life!

the family at dinner - and miss Ayla LOVED her mashed potatoes! this pic cracks me up

After dinner we decided to unwrap presents that night on christmas eve since the whole family was there and we werent sure if everyone would be together after church on sunday for actual christmas. So we unwrapped presents from the family at grandma and grandpas and Dulany got a lot of fun stuff including a new pillow pet ( a cute elephant she calls ellie the elephant replacing the flat old pig pillow pet she has), a princess castle she can color from her aunt julie. a few books from Aunt bonnie and a few other things. The best thing was matching wooden rocking chairs grandma got for both D and cousin Ayla - they are awesome!

Then grandma and D started to make chrismtas cookies for Santa (and carrots for rudolph) - this lasted for 3 days in a row. she didnt get that christmas was over.

we had such a fun night that night and stayed and hung out. Then decided we better get D home to go to bed so Santa could come to our house. Despite going to sleep around 9 D woke up wide awake at 5 (right after tom got up)... i dont know if she knew or what?! Anywho, she came down and saw presents and got really excited (see videos in before post) and i sadly didnt get any pictures...

she did get lots of puzzles, movies and books from gramps and gram (my parents) and 2 stockings! from us she got a little chalkboard/dry erase board which she's obsessed with, books, and the simba and nemo.

overall it was a pretty great christmas!! i did miss my family though. earlier this month marks a year since ive seen them but thank goodness for skype!!

Hope everyone was able to have a very merry Christmas.

now its time to figure out what to do for New Years!

Christmas Videos

2011-12-27T21:29:00.001-08:00

Here are 2 videos from christmas morning.
the first one is just of D opening a present or 2. nothing TOO exciting.
the next one is one of her with her new simba stuffed animal... she loooves simba. So much that she gives him a special kiss, silly girl!\

im going to work on getting pictures up of opening presents on christmas eve with the family tomorrow so stay tuned.

zaboo and elmo

2011-12-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

here are a few videos of D from the past few weeks.

this first one is reading an interactive book "there is another monster at the end of this book" on the ipad - D LOVES it and can do it all by herself. So nice. For the first few times she would laugh and laugh and laugh. it was hilarious.

This next one is her watching Zoboomafoo. she loooves zaboo. She loves all the animals and singing along to the song. its pretty funny watching her trying to say zomboomafo.

Miss Ayla Rose

2011-12-19T12:56:00.001-08:00

Kaylee asked me to take some pictures of Miss Ayla for Christmas. This girl is too photogenic! she is too cute. here are a few of my favs (all of them can be seen on my facebook)

Christmas Cookies!

2011-12-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

so the other night we baked cookies! YEUM. Dulany loves to watch and help make anything so she helped this time making christmas sugar cookies. She LOVED testing the dough and the christmas cookie cutters. Then the next night (yesterday) we decided we needed to decorate them! She LOVED putting icing on the cookies but didn't get that you could eat them... she thought we were just coloring. finally she figured out how yummy they were and now all she wants are cookies. ie "dulany what do you want for lunch" - "COOKIES!"

Happy Holidays

2011-12-07T15:49:00.001-08:00

Im not sure if ill end up being able to print this off and send it to people - so i decided i might as well post it on here for everyone as an E-Christmas Card - Love the Roberts Family

ps - new (and a lot of!) pictures in a NEW POST below!

Christmas Pictures

2011-12-07T15:15:00.000-08:00

today the sun came out - for like 2 minutes. so i tried to get D ready really fast to make go snap a few pictures outside. With her virus we havent been outside in a week so i figured why not. of course, right when we go outside, the sun goes away. Lame!
so i tried to take pictures - this is what i got.

These first 2 are my favorite - but i cant decide between color and b&w -

This picture - she looks just like her daddy -

these ones i just took of her playing in the (very wet might i add) leaves.

whew..

2011-12-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

iphoto is back up and running. now i can upload pictures!

we had the missionaries over for dinner the other day. our little kitchen and dining room are ..well. little. and so i had Dulany watch a movie and eat dinner picnik style.

after eatting and realizing Dulany hadn't come in to the kitchen to say hi for a little bit, and it was quiet, we went into the living room and found her like this. haha poor girl with peanut butter on her face passed out.

anyways - i found this on pinterest and thought it was cute so D and I did this the other day. She loves it and everytime she goes into the kitchen she yells SNOWMAN!!

update on her - she has coxsackie virus - which is like the hand food mouth virus... the funny thing is.. she doesnt have any on her hands or feet or mouth.. but everywhere else! (i really hope it doesnt spread to her mouth)... she hasnt really scratched until yesterday - but not bad - so thats good. i think we might try oatmeal bath tonight sincei have some handy. Im not sure if she'll get into the water though if its "dirty".. we will see. We have to stay inside ALL the time so i think she's going a LITTLE crazy! as am i!

Message from Santa!

2011-12-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

i LOVE doing these since having Dulany. This is the first year i think she'll actually REALLY get it and want to watch it over and over.
here it is -
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gQXDQGvgdPUqQgwNnRoZ11Q

2011-11-30T13:09:00.000-08:00

oh.my.word.... im so over the computer today. iPhoto decided its not going to work with our mac because we havent updated it... well there goes that. So ive spent forever trying to upload pictures onto here. write a WHOLE long story about the move and everything else that happened in the past week...

then it said i signed out and erased the whole thing - awesome.....

so we moved. i had a birthday. we had thanksgiving. we went black friday shopping. we got a move for the ps3 as family christmas present. we had fleas. we bombed the apartment. dulany had pink bumps on her back resulting in trip to the doctors - its the chicken pox with out the blisters or symptoms - whew no bites. we went to our new ward - which means i went to relief society for the 3rd time in a year and a half - and i thoroughly enjoyed it.

1 more week till tom is out of school for christmas break. What will i do with a husband home for 4 weeks ....? anyone know of seasonal opening jobs?? haha.

oh. and if you want to see pictures - go here. I cant handle uploading them again.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.789236054394.2242829.193304858&type=1&l=a0c01854e0

Moved.

2011-11-19T18:59:00.001-08:00

we finally got everything over to our new place and we gave up keys to the old place. it took a LONG time. and it who knew it would be so much time to move just down the street? we don't have internet yet but once everything is in, and we have the internet - ill post pictures.

The Grinch with a side of singing.

2011-11-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

Dulany is now obsessed with How the Grinch Stole Christmas - and the original.... i let her watch it on youtube and now she wants to watch it 5x a day. She even started to sing along .. it was pretty cute!

on a side note, this girl LOVES to sing and she can pick up words/tunes so fast. (ie. last night in the car an Adele song was on and she knew the tune to it and tried to sing along - it was hilarious). She also sings in this deep voice and i have no idea what she's singing but she likes to get this little box and put it in the middle of the room and belt it. She was doing it in the car the other night with grandma and papa and we all had a good laugh.

Hall of Fame

2011-11-05T19:17:00.001-07:00

My dad was inducted to the first ever McLean High Schools Athletic Hall of Fame. (where he taught/coached and where i went to high school). I really wish i could've been there to see it and my family and i was super bummed that i was 3000 miles away when it happened.

Luckily a guy in my homeward back in McLean is the one who did the hall of fame and posted a video of it.

so here it is! - my dad starts at about 8Minute13sec mark.

Dulany loved watching Gramps on there and even yelled out a "WOO HOO!" when he got called up. She also go upset and wanted "more gwamps!" when the video was done.

Just wanted to post and say that im a proud daughter of my dad and wish i was there to support him!

ps. im officially homesick after seeing this.

Pizza!

2011-11-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

(seriously, they are soo cute. i love them. a lot.)

so daddy had the day off from class and work today and we went to the store and bought ingredients to make pizza for lunch. Well sure enough Dulany went and got the chair and asked to help. She loved to roll out the dough and put the sauce and cheese on and she was pretty upset when we had to put it in the oven. It was pretty cute. im glad she got to use her apron too.

ANOTHER NEW POST BELOW!

like mother like daughter

2011-11-04T13:23:00.001-07:00

So we're in the process of packing... as in ive only packed 2 boxes (not like we only have 2 weeks till we're out of here..... yikes!)

anyways yesterday i was cleaning off Dulany's knick knacks off her dresser and saw my little music jewelery box i got as a kid. I totally forgot about it and on the inside is a little ballerina and when you wind it up it plays a cute little song...I instantly knew Dulany would LOVE it. So I showed it to her and she carried it around all yesterday and got really upset when I had to put it away when she went to sleep. She was dancing to it and wanting to help the ballerina twirl which was a no no... but it was too cute.

oh and on a little side note with extra pictures. we got our bouncer back from kaylee and she knew exactly how it worked. she went and got baby, put her in the straps and turned on the music and vibrations... haha well, hopefully this means she'll be a good helper whenever we have another kid.

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Dulany lOVES halloween! more like dressing up in her ballerina costume. she asked for her costume every morning and refused to get dressed if she couldn't wear it.
She did pretty well with the trunk or treat (last year she wouldnt do it)
and then trick or treating last night she did well as long as houses didnt have too many decorations (witches and ghosts) and if they did she would back up and say "SCARRY!" and was actually really scared. it was kind of funny, but sad at the same time. Tom of course LOVED it cause that meant she would grab onto him for dear life.

here are pictures!

here are some from the trunk or treat on saturday:

and these are the ones i took before going out last night. - she just wanted to keep dancing!

Hope everyone had an amazing Halloween!!

so i have this pregnant friend...

2011-10-25T22:42:00.000-07:00

and i asked if i could take her picture...

My friend Page from my ward is pregnant with her first baby in December. I've been wanting to try out taking pictures of people actually wanting their picture taking (posing as opposed to candid shots at bridal showers/dinners, etc).... im in no way im saying im a photographer, but i think i did pretty well with her pictures! it was a little experiment as we like to call it.

here are some of my favorites and for all of the pictures - click on my facebook link https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.784903831204.2241283.193304858&type=1&l=3430ae7694

Family Update

2011-10-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

as of late:

Tom is still in school. 2 days a week (and the occasional saturday) he goes to school down at WOU and every day he goes to the high school and observes in the classroom for half the day. He has also started helping with SATs/ACTs and athletics to make some extra $... he is also a happy man because it is football season. he has been getting tickets to the OSU games so he's been able to attend quite a few (including the last BYU vs OSU game where i got to go as well!)

Me - um. nothing... how sad is that.

Dulany - she is getting too big! talking and talking and she keeps getting taller it seems. Its quite sad! she loves her "baby" still but now she acts like its her actual baby (not just a comfort toy). she tucks her in to sleep, feeds her and reminds her that she loves her with "i love you baby" and lots of kisses. its cute. Maybe this will be good training for when she gets a brother or sister whenever that happens. She LOVES letters. we had the ones for the fridge but forget the fridge. she wants to play with them everywhere and she loves to name each of them. She knows them all and she's even starting to call out letters as she sees them on signs and shirts and what not. Too cute!
also - she has gone poopy on the potty 3 out of 4 days! (she did friday, saturday and today, monday) she usually goes in the morning but she didnt yesterday. im not sure if its cause we were at church and she grasped the concept that we do it on the potty now or if she just didnt have to go cause she waited to go while at grandmas house way later that night. But its pretty successful. Although, she sees the poop in the potty and it makes it "dirty or gross" and she doesnt want to sit on it for the rest of the day.... so we have to work on that.

anyways, here are just a few pictures. not a ton has been going on but she has been wanting to be in forts and things so she's been using her little "crib" as she calls her little bed thing and making forts on the couch with it. The other day she was so well hidden andi had to get some pictures.

relief!

2011-10-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

So some of you know that we've been on a waiting list for subsidized housing here in mcminnville. Basically if you're a student and dont have any income, then you have free rent.

that would help - ohhh since we've moved here but especially now. We've been on the waiting list a year to date. We were told it was a 6-8 month waiting list... well come july - we're still way behind on the list. september, still behind. I called last week and they said they were moving someone in the first week of november then there were 2 more people ahead of us.

i was pretty disappointed. I was like well, there was our hope of getting in before Christmas.

then today my phone rang, and it was the apartments and i was thinking, oh theyll just ask if we're still interested.... and they did. But then asked if we would be interested in moving in NEXT month! i was so excited i was shaking. no joke. We went in and had to reapply to get up to date information and she told us that we were applying exactly a year to the date. How funny.

i dont know how we got in so fast after we had just heard the bad news. But i am so happy and grateful!! and im really excited to get out of this apartment and have a YARD in the back. These "townhouse" apartments have a sliding back door to grass (which we havent had since being here!) and even were just remodeled on the outside and the inside!

so now we're just in the process of getting paper work done and background checks done. SO excited!! November 18th we will be in our new place (and even a new ward)!.

"ahhhh..."

2011-10-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

papa is known for taking off the grandbabies shoes. He takes them off and then says "ahhhh" and rubs their feet. Dulany learned to do it about a year ago and everytime someone would take of their shoes (or she would take off hers) she would sigh "ahhh"

Ayla was over the other day and she pulled off her sock and rubbed her foot and went "ahhhh" - it was hilarious (at least to us!) cause she learned it early!

so i got it on tape, and you in t his video you can tell Dulany and Ayla are best friends!

videos galore

2011-10-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

i finally figured out how to get the videos onto youtube.. after much trouble with blogger and youtube.. holy cow.

anyways, these are videos from the past week or so.

her current favorite song to sing is twinkle twinkle little star..

she also sang it in this video - but this seriously cracks me up cause she must be missin her Cousin E...

and she has possibly the cutest giggle. cracks me up!
this is when she was watching barney - obviously something funny was going on!

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the family headed over to the Pumpkin Patch since Julie and Alex were in town. It was the opening day and we figured it would be cold and rainy but it only sprinkled on us a little bit and it was a good cool 65 degrees... we got lucky! Tom was busy taking his LSAT test when we went and came to join us later with Aunt Sessie. We had a really good time and Dulany LOVED it. I'm annoyed cause my camera died right before she went down the BIG slide! Oh well.. i LOVE fall and this made me even more excited for halloween and carving pumpkins, etc.

oh. Dulany picked out a baby pumpkin which was actually a goard and it looked like a christmas ornament so she called it a "chrismiss punkin"... but the stem broke off after we bought it (for 50 cents) and she was heartbroken. she doesnt even like it anymore and goes around saying "it froken"... poor girl! she is obsessed with "punkins" now. its hilarious! (im wondering if she'll stick her hand in the goo this year when we carve pumpkins!)

ok ok, here are the pictures!

and we finally got a few shots of our family (This never happens, and of course, couldn't even get a normal shot! haha oh well, good enough!)

2 year check up ... 3 months late!

2011-10-01T21:13:00.001-07:00

(she stole my phone and got up on the couch and acted like she was texting or playing games! it was too funny!)

so i finally took D into the doctor 3 months late. Im not sure if i like her doctor too much... but oh well.

Anyways, she freaked out BIG time - did not want to get on the scale, did not want the doctor to get near her... everything. She took 10 minutes to even get weighed... she fought and kicked, etc. Poor girl was NOT loving this place. then again, the dr's office is in the hospital - not a very friendly place! (unlike the place where they have rooms with themes like trains and rocket ships, etc... which wont accept Dulany with her insurance.. Bah! insert - i miss rexburg for this reason, i loved her doctor)

She asked a series of questions, does she use a fork/spoon, does she jump/run...and then she asked if she knew 10 words... um... did you not just hear her? she just said "mommy, i want some juice" - i think so!

anyways. she was so exhausted fighting everything that when the doctor left for the nurse to come in to give her the flu shot - she fell asleep. and she only woke up a teeny bit to fuss because it bothered her and made her wake up... i was impressed.

and that was after the doctor said to the nurse "have fun with that" cause D was being a little difficult. (irked me quite a bit.. she didnt think that i heard her...)

anyways - she didnt get measured for height.. but she was 32 lbs, and im pretty sure she's 30 since she had big boots and a coat on.. oh well. Im excited when we can switch offices.

anywho - that was her 2 year check up - just a few months late!

she is saying a whole lot more and learning words everyday and saying sentances, she knows almost all the words to "i am a child of God" knows the whole "itsy bitsy spider" and "twinkle twinkle little star" and is repeating EVERYTHING so now i need to be very careful with words like stupid and freakin and things like that!

but seriously. she is too cute and i love her!

Pacific City, Oregon

2011-09-26T18:13:00.001-07:00

ps. well i tried uploading videos of Dulany - they wont upload on here or on youtube, so sorry!

in other news - Dulany had her first sleepover at grandma and papa's. On friday night Tom and I had a "young married couples" group get together at the beach and we were staying at a girl's beach house with other married couples. We figured this would be a great opportunity to have dulany stay away from us. This was the first time she was away from us more then a few hours. I did pretty darn well if you ask me! We had a lot of fun and so did Dulany. Thanks grandma and papa and kaylee for watching her!

When we got to th ebeach - there was SO much fog. it was insane! ive never seen fog like that in my life. We went to the HUGE dune that is there and it was SO hard to hike. oh my word. We went back the next morning to take a walk before we left and i actually could see how big it was. (the night ebfore the fog was so thick you couldnt even see 15 feet infront of you so we couldn't see how big it was)

here are some pictures!

we hiked up that!!

Model Behavior

2011-09-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we put Dulany in a new outfit. we got her these "jeggings" that look like skinny jeans but they're leggings and a new shirt (which was brown and white stripped and when she put it on she said "ohhhh i zeebra!" haha smart girl!)..

anyways i wanted to get a picture of her in this outfit because she looked 1. cute. and 2. big! when i pulled out the camera she found my winter beanie hat and put it on and started posing for me. Usually she says CHEESE but this was like... posing. it was hilarious! here is what i got..(and they are all out of order, oh well! like it matters)

Jumping pose

give a little hip

kisses for daddy!

(i tried to tell her to put her hands on her hips and this is what she did.. close enough!)

she had to grab baby and have her in the pictures

this is how it started (cheeese!)

(more jumping!)

and of course, have to get some cheek pinching in by daddy.

Miss Ballerina

2011-09-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

we got some more of Dulany's halloween costume. (i think we're going to try to sign her up for some dance class as well, therefor im willing to buy the whole shabang). We got her little skirt which she loves to wear opposed to the toole tutu.. she just wasn't having it. We gotta find shoes but she might just end up wearing whatever shoes she has for halloween. i dont want her to wear little sippers out in the dirt anyways. She LOVED it though and did not want to take it off.

this is where daddy would be proud. he wants D to play softball when she's older - well she probably will as well. she went and got her little baseball mit/baseball.
(sorry these are awful pictures. my battery was about to die and i tried to get them really quick)

10 years

2011-09-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

(i remember reading this newspaper the day after the attacks)

This is more for a personal reason than to share with others what I experienced 10 years ago today, September 11, 2001 - More for a personal account where i can look on where i was the day it happened, what we were doing 10 years later, etc.

10 years ago. I was in 8th grade at Kilmer Middle School in Vienna Virginia. I was in my 3rd period Science class. My teacher announced that a plane crashed into the twin tower. I had no idea what the twin towers were, he didnt mention that we were being attacked so nobody thought anything of it.

about 20 minutes later one of my best friends in my class (who i had all 7 classes with) got called out of the class. The lady said her dad was here to pick her up. She didn't live with her dad and rarely ever saw him. She joked saying "well i hope nobody died!" -

I moved on to math class - that is when we learned that the pentagon had been hit. The pentagon in Arlington -only one small little city was between us and the pentagon. I first thought of my friend who just got pulled out of class. I knew her mom worked at the pentagon.

Suddenly there were students being pulled out of class left and right. Many of the students were saying "their parent works at the pentagon" - i still didnt realize how big it was and that it was a terrorist attack.

I remember the teachers would be sitting in the corner with the TV faced away from us. We weren't doing any lessons. we were just to sit there. Some teachers were asking what we thought and felt but idont think we knew what was really going on since we hadnt heard anything from the tv and weren't allowed to watch (i still to this day don't know why they wouldn't let us watch, maybe it was because we were so close to the pentagon and many parents of the students worked there). Going from class to class - we saw parents lined up down the long hallway. there had to been hundreds of them coming to pick up their kids.

We got home and finally watched the news with my family - my stepmom said if anything ever happened like that again that she would make sure to come get us. (a lot of people were saying we were safer in the schools than if we were to go home... thinking back to it being a mother now, i would highly disagree!) We watched re-run afer re-run of the planes hitting the twin towers. Thats when i knew how bad it was. i remember us saying "oh, september 11... 9-1-1.

we watched re-runs and re-runs of this CNN report - http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/09/07/natpkg-911-aircheck-timeline.cnn

we weren't allowed to go to school the next day.

now its 10 years later. We've re-witnessed the events on that day. Tom and i watched the CNN broadcast that was happening live of when everything was happening. it was heart wrenching watching the news anchor not knowing what was going to happen next, or the people on the streets not knowing the towers were about to fall or another plane was about to hit. We sat there and knew what was coming and these people didn't. we talked about what we each did that day. We talked about how the country came back together to be re-united. It's kind of funny to think that while i was sitting in class while it happened just miles away, tom was still sleeping on the other side of the country.

10 years later married and have Dulany - 2 years old, no idea whats going on. I wonder what it will be like 20 years, 30 years. on the anniversary of this day. It will be interesting to be parents and grandparents who can say they lived and witnessed this time in history to their kids and grandkids when they learn about it in school and having this tragic event in their textbooks, like us with pearl harbor. We were apart of history.

I guess all in all, the message is to remember, and never forget. I hope i can have this blog for when my kids are older, sine this is my "journal" (i know, a lame excuse for not having an actual journal) i wish as a kid i had written in my journal on that exact day so i knew my exact feelings, but i guess this will do.

Hush Little Baby

2011-09-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

I went to check in on D before i went to sleep the other night and couldn't help but snatch a picture. I absolutely love how her lips are when she sleeps - just like when she was a little newborn (and i miss having her as a little itty bitty baby... she is seriously getting way too big)

(2 NEW POSTS BELOW - Check them out!)

splish splash she was takin' a bath...

2011-09-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

I was washing Dulany's hair the other night and I realized how long her hair has gotten - so i got a few shots...
* and yes, her bath IS pink - i got the little bath colored fizzies, she loves them!

(ANOTHER NEW POST BELOW!)

hair

2011-09-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

i love being able to do Dulany's hair. I love pinterest also. I found a site where this lady does all these neat things to her little girl's hair and now i have many ideas.
this one i thought was really cute cause i could get her hair in front out of her eyes and still be stylish!

thought i would share - plus she's cute, and a cheese ball!

why i love Ross

2011-08-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

- enough said!

these boots: $330

These boots: $25 and no tax. (thank you oregon, love you for that)

i rarely ever find boots that fit. saw these, had to get them.

ps. i am wearing my skinny jeans - they fit. (barely) but is a relief after thinking i gained 10 lbs.

little ballerina

2011-08-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

Dulany loves Angelina Ballerina on Sprout - and she loves twirling with her hands above her head and trying to lift one leg while being graceful. its too cute. i decided shes going to be a ballerina for halloween. We found a leotard at walmart and a tutu - (but she hates toole, so i dont think thats going to work). and so im thinking we're going to have to get one of those little skirts at walmart and then tights, and i might just skip on the shoes... shes gonna be too cute!

anyways, we put the leotard on and she loved it. she knew exactly what to do!

here are some pics.

formal dinner

2011-08-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

here are some pictures from Julie and Alex's formal dinner -

Forever Families

2011-08-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight we got to experience something pretty awesome. My sister in law Kaylee and her husband Jon went through the temple tonight for the first time. They also were able to be sealed to each other and their little girl Ayla. We are so proud of them for the decisions they made to lead up to this moment in their life...

I usually don't cry - but you couldn't help but do so. It was truly amazing.

The whole time during the session all i would look over at Tom and think about how grateful i was that we could come to the temple and have our family sealed and we could be together for all time and eternity.

I remember my dad saying that when the missionaries taught him, they talked about sealings and the fact that families can be together forever and he actually asked the missionaries if it was some big secret and how come more people didn't know about it. Its true though, it's such an amazing thing!

I just wanted to jot down these few things, since this is kind of (sort of) a journal for our family, so we could remember this day. I'm so grateful to be brought up the way i did and for finding a man who could take me to the temple... (love you hun.)

I was also reminded that I need to go to the temple more often.

New Goal : for one of our date nights, once a month, we will go to the temple. eventually, i want to be like my parents who (when they lived close enough to a temple) would go once a week for their date.

it was an awesome day. no doubt about it.

All About Ayla

2011-08-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

Today my sis in law, Kaylee asked me to take a few pictures of her cute girl so she can make Ayla's first birthday party invites.
this girl is TOO cute!! Am I right or am I right?! im right.. she is too cute.

this is by far my favorite picture - CRACKS me up!

brag post

2011-08-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

ive never been able to french braid until a few years ago when i taught myself on myself - therefor i only knew how to do an inside out braid and only on myself.

a month or so ago i tried french braids on D. it only took about a week to figure it out and now im a pro. I love doing her hair in French braids, makes her look so old! and cute of course.

im pretty impressed with myself... im not going to lie.

ps. terrible twos post below - uh oh!

terrible 2s

2011-08-04T10:43:00.001-07:00

I think they came and are still here for a visit. i hope its just a short term visit.

in the past 3 days when we venture out of the house, there is always a fit being thrown about getting into the car, being in a shopping cart, pushing the cart, getting back into the car, then not wanting to get out... its like its never ending. Even going to the park there are issues. Which is so bizzare because she's usually amazing at the park...
so today, we are taking it easy. we may stay at home and work on cleaning the apartment. I feel bad, because its been so nice out this week. and we've gone to the park every day or over to grandmas house to play. but today - i dont even want to "test the waters" of anymore fits for at least today. and yes, i am aware it will just get worse.... so i guess i should really be saying "bring it on!"
Dulany is really good in general, so I shouldn't really even complain....
i think its just that i haven't had a break in a few days and its overdue. Oh. and raging hormones. (not from pregnancy... so dont ask). Mother nature is not fun!

on the flipside - she loves taking our old camera thats not working and "taking pictures" of people saying CHEESE, so i decided to get some of her.
end result:
ok. i love her. i can't deny it.

ah hah!

2011-07-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

so going around Etsy trying to figure out how people do their alphabet photography, ive noticed they must get costum made frames or something. i dont know where they find them...

then i came across this idea - and i figured, how easy would this be?! you get 4 of these frames with clips for 99 cents, you can put as many as you need to make a last name and putting it on a shutter or something else is brilliant!
i even found this shutter on ebay for super cheap for 6 of them in different sizes. too bad its "pick up only" and theyre in NY. GRR! it wont let me put up the picture, but its this old teal shutter, kind of like this..

- it would be so cute with black and white photos.... now im all over ebay and craigslist trying to find shutters for cheap. If anyone is getting rid of some that are neat fun colors or even just wooden .. let me know.

i think im going to try it out and see how it comes out. It would be easier than trying to find a nice frame with a lot of open slots!

what do you think?!

Day 13

2011-07-27T15:11:00.001-07:00

A Letter to Someone Who Has Recently Hurt You:

um... really? no thanks.

how about a letter to someone who i love!?

Dear Husband,
I love you, I love you, I love you. Even though I may get annoyed or am short with you or act like a brat (which face it, i do sometimes. im trying to be better) thanks for loving me back.
Love, Your Wifey

Days 9-12!

2011-07-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

whoops, totally forgot about doing my "30 day blog challange." i already failed. here is some catch up.

Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days

um. ive been pretty positive about a certain situation in my life. I usually would be annoyed and frustrated (which i did a little yesterday) but in all ive had a positive outlook to it.

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

i dont do this.... so skip!

Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends

im going to post a picture of me and emily - she is coming to town today! and i am so excited to have a friend here in oregon for a few weeks! and tom - cause we're best friends and all.

(man, look how skinny we were (speaking of Tom and I) - its a little depressing...)

Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one

im pretty sure i learned about it from Bonnie (my sister in law) she has one when Tom and i were engaged, and when we were married, i made one. Its so funny cause so many people made fun of me because blogs were for people who had babies. Now people who are engaged have blogs.

Julie's Bridal Shower

2011-07-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

The Bride-To-Be

here are some of their engagement pictures - they met on their mission so the one on the left is of their missionary tags.

some of the food that was at the shower. brownie/fruit skewers were a hit -(stole that idea from a friend, thanks!)

we played a game where Julie had to take each pedal from a rose and name a reason why she loved her fiance, Alex.

we also played the game where we asked Alex questions and she had to answer them right. She got a lot of them right, but as you can see, she wanted to get them right!

Here are a few pictures of Julie opening gifts ---

and lastly - here are lovely Roberts ladies - Mom, Julie and Kaylee

trying something new.

2011-07-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

ok, as you can see im trying to make my blog a little bigger. That was a success. Now I am having trouble with my picture above not being centered... anyone have a clue?! ugh...

day 8

2011-07-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

short term goals for this month and why...

hm.

i'll simply say hoping not to get my period.

there. i said it.

day 7

2011-07-21T11:05:00.001-07:00

a picture of someone/something that has had the biggest impact on your life-->

well this is a toughy. i would say obviously my parents because they raised me to be the lady i am today..so that is a given.

so in this post, i will say my loverly husband and father of my little lady.

he's obviously made quite the impact on my life and he definitely changed it (for the better of course!) i don't know how my life would be with out him, and with out him i wouldn't have my little lady of mine. i just love her. So glad after being friends and liking each other he had the guts to tell me how he felt and everything happened the way it did! Love you tom!

Day 6

2011-07-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

favorite super hero and why:do i need a reason why? i hope not. and this is the only superhero i can think of to be honest....because of christian bale

day 5

2011-07-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

a picture of somewhere you have been:

well.... hm. the most out of the norm would probably be :

this was for our honeymoon. it was alright, id much rather go to the outer banks or myrtle beach.

Day 4

2011-07-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

A habit that i wish i didnt have:

NOT folding laundry. i have a habit of not wanting to do it right out of the dryer so i just throw it all in laundry baskets and then never get back to it and they just end up there until we wear it and then it ends up in the hamper again.

therefor.. the room is a mess and most of clothes are wrinkly.

a habit i'm definitely trying to break!

day 3

2011-07-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

Picture of you and your friends..

honestly... i dont think i have any pictures of me and friends.. good thing for facebook!
so here is a picture from my baby shower in rexburg with all my friends who i havent seen in forever! i miss all the friends we had there : (

(and is it weird this makes me miss being pregnant?)

Day 2

2011-07-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - Meaning behind the name of your blog.

Well, i was looking through buttons and what not to 'decorate' my boring blog and found one (you can see on the side) that says "lovin' my life as a mommy and wife" - and its true. so i took it (but made sure to quote it so i wasn't stealing it).

Day1

2011-07-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

15 facts:

1. i dont have many recent pictures - i hate having pictures of me taken.
2. i will be 24 this year...then i will be 25. that seems unreal.
3. i grew up 5 minutes from DC.
4. i have 4 siblings - 2 brothers, 2 sisters.
5. i have worked in 4 daycare/child care centers.
6. i MISS Northern VA/DC so much as of lately...
7. i am the only sibling/child in my family who is not on the east coast.
8. i MISSSSSS my family like crazy.
9. i currently reside outside Portland Oregon
10. i am married to Tom Roberts (April 19th 2008)
11. i am a mother - to Dulany Kay (June 16th 2009)
12. i hate our apartment... i can't wait to move out of it
13. speaking of hating our apartment, i want to buy a house so bad.
14. i can't wait till we're out of school (ok husband is out of school).
15. i am a tad baby hungry. my baby (ok big) girl is getting too big.

the 30 Day Blog Challenge

2011-07-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

I keep seeing these and figured it would be fun - so here it goes. Im going to do the 30 day blog challenge - see if i can actually do it! I think i will start tomorrow.

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

Day 02- The meaning behind your Blog name

Day 03- A picture of you and your friends

Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have

Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to

Day 06- Favorite super hero and why

Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you

Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why

Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends

Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one

Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

Day 14- A picture of you and your family

Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play

Day 16- Another picture of yourself

Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why

Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have

Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them

Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future

Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else

Day 23- Something you crave for a lot

Day 24- A letter to your parents

Day 25- What I would find in your bag

Day 26- What you think about your friends

Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned

Day 30- Your favorite song.

Slurpee? Mommy please?

2011-07-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Dulany is her mothers daughter - thats for sure. She LOVES slurpees and she knows they come from 7-11 and she knows where 7-11 is at. (down our street) SO every time we drive by - "Slurpee!? Mommy please!?"
and well. its summer. i love slurpees... so we kinda go alot. I try to get her the small sugar free slurpees. Some people might think im a bad mother for letting her have the sugar - but its summer! lets have a little fun.

here are some pictures i got of her drinking her slurpee one really hot sunny day outside while doing sidewalk chalk.

PS. NEW POST BELOW!

4th of July

2011-07-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

ok i know im like a week late. but i didn't take any pictures of the 4th of July. I did take some of the rodeo which you all saw...but on the 4th, we went to Kaylee's mother in laws house for a bbq in the afternoon. It was fun, and yummy! (i had some of the best baked beans!) and dulany loved playing in the backyard!
We then headed over to Tom's cousins house (who we had the birthday party with) and had a HUGE bbq and even lit off some fireworks. It was so fun to hang out with friends and have dulany go play with friends. I'm also grateful for tom for watching her for the first half so i could just sit and talk to girls - something that doesn't happen very often.
We decided to go over to the church house to watch the fireworks from there that they set off at the high school.
I dont mean to be debbie downer... but maybe i've been spoiled my whole life with awesome fireworks... these were good... but they didn't last very long. and we had to sit so far away so they weren't even loud.
oh well! it was fun, Dulany loved yelling out the colors but then got bored and kept sayin "come on mommy!"
here are pictures that i did get.
this was her outfit, i could only find one red shirt, blue jean shorts and so i put white ribbons in her hair.

and for your entertainment - what she was doing the other day! haha silly girl.

lost videos

2011-07-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

i realize i have like 10 videos on my video camera. i have no idea if i even posted them or not to be honest. with 2 computers i dont remember which i loaded them onto. they weren't on this computer.. so if i shared them already, just ignore them and move on.

there is one new video for sure - its of Dulany singing to Tangled. she knows a lto of the words (this is how obsessed she is).. and please excuse if you hear my singing. awful... im embarrassed but it was the only way to get her to sing to the camera. and also please excuse her crazy hair and all the laundry on the couch, that i did fold!

these are from the childrens museum when we went way back in May.

the St. Paul Rodeo

2011-07-03T16:31:00.001-07:00

this was D and I's second time going to the 4th of july st. paul rodeo. This is tom's... well i dont know... time. The roberts seem to go every year - so its tradition. Its one of the largest 4th of july rodeos in the nation. It is SO much fun. They have fair food, fair games/rides and then the rodeo with PRCA - so its the big stuff. We saw bucking horses, bulls, pig races, cow hurdling/milking, barrel racing, etc. Last year when we went, Dulany didn't want to sit and wasn't entertained (and i only brought one diaper. wasn't pretty) and we had uncomfortable seats. This year we had nice seats, Dulany was entertained the WHOLE time and i brought LOTS of diapers.

We did really bad with "being healthy" - yikes. We ate lots of fair food including cotton candy, nachos, REALLY good strawberry lemonade, italian sausage... yeah. enough said!

Dulany ate red licorice ropes, a few pretzels and a few nacho chips for dinner - horrible. i know. But towards the end she had some pizza - sad to say that was the healthiest thing. But it was only for one night and we only do it once a year - so why not!. She was a trooper and with only a 30 minute nap in the car on the way there, she stayed awake till 10:30 and fell asleep on the way home.

Here are some of my favorite pictures!

We decided to let dulany ride the pony (ayla went too, she loved it). And well... Dulany HATED it. She did NOT want to get on. But they wouldn't let us have our money back so Grandma had to walk next to the horse with her. We were a little bummed. She wouldn't even go on the fake horse on the Carousel. At least we got our tickets back for that!

ps ---- Newer post below involving ICE CREAM!

Icey Creamy

2011-07-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

the other day we went to the farmers market. I was pretty small compared to the ones I've been to back east. But there were some neat booths. We decided to walk down 3rd street (the main street here in downtown) and went to Serendipity which is an ice cream parlor. Its so cute and old fashioned. Tom and I went there for his birthday and we got THE BEST milkshake!! and i always thought this place was pretty expensive. Then the other night i was craving a milkshake so bad and we drove past a Baskin Robins - psh! nevermind. now THAT place is expensive. So anyways. we went back and sadly they didn't have mint chocolate chip - but Tom got a NWMixed berry milkshake and D got the same in a cone. It was delish. and it was gorgeous outside!

and speaking of icecream!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - GIVEAWAY! my friend - who is probably the most talented person i know when it comes to making up recipes and cooking - is giving away - An ICECREAM MAKER!! how awesome is that?? i would LOOOVE me some home made icecream!!
the contest ends tonight at midnight - but check out her site anyways cause her stuff is seriously so delish (just look at the pictures!). I mean, she was on GMA with Sandra Lee this year - that means she's really good.
here is the link -
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/97VuNu/www.laurenslatest.com/cuisinart-ice-cream-maker-giveaway/

not going to lie. i reaaaaalllly hope i win!

Dulany's Birthday Party

2011-06-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

here are pictures of Dulanys birthday party we had combined with Tom's cousins little girl (theyre 2 weeks apart). Enjoy!

Tangled Tower take 2!

2011-06-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

So today I made my second tangled tower - you know, since this one fell apart fast! i figured i would do it today to see if it can hold up. I just finished... its still standing pretty well. But im still nervous. I mean the party tomorrow isnt till 7 tomorrow night (what was i thinking doing it today? oh thats right so im not crunched for time tomorrow while getting all the other stuff ready).
lets just hope it stays in tact this time! if not, at least ill have pretty cupcakes. And... im not sure how im going to be able to drive with this for 15 minutes in the car.. i didnt even think about it till now! um....
anyways.

here are the results. Bagels this time. much more sturdy! (for now at least!)

Happy Fathers Day!

2011-06-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

"Any Man Can Be A Father, But It Takes Someone Special To Be A Daddy" -
(we had this quote hand stitched and framed in our front hallway when you walked into our house growing up I loved it. I want to try to find one just like it to put in our house.)

first to my husband and daddy of Dulany - So grateful for you and knew before we even dated that you would be an amazing father. Dulany and I LOVE you SO much!!
this is my favorite picture of daddy and his baby girl right after she was born. they're looking right at each other.

this is the most recent picture I have of them.

To my dad - who taught me everything. So grateful for him and his great example. He is definitely one of the most selfless people I know and is so giving. Love you dad/Grandpa! This is the one picture i could find of both of us (and Dulany - this is at E's baby blessing forever ago!)

and to my father in law - thank you for raising Tom to be the hard-working, family loving man he is today. Grateful to have an awesome father in law as well! (this is the only picture i could find on this computer - this was when D was 1 1/2 months old - yikes!)
Hope everyone has an amazing Fathers Day!

Happy 2nd Birthday Dulany Kay

2011-06-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

Happy 2nd Birthday to our Dulany Kay! Can you believe that she was THIS little?! i miss my little itty baby girl. But I absolutely love how much of a little lady she has become! She's getting pretty darn smart - and sometimes too smart for her own good!

i remember when she turned 1 thinking how crazy it is that i had a 1 year old. Now i have a 2 year old! that is even crazier!

Dulany @ 1 year old

Dulany @ 2 years old

Now its time for potty training, a toddler bed, and im sure a lot more tantrums/attitude! But i'll take it. I love my little girl!! So glad we were blessed to have her in our family.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY DULANY KAY ROBERTS!

at this time 2 years ago..

2011-06-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

exactly 2 years ago - i had my first what i thought were braxton hicks contractions.( No pain -just tightning.) then a few hours later.. the first real painful contractions.

Just a few more hours ---

and she will be 2 tomorrow at 11:40 a.m.!

D's family birthday party

2011-06-13T09:55:00.001-07:00

Since aunt Sessie is leaving for chicago tomorrow, and Daddy is away for the week working in washington, we decided to have a just family mini birthday party for Dulany last night. I wanted to give her a little party with decorations and since she's obsessed with tangled i figured it would be fun incorporate it.

a lot of it is really ghetto.... thank you dollar tree. here is what the whole set up looked like (minus i forgot to take a picture of the banner i had with the purple flags with the sun symbol from tangled)

Also - tom's cousin has a little girl D's age (2 weeks apart) and they were planning to do a tangled party as well and she invited me to do a joint birthday party for both the girls. Im excited cause now i can actually try to do this tower again and do a lot of the activities i wasn't able to do just for family). So that will be in 2 weeks.

here is the banner i made - (sorry these pictures are dark!)

here is the tangled tower i made - and then it fell apart... too much weight. For the next party - im going to use something more sturdy to hold up the weight uptop.

this was the beginning - while it was up straight!

then it started to get crushed from all the weight....

so i quickly put everything on the table so i could get a picture quickly! this is the finished product (although i wanted to do a yellow braid coming out of the tower down to the grass) with her cupcake and repunzal tiara
here is the tower with the cupcakes i made as well
this is where it got smushed...

close up of the flowers

the cupcake i made her (i didnt even realize i did purple/yellow until after and realized those were tangled colors!)and her repunzel tiara

she was all ready to blow out the candle ...

then we started singing - she didnt like it.

watching the movie while eating her icecream cone

we got her a kithen and aunt sessie got her play food/pots pans and aunt kaylee got her the little kitchen aid toy

and grandma got her this little table! she loves them and hasn't been able to stop playing!

Wish my family was able to be here to help celebrate! and thanks to toms family for coming and making her birthday fun!

ps. in 3 days, i will officially have a 2 year old! AHHH!

Braids, Coloring and Fun

2011-06-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

D has outgrown crayons if you can believe it. She would much rather have a pencil or pen (or if she finds one, a marker). Today she found the pen and I let her draw away with it.

She also likes to pretend to be different animals and play under the dinning room table and hide behind the chairs. (i guess like a zoo!?) Today she was screaming like a lion and then screaming back like she was scared. it was pretty funny. of course, i didnt even think to take the video camera out. I did get one picture of her running which was cute-

did i mention i love the fact i can braid her hair?! love love love (this was her afternoon snack watching barney - reason she would not look at me)

she looks too big in this pic! -

on a side note: aren't these so stinkin cute? free printables off HowDoesShe.com - (love that site) so i put this up for tom to see, if he even sees it....

ON ANOTHER NOTE------ ANother NEW post BELOW!

Poppcorn Popping..

2011-06-09T17:50:00.001-07:00

D is obsessed with popcorn. Anytime I ask her if she would like popcorn for a snack or if she's watching a movie (current obsession - tangled, i can't argue, i love it as well!) - she runs to the microwave screaming pocorn pocorn!

here are a few shots of her with her snack. I think i took these because i finally got the french braiding down and she looks too old with them in her hair (not to mention the outfit was adorable too!)

this one boggles my mind - i think she's grown a few inches as well ... what do ya think!?

these ones are her just being silly! she loves to cover her mouth when she laughs, says "oh cute!" and "ohhh siwwy! (silly)"

seriously. 1 more week = 2 years old!

Dishes

2011-06-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

Dulany loves to help do the dishes at grandma's house. I rarely actually do mine since we use the dishwasher all the time but the dishwasher was being funny this morning so I filled the sink up with a ton of soap and water and once D saw the bubbles she was reaching for the chair and wanted the chair to be next to the sink so she could help. Ok so she just likes to play, but she could be there for hours and she get crazy wet. But she has a ton of fun. I can't blame her! here is a video of her.

26

2011-06-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to my wonderful Hubs, TOM!

He turns 26 today! Wahoo!

im so lucky to have been able to spend the last 4 years of his birthday with him (he argued only 3 since ive known him in the 4 years... i had to argue back no, i even made him a cake for his 22nd birthday because i still liked him... even though we were just friends.)

Right now he's working helping his cousin and then hopefully we can play with D for awhile outside since its supposed to (FINALLY) be 85ish today. (im thinking water will be involved) and then we're going to go out for dinner to this place on 3rd street (we saw pictures from his cousin when she went there and it looks AMAZING!) and (qwama -d's been calling her that lately and papa watch D tonight). And since he doesn't want cake, i think i will go get him his favorite strawberry rhubarb pie and celebrate with his family when we're done with dinner.

I tried to convince tom to go golfing when he got home but he said maybe another day.. um WHAT?

anyways, if tom even reads this, LOVE You and hope you have a fantastic 26th birthday!!

Ukiah

2011-05-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

ok like i said in our last post. we went camping! it was a lot of fun but a bit cold. here are pictures

this is how we woke up our first morning:

this is where we stayed. our little fam strayed in the green tent. brrrr

tom and D on the four wheeler.

in the truck looking for Elk.

the morning before we left, tom's uncle had a flat and couldn't get the spare out. I thought this was pretty funny seeing all the men under the truck trying to see what they could do.

these pictures i just thought were too cute. Just hanging out in the warm trailer while it was quite cold outside.

grandma with the grandbabies that came. D was loving Ayla that day x 100. She was pinching her cheeks, giving kisses and bear hugs. it was too cute!

it was a really fun trip and im glad we got our tent! we're excited to go camping again this summer when its actually WARM!

Gone Camping

2011-05-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

we went camping this memorial day weekend like the Roberts clan always does. We take the 5th wheel and the 4 wheeler and all the family and take the 5 hours to Ukiah Oregon (on the east side). Ive been 3 out of 4 times since being married to Tom. We weren't going to go this year thinking there were too many people to stay in the trailer and we didnt want to get a tent and stay in the freezing rain. But we decided why not. It was a really fun trip.. and yes. we stayed in a tent and it snowed on us the first night. I don't believe it got over 40 degrees at night but it was fun. We've never been in a tent before as a family and D loved it saying Ohh wow tent!

i took some pictures but of course the battery is dead but is charging right now. So i will post pictures hopefully tomorrow.

ps. We missed having Bonnie, Jason, Adam and Niccole with us!! wish you guys were here!

giveaway!

2011-05-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

so my friend from back in rexburg has an AWESOME food blog. seriously. wish i had the talent she does (even saw her on GMA with sandra lee.... awesome? yes!) anywho, on her blog found HERE she is doing a give away for $100 giftcard to Toys R Us and well, that would be awesome to have! So make sure to check out her blog for delish recipes. (just take a look at her pictures and you'll drool!)

Family Pictures

2011-05-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

yesterday we did family pictures since its the first time in 3 years we've all been together. Here are just the one of our family and the whole roberts fam.
(thanks to bonnie/betsy for taking them and editing them)and letting me steal them from you.

the only way we could get D to stay still was give her a dum dum... and the wind was insane as well. But luckily we got some good ones!

silver creek falls

2011-05-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

yesterday all the siblings/families went out to lunch at olive Garden and then went to sliver creek falls national park. They have a huge waterfall you hike around and underneath. it was fun and was perfect for our 70 degree weather we had. here are a few of my fav. pictures.

Mommy Dearest.

2011-05-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

HAPPY Mothers DAY!

(this is a horrible picture... but it was the only one i could find of both of our moms. )

Just wanted to say Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there.

to my step-mom, Pam. She married my dad when i was 5. She didn't have any children but took all 4 of us kids in accepted us. I think it took me a good while to realize how hard that must've been. So this is a BIG thank you to her and all she has done for our family!

to my mother in law, mom, tom's mom - all of the above. - She is one of the most selfless, nicest people i have ever met! I was almost overwhelmed with how nice she was when i first met her. She welcomed be with open arms (ok, i think her and tom's dad wanted me to marry tom before we even started dating!) and let me be part of their family right away. Thank YOU!

and to both, I am so glad that Dulany has such great grandma's to look up to. You both are such great examples to me and my family. Love you both and hope you have a wonderful mothers day!

ps. this is what Dulany made for me in church. How cute?!
sorry its dark, but there is a picture of her face from like september in the flower and she looks so different already!

Beach Trip 2011

2011-05-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to the oregon coast (to the beach) with the whole family. This is the first time in 3 years that we have all been together. We lucked out too. We got 3 straight days of Sun and about 50-60 degree weather! There was a pool/hot tub outside (that was warm), we went and had a bon fire and saw a gorgeous sunset (my first one) and even went whale watching (where we saw 1 whale). I guess i can now say i've been on a boat in the ocean (i didnt realize ive only been in bays and lakes on a boat) Anywho i got a TON of pictures. I already put them up on facebook but here is a slide show of the pictures.

here are just a few of my favorites though:

video overload

2011-04-28T13:04:00.001-07:00

finally loaded all the videos on my camera. ENJOY! (ps. potty post below)

this first one is of the dress i got D cause she's into princesses.. well she hates it, as you can see. i know this is probably cruel, but its funny, i can't help but laugh.

here is a video of when we watched Ayla one day. She is too cute and happy. D wanted to be in the exersaucer the whole time, that stinker.

here is a video of her watching "memo" and laughing at Dori speaking whale. She is also saying "come one" twice, whcih cracks me up!

another video of her just being funny. i thought she looked extra cute so i had to post it.

and one last one. remember from the pictures of her helping me bake? heres a video! she is too funny.

Lets Do. The Potty Dance!

2011-04-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

ok. so while getting wipes for D yesterday i decided to get a potty for her and let her get used to it so we can really start potty training when she turns 2 in June. I figured oh great, she wont evne want to go near it. Tom showed it to her this morning, she came RUNNING out of the bathroom screaming MAMA TOY-LET?! and came to grab my hand to come look at it. So i stripped her down and stuck her on it. She stayed on there for a good 15 minutes. I got her up and let her go naked. She started to go on the living room carpet and i said 'lets go to the potty!' and she stopped going and sat on the toilet for a good 10 minutes before she actually peed in it! i was surprised for sure. and i know its not going to happen anytime soon because she pees a LOT during the day! and i never know when.

im curious for when she needs to go poopy. I almost always know when shes about to start pushing so we'll see today if we can get her to go on it.

good news for now is that she likes it and likes to sit on it. We tried sitting again and she sat there for a good 15 more minutes singing songs! haha. and the funny thing is she always asks for juice andbaby when sitting on it. Silly girl!

and of course, being the first time mom i am, i had to take pictures of her sitting on the pot. haha. I tried best to cover the privates. (and as im typing, she wanted to go sit on it again... with a sippy cup and baby)

the Beautiful Me

2011-04-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

i read this blog (button down below) about finding our beauty and celebrating it. So i decided to post a picture of me and write the things that i LOVE about myself that makes ME beautiful!

(ok, so its me and my hubs. but its such a sweet pic!)

i LOVE my smile. (thank you good teeth!)
i LOVE being a mom and a wife, and think im pretty good at it!
i LOVE that I get along with mostly everybody.
i LOVE that I have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.
i LOVE teaching little children (some say its my calling in life.) whether its in church or any ordinary day.
i LOVE my little feet. They are small, but they are cute!
i LOVE (ok. im TRYING to love - its my biggest insecurity) my little piggy nose. Little D got it from me and it looks adorable on her.
i LOVE the people who LOVE me for who I am!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

HappY easter!

(fair warning - i had about 100 pics... so if you want more, they're all on facebook)

This was a fun Easter because Dulany actually understood what was going as to egg hunts and easter baskets and what not. We were sad that mom and dad weren't here to help celebrate but they're on their way here with Bonnie Adam and Niccole! they will get here tonight! so excited.

anyways we started off Saturday morning with the ward easter egg hunt/games/breakfast. It was a lot of fun. D just wanted to play more than do anything organized. She did do pretty well with the easter egg hunt and got a lot of tootsie rolls.... which made a big mess. That day was also 75 degrees and sunny (and D had a CRANKY day but we did get some fun in the sun in).

here are my favorite pics from that.

then on Sunday she slept in till 9 which is amazing, and she opened her baskets from grandpa and gram (pease) and her baskets from us. She had so much fun with her princess accessories! We then hosted Easter Dinner (its weird being the oldest siblings here and taking that roll) and had Kaylee, Jon, Ayla, Leslie and Julie over. It was DELISH! It was a really nice and relaxing day! Here are pictures from that day:

her and her first chocolate bunny - lets just say she got REALLY mad when i took it away from her.

her in her easter dress and princess get up

right after her diaper change she had to test out her princess accessories!

this is her loot (minus grandpa and gram pease's basket)she was spoiled!

this was the dinner we had!! MmM. I love the ham i made, not like a regular ham, but it was good so i dont care! and i FINALLY was able to successfully make Deviled Eggs (i always broke them or tore them while peeling etc.. i always got mad. Finally mom showed me how she does it and its the only way i will boil eggs from now on!) and then twice baked potatoes which are always a hit! Leslie and julie brought the greek salad and bread and Kaylee brought a lemon marange pie and sparkling cidar. i say it was successful dinner..we were all quite stuffed afterwards!

3 years down

2011-04-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

today marks our 3rd anniversary! We're not sure how we're going to celebrate, but it wont be anything fancy..

here are pictures to reminisce on the past 3 years.

dating:
Engaged:Marriage:

and i wish we had a recent photo of us, but all we take are pictures of D. Whoops!!!

22 months

2011-04-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday. D turned 22 months old. Seriously? Where is the time going. It was just yesterday she was turning 18 months and it was a big deal! She's looking older and older every day. it doesn't help that she's learning more and more everyday. Her recent new phrase (that i LOVE) - Aww Man! its seriously the cutest thing i have ever heard. I'm not going to go on and on about her in this post because well i always do. Shes getting too big and i don't like it (although today she insisted she throw away her own diaper with out anyone helping, and by insist i mean throw a fit when daddy tried to do it, i can't complain!)

only 2 more months till her big 2nd birthday. And did i mention i am terrified of potty training!? AHHHHHH!

here are pictures of this past week (and today) of her looking like a 2 year old!

this is D in her Easter Dress/shoes. We had her wear it today cause next sunday is Stake Conference. Can't really show it off then! haha.

Finally got a good shot (ok of her!) of me and my almost 2 year old before we went to church today. I'm trying to work on getting more pictures of me and D. I just HATE taking pictures of me. its a constant reminder that i need to work out more and eat junk less!

she is obsessed with this plastic ice cream cone. its rather funny. she always asks "uh... papa? ice cream cone WHITE!" (aka lets to get a vanilla ice cream cone from papa at his house)

She always looks older when her hair is in a pony tail. It is too cute! i love it. If only it was stay all day long.this one made me laugh, she is just too cute. i love her. who wouldn't love her?!

1st Haircut

2011-04-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

D had her first haircut yesterday. Ive been wanting to cut it for awhile but was too scared to do it myself. Luckily Kaylee has a friend who cuts hair and was cutting mom's hair and we happened to come along for the ride and while we were there Kaylee's friend asked if I wanted her to cut D's hair.

i said sure, and quickly realized i came unprepared. NO CAMERA! luckily i was able to use Kaylee's. D hated it haha. She cried and we tried stuffing jelly beans in her mouth. Oh well. Afterwards when it dried (her hair was in piggy tails so she couldn't see what needed to be cut really) she saw the big gap in layers... (this is from her bald spot when she was a baby.her hair flips out and there is her shorter hair and then the longer hair underneath) so while D was playing she cut the bottom part and it looks a LOT better. Its not a drastic change cause Tom didn't even notice when he got home, but it does look better.

in other news, i FINALLY got a new straightner. My friend nicki suggested one thats the rip off of the Chi and it was on sale for 50 bucks so i got it and used it this morning and im already in love. so THANK you nicki! (tom doesn't know i got it yet.. shh! besides its really for him right? me trying to look better for my husband? haha and dont worry i'll tell him when he gets home from work).

here are pictures: (please excuse my double chin, i would like to blame it on the fact that iwas leaning back while holding D trying to talk to her, but really, its because i have a double chin and i need to lose weight!)

i

as for me and my hair (thank you new straightener, i like to think it looks like i just got out of the salon, which it does cause with old straightener, it was never this straight and smooth. Im in love.) - please excuse the flash of photobooth. maybe its a good thing you can't see my detailed face.

I WON!

2011-04-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

ok. i've never been one to enter into giveaways... but on howdoesshe.com and groopdealz there (which i have on facebook) there are always giveaways so i try to enter thinking ill never win but why not, can't hurt..

well i FINALLY won! not only did i win, i won BIG TIME!!

click HERE to see! its a $70 product. I am aware its for a baby, and i don't have a newborn. but maybe sometime in the near future (no, not pregnant) i will be able to use it!

ps. did i mention that 419 people entered to win it? YAY!

day at the beach.

2011-04-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

yesterday was another pretty day (ok sunny and only 50 degrees. ill take it!) so we decided to go to the beach and actually play on the beach.

Dulany LOVED it. she loved actually getting her feet in the water and running away from the waves. (despite it being insanely cold i can't even stick my feet in) She even threw the worlds biggest fit when we had to pick her up and drag her back to the car.

here are my favorite pics, the rest (all of them) are on facebook.

(love her face in these next two pictures)

(looking at the kite!)

(this is the worlds shortest river)

this is what she looked like while dragging her off the beach - screaming - we got lots of stares!

Smell that?

2011-04-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

smells like spring. finally.

today...

there was not one single drop of rain.

the sun was out the entire day with a few clouds.

it got up to 58 degrees.

D and I went to the park twice.

I forgot to take the camera both times because i wanted to concentrate on playing in the glorious sunshine that we have missed so dearly.

(so we stole pics from Kaylees camera the second time we went to the park)

(wearing her 99 cent high school musical sunglasses with her aunt julie)

(with daddy on the spinny thing)

(in the play house making cookies with ayla and julie)

oh and not to mention. after complaining about not wearing flip flops and capris, i was able do just that today. it was amazing. Not to mention these capri's are falling off me. So that's gotta be a good thing too right?!

lets hope and cross our fingers for more days like today.