Sunday, August 26, 2018

Weekly Update August 19-26 2018

Jocy was here until Monday night and we always get so sad when she leaves! On Monday, I walked in the front door and Harris said, "Jocy!!" and then later in the day when Sydney walked in, Harris said, "Jocy!!" again. My kids love her! I went to talk to my doctor on Monday about my hormones and she is very smart. My estrogen and progesterone are super low, and my DHEA which helps with immune system and energy is also super low so she has my taking vitamins and also a different thyroid medication. I'm excited to start feeling better! I need all the energy I can get.

On Wednesday, the babies started their music class! They were super excited to go, but it was a little overwhelming for them because the teacher is super loud and there was a LOT going on! They wanted to sit on my lap for a little bit, but they liked to stop out of their comfort zone and use the sticks to drum on the floor and shake their eggs that made noise. I'm excited to see them grow and learn. Goldie especially loves to sing and loves music. Just tonight she was singing after her bath, "Happy birthday to Goldie...and Harris!" Harris is more of the artist and loves to spend some time coloring and drawing. He's more detailed when he draws and it's so cute. They are both SO much fun! We just got a fence and for the first time, I sent them in the back yard to play by themselves while I made lunch. They played on their water table and it was so cute to see them talking to each other and showing each other things. They are the best buddies. I love that they have so much fun together! We are working on sharing, and they are so proud of themselves when they choose the right thing.

I took the babies to Discovery Park down the road for a few hours on Tuesday morning this week and they loved it. I just love my little people! They have no fear sliding down the slides and loving every minute of it. Goldie likes to say "hi" to other adults and kids. Harris said, "Come on, Goldie!" several times when he wanted her to come follow him.

It was a busy week for me work-wise! I went to breakfast with my RewardStyle account manager on Thursday morning in SLC while Tyler took the kids to Carol's on the way to work. My friend Mary's birthday was on Friday and Tyler and I went to her house for dinner. They had Cupbop, and my friend Megan who owns Sweet Tooth Fairy did an amazing job on yet another delicious cake. I was looking forward to her new cookies the WHOLE WEEK. Ba ha ha it's the little things. Tyler is the best husband on the planet of earth and I love that he didn't even know who would be at this party, and he didn't care. He was up for it! He is so much fun and loves socializing with people. I can't even begin to describe how lucky I am that I choose him to be mine forever. On Saturday night, I invited my friend Janssen and her husband to my other friend Jordan's influencer network event and it was awesome! We had never hung out with Bart before, and he was super cool and since they just moved here, I think they will be good friends of ours.

We sat in the very back at church today and H and G kept escaping because we had no way to keep them close to us. At one point, we lost them in the front and had to leave the back door and come in the side door to get them. Ha! We are not distracting to others at all at church ;)

Today we went over to Tyler's parent's house for dinner. They just moved in and there are lots of things that need to be done still but the house is beautiful! Harris and Goldie love playing in the stream behind their house. They both fell down and got their bums wet. They sat on the side on a rock and loved kicking their feet into the water. They also really like their cousins a lot, especially Ryker because he's the closest to their age that was there tonight and it's so cute to see them play together.



Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Weekly Update August 12-19 2018

Last week was a busy, fun week! I got to fly to Cincinnati with Pampers for my second trip on the Pampers baby board. I feel so lucky to be able to work and do what I love from home. They are such a great company to work with and I love the heart and soul behind them! The trip started out crazy though because we flew 45 minutes there and then the plane had to turn around and land in SLC so we were in the plane for 2 hours without going anywhere! The engine had a big "pop" right after we took off and I guess air had gotten trapped in it but they had to turn around just in case there was an issue. Luckily, some friends of mine and other girls traveling to the event were on it with me so we scrambled and ran over to another flight to go to Minneapolis, slept for 3 hours in a hotel there, then flew the Cincinnati the next morning at 7 am. We were super tired but so glad that we were able to make it and not miss the whole thing! That night we went to a Red's game and the city was really cool. I wish we had more time to explore!

Our flight back to SLC went super smoothly (woo!!), and I was really, really glad to be back with my babies when I got home. I miss them so much when I'm gone and being their mom seems like an even bigger treat when I am home. They are the best things and worth every second of trial that it took to get them here. We had a fun day on Friday, then picked up Jocelyn at the airport on Friday night. I LOVE when she's in town. We came home, grilled on the Traeger then went to bed. The next morning, she had a hair appt so I went on a bike ride and got ready and played with H & G, then all of us sisters and my mom went to lunch at the Ridge on the mountain between my house and Draper. It was delicious and such a pretty day! We then went to Gardner Village and had a blast browsing through the stories and laughing. Jocelyn is hilarious and I always laugh the most when I'm around her. That night we got takeout Cafe Rio and watched Only the Brave. My grandpa came over for dinner, too! We actually waiting in line at R&R and got to the front and they were out of everything we wanted lol so I took the babies home to get ready for bed and THEY got takeout for us.

We went to church the next morning and Harris ran all the way up to the stage and I had to go get him. Harris and Goldie like to escape out of the pews. I didn't realize Goldie was following me, so I walked out the side door and our neighbor boy went to get her and I walked back in through the back door and we just heard Goldie screaming because she was scared! I didn't know they had followed us out. So...once again we were the loudest at church. Ha! I got these new pads for the babies to paint with where they have water in them and the water changes the colors on the page. After it dries, you can do it all over again. They both loved it, but especially Harris! He did it for 45 minutes straight. Goldie looked over to him 3 separate times and said, "Good job coloring, Harris!" She talks SO well and it blows my mind. When I got home from my trip, she looked at the humidifier I had going and said, "What does that do?" as plain as day. She has been saying, "What'sat?" (all one word ha ha).

The babies have loved holding hands and running back and forth really fast across the main floor after they eat their lunch. It makes me not want to put them down for their nap because they are so cute with each other!

Last night Tyler had the babies outside while I was getting dinner ready. They both had their helmets on and Harris was on his bike. Goldie told Tyler, "be right back! I'm going a on trip." She ran way over to the neighbor's with Harris on his bike. When I came out to call them in for dinner, I said, "do you want to eat your food?!" and she said, "I want to eat my food!" She came running over as fast as she could and Harris came cruising over on his bike. He rides it so fast! I love when he sticks his feet out in front of him and balances. He's so good at it! When Goldie got back, she said, "I'm back from my trip!" It's so cute because I think she was copying me from when I went on my trip last week. She is SO cute! She also says goodbye to people and says, "See you later! See you on Monday!" HA!

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Weekly Update - August 5-12 2018

It's been a good week! I got my Nexplanon birth control out of my arm a week and a half ago and felt super crappy last week (bloating, hormones going crazy) but I have felt MUCH better this week starting on about Tuesday or Wednesday. Hallelujah!! You don't really appreciate your health day to day until your health starts to South and then you're like...BUT WAIT!! I need you!!

Blanca came to clean our house on Monday which is always a happy day because everything is so clean and fresh, and the babies like to say "hola" to her which kills me. On Tuesday, we went to the library after naps, and the babies love the little school bus there. They also have iPads and they love playing the Daniel Tiger game. We went to the splash pad for about 30 minutes after that. Harris ran back and forth and back and forth in his new European style swim trunks and they KILLED ME on his little body. Oh how I love those babies.

I organized a birthday dinner at a sushi place in South Jordan called Tsunami for Oakley and had a fun girl's night there on Tuesday night. My friend Megan owns the Sweet Tooth Fairy Bakery and she made Oakleys an unreal delicious cake + has some new giant cookies that BLEW MY MIND. It's what dreams are made of. The texture of it all, thick and moist, had my craving them all week. Thanks a lot, Megan!! Ba ha ha I'm going to buy more tomorrow...

We stopped at my friend Mary's afterward and saw her new house. She is adorable and owns a company called Made by Mary that has the prettiest jewelry. She has the best pieces...her "mama" necklace and my "be bold" necklace were some parts of my struggle with infertility.

Wednesday was a call with Jake, a guy I met through infertility stuff. His wife and him started a great company where you can go online and rate your fertility doctor and find one and read others ratings. They live in San Francisco and are planning to come to Utah for an event. The community that I have now that I have gone through infertility is really cool. There are so many silver linings in hard trials.

On Thursday afternoon, I met my friend Janssen at the Orem splash pad with our kids. Our neighbor Tate came with us. Janssen was texting me earlier in the week asking if I was going to Cincinnati with Pampers next week (I am! So excited!) I met her at the last New York Pampers trip. She's LDS, has 4 girls and lived in Arizona and I just barely found out that she moved here to Provo!! So excited. She's adorable and I love hanging out with her so we met at the splash pad and caught up a bit.

Friday night was date night with Tyler, Marc and Courtney! We went to R&R BBQ, then went to the Alcatraz Escape Games. I got us in for free in exchange for an Instagram story. Blogging has been so so cool!! I also picked up the gift basket that R&R is donating for our fertility dinner. It's in one month and I'm kind of freaking out a little! I'm glad I have great girls on my team. We have 8 applicants so far. Anyway, the night was fun and the zombie escape room only had me sweating a little bit...ha! My brain just doesn't work that way. I'm no help when it comes to solving the problems...so I just gave lots of moral support.

Saturday was a get things done kind of day. I met Olivia from Freshly Picked to pick up some shoes for a blog post I'm doing for FP this week. I then went to Costco, stocked up on all of the supplies, and then came home and organized them and fed the babies lunch. I then went to the gym. I WOULD have gone on a bike ride, but there are some crazy wildfires here in the mountains and they are SO SO bad. The air quality is so bad that you can't even see across the lake. Tyler and I LOVE to go biking every single morning, and I did this week (It's the BEST kind of therapy), but I couldn't sleep very well on Friday night because my throat hurt so much from breathing all of that crap, so I had to work out in the gym on Saturday. I was really proud of myself that I went, because I wasn't really feeling like it!

After the babies woke up from their nap, we packed them up in the RZR and rode through the AF canyon and over the mountain to meet my mom and Steve in Midway for dinner at Tarahumara Mexican restaurant. It was delicious! I got fish tacos, the babies had lots of chips and dip (they absolutely loved dipping their chips in this ranch dip they there), and they had a chicken quesadilla. They were SO good and happy and easy at dinner. I love when that happens! It was a really fun night. Tyler and I got home and watched a couple episodes of Hart of Dixie then went to bed. I love it because it's about a cute lille quaint town and it makes me happy.

We had church today and Goldie says, "WHISPER" as loud as she can when I ask her to whisper. She saw Tate and said, "hi Tate! Splash pad" from across the chapel and she saw Clark, Whitney and Clayton and said hi to them multiple times too. Ha!

We are headed up to Oakley right now for dinner at my mom's house! We are having Crust Club pies, dessert pie and salad. We love heading up to "our cabin" on Sundays. Hopefully the air quality is a little bit better up there.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

July 2018

I am officially the worst blogger ever right now BUT I have been keeping my Chatbooks semi-updated and I figured I would just start with the last month and we can just try to stay updated from here on out so I'm not overwhelmed with trying to remember all the details from the last month. Life, man!! So busy. So many great things I want to accomplish. And I want to document them all.

July has been a super busy month as usual, but I was sick the entire first two weeks of it with a nasty cold so I was was pounding the cold meds and just trying to stay alive through the 4th of July. I became great friends with the Neil med sinus rinse and I couldn't taste a thing for a solid week. Fun times!! Moms should get immunity no matter what, no questions asked. We had a BBQ at Heather's and then went to the stadium of fire on the 4th of July. My mom and Steve's are saints and watched the twins that night so we could go in peace and it was WONDERFUL. We saw One Republic and they were SO SO good. Like so good. Did I mention they were good?

That weekend, we went up to my mom's house for a BBQ then to the rodeo up there. The twins were exhausted and Goldie slept absolutely horribly, so we were all zombies the next day. Jocelyn was here though and I always love when she's here. We snuck away for a snow cone and I love my sister time. We always stop and get dinner on our way home from the airport, then come home and put the twins to bed and eat it. I love our little traditions that we are building.

We left for Lake Powell on Sunday morning and the fact that we have a DVD player in our car made it a pretty easy ride. The twins are now forward facing in their car seats and since we finally figured out to make the DVD player work so I didn't have to lean back and push "play" on our phones literally every 30 seconds which made driving anywhere with the babies a total fun time ;) Lake Powell was pretty good! I think my favorite part of the whole trip was when we first got there and we switched into our bathing suits and Goldie and Harris were both jumping into the lake and giggling so hard and saying, "AGAIN! Again!!" every time they would jump in from the floating mat into the lake to their daddy. This was the first time that Goldie ever did that because up until then she was very timid in the water. She just got right in and played like it was 2nd nature!

I slept with both babies in a bedroom and Goldie, again, slept horribly (like literally woke up every hour the first time) which leads me to the conclusion that we are never going anywhere. Ever again. But that's seriously how I feel right now ;) Traveling was carefree before the babies but it's quite the task when you're running on a no sleep and you just feel in your heart of hearts that someone should actually be PAYING you to travel with kids instead of the other way around ;) There were some good moments, though. I loved when Harris and Goldie literally snuggled up with their cousins to watch Cars. Harris put his cheek on Ryker's shoulder and it was adorable.

Harris and Goldie turned TWO on the 13th!! We had just gotten home from Lake Powell and I was literally completely wiped out from the 4th of July sleeping fiasco and the Lake Powell sleeping fiasco that we just took the babies to Target for their birthday with my mom and Steve and let them pick out some toys! We will do a bigger party for them next year...and I'll try my best to not to spend the night anywhere so I actually have enough energy to do...well, anything. Grammy took the babies on dates to get some toys, too. They had a great time and they were spoiled. They are both talking SO MUCH, especially little Goldie who says the funniest things. She's hilarious. I love their interactions with each other. They are adorable and perfect and we are beyond lucky to have them.

This summer, we have gone to multiple splash pads in our area and the babies have loved it. We went to the Alpine splash pad recently and it was too big for them (too much splashing and dumping buckets, etc) so after about 30 minutes I packed up and we went to the Highland splash pad/river and they loved it. We went again yesterday after my bike ride and it happened to be Highland days which I didn't know so there was a parade and only one other family was there when we first got there and it was AMAZING. Tyler and I went to see Newsies last night, then dinner at Pei Wei. We all know how much I love me some Newsies!

I also got out for a girl's night with Trisha and Ashley on Thursday. We went to Rachel's first big warehouse sale after we had Cubby's, then we went shopping at the mall and Home Goods. We are headed up to my mom's house tonight for dinner and I'm excited. We love Gram Gram's and Pop Pop's house!

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Weekly Update

























I have gotten SO behind on updating this blog since A Slice of Style has taken off. Keeping track of our personal life is so important to me, though, so I'm going to attempt to do a weekly update!

Monday was New Year's Day, so after the babies had their bottles, we loaded up our car, picked up the new snowmobile I got Tyler (I know, right? I'm totally the best wife ever) and headed up the mountain to meet up with my mom and Steve to go snowmobiling. Harris and Goldie had never gone before. We bundled them up in their Costco snow suits, white beanies and then let them wear our goggles. Harris was in HEAVEN. He would sit on the snowmobile and wait for Tyler when he was talking to us and my mom and Steve. It didn't matter to him if it was going or not, as long as he was with his dad. It was so cute!! He is definitely the absolutely perfect son for Tyler and I can see many adventures ahead for them. Goldie was a little more stressed out by the whole thing. She did okay but we could tell that she didn't like it quite as much, especially with her goggles on.

We bummed around on the hill for a bit and then it was time for Harris and Goldie's nap, so my mom and I left just as Steve's kids were showing up. We drove back down which took about 30 minutes and I couldn't keep H and G awake. They would laugh at me when I do something funny but they wouldn't keep their eyes open which ruined their nap when we got back to the house. We played with Gram Gram and made some snacks like pigs in a blanket. It was a fun night.

It was nice to get back into our schedule this week after the holidays. We had a fun little photoshoot at the house on Wednesday for Pampers. We are going to do a post about how we named Harris and Goldie, so I printed out a couple of pictures of Harris Parcell and Grandma Emma. It's the sweetest thing! I'm working on a really big infertility fundraiser with the girls that started Bundled Blessings Fertility organization that I spoke at a few months ago. We are bringing the fundraiser to Utah and I couldn't be more excited to help more people!! We had our call on Thursday night and we are praying that we can find a good venue.

I looked forward to Tyler and I's date night all week!! It's something that is so important for our relationship and I love spending time with him and catching up. We went to dinner at an Asian restaurant called Zao Asian Cafe and it was really good; I got the Thai yellow curry dish. We saw Jumanji in the theater and shared half kettle corn and half regular popcorn. I love Tyler's lighthearted personality. He is such a fun person to be around.

Yesterday morning I went to work out at Orange Theory for an Instagram post, and then Tyler went and cleaned the church. Later in the evening we took Harris and Goldie to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thankgiving Point and they had a BLAST!! It was SO much fun to watch them walk around and discover everything. Last time we took them was in the early summer and they couldn't really walk then. It's a whole new world now! There is a section for children under 3, and there is a tiny slide. I put Goldie on my lap and slid down and she had the best belly laugh! Harris walked up the stairs and slid down it like it was no big deal. It was adorable to watch him like a big boy! Goldie walked up the stairs and slid down on her tummy. They were so cute! They slept in until 9 am this morning; I think it wore them out and we loved getting extra sleep!

Church is now at 11 am this year which is SUPER nice. It's fun because Clayton and Whitney live in our basement so they are going to start coming with us. Hopefully Harris, Goldie and Clark will entertain each other. Tyler bore his testimony today with Harris in his arms, and then I went up with Goldie. Goldie was laughing and making faces the whole time, and then tried to start talking at the same time as me into the microphone, so it was like we were having two conversations at the same time. It was a little hard to focus on my testimony if you can imagine that! She was hilarious and I'm sure people paid more attention to her than to me :)

Tonight, we took a little family walk in the cold up to the Crossley's house to borrow sugar and then made chocolate chip cookies. Harris wanted me to hold him the entire time, so I did, and I'm hoping my left arm has giant muscles after that. He is a big boy! He was so cute that I couldn't put him down though. He was such a good boy not touching anything, just observing the whole process. He loves it when I hold him so he can see me cook.

Tyler took off Harris' shirt for dinner, and then Goldie's, and they were both running around squealing and so delighted! After dinner (and after they both threw a ton if it on the floor as usual), we went up the stairs to our bedroom and just hung out for a bit. Harris and Goldie are so funny!! H wanted Tyler to pick up and toss him on the bed and he would laugh and laugh. They are so cute I can't even handle it. I love their precious little bodies and fun little personalities.

I signed Harris and Goldie up for a music class that starts in a couple weeks and I am so excited for it! They are so adorable and they absolutely LOVE music. They will start to wiggle and move when I turn on music and I love it! Goldie will even copy how I sing sometimes and she will dance when I sing.

Some funny and cute things lately:

- Harris found my sunglasses and wanted me to put them on his face. He grinned and thought he was so cool! He also loves his hat ever since Cancun and is so adorable when he wants us to put it on.
- We had a rug rolled up by our back door and it fell on the ground. Harris started balancing on it like a tight rope walking back and forth and I could tell he thought he was so cool. It was ADORABLE!
- Goldie was crying for some reason, and Harris went and got her little pink blankie and brought it to her, then handed it to her. It was SO SWEET. He is such a good brother.
- I brought Goldie up to her crib for nap time, then walked back downstairs to get Harris. I said, "okay, Harris, let's get your blankie." He walked over to his blankie that was by the highchair on the floor, picked it up, then walked back to me to be picked up and taken for his nap. He is so smart!
- When I lay Harris down for his nap or to go to bed, he will wave "bye" to me sometimes. I can't even handle how cute that little hand is waving goodbye to his mama.
- When Harris gets excited, he wiggles his head back and forth fast and giggles and it is so cute that I kind of want to wake him up right now and snuggle him. Almost. He also breathes out of his mouth loudly and fast when he's excited and it's one of my favorite sounds. It sounds like a little puppy dog and I just love that blonde headed little boy!
- I love it when I am taking them up for their nap or to go to bed at night because I will lay their blanket on my shoulder and chest and they will rest their heads on my shoulder. It is the sweetest thing to feel their sweet little bodies against mine.
- I love it when I'm upstairs doing something and I can hear Harris and Goldie absolutely squeal in delight when Tyler is playing with them. They are so in love with their dad and it makes me so happy!