A Month of Love!

I learned a powerful lesson this Valentine's Day and now I am feeling like a relationship pro after only 6 years (which I am sure to look back at laughing in years to come...kind of like when you think you aren't a newly wed anymore on your first anniversary, so not true!)

Valentine's Day is usually just not very good. It usually consists of me trying to make dumb little mushy meaningful crafts for Dave which I find under the bed months later, and him being so stressed about doing something for me that he ends up doing nothing and then me thinking he just doesn't care when really he did care, but it just didn't work out. Sound familiar?

This year I had the best Valentine's Day ever and it's not because Dave surprised me with a trip to Paris, although I would be okay with it if he wants to use that idea sometime in the future. It is kind of cheezy and you have heard it your whole life, but serving others is really what makes you happy. It was a very busy day. We had to get treats and crafts ready for Lucy's valentine exchange party, and then played at the park with friends and read valentine's books to the kids. Next me and Lucy made a Valentine for Daddy as well as Lucy's friend Marcus, and a make believe Valentine to her crush Oliver from the play we were in last November (she hasn't seen him since November and yet she still talks about how she is going to marry him). Then we made the pink pizza dough and frosted the treats. I squeezed a quick photo shoot in of the kids. We visited Marcus with Lucy's valentine and then picked up Dave and made pink heart shaped pizza. We had a short Family Home Evening about loving your neighbor, delivered treats to all the neighbors and then finished with a heart hunt. Lucy found hearts all around the house until she found her valentine including nail polish, body glitter and princess gloves. Well then I made a little heart hunt for Dave and I can't tell you what his Valentine present was.

I was sooooo tired by the end of the day and yet soooooo happy. I contemplated why it was such a good valentine's day and realized I was so busy thinking of all the things I was going to do for Lucy and Dave, and the party and the neighbors that I never thought about what anyone was going to do for me. And that is the formula for happiness!!!! If you aren't concerned with what you are getting you will be so much happier. This sounds like a Christmas moral, but it hit me on Valentine's Day this year. I didn't even realize until the next day that I really hadn't gotten anything and it was so refreshing to not be expecting anything. I realized all these years (the whole 6 we have been married!!!)I have been wishing for Dave to be superman on Valentine's Day and that is not what it is about. It is about how you can show your love for others.

I feel like, duh! I mean theoretically I have always known that you should serve other people and be selfless and then you will be happy, but I guess I never actually internalized it.

Love really is a verb. It is something you do and then you feel. The more I find myself waking up thinking, "what can I do for Dave today?", the more I feel like he is the most amazing husband ever. Anytime, I have been upset with Dave it was because I was thinking of things he wasn't doing for me and I hadn't given any thought to his needs. I sure Love this adventure of Love. My favorite moments in life are when you feel like you really grow and have a whole new awareness in life. That is the whole purpose of this life right? To learn and grow and be able to Love more fully.





I caught some of the cuteness and love on camera!

Photo Shoot:






Valentine Party at the Park:


Lucy's Valentine from Marcus

Levi found his Valentine!
Lucy and her friend Emma at the party

They are so full of personality. I love it!


Lucy's hunky Valentine, Marcus!

Lucy helping me make the pizza dough.


The pizza turned out pretty cute!


Lucy wearing all of her valentine gifts the next morning. Notice the body glitter and princess gloves!

Anyway I hope your month and I guess your entire life are completely and totally full of LOVE!!!

The Latest Photo Shoot

Here are our latest happenings!

Do you think Levi could pass for a baby girl? Poor Levi, this is what Lucy and I do when Dave isn't home to protect the little guy. Seriously though, he is all boy. I don't think a bow could fool anyone!



Lucy is always begging to hold Levi and then wants a picture. Well, this one turned out cute, so I shared.



Levi is chillin' at Legoland in this picture, while Lucy is playing. He sure loves outings!


Here is Lucy getting ready for gymnastics, striking a pose. She sure loves her class!


We curled her hair for church, because the time was pushed back and we thought we had lots of time, but she has a lot of hair so we were still a little late. But boy did she look cute! (I promised Dave I would never be late again because I was doing Lucy's hair!)


And Levi got a new photo shoot... he didn't mind because he got to be naked half of the time.


Oh, nothing like little baby exploring pictures!



Naked Baby!

Levi is getting to be quite the rolly polly and can even do a few in a row to get what he wants! Look Out Mom! He loves to stand and dances if we turn the music on. His favorite activity is lying on the boppy while playing the toy piano. He is sleeping better these days and so that is why there is a blog post! Hooray!!! Don't get your hopes up too high...I said "better." It is all relative!

Sunday Morning

Sunday morning I decided to sleep in with Levi and rest one more week before getting back in the full swing of things. After I couldn't sleep any longer, I did a photo shoot (What did you expect me to do in my free time?)



Lucy was really happy to see me and Levi when she got home from church. She wanted to snuggle Levi. Oh, precious.

Oh, I just love little feet...


Gotta love that little man!

3 Year Old Photo Shoot

Sometimes Lucy just likes to wear dresses. Wednesday was one of those days where she just woke up ready to dress up. We were going to the doctor's, but I let her wear a church dress. Then she found this hat in the car and was wearing it, that happened to match perfectly. Then while at the doctor's she started asking if we could go to the beach (which is right by the doctor's, and we quite frequently go after appointments). Well, one thing led to another and the stars aligned for a photo shoot and it just happened to be 3 days before her birthday, so here is her 3 year old photo shoot!








I'll give a little Lucy update as well. After the photo shoot I put Lucy's bathing suit on. She is so brave these days. She runs out in the water, even though it is cold and takes the waves head on. One completely knocked her over and she tumbled with the wave. I started running to rescue her, but she popped up on her own with a smile on her face and said "Mama I swimmed!" It scares me to death, but I am also love how brave she is!

Her latest thing is to go up to new kids at the park or beach and ask "Do you want to be my friend?" or "Do you want to play with me." Her overfriendliness catches many kids off guard. I would say over half of them say "No" and run away. Then she comes and tells me "Mommy, they didn't want to play with me." I have tried to explain that some kids are shy, but it still makes her sad, until she can find someone else to play with. If someone does say "Yes" she is absolutely ecstatic and follows them around the rest of the time.

Lucy loves to sing. She has the words memorized to many songs, including at least a whole verse of "Part of Your World" and "A Whole New World"

Lucy is very excited for her little brother. She talks about him like he is already here. It annoys her when people talk about it in future tense. For example "Are you excited you are going to be an older sister?" she responds "I am an older sister." or "Are you excited you are going to have a baby brother?" same response "I have a baby brother." She says it with a tone expressing that these people are dumb for not knowing. She keeps asking me if I have toys in my tummy for the baby to play with. I told her he doesn't and she seems really worried that he is bored in there. She keeps saying, "I will play with him" and poking my tummy.

On her Birthday, September 4, she told me "The baby wants to come now." I explained that if he came she would have to share her Birthday. She answered "I don't think that sounds good."

Lately here is how Lucy's prayers sound " Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you we can sleep well. Thank you we can be safe. Thank you if we have a storm in our heart. Thank you we have peace in our heart. Jesus Christ Amen" We talked about having a storm in your heart and how Jesus could help you have peace for family home evening a few weeks ago and now she always talks about it. She also wants her stuffed animals to pray on different nights. She folds their arms and helps them pray. It's sweet.

She loves to braid my hair. She just takes 2 pieces and twists them around, but I love it.

I wish I could capture everything about her and never forget it. She is growing up much too fast! She reminds me every day how wonderful life is!

Ode to October: Post 3

October 3

My Mom, Dad and I went to the Saturday afternoon session of conference. My Dad had never been to conference before, so it was a treat to bring him!

Dave watched Lucy outside the conference center. He said an Ensign Photographer took lots of pictures of them. I just checked the November Ensign and they didn't appear to have made. That's okay, someday we will be in the Ensign.

I did a little SLC Temple Photo Shoot and shared posted a few of the many pictures I shot. I love pretending I am a professional photographer. I can hardly wait 'til I have a state of the art camera and actually know how to use it! Anyway, if you want to praise my photography skills in the comments section, I will be your best friend! (Flashback to elementary school!)

After conference we went out to dinner in honor of my birthday, at The Mayan (my favorite restaurant in Utah). I think I will post the pictures and a little blurb in a separate post, since this one is already getting long. I had to work hard to get my Dad to come, it's a funny story, so stay tuned!

Here's the goods!



Lucy and Momo. I think they both have the same cute cheeks.

Yay for Conference!

Happy Halloween!!!!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!! The color orange, black cats, playing dress up... ahhhhh my mouth is already watering! I guess that is kind of weird since I hate hate hate being scared. I don't even watch scary movies and I totally freaked out in this mildy scary Haunted House we went to. I still love it. We usually have a Halloween Party (murder mystery are my fave!), but since we just got to California last week (Yes, we moved back sooner than anticipated: Dave found out that he could still get in state tuition for his SUU Graduate program even in California, and Utah was starting to get cold!) and I have been sick (just a little cold, not the dreaded swine flu for those of you who were worrying about talking to me at church tomorrow)this week, we didn't pull one off this year, or last year since we were in Korea (whoa I can't believe that was a whole year ago, time is flying!). Our tradition is falling apart after 3 solid years! That makes me sad. Oh well, I will just have to throw the best one ever next year and enjoy our first year taking Lucy trick or treating!! I love how she says "Trick or Treat." I am not as crazy about her candy obsession. What mixed messages we send our kids huh? Be cute, dress up, say "Trick or Treat" okay now "Thank you," but don't eat the candy! Kids must be pretty confused if you ask me!

Just wanted to mention a random occurence before I get to the sweet Halloween pics. We went to the beach today (and I think I should just rub in that the weather was perfect, don't be jeolous, just come visit me and feel lucky you know someone who lives here!) I got stung by a bee, which was unpleasant obviously. I stepped on it and found the bee stuck to my foot with the stinger inside my foot. Usually the bee flys away... odd, oh well. It hurt a little, but not really as much as I remember from being a child. I went and stood in the cool, salty ocean water and I seriously couldn't even feel a twinge of pain after only 10 minutes. SWEET! or should I say salty? I was so glad our beach day wasn't ruined! Yay.

Okay, what I really wanted to say about the beach was, people brought sleds and all the children were sledding down the sand mountains. That made me happy, because I was sad I had to leave Utah before taking Lucy sledding. Guess I didn't miss much. I thought you would enjoy this funny So Cal Sledding picture from Halloween Morning:


Isn't that one of the most awesome pictures you have ever seen? So funny, yet cool!

Anyway, here is the goods, the fall photo shoot back in Utah where leaves fall and things change colors, plus a very scary Lucy and Lucy as Belle for Halloween!


Is this not Halloween Worthy?


Scary!!!

Fall Photos. This is the first time I have ever braided her hair. I am no pro, but it is still pretty cute (of course Lucy has a way of doing that to anything she is involved in).


As Lucy would say "Heaby, berry Heaby"



I stopped getting genuine smiles out of her so I asked her if she could do a mad face. It turned out much cuter than her smiles at the time!!


Throwing Leaves
No toy can compare with a big pile of leaves! The neighbor kids actually raked them all up for us, just so they could play in our leaf piles. None of them had big trees in their yards! Good deal for us!


Lucy and one of her best friends from the neighborhood, Taylor. She used to come over and play with her all the time. The picture turned out very darling. Lucy sure misses her and so do I!


Lucy on her way to the "Trunk or Treat" church Halloween activity. She looks like and opera singer! She is really just blowing a kiss!


Her Nana Lisa got her this Belle costume for Halloween from Disneyland. So Spoiled! You can tell it is high quality as well as gorgeous on her. Thank you Thank you Thank you! Lucy loves it! Anyone who knows Lucy knows she is very very Belle obsessed. She couldn't be more thrilled to look like her!

Anyway, I hope you truly enjoy your Halloween! I would love to hear comments about your Halloween traditions. I am always trying to add on to the festivities!