Day 90: Personal Progress Challenge

Our Beehive class has decided to challenge each other to get some Personal Progress experiences done. We have split up into two teams and will compete for whoever can get the most done by June 1st. Each value experience is worth a point and a value project is worth 3 points. We haven't decided what the loser has to do for the winning team... but I'm sure it will be good! I bought this book to see if it could help my team get a little more motivated. Hopefully we'll win!

Day 89: Relief Society Service Auction

Tonight we had our Relief Society Birthday Party & Service Auction. I was asked to be the auctioneer and was quite nervous. I don't know how to perform the little bidding song but I tried my best. I wish I would have worn a Vanna White dress and put a "Bump-It" in my hair to make it a little more DRAMATIC!  A few funny things were said and a good time was had by all. I must have been pretty entertaining because no one got up and left in the middle of it and no one threw tomatoes at me (which doesn't mean they didn't want to but at least they didn't!) I was saving up all of my points to bid on a cake by my Visiting Teacher Shelly Taylor.. She went to culinary school and was offering a $75 celebration cake! But I was outbid by 20+ points and went home without a cake, but totally got this centerpiece! (Which I think is absolutely adorable and such a cute idea! Yes, those are rice krispy treats flowers!)

Day 88: What a happy girl you have...

When most people see Eliza they tell me what a HAPPY baby I have. Some people act like I never would have known that my baby was a happy baby until they told me... and I just smile and nod (or say thank you!) But the thing is they are TOTALLY right! Eliza is almost always smiling and always happy. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect baby!

Day 87: Stinker Face

Eliza and Savannah got their 6 and 9 month pictures taken... well Eliza did and Savannah cried the ENTIRE time! This picture was on the way home and I think it sums up how Savannah acted during her session... like a STINKER!

Day 86: Our little burrito...

enough said.

Day 85: Coupons

I don't shop with coupons. I just don't. I don't have anything against them I just don't use them. Since we have a baby now and coupons are growing on trees (like we all wish money would do) I have decided to be selective and try a few. Now I've noticed that some coupons are just a scam. Like buy two boxes of rice cereal and save $.55. Well when your kid doesn't even like rice cereal why would you buy two boxes just to save $.55 when you could not buy any and save $4.00? Exactly. There are a few that are totally worth remembering to take them out of your wallet and insert them into the checker's hand though... like $4.00 off a box of wipes and a box of diapers from Costco. Can you even IMAGINE!?!?! When it is that good of a coupon you buy twice as much as you usually would, and that gets you here....

Day 84: Bathtime is so much fun...

Eliza loves bath time. She can now sit up on her own in the bath and loves to play with the water cup. Sometimes I want to jump in the bath with her and play with all the fun stuff. Oh to be a kid again!

Day 83: Teething Toys

This activity mat has been quite a life saver at times. As most of you know I work 20 hours a week and 10 of which I work from home. Working from home is AWESOME don't get me wrong but it is so hard when your sink is full of dishes, your husband is out of clean work shirts, your bathrooms are a total mess and your adorable 6 month old wants to play (or eat!).  This mat makes it more bearable though! Eliza can play all by herself for quite a while. I love the different toys that it came with plus you can attach your own. The mirror is one of her favorite things too... I think she got that from her mom though!

Day 82: Daddy - Daughter Pic

Matt is so cute with Eliza sometimes. He loves to come at her slow with his mouth open and hands up like paws with a scary look on his face. As he approaches Eliza her mouth gets so big and giggles every once in a while. I was a little nervous about Matt in the beginning. He has always been more than wonderful with his nieces and nephews and I didn't expect anything less from him with his own daughter. Once she was home Matt didn't act the same way I thought he would. Even his mom asked me if he was okay and why he didn't want to hold her that much. As she has gotten older I'm glad his feelings (whatever they may have been) and mindset have changed and now they have so much fun together. This is a cute daddy - daughter pic of them:

Day 81: A tooth!

I don't know if you can see it but there's a tooth in there. Eliza has been rather sick with a cold but on Sunday Matt stuck his finger in her mouth and discovered a TOOTH! It's on the bottom left there and is getting sharper by the day. We were giving her Tylenol and it seems to help. She is also waking up once a night because her nose is stuffy or her tooth hurts or she is hungry. Hope it doesn't last too long!

Day 80: Walking the dog

Who says a 6 month old can't walk a dog?!?!!?
Today after church we went for a little walk, including Ellie. Our walk reminded me of the ones we started taking a couple of weeks before Eliza's arrival. Matt and I would talk about what it would be like to have a child, and about work, church and friends. It was such a nice way to unwind and spend time together. Now as we take walks we aren't just three anymore, we are four and it is even better than I imagined.

Day 79: Daddy's smilie girl

Day 78: Drying out

Bath time is a lot of fun but it's always weird when you are ready to get your kid out of the bath. You can't really pick up your child while holding the towel and get the right end over her head without getting any part of the towel soaking wet. It may not be a challenge for you but it definitely is for me.  The solutions. Put the towel on the not-so-clean rug and wrap your baby up. May not be the cleanest alternative but at least it works! ha ha.

Day 77: Playing with Pinky

 

Matt's dad bought Ellie this pink elephant last time he was here to visit. Since then we have named the stuffed toy "Pinky" and it has become Ellie's ULTIMATE and MOST FAVORITE toy. She carries Pinky in her mouth like it is her most prized possession. Today Miss Eliza was playing with Pinky and Ellie thought it was quite interesting (as you can tell!)

Day 76: Loves the Napkin

One of Eliza's new favorite things is the napkin holder on the table and the napkins. She just can't get enough napkin if you know what I mean!

Day 75: Silly Girl

With a face like this, you know she must be up to something!

Day 74: Toesies

Day 73: Eliza LOVES Grandpa Keeler

Isn't this picture so adorable?!?! Grandpa Keeler doesn't hold the little ones very often but I'm sure glad he held Eliza. She loves Grandpa already!

Day 72: (Great) Grandma & Grandpa Barlow

Today we celebrated Grandma Barlow's 88th birthday! We had such a fun time with all of the family (about 80 people were able to come).

These two people are quite amazing! They have over 100 posterity and our family just keeps growing. Just to give you an idea... all of their children have been sealed to their eternal companions, all of their grandchildren are endowed and 24 of them have also been sealed to their eternal companions. Our nephew Logan was their 100th grandchild and he is almost six... so who knows where Eliza falls. They are such great examples and continue to amaze us. They hold quite a legacy...

and still love each other! (So cute!)

Day 71: Cousins

Noah is such a cutie! We got in to St. George quite late after my friend Heidi drove us up from Vegas and Noah was so mad. Amberly told him that he could see us on Thursday night but since we weren't there and it was bedtime he didn't get to. The next morning he came over and we weren't up yet so he was sad once again but later in the day he was able to see Eliza.
When he came over to Grandma's I was changing Eliza in our room and Mia told Noah that he couldn't come into the room because Eliza was naked. Later that day Mia proceeded to take off all of her clothes because her underwear were on inside out in front of us girls! So funny.

Anyway, after we changed Eliza Noah got to hold her and he was as happy as a clam. Later in the weekend Jaxon said to me, "You have the most adorable little girl in the entire world!" What cute cousins Eliza has!

Day 70: Eliza's first flight

Today we left for St. George to visit Matt's family! It is Eliza's first time going to St. George and first time flying. I was a little nervous especially about the pressure being too much for her ears, but everything went great!

People at the airport were so nice and so helpful. It's hard enough to get yourself through airport security and to the gate... let a lone adding a diaper bag, baby food and milk, a baby and a stroller! Yikes! Another passenger helped me put down my stroller while I held Eliza and we got through security just fine on the way there. I nursed Eliza as the plane took off and she slept the ENTIRE trip!

What can I say... Eliza is about the BEST baby EVER!

Day 69: Welcome to the hive!

I am the 2nd counselor in the Young Women's group at church (which is over the 12 & 13 year old Beehives) and we are welcoming a new Beehive into our "hive" this Sunday. I will be in St. George so I got to make a poster in advance and our class President and the Beehive Adviser are going to post the sign on the front door to her house and put up bees all around the sign. I found this idea on Sugardoodle, if you haven't been there and you are LDS, then you HAVE to check it out! They had these bees with conversation bubbles so I printed those out and now the YW can write little birthday wishes on them!

I think it turned out pretty cute! (I had to add the bows to the bees because they looked to masculine. ha ha)

Day 68: Forgot one: VDay

A while back I told Matt that it would be awesome if we had a computer with a card reader because then I wouldn't have to get out the cord to load the pictures from the camera to the computer. Instead of my grand idea, Matt told me of these SD cards that wirelessly transmit your pictures from your camera to your computer by just turning your camera on at the same time your computer is on. I was in AW-MAZEMENT!

So of course Matt & I promised that we wouldn't get each other anything for Vday, but being the sweet and thoughtful guy that he is he got me... THIS!!

It is by far the COOLEST thing (except maybe our wireless printer) that I have ever owned. Matt even set it up so that if I turn the camera on and the computer isn't on then the computer will store the pictures until you turn the computer back on. And it imports directly to iPhoto (you can choose where you want it to go) What is better than that? Not much! Now if you could just upload pictures to Blogger from iPhoto like I can on Facebook, then life would be MUCH easier!

Day 67: Sleepy Ellie

Our little Ellie dog is such a snuggler. She always wants to be right between Matt and myself. Even in bed she will snuggle up to our legs under the covers. While we were watching TV Ellie fell asleep.

As you can see her toy "Pinky" is never far behind. Thanks Grandpa Keeler for her FAVORITE toy!

Day 66: Bleach

What would I do without it? Well I know that heart outfit wouldn't have turned pink if I didn't have bleach in the house! Man oh man. At least it's good for the blowouts!

Day 65: I love this stuff!

What CAN'T you use this stuff on? (besides cork that is) My frame project has been drenched in this stuff!

Day 64: All by herself

Eliza is starting to sit up all by herself! She is growing WAY too fast and I don't really like it. She loves to play with her toy keys and with any tag. I've gotta be careful with her on the couch though! (She's already fallen off once! Yikes.)

Day 63: Yumm

This is what happens when you let your baby feed herself!

Day 62: The girls

It's hard enough getting a good picture of just myself. Add a baby and it's that much harder. Fingers up your nose, eyes closed, tongue out. Now add a dog. That's right a dog in the picture... This is about the best we could manage to get!

Day 61: Third Generation Thumb Sucker

Miss Eliza looks like she is going to be a THUMB SUCKER!!!

Now when I say third generation I'm not quite sure if that statement is perfectly correct but... my aunt Trina was a thumb sucker and I'm a thumb sucker and now Eliza is sucking her thumb (I think that counts as 3 generations!)

This is the first picture I've been able to get of Eliza with her thumb in her mouth. She sucks both thumbs and likes to chew on them too! It's one of the cutest things I've seen!

Day 60: Nakey

Love this face! Eliza loves to lay on my knees and slide down towards me (sounds kinda confusing but I totally know what I am talking about). I love her little gigles and silly faces and drool of course!