Snow......Bummer

So just a quick post to say, I am NOT a fan of snow! And today when we woke up, what to our wondering eyes do appear? Snow, EVERYWHERE! UGh, I am so not ready for winter! Jared on the other hand was estatic. What he said "This must mean there is a boat load of snow on teh mountain. SNOWBOARDING!!!!!".

Paiges first time touching snow!

I like the pic of Paige's first time touching snow because it catches the snows motion. She flicked it off the railing. haha Way to go kid!

Jared was way too excited to introduce Paige to snow.

And I think its funny that we are all in our jammies. We really did like wake up, see it, and go out. In hindsight, we totally could have gotten ready for the day first. The snow wasnt going anywhere haha.

Even tho there is a smile, I am screaming GO AWAY SNOW in my head

Oh yeah, and I cut my hair, and got bangs. Again, in jammies and didnt get ready for the day. They might looks better when I have gotten ready, who knows tho. I am not very fond of them myself. But what can you do. haha

Dang snow in October!! I am pretty sure I need to just live in Hawaii.

Crafts

I have done some crafts recently, as in over the last 2 months, and I have not posted any of them on the blog. This post is to remedy that. haha

First up, the lamp shade makeover! I found this lamo shade at DI for $1! I liked the shape of it but HATED the fabric and lining, so I took it off and made my own. I modedled it after a shade I saw at Target and loved. I think I did pretty well for my first lamp shade makeover!



Before



After



Next is the mother of all makeovers! I RARELY go into DI. It just is not my favorite store. But I am constantly seeing people do these great makeovers to some cheap old stuff they find at Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. And one of mmy aunts always seems to find AMAZING things at DI. So I thought I would give it a try. My first couple times, nothing really great, no purchases made. Then one time, while dropping some things off at DI I decided to go in, just to see. And I find sweet lamp shades (I got 2 but I have not done anything with the other one yet, the first is the project above) and then I saw this dresser! I thought it had such cute littel details, but it was a mess. So I figured this coule be my first big DIY project.



Before: Nasty but cute dresser.Trust me, it was sooooo much worse than it looks

Holy Huge Project Batman! This baby took me almost 2 weeks to finish! The grossest part was the booger pile 5 inches in diameter on one of the sides. Thats right, 5 INCHES of boogers! Talk about NASTY! Buying this dresser gave me a new goal to work for in life. I want to be able to redo a lot of the furniture they sell at DI and then give it back, so they can sell nice furniture. The people that NEED to shop at DI and cant afford anything else dont deserve crap like this dresser, and let me tell you, it was the biggest piece of crap furniture I have ever seen! The drawers were coming apart, some not even together, just in pieces of drawer, paint chipped, splinters waiting to happen everywhere, nasty nastiness all over, ..... I could go on and on. But instead of ranting on about how people should not give such bad crap to DI and at least clean if off with a clorox rag before donating it lets see the finished product!

After! TaDa! I cant even tell you how many different ways I painted the
drawers, but all white was by far my favorite. Most clean/sophisticated looking.

  Up next: a cute clock makeover! I got this clock from Ikea, I thought it would be so cute to have a darling clock in my craft space. But it was a little too boring for my taste.

Before:Boring white

After! Cute blue/turquoise and white. Although I am not digging so many little flowers ont eh bottom,
I am thinking I will probably take the last one or two off. Yep, will do that.



 Next: Bathing suit! I did not take a before picture so you are just going to have to trust me, waaaaay too much cleavage. Especially for my taste. I got this bathing suit top at the shade warehouse sale (across the street from my house)! It was a steal! So I didnt mind altering it, it was not like I spent a boat load of money on a bathing suit and still had to alter it.

Nice, pulled in and covered up! Not too shabby. =>


 Next: Wipe case! Ok, so I showed the first wipe case I made, and I have to say, I was never in love with it. I actually have never used it because I dont like it. So I made another one. LOVE it!! Jared might say I'm slightly obsessed with it! I just think it is the cutest one I have ever seen! I am so proud to go and change Paige's diaper because I get to see the wonderful cuteness that I created! haha (yes, feel free to call me a nerd)


Cutest wipe case EVER!

  I just had to show this pic of part of Paige's room. It has her finished dresser, cute lamp, and curtains that I tied back with lime green ties!


Cute girlie accessories!


I have made three more carseat covers. One more for me and two for people in my fam. I actually really enjoy making these! 


Carseat Cover for my aunt Lindsey and her baby Kylie!



Fall carseat cover for me and Paige.

Cover for my cousin Cera and her little one Paisley

So my comp is really freaking out now, we will have to leave the rest of the projects for another day. Hopefully when my computer feeling like cooperating! haha

Look Whose Sitting

Paige is sitting all by herself now! Ok, so its not that new, she has been doing it for almost a month, but its new to this blog haha. She has never been a lazy/lay down type of baby. She always wants to be up and about. She has LOVED her Bumbo chair because it lets her do just that! It lets her sit up and play with her toys. But now she can do it all by herself! Horray!!

Sometime when we know she will be sitting for a while and we will not be right by her side we will put pillows around her, just in case she falls. Because she tends to get so excited about things she forgets to balance haha

 And this outfit was just too dang cute not to take a picture of! It is currently one of my favorite outfits! (its a cute polka-dot skirt and a shirt. and I just happened to have a hair clip tha goes with it perfectly!) I am in love! haha

Still Alive

Ok, so it is so not like me to not blog for such a long time. (at least I feel like it has been FOREVER). I am totally going thru blog withdrawls haha. But alas, I have little time to do a good post, so this is basically to say we are still alive! => We have been busy yet not at the same time haha.
 I honestly can not even tell you all we have done because its mostly just stuff around our apartment (declutter, organize, clean), then I weened Paige, that was a joy and a half haha (definate sarcasm in there) probably more on that later, then my Mom came up and had "Sisters Weekend" with most of her sisters (me and my sis too) then she stayed with me for a few days, then craft day with my aunts, then Jared had surgery again (on his mouth still, hopefully this will be the last one!)..... and now we are in the "recovery/drug you up constantly" stage of the surgery.
Jared is drugged and on the bean sac watching Bourne, Paige is asleep after an exhausting day being babysat at someone elses house and being left more to her own devices while I take care of Jared. Thats a lot for a little baby to handle. With those two taken care of it has given me a few minutes to clean the house (a NEVER ENDING job) and blog a quick post just reassure everyone we are alive. haha =>

Today Is The Day!

Todays the day! Today I stop breastfeeding and go only bottle. Today I "ween".

This has been long coming. Breastfeeding has not been super natural or pleasant for me. I have loved being able to see Paige grow and know that it is because of me, and I love the  knowledge that I can give my baby life, but it aslo has been a real physical and mental challenge, more mental and less physical the longer I did it. Like everything in life there are pros and cons to breastfeeding. But alas, I have reached the end of my rope, and to the bottle I go! =>

I am actually really nervous for this. Paige does NOT take a bottle. The few times I have left for a period of time and she needed to be fed from a bottle she REFUSED! My little one would rather starve and wait for me than eat from a bottle. So begins the battle of wills. Mother vs Daughter. I will win, and she will eat from a bottle, the question is: how long will it take to break her? haha Lets hope a really really short while and this will go smoothly. I really hate to see Paige mad or upset.

But this must be done. And today is the day it will begin! To quote a song that I have been singing all day  (from Newsies)
 "Open the gates and sieze the day, don't be afraid and dont delay..... arise and sieze the day!!"

New Purpose

For the past two years my blog has been a journal. I have written many things about our little family and posted a gazillion pictures! And I LOVED it! Even in my younger journals I was always gluing pictures and random things in it, words only just never cut it for me. And at the end of every year (year from marriage date to marriage date) I have printed out my blog into a book, so it is like officially my journal, and I LOVE it even more! I love being able to sit and cuddle with Jared while we reminisce about our past adventures! That book (the second one is ordered and on its way) means more to me than I ever thought it would.

But, alas, as I grow older I get more.... i dont know, wanting better? haha I went from writing in paper journals to glue-ing and writing in paper journals, to blogging/journalling and printing out, and now is the time for the next step. Digi Scrapbooking! I am slightly obsessed with digital scrapbooking! I can still do the amount of journaling and writing I want, but I can make the pages SOOOOOOOOOO much more cute! And after all, life is all about cute. haha

So from now on that will be my journal. And sorry to say you all can not see it until it is printed, unless I download some pages on here to show off. => This is just a note to give a heads up of a new direction my blog is going. I will not be posting as much, but I will be posting for the sake of the grandparents => and to let people know we are still alive. haha And lets face it, I can never fully stop blogging because I am addicted. So here is to a blog more blog-like and less journally! Here here! =>


PS, I did go un private for a couple hours while ordering my blog book, as some of you might have noticed, but no worries, I will be going back private in no time =>

Two Years!

Jared and I have been married for two years!! Yay!!! I have LOVED being married to my best friend! We have had many adventures, both pleasant and unpleasant, but it has been a wonderful adventure! I am looking forward to all our years and eternities together!

How we celebrated: Since Paige came, alone time for me and Jared seems to be non existent. And in the slight chance we get some its for a short while. I guess thats just life with a new baby haha. So we took advantage of what little time we had! Kalyn came over and watched Paige while we went out to dinner. But before we left we took a family picture. This has to be the FAVORITE picture of Paige!

Just look at that smile!! Oh it just melts my heart! She is such a cutie pie!! h we just love her! =>

Ok now back to our celebration. While Jared was ou and about working one day he came across a restraunt that had essentially dinner and a show.

This place was so cool! They had divers dive off a cliff in the middle of the restraunt! And it was all themed and decorated as if you were back in the Mayan times! I LOVED it! It was one of the funnest place I have ever eaten! And the food was good too => haha

I Love you JAred! Thanks for an AMAZING two years! And I look forward to our eternities together! I LOVE YOU!!

Paige Uses a Big Girl Potty

So, this is just a funny happening in the Miller household. => This morning Paige went poopies in her diaper, no big and nothing out of the normal. Jared goes to change her, right when he is almost finished wiping Paige does a big poop, all over the place. Jared cleans that up and puts a new diaper on her. Two second later she poops a big one in her diaper. Jared changes it again. (I am laying on our bed in our room listening to his commentary this whole time.Hi-larious!) She poops again. By this time Jared gets an idea and I see him run into across our room and to our bathroom with Paige in hand. I am curious so I get up and go look to see what he is doing. This is what I see:

Oh My Dang Funny!!! I just about died laughing! And the even funnier thing, Paige actually pooped in the toilet a couple times! I guess this girl just had a lot built up in her because she was never acting sick or anything, just beign a happy talkative girl! haha Thats my little big girl! haha I love Jared and his willingness to help with Paige in all aspects, and even more for his crazy ideas of how to make things easier! And how could you not love that adorable little girl? =>

Let The Walking Begin!

Today Paige walked! Not by herself but with Jared holding her hands. We were paying with her and having her practice standing when she started picking up her feet and walking! It was amazing! => And in the middle of this clip she starts just cruisin! We are so proud! haha

And it made Jared even more excited for when she is mobile. He can hardly wait to chase her and play more with her.

21st Birthday

Today was my 21st birthday! Wahoo! I am an adult, for the second time! haha (joke about US adult law, 18 and 21 haha) It was more of a low key birthday, and who could blame us after a night of flying like that haha.

My big suprise was my present! Oh I still get so excited just thinking about it! Jared got me Photoshop! Not just any photoshop, the new one that came out a couple months ago, CS5!!!! Yippie!!! He hid it (unwrapped) in our DVD shelves and played a game of "hot/cold" to lead me to it! I was stoked!!! Jumping up and down rejoicing kind of stoked! And the even better part? He got it at a deal! Spending $700 less than the advertised price! Oh he is amazing! haha And I just LOVE LOVE LOVE my photoshop!

That night we went out to dinner at one of my favorite restraunts, "Texas Roadhouse". I LOVE theri rolls and honey butter! Yum!!

Dinner was so good! What a delicious way to celebrate! haha It was our first dinner with Paige and it was quite interesting. But we survived and would probably do it again. haha Happy birthday to me!! Bring on another year! =>

PS did you notice the new development in our lives? Jared got his braces off!! After seriously YEARS of having them (I met him with braces, just to give you an idea of how long he has had them) they are finally off!! And he is finally smiling with his teeth!!! Wahoo!!! =>

He Missed Me!

A while ago I bought crayons for writing on the bathtub/shower walls. They are the washable crayons found in the little kid bath section. I am in love with them! They are so much fun! Jared and I leave little messages to eachother on the walls in the shower. Its always a suprise when one will be on there since we keep our shower curtain closed. Well when I came home from CA I found the cutest suprise!

He had wrote on every single tile! He did a word search in our shower!

How cute is that!?! On the corner panel he made a list of the words I was supposed to find. (in the picture I cut of the word "I", so just know there was an "I" above the "missed")

I would like to point out a misspelling. The word is supposed to be "friend", but he forgot the "e". haha But I still LOVE it! =>

I found them all!! (in this pic I forgot to circle the word "you" Can you find it? haha) I still have it up in my shower. I erased some of it but I am just not ready to erase the part with the cute words! => haha yes, I'm a nerd and a sucker for romantic things. => I love my husband! And I love that he is so cute/romantic and creative! =>

Coming Home!

I decided to come home on Thursday night. This whole trip was the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind. Basically I don't really work any other way haha. So Thursday late morning I decided I was going to fly home that night. I wanted to be home early enough to get Paige asleep at her normal time and so I could sleep and be able to celebrate my birthday all day with Jared. (my birthday was the next day). So I found a flight on Jet blue that left Long Beach at 8:10pm and got into Salt Lake at 10:30pm. Paige normally goes to sleep around 10:30 or 11, so I figured that would be perfect timing!

My Mom drove me to the airport, we go there around 6:45, thinking I needed to be at my gate and all checked in roughly around an hour before the departure time. Well, after we got my bags checked in the ticket guy told us my plane was delayed and the new departure time was 9:30pm! Holy cow! That was way after the normal time! So my Mom and I made the best of it and went out to dinner. We got back to the airport around 8:30, because thats when the guy said to check back in and be at my gate. So I was.

Around 9:25pm Paige got really fussy! I couldn't blame her, she was exhausted. I started walking around the gate waiting area with her when I overheard a preteen boy tell his parents the sign had changed and our flight was not leaving until 10:10pm. WHAT!?!?! So I had to go and check it out, and it was TRUE! They had not even announced anything, just silently changed the departure time, AGAIN! By this time I was really frustrated and getting overwhelmed with Paige. Luckily I was able to get her to sleep right as the plane was boarding (around 9:45) I was the last one on the plane, with a sleeping baby, thinking it was going to be ok now. As soon as I sat down Paige woke up and started crying again.

I tried everything, but it seemed she just needed to get some crys out. But when the plane started moving she settled down and stopped crying! Horray!!! This was taken just after we took off. I tried to look happy that Paige was on her first flight and we were going home, but looking at the picture now, I didn't mask my frustration/upset/irritation very well haha.

After we took off Paige was a happy little talkative girl. Thank goodness! Then she fell asleep for a little while. Thank goodness again! So during the flight she was really good! It was just the part leading up to it that she had her moments. Then we come to the landing part. Like I said Paige fell asleep but when we were on our final decent the captain turned on all the lights and came over the loud speaker and told everyone we were on our final decent. That woke Paige, and she started crying/fussing. I ended up feeding her and she was great the rest of the decent!

I know this picture looks a lot like the first, but it is so much better! It represents landing and being so much closer to home! And you can even see my expression is not as strained/more happy. => We both survived Paige's first flight! And remarkably well while in the air! Wahoo!!!

The plane landed in the SLC airport at 1:30am. Far from when we were originally supposed to land (10:30pm). I was tired but oh so grateful to be there. And Happy birthday to me! haha Jared was in the baggage claim area waiting to meet us! When Paige saw him she could not take her eyes off him. She literally was just staring at him the whole 25mins it took us to get the luggage. The WHOLE 25mins! SO CUTE!!!

She loves her Daddy so much! It is so cute to see that! I am so grateful we were able to go to CA for a vacation, but I am also so grateful we made it home! (we arrived at our apartment after 2:30am, goodness!)  We both missed Jared! Next time, he will just have to come haha

Balboa

Wednesday my Mom and I took the three little boys (and Paige) to Balboa. It was Paige's first time to the ocean! Wahoo!! When we first got there we went on a tour boat to see sea lions! I didn't take pictures of us with the sea lions but my Mom did, so I will have to get them from her later. =>

After the sea lion tour we ate some delicious, greasy, fattening, really good pizza. =>

We then road the ferry across to the actual island of Balboa to get some Balboa bars.

Those of you who don't know about Balboa Bars let me enlighten you. They are a big rectangle of yummy vanilla ice cream on a stick. When you order them they dip the ice cream on a stick into DELICIOUS chocolate then roll it in any topiing you want. Kaden had his rolled in rainbow sprinkles. There is also nuts, crushed up candy bars and cookies, more chololate, etc. Basically it is huge, unhealthy and oh so delicious!

Yum! We are so excited for our Balboa Bars!

After we indulged in some Balboa bars we walked back to our car, which we had to walk thru downtown Balboa to get to. Ont he way we stopped in the cutest little candy store! They had any type of candy you could think of! It was a kids heaven! haha Then we went home. It was a long day but so much fun!

Bath Time!

This little girl LOVES baths, and swimming for that matter! I am not exagerating, she would stay in the water all day every day if she could. I have a little water lilly on my hands. => And while we were down in CA she had plenty of baths. => Bath time was my Mom and Paige's special bonding time. MY Mom loved giving Paige a bath probably as much as Paige loved having a bath. It was so fun to see them have special one on one time together every night!

Paige had her first bubble bath while we were down there! It was after a fun filled night of swimming! There were a lot of bubbles! At first she was not too sure about it, but that lasted less than a minute.

Then she was just loving it! And both my parents and I never left the bathtub side during this bubble bath. Babies are way slippery when wet, and even more lathered in bubbles. Not that we dont trust my brothers, its just always good to be super careful =>

Other nights at bath time with Granny! This was also a time when I was able to call Jared and talk to him before it got too late! I was really spoiled having so many people willing and eager to watch my little one! =>

And of course, BJ never left her side. He would wait patiently on my parents bed for when Paige was done with the bath, then when my Mom would take her out and put Paige on the bed to dry off BJ was right there. Face to face with Paige sometimes (but I was never quick enough to get a pic of that.Whenever BJ saw me with the camera he would sit back and stare =>)

Here BJ is, just waiting for Paige to be done with her bath. This is the only time Paige is ok with tummy time, getting massaged with lotion fresh from the bath. If you try tummy time not after a bath, she screams, even if you massage her, and after the bath you have about four minutes of scream free tummy time. Anything longer the crying begins. We have to work on the tummy time thing haha.

I love that Paige loves water! I hope it continues when she gets older! And I love that she and my Mom were able to bond thru bath time! I love that!

Giant Balloon

My Dad got this giant 4ft balloon from our neighbor. (they wanted to use it in a marketing thing but it didn't end up working so he gave it to my Dad thinking the boys would love to play with it).
OK, so he really blew it up with a pump, but it was dang funny when he pretennded to blow it up with his mouth!

This balloon was HUGE! Almost bigger than Cole!

We had Cole pretend to be .... Atlas?.... I think thats his name, the guy who holds the world on his back. Anyways, it was funny to try and make the balloon stay on Cole haha

Then they took it in the pool! Now that was a great idea, until it started almost floating over the wall and onto the freeway, afterall it was a super light balloon. But Dad was there to hold it in place and such, and when he wasnt they tied a milk jug filled with water to it to make sure it didnt fly over the wall. But while they were playing with it in the pool the little boys dove over it.

Kaden

Cameron....thats some serious air. haha

Cole

That balloon was so huge and super fun!