Happy Mother's Day!!

What a great day it's been! Caleb was so sweet to me and made me dinner, bought me a few (surprise) presents, and made me a darling card. Thanks, Honey!

How lucky I am to be a mom! I love my little girl sooooo much! It's hard to imagine how much you will love your children and everything you would do for them. For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a mom when I grew up and now I'm "living my dream". I know I take it for granted some days, but truly, Caysja is the joy of my life. She keeps me laughing all the time.I think the only thing that would have made today perfect would have been to be with my mom. This is the first Mother's Day I haven't been home to give her a big hug and tell her how much I love her. I miss her. She is the perfect mother and I have a great example to follow. Thanks for doing so much for me, Mom--now, and while growing up. Thanks for all the hours you've listened to me, comforted me, loved me, laughed with me. Thanks for sacrificing your needs many times for my wants. Thanks for helping me with homework through the years. Thanks for sharing your strong testimony of the Gospel. Thanks for teaching me to pray and study the scriptures. Thanks for sharing your love of good music and teaching me to play the flute. I couldn't ask for a better mother and Grandmother for my kids! I love you, Mom!

Another great mom in my life is my mother-in-law, Lorna. She raised 6 wonderful boys who all served honorable missions, are all great dads, worthy Priesthood holders, wonderful husbands. Thanks for raising Caleb so well, Lorna! I love him--and you, so much! You're a wonderful Grandma!

Can't wait to see you both soon!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

I have to give my dear old Dad a big shout out today because it's his Birthday and I think it's the first time I haven't been home to celebrate it with my family. Happy Birthday Dad!!! You're the best dad a girl could have. Thanks for all you've done for me throughout the years. I sure do love you lots and so does Kiki! We can't wait to see you in a couple weeks!

Random Pics of "Kiki"

I had to take this picture of Caysja before church a couple weeks ago. She just looked so cute. (I know--I'm not biased or anything, but don't you just love that dress on her?)

This is how Caysja says "cool dude" while attempting to give a "thumbs up" (with her first finger). She and Caleb were listening to music on his ipod.

Little girls are so fun to dress up! I wish she would wear these sunglasses more often because they are stylin'!

Don't ask me what she was doing here because I don't know, but anyway, these water noodles are good for something besides just the pool!

Sweet kisses for Daddy-O!

My mom recently sent Caysja this hooded towel that she made for her and Caysja loves it. She calls it her "gamma towel". Thanks Mom!

Poor Caysja is going to end up hating the color pink someday I'm afraid. I love it and I dress her in it all the time (as you can tell). I had to take her picture this one day because of her pink shirt, pink hair bows, pink shoes, etc. She was all "decked out" to go to the library!

Come to my concert tonight!

So, here goes a little advertising! I play in a flute quartet here in AZ called "Flutasia" and tonight we're having a free family concert at the Glendale Public library at 7:00pm and anyone who reads this and wants to come is welcome! It's going to be so fun and I'm grateful for the chance to keep up my skills.

Our little pic-nic

The other night Caysja and I got home from shopping kind of late, and to our surprise, Caleb had made us a pic-nic dinner out on our patio! (It was actually cool enough to eat outside for once!) He did a great job--lasagna (I'd actually had it ready to go before we went shopping, but he baked it), broccoli, garlic bread, and a fruit smoothie to go with it. It was so fun, thanks Hon!

Caysja is getting sooo good at feeding herself now--(to our big relief!)

My New Calling...(and reason for not blogging!)

Now for the reason I've been so bad at blogging lately...I got a new calling and it's taking all my time!! No, not really, but it is a VERY busy calling. It's Enrichment Leader for our ward and don't get me wrong, it's a pretty fun calling, (and I get to work with some awesome girls!) but I had no idea of all the things our Enrichment Leader was over! I'm in charge of all the quarterly ward Enrichment Meetings (one of which is coming up on May 6th) and also the 12 mid-week mini classes that our ward has going on right now such as sewing, cooking, scrapbooking, book club, craft group,...just to name a few! One of the new groups that recently started is called "Do-It-Yourself" and it's all about handy home basics. This great lady in our ward, Robin Schofield, teaches the class and for our first project my friend Alissa suggested sewing fun beach bags (since we're all going to the pool every day). They turned out so cute and they were so fun to sew! Robin was so sweet to us and she did so much to help us--cut out all the fabric, the patterns, let us come to her house, etc. Thanks Robin!

The finished product! I use it every day!

A ponytail--FINALLY!

I'm so happy--Caysja finally has enough hair to do a ponytail! It barely stays in there, but we did it, never the less! I had to take a picture to document the occasion! (Pigtails stay in much better though, and they are the favorite right now.)

Side view

This was the best I could do to get her to smile...I know it's super cheesy!

Caysja's latest toy

I can't say it enough...I love, love, LOVE the Community garage sales around here! You just walk up and down the street and find the best things! I was able to get some awesome toys for Caysja for hardly anything! The best find was this little kitchen/changing table for Caysja's baby dolls. I was going to save it for her birthday in a few months, but...like I have any place to store this without her finding it in our tiny apt.!! Anyway, she loves it and it's so cute to see her give her baby doll a bath, feed her, change her, etc.

We were on our way to church--thus the dress...

We're going to the zoo...or is it the farm?

A couple weeks ago our ward's playgroup went to the Phoenix Zoo. It's supposed to be one of the top 5 (?) best in the nation and I can see why! We had a great time. They have a section with all this miniature farm equipment for the kids to play on and that was Caysja's favorite place. Here she is riding a "horsie".

Peek-a-boo!

Farmer Caysjie!

Caysja and her friends, Ian and Miah, 'hatching' out of an egg

They have a great petting zoo where the kids can brush the goats and Caysja had a blast there!

Caysja had never seen a peacock before and it walked around the area where we ate lunch.

Best friends!

My Latest Craft Project

So I love doing crafts, but...I'm not so good at thinking them up all the time if you know what I mean. I decided I wanted to make a magnet board for my kitchen quite a while ago and I FINALLY got around to it a couple weeks ago. I love my friend Sara's board, so I asked her to come help me make mine and she was so nice to. (I knew it would turn out cute that way!) Here we are with the finished product. I'm so happy with the way it turned out! THANKS, Sara!

Sorry--this isn't the best light to view it.

I think she's a natural!

Of course I really don't care if Caysja grows up to play the flute or not...but doesn't she look like a natural? I am in a little flute quartet and was practicing the other night before rehearsal (which are every Thurs.) and Caysja got out her "baby flute" (piccolo) to play along. (It was almost bedtime so that explains the P.J.'s she's wearing. =)

My "Kiki" is sick...

I think one of the hardest things about being a parent is watching your kids be sick and miserable and not know how to help them. Poor 'Kiki' (as she calls herself) threw up on Friday night and continued throwing up all day Saturday and all day today. She wanted to eat, but couldn't hold any food down. I have no idea what she caught, but I hear the stomach flu is going around. Needless to say, I really hope she's almost over it because I am rather tired of washing bedding, pajamas, our couch, carpet, etc. She is usually so hyper and wants to run around and play outside, so you can really tell when she is sick. All she wants is her "paci" (I know, I need to wean her of it soon) her "bankie"(blanket) and to watch a "moonie" (movie--her favorite is "Blues Clues" these days). We have been watching General Conference this weekend and she kept calling it the "gampa moonie" since all the speakers remind her of her grandpas. I thought that was too cute!

She is so mellow and cuddly when she's sick and it's really fun to hold her and sing primary songs, which she loves. I found her asleep in a little ball and I had to take a picture.

Playgroup Fun

We have an awesome Playgroup in our ward here. My friend Alissa is in charge and she does a great job! This week we went to the Paradise Valley Mall where they have a fun play place for the kids as well as a carousel.My little "buttercup"

Once again, Caysja refused to ride the horsies. For some reason she is petrified of them, so instead we rode on the little bench.

I just think this little boy, Gunner, in our ward, is so handsome! I want his mom to save him for Caysja!

My First Pedicure!

Yep, that's right...I've never had a pedicure before. I've had a manicure several times, but never a pedicure so I used some of my birthday money to get one with my friend Kristy.

When I made the appt. they were almost closed, but said they would stay open just for us if we came right then so we hurried over!

Thanks for going with me, Kristy! It was fun!

Look at our pretty toes! Now it better last me all summer...

Creativity on the Loose

I'm always trying to come up with fun things to do with Caysja during the day. I put some water colors in her Easter basket and she really liked them! It was so cute to see her paint. We painted some pictures to send to "Gamma and Gampa".I used to think I was pretty artistic...I think I've lost some of that...

My friend Kristy, is VERY creative! She used to teach school and she's always coming up with fun projects for her kids. She invited us to do this one with them. We painted our kid's hands and then put their hand prints all over some flower pots in colors of red, yellow, blue and white. Very cute, Kristy! Thanks for letting us do it with you!

Caysja liked getting paint all over her hands, but I was afraid it would get all over more than just her hands,so...therefore she's all "nakey"as she calls it.

Me painting her hands.

Finished product