Living life in love

Pumpkin Carving!! Let halloween begin

2011-10-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to a pumpkin carving party at the McClellan's house. It was a ton of fun! Everyone carved pumpkins (except for some bah-humbugers) and then prizes were given out for the best pumpkins. The headless horseman won first prize! Thanks for having everyone over Joe and Deidre!! Katelyn claims I cheated because my horseman pumpkin was from a pattern. It still took skill!!!

CAMPING

2011-10-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

We LOVE camping. We go as often as we can during the warmer months. This Last trip we went with my brother Cody, his soon the be Bride and their friends. We ended up going over our 5th anniversary (September 9th) because that was the only weekend that would work out but we always have a blast so I'm glad we got to leave town for the occasion. The long weekend was full of long dirt bike rides, reading, relaxing in hammocks, walks around the lake, dead tree tipping, laughing until our guts hurt, and a HUGE rain storm!! :O)

Sleeping inbetween two air mattresses

Parsons Trail

2011-08-30T13:30:00.001-07:00

A little while back we went to a really cool swimming hole on Parson's Trail with Kevin, Jolean, and Porter. It was an awesome trip. The landscape looks really bare and dead but as you hike further in it turns into a little swimming oasis. Here's just a few pictures from the trip. Thanks guys!

2 years

2011-07-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

Lily is 2, I have had my etsy stores open for almost 2 years, we have been in our new house for 2 years next month, and Brian has been with Edward Jones just about 2 years now. Sheew! I lot can happen and change in just 2 short years.

I love that I can trick my 2 year old into liking vegetables by jumping around in excitement and calling them funny names she likes. Pea's (funny green Balls), Broccoli (tiny trees), sliced Cucumber w/dip (crunchy dip its). Love it.

I love my little girl! She cracks me up everyday. I am amazed how much she knows and she surprises me more and more all the time.

Not much going on here. I'm still working two Etsy stores and its been a huge blessing while Brian is still growing his Edward Jones office. He is so good at what he does and gets a lot of satisfaction out of helping people manage their money right to get it to work and grow for them. It is a pretty high stress job but its getting easier all the time. He has his own office at 59th and Union Hills. We really like that area. Lily is still a super good girl. She has been into cleaning up lately... Um hello... dream child! She will see the mess she had made with her toys and say "Mommy! I clean it!" and when she is done she runs up to me and says "I did it!"

My stores are still doing great. I was getting to busy to handle all the orders from two stores so I was talking to Brian about shutting down the tutu store and he say "NO WAY!" He told me he would take over making all of them if I could just manage the business end, order the supplies and help the customers. Its been working out great. He turns out just as quality tutus as me and is pretty dang fast at making them. It has been wonderful because now I am able to take on all my Camera Strap orders. I love being able to work from home and I count my blessings every single day.

We just got back from California. We got to stay with our good Friends the Pobst's. I need to write a whole new post about that because we have lots of pictures and we had a blast!

Working has sure put a damper on our blog updates!

swankycameracouture.etsy.com
lilyjillbowtique.etsy.com

The new obsession

2011-06-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

Katelyn and I always talk about the difference between boys and girls when it comes to how they spend money. Girls will spend money on a monthly basis on clothes, jewelry, nails, pedicures, etc. Boys on the other hand just want expensive things every 6 months to a year. It may seem like boys are spending more money than girls, but in my opinion it evens out.

I usually get the itch for a new toy and it becomes my obsession. I'm researching, looking, planning for months and its all I can think about until I get it. I recently got the itch for a dirt bike, thanks to my bro-in-law and some friends that are avid riders. Financially there was no way for me to afford it, so I went to plan B; sell off all of my toys that I don't use as much to make my purchase. I was really surprised at how quickly I was able to make it happen. It made Kate and I start thinking about what else we could sell around the house just to save up some money.

Anyways, here is my new toy, the YZ 250. Its soooooo much fun! I cant wait to save up some more to get Kate a bike!!

Loaded up to go ride

Rob Villa cut me some carbon fiber decals to cover the plastics where the original graphics were coming off. Thanks for being so handy Rob Villa.

First trip out on the new bike.

Cody

Rob Villa

STAYCATION

2011-06-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

Oh Staycation! You are my favorite! You are filled with sunbathing, laughing, snacking, relaxing, sipping sugary drinks, dining out at new places, fun, and more fun. We love you and can not wait until next year.

Every year since I can remember my family has gone to a hotel for Memorial Day weekend. We always go out to eat at new places and enjoy the free buffet breakfast and free Shirley Temples at our favorite Embassy Suites Hotel. This year my family didn't join us at the hotel but we lived it up anyway! We had Friends come to play and visit while we were there and my brother Cody was able to come play too. I hope this is a tradition we can keep up every year! Till next time...

HUH?

2011-05-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

Disney what...?

Eating at the Blue Bayou ~ Soo good!

Brian got all dressed up. He is so silly.

Yes. It was That awesome.

SO Brian and I are kind of in love with Disneyland. We are like 6 year olds the second we walk into the park. We run around holding hands and skipping all day.. all the while reminding each other every 5 seconds that.."Hey! We are at Disneyland!" We have gone at least once a year since getting married. We hope that we can keep that up forever. It will be a sad year if we don't make it there at least once! We have gone a few times with other people but we have realized its just not the same. Its our special place and we are very greedy with our time at the park. We just want to run around unrestrained together.

THE GOOD PART
Brian and I woke up on Monday morning and decided to take Lily to Cracker Barrel for pancakes before Brian went into work. I said to Brian after we ate "This place makes me want to go to Disneyland. It reminds me of Knotts Berry Farm and that reminds me of Disneyland". Brian looked at me and said "You wanna go?" I said "um yeah" then he said "Lets go! Lets get in the car right now, go home to get some things and go!" Of course I had to take him up on it! We took Lily to our great friend Rozanns house to "play" for the three days we were gone. I love that Lily is soo comfortable and well taken care of with Rozann. So we dropped her off and headed to Disneyland! It was so nice to have a 5 hour drive to get to just hold hands and talk. We stopped at almost ever rest stop... because on Brian. :O) We went to dinner and sat in the hot tub the night we got there and went to bed saying "I'm too excited to sleep". We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed knowing that we would spend the day as Disneyland. We had so much fun running around from ride to ride. We ate at ALL our favorite places to eat. Food just tastes better at Disneyland. Chicken skewers, Dole pineapple whips, churros, rainbow suckers, and last but not least we got to eat at the Blue Bayou. Its hard to get into that place! The last few times we tried they were already book up for the whole day. We got really lucky and pretty much walked up and got seated right away. The food there is the best we have ever had.. EVERY TIME! We stayed at the park from open to close and wish it would have been open longer. It closed at 8pm.... what?! We could have stayed a few more hours at least! I love that my Hubby can be random and spontaneous! It makes for a really fun and exciting life. Oh Disneyland.. you will always be magic to us.

My Girl

2011-03-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

my sweet girl

Our Little Lily just turned two a couple weeks ago and I feel she needs a little tribute. Lily is Brian and my very favorite part of life. She is what makes us laugh everyday. She just went to the Dr. the other day and she is Finally 23 pounds. She was 19 pounds for almost one whole year. My little squirt! She is just getting over a spell of RSV. ICK! Poor girls had the cough of an 85 year old smoker. She is all better now. It went as fast as it came. She was a little trooper during this whole time I must say. She had to take in inhaler for about a week and did really well with it.

She is such a smart kid! I love to watch her learn and grow.

Just some things about Lily at this age that I want to remember forever..

~She loves for me to spend 20 min french braiding her beautiful golden locks just to rip them out as soon as we get in the car.

~She loves the car. More so she loves to "go".. anywhere really. As soon as I say lets go, she is hustling around the house gathering her favorite ball or toy, putting on her shoes, and saying "come on mommy, lets go".

~She has been really easy to take pretty much anywhere. I love that she is old enough now that she just enjoys being out or doing whatever it is we are doing. No more fear of sitting down at a restaurant and having to ask for the check before our food comes. :O)

~Lily is a super good sleeper. She is so good about taking her naps still. She happily lays down when its time and sleeps a good 3-4 hours each day. I love it.

~We took her to see a movie in the theatre and she did awesome! I so excited that we can take her to the movies now.

~She loves to be outside.

~She loves water in any form..drinking it, bathing, splashing in puddles, swimming, sprinklers, Any Water is Great! So much so that we got season passes to Wet N Wild this summer so we can take her to play anytime.

~Her favorite movies are Monsters Inc., Bugs Life, and Happy feet.

~She loves her clothes and shoes. In fact it has been a bit of a struggle to get her out of her church dress every Sunday. She wants to keep it on forever!

~She loves her Daddy. Sooooo much she loves her daddy.

~Well, that's my Lily she is so silly and fun. I am so blessed that she is mine. :O)

Happy second Birthday babe!

Our Caribbean get-a-way

2011-03-16T20:53:00.001-07:00

This past week Kate and I were able to go on a Caribbean cruise with our best friends Joe and Deidre. It was incredible to see so many neat places and spend some uninterrupted time together. It was definitely a needed vacation. Thanks to everyone who so graciously watched Lily for us. She is a great girl, but no one is exempt from the terrible two's. Either she was wonderful or no one will admit it if she was a pain. Either way we really appreciate it.

Our trip departed from Miami and made four stops: Cozumel Mexico, Belize, Isla Roatan Honduras, and Grand Cayman. Ive never seen water so blue. We arrived in Miami the day before the ship left to avoid any issues with delayed flights and not making it on the boat.

This was the view from our hotel room in Miami right on the beach. It was wonderful.

Our friends Joe and Deidre outside of the hotel.

I was taking test shots for lighting and Joe was my guinea pig.

Katelyn is so graceful.

We had a great time hanging out on the boat and drinking "virgin" pina coladas. Its funny how all bartenders laugh at you when you ask for non-alcoholic drinks. Like your crazy for being on a cruise and not getting drunk. Well all I can say is they didn't make $1,000s off of us in booze so whose the sucker now. I cant believe how much people spend in just alcohol on a cruise. Its definitely where they make their money.

Formal night for dinner....can you say Lobster. I cant believe how amazing the meals are that you get on the cruise. You forget what hunger feels like after a couple days.

Joe and I being rock stars with a live band singing Billy Idol.

Katelyn and Deidre rocked and ABBA song.

I mainly posted this picture so you can see the "room service" trays. We abused the heck out of this because its free. It didn't matter what time of day or night, we had food sent to our room. The BLTs and chocolate cake were the best!

For anyone who has been on a cruise you know they want to take your picture every 5 seconds. We got suckered into laying on the ground for this one. I felt so awkward with everyone walking by and we are four adults laying on pillows holding hands....weird. Not to mention it looks like Joe and I switched wives.

FIRST STOP: COZUMEL MEXICO

This was our ship docked in Cozumel.

Our tour guide Beto. He was really cool and taught us a lot about the Mayan civilization when we went to see the ruins of Tulum.

My beautiful Mayan princess

Can you see the face?

I was a little disappointed that we couldn't climb any of the ruins. I guess they need to preserve them or something like that.....geez, jk. Our guide said that the ruins used to have paintings all over them but the flashes from cameras over the years caused them to disappear. If the Mayans were smart enough to predict the end of the world why couldn't they come up with flash proof paint? :)

The Tulum ruins were built up on a cliff on the beach. This is the beach below. They did it for security. Apparently the reef is very shallow on this beach and there is only one way in so the approaching ships of enemies would be destroyed in the reef. Genius!

SECOND STOP: BELIZE

We did some cave tubing in Belize but I haven't developed the pictures from that stop yet. More to come.

THIRD STOP: ISLA ROATAN, HONDURAS

This was the beach we hung out on in Roatan. We had the craziest taxi ride in Roatan. Speed limits don't exist and I swear we almost died multiple times. However what would a trip to a foreign country be without a little danger, excitement and a crazy taxi driver. We were passing 4 cars at a time on a 2 lane road through blind curves at 45+ mph.

This is the bay we docked in at Roatan.

This ship was washed up during a Hurricane.

FOURTH STOP: GRAND CAYMAN

We had to anchor at a different port due to rough seas so we caught a taxi over to a nicer beach to snorkel.

We wont talk about what was being sculpted

Joe and Deidre

When we swam out to the reef this huge school of fish started swarming us. I don't know if they are used to people feeding them or what but it was a little nerve racking at first. What if they were piranhas!!! It worked out though.

We picked up the coolest water proof digital camera. It looks just like a regular point and shoot but you can take it up to 20 ft under water. Totally worth it.

Cruisin!

2011-02-25T23:31:00.000-08:00

Brian and I get to go on a Caribbean cruise with a couple of our very best friends. We are so excited to get to fly to Florida! I love to fly and have really only been to the 4 corners.. haha.. ok I have been a few other places too but I am still crazy excited to get to fly to Miami FL. I don't know how well I will do leaving Lily for 10 days but she will be with people she loves very much, so I know she will be taken care of. Pictures to come... after we take them. :o)

Svancara Family Vacation

2011-02-25T20:34:00.001-08:00

We went with Brian's family to Disneyland and Sea World in December. We had a ton of fun and Lily got a lot closer with her cousins Kylee and Brock. Lily lost her boot at Sea World so we told the lost and found. 3 days after we got home we got her boot back in the mail. Thanks Sea World! Lily fell in LOVE with Mini, Mickey Mouse, and all the Princesses. She would freak any time we would see a character. She got to give Mini hugs and go into her house!

Bones

2011-02-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

We got this skeleton for a Halloween decoration. I thought Lily might be afraid of it but she fell in love with it and would point at it and call him Bones.

We put in grass in our backyard right after Halloween and used Bones as our scarecrow. Lily would see him outside and squeal with delight until we let her out to give Bones a hug and kiss. Silly girl.

pumpkin patch

2011-02-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

We decided one Saturday in October to take Lily to a pumpkin patch West of Prescott. We had so much fun! The weather was great and Lily was such a sweetheart. She was a good girl the whole time. We want to go back every year.

ok ok

2011-02-11T09:44:00.000-08:00

ok ok.

I have been a bad blogger. I have been busy with my two stores... soon to be three. I swear we are still alive and have lots to blog about! We need to do about 17 posts to get caught up..so we will..soon. I just wanted ya'll to know we are still alive and kicking. Post after post after post to come.

Trick or treat

2010-11-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

We love Halloween at this house. We just flat out love Fall. This year we went to two pumpkin patches one in Prescott with just our little family and one in Chandler with some friends, to our ward Trunk or Treat, Our friends Murder mystery dinner, and to my Mom's last night for the actual holiday. We decided to take Lily out to trick or treat for a bit to see how she would like it. It was just Brian, Lily, my brother Cody and I out there.. literally.. We were the only ones out in the whole neighborhood. Lily LOVE IT! She was running faster than her legs could go so she kept stumbling and tripping. She finally got this little running, jumping, hop down that worked for her. It was so cute to see her in her fat bottom cow outfit running up to each door squealing with excitement.. she would say "tickr teet" and reach up on her toes and pick out the candy she wanted, put it in her bucket and say "thank you, bye bye". At first she would just take one little piece of candy but as soon as she got comfortable she would keep grabbing and grabbing as long as they would stand there letting her. It was funny to see the women giggle and laugh when they opened the door to find this tiny little polite cow on their porch. (the only trick or treater of the night) We had a blast and laughed a lot. I just wish we would have had our video camera... but it will be hard to ever forget her funny little run and squeal.

I'm scared are you?

2010-10-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

THE TRUE REASON FOR OBAMA'S PANIC ABOUT PASSING HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION. PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ.

According to Snopes, the following is correctlyattributed to Michael Connelly, Retired Attorney.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/connelly.asp

A question many of us are asking. Is this healthcare thing constitutional? A retired Constitutional lawyer has read the entire proposed healthcare bill. Read his conclusions. This is stunning! The Truth About the Health Care Bill - Michael Connelly, Ret. Constitutional Attorney
Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Actof 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area ofexpertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts ofthe proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional.What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.
To begin with, much of what has been said aboutthe law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.
The Bill will also eventually force privateinsurance companies out of business, and put everyone into a governmentrun system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats, and most of them will not be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, andallocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled bythe government.
However, as scary as all of that is, it justscratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislationreally has no intention of providing affordable health care choices.Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.
The first thing to go will be the masterfullycrafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, andJudicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will betransferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number ofdifferent areas over the lives of the American people, and thebusinesses they own.
The irony is that the Congress doesn't have anyauthority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with! I defyanyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authoritygranted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.
This legislation also provides for access, bythe appointees of the Obama administration, of all of your personalhealthcare direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4thAmendment to the Constitution information, your personal financialinformation, and the information of your employer, physician, andhospital. All of this is a protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures.. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide.
If you decide not to have healthcare insurance,or if you have private insurance that is not deemed acceptable to theHealth Choices Administrator appointed by Obama, there will be a taximposed on you. It is called a tax instead of a fine because of theintent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5thAmendment. However, that doesn't work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the due process of law.
So, there are three of those pesky amendmentsthat the far left hate so much, out the original ten in the Bill ofRights, that are effectively nullified by this law It doesn't stopthere though.
The 9th Amendment that provides: The enumerationin the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to denyor disparage others retained by the people;
The 10th Amendment states: The powers notdelegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by itto the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to thepeople. Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiworkneither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control.
I could write many more pages about thislegislation, but I think you get the idea. This is not about healthcare; it is about seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of theConstitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to "bebound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution." If I was amember of Congress I would not be able to vote for this legislation oranything like it, without feeling I was violating that sacred oath oraffirmation. If I voted for it anyway, I would hope the American people would hold me accountable.
For those who might doubt the nature of this threat, I suggest they consult the source, the US Constitution, and Billof Rights. There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us.

Michael Connelly Retired attorney,
Constitutional Law Instructor Carrollton , Texas

THE THING THAT FREAKS ME OUT MOST IS THEY THEY ARE DOING THIS AND THERE IS NOTHING ANY OF US CAN REALLY DO ABOUT IT.

Been Busy

2010-10-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Wow what a bad blogger I have become! I have been living in a hole with my sewing machine and the occasional meal or stroll to the mailbox with Lily so we can see the light of day. After opening my second Etsy store I have been SO busy and I love it, I have had double the work load but thats ok because I like to be busy. Halloween is coming and then the holidays so I don't see a slow down anytime soon.

Lily is doing great! She loves to play at my feet or sit on my lap when I sew. She loves to climb, play with my pots and pretend she is cooking, she can't ever get enough baths and she loves trying out all her new words. We have had a visiting cat lately so Lily will sit at the back door and meeeoww at him and yell Kitty until I go outside with her to say hi!

Here is a pic of my newest camera straps

Granny

2010-08-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

I am mainly posting this for family and to keep as a record in Brian and my blog book we print every year.

2010-08-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

Granny Mortensen

We all loved you more than you know
Grandpa Mortensen missed you so.
I know he was just waiting for the day
that I hold your hand as you slip away,
back to heaven to stay.

My Granny Edna Mortensen passed a way at 8:54 last night Aug. 19th. She had been so healthy and active right up to her unexpected Stroke less than one week ago. She was very comfortable and surrounded by all of her 5 sons and their wives. I feel so privileged to have been with her in her final hour. It was so peaceful and the spirit of the Lord was felt so strong. I held her hand as she slipped away, and I just know that her sweet husband David, my grandpa was there to take her hand from mine to take her back to heaven to live together forever.

We love you Dear Granny. We will miss you until we meet again.

Brian's new Job

2010-08-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well Brian started his job at Edward Jones on Monday. His new office is at 59th Ave and Union Hills in Glendale.

I have never seen a more hard working and motivated man in my life.. Ok ok my Dad is a very very hard working man but I never thought I would meet a man who works like my dad. Brian works so hard and cares so much. I feel like this job was meant for him and he was meant for this job. Its a lot of work and a ton of hours but I just know that it will be worth it. Thank you for working so hard for our family babe. I am so proud of you.

miss you

2010-08-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

I once heard a saying that makes more sense now more than ever.

Absence is to love as wind is to fire. It extinguishes the weak and ignites the great.

This sounds soooo cheesy but I miss my Brian so so much! I can not wait to have him back home safe and sound.

That being said..

Dear Brian,

I love you.. lets never be apart again.. k thanks!

Pretty is her favorite word.

2010-07-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

Lily is talking up a storm. She says all kinds of fun words. My favorites are, "Thank you mama" and "Let's go". Lily's very most favorite word is "Pretty". She know when she looks good. She likes when I let her model my tutu's and she slings daddy ties around her neck and says "pretty". I LOVE making her clothes because it seems like she truly appreciates it. Weather she does or not.. she sure puts on a cute show. I just made her this little shirt. When I put it on her she said "oooo pretty" as she rubs her little belly. She always runs to the bathroom so I will lift her up to the mirror so she can see. After I put her down she runs away saying 'thank you mama". I love me little girl and it feels like she is getting old enough to show me that she loves me too. xo

Man's best friend...

2010-07-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

I was driving home from work today and I saw the funniest old guy on a motorcycle going down the 101. I was so intrigued that I changed lanes at least 5 times trying to get close enough for a good picture. You still dont even get the full effect from the picture.

First he has a dog in a basket going 75 down the freeway.

Second he has a trash can or hamper strapped to the back.

Third he has two round car door speakers strapped to the handle bars.

Fourth there is a huge duffle bag strapped to the other side that you can see.

I just thought I would share that with everyone.

Dear Diary

2010-07-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

Starting a new store while running an already busy one is hard. Feeling like I am an inadequate seamstress stinks. Wishing I could just be great now without the practice is lame and undeserving. One of my sisters and I have what we call "impostor syndrome" We may actually be pretty good at something but we feel that sooo many people are so much better at it than us that we are impostor's.. like we are tricking people into thinking ours is as good as theirs. I want to turn out professional looking products from my house. I want people to look at my work and not see a single flaw, but I guess that is the nature of handmade items. The little flaws is what give it character... right? (nod your head) Tutus are one thing cuz in my mind, that takes no talent.. but sewing is just one thing that I hope one day I can look at my work and go.. Wow, now that's good. Until then I will keep pretending that I think my work is good enough, than maybe someday it will be.

Sorry to wallow in self pity.. I am just super stressed trying to get my 2nd store off the ground. I respect the Really successful Etsy store owners.. They are the owner, the employee, the sales rep, the publicist, the photographer, the fiance specialist,the graphic design artist, the supplies manager, the designer, the shipping dept.. and everything else that comes with running a shop.

My new store is called Swanky Camera Couture. I am making replacement camera straps and lens bags for SLR and DSLR Professional cameras. Its not quite ready for the grand opening yet.

I just looked it up and this mentality actually exists as a real definition. I though we made it up.

Impostor Syndrome

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The impostor syndrome, sometimes called impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome, is a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments
Regardless of what level of success they may have achieved in their chosen field of work or study or what external proof they may have of their competence, those with the syndrome remain convinced internally they do not deserve the success they have achieved and are actually frauds. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they were more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be.
This syndrome was thought to be particularly common among women who are successful in their given careers, but has since been shown to occur for an equal number of men.

This is how I feel most days. But I have to remember what a huge blessing it is and has been being able to successfully work from home.

Warning~ Very dirty post

2010-07-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

We went camping with some of my family over the 4th of July weekend. We went up to Payson and stayed at Willow Canyon Lake. We had the best campsite ever. We brought a bunch of orange construction fencing to set up around camp so Lily could feel like she could roam free. That was the best idea ever! Without that she would have been gone in two seconds. Lily would not stop rolling and crawling and laying and .. rolling.. did I mention rolling in the dirt? She loved every second of camping. She looked like a mud cake the whole time and at times she was sooo dirty, I did not know how I would ever get her clean. Brian kept trying to keep her out of the dirt but I finally convinced him that there was really no point. She was having fun and it was just dirt..right? :O). She face planted in the dirt so many times and would just get right back up and keep going without tears. We went to the lake and watched people swim. I caught a tiny craw dad and Lily was very interested, she even held it. She kinda loved it too much with a nice fist squeeze... sorry craw dad. We had great food the whole time. The weather could not have been better. We laughed a lot, played a lot and had a nice much need break to the out doors. Till next time good ol' camping. This is how we kept track of Lily at night. Tons of glow sticks. :O)

ummm... yeah.. see that spoon?... she used it to spoon some dirt into her mouth. She learn fast that, that is no good.

Craw Dad

Walking on water is harder than it looks.

Daddy is all dirty after holding Lily.

water baby

2010-06-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Lily has begun this summer with a splash. She loves the water when she is in control of when she gets wet. Splash pad?.. Not so much.

This one has got to be my favorite!

family pics.. the first in 4 years

2010-06-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Our friend Desi is venturing out into the world of photography. She took some classed in high school and loved it so we were her models for the day. It was REALLY windy but she got some really good shots. Thanks again!

Desiree Hunter Photography-http://desireehunterphotography.blogspot.com/

I'm going to Sweden!

2010-05-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ok Ok.. maybe just my tutus are. I sold 3 tutus to a lady in Sweden today. I am hoping that this is just a good omen that someday my tutus wont be the only thing that goes to Sweden. I would LOVE to go there someday.

Pseudomonas Folliculitis?

2010-05-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

We were hangin out with our friends Katie and Bryan this past weekend and decided to go hot tubing. It was a nice cool night so it felt really good to be in the warm water. Katie is pregnant so she just put her feet in but Brian, Bryan, and I enjoyed.. Well Brian and I wake up on Monday with.. Bug bites?.. ALL over? We kinda let it go until that night Brian lifts up his shirt and says, "this is not normal". I cringe in horror away from him but try to tame my reaction because as most men do.. he might over react. He looked like he had been laying on an ant hill all day. I lifted my shirt to inspect myself fearing that I was about to wittiness the same fate on my own belly. I only had a few more spots. "Sheewww I'm not the gross one" I think to myself, then tell him.. its no big deal.. it will clear up. Then he says,"THIS IS NOT NORMAL" I say, "relax its just a rash don't be a girl about it." He started panicking telling me that he has some horrible flesh eating disease called Mrsa. He got on the internet and started showing me the most awful pictures of unfortunate people who actually have said disease. Then he actually finds forums of people taking about this "hot tub rash". He shows me pictures and low and behold.. they look like him. Ewwwwwwww....

So the really unfortunate part of the story. The internet says we need to seek medical care to receive antibiotics to get rid of a skin bacteria. Ummm shoot! We just cancelled our insurance last week. GREAT!!! Brian has never once used is insurance for anything and now.. now that we don't have any, we need it. Well a very very kind soul (Dermatologist) saw Brian for free and wrote a prescription. We were still worried that we would would have to fork out a ton of money for the meds.. well we went to Walmart and the antibiotics were only $4!!!! Holy cow, we got pretty dang lucky. BLESSINGS!

Oh if you want to see what Pseudomonas Folliculitis or "hot tub rash" looks like, just google it. Don't look if you are easily grossed out. PS. We are on meds and it looks like it has started to get better.. since we are on meds we are not contagious... just so you know, you don't have to avoid us like the plague.

oh joy

2010-05-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

I took a shower with Lily today. We both got in with all of our cloths on.. dripping in poo. Poop on her cheek, in my hair, on her feet and legs, and on my pants. Don't even ask how I got poop in my hair.. lets just say she exploded a diaper then did not want to let me change her. Poo and tantrums do not mix. Poor girls got tummy trouble.

sorry but I must

2010-04-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Let me start this post by saying sorry mom, sherree, or any one else this my gross out by this but... this was just too funny not to post about.

Yesterday Brian and I both woke up pretty dang sick. Thank goodness Brian is working from home right now or he would have needed to call in sick. I had a ton to do for the bowtique but felt to sick to move. Lily was SUCH a good girl yesterday. She required minimal attention and would walk up and pat me on the head every so often.

On to the good part. After Brian was done with work he ate left over pizza and I ate nothing. The smell of the ranch he was dipping his pizza in made me almost loose it. We decided that we needed some fresh air and walked to Walgreens to get a ginger ale. When we got home it was about time for lily to go to bed. We were in the living room laying around feeling sorry for ourselves. Brian had the WORST gas ever and he was seriously grossing me out. I granted him tooting privileges for the night because he just could not help it. He let a big one go right as Lily walked up .. the smell was sooo bad that Lily started shaking her head then she started crying. The smell was so bad that she did not know what to do to get away from it. LOL I have never seen a baby react to a smell before. It was pretty dang funny. Sorry Brian for the embarrassing post. I know you will forgive me because you could not stop laughing. Love you!

Sorry its blurry but this is the picture of her face right after she stopped crying.

Too much love

2010-04-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

Lily

How in the world do you describe the love you can hold for your own little baby, your own flesh and blood? I sometimes find it utterly impossible to put into words the feelings I have for my little Lily Jill. She is the sun in my shine. She makes life blissful. All who know me well know that I had a hard few first weeks with Lily. With nursing not working, I was really stressed with her and like all first time parents.. I had no clue what the heck I was doing. But that new foreign relationship soon blossomed into this beautiful relationship.

Lily I just want you to know how much your mom and dad love you. You have your poor sweet dad completely wrapped around your tiny finger and you don't even know it (yet). You bring so much joy to this little family. As Mothers day comes closer I can't help but think about how thankful I am to be your mom. You bring your daddy and me even closer everyday. We love you with all of our hearts. Xo Mommy and Daddy.

Short but Funny

2010-04-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Today i was having a little trouble staying awake while studying and I was trying to think of ways to energize myself. Katelyn's idea was "Why dont you spin while high-kicking and jump-jacking" I had never heard of doing jumping jacks as "jump-jacking". Needless to say I thought it was funny. If anyone is wondering, I did attempt spinning, while high-kicking and jump-jacking. I am now awake.

A very merry white.....Easter?

2010-04-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

All of my life I have associated the Easter holiday with spring time; you know green grass, flowers, sunshine. However, this year Katelyn and I were able to experience our very first white Easter. Of Katelyn’s five siblings, two have moved up to the Draper Utah area and we decided that it would be fun to visit them while their kids were on Spring Break. Under normal circumstances we would have driven, but due to some unfortunate events we had a pair of plane tickets with no specific destination. I have to admit though it was nice to arrive in 1 ½ hours instead of 12.

The day we arrived it began to snow....and it snowed, and it snowed, and it snowed! When we woke up the first morning at Aunt Sommer’s house, we opened the curtains for Lily to see the snow and she pressed her face to the glass with wide eyes and very clearly said “wwwhhhiiittteee”. I’m sure it was a complete coincidence but it was way too perfect! Before we left for Utah we had the expectation of hiking and enjoying nature on our trip....that didn’t happen; but we definitely made the best of our snowy trip. Sledding was a blast and it was fun to see Lily enjoying snow for the first time. She LOVED it! She would lay down face first and lick the snow forever if we let her. Her Aunt Allison took her sledding down the hill a number of times and said that Lily was making funny excited noises the whole time. If she could talk she probably would have said “MORE MORE MORE...AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN!”
We spent one day going to Provo. We ate lunch at this little Belgium waffle place that was really good and had dinner at a neat little restaurant inside of a market, while also spending way too much money on some gourmet chocolate. It was worth every penny! Katelyn has helped me adopt the philosophy of thinking of money spent as “vacation points” whenever we go on a trip. We set aside a certain amount of funds to spend while on vacation and then we don’t think about it.

The next day we went back to Provo again to eat at Nathan’s cousin’s pizza place called “SLAB PIZZA”. It was awesome. If you are ever in Provo and want some pizza you should check this place out. They have all different kinds of gourmet pizza like chicken tai, bbq chicken, buffalo wing, etc. You can split each pizza into quarters so you can sample more flavors. Then we all went bowling on BYU campus. To my endless shame Katelyn beat me. I blame the lane.
It was a great time visiting Katelyn’s family. We really enjoyed seeing them. Thanks a ton for letting us stay with you all!

sewing...

2010-04-16T08:54:00.001-07:00

I'm obsessed.

recycling?

2010-04-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Recycling is fun! First you take an old long sleeved shirt, cut off the sleeves and have at it. This is what I came up with. I took the sleeves and gathered them and sewed them to the middle of the shirt and then cut the bottom for the shirt off and made a lovely flower to complete the look of my new shirt!

sharing

2010-03-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

This morning after lily ate her yogurt I gave her a few cheerios to eat. I was leaning over her high chair tray in front of her just talking to her and telling her how much I love her. I was asking her if she might consider slowing down .. to stop growing soo fast. I was asking if she would mind staying this age for just one more year. She reached for her last cheerio, grabbed it and held it to her mouth while looking at me look at her. She mumbled some gibberish then she held it up to my mouth. I said for me? Thank you sweet pea! She then quickly pulled away bit off half then offered me the other half. She is my silly little girl. I love her to bits and wish I could freeze her right where she is, but I have said that every month of her life, and I only love her more every month older she grows.

Ralph!

2010-03-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

So last night I killed a huge.. I mean HUGE mosquito and could not find it after I killed it. This morning I noticed Lily munching on something. I walked over to find legs hanging out of her mouth and a fist full of wings and guts. EWW!

via colori

2010-03-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

My aunt Amy and I worked long and hard getting ready for our booths that would be set up in downtown Glendale. A big art show was going to be taking place that weekend, so we decided to each rent a space and see what happens. We both stressed ourselves out like crazy trying to build up enough stock to sell. We got there way before we needed to to set up our booths. My parents helped me sooo much. My dad came down first thing in the morning to help Brian and I set up. We don't have a truck or a car big enough for the size of table I wanted, so my dad helped with that too. We had a lot of fun selling, talking, and showing our creations to the world. I had one lady come up to my booth and say "Oh my gosh! You are Lily Jill Bowtique! I look at your store online all the time!" I felt like a celebrity for just one second; It was cool. At the end of the day we both sold much less than $100 and were disappointed, but we did have a lot of fun, got a nice tan, and enjoyed the day. It was just not the right crowd for headbands, table runners and tutus.

It was a good day to be outside.

Amy Crosby's store http://www.ladygoestomarket.etsy.com/

my store http://www.lilyjillbowtique.etsy.com/

Amy's booth

My Booth

Walking

2010-03-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

I have a walking girl on my hands. Some people say oh no... you don't want her to start walking.. she will be so much harder when she walks.. but I don't think so. I love to see her face as she walks from spot to spot. She has a look of victory in her eyes. She is too cute. I love her personality and her sweet laugh. I could listen to her giggle all day. I love my girl. I'm happy for her, and she seems to happy to be walking too.

Lily is ONE!

2010-03-14T09:55:00.001-07:00

We cant believe how fast time has gone by. Our little girl turned one on March 7. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it to her party. We enjoyed spending time with you all. Its been a fun road watching her grow and learn. She's developing such a personality. She is the happiest little girl. We are so grateful to have her in our family. However, as fast as time is going I'm scared that I will wake up tomorrow and she's going to be asking for the keys to the car. I guess that's life. I don't think I'll ever get past seeing her as my little tiny baby girl.

Just a few funny sleeping pictures of Lily.

SEW WHAT!

2010-03-11T22:31:00.000-08:00

I love sewing. I love getting better at it. I love to make fun of the first few thing a made and seeing the improvement. I love that I can make cloths for lily and I. I wish everyone would sew. Its therapeutic.

I think Lily likes it too. This girl know when she looks good. :O)

PS. I still have a brand new serger staring at me from across the room that I have STILL not even tried. I'm a sissy.

May I?

2010-02-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

♥May I just say that I am in love with life...? Yes? Ok. I'm in love with life. ♥ xo ♥

Brian's birthday date

2010-02-02T19:58:00.003-08:00

For my birthday Katelyn planned a very special night. Our good friends Katie and Bryan came over to watch Lily (thank you guys very much) and we went out to dinner and a movie. It feels like an eternity or just about 11 months, since we just went to dinner and a movie alone. It was a very fun night. Thanks hun. Youre the best wife ever!

Dinner at "Claim Jumper" one of our favorite restaurants

!!AVATAR!! 3D

I wanted to take pictures of our facial expressions to show how much we liked the movie avatar. Which was totally awesome if you couldnt tell by the pictures.

The love of my life turned 27!

2010-02-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

Brian just had his 27th Birthday last week. I threw a surprise party for him that turned out to be Just a party.. no surprise. It was a blast! We had a ton of pizza and an Italian soda bar. We played pin the tail on the donkey which was actually very funny to watch, we played Wii and, mafia. We love our friends! Thanks for coming y'all.

lots

2010-01-20T11:12:00.000-08:00

lots of new posts scroll all the way down to see them all.

Friendiversary

2010-01-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

I never looked at some of Brian and my best friends blog because I thought she never updated it.

It turns out that Katie and Bryan Workman do blog often! I was doing some catch up and saw this post about a card I gave to our best friends Katie & Bryan, Desi & Jameson, Joe & Deidre in October. The post was so cute and sweet, I was so sad I never saw it. Well Katie.. I read it.. the WHOLE thing. We love you guys! We need to have our 4th annual camping trip before you move!

RE POST!! this was Katie's post about our friends.

Friendiversary

Today I watched Lily for a couple of hours while Katelyn ran some errands and when she came to pick her up she handed me a card with heart shaped pancakes on the cover

...Katie & Bryan,Happy Anniversary We have had so much fun this past year. You guys have been such a blessing. Being married is way better with great friends. I hope we have many many more years to play together!Love you guys.Katelyn & Brian

About a year ago, Bry and I went to Ryan Bangarts homecoming party. Katelyn and Leeler and I ditched our hubby's to rein act one of our favorite high school past times: laying on Ryan's great big bed-something we MISSED the 2 years he'd been gone. We giggled and remembered what it was like to be silly girls (like we're not silly girls now-ha!) and talked about olden days. I was vaguely concerned about Bryan as he didn't exactly know anyone at the party, but he's pretty good at working a room, so I knew he'd be okay. I expected him to text me, or come find me but he never did. Bryan was creating a bromance. Katelyn and I returned to the Bangart's living room to find our hubby's deep in conversation and genuinely enjoying each other's company! This would've been exciting if katelyn and I got a long extra good too, but we haven't always. In fact we didn't get along very well at all in years yester but thank goodness for the lesson that Heavenly Father is ALWAYS teaching me, that I don't get to decide who my friends are, he does, and they are always more amazing and wonderful than my shallow brain had previously decided. (I love you Katelyn!)We made plans to hang out and parted ways.

Jameson and Desiree Hunter seem to have lives that mirror ours. They started dating just a few weeks before us. They got engaged the week after us. When we picked our wedding dates ours was (originally) January 4th, and they scheduled theirs for January 5th. Later when we changed our date to November 9th, they took ours and changed theirs to January 4th. We enjoy most of the same past times (monopoly, zarahemla, chilis, mini golf, golden swirl, sleepovers-yes we totally have married sleepovers you should try them sometime they're awesome-breakfast and Denny's, seinfeld, and pretty much anything else you could ever think of) Bryan and Jameson have had the same job since they came home from their missions. They both worked at IBM together, then Patriot signs, then Bulwark. Jameson's been a good friend of mine since high school (capital H-O-T-T-I-E hee hee-you reading this Julia??) and Desi was one of my best friend's little sisters so we felt blessed to have such good friends. For the first 9 months of our marriage we were in our newly wed hole, but if we ever wanted to branch out and do something social, we'd call Desi and Jaymers.

I grew up in the same stake as Joe and when I started my job at Desert Schools I was so excited to learn that he worked at my same branch. It was pretty comforting to see a smiling familiar face! Joe talked about his awesome wife (who i'd never met before) so I immediately invited them to dinner with a bunch of old friends (Julia!) It was fun and we said we should hang out again sometime.

At about this time Bryan and I wondered why we had all of these friends we were making plans with to 'hang out sometime' and never hanging out with. When we would finally get together at big events or run into to each other at church we genuinely did wish we could hang out. We decided we should have some parties and initiate the inviting and have enough people that the mingling wouldn't be akward in case all of these crazy different people didn't mix.They are all crazy and they are all different and they totally all mix-and what a blessing! Our first party was The Office premiere followed by halloween movie fest and our halloween night party. We had already pretty much established our friendship with the Hunters but we were so excited to have all kinds of new friends that we REALLY liked and enjoyed and got along well with. Katelyn's card reminded me that it's been a year now that we've been friends. It's our Friendiversary, and not only am I grateful for all of these awesome people in my life but I'm extreeeemely grateful for the second shot I got to get to know my Katelyn better! Happy Friendiversary Guys!! Some of our favorite memories: Brian and Katelyn: We love that we share names with you! (with the very HUGE difference of the 'i' and the 'y' of course!) all of the 'kates!' and 'Can you come here Bry?' are oh so fun. We love talking politics and babies. The first time we hung out we weren't sure if you liked us or you were hanging out because you felt obligated by our invitation, but the fact that you stayed until 1am talking about nothing clued us in. We LOVE (and will miss terribly!) sharing the back row of sunday school with you! Katelyn I have LOVED sharing my calling with you-sunburst yw are the best! We love that you are our travel buddies and spontaneously follow us on random vacations you are valuable friends because you always get crazy lucky deals and know the best places to eat (juice it up! and nielsens)

Jameson and Desiree:We love that we can fart and burp in front of each other. We love that Jameson laugh right after the Jameson farts. We love that Katie laughs at everything Jameson does even if it's clearly not funny.We love (and are grateful for!) how you guys are always willing to help out in any way you can. If theres something you don't need that someone else might need you give it up freely-and we think that's a great example.We love that you always have starbursts at your house.Sunday night smoothies are the best ('this ones the best!')Amazing Race, Biggest Loser, The Office, The Hills, Here Come the Newlyweds, we only watch TV because you make us!sleepovers!-probably the best idea Jameson ever hadSpeed, Monopoly, Ticket to Ride, Zarahemla, Rummy, Liar's Dice, Fill or Bust, Pictureka (Hate that game)Talking Jameson into things he doesn't think he'll like and ends up loving ('cautious Jaymers', '2nd thoughts Jameson')

Joe and Diedre: Joe's laugh!Katelyn shushing Joe's laugh cause 'the baby is sleeping's. Joe and Diedre always have the best snacks because they take the time to notice what you like and then make sure they have it.They never participate in any kind of mean talk whatsoever (because sometimes we all get caught up in that-who doesnt?-joe and diedre dont) and they are a pretty big example to me in that area.Rockband!!!!they like arrested development like we do. for a while we were the only ones...nobody else got it. You brilliant people you McClellans.Fondu!!Deidre does NOT like scary movies and screams rather loudly hahaha! which is so very not deidra-ish that you know its for real.

ST. Patty's Day

2010-01-20T08:10:00.000-08:00

This is my new St. Patricks Day tutu. I love putting Lily in a new tutu for every little holiday.

http://www.lilyjillbowtique.etsy.com/

white tanks

2010-01-20T08:02:00.000-08:00

My sister Allison and her family came into town for new years this year. We had a blast and did so many fun things. I only have pictures of our hike thanks to Allison.

Sickling

2010-01-19T18:43:00.000-08:00

I was really sick yesterday and totally lost my voice for a the day. Brian called all day to check in on me to make sure I was doing ok. He knew that I had a ton of orders to fill so I could not just lay around like I felt like doing. When he came home he walked in with this......

Liquid gold!!! My very favorite drink in the whole world, Hot Carmel Apple Cider from Starbucks. He is still the best husband in the world. xoxo

sugar coated

2010-01-18T12:12:00.001-08:00

sweet bubbles

2010-01-18T12:00:00.001-08:00

Lily loves her bath time! She has loved it since she was born. She loves to splash around in the warm water and poke at the bubbles she makes. I love my girl and enjoy bath time as much as she does. xoxo

BOY LOVE

2010-01-15T12:05:00.000-08:00

Coming soon to Lily jill... Boy and baby neckties!

Also.. I am going to be silk screening onesies and tees for kids with fun sayings on them! I can't wait to get started!

I wish I knew that I would be expanding Lily jill soo much.. Maybe would have chosen a less girly name for my store...?..

Cardigan Sweaters....

2010-01-04T18:57:00.001-08:00

This guy likes to wear cardigans......

Other guys who wear cardigans....

Enough said...

The holidays

2010-01-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

So much to talk about! We had a great Christmas, Great visit from my sister Allison, a FANTASTIC trip with friends to California, And a Fun New years. Well be posting Pictures as soon as BRIAN posts them. :o)

New things

2010-01-04T14:46:00.001-08:00

Hooray! New cute kid and baby things coming to Lily Jill Bowtique soon!

new baby couture

2009-12-22T11:27:00.000-08:00

It has always been a dream of mine to be good at sewing. My mom and grandmothers are such talented seamstresses that I thought it must be in my blood...... Well... NOT so much. I have tried and tried to teach myself how to sew and I just was not good at it. It has been since before Lily was born that I have been learning on and off. I am just now to the point that if asked if I know how to sew I could say yes I can! I am still not nearly as good as my mom, grandmothers, or sisters but I have been working on a few things for Lily that I think are just about ready to put into the boutique. Skirts, boots, and mary janes.

Something is wrong with my nice camera.. a setting must be off. So these are some camera phone pictures

Prom 2009 "Whatever you believe is reality"......thats right....prom

2009-12-20T11:50:00.001-08:00

Our good friend Abby Workman never got to go to her senior prom, so the friends decided to throw her one. We all dressed up fancy and went out to eat and then it was back to our house from some prom entertainment.

The Workmans

The Lines

The Hunters

Despite what you may think after looking at this photo, there was NO alcohol at this prom

The Svancaras

Also the Workmans (insert Katie here)

Sorry guys, wish we had more pictures of you

The Dance-a-thon

Winding down

By the end of the night we were all exhausted and ready for bed.

State Fair

2009-12-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

The very first night I hung out with Katelyn she told me that if we every got married I would have to take her to the State Fair every year for the rest of our lives. So far Ive lived up to that... Heres our State Fair trip for this year.

Let the fun begin

Waiting to get on the first ride.......

G-FORCE!!!

Katelyn won a stuffed animal

Ill take the pony....you take the stallion

The girls at destruction derby

Everyone didnt really share one ice cream

If you can deep fry it or cover it in chocolate you can find it at the fair

Katelyn and Desi on the zipper

Life

2009-12-07T06:58:00.000-08:00

I have been informed that I have been a bad blogger lately. Soo I am going to try and start blogging again.

Whats up with the Svancaras..

Lily is doing perfect! We have been terrified of the flu.. any kind of flu. Our family has been very blessed this flu season so far. Not one of us has been sick at all. Lots of hand washing and prayers had kept us healthy... ok ok maybe its my paranoia and spastic germ precautions that has kept us healthy but I have not had a sick kid so it must be working.
Poor Little lily is getting her first tooth. She is 9 months today. I had no idea how horrible new teeth are for baby and mommy. Lily is such a great sleeper, but with this new tooth she has not been taking good naps and she has been pretty fussy. She wants to be held so she can chew on my finger. Any one know about how long it takes for a tooth to finally stop hurting? I am so not excited for Lily to have to do this 19 more times. Poor girl.

Brian and I are doing well. We are looking forward to all the things the holidays bring. We love the family party's and Chrismas-y things to do. We are very very excited for our California trip this month. We are going with our group of best friends. We are going to Universal Studios and Disneyland. My Sister Hailee will be watching Lily while we are gone. We thought Lily would enjoy Disneyland much more in a year or two. :o)

We love our house! It has been fun setting it up and EVER so SLOWLY getting new decorations for our new home. It still feels unreal that this is really our house. We feel so blessed to have this new investment and SOOO grateful for the all the extra space. Our new ward is great. We like our new calling but we do miss our old ward too. We are doing well and loving life.

XO Brian, Katelyn and Lily

New

2009-12-04T14:57:00.000-08:00

I have put out a few new tutus in my shop! Please take a look!

http://www.lilyjillbowtique.etsy.com/

New York New York

2009-11-25T08:03:00.000-08:00

I love my husband! He is taking me to New York City in March! I have dreamed of going since I was tiny. I never though I would get to go while I was this young. I thought I would have to wait till I was older and all my kids were grown. He bought our plane tickets last night. I can't believe we are actually going! I love you Brian! I can not wait! Oh yeah.. Lily will not be seeing New York yet. She will be with her grandma.

Giving thanks this Thanksgiving season

2009-11-16T08:30:00.001-08:00

We all know life has its ups and downs. Sometimes thing just don't go right or we just feel sad or lonely. On the far other side.. sometimes everything is going right and nothing can bring you down. I feel so blessed and lucky to say most of my life since marring Brian has been so happy and right. Having our little Lily in our lives has brought us even closer than we have ever been. Things right now could not be better. I feel like I need to gather up all this sunshine and joy and put in somewhere safe so I never lose it.. or at least save some to use when times may not be so great. I guess I am just now figuring out that I can't take one moment of this life for granted. Lily is so big now and it feels like just yesterday I was feeling that first fluttering of her movement in my belly. She is growing and learning so fast. As I laid her down for her nap this morning she reached up and patted my cheek. I know she was telling me she loves me as much as I love her. I love my life and I try hard to enjoy every moment of the day, find happiness in a job well done, feel gratitude for the success I have had at the start of my new little venture, soak up every walk by kiss from my sweet husband, and find so much joy in shared Sundays with the Lord and evenings with my family. I truly am grateful for all I have been given. I feel so blessed.

If your sky is a little cloudy right now always remember, With every grey sky there is a bright sunny sky just waiting to shine brightly behind it.

ooh Halllloweeeen

2009-11-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

We had such an eventful Halloween season. I can't believe it has come and gone already. We went to our trunk or treat Brian's parents and my parents trunk or treat too. I wish we had more pictures of all of Lily's many costumes. I think the best time we had was Halloween night. Brian's mom babysat Lily while we were at a murder mystery dinner "Slaughters Circus" at Bryan and Katie's house. They had it decorated to look like a real circus tent. I had fun making and decorating cup cakes with Katie (http://katiecakestheblog.blogspot.com/).. she is so good at what she does.. and bringing them to Brian at work. Its fun to surprise him with visits. We also went to see The Phantom of the Opera. That was one fancy night. We had a blast! This is what we have been up to. Enjoy the pics!

Brian was leo munchousen the angery lion tamer and I was Jade Edge the drunken knife thrower

more attention

2009-10-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

http://shopbyhand.blogspot.com/

Super cute blog hearts lilyjillbowtique

I know it seems like this is all I post about any more but it has kinda become my second life. Thanks for putting up with me. :o) <3

lily jill bowtique is famous.. kinda :o)

2009-10-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

This Very cute blog featured Lily Jill Bowtique

Check it out!

http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2009/10/themed-thursday-time-to-figure-out-your.html

small and simple pleasures

2009-10-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

This may seem pretty insignificant to a lot of you, but today was a very exciting day for me. A day I have been waiting for for the last 3 years. Our cars are usually pretty dirty only because I could never justify paying someone else money to wash my car when I could do it myself. However living in an apartment, I was never able to do so very easily. Well, this morning, FINALLY, Kate and I were able to wash our cars in our very own driveway. Like I said, as insignificant as that may seem, We have been anxiously awaiting this day. What a wonderful thing it was. I'm looking forward to our next appointment driveway. Until then....

Flower clips

2009-10-16T09:52:00.001-07:00

FALL and FUN Flower Clips are here!

Have a look!

http://www.lilyjillbowtique.etsy.com/

Blessings

2009-10-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

Lily-you are my sunshine!
Brian -you are my everything
My family- you are my encouragement and support
Friends- what would I do with out you guys!
Church- you fill me up and refresh my soul, you are my escape from the world and my hope for forever.
The Boutique- you are my creative release and my bit of extra income.
The house- I can't say enough about what a blessing this is.
My life- you are everything and more than I ever hoped you would be! Life, you are the best!

I woke up this morning and I hear my little girl talking and laughing to herself. I go peak in her room and she is talking to her binky. I smile to myself and let her play until she lets me know that she wants to get up. I walk downstairs and open all my window blinds and let the light rush in. One thing that I did not have in the apartment was natural sunshine. I start to think of what life could be with out my faith in Christ. I realize what a blessed life I have and I feel the need to drop to my knees and thanks Heavenly Father for all that I have. I have happiness, faith, family, friends, health, and the two loves of my life Brian and Lily. I could not ask for more... I hear my little Lily now. I'm coming baby cakes!

Boutique-ing

2009-10-02T12:11:00.001-07:00

LILY JILL BOWTIQUE

SO at the start of this boutique I thought I would focus more on clips and bow. That is not so much the case now. Don't get me wrong, I still love making adorable clips and big fluffy bows. BUT I have been selling Tutus and hand made, hand dyed Leg warmers like crazy. (On Etsy, ebay, and email) I bought a blackberry, and professional camera so I can do my own photography and keep up with online orders. This is turning out to be MUCH more efficient. NOW the only problem is that I don't have the cord I need to upload all the new pictures for all the new products I have for sale. I have new bracelets, tutus, tutu dresses, clips, bows, headbands, and leg warmers. I will be listing all these things by next Wednesday at the latest. Then I can finally have my Grand Opening! Please stay tuned for the new listings coming soon.

For anyone who has not seen what I have in my shop so far, here is the link.

http://www.lilyjillbowtique.etsy.com/

my email nomoremiss@gmail.com

Thanks for looking

beauty

2009-09-16T14:18:00.001-07:00

I love this girl

some of my favorite things

2009-09-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Camping!- We went over Labor Day Weekend. We had so much fun as always. We are shared the food so we didn't spend to much. We were supposed to get dumped on all weekend but crazy us decided we all still wanted to go even if we were wet the whole time. We got 2 drops..literally that's it! We had fun, enjoyed our friends, and Lily was a smiley bundle of joy the whole time. xoxo

Friends- Carson, Katie & Bryan, Desi & J-my son, Diedre & Joe, Abby & David, Amber & Dustin. These are the friends we went camping with over Labor Day.
Family- Carson is my cousin, and of course Lily and Brian.

Fun- We had lots of it.

Food- Great food the whole time. Thanks Guys!

Fishing- Nothing but craw fish were caught but we still had a blast.

Wow a lot of my favorite things start with F.

Storms- We got one heck of a show. We camped right on the Rim. Sunday night we could see a big storm coming close. We all went to sit on the edge and watch... We were getting ready to run for cover because it was coming fast and hard. We watched it turn and hit the other campers but we only got a tiny sprinkle.. Blessings.

Vacation- We work work work to be able to survive, for me its to be able to take vacations. Brian and I have had more than our fair share of fun filled vacations since meeting and marrying. I love you Brian. Seems like Lily likes vacations too!

Its nice when one weekend can house so many of my favorite things.

Lily's new babysitter

2009-09-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

We've been anxiously awaiting the day Lily would be heavy enough to use her bouncer. It is amazing! We can put her in this thing forever and she will just entertain herself. At first she was a little sketchy and didnt know what to do with it, but now she absolutly loves it. Heres a little video of her enjoying herself. We cant believe how big she is getting!

We got our letter!

2009-09-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Finally after months and months of waiting we finally got our house!! FOR REAL THIS TIME! Our close date is September 21st. That is the fastest closing I have ever heard of. Thank you so much mom! You win the realtor of the year award. A big huge bonus is interest rates are so low right now. We lucked out. Note to the world... Prayers do work!

Lily Jill BoWtique

2009-08-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

Lily Jill BoWtique, grand opening coming soon to blogspot and Etsy.com. Hair Clips, Bows, Flower's, and Tu Tu's. All designs inspired by the one and only Lily Jill.

He made me do it

2009-08-21T23:29:00.000-07:00

Today I signed a petition in favor of legalizing medical marijuana because I was slightly(incredibly) terrified of the man asking for the signature. I'm pretty sure if I would have said "no thanks" Brian and Lily would be out a wife and mother. So if it passes, this is my official apology to the world. Sorry.

I managed to snap a quick picture of him before he walked away.

Just kidding just kidding.. but seriously

Lily head

2009-08-20T12:24:00.001-07:00

I am starting to make and sell cute girly hair clips, flowers, and bows. I will have have my stuff up on Etsy.com soon. The "line" is going to be called Lily Jill... for now or until I can think of something to add on to the name. I can't wait to start selling!

2009-08-14T09:58:00.001-07:00

Still waiting waiting WAITING WAITING WAITING for the approval from the second mortgage on the house. Its been one whole week. I am starting to pull all my hair out in chunks. Waiting almost 4 months for the ok on a house in not humane. We only have till September 4th to close on the first mortgage, and we don't have the approval for the second yet. I'm losing my mind.

I just needed to vent a bit.. sorry y'all

Disposable

2009-08-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

The other day Katelyn found a disposable camera all used up in the apartment and we had no idea what was on it. To our surprise it had pictures from a bunch of different camping trips and outings from last summer. Here's some of the pictures from it just for fun. We have braces in some pictures and not in others. This camera must have covered a lot of time.

Kate and her brother Cody

dad

2009-08-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

You know your dad is starting to get old when he gets pulled over for going too slow. Silly daddy

UGG..........'s

2009-08-09T09:58:00.001-07:00

Last night Brian and I decided we needed to go on a date. We got Lily's sweet Grandma to babysit and we were off. We had no plans so we just started driving. We decided to go to Two Hippies Beach House for some killer taco's and lemonade. Than I convinced Brian to "swing by" Last Chance. Its not very close to us so when we are in the area I always find a way to get inside. :0) Brian HATES this store because it is so unorganized and crazy but he still let us go with minimal grumbling. I have been looking for one item in particular since we have been married.. I have wanted Ugg's so bad but the ones I want are $180 bucks!!!!!!!! That means I can never have them.. Unless... I find them at some discount store for cheap cheap cheap. I seriously look in every Ross, TJ Max, Rack, Last Chance and anywhere else that may possibly have a pair of tall medium brown UGG's. Three years of searching and.........

They are mine!!! I was not even looking for them and I found them. They are in perfect condition. I found them but thought they we still too much. ( I have a hard time spending money) They were $40 something, so I put them down. Brian said "oh no you don't" He picked them up and said "You have wanted these forever.. you get to spoil yourself every now and then. These are your Ugg's now!" I love him so much! Thank you babe.

We spent the rest of the night walking around Bed Bath and Beyond(brian's idea) looking at thigs for our house, driving around central looking a huge gorgeous houses. Then we went to see my cousin Lauren's new big beautiful house. They are working very hard to get it move in ready... Its really coming along. Thanks for the wonderful night lover.

The love of a mother

2009-08-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

Lily has been throwing up on and off since Tuesday afternoon. She would not eat.. would not drink at all. I took her to the Dr. but they can't really do anything for her. They drew her blood to make sure it was not some kind of infection. Last night Brian and I got her up at about 1am to get her to drink. Her soft spot was sunken in. That's a bas sign of dehydration. We spent about an hour getting her to take about 3 ounces of pedialight. To our relief she held it down. This morning she is eating all by herself and she is holding it down. Her soft spot is filling in, she is rolling around, giggling, and blowing bubbles.

I can't explain the heart ache and worry I have felt for the past few days. I never knew how much love and concern I could have for my little girl. I love her so much that it makes the edges of my heart hurt. I would say that I do hate one part of motherhood... I hate having to see my baby sick. I am happy she is seeming to feel better. I love you Lily Jill.

A day with Sherree

2009-08-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

My mother in-law is the Best! She had my sister in law Adria and I meet her at Olive Garden yesterday to eat yummy food, than she took us to Target where she let Lily (me) Pick out a toy for herself, Adria's little Kyle picked out a cute kiddie pool, and splash toys. We went back to her house to hang out till the guys got there. Than she ordered a whole bunch of Chinese food, and a chocolate cake from AJ's. She sure knows how to end the summer with a bang.. She is an elementary school teacher, and has to start work today. Good luck Sherree and thanks a ton!

Sorry no pictures.. I'm bad at that.

Blockbuster Bandits

2009-08-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

Brian and I are blacklisted from blockbuster... How embarrassed were we when we went to rent a movie last night and we were told that we were not aloud to rent any movies until we paid our balance... Ok no big deal.. How much... $4.. $5?... Then the kid tells us that we have a balance of $44.85! WHAT???!!! Are you kidding me? Apparently We returned not one but two movies so late that we bought them.. or have to buy them I guess. We also have multiple late fee's. Yes yes I admit that we often return movies late but $44.85 late?????? Who do they think we are? Who has $44.85 to fork over to Blockbuster to pay for movie's that..... get this.... we didn't even watch... We rented them than got to busy to watch them. We felt so embarrassed walking out of the store empty handed. We went to red box.. we will never get a $44 charge from them. Needless to say... We can NEVER go back to Blockbuster. Unless.... anyone want to let us in on their membership??? JK JK not even I trust us with another membership.

Bad form Blockbuster bad form...

Rollie Pollie Ollie

2009-07-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

Back to belly to back to belly to Back all in a row! We have a roller on our hands! She has been rolling over occasionally for about 2 months but NOW as soon as I lay her on the ground to play she starts rolling... and rolling... and rolling. She surprised the heck out of me today. I was in the kitchen making her a bottle and all of the sudden she rolls in to view and starts squawking at me. I love this girl! She can take her Binky in and out of her mouth too.. I know all parents think they have a smart kid.. I AM ONE OF THEM!

I don't know how to load a video onto blogger.. so for now this picture will have to do.

YUM YUM

2009-07-30T10:32:00.001-07:00

Happy National Cheescake Day! We will be going to the Cheesecake Factory tonight!

DROOL WARNING!!

MMMMMMMmmmmmMmmMmMMMMmmmmmmmMmMMMMmmmmmmmmm!

bless and be blessed..

2009-07-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

I know of a couple mothers right now going through what must seem like endless struggles with their newborn babies. One was born VERY premature and the other was born with Major heart and intestinal problems. I read their blog updates and feel so much for them. They are so strong and optimistic. They have such faith in fasting and in the prayers of others. These mothers also feel so blessed every time their little babies make one more step toward progress. I had two miscarriages and one D & C before we were blessed with our healthy Lily. That was such a struggle for Brian and I but the sadness a fear we felt is so minimal in comparison to what these new parents must be feeling. We can also understand the struggle with financial hardship. Having Lily helps me remember to pray each night for the well being and comfort of others.

If you feel like you could do anything to help these family's please help.

There is power in numbers, there is power in prayer.

http://natalie-justin.blogspot.com/ Baby boy Dunkin .... his mother's blog

www.jaycef.blogspot.com/ Baby boy Jayce ... his grandma's blog

http://tyandcaro.blogspot.com/ Baby boy Jayce .... his mother's blog

Foot eater

2009-07-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

Lily has started eating her feet. She will pull and pull at her socks until she gets them off so she can play with her feet. Its funny to watch her tug at and suck on her socks.

A little about Lilly

2009-07-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

My Little Lily is so sweet after waking up in the morning and after naps. I walk in to get her and before I even reach the side on her crib I can hear her giggling and talking because she here's the door open and she knows I am coming to get her. I love her silly personality. She giggles, rolls around, and scoots everywhere. She loves to shake her rattle, she loves to suck on her pink tiger, she loves to drool all over mommy and daddy hands(and cheeks). She makes her mom and dad laugh all the time. She jibber jabbers all day long.. she often talks herself to sleep. She loves to scream Really loud when she gets excited.. especially during church. She sleeps from 7pm to 7am... It can't get any better than that. She loves her naps and even after she wakes up.. she wants a good half hour to talk and play in her crib before getting up. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger.. and I think she knows it. She loves to give and get kisses. She leans into the kisses and opens her mouth. She lives for bath time, she like to swim and splash and kick, she also gets a kick out of being tossed in the air. I love my girl and could not imagine life with out this sweet sweet baby in it.

vintage kicks

2009-07-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

My mom was cleaning out some stuff out of her garage a few weeks ago and found a bunch of old baby things. Most of it was my older sisters. They all vow that they are DONE having kids so now they have no reason to fight me for any of it! Usually they youngest never gets anything like this cuz the older siblings claim it all. I think Lily looks adorable in her 34 year old shoezies!! Thanks for keeping all that cute stuff Mom!

A dream..

2009-07-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

I had a dream that Lily could blow her nose.. I know.. the hope's and dreams of a mother are simple, but how great would it be if she could! She came out with a stuffy nose. Poor girl.

What do you wish your kid could do?

Twinkle toes

2009-07-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

Lily got a pedi! :)

The 4th in Greer

2009-07-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went with the Svancara family up to Greer for some amazing weather and fun with the family. It rained on and off everyday but it was nice to have some moisture for a change. Vacation is definitely different and a little more restricted with Lily, trying to keep her on a napping schedule, but we still had a blast. Here's a few pictures.

Us at the cabin

We couldn't all fit in the Svancara cabin, so we stayed in this lodge down the road.

A photo of some baby birds right before they made their first attempt at flight.

The weather was perfect to enjoy the outdoors.

Kate's prize. For the record she chummed the pond with popcorn to make the fish swarm. I say it's cheating.

I didn't catch anything at the lodge pond. I refused to resort to chumming.

Lily and Kate at the parade in Springerville.

Some deer outside of the cabin.

We spent an afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Svancara.

Fishing at the lake.

I caught a fish at the lake, but Kate didn't get a picture. It was HUGE!

Kate doing some real fishing.

Lily and Me

The Fam.

Food Already?!

2009-06-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

So Lily has been eating a lot more the last week. So I thought just maybe she would like some rice cereal... LIKE was an understatement. She loves it, she loves to eat with a spoon, she even grabs my hand and pulls the spoon to her mouth. She is a champ... she is doing great. Its fun to feed her but I am trying to decide if I want her to be eating food yet. She is growing up too fast. She has only has cereal 3 times from a spoon. I think for now I will just keep giving it to her in her night time bottle.

Mine

2009-06-24T08:09:00.001-07:00

Someone made these for me when I was Lily's age. My sweet mother saved them all these year and now I get to gooo and gaa over how cute they are on my little babe's tootsies.

Lily Jill

2009-06-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

Whenever Lily is excessively tired she gets in a giggly mood. This was changing her right before bed.

Magic Baby

2009-06-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

Lily learned how to levitate!!! Just thought you all should know!

Brian's TV debut

2009-06-11T21:08:00.001-07:00

Today while Brian was at work there was a big gun fight right across the street. Of course he hears gun shots and goes outside to see whats happening instead of taking cover.

I'm my own pet peve

2009-06-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

I use to hate it when people would ONLY ever put pictures of their kids on their blog.. I would always think "I want to see picture of the mamma too!" Well the truth of the matter is, I don't walk around the house all day with the camera just waiting for myself to do something cute so I can take a picture... but I do walk around the house all day with the camera waiting for Lily to do something cute.. And the kid is just way cuter to look at than Brian and I. So maybe my blog is all about "sweet cheeks" but at least she is cute enough to not mind seeing tons of pictures of her right?!! :o)

I'll try to get some pictures up of Brian and I too but for now.... it all about you kid!

The Bumbo! These are so nice!!!

Crazy wont cut his toenails unless I do it for him Man

2009-06-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

I almost lost my leg last night in a tragic(my husbands toe nails are too long) toe nail accident. as I was laying on the floor bleeding to death after the attack... I was able to drag my body to the nightstand to grab the clippers... The clippers won! I was able to save my leg.

The cut that almost took my leg......