The Many Reasons Why We Love Bedtime

A few nights ago we were putting Evelyn to bed and I was thinking how this is one of my favorite parts of the day. Not only because we're putting Ev to bed and then we can relax, but because she gets so snuggly right before we lay her down.
I snuck out during our bedtime routine and grabbed the camera. I ended up with the best picture ever! Snuggly baby and daddy. I love it. Enjoy.

Soon To Be Family Of Four

Hurray! I'm finally 12 weeks pregnant, so I can post it on my blog. It is so true that you show so much sooner with your second:

I'm (hopefully you already knew this) just kidding. I don't like the looks of this picture that was taken on Evelyns due date, but I feel the need to embrace what's coming.

Evelyn and Derek shared the same due date of Sep 10th (Derek was born on the 2nd and Ev on the 13th). Interestingly enough I am now due on what was my due date. This was not planned. So I'm due on June 25th, and I was actually born on July 5th. My poor mother had me ten days overdue. I was 9 lbs. 5 oz. Did anyone else squirm when they read this? This is sounding a lot like revenge. Did anyone elses mom ever say, 'I hope you have a child just like you', at some point? I'm sure my mom said it every day of being overdue. The point of all of this is, I think I'm going to be plenty overdue myself and I'm prepping for it.

When I'm asked what my due date is I am tempted to say July 5th. If only to avoid the, "You're STILL pregnant?" comments that everyone who's been 9 (or 7 or 8) months pregnant loves.

We're very excited and I'm excited to be pregnant through the winter this time.

A Few Family Pictures From Island Park

My father-in-law just sent me these pictures from last weekend in Island Park. This is the whole family. As you can see, we tried to get all the grandkids to sit with grandpa on the couch, but Evelyn is totally clingy to mommy and daddy right now, so she's just looking at them. This picture gives me the giggles, because this is so me and Derek. I would be kissing Derek in every picture if I could but all I do is lean into him and I get this look: (apparently Brad gets the look too.)

Here's grandpa with all his grandkids. All of them did so well except for dear, sweet Evelyn. This picture must have been taken between cryings.

Hanging The Lights

Does anyone else ever feel like they're just playing house? Like we're not really adults, just teenagers who are pretending to play house? This felt like another moment of playing house. We hung Christmas Lights on the house. It was really fun for all of us because the weather outside was very pleasant and it suprisingly didn't take that much time.

I am happy to post this picture of Evelyn smiling. She normally becomes very quizzical when the camera comes out. I feel the need to prove that she does smile. I got this stroller out so she could push it around, but instead she wanted to sit in it and watch dad hang the lights.


Derek hanging the lights.

Evelyn was helping with the lights as well.

Then decided to climb the ladder once she saw how it was done.

And continued to climb...

More (supervised this time) climbing...

The Goose is Getting Fat

I want that to be the title for every post now that it is December. I always have that song in my head during Christmas season, 'Christmas is coming the Goose is Getting Fat...'

We were in Island Park this last weekend with all the Reeds and went tree hunting. We found a great one. Derek and I both agree that it's the best tree we've ever had. We love it.

We came home on Sunday and decorated the tree and the house. It was so fun. Evelyn really enjoyed it as well. The decorated tree looks great, except that there are no ornaments on the bottom third of it. I thought things would be much easier if we did it that way.

Here is Evelyn putting on her ornament from last year.

I just bought this BYU ornament and Derek loves it. He chose this to be the first ornament on the tree.

Little Monkey

Evelyn is a serious climber. I can't figure out how she climbs onto the things that she does. These pictures were taken on Thanksgiving Day at Great-Grandma Reeds house. The food was better than it's ever been. It was so yummy.

This picture in particular is how she climbes best: one inch from falling.

Where Have I Been For The Last Two Weeks, You Ask?

I've dedicated some serious time into a few projects that I'm putting in a craft fair. When I haven't been working on them I am constantly thinking about them.

I wanted to post these pics mostly for myself so can remember them when they're (hopefully) gone. I'm starting to get nervous because how can you know what people are going to like enough to buy?

The craft fair will be held at the Expo Center in Sandy, UT November 14th-16th. If anyone is around come and say hello. Hope you like ALL the pictures!

Monkey Quilt:
Blue & Pink Carriage Quilts:
Flannel Star Quilts:

Matching Carriage and Monkey Burp Cloths:

Onesies For 12 mo. Baby Boys:

Onesies For 12 mo. Baby Girls:

Boy and Girls Tops in 2T and 3T:

Left Over Halloween Candy

I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking when I bought a huge bag of Halloween candy.

I thought we would be at home for some of the Halloween evening, which we weren't. I also didn't realize that the bag was so big. I guess that's the idea at Wal-Mart since they have an ENTIRE aisle for candy. I'm consoled only in the fact that Derek and I both like Sweet Tarts, and my Primary kids were happy on Sunday to get this for a snack instead of Graham Crackers.

I try to keep this large bag in a cupboard that it rarely visited to we don't eat it ALL DAY. One day I came into the kitchen and found that our little mouse had sniffed out the candy and was trying to get into it. Luckily she hadn't nibbled through the paper yet. I'm sure she'll have better luck next year.

Pig Tails... The Fun Never Stops

As I've been stroking my childs hair lately, I've been thinking that it may be long enough to do pig tails. Well, we did it and I just couldn't get enough of it. She looked way too grown up, but it was so cute. I wasn't able to get a front pic that showed her piggies so I just got some back shots.

Happy Halloween!

What a fun holiday! Derek and I had so much fun getting ready for Halloween, dressing Evelyn up, and trick-or-treating.

We like this picture of our little mouse after make-up but before costume.


As you know from our previous post, Evelyn loved the pumpkins. This is our best pic of her with them lit.

Cat and Mouse! Don't worry, this kitty kept her appetite under control and didn't eat her cousin... I mean mouse. Evelyn loves her cousins and was so happy to go trick-or-treating with Faye. We only went around my parents' block but we got a sweet stash of candy for Derek and I :). These costumes were great because they were so warm. Faye was a big hit when she would say, "meow, trick-or-treat" or "meow, thank you."

Evelyn was pretty happy with her sucker if you can't tell from her white-knuckle-grip on it. I tried to take it away from her to wipe her hands off and I learned pretty quickly that idea would have to wait.

Halloween is definitely more fun with kids. I can't wait for next year.

Pumpkin Eater

We carved pumpkins for the first time as a family and we had so much fun! Little Miss Evelyn loves the slime inside of pumpkins. I love this first picture because she was pulling at the slime peices from the lid of Dereks pumpkin for just about the whole time we were carving. When she wasn't doing this she was pulling the slime out of the bowl and back into the pumpkins. She also had a lot of fun sitting on the table.

This is the finished product. Unfortunatley it was after Evelyn was in bed, but we all had so much fun.

Everyone Loves Potatoes

In celebration of Harvest being over (aside from the disking, and cleaning up, stuff) I have decided to celebrate the potato.

A few weeks ago we were at my father-in-laws house for dinner and Evelyn was playing on the counter. She found a baked potato that we hadn't eaten for dinner and decided it was delicious. Bryon took these pictures of her. I think that these pictures will always make us laugh.

Compromises at Nap Time

What blog would be complete without a picture of your child sleeping? I just looked in her room to see if Evelyn was still sleeping because I had heard her make some noise a few minutes earlier. This is what I saw:

I guess if she's going to insist on sleeping the width of the crib then some compromises must be made.

Any comments on how many blankets I put in her crib? I don't know why I do it, she is never underneath them.

Walking Is Not For Sissies Part 2

What happens when your child's face collides with the wall? A fat lip, that's what.

After this latest collision I am on edge every time she teeters. After a few minutes, however, the bleeding stopped and an otter pop made her happy again. She keeps touching her lip expecting to find a piece of food instead of a fat lip. Now that it's all over I can't help but laugh because I think she looks like she has a little birds' beak. Poor baby.

Walking Is Not For Sissies

Evelyn is learing to walk and doing very well at it. She can take about 8 steps at best. I loved this picture because it is evidence of all of her falls. If you look closely or blow this picture up you can see about three colision sites and they all happened to be on the left side.

I Caught Me A Trophy

The events happened in this order:

Derek scooping up my fish while Caleb carefully observes the process.



Derek struggling to bring it into the boat (I'm sure it's due the immense size and weight).

Derek is saying something like, "Holy moly! We've got to get a picture of you with this fish!" You can tell by my hand how anxious I was to hold it.

Here Derek is grabbing it with his finger to hand it to me. I was horrified because it's gills were HUGE! Then I realized I was wearing a glove on my right hand and was therefore completely capable of holding it.

Ta-da! A full six pounds of fish right out of Henrys Lake.

This Is Not A Resort

We just had such a fun weekend in Island Park. We were there with Kurtis and Jolenes family. We had so much fun. Evelyn loves her cousins. They are so good to her, and that makes mommy happy.

Here is a family pic of us before our 4wheeling/motorbike ride that we took to go look through a cabin under construction. We were all frozen when we came home. I love this picture because I thought that Evelyn looked so cute all bundled up. I'm used to seeing her in shorts and a t-shirt. Also, if you'll notice the gloves that are actually socks? I love it. Evelyn loves 4wheeling. Every time we've gone this summer she hasn't even made a peep.

Evelyn loved to sit in this desk. Whenever she was missing we could find her here.

The title for this post is for my father-in-law and anyone else who was around when he said it.

The Queen of Bath Time

Evelyn really likes to play in the bath. She has recently found joy in eating bubbles. She doesn't eat them out of her hand or anything simple like that, she eats them from off the top of the water. Half the time she comes up coughing. This is a picture of her bubble goatee after sucessfully eating some bubbles. No, this is not a toupee. Notice the farmer tan? She is so much like her dad.