eight years

Yes, I'm just now posting this even though our anniversary was a few days ago. We didn't really go out and do anything. Just a nice quiet (after the kids went to bed) evening at home. We do have plans to officially celebrate our anniversary later this month where we will be going out to eat in Santa Barbara at a restaurant where one of our favorite artists, Sondre Lerche, will be performing. We're looking forward to it!

I just want to take this opportunity to say that I have the greatest husband in the world! He is so sweet and loving and he's also a wonderful dad. Everyday I feel like the luckiest girl alive to have snatched up such a great guy. Love you, Danny! Thanks for making the last eight years so fabulous!

auditions update

Okay, I've had lots of people asking me "How did those auditions go?" So, I will tell you all about it here.

The auditions themselves went great. :o) There were about 30 people at the LA audition and 50 at the Salt Lake one a few days later. I really wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be and they really tried to make it as laid back for everyone as they could.

I didn't make it into the top 20, so obviously I'm not in the top 6 finalists either. You can go here to listen to the top 20 and the 6 finalists. I'm totally fine with how everything turned out. I had fun, it was a good experience, and I can just go to the game and enjoy myself instead of enduring the torture of waiting to see if I would be picked or not with the other finalists (yeah, that's how they are doing it!). The only thing that I'm a little urked about is that not one person in the top 6 is from the LA area. It just seems weird that they are all either from Utah or Arizona and they are competing to sing at a Dodger's game. Anyway, you can listen to them if you'd like and form your own opinions. While there are definitely some talented people on there, there were also some interesting choices in the top 20. I guess it's all a matter of preference. :o) Oh, well! Best of luck to the top 6 finalists!

and the score is...

BOYS - 2

GIRLS - 2!!

We are all so excited to meet

this new little girl!

And yes, Shailey is VERY happy that she will not be "boy trapped"!

auditions

Okay, so Danny made me audition to sing the national anthem for "Mormon Night" at Dodger Stadium and I didn't want to do it. But like I said, he made me do it. :o) I had to send in two recorded songs of myself singing: the national anthem and a song of my choice. I had to fill out an application along with the bishop's approval. I had to send it in by June 15th. I then I waited.

Recently I got a letter back saying that out of over 500 applicants from around the US and Canada, I was being selected as one of 80 semi-finalists to audition live in front of a panel of judges on July 18th. Now I am terrified! I hate auditioning! People have asked me, "Well, isn't it just the same as singing in church?" NO! It's totally different! When I sing in church I don't have people critiquing my performance to my face. So since the live auditions are actually at an LDS chapel near the LA Temple, I'm just going to pretend that I'm just singing in church. Now I just have to convince my nerves. :o)

sewing projects

I spent all weekend working on a few sewing projects for the baby.

Here they are!

Ever since I saw these nursing capes a few years ago I've always wanted one. They seem like the perfect way to nurse in public. No more worrying about your blanket falling down unexpectedly, exposing yourself to all the world! Since I've never had one before I was so excited to make one this time around. Here's the picture I used as a guide.

And here's the end result:

The picture isn't that great since nobody is actually modeling it but you get the general idea. I stitched two pockets on the inside of the cape for pacifiers or nursing pads. I can't wait to use it!

My other project was making burp cloths. Instead of the standard cloth diapers that we always seemed to use for our other kids, I decided to dress them up a bit. I took regular cloth diapers and backed them with soft flannel material. They look a little more stylish and they're still functional. I still have three more that are waiting to be finished but I wanted to wait until we know what we're having so I don't have to keep selecting gender neutral fabrics!

(By the way, is the brown fabric in the center gender neutral enough?? I stuggled over that one since it has the flower design. I just thought it was so cute!! Besides, it's not like the baby wears them, right? This is just me justifying my material selection!)

My next project will be a crib set. But that will definitely have to wait until we find out what we're having. That is something I want to go all out for--

boy or girl!

will you cuddle with me?

Isaac came up to me the other night and asked,


"Mommy, will you cuddle with me for two minutes?"


He pointed his index finger and thumb out indicating the number two.
How could I resist?

I was asleep before the two minutes were up.

guess what?

It looks like we'll have one more blessing to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. :o)

I only wish we would have thought to record the kids' reaction on camera when we told them last night. Their jaws all dropped and they started screaming and dancing around the room. It was so cute!

Shailey hopes for a girl because in her words, "If we have another boy then I will be 'boy trapped'." Oh dear... here's hoping for a girl!

fairy art

I love fairies. I will admit that one of my guilty pleasures is playing Pixie Hollow with Shailey. We both have our own fairies that we love to dress up and play games with. Recently they ran an art contest with the theme "Fairy Friendships" so Shailey and I decided to enter. She told me what to draw and I drew it and submitted it. We titled it "A Mother-Daughter Friendship" since the picture featured her fairy (in pink) and my fairy (in yellow).

It's been about two weeks sinced I mailed the picture. Shailey was getting on today to play and thought she'd check to see if they had selected winners yet. Lo and behold, there was our picture listed as one of the Grand Prize winners. And the prize? A Nintendo DS with the Tinker Bell game. (My other guilty pleasure is playing video games and I have always wanted a DS but could never justify spending around $130 for one!).

This was Shailey's reaction when she found out we were one of ten Grand Prize winners. :o)

new bulletin board

Okay, after looking at the bulletin board on my new desk for a couple days it was starting to bug me. So I changed it. What do you think? I like it so much better. :o)

my "all purpose" desk

About a month ago I found a desk on Craigslist that I knew would be perfect for my scrapbooking/cardmaking/sewing/crafting needs, it just needed a little work. :o) I wanted to add a back to it so I could have my most-used supplies at hand without taking up valuable surface space.

I finally found the time to finish it! I'm so excited to start using it. I'm still in the process of organizing all of my supplies and figuring out what goes into which drawers. But I don't mind. It's just nice to have an area of my own where I don't have to stress about taking up valuable family space. I guess I really have no excuse for not scrapbooking now!

happy anniversary!

Well, today Danny and I celebrate 7 years of wedded bliss! I can't believe it's already been 7 years! It went by so quickly. I hope the next 7 years will be as wonderful as the first. I love you, Danny! :o)

haircut and birthday party

Isaac had his birthday party the other day. He loved all the attention. :o) Here are just a few pictures of him.

Here's a video of everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to Isaac. I love how he tries to blow out the candles.

To finish off the post here's a picture of my latest haircut. I love it! It's not the best picture but you can only do so well when you're taking a picture of yourself. And it's not styled as nicely as it was when it was first cut a couple of days ago. Oh, well. You get the idea.

single parent

So Danny is gone for a few days and I'm left at home to watch the kids by myself...all day...for 4 days. He left early Monday morning and by the afternoon I was already going crazy. I'm not kidding. Anyway, he'll be back late Thursday night but I miss him a lot. I hate being home by myself and I hate sleeping by myself. Last night I woke up Shailey and had her come into bed with me. That turned out to be a mistake since Isaac woke up in the middle of the night and also ended up sharing my bed with me. So then I had two kids kicking me all night. So tonight (if I can even go to sleep...it's already 1:30 in the morning! Yikes!) I will be enjoying the whole bed to myself thank you very much!

I'm going to see Wicked on Saturday with a group of friends. I'm really looking forward to it and I think that after this week is done it's going to be a much needed break from the kids. Sorry Danny! Just think of it as an early Mother's Day gift to me!

One more thing. The kids and I planted sunflowers from seeds and have been watching them grow. I've been taking pictures of them each week. Here's how much they grew in April! It's amazing!

The tallest ones have now reached the horizontal fence piece on the top. It's crazy how much they grow! Well, I should probably try to go to sleep so I'm not zombie mom tomorrow. Good night!

the dentist...duh duh DUHHH!

Okay, I am so awful. I went over two years without seeing a dentist. I know, I know. But with three kids and a few moves it was just really low on my priority list. So I finally buckled down and scheduled a dentist appointment for myself. Well, let me say that I'm glad I did and I'm not glad I did...but mostly I'm glad.

First of all, it was nice to get my teeth all squeaky clean (actually he said for not seeing a dentist for two years they weren't bad at all). Secondly, he discovered a small crack on one of my back molars where a filling that I had was leaking into my tooth...or something along those lines. Anyway, bottom line is that it wasn't hurting me...yet. If I had waited until it did hurt, it would have been a very painful and very expensive root canal! Yikes! I had no idea. I also had a small cavity in the back that needed to be taken care of.

I'm not very fond of going to the dentist, either. In fact, I hate going to the dentist. And this trip just reminded me why. They had to take 18 x-rays of my mouth. Yes, 18. I almost think that's the worst part. Nearly gagging every time they jammed those sharp (I know they aren't really sharp but they feel like they are) bites into my mouth was a real joy.

After the cleaning came another fun part. I have this thing where I don't like being jabbed with needles (who does?). So getting shots in my mouth? ....eehhhh. Anyway, they really only felt like pinches so it wasn't too bad. The bad part was the drilling! I know I was numbed up but I could still feel it. Imagine what the "nails on a chalkboard" sound would feel like.

Then they had to fit me with a temporary crown. That seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r! They had to keep sticking it on, take measurements and then pry it off. It felt like my whole tooth was going to rip out of my mouth each time. And it feels so weird in my mouth. My tongue is totally drawn to it all the time. The real crown comes in two weeks. I only hope it will feel like a real tooth and not this gritty feeling temporary one.

The best part (not really) was when the bill came. My insurance covered about half of the bill but I was still stuck with paying over $500. I guess it could have been worse. A root canal would have cost me nearly $2,000...so $500 is looking pretty good.

So the lesson here boys and girls:

DON'T WAIT TWO YEARS TO SEE YOUR DENTIST!