i love a bargain.

Boston and I go on a lot of walks and sometimes we run out of exciting places to walk to so occasionally (especially on a hot day) we'll walk around the DI which is only a few blocks from our house. At first I didn't intend on buying anything but I realized I really enjoyed searching for a great deal. Here are some of my finds from the last two months.

I love this Old Navy tweed jacket I found at DI for only $8 and the purple flats for $10 at Ross. I got the purple snake skin kitten heels from Target ... possibly my favorite shoes!

Another great jacket which is perfect for making any outfit look nice enough for work. It was only $6 at DI and is originally from Target. I got the skinny jeans for $10 at Burlington when they were having a store-wide jeans sale. I love them with heels or gold flats.

Just a cute and super comfy sweatshirt I found for $4 and it still had the tags on it.

I LOVE this skirt I got for $4 ... I'm excited to wear it with boots as soon as it gets cold enough. The colors looks so much better in person ... I love the turquoise, hot pink, black and brown combo.

Just a super comfy lace tank from Gap that I got for $1 ... I love to wear it under things or to bed because it's so so soft!

Going public.

We are thrilled to be having this little body and head join our family on or around March 5th. This picture was taken two months ago when I was only 10 wks so updated 20 wk pictures will be coming soon along with the gender!! Any predictions?...

It can happen!!

I was really freaked out about a dream I had a few months ago where I got pregnant while already being pregnant so I had two babies growing in me that were different ages. I thought it was such a weird dream and it made me wonder if that could really ever happen... I just found out that it has but thankfuly not to me. Check out this crazy story!

Talking.

I'm amazed that last week Boston just decided to start talking and his vocabulary has been growing so fast. Everyday he'll say a new word or two. Some of them he's only said a few times but he's starting to say them more regularly and in context.

Some of Boston's Vocabulary:

Shoe (shhh-ewe)
Toes
Eye
Hat (at)
Juice (zshuice)
Book (boop)
Poop
Cat
Meow (e-owe)
Thank-you (dank-ewe)

I tried to catch a few of them on video. We also captured the spastic side of Boston.

Walking.

Boston started walking a few days after his first birthday but he has been picky about when he would do it. He still seemed to prefer crawling because it was faster so it wasn't until a week or two ago that he's really made the transition to walking and now he walks everywhere!

Eating with utensils.

Boston has started learning how to feed himself with utensils. He's surprisingly more patient about it then I am watching him.

Another endearing post about Mark.

I realize that I might be the only person who thinks this is funny but the other night when Mark was on his way home I asked him stop and pick up some toilet paper because we were almost out... I know hilarious huh?! When he got home he proceeded to tell me how awesome the toilet paper he got was. He even felt the need to give me a side-by-side comparision as he told me about all the great features of our new toilet paper. As you can see the brand he got is rolled tighter so it will last us a lot longer. In fact the brand he bought is wrapped 300 times and the next highest he saw was only wrapped 200 times! What a bragain. He also said it was softer and after a side-by-side comparison I would have to concur. I am so proud of you Mark and because I have discovered your love for buying routine household items I will start letting you pick them out more often. I bet you're all just dying to know what this far superior brand of toliet paper is ... you'll have to ask him.

Newest finds.

I was so excited when I found these suspenders at Kid-to-kid for only a dollar! They had Boston's name all over them.

Boston apparently also wanted to show off his new chair. Someone gave it to us and I thought Boston would care less about it but he loves it! He likes to sit in it and read his books or watch a show and he loves to stand up on it and make it rock.

First Word!

Boston said his first official word yesterday (other than mama and dada and hi which he's been saying for a while). Mark was getting him ready to go outside and he said "shoe" when Mark was putting his shoes on him. I was at work and was so sad I missed it... It sounds so cute like "shhhhheeewe." I think it's kind of funny because we almost never put shoes on the kid we usually just bring him places barefoot. He's also been trying to say a lot of other words when we label them for him which is fun. He usually gets pretty close. It's so fun to see him learning.

No better way to celebrate...

I surprised Mark with a trip to Cancun to celeberate our 5-year anniversary. I can't believe I was able to keep it a seceret for so long because I was dying to tell him but it was totally worth it. He was really shocked that I could get away with something like that and he kept thinking I was playing a mean prank on him. My parents drove out from California to watch Boston all week while we were gone and they had a lot of fun together. I was a little worried that maybe Boston should be missing us enough because he never got upset or cried for us but he was still so happy to see us when we got home so that was reassuring. We stayed at an all inclusive resort which had 9 different resturaunts so we ate a lot drank a lot of pina coladas and spent most of our time on the beach which was so gorgeous and the water was so warm! Here are some highlights:

One of the days we took a catamaran to the "Island of Woman" which is a really smile island only about 5 miles around so we rented a golf cart and rode around the whole island ... it had spectacular views.

No Thanks. I'll stay up here.

The catamaran ... or booze cruise more like.


Heaven. One day we stayed there from morning until night.

We went swimming down inside this cave which I thought would make me feel claustraphobic but I LOVED it!

Chitzen-Itza ...



I am definetly having beach withdrawls.

Great Reads!!

I've been so lost in books lately. I go through periods were I just get so enthralled that I'm reading a new book every spare second I have and going through books in just a few days and then I burn myself out and I won't pick up a book for a month or so. I don't know why I'm so crazy but I can't seem to find middle ground. Every book that I read makes me think of another book I want to read so no matter how fast I fly through books it never seems fast enough. It drives me crazy and makes me feel so desperate to go back to school so I can be back in full-time learning mode.

I read this fabulous book while Mark and I were in Cancun (more about that later) and I would highly recommend it to all my mom and mom-to-be friends. It is one of the most inspiring and empowering books I've ever read and I cried through most of it. It's written by Jenny McCarthy but includes stories from a lot of different moms. I have to admit a year ago I probably would have laughed if someone would have told me I would ever read a book written by Jenny McCarthy but don't let that hold you back. It's all about empowering mom's to be advocates for their children and to trust in our motherly instincts. Even people who have good intentions don't know our children like we do.


Then I found another absolutely fabulous book on a similar topic which is written by an MD who practices integrative medicine. I love his philosophies on health! I really couldn't put this one down it has so much invaluable information for parents.

Holter Lake

My grandparents own a cabin on a lake in Montana called Holter and I went there every summer growing up so it brings back a lot of fond memories. It is pretty secluded and rustic. You can only get to it by boat and even though there IS running water there is NO shower or even a toilet. Just a fabulous out-house. I didn't take very many pictures of the week unfortunately but here are a few.




Bathing Boston in a bucket. My brother Josh and his wife Amy. They caught a lot of fish during the week and even though I like fish I couldn't bring myself to eat any of it because it really creeped me out. Here's a video of Boston in his make-shift bathtub.

July Birthdays!

Wow it's already September. I guess I'm behind. Boston and I both celebrated our birthdays in July. Yes our little man is already one!! On his actual birthday we took him to the Veterans pool in Provo because they have a really fun play area for kids.

We also celebrated Boston's birthday with Mark's family but I don't have any pictures to post yet. He got lots of books though which is great because they are by far his favorite! He's so funny, he would rather sit and look at books then play with any of the fun toys he has. He loves to point at all the pictures now and look up at us to label them for him. He talks constantly! I don't know when he got so talkative but I feel like he is just telling me stories all day long. He has two more teeth breaking through on the bottom so that's a total of 8 teeth now.


He's been really affectionate lately which is somewhat surprising because he's so active and energetic. He'll be playing and then every once in a while he'll come over and lay his head on my lap or give me a hug almost like he's wanting to reassure me that even though he's always busy he still loves me. It's so precious. He didn't care for his birthday cake he just wanted to throw it on the ground. He's also started walking. He can walk as far as he wants really and will often walk around our whole house but when he gets excited he always tries to run and then falls.


On my birthday Mark took me out to a nice dinner which was heavenly.