Giant picture test...

TESTING GIANT PICTURES

We miss Daddy

Daddy's on a trip. Now this is not anything new to us... but this time we really miss him!

We've been trying to keep really busy while he's gone so we don't end up just sitting in the house and turning into hermits... So Thursday we walked... yes walked to scera pool. It's about 9 blocks south so it's not that bad... but in almost 100 degree weather... it's pretty tiring. We stayed at the pool for about an hour before beginning our trek home. Then yesterday we crafted a little bit.. made a cotton ball bunny with white pom poms, cotton balls, and pipe cleaners... Poor Lilly just cried at it though because the cotton kept getting torn off. She got over it though and now even though it's just a couple of white pom poms glued together with bent ears... she still wants to carry around her "boken bunny". I made a really pretty butterfly out of felt and pipe cleaners and rhinestones and some leftover pretty pink chiffon-type material... but she wanted nothing to do with it... she didn't even look at it.  She was too busy crying over her bunny!

Then we headed out for some bubble fun, which didn't end up being very fun. Lilly wanted to make a game out of pouring the bubbles into the bubble pan and then dumping it out... And I had to go and ruin the fun... what's a mom for though right?

Today we woke up at about 6:30. We started the day off with a 2 mile run, which even though my time was RIDICULOUSLY slow.. (22 minutes) I was still very proud of myself for running 2 miles after not having ran for about a year! In high school after a whole semester of working on it.. I still couldn't even run half a mile without stopping... I must have been really out of shape back then... Cause I still feel out of shape even now!
Anyway, Lilly was a little confused about this early morning Stroller ride since we were moving much faster... But she loved starting the day that way!

We went to a family members baby shower today and Lilly loved running around like a crazy woman so pretty much I just chased her around and snapped a few pictures of the shower when I could...
Then we went shopping for a little bit. Old navy had a great sale on and we got a few things that I LOVE!! Including a new swimsuit for Lilly and some floaties..
We came home and chilled for a while and then headed off to the pool again! I know you aren't supposed to use floaties on a child under 3.. but she loved them so much!!!! It was so cool to watch her figure out what she can do and just get confidence in herself... I took her out in the water and tried to hold her as little as possible, she didn't realize the floaties make you float so she was freaking out a little bit.. so we went back into the shallow part and I just let her run around. She fell a couple of times and by doing that she figured out the floaties kept you above the water! She ran around purposely falling and figured out how to tilt her head so the water didn't get in her face! Once she got confident in that she started walking out to deeper water and just testing her limits...she eventually got to where she couldn't touch and she was so excited that she was still above the water!! She actually started kicking and swimming around!! We were both so excited! She then saw some kid jumping off the edge of the pool. She has seen kids do this earlier and has even tried it, but it always ended up her just sitting down and falling into my arms. But today she did it all by herself.. should wouldn't even let me catch her cause she wanted to do it all by herself.. like a big girl! So proud of my little swimmer!
She got so worn out by all that swimming that we went home and she ate dinner, asked for a diaper change and asked if it could be bedtime... What a sweetheart!
Unfortunately that means I'm laying on the couch with nothing to do but blog and say how much I'm missing my husband! It's easy to let him go when I have an INCREDIBLE amount of work to do, but when all I have to do is enjoy my family... it's hard to not have one of them here...

Steve gets home on Wednesday and then Thursday we fly out to New Jersey for the Annual Stott Family Vaca! We leave New Jersey on July 6th and then July 7th is our 3rd anniversary.... So maybe what we will do for that is rest!!!

I haven't taken many pictures these last couple of days... but here are a few from this last week.

Motivation..

Thank Heavens I had it today.

It's been months since our bedroom hasn't been covered with books and shoes and clothes... clean and dirty! But today.. somehow... I found the motivation to fix that.

 Ahhh.... Even a made bed!

Wait.. who is that fox in the back?? ;) jk

Yes.. I know it's quite bare... I need to do a little decorating in here now!  

And guess what we have now..

5 bags of clothes we are donating to DI... and probably more after that!

And it's not just our bedroom.. but for the past several weeks now, I've somehow found the motivation to:
1) Do my laundry.. including folding the clean clothes, putting them away and even ironing things almost every day..
2)Do my dishes... My sink is shining and I like it that way!
3) Clean my bathroom..I"m talking cleaning the toilet, countertops and mirror.. and here's the kicker.. EVERYDAY! And guess when I do it... Right when I wake up in the morning..before I even go to school! it's been a good thing too because Lilly has discovered the "potty" and the fact that her stuffed froggies and ducks like to go swimming in there, as well as her toothbrush... We cleaned all of that stuff (not the toothbrush.. we just threw that away) But every time this horrible incident happens I am SO completely happy that I cleaned the toilet that day!
4)Just a bunch of random things that I have always had a hard time doing.. like even if I did clean an area of the house we would find it messy about an hour later. You know what the difference is?

The phrase "Do it NOW!"

I don't know if anyone knows about FLYlady but she is amazing! I love her system! All of the mothers that read my blog should go check her out here! Your life will change! Anyway, one of the things she says is that you don't need to wait till later to deal with something. It won't be easier, you won't be less tired... just deal with it now and it will be done! I love it!

So whenever I see a mess start to creep up and I groan to myself and start to walk by it... I hear the words in my head "DO IT NOW!" and I just think... Heck yeah!! Love it!

Not only that but I think I'm finding my groove over the summer! Lilly and I have so much fun! I'm going to miss her so much when it's time to go back to school full-time!
ahh... better enjoy summer while I can!

Daddy's day!

What a wonderful day it was yesterday. A day where we get to celebrate the men in our lives that make us feel safe, comfortable, and happy...

Lilly and Daddy have such a special relationship... she loves her daddy so much. Sadly, Steve travels an awful lot and she misses him so much while he is gone, but I think that grows her heart a little bit every time because you never see a happier girl than when we see Daddy come home from the airport...

The more we raise our daughter the more I understand the need for a girl to have a great daddy. Steve treats me so well and loves me so much and works so hard for his family... and someday when Lilly is looking for her husband, she'll look for someone who loves and cares just as much as her daddy!

The great thing about Steve as a dad is that he is so well rounded... I always thought he would be the guy that would just play with our kids.. and not discipline them or do a ton of the work like changing diapers  or anything like that... but he is so good. He doesn't let Lilly get away with bad things... he changes diapers just as much as I do.. and he is still the funnest one to play with. We are so lucky to have him!

We started the day off with scrambled eggs and cheese, Cinnamon streusel muffins, and yummy fruit smoothie juice in bed. Then... in order to give Daddy exactly what he wanted for Fathers day... we left and let Daddy have a morning to himself to sleep in and relax! I know that sounds weird.. but Daddy gets worked to the bone and both of us have been CRAVING a day where we don't get out of bed... we used to do that all the time before we were parents... just lay in bed and watch movies and cuddle all day... haven't done it in a very long time due to the little one who won't stay in bed that long. Anyway... When we came home we had naps and let Daddy play his video game. Another thing he NEVER gets to do without some sort of interruption.

For Fathers day meal, I caved on my "never-eat-pizza-again" policy and we made homemade pizza. This particular pizza requires 2 things that I just can't do... roll out pizza dough.. and Steves famous sesame garlic chicken. So Steve did have to do quite a bit of cooking on Fathers day... but when it's pizza.. Steve LOVES cooking.. in fact, when I try to do it myself he usually butts me out of the kitchen.

We love you Daddy!

We also got a chance to talk to Papa Eldredge on the phone. I love my Dad... Our family has been through some hard times, but I'm glad that Lilly gets to have her Papa. She loves you so much!

The only thing we didn't get to do is talk to Papa Stott. They recently moved to Abu Dhabi and we don't have a way to talk to them on the phone so we just sent Happy Fathers Day vibes out into the world for Randy! We love you and can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks!

The rest of our lives...

When we are kids... we are asked what we want to be when we grow up... and as a child... we can only give 1 answer....

I was talking to a friend today who was making a very important decision. One based on pure speculation, having no experience in what she was choosing, which didn't bother me at all. We all have to make decisions like that.. it's completely necessary. What intrigued me was how absolute she was on this decision. She wasn't happy the way she was and could never be happy the way she was, although she is doing wonderful things. And she was convinced that this new lifestyle she has chosen will make her happy "for the rest of her life." See the interesting thing to me about that phrase is that I don't think people understand how long the rest of your life is! How can someone do one thing for their entire life?

I am 23 years old. If I live till sometime in my 80's that gives me some 60 years left of my life. I've just begun on my journey! I'm just barely getting started! I am young! There have been no decisions that I have made that will keep me from doing anything I chose to do in the future..and I truly believe that!

I have been a ballet dancer for a very long time. I started at age 8 which puts me at 15 years of ballet. Now I love it beyond all belief, and I don't believe I'll ever really quit, but that doesn't mean I HAVE to do what I'm doing now for the rest of my life. I love jazz... I am finding a love for modern dance.. who knows... maybe I'll continue with ballet for several years... maybe I'll stop after graduation... maybe I'll audition for a bunch of companies and make one... maybe I'll start acting... maybe I'll be a modern dancer... maybe I'll decide to have 10 kids.... maybe we'll pack up and move to Europe...maybe I'll write a book... maybe I'll become a famous choreographer, photographer, or performer... maybe I'll start my own company...maybe I'll go back to school to become a doctor or physical therapist... or you know what.... Maybe I'll do all of those things. I have the time... I have 60 years... surely I can do whatever I want. This is my life and I can be more than one thing if I want to be...

and do I want to be!

Now with that said I realize that some decisions cannot be undone... well... I guess they can.. but these are decisions that I have made for myself that WILL not be undone...

1) I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints.

(no... I didn't take this picture... I wish!)
I will try to live up to the standards the Lord has set in everything I do. That being said...I will make mistakes... I am human...but I will fix those mistakes along the way.

2) I am married to a wonderful man.

He is my other half... I love him very much and every decision I make will be based upon his support and with him in mind. I will be faithful to him for not only the rest of our lives... but for eternity... Forever baby.. thats how we do...

3) I am a mother.

I have one child right now.. but that will change eventually... we will have more kids... and as we have talked about the timing of our next child or subsequent children... we have agreed that our children deserve as much of us as we can give them. I will not make any decisions in my life that will take my motherhood away from me.. or take away the attention my children need and deserve.

4) I am a dancer...

Yes... if you noticed this is the only one that deserves the "dot dot dot's"  .... and this is why.
I am a dancer. I have tried to get rid of this part of me in the past and have failed miserably. It's in me. And I believe it will always be in me... no matter what I'm doing. That doesn't mean I will always be a ballet dancer... but it means that movement and the dance world will always be a part of what I'm doing. It will affect me in every aspect of my life... and I know that I will never be able to stop moving... So whether I'm choreographing, teaching, dancing ballet, dancing jazz, dancing modern, dancing ballroom.... this art form will always be a part of me.

So there it is... this is the basic outline of "the rest of my life".... the rest hopefully will be filled with really-high highs... and hopefully not-too-low lows..and they will change and morph and develop and lead me down different paths that I never expected.

So that is the new title of my blog... The rest of my life... Hopefully I'll be able to write down the things that I choose to fill "the rest of my life" with here in this blog.

Who says you can only grow up to be one thing.......

The rest of your life.

What an ominous phrase....

I've been thinking about it lately... and haven't quite put my thoughts together... What does this phrase make you think of?

Summerfest

Ok... fine... I'm a huge fan of Summerfest!

We enjoyed the festivities to the fullest!

Starting the festivities off on Friday with two African dwarf frogs that Lilly "won" by tidying up the throwing a ball into a cup!
There was this Shakespeare Troupe that came to do a show of Romeo and Juliet and it was really fun while we were there.. but the weather was too bad for us to stay so we ditched out on the rest of the show.

We went back on Saturday and enjoyed so many fun things... I wasn't expecting them so I didn't bring my camera but I am kicking myself now!

Lilly got to do the kids craft section.. she chose to make a hat! She got an orange hat and put flowers and leaves and stars all over it! It was so "pitty!"

Steve got to put beer goggles and race a razor scooter around cones... his time was 00:20.... just 4 seconds short of the fastest time. He looked great though... it was hilarious watching everyone try!

Lilly got a balloon animal bear which I got a picture of later at the parade.. she has since bit it so hard that it popped the ear so the bear is no more.. but she loved it while she had it!

Then Lilly got her face painted! My "Pitty Boo-fwy!"

Lilly got to go on the Merry-go-Round with me... and then down the huge slide with Daddy... and then she went on some cars all by herself! So proud of my baby girl.. going on rides all by herself... I think Steve and I enjoyed making fools of ourselves trying to get her attention more than she actually enjoyed the ride!

We then enjoyed some amazing carnival food... ahh... I'm a sucker for carnival food.. even though it IS way overpriced!
Then we got poured on! The rain came down in serious ways! We ran and hid under the pavilion where we endured enjoyed some music from a local theater while daddy ran home to get the car to pick us up.. He seriously was probably only out in the rain for less than 5 minutes and by the time he got home he was COMPLETELY drenched... like... you could ring out his clothes they were so sopping! We are lucky enough to live so close to the summerfest that we had a nap at home and about 10 minutes before the parade began we headed out to center street! Love parades!

And I don't care who you are... these next two pictures are HOT!!!

Yep... I took them... thank you very much!
And then there were just some cool things we saw at the parade!

Daddy took this picture.. whoa... I'm actually IN one on my posts! We waved to a LOT of "pinthethes" (princesses)

It was CRAZY cold out there and we weren't as prepared as we should have been so we went home to have dinner and get some warmer clothes on. Then we headed back out to watch the "pitty fy-woks"! Which happen to be my new favorite thing to photograph! (besides Lilly of course!)

 Oh I love summerfest! It's Magic!