"...Do The Puppet Master!!"

I caught Atalia dancing up a storm while watching Yo Gabba Gabba. This video makes me happy :)

James Turns 28!

James turned 28! Holy CoW! I still feel like I should be like 22 which would put James at 25! Time is going way too fast, it's making me uncomfortable lol.

Atalia and I made Daddy some birthday cards.

10 seconds into it, she got blue marker on her face.

Instead of saying, "Happy Birthday!" she says, "Happy Cake!" I think it's because we sing the Happy Birthday song right before we eat cake.

Happy Birthday James! You're still as cute as ever!

As always, a birthday breakfast... it's the best way to start a birthday! (oh rhyming, you make me happy)

That would be CREAM SODA in his hands! lol I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea!

And our lovely princess gone wild...

I curled Atalia's hair for Daddy's birthday!

Love this shirt on her... gotcha!

It's actually one of her old dresses! Haha! I went through some of her old dresses to see if they would work as shirts for her now. Luckily, she just gets taller and not wider. Yeah, we need to do some shopping for her.

This cake should forever be known as, 'The Almost Ruined A Gazillion Times Cake'.

I was one egg short for the cake batter (luckily my friend had one to spare),

I almost put sugar-free icing on it (leftover from this occasion),

also used up all of my beautiful, vibrant food coloring on that darn sugar-free icing, leaving a couple drops for the yummy cream cheese frosting, giving it a very non-masculine minty green that I so did not want for James' birthday cake,

forgot to reset the timer after interrupting it to warm up Atalia's lunch, resulting in almost burning it,

Atalia almost digging into it with her bare hands before Daddy got home,

and Atalia almost knocking it over off the table.

This cake was almost not meant to be.

How horrible would it be to ruin someone's Birthday cake?!? I was close to doing so this year! I hope it never happens again.

Had a Green Lantern theme, completely unintentional lol

Daddy got a tub desk! I tried it out... it is amazing! I highly recommend it! He also got the first season to Modern Family (SO GOOD) and some new shirts.

James turns one! Just kidding, he's older than one.

Daddy let Atalia blow out his candle :)

The next day, Mimi came up to watch Atalia so that we could go see a movie. We saw the last Harry Potter movie and we loved it! It was a good birthday weekend!

What A Disheveled Looking Girl

This was taken the day we got back from traveling. I don't know what happens in that back seat that makes her nice and neat hair look like this by the end of the trip lol. Then she's got all these stains and drippings of food all over her clothes and face. It just makes me laugh out loud how disheveled looking she can get.

My sister has a blog about her doing really fun hairstyles on her little toddler everyday (http://toddlerhairstyles.blogspot.com/) lol Maybe I should start another blog on Tali's wild and wacky hairstyles everyday ;)

Silent Movie

Here is a video of Atalia playing football. Sorry, there is no sound :(

Cocoa Bean, Powder Puff, Etc...

If you are ever in Rexburg, Idaho, you must try the Cocoa Bean! They have yummy cupcakes and hot chocolate. I love yummy hot chocolate.

Grandpa let Tali pick out a cupcake. She chose the s'more cupcake. I had a large taste and it was A M A Z I N G.

It was chilly, but it felt good to get out in the fresh air :)

Eating some of Grandma's and Grandpa's apples, right off the trees.

Some of the pictures turned out blurry. Very frustrating.

So tough.

Our little powder puff :)

Love these pic's with Izzy :)

Makes me happy.

She's got one of those blowy flowers. What do you call dandelions when they turn white and fuzzy? I guess they are still dandelions.

Realizing that Tali and Grandma match in these pictures :)

Another nice weekend with our in-laws :)

I think there are a total 5 smiley faces throughout this post which is more than I'd normally like, but it is very fitting for the happy weekend that we had with my in-laws :) (6 smiley's)

Tali, The Make-up Artist

Sometimes Tali gets into my makeup...

I'm pretty sure she is a make-up artist prodigy.

(Actually, this color is very pretty on her I think.)

(It seems like she's always naked lately in her pictures. I promise, I do dress her every day)

On this particular day, she got into my mascara. I thought that was an interesting concept, applying it outside the eye, directly on the skin.

Hmmm... I think she could have a career in the make-up industry, what do you think? Yeah, I'll call Mary Kay tomorrow.

The Highlights

I was afraid the title of this post might be misleading, you might have thought this would be about me getting some highlights in my hair or something (which I wouldn't put that past me, dedicating a whole post to just that lol). I know this is late in coming, but I wanted to post some of what I thought were the highlights of the most recent past General Conference or at least what the highlights were for me, personally.

First, here are some pic's. We dragged (drug?) (drugged?) Atalia's mattress out to the living room and got comfy. We had yummy food, which is a must for conference. Atalia had crayons and stickers to keep her busy and quiet.

Fist highlight- I was telling James something during the first song, while the choir was singing and Atalia turned around shushed me... twice.

I absolutely LOVED Elder Anderson's talk. He had James and I both laughing at some points. I wanted to pull some quotes from his talk that I particularly liked:

"Many voices in the world today marginalize the importance of having children or suggest delaying or limiting children in a family. My daughters recently referred me to a blog written by a Christian mother (not of our faith) with five children. She commented: “[Growing] up in this culture, it is very hard to get a biblical perspective on motherhood. … Children rank way below college. Below world travel for sure. Below the ability to go out at night at your leisure. Below honing your body at the gym. Below any job you may have or hope to get.” She then adds: “Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.”⁷

- I especially love, "Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling" and "It is what God gave you time for."

"Having young children is not easy. Many days are just difficult. A young mother got on a bus with seven children. The bus driver asked, “Are these all yours, lady? Or is it a picnic?”

“They’re all mine,” she replied. “And it’s no picnic!”⁸

- lol That last one made us laugh.

"Across the world, this is a time of economic instability and financial uncertainty. In April general conference, President Thomas S. Monson said: “If you are concerned about providing financially for a wife and family, may I assure you that there is no shame in a couple having to scrimp and save. It is generally during these challenging times that you will grow closer together as you learn to sacrifice and to make difficult decisions.”¹⁰

- James and I have definitely made sacrifices so that I could stay home with Atalia.

Elder Anderson's whole talk can be found at lds.org under the most recent General Conference for the second session on Saturday.

I think it's easy to feel like you're not worth as much when you are 'just a mom' and the world doesn't always help you feel valued for what you do as well. I think that's why I was so grateful for this talk.

There was more that I wanted to share, but Atalia is up and I need to go be Mommy :) It's not always easy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Millcreek Canyon And The Creature

About 3 weeks ago, for family night, we went to Millcreek Canyon to have a bonfire. We cooked hot dogs and roasted marshmallows and enjoyed being outside and breathing in that fresh air.

Very peaceful.

Tali eating her s'more. We are just having a good ol' time...

Just relaxing and being outside...

James and his marshmallow...

AHHHHHH!

It's... the... creature!!!!

What is this thing!!??!!

It flew at me and landed oN MY SHOULDER! I ran into the smoke of the fire (screaming), thinking that the smoke might make it fly away, but it didn't! I was shrieking, jumping up and down when James finally flicked it off of me! Then stomped on it.

GOT IT.

Oh my gosh, it has a stinger. IT COULD HAVE STUNG ME WITH THAT.

Now I had a serious case of the creeps.

I felt like my life just flashed before my eyes!

My eyes are like bugging out of my head and the slightest movement of a falling leaf is making me jump.

WHAT IS THIS CREATURE!?!

Then, another one came! It was flying at James! I quickly gave him the racket (that I must have been inspired to bring) and he got it!

But it wasn't dead, just stuck!

Then we killed it.

Re-telling this story gives me the heeby jeeby's all over again.

LOOK AT THAT THING! DO YOU SEE THAT STINGER!?!

I'm pretty sure that thing could have killed me and my family.

It's like three to four inches long.

Yes, I took a lot of pictures of it. I wanted to have evidence that this creature exists.

Sure got our adrenaline going lol. It was like in a horror movie when everything is peaceful and fun and then goes terribly wrong.

We left soon after that.