It's the Most WONDERFUL Time of the Year!!!!

The Bachelorette

It really is the best time of the year. I used to be almost ashamed/embarrassed that my sisters watched this show and I would mock and criticize and as of a YEAR ago- now it's my favorite show!!!! Eating my words. Eating my words. A year ago I was pregnant and Greg was in Salem and I was hot, swollen, alone and bored. So my sister Amy convinced me to watch it and at first I didn't know if I could handle it, but pushed through to the second episode and then I was HOOKED. Oh man, there's nothing more funny than a GROWN MAN spending a few hours in the same room with a woman, exchanging a FEW words, then getting rejected, looks into the camera and choking and tearing up says, "I really thought she was the one". Oh man. It's the best. You just don't get better tv than that!

So I grew up knowing my Mom donated blood on a regular basis and I always thought, "I'll do that." And I've meant to for years and just never have. FINALLY!!!! My ward was doing it. So I sign up, go, take their questionnaire, read a bunch of stuff and am all ready to go. I pull up my sleeves and they see my eczema on my inner elbows and ask, "What is that?" I explain and they tell my I can't do it. So they sent me home with this-

What a bummer. I felt like a idiot and I was plain disappointed. I'm a healthy person. I could CARE LESS about how many times I get poked. I always watch when I DO get poked with a needle. I think it would be a fun profession to draw blood. So I feel like it's my duty to donate, because most people get all freaked out, and then I couldn't. Oh well, I'll try again when my ecsema clears up. It's so unpredictable.

So here's my latest decorating . . .

It SOOOOO adds to the room. Before we just had a random bright yellow table in the room. Now we have bright cheerful pictures and it all balances out. I feel like the room makes sense now. When we were in Eugene, well actually before I was married, I painted random "abstract" art and one of them got a lot of compliments. We got rid of them when we moved and I thought I'd try the same thing. Art is expensive anyway, so why not make your own? So I painted these two.

I like them! I kind of like looking at the wall and knowing I did it.

Every week that the sun is out and we have energy Greg, Scar and I go geocaching. It's really fun! This is me finding a cache.

This time around there were a few we couldn't find. It's so frustrating when that happens!!! I'm realizing how not "outdoorsy" I am thru all of this. We find a spot with our GPS and realize we need to go off trail and suddenly I have to tread down this or that and I feel all unsure in my footing. It's always the first step that freaks me out. After a few I realize, "I can do this! Why am I freaking out!" But I'm always unsure at first. I'm sure it will pass, it just hasn't yet. It gets us into some really pretty spots though! Can you believe all this green?

We just bought a pack to carry Scarlet in. We are sooooo excited. She's way too heavy for the moby, now. She just hangs on your shoulders and it's KILLER. This new one is all reinforced and is a backpack too so we can just load up all her diaper goods with it. I'm psyched to have it for the airport next week.

Scarlet is sooooo funny. She just cracks me up all the time now. I'm pretty sure I mentioned she loooooooooves water. Can't get enough. I went to hug Greg and all the sudden she was sucking on this thing, drinking water. She just knew what to do! She's such a little smarty!

Here's my leg, half waxed.

I'm pretty proud of the fact that I can wax myself. Isn't that line insane? I used to be so self conscious about how hairy my legs and body were. Now that I'm over it, I'm almost proud of it. Growing out my hair is the worst. It only takes a week or two, but as you can see, it gets pretty bad and it grosses me out. As painful as waxing can be, with each painful rip I look down at my new hairless section and think, "Ah, so beautiful!" Totally worth the pain, which actually isn't that bad. And now that I'm getting better at it, I can wax all my legs and bikini line within one hour for under $10. That would be atleast $75 at a salon. So I'm feelin' pretty good about myself right now.

Can you believe this amazing hair? Why can't we all be this beautiful when we wake up?

I love this girl. She has spoiled me. As life ever keeps getting better for me, I realize, "Wow, I've been spoiled." Just when I think things can't get better, they do. She's been sleeping awesome for WEEKS now. It used to be pretty even, the bad, good and ok days. I'd get a couple each week. I think she's had one bad night in 3 weeks. She's starting to wake in the morning and just talk to herself. It is the sweetest thing to hear over the monitor. I love it. And today I woke up before her! Waking up naturally is SUCH a good feeling. It's happened about twice since she's been born and I'm starting to wonder if it's gonna happen regularly. We'll see . . .

She's on the verge of crawling. I could be wrong, but I think it's gonna happen in the next week or two. Pretty exciting.

I realized it's been FOREVER since I've put up videos!!!

Scarlet was having so much fun playing on Greg's drum. We tried to catch it on video, but it didn't really work.

A few days ago, Scarlet would make fart noises for MINUTES nonstop. It was the FUNNIEST thing. It was a lot funnier than it sounds.

As you can tell she is really ticklish, right under her chin. She smiles so easy and is always so happy. Sometimes when she smiles it's like her whole head and neck smile with her. I don't know how else to describe it.