My Baby is Home!

 Aunt Jenny took Cortney to Nana and Papa Kinville's house to spend the weekend so Chris and I had a 2 1/2 day date!  We had a lot of fun!

Friday night we went to a sushi place called Red Ginger Bristo, that was very yummy and affordable - would be more affordable if we went with more people though.  Anyway then we saw the movie Unknown with some gift certificates we got for Christmas.  It had a couple twists to it and it ended up being better than we thought it would.

Saturday morning I went to Chris's basketball game - which turned into two games in a row, he was really tired afterward.  But he played really well and never missed a free throw!  On our way home we wanted to stop by walmart but on the way there we saw an accident that was only about 3 cars in front of us.  It was crazy - we saw the wheel that flew off and bounced past us.  Chris got out to help because at one time he was an EMT, and he also taught CPR.  So as I was sitting there waiting for him - I saw 2 other cars run red lights - driving right past the accident.  Those people were crazy.

At walmart we got some amazing deals - I got these outfits for 1 dollar each!  Only one dollar it was amazing so I got one of every color that had it in Cortney's size:

 Then I found these jackets for Chris that were only 3 dollars apiece!  Too bad they didn't have any of the sale items in my size!

That night we went to Trafalga in Orem with Chris's Sister Kim and her date Jon.

 When we first got there we saw a worker throw a whole bunch of tickets away in a garbage can so chris went dumpster diving and got the out.  We got 37 tickets out of it!

 We went mini golfing a whole lot!  We probably golfed the equivalent of about 6 or 7 games!  We got pretty good at it by the end.

 This is a picture of all of us together - Kim and Jon are on the left, it was a lot of fun!

 Chris and I played Area 51, and you will never guess who won...me!  I kicked trash, it was pretty much amazing!

Chris really liked playing the Deer Hunter Game, and he was pretty good at it too!  The next picture is the loot we got with all our tickets, we only got 239 so it didn't get much, but candy is always good!

 We got the package that comes with dinner and everything so we got dip n dots to go with it!  Chris got the rainbow kind and I got cookie dough...

 While golfing hole 9 I found out a secret about it by accident but it is actually pretty cool.  I'm not going to say what it is, but when Chris used the secret he got a hole in one, so not bad.

 This is what hole 9 looks like...

We ended up staying out late, we didn't get home until 1am this morning.  It was the latest we have stayed out in a long time, but it was a lot of fun.  As much fun as we had though I am so glad my baby is home!  Nothing is  a better sight to me than her little smile!

PS - I almost forgot to tell you the best part!  When we played our last game of mini golf I decided to play left handed - and I was pretty good at it!  But the best thing was that at the end when i golfed left handed and got a hole in one and won a free game of golf!  They had ran out of tickets so we just got a whole bunch of tokens instead.  I was so excited that I did it!

Yes! I'm Hiding!

Today we were playing Hide 'n  Seek with Cortney.  Lately she has really liked hiding under blankets.  One time when she was hiding I asked:

"Where is Cortney?  Is she hiding?"

And of course she replied:

"Yes!  I'm hiding!"  then popped out of her hiding spot with a big smile on her face!

PS - I love how her hair is finally getting long enough to look messy!  About time already!



Family and Friends!

Yesterday we had a fun day!  After Church we headed down to Spanish Fork to visit Chris's Grandpa and Aunt Jo.  It was a surprise visit for them, but it was nice to talk and catch up.  Of course Chris and Grandpa discussed BYU's football schedule next year.  Grandpa Nield (Cortney's great grandpa) had a lot of fun giving some M & M's to Cortney.  He just sat back and chuckled as Cortney's little checks got fuller and fuller.  We also had a small visit from Chris's cousin Hailey and her family, it was good to see them again.

Then we headed over the the Stevens house to have dinner.  Growing up I spent a lot of time with the Stevens because my best friend was their daughter.  Even though Brittany wasn't there it was still fun to catch up with everyone else, and the food was great!  Cortney had a fun time playing with Ryan and Emily.  She barely ate a bite all night because all she wanted to do was play.  And I even got to read a letter Kenzie sent home from her mission, I love the way she writes - just like she talks it was very entertaining.  And we had some very funny conversations!

I love spending time with family and friends!

Play Your Guitar With Daddy!

Ever since Cortney was little she has loved playing guitars.  We got her this guitar at DI ans she loves it!  She loves it even more when Daddy bear plays with her with his guitar.  This morning they decided to play together so I took a couple pictures.

Cortney was so excited to play with him this morning, Daddy sat down in one of her princess chairs and Cortney had to put her chair right next to his.

She watches him very intently to make sure she is doing it right.  When they play together we sing "Play your guitar with Murray" from the wiggles but say daddy instead of Murray.

In this one Cortney looked away really fast, but I like how both of them are smiling!  When she gets a little older Chris wants to teach her the Ukulele, so it will fit her hands well. 

I need a Harry Potter Potion...

First off you should know that I am prone to weird dreams.  I have had them for a very long time, and sometimes they are so realistic that I think they actually happen.  for example one time in high school I think I was doing this project with Brittany where we bought all this fruit for our presentation. One of the pieces of fruit included a pineapple.  I had a dream the night before the presentation that I cut up the pineapple before the presentation and messed everything up.  I woke up worried because I thought I had ruined everything until I went downstairs and saw the pineapple on the counter uncut.

I am sure this is due to all the stress I have been under lately but I have been having the weirdest dreams ever.  I have even stopped eating after dinner to get rid of them but they just wont go away.  I think this week alone I have had dreams that include but are not limited to: joining the army, going back to high school, chasing some kind of glowing magic person around a huge house, and the worst was last night - I was dreaming that I was trying to fall asleep all night.  I'm pretty sure I was awake about half the time too.  So when I was not dreaming about falling asleep I was actually trying to fall asleep, and now I am exhausted.

This is why I need that potion from Harry Potter that makes me have dreamless sleep.  That would be the most wonderful thing ever!  I even looked it up to see what it was called, and this is what I found:

"The Dreamless Sleep Potion is a purple medicinal potion that is used to induce dreamless sleep in the drinker"

I guess also the more you drink the longer you sleep.  I would drink a whole gallon of this purple goodness if I could!  Unfortunately it is just wishful thinking...

There, all better!

Lately I have been trying to teach Cortney the magic powers of kissing things all better, and it is really working!  But tonight she did something that just made Chris and me laugh out loud.

When we were newly married our car was having problems starting - add on to that a Rexburg winter and sometimes it took about 5-10 minutes to start the car each time - since then we have had it fixed.  Anyway when Chris would be the one in the drivers seat and the car wouldn't start after a few minutes he would blow on the key, then try it again.  The first time he did this it actually worked so we did it all the time after that.  I think this comes from having to blow on old nintendo games to get them to work.

Seeing it work so well on the car Chris uses when I say I am not feeling good.  He did this a lot when I was so sick while pregnant.  I would tell him to make it go away (the sick feeling) and he would say, "Do you want me to blow on it?".  He also uses it when I have a bruise or a cut or something like that. 

So tonight i showed Cortney my owie - on my finger, and don't worry it does have a Dora bandaid covering it - and asked her to kiss it all better.  I'm not sure if she has been watching Daddy or what but instead of kissing it she blew on it.  Not sure if this was a one time thing but i just had to write it down on the blog - I don't want to forget this one.

Cortney's First Prayer!

Today Cortney was playing with Eve.  They were "eating" their fake food at her little table when she folded her arms and said a prayer!  I'm not sure what all she said but the first and last part was pretty clear - I know because that is what we always say at the beginning and end,

"Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this day.
blah wheico soiwoijsdfl woiulskd. (Not sure what she said during this part)
Amen."

This is the first time she has said a prayer all by herself without me helping!  My little baby is growing up!

Happy Valentines Daddy Bear!

Happy Valentines!

Today Cort started calling Chris, Daddy Bear.  It is super cute, the first nickname she has given either of us, and we hope it lasts a while!

By the way last week while I was doing week in the life I was showing you what my homework note book looked like.  This is usually what it looks like by the end of the week:  (this one is from last week)

As you can see I really like crossing things out!  I get a lot of joy knowing I am one step closer to finishing this semester!

 A while ago I decided to simplify my life so i started throwing a lot of things out.  One thing i couldn't part with was my tickets I have saved.  I bought this frame at DI for 4 dollars(great deal, it is a nice frame).  I thought all my tickets would fit in it but this isn't the half of them.  The ticket dates range from 2001 to 2010.  (We haven't gone to a movie this year yet.  And there are some great tickets like Napoleon Dynamite, Inception, and Holes, just to name a few.  Next time I go DI hopping I will have to look for a bigger frame so I can fit all my tickets in it.

,

Valentines today!  Chris has 3 mid terms this week and I am swamped with homework and Cortney.  But not this weekend but the next Cortney is going to stay with my parents for a couple days so we decided our real celebration would be then.  Cortney and I made this today for Daddy Bear!  We used some of the left over blue M&M's from her birthday to write the letters.  I also discovered Cortney is a big fan of rice crispy treats!  She was a very sticky girl before her bath.

Week in the Life...Day:7 Saturday

Up early again this morning!  I went grocery shopping by myself - it was a real treat.  I got to Wal Mart by 7:30 so there was like no one there and I it was some good alone time for me.  When I came back Cortney ate some of the blueberries I bought - that is one of her favorite foods.

Then I had a DI day planned.  Every once in a while we go DI hopping and look for books, today I was looking for a bookshelf but was unable to find one (even though we went to 5 of them) oh well.  this is Cortney all ready to go, all the way down to her boots and purse, filled with her play cell phone and play lipstick.

So we went to 5 DI's I found some great books for Cortney, and a couple picture frames for me.  But the winner for best deal of the day goes to this at 4 dollars!

Cortney named it Neno - kind of like Nemo but with an N.  I have no idea where she got this name but that is what she calls it.  It is in pretty good condition, and I think the sound will even work once we put batteries in it, we usually let her get bored of a toy before we put batteries in it - it is like she gets twice the joy out of it.

It even has a place to put her feet into.  She just sits on it and says wee!  All the time it is so cute!  Once we were done with the last DI I told her we were going to go home and she said "Daddy?"  I said "No, he isn't at home he is at school studying.  Do you want to go home?"  "Daddy?" she says.  "Do you want to go see daddy?"  "Yes!"  So we stopped by and saw daddy for a little while.

Here is all his stuff laid out on the table studying.  Then daddy stayed at school for about another 1 1/2 hours until we picked him up and headed over to the park.  I went on a run while daddy and Cortney played, here are some pictures:

She loves playing on rocks lately.  She sits on them and then tells us where we need to sit.  After the park we went home and had dinner, then gave Cort her bath, I think her face tells you just how much she loves her bath:

So right now we are all watching Rugrats while Cortney drinks her milk.  Next we are going to read scriptures, say prayers, brush our teeth and tuck her into bed.  Mine and Chris's plans tonight include watching a movie my sister lent to us and we haven't gotten a chance to watch yet...500 days of Summer, I guess we will see how it is.  It has been a great week!  But at the same time it is nice that it is over!

Week in the Life...Day 6: Friday!

Woke up this morning bright and early again, and had a pretty busy but fun day.   Cortney looked very cute today!  I love her little pig tails, and her bangs are finally getting long enough that I have to push them to the side because they just barely get in her eyes.

Today Eli came too.  he is Michelle's other child, that just comes on Fridays because he has preschool the rest of the time.  I didn't take too many pictures, because having 3 kids to watch after especially at their ages is a lot more than I am used to.

Cortney was doing something really cute today she was taking Bubba and Ming, her bears, and laying them down on pillows and giving them her toy bottles, it was so cute.  First she did it on the couch then on her bed:

Later I told her Aunt Jenny was coming and she was going to go play with her for the afternoon, this is what she looked like as she was ready to go, very very excited!

So thanks to Aunt Jenny I was able to get a ton of homework done and Chris and I were able to enjoy a nice dinner.  We decided to go to Golden Corral because it is only at buffets where he truly gets his money worth.  here is what he ate tonight:(And this is actually a little less than normal)

And because this bowl wasn't big enough he went back with a soup bowl instead...

I love date nights, and we had a lot of fun people watching - one of our favorite things to do!
Then we went to go pick up Cortney from Aunt Jenny, to see her day which I am sure will be on her blog check it out:

http://menacetosociety2011.blogspot.com/

It sounds like she had a lot of fun, she got a new hat that she loves, she fell asleep on the way home, I looked in the back seat and saw this and just had to take a picture:

The hat is way too big but it is so cute on her.  She loves playing with Aunt Jenny, and we cannot thank her enough for giving us some time to just spend time with each other.

Then we came home got Cortney into bed, I finished up some homework, and now I think we are off to bed. We both have had a long week, and are pretty tired from eating so much.  So goodnight and talk to you tomorrow on day 7 - this week has gone by so fast!

Week in the Life...Day 5: Thrusday

Usual Morning today.  Up at 6:30, and getting things done.  After I ate breakfast Cortney was talking in her room a lot, so I wondered what was going on.  I went in to wake her up and she was reading "Goodnight Moon"  to her two bears Ming and Bubba, as seen in the picture below.  It was really cute because at the time she was having her bears sitting in chairs, and every time she saw the bears in the chairs in the book she got really excited.

 After she ate breakfast and we got ready this is what she did:

 She sat there for about 10 minutes with her bears.  Ming is the panda bear and it is named Ming because that is what it said on the tag that is attached to it.  And Bubba we named when she was young and that was one of the things she could say at the time.  In the picture below she is putting on her face lipstick. 

 Many Mornings I make myself a smoothie of bananas and frozen blue berries and strawberries.  Cortney is so scared when the blender gets turned on.  I have to warn her and count to 3 so she can be ready.

 This is a picture Cortney was drawing.  She usually tells me what she is drawing but she didn't tell me this time, so I will leave it up to your imagination.

 Cortney was not exactly happy this morning, she is still kind of in a testy mood.

 Here is a picture of when she was screaming because I would not let her get on her bed.  She was jumping on it and I asked her to stop but she didn't.  So I took her off and sat on the bed so she couldn't get on.  She was so mad at me, but she got over it eventually.

 Snack of choice today was apples!

 We also colored some more, here is my picture!

 Here is Eve coloring.

 And here is Cortney coloring.

 At one point I got up to get something and saw how Cortney was sitting while she was coloring the whole time...how could this be comfortable?  PS - Cortney did a good job on her outfit today!  It matches and even the hair clips matched that she picked out!  Good job Cort!

 Today Cortney went over to Michelle's house so I could get some homework done.  I was going, going, going the whole time.  I managed to get a lot of work done, including mopping the kitchen floor, fixing her baby stroller she broke by sitting in (pictures below), a ton of homework done, and I ran about 1.5 miles.  I just started running again after not running for the winter.  It was too cold and we cannot afford a gym membership so I can only run outside.  I have recently decided to put running back high on the priority list because it is a great way of getting rid of stress and feeling better.  I'm planning on increasing my distance by .5 miles a week.  By the end of the summer my goal is to run 2 5ks and 1 10k.  But now I am exhausted.

 This is Cortney as we were tucking her into bed...

At the end of the day, I would say she was pretty happy to go to bed!  As for me I have a little more homework to do and I am also looking forward to a hot bath!  Then probably off to bed...

Talk to you tomorrow on day 6!