Ok, another post tonight... (also one below)

*warning: this is nothing more then me venting*

NAMES...


I hate 'em.
(At least trying to learn them.)

I am so gosh darn bad at remembering people's names! It INSANE!
I try SO HARD at church to remember who people are, but I totally space it. In my ward I officially know like 3 people's names. 3 people!!!
Just last week,

yes went last week,

when I went to get Abby from nursery there was a new teacher there and he was like "Hi there, I'm blobbidy blob"
And I was like, "Hi there, I'm Dani"
and I swear not 30 seconds later I could not think of his name.
So stupid.
And then this other lady in RS tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned she was like, "you're new here"
"yes I am, well kinda. You see... (blah blah blah, fill in the blanks)"
"Well my name is dooby dooby do."
And I actually think I was forgetting it AS she was saying it. Because the moment she stopped talking I had no idea what she said her name was.
But in my defense she was WAY to into my personal bubble. She was like 3 inches from my nose, and all I could look at was the creases in her eye liner. I mean she was RIGHT THERE. So she could have told me the building was on fire and I would never have known.

So there you have it. If you are reading this, there is a good chance that I don't have any clue what your name is...



I just thought this was funny...

I can be so friggin' crafty!

Yes, I am tooting my own horn!

When I first heard about this Family Home Evening thing, I was very intimidated.
"Am I doing it right?"
"I have to sing!?!?"
"What the heck am I going to teach?!?!"
But I think I've got it!
And I have come up with some cool stuff man! And that is not easy to do with a toddler. True... my "crafts" might look like something a 6th grader could do, but who cares? My husband was impressed. And I certainly know my daughter didn't care.

Ok so check it out:

A few weeks ago I got some large white paper and I drew up a cloud (heaven) and a house (home), stuck it on some boards, AND THEN... (can you tell I'm excited?) I made a little paper version of Jesus, and our family members and put velcro on everything so it could stick to either board.
Then the lesson was how we all lived together in heaven and now we live together on Earth.
She loved it! Check out the handy work below ==>



***KUDOS***
I LOVE the LDS.org website. For those of you that haven't looked at it in awhile there is soooooooo much cool stuff.
They have all the Hymns (well most) and songs from the Children's Songbook and you can play them with or without the lyrics. BUT you can also change the key, tempo, and diff. parts and stuff! It's amazing! Not to mention the scripture stories. There are all the different stories in there broken down into like 5-10 videos.
***KUDOS***

Okay so this week:

We did a little lesson on The Creation. We watched a little movie and then I made 7 little flip books for Abby each with what was created on what day.
Took me FOREVER, but they came out great. Each folded a different way.
I must say, I was proud!



She was a little more cranky tonight, but she still had fun.
I also made some brownies, and I had planned to use my number cookie cutters and make 1-7 but I ran out of time and thought I was pushin' it. So instead we had little "eye" brownies with ice cream.

And tada! Another lovely FHE.
I really do need to stop waiting until Monday afternoon to plan this stuff though...

Qwick lil' updates...

For those of you with inquiring minds...

Made it church 2 Sundays already!
Had Family Home Evening 3 times...
Met with the Bishop to "get to know each other"
AND I have been coffee free for over 2 weeks!!!

Abby had doc app and...
34" long and 28 or so pounds
has met all her milestones, and exceeded some! She LOVES to color and is actually getting quite good at it!
And she is now full of holes.
Had like 4 shots and screamed her little heart out.

Oh and we think we have picked a name for the new baby, but nothing in stone....

Savanna Lynn Williams


might go by Anna

Although I'm still pushin for either Ryan or Riley also.

I HEART Craig'slist!!!

***side note***
I love when I come home from the store with like $140 worth of food for like $50. Even Scott loves it. I get home and he's like "How much did we save?!?!?">

Many of you that know me, know how much I just luuuuuv craig'slist. It's just about the coolest thing ever and I have no qualms with taking in the trash of others and making it my treasure. I think just about EVERYTHING I got for my daughter was from craigslist. At least to start...
I think we spent under $200 to get ready for her.

Crib w/mattress and sheets... free (Went to pick up crib, paid $75 to this super nice couple who we think was LDS. As we drove away they called us and said they wanted us to come pick up our money. They said they needed to do this service for us [why we think they were LDS] and they felt good about it, we felt good about it, SUPER!)

Glider... $20

Lot of baby clothes 0-12 months... $50 (So many CUTE clothes. And tons of them)

Later on we got another lot of 12-3t for like $60

Stroller and car seat...$60 (One day while in ToysRUs i spot this cute grey and pink combo. But it was like $200. Too steep for us at the time. About a month later I drive my butt to Glendale to get the stroller and car seat and guess what!!!! It was the one I wanted!!!! Barely used, and even broken in, so the seat actually came out of the base when you push the button. For those of you that know new car seats and the base can be a PAIN)

"Medella" breast pump w/ new hoses and such...$50 (Wanted one of these to, but they were too much to buy brand new. Some rich lady in Scottsdale didn't hers anymore. My gain!)

Bottles...$5 (A whole lot of them to)

Then I spent MAYBE like $50 at walmart for a bath, powder, soap, and etc...

And this wasn't for Abby but Kitchen-aid mixer...$50 (This thing is my baby! Almost new, had to call and beg the lady to hold it for me. She had like 10 calls about it. It was at a garage sale. I woke up super early and hauled myself down there in PJ's)

And we were set.
When we moved and Abby had her own room I went to babies R us, not thinking I could just do craigslist. I spent like $300 on her room decor. Just for the darn decor!!!!

But tonight,
well actually last night,
I got another steal! This set here:


is still on sale at the store for $180 for the 4 piece bedding.

I got the bedding, diaper stacker, window valances, and hamper for just $100!!! Whoo hoo! Then went to the store and bought the border that goes with it for $20.
I am so stoked. I'm painting the room a neutral brown and putting pink lady bugs on the closet.

Now I just have to find the time to actually paint and put everything together!

Crazy kids EVERYWHERE!!!

So Saturday rolls around and we are looking for somethin' ta do....

-The Zoo?
Nah, for the 4 of us we could do cheaper

-The park?
Done it

-The library?
A little more interactive

-The children's Mueseum of Phoenix?
SURE!!!!

We loaded up some snacks, stopped at McDonald's, and hit the road!
Now I'm not in the habit of enclosing my self in buildings with hundreds of screaming children on a sugar rush but.... I think Abby is finally at the age where she can start "interacting" and is "aware" that we are "out and about". Does that make sense?
I mean, why shell out like tons of money for a baby to just kinda sit in a stroller and whine for hours on end?

But this was fun. We gave Damon the other phone and turned him loose, and took Abby out of the stroller and she was off. Every corner had something cool she wanted to look at, and eventually we found the area for kids 3 and under.
Unfortunately we found it at the END of the trip. But still worth the $36 we shelled out. Oh but we didn't realize that THIS particular museum offered free parking, so we had shelled out another $12 for that. Oops.
Abby didn't get a nap all day, and I don't know if I have ever seen her that run down. I have seen her so tired all she can do is scream, but she was happy. She looked like a smiling zombie!
It was pretty funny.

This is why I pay people to do this...

When you're pregnant and you start to get big, you tend to feel uncomfortable and fat.
So lately I have been feeling the whole "I'm big as a whale and who could love this" thing. And if you know what I'm talking about, then you also know that no matter how many times your husband says you're sexy or pretty, it doesn't change anything. Anytime you start to feel somewhat normal, you get kicks in your ribs and are reminded that you are just a breeding vessel for now.

Sooooo, I decided I would take some time out for today and pretty myself up! Around 11 or so Abby showed the first little hint that she was getting sleepy. "Yippy" I thought and I gave her a snack and whisked her to bed.

I knew I wouldn't have long....

I rushed to the bathroom and busted out the hair dye! "haha! I'll get you roots!"
I hate doing my hair.
It's messy, smelly, and takes forever. But I'm always happy with the blond results. I have been just about every kind of hair style and color you can think of and I always go back to blond. Started since I was 13 and my mom bought me my first box of bleach.

If I had the money, I would TOTALLY just go and pay someone to do it. But do the math: $14 and do it myslef? Or $120 for someone to do it for me... $150 if I want highlights.

Now while this was on my hair I figured I would do my toesys.

This is something I have ALWAYS paid someone to do. I love getting my nails done! I miss my fake nails soooo much, but we are on one income now so I better just suck it up.

Doing your toenails when you are pregnant SUCKS!!!! I had to contort my body is every way you can think of and weird parts of my body were going numb.
But...They came out pretty good! I even did my nails AND trimmed up the eye brows!

Ahhhhh! Feels so nice to get this stuff done. It's such a pain in the butt (and everywhere else), but it's worth it. Of course I know I'm just going to put on some socks; but I know that under that, there are some pretty toes.

Now we'll just have to see if a certain someone notices when they get home just how darn pretty their wife is lookin'!

And there goes the Abby alarm in the background....
Lunch time.

Um, yeah

Every now and then I have "one of those days". A day where I just don't feel like doing much of anything. And today was one of them...

( Let me first explain that my child never grows just ONE tooth. Since she was really little she grew them in batches. And right now we are getting 4 more.
Although during the day she doesn't seem to mind, it does keep her up at night. ALL NIGHT.... and for the last week or so I have spent hours in the dark trying to calm her.
Not to mention that I am 6 or so months pregnant and have a bladder the size of a pea...
I haven't have a good nights sleep in awhile.)



So anyway, I've been a bit sleepy.
So after breakfast I turned on the usual hour of Sesame Street, but instead of making beds I decided I would lounge on the couch.
On most days if I stay still for even a moment Abby has my hand and is pulling me in every direction to play who knows what, but not today....

I fell asleep.

Not "mom sleep", where your eyes are closed but you are still aware of the status of your kids and you can hear everything.
I mean PASSED OUT!

So I wake up to a strange sound... like nails on a chalk board.
I look over and there is Abby, coloring on the glass of our TV stand with one of her crayons.
Toys are EVERYWHERE... books, dolls, crayons, puzzles, etc.


She was happy as could be.
But she KNOWS she isn't supposed to color in anything other then her coloring books and the moment I said her name she jumped and you could see the fear in her eyes, LOL.
But what could I do ya know?!?!? I gave her the ol' "Only in your books" speech and just cleaned it up. I mean, it was MY fault for sleeping.

So yes, I fell asleep. It was a great little nap though. I felt refreshed!

P.S. - Thank heaven for the washable crayons. Came off with water!

1st Family Home Evening

Now I think we all know the attention span of an 18 month old, but none the less we decided that we would start FHE with Abby.

We had a few runs with Damon awhile back and they were so fun, but he just refuses to do them now. Despite our reasoning he chooses to believe his real father and feels that we don't use the "real" bible.... argh. (The bible is the bible!)
That's a vent for another day

But tonight was great!
We said a little prayer, read a small book about reverence, listened to a cute cd I bought at Deseret Book, and made SMORES! Mmmm!
(By the way, we just melted some chocolate in the micro, spooned on grams, threw on marshmallow, and broiled on high for like 2 minutes. SOOOOOO good and golden brown. Better then any I had over a fire!)

The sugar rush that poor child had before bed, what I would give for that energy!

But we got her off to bed and now we settle down for the night and turn on some Heroes. It's finally back on! Now it's just waiting for new episodes of House. (I'm so hooked on that show)

Naps

This is a short little blog about naps, and my love for them.
Now when I say naps, I don't mean for me... although I do LOVE taking them. I'm talking about naps for children.
From the moment your little darlings wake up it non stop action... breakfast, crayons, blocks, laundry, making beds, fixing snacks, feed the dog, fixing lunch, try to clean a bathroom (rarely), dishes, fixing another snack, think about how one day I'm going to paint a room, dinner prep, maybe ANOTHER snack and then finally getting dinner ready, dishes, bath, book, clean up, and so on....

BUT....

somewhere in between all this activity....

there is a nap.
A glorious window of time about 2 hours long where you can just be at peace.
Now usually I use this small window of opportunity to just clean more. Perhaps I'll get to clean the bathroom, or dust the bedrooms, or some other useless thing (I mean come on, it's just going to get dirty again anyway).
But every now and then, I do nothing. I'll get on facebook, bake something, stare at a wall.... who cares? I can do it without pestering.

And today I decided to write a blog entry on how much I enjoy this time.

Now that I'm done, I need to empty the dishwasher, bring in the trash, water my flowers, fold clothes, and try to plan a family home evening with a toddler.

Cup o' joe

Yes, we made it to church today!!!
But not only did we make it, but we were able to cook our normal big Sunday breakfast (totally forgot it was fast Sunday)AND we were early!
If that isn't a miracle, I don't know what is....
Abby went to the nursery for the first time and it was FABULOUS! She HATES being confined to a little pew and she is very vocal about it. So dropping her off and getting a 2 hour break was great,
and I was really able to get something out of it, which brings me to the subject of this blog...

COFFEE


During the Relief Society meeting the subject was how to be more faithful (I needed the refresher course). And of course one of the ways to be more faithful is to be more obedient...
Now for those of you who knew me before I joined the church I partook of many on the "no-no's". I loved my coffee, I drank alcohol (not too much), I was a smoker, I used "colorful" language at times, and Sunday was my day to get things done like shopping and so on.
Joining the church meant that all these bad things would have to be changed; and wouldn't ya know it, I changed. I quit drinking (which I had kinda already done), I quit smoking (easier then I thought), watched the tongue (harder then I thought), and tried my darndest to stay home on Sundays...
But of all these things who would have thought that coffee would the hardest thing.
Yup.... coffee.
Who would have thought THAT would be the thing that would get me. I did quit, and for a awhile to. like 2 years!!!
But every time I pass that Starbucks....


I hated the airport, malls, and all places where the smell of coffee filled the air.
It all starts with just one little cup....
then maybe 2....
and the next thing you know I bought some at the store and have shelled out money for the stockholders of Starbucks.
BUT I should mention that over the last 2 weeks I have cut back to like 2 cups a week.
I have been getting by on Pero. For those of you that are unaware of what Pero is, it's a malt barley type of thing that is a hot drink meant to replace that good ol' cup of Joe.
And unless you pour in TONS of creamer, it tastes like poo.

But I am getting by and it is one of those "small" things that I need to fix, and I'm going to do it. So help me.... I will beat this EVIL coffee addiction. So, oh so evil...

I'll fill that morning cup with the strong brew of faith, and 2 sugars.
(And I'll plug my nose in the airport)

It's a NEW YEAR, and I will blog!

Well howdy y'all!

Geez lets see, it's only been like what... a year since I last put something on here? But darn it, one of my new "things" will be to keep up with this blog. See I didn't think anyone read this.
Like, at all.
But people had asked about it. And I just realized the other day that I had COMMENTS!
Yes people had written me about my posts and I never knew...
So yeah.
There are a few other things that I have decided I would fix about myself as well. "What?" you may ask, well let me tell you:

1st thing.... CHURCH!




I have been horrible about it. Down right IN-active one might say. Now that's not to say I have been partying it up and sinning on the weekends. Actually i have been "active" in my own right, we are just bad at actually ATTENDING church. You see our ward starts at the crack of dawn. And truth be told, the morning sickness still kicks my butt sometimes in the early mornings. Could I persevere and tough through it? Yes. And I know this. But feeling sick and dealing with a very cranky 1 year old just isn't how I want to spend my morning.
BUT
The starting time has CHANGED!!!! I am so stoked about this. And I intend on going every week, and furthermore I am going to get a calling and actually DO IT!!! And this brings me to my next goal...

FRIENDS.....



I basically have none.

You see when I was baptized few years ago, the "friends" I had then started to feel uncomfortable around me. But they weren't really so much friends as they were drinking buddies. And so when I stopped drinking... we stopped being buddies. And I have since then changed wards like 3 times and I have NO friends in the church to hang out with whatsoever.

But that's going to change you see.

I have decided that I am no longer going to feel "ashamed" of my tattoos, or my past and things I have done like drinking and smoking, and I am just going to be myself. Take it or leave it.
I used to always feel like I had NOTHING in common with people there, but who cares right?
So yes, I am going to make friends.

And so those are my goals... Blog, church, and friends. And of course the normal things. (get skinny after the baby, not eat SO many sweets, etc....)

I have pics and stuff to post on here to catch people up. But that will have to wait until tonight. I am off to a church event!!!!! (No, really)