Last year at a glance

Hey everyone,
So it seems that people still read this thing!  That makes me happy and I need to get better at reading blogs again.  There is something therapeutic in putting more into writing than just, "Hey fb friends, what are your potty training tips?" ha ha.  You know what I mean.
Quick update on our lives this last year since we bought our house.
-Ally (Alexandra) was born on International Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day.  Sept 19th.  The next four to five months were the hardest and darkest of my entire life, but thankfully the sun shines on our home and in my outlook again!  She is a ball of smiles and wiggles.  She will be 9 months in 7 days and isn't even trying to crawl or doing anything remotely close to crawling attempts.  She is so content to just sit where she is and cry until I pick her up and take her with me from room to room. She sleeps great at night and Levi and her get along SO great!
-Rick graduated from Weber with his Masters in  Business Administration. I couldn't be more proud of my husband.  Every time we are making moves in his job or with our house or kids he is always asking me if I am happy.  He puts my happiness and opinions first, ALWAYS.  He fights so hard to be a hardworking husband and wants me to have anything I want.  He is currently in the middle of negotiating for a new job.  More on that when it is finalized.  He is beginning his CPA testing in just a few weeks.  4 tests total and a whole lot of studying.  He was the ward mission leader for about a year and now he is the 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum.  He is such an amazing man.  Every year I am married to him just gets better and better.
-Levi is crazy and so hyper all the time.  Sadly he is JUST like me!! ha ha.  Anyone that knew me as a youngster is laughing at this right now!  He is talking like crazy.  He loves to sing and dance to music.  He LOVES hitting things and last weekend we learned that he is GREAT at baseball.  The most boring sport.  ugh! Just my luck.  He is almost ready to potty train.  We have tried here and there but I feel like it is going to happen just around the corner!
-I feel like lately I am always re-doing something.  My next project is my grandmother's old desk.  She passed away back in 2006 and my sister has been using it since.  It has seen a beating so I am so excited to give it some new life!  I'll post on that when I finish it.  I am training for a half marathon.  I am running the Hardcart Days Half on July 21st here in Bountiful.  I am thinking of doing two this summer.  I am considering another one in August or September.  After July 21st I am going to start the P90X training.  I am nervous because it seems like not many people can make it through the whole 3 months.  My sister-in-law, Kelsy, did it and she looks AMAZING!! Granted she was already tiny, but now she is super buff.  Shout out to you, Kelsy! :D  I am also the new primary chorister.  I LOVE that calling so much and it has only been a few weeks.
Welp, that is pretty much our last year in a glance.  Here are some picture for your viewing pleasure.  Most of these are on Facebook so I am sure most of you have already seen them, but oh well.... here we go again...

Ally and Levi

Ally and I

Such a cute pictures! I can't believe how tiny Levi was when I had Ally!  Never doing that again, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Look at those eyes! She was just under 2 weeks old here.

Just home from the hospital.  So tiny.  She was 18.5 inches (which I don't think was very accurate) and 6.12lbs.

In the carseat in the stroller going for a walk.  Approx 3 months here.

7 months old.  I made those sandal thingies... aren't they adorable!?

Levi on his frog potty.  He loves it!  He looks a little silly trying to figure out the double thumbs up! ha ha

Working in the yard.  He loves when I push him in the wheelbarrow.

He loves balloons.  I just love this picture.  His face is precious.

Family picture in a tree!

Awww... smooches!

Blue blue eyes.

Swimming just a couple weeks ago.  I love Ally's swimsuit.

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Is anybody out there?

I have had a couple comments from friends asking why I don't keep up this blog.  I am wondering if anyone even reads this thing.  Leave a comment if you would like me to get this up to date and keep it maintained.  :D

A lesson from my dad...

When I was a teenager I had some problems with depression and my father gave me the best advice ever. He said, "When you are down and feeling sorry for yourself look for someone to serve." I have used that advice many times in my life. Today being one of them. I was super overwhelmed thinking about all the stuff that needed to be done around the house and Rick's super busy schedule and then I realized I should do something for someone else. Not having much energy and Levi tying me to the house all I could think of was to followup on the ladies I visit teach. That was enough. I instantly felt better just by making a phone call and showing concern for someone else.

Growing up!

Levi started nursery this last Sunday. He didn't even care that I wasn't there. He did great. Ran right in and played to his heart's content for 2 hours! It helps that Sister Hatch, the nursery leader, is the sweetest lady in the world. I would love to hang out with her for 2 hours! I just can't believe how big Levi is getting. He uses more and more words each day and is always running and laughing and yelling about something. He is the happiest kid. I love that he still gets attention for being adorable. I got comments all the time when he was a baby. People loved to stop and look at him and his olive skin and dark hair and the stares and oooing just continued. Well just the other day I was stopped twice by people telling me what a cute little boy I have within 5 minutes of each other. One was an old man driving by us in the parking lot. It is still nice to hear my kid is stinkin' cute. I just love Levi.

We finally finished the basement apartment downstairs and we have rented it. What a relief to have all of that done. So exciting!! During all the construction we found ways to keep Levi entertained. He loved daddy's tools, especially the dangerous ones! yikes. But he LOVED his little cardboard fort I made him out of the dishwasher box! He just laughed and kept running in and out of it all night. He is bored with it now unfortunately. He does not eat anything anymore. We can always get him to drink things though so I started juicing fresh fruits and veggies. Look at him go! He just guzzles that stuff. So he is still getting healthy things in his tummy, just not as easily as I would like.
He has also started doing these random acts of love. Like this one while I was cooking. He wouldn't let go for a full 3 minutes or so. I am glad he stayed put long enough for me to snap a picture. Can you see my big pregnant belly? He sleeps like his dad; all over the place! I worry about him when he gets his face covered up, but he always wakes up just fine.

He crawled up on the couch the other day and laid in my lap up against my tummy and just cuddled with me and Ally while he wound down for his nap. So precious.

His favorite spot to watch TV in in our ottomans. Perfect little chair for him aye? My neighbor had this old superman costume and she heard about Rick's love of superheros so she told me to use it for Levi. I put it on him and he was not happy. I think it is because it was a little too small. Rick came home from work and started laughing so hard when he saw Levi in it. They played for a second and then Levi ripped that thing off! It was worth it though, doesn't he look funny!? I love Levi's face in this picture. I don't think he gets that from me! lol

Just being silly with daddy and the hamper.

Levi loves watching people come and go out our kitchen window. He comes and points to that stool and makes some gibberish, but I always know he wants me to go put it at the window and help him up on it. I think he was watching Rick leave for work in this picture. He even knocks on the window to get people's attention as they pass to wave at them. Too bad his chubby little hand can't knock very loudly. No one hears it.

ReDos and My Insanity

My sister introduced me to this blog: betterafter.blogspot.com. I am obsessed and I have lots of projects already gathering in my house. I have three bar stools I want to redo, I am getting a dresser for Ally that I want to paint and put cute stenciling on it, and more.... I thought I should start small since I have NO experience in this type of thing. I was at DI looking for a coffee table I could turn into a bench for my entryway at my house when I found this little treasure.

Ugly right?? Well after picking out some fabric, buying some spray paint, and taking the time to put it all together (about an hour tops)... I had this cute little footstool!!

I love it. Now I just need to get some chairs to go with it for my dining room area! I love my new house and the LARGE dining area. I want to make it a cozy hangout place for family and visitors. That is why I want chairs for it! A nice lamp table and some mood lighting and a soft rug... Ah... someday!

Another thing I did was paint my porch. It was just cement and leftover adhesive from that fake grass stuff that old people used to glue to their porch... it was hideous! But after about an hour of work with Rick at 10 at night we had this to wake up to in the morning. I just wish I would have taken a before picture so you could get the full effect of how beautiful this is compared to what it was.

Now all I need to do is get Ally's room ready. We are working so hard on getting the basement apartment ready that I haven't done a thing to get her room put together. I don't even have a dresser to put her clothes in. I am buying bedding this week and hopefully I can paint in two weeks and get a dresser to redo... then relax for my last couple weeks of pregnancy. Yeah right! Relax? What is that? I have to tell you a bit of what has been going on this pregnancy. Besides being super sick the first trimester it hasn't been too bad. I have been able to get out and do things and haven't been sick. However, a couple weeks before my third trimester hit I got this wave of fatigue. It was like I had been hit by a truck. It has let up a couple days here and there but for the most part I have been just so darn tired all the time. Rick has been wonderful and has helped me a lot and so has my family which I would have died without. Another thing too is my hormones must be all over the place. I don't remember feeling this way with Levi, maybe it's because this is a girl and that is why it is more noticeable. I have just been so insane lately. Everything makes me want to crawl into a corner and cry. Poor Rick tries SO HARD to make me happy all the time. I don't feel I deserve it because I am so cranky and moody all the time. The past 4 days or so I have felt much more stable. Maybe she isn't doing so much hormone producing now and is just getting fat!? lol. Well I am so close to the end. 6 to 7 more weeks! Home stretch!