Girl's Nights

I love that my friends from high school and I still get together! It is always so much fun.  We do crafts, go out to eat, watch chic flicks, and have lots of girl talk!

I was in charge for the month of February.  We had a dinner at my house where we ate a yummy pasta dinner with garlic bread, salad, and homemade asphalt pie for dessert!  Then we made some cute flowers/headbands. I totally forgot to get a picture until the very end so here's Katie, Gina, and I after a long night of crafting. 

The ones I made. Katie brought the best vintage buttons for the center. I loved them!

Tutu

I decided that Jocelyn needed a tutu for her birthday. She loves all things girly and once I tried it on to see how big to make it she did not want it off. So cute with the red jammies don't ya think?

Feeding Ducks, Pet Store, and Playing Outside

The weather was so nice this week (until today anyways- it's snowing right now).  I loved being able to go on walks outside and not feel cooped up.

On Tuesday we walked up to BYU to meet Casey after class. I brought along some bread so we could feed the ducks.  Jocelyn LOVES to feed the ducks.  She's getting pretty good at actually throwing the bread in far enough.  She was also having fun chasing the ducks! She is getting to be a lot more energetic.

 

Then on Thursday Jocelyn and I went to the pet store.  She, of course, loved it too!! She is obsessed with animals and always has been.  She would be the one and only reason for Casey and I to ever get a pet at some point.  Neither of us are pet people. But... the pet store did have a Puggle puppy that I would have taken home.  Oh my gosh, it was so cute! Plus Casey likes pugs and I think a puggle is even more cute!  I didn't get a picture because it kept hiding so the one here is from google, but it looked just like that.  Isn't it adorable??

 

When we got home from the pet store we played outside for a while.  Jocelyn had fun catching the water from our gutter.

Look how long it is...

Jocelyn's hair is so long when we comb it out straight.  I love how crazy curly her hair is.  I tried to comb it all straight to get a pictures and it just kept curling up.

About two hours later this is what we get...

Wow, I love this little girl!

Casey's Pictures

Casey decided to finally try his hand at using my Christmas Present (camera) and took some pictures of Jocelyn in the tub.  He got some good ones! She will always make the funniest faces for him.

For this last one he covered the flash part way with his hand.  This is his favorite. He told me he loves how Jocelyn looks with her hair all wet smashed to her head.  haha. It's so different from her everyday fro.

things said by Jocelyn tonight at bedtime

I took the sippy into Jocelyn as she was laying down for her nightly drink of water.  Yep, she is already using excuses to stay up longer.  She pointed to the cup and said, "pink." Then pointed to it again and said, "purple, actually." (The sippy is normally pink but when it's cold it changes to purple.)

When I covered Jocelyn with her blanket she said, "All nice and warm now."

As I was leaving the room, Jocelyn said, "I wud you so much."

About 10 minutes after she went to bed, I sneezed, and then I heard, "Bless you momma. Bless you momma." Over and over she said it until I went in and said, "Thank you." Then she was quiet.

By the way, people say that once kids start talking they don't stop- they are so right!

Sugar Cookies Galore! (and the best recipe ever)

 

 

I am in love with these cookies! They are the very best sugar cookies I've ever had.  I wish you could see how thick they are.  They remind me of the pink Granny cookies. Case and I love the cookies themselves but think it's all in the sour cream frosting. That stuff is soo good! I sent them all out of my house after making them. I would have eaten them all if they stayed around much longer. As you can tell I had way too much fun decorating them.  Thanks Gina, Juli, and Whitney for coming and making them with me!

Here's the Recipe:

Sugar Cookies

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 cups flour

Cream sugar and butter.  Add eggs and cream.  Mix in remaining ingredients.  Dough will be soft. (I always put mine in the fridge for a couple hours, or the freezer to chill.) Roll with additional flour.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.  Makes 64 cookies.

Sour Cream Frosting

1/4 cup butter or margarine- softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (I ended up putting in about 4 cups.  I guess it just depends on what consistency you want for your frosting)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine butter, sour cream, vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.  Frosting becomes stiffer when refrigerated.  Store in refrigerator. 

Love Day

One says, "Love Your Hubby." 

The other says, "Love Your Daddy." 

He is the best!

I Love Him.

And I love Jocelyn.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh the days of high school dances...

The end of February I helped my mom host a dinner for my brother Ben's high school dance date.  I had alot of fun making these suckers for their favors.

And some of these pom poms for decor:

 Ben and his date. So cute.

Photography by Sam

Sam is Casey's youngest brother who is now on his mission.  He is an absolutely incredible photographer!! Amazing! He usually takes more pictures of scenery and objects, but I asked him to take our family pictures back in November and they turned out awesome! These are some of my favorites.

Still don't believe me that he is out of control good at photography.  Check these out...

See what I mean??! Did I mention that he is 19?

Other Mommy blogs

I love other mommy blogs.  True, they may be writing only the good things in life and occasionally make you feel like a bad mom.  But... I LOVE hearing all of the ideas and the good things about being a mom.  Today I read this and this.  Both amazing mommy blogs.  I completely love both of those posts and recommend reading them.

 I totally agree with Sarah, from Clover Lane, about being a stay at home mom.  Casey is what makes it possible for us.  For example- he was at school from 9am-5pm today, and then he worked at the dental lab from 7pm-...still gone and it's almost 1am.  It's not just luck that allows me to stay home, it's sacrifice.  Where there is a will there is a way and I'm not leaving this home for work any time soon. Then there is the post by Shawni, from Life.  Her idea about writing what it's like day-to-day mothering.  I needed this post.  I always wonder what my mom was like as a young mom and I have the worst memory! I hope to do better writing what my days are like as a young mom.  Thank you "other mommy blogs" for inspiring me.

This is how we spent the day

 

Joce isn't feeling good. 

All she would eat today was pediasure in her sippy.

Yes, she is sitting in her infant carseat.

We watched Finding Nemo, Micky Mouse, and My Friends Tigger and Pooh all day.

Her voice sounds adorable and is very hoarse.

January... check. Plus some crafting

This year I set my goals up categorized into daily, weekly, monthly, year. It made more sense to me this way.  I think it's easier to go back and check what I am doing or still need to do. 

I started this year off right
by accomplishing all of my monthly goals:

attend temple

read one book (I read three)

work on photography (started a photo class)

try a new recipe (these muffins. YUM! amazing blog)

do something crafty (pictures below)

Now if I could get my daily and weekly goals to all check off... 

still working on some of those.

 

Christmas thanks

XOXO found here 

Heart Wreath found here 

Lovely headband thanks to my sister-in-law Maddy's instructions