Snow Day!

A couple of days after Valentine's Day, we got a pretty nice snow storm. Now, it's nothing like we'd gotten in past years, but it was pretty sizeable for this year. The schools had delayed start and it was early release (what's the point of even going, right!), so I decided to be a really nice mom and let Liam stay home and play in the snow... shhhhh! He loved it! He had such a blast building a snowman and playing to his heart's content. It was actually pretty warm outside and the snow really ended up melting by the end of the day. But, he had a lot of fun!

Unfortunately, the poor Snowman's head kept falling off.


On this same morning, I found my dear husband out shoveling the snow like this. Most of you who know my husband, know this is actually normal snow day attire for him.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know I've been a terrible blogger, but there is a very good reason why. Before we get to that, here is a little bit from our Valentine's Day!

I wanted to try to make Valentine's morning special for my little ones. As always, most of my ideas come from pinterest. I made these yummy heart shaped cinnamon rolls. They were a hit!


I tried to make the table fun for the kids to wake up to. I made them each a little love bird (a rice filled heating bag) and they each got a little Valentine from mom and dad- Liam got 2 cars and Addy got a touch and feel book.  They both loved their gifts!


Cute Valentine #1 with crazy bed head.


Cute Valentine #2 wondering what all the fuss was about. :)


Wes and I were able to have a nice Valentine's dinner, courtesy of GG and Grandpa-Great baby-sitting for us. Thank you!

More What's On My Phone?

Here is another installment of "What's on my phone?" as I attempt to get caught up.

I like to take photos of some of Liam's art that I really liked. I think I just thought this one was really cute.  He told me that this was He and Addy. A lot of his journal entries and such are of drawings of him and his sister. I love that.


I was shopping at Target one day before Thanksgiving and was SO EXCITED to see this. I *LOVE* wrapping and wrapping paper. This seriously made my whole day that day. Even looking at this photo makes me smile- dork, yes, I know.


I love how Addy sleeps with her bum in the air while sucking her thumb almost every night. So. Cute!


Another day shopping at Target (are you noticing a theme here?) I saw this special mini lalaloopsy doll!  I love lalaloopsys and this one was created after me, can't you tell? Santa made a special trip to Target to get this for my stocking. :D


This year I made these sweet little felt owls for some gifts. I had a LOT of fun making them and personalizing them to the people I was giving them to. I ended up making about 15.  Everyone loved them!


This wasn't Liam's best art work but I LOVED the buck teeth.  So funny.


This was from our ward Halloween night. Scary, isn't he?


I pretty sure this was the day Addy got over her fear of Papa and decided he was a pretty good guy.


A friend of mine gave me an awesome deal on her never once used Ergo carrier. I tried it out with Addy- she loves the thing.  And it's very comfortable for Mama too! I have a feeling it will be coming in really handy in about 9 months.

In taking the above photo, we discovered that she looks a bit like me. Here is a baby photo of me:


My little sweetie helping me decorate for Christmas!


Addy still has insanely wild hair.  I decided to try curlers in her hair. They actually worked pretty well, even though I don't have an 'after' photo.  She looks pretty funny with them in though.




Here are a few other gifts that I made- some peppermint and brown sugar body scrubs. They were a lot of fun and everyone really loved them!

I had been looking for something with some texture to put on my mantle with the stockings. I ran into this idea on pinterest of tying tulle on a string of lights.  It was a bit more work than I had anticipated but I loved how it turned out. I sprayed it with a gold glitter that added a little sparkle to it.




I think after one more post, I should be caught up on phone photos!

Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary Visit

This is a continuation of my backtrack of iPhone photos (see previous post).  At the end of October, my Great Uncle (my dad's mom's brother) Joe and his wife Mary came to visit us.  Over the last 5 or so years we've gotten to spend more time with them and know them better.  It's a neat opportunity because my Uncle Joe reminds me SO much of my Grandmother Batista (my dad's mom).  They have the same facial expressions and mannerisms and when I'm visiting with him, I feel like a part of my grandma is here too.  My grandmother never got to meet any of her great-grandchildren, so it was special that my Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary did. (I found I was pregnant with Liam the day my Grandmother died). Anyway, this was the first time they had met Heather and my children (they used to live in Ely, but now they live in Idaho).  4 kids, 5 and under is quite the handful, but they really enjoyed them!  The kids had a lot of fun with their canes. ;)  Here is a picture with Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary and their four great-nieces and nephews!

Backtrack: Liam's First Field Trip

I'm just finally getting around to downloading all the photos from my phone that I've taken since October! Yipes! I guess I had so many other events to blog, my phone got pushed to the side.  Most of the time I do that "What's on your phone?" posts, but this one deserved a post of its own.

At the end of October, Liam's class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch in town. I went as a parent helper and had my own little group of maniacs students.  I think the most exciting part of the whole process was the bus ride. Most of the kids have never ridden a bus, so they thought that was pretty cool.  We went on a little hayride and visited the little zoo area and then we went up to Rancho San Rafael for a picnic. Each child also got to pick their very own pumpkin. We had a really fun time and Liam loved that I got to come along.   So here are some photos from our little adventure:








Liam's Kindergarten Class: (the photos aren't that great because it was really hot and sunny and I was using my phone)

S-N-O-W!

We really had thought that Nevada had forgotten what snow is! The has been the driest winter of my memory. We finally got some snow at the end of January. Because Addy was a wee little one last year, this was the first time she was able to get the full snow experience. She at first thought it was ok, then her hands got cold, then she hated it, but then she was really mad when she had to go back inside! So, we don't really know what exactly she thought of it. I really didn't anticipate her being out long, just enough to taste it and feel it, but next time we'll put on some mittens and really let her go for it. Liam was so cute introducing her to it and helping her walk on it so she wouldn't slip. Once she was inside, Nana gave her her very first bite of licorice since she was so upset, and then she sat at the window and Liam threw snow balls at her through the windows. They were both all giggles. Hopefully we get some more snow this year, so we can *really* play!

So here is the activity in photos, the screaming one are pretty funny, even thought they are pretty pitiful. I think she'll like it more next time!















Liam had a blast going down the slide with the snow!

Hope, Fight, Cure!

A year ago (can you believe it's been a year?!) I never dreamed that I would love my job as an oncology nurse as much as I do.  It's really become a passion and I really love caring for such awesome patients. I feel like I've grown so much as an individual and as a nurse by getting to care for patients that are battling a daily fight for their lives.  Seeing their positivity, even in the midst of a very powerful storm, really puts life into perspective for me.  I have grown to love some really amazing and inspiring patients, and I feel so blessed that I get to be a small part of their journey and learn from them.  My supervisor is a stage 4 breast cancer survivor.  She is seriously AMAZING.  She lives with a cancer every day (that is in remission because it has stopped growing) and she dedicates her work to helping other cancer patients emotionally and physically. What an honor it is to work with such incredible and strong people. They are all such examples to me to live life in the moment with kindness and love, for everyone is fighting a difficult batter.  Anyway, I feel really blessed to be a part of such a wonderful team of nurses and have such amazing patients.

I saw this shirt in Addy's size and had to get it.  These pictures are some of my favorites. I titled it, "Future St. Mary's Oncology Nurse" but we're all really hoping that there won't be a need for oncology nurses by the time she graduates from Orvis. ;)  I keep these photos on my phone and my patients LOVE seeing them.  I love that she can brighten a day, even through a simple photograph.