My little lovely

Today Mae has been the sweetest little lovely any mom could ask for. She is a sweet girl, but pretty headstrong, so getting kisses and loves takes some work. Today, she kept telling me "oh mommy, I just love you", and " aw.mommy, I love you so much". I think she knows that she'd better start showing her mom some love if she's going to keep up with the hair cutting, drawing on non washable surfaces and other little "Maeisms".
I wanted to take some photos of her tonight and she insisted that I be in the photos as well.
Look at those blue eyes!

Fun things about Mae right now-

All babies are "soooo cute" in the cutest little sing song voice.
All blonde hair boys are "soooo cute" too, including Micah R. (she thinks he is the cutest)
If Mae had a choice between a cookie and an asparagus spear....she'd pick the spear
She loves to pretend cook and ever since she was 1, insists on sitting on the counter while I cook
She steals my garments and tries to wear them because they feel good
Every time Shane gets up from his comfy chair, she runs to steal it, even if she is half asleep in my arms
She insists on calling Dora the Explorer- Dadadaddora the exploder( think how they sing it, and that is how she says it)
Her elmo pulls ups are "la lala la" pullups
Favorite movies are Monsters Inc and Monsters VS Aliens

Fun little girl this one

Family Home Evening with friends

In our religion (LDS) one of the things that we do is have a weekly Family Home Evening. This takes place every Monday. Here is a proper definition I found on the net.
"Family Home Evening (FHE) or Family Night, in the context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, refers to one evening per week, usually Monday, that families are encouraged to spend together in study, prayer and other wholesome activities."
I can't think of another religion that does this, but I can't imagine NOT doing it. I mean of course, we get busy and forget from time to time, but for the most part, we do this every Monday night.
Sometimes families join together which makes for an extra special night. This is one way that we as members become so very close to each other. We truly are all one big family.
Tonight we had FHE with two families. The Bells and The Rehders. Both have known me since I was a little girl and it is always so fun to get together and reminisce. The Rehders were in our ward in Wasilla, AK when we first moved there. I was 5. When we moved to Washington, they came to visit, fell in love and moved out here as well. When we moved to the Island, they followed 4 years later. They were very close friends with my parents and still are. The Bells moved to the Island as a young young couple with two little kids and a baby on the way. Tom was my sunday school teacher and Mary was my young womens leader. I babysat for them and grew very close with their family as a teenager.
I love this about my church. I have always and will always feel that I have so many sets of aunts and uncles here. It makes the loss of my mother seem a little easier.
Ps- Just because you may not be LDS doesn't mean you can't have a family night of your own!
It also doesn't mean you can't join in on one of ours. We'd love to have you over.

Pps- That is for any of you delurkers that aren't "de freaky".

5 star hotel vacation just 5 miles away

We love it when Grandma Sandra comes to visit. She likes her peace and quiet at night and has the money to spend, so she always gets a suite at a nice hotel with a pool sometimes and when that happens.....we jump at the chance to spend the night with her. Unfortunately, unlike last time, she couldn't get two suites together, so we had to settle with being 4 rooms down the hall.
Speaking of rooms....I didn't get any photos, but they were amazing. All down comforter beds with a feather mattress and tons of down pillows. This hotel is just 5 miles from our house at the Casino and we felt like we were on vacation. It was wonderful. Sandra is like another mother to me. We met when I was 12. Her and her husband came to our house once and her husband ended up being my dads architect for several of his subdivisions. We bonded pretty quickly. She was the fun older rebel sister (although my moms age). All through my life, we have remained very close. It was because of her that we moved back. She bought us a little mobile home for us to move in to get us up here. She has always taken care of us if we have ever needed anything.
She joined the church when I was in high school and used to live right next to the Gibbons right on the water. Anyhow....this story could go on and on. We had a great time. I love it when she visits after Christmas because she takes me on my Christmas shopping spree and I get all new clothes. We brought Mae along this time and she was equally spoiled. The only thing that bothered me about this was that the entire two days she was here......Mae only wanted " graayndma".
At one point, Mae was jumping into the pool, into grandmas arms . I swam over to them and asked Mae to jump to me....she looked at the numbers on the cement where she was jumping from and said " no....this is Grandmas number", she then pointed ALL the way down to the other end of the pool and said " that's your number". Real nice Mae.....real nice.

The pool was amazing. The whole area to the right is 1-1.5 ft with a little water fountain feature in the back. The kids loved it.
In the morning, we headed over to the buffet for FREE. It was one of the perks for staying the night. I want to start doing this once a month.
For just 150.00, you get a king size bed with a hide a bed couch. We put the couch mattress on the floor and another kid slept on the couch cushions. The kids can swim until 11pm, the buffet is free for all who are listed in the room and cable television!
Do I sound excited enough?

Delurker Day!

My friend Brooke ( see "Dormant Ocean" on my blog list, your welcome Brooke), came up with a pretty brilliant new "holiday"? She hates holidays, but the odd ones, so that will give you some insight into her mentality.
This day is for those of you "lurkers", fans, daytrippers, weekend visitors, etc. that stop by from time to time to check out my blog. I see you visiting. I have this dandy little box near the bottom of the page that says where you are coming from and I am quite intrigued!
Don't be shy, leave a message and tell me where you are from.
Today is the day!

Ps- To become a new lurker of Brookes great blog, just click on her link to the left.
Love you Brookers!!

A preview into the future? Oh heavens......I hope not

Guess what......it is MIDNIGHT. Mae has been (or so I thought) asleep for hours. I am up late with hubby sewing and watching a movie. In walks Mae with this "do". Where in heavens sake did she find the scissors???!???
Why Mae? Oh why? This.....I cannot fix.
Notice that while I was taking a photo....she is already up to no good again! Brooke.....only you know my pain!

Dear Abby,

I cannot believe that my boys are already having this conversation with me. As we speak, Myron is instant messaging me on Facebook from the other room, begging to go on a date on Friday night with a girl that has asked him. What?! It's not just Myron. Just this week, Nathan had a girlfriend
and broke up with her. Here is what is funny. Nathan broke up with this little cutie patootie (friends daughter) and gave permission to Myron to like her. I feel like I am on a Jerry Springer show. I had to explain to Myron that no...we do not date our brothers ex girlfriends, no matter how innocent it was. I asked Nathan why he broke up with this, his very first "girlfriend" and his reply was, " I think it was the holy ghost telling me that I am not ready". He didn't feel comfortable with it. Are you buying it? I'm not sure I am. So my question to you is....
With the obvious age being 16 to "date....date". Is there a grey area where they can go with friends that are girls, can go in a group, can go if mom is there.....etc?
With all the girls calling/emailing etc. I think I need to get this figured out quick.

I cant stop sewing!