Oh, you want me to smile at the camera?

Let it be known that I got my child to smile at the camera.  A rarity these days. 

Granted it took several tries, but I got it. 

"Layna look at me."

And guess what?  She listened. 

But I needed to be more specific.

"Smile."

And guess what?  She listened! (Which is no small feat might I add.  Listening has not been her forte these last couple of days.)

So there you have it.  Documentation that my child does in fact smile for the camera.

She's just being a kid

I have to remind myself this 

when my daughter....

swallows a spoon full of bath water

and says, "Mmmmm.  This juice is good!  I wike it!"

*sigh* 

Kids.

So long

Farewell, Wyoming license plate.

We will miss you (and the fact that I can easily find my car).

My heart was more than a little sad to see you go. 

Because I didn't know how

to get the pictures off my cell phone 'til, 'um, five days ago (ridiculous I know.  But you can't get embarrassed on your own blog, right?).....I have 3 years worth of pictures that you haven't seen. 


Wanna go down memory lane with me and see a few?  No?  Well, too bad.  I'm doing it anyway.

Wouldn't you say she's grown?  Just a little maybe?

Can I fill you in on a few things?

It's about time for an update. Don't you think?

While picture posts are a necessity on a blog.  Sometimes, the most entertaining posts are the ones with just words....Or maybe they are the most informational.  Anyway, let's get down to some of the details in our lives (in bullet point no-less).

• We (and by we, I mean Dan) just installed a garage door opener.  Oh, how I love it.  In fact,  Dan was so proud of himself that for family home evening he suggested that we stand outside and open and close the garage door several times.  :)
• We went swimming at the pool for the first time yesterday.  I would say it was the perfect day to go considering the thermometer said it was 107 degrees when we left.  But we had a blast.  When we got home from swimming I asked Alayna if she was my little fishie and she said, "I'm not a fishie, I'm a big girl."  She's right, ya know.
• Speaking of swimming,  I signed Alayna up for swim lessons in the "Tadpole" class which apparently is not the class with the parents (a detail I did not know when I signed her up).  So she will be swimming on her own this year.  I am little nervous, but she's got to learn sometime.  Right? 
• We have been garage sale-ing the last couple Saturdays and I have come home empty handed every time.  I'm learning it's not quite as easy of a task to garage sale in our town simply because the newspaper only comes twice a week (wed and sun) so in order to find the garage sales you have to basically drive around town until you stumble across one or find a sign with an address for one.  But then we discovered a radio program on Saturday mornings called Trades and Sales.  Basically people call in and announce specific things they are selling along with their address.  Brilliant.  We'll see how this Saturday goes now that we have the in on how to garage sale in Safford.  
• I was invited to a jewelry party the other night and it turned out to be a much needed grown-up girls time for me.  I also learned that I may not be the most up to date when it comes to jewelry, but it was fun nonetheless.
• In my spare time I have been finishing some much needed projects around the house (such as hanging pictures in the family room) so I can maybe somewhat be ready to take pictures for a house tour post in the near future.  I am gearing up for some other projects as well that include painting, sanding, and building.  I have high hopes they will turn out cute.  We'll see.
• I was just called to be the 2nd counselor in the primary.  I am so excited!  This is totally up my alley.  I get to be with kids and teach.  Awesome.  And it will give me a chance to get to know more people in my ward.
• I had my first embarrassing "my-child-did-not-just-say-that-in-public-moment" the other day.  We were in the waiting room at the chiropractor's office.  Dan was back getting adjusted and I was waiting with Alayna.  A (larger) woman walked in the door, checked in and came and sat down.  Then Alayna turns to me and says (in a not so quiet voice),  "Look Mommy!  Big!  (While pointing to the lady).  See?  Big!"  (While again, pointing to the lady.)  I was mortified.  I prayed that the lady somehow either a) did not hear my child or b) couldn't understand her two-year-old vocabulary.  Sheesh.  Kids.
• Instead of going the "watch the garage door open and close" route for Family home evening, we talked about temples.  I chose this subject based on the fact that when we pulled up to the church on Sunday Alayna exclaimed, "Look!  The temple!"  So we talked about the temple and the cool thing about living here is the fact that we can drive 10 minutes down the road and really look at the temple.  Now she is obsessed with temples and Angel Moroni.

And there you have it.  A little update of our everyday-ness.

The hand

Occasionally, if I say something to Alayna that she does not like, she will give me the "Talk to the hand."

 And say "No. Sop. (stop)"

 It's really quite funny.....most of the time.  I don't know where she got it from because I am pretty sure she didn't get it from me...or Dan. :)


Don't worry she can be polite too.  It's just that two year old attitude that comes out every now and then.


And just for good measure, some nice pictures. 

Does your child

want to take the entire house with them when you go anywhere?

Mine does. 

Here she is ready for church.  I told her everything had to stay in the car.  But she wanted to bring it all anyway.  Sheesh. 

A backpack and purse FULL of toys, mini purse, spoon, Easter egg, book and a baby were the must haves for this trip. 

I tell ya, I am having to wait on her when it's time to go.  Most of the time I don't mind until we come back home and I find myself unloading and carrying everything out of the car.  Now that doesn't seem fair does it?