New blog!

I love to be crafty. 

I love to cook and bake.  

I love being creative.  

So . . . I decided to start a new blog!  It's called Loving Every Second.

I will share tutorials, fun ideas and my favorite recipes, just to name a few!

It is seriously brand-spankin' new, so I'm sure there will be lots of changes to the blog decor in the next little while, but I did what I could for now so that I could get it up and running.

So head on over to LovingEverySecond.Blogspot.com and check it out!  Share some Bloggy love!

Grandpa Speechly

My sweet Grandpa Speechly passed away on Sunday.

Here's the link to his obituary - it is such a wonderful tribute to his life.

I just wanted to write down a few things I will always remember about him.

{This pic was taken in June. We don't get up to Ogden too often, but every chance we got, we would make a trip up to see my grandparents}

- Grandpa was always smiling and laughing. He was so much fun to be around! He was a happy person who loved life.

- Grandpa fought in WWII but didn't talk about it very often. The times he did talk about it, I loved hearing the stories. He was a real war hero!

- Grandpa and Grandma had a house in St. George and had a HUGE cactus plant in the front yard. Grandpa made the BEST cactus jelly out of that cactus! I miss that delicious cactus jelly.

- One of the scariest nights of my life happened with grandma and grandpa Speechly. It was the night the Quail Creek dam broke. It was New Years Eve and I was spending the night at my grandparent's house while my parents were at a party. The sirens went off and grandma thought it was to celebrate the new year. Then a Policeman knocked at the door and told us to evacuate the area, that the dam had broken and they didn't know what kind of flooding would happen. My grandpa grabbed a $100 bill! I thought he was so rich (I was seven-years-old)! We ended up spending the night in town at a bishop's house. My house ended up being one of the homes that got flooded. The water came within an inch or two from flooding the main floor of the house. I was so scared because I wasn't with my parents, but I love that I have that memory with grandma and grandpa.

- Grandpa would always make waffles for breakfast when I stayed at their house!

- Grandpa always drove a nice, new, paid for Cadillac - he liked to drive in luxury!

- Grandpa loved to fish and golf! And he stayed active as long as he could by going to the mall in the morning and walking with his friends :)

- My grandpa always loved Jake - I think the fact that they were both immigrants to the US gave them a special bond. And Jake has a couple of shirts that my grandpa gave him that he still wears! They were bro's :)

- When I was at SUU, I was in a singing/dancing group. We did a Christmas show in St. George (my grandparents lived in their St. George house in the winters) and my grandparents came. I got to choose someone from the audience to come back stage where we dressed him up like Santa and sent them out on stage. Of course I picked my grandpa! He was a good sport about it and was a great Santa!

{This pic was taken in December. Grandpa had just had surgery on the skin around his eye to remove skin cancer. Emmy was so concerned about him, she kept hugging him and asking him if he was ok :) }

I will miss my grandpa so much, but I know I will see him again. Knowing the gospel is true brings so much peace to me at this time. Grandpa was such a wonderful person and lived a long and happy life {he turned 93 in July}.

We love you, grandpa!!! You will be truly missed!

Kate {15 months}

{I LOVE this pic}

Yes, it's true. This sweet girl is 15 months old!

Her personality has definitely {blossomed} over the past few months.

We took her to her 15 month well check and here are her stats:

{Weight}: 25.08 lbs (85th percentile)

{Height}: 33 inches (off the chart!)

Kate is talking like crazy! Here are some new words she's saying:

* Tickle, tickle
(she's been saying this for a few months but I forgot to put it on the last word post)
* A bite
* More
* All done
*Down (when she wants to get down)
* Emmy
* Amen
* Shoe
* Ga ga (translation = doggy, or any animal)
* Meow
* Hello (sounds like "hewo" - so cute!)
* Ouch! (she does this right before pinching someone - usually me.)
* Go
* Nanna (for banana)
* Book (sounds more like "boo")
* CC (my friend's name - the only other name she says besides family!)
* Ball
* Balloon

And she said her first sentence!!! Jake was leaving and she yelled out, "Bye, da da!" It was really cute and I was a proud mama since it was her first actual sentence (even if it was only two words . . .).

I might have to add more later if there are some words I forgot . . .

She still loves putting things in her mouth (as you can see from the picture above).

She loves folding her arms during the prayer. She looks around at everyone excitedly while the prayer is being said and sometimes (not every time) yells out "amen!"

We have a little doll stroller and Kate LOVES pushing it around. If anyone else tries to use it, she is not a happy camper.

When she wakes up in the morning, if Emmy isn't awake yet Kate will run to her door, push on it and start banging on it. So sweet - she loves her sister!

She LOVES music! When I put something on that is upbeat, she gets so excited, squeals and starts bouncing! She especially loves "California Gurls" and "Hot 'n Cold" by Katy Perry. She even does the "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh" at the end of the chorus in "California Gurls" - seriously adorable.

If I'm not giving her enough attention, she will pinch my ankles with her little pincher fingers! That's when she says "ouch". Little stinker! It's especially not fun when I'm trying to make dinner and she's doing it. There's only so much a mom can do!

She is such a good eater! She will pretty much eat anything. SO different from Emmy. She was such a picky eater. It's nice to have a child actually eat what I give her for a change!

She LOVES the nursery at church. I usually go in with her during the first hour so she can play. I just hope she keeps loving it so we can have a smooth transition when she turns 1 and 1/2.

She loves books. She brings them to me and says her cute little version of "book".

She's got all of her teeth except for her "I" teeth.

{She let us wrap her in a burrito the other day - we used to swaddle her like that when she was a baby. It was cute that she actually laid there and let us do it!}

She still loves the boat! Seriously loves it. Last time we went out, she and I went for a ride on the tube. She loved it so much that I even let Jake drive a little faster than normal. She's gonna be my little daredevil, I can feel it :)

We love this girl more than words can say! She is such a happy girl and lights up our lives!

Wedding Tutu

Isn't this tutu adorable?

My niece had a birthday and was turning four {not to be confused with my other niece, who I made the magnet board for :) }.

I thought about what Emmy would love to get. She loves to have her dolls get married and I thought, why not make her a wedding tutu with a veil? So I did!

On top of the white and ivory tulle, I added silver ribbon to the tutu to add a little more zing.

For the veil, I got a french-clasp barrette and tied strips of tulle to it. I then hot glued some rhinestones and white flowers to it. I did the barrette so the veil would stay in her hair through all of her playing!

I had Emmy try it on to make sure it would fit. As you can see, she loved it!
{Don't look too close at the dirty mirror . . . what can I say, my kids love to touch the mirror and look at themselves!}

I also got my niece a pair of white gloves to go along with it!

Tutu . . . check!
Veil . . . check!
White gloves . . . check!

This girl is ready to play bride!!!

Now she needs to find a groom . . .

Finally!

So, we got our family pictures taken in February . . .

. . . well I FINALLY got {some of} them printed on stretched canvas!

I am so excited!

My very talented cousin, Stephanie of Auburn Soul Photography, took them. You should check out her website. Seriously.

Don't know for sure how I'm going to display them, but here they are for now!

I love them!

Dollar Store Magnet Board

I don't usually blog about crafts and projects that I do, but this one is so adorable and easy, I couldn't resist blogging about it!

A few months ago, I was at the Dollar Tree when I found some metal serving trays. I got the great idea to spray paint them and turn them into a play serving tray!

The one I did at the beginning of the summer is used to hold Emmy's play cupcakes:

So I got another idea . . . why not use one for a magnet board? It is my niece's birthday this week. She's turning eight and so this is right down her alley. I thought I would make one for her for the big day.

Here's how I made it:

1) I started with a rectangular serving tray (I found it in the wedding section)

2) I primed the edges (when I did the first serving tray, I didn't prime it and the spray paint didn't go on very evenly . . . it could have been a faulty nozzle, but I thought I'd prime it this time just to be safe)

3) Next, I spray painted the tray. I had already picked out my scrapbook paper that I was going to mod podge onto the tray, so I used a coordinating color.

4) I cut out the paper to fit the center of the tray. Then I mod podged it on.

5) I got these clear glass oval rocks at the dollar store, too. These are what I made the magnets out of.

6) I cut my paper to fit on the glass rocks and glued it on. Then I glued on my magnets.

{This is what it will look like from the front. I also used some rub-on letters to spell her name on the magnets}

Add a small easel (I had one already, but you could get one at the thrift store and spray paint it any color you want), some tulle or ribbon and - Voila! An adorable magnet board!!!

My niece loved it! I will definitely be making more of these. The one I made for my niece cost me a total of $2.00! I bought the tray and the glass rocks - everything else I had on hand!

I love me a fast, easy, budget friendly project - especially when it is for a birthday!

I'm linking up with:

Tatertots & Jello - Subway Art

Jen over at Tatertots & Jello had a giveaway a few weeks ago for a free custom subway art piece - and I won!

I was so excited - Jen is very crafty and talented. If you don't read her blog, you should!

I got my subway art last week and it is so adorable, don't you think?:

Emmy was so excited to put it in her room!

And I love the flower embellishment she put on it:

Thanks, Jen, for the giveaway! We love our custom subway art!

First Day of School

Emmy started preschool again last week!

Of course, she loves it and she especially LOVES riding the bus to school everyday!

Em and Kate waiting for the bus . . .

Em, still waiting for the bus . . .

Yahoo! The bus finally came! Doesn't she look adorable?

My big girl, all buckled up and ready to go!
(Kids who are still in car seats have to be buckled in the bus to go to school)

As for Kate and I, we are enjoying a little mommy-Kate time in the mornings and we love it! :)

Going on a bear hunt

Jake and I decided to head up to Cedar Breaks a couple Saturdays ago. We wanted to do a little hiking and have a picnic.

When we got up there is was freezing and raining! We decided not to go hiking there, after all!

But I did get a pic before we left:

{Doesn't Emmy look cold?)

Instead, we decided to drive home through Brian Head. As we were heading down Parowan Canyon, we found a little place to stop and explore. It turned out to be a great hiking trail. It had stopped raining so we headed out for an adventure!

{I can never resist taking pics of the beautiful things around me!}

Emmy has a book called "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and that's what we decided to do - go on our very own bear hunt!

{There was this cute little bridge so that we could cross the river}

Emmy was so excited to find a bear! We kept going and exploring . . .

. . . and luckily we didn't find a bear :)

{These leaves were so cool! And I love that they had water drops on them!}

{Me and my girls! I love Emmy's pose here}

{Kate and her crazy curly hair}

We ended our bear hunt with a picnic on the back of the car. The girls loved it :)

I had big plans to do lots of hiking this summer . . . it didn't happen! But there's still time this year, right? We just need to get a hiking backpack to carry Kate in. Then we will be hiking fools!

TARZAN!

Last week, my brother's wife, Sony, came down with the kids for a few days of fun in the sun! {And dentist appointments with my bro-in-law}

We decided it would be fun to take the kids out to Tuacahn to see Tarzan.

It didn't disappoint!

{The kids before the show - they all match. The girls even have matching hair-do's}

{At Tuacahn before the show}

Sony made these adorable skirts for the girls, just for the show! She is amazing! Of course, I had to make matching flowers for the girls, too - see below for a pic :)

Me and my little peach!

Cats: starring Maddy and Emmy!
Tarzan: starring Ella, Grey and Dylan!

In the show, the monkeys and Tarzan fly over the audience. Emmy LOVED that! She would yell up to whoever was above us and say hi to them. She loved the show so much, she still talks about it and pretends that she's Tarzan and that I'm Kala all the time.


After the show - Emmy wouldn't get down so I had to be in the pic if I wanted Emmy in it - it was past all of our bedtimes so I agreed :)


The flowers that I made to match - aren't they cute?


The next day we decided to go to the lake. Do you think we have enough people on the tube???


The girls! Me, Linds and Sony {and Kate, of course!}

We {LOVE} spending time with the family and especially love it when they come to visit! And I love that we live so close to so many awesome things, like Tuacahn and the Utah Shakespearean Festival. There are a couple of shows I want to see at the Festival - I better hurry before it's too late!


P.S. Watch a great video on parenting HERE

P.P.S. Tonight, after Emmy went to bed, she started coughing. I went in there to check on her and she told me that her "throat was gonna come out". I love all the things that come out of her mouth. I have the BEST video to show of Emmy singing if I can ever get it to download. I've tried a few times and it never works. Maybe it's too big??? Not sure . . .