All of the beautiful ideas..

Adam and I have been here in the bay area for three + years, and there are times I feel stuck. We are still renting our house, and it's okay for now, but I would really love to buy! I want to decorate decorate decorate!! Adam doesnt think it makes since to really get into decorating a rental, but after three and a half years, I have decided it's time! I have SO many great ideas I can't decide what direction to go! So I start small..I just made a sink skirt for our laundry room.. I am now reupholstering all of our couch pillows http://blog.puffling.com.au/?tag=cushion( such an easy thing to do!) but that alone really changes things up in the good ol'e livin' room http://www.6thstreetdesignschool.blogspot.com/. Next?? homemade curtains!
 I am so excited!For the past hour I randomly just started browsing designer blogs for fun. And in that one hour I've filled up a new folder entitled "home-inspiration" with random pictures. It's crazy how much talent there is out there and how much stuff you can find in an hour.

Love this kitchen, but I am hoping to go with an "apple green" color theme. Anyway, just browsing for fun and for decorating inspiration. Any fun ideas you love??

When you're bald...

 My sweet little Chloe, you are bald.. yep not much going on on the top of your head.. Keep waitin, but you only have about 2 inches of hair. On the bright side of a sad stylist moms view, I am going crazy making you headbands and clips to accessorize your do.. or lack there of. I should have you modeling these headbands, but seeing that you have been asleep since seven and I am still up at nine thirty making MORE, I suppose a quick picture of what I have made you tonight will do, sadly minus that adorable model bald head of yours. Oh and by the way you have your first two new little teeth trying to pop in Yay! Or so I hear.. Uh Oh..

All Smiles!

Chloe is eight months old. She is such a sweetheart! She is representing here..Go USC!

Northstar/Tahoe

This past weekend Adam, Chloe, and I went to Tahoe to help chaperon a church youth ski trip. I had never been up there and felt like I was the last person on earth to go.We stayed at Northstar, It was beautiful! The weather was sunny and warm ( for Feb.) We took a couple of boys from the ward up with us on the drive up. They entertained Miss Chloe and she fell in love with Travis. She kept staring at him the whole way up. I think she has a thing for blond boys with blue eyes, because yesterday I took her with me to do a couple of hair cuts and she did the same thing to Ryan, who also has blond hair and blue eyes.

We stayed in a beautiful room with a fireplace and a kitchen. Here are my two favorite people on earth, My handsome husband and baby girl. Chloe spoke her second word while we were in Tahoe, which was Dada! Adam LOVED that!

Chloe enjoyed being somewhere new..

We had to pause the fun every once in a while for Chloe to eat... Like I have said before.. this kid LOVES her food!

 Me trying to be sneaky and pelt Adam with the snow..

We thought about going hot tubing, but Adam forgot his swim shorts :(

Morgan and Grant. Grant was a trooper! He napped through us going to the village..

 Check out that chubby face!! I L-U-U-UVE her!!

 Chloe and Grant trying to stay warm. Chloe is 3 x older than Grant .. She's such a cougar!

 

 Check out the kids face. She had a blast! It was such a nice getaway we really enjoyed hanging out with all of the youth!!

The Celebration of the Very Looooong Dogs

Last weekend was the monthly dacshund weiner roundup.  There were weinies of all shapes and sizes (see picture below). Long weiners, small weiners, brown weiners, black weiners, long-haired weiners, wIre-haIred weiners and even some spotted weinies. Ginger was the prettiest though.

Chloe loved every second of the dog park (except during the picture above apparently). She watched all of the dogs as they chased each other and she said her first word! She actually said "dah dah" which I interpreted to mean "Dad", but Leah told me Chloe was actually saying dog because she did the accompanying sign language for dog at the same time. Ah man!

After Ginger was done smelling everyone we decided to go on a little family hike up in the hills above the park. Here is a picture of Leah and Ginger as we started our assent.

 It was pretty cold out (by California standards) so I squeezed Chloe into my jacket to keep myself....er...I mean...to keep her warm.

Chloe and I stayed warm enough. Leah had to keep herself warm with stinky-ole-slobber-mouth-muddy-butt Ginger. Every time Chloe and I turned around we saw THIS:

That Ginger is always posing for the camera. Lastly, our family picture commemerating our glorious assent to the peak of Mount Abovedogpark.

Modeling her homemade pillowcase dress!

It's my first run, so it needs improvement!

A new ME

After gaining a whopping 34 lbs while pregnant with my daughter Chloë I am so happy to announce that after 7 months I am Finally back to my pre pregnancy weight!! Yay!! For the past 3 weeks I have been eating very healthy. I am not on a "diet" (I am still nursing and cannot restrict my calories) I am just eating all whole grains, no added sugar, and LOTS of fruits and veggies. Chloë and I have been attending a Mommy and me palates/ singing/sign language for babies class. I just started a yoga class on Thursdays and Adam bought me a shake weight that I just began using. I realized that here we feed our daughter pure homemade fruits and veggies, but I am eating a quesadilla and sugar free soda.. Not the best example, especially when she always reaches for what I am eating and wants to try it. I then say "nope baby this isn't for you" well it shouldn't be for me either so here I am. I feel great! I have more energy and I am more motivated.. YAY! Go sz 2 jeans I totally deserve you!!

banana, strawberries,peaches and a little fresh pressed apple juice









 I love vegetables and fruit smoothies!! The one thing I still really miss CHEESE!(the kind that's not so healthy, ya know the melty stringy kind)



Look @ all of that beautiful color in these Japanese yams! yum!



Yellow and red pepper with olive oil fresh cloves of garlic and onions.. roasted! mmm..

Southwest white chicken chili

I just made this delicious Chili.. Normally I don't love chili, but this improvised HEALTHY recipe I made is yummy..

Ingredients

4 (4 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into cubes
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 large onion, chopped
1 (15oz) can diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 medium yellow squash chopped
3/4 cup water/ chicken stock
1 1/2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
1 (15 ounce) can white kidney beans (cannellini), rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans, partially drained
A few dashes of garlic salt and pepper
2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions
1.Heat the chicken in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the cumin, onion and pepper and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, stirring often.
2.Stir the water, corn and beans in the saucepan and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with the cheese.

   I am trying to eat healthy so I didn't add the cheese to the top of mine even though I think cheese is the BEST, only Adams bowl got some :)

December and January

It's been a little while since I made a post so Dec. and Jan. will be all tied in.. Christmas was so much fun this year..


  

 Chloë got lots of books, clothes and toys..

 We had a night of Chocolate dipping..

TONS of eating..



More food...


Then for New Years we went down to Southern California to meet our good friends fiance, Darby. We had so much fun shopping and going out to eat and playing the wii..

Eating crab at Joe's Crab shack.

Chloe having a blast watching the waiters dance at Joe's..

Congratulations John and Darby! Can't wait to see you in April for the wedding!!

6 months and graduating to Solids!!!

Before I begin I would like to say, Yes these posts may be uninteresting to you, but I keep this blog for Chloë's grandmas. Yes this is a shout out to the grandmas who check the blog for updates. Grandma Renee, Gigi, Nana, Grandma Baird. Chloë has just turned 6 months old! I can't believe she is a half a year old! She is getting sooooo big. She can sit up on her own and I LOVE it. For me it means more pictures!! She just started to eat "real" food. So far sweet potatoes,  Applesauce (cinnamon and regular), butternut squash, yellow squash, and she has never turned down anything I stick in her mouth.This girl LOVES her food! I am so excited to introduce Chloë to a whole new world of food. As crazy as it sounds I am having so much fun with this. I love letting her experience a world of flavors! My cousin Amber was kind enough to give us this baby food that her baby is too big for now. I have also been making and freezing homemade squash, fresh green beans, and berry baby food. I plan to make all of it myself with our handy-dandy bullet. below is a fun video of how serious little miss is about her food!

I'm serious about this food thing ma!

Random strangers

Now that I have a baby random strangers feel the need to come poke, talk to, and even sing and touch little miss. She loves it and shows off her gummy smile and pretty little dimple for them, but I on the other hand find it odd some things people say ( maybe you can help me decrypt them) like the other day "Oh look at her she is such a pretty little lady, Don't be fooled mom she won't melt"  ??? uh OK because I was worried abt that? " Hi saucy pantsies you are sure saucy!" .. saucy? what does that mean? And how is she exuding saucy to the general public? Or at restaurants waiters always bring her a kids menu and crayons and ask what she wants off of the menu.. I understand that they don't know that a baby at 3,4,5 months drinks her meals, but it makes me laugh. And behold my favorite comment "Boy or Girl?" Really?? She is decked out in ALL pink with earrings and a bracelet on and a pink headband. I smile and say "SHE"S a girl."
They also love to give advice which sometimes is beneficial, and sometimes amusing. Such as,"When your baby is hungry and crying you should let them cry for at least 10-15 minutes before feeding them. That way they don't expect things on demand" Sad..   "If you tickle your baby she will stutter when she's older" well if that's true Chloe won't even be able to form sentences when she's older!! So humorous!

Giving Thanks



 

Adam, Chloë, and I all went to Idaho Falls for thanksgiving this year. Miss Chloe did great on the plane. When we arived there was snow :) Great to look at, but oh so cold! Then came the blizzard.. very cold. We got to ejoy new family members, yummy food and lots of  laughter and noise.



Chloë holding Abram



Chloë in the craft room with grandma Baird



Abram and Owen