{photo challenge}

Photo challenge: Favorite photo from February

Perfect sunny day at the park.

Linking up to the paper mama blog.

two words: jimmy johns.

It was such a big deal when we moved that I was going to miss small things in St. George like Cafe Rio, Flood Street Theater, Christensen's, DownEast Outfitters, and Jimmy Johns. I used to take so many things for granted. Like mountains, blue skies with puffy clouds that set with beautiful sunsets, a small freeway, the St George temple. There is a long list of reasons why I miss St. George, but now Jimmy Johns is crossed off that list. It is now here in Manassas! Of all places it came right to the town we live in, it must have been destiny, like Cafe Rio coming to our town.

It's a plain sub with turkey lettuce and sprouts, but it is so much more because I have so many memories that flood my brain when I take that first bite. St. George. mmmm. #4 Turkey Tom. The workers were kind of surprised that I walked right up and ordered without looking at the menu.

Aly and I have been having a girl's weekend while daddy is away researching our next move for Carmedic his company. He is finding a new place for us to call home. I am so excited/nervous/anxious for the next phase of our lives. This weekend has been pretty quiet without Chris' loud voice ringing through our apartment. I never thought I would miss that loud voice so much. It makes me also realize how much he really helps me out around the house and with Aly. I am pretty spoiled when he is home. So we have been bored and haven't done much. I took Aly on a little lunch date to eat Jimmy Johns and teach her about simple subs that are yummy. She also tried BBQ chips for the first time. She really liked them until she looked at her fingers then raised her eyebrows and held her hand out to be cleaned. She still doesn't like her fingers dirty. Silly girl. We had so much fun. The perfect outing with my girl. Then we went to target which is also a great outing. Oh and... the Dr. Pepper I had also made my day.

(don't mind my icky point and shoot pics....my cell phone probably could have taken better!)

{Whatever she was thinking at this moment I have no idea, but I love this pic because it's funny.}

It was a great day. Better than sitting in the house alone with the tv on hgtv because nothing else is ever on... Jimmy Johns. Welcome to Manassas. We will visit you often to have a piece of St. George come back to us every now and again......

a sunny day...

Last weekend was a doozy. With a teething toddler (yes she is getting more teeth already! 4 to be exact. pretty soon it will be a total of 16 teeth! ) and a mom that had a crazy head cold, we stayed inside all weekend. To top it off Aly had a bad cold/cough too so we watched lots of tv and laid around. It was actually pretty nice not to have plans for once.

Aly is usually ok while teething but for some reason this time around she is acting like the typical teether that I hear about. Thank goodness she started acting more like normal by Wednesday.

We started feeling better just in time for a sunny day to come our way. We have been cooped up then had some rainy/stormy days in between.

Today was a dream.

The sun was out, the temp was 67 degrees, and it was just beautiful.

Just about 2 weeks ago while we were on a walk we found a play ground in our complex that we didn't know existed (We have lived here over a year!) Needless to say I was pretty happy to find something right around the corner for a quick activity outside.

Sometimes I feel so stuffy being a stay home mom. I love it, but sometimes we just need to get out! (Our outings can't always revolve around shopping like I would enjoy...) It is hard being in an apartment without a yard of our own. I want our kids to play outside and appreciate the beauty around us. Lately this is Aly's opinion of being outside:

She isn't really fond of it. I feel like winter has kept us from doing anything fun outside. I can't wait for summer to swim, go hiking at the creek, go on walks, and have picnics. Chris and I want her to enjoy the outdoors, even if it is only going to the park or sitting on the grass.

Once we were out there for a bit she loosened up. She actually picked up the bark to look at it instead of cry when I try to get her hold it.

A few things about our little 14 month old:

-Sometimes she will walk around with a hand on her hip and lean to the side.

-She loves to put on her dad's work hats.

-She is getting a little pickier about eating what I want her to. She will spit it out and let her tongue hang there for a bit just in case you didn't see she didn't like it. (She is a bit dramatic about things).

-She loves to shut doors, especially the bathroom door even if it means she will be in pitch black.

-She is starting to use crying to her benefit. She notices that it gets her things (I just give it to her because after a while I am sick of the whining..) Unless it is cookies or something I don't want her eating. She pretty much has to cry that one out until she notices I'm not giving it to her.

-Lately she goes down for bed really peacefully without fighting. She sleeps really well. I hope I didn't ginx it by saying outloud........

-She still takes 2 naps. One in the morning about an hour then afternoon about 2.5 hours.

-She tries to put everything around her neck like a necklace. The computer cord, the cell phone charger, bra straps, her purse.

-She knows where her eyes, mouth, nose, ears, fingers, teeth, hands, legs, feet, toes, and belly button are. She will often come up and touch my eye lashes and say eyeeee.. (almost sounds like her hi in a high pitch voice.)

-She says hi to strangers as we pass them in the store. It almost makes me nervous because I never know who it will be. I know we will have to keep a close eye on this social butterfly. She is pretty outgoing. (No surprise with the dad she has...)

She saw a dog and got super excited. She walked closer to try and follow it.

Where did the doggy go? She stared for a good 5 minutes until they left.

She kept getting upset when she fell because that meant she had to touch the dirt and bark to get herself up.

I found these adorable sneakers at goodwill. I love them. They are soft soled and easy to slip on with no ties.

She was more interested in playing with my keys than exploring.

And she pretty much hated the slide.

We will teach her. There is so much outside to be enjoyed and taken in. I had fun being out there getting some fresh crisp air. It's good for my soul. I felt like I had been needing a giant fresh breath for like the last month. Yay for sunshine.

{photo challenge}

Photo challenge: Family

There are so many pictures that represent my little family, but man... these two people are my world. No photo can really share what I feel about them.

(These photos are a couple of oldies but a couple of goodies..)

I know I'm getting mushy (like usual) But I sure do love them. My life is happy.

Linking up to the paper mama...

{Aly Mae Boutique}

So my Etsy shop is open with a few items in the store. I hope to get more things in there soon. I need to get to work. I thought and thought of what to name the shop, and all of the things I liked were taken. So why not name it after my little stinkerdoodle? She is the reason I am a stay home mom and able to do this. So {Aly Mae Boutique} it is! And of course there are owls in my logo. I love them.

Today as I was trying to take pictures of my bag, Aly couldn't stand it that I was taking pictures of something other than her. She is usually the one in front of the camera and it was making her upset that I kept pushing her out of the way. I finally gave up and realized that I simply can't do ANYTHING while she is awake. She jumped right on in and started to pose. It was the funniest thing, considering most of the time she hates sitting for pictures. She is so stinkin cute. Little poser.

I am kind of jumping head first and just going for it. I will never see how it will go unless I just start and do it. So here goes. With the little time that I have, I hope that I can make lots of cute things to put in the shop. I even made my own tags to match my logo & header.

Here is a funny little video for you!

Check out the shop and maybe give some advice or feedback on what you would like to see in there! Thanks :)

such a hoot.

First of all notice the hair! She is finally starting to look more girly and it is actually getting some curl on the ends! That is another thing she got from her dad since my hair is stick straight.

Most of the time she has wings behind her ears...

The other day I glanced up from the computer to see this... I guess she really wanted every. last. dvd. out of the cabinet. All I could see was her little bum and legs sticking out.

Aly has found a new necklace... She comes up and steals it right as I need it while sewing.

Is it just common knowledge that the bathroom is meant to be the reading room? I don't know how she ends up doing this since it isn't me that she is learning it from. She is constantly dragging her books into the bathroom. (Don't you just love her baby belly? I'll be sad when it goes away.)

This is her fake laugh face. Sometimes it is completely silent with nothing coming out of her mouth, and other times she literally says, "ha.ha.ha." This one was a silent one.

One of my recent projects was to update our bathroom with a few minor {cheap} changes. I cut up our old shower curtain (the blue and green) and used scrap gray fabric to make a chevron pattern. I bought a cheap white curtain and sewed them on. I wanted it to be simple yet fun and I am really loving the chevron pattern I have seen all over lately. I am going to do some similar chevron wall art for above our towel rod, just haven't done it yet. I kept our green rug and green and blue baskets so it matched perfect.

peek-a-boo there's Aly...

Here we are all ready for church {we get to speak today... yay}. Every ward we have been in we have said,"hmmm, I wonder when we will be asked to speak?" And never have. The one and only time we spoke was when we lived in Ivins, shortly after we were married. We have been in 4 wards since and we have been in this one over a year. We got a great topic though, The family: A Proclamation to the World.

Whenever she grabs a book to sit down and read she will sit her bum practically on the couch then slide down slowly until her bum touches the floor. It's pretty funny to watch. She likes to sit leaning up to something. A lot of times when I am in the kitchen she will come and do the same thing up against the gate.

Oh, looks like she is giving the "stink face" to the book...

Really mom? Why do you have to take pictures right now?

I hope everyone has a great Sunday!