On Cloud Nine

Sean and I have stressed so much this past year about whether or not we can have more children. We started trying to get pregnant in March of last year, right after he finished chemo treatments. Since then it's been month after month of disappointment and frustration. We discussed the idea of adoption and weighed it against the prospect of doing in-vitro fertilization. We've gone back and forth so many times as to what we should do next.

Well, we don't have to worry anymore!


To say that Sean and I are excited is such an extreme understatement. A year's worth of worry has been lifted from my shoulders, and I am eternally grateful to my Father in Heaven for allowing me the privilege of bringing another life into this world. I know it'll be hard, but I'm willing to make whatever sacrifice is required to grow our little family.

I'm due November 2nd. Here we go again! :)

Savin' moolah

I was so proud of my shopping trip to Albertson's last week that I thought I'd do a post about it. Here's everything I bought (sorry the picture is so crappy - I had to take it with my phone):


- 10 cans Progresso soup
- 12 cans DelMonte canned tomatoes
- 10 boxes Toaster Streudel
- 10 boxes Betty Crocker fruit snacks
- 4 packages cheese singles
- 5 tubs Betty Crocker frosting
- 5 pouches Betty Crocker cookie mix
- 10 Betty Crocker Warm Delights
- 6 cans Pilsbury biscuit dough
- 4 cans Pilsbury cinnamon rolls

And here are the numbers:

Purchase price before all deals and coupons: $200.63
Manufacturer coupon savings: $60.50
Albertson's Preferred savings: $80.31
Store coupons: $21.94
Total amount paid: $37.88
TOTAL SAVINGS: $162.75

Wahoo!! Man I love saving money!

Happy birthday, Christine!

So I don't want to brag or anything, but I pretty much have the greatest friend ever.

Christine and I have practically grown up together - we've known each other since elementary school. We've had countless sleepovers, were geeks together in junior high, survived high school together, and now we're both married mommies. We talk on the phone at least once every weekday and have shared all the ups and downs that come from being a stay-at-home-mom. I love her dearly and am so grateful I have such a wonderful, beautiful person in my life.

Happy birthday, girl!!!

My crazy boy

I thought I'd write about some of the nutty things Tay's been doing lately.

- He insists on apologizing for everything, even if he was completely not at fault. He'll trip over something (or we'll accidentally trip over him) and he instantly showers us with, "Sowwy, sowwy, sowwy!" I'm constantly telling him that it's okay and he didn't need to be sorry. It is nice though because if he does do something wrong, he knows he needs to say sorry and hardly ever needs to be coaxed to do so.

- Everyone is "hon." I can't even count how many times a day my son calls me "hon" or "honey." My mom and I assume it's because we call him that so much that he thinks that's what he needs to say. Most every "thank you" and "sowwy" is accompanied by "hon." It absolutely cracks me up when he says it.

- I'm always trying to encourage him and reward him when he's doing something positive, rather than disciplining him when he does something negative, and now he tries it on me too. The other day I was cleaning and organizing the master bedroom and Tay was hanging out with me, playing with some stickers. I had just finished clearing off the floor by the dresser and he looked down to see what I'd done, and then looked up at me with a big smile on his face and said, "Wow, good job hon!" I just burst out laughing, almost to the point of tears.

This is such a fun age! I love you, Tay!!

Taylor's Temple

We have a couple of pictures hanging on our living room wall of the Bountiful Temple - the place our family was sealed for time and all eternity way back in August of 2003. Lately Taylor has taken an interest in those photos, and now every time he sees them, he points and says "Temple! Temple!" over and over again.

On Sunday we were leaving church and he noticed the church steeple and immediately started yelling "Temple! Temple! Temple!" with so much enthusiasm. It just melted my heart, and we decided to take him down to see the Provo temple as soon as he got up from his nap. As soon as we pulled up along side the beautiful building, Tay's eyes just lit up. He talked about the temple for a few minutes, and then we decided to go visit some friends in the area. As we left he said to himself, "Temple. Temple. My temple. Taylor's temple." Sean and I both got a little choked up listening to our little one speak so highly and admiringly of the house of the Lord.

I'm so thankful to be able to raise my son with the gospel, and I'm overwhelmingly grateful for his sweet spirit that he brings into our home. I just can't imagine that Sean and I were ever this happy before we had our precious Taylor.

Kindness Swap x5

I read about this on my aunt's blog and I thought it was a great idea - so I'm in!!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice.

For you.

Hand made!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

Love you all!

V-day dinner

On Friday night Sean and I went up to Salt Lake for Valentine's Day. We had reservations at a Greek restaurant called Aristo's - a place we'd heard about before but never been to. We got into SLC a bit early, so we drove up into the high avenues and parked on a road looking over the whole valley. We used to drive up there a lot and it brought back a lot of memories. We talked for a while and exchanged our V-day gifts, then headed to dinner.

Aristo's has been open since 2005 and is owned by a Greek family that... how shall I say this... are very obviously Greek. I really wished I could have snuck a picture of the owner to post; instead I'll refer you to a picture of Joey Fatone from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Just picture him a bit shorter and wider, and you have the owner of Aristo's.


Anyhoo, it was a really sweet little restaurant. The best part was definitely the food - in one word it was DIVINE. We started with spanakopita - a pretty common Greek appetizer consisting of phyllo dough filled with feta cheese, spinach, onions, and dill. For our entrees, Sean had pastitsio - a Greek lasagna comprised of macaroni noodles, seasoned ground beef, and bechamel. It came with half a tomato stuffed with really tasty feta cheese. I got the lemon pepper salmon, served with lemon rice and steamed carrots and zucchini. The fish was cooked perfectly, and I just couldn't stop eating.

When we left the restaurant we vowed to each other that we'd definitely be back for our anniversary in June. I'm already so excited! Next we drove up State Street to 52nd South and stopped at Cold Stone for dessert before heading home.

It was a really great night and it was so nice to spend some quality time with my hubby. Believe it or not, this was our 11th Valentine's Day together since we started dating. Crazy how fast time flies, and every year I love my sweet Sean more and more.

Thanks for the great night, babe. I love you!

My sad, sick, sleepy little Valentine

Taylor woke up this morning screaming because he'd thrown up in his crib, and has since been sick another two times. He's also got a slight fever and I'm assuming that he's got some kind of stomach bug. My poor little baby just wants to snuggle, and any time he throws up he runs away whimpering, "Sowwy mommy, sowwy mommy." I feel so bad for my poor little boy.

On top of that he's so sleepy (and who could blame him!). Late this morning I changed his diaper, and by the time I got a clean diaper on him he was asleep on the floor. Of course I had to take a picture of him before I took him to his bed (and yes, that's a turkey baster on his stomach. He was playing with it before he zonked out):



Sean and I have Valentine's Day plans tonight, but we may have to cancel if Mr. Tay doesn't start feeling better soon. Poor baby...

Three's a crowd

Yep, tagged again. Here I go...

Three Names I go by
1. Annie
2. Anner Banners (love you, Mom!)
3. Mommy

Three Jobs I have had in my life
1. Cashier/Expert cinnamon roll maker at Cinnabon (tastiest job EVER!)
2. Receptionist/vet assistant at a veterinary clinic (grossest job EVER!)

3. Mom (best job EVER!!)

Three Places I have lived
1. Salt Lake City, UT
2. Eagle Mountain, UT

3. Provo, UT

Three TV Shows that I watch

1. The Office
2. Biggest Loser

3. Hell's Kitchen

Three places I have been
1. Graceland, TN
2. Kansas City, MO & KS
3. Las Vegas, NV

(My list is more pathetic than yours, Christine! LOL..)

People that e-mail me regularly
1. Grandma
2. Aunt Holly
3. Amanda

Three of my favorite foods
1. Fresh baked rolls/bread
2. Italian food

3. Greek food

Three friends I think will do this
1. Yep, I got nothin'.
2.
3.

3 things I'm looking forward to

1. Tonight's Valentine's Day dinner
2. Tay's second birthday
3. Getting out of debt

Now, here's what you're supposed to do ... And please do not spoil the fun.

I tag: everyone reading this that hasn't done it yet! Bah, ha ha ha!!!

Two Tiny Talented Toddlers

Taylor and I went to visit my friend Cara and her son Max last week. The boys had so much fun playing together, and Cara and I got to chat and have yummy lunch together. Tay sometimes has a hard time warming up around other kids his age, but as soon as Cara mentioned finger painting he hopped right off my lap and went downstairs with Max to paint. Here are some pictures of our sweet handsome artists.





It was a great day and Taylor and I had lots of fun with our friends. We definitely need to hang out with Cara and Max more often.

P.S. Thanks for cutting my hair, Cara!!!

My little Billy Idol fan

In the opening scene of the movie Flushed Away, Roddy the rat dances around his house to the song "Dancin' With Myself" by Billy Idol. We were watching it a couple of weeks ago just before Sean took Taylor up to his work to pick up a few things. As soon as Sean got him strapped into his car seat, Tay immediately pointed to Sean's iPod and said, "Daddy, dancin'? Oh oh oh oh?" Sean put on "Dancin' With Myself" and Tay immediately started dancing and singing along. Since then, almost every time we get in the car he asks us to play that song, and when it's over he very nicely asks, "Again?"

Now if I can just get him to pull his upper lip up into that infamous Idol sneer.

Farewell, old friend.

Back in February 2004 Sean picked me up from school in a brand new electric blue Dodge Neon. To say I wasn't too thrilled with it is an understatement, but our cute little car grew on me as time went by. It was fun to drive (as soon as Sean taught me how to operate a stick shift), new, shiny, and never needed expensive repairs to keep it running. We took several trips in it - one to Kansas City and one to St. George. We had many a long discussion in the Neon - one of which was deciding what to name our first baby. We brought Taylor home from the hospital in the Neon, which was quite an unpleasant drive for mommy who was still recovering from surgery. Taylor knew the sound of the car's engine so well that he perked up and ran to the front door every day Sean came home from work.

Needless to say, our little Neon has followed us through many changes in our lives. However, the time has come to say goodbye - for several reasons. First and foremost, we are trying to pay off as much debt as possible so we can buy a house soon. We do have another car (a 1990-something beater Nissan Sentra) and we'd rather drive that than pay higher car insurance and payment for the Neon. Secondly, the Neon was honestly falling apart. It had almost 100K miles on it and it needed several repairs. Luckily we found a guy that was willing to buy it, knowing that he'd be replacing several parts and upgrading the performance.

So last night as the sun was setting we unloaded the car, handed the keys over in exchange for a fat wad of cash, and watched our little blue Neon drive away. I'm not one to normally be so sentimentally attached to an inanimate object, but my heart broke just a little as we came back in the house last night. That said, life goes on and we are officially $2600 closer to being debt free. Hooray!