The Many Expressions of Mr. T

Good News

We are MOVING!!!

I am so incredibly, overwhelmingly excited about this! I know to most it may seem a bit spur-of-the-moment, so I'll explain what's been going on over the past few weeks that led up to this.

About a month ago some new tenants moved into our building in the unit below us. They seemed nice enough at first, but things started getting really frustrating after a few days. First of all, they smoke. I wouldn't take gross offense to this if they followed the rules and lit up on the sidewalk, but instead they were smoking right under our windows. Ick! They listen to loud, bass-pounding music the majority of the day (I can hear it right now as a matter of fact), and when they're not blasting their music they are fighting. Like screaming obscenities and throwing things kind of fighting. They also have all these creepy people coming and going at all hours of the day and night that have made us feel very unsafe in what once felt like a very safe area.

Because of all of these things, Sean and I prayed about it and decided it was time to move on. We started looking at apartments and houses for rent but were so disappointed with the places that were in our price range. Then one night I saw a listing for a 3 bedroom house for rent in a REALLY nice area of Orem. I almost looked past it because I figured it was either a basement apartment or really run-down because of how little rent they were asking for the place. Luckily Sean called on it anyway and it is exactly what the listing stated it was - an amazing split-level home with a huge fenced backyard. There is a small studio apartment in the basement that our landlord keeps for herself when she's in town, which is not very often.

So, we took it! The best part about the place (aside from it's excellent location) is the fact that she'll let us do pretty much whatever we want to the place! We plan on painting shortly after we move in, and she's even letting me pick out the new kitchen flooring!

To say we're excited is an extreme understatement. We're hoping that this will be a place we can stay in for years to come, and a place we'll enjoy living and growing our family. I don't have any pictures of it yet, but here's the image from Google Street-View:


The only bad part about moving is.... well... moving. I'm not looking forward to swimming in cardboard boxes for the next few weeks, but hopefully this will be our last move for quite some time.

The one thing I'll miss about this apartment is all the friends I've made in this area. This ward has been the first we've been in that I have felt really welcome. There are so many women that I love in this area (you know who you are) and I hope we can continue to stay in touch. Of course it's not like we're moving that far, and I'll continue to go to our book club and play group whenever I can.

So long story short - I may be MIA in the blogging/online world for the next month or so while my life is turned temporarily upside-down. I'll be happy once we're settled and have recouped the outlandish moving costs and life is back to normal. Until then, wish us luck!

Tay's Current Faves

I apologize for not updating this blog much in the last little while. A lot has been going on lately with me opening my Etsy shop as well as some other exciting news that I'll blog about later.

To make up for it, I decided to do a little list of all the things Taylor loves right now. Here goes...


Taylor's Favorite...

- Thing To Wear - NOTHING! At least once a day Tay asks if he can "be nudey for a while," and then once he's down to nothing but his socks and undies proceeds to prance and jump around the living room rejoicing in his new freedom.


- Song - Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer (from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack). Really. Like he absolutely can't get enough of it. I need to get a video soon of him jamming to this song. Cracks me up every time.

- Method of Exercise - Leaping from sofa to ottoman (and back) pretending to be some kind of toddler super hero. This is my favorite pic of him in action:


- Things To Say - As most of you know, our little Tay Bug is quite the chatterbox. A few of his recent expressions that make us laugh until we cry are, "It's no use" (used mostly when in the bathroom trying to go number two) and "Sorry about that" (used mostly after flatulence has occured).

- Color - He fluctuates on this almost daily. We have it narrowed down to red or purple ("betause dat's Gramma's favorite tolor!")

- Toy - Bandi (a.k.a. Bambi). He received his stuffed Bambi clear back when we were potty training and it's his current obsession right now. He can't go anywhere without his Bandi.

- Dinosaur - This is pretty much a no-brainer when you ask any two-year-old boy; he puffs out his chest, balls his hands into little tiny fists, and loudly proclaims, "A big T-WEX!!!" He's pretty much obsessed with all-things dinosaur at the moment. Thank goodness for this show:


Well, there you have some of Taylor's current favorites. I hope to be blogging more, but may be a bit slow for the next month due to aforementioned exciting news that I'll blog about later.

(Don't you just love a cliff-hanger?)

Retro Road Trip

So remember that post I did forever ago about the washer necklaces I was making? Well, I finally got my Etsy shop up and running and have started listing them! It's so much fun and I've already had two sales, which is super motivating. If you'd like to take a look at my shop, click HERE.


I've also started a separate blog to promote my shop as well as other Etsy shops that I love. To gain some followers and promote the shop and blog, I've decided to give away one of my custom monogrammed washer necklaces! If you're interested in entering to win it, please visit my blog HERE.

Thanks everyone for your support! I'm so excited to get the shop up and start sharing my projects and ideas with everyone!

Twenty-Seven!*

*If you aren't familiar with this Simpsons reference, I suggest you watch it HERE.


Well, my husband is officially 27 years old. Yep, he's gettin' up there.

Here's a little summary of our birthday festivities.

7:30 a.m. - Sean and I lay in bed and talk before Taylor wakes up. As soon as the kid awakens we let Daddy open his birthday present - the Spencerian Penmanship theory and workbooks. Seems my man really wants to improve his handwriting, and who am I to kill his dream?


7:45 a.m. - I happily hopped out of bed (after singing a stirring rendition of "Happy Birthday") to make the Seanster some grub. Here are the remnants of his delicious birthday breakfast:


8:15 a.m. - I proceed to take picture after picture of the birthday boy while he finishes getting ready for work. He was thrilled to be bothered like this in the wee hours of the morning.


8:20 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Sean works his tush off - a silly birthday won't get in the way of a man climbing that big 'ole career ladder.

12:15 p.m. - A delicious birthday lunch at Costa Vida with his two favorite people. Well, sorta. His two favorite people weren't available so he took Tay and I instead.

1:15 - 6:00 p.m. - Back to workin' his tush off.

6:15 p.m. - Fantastically amazing dinner of tuna casserole prepared with love by yours truly. Taylor then gave him the birthday card he made. He wasn't proud of himself at all.


6:45 p.m. - Fantastically amazing dessert of homemade carrot cake with homemade cream cheese frosting prepared with love by yours truly (thanks for the recipe, Aunt Holly!!)


Sean's getting Taylor to bed now so we can relax and watch some tv before bed.

Our really exciting birthday extravaganza will come this Friday night. On the agenda: hanging out in Salt Lake, dinner at Aristo's (my mouth is watering just thinking about their salmon), then Jim Gaffigan at Kingsbury Hall. I can't wait!

Happy birthday, my love! You are the most amazing man, husband, and father in the entire universe! Thanks for being born. :)

Ah, the joys...

Conversation that took place today while I was folding laundry in my bedroom:

(enter Taylor, skipping and eating a graham cracker)

Taylor: Mommy, you putting laundry away?
Mommy: Yep, I'm folding laundry and putting it away.
Taylor: Oh, that's kinda fun!

Apparently doing laundry is a lot more exciting than I thought. Or, at least kinda exciting.

Then again, maybe not.

So the whole vegan thing didn't end up working out. At all.

Why, you ask?

Because I found out that I apparently have a severe intolerance to soy. Yippee.

And so although I will continue to cook more vegetarian and vegan dinners, it's just too hard to go strictly vegan. I give myself an "A" for effort.