Seize the Day

I know I said my next post was going to be about the holidays, but this happened today, so this is what I am writing about.

Last night it snowed. Guapo and I were both hoping that work would be canceled today, but alas it was not. So, we sent Gaupo off to work and started the day like normal, bugh. Anyway, around 11:00 I finally got Little 2 to fall asleep, and I decided that since Little One was saying 'park' all the time that it was time our child was exposed to snow. Yes, it snows here often, but I am not a big snow player and although Gaupo claims he LOVES the snow, he doesn't really go out either. Consequently, Little One has never really played in the snow. So, I got us all dressed in coats, cloves, shoes, hats and jeans. We headed out and had some fun. We mainly walked around in it, but we also filled up the outside truck, tossed a snowball back and forth, attempted to make a snow angel, and let Little One sit on everything. It really was fun, and it was good to be outside. I am so glad that I got to walk in the snow and play with my cutie.

The Snow Play Gear Pile

Once she got cold, we came back in and made this pile by the front door, and headed downstairs. Downstairs she played on her slide, colored, goofed around, and laughed a lot. Some days you just have to play and I am so glad we played, because it was SO FUN!! (plus there was no yelling or crying)

Here are some pictures of our fabulous day!

Check out that grin.

Reflection Shot

The Two Snow Adventurers. 

We Had a Baby

That is right I had a baby and here is the story. I am going to back date to a little before it actually happened to the start of the week. Monday was a big day for me because I turned in my work computer and started maternity leave. That doesn't sound like too big of a deal, but I don't know when I am going back if ever it is kind of a big deal to me. I have really enjoyed working and am glad I have had the chance to be a stay at home mom and work from home. I have learned a lot about time management and putting the most important things first. I enjoy working, but I REALLY enjoy being a mom even if it is 50,000 times harder and unpredictable. My girls are the best and I love being their mom even when they drive me crazy.

Tuesday I drove to the Denver Airport all by myself. We toured the cell phone lot, which had little tables and chairs with Ipads stuck in the tables. Little One loved it, however, she did get frustrated with the fact that she could not get the tablet out of the table. Once my mom's plane landed we went to pick her up and I didn't want to pay for parking so I had to figure out how to make the loop because at DIA they don't let you wait at the curb for any length of time. Luckily, I figured it out and did not end up back on the freeway. I was so happy to see my mom and she was so happy to see Little One and I. We then came home. On the way home my mom asked me "Where did you learn to drive like this?" Meaning on the freeway, in traffic, to the airport, anything but country driving. I felt that was a compliment because she didn't seem scared. Maybe she was but she never grabbed the "oh crap" bar or go "ADVENTURE GIRL." Anyway, once we were home we had lunch and spent the rest of the day catching up on things.

Wednesday I went to my doctors appointment. I was dilated to about a 3 and everything was looking good accept that nothing was happening and she was supposed to be coming! My mom took care of Little One at the appointment. It was a little rough at the beginning because well Little One cried when I went back to the exam room, but by the time I got out she was quietly reading books with her Oma. After the doc we went to story time at the Library. I don't usually go on Wednesdays but it turned out to be a good one and we had a good time. The rest of the day was spent talking and doing whatever, because the baby wasn't wanting to come.

Thursday we went to hobby lobby and walked around for about 2 hours. It was really fun. I never just wander the store, and I was able to find some cute lettering for my kitchen and bedroom. After our Hobby Lobby tour, we went home and had lunch. Later that night we went to Sam's Club. My mom wanted to get Jason a long white table for Christmas. So, we wandered that store for awhile and had dinner there. I thought something was starting, but Nope!

Friday, we took a long walk on the greenways. It was a beautiful day, we needed to get out, and my mom loves the paths that are all over here. Anyway, it is about a 3.5 mile walk with some up hill grade to it. It was super fun to walk and talk. When we got back to the house, we enjoyed lunch and chatting. However, it still did not give me a baby.

Saturday, Gaupo was home and we honestly didn't do anything, but play and chat. We played playstation games, chatted, and that night watched a movie. During the movie I started to have little crampings and then after we talked for awhile and I started timing those contractions. I went to bed around 11:00 and the contractions were pretty strong, but they hadn't lasted 2 hours yet so I was trying to hold on. I really wanted to let Gaupo sleep until 1:00AM, but they were getting bad I couldn't lay down anymore. So, at 12:30 we got up and got ready to go to the hospital, told my mom were leaving, and headed out. We went to the hospital and I checked in around 1:00AM and I was an 8. They asked me what pain meds I wanted and I said epidural and they said okay. Then I threw-up and there answer changed to a we will try. I was able to get the epidural by the time I was a 9. My doc came in shortly after that and said that when they called him he knew it was me. He said he had almost scheduled my induction for  Wednesday, but decided to wait until Sunday. He said I guess just thinking about it helped her decide to come. I then waited while my doctor preformed an emergency C-Section for someone else. Then our little girl was born at 3:35 AM  on Dec. 15. We didn't have a name right away, but by 11:00 that morning we had decided her name would be Little Two. Just kidding, check the caption on the pics below for her real name. The day of course was spent in the hospital. My mom came during Little One's nap time, and that was so fun to have her hold my brand new baby. We came home from the hospital Monday and life has been crazy since. So, here are some pics.

Tia Fay shortly after birth. Sorry it is so blurry.

Oma, Little One, and Little Two at the hospital.

Little Two all ready to come home from the hospital.

Little One taking charge of the seat shortly after we cam home from the hospital.

Trying hard to fall asleep at 2 weeks old.

Our two little Girl's on Christmas Day.

 Just in case you were wondering, recovery is going well. Little Two is a great sleeper once we get her to sleep, and Little One loves her to death. She is always wanting to give hugs and kisses and wake her up for me. One thing I learned from this pregnancy, delivery, and recovery is that the more active you can be before you have the baby the quicker recovery seems. It still isn't quick and my body is not perfect, but I feel it is doing better a lot sooner than it did after I had Little One. Anyway, next post will be the holidays, but I should probably relax a little.

My Number One

Gaupo is my #1. He is for a variety of reasons but here are a few to just give you an idea of how awesome he really is.

1. My biggest fan. He always wants me to succeed and try my best. He supports me in everything I do and helps me accomplish my goals even if he has to sacrifice something that he wants, like him time.
2. Great Dad. Gaupo is a great Dad. He makes it a point to spend time with Little One everyday. He will chase her, dance with her, let her watch TV, feed her chocolate chips, and encourage her when she wants to give up. There is no doubt in my mind as to why our little girl loves her daddy so much.
3. Hard worker. Gaupo works hard at anything that is important to him. He works hard to provide for this family. He works hard to keep our yard looking nice, and to put up with my ever changing ideas on home improvement projects. He also worked really hard in school and graduated with his Masters in Information Assurance this past August. He works hard and manages to live a pretty well balanced life.
4. Look out. Gaupo is great at taking a look around and seeing what needs to be done. There was one Saturday when I spent the entire morning babysitting at the church so that children's parents could help with flood clean-up. Well Gaupo was going to go out but because of the situation was unable and instead of just kicking back, he cleaned the entire house. He did everything it usually takes me a week to do.
5. Patient. This guy is so patient it is amazing. I am sometimes super overbearing, and stubborn. This kid can wait me out like no one I have ever met. He doesn't push things, he just waits. I don't know how many times I have said "I have been thinking ______." Then he will reply "I have been thinking about that too I was just waiting for you." He is also patient with me when sometimes my priorities are a little whacked, and when I just screw up. I don't know how he does it, but he is patient and loves me through the thick and thin of everything.
6. Calm. He is so calm. Sometimes I will admit this is annoying, but in some instances it is great. For example, I was backing out of the garage and broke the mirror off of our Impala, man I felt so bad. So, I called him up to tell him what I had done. He replies "Adventure Girl, it will be okay it happens to everyone." Well, it doesn't happen to everyone and it was NOT okay, but he was super calm and true he made me do all the calling and stuff to get it fixed, but he was just so calm it was crazy. Very rarely does this man get riled up and that is probably a good thing. 
7. He thinks I am amazing. He thinks that what I do is amazing and makes an effort to tell me. He never ever belittles me and when I accomplish something he makes sure to mention it. He really is the amazing one but you will never hear him say it.

See Guapo is amazing. I don't know how he does it but I thought you all should know why Gaupo is my #1.

Here is our Gaupo.

Cooking his amazing dutch oven potatoes.

These two are so cute together.

Halloween 2013

A long time ago I update this blog and was doing really good at it, but then I stopped. However, long before that moment Gaupo decided to try to convert me to Halloween. In my home, Halloween was only a cool holiday until you were 12 then you didn't go trick-or-treating so it was kind of a dumb holiday. So, I had basically avoided the holiday because I hate creepy, gross, and scary things. That is I avoided it until I married a man you really enjoyed Halloween. Because of his desire to do something for it, we have started our own traditions around it. The basics are food and fun every day. So, here is what we did this year.

Saturday we began the festivities of Halloween week by attending our ward Halloween party. They usually do a trunk-and-treat and a chili cook-off but this year they CHANGED and it turned out fantastic! They did a main dish potluck that was a competition, then they had a cookie walk, three piñatas, and a pumpkin carving contest. We didn't win any of the contests, but we did take red chicken enchiladas, and Gaupo did a pumpkin for the carving contest. He just saved the image out, so that later we could carve as a family and the pumpkin would last until Halloween. So, here are some pictures from that night.

This FFA (Future Farmers of America) Judge always shows favoritism to this little kitty.

I am a graduate, and here is my kitty.

Here we are at the party with our pumpkin. Gaupo ALWAYS carves a dragon in his pumpkin. I texted this pic to my family and my lovely sister replied back "Katey's tummy is almost as big as the pumpkin." Yep, our baby is growing and consequently so am I.

The next day was Sunday and we fixed an Autumn Sausage Casserole modified from last year. It was really good this year, I didn't even get sick of it. I didn't get a picture of it, but is was tasty trust me. We also made our first Halloween drink. It was called "Magic Potion Punch." It is a really good lime drink. It has a strong lime flavor, but all of us liked it and Little One and Gaupo thought it was the best.

Monday is when it really started. We had these yummy turnovers for dinner.They are called "Trick-or-Treat Turnovers." They were really good. Think like super awesome cheese burger.

I think ours looked more like Mummy faces, but Halloween-y nonetheless.

That night we carved the pumpkin. Little One really didn't want anything to do with it. I finally got her interested in the scoop and so she finally stuck her hand in it, but it took awhile. So, the pictures are kind of caned, but trust me it was still fun to watcher her.

Gaupo opening up the pumpkin.

See she finally did get her hand in there but it took some begging.

One of my carvings. I did three others. This pumpkin was so big I carved three things in it and Gaupo still had plenty of room for his Dragon. I love carving pumpkins.

The dragon cut out and all lit up.

After we put little one to bed, Guapo and I watched Twitches for FHE. It was a great start to the Halloween week.

Tuesday we had, "Sausage Snakes." I think this was my favorite of all the meals that week, and oddly enough probably one of the easiest too. However, they were really good. We had a lot of movies to watch to finish-up our Halloween Movie collection so we watched another. I think it was "Mostly Ghostly."

Aren't those cool designs. Gaupo did one and I did one.

Wednesday was crazy, we had "Ham and Cheese Spiders" with blood. These were tasty but believe it or not it takes a lot of time to make those things look like spiders. It was supposed to be a simple meal, but it was kind of complicated. We also made our second Halloween drink "Mad Scientist Punch." This one is an orange drink that I really liked.I had Young Woman's that night so we didn't watch a movie, but I supervise night games. I attempted to play them, but my pregnant body is just not quick, so it doesn't handle running fast that great. Anyway, it actually turned out to be a great evening, and there is nothing like a large group of deacons to make me appreciate my Beehives. The evening was made even more fantastic because Gaupo made a double layer chocolate cake. It was AMAZING!!

This is a spider, a bowl of blood, and a cup of Mad Scientist Punch.

Gaupo's scary good cake.

Thursday was Halloween day. We thought we had saved the best meal for the big day, but in all actuality the "Witch's Cauldron Tortellini" was probably my least favorite of all the meals. Fear not, though because a night can not be spoiled when it is finished with a giant cauldron of Halloween candy, and "Ernest Scared Stupid." That is a tradition. It was a fun evening and we actually had someone that we knew trick-or-treat at our door, so all was not lost.

Witch's Cauldron Tortellini. 

Thursday pretty much finished up Halloween for us, but I have actually found that the more times we do this the more I look forward to Halloween. It takes a lot of work, but it is so fun. Plus, Gaupo and I do a lot of cooking together which means for together time Yipee!!

Just in case you were wondering, I am planning to do more posts I just have to have the time. So, until the next time enjoy this movie, and the pics of Little One in her Kitty costume.

One Day as a Professional

On August 9, about 2 weeks ago, I had the opportunity to have what I call a "career" or "professional" experience. One of my suppliers was having a customer appreciation day in Denver, and I wanted to go. When I first say the invite my first thought was "life is boring right now, I could do this." So, I began by talking it over with Gaupo and making sure it was okay with him if I took a couple of hours to go have lunch and talk with people. He, of course, was super supportive; so I began to work my stuff.

First I contacted work to see if mileage reimbursement was applicable to this, and also if I could have child care expenses covered. Luckily, they didn't laugh me out of the building or off the email server. Instead they granted my requests for both reimbursements. I was really excited. So, I then proceeded to fret about if I was neglecting my child and being a bad mother. After convincing myself that one day would be just fine, I called up our babysitter. She was more than happy to watch Little One, so every thing was set.

Friday, I got all dressed-up. I wore my new-to-me maternity top, slacks, and even heels (it sounded fun). I even did my make-up and of course my hair. It was really fun to look so professional. I real enjoy getting fancy when I have a purpose and want too. This confuses Gaupo to no end, but he willingly supports whatever. Anyway, after getting all fancy I went to pick up our babysitter. Once we were back home, I gave her a run-down on mid-day babysitting instructions and left.

That is when I made my first ever drive to Denver. I have ridden to Denver plenty of times, but I have never actually driven. Actually, I have gone to the airport, but that is completely different. Anyway, when I got there  they handed me a goodie bag. The guy before me asked something about drinks (as in alcohol). The gentleman said, "Yes, we have them." Then he looked at me and said "not that you can drink." I replied, "your right I can't." I should have proceeded to explain, but I didn't I just left it at that. By the way, the goodie bag contained a beer mug. It was pretty cool. Once inside, I visited with all the suppliers suppliers. I got comments from the ladies like, "Looks like your going to be a Mama. Is this your first?" However, the best comments was from a guy you told me that I wouldn't need anything at Cabela's. That I was probably like "Cabela's, big Whoop." I informed him there were plenty of things I could use from Cabela's, so he let me enter their drawing. I took his comments to me that I looked to girly and professional to possibly need or know how to use outdoors stuff. Well, the fact is I can, but I can also look very put together. Anyway, I then had lunch and visited with a few people who were seated close to me. It was fun to make, small talk. I mean like talking about the weather, and hobbies and stuff. Like sort of professional small talk. After that, I met with my sales reps, and headed home.

The Point: Now the whole point of that story is that I had a great time at this event. I loved socializing, dressing-up, talking with people I don't know, learning knew things, talking to adults, etc. However, as I was driving home I kept thinking, wow that was fun. I think that it would be kind of fun to have a career. But then I thought of Little One. I thought of her smiles, the fun we have at the park, the way she makes me laugh, and all the tiny moments I get to witness everyday as her mom. As I remembered this, I couldn't help feeling completely full of joy. When I thought about how fun the day was, I could reflect on a good day, but it felt kind of shallow; whereas, when I thought about what I do everyday as a mom it was full, deep and meaningful. I love being a mom. One day, I may choose to make a career, but right now I have the best profession and title ever it is this--MOM. I love being a mom and all the great food, people, and stuff of the world could never compensate for being a mom. That does not mean that every day I have the perfect time with Kylee. It doesn't mean that I am not frazzled, and breakdown for no reason what so ever. What it means is that even though being a mom is WAY harder for me than working, I love it and I will take it good and bad over having all of the other stuff that working would bring.

I just wanted to right that down right now, before I forgot. Just in case you were wondering, what Little One could possibly do to make me think this, here are some videos and pictures of her at her best.

Me as a professional lifeguard.

Isn't this a great face?

This one is our own little game. She looks at me like this and then I copy her. Then...

We both start doing this.

The Fair

Little One is super into animals you can tell because this is one of her favorite toys...

This is her Kitty. She does most things with it including sleeping.

These are her favorite books. We read them as often as Mom and Dad can stand...

April Foolishness has had to have the cover taped back on, Duck on a Bike has needed ALL of its pages taped back in, and Naughty Little Monkey's is still holding but is starting to tear at the bottom. I don't know how many kids these books can handle.

Needless to say she LOVES animals. Every time we see a dog she points at it and says "woof, woooooof, calk-lll." I don't know why all animals say calckle at the end but most do. Anyway, this week is the Boulder County Fair, and what a perfect opportunity to get get some animal loving in. One because it is free entry and two there are tons of animals.

My normal trips to the fair, don't include much livestock time, but we saw pigs, goats, sheep, cows, chickens, and turkeys. She didn't think the pigs were interesting though she did try to pet one and it snorted at her and she was soooo not impressed by that. She was all about the goats and sheep. I think she would have petted them all day long. I didn't know whether or not it was okay in the 4-H barns, but she definitely got some one-on-one petting time at the free petting zoo. Also, turns out you can pet all the 4-H animals too, so I will be braver about that next time. Anyway, the cows were not as cool as her Grandpa's, but she loved the little ones, and wanted to climb through the bars to chase down the ones that were the size of regular calves. As for chickens and turkeys she was pretty afraid of them, and rightfully so they are mean. (can you tell I am not a fan of those either). Little One walked the whole fair, or pretty much I carried her like 3 times and only for about 1 minute each time. She was a trooper. She LOVED it though. We spent a good 2 hours there and if she weren't hungry I don't know that I could have convinced her to leave that place. Here are some pics of what we saw and did.

Goat #1. She would give it a tap pet thing and then go back to the other and do the same thing, back and forth, back and forth. Oh man, she LOVED it.

Here goat lick my hand. I love it when you slobber all over it. She loves when things lick her, and then she doesn't understand why I wont let her put her hands in her mouth. Oh man. I think she like the licking because I think its gross.

There was also two sheep but this is the only one I got her petting. She love petting them and luckily they just sat there and let her pet and tap them to her little hearts content.

This is kind of a bad pic because she really did love this mini-horse. She stood right next to it and stroked it really nice. 

These are the little calves that she tried rushing after so she could pet them through the cage. They ran away from her and she was not happy. She couldn't understand why they didn't just stand there.

This is a kiddy pool full of beans and corn. She loved playing it. She was so made when I told her we needed to go. Oh man, although not her worst it is still never fun to have her screaming like something just bit her. Anyway, she loved shoveling that stuff and filling her bucket.

This is us after the fair. I wanted to document that we did this together and that we actually went. Just as a side note, we are both wearing pigtails. Hers were so cute. Mine were cute too.

All that fun leads to one tired baby. This was about two minutes after we got in the car to go home. She was out and didn't want to wake up when we got home.

Its kind of hard to tell but in her hand are 2 rocks that she picked up in the parking lot as we were leaving. She would not let them go even while washing her hands, so they had to be washed too. Which turned out good because she wanted them during lunch and they touched her food, and she had to have them all the time. That is until they sneakily got thrown away with her bread crusts. Oooops :)

We had a great time and the fair and I am so glad we were able to go. I wish Gaupo could have come, but between school and work he doesn't have a whole lot of time. Plus last weekend, and this weekend he has big assignments due, so maybe we will go back, but if not she saw everything at least once. Also, Guapo only has 3 more Saturdays and then he will hopefully be done with his Master's WAHOOOOOO!!! 

Preggy Pics

So, I know that everyone has been absolutely dying to see my baby bump. (JK) Anyway, I finally have one and my husband even says I do, so that means it is not just Adventure Girl being silly. Either way, I was excited for week 20 of pregnancy to roll around because I wanted to know how I compared size wise between between pregnancy 1 and 2. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures while pregnant but I did at 20ish weeks so here are the pics. 

20 Weeks with Little Two

20 Weeks with Little One