Go Cougs!

We're Celebrating in Blue this weekend... Why???

Cougar Football Starts Tomorrow People!

I'm usually not one to get super duper excited about football,
but I do like making pretty things... Especially when they are for my handsome husband

Blueberry Cupcakes from here
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting from here

I am definitely making these again!

yummy yummy!

For Me?

I woke up Sunday morning to find cute little post it notes all around the house. Some from Jacob some from Luci. Including one on the toilet paper that read, " Thank you for being such a good mommy and for wiping away our... tears." I really like secret love notes :)

(Luci can often be found in the background making silly faces)

I enjoyed a completely gourmet meal thanks to my sous chef, Jacob Dean. Although I will probably be the sous chef pretty soon here. Can you tell that is a balsamic reduction sauce smothering my steak and mushrooms? (!) Grilled asparagus, baked onion rings, and creamy garlic mashers. The crust-less lemon and strawberry cheesecake he made left me speechless and begging for more. Mmm.

I totally milked mother's day this year. I slept in, got lots of naps, and the Mr. even drew a bubble bath for me while he cleaned up after dinner. Ahhh, thank you to whoever thought of Mother's day. I love getting to adore, love, and play with my little stickies while my hubby takes care of the other important household duties. Thank you to my Mr. I love you.

And I truly love being a mama.

Mm I Feel Good...

Babies sleeping through the night...

Just went for a swim...
Eating one of these...


Going to bed early with this one...

Equals one happy girl...

goodnight!

~Danielle

New Do...

Last week we got crazy and hitched a ride with a hot guy to Indiana... He was going to a graduate fair so we hopped in the car last minute. We were excited to spend some extra time with said hot guy, see some cool waterfalls and have a picnic. It was awesome, except for the unfortunate realization that the waterfalls were all dried up. On the way back to the car Luci said very matter of factly, "We had fun mommy. We had fun on our hike." Elijah hardly even made a peep in the backpack. He's so chill. Anyway, notice the long flowing locks...

This is me, my new Do, and my goose, making faces for you. Something my good friends Amy, and Andrea taught me how to do. Thanks to them I can never look in a mirror and not twist my face in all possible ways. Here's to show I am doing my duty to pass it down to my innocent children.

These Two

Oh, lately I've just been feeling a little frazzled. Okay, a lot frazzled. My little kiddos have been sucking the life out of me...one of them literally right... Elijah wakes up 3 times a night, he's getting teeth, he actually wants to be held where he used to be so content, he wants to eat real people food, he gets mad at his toys when they won't come to him. Luci wants to be held because Elijah is getting held, "you're my mommy too, I need some attention." She always has to go potty as soon as I say I need to go, she wants all her food 'on the side' everything separated, she needs me to sit next to her to watch her shows. She's constantly thinking of things she needs..."but mommy, I need...I need...I need...I need something!" It makes me so frustrated! But then when I sit down to rock Eli and massage his swollen little gums I really just wish I could do it forever. When I finally lay down on the couch so Luci can listen to my heart, give me shots, take my blood pressure, and tell me to be brave becuase, "this is just going to hurt for a second mommy" I wish I would have done it sooner. Everything that comes out of her mouth is so cute when I take the time to listen. She loves to fix Jacob's broken heart. He tells her that his heart breaks when he has to leave in the mornings because he will miss her so much. So, Luci tells him to sit down and do a puzzle with her because that always fixes broken hearts "it will make you feel better daddy".

disclaimer: my kids are really, really good kids by the way, I'm just a crazy mom sometimes...lack of sleep can probably sum that up, well mostly...

In the words of Ella and Louis, "Summertime, and the livin' is easy". We are busy and havin' fun!

Bliss

Today was day number 5 of luci being sick...again. This time she's had a high fever and no other symptoms, so the doctor finally decided to put her on antibiotics just in case. Well, that means more antibiotics for poor little luci. And lots of days waiting in our cute little house until she gets better. Jacob is super busy volunteering, working, fulfilling his church callings, working out, reading, and driving to and from his externship. He only comes home at a decent time twice a week. Otherwise it's just me in my little house while Luci sleeps. It's really hard to motivate myself to eat good, among other things, when he's not around to cook for. So, when my visiting teachers dropped by these cookies, the battle had begun. To eat dinner, or to eat chocolate chip cookies. In the end I ate both. Some cookies before, during, and after dinner though. This was my favorite, Smore's sandwich. Have you ever tried it? Why have I never tried it before?? I think Elijah might have more of a sweet tooth than is humanly possible. Sweets have been just so wonderful lately. So has my luci girl. She certainly is not quiet, or still, ever. But she is wonderful. She really does "make me happy when sky's are grey". Every night, as I pick up her little things, shoes, purses, pictures she's scribbled, I can't help but be happy.

Oh my stomach

I just saw this picture today as my screen saver was turning through. We took it last May in Nashville. I always did think it would be cool to be a cowgirl. I still think it would be awesome to live on a small farm or ranch in Idaho. Probably thanks to Aunt Tricia and Uncle Randy :) Oh but this picture made me long for a basketball-less mid section. Why?...so that I could sleep on my stomach again, so Jacob could hold me close again, so my belly wouldn't hang out of the bottom of all my shirts even my maternity shirts, so I could breathe and eat until I was actually satisfied. The many woes of pregnancy. I do love the basketball too though, and it is so worth it to sacrifice some little things for a few months. It's so awesome to feel the little alien moving inside. And, it will be so awesome to stare into his little eyes, straight from heaven. I am getting excited, and anxious, and nervous. Luci is so ready to be a big sister. She talks about sharing her toys with Elijah, and changing his diaper so he won't cry. At breakfast this morning she was talking about him being born, and she said, " cut it mommy?" And Jacob and I were confused. Then she said, "cut mommy's tummy?' We didn't tell her where the baby actually comes out, because then she would never stop talking about it. So Jacob told her the baby just pops right out, no cutting necessary. She was satisfied with that answer, at least for now. Jacob is busy getting E's room ready. He's painted, and scraped wallpaper till his fingers bled. We are also getting new carpet! Wahoo!

(Our Yummy Valentine's Coconut Cake)

(37 weeks on Thursday)

Dry and Clean

This is what we are doing today...

While it does this outside...

Most schools are closed today because of the snow, of course Jacob is lucky enough to get out a whopping 30 minutes early. Come on law school, you're not really that hard core are you? Speaking of Law School, ya-hoo for Jacob who came home with a few pretty awesome grades yesterday. I'm so proud. There are still more to come...
I'm so proud of my Luci too. She is doing a great job potty training so far :) Feel free to call and congratulate her, she loves the praise and sure it helps reinforce the training. Along with the chocolate, fruit snacks, pretzels, and Cheetos... Fun stuff!

My Hard Working Man

The break has been heavenly so far. I think I've had much more of a break than Jacob though. He's so good to me. He wakes up with Luci, makes breakfast, lunch, and dinner, shovels the snow, and he's done about 4 major projects around our house in only one week. We've eaten way too much sugar, been sledding, Christmas shopping, played with friends, and relaxed. Luci has been up to some pretty funny stuff this week too. She's mastered her colors, still begs to do letters 24/7, insists on putting on her own pants which takes forever!, builds towers with everything, talks about Christmas, Santa, and presents constantly, colors in her coloring book on the floor while standing on one leg...here are some pictures. And please check the video bar for some hilarious videos. Merry Christmas!

Last Week

I made some muffins last week. They have a ridiculously long ingredient list and I'm not sure what to call them. We'll just say they were Pear, zucchini, flax, banana muffins. Yummy, healthy snacks are a must have around our house. Mostly for me, since I am constantly hungry. Well, okay so is Luci. So if I don't make healthy snacks then we end up eating pretzel sticks and cheese everyday. Okay! We still eat those everyday too. Anyway. On with the story. So I put Luci on the back porch to eat her muffin while I cleaned up a little. I could hear Luci saying, "Mmm, Nummy, muffins, mmm, nummy, (pause for chewing), Mmm! Nummy, muffins." Literally the whole time she was eating. You could say I felt pretty good about my muffins. It's so fun to have a child that appreciates my cooking. A husband too.

Speaking of the husband. What a charmer he is. I'm glad that now you all know why I like him so much.

My 2L

To Jacob my 2L.

Mostly cheesy love songs are coming into my head as I think of what to write to you right now. I would write them except their cheesy so I won't. Anyway, like I've said before, you are the reason, you are the reason I wake up everyday. Okay! I couldn't help it I guess. That's a Celine Dion one. Seriously though thank you for being so amazing. I couldn't do it, couldn't exist without you. I can't exist without your handsomeness. Can't even sleep without a light on when you're gone, to be honest. The days of fall have come, leaving behind our fresh veggies and bringing with them endless amounts of reading. Whatever will I do.

Your daughter thinks the world of you too, asking, "daddy where are you" in her slurred toddler voice. All the while knocking on the front door and saying "bus" and "walking". She knows your whole routine. walking, bus, school, walking, bus, home, luci!!! Every time she sees a bus she says, "DADDY! YAY!" It's different having you gone more, we both miss you. Thanks for taking care of us even though you're a busy 2L.

Love always,
Your Daniella

P.S. Everyone! Check out the video bar I added for the most recent videos of the Luci. Just uploaded a tea party tonight:)

Home Sweet Home

There's no place like home right?!

We are so glad to be home, but it's so hard to leave our family behind! We had a great time at the Dean family Reunion and with everyone in Utah. Luci talks double what she did before we left for three weeks. It's crazy! Of course it makes for very proud parents...we keep reminding ourselves though that it will only make for sooner why, why, why's from our little chatter box. She is going to be a non stop talker, that is for sure.

So, everyone in my family thinks that Luci looks just like me! Well, I had the bald thing going on, and the talking too...so she is following in those footsteps. Of course my dad still calls her 'Jacob junior'. Grand-doc insisted that she was a boy. What, with that kind of haircut (in his words) who would take her for anything else? In grandmothers words though, "David, you know nothing about babies". To which he bowed his head and said sheepishly, "that's true".

The Dean family reunion was great. We were so glad especially to spend time with Jared and Jody before they took their family away for the next three years. Jacob, disgustingly cut his hair into a mullet right before family pictures. Of course he cut it all the way after everyone got a good kick out of it. I seriously couldn't even look at him for fear of puking. Luci and Abram, who are both 1, are so cute together as you will see in their matching red hair (although Luci's is much more red so far). Thanks for planning all the fun Bekah, Mom, and Dad.

Anyway, we played in the water lots. So much that when Luci saw a swim diaper today she tried to put it on while saying "go-go"! We ate lots of food at the Restaurant (as usual). Luci started saying POP-POP as soon as she saw the Restaurant. It's fun to see her put things together. Luci had her first bought with the stomach flu. What is it about vacation that makes children get sick anyway? Jacob ran in his first half marathon and loved it, which is surprising since after the Turkey trot last year he said he hated running and never wanted to do it again. We did some catering and made some extra cash, Jacob did research at the BYU law library. It was a very fun yet productive last couple of weeks. Oh and Jacob is in the process of painting our friends' house (the outside). He's bringin' home the bacon friends, which I am so grateful for. Thanks for taking care of us babe.

Luci is still yelling NANA, POP-POP, MA MA (grandma), and POTS (pops). She's thinkin about you guys. We love you! Thanks for playing with us :)