leonardo

Saturday was free museum day in the United States!  I was stoked.  Anything FREE, and I'm right there. :)

There is a museum called "The Leonardo" in Salt Lake that we've wanted to attend for some time, but it's always been too expensive.  

But, (you guessed it) we got in FREE! :)

They had a fun wall for babies in which all the blocks could be taken off.  C was in baby heaven. 

In front of the cool wall---C was not as impressed 

It was pretty fun.  It was really really really busy, but it was fun to have C see all the cool things.  

They had a fun Halloween exhibit within the museum.  We caught some good coffin pics, and baby C got to touch the static ball.  

It was so nice to spend some time with Mr. H.  It was fun to get out and see yet another of Salt Lake's treasures.  

Monet

Saturday evening I got to attend the Annual Relief Society Meeting.  It is always so amazing to go to the conference center and see so many women gathered together.  The spirit was so strong, and all the messages were so great.  I got to go with my mom, and we had such a nice time.  I came away with a sense of peace that God is always there, and His love is always extended towards me.  I know that even in our darkest moments, if we turn to Him, He will be there to comfort us and lift our burdens.  

Sundays are always nice to get a break. We all took a 4 hour nap, which felt divine.  :)

This week already looks tough.  Mr. H has so many things going on, and is constantly just trying to keep his head afloat.  We are trying to learn to balance.  But I do believe that life is constantly learning new things.  It's constantly being pushed to our limits.  It's becoming who we are supposed to be. As someone taught in church yesterday, it's like a Monet painting.  Zoomed up really close, you can't tell what the picture is, but the further you get away, you see the beautiful image.  Each tiny stroke makes up the picture.  Sometimes we can't see the big picture, but if we can focus on the day by day, we will end up creating our own masterpiece.  

Paints.

I grew up in an artsy home.  

My dad is an artist, and we loved to help out with projects. :)

Many of our family vacations consisted of us with all of our paints, sketch books and painting chairs painting the world around us.

I loved it.  

So, for my turn for date night, I chose to have a painting night. 

It was fun! 

<---Mr. H's brain creation.  That man does love the brain :)

----> I tried to do a little saying with flower borders.  It's harder to paint words than I thought :)

Anyway, it was fun to share something that I love with Mr. H.  And it was fun to mix all the colors to create the color I wanted.  It was fun to listen to music and talk.  It was nice to just sit and paint.  Sometimes, you just need something relaxing. 

Lately

This week has felt relaxed, but we've tried to fill it with activities as to not go stir crazy in our little apartment :) 

There's been 

grocery shopping

cold cold weather---

running in the pitch black mornings

teaching my first English lesson

mall shopping

craft shopping

baby C loving the stairs

baby C saying "ball" every five seconds

organizing

reading lots of books

planning meetings

fun phone calls and visits

visiting my dad's work

making delicious fall soups

watching tv premieres

birthday shopping for a certain Mr. H

oh and baby C was given a free book at the store for being so cute.  I told him to not get used to it :)

Mr. H is doing a lot of school and work.  And it's a lot!  C and I are becoming best pals again.

But nothing will ever take the place of his daddy.

C helping dad with homework

I went to City Creek with baby C yesterday. Just for fun.  I love having the freedom to do that.  

Anyway.  

I stopped by my favorite store Anthropologie and coveted everything in that store.

Seriously.

So pretty.  I came home and told Mr. H how fun it would be to shop there for real, and not just pretend shop.  This scared him, as it is difficult to find pieces there under $75. :)

So.  I have an idea.  

What if I could take their ideas, and create them myself?

I know. I have to be able to sew first.  

But if I could, wouldn't the world be my limit???? 

So this is my new ambition.  

To find cheaper versions of what I want to wear, and then tailor and detail them so I love them.  

K---so I was thinking with the sweater on the left: buying an old DI sweater or something, finding cute floral fabric and refashioning it...we shall see if that works.

And then for the picture on the left-I don't think it would be too difficult to take a fun shirt, cut it down the middle and add buttons.  

Again. We shall see. :)

I also just read a book called "The Uglies".  It was kind of the typical young adult novel, you know: female heroine, young love, intense situations.  But it was really good.  I loved the idea behind it.  The world inside the book has convinced everyone that they are "ugly" hence the "uglies", and when they are sixteen, they receive an operaton to make them beautiful.  Then they are called the "pretties".  This book really dove into the meaning of being beautiful.  Are we so brainwashed by our society that we can't see our own beauty so we have to spend hundreds of dollars on products, surgeries, or treatments?  It really hit home for me.  I've been thinking a lot on the whole physical appearance thing.  It's HARD. And I would make a safe bet that it's HARD for almost everyone.  

I'm still working on sorting my feelings, but I do love this website.  

http://www.beautyredefined.net/

Anyway, there will probably be more to come on this topic.  :)

Well-here's to a nice weekend to all!

Harvest Time and a very important birthday!

My mother is from a little town east of Rexburg.  The population is like 323, and there are 4 streets: Main, Church, Park, and City! :)  My grandpa farms just outside of this little town.  

It is beautiful country.

This is the old family barn.  

Anyway, it was my grandma's 75th birthday on Friday, and Harvest time is taking place, so my mom and I thought it would be fun to take a little road trip up and hang out with my grandma and family.  It was my first night alone from Mr. H in our entire marriage, so I was a little nervous.  

We had such a good trip!  It was really good to chat with my mom in the car, and C did great on the way up.  We met up with my Grandma and BYU-Idaho, ate lunch and walked around.  

It was really beautiful!  We drove up to the farm and hung out for awhile.  My uncle showed me his awesome poetry collection (I didn't even know he wrote!), and then C played outside.  It was heaven for him to have so many places to run around!

We made a delicious dinner, visited with some family and went to bed.  The next morning, my sweet mom made my grandma a birthday breakfast!  We met up with some family to celebrate my grandma with a birthday lunch!  It was so nice to see everyone.

Some of the crew :)

C playing with grandma

It was so nice to spend some time up there with my family.  The farm will always have such a special place in my heart.  And my grandma is amazing.  She has such a great attitude about life, and she is so generous.  She has built a beautiful life for her family, and I'm very grateful to have a close relationship to her.  It was also so nice to spend some quality time with my mom.  What a neat lady.  I'm so blessed to have such positive role models in my life!

Pennies

Today is just one of those days.  Baby C is breaking in teeth, so he's not that happy of a camper.  

They fertilized the lawn outside, so we're not supposed to go play.

It's been randomly raining, and I've already laid down and fallen asleep for a few minutes. 

SO

I decided it would be nice to write a post about saving some 'pennies'.  

We're in the situation right now where every dollar counts.  

We love anything FREE we can find. :)

So I thought I would focus today on saving money while grocery shopping.  

I have seen so many tips on pinterest on how to do this, but this is what works for our family.

#1. I always make a list.  Always.  I have a little system, but I write down the days of the week, write in the meals, and then on the flip side, I write down what I will need.  I estimate the prices of what I will need to give me a grand total.  I find it is good for me to estimate before hand, because if I go over on my paper then I need to remove some items before I head to the store.  

#2. Shop sales.  I always read the weekly ads when creating my list.  Sometimes shopping the sales means shopping at different stores.  I have time to do this right now, but I understand that some people may not.  I split my time between Smith's Marketplace and Sprout's Farmers Market.  When grapes are on sale, I get those.  When berries are on sale, I get those.  You get the picture. :)

#3: Go in the morning.  I just discovered this, and it's rocking my world.  If you go to the store early in the morning, (thanks baby C! :))  they will have just marked down their meats, some cheeses and produce.  I love this!!!  You can save so much money on meat, and get better quality than what you are used to.  

#4: Eat Clean.  I need to do better on this, but making homemade things is cheaper and HEALTHIER than buying everything store bought.  It may just be a dollar or two, but those dollars (and pennies) add up.  With this, I understand that it takes more time to do homemade versions.  Pick and choose your battles.  For example, I'm okay to make homemade pizza crusts.  I got a good recipe, and it's easy.  I have time to do that.  On the other hand, I don't know how to make homemade BBQ sauce.  So it's bought.  Pinterest, however, is giving us a wealth of information when it comes to homemade alternatives.  If we all slowly started to switch one ingredient a month, it would save a lot of money in the long run. :)

#5: Utilize the store's coupon system.  Smith's has online coupons that download onto your Smith's card.  It is so nice!!!  I just browse quickly through the coupons to see if anything is on my list.  It usually saves me two to three dollars a time, which is not a TON, but it helps me stick to my budget.  I have friends who do more coupons, which I think is great.  For me, to simplify I use the online system.  

Final thought that doesn't have to do with saving pennies :)

Weekend Love

 This weekend was packed.

Mr. H had hours upon hours of homework.

We had a ward chili cook off.

A lovely dinner party.

I spoke in church on "Strengthening Families and Marriage" for 15 minutes! (Which is a long time in my world) :)

C ran and ran and ran around.  Church is getting harder to listen to what's going on when you're chasing your child around the building.  

We're finishing the final season of LOST!

Sunday walk at Memory Grove.

and 

We got to go to the Utah State Fair!!!

Baby C LOVED the horses.  

We got to pull out the FALL clothing!!!

He loved the cows.

Mr. H let him get close to the baby cows, and made his day :)

It was a good weekend, but really tiring.  Mr. H and I are trying to find the balance of work, school and family time.  

C is running around and getting into everything!!!  Does anyone have any tips for a 13 month old in church?

Also...being a rainy weekend, C and I have been getting really stir crazy.  Any ideas for activities for a 13 month old????

Medicine Woman Mommy

Medicine Woman Mommy.  ha.  I don't know why that cracks me up, but I sure get a kick out of it. :) (Mr. H would say he's glad it cracks someone up) 

Anyway.

I just wanted to share: baby C started getting sick on Tuesday.  Nothing major, but I wanted to be prepared this time around, because sick babies are the WORST.

So I pulled out my eucalyptus oil and gave him a bath with it, and put it in his humidifier.  

Yesterday, so Wednesday, he was much worse.  That little nose was running, and his eyes were really watery.  He was really out of it.  

So I used my trusty friend, garlic, and made him REALLY  garlicky scrambled eggs.  We kept up the humidifier, but after lunch his nose was still really runny.

We headed to sprouts farmer's market and I asked them if they had anything for baby colds. 

They recommended me a product called "Sniffles n' Sneezes 4 kids".  

Anyway, we used it.  I am amazed!!!  It really did work!  So he slept through the night, his nose has stopped running and this morning he woke up happy and a lot less congested.  I gave him some more garlicky scrambled eggs, an orange and then a baby green smoothie.  So far, he's doing great.  

I'm normally in the middle in terms of going natural vs. medicine.  I feel both sides have their place, and both should be used with caution.  But I did really feel this product worked.  I have a much happier baby a day a day and half after getting sick. 

:) 

Hooray!

Also:

C's new favorite book:

Meet Chicka Chicka Boom Boom-a H family favorite.  Seriously-C brings this book to me 10 times a day to read.  He loves it.  

Sundays

 Yesterday was such a gem.  I was able to go up to Primary Children's Hospital and help with the LDS branch there.   They go around and visit patients, hand out ensigns, and ask if anyone needs prayers or priesthood blessings. Then, they provide a sacrament service (church meeting) for anyone in the hospital that would like to join.  As soon as I walked through the doors of the little chapel, the spirit touched my heart.  I could feel God's love for all of His children, old or young.  The faith of all in the room was so strong, and although they were all going through something hard, we could all feel the Savior's love.  I then got to visit some of the children and give them some church lessons.  I shared my testimony about revelation.  I told them that I know that we can gain strong testimonies of the gospel by choosing the right and asking our Heavenly Father our questions.

It was a beautiful experience to spend so much time with the people in that hospital.  It reminded me of when Mr. H and I spent quite awhile in the hospital for his surgery.  I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, and how it gives me so much comfort and reminds me that I can be with my family forever.  

That night, Mr. H and I took little C to Temple Square.  How we love our Salt Lake City!  It was so beautiful.  The flowers were gorgeous, and spirit could be felt so strongly.  C had so much fun walking around and charming the missionaries.  

Smelling the flowers

Gorgeous Temple

C running around

C looking at the Christus statue.  He loved pointing up at Jesus's face

View of some of downtown, including the capitol building

Our cute family, in front of the temple

James.

We got to see James Taylor in concert last night!!!!

:)

I grew up listening to James (I just loving using his first name now ha)  all the time.  My dad loved him, his songs were soothing, and then my brother started playing them on the guitar.  His song's have always just made me feel better.  They truly touch my heart. 

So when I found out the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was singing with him, I was stoked.  We signed up to get free tickets, but didn't get them. So Mr. H was kind enough to brave downtown and go standby with me.  Our sweet friends watched C, and we got to the line early.  It was so wonderful, a nice man gave me two extra tickets.  We were able to eat our homemade dinner at City Creek, and then made it to the Conference Center with plenty of time to spare.  

The concert was amazing.  OC Tanner teamed up with the choir to give a concert to the community.  It was a gift.  The Utah Symphony also played.  There were folk songs, spirituals, and broadway favorites.  And then of course, James.  He was amazing!!! He is 65, and I was so impressed with how well he could still sing.  He walked onto the stage and I burst into tears.  It was truly a once in a lifetime for me. :)  

James singing "Sweet Baby James" a cowboy lullaby he wrote for his nephew.  (This is a little younger version of him ha)

Rummage Sale!

My sweet friend told me about a rummage sale going on at the Baptist church down our street.  I off course wanted to join in, and we headed down to explore all the treasures. :)  I feel like 'rummage sale' has such a quaint, romantic sound to it.  Like Anne of Green Gables esque.  

Anyway, for being the first rummage sale I've ever been too, I'm addicted.  There was so much stuff!!!  We explored the beautiful vintage furniture, jewelry, books and more.  The jewelry was gorgeous, and so old!  They had so many vintage pots, pans, cooking utensils, frames and more.  I had to slow myself down from not going crazy. :)  

Vintage Locket

Shoes for C

Pretty dishcloths for kitchen

Fabric cutting board!

I also was able to find 9 books to add to our family's collection.  I got all of this for only $10!  I was so excited! (Let's be real...still am, which is why I'm blogging about it. ha)

Thrifting is not for everyone, but it sure is fun to look for and find treasures. :)

Labor Day

Long weekends are always very appreciated in our house.  Mr. H had a lot to do, but we still were able to pack in some fun things. One of the highlights of the weekend was a morning hike we took up emigration canyon.  Emigration canyon is the spot where the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.   It was so beautiful up there!  The leaves were starting to change colors, and the weather was perfect.  C loves being in the hiking back pack and was a good sport.  The hike was about 3.5 miles round trip, and the destination was an old abandoned mine you had to look really close for.  It was a little creepy, but really cool to see.

Beautiful Wasatch Range

Salt Lake Valley

Happy Hiker!

Mr. H in front of the mine---you really had to look!

It was funny-as soon as we found the mine, all the old videos they showed me in elementary school on mine safety flooded back.  My teachers should be proud as I remembered all the safety procedures. ha.

School starting has been difficult for me to adjust to.  Mr. H has so much to do, and it is hard to not have him around to play with as much.  But C is doing great, and we are spending a lot of time outside enjoying the last moments of summer. 

Family Pictures

I wanted to take some family pictures since C turned one.  A sweet girl in our ward took them, and she did such a great job.  C struggled during the shoot, as he did not want to smile at all, but she ended up getting some great shots.  

One of the lessons taught in church today was on gratitude, and being thankful.  I could not be more thankful for my sweet family and the two boys that make my life so wonderful. 

C's favorite book: "Harvey and the Happy Bee"-he loves giving Harvey kisses.  Thanks uncle O!

I loved the way this captured how C listens and loves Mr. H.  They have such a special bond.