she loves her mummy.

{and her new high chair.}

this is halloween.

oh hi. have you missed my daily blogging? i have too. but you know how life gets. not to mention i hate blogging without pictures and my little camera that i used to carry around with me at all times is dying. i think i'll have a funeral for it when it finally dies. that's how much i love the thing.

anywho.

last night we carved some pumpkins. mine is a tribute to my love of blogging ;) sean's was supposed to look like the joker.... i don't know what happened there.

remember last year's pumpkins?

i was 11 weeks pregnant and finally announcing it to everyone. now i have a nearly 6 month old daughter! what the?! as much as i thought pregnancy was long and slow and the first weeks after she was born would never end... TIME FLIES!

other halloween matters of business:

♥ don't get too excited about seeing pictures of serena's halloween costume. she's not really dressing up as anything because a. 99% of all costumes for kiddies her age are 100% polyester and b. i'm cheap and i'll save the costumes for next year when she can walk around and maybe even trick-or-treat. {i just freaked out a little thinking about having a child who can walk and go trick-or-treating.}

♥ if you have a little girl of coloring book/paper doll age {or you are a coloring book/paper doll girl at heart} you should check out this adorable halloween paper doll set. i printed two. one for me now. one for serena later.

♥ on thursday sean and i went to see curtains at hale centre theatre. it was so so so good. hilarious. i highly recommend it. and thanks to heather & russ for babysitting. i'm pretty sure this was our first official date since serena was born. how sad is that? it was so nice.

♥ i'm very disappointed that i didn't get around to this project because i love it. maybe next year.

enjoy your halloween!

new fancies.

check it out.

loves.

♥ slumdog millionaire. {we watched it on clearplay} amazing.

♥ raking leaves in my parents' yard.

♥ watching sean rake leaves for the first time in his life.

♥ serena's new mukluks.

♥ purple glitter nail polish.

♥ new season of sytycd.

♥ hubert horatio bartle bobton-trent. {the illustrations are awesome.}

♥ pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

♥ a new shelf for my crazy yarn collection. still in the box, but i'm looking forward to setting it up!

♥ crunchy fall leaves everywhere.

♥ listening to christmas music in my car. {i am so not one of those people usually, but it was the only un-scratched cd in my car!!}

♥ pumpkins with long curly stems. like cinderella's carriage.

♥ 1:00 pm on sundays.

the concert.

well if you weren't there, you really missed out! all of the music was soooo good! much better than i expected {no offense, seth!}. it was so much fun and we didn't even mind the cold weather. i highly recommend looking up the artists. {linked from their pictures.}

thanks for putting it together, seth! i loved it!

don't forget!

Come join Nauvoo University for a SPECTACULAR evening concert on October 24th, 2009 at Woodland Park 200 E 300 N in Farmington, Utah. The show starts @ 7pm.

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With folk, bluegrass and acoustic performances by:

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The Pretty Darns,

LDS Generations,

& Ben Oman

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Stay after the show to meet with the performers and to purchase their music. All ticket proceeds will go directly to Nauvoo University, which opened this Fall. THE SHOW IS FREE! Dress for the weather... it might be chilly!

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sean's brother, seth, is organizing the event and we're very excited to attend. click here for more info about Nauvoo University

scary hill.

we bundled up the babe and went to scary hill last night for paul's birthday. it was fun, but not really very scary. serena looked adorable in her hat from grandma :) i have found that mini golfing is not very competitive when a baby is on your arm. i cheated a lot. and skipped a few holes. and nobody cared one bit.

on getting used to being busy.

for a few weeks there i kept thinking, "man i can't wait until everything slows down!".

i have come to a conclusion.

it's not going to slow down.

life is busy. for everyone. and it will only get more busy with more kids and different church callings and hobbies and work and play and holidays and choir etc etc etc etc.

i have been thinking about my friend. {some of you will know who i'm talking about!} stay at home mommy with 2 kids. runs. scrapbooks. plays sports. excels in her church calling {basically wrote an amazing primary program from scratch}. makes dinner every night, and has them planned like a month in advance. very involved in neighborhood watch. does her visiting teaching every month. decorates her house beautifully {and on a dime, i might add}. keeps said house clean. reads. goes to a book club. sings in a choir. always looks gorgeous and put together. i could go on and on.

and sometimes i think HOW DOES SHE DO IT?? how can she make herself get up and run in the morning? who has the time/energy to cook dinner every night? how can she possibly keep her house clean with everything she has going on??

i'm sure you all know someone like this... or maybe this sounds like you! well, it's inspiring! if she can do it, maybe i can do it, too! i know it's possible to be a mother and keep it all together, because i've seen others do it.

on days when my daughter is cranky, my house is a disaster, i haven't showered, my inbox is full, my eyes are sleepy, and i just want to go into my room, close the door and take a nice long nap..... on days like this, it's nice to know that lots and lots of mommies out there have been {and ARE in} my shoes. and if they can do it all, so can i!

this lover baby makes me smile. i feel so lucky to have such a cuddler.

anyway. just mommy blogging. :)

lucky girl.

how lucky is serena? grandma made a nursery at her house. now serena has not one, but TWO rooms all to herself {for now, anyway}!

♥

i like it. it's yellowy and it makes me feel comfy.

♥

and we put that crib up with no help from any man. {even with ikea's terrible picture-only instructions.} go us!

:)

this made me laugh and laugh and laugh! she fell asleep on sean and this was the result.

p.s. aren't those cheeks just outrageously scrumptious?

i think i need to do this in serena's room. love it.

post.

this is a very random post. lately i feel like i have nothing to blog about. i'll try to be better. i don't want to disappoint my lovely readers, do i? :) well first things first: i made a delicious apple bread today {recipe here}. isn't fall the best??? i've been loving the changing colors and the weather and the apples. especially the green apples. they are the prettiest.

i took a picture of this the other day because Air is the only nickname i've ever had. and i can probably count on 2 hands the number of people who call me that. i have decided that i am really really not a nickname kind of person. i hardly EVER call people by a nickname. even my closest friends. maybe it's because i'm secretly upset that i never had a good one. there's not much you can do with ariel.

i promised some pictures from chuck e cheese and i'm finally getting around to it today. here is my child on tv. she was a good sport about it :)

and here she is with grandpa. she was a little worn out from chuck e cheese. there's a lot going on there and i think she was a little over-stimulated by the end!

let's see. what other random pictures can i come up with? ah. here we go.

this is one of my latest projects. a baby blanket. can't decide if i will keep or give it. considering all of the time it has taken, i'll probably keep it :) oh and coming soon are some new headbands for the cooler seasons. plum, dusty purple, sage green, chocolate brown, etc. i'll put them in the shop as soon as my model can do a photoshoot with me!

and that's all of the photos i can find. in other news:

1. ikea makes a surprisingly good greek salad.

2. i ♥ community {minus the chevy chase. he bugs}.

3. my bedroom is a total disaster. to the point where it will be such a huge task to clean it that i keep putting it off and i'm tempted to sleep in the guest bedroom.

enjoy your thursday!

oh my.

today was possibly the funniest day ever. we had a "cabin" weekend with some friends which included some delicious papa murphy's pizza, monster house, sleeping at our own houses, a great big breakfast AND:

segways/jazzies/golf cart at the thanksgiving point gardens. my face hurts from laughing so hard. basically we zoomed around and acted like teenagers for two hours. i really can't remember the last time i laughed like that! we had a total blast. oh and the gardens were beautiful. i highly recommend going to the gardens. but be warned that the jazzies are not nearly as fast as the carts or segways {and there are only 2 segways. and the season ends on october 31st}.

i am so glad our cabin weekend was relocated :)

five months.

here's a little about serena breanne at five months:

she rolls over {when she feels like it}.

she'll smile for pretty much anyone.

she likes pulling her mama's hair and feeling her daddy's beard.

she won't take a binky anymore.... which is nice most of the time... except for when we're at church and we need to plug her up :)

she wears mostly size 9 months clothing.

she likes licking things. not so much sucking on them, just licking them. especially the tags on her toys.

she eats rice cereal every day and loves to get it all over hands and then all over her eyes & hair, which is a joy to clean up. {i know, i know... it will only get worse.}

she still sleeps a solid 10 hours at night.

she LOVES going for rides in the stroller.

she laughs when she's sleepy. i guess she gets the late-night sillies from her mom?

she's still into the excersaucer... and she plays with the toys on it a lot more. she likes to get her face right up to the mirror and lick it :)

she loves to be out and about. she's usually only cranky at home when her mom needs to do chores!

she doesn't hate tummy time as much as she used to.

she watches the mickey mouse clubhouse every morning while i get ready, and she seems mildly interested in it.

she likes rolling around on the floor, playing with toys.

she likes to have her face smashed up against the side of her crib while she sleeps.

she loves to feel everything and is always scratching her nails on fabric, which kind of drives me crazy! {kess, you would die!}

she hates wearing socks and somehow always finds a way to get them off.

and some names we call her:
serena bee, baby girl, sweetness, missy, missy may, chubber, chubber girl, chubber legs, chubber cheeks, lover, girly, serenie, serenie bo beenie, s, baby s, puke face gremlin, whiney face gremlin, stinky face gremlin, drool face gremlin {basically whatever she happens to be doing + face gremlin... don't ask}, stinker bum, girlfriend, blue eyes, and the list goes on . . .