weekend.

saturday we did lots of chores. sean cleaned out the cars, and found a nice surprise in the back of mine. a dead hummingbird. so apparently we hadn't thoroughly cleaned out our cars since before the cabin trip a few weeks ago :) serena loved playing on the wet grass while daddy weeded & watered. and threw a monster tantrum when i brought her in, stripped her down, and made her take a bath. she has been full of monster tantrums lately. and then after sean's hard day of work, i treated myself to some ice cream & berries :)




yesterday we had the most stressful day ever, made much worse by serena's tantrums. {we think she has some teeth coming in or something... we hope.} i spoke, sang, and directed the choir in sacrament meeting, sean taught elders quorum, one car died in the church parking lot, home teaching and visiting teaching, a temple recommend interview, all while dealing with an extra cranky toddler. but we ended the day with some relaxation. my parents came over for a perfect summer meal. hot dogs on the grill. cantaloupe. strawberries. crab salad. potato chips. and of course a nice berry pie for dessert {which i can't take credit for. thanks marie calendars!}.

i love summer. so glad some warm weather has finally arrived.

p.s. i took a picture of the hummingbird, but it grossed me out to post it with so many food pictures... sorry you missed it :)

sunny fiona.

like the new blog header? me too.

i discovered sunny fiona today and i'm so pleased! i love tammy's designs. so clean and fresh. and all of these lovely images? free printable downloads from her website. i highly recommend checking it out.

{images are linked to the downloads.}

adventures in swimming.

somehow we got stuck in line behind someone's entire family reunion today when entering the waterpark.

serena refused to sit in her stroller during the 20 minute wait. {i always bring her stroller but end up using it to push around all of the swimming paraphernalia awkwardly with one arm while holding her.}

while standing in line, serena {who was on my hip}, peed right through her swimmer. it was all over both of us and dripping down onto the ground. i'm sure the people in line behind us were disgusted.

oh, the joys.

it's a good thing she's so happy in the water.

hmmm.

well, i guess sean wins. most of you said you would say it like daisy with an "m". but because there was some confusion, i guess we'll spell it maizy. i'm not in love with the "z", but i would rather reduce the mis-pronuciations. we don't want her to be confused for a macey, which is a darling name, but not what we're going for.

so.

now it's down to maizy and harper. we flip-flop on which name we like better just about every day. good thing we have 18 weeks to decide :)

i need feedback.

{these photos have nothing to do with anything. i didn't want to do another post without a picture. but hey, look how much my mint has grown! and there are actually little baby tomatoes on my tomato plant!}

back to business...

1. let's say you're an elementary school teacher. you're calling roll on the first day of class and you come to the name maisy. how do you pronounce it?

a. may-see
b. may-zee

2. who is your favorite on the bachelorette? i have to say that frank is still my favorite, even if he's been a little crazy the last couple of weeks. calm down, buddy. you knew what you were getting into. my prediction for the top four: frank, roberto, kirk {blah}, and cape cod guy. i can never remember his name. p.s. i don't get why craig is still in the running, but how awesome was his tattoo joke? ha!

3. tonight i went and got chinese takeout. for myself. i called it in, i picked it up, and i ate it. all. sean didn't want any. are you grossed out? i am.

i'll appreciate your comments :)

love, ariel

serena update.

she talks!
she is like a sponge, learning new things every day. a few words that she has pretty well mastered: baby, baba {bottle, balloon, or bye bye}, mama, dada, yeah, cracker, no no {though she mostly only mimics this one so far! not looking forward to the day when she says NO to everything...}, fish, ny ny {night night}, ball, shoes, and a few animal sounds {moo, meow, barking, sssss for a snake, and a few others i can't recall at the moment...}

she walks!
when she feels like it. the most i've seen her take is about 8-10 steps before she decides to crawl {it's much faster}. she also wants us to hold her hands and walk her around non-stop. fun for us :) and she can get to standing from a sitting position with no help.

she climbs!
she can go up and down the stairs all by herself {and does it all day long}. she is also starting to make attempts at climbing the furniture.

she eats!
also when she feels like it. lately she loves strawberries, watermelon, pizza, crackers, raisins, grapes, marshmallows, french toast, scrambled eggs, cooked carrots. she has been drinking whole milk for a while now, and the transition was a piece of cake. we're trying to get her off the bottle. right now she has a bottle when she wakes up in the morning and one before bed. then she just has sippy cups throughout the day. next to go is the morning bottle.

she makes messes!
oh my. like a true toddler, she is into everything all the time. all bathroom doors must be shut at all times. she loves to go for the toilet, garbage cans, and toilet paper. pulling everything out of drawers is a favorite. and she also loves to shred paper into a million pieces. this morning i found her chewing a piece of gum. she is good. she is very good.

she plays!
toys are becoming lots of fun for her. she loves to put everything around her wrists and neck as jewelry {wonder where she learned about jewelry??}. she loves flipping through her books and talking to herself. she likes to walk around with blankets on her head. she LOVES playing outside. my parents have a big grassy backyard that she loves to crawl around and explore. she has been loving cherry hill, but we usually only stay for about 2 hours and then she's had it.

she grows!
she wears size 2T clothing and size 4-5 shoes. so basically she's huge for her age. she still has super chubmaster thighs. it will be a sad day when she thins out :(

in the middle of a canyon.

my aunt and uncle just built a house in the middle of a canyon in central utah. it's lovely. and the area is lovely. there is a river on their property that is perfect for wading. and lots of beautiful desert scenery. they had their whole family gathered last week for a family conference and they kindly invited my family to join in the activities on saturday.









this family seriously knows how to have a family conference. in the 5 hours that we spent with them, there was archery, wading in the river, playing on the rope swing, several "teaching moments", dutch oven dinner + dessert, and a talent show. we had to leave because serena was getting so so tired, so we missed out on the tail end of the talent show and the bonfire {sad!}.

it was great to see everyone and we're so glad they invited us! i wish my parents would build a house in the middle of a canyon :)

{the drive down there was NOT fun. holy cow. nothing could entertain that girl. we won't be taking another road trip anytime soon.}

loves.

serena's new purple chair.

snack size oreo mcflurries.

being so into a good book.

watching serena attempt walking. she's getting good.

the bachelorette {seriously entertaining}.

sleepytime tea.

allowing myself to not make my bed for once.

allowing myself to nap while serena does for once.

vacation plans.

feeling baby girl #2 moving around in there.

re-watching the season finale of glee.

sleeping past 6am. {it's actually a luxury around here.}

turkey cranberry sandwiches from paradise.

remembering that i hated getting fat when i was pregnant with serena too, and knowing that the weight comes off eventually. i have to keep reminding myself of that :) but all in all, this pregnancy has been a breeze, so i feel very happy and lucky. halfway there!!!

baby bean vintage.

i am dying over this dress. it is perfection. and so is everything else from baby bean.

aren't these all so summery and sweet? ahh. love them.

{bloesem kids is giving away a lonnie crochet dress today.}

num num.

{that's serenese for yuuummmmm}





watermelon + homemade pizza.

{pizza of course with extra parmesan + red pepper flakes on top.}

three food posts in a row. i blame the baby i'm growing. she loves food.

sisters night.

soup, salad & breadsticks at olive garden.
checking out all of the improvements on heather's new house.
{i wish i had an all white kitchen! jealous!}
brown cow milkshakes.
lemon meringue pie.
{wow... we ate a lot last night...}
ever after.

it was a good night :) thanks for planning, heather!

{and all i got a picture of was the pie... wow.}

not so much.

i've heard lots of good things about bruge's waffles and frites. but i wasn't a fan. maybe i just ordered the wrong thing. the waffles grossed me out. i think people like them because they are crunchy on the outside and doughy on the inside... which is exactly why i didn't like them. i don't like the doughy center. or maybe it was having waffles and fries for lunch {we had to try both while we were there} that grossed me out. or maybe it's just pregnancy. anyway. maybe i'll try again someday.

radio.

the cds in my car are all scratched or missing or overplayed, so i've been listening to the radio lately. have i ever mentioned how much i hate the radio? here are a few reasons why:

daughtry. rascal flatts. lifehouse. commercials. songs such as eenie meenie {sean kingston + justin bieber}, alejandro {lady gaga}, can't be tamed {miley cyrus}, omg {usher}. rihanna. michael buble {mostly just that one song that is on every station constantly}. colbie callat. nickelback.

it's not all bad. in fact there are a few things i like about the radio lately:

bulletproof {la roux}.
the only exception {paramore}.
x96 90's at noon.

that's all i can think of. i need new music. any suggestions?

{image}

cabin.

we spent the weekend up at the cabin with some friends. it was a blast, as usual. perfect weather. lots of games. yummy food. we even played a game of SURVIVOR. here's a glimpse:

in case you're wondering.

i've been busy

swimming at cherry hill
reading a good book
planning a weekend at the cabin
crocheting a blanket for campbell
growing a baby bump
and
attempting to keep up the housework.

{i haven't been doing very well with the housework. this morning i dried off with a hand towel because there were no clean towels :) time for a laundry day, i guess!}

also:

serena BIT ME today. i was beyond upset about it. she had pulled the doorstop off of the bathroom door, so i took it away from her and picked her up to take her out of the bathroom. she was not happy about it and just sunk those teeth right into my cheek and wouldn't let go. after i sternly told her "NO" and "NO BITING" several times, i put her in her crib in "time out" and then shut the door and cried. it hurt my cheek, but mostly it hurt my feelings :( i don't want her to grow up and be a sassy toddler and do naughty things!

please don't let her be a biter.