events.

we watched general conference and it was amazing! i especially loved Elder Andersen and Sis. Dalton's remarks.... and Pres. Monson and Pres. Eyring and Pres. Uchtdorf...seriously there were too many good ones to really choose favorites.

serena showed her true two-year-old colors by 1. going into her cousin's room while she was napping and refusing to come out. this ended in me dragging her out of there by the arm while holding harper with the other and trying to keep everyone quiet. serena's screams of protest woke campbell up :) 2. going into harper's room and waking her up after we just put her to bed. 3. getting out of bed and sneaking into my bathroom and crushing my makeup all over the carpet and putting it all over her face. {all in one day! yay!}

we had a family home evening lesson about Jesus and serena actually listened... i think.

i dropped my phone in the toilet while using it as a flashlight in the middle of the night to make sure the toilet seat was down. i tried to save it. i failed.

sean bought me a brand new shiny pretty iphone. i immediately downloaded some awesome camera apps that i have been coveting since forever.

our water heater died and i went 3 days without washing my hair. it wasn't pretty. and then our water heater got fixed. and i took a loooong shower.

harper was sick. a sinus infection, we think. she is better now. but BOY was she grumpy. i dropped her off at a friend's house so i could go visiting teaching and she cried the WHOLE time. poor, poor gina. and harper... :) she is on the mend now.

serena went to the park every day. she is obsessed. but she really only enjoys it if there are other kids to play with.

it rained. and i loved it.

i did some organizing around the house. i tackled and conquered the coat closet and junk drawer. and realized that we are huge closet {and drawer} slobs. maybe that should be a new year's resolution. next year.

we are carrying on. one day at a time with these two crazy kids. life is good.

eleven months.

here's a little about
harper at eleven months:

loooves her blankie.
crawls up the stairs.
cruises around holding onto the furniture.
loves sippy cups.
loves graham crackers.
likes to feed herself.
has goofy teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom)
is a biter. when serena makes her mad, she goes in for a bite every time.
loves her mommy and daddy... and kind of has separation anxiety right now.
looooves the bath tub.
likes to eat everything. especially wood chips at the park.
weighs 22 lbs.
likes to be tickled.
has the best chubby thighs and arms and cheeks and belly and booty.
cracks us up all the time. she pulls the funniest faces with those silly teeth :)

love my harpers. can't wait to celebrate her very first birthday next month!

a tale of family photo woe.

getting ready was a nightmare. our kids had been sick for a couple of days, so i really wanted to make the morning go smoothly. i did what i could to prepare the night before. we all had new outfits. they were washed, ironed, laid out and ready. we started the process as 6:30 am {we're all up by then anyway} so we could leave the house at 9:30 for pictures at 10:00. kids had breakfast & baths. and then all heck broke loose. whining. crying. runny noses. kids fighting. parents trying to get ready. parents trying to get kids ready. sean trying to keep kids from ruining their clothes while i finished getting ready. monster tantrums from serena.

and then we got in the car and had a small break from the whining.

the whole drive, harper stared into space with a glazed over look in her eyes and looked totally pathetic and miserable and sick. poor thing. i attempted to give serena some medicine while the car was in motion... and it spilled all over her sweater. awesome. turned around to get the back-up shirt which wasn't as cute, but would have to do.

we arrived at the photo location. got kids out of the car. wiped noses. i though for sure harper would just look sad and tired and not smile. but it was so much worse. she cried THE ENTIRE TIME. did not stop for a second. nose running. tears streaming. full on bawling. i think we stressed out the photographer. she took some pictures, attempted to get harper to smile, and then called it good. harper bawled in the grandparents & grandkids shot. and we didn't even attempt a photo of the four of us. the photographer kindly offered to take our picture another day and we gratefully accepted and got the heck out of there.

and then i tried really really hard not to burst out in tears. the new outfits! serena's sweater! the nightmarish morning! and for what? some pictures of crying harper and her stressed out parents. and who knows what serena was doing. she wasn't standing by us. at one point the photographer told her to take her hands out of her mouth.?? oh boy. it was bad. so glad we have photos to document that lovely day :)

i look forward to the day when i can laugh about this.

happy things.

cold packs.
ibuprofen.
magazines.
swelling from my nasty sprained ankle finally going down.
kisses from serena to make it "all better".
my dear husband being super dad all weekend.
my dear mom helping with my kids while i lounge around her house with my feet up.
watching bright star while i lounge.
driving my car for the first time in 4 days.
my dear mom making delicious hummus and soup and greek pizza with veggies from her garden.
my mom's pretty herb garden in the kitchen window.
felicity on netflix. {two episodes in and i'm addicted.}
strawberry sour straws.
shopping spree for little girl fall/winter clothes.
Utah Voices rehearsing again.
kneaders at 9:30 pm.

lately.

wow, it's been a week. 

i guess we've been busy living up these last precious days of summer! 

to sum up this week: work, park, carson's first bday, harper pulls to stand, swiss days, don pedros, baby roman's blessing, still on a cooking spree, a lovely labor day weekend. 

{what a lazy blogger i've become. all photos and hardly any words...}