Swimming with Karlee

I went down to Vegas last weekend to visit. It didn't end up being as fun as we had hoped because Chelsea got sick. I was pretty much on Karlee duty all weekend. She is such a good baby and so dang cute I didn't mind. The one fun thing we did was take Karlee swimming.

Isn't she so cute in her little swim suit?

She loves her baths so we thought she would love the pool and she did!

For an indoor pool we thought the water was way cold but Karlee didn't mind. She had a big smile on her face. Chelsea kept being worried about Karlee being cold, but I think she was the cold one.
It will be fun when we can go swimming outside and actually get a little color. You can see we all need it. I can't wait for summer pool days.
I think this picture is adorable.
She is so cute and fun right now! Even if Chelsea was sick the whole weekend, I still had a great trip and can't wait to go back in a few weeks.

Tennis

I don't admit this to many people, but once upon a time I was a tennis player. I grew up playing tennis, and then I went off to college...Roughly 10 years later I decided I want to be a tennis player again. The past couple of summers I tried to play a couple times a week, but I still need some serious help. You know what they say about not using it. If you don't use it you really will lose it. 10 years of not using it will do a number on anyone's game. Some of my friends starting taking tennis lessons at Liberty Park. I decided to join them for this round of lessons. I'm not sure how much better my game is, but it sure is fun. They separate us into 3 groups, and our group is made up mostly of our friends. I feel sorry for the couple of other random people that get stuck with us. The class consists of spending a little over an hour doing drills and ending the class with King of the Court. Hopefully when summer finally comes I won't be so embarrased to admit that I am a tennis player...or maybe I still will be. Group lessons might not be improving my game much, but it makes for some fun/entertaining Saturday mornings.

with some of our tennis friends-Michelle, Chris and Alison, me, Carrie, Nettie, Katie, Tracie

our little group. we're missing Kristen, Heather, and Mary.

with 2 of the teachers-John and Debbie

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love holidays! Valentine's Day isn't necessarily my favorite holiday, but I do love the candy and the decorations. I also like doing nice things for people. I got home from running this morning earlier than I expected, and decided to be nice and make some of my roommates a pink waffle breakfast to celebrate the holiday. Don't ask me what I was thinking trying to make, eat, and cleanup waffles in the 20 minutes we had before tennis. It was a bit of a disaster. I'm no good at waffles, and I don't even really like making them but pink was cute for the holiday. The waffles were super crumbly for some reason, but hopefully it's the thought that counts. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!



Carrie eating the crumbly waffles

waffle mess

The Whitakers Come to Town

Most of our little group of friends has stayed within less than an hour's drive in any direction, but we can't seem to get together unless the out of towners come to town. Karen and new baby Sammy came to town this week, and Bill surprised everyone by showing up too. It was so much fun to get together with everyone. Last year we got together once a week to watch The Office, but with all the moves and babies we don't see each other nearly enough. We missed the few that couldn't make it. It's so fun seeing these old roommates and friends grow up and have their own families. The babies are so cute and fun. Kaden is 3 weeks older than Drew, and Drew is 3 weeks older than Sammy so of course there are big plans for them to grow up and be friends. Thanks Whitakers for coming to town so we could all see each other.


the wannabe mommas and the real mommas with their cute babies

so cute on the couch. comparing sizes on the floor.

Kaden showing his tricks

For Carrie

I am in a creative slump. I have been meaning to make cards for months, but I'm just not feeling it. I am sick of having to make just one card everytime I need one so today I pulled out all of this...

so I could make this...


I still wasn't really feeling it, but it had to be done. I'm not impressed with how they turned out, but at least now I have some cards for the next few bdays, thank yous,etc. I'm hoping for some creative inspiration real soon.

My New Fave

Winter is rough on my lips. They sometimes peel all the way off several times a day. They crack and bleed and hurt no matter what I do. I have tried every lipgloss, chapstick, neosporin, bag balm, etc. under the sun, and nothing ever works. It's so gross and drives me crazy. I keep looking for something, anything to fix my nasty lips, and then I found this...

This stuff is amazing. I bought some last year and liked it but never realized it could save my lips. I try to keep it on at all times. I'm sitting in my PJs blogging, and I have this on my lips. I'm probably jinxing myself by writing this, but my lips haven't peeled once since I started using it. They've survived the past few nasty snow storms and frigid cold with no peeling. Good thing Bath and Body Works just had their sale so I could stock up. If you have nasty peeling lips like me or are just looking for a yummy lips gloss, I highly recommend this stuff!

Matchy Matchy

Some people hate when other people copy them. Others consider it flattering. And the rest of us just like good deals. The only problem with everyone getting the same great deals is we're bound to show up in the same outfits. Oh well, it's made for some cute scrapbook pages and now blog.


Michelle and Andrew showed up at the mall dressed like this. They had no idea they were matchy matchy until we pointed it out. How could you not know? They're total twinners.


Carrie fit right in with the matching marrieds



Carrie bought this super cute brown coat at Nordstrom for a great price so of course Nettie and I had to buy it too.

No More

I am SICK and TIRED of the snow. I have loved the past 3 snow free days and hope they stick around for a while even if it does mean an inversion. At this point I will take inversion over spending countless hours trying to get to and from work in the stupid snow oh yeah and shoveling. On the upside I did burn 250 calories shoveling the other day.


My roommate Joanne's car was literally frozen to the road. We had to chip away at the car so she could actually get in and drive it.

the almost finished project. it was a major group effort, but she finally was able to leave.

Holiday Recap

I love the holidays-all of them, but Christmas is my favorite of all. The holidays were great. I'm so sad they are over. We finally took down the Christmas decorations yesterday, and our house looks so empty now. Here's a recap of my holiday break.


Karlee helped with my bday presents. I got some great stuff including Miracle Blade knives



fun with Karlee-in her Christmas outfit, meeting Ashley's dog and playing



Karlee's first Christmas-she is so spoiled already



My dad always wants to take pictures of the whole family while we're there but springs it on us at the last minute so we're not exactly looking our best



the too-close-to Christmas crappy Dec bdays celebrationThe holidays were great-lots of great time with the fam, lots of relaxing, lots of celebrating. Happy New Year!

Seriously?

At what age do you stop getting so much for Christmas?



Between 5 kids plus a brother in law, 2 parents, 1 dog, and 1 baby what can I say? Santa still comes to our house! Merry Christmas everyone!

4th Annual Christmas Sweater Party

What better way to bring in the Christmas season than with an ugly Christmas sweater party? It was a great way to premier our new place and introduce our new roommates. We had a great turnout full of fabulous sweaters. I even got a sweet Christmas charm bracelet at a white elephant party the night before. We love this annual tradition and are already looking forward to next year's party-maybe with a slightly new theme.


my sweet charm bracelet selling in salons near you for the low price of $16. Who would ever pay $16 for this thing?
our new roommate Carrie, me, and Nettie me, Nettie, Jen, Lindsay
Rocky, Roman(yes that's an ugly sweater), Nettie, Quinn, Carrie, and me old roommates

It is Winter...

...And I HATE it!

Karlee Comes to Visit...And Chelsea

Chelsea had the great idea to come drive up with me after Thanksgiving and spend the week visiting friends and family before Jeff flew in for the weekend. I loved having her and Karlee here all week. We took her to see the elves at Gardner Village and the lights at Temple Square but we didn't last long in the frigid weather. She also tried peas for the first time, started sitting up better, had bath time, and met lots of new people (mine and Chelsea's friends). It was so fun coming home from work everyday and playing with her. Karlee is such a good baby, but she was definitely off her schedule/routine here. After the week was over and Chelsea was up lots in the night with Karlee, I'm not so sure she thinks it was such a great idea to spend a week away from home. She did get to see lots of old friends and roommates and also spend time with her in laws, but you'll have to ask her if it was worth it. She might be regretting our almost two week trip to Missouri coming up. I on the other hand am loving all the time I get to spend with her and Karlee.