What Am I Doing?!?

Today while sitting at Chick-fil-A with this awesome gal I kept thinking "What am I doing?". Our kids were fighting. One would yell at the other one, the other would cry. The babies whiny with their newly growing teeth. And food was everywhere. Even our favorite worker, sweet Mona, was probably thinking we were crazy. I have been married a short 5 years, born two children and am expecting a third. My hubby is trying to finish graduate school and we are dirt poor. I am overwhelmed a lot lately with a three-year-old child who some days resembles a demon and a one-year-old who seems to only pick up her older sisters' naughty habits. I have no idea what I am doing. I am just doing me. Here are some recent pics of us doing what we do best...living our crazy life.

 Fun in the sun with juice boxes.

 Feeding their "kids" while we wait for Daddy.

 Today's 18 1/2 week bump.

 Yo Gabba Gabba with Daddy.

This is how I feel most days.

Christmas Through The Eye Of Canon.

Disclaimer: Sorry the lighting in some of the pics is a bit weird. It was early a.m. and still dark. The MIL couldn't wait for the kiddo's to wake up so she woke everyone up :(

Here's what we did this Christmas.

Looked too grown up.

Wore jammies all day/night.

Drank too much Diet Coke.

Grew more hair!

Happy New Year!

Decking The Halls & High Flying.

This year I stumbled upon amazingness called Beck Christmas Tree Farm. No more driving 3+ hours, hiking through waist deep snow while hauling one kid on the back and one in the  belly, trying to tie a tree on the roof with frozen fingers and then finally hitting the road for the loooong drive home and getting stuck in a ditch...like last year. This year we hit up the Beck Family Farm in Alpine, UT for a much more pleasant experience that also resulted in cutting a live tree. You pay $50, walk all aroung the farm to find your perfect live tree, and then one of the Beck family drives over on their 4-wheeler and cuts the fresh tree for you. Oh and then the haul it to your car. Bonus: the have free trimmings to take home to make garlands/wreaths. It was so fun and soooo nice not to leave the christmas tree cutting event hating your tree after all the greif/time it has taken. It was perfect. Simply perfect. Thanks Papa Doug!

Joy In My World.

The holiday's are extra magical with kids. And when you are on the committee for the ward Christmas brunch (more on that later). For now you can feast your eyes on these cuties. And try no to laugh too hard when you see how much my little Bubba looks like her Daddy.

Lefse.

The festivites overflowed into today and the girlies and I spent the morning with my mom and little sis baking up some holiday goodness.  In a few short hours we completed gingerbread men, sugar cookies, homemade caramels, peanut butter kiss cookies and lefse...mmmmm....lefse. I think I would be safe to wager that few, if any, of you readers have ever heard of/eaten lefse before. It is a thin Norwegian flatbread and it is delicious! We usually buy it but this year I decided to whip out my weird looking rolling pin and make it from scratch. So cheap. So easy. So worth it. I will be making this often. I prefer it cold and plain. But its good warm with butter, cinnamon and sugar or with jam or other spreads. Here are pics of my completed lefse and my Tootsie; minutes before she decided to take her shirt of for the rest of the baking process?!?

Living In The Moment.

Lately I have been having a hard time being grateful for the here and now. Stella still isn't sleeping through the night; often times is up 4-5 times a night. And Nora hit her terrible two's six months late, refusing to nap or go to bed at night. Sometimes I feel like I am always too tired, too poor or less crafty/successful than the friends around us. But today I am grateful for this moment. I am grateful that even though Bubba gets up all night she is happy all day and naps like a champ. I am grateful that Tootsie's terrible two's hit 6 months late so I had time to adjust to being a mom of two before terror struck. I am grateful that we live paycheck to paycheck and can appreciate hard work and sacrifice. I am grateful for my kids health. They have both rarely been sick and when they have been it has never been more than a seasonal cold. I am grateful for Aaron and his willingness to provide for our family and to go to school even though it is long and boring right now. I am grateful for a friend who has blessed my life more than words can say. And right now in this moment I am grateful that both my girls are napping  and neither of them care if we all stay in pajamas all day or haven't bathed/showered in two days. I'm living the life.

*Nora's latest excuse when she doesn't want to go to sleep: "But Mom, I need to nurse baby Oliver (Her baby doll who wears a purple dress and pink shorts).

The Stink Eye

It's About Time.

We finally had some family pictures taken by a sweet friend Jamie and I love how they turned out. I don't think I will ever get enough of Tootsie's cheese or Bubba's toothless {not for long} grin. Thanks Jamie! And to think she got all the pictures taken in just over half an hour. That's my kind of photo shoot.