My Little Big Girl...

(Sigh) That's always a good way to start a blog post, right? With a long, slightly sad and defeated sigh? Well, the reason is that I'm realizing how big my baby is getting and getting all sad about it. I know, I know, when you don't have kids or perhaps when you're past this stage you see stuff like this and think to yourself, "Get over it, you knew it would go by fast and you knew that they'd be growing up, it's not like your baby has magical powers that allows them to be little forever!", but it's really hitting me for the first time.

Yesterday I was moving Sophia's stuff from the room she was in into the room next to her (we have a cousin who will be renting a room from us in a couple of months and since that room was bigger we're moving Sophie into the smaller room...cuz she's small) and after discovering that the crib was too wide to fit through the door I began disassembling it, dragging the pieces to the other room, and reassembling it. I got all but one side on, when I stopped and stared at my work. This crib was made to turn into a daybed, and in it's current position that is how it stood before me. I started thinking about how for a few nights in a row Sophie hadn't gone to bed until 11pm (bedtime is normally 8pm), and how she had recently started screaming everytime I put her down for a nap. Only for about 5 minutes or less, then she would realize that she was tired and lay down. I also thought about how she had climbed out of her crib a few months ago (though it was now on the lowest setting as opposed to the setting before the lowest when she had climbed out), and how just the day before she had been trying to climb her crib and got her chunky little knee stuck in between the bars. Then I started to wonder, "Will putting her in a 'big girl bed' fix this? She wouldn't feel as trapped, maybe she would sleep more soundly?" I got excited about the idea for a moment...just a moment though. And then I got sad. Was she ready for this? Was I ready for this? Is she really old enough? I have friends who have their kids in toddler beds earlier or around the same age as her, but should we try it? Etc, etc, etc.

After having these thought for what seemed like a very long time (though in reality it was about 30 seconds) I went and got Jon and brought him up to see what he thought. He didn't seem nearly as torn about it as I was, and simply said, "Sure, let's try it out." No sadness in his voice, no weight of the decision on his face, just a simple statement. Okay, there was a little bit of excitement in it too, but no worry. But again, this is why I love Jon - he balances out my crazy emotions with analytical thought processes that allow him to make rational decisions, which is also why I brought him in to see what he thought. I said okay, and we brought Sophie in to let her see her bed and see her reaction to it. At first, she didn't even notice it, but when she did...oh boy! What fun! She ran to the bed, plopped facedown on it and shimmied her way onto it. Then she stood, stared at the open space where she used to have bars, jumped up and down a few times, and then sat on the edge with her feet dangling off all while smiling and giggling at us. Jon saw this as confirmation that she liked it, which makes sense. I saw it as, "Where in the world is my baby and what have you done with her???" Surely my child wasn't this big yet! It must be an imposter. But no, that laugh, those eyes and those chunky thighs were definitely hers. And then, as if to confirm, she turned and gave me her big cheesey smile that she does where she squints up her eyes, wrinkles her nose, tilts her head up and sticks her chin out while flashing those pearly whites at me. My heart melted and broke a little at the same time.

(PS, the walls are not actually yellow, which is why I put a picture of the room first - my iPod thinks it's funny to have weird colored pictures....)

Now, she still didn't go to sleep until 11, but she did go to sleep. She even slept through Jon and I taking turns checking on her...about 4 turns each...we were a little obsessed. And then at 6:30 sharp (she normally wakes up at 8, except recently when it's been between 9-11am) we heard her at the gate at the top of the stairs calling down. Now, we are down the hall from her, not down the stairs, but still, she got up and out of bed and opened her door all by herself! I'm hoping that it continues to go this well and that she keeps liking the new setup. And I'm really REALLY hoping that she starts going to bed at 8 again...that would be fantastic...

Anyway, so that's my sad, happy story about my little big girl. I've heard it said that it never gets easier watching them grow up...I'm just now starting to believe this. Love you Sophie!

Diamond Rings and Silly Things

Okay, so it's random, I know. Let me explain my new title.

It was quite a journey coming to this title - see, I'm not very creative so I have a very hard time coming up with something I'll like for longer than a day...or an hour. Whichever. Anyway, so I played with titles for a while. First, I was going to take the advice of my friend Chelsea and try to work my last name into the title. But the more I looked at titles with "Hunter" or "Huntress" in them, the more I thought they sounded harsh, which I didn't want. So then I wanted something crafty, but the only ones I could think of that I liked were taken (Camilla, I love your personal blog title as well as your craft blog title!) Then I thought of doing something that started with an M, but everything I liked has been used. I went through song titles and lyrics, movie titles and quotes, foreign quotes and sayings, before I finally settled on doing something with candy in it (after considering "Sunshine and Lollipops" which was too overused.) Unfortunately, everything I thought of was either used or bugged me too much after a few times of saying it. So to help me think, I went and polished my wedding ring. I love my wedding ring. A lot. And I thought to myself, I like diamonds, let's try something with diamonds. It got a little formal though, so after being very frustrated I thought "I just need something silly to balance out the diamonds!", so I settled on my new title.

You see, "Diamond Rings" represents my marriage and my love of my husband. He bought me this ring against all of his better frugal judgement, because he saw me lose my breath when I saw it. I told him to go with a more simple, inexpensive ring (yes, we went ring shopping beforehand, but I liked it that way), but he got me the one he knew I loved. He is the most frugal person on the planet I think, so that was saying a lot for him. :) And also, I love him. Even without this ring, I would love him forever, but this ring is a token of that, which is a token of me now, so I thought it fitting for my blog title. Plus, diamonds are pretty, and I like pretty things too. :)

Then the "Silly Things" part. Well, our whole life is just a bunch of silly things, really. My daughter = endless silliness. I think we laugh more at her than anything else in life. Also, Jon and I are always teasing, tricking, and playing jokes on eachother. We're a pretty silly bunch, and no matter how old we get or how many kids we have or however stressful life gets, that will be a constant. So the "Silly Things" represent every other aspect of our lives.

So there you have it - my new (and hopefully improved!) blog title and address! If you hate it, well I don't really care because I like it, and if you love it, then thank you! :) Happy blogging everyone!

Important Notice

Okay so I'm narrowing down the fields for the new blog title, and though I only got one comment (thanks Chelsea!) I've been collaborating with a few other people on the side and I've almost got the new title down. Here's the kicker - once I decide on a new title, I will also be changing the web address for my blog. I've had a friend do it before so I know I won't lose any of my previous posts, however for those of you who have a link to my blog you will need to get the new link after I change it, and if you're following me (22 followers, wow! Thanks guys!) then you may need to re-follow me, but I can't remember. Wow, that was a long run-on sentence. Anyway, I'll put the new blog address on my Facebook page, so if you're not friends with me on Facebook, then I'll try to put the new address on here before it changes over, and otherwise I'm sorry. I'm really just tired of the random blog title that no one can remember and the address that doesn't match, so I'm going to make them both the same and then I won't change it anymore. Okay? Okay. :)

New Blog Title

So I want to change the name of my blog, but I'm terribly uncreative (as you can see by the current title, which I've never really liked but couldn't think of anything else...) so I am reaching out to you, fellow blogstalkers - what is a good name for my blog? I want something that will stay, not that I'll want to change again (so nothing Arizona related or time-period related). Any ideas or suggestions that I can steal?

The Findlay's Came to Town!

Whew! Still catching up here so forgive me if I sound a little chaotic, because it's exactly how I feel! :)

So the Thursday after we moved in to our house, Jon's aunt and uncle (John and Ruth) and cousin Colby came to visit us! Colby will be going to the Motorcycle Mechanic Institute (MMI) soon and they came down to take a look at the school and also to see our house, since Colby will be renting our extra room from us. It had been less than 3 weeks since we left Utah, but it was just so wonderful to see family!!! Even Sophie was excited - the second she saw Ruth she gave her a hug and then just snuggled with her and didn't want to get down - it was so sweet! Poor girl misses being around family all the time, so it was especially nice for her. :)

Anyway, so after taking a look at our house and being nice enough to help us shovel up 3 rooms worth of tile into the back of a truck for us, they took us out to dinner! Now Jon and I had driven right next to this place to visit Cabela's a couple of times, but we had no idea of all the fun-ness that was just acrossed the street! First, we had dinner at Saddle Ranch. This place was so much fun! They have a mechanical bull (no, none of us rode it...this time!) and cute signs all over and HUGE servings - I was glad that Jon and I split one because there was more than enough! Also, according to Colby, there may be a reality show about this place soon, which would be pretty fun!

It was pretty easy to spot the restaraunt. :)

Me and Sophie - we actually just finished dinner and they gave us a Cotton Candy dessert for free! Sophie LOVED it!

Colby

Ruth and John

They serve the Cotton Candy in a huge cup and pile it at least 2-3 feet high!

(Ha ha, I told him to do this - he's a good sport! )

After dinner (which again was AMAZING!) we walked around the mall. Again - SO FUN!!! There are so many cute shops and fun things to see! And it's right next to where all of the sports teams arena's are (specifically it was next to the hockey rink, but the football stadium and baseball stadium are also close, I think...) Anyway, here's more shots!

Sophie loved the fountains

But she didn't like when we stopped, she just wanted to go go go!

Until she put her feet in the water, then she was okay to sit for a while. :)

See Colby - I told you this was a good picture! :)

We stopped in a Bath and Body store and Sophie wanted to sit in the makeover seat. :)

Then probably the most fun we had while there was watching Sophie play in the play fountain thing (where the water shoots out of the ground and the kids just run around in it). She was really timid at first, but soon was having a blast with the other kids!

There were two of these lions right next to the water, so the kids were all taking turns sitting on them.

Of course then I took a closer look, and was pretty shocked and confused by the sheep underneath the lion... O_o

After playing for a while there we headed over to the Findlay's hotel to go swimming. They were right down the road from us, so it was nice and we all had a good time playing in the pool. Sophie was pretty tired by the time we got out though.

Cute little button. :)

And then we had to get some action shots of Colby snapping his towel...

Ha ha, boys...

All in all we had so much fun seeing the Findlay's while they were down here, and we are so excited for Colby to move down here as well! And in case anyone is wondering - yes, you are more than welcome to visit also. :)