taking stock

At the end of this amazingly crazy and yet awesome month, I thought it was the perfect time to do one of these posts again. Thanks to Sydney from the Daybook for the idea.

Making:  plans. big plans.

Cooking:  nothing. ever. which is at the same time both liberating and terribly sad.

Drinking:  water. of the filtered variety.

Reading:  A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle. She is the author of A Wrinkle in Time. I have read a few of her other books, as well, but this one is more autobiograph-y and very interesting. I love reading it and hearing thoughts about God, love, children, religion, and life all put down on paper so beautifully.

Wanting:  to buy a house. irrational as it may be, I want it to be mine.

Looking:  forward to our trip to Europe. December or March? that is the question.

Playing:  with balls and dolls. with ducks and bears. peek-a-boo and ring around the rosy.

Wasting:  time worrying over nothing - because really there is nothing to worry about.

Sewing:  patches onto work clothing and a Christmas present for Daniel (shhh).

Wishing:  that we could live in this happy stage of fun and playing and easy laughter forever.

Enjoying:  Hannalyn's new bravery into exploring everything.

Waiting:  for paperwork to be drawn up so I can share my project. Banks and lawyers are slow.

Liking:  the way that I feel on a quiet Sunday afternoon surrounded by sleeping baby & husband, good smells, and quiet music.

Wondering:  when Hannalyn will say for the first time "I love you".

Loving:  the moment between wakefulness and sleep when I feel the warmth from Daniel and hear the breathing of Hannalyn and I remember how blessed I am to start and end my day with them.

Hoping:  for strength and courage and faith to face the trials ahead.

Marveling:  at the beauty of the earth - especially the moon and flowers lately. Good job, nature.

Needing:  to write letters to the people that I love to tell them I love them.

Smelling:  clean, warm, cuddly baby. someone should bottle it and sell it. they'd make millions.

Wearing:  my favorite comfy-dress that is long enough to wrap around and warm my toes without stretching it.

Following:  the path set for me by God - even though it's different than the one I imagined.

Noticing:  Hannalyn's singing. and dancing. It. is. the cutest!

Knowing:  that my days of pre-2-year-old are coming to an end.

Thinking:  about my special project and how it will change our lives.

Feeling:  grateful. and overwhelmed. loved. and exhausted. happy. and worried. hopeful.

Bookmarking:  simplified piano versions of primary songs.

Opening:  a new chapter in our lives (how's that for symbolic and all)

Giggling:  at Hannalyn's antics - up, down, and all around!

Feeling:  glad.

Happy Weekend

Hannalyn loves sitting on the steps and watching my mom water her flowers. She sat like this spontaneously - no posing here. ;)

My dear friends,
At the beginning of this weekend, I just wanted to remind you that God knows you. He knows your struggles, pains, and heartaches. He knows your fears, worries, and doubts. God also knows your limitless potential. He knows your strength, your love, your joy. He knows your courage, your power, and your faith. He knows YOU.
We live in a world that can get pretty scary. It is sometimes hard to know friends from enemies. We all need love and support in a changing world and the best place to get it is from our unchanging God. He is the one that will always stand by your side. He will take your hand and lead you to eternal happiness.
Remember that life is good. There are miracles around us every day if we'll just take the time to see them.
You are loved. Don't give up. (thanks Josh Groban)
Have a fabulous weekend.
xoxoxo

Book Review: All Hallows' Eve

This collection was really interesting. I think of all the Timeless Romance Anthologies, this particular collection had the most varied story plots. I really liked that. Admittedly, I didn't love every story like I usually do, but I did really really really like them. And there were a couple that I absolutely more than loved, so that balanced it out.

Overall, the whole collection was perfectly paced, characterized, and just the right amount of believable romance. Really it was fabulous. The only regret I have is that I didn't read it closer to Halloween, but then I maybe would have been a little too spooked. Though these novellas are not scary in that sense of the word. There is a bit of the supernatural - ghosts, sirens, etc. - but nothing that was at all like the dramatized Halloween that is seen too often these days. It was very clean, very fun, and as always, romantic.

Find the All Hallows' Eve Collection on
AMAZON
BARNES & NOBLE
GOODREADS

Theme Song

You guys, this song is my theme song right now. It is my groove. My jam. My love. It's on constant replay in my mind over and over and over until you'd think I'd be sick of it, but surprise! I'm not.

Listen to this song. Seriously. And then listen to the rest of the soundtrack. I didn't like Finding Neverland until I listened to this soundtrack - which, admittedly, is weird because I love Peter Pan. In fact I've got a post written about how much I love Peter Pan and why that I'm debating whether or not to post because maybe I'm a little too crazy and no one cares? We shall see. Either way. Finding Neverland was definitely not for me (at least the movie. is there a book?) UNTIL my sister got me the cd. It has been playing in my car without a break for nearly three weeks now. I don't listen to anything else. I love it.

This song is my theme song. It describes my mood of excitement every time I think about my secret project. AHHH!!!! So much happiness just thinking about it! I can't wait to share with you guys. (Soon. So So So Soon.)

Anyway. Much love & joy & gladness to YOU.
Listen to the song.
And share your thoughts if you care. :)
xoxo

Hannalyn in Recent Times

Picture Set 1: Hannalyn watching herself in the mirror going up and down while hanging on to her giraffe-bike thing. She was giggling and jabbering to herself the whole time.

Picture 2: I was doing my hair one morning and heard Hannalyn lifting and closing the toilet lid. She does this often - thankfully she only looks. But then I glanced over as she was getting frustrated and realized that she had her rubber duck stuck between the seat and the lid. When I opened the lid, I found that she had put her bath time letters into the toilet. Gross. At least it wasn't the TV remote... and she didn't flush it...

Picture Set 3: Hannalyn waving as she walked away with her lion walker...and then ran into the wall. Ha!

Picture 4: She LOVES looking through all our old photo albums. She will sit quietly for 10 to 15 minutes at a time just flipping through the pages.

Picture 5: We had a rough morning so I turned on a dvd of nursery rhymes. She sat this way for 30 minutes - both hands on the arms of the chair and watching intently. She only moved when it was time for Itsy Bitsy Spider and Pat-a-cake. Then her hands went back to their spots. Adorable.

Life with this lively child is so exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. I love it. I love HER. Being Hannalyn's mommy is the greatest blessing I have ever experienced.

Today is Tuesday. And we're going to make it through the week. Smiling. ;)

Shout out to me

It was a long and slightly stressful weekend. Well, not Sunday, but both Friday & Saturday. Blech. Sunday was SUCH a relief. Thank goodness. 

But before I tell you all about the progress made on my secret project... 

Huzzah and Hooray! My first cross-stitch in way too many years has been completed. Is it perfect? No. Did I mess up... a lot? Yes. Do I absolutely love it? Absolutely. It hangs in Hannalyn's room and she loves to touch it each time we go in to change her diaper. It's really quite tender. I'm excited to start my next one. Though it isn't a cross-stitch, it's embroidery. But it will likewise be awesome.

So go me. 

My next project (not my secret one or the embroidery) is to make myself love my house again. I don't not-love it, I'm just not satisfied with it for some reason. I'm planning to use my now free mornings to do some furniture rearranging and if that doesn't do it maybe I'll succumb to the temptation and paint a little bit. That would be a better thing to do at this point than buying a house... I think?

PS My mornings are free because school has started and so instead of teaching piano and voice in the mornings I'll be teaching in the afternoon. It's going to be a little weird, but Hannalyn and I have grand plans for adventures in the cool of the morning. I'm very optimistic about it.

Happy Monday to you and yours. May you feel God's love this week.

xoxoxo

Hair cut. Aquarium. Reception.

(Once again, posting was delayed due to technical difficulties and my lack of desire to deal with them. Sorry.)

I'm noticing a trend with our day trips. We usually have 3 significant things happen while we are out in the Provo/Salt Lake City area. How thrilling. Of course, this isn't always the case. Sometimes we go out just for one big thing. But if we're going to do a day, let's make it a day! is what I say.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures at the moment of my adorable hair cut. I took before and afters on my iPod and then later in the day it dropped into the toilet. Putting it in rice has not helped like I hoped and so our next day trip will include a trip to the Apple Store. I'm devastated. Thankfully I uploaded pictures from it about a week ago so there isn't too much missing, but much of what is missing is Hannalyn walking and talking and being amazing. *sigh* Oh well.

While I was getting my hair cut (and a wonderful head massage and loving it) - Daniel took Hannalyn to Provo to see his brother Matthew. They had a wonderful time playing and catching up and Daniel said that Hannalyn was really good despite multiple poopy diapers between him leaving me and coming back for me. I didn't tell her to do that. ;)

After getting some lunch & a nap we went to the Loveland Aquarium in Draper. It was FANTASTIC. Daniel liked it better than the zoo because it was inside and air conditioned. I liked the zoo better because it was bigger and I felt like we got our moneys worth of time (it took 2 hrs to walk through the zoo vs 1 hr to walk through the aquarium). At the same time, Hannalyn liked the aquarium better because she could get up close and personal with all the fishes whereas at the zoo she didn't have the patience to look for the far-away animals. So in that respect, I too, enjoyed the aquarium better because I enjoyed watching Hannalyn. She was SO excited and kept looking back at us and then pointing to the fishes and looking back. She was very quiet in her excitement though - a lot of open-mouthed gaping and observing. She didn't want to touch the fishes in the touching pools, but loved standing by the glass and peering through it closely. It was a great experience and one we want to do again soon.

(I caught her with goldfish in her mouth. ;) )

watching the Dori fish ;)

at the touching pool. I asked her if she wanted to touch, but that's as close as she got.

(I laughed out loud when I saw this shirt & thought of my sister)

We had so much fun she didn't want to leave... especially back out into the heat. Yuck.

We got some dinner and drove out to Saratoga Springs to a wedding reception for my best friend in high school. We were in band and choir together and I have nothing but good memories with her. It was amazing to see her so happy. She and her husband are adorable and he is taller than she is! (Heather is sooo tall :) ) I got the hug I've been waiting for from her for 3 years and we got there early enough that we were able to chat for a while and hear all about her amazing-ness and their future plans. I am so so glad that we were able to be there. It would have been worth the drive just to go to the reception - that's how much fun I had and how good it was to see Heather. The other stuff was just bonus.

I love this Feather Lynn :)

We could resist playing with the super fun picture boards that (I think) Heather's mom put together.

We had wayyyyyy too much fun. :)

After saying goodbye with lots of promises that we'll do better about keeping in touch, we drove home to Vernal. We got home at 11:30 which was marvelous because usually we don't get home until much much later. It was a great day and a great drive and lots of fun and happiness all around.