Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Middle of March

Do you see why I haven't blogged?
 I feel like it's been go,go,go since February! 

Here was our Mid March Madness. 

Lucy has discovered the camera on my phone (see below) and she loves taking pictures all the time. 
I would make a face and she would see it in the camera try to mimic it, even check my actual face to see that I was really doing that and try it herself! 
It became a fun game!

It's no secret that Lucy's two loves are William and the train at CMOR. 

We got to babysit this little boy for a couple days. 
It went really well and made us all want a little brother. 
Lucy was bossy as could be. 
At one point I asked them to go sit by the stairs and we would get our shoes on and go. 
I was surprised when I head over and see them both sitting on the stairs waiting for me oh so patiently. 
Then I notice Lucy has Jack in a headlock! ha! 
I also attempted a huge Costco trip with 2 kids. 
It went surprisingly well. 
I got A LOT of funny looks though- kinda like this one! ;) 

Lucy picked up the art of squashing an ant with the Friend Magazine. (a bit ironic I suppose) 
Daddy was not thrilled at this new trick. 

I got to face time with the family (and the whole Bingham HS) while my brother Noah opened his Mission Call. It was so exciting! He leaves August 14th to serve in the Copenhagen Denmark Mission. So cool! 

Story of the mission papers (skip this unless you REALLY care) 
My mom and Brigham were going out of town Thursday morning to a Lacrosse Tournament. 
We expected Noah's call to come on Wednesday but heard a lot of calls were also coming on Thursday. 
When Wednesday's mail came and went and we were all so disappointed.
That meant Noah was going to wait to open his call until Sunday night when Mom and Brigham got back. 
This was KILLING Noah! So after school on Wednesday he decided he was going to the Post Office to just see if they had it waiting for tomorrow's mail. (i have never seen this boy take so much initiative!Ha!) 
He gets there and begs for them to look. A very kind mailman does and say's it's not there but that if it comes early the next morning he will call Noah by 8am before the mail trucks leave and keep it out so he could come and get it. (the mail isn't delivered to their house until usually 3pm) We all figured that was a long shot but it gave us some hope. 
So 8:00am comes and goes. Noah is at school. My Mom this time decides to go sit in the parking lot of the Post Office until it opens at 8:30 to run in and see if it's there. By this time I am thinking "oh no, my family has just become that family!" 
Well all the craziness paid off because they had it! My mom got it, and they pulled everyone out of school, my Dad came home from work, like I said all of Bingham HS (it seemed like) came over and they opened it! It was so fun! So glad we didn't all have to wait! 

I started selling my clothes on Poshmark which is awesome. 
I have made over $32 in one week and it's super easy! 
I love it! So I am always photographing my clothes these days. 

Les Miserable was in our local "dollar" theater. So me and some girls went to go see it again. 
There were lots of sniffles among our row the whole movie. 
It's such a powerful movie. I love it. 

We keep having one or two upper 50/ lower 60 days which are marvelous and then it's back to snowing! 
Blasted Global Warming! ;) (or whatever it's technical term is these days) 
So we try to really enjoy our warm days. 
Happy hour (half off) sonic drinks. Yum! 

Turns our tongues blue. 
Love Lucy photo bombing this picture- and again mocking my face. 
She be crazy! 

Lucy is slowly getting better at wanting to draw herself but usually she still demands that I draw whatever she requests. 
The problem is that I am THE WORST artist in the world. 
So it's pretty humorous to see these chicken scratch drawings that mock me for days on the patio.
Can anyone tell what these are? 
I will help you- Our friends from the Hundred Acre Woods. 
Ya- that bad! 

Nice weather calls for pulling out our sand table! 
Lucy has spent hours out there! She loves it! 
 And so have all the neighbor kids! It's brought them flocking! 
At one point there were 5 boys around the table. I really wanted to snap a picture with the caption
"My sandbox brings all the boys to the yard." 
But I resisted. ;) 
Well...i guess I didn't now. 

These two love dancing! Erik does all his tricks and she just giggles! 
They usually dance at the end of a movie during the credits song! ha! 
This was St. Patrick's day by the way! Yippee! 
All we did was wear green. I didn't even dye any food green! ha! Lame!

Remember how I said she discovered the camera on my phone? 
Ya well I opened my camera roll when morning and saw over 200 pictures just like the ones above! 
I couldn't believe how many she took! ha!

Erik picked up this and his gown this week and I felt so sad and so excited at the same time. 
I know it's cliche but, it really did FLY by! 

Speaking of graduation I need a dress. 
This is a huge task to find when your somewhat tall and need it to be modest even when you bend over in the back. I am so sick of getting dresses that barely work and then I wear them like twice and give up because I am too uncomfortable in them.
So I found this adorable peach dress at Forever 21 for only $12. I bought some lace and under fabric at hobby lobby for $6 and extended the dress. I love how it turned out! I still need to find the perfect belt but I am excited to wear it! 
My sewing skills are slowly but surely improving! 

Sad day! Lucy's toe busted through her first pair of footie pj's. 
I knew the day would come. 

Lucy started her first swim lessons! 
It was super cheap at the Y and it's really more like playing but she is getting more comfortable in the water which is important. She is excited to go each week and then once she is in the water she is nervous and wants to go home. But it's been an overall good experience. 



Those big brown eyes just melt my heart! 
I did her hair a little differently and tried a headband and I thought she looked so different. 
She looked all grown up and so beautiful. 
I'm sure lucky to get to hang with her all day! 

North Carolina

The day after we got home from Utah we re packed our things and headed to North Carolina. Are main purpose in going was to meet with a professional adviser on dental practice transition. We went to go over all the legalities and just steps to becoming partner and eventually owner of the practice. It was really informative and good to plan out. 

But boy it was long! It was more driving and the meeting itself was 3 hours long! 
A huge thanks to Mindy who watched Lucy so we could go. 
Lucy had a ball with her cousins Johnny and James. 

I'm really glad we got to stay with Larry and Mindy. 
It's always fun eating yummy food and just staying up chatting and laughing! 

The only pictures I took of the trip was going to swim at the Hotel where Grandpa was staying at. 
The kids loved it! 
Lucy has been very nervous of the water so it was good to see she has gained a little confidence since last summer. That Costco floaty thing was a lifesaver. (ha) 

Mindy also introduced me to southern Consignment sales. It was quite a sight! I loved it! 
We had a great time! Thanks Larry and Mindy!! 

Monday, March 25, 2013

Another Trip to Utah

When the opportunity to go back to Utah to babysit my family's friends kids I knew I had to jump at the chance. Although I hate traveling (especially without Erik) and I hate leaving Erik I couldn't turn down time with the family. Time for Lucy to hang out with some of her favorite people on earth. 
The day before when I was packing I told her we were going on an airplane to see Isaac and Gracie and she ran to he door, grabbed her shoes and the backpack and told me she was ready to go!
 She was so excited! 

So excited to get on an Airplane! 

I'm not exaggerating when I say that Lucy is awake the ENTIRE flight until every time without fail she falls asleep during the final descent. Literally like the last 5 minutes and stays asleep while I throw her, my 4 bags and a stroller over my shoulder and get off that plane. It's real fun. 
Thank goodness for kind people. 

Traveling sure throws her sleeping schedule off! 
I have never seen her fall asleep in public and twice while we were in Utah she feel asleep in a shopping cart. Sure made shopping more enjoyable! :) 

As usual our visits are a whirlwind of fun and now that I have a camera on my phone I take an even more exuberant amount of pictures! In a crazy order, here ya are. 
Luckily the girls I was babysitting love my family and love crafts. We kept them pretty entertained at my Mom's house which worked out for me because then I could actually see my family. 

As usual Lucy had an endless source of entertainment. She has so much fun! 

Lucy is pretty comfortable with all my immediate family now but our extended she is still extremely shy. For some odd reason though she took an immediate liking to my cousin Alex. And when I say liking I mean, a crush like puppy love! He couldn't leave her sight. She even sat in the cold of the garage to watch him play basketball. It was so cute! 

Brigham's Lacrosse season just barely started when I got there and I was able to catch 2 games. It was so fun watching him! He is really good! One day it was freezing out! I was the smart one who bundled up like an Eskimo. I think Noah was embarrassed to be seen with me. I realized I looked ridiculous, but I didn't care I was warm! 

At nights we slept in the very nice and large house of the friends I was sitting for. There bed was so nice! I loved finding where Lucy would be in the morning. Her make shift bed was on the floor and she would roll all over the place! Sometimes she would end up in the bed with me after one of my bodyguards (aka brothers) left in the morning and I would find her in funny positions. She loved watching cartoons in that big bed in the mornings. Little Princess! 

This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I loved having a brother come over at night and we would stay up late watching tv, movies and I even got them to talk to me! It was some good quality sibling time! 

It's not a Jewkes party without playing a bazillion games! I love games and bombard my family with "who wants to play XYZ with me?" They normally oblige. Games 24-7. 

Nate and Danielle were kind enough to come up from Cedar City one weekend to see me. The only proof I have is the picture above of Nate playing wipeout! I wish I had taken more of them. It was really fun to see them and to catch up.

I kinda revert back to 15 YO when I am home. Especially without Erik. 
Glad I have these goofballs to hang with! 

While the kiddos were are school my Mom and I stayed busy with some projects. She helped me make this adorable bag. It's actually one of the few things I have made and It actually looks legit. I love it! It was great learning from my mom, and I just love her old green machine! ;) 

Lucy and I got our fair share of eating out with the Howland girls. Lucy tried her first Chocolate covered Strawberry at Zupas and she was obsessed with the pictures of Panda's all over Panda express. I love both places food! We also ordered pizza from the Pie one night for everybody and may have over estimated how much we needed! ha! It was the biggest pizza I have ever seen! 

One day Noah had off of school and we went up to Bountiful to see my Grandma and my Aunt Heidi. Afterwards we went to eat at a family favorite- El Matador. Lucy experienced her first gumball. Bad Idea. It was fun non the less. 

Another trying to be a fun babysitter moment- making cake pops! (from a kit mind you) 
The kids loved it!

Brigham also had a day off while I was there and we had a date at the mall and then lunch at Sonic. Lucy fell asleep again which was a nice break from running loose and hiding at the mall. 
Note to self: Always remember stroller at mall. 

Another morning this kid had off (perks of a Senior) and I felt so honored when he asked me to breakfast. 
And by ask me to breakfast he goes "Hey Nikki, we should go to breakfast tomorrow?" "I say, great- you pay? I already bought you a pretzel!" He replies "DANG! eh, never mind!" 
We settled on going dutch! ;) 
Kneaders French Toast- oh how I long for you! 


Also had to make a Jamba Stop! Delicious! 

One more Mall trip where I introduced the boys to Forever 21. 
When we walk in Brigham say's "I feel like I am in Willy Wonka!?" 
But once I showed them the art, they loved it! 
Although I don't approve of the ugly orange furry jacket Brigham got because "Hey, it's $4?!"

We also got lots of visits in with this wonderful lady. 
We love Grandma Jewkes and I want as many pictures of these 2 Lucile's as I can get! 

We had a pretty rough trip home. Short version- lots of time on the tarmac and ended up getting home 6 hours late but I am just grateful we made it home! 
I am also grateful the Detroit airport has a kiddie area, and we got free food from Delta. 
We looked awesome by the end, I didn't even care I was wearing socks with my flats through the airport, running like a mad women trying to catch my flight. 
We went a little nutty but we survived. 

Till we meet again Utah! 
Can't wait for June! 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Blinged Out!

We had a Gymboree Gift Card burning a whole in my pocket. 
So we went and got Lucy all accessorized! 

And I am not sure any of it has come off since! ;) 



Showing me her Necklace we just got and her bracelet I got her when she was born. 
(she has never been willing to wear it until now) 
She requests them every day.
 I have learned to say no to the necklace when it clashes big time, but most time I oblige. 


The funniest accessory to me is the dime in her pocket. 
Some lady at the store gave it to her and now every day it has to go in her pocket.
She takes it out at night, sets it on her dresser and throws it in her pocket the next morning. So funny! 

Recently a women in the Branch named Sis. Dajeu who teaches Lucy in nursery went home to Africa for a visit and brought Lucy home a bracelet. It was so sweet of her. Lucy loves it as well and it has joined the daily get up! 

I'm kinda proud of my little girlie girl! It's so fun! 

Friends

 We sure are going to miss all these friends right out our back door. 

Where else can you play an intense game of settlers at 3 in the afternoon? 

 Chocolate Fondue nights are a must every once in a while! 
Love these girls! We all live on the same corner! 

I will also miss impromptu game nights with this crazy bunch!
This night I convinced everybody to play a game of spoons with the spoons down the hallway. ha!
It got a little crazy and we all got a little close. 
(I am still very sorry I bite your leg Cory-my fighting instincts kicked in) 


Lucy has some pretty great friends too. She is going to miss this guy big time when we move. 
We hope someday they will reunite and we can use all these photos in a wedding video!  
I mean come on, Lucy and Will sittin in a tree...perfect intro. ;)