The Perfect Trip

NOTE: This was mostly written months ago in August but I just now finished it up :-) It's been a busy few months!
Note: My husband works for Delta which means I can fly for free. However, I fly as a Non-Revenue Standby Passenger. Which means any passing customer will go before me and I can only get on the plane if there are any available seats that haven't been sold.
Note: I have a terrible memory....any times I write are just approximate.

I have some cousins up in Maine that I have barely seen in 13 years. This was an awesome opportunity for them to meet Sophia for the first time and to spend some quality time with family and see the beautiful state of Maine. My traveling nightmare began at originally on Sunday, July 21st. I was supposed to fly out at 6am however overnight everyone in Lexington decided they wanted to go to and at about 1am the flight got completely booked which booted me off of that plane. For the next 24 hours, we kept trying to get me on flights but they kept getting booked and I kept being pushed off of the flights. Finally we got a flight leaving out of Louisville, Ky airport on Monday the 22nd at about 9am. I get there, check my car seat and one luggage bag. I had one carry on diaper bag with food, formula, diapers, wipes, etc. I had packed my other luggage with tons of things so I had plenty to do me the entire trip. It was cheaper for me to purchase things down here then to do it along the way.

Sophia did great on her first flight! She didn't whine or complain. Her biggest problem was that she wanted to roam the plane during the times that she had to sit in my lap. I was lucky on our first flight that we were seated next to an older gentlemen who only had grandsons and loved playing with a little girl.

Our first flight had a stop/layover in New York City at the La Guardia International Airport. This is where the story truly begins.....
I must say, the La Guardia Airport has ONLY 1 runway...in New York City...for an international airport...again...only 1 runway??? We were supposed to have an hour layover and board a flight at 1:00pm to Portland, Maine. I had a good spot in the airport to relax with Sophia. The airport was jam packed with people from all different walks of life. It was really neat to see because I don't think you get to see a huge diversity in Lexington. But back to my spot. This spot was surrounded by families with older children and some of the families were headed to Portland as well. Everyone and I mean everyone loved Sophia. She would walk up to one teenager--play with her for a few minutes, walk to an older brother and sister--play with them for a few minutes, come to me for food--walk for about 5 minutes, play with a mother sitting next to  me for a few minutes--this went on and on and on and on. She loved everyone.

My 1:00pm flight has now been delayed till 4:00pm. Apparently somewhere else in the U.S. there was a very delayed flight for Delta, so our crew and plane was covering that flight then coming back to get us.

Flight delayed till 4:55pm. Did I mention Sophia has been awake the entire time and not slept since 6:00am.

Flight for 4:55pm has been completely canceled. New flight with different plane would be at 6:00pm due to bad weather in NYC. At this point I was talking to the attendant, because of all the delays and cancellations, everyone who paid for those flights got pushed back to my flight and this kept bumping me off of the flight. Sophia was getting fussy here and there. I only had a certain amount of cash on me and since I had been in the airport since 11:30am and it was now 4:30pm, I was running low on food, formula, and diapers. I had to buy things in the airport store....$6 for 2 diapers, $14.95 for a cheeseburger. I was going broke trying to survive. I had about 5 hours of sleep the night before and Sophia had not napped at all that day. I was aggravated and tired that I kept getting pushed off of flights. I was lucky that a family I had been sitting next to for hours helped watch Sophia when she wanted to run and would hold her for me while I tried to talk to the attendant. The attendant thought I could get out of the airport easier if I would fly to Boston in which my family in Portland, Maine could drive an hour and a half to come pick me up. Okay so that was the new plan!!

As a standby, your bags are not to be put on the plane until they physically check that you are on the plane. I asked to have my bags back because the airport is huge and I had to take a bus to a different terminal, go through security again, and get going finally. The attendant told me 1 bag was already on the Portland, Maine plane and they cannot get it off. She said the other one was in baggage claim and I could try to get it but I would need to hurry in order to get to the other terminal and through security, etc to board the Boston plane on time. So I pack up Sophia and were off to baggage claim. They tell me my baggage has already been set on the Boston plane and would be going with me so no worries. Awesome, ok we are getting somewhere. As I am walking through the airport, I look to my right and see an airplane crash on the landing. I didn't see any fire but I could hear lots of personnel around me talking about what happened. I got on the bus with a couple of other people. The men on the bus generously helped with what I did have on me and with Sophia. As we have to pass the crash and the amounts of police and fire trucks passing us by, the pilots tell me their giving up on today and going to stay at a hotel for the night because La Guardia was very slow at cleaning up wrecks. You can read about the wreck here Southwest Airplane Hard Landing. All I could think was please no, please no, please let me get through. I arrived at my terminal and as I walk in, it's quiet and almost dead. I begin to go through security when TSA comes up to me and says "I'm sorry ma'am but the entire airport has been completely shut down". At that moment, I sincerely lost it. I just began to cry. I called Dan and all I could was cry, cry, and cry some more.

No flights going out that night, the airport wouldn't pay for a hotel for me because I was Non-Revenue Standby. Come to find out, I couldn't get my luggage because they couldn't locate my luggage. I stood/sat in a public area with just me and Sophia from about 6:00pm till 10pm. Again, Sophia has yet to sleep. I at this point, only have a couple diapers left, a few crumbs, and 1 bottle left and no food for me. All of the stores are in the airport terminal (around 8pm) are now closed (Don't know why their all closed so early????) They offer to get me a cott to sleep in the another airport terminal for the night....how could I do that with Sophia? Even if I did, I had no formula or diapers for her. For hours the personnel tried to locate my baggage without success. Dan was trying to locate a hotel near me but they were all booked from all the other passengers and cancellations. So there were no hotels I could get a shuttle to back and forth.


What do I do?

Dan finally finds a hotel....$200 one night in Long Island. The airport agreed to pay for a taxi to get me there and back in the morning. They even gave me a couple of meal vouchers that I couldn't use until the next day tho. The taxi service however was running 2 hours behind. Since the terminal was closing down, a manager moved Sophia and I into the baggage claim office. They brought us some water, pretzels, and bananas. The manager left  us alone with a baggage employee who stayed in the office with us. Their were four red cushioned chairs and we took two of them and faced them together to make a "crib" and then we were given a couple of blankets and pillows. It's about 11:00pm at this point. Sophia still would not sleep a wink...instead she played and played. I finally fed her, her final bottle. Now I was completely out of diapers, food, and formula.

I asked the employee how could I get to a store to get stuff for my baby. She said their were stores around my hotel I could walk to to get things after the taxi dropped me off.

Fabulous!! I will be walking in New York City at 12:30 am alone with a baby...in the rain....

Well my taxi driver showed up and helped me in the car. He spoke little English but I thought I would try to offer him money to take me to a store on the way to the hotel. He also said their were stores near the hotel. Great. He couldn't really understand me, I couldn't understand half of what he was saying. Sophia was starting to cry, it was raining, I was sweating, I was exhausted, and I was hungry. We find my hotel but to my surprise...he passes it up.

He pulls up to the door of a store. I could have cried. Not only that....he stayed out the door of the store and waited on me to come out and carried all of my groceries for me. I learned that a regular tiny little "gas station" store was a blessing! They had DIAPERS! and WIPES! and ANIMAL CRACKERS! and FORMULA!! and BABY FOOD!! O.M.G. I could have kissed everything!! It didn't bother me one bit that all these items were in my lost luggage and I just paid $50 for 1 pack of small diapers, 1 pack of wipes, 1 small pack of diapers, 1 small mt.dew, 1 things of formula, and 6 jars of baby food.....in KY that would have been about $30...in NYC it was easily over $50. But at least I was saved! Afterwards the taxi driver took me to my hotel and helped me with everything inside. I thanked him countlessly. He doesn't know how much he blessed me.

 

My view when I woke up in NYC

Since I had nothing on me because of lost luggage, the hotel toiletries consisted of bar soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrush, men's deodorant, and lotion but no crib for Sophia. Sophia has never slept with me...she has always always slept in a crib so this was going to be interesting. I was lucky and had a spare outfit for her for the following day but for that night, I gave her a bath so she could at least feel comfy and dressed her back in the same clothes. I never ate dinner that night...don't know why...I think I honestly forgot until I look back on that night. So that night in a king sized bed, I lined the bed with pillows and played lullabies on my phone trying to recreate her normal routine as much as possible. At this point it's 1:30am and our flight leaves at 9am which meant I needed to be up at 6:00am. Sophia jumped in bed....and jumped...giggled...and jumped for 30 minutes before she finally knocked out. Haha poor girl. Woke up to take a shower while she slept and kept the door open so I could quickly listen to her if she woke up. Finally get dressed in my same undergarments, clothes, etc and get her fresh clothes on and head to the free breakfast downstairs. Sophia typically sleeps 12 hours a night....that night she slept for 5. I fixed a delicious plate of food and sat down with Sophia when my phone rings. As I'm answering the phone, I'm bringing a piece of sausage to my mouth when the taxi driver says "I'm here!" Really??? I got up even earlier just for this break and you. are. here? I sat the sausage down, threw away my entire plate of uneaten food and headed to the taxi. This is Sophia sitting outside of the hotel....her face says it all..

We get back to the airport, go through security again, and head to our gate to check in. When I arrived, our area was packed. I knew instantly that something was wrong. The Boston flight that morning had been canceled due to bad weather in Boston. I was scheduled for the next flight but because of the airport shutting down last night and the first flight to Boston getting canceled, the airport had no idea when it could be when I would get a flight because I kept getting bumped off. Their suggestion was to "stay away from the airport a few days until things calm down". Yes I have $600 in my pocket to pay for a hotel for 3 nights with no clothes or food. At this point, I wheeled Sophia to the only open floor space I could find and sat on the floor and I just cried my eyes out. Cried because we were exhausted. Cried because Sophia had hardly any sleep and I felt like a horrible mother because it was my fault we were on this trip. At this point, I said fine, I just want to go home. Get me back to Ky. Ummmm "Flights to Louisville are all booked and we don't fly to Lexington". So I can't get to Maine and I can't get back home....

This is where my angel named Jack comes in...

I called my cousin Christina, who was waiting for me so patiently in Maine and just cried my soul out to her. I vented every possible thing I could. I had nothing left in me at this point. I just didn't know how I was going to make it another 5 minutes. After I got off the phone, two businessmen asked me if I was okay and I just couldn't help but babble out words in between my tears. After a few minutes, the men asked what could they do to help...they offered to watch Sophia, to buy us food, to buy this and that...etc. I shook my head and thanked them kindly but I had all that and I only wanted to be closer to my little girl not farther away. But I did one thing...."I just want to go home. Or go to my family. I just want to be with my family." After the crying stopped, I decided to take Sophia for a walk in her stroller through the terminal. Sweet girl finally fell asleep :) When I returned to our spot, "Jack" stood us and told me "We want to get you home. We will get you a ticket to anywhere you want to go." I replied "No no no. Thank you both so much but I just can't let you do that." "No No...we have plenty of free miles....let us get you a ticket home or to be with your family." I gladly gave in. "Jack" got on the phone and within minutes had me a flight for 12:59pm (it was currently 9:00am). I cried in tears of thank you. I called my family and I just cried and cried and cried and said "I'm finally coming!". With a bought ticket, I could no longer be bumped off! I felt like the world had just lifted off of me. Soon after, the men were boarding their plane. They loved Sophia and I told them several times how much I appreciated them. My angel said "By the way, my name is Jack". I told him my name and that was the only piece of information we exchanged. I cry right now as I write this....he doesn't know how much he blessed me and I have prayed for that man several times that blessings may come to him so he knows what he did for me when I was at a low point. I've tried to figure out who the man is and looked up ticket information....I still don't know how much or if he paid anything to fly me but it doesn't matter...what he did was truly selfless and kind.

After they left, Sophia was still sleeping. I used a meal voucher and got an amazing hot breakfast and sat down on a very comfy chair to eat my breakfast. 12:30 rolled around and it was time to board the plane. And guess what? Sophia had been sleeping the entire time!! She slept for hours that morning. That was another blessing to me to know she was getting some rest.

FINALLY!!!!! We are off to Boston!! Oh no.....

We get on the plane and get ready for take off. The pilot comes on the speaker to say due to bad weather in Boston. We were being delayed....again....for an hour...BUT...we would at least stay on the plane. What a nerve racking hour!!!! I just kept praying that we would get to Boston!!

THEN....

We're clear to take off! AHHHHHHHHHHHH I cried again, lol. It was a 1.5 flight to Boston. I got to Boston and my family was waiting for me!! Go to claim my luggage....

Both the car seat and my luggage are lost. In the end, it doesn't matter who had it, but point is La Guardia said Boston had one, Portland had the other. Boston said Portland had one, La Guardia had the other. Earlier that day, my car seat did in fact show up in Portland but I was still missing my bag. It was now Tuesday...it would be Thursday before I finally got my bag. It went to back and forth at least 15 times between Louisville, La Guardia, Boston, Detroit, and back to Portland.

I arrive at my cousin's house and tears of joy roll down my face because I am just so happy to finally be there and be with family. I had a bed, Sophia had a crib, my cousin Christina had all the essentials that a woman should have. I wore her clothes, washed mine, used her things to shower and get cleaned up with...it was amazing.

From Tuesday through Sunday I enjoyed being with family. There was some family drama in which I had posted a couple of cryptic messages on Facebook as a way to vent. But I won't give out details about the situation and those that need to know do know. My cousin Christina ended up having to work a lot so in between work, we went shopping around at the local mall and went to Old Portland to walk around and visit some bar and grilles while walking on the original cobblestone walkways. Cobblestone VS Stilleto? Cobblestone wins every time.

On Wednesday, I went to the airport baggage claim in Portland for the 3rd time. My bag still was not there and I was still getting multiple stories about where my baggage was. A couple of hours later, I called the airport this time instead of driving there and I was finally notified that my bag was there. I asked the staff member to please physically go to my bag, lay hands on it, and double check that it is mine because I had been through enough. They told me it was for sure. So for the 4th time, we went back to the Portland airport and finally got my bag! TO MY CREDIT: THIS VIDEO WAS RECORDED BY COUSIN CHRISTINA, IN WHICH I DID NOT  KNOW I WAS BEING RECORDED!! I'M. OFFICIALLY. A. DORK.

The week went by a lot better after I was able to have my own stuff and plenty of clothes, food, diapers, wipes, and formula for Sophia! My cousin and I ended up staying with her brother and my other cousin. Surrounded by tall trees around no cities or traffic, and hearing the rain at night in what seems like a forest, was very peaceful. My cousin Michael, ended up taking Sophia and I to a couple of the beaches around Portland and Cape Elizabeth. It was absolutely beautiful, clean, and breathtaking!!

***** Now that I waited so long to finish writing this, my memory is fuzzy. But this is basically how the trip ended....

I was set to fly out of Portland airport on Sunday. My cousin drops me off at the airport, I get thru the gate and everything with Sophia is ready to go. As I'm waiting at our gate, we are informed that part of our crew is missing from being help up on another flight. So here was another 2 hour delay. 2 hours go by and we are finally boarding!! Wahoo!!!  My flight was connecting to me D.C. then to Louisville. I get to D.C. and because my first plane was so late, I missed my connecting flight to Louisville and there were no more going out that night. At this point, I have no money left but I was prepared because this time I STUFFED bags full of extra baby clothes and items for Sophia that I could. THIS TIME however, my parents had paid for me to fly on United Airlines instead of Delta. United graciously paid for a hotel room for me, bought me dinner and breakfast for the next morning, and for a taxi to take me 40 minutes away to another hotel for me to fly out first thing that morning out of the other D.C. airport. We get to the hotel at about 11pm and the only place to eat was the bar next door. So me and Sophia were sitting in a bar eating at 11:30 pm. We retired to our room with the hotel amenities such as toothpaste, shampoo, etc.

 (Sophia was such a trooper. This is at about 5:30 am and she had only had about 5 hours of sleep. I love my little stinker!)

I for the second time, wore the same clothes 2 days in a row because I didn't have room to pack additional clothes for me in my bag. The next morning we wake up and get to the airport. At 9am, I was boarding a plane bound for Louisville. I was too excited to get home finally! As we are on the runway, the pilot announces that their is bad weather in Kentucky and we are on a delay but do not know how long. I. am. going. to. die.......an hour later though, they tell us we can take off.

Finally, a couple of hours later, we land in Louisville. My husband picked us up and we go to claim my baggage.

My baggage has been lost.....including Sophia's car seat. The airline let us borrow a car seat and said they would mail me my baggage.

Whatever....at this point....that's all I can say. At least I am going home.

At 4am that next morning, I get a call that UPS is at my door with my baggage and although I was so tired and exhausted, I woke up and had to go outside in the freezing rain to get the airline's car seat out and trade it with the UPS man.

Back to bed and up at 7am with Sophia.....that was the end of that....


The end....

The ONE night TUTU!!

 

Photo taken by Marissa Noe Photography 

My little girl has officially turned ONE! Where is this time going?!?! She looks beautiful doesn't she? Let me tell you the story behind this outfit! I had found this outfit from Pinterest (of course) and for over 5 weeks I had paid for it to be customized and made for Sophia. 4 days before the party, I receive an email stating the outfit was ruined, their machine broke, and they were giving me a refund and no outfit. I panicked. I cried. I said a few not nice words. I had been planning every detail of her 1st Birthday Party for it to not go perfectly. Thanks to Facebook and some great friends, I received encouragement and instructions on collecting the materials and making the tutu and bow myself :) I made it all in less than 24 hours :) This awesome boutique Caroline's Curlz, received my request and made the onesie in less than 48 hours!! It turned out beautifully and I'm so grateful I was able to pull it all together within just a few days thanks to some great friends!!

Moving on to her party, we were joining parties with Sophia's friend Jackson because they were born within 24 hours of each other and with us having many of the same friends, we didn't want people to have to chose what party to come to. Jackson's theme was a Mr. Mustache Bash and Sophia's was Sesame Street. It was a great time!! Thanks to all who came out!!

I'm including some of my favorite photos from the party :)

 

{{ Delicious Pot Roast!! }}

I am NOT a cooker! I burn everything, set off the fire alarms, and smoke up the house! However, I am trying to change this. I have a crock pot that I got when I got married, 3 years ago, that I've only used once and that was with a prepackaged meal that ended up yucky! So I FINALLY did it! This roast filled my house with an amazing smell and the tender meat was OH so delicious!! So I am here to share the recipe because I don't know exactly where it came from :)

Ingredients

1 (3-4 lb) beef chuck roast

1 (12-ounce) can Cola (not diet)

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup Heinz chili sauce

3/4 packet dry onion soup mix

4-5 red potatoes, cut up

1 1/2 to 2 cups baby carrots

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Makes 6-8 servings.

Hope you try it and LOVE it as much as I did! :)

Crayon Can Holders

Crayon Can Holders! 

This idea was given to me from a crafty friend of mine that I like to stalk ;) Pinterest helped too except these are more elaborate than the ones I found on Pinterest. I have no idea what I'm going to use them for because there are so many options: hold plastic utensils for a baby shower, pens, scissors, markers, craft supplies, small baby supplies, etc.

Supplies needed: 

28-30 Crayons per Can (mine were green bean cans)

Hot glue

Ribbon

Scissors

Directions:

The project is basically self explanatory. I wrapped the top and bottom of the can with ribbon. Then started hot gluing the crayons. TIP: It's very easy for the crayons to start slanting to the side so every few crayons, I'd stop and make sure they were staying straight. 

Side note: Apparently I need baby proofed items...and not just because I have a 10 month old. 2 minutes into making this project and I had already slit my thumb wide open on the inside of the can. If I did that I knew my daughter would too, so I hot glued ribbon along the top inside of the can and it fixed the problem!

Our Hidden Talents

Today was the annual Serve the City. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a day when many churches among Lexington get together with many opportunities for community service. Everyone groups together and disperses into the community at the same time. Daniel and I worked with some members from Immanuel Baptist and Crossroads Christian church at the Irishtown Baptist Mission. IBM does a lot for it's surrounding community members. It's a small church serving it's neighbors which most of it's members are uneducated and are poor. The church provides hot meals, worship services, GED classes, and they help the children of uneducated parents learn how to read and write hoping that this will help to keep them in school--in their area only 1% of children graduate high school. IBM just got a new director last year and she stepped into a lot....the church is very unorganized, old, breaking down, lacking clean water, working toilets, etc. It was almost sad because this church tries to do so much good for it's people and sometimes their food is the only meal that people will get.

While at the church, we put on a fresh coat of paint on the walls, repainted the trim, created stairs for the elderly to be able to step up on a platform, organized and cleaned our two rooms including a craft closet and a room that we turned from storage into an area where children can have their own place to play, read, etc. We also fixed and painted tables, book shelves, etc. There is still much work to be done in helping this place and we only had today, but we got a lot done and I plan on returning on my own to do more. Anyone want to join me?

So you may ask why am I spending so much time blogging about this? Well...let me start off saying that I'm not proud to admit that when the day started out, I was not happy about going to IBM. I had never heard of them, I didn't know anyone besides Dan that was going and there were so many other great projects that I thought I knew I would love. I complained to Dan for a few minutes and then we were on our way. When I got to the church and heard the director speak about the mission, I instantly had a "seed planted in me". We started working right away and I immediately was drawn the children's "wanna be" room. It wasn't on the list that the director wanted us to complete but once I got the idea, I decided I was adding it to the list. I'm SO SO grateful for a few other nice people whom I don't even know their names who openly let me take the lead and did anything and everything to help me. The more I worked...the happier I got...and then a fire was placed in my heart. Dan would come up to me and say we need to leave soon and I kept responding 10 more minutes....15 more minutes...I'm on a streak, let me continue. One lady that was helping me, mentioned to me that I had everything taken care of and she was going to help others paint. Then I had a gentlemen who was basically my "muscles". He took out all of my trash, cut wood for me, moved tables for me, etc....as I was organizing the craft closet, he commented to Dan..."is she always like this?"....Dan replied "At home, yes". The gentlemen said "Haha....I'm doing nothing, I'm just sitting back letting her do her thing and doing what she tells me to do".

So what does this have to do with my title of Hidden Talents? Sometimes when I hear others talk about how Heavenly Father has given them talents, I get down on myself because I feel like I don't have any TRUE talents. I was a cheerleader for years but that is done and over with, I have no musical talent at all including reading music, instruments, singing, etc., I'm not SUPER crafty, I can't cook....UGH no wonder I couldn't do pageants that had talent portions...I am officially talentless. Except today. I have done a lot of volunteer work and service in my day so why does today stand out from all the rest I don't know. But for the first time ever, I felt like I received more from my serving that anyone I was actually doing service for. The compliments, stares, and feelings I got from people today who were watching me work made me realize that my home, my "office", my cleaning....all of it, is my talent! Give me the materials and I am a great organizer! I love cleaning up places, organizing, setting up displays, etc. For once, I felt I was needed and accomplished something meaningful. This opportunity has been an amazing rewarding experience for me. I know I have more talents...I'm just not sure of them yet but maybe through me serving others, I can get to know myself better.

Kid's Room Before

Kid's Room After

What stinker was doing at my brother in law's while we were busy serving.

Yay for new pj's!!

This was from a few weeks ago but I wanted to add it anyways....our first stroller ride out of our carrier :)

Not only was it conference day on the 7th but it was Daddy's birthday. Thanks to Lesley and Scott Thalman for Dan's cinnamon bun "birthday cake".

Before & After: My 1st Make-Overs Ever!

The next few pictures are going to be ones of my good friends who let me practice on them...being new to Mary Kay and wanting to take this far, I need all the practice I can get. Thank you ladies for being my guinea pigs :D I think they look fabulous if I do say so myself ;) Love you girls!

Here we go!!

Are you ready?!?

Okay, Okay....

 

Mary Kay & The NEW me :)

Welcome to my new life! ^This^ is what I do for work now, along with staying at home with a little stinker who is almost 9 months old. I am LOVING being a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant :) It is great to sell products you truly love and believe in. I was introduced to Mary Kay make up about 6 months ago and from that day forward I knew I wanted to become apart of this wonderful company. Let me know if you want to have some free facials, products, and have some great girl time! ;)  

Soooooo Dan and I had to move. We looked very hard for a place within the boundaries of our ward in church aka the famous "Tates Creek Ward"..WOOT! WOOT! Unfortunately, Heavenly Father lead us in a different direction and we will now be apart of the Bluegrass Ward. Even though I am sad about leaving my friends, I'm still in the same town AND I believe the Lord has guided this way and that it was meant to be. I am excited to meet new friends!! 

 

Sophia wouldn't have it any other way. No matter what, this girl HAS to have her face covered in order to sleep. Needless to say, we constantly check on her.

 

My mother in law got this book for me and I enjoying it so much! I've been thinking about the future I want for my daughter a lot lately and the things I want her to know. I also have the world's worst memory so this book is great at making you think of wonderful thoughts, stories, and ideas to pass down to your child. I love it! I am officially a stay at home mother. Heavenly Father continues to bless us every day and despite the hard times I've gone through lately and the stress I've had, I know I am truly lucky and blessed to have Him on my side. I miss working with my foster kids and think about them often. I'm not allowed to keep updates on them now that I'm not with the agency anymore, but I still think of my kids often...you get attached to the children because you see them so much. The kids look up to you and you grow a bond with them. But at the same time, my heart was aching to be at home with my daughter and it's where I knew I needed to be. 

I've been thinking of my testimony lately. For a few months I've been going through rough patches on and off especially surrounding my family and friends. Rumors have spread around about "what Mormon's believe"...because you know of course, non-Mornons will know everything that Mormon's believe and they know more than Mormon's themselves ;) My point to that comment? If you see or read something about Mormens--especially if you are my friend or a family member, and you question it, then ASK me! I am not easily offended and I LOVE sharing the gospel and talking about my religion...I'm very open :) But please do not go around telling others what we believe when you have no clue or what you know came from weird sites or sites that are as credible as Wikipedia. I used to attend Baptist and Christian churches, I smoked, I partied, I drank alcohol, and I did many many things I should have never done and made MANY dumb mistakes. I changed my way of life...my heart...my mind....my soul....all to be closer to my Father. Since the day I got baptized, I have been forgiven of sins, reborn, and blessed. I didn't change overnight. For a long time I had slip ups but I continued to pray and work on myself. I've never been happier, I've never been healthier mentally and physically, and my church family has stepped in to be there for me when much of my family has abandoned me due to their selfishness, addictions, and lifestyles. I want a better life for my children than what I had. I want a better childhood and better opportunities for my children than what I had. I want a happy, God loving, and supportive family for my child and it will start by my husband and I creating that family with our Heavenly Father. Sophia is the most perfect creation ever and I thank the Lord every day for her and Dan in my life. I am LOVING my life despite the obstacles I continue to work through. 

Look at this little stinker...she makes my heart melt into a million pieces!

Totally Pointless Post

 

  

 

Just a little review about some of my absolutely FAVORITE things!!

• Covergirl Lash Blast Waterproof Mascara - doesn't clump, stays on for a LONG time, doesn't make my eyelashes stick together, cry all you want to and it doesn't come off! :) 
• Twilight- Need I say more about this series? I've been to a Twilight convention, seen all movies, books, gotten autographs, t-shirts, rings, bracelets, posters, clothes, cups, flowers, cakes, parties....the list could go on about all things Twilight I own or have done.
• Everything Mary Kay!!
• The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth- Amazing series that you will love if you remotely like the Hunger Games!
• The Vampire Diaries- Can you say yummy?!? I got my vampire fix on this show ;) I'm lucky their are so many seasons! This show got me through many dark long weary nights while having a newborn baby.
• The Hunger Games- The books are amazing! The movie is okay...hope the movies get better though!
• The Delirium Series by Lauren Oliver- Not only is the author amazing and sweet but this new series is wonderful!! Again, it is one of my favorites and it is becoming a movie too!
• Revenge- Have you seen this show at all? Where have you been hiding? It's dark, intriguing, interesting, suspenseful, steamy.....all wrapped up in a shot with a never ending plot that keeps surprising you.

While this blog post may seem pointless...well it is, haha. But if I can point anyone in the direction of any of these products, books, shows, etc....then it was worth it. I have to brag about my absolute top favorite products :) Need any more reviews?

Busy as a bee :)

I had to post this photo of my Sophia at 7 months old :) This was right after her bath...lil stinker is too dang cute that I could just gobble up those cheeks!

This is the culprit that almost set me on fire. It exploded with pieces and sparks flying everywhere, burning my arm and putting three holes in my shirt. Just glad Sophia was not harmed :)

Adorable drawing that my niece Addison (6 years old) drew for me :)

UPDATE ON MY FAMILY AND I 

• One of my key tasks in my life is examining baby poop
• Sophia is officially 7 months old! She LOVES standing and jumping, hates tummy time and has no desire to try to crawl. I have a feeling she will be walking instead of crawling. She is sitting up well. She has no desire to be on a routine when it comes to sleeping, every day is different. 
• Sophia's smiles, coos, sleeping, etc...everything she does absolutely melts my heart into mush!
• Dan and I are doing well....both juggling full time jobs and watching Sophia with no nanny/babysitter. We stay busy, tired, and did I mention tired? But it is all worth it!
• Last and somewhat the least, my blogging has taken a back seat to my busy life so I'm sorry that I don't update it as much as I should but I do it when I can :)

XOXO!