I am: indecisive. don't ask me what my favorite color is. don't ask me what my favorite food is. I DONT KNOW.

I think: of ways to justify expensive things I want. it's true. I'm sorry honey.

I want: Haven and Scott to be happy and healthy all the time.

I have: the most darling little daughter and the handsomest (is that a word?) husband.

I dislike: emptying the dishwasher.

I miss: my sister. She is my BFF and everything I hope to be.

I fear: grasshoppers.

I feel: happy. and a little sleepy.

I hear: Haven in her room, just waking up from a nap saying "Mommy, where are you?"

I smell: like a girl. hm.

I crave: hot chocolate. really anything chocolate.

I cry: because I am a girl and it's part of how we deal.

I usually: dance and sing in the car.

I regret: not listening to my mom more when I was a teen.

I search: for my hair brush every morning. Haven always hides it.

I wonder: out loud about everything when I'm with Scott. He usually knows the answers to my questions but if he doesn't he makes one up that will satisfy me. And I'm ok with that.

I love: my family. more than anything. I seriously have the most amazing beautiful people in my family, including extended.

I care: about what Haven eats, how she sleeps, what she says, what she thinks, what she wants, what she needs, what she wears, her hair, her teath, her health, her happiness.

I always: have fun with Mal.

I am not: complete without Scott.

I remember: that summer in Boulder when we were there for a month with all of my cousins. We played dress-up, house, climbed the Sugar Loaf, swung on the sack swing 16 billion times, slept in sleeping bags that were lined up from one end of the house to the other because there were so many of us, played kick the can at night, andi-i-over, hiked Calf Creek and slid down on our bums into the water, named all the horses, got shakes from poles place, watched movies, played with Lincoln Logs, played lots of tripoly, decorated chairs and made microphones out of yarn so that we could be the spice girls. ah. it was fun.

I believe: in God the eternal Father, in his Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.

I dance: all day long.

I sing: all day long.

I don't always: cook. sometimes though ; )

I argue: about expiration dates. I like my food fresh alright? :)

I write: down cute things Haven does and says so I can remember her beautiful one-year-old self.

I win: cake walks. limbo contests. TVs.

I lose: every game I play with Scott.

I wish: I could travel by thought.

I listen: to the spice girls still.

I don't understand: football. And I'm ok with it.

I can usually be found: singing the alphabet, counting toes, trying to get Haven to eat, reading "A Porcupine Named Fluffy"

I watch: Barney, Clifford the big red dog, Sesame Street and Elmo's world on a regular basis.

I need: Scott to hold me at night while I fall asleep.

I forget: to pay my library fines.

I am happy: being me.

Out of Control

Take a look at this tomato plant. Yes, that is just one. We planted it from a little seed and it got a little out of control. It looks more like a tomato bush. We finally pulled everything out of our little garden but this. I don't know what kind of super over-achieving stuff is in the dirt but we had tons of humongous cucumbers and beans...I couldn't keep up with them. It's especially weird because we hardly ever watered the darn thing. And I know your supposed to use a tomato cage, but still....I don't think this is normal. We now have tomatoes growing in our window well because it ran out of room and decided to go down there. Yikes.

Sandy Weekends

Every weekend we pack up and go to Sandy. It is where our family is (Scott's parents, his siblings and their families.). As soon as we're out of the neighborhood, Haven says "Mama, Papa oh boy!!" (Which means, Grandma, Grandpa). She knows where we're goin. Haven looooves Grandma's house. It's her favorite place to be. Not only is she BFFs with Grandma, she has so much fun with her cousin Cody and everyone else. It's our home away from home. It has become a lovely little tradition to have Sunday dinners with the family. It brings us closer and gives us a chance to have a tasty meal. Grandma Hughes always cooks the best food...and seriously I don't even know how many times I've said "Thanks for dinner!". Probably a billion or so times. Sheesh...if she had a dollar for every time I said that...thanks again Cindy!! This weekend was full of fun and food as usual. We stayed for two nights since it was conference weekend. Here is a little taste of what went on...

Grandma gave Haven a BIG piece of paper to color on! As you can see, she thought it was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

She loves to "play" the piano. As soon as her little fingers are big enough, I'm sure Grandma will be teaching her how to play! (She is also my teacher BTW and I am loving learning to play)

She played dress up and danced around the house to the clock that plays music.

Scott and I had a wonderful game of "see who can slide the farthest on their socks down the wood floor".

HE WON!

Haven and Cody had an intense game of rock band.

And of course she had to swing. She was as content as can be.

Saturday night me and my friend Mal went to the Castle of Chaos Haunted house in scary SSL ( south salt lake). It's a little creepy there at night and we were happy not to get stolen walking to and from the car! lol. Apparently everyone else in the valley had the same idea as us because they were all there standing in line at the HH. We didn't really dig the 1 hour wait so we got the VIP passes. Thankfully! It was soo fun and sooo scary. My throat is still hurting from screaming every 5 seconds. Unfortunately, we got some fake blood on our clothes from the blood swamp. I screamed and jumped like 3 feet, ok maybe not 3 feet but I'm sure it was close, into the air and splashed it all over the place. SOO SCARY but I loved it.

And last but not least!!!

Us Hughes' at our finest- midway through last sesh of conference.

To my girl

My Little Piece of Heaven

I knew right away you were there
The beautiful answer to our prayer
No one can tell me it was luck that I knew
I carried a daughter of God in my womb

I wanted to tell Daddy in a special way
But there were only two words I could say
“I’m Pregnant!” I screamed so loud in his ear
I wanted the whole world to hear

The outline of your little foot in my belly
Watching it move from side to side
I loved every wiggle, I loved every kick
I loved to feel you move in my stomach

Forty weeks came, forty weeks went
You were still yet to be present
I walked and walked and walked up that hill
Hoping labor I would fulfill

I wanted to see you
To hold you and feed you
At last see your face, your hands and your feet
I knew only then we would be complete

The day finally came for your great debut
Your beautiful screaming face when I first saw you.
Your eyes so wide, so alert with surprise
Created in me a love so overwhelming it brought tears to my eyes

You’re getting so big now, you’re growing so fast
Bottles and bouncers are things of the past
You can sing me songs, you can count to ten
You love to read books over and over again

My darling girl you are a beauty
So innocent and pure
Your big blue eyes, your golden curly hair
Would make anyone stop and stare.

Haven, please know that I love you
There is nothing that I wouldn’t do
To make you happy, comfortable and well
You make me so proud, my heart to swell

Sweet little girl, you have my whole heart
We are sealed forever, never to part

Spot

I just had to put this on here. Haven loves walking her little plastic puppy around the neighborhood. "Walk! Puppy!" She'll say, and we'll take the little squeaky guy for a walk. His name is Spot.

So...if you ever hear a strange squeaking noise out your window, don't be alarmed. It's only Spot.

Dinner time at our house

I loooove being a mommy. There are many reasons...but really where else can you go where someone spits out the food you cooked for them and then throws it at you but still you just love them with all your heart and soul? Feeding a toddler, as many of you already know, is such a challenge sometimes. And by sometimes I mean about 3 times a day. But....you do it and happily because you want them to be healthy and happy and you know no one else can do it better than you.
"Feeding" a toddler doesn't simply mean get the food and put it in their mouth. There is a lot that goes on to accomplish the task of getting the food from the plate to the tummy. For me these include:

• Singing songs, lots of them.
  
• Toys, toys, toys...and if that doesn't work, other household items.
  
• Asking questions such as, "Haven, what color are your eyes?", "Where's daddy?", "Can you count your toes?", "What's your middle name?", "What color is this?", "Tell me about the park." "What does a cow say?"...and the list goes on.
  
• And if nothing works...Elmo movies or any other kind of show that keeps their attention. Yes, I do give into this at times. I will confess that I love that Sesame Street comes on exactly during lunch time. Thank you PBS kids.

Haven's guide to eating dinner:

Step 1. Spit out the food.

Step 2. Put it on your nose. Step 3. Throw the rest on the floor.Step 4. OK. Now time to throw the sippy cup. Read, Aim... Step 5. FIRE!

Step 6. Mimic mommy. Shake your finger and say, "No, no, no!".

Step 7. Try to take your bib off...before you've actually eaten anything.

Log cabins and cabbage soup

<-----My husband over there is king of sleep talking. We can be in mid-conversation...and he'll all of a sudden make the most random comment that makes no sense at all and I know he's gone. Granted this happens late at night when our toddler is asleep and all of the adult conversation that I've been storing up all day comes flying out of my mouth at full speed. I can talk to him for hours and he is content to listen but eventually his sleepiness gets the best of him and he'll fall asleep but continue to talk to me. Like, for instance, tonight I was telling him something super important like how the shirt I was wearing was bugging me and I saw these really cute shoes the other day and he answered me by saying, "Just eat some cabbage soup." WHAT?? your probably thinking, right? Don't worry, this is completely normal behaviour. Sometimes I play along and so I told him we did not have any cabbage soup and he replied by saying, "It's around the tomato cage." Yeah. I have a billion stories like this. I think the best one was actually in the middle of the day, we were sitting up and he was kinda leanin back relaxing and we were talking about Haven and all of sudden he says, "Log cabins can't go over speed bumps."



I love you honey <3