My baby is going to be 2 years old next week! I can't believe it! She is still so little but it seems like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. I found this little poem somewhere in cyberland and thought it was so cute. It made me think about those first few months when all I did was hold my sweet, little girl. Now, I am lucky if she snuggles more than 2 minutes.

Mother, O' Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth.
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek - peekaboo.
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo.
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.
The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.
~ Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

6-word-memoir

How would you describe your life in 6 words? For one of my classes we had to submit a 6-word-memoir for our introductions. This was really fun to try and describe myself in 6 words. Motherhood. Family. School. Hard-work. Sleep? Never.

What I finally came up with was something I heard on ksl Studio 5 one morning "there is magic in the mundane". That sums up my life. Most daily tasks are mundane - changing diapers, cleaning up messes, chores, exercise, grocery shopping, speckled with magical moments - like a toddler waking you up in the morning saying "mommy ere r ewe?", bear hugs, figuring out that she can take all off her clothes of and run naked through the house yelling "i naked!", or figuring out how to reach the candy dish and stuffing as much candy in her mouth as possible before mommy finds out.

sugar cookies

Some of my fondest memories growing-up were baking and decorating sugar cookies with my mom. She had an entire drawer in the kitchen devoted to cookie cutters so we could make cookies in any shape we imagined. My dream job would be a professional sugar cookie decorator! But it is way more fun to bake, decorate and eat sugar cookies with my sweet little baker!

we love to bake

We love to bake and I have the best little helper, she loves to help me pour all the ingredients into the mixing bowl. Eliza loves to taste everything that goes into the bowl, especially the sugar and butter!

Merry Christmas!

It was neat to have Christmas on a Sunday. Colin and I were able to participate in our ward's Christmas program as narrators, which was a neat experience. After church we had a nice Christmas day and invited both of our families over for Christmas brunch. We had a lovely spread of homemade cinnamon rolls with maple frosting, bacon, fruit, egg casserole and lots of sweets! I took a lot of pictures on my mom's camera but not so many on mine.

Christmas Eve

This year we stopped by the Hogle Zoo Lights to visit Santa and his reindeer before having Christmas dinner at Grandpa & Grandma Thomas' house. Eliza loved the zoo lights and especially loved watching the real monkey's playing. She loved sitting on Santa's lap and could not stop talking about it. Aunt Kacy joined us for zoo lights too! The other highlight were the carolers who sang Eliza her favorite Christmas carol "fa la la la la la la la".

Let it snow!

daddy's ties

2012!

I am so behind on blogging and have too many cute pictures of our growing, adorable Eliza that I will post! 2011 was a great year and as we enjoyed good health, especially Colin has done so well, Eliza turned 1, we have crossed-off several of our home improvement desires, I started graduate school and live to tell. Life has been full and happy and we are so grateful for such a productive and healthy year.

This year Eliza will turn 2, Colin and I will celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary, we hope to go on a vacation this summer to somewhere warm and beachy (our top choice is New England somewhere so we can eat lots of fresh lobster, but we are thinking of going to San Diego to play on the beach and take Eliza to the zoo), I will be half-way done with graduate school (at the end of the year) and we hope to get pregnant this year with baby #2 and #3 (hoping for twins!).

I have lots of goals this year, I LOVE GOALS! I love being productive and although it drives Colin crazy sometimes (we get one thing done and I am on to the next) he is my biggest supporter! Among my many goals; saving money, being resourceful and using what I have more, finish up some more home projects, read the Book of Mormon by June, lose weight (the story of my life), perfect the sugar cookie and the chocolate chip cookie (and this is why I can't lose weight), make a photo recipe book, spend time with my family and enjoy each stage of Eliza's life (which I do!), get pregnant, learn as much as I can in school and enjoy the process and be grateful for the opportunity to be a student and my BIGGEST and MOST IMPORTANT personal goal is to learn the art of being content.

My biggest challenge is that I like to always feel like I am progressing and being productive. This is not a bad thing however it would be wise for me to slow down sometimes and just enjoy! JUST ENJOY! My dad is building a house in "the country" and Eliza, Jonas and I went with my dad to visit the construction. It looks beautiful and sits on 5 acres of beautiful county land. Eliza and Jonas were loving the freedom of running around, looking at the horses and the rocks and the stream. As the sun was shining its warmth on us and my daughter was happily running around with the dog I had this moment of pure CONTENTMENT, time stood still. Nothing else mattered but the fact that this moment was perfection and bliss, I was so happy. I realized I need to have more of these moments in 2012, and create a life of happiness, freedom, exploration and learning for my family. I don't want to be so busy that I don't have time to let my child enjoy running down the country road with the dog just enjoying her ability to run and explore! Her happiness fills me with happiness.

I look forward to this new year as I strive to learn how to be CONTENT and JUST ENJOY all that God has given me because I truly am so blessed to have Colin & Eliza and such a large and loving extended family.