Universal Studios and Blue Man Group

We were lucky enough to escape some of this frigid winter air as my dad flew our little family out to visit relatives in Florida. The trip was an excellent way to wrap up 2011 and our baby traveled so much better than I expected. She alternated between blissful curiosity on the air plane and sleeping in my arms- an act that I cherished since she is normally not a snugly child.


Baby girl and I recovered after our first long day of travel. We hung out at my Uncle's home and then explored a State Park with my cute cousin. We had hoped to see some alligators, but we didn't end up finding any. The park was beautiful though! The boys headed off to a show. They absolutely LOVED the Blue Man Group, and they had front row, in the center seats! Dad even got splashed with some paint and a mashed banana! They expected the awesome beats and rhythms of the drums and other... creative instruments, like the PVC pipes, but they were surprised by how funny the show was and by how much the performers connected with the audience.

Where are the gators?

The guys all ready for their show!

We really enjoyed Universal Studios; especially since we had the fast passes that allowed us to wait only ten to fifteen minutes to ride the rides instead of the two and a half hours other people were waiting! The marvel comics sections was our favorite! Nothin' like a good roller coaster gone hulk style to get the adrenalin pumping. The spider man ride was all of our favorites though. Such a clever concept! See, we wore 3D eye glasses that made it look like the villans were right in our face! Then, the car we were sitting in would shake when we were 'electrocuted,' blast us with warm air when an explosion went off, and splash us with water when an evil water villain attacked. We even fell from the top of a building only to be rescued and swung to safety in Spider Man's web!

Yo, bro!

We waited all day to enter the wizarding world of Harry Potter and then it ended up being too crowded to do anything other than sight see. Bummer. Will have to go back again some day when it isn't such a new, hot attraction. Did finish up the day with a yummy dinner at the NASCAR Cafe, this made my husband very happy.

Oh yea- we got cheesy henna tattoos too!

Rainbow Cupcakes

My husband came home with some very exciting news! He had observed that Betty Crockers rainbow chip frosting is gluten free. We both have fond childhood memories with rainbow chip frosting!

Yes, he was positive! No, he didn't misread anything! It says it right there on the back... under the long list of other bad- for- you ingredients.

See it? Gluten Free. Right there on the bottom! Anyway, the rainbow chip cake mix to go along with it is, of course, not gluten free... yet? So we put our thinking caps together and came up with something just as fun.

These fruity pebble, rainbow chip cupcakes were so yummy! And, so fun to eat. I love how simple the jar frosting spread, it's just like how mom always frosted treats back in the day before the most important part of a cupcake was the fancy look of piped icing.

The most wonderful day of the year!

Christmas day is always such a magical day. This year was definitely different for more reasons than one, but especially since it was our first Christmas after having moved out of state. My dad and brother drove all day to be with us; I was so happy to see them both. But, I wasn't feeling well. None of us really were. I had been throwing up the week prior, and I woke up on Christmas with body aches and a raging fever. My husband had a headache and the aches, and my brother had a terrible cold. I tried my very best to be a good hostess, and an enthusiastic mama for my baby's first Christmas experience, but still I felt awful! My dad and my sweet husband laid their hands upon my head and offered up a priesthood blessing that I might heal. And then it hit me: Christmas isn't about the gifts, the food, the tree... we hear that all the time. It isn't even about the songs or the retelling of our saviors birth. What I felt was that Christmas is about reflecting on the gift that the whole world received in the form of a sweet baby boy all those years ago. It is about coming unto Him; needing Him. Then, about giving Him credit and being filled with gratitude towards Him for all of the wonderful blessings in our lives, including the health that I so daily take for granted. I know our savior lives. I know He loves us. I know He is aware of us and cares about what we are experiencing. I know that He provided a way for us to experience true happiness and to return to live with our Heavenly parents again.

On a more commercial note, and all illness aside, Christmas morning was lovely! Our guests were a little dismayed about the early morning wake up call...

Our little girl surprised me by not being all that interested in tearing open her presents, but she did rather enjoy climbing on her Christmas gifts and sitting atop the pile.

We are so grateful to all the friends and family who sent us presents! When our daughter gets excited she pulls herself up to kneeling position in front of whatever is making her happy and just bounces and bounces. She sure loves her new toys!!!

We all went to Church in the afternoon and enjoyed the testimonies spoken and the songs sung. The children's beautiful, loud, voices bring tears to my eyes every time I hear them sing! I made the little skirt that our daughter wore (here's how). Little girls are just so much fun to dress up!

Christmas tutu skirt

I had a blast making this skirt for our daughters first Christmas. I followed this tutorial much like I did last time when I made her a skirt out of the adorable polka dot material that her daddy picked out. Instead of sewing the tulle onto a lining though, I cut over four yards of tulle into strips that were maybe 3 inches by 12 inches and tied them slip knot style onto a long strip of ribbon. I then hand sewed that ribbon onto the seam where the waistband meets the skirt. I thought the result was fantastic. She had a fun, super poufy, tutu style Christmas skirt to wear to Church.

'Twas the week before Christmas

'Twas the week before Christmas, with so much to do

When mom became sick, caught the very bad flu...

Blessings and prayers were offered with care

In hopes that restored health soon would be there

And that's it for the poem parody.Thank goodness the semester has come to a close and my husband has been home to take care of me and our daughter too. Here they are watching Veggie Tales save Christmas!

Ward Christmas Party

The thing about this college town is that all "those" college kids go home to their families every time school is out for a break. Some return to finish their semester or start a new term, some don't, and others who haven't been here before move in. We found this disheartening at church and longed for the consistency and friendships that we had been so accustomed to before our move. As a result, we switched from attending the married student ward to attending the family ward. This has been one of the best decisions we've made! After having only met us once, the bishop approached us the next week to greet us by name. The relief society presidency came to our home to get to know me and then introduced me to the relief society by name and shared facts about me that they had picked up on during their little visit. (They moved here so her husband can attend school, they have a nine month old daughter, she is learning how to sew and gets her ideas from pinterest, she decorated her home for Christmas by turning their refrigerator into a snow man...) We have met so many friendly families already, and our little girl has made tons of friends already since she is always pulling herself up into someones lap. Recently we attended the ward Christmas party. What a blessing that my husband ended up having this evening off of work. I love attending events together as a family. We were invited to sit with a super nice family who recommended Yellow Stone and now I am more excited than ever for summer! We had dinner, sang Christmas songs, and watched the large primary since songs before we snuck out to get our daughter in bed almost on time. I'm so grateful for such welcoming people!

Our neighbors snapped this photo in front of their tree

Someone has beautiful teeth!

Pleated wrap skirt

I've been sewing a little bit lately. Ok, I've been sewing a lot lately. So much so that I have decided to discipline myself and only allow myself to sew two days a week. This is what kept me busy during nap times on Monday: (Tutorial posted below.)

I had extra material, which brings me to my sewing project on Thursday. All I did was use a neck tie he already had as a pattern. Quick, easy, and now we can be that adorable couple that dresses to match at church. He's such a good sport!

For the skirt, I followed Tanya's tutorial from grand revival design and am going to re-post her instructions below with my insight in purple. This skirt is awesome because it can be made in any size. And, since it is a wrap skirt little girls won't out grow it too fast... I'm keeping it in mind for future pregnancies.


1. Figure the skirt width. Measure the wearers waist using a tape measure or long string and a ruler. Add 8" to the waist measurement and then multiply by 2.66.
example: waist = 28"
28 + 8 = 36  
36 x 2.66 = 95.76

2. Figure the length of the waistband/ties by adding 21 inches to the final skirt width by 2.5" wide. Yes, that length is necessary. The band will end up wrapping around your waist twice and then being tied into a bow. Instead of 2.5" wide, I cut mine 3" wide; it just depends on how thick you want your waist band (keep in mind a seam allowance). When I make this skirt next time though, I will either cut mine 6 inches wide and fold in half instead of hemming, this way there won't be a wrong side of the fabric in the bow. Or, I will buy a length of ribbon to use as the waist band/ ties. That'd be pretty and require less sewing. If you need to, It's fine to piece two fabrics together along the short side to achieve the correct length though I wouldn't piece more then two fabrics because you'll get too many noticeable seams.

3. Figure the skirt length. Measure from waist to where you want the skirt to fall. Add 1.25" for hem and seam allowance. Don't forget that your waist band will add a bit of length too, my skirt ended up a little longer than I planned.

4. Cut your fabric according to these measurements.

5. Make the pleats. First, hem the short edges of the skirt. (The sides.) Fold the raw edges to the wrong side by 1/2", press, repeat and topstitch. Then, along the top raw edge of your fabric use a pencil to make marks 1.5" apart. Use an iron to press pleats in alternating directions at every 1.5" mark and pin in place. I basted the pleats too. 

5.5. This is where I hemmed the top and sides of the skirt band. I also hemmed the skirt bottom. 

6. Attach the skirt band/tie.  With right sides facing place the band/tie, off center so that it will be about 8" longer on one side then the other, on top of the top (pleated) edge of the skirt aligning raw edges. Pin and sew the band/tie to the skirt. (I skipped the rest of these instructions, except for the last sentence. Iron, iron, iron! I did need to hem the bottom of the waist band that didn't end up attached to the skirt.) Press the raw edge of the band/tie to the wrong side by 1/4" down the entire length. Press the raw edges of the short sides of the ties to the wrong side by 1/2". Fold the band over so that the 1/4" pressed fold covers the raw edges of the seam on the wrong side of the skirt and pin. You are essentially using the band as you would seam binding. Starting in the middle of the skirt, topstitch very close to the folded edge of the the band on the wrong side of the skirt to the end of one tie. Repeat. Press the raw edge of the bottom of the skirt to the wrong side by 1/2". Repeat. Pin and sew to hem. Press the entire skirt to emphasize pleats and get a crisp edge on the top edge of the band.