Living, Laughing, Loving

Fun Fall

2011-11-03T12:09:00.000-06:00

Happy Fall everyone!

Here's our bug family - I found a fun pattern on Martha Stewart for my butterfly wings and adapted it to make a smaller pair for Em, Jane was a lady bug for I think the third year in a row. Wesley was a Spider and we decided Kevin could be the bug collector:)

For our ward party, I painted E's and my faces with this cool teal face paint and it took a REALLY long time to take off, so it only happened once:)

This is a chair that I re-finished for my mom for her birthday. It was brown and had a tacky striped cushion. I haven't done much of this, but it was really fun to see the final project!

And just some fun close-ups of my adorable little friends. I just love them to death!

Taking the Plunge

2011-08-29T09:54:00.000-06:00

I just dropped my oldest off for her first day of Kindergarten. And it's hard to describe all my feelings. I've always thought I would be so happy and excited for her and I am, but I never expected to feel anxious, worried, nervous and a little apprehensive about the whole thing. The happy and excited part is the teacher in me and the rest is the mother, I guess. Last week we went in for her "testing" day and I got to listen to her answer the teacher's questions. Sometimes I was pleasantly surprised by her response and other times I felt like I wanted to say, "Come on - you know the answer to that!" What I was most happy about was hearing her little voice almost sing the answers -- she's got the cute/pleasant thing down, even if she doesn't know/remember what the number thirteen looks like.

As I was dropping her off this morning, I watched as a good percentage of her classmates said something like, "hasta luego mi amor" to their parents. And that put my little heart at ease a little - at least she speaks English!!!:) What I really wasn't prepared for was how badly Jane wanted to go into the classroom with her. She was sure that's what we were there for. I think it was a blessing, because while tackling Jane, there wasn't a chance to cry or worry - I just had to convince Jane (and probably myself) that she was going to be OK without her.

And I think we will be, it will just take some getting used to. Jane starts Joy School next week, so that will help a lot. So here's to a new year and the beginning of the rest of my life as a taxi-driving, homework-helping, PTA-ing mom. YAY!

Wesley

2011-04-05T16:35:00.001-06:00

I’ve decided I REALLY need to work on the blog now – my dear, beautiful and amazing sister Kourtne has left to live in Chicago for a few years, so I need to keep this updated for her. She is keeping a super blog here and I love and miss her!

So – here are some of my favorite pictures of Wes --

Bath Time 2 Weeks

Blessing Day – March 27th – 6.5 Weeks

He’s already getting so big – at my 6 week appointment the nurses all asked how big he was when he was born – only 7 lbs 4 oz – but his adorable full face and often-occuring dimples imply otherwise! (we’ll find out next week how much he does weigh and I do feel like he’s gotten big fast!!)

And here they all are – adorable as ever!!!

Wes Is On His Way!!!

2011-02-08T09:58:00.005-07:00

I'm not much of a blogger. Obviously, neither is Erin...hence the huge gaps in between posts. Since we've got internet here at the hospital, I thought I'd throw a few occasional photos up for your viewing pleasure. I'm still trying to get Erin to let me webcast the whole blessed event, but so far no success.

Here's a shot of Erin in her lovely gown, and a view of the room. She's hooked up to an IV, but that's about as exciting as it gets for now...

When we're not giving all our personal info to the nurse, we're killing time by watching the X-Files (you can probably guess whose idea that was). More to come...

Well, after less than ONE HOUR of being hooked to the IV, Erin gets checked and is already at 5 centimeters and 80% effaced ...she certainly doesn't waste any time. I just hope we can finish our episode of X-Files first!

Epidural is in place...Erin's feeling much better now. She's having regular contractions...

Kinda chilly now, but Erin's lookin' good with the hospital blanket:

The Dr. said that the baby hadn't come down far enough, so Erin spent the last hour laying on her side (I guess this encourages the baby to want to move). The nurse checked her again and now she's fully dilated!

...and we're done! Well, Erin did most of the work. Wesley Lundgreen was born at 1:12 pm. 7 lbs 4 oz. 19 1/2 inches. And he shoots 75% from the free throw line. Baby and mom are well! We're so excited he's here. He's definitely a keeper! He's got those trademark dimples, too!

New Family Pics

2010-11-07T16:57:00.001-07:00

We are doing well and anxiously awaiting baby boy in February

Remembering…

2010-08-26T18:05:00.001-06:00

I am so excited. In just a month I get to sing with a beautiful Relief Society choir for the General RS Meeting at the end of September. At each rehearsal we not only sing a whole bunch and laugh a whole bunch, we get edified with inspirational words of wisdom by our choir director, Sister Jolley. Last week teary-eyed she said, “Oh, you sisters with young kids -- I would give ANYTHING to have my children little again.” and then to make the mood a little lighter said, “And then they’d still do what I tell them to do!” It was funny, but the first part really hit me. I have heard so many women with older kids tell me, “Enjoy it now, ‘cause they don’t stay little forever!” Usually I’ve thought to myself, “Thank goodness! If I could just get Jane to stop emptying out all her drawers at naptime and if Emery would just chew her meat and swallow it!!!??? Man!” But I’ve had enough people say that that I really have thought a lot lately about how to “enjoy” the moment and not let it go too fast, ‘cause I know it will whether I’m enjoying it or not.

So this article gave me a different perspective. The author of it is a mom of 5 kids 4 and under (two sets of twins!) and she seems like one of those “wonderwomen” we all kill ourselves to become…but I’m sure she has her moments like the rest of us, right? She suggested writing down small, simple moments that will help us enjoy the moment and remember the sweet joys of motherhood. Here are a few things she wrote about her kids:

“While washing Sami’s hands, I noticed her dented knuckles, the pudgy softness. The way she lets me slap her paws together - blowing suds onto our faces and shirts. I wondered how long her hands will keep that three-year old look, how long she’ll let me hold them under warm water, my body bent over hers, before she wants to do it herself.”

“I smelled Eliza’s hair at bedtime. The scent of gritty playground. Wind and dirt all tangled up in fraying ringlets. I felt the heat rise from her body as I tucked my arms around her and sang. She snuggled into her favorite blanket and quickly fell asleep. I kissed her cheek, wishing she could know how much I loved her in that instant. My oldest. My first.”

Two very familiar moments for me. I’m not as good a writer as she, but I’m REALLY good at making lists. So I just started the list, “What we Love and want to Remember” and it’s taped to my kitchen wall. Hopefully, this will help me notice the tender moments I want to enjoy and remember among the eating battles and messy rooms.

Here are a few happy moments as of late…

Emery’s birthday: I want to remember those fat cheeks:)…

…and perfect joy…

…and how old she looks at 4!

And something about little Jane just makes me want to eat her up!

(This was her idea!)

And thank goodness for video – it helps me remember a lot!

“The Banerina”

2010-07-22T13:20:00.001-06:00

This is the lovely “banerina” (how Em says it) before her recital last month. Her studio put on the ballet “Alice in Wonderland” and it was really fun to watch. Emery was an oyster – and true to form (remember the Disney cartoon?) was eaten in the end by the oyster farmer. It may sound a little gruesome, but you know ballets - you only catch certain things – and Emery didn’t catch that. Thank goodness. She was the youngest in her group and did a really nice job. We may be biased, but she’s definitely a natural!

Full

2010-07-14T19:40:00.001-06:00

I had to stop doing the dishes and write this now. Just some new thoughts I’ve been feeling and thinking…

We had the opportunity to attend the wedding of my 30 year old cousin (the “30” is significant, or else I wouldn’t put it in). The great girl he married (also 30-ish) had a table full of past roommates and good friends at their wedding dinner – most of them unmarried. As they introduced this rather classy table, I was hit with a little jealousy. “Janet is a personal trainer, Barbara teaches elementary school in DC, Kathy works at a very prestigious law firm, Nancy works for the CIA and Margaret is a rocket scientist for NASA.” (OK, so honestly I can only remember that the first two are real, but you get the picture.) I was just in awe of their accomplishments and fame. I wanted what they had…till I remembered that what I have is all they want. It was very humbling and brought me back to reality.

I love that my DVR is FULL of “Little Einstein's” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse”. I love that my dishwasher is FULL of Ikea plastic-wear. I love that every surface in my home is FULL of sticky finger prints. I love that my days are FULL of entertaining phrases and hilarious bouts of curiosity (like Jane bringing me a dead fly between her two little fingers – she was so proud of herself!!:) I love that my extra room is FULL of good kids books and lots and lots of used toys. I love that without these two

in my life, no matter how successful I might be, my life would definitely not be FULL.

For lack of a better phrase, I am “seriously so blessed!”

Journal of a Craft Addict

2010-07-12T15:05:00.001-06:00

So, I’ve been slacking the blogging world lately. I have had so many other things on my mind and honey-do’s to get finished, my blogs have gone by the way side. AND I lost my camera and finally caved and bought a new one. I have some great pictures to add and soon will…but for now…

I wanted to invite all my talented family and friends to join me in “beefing-up” the craft blog I started: Journal of a Craft Addict. I have a million ideas, as I’m sure you all do, but not the time to do them, let alone blog about them (and that takes time, unfortunately). SO…if we could get a group of say 6-8 of us and we each were willing to post a new project once every other month, we could have a really cool “How-To” blog on everything from sewing, to painting, to home improvement projects, etc. If we had 8, there could be a new project posted every week! I just think it would be great to share each other’s ideas and have a place to keep track of everything we do. AND I KNOW YOU DO “STUFF” so don’t consider yourself counted out…EVERYONE should think about it! I think I’d change the blog to Journal of Some Craft Addicts…

Let me know if anyone’s interested. I think it would be a really fun way to keep us motivated in getting our projects done! And to share them with all of our friends!

Here’s the latest project I posted:

Celebration Chair

Funny

2010-05-24T11:42:00.001-06:00

You just HAVE to laugh!!!!

Mom

2010-05-19T12:36:00.001-06:00

I realized this morning when Emery and Jane both woke up saying Mom/Mommy about 20 times a minute that the word Mom/Mommy HAS TO BE the most popular word in the English language, and probably in every other language for that matter. “Mom” this, “Mom” that… I hope I’m not the * only one that gets tired of it. Then I discovered that “what” is probably the second most popular word because of all those moms out there that answer to the all-too popular call. It can’t be an equal * word to “Mom” because I don’t always answer right away, probably contributing to the amount of times “Mom” is spoken. I realize that I’m needed and am the only adult in the house who can open a Kraft Singles or even pour some apple juice, but * sometimes I get tired *of it. “Call me something else!!!!” I say, then quickly remember my mom saying the same thing!

I really shouldn’t complain, and I really don’t mean to. It is nice to feel needed and used. :) I know this is a little late for mother’s day, but I wanted to leave with the words from a little book I wrote to my Mom the Mother’s Day after I had Emery. I’m sure most of you can relate…

Unfortunately,

The content of this little book is long over due.

Fortunately,

You’re getting it now, not later.

Unfortunately,

I haven’t given you enough credit all these years.

Fortunately,

I have since come to realize all the little and BIG things you did for me (and in many cases still do)

Unfortunately,

I haven’t thanked you enough for all the nights you stayed up to feed, change and rock me.

Fortunately,

You were there to show me how to do those things for my own daughter. *

Unfortunately,

I didn’t know how much time you spent chasing me around and cleaning up after my messes.

Fortunately,

You’re always there to listen to my woes of the same nature

Unfortunately,

I didn’t realize how valuable all your songs and poems would be.

Fortunately,

My children love them as do all who hear me share them and say, “Where did you learn that” And I get to say, “My Mom!”

Unfortunately,

I didn’t think it made a difference whether where you lived was a house or a home.

Fortunately,

You made our house a home and gave me the tools to try to do the same for my family.

Unfortunately,

I couldn’t understand how much a mother could love their child until I had my own.

Fortunately,

I have always felt that unconditional love from you.

Unfortunately,

this little tale * cannot * convey all that I feel

Fortunately,

I know you love me anyway, especially in my silly attempt to express how much I love and appreciate all you have done and are to me. * Really. *****

Writing this made me realize that * I probably said mom a million times before my munchkins did…it’s just my turn to hear it and respond. I really enjoy being a mother and couldn’t replace the love and blessings I receive from trying to be a good one. I love my girls so much and am grateful* for their patience with me. Thanks to all you mothers out there! Hope you had a very Happy Mother’s Day!

* This represents how many times Emery or Jane said “mom” while I was typing this……. :)

Time

2010-05-10T14:49:00.001-06:00

Time is a funny thing. Bright and early in the morning (8 am) you feel as though you should Carpe Diem (I like to say carp the diem…it’s funnier) and you think you have plenty of time to do all those things you should and want to do. Then your children get up with you…BUT they are adorable and fun and make you smile, so it’s ok.

It has been 3 long months since I’ve sat down to this blog. Again, time is a funny thing and most of it lately has been taken by the depths of my newly-finished craft room for bag/owl/headband/banner making. It has been a blast, but I have to admit, the time, I’m afraid was not ALL well-spent. I’m worried my family will never forgive me for all the time I wasn’t with them. So I’m turning a new leaf…but that’s another post… This past weekend I got to sell my “goods” and the forever wonderful Beehive Bazaar. (If you remember this post, you’ll understand my excitement.) I ended up being pretty successful, but all the time and materials it took to get ready is utterly exhausting to think about. I am finally blogging ‘cause that crazy boutique is over – and I feel like my life can be a little more normal. I’m not regretting I did it – it was a huge goal I set for myself to be a part of it and finally got to do it! It really was great fun.

Time is still funny because it is highly misunderstood by a 3 year old, who just now in my ear said, “You’re taking too long!”

So, now I guess I’m done. For now…maybe I’ll find some time again soon…if there is some extra under the couch cushions…maybe.

You gotta see this

2010-02-13T14:15:00.001-07:00

Watch this - I was crying so hard by the end! I HEART HAITI!:)

http://wearetheworldfoundation.org/

If I had a quarter for every time Emery said something funny, I'd be rich!

2010-02-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

Just a few minutes ago Emery ran up to the bathroom and she called down to me:

"Mom! What color are toots?"

A little crude, but hillarious!:)

My Problem

2010-02-12T13:05:00.001-07:00

Conversation with Emery while getting ready for bed the other night:

Emery: "Mom, I don't want to wear pull-ups to bed anymore."

Me: "Well, we just changed your sheets yesterday 'cause you had an accident wearing underwear to bed. I think you should wear pull-ups for a few more days and show me that you can keep them dry. Then we can try underwear again."

Emery: (with a scowl and a scolding pointed finger) "No. This is your problem Mom. Not mine!"

Interesting...:)

New Favorites

2010-02-08T16:24:00.001-07:00

Jane discovered a new place to play – I’m sure you can imagine how gracefully she gets in and out…need to catch it on tape sometime!

These pictures are from my last Boutique last Friday – It was my best one yet! There were so many fun items – I was glad I made a little money so I could justify my few little purchases :)

Valentine Craft Show

2010-01-29T20:24:00.001-07:00

I am thrilled to be a part of this “All Handmade” art and gift show in Sugar House next weekend. Come for some unique gifts and ideas! Click the image below to see it bigger,

I Know…

2010-01-19T11:07:00.001-07:00

It’s time to be shocked – I’m actually posting something of worth (at least I think it’s worthy:) Here’s a quick picture log of our Holidays. Hope yours were great too!

Emery as Mary in the Nativity at my parents’ house. It was amazing how still she sat for the whole time…she loved it!

You’re probably wondering why her hair is wet…and why Jane is naked in the next picture… We found all three of the cousins playing in the toilet upstairs so we stuck them all in the bathtub. They had a great time and played hard. I got Jane out and put her in her new Christmas Eve jammies, got Emery out and in hers, unplugged the tub water, turned around to pick up the towels and SPLASH! There went Jane in the 1 inch of remaining bath water. UGH – no new jammies on Christmas morning this year for her!:)

The girls and Santa – (I think Kevin secretly wanted to sit on his lap too:)

Me and the girls with clothes from their Grandma Klea

This is Emery on Christmas morning after she opened a new book of Princess stories from Santa…notice all the presents still to open? It took 5 minutes before we could get her to stop reading and open some more…

AND for NEW YEAR’S EVE we decided to insulate the living room along with the attic. I’m sure the Christmas tree will be so warm and cozy now…

We had a little accident with the insulation blower machine. The pipe came apart in the Living Room and blew pink fiber glass insulation all over! It was a fast and easy way to get a flocked tree:) We spent a few hours cleaning and vacuuming every ornament and stem of the tree.

The happy part: We have a more insulated attic (tax rebates and lower heat bill will more than pay for our efforts) and we got In-n-Out to reward our hard work:)

This was our Lundgreen Family How to Host a Murder Party for New Year’s Eve. Everyone got all into costume and we had a blast! Darn that John Silver --- he did it!!:)

Christmas Boutique

2009-12-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have not been a very good blogger lately, but between ward parties, boutiques, christmas parties, shopping, cards, neighbor gifts and concerts, there simply is not enough time!

Just wanted to let you know of another boutique I'm in this weekend. I have a couple new things like pincushions and hot mug cozies. Get some more shopping done for everyone on your list - there will be a ton of cool stuff! And most is not too expensive...I know the word "boutique" often means pricey. :) Here's the info:

My Girlfriends Closet
2200 S Orchard Dr. Bountiful
Fri & Sat Dec 11-12
Hours: 10:00 - 8:00 pm

Jane’s Animal Sounds

2009-11-05T08:23:00.001-07:00

Halloween

2009-11-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

Here's just a quick picture trail of our Halloween - hope yours was great too!

Just an Update

2009-11-04T22:24:00.001-07:00

OK - I finally got some pictures together to journal a bit about the last month or two in the Lundgreen Family's life :)

Jane on our new PVC pipe chairs - they are awesome!

Emery's first day of Joy School

Our last swim for the summer

Sweet Jane

The First BYU home game...haven't taken Jane again...:) yet...

Our family trip up Big Cottonwood Canyon to see the leaves. It was 85 degrees at home and probably 40 by the time we got clear up there. Jane was in a onesie and I grabbed a jacket for myself - I think I deserve the mom of the year award!:) But it was beautiful!

Cute Emery

The first hot chocolate of the season..MMMMM!

Em and J in the "car" - we got it from a neighbor and it doesn't go anywhere, but they love to pretend to go places in it. I think they went to the zoo that day:) Jane drove.

That's just a little of our end of summer, early fall! Hope you all are enjoying the beautiful fall weather - wherever you may be!

A New Shopping Love

2009-10-21T12:49:00.000-06:00

I did it folks. I drove past a Harmon's, two super Wal-marts, an Albertsons, Smiths, Kohls, DI, Cafe Rio, and a Chile's (don't ask me why I listed the last four, but I thought their mentioning was worth note) to get to the new WINCO FOODS! There are two now almost exactly equadistant from my house in Midvale and West Valley. They are both over 6 miles away and past all those "other" stores, but I'm here to testify it was all worth it!!!!

It's AMAZING!!!! You just gotta try it out. They have the most Bulk Food I have ever seen in one store:

And their prices are really to DIE for. I don't know if it was just the grand opening price but bananas were only .18 a pound! I don't ever remember buying bananas for that price in the 10 years I've been buying bananas for myself. Other good prices of note: Honey Crisp apples for 1.45 a pound (usually over $2 on sale), Boneless, skinless chicken breasts for .99 a pound (I thought 1.49 at Macey's was the best I could find). Also, Pasta Roni and Betty Crocker Cake mix for .79 a box. I got a 2 pound block of Tilimook cheese for under $6 and an 8 case of yogurt for under $3. All the produce looked really good and it was all at least the price of a good sale at any other grocery store.

A couple ways they keep the prices low: You can only pay with Cash or Debit and you bag your own groceries! There is a two lane check out past the cashier where two people can be bagging their groceries at once. Genious, really. Needless to say, it took a bit longer to check out - I didn't realize how long it would take to bag $137 worth of groceries.

Really though, I think all that I got would have cost at least $150 anywhere else, so it's probably worth the 6 miles to go to Winco once or twice a month...

She Did It! And She Found It!

2009-10-16T11:07:00.000-06:00

Disaster averted...Emery finally went #2 on the pottie! Thanks for all the good advice. Kevin was home with her and just made her keep trying (she hadn't gone in almost 2 days, so he knew it had to be soon!).
And the "She Found It" part - Kourtne found the BYU Cheerleader costume I wanted for Jane in the right size...We are set folks. Happy Halloween! :)

Praying

2009-10-13T20:43:00.001-06:00

Emery has been saying her personal prayers really well lately and I’ve been trying to teach her to talk to Heavenly Father about her day and thank him for her blessings. This is the gist of her prayer tonight:

“Heavenly Father, thank thee that I could go potty. Bless that I can have a cookie when I go potty. Bless that I can go poop* so that I can get my Snow White dress for Halloween. Bless that Jane can go potty too when her is growing up. In the name…”

Can you tell at all what we’ve been doing lately at our house?

*We don’t really like that word in this house, but it’s the best way to describe that awful thing that keeps happening in the pull-ups and NOT in the potty chair. Anybody have any great ideas? We have a Halloween party on Saturday that I’d like her to wear her costume for, but so far she hasn’t held up her end of the bargain! HELP!

Album Download

2009-10-09T09:18:00.001-06:00

Just bought this Album. If you like "Fireflies" by Owl City...you'll love their whole "Ocean Eyes" CD!

It's really fun and easy-going, My girls love to dance to it!

Drawings

2009-10-01T08:53:00.000-06:00

Conversation:
Me: "Wow Emery - that's a great drawing. I love the big nose - it's really cute!"
Emery: "It's you Mommy - your nose is HUGE!"

Wow. Thank you very much! :)

Invitation - Journal of a Craft Addict

2009-09-30T13:59:00.000-06:00

So, my last post, among many other things have inspired me to start a new crafting blog. It's called "Journal of a Craft Addict" and you can find it here: http://www.journalofacraftaddict.blogspot.com/ I'm hoping to catalog my many different and sometimes crazy crafting projects and ideas.

This blog will continue to be a place you can find our family updates. Hope to see you in both places sometimes! Thanks for all 7 of my faithful readers :) I love you guys!

Craft Addiction

2009-09-23T14:53:00.001-06:00

I, Erin have a self professed craft ADDICTION! I can’t get enough of it. I have even had to plan in specific “craft time” so that I don’t spend my whole day working on stuff!

Here’ what I did the other day in honor of the first day of Autumn:

This is a really simple wreath I learned how to do on Studio 5

Cost: about $8

Time: about 2 hours

Blast that show – every time I watch it, there’s something else fun that I HAVE to DO – and I mean HAVE to – I pack the girls in the car right after the show and head to the craft store and get the things I need. Usually I get the project going that day and done by the next…

Yes, I am a “Craft Addict” And I LIKE IT! :)

PS – if anyone wants some cute “Autumn” vinyl – come on over…it’s really easy and a cheap way to change it up for the holidays!

Craft Shows & Giveaway!

2009-09-11T14:29:00.003-06:00

As some of you know, I’ve been crafting a bit lately and trying to build a little self-propelled business from my crazy ideas and wool felt. Check me out here: Thelma’s Handmade

My items are in a show this weekend in South Jordan at The Spotted Zebra and will be next weekend in West Jordan at The Garden of Art Show

Here’s a sampling of what my display looks like. As I am kind of new at this, I would love any feedback you’d like to give – especially if you go see it!

At each show, there are a TON of fun gift ideas, homemade goodies, unique clothing and amazing baby items. Buy handmade and support local artists!:)

GIVEAWAY ALERT! If you do go to one of the shows, leave a comment about your favorite vendor/item at the show and I'll give you one of my Greeting Cards or "Bean" Bags just for checking it out. If you can't get to either show, just leave a comment here and I'll do a drawing for another free item among you!

Sloppy Joe

2009-08-13T17:09:00.003-06:00

I was starting to make dinner tonight and decided to do Sloppy Joes. I love Sloppy Joes. I haven't always loved Sloppy Joes. Until I found this recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sloppy-Joe-Sandwiches/Detail.aspx

I just had to share it. It's quite easy, extremely savory and delicious. You'll NEVER eat a pre-canned or "from a package" Sloppy Joe.

Try it. You'll like it.

“Back to Reality, Back to Life”

2009-08-07T13:40:00.001-06:00

So, I know it’s been forever since I blogged, so I’m taking the Blog World by storm today. Well, maybe not by storm, but maybe by “Five on Friday” – Five exciting things that have happened this summer…

And, here we go!!!

1. The title is such because my wonderful husband took me on a wonderful two day getaway for our wonderful 5 year anniversary to wonderfully hot Las Vegas this week! I couldn’t believe how good it felt to just relax and do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. And also couldn’t believe the contrast it was to wake up Thursday morning and change two messy diapers and vacuum the whole house and put dishes away and have two meetings….

Where does the time go when you’re vacationing? We stayed in the Venetian Hotel – our room had 3 flat screen TV’s in it and the pools were AMAZING. Yes, pools. I think there had to be 10 and they were all on the 4th floor of the hotel – away from the grungy noise, sometimes in the shade, (you “tan” people don’t appreciate that) and almost to heaven!

We flew there Tuesday morning and arrived in Vegas at 9:30, so we had the whole day to shop and walk around inside all the hotels till we went to “Phantom” in the evening. We got up the next morning and swam and then walked the strip till late afternoon and took a plane home. Short, but sweet.

It was really the best trip ever – very reminiscent of our Honeymoon – thanks Kev for the awesome trip! (Oh, and if you didn’t already know, it was a complete surprise to me - he sent me on an almost all day long scavenger hunt Monday to find out where we were going. He put so much effort and thought into it. It was amazing!!)

2. The Amazing Race

In July, my friend Kristi and I planned “The Amazing Race” for our friends. We taught everyone how to Geocache and had a REALLY fun time!

We had 4 groups go out with a GPS and they looked for different geocaches around the area. We had trophy prizes and lots of treats to share. We all had a blast and I think we’ve convinced at least a couple families to get there own GPS so we can do it again!

3. Happy 3rd Birthday Emery!

The day we got home from Trek was Emery’s birthday, so we had my parents bring the girls over and we had a little dinner and some cake. She thought it was so great…I’m so glad, ‘cause unfortunately I didn’t have a ton of time to plan!

Here are some recent pictures of our adorable Emery Rose:

This is what she looks like at some point almost everyday!

She has started a habit of not wanting to go to sleep in her bed, so we often find her in the hall when we go up to bed – this time it was the top step!

This was at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House.

So beautiful!

We’ve officially entered the “fake smile” stage

This one’s a little better! We love you Emery and just think you are so fun and so wonderful!

4. Kearns Central Stake Pioneer Trek We (I mean I) kind of volunteered ourselves to be a Ma and Pa on our Stake’s Pioneer Trek. We really had a good time and were really glad we had the best family ever! Our kids were so great and always were happy and helped. It was a good experience to share together and we really gained a new appreciation for our ancestors. We “trekked” about 13 miles the first day, 6 the second, 1 the third and about 8 the last day. Needless to say, we were all ready to be done!

5. Lagoon

On my parents’ Stake Lagoon day, Kourtne and I took our kids to enjoy a few rides on the Train and the Merry-Go-Round for free. We had a fun time and even met up with my Grandparents who, because they are residents of Farmington get in for free (without a ride pass). It was so fun to watch Emery and Will be so excited for the few rides they got to go on! Simple pleasures, I guess! :)

Emery and Nanna Lynne Jane, after a nap:)

Kourtne, Will, Grandma & Grandpa Barnes, Me & tired Emery

Will & pregnant Kourtne Jane & Me

Oh, So cute!

AND – an update on the green crayon on the carpet…

Just covered it with a rug!!!

I know that was a lot all at once. Sometimes I just fill my time with things I like to do more than blog, then I remember that the whole reason I do this is to keep a journal entry of what our family is up to. So, hopefully I’ll be better now. Stay tuned for some of Emery’s funny sayings and great drawings and Jane walking on tape!

Illustrations

2009-06-25T11:31:00.001-06:00

A couple days ago I found Emery outside with the sun lotion…EVERYWHERE all over the picnic table, the sprinkler and her clothes.

It inspired me to take all of the following pictures:

I wrote in the sun lotion - “Emery was Here”

(She’s smart, but can’t do that yet)

No, this is not some obscure spot on the carpet in the corner of her bedroom…

…It’s in the living room entry way!!

And it’s crayon. And I haven’t gotten it all out yet. And she “claims” she didn’t know she was doing it.

When we told my parents about it, they just laughed, then repeated the story of when I was a child and drew “Erin” smiley faces on the wall and accused my too-little sister of doing it. I also vividly remember using some flower petals to write my name on my Grandma’s porch…duh! Don’t write your own name when defacing someone else’s property!

Emery couldn’t have gotten it from me? Right?

Opposites

2009-06-16T15:36:00.002-06:00

Today Emery displayed her knowledge of opposites by looking at the sizes of our tummies. She said pointing to hers, then mine, "Mine is little, and yours is big!" I'm so proud!

Man, kids know what to say to make you feel good!:) I proceeded to do a 45 minute workout...

Happy Birthday Janie K!

2009-06-12T11:13:00.001-06:00

This post is dedicated to my darling Jane. I can't believe it was already one year ago that we welcomed you to our world - almost to the minute! (10:53) We love you!

Brand new Jane

First Haircut – sorry!

…And here she is! The mischievous little one year old. And you thought she was so sweet – looks can be deceiving! It has been a pleasant and wonderful year Sweet Thing!

Sweet Tweets AGAIN!

2009-05-28T15:39:00.003-06:00

Love to have you come! And remember, if you print the above flier out and take it to the show, you get a free little gift with purchase!

Really Funny

2009-05-26T10:44:00.003-06:00

So I was working out this morning to my favorite Body Sculpt-guy Gilad:

(Unfortunately they weren't wearing those cool outfits...)

But, Emery always "does" it with me and gets the weights out for us. She was kind of lying down on the rug and said to me a few times, "You tired mom? You can come lay down with me." I told her thanks and that I would when I was done. The best part was when I was doing some really hard push-ups for the 10th time (maybe) and was kind of grunting and breathing hard, she said, "Mom, what is it? They're not tired on the TV."

Wow. Ouch. Yeah, just 'cause I'm not a size 0 and am not wearing spandex and I'm not in Hawaii...I don't think I would be tired either!

And then when it was over she said, "Yay! We did it!" I don't get where the WE came into that.

Sweet Tweets THIS WEEKEND

2009-05-11T14:12:00.003-06:00

So, the time has come. I've been so busy the last few months making handbags, baby shoes, magnets, pincusions, notebooks, bean bags and greeting cards I am so excited for this show! If you're at all interested, here's the information for the boutique:

I won't be there for very much of it, so look for "Thelma's Handmade" to see my stuff!

I know, this is a little bit of shameless self-promotion... but it is a really great show and very reasonably priced! Can't wait to hear if you go and find something fun!

Some WICKED Weekends

2009-05-05T09:33:00.010-06:00

So, I haven't blogged in a while...I think for many reasons. 1. Because I've spent a lot of free time running. 2. I've spent my other free time in Zions. 3. I've spent all the rest of it crafting getting ready for a Boutique I get to participate in next weekend.

Today I thought I'd just add a little about how amazingly blessed I feel to be able to do so many fun things and have a husband who is totally supportive of it all, and not to mention HOT!:) (OK Kev, you can stop blushing now.)

Anyway, here's the travelogue:

April 16 - Run a 1/2 marathon with 6 of my new best friends.

April 23 - Hike Angel's Landing in Zions with 3 other of my favorite people.

April 30 - FINALLY go to "Wicked" that I stood in line for 7 hours in December for. (But that deserves its own post)

You may ask, "What does she do next?"

Well, Sweet Tweets Boutique next weekend in Herriman.

I don't remember the last time my life was this exciting...I think I may have a let down after all this is over.:) Or maybe just find something else to do. It feels so good to be busy and to be doing things I love!

Thanks to all my family for helping me and telling me that I CAN.

A Half Marathon Is...

2009-04-18T11:43:00.006-06:00

13.1 miles
21,082 meters
69,168 feet
830,016 inches
21,082,000,000,000 nanometers
2,490,000 cheerios end to end
11 minutes 12 seconds on the freeway
How far a commercial jet travels in 90 seconds
How far sound travels in 61.4 seconds
How far light travels in 70.4 microseconds
A very long way to run!
How far my amazing wife ran this morning in under three hours for the Salt Lake Half Marathon
Way to go Erin…We love you!!!

Pasta party the night before the race!

Go Marathon Mommies!

13.1 miles for a medal!?

Is there anything she can't do??

Love This!

2009-04-08T14:08:00.002-06:00

Just click on the title of this post to see a 2 minute video of Adam Lambert's American Idol performance. I thought it was awesome!

Sixteen Dollars

2009-04-08T10:16:00.003-06:00

Yesterday eveving we had about an hour to run some errands together before Kevin had to go to Bishopric and we needed to go to Wal-mart and Kohls. I just ran in to Wal-mart for just a couple things and got in the "Express Lane" behind 4 people. (The other Express lane only had 3, but one of their carts CLEARLY had more than 20 items...ugh, that bugs me!) So, I think I'm smart and then the lady two in front of me starts ran-sacking her purse and it becomes evident that she's searching for more money. She finally found another gift card that she thought had $36 on, but didn't. Keep in mind I've been standing there for 10 minutes already and thought "Why didn't she look in her purse while she was standing in line for 10 minutes? I still need to get to Kohls and I won't have very much time there if this keeps going on much longer. Some people!?" Then something inside me (my heart) changed and I started feeling bad for her and feeling bad that I thought those things. I asked the guy in front of me how much more she needed and he said 16 dollars. I thought "I could do that." I just felt so bad for her - I could see she was getting more frustrated and embarrassed and I knew if I were in that situation, I would love some help! So I paid the 16 dollars for her and she got down my name and address to send me a check. The guy in front of me was just awe-struck and the guy behind me said, "We'll see if you get it back" and the checker said, "As long as you're handing it out..."

Hmmm, now what can we learn from this?

First of all, I'm not writing this to get extra praise or to gloat that I have a ton of extra money just to shell out, 'cause I don't, but I was most concerned with how surprised everyone was that I would do something like that. It's only 16 dollars people (and Kevin said he'd work an extra hour today to make up for it:)!

I know all of you reading this would have done the same thing. I'm sure she'll pay it forward.

Easter Dresses

2009-04-08T09:00:00.005-06:00

Just wanted to post the pictures of the girls' Easter dresses for this year. Found the pattern on Etsy HERE and only spent about $17 on fabric and trim for both dresses...not bad! I think they turned out really cute.

(The flowers clipped to the straps at the top are hair bows to match!:)

Prayer

2009-03-30T21:05:00.003-06:00

Emery said the cutest, longest prayer all by herself tonight for Family Home Evening. Here's the gist of it:

"Heavenly Father, thank Thee for this day. Thank Thee that we could exercise. Help us to have fun. Bless Mom to be patient. Bless Dad and Jane. Bless everbody and my friends. Name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I guess I really need some extra help when my 2 year old can tell I need to be patient...

Budgerigar

2009-03-23T12:32:00.004-06:00

Two Christmases ago my mom bought Emery some really cool big picture books that she has read and read. They are titled "First 100 Words" and "First 100 Animals"

In this book, on the first page there are animals like dog, cat, hamster, goldfish and BUDGERIGAR:

I've never heard that name in my life! We've just always thought it funny that Budgerigar was supposed to be one of babies first animals...

8 or maybe 10...

2009-03-13T12:21:00.002-06:00

So last Saturday Sonia and I drove to the Jordan River Parkway parking lot at 7800 S in West Jordan and got out to run our 8 miles for the day. We ran and ran and ran clear to 4500 S and back. Towards the end of our "8" miles we started feeling really tired and almost dead so we walked about the last half a mile. We had run 6 1/2 before and couldn't believe how much harder 8 felt...

Later that night Sonia called and said she had miscalculated. I thought, "Oh, great. We didn't even go 8?!" No. We went 10. 10 MILES! The last time I ever walked 10 miles was on the Pioneer Trek and that took all day! I'm so glad to say that we weren't sore for nothing - 10 miles is really a long way. So glad we had each other;)

You Know It's Spring when...

2009-03-06T14:43:00.005-07:00

-Your husband actually notices that the snowmen from Christmas are still on top of the book shelf.

-Your "Twisted Peppermint" soap has all run out.

-The Crocus' in your front flower bed are blooming.

-It's time to go out and weed that flower bed.

-Emery decides to pick those hardy little Crocus'. But they're not that hardy in-doors.

-You can run outside. Sometimes.

-You get the urge to make a spring bouquet for your kitchen.

-You think it's fun to clean your laundry room.

-It still snows every once in a while.

Cook Books

2009-03-06T10:18:00.005-07:00

I've done something that hopefully will inspire me to be a more adventurous cook. I try to plan out my meals for 3 or 4 weeks or so simply because I HATE deciding what to have. I hate it so much it inspires me to sit down once a month and write down what our family will be eating for the following weeks. I often look back at past calendars and steal ideas from past days. We eat the same things a lot. So, I've put up a couple shelves in my kitchen on which to display my novelty cookbooks - ones I have hardly ever looked in. Hopefully this will encourage me to take a peek at them every once in a while and make something completely new and exotic - o.k., maybe not too exotic, Kevin says I'm a picky eater.

Anyway - here's how the shelves turned out:

You'll never guess what I used for the shelves...

Any guesses?

Well now this getting to be one of those annoying emails that you have to "scroll down for the answer"...

And it's going to be a little more anti-climatic than I planned...

I'll just tell you :) - When we bought our new "over the range" microwave a couple weeks ago it came packed with some really thick cardboard pieces in an elbow/shelf shape and I asked Kevin to save them for me - I just knew I could use them somehow! And then I saw this idea on the TV and destiny was born.

Cardboard packing material, dusty cookbooks and a little paint = a FREE kitchen improvement!

Endless and Party

2009-02-27T15:37:00.003-07:00

So I'm feeling a little down today 'cause I'm up to my ears in laundry and housework. I vacuumed my two main rooms this morning and you already can't tell. I've folded 3 loads of wash and have at least three more to do. It seems when I leave one clean room to tackle the next not-so-clean one, some secret elf swooshes in behind me and completely trashes the newly cleaned space. What to do, what to do...

OK, so the main disappointment and source for my "down" is that I was rejected from participating in the Beehive Bazaar down in Provo this spring. I really, really, really wanted to be a part of it and show off my crafts that I've been so busily crafting...Yup, I'm officially having a pitty party. And so, to celebrate...

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may sew or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did post it win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Family

2009-02-27T15:32:00.004-07:00

Found this fun Family Tree project on Martha’s Website

It took me a while to get my handwriting the way I wanted it, but it turned out pretty nice. I did one for Emery and Jane and put it on the walls in their rooms next to a picture of the temple. I love the look of it and it was really fun to get all the information – I was reminded of all our wonderful ancestors. Turns out Kevin and I both have Great Grandma Ruby’s! Now we have a new family name to use for another kid…no, this is not an announcement!:)

ETSY

2009-02-06T11:00:00.001-07:00

I’m hooked. I’m obsessed. I’m going crazy!

So, a couple weeks ago I watched an episode of Studio5 –on KSL and got an idea to make purses from old wool sweaters and I wanted to try it. I dropped everything on slate for the day and packed my girls up to go to DI for some sweaters. I found two that I wanted and brought them home. If you know me at all, when I get an idea in my head I have to do it NOW and it has to get done NOW. All of my mothering and house-keeping responsibilities fly out the window and I go into “project mode”. It’s really sad. I need help.

And then I decide I want to try to sell them…

So since those first two sweaters, I drove all the way out to the Sandy DI to check out their inventory and got five more sweaters for $20. So, two weeks, 5 handbags, 2 pairs of wool baby shoes and an “Etsy shop” later, I have not sold anything and am OBSESSED with checking to see if people have looked at my items. I probably check my email and my shop 12 times a day! SERIOUSLY? Is that healthy?

If you know anything about Etsy, you know there are over 4,000 purses/handbags for sale and I really don’t have much of a chance…I’m not really in it for the money (money is nice, but not necessary at this point – I don’t want to stress out about it – but wait, I think I am anyway!) I just like to keep my hands busy.

I’m not begging for mercy or for you to be interested AT ALL in what I have in my Etsy, I jut wanted to get someone else hooked too.

Do you have an Etsy story?

Random Question

2009-02-04T21:27:00.003-07:00

Ok all you men that read this blog (or women who know what your husbands wish for) - WHAT KIND OF GIFT WOULD YOU WANT FOR VALENTINES DAY?

Runnin'

2009-01-29T14:56:00.006-07:00

So I have some crazy friends in my ward that are talking me in to running a half-marathon with them in April - crazy, I know! I never thought I would EVER want to, but the idea of running/walking that far seems like something I want to say that I've done. So for the last 3 and half weeks I have been exercising everyday and next week I will start officially training for it. Getting ready for it, I have been running on the treadmill and doing some strength training. I'm supposed to go with my friends on Saturday for a longer run, but yesterday while running I developed a blister on the side of my heal:

For as long as I can remember I've worn holes into my shoes like this:

As you can see, the shoes aren't that worn out, but the inside is almost down to the plastic. I've even been to a special "running" store and they looked at me like I was an alien and said they'd never seen it before... thanks a million!

If I have any hope in completing my goal, I need help! Does anyone have any ideas!?

Back in the Saddle Again…

2009-01-19T11:46:00.001-07:00

I have to admit that I am not a committed blogger - I jump off and on the bandwagon very sporadically but, of course you all know that. To make up for it, here are a bunch of new posts with lots of pictures – enjoy!

I thought I’d start with HAIR:

Jane

Emery

Erin

Kevin (Re-visited)

If you don’t know this story, this is what happens when a wife tries to cut your hair while baking bread, watching TV, and a baby is crying. Word to the wise – check the razor attachment twice, cut once. (This is an old picture – thank goodness he doesn’t have to sit on the stand at church like this!)

PS: This is the only interesting hair cut Kevin has ever had in his whole life, so it’s the only one worthy of our family hair collage! :)

Zoo & Santa

2009-01-19T11:27:00.002-07:00

We had been wanting to take Emery to the Zoo all summer and fall and never made it, so we decided to pick the coldest day in December to go. We saw 6 other patrons, 50 different kinds of monkeys, 3 giraffe, 4 Asian cats, 2 zebra and a cougar…Seriously, I think that was it. The Hoagle Zoo has “Zoo Lights” in December, so we got there around 3:30 so we could see the animals before it got dark and the lights turned on. We had to leave early because we were all so cold. Come to find out, we would have been kicked out of the zoo before the lights turned on and would have had to pay to get back in again to see the lights. Lesson learned: Don’t pay $20 in December to go to the zoo. Emery had fun, though!

Two days before Christmas Eve we wanted to go see the lights at temple square and take Emery and Jane to the mall to see Santa. We went to the mall and stood in line for two hours before we saw Santa. We considered leaving, but Emery would not have let us – needless to say, we didn’t make it to see the lights that night!

Emery was so excited, then got a little shy when she got up to him. I think it will be a good memory for her!

Waiting in line and fake smile for the camera

Santa was very nice, but we could not get him to look at our camera! I guess we couldn’t get Emery or Jane either – Oh well!

Emery

2009-01-19T10:59:00.001-07:00

Emery had a wonderful Christmas – Santa brought a play Kitchen and a Cinderella doll. Often, she comes to wake me up in the morning and says - “It’s Christmas Mom! Santa’s coming!” She cooks stuff everyday in her kitchen and will serve you anything from fries to a piece of lettuce – we think she’s an excellent cook!

Here are a few pictures of her silly shenanigans lately…

“What’s in your shirt Emery?”

Kevin found her one Saturday morning and she had emptied almost the entire can of dominos down her shirt!

I was down working on some laundry and heard a clash upstairs, so I thought I better go check it out… I found her like this – pineapple sun hat and swimming suit skirt on, eyes covered and my makeup bag and lotion strewn about.

She often sits in our bathroom sink while I put my make-up on. She’s like a mechanic’s assistant in that she makes sure I get every item on in order: “Mascara,” “Check.” “Blush,” “Check.” It’s pretty hilarious!

Every morning she helps me exercise…

Jane

2009-01-19T10:47:00.001-07:00

Jane is getting really good at moving around – just a couple days ago she started the first stage of an army crawl. She can sit up on her own momentarily. She loves to play with Emery and is showing signs of a very sweet and dainty disposition.

This is a picture of her first real hair-do. I’m not sure when it will happen again as it was very painful for both of us to have done:)

Thumb –sucking Jane

Sweet baby blues

Jane and her food – she LOVES it!

Dang! That Song is Just Stuck in my Head!

2009-01-16T15:45:00.002-07:00

And now I hope it's all in your heads too!:) Happy humming!

Thanksgiving Rolls

2008-11-20T18:02:00.006-07:00

Per request, I'm posting the most yummy roll recipe ever...give it a practice this weekend before Thanksgiving. I first tried it 2 years ago and made 3 batches before I realized my yeast was faulty...arggh! I make them 2-3 times a month. If you're afraid of yeast - DON'T be! Just give it a few tries! I would love to hear if any of you try it - we think they're delicious!

Lion House Rolls
2 C warm water (110 - 115 degrees)
2/3 C dry milk (instant or non-instant)
2 T dry yeast
1/4 C sugar
2 tsp salt
1/3 C butter (melted)*
1 egg
5 - 5 1/2 C flour

In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water and dry milk. Add yeast. Add sugar, salt, melted butter and the egg. Mix well. Add 2 C flour and mix on low till combined then mix on medium for 2 minutes. Add 2 more C of flour and mix on medium for 2 minutes (This process helps the gluten in the flour start working!) Add up to a cup and a half of flour till the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and when you touch it, it's a little sticky. Let rise in a warm place for 45 min in bowl. (I often put it in a warm oven for 30 min to speed up the process.) Pull dough out of the bowl and place on a heavily floured surface. Kneed for 1 minute. Roll out into a rectangle 18" long x 8" wide and 1/4" thick. Brush with melted butter. Cut (I use my pizza cutter) in half to make two strips 4" wide. Cut in 2" strips - 18 strips total. (I often end up with 24 because I roll it out a little thinner for preference - even then, my rolls are still really big!) Roll up each strip and place on a sprayed cookie sheet a finger-width apart. Cover to rise 1-1 1/2 hours. (Again, I put them in the warm oven till the rolls are all touching each other - usually about 40 min. Don't forget to pull them out of the oven to preheat!) Bake at 375 for 12-18 minutes. Brush tops of rolls with butter. ENJOY!!!

*I use a whole cube each time I make them - 1/3 C for the dough, then I melt the rest to brush the dough with and there should be enough to brush the rolls with after they're all done.

Again - don't be afraid - they are WELL WORTH the work and everyone will love you for it!

Thanks Mom - Dinner was...zzzzzzzz

2008-11-17T10:55:00.002-07:00

Shake it!

2008-11-17T09:12:00.003-07:00

Emery loves the song "Shake It" - I don't know if that's really the title, but you all know what song I mean. Every time we get in the car she asks if she can here it - good thing we have it on CD so I can put it on for her!

Fun Fall Festivities

2008-11-14T14:08:00.007-07:00

First, our fallen leaves - not sure they're a"fun" fall activity, but there aren't many things I love more than crispy fallen leaves under my feet on a cool fall afternoon. These are our 13 bags of leaves we picked up just in time for the big snow storm. This picture was taken 2 hours after we filled the 13 bags...we now have 20 bags that we are slowly puting in our garbage can when it has room. I absolutely love our shadey trees, I just didn't realize how much work they would require in the fall (Thanks Kev for doing the most of it!:).Here are my cute girls in their costumes - a frog and a jack-o-lantern. Emery had to wear her Ariel princess shoes for the picture - she is obsessed with them! I just love my sweet Jane - she is always smiling at me and is very mild-mannered - who can resist those dimples!?

It has been fun to watch Emery get into the holidays - she's already really excited about our neighbor's display of Christmas decorations and lights. On Halloween, Kevin and I both took turns taking her around to a few houses. She really had a good time, but when we ran into some of her friends, she just wanted to go play with them. So she only made it to a few houses for candy and unfortunately the kids she played with after raided her bucket and she was only left with a few pieces...great friends, eh? Oh well, but this is probably the last year she won't notice:). One of our favorite things was hearing her say "spooky" - her version - "sperky". Pretty cute!

Here Emery's ready to hop and Jane is doing her crunches - she's going to have a 6 pack soon!

Typical Lundgreen pumpkin - the "Y"

Our neighbors helped us serve doughnuts and hot chocolate out of our garage to trick-or-treaters on halloween. I think we had about 50 kids and parents come by. It was really fun to get to know a few of our neighbors a little better and a couple young teenagers came by a couple of times - I could tell they really liked it:) You can also see Kevin is wearing shorts and a t-shirt - Halloween was unseasonably warm - I think the high was 76 that day!

Here's our pumpkin-man...his head started to rot on Halloween and leaked pumpkin juice all over his body - pretty grose, but it added a nice touch for the evening - it made him look more scary!

This is the invitation I made for a halloween party we invited neighbors to - it's a severed finger...hee hee hee.
These are some of our new neighbors who came to our party. My friend Janna was an oven 'cause she had a "bun in the oven" - her husband was the baker:) We had a great time playing the candybar game and halloween scatagories. We had guessing jars and watched a sperky Alfred Hitchcock episode. ooohh... (yes, I was a wench again...I need to work on my creativity)
Happy Fall everyone! It won't last much longer - so let's enjoy every minute!

Fun Pictures

2008-11-13T13:17:00.007-07:00

Here are a bunch of cute pictures that I wanted to share -

We found Emery had fallen asleep just outside her bedroom on the floor - we didn't even know till we went up to bed later that night!

This was not Halloween, but 5 minutes before leaving for church...she went to church with brown eyeliner in the corners of her eyes...

I think Emery was trying to make her feel better - not sure it worked.

Glamour Girl - I never thought I'd have one!:)

Just a cute picture of our cute girls together

Migraine Anyone?

2008-11-11T13:00:00.002-07:00

Unfortunately, I think I've entered the world of Migraines. For the past few weeks I have noticed getting a terrible headache on the days I exercised, obviously discouraging me from working out as often as I should. Yesterday I did a 45 minute "Body Sculpt with Gilad" (Recorded from "FitTV") that I love. Gilad is my new best friend - except when his workouts give me headaches! After my workout, Emery was begging to watch "Ariel", so I decided I'd give us both a break and let her watch it if she helped me straighten up the house. While we were cleaning the Library, I started feeling a little nauseous and my vision was blurred and I could see some sparkly lights in my left eye. I didn't feel terrible, but I knew enough about migraines, that what I was feeling might be the beginning of one. I denied the fact that I might actually be getting one and continued cleaning. I took some Tylenol and showered and still felt terrible so I lied down. Long story short, Kevin had to come home with some Excedrin and I lied in bed for 3 hours before I felt better. I have very rarely had a headache that Tylenol didn't cure. I've done a little research on Exercise induced Headaches and know hardly anything about Migraines...oh, and I'm still nursing. Anybody have any good ideas or advice?

Pumpkin Cookies

2008-11-11T12:40:00.003-07:00

WARNING: You may want to eat the whole batch. If you don't want that, then plan on giving some away!

1/2 C shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco 'cause that's what I had)
1 1/8 C sugar
1 small can pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 C butterscotch chips
1 C chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease cookie sheets
2. In a medium bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Stir in the pumpkin and vanilla. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg; stir into the creamed mixture. Then mix in the butterscotch and chocolate chips. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool for a minute on cookie sheet before transferring to wire cooling racks.
4. They are best eaten cool or even from the fridge!

(The above recipe is exactly how I do it. The basic recipe can be found at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Cookies-I/Detail.aspx - I wanted to use a whole can of pumpkin, so I added more sugar and flour and included nutmeg and chocolate chips for preference)

Tales from the Wife of a Second Counselor

2008-10-22T15:06:00.004-06:00

On October 12, Kevin was sustained and set apart as the Second Counselor in our ward's bishopric. When we were both called into the Stake, we knew it had to be something serious:) My father-in-law told us that if they want to talk to the wife first, you know it's going to be a big calling. And I was called in first! We had a lengthy discussion with the Stake President and His first counselor about serving in the Lord's kingdom and were promised great blessings if we were obedient. So, on the 12th we had a combined meeting with the three wards who meet in our building and they combined our wards down to two and put Kevin in as 2nd Counselor of our ward. After the meeting, Kevin was ordained a High Priest and then set apart. President Signs, who set him apart gave him some really neat blessings and promises and even blessed me that I would never feel alone. I felt the spirit so strongly when he said that and I knew that our little family would be watched over in Kevin's absence. It has only been a week and a half and I have felt so close to the Lord. I know he is watching over our family. I feel at peace and comforted to know that Kevin's calling has come from Him. I am so blessed to be married to such a willing and able man. I love Kevin's humility and willingness to be obedient.

Now for the first "Tale"...
Last Sunday was our first week as a new ward and there were 240 people in sacrament meeting and our primary doubled! (Yes, we were hurting for primary kids, so it's OK:) That meant that my Sunbeam class had 8 kids (possibly 10). I was prepared to teach and was excited to meet our new kids. I just didn't really prepare for how crazy it was going to be! For the past few weeks, Emery has gotten really sad in Nursery and has had to go to Kevin. I hoped that she would do o.k. but there was no telling. Because of Kevin's responsibilities during church as a Bishopric member, I take Jane to primary with me and just pray that Emery will stay in Nursery. Well, she was doing o.k. till she ran into the corner of a table and got too upset to stay. So it ended up that there were 8 sunbeams, two teachers, both teacher's nursery-age girls and Jane in a maybe 12 square-foot room. It was almost impossible to sustain order and almost all the kids were upset or crying by the end...except Jane- she fell asleep luckily, as I thought I was going to have to leave in the middle of my lesson to feed her. I left feeling very haggard and tired, but very happy. The Lord really helped me feel that I did do my best and I look forward to new adventures!:) Stay tuned!

Family Room

2008-10-08T14:37:00.001-06:00

Here's the family room wall finished...well almost!:) I still need to get a picture of Jane and me in the last frame! Thanks again Kristy!

Hot Mac N' Peas

2008-10-08T14:07:00.004-06:00

I've been wanting to do this for a while now...I'm hoping to highlight a favorite recipe from my week of meals every week. We'll see how long it lasts. I just like to share good recipes and ideas. I usually get my ideas from other people, but this one came from my little brain - Hot Mac N' Peas. "Hot" for hotdogs, "Mac" for macaroni and cheese, and "Peas" for, well peas of course! It is Emery's favorite dish and she calls it "noodles". She tells me they're "licious". This meal is something I used to make in college and I secretly love it too:)

Just make the box of macaroni and cheese as directed and add 4 cut-up hot dogs and a cup of frozen peas toward the end of boiling the noodles. When the noodles are done, drain the whole pot and then return to the pot. I add half the butter called for (2TBL instead of 4) and the called-for 1/4 Cup skim milk with the cheese packet. Emery loves to help me stir and eats a TON of it. When we've finished what we want for lunch, I put the leftovers in individual portion sized ziplock bags to freeze. Its easy, a little more healthy, and fun! :)

Family Pictures

2008-10-08T13:50:00.006-06:00

I love the classifieds on ksl.com. I often find myself perusing the merchandise there. I have found lately a $40 double stroller, a $25 kitchen rolling cart, $5 swimming pool, two $5 plastic drawer towers and best of all, free family pictures! A few weeks ago we went to "Expose Photography" in Midvalle to get our pictures done. All we had to pay for was the CD with all our pictures on it! Most everyone I talked to was sceptical that it was a legitimate place, but we're still alive and a nice girl from UVU was our photographer. :) Here is a sampling of some of the pics:

Decorating Updates

2008-09-22T14:48:00.009-06:00

Here are just a few pictures of the new things we have done for the house. The Family room is still in progress and we're getting can-lights in the kitchen soon too. We feel very blessed to have had so much help in the up-dating process. (Thanks Kristy, Mom, Monique and Grandpa Barnes!)

My Mom made this quilt for Jane. She is amazing and we love it! It looks so good in her room over the crib

This is a shelf that I painted to go in her room - I think her blessing dress looks so cute hanging from the hook.

Kristy (Kevin's sister) has been helping design some things for us. She is an Interior Designer and was gracious enough to share her talents with us. She designed this wall and painted the sign you can see in the background (the unfinished family room part). She is AMAZING!

Grandpa Barnes made this box for me and I painted it to match the plaques on the kitchen wall...I still need some cute greenery to go in it. He's amazing too!

This is a shot of the front living room wall - my friend Monique has a Cricket and she helped me print out the vinyl lettering. Heather helped me pick out the curtains.

As you can see, I can't really do anything by myself...it's hard to trust my own judgement sometimes. Thanks again for all your help everyone!

BYU Football

2008-09-22T13:52:00.004-06:00

As many of you know, we are HUGE BYU Football fans and are so excited that they're doing well. A couple weeks ago at BYU's season opener, we decided to take Jane with us to the game and Kevin's sister Kristy watched Emery for us. I made Jane a little "Y" onesie to wear to the game. Kevin was really proud of his little BYU-clad baby:) A few weeks before that we went to a Football opening party - mostly to pick-up Emery's BYU kids club packet and her football tickets. We didn't realize it was such a HUGE party - all the players were there signing autographs and there were game-worn helmets for sale...Kevin just had to put one on! I wish we could have bought one, but they were going for $250. Kevin was really tempted though:)

Here we are with Fui Vakapuna after he signed our game posters. We had a great time!

Bear Lake

2008-09-22T13:11:00.004-06:00

So, I know it's been a while, but I'm finally in the blogging "mood" again...which means I have a few entries to catch-up on. About a month ago our family took a trip to Bear Lake for the Lundgreen family reunion. We stayed in a really nice condo in Garden City that had room for all 20 of us. Emery LOVED the beach and really liked to play in the water with her cousins. Of course, she had her moments though (she's two:). We went to the beach for three days and the first day was the only day we had any competition for our spot - there were only about 8-10 other families on the beach. The other two days were a bit cooler so there was only one or two other groups around. It was most school districts first week of school, so we think that lent to the vacancy of the beach area. The Kemp's (Kevin's sister) have 4 wave runners that were really fun to ride around and Grandpa Lundgreen brought his volleyball net. We had a great time playing in the sand and enjoying eachother's company!

Our Anniversary

2008-08-19T15:30:00.008-06:00

August 10th was our 4th Anniversary and it was my turn to plan something. Kevin always makes elaborate and fun plans - last year we went to Lagoon and spent a night at the Anniversary Inn. My first time planning was 4 weeks after Emery was born and we were in New Mexico. I made meatloaf and baked potatoes for a candle-lit dinner on a card table in our studio apartment...that was it...I figured this year I needed to redeem myself. I'm still not sure it was complete redemption, but it was a definite improvement. We went up to my parents house to see the South Weber Days parade and left the girls with them to go eat lunch at Roosters and to go "Geo-caching". What a fun new hobby we've discovered! For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a high-tec treasure hunt you can do pretty much anywhere with a GPS unit. (For more info visit: geocaching.com) Basically you look up online where you can find some geocaches searching by the zip code or city you want to look in. Random people place their geocaches in sneaky places and leave you with the coordinates to type into your GPS. There can be many different things inside of a geocache. One of the ones we found had some DVD's in it. We took a DVD to exchange if there was one that we wanted to take. (If you take something from a geocache, you leave something with a similar value.) We had so much fun - even though we only found 2 of the 4 we went for. Here are a few pictures of us trying to find one of the geocaches:

Along the way we passed my Grandma and Grandpa's old house in Uintah that my family lived in for a few years while my grandparents were on a mission. The family who lives there now invited us to take a tour. It was so fun to see what they've done to the place as many childhood memories flooded my mind. After our geocaching adventure, we headed back to my parents' house to rescue them:) For dinner, we all headed down to the South Weber park for a hamburger and Emery played on a few of the attractions:
This is Emery in the bubble machine - every time she got some bubbles on her face, she'd try to wipe them away, only to find that there were more bubbles on her hands.

Emery has found a new liking to all the Disney Princesses. She can say all of their names and it's really cute. This picture is us in front of a big blow-up slide thing that she LOVED - can you tell? We had to have the worker drag her out when her time was up:)

Later that night, we returned to the park for the annual fireworks presentation. I think they are the best around because you sit right across from where they set them off. We were having a great time when about half-way through, the sprinklers turned on! My dad got soaked 'cause his blanket was directly over one of the sprinklers. It was definitely a night to remember. Emery loved it and talked about fireworks for a few days after. Anyway, we had a glorious time celebrating and remembering our 4 years together. What fun adventures we've had! I love you Kev!

New SpringWidget

2008-08-18T16:40:00.001-06:00

Get this widget!

Bugged

2008-08-18T16:30:00.003-06:00

I'm the first to say I'm grateful for insurance, but isn't their billing completely confusing? And I have a college degree! Since we had Jane we have had a myriad of bills sent to our house (I'm sure many of you can relate) that say we owe WAY more than we ever thought we'd have to pay. I have spoken to 4 different people today about 4 different bills and we only really had to pay one of them. I think that the snail-mail system, the insurance claims department, and the doctor's offices need to get on the same page! This is sooooo frustrating!!! I hate the feeling of owing money...

Anyone else in the same boat, or am I really as dumb as I'm feeling right now?

Blessing

2008-08-12T15:31:00.005-06:00

We blessed Jane last Sunday. It was a beautiful occassion and a perfect day to remember. Kevin blessed her and others in the circle included: Grandpa Bob, Papa Mark, Great Grandpa Barnes, Uncle Ryan Lundgreen, Uncle BJ, Uncle Kris and Bishop Bowen. Jane was given some great blessings including the fact that she will have a happy life. We are so blessed to have her in our home - she is a very happy baby and I know she will do amazing things some day. What a great blessing it is to have the Priesthood in our home. Kevin is such a wonderful husband and father. We didn't get too many pictures of Jane in her dress... I hope to get better ones soon. Her dress was one made for me when I was a baby. We can't remember who made it...oops! Oh well, it was really cute on Jane! Happy 2 month birthday today! We sure love you!

Silly Sisters

2008-08-12T14:58:00.011-06:00

Well, I guess we don't know how silly Jane is yet, but she started smiling at us at about 5 weeks. We thought that was early considering it took Emery over 2 months and even then, they were a little half-hearted. Jane smiles all the time and I thought I'd post some pictures to prove it! Also below you'll find some great takes of Emery and Jane together!

On the couch:

Jane's Smiles (2 month birthday):

"Just the two of us":

Emery and her noodles - she "just can't get enough" (I hope you're all singing now:)

Red

2008-08-12T14:45:00.006-06:00

I have a few pictures I wanted to post and realized they all have red in them...Enjoy!

Emery at Ryan and Julie's wedding - we LOVE this picture of her:)

Jane at Ryan and Julie's wedding - we used this one for her baby announcement - only 8 days old here. Ahhh...

Baby booties I made for a friend in the ward. I made the box too and Kevin gave me flowers for our anniversary - so I thought it was a perfect chance for a photo shoot. I call this picture "Domesticating Erin Part One". I have a friend from a previous ward who has a website called "Project Domestication" and it is awesome! If any of you would like to see it, it's really fun and she is amazing! (Look to the left of this post for her blog under "Friends and Fun")

Red rose from the 24 Kevin sent me - he's such a sweetie! Happy Anniversary Kev!

Random Catch-Up

2008-08-07T15:48:00.009-06:00

Well, again it's been a while and I appreciate every one's patience with my neglect. I don't think that it's been that I don't have time...I usually have time to check my email several times a day. I think I'll blame it on the fact that once I sit down and start to organize my pictures, Jane is hungry again or Emery has taken off her diaper again. I know, probably lame excuses, but some of you may understand!:)

Random quick comment - Is anyone as excited as I am to watch the Olympics? (I just heard a commercial for the opening ceremonies tomorrow night - YAY!)

Anyway, we have had a fun few weeks and I'll do my best to recount the comical and hectic two nights the Lundgreen's spent the night in a tent and the first annual Mark Hamp reunion (I think I might be the only one calling it that, but that's a good way to describe it).

First, camping. Sadly, those two nights were so hectic I don't have a picture of it. The first night was in Diamond Fork canyon with our ward. Kevin put up our tent and cooked hot dogs, we sang camp songs around the fire and were in charge of the 'Sm ores. Emery was having a glorious time being swooned over by the older kids. She ran around for hours with water balloons in her hands and dirt all over her clothes (not to mention the little bit of throw-up on the cuffs of her pants from puking the second we got out of the car). Everything was "Hunky-dory", to mimic the girl's camp song, till it was time for bed...DUN, DUN, DUN... I stayed by the fire to feed Jane around midnight while Kevin took Emery to the tent to start going to bed. I got there about a half hour later and Emery was just playing and jumping around on the air mattress. Kevin was not amused. This continued till 1:00 when Kevin finally took Emery to the car to strap her in her car seat. She fell asleep in 2 minutes and Kevin tried to sleep in the drivers seat - until 3 when she woke up so disoriented that the only way she slept the rest of the night (till 6:00) was on Kevin's chest. Meanwhile, back in the tent, Jane woke up at 3:30 to be fed. I got her out of all the blankets we covered her with and fed her while sitting on the air mattress - it would have been more comfortable to feed her standing up! She also desperately needed to be changed and with 50 degree weather and 40 degree wet wipes, you can only imagine how pleasant that was! As my parents say, everything is better when the sun comes up - we survived the night and created a great memory for our family to always remember. In case you're wondering, the second night in the tent was a week later at a family reunion in Tremonton. We put Emery in her car seat to make her fall asleep and 2 minutes later we took her to the tent to sleep. She and Jane slept through the whole night! YAY! You learn quickly when the success of your much-needed sleep is in jeopardy.

Now for the Hamp Reunion. My great Aunt Phylis owns a cabin up Provo canyon near Sundance and let us take advantage of the beautiful retreat for a little family get together. It is a perfect little A-frame cabin built in the 70's complete with a hammock and kiva fire place. The Hamp kids have many great memories of the place. Many of us spent time playing games, hiking, eating and floating down the Provo river.

Emery and Will holding hands - AHHHH, cute!

Cascade Springs

Emery Hiking with my Siblings

2008-08-05T20:02:00.000-06:00

Memories

2008-08-05T10:47:00.001-06:00

Here is a fun little game... leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time, anything that you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark... get set... blog those memories!

Emery's Birthday

2008-07-15T13:53:00.013-06:00

Our best friends the Lukes came to visit from Memphis and it just so happened that they got here on Emery's birthday. Their son Hunter and Emery are only eight days apart and love to play together. They had fun out in our little kiddie pool and played with toys and books really well together.

I took a cake decorating class about 4 years ago so that I could make cakes for my kids' birthdays and Emery was old enough this year to appreciate it. Elmo was Kevin's idea, so we went to Wal-mart and bought some coloring paste and fondant and printed off a picture of someone elses Elmo cake from Google images. We colored some fondant pieces black and orange and made a TON of red frosting. Thank goodness the Lukes were here to help us. It took all four of us about 3 1/2 hours to make it (and I had baked the cake earlier that morning!). Needless to say, I don't think I'll ever do it again by myself!

Here is the completed cake:

Wedding and more Jane

2008-07-02T12:47:00.009-06:00

8 days after Jane was born, Ryan (Kevin's brother) married Julie Talyor in the Salt Lake Temple. I had been looking forward to the sweet occassion and had prayed that Jane would come soon enough that I could go. I was able to attend, thanks to my family for watching Emery and Katie and Megan for watching Jane during the ceremony. It was such a beatiful day. The wedding was held at 8:40 in the morning, so pictures afterwards behind the temple in the shade were just perfect! The flowers were in full-bloom (perfectly characteristic of the temple grounds) and there was not a cloud in the sky. We were so glad we could be a part of their perfect day. Congratulations Ryan and Julie!

We like to take flower shots on the wedding day to help the couple remember how beautiful it was:

Julie's family went all out for the reception and they had a lady in their ward make red dresses for all the nieces. Jane wasn't going to get one, just 'cause she was so small. Then the seamstress heard there was going to be a brand-new baby there - she used the left over material and made Jane a dress! YAY! It was so cute! The colors in Jane's pictures are great - wish she had been happy...can you blame her? On the grass at 8 days old? What were her parents' thinking?

It was hard to get a smile from Emery too. I hope the photographer got a good one...

Jane getting progressively more upset...

Man, it's hard to get everyone to smile. And we only have 2 kids!

I've also been needing to add more pictures of Jane and we've been trying to keep up a similar pace of taking pictures of her as we did for Emery...almost impossible! You always hear that after the first baby there aren't near as many pictures of the other kids. It's a sad, true fact. Here are a few any way...

Baby Jane

2008-06-17T11:17:00.013-06:00

We are proud to announce the arrival of Jane Klea Lundgreen!

Debut picture:

Hello little one!

Look closely - can you see the dimples? Thanks Daddy! Thanks to mom she'll always have to color her eyebrows and wear mascara with those blond eyelashes and brows:)

Beautiful blond. Or is it red? Or is it... You make the call!

First visitors and shot of REALLY blond hair!:)

First family picture. We have TWO kids?! CRAZY!

Like Kevin mentioned, my labor lasted less than 4 hours. All of you wonderful women who are pregnant right now - I wish the same on you! After having a pretty horrible experience delivering Emery, I was terrified to do the whole thing over again. I just had to keep telling myself that it couldn't be worse. It was night and day, world's apart, and a million times better than the first delivery. I went from 3 and half hours of pushing for Emery down to two. Not two hours...two pushes!!! I went from a non-existent epidural to a very powerful one. I went from an incompetent nursing staff to world-class doctors and RN's. I felt pampered and taken care of. It was WONDERFUL. Recovery has been better too, even with a tear and episiotomy (sp?). Breast feeding has already gotten better and Jane is healthy. She even let me sleep for two four hour stints last night! We have had so much help with Emery that I haven't had to deal with both of them by myself yet.

Needless to say, I am a happy mamma!

Kevin has been so great. He has responded to my every becon-call. Yes, even the one to go pick up a new nursing bra! I dare say that there are only a select few husbands that would do that! He has done laundry, dishes, bathed Emery and showered me with sweet treats and love. I love him so much and give him The Ultimate Dad and Husband Award!

Emery has been really good too. Outside the normal two-year-old tantrums, she has been very happy to have Jane home. She calls her baby Jane-j (she puts a "j" sound at the end of many words). I am so excited to watch them become good friends. I was lucky to have a sister born just under me and we are the best of friends. Emery is a good "fetcher":) She knows how to get diapers and wipes and knows where every trash can in the house is located. She is very soft with Jane and loves to count her body parts. We feel so blessed and humbled to have such wonderful children!

Thanks to all for your love, support and gifts!!

Baby is Here!

2008-06-13T12:24:00.002-06:00

Just a quick note...Baby Jane Klea Lundgreen is here. She was born June 12, 2008 at 10:53 a.m. Erin was given her IV at 7 am, so total labor was under 4 hours! Jane is beautiful, and was born weighing 6 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 18 1/2 inches long. She has some hair, and it is a light strawberry blonde. Pics and more to come soon.

Yes, I'm still in "One piece"

2008-06-07T16:50:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to give an update: I'm still in "one piece" as my wonderful, witty and wise grandma put it the other day. I've progressively gotten more uncomfortable and when I woke early this morning at 5:55 to go to the bathroom I actually counted on my fingers how many more days I'd have to sleep pregnant...the verdict...only 5 at the most. On Thursday, Kevin got to come to the doctor with me finally - I thought it would be good for him to meet Dr. Barney before I delivered. We got to see Jane for a split second on the ultrasound machine because the Doc wanted to make sure she was head-down. (Her little bottom was the deceiving body part in my upper region.) All is well except that my blood preasure was up a bit...not bad though. Mine is usually 110/60 or so and it was 130/70 this time. Thank goodness though, because that's what allowed me to get a scehduled time for induction this Thursday morning. Early morning. 5:30. But I'll be happy to do it if she doesn't come before then. If she does wait till Thursday, she'll have a good, even birthday: 6/12/08. I love even numbers. I think the next post will probably include new baby pictures! I can't believe it!

Jane's Room

2008-06-02T14:20:00.005-06:00

Well, we're pretty sure baby number two will be "Jane Klea". "Klea" after my wonderful mother-in-law. Emery got a middle name from my side of the family, so we thought it fair and very fitting. We love you Mom Lundgreen! So far, we feel like it fits and we like it a lot.

I was sitting here at the computer during Emery's nap time catching up on all of our friends blogs and feeling strange, crampy contractions every so often, so I decided to walk up stairs to take some pictures of the baby's room and post them before she comes... I'm sitting here again feeling another one, but who knows!? A week before Emery came, Kevin and I went to see Superman in the theater and for about the first hour I had labor pains. Right when I was about to leave the theater, they stopped. ARGH! Contractions are so "tricky" - I wish there was a definitive way to decipher real ones from "fake ones".

Anyway, here are some pics of the baby's room. I feel so lucky that we even have a "baby's room" - a luxury I'm not sure all of our kids will have:) The crib set is the same Emery had, but somehow it looks so much cuter in a real house with cute green walls and a new dresser. (Got an amazing deal in Furniture Warehouse's "scratch-n-dent" section. It had a tiny scratch on the edge at the top and a small black mark on one of its feet. The drawers were still tightly wrapped shut. And to top it off - it was an additional 25% off because of a Memorial Day sale! Sometimes you really find a great piece in there - even if it takes a little digging!) It was so fun to get all our newborn clothes out again and wash them in Dreft-I love that fresh, clean, new-baby smell. I loved to actually have a spot to put all the burp clothes and blankets my mom made for Emery. It will be so fun to wrap Jane in them again!:)

Kourtne and found the cute animals on the wall at Wal-Mart for 55 cents a piece (they have really cute details and felt glued in spots). I just stuck them to the wall with that blue tacky stuff - works wonders!

Latest Dr. report: I'm dilated to a two. I'll be induced on the 12th if she doesn't come before then...We can't wait to meet you Jane!

Emery's Amazing Alphabet Power

2008-06-02T12:52:00.004-06:00

I named this post after a cute little show on PBS that Emery watches while I shower in the morning...Super Why! We think she knows what she knows because of the show. Story behind the video: My sister McKenzie and I were making cookies in the kitchen when Emery came up to McKenzie with a magnetic letter from the fridge. Kenzie asked her what letter she was holding and she said, "O". I turned around really fast to check what she had in her hand, and sure enough, it was the letter "O". So, we got all the magnets out and started to ask her what they all were. She knew about 7 or 8 letters and we realized from the ones she knew, she could spell her name! We are so proud of her, even if it wasn't us who taught her - I'm just glad that of the shows she watches, some of them actually teach her something. Enjoy!

Mother's Day

2008-05-13T12:46:00.004-06:00

Kevin is a wonderful husband. He is so understanding and supportive. I've been wanting a sewing machine for a long time and with all the other things we "need" for the house right now, all I asked for for Mother's Day was a little bit of money put away to get a sewing machine some day. A couple days before Mother's Day a package arrived from Proflowers.com with a beautiful Bonzai-Azalea plant (see post below for picture). I thought that was a perfect gift for our new home. It's time I start taking care of real plants. :) I didn't expect anything else but breakfast on Sunday morning, but when I went down to the family room there was a large bump of something underneath a blanket...and low and behold...a sewing machine!!!!! What a sweet husband. He works so hard for our family and always does things to make us happy. Emery and I went to JoAnn's yesterday to buy some thread to finish her dress I started at my mom's last week. I spent the afternoon while she slept reading my sewing machine manual and putting white and yellow thread on bobbins. Then I got to finishing her dress without too much stress or trauma. I'm still slow and learning, but it is sooooo fun to work on something and have a final project to show for it. Here's the dress:

I found the material and ribbon at Wal-mart. Ended up being an $8 dress - pretty good deal!

Emery's Room

2008-05-13T12:20:00.006-06:00

So two weeks ago I went to IKEA with my mom to purchase a list of things I needed for the house and found some light pink sheets for Emery at $3 a piece. I bought a set for her bedding, two to make a bedspread out of, and one full-size one to make a curtain for her closet. So, for about $12 I got complete bedding and a curtain for her room! Hooray! I went to my mom's last week to make the curtain and covered my own buttons with material I had left over from making her blocks (see below on the shelf). I also found some more of that same material I bought last year at full-price for 1/2 price at mormon handicraft to make a curtain for the window. (Haven't done that yet) It feels good to be thrifty and to find cute things for her room. This shelf was at IKEA too - $11. I just had to paint it blue and screw it together. I like it 'cause it's bigger and cheaper than the one I bought at Michaels for the family room ($14 there). The flowers and dragon fly came from Wal-Mart (.50 a piece!) and the string and clothes pins I've had since my first visit to IKEA a year ago. I knew I'd be able to use them sometime!:)

These last two are Emery in her BIG bed. She loves it so much. I put her down around noon and don't hear a peep from her sometimes till 4! I know, I'm spoiled! I'm trying to enjoy the quiet time before the baby comes. I think we're also spoiled because she's a scaredy cat - she won't get off her bed without our help. It's really not that high off the ground! We'll try to coax her off and she'll turn around and start to scoot off. She gets about 3 inches from the floor before she gets scared and pulls herself back on the bed. I was nervous to put her in a big bed 'cause I'd heard of other kids who get out too early in the morning or don't nap long enough...the opposite has occurred. She'll stay in her bed for A LONG time before we hear her to get her out. :) I think she might be my daughter - I was the 2 year old who when told it was bed time, would run up the stairs and climb into my crib on my own. Mmmmm, I've always loved to sleep!:)

I tried for a couple minutes to make her take her Binky out to smile for the camera - she's smiling underneath and is completely content. Who wouldn't be?

New Additions to the House

2008-05-13T12:04:00.007-06:00

Just wanted to show you a few new things we've added to the house. This mirror was a great buy at Tai Pan Trading - I love that place! Do we need something else below it? The door on the right is the front door, so you see the mirror sitting on the love seat in the living room... This is our new Living Room furniture. We got it at IM Home in Provo. We think we got a good deal because it was on a Retirement Sale... No matter what kind of deal I think we're getting, I always feel a little swindled at furniture stores. Any one else? We really like the couches though and think they will last us a long time.

A large clock in the kitchen - also from Tai Pan

This is a picture of what the plant Kevin sent me for Mother's Day will look like when it blooms. It's a Bonzai Azalea...I'm really excited to take care of it. I need to find a good spot for it to stay. I'm afraid there isn't anywhere in my yard that gets enough sunshine all day. At this point, I move it around my backyard about three times a day...not sure how long that babying can last:) I can't wait to see it bloom! Isn't it gorgeous?

This sign is above my pantry in the kitchen. My sister lives on a farm and found some old barn wood that she has started making signs out of. Quiz of the day- What does the quote come from? I think it just looks perfect in this spot. Thanks Kourt!

Random question: Does anyone know the protocol on how to label pictures? I mean, is it more natural to read the label above the picture, or read the label below it? Hmmmm...

BYU Graduation

2008-05-13T11:53:00.003-06:00

The week after we moved Kevin graduated from BYU with a Master's degree in Computer Engineering. We are all so proud of him and his accomplishment. Go Kev!Just wanted to add this picture here in honor of our family's love for BYU. The first letter Emery recognized was "Y" and every time she sees it she says, "Y-U-Y-U". We catch her saying it anytime she sees a "Y" - like in "Toyota" and "Honey". Pretty cute. Pretty brain-washed. We will miss Provo so much...but we'll be back for football games every year!

New House

2008-05-03T09:07:00.004-06:00

We're finally up and running! Just a couple days ago we finally got our internet and phone set-up. I had forgotten how much I depend on "being connected" with the world. I think I thought about looking something up on the internet at least a dozen times a day. I love to have so much information at my fingertips! Emery and I spent all week catching up on your blogs and I think we finally feel normal again. :) I started today by straightening up the whole house so I could video it for your viewing pleasure. When I got to the end of videoing, I realized it was over 10 minutes long and when I watched it over I decided I said WAY too many obvious things...so I re-did the video and it's less than half as long as the first one:) (See video at end of post)

Well, just to give you a run-down of the last few weeks, we spent the week of April 14th packing boxes, saying goodbye to good friends, cleaning our apartment, and finishing finals (Well, just Kevin did that part, I guess. Just a side note - one of his finals was supposed to have taken him 20-30 hours! Can professors really get away with that!? Of, course he refused to spend that much time and he still did really well-he's a genius!). Saturday, April 18th was moving day. Thanks to all those who came to help and offered cleaning power, muscle power and horse power to make the operation run smoothly. We were done moving and cleaning by 11:30 am!!! That left us with plenty of time that afternoon to move into our new house. Thanks again to those who helped there - you can probably breath for a while - I don't think we'll move from here for a really long time. (Another side note - this is the 6th time we've moved in less than 4 years of marriage! It better not happen again for a while!)

The week of April 21st brought lots of unpacking and organizing. Kevin's sister, Kristy (expert Interior Designer) came to help arrange furniture and help me decide where to hang pictures. She is so good and gave me some really good ideas. As you can see from the video, we need more...of just about everything to make it just perfect, but we'll start small - getting the living room furniture here is a first. (It came yesterday!) By the end of the week we headed back to Provo for Kevin's graduation. He even got to wear one of those really cool cape thingy's. He said before we left, "I'm supposed to look smart and I feel like an idiot!" I think he's glad he only has to do that once. It was a great occassion and we are all so proud of his hard work and dedication. Congrats Kev!!

With all the excitement of the previous weeks, this one has kind of been boring and "ho-hum". I always get in a slump when Kevin has to start working full-time in the summer and this "starting to work full-time" will never end! Luckily, he does get good vacation and hopefully he'll be able to save some up so we can go to a couple family reunions this summer. I think I get bored when I feel do-less (yes, that is a word...I think) and don't have activities to plan on every week. (I miss you Koutne and Will!) I just have to get to know people in my ward and start getting ready for this new baby. I don't think I'll be bored when she gets here and I'll start wishing for those long-lost quiet afternoons:) I feel so selfish when I start feeling down, because I really have soooo many things to be grateful for and really should have NO reason to complain or be unhappy. My wise Stake Relief Society President said, "Happiness is finding peace with the stage of life you are in." Life really is wonderful and I'm loving trying to find peace with this stage. Emery is growing up so fast and I try everyday to enjoy getting to know her and getting prepared to know the next adorable Lundgreen to grace the planet!

I know this is a long post, but hopefully you're updated enough. I'll take some still pictures as we get things decorated and furniture appears. Thanks for being so supportive and a part of our lives. We love you all!

House Update

2008-04-08T13:36:00.003-06:00

Sorry the link to see pictures of our house below no longer works...we're actually glad, 'cause that means no one else can see it and take it away from us!:) We are looking forward to making it a great place to live for our family. By the end of next week (April 18) everything should be closed and we'll be free to move in - a little ahead of schedule! We're really excited!

Wonder Child

2008-04-08T13:23:00.002-06:00

This was Emery's first attempt to stack blocks...honestly. And she did it by herself! I had heard earlier that day that toddlers need to learn how to stack blocks, so I got the blocks out and said, "You need to learn how to stack blocks." Obviously she already knew how. I think she stacked two more blocks on this tower before it fell. It continues to amaze me what she already knows and learns every day!

Say What???

2008-03-30T22:04:00.002-06:00

We wish babies were born with a Urim and Thummim...

If you didn't already know, this is not unusual for her - we're just glad we got it on tape!

Momma

2008-03-27T08:51:00.002-06:00

I just had to announce that Emery finally calls me "Momma". Until just a couple days ago I was "Dah" along with anything she didn't know the name of. For a long time she has called Kevin "Dadda" - all I wanted for my birthday was for her to call me mom - o.k., so she was a couple weeks late, but it finally happened! I love it!!!:)

HOUSE and New Pics

2008-03-25T12:00:00.007-06:00

First of all, we think we've found our house! Many of you know we've been house hunting in the Salt Lake Valley lately. This is the house we've made an offer on and hopefully everything will be under way by the end of the week. It is in a cute little neighborhood in south-west Kearns. (About 10 minutes from Jordan Landing and only 8 miles from Kevin's work.) We are really excited about it. Here is a link to Utah Real Estate.com to view more photos if you're interested. http://utahrealestate.com/776702 If it doesn't work, go to utahrealestate.com and enter this MLS#: 776702. What I'm REALLY excited about that the pictures don't show are the two bonus rooms off the family room. See the two windows below the upper level? The window next to the garage is a nice size laundry room and the window on the left is a play room! YAY! It also has 2 bedrooms and a bath in the basement that have been framed to be finished. The master bedroom really is pretty big and has its own bathroom and huge walk-in closet. We are thrilled and even think the timing will work out so that we can move-in straight from Wymount! Our move-out date is April 25...yes, that is the day Kevin graduates...I don't know what we were thinking! Oh, well! We are excited for our new beginnings, but will be sad to leave good friends and family in Provo. I know you've seen similar pictures like this before, but just wanted to document that Emery reads her Book of Mormon to her doll almost daily...pretty darn cute!

This is my little "paparazzi" girl. We were on our way out to get the mail and it was pretty cold, so I thought she should wear her big coat. She insisted on having the hat on, then picked up her sunglasses that were laying in the hall and put them on. I thought she looked like a movie star who didn't want anyone to notice her. Quite the diva sometimes, I'm afraid!:)

This is Emery coloring in her little nook under the shelves in our little apartment. Try to ignore the "stuff"! She loves to color and always picks up a crayon and hands it to me while making a snorting sound...I have to draw a pig before she's happy:)

Easter Craft

2008-03-07T13:10:00.003-07:00

Just wanted to show the latest crafty thing I've been working on. The "winter blues" are officially over for me...I haven't crafted anything since last fall! It's high-time I did something again. Found this idea on Martha Stewart's website. I did love her show and am sad that they don't show it around here except for at 2 o'clock in the morning on channel 5 - another Trave-sham-mockery I say. Her website has great ideas though. Anyway, here's the link for the easter eggs I tried and a picture of the first one I did. Wish I had a better camera and a better set-up to really show what it's like. (Suzanne, I'm jealous and need you!:)http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/easter-crafts-and-treats?lnc=a489cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=lpg_holiday&currentslide=1&currentChapter=1&chapterCounter=2&lpgStart=1&adnumber=0#lpg

There aren't very good directions on her site, so her'e how I did it if anyone wants to know:

I just started with the basic plastic eater egg that you put candy in, used some white perle cotton thread and Martha's basic craft glue from Michaels. It turned out better than I thought! The light blue of the egg shows through, so it doesn't look like just plain white thread. I just put a big dab of glue at the top with the end of the thread, waited for it to dry then covered the top half of the egg with glue and started wrapping the thread till about half-way down. Then I just flipped it over and started the process again till the whole egg was completely covered in the thread. (You can find perle cotton thread at any craft store near the embroidery floss)

The "Show" Conflict

2008-03-04T11:06:00.005-07:00

Thanks to DI, I found some great $1 videos for Emery to watch - one version of the many "Elmo's World"s and a great Disneyland Sing Along. A mistake? I can't decide. They do provide a great "babysitter" when I need to shower or make dinner, but I often feel guilty. I try to only let her see one a day, including the PBS specials: Curious George, Clifford and Super Why. Because the videos are VHS, we took them with us last week to West Jordan to transfer them to DVD using my in-laws new DVD burner-thing. Unfortunately, we neglected to pack them back to Provo. Fortunately, along with her Binky, her "shows" are another thing that console her when she's sad. Unfortunately, the only thing that constitutes a "show" to her are these two videos and the TV shows aforementioned. I got some new videos at DI a couple weeks ago frankly because I was tired of the only two she watches. Nope, they wouldn't take. I even tried The Backyardagans and Wonder Pets with my in-laws cable channels...nothing. It's not like I'm trying to make her watch TV, but if she is going to for just a little while every day, isn't variety good??? She even hands me the remote and says, "show". She won't even say MOM!!! It's then when I feel like a terrible mother...but I always feel better after I've showered and gotten ready for the day, even if it meant she had to watch a "show" for it to happen.