Me and the Munchkins

Kyle took Jannika to Salt Lake to the Days of '47 Rodeo so I'm here with the two littlest munchkins. I sure am going to miss Jannika when she goes to Kindergarten. I had been looking forward to her going because I know how much she loves to learn and socialize. Preschool was so good for her these last two years. But now I'm not so much looking forward to my sweet girl going off to school ALL day. For one thing, I've actually realized that she keeps Kirsten out of

trouble. I always thought putting two kids together meant more mischief but Jannika is a good kid and keeps Kirst occupied and tells her when she's out of line! When I'm just here with the littles, I don't know what to expect when I check on K!

Here's some of the latest stuff that's been going on: We've been driving over to Castle Dale a lot lately for Pageant practice. The Pageant starts next Thursday July 31 and goes through Aug. 9 if any of you are interested in coming. We would love to have you stay at our house if you come! We also got a new laptop computer. We had been borrowing my mom's laptop because our old computer just wasn't doin' it for us anymore (it is super slow and doesn't have a modem so we couldn't get the internet on it). So we saw a killer deal on laptops at Wal-mart and we snagged one. I think the deal is still on: $398 if any of you are in the market...

Kyle also hit me with a surprise and told me that a guy that he works with is looking to buy a house and so Kyle wanted to show ours to him and his wife. So I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned yesterday and this morning to get it showable so here are some of the results:

This is my new bedspread that I had to show off that matches my favorite rug below. It also goes with our shower curtain (three pics below).

You can just barely see my paint job in this pic but last year I tore off all the wallpaper in this bathroom and textured and painted the walls all by myself and then found the shower curtain and valance on clearance at K-mart. Gotta love clearance! Our house is still very much a work in progress and we aren't sure what we will do if they are actually interested in buying it! We would like to work our way back over to Castle Dale sometime. Maybe we are just getting restless because we have moved somewhere every single summer of our marriage and we just don't know what to do since we aren't moving! Ha!

Jessica's wedding

Sorry, I'm a dork and didn't get a good picture of Joe and Jessica at their wedding so here's a pic of their invitation on my fridge! Jessica is Kyle's step sister. It was a beautiful wedding in the Bountiful temple. I made their cake and it turned out really well. I stressed about it, of course, but once you have figured out how to do fondant it usually is pretty easy.

We almost decided not to try to attend the sealing because of the baby but I am so glad that we did (thanks to Jacqueline for watching our baby). I love attending sealings. It always reminds me of the day that Kyle and I got married and how we must have looked to the people who came to ours. They are just so young and naive! Just kidding. But it does make me think about the fresh start they are making and the things that I could do to make fresh starts in my own marriage. Here are some of the best pointers that the sealer gave them that stood out to me. He started by telling Joe to stay worthy of the priesthood so that he could always be able to give his wife a blessing and that he should give Jessica a blessing in the next 24 hours. He told them both not to judge, to let things go, to smile and be positive. He said to go to the temple often and participate in sealings and listen closely to the words in the sealing prayer. He also told them not to get into debt and that things just get in our way. It is always good to be reminded of the things we need to be doing and be reminded that the temple is where our Heavenly Father wants us to be.

Happy 4th!

So, I don't know why I never really made smoothies before but I have been doing it lately and we have loved it! Here is Jannika enjoying a blueberry passion fruit smoothie (made with frozen blueberries, Hawaii's Own brand of passion fruit juice and lots of ice). Kyle actually gave me a smoothie maker a few years ago for Christmas and I have used it to make orange julius and other various things that you use a blender for, but only recently did I start putting in real fruit and making actual smoothies. Don't even ask me why I didn't do it before now! I have had to get a lot more creative with my breakfast menu because of my trying not to eat dairy so I add juice instead of milk/yogurt and they are still really yummy and a wonderful way to get your kids/husband to eat fruit!

We have been up in Tooele and Taylorsville this weekend for the 4th and the Beagley Family Reunion. We headed up to Tooele on Friday and watched fireworks in Grantsville with Kyle's brother, Judd and Keiauni and family. Then on Saturday we went in to Taylorsville to the Family Reunion. There were some water games, traditional candy sling shot, and we found out how talented Judd and Keiauni are at doing face painting (on faces, arms, ankles and farmer's tanned biceps!) I'm sure Kyle's mom will be so proud to know that Kyle wanted a tatoo with MOM written on it! Jannika was especially enamored with the face painting and got a hibiscus, a heart, a butterfly and a watermelon. I think I better watch her pretty closely when she is a teenager...

Summer Fun

We got to see our friends, Brian and Lexie, at the first of this month (They live in Michigan and are visiting their families this month). We met up with them in Provo and went to lunch and the park and just hung out all afternoon. It was so nice catching up with them. Then we stayed the night in Tooele with Judd and Keiauni and went to the zoo with them the next day. Thanks for the free passes, guys! It was fun to see the animals and Kirsten still talks about going to the bazoo!

One of Jannika's favorite parts of the zoo was getting to touch a real live snake!

My kids have also been practically living outside. Kyle has put up the tent two different nights so they could "camp out", they have been riding bikes and swinging and they love playing in the kiddie pool. Kirsten wants to wear her "suitcase" (that's what she calls her swimming suit!) all day.
The baby has been doing better at night. I hope I don't jinx (sp?) myself by saying that! She has started to actually go to sleep at about 10:30ish where before we usually couldn't get her calmed down until at least midnight. I think that my cutting out dairy has helped a lot but I guess I can start to add things back in to my diet in a few months to see how she does with them. Incidentally, if you're wondering, this isn't a sure sign that she is lactose intolerant. It is the milk protein not the lactose that tends to upset babies stomachs. We just keep hoping that she will continue to do well!

A Day Late and a Dollar Short...

Some of Claire's first smiles. Love the dimple!

My mom used to have this book called, "I'm a Day Late and a Dollar Short and it's Okay." I've never actually read it but the title always stuck in my mind and it certainly fits me right now except in my case it should read "I'm 68 Days Late, $2,000 short and Maybe it Will Be Okay Sometime Soon"... The reason I haven't posted in a while is because I wanted to do a big hurray post where I announced that my baby isn't colicky (sp?) anymore and that she is on a schedule... ha! When that blessed day occurs, I'll let you know, but meanwhile I am just a little stressed and sleep deprived. May was a complete roller coaster for me and if you know me, you know that I DO NOT like roller coasters, actual or emotional ones! Just in the month of May we had Jannika's birthday party, more eye doctor appointments for Kirsten, Kyle and I both had dental work (blah) and mine's not even done yet (double blah), I spoke in Church, Clarissa's episode, 3 days at Primary Children's, numerous doctor appointments after that, Clarissa's blessing day and the Seely Family Reunion, plus all of our normal stuff with callings etc. There have been very sad, heart-wrenching times, frustrations, relief, joy, you name it. We are so glad that we have our sweet little baby but with as with any child, there are some frustrations that I hope will work out soon. I have been trying not to eat dairy foods because sometimes dairy can make a baby have colic. I never knew how much I loved milk, yogurt and especially milkshakes. I don't know if this food plan is really working. She still has a fussy time at night but we'll see.

I'll post pics of the fun things we've been doing soon:)

Tagged

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was 16 and had just finished my sophomore year of high school and was preparing to do a handcart trek down the Hole-in-the-Rock in Southern Utah.

5 things that are on my to do list today:
(I'll do tomorrow since today is Sunday)
1. Laundry
2. Clean the bathrooms
3. Read to my kids (this is a goal that I am working on)
4. Do some scrapbooking Yeah!
5. Plan some meals and do some grocery shopping

What would you do if you suddenly became a millionaire?
Build our dream home, pay off our bills, put a bunch in savings and investments, give some to family and friends, do some traveling (Japan, Hawaii, Europe)

3 Bad habits
1. I try to solve everyone's problems
2. I stress myself out about everything
3. I have some serious road rage (okay, maybe not "serious" road rage, but I hate driving behind slow people and getting cut off)

5 places I have lived
Castle Dale, Ephraim, Price, Logan, Price

5 (okay 6) jobs I have had
1. Stewarts Bakery
2. CEU cafeteria (Kyle and I both worked there when we were first married and we made a grand total of $542 a month between the both of us!)
3. Newsletter Coordinator (for USU parking department)
4. Reading Tutor
5. Transcriptionist
6. Breastfeeding Peer Counselor

5 things you don't know about me
1. I don't like chaos. This would explain why I don't like prolonged fighting scenes in movies (okay, so there was a war...we get the picture, let's move on to the romantic part!) I also don't like confrontation. I have to have an argument settled before I can calm down.

2. I have a big sweet tooth. For some reason I feel like I have to have something sweet after every meal (except breakfast) or it isn't complete. This might be why the other day Jannika said to me, "Mom, we eat 5 times a day: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and ice cream!" I probably better change this habit soon or else I might be wearing my maternity pants forever!

3. I like to do laundry and I also like to be organized but I can't seem to get that one down. There are constantly piles of papers, random baby/kid stuff everywhere, I never know where important papers are when I need them, I am constantly looking for some small scrap of paper that I jotted down something on like the price quote for our cabinets or somebody's phone number... the list goes on and on.

4. My stress relief is being creative. I LOVE to scrapbook, make cards, bake desserts, sew things, decorate my house etc. What is it about a scrapbook page or a cute little dress that you made that can make you so happy?!

5. I think that my husband is the hottest guy ever and I can't believe that he actually wanted to marry me. 7 years ago were were just starting to date and I didn't even dare think at that time that I might actually marry Kyle Beagley. I can't believe how right he is for me even though we are so different in so many ways.

Clarissa's Blessing

We had Claire-bear's blessing last Sunday. My family was already planning to be here for a family reunion so we planned the blessing for last weekend too. Most of Kyle's family was also able to make it and we are so grateful that we were able to get together. It was a wonderful day! Our families are so important to us and we have been so grateful for their support as well as our friends' support especially this last month. Kyle gave a wonderful blessing and our bishop asked him to bear his testimony as well. (I guess he let me off the hook because I had spoken in Church on Mother's Day!) Here are some pics of Claire in her blessing dress. Behind her is the beautiful afgan that Grandma Deann made for her.

Some of my nieces and nephews at the luncheon.
Kaylee, Kirsten and Ashlyn.
Um, yeah, great timing on this one!
Baby Claire with Grandpa Steve.