Never buy this brand!!!

For Valentine's day this last year Tim bought me a Timi and Leslie diaper bag... some of you may be thinking diaper bag???!!! But I found one that was super cute, functional, and basically exactly what I was looking for because we were expecting baby #2 in a few months and I needed one that would be able to hold a little more, but was still stylish. Well here it is- Yes I've gotten lots of compliments on it and I USED to love it- tomorrow it's going into the trash... These are some of the pieces that have fallen off of it- nice huh?!!

Well I'm about to start my list of grievances with this bag and company overall.

First, about a month after we purchased the bag, the leather pieces that pull the zipper across the top pulled off. I went back to the retailer that I purchased it from, left my contact info, and never received a call back or anything- NOTHING AT ALL!!! Well I could still pull the zipper back and forth so that didn't bother me as much.

Next, the liner started to come apart from the bag. Now isn't that the best mix of trashy and sophisticated that you've ever seen?!! This part really ticked me off.Then came the buckle on the front that fell off for who knows what reason besides it's an absolute pile. That piece has the magnetic part that keeps that flap shut, which, when it was still on, was great for keeping my 2 year old out of that pocket. Next, yes there's a next on this list unfortunately, came the metal loop that hold one of the ends for the shoulder strap... fabulous as the shoulder was my main way of using the diaper bag since I have a 5 month old and a 2 year old and my hands are usually busy holding one of them or both of them. In fact that was one of my main criteria for a new diaper bag was that I had to be able to throw it over my shoulders... And finally, the big kaboom the zipper just came off yesterday... another big fa-bu-lous was muttered. In conclusion, I'm so freakin sick of this darn bag and this company in general... You see that price tag?!!!! No I didn't quite pay that- I got a 25% discount, but even that was absolutely ridiculous! My husband was just trying to spoil his moody, pregnant wife by buying me something pretty and all it does is break on him. I thought by buying a quality brand that it would last oh, say longer than a few months?!! But Nooooo.... we were very wrong there. So I'm off to good ol wally world to buy one for a fraction of the price that will probably last a whole lot longer than this one did.

!!!!!!

This evening Hailey went #2 on the potty for the first time- yipee!!!!Though she's probably going to hate me for taking this picture when she gets older I just had to capture the moment. I started screaming for joy and then I had to call Tim right away (he was on his way home at the time) so Hailey could tell him what she was doing.

We haven't really tried too hard with potty training up to this point, but she has shown some interest and I've gotten her to go #1 on the potty a few times. The weird thing is that we just finally went this afternoon to good ol wally world to pick up a potty chair for her. It's kind of funny though because it was still in the trunk of the car- I didn't have a chance to bring it in yet. Guess it's time to really start the whole potty training process with her. I really don't know what I'm doing at all, but here goes nothing. At least this means I can finally see an end to changing diapers for 2 and back to only changing 1 kids diaper again!

Elmo!!!

Yes we love Elmo in our house- at least Hailey does. And... I love Elmo too if it's going to get her to sleep in her new toddler bed. Last night was her 2nd night in the toddler bed and she did great again! We got super lucky and picked up this bed with the matching bedding for only $35 on craigslist!! I know it's sounds a little icky to buy used bedding, but it was in great shape and nothing that a good wash doesn't fix. My only problem with the bed is that it's a little boyish, but you know what, I really don't care. She keeps saying "seep elmo bed" and I can tell how much she just absolutely loves it!

More after pics of house- downstairs

Please be kind with these- there are no pics on the wall yet, dirty dishes in the sink, and toys everywhere (*GASP*-I know I'm human), but alas my poor blog-a-roo has been a little on the neglected side lately and these pics are long overdue.

View of kitchen- in here we got a brand spanking new fridge, tile floors, and a full tile backsplash. Another view of our kitchen. Entry way- new tile floors, paint, tore out icky old magazine rack that was on the wall underneath the window, and then framed in the door that would have been on the other side where the ottoman is. View of dining room from entry way- dining room got new paint, crown molding, and new floors. View of window seat that's in dining room. Laundry room- new floors and paint and our new (to us) washer and dryer. Thank you craigslist!!View of living room- new floors, paint, crown molding, and doorway was framed in to the right of that doorway!Another view of my living roomAnd then last, but not least our bathroom. This room got new tile floors, paint, new elongated toilet (those things are the ONLY way to go regardless of the size of your rear- they're just so much more comfortable and once you get one you will never go back to regular toilet seat!!), and a new cabinet that goes over the toilet for extra space.

More after pics of house-upstairs

The upstairs area was by far the easiest to take care of. Unfortunately though, we've been so stinkin tired of doing work on our house that it's taken us a whole extra month just to finish painting upstairs. I guess that's what happens when you work yourself so hard- your body just shuts down for a while and refuses to do any more work. Anyways, the upstairs was in pretty good shape when we bought the house so a fresh coat of paint and a good clean on the floors was about all it needed- yay!

View of Hailey's play area with only some of the toys- the rest are still downstairs waiting to be brought upstairs. Haha let's see how many of them remain upstairs.

View from the top of the stairs.

Another view of the girls room.

View of the girls room from the door.

To tell or not to tell?

Sooo... I've debated back and forth for the past day on whether or not to share this story because it's at the expense of my dear hubbie.... but then I decided what the heck! I guess I have to start from the beginning. We've both been wondering if I might be pregnant so I grabbed a few tests from the Dollar Store (love that place!!) and took one Friday morning. Luckily not pregnant right now, but these pregnancy tests are a little different than the typical ones you buy from the store. You have to pee into a cup, then use this dropper to put some onto the test strip. A little inconvenient, yes, but for one $1 who cares?!! Our most shallow cups are our glass ones that we use regularly, but I didn't see the big deal in using it because I rinsed it out and put it into the sink where the rest of the dirty dishes were sitting... yes I have dirty dishes in my sink- I"m not perfect!

Anyways... fast forward to later that evening. Tim and I had just finished painting the rest of the upstairs in our house and we were rinsing out the brushes in the kitchen sink. Tim then proceeds to pick up the cup, fill it with water, and DRINK OUT OF IT! Unknown to me, but he had been doing that ALL DAY LONG, LOL (I found that out a little later)!!! So then of course I have to tell him my story about peeing in the cup and he flips out! I start laughing so hard that I end up rolling on the ground laughing and now he has vowed to get me back. I insisted that wasn't fair because it's not like I did that to him on purpose and I had rinsed the cup out really well.

So that's why I've decided to share this experience... because one of these days he's going to get me back and I suppose I'm going to have to humiliate myself then and tell the rest of it. So I'm definitely going to be on my toes for a while, but Tim seems to have a knack for not forgetting things like this- ahh crap!

Count it!!

It's official- the weight loss is at 20 pounds now! You know what the really strange thing is though?!! I still look in the mirror and see a big fat blob... seriously what is wrong with me?!! I can definitely see it in my face, on the scale, and in how my clothes fit, but it's almost like I'm wearing "fat" goggles and my eyes refuse to see what's really there. Isn't it odd how as women we do that to ourselves?!! Well here's to trying to see myself differently =)

Like mother like daughter

Yep her shirt is pulled up- she decided to nurse her baby while I was nursing Hannah and I was finally able to take a pic of it. Sorry no nursing pics of me though... haha

And then laying with the baby and blankie afterwards- she's just such a sweetie sometimes!

I should probably wear an apron...

Everytime I work with flour I get it absolutely everywhere... lol!

But this is sooo worth it! Homemade tortillas!! I came across the recipe a few months ago and I've made these a few times now. They're super easy to make- and for me to say that you know that they are really easy- and a lot cheaper and healthier than buying them from the store =)

Recipe is: 2 cups flour 1/2 ts salt 1 cup water 3 tb olive oil

mix dry ingredients then stir in wet stuff. Knead 5-6 times on flat floured surface. Separate into 8 sections then roll those out onto floured surface and cook in pan that is sprayed well with cooking spray.

***Hint*** Use plenty of flour when rolling out.... And it's better to cook on low temp 2-3 and then see if your burner needs to be turned up or down and ENJOY!!!

Trunk or treat

We (me a little reluctantly) went to our new ward's trunk or treat this year. I guess it's because I have yet to really make any friends at all in the new ward and I definitely feel like an outsider. I miss my old ward- to me, it's my home ward because this is the ward I was baptized in, had both of my girls, watch Tim become active again, and made bunches of wonderful friends. I miss you all to pieces!!! And I hope that everyone knows that I only moved about another 10 minutes away so I plan on keeping in touch and maybe attending an activity here and there- so keep me informed! This year Hailey was Elmo and Hannah was a pumpkin- aren't they just stinkin adorable?!!

And of course a cute famliy pic =) It's still a little weird to see pics of us and to think that I'm a mom of two with a husband. The past 7 years since Tim and I have been together have flown by and I just feel super lucky to have him as my husband!! Our decorations... a little cheese ball-ish, but I still had fun with it.

And Hannah was an added decoration =)

Halloween fun

Of course we had to carve at least one pumpkin this year- but I had to go to 5 freakin stores to find a pumpkin! Well I suppose that I could have just went to 4 stores, but I tried to buy one at Safeway. I brought it up to the register and this little tiny pumpkin came to over $6- seriously?!! Yea it was some organic pumpkin... oooh special and they wanted to charge me over $1 per pound- I don't think so!!! So we tried one more store and all they had were gigantic ones, but oh well I guess it was better than nothing at all. We went a few days before Halloween this year- ya I know should have done it earlier, but what can I say life has been busy lately. Tim and I carved it and of course, I had to toast the seeds- YUMMY!!! By far the best part about buying a pumpkin. And I would totally buy another pumpkin right now just for the seeds, lol... but I'm really not joking there. These were before they were toasted while I was letting them dry out- they didn't make it that long for an after shot, haha!

Here is the big bad pumpkin...

All lit up...

This morning I hit up good ol Wally World for some clearance fun! I just loved how the day after the holiday everything with Halloween on it is half off!!! I picked up a few Christmas items, some new black tights, a few new decoration for next year, and of course a little candy- yum!

For all eternity

We did it!! On Oct 23rd Tim and I went to the temple for our first time and then we were sealed and had our girls sealed to us right afterwards. It was such a wonderful day and it completely flew by. My fabulously awesome friend Jenn took care of the girls for us so that we were able to be worry free- love you Jenn!!! We were so blessed to have many friends and family there with us so share in our special day. The temple brought forth so many feelings, but the strongest overall feeling I had was the constant feeling from the Holy Ghost that this was the best thing for myself and my family. The overwhelming feeling of my Savior's love surrounded me so intensely that just remembering that day brings tears of joy back to my eyes. Simply put (and I think I've heard this from others as well) the temple is beautifully simple and simply beautiful! I can't wait until we are able to go back again- hopefully soon!!- though having young ones can make that a little challenging, but when have I ever backed down to a challenge?!! Here is a pic of us right after we were all done.

Now you know I couldn't leave you without a good laugh...

Afterwards the entire family went to Applebee's for a bite to eat. Of course Hailey had to get into something and started bawling (I think this pic is hilarious... scroll down and you'll see why)

This is the culprit- she stuck her finger in, couldn't get it out, and, yes, she's done this many times since then as well... you would think that she would learn, but I suppose she is only 2 lol!