Introducing...

...Morgan Elephant!!

(She even makes a cute "breeeee" elephant sound and waves her trunk to go along with her costume!)

It all started when I asked Morgan what she wanted to be for Halloween. She couldn't think of anything, and didn't like my numerous suggestions. So, we were stumped. What would she be? Then, one night, while we were brushing her teeth, she exclaimed, "I'm Morgan Elephant! and Sadie's Sadie Bug!" (Sadie's toothbrush just happens to have a ladybug on it and Morgan's, an elephant.)

So began her insistence on being an elephant for Halloween. Forget the fact the my sewing machine is currently out of commission, so I am left to using my serger and--probably the bigger issue--I DON'T SEW CLOTHES!!!

My next stop was the pattern books at JoAnn Fabric. Surely Morgan's not the ONLY kid whose ever wanted to be an elephant before! I perused what seemed like thousands of pages of patterns, and found one infant pattern for an elephant costume. I went up to the cutting counter and asked the lady if she knew of any other elephant patterns. She said that when her daughter wanted to be an elephant, she rented an elephant costume from the costume shop. (Translation: you got me! Good luck on the elephant!)

So, I took a good look at the trunk on the pattern picture and set out to find gray elephant trunk fabric. After locating the only gray bolt of fabric in the store and procuring a few squares of gray felt, I returned home to begin making an elephant.

After I finished serging the trunk, ears, and tail (a sewing machine would have been easier, but, currently not an option), Morgan helped me stuff each component of her elephant costume with "fluffies" (i.e. batting). So, now we have the elephant parts, we just needed to find a gray sweatsuit to attach it to (remember, I don't sew clothes!). Of course the stores only had black, blue, green, etc. sweatsuits or printed gray ones. I kept looking at every store I went to and finally came across this legging set and turned it into an elephant! Even if it's 2 sizes too big, it's the best I could find!

Next year, I think I'll try and convince her to be a mouse! Most of the work will already be done!

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Also introducing...Morgan the Pumpkin!

She found the Halloween box in the basement and decided to play dress up! This is the pumpkin outfit she wore as an infant, she just didn't do the snaps at the bottom.

And, she zipped it up the front so the jack-o-lantern is on the back. Just improvising...

My Final Cake

For my final cake class, we did a bouquet of roses. Here's my bouquet on the cake. I can't wait to learn fondant in the next class!

Growing Up...

I can't believe how fast time flies! Even though Sadie is still perfecting the art of eating with utensils, and I'm still wiping up spills on the floor and changing diapers, our SadieBug is no longer a baby! Here's some things I've caught her doing the past few weeks:

If Morgan leaves the door open in the car, Sadie can now climb in and sit down. She can't really move it yet, but I'm sure it won't be long!


My cake decorating stuff kind of took residence in the front room while I was taking my class. It's all pretty well contained and out of the way--until Sadie decides that the white box is perfect for sitting on. Just pull everything else down and climb on up!


The toy cabinets are for more than just toys now. Sadie likes to climb inside.

Only, she's too tall to sit up in this one! Bonk!

And, my favorite. When I was in the shower last week, I heard Morgan come into the closet and say, "It's okay, Mom. I'm just getting a purse." And, later that morning, I saw Sadie like this:

Look out, world! Here comes Sadie!

Zucchini Anyone??

The past couple of weeks, we have benefitted from our garden finally deciding to produce vegetables. We check on it every couple of days, making sure everything is going well. This weekend, I decided the plants needed some pruning. So, as I was clipping leaves and stems off of the zucchini plant, I came across this:
That's an average size zuchinni on the left.

For comparison, here's Sadie holding our "prize" zuchinni. (Too bad there isn't a county fair this weekend to enter!)

And, here are a couple of pictures from the girls.

I obviously wasn't feeding Sadie crackers fast enough, so she decided to take matters into her own hands:

We've been teaching Sadie how to use a spoon. It's a messy job, but somebody's gotta do it!

And, can Morgan bake without tasting her scrumptious masterpiece? Of course not! This had peanut butter in it from our better than rice krispy treats! For the recipe, click here.

Have a great week!

Finding Myself...

Amidst being a wife and mother, keeping a clean house, and working occasionally, I somehow lost myself. I'm not sure when, but I did. So, Brian suggested I find a hobby. Not a hobby that I have to do (i.e. I'm currently sewing a quilt for Sadie's bed) but something that I really enjoy. Something just for me. No kids, no husband. He even said it could cost money! (Was that MY husband talking?!?)



So, I thought and thought about what to do and couldn't think of anything.



Then came Sadie's birthday cake (pretty pathetic compared to the ones I've done for Morgan) and I was so bummed that I had lost my knack for cake decorating.

Sadie's 1st Birthday (yes, that's M&M's for decoration)

Morgan's 1st Birthday

Morgan's 2nd Birthday

When I went to BYU, I set a goal for myself in my first semester to take a cake decorating class before I left. I did take it before I left, but the last class (it's only 4 weeks long) was the day before graduation.

Cake Decorating, Part 1a

I said I would finish up the other courses (there's 4) when we moved to Colorado, after I had Morgan. Well...I'm finally getting around to it. I was hesitant because we don't really eat things like this anymore and I would never get to use this skill. But, I was reminded that everyone else will eat all the cakes I decorate, even if I don't (in fact, Brian's office is so excited I'm taking this class)!

Enter Cake Decorating, Part 1b
I told Morgan I was taking a cake decorating class and she wanted to help. So, with the leftover batter, I made cupcakes. Here's Morgan's cakes. Note: She's still perfecting her technique. Check back later (like in 15 years) to see if she's improved.

I decorated this cake my first class. I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out.


For my second cake, we had to do these clowns. Mostly so we could learn how to use icing to "build" things, like their bodies. It looks terrible because I borrowed icing from others in the class! I got all the way to Michaels and realized my frosting was still in the fridge! So, not my choice of colors, but Brian's co-workers said it tasted great!

Hopefully next week's cake will turn out nice. Then, it's onto the next course. I've already signed up and I'm so excited to learn how to use fondant!

Falling In...

I found this picture tonight and realized I had forgotten to post it a couple weeks ago when the event happened. I simply heard, "Mommy! Help! I fell in!" And, of course, before I could help her out, I had to grab the camera.

And Then We All Got Sick

Labor Day weekend started out great. We visited a little park called Tiny Town with some friends and had a great time. It's a kid-sized village. Some of the buildings are decorated inside and others are open for kids of all sizes to climb inside. (Yes, Brian always has to get inside with the girls)
The girls even sat still on a kid-sized bench together long enough for us to almost get a cute picture!

But, instead, we had to settle for the blurry shot the old man took for us on the train instead.

So, Saturday went well. Sunday morning was a completely different story. We somehow got the flu bug (Type A--whatever that means) and have all been knocked out all week. We didn't want to get anyone else sick, so we went stir crazy at home most all the week. Amazingly enough, the house never got too messy, laundry got rotated and we're all still alive! (Because, trust me, for a couple of days, it didn't seem like we were going to make it!)

So, here's our week in review:

Brian pulled everything out of the medicine cabinet to examine all his options.

Meanwhile, the girls (mainly Morgan) pulled out every tupperware in the cupboard to examine their options:

...and sucessfully put every duplo block inside every tupperware container. (Which mom then put every last one into the dishwasher.)

And Sadie spent much of the weekend wasting batteries on the remote control car.

We made it through the week, are all feeling much better and hope we didn't pass this awful bug onto anyone else! I guess it's back to church, work, and preschool!

Belleview Park

Today, we went on an adventure to Belleview Park. It has a little train and petting zoo and the girls loved it (well, most of the time)!

Here are the girls, ready to ride the train! (Vocabulary side note: Morgan now tells us "the choo-choo train in 'horning.' Choo-Choo! Choo-Choo!)


Morgan's picked up yet another boyfriend. Today, Andrew didn't throw any fits about holding her hand! They just followed eachother all over the park, hand in hand!

Sadie loved petting all the farm animals. Morgan loved clinging on to mommy as tight as she possibly could! She kept saying, "Mommy, I don't like chickens. I don't like sheep. Mommy, hold me." I did convince her to pet the calf, though. She said to me after, "I like calfs. I like black calfs. But not sheep. I don't like sheep." A sheep came up behind her and she screamed so suddenly, I jumped too! But, the calf was pretty calm and Morgan liked that.

Sadie loved playing with the little animals, too! She created her own little farm scene! (Well, she banged all the animals on the table)

Sadie just went up to the goats all by herself. She had a blast!

Sadie Bug's One!

We finally got around to taking Sadie's 1-year pictures. I think this is my favorite one! If you'd like to see all the cute pictures my awesome friend, Teri took of our sweet Sadie Bug, click here.

Random Pictures

Sadie recently discovered shoes. And, this discovery causes her to cry, scream, and whine, following me around until I put some on her. Here's a recent picture I happened to grab as she brought me her shoes.

This one is of the girls a couple weeks ago. I believe I said to Morgan, "Go get me your hair pretty box." Not, "dump out all the hair pretties and make a mess on the floor!" Oh well, girls will be girls!

And, one of my favorites. The ONLY cupboard the girls are allowed to get into in the kitchen is the tupperware and that they do! At anytime, I probably have 5-10 lids or containers strewn all about the house!