6 Months Old!

I know I say this every month but I really can't believe its been half a year since little Charli was born! 6 Months.. really! Its like she's a grown up now.

Loves:
Bottles, food, teething crackers
Playing with her toys mainly Oball's, wubbanub and her activity mat
She is getting to the stage of loving to put everything in her mouth
Bath time is now fun because she realizes she can kick and get water everywhere
Thumb sucking. Binkies are a thing of the past unless she uses the side of one to teeth on. Thumbs are where its at. Sometimes if she's fussy we will grab her thumb and then we are saved by the thumb.
Music. Music. Music. I really am so thankful for music and our little white noise lamb. It makes all the difference. Car rides are easier with Taylor Swift or the new Pitch Perfect 2 soundtrack. The white noise helps when she just is wide awake at bedtime. I am so glad that she has the benefit of loving music. She definitely got it from her mom.

I can't really think of anything she doesn't like. She is an easy going baby.

On mothers day we tried Sweet Potatoes for the first time. We got a funny face and the first time she wouldn't eat anything. She loves her bananas and peaches, rice cereal and of course formula.

This little bean is so loved by every one around her. She doesn't love always being put in the carseat but the second we get out of the car and into a stroller or shopping cart you wouldn't think she was just crying and screaming in the car. She loves to be a social butterfly in public.

Charli is still sleeping in our room.. I have a camera and I use it during nap times when she is in her actual crib.. but for some reason its me who can't put her in her own room yet. Although I hate the pack and play in our room.. I still can't do it. #momprobs

Charli is wearing 6 months clothes and has been for the last month or so. They look a little long or big on her but they fit over her head so... nothing wrong with baggy clothes. I am loving the summer springtime clothes on her. Baby clothes are just so adorable and its so nice to be able to see her cute legs in shorts and flip flops.

This past weekend Charli went to her first movie.. okay she went to the same movie 3 times. Pitch Perfect 2! Ahhh... She slept through the whole thing each night it probably helps that it was bedtime and that she was milk drunk. But it was so fun for me to do something that I could just sit back and watch. Kelly took me on opening night (thursday). I went on Friday night with a few of my friends and then I went again on Saturday night with Alexa and her coworker. I can't get over that movie! Obviously.. going three times in a row!

First off aren't those flamingo pajamas adorable? (nod your head)! We decided it was time to take off the diaper changer on the pack n play once we kept noticing that she likes to hide under it. But of course one morning I had to snap this picture of her hiding. She thought she was funny when we had to pull her out from underneath it! :)

My guess is that she weighs about 16-18 pounds. I really should just buy a scale and weigh her at home ya know!?

We didn't have a 6 month appointment since we had to reschedule but she is such a doll and I can't wait for more development and sass in this little miss nelson!

1st Mothers Day

I had Kelly take a picture of us after church and I was trying to get Charli to look at him and he snapped that picture. I couldn't be more in love with it! It was the best one he took! I love it because it shows true happiness! I love looking at this little girl as she explores everything around her. 

It makes me wonder what I ever did when I didn't have her! She makes our life complete, busy and happy! Thank you Charli for making me such a happy mom!

I am so excited for many more Mothers Day to come because it was the best day!

I wouldn't be a mother if it wasn't for that guy on the left!

I have so much to be grateful for. I am really in love with Mother's Day. I definitely am lucky to be a mom to such a happy baby. I am lucky to be able to stay home with her everyday! I am so happy that I get to be there for everything she does. 

I am thankful for Kelly and the funny card and gift he gave me. Just when you don't think your husband listens or pays any attention to the things you do they tend to amaze you! 

What a fabulous day it was! 

Where I Begin.

I can't believe that at 23 years old I am getting to celebrate this day for the first time as being a mother. It is a odd feeling but its also comforting to know that I am doing something that is bigger than myself and that I can look to many people in my life who have helped me get to where I am now and where I want to go. After thinking about moms for the last couple of weeks I realized I had the best examples right beside me!

I have been lucky enough to have been raised by such an outstanding mother. Even though I am now raising my own daughter I still view that my mother is still raising me. She teaches me things daily, weekly, monthly. I am so lucky to have someone to continually look up too. I am lucky to have someone who cares for me more than she cares about herself. I was lucky enough to have someone sit through dance practice, recitals, competitions. My mother is truly the best because she has raised 3 girls to be the best they can be. I am positive there were days she wanted to throw in the towel. Maybe like that one time I threw florescent paint at my sister Kelsey right before church and got it everywhere in our bedroom and on my mom. I am sure there were days when she just wanted to go and do something by herself but let us tag along with her. I am positive there were days where she didn't think she had what it took to raise us. But she survived.

Now the other mother that I am so grateful for is my mother in law! I am so lucky to have a woman in my life that not only helps me out but raised such a great son. I am grateful for the sacrifices that she had as a mother to raise Kelly. I am glad that she wanted a red headed son & that she could last raising seven kids. I am grateful that she taught Kelly the importance of work, play and the church. I am glad she raised him to be something that not only I am proud of but that I know she is so proud of him and the things he has accomplished in his life. There is nothing wrong with a momma's boy!! I am grateful for the things she does on a daily basis for us. I am grateful for the companionship that I get to have with her. Its like I have known her for my whole life. I love her welcoming spirit and the way she laughs. I love the positivity she has even on the days that have been bad, hard and terrible. I am lucky enough to be able to work with her, watch her and learn so much about giving and patience even with kids who weren't hers but students. She is always looking for a way to serve someone weather or not she's known them for 5 minutes or 50 years. I hope you realize that my mother in law is someone that I not only look up to but someone that I can never say thank you to enough. She is the bees knees.

In short, I hope that if I can be half of anything that those two ladies up there have been for Little Miss Charli than I have done enough. There are so many things that they have done for me that maybe have gone unnoticed to them but they have impacted me to try and be the best I can be. There are a million more things I could say about how these two ladies have been awesome role models but I think I have painted the picture that they are two of the greatest people on Earth. These are the two people that need to be recognized on a day like today because they are rare gems and I feel bad that none of you get to call them Mom like I do! 

There is no way to be a perfect mother.. but a million ways to be a good one.

Because of these moms of mine and their stories, trials, triumphs and happiness is why I get to create my own story as a mother. 

Luckily for me I can look to them for the confidence, advice and courage along the way. 

Cheers to mothers everywhere and for the daily job, struggles, emotions & who knows what else... Because we truly have the best job in the world.

"...Behind all your stories is your mother's story 

for hers is where yours begins."

-Mitch Albom

Charli & Me {Mothers Day Shoot}

In April we won a contest for a free mini session for Mother's Day with Vanessa Brown Photography.

I don't think I have to write much about this because these pictures can tell you how everything! 

I am such a lucky mom to have such Charli as my daughter. I will always cherish these pictures of us! 

A big shout out to Vanessa for her awesome work and capturing such great pictures of us!

Living Room Makeover!

Okay. I realized that I have never shown how this whole room came together. It is a room that is very exciting for me. It was the first room we ever completed when we first got married. 

Okay this was the before picture. Its a little crazy and messy. I took this after we finally were back from our honeymoon and our house was a dump. We had tons of gifts to open and then with me moving in and all that it was nuts.

You are probably wondering what that green table thing is... yes its a ping pong table and yes its in the front room. You have to remember that this house was a Bachelor Pad meaning that a house full of boys lived there for a few years before Kelly & I got married. So the logical thing to do when you are in your 20's and your house is this massive party house with a house full of single men is to have a ping pong table in your front room...

I still laugh that they did that. In fact I kind of miss it being there we had some good times when we were dating with that ping pong table. 

But onto the formal like matter of this room.

The white leather loveseat was from KSL. I had wanted it from Overstock but Kelly hated it. I would say this was the first piece of furniture that Kelly bought me even though he hated it. He hated how it looked and after struggling to put it together before we were married was a pain. It was my 20th birthday gift from him. Although I got it before we were married since everything happens in our house within 8 days. (anniversary & both our birthdays) 

That zebra chair started EVERYTHING!

Zebra was the cool print of 2010-2012. Okay I still like it but lets say I was a little obsessive over anything I saw that was black & white. 

Well my mother in law knowing that I loved zebra bought me this chair for an early wedding gift. Of course it couldn't just be in a family room it had to go in the front room. So there it started the whole thing.

We then started looking around for different things that we liked.

We walked around Ashley Furniture trying to find a couch that we would like for the front room. Well turns out that we ended up walking out with this rug. Kelly totally had the eye on this one. He found it and liked it. I was pretty shocked.

2 months before we were married we got a puppy boxer (Nala). Well the night we got this rug home I remember Kelly was in the shower and I was putting things away and later walked downstairs to find that Nala had pooped on the rug. It had only been laid down for about a half hour before that happened. I remember running upstairs and saying to Kelly 'You won't believe what just happened'.. He knew right then what I meant. 

Well a couple months went by and I found a couch on KSL that I liked a lot. It was in SLC & luckily Kelly still was working there. He said it was a pain in the butt since the lady we bought it from lived on the 4th floor of her apartment building. It also was a big pain getting it into our own house for how oversized it is. But it worked and I love it!

The whole house was that brown pukey nasty tan color. AHH... my eyeballs hurt looking at these old pictures. I couldn't stand how it just felt like a cardboard box. Well we started into the biggest project.. okay I will get rid of the royal 'we' and say that Kelly started the biggest project.

He completely painted the entire front room, kitchen and hallway. He also took off all the old base and replaced it with taller base so it would make the house modern and be up to date with the current style. We used two different colors of gray. We did some accenting in some areas with the lighter tone being more dominate. At the time we had such a big space that we were painting that it was hard to figure out where to do the accent tones. But after having it done for over 2 years I am pleased at where we decided to do them.

Okay you may be wondering about that red light. Its cool right?! (You better shake your head yes.) Well, this wasn't something that I found and bought. It was the fir

That picture of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple was given to us by Kelly's sisters for our wedding. Kelly got mad when I moved it from the front room and put it by the front door. Mainly because I stuck a Zebra picture in its place. He got over it fast once he agreed.

Our front door use to be a tan color. Well a small can of red paint and a afternoon later and we had a red front door. I have had it painted for over a year and I love how it turned out. It adds character and I feel like it gives a warning to anyone who enters that this house is not a normal house.

Now tell me what you think about the thing hanging from the ceiling? Its ugly right. Well for three years I had a certain light that I wanted in that room. Kelly hated it. I finally just bought it this year and thought hey now he will have to hang it up right?! 

Look at the difference that lighting can make? Kelly spent the whole afternoon on a Saturday while I was gone at a dance competition taking the fan down and installing my new light. Once I walked in and saw it I was so happy! The room was finally complete!

Kelly calls it a snowball. But the idea behind IKEA was that it represents a dandelion. I love how it projects smaller ones on top and bigger ones on the sides of the room. 

After I bought the light and told Kelly that I did. He said 'Lets go to Lowes and get a different fan. You can get whatever one you want. ..Well after going to Lowes and the fan that I liked was triple the cost of this light he decided it wouldn't be too bad to just hang it up. 

It is a little dull compared to the fan but it adds a mood to the room. I love how it looks especially at night when the windows are open. It gives some good competition to Charli's chandelier. 

Here is an closer look to the light itself! ...eeek it makes me happy!

Links to Decor:

White Leather Loveseat: Overstock

Tall Daisy Flowers: Hobby Lobby

Monogram Letters & Hello Sign: Wood Connection

Coffee Table: Ikea

Lighting: Ikea (this is the smaller version)

Zebra Canvas Picture: Ikea

3rd Anniversary Celebration!

Our shocked face that its been 3 years of being married.

Kelly took the day off! Yay! We started the day off by sleeping in. Kelly made chocolate chip pancakes while I fed Charli some rice cereal. We then had bath time for Charli since very minimal cereal made it down the hatch. 

After we got ready and were almost out the door. Charli was hungry. Another bottle put both of them to sleep for a good half hour nap. 

(check out Thunder & Lightning thighs on Miss Charli)

We then left our house around noon and stopped at a few t-shirt shops for Kelly. He is participating in the Questar Gas Rodeo in a couple of weeks and needs some competitions shirts designed. 

After an hour drive we made it to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium. It was such an amazing exhibit. We spent a good hour in the South America exhibit. We then made our way to the Utah exhibit and then to the penguins, otters and then the Ocean exhibit. It was totally cool to read about animals I had never heard of and to see them swimming around. 

We asked lots of questions to the workers about the animals. They had a turtle that was rescued that had either been hit by a boat or bit by a shark making it so her shell has air that goes into it. Which makes it so her bum is always up when she is swimming. They have put weights on her shell to help her balance it out. I thought that was a neat experience to see.

We loved being in by the sharks. They have so many in one exhibit. I kept asking Kelly how is that they don't eat all these other fish that are in here? I was amazed at how thick the glass was and how they had a tunnel you could walk through and see them swim over your head. What a cool place to go too.

Charli slept through most of the aquarium. She finally decided she was hungry towards the end. Plus that thumb sucking just kills me. 

We fed her and then headed off to Chic fil-a for lunch/dinner. It was delicious. If you haven't had their new Frozen Lemonade you are missing out on an amazing treat. 

We then headed to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was fun to take that drive to the temple. Remembering the feelings of being nervous three years ago. I also remembered the excitement of it all and where we took every picture. 

Although I was really hoping that we would see a newly married couple taking pictures. But the temple was closed. Which in a way made it even better. It was quite and we could walk around the entire grounds and just enjoy the peace there.

 Okay you can't laugh at these pictures. We walked around back to the doors we came out of once we were officially married. I really wanted a picture by those doors again. Well Mr. Sunshine made my eyes all squinty but hey we got it.

I also was able to get a picture with me and Charli at those same doors. I kept talking to her about the temple and telling her this was where we were married. She looked at me as if she already knew that information.

A Family Selfie with Angel Moroni!

I love this picture. So many great things. The gorgeous building behind us. The amazing view looking out on the busy cities. The aroma of all those flowers filling the air. The little girl that has blessed my life and that Heavenly Father has given me such a sweet spirit. The love that radiates is just something I would never want to live without.

Seriously. I couldn't live without this girl. She is so much to me & Kelly. I wish I could send a Thank You card to Heaven for sending me something that is so sweet, precious, kind and darn right gorgeous.

I posted this picture on Instagram after we left the temple grounds. I really am so grateful for the fact that I got to marry such a wonderful man 3 years ago and that I get to raise this little girl in a way that she will be able to enjoy going to the Temple and that she will eventually find someone that will make her as happy as Kelly makes me happy.

Cheers to Eternity & future anniversary's 

Wait, it's been 3 years?!

After realizing that its finally the month of April that means a lot things are going to be happening in our schedule's.

For Kelly it will be work, skid steer and finding time to do his church calling, family time and who knows what else. He always wishes there was more hours in the day.

For Me it will be spent going to dance competitions, attempting to spring cleaning (wink wink), coming up with some rad birthday gifts for Kelly, enjoying my birthday month & week.

But the coolest part about this April is that we have been married for 3 years!

At first that seems like such a small number but at the same time it feels like we have been married forever. Like we are veterans or something?!

Okay, I will be the first to reassure you that we still have days where we have no clue what we are doing. Mainly because in the past four months our life has changed drastically and it just keeps changing weather or not we are keeping up with it all!

There are days where I am cranky and hard to handle. There are days where Kelly is cranky and hard to handle. But luckily there are more days that we are content, happy & positive.

Sometimes I know I get hung up on the negatives of life. Like:
"Why does Kelly have to work so much?!"
"Can he just spend time at home for one night and not be outside?!"
"When is he going to do that long list of things for me?!"
"Stop having so much stinking overtime work!"
"When will he get that I just want to go on a date!"



At those moments I have found (so has Kelly) that really it isn't about those individual issues as much as its about me either needing a small break from being a mom or that I am 1,000,000,000% HANGRY! We both admit that sometimes we use the 'cranky' title too much because we are tired and wearing thin.

But over the past three years I have learned somethings not only about Kelly but more about myself. I have learned that I really don't care to be a homemaker. I really don't love to spend the whole day cleaning unless there is some incentive of a treat afterwards. (I bribe myself!) I have learned that I shouldn't compare myself to others and how they look like the perfect wife. I don't cook dinner every night, I don't make a lunch for Kelly every day and I surely never keep up on laundry, dishes or mopping the kitchen.. but I would rather have a type of home that is filled with love, laughs and lots of fun.

There is one thing I learned over the last 3 years and that is LOVE. I learned that even if the dishes get pilled up till they are stacked on the counter that Kelly still loves me. I learned that if the floors are dirty and the whole house could use a good maid to clean it up that Kelly still loves me. I learned that even when I am HANGRY that Kelly still loves me. He loves me on the days that I don't even put any makeup on. He loves me when I am completely done with the day. He loves me enough to let me talk about dance things all night long. He loves me enough that the "perfect" home doesn't have to exist. Because well I would say we have a "perfect" home. Its not built on being a home that is ready for a Pinterest photo shoot or a Home & Gardens Magazine. But its perfect because there is LOVE.

If there is one thing that I would love for Kelly & Charli to know. Is that there is nothing that makes my heart happier than when you two are bonding. Weather its you both falling asleep in the nursery while dad feeds you before bed. Or when you are just staring at each other in silence. I am so grateful to have a husband who not only takes such extreme care of me but will take even better care of our daughter. Charli you will be the most spoiled girl because of your dad. I can't promise that he will buy you everything you ever want but he will give you the best example in the world and that is someone who holds the priesthood and will be the best protector in your life. I also am positive he will be your first love. Everything he is will be something I will pray that you will find when one day you get married. 

I am so grateful for the marriage that I get to enjoy and for the companionship that I get to have for eternity. 

"Family is the center of life & is the key to eternal happiness!"

-L. Tom Perry