Love Songs for V-Day

I thought it would be fun to put up some of my favorite "love songs" for valentine's day and some of them are songs that remind me of Delia. Ballerina Girl is one that always reminds me of her, so alas it is her theme song. I made a DVD compilation of Delia's videos complete with a menu and everything!! I had so much fun designing it and I'm going to send it off to the grandparents. I used Ballerina girl as the menu and end credits song. It's super sweet. I wish I could post the menu or something, but it is in a format that can't be posted on blogger or youtube :( One of these days maybe I'll convince Chrsitian to dance with me under the stars to "just the way you look tonight"...on the beach. ahhh..a girl has to dream! He at least tries to acknowledge V-day!

Yes, We are moving...Again, Yea!!

Some of you know and some of your are still in the dark about our current situation. So here is the update. The house we are in now unfortunately contracted mold. It took a while to fix the causing problem before the cleaners could come and clean it. We were all in a stump about what to do and it was frustrating, especially when you have no knowledge mold! crazy how somthing so small and cause so much grief. We thought about it long and hard and both christian and I feel that we did not want to take the risk of it coming back again, so we continued our search for another home. It was a little more difficult at that time because the homes that we liked, within our budget and the best area of town were all sold. We had to up our budget and even then it was still difficult. Then a contractor who we knew was building a house and offered to sell it to us. We knew what kind of work he was capable of (he built his son's house, a co-worker of christian's) and we both really liked it! We did have to wait because the house appraised for much more than we all thought and didn't know if we could afford it. to make a long story short, we have decided to go for it after working out a price agreement. We get to choose everything in this house too since it is still under construction. In the end the house it still going to cost us more than expected because: My dad is doing the kitchen cabinets(still at a great price though) we really want granite countertops, and a few extras like a fridge and extra doors. We are so excited to be on our way to owning something we have always wanted, a house!! The house is a little bit bigger, room to grow, and there is a lot of land. It's going to take a while to save up for landscaping (we can't afford to put it on the mortgage) but it is going to look so nice. Hopefully this times no bad luck will follow us (among other bad luck we have encountered since moving here) but we still love it nonetheless!!!

So here are some picture I took the first week of january. The outside is about ready for stucco and the sheet rock is being put up as we speak. These pictures are a little far away because it was too muddy to get any closer. There are trees in the way because it is being built on a property where a home used to exist(another story). I will try to post more pictures once the stucco is done and the scaffolding has been removed!

Front of the house (kind of hard to see)

Another view of the front of the house

Our side yard(from the fence to the trees and up)

The side of the house( top window is the Mstr bath)

it's a split level.

She dances for a little bit in this one, but loses interest really fast! she knows the camera is on her!

I had some fun with this one! It's supposed to look like an older film! what do you think? she is so funny when she dances! She tends to dance longer when the camera is NOT on her!

Here are the Rules:

1) Post rules on your blog

2) Answer the six '8' items

3) Let each person know by leaving them a comment

4) then leave a comment on the tagger's blog once you have posted!

8 Favorite T.V. Shows

1. LOST!

2. American Idol

3. House

4. What Not to Wear

5. Deliver Me

6.Mythbusters

7. Survivor Man

8. Cold Case

*I like to watch the discovery channel a lot. Project Runway and Amazing Race as Mindy also mentioned!

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Prepared my lesson for YW

2. Went to Walmart and a couple other places.

3. Worked on the new house (I helped christian wire for speakers)

4. Played the Wii (I'm getting pretty darn good at it too!)

5. Made cookies for christian's sunday school class.

6. Made a family tree design for shirts my father-in-law is making

7. Played with Delia

8. Watched "Horton Hears a Who"

8 Things I look Forward To

1. Moving to our new house in April!

2. Choosing the interior decor and Decorating our new house!

3. Disneyland vacation with the whole Anderson Family in June.

4. Spring!

5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie

6. Spending "quality" time with christian in the evenings

7. catching up on my scrapbooking

8. My brother Austin coming home from his mission in July!!!

*I do have to mention Delia going to nursery in 4 weeks! Yeah!

8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Costa Vida (I'm addicted to their chicken salad! Yum)

2. Olive Garden (They don't have one in farmington :(

3. Chili's

4. Mimi's Cafe

5. P.F. Changs (haven't been there since my first date with Chris!!)

6. Cheesecake Factory

7. UNO Pizza

8. Any mexican restaurant

8 Things on my Wish List

1. iPOD

2. Nikon D80 camera!

3. More babies...maybe 2!

4. Tummy Tuck (after the kiddos...Delia did a number on me, but it was worth it ;)

5. Being on top of my Scrapbooking

6. Go on more vacations (I love to travel and see the world)

7. Watch Delia Grow up..along with my future children

8. Grow old with my hubby ;)

8 People I Tag

1. Amy E.

2. Susan

3. Heather G.

4. Sharon

5. Summer

6. Melissa

7. Tracy

8. Jessica

Christian's New Project

Christian has been doing a lot of pottery lately. He is doing Anasazi Replica pieces. He actually makes them the way they did 1,000 years ago! There is so much work and hours that goes into each piece. Fisrt, you get the clay. He drives about 1 hr 20 mins. to one spot, dig it up. You have to be careful that you don't get any coal mixed in because they lay right on top of each other. Second, you grind it up into a fine powder, sift it, then sift it finer and grind it up again. Third, mix it with distilled water to make the clay. Then you make the piece you want, whether it be a mug, bowl, dipper, or Kiva Jar. Let it dry. Then you "slip" it with white clay that you also have to dig for. You have to wait for that to dry at the opportune time before polishing it with a smooth stone. If you do it too early or too late, it won't come out right. After those steps are finished. You trace the design you want with a special pencil and paint it with a special brown paint made from natural stuff that I don't even know! Then you fire it! Christian has made at least a dozen peices, but hasn't quite fired them yet. He has been taking private lessons from a guy outside of Bayfield, CO whom he has learned all the technique from. He even read his book that he wrote, Clint Swink is his name. Below are pictures of some of the pieces he has done. I thought I would show everyone what he has been up to and what an artist he is. He has done a fabulous job. It is so exciting to think that these pieces(if they survive the firing process) will be displayed downstairs in our new house!

The Sweetest Pigtails Ever!!

I can finally put PIGTAILS in Delia's hair...barely. I have done this a couple of times before and decided I should take some pictures of it. She will not keep them in very long, maybe 45 mins. After taking them out 3 times and putting them back in, I decide enough is enough. The kid doesn't like anything on or in her hair!! I keep doing it because it makes her look more grown up and more like a little girl and hopefully if I keep doing it she will become accustomed to it..wishful thinking, eh? Well, she will have to eventually get used to it if she wants to keep her hair out of her eyes. Her hair grows naturally to hang in her face so you have to pull it back and Christian does not want her to have "bangs"...whatever...so I can't cut her hair. Poor child looks like cousin IT from the Addams family. All I can do I guess is try my best.

No More Bottle...Hooray!

Here is my story and I have to say that I feel quite proud to have accomplished somthing so easily that I have been dreading for a while. I have been trying to get Delia to drink from a sipee cup since she was 6 months. Of course at first I was just trying to get her familiar with it. But she had no interest what so ever. I tried all kinds of sipee cups, but she still couldn't grasp the concept that something came out of it. I tried taking out the spill proof insert and of course she learned quickly that something does come out, but every time she went to drink it, she would choke. I still continued to try, however she did not like spilling water all over her(that was all I put in it) that she would toss it on the ground and lose interest. Is my child not that thirsty? When I put the spill proof back in, she would not suck, she just didn't understand and it seemed that she would never get it. She would suck from a straw though, apparently it is easier, less effort than the sipee(trust me she is all about easy) So I gave her juice boxes. I tried to let her hold it and carry it around, but she would squeeze it too hard and juice would fly everywhere. she would also take out the straw and try to dump the juice out...she is such a curious girl sometimes!! So I would just constantly ask her, juice? and give her drinks as often as I could. she learned the word juice very quickly. She was still drinking a bottle before naps and bedtime and but the time she turned 1 that was all she really wanted to drink. when I took her in for her 12 month check-up, of course it was a new doctor and it is so hard when you move right in the middle of things! ~sigh~ He didn't know Delia and what kind of child she was. He asked how much milk she drinks, I told him,which he said was fine. Then he asked if she was still on the bottle. I told him yes and the main reason being that she won't drink from a sipee cup. He told me that she should not be drinking from a bottle anymore and needs to learn to drink from a cup. He instructed me to give her a sipee cup, take the bottle completely away and just let her learn!! Well, that might be one person's suggestion, but as I have learned every child s different. I explained to him my concern that she wouldn't get enough fluids if I just "waited" for her to "get it" I wasn't going to deprive my child of anything to drink unless it was from a cup, or in his case a sipee for her learning experience! He assured me she wold be fine and that she would get it in a couple of days. Alright, so I tired it. for 5 days she had no bottle, cold turkey. I gave her a sipee to hold and waited for her to just start learning to drink herself. By nap time, if she hadn't drunken anything I would give her some juice just so she wasn't thirsty during nap time. She did not go down well for her naps. some days she took no nap, while others it took her 1 hr 30 mins to fall asleep. She woke up several times in the night during the course of the 5 days I did this, which made it very frustrating for us as parents. Then I talked to someone at book club about the struggle sof getting her to drink from a sipee and no more bottle. Her being a mother of four children under the age of 11 yrs. told me that in her experience and others as well that the ages of 15-18 months is a better time to start weaning because they understand a little better. Boy did I take her advice and run with it! Maybe Delia is just plain not ready! For the last couple of days Delia had been getting her bottle 1 hour before bedtime and nap time. I wanted to slowly take away the dependency on the bottle to sleep. She did pretty well to my surprise. Then today I decided to be drastic and go with my instinct and well the knowledge i have of my child. I just felt that she was ready. she just gets so much more independent everyday. I gave her 8 oz. of milk in the morning after oatmeal in a cup with a plastic lid and straw(which doesn't spill, but tends to leak if tipped upside down) and she would take some sips carry it and then set it down on her little chair, play, go back and take some more sips. In about 30 mins. she had drunken it all! She did the same at lunch time. So by her nap time she had already had 13-16 oz. of milk! After dinner I gave her some juice and then after bath time 3-4 oz more milk. Brushed her teeth and put her to bed 30 min. earlier. No problems. She really likes to carry it around with her. It's just not quite a "sipee" cup. Hooray! I think a lot has to do with that she didn't seem that attached to her bottle. While reading a website, it apparently said that if the parents are in control of the feeding time (i.e. the parent holds the bottle, not the child, even if they are old enough)it will be easier for them to let go. Delia rarely ever held her bottle while eating and never carried it around. She just wasn't attached to it. I guess maybe I did something good? Now her Binky on the other hand is a different story. Those two are like 2 peas in a pod. She would choose her Binky over the bottle any day. When I was giving her a bottle before bedtime and would set it down next to her Binky while I fixed up her crib, I would turn around and see her with her Binky in her mouth and the bottle in her hand, completely content to just hold it! I knew then that taking away the Binky was definitely going to be a hard adjustment. 1 step at a time I guess. At least I have the bottle thing accomplished. No more washing bottles. Yippee! Now if only potty training could be this easy ;)

Christmas in Utah

I have been without internet for over a week because Qwest 'accidently" disconnected our internet service!! So I am sorry for the delay. We had Christmas in Utah and it was a lot of fun. Delia got so many things. Her favorites include: a pony, musical tea set, play cell phone, and 2 strollers, the list goes on. She did get some much needed clothes and shoes, but didn't care too much about those. She is doing very well at pretending. She feeds her babies a bottle, stirs her tea cups and takes sips, and of course talks on her play phone all the time. I love just watching her play, she seems to get so much older every day.

As far as Christian and I. I got Christian a Wii with some accessories (although I play it more than he does) and Christian got me a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, I love it!! I have been wanting one since we were married ( almost 6 years) My parents gave us a nice big brown Berkshire blanket, it is so soft! They also got me a madame alexander doll. It was a really nice Christmas. I just like sharing the holiday's with family. Hope everyone had a nice Holiday and a Happy New Year!

Delia's Christmas Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures I took of Delia. I took a lot more, but left my CD at home(I'm in Utah right now)This is her new christmas dress. I think she looks cute. Christian thinks her hair looks funny. Be honest, does it?