Happy Birthday Tutu!!

For those of you who don't know my mom, she's the greatest in the world! And, today is her birthday!!! So, Happy Birthday Mom!! We love you!!!!

Fabulous Fall!

Here's a few pictures of what we've been  up to for the last month.. (aside from sewing!) :)

Every year, some time in October, the family gets together and paints pumpkins from Mimi's garden.  Here are this years pictures:

You can come check out our pumpkins any time you want, they're sitting on our front porch. :) Next, we still have a very, very silly and cute little girl.

Where's Josie?

She has finally perfected the art of climbing on the coffee table. Hmmm..

On Saturday, we went to the annual North Logan City Pumpkin Walk! This was our first year ever going, and I LOVED it! It was so fun. They had a bunch of cut-outs that you could take pictures at. Here were our favorites:

Then, in the pavilion, they had a few really neat displays of carved/painted pumpkins. I think their theme this year was favorite TV commercials. Here are the carved pumpkins from the pavilion:

Then came the actual "walk". About halfway through, Justin and I noticed that we were going the opposite direction from EVERYONE else. Can't blame us though, we're new to this pumpkin walk thing, and there were no signs! Anyways, the walk was lined with carved pumpkins, and I hear that they light them up at night. We decided to go during the day because its been so cold lately! So, here are a couple of my favorite displays. Oh, key point, they make everything they can out of pumpkins!

I think we will be making the pumpkin walk part of our Halloween tradition!

On a more spiritual note, we had Stake Conference this weekend. We weren't able to go to the Saturday night meeting because everyone we know had a meeting as well, so no baby-sitter. But the Sunday meeting was GREAT! It was a broadcast from USU and President Eyring and Elder Ballard were among the speakers. I wasn't able to listen to too much of the speakers, about 20 minutes in, Josie started doing the sign for "all done" and running for the doors. But, one of the key things that I did hear was a warning from Pres. Eyring. He said to be careful when you are going through trials and not to turn inward. When you do that, you become selfish! I had never even considered that I was being selfish when going through a trial! Now that I look back and think about it, I do get VERY selfish! So, that is something that I will be working on. Besides, the best way to pull yourself out of a funk is to do something for someone else! It was a great conference and I'm glad we got to go!

Another thing we are working on lately is family prayers. They definitely have to be short and sweet, but Josie does pretty well. Here's our cute little bug getting ready for prayers... we sure love her to pieces!

Adventures in Sewing Part 2

Some might say that I've been going a little sew-crazy, and its true!! I love having a sewing machine and I have years of not sewing to make up for! (Although, I am getting low on my fabric remnants, so I may have to slow down here pretty soon..) Since the last post, I have been searching some wonderful blogs with patterns, tutorials, and ideas for sewing.  I found this pattern on Etsy, but I am too broke to buy it, so I decided to improvise. I copied the basic structure of one of Josie's dresses, and then took some stylin' from the pictures of that pattern. And here is the final product:

Josie was having so much fun modeling that we had to take LOTS of pictures. She said "Cheese!" for every one. She's such a cute little stinker!

Adventures in Sewing!

So, a few days ago, Justin came home and said, "Honey, I know you've been wanting a sewing machine for a long, LONG time now, so I decided that we are going to go out and get one tonight." What a great hubby, right?? I KNOW! :) I am by NO means a pro at sewing, but my mom did teach me the basics. So, we got a great deal on a beginner sewing machine and I have been sewing my heart out. I hemmed and mended the pants Justin has been waiting on for months, I made a few head bands, started on an aloha print patch quilt, and my favorite project of all, I made Josie a dress. A friend of mine is very crafty and I saw this on her blog, and had to look up the pattern here and try it out. I made a matching head band, and I think it turned out great! The blog with the pattern has a tutorial on how to make it and everything, and it was really quick and easy, even for someone like me who hasn't sewn in YEARS. It took me about and hour and a half with Josie being up and crazy.  I'll keep you posted on the other fun adventures we have in our new world of sewing!! :)

Josie's new Favorite Words...

Yesterday afternoon, Josie started saying a new phrase. It's her new favorite thing... Here's a video of it. Also, I FINALLY caught her on tape doing the animal noises. I think I could count on one hand the number of people who had actually heard her do the animal noises. Now you can all enjoy!

Here are a few other pictures of the last few days..

Talking to Tutu on the phone. She loves Tutu!!

Showing off her winter coat (and cheesy smile!)

Little lady can't go anywhere without her purse and cell phone...

Ready to play in the snow!!

Howdy Partners!

Way back in the day, when Toy Story came out, my sister bought me a Woody doll that has a pull string, and about 5 sayings that he says. Well, Woody is one of Josie's favorite toys. She quickly figured out how to make him talk (and proceeded to make him unable to talk.. we don't know how) and shortly thereafter began to walk around the house saying, "Howdy!" (sounds more like "ahh-dee".) It has taken us a couple months to finally get it on video, but here it is.

A week or so ago, I decided that it was about time to wash my car. Josie thought that helping was the best thing EVER. She's pretty adorable (and I am TOTALLY unbiased).

I wish that you could all spend a day with Josie and get to see her in her element. It's impossible to catch all the funny things she does on tape. Here's a few of the latest fun things she does:

1. She puts her hand on your arm and leans over to look right in your face (up close!) and says, "Ahabhaslkjfhaoisdfjasdjckajsdf, ok?" (or some variation).

2. We got her a cheap little baby stroller to push her doll around in, and she pushes it for a little bit, stops to check on the baby, and then keeps going. Its quite common for the stroller to get tipped over, and then she comes running to me and says, "Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh!"

3. She has figured out how to give kisses. Sometimes then are wet and slobbery, and sometimes you get bit on the cheek, but they are great. She pushes her face up against yours and says, "Mmmmmmah!"

4. She loves to have someone hang out with her. If I sit down on the couch, she'll come over, grab my finger and take me for a walk around the island in the kitchen and then stand in the middle of the family room. If I try to sit down again, it's another trip around the island.

5. She's so smart! Whenever its time to go somewhere, I tell her to go get her shoes. At first, she just went and stood by the door. After a while, she figured out that we had to put shoes on, so she'd bring back one of her shoes. Now, she brings me one of my slippers, then the other, then her shoes. She is sooo funny!

There's your peek into life with Josie. If you want more, come visit! We love to have visitors!!