general conference weekend

...is one my favorite weekends of the year! We get to stay cozy at home with our loves and watch the living Prophets and Apostles instruct us on living our lives in a way to be closer to our Father in Heaven.  What could be better?

We have decided that pumpkin french toast will be a general conference tradition in our home:) 

I am so excited about the newest change to missionary ages!!!! 

18 for boys 19 for girls...it is so exciting and as Elder Holland said "I am giddy" too!!!

So is Gwinna... 

I LOVE my little family!

Gwinna's first movie!

 A couple weeks ago we ventured out again with our Gwinna Jovee.  We walked around the mall as we waited for our movie to start. (Who knew we were allowed to bring babies to matinees?:) We found a Jon McNaughton gallery and bought some Halloween art!  We also saw all of his controversial art. He is a bold man...we like him:) 

We were so proud of our little Gwinna! She was calm throughout the whole movie!

It was such great one too! Tim Burton....um...of course it was!

upstairs

I said I would post our upstairs mess...so here you go!;) 

I just love our little house.  The floor creaks everywhere you walk upstairs.  Our friends (the box elder bugs) are coming back inside and making themselves right at home...the babies and adults!  I killed a HUGE spider in the middle of our living room floor the other night! Michael believes it was a wolf spider...ew.

Also I killed the 4TH centipede in our downstairs bathroom yesterday...awesome...oh and also when we first moved in Michael thought we were having an earthquake every morning when the train rides by and literally shakes our bed;) 

Our washer started smoking the other day but we got a new one! And it is truly lovely!!!

The stove gets really hot so it is so nice in this cold weather!  

The most important and happy thing is that these two lovelies live here with me:)

Are they not the most beautiful sight???

An addition from Grandma Debbie to our downstairs Halloween decor!:)
Lovely...

date nights...

When Gwinna turned 6 weeks old we ventured out on our first date;) 

We took Gwinna in her stroller (picture below taken in SD when she was still inside of me, obviously;) and roamed around BYU campus.  Michael still feels it is surreal that he has his little family here with him.

 It is such a lovely campus.  First we walked through the bookstore and Michael wanted to buy something for me, so I picked out a new pair of sandals.

We then discovered the kids section of books and found a little corner and dad read a few books to me and Gwinna. 

And then it was off to the museum to check out some unique art:)

There I am still looking pregnant...

Finally after our almost three hour trek we walked over to the famous creamery for some burgers and fries!

It was a lovely night!

 A few weeks later Michael took me to see this...

I LOVED the contemporary crazy numbers.  Michael did not. We had a good time though and Natalie Call was our babysitter;)

A few weeks later..."The Man Who Planted Trees." 

This play was AMAZING!  It was so beautiful and uplifting and very inspiring.  The puppets absolutely came to life! We had never seen anything like it.  We were brought into the action when they waved huge tree shaped fans with scents on them at us and watered us as though we were the trees.

 We loved every moment!

Oh and my hot husband took me on the back of his cute scooter.

A hot date:) 

Shelly and Dave Mathie were our babysitters this night;) 

(THANKS AGAIN...we love you!)

on being Gwinna Jovee's mama

My posts, as of late, have only been pictures but since my husband informed me the other day that he is relying on this blog as our family journal I figure I had better write some stuff!  

I want to talk about Gwinna!  First of all...wow! I mean, I have a daughter! I stare at her sometimes and still cannot really believe it.  What a miracle she is. All children are, really.  

I say the following lines about 7,534 times everyday! 

 "I love you so much"

 "hey girlfriend"

 "Oh, you are so pretty!"

 "hey my fluffy bunny"

 "you're my little monkey girl" and 

 "Hi Gwinna!" 

And less occasionally (but not by much) "oh no! not the hiccups!" 

My cheeks hurt at the end of the day because I pretty much smile all day.  

I have never kissed anyone's face so much. 

I want to hold her as much as I can!!!

 (She is sitting with me at the computer as I write this.)

I have never been more forgiving of certain smells and sounds;) 

Within the first few weeks of Gwinna's life there was a day that she stared into my eyes and had the sweetest smile on her face...I cried! Not out of sorrow or exhaustion. I cried because I was absolutely overwhelmed that Heavenly Father gave us such a perfect little creature. 

She is the sweetest girl. 

I am in love with being a mama!

It is the greatest job in all of the universes.  I get to read to my Gwinna everyday and I am able to sing to her like I never can to anyone else:) We dance around to Adele and she loves it.

 She lets me get my workouts in nowadays and I let her sleep on me whenever she wants to;) 

The BEST part about being a mom is seeing my Gwinna with her DAD! 

Some of the most beautiful, precious and hilarious moments happen when he is here.

He never fails to make her smile. She loves his talking voice and singing one. 

He takes her and changes her diaper when we go to church every time! 

He feeds her when I need to go grocery shopping and they constantly cuddle on his bean bag when we are watching our movies and shows.

I love them. 

My favorite moments are in the morning in our bed with our fluffy bunny!!! 

sweet little home

 Deja vu Cara Jean.  I did a post for you last year right here:) 

San Diego apartment to cute little Provo house;)  Our little home is starting to really grow on all of us.  Michael mows and waters the lawn, takes out the trash to the street, and kills all of the box elder buggies that find their way inside the house! 

I attempt to decorate, clean and keep it organized;) 

Gwinna...well she just hangs out, eats, sleeps and barks at us when she needs something.

She has actually been smiling and talking and trying to sing along with her dad lately too! 

burning candles...inspired by CJ

Gwinna's little corner

I left the house as it was to take these pictures;)
real life. 

cool stairs.
I love that window! Reminds me of the mansion windows in Casper for some reason?

Gwinna's swing...

Oh look! Gwinna in her swing;) 

I am reusing Nie's calendar;)
she's my hero.

our lovely kitchen. 

the living room.
look! Gwinna!

outside. 

cute, huh?

our poor little table...it was too overwhelming to leave inside.

I do love our little home and I LOVE all of the trees surrounding us!
I will eventually take pictures of our upstairs.  Its pretty too...just a little bit scary at the moment;)