Fairy Princess

One of Gwen's favorite games to play lately is fairy princess. Although she just thinks she a princess. The reason why is because today's princesses seem to all have a magic wand with them. How did that happen? Anyway Gwen will wave her wand and magically change things into something else. One of the times I was trying to get her into the car and she didn't want to go. She struggled, screamed and then waved her wand at me and said "Poof!" I'm not sure what she changed me into but I must say I was slightly insulted on top of my amusement. I'll have to remember never to get Gwen a real magic wand because I would be in trouble. Of course she also changes me into different things when she's just playing too. Today I was changed into a princess, back into a mom, then into a horse, and luckily back into a mom again.

Forwards

Recently I received a forward that I've gotten a couple times before. It about getting free money from Bill Gates. Sounds exciting huh? Well to me it sounds a little creepy. All you have to do is forward the message on and then in a couple of weeks they send you some money. First of all it sounds too good to be true and second how do they manage to get my mailing address just from forwarding an email. I hope nobody can actually do that because otherwise who knows how many people could stalk you.

Needless to say all three times I have deleted this message. The first couple of times my anxiety was up and I was hoping that is was really a scam and I didn't just miss my chance at free money. But this time it was really easy to say goodbye to it. Does anyone else find these types of email annoying? Or am I just being touchy.

Birthday/Christmas

I hadn't really thought about how close Gwen's birthday is to Christmas before. She was always too young that we didn't really have a celebration for her. But this year she is going to get some fun things both for her birthday and Christmas. I feel like they are practically the same thing. I know she is still little enough not to notice but I sure will. She will barely have time to play with her new toys when she's bombarded with more toys. I really should come up with a different solution for it like celebrating her birthday in the middle of summer instead. In which case do I start doing that in six months from now. Pretty crazy. But I guess that's what happens with Christmas babies.

Time Again For Some More Arts and Crafts

This is the afghan that I've been working on. It was fun to make but it didn't take that long to do. So now I have to come up with another project to work on. If anyone has suggestions please let me know.

Comments

Blogs are funny things. I say this because sometimes I feel like I'm just typing into a void, like no one actually sees what I post. What counter acts the feeling is the comments left by those of you who read this. So thank you for the comments that I get on them. Of course you would think that feeling this way I would actually leave comments on other people's blogs. I should be better about that. Well, thanks again for reading.

Gwen's new quilt

This is one of the projects I decided to do. It took me about a week to finish and I liked how it turned out. Originally it was supposed to be a twin size quilt but I got tired of sewing.

Gwen's Favorite Cousin

As you can see from the title Gwen has favorite cousin. I always thought it would be one closer to her age but nope it is her cousin Jacob, he's eleven. But she really loves him. Almost every day she asks if she can go to Jacob's house. And sometimes when she is upset she says "I want Jacob." It's pretty funny. I'm glad she found someone to look up to.

Another thing she has been doing that we really enjoy is she has been eating the moon. First she eats it then she burps it out, followed by a giggle. Lately she has just become really funny and a lot more talkative.

Tuacahn

The other night I got to have a really fun experience with my husband. Someone at his work wasn't able to use a couple of tickets to the Tuacahn, so we got them. We went to see Annie and it was a lot of fun. I always enjoy watching a play. It always brings back memories of when I use to perform and how exciting that was. But this play was even more fun because of the type of theater it was in. Warm night air and the canyon wall for the back of the stage creates a whole different atmosphere for the play. I loved every minute of it. I'm really glad that we got to go.

The Joys of Potty Training

So I decided to try and potty train Gwen. This is her joy at receiving her training toilet. After I explained that the toilet seat doesn't belong on her head we proceeded with the training. It's been a couple weeks so far and I don't think she is quite grasping the concept yet. But I'm hoping that we'll get there soon.

Only as Kids

Here is my SuperGwen. She has been so funny lately. Yesterday we visited Grandma and Gwen was being cranky so I put her in a playpen until she could settle down. She can easily get out of it but will usually stay until she calms down. I also put a movie on for her in the hopes that maybe she would stay and take a nap. Gwen went quiet really fast so I thought my plan had worked but when I went to go check on her I found I was mistaken. There she was still in the playpen, four toy plates laid out as if she was going to feed some people and on top of each one of the plates were blobs of desitin. The tube was in her hands and she had a big grin on her face as if she had done something clever. It was pretty funny.

Later that day she was playing with a hollow wooden frog that has ridges on it and a removable stick in it's mouth. I assume it's a decorative musical instrument. She had removed the stick and placed it somewhere and when Grandma asked where the stick was Gwen said, "I eat it. I eat it" Then she sat down put her hands over her stomach and started coughing and in between saying "Stick, stick." Of course the stick was nearby laying in plain sight but it was fun to hear Gwen's explanation anyway. You just got to love kids.

Another year married

Yesterday was my fourth anniversary. The time has just flown by, yet at the same time it feels like forever. I'm really blessed that my husband still loves me after four years together. By now he has seen all my faults and has done an excellent job in dealing with them. Could I get any luckier?

Now I get to see what blissful things our fifth year of marriage will bring.

Jeads Beads Jewelry

I'm sure most of you know that I've been working with my mother in law to make jewelry. It's a hobby of hers and I thought we could try and make a way for it to pay for itself. We have a website for it. So we'd love it if you would all tell your friends who likes jewelry to check it out. I have a link for it on my blog, to the right of here under jewelry. Also tell me what you think. Will people actually want stuff like this?

Now for a funny story about Gwen. Lately she has decided that she doesn't like the sun in the car. We give her a blanket to cover her face with and she keeps it there the whole time. The times we've forgotten she will scream whenever the sun is on her hand or leg. But it only happens when we're in the car. Is there a word for that kind of phobia? solarautomobiliphobia? She's pretty funny.

Yeah!

I am excited because my sister had her baby. I got to be there for the birth and it was a neat experience. The baby is so cute. I was very grateful that I was allowed to be there. 

Congratulations Katy!

What?

Again it's been quite awhile since I wrote on my blog. The last little while my husband and I have been trying to make life changing decisions. So all my time was spent thinking about it or trying not to think about it. For those who don't know we decided to move back to Cedar City. The last year we both felt has been a disappointment and a waste. We knew we had to do something else. We chose to move to Cedar for quite a few reasons. But it's going to take some sacrifices on our part to make it possible. For example, I have to move down here practically without Abe until he can find work down here and we get someone to rent our condo. We thought about selling but considering how the market is we think that might not be possible. So if anyone knows of someone who who wants a place in Eagle Mountain let me know. So of course we are going to be tight on money for awhile. The funny thing is I keep looking at getting a job because I don't want to give up Netflix. Can we all say how spoiled I am?

Gwen is starting to act like a little girl more than a baby. It is so fun to watch her now. She is cute and goofy. And I can understand her a lot more. She still throws tantrums like a two year old but that is her age. She still limits what she says though. Every animal is a bear, cow or bird, every person is 'Daddy', and every drink is 'water too'. But at least she is using her words.

I went through a time where I started writing a story. During the summer my family does a summer school for the nieces and nephews to keep them busy. My sister Katy did one online that was a writing class so I pretended to participate. Now I went back to the assignment and started working on it again. Maybe if I practice enough I'll be able to get better at writing. If you couldn't tell by my blogs, I'm really bad at it. My sister Christy Hardman has a couple of books out. "Against the Giant" and "Santa's Secret" My brother has a book out on Amazon called "The Living Dead the Reapers Reward" under the name of Oliver Church. My sister Katy is trying to get a book published and my sister Kari is writing one on how to get your kids to work. And to top it all off my brother John thought up a book and sat down and wrote it in three days. He pretty much can do anything he wants to and he's good at it. I'm so jealous. So I guess you could say my family is a writing family. I just can't do it very well. I wrote a short book years ago that ended up sounding more like a screen play than a book. That tells you the extent of my talents. Maybe someday if I'm daring I'll put it on my blog for people to read and make fun of. Anyway now I'm really rambling on again so I'll stop before I start boring you all to death. And I'll try to write again before too long.

Let's see if this works

In this video every time Gwen pretended to crack a pistachio she made a funny face. Hope you enjoy.

Fun Photos

Here shows Gwen's love for berries. She'll even eat them with a teaspoon, while singing a tune, with a cow, eat them now, she'll even eat them here or there, and when she does they get everywhere.

We also see Gwen here in her favorite perch on the counter stirring noodles. Yes she did try and add juice from her cup.

                                              

More of Gwen goodness

I must be a little slow but I finally realized something today. Every once and a while Gwen will be sitting on the floor then will crawl over to some ones foot and lick it. It made me giggle and I just rode it off as one of Gwen's oddities but I finally figured it out. She is playing doggie. She did it again tonight first daddy's foot then mine and in between she was making some sort of barking noise. Now I know why she licks peoples feet. It's a relief to know that there is some reason behind it and that Gwen is not just crazy. 

I mentioned earlier that Gwen likes to call her panda bear 'Cow' Well now she has me calling it that. If we ask her 'Where's cow?' she'll find him. Likewise if we ask her 'Where's bear?' its the same result. Abe said today that we will never know whether she thinks it's a cow called bear, or a bear called cow. I guess it's one of the mysteries of life what is going on in a child's head?

More cooking fun, Gwen the other day made me put her on the counter and said "Cook?" At the moment I didn't have anything to cook so Gwen was disappointed. Another time I gave her something to stir and she stirs it forever. She thinks it's hers now and will not let me touch it. All the while I have to keep things away from her so she doesn't add salt and pepper, sesame seeds, minced onions, or whatever she can reach and open to the mixture. 

Birthdays

For all you who don't know tomorrow is my birthday. I used to really look forward to my birthday. While growing up my mom would make us our favorite dinner and bake us a cake served with icecream, and then of course it was great to get presents. Then there were the birthdays were you turned an age where you got more privileges like going into young women, dating and driving, being old enough to be considered an adult, and being able to go on a mission. 

Now to have it the same way, I would have to cook my favorite meal and the clean up that goes along with it. If I made myself a cake, let's see there is Abe, Gwen and me to eat it. Talk about being sugared out. As for presents I still enjoy those but each year is different. Some years finances aren't good so you feel guilty even receiving a present. And now that I'm past all the ages where something happens, I am just getting older and older. I remember as a kid thinking how old everyone was. My eighteen year old sisters were just right but after that you were just old and decrepit. I don't have the same view as I did then luckily otherwise I would feel like I was knocking on deaths door. But I do feel like the sands of time will not be stopped and every year I get older my body is now going to start falling apart. I've already noticed some things already that don't work the same as they use to. For example, I use to be able to eat anything with no side effects unless I ate too much. Now I get indigestion with some foods, and other sorts of symptoms which I won't mention because of embarrassment. But I'm sure some of you can guess. 

Well I have to stop this rambling now because Gwen needs me and I'm sorry that this one doesn't have a point. I'm sure if given more time I would have come up with something. So it's up to you to give it a point. Try to end it on a happy note though because sad endings make me cry. 

Gwen's Cooking

It has been fun to let Gwen help me cook. The other day we made some more cookies. She helped me put the ingredients in the bowl spilling half of the contents onto the counter. Then when I let her crack the egg she was a little too enthusiastic and cracked it all over the counter, floor and my hand. 

Then a few days later I let her help me with dinner. This time she brought her favorite toy with her. It's a very cute panda bear that she likes to call "Cow".  The first thing she does is plop him down onto the stove then she reaches over and tries to turn on the burner. After that plan was thwarted by my husband she takes panda and puts him in my kitchen aid mixer. And she turns it on. Luckily it was unplugged. Gwen then takes a dash of flour and a smidgeon of salt and puts it on the bear. Mix some more with the unplugged mixer and it was almost ready. She then gives the panda a kiss and she has just completed the recipe A La Panda. It was a lot of fun to watch. I love how she had to give him a kiss just so he knew there were no hard feelings. 

This concludes cooking time with Gwen please tune in next time for more recipes of cooking exotic meats and in some case endangered species.

Rambling on and on

Time can sometimes fly by, these last couple of weeks seemed that way. Even though not much happened in that time. I got to go to a meeting where they try and recruit you to sell their stuff and set up other people under you as a pyramid. That way supposedly you will continue to get money. I thought about it for a little while but those types of things are not for me. I'm not really a people person. If I was I probably wouldn't be using a blog to get out all the random thoughts I have. Besides all the people I know are relatively poor. 

I've done really well with the exercising. I've exercised every day except Sunday for 30 min. I probably should exercise for longer but I need to work up to it since my body is not use to it yet. So hopefully I'll start to see results. I've also tried to be better at making dinner every night. The hardest part about that is thinking of what to make. So if anyone has ideas let me know. I really should try and make a list of things we could eat. 

I always thought that girls were bigger talkers than boys but it doesn't seem to be the case with my Gwen. She mostly tries to communicate with body languages and grunts even though she knows words. Every once and a while she'll use a word here or there. Then she has her favorite sayings like "Where'd it go?", "What are you doing?", "Let's go, Come on." "Sit down." and my favorite "Ow, sorry".  I know she knows a lot of words and could probably put together more phrases but she just isn't interested. And she doesn't do things she's not interested in. Very stubborn and determined. But she does get cuter everyday. Now she knows how to get into the refrigerator and pull out what she wants. I'll have to keep an eye on that so she doesn't leave it open and spoil all the food. 

(switch topic)

I think that the ward we are in has problems with keeping records. Abe is no longer on his role for elder's quorum. Me and my sisters birthday aren't listed with the other birthday's for January. They think Gwen's birthday is in March. My visiting teaching people have a hard time getting a hold of me because my phone number is not listed. And anyone who tries to get a hold of Abe has my number instead of his. (I hope you understand that all this information was written down and given to the ward authorities previously.) My sister Pam and her husband were just called at Sunbeam teachers and told they would only have 7-8 kids. They ended up with 20. Whoops. At least things are kept lively.

I've convinced Abe to give me an allowance so I can save up and not have to ask for money when I want to buy him a present for Christmas or birthdays. I might also start buying a book a month to continue to build my library. This also gives me things to read on a regular basis. 

2009

Well here I am again, although I don't have much to say. I invited some of my nieces and nephews over for Christmas break and we had fun. It's nice that I have some game systems for them to play if I ever want time to myself. They can entertain themselves for hours that way. It was also nice because I had free babysitters for a little while. The part I enjoyed the most was having people around to play card games with. I don't get to do that very often anymore. 

It's a new year and I only have a couple of resolutions. One is to survive and the other is to try and exercise more. Abe and I just got the Wii Fit so I will get a chance to exercise and play. The nice thing is that I won't have to worry so much about Gwen. I can just put her in her room with a movie or something while I go at it. We'll see how it goes.