aunt lannie visits!

my mom's eldest sister, my aunt leann {or aunt lannie} was in town with my uncle jim who was here on business. i of course saw her at my mother's funeral, but other then that i haven't seen her in years because they moved from oregon sometime ago. she was staying downtown so paisley and i headed to their hotel for the afternoon. we didn't even leave the room, we just sat and talked and entertained paisley. it was so great to catch up with her. i love being in san diego and feel lucky to have so much of chris's family close, however it was really great to see some of my family. someone who remembers when i was little and knows all about my childhood and my parents. it meant a lot to see some of my family.

paisley loved getting up on the couch and then jumping down with aunt lannie's help, i think we about wore her out!

without my mom giving me all the family news i have felt somewhat disconnected, so it was really great to see one of my aunts and here updates. i miss my family. i miss our christmas parties, i miss playing at the cabin, i miss going to school with my cousins, i miss my family.

i miss my mom.

not having her makes me miss my family and those times even more. i want to be around people who knew my mom, who loved her, who have stories to tell. i am so looking forward to our family reunion this july. i hope as many cousins can come as possible. i know it will be a real lift in my spirits.

{i know you want house updates, but there isn't too much to show yet-we are doing more then originally planned, things are taking a bit longer, but they are moving and hopefully soon i will have some 'after' pictures to show you!}

baby carson is here!

three weeks ago tonight baby carson was born{yikes! that shows how far behind i am!} steph did so great and so did carson. things have been going pretty well, pretty normal in that they will have one good night and then a bad night...but they are handling well and loving being parents! stephanie is a great momma and we feel so blessed {and super excited!} that they live here so that we can be a part of their lives.

steph has already been wearing normal jeans{try not to hate her} and is doing REALLY well. i guess i have a never been close enough to someone to know what the recovery is like from a normal delivery, but compared to my c-section recovery she is doing amazing. {i am trying not to be jealous!}

baby carson is a sweetie and paisley just loves him. she is actually doing really well with just looking and not touching. we love him!

i heart h&m

i feel in love with h&m when i went to europe for a semester and they rarely disappoint me. the mall closest to me recently opened a big h&m that has everything-including baby and kids clothes, and i love them! they are inexpensive and super cute. i think i paid $3 for these leggings and the sweater dress wasn't too much either. hooray for san diego shopping!

trying to get a smile with my baby...

this is the best we got for the day:

another hair style

one day paisley started out like this:

{don't you just love her skinny jeans, i do!}

and then i tried this:

i figured if she had enough for pigtails, she had enough for a top little ponytail. i love the bow right smack on top of her head.

my little cutie, i love having different things to do with her hair!

drumroll please.......pigtails!

i am so very excited to announce that i can now get pigtails into paisley's hair! this was an exciting day and i totally took way too many pictures. aren't they the cutest little piggy tails!

and yes i totally gave her a binkie and put on baby enstien so that she would be still enough for me to do them.

here they are with bows! i love it!

paisley is now officially in a size 5 shoe. she is growing up so fast! i decided to switch it up a bit this time and do silver shoes instead of pink, i love sparkles!

my big girl!

i love this baby! {or toddler, wow that is scary to think}

box climbing

this is what my house looked like for about 2 weeks while we packed. it was craziness and so annoying to be living in the chaos, luckily my little paisley was able to find a silver lining: box climbing. she has always been a climber but i don't think we had anything that was hard enough for her before, this pile of boxes was perfect and she loved to climb up and slide down....all day long.

{just ignore my cheesy mom narration, why do i feel the need to talk/explain when i am recording video??}

{sorry the video is sideways, i can't figure out how to change it, if you know-tell me!}

grandma jensen turns 87

to celebrate we all went to outback steakhouse and to my surprise, they had a gluten free menu-awesome! we love grandma jensen and are happy to be closer to her, we are especially lucky that chris works a few blocks from where she lives so he goes to lunch with her once a week or so. {which gives her a lot of street cred having a handsome grandson come to lunch regularly!}

some how i only got one picture from the night, dj, grandma and robin.

gtm

gtm is a store in san diego that i just love. it isn't my typical boutique type but rather an outlet, that has pretty sweet stuff and crazy good deals. {gtm is basically the outlet of costco} there are some stores that i really miss in utah, but generally the selection is way better in san diego and gtm is one of those that makes me happy to live here. i scored this adorable osh gosh sweater the last time we went. i just love the cheery stripes!

i also picked up this little set for a few dollars, as you can tell paisley loves the shopping as much as i do, just look at those face expressions!

primary drive in movies

for our first quarter activity for primary we did a drive-in movie-it was so cute and super easy, plus the kiddos loved it. they all brought 'cars' that they made prior to the event and then made tickets once they got there. they had a ticket for the movie, for popcorn and for a drink. then they got in line to enter the "theatre."

i was very impressed with the creativity of some of the cars, these kids are so cute! once inside the theatre they went to the concession stand for their popcorn and drink and then went back to their cars for the movie to begin. we showed some of the old school short disney movies. i had forgotten how much i love those.

this car had side mirrors and a real license plate.

all settled in watching the movie, i will miss being in primary and serving these sweet kiddos!

dirt, dirt, dirty!

this is what happens when i am distracted trying to pack, answering the phone and then answering the door. i thought the back yard was a relatively clean place to play, what with our fake grass and all, but no, she found the sitting water in the flower pot and went to town.

don't be jealous. this picture makes me laugh every time i see it. i asked her to smile and got this:

she had a great time and was so happy, she wanted to come and tell me all about it. only problem was that i was still in the house, so it got a bit dirty.

this little lady knows how to have a good time! and i think this shows how well she will adapt to country life, she will love ramona!

waking up

is not easy, i have the hardest time getting out of bed just about everyday and it looks like paisley girl might have the same problem. she slept in one morning so had to be taken strait from bed to the car, she was still so out of it and her face was covered with sleep lines.

oh and by the way, i am in trouble, big trouble because this is how tall my daughter is now:

which means anything on the edge of the counter or table is no longer safe. awesome. also, she can reach door knobs and handles. my life just got a bit more hectic.

3 years

in february chris and i celebrated our 3 year anniversary. it was wonderful to have a night out to ourselves. i would be lying if i said this last year has been easy, but i do know that i would not have made it without the love and support of my wonderful husband chris. before my mom passed away, her sisters' asked her if she was worried about leaving me, and she said she wasn't because i have chris and chris's family. i feel so blessed to have him in my life and to have eternity to share. i love him!

we were fortunate to have some gift cards to flemings, the food was insane, it was so good. of course chris got the bone-in and i got filet mignon -both super tasty. {what you ask is that massive cheese brick in between our plates?? oh its a little something called fleming potatoes, super cheesy and super good!}

this man loves him some meat.

enjoyed each bit, mmmm!

we had creme brulee for dessert, it was fab. and don't worry it came with a whole bowl of whipped cream, too much i originally thought....oh no, we ate the entire thing!

they brought out a cute box with candle for our anniversary with 4 truffles in it, so thoughtful!

i would highly recommend flemings, we loved it!