Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

I wanted to hurry and make this post before I forget all the sweet little things about Kaiya from the last night and this morning.

Last Night poor Brett had to work. But Kaiya and I were invited for dinner at a friends house. She made us such a great dinner and it was nice to enjoy time with friends. Afterward Kaiya and I took cookies, brownies and peanut butter popcorn to Brett'"s work along with some drinks. I thought it was so cute on the way out the door Kaiya turned and told the security guard "Merry Christmas" She also made sure to put many smiles on the elderly (Brett works in a nursing home) telling them all she needed to go to bed cause Santa was coming. When we got home Kaiya got on her Christmas PJ's and posed for some pictures. When she went to bed she told me "Mom Santa is coming to town" When Brett got home we turned on a Christmas Story and started putting together Kaiya's Tinker Bell Cafe and setting everything up.







Christmas Morning

Man Kaiya was sooo funny. This morning I went in her room when she woke up and she said good morning Mom Santa came. I took her to the bathroom and then we went back in her room to wait for Daddy. We had a family prayer Wishing Jesus a Happy Birthday and to thank him for all that his life is to us. Then I went into the family room with the camera to get ready for Kaiya. We told her to come in that Santa had been here. Well the way our family room is set up is that she would have to walk around a couch before she could see anything. But instead of just walking around out Kaiya peeked her head up over it.



Once she saw the toys she came running around.


She ran up to the kitchen but then she did the funniest thing. She must have been a little overwhelmed because she backed up stood and stared and then made a run for it.


I heard a door slam and went to check. Kaiya had shut her self up in the bathroom with the light off. She wouldn't come out again until I came and got her. It didn't take long for her to warm up though. We all enjoyed the rest of the morning opening presents. After we were done I made Breakfast and now Kaiya and Daddy are playing on the floor while I update this blog.








We truly have been blessed this year. We had our trials but as usual we have come out stronger. I am so grateful for Mary and her courage to be the Mother to our Savior. I am so grateful to Jesus and his life and the example he is to. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

Jingle Bells

Kaiya has LOVED this song this year. Anytime she hears a bell ring she burst into song singing Jingle Bells. You may have to turn you volume up to hear it. She got shy when I started videoing

The stockings are Hung.....

This has been such a busy time of year, but oh how much I LOVE this time of year. I wish I could leave up the christmas decorations all year long. This year has been such a time to reflect on life and all that God has truly blessed me with. I am most grateful for the Savior and what he's life and sacrifice did for me. I have had a few people I know lose love ones lately. My heart just aches for them. I haven't always been able to stay in the greatest contact with friends, but I am so grateful for the examples and the friendships that they haven given me in my life that it just make so sad to see them go through such hard times. But I have faith and hope for them because of the Savior I know that their families will all get to be together again for eternity!

I am also grateful for family. I love my little family ( Brett and Kaiya) and for all of our extended family. We have truly been blessed to have such great love and support in our lives. Last weekend my parents got the chance to come out and visit us. It was so nice to be able to show them where we live and just be able to sit around and watch them interact with Kaiya. Also the day after Christmas through the 2nd of January we get to spend a week in TN with Brett's entire family. I am so happy we get the chance to still be part of each others lives.

I am so grateful for the chance I have to stay home with Kaiya. She teaches me knew things everyday. I am grateful for my talent of sewing that helps me to get to stay home and my husband who goes to work, even though he doesn't enjoy it currently, to help take care of our family. I truly am blessed!

40 Skirts in 3 Days

What was I thinking! I had actually planned on doing 20 and some home tricked myself into 40. But I am so excited to say I got it done, and with a day to spare. But no fear I have found plenty of other things to fill that day up with. It seems like lately I stay plenty busy. Also Brett got a job! This is a good/bad thing. Obviously it's good cause we need the money and it's great that he was able to find work. He is going to be working as a CNA. What is bad is that I will SOOO miss having him home. It has been great and has really helped me to get my little store going. I will really miss him while I try to juggle being Mom, student and Business woman. But some how I know it will all just work out!

Happy Halloween

We love halloween, who couldn't. Our neighbors really get into it with a very haunted yard and it just is so contagious. I will have to post pictures tomorrow of the yards. But I thought I would post about our halloween festivities so far. We had a Really Fun halloween party on Friday night with tons of friends and their kids. We BBQ and had lots of fun scary snacks. I made eyeballs. They were suppose to be covered in white chocolate but I couldn't get it to melt right. Oh well I thought they still turned out pretty cool. Kaiya was tinker bell. How could she not be with her littleness and her blonde hair. She loved it and told everyone that she was tinker bell. Tonight we went to the church where we had our annual Chilli Cook off and trunk or treat. It was so much fun. We have really enjoyed being part of such a wonderful ward here in Wilmington. Well enough with the chatting and on to the pictures.


My Cute little Tinkerbell!


Love my Tinkerbell just wish her eyes were open :)


There is a new Sheriff in town


Our scary trunk, Thanks to the neighbors for letting us use their props.


Brett did such a good job on his Pumpkin this year!


Yummy Eyeballs

She caught on so well this year to saying "trick or treat" She even said "Thank You" when she got her candy.

Give Away

So my Friend Melanie is doing an AWESOME giveaway! She makes the cutest hats and arm warmers. Kaiya actually has one of each and LOVES them. She always is telling me how cute she is when she is wearing them. She also has a store on etsy, so ya'll should check out her blog to enter the giveaway and her etsy store to shop shop shop cause we all know christmas is coming and these will make great christmas presents.

teaniebabybeanie.blogspot.com

www.etsy.com/shop/sosoftandcuddly.

catch Up

I feel like I am always playing catch up on my blog. So so so much has happened. First off beginning of September Brett lost his job, he was laid off. That is what started everything in motion. He decided to go to CNA training and also decided to change his major to RN. It has been nice having him home, but I also feel more busy with him home. Speaking of busy, my etsy shop has been getting more busy and I LOVE it. But it keeps me so busy. On top of all of that we are still both in school full time. 16 credits this semester. If that wasn't enough to keep us busy there is always Kaiya too. She is growing up so fast. Now for the phone part Pictures. Here are some pictures I took of a new outfit, but I just loved them of Kaiya.

Free Dress

2 days left to enter my giveaway, DON'T Miss out. I am also going to do a Free skirt too. Check it out at www.sewdivineboutique.blogspot.com

I have also added new stuff to my etsy store

www.sewdivineboutique1.etsy.com

Free Give Away

Check it out I am doing a free Give away on my Sew Divine Boutique Blog. Got to

www.sewDivineBoutique.blogspot.com for all the details.

Open for business

AHHH so I finally decided to listen to the advice of friends and start up a etsy store for my little girl clothes. I am nervous about it, it's like putting your heart on the line. Anyways I am going to be start a blog for my store. But in the mean time here is my etsy store address

www.etsy.com/shop/SewDivineBoutique1

So if you know of anyone with little girls, or you have one or two or three ;) check it out. Also I do custom orders so just let me know.

Thanks for all the support!

Heather and Brian

Oh where to start, where to start. So Brett, Kaiya and I have been sooo lucky to have the most amazing neighbors anyone could ever ask for. They have become some of our best friends, and it is so fun to be able to have the right across the street from us. We can call them for anything. We get together for dinner quite often and play games. Its nice to be able to randomly text someone to come out and enjoy a heat lightning storm with you. We actually did that last week. All got our beach chairs sat out on the lawn and just hung out and talked and enjoyed the night. They LOVE Kaiya so much and have been so good to her. They are always there for us. They take us out on their jetski, bought me a bike, they even came over last night to watch kaiya so Brett and I could sneak out to the beach for a night together. But its not these things that make them the best neighbors ever, its that you know they are just the most kind people. They don't do it to get anything in return, they just sincerly care and with me not having any of my family living within a days drive its nice to feel like I have family across the street. So THANK YOU Heather and Brian for all you do

The ups and downs of summer.

Wow life has been BUSY lately, but to be honest I LOVE IT. This summer went soo fast. It started off with our 2 week vacation to Utah which was so needed and so much fun. We got to visit with a lot of friends and went to bear lake for about 4 days with my family. It was so nice for us to get to just relax and hang out with everyone. Brett and I LOVED watching Kaiya get to play with her Cousins. Kaiya in turned 2 while we were out there. Such a big girl! Brett was able to go horse back riding with my family ( I was prego at the time so I didn't get to :( ) We went exploring a cave and even though it was sooo cold even went to a water park where Brett, my brother in law Mark and my two brothers did a lot of platform diving. We got to visit the zoo while we were out there with our friends Celena and Travis and their cute little girl Reagan. We got to stay with our good friends the Calusons. I could go on and on about all the friends we saw and places we went, but needless to say it was nice.

Good times



Everyone in my family except my oldest Brother Travis his wife and their 3 kids.



I LOVE this picture of Kaiya, she is growing up so fast!



My Crazy brave husband...He's pretty rad!




We got to celebrate Father's day out in Utah too. It was a pretty relaxing day. After Church we went to the park. My Mom and Dad came with us. I love these pictures of Brett and Brett and Kaiya.






Once we got home from Utah life stayed pretty busy. As I posted before we found out the week after we got home that I had lost the baby. But that didn't seem to slow anything down. That weekend we Had Brett's sister Cathi and her husband Scott with their 4 kids down to go to the beach


Then we all went up to Bretts parents house for the 4th of July. I wish I had taken better pictures but none of them turned out all that great. But it was a ton of fun. Then we came home Monday Night and I had my surgery on Tuesday Morning. Then Brett's sister Rachel and her friend Catherine came down to help and and hit up the beach. It was a lot of fun, and great to have a distraction. The next weekend our plumbing went out, hey you got to have some bad mixed in with all that fun. The weekend after that Brett's sister Becky came down with her 3 kids and Rachel his other sister came again. Sadly Becky's husband couldn't make it, but well it didn't stop us from having a ton of fun. our AWESOME neighbors, which I will dedicate an entire entry to later, took us all out on their jetski for the day. We all had a good time, but after 6 hours we came home pretty burnt. What made it even worse was that our AC was out when we got home and didn't get fixed for a week lately.









The next weekend we house sat for some friends of ours at church. The weekend after that Brett's other sister ( yes another one, actually he has 7) came down with her husband and 3 girls. I didn't get any pictures :( but we had another great day at the beack, and once again our amazing neighbor showed up with her jetski allowing everyone to make some pretty great memories.

Oh and I had a birthday I forgot, but it was awesome. I made myself a raspberry cheesecake that was sooo good. We went out with our neighbors for Mexican food and then I went to the church to help out with our Youth Group. When I got home those same awesome neighbors were waiting for me with a Bike. Yes people that is right they worked it all out with my husband and they got me a Bike for my birthday. I am sooo lucky to have them in my life, and not just for the jet ski rides and the bike.

I keep waiting for everything to slow down but it hasn't yet. School started and that is keeping me just as busy as every. I also started a store on etsy and signed up to sell mary Kay. Yes I know I am crazy. Oh and I joined the book club. Brett is always trying to get me to slow down, I think he just might need to try a little harder :D

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I feel so domestic! I have been meaning to make this post for awhile now and I kept forgetting. We finally ran out of our last batch of homemade laundry detergent so I decided today would be the day to make more and post about it.

Okay so here is what you will need:
Water
Zote soap ( but I hear any bar of soap will do)
Borax
Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
5 gallon bucket


So to start you take a pan and boil 4 cups of water in it. While you are waiting for the water to boil you grade your bar of soap.


Then you turn down the stove to medium after the water has come to a boil and slowly start to add a little bit of your grated soap at a time. Continue to stir it until it all melts and turns into hot soapy water. By the way its way hot, I burnt my finger when it splashed on me so watch out!


This next step I think is easiest done in the bathtub. You take you 5 gallon bucket of water and fill it up half way with hot tap water. Then you are going to add 1 cup of Arm and Hammer washing soda, stir until it has dissolved. Next you will add 1/2 a cup of Borax and do the same. Last you will add your soapy water mixture to the bucket and stir. Fill the bucket the rest of the way and stir. Then you cover and let it sit for 24 hours. When you are done you will have a more solidified mixture.

Be sure to stir the mixture before every use. What I do is take my old laundry detergent bottle and just fill it with my mixture so I don't have a 5 gallon bucket next to my washing machine. Now if you want your laundry detergent to be extra strong you can leave the mixture just like this and use 1 cup per load. Another option is to fill your old laundry detergent bottle half way with water and then the rest with your mixture. This works just as well. Just make sure to shake the bottle before each use either way.


This works out to be about 2 dollars per 5/10 gallons depending on how you use it. Saves TONS of money and works awesome too!!

Those of you that try it let me know how it goes :)