Everyone needs a place to call home.

Some just prefer to settle in crazier places than others.

I'm sure glad we bought a home that has a room just for Mikayla and painted it pink and decorated it all girly.  Just for her.  And she prefers our shower.

Kisses anyone?

Just thought I'd ask.

The Scoop

So, we are in our new place and settled for the most part and LOVING it!!!  We are having so much fun playing house and unpacking all of our belongings that have been lost in boxes for a year.  It's almost like Christmas!  Almost. : )  We have have most everything unpacked, but decorating has been a little slower.  "We're working on it!"  I took some pictures yesterday to send to my brother and since people have been bugging me about when I'm going to post something I thought I'd put the pictures I sent him up on the blog.  It is by no means a finished product, but at least you can get an idea of what our house is looking like.  Sorry in advance about the terrible lighting on the house pictures.

The living room...this is the view you see when you walk into the house.

The living room view from the dining room.

This is the den/playroom that is right off of the living room.  It's kind of a terracotta color.

Dining room right off the kitchen (the door you see to the left is our bedroom).

The best kitchen EVER! 

Our bedroom...the plan is for it to be an African themed room and decorate it with stuff from Dustin's mission.

Mikayla's room is still a work in progress, but it is bright pink (the picture makes it look dark and orangey or something, but it's not) and we are going to put up a white chair rail between the pink and the stripes.  

The other bedroom is filled with books and pictures and stuff.  It's officially labeled "the boys room".  It's Dustin's hope for a masculine addition to all the pink that comes with Mikayla.

And, what's a post without this face?!

This was Dustin's quote of the century yesterday:

"Take all the feminine stereotypes and put them in one little body, douse it with a little bit of spunk and you have Mikayla.  Luckily, her Dad has a little bit of influence and gave her really bad hair and a love for dirt."

Does that imply that I gave her all the feminine stereotypes?  Just wondering.  Don't answer that question.

There you have it.  That's the update from our neck of the woods.

Moments That Matter Most

This video made me so happy to watch and is a great reminder of the things that matter most...

Let's Talk Business.

Being a business woman is hard work.  Ask Mikayla, she should know.  There are SO many things you have to do each day to play the part.

You have to make lots of important phone calls (in this case, resorting to a SPOON of all things to make the calls go through-what is this world coming to?!).

You spend all day in your "office" dealing with the junk piled on (or under as the case may be) your desk.

Sometimes dealing with all the junk that piles up requires you to make a bigger mess before you can make any progress.

Reading all kinds of VERY important papers is one of the most serious jobs around.

At times, the work load gets so heavy it requires a third hand (or mouth) to get a handle on it all.

Most days, you're so busy you don't even have time to sit down and eat a real meal.

The hardest part of all?  Dressing the part.  You can never take dressing the part of a business woman lightly.  Accessories are a must.

Dressing the part requires so much effort that sometimes it just isn't worth smiling about.

It could wear a person out!

And finally, good friends are a must if you're going to make it through the day.

Thank you, Mrs. Bear and silk flowers for being the best friends a girl could ever ask for.  You make the life of a busy business woman bearable.

My Shadow

We got the keys to our house and an hour later started destroying the walls trying to figure out what colors we were going to paint.  Needless to say, Mikayla went to the paint store a few times with me to get different colors to try out.  She caught on quick to the name of the game.

We LOVE paint swatches!

Here's a sneak peak at our colors.  Don't be scared.  They'll be awesome. : )

I couldn't get the color for Mikayla's room to copy.  Let's just say that the name of it is "First Love".  Ya, it's that cool.

Paint this week and move-in on Saturday!

By the way, how about Mikayla's bed head this morning?  I can't get a picture that does it justice, but you can get the idea!

A smile to my face.

I love looking in the rear view mirror.  It's never where it's supposed to be because I have to position it just right to see this:

It makes me happy.  I love her to death.

By the way, how 'bout her outfit?!

Random story...I just went to get Mikayla up from a nap because I heard her squealing.  When I went in to her room all the blankets, pillows, etc. from her bed were on the floor and she was SO excited because she found the flower print on her mattress.  She just kept pointing at the imprinted flowers over and over again and squealing with delight. BEST DAY EVER!!!

Because some days are just hard.

(not saying today has been hard or bad, these messages have been just what I've needed lately on some tougher days and I thought I would share)

Tips for Proper Flower Enjoyment

When few things bring you more joy in life than a flower you learn quickly how to properly enjoy them.  We'd thought we'd share a few tips with you in case becoming a flower connoisseur (or something of the sort) is on the top of your "to do" list.

Pick 'em.  Just like boogers...

The best spot for a flower is in your hair.  This is best done by "fluffing" the flower up to your "hair" (or next to your ear if you don't have much hair) and saying "woo-u-woo-u" (as in that is SO pretty!).

The more the merrier.  Keep on picking 'em.

Sometimes you just gotta take a taste and make sure you got a good one.  Like I said, just like boogers...

Just in case you forgot, flowers go in your hair. ;)

Take time to smell 'em.  This is best done by scrunching up your whole face and stuffing the flower in your nose, then let everyone around you take turns smelling your flower by stuffing it in their face over and over again.  Gotta share a good thing.

Hold on tight.  Don't let something good slip away from you because

it will bring you pure joy.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the black eye is not essential in the flower enjoying process.

I know kids get obsessed with things, but this flower obsession things is out of control!  Let me give you a few examples:

-She goes through the ads in the mail the other day and out of all the things she could find in them she finds flowers on a picture of Miracle Gro in the Ace Hardware ad and is ecstatic about it .  Seriously?!

-I literally can't take her in Michaels, JoAnn's, Home Depot, the Dollar Tree...anywhere with fake or real flowers because she yells out "eeeeeeessseeee" (her word for please, but said seriously like George of the Jungle when he is swinging through the trees) while signing please (rubbing her hand in circles around her tummy) the WHOLE time and everyone looks at me like I'm starving her to death because she is rubbing her tummy and screaming.

-She carries around petals that have fallen out of the fake flowers in her hair bows all day long in the fist of her hand, even when she is crawling, and lets out a shrill scream every time she remembers it is there and gets SO excited.

-I know I've said this before, but she can spot flowers from a mile away, even if they are tiny.

-She discovered the flower print on the shirt she is wearing in these pictures and dragged it around with her like she'd just won the lottery (they did have glitter on them and were pretty fancy, in her defense).

-I find her trying to get in her dresser drawer that houses all of her hair flowers and begging for a flower (remember the obnoxious "PLEASE" ritual described above?  Repeat that here.) ALL day long.

The best part though?  A silly flower, or any portion of a destroyed flower, can keep her occupied for the longest time.  Simple pleasures.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!

Signed our life away... but we are now the proud owners of a BRAND NEW HOUSE!!!!

A Weekend for 2

Fud+Dud+Phoenix-Mikayla=A weekend for 2

  Our little Button is away in the mountains with her grandparents being spoiled completely rotten.  She is having the time of her life and we've had the time of our lives.  

We've pretended we had no cares in this world for 3 full days.

We went out to eat.

We went to the movies.

We watched TV and read all night, then slept all morning.

We sat in the hot tub.

We walked around the lake.

We went to the temple.

We went shopping.

We went to the zoo.

We've done whatever we wanted all weekend long.

We didn't take a single picture to document, but believe me-it was bliss.

In honor of our shopping adventures, here's a couple pictures from last week to liven things up...

She's taking a few steps at a time now (about time at 16 months, right?!).  Recognize the prized item in the cart?! ;)

We aren't sure when she's going to honor us with her presence again, but until then we'll enjoy not knowing what to do with all our free...thank you Grandad and Nanny Jill for the vacation!

More Progress

A week from tomorrow we sign papers on the house!  Yipee skipee!  Here's some pictures of the kitchen and living room because those are the rooms that have actually changed a little bit (i.e. kitchen counters, appliances, and carpet!).

I spy Mikayla's flower on the floor!