It's Possible...

It's possible, for a girl named Lyssa, to find the best deal in the world....(ok thank you Rogers and hemmerstien (sp))...Well, I am a lucky son of a jackel. Any one heard of Cricut? Probably all you scrappers out there...Have you heard of the new Expressions? They retail for like $499...that was until I stumbled onto a website that was selling them for $299...that's right, $299!! That's the same price as what the smaller one retails at! So Joe and I have discussed this possible purchase for me for a while and i've just been holding off, making sure it was something that I really wanted. So when I found that incredible deal, it swayed me to HECK YES I WANT IT! What was even better was free shipping! I ordered it on Wednesday and it'll be here on Saturday! This thing is going to revolutionize my scrapping skills. THis things is just awesome. It can cut images as large as 12 inches by like 30 inches! This is a teachers dream come true...which i'm not one but just saying, something like this would be great in the classroom. You gotta check out what this thing can do, which is alot! :) Well just had to express my excitement :)

My Favs

Thursday nights have always been great.  It has become our "date" night every week.  What do we do each week, you ask?  Well we gather around the good ol' reliable TV and watch NBC.  We love the thursday night line-up!  Last year, we lost some good ones, like The Office.  Who knows when that will be on again.  That was the highlight of the night but now, we've gone on to greener pastures.  30 Rock is HILARIOUS.  We love that show.  We also like My Name is Earl and Scrubs.  It's a win-win for all.  Well this year, Office is out.  To replace it is Chuck.  Has anyone seen this show?  It is our favorite.  It is hilarious and intriguing.  It used to be on on Mondays but with the new year, it moved to Thursdays and it further supports our love of Thursday night TV watching.  We have seen Chuck since the beginning and it's great.  This past week, they had a "Chuck Sandwich" line-up.  Chuck, Celebrity Apprentice (which is another one we've started watching a few weeks back) and then another Chuck!  It was great.  

So i'm going to go ahead and expose my crush that I have.  He is a little known actor named Shia LaBEOUF.  Did anyone ever watch "Even Stevens"?  Well that show in itself is hilarious and I loved watching it.  But he's the little brother that was hilarious.  But now he's all grown up and I think he is so cute!  He's been in a lot of movies in the past recent years, like, Holes,  I, Robot, Transformers and Disturbia.  We just watched Disturbia a few nights ago and yes, it was scary.  Anyways, I love how he acts and he's just really funny.  And I was serious about him being cute.  He's got really big lips :)  Ok, this might sound odd since I am married and all but it's just a friendly crush on an actor that I will never meet.  No harm there.  And he's also going to be in the upcoming Indiana Jones movie!  So excited about that:)

So I just wanted to indulge for a minute on my recent Favs :)

Oh and I took the girls to JC Penney's this morning for Kate's 6 month pictures and it went really well.  Emma even was content to take a few.  So I have a great one of the 2 of them.  They won't be done till Valentines day so once I get them, i'll post them.

He is in a Better Place

Well for those of you who haven't heard, which I feel at this point, probably most of you have, Gordon B Hinkley died this evening.  Christine called to tell me and at first, I was shocked.  I was just shocked at the news of it all.  Then when it sunk in, I realized that it was becoming quite evident that he was growing old..I mean, he was 97!!  What a legacy really.  I will miss him as our prophet.  He was such a great leader and did so much for this church.  I mean, with growth and temples?  He was the man for the job!  Obviously I feel close to him since he was "my" prophet growing up.  But he is in a better place, with his wife and ancestors who came before him.  I know that he is among the great men that have come upon the earth.  He can now converse with Christ, Joseph Smith and others, those whom he knew lived and died for this gospel.  With that perspective, he's probably living the life now huh?  His life will never be forgotten and he truly was an inspiration for me.  Thank you.

She went and Dun it...

The day after she turned 6 months old, she went ahead and rolled from her back to stomach!! These pictures are of the actual first roll!

Get that arm through!

Come on, so close!
Yeah she did it!

Big girl!
Phew! That's quite the work out! She's resting right now...
Emma trying to be like mommy...Joe helped her get dressed:)
It was a eventful weekend! Joe came down with the Flu Friday and Emma caught that on Sunday. So I've been taking care of 3 kids!! I'm a bit exhausted but they are both on the mend. I'm just glad it's a short week :)

Chubbs McKate No More...

Our fatty has been growing up. She is now 6 months old today!! I can't believe it's already been half a year since I had her. I feel like it was just barely but with 2 kids, things really go by so fast. I went to her 6 month docter's appointment and she is now sitting at 50% in both height and weight. Coming from 90% to 50% is quite a change. I'm actually really glad she's tapering off. I don't think I could handle picking her up! But she's great, happy and healthy! And to add, she sleep EXCELLENT last night. From 7 pm to 7 am. This is a big deal to me since for the past couple of weeks, she's been waking up between 5-6 and staying awake! I've been altering her schedule, cutting out a nap, making her fall asleep on her own and doing solids so there has been a lot going on! So I am just hoping and praying that all this altering is fixing the problem :)

At 6 months, she is sitting up with assistance. She's eating solids just fine. Twisting all around. Grabbing her legs and feet. Almost rolling from back to tummy. Grabs things and puts them in her mouth. Babbles and laughs with Emma. Overall, she's just getting more interested in the world around her. She's much more alert and aware of us. We love her so much! I am so blessed to have her in our family. She brings such a sweet, beautiful presence in our home. Happy 6 months Kate!

I came into her room after she took a nap because she sounded distressed. I found her like this, trying to "eat" the bars of the crib. She's so silly!

Emma is trying to get me to turn on the TV. "Watch six, seven eight". LOL when she tries to say "this", it turns into "six" which she then continues the counting. She's hilarious.

She is still "Chubbs McKate" to me with those cheeks! And I have to credit my sister, Jenny, for that nickname. I love it :)

There goes another one...

nother member of the original "SA girls" has left us. Ok we didn't have a name like that but she's live here longer than most of us here pictured. Jamie Smith and her family moved this past week to a new life and new civilization....(Star Trek anyone?) So we had a "one last bash" party in honor of her. Jami Black and Linsay Jarvis put this all together. They first went out to eat at the Olive Garden, which I wasn't able to attend but luckily the party didn't end there. Afterwards, some of the "night owls" went to Linsay's house to eat Pizookies and play some games...k any of you who hasn't had Pizookies are really missing out...But it was a blast. HEre's the crew:

Back L to R: Jill Monica, Linsay, Ann
Mid L to R: Me, Hillery, Jazmin, Jenni
Front L to R: Jamie, Christine, Jami

Here's some "Cosmopolitan" looking pictures they were taking of us...

Me and Jamie, with Jami laughing at us

Man, why aren't I a model already? :P
Jamie, Christine, and Jami
Jenni, Hillery and Jill

Jamie and mha

Playing PIT, which is the coolest game ever. You've never seen me out of control until I play this game...

After playing "PiT"...get the connection? PIT = arm PIT... I know, we are really silly

Jamie, we'll miss you guys! I hope you find new and fun experiences in Palestine!! I'm glad we had one last hoorah before you left. :)

Everyday Living

So from having 2 kids, i've gotten into some bad parenting habits...one in particular is TV watching. I have used TV as a way to distract Emma while I take care of Kate, do dishes, work on hobbies or just need a break...pretty much anything that I need or want to do. But now, almost 6 months later, and it's just out of hand! I feel so crappy when we have the TV on all day. I won't even tell you how many Disney movies I have memorized! So after talking to friend (thank you for ideas!), I've decided to go cold turkey on TV watching. I have so many things around the house that Emma can do to keep busy! I think i've just lost confidence in my mothering skills so I had TV do it for me...But not any more!! Ok so i'm not going to go totally bizerk and watch NO TV but on occasion, i'll allow Emma to watch it here and there. So that's just one of my goals for the year 2008.
Kate is doing great eating solids. We're still on rice cereal but she's starting to get the hang of it and really inhailing it. Here's her ready for action:

Playing with the girls. Emma is doing great with Kate now. She always talks with her and plays toys with her. Kate is now actually responding or reacting to her so I think it's a win-win for all!

Jaime, this one's for you,..meaning, I told you that I'd take a picture of what I was working on today so here it is :) This is for a baby shower present

And by golly, I did this page yesterday. I"m pretty surprised at myself, I did another page!

I"ve been itching to scrapbook again. Yesterday while the kids were napping, I was able to do a page...now if only I could do one page a day!
And here are a few other things i've done lately.

As you might have noticed, I had similar designs...I really love how this looks and the colors too...so I did a few things similar :)

Sledding

I just love how Emma looks in this

2007 Christmas Break

Well, you've asked for it so here are the gazillion pictures from our vacation to Utah...enjoy:)

THis is actually the day before we left..I just thought it was a cute one of them :)
First day outside in Utah...freezing! Heading to my sister, Katie's, house

That's just gross....Jenny got tongue-lashed
Chef Emma


Grandpa and Kate
Grandma and Emma
Emma's first snow adventure! Daddy getting her all suited up

Katie and Kate :)

Nephews Carter and Collin
Grandpa and Carter in snowball fight
Mike, Katie and Abby

Emma Sledding!
Me....what? I'm just getting a picture of the mountains!

Kindra and Katie
Christmas Eve Day!

Blizzard!! We were going to go to Temple square that night but the weather told us otherwise
Having fun indoor times for Christmas Eve,
Emma and her cousin, Abby
Emma, Carter and Abby
My Brother, Jake's, kids, Collin and Abby
Brother JC and Emma

Me and Kate
Christmas day! We didn't open presents till noon. We first headed to Katie's to see what her kids got.

Me and Jenny, looking smokin' hot

Christmas Day view of all the presents!!

Here's the front room of my house, with my mom's special tree and her houses that she collects...obsessed much?
Emma opening a present
A book! She loves it :)
Abby showing off the tutu I made for her...she looks just like Jake when he was a baby!
Kindra modeling the tutu I made for her! Purple is her favorite color!

Kate was asleep during the opening part so this is her just waking up!
Here's the Zimmerman Family Christmas Day 2007!

Emma is a little sneak. She found a huge candy bar in my bag one morning while Joe was "watching" her. She unwrapped it and started eating it before Joe found her like this!

Our neighbor has horses and allowed us to come visit and feed them. Emma trekking down to the horses

And a classic "kid eating snow" picture

Auntie Jenny playing with my girls...Jenny is so good with the kids!

Ok so here's a picture of our first "home" for Joe and I in Provo...we lived down in the basement, the front half...it was SOOO small and pretty much clasterphobic...But at the time, we couldn't complain: 1 bedroom apt for $350!
One afternoon we all went to the movies and saw national Treasure 2. It's a familiy tradition to go to the movies on holiday breaks.

Here's the "Terry Original": Jake, John-Charles, Michael, Katie, Jenny and Me :)

Great times!

One evening, Joe and I went bowling. We went to Jack and Jill's bowling alley, which is the local alley where i'm from. I'm not posting scores because we promised eachother not to :)

Next morning we went to Cabela's in Lehi for Emma to explore. Huge store and fun stuff...lots of animals..

Last night there, we had our last family dinner at the Smokehouse...pretty good stuff. Joe and I were excited to share a Chicken Alfredo pizza but was a little disappointed...(The best we've ever had is the homemade "Green Mountain Pizza" which thank you Jaime for introducing us to that!!)

Here's a cute pic of Emma, Kindra and Collin on the window ledge..somewhere where they're not supposed to be!!
After dinner, for dessert, a few of us hit the "C.O.N.E" (Creamery on Ninth East). I frequently went here during my studies at BYU and also worked there for about a year...I probably gained too many lbs. working there! But it was delicious! Nothing bests BYU ice cream!

So there you have it! Our fun times in Utah! We honestly don't know the next time we'll venture out there so i'm glad we were able to this year! Thanks Dad!!