Team Turnbow

2 year old Kash

2012-02-17T15:51:00.001-07:00

(Oh man I feel like I've written this before on this blog, maybe every post, but I'm so behind on all the things I need to blog about! Life has been crazy for us the past few months and I don't see things slowing down anytime soon. But it is important to me to document Kash's growth and changes because I LOVE looking back and reading what I wrote about him during that time in his life. I have a horrible memory and this helps me to remember my little boy and all the details of our adventures at each stage of his life. So anyway, I guess what I'm saying is I'm not giving up on this blog even if it sometimes feels like a chore and even if my posts are few and far between!)

Happy Birthday Kash!!!

Wow, two years old! As your mom I have the right to say this as many times as I want (clearly I have used this right plenty), but it seriously seems like we were bringing you home from the hospital just yesterday. And now you are running, hopping (a favorite of yours), jumping and crashing every where you go!

You are talking up a storm these days. It's awesome that you can just tell me what you are thinking now. It seems like every day you are learning a new word and surprising the pants off of me when you use it in the proper context. Famous Kash phrases:

"Too bad Mom/Dad"
"Time to make dinner?"
"Ummm, no!" (thanks for at least thinking about it)
"Juice me." (meaning you would like a drink)

You love playing with trucks and cars, but you do find it hard to do by yourself and usually prefer a partner by your side. You also still love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and it's fun to listen to you answer Mickey's questions and count along with him. You love playing with older kids. You are kind of a stinker to kids your age or younger but if there's a kid a few years older you are their shadow!

You are a good helper too! You love unloading the dishes, sweeping and wiping down any surface you can reach. You would probably do more too if it were safe and we let you.

Since your last update at 18 months I'd say your tantrums have gone down a little. It seems like we can reason with you a little bit more than six months ago. That's not to say you don't still have them and that you don't know how to be a little stinker sometimes, because you do!

Your dad seems to be your best friend. You get a burst of energy when he walks through the door at night and want to start playing immediately. And when he's not around you are asking about him all day, if I ask you where you think he is you say one of the three: church, work, or run and you are usually right! But it goes both ways your dad loves you so much and you are one lucky kid to have such an awesome dad!

I love you too Bubs! Although we have our moments where I think we both frustrate each other, you make me laugh each day with the new sayings, looks and ideas that you come up with. I love the moments when you are feeling extra sweet and will tell me you love me or give me a hug unprompted!

Happy birthday our little two year old!
Love,
Mom & Dad

rachel smith photography

2 Year Stats:
Weight--33lbs (90-95%)
Height--35 3/4" (80%)

featured!

2012-01-17T22:28:00.001-07:00

So, I'm pretty pumped that Kash's room has been featured by Design Dazzle, a design blog. Go check it out!

I've actually been following this blog, ironically, to get ideas for Kash's room ever since I found out I was pregnant over two years ago so I thought it was pretty cool that Toni asked me if she could feature this room.

Live it up little nursery because soon you will turn into a big boy room!

zoo lights

2012-01-09T20:40:00.001-07:00

Every year we talk and talk about going to see the zoo lights and never never do, but since this year Kash was older and was loving Christmas so much I made it a point to get us there.

I'd never seen that many people at the zoo, not even on a free day, but I'd say it was worth the wait. Kash had fun too ha, but he was a little disappointed at the fact that we were at the zoo but we weren't seeing any animals! He kept saying, "More nanimals? More nanimals?"

Kash thought it was pretty cool to kick the snow all night

zoo lights

2012-01-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

Kash thought it was pretty cool to kick the snow all night

oh target

2012-01-04T12:53:00.001-07:00

I interrupt what will be a long string a Christmas posts to bring you some amazing Target finds. The other day Karen and I were walking around Target when out of the corner of my eye I saw mustard yellow home decor. I know many (including Ms. Karen Turnbow) think mustard yellow is sick, but it's somehow my favorite color and I seem to incorporate it in my life as much as possible. So when I saw this aisle of adorable home decor I dragged Karen down it.

First thing that stole my heart was this pair of mustard lamps:

I would love this pair for our living room. We currently don't have any lighting in this room and I've been searching for the perfect lamps. Unfortunately at $50 a piece I might just buy some cheap ones and spray paint them.

Then I saw this lampshade and thought it would go perfectly in our bedroom on our night stands (on top of a lamp of course):

At 20 bucks a pop this one is more manageable.

And then this is the part that my sweet sister-in-law thought I had lost my mind.

All of these items were sitting on the shelf and I quickly threw them together and started screaming, "How cute would this be for a little girl's nursery!!!" Karen reminded me I wasn't pregnant and who knew if I would have a girl next. Her comments weren't registering and I seriously (and maybe still) contemplated buying this combo and saving it for the day I have a little girl. Luckily I left my wallet at home so that's as far as the crazy went. And since these pictures were all taken on my iTouch the colors aren't coming out as pretty, but I promise this combo is sweet in real life!

They also have these adorable pillows right now:

Cute right? I couldn't believe all the awesome finds in just one aisle! Unfortunately, these are just seasonal items and I'm sure they will go quickly. But if nothing else I've been inspired! You've really out done yourself this time Target!

ho ho mismas

2011-12-30T09:15:00.006-07:00

It's been really fun to watch Kash get into the spirit of Christmas this year and enjoy this holiday as much as I do. But I was a little nervous that when it came to the whole Santa deal it would be a different story. I mean that's how it is with most kids his age...and for good reason. Santa is a strange guy in a funny suit with a weird scratchy beard. I was fully prepared for Kash to kick and scream and say "down" but he didn't and I was shocked. Now I'm not saying he loved it (clearly the picture below shows he had no interest in Santa) but he didn't cry and that my friends is a success in my book.

A few weeks ago I was getting Kash ready for bed and I asked him, "What does Santa say?" I wasn't expecting an answer at all I was just making small holiday chit chat, but to my surprise Kash said, "Ho Ho Mismas!" with his hands on his belly and all. I about cried with excitement. I couldn't believe he knew that, U had no idea where he learned it! But looking back I think he got it from the Mickey Mouse holiday episode.

via Karen Turnbow

Year two of seeing Santa was a success!

cranberry cream pie

2011-12-21T13:04:00.002-07:00

When the holiday dinners, parties and pot lucks start to roll around this time of year my go to dessert is always Cranberry Cream Pie. In fact I've already made it three times this holiday season. I discovered this recipe online when Blaine and I spent our first married Thanksgiving together just the two of us. I googled a "Thanksgiving Cheesecake" due to Blaine's love of cheesecake and trying to impress him our first holiday together. This is what I found.

I love this recipe because:
a) it's super easy
b) I can get away with counting it as a pie but it doesn't taste like one
c) it's good.

Cranberry Cream Pie

3/4 C. sugar

2 t. cornstarch

1/4 C. cold water

2 C. cranberries

1 graham cracker crusts (pre-made 9 inches)

1 C. confectioner's sugar

1 t. vanilla

1 C. whipping cream, whipped

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and water until smooth. Add cranberries. Bring to a boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat; cook until berries pop, about 5 minutes. Set aside

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Fold in whipped cream. Spread evenly into pie shell. Top with cranberry mixture.

Chill for at least 4 hours. Store in refrigerator.

welcome to denver

2011-12-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

Oh what, you're sick of reading my Halloween post over and over? Fine here's a new one :)

The mid-west might not have beautiful mountains, fresh air or tolerable winters but one thing it does have is good shopping! This, next to family & friends of course, is the one thing I miss most about Illinois. I mean it was definitly an upgrade in the shopping department coming from Logan, UT but I was a little dissapointed when Denver (or Colorado--hey I'm willing to drive for some good deals) didn't have some of my favorite stores. But with the recent opening of IKEA, Stake n' Shake and now H&M I'm feeling more and more at home with each grand opening!

I do have to take some credit for the new shopping additions to Denver seeing as how I wrote a letter to both IKEA and H&M and they both wrote me back saying they would look into opening a store in this region.

I was so excited when H&M announced they were opening a store on the 16th Street Mall downtown. I would have prefered it to be in an actual mall, but I'll take whatever I can get. I love H&M for their great prices, unique yet simple style and adorable and affordable little boys clothes (it's so hard to find cute boy clothes for babies/toddlers!).

So a few weeks ago I dragged Karen to H&M with me. Here our our adventures:

Karen and I were SHOCKED when we walked up to the store and there was a line around the block!

the pretty new store!

the actually do sell cute clothes there despite what these pictures are displaying!

came out with some goods!

halloween

2011-11-16T14:54:00.007-07:00

I've kind of been putting this post off and it was actually Halloween that inspired the previous post. I didn't exactly have the best Halloween. I put too much pressure on myself to make every holiday perfect! I start planning for holidays about 3+ months in advance and this Halloween was no exception. This year I went to a million stores shopping for the perfect pieces for Kash's costume, I searched the internet for hours looking for ideas and then another few hours making his costume. So when things don't go perfect I'm naturally disappointed. I don't know why I do this to myself but I've been doing it a lot lately in all aspects of my life and then I don't live up to my unrealistic expectations and get so upset.

But it was a good lesson for me to realize that I need to live more in the moment with Kash and not get so frustrated with him. It's okay if he doesn't want to sit still and smile for the "perfect Halloween picture" and it's okay if he gets tired and cranky (I mean he's only one for heaven's sake) and it's okay if Blaine has to work because he's doing it for us...it's okay if everything doesn't play out as I had perfectly planned in my head.

Every time we tried to take his picture you would have thought someone said he could never watch Mickey Mouse again!

I felt like a really bad mom and that I put too much stress on everyone. But I'm just a mom-in-training and learning as I go. I was so glad my mom was here to help keep Kash as happy as possible and to give me a break when I needed it!

Kash really loved having my mom here and even dubbed her with nickname "Mama Shell"! And of course my mom loved every minute too.

Kash did enjoy "carving" pumpkins at Grandma and Grandpa Turnbow's house though. He thought it was fun to scoop out a pumpkin that Aunt Karen had already cleaned out and pretend to throw the seeds in the trash.

But I think Kash's favorite part of this holiday was handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters. He would get so excited every time the doorbell would ring. Although if it was someone his age at the door he wouldn't give them any candy...I guess he was a little envious that they were out trick-or-treating and he wasn't? Kash was also very very wild this night and hasn't been the same since Halloween haha. He was running around the house like a wild child, just yelling and laughing, he would put his head on the floor and push it a long until he would run into a wall and wouldn't sit still to save his life, and he only had two pieces of candy!

This happened to be my favorite night too. I loved that we got so many trick-or-treaters and that Kash had fun. My mom ran and got us Chipotle and we just stayed in and had a fun relaxing night. I definitely learned that I need to be more relaxed around the holidays and not put so much pressure on myself. Hopefully Christmas will go better :)

It's the little things...

2011-11-08T10:52:00.010-07:00

I swear making them this cute is for their own protection!

It's our goodbye kiss fest every morning as Kash leaves for Grandma Turnbows

I kiss Kash, Blaine kisses me and then Kash kisses dad, always resulting in an awkward face from dad

(sounds creepy but it's all on the cheek and I promise it's sweet)

It's Kash grabbing my cheeks to make sure I'm listening to him

It's Kash's sincere "sorry ma" after he's done something he shouldn't

It's Blaine's unexpected emails during the day that simply say "I love you."

It's Kash's developing sense of humor that keeps me laughing every day

It's laying in bed at night reviewing with Blaine all the awesome/weird things Kash did throughout the day

It's my Wednesdays off of work where I pretend I'm a stay-at-home mom and I play with my boy all day

It's Blaine working so hard for our family

It's my two best friends that are always there to make me laugh and make me feel like I'm doing my best for my family

I'm trying to remember it's the little things in life that count. Lately things have been crazy in our little family of three. We are still frantically trying to find a way for me to stay home, which means Blaine was been working extra hard which also means late nights and working on Saturdays. New church callings and crazy schedules. And we didn't think our life was hectic enough and decided to throw potty training in the mix. This has made me an irritable, cranky, no good mom.

So whether it's during my drive to work when I miss Kash terribly, or after a day full of Kash peeing in his pants, or Kash deciding that it's opposite day and doesn't listen to a single thing I say, I'm trying to remind myself of the little things. Kash has grown up so fast in the past two years and I feel like my mind is often filled with what went wrong during the day instead of all the things that went right, I don't want to look back with regret.

via

In this month of gratitude I want to remember how blessed I am to have the life I have. Blaine is an awesome dad and such a great support to me, Kash is more hilarious, sweet and fun than ever and Blaine and I both have amazing, supportive parents. I need to focus on all the great things I have in daily life as we try and accomplish our bigger life goals.

**obviously I know that life is hard and many people have it much harder. And in reality things aren't terrible for us right now, but the day to day things can drag me down and I've found for me it's so helpful to count my blessings each day so that one bad day doesn't spiral into a bad week, month, year, life.

wildcat mountain 10 mile run

2011-10-26T16:58:00.000-06:00

One of the things I love about Blaine (and also hate because I wish I was more like this) is that when he puts his mind to something he does it, no matter what. And so it was with this running bug that he's caught. Blaine told one of our friends, a pretty avid runner, that he wanted to run a marathon just to see if he could do it without training for it. His friend thought he was crazy and talked him into running in a shorter race with some training.

So that's what Blaine did, he signed up for the Wildcat Mountain 10 Mile Run. He started training and running almost every night...6 miles here, 8 miles there. I was so impressed. He would run almost every night after Kash was asleep no matter how tired he was, how cold it was or what kind of day he had he made sure that if he said he would run he would. This is where Blaine and I differ greatly. Never ever do I feel like I NEED to do something that isn't necessary, not saying this is a good thing but it's the way I am and that's why I admire Blaine's determination to do many things.

Anyway, the week of the race was perfect weather and we were sure that race day would be no exception. Well we were wrong. We woke up to rain and almost freezing temps. Blaine rode up with our friends that we also participating in the run and Kash and I were going to meet him up there. As we drove closer and closer to where the finish line was the rain turned into sleet which turned into snow. They should have changed the name of the race to Polar Bear Run because it was freezing. I felt so bad that he was running in freezing weather!

Finished! Note the battle wound from the crappy running conditions.

Blaine did an awesome job finishing 3rd for his age group and 4th overall. This was his first race, in freezing conditions and he did awesome!!! I'm so proud of him and I'm sure this won't be his last race!

These are our friends the Rowans. Don't worry he finished 1st overall and she was the 1st woman to finish. Yeah they are crazy good at running. I just sat in the car and ate snacks with Kash while these fools were burning millions of calories haha.

pumpkin fest 2011

2011-10-23T18:57:00.001-06:00

Oh man I feel like I'm pretty behind on this little blog of mine, but I have next week off of work so hopefully I'll get caught up on all of our recent activities.

The first weekend of October I ~~dragged~~ took my family to another fun year of Pumpkin Fest up in Golden, CO. I think I did a pretty good job of talking it up because as we pulled up to Pumpkin Fest Kash started yelling, "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!!!"

Kash is wearing one of Blaine's shirt from when he was little.

I think overall Kash had a lot of fun. He thought it was pretty cool to play in the dirt where the pumpkins were and of course he enjoyed the petting zoo. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have the dog races this year, hopefully they will be back next year.

This is always my favorite activity to kick off my favorite time of year! It's even more fun now that Kash sorta knows what's going on. I'm grateful that Blaine knows how important this is to me and goes with us every year! Love my little family!

Can you tell how much I love PF2011?

Yearly tradition

And look how much Kash has grown since last year. I love looking back and seeing how he's changed and remembering how he was. I'll be sad when the day comes that he won't indulge my love for all things holidays. But for now I'm living it up!

pinterest: pumpkin moss wreath

2011-10-07T22:16:00.002-06:00

Pinterest has changed my life. Okay so maybe that's not true, but it has enhanced it. I've been so inspired on how to decorate my house, how to dress better, cute ideas for Kash, etc. The latest "pin" that I've been obsessed with is a pumpkin moss wreath. I already have a fall wreath but I couldn't stop thinking about this one and how much I would love it on my front door. So I made it. There was no tutorial attached to the pin but it looked easy enough. And it was pretty simple, minus the fact that moss is the messiest thing in the world. Good thing I did this craft while Blaine was away!

original pinterest pin

I was actually surprised at how well mine turned out. Of course it's not AS cute as the Pinterest version (her bow is cuter, better pumpkins [I couldn't find ones as cute as hers and I thought it looked better with less--maybe I'm wrong on that one] and her moss looks a little better), but if you aren't comparing them side by side the Turnbow version can hold it's own. It actually makes me pretty happy to drive up to our house and see that cute little wreath hanging up.

Oh and did you notice that black door my wreath is hanging on? For those of you who are my Facebook friends know that I kind of went out on a whim and just decided one afternoon that I would paint my door black. I was a little nervous but it turned out awesome and I love it! It's little things like being able to paint my front door whatever color I want makes me so happy to be a homeowner!

First Pinterest inspired project turned out pretty well, many more to come I'm sure!

bear dance

2011-10-03T20:53:00.001-06:00

Oh what's that? You've been wondering what I've been doing lately and why I haven't been blogging? That's because we've been too busy hanging out with some bears. Okay I haven't but Blaine has and I've just been too obsessed with Pinterest to do anything else.

ANYWAY...a few weeks ago while Blaine was in a golf tournament at Bear Dance Golf Course in Larkspur, CO an actual bear decided to join him on the 7th hole (okay I don't know what hole it was, I begged Blaine to write this post since it was his experience but he refused and I thought it was cool so you are stuck with my version).

Here's the proof. Please enjoy the world's shortest video (look behind the little pond and you'll see Smokey):

I couldn't believe it when Blaine sent me pictures of a freakin bear so close to him. I would have died being that close to a bear, lucky for me my husband isn't as dramatic and lived to tell the tale.

Pretty cool living in the wild wild west.

day out with thomas

2011-09-14T13:46:00.000-06:00

Kash's two obsessions right now are baseball and trains, or choo choos as he likes to call them. So when I heard that THE Thomas the Train was coming to town I thought Kash would love it. Not that he really watches Thomas but he does have a book of Thomas that he loves combined with his love of trains I figured he would still be excited to meet Thomas.

Sadly none of us got much sleep the night before due to our lovely neighbor's dog who kept us up all night, needless to say Kash wasn't the only crabby one at this event. We even got 8:30am tickets in hopes that Kash would be in a really good mood, yeah not so much. But in between the lines, lines and more lines (my dreams of Disneyland were maybe crushed a little at this outing when I realized Kash has zero tolerance for a line) there were smiles and laughter of excitement to see Thomas.

Kash was so excited when our shuttle bus turned the corner and you could see Thomas' creepy face. He started clapping and yelling YAAAYYYY! The whole bus did in fact, it was cute!

But to keep it real this was how Kash was 87% of the time, dang neighbors and their stupid dog!

I'm still glad we went and that Kash did get excited to see Thomas and had a lot of fun riding the train!

etsy love: pennant necklace

2011-09-02T13:23:00.000-06:00

Pennants are all over the place and I've been in love with them for the last two years. I even included them in Kash's first nursery (even if they were a little girly, I loved them at the time and was blinded by the fact that I used feminine fabric for them).

The pennant trend might be on it's last leg, but they still make me smile every time I see one and I have a feeling this might always be the case.

I stumbled upon this necklace today and thought it was the cutest thing ever. I would probably get Kash's name on it or some other significant word or date instead of a city, but maybe I would get a city that was special to me like Logan (the place I met Blaine and the best friends of my life)...can you tell how decisive I am. :)

etsy shop: go seek

Just wanted to share a little etsy find with you guys! Happy Friday and better yet happy Labor Day weekend!

farmers market

2011-08-29T10:46:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to go to the farmers market all summer, but it seemed like our schedule never allowed it. Well I happened upon one last Saturday while running some errands with Kash. He was excited because of all the dogs and free samples, I think I was excited for the same reason. Oh and the fact that there was this big truck full of nothing but watermelon made me pretty happy as well! Next to the truck there were samples of the said watermelon and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a yellow one! Now I've seen white pumpkins and yellow cucumbers, but never have I seen the insides of a watermelon be yellow!

The one time I don't have my camera with me...

It actually tasted just like regular watermelon, which means it was awesome. Kash even thought so and asked for seconds, maybe I got both of us seconds. I didn't end up buying any because I didn't have any cash on me (minus my child of course) and wasn't really prepared for this impromptu stop. While we left empty handed I'm glad I was able to finally go to a farmers market before summer fades into fall!

1st Annual Turnbow Vacation

2011-08-24T22:06:00.000-06:00

That's right, "annual", I plan to make sure that the Turnbow side of our family get together once a year outside of holidays and birthdays for a fun family adventure... whether that be camping or Disneyland I don't care (my plan is if I keep saying we are all going to Disneyland it will happen one day).

gone fishin'

ANYWAY...a few weekends ago all of Blaine's family got together and we went camping up in Eagle, CO. And it was awesome!! Whenever I'm camping it brings back memories of when I was little and spending time with my dad. He loved/loves the outdoors and him and my mom would always take me fishing, hiking, camping, windsurfing, boating....whatever, we were always outside! So I was excited to introduce Kash to the great outdoors on this trip as well as be surrounded with family!

I loved our mornings in the tent!

So excited Joy brought us the best bread in the world!

Blaine and I were both a little nervous to take our curious, nap taking, energetic 18 month old camping. But Kash did awesome. He ate more dirt than I've ever seen a child consume and ended up with a small burn on his finger but he survived and maybe even had the time of his life. He was so excited to see Jocelyn get out of her car when we arrived, I couldn't get him out fast enough. And he followed her every move for the first 24 hours!

So where are we going next year Turnbows???? California? haha :)

Many more camping pictures can be seen here.

five years later

2011-08-19T23:17:00.001-06:00

Today is our five year wedding anniversary.

Five years ago today I thought I knew everything about marriage and what it took to make it work. Five years ago I was also barely 22 and thought I knew a lot about life. Turns out I didn't know much. And I know I have TONS more to learn. But there's something to be said about being married for five years, heck I've never even lived in the same house for five years. But what I do know five years later is that it's taken a lot of work to get to where we are at in our marriage now. We've learned the art of compromise. We've learned how to show love for one another even though our "love languages" are polar opposites. We've both learned how to communicate better (even though I have a degree in the subject :) ) We've learned to let the little things go and just get over them.

Blaine and I have really grown as a couple in the last five years and I think especially in the last year. I'm so proud of us. I think we have both changed in a lot of ways and put each other first.

I love you Blaine!

Here's a little montage (you know I can't resist a slide show of pictures set to music) of the last five years together, in no particular order, to a song we both love right now (I couldn't get your favorite part in there because we didn't have enough pictures, so just imagine us falling in love at ICON instead hahah).

lantern makeover

2011-08-03T12:37:00.002-06:00

Piece by piece my living room is coming together. Normally I'm not this slow about decorating, but I want to make sure I love every element in this room. Sometimes this means making an item over or waiting until I have enough money to buy what I really want.

Going through our spare bedroom which is filled with all my home decor that had more red, brown and tan undertones I saw my old lanterns that sat on our kitchen table in our old apartment. These were a wedding gift and I've always loved them but the style just didn't fit in any room of the house anymore. But I thought if I brightened them up they might work in our living room.

don't mind this ugly fireplace...it too will get it's own makeover one day!

So I went to Lowe's (we only go to Lowe's because it's down the street from our house, really we prefer Home Depot) and bought some silver metallic spraypaint. I was a little skeptical of painting these old lanterns. I wasn't sure if the paint was going to come out more gray than metallic or if it would stick and how I was going to work around all the glass. I taped all of the glass off and just started spraying, right away I loved it. I couldn't believe how shinny and pretty the paint looked.

I decided not to put the candles back in because they are really yellow looking, so I'm on the hunt for actual white candles. But overall I think they turned out pretty well and look a lot lighter and more fresh! Just don't look too close, I'm really impatient and can't wait for paint to dry and always take the tape off too early and muck things up.

Amazing what a little spray paint can do!

and finally....

2011-07-31T20:38:00.000-06:00

...IKEA opened here in Denver!!! I've waited a long time (almost 4 years) for this store to open and it did not disappoint. I grew up with IKEA so it's not like this is a new and exciting store to me. But lately I've been seeing cute/cheap design ideas on blogs and it killed me that I didn't have the same inexpensive options that my fellow bloggers had. Well not anymore!

I wasn't brave enough to go opening day but I did go 2 days later. I prepped myself for the Disneyland-like madness but it actually wasn't that bad. Sure there were a TON of people but there were also a lot of parking lot attendants and police and I was really surprised at how fast everything moved. In fact I was able to park right next to the elevator and there was only one person in front of me in the check out.

Kash also enjoyed himself. At first he was in awe of the hundreds of people. And then he was in awe of this train. We spent 15 minutes at this table while Kash just said "choo choo" over and over again. Needless to say that one came home with us!

A sucker did come in handy when the store seemed to never end. But I was surprised at how good he was during our TWO HOUR trip!

We ended up with some good stuff. Now I just need to save my pennies so I can afford to go back. Welcome to Colorado, IKEA! It's good to have ya!

stripes & smiles

2011-07-27T12:03:00.004-06:00

I finally got my act together and made the giant wall art for Kash's room that I've been thinking about for the past four months. This was a hard decision for me, as most of my home decorating decisions are, I thought maybe I would do a gallery wall or a giant quote and had a million ideas from blogs running through my head. But I finally settled on this:

Not the best quality picture, for some reason I can't take very good pictures of rooms!

It took me awhile to come up with the quote that fit Kash, but when I read this one I couldn't get it out of my head. Kash hasn't stopped bringing smiles to my face since the day I found out I was pregnant. And he himself was such a happy smiley baby from the beginning. This quote made sense for his room.

Obviously I missed the mark a little bit and this one is 10x better...but I tried!

My inspiration was this "Sunshine" wall hanging and I went from there. I bought a 4x4 ft board at Lowe's and had them cut it to 3x4. I then painted the first coat white. Then I cut large letters out of contact paper with my Cricut. The "you" was too big so sadly I had to freehand that one...so it didn't turn out as well as the rest of the words. I measured and stuck my letters on top of the white paint and spray painted the board with 2 coats of green spray paint. Then I sanded it a little bit to give it an aged look. This is the step I regret. I liked it a lot better before, now it just looks streaky and not aged at all. I should probably sand it a little more and maybe stain it but then I don't think that goes with the rest of the look of the room. So anyway, you probably didn't want to know all those steps but there they are. It was actually pretty easy, just a lot of steps and waiting for the paint to dry.

Oh and did you notice those awesome stripes? That's my favorite part of my house right now! I've been obsessed with stripes in home decor and was pretty proud of my self for being brave enough to put them on my wall.

Kash's room is almost complete now (minus the fact that his curtains still aren't up and I need to decorate the top of his dresser more oh and I want to make a new lampshade...okay so not almost done but getting there). Until he moves into a big bed and then I'm sure I'll have an itch to redecorate the entire room!

18 month old Kash

2011-07-24T21:39:00.003-06:00

Kash,

You have changed immensely since your 15 month check up. You say so many more words now, or partial words and you insist that your Aunt Karen's real name is DoDo. You've learned that yes ,yeah, is another response option to a question opposed to NO NO NO. This is heaven to my ears for some reason. You tend to leave the last letter or syllable off of words, i.e.-ba=bat or bath, poo=pool or poop, baball=baseball. You can see how this can be confusing from time to time, "What you have to poop or you want to go to the pool?" You are able to comprehend a lot more (sometimes more than you lead on, like when we ask you to pick up your toys and you just ignore us. I know you can hear us and understand us...nice try bubs), which is nice to feel like we can converse with you more.

You are able to do a lot more physically as well. You love to climb up on chairs or anything really. You are running faster, you attempt to hop (thanks to Grandma Shelley) and you are even getting the hang of swinging a bat!

All your teeth have come through and it looks like we'll be clear for the next 6 months till your 2 year molars show their faces. Hallelujah! And your teethy grin is kind of adorable!

And this part of the letter is to the Kash who will some day be a father of an 18 month old, so that when your precious baby turns into a little stinker you will know that your parents survived and so will you! Now it's not to say that you are an extremely hard toddler I actually think your behavior is right on for your age, it's just very clear you are learning about independence and the quickest way to get what you want. This is your dad's favorite stage, he loves that he can play with you and interact more. But for me I have a hard time when you throw a tantrum in the middle of the store, smack me in the face or when I tell you not to do something and you look me straight in the face and do the opposite. For some reason I take it personally. When I stop and think about it I know it's not personal, I just need to remember that in the moment.

Throwing a fit in the middle of the parking lot (on my birthday) because you thought the restaurant was in the other direction

At your 18 mo. check up the doctor asked if we felt like you had reached the "terrible twos" a little early, I think I screamed yes! But between the tantrums and screaming your way through church (oh yeah nursery wasn't the hit we thought it would be) there are tender moments where you say "momma" and give me some pats or run up and give me a hug. Or laugh your head off when I tell you your diaper stinks (you also think it's funny when people fart...all boy!), or laugh at your own jokes, or the way you get so excited to do the simplest things, those are the moments I live for. You definitely have a sweet, caring side to you. I love watching you grow and learn new things, it's just that discipline and not taking things personal have been a little harder for me than I thought. I'm not so sure I'm the laid back, easy going mom I once was. I felt really comfortable with the newborn stage, you learning to crawl and getting into everything and even a teething little 11 month old who was up all night were all things I handled just fine. Well, I don't feel as confident with the toddler stage. But we are both growing and learning together. Lucky for you you have your dad who doesn't seem to mind all of these things and a mom who loves you to death, just needs to adjust to this new stage in your life.

Sharing your drink we me because you just love me so so so much! ha

And even though you can be a handful I actually wouldn't change a thing. I think you are growing and developing just like you should and exploring this world with all the limits we put on you I'm sure is challenging. But you keep things exciting and still make me smile every. single. day.

Love you bubs!
Mom & Dad

Likes: Mickey Mouse, babies (although I think you just like seeing them at church, I don't think you'd like if one moved in with us), baseball, the moon, baths, water, unfortunately treats, dogs or any animals and being outside.

18 month stats:
Weight--30 lbs (95%)
Height--34" (90%)
Head--49.5 (90%)

update: Kash is now done with the pacifier! For the last 6 months he only would get it during naps/bedtime. But we just weaned him off! Such a big boy!

oh my word

2011-07-19T16:58:00.001-06:00

I was browsing through Pintrest today (feel free to follow me) and stumbled upon this and laughed out loud for five minutes. If there ever was a picture to illustrate my attempt at being crafty this is it! h.i.lar.ious! haha actually I'm still laughing so make that 10 minutes straight!

best holiday ever

2011-07-12T21:09:00.002-06:00

Just because I'm a little late on this post don't think for one second we didn't celebrate the fourth (in style)! We celebrated independence day Turnbow style and it didn't disappoint.

The Awful Waffle went off without a hitch this year. It was especially fun to watch Kash "help" in the set up and actually be able to interact and realize something really cool was going on. I thought he would love the jump castle but he kept saying it was too hot and preferred to enjoy the castle from the outside. And like always the sandbox was his favorite place!

In between the awful waffle and the fireworks we hung out around Blaine's parent's house, made some homemade peach ice cream, let the boys throw some pops/snappers and even caught a little Rocky marathon on TV. Good times had by all!

Then it was time to head to the fireworks. We had a cool spot this year right on a golf course. Perfect for a 1.5 yr old to burn some energy. Actually we were a little worried about how Kash would do with fireworks since it would be so late and loud. Turns out he thought they were pretty cool, but nothing compared to the moon and his baby cousin! Every 2 seconds Kash was pointing at the moon and saying, "a-moo". And then would check on Kieden in his carseat and then check on the moon. When we got home Kash was asleep and as Blaine was carrying him up to bed Kash semi-woke up said "a-moo" and then fell back to sleep. Kid is obsessed I tell you!

you'll always be my baby

2011-06-27T23:02:00.003-06:00

(cue Mariah Carey song...just kidding that would be creepy to apply to my child because it's more a song about your significant other)

I have a million other things I should post starting with Memorial Day and going through this last weekend, but tonight this is what's on my mind.

The last few nights Kash has been waking up a few hours after he goes to bed. Which is unusual for our all star sleeper. He goes to bed at 8:00pm like clock work every night and we usually never hear a peep from him until around 6:30am (I will always brag about how awesome Kash is about taking naps/going to bed, it amazes me every night that it's that easy!). But lately, like I said, he's been waking up a few hours after he's asleep. I blame this on the last few teeth that are breaking their way through.

Sunday nap

The thing is I've kinda loved the last few nights. I love that I can rock him back to sleep and witness his dark eyelashes rest on his cheeks. You see while Kash is great about going to sleep, he hasn't fell asleep in my arms since he was probably 4 months old.

I'm totally selfish and take a few extra minutes to rock him before I put him back in his crib. I think about how big he is and that he probably looks a little silly with his legs hanging off my lap. I think about how with my next child I will try and slow down time somehow. I think about how with my next baby (my little girl of course) I won't rush for her to reach the next milestone, I will enjoy the stage she is in.

I love these tender moments of just Kash and I rocking in his room, and him holding still long enough for me to snuggle him.

Here's to the last few teeth before the 2 year old molars come in. Here's to my Kash still being my baby!

escape artist

2011-06-17T21:26:00.001-06:00

Since my new calling Blaine takes Kash for the last two hours of church. Last Sunday when I met up with the boys after church Blaine says, "Kash sneaked into nursery today." My first thought was, that means you lost Kash, second Kash isn't exactly sneaky!

I guess Kash always plays in the back of the room during priesthood, I'm assuming that's the way he's least distracting. When Blaine turned around to check on him (really Blaine should be telling this story because I'm just making up things like he turned around, maybe he walked over--I don't know???) he wasn't there. He asked one of the guys where he went and the guy said out the door. Oh and you just watched a 1 yr old leave??? To his credit I guess it wasn't his day to watch him. This has never been a problem before because in the past Kash hasn't been strong enough to open the doors. He's strong enough.

So Blaine is walking around the church looking for our son and finds him sitting in the nursery at the table coloring! Who sneaks in to nursery? I thought kids screamed, cried and kicked their way out of that place.

At least now we know Kash is ready and will fit right in. Just four more Sundays and maybe Kash will actually enjoy church?

and just because I love this picture of Kash

Oh Kash, always up to something and making us laugh. I'm just glad Blaine lost him in church and not Walmart, that wouldn't have been so funny!

haunted house

2011-06-07T20:54:00.004-06:00

This picture isn't the best quality, it was starting to get dark. But maybe it is haunted? See the orb??

"Hey Mister is your house scary?" This is what one of the neighborhood kids asked Blaine tonight as we were getting ready to go on a walk. Blaine obviously said no, but the kid wasn't buying it. He told us, "everyone in the neighborhood thinks it's haunted and the girl in 3859 (house across the street) and I looked in the window once and it was scary!!"

It would have been nice to know our house was haunted 4 months ago!!! I was banking on this house to finally produce some trick-or-treaters, but doubt anyone is going to go to the "creepy" house for some free candy. Great.

I told the kid he should be scared because we were actually witches. He believed me! And then after the damage I had done I tried to convince him that it wasn't scary and told him to go look in the window, he refused! That's how scared this crazy kid was, he said he'd probably see a ghost with a gun! What? Weirdo! I finally talked him into looking in the window and on his way up to the house he jumped as a tree branch blew in the wind! hahaha I couldn't even handle it I laughed right in his face!

He then randomly rode off on his bike mid conversation and I'm sure any neighborhood rumors just got a whole lot worse after this kid's experience tonight.

Luckily we haven't had any hauntings, the only thing scary about this house is how that lawn is looking! But I do have to say Blaine has been working really hard on it and it's looking a lot better!

dear ikea,

2011-05-31T16:34:00.000-06:00

IKEA I-25 & County Line Rd. Denver, CO

I was wondering if you would be willing to open a little sooner than this fall. Don't get me wrong I'm very excited about your arrival to Denver...but I just wish your grand opening was a little sooner. You see we just bought our first home and there's lots of new space that needs your touch and your ginormous sign is kind of a tease!

For example I have big plans for this rug in my living room. Think something like this rug.

ERSLEV Rug, flatwoven

And this rug would look pretty cute in our basesment.

GISLEV Rug, low pile

It would have been nice to have had you around last weekend when we bought our new couch, because this one looks a lot more comfortable than the one we got...

KARLSTAD Sofa

Oh and I need about a million of your frames for a gallery wall up my stairs.

RIBBA Frame

So if there's any chance that your grand opening could move to June 1st I would be one happy customer.

Sincerely,
Desperate new home owner who wants her house to become a home

Jesus wants me? for a sunbeam

2011-05-18T21:24:00.002-06:00

That's right folks my new calling is a Sunbeam teacher! I've always wanted to be in the primary but actually felt a little overwhelmed when they asked me if I would accept. Of course I would but in the back of my head I was thinking, "Oh my gosh I don't even know what they do in primary. How old are Sunbeams? Why am I excited?" ha You see I never really went to primary. I mean from time to time Muttie would make me go (aka show up at my house and say I'm taking you to church...that's why I love her!) and it was so infrequent that each time I went was like the first day of school, awkward and scary. One of my only memories is standing at the pulpit in front of the congregation for the primary program (why they gave me, an inactive child, a speaking part I'll never understand) and freaking out so much that instead of reading my one line I just started crying and ran off of the stage! Poor 6 year old me! ha

Luckily my new calling hasn't gone that wrong...yet. I actually love it! It's my favorite calling I've ever had...who thought I'd ever love a calling? haha just kidding. I love being with the kids, I love sharing time and singing time (I'll finally know more than 3 primary songs!), and I love preparing the lessons.

Anyway I figured well if I'm in primary then I better get a "church bag", I mean that's what all of the other primary leaders have :) Okay so I'll make any excuse to get a new bag. I looked on etsy and there were some cute bags but I couldn't seem to justify the prices. So I made my own. I saw a print with "search, ponder and pray" on it a few weeks ago and it inspired me to make this. Hopefully the artist doesn't mind I totally copied her design, but I'm not reselling it, is that okay?

I just bought one of those cheap canvas bags from Michael's, covered the handles with some fabric from Hobby Lobby and created the yellow design in Illustrator and printed it on iron-on transfer paper. It was actually pretty easy and I love it. Sad thing is I don't think it's big enough and I'm probably going to have to upgrade, but it does the trick for now.

Oh and by the way this new calling means that Blaine has to endure the last few months with Kash for the last two hours of church before he "qualifies" for nursery! Not gonna lie I'm not crying over that one. Good luck Blaine!

dirty 30

2011-05-10T21:13:00.004-06:00

Okay so I'm not so sure there's too much "dirtiness" about being 30 (I just always hear people call it that), but I wouldn't know you'll have to ask Blaine...since it was his birthday and he turned the big 3-0!!!

Since it was a monumental birthday I wanted to do something a little extra special. I had miniature golf all planned out but the weather wasn't cooperating so the day before I had to come up with a last minute plan on a limited budget. My mom suggested bowling and bowling it was. Actually I knew Blaine would love this, he's always trying to get me to go bowling but it just so happen that I hate the "sport" and always refuse to go.

On our way to the alley Blaine didn't know where we were going I just giving him turn by turn direction. Well when I gave up on that and just gave him the cross streets he guessed what the surprise activity was and yelled in excitement...dang I didn't know he liked bowling that much!

I think this picture sums up our family perfectly!

But it actually turned out to be a fun night and I'm glad we did it. Thanks to Blaine's family for helping it be a fun night as well!

signs of a random dance party from the "boys", yeah I just call them that now

Happy birthday Blaine! I love you so much! I hope you had a great birthday and just a reminder, you'll always be older than me!

Love you!
eggs

go here to see more pics of the big event

being a mother

2011-05-07T21:18:00.000-06:00

I've never felt more like a daughter of God until the day I had Kash. I don't know if it's because babies just have such a strong sweet spirit about them, if it's because I strive to be better so that he has a good example, or simply the fact that I pray more often for guidance so I don't mess him up! Whatever it may be not only does Kash bring a special energy and joy to our house but becoming a mom has also allowed me to become closer to my Heavenly Father.

I love that quote by President Hinckley (don't you just miss him), it's so true. It's such a great reminder of what's important in life. When the stresses of day to day tasks can consume us it's nice to think of our purpose and focusing our efforts on raising our children.

Parenthood, for me, hasn't gone by with out a healthy does of humble pie though. I'm not the perfect mom I always dreamed I would be. You know the one who's child never throws a fit in a store, never hits you in the face, never screams for no reason...oh no not me! ha! There are some nights after Kash is asleep where I think wow I could have handled that situation with a little more patience, or maybe I shouldn't have let him eat that, or do that, or I could have played with him more, etc..

But then I hear quotes like this:

"Life’s journeys can have many ups and downs. Yes, there will be days when you will feel the going is tough. But as you stay on the right path, the reward at the end of life’s journey is well worth the moments of adversity you experience along the way."-Elder Ben B. Banks

...and I remember that in between the refusals to eat dinner and the hugs, that motherhood is a journey. That by giving my child the best, mixed in with a few not so best days, that I will be rewarded in the end when I see my beautiful baby boy grow up to be an amazing person.

So thank you to Kash on this mother's day for making me a mom. I know that I was put on this Earth to be a mom, through the good times and the hard. And there's nothing more rewarding than being Kash's mom!

Happy Mother's Day!

oh dear

2011-05-05T22:57:00.002-06:00

I was trying to help a friend with her blog by looking at my template and messed everything up. Sorry, you'll just have to deal with the messiness till I find time to fix it...dang it! But I think this calls for an all over blog makeover...stay tuned!

oh hello easter.

2011-05-04T17:47:00.004-06:00

(this really should be like 3 posts, instead it's one big mega post)

If there's one thing that sold me on marrying Blaine it was his family and their love for holidays...ha okay and a few other things sold me but that was definitely a perk. I love that we live close to the Turnbow's and that Marilyn plans fun little activities for us for each holiday. It's a literal dream come true for me to have Kash grow up with traditions and around some of his family.

To kick off Easter week we started with a little cookie decorating party. It was just Marilyn, Kitt, Kash & I this year. But we manage to knock out a bunch of awesome bunnies and eggs!

A few days later we dyed Easter eggs with the fam. It was fun this year because Kitt was really into and produced some pretty good eggs!

Then Easter finally arrived. I could barely sleep knowing that the Easter bunny had come to our house during the night (well that I the fact that I had to give a talk on Easter Sunday didn't help). Kash was very excited to come down the stairs that morning to see what the Easter bunny had left for him. Don't mind our undecorated unfinished living room :(

After we cleaned up the chocolate monster we headed to church. Sadly these were the two "best" family pictures we got. Yes Mickey is part of the fam now (I even say goodnight to him as I tuck Kash into bed).

After a fine Easter day at church (and surviving the dreaded talk) it was off to Grandma & Grandpa Turnbow's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. I'm not sure I knew it but I think I've waited my whole life to have a child and watch him participate in an Easter egg hunt...I was soooo excited!

Needless to say it was a great Easter week, although we missed our family that lives elsewhere. We felt very blessed this Easter season!

Kash 15 months

2011-04-22T12:12:00.003-06:00

15 mo. and no hands

Oh Kash! You sure are becoming our independent little toddler. This week we took you to your "15th month well baby checkup". You've always been a little angel at the doctor. You would sit there and let the doctor look at your eyes and ears and smile and we would only here a little peep out of you when you would get a shot. Well I'm afraid those peaceful doctor's visits are over. You were kind of a pill the entire time this visit. You were running down the hall as I tried to fill out the questionnaire. You continually told the doctor "NO". You cried the entire time she checked all your body parts. I couldn't believe my sweet little baby was acting like this. She kept telling your dad and I how "strong willed" you were, that's a nice way to put it! haha Good news is you are a healthy and most of the time happy boy. You now weigh 28 lbs. and are 31.5 inches tall, the doctor was happy to see that you are starting to slow down on the growth chart.

I will say that some of your orneriness is probably from teething. Last month you got two molars on top and your two bottom ones are cutting through right now. But the other part I think is just your age and your need to express your independence.

You are really starting to talk more and learn more words, although your favorite word right now is "no" and it kinda drives me crazy! You are learning what more animal noises are and you are getting good at mimicking people. It's nice that we are able to communicate with you more and understand your needs. You still use a few baby signs but you are starting to replace those with the real words.

You are a pretty funny little boy as well. When you get a laughing response out of someone for something you do you continue to do it over and over again...which is a typical toddler thing to do I'm sure. You love playing with your dad and trying to make him laugh or love when he does silly things that make you laugh. Often times you will walk around the house saying da-da looking in each room when he's not home. And when we pull into the driveway and the garage door opens you always say da-da? Assuming for some reason that he's just sitting in the garage waiting for us to come home. You love playing with balls and you love when dad plays along with you. He recently bought you your first baseball and bat and you love it.

You are really into books. I've had the pleasure of taking work off this week and just spending time with you. And for about two hours every morning we would play in your room and you bring me book after book to read to you. You definitely have your favorite books and it seems like you are starting to memorize them too. Reading with you always makes me think I have the smartest little 1 year old in the world!

You love to climb. You would climb on everything if we let you. As you continue to grow you continue to get into more things that were once out of reach and safe from your chubby little hands. You've even figured out how to open our cabinets with the baby proof locks on them! There's seriously nothing you can't get into.

You are a sweet little boy with an awesome personality. We love you Kash and feel so grateful everyday for the joy and happiness you bring to our family. It's not easy being a parent and there are often hard moments of frustration, tiredness and just a feeling of we aren't always sure what we are doing. But every single minute is worth it. You make us want to be better people so that you can be the best person you can be. You've made our hearts grow. We love you more than you will ever know!

Mom & Dad

day to myself

2011-04-10T20:52:00.005-06:00

This Saturday I got a day all to myself full of pampering and shopping! Last month Blaine and I put a little wager on the NCAA basketball brackets...if Blaine won I would fold my clothes for a month right after the dryer turns off instead of letting them sit there till next Tuesday when Blaine does the laundry again (that never really happens so I'm not sure why Blaine picked this as his prize). If I won I wanted a day all to myself. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and crave spending time with Kash, but I just thought it would be nice not to have to run errands around a nap schedule and not have a crying baby determine when it's time to leave a store.

Well I'm sure you guys figured out who won...ME!!! So sorry sports loving husband. Not so sorry that I don't have to fold my clothes fresh from the dryer!

Anyway my day off went a little something like this:

a yummy salad from Mad Greens

then it was massage time (sorry for the blurry pic, I was trying to take it quick so no one would bust me for taking a ridiculous picture of myself!)

And then I got my toes did

Followed up by a little shopping, no photos taken since that part of the day was somewhat of a bust.

This was a much needed self care day! Thanks for losing Blaine, but even more thanks for letting me have a nice day off and watching Kash! Can't wait for March Madness 2012, I think I might ask for the same thing.

craigslist gem

2011-04-05T21:39:00.002-06:00

I've been searching craigslist non-stop the past month looking for a new kitchen table. Our current one isn't exactly filling the new space.

Don't mind the bare walls, this kitchen has a long ways to go!

Well the other day I found this gem...

hahah although it would be hard to eat dinner on this table I'm sure it would provide hours of entertainment for the Turnbow's. Unfortunately for us I passed.

I never found a table that I liked on craigslist for a reasonable price, but I did stumble on this Ana White website that has tutorials on how to make furniture. And I even got a commitment from Blaine that he would make this table for me!

mine will be black and with chairs instead of benches

I figure if I post it on the blog he has to do it! I can't even tell you how excited I am about it!!!! What's even better is that the tutorial says is shouldn't be more than $50. This style of table usually runs between $200-$500

World Market $499

I'm sure Blaine will take care of this little project this weekend and I'll post pictures on Monday.

ha.

we didn't get any shoes but we met an NBA player

2011-03-28T08:47:00.002-06:00

Last Wednesday Kash and I were at Park Meadows Mall, just shopping around trying to spend a gift card he got for Striderite. Sadly we didn’t find any shoes but we did find this man just hanging out at Baby Gap (of all places)!

Kash wondering who this huge, random man is and why his mom is actin' a fool! (I wish I would have had my real camera with me--this was taken on my phone)

We were on our way out of Baby Gap and I was trying to navigate the world’s largest jogging stroller through the world’s smallest isles when this big man was in my way. His dad said, “watch out J,” and when he turned around I knew right away who it was. You see Blaine might just be the biggest Nuggets fan in the world, resulting in me knowing a thing or two about the Nuggets.

As we got closer I pretty much screamed, “Oh my gosh are you JR Smith???” (Blaine commented when I retold the story, you knew who he was why did you ask? Haha I don’t know, what else are you supposed to say, “What up J!”??) He smiled and was like, “yeah.” I proceeded to freak out. I mean it’s not every day you run into an NBA player. I told him how big of fan my husband was and asked if I could take his picture. He was super nice about it, considering I was being very loud and probably obnoxious. This is now the point of the story where my excitement wears off and I just get nervous. I started to say random things and couldn’t stop talking. “Okay you have to take a picture with my baby, I mean you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, will you please take a picture with my baby? Oh are you his mom? Nice to meet you! (as I touch her back…what? Don’t touch her Erica!!!) Oh my husband has been cheering for you guys even after the trade he’s just such a big fan” hahahaha

JR was super nice through the whole thing, he even told Kash he liked his hair and gave him a little pat. I then got Kash and just kept saying awkward things on my way out the door like, “sorry to bother you on your day off thank you so much for the picture!” JR’s mom, “It’s not his day off he has a game tonight,” me, “ehh I know my husband told me,” and then I just ran off.

I know what you are all saying, but you are a Jazz fan. I know I know! But the Nuggets are probably me second favorite team except when they play the Jazz, and I'm a big NBA fan. Don’t worry I didn’t tell him I was a Jazz fan—I don’t think things would have gone as smoothly. Overall he was way nicer than I thought he would be considering what the media has said about him from time to time. And luckily for me I showered that day! Hahaha

14 months

2011-03-19T20:40:00.002-06:00

Even though I decided not to do Kash's monthly posts after his 1st birthday, I still want to document from time to time what he's doing. He learns new things and is growing so fast I just don't want to forget a single thing!

Kash's little personality continues to shine the older he gets. He laughs all the time and often at his own jokes that no one else gets. He loves when his dad plays "grenade launcher" with him...aka Blaine throws the cord on a blow dryer and pretends to blow up things. It must be a boy thing because I try and Kash doesn't laugh nearly as hard as when dad does it. Kash has also learned to do it himself. So anytime he sees a cord he throws it and then throws his arms up in the air and screams like it's blowing up, haha odd I know!

This last month also brought Kash's first big accident. He fell and cut his lip pretty bad. There was blood everywhere and I felt like the worst mom ever. I called Blaine's mom and asked her what I should do! haha She comforted me and Kash and I made it through the day. He actually handled it really well. I thought the fat lip would affect his eating or make him fussy but he didn't seem to mind. Just created a lot of extra drool to appear on his shirt. Unfortunately I know this is just the first of many bumps and bruises that this kid will encounter!

Kash is learning what noise animals make. He knows what a cat says and an elephant. He tries to do a bee but I think that's one that only mom can interpret for now. He can also say hi, mama, dada, a version of grandma and grandpa, and up. He's still signing for things that he wants which is so helpful to us!

Kash is a very sweet boy and has become very snuggly lately. He will randomly come up and give me a hug or pat my back. And the other day when I picked him up from grandma's he ran over and gave me a hug/pats and I darn near cried. Every day I pick him up he never wants anything to do with me and runs to grandma and looks at me like, "I'm not leaving!" So that made my day when he did that.

Kash has also been working on his dance moves. He's always loved music but now that he can walk and move he's starting to really get into it. Anytime he hears music he starts dancing! Today we were at Lowe's and there was a beeping noise and apparently Kash thought it was music and started boppin along haha!

Here's a little video of Kash dancing to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I posted it on Facebook but for those of you who aren't on FB I thought I would share it here as well. Micky Mouse is Kash's FAVORITE show and anytime it's on he will stop whatever he's doing to watch it. It's the only show he will watch all the way through.

Untitled from Erica Turnbow on Vimeo.

He's definitely growing to be his own little person with his own ideas of things. He's perfected the tantrum and even embarrassed me in Target. The other day he was screaming so loud checking out that the ladies behind me made me feel like I punched him in the face. I heard them behind me, "He was being so good and cute a few minutes ago...hmmm that's weird that he's so mad now!" Gotta love the random people at stores.

Anyway, we love Kash tantrums, smiles, jokes and all. Each day I feel like I love him more and more and I seriously feel so grateful to be his mama!

officially a part-time stay at home momma!

2011-03-09T10:18:00.001-07:00

haha okay so it's only Wednesday's, but it's a start and I couldn't be more excited. Lately everything has been falling into place for us and we feel truly blessed.

On my first Wednesday off with Kash I was determined to make the most of it.

We started the day off with a run. Kash's face also depicts how I felt about the run.

But then we went to the park and that cheered him up.

Then we went to the mall and got some frozen yogurt (obsessed).

I love spending one extra day with my boy. He's so much happier during the day than when I pick him up after work. It's also nice not to feel rushed or like I have to get everything done on Saturday, makes for more quality time with Kash! I've been waiting to go "part-time" for what seems like forever so I'm so happy to have just one day off a week! Yay for Wednesday's off!

PS-this Wed. didn't go as well, Kash ended up with a fat lip from climbing on a stool and falling off. Probably the scariest thing I've dealt with thus far as a mom! He's okay, not sure I am though!

utah trip: besties

2011-03-05T21:02:00.002-07:00

The beautiful view from Juli's dad's house. We are always feel so lucky that he lets us stay there!

The main reason we ventured to Utah was because my best friend Juli was blessing her baby in Logan and my other best friend Sayward just had a baby as well. I hate that we don't all live in the same town, and it only gets worse when they have babies and I'm not there to meet them right away.

Luckily things are always the same when we get together and it's like we started right were we left off. Granted, our conversations are geared more towards, babies, birth, nursing, poopy diapers, etc now, but that is our lives at the moment and I don't think we would have it any other way.

I loved seeing my besties with babies! It's awesome to watch your friends grow and mature and become mothers. And of course I was super emotional about meeting these two little babes. I couldn't help but cry when I met Ascher for the first time, and when I saw Ava in her beautiful blessing dress I couldn't hold back the tears. Yeah I'm a freak what can I say!

Although I was enjoying all the newborn baby holding Kash was hating it. He would get super jealous anytime I would hold Ava or Ascher, good thing Blaine was there to distract him most of the time!

Sweet baby Ava, and her cute little smile!

Baby Ascher loved me ha

Love this picture! Almost 10 years later and so many new people in the picture! Thanks for making this picture happen Nat.

The girl of the day

We feel so blessed to have such great friends that despite the fact that we all live in different states that we get to see each other so often! Thanks for a great weekend friends, we miss you!!!

utah trip: aunt karen

2011-03-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

Next stop on the Utah Express was Karen! If there's anyone that loves Kash more than us it's probably Karen! haha It will be sad when she has her own kids and doesn't love mine as much haha

We picked her up from her apartment, but in true Erica/Karen fashion we had to get a few pics first.

Blaine was pretty excited about Karen's love for the Nuggets...lame!

Then we went to Cafe Sabor for dinner. But we were a little disappointed when we realized they raised the prices, still good food though. When we came out of the restaurant it was blizzard! I seriously forgot how much it snows in Logan and how quickly. I kinda loved it though, it wouldn't be a Logan trip with out a blizzard! Kash just so happened to love it as well. He kept trying to grab the snowflakes and giggling!

Bad news is that it delayed the Dewey's flight and they didn't get into Logan till 3am!

Good to see you Karen! Can't wait for you to be home for the summer!

utah trip: frandsen's

2011-02-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

First stop on our way to Ava's blessing was down to Price to visit Joy and her fam. It was awesome to just relax, chat and chase our kids around.

Jocelyn is so funny and was really excited to have us come. I wasn't sure why since when she's in Denver she's not really interested in us but as soon I saw her she said, "Oh thanks for coming!" haha such a cute little girl! And it was great to see how much Joelle is growing and changing. She's so bright eyed and happy, Joy is lucky to have such sweet little girlies.

Kash loved all of Jocelyn's toys and following her around, but I'm pretty sure Jocelyn was sick of Kash playing with her dolls and was ready for us to leave! haha

While Joy and I hung out with the kids one day Jason and Blaine went snowmobiling (yes boys I'm telling this story!) and Joy and I thought they would be home before dark. Well dark came and no word from the husbands. Joy and I were frantic thinking that something had happened and started to freak out, to the point that we were both thinking in our heads how we were going to be single mom's! Finally around 9:30pm we got a call from Jason saying that they had just got stuck a few times and were on their way home. Oh man I don't think I've ever been that worried about Blaine in my whole life! But Blaine had an awesome time and I'm glad he got to go...seeing as how it's his last snowmobile trip ever! haha

Thanks Frandsen's for letting us visit and for being awesome hosts. Joy, I'm kinda craving your breakfast special right now! ha

thanks

2011-02-22T21:11:00.002-07:00

We are finally in our new house!!! Most of the rooms are put together, well things are put away, it's just not decorated yet. Kash is doing great with the transition. Although he still stands at the wrong side his crib where his old door used to be thinking we are going to come get him from that side! haha But if that's the only issue he has with the move, I'm not complaining! Such a good little boy. :)

Last week all of our family and friends pitched in to help us paint and move, I'm pretty sure we couldn't have done it without them, well maybe we could have but it would have sucked and we would still be painting! The Turnbow's never cease to amaze me with their willingness to help us out. Especially Blaine's parents. They always go above and beyond for us, it overwhelms me to think about how much they do for us and how much they love us!

So anyway, thanks to all of those who watched Kash, cleaned our apartment, painted, fixed things and moved my underwear drawer this last week. We are truly blessed with great family and friends!

Kash loves our new house!

Before

Marilyn painting the kitchen gray. The whole house is actually this color.

I'll post more "after" pictures once there's an actual after.

our life right now

2011-02-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

We finally closed on our house on Friday. I can't believe it finally happened. For the last 7 months we have been looking for a house. We tried not to be too picky. We wanted something in a good school district, something with a roof, plumping and electricity and within our budget...that's not too much to ask for right? Well apparently it was despite the "perfect buyer’s market". I won't go into all of the nightmare situations because they are behind us now and I want to leave them there.

But I will say a weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. This is the first step that we've been waiting for to start the process of me staying home with Kash. All along I kept thinking, okay we just need to buy a house and then I can stay home with my baby. Well just like everything in my life there's a different timeline than what I had in mind. You'd think I'd learn that by now, but apparently I haven't. But things are definitely moving in the right direction. I'm hoping that starting in March I will be able to stay home on Wednesdays. And eventually be able to stay home full time with Kashers.

While this has been the hardest thing in my life to date I have felt my Heavenly Father's love. I heard a common theme this last week either in church or through friend's testimonies that hit home, "You are exactly where you Heavenly Father wants you to be." I believe that to be true. I'm trying to continue to stay strong. I'm trying to still do my best at my job despite the fact that my mind always wanders to what Kash is doing during the day and how much I miss him. I'm trying to still be the best wife I can be, to come home and make dinners, do baths and find the energy to give Kash all the attention he deserves instead of my left overs from the day. I know that I'm only able to do this because I have faith. I have faith that God loves me. I have faith that He has a plan for me.

I know this was kind of a rambling post, a mix of emotions and churchy stuff, but newsflash that's who I am! Just a real girl, with real emotions and trials just like everyone else. And while I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason I also believe that we need to do our part. And Blaine and I have worked really hard the past three years to get a house and I’m proud of our little family and this accomplishment. Now we just need to make sure we can afford it…haha!

breakfast pizza

2011-02-08T11:06:00.004-07:00

Our ward had a recipe exchange a few weeks ago, I didn't go...but they were still nice enough to give me a CD with all the recipes that were gathered. We tried this one the other day and I really liked it, so I felt the need to share it with you!

I love breakfast for dinner so this was sure to hit the spot. But the surprise that I really liked was the crescent roll crust, it makes it stand out from other breakfast casaroles. Blaine didn't love the crust, but I thought it was good!

And sorry I don't have a picture of it. I know "pictures make blogs" but I didn't know I was going to blog about this. So just trust that it is good and use your imagination on what it looks like.

Breakfast Pizza

1 lb. sausage
1 pkg. (8) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 c. frozen, loosely packed hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 c. shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
5 eggs, beaten (I only used 3)
1/4 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Can be baked in a 12 inch pizza pan or a casserole dish. Brown sausage in skillet and drain. Separate crescent rolls into eight triangles, place in pizza pan or casserole dish (ungreased). Press over bottom and up sides to form a crust.

Sprinkle with sausage, potatoes and top with Cheddar cheese. In a bowl, beat together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour into crust. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese all over the top.

Bake at 375 degrees in oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Makes 6-8 serving.

birthday boy

2011-02-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

Kash had a great birthday and was very spoiled!

I decided to go with a dog theme because Kash loves dogs! Anytime he sees a dog he squeals/laughs and gets very excited. It was fun to have all some of our friends and family over to celebrate our little boy's first year.

Kash 12 months

2011-01-30T18:13:00.003-07:00

The hawk is flying high these days! haha

Happy Birthday Bubs!

I knew the time would go by fast, but I honestly can't believe a year has come and gone and that my baby boy is one year old. As much as I miss you as a sweet little newborn you are pretty great as a one year old as well!

I'm always impressed with your ability to learn new things. For the past few months I've been trying to teach you a few simple signs to make it easier for you to communicate with us. Well this last month you finally got a few and have learned how to apporpirately use them. You know how to say finished and more. Of course these signs are acted out to the best of your ability but it's so nice for you to be able to tell us what you need or want.

You are also a walking boy now! You started to take a few steps before your birthday and now you can walk across the room and always prefer to walk over crawling. But in walking you have gained some battle wounds, as you can see in these pictures the coffee table won the last battle.

You are our little explorer. Getting into anything and everything you can. Which means we are working on listening, boundaries and rules. These are so ~~not~~ fun to teach you! For the most part you are a pretty good listener like when we ask you to close the drawer you actually do it...and then just open it up again! ha

It's not all roses with you Kashers! As captured by the last picture you definitely throw a fit when you don't get your way! Don't worry I talked to the doctor about this and she said it's perfectly developmentally normal as you test limits and learn new things! You were mad in this picture that we wouldn't let you stand up on the chair! ha Lucky for you, you're still cute even when you are mad!

Talking is on your horizon as well. You can say momma and dada, something that sounds like grandpa and baby. Although lately when I ask you to say baby you just scream, I don't know what that's about. You are still jabbering like crazy though and I have a feeling when you actually do start talking we won't hear the end of it.

You are getting so fun to play with and interact with. You definitely have a fun little personality that makes me laugh all the time. You think it's fun the wrestle around with dad on the floor and still like to be scared.

Well this is the last of your monthly letters bubs. It was really important to me that you have something to reference your first year of life. And of course I'll still document the rest of your life :) it just won't be through monthly letters.

We love you!!!!!
Mom & Dad

Stats:
weight 26 lbs--95th percentile
height 31 in.--70th percentile
head--75th-90th percentile
(short and stocky haha)

kash's 1st year

2011-01-25T22:51:00.002-07:00

I wanted to share the little video we made for Kash's birthday party. I've watched it like 20 times now and it never fails it makes me cry every time!

boots

2011-01-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

I interrupt Kash's birthday week for this very important announcement...I need these boots.

I know, (Blaine) you are saying why they are just normal brown boots and you already have enough boots! But check out the back of these boots...this is why I need these boots!

Size 7 needed. Let me know if you need my address for shipping.

Happy Birthday Kash!

2011-01-19T14:08:00.001-07:00

Our baby boy is one today. Last night when I tucked him in and kissed him goodnight I whispered to him that this would be the last night that he was my "baby". Maybe I cried a little, ha.

As much as I've loved to watch him change each month it's hard to watch your baby grow up so fast. My two best friends have had their own little babies in the last month and it's taken me back to the day Kash was born. The first 48 hours was a whirlwind. This precious new life was ours to take care of. I kept thinking how Heavenly Father delivered him to us as a perfect little baby and now it was our job as parents to try and mess that up as little as possible.

While we haven't been perfect parents we sure have given Kash all the love we have to give. And on his special day I'm not worried about his milestones or his growth chart, I just want him to know I LOVE HIM! I feel so honored to be his mom, I love being his mom. I love the sweet "love pats" that he gives me. I love his laugh and his cheesy smile. I love the excitement in his eyes when dad comes home. I love peeking in on him while he's sleeping. I love everything about him and feel, once again, so blessed to have this little spirit in our home.

Happy Birthday Bubs!
We love you!

And a special thanks to my sister-in-law Rachel who has taken Kash's pictures professionally every three months since he's been born. These pictures mean the world to me and I wouldn't have been able to have them if it weren't for her! Thanks Rach!

(actual 12 month post to come)

one year ago today...

2011-01-12T17:01:00.001-07:00

...we were anxiously awaiting our little boy. By this point last year I thought I had every last detailed prepared, but I don't think you can ever fully prepare mentally for becoming a parent. This time last year I had no idea that in a week I would have an 11 pound NEWBORN! I had no idea what labor and birth would actually be like. I had some idea, but didn't fully realize how much I would love that little boy until he came.
I can't believe it's been a year and we are fast approaching Kash's first birthday. I've been extra weepy lately thinking about his first year of life. Words can't describe how much love I have for my baby boy, so I'll just stop here. And leave you with this little reminder of the big ol baby in my belly, one year ago!

Let the posts celebrating Kash's first life begin!

baby's first christmas

2011-01-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

I figured I better get this up before I have to post about Kash's birthday!

We had a great first Christmas with Kash. I was so excited I couldn't sleep all night and of course this is the one night that Kash decides he's going to sleep in...really Kash??? But after he woke up and realized what was going on he got in to the swing of things. He would get fixated with one toy and didn't want to move on to the next.

It was one of the best Christmas's I've ever had!

Kash 11 months

2011-01-02T21:28:00.002-07:00

(while this post is very late the pictures were taken on time)

Hey Bubs,

Where to start. I feel like you are an unofficial toddler this month. The books say that happens at 12 months but I think you are already there my friend.

For one you toddle all around the house. And by toddle I mean you walk all around the furniture, you stand on your own, and every once in awhile you muster up enough guts to try and take a step but it always results in a fall. You are on your way to walking for sure though. I even think you prefer to walk around the perimeter of things verses crawling if you have the option.

I think the fact that you are refusing baby food also makes you a toddler. In fact you are getting stubborn like a toddler in that you won't let us feed you anymore, you insist on doing it yourself!! Which means you get about half of your dinner actually in your mouth and then you get bored and you are done. Sometimes you refuse to eat all together...I never thought the world's largest baby would refuse food, but you do! This new found independence has taught dad and I patience...to say the least.

You have perfected the art of waving. What started out looking like Hitler's solute has now turned into a vigorous arm waving around at anyone who will say hi. Your favorite is waving at church. You just wave your little arm like crazy when we walk into sacrament meeting. Which is actually nice because people now think it's cute when we are 10 minutes late to church every Sunday.

You love music and love to dance. Any time a commercial with a song comes on you stop whatever you are doing, crawl to the TV and bounce up and down (your interpretation of dancing). I think you've really appreciated all of the holiday jingles on commercials this past month. You also think it's fun to dance to the hymns at church. While this is obviously inappropriate, it's quite adorable so we let you do it.

Our favorite trick you do though is when you "close your eyes"! You think it's so funny to close your eyes, this is probably because we laugh so hard every time you do it. And by closing your eyes I mean you squint while still peaking out to make sure someone is laughing at you. (it's hilarious, see video below for proof)

You can fold your arms now when we say prayers. And grandpa Turnbow has taught you how to go up and down stairs. It's a good thing he taught you because I'm pretty sure it terrifies your dad and I and we never would have been brave enough to teach you this one.

Your sass level has also gone up a notch. If you don't get your way you throw a fit. And sometimes you jabber like you are bossing people around. Your dad says your sass is genetic and that you can't help it...very funny dad!

But you are still the sweetest little boy I know. You randomly give us kisses and hugs. You love to snuggle with me as I rock you for a few minutes before bed, this is my favorite part of the day. And in general you still have a happy, sweet disposition.

You are growing way too fast my little boy. I can't believe you will be one in just a few weeks. You are no longer my baby which makes me cry every time I think about it. But I have a feeling you will always be my baby no matter how old you are. I know I say it every month but you are the light of my life. Despite the fact that your new curiosity, tantrums and sass wears on me from time to time I still can't believe how much love I have for you. And while it's also hard watching you grow up it's so fun to watch your little personality shine, watch you learn new things and look at the world through you innocent eyes.

We love you so much Kash!
Mom & Dad

Here's a little clip of Kash's tricks and sass!

homemade gift

2010-12-27T20:49:00.001-07:00

I have tons to blog about (Kash's 11 month post, all the Christmas activities, maybe a craft or two, etc.) but that requires brain power and I just don't have that! So hopefully this little gem will hold you over for a day or two.

The Turnbow's started a tradition were we draw names for a normal Christmas present and another name for a homemade gift-that has a $5 limit. While it's super stressful for the person making the homemade gift it's so exciting to see what everyone comes up with. Each year it seems that we get more and more creative! Tyler drew Blaine's name this year for homemade and this is what he gave him. I could not stop laughing the first time I saw it, to the point I was crying! Awesome job Ty, Blaine loved it!!!

hahah oh man I just watched it again and laughed my face off! If you know Blaine this video is perfect for him!

ol' bessy is dried up!

2010-12-15T09:58:00.002-07:00

That's right I'm talking about breastfeeding by referencing myself to a cow! When I first started nursing that's what I felt like, a dairy cow. I was feeding Kash every 2-3 hours around the clock. No breaks! I felt like my sole purpose in life at that time was to feed my baby, and it was!

Then after 6 weeks I had to go back to work, and thus the pumping started. I quickly learned that the need to pump (or nurse) was no longer determined by a crying, hungry baby—my pumping schedule was now dictated by my work load. There were often times where I would have to miss a “pump break” because I was in a meeting or I was swamped with a project. Which resulted in feeling like my boobs were going to explode…oh too much info, okay sorry!

My goal was to nurse for 12 months. After the first month of working full time and pumping I was about to give up that goal. But the adorable little boy I’d come home to every night was motivation enough to give him the very best and stick it out. So day in and day out I pumped in the bathroom at work. Sometimes I would forget my pump at home and Blaine would bring it to me. Sometimes I would drop my milk in the middle of the street and someone would run over it. Sometimes I would knock over a bottle and milk (aka liquid gold) would be all over the place. One time I had to go to a training and the only place to pump was in a control room. But I couldn’t turn the light on otherwise people would see me through the window. So, sometimes I would pump on a weird, dark floor! Haha. Oh and sometimes I would forget to lock the door to the bathroom and people would walk in on me. Or there were those times that I would be in the middle of pumping and my coworkers would stand outside of the bathroom asking if I could hurry up because they needed my help in the office. Haha

These stories are all, like they say, funny now but at the time weren’t so hilarious. It was a lot of work to nurse for 11 months, but now today I decided I’m done. The amount of work put in throughout the day and the end results just aren’t adding up anymore (I’m only getting one bottle a day now and clearly Kash drinks more than that!). Part of me is sad. I feel like crying actually. My little baby is no longer a baby. He doesn’t rely on me as much. Heck he’s a toddler in my eyes. While I hated pumping, I really did enjoy nursing. I’m glad that Kash caught on and that I was able to nurse him when I was with him. I’m grateful that using a bottle during the day and then nursing at night was never a problem for him.

This post was probably inappropriate and awkward, and yeah I’m totally tooting my own horn…but I feel like I deserve to brag for a minute. But also I’m sure there are other moms out there that can relate to the antics that sometimes occur when nursing/pumping! Oh the things we do for our children, right?!

must be santa

2010-12-12T20:43:00.001-07:00

While the all the Turnbow's were together we also headed to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa, whew that was a busy weekend!

I was a little concerned about Kash only because we had to wake him up from the only nap of the day that was only 20 minutes. But once he got inside he was fine. Luckily we didn't have to wait very long because Grandpa went hours ahead of time to get us tickets.

But while we did wait we managed to entertain ourselves...

This is my favorite picture! Jocelyn waving to Santa! haha

Little Joelle's job was to hold her dad's glasses.

Kash wasn't sure which family member to look at as we all stood behind the scenes trying to make him smile. I was a little nervous that he would be scared of Santa and cry, but he was just fine. He just sat there wondering what we were all doing and then when I went to get him he just looked back at Santa like who was that?!

After the kids all told Santa what they wanted we walked around looking at the animals and fish. Kash thought this was pretty funny!

I've always loved the holidays, but they are ten times better with Kash. Obviously he doesn't get any of it, but I know he will soon and in the mean time I will dress him in holiday gear and pretend that he's having the time of his life. Can't wait for Christmas!

christmas tree!

2010-12-08T23:36:00.001-07:00

This post is a little late considering the event took place Thanksgiving weekend but anyway...

Trying to decide who is going in which car. Joy loved that I took this picture! haha

The Christmas tree tradition was alive and kickin this year since the whole Turnbow family was in town. We headed up to the mountains like always but since our family continues to grow we had to take three cars. What seemed sad at first turned out to be a great "truckin" adventure. Each car had walkie talkies...I now love walkie talkies! haha

Stuffing baby bear into the backpack

This was also Kash's first year making the trek to the wilderness to find the "perfect" Christmas tree. He did great! He thought it was so fun to be slung on dad's back and he thought it was awesome that I dressed him up as a bear haha! But his FAVORITE part was when Blaine would hit trees with branches. He would just laugh so hard every time dad hit a tree, must be a boy thing?!

Blaine and I found a pretty good tree early on but felt that we needed to keep searching to make sure it was our best option. Well if you can believe it when we realized it was our best option and went back to cut it down another family was chopping away! In the whole forest someone picked our tree to take home? Unbelievable!!!

Tyler resting with a turkey sandwich.

Anyway, we found an okay tree and I tried to gussy it up to the best of my abilities. I would post a picture but it pretty much looks exactly like it has in the past.

I really love this tradition!!! I look forward to it all year!

baby's first thanksgiving

2010-12-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

Kash's first Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. Juli said, "I'm betting Kash decided Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday yet," referencing his size and love for food she wasn't far off! Kash was pretty excited to try turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing! He didn't want anything to do with his baby food, he just pounded on his highchair tray demanding more of the good stuff, can you blame him!

Helping dad get ready for the Turkey Bowl

Before

After

Having and intellectual convo after dinner

This year was extra special because all of Blaine's sisters were able to come for Thanksgiving. I love when everyone is home for the holidays...just wish they were always home!

Kash 10 months

2010-11-21T20:56:00.006-07:00

Kash-man-chew,

Ten months--double digits booooyyy!!! And...you are mobile! A week after I wrote your 9 month post you decided it was time to crawl. We were at your aunt Joy's house, Grandpa Turnbow held out a pen for you and you were determined to get it. You got up on your hands and knees and just crawled over there like an old pro! I couldn't believe it. You never looked back after that and now you are crawling all over the place. While it keeps us busy you are so excited to go where ever you want. You love to crawl to our coffee table or couch and then walk all around the house via the furniture. Sometimes you forget that you can't actually walk yet and turn around to take a step and fall. We'll see if this means you will be an early walker. :)

I feel like your personality is really starting to shine. You are very aware of your surroundings, what people say and noises that happen around the house. If our heater kicks on you look around to see who is making that noise. You are also have a very animated face. I love when you raise your eyebrows and say ooooo or stick out your sass lips and scrunch up your nose. But with the good also come the bad! If you don't get what you want you will throw your hands down and grunt/scream. Not cool Kash. If you want food it's the same thing you pound on your high chair and growl until someone gives you a bite. Speaking of bites you love to eat off my plate. Anytime you see that I'm eating something you crawl right over demanding a bite. We are working on your table manors!!!

You may love to eat since you actually have teeth now! You are up to five! Three on top and the two on bottom. Your top teeth make you look so grown up and kinda makes me sad. I know it's obviously a good thing that you are getting your teeth but you just seem to be growing up way too fast for me to handle! I think the fact that I'm working full time only makes time go by faster, which is really hard on me! I so wish I could be at home with you all day, every day Kash!

(yeah you were being a little difficult this photo shoot and just wanted to get down and play with your books! Little stinker!)

You still love bath time, to the point that when I turn the water on you start laughing and bouncing up and down. Lately you love to lay in the water, when I try and sit you back up you just arch your back and stiffen your body to try and lay back down...future Olympic swimmer? As long as you are in the Olympics! haha

While you are a lot of work these days and often wear me out (I don't know how Grandma Turnbow does it all day) I think this might be my favorite stage. Although, anytime I hold a newborn I miss little baby Kash and it makes me sad that you are growing up so fast. But right now you are so fun to play with and make us laugh all the time with the faces and noises you make!

We love you sooooooo much Bubs!
Mom & Dad

halloween 2010

2010-11-05T20:54:00.001-06:00

Rarrr! Kash was a lion for his first Halloween...and an awesome one at that! We went to Blaine's parent's ward for a little trunk or treating. Kash seemed a little confused and then randomly would laugh, so I would say it was a success. It was funny at the end when Kash and Kitt were checking out their loot Kash kept trying to either touch Kitt's costume or grab his candy...woops!

Over all it was fun to dress our little man up and get free candy. As predicted holidays are a million times better with kids!

Kash 9 months

2010-10-31T21:36:00.003-06:00

Hi Kash,

It's me your mom. You have changed so much in the last month and you are learning so many new tricks! You can pull yourself up to things, you love to clap, you can dance (aka bounce up and down), you can do "so big", you can eat bites of table food now--whew this has been a big month for you.

You still aren't crawling, and to be honest I thought you would be by now. But you are getting closer than last month. You can take a few "crawls" and then fall on your belly and get mad. I can tell that you just want to move and explore and it makes you very frustrated that you can't, soon enough boy. The doctor said it's normal because you are bigger than most babies and you just need to build up the strength to move your big ol' body! ha It would actually be nice for you to be a little more independent as you are breaking my back!

Speaking of your size...this month you were due for another well check at the doctor's. You are slowing down, as predicted by some, on the growth chart. You weigh 24.2 lbs (95th%) 29 in. (85th%) and your head is in the 85th percentile as well. You still dominate in comparison to any baby your age that we know though.

Things you love this month: you love playing with your dad! You think it's so funny when he plays peek-a-boo although we should rename it raaarrahh-a-boo because you and dad just scream at each other. And no surprise you LOVE that you can have real food now. Your diet still mainly consists of baby food, cereal and milk but you love when you get to taste what we are eating. You love being outside and you like to be around people.

Your top tooth finally came in! This was by far the hardest of the three teeth you have. You seemed to be a little extra fussy and not sleeping through the night due to this stubborn tooth that took it's time coming through! But it's finally in and you are back to your old happy, sleeping through the night self!

I still can't believe what a good boy your are about going to bed. You never cry when we put you down, well if you are at home in your crib that is (traveling seems to be a little rough). Sometimes you'll talk yourself to sleep but very rarely do you cry. I think it might help that you are obsessed with your blankey that you only get at bed time. Every time you see it you squeal with excitement until you get your hands on it which at that point your bury your face into it. We still need to get you this excited about naps! haha I'm sure that will never happen. You used to be such a good little baby that would bury his head into the nook of my arm and fall right asleep. Now we have to trick you into taking naps by sitting quietly on the couch and watching tv (I know awesome parenting right?) until your eyes get too heavy and you fall asleep.

As always we love you Kash! You keep us on our toes and sometimes wear us out but we wouldn't have it any other way. You have the funniest little personality and seem to have such a joy for life that brightens our home!

Love,
Mom & Dad

baby shower

2010-10-28T21:09:00.000-06:00

And finally the reason Kash and I went to Utah...for Juli's baby shower! Being with my best friends in Logan is one of my all time favorite things, I seriously have the best friends ever! And I think they are the best because they are the best for me. We all totally have the same sense of humor, have the same interest and apparently love having babies! :) It was great to see all you girls!

grandpa jolley

2010-10-26T09:34:00.000-06:00

On our way up to Logan we made one more stop to see my dad and half sister. This was pretty exciting for my dad because this was the first time he's seen Kash. We met in Murray, went to Chuck-o-Rama and my dad gave him a duck call, does that paint a good picture for you? ha

Meeting in Murray and at that particular restaurant made me miss my grandma so much. Since I can remember she's taken me to Chuck-o-Rama. There my grandpa would pile on the food and my grandma would mostly get vegetables. Over the years my grandpa helped me perfect the best soft-serve ice cream concoction you've ever see. Then after they would take me to the Fashion Place Mall and they usually bought me a little Hello Kitty toy at that one store at the end of the mall. I wish Muttie could have been there that day to meet Kash, she would have LOVED him...and I would have loved watching him with her!

Don't mind the sun spots or Kash's crabster face!

new baby

2010-10-24T21:06:00.003-06:00

Man this past week has been so busy, and I know we went to Utah a week ago but I still want to share all the stops we made. The first stop on our trip to Utah was to see Joy and her family in Price. We especially wanted to see the newest edition, my new little niece, Joelle (born Oct. 1st).

She was so cute, and tiny! I still can't believe how tiny she was...this gives me hope that my next baby can be smaller than my first too!

It was just a short over night stop but it was great to see everyone, including Marilyn and Karen who were in town. Although Kash had a very rough night (maybe the worst one since he's been born) and a hard morning he manage to have fun that day.

Jocelyn picked out her head-to-toe PINK outfit this day! haha

16 things i have learned about being a mother

2010-10-20T11:03:00.000-06:00

I have plans for continuing to post about each little stop on our road trip to Utah, but today I'll interupt the scheduled post for this one...because I'm a mom and anything about raising kids makes me cry and I always feel the need to share. This article made me laugh and helps keep things in to perspective.

road trip! just the two of us

2010-10-17T20:35:00.006-06:00

Last week I was a brave soul and packed up Kash and ventured to Utah (without the husband!). I was a little nervous but luckily Kash did great there and back, I was actually impressed...it was just the actual visit he was a little pill about!

Here's our road trip in picture form:

Leaving Colorado...pretty.

Thanks to Blaine he hooked up the mirror and DVD player...both were life savers! And Kash LOVED his petting farm DVD--and I'm pretty sure I have it memorized.

Finally made it to UTAH!

But then we had to leave, this is the part I got emotional ha! (Logan Canyon)

I love this part in the canyon on your way to Bear Lake where the trees canopy the road! (don't mind the bug filled windshield)

And then back home to the CO. I was actually pretty excited to see this sign!

pumpkin fest 2010

2010-10-10T22:10:00.004-06:00

Two of my favorite things, fall and festivals makes Pumpkin Fest an ultimate fave! I fit in a little more this year with a baby in tow compared to before when I would just go into the petting zoo by myself! I'm pretty sure the reason I had a baby was to take him to places like this and force him to love festivals as much as I do, okay maybe not the only reason...

I didn't really have to force Kash, he had a great time all on his own! But really he takes after his mom and just loves to be around people no matter what the activity is. We thought for sure he would love the dog races, because he loves dogs (duh), but he was more interested in picking the grass and grabbing the fence.

Highlight of Pumpkin Fest for me was the fact that they play the Monster Mash!

Since this is our second year attending Pumpkin Fest (I'm going to blame pregnancy for not attending last year) I'm hoping this now makes it a Turnbow tradition!

Little gems like this make Pumpkin Fest extra special!

kash 8 months

2010-09-30T09:24:00.008-06:00

Hey Kasher,

Eight months old? Dang, boy you are getting so old! But the older you get the funnier you get…if that’s even possible! :)

Although, you have been kind of a pill about sleeping this last month, but I think that’s just because your teeth are bothering you. You used to sleep till around 6:00am but lately you’ve been waking up at 4:00am and want to start your day then…sorry buddy that’s just not happening. Hopefully your top two teeth will break through soon and we can get back to our normal routine.

You still have a hilarious obsession with dogs. When we go on walks on Sunday afternoons you will spot a dog clear down the path and just randomly start laughing, it’s pretty dang funny! This is definitely one of our favorites right now.

You are on the verge of crawling. I think I said that last month but you are definitely closer this month. You can scoot backwards but then get frustrated that you can’t move forward. You get up on your hands and knees and rock but don’t actually go anywhere. But if you really want something, a cord, my dinner plate, a bug on the ground…aka anything you aren’t supposed to have, you find a way to get to it!

You LOVE to take baths! You think it’s hysterical when I squirt you with a toy fish, you are really good at getting me soaking wet and think it’s really funny to try and get out of the tub…it’s not that funny Kash! You’ve also started to wave your arms around like a wild man which has enhanced your splash range!

You are jabbering up a storm adding new consonants to your words every week. You’ve finally started saying ma-ma-ma in addition to dat, ba, dad and your favorite is bub. Sometimes you will just say “bub” once and then laugh like it’s your own inside joke. You are so cute! Again I will say I know these are normal child developmental milestones but it’s so much cuter when your own kid does it.

This month’s photo shoot produced some real winners. It’s getting harder and harder to take your monthly picture because you are moving all over the place! The pictures were so hilarious it was hard to pick just a few!

We love you baby boy. You are so fun to be around and make us laugh every single day!

Love,

Mom & Dad

front porch post: fall edition

2010-09-21T10:14:00.001-06:00

When Rachel made our front porch posts I was so excited at the thought of making a new sign for each season/holiday. So here we go, our second sign...

I'm proud to say I actually designed this one on my own. I'm infamous for stalking blogs for hours and copying whatever cute crafts I see. But I actually couldn't find anything I loved for mine and Rachel's "fall sign" so I came up with this one all by my big craft girl self! ha

I created the design in Illustrator first, because I'm a visual person and while the idea was in my head I needed to see it on paper before I could execute it.

(I think it turned out pretty similar to my original design)

Then I used my Cricut and SCAL2 software to make a stencil. Have I said how much I love this software? BECAUSE I DO! I don't think I would use my Cricut even half as much as I do if I didn't have this software. Anyway...I used contact paper to cut a stencil, some old wood that someone threw away (Blaine thought it was ridiculous I was grabbing it out of the garbage), some paint, ribbon and eyelets that Rachel had and we made our fall sign. Since we had all the supplies lying around this craft was free...my favorite kind!

Happy fall, my most favorite time of year!

diy headboard

2010-09-12T18:15:00.000-06:00

Four years of dreaming of the perfect headboard, weeks of planning, 1 year to actually finish it...and I FINALLY have my headboard up.

Last year I saw this tutorial on how to make your own headboard and wanted to make it right away! I convinced Rachel and Joy that we should make these and they were in. And boy was I glad they were because I was around 8 months pregnant when we made these and the girls pretty much made mine for me (thanks girls!). All I had to do was take mine home and put the upholster tacks in it. I was working on that task when I started having contractions and went into labor, and 7 months later (babies delay things) I finally put up my headboard. And I love it!

I know I took a before picture but I couldn't find it. So just ignore the sexy baby in this picture and focus on the fact that there isn't a super cute headboard.

And here's the after.

Cute right? This is seriously the easiest craft ever, when you're not huge and pregnant that is. I bet the hardest part was measuring the wood and cutting it. The results of this craft is one of my favorites...ever! Thanks again Rachel and Joy apparently I need you girls to help me accomplish my craft dreams ha!!

7 months

2010-08-29T21:25:00.003-06:00

Hey Kasher!

As each month goes by your personality grows and your dad and I love you more than we thought we could the previous month! It helps that you laugh at almost anything we do and your smile is ten times cuter with two little chompers sticking out.

This last month your sleeping positions have entertained us greatly! One day you even turned 180 degrees in your crib. When I went to get you in the morning I couldn't believe it! It seems that you prefer sleeping on your stomach, well I don't know if you actually prefer this or if your just too sleepy to roll back over. But the first time I found you on your tummy it scared me to death because your head was face down in your blanket. I whispered, "Kash?" and you creepily popped your head up. haha I was just glad you were alive! So now our favorite thing is to go see what position you are sleeping in. A couple of times a week your dad and I will sneak in to your room and take a peek. Your dad will say, "I wonder what Kash is doing," and I will say, "I don't know lets go look!" I know we are weird but we get a real kick out of this!

Since you were born I've been trying to teach you to say momma. Last week you finally started to catch on! Well almost...when I say mom-mom-mom-mom you say bah-bah-bah-bah. And the little face you make with it is priceless! This too is a favorite of ours right now. You are even starting to say da-da, but I don't think you are quit associating it with Dad yet.

Another favorite thing of mine is when I pick you up from Grandma Turnbow's. Every day you can hear the door open and you know I'm there to get you. I can hear your squeals before I can see you, then when I turn the corner you are practically bouncing out of Grandma's arms from excitement. It warms my heart each day, and just know the excitement goes both ways!

You survived your first ear ache this month too, make that double ear infection. You are such a good baby though it was hard to tell you were sick. But I knew something was up when you weren't sleeping through the night, but the doctor wasn't as convinced. When she walked into the room she said he doesn't look sick to me as you laughed and smiled at her. But after looking at your ears she determined you had two ear infections.

You are rolling all over the place, sitting in high chairs at restaurants, riding in the shopping cart, graduated to a bigger car seat, squash is your favorite food, your hair is growing in as a mow-hawk, you have a weird obsession with remotes and you still LOVE animals. We took you to the zoo this month and anytime you could actually see the animals you would giggle. You are so dang cute Kash. We love you so much, you are still the light of our lives. There are hard times, like when you get fussy at night or spit up all over me at church and then pull my hair and put it in your spit up mouth...but I wouldn't trade those hard times in for anything!

We love love love you!
Mom & Dad

motherhood

2010-08-20T21:52:00.001-06:00

yeah this made me cry...thanks for sharing it on FB Katie!

Team Turnbow Season Opener

2010-08-19T05:00:00.004-06:00

Training camp is over and Team Turnbow is charged up for the 2010-2011 season. This year looks to be promising for the Turnbow's as they picked up an all star rookie, Kash Turnbow, in the off season. "Kash is sure to pull his weight and from what we could tell at camp he seems to fit right in with the team," said Coach Blaine Turnbow. The Turnbow's have some big games ahead of them this year but each player's dedication to the team is sure to bring more W's than loses.

Okay, okay enough of the "team turnbow" joke...

Today's our fourth anniversary and I'll try and spare you the mushiness--only because I'm sure it would embarrass Blaine. But we are in love. Marriage is hard but we are way better at it then we were four years ago that's for sure. Communication, patience, compromise and unconditional love are things we've become really good at over the past four years.

I didn't know it about six years ago when Blaine was trying to "court me" (haha), but we are prefect for each other!

Happy Anniversary Blaine!

i love you

And what's an anniversary post with out a few pics of us together?!?! :)

high uinta man trip 2010

2010-08-18T08:49:00.001-06:00

Blaine really should be doing this post since he's the one that went on the trip and could give you an exciting play by play of his man trip in the mountains. But instead I'm doing it so just enjoy my interpretation of the trip!

Love the location of the foot!

Jason (in his hunting skirt) and Wayne Turnbow eating some lunch.

Such a cool picture! I guess they hiked to the top of this mountain and there was all these crazy rocks. I would be scared out of my mind (I have a fear of falling rocks), but makes for an awesome picture.

Walking sticks ha

Wayne Turnbow

Blaine Turnbow

hahah what are you doing here Jase?!?!

is it sunday yet?

2010-08-13T11:21:00.003-06:00

Remember how Blaine has been in the Uinta Mountains hiking, fishing, and doing man things with the boys in his family this week? Well, I can't tell you how excited I am that this week is almost over and that he'll be home soon.

This week has made me realize how much Blaine does for our family! I pride our marriage on the fact that we are a team and share all of the duties it takes to make our family function. But, I think I've been taking it for granted that Blaine takes Kash to grandma's every morning, does our laundry every Tuesday, cleans the house, holds Kash while I go to the bathroom, makes our bed every day, takes out Kash's dirty diapers, picks up milk on the way home from work...I could go on and on. Not to mention there isn't as much laughter in the house with him gone. Mostly by Kash, I just can't get him to laugh the way Blaine can. I guess distance really does make the heart grow fonder.

How do single moms do it???

But, Blaine totally deserves this trip! He's been working so hard with Lights of the Rockies the last 3 years and works so hard to make our home a happy, livable place (yeah I'm a slacker wife...). I love you Blaine and want you to have fun, but just get home soon your family misses you!!!!!!

(Blaine being awesome with our neice and nephew)

weekend wrap up

2010-08-09T08:26:00.000-06:00

I work from 8-5pm Monday-Friday, pick up Kash from Grandma's after work, get home, feed him, make our dinner and then before I know it it's 8 o'clock and time to put Kash to bed. Since this is our Monday-Friday routine I usually try and cram all my errands into Saturdays. Kash and I run from store to store picking up things we need (and don't need), taking things back and trying to get the most out of our day. Well this Saturday I decided to just hang out at the house Kash and just play! It was so fun to just have a day where things didn't need to be done, okay so things needed to be done but I ignored them. I loved it! I wish every Saturday I could make up for the hours I lose with my boy during the week to just play and laugh together.

Saturday night Blaine and I even had the chance to go out on a date just the two of us! Karen was in town and offered to babysit for us. Since she's our favorite babysitter we didn't even think twice and took her up on the offer! This was only the second time since Kash was born that Blaine and I have been able to go out just the two of us and it was so nice. I felt like we were in Logan, working at ICON and dating again. ha ha ha not really...

Overall it was a great weekend. Which I probably needed to get me through this week. Blaine is out on a hiking/fishing trip till Sunday. In a way I'm kinda glad this trip is finally here. It's all he's been talking about the entire summer. He's been searching online for the best deal on gear, spending five hours in sporting good stores and wearing his hiking boots all around the house in order to break them in. He even tried to wear them on the date, oh don't even think I let that happen!

Anyway, no pictures, nothing exciting just love my happy little family.

6 months

2010-08-03T12:33:00.003-06:00

Hey Kash,

Happy half birthday (on July 19th)! It seriously feels like I was pushing your giant head out just yesterday! You are growing right before our eyes and for some reason it makes me extremley emotional. With every "first" that occurs in your life it seems to bring on a tear or two from your over emotional mamma! Obviously I want you to develop and grow but this is a lot harder for me than I thought it would be. I feel like before I know it you won't be my baby boy anymore...

Okay, okay I'm sure if you could you would be rolling your eyes right about now (I'm sure your dad is) so we will move on to your milestones. YOU GOT YOUR FIRST TOOTH THIS LAST MONTH! Big big news right? I'm sure you didn't think it was as exciting as you got really congested, kinda fussy and it was hard for you to sleep through the night. But I was so excited the day your Aunt Joy text me saying that my baby boy definitely had a tooth coming through! You look so cute with one little chomper tooth sticking out and the second one broke through this weekend so you soon will have two little teeth! You look so old to me now.

You are sitting up like a champ. And now that you can sit up this is all you want to do. The days of you lounging calmly in your bouncer while I put on my make up are long gone. You now have to be sitting up in your bouncer like a big boy trying to get a better view on the world. And did I mention that you are wiggle worm? You love to be moving and exploring. You won't even let me rock you to sleep anymore (insert sad face). Which isn't a bad thing (again this is me being over emotional about an important milestone), you are great at your bedtime routine. We read you a book, say prayers, turn on the music and lay you in your crib and most nights you just turn your head and we don't hear a peep out of you until morning. This didn't happen with out a little work on our part though. It took a few nights of you screaming before we were able to make this routine go so smoothly, but you are such a good boy and I'm proud of you for making your bedtime routine such a breeze.

SOLIDS...yes you started solids this last month and you hate them. Oh well get used to them because I'm not going to be that mom that is breastfeeding a five year old!

Your fine motor skills are improving. The other day you saw a string on your shirt and worked so hard to get your chubby little fingers on it, it was pretty cute. You can also pick up your pacifier and put it in your mouth. It was bizarre to look over the other day and see you sucking on a pacifier that I hadn't given you. You will get your hands on anything within reach! The doctor's visit was a lot more entertaining this month. As the nurse tried to lay you on the scale you decided you needed to sit up and then proceeded to grab all the hand outs and tools that were around the scale.

Speaking of the scale you are starting to slow down on the growth chart. You went from the 100th percentile down to the 97th at your 6 month check up. You now weigh 23 lbs and are 28 inches long. You are in 12 month clothes and some of those are even a little tight (like the 12 mo. sized onsie in these pictures).

Your little personality is starting to shine. You are still a happy go lucky baby but now you have an opinion if something doesn't go your way. It seems you have a love for dogs and things you shouldn't have (ie-paper, keys, boxes, etc) and you LOVE people and little kids and you love peek-a-boo.

We love you Kash! I'm sure all of these things that you are learning to do are normal and every baby before you has accomplished them...but it's new and exciting to us to watch you grow!

Mom & Dad

worn out

2010-07-28T15:54:00.000-06:00

I had high hopes for posting Kash's 6 month post this week, but all of you Kash Turnbow fans are just going to have to wait till next week! Sorry...

Kash and I are heading to Chicago tonight for my best friend from high school's wedding and of course to see our family too. But trying to get ready for this trip seems to be a bigger task than any of the other trips we've been on this summer, who knows why. Maybe because Blaine's not coming? I don't know. And to make things a little inconvenient I'm getting sick and there are a million things that I need to be in town for, but oh well. Friends, hopefully, only get married once right?

I can't believe this is the last of our summer trips and that it's the end of July already. Summer has flown by and with out bothering to give me a tan, rude! But I'm excited to take Kash back to my "home town" and show him off to my old friends and for him to meet my aunt Stacee and her family.

Anyway, Kash's 6 mo. pics and post will have to wait till next week, we're off to the windy city...

front porch makeover

2010-07-25T21:09:00.003-06:00

I emailed my sister-in-law a few weeks ago and said we should do this craft for craft night. Before I knew it she had practically done the whole thing for me...no complaints here, I just felt bad she pretty much did everything for me! Thanks Rach!!!!!

Here's how it turned out:

We just live in a little apartment but even little apartments need welcoming front doors! This craft even inspired me to go out and buy a plant, which I'm praying I don't kill!

I used my SCAL2 software (that I got for my birthday...thanks Mom & Blaine!!!!) for the "Welcome" sign...that is after many swear words. Turns out I needed to update my Cricut before trying to cut with the software, that would have been nice to know before spending 5 hours on what should have been a 1 hour project for another craft. But Blaine fixed it before I started this project and it now works like a dream. Although I'm worried everything in my house might be covered in vinyl by the end of the week!

Do I recommend this craft? Eh, if you have a really awesome sister-in-law or a handy husband. I'm not sure I would have completed it all by myself. It's not hard just a lot of steps. But I'm so glad Rachel made sure we finished this because I think it adds a lot to my front porch. And now we have big plans to make a sign for every holiday. haha

FYI--we made our posts a little taller and wider because than the craft blog suggested because well just because we thought it looked better.

portable high chair

2010-07-16T10:15:00.001-06:00

I got an email that this cool portable highchair called the Go & Grow Chair was half off and I almost bought it (I'm a sucker for anything baby + sale). But then I remembered I didn't really have a need for it, see I'm improving on baby impulse shopping. I thought I would still share it because it's a clever idea and maybe one of you need it.

baby's first baseball game

2010-07-14T08:47:00.000-06:00

disclaimer: this is my blog therefor I get to brag about my baby, if this sort of thing nauseates you maybe don't read this post.

We were nervous. Blaine just out right didn't want to take him. But after many discussions, input from the fam and a last minute "should we just stay home" we packed up our boy (and his million accessories) and headed to what would be his first Rockies game.

There were thoughts that he would just cry the whole time, that there wouldn't be room for all his gear, that we would be miserable, but Kash was awesome! He ate his dinner, wouldn't stop smiling at everyone that would make eye contact with him and then fell asleep in his car seat right at bedtime. People all around us went out of their way to say, "wow he's such a good baby" and "dang he's the happiest baby I've ever seen"! Yep, he's a pretty dang good boy and we are really lucky. I still can't believe how good he was!

So, first baseball game down no sweat. Okay so there was some sweat. We got there a little late and had to park 7 + blocks away. Meaning Blaine had to carry our giant baby, in his car seat, for 7 + blocks. I tried to give him a turn but I didn't even last a block...that kid is freakin heavy! Good job dad!

Overall it was a fun family outing and I'm glad we took the risk of taking Kash. But I think to Blaine's dismay Kash might have inherited the people watching disease from me and didn't really catch much of the game :)

fourth of july 20-10 style

2010-07-06T21:35:00.001-06:00

We had a great fourth. It was full of all the things it should be--American pride, family, bbq's, waffles (if you are a Turnbow), red. white. blue, lawn games, homemade ice cream....wait a second I see a food theme here, maybe that's why it's my favorite holiday???

I loved that the fourth fell on a Sunday this year because it ended up being a three day celebration. I don't know that Kash loved the fact that the celebrations stretched out so long. He did great at the Awful Waffle but by Monday he was done and ready to get back into his routine. But he was a trooper and I loved celebrating with my little man.

The only sad thing was that it was pouring rain the night of the fireworks. I'm thinking it was for the better though because Kash was out an hour and a half before they started and would have probably been a little T.O.'d to have been woken by them. But we made up for it by hitting up the pool on Monday.

363 days till the next Independence Day!

happy july

2010-07-01T12:03:00.000-06:00

Yay today is July 1st which means my all-time fav holiday is just around the corner. Apparently I express my love too frequently for the fourth of July because my co-worker surprised me with some red, white and blue flowers today. It totally made my day (maybe my week)! I can't wait to eat some watermelon, dress up in my fourth gear, dress Kash up in his fourth gear (I'm taking FULL advantage of this before the time comes when he puts up a fight) spending time with the fam, THE AWFUL WAFFLE!, fireworks and more. Seriously it doesn't get better!

5 months

2010-06-23T09:21:00.003-06:00

Hi Kasher!

Big news...you rolled over!!! I had you on your tummy, you were getting a little frustrated and I told you that if you didn't want to be on your stomach then just roll over. And you did it, good job listening ha! But to be honest you did it so slowly that my reaction was a little delayed. When it finally hit me that you just rolled over for the first time you and I celebrated with squeals and laughter! Good job boy, I'm so proud of you. Obviously this is a normal activity for a child your age but I just love watching you accomplish each milestone and it makes me proud!

In other big boy news you are starting to sit up by yourself. You are still pretty wobbly and need supervision, but you are getting close. I'm working really hard on this so that we can move you to a bigger car seat. You are too big (already!) for the infant car seat but I'm not ready to transition you until you can sit up on your own...otherwise how will we do all of our shopping?!? Also, yesterday Grandma Turnbow said that you scooted around 180 degrees on your mat! I couldn't believe that when she told me. You are on your way to mobility and we are on our way to baby proofing the house!

Although you can't quit sit up on your own you are still the biggest boy I know! Strangers always think you are a lot older than you are because they will ask me, "Oh is he walking?" "Can he high five?" I then explain that you are only 5 months old and can barely role over! ha But looking at your 5 month picture you might be thinning out??

And as pictured above you have found your feet. Anytime you see them wiggling you have to catch them and try and put them in your mouth. Unfortunately your belly gets in the way of your toes actually making it to your mouth.

Not only are you developing physically but mentally as well. You can recognize your cereal bowl and get excited at the thought of eating (hence the 21+ lbs right?), you love to play peek-a-boo and you sneak toys out of my purse when I'm holding you. I don't know if those things make you smart or not but as your bias mother you are a pretty smart baby to me! And you've really started to laugh a lot more this last month...sometimes for no reason and every time you laugh I can't help but join in! My favorite memory from last month happened when we were getting ready for the pool. I was blowing up your floaty and you were just looking at it in awe and couldn't wait to get your hands on it. When you made eye contact with me for some reason we both just started spontaneously laughing! It was adorable! I love that you are now my little partner that goes everywhere with me and you are happy to do so.

Oh I could go on and on. You are the light of our lives! Every day you get more and more fun to play with and I seriously love you more and more each day! I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father gave me such a good little boy that is so happy and brings us so much happiness!

Love you little boy!

Mom & Dad

summer equals watermelon and road trips

2010-06-21T13:57:00.003-06:00

I have an addiction. I brought a bowl of watermelon to work to snack on through out the day, well I have no self control when it comes to watermelon and it was all gone by 10:00am...woops!

On a different note we are heading to Utah this week for one of my best friend's wedding. It will be fun to see Sayward tie the knot, show Kash around our old stomping grounds (his first trip to the UT), see our Dewey's again and eat at all the local restaurants in Logan! Blaine and I have so many places we want to eat at while we're there that instead of bringing home souvenirs we'll probably just bring home a few extra lbs!

PS-watch for Kash's 5 month post this week...big things happened last month!

arizona trip

2010-06-12T21:29:00.001-06:00

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately, summer has begun and we are so busy.

Our Memorial Day Weekend trip to Arizona ended up being a lot of firsts for Kash...first time on an airplane, first time in a pool, first time out of the state and first time to meet our best friends the Dewey's! He did great on the plane. I was really nervous and for sure thought he would cry the whole time due to the air pressure. But he didn't seem to mind at all. The pool was also not as big of deal as I thought it would be. For some reason I was so excited to see him in the pool and Kash fell asleep while I was holding him in the water! haha

Anyway here are some pics and video from our trip.

4 months

2010-05-25T21:32:00.006-06:00

(look at those thighs!!!)

Kash.

Last week you turned four months old. You have grown so much in the past four months. You are getting so big, and I don't mean just your size (but we will address that) you are just developing and changing so quickly. You can grab anything you want now. It might take a little concentration and effort, but if you want it you will make your chubby little hands work to get it! And once you get your hands on it it goes straight for your mouth. You are getting really strong too. You can hold your head up really well and you love to stand up. Any time you stand you up you look around like you are so big and cool...it's pretty cute.

Of course you are smiling, that hasn't changed...but you are on the verge of laughing. Just yesterday I walked into a room with you and you saw your dad and you couldn't stop smiling and "talking" and almost laughing. It's adorable how much you love him. One of my favorite (and least favorite) parts of the day is when your dad straps you in the car seat to take you to grandma's house. You just look up at him with your big eyes and smile. I can't wait for the day when you two can play catch, go golfing and enjoy sports together. I'm sure you can't either since I'm betting you are sick of all the shopping your stuck doing with me!

It took awhile to get over that cold you had, and really messed up your routine and your happy disposition. But I think we are finally over that mess because this week you are back to your happy self, now I'm just hoping we can get you back to sleeping through the night! We started you on baby cereal yesterday though so we are crossing our fingers that that will help. You weren't sure about at first but after the first spoonful you were begging for more.

Now on to your stats. Oh man Kash, you are 21 lbs this month!!! The average weight for a one year old is 22 lbs. At your check-up your doctor said, "Well he's above the 97th percentile for weight." I just had to ask, "Well what percentile does that make him then?" Doc-"100th. Yes, if there were a 100 babies in the room he would be the biggest!" I seriously don't know where you came from but we love all 21 pounds of you!

You are such a sweet boy and such a blessing in our life! You have the biggest sweetest eyes and a winning smile to go with it. Sure, you have your crabster moments (usually when you are sick or after your shots) but over all you are a really good baby that we love so much. It's so fun to watch you grow and develop. With each milestone your dad and I are so proud of you already. Keep it up boy!

Love,

Mom & Dad

memorial day weekend

2010-05-25T11:42:00.001-06:00

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kick off party to summer! It's also is the "magical" date that allows us to pull out our white capris from the bottom of the closet, opening day for pools (even though there are many days before the 31st that are pool worthy), and the date that watermelon starts to taste good enough to buy!

We are starting our celebrations a little early and heading to sunny Arizona tomorrow to visit our best friends. I hope you all have a fun weekend full of picnics, warm weather, family, croquet and watermelon! Here's a link on how to cut a watermelon in honor of the start of summer. Being the lover of all things watermelon I can't believe I never knew how to cut one this way!

groupon

2010-05-20T09:14:00.001-06:00

I'm sure everyone has heard of Groupon by now (I heard about it from my friend Kiera), but if not...it's a website that will email you daily coupons for local restaurants, events, spa's, etc. I've already purchase two deals from the site and the coupons are usually around 50% off. I've discovered a lot of new shops and restaurants through the emails too. It's pretty cool...sign up!

cricut tips

2010-05-17T14:04:00.000-06:00

Last Christmas Blaine got me a Cricut. I thought if I had a Cricut I would finally be one of those cool crafty Mormon girls (joke). I used to dream of all these things I could do with the Cricut and then when I actually got one I was kind of intimidated and a little sad that additional font cartridges and accessories were so expensive! Well today I stumbled upon this blog post that made me feel way more confident and excited to use my Cric! So if you are like me and have a Cricut and you aren't really sure what to do or where to start with it check this out!

motherhood

2010-05-08T22:40:00.004-06:00

My world as I knew it has changed. I've forgotten what it's like to not feel tired. It takes about 20 minutes of prep time just to go to the grocery store. The skin on my stomach looks like...well lets just say it's sick! Bills, bills and more bills! I've turned into a dairy cow. I've become really good and cooking dinner, doing my make-up and cleaning all with one hand. My lunch breaks are no longer mine as they are devoted to pumping. I now worry non stop about a little man that I've only known for 3 months. But I wouldn't change a thing!

When I stop and think about being a mom it overwhelms me. I used to dream of the day when I would become a mother. But it's so much different than I ever thought it would be. It's one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs I've ever had. It's hard to put into words the emotions of being a mother. I don't know if it's because I'm now perma-tired and that makes me more emotional,but any time of the day my eyes will well up with tears at the thought and responsibility of being a mom to my perfect little boy. I love him so much and can't even imagine my life without him. I can be having the worst day ever and come home to my little boy looking up at me with his big eyes, he will smile at me and I will forget whatever I was previously upset about. It's amazing how much love I have for him, more than I ever thought was possible. But with such great love comes fear of not being the perfect mom and giving him everything he deserves.

I was feeling guilty for not being the perfect mom a few weeks ago. My best friend emailed me this quote:

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be “full-time moms,” at least during the most formative years of their children’s lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part-or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else." “Daughters of God,” Ensign, May 2008, 108–10 Elder M. Russell Ballard

I do love Kash with all my heart, him and Blaine are my first priority and according to Elder Ballard that's all that matters! So tomorrow, on my first mother's day as a mama, I will be proud to be a daughter of God. Proud that He has trusted me to take care of one of his children. Proud to be a wife and have a husband that helps me to be the best mom I can be. Grateful for all the women in my life that have been great examples of strong mothers. And grateful for my little family that makes me smile each and every day.

I'm just starting out on this journey of motherhood and I have sooo much to learn. But I hope I can give Kash and my future children a home full of love and stability. I want my kids to feel like home is a place that they can escape from the worries of the world. I hope I can be a good example. I hope my children know that I will always love them and will be there for them no matter what.

I love being a mom. There hasn't been one day in the past three and half months that I have thought, wow it would be nice if my life could go back to the way it used to be. Sure there are hard days, but every single day my little boy makes me happier than I can even explain...it's a happiness that only parents get to experience, and I'm finally part of that club!

Happy Mother's Day!

This is my favorite picture of Kash and I. It was the first night we had brought him home from the hospital. I had just finished feeding him and was getting up to put him back in his crib and next thing I knew I was waking up to the flash of Blaine's camera as he captured this moment.

birthday boy

2010-05-03T11:24:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Blaine! Hope you have the best day ever! You are the perfect person for me and I'm so glad that you are in my life! I LOVE YOU, insomuch that I wrote you a haiku...and a rhyming one at that!

today is your day

big two-nine, the third of May

birthday boy, hooray

(ha ha ,okay so it's not brilliant but I still love you!)

Thanks for always being happy

and positive

and making me happy and positive

you make me laugh each day

and you are the best person I know

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEEZ!