When The Sun Is Out...

..... So are we!!

Had a wonderful time at the park today. Gotta take advantage of this awesome weather while we can.

Valentine's Post

Daniel and I have never been huge into Valentine's Day. We don't really do gifts, instead we just plan on doing something together. Sometimes it's big, sometimes it's small, but it's just us spending time together.

But once Lyla came around, the meaning of Valentine's Day changed for me. It's not just about the love I have for Daniel, but the love I have for my daughter too. And for that reason, I wanted the day to be special for my little Lyla, and let her know just how much I love her. So this year, Valentine's Day was a little more exciting.

We started off with a few decorations

Then we made some delicious goodies.

First was homemade Oreo's with strawberry cream cheese frosting. They were so incredibly yummy!!

And then I made some Rice Crispy Treats with chocolate for my little love, Lyla. I used strawberry flavored marshmallows. I will never go back to regular marshmallows again. That extra bit of flavor was amazing. I cut them into little hearts, and spread a little melted chocolate on top. A definite winner!!

Lastly, I got a little creative, and put together a few treats for Daniel. 

Each Riesen Chocolate I taped on a reason why I love Daniel. It was really fun putting these together.

I have a new love for Valentine's Day. Now that we have Lyla in our family, there is so much more love to share.

Blessings of Tithing

Near the end of last year, we were stretched a little thin, financially. We weren't bringing in as much as we had thought, and so we were on a tight budget. What made it harder, was that Christmas was coming. I was concerned, and had more then one emotional breakdowns about our financial situation. We had to get creative about our Christmas gifts, and we went over our finances several times to make sure we had enough to make it through the year. We were going to make it, but it was going to be tight.

Then, at the start of December, Daniel had to have his wisdom teeth taken out. An emergency we hadn't accounted for. We didn't have dental insurance, and no money in our budget for it. 

Daniel and I had several discussions about our options. One of those options was to use our tithing money to pay our medical bills. It was the only 'bill' we had that didn't have repercussions if not paid. Well, not financial repercussions anyway.

We prayed for answers, and for help. Do we pay tithing, or medical bills? But the answer was obvious. We didn't really need to ask, because we already new the answer. We pay our tithing first......always! And we did.
Yes, we're still in a bind, and we have not yet recovered, but we made it. We have been blessed too many times before for paying tithing, that there was no way we couldn't do it this time. I believe in paying tithing, and I know that we will be blessed for it. It's not always easy, but I know it's worth it.

This past General Conference, Elder David A Bednar gave a wonderful talk about the blessings of tithing entitled: The Windows of Heaven.

Mama Daughter Date Night

Last week, Daniel went out of town for a work meeting. Even though Lyla has been sick all week, I decided to make a special night of it anyway. We decided to go out to Shari's for some goodies. 

We started off with a strawberry milkshake. I did ask for a small kids size, but that isn't what we got. But that's okay. Lyla loves shakes! 

Then we colored for a bit, and ordered some chocolate pie. Honestly, it wasn't very good. It had so much whipped cream on it, but again..... Lyla didn't mind. She just went right in.

Don't worry, she only had a few gulps of the shake, and just picked at the pie. I couldn't even bring myself to finish it all. It was just too much sugar for me. After we got home, Lyla turned into a crazy child. The sugar definitely got to her. It was nice to see her so happy after being so miserable from sickness. It was a great night, and will certainly not be our last mama daughter date night. Even though we spend all day together, it was still nice to do something special with my favorite little girl.

Help Mama!!

I was in the living room, when I heard Lyla start fussing in the kitchen. She seemed to get more and more upset with a frustration in her voice like she wants something but can't get it. This is common when she wants her monkey that's in her crib. She can see it, but can't get it. 

Anyway, so I go into the kitchen to see what's wrong. She points to the side of the fridge, and that's when I notice a letter magnet that had fallen back there, that she apparently really needed. So I try and try, but can't quite seem to reach it. And as much as I try explaining this to Lyla, she is just not happy. And since my little bug is sick, I really really want her to be happy, so I end up moving the fridge to go and get it. 

I finally get it out, give it to her, she puts it on the fridge and walks away. SERIOUSLY!!!

Changing Pad Cover

Ever since we bought Lyla's changing table, I have wanted a cover for the pade. But they are just so stinking expensive. Every now and then I would look for some, but just didn't think it was worth buying. So yesterday I got the brilliant idea of just making one myself. So I did. I got the tutorial here, and it was super easy. If you can measure and sew a straight line, you can do this. And it worked out to about $6 to make, verses $18-$28 to buy. And it took be less then an hour from start to finish. 

So here it is! I could have chosen cuter fabric, but I was in a hurry to get out of the store. (Lyla had just thrown up) 

And then I realized that I've never actually taken pictures of her room before, so I decided to make a post of it. It's a purple and green color scheme. Not super exciting, but I like it none the less.

Aaaand..... I made that quilt too.