Stockings

The stocking I have grown up using is a long time Dyer tradition. My grandma made mine for me and I have used it since my first Christmas. I think the tradition started with my great-grandma (at least that is what my dad told me) and is still going on today. My grandma made the stockings until she got really sick and passed away, then my mom took over for our family. When she passed away my sister, Marie, and my sister-in-law, Amber, made the stockings. I decided that I would make Ellie's and had no idea what I was getting myself into. I definitely do not know how to sew. Luckily, Marie taught me how to do it and helped me a ton. Thanks so much Marie!! Anyway, I finally finished Ellie's stocking tonight! We also made one for my niece, Kaitlyn, since she did not have one yet. Amber, I'm shipping Kaitlyn's stocking to you tomorrow. :)

Here is the picture of our little family's stockings all hanging up. (I'm sad we don't have a fireplace to hang them up.) You can tell that my stocking is way older than Greg and Ellie's.

I'm excited to get to use them in a couple of weeks!! Feliz Navidad everyone!

Just Call Me a Pie Maker...NOT!!

Disclaimer: This is a super long story. Sorry!

This year I decided that it was time for me to learn how to make a pie.  I mean I'm a mom now and moms should know those things, right?  So, I called my sister Marie and asked her if she would let me come to her house to make pies with her on Wednesday.  (f.y.i. she is an awesome pie maker/mom!)  Who better to help me make my first pie?  Just a little side note, my mom would spend all day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving baking up a storm.  She seriously was the best cook/baker.  I always had good intentions to help her, but somehow I would end up just hanging out with my friends.  I totally regret this now.  I mean I still love my friends, but all of those years I could have learned how to make a delicious pie from an expert, not to mention I could have had many great memories baking with my mom. 

My mom, the Thanksgiving dinner queen.

Anyway, back to my pie day prep from hell.  After Ellie woke up from her nap on Wednesday I packed her up and headed to the grocery store to buy my supplies.  You all know that the grocery store is not my favorite place to go, but when you have to bring your baby in the heavy car seat it makes things even more difficult.  So, I wandered up and down the baking aisle that was completely packed with last minute shoppers like myself until I found everything I needed.  I was actually quite proud of the fact that I was in and out of the grocery store in a pretty decent time. 

I pulled up to Marie's house and luckily she was outside, so she could help me bring in all of my bags.  That is always a pain when you have the car seat, diaper bag, and bags and bags of groceries.  When I'm carrying that many things sometimes I want to just stop and faint because it takes way too much energy to get from the car to wherever I'm going.  So thanks Marie!  When I got inside and started unpacking my bags I realized I forgot 3 very important items!  Seriously, I even had a list!!  Back to the grocery store for me.  Thank goodness I hadn't gotten Ellie out of her car seat yet.

When I got to Marie's house for the second time I put Ellie down for a nap so that I could make some pies in peace.  I couldn't hear her outside of the door so I assumed she was asleep.  The first pie on my list was a banana cream pie.  I'm sure a lot of you know that I'm definitely not a banana lover (I'm dreading the day when Ellie starts eating bananas), but Greg loves that pie and had it growing up so I thought I would attempt to make him one.  My other sister Lindsay, who is in culinary school, gave me a recipe and warned me to make sure to stir continuously so the mixture doesn't burn.  Well, I did that, but somehow I still seemed to burn it.  Typical me.  The mixture was supposed to be a beautiful creamy color, but instead it had tons of brown chunks in it from the bottom of the pan.  So the first attempt went down the drain.

Being the good wife I am (ha ha), I wanted to try it again so Greg could have his pie.  This time I didn't turn up the heat very high because I was so afraid of burning it again.  (I did not have enough ingredients to do the pie 3 times!!)  So I stirred the mixture like a champ.  I mean I had a bad arm cramp from stirring so long, but I was not going to let that stop me from making a delicious pie.  I finished and thought it still looked a little runny, but I decided once I let it sit in the fridge it would set a little better.  So in the fridge it went.

My next pie was an apple pie that my mom would make every year.  I had to keep the tradition alive!  I started to peel the apples when I heard Ellie crying.  She had been "asleep" for over an hour so I figured she would be nice and rested.  When I went in to get her she was crying with tears and all.  This is weird because when Ellie wakes up she is a very happy baby and is very excited to see me.  I knew she needed more sleep, but she had other ideas.  I put her in her car seat on the table and went back to peeling apples.  I only peeled one apple before Ellie began her crying fit.  This is when I realized that Ellie probably never actually slept.  (She does every now and then.  Sometimes she will play in her crib for an hour or more).  I knew I wasn't going to get anything done with her crying, so I packed everything up and headed home.  Not quite what I had pictured my pie day like.

The first thing I did when I got home was put Ellie in her crib.  Ha ha!  She screamed and screamed.  I wasn't in the mood to deal with her, so I let her scream it out in her crib.  Luckily she only screamed for a couple of minutes until she finally fell asleep.  I went downstairs and continued peeling my apples.  I sat all by myself in complete silence peeling apples.  I started to get extremely sad because this was my first time away from my family for Thanksgiving and I was really missing my mom.  I wanted to be able to talk to her and have a fun day baking with her, but instead I was sitting all alone.  Of course I started to cry.  So I'm peeling apples and crying.  I wanted to give up, but I bought all of these apples that I knew I would never eat, so I kept on going.  Needless to say after 3 hours (that is not an exaggeration) I finally finished my apple pie.  Oh, I bought the ready made pie crust so I have no idea why it took me 3 hours to make that pie.  The pie actually turned out so I was happy about that.

After having a good cry and feeling totally depressed that I was the worst pie maker in the world, I decided to check on my banana cream pie in the fridge.  Don't worry it was still completely soupy!  Apparently, I didn't get it hot enough so it wasn't able to set.  More tears.  I told Greg to eat it because there was no way I was going to bring that out in public.  It was so soupy that Greg would cut out some of the crust and then literally pour the mixture part into his bowl.  He couldn't even spoon it out!  It did taste really good thought, so maybe next year. 

Wednesday was one emotionally crazy day, but now that I look back at it, it is absolutely hilarious.  Needless to say, Thanksgiving turned out to be really fun.  We went with some of Marie's in-laws that live up here.  I'm so thankful for my family and especially for my mom.  I have realized since she has passed away how much she did for me.  I never realized exactly how much she did for me until I had my own baby.  What an AMAZING person she was.  I could not have asked for a better mom.  I just wish that I could tell her how grateful I am for her and spend one more fun day baking with her.  I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

5 Months!!

Today Ellie is 5 months old! I have loved every stage, well most of the time :), but as she gets older and more interactive, I love it more and more. She is now to the point where she loves to play. She tries to put anything and everything into her mouth, and is really good at picking up things. She loves to talk and loves having the attention on her. Also, a couple of months ago she rolled for the first time. I was all excited and kept trying to make her do it again. Well, I think she forgot she could do it because she never did it again until last night. Now every time I put her on her tummy she instantly rolls over! (She has always hated tummy time.)

I finally started her on solids yesterday. I bought the spoons, bowls, and rice cereal a few weeks ago, but I hadn't gotten around to giving it to her. Finally yesterday I set up the little high chair and did it. It wasn't too bad. I think she liked it, but she still isn't quite sure how to eat it. Hopefully more will make it into her mouth soon.

I had to throw this picture in because you can see how thick her hair is getting. I love it! It is really thick, but not really long, so usually in pictures it looks like she has a little wig on.

Finally Some Halloween Pics!

I had so much fun on Halloween this year!  It was fun to dress up a baby and take her around trick-or-treating.  This year was the first year I didn't dress up for Halloween.  I'm such a bum!  I promised myself that I would never do that again because it is so much fun to dress up.  In my defense I did dress up as Greg by putting his APX shirt, hat, and badge on, and his jeans.  I thought I looked great, but Greg and my neighbor kindly told me I just looked like a lesbian!  So, I went as myself instead.

Ellie was a banana this year.  Isn't she the cutest little thing?  It was so funny because the minute I put her in her costume she turned into a zombie.  Seriously she would not smile, cry, coo, or anything.  She just laid in her stroller and stared into space.  I think she was a little confused. 

We started our night out by going to our ward trunk-or-treat.  I couldn't just trunk-or-treat on Halloween so we went to my sister's neighborhood to trick-or-treat.  Marie and I ended up taking Sarah, Kalie, and Ellie around the block.  I had so much fun with them.

When we got back we tried to take pictures of the girls.  At this point it was almost 8:00 (past Ellie's bedtime), and she missed her last nap because of the trunk-or-treat.  Let's just say she was definitely done and ready for bed. :)

  Sarah the princess, Kalie the monkey, and Ellie the very tired banana.

  It was a very fun photo shoot!

This One's For You Narissa Kikolaus...

No, I'm not an egotistical person.  One of my best friends asked for a picture of my face and so I'm honoring her request.  I dedicate this picture to Karissa (a.k.a. Narissa Kikolaus, Special K).  I love you!

Quote of the Day

Last night as Greg and I were driving to go pick of Cafe Rio we almost got in 3 wrecks!  (Greg wouldn't never admit that.  He says he was in total control the entire time.)  One happened in a round-about by our house.  We were going through it and a dumb girl assumed we were exiting the circle when in reality we were not.  She slammed on her brakes and I screamed.  Accident avoided.

The next one happened when we were approaching an intersection probably going between 45-50 mph.  The car next to us was doing the same thing.  Well, the light turned yellow, but we both kept going because we had plenty of time to make it.  Another dumb girl decided that yellow meant she can automatically turn left even if two cars are approaching her very fast.  Once again, she slammed on her brakes and I screamed.  Accident avoided.

The last one happened at Cafe Rio.  Greg dropped me off to go pick up our order while he went to the bank.  A car was just sitting on the side in the parking lot the whole time we were there.  After I got out, Greg started to go around the "parked" car.  Well, right when he was passing him the car suddenly decided it was ready to leave.  Instead of moving forward slowly it pulled out right in front of him!  This time both of them slammed on the brakes, and Greg laid down the horn for a while while I screamed in my head because I was around a lot of people.  Accident avoided.

On the way home we were talking about how there are so many ridiculous drivers, especially in Utah!  This is where the quote of the day comes in.  Greg turns to me and says, "I am going to become some politician man, so I can make lots of laws against crappy drivers here.  Then I will arrest all of the stupid ones!"  Sure Greg.  Good luck with that one!

4 Months

Ellie is going to be 4 months old on Saturday! I can't believe 4 months have already passed. She is mostly a very fun, happy baby. However, today was not one of those days. She has not been sleeping very well anymore which is a major bummer. She is not a good napper and rarely ever sleeps longer than an hour. I have to put her down at the right time or else it is a huge struggle to get her to fall asleep. Today I put her down for her last nap of the day, but she woke up after only 30 minutes. I knew she wasn't ready to get up, but she wouldn't go back to sleep. So, I got her up and let her hang out for about 10 minutes before I tried to put her back to sleep. Needless to say, after an hour of full out screaming and me trying every trick I knew, she finally fell asleep in my arms. I almost lost it right before she gave in and went to sleep. Why is it so hard for her to nap? Any suggestions for me? I'm dying for help!!

Well, here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks...

My little pink gangsta. She looks intimidating huh?

This is Ellie and her boyfriend, Bryce. He lives two doors down from us. He has a twin sister too! He was putting the moves on her by trying to put his arm around her. She just looks confused. :)

I love this picture! She looks constipated, but it was taken right before she started crying. She has a different constipated look. :)

So You Think You Can Dance...Dance...Dance...Dance

On Tuesday night, my two sisters, Marie and Lindsay, and I went to the So You Think You Can Dance tour.  It was AWESOME!!  This was the first season that I got totally obsessed with the show.  I faithfully watched every show and seriously felt like I knew the dancers personally.  I pretty much love them all, but my favorites were Twitch, Will, Joshua, and Katee.  Salt Lake City was the hometown of Chelsie H., Gev (who I love now), and Thayne, so everyone was going crazy for them all night.

The top 12 were there and they all performed dances from the season.  They performed all of my favorites which was so fun to watch.  I must say that the dances were even better in real life.  I think it had something to do with how ridiculously LOUD the music was.  I felt like an old person because I was secretly wishing they would turn it down a little.  After I got home I couldn't fall asleep for a while because my ears were ringing so bad!  Anyway, my favorite dances of the night were the door dance, the briefcase dance, and the crazy jazz dance Courtney and Mark performed.  It was the one with the weird choreographer, Sonya.  I liked that dance during the season, but LOVED it live.  It was nice to get out and let Greg handle things at home because I had so much fun with my sisters!

Here are some pics of the fabulous night...

 

Here is Joshua and Katee doing their hot Samba. (You all remember the tight pants.)

Happy Birthday Greg!!

Yesterday was Greg's 27th birthday! I love birthdays and birthday surprises. I think I got that from my mom because birthdays were always a big deal in our house growing up. Last year I tried to think of the perfect gift to give Greg without giving him any ideas. I thought a bike would be a great gift. Well, I am pretty sure the bike has only been taken out for a spin about 5 times in the past year. (No, Greg, that is not a fat joke.)

Anyway, I couldn't think of anything exciting to give him this year. Ever since we have been married he has had the same white church shirt that does not fit him. Probably because he stole it from his little brother and it was his church shirt when he was in HIGH SCHOOL. As you can imagine, he has never been able to button the top button. (No, Greg, this isn't a fat joke either. It's just because you have such a strong neck.) Any time I tried to ask him if I could get him a new shirt he would tell me that it was a waste of time and money because he already had one. Well, I was sick of this response so I took the plunge and got him a new one and a new tie! For those of you who know him, he still wears the same red and white striped tie with the big knot that he has worn forever. I've decided that it is my job as his wife to take care of him. Oh, I also got him some new church socks. Our church is at 11:00 if anyone wants to come this Sunday to see how hot he looks. :) Don't worry, I also got him Season 2 of The Office because Greg is totally obsessed with it. We have a ton of episodes on our DVR, but not many of Season 2. I didn't want to just give him Sunday clothes, so I went with The Office to spice his gift up a bit. We might still take it back, but we will see.

Well, last night we went to Texas Roadhouse with some friends to celebrate his big day. I LOVE this place. It has the best food, and great prices for how much food you get. Greg told our server he was turning 31, so that is what the whole restaurant thought when we gave him the big Texas Ye Haw! Here are some pictures of the eventful night, including him riding the saddle.

I hope you had a great birthday Greg! I love you!!

Halloween

I know it is only half way through September, but I am already thinking of Halloween.  I love Halloween because 1) it is so fun to dress up as all sorts of crazy things no matter how old you are, 2) I love seeing all the little kids dressed up and ultra excited for their candy, 3) it's my brother, Wes's, b-day so we always had VERY fun Halloween parties growing up and I am going to keep that tradition alive, 4) and I LOVE all of the candy to munch on for a couple of weeks (okay, sometimes it only lasts a couple of days).

Anyway, I figured out what Ellie is going to be for her first Halloween.  I was shopping at Old Navy today and found the cutest monkey costume.  It is a full body costume so all you can see is the kid's head.  Well, I thought it was perfect for my adorable niece Kalie because she loves monkeys.  You may be wondering what this has to do with Ellie.  Well, I then saw a BANANA costume for babies!  It is pretty much the cutest thing you will ever see.  So, Kalie is going to be a monkey and Ellie is going to be her banana! I cannot wait to see them together.  I'm thinking maybe Greg and I will be zoo keepers, but we'll see.  Any ideas??  I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!

 

The Monkey (a.k.a Kalie)  The Banana (a.k.a. Ellie)

So Sweet

I was upstairs cleaning with Greg (yes, Greg is a champ!) and Ellie was downstairs in her swing.  I came down to check on her to see her like this.

 

She used to suck on her fingers, but has recently found her thumb.  I probably should stop her from doing it, but it is so cute.  Hey, if her thumb can put her to sleep then I am all for it!  (Sorry the picture is a little blurry.  Our camera of course was out of batteries so Greg took it on his phone.)

AZ Trip / Ellie's Blessing

We just got back last night from a week vacation in Arizona. We had an awesome time and loved spending time with our families and friends. We even got to experience a MONSTER Arizona monsoon storm! I miss those so much. This one was huge and was responsible for blowing down big tree branches in the Andersen Hotel's front lawn! Here is a little recap of what we did...

On Friday my step-sister got married. After the wedding we took some family pictures outside of the temple. My second dad, Randy Walker, took them for us. Thanks so much Randy!

         
On Sunday we were able to bless Ellie at Greg's parents house. It was so nice because all of Greg's family was there (there are 9 kids in his family, 8 boys and 1 girl), and my family was also there, but we were missing Wes and Amber's family. It was so nice to finally get Elllie blessed. We were waiting until we went down there, so we could be with our families. Greg gave Ellie a beautiful blessing. I am so grateful for him and all that he does for our little family.

We also took Andersen family pictures that day.  I never realized how huge the Andersen family is until I saw this picture.

I was sad to leave yesterday and can't wait to see everyone again!

Family Fun

I know it's a miracle because I have updated my blog a lot recently.  Anyway, last week I went up to Utah with my family for a big Dyer reunion.  I had an absolute blast!  I love my whole family and love the "Dyer Pride" we all have.  Greg couldn't come because he had work which was very sad, but every one there was so helpful with Ellie.  I hardly even held Ellie the whole week long because my cousins, sisters, and aunts were always with her.  It was very nice.  Thanks to everyone for being so awesome!

After the reunion was over my family went up to Yellowstone.  I must say that I am pretty sure Yellowstone is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Not only that, but we saw a lot of wildlife there too.  Throughout the two days we spent there we saw deer, elk, a moose, herds of bison, a bald eagle, lots of birds, and even a bear!  We really lucked out.

One place we went to was a beautiful waterfall.  I knew we had to hike to see the waterfall, so I put Ellie in a sling and set off on what I thought would be a very leisure walk.  (I was even wearing flip-flops).  Well the "leisure" walk turned into be about a 2 hour ordeal!  Keep in mind that I had a c-section 6 weeks earlier and had not done a bit of exercising to this point.  We had to climb about 300 or so stairs to get to the view point.  Luckily Lindsay carried Ellie the whole way back because I know I never would have made it.  Thanks Annie for helping me get up those dreadful stairs.  After it was all over it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip.  Overall, it was a fabulous week (minus the fact that Greg wasn't there).

Here is the fam. Gotta love my sisters!

Ellie's first hike!

Twin Cousins

Ellie has a twin cousin named Halle who is just as adorable as her.   They are 18 hours apart (Ellie was born on the 11th and Halle was born on the 12th of June).  There were 6 Andersen babies born within a year of each other.  Ellie and Halle were the last two born and the only girls so they are instant best buds.  My brother and sister-in-law, Lee and Lara, came up to Utah this week, so we of course had to dress them as twins (the outfits were $2!) and take tons of pictures of them.

8 Weeks!

Tomorrow Ellie will be 8 weeks old!  She is getting so big.  She is now smiling more frequently and is holding her head up (it still is pretty floppy though).  And most importantly, she has been sleeping through the night!  (Last night doesn't count because she kept unwrapping herself which wakes her up.)  I finally caught a smile on camera.  By the way, I need to give a shout-out to APX, Greg's work, because he won a new digital camera at his work party.  I love it!!!  Thanks APX!