Primary Prez

I just got called as the Primary President in our ward....our ward with over 170 kids on the record. Yep, it's a bit crazy, and we're praying for a ward split soon!! I have awesome counselors, and feel so blessed to have them help me in every way. Definitely could not do something like this by myself! I received the calling literally the day after I found out I was pregnant. Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed at the thought of doing morning sickness, plus Livy, and then the whale-stage of third trimester, and a newborn, and a crawling baby, etc., etc., all while having this busy calling! When I told the counselor in the bishopric I was pregnant, he said, "We were trying to find out if you were pregnant or not, but then we figured that you'd be strong enough to do both.". Ah! I'm glad one of us thinks that. Not only that, but my 1st counselor is due to have a baby just a few months before me. But in a ward like ours I guess that's to be expected. 

Ryan has been a huge help, and I really have enjoyed the calling thus far. I am super exhausted after a Sunday of meetings, and there are constantly emails in the my inbox for Primary. But, I absolutely love Primary. This is actually my very first time ever serving in Primary. So everything is completely new to me, but I love the sweet spirits of all of the children. We were trying to get to know all of the names of the kids in our ward (ambitious I know), so we started taking all of their pictures to make a little picture directory. Livy saw me doing this, and wanted her picture too. Man I love this girl. 

Here's to an awesome but crazy next few months and maybe years. 

Photo-bomber

During my last little "prego photoshoot", during the self-timer, I had a little intruder. This picture makes me laugh everytime. Her toys, her blankie, her sly little grin, her eyebrows, I love it all. She knows she she was being silly. I think she thinks I'm a weirdo taking picture of myself, and she is definitely mocking me, but whatever Livy, I still think I'm cool.  She is such a goofball. Boy does she makes us laugh. 

Livy is such a joy. She loves to talk. She just speaks her mind, her voice is just a constant trail of her thoughts. I could definitely say that one of the most tired parts of my body at the end of the day are my ears. She is beyond obsessed with pink. People try and ask her questions..."Livy, what is your favorite food?"..."Pink". "What is your favorite toy?" ... "Pink". But literally, she loves eating pink food, and she loves any toy that's pink. She not only love yogurt, but she wants pink yogurt. We tried doing pink Mac & Cheese the other day, it was kind of an orangey-pink, but she was pretty excited about it. At this point she will be having a 'Pink Birthday Party', and being 'Pink Girl' for Halloween, she's just that obsessed. 

She has amazing confidence. She is always saying "I'm beautiful". She is always saying 'hi' to others. She will sing at the top of her lungs. She dances her heart out. She is darling in every way. She still throws some awesome 'silent tantrums'. When she is upset and when she is sad, she will turn, walk away, throw herself in a corner, turn around and give nasty-pouty looks, until she decides she's done. Most of the time we have to just wait until she's done. It is so hard not to laugh when she does this though. I wouldn't change one thing. Life is good. 

Pregnancy Progress

Since the word in finally out, I thought I'd recording the progress of our next sweet baby. Here are the last couple of weeks. Can't wait for a whole lot more of these updates. 

Livy's Announcement...

In case you didn't already know...

Baby #2 is due August 30th!

We couldn't be more thrilled to welcome another little baby into our home. Livy will be the best big sister. 

We went to the doctor this morning and heard the most beautiful little heart beat. It was a nice strong heartbeat, and it was music to our ears. I am 12 1/2 weeks, and ready to be out of this awful nauseating first trimester! 

Valentine Exchange Party

There are lots of little kids Livy's age in our neighborhood and we see them here and there, but I wanted to get all the kids together and have a little party. I also wanted an excuse to have all of my friends (their moms) come too! So we did a little Valentine Exchange. It was the cutest thing, these kids, ages 18 months - 2 1/2 year, were the perfect age. We had a light lunch, socialized a bit and exchanged cute little Valentines. Everyone brought a cute decorated little box, and everyone went home with a lot of cute little Valentines!

 Heart-shaped PB&Js

 Fruit dip - marshmallow cream and strawberry cream cheese

 My cute little Valentine

 Livy and her owl box

Tate Durrant, Nixon Rammell, Oliver Peterson, Ashtyn Miner, Ethan Egbert, Emery Wakley, Livy, Carter Beck, Wilson Radman, and Kellen Lowe. 

Sugar Cookie Making

I am a true baker at heart. I love a good excuse to make a bunch of goodies. Even though sugar cookies take a few hours, I love it. I had some help this time from my mom, and Livster :) In case you are in need of a super soft and tasty sugar cookie here's the recipe:

Sugar Cookies
2 sticks of softened butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
5 cups flour (add until not sticky - may be a whole cup)
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Roll out 1/4" thick. Use a cute heart-shaped cookie cutter. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes depending on size of cookie. If they get golden brown they'll get crunchy.

Cream Cheese Frosting
 8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup margarine
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
Red Food Coloring

Use a hand mixer until well combined. Don't mix too long or it'll get too thick.

 

Livy and her Puppies

Saying that Livy loves puppies is a huge understatement. This girl has quite the collection. Most of them are being borrowed from Grammy Sue, but boy does she love them. She carries them around, pushes them in her stroller, cuddles them in her crib, and takes very good care of them. My favorite part is their names. Liv has always been very good with names, she knows all of her friends by name, and a lot of kids at the Kids Club at the gym, but these puppies have very special names. "Cute puppy", "Baby pink puppy", "Tiny Puppy", and "Big puppy". A few of these are repeated if there are two "Tiny puppies". Love this little girl.