Dora Dictar and fun friends

This is one of many moments Gracee has shared with "her" beloved "Dora Dictar". It's actually not hers, it's her friend Nora's. She thinks it is hers. Every time we go to Heather's house, she runs down the stairs to get it. She asks for it for days. She asks for it first thing when she wakes up and at random times throughout the day.

This is Gracee being sad because it got taken away...don't worry though, we have one for her to have of her very own in the trunk...just waiting for baby Joey to come. She doesn't know about it, but it will be her present when we bring Joey home. So really, it's his fault that she doesn't get to have the Dora Deetar safe in her warm embrace yet.

My good friend Emily came to visit us Utahns. She left before we got any pix together, but luckily we got some pix of her sweet boys. Mo and Gracee had fun together.
Doesn't Mo look adorable in this "ra ra apron"?
This is Gracee smiling right after crying really hard that momma was holding Lauren's new baby. Her name is Addie. Cute huh? Congrats Laur! She and I were both due May 27th....she had hers early=)
Gracee's cousin, Benjamin, had his berfday party at Macey's during their pirate carnival. Macey's does tons of cool stuff like this. Since we were pirates for halloween, me and Gracee both came dressed up. She had such fun!

a week past "guess" date...

I was telling my mom that I feel like everyday is my birthday or something because I am constantly getting texts, calls, and emails from people asking if I've had my baby yet. Thanks everybody for remembering and caring!! He's still in my tummy though.

sleeping...a talent that she always has posessed

We went to go get Gracee up from her nap the other day for church and this is what we found:This puzzle kept meowing at her every few seconds and she slept right through it.
She had emptied every toy drawer completely onto her bed. Little pens, marker caps, lids to play dough, every single toy was on her bed to keep her company during her short pre-church nap!

busy hands....

Here are just a few reasons I have kinda dropped out of the virtual world of FB and checking up on blog friends for a while....these top two shots are from Joey's nursery. I did a Dr. Seuss theme. There are still a lot of Gracee's things on the wall in the picture, but there will be a few more pictures to come...it's been really fun!
Russ and I made some fun things at Color Me Mine.
Mom and Russ's hands probably did more on this restored rocker than I did, but it was my idea and I am proud of it! Thanks mom and Russ for helping! (This used to be brown with green cushions)
Joey's sweet Dr. Seuss quilt. Thanks Kenzie and Heather for your invaluable help! It was much easier than I thought it'd be to make, thanks to you two!
We're doing a hula girl island theme for Gracee's new big girl room--to make it way exciting for her! More pics to come, but this has been really fun too!
This is Gracee's lil reading nook. Notice the turquoise bookshelf to the left, Russ and Kim helped me restore this baby. Thanks guys!
Pillows I made for my dear friends, Paige and Marnie. They lost their beloved Madison last year and Marnie is getting ready to move out, so I wanted to complete them before she left. These pillows are matching and will help remind them of their blessings awaiting them, it says: "Every tear today will be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."-Elder Wirthlin. As they are transitioning away from being together, I hope these pillows will be a small sense of comfort to them to hug and even cry into when needed.
Russ's late anniversary gift: autographed pictures of this year's amazing BYU basketball team. We were able to take some fantastic pictures sitting front row at one of the games. Our friend Jason made it all possible, thanks Jason for everything!

And last but not least, my father-in-law and brother, Steve, are the only people who have asked to step into Susie's salon. It's not much, but I like to do it for them, and it saves them a few bucks.
My father-in-law is the cutest. He let me style his hair all crazy when I was done! Love you pops!

becoming more real to me...

Just got some prego pics taken tonight!! And only 23 days to go....
I have to point out the ADORABLE carseat cover that my sweet friend Kenzie made! I'm in love with it! That is the animal print with the blue buttons. I also now have a nursing apron and the adorable owl material is for the diaper wipe case I'm going to make. These other things here are gifts from my friend Jenny and Snuggle Buddy Bunny from my friend Diane.

Picturing his little body in these things really does make it more real for me. Just thought I'd share my excitement. Thanks for reading.

Our little lady

Gracee has grown up exponentially since this whole big sister thing has clicked!!





Gracee spends 75% of her time with this pink beat up treasure--honing her nurturing big sister skills.Me: "Gracee, are you going to be a big sister?"

Gracee: "Yah! Just like Dora!"

Baby Mine

Gracee girl, I love you. My eyes are wet with tears. Let me describe to you the permanent image just taken in my heart while putting you down for bed tonight.

We have our bedtime routine where after scriptures, stories and prayer, we turn off the light and I sing you a medley: Gracee's song (from the tune of You are My Sunshine), I am a Child of God, Angel Friends (really called Angel lullaby), and then I lay you down in bed and cover you up and sing you the next two songs while we are both laying down and I get to stroke your sweet face. You usually look away or close your eyes during this part. But this time you looked straight into my eyes, our faces just a few inches apart. It's amazing what it does to my emotions when you look into my eyes like that. As I sat there gazing into your sparkling eyes, I sat there thinking how THIS is true happiness. I felt a rush of gratitude for a home to live in, for our comforts, for you and for dad. I just felt--as I have many times before--there is no greater happiness and fulfillment than this. I am tearing up again just as I write this. The two extra songs I sang were Angel Lullaby and Baby Mine. I sat there thinking about the words of those songs that to me, speak of the desires of a mother to protect their children and of peace. The words in Baby Mine say, "let your eyes sparkle and shine" and as I sang that your eyes were dark in the moonlight and sparkling up at me. Your look was peaceful and content. It made me so happy and honored to be your mother. I can't even imagine a greater honor. And as the lyrics say, "Baby Mine...rest your head close to my heart, never to part, baby of mine." We will never part. Thank you Gracee Ann. I love you.

Love, your mother