Weekend Recap

This past weekend was one of the busiest we've had in a while! I had two photoshoots and we had a Halloween party on Friday night. I am proud to say we placed third place in the costume contest.  The 1st place winner was a couple dressed as Forest Gump & Jenny, and 2nd place was a couple dressed as a lion and safari hunter.  I didn't take any pictures yet because I want everyone else to have to wait and be surprised on Halloween :).  I will say though, that I LOVE how our costumes turned out.  I think I did a pretty good job on them, and Claire looked super adorable.  

Saturday evening after Bryce got off work we took Rory & Claire to Beus pond to scout out some spots for a few photoshoots I had coming up this week.  It is so pretty there this time of year!  We had fun showing Claire the ducks and all of the pretty leaves everywhere.  
I absolutely love this time of year. It is so gorgeous! I also really love my little snuggle bug and her open-mouthed slobbery kisses.

Claire Olivia Week by Week: 38 Weeks

Claire turned 38 weeks old today. I took these pictures of her yesterday while were at Beus pond scouting out some spots for some photo shoots I have coming up.  I love all of the pixie hats I crocheted on her.  I think she looks so cute in them!  I'm happy we're finally getting cooler weather so she can wear them more often.  This week she has been a busy girl.  She gets into Rory's crate pretty much every day now and crawls from room to room all day long.  She is still working on cutting her top two teeth.  Her gums are red and swollen and one tiny corner looks like it has cut through but still nothing more than that yet.  I had her drop her third nap for good this past week.  Her third nap was getting really sporadic and I could tell she was ready to go down to two.  Dropping her third nap has helped her go to sleep a bit earlier, so now she is in bed by 7 every night.  She loves to stand and walk around holding our fingers.  She stands up all the time and thinks that she knows how to walk by herself.  When I try and set her down on the ground she just stands and keeps her legs stiff so that I can't make her sit down.  It's pretty funny.  She will probably figure out walking by herself before too long.  Believe it or not, she only has one more week until she is 9 months old!     

Trouble

I left the room for ten seconds yesterday to go get my shoes and I came back to find this...Claire is starting to get herself into trouble already. I was hoping she wouldn't figure out how to get in the dog crate for at least a couple more months!  Now that she has figured out how mobile she is there is no going back.  

Little Laundry Helper

I took a few pictures of my little laundry helper yesterday. I think every mom has pictures like this in some form or another. Claire likes to help me fold everything.  Well I should clarify, I fold while she throws everything out of the basket for me. After everything is folded I take her for a laundry basket ride from room to room while we put everything away. Claire's a pretty good little helper to have around. I think I'll keep her :).

A Quiet Book for Claire

A few weeks ago I finished Claire's Quiet Book, and I wanted to share how it turned out!  I have been working on it over the past few months during Claire's naps.  I decided to sew it all by hand since I have a huge assortment of embroidery thread in practically every color, and that way I wouldn't have to spend money on buying sewing machine thread in tons of colors.  It took a while to get it all finished, but I love how it turned out!  
I got most of the patterns for the quiet book from jocelynandjason.blogspot.com.  I found a few others just searching on pinterest, I'll have to post a link to those as well when I find the sites again.  I put all the pages on rings so that I can easily add to her book if I ever want to.  Claire's not quite old enough to use it yet, she just tries to eat it all the pieces right now, but in another 9 months or so I think she'll will enjoy it.  And I especially hope it will serve its purpose and help keep her quiet during church ;).

General Conference Weekend

I'm sure most of you know this past weekend was General Conference for our church.  It is one of my absolute favorite weekends of the year!  I love hearing from our Prophet and Apostles and receiving guidance, and answers to questions I have been seeking.  

There were so many wonderful talks, I had a difficult time narrowing down my favorites.  There were several that seemed so applicable to my exact circumstances.  I really liked Elder Jorg Klebingat's talk on improving our spiritual confidence before God.  I welcomed his urging for all of us to use the atonement 24/7 and repent quickly & often.  

I also really loved Elder L. Tom Perry's advice to mothers and fathers.  He talked about how faithful parents have never been needed more.  His talk really touched me and reiterated to me how truly important my role as a mother is, and the significant responsibility I have as a mother.

Most all of the talks made me think about how I can be a better mother and how I can better teach Claire and any of my future children about Jesus Christ.  I kept thinking about Sister Neil F Marriot's talk from the General Women's meeting.  In her talk she shared her goal of memorizing the Living Christ by Christmas.  This would be her Christmas gift to Christ this year.  I was really touched by her talk and this goal that she had.  I thought that would be a great way I could strengthen my testimony of Jesus Christ as well as prepare myself to better teach my children about him.  I decided I wanted to accomplish this goal as well.  I started memorizing the Living Christ on Saturday night while Bryce was attending the General Priesthood meeting and I have worked on it every day since.  Memorization has always been a fun challenge for me, so I have already memorized a little over half of the Living Christ, and will probably be finished long before Christmas.  I hope by accomplishing this goal I will feel closer to my savior Jesus Christ, and I hope it instills within me a desire to continually learn more about his life so I can learn to be more like him and be better prepared to teach my children about their Savior, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world.

Claire Olivia Week by Week: 37 Weeks

Claire Olivia turned 37 weeks old today.  This past week I introduced her to sweet potato puffs and graham crackers.  She loved both!  She is a huge fan of real food and so far happily eats anything I give to her.  She's definitely been whinier then usually while she's still working on cutting her top two front teeth.  As of today the corner of the top right one has cut through.  Hopefully it won't be much longer until they both cut through so she will be happier.  Claire loves her daddy so much.  I'm always so glad when he is home when I take her weekly pictures, because he can always get the best smiles out of her.  She adores him, and it is the sweetest thing.  We both just love her so much!