Preston is where we Parade

Loved today. Saturdays are usually a day of working around the house and getting projects done. We (as in Matt, I went garage selling) did do some things to Suzanne, Matt's Isuzu truck, who is always needing work done.... Have I mentioned what an eyesore that thing is in front of our nice house??????? I will have to post pictures sometimes and you will agree. I am always teasing Matt that He is not in Beaver anymore and our yards are not parking lot nor a junk yard. He'll catch on.
Anyway back to our lovely Saturday.We went to the Preston Parade today and It was wonderful. Preslee finally caught on to the fact that you are supposed to collect candy. She would run to the candy, get a handful, then see some more, drop whatever candy she had in her hand and run to the other candy.
She is getting so big and is learning so fast. I just love our little girl.

Coloring the driveway

I struggle with wanting to be everything for Preslee. I worry that I am not teaching her enough. I worry that I am not making enough good experiences for her. I worry that she is not having enough fun just being a kid. I worry about everything. All that she does is up to me and so I am always trying to think of activities that we can do together. Today I decided to see if she liked playing with sidewalk chalk. I wasn't sure if she would just try to eat it or if she would give it a go and color. She has been copying me a lot on what she sees me do so I thought she just may color after watching me and she did.

Granted there was some eating of the chalk. I asked her to stop and she did..... for a time anyway. Something she did do was put the chalk away back in its container. I would get a few pieces out and color and she would color a little too, then she was sure to put the chalk back. 

The Picture above is Preslee Putting the chalk in its container.

Some of our art.

Our Porch also received a dash of color today too. We had fun. Now I need to come up with a fun activity for a 15 month old tomorrow.

Pioneer day

I truly loved today. Matt was with us all day and in didn't seem like work was always at the back of his mind. It is pioneer day. I just love July it has such great holidays and get togethers.

We went to the 24th of July Parade in Logan and it was not anything special. I have seen a lot more exciting parades in my time but it was the feeling that I had that made it so fun and special for me. Preslee was so mesmerized by it all and she was so much fun to watch. I think that that is what made it so fun and special for me. She is too young to collect candy but some people threw it right at us so we got a little and she enjoyed eating some.

I also finished Grandpa Brown's present that he gave Preslee for Christmas. He made her a little rocking chair, something he has done for all of his grand kids. It has taken me 6 months+ to decide how to pain it. I finally decided and it ended up like this:

I was not awake yet this morning when Preslee woke up, which is not uncommon, but Matt got her out of bed, changed her diaper, and let her loose to play. He said that she went immediately to her chair (It was the first time that he had seen it because I had finished it late last night) and sat down in it and just enjoyed it.

I am glad that she like it so much. 

I felt that I had added too many polka dots to it and that I got a little carried away. But Matt assured me that it looked great. I glazed it a little to tone it down and to give it a little rugged look. I like how it turned out. Whether or not I keep it in our loft upstairs or put it in her future room, which will be in our front bedroom, it will match. You know me, I care about that stuff.

Tonight as we were reading scriptures together as a family. We allowed Preslee to sit in her little chair rather than sit on one of our laps. I think she saw me reading out of a book so she got up and went and got one of her books and brought it too her chair. She then went and got another. She grabbed her sippy and sat down on her chair. She opened her books and began to babble. I  loved it. She wanted to be like her mommy and enjoy her new chair. I grabbed some pictures:

First Pony Tail

Preslee's first Pony tail today. She has just enough hair now to do a little something with it.

When Daddy watches over me

Today I wanted to share some insights about our family.
Matt is a wonderful husband and a great dad. Preslee loves him so so much. She will hear him come home from work for the day and run to the top of the stairs and wait for him to turn the corner to see her. When he does, it is giggle fest city. She loves it when he comes home. Matt will play and dote on her as much as he can. She loves being with her daddy.
Yet, Matt can be so focused on whatever he is doing that I worry sometimes that he is not focusing on her. And time and time again this theory is proven right.
For instance, just today these things happened in about a 30 minute period while I was sanding the chair I am dolling up for grandma Jessie. And I didn't even catch ALL of it on camera.

In the care of daddy I ate some dirt, but then he said 'no' so I just threw it on the ground as hard as I could. And that wrench was just in my mouth before the dirt was. Such nummy appetizers.

Do I have the instructions to Grandpa Brown's new dremel in my mouth? Why yes I do. 

Being good just watching mom sand a chair.

I drove daddad's car. 

Yeah, and this wasn't the first time either. I am so cool.

A little dirt around my mouth proves to mommom that I had myself a little pre-dinner snack.

Having daddad take care of me is so much fun. Good thing I was in my play clothes today.

Quick Chair Update.

It is about 70% sanded.

There are portions of the chair that would be covered with fabric and I don't think that I am going to worry about sanding and staining those. The parts that will be showing are pretty much sanded, just needs some major touch ups, sculpting, and softening.

Matt added a bottom to the seat.

Daddy is Silly

This post I wrote while we were pregnant with Preslee. I never posted it but I did not want to lose it. It was written Aug of 2010

Little one,
Today we were trying to think of ways to tell our family about your arival. I mentioned sending your grandparents a bib that says something about them being the greatest grandparents. Then daddy said," Well yeah that would be a great idea because then we can use and reuse the bibs." How practical and resouceful he is.
I was also thinking of a poem to write to your grandparents and i was trying to think of something that rhymed with 'Ten little fingers and ten little toes. Pink Ribbons and Bows or ....." And daddy said, "a shovel and a hoe." I laughed and wrote: "A blue little sports jacket or Pink Ribbons and bows."
I think that you and I are going to get a lot a laughs from him.

Update and Project Chair

I really want to be better at blogging. I know I know your thinking, well it has been 2 years since you last blogged and so there is a lot of room for improvement and being 'better'. I feel that there is so much to catch up on really and that it is overwhelming to think about how much there is to write. I heard a song once that said "Start where you are and make the best of whatever." So that is just what I am going to do. Start at the present and someday work me way back to explain these last 16 months. I say 16 months because that is how old Little miss Preslee Paige is now and that is when my life really began. But I have failed to document the happenings of our lives with her on this blog. I am hoping that I can make that change.

So we are trying to clean out our garage so we can build shelves to put even more storage in there. Clean out storage to put more in? What would we do that you ask? Because we need to clean out our guestroom closet because that is going to be Preslee's new room. We are going to put our new baby in the nursery. Yep, we are having another little one. I am 20 weeks. This one was such a surprise to us but we are so excited!

Apart of cleaning out our garage is getting all the projects done that I have been meaning to do. We also have a lot of other projects coming up with designing and decorating Preslee's new room too. I am so excited about that.

A few months ago Grandma Jessie gave me her mother's chair that she had had in her house for years. It is in terrible shape. Disgusting!!!! I love the designed and the carvings in the wood so it was just my taste. I have decided to not keep it for myself or sell it but to completely give it a huge face lift and gift it to her for Christmas.

I started this crazy project today.

Here she is. Aint she a beaut?

And here is what I did to her today.

 Yes, that is some sort of grass used for padding.

She is getting stripped.

Wonderful, a nest. I am sure that what lived in here was not the only inhabitant of the chair.

She's ready for some sanding and staining.