A New Year, A New Me...

I will be making some goals for 2012. I need to get my act together, get organized, stop spending money, and finish about 213 projects around the house.


It is a little overwhelming, but it must be done. At night I lay in bed, completely exhausted but unable to sleep because my never ending to-do list looms over me. But no more! 2012 will be different.


I promise to share any progress I make. Because I am sure you are all dying to know:)

One of my goals is to make my home more Christ centered. I want to make the scriptures come alive for my children, even at a young age. I am not sure yet how to accomplish this goal so if you have any ideas or tips please share!!!

Some quotes to keep me motivated-

"Breath in inspiration and trust yourself. The answer is YES YOU CAN!" ~unknown

"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place" ~President Ezra Taft Benson

"Whatever you are, be a good one."

~Abraham Lincoln

Christmas Cookies...

Cam and I made yummy sugar cookies today. I love that you can see just how many sprinkles are on those babies. They were delicious:).

Other than making cookies we didn't do much of anything. I had zero motivation and patience to do anything of importance. So we ate cookies and watched tv. Then my tired 3 year old turned into a monster and went to timeout over and over again. Luckily Nate came home and saved the day for all of us.

I realize I blog about Cam and her tantrums all too often. To be honest she is a really good girl and I should give her some credit. I guess I just enjoy her over dramatic ways of dealing with life. Today while getting ready she was whining that I was pulling her hair to hard. When I told her she was being dramatic she asked what that meant. I told her it meant that you make a big deal out of something little. She then broke down into tears and told me she didn't want to be dramatic:)

Just a side note, I want this skirt from LuluLemon. I got a gift card today and I am pretty sure it will be put toward this fancy little thing.

Here is a little sneak peak into what we usually look like...


I always have the girls dolled up but somehow they always manage to have their hair pulled out by the end of the day. One of them is usually running around half naked too.

and this is what I usually look like...


Nasty hair and sweats. Yep that about sums it up.

Mary and Baby Jesus...

Tonight Cambri dressed up as Mary and rocked her Baby Jesus. She was so gentle with her baby. She was so proud. On occasion she let me hold her baby, but only for a second. It was really precious. It is nice to know that the real meaning of Christmas can stand out despite all the hype about Santa. Although we are very excited about him too.

The bear who was used as Baby Jesus is Cambri's new pride and joy-Emily Rainbow. She worked for a couple months to earn this bear from Build-a-Bear. She earned a marble every time she was nice to her sister. Once she filled the jar up with marbles she was able to go pick out a bear of her choice. She knew exactly which one she wanted. She even knew exactly what she was going to name her bear. Watching her at the store was priceless.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

These sweet angels have made Christmas time very fun this year. Cam is very anxious for Santa, and Sadie bug has already helped unwrap a few of the presents under the tree. No doubt I have loved being able to use the "naughty list" as motivation to be good.

This is the first year we won't be going home (Utah/Idaho) for Christmas. I am sure it will be a little lonely but we are looking forward to making our own family traditions. Plus it will be nice to not be traveling.

These are the pictures I took for our Christmas card. The one above was the only one where both girls were smiling. These ones are more realistic though...:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Manis and Pedis

Despite the fact that I am told daily that I am a mean mom or that she wishes she had a new mom, this little girl is a ton of fun (when she isn't being a pill). Yesterday we gave each other manis and pedis. Cam chose the colors...rainbow:).

My fingernails look just as pretty.

After snapping some pictures of our fingers and toes Cam thought it hilarious to take a picture like this...

Oh how she laughed, and laughed, and laughed....and laughed.

Those kind of belly laughs make it hard not to feed her silliness.

SO yes I took as many pictures of her cute bum as she asked for and then I listened to her sincere laugh and loved every minute of it.

I have to relish these moments to make up for all the times she tells me I am mean and that she hates me...I truly dislike the person who taught her to use the word hate.

My favorite moment so far is the night we didn't read books because she was being so unbelievably mean. She cried and yelled and let me know that she would never be happy again.

Right now I am just trying to figure out why it is 9:28pm and the whole family is awake. I already put the girls to bed once. Sadie was screaming so Nate went and got her. Cambri could hear us all so she ran downstairs and asked if we were having a party. Sadie has emptied the shoe basket, pulled the camera off the counter, fallen into a box...the pen she is carrying around in her hand makes me a little nervous. Cambri is requesting food even though she just ate dinner. Everyday I have big plans of going to bed by 10, getting up by 6, checking everything off my to-do list....maybe tomorrow:)

Good thing we are getting a babysitter tomorrow night. She can deal with the overly tired kids who didn't get enough sleep the night before:).

An Update for Nate...

Nate told me I needed to update our blog. When I asked him what he wanted me to blog about he said pictures of the girls. So here you go...

I want to squeeze this girl! Once again I want to squeeze her! This girl loves to brush her teeth and try to be just like her big sis. Those buns are to die for!

After a day of fun at school we ran to get some groceries. Cam was out cold! Made for an easy shopping trip:)

Can anyone say future cheerleader!

Mommy's little helper. We made some yummy desserts for Thanksgiving!


Finally ending gymnastics class with a smile! (I will have to blog this later.)

Jello Anyone?...

Today we had a potluck lunch at the hospital with Nate. It was for all the interns, students and their families. I made a whole bunch of jello salad and then showed up late for the party. Everyone had already dished up which means we are going to be eating a lot of jello salad this week...

Anyone want some:)

Halloween Rocks!!!

We have had a blast celebrating Halloween this year. It has been not stop partying for the last week. Yesterday we hosted a party for all of Nate's fellow interns. It was great fun to dress up and meet everyone. As you can see we all looked amazing:) I don't know about you but I think we look pretty darn powerful:)
Nothing says sexy like a pair of blue tights.
We enjoyed lots of yummy food, played some dancing games on the KINECT, and enjoyed some friendly competition while playing some Minute to Win It games.

Today was Trick-or-Treating around our neighborhood. The weather was amazing. We have been so lucky this Fall to enjoy some beautiful weather.

Our cute little CareBear and Snow White ready to get some candy!


Hanging out in our front yard passing out candy. P.S. we have huge trees in our front yard. Nate cleaned the leaves up just yesterday.

The partying has been fun but we are pooped and ready for some sleep!

Rainy Days and Cookies...

It rained all day, and not just a little bit. Weather man even reported that we have reached a new rainfall record this year. Our lawn has never been so lush and green. I had no motivation to pack me and the girls out in the rain so we stayed home all day after hitting up the gym this morning. It was kind of nice. For entertainment the Cam Bam and I made cookies while Sadie was napping. Rainy days and cookies are the perfect combo don't you think?

This girl sure thought it was a great idea...

We were going to make Halloween sugar cookies but I was out of sour cream so we opted for the good old fashion chocolate chip cookie. I tried a new recipe that was supposed to be the best ever cookie in the world. They were good...not the best ever. I will be sticking with my old recipes although the dough for this cookie was delightful.

I think this picture says it all...

Oh how I wish I could enjoy such simple pleasures like this girl does.

I was scooping the dough out onto the cookie sheet while Cambri was devouring the dough.
With dough covering every inch of her face she said, "Mommy this is my favorite part!"

I then asked her if her belly was getting sick from eating too much cookie dough. Her sweet response, "No my belly is loving this!"

Love, LOVE, L-O-V-E this girl!

Goose Egg!

Our poor little Sadie got her first goose egg. She is pretty fearless so I figured it was bound to happen sooner or later. Since she is one tough cookie it wasn't too traumatic (had this happened to her older sis the story would have been much more dramatic:). Luckily it wasn't too deep of a split so we decided stitches weren't necessary. I am sure this won't be the last goose egg this girl gets.

Rencher family: Does she not look so much like Nate's baby pics in this photo?

Sadie First Birthday!

I can't believe how fast the last year has gone by. It has been fun to reminisce about the day Sadie was born. It makes me miss holding my sweet new baby. Yet at the same time I absolutely love my crazy cute one year old. She is as loveable as they come. Absolutely full of personality and very much my little social butterfly.

We had a few friends over tonight for cake and ice cream. It was fun and totally chaotic at the same time. But you only get to celebrate your first birthday once right?

Here is the lady bug and her sister ready to party!...

The pinata was the highlight of the night...

My cute family watching the other kids hit the pinata...

(fyi- the weather today was amazing. It did not feel like October. More like August but without the humidity. Perfect day to celebrate a birthday)

And the cake...

Thanks to my friend Cassie Hegorhorst the cake turned out super cute. I copied the cake she made for you little girl. Thanks Cassie!

We don't have many pictures with our whole family. Even if we aren't all looking and smiling I still love when we have the whole gang in a picture.

Sadie needed a little encouragement to dig in...

But obviously got the hang of it...

A little milk to wash it all down...

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Sadie Bug!!!

Temder Moments..

When dropping Cambri off for school last Tuesday she said to me out of the blue, "Mom, we are a forever family. You, me, Sadie and daddy."

Talk about melting my heart!

Oh how grateful I am for tender moments that make all the hard times worth it.

I am indeed one lucky momma.

Ready to head out the door. They were just too cute to not stop and take a picture. As always Cambri is packing a million toys to the car with her. I can't believe how big Sadie looks in this picture.

Sweet and Silly for sure. Cambri was very proud of this picture and laughed about it for a very long time.

Just wanted to note that Sadie has enough hair to put it in a little elastic and add a cute bow. This is big in our house. Pretty sure Cambri was almost 2 before there was any sort of hair to comb. I didn't do a lot of bows or head bands with Sadie so when I do try it is usually ripped out within a few minutes. Also notice the binky...this girl hated binkies until about a month ago. Now they are her best friend. I know I shouldn't have let her have one so late in the game, but I adore the magic of the binky. Sleeping has improved tremendously in our house ever since she took to the bink. And she doesn't put nearly as much junk in her mouth as she use to.

It is 12:12am and I am staring at the computer screen trying to think of more to say. Pretty sure I just need to go to bed.

I am proud to report...

...we finally broke down and got internet and cable installed this last weekend. Nate and I both have smart phones so we thought we would cut back on expenses and do without wireless and tv. We survived 3 months before deciding that we "needed" both of them:). I am excited because blogging on my phone was a pain in the rear. I also keep a personal blog that is my journal and it has been neglected even more than this blog. I am looking forward to getting both blogs up and running again.

Other exciting news-

1. The house is finally getting some major attention and many projects are soon going to be finished!!! The goal is to have the major stuff done within the next two weeks. I can't wait. It stresses me out to have so many projects hanging over my head. Here are 2 sneak peaks at what the house looks like currently, but won't look like in the near future...

I actually have all the trim on these windows painted already. It brightens up the room so much. Painting trim is about as fun as hitting your head against the wall. But the outcome is oh so worth it. I am even more excited about getting some cute roman shades on these babies.

Here you see our lovely family room complete with blue carpet. Oh how this blue carpet has been such a creative block for me. I don't love the color of the fireplace either so it has been challenging for me to figure a way to design around both of these things. The sofa table that you can see is currently being sanded and painted. It is going to look awesome. There is also an end table that you can't see that is being painted the same color as the sofa table. I took the lamps back and have gone a different direction. Marshall's probably hates me because I buy and return things almost daily. I have big plans for the the big wall above the couch. I finally figured out what I want to put there. Stay tuned for the final reveal in a couple weeks.

2. This girl...

...is cute. She is still loving school and I am loving the few hours I have to clean and run errands with just one baby. She also says the best prayers. At least one Disney princess gets lots of requests for blessings each night. It is usually Snow White. Sometimes Minnie Mouse and Lightning McQueen get blessed too.

3. And Sadie...

...has turned into a monster child. I absolutely adore this baby but we have officially entered the stage of tantrums. When she wants something she is tenatious and she will find a way to get it. Luckily she has also learned how to give the best hugs and knows how to melt her momma's heart.

Time for me to go to bed.

PRESCHOOL!!!

Cam and I have been talking about preschool for a long time now and Tuesday was finally her first day. This sweet girl was so excited. She even picked out her outfit and requested to wear bows in her hair. Her first day was a complete success. When I picked her up she was smiling from ear to ear. The first words out of her mouth were, "mommy, Mr. Kurt was so nice to me! And I didn't get mad when people called me Cambri (this is a big deal since she usually requires to be called her pretend name be it Snow White, Jasmine, Lightning McQueen etc), and I was really nice to the kids!". She then gave Sadie and me the biggest hugs and kisses. The memory will be a favorite of mine forever.

A Day at the Beach...

We have been lucky to have Nate around for the last few weekends. Saturdays are so much better when I am not flying solo. For one thing I was super productive...taught kickboxing at the YMCA, mowed the lawn, ran to Walmart, Lowe's, and the grocery store, painted Sadie's room, played volleyball and had a bbq with some of Nate's buddies from work, played at the beach, and kind of cleaned the house (just enough to make it look like a bomb didn't go off in the middle of the kitchen). I went to bed exhausted but it felt good to check so many things off my list (if only I wouldn't have received a wake up call every hour or two from the teething babe I would have slept like a rock).

The beach was probably the highlight of the day. Cambri doesn't usually enjoy the beach much...doesn't like to get sand on her hands and feet. We bought a pair of swim shoes from Walmart on the way to the beach and they worked some magic. This girl of mine was loving the sand and water. Best $5 spent...ever! I just wish our summer days weren't coming to an end so we could enjoy more days like this.









It is rare that I can get Cambri to smile and look at the camera at the same time. But she will make a silly face for you with no complaints. I will take what I can get.