M, N, O and P are for...

M is for Marlee.

My sweet 3 year old. She is very busy, super helpful-when she wants to be, and very kind. She does have a little spunk to her though, and likes to stomp all the way to her room when she doesn't get her way.

She is super excited to start playing soccer in June, and we love to go out and practice. She is also into any sports on TV because of her Daddy, and wants to play basket ball when she grows up. She also wants to go to UW when she is bigger. Our last trip through Laramie, we drove by the college and talked about how that's where Mommy went. She said "Maybe when I get bigger I can go there like you Mommy." I was loving it! :)

She is also a GREAT big sister! She loves Brekken so much, and loves to hold him, kiss him and love on him. She also talks to him often, and if he cries she tells him that he's okay, that Mommy will feed him soon, and that she loves him. It's so cute! :)



N is for Naptime!

Nap time some days is my saving grace. I don't really know what I will do when nap time is over for me. Marlee still takes a nap, and of course Brekken does too. This is my saving grace during the day. Sometimes I nap, but most of the time I watch a show that isn't appropriate for them to watch, or get online to blog. Lately, nap time hasn't been at the same time for both kids, so I haven't been online as much, or if I do it's on my kindle, and it's hard to type and nurse a baby at the same time...so I don't comment as often as I used to...or blog as often either.

When Marlee out grows naps, I will probably have her do a quiet time for 30 minutes to an hour each day, that she can play in her room, or somewhere quietly so I can still have some down time. What do you do during nap time???

O is for outside.

We love to camp. I love lakes (and the ocean, but I don't see it very often). I love to go walking, and sometimes dabble in running, and love to take the kids to the park. I like to hike, and just hang out outside.

We are very happy my in-laws let us use their camper in the summer. Now that they have re-introduced the wolves, and Grizzlies, there are too many in the mountains for us to tent camp any more. It's just not safe up there, which is a bummer. There have already been sitings of a Grizz and her 3 cubs near Jackson Hole which is kinda early for them, from my understanding. And the comments I read on FB had said that another Grizz and her cubs had been sited in December this winter. In September we saw a bear on the side of the road. I am not a bear expert, so I'm not a 100% sure it was a Grizz, but regardless it was crazy seeing one so close to the road. You can see the pic's here.

P is for playing.

I love to play and have fun. It's fun to play with my kids, as well as "grown up" playing...like snowmobiling, and wake boarding. Not that those are necessarily grown up things, but my kiddos aren't big enough for those things yet.

I like a lot of things outdoors (like I just said), but I also like to play with fabric, and sew. I like to be creative...painting (with Marlee..I don't have any fantastic pieces) and photography. I even went for a year of school for photography, and am hoping someday I can get another awesome camera-cause mine kinda sucks right now and I can get back into it. :)

I missed a few...

I missed a few of my a-z challenge because we were out of town, and while I had planned to schedule some posts, I just didn't get around to it. I also thought I could post on my kindle, but for some reason it won't let me type onto the area to post. I know, it's weird.

 This was the first trip I had to pack for 4 people, for 5 days. We ended up coming home a day early, just because everyone was tired, and we had some stores we wanted to shop at along the interstate on the way home. We had planned on staying in Ft Collins, but Marlee was asleep when we got there and so we decided to keep trekking on home.

So this will be my catch up post for a-z and later today, or tomorrow I will post all about our trip. :)

I is for ice cream. I used to eat so much ice cream, that we would go through a tub of it in a week or two. When my mom was at work in the summer, I would even have it for breakfast. I know, I could never do that now. lol Well, I could, but my body would hate me.

My favorite ice cream is probably moose tracks.

J is for Jeans. When I was little I loved to wear skirts, dresses and my swim suit. That's about all I would wear. I would cry if my mom made me wear jeans. Then somewhere around 4th or 5th grade, I became a jeans girl. Now, I love to wear jeans-jean shorts, jean capris and jean jeans. I love how versatile jeans are.

Although, if I lived in a bigger place, I would probably wear more skirts and dresses too, but here you look funny if you dress up. You just don't fit in unless you work at a bank or things like that. And obviously being a SAHM, I don't really need to dress up.

K is for kayak. When I was in college I took a kayaking class, and I loved it. They also had some nights that you could just go in and practice...this was all in a pool. I have always wanted to go kayaking down a river, or even just get one for the lake. I may still do that. Mike isn't big on water sports, so it makes it harder to purchase big things like that, for just me to use...and I am not as likely to go by myself. But oh, how it was fun! I loved it!

L is for late. I used to never be late. Even after I had Marlee, I wasn't ever late. But now that I have Brekken, I seem to be late every where. I am hoping soon it will get better, and easier, and faster to get out of the house and somewhere that I need/want to be, but for now I guess I have to come to terms with being late.

I could also use lame. I know this post for my letters is kinda lame...but I was just trying to hurry and get caught up, so forgive me. :) Hopefully the rest of my letters will have some spunk to them. :)

H is for

Horses.

I love horses. Growing up we had horses, and my mom still has horses at her house.

Not only is it fun to ride, they are beautiful animals.

I was in 4-H for a while with my horses, which was super fun! I just wish I could have been more into it. I had always thought I wanted to rodeo, but never had enough money to get a really good horse, and no one to take me to all the rodeos so I just never did it.

We don't live in the country any more, so we don't have horses. But if we ever do move out there, I would love to get one again.

Marlee loves horses too, but she is too afraid to touch them just yet, even at my mom's house. They get into her face, and she doesn't like it. I also think they are just so big so she gets scared they are going to get her.

 source

I mean seriously, isn't this horse just beautiful!

In Wyoming we have wild horses. Its kinda neat when you see them out in the fields on the side of the road.

source

G is for

Garage Sales.

I am super excited to start garage saling this summer! There have been some already, but I didn't know that until it was too late.

I am hoping to find some outside toys, maybe a new table and chairs and some other things this summer.

I have never been good at having a garage sale though. They have never made very much money. I think I am too much of a softy...I just want the junk out of my life, so I give in to people bartering down with me. :)

Are you a garage sale person?

F is for

Fun! Fantastic! and Fabric!!!

I love to have fun. I love to laugh and dance and be silly. I don't do it often enough though. I need to remember to let go a little and be silly again... :)

But my real post is about fabric. Oh how I love it! I love to make things with it. But even more than that I LOVE to buy it. I do have a little bit of an obsession. :) I have tubs of fabric. Mike thinks if I would get to making stuff with all this fabric, that would be fabulous. I keep telling him, if only I had more time.

I just bought a bunch of black/white/greys with pops of blue, lime green and pink to make a quilt for our bed. I am hoping to paint our room, and then just add in the pops of color. :)

I am also excited to make some pillow "beds" for Marlee, and later for Brekken. I think I will also make some for Christmas for my niece and nephew (if they are easy). :) My friend Kim made some, and they are super cute!

E is for

Exercise.

I was going to do energize, and quite frankly at 9 pm, it's too hard for me to think of things that keep me energized.

So as far as exercise goes, clearly it's good for you. But I guess it's also what keeps me energized too. If I am feeling sluggish, and I get up and move then I get exercise and feel energized. :)

As soon as I am released from having Brekken, I am going to try a few new exercises...I want to try zumba, and I want to try another yoga class. I haven't done yoga for a long long time, and even then I only did it a couple times. I am hoping to get one of my friends to go with me. I think it would be fun to get out and do something like that with someone else, and it sure beats getting together to eat....which clearly isn't helping to firm me up.I also plan on lifting weights, which is going to be kinda new to me. I have lifted a little bit, but never consistently enough to see results.

I am also going to put Marlee into soccer in June. She and I are both so excited. She got a soccer ball for her birthday, and now that it's nice outside we go out and kick the ball around. Tonight we all went out there, and we were teaching her to kick and run with the ball. It was so cute to watch her. And it got some of the energy out of her.

Having Brekken has been kind of a challenge to get outside a lot because lately it's been so windy and of course it's hard to take a new baby out in the wind. So I am trying to make a point of getting out when he's sleeping and playing with her. :)

What's your exercise of choice?

D is for

Downtime.

I was having a hard time coming up with a word that started with D besides dog, drain and some others I knew I didn't want to use, so I asked my friends on facebook. They came up with some great ones!

But onto my downtime. When I am not playing with my kids, cleaning the house or nursing/making food for someone, then I am usually reading, sewing, or walking.

Some of the books I have read recently are The Hunger Game series and The Do-Over (which I am still reading). Some of my favorites are Water for Elephants (which I read before it became popular) and Friday Night Knitting Club or any book by Kate Jacobs that I have read thus far are fabulous.

As for sewing, I used to make my daughter dresses, but she is now definitely into jeans and a shirt, or shorts and a shirt, so I don't usually make her things to wear any more. I do like to make quilts and blankets although I don't always have time to do them. :)

And walking. As soon as I am cleared I will probably start running a little bit too, but for now I just walk. It's awesome to take the kids out, let my 3 year old play and run/walk with me while I carry Brekken. It gets us out of the house and into the sunshine. I also love to go after the kids are in bed, for my downtime. I either go with my friends or turn on my tunes and jam out to good music, or a fun podcast. :)

What's your downtime?

C is for...

Cowboys.

We live in the great state of Wyoming. There is more than one reason I could pick cowboys living here...but our reason is for

The Wyoming Cowboys

In case you are wondering, Brekken's shirt says "my first Wyoming Cowboys shirt." 

Marlee even made me wear my cowboys shirt on the same day as them. We went to two different birthday parties that day, all wearing our Cowboys gear. And of course everyone commented on how we were so cute matching. All I had to say was, whatever to make a 3 year old happy...I mean, if it's that easy, why not! :) 

We try to go to games...football and basketball every year, but we didn't end up making it to either this year. :( Next year will be easier to travel, even though we will have a baby with us again. 

What is your favorite team? Do you watch them often?

A-Z challenge A is for...

Alaska.

Nope, I don't live there.

But I sure do want to visit someday!

I have some friends who are from there, and I think it would be so awesome to visit. I would love to see the bears, moose (although we have those here), and all the scenery!

Where would you like to visit?

Because I need more on my plate...

 I decided to join the A-Z challenge. Sarah found it somewhere...posted it on her blog, and now I am joining too. :)

Join us...it should be fun. And interesting. :)